Believe It Or Not, WWE Is Likely Pleased With Fastlane

Let’s make no bones about it–people really didn’t like Fastlane this year. Some have even called it the worst show WWE has put on in ages. Personally, I think y’all are crazy, because Roadblock just a couple of months ago was way worse. But that’s beside the point–many fans did not enjoy Fastlane. Full stop.

There are a number of reasons for that. Goldberg squashing the half-year reign of Kevin Owens in under 30 seconds was a bummer, but one that was easy to see coming. More perturbing was the sudden end of Braun Strowman’s monsterous dominance, and the seemingly random choice of ending Charlotte’s pay-per-view streak on a B-tier show with minimal drama.

All valid complaints. But WWE doesn’t care. Because the loud, vocal complaints didn’t drop ratings for Raw last night–in fact, they raised them.

Most pay-per-view weeks see WWE get a ratings bump for the weekly shows just based on buzz from the Sunday before, whether that buzz is good or bad. This week was no different, with a four percent viewership increase over the week before, according to the Wrestling Observer.

Perhaps even more telling are the numbers on WWE’s Youtube page. The Jericho/Owens segment did over a million views, Goldberg/Lesnar easily broke two million, and Roman/Undertaker has nearly broken two million as of this writing. Compare that to last week’s set of clips, which eight days later still haven’t broken the two million mark.

Brock Lesnar attacks new Universal Champion Goldberg: Raw, March 6, 2017

The point is that WWE doesn’t care about your complaints as long as you’re still tuning in, and very few fans have been willing to tune out. So sure, boo Roman at live shows and fast-forward through Raw on your DVR–WWE is still getting your ticket money and their ad revenue, so they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

As always, let us know what you think in the comments, or on Facebook!