USA Network down on Pro-wrestling and 'WWE Tough Enough', how is Chris Jericho perceived, more

Chris Jericho is seen more off a game show host than a reality TV host.

WWE has gone down in ratings over the years. It is no longer the Attitude Era, and we are not at the peak of wrestling popularity. That does not mean pro-wrestling is dead. In fact, it is massively popular even still. Don’t tell this to USA Network, however, as they are not really happy with WWE and pro-wrestling as a whole right now. In fact, USA is not happy with the ratings WWE has been bringing in, and have automatically started to fear the worst.

According to the Wrestling Observer, USA Network believes that pro-wrestling is cycling downward instead of upward. They feel that the ratings for WWE Raw and WWE Tough Enough are not high enough. More ire is being directed towards how WWE Tough Enough is done, which many fans liked. However this time it’s been more of a problem.

USA officials isn’t a fan of how they formatted the show. It is partially taped, while also being live for both the judgement and home voting. They feel that the judges do not have enough time to make fair decisions, and that the fans only have minute instead of a whole day or whole week to vote for their favorites. They feel the current format is a turn off to fans, and has caused poor “word of mouth” buzz.

USA Network officials were very happy with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin when he was the host of Tough Enough a number of years ago. It is thought that his charisma and presence led to ratings for the show. Meanwhile, USA sees Chris Jericho as more of a game show host. There is no anger directed toward Jericho, nor do they blame him for the lower ratings. The issue USA officials has is that it feels more like a game show than a reality TV competition.

Officials are also concerned with how the last two Tough Enough winners turned out in Daniel Puder and Andy Levine. Both were released before ever really doing anything in WWE. This has led to some speculation that Tough Enough’s winners aren’t really amounting to much, which may turn people off from the show, as well.

Of course, the original idea for Tough Enough was for the winner to get a WWE contract and become a star with the WWE one day. Now, there is a feeling that winning the show means nothing, which could be why fans do not care and why ratings are lower.