One of WWE's proverbial panic buttons if SmackDown Live on FOX doesn't draw ratings could be to re-integrate the roster.

When it comes to Raw and SmackDown Live's new television deals, Vince McMahon must have been laughing all the way to the bank when he signed on the dotted lines. FOX coughed up a little over $1 billion in order to get the blue brand on its network starting in October 2019, and NBCUniversal parted with even more in order to keep Raw on the USA Network.

No matter what way you slice it though, WWE's television ratings aren't what they used to be. Just a few weeks ago, an episode of Raw registered the lowest viewership ever in the show's 25-year history. This isn't new though. It's not as if FOX and NBC signed the above deals and all of a sudden ratings plummeted. Fans watching Raw and SmackDown Live each week has been on a gradual decline for a while.

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via sportskeeda.com

That doesn't mean Mr. McMahon won't hit the panic button though, and Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio this week that one form of panicking may be to re-combine the rosters. The roster has been split a number of times over the past fifteen years and the current divide has been in place for the past two years. If FOX complains about ratings though, WWE may return to having its Superstars compete on both shows.

Meltzer discussed the fear that FOX may see current ratings and attempt to opt out of the billion dollar deal. However, the long-time wrestling journalist admitted that is highly unlikely, and the real "worst case" scenario is that the network bosses decide to air SmackDown Live on FOX Sports 1 instead of its flagship channel. The threat of that could also warrant a merging of the rosters in WWE's eyes too.

As mentioned above however, dwindling TV ratings across WWE programming isn't a new thing. Viewership has not changed significantly since FOX would have taken a look at it and decided that having SmackDown Live on its network for five years is worth north of $1 billion. There's well over a year before the blue brand moves channel and timeslot though, and a lot can change in WWE between now and then.

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