With WWE television ratings going down throughout the last couple of months, Vince McMahon has tried different strategies to fix the problem - but to no avail so far.
He implemented the "wild card rule" which allows four SmackDown superstars to appear on Raw each week and vice versa. WWE has also been doing more two of three falls matches to switch things up, but that hasn't done much to help ratings or attendance.
WWE's latest change may be their biggest one yet, however. On Thursday, it was announced that Paul Heyman will take over as Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, while Eric Bischoff returns to WWE as Executive Director of SmackDown Live.
It's a good thing decided to make these major changes, because things are apparently going awry backstage. One superstar told Fightful.com "Vince is still in charge, so that's all you really need to know," and that things "couldn't possibly be worse" in WWE right now.
Related: Vince McMahon Told Seth Rollins Respond To Jon Moxley [Rumor]
Not only is WWE dealing with television ratings, but attendance for Stomping Grounds and this week's episode of Raw were extremely low. It was reported by Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Radio that there were only about 6,000 for Sunday's pay-per-view in Tacoma, and that WWE was even handing out tickets at the mall. Dave Meltzer later reported that there were only 3,500 fans at this week's episode of Raw.
On top of that, Meltzer recently said that a handful of WWE superstars "are counting the days" until their contracts run up - with many of them interested in joining AEW. Vince has already lost Jon Moxley to the rival promotion, and there could be more WWE talents on their way out during a rough stretch for the company.
What This Means
Things are extremely tense in WWE right now due to ratings and attendance issues plus the number of disgruntled superstars. This won't be an easy or short-term fix, but bringing in Heyman and Bischoff should help WWE immensely - especially with Vince seemingly accepting the fact that his ideas and direction are failing more often than not.