We say this a lot but the ratings have been trickling down more and more by the years, that being said, surprising turnout. A lot of people might have watched to see if it was a disaster.
This post actually says a lot about the dystopian view so many on this board have when it comes to WWE.
It is highly doubtful a lot of people would have sat down on Christmas night to watch a 3-hour program in anticipation of it being a disaster. On a side note, if a significant portion of your viewership is so miserable and lonely they want to spend Christmas watching something they think (hope?) will suck, then how do you possibly write and book with the hopes of satisfying them?
To your original point about ratings downturns, that is across the board. Streaming and cord-cutting is a real thing and has a real effect on TV viewing numbers. Many fans here hate WWE, want to espouse how bad it sucks and will look for any thing to support their warped desire for the company to be at death's door. I don't get people investing that much time, thought and energy into something they dislike, but that's a whole other conversation.
I'm not going to claim WWE is as hot as it was in the late 90s. I am going to say it's not nearly the shit show many on here claim it to be. Further most of the reasons people oin here cite, other than personal opinions, are easily refuted.
I read nobody cares or watches the current product. The company's official Instagram, Twitter and YouTube pages have 14 million, 10 million and 20 million followers/subscribers, respectively. Do those sound like the numbers of an irrelevant company?
I read USA will drop or lowball WWE due to poor ratings. The ratings suck so bad that Raw is still consistently among the two or three most-watched shows on cable. Smackdown isn't far behind. USA is apparently so miserable over the WWE deal they forced Raw to have a third hour and give them various specials throughout the year.
Finally, I read about live crowds not giving a shit and about attendance. As far as attendance goes, do you guys who shout about that live in a bubble? That's a common theme with every ticket-purchased form of entertainment, from college sports to movie theaters. Low cost of streaming and TV advancements have unfortunately caused a great deal of that.
As far as crowd apathy, I can't really disagree with that. I can say, however, that it's hard to compare today's crowds with those of the Attitude era. After all the drunk and disorderlies that frequented arenas in 1997 are the same people who are showing up to shows today with their two kids and their smart phones. Unfortunately, the phones probably get more of their attention than the wrestlers or the kids.
Are there problems with today's product? Absolutely. Are there things WWE could do better? Damn, right, there are.
However, if your view on the product (or your world view, for that matter) is so distorted as to think most of its Christmas night viewership consisted of individuals watching to see how bad the show sucked, there may be a need for you to take a step back and reevaluate some things.