It's no secret that Vince McMahon looks at Brock Lesnar as WWE's golden goose (to be fair, he's not wrong), which is why The Beast is usually carrying a title when he makes one of his rare appearances on TV or PPV.
There's no denying that Lesnar being used more as a feature attraction than a regular fixture of WWE programming has paid off, but what happens when he's not around at all? Vince seems to think that's a sure-fire ratings killer.
Here's what the Chairman had to say about the dip in ratings and how it relates (or doesn't, in his mind) to the lack of live audiences.
“As far as ratings are concerned, SmackDown has virtually been no change, very little. Raw has suffered, but not necessarily because of the environment. It’s suffered because we bring in a lot of new talent to Raw and it takes a while to get new talent over. We no longer have Brock Lesnar, obviously, but we have a new champion and a lot of new performers coming in… I’m convinced the Raw ratings will bounce back considerably.”
McMahon isn't explicitly stating that a lack of Lesnar has tanked the ratings, but it's certainly implied. Should Drew McIntyre be worried? Well, if The Beast makes a surprise appearance on Raw some point over the next few weeks, we'll know why!