WWE’s Monday night debut of its resurrected reality show, Tough Enough, received a huge audience of 3.3 million viewers. The reality show featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin has 14 individuals competing for a WWE contract.
Via Zap2it.com:
WWE TOUGH ENOUGH is #2 new reality series premiere of the year on cable in P18-49 and P18-34.
- P18-49: 1.969 million
- P25-54: 1.714 million
- Total Viewers: 3.326 million
- P18-34: 1.064 million
The numbers equate to a 2.6 rating. MMA Mania compares these numbers to TUF’s premiere last week. TUF 13’s debut featuring former WWE star Brock Lesnar garnered 1.5 million viewers for a 1.0 rating.
Payout Perspective:
Before we go too far with the numbers, as the MMA Mania post points out, the TE debut came after Monday Night Raw (after Sunday’s Wrestlemania). Usually MNR after Wrestlemania’s do well due to the momentum of Sunday’s big show. The Rock-John Cena confrontation was last on MNR and ran over into TE time so there was likely spillover viewers.
But, it will be interesting to track these two shows at it goes forward. Most of TE’s contestants do not seem like people with long-term aspirations of being pro wrestlers (in fact, one of the contestants was/is a MMA fighter) but reality stars whereas the TUF cast seem dedicated to being fighters. So, TE’s cast may have more personality than TUF’s cast. Of course, we haven’t seen too much from TUF’s cast yet. We will see what is more watchable and what will draw viewers. TE may have an advantage here as MNR is the lead-in to TE whereas TUF is the lead-in to Spike’s new reality series “Coal”.
I wish WWE the best. 1.5M viewers for TUF is a solid number and one that keeps the lights on for many seasons to come. Even if Tough Enough does well, it doesn’t mean it detracts from the UFC’s shows.
By the way, I’m not a fan of either show. I’m just saying the success of one does not mean the defeat of the other.
I actually like the Coal show after TUF. Pretty interesting so far.