Braun Strowman publicly challenged Cody Rhodes’ claim that Triple H is the best possible booker of WWE right now, pointing to the company’s declining television ratings.
Rhodes made the comment on the Ariel Helwani Show: “Nobody has a harder job and no one can do that job better than he can do it.” Strowman replied on social media with: “Ratings say otherwise lol.”
When a fan argued ratings declines were caused by the FIFA World Cup, Strowman shot back: “Wasn’t a problem for my show lol” — a reference to Everything on the Menu with Braun Strowman, his reality cooking series airing after SmackDown on USA Network.
The ratings context backs some of Strowman’s point. Per Wrestlenomics estimates, Raw averaged 1.4 million total US viewers over a seven-week period from early May through mid-June 2026, down from 1.57 million over the same period in 2025 and 1.66 million in 2024 when the show was on USA Network. SmackDown is down 15% in total viewers and 29% in the 18-49 demo for Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025.
Strowman was released by WWE in May 2025 after two runs with the company.