Shield reunion, Enzo Amore match help boost WWE Raw ratings
Even with competition coming from both Monday Night Football and the Major League Baseball playoffs, The Shield reunion and Enzo Amore look to have provided a strong 1-2 combination for WWE in the ratings.
Last night’s show did 2.89 million viewers, a 4.6 percent increase from last week on a show that, based on the competition, figured to do the lowest mark of the fall.
The big news, and this is attributable to Amore, is that the third hour, at 2.71 million viewers, didn’t drop nearly as much as expected and was ahead of the last few weeks. The third hour was promoted with Amore vs. Kalisto for the Cruiserweight title, which Kalisto won in an impromptu decision, as the focal point.
The Bears vs. Vikings game did 10.28 million viewers, the New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians baseball game did 4.49 million viewers, and Dancing With the Stars, featuring Nikki Bella, did 9.25 million viewers.
The key to the third hour was the much lower level of women tuning out than has been usual for the show, and a big increase in teenage boys from hour two to three to almost compensate for the loss of the over-50 audience, WWE’s largest viewing audience, which fell nine percent from hour two to hour three.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 3.01 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 2.89 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 2.71 million viewers
Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.