WWE Raw draws huge ratings for Royal Rumble fallout
Raw did another monster number last night coming off the Royal Rumble, with 2.11 million viewers and a 0.64 rating in 18-49, making it the most watched show, in both cable and network television, of the day.
Raw was first in women 18-49, more than doubled everything on cable in men 18-49, more than doubled everything on cable in 18-34 and beat everything but The Bachelor on television in that demo. Raw was seventh in total viewers, trailing only news shows.
It was down 10 percent in viewers from last week’s 30th anniversary episode, but that was to be expected. It was down eight percent in 18-49 and down eight percent in 18-34.
From last year’s show after the Royal Rumble, Raw was up 13 percent in viewers, up 34 percent in 18-49, and up 45 percent in 18-34. This comes even with the decline in homes reached by USA Network. Factoring that out, the gains were 20 percent in viewers, 42 percent in 18-49, and 54 percent in 18-49.
ESPN in competition aired Virginia vs. Syracuse college basketball (1,007,000/25) and Baylor vs Texas college basketball (895,000/0.26) as the major sports competition. The NBA had a Lakers-Nets game on NBA TV that did 498,000/0.15.
The highest rated show besides Raw on cable was Below Deck on Bravo that did 1,201,000/0.31.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 2.22 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 2.17 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 1.96 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.