Raw ratings up despite big third hour drop
Coming the day after Fastlane, Raw was up four percent from last week, averaging 3.20 million viewers, with a particularly strong second hour but a major drop in the third hour.
The number was virtually identical to that of two weeks earlier and based on normal patterns of gaining about 10 percent after football season ends, Raw should be doing 3.2 million viewers weekly right now.
Raw was second to the O’Reilly Factor (3.85 million viewers) for the night on cable.
The key second hour item was the Goldberg-Brock Lesnar face-to-face angle where Lesnar laid Goldberg out with an F-5.
There was an across the board third hour drop, of 13 percent, far larger than usual, even in the male demos which usually hold steady in that hour.
The third hour was built around a confrontation with Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman that never happened, and Undertaker was never advertised to appear, and both Lesnar and Goldberg had already appeared by that time.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 3.32 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 3.38 million viewers
- 10 p.m 2.95 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.