Raw ratings down big from last week’s post-Royal Rumble highs
WWE numbers fell from last week, which isn’t a story because the Monday after Royal Rumble is likely to be one of the two or three highest rated shows of the year.
But what was a surprise was how far they tumbled, as last night’s show averaged 3.10 million viewers. To put that number into perspective, only five shows in 2016 outside of football season were lower, and this was with a fairly loaded show with Bill Goldberg and a fresh main event with Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe, although in fairness, expecting Joe to pull a good rating in the main event this early wasn’t likely to happen and it’s more an investment of positioning him strong to start.
The overall audience fell 14 percent from last week. It wasn’t competition either, as there was nothing strong on cable out of the ordinary and no show on the networks hit 8 million viewers.
With the exception of two shows in August against the Olympics, two June shows against major NBA playoff games, and a Monday that fell on July 4th, this week’s number was lower than any non-football Raw of 2016.
It also had a bad drop and a very weak third hour.
The three hours were:
- 8 p.m. 3.34 million viewers
- 9 p.m. 3.17 million viewers
- 10 p.m. 2.84 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.