WWE Raw posts lowest ratings in modern era

[Norrin Radd]

WWE RAW Sets Another Historic Viewership Low This Week - Wrestling Inc.

Monday's WWE RAW, featuring the final hype for Super Show-Down with an advertised appearance by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, drew 2.302 million viewers. This is down 2% from last week's 2.350 million viewers and a new historic low, coming in under last week's episode.

For this week's show, the first hour drew 2.500 million viewers (last week's hour 1 - 2.493 million), the second hour drew 2.325 million viewers (last week's hour 2 - 2.275 million) and the final hour drew 2.081 million viewers (last week's hour 3 - 2.281 million).

RAW was #15 for the night in viewership on cable, behind NFL Monday Night Football on ESPN, Monday Night Kickoff, SportsCenter at midnight, Hannity, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Monday Night Countdown, MLB Tiebreaker at 4pm, MLB Tiebreaker at 1pm, The Ingraham Angle, Rachel Maddow Show, The Five, Special Report, The Story and Outnumbered. RAW was #6 in the 18-49 demographic this week, behind Monday Night Football, Monday Night Kickoff, SportsCenter at midnight, Monday Night Countdown and Love & Hip-Hop.

The NFL's Monday Night Football topped the night in the 18-49 demographic and in viewership this week, for the fourth week in a row. The Chiefs vs. Broncos game drew 13.214 million viewers.

Dancing With The Stars drew 7.058 million viewers on broadcast TV in the 8pm hour while The Neighborhood drew 8.102 million viewers, The Voice drew 10.058 million viewers, The Resident drew 4.879 million viewers and Penn & Teller drew 1.158 million viewers, all in the 8pm hour on broadcast TV.

Below is our 2018 RAW Viewership Tracker:

January 1st Episode: 2.865 million viewers
January 8th Episode: 2.766 million viewers
January 15th Episode: 3.250 million viewers
January 22nd Episode: 4.530 million viewers (RAW 25)
January 29th Episode: 3.395 million viewers (Post-Royal Rumble episode)
February 5th Episode: 3.055 million viewers
February 12th Episode: 3.105 million viewers
February 19th Episode: 3.282 million viewers
February 26th Episode: 3.180 million viewers (post-Elimination Chamber episode)
March 5th Episode: 3.099 million viewers
March 12th Episode: 3.352 million viewers
March 19th Episode: 3.327 million viewers
March 26th Episode: 3.366 million viewers
April 2nd Episode: 3.357 million viewers
April 9th Episode: 3.921 million viewers (post-WrestleMania 34 episode)
April 16th Episode: 3.622 million viewers (Superstar Shakeup episode)
April 23rd Episode: 3.104 million viewers
April 30th Episode: 3.066 million viewers
May 7th Episode: 2.689 million viewers (post-Backlash episode)
May 14th Episode: 2.741 million (taped show from London)
May 21st Episode: 2.668 million viewers
March 28th Episode: 2.494 million viewers
June 4th Episode: 2.525 million viewers
June 11th Episode: 2.730 million viewers
June 18th Episode: 2.903 million viewers (post-Money In the Bank episode)
June 25th Episode: 2.663 million viewers
July 2nd Episode: 2.707 million viewers
July 9th Episode: 2.470 million viewers
July 16th Episode: 2.866 million viewers (post-Extreme Rules episode)
July 23rd Episode: 2.779 million viewers
July 30th Episode: 2.901 million viewers
August 6th Episode: 2.804 million viewers
August 13th Episode: 2.825 million viewers
August 20th Episode: 3.095 million viewers (post-SummerSlam episode)
August 27th Episode: 2.877 million viewers
September 3rd Episode: 2.872 million viewers (Labor Day episode)
September 10th Episode: 2.740 million viewers
September 17th Episode: 2.672 million viewers (post-Hell In a Cell episode)
September 24th Episode: 2.350 million viewers
October 1st Episode: 2.302 million viewers
October 8th Episode:

2017 Total: 156.971 million viewers
2017 Average: 3.018 million viewers per episode

 

[jadillac]

last tiem was the first time I've watched any portion of RAW in over a month.

 

[Francis White]

Take the belt off the human garbage can Roman. He will never be the guy.

 

[woof]

It's true though. When RAW is bad, people are already tired of WWE (and wrestling altogether) for the rest of the week.

There’s been plenty of times over the years when SD and Raw weren’t exactly symbiotic, ratings/attendance/YouTube views/etc wise.

I’m sure if SD somehow spikes 600K viewers this week, you’re not going to say it’s because the buzz from Raw (after people that didn’t watch it live caught up on YouTube or what have you) drove it.

The entire product right now is ice cold. No excuses for almost any part of it.

 

[Dreamzeedream]

That show long storyline over the last two weeks of “WILL DEAN TURN!?” Is a failure, either do or don’t saturday and leave that. And Corbin as GM did a number on their number.

It's the same stuff every Monday

 

[Rell84shots]

Take the belt off the human garbage can Roman. He will never be the guy.

He's not the reason why the ratings are tanking. Honestly it feels like they're just in cruise control until the Royal Rumble so they can kick off Wrestlemania season.

 

[LastManStanding]

more of this

and less of this

and the ratings go up

 

[Francis White]

He's not the reason why the ratings are tanking. Honestly it feels like they're just in cruise control until the Royal Rumble so they can kick off Wrestlemania season.

He is a major part of the reason. The man says he is the big dog, commentators say he is the man and this is his yard. Yet he is the least interesting member of the shield. After 5 years has no connection to the crowd. Has awful camera presence.

 

[Rell84shots]

He is a major part of the reason. The man says he is the big dog, commentators say he is the man and this is his yard. Yet he is the least interesting member of the shield. After 5 years has no connection to the crowd. Has awful camera presence.

The main reason is that they're not doing anything with anyone, they could take the belt off of him next week and shyt wouldn't change. Their mistake with Roman was trying to make him a face, because he definitely connects better as a heel who doesn't give a fukk. You're trying to boil it down to one guy when there's a multitude of reasons why the ratings are falling. I expect next year's Wrestlemania to be a reboot for the company, and that's only because they have to look good for the new bosses at Fox and they won't let RAW fall behind.

 

[NYChase718]

Ya know....

It used to be bout the money and the miles

But ya know..


The marks are in the ring now

And ya know

shyt happens

 

[NYChase718]

And ya know...

Hunter was a good bag boy

But now hunter..ya see he put the bag boys in the ring

And ya know

Dont say we didnt warn ya

And ya know

Nobody wants to see the young guys

So ya know

Thats why two bald memberrs of the kliq headline

And ya know

Thats why a guy who tried to save wwf and played as a fake version of me
And is a mayor and is bald too and wears a wig

Ya know

And thats why they run the show

Ya know

 

[satam55]

shyt is unwatchable...I don't know how people sit through 3 hours of that bullshyt

3 hours? Wasn't Raw is War 2 hours back in the attitude era?

 

[Max.]

There are some who believe The Elite/Bullet Club will be going to WWE come next year, and plans could already be underway for it.


Kenny gona save the day

 

[NYChase718]

There are some who believe The Elite/Bullet Club will be going to WWE come next year, and plans could already be underway for it.


Kenny gona save the day

Oh..

What will they be...

The good brothers

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

He's not the reason why the ratings are tanking. Honestly it feels like they're just in cruise control until the Royal Rumble so they can kick off Wrestlemania season.

He is a major part of the reason. The man says he is the big dog, commentators say he is the man and this is his yard. Yet he is the least interesting member of the shield. After 5 years has no connection to the crowd. Has awful camera presence.

The main reason is that they're not doing anything with anyone, they could take the belt off of him next week and shyt wouldn't change. Their mistake with Roman was trying to make him a face, because he definitely connects better as a heel who doesn't give a fukk. You're trying to boil it down to one guy when there's a multitude of reasons why the ratings are falling. I expect next year's Wrestlemania to be a reboot for the company, and that's only because they have to look good for the new bosses at Fox and they won't let RAW fall behind.

He’s far from the only reason, but if there’s a place to start, it’s him. You can’t have the person you present as the top face and centerpiece of the show as a guy with barely any more personality than baron Corbin while getting legit go away heat who gets maybe the worst push anyone has ever gotten going on five years now. The fact that they sabotage the whole show to protect him is just further evidence of this. It’s hard for the rest of the show to fall into place when the main event scene is a train wreck, and you know it’s a train wreck when it’s not any worse if the champ is gone for 2-3 months at a time. They even buried their own product to try getting the crowd to cheer Roman when he faced Brock.


For me the other big starting point is no more 50/50 booking and no more matches with nothing at stake. The same matches happen every week for no reason and there’s no prize for winning or penalty for losing most of the time. This makes the matches boring right out the gate and gives us no reason to care while overexposing the wrestlers, opening them up to more injury, and giving them far less time to develop characters so the crowd will actually care. Those are the places I would start when trying to fix it anyway.