“Monday Night Raw” Viewership Down from Past Week; Third Hour Tanks

For the second time this “season,” WWE went head-to-head with ESPN’s regular season showings of the National Football League. As expected, “Monday Night Football” will prevail in terms of cable viewership 10 times out of 10. While WWE will never win the night, its viewership still takes a hit, as evidenced by this week’s “Monday Night Raw” viewership.

TVByTheNumbers.com has released the cable viewership information for Monday, Sept. 15. “Monday Night Raw” finished third among cable programs for the night, trailing VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta,” in addition to “Monday Night Football.” In total, “Raw” averaged 3.826 million viewers, down from last week’s number of 3.986 million.

Below are the hourly breakdowns in terms of viewership:

Hour One:

3.90 million viewers

Hour Two:

3.949 million viewers

Hour Three:

3.629 million viewers

As previously reported, WWE strategically put its main storyline between Brock Lesnar and John Cena during “halftime,” in order to combat the stiff competition in “Monday Night Football.” The idea, reportedly from Vince McMahon himself, saw WWE’s most important storyline occur during halftime of ESPN’s NFL game. Beginning at the tail end of hour two, it appears the segment did not do its job, as viewership tanked for the third hour, the lowest viewed hour.

Editor’s Note

Not surprising in the least, as “Raw” was horribly booked. The hour three numbers are definitely alarming, but it’s what WWE deserves for trotting out Mark Henry and Rusev to close a “go-home” show to an important pay-per-view.