Nov. 25 “Monday Night Raw” Viewership Sees Huge Increase Due to “Survivor Series” Fallout

The day prior to the Nov. 25 edition of “Monday Night Raw” saw the impossible happen: “The Icon” Sting set foot in a WWE ring. WCW’s golden boy during wrestling’s heyday appeared during the main event of “Survivor Series,” clashing with Triple H to take The Authority out of power. The debut garnered a lot of buzz outside of the wrestling community, adding new eyes to the WWE product the next night.

According to TVByTheNumbers.com, the Nov. 25 showing of “Monday Night Raw” averaged 4.25 million viewers, an increase of about 13 percent from the past week’s figure of 3.77 million. Presumably, the new viewers were anticipating an appearance from Sting, but that would not happen. Though, the WWE Universe did get to witness the return of Daniel Bryan in the show’s opening segment.

Below is the hourly viewership breakdown for the Nov. 25 episode of “Monday Night Raw:”

Hour 1:  4.734 million viewers

Hour 2: 3.992 million viewers

Hour 3: 4.012 million viewers

Because of the anticipation for Sting, viewership spiked and peaked for the first hour. As a whole, the episode of “Raw” was the most watched for the fall season, with hour one hitting marks that are only seen during WrestleMania season. Unfortunately, WWE was not able to maintain its early viewership, going back down to its usual average of four million viewers for hours two and three.

Editor’s Note

Sting needed to be on “Monday Night Raw.” Period. The show itself was not bad, but given the circumstances, it needed to be a monumental show. With an average of 4.73 million viewers in the first hour, that number could have easily been higher if WWE utilized Sting in the opening segment. The viewers from the start very well could have stuck around, if Sting was then expected to close the show, or appear later, as well.