WWE finally got away from dealing with competition from football for Monday Night Raw last week and the show delivered 3.27 million viewers. It was expected the numbers would go up even more this week, with Goldberg and Brock Lesnar returning for the go home show to Royal Rumble.
They did.
Just not by much.
Indeed, this week’s show drew 3.29 million viewers. Here’s how the hourly breakdown looks, with the usual pattern of a dropoff in the final hour:
Hour one: 3.31 million
Hour two: 3.46 million
Hour three: 3.11 million
It’s all but certain now that SmackDown Live won’t be catching Raw as long as the red brand is drawing numbers like this. Considering the lack of competition that should be the case going forward.
For complete results and the live blog from Raw click here. For a recap with reactions to all the night's events click here. To watch highlights of the show click here.