This past Monday night's (Feb. 20, 2012) episode of WWE Raw featured the in-person return of Undertaker and all the fallout from the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view the night before and still couldn't pop the ratings number they were hoping for.
It would seem, at this point, that pro wrestling has settled into a groove and it will remain this way going forward, despite the fact that it's WrestleMania season.
WWE Raw on Monday, February 20 scored a 3.24 rating the night after the Elimination Chamber PPV, up from a weak 2.99 rating last week. It was nearly identical to a 3.25 rating two weeks ago on Feb. 6.
Raw averaged 4.63 million viewers, nearly identical to an average of 4.62 million viewers on Feb. 6 prior to last week's show dropping to a near-year low.
For what it's worth, Raw's numbers declined from the first hour to the second, albeit not by much.
The Rock comes back next week and Shawn Michaels is also booked for a fair number of shows leading up to WrestleMania 28 on April 1, so if there's going to be an upkick in ratings, it's going to happen next week. All the big dogs are coming out to play and if they're still worth the numbers they used to be, we'll see it here soon.
For complete results and reactions to this past Monday night's episode of Raw, including the running live blog, click here and here.