WWE Raw ratings for Labor Day show average 4.2 million viewers

WWE held its annual Labor Day edition of Monday Night Raw this week and because of that, it took an extra day for the ratings to come in. Well, they have arrived and, as expected, viewership was down thanks to the holiday. But there was still cause for concern.

The three hour show averaged 4.2 million viewers with hours of 4.31 million in the first, 4.4 million in the second, and a staggering drop off to 3.91 million in the third. It may not seem like much but that is a big drop-off for the final hour of the show.

Sure, you can blame the holiday, and that's fair. But it's interesting to see the first hour perform so well so soon after the switch to the three hour format while the third hour fell off considerably.

Viewer fatigue already?

That could certainly be the case, as it's been a frequent complaint amongst pro wrestling fans, at least around these parts. It's difficult to stay invested in any program for that long once a week every week of the year, especially when there are other options.

Now that the National Football League (NFL) is back, there will be Monday Night Football games going head to head with Raw and that could get ugly in a hurry. If the product improves enough, WWE could sustain just fine but at the current rate the decline could continue.

It will be fascinating to see how long the three hour experiment lasts. Until the end of the year maybe?