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Although it was Christmas Eve and everyone expected a poor rating, as evidenced by the taped show that featured nothing but comedy and babyfaces going over clean, this past Monday night's (Dec. 24, 2012) episode of Raw bombed.
Hard.
All three hours averaged 3.14 million viewers, according to the Wrestling Observer, with a rating of 2.2, the lowest in 15 years. Here's the breakdown of the three hours, which also features a surprise:
Hour one: 2.94 million viewers
Hour two: 3.27 million viewers
Hour three: 3.22 million viewers
It's fair to wonder if the rating would have gotten over 2.0 if ESPN's Monday Night Football hadn't ended the week before. Sure, it was a pre-taped holiday show that was fluffy as all get out but these numbers are as low as they've been in a long time.
The good news is that things are looking up with The Rock returning next month, where he is expected to appear at roughly three Raw shows as of right now, starting on Jan. 7. The numbers likely won't rebound on that date, of course, thanks to the BCS National Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame. But it's smooth sailing from there, as WWE has no major competition from that point until WrestleMania 29.
For complete results and the live blog from Raw click here. For reactions to the show click here. And for a full playlist of the entire show click here.