WWE Raw ratings for Dec. 23: Viewership decreases for holiday show but not much

Considering the fact that it's the holiday season and this past Monday night's (Dec. 23, 2013) episode of Raw was taped in advance with spoilers readily available, and the show itself heavy on wrestling and light on angles, the viewership numbers should be considered a success.

Mostly.

While a final rating isn't available as of this writing, Raw averaged 3.82 million viewers for all three hours this week. Here's the hourly breakdown:

Hour one: 3.89 million
Hour two: 3.95 million
Hour three: 3.61 million

So while the numbers are lower than usual, the pattern of viewership rising into the second hour before dropping off in the third continues. There's hope on the horizon, however, with ESPN having wrapped up its Monday Night Football schedule this past week and the new year bringing WrestleMania season with it.

Next week's show has a New Year's theme and the one after it, on Jan. 6, will have the "Old School" theme attached to it. That show competes with the BCS National Championship game, which represents the last major sporting competition before Raw is back to having Monday night all to itself.

For complete results and the live blog from Raw click here. For full reactions click here. And for a complete playlist from the show click here.