WWE Raw ratings reach a year low on Dec. 2

It sure seems like there isn't much of anything WWE can do at present time to combat the ratings juggernaut that is Monday Night Football on ESPN, especially when a big showcase game like New Orleans vs. Seattle is on the schedule. That includes running a program centered solely around unifying the WWE and world heavyweight championship titles, something so many fans have claimed they've wanted for so long.

This past Monday night's episode of Raw, featuring the John Cena vs. Randy Orton contract signing, did a 2.7 rating and averaged 3.53 million viewers. That's the lowest number of the entire year and one of the worst viewership numbers of the past 15 years.

The Seahawks blowout win over the Saints, meanwhile, did 15.5 million viewers.

The hourly breakdown for Raw shows the now typical pattern:

Hour one: 3.62 million
Hour two: 3.56 million
Hour three: 3.45 million

There are already reports flying that WWE isn't happy, a seemingly obvious observation but an important one because those in power within the company have been known to make panic moves in response to low ratings like this.

Next week's show is a big one, representing the go home edition to the TLC pay-per-view (PPV) on Dec. 15 in Houston and playing host to the Slammy Awards, which is usually good for a small ratings bump. Unfortunately, that night's NFL game features the Dallas Cowboys traveling to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears with both teams still in the playoff race.

The last time that happened the numbers were as low as this past Monday night. Stay tuned.

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.