WWE Raw ratings rise but fail to crack 4 million viewers for 'Payback' go home show

If the powers that be within WWE were panicking at the low rating the Monday Night Raw drew when it was up against Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA Playoffs between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, there must surely be panic now, right?

Last week's show got crushed by that game, averaging just 3.68 million viewers and pulling a 2.6 rating on USA. With there being no competition from major sports on Monday nights until football season rolls back around, the numbers were supposed to bounce back in a big way, especially considering last night's (June 10, 2013) episode of Raw was the go home show to the Payback pay-per-view (PPV) this coming Sunday night in Chicago.

But that's not what happened.

The show pulled a 3.1 rating and averaged 3.99 million viewers for all three hours. That's an improvement, yes, but the failure to crack 4 million viewers isn't likely to go over well at company headquarters in Stamford.

Here's the hourly breakdown:

Hour one: 3.89 million
Hour two: 4.09 million
Hour three: 3.99 million

Viewership was, if nothing else, relatively steady throughout but with no competition and the promotion trying to sell a PPV event this weekend, this has to be looked at as a disappointment.

It should be exciting to see what that means for next week's fallout show.

For complete results and the live blog click here. For reactions to the show click here. And for a playlist of the entire night click here.