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Heading into WrestleMania 30 this past Sun., April 6, 2014, in New Orleans, the ratings for Monday Night Raw were good but not above normal levels. There were good stories being told, sure, but the viewership wasn't really bearing that out on USA each week.
The post-WrestleMania episode of Raw is always a winner, however, and not just because the WWE Creative team is at its best.
Indeed, this year's edition averaged 5.14 million viewers for all three hours, up big from the 4.39 million viewers who tuned in last week, which was up from the 4.27 million viewers the week before.
Here's the hourly breakdown:
Hour one: 5.31 million
Hour two: 5.09 million
Hour three: 5.03 million
That's the first time in forever WWE stayed above five million viewers throughout all three hours of the show. There was plenty to look forward to, and the show was laid out incredibly well. We got a mix of new stars debuting, mainstays hitting home runs, and rising stars ... well ... rising.
It's a good time to be a wrestling fan.
For complete results and the live blog from Raw click here. For full reactions click here. For a complete playlist from the show click here. And if you want to listen to the Cageside Live podcast breaking down the show click here.