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Considering last week's episode of Monday Night Raw featured a really strong closing angle -- even if there was very little advanced planning for it and it's entirely possible it was done to combat low ratings in recent weeks -- you would expect the numbers for last night's show to be up.
They weren't.
That's the bad news. The good news is they weren't down a great deal, averaging 4.12 million viewers to last week's 4.13 million. The even better news comes via the hourly breakdown:
Hour one: 3.89 million
Hour two: 4.22 million
Hour three: 4.25 million
It's interesting to note that the show opened with the final resolution to the Daniel Bryan WWE world heavyweight championship title situation, something they heavily teased in the hours leading up to the show. Combine that with the big angle that closed last week and you would assume more viewers would be there for the start of the evening and fall off as the show goes along, peaking somewhere in the second hour.
That's typically the pattern.
Instead, they gained all throughout, which shows the interest they've built with The Shield break up storyline. There's plenty to feel good about right now in WWE, and Money in the Bank has the makings of yet another good pay-per-view (PPV) with added intrigue thanks to the vacant WWE title and whatever match they come up with for Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.
For complete results and the live blog from Raw click here. For a full recap with reactions click here. To watch the show click here.