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No one was expecting a ratings renaissance on a U.S. holiday, and ‘go home’ shows for pay-per-view (PPV) events aren’t what they used to be. But WWE did try to combat those issues, and the general dip in audience size they’ve been experiencing lately, by announcing some big matches a week in advance for the last Raw before Extreme Rules on May 29.
It didn’t work. Or, to the extent it did help only shows how bad things are right now.
Viewership was down from last week’s low for the year of 2.62 million, with this week clocking in at 2.61 million. At least the third hour drop wasn’t as bad as last week, thanks to a Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns main event. Here’s the hourly breakdown:
Hour one: 2.69 million
Hour two: 2.68 million
Hour three: 2.47 million
Next Monday will bring a new #1 contender for the Universal title, but Brock Lesnar isn’t due back until June 12 to start that feud. We’ll see what WWE does to try and reverse things ahead of his return.
For complete results and the live blog for Raw this week click here. To read a complete recap and review of all the night’s events click here. For a full playlist of the show click here.