Big E’s cash-in helped save Raw from historically bad ratings

WWE loaded up the Sept. 13 Raw with the promise of a WWE title clash and a Money in the Bank cash-in by a fan favorite. Whether that was due to the reality of Monday Night Football returning as direct competition, or the perception that Dynamite is catching up to WWE’s Monday night flagship? That debate will continue.

What can’t be debated are the numbers. We don’t know how much worse it would have been without Big E winning the WWE championship on the show. But the strong third hour performance indicates it could have been really bad without the episode’s Big Ending (pun definitely intended).

Hour One: 1.672 million
Hour Two: 1.634 million
Hour Three: 1.703 million

That averages out to 1.67 million across the entire show, which is the lowest viewership Raw’s had since they left the ThunderDome.

Ratings weren’t any better. Thanks to the strong third hour (Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported Big E’s title win made Raw’s final quarter-hour its most-watched), this past Monday Raw averaged a .42 among 18 - 49 year olds. It’s the lowest number since the July 5 holiday weekend episode - and that was one of the worst numbers in the show’s history. It’s also significantly lower than what AEW did last Wednesday, so gird your loins for that discussion when the numbers come in for the Sept. 15 Dynamite.

AEW doesn’t deal with head-to-head competition from the NFL, of course. And football was king on Sept. 13, with ESPN’s main broadcast of the season opening thriller between Baltimore & Las Vegas drawing 7.57 million viewers and a 2.76 rating in 18-49 to finish number one among cable originals. The game also aired on ESPN2 and ABC, with more than 22 million people watching across all three Disney-owned channels.

Only 16 more weeks to go!

For complete results and this week’s Raw live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For video highlights of the show click here.

Numbers via Showbuzz Daily