Controversy sells as June 20 Raw does best numbers since WrestleMania

The first episode of WWE television after word broke the company’s board was investigating Vince McMahon for alleged misconduct gave SmackDown its best television numbers since April. That June 17 show advertised an appearance by McMahon, and an Undisputed WWE Universal title match. It also didn’t go against any nationally televised pro sports competition.

On June 20, Raw had none of those advantages. Vince showed up, but he wasn’t promoted. There were Money in the Bank qualifiers, and an unannounced #1 contenders match, but no championships were on the line. And the Stanley Cup finals continued to put up impressive numbers for ABC (Tampa Bay’s Game 3 win over Colorado won the night with 4.1 million viewers and a 1.20 rating among 18-49 year olds).

So when you see that last night’s show had the red brand’s best numbers since the Raw after WrestleMania 38, handily winning the night on cable and turned in numbers similar to what its blue sister show does on a broadcast channel every week? It seems logical to at least partially attribute the average hourly audience of 1.99 million, and .54 demo rating to the publicity generated by the McMahon scandal.

Here’s the break down for total viewers and 18-49:

Hour One: 2.06 million / .52
Hour Two: 2.08 million / .58
Hour Three: 1.87 million / .53

And next week could be even bigger, with the return of John Cena and no hockey game.

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