By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Despite WWE advertising Shawn Michaels in-advance and Raw being in WrestleMania hype mode, Monday's episode of Raw scored a 2.99 (3.0) rating, down eight percent compared to a 3.25 rating last week. Raw was down 16 percent from a 3.55 rating two weeks ago the night after the Royal Rumble PPV.

-- Raw averaged 4.12 million viewers, down 11 percent compared to last week and down 21 percent compared to the post-Rumble Raw. Overall, Raw was down 1.1 million viewers compared to the post-Rumble Raw.

Raw's first hour averaged 3.92 million viewers, down nearly one million viewers compared to last week's first hour and down 1.4 million viewers compared to the first hour post-Rumble. It was the fewest first hour viewers since September 12 (22 weeks).

Raw then increased to an average of 4.31 million viewers in the second hour, which was down 130,000 viewers compared to last week's second hour and down 800,000 viewers compared to the post-Rumble second hour.

It marked the first time in 2012 and only the second time in the last 16 weeks that Raw's second hour viewership increased compared to the first hour. This week, it was mainly due to the poor performance of Raw's first hour.

-- On cable TV Monday night, Raw ranked #2 behind "Pawn Stars" on History Channel in overall viewers. Raw's second hour ranked #1 among males 18-34 and the second hour ranked #2 among males 18-49. The second hour also finished #1 among males 12-34 & males 12-17, although the younger male demos continue to trail the same week last year by significant margins.

-- On a week-to-week basis, Raw took big hits in all key demographics (12-18 percent declines). Most notable was m12-34, m18-49, m18-34, and a18-34 scoring the lowest ratings of the year, even lower than against the BCS National Title game on January 9. Raw's adult 18-49 demo was even with the Jan. 9 Raw.

The following is a break down of this week's Raw's demos compared to last week (1W) and the post-Rumble Raw (2W).

A18-34: Raw down 18.9% vs. 1W, down 21.0% vs. 2W
A18-49: Raw down 12.5% vs. 1W, down 22.2% vs. 2W
M18-34: Raw down 17.0% vs. 1W, down 22.8% vs. 2W
M18-49: Raw down 13.1% vs. 1W, down 20.1% vs. 2W
M12-34: Raw down 17.4% vs. 1W, down 17.1% vs. 2W
M12-17: Raw down 11.6% vs. 1W, up 4.7% vs. 2W

-- Last year's Raw this week landed on the actual Valentine's Day when people would have been out on Monday night. That show scored a 3.13 overall rating (up 4.5 percent vs. 2012) and averaged 4.76 million viewers (up 13.5 percent vs. 2012).

Caldwell's Analysis: Very rough night for WWE. Raw was not faced with unusual TV competition, but the show saw significant decreases among adults, teenagers, and female viewers. The night after the Rumble, Raw was swarmed by irregular/every-few-weeks, casual viewers. It was the opposite this week. If the audience level doesn't pick up next week the night after Elimination Chamber, then WWE should start to be concerned.

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