By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE World Hvt. champion Daniel Bryan retained his position as WWE's top draw in the males 18-49 demographic Monday night on Raw.

During the main three hours of Raw (pre-overrun), Bryan's match with Alberto Del Rio included the most-watched minute of the show and delivered the highest quarter-hour rating.

The other top draw of the night was The Shield vs. The Wyatts six-man tag main event extending from Q12 to the overrun.

The overall show was down considerably from last week's Extreme Rules lead-in episode. By comparison, last week's Q1 scored a 2.28 rating and this week's Q1 scored a 1.65 rating the night after a PPV.

Raw Break Down - m18-49 demographic

- Overall: 1.89 rating / 1.187 million viewers

- Q1: Raw opened with a 1.65 rating for the first-half of the U.S. Title battle royal and one mid-match commercial.

- Q2: Raw increased to a 1.77 rating for the conclusion of the battle royal and one commercial. The peak audience was 1.330 million viewers at 8:18 p.m. just before the finish of the match.

- Q3: Raw fell back to a show-low 1.64 rating for two commercial breaks and the first-half of Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro.

- Q4: Raw inched up to a 1.69 rating for the second-half of RVD-Cesaro, one commercial, and the first-half of Bray Wyatt's monologue.

- Q5: Raw got a slight top-of-the-hour bump to a 1.79 rating for the second-half of Bray's monologue, one commercial, and a full Cody Rhodes vs. Ryback singles match.

The match actually fared better than the end of Bray's monologue, as Bray peaked with 1.211 million viewers at 9:02 p.m. and five minutes of Cody-Ryback were above Bray's peak. The match peaked with 1.291 million viewers at the conclusion.

- Q6: Raw began a steady incline to a 1.81 rating for two full commercial breaks and Los Matadores & El Torito celebrating Cinco De Mayo.

The peak audience was 1.339 million viewers at 9:23 p.m. in-between two commercials.

- Q7: Raw increased to a 1.97 rating for Rusev's latest squash match, one commercial, and the continuation of Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella terrorized by Kane.

The match grazed 1.3 million viewers, then Bryan & Brie backstage hit 1.364 million viewers heading to break.

- Q8: Raw hit a show-high 2.10 rating for Daniel Bryan vs. Del Rio in the ring, plus one commercial. Included was Raw touching 1.4 million viewers for the first time in the show at 9:58 p.m.

- Q9: Raw slipped to a 2.01 rating at the top of the hour.

This was the product of the Bryan-Kane feud spilling over to the third hour, which included a show-high audience of 1.542 million viewers at 10:03 p.m. Raw then cut to break at 10:04 p.m. and lost a significant chunk of viewers on the other side of the break for the first-half of Wade Barrett vs. Big E.

- Q10: Raw fell to a 1.77 rating for two full commercials and the second-half of Barrett vs. Big E. The match's peak was 1.212 million viewers at 10:22 p.m.

- Q11: Raw re-built to a 1.91 rating for Zeb Colter setting up Adam Rose's debut, plus one commercial before the main event. The peak was 1.310 million viewers at 10:35 p.m. at the end of the debut.

- Q12: Raw jumped to a 2.09 rating for the first-half of Shield vs. Wyatts, plus one commercial. The peak was 1.414 million viewers at 10:56 p.m.

- Over-run: Raw finished strong - for this week - with a 2.35 rating for the end of the six-man tag main event and post-match beat down from Evolution.

The segment peaked at 11:03 p.m. with 1.562 million viewers when the match ended. During the post-match involving Evolution, Raw went down one stair-step, finishing with 1.451 million viewers at 11:06 p.m.

Caldwell's Analysis: Bryan is over, The Shield vs. The Wyatts is over, there's a gap in starpower when John Cena is off the show, and long-form matches that build to a conclusion are a draw if there is an established issue or something on the line. Unless it's Big E. vs. Wade Barrett for the IC Title, which suffered from audience indifference toward Big E. and WWE quickly trying to heat up Barrett and waiting for the audience to catch on.

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