By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE Raw on Monday, December 10 scored a 2.67 rating, up from a near-year-low 2.55 rating last week. However, Raw remained below 2.72 ratings the previous two weeks at the end of November.

-- Raw averaged 3.76 million viewers, up 9.5 percent from a year-low average of 3.44 million viewers last week. However, Raw was down 4.0 percent compared to two weeks ago and down 6.9 percent compared to average viewership during the three-hour Raw era.

Hourly Break Down: 3.74 million first hour viewers, increase to 3.88 million second hour viewers, and the weekly decline to 3.67 million third hour viewers.

It was the 17th consecutive week that viewership declined from the second to third hour. It also marked the 20th week out of 21 weeks during the three-hour Raw era.

-- Raw's top competition was the Texans vs. Patriots Monday Night Football game, which drew 14.4 million viewers. MNF was down 10.6 percent compared to last week's near-season-high of 16.2 million viewers. Raw likely benefited from the game turning into a blow-out with viewers switching over to Raw during the third hour to prevent a more significant drop-off from the second to third hour.

On cable TV Monday night, Raw's second hour ranked #2 behind football. The first hour fell behind "Pawn Stars" on History Chanel and the third hour ranked #6. Something for USA Network to be pleased with is Raw ranking #2 in all key male demos.

In the week-to-week demos, Raw was up two-tenths of a rating compared to last week's show, which set year-lows across the board. But, as with the overall rating and viewership, Raw fell well-below the demo ratings from two weeks ago.

-- One year ago this week, Raw scored a 3.05 two-hour rating (2.84 rating for all three hours) and averaged 4.10 million viewers for a three-hour special carrying the Slammys theme.

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