SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
This week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw on WWE Network drew a 1.75 rating. The show aired on Memorial Day, but boasted two big main event matches announced a week ahead of time – Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Samoa Joe.
The rating is down from last week’s 1.88 rating and below the ten-week average of 2.12 headed into this week, which includes WrestleMania season.
The rating a year ago on Memorial Day drew a 2.19 rating, a drop of 14 percent.
The first hour drew 2.69 million viewers, the second hour 2.68 million, and the third hour 2.47 million. The first-t0-third hour drop-off was 221,000. The 2017 average is 233,000, so it was a bit below normal.
The five week average headed into Memorial Day last year was 2.27 and the Memorial Day Raw drew a 2.19 rating, so a drop of 0.08. It dropped 0.10 from the prior week rating of 2.19.
This five-week average headed into Memorial Day this year was 1.94, so the 1.75 rating this week is a drop-off of 0.19, steeper than last year’s. The rating last week was 1.88, so the drop-off was 0.13, also greater than last year’s drop-off.
Keller’s Analysis: Given the loaded line-up, its fair to say the Memorial Day episode of Raw performed worse than expected and disappointingly so.
The scary part of the rating is Vince will now hotshot it by finding some excuse to rip Smackdown apart and move folks to Raw. But I put the blame on creative and under performing players. Get Alissa someone to play with, Bayley aint it. Get a Mens champ on air, not on the farm.