Though WWE fans are buzzing about the show’s final twenty minutes, in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned and delivered one of the best promos in years, Monday’s RAW was far from a ratings winner.
Albeit a slight victim of Valentine’s Day, which sent most shows down between about five and ten percent Monday, RAW still did little to impress in the ratings department. While Johnson’s return was unadvertised and thus unlikely to spike ratings from the get-go, it is clear the lengthy twenty minute overrun failed to set the world on fire. Plus, while the Rock was not advertised in advance, WWE did hype the WrestleMania guest host announcement, so the expectation of a bump would not have been unreasonable.
The show averaged a 3.1 cable coverage rating (the “rating” you see on most wrestling websites) with a 1.8 in adults 18-49. The viewership average for the 140 minute show came in at 4.77 million.
A USA Network executive touted that The Rock’s twenty minute overrun segment reached 5.7 million viewers; while a significant improvement from the hour two average, it remains a surprisingly “ordinary” performance. Many overrun segments that would be only slightly newsworthy, especially when given time to build an audience, deliver similar numbers for WWE. F4WOnline.com, for instance, says that the overrun for the recent “RAW Rumble” looks to have outdrawn Rock’s surprise appearance.
Obviously, a verdict on The Rock’s return will not truly be available until next week’s numbers come in. And even those ratings will be fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things–the real metric for judging The Rock’s success is the WrestleMania buyrate.
What a joke ! You might as well bring back Hulk Hogan to go with The Rock’s return.