What many expected to be one of the top-rated RAW episodes of the year turned out to be a fairly run-of-the-mill WWE show in the viewership department and thus a huge disappointment.
Successful NBA Playoffs telecasts definitely hurt the performance, but it also appears that viewers might be experiencing some “Rock fatigue.”
Monday’s episode of RAW, which was dedicated to celebrating The Rock’s birthday, averaged only a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating with 5.19 million viewers. Given the hype for The Rock, the fact that he appeared in some lengthy, commercial-free segments and general buzz that should have carried over from Extreme Rules, that is a terribly disappointing number.
Obviously, posting a demo rating in the 2.0 range and beating the 5 million viewer mark is a great feat for a cable series, but RAW nearly posted an identical number last week for the two-hour draft special. For this week’s rating to see no boost suggests that The Rock has lost that “special attraction” feel, at least as far as the short-term goes.
Worth noting is the fact that RAW opened considerably stronger than it closed, scoring 5.4 million viewers for the first hour and 5.0 million for the latter 79 minutes. While even that first hour is disappointing given what was expected of The Rock’s birthday celebration, the significant drop-off suggests fans were not at all impressed with how WWE went about actually celebrating the birthday. Many have expressed particular surprise over the fact that there was no real “angle” built into the main-event segment with The Rock.
For those who track the cable coverage rating, this week’s show scored a 3.4.