While the verdict on this week’s WWE RAW rating is not as disappointing as that of last week, it is still far from a positive.
Monday’s RAW, which featured the follow-up to the big “Vince McMahon is relieved of his duties” storyline, as well as the conclusion of the WWE Championship tournament, garnered a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating with 4.8 million viewers, figures that are basically in-line with last week’s performance. The cable coverage rating was in line with last week’s 3.2.
That means that despite all the buzz for the CM Punk storyline, the promise of a new WWE Champion and the introduction of a marquee storyline with Triple H taking over for Vince McMahon, there was effectively no new interest in the RAW product.
There was one bit of good news, however. The show advanced significantly from hour one to hour two, moving from a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating and 4.5 million viewers at 9PM to a 1.8 rating and 5.1 million viewers at 10PM. Positive growth is indicative of an engaging product.
At the same time, the weak opening hour rating again means that the buzz going into the show was not so hot. Had the storylines truly been clicking in a must-see way, that opening hour would have been stronger.
