Those upset by the heavy inclusion of Vincent Kennedy McMahon–and WWE’s signature version of “comedy”–on Monday’s WWE RAW are not going to like the ratings report.
Monday’s episode delivered a healthy 1.7 adults 18-49 rating across three hours, which bests the 1.5 for the two hour show last week. Given that 8PM hour always underperforms for RAW, and in fact only delivered a 1.3 this week, Monday’s number has to be seen as a positive for WWE.
From 9PM through the overrun, RAW averaged a 1.9 with 4.98 million viewers, a solid showing for a show distant from the Road to WrestleMania. Average viewership for the 10PM hour actually crossed through the 5 million barrier, a rarity for WWE in 2012.
The decision to book McMahon on this week’s RAW was made heavily in response to the poor Memorial’s Day rating two weeks ago, and in this case, it appears the panic led to a favorable outcome for WWE. That was less true of the “hot shot” angle involving John Cena and Michael Cole last week, which did not deliver big numbers in the overrun.
