Given the anticipated impact of the Labor Day holiday, Monday’s WWE RAW held up as well as could reasonably be expected in the ratings.
Unfortunately, the show also exacerbated an alarming trend that has come into play for the past few three-hour telecasts: RAW is unable to retain its audience for the entire broadcast.
As viewers have gotten accustomed to the 8PM start time, interest in the 10-11PM portion has fallen. For the past few weeks, the show peaked in its second hour, indicative of the fact that WWE is not doing enough to captivate viewers and hook them for the final segments.
But for the first time ever Monday, the 8PM hour also outperformed the 10PM segment, which is a major negative given the way wrestling shows are supposed to trend. WWE had two hours and a full audience to drive interest in the final hour, and it notably failed to do so.
Monday’s show averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating on hours of 1.6, 1.6 and 1.5. The show averaged 4.20 million viewers on hours of 4.31, 4.40 and 3.91 million.