Neither the absence of NBA Playoffs competition nor the post-show Extreme Rules buzz was enough to notably boost interest in WWE RAW, which attracted only a slightly larger audience and actually suffered a decline in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic.
Monday’s episode, which opened with Ryback’s follow-up to his Last Man Standing match with John Cena and culminated with an unusual Triple H concussion storyline, attracted 4.22 million viewers, up from last week’s 4.05 million.
The three-hour telecast drew a 1.4 rating, however, which down from the prior week’s 1.5.
That RAW’s ratings would effectively be a week-over-week wash, given all the advantages for this week’s telecast, is a major disappointment for WWE.
One positive show is that it continued its recent (and once standard) trend of building to a peak rating in the final hour. Monday’s show opened with a 1.3 rating at 8PM, before growing to a 1.4 at 9PM and then a 1.6 at 10.
