WWE News: Ratings Fall To Lowest Of The Year As Plummet Continues — Is ‘Monday Night Raw’ In Danger?
WWE had a lot of momentum going into WrestleMania 33 and things seemed to be going really well, but Monday Night Raw has watched its ratings completely plummet since then. There could be a number of different factors contributing to it, but WWE thought that last night’s big-time main event would help things. Unfortunately, the huge Triple Threat not only didn’t help, but it also brought forth the lowest ratings of the year.
On Monday night, the ratings for WWE fell to the lowest for 2017 so far, and that is not good news at all. According to Showbuzz Daily, Monday Night Raw had hours that came in fourth, fifth, and sixth place overall, but their numbers are nothing to be happy about.
It didn’t help matters that the ratings fluctuated throughout the night, but that means a lot fewer people saw the incredible Triple Threat main event than the opening segment. In the first quarter hour, the Raw women’s division opened things up with an in-ring segment followed by an eight-woman tag match.
The first hour of Raw had 2.924 million viewers and saw a jump for the second hour with 3.039 million viewers. The third hour dropped greatly, though, as it drew only 2.649 million viewers.
Overall, the May 1 episode of Monday Night Raw drew 2.87 million viewers which is down from last week’s 3.007 million viewers. That is a 4.5 percent drop for the episode on the night after a pay-per-view as Payback took place on Sunday evening.
Usually, the Raw after a pay-per-view is a pretty big show as it creates new feuds, starts new programs, and can even bring about a few surprises. On this night, there was a gigantic Triple Threat match between Finn Balor, The Miz, and Seth Rollins which may compete for match of the year.
On top of that, Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt interfered to make it even more exciting. Still, there were a lot fewer people watching it than those watching the opening hour.
It is true that Raw had to compete with two second-round NBA Playoff games, but they weren’t expected to beat them out in the ratings. WWE did expect to do better in the overall ratings for the show, though, and this has to be cause for concern.
Wrestling Inc. has compared the ratings for every episode of Raw this year with the night after WrestleMania 33 drawing the highest of 2017 as of yet. The next week saw a drop followed by a slight increase on April 17. On May 24, the rating dropped considerably and again this week.
Right now, there are a great number of superstars who are missing from the top of the ladder and from the top matches at WrestleMania 33. Brock Lesnar is the WWE Universal Champion but he has been MIA since the big event. His opponent Goldberg is likely retired and won’t be coming back anytime soon, if at all.
The Undertaker has retired. Triple H has been on vacation. Roman Reigns has been “injured” and seen sparingly. Seth Rollins has been there as have the Hardy Boyz, but there simply hasn’t been enough to bring in more fans or keep them around for the full three hours.
The USA Network isn’t close to cancelling Raw or anything like that, but WWE does have to be concerned. Brock Lesnar isn’t expected back for likely a month or longer and if the ratings continue to fall, it could bring about some big changes.
Looking at the ratings of the past, Raw is approaching the very low levels reported by Forbes last September when an episode had an average viewership of just 2.478 million.
The falling ratings for Monday Night Raw are not anything new for WWE and they have dealt with slumps in the past, but this is really not a good sign. WrestleMania 33 had a lot of momentum going into it and the ratings just continued to fall each week until last night which brought the lowest of the year. With names like Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor at the top, one has to wonder if the show will continue to fall.
[Featured Image by WWE]
