Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/05/14/wwe-raw-increases-almost-5-without-nba-competition/
Photo courtesy: WWE
Monday’s taped edition of Raw from London, England saw the show increase almost 5% from last week with the second week involving the new “Wild Card” stipulation.
With the benefit of no competition from the NBA playoffs, WWE Raw averaged 2,349,000 viewers on the USA Network and was their highest average since April 22nd. The viewership level was still the show’s fourth lowest in 2019.
The first hour averaged 2,576,000 viewers kicking off with Roman Reigns on Miz TV and leading into a tag match with The Miz against Bobby Lashley and Elias. The second hour dropped 7% to 2,391,000 viewers and the third hour fell another 13% to 2,080,000 viewers. The show built towards a Falls Count Anywhere match where Sami Zayn defeated Braun Strowman to take his spot in the Money in the Bank Ladder match on Sunday.
Last year’s show during the same week was also taped in the U.K., so it’s a fair comparison with both shows airing on a several hour tape delay. Compared to this week in 2018, Raw’s viewership was down 14%, however, last year’s episode had the disadvantage of going against an NBA playoff game that did 8.8 million viewers against the final two hours. Compared to other year-to-year declines, this week’s number was not as dramatic a fall.
In the 18-49 demographic, WWE Raw took the top three slots of the night. In terms of overall viewers, they were fifth on Monday night behind cable news programs.
