WWE News: Audience number drops for Monday Night RAW

What's the story?

The ratings for WWE programming have been less than spectacular in recent years. We clearly see the decline in WWE quality, along with fans becoming bored with certain storylines and overall product. Ratings went up slightly over a week ago after news broke about Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman taking over as Executive Directors for RAW and SmackDown Live, respectively. However, the numbers have slipped yet again.

In case you didn't know...

After a solid Monday Night RAW which showed Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley tearing down the RAW Titantron area, Corey Graves cursing on live television, a dream match between AJ Styles and Ricochet, Maria Kanellis announcing her pregnancy, and The Undertaker making an appearance. WWE started a wave of momentum they could not hold onto.

The following week, we saw a lacklustre Beat the Clock challenge featuring Bayley and Nikki Cross. Alexa Bliss was absent from RAW due to illness. Roman Reigns was booked into a tag match with a random guy under a mask named Gary "The GOAT" Garbutt, who switched out for Cedric Alexander for $5,000.

There was no appearance by The Undertaker, who was barred from ringside by Shane McMahon. Rey Mysterio returned to the ring but then was squashed by Bobby Lashley. More shenanigans took place between R-Truth, Drake Maverick and Renee Michelle over the 24/7 Championship. Overall, it was a very disappointing show that failed to live up to any hype or expectations the WWE Universe had.

The heart of the matter

As reported over at PWInsider.com, the numbers are officially in for the July 8th edition of Monday Night RAW. The numbers show an "Average Audience" rating of 2.35 for the entire show. Hour one scored a 2.38, then began to decline. Hour two scored a 2.34, with hour three scoring a 3.22.

In comparison to the July 1st edition of RAW, that show scored a 2.49 average audience rating. Hour one scored a 2.46. Hour two picked up with a 2.67, then went down to 2.34 at hour three.

In total, WWE lost 0.14% of its audience. While the loss is not a significant drop, it's a bit disappointing after a solid show on July 1st. This week's edition seemed to fall back to the usual trend and booking style, without capitalizing on the momentum WWE had going for them.

What's next?

We have to wait and see if RAW can bounce back for the July 15th edition, which will be the post-Extreme Rules show.

Extreme Rules will be airing Sunday, July 14th, starting at 6 pm (EST) with the kickoff show exclusively on the WWE Network.

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