WWE News: Brock Lesnar's cash-in helps boost Raw viewership following Extreme Rules

What's the story?

This year's WWE Extreme Rules PPV was an eventful evening, as the show saw new Champions crowned in Shinsuke Nakamura, The New Day, and Brock Lesnar.

Following the PPV, which was generally well-received by fans, WWE Raw followed-up with an appearance by the new Universal Champion, and saw a viewership increase on the heels of Extreme Rules.

In case you didn't know...

The age of The Beast has returned in WWE, with Brock Lesnar successfully cashing-in his Money in the Bank briefcase at the conclusion of Extreme Rules to regain the Universal Title from Seth Rollins.

Brock Lesnar's Title win, along with a strong Extreme Rules undercard, helped this week's WWE Raw viewership improve upon last week's 2.35 million viewership average, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com.

The heart of the matter

This week's episode of WWE Raw averaged 2.45 million viewers, up from last week's numbers, but down slightly from Raw two weeks ago, which drew 2.49 million viewers.

Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com pointed out an interesting stat regarding this week's WWE Raw, noting the show saw gains of nine percent in the male 18-49 demographic. Of the show, Meltzer added, "Teenage girls gained 36 percent from hour one to hour three. Teenage boys gained 39 percent from hour one to hour three."

It has been said in the past few weeks that one of Paul Heyman's goals as the new Executive Director of WWE Raw is to increase the teenage demographic, which has been gradually declining in recent years, and this week's show proves Heyman is on the right track.

What's next?

WWE is heading into one of the most pivotal times of the year as SummerSlam approaches next month, and with all eyes focused on one of WWE's biggest PPV events, it will be interesting to see what Paul Heyman has up his sleeve in the weeks to come.

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