WWE News: Good news for WWE after this week's WWE RAW

What's the story?

WWE Raw may have been subject to weak crowd reactions this week, but their ratings are staying strong.

The March 11th edition of Raw averaged 2.81 million viewers, gaining 36,000 more than last week's episode on March 4.

In case you didn't know...

Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns gave their farewell address and broke up The Shield to kick off Raw, which led to a match between Rollins and Shelton Benjamin, competing on behalf of Paul Heyman.

The other key moments from the show were Triple H and Batista confirming their WrestleMania match, Kurt Angle announcing his retirement for WrestleMania 35 and Ambrose wrestling Drew McIntyre in the main event.

The heart of the matter

Raw dominated Monday night cable this week, continuing the higher viewership the show has maintained since the post-Elimination Chamber episode.

The flagship show didn't have a particularly strong first hour, but Raw maintained most of its viewers through the entire program per Show Buzz Daily:

Hour one: 2.838 million

Hour two: 2.866 million

Hour three: 2.752 million

Raw gained 28,000 viewers in the second hour, marking the first time since January 14 that the show gained viewers in the second hour. Raw would only lose 86,000 viewers by the end of the program.

The viewership for Raw was expected to drop after the post-Elimination Chamber episode back in February, but Reigns' return and the Shield reunion have kept Raw's ratings up.

What's next?

With no more pay-per-views left until April, WWE will be using the next three weeks to build up matches for WrestleMania 35.

There are currently five matches announced for WrestleMania including the Universal and Raw Women's Championship matches, meaning there are still eight other title matches that could be announced before WWE returns to MetLife Stadium.