WWE News: Viewership for Raw before TLC declines, new all-time low

What's the story?

Monday Night Raw had a much more positive reception this week following the unexpected main event, but not even Seth "Freaking" Rollins was enough to help the show bounce back.

The December 10 edition of Raw received record low viewership for the third week in a row, becoming the new lowest viewed episode of all time.

In case you didn't know...

Rollins started the show insulting Baron Corbin for his actions as the Acting General Manager and lead to their TLC match for the Intercontinental Championship in the main event.

Other key moments from the show were the exchange between Ruby Riott and Natalya, Drew McIntyre defeating Dolph Ziggler and AOP losing the Raw Tag Team Championships to Bobby Roode & Chad Gable.

The heart of the matter

Monday Night Raw averaged 2.19 million viewers and was down 92,000 from last week's average of 2.29 million - breaking the record for the lowest rated and viewed episode of all time.

Hour one: 2.347 million

Hour two: 2.186 million

Hour three: 2.048 million

The show started with with a stronger third hour than last week, but the consistent decline every hour made a big difference.

Raw lost nearly 300,000 fans by the third hour and their viewership average pales in comparison to the numbers the show got for their last TLC match on the program.

CM Punk's WWE Championship defense against Ryback was the last TLC match on Raw. The show took place on January 3, 2013, featured the return of The Rock and garnered a 3.1 rating and 4.42 million viewers.

What's next?

Next week's episode will be expected to get a post-pay-per-view viewership increase, but that will depend largely on how the fans perceive the TLC show this Sunday.

Raw is dangerously close to dropping to below 2 million viewers, but that may be inevitable at this point.