WWE News: Raw Rating Posts an Interesting Number Taped from London

Last night's Raw was very interesting. A lot of good matches were showcased, and we found out yet another huge match for Extreme Rules.

However, it is now time to look at the numbers. For a reference point, last week's Raw drew a disappointing 3.1 rating.

This week was about the same, with a small increase in viewership!

The first hour of Raw drew 4,319,000 million viewers.

The second hour of Raw drew 4,453,000 million viewers.

The official number for Raw was a 3.1 rating.

My Thoughts on This News

It is nice to see the second hour increasing again. That was a major problem late last year. That seems to no longer be an issue of concern.

Also, I wonder how many fans read the spoilers before the show started and opted not to watch. That is perfectly fine. If you can't see the show and are busy, go ahead and get the results early.

As I wrote about yesterday, though, why read spoilers for something you plan on watching anyways? It just doesn't make any sense to get the results and still plan on watching Raw, as usual.

In the end, it didn't matter. With more viewers this week than last, it is yet another example as to how small the diehard "Internet fanbase" really is. The Raw rating was not affected by spoilers one bit, as I constantly talk about with Smackdown.

Spoilers have next to no effect on numbers. Despite others thinking so, it has been proven time and time again. Last night showed it once more.

Either way, it was a taped show this week for the Red Brand. The last time Raw was taped was back in October. The show from Mexico a couple months ago drew a 3.1 rating.

That was against tough competition (football) and during Alberto Del Rio's WWE Title run.

This time, CM Punk is WWE Champion, and the crew was in London.

John Cena did start the second hour and also closed the show. Do not think that was on accident, folks! Those are the prime spots for viewers tuning in.

In the end, I just think the Red Brand is stuck for a while. Even with Brock Lesnar, numbers won't boost much, but they shouldn't drop too much more.

With next week being a three-hour show, we already know what will happen.

Much of the WWE Universe will forget and not watch the first hour. Ratings will come in low, and the overall number will decrease because of it. Happens every time...

As for the Blue Brand, last Tuesday's live show drew an extremely low 1.50 rating with 2.25 million viewers. As expected, the replay Friday night actually beat out the original live number.

Last Friday's replay drew a 1.52 rating with 2.3 million viewers. Think about that for a second...

The live, original airing on Tuesday night drew a 1.50 rating.

The replay of that show three days later drew a 1.52 rating with 50,000 more viewers.

That is beyond ridiculous. I can't think of the last time a replay beat an original episode. Especially days later and no longer being live...

Does anybody still want to make a case for Smackdown going live and air on different nights?

I sure hope that theory is officially done and over with. It makes absolutely zero logical sense, and numbers back that up 100 percent. Hopefully, WWE will finally stop with the live Tuesday night Smackdown specials.

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