WWE Raw Rating Is In: Did the Slammy Awards Win over Fans?

WWE Raw was a great show last night. I really enjoyed the award special, and Mark Henry continued to be the best thing on WWE TV. As I covered earlier, I would probably grade the show a B+.

We got plenty of surprises, and Snooki even made an appearance! She later teased on Twitter that she would be a future WWE Divas Champion. I love it!

However, ratings tell the entire story, not what one or two fans think of its quality.

WWE Raw ratings are in, and it is a mixed bag.

The hour by hour breakdowns are reported here, in terms of millions of viewers:

The first hour got 3,673,000 viewers.

The second hour got 4,493,000 viewers.

The third hour got 4,161,000 viewers.

The final number was a 3.0 for the normal two hours, with a 2.8 counting in all three hours. Not exactly a winning night for WWE!

Ratings do not lie, and this does not tell a pretty story for the company. Once again, viewers tuned out during the episode, and that is never a good thing. Never!

As I mentioned last week, ratings have been good for WWE but not great. Yes, football is on. Yes, other new cable shows are on, but that is not the entire problem.

Zack Ryder was on way too much seven days ago. This week, he was perfect (and acted seriously).

This week? I have no idea what to make of the rating, but it may be time to start questioning CM Punk at the top of the card. Not yet, but maybe. Here are a few of the usual theories.

Was it the lack of wrestling in the first hour? No. Promos have always drawn more than wrestling matches. Always have. Always will.

Was it the award show format? Perhaps. I enjoyed it, but I can see others not caring for "statues" to be handed out in a WWE setting.

My guess would be my usual fault of WWE. There just was not a lot of interest in the entire show. More than likely, viewers watched the top of each hour, saw what was going on, then clicked away when "filler" segments began.

The overrun will likely see a huge spike for John Cena in the main event. The Kane segment will also help build momentum for the next few shows. Also, Triple H is back, so he should keep numbers up.

All in all, the number was not bad, but it is going to need to see a jump with the Royal Rumble-Wrestle Mania time period coming up.

On a positive note, Smackdown continues to receive high ratings each and every Friday night. Yes, numbers are better for a taped Friday show than the live Tuesday shows. Thank you, Mark Henry!

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