WWE News: Monday Night Raw Sees a Slight Drop in Viewership

Despite a heavily hyped program and an intriguing main-event match, the WWE had very little to celebrate about the following day.

The July 1 edition of WWE Raw, which aired live from Sioux City, Iowa, saw a slight drop in viewership on Monday night, according to TV By the Numbers.

Monday Night Raw opened its first hour with a show low 3.72 million viewers (compared to 3.74 million last week). Raw's second hour saw its viewership peak with 4.13 million viewers (compared to 4.29 million last week). The final hour of Raw dropped to 4.01 million viewers, though this was a slight improvement from 3.91 million the week prior.

In the adults 18-49 demographic, Raw fared decently well on Monday night. The show's third hour peaked with a 1.4 rating. Meanwhile, Raw's first hour landed just a 1.2 rating, while the second improved slightly to a 1.3.

On Monday night, VH1's Love and Hip Hop landed the No. 1 spot on cable television with a 1.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.23 million viewers. WWE Raw followed at the No. 2 position within that demographic, but it accrued more viewers than Love and Hip Hop overall.

Moving forward for WWE Monday Night Raw:

WWE Monday Night Raw was a lackluster program at best, even with a main event featuring two title holders in Alberto Del Rio and John Cena. That was quite noticeable to viewers given the crowd's reactions, as those in attendance stood silent for most of the program.

Looking forward, the WWE must do a better job to keep those watching on the television screens and the live crowd in attendance entertained throughout the three-hour program. It felt as if Raw kept limping its way to the main event, which was not an overly impressive match. 

However, Raw did accomplish some good things to build on, such as heavily promoting its upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view and growing its storyline feuds. The most intriguing storyline to keep an eye for is CM Punk's trust in Paul Heyman, who is currently working with his new client, Curtis Axel.

Hopefully, the WWE will address those mistakes and produce a better booked Monday Night Raw program for next week.