WWE Raw Ratings Drop to 2.13M Viewers Despite Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair Appearances

Monday night's episode of WWE Raw headlined by a King's Court segment featuring Rusev and Lana averaged 2.13 million viewers over the course of three hours, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer.

That is down from the 2.34 million viewers Raw averaged last week. The Raw ratings have mostly held steady in recent weeks, as they went from 2.57 million viewers for the "season premiere" episode Oct. 1 to 2.33 million, 2.28 million and 2.34 million over the next few weeks.

Meltzer added Monday's edition was the "third-worst non-holiday number in the modern history of the show."

While Raw always faces stiff competition from Monday Night Football during the NFL season, Monday's game pitting the winless Miami Dolphins against the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers didn't necessarily send fans flocking to ESPN.

The King's Court segment featuring WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler interviewing Rusev and Lana main-evented Monday's show. It hearkened back to the Attitude Era, as Lana accused Rusev of being a sex addict who cheated on her.

In the end, Bobby Lashley hit Rusev with a low blow and then Lana kicked The Bulgarian Brute low, which led to Lashley and Lana making out over Rusev's prone body.

Other advertised segments that were placed in key spots were a match between Raw women's champion Becky Lynch and one-half of the WWE women's tag team champions, Kairi Sane, as well as Universal champion Seth Rollins against Erick Rowan in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

The Becky vs. Kairi match opened the show after Sane and Asuka turned on Paige when Asuka spit green mist in her face. Sane pushed Lynch to the limit, but Becky managed to get Kairi to tap out to the Dis-Arm-Her.

The Rollins vs. Rowan match was billed as prep for Seth ahead of his Falls Count Anywhere title match against "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt on Thursday at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.

Rollins beat Rowan with help from a forklift that pinned Rowan down a la The Rock vs. Mankind on Halftime Heat in 1999.

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair were on hand to build toward the 10-man tag team match in which they're the respective captains. Team Flair's Drew McIntyre battled Team Hogan's Ricochet. Randy Orton caused a disqualification by hitting Ricochet with an RKO. 

Next week's Raw will feature fallout from Crown Jewel, and it will go up against a far more enticing Monday Night Football matchup in the form of the Dallas Cowboys vs. the New York Giants.

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