WWE Raw Sees Slight Ratings Drop to 2.39M Despite Brock Lesnar Appearance

Monday's episode of Raw featuring the return of WWE champion Brock Lesnar averaged 2.39 million viewers during its three-hour broadcast, according to Figure Four Online's Bryan Alvarez. 

That is down from last week's show, which garnered 2.439 million viewers.

On Monday, Lesnar and his advocate, Paul Heyman, opened Raw with a promo segment. Heyman made a significant announcement, as he revealed that Lesnar would enter the Royal Rumble match at the No. 1 spot despite being WWE champion.

It was not specified if that means the WWE Championship will be on the line or if Lesnar is vying to earn the right to go for the Universal Championship, but it adds a unique and unexpected wrinkle to the Rumble match.

Raw also featured a six-man tag team main event pitting Seth Rollins and AOP against Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and a mystery partner. The mystery partner was a returning Big Show, who had not competed in a match since 2018.

The babyface team won by disqualification when Rollins used a steel chair on Big Show, but The World's Largest Athlete got the last laugh with a Knockout Punch to Rollins.

Also, Andrade successfully retained the United States Championship against Mysterio, although Mysterio attacked Andrade later in the night as revenge for Andrade stealing his mask.

Other key segments included The Viking Raiders retaining the Raw Tag Team Championships over The Street Profits and The OC, Drew McIntyre announcing his entry into the men's Royal Rumble match and Aleister Black getting jumped by Buddy Murphy.

Monday's Raw contributed to the Royal Rumble build and also set the stage for next week's show, which will feature AJ Styles against Randy Orton and a fistfight involving Rollins, AOP, Owens, Joe and Big Show.

Since the Rumble is now just a few weeks away, look for next week's show to include multiple declarations for entry into the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches as well.

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