WWE Raw Ratings Dip Slightly for Apollo Crews' United States Championship Match

Monday's episode of WWE Raw on USA Network featuring a title change and the implementation of a No. 1 contender for Asuka's Raw Women's Championship saw its ratings fall compared to last week.

According to Showbuzz Daily, Raw averaged 1.735 million viewers during its three-hour broadcast, down slightly from last week's 1.757 million.

Monday's show once again emanated from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it had a decidedly different feel since Performance Center trainees were scattered throughout the ringside area behind Plexiglass to provide some noise and atmosphere.

Aside from that, the most newsworthy moment of the episode came when Apollo Crews beat Andrade for the United States Championship. That marked the first title win of any kind for Crews since officially reporting to the WWE Performance Center in 2015.

Asuka's opponent for the Backlash pay-per-view was also determined, as Nia Jax defeated Charlotte Flair and Natalya in a Triple Threat match to become No. 1 contender for The Empress of Tomorrow's Raw Women's title.

The main event of Raw saw Raw Tag Team champions The Street Profits face Bobby Lashley and MVP in a non-title match after MVP criticized the champs backstage. The Street Profits won the match by disqualification when Lashley refused to release the Full Nelson, leading to WWE champion Drew McIntyre making the save.

Ahead of their title match at Backlash, Lashley and McIntyre brawled, which led to several WWE trainees entering the ring to break it up.

Earlier in the night, The Street Profits and Viking Raiders continued their friendly rivalry by playing regular golf and miniature golf. Also, The Viking Raiders challenged The Street Profits to a bowling competition for next week.

Other key happenings on Raw included Austin Theory and Murphy beating Aleister Black and Humberto Carrillo; Angel Garza upsetting Kevin Owens after a pre-match attack; Edge cutting a promo on Randy Orton prior to their Backlash match; and 24/7 champion and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski cutting a promo remotely about his desire to prevent R-Truth from taking the title back from him.

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