SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
The Apr. 1 episode of WWE Raw limped into WrestleMania with a 1.80 rating, matching last week’s disappointing rating. One year ago this week Raw drew a 2.24 rating. Two years ago Raw drew a 2.62 rating, so this week’s rating represents a 31 percent drop.
Viewership tanked as the show progressed, also, perhaps due to a main event featuring Baron Corbin vs. Rey Mysterio, plus Heavy Machinery vs. Chad Gable & B0bby Roode and Braun Strowman beating up two hapless schmucks that earlier in the show EC3 falsely accused of laughing at Michael Che and Colin Jost humor. The first and second hour held steady with 2.788 million and 2.754 million viewership respectively, but the third hour collapsed to a 2.374 rating, a drop of 414,000 viewers from the first to third hour, well above the 58,000, 251,000, and 298,000 drop-offs the last three weeks.
All three hours of Raw, though, topped cable ratings for the evening in the key 18-49 demographic with ratings of 1.0, 1.0, and 0.8, topping “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta” on VH1 which finished no. 4 with a 0;8 rating, according to TVByTheNumbers. No other show on cable on Monday night drew better than a 0.6, and only two other shows earned more than half of Raw’s rating in that key demo. Only two Fox News programs beat Raw in total viewership.
I like to think of Smackdown as the mouthwash you need after the turd Raw just left in your mouth.
(I’d like to think I can get away with this tweet. If not…I was hacked.)
— Florida Man (@WWEBigE) April 2, 2019
RECOMMENDED: 4/1 WWE Raw On-Site Report: Batista off-camera, crowd reactions for Becky-Ronda-Charlotte, Main Event taping, post-Raw happenings, Renee off-camera, false advertising