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What’s the story?
The third hour of WWE Raw usually means massive losses in viewership, but this week’s hour managed to maintain viewership.
The March 12 edition of Raw averaged 3.352 million viewers and was up 253,000 from last week’s show.
In case you didn’t know...
Kurt Angle addressing Brock Lesnar’s absence despite being advertised to appear kicked off the show and led to Roman Reigns confronting Vince McMahon backstage.
The biggest moments from the show were Finn Bálor versus Seth Rollins, John Cena challenging The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania, Asuka versus Mickie James, and the Tag Team Battle Royal that closed the show.
The heart of the matter
The following is the hourly breakdown from this week’s episode of Raw per ShowBuzzDaily:
Hour 1: 3.521 million
Hour 2: 3.429 million
Hour 3: 3.275 million
Since Raw went to three hours back in 2012, the third hour has created a constant drag on the overall show’s viewership.
Every Raw of 2018 prior to the March 12 show has generated a loss in viewership in the third hour accounting for close to one-sixth of Raw’s weekly viewership but this week’s show saw a much smaller viewership decrease 154,000 – the lowest third-hour drop this year.
Raw’s overall viewership was the highest its been since the post-Royal Rumble show back on Jan. 29.
The third hour featured Asuka versus James, Nia Jax turning her anger towards Alexa Bliss and the tag team battle royal that ended with Braun Strowman setting up a confrontation with Sheamus and Cesaro.
What’s next?
Raw has advertised Lesnar’s appearance, The Ultimate Deletion at the Hardy Compound, and Bliss versus Asuka for next week.
Even if Lesnar shows up on Raw, Reigns was suspended by Vince McMahon meaning a confrontation between the two may not occur.
Author’s take
It was surprising to see viewership increase to such a large degree, but that means WWE did something right on Monday.
Hopefully, the next four weeks build even more anticipation for WrestleMania 34.
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