"In Your Face" RAW viewership declines against first Monday Night Football of 2020

The ratings for the September 14 edition of Monday Night RAW have been released. Last night's episode was promoted as "In Your Face RAW" and saw the average number of viewers across three hours decrease from last week's broadcast. This week an average of 1.689 million live viewers tuned in to Monday's episode on USA Network.

This number is down 2 percent from last week's broadcast which was watched by an average of 1.725 million live viewers across three hours.

RAW: 1.689 million

— Bryan Alvarez (@bryanalvarez) September 15, 2020

Breaking down the viewership of last night's edition of Monday Night RAW by the hour, roughly 1.812 million live viewers tuned in during the first hour. This number then declined to 1.734 million viewers during hour two. The decline then continued for hour three, in which 1.521 million viewers tuned in. Hour three also featured the first time ever match in WWE of Kieth Lee and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. The third hour also featured the reoccurring RAW Underground segments, this week featuring SmackDown's Braun Strowman.

RAW also scored an average rating of 0.50 in the advertisers' coveted 18-49 demographic, which is up 4.2% from last week's rating in the 18-49 demographic. Hours one, two and three of Monday Night RAW were listed as fifth, sixth and eighth in the Top 50 original cable telecasts, respectively.

"In Your Face" RAW ranked #27 in total viewership and #5 for the 18-49 demographic in the Top 150 shows on Cable for Monday Night.

This week, Monday Night RAW faced stiff competition from the return of the NFL's Monday Night Football to cable on ESPN with a double header of matches from the opening weekend of the 2020/2021 season. Last year, Monday Night RAW was down 15% in total viewership from the previous week against the NFL's Monday Night Football opener on cable.

In Your Face RAW

Last night's edition of Monday Night RAW saw a stacked card, promoted as "In Your Face" RAW.

The main event of the show saw long time friends, and training partners, Keith Lee and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre go one-on-one for the first time inside of a WWE ring.

After a physical bout, the match ended in a no contest after the anarchy group known as RETRIBUTION attacked both The Limitless One and The Scottish Psychopath, causing mass chaos inside the WWE ThunderDome.

It is absolute CHAOS on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/BM9hOhXxwm

— WWE (@WWE) September 15, 2020

However, as RETRIBUTION were attacking McIntyre and Lee, The Hurt Business would confront the mysterious faction, leading to a mass brawl at ringside. Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee would then both hit simultaneous dives over the top rope onto both RETRIBUTION and The Hurt Business to close the show.