'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
What's the Story?
With the Money in the Bank pay-per-view coming up this Sunday, Monday Night Raw's viewership benefited greatly from the lineup of this week's show.
The June 11 edition of Raw averaged 2.731 million viewers and was up 205,000 from last week's average of 2.526 million.
In Case You Didn't Know
The show started with the Money in the Bank participants arguing on top of ladders before the opening match between Alexa Bliss, Ember Moon, Natalya and Sasha Banks.
The key parts of the show were Roman Reigns facing Sunil Singh instead of Jinder Mahal, the faceoff between Ronda Rousey and Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax and the main event of Bobby Roode vs. Braun Strowman vs. Finn Bálor vs. Kevin Owens.
The Heart of the Matter
With the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals concluding last week, Raw landed second in the ratings behind Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta on VH1.
Though the show hasn't returned to 3 million viewers, this week's numbers across all three hours were the strongest since the May 14 episode.
The following is the hourly breakdown for the Money in the Bank Go-Home Show:
Hour one: 2.751 million
Hour two: 2.812 million
Hour three: 2.629 million
Raw's viewership increased by 61,000 fans heading into the second hour and marked the first time the show gained viewership heading into hour two since the Raw after the Greatest Royal Rumble.
And as expected, the viewership for the third hour dropped resulting in a loss of 183,000 viewers
What's Next?
Since Money in the Bank is this Sunday, there have been no matches announced for next week's episode of Raw.
Raw's viewership is expected to increase with the traditional rise in viewers that occurs following a pay-per-view. However, whether next week's Raw gets a significant boost in viewership depends largely on the quality of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.
What did you think about this week's episode of RAW? Sound off in the comments section below!
