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What's the story?
NFL season is underway; consequently, WWE viewership has seen a major dip. Last week, WWE scored the lowest rating since June.
However, bolstered by the return of the Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar, to the brand once again, RAW bounced back in terms of ratings. While the rating was still under the 3 million mark this week, it was a very strong comeback.
In case you didn't know...
This week's episode of RAW featured Lesnar returning to answer the challenge laid out by WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal. It was the fallout episode after the TLC pay-per-view, and therefore, intrigued viewers with regard to how WWE would be building to Survivor Series.
It also featured a massive invasion from SmackDown Live in the third hour, but despite the same, that particular hour saw a massive dip in viewership.
The heart of the matter
Last week, RAW only managed to garner a viewership of 2.688 million, which is one of the lowest figures, all year long. This week, we saw a massive comeback as RAW charted a 10% increase in viewership.
The first hour drew 3.332 million viewers, the second 2.969 million and the third 2.557 million. Despite the massive disparity between the first and third hours, the viewership averaged at 2.953 million. This is a solid increase when you consider the competition it was up against, during NFL season.
What's next?
It is impossible to predict if WWE can maintain its solid run, next week as well. However, the 'Under Siege' angle was intriguing and should pique the interest of sports entertainment fans.
Author's take
It is disappointing to see that WWE only puts on good shows when the ratings plummet. It is also clear that if only the Universal Champion showed up on a weekly basis, there would be far more interest in the product.
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