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What's the story?
The new McMahon regime promised a sea of changes for the WWE brand, in the weeks that follow. While that remains to be seen, the Christmas Eve edition of RAW failed to make the 2 million mark for the first time in the show's history.
This is not a surprise considering it was a taped show and results were known beforehand. One also assumes that not as many people tuned in because it was the holidays.
In case you didn't know...
The Christmas Eve Edition of RAW was taped so as to allow WWE superstars to spend time with their families. Two title matches were made official for the event.
Ronda Rousey took on her best friend, Natalya, in a title match where she retained her Championship. The Revival faced Roode and Gable, but were unsuccessful in their quest to become the RAW Tag Team Champions. Seth Rollins took on Baron Corbin in the main event.
The heart of the matter
For the first time since the show commenced, RAW failed to break the 2 million viewers mark. With 1.775 million viewers only, RAW experienced a massive 30% dip in viewership from the 2.547 million viewers from the week prior.
RAW experienced tough competition from Monday Night Football, and more importantly, had viewers tune out because results were made available in advance. It will be interesting to see if SmackDown Live meets the same fate, because the results were leaked in advance on the blue brand as well.
One wonders how the New Year edition of RAW will fare, next week.
What's next?
John Cena is slated to be a part of the proceedings from next week, which should certainly make things more interesting. This number, while disheartening, was expected because of the circumstances around RAW. Let's hope the numbers pick up after the Holidays.
Why do you think RAW scored such poor numbers, this week? Let us know in the comments.
