WWE News: Raw before Royal Rumble loses viewers by the third hour

What's the story?

Monday Night Raw had their final episode before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view and their viewership took a big hit. The Jan. 21 episode of Raw averaged 2.463 million viewers, down from last week's average of 2.72 million.

In case you didn't know...

Raw began with Brock Lesnar being confronted by Vince McMahon, Braun Strowman and Finn Balor which lead to the Universal Champion interrupting Strowman and Balor's impromptu match.

The other key moments from the show were Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre, the in-ring debut of Heavy Machinery and Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Ronda Rousey & Natalya in the main event.

The heart of the matter

WWE usually dominates Monday Night Cable after the NFL regular season concludes, but the NBA game beat Raw for the number one spot per Show Buzz Daily.

The show averaged 2.46 million and had a decrease of 309,000 viewers from the episode on Jan. 14.

Hour one: 2.840 million

Hour two: 2.405 million

Hour three: 2.143 million

The show featured Brock Lesnar's return to TV in the first hour, but John Cena's "injury" was reported by WWE just before the show began.

The first hour seemingly benefited from the Lesnar return and Cena news, but the audience decreased by 300,000 viewers every hour. By the end of the show, Raw lost 697,000 viewers - one of the biggest decreases since the Raw before Survivor Series on Nov. 19, 2018.

Raw had no central storyline like last week's episode which was built around finding a new number one contender for the Universal Championship.

What's Next?

Raw's viewership is expected to increase following the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but the size of the increase will probably depend on the fans enjoyment of the event this Sunday.

Despite the low viewership, the fan reception to Raw was mostly positive and was a big improvement from the first episodes of Raw in 2018.