What’s the story?
The July 10, 2017, edition of Raw saw an increase in viewership and averaged 3.009 million viewers, which was up 17,000 from last week’s number of 2.839 million.
In case you didn’t know...
The first hour of Raw kicked off with Big Cass being confronted by the Big Show as well as a match between Elias Samson and Finn Bálor.
The second hour of Raw featured a segment with The Miz, Maryse and their entourage as well as a tag team match between Sasha Banks and Bayley against Nia Jax and Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss.
The final hour of Raw featured a segment between Brock Lesnar, Samoa Joe, and Roman Reigns and a main event between Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt.
The heart of the matter
The following is the hourly breakdown for the post-Great Balls of Fire edition of Raw:
Hour 1: 3.049 Million
Hour 2: 3.074 Million
Hour 3: 2.905 Million
Hour 2 saw a slight boost from hour 1 with an increase of 25,000 viewers. However, the third hour of Raw saw a big drop of approximately 169,000 viewers; consistent with the decrease for Raw’s third hour.
What’s next?
The WWE announced that Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns will face each other next week to determine who will face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.
Tune in next week to see which Samoan wrestler will have a chance to fight for Raw’s biggest championship.
Author’s take
There have been instances where shows following pay-per-views see little to no increase in viewership, so this week’s increase must mean fans were mostly satisfied with Great Balls of Fire.
At the very least, it means fans may have wanted to see the dynamic between Joe and Lesnar which could continue if he wins against Reigns next week.
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