WWE Raw Viewership Up Slightly Against Tough NFL Competition

NFL football continues to take a toll on "WWE Raw." 

Showbuzz Daily released the viewership information for Monday and the September 26 episode for "Raw" was watched by an average of 1,674,000 viewers overall, an increase from last week's 1,594,000 viewers.

The first two hours of Monday's "Raw" both drew more than 1,725,000 million viewers. However, the episode lost momentum in its third hour, when it fell to 1,543,000 viewers.

In the key age 18-49 demographic, "Raw" finished with an average rating of 0.45. That's relatively unchanged from September 19, when "Raw" was up against two NFL football games airing on ABC and ESPN.

"Raw" finished sixth in the P18-49 demographic among cable originals for Monday, trailing only the NFL "Monday Night Football" game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants and other programming surrounding it on ESPN. The same game was simulcast on ABC, where it was watched by an average of over 10 million viewers overall. The ESPN broadcast of the game drew an average of 7,737,000 viewers overall.

Monday's "Raw" featured the latest piece of WWE's ongoing "white rabbit" mystery. There were also a number of compelling one-on-one matches. The first hour of the show featured "Raw" Women's Champion Bianca Belair in a non-title match against Damage CTRL's IYO SKY. Plus, Seth Rollins took on Rey Mysterio. The show's second hour included the surprise WWE return of Candice LeRae and a tag team match featuring LeRae's husband Johnny Gargano teaming with Kevin Owens against Alpha Academy. The main event saw Matt Riddle take on The Judgment Day's Damian Priest.