WWE Raw Ratings Up Slightly For Penultimate Show Before WrestleMania

As of 11 PM ET Monday night, there's just one episode of "WWE Raw" left before WrestleMania 39. With that in mind, how did the March 20 episode do in the Nielsen ratings? Based on the reporting of, as usual, ShowBuzz Daily and Wrestlenomics, the March 20 episode, which was capped off by a long confrontation between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, averaged 1,771,000 viewers overall across its three hours, approximately 722,000 of which were in the vaunted "key demo" most valued by advertisers, adults aged 18 to 49, both of which were four percent increases from the prior week.

The latter figure translates to a 0.55 rating in P18-49, earning "Raw" a second-place ranking in ShowBuzz Daily's ranking of Monday's cable originals, behind only Fox Sports 1's coverage of the World Baseball Classic semifinal between Japan and Mexico, which posted a 0.68 rating. If you factor in the broadcast networks' prime time lineups, then "Raw" placed fifth for the day in the key demo, with the baseball game, "The Voice" (NBC, 0.64 rating), "The Bachelor" (ABC, 0.63), and "911" (Fox, 0.59) all ahead of it and "The Neighborhood" (CBS, 0.54) just behind.

Compared to the median number of the last four weeks that the Wrestlenomics Patreon page tracks on a rolling basis across multiple demographics, the strongest increase was in adults aged 18 to 34, with an eight percent jump. Female viewers aged 12 to 34 saw the biggest percentage drop, losing 11 percent compared to the median. Across its three hours, the March 20 "Raw" held fairly steady, with hour one averaging a 0.55 key demo rating and 1,778,000 total viewers, hour two increasing slightly to 0.57 in P18-49 with 1,807,000 total viewers, and hour three dropping back down slightly to a 0.54 with 1,729,000 viewers.