WWE Raw Viewership Stays Down With Competition From Two NFL Games, Rises In Key Demo

While "SmackDown" enjoyed a nice bump in the ratings from WWE's old friends Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, and Pat McAfee, "Raw" was left struggling against not one but two NFL games on Monday night. However, the Monday night flagship program did its best to hold its own against the football powerhouse.

Wrestlenomics is reporting that "Raw" did its best to hold firm against the Pittsburgh Steelers' 26-22 win over the Cleveland Browns and The New Orleans Saints' 20-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers, with an average of 1,331,000 viewers overall tuning in to WWE's Monday night broadcast, a two percent drop from last week. The P18-49 demographic actually rose by nine percent despite competition from the NFL, with 574,000 viewers in the coveted demographic tuning in.

The highest-rated segment of the evening was the live promo between Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Cody Rhodes, where all three men discussed what to do about rogue Anoa'i Jey Uso, who lost to Drew McIntyre in the night's main event. The lowest-rated segment in the P18-49 demographic was Kofi Kingston's match against Ivar, while the least-viewed segment overall was Tommaso Ciampa's match against Imperium's Giovanni Vinci.

This week's "Raw" also featured an open challenge match, which saw "NXT" Women's Champion Becky Lynch defend her title against Natalya. Natalya had originally been slated to wrestle on that night's "Main Event" taping but ten minutes before doors to the Salt Lake City, Utah venue opened, Natalya was switched with original contender Tegan Nox. No reason has been given for the last-minute change.