Did WWE Raw Ratings Maintain High Numbers Following Last Week?

"WWE Raw" had some chaotic developments go down last night, but did viewership transfer over from last week's high set of numbers?

Wrestlenomics released viewership information for the 8/8 episode of "Raw" and last night's program had 1,957,000 million viewers on average, down 12% from last week. The key demographic experienced the same percentage drop as this week's episode. An average of  700,000 viewers aged 18-49 tuned in, giving "Raw" a 0.54 P18-49 rating.

While viewership may not be as earth-shaking as last week, "Raw" still did come in at #1 for cable originals and #2 in broadcast primetime for the evening. The only program beating it out was "The Bachelorette" on ABC with a 0.75 P18-49 rating.

Something interesting to note is unlike most weeks the third hour of "Raw" beat out the first hour in the key demographic. Hour one averaged a 0.51 P18-49 rating while hour three averaged a 0.54 P18-49 rating. The first hour did have better numbers than hour three in total viewership (1.95 million to 1.87 million average viewers.)

Looking back at last year, viewership is considerably up. The 8/9/2021 episode of "Raw" had an audience of 1,790,000, 9% less than last night's program.  The same can be said for the key demographic as last year came in with a 0.49 P18-49 rating, also -9% difference.

"Raw" hasn't turned the product completely upside down since Triple H took over as the new head of creative, but viewers will notice significant changes. Last night fans weren't subjected to repetitive match-ups and had a heavy focus on Bayley's new faction with Dakota Kai and IYO SKY. The duo advanced in the tournament for the vacant WWE Women's Tag Team Titles as they defeated Dana Brooke and Tamina. Ciampa added stakes to the United States Championship when he dedicated his title match to the late Harley Race. However, Ciampa came up short against champion Bobby Lashley.

The big takeaway from "Raw" happened to be what wasn't highlighted on the program as former "NXT" mainstay Dexter Lumis was arrested in the crowd following AJ Styles' win over The Miz. Also, backstage segments showed some chaos in the background when a supposed car wreck went down that showed police being involved along with Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop.