WWE Raw Stays Steady In Viewership After Edge's Return To Toronto

It seems like a lot of people witnessed the surprising return of Johnny Gargano on last night's "WWE Raw," as the program maintains its good viewership numbers since Paul "Triple H" Levesque has taken over creative. Wrestlenomics released its viewership information for 8/22, and "Raw" roped in 2,005,000 average viewers, a 1% uptick from the week previous. The key demographic saw a slightly bigger boost with an average audience of 717,000 aged 18-49, 4% more than last week, totaling for a 0.55 P18-49 rating.

When it comes to the rankings, "Raw" continues to impress as it came in at #2 for cable originals and for broadcast primetime, it ranked in at #3 overall in the 18-49 demographic. 

Looking back a year ago, "Raw" is slightly down. The 8/23/2021 episode had a total viewership number of 2,067,000, 3% more than yesterday.  The annual drop for the key demographic was more drastic as last year's program had a 0.64 P18-49 rating, 15% more than Monday. However, it should be noted that this particular "Raw" was the episode right after SummerSlam 2021, whereas SummerSlam 2022 occurred at the end of July.

Monday's "Raw" from Toronto was highlighted by Gargano and his confrontation with former friend Theory, but also presented some more developments in the Dexter Lumis storyline involving the Miz and AJ Styles. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus kicked off the show with an in-ring segment involving Bayley's new faction, as well as Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka. Another major highlight was the presentation of Kevin Owens, who showed up in his NXT-era "Prizefighter" gear and had an extremely competitive match with Alpha Academy's Chad Gable.  The program was main-evented by hometown legend Edge taking on Damian Priest — the Hall of Famer defeated his one time protege with a spear.