How Bad Was The Rating For Last Week's WWE RAW?
As noted, last Monday's Memorial Day edition of WWE RAW drew 2.494 million viewers, which was a new low for 2018. This was also the second lowest RAW viewership in history, barely beating the September 26th, 2016 show that drew 2.478 million viewers. That episode went up against the Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which drew 30 million viewers, plus the NFL's Monday Night Football, which drew 8 million viewers that night.
The final rating for last week's RAW was a 1.68, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. This was close to being the lowest rating for any WWE show that has aired on Monday nights on the USA Network, even going back to the Prime Time Wrestling days and the Monday Night Wars.
While it was said on WOR that the 1.68 rating is the lowest ever, the Christmas 1996 RAW episode drew a 1.5 rating. The Christmas 2017 RAW episode drew a 1.69 rating.
To compare with recent Memorial Day RAW shows, the 2017 edition drew a 1.75 rating while the 2016 Memorial Day RAW drew a 2.19 rating.
WWE did face major competition last Monday night from the sports world – the NBA Playoffs drew almost 25 million viewers for the game, the pre-game and Inside The NBA Playoffs. The NHL Playoffs drew more than 5 million viewers on broadcast TV.