WWE Raw ratings up only two percent from last week's low

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com
By Dave Meltzer | @davemeltzerWON | May 16, 2017 1:36 pm

Raw last night was up only two percent from last week's seasonal all-time low number, doing 2.75 million viewers.

Last week's show did 2.68 million viewers and was taped, and that would seem to indicate that last week's lower numbers, which included a major third hour drop, were only slightly impacted by not being live.

This week's show did have tougher competition as the deciding game seven of the Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards NBA playoff series did 6.80 million viewers. An NHL Stanley Cup playoff game with the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Ottawa Senators did 1.74 million viewers on NBC Sports Network.

Raw was fifth for the night on cable, trailing the NBA playoffs, the pre-game show for the playoffs (2.76 million), the post-game show for the playoffs (2.96 million), and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. (3.14 million).

The hourly ratings patterns were different than most recent weeks. Usually this time of year, it is the second hour that does the best, but this week the show started out about the same level as last week, but fell in the second hour. The third hour, which featured both Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor and Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt, held up better than usual, losing only three percent as compared to the 15 percent drop in last week's third hour.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.88 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.72 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.65 million viewers