Against NBA finals, WWE Raw posts lowest ratings of 2017

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com

By Dave Meltzer | @davemeltzerWON | Jun 13, 2017 2:02 pm

To the surprise of nobody, the NBA playoffs led to Raw doing the second lowest number in its modern history, averaging 2.53 million viewers.

The only lower number for a modern Raw was the September 26th, 2016, show, going against the Trump-Clinton debate, which did 2.46 million viewers.

Raw was fourth for the night on cable.

Raw was down 15 percent from last week, which is no surprise. It would have likely fallen below the Trump-Clinton number had it not been for a decent first hour with the Brock Lesnar/Samoa Joe angle. The decision to do the angle earlier in the show meant more people saw it, but sacrificed the show's overall rating because they had nothing close to that level to build toward for the remaining nearly three hours.

The third hour, in particular, did poorly, but still better than it did on debate night. The debate drew far more viewers than the NBA playoffs.

The Warriors-Cavaliers game did 24.47 million viewers.

Raw's numbers should be up significantly from now until September, when football season begins. With the exception of the College Football title game in January, Raw probably won't face competition close to this tough as Monday Night Football never does 24 million viewers.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.77 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.52 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.34 million viewers