Behind-The-Scenes Insight Into WWE's Expectation For Raw Viewership

As was expected, the season premiere of "Monday Night Football" caused "WWE Raw" to take a big hit in viewership this week. According to the numbers released by Wrestlenomics, WWE's flagship show on the USA Network averaged 1.71 million viewers over three hours, down from last week's 2.054 million viewers. 

Despite the big dip in viewership, WWE is reportedly not in any sort of panic mode and actually expected the numbers to be worse, considering the fact that "Raw" went head-to-head against both MNF and the Emmy Awards.

According to Fightful Select, several sources within WWE "expected the WWE Raw number to be lower than the 1.7 million that they landed this week."

WWE's viewership has seen a steady uptick since Triple H assumed control as the promotion's Head of Creative, with "Raw" averaging more than 2.2 million viewers for the August 1 episode, the show's highest numbers in more than two years. Since that post-SummerSlam episode, "Raw" held steady in the 1.9 to 2 million range, until the most recent dip courtesy of the Denver Broncos vs. Seattle Seahawks game this week.

Furthermore, last year's MNF season opener caused an even bigger dent in WWE's viewership, with the 9/13/2021 episode of "Raw" averaging 1.67 million viewers. In comparison, "Raw" was up 2.4 percent in overall viewership from the same week in 2021, while the 18-49 key demo also saw an uptick of 2.32 percent. Surely, the year-on-year increase in viewership bodes well for Triple H & Co. going forward.

It remains to be seen if "Raw" can rebound in the ratings next week. Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins for the U.S. Title and Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory has been announced for the show thus far.