As noted, this week’s WWE RAW rating drew a ‘historically low’ number, even with a loaded show featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting even though the show did have a low rating, the total viewership numbers are in line with what WWE draws against football most of the season. In addition to this, the show gained 80,000 overall viewers, and had competition from the MLB playoffs and the new Star Wars trailer.
WWE tried to space out the show to draw viewers, with Austin/Undertaker/Lesnar Cena in hour one, followed Michaels in hour two and Flair in the final hour. One thing that could have played a part in not getting the audience they wanted was the lack of promotion for Austin, something the Observer noted was due to WWE thinking social media promotion would draw, when it fails time and time again. It was also mentioned that the ‘Shield reunion’ match at the end of the show was poorly promoted, and contributed to a low draw, like Sting’s RAW match ended up doing.
