Raw Popped A Huge Rating: Can They Keep It Up?

[Jack-Hammer]

This past Monday's episode of Raw drew the biggest ratings the show has had since September 7, 2009. PWTorch.com lists the show as having drawn a 3.83 rating while Gerweck.net is reporting a 3.9. At any rate, it's the highest number Raw has drawn in nearly a year and a half. The show had an average viewership of 5,860,000, which is also the largest average audience in about the same time period.

Interest in last Monday's Raw was high due to the 2-21-11 promo, fallout from the Elimination Chamber, John Cena's response to The Rock's comments last week and, possibly, the slight chance that The Rock would make an appearance this past Monday as well.

So the question is can they keep the momentum going? Can they keep this kind of enhanced interest at least until WrestleMania is over with? And, if so, what do you think they can do to keep the numbers up?

Personally, I'm expecting to see a significant drop in Raw's numbers next week. How much of a drop could be a decent indicator of how much interest they've managed to generate for WrestleMania already.

 

[CerebralViper96]

Yes,I do.So,this week on RAW. It was simple. WWE didnt need to pull out the red carpet . Great promos/raps from John Cena,CM Punk,and The Miz. Triple H and the Undertaker's return. I could have done without Morrison wrestling (due to his leftover injuries from the Elimination Chamber). But overall,an awesome RAW. Another thing is the things to look forward to. Such as Chris Jericho's return,Awesome Kong's debut,Sting's debut (if there is a god ),etc. Hopefullly some of these great segments and/or matches happen on SmackDown. Maybe The Great One returns to SmackDown? So yes,I do believe ratings can keep up as long as the shows are as entertaining as this week's one was.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

There was a lot of stuff to look forward to on Raw last night. The "secret" of 2/21/11 was going to be revealed, Cena had to answer The Rock, there was the fallout from the Elimination Chamber pay per view, and I'm sure a lot of people were hoping to catch another live glimpse of The Rock. We're on the road to Wrestlemania, so of course WWE is going to play all of their big cards, and people are going to tune in to see what happens. However, I do think The Rock helped this big ratings jump a lot. Wrestling fans have been dying to see him return to a WWE ring for years, and I'm sure a lot of us were hoping to see The People's Champion again last night. Also, there are casual wrestling fans out there who are fans of The Rock. He's become a mainstream star over the years, so he does have a good amount of followers.

Will WWE be able to keep this up? It's very hard to tell as of right now. Again, we're on road to Wrestlemania, so everyone knows the WWE is going to fire all of their big guns. People are going to want to tune in and watch. I think the outlook for WWE after Wrestlemania will play a big part in the ratings, because fans are going to want to know what they have to look forward to after the big show. Do they want to see another Cena World Title reign? If Miz retains, will people buy into him as a top guy? What paths will Triple H and The Undertaker go down after their big Wrestlemania match? How often will The Rock be used? I'm sure these questions will be on the minds of a lot people. These questions will probably determine how frequently people tune in to Monday Night Raw, and we're going to have to wait and see how things will play out.

 

[EStreet]

Most of the increase in ratings had to be due to casual or "Attitude Era" fans tuning in after hearing the Rock was on Raw the week before. While I think Raw was very entertaining, the Rock was not there and this may have turned off those fans that tuned in to see him again. However, if WWE were to now insert the Rock in the next episode of Raw - it would be great way to keep interest up. Ratings should keep spiking because people will tune in never knowing when he will be on TV. This is the closest thing WWE has had to a must-see attraction in a long time. Nostalgia at its finest. This past week they got away without the Rock because they turned the clock back on Cena's rap character, as well as Taker/HHH. Next week's rating will be more telling.

 

[EliteDiva]

I think the ratings mostly directed to the fact that The Rock has come back after a 7 year absence. The Rock's return was so heavily publicized that it probably garnered MOST of the new ratings RAW received at Monday. I mean The Rock has been going mainstream the last couple years and has become an A list actor after his departure from the wrestling industry, so it wasn't a shock that even non-wrestling fan might have had tuned in to catch a glimpse of The Rock. It also wouldn't be surprising if past WWF fans tuned in to watch as well because during the attitude days wrestling was VERY popular and if you were to mention wrestling to people who wasn't a follower of wrestling they'd still know either Stone Cold, The Rock, or Hogan because at that time wrestling was at its pinnacle.

 

[Jackal960]

For ratings to increase, you need to add new fan base to your show. We have seen how many guys that continuosly watch today's show (which draws 3 as rating) However since Rock's return, viewers who stopped watching WWE for a while got interested again. And sorry but it wasn't the best Raw you could see in 1,5 years. So no reason to put the weight on the quality of the show, Taker's return etc. If you think this weeks show was so great you are probably a guy who watches Raw every week anyway. So you are that 3 rating WWE already has, the increase didn't come from it's usual viewers...

It all started last week...

Rock's return wasn't a sure thing until the last moments of Raw. That's why they couldn't capitalize on his return (ratings wise) until this week. As soon as i saw the Rock, i started wondering what would following weeks ratings be. No suprise since all die hard IWC were there to watch the Rock. "It doesn't matter" if you are a TNA fan, or "it doesn't matter" if you prefer to watch Smackdown. When Rock is there it's a completely different show and it's a must see. Although we couldn't see the Rock most likely it wasn't the last time we see hime till Wrestlemania. That is enough reason for ratings to stay high for a while.

 

[bitchass]

I THINK SO..VINCE ISNT DUMB,HE KEPT ROCK RETURN A SECRET, TRIPLE H RETURN A SECRET......MAYBE STING HAS SIGNED WITH WWE, U SHOULDVE KNOWN HE WASNT GOING TO WRESTLE, BUT I THINK HE WILL BE THE FINAL HOF ENTRANT NAMED,,,,IMO

 

[MoizH28]

I think this is great for Raw. If it falls to even 3.5 I think Vince will be happen. I dont think that will happen tho because people are gonna tune in to see if The Rock comes back every week before WM.

 

[Newman]

The reason why RAW achieved such a high rating was due to a combination of The Rock returning and the fans somehow expect him to appear again and Cena responding to his taunts and the 2 21 11 angle. 2 21 11 is one of the most mysterious and anticipated angle in recent history. They won't achieve the same rating in the near future. WWE would be lucky to even achieve a 3.5 for next week. There will be a drastic drop but next week should be a rating that surpasses the average ratings for RAW, a 3.3 is achievable. But+WWE+can't+and+won't+keep+the+same+rating+up+for+next+week+or+at+least+the+near+future+anyway.

 

[AngryCenaFan]

It will not remain that way if the rock doesn't show up again til WM, hopefully they will get him back on a few more times and advertise it

 

[PedigreeTHE619Chokeslam]

I think the high rating was due to the 2-21-11 promos, (which imo was a big dissapointment. Yes i knew it was going to be Undertaker, but i think for all the hype it could of been alot better then it was) wanting to see the reaction of Cena, the possibility of sting showing up, and just because its WrestleMania season. Arent the rating a little higher during wrestlemania season? Havent really took notice to the previous years. I do expext the rating to drop a little bit next week, but not by much. They just have to get The Rock on raw before WM with some advertising, and get these WrestleMania feuds getting really intense, i can see it getting up to 3.9-4.0 within the next few weeks, if they play there cards right.

 

[JunJunM3]

That's a nice rating, but I see next week to have quite a drop. The 2-12-11 promo with people holding out hope on Sting had a lot to do with the ratings, as well as Cena responding to the Rock, and also a good chunk of people tuning in hoping to see the Rock also.

 

[MarkoMan]

I think that those ratings can hold up well if the Rock actually wrestles.

I have reason to believe that the Rock's a huge draw. There are a number of friends that said on FaceBook that they'd watch wrestling again if the Rock is back.

Now obviously my friends is a small sample space, but I'm pretty sure they're not the only ones thinking that.

 

[GameOver]

it will only hold up as long as the Rock, Triple H, Trish are still onscreen soon as they go back into the shadows and WrestleMania is over the ratings will drop back to where they were last year. i have no doubt about that, but the ratings won't be really low, will just go back to what it's been for years, around the 2.5-3 rating.

as for what the ratings were, they were already at a 4 the week b4 and the week Rock returned to RAW, obviously people tuning into see who Vince was gonna name as the host of WrestleMania. not to mention despite the lacklustre build up to WrestleMania this year there is still some hype with HBK inducted into the HOF and now with Rock being involved and Triple H/Taker

 

[WWE_Colonel]

I doubt it and the reason is because the WWE is slowly losing their main audience, the 18-35 male demographic. It just goes to show that the Rock being back and all the old school wrestling watchers anticipating Sting coming to the WWE is the main reason why the rating was that high. I won't say the PG stuff is garbage because it's not, and there have been some very interesting wrestling in recent memory, but it won't hold onto that demographic. In my eyes there is one way for the WWE to capitalize on this and that is to keep up the good work even after Mania. I don't know how much ratings mean to Vince, but if it as much as people make it out to be, he needs to entertain the 18-35 male demographic to go back to the mid 4 ratings he was getting earlier in the decade.

 

[Sparky]

Yeah, I feel the ratings will get a small drop next week. Almost every raw this year has had something to draw the Viewers in, even if it was just the go home edition before a ppv. This weeks raw hasn't got anything advertised like the rest of them. the only thing that will get extra people zoning in are the people clinging on to the rock making an appearance before WM and the ones that want to see if HHH or the undertaker will wrestle or cut a promo.

I don't think it will be a huge drop though, as it is still the road to wrestlemania.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

To me.. I think the real build to Mania will start now!! Next week I think it will dip low, because people expected the rock to come again,.. but it wasnt the case...

 

[Rayne]

It's Wrestlemania season, and the WWE is going to keep up the hype. Unlike another televised wrestling program, the WWE tends to deliver on their own hype.

The next few weeks will show a small decline, but will still be above recent ratings. Wrestlemania always brings in people that haven't been paying attention to the weekly shows. They'll likely have another big number on the go-home RAW, although probably not a 3.9. After that, you'll start seeing the ratings return to their normal position.

 

[Burnout]

Great rating for Raw, good signs for WWE, they’re getting a lot of interest for Wrestlemania. I do expect a fairly hefty drop though. Raw will at least drop back to a 3.3, which is still a good rating. The rating for a large part was due to older fans tuning in with hope to see The Rock, and since they didn't see him, they probably won't tune in, unless however they liked what they saw, and it was a pity Raw last week was very poor wrestling wise, so only the Cena promo, Lawler-Cole promo and Taker and HHH returning are there to try and retain some of the extra viewers. HHH returning will draw a good few viewers back next week which should help the rating, Undertaker won't really affect the rating, he's been going and returning for quite a few years now. The viewers that tuned into see The Rock, some will go, but I say some will tune in again, to see if The Rock will come to retaliate to Cena's promo. The next Rock appearance if there will be another one, WWE most definitely will advertise it to pull in a huge number, and an advertised Rock appearance would pull over 4.0 with ease.

So the Raw rating will drop slightly, but will retain a good number still.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I am sure the number will be quite a bit lower this week. As explained in the OP, there were a lot of things to look forward to last week. Plus those things, combined with it being the Road To Wrestlemania, made it an interesting week to say the least.

Though the number for this week's RAW should be higher then it has been for most of the RAW's over the last year or so, it will be lower then last week's, GUARANTEED!!

 

[stasheroo]

It will most certainly drop.

Last weeks' show had tons of buildup, from the possibility of the Rock showing up again, to the aftermath of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, to what many had hoped would be Sting's WWE debut to challenge the Undertaker.

Ultimately, people were disappointed on all fronts and this coming week's ratings will show that disappointment.

 

[BTLion1990]

RAW this week, billed as the ''Stone Cold'' RAW hit a 3.92 edging closer to the 4.0 WWE used to be accustomed to.

Do you believe the WWE can hit 4.0 before Mania? Also why do you think it got as high as its gotten in the past few weeks, beating all weeks with The Rock involved. Do you feel it was down to Stone Cold, or simply due to WrestleMania season attracting these fans?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think the best chance Raw has of getting to the 4.0 mark would be the next time The Rock shows up on the show. I'm betting that'll happen the final Raw before WrestleMania.

As for the reasons for the string of big ratings Raw has drawn, it happens about this time every year. The ratings always go up when it seriously gets down to building up and hyping WrestleMania. The Rock & Stone Cold certainly draws attention but the spike in ratings can't be completely attributed to them because Raw has maintained the numbers throughout the night. Last Monday, people didn't just tune in for Stone Cold's segment. Both hours of Raw scored over a 3.9 rating, which means that fans tuned in and stayed tuned in. During WrestleMania time, that's EXACTLY what Vince wants to see happen. It's great to have your audience steadily tuning in, of course, no matter what. But, when the show is pulling numbers of near 6 million viewers while hyping the biggest wrestling ppv of the year, it's all that much sweeter for Vince.