Will next weeks Raw be the highest rated EVER?

[rge2010]

So we have seen The Great One return and rip Cena a new asshole. Next Monday Cena MUST respond to this. Cena can't let this happen and surely we will see The Rock turn up again?

Next up we finally see who is behind the 2.21.11 vignettes. This has being hyped and various superstars (Sting, Triple, Taker) have all being mentioned.

Also, the lady getting out of the Limo this past week. Maybe we see more developments in this storyline? Could this have something to do with the Raw GM?

Surely this has to be one of the most anticipated Raws of all time?!

 

[ITALIAN NYC]

Its weird because the chamber is sunday. If he loses, then im going to assume hes gunna face the rock at mania. If he wins, then hes gunna go on about how hes facing the miz , since the title is his main goal. Im very curious to see how to pans out. For all we know, he might not say anything about it. OR the rock might cost him the chamber. AH CAN U IMAGINE. It wont happen but still

 

[CMVshow]

I think the girl getting out of the limo was just supposed to try to throw you off of who the Mania host would be. I dont think there going to follow it up with anything.

 

[Nox]

i don't expect we will see the rock next week, that's probably the last time we see him until wm.

and next week we should see the return of taker and if all the reports are true about the possible match between hhh and taker then we could see the first planted seed for the two of them.

i think it will get a high rating, but not the highest ever.

 

[Papa Zapatista]

If they have the return of Undertaker and HHH coinciding with an epic staredown between The Rock and Cena, I believe this will be one of the highest rated RAWS in a very long time. To be completely honest, it will probably be high rated even without the 2/21/11 business, because The Rock is back!

Even if The Rock does not make a second appearance until Wrestlemania, then we still get to see the build-up between HHH and Taker. Either way, it will be a highly anticipated show. To see 4 of the biggest names in Wrestling -- 3 of them Legends from the Attitude Era -- in one show would truly be the best thing in WWE in the last decade.

However, if WWE plays their cards right, they will bring back Taker, and merely have Cena respond to the Rock's criticism. As Cena is about to finish, the GM will beep in and tell Cena that the following week, he and The Rock will meet together in the ring and talk to each other face to face. It's a great way to bring in high ratings for 3 straight weeks instead of just one big night of epicness.

 

[Stormlor]

I disagree, Rock probably will be there. I think they probably have him on TV / PPV schedule only like TNA did with Sting. Its not much to ask to do 5 TV appearances and maybe 1 PPV.

What would be interesting is we see Raw on Smackdown as well.

 

[mrbrownstone]

No it won't be the highest rated Raw ever, to do that it would have to go past a 7, basically they would have to double their average viewership in one week. I know Rock is a big draw and everything but even he isn't capable of that.

It may well be one of the highest rated Raws in a while though and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw it reach somewhere around 3.8-4.0 ratings.It has everything going for it, coming off Elimination Chamber, part of the road to WM, The Rock is back, the man behind 21/2/11 will be revealed.

 

[Midgetmania619]

Highest rated Raw was 8.4, and I doubt that they could beat it with frequent 3.2's recently. I think they could even get a 4.0 or above, but definitely not 8.4+. You're talking global respect and loyalty for the regulars to tune in, and the fans of SD/Undertaker and The Rock. Hell, some might not care about wrestling anymore, but they may have been fans of Rocky, they mightn't know about his return. It's not like it would be on the news or anything, so I don't think it would be the highest. You still have about 1 hour of bad wrestling matches or promos that people complain about weekly.

Also, with their 8.4 (BTW, it was Rocky and Mankind ripping off This Is Your Life) they aren't promoting their own version of a popular show. It's just Cena and Rock having a promo with Rock will obviously destroy Cena in. Although I don't see how Undertaker would fit into the Rock-Cena connection. Unless there's another meaning to Taker being on RAW.

 

[Newman]

The chances of next week's RAW being the highest rated ever is zero to none. I doubt if they would even go past a 4. However, its IS one of the most anticipated RAW in recent months, at least for me anyway. Cena WILL have to respond after being at the receiving end of taunts and mockerys from Rock. But I highly doubt Rock will appear next week.

The anonymous lady angle is also intriguing. Echo 2 21 11, which is the most anticipated one out of the three. I even think that if the fans had a choice to make, they would pay to watch RAW instead of the Elimination Chamber with 3 very very predictable matches on the card.

With the final 20 minutes of this week's RAW, who wouldn't tune in to the next episode? But saying that it will be the highest-rated ever is over-exaggerating. However, it may be the highest-rated in recent history.

 

[RedDevilDazzy]

It would be amazing if next weeks Raw was rated the highest ever in ratings. I would love to see The Rock appear again, just so he can get in the face of Cena, after he's made a big response to his comments.

 

[Vega]

Really, I guess you don't know which heights have been reached when wrestling was diverse and had a large target audience. The highest rated RAW stands at a 8.1, and the WWE can be VERY happy if half of that is reached.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Nah, I doubt it. The highest Raw ever, if I'm not mistaken, drew an 8.2 Nielsen Rating. WCW Monday Nitro didn't air that night and I think an NBA playoff game had taken its place. Raw about that time was generally doing between 5.5 and 6 on average so the fans that typically watched WCW on Monday nights decided to tune in for Raw.

It wouldn't surprise me to see The Rock's appearance last night heavily jacked up the audience watching Raw the last 25 minutes or so. Raw usually ends at 11:05 pm but it was about 11:20 when it went off last night. I'd say Raw did a pretty big rating last night and it should have a big rating next week as well. Aside from the EC fallout, Taker will make his return and I'm betting Triple H will as well. People will also tune in to see if and how Cena responds to The Rock's comments and to see if The Rock makes an appearance Monday.

So no, I don't think Raw will get close to an 8.2. Raw was getting 5s snd 6s because the Monday Night Wars and the Attitude Era itself was a fad. When the Wars ended, the ratings began significantly dropping off one year after the other. However, I think Raw scoring in the 4s next week is a good possibility.

 

[Boondocks]

Well it's true that Cena and probably Rock will turn out something great, hopefully the unidentified woman becomes identified, and the 2/21/11 promo will be revealed, as, I'm assuming, Undertaker. So at this point, there's a possibility of the best promo of Cena's career, hopefully some woman, who could turn out to be our GM(?), and whoever it may be, a big name showing on RAW. So yes, this could be one of the highest rated in a while. While I don't think it will pull a 4., I think it could easily jump what this week will produce by .05. The hype that goes with this episode is simply too much for a lot of hardcore WWE fans to miss. I know I'm gonna be sitting on my couch DVR-ing the whole thing, just so I can watch it again, anticipating it turns out.

 

[hatehabsforever]

There is no way that RAW next week will be the highest rating ever. They are not going to jump from the low 3's to the low 8's in one week, regardless of what is going on and who does or does not appear. However, I can see 2/21/11 being their highest rating in a really long time, moving over the 4.0 threshold, and if they play their cards right, they can sustain this on the road to wrestlemania.

You have to think that Cena must respond to the Rock in some capacity, even if the Rock is not actually there, which he probably won't be. I don't want to be guilty of jumping to conclusions or reading things which are not actually there, but I really do finally believe that this could be the long speculated John Cena heel turn. After being the face of the company for years, single handedly stopping the original Nexus (kayfabe), etc., he will get booed and they are going to chant the Rock's name when Cena enters the ring. I think we can see Cena gradually get pissed off by the lack of loyalty of the fans and have him undergo a short term heel turn.

The Miz will have to respond to the Rock as well, won't he? Plus, we will have to get some sense of direction of who is doing what at wrestlemania. Are the Rock and Cena going to face off in the ring. If so, what happens to the Miz? A lot of unanswered questions, not to mention the continuation of the ongoing story lines.

Call me naive, but I still have not given up on a Sting/Undertaker program either. With each subsequent vignette, I feel more and more convinced that we will see this too. While the vignette eliminated all doubt that Taker is involved, it did not dispel the possibility of a second mystery person, in fact it made it look more likely than ever to me. Add the possibility of this to everything else above ( and we haven't even discussed Triple H, Awesome Kong, or even the possible mystery woman who exited the limo (although personally I don't see a story here, I think that was just to dupe the fans about the Rock, which worked really well if you read through last night's LD), and we have an epic show to look forward to next week.

And just think, a week or so ago, people were concerned about a lackluster show for WM27.

 

[AndyUK]

Nah, it won't be but I'm sure it will get a good rating. I'm not sure if The Rock will appear though, although I hope he does and has the confrontation with Cena. Just seeing them in the same ring as each other will be epic when it happens.

Anyway, hasn't the way ratings are calculated changed since WWE got the big ratings in the Attitude Era? I remember reading that WWE's audience hasn't dropped as much as people think it has because of this.

 

[Sparky]

I won't say it will be the highest, but It's going to come close, at least the top ten. the road to wrestlemania always has High ratings and everybody is going to tune in to see what Cena says about The Rock calling him out or even to see if the rock is going to be there, (not to mention the whole return thing happening next week) but I don't think it will be the highest.

Personally, depending on Wrestlemania, I think the raw after that will be the highest rated of the year even beating next weeks. everyone will be wanting to see the fall out and to find out on if the rock is staying or not.

Therefore, It (if wrestlemania is a huge success) will not even be the highest of the year next week let alone of all time.

 

[MizMark]

I don't wanna be a killjoy or anything like that, but as far as we all know, Rock is only going to be the host of Mania, which means that there is only so much you can do with him on Raw in the coming weeks, so I don't expect to see him again until Mania, and I probably don't want to see him every week as it wouldn't be as special, however, if he is going to face Cena at Mania(if Cena loses the Chamber I am certain that will happen) then he will obviously appear to build the feud, and that would be awesome.

As far as ratings go, this past Raw will draw pretty high, and next weeks will be even higher, probably one of the highest ratings of the PG era, but it won't get close to it's all time rating, and probably never will, or at least won't for the forseeable future.

I hope Cena responds to Rock next week, but I expect him to face Miz at Mania so I don't think he will, but whatever happens in the coming weeks Mania going to be awesome.

 

[Wickpeeka]

So Cena will respond to The Rock.... So too will The Miz... All The Rock did tonight was pretty much guaran-damn-tee that the main event at Wrestlemania will be The Miz Vs Cena.

I wouldn't expect Rock to be on RAW next week. I don't expect him to have another LIVE appearance prior to Wrestlemania. There will be vignettes featuring The Rock, most likely. He may talk down to Cena/Miz and inject himself into their WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania.

Dependent on how the Undertaker/Triple H scenario plays itself out over the coming weeks I wouldn't be all that surprised if it was The Rock rather than Shawn Michaels that became a special referee for a match at Wrestlemania. The Miz Vs John Cena w/ The Rock as the special guest referee with Shawn Michaels doing a run in during the Triple H Vs Taker match became just that much plausible to me tonight.

As for the TV rating... As big a fan as I am - professional wrestling (specifically) and television (in general) doesn't have the same popularity that it used to, to the point where "best rating ever" will likely never happen again. It would take something completely and totally out of this world for the WWE to improve upon it's greatest ever rating. Outside of absolute special events (such as the Superbowl) there is no such thing as "must watch TV" these days and likely never will be again.

To statistically back this up - M*A*S*H recorded 105.94 million viewers in their finale - the most people that have ever watched a single US television show. This is 20 million more than for any other show. The US population when MASH had their finale was 233791994. That's a whopping 45% of the population. For that to happen today 138,152,948 people (a further 33 million people) would have to watch.

 

[Craig_Fton]

The vignettes are indeed the undertaker however we are going to see the return of HHH as well.

That women who came out of the limo you have to assume is either Stephanie or Linda McMahon. Or was it just a distraction?

Taker is going to return only to see later in the show the return of HHH to setup there match at wrestlemania 27, career vs. streak.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think it will be the most anticipated Raw in recent memory, but no way will it be the highest rated of all time, the interest in the WWE isn't enough right now to compete with the peak period during the Attitude era.

I dont expect the Rock to show up, but there is still the 21-2-11 mystery, Triple H's imminent return, The mystery GM (is it the woman in heels) and also how will Cena respond to Rock's comments? There is alot to be excited for.

It will be above 4, maybe even 5 but no way will it be anywhere near the 8.4

 

[thelegacywillremain1]

you guys .. lol the rock says he's back he's here to stay and still you get comments like i dont think he'll show up next week the man said he's back but to answer the question raw is raw and it's gonna get the same views it got last week

 

[Wickpeeka]

Rock says he's here to stay in the WWE. That he wanted to host Wrestlemania.

It doesn't mean that he's going to wrestle. It doesn't mean that he's going to be on RAW every week. It doesn't mean that he's going to do anything other than host Wrestlemania and when they need him to spice up ratings or for special events such as the Slammies contribute anything but either a promo (if the show is in California/Miami or he has time off) or a vignette.

That to The Rock is being back in the WWE. That is what we should expect. Welcome back Rocky.

 

[Mr. Perfect/Ziggler Fan]

Of course it won't be the highest rated ever. I don't think the OP knows how high the ratings got back in the Attitude Era.

BUT, the anticipation for next weeks RAW is pretty much unprecedented. As others have said, 2/21/11, Rock coming back, 'Will Cena respond?', Elimination Chamber results...

I've been watching wrestling again since July '09, after I stopped back in the very early '00's. This is by far the most excited I've been since I started back watching. I was weary of last night's RAW because after I saw the latest 2/21/11 promo showing the Undertaker, I thought 'They REALLY have to do something big for the WM host'.

Then with the weird cloud/lightning thing, I didn't know what to expect, but when the music started, I was relieved.

Back on topic, yes, I think next weeks RAW will be one of the highest rated in the last couple of years, but no, it won't be the highest rated.

 

[safeco1999]

The Attitude Era fans who tuned in for that 8+ Raw Rating were just little kids who loved blood, violence, and all the sexual angles.

So, expecting that rating will not happen anytime soon, if ever. Just like WWE never has reached the record ratings they set for SNME during the Hogan era.

The 'rating' is based on US households tuning in. I think ratings elsewhere outside of the States can reach some highs, but we dont get that data presented.

The Rock has stated before he won't come back to wrestle, so him vs. Cena is not likely going to happen.

 

[EStreet]

great run for the WWE right now on the Raw side of things...The Rock, Taker...eventually HHH....while the youth movement has dominated last year, you now have the return of some of the biggest stars in the game to draw casual fans. It is so important now that they don't drop the ball on storylines for the youth because they are all in line for maximum exposure now that people are tuning in. I expect next week's rating to hit the 4.0 mark for at least some portion (or at least until they announce The Rock isnt on the program)