Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: ratings, Raw, Wrestlemania, wrestling, wwe

WWE Raw Ratings Not Hall-of-Fame Worthy for WrestleMania Week

Published Tue, 06 Apr 2021 20:59:57 -0500

Showbuzz Daily has the WWE Raw ratings and they are, shall we say, less than impressive. For the last Raw before the biggest wrestling event of the year, you'd think Raw's ratings might be up this week. However, the show drew an average of 1.701 million viewers and a .52 in the 18-49 demographic, not the worst the show did over the last year, but relatively close. Of course, Raw did have the NCAA basketball finals to contend with, so at least WWE has something to blame their failure on.

Not even the latest long-ass promo by Drew McIntyre could save WWE Raw from mediocre ratings this week.

If you're the sort of person who cares about this sort of thing, here's how the hours break down. Hour one drew 1.759 million viewers and a .54 in 18-49. Hour two drew 1.723 million and a .51. Hour three drew 1.622 million viewers and a .50. That all rounds out to the perfect illustration of how the pandemic has been going for WWE, which has shed viewers since it started just before last year's WrestleMania. On the bright side, this year's show will be the first time a WWE main roster event has live fans in attendance, and it could mark a new beginning for the company.

But let's be honest: probably not. Pessimism aside, the card for the two-night WrestleMania is looking pretty solid for this weekend. On Night 1 of WrestleMania, we'll see Sasha Banks defend the Smackdown Women's Championship against Bianca Belair, Bobby Lashley defend the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre, and The New Day defend their Raw Tag Team Championships against AJ Styles and Omos. In non-title action on WrestleMania Night 1, we'll see Bad Bunny and Damian Priest team up to take on The Miz and John Morrison, Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon, Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins, and Lana and Naomi, Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose, The Riott Squad, and Natalya and Tamina face off in a Tag Team Turmoil match for a shot at the Women's Tag Team Championships.

Then, on WrestleMania Night 2, we'll see Roman Reigns defend the Universal Championship in a triple threat against Edge and Daniel Bryan, Asuka defend the Raw Women's Championship against Rhea Ripley, Big E defend the Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews, and Riddle defend the United States Championship against Sheamus. Plus, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler will defend the Women's Tag Team Championships against the winners of Night 1's Tag Team Turmoil match. In non-title action on WrestleMania Night 2, The Fiend will face Randy Orton and Kevin Owens will fight Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul at ringside). Titus O'Neil and Hulk Hogan will be the hosts of both Night 1 and Night 2, and WWE will surely have additional surprised planed as well.

WrestleMania takes place on April 10th and 11th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It will be stream exclusively on Peacock for United States viewers and on the WWE Network everywhere else.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!