– As noted, this past Monday’s RAW averaged 3.282 million viewers. It was the third most watched episode of the year, behind RAW 25 and the post-Royal Rumble RAW, which averaged 3.395 million viewers. The two-hour Gauntlet match that opened the show was a huge success, with the first two hours averaging 3.51 million viewers before plunging 20% for the third hour, which drew 2.821 million viewers.
Alfred Konuwa of Forbes has a column here looking at the success of the match, despite previous wrestling-heavy episodes – like the December 4th broadcast – seeing dips in viewership from the first to second hour. The article noted that the second hour was the most-watched second hour since RAW 25, even topping the post-Rumble RAW.
