That Gauntlet match really was one hell of a draw.
Last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw garnered 3.28 million viewers with two really strong opening hours. This week’s show, despite coming just one night after the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) and featuring the Raw debut of Ronda Rousey, saw a drop down to 3.18 million viewers.
The hourly breakdown looked closer to the usual pattern too:
Hour one: 3.40 million
Hour two: 3.24 million
Hour three: 2.88 million
They saved Rousey for the third hour and viewership still dropped all throughout the show, as it typically does. Even on the “Road to WrestleMania,” three hours is a lot of ask of your fan base every week, 52 weeks a year.
They can’t do a Gauntlet match every week but the fact that viewers were down this week may tell WWE something about how to proceed going forward.
