WWE News: Raw's Viewership sees slight decrease with Reigns-Lashley main event

What's the Story?

Monday Night Raw's viewership continues to maintain numbers under three million viewers and saw a slight decrease from the previous episode.

The July 23 episode of Raw averaged 2.78 million viewers - down about 86,000 from the 2.87 million average from the July 16 episode.

In Case You Didn't Know

Raw focused on the announcement of the women-exclusive pay-per-view "Evolution" and the development of Raw's SummerSlam matches.

The main event of the show saw Roman Reigns defeat Bobby Lashley to become the No.1 Contender for Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship.

The Heart of the Matter

Despite a slightly decreased number compared to last week's show, Raw's ratings held steady throughout the program and placed them behind Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta for Monday's Night's top cable programs.

Hour one: 2.817 million

Hour two: 2.821 million

Hour three: 2.701 million

Raw's viewership rose during the second hour of the program but decreased by 120,000 heading into the third hour - which featured Lashley and Reigns in the main event.

However, the third hour of this week's show managed to hold onto more viewers than the July 16 episode which lost approximately 240,000 with its main event of Lashley vs.Seth Rollins vs. Elias.

It's also important to note that the July 16 edition of Raw faced competition from MLB as opposed to this week's show which faced no significant competition from other programs.

What's Next?

Brock Lensar and Ronda Rousey have been announced to return to Raw next week and will continue the build towards their respective SummerSlam matches.

Also announced for the final Raw of July was Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin and Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre.

Lesnar has been absent from WWE television since April, so the combination of his and Rousey's return could lead to a bump in viewership depending on how they are used next week.