WWE News: Raw viewership falls against NBA Playoffs
What's the Story?
The announcement of AJ Styles versus Seth Rollins for Money in the Bank was not enough to save the flagship show from a big decrease in viewership.
The April 22 edition of Monday Night Raw averaged 2.37 million viewers, which is down nearly 300,000 from last week's Superstar Shakeup.
In Case You Didn't Know
Triple H and the Universal Champion Seth Rollins kicked off the first hour talking about the upcoming matches for the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, followed by a triple threat match between AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio and United States Champion Samoa Joe.
The second hour featured the other triple threat match between The Miz, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin, and a first-ever match between Cesaro and Cedric Alexander.
The Heart of the Matter
Yesterday's NBA playoff games between the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks and the second game between Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz dominated Monday night cable, leaving Raw at third place in the ratings.
The following is the hourly breakdown for the April 22 edition of Raw, per ShowBuzzDaily:
Hour one: 2.680 million
Hour two: 2.296 million
Hour three: 2.146 million
With the first NBA playoff game starting eight minutes into Raw's broadcast, the flagship show lost nearly 400,000 viewers heading into the second hour.
The third hour of Raw featured the main event between Styles and Corbin, but was also home to the bizarre re-introduction of WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt, which decreased viewership by 150,000.
Raw viewership was down 730,000 viewers compared to the 2018 episode of Raw on April 24, 2018 which garnered 3.104 million viewers and featured a confrontation between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar before the Saudi Arabia show, The Greatest Royal Rumble.
What's Next?
The flagship show isn't likely to recover from their viewership decrease as the NBA playoffs progresses. With Rollins and Styles being the biggest stars on Raw, the viewership decrease may ultimately reflect on their star power.