Monday’s live MLK Day edition of WWE RAW drew an average of 1.613 million viewers on the USA Network, according to Nielsen via Showbuzz Daily. This is down 1.22% from last week’s 1.633 million viewers.
For this week’s show, the first hour drew 1.734 million viewers (last week’s hour 1 – 1.726 million), the second hour drew 1.650 million viewers (last week’s hour 2 – 1.661 million) and the final hour drew 1.456 million viewers (last week’s hour 3 – 1.512 million).
Monday’s RAW drew a 0.43 rating in the 18-49 key demographic. This is up 10.25% from last week’s 0.39 key demo rating. That 0.43 key demo rating represents 560,000 18-49 viewers, which is up 10.45% from the 507,000 18-49 viewers that last week’s 0.39 key demo rating represented, according to Wrestlenomics.
RAW ranked #6 for the night in viewership on cable, behind the NFL Wildcard game on ESPN between the Cardinals and the Rams, Monday Night Kickoff, Monday Night Post-game, Monday Night Countdown, and Rachel Maddow Show. This is up from last week’s #18 ranking for the night in viewership.
RAW ranked #7 for the night on the Cable Top 150, with the 0.43 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This is up from last week’s #9 spot. NFL Wildcard game between the Rams and the Cardinals on ESPN topped the night on the Cable Top 150 with a 2.69 key demo rating. The game at 8:14pm also topped the night on cable in viewership with a whopping 8.832 million viewers.
The NFL Wildcard game also aired on ABC and drew an average of 12.768 million viewers on broadcast TV at 8:14pm, while The Neighborhood drew 5.775 million viewers on CBS, Kenan on NBC drew 1.931 million viewers on NBC, 911: Lone Star drew 2.027 million viewers on FOX, and CW’s Naomi drew 503,000 viewers, all in the 8pm hour on broadcast TV. The NFL game also drew the best key demo rating of the night on network TV with a 2.73.
This week’s RAW did better than expected by most due to the strong NFL competition. It was expected by many that this RAW episode would be the lowest in show history since it was the first time they went against the NFL Wildcard game, but the audience was actually better than any episode in December. RAW drew the fifteenth-lowest in history. The key demo rating was up from last week, and was also better than any episode in December. The NFL game drew 8.832 million viewers on ESPN and 1.419 million viewers on ESPN2, with another 12.768 million viewers on network TV. This week’s RAW viewership was down 1.22% from last week, while this week’s key demo rating was up 10.25% from last week.
Monday’s RAW viewership was down 13% from the same week in 2021, while the 18-49 key demo rating was down 28% from the same week in 2021. The 2021 episode did not have any football competition.
Monday’s RAW from the BOK Center in Tulsa, OK had several matches and segments advertised ahead of time – fallout from RK-Bro losing the RAW Tag Team Titles to Alpha Academy, Bobby Lashley issuing an “All Mighty Response” to WWE Champion Brock Lesnar’s jokes from the week before, Doudrop and RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan and Bianca Belair, and the main event, which was Lashley vs. Seth Rollins.
