Monday's edition of WWE RAW posted a 3.7 cable rating. This is a slight increase on last week's 3.6 score, but not what the company was hoping for after a pay-per-view.
Monday Night Football, of course, does provide serious competition now. But Vince McMahon and the WWE brass won't be satisfied until the rating is above 4.0 consistently.
This isn't very good news. Despite a main event that featured the show's top face, Sabu, ECW on Sci-Fi this week only scored a 1.9 rating.
This is a drop frm last Tuesday's 2.1, a program that featured DX in the main event. Sadly, that probably means you can expect to see many more WWE stars randomly appearing on ECW in the future, despite the complete lack of storyline logic in that.
Meanwhile, Smackdown! had ratings problems of its own - for a different reason. The program was preempted in 45 percent of the country last week, while five percent still don't have a clearance to begin with during the switch from UPN to The CW. Major markets without a clearance this fall include Phoenix, Orlando, Porland, Baltimore, Reno, Columbia-Jefferson City (Mo.), Palm Springs, and Anchorage.
As a result, Smackdown - which featured Batista being screwed out of the title - drew a 1.0 network rating last Friday (2 share/1.1 million households).
It wasn't as solid a week for WWE RAW ratings as the show enjoyed last Monday. At least the company has a decent excuse.
RAW received a 3.6 in the wake of the NFL double-header on ESPN, always a popular programming choice for wrestling viewers. The Redskins/Vikings game scored a 9.9 rating from 7:00 pm through around 10:30 or so, while the Raiders/Chargers game scored a 8.5 rating and would have affected the West Coast airing of WWE RAW.
The WWE may have to step it up now, however, as football will oppose its main program for the next few months. Let's hope Unforgiven gets the brand off on a huge run starting this Sunday.
RAW this week drew a 3.4 first hour rating and a 3.7 second hour rating, with a 3.9 overrun and a 3.6 overall average.
The numbers grew consistently until the McMahons' interview ended and the three-way tag match aired.
On Tuesday night, meanwhole, ECW drew a 2.1 rating, up from last week's 1.9 rating, but below the overall average for the show.
The ratings grew throughout the show, beginning at a 1.8 and closing with an overrun rating of 2.4 when DX took on The Big Show.
Wait, people weren't dying to watch yet another owner get into the ring? Amazing.
Indeed, Paul Heyman's first-ever match wasn't exactly a ratings winner for ECW this week. The final number came in at 1.9, a drop from the 2.3 of seven days earlier.
Rumor has it, however, that the WWE has signed a long-term deal to keep ECW on the Sci-Fi channel for many months now. We'll have more details on this story as it develops.
Due to the U.S. Open, RAW was showcased on the Sci-Fi channel Monday night.
Nevertheless, the show drew strong ratings: it earned a 3.3 rating (5 share/2.9 million households, 4.1 million viewers), well above the Sci-Fi average in that timeslot of 0.8.
The ratings were steady throughout the show, beginning at a 3.2 and ending at 3.2 with peak rating of 3.5.
People seem to be enjoying this WWE-inspired ECW. This week's show once again posted a strong atings number for the Sci-Fi channel, a 2.3/4 Tuesday night.
Akin to last week, the show's overall rating greatly benefitted from high viewership at the onset. In an uncommon occurrence for a WWE show, the first quarter hour exceeded the show's overall rating, posting a 2.4.
Eh.
That's probably Vince McMahon's response after seeing the ratings for this week's RAW. We're sure the chairman was hoping for a big boost following SummerSlam, but a 4.1 cable rating with a 6.3 share certainly isn't bad.
It's basically the same as last week's numbers, which showed 4.1 rating with a 6.5 share. The hour by hour break down this time a 3.9 the first hour and 4.2 the second hour.
With Mick Foley calling out Ric Flair to begin this week's ECW show, fans were as interested as they've been in the product all month.
Led by such a strong opening segment, this week's rating came in at a 2.3. The first forty five minutes notched a 2.2 rating, while the fourth quarter posted a 2.1 and the overrun did a 2.5.
Surprisingly, the main event ladder match did not lead to a major spike in the numbers. Perhaps this was due to the announcement to start the hour that Kurt Angle - sorry, The Wrestling Machine, Kurt Angle - wouldn't be participating in it.
Coming off a RAW rating of 4.2 a week ago, it was a slight let down for Vince and crew when this week's edition scored a final 4.1 cable rating.
As the show before a big pay-per-view, especially a major one such as Summerslam, we're sure WWE higher-ups were hoping for an improvment.
