Image: WWE

Last night’s Raw after the Royal Rumble averaged 1.89 million overall viewers and a 0.58 rating in 18-49, numbers that would have to be disappointing based on following the second biggest show of the year.

The one bright spot is that the third hour, built around Edge vs. Randy Orton, even though it wasn’t even promoted until midway through the show, held up better than usual and it was the first time in a long time that hour three beat hour two (0.57 to 0.55), based almost entirely on a 13 percent rise from hour two to three in males 18-49. Women 18-49 dropped 12 percent from hour two to hour three.

The show was up from last week, but that’s to be expected. As compared to the night after the 2020 Royal Rumble, Raw was down 21 percent in viewers, 24 percent in 18-49, and 39 percent in 18-34.

From last week, the show was up four percent in viewers, 12 percent in 18-49, and six percent in 18-34, meaning it also skewed younger than last week but older than last year.

Raw placed first for the night in 18-49 on cable and beat CBS (all in reruns) and NBC (not in reruns) among networks, meaning it was third behind ABC and Fox in the key demo for all of television. It was 18th in overall viewers, trailing only news channels.

As far as first-to-third hour drops, women 18-49 dropped 22 percent, which is high, but men 18-49 were up three percent, likely due to Edge vs. Orton appealing more to that group. Teenage girls were up 22 percent and teenage boys were up 10 percent while over 50 was down 10 percent.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.98 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.90 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.81 million viewers