WWE News: Raw Viewership increases following Brock Lesnar & Ronda Rousey's Return

What's the story?

The return of Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey was of great benefit to Monday Night Raw's viewership and brought the show's numbers up significantly.

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The July 30, 2018 edition of Raw averaged 2.90 million viewers - up 120,000 viewers from last week's average of 2.780 million.

In case you didn't know

Most of the show focused on Lesnar and the development of his character as the "lazy part-timer" which resulted in him not coming to the ring until the final hour of the program.

The biggest match of the night was Seth Rollins versus Drew McIntyre that ended via disqualification after Dolph Ziggler interfered.

The Heart of the Matter

Raw's viewership was strongest in the second hour and earned the number one spot for Monday Night Cable. The first and third hour of the show was just behind the ratings of Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta in the 18-49 age demographic.

Hour One: 2.875 million

Hour Two: 3.012 million

Hour Three: 2.815 million

The viewership decreased heading into the third hour but marked the first time Raw's third hour rose above 2.8 million since April 30 - the Raw after the Greatest Royal Rumble.

Despite the significant increase, Lesnar's and Rousey's return wasn't enough to bring Raw back up to the three million viewers it usually generates for this time of the year.

However, the hourly viewership for Raw has done its strongest numbers during the second hour for two consecutive weeks, which shows the program is retaining more of its audience throughout the show.

What's next?

Two matches were announced for next week's show including Mojo Rawley versus Bobby Roode and Rousey making her in-ring debut for Raw against Alicia Fox.

Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Lesnar will not return to WWE programming until the August 13 episode - the Go-home show for SummerSlam.