Wrestling

The Rock/Cody Rhodes controversy didn’t boost Raw’s ratings

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The numbers WWE’s Feb. 5 show got put it in a tie with ‘The Bacherlor’ for first on all of television though, so they’re unlikely to change any WrestleMania plans.

WWE had been making headlines for days leading into the Feb. 5 episode of Raw. Sure, most of those were about fans rejecting the closing scene of SmackDown. But there was a lot of interest in if/how the company would address the backlash against The Rock seemingly taking Cody Rhodes WrestleMania spot, and to paraphrase a famous pro wrestling promoter, controversy is supposed to create cash.

Would it create ratings?

Not bigger ones than the previous Monday’s Royal Rumble fallout edition, but WWE and USA Network probably aren’t complaining. Per Wrestlenomics, Monday’s episode averaged 1,889,000 viewers per hour from 8-11pm ET. With 18-49 year olds, it had a .58 rating. The overall audience number is only down 1% week-to-week, while the demo number is about 5% off Jan. 29’s.

Both are above the same week in 2023, however. And Raw was tied with ABC’s The Bachelor for the highest rated show on all of television Monday night. So while all involved would have loved bigger numbers, the ones they got worked just fine.

Can they sustain this level? That could depend on what we learn at Thursday’s WrestleMania Kickoff event and Friday’s SmackDown. While we wait for those, here’s a rundown of the past year’s worth of Raw’s numbers:

* Pre-recorded “Best of” show

For complete results and this week’s Raw live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For video highlights of the show click here.

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