Viewers stuck around to see Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns face-off

Last night’s (Mar. 20) episode of WWE Raw saw a slight week-over-week increase in both total viewers and rating among 18-49 year olds, but it was thwarted from being the top rated show on cable by a familiar nemesis — live sports.

The show show averaged 1.77 million viewers across its three hours. It did a 0.55 rating among 18-49 year olds. Both numbers are within the range Raw’s been in for much of the year, but off the peaks it was hitting with anniversary shows and big fallout episodes from events like Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber.

So maybe not exactly what WWE was hoping for with a show featuring Roman Reigns, Logan Paul and lots of WrestleMania build. But they do have a scapegoat in the form of Japan’s thrilling win over Mexico in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic. That won the night on cable for FS1 with 1.89 million viewers and a .68 in the demo.

Another positive for WWE… the fans who tuned in stuck around. The show-long Bloodline drama, and big promo battle between Reigns and Cody Rhodes, worked.

Here is the hourly breakdown:

Hour One: 1.78 million / .55
Hour Two: 1.81 million / .57
Hour Three: 1.73 million / .54

Next week is the ‘Mania go home show, and should be free of any major sporting events (no offense to the teams who make the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament). We’ll see how that does.

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.

Numbers via Showbuzz Daily