WWE Raw rating: Strong first hour, drop in viewership in the second hour

Monday's WWE Raw drew a 3.33 rating, up slightly from the 3.31 the rating for the traditional two-hours of last week's three-hour show. Raw averaged 4.88 million viewers, up from the 4.752 million viewers that tuned in for the traditional two hours last week.

Powell's POV: While all of this may seem like good news, it's worth noting that Raw drew 4.991 million viewers for hour one and then dropped to 4.768 million viewers in hour two. In other words, a lot of viewers tuned out as the show went on. That could be due in part to the announcers stating that Brock Lesnar had been escorted out of the building, though I know I was skeptical and wondered whether Lesnar would return later in the show. WWE also went against the NBA playoffs on TNT last night, so that was probably a factor as well.