Huge NFL audience means no Wild Card ratings surprise for Raw this year

Last year when Raw went up against an NFL Wild Card playoff game, the WWE’s Monday night offering did surprisingly well.

But no offense to the LA Rams, Arizona Cardinals and their fans, but they’re not America’s Team and The GOAT doesn’t play for either of them.

That’s what Raw was up against this year, and despite not being a close game, the Dallas Cowboys win over Tom Brady & the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the most watched NFL playoff game of the century:

According to Showbuzz Daily, Boys/Bucs actually finished with even better numbers than the overnights the Mouse House was touting — 31.1 million viewers across ABC, ESPN & ESPN 2, to be exact. It had a 6.92 ratings share of 18-49 year olds, too.

So what did that mean for pro wrestling?

Raw was watched by an average of 1,489,000 per hour, with a .42 rating in the demo. That was down from the week before (1.693 million viewers and a .50 with the 18-49 set), and down 8% in viewership and 2% in the demo from the 2022 episode that aired opposite Rams/Cards.

The episode held its audience well for the 9pm ET, but then experienced the usual decline for its final third.

Hour One: 1.56 million / .44
Hour Two: 1.54 million / .44
Hour Three: 1.37 million / .37

Raw will be free and clear of football for a while now. We’ll see if that, combined with Rumble Season and the Road to WrestleMania 39, means bigger numbers.

Author’s note: Between some hiccups with Showbuzz, and the deluge of other news of late, we missed quite a few ratings reports this year. But we’ll look to stay on track from here on out.