For the second time in 2018, WWE have broken their own record low audience for an edition of Monday Night Raw.
The Wrestling Observer posted the figures for the September 26th edition of the show ahead of an official ratings release later this week, with the three hourly figures averaging out around 2.35 million viewers. This falls below the 2.46 million that tuned to the previous basement dweller on July 9th.
As is often the case, there were contributing factors beyond the creative direction of the product that resulted in the nosedive. It's Season Premiere time in the United States, and with the NFL now back in full force on Monday Nights, Raw is likely to be sacrificed by channel-hopping connoisseurs. That said, the company may wish to address the emerging trend - two new record lows in almost as many months may reflect a wider trend beyond the usual distractions that interfere with figures at this time of year. The exact same edition in 2017 drew 2.91 million viewers, so the graph continues to point down year-on-year regardless of the occasional blips.
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The show peaked in the first hour with 2.49 million viewers before levelling off at 2.28 million viewers during the 10 and 11pm slots.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
