10 Weird But True Facts For WWE In 2023
2. CM Punk Doesn’t Equal Ratings
CM Punk’s return to WWE set the wrestling world on fire. It
dominated social media in the aftermath of Survivor Series and made countless
year-end lists.
But one thing that Punk’s return did not do is set Raw’s ratings on fire. Despite WWE constantly plugging their social media metrics for his Survivor Series return, the Punker’s first WWE promo in nearly a decade the following night did not pull in a record audience.
In fact, that episode of Raw did not crack the show’s top five in viewership for the year, clocking in at the seventh-most-watched episode in 2023. Four episodes in the lead-up to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 39, the Raw after SummerSlam and the program prior to Money in the Bank drew larger audiences.
That doesn’t mean by any stretch that Punk’s return didn’t draw – that November 27 episodes was the largest audience since the August 7 show – but some were predicting that it would shatter records, and it didn’t even come close.