WWE Raw on May 4th averaged 3.57 million viewers over the three hour run time. This is a significant low, as it represents the lowest viewing audience for a non-holiday or football season episode since 1997. F4wonline believes that the lack of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon has negatively impacted the ratings. There's a pattern of the ratings taking a tumble whenever the Authority do not feature. It is quite the irony. Passionate wrestling fans are loathing of the Authority and believe it is stale, but clearly the act is still a draw for numbers in the casual audience. Overall, the show was down 5% from last week and the three hours were 8 p.m. 3.42 million viewers, 9 p.m. 3.71 million viewers and 10 p.m. 3.59 million viewers. It is a shame, as it was actually one of the best Raw episodes in quite some time. The inclusion of NXT's Sami Zayn to challenge John Cena was one of the highlights of this year. But it appears that it didn't mean all that much to the wider audience. Vince McMahon will no doubt be ringing in the changes. Expect The Authority to come back and feature prominently next week. The Chairman's mood was likely awful yesterday, with the rating news and a false rumour about his vision making the rounds. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer tweeted "I'd hate to be working in WWE creative this afternoon [...] The non blind guy saw the ratings."
