WWE Raw finished second among cable originals on Monday and was its most-watched episode in Canada since the night after WrestleMania 38.
The August 22nd edition of the show from Toronto averaged 2,005,000 viewers and approximately 717,000 (0.55) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
The show was up 1% from last Monday’s episode in overall viewership and rose by 4% in the 18-49 demographic. It was only the third time this year that Raw has topped two million viewers with the others being the Raws after WrestleMania and SummerSlam.
Raw finished second on cable behind the NFL pre-season game on ESPN between Atlanta and the New York Jets, which averaged 0.61 in the demo and 2,289,000 viewers on ESPN.
In the 18-49 demo, female viewership was up 10.5% this week while the male audience decreased 1.5% from last week’s episode.
Adults 18-34 increased by 13% and 35-49 was unchanged from last week’s figure.
Raw kicked off in the first hour averaging 2,055,000 viewers and 0.53 in the 18-49 demographic, which included a brawl between Riddle and Seth Rollins at the beginning, Trish Stratus appearing in her hometown, the women’s tag team tournament match, and Finn Balor vs. Dolph Ziggler.
The second hour averaged 2,044,000 viewers but the demo rating increased to 0.57 featuring Kevin Owens vs. Chad Gable, Aliyah vs. Bayley, and Bobby Lashley teaming with AJ Styles against The Miz & Ciampa.
The third hour included the big main event between Edge and Damian Priest and the surprise appearance by Johnny Gargano. It averaged 1,917,000 viewers and 0.55 in the demo, so it beat out hour one in 18-49. Hour three was also the most-watched hour among males 18-49, adults 18-34, and 12-34.
In Canada, the show did a significant number averaging 284,600 viewers, which is 31% from the previous week while the 25-54 demo averaged 145,800 which represented a 47% increase on Sportsnet 360.
It was the most-watched episode of Raw in Canada since the night after WrestleMania 38 in April. This comes after Friday’s SmackDown in Montreal was the most-watched edition of the show in Canada since the episode leading into WrestleMania weekend.
Prior to last night’s Raw, the previous four weeks averaged 244,400 viewers in Canada and 114,600 in the 25-54 demo.
Monday’s show was the most-watched sports program in Canada ahead of the New York Mets vs. Yankees, NFL pre-season, and an L.A. Angels vs. Tampa Bay Rays game, which were all among the top ten sports programs.
WWE’s programming block on A&E from Sunday saw the Edge documentary average 453,000 viewers and 0.11 in 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. ET. It was down from the previous two documentaries covering DX (594,000 and 0.15) and Lex Luger (586,000 and 0.17).
WWE Rivals covering Edge vs. John Cena averaged 304,000 viewers and 0.08, which was the least-watched episode of the series and down from last week’s episode on Triple H vs. Mick Foley, which averaged 413,000 and 0.13.
WWE Smack Talk averaged 144,000 viewers and 0.04, which was also its lowest figures of the season.
Next week’s A&E programming features a documentary on Rey Mysterio and Rivals that covers the feud between Mysterio and Eddy Guerrero.
