WWE Raw Posts Lowest Rating of 2020 Despite Lack of Competition

The ratings are in for the March 23 episode of Monday Night Raw, and they're not a good sign for WWE this close to WrestleMania 36. According to ShowBuzzDaily the show drew an average of 2.006 million viewers on the USA Network, peaking at the first hour with 2.289 million and a 0.72 rating before falling to 1.726 million and a 0.51 rating in the third hour. This is the lowest Raw rating of 2020, and the second-lowest viewership for a non-holiday episode ever behind a taped episode that aired on Dec. 23, 2019. On top of that, this show marked the biggest drop in viewership from the first to third hour in history, and its third hour was the second-lowest in terms of viewership in show history (including holiday episodes).

What makes the situation worse is that because of the coronavirus pandemic, any potential competition from live sporting events has been wiped away. However, as has been the case since the pandemic started, ratings have been utterly dominated by programs from 24-hour news networks like CNN and Fox News.

The show started off with a promo by Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, then transitioned into a replay of the WWE Championship match at the 2015 Royal Rumble between Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins. The show had a few live matches as well from the empty WWE Performance Center, but it doesn't look like they did much help. The biggest news of the show came right a the end, as Randy Orton accepted Edge's challenge for a Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36.

Here's the WrestleMania card as of now:

• WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
• WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns
• Edge vs. Randy Orton [Last Man Standing]
• John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt
• NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
• Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
• Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits vs. Andrade & Angel Garza
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks
• SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Miz & John Morrison vs. The New Day or The Usos
• The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles (Boneyard Match)
• Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
• Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley
• Elias vs. King Corbin