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WWE Raw Rating Is In: Did the Mick Foley Surprise Appearances Help?

Posted: Jan 19th 2012 By: mikeiles

The numbers are in for WWE Raw!

There was a delay due to the holiday on Monday, but the wait is now over. For those wondering, here are my thoughts on last week's 2.9 rating.

This week is a little bit more positive for WWE.

The first hour drew 4,320,000 million viewers.

The second hour drew 4,258,000 million viewers.

The official rating for WWE Raw was a 3.0.

My thoughts on the numbers?

As you can see, there is definitely some room for improvement. However, I think this is an okay number. It is still not up to their usual "Wrestle Mania ratings," but they are getting there. You have to remember Triple H, The Undertaker, The Rock and more are still likely to be coming back very soon.

Honestly, I liked this week's Raw. Here are my thoughts on the show!

Mick Foley starting off the show was a nice surprise. He and Dolph Ziggler had an excellent verbal exchange. One of the main reasons why? It was serious. No goofy jokes. No Foley one-liners. They stuck to the premise of the story and sold it well.

The first hour having tow title matches was a rare treat for fans, but the Royal Rumble PPV event is sold on the 30-man match. Giving away title matches in January is fine. As long as it doesn't continue after January ends!

I almost dread seeing the quarter hour numbers. It is just getting sad for certain performers on the roster. Their fault or not, the blame for low numbers is going to fall on somebody.

While watching the show, I did fear for the second hour. Nothing was announced for the top of the second hour. R-Truth just randomly came out and started talking. No big match was up next. No huge confrontation between John Cena and Kane. Just a commercial break, followed by Truth's entrance!

The main event was an intriguing battle. Yes, it was another tag-team match. Yes, the outcome was going to be predictable. However, I wanted to see this week's match because of Chris Jericho.

I never expected him to wrestle. Anybody who actually thought he was going to wrestle is clearly falling right in line with his new gimmick. The interesting aspect was how he was going to trick the audience this week. It may not show with the numbers, but everything Jericho is doing will all come together by Wrestle Mania. Win or lose!

All in all, WWE will take this number. They have been on a nice roll. As I covered yesterday, Smackdown's numbers just jumped 20 percent to a 2.2 rating! That is excellent news for a taped show on a Friday night.

Remember the theory that going to Tuesday (and live) would help Smackdown's ratings? Not true! This was yet another week they beat their Tuesday live specials' numbers last year.

Once again, it just shows you WWE does not need to be live with the Blue Brand and have huge matches on the program. Just a quality show each week is all it takes. Good week for the company, ratings-wise!

REMINDER: For more from me, follow on Twitter @JustinWatry! Thank you.