Raw 12/18 Viewership Up From Week Before, Big Third Hour Drop

Despite Raw being slightly up from last week, a new pattern is emerging when it comes to Raw's ratings, and it's not a good one.

Showbuzz Daily reports that Raw was was once again under 3 million viewers, with 2,786,000 viewers tuning in last night, up from the previous week's 2,685,000 viewers.

But a new pattern is emerging — while there is a drop in the second hour, the drop between the second and third hour is becoming quite significant, especially if you compare it to the first hour. Here are this week's numbers:

Hour 1: 3,085 (0.98 18-49)

Hour 2: 2,803 (0.90)

Hour 3: 2,470 (0.83)

Raw scored the third, fourth and fifth spots for the night on cable, with NFL and Sportscenter getting the top two spots.

The show was mainly focused on the storyline between The Bar, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Samoa Joe and Jason Jordan, with Rollins and Jordan wrestling in the opener, then a six man match went down with The Bar and Samoa Joe picking up the win.

Meanwhile, the end of the broadcast had Stephanie McMahon coming out to announce the first ever women's Royal Rumble match.

Next week's Raw number will be interesting as it will take place live on Christmas night for the first time since the show's inception. John Cena has been advertised for the show..