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WWE News
Ratings News: Raw rating is in, and it doesn't point to record business for WrestleMania (w/Keller's Reax) Mar 25, 2008 - 5:29:21 PM
The final Raw before WrestleMania drew a 3.4 rating, a drop from last week's 3.6 rating. Despite a star-studded main event and strong segments with Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, the rating dropped to one of the lower of the year.
The March 26 episode last year drew a 3.9 rating. The last time the fourth Raw in March drew as low a rating as last night's rating was the March 24, 2003 edition, which was also a 3.4, lowest of the year at that time, also. The last time a rating was lower on week four in March was 1997, more than ten years ago. It was around this time ten years ago that Raw ratings began their big surge and soon overtook Nitro.
WK ANALYSIS: There's no way around it. Last night's rating is a big disappointment. It's a negative sign regarding WrestleMania setting records this year when there's a ten percent drop in viewership from last week. The second hour drew a considerably stronger rating than the first (3.3, 3.6), and quarter hour ratings aren't available at this time, so it's tough to pinpoint any drop throughout the show that might be the reason for a lower rating overall.
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