By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE Raw on Monday, July 16 the night after Money in the Bank scored a 3.44 rating, which was up 8.5 percent compared to last week's 3.17 rating for the MITB lead-in.

The 3.44 rating topped Raw after WrestleMania, which scored a 3.43 rating, and topped Raw after No Way Out last month, which scored a 3.42 rating. Monday's Raw ranked #2 for the year, trailing Raw after the Royal Rumble, which scored a 3.55 rating.

-- Raw averaged 4.88 million viewers, which was up 470,000 viewers (10.7 percent) compared to the MITB lead-in Raw last week.

Raw averaged 4.72 million first hour viewers, then increased to an average of 5.04 million second hour viewers. It reflects WWE's hook for the second hour to see if John Cena would cash in his MITB briefcase on WWE champion C.M. Punk after the Punk-Big Show main event.

Viewership was very similar to the Raw after No Way Out in June. The June 18 episode averaged 4.96 million viewers on the strength of 5.07 million viewers in the second hour.

-- Monday's Raw viewership was up slightly compared to the Raw after Money in the Bank last year following C.M. Punk's "walk-off" WWE Title victory. The 2011 show averaged 4.84 million viewers off a first hour average of 4.70 million viewers and second hour average of 4.91 million viewers.

-- On cable TV Monday night, Raw ranked #3 behind TNT's dramas. However, Raw took the #1 ranking among all adults, all male adults, and all teen viewers.

The key to the ratings surge was the return of younger male viewers. Raw scored its highest rating of the year in males 12-17 and Raw was up 20 percent in males 12-34. Raw also showed strong increases in males 18-34 & males 18-49 compared to last week.

Caldwell's Analysis: Very strong showing the night after Money in the Bank reaching the entire spectrum of the audience rather than just one or two segments after MITB last year. This week's formula is the night after MITB + build-up to Raw 1,000 next week + interest in what happened with A.J. at the PPV + tease of Cena cashing in his MITB briefcase + Punk-Show main event = Mania-level audience leading into next week's Raw.

Also a factor worth considering down the line is whether WWE incorporating Tout into the show leads to people tuning in to see if they make the Raw broadcast. Instead of tuning in for the WWE stars, some people might start tuning in to see themselves as stars.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline