CM Punk & Randy Orton Returns Boost WWE Raw Ratings

The post-Survivor Series edition of WWE Raw saw CM Punk and Randy Orton make their long awaited returns to the red brand.

Both men had made their WWE returns a night prior, and anticipation was high heading into Raw. It seems that fan anticipation was successfully converted into viewers, with Raw receiving their best viewing numbers since the Raw after SummerSlam.

Over 1.88 million viewers tuned into Raw on Monday - around 400,000 better than recent episodes running against the NFL. Further numbers from F4WOnline state that Raw was up 29 percent in ratings from last week, up 35 percent in 18-49 and up 44 percent in 18-34 - the 18-34 numbers Raw’s best since the night after WrestleMania.

Whilst viewing figures aren’t as important as they were during the height of the Attitude Era, they are still a vital tool for the business side of WWE, with that 18-34 demo proving very valuable when negotiating with advertisers.

It remains to be seen if Raw can continue this upward momentum in the coming weeks.