As we all know, social media and other outlets have become a huge means of drawing in interaction and viewers for WWE. Most people will point to television ratings like they did during the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990’s, however that can be skewed with so many various means of watching today that do not include cable television.

As you’ve become accustomed to, here is this week’s RAW YouTube Report (2:30 PM EST, 5/9/18):

1. MITB Qualifier: Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn vs. Finn Balor – 1.5 million views
2. MITB Qualifier: Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens – 1.2 million views
3. MITB Qualifier: Sasha Banks vs. Ember Moon vs. Ruby Riott – 844k views
4. IC Title Open Challenge: Seth Rollins vs. Mojo Rawley – 691k views
5. Kurt Angle, Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman opening segment – 678k views
6. Kurt Angle, Zack Ryder, Jinder Mahal backstage segment – 376k views
7. Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler – 355k views

I feel like again this week, we have some fairly simple explanations, although there are certainly some unexpected names. On a week that viewership was down across the board in the TV ratings (the worst of 2018), there’s abslolutely some reflection of that on YouTube.

Numbers 1-3 were really the main focus of the entire program, as WWE shifts towards the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. For everyone’s complaints about how many MITB matches there are or how it should be formatted with the event being dual-branded again, the bottom line is that mostly, people still love the concept of it. MITB is arguably WWE’s most anticipated PPV that doesn’t include ‘The Big 4’, so that draws interest on its own. Add in our weekly top draw Reigns, as well as the consistently viewed Balor, Strowman (and to an extent) Owens and Zayn, plus Sasha (one of your most recognizable women’s stars), this is nothing short of what I anticipated.

Then you have number four, which is obviously all on the back of the red hot Seth Rollins. ‘The KingSlayer’ can seemingly do no wrong right now and has really put himself in the conversation for best wrestler in the world. Still being able to draw that number with THAT opponent speaks volumes about just how highly regarded Rollins currently is.

When it comes to 5-7, I think 5 is easily explained in my first paragraph. It’s only a backstage segment, but you still have Strowman, Owens and now you’ve added Kurt Angle to the mix. You may not think Angle makes much difference, but I think that’s the only logical reason for Zack Ryder and Jinder Mahal coming in at 6 with another backstage segment. You ask yourself, who’s the biggest name of the three? It’s Angle.

Number 7 is intriguing because you know it’s likely not Heath Slater and Rhyno people are clicking in to see. I feel that there’s general interest surrounding the tandem of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. This comes in above your RAW Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt, both the Bobby Lashley video package and interview, plus Elias vs. Bobby Roode (who don’t even crack 200k).

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