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, 5/23/18):

1. Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey MITB Contract Signing – 2 million views
2. Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens & Jinder Mahal – 1.5 million views
3. Stephanie McMahon Addresses Reigns Situation – 1 million views
4. Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor – 993k views
5. Bobby Lashley Interrupts His ‘Sisters’ & Sami Zayn – 924k views
6. Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens – 557k views
7. MITB Qualifier: Natalya vs. Liv Morgan vs. Dana Brooke vs. Sarah Logan – 511k views

Just as I had predicted, the MITB contract signing not only challenged Roman Reigns for the top position this week, but unseated him. Ronda is by far the most recognizable person, male or female, in the WWE and she proves it week-in and week-out with the amount of views she brings in. While viewership for RAW on television took a slight decline, it has zero affect on Rousey’s star power. Anyone working with her is going to see big numbers.

Our weekly number one guy drops to the number 2 spot, but also appears at 3 and 6 as well. I find it to be odd that the Reigns vs. Owens match pulled in a large portion less than the tag with Rollins against Owens and Jinder, as well as the opening segment of the show with Stephanie and Angle. How do you explain this? I’d venture to say that people realized, “Hey, if Owens vs. Roman is followed by a tag with the same two guys involved, than the match must have ended screwy”. Simple logic would be my answer there. Why watch Owens vs. Reigns when you know it just leads to a tag match?

RAW’s main event slides in at number 4 this week with two big fan favorites. Braun has been showing his worth with good numbers on a weekly basis, while Balor can be up-and-down depending on who he’s working with, but still solid. It’s a good sign that these two nearly cracked a million because as I said earlier, viewership on TV was down some and it always drops during the third hour.

What many are calling the worst segment of the year (some are even saying ever), the Lashley/Sami segment clocks in at number 5. This was bad, but I’m not going as far as “worst ever”. As is the case with today’s society, there was controversy surrounding this as many felt that three dudes portraying Lashley’s “sisters” was somehow a big deal. They were just playing goons you fools! Anyways, I think that all helps this segment gain attention. Almost like watching a car crash, but ultimately, Lashley was able to show a little personality and that was the goal of it all to begin with.

Lastly at number seven, the continuation of decent numbers for Money In The Bank qualifying matches is seen again this week. There’s really no other explanation for it outside of the interest in MITB. Nattie certainly has a little mainstream appeal due to being on Total Divas forever now (slight exaggeration), while Liv, Logan and Dana are just the beneficiaries here.

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