A look at the YouTube performance for this week’s WWE RAW!

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, 1/9/19):

1. Hulk Hogan pays tribute to Gene Okerlund – 1.5 million views
2. Cena, Rollins & Balor vs. McIntyre, Ambrose & Lashley – 1.1 million views
3. Braun Stroman & Brock Lesnar go face-to-face – 1.095 million views
4. Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose – 1.015 million views
5. John Cena announces his entry into the Royal Rumble – 1.001 million views
6. Banks vs. Jax for a shot at Ronda Rousey at Royal Rumble – 705k views
7. Seth Rollins & Bobby Lashley brawl to kickoff RAW – 595k views

This week’s RAW YouTube Report is a great example of what I’ve said for weeks with regards to the usual top draw, Ronda Rousey. When she gets physically involved in a segment, it usually draws well. That didn’t happen this week and instead, the RAW return of Hulk Hogan in what was an excellent tribute to Gene Okerlund, regardless of your feelings on The Hulkster. If this was a way for WWE to get him back on TV without getting booed, it certainly worked, but at the same time the segment was done perfectly and it was all about Okerlund.
Coming in at number two is part of the start of RAW, which was the main story of the night and really bled over into multiple segments, taking up multiple spots in our rankings. Number seven kicked off the show, which was followed by number five, which then led into number two and finally, concluded with the number four spot. We’ve had episodes of RAW that focused primarily on one thing, but I thought this was great storytelling to weave all of this together.

With so many clips all being associated with one another, that leaves us with only a couple that we have yet to talk about, one of which being number three that gave us Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar’s return. I’m all for Braun as the champion and honestly, I think WWE should have pulled the trigger on it sometime within the last two years, but have still yet to do it. Perhaps this segment showed us a reason why because it was awkward and whether Strowman forgot what he was supposed to say or there was some type of miscommunication, he didn’t come away from it looking great.

Lastly this week, our number six is all centered around the Royal Rumble and the aforementioned Rousey. A lot of people are going to be happy that Sasha Banks is finally getting an opportunity here, but I’d pump the brakes. As great of a match as I think she could get out of Ronda, I see no way she’s taking the title here. That makes it hard for me as a fan to get invested.