SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

The latest installment of the John Cena vs. A.J. Styles feud took home top TV rating honors from Monday’s Raw TV following up on the Money in the Bank PPV.

The segments involving Shield members Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and new WWE World Hvt. champion Dean Ambrose fared well, but were two stairsteps below the Cena-Styles follow-up to MITB.

Overall, this week’s three-hour Raw kept the males 18-49 audience engaged throughout. The show peaked in Q5 for Cena-Styles, dropped off slightly the rest of the hour, saw a slight bump at Q9, and did not fall off the table the rest of the third hour like a typical week. The early placement of the Reigns vs. Rollins main event helped the third hour tremendously.

Top June 20 Raw Segments – Males 18-49 demo

(1) Cena-Styles (Q5) – 1.221 million viewers / 1.94 m18-49 rating

(2) Cena-Karl Anderson (Q6) – 1.079 million viewers / 1.71 m18-49 rating

(3) Ending of Reigns-Rollins (Over-Run) – 1.079 million viewers / 1.71 m18-49 rating

(4) Top of the Third Hour (Q9) – Ending of Charlotte vs. Paige & Bray Wyatt return – 1.049 million viewers / 1.67 m18-49 rating

(5) Zack Ryder vs. Baron Corbin (Q7) – 1.049 million viewers / 1.67 m18-49 rating

(6) Opening of the show (Q1) – 1.026 million viewers / 1.63 m18-49 rating

The m18-49 audience was slow to tune into the show despite the big MITB developments.

June 20 Raw Quarter-hours – Males 18-49 Demos

– OVERALL SHOW M18-49 AVERAGE: 1.030 million viewers / 1.64 m18-49 rating.

– Q1: 1.026 million viewers / 1.63 rating

The opening segment picked up steam as the quarter-hour unfolded, peaking at 8:16 p.m. EST rolling into the second quarter-hour. However, the slow start brought down the overall average.

– Q2: 980,000 viewers / 1.56 rating (-4.5%)

The peak minute of the first hour was at 8:16 p.m. for the end of the opening segment, but the rest of the quarter-hour was down with two commercial breaks.

– Q3: 1.004 million viewers / 1.59 rating (+2.4%)

The segment rebounded for the finish of Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens and the post-match fight.

– Q4: 991,000 viewers / 1.57 rating (-1.3%)

Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillians was hurt by two commercial breaks during the fourth quarter-hour.

FIRST HOUR AVG.: 1.000 million viewers / 1.59 rating

– Q5: 1.221 million viewers / 1.94 rating (+23.2%)

Big pop for the Cena-Styles confrontation following up on Cena’s victory at Money in the Bank. Included were the peak minutes of the show at the end of the segment.

9:00 p.m. – 1.163 million viewers

9:01 p.m. – 1.221 million viewers

9:02 p.m. – 1.224 million viewers

9:03 p.m. – 1.197 million viewers

9:04 p.m. – 1.218 million viewers

9:05 p.m. – 1.230 million viewers

9:06 p.m. – 1.228 million viewers

9:07 p.m. – 1.220 million viewers

9:08 p.m. – 1.255 million viewers

9:09 p.m. – 1.275 million viewers

9:10 p.m. – 1.276 million viewers

9:11 p.m. – 1.278 million viewers

9:12 p.m. – 1.295 million viewers

9:13 p.m. – 1.266 million viewers

9:14 p.m. – 986,000 viewers when Raw cut to break

– Q6: 1.079 million viewers / 1.71 rating (-11.6%)

The audience held up for the most part for John Cena’s first Raw TV match since returning from injury against Karl Anderson.

– Q7: 1.049 million viewers / 1.67 rating (-2.8%)

This was Zack Ryder vs. Baron Corbin and various video packages.

– Q8: 991,000 viewers / 1.57 rating (-5.5%)

There were two commercial breaks wrapped around the start of the Women’s Title match between Charlotte and Paige.

SECOND HOUR AVG.: 1.085 million viewers / 1.72 rating (+8.5%)

– Q9: 1.049 million viewers / 1.67 rating (+5.9%)

The end of the Women’s Title segment, one commercial, and Bray Wyatt’s return produced a decent top-of-the-hour bump. The end of the Women’s segment outdrew the Wyatt segment…

10:00 p.m. – 1.140 million viewers

10:01 p.m. – 1.145 million viewers

10:02 p.m. – 1.159 million viewers

10:03 p.m. – 1.102 million viewers

10:04 p.m. – 1.098 million viewers

10:05 p.m. – 938,000 viewers when Raw cut to break…

10:09 p.m. – 1.038 million viewers

10:10 p.m. – 1.040 million viewers

10:11 p.m. – 1.083 million viewers

10:12 p.m. – 1.083 million viewers

10:13 p.m. – 1.097 million viewers

10:14 p.m. – 1.075 million viewers

– Q10: 976,000 viewers / 1.55 rating (-7.0%)

This was the least-watched segment of the show, but it was not followed by the usual third-hour nosedive…

– Q11: 981,000 viewers / 1.56 rating (0.5%)

The segment included various non-wrestling bits before the very beginning of the WWE Title #1 contender match between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.

– Q12: 1.008 million viewers / 1.60 rating (+2.8%)

WWE put the Reigns-Rollins match on early-enough in the third hour to avoid the Q12 free-fall, actually growing from Q11 for one of the few times this year.

THIRD HOUR AVG.: 1.003 million viewers / 1.60 rating (-7.5% / actually up 0.3% from the First Hour).

– Over-run: 1.079 million viewers / 1.71 rating (+7.0%)

There were only three minutes in the over-run, producing a brief bump from Q11 and Q12 for the finish of the main event…

Q11: 1.56 m18-49 rating

Q12: 1.60 m18-49 rating

OR: 1.71 m18-49 rating

– OVERALL SHOW M18-49 AVERAGE: 1.030 million viewers / 1.64 m18-49 rating.