– It looks like after a little over a month, WWE is ending its policy on no matches taking place during commercial breaks. As previously reported, WWE instituted the rule last month. This led to a number of Raw and Smackdown shows featuring multiple 2-out-of-3 falls matches or elimination matches. However, it clearly started to become a struggle to figure out how to work around the rule during the WWE TV programs.

It was reported that Vince McMahon instituted the rule because legitimate sports didn’t play any games or matchups during the commercial breaks and believed WWE should alter their show presentation to follow suit. Based off last night’s show, that does not appear to be the case any any longer, or at the moment at least. Both the Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro segments and Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins had commercial break interruptions. And while there was a Gauntlet match on last night’s show, there was not another best 2-out-of-3 falls match booked on Raw.

Also, WrestlingInc.com reports that during the period the rule was implements, Monday Night Raw overall had a three percent increase in ratings. That’s excluding last week’s Raw Reunion show. Additionally, the drop in viewership from the first hour to the third hour was less significant while the rule was in effect, dropping about only two to five percent for the last month. The July 15 edition of Raw had a four percent gain in the ratings from the first hour to the third. Previously, the drop from Hour 1 to Hour 3 was as high as 20 percent for most weeks.

It should be noted that there were some positives with the rule. During the short time that it was implemented, the ratings for RAW had increased 3%, which is excluding last week’s RAW Reunion. The hour 1 to hour 3 drop has also been less significant, as the drop has only been in the 2-5% range this month (there was even a 4% gain from hour 1 to 3 for the July 15th episode), whereas the drop was in the double digits for most weeks, often over 20%.