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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

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The May 1 edition of Raw drew a 1.99 rating, the first sub-2.00 rating since Dec. 26. Dec. 12 was the last episode that wasn’t considered a “holiday” edition to drop below 2.00.

The 1.99 is below the 2.32 April average and the 2.22 average for 2017 so far. The ten week rolling average headed into this week was 2.25.

One year ago, Raw drew a 2.35. The average for 2016 this far into the year was 2.54 compared to this year’s average so far of 2.22.

Keller’s Analysis: The stat that leaps out is the drop-off from the first to the third hour. The first hour drew a 2.92 million viewers, the second hour 3.04 million viewers, and the third hour 2.65 million viewers. The first-to-third hour drop-off was 275,000, well above the 181,000 average of the last ten weeks. That’s not a great sign as far as where Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and The Miz stand in terms of being main event TV match draws, but it’s just one week, and that’s just one match in the third hour.