WWE officials are unhappy with this week’s Raw rating. Though TNA provided competition, they felt Bret Hart’s return to the company would have garnered at least a 4.0.
The show finished with a 3.6 cable rating, the same number as last week. The show drew hours of 3.51 and 3.73 with the first hour scoring 5,441,000 viewers and hour two pulling in 5,773,000. Raw averaged 5,600,000 for the broadcast.
Despite talk that Bret Hart was only brought in to help World Wrestling Entertainment for the “Monday Night Wars”, there was talk between Hart and WWE long before Hulk Hogan signed with TNA. Whether Hogan had joined TNA or not, the Bret Hart hosting RAW gig and angle leading into this year’s WrestleMania would still have happened.
However, the move to secure Mike Tyson for next week’s RAW, which goes against UFC, is a much more direct move on WWE’s part. The idea that the company wasn’t concerned against competition couldn’t be further from the truth. The situation with Charlie Haas demonstrated WWE’s reaction to any competition. He was of course offered an improved contract amid speculation he may leave for TNA, even though the company had no creative plans for him.
