WWE RAW Ratings, June 26: Did LaVar Ball’s appearance work?

Not even Big Baller Brand can save WWE ratings.

WWE officials hoping that LaVar Ball would provide a nice ratings boost will be slightly disappointed with last night’s numbers for RAW.

The show averaged 2.976 million viewers, down from last week’s average of 3.102 million. Here’s how the numbers break down by hour.

Ball’s segment with The Miz provided a decent spike in the second hour, but an overall disappointing number. Last week’s second hour did 3.201 million viewers and was kicked off by Seth Rollins announcing he would be on the cover of WWE 2K18. Failing to bring in a strong audience won’t exactly silence those like Curtis Axel, who was embarrassed by LaVar’s inclusion on the show.

The second hour of the show also included the follow-up segment to last weeks Enzo and Cass split.

Surprisingly, the third hour performed stronger than usual, actually increasing from hour one. The final hour of the show started with Samoa Joe attacking Brock Lesnar and ended with Sasha Banks winning a gauntlet match to become No. 1 contender to the  RAW Women’s title.

With no competition from the NBA or NHL Playoffs, RAW appears to be stuck in a summer rut. The NBA Awards on TNT drew 1.785 million viewers. Believing that cut into the RAW audience is grasping at straws. The award show didn’t start until 9 PM, leaving no excuses for an underperforming first hour that was kicked off by Roman Reigns.

Next: 30 pro wrestling must-follows on Twitter

With little television competition, a celebrity appearance and the advertisement of Brock Lesnar, these ratings would seem to leave WWE officials with more questions than answers. Next week is the go-home show for Great Balls of Fire. While the builds to Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar have garnered praise, neither have done much to bring in a viewing audience.