As we all know, social media and other outlets have become a huge means of drawing in interaction and viewers for WWE. Most people will point to television ratings like they did during the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990’s, however that can be skewed with so many various means of watching today that do not include cable television.

As you’ve become accustomed to, here is this week’s RAW YouTube Report (2:30 PM EST, 5/16/18):

1. Roman Reigns gets his retribution on Jinder Mahal – 2.9 million views
2. MITB Qualifier: Bobby Lashley vs. Elias vs. Kevin Owens – 1.3 million views
3. Kurt Angle denies Roman Reigns another MITB Qualifier – 1.1 million views
4. Braun Strowman & Finn Balor vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre – 795k views
5. IC Title: Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens – 784k views
6. MITB Qualifier: Bayley vs. Mickie James vs. Alexa Bliss – 643k views
7. MITB Qualifier: No Way Jose vs. Bobby Roode vs. Baron Corbin – 593k views

On a week that saw viewership slightly increase (funny that happens with a taped episode), YouTube numbers appear to be back to normal. I think that means we can chalk up last week to people’s disgust with Backlash.

‘The Big Dog’ retakes his spot on top with a crazy amount of views for something that’s not a match or really anything of vast importance, storyline-wise. We see more of this at number three, with another simple segment. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it over and over again…Roman Reigns draws. That’s the bottom line and even ‘Stone Cold’ would say so.

Just like last week, all of our Money In The Bank Qualifiers on RAW occupy spots near the top at numbers two, six and seven. There’s not a lot of star power at seven, but the appeal of MITB gives them a boost when in previous weeks we saw segments with Roode and Elias draw poorly. Speaking of Elias, a huge jump for him this week, but I don’t put much, if any of the stock in him being the reason for it. You’ve also got Lashley, who hasn’t proven yet he can pull much for views, but then there’s Kevin Owens. Some may not remember or might have possibly missed it, but KO was one of the company’s top earners last year (check that report out here).

We see ‘The Prize Fighter’ again at number five as he squares off with the (still) red-hot Rollins. Seth continues to bring in views every single week, remaining consistent no matter how poor viewership is for any given episode. Then lastly at the four position comes RAW’s resident monster, Braun Strowman, who along with Seth also “shows up”, so to speak, week-in and week-out.

Continue following TheChairshot for all the latest skull smashing opinion, news, reviews and so much more! @theCHAIRSHOTcom on Twitter
Always #UseYourHead