Sting appearing on WWE television at all is still something that is difficult for longtime wrestling fans to comprehend. He returned two weeks ago by attacking Seth Rollins and setting up a WWE Title match at Night of Champions . Then, he opened and closed Monday Night Raw this week, and that was just unheard of. Now, could he possibly end up back on WWE television for a third week in a row?
It looks as if a big boost in ratings was enough to get WWE to change their original plans of not having Sting on Raw this upcoming Monday. Even though Cageside Seats first reported that Sting wouldn’t be showing up next week, it looks like that isn’t the case anymore.
According to WrestleZone , the WWE creative team has changed their minds about leaving Sting off the show and now will have him there on Monday night. This is only more build toward the big match at Night of Champions .
This week’s Monday Night Raw was one of the highest rated shows in almost three months, and it is believed to be due to announcing Sting’s involvement and other matches.
What Culture reported that the three-hour average for this week’s Raw was 3.89 million viewers. The first hour did 3.87 million viewers. The second hour was up with 3.99 million viewers, and the third had 3.83 million.
The Raw last week was right after SummerSlam and brought in 3.72 million viewers, and WWE was expecting much more from that. This week was the highest-rated Raw since the night after Money in the Bank on June 15 which brought in 4.11 million viewers.
With Sting’s appearance being advertised along with a host of matches, WWE feels this may have been the big reason for the spike in ratings. Even though the company often likes to have surprises and shocks for the crowd, it’s obvious now that revealing more led to better numbers.
The build toward Night of Champions is going to continue this Monday since there will be less than two weeks to go by that point. Now, Seth Rollins is involved in two matches at the pay-per-view, and it also looks like Kevin Owens and Ryback are starting a new feud while a WWE Tag Title match is being set up too.
It looks like the PPV is shaping up to be a good one, and it also seems as if old-school names such as Sting and the Dudley Boyz are helping ratings for WWE. Plans changing for Sting to be on Monday Night Raw this week will likely boost them again.
[Image via WWE]