Payback may have left a lot of WWE fans both satisfied with the show whilst also very confused over several big issues, but the next night on RAW was certainly something else.

While a new #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship was named, the broken Hardys started to emerge and Kurt Angle came face to face with Bray Wyatt, the episode apparently didn't go down well with the fans.

Two weeks of struggle

Monday's episode of Smackdown  may have dealt with the fallout of the Payback PPV, but it also garnered the lowest audience viewing number of the calendar year.

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Officially the lowest watched episode of 2017, Monday's episode of RAW brought in 2.87 million viewers.

That is the lowest amount of the year, and the first time that the show has dropped below three million viewers since January 9th.

Monday's episode peaked during the second hour which drew 3.039 million viewers but had lost almost 400,000 viewers in it's final hour.

This is naturally a big problem for the show that was beaten by the two NBA play offs games that took place on Monday night.

More concerning for RAW however, is that the previous week had garnered what is now the third lowest audience of 2017.

RAW is certainly struggling right now and there could be many different reasons why their viewership numbers have dropped by almost one million since the night after WrestleMania 33.

Serious problems

It could be argued that one reason for RAW's dip in ratings is the fact that the Universal Championship hasn't been seen on the show since the episode prior to WrestleMania.

With Brock Lesnar as the current champion, the part - time superstar hasn't been seen since the night in Orlando and isn't expected back until after Extreme Rules in June.

With no top title currently on the show, feuds like Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman and even inter- brand feuds have kept the show afloat in recent weeks.

However with Monday's episode still not having Lesnar present and also being without both Reigns and Strowman, there was a definite lack of star power.

While Seth Rollins, Finn Balor and the Miz all competed in the main event with appearances from Bray Wyatt and Samoa Joe, it clearly isn't enough to keep RAW exciting enough for fans to tune in.

WWE may be looking forward to the conclusion to the NBA season right now, for the next few weeks, they may need to up their game if they wish to keep viewers interested.