Viewership for WWE Backstage's first official episode with CM Punk is in.
According to Showbuzz Daily, the November 19 episode of Backstage only averaged 180,000 viewers, which is an increase from the November 5 and 12 episodes. It is, however, a far cry from the viewership numbers the two preview episodes Backstage aired on October 15 (597,000) and October 25 (426,000). It should be noted that the two preview episodes first aired earlier than the 11 p.m. ET start time the first three official episodes had.
In the 18-49 demographic, Backstage drew a 0.10 rating, which ended up being 104th on cable for the entire day. The show did have to compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA game, which averaged 712,000 viewers and a 0.32 rating in the aforementioned demographic.
Backstage saw Punk be a part of the programming after he made a surprise appearance in the closing seconds of the November 12 episode. Punk had an interview with Renee Young in which he discussed a variety of different topics, including an in-ring return. Fightful's Jeremy Lambert wrote an article on what Punk said and can be seen at this link.
In other WWE programming ratings news, Total Divas, which aired on E! at 10 p.m. ET, averaged 295,000 viewers and a 0.12 rating, good for 95th on cable for the day.
