'Monday Night Raw' benefits from Big Ben appearance

Big Ben boosted the viewership of "Monday Night Raw," even if he did get bodyslammed by Brett Favre in the national and local TV ratings.

Ben Roethlisberger's appearance as guest host of the World Wrestling Entertainment production Monday night generated a 3.3 rating nationally, an increase from 3.1 the previous week when the Rev. Al Sharpton was guest host.

According to Nielsen ratings figures, Raw was watched by 4.7 million people during Big Ben's stint and was the second-most watched show on cable Monday night.

Those numbers, however, were dwarfed by Favre's first appearance with the Minnesota Vikings against his former team, the Green Bay Packers. The "Monday Night Football" game was the highest rated cable broadcast ever, generated a 15.3 rating nationally and was watched by 21.8 million viewers.

Among Pittsburgh viewers, Roethlisberger's appearance generated a 7.11 rating in the 9-10 p.m. hour and 6.78 rating in the 10-11 p.m. hour. The MNF game generated Pittsburgh ratings between 14 and 17 in the 8-11 p.m. time frame.

It is estimated that 204,000 viewers in the Pittsburgh market watched some of the WWE show. By comparison, ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" had a 13.4 rating and was watched by 385,000 viewers locally. Roethlisberger's appearance produced better ratings among Pittsburgh viewers than NBC's "Jay Leno Show" (3.8), "Heroes" (3.3), "Trauma" (5.5) and Fox's "Lie to Me" (4.0).