Whether it’s a sign of fans happy with the Triple H regime in charge of creative, excitement over the current story with Roman Reigns and the Bloodline or curiosity about the White Rabbit teases and a potential Bray Wyatt return — or more likely, some combination of all of those factors — WWE found the winning formula for SmackDown this past Friday.
As reported by numerous sources, SmackDown pulled in 2.535 million viewers this past Friday, Sept. 23, averaged over the full two hours. That’s the highest viewership number for the show since Dec. 25, 2020, when the audience topped 3 million viewers.
In the all important 18-49 demo, the most recent SmackDown finished with a 0.63 rating, tops on TV for all of Friday night and its best number since the Friday before the Royal Rumble. Whatever fans are gravitating to at the moment, it’s working.
It’s worth noting that Reigns being advertised for the show ahead of time was an obvious plus, seeing as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion is working less TV these days. His storyline with the Bloodline, which has now grown to include recently promoted Solo Sikoa and “Honorary Uce” Sami Zayn, feels like it has found new energy in recent weeks, coinciding with the new creative team.
It was also a good night for pro wrestling in general, as AEW Rampage also saw an increase on Friday. The second part of AEW Grand Slam, recorded on Sept. 21 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, averaged 522,000 viewers on TNT. That was Rampage’s highest viewership since April.
Both companies will be glad to get some viewership increases on Friday nights considering how sports affect their shows on other evenings. Monday Night Football is back in full swing and always drags down Raw during the NFL season. Meanwhile, the NBA and NHL will also return to action in the coming weeks, which could draw eyeballs away from and cause occasional schedule changes for Dynamite (and sometimes Rampage, in AEW’s case).
For the time being, though, the ratings numbers are certainly good news, and show that WWE is doing something right. The end of the year is traditionally not its strongest time until the Rumble gets closer, so it could be a stronger than normal fourth quarter as far as interest goes, and that’s a good thing for everyone.
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