WWE SmackDown Sees Drop In Viewership While AEW Rampage Receives A Boost

Despite all the news breaking about Vince McMahon on Friday, "WWE SmackDown" did not see a benefit of riches when it came to viewership. Wrestlenomics released the viewership information for Friday night and "SmackDown" had a total of 2,257,000 average viewers, a 14% drop in comparison to the previous week.

From a key demographic standpoint, "SmackDown" also experienced a decent dip. Last Friday's program was watched by 691,000 viewers on average in the key demographic, totaling a 0.53 P18-49 rating. That's down 18% from the previous week's number of 842,000, a program that featured the return of John Cena.

"AEW Rampage," on the other hand, saw a boost in viewership as Friday night's program was watched by a total of 551,000 average viewers, up 17% from the week before. Looking at the key demographic, "Rampage" received a 0.15 P18-49 rating for Friday, giving the program a nice boost of 27% from the previous week.

Ranking-wise, "SmackDown" came in at No. 3 overall in the key demo for broadcast primetime, only behind "Fire Country" on CBS and "Shark Tank" on NBC. "Rampage" was No. 30 in the key demo for cable originals.

Looking back at a year ago, "SmackDown" was down by around 25,000 in total viewership, but down 9% in the key demographic. "Rampage" was down 6% in the total viewership category, but also down almost 40% in the key demographic.

"SmackDown's" main event saw The Usos successfully defend their Undisputed World Tag Team Championships against The Banger Bros, while "Rampage" had Darby Allin defending his TNT Championship against Mike Bennett.