WWE SmackDown Rating Returns To Typical Level For Post-Tribal Court Show

On July 7, "WWE SmackDown" popped a huge rating, the best in years, for the show featuring the "Tribal Court" segment with the former Bloodline members, marking what's believed to be the first time that a pro wrestling show has been number one for the week on all of television. On July 14, how did the show do with that momentum, but without Roman Reigns?

According to reports from SpoilerTV.com, Pro Wrestling Torch, and Wrestlenomics on both their Twitter and Patreon pages, the July 14 show averaged 2,309,000 viewers across its two hours (down 10% from the previous week), approximately 811,000 of which were in the "key demo" most valued by advertisers, adults aged 18 to 49 (down approximately 15% from the week prior).  The latter figure translates to a 0.62 rating in 18 to 49, making it far and away the top show in prime time on broadcast television for Friday. Both numbers were in line with the average of the prior 10 weeks, which was 2,320,000 viewers and a 0.61 rating in 18 to 49.

The Torch also reports that in men aged 18 to 49, the audience held up completely from the "Tribal Court" show, doing an identical 0.76 rating. That translates to approximately 588,000 viewers. On the one hand, that's very good news in and of itself. On the other hand, that means that women aged 18 to 49 saw an incredibly sharp drop week over week of approximately 44%. Your mileage may vary as to whether or not the inference to be drawn from that is that the female audience is mainly tuning in for the major Bloodline angles.

After "SmackDown," meanwhile. "AEW Rampage" was down approximately 17% week-over-week in 18 to 49 to a 0.10, while averaging 310,000 viewers across the hour, a 16% drop from the week prior.