WWE SmackDown Viewership & Ratings Report, 1/10/2025

January 10 saw "WWE SmackDown" roll into Portland, Oregon's Moda Center for the latest stop on the road to the Royal Rumble. Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens couldn't keep their hands off each other, Roman Reigns declared his intentions of winning the Royal Rumble, and both Chelsea Green and Shinsuke Nakamura made successful title defenses. How many people tuned in to the USA Network to see the action play out live?

According to "Programming Insider," the January 10 episode of "SmackDown" averaged a total of 1,436,000 viewers, a 6 percent decrease from the January 3 episode that saw 1,528,000 people tune in, and 1 percent lower than the trailing four-week average that stands at 1,455,000. The drop in the key 18-49 demographic was a little larger, as the January 10 show earned a 0.40, down 11 percent from the 0.45 earned seven days earlier, and 5 percent lower than the trailing four-week average of 0.42.

A part of the reason for the slight drop in viewership is what WWE was up against. "SmackDown" placed second for the evening when it came to primetime telecasts, both on cable and including network stations, but was dwarfed by the Cotton Bowl College Football playoff game between Ohio State and Texas that was broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. In total, the Cotton Bowl drew 20.414 million people, with just under 19.6 million of those viewers alone watching on ESPN. 

For reference, having 20.414 million people total viewers was enough to beat all of the shows that placed from second to ninth put together.