WWE SmackDown Reportedly Broke Historic New Ground For Wrestling Programs Last Week

Last Friday, the "Tribal Court" segment that took up roughly the first third of "WWE SmackDown" popped a huge rating, beating recent highs to make it the biggest episode in years, but the historical significance was greater than that. As outlined in the newest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the July 7 "SmackDown" appears to be the first time a pro wrestling show has ever been the top English-language show of the week on all of television.

In the "key demo" of adults aged 18 to 49, "SmackDown" averaged a 0.76 rating and 986,000 viewers. The show peaked in the second quarter-hour — the back half of "Tribal Court" — by averaging 3,070,000 viewers overall and 1,223,000 viewers in 18 to 49 for a 0.94 rating, described as "the largest number for a "Smackdown" quarter in several years." For the uninitiated, the ratings are there to be the metric by which ad rates are set, so since younger viewers are believed to have more buying power and less brand loyalty, the 18 to 49 demographic has become the main one tracked by the TV industry.

According to WON, the only other time a wrestling show could have conceivably ranked first across all TV for a given week was during the initial pro wrestling TV boom in the early 1950s, where there was at least one season where one of the network wrestling shows came in 10th place. Wrestling shows have topped the cable ratings pretty much as long as the cable ratings have been a thing, and regional wrestling shows have been the top show in their local markets, most famously in Memphis, Tennessee. But even the high-water mark for viewership of a wrestling show, the February 1988 "Main Event" special airing in prime time with a Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant main event, averaged 33 million viewers while placing 32nd for the week on television.