WWE Smackdown Viewership & Ratings Report: 9/5/25

After posting one of its lowest viewership figures in the history of the show last week, "WWE SmackDown" bounced back in viewership this past Friday with the return of AJ Lee and both John Cena and Brock Lesnar being featured on the program.

According to Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider, "SmackDown" drew 1,585,000 viewers and an 0.51 in the key 18-49 demographic. When comparing both categories to the previous week, total viewership increased by 38%, while the 18-49 was up by a whopping 82%. "SmackDown" also ranked No. 1 for the night across both cable and broadcast in the demo, with WWE also setting a new high for tickets sold in Rosemont, Illinois over the last two years, filling the Allstate Arena with 16,642 fans. Additionally, WWE's YouTube numbers for this past Friday's show were more than impressive, with Lee's return garnering 5.1 million views and Lesnar attacking Cena and Sami Zayn recording 2.1 million views as of the time of this writing.

Despite "SmackDown" managing to improve their audience from last week, its average total viewership has significantly decreased by 29% since this time last year. Similarly, the key demo has taken a nose dive since the third quarter of 2024, with 18-49 shrinking by 30%. That said, last Friday was WWE's first massive improvement in viewership after the entire wrestling landscape took a hit in ratings throughout the past two weeks. Along wth "SmackDown," "WWE Raw," "AEW Dynamite" and "AEW Collision" all posted record lows in viewership due to increased competition, especially with college football dominating the charts and the NFL returning in September. However, hopefully "SmackDown" will be able to stay above the 1.5 million viewer threshold with Triple H booking some of the company's biggest stars for WWE Wrestlepalooza later this month.