WWE SmackDown Ratings & Viewership Report: 4/3/2026

The April 3 edition of "WWE SmackDown" disappointed fans following the reveal of Pat McAfee as Randy Orton's mystery caller, but it seemed to bring in fans as it delivered the highest viewership of 2026. 

"SmackDown" witnessed a big jump in the average viewership for the April 3 edition, with viewership growing to 1,508,000 viewers, from last week's average of 1,308,000, "Programming Insider" reports. This is the first time since September 2025 that the blue brand has crossed the 1.5 million mark in viewership. The last few weeks has seen viewership climb for the Friday night show, with the March 20 edition coming close to breaching the 1.5 million number, averaging 1.44 million. 

While the average viewership saw a 15% increase from the previous week, "Wrestlenomics" reported that the key 18–49 demographic rating doubled that growth, rising by 30% week over week. The rating for the April 3 show increased from 0.33 to 0.43, which is also significantly higher than the four-week average of 0.31. This is by far the highest rating for "SmackDown" in 2026, and the highest since the aforementioned September 5, 2025 show, which garnered a 0.51 rating. The show ranked #4 on cable, behind NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament games that aired at the same time.

Last week's WWE SmackDown was a stacked show that began with Pat McAfee and Randy Orton attacking Cody Rhodes, who later came out and cut a passionate promo. The show also featured tag team and United States Championship matches, with Damian Priest and R-Truth holding onto the former, while Sami Zayn defeated Carmelo Hayes to keep the latter.