WWE SmackDown And AEW Rampage Viewership Skews In Different Directions

It's a tale of two wrestling companies when it comes to this past Friday's ratings. Wrestlenomics released viewership information for Friday night and "WWE SmackDown" managed to weather several storms from the NFL preseason. Although the program was preempted by games in the Charlotte, New Orleans, San Diego and St. Louis markets, SmackDown saw some promising numbers. The August 19 episode garnered 2,084,000 viewers on average, an eight-percent increase in total viewership. The age 18-49 audience tuned in at a number of 613,000 on average, up six percent from last week and totaling for a 0.47 P18-49 rating.

"AEW Rampage" didn't accrue the same success. The August 19 episode had 461,000 average viewers, down 13 percent from the previous week. The key demographic is where the shock comes as the show was only watched by 157,000 average viewers aged 18-49, down a staggering 29%.

Looking at the rankings, "SmackDown" was first on television overall Friday when it comes to the key demographic. "Rampage" came in at fourteenth for cable originals and no. 28 on television overall.

Going back a year, the numbers for "SmackDown" are down. The August 20, 2021 episode of the program had a total viewership of 2,102,000, only one-percent more than this week. However, the demographic saw an 18 percent drop in comparison to last year as the August 20, 2021 episode had a 0.57 P18-49 rating.

Last year was the historic "First Dance" episode of "Rampage" which had 1,129,000 viewers on average, 60 percent more than this past Friday. "The First Dance" garnered a 0.53 P18-49 rating, 78 percent higher than this week.