WWE SmackDown And AEW Rampage Viewership Skew In Different Directions
This past Friday was a tale of two shows for "AEW Rampage" and "WWE Friday Night SmackDown" as the wrestling programs found their ratings going in different directions. Wrestlenomics released the viewership numbers for the 6/10 episodes of each program and it was "Rampage" that saw an increase while "SmackDown" saw a decrease.
"Rampage" roped in an average viewership number of 476,000 and had a key demo digit of 209,000 giving the P18-49 demographic a 0.16 rating. This is the highest the "Rampage" demo number and total viewership number has been since April 22. The average viewership number saw a slight jump up with 1,000 more watching.
"SmackDown" on the other hand saw only a 1% drop in total viewership after garnering an average viewership number of 1,914,000. The key demographic number was 574,000 (0.44, P18-49 rating). This is a 6% drop from last week's number of 613,000. All that considered, "SmackDown" ranked #4 overall in the demographic, and "Rampage" was only two spots behind at #6 overall.
Both programs had to contend with the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Wariors which ranked #1 overall with 12.1 million viewers and a 3.61 rating in the key demo.
The numbers were better for "SmackDown" last year as the 6/11/2021 episode had an average viewership of 1,944,000 which has the latest program seeing a drop of 34,000. The key demo also was up last year at this point by 49,000.
This week's "Rampage" had the show start itself off with Eddie Kingston taking on Jake Hager and a main event of FTR & Trent Beretta battling a debuting Will Ospreay and his Aussie Open compatriots. The program also presented another debut in Satnam Singh who teamed with Jay Lethal against Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett.
"SmackDown" showcased Ronda Rousey making quick work of Shotzi, Gunther winning the Intercontinental Title against Ricochet, and the main event of Riddle defeating Sami Zayn in order to receive a title shot at Roman Reigns next week.