WWE SmackDown Rating Stays Steady As AEW Rampage Dips On 7/8
Total average viewership for "WWE SmackDown" remains virtually unchanged over the past two weeks, but there was a shift when it came to its AEW rival. Wrestlenomics released the rating numbers for last Friday, and the 7/8 episode maintained an average viewership number of 2,129,000, which is level with the 7/1 "go home" episode leading into Money In The Bank. The key demographic suffered just a bit this week with a 613,000 in average viewership, giving the program a 0.47 P18-49 rating. That's a 4% drop from the week prior, which had an average 18-49 audience of 639,000.
"AEW Rampage," meanwhile, had managed to bounce back last week following record-low numbers from the 6/24 episode, but this week's program slid back down. The 7/8 episode of "Rampage" accrued an average audience of 428,000. That's a 12% drop in total viewership. The key demographic also saw its numbers slip as it received an average audience of 196,000, giving it a 0.15 P18-49 rating. This is a 6% drop from last week, when the demographic number was 209,000.
When it comes to the rankings, "SmackDown" ranked #2 overall in the key demographic for the evening. while "Rampage" came in at #24 overall. For cable originals, "Rampage" ranked at #10.
Compared to the same time last year, "SmackDown" was up 7% in the total audience, while the 18-49 demographic was down 2%. Neither last year's program nor this year's program had any sports competition to worry about, as we are currently in the midst of the annual professional sports dead zone. The opening segment of "SmackDown" had Roman Reigns addressing his upcoming SummerSlam match with Brock Lesnar before Money In The Bank winner Theory came down to play mind games with the champion. Ronda Rousey also defeated Natalya via submission, and the main event, which was originally supposed to be Sheamus facing Drew McIntyre, turned to McIntyre defeating Butch in singles action.
"Rampage" had Tully Blanchard's Gates Of Agony defeating Lee Moriarty and Jonathan Gresham in tag action following a Gresham heel turn. The ROH Champion abandoned his Taiga Style partner on the apron.