WWE Smackdown ratings for live 'SuperShow' hit 3.3 million viewers on Aug. 30 on SyFy

When WWE announced it would run what they were referring to as a live Smackdown "SuperShow," it was heavily promoted as being a pay-per-view (PPV) caliber event. While that may have been the plan in theory, in practice it was quite the opposite. The show, while solid by most standards, was nothing close to what one might expect from a typical PPV. 

Either way, they seemed to have accomplished their goals of hitting a high mark for ratings, which is absolutely necessary if they are convince SyFy to allow them to move the program from Friday night to Tuesday (or any other night) so as not to compete with UFC once it starts airing live fights as part of its new Ultimate Fighter series next year.

In fact, SyFy sent out a press release touting the numbers Smackdown reached last night. Here's a snip from it:

Syfy's first ever WWE Smackdown live special, SuperSmackdown Live, pinned 3.3 million total viewers last night, Tuesday, August 30 from 8-10PM/ET. The program leg locked 1.45 million Adults 18-49 and 1.3 million Adults 25-54. The performance put Syfy in the #1 spot in Cable Primetime for the night ahead of the #2 cable finisher by 45% in Adults 18-49 and 29% in Adults 25-54. Syfy also topped both FOX and the CW from 8PM to 10PM ET/PT in Adults 18-49 and 25-54.

The overall rating was a 2.20. To give you an example of why this is such a short term success, Smackdown has averaged a 1.88 rating and 2.87 million viewers.

Are these numbers reason enough for executives from WWE or SyFy to get overly excited about a possible permanent move to Tuesday and a live format for Smackdown in the future? Not necessarily, as WWE should know better than anyone the kind of gains one can see from doing one show and calling it special versus doing it every week, therefore losing its original appeal of being a "SuperShow" and one time thing.

This is a nice spike in ratings but it could be short term enough that it won't result in a move from Friday nights. Either way, the program will continue to run on Friday, including a replay of the live show this Friday, Sept. 2, 2011.

For complete results and a running live blog of the "SuperShow" from last night click here. For reactions to all the nights events click here and for videos from the show click here.