SmackDown & Rampage finish third and fourth in Oct. 29 cable ratings

While I’m sure this will spun a number of different ways over the next few hours, because that’s what happens even on nights when AEW and WWE don’t both air shows - let alone nights when they’re both on cable, and FOX runs a replay of SmackDown on FS1 opposite Rampage on TNT.

But we’re keeping things positive, because one thing the ratings from Fri., Oct. 29 tell us is that pro wrestling continues to perform better than anything other than live sports.

The 8pm ET airing of SmackDown finished third among cable originals last Friday. Rampage - which only aired at 10pm ET - was fourth. First and second were ESPN games. The only thing on the broadcast networks that beat the top cable shows was the World Series game on FOX that bumped WWE to FS1 for the night.

Not bad, at least in this semi-educated outsider’s eyes.

SmackDown was up considerably from its last cable edition on Oct. 15, and hit seven figures in viewership, clocking in at 1.032 million. The show’s .29 rating among 18 - 49 year olds was a 21% increase from two weeks ago. Not bad, especially considering the blue brand was missing its top star, Roman Reigns.

Rampage had its biggest audience since the two hour Grand Slam show back in September. The audience of 623,000 was 17% better than the week before. The .25 rating in the demo was 14% better than Oct. 22’s number.

If you’re looking for a fight, some data points that might interest you include:

1. The 10pm ET SmackDown replay didn’t finish in the Top 50.
2. While WWE “won” 18 - 49 year olds this time, Rampage outdrew the live SmackDown in the 18 - 34 year old demo (.17 to .15).

WWE heads back to FOX next Friday, so it will be even harder to compare. Won’t stop some folks from doing it though. For others, might I suggest following Mox’s lead?

Source: Showbuzz Daily