WWE SmackDown ratings up again for Royal Rumble go home show

In its second week on Thursday night, SmackDown once again gained viewers. The show, the go home episode to the Royal Rumble pay-per-view this Sunday night in Philadelphia, averaged 2.81 million viewers.

That's up from the 2.67 it drew in its debut on Thursday last week.

The 2.81 million is the highest number SmackDown has pulled since the Nov. 28 episode drew just over three million viewers for the Survivor Series fallout show. Thursday, of course, is a far better night for television and the expectation is that the numbers will continue to grow.

There are some, like Daniel Bryan, who have openly wondered if the show can gain enough viewers to compete with Raw, which routinely averages around 4 million viewers on Monday night each week.

There will likely come a time when those optimistic folks need to cool their jets but that time isn't now. For the time being, the sky looks to be the limit.

For complete results from SmackDown click here. For a recap of all the night's action click here. To watch highlights of the show click here.