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Even with another pay-per-view (PPV) right around the corner, no one expected SmackDown to hold all of the 2.82 million viewers Jan. 31’s Royal Rumble fallout show attracted. And honestly, only dropping around 7% to 2.63 million isn’t that bad for the ‘go home’ show for Elimination Chamber.
It’s less steep than the week-to-week decline Raw experienced over the same period, and the blue brand didn’t have Goldberg and a Seth Rollins injury update to pitch to audiences.
They did have Sunday, Feb. 12’s event to build to, and the latest showdown between future Hall of Famers Randy Orton and John Cena, so it’s not like they were firing blanks. WWE would definitely prefer to keep Tuesday nights closer to three million viewers, especially during WrestleMania season, but for now, they’ll probably settle for staying safely above two-and-a-half million.
SmackDown was tenth among cable originals for total viewers, but again won the night for ratings among 18 - 49 year olds - even if that number was down from last week at .91, as well.
With a PPV Sunday, they won’t be advertising anything for next week this far in advance, but hopefully those numbers will be bigger for another fallout show.
For complete results and the live blog for SmackDown this week click here. To read a complete recap & review of all the night’s events click here. For a full playlist of the show click here.