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Way back on Tuesday, SmackDown had a show which promised and delivered the set-up of AJ Styles and Shane McMahon’s WrestleMania match, booked the mixed tag between John Cena & Nikki Bella and Miz & Maryse and built to the brand’s World title match for the Show of Shows. We’re finally getting information on how that episode did in the ratings after that news was delayed all week due to a technical issue at Nielson, and it’s probably not WWE was hoping for in mid-March, but it’s not terrible, either.
With an audience of 2.63 million, March 14 was down from last week’s 2.74 million. That was good for seventh place among Tuesday’s original cable programs, and second in the 18 - 49 demographic, behind MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.
It’s likely that Maddow, who teased a reveal of President Donald Trump’s tax returns, had an impact on the numbers, as it’s ununsual for her show or network to finish in front of WWE and USA.
We’ll see how they bounce back - hopefully in the usual Wednesday afternoon ratings release window - next week for a show which will likely be promoted with more Styles/McMahon news.
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.