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Considering the reviews for their Battleground pay-per-view (PPV) event this past Sunday, it’s not shocking SmackDown didn’t bring in quite as many viewers as the week before.
So it’s probably a credit to the popularity of John Cena, the early-in-the-episode surprise return of Chris Jericho, and a big Triple Threat main event which featured Y2J, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles that the number only dropped a fraction - from July 18’s 2,548,000 to July 25’s 2,535,000.
That was good for third in viewership behind Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and Tucker Carlson on Fox. WWE also suffered a rare Tuesday ratings loss, where their .77 share among 18 - 49 year olds was bested by Sharks and The City’s .78 on Discovery.
While you wonder at the drawing power of nature’s perfect killing machines, here’s a rundown of the blue brand’s numbers this year:
July 18 - 2.55 million
July 11 - 2.47 million
July 4 - 2.32 million
June 27 - 2.60 million
June 20 - 2.6 million
June 13 - 2.072 million
June 6 - 2.349 million
May 30 - 2.35 million
May 23 - 2.33 million
May 16 - 2.175 million
May 9 - 2.348 million
May 2 - 2.3 million
April 25 - 2.49 million
April 18 - 2.54 million
April 11 - 3.11 million
April 4 - 2.89 million
March 29 - 2.7 million
March 21 - 2.65 million
March 14 - 2.63 million
March 7 - 2.74 million
February 28 - 2.57 million
Feb. 21 - 2.79 million
Feb. 14 - 2.63 million
Feb. 7 - 2.63 million
Jan. 31 - 2.82 million
Jan. 24 - 2.56 million
Jan. 17 - 2.65 million
Jan. 10 -2.53 million
Jan. 3 - 2.59 million
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.