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With a John Cena “dream match” with major implications for SummerSlam and a United States showdown on the card, you’d expect SmackDown’s audience to rise this week.
And rise it did. But maybe not as much as WWE might have hoped given Shinsuke Nakamura vs. John Cena and AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens were announced a week in advance.
The blue brand drew 2,569,000 viewers on Aug. 2, up 34,000 from last week’s Battleground fallout show. That was good for third best among cable originals on the evening, behind MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. They did return to the top of the ratings mountain among 18 - 49 year olds with a .76 (au revoir, sharks), although that was down slightly from last week.
Will these numbers move much for the build to Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal and more Styles/Owens? While you meditate on that, here’s a rundown of the blue brand’s numbers this year:
July 25 - 2.54 million
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.