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Welp, that’s not how WWE wanted that to go.
Sure, this week’s episode of SmackDown LIVE didn’t feature a big suspenseful hook like “will Vince McMahon let Kofi Kingston go to WrestleMania???” But as the final episode of live television before the Showcase of the Immortals, they had to be hoping it wouldn’t lose a quarter of a million viewers from the week before.
But that’s what happened on April 2, as the audience fell to 2,141,000. That’s the worst such number since mid-February, seven days after a best-in-months numbers on Mar. 26. That gave WWE the ninth most watched cable original on the night, behind History’s Curse of Oak Island, and political talk on MSNBC & Fox News.
The rating among 18 - 49 year olds also fell to .71, but was the second only to the hunt for Canadian treasure.
This is the second year in a row the blue brand’s audience shrank for a WrestleMania ‘go home’ episodes, but at least in 2018 they were still in the 2.5 million / .8 range. Not sure what to make of any of this any more, except what Geno observed yesterday - not as many people are watching WWE (at least as it airs live on cable) as they used to.
Here’s a list of WWE’s Tuesday numbers from the past six months:
Mar. 26 - 2.39 / .79
Mar. 19 - 2.21 / .74
Mar. 12 - 2.2 / .71
Mar. 5 - 2.16 / .7
Feb. 26 - 2.15 / .76
Feb. 19 - 2.27 / .75
Feb. 12 - 2.03 / .66
Feb. 5 - 1.84 / .64
Jan. 29 - 2.14 / .7
Jan. 22 - 2.14 / .69
Jan. 15 - 2.14 / .7
Jan. 8 - 2.03 million / .72
Jan. 1 - 2.09 million / .68
Dec. 25 - 1.9 million / .61
Dec. 18 - 2.21 million / .74
Dec. 11 - 1.98 million / .68
Dec. 4 - 1.95 million / .66
Nov. 27 - 2.26 million / .81
Nov. 20 - 2.15 million / .69
Nov. 13 - 2.31 million / .90
Nov. 6 - 2.1 million / .68
Oct. 30 - 2.11 million / .73
Oct. 23 - 2.09 million / .69
Oct. 16 - 2.55 million / .92
Oct. 9 - 2.1 million / .67
Oct. 2 - 2.1 million / .68
Sept. 25 - 2.19 million / .72
Sept. 18 - 2.28 million / .78
Sept. 11 - 2.23 million / .72
Sept. 4 - 2.32 million / .77
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.
Source: Showbuzz Daily