Goldberg, Cena bring SmackDown its best numbers in months

Is it a sustainable business model? Time will tell. But Vince McMahon’s plan to bolster his WrestleMania season numbers with the stars of yesteryear got off to a good start with the Feb. 28 edition of SmackDown.

The audience was as big as it’s been since the Survivor Series build, with a great second hour hold for the show-closing John Cena appearance. Ratings were steady for the important 13 - 34 demo, allowing Fox to win the night in that category again. And WWE achieved some gains with older viewers.

Here are last night’s network numbers:

Showbuzz Daily

And here’s a look at the performance of every Fox Friday SmackDown episode (all data via Showbuzz Daily):

It’s not clear how often Goldberg and especially Cena will be around over the next month. We’ll see how these numbers hold when they’re just being mentioned or appearing “via satellite” as opposed to being promised for live appearances.

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.