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WWE hit the road for the first time in a long time for the July 16 edition of SmackDown, and welcomed fans to join them in Houston’s Toyota Center.
They also hoped more fans would tune in to watch the show on FOX. According to overnight numbers from Spoiler TV, that invitation was accepted.
SmackDown averaged 2.185 million viewers last night (off a first hour watched by 2,221,000 and a second that only lost 73K and was seen by 2,148,000). That’s a 16% increase from last Friday’s overnight number.
Ratings among 18 - 49 year olds were steady across both hours at .6, also an improvement over the last ThunderDome show. More importantly, SmackDown was well ahead of all its broadcast competition in the metric last night. Several shows tied for second place with a .3 demo rating. There was no live sports on the networks - or nationally broadcast on cable - and most of their usual Friday night competition like Shark Tank, Blue Bloods, and 20/20 were in reruns. But still.
Final numbers are almost always higher, so these should look even better come Monday.
Will they hold onto the gains for the Money in the Bank fallout show on July 23? Or will the novelty wear off quickly? We’ll find out next week.
For complete results and the live blog for SmackDown this week click here. To read a review of the night’s events click here. For a full playlist of the show click here.