Nothing but good signs in SmackDown’s latest numbers

The Oct. 6 SmackDown featured four of WWE’s top babyfaces in its main event and made the final push to the company’s Fastlane PLE the following night. Not surprisingly, it did well in the ratings.

According to Wrestlenomics, the latest episode of SmackDown was watched by 2,319,000 total viewers and drew a .64 rating among 18-49 year olds. It’s a small increase in overall audience (less than 1%), and a more significant one in the demo (a little more than 6.5%).

Now, you might say that a show with John Cena, Cody Rhodes, LA Knight & Jey Uso should do better. A FOX negotiator probably did before WWE sold the next SmackDown rights package to USA.

But really — like Fastlane itself — this looks like another win for WWE. Wrestling Observer says SmackDown was the highest rated show on network television, nearly doubling it’s closest competitor (ABC’s Shark Tank). Both metrics are up from the same week a year ago, including 18.5% in 18-49 rating. And now they’re getting Roman Reigns back for a loaded “season premiere” episode.

It’s the kind of data you’d probably want to show to potential partners. And those Raw rights are still up for grabs...

Here are the past year’s worth of SmackDown’s numbers:

• Oct. 7, 2022 - 2.24 / .54
• Oct. 14 - 2.27 / .54
• Oct. 21 - 2.23 / .52
• Oct. 28* - 835K / .23
• Nov. 4 - 2.14 million / .48
• Nov. 11 - 2.26 / .58
• Nov. 18 - 2.23 / .56
• Nov. 25 - 2.17 / .54
• Dec. 2* - 902K / .25
• Dec. 9 - 2.31 million / .57
• Dec. 16 - 2.19 / .52
• Dec. 23 - 2.38 / .55
• Dec. 30 - 2.63 / .64
• Jan. 6, 2023 - 2.26 / .53
• Jan. 13 - 2.33 / .55
• Jan. 20 - 2.26 / .55
• Jan. 27 - 2.54 / .67
• Feb. 3 - 2.38 / .61
• Feb. 10 - 2.47 / .64
• Feb. 17 - 2.38 / .58
• Feb. 24 - 2.41 / .62
• Mar. 3 - 2.45 / .59
• Mar. 10 - 2.32 / .63
• Mar. 17 - 2.26 / .59
• Mar. 24 - 2.22 / .58
• Mar. 31 - 2.49 / .69
• April 7 - 2.47 / .69
• April 14 - 2.27 / .58
• April 21 - 2.18 / .54
• April 28 - 2.47 / .67
• May 5 - 2.06 / .52
• May 12 - 2.15 / .56
• May 19 - 2.13 / .53
• May 26 - 2.16 / .52
• June 2 - 2.56 / .73
• June 9 - 2.28 / .60
• June 16 - 2.43 / .67
• June 23 - 2.35 / .61
• June 30 - 2.51 / .69
• July 7 - 2.56 / .76
• July 14 - 2.31 / .62
• July 21* - 1.23 / .36
• July 28 - 2.32 / .61
• Aug. 4 - 2.25 / .62
• Aug. 11 - 2.1 / .55
• Aug. 18 - 2.09 / .55
• Aug. 25 - 2.65 / .78
• Sept. 1 - 2.44 / .65
• Sept. 8 - 2.09 / .53
• Sept. 15 - 2.57 / .70
• Sept. 22 - 2.23 / .63
• Sept. 29 - 2.30 / .60
• Oct. 6 - 2.32 / .64

* Aired on FS1

For complete results and this week’s SmackDown live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For video highlights of the show click here.