SmackDown’s numbers fell to pre-WrestleMania levels

The April 19 edition of SmackDown didn’t prominently feature any of the players of WrestleMania XL’s main event story (meaning no Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Roman Reigns, and only a pre-taped interview with Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes). It also went head-to-head with the final “win and you’re in, lose and go home” NBA Playoff Play-In Tournament games.

That led to the show’s lowest numbers since prior to ‘Mania. According to Wrestlenomics, last Friday’s episode was watched by 2,333,000 viewers and did a .63 rating among 18-49 year old rating.

As mentioned above, part of that can be attributed to competition The two Play-In games that aired opposite parts of SmackDown averaged 2.39 million viewers and a .82 in the demo on ESPN & TNT. Per Programming Insider, those were the only shows on television that ranked above SmackDown last Friday.

Competition will be a major factor again this week, with the NBA and NHL Playoffs happening along with night two of the NFL Draft. WWE is countering with their own Draft, and that’s one of their most popular events every year — so even against a full line-up of “real” sports coverage they should deliver some numbers for FOX.

We shall see. Until we do… here’s a rundown of the past year’s worth of SmackDown’s numbers:

• April 21, 2023 – 2.18 million viewers / .54 demo rating
• 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
• Oct. 13 – 2.42 / .62
• Oct. 20 – 2.25 / .59
• Oct. 28* – 1.15 / .35
• Nov. 3 – 2.12 / .53
• Nov. 10 – 2.2 / .57
• Nov. 17 – 2.21 / .62
• Nov. 24* – 789,000 / .24
• Dec. 1 – 2.04 million / .59
• Dec. 8 – 2.38 / .63
• Dec. 15 – 2.24 / .55
• Dec. 22 – 2.11 / .55
• Dec. 29** – 1.36 / .28
• Jan. 5, 2024 – 2.47 / .67
• Jan. 12 – 2.38 / .64
• Jan. 19 – 2.41 / .62
• Jan. 26 – 2.48 / .71
• Feb. 2 – 2.47 / .74
• Feb. 9 – 2.58 / .75
• Feb. 16 – 2.56 / .75
• Feb. 23 – 2.27 / .62
• Mar. 1 – 2.35 / .64
• Mar. 8 – 2.44 / .69
• Mar. 15 – 2.34 / .68
• Mar. 22 – 2.24 / .61
• Mar. 29 – 2.20 / .60
• April 5 – 2.60 / .77
• April 12 – 2.5 / .76
• April 19 – 2.33 / .63

* Aired on FS1
** “Best of” clip show

For complete results and this week’s SmackDown live blog click here, to read a recap & review of the night’s events click here, and to check out video highlights of the episode click here.