Friday Night SmackDown scored one of its best numbers in months for the episode following SummerSlam and the return of Becky Lynch.
The August 27th edition of the show from Arkansas averaged 2,250,000 viewers and 764,000 (0.59) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
SmackDown finished first among all network programming in 18-49 and 18-34 with several network shows in reruns including ABC’s Shark Tank.
It was SmackDown’s best performance since July 16th when live fans returned and SmackDown’s second-best performance since the ‘Throwback SmackDown’ edition of the show on May 7th. In the 18-49 demo, it was their best number since the August 7th episode that did 0.61.
In Canada, SmackDown finished with 185,500 viewers with 79,400 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. It was SmackDown’s highest viewership in the country since July 23rd. This past week’s episode finished third among all sports programming for Friday behind the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Detroit Tigers, and the CFL game between Hamilton and Montreal.
The commercials for SmackDown during the week focused on the fallout of SummerSlam with Brock Lesnar and Becky Lynch featured in the commercials and may have led to viewers believing Lesnar would appear on television.
Lynch was featured on the episode where she turned down a rematch with Bianca Belair, although Belair is set as the next challenger for the title after winning a Fatal Four-Way Elimination Match against Liv Morgan, Carmella, and Zelina Vega.
