SmackDown finishes second on television for the night, drops in 18-34

The return of Roman Reigns didn’t provide a major spike on Friday Night SmackDown but led to the show finishing second among all programming for the night.

The July 8^th edition of the show from Fort Worth averaged 2,129,000 viewers and approximately 613,000 (0.47) among the 18-49 demographic with data from Showbuzz Daily and Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.

AEW Rampage, Friday on TNT (10-11pm):
428,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.15

WWE Smackdown on Fox (8-10pm):
2,129,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.47
📊 https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/5qOZ6tXwT1

— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) July 11, 2022

Overall viewership was only down by one percent and the key demo dropped by four percent leading to SmackDown’s lowest numbers in those categories since June 10^th when airing against the NBA Finals.

SmackDown was second among all television programming on Tuesday behind Univision’s Mi Fortuna es Amarte averaging 0.53 in the 18-49 demo from 8-9 p.m. ET. SmackDown ran against rerun programming on CBS, ABC, and NBC from 8-10 p.m.

SmackDown was hit among adults 18-34, which declined by 19 percent from the previous week and their lowest audience in that demo since June 3^nd.

They did experience a four percent increase among adults 35-49.

In Canada, the show averaged approximately 102,000 viewers and 25,000 in the 25-54 demographic, which were notable declines from 130,600 and 62,600 respectively the previous week. It was SmackDown’s lowest overall viewership in Canada since June 3^rd.

Friday’s episode was promoted around Roman Reigns’ first appearance on the show since June 17^th where he appeared with The Bloodline for a promo segment kicking off the show and hyping his match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam later this month. It also featured Ronda Rousey wrestling a quick match against Natalya. Throughout the show, they advertised a match between Drew McIntyre and Sheamus to determine the Undisputed Universal Championship challenger at Clash at the Castle in September but was switched at the last minute to McIntyre beating Butch.