Friday Night SmackDown was unaffected by airing a taped edition of the show as it topped all network programming.
The September 2nd edition of the show taped one week prior in Detroit, averaged 2,077,000 viewers and approximately 639,000 (0.49) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
SmackDown ranked first among network programs and second on television for the night behind the U.S. Open Tennis coverage on ESPN.
The show was up 4% in viewers and saw a 2% increase in its 18-49 audience and a gain of 17% among adults 18-34 from the week prior.
It was positive on several fronts given the U.S. Open and College Football competition as well as being a taped show, that didn’t display any hindrance on the number. This week’s episode was not affected by NFL pre-emptions as the previous three weeks had been hurt by.
SmackDown was promoted around Roman Reigns’ two-year celebration as Universal Champion, which culminated with an attack by Drew McIntyre going into Clash at the Castle the following day.
In Canada, SmackDown ranked sixth among sports programs for the night with approximately 155,000 viewers and 72,000 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. The previous week’s episode averaged 125,200 and 52,000 respectively.
