Friday Night SmackDown commanded a huge audience for The Trial of the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.
The July 7 edition of SmackDown from Madison Square Garden averaged 2,561,000 viewers and 986,000 (0.76) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.
The audience was the show’s largest since June 2 and posted its highest 18-49 audience since December 25, 2020, which had the major lead-in from the NFL on Christmas Day.
The show was strengthened by the opening 35 minutes of the program dedicated to The Bloodline’s segment involving The Trial of Roman Reigns. The remainder of the show included Edge vs. Grayson Waller, and a second Bloodline segment to close the show with Jey Uso challenging Reigns to a match at SummerSlam.
In the 18-49 demo, males increased by 23% this week while females only moved up by 3%.
The 18-34 demo was a massive one for SmackDown with a 49% increase from last week’s audience in the demo including a 53% jump with males.
Adults 35-49 dropped by 8% this week with males declining by 18% while females in the demo grew by 13%.
In Canada, the show scored its largest audience since April 7 with 178,000 viewers and 90,100 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. The show ranked sixth among sports programs and third in the demo on Friday, which was led by the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Detroit Tigers and a CFL game between Calgary and Winnipeg.
AEW Rampage dropped to 368,000 viewers and 157,000 (0.12) in the 18-49 demographic, which represent decreases of 18% and 8% respectively from the week prior. (Wrestlenomics)
It wasn’t all bad news as the key demo did see a 32% spike among women and the largest amount since April 14. Males in the demo dropped by 26% this week.
In the 18-34 demographic, the audience fell by 15% to 34,000 with males responsible for the drop while females were even with last week.
Adults 35-49 fell by 6% with two widely different results. Men in the demo fell by 27% while women increased by 46% this week.
Rampage aired in Canada on TSN 2 and averaged approximately 11,000 viewers and 5,000 in the 25-54 demographic. Those figures are down from 40,000 and 10,000 in the demo from the week prior.
This past Friday’s show was taped in Edmonton and included The Young Bucks & Hangman Page against Dark Order in the show opener, and featured a tag match in Blind Eliminator Tournament with Big Bill & Brian Cage against Trent Beretta & Matt Sydal in the main event.
