Did you read this week’s Friday Night Smackdown results or the Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown column and think to yourself, “Wow, was that even an episode of Smackdown?” As it turns out, we’re getting closer to, “if a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound,” territory than ever.
The FS1 episode, hurt by competition from the early days of the NBA season and preempted by Fox thanks to the World Series, drew 888,000 viewers on Friday, marking a new all-time low for the series. Per Showbuzzdaily, Friday Night Smackdown came in ninth overall for original cable broadcasts, behind a pair of NBA games, as well as an episode of Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush and Black Jesus on Adult Swim. They pulled a 0.27 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic. Adjust your opinion of how ratings work and how much they matter in 2019 accordingly.
The previous low for Smackdown was the final episode on SyFy, the 2015 New Year’s Eve episode, which drew 1.6 million viewers. Friday’s Smackdown included appearances from Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair to promote the upcoming Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia, a six-man tag team main event, and Brock Lesnar beating up Rey Mysterio’s kid again.
