It was more of the same for WWE Smackdown Live this week (happy belated Rusev Day!). By that mean the show featured some of the same things they do every week and the ratings reflected their usual pattern. On a show where three heel wrestlers Jinder Mahal, Rusev and Dolph Ziggler were interrupted by three face wrestlers in Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton and Bobby Roode, the audience was around what Smackdown normally gets every week.
This week’s Smackdown Live had 2.542 million viewers according to Showbuzz Daily. That’s a slight increase from last week’s 2.510 million viewers. That’s a pretty standard number for what Smackdown usually averages because it tends to be in the 2.5 million range. There was a big increase two weeks ago with 2.75 million viewers thanks to three title matches and Vince McMahon’s appearance that resulted in him getting beat up by Kevin Owens.
What tends to help the viewing audience is advertising matches or significant segments a week in advance. They haven’t advertised anything for next week’s show yet, so perhaps WWE will do that on social media because they would likely be aware that it helps fans to know what match they may or may not be seeing when they tune in next Tuesday for Smackdown Live.
Next week’s Smackdown will be the last show before Hell in a Cell, which takes place on October 8. For the last two weeks, Kevin Owens and his Hell in a Cell opponent Shane McMahon have been kept apart. It will be interesting to see if WWE books them to have a wild brawl on next week’s show or if they are kept apart again with the idea that keeping them apart will increase the interest in their Hell in a Cell match.
If you want to see Dolph Ziggler’s impression of The Undertaker’s entrance from Smackdown, check it out in the video above.
