WWE SmackDown Ratings: Viewership Down In A Major Way This Week

After a couple of good weeks in a row of ratings news, WWE's SmackDown ratings and viewership figures fell off significantly on Friday night. According to the overnights posted to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown this week averaged 1.954 million viewers, down from 2.329 million last week. The numbers come from a first hour that drew 1.922 million and a second hour that drew 1.986 million. Final viewership numbers will be released on Monday, and we'd expect the number to go up slightly, but it will still represent a significant decline from last week. The dropoff from 2.329 million to 1.954 represents a 16% decline in viewership.

In terms of pure viewership, SmackDown this week ranked sixth for the night on network television. The show was defeated by Dateline NBC, MacGyver, Blue Bloods, 20/20, and Shark Tank.

SmackDown also saw a drop with its 18-49 age group demographic rating on Friday, with this week's show coming in at a 0.50 (down from 0.60 last week). That number, though, still ranked in first place among network competition on Friday night.

The 18-34 age group ratings demo saw SmackDown draw a 0.30, also first place among network competition.

This week's show was built around the television return of Sasha Banks, as well as a main event "Samoan Street Fight" featuring Roman Reigns and Jey Uso taking on Sheamus and King Corbin. Sami Zayn also made his return to the ring, wrestling for the first time since WrestleMania 36.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? Let us know in the comments section below!