WWE SmackDown posts second-lowest ratings since brand split

For the third time in five weeks, SmackDown posted its lowest viewership total of the year, as this week’s July 3 episode averaged 2.013 million viewers. That’s actually the second-lowest number since the brand split, trailing only a November 2016 edition of the show that went up against coverage of the United States Presidential election.

The show was promoted around the appearance of Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane), who reunited at the end of last week’s episode. The pair were featured in the opening, had segments throughout the show, and wrestled The Usos in the last half hour. While critically well received, the reunion wasn’t a ratings success here.

SmackDown finished right around its usual place in the overall cable TV ratings, having the seventh-highest viewership total for the day. It did fall from the usual top spot in the 18-49 demo, finishing second behind a World Cup soccer game with a 0.54 rating. 

Year-to-year, the show was down 14 percent from last year’s July 4 edition of SmackDown (which featured a heavily-promoted return of John Cena), the third straight week the show has been down double digits. It also retained just 74 percent of the Raw audience from the night before, which was actually up from the previous week.

Here’s a look at the last 10 weeks of SmackDown ratings and how they compare to Raw’s from the same week: