John Cena, Cody Rhodes & Less Competition Can't Help WWE SmackDown's FLAT Ratings (WWE News)
WWE SmackDown rating hits second-lowest since November despite Cena, Rhodes, and less competition.
WWE SmackDown's total viewership flattened out last week (30 May) despite the presence of top stars John Cena and Cody Rhodes on the show, and diminished sports competition.
SmackDown drew an average of 1.383 million P2+ viewers across its three hours on USA Network last Friday. This was identical to the figure from the previous week.
The blue brand fared better in the key 18-49 demographic, drawing a 0.34 rating, up from the previous week's 0.33. This was enough for SmackDown to finish first on the night amongst cable and broadcast shows, with ABC's Shark Tank second with a 0.25 P18-49 rating. Nonetheless, the rating equals SmackDown's second-lowest figure since 15 November, when WWE faced stiff competition from Jake Paul and Mike Tyson's Netflix boxing special.
WWE faced minimal competition last week. Neither the NHL nor the NBA playoffs featured Friday games, having gone head-to-head with various WWE shows in recent weeks. SmackDown's lack of significant improvement, numbers-wise, could therefore be seen as a surprise and a disappointment.
Rhodes and Cena featured on SmackDown to build to a tag team match pitting Cody and Jey Uso against John and Logan Paul at Money in the Bank 2025. This followed Rhodes' return at Saturday Night's Main Event on 24 May, when he renewed his WrestleMania 41 rivalry with Cena, who bested 'The American Nightmare' to become Undisputed WWE Champion at the 'Show of Shows.'
Match-wise, SmackDown's biggest attractions were Money in the Bank qualifiers pitting Naomi, Nia Jax, and Jade Cargill against each other on the men's side, and Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Jacob Fatu amongst the men.
Data: Wrestlenomics, Programming Insider.