SmackDown Falls To Lowest Non-Preemption TV Audience EVER (WWE News)

Last week's SmackDown hit a record low in the ratings.

by Andrew Pollard
Sami Zayn WWE United States Title Jimmy Uso
WWE.com

While the Lyon, France crowd was white-hot for WWE last Friday night, that SmackDown outing didn't fare well when it comes to ratings.

As reported by Wrestlenomics (per Programming Insider), last week's SmackDown hit an all-time low for a non-preempted episode of SmackDown, bringing in an audience of 1.147 million, which is down 9% on the previous week's 1.258 million.

Where the all-important 18-49 demographic is concerned, that scored a 0.28, making this SmackDown offering the second-lowest non-preempted episode ever, trailing behind only a 29 December 2023 episode that was a 'Best Of' special during the holidays. Sticking with the 18-49 demo, and this most recent SmackDown was #2 on cable, and came in at #3 across cable and broadcast combined, with college football on ESPN and Fox taking the top spots.

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Emanating from Lyon's LDLC Arena, SmackDown was the go-home show for WWE Clash in Paris, featuring a major main event of Sami Zayn defeating Solo Sikoa for the United States Championship. There was also a fantastic promo exchange between John and Logan Paul; Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre continued their issues with a wild brawl; the Street Profits defeated the Miz and Carmelo Hayes to earn a shot at the Wyatt Sicks and the WWE Tag Team Championships; Alexa Bliss scored a win over Chelsea Green; and Michin nabbed a quick roll-up over Kiana James, before James and Giulia put a beating on the former Mia Yim.

Of course, one of the main problems for televised WWE events that take place overseas is that those shows have an earlier start time, meaning full results are widely available online hours before, in this case, SmackDown airs on the USA Network. For example, this particular SmackDown aired live on Netflix for international audiences, such as the UK, five hours earlier than SmackDown would normally air.

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WWE will be looking for a far stronger number when SmackDown heads to Chicago this Friday, not least due to the rumblings of an AJ Lee return gathering more steam by the day.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.