The September 10th SmackDown Live' lost69,000 viewers from the prior week's episode, despite a heavily-promoted appearance from The Undertaker and WWE ostensibly going all out to entertain tickets to those that actually elected to attend the rare Madison Square Garden edition of the broadcast.
Cageside Seats reported a final number of 2,061,000 for the show, headlined by the King Of The Ring semi-final between Chad Gable and Shane McMahon that later saw 'The Money' give Kevin Owens his P45 after failing to carry him through to the tournament final.
The figure was stronger than the company's lengthy stretch below two million viewers over a period of weeks between May and June, but was the lowest since August's largely enjoyable SummerSlam.
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In an atypical period that finds Raw receiving substantial praise for its output, SmackDown has somewhat sagged since the 'Biggest Party Of The Summer', with the profound failure to build on the growing babyface momentum of Kevin Owens and effectively pay off the Roman Reigns whodunnit storylines both perhaps contributing to a lingering disinterest in the blue brand. The show will move to Fridays on Fox on October 4th, with huge stars and stories expected on the brand in an effort to give it the best possible start.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.
