This Week's WWE SmackDown Suffers Viewership Drop
Not even a long awaited split could retain viewers this week.
This week's edition of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX suffered a ratings drop of 3.6%, according to Showbuzz Daily.
After last Friday's solid 2.181 million average viewership, the latest episode of SmackDown fell to 2.066 million viewers on average. They did still manage to finish #1 on the night in the ever important 18-49 demographic, though, with a score of 0.55.
This week's post-Paybeck blue show saw Roman Reigns address the Thunderdome for the first time as the new Universal Champion. Elsewhere, Bayley and Sasha Banks finally imploded, with the SmackDown Women's Champion launching a vicious attack on her former pal after losing their Women's Tag Team Championship rematch.
Jey Uso also incredibly earned himself a shot at his cousin's belt at Night of Champions after replacing an 'injured' Big E in the Fatal Four-Way main event to decide Reigns' next challenger.
However, this undoubtedly compelling two hour programme still couldn't stop the blue show losing viewers.
Will the promise of Bray Wyatt's newest addition to the Firefly Funhouse and the fallout of The Golden Role Model's split be enough to convince those fans to return next week?
Only time will tell.