WWE Backstage Rating Tanks, Fails to Make Top 150

– The rating for WWE Backstage was, to say the last, not what the company was likely hoping for. Tuesday night’s episode brought in a 0.02 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 49,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1. That’s down a beyond-massive 86% and 89% from the preview special on October 25th, which had a 0.14 rating and 426,000 viewers. The first special preview had a 0.2 demo rating and 597,000 viewers.

Now, it must be said that there’s a huge difference between the two episodes, and that’s in terms of lead-in. The first WWE special had the heavily-watched American League Championship series game as a lead-in, while the second had Smackdown providing a direct lead-in. Last night’s episode had a lead-in that failed to hit the top 150 cable originals for the night, and Backstage followed suit by a good measure. So that most certainly made a difference.

Still, it’s by no means the start that WWE and FOX Sports 1 wanted Backstage to have in its regular timeslot. ESPN’s CFP Ranking Show won the night per Showbuzz Daily with a 0.97 demo rating and 2.759 million viewers, with Backstage’s direct competition in ESPN’s college basketball game coming in at #3 with a 0.8 demo rating and 2.273 million viewers.