WWE SmackDown Draws Highest Key Demo Rating in Nearly Three Years, Higher Rating Than John Cena Episode

– Wrestlenomics has the final overnight viewership for last Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown. Last week’s show was the go-home show before Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2023 event.

The final audience for WWE SmackDown last week was 2.544 million viewers, increasing from the 2.257 million viewers for the final audience for the previous week.

In the P18-49 key ratings demo, SmakcDown drew a 0.67 rating, moving up slightly from the overnight 0.65 rating. SmackDown was first for the night in the key demos for primetime broadcast programming. The final rating was higher than the final key demo rating for the December 30 episode, featuring John Cena wrestling in his only match for 2022.

That show drew a 0.64 rating. However, the average total viewership for that show was slightly higher at 2.629 million viewers.

The rating for the January 27 episode is the highest rating for SmackDown since March 27, 2020, nearly three years ago. That show drew a 0.8 rating in the same key demo.

WWE Smackdown, Friday on Fox (8-10pm):
2,544,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.67

AEW Rampage, Friday on TNT (10-11pm):
458,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.14

Expect ranking info later from Showbuzz
📊 https://t.co/qDSSxyBniZ pic.twitter.com/PlrXRoZnRH

— Wrestlenomics (@wrestlenomics) January 31, 2023

P18-49 viewership was higher for Friday's Smackdown than the Cena episode on Dec 30 but slightly lower total viewership.

Friday was Smackdown's highest P18-49 since the Christmas 2020 w/ NFL lead-in. Excepting that, highest since Mar 2020.

📋Full report: https://t.co/KFaMPiCog4

— Wrestlenomics (@wrestlenomics) January 31, 2023