WWE Smackdown Rating, Audience Down For First Episode of 2023

Last week’s episode of WWE Smackdown dipped a bit in both ratings and viewers to kick off 2023. Friday night’s show drew a 0.53 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 2.257 million viewers. Those numbers are down 17.2% and 14.2% from the previous week’s 0.64 demo rating and 2.629 million viewers for the John Cena-appearing episode.

Both numbers were the lowest for the show in three weeks, since the December 16th episode drew a 0.52 demo rating and 2.191 million viewers. Smackdown tied for the #2 show on broadcast TV per Showbuzz Daily, behind Fire Country on CBS (0.56 demo rating, 6.570 million viewers) and tied with Shark Tank on ABC (0.53/4.007 million).