WWE Smackdown Rating Hits Year-Plus High With John Cena, Audience Hits Two-Year Best

John Cena’s return to WWE Smackdown spiked the ratings and viewership to year-long and two-year highs, respectively. Friday night’s show brought in a 0.64 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 2.629 million viewers, up 11.7% and 16.4% respectively from the previous week’s 0.55 demo rating and 2.376 million viewers.

The rating for the show was the highest since the September 10th, 2021 episode drew a 0.65 demo rating, while the audience was the best for the show since the Christmas Day, 2020 episode brought in 3.335 million viewers thanks to an NFL game lead-in.

Smackdown ranked #1 for the night among broadcast networks per Showbuzz Daily and #7 overall on TV, behind several college bowl games and related pre-game/post-game shows on ESPN. The Orange Bowl topped Friday with a 2.00 demo rating and 8.590 million viewers.

Smackdown averaged a 0.515 demo rating and 2.213 million viewers in 2022, down 4.8% and up 3.5% respectively from the 2021 average of a 0.541 demo rating and 2.051 million viewers.