By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE star Daniel Bryan continues to ride a wave of drawing audiences before and after Summerslam. Bryan's steel cage main event against Wade Barrett on WWE Smackdown last Friday, August 23 scored one of the highest ratings of the past three months.

In the key male demographic of males 18-49, the Bryan vs. Barrett cage match in Q8 scored a 1.21 rating. It was the highest rating of the show and highest since a 1.42 rating for Randy Orton vs. Christian vs. Rob Van Dam in a three-way #1 contender match on the August 2 Smackdown.

Outside of the three-way #1 contender match, Bryan vs. Barrett was the highest-rated main event since we began tracking the m18-49 quarter-hour ratings in May.

The other segment that performed well was World Hvt. champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian in a non-title Summerslam re-match. Del Rio vs. Christian was positioned at the top of the second hour, which generated a 1.06 rating in Q5 and 1.11 rating in Q6.

Smackdown Audience Flow Males 18-49

- Q1: Smackdown started slow with a 0.80 rating for Vickie Guerrero, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton setting up events later in the show.

- Q2: Smackdown was essentially flat with a 0.79 rating for backstage segments and the first-half of Curtis Axel vs. Cody Rhodes.

- Q3: Smackdown increased to a 0.86 rating for the end of Axel vs. Rhodes.

- Q4: Smackdown stayed at a 0.86 rating for Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E. Langston.

- Q5: Smackdown jumped to a 1.06 rating for the first-half of Del Rio vs. Christian. Included was peak viewership of 776,000 viewers at 9:07 p.m.

- Q6: Smackdown increased to a 1.11 rating for the finish of Del Rio vs. Christian. The segment contained several minutes at or above 700,000 viewers, reflecting a consistent audience.

- Q7: Smackdown "came down" to a 1.05 rating for Darren Young vs. Antonio Cesaro, plus two commercial breaks affecting the rating.

- Q8: Smackdown finished strong with a 1.21 rating for Bryan vs. Barrett, plus Randy Orton's post-match attack.

Included was peak viewership of the show in the final few minutes of Q8, highlighted by 900,000 m18-49 viewers at 9:58 p.m.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline