Smackdown Rating: How did the viewership hold up day after low Raw rating for final MITB hype? (w/Keller’s Analysis)

WWE Smackdown on USA Network on Tuesday night drew a 1.53 rating with live and same-night-DVR viewers. That is well below the 2017 average of 1.79 headed into this week and the ten-week rolling average headed into this week of 1.72.

That rating is below the year-ago number when Smackdown was pre-taped and featured the same wrestlers as Raw and basically the hand-me-down version of Raw’s top storyline developments. Smackdown this year previous was below year-ago numbers only on May 16, May, 2, Feb. 28, and Jan. 3.

The 2017 average rating is 1.79 compared to the 2016 average rating at this point in the year of 1.70. So Smackdown Live is hanging on to a slight lead over last year’s average, which considering the sharp drop-off in Raw ratings this year compared to last, is a victory of sorts. It’s logical to assume Smackdown’s numbers this year would be well below last year’s if the show wasn’t live and if the show didn’t feature exclusive use of 40 percent of the roster.

Keller’s Analysis: There was no massive NBA game to pull viewers away from Smackdown this week, so as compared to Raw, this is a much more discouraging rating. They presented all six wrestlers in the Money in the Bank match on Sunday in six-man tag match, and still that wasn’t enough to hold the average.