WWE have returned to Europe ahead of the Clash In Paris Premium Live Event on August 31, and are touring around the UK and Ireland to construct anticipation for the large event. Their first port of call was the Irish capital of Dublin for the August 22 episode of “WWE SmackDown,” which saw a homecoming for Becky Lynch, a confrontation between John Cena and Logan Paul, and Piper Niven pick up one in every of the most important singles victories of her profession as she defeated Charlotte Flair.
Provided that the show took place overseas, “SmackDown” aired via tape delay on the USA Network which, based on Wrestlenomics and The Programming Insider, took a toll on the TV rankings. The August 22 episode of “SmackDown” averaged a complete of 1,258,000 viewers, a 12% drop from the previous week’s 1,430,000 viewers, and sits 19% below the trailing 4 week average of 1,596,000 viewers. These figures made this week’s “SmackDown” the least watched episode of WWE’s blue brand since July 4, one other taped show, which also saw WWE move “SmackDown” back to 2 hours. Nevertheless, viewership was low across the board on Friday night, and 1,258,000 was enough for WWE to crack the highest ten overall viewership rankings by placing tenth.
For the 18-49 demographic, the outcomes were significantly better as “SmackDown” posted a 0.35 number for the second week in a row. While this is perhaps 20% below the trailing 4 week average of 0.44, it was enough for “SmackDown” to put first for the night within the cable rankings. WWE beat out the NFL pre-season game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons to clinch the highest spot on cable, but when including network telecasts, “SmackDown” needed to accept second place as the opposite NFL pre-season game, the Minnesota Vikings on the Tennessee Titans, which aired on CBS took the highest spot for the night.