Overnight SmackDown Viewership Down Following WWE Payback

The overnight viewership for last night’s well-received episode of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX has been revealed, courtesy of ShowBuzz Daily.

ShowBuzz Daily is reporting at the 09/04 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, the first SmackDown show after Payback, brought in an average of 2.065 million, bringing in a 0.55 rating in the all-important 18-49 age demographic.

This is down from the average of 2.181 million that the go-home show before Payback brought in last week. For comparison, last week’s show also did quite a bit better in the 18-49 demographic, bringing in a 0.7 rating.

Last night’s show has actually been dubbed by many as one of the best episodes of SmackDown of the year, with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman’s promo that kicked off the show being a particular highlight to many.

The show also saw Sasha Banks and Bayley compete for the Women’s Tag Team Championships, before Bayley turned on her tag team partner and best friend in a brutal post-match assault.

The show was main evented by a fatal-four way match between King Corbin, Matt Riddle, Sheamus and Jey Uso, the latter of whom replaced Big E who was attacked by Sheamus earlier on in the night.

The match was won by Jey Uso, who will now challenge his cousin, Universal Champion Roman Reigns for his title later on this month at Clash of Champions: Gold Rush.

• Payback
• viewership
• Smackdown
• wwe

Share this article with friends