SmackDown Beats Raw In Ratings For First Time In Almost Two Years

There was great news for fans of WWE’s blue brand coming off the back of an entertaining SmackDown 1000 special.

The celebration episode pulled 2.545 million viewers, beating Raw’s 2.39 million despite strong competition from basketball, baseball, Roseanne spinoff The Conners and NCIS, which all did strong numbers.

The victory in the ratings battle is SmackDown’s first win over Raw since December 2016, when the return of John Cena and multiple title matches helped SmackDown win by 30,000 viewers.

Although reigning supreme over Raw will give the blue squad bragging rights for a week, the number itself is actually not all that strong.

In fact, it is only just above the show’s year-to-date average and down from several shows over WrestleMania season. And it came nowhere near the 4 million plus that Raw 25 managed in January.

Even so, the ratings going up can never be considered a bad thing, but if this was everything WWE had to throw at SmackDown then the brand could be in trouble come this time next year when it moves to FOX.

What do you think of SmackDown beating Raw in the ratings? Let us know in the comments below.

• smackdown 1000
• Ratings
• Smackdown
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