WWE SmackDown ratings up slightly on road to SummerSlam

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com

By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Aug 9, 2017 7:38 pm

Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.584 million viewers, up less than one percent from last week's loaded show that featured the first-ever match between John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura to decide WWE Champion Jinder Mahal's challenger at SummerSlam.

This week's show finished second on cable in terms of total viewers, trailing only Hannity on Fox News. It was first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.8 rating.

SmackDown was actually up five percent in the year-over-year ratings, with the August 7th, 2016 edition of the show having done 2.455 million viewers. It also retained 81 percent of the Raw audience from the previous night, continuing that trend.

It's notable that there was nothing really significant advertised for this episode, yet it did the best number since the superstar shakeup. The show featured more build to SummerSlam and was headlined by a non-title match featuring Mahal and Randy Orton.