Source: F4WOnline.com
By Joseph Currier | @josephcurrier | Jul 27, 2016 1:57 pm

The first episode of SmackDown in the post-draft era failed to reach the viewership heights of last week’s draft edition, but was still well ahead of what the taped show had been doing on Thursdays.

The launch of the Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan led new era of SmackDown was watched by 2.73 million people on Tuesday night. That is down from the 3.17 million that watched last week's draft, but ahead of the 2.06 million who watched the last taped edition of the show.

After SmackDown had beaten Raw in viewership last week, Raw once again regained the lead as it was watched by 3.33 million people on Monday night.

The roster split came about in part to increase both the profile and viewership for SmackDown, and Tuesday’s rating should represent a modest success on that front. WWE has attempted to give both brands their own feel, and it will be interesting to see if that is shown in sustained ratings success.

Admitedly, Smackdown is the lame duck show right now, but I think once the guys and gals on the show get to have match time and develop their characters it'll be much better.

NWK2000 wrote:Admitedly, Smackdown is the lame duck show right now, but I think once the guys and gals on the show get to have match time and develop their characters it'll be much better.

I don't think it's lame duck at all. It's the opposite of that. Both title pictures were set up to be totally fresh going into tonight's show. They just squandered their opportunity with the IC Title and also did nothing to help their women's or tag team division.

Big Red Machine wrote:

NWK2000 wrote:Admitedly, Smackdown is the lame duck show right now, but I think once the guys and gals on the show get to have match time and develop their characters it'll be much better.

I don't think it's lame duck at all. It's the opposite of that. Both title pictures were set up to be totally fresh going into tonight's show. They just squandered their opportunity with the IC Title and also did nothing to help their women's or tag team division.

Here's to Carmella getting a shot before Bliss...

No, I can't even buy into that joke.