This past Friday’s episode of WWE Smackdown featured a forty-minute opening segment that followed the dramatic conclusion to The Bloodline: Civil War match that played out at Money In The Bank. The closing moments saw The Usos pick apart Roman Reigns, and ultimately Jey Uso pinned his shoulders to the mat for the count of three. It was a stunning moment that caught many off-guard, considering Reigns, who has been beyond well-protected, had not been pinned in over three years.
It appears as if the decision to have The Tribal Chief pinned paid off, as Wrestlenomics reports that the second quarter-hour for this past Tuesday’s Smackdown, which is when The Bloodline follow-up angle was peaking, pulled in an average of 3,070,000 viewers, more than a half-million viewers than normally tune in at that time. In the coveted 18 – 49 year-old demographic, they brought in an average of 1,229,000 viewers. To put that in perspective, this is more than three times what an average episode of AEW Dynamite is pulling in at the moment, and that is the number one cable original on Wednesday nights.
Overall, this past Friday’s episode of Smackdown pulled in an average of 2,561,000 viewers, a 2% total increase from the week prior, with about 986,000 viewers in the key demo, a 10% increase. It is the most-viewed episode of Smackdown since June 2 and garnered the most key demo viewers since December 25, 2020, featuring an NFL lead-in. Excluding the 2020 Christmas Day episode, this episode was the most viewed episode in the P18 – 29 demo since March 20, 2020.
WWE Smackdown will now change its focus to SummerSlam, which is less than a month away. Coming out of the chaotic opening segment this past Friday, it appears that Jey will challenge Reigns at the summer’s biggest party for his WWE Universal Championship. If the match goes down, it will be the third confrontation between the two in about three years, with the initial collision taking place at Clash of Champions 2020.