Randy Orton's return helps WWE SmackDown's numbers amid Roman Reigns' absence
Randy Orton and Roman Reigns are the biggest stars on the WWE SmackDown roster. The latest episode of the blue brand saw a marginal increase in the show's viewership.
SmackDown's viewership slumped amid Roman Reigns’ return last week. The program only reported 1.494 million viewers on September 20. The show's latest edition reported an increase in viewership after two weeks of slump. According to Programming Insider, the September 27 episode of the show scored 1.568 million viewers on the USA Network.
The increase came at a time when Reigns was absent from the show, while Randy Orton made his return after skipping on September 20. The Viper was present in a couple of segments on the show, and according to the report, both segments also had the highest viewership on YouTube.
Friday’s episode posted a 0.45 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the same as last Friday's 0.45 rating. The show finished second on cable, trailing the college football game between Virginia Tech and Miami on ESPN, which drew 3.259 million viewers and a 0.93 demo rating.
WWE and USA Network hope to see a rise in ratings in the coming weeks. This will help the two companies' partnership thrive on Friday nights after Monday Night RAW’s move to Netflix from the USA Network.
WWE fans could see Roman Reigns and Randy Orton team up soon
WWE could book a massive match for the Survivor Series: WarGames PLE. The Bloodline is on a rampage, and Roman Reigns could assemble a team to take down Solo Sikoa and his men.
The OTC will compete with Cody Rhodes to face Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu at WWE Bad Blood. Things could escalate from there, and Roman Reigns could look towards a few stars who see The Bloodline as their enemies.
Randy Orton and Kevin Owens could join Reigns in his fight against Sikoa’s Bloodline at Survivor Series as they see the heel as a common enemy. It would be great to see the four top SmackDown stars assemble to take Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline down.
WWE has some great storylines built on both RAW and SmackDown. Triple H and his creative team are doing an excellent job of moving both brands forward in 2024. Fans will likely get something bigger in the coming weeks.