Roman Reigns and other top stars' absence impacts SmackDown's overnight ratings
WWE SmackDown witnessed a slight dip in the overnight ratings for this Friday night's show.
This week's SmackDown emanated from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. The show, however, was missing some of its top stars, such as Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair.
Spoiler TV reported that the program garnered approximately 2.135 million viewers overnight, a decrease from last week's overnight numbers of 2.291 million. This included 2.087 million tuning in during the first hour and 2.183 million viewers during hour two. The show scored a 0.53 rating in the key 18-49 demographic.
What happened this week on WWE SmackDown?
This week's episode started with a war of words between the new Undisputed Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens and The Usos. The Bloodline circled the ring with the intent to attack the champions, but Matt Riddle arrived to even the odds.
The @SuperKingofBros - @WWESoloSikoa beef continues!
#WWE #SmackDown https://t.co/yLqrmTHm9j
Next, Xavier Woods picked up a singles victory over LA Knight. In another singles contest, Damian Priest defeated Santos Escobar. After the match, the Judgment Day members continued their assault on the LWO. Rey Mysterio rushed to the ring and took out Priest before landing some hits on his son, Dominik.
LWO stands tall!
#SmackDown #WWE
@reymysterio | @ZelinaVegaWWE | @EscobarWWE https://t.co/T7TOnTgudE
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were out for their championship celebrations but were interrupted by Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville. The back-and-forth between the two tandems resulted in a Women's Tag Team Championship match being announced for next week. The returning Shinsuke Nakamura got a hard-fought win over Madcap Moss with Emma by his side.
KINSHASAAAAA!!
@ShinsukeN wins.
#SmackDown #WWE https://t.co/JBlZ5RutsV
Before the main event, Paul Heyman announced that The Usos would get their WrestleMania rematch against Zayn and KO in two weeks and predicted that Jimmy and Jey would regain the titles. In the final match of the night, Solo Sikoa defeated Matt Riddle. After the encounter, Sikoa unleashed a brutal beatdown and buried The Original Bro under the announcer's desk.
The Enforcer closes the show! 😤
#SmackDown #WWE https://t.co/c03ZjL1mGH
What did you think of this week's episode of SmackDown? Sound off in the comments section below.
You can catch the full results of SmackDown here.