WWE SmackDown brings in over two million viewers in overnight ratings

The overnight ratings for this week's episode of WWE SmackDown are in, and things are looking good for the blue brand.

Friday's show saw a jump in overnight ratings from last week. According to Spoiler TV, the August 26 edition of WWE SmackDown brought in a 0.5 rating in the key 18-49-year-old demographic, an 6.4% increase from last week.

The show also garnered 2.392 million viewers, an 14.8% increase from last week's 2.084 million viewers.

These numbers will be adjusted for the final ratings on Monday and might get lower. Friday's show was pre-empted in several markets because of pre-season football games, which likely resulted in much higher numbers.

On Friday, Smackdown on Fox was partially preempted again due to NFL preseason airing in markets including Charlotte, Portland, New Orleans, Las Vegas. That is again reflected in higher than usual fast affiliate. Final rating reported Mon will reflect actual Smackdown viewership.

However, the demo rating is the best since July 29, and the viewer count has been the highest since Christmas 2020.

What happened on last week's WWE SmackDown?

Happy Corbin kicked off WWE SmackDown with a loss to former Intercontinental Champion Ricochet. After the match, Pat McAfee hilariously mocked Corbin as he sulked in the corner of the ring.

Hit Row and Maximum Male Models continued their storyline. The latter spraypainted a bus they thought belonged to Hit Row, only to find out it was the property of the Street Profits.

Natalya & Sonya Deville won a Last Chance Fatal-4-Way match to earn the final spot in the tournament for the vacant Women's Tag Team Championships. They then lost to Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah. Dakota Kai & IYO SKY will square off against Raquel & Aliyah on this week's episode of RAW in the finals of the tournament.

The New Day tricked the Viking Raiders and finally got some revenge. Xavier Woods came to the ring in a wheelchair but hopped to his feet with a couple of kendo sticks. Kofi and Woods beat the Viking Raiders down before they retreated. It was announced that the two teams would again battle in a Viking Rules match this Friday on SmackDown.

Gunther and Sheamus had an epic staredown while a brawl was happening around them. The Ring General will defend the Intercontinental Championship against The Celtic Warrior at Clash at the Castle.

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Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn in the main event, but The Bloodline took the opportunity to attack. Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, and The Usos posed over Drew McIntyre after they beat him down to close the show. The Tribal Chief will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against The Scottish Warrior this Saturday at the premium live event.

In addition to the increased ratings, WWE is also selling tickets at a rapid rate. It will be interesting to see if this is the new norm under Triple H or if things will settle down moving forward.

Did you like last week's SmackDown? What was your favorite moment from the show? Sound off in the comments below.

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