Vince McMahon's retirement, Brock Lesnar's appearance boost WWE SmackDown overnight ratings
The overnight ratings for the July 22 episode of WWE SmackDown have been released.
This week, the blue brand's show emanated from the TD Garden in Boston, MA, and featured appearances from the likes of Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, and WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett.
Spoiler TV reported that SmackDown drew 2.166 million viewers and a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This was up from last week's average of 1.976 million viewers. The show's first hour drew 2.114 million viewers, while viewership rose to 2.218 million in hour two.
What happened this week on WWE SmackDown?
Stephanie McMahon opened the show this week. She confirmed that Vince had officially retired and got the fans chanting, "Thank you, Vince."
.@StephMcMahon addresses the WWE Universe to kick off Friday Night #SmackDown! https://t.co/7PgqTuqSi8
The Street Profits were out next to hype their match against The Usos. However, Jimmy and Jey launched an assault on them, assisted by Theory. Madcap Moss came out to even the odds, leading to a six-man tag team match being made official for the main event.
In a singles matchup, Ludwig Kaiser defeated Shinsuke Nakamura with some help from Gunther. SmackDown Women's Champion Liv Morgan came face-to-face with Ronda Rousey in a backstage segment. Rousey congratulated her for becoming the champ but declared that her reign would end at SummerSlam.
Meanwhile, Happy Corbin launched a surprise assault on Pat McAfee. The announcer pursued his assailant backstage and later cut a promo ahead of their upcoming bout.
The Viking Raiders won a tag team contest against Jinder Mahal and Shanky via countout. Sheamus and Drew McIntyre were out next to set up a high-stakes match for next week.
Lacey Evans was scheduled to face Aliyah, but she cut a promo on the Boston crowd before planting her opponent with her finisher. Later on, Raquel Rodriguez defeated Sonya Deville in another singles match with the Tejana Bomb.
THE BEAST IS IN BOSTON.
#SmackDown @BrockLesnar https://t.co/n0ue60TGoW
The Street Profits and Madcap Moss faced The Usos and Theory in the main event. As the match progressed, the upstart opted to stay out of the action by refusing to tag in. The bout ended when Theory struck Moss with the Money in the Bank briefcase.
However, the rookie didn't have much to celebrate as Brock Lesnar came down to the ring and planted him with two F5s to end the show. It will be interesting to see what's next for these stars heading into SummerSlam.
You can catch the full results from SmackDown here.