WWE News: SmackDown Live viewership mostly unchanged

What’s the Story?

SmackDown Live’s viewership was mostly unchanged following this week’s episode of the program.

January 15, 2018, edition of SmackDown averaged 2.602 million viewers and was down slightly by 1,000 viewers.

In Case You Didn’t Know

SmackDown Live concluded the United States Championship tournament on this week’s show as Jinder Mahal and Bobby Roode advanced to the finals after defeating Xavier Woods and Mojo Rawley respectively.

The final hour of had two matches – Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Naomi versus The Riott Squad and the United States Championship match between Roode and Mahal.

The Heart of the Matter

Many of SmackDown’s biggest stars were noticeably absent from this week’s show and did not appear on the program.

AJ Styles is set to defend his WWE Championship against Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens in a Handicap match at the Royal Rumble, but none of the participants made an appearance on SmackDown. However, a video package detailing their feud thus far aired on the program in place of any segments the fans would’ve expected.

Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura were also noticeably absent from the program, but Nakamura would appear on WWE programming when he teamed with Natalya against the team of Finn Bálor & Sasha Banks for the Mixed Match Challenge that broadcast on Facebook.

The finals of the United States Championship was originally scheduled for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but the match was bumped from the card and was the focus of this week’s show.

What’s Next?

Next week’s episode will be the final SmackDown before the Royal Rumble and will be the last chance any WWE superstar on the Blue Brand will have to declare their entry in the Royal Rumble matches.

Author’s Take

Don’t expect any major developments for any storylines going into the Royal Rumble. At this point, every match seems to have been set and next week will probably be the final touches.