WWE News: SmackDown on FOX ratings decrease for live episode
Friday's edition of SmackDown averaged 2.19 million viewers for their first live episode since March. Down 111,500 viewers from last week's show, Friday Night SmackDown hit its lowest viewership since the program debuted on FOX per ShowBuzzDaily.
- Hour one: 2.239 million viewers
- Hour two: 2.145 million viewers
The show started with Universal Champion Braun Strowman being interviewed by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for the "Moment of Bliss" talk show and was followed by Tamina defeating Sasha Banks to become the number one contender for Bayley's SmackDown Women's Championship.
There were five matches on the show including two Money in the Bank qualifiers and the main event that saw Big E defeat The Miz & Jey Uso in a triple threat match to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on behalf of The New Day.
The April 17th edition of SmackDown was the first live episode for FOX since WWE began taping episodes at their Performance Center in Orlando, Florida amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Similar to Monday Night RAW, SmackDown's audience decreased despite the company going back to producing live shows, which has historically led to a boost in viewership.
The April 16, 2019 edition of SmackDown, which aired live on Tuesday, had better viewership with WWE's continuation of the Superstar Shakeup - bringing in 2.219 million viewers.