What’s the story?
ShowBuzz Daily reported that this week's WWE Smackdown LIVE tapings drew 2.072 million viewers. This number is a new low for SmackDown in 2017 as it has fallen below last week’s episode that drew 2.349 million views.
In case you didn’t know...
The go-home show of Smackdown LIVE before Money in the Bank was lit with matches involving the blue brand’s top Superstars. The main event was a six-man tag team affair with Nakamura, Styles, and Sami Zayn taking on the team of Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens, and Dolph Ziggler.
The show also featured the New Day, The Fashion Police, the Colons and The Usos in tag team action. Women’s Champion Naomi took on Tamina, while Charlotte Flair squared off with Natalya. The show also marked the return of Zack Ryder after being out of action for six months following a knee injury.
The heart of the matter
SmackDown LIVE ranked at number 11 on cable for Tuesday night behind the likes of Lead with Jake Tapper, Rachel Maddow, Situation Room, CNN News Room, Last Word, Hannity, Tucker Carlson, The Five, Your World and the Jeff Sessions hearing. However, in the 18-49 demographic, Smackdown LIVE performed better with the second rank just behind ESPN's 30 For 30.
Smackdown LIVE’s red counterpart drew a decent 2.542 million viewers. But this number also proved to be a new low for RAW in 2017 going down from last week's 2.994 million viewers.
What’s next?
The blue brand will be hosting the Money in The Bank PPV this Sunday. The show will emanate from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO and will feature the biggest Smackdown Superstars including Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Charlotte Flair and many others.
Author's take
The fall in ratings does not come at a good time for the WWE with Money in the Bank just a few days away. WWE has promoted the PPV to historic proportions stressing on the first ever Women’s Money in The Bank match.
Rumours suggest that the PPV hasn’t been sold out yet. WWE need to up their game soon to prevent the ratings from falling further.
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