Latest figures reveal nWo return has unexpected impact on SmackDown ratings

The major news on this week's WWE programming was the return of the nWo to a WWE ring as part of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX.

As part of 'A Moment of Bliss' hosted of course by Alexa Bliss, X-Pac, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall all appeared live on the show, just weeks before the group is immortalized by being inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame.

Somewhat predictably, their return was far from dull as the trio was involved in the escalating war between the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and Braun Strowman - the latter standing tall with the nWo at the end of the segment as the heels were sent sprawling.

It's fair to say that WWE officials and fans would have been hoping for big things from the appearance of the legendary figures, such is their stature. Unfortunately, though, it does not appear that their cameo on SmackDown had the desired effect in respect of television ratings.

The overnight averages are in, and this week's episode, that aired on 6th March, drew a disappointing 2.453 million - disappointing in so much as it was a significant decline on last week's episode and figure of 2.717 on average.

While the lower number in itself will likely be a disappointment, there is at least something to be said for WWE's consistency in this regard; with Friday Night SmackDown hovering around that 2.4 to 2.5 million mark on average for much of 2020 so far.

Barring last week, the average viewership hasn't budged above that kind of range since the 2.6 million viewers garnered by the 22 November episode last year.