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The overnight ratings for the latest episode of SmackDown are in, courtesy of Showbuzz Daily. The Blue brand drew an average of 2.051 million viewers, which is a 7.5% decrease from last week's number. The show's first hour drew 2.090 million viewers, and the viewership dropped to 2.012 million viewers in the second hour.
When it came to the TV ratings, SmackDown got a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic. It should be noted that SmackDown was #3 for the night in the demo.
It would be interesting to see if the overnight figures end up being the final numbers. Last week's SmackDown drew 2.217 million viewers and got a 0.59 rating in the key demo. The previous episode of SmackDown was the go-home show for Elimination Chamber, and this week's offering was the follow-up to the PPV.
The viewership for SmackDown in 2021 has dropped below the two million-mark on just one occasion, which happened for the February 12th episode.
What happened on this week's SmackDown?
SmackDown kicked off with another Roman Reigns segment, and the Universal Champion spoke about his Elimination Chamber win over Daniel Bryan. The Head of the Table also had a message for Edge. However, it was Bryan who came out and challenged the champ to a Fastlane match. The episode also featured a compelling backstage face-off between Bryan and Edge.
The other big angle on the show was Bianca Belair's WrestleMania decision. As expected, The EST of WWE chose Sasha Banks, and WWE subsequently announced the SmackDown Women's Championship match.
Cesaro's feud with Seth Rollins continued with another segment designed to push the Swiss Cyborg as a babyface.
Coming to the in-ring side of things, Otis and Chad Gable took on Rey and Dominik Mysterio in a tag team match, in which the newly-turned heels came out on top.
Apollo Crews unveiled his new persona and picked up a big win over Shinsuke Nakamura. Tamina was booked to get a rare win as well, which came over Liv Morgan. The Street Profits got a victory over the team of Sami Zayn and King Corbin.
The main event of the show was a singles match between Daniel Bryan and Jey Uso. The match ended in a double count-out, and the episode wrapped up with Roman Reigns laying out Bryan with a spear followed by the guillotine.
Daniel Bryan will once again face Uso on next week's SmackDown, and the rematch will happen inside the Steel Cage. Bryan will get a Universal title shot at Fastlane if he beats Jey Uso, and the high-stakes contest has set things up perfectly for the upcoming episode.
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