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What's the story?
WWE's SmackDown show is clearly the 'B-show' according to the WWE, with more relevance going to RAW. But SmackDown did have a dream run and great storylines, and was a better show than its Monday night sister show, a few years ago.
But that seems to have all changed recently and the numbers prove the same. This past week (July 3rd) show of SmackDown had just 2.013 million viewers, just a few thousand more than the lowest figure in SmackDown history since moving to Tuesday nights which was 1.921 million viewers on November 8th, 2016 show.
In case you didn't know...
Prior to moving to Tuesday nights in 2016, the SmackDown show was broadcast on Thursday nights and then switched to Friday nights.
WWE recently signed a bumped broadcast deal with USA Network which will see the show air on Friday nights once again, and this time on Fox.
The heart of the matter
The past few SmackDowns have seen a gradual decline in numbers with the highest viewership this year, unsurprisingly, being the post-WrestleMania show which peaked at 2.952 million viewers.
Since the post-WrestleMania show, the viewership has declined gradually, hovering between 2.1 and 2.3 million viewers.
The return of Daniel Bryan hasn't boosted ratings, while AJ Styles' minimal wrestling this past month could've also caused the decline in numbers. Post this year's Superstar Shake-up many fans and pundits felt that SmackDown had got the better end of the bargain as it boasted of the likes of Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, Shinsuke Nakamura, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, as well as great tag teams like The New Day, The Bar, The Usos, to name a few.
What's next?
This coming week's SmackDown could have better viewership as it is the go-home show for WWE's Extreme Rules PPV, which will be held on July 15th.
Only Sportskeeda gives you the latest Wrestling News, rumors and updates.
