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What's the story?
PWInsider is reporting on the viewership for SmackDown Live on April 24th. Now that WrestleMania is in the rearview mirror, the ratings predictably dropped just like Monday Night Raw's the night prior.
In case you didn't know...
Since SmackDown Live moved from a taped show to live on Tuesdays, they have topped the three million mark for viewership twice. The very first of the regularly scheduled live episodes on July 19, 2016, and the first Superstar Shakeup on this brand split era on April 11, 2017.
The heart of the matter
SmackDown Live brought in 2.549 million viewers last night; which was nearly a drop by a quarter of a million from the Superstar Shakeup episode on April 17th that had 2.796 million viewers tuning in.
This rating is slightly up from the viewership this time a year ago when 2.493 million people tuned in to the April 25, 2017 edition of SmackDown Live.
The main event of this week's edition of SmackDown Live saw Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows reunite with AJ Styles to take on Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev and Aiden English.
This week also featured the in-ring SmackDown debut of the IIconics as they delivered an upset win over Becky Lynch and Asuka.
What's next?
The SmackDown Live roster is on their way to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as the Greatest Royal Rumble event will take place on Friday. The major match from this roster will be a WrestleMania rematch of AJ Styles v. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship.
Author's take
It isn't a surprise that the rating has dipped a little bit now that we're in the start of a brand new season with the WWE so to speak. As a show, SmackDown Live has gotten better over the past few weeks, and with Shinsuke Nakamura turning heel, things will be even more interesting.
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