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What's the story?
The recent WWE Superstar Shake-Up began on RAW and continued all the way to SmackDown Live this week. Sadly, even the Shake-Up wasn't enough to ensure that SmackDown Live maintained the high viewership number they managed to score on last week's show.
This week, SmackDown Live had 2.796 million viewers tuning in to catch all the action. This is a steep 5% drop from the SmackDown Live after WrestleMania which had 2.952 million viewers tuning in.
In case you didn't know...
The SmackDown after WrestleMania or last week's show had 2.952 million viewers tuning in. This was the highest figure recorded since April of last year. Last week's episode saw the debut of the IIconics as well as a dream match between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan.
Paige was made the General Manager of SmackDown Live as well. All of those factors combined to make the SmackDown after WrestleMania 34 absolutely must watch.
The heart of the matter
Unfortunately, WWE faced stiff competition this week thanks to the NBA playoffs. Even though the Superstar Shake-Up was a huge motivator on paper, SmackDown Live was only #5 in viewership on cable.
This week's show was a packed affair too, with Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Big Cass, Asuka and many others making brand blue their future home. Andrade 'Cien' Almas and SAnitY were also announced as competitors who would be called up to the main roster. While the viewership wasn't all that disappointing, it was a huge dip as compared to last week.
What's next?
SmackDown Live ended on a cliffhanger with Big Cass attacking Daniel Bryan. We wonder where that story is headed from here. We also wonder if that story is enough of a motivator to draw people in next week.
Author's take
I have a feeling that the NBA Playoffs played spoilsport with the viewership. Also, it's pretty futile to compare this week's episode to the SmackDown after WrestleMania, which always has many more eyeballs watching.
I'm sure that WWE will be back on track very soon indeed.
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