Friday Night Smackdown debuted on USA Network last Friday night. After five years on over-the-air Fox, World Wrestling Entertainment’s ‘blue brand’ returned to USA, where it briefly aired from 2016 to 2019.
According to the Wrestlenomics Patreon, Friday’s episode averaged 1,723,000 viewers. The show also scored a rating of 0.55 in the key 18-49 demographic. That number ranked first in cable television on Friday night.
The show was highlighted by Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes agreeing to join forces against the new Bloodline. Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa will oppose the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion and the ‘Original Tribal Chief’ as Reigns is dubbed these days.
Smackdown‘s move to USA Network is the latest network change for the show. It began back in 1999 and aired on UPN. Six years later, the show moved to the emerging CW Network. It also moved from its first night of Thursdays to Fridays.
Smackdown stayed on over-the-air television for several years, but on the CW and MyNetwork TV. That is to say, professional wrestling didn’t air on the more ‘prestigious’ broadcast networks. The show moved to SyFy and then to USA Network in 2016. It aired there until October 2019, when it made the dramatic shift to Fox.
Fox held Smackdown for the last five years, but that relationship is over. Smackdown routinely scored high ratings on Friday nights, but Fox parted ways with WWE anyway (and got a ratings boost from a shift to college football this week). Nevertheless, Smackdown on USA is a new era for the show, and it began strongly.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022