AEW Rampage and WWE SmackDown went head-to-head this Friday, though it was only for a duration of 30 minutes. The Supersized edition of SmackDown ran for an extra 30 minutes, which means that at 10 PM EST it was competing head on against AEW Rampage.
However, looking at viewership numbers we can see that SmackDown had the upper hand against Rampage. WWE’s show pulled in a viewership of 793k viewers in Fast Nationals while Rampage drew in 549k, according to Showbuzz Daily. The Supersized SmackDown episode aired on FS1 instead of FOX, which resulted in lower numbers as it usually draws in 2 million viewers.
Since SmackDown ran for 2 hours and 30 minutes from 8 PM to 10:30 PM, it was in direct competition with Rampage which airs at 10 PM. As for the amount of viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic, the numbers fluctuate a lot in different cities. Here are the numbers according to Wrestling Observer Radio, Chicago: 1.0, Philadelphia: 0.2, Dallas: 0.7, Atlanta: 0.1, Houston: 0.4, and Washington D.C.: 0.4.
AEW Rampage saw the lowest numbers in the show’s history last week when it drew in 502k viewers. So things are definitely better in this regard. Last week’s SmackDown drew in 2.147 million viewers as opposed to this week’s 793k. As noted, SmackDown aired on FS1 instead of its home channel FOX.
As far as Fast National numbers go, they can be inaccurate so it’s best to wait till Monday when we get the full details surrounding SmackDown and Rampage’s ratings.
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