WWE SmackDown, AEW Rampage Ratings Both Up On Last Friday Of June

Going into AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door weekend, the Friday night Nielsen rating news for both AEW and WWE wasn't necessarily good, as both "WWE SmackDown" and "AEW Rampage" were down week over week, but the drops were mostly within Nielsen's ten-percent margin of error. This past Friday, the day before WWE Money in the Bank, with "SmackDown" prerecorded due to being held in London, England, how did they fare?

According to Wrestlenomics on both its Twitter and Patreon pages, "SmackDown" averaged 2,510,000 viewers overall across its two hours (up seven percent from the previous week), approximately 897,000 of which were in the "key demo" most valued by advertisers, adults aged 18 to 49 (up 14 percent from the week prior). The latter figure translates to a 0.69 rating in P18-49. Based on the fast affiliates ratings reported by Programming Insider on Saturday, "SmackDown" was far and away the top show in broadcast prime time for the night. In the key demo, "SmackDown" gained about 11 percent in the final numbers. In the same fast affiliates ratings, "SmackDown" averaged an eight percent share for P18-49 and a five percent share in overall viewers.

For a more extensive picture, the Wrestlenomics Patreon page tracks how "SmackDown" did in various demographics in relation to the median of the prior four weeks' numbers. By that metric, the most significant movement was in men aged 35 to 49 (24 percent increase) and men aged 18 to 34 (22 percent decrease).

On the AEW side, there were questions going into the weekend after "Dynamite" did its worst key demo rating in three years for the post-Forbidden Door show. Whatever caused the "Dynamite" dip, it didn't translate to "Rampage," as the latter show, according to Wrestlenomics, averaged 450,000 viewers overall across its 60 minutes (up 15 percent week over week), approximately 171,000 of which were adults aged 18 to 49 (up 18 percent from the week prior). Both figures were the highest since April, and the latter translates to a 0.13 rating in the key demo.

In the Wrestlenomics comparisons to the medians of the prior four weeks, the news was mostly good for AEW. The biggest percentage gain came in men aged 35 to 49, with a 44 percent jump, followed by women aged 18 to 34 with a 31 percent increase. The only decrease came in women aged 35 to 49 at a seven percent drop from the median, which falls within the margin of error. According to quarter-hour ratings reported on the Wrestlenomics Patreon page, the first quarter, with Claudio Castagnoli's successful Ring of Honor World Championship defense against Komander, was the strongest, as the show dropped off significantly in the second quarter, though the third quarter, where The Acclaimed appeared, did gain back a small percentage of viewers.

Due to the demise of ShowbuzzDaily, no ranking information is available to determine how "SmackDown" and "Rampage" performed relative to Friday's other cable originals.