WWE SmackDown And AEW Rampage See Ratings Boosts Ahead Of Clash At The Castle And All Out

The big pro wrestling weekend leading into Labor Day proved to be beneficial for both "WWE SmackDown" and "AEW Rampage." Wrestlenomics shared the viewership information for last Friday and the September 3 episode of "SmackDown" had 2,077,000 viewers leading into Saturday's Clash at the Castle event, up four percent from the week before.

The key demographic saw an even marginal uptick as the 18-49 audience tuned in with an average of 639,000 viewers, totaling a 0.49 P18-49 rating, a two percent increase from the week previous.

"Rampage" saw a much higher percentage boost heading into All Out as the program had 485,000 average viewers, 13 percent more than last week. The key demographic was the episode's big winner. 209,000 average viewers aged 18-49 tuned in, a 44 percent boost from the Friday before, giving it a 0.16 P18-49 rating.

Looking at the rankings, "SmackDown" was once again the big winner as it came in second for broadcast primetime in the key demographic, only behind the coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament on ESPN which had a dominant 0.92 P18-49 rating with 4.6 million viewers. "Rampage" came in 11th in cable originals and 22nd in broadcast primetime overall.

The go-home "Rampage" was live in Chicago as Ricky Starks wrestled in the main event against QT Marshall. The finals for the AEW Trios Tournament were also determined as "Hangman" Adam Page and Dark Order's Alex Reynolds and John Silver defeated Orange Cassidy and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta) to advance to All Out.  "SmackDown" featured the in-ring return of Karrion Kross as he defeated Drew Gulak and ended with Drew McIntyre ruining Roman Reigns' celebration of two years as a world champion in WWE.