WWE SD! Viewership Rises This Week
According to ShowBuzzDaily.com, this week’s edition of WWE Smackdown, which was the final WWE TV show before SummerSlam, took in 2.434 million viewers. This number is up from last week’s 2.083 million viewership average. Smackdown this week was up against NFL pre-season football on the NFL Network.
More Details on ESPN’s SummerSlam Coverage
As noted, former WWE personality Jonathan Coachman will be providing WWE SummerSlam coverage, from outside the Barclays Center, on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Sunday at 11am, then again at 12pm and 6pm, and he will provide a wrap-up show after SummerSlam is over.
Coachman spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard, and provided the following comments on covering SummerSlam for ESPN:
“We’re doing a lot of sit-downs on Saturday with guys who have cross-over appeal. We’re going to sit down and talk with different wrestlers that either played football in college, like Roman Reigns or John Cena, to the Miz, who was a reality star, so there are a lot of guys the casual sports fan would know. We’ll meet with them on Saturday, and those interviews will be on ESPN.com and our SportsCenter feed on Twitter, and then we’ll be doing live shots on Sunday morning from outside the arena to show people the atmosphere. Then we’ll interview a few people about what Sunday night means to their careers.”
“We’re used to dealing with athletes and asking, ‘What does this game mean to you?’ Well, performing at SummerSlam is just like performing in the NFC Championship game. You’ve got to bring your top game so you can make it to the Super Bowl in WrestleMania. We want to introduce a lot of these guys to the part of the sports world who don’t watch Raw.”
“ESPN is not a place you come to take the next step, it’s a place you come to spend your career. I plan on retiring at ESPN, but I would love to be involved with ESPN and WWE. The biggest network in America for credibility in sports and entertainment is ESPN, so the best way to make your product credible is to be on ESPN. I’m proud of the fact that I am the liaison for the WWE. I appreciate the executives at ESPN opening their hearts and their minds, and I can’t think of anything cooler than what we’re doing this weekend at SummerSlam.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
