WWE Smackdown Viewership Hits New High In 2018 w/ Daniel Bryan’s Return

According to Showbuzz Daily, this week’s episode of WWE Smackdown Live brought in 2.888 million viewers, which is up from 2.771 million viewers last week.

This week’s show, highlighted by Daniel Bryan’s return (and being attacked by Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens after firing them) was the fifth most watched show on the night in overall viewership, and the top show in the 18-49 demographic.

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Last night’s episode of Smackdown not only drew the most viewers in 2018 so far, which beats last week’s previous year-high mark, but it is also the most watched episode of the show in nearly a year. Smackdown also saw an increase in overall viewership for the third week in a row.

• 1/2 – 2.720
• 1/9 – 2.603
• 1/16 – 2.602
• 1/23 – 2.580
• 1/30 – 2.509
• 2/6 – 2.505
• 2/13 – 2.449
• 2/20 – 2.613
• 2/27 – 2.692
• 3/6 – 2.590
• 3/13 – 2.771
• 3/20 – 2.888

Last night’s show already had Bryan advertised for a return, but the news of him being cleared to return to in-ring competition also likely helped the numbers. I wouldn’t rule out next week’s show coming close to, or passing, the three million mark for the first time this year.