SmackDown Ratings Take a Hit Because of… Donald Trump?

WWE’s Monday Night Raw continued to build over this week. Its viewership climbed 16,000 viewers over last week, topping out at 3.23 million unique viewers this week. As for Smackdown, however, the viewership didn’t show much of the same tone.

This week saw viewership drop 4% from last week, earning 2.63 million viewers as opposed to last week’s 2.74 million. While this is a 110,000 viewer drops, the ratings remained consistent, garnering the same 0.89 demo rating it received last week.

What caused such a drop in viewership though? It could be the landmark episode of the Rachel Maddow Show, which hit a massive 4.13 viewers that night due to the release of President Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns. This could have stolen away viewers from an otherwise stellar show, which saw AJ Styles attack Shane McMahon on the show, resulting in the former’s “firing” and McMahon booking a match against Styles during Wrestlemania.

AJ Styles hurls Shane McMahon through a car window: SmackDown LIVE, March 14, 2017

Their ratings allowed them to maintain the #2 spot in cable original programming viewing in that time slot. Obviously, the drop means very little, as it is still up as compared to two weeks ago. The fact is that this does show stability in the program and the ratings will likely remain the same, if not grow within the coming weeks toward Wrestlemania.