How was the July 18 “Smackdown Live” Audience?

The smack is coming back. We’re less than a week away from “Battleground 2017” and that means WWE is especially hopeful that the ratings are up for “Smackdown Live”. The better the audience for the TV shows right before the pay per view, odds are the better the numbers for the pay per view itself. So how did the go home show do?

Rusev blindsides John Cena ahead of their Flag Match: SmackDown LIVE, July 18, 2017

According to Showbuzz Daily, this week’s episode of “Smackdown Live” drew 2.548 million viewers, up 3.4% over last week’s 2.465 million. This week’s show was headlined by Kevin Owens/Baron Corbin vs. AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura and also featured an appearance by the Punjabi Prison structure.

Opinion: The audience continues to improve for both “Monday Night Raw” and “Smackdown Live” and while they might not be huge improvements, they are indeed improvements. These numbers need to go higher and higher though as we’re getting close to the network renewal period and therefore the company is under extra pressure to do well here.

Did you like this week’s “Smackdown Live”? Why do you think the audience was larger? Let us know in the comments below.