The viewing figures for wrestling shows taking place on Friday October 1st have been published. Friday Night SmackDown saw an average of 2.252 million viewers watch the first half of the WWE Draft, with 809,000 viewers in the key demographic age of 18-49 years old. The numbers have been obtained by Brandon Thurston from Wrestlenomics:
This was the least-viewed of the eight episodes of Rampage so far, in both total viewership and in the demo.
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) October 4, 2021
Smackdown was up only slightly in total viewership for the draft, but 18 to 34 viewers were up more strongly, +15% compared to the last four weeks.
As well as the draft, the October 1st SmackDown saw another appearance by Brock Lesnar, who continued the build towards his upcoming match with Universal Champion Roman Reigns at the upcoming WWE pay per view Crown Jewel.
The other major wrestling show to be broadcast on Friday October 1st was All Elite Wrestling: Rampage. AEW’s newest show saw an average viewership of 622,000 viewers, with 330,000 viewers in the key demographic age range, equating to a 0.25 rating. As reported by Show Buzz Daily, Rampage ranked 3rd on Friday night for 18-49 ratings on cable. SmackDown is not broadcast on cable television, so it is not part of these rankings.
As mentioned by Thurston, the October 1st edition of AEW rampage is the lowest viewership since the program began broadcasting on August 14th. It should also be noted that this episode of AEW Rampage was pre-taped, so some may have read the results online and chose to watch the show on catch-up.
Rampage opened with a singles match where Bryan Danielson faced Nick Jackson.
Featured image: WWE
