News
WWE News: SmackDown Live Viewership Drops Slightly, Stays Ranked #1 (8/14/18)
After seeing ratings increase weekly, last week’s episode of WWE’s SmackDown Live saw its first decrease since mid-July. However, this week’s edition was the final show before we hit SummerSlam this Sunday. So could the blue brand turn things back going upward?
With the numbers in for last night’s episode, that answer is “No”, although it wasn’t a big change as SmackDown Live comes in with a 2.189 rating, only a .36% slide. Here’s a look at the last four weeks of ratings:
- July 24th: 2.340
- July 31st: 2.401
- August 7th: 2.197
- August 14th: 2.189
Even with the slight downturn, SmackDown Live remained at the number one spot in the Cable Top 150 Rankings for the 18-49 demographic, which has generally been its home on a weekly basis:
- SmackDown Live – USA Network – 0.70
- Below Deck Mediterranean – Bravo – 0.56
- Miz & Mrs – USA Network – 0.51
- Haves & Have Nots – Oprah Network – 0.46
- The Challenge: Final Reckoning – MTV – 0.45
EA’s Take: Just as we saw on Monday Night RAW this week, ratings for the go-home shows before we hit SummerSlam on Sunday weren’t stellar. I’m a big proponent of the blue brand on a weekly basis, but to be honest I felt as though this was another rare occasion where RAW was the more entertaining program. One thing that Monday nights has over SmackDown Live are those “needle movers” such as Brock Lesnar or Ronda Rousey. SmackDown has nobody like that and while I don’t feel like those top stars make a massive difference in ratings, they’re still mainstream personalities that the blue brand lacks. One thing that SmackDown Live usually has over RAW is more quality matches, but this week that was not the case. Essentially, the show was just a two hour long advert for SummerSlam and if you tuned in, you may have realized that and tuned back out. This week, neither show did what I believed they would do in the ratings heading into Sunday’s pay-per-view.
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Did your picks win points?
The AEW Continental Classic is underway, with almost everyone competing. Check in here if you haven’t seen the winners and losers of week 1!
Here are your Gold League standings!
- Jon Moxley: 1-0, 3 points
- Swerve Strickland: 1-0, 3 points
- Jay White: 1-0, 3 points
- Rush: 0-1, 0 points
- Mark Briscoe: 0-1, 0 points.
- Jay Lethal: 0-1, 0 points
Here are your Blue League standings!
- Brody King: 1-0, 3 points
- Claudio Castagnoli: 1-0, 3 points
- Daniel Garcia: 0-1, 0 points
- Eddie Kingston: 0-1, 0 points
- Bryan Danielson: Yet to Compete
- Andrade El Idolo: Yet to Compete
My Thoughts:
Nothing too crazy, nothing too wild, this tournament only just got started. The only disappointing point is that they could not get Bryan “cleared to compete” Saturday night. Not sure how much of that is shoot given the bad eye, but this was kinda the problem of wanting him in the tournament over tons of other choices. Bryan wants to face Okada for WrestleKingdom 18, how is Bryan supposed to do that at his best if he’s also gonna be in a round robin, doing five top level matches in about as many weeks? And it takes away from Andrade being able to do something. Also a little surprised we didn’t even hear from Andrade on Saturday.
Now as we heard on Saturday, round two’s matches are set. Gold League will see Mark Briscoe VS Rush, White VS Swerve, and of course, Moxley VS Lethal. Nice variety there, a couple 0-1 guys facing off, as well as two 1-0 guys, and then 1-0 VS 0-1. No offense to Lethal, but he feels like an 0-2 going up against Moxley. Hard to call the other ones but that’s the fun of it. Meanwhile, Blue League sees Brody VS Claudio in a showdown to be 2-0, then Bryan and Andrade finally jump in, Bryan against Eddie and Andrade against Garcia. Sadly, feels like Eddie and Garcia are going 0-2, no way Tony Khan is booking Bryan and Andrade to lose their first shots.
In fact, that could be half the reason they did wait on those two, that’s almost too good for just a first round opener. But I still would’ve done it, same as NJPW does stuff like that for round robins, which this is all modeled after anyway.
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Tony Khan Reveals the Blue and Gold “Leagues!”
Originally livestreamed, Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone officially announced the twelve total entrants and divided them into the two round robin blocks known as the “Blue League” and “Gold League.” If you don’t feel like sifting through the almost 30 minute video, the groups are:
Blue League
- Bryan Danielson
- Andrade El Idolo
- Brody King
- Claudio Castagnoli
- Daniel Garcia
- Eddie Kingston
Gold League
- Jon Moxley
- Swerve Strickland
- Rush
- Mark Briscoe
- Jay Lethal
- Jay White
Tony Khan also explains the rules for the Continental Classic:
- Every match has a 20 minute time limit
- The winner of each match earns 3 points, losers earn 0, 1 point for a draw
- EVERYONE ELSE is banned from ringside for true 1v1 action
Eddie Kingston also joined the selection special as his “life’s work” is on the line in this tournament, both the ROH World Championship and NJPW Strong Openweight Championship on the line as part of the modern day North American Triple Crown Eddie, Tony Khan, AEW, ROH and NJPW are looking to create together. Gold League competes tonight on Dynamite while Blue League will have their start this Saturday on Collision. Look for more articles like this one to keep up with the Continental Classic standings over the next six weeks of tournament action!
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