WWE News: SmackDown Live Weekly YouTube Report (6/5/18)

As we all know, social media and other outlets have become a huge means of drawing in interaction and viewers for WWE. Most people will point to television ratings like they did during the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990’s, however that can be skewed with so many various means of watching today that do not include cable television.

As you’ve become accustomed to, here is this week’s SmackDown Live YouTube Report (2:30PM EST, 6/7/18):

1. AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura MITB Contract Signing – 907k views
2. Asuka vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville – 647k views
3. Carmella reveals the real Asuka – 596k views
4. Jimmy Uso & Naomi vs. Aiden English & Lana – 582k views
5. The New Day vs. The Miz, Rusev & Samoa Joe – 521k views
6. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch – 509k views
7. Big Cass proclaims there’s no future for Daniel Bryan – 276k views

Yikes! Overall, it’s a bad week for SmackDown Live in terms of viewership on cable and YouTube views (for news on this week’s viewership go here), as nobody hits the million mark with Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura all not appearing in front of the crowd. It’s been a really strange week after RAW viewership increased slightly with what I’d deem a poor episode, their YouTube numbers saw a big decrease, but then the much better (in my opinion) edition of the blue brand the next night hits its lowest viewership since last October. At least the numbers on YouTube this week make sense in the fact that there’s a decline in overall views, much like the cable viewership.

The main roster’s (arguably) hottest feud ranks at the top this week with a different feeling contract signing. Unlike most WWE contract signings, this one harkened back to days past as it didn’t take place in the ring, but backstage instead. WWE Champion AJ Styles’ rivalry with Shinsuke Nakamura has lost a little bit of interest from what I gather on social media, but their Last Man Standing Match at Money In The Bank has managed to keep a good portion of people still invested.

Numbers two and three are occupied by ‘The Empress of Tomorrow’ who garners her usual stats. There’s nothing too surprising outside of being that high on the list due to nothing else on SmackDown Live performing well. Number four shows that Naomi & Jimmy Uso are still a pairing people are interested in seeing with their connection to Total Divas certainly helping, but it’s still a far cry from some of the massive numbers they’ve drawn together in the past.

SmackDown Live’s main event clocks in at the fifth spot this week. The MITB Qualifiers are all done to this point, so this one is just a preview of what we’ll see at the event. It seems like it has all the ingredients to do much better with views as The Miz has mainstream appeal. However, nothing was on the line here outside of bragging rights. These numbers more closely reflect what The New Day pulls in.

Number six is really standard fare for Charlotte and Becky, who had a tremendous match. Good wrestling doesn’t always equate though. Then to round out the top seven is Big Cass, who cuts a promo on his heated rival, the beloved Daniel Bryan. Quite frankly, this is just the best of the bottom of the barrel, beating out the likes of a Sin Cara and Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas promo, Harper vs. Karl Anderson and a backstage promo with The Miz and The New Day. Quite frankly, if Cass hadn’t been talking about Bryan here, he might not even have been mentioned in this report. It’s truly been a disappointing week for all forms of WWE viewership.

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