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, 7/12/18):

1. James Ellsworth vs. Asuka in a Lumberjack match – 1.5 million views
2. Team Hell No gets ambushed on MizTV – 1.2 million views
3. Team Hell No & New Day vs. SAnitY & Bludgeon Brothers – 739k views
4. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – 610k views
5. AJ Styles & Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev – 502k views
6. Paige puts a stipulation on Carmella vs. Asuka at Extreme Rules – 363k views
7. Team Hell No & New Day make their battle plan – 321k views

In three out of the last four weeks now, James Ellsworth and Asuka take the top spot in our YouTube report with 1.5 million views, up .2 million from last week. Does this make Ellsworth a YouTube “titan”? I’d hold the mustard there, but this has to mean something for intergender matches moving forward. It’s not Asuka drawing these kind of numbers and it’s not Ellsworth himself, but as much as I don’t care for it, it tells me there’s a genuine interest in intergender matches. I think WWE has recognized it. We’ll also see the trio of Ellsworth, Carmella and Asuka, along with General Manager Paige coming in at number six. This is more of a “Welp, more interesting than anything else” kind of number.

At two, three and seven comes the reunited Team Hell No, who opened the show on MizTV which is good for 1.2 million, teams with New Day in a 10-Man tag to close out the show and then round out our top seven with a backstage segment. Bryan has probably been the most consistent “earner” for SmackDown Live since I’ve covered these, so nothing shocking to me that his angle heading into Extreme Rules shows up three times on our list and the primary focus of the blue brand. While I’m thinking this reformed partnership with Kane will be short-lived, you’ll see no affect on Bryan’s drawing whatsoever.

As was the case in the last two paragraphs, we see repeated names coming in at fourth and fifth this week. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura revisited their rivalry in a singles match, which broke down when Styles’ Extreme Rules challenger, Rusev, got involved. Jeff Hardy would make the save, leading to a tag team match that pulls less views than what it followed. AJ feels like he’s really lost a lot of steam by having to take so much ring time off, not just in YouTube views, but fan interest in general. This was also Nakamura’s return to the ring on television after missing a couple of weeks, so it just feels like the numbers are low. I do see a lot of complaining about how many times they’ve squared off over the past few months though, which could play a part.

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