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 (2:30 PM EST, 7/26/18):

1. Randy Orton reveals why he attacked Jeff Hardy/James Ellsworth gets fired – 1 million views
2. Daniel Bryan crashes the Miz & Mrs premier party – 917k views
3. Samoa Joe is the next challenger for AJ Styles’ WWE Championship – 646k views
4. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella – 508k views
5. Rusev vs. Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas – 385k views
6. R-Truth vs. Samoa Joe – 294k views

While he comes in tied at the number one spot, once again James Ellsworth leads the way in our SmackDown Live YouTube Report. What in the world?!? I think some of the credit here goes to the fact that it was part of the segment to reveal AJ Styles’ challenger at SummerSlam, but at this point I don’t think anyone can argue that there’s interest in him. It’s been proven for weeks now, so it makes me wonder why WWE did not sign this guy. Neck and neck with Ellsworth was our opening segment with ‘The Viper’ Randy Orton explaining his actions since his return. Say what you will about Orton (and I’ve definitely knocked him for being complacent at times), but he remains one of the company’s top names of the past decade-plus.

No surprise at number two with Daniel Bryan ruining The Miz and Maryse’s premier party in the blue brand’s closing segment. There’s certainly no doubt that this is a feud/match the WWE Universe has eagerly anticipated going all the way back to their blow-up on Talking Smack. Miz is by far one of the company’s top antagonists, however it doesn’t ever really reflect that on YouTube until he’s matched up against a guy the fans love.

Samoa Joe slides into our rankings at two spots, number three and number six. While number six is a case of there not being much better on SmackDown Live, as it was simply a glorified squash match. Meanwhile at number three, we get the long-rumored reveal of him being Styles’ challenger at SummerSlam. AJ has certainly struggled in our YouTube Reports and at this point, I’m not sure what it will take for him to climb the charts outside of a possible feud against the likes of Daniel Bryan. The time off Styles had to take recently really was a big hit to him.

Lastly, the four and five positions are reserved for some of the better in-ring action this week with Becky Lynch earning her opportunity at Carmella’s SmackDown Women’s Title at SummerSlam, while the opening contest of the blue brand between Rusev and Almas slides in at number five. There wasn’t much competition for them Tuesday night outside of the #1 Contenders Tag Tournament match between The New Day and SAnitY.

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