Extreme Rules is firmly in the rear view for the WWE Universe and the focus is now on SummerSlam on August 19th. With this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW seeing a slight decrease in the ratings, it was up to SmackDown Live last night to see if they could continue their rise.

The numbers are now in and for the third week in a row, ratings have increased for the blue brand. Last night’s edition of SmackDown Live came in with a 2.340, a 2% increase over last week and a 16.24% increase over the last three weeks. Here’s a look at the last four weeks of ratings for the blue brand:

• July 3rd: 2.013
• July 10th: 2.183
• July 17th: 2.293
• July 24th: 2.340

While the rating went up yet again, SmackDown Live fell in the Cable Top 150 Rankings for the 18-49 demographic, its first time not in the number one spot since July 3rd. Here’s a look at the top five:

1. Laws Of Jaws – Discovery – 0.80
2. Air Jaws: The Hunted – Discovery – 0.80
3. Guy Fieri’s Feeding Frenzy – Discovery – 0.79
4. SmackDown Live – USA Network – 0.75
5. Miz & Mrs – USA Network – 0.58

EA’s Take: Well, people love Shark Week I guess. The Cable Rankings are a little unfair to SmackDown Live this week as they actually increased by 0.01 in the 18-49 demographic over last week, but were still knocked down to number four whereas last week, it was good enough to stay on top. I felt that the blue brand was much improved over last week’s show and as we inch closer to SummerSlam, my expectation is that the ratings will continue to slowly head upward. Then again, who the hell knows? It can be really difficult to explain sometimes because RAW not only had a huge announcement, but a main event with SummerSlam implications, yet their rating went down some. Granted, the show overall was nothing to really write home about.

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