EA’s Weekly SmackDown Live YouTube Report (10/30/18)

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 (2:30 PM EST, 11/1/18):

1. AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title – 1.4 million views
2. Big E faces Cesaro in a Trick Or Street Fight – 1 million views
3. Rey Mysterio & Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton & The Miz – 877k views
4. Shane McMahon makes a stipulation for SmackDown stars in World Cup – 586k views
5. The New Day’s entrance as The Brood – 484k views
6. Becky Lynch sends out a warning to Ronda Rousey – 452k views
7. AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan won’t wait until Crown Jewel – 328k views

With Roman Reigns’ announcement dominating not only last week’s RAW YouTube Report, but SmackDown Live’s as well, this week brought the opportunity for a blue brand Superstar to retake the top spot. To no surprise, the WWE Championship Match takes it as AJ Styles retained over Daniel Bryan in a match that had nearly the entire first hour of the program devoted to it. I think there was a lot of interest in seeing not only the match, but what would happen regarding Bryan’s Crown Jewel status, which helps their pre-match promo also make it into our top seven.

Number two likely will catch people off-guard as this gimmick match between Big E and Cesaro is able to pull in a million views. There’s no history of this thrown together feud drawing well at all, so you have to surmise that the interest comes from both the gimmick and the costumes New Day wore, as their Brood entrance also makes our list at fifth. I mean, the Trick Or Street Fight sounds stupid and it is, however we’ve seen WWE go with this match for Halloween the last few years now and they’ve proven to be entertaining.

Sliding into third is what I would have figured would come in at number two, the main event of the evening pitting SmackDown Live’s World Cup entrants against one another in tag team action. WWE really looked to load up the World Cup with its biggest names not yet booked, as guys like Orton, Hardy, Mysterio and Miz all bring varying degrees of mainstream appeal with them. Then, you add in Shane McMahon’s stipulation from an earlier segment that if any of them lose to RAW in the Finals, they will be fired and that’s good enough to get you into fourth place also.

Lastly, coming in at number five is the SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, giving out a verbal warning to her Survivor Series opponent, the RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. In our RAW YouTube Report, I spoke about how I expect Becky’s numbers to do better with this feud, but I probably should have clarified. Becky Lynch will do better on YouTube in segments that Ronda actually appears. You know it. I know it. When Ronda shows up, so do YouTube views.

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