A look at the YouTube performance for this week’s WWE SmackDown Live!

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 RAW YouTube Report (2:30 PM EST, 11/22/18):

1. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton – 2.3 million views
2. Charlotte Flair explains her actions against Ronda Rousey – 1 million views
3. Daniel Bryan says the “New Daniel Bryan” is here – 971k views
4. Thanksgiving Feast Fight: The New Day vs. The Bar & Big Show – 753k views
5. Charlotte Flair vs. Peyton Royce – 610k views
6. The Miz wants Shane McMahon to be his tag partner – 605k views
7. The Miz & Shane McMahon vs. The Bryant Brothers – 486k views

This week’s number one spot might not be too much of a surprise pertaining to the participants, but the number will certainly catch you off-guard as SmackDown Live’s main event match pulls in a big 2.3 million. You may be wondering why, but ya boy’s got the answer….Randy Orton unmasked Rey Mysterio. It’s the only logical explanation because while Mysterio and Orton are both big names, they’re not of the ilk to pull these kinds of numbers for a match with nothing on the line outside of bragging rights. Therefore, it’s all about the unmasking of Rey, which means nothing to me because I saw plenty of it in WCW from 1999 until they closed up shop.

Stepping in at number two this week is ‘The Queen’ herself, Charlotte Flair. This week has been a total 180 for Charlotte, going from the bane of Becky Lynch fans’ existence to becoming their new darling by way of her actions against Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series. Over the past week, we’ve seen both Charlotte and Nia Jax reach levels of popularity/disdain that had been dormant for a bit and now we’ve got four female Superstars (including Lynch and Rousey) who are white hot right now (spare me your Nia Jax hate, the bottom line is she’s vehemently hated right now and that means people will pay to see her get her ass kicked). ‘The Queen’ also occupies our number five spot, which for some strange reason outdraws her other match just before it against Billie Kay by nearly 200k.

At number three is our new WWE Champion with a fresh new attitude, finally offering up an explanation as to why he attacked AJ Styles after defeating him last week. Personally, I was bored with Daniel Bryan and after it was reported that he pushed for the heel turn (read about that here), I think he could see he had grown stale as well. I don’t think this is a short-term deal either, I think the title change marked a big change on SmackDown Live that we’ll start to see take place in the coming weeks.

Sliding into the fourth spot is our holiday gimmick match, something that fans seem to either love or hate. I remember these types of matches were very bad for a number of years, but the last few years the participants involved have done a really good job at making them entertaining. Especially The New Day, who’s characters really couldn’t fit any better when it comes to Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas themed matches. It’s over the top, but not so over the top that it’s not believable. I know what you’re saying, “Getting hit in the head with a turkey isn’t believable”. Well, I would respectfully disagree. I’ll jam my first up a cooked turkey’s ass and clock you with it, then tell me how believable it is.

Finishing out our SmackDown Live YouTube Report this week are back-to-back segments featuring The Miz and Shane McMahon, which I felt were both a total miss. I am not sure where this is all going, whether Shane’s turning heel and Miz is turning face or WWE is just teasing us with it. I for one, hope they’re just teasing us with it because it doesn’t matter to me either way on Shane, but I really don’t want Miz turning babyface. People love him right now, but that’s RIGHT NOW, as he is. If you turn him face, it will likely remove all the characteristics about him that makes Miz enjoyable. Last time they tried this, it decimated him.

What do this week’s YouTube results for SmackDown Live tell you? Let us know on social media @theCHAIRSHOTcom and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!