The total viewership and demo ratings for the latest instalment of Friday Night SmackDown have been revealed.
As reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, the post-WrestleMania, April 8th edition of Friday Night SmackDown drew 2,230,000 viewers. The show also scored a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 year-old demographic. That works out at 788,000 viewers.
That’s a decrease on the previous week which pulled in 2,359,000 viewers, with a 0.61 rating in the key demograohic.
The April 8th episode of Friday Night SmackDown was a night of debuts and the end of long-time partnerships.
The show opened with Ronda Rousey giving an interview in the ring where she addressed her defeat to SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38. Rousey ended up asking for a rematch, and more specifically an “I Quit” Match at WrestleMania Backlash.
Although Flair turned down the match at the time, it has since been made official. There were also wins for Xavier Woods over Butch, who was making his SmackDown in-ring debut, and Liv Morgan who saw off Sasha Banks.
Elsewhere, Gunther made his main roster debut flanked by Ludwig Kaiser, formerly known as Marcel Barthel. The giant Austrian made an immediate impact, demolishing Joe Alonzo.
This was swiftly followed by the debut of Raquel Gonzalez. The former NXT Women’s Champion will be known as Raquel Rodriguez going forward, and gave a short interview backstage.
The show also saw Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss go their separate ways. On what was supposed to be the happiest edition of Happy Talk of all-time, Corbin blamed Moss for his defeat to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania. Moss shot back by making fun of his now former partner, which sparked a brawl between the pair.
Friday Night SmackDown Ratings 2022
| Date & Episode | Viewership |
| 8/04/22 Post-WrestleMania SmackDown | 2,230,000 |
| 1/04/22 WrestleMania SmackDown | 2,359,000 |
| 25/03/22 Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar confrontation | 2,180,000 |
| 18/03/22 Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey confrontation | 2,147,000 |
| 11/03/22 Ricochet vs. Sami Zayn | 2,226,000 |
| 4/03/22 Ronda Rousey vs. Sonya Deville | 2,261,000 |
| 25/02/22 Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar contract signing | 2,114,000 |
| 18/02/22 Roman Reigns, Goldberg face-to-face | 2,173,000 |
| 11/02/22 Naomi vs. Charlotte Flair | 2,231,000 |
| 04/02/22 Rousey-Flair Faceoff | 2,151,000 |
| 28/01/22 Roman-Seth Faceoff, Naomi vs. Sonya | 2,217,000 |
| 21/01/22 Usos vs. Seth & Owens | 2,255,000 |
| 14/01/22 Seth and Roman Faceoff. | 2,174,000 |
| 07/01/22 Usos vs. New Day Street Fight, Brock-Roman Face-off | 2,271,000 |