The February 26th edition of Smackdown Live was watched by an estimated 2,150,000 people, down from last week’s 2,269,000 post-Elimination Chamber show.
While the 5% drop isn’t exactly good news for the blue brand, this week’s show still brought in the second highest viewership of the year so far, with numbers expected to continue rising as we head into WWE Fastlane in March, and of course WrestleMania in early April.
Smackdown Live this week featured the surprise returns of Kevin Owens, who competed in his first match since October and replaced Kofi Kingston in the WWE Championship match at Fastlane, as well as Matt Hardy, who wrestled his first match on television since August teaming with his brother Jeff.
Neither return was advertised in advance, and the only thing promoted for the show was a contract signing and tag team match between Cesaro and Johnny Gargano (which didn’t happen), so the lack of growth week-over-week isn’t altogether surprising. The real test will come next week, with fans knowing to expect Owens back in the mix.
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2019 WWE Smackdown Viewership
Jan. 8 – 2,032,000
Jan. 15 – 2,143,000
Jan. 22 – 2,142,000
Jan. 29 – 2,137,000
Feb. 5 – 1,841,000
Feb. 12 — 2,034,000
Feb. 19 — 2,269,000
Feb. 26 — 2,150,000