Spoiler TV is reporting that the latest edition of WWE SmackDown dipped in viewership and ratings from last week’s high.
This week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown brought in 2.226 million viewers, down from both the preliminary (2.46 million) and final (2.563 million) numbers from last week. The figures are still higher than the viewership numbers from May.
The June 9th episode had a 0.57 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, down from last week’s preliminary (0.7) and final (0.73) ratings.
WWE SmackDown was up against Game 4 of the NBA Finals on ABC. The NBA game between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets drew 7.605 million viewers against SmackDown’s second hour. SmackDown competed against NBA Countdown and the first half-hour of the game, which drew 4.756 million and 6.034 million viewers, respectively.
The NBA coverage also occupied the top four spots of the top five rated network programs on Friday night, with WWE at #5. WWE SmackDown was the top-rated among all non-NBA programming in 18-49.
In other news, the Heritage Bank Center is advertising an Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match for next weekend’s WWE Supershow in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Roman Reigns will return to Cincinnati for the first time in over three years to defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Rey Mysterio.
This will be Roman Reigns’ first title defense since beating Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 39 (Night Two) in April.
In the co-main event of the WWE Supershow, Seth Rollins will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Also advertised for the show are Undisputed Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens, The Usos, Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER, Matt Riddle, Becky Lynch, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bayley, and more.
Heritage Bank Center is also promoting five title matches for the show. The event will be held on Saturday, June 17.
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🎟 https://t.co/IxOnZmojUp pic.twitter.com/u17m8slowI— Heritage Bank Center (@HeritageBankCtr) June 9, 2023
During a recent interview with Sami Callihan for his “Callihan Uncensored” podcast, Impact Wrestling producer Jimmy Jacobs discussed gathering experience by working with Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon in WWE including the overall learning process. Jacobs said,
“Yeah, I learned that lesson when I was like 21. I was doing extra work for WWE. I was a security guard in this backstage scene with Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon, who are two amazing talkers. Paul’s one the best of all time. They did one and they walked it back. Then they did it again, and they walked it back, and they did it again, and they did so many takes until they got it exactly how they want to do it. I go, ‘Oh, if it’s good enough for Paul Heyman to do eight takes of a pre-tape, it’s good enough for me. So, that has stuck with me.”
WWE NIL athletes Derrian Gobourne and Mikala Hall visited the Performance Center earlier this week. You can check out some photos below:
Can you see me in the ring? 👀 Comment my stage name 🥰 #WWE #NEXTINLINE pic.twitter.com/pvD6jVE10Z
— Mikala Anise (@mikalaa__) June 9, 2023
Brace yourselves, the QUEEN is coming 👸🏾#wwe #NXT #THEORIGINALQUEEN pic.twitter.com/f6DdcwOZVI
— Derrian gobourne (@DGobourne) June 9, 2023
The new WWE Women’s Championship replica title belt is now available for pre-order at WWEShop.com.
And finally, you can check out some additional highlights from this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown below:
