Ethan Miller/Getty Images
WWE SmackDown on Fox Ratings Up 14.3% with Brock Lesnar Quitting, NXT Invasion
MIKE CHIARI
NOVEMBER 02, 2019
Friday night's episode of WWE SmackDown on Fox was a chaotic one with much of the roster stuck in Saudi Arabia after Crown Jewel, but it worked to WWE's advantage in terms of viewership.
According to Tony Maglio of The Wrap, Friday's SmackDown drew 2.543 million viewers and a 0.8 rating compared to 2.418 million viewers and a 0.7 rating when it last aired on Fox two weeks ago. That represented a 14.3 percent improvement.
The improvement was even bigger when comparing this week's numbers to last week, when SmackDown aired on FS1 because Fox was showing the World Series. Last week, SmackDown brought in a mere 888,000 viewers, although the drop was expected since FS1 is in far fewer homes than Fox.
Much of what was advertised for SmackDown had to be nixed because of the travel problems caused by mechanical issues with the plane from Saudi Arabia, including Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin and a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match between The Revival and New Day. As a result, WWE got creative.
Previously unadvertised WWE champion Brock Lesnar opened the show alongside advocate Paul Heyman and announced that he was quitting SmackDown so that he could get retribution against Rey Mysterio on Raw after Mysterio attacked Lesnar following The Beast's win over Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel.
That likely opens the door for "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt to make the move from Raw to SmackDown after beating Seth Rollins for the universal title in Saudi Arabia.
After the Lesnar segment, SmackDown was all about an NXT invasion spearheaded by NXT founder Triple H and NXT trainer Shawn Michaels.
Among the notable appearances was NXT women's champion Shayna Baszler, who attacked Sasha Banks and Bayley after Bayley retained her SmackDown women's title against Nikki Cross. Tommaso Ciampa also interrupted Miz TV before beating The Miz in a match, and Matt Riddle and Keith Lee attacked Sami Zayn.
The main event of SmackDown saw Adam Cole beat Daniel Bryan cleanly in an NXT Championship match. Triple H then cut a passionate promo about NXT taking over ahead of its advertised involvement in this year's Survivor Series.
Not only should the fallout from Friday's SmackDown help the blue brand's ratings next week, but it could also be a coup for next week's NXT on USA Network, which is closing the gap on AEW Dynamite in the Wednesday night ratings war and could creep even closer next week.
