Friday Night Wrestling War: Rampage And Smackdown Tie in Demo

It’s Monday and you know what that means. Time for another edition of the Friday Night wrestling ratings but this time with a twist as AEW Rampage and Smackdown go head to head on cable. And while the companies fight for supremacy, the wrestling fan ultimately wins. Let’s take a look at the ratings.

Rampage and Smackdown Go Head To Head

This week Smackdown and AEW Rampage went head to head as WWE decided to make Smackdown a half-hour longer with the move to FS1 because of MLB playoffs. However, the fans were treated to a great night of wrestling. And the ratings proved it.

WWE Smackdown on FS1 (8:00-10:30pm)
Total: 866,000
P18-49: 0.24 rating (#3 among cable originals on Fri)

AEW Rampage on TNT (10-11pm)
Total: 578,000
P18-49: 0.24 (#4)

📊 More details & analysis: https://t.co/0wZqJDhjTx

— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) October 18, 2021

Smackdown edged out Rampage in total viewers as it was seen by 866,000 people. Smackdown is normally higher and on network television. But for the next few weeks, they will be on FS1 because of the MLB playoffs. AEW Rampage on TNT was viewed by 578,000 people. Again the number is low, but there was competition from baseball and WWE. So that number could have been higher without that competition.

What is more interesting is the demo. Normally, the overnights have been being leaked but not this week. AEW Rampag and Smackdown were tied in the 18-49 demo at .24. Though Smackdown was 3rd and Rampage was fourth according to Showbuzzdaily.com because of the over 50 demo. But where it really gets interesting is in the other demos and the half-hour breakdown.

AEW Rampage beat Smackdown in the males 18-49 demo .34 to .32. They also won the 18-34 demo .17 to .15. But the kicker is the half-hour breakdown when the two shows went head to head. WWE tried to counter-program and lost as AEW beat Smackdown 328,000 to 285,000 in the 18-49 demo. AEW coming off the Buy-In with Bryan Danielson and Minuro Suzuki led with the CM Punk match while Smackdown had the Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks match along with the Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns contract signing.

What Does This Mean Going Forward

This does not mean much going forward, just the fact that WWE is in a wrestling war with AEW. And the wrestling fans are the biggest winners in this. However, over the next couple of weeks, we will see if WWE tries to counterprogram again when Rampag is live in a couple of weeks. But we have a real wrestling war again and WWE can’t be happy that AEW continues to beat them in the ratings especially where it matters most.