At the end of the day, television is a war of numbers. The number of viewers who are tuned in to watch a show defines the success of a show. The same thing goes for pro wrestling. Two major promotions that have been at war lately are WWE and Tony Khan’s AEW. Fans often compare the viewership of their weekly episodes to see who is leading.

However, something unexpected happened. AEW took over WWE in the same week. While both the shows aired on different days, the numbers WWE scored emerged as a staggering low.

How SmackDown was pinned by AEW Dynamite?

According to the reports published by Programming Insider, this week’s SmackDown which was titled “The Absolute Best of 2023” did not see the best numbers in the year. The episode saw the lowest numbers in its history since it began airing on Fox. The average viewership was around 1.32 million preliminary viewers. This is almost 690,000 less as compared to last week’s episode. The key age group, which ranges between 18 to 49 years of ages saw ratings between 0.53 to 0.48.

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On the other hand, WWE’s top competitor, AEW’s weekly show saw some great numbers this week. The AEW Dynamite saw an upward trajectory in viewership with an average of 843,000 viewers tuned in for the episode. While the numbers are low compared to SmackDown, they are still better compared to AEW’s last week’s numbers, which was 782,000.

Apart from that, the key demographic viewership also saw a rise. While last week’s viewership saw a rating of 0.26, this week the numbers went up to 0.31 in the age group of 18-49 years.

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There can be two primary reasons why WWE saw a dip in viewership this week. One fact can be considered that it is the holiday season. However, WWE might have not thought out the things thoroughly.

What made the difference?

WWE’s latest SmackDown edition was different as compared to the usual shows. As the name suggests, WWE showed highlights of the best matches this year to the fans. Along with that, they also showed an interview of the top stars from the roster. While Triple H has garnered praise for giving stars their much-deserved break, the overall show might have been perceived as lackluster by their audience.

On the other hand, the Go-Home edition of Dynamite was star-studded and full of twists. The first thing to be noted is that it paves the way for the upcoming AEW PPV, World’s End. Apart from that, the episode saw some major returns before the PPV and Samoa Joe’s big betrayal. MJF was ambushed by the henchmen of AEW’s notorious Devil. Joe, who at first came out to help Friedman, ended up attacking him. Compared to this week’s episode of SmackDown, the Dynamite’s episode was a bit exciting. Hence, the numbers rose. However, WWE has planned big things for the first week of the new year. Do you think WWE will be able to redeem these numbers?

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