John Cena’s return draws highest viewership for WWE Smackdown in two years
The December 30th 2022 edition of WWE Smackdown drew 2.629 million viewers with a 0.64 rating in the 18-49 demo. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.com noted that it was the highest overall Smackdown viewership since the Christmas 2020 show that had an NFL game lead-in. If the Christmas 2020 show isn’t included, it was the highest viewership since February of 2020. Cena’s match was the highest quarter hour with 2.830 million viewers.
The video of Cena’s match has over five million views on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon. Cena reportedly helped sell over 5000 tickets to the Smackdown event in Tampa, FL.
Highest Smackdown viewership since Christmas 2020 w/ NFL game lead-in. Excepting that, highest since Feb 2020.
Highlights of Cena's match has over 5 million views on YouTube.
📋 Full report:https://t.co/sOi6byuuQS pic.twitter.com/vkZAr4iEVQ
— Wrestlenomics (@wrestlenomics) January 3, 2023