Programming Insider reports that Friday Night Smackdown on the USA Network drew 1.508 million overall viewers. The telecast drew 0.43 in the A18-49 demo.
Friday night was the big reveal in storyline for Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton as it was revealed that the mystery caller was Pat McAfee. According to Dave Meltzer (revealed in a tweet), the call to insert McAfee into this feud was outside of WWE creative as it was Ari Emanuel that made the call. While we do not know the veracity of the report, one might conclude with ticket sales off, TKO is making the call to have as many social influencers be a part of Wrestlemania as possible.
The telecast was up 15% from the previous week as we are two weeks away from Wrestlemania. In addition to the overall ratings, the show was up in the important 18-49 demo. The ratings did well against the Women’s NCAA Final Four which was the top-rated telecast on Friday night.
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