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The latest episode of WWE SmackDown has outshone the previous week's episode of the blue brand in terms of viewership. The show, which took place just 24 hours before Saturday Night's Main Event, was a doozy, packed with action and excitement.
The show kicked off with Drew McIntyre flooring Jimmy Uso with a Claymore and ended on a similar note as Kevin Owens stood tall over Cody Rhodes after an intense brawl. The show also featured the two semifinal matches in the Women's US Championship tournament, as well as the return of The Monster Among Men, Braun Strowman, who flattened Carmelo Hayes.
Additionally, Roman Reigns piqued everyone's interest as he challenged Solo Sikoa to a Tribal Combat match on RAW's upcoming Netflix debut. All this and more greatly contributed to SmackDown's increased viewership, as it recorded 1,530,000 viewers on average.
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This is an improvement from the previous week's 1,494,000. According to Wrestlenomics, the most recent edition also improved in the key 18-49 demo, posting 0.47 against the previous week's 0.44.
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SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis will want to ride this wave and continue on this upward trend. So, it will be interesting to see what he has in store for this week.
The Women's Tag Team Championship will be on the line this week on WWE SmackDown
If last Friday's episode was a good one, then this week's is bound to be great, especially with a pair of titles on the line. Despite Jade Cargill's injury, Bianca Belair will defend the Women's Tag Team Championship against Nia Jax and Candice LeRae, but this time, she will have a new teammate by her side.
In what seemed to be an attempt to keep the title on The EST of WWE, Belair's good friend Naomi stepped up and offered to take Cargill's place. This was after Nick Aldis gave Belair a heads-up, informing her that she would have to relinquish the title without Cargill. Fortunately, Naomi's suggestion was enough to intrigue Aldis.
He said he would run it up the ladder, and in a matter of hours, it was made official. Now, on December 20, 2024, all eyes will be on Belair and Naomi as they look to keep hold of the titles.
