What’s the story?
WWE Superstar and current Intercontinental Champion, The Miz posted a video of himself on Instagram, adding yet another notch on his Intercontinental Championship belt. The Miz pointed out that last week’s episode of SmackDown Live beat RAW in ratings because of his presence as the most ‘must-see WWE Superstar’ on the blue brand’s roster.
He mentioned that the notch marked day 44 of his title run and it was the ‘notch of ratings’.
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This past week SmackDown Live garnered 2.885 million viewers. The Wild Card Finals episode of SmackDown Live beat Monday Night Raw by 30,000 viewers as the night before, RAW had only 2.855 million views.
This was the first time since the brand split that SmackDown Live had the better of its red counterparts in the rating’s business. It was the blue brand’s highest viewership, up from last week's episode that had 2.637 million viewers.
The heart of the matter
The SmackDown Live Wild Card Finals was a stellar show emanating out of the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL. After John Cena started the show with an intense promo and challenged the WWE Champion for a match at the Royal Rumble, The American Alpha dethroned the Wyatt Family to win the tag team titles in style.
Alexa Bliss joined in on the show as she successfully defended her SmackDown Live Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch. The shenanigans of a certain La Luchadora at ringside helped Alexa Bliss retain the Championship.
AJ Styles later retained his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin setting up the match between him and Cena for the Rumble.
What’s next?
The Miz looks to be on a collision course with Dean Ambrose heading into the Royal Rumble. In a backstage segment, Dean Ambrose dressed as a security personnel took out the Miz as he was in the middle of an interview. The two will intensify this rivalry going into the pay per view at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX.
Sportskeeda’s take
For a while now, SmackDown Live has been the better wrestling show on television. Be it the quality of matches or the raw intensity of promos, SmackDown Live has managed to come up with a more engaging show for the audience.
The Miz’s contribution to the blue brand is certainly noteworthy. The promo he cut on Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack was one of the best promos of the year and it established him as one of the best heels in the company.
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