7/26 Smackdown ratings above Thursday level, below Raw

By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Last night’s WWE Smackdown Live on USA Network drew a 1.92 rating and viewership of 2.743 million viewers. This is down from last week’s 2.20 rating and down 447,000 viewers. As Corey Graves said on Raw, Smackdown last week had the benefit of hosting the live draft and featuring all of the now Raw-exclusive wrestlers. Raw drew a 2.36 rating on Monday night, so the new “ratings battle” kicks off with Raw with a 19 percent lead over Smackdown.

Keller’s Analysis: On Tuesday’s PWTorch Livecast I told Jason Powell my over/under on ratings was a 2.4 for Raw and a 2.0 for Smackdown, so both ratings came in slightly below my expectations, but proportionately about what I had anticipated.