{"id":219551,"date":"2026-07-20T13:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=219551"},"modified":"2026-07-20T13:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:06:25","slug":"how-much-did-the-fifa-world-cup-games-on-fridays-cut-into-wwe-smackdown-viewership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/20\/how-much-did-the-fifa-world-cup-games-on-fridays-cut-into-wwe-smackdown-viewership\/","title":{"rendered":"How much did the FIFA World Cup games on Fridays cut into WWE Smackdown viewership?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-636455180\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The July 3 episode of WWE Smackdown on USA Network averaged 1,064,000 viewers.<\/p>\n<p>The announced matches and segments\u00a0 for the July 3 episode were\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charlotte Flair &amp; Tiffany Stratton &amp; Chelsea Green vs. Jade Cargill &amp; B-Fab &amp; Michin<\/li>\n<li>Rey Fenix vs. El Hijo del Vikingo \u2013 AAA Cruiserweight Title match<\/li>\n<li>Brie Bella vs. Lainey Reid<\/li>\n<li>Sami Zayn returns to Smackdown as new Undisputed WWE Champion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The previous four weeks averaged 1,131,000, so it was down a bit heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The four episodes in April averaged 1,442,000 viewers, so viewership this summer is sharply down compared to WrestleMania season. Last year in June, average viewership was measured at 1,450,000 viewers compared to 1,617,000 in April. So last year, the April vs. June viewership was down 167,000 viewers. This year, April vs. June is down 311,000 viewers.<\/p>\n<p>The main reason is likely competition from FIFA World Cup soccer games head-to-head with Smackdown, but it&#8217;s worth keeping an eye on August viewership to see if it rebounds and the dropoff from April&#8217;s average is more comparable to last year or if there is an erosion that goes beyond temporary competition from the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>WWE didn&#8217;t put out ordinary episodes in June, as they featured a major WWE Title centric storyline over several weeks with Sami Zayn, Cody Rhodes, and Gunther including a Cody vs. Gunther title match, plus King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournament matches.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Smackdown: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/wwe-smackdown-post-show-7-17-keller-corbridge-talk-big-snme-stip-added-what-s-next-for-sami-zayn-rhea-ripley-announcement-more--73039313\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN POST-SHOW (7\/17) - Keller &amp; Corbridge talk big SNME stip added, what's next for Sami Zayn, Rhea Ripley announcement, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=73039313&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The key 18-49 demo drew a 0.25 rating 334,00 viewers. The prior four weeks averaged 0.23 and 310,000 viewers.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1033828453\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/category\/prowrestlingnews\/ratings\/\">RATINGS HEADQUARTERS PAGE<\/a> for more ratings reports.<\/p>\n<p>(You can always reach PWTorch editor Wade Keller at <a href=\"mailto:kellerwade@gmail.com\">kellerwade@gmail.com<\/a>. You can also send live event results and news tips to <a href=\"mailto:pwtorch@gmail.com\">pwtorch@gmail.com<\/a>. Also, we&#8217;re always looking for volunteer contributors to help us round out of coverage of the pro wrestling scene.)<\/p>\n<h3>Follow us on Blue Sky, a great Twitter alternative, as we shift away from TwitterX\u2026<\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/pwtorch.bsky.social\">https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/pwtorch.bsky.social<\/a> (search \u201cpwtorch\u201d)<\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/thewadekeller.bsky.social\">https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/thewadekeller.bsky.social<\/a> (search \u201cthewadekeller\u201d)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (7\/17) - WWE Smackdown w\/Keller &amp; Corbridge\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_OQfzmicbmI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1018573378\"><div id=\"pwtor-4100984334\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>&nbsp; The July 3 episode of WWE Smackdown on USA Network averaged 1,064,000 viewers. The announced matches and segments\u00a0 for the July 3 episode were\u2026 Charlotte Flair &amp; Tiffany Stratton &amp; Chelsea Green vs. Jade <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/20\/how-much-did-the-fifa-world-cup-games-on-fridays-cut-into-wwe-smackdown-viewership\/\" title=\"How much did the FIFA World Cup games on Fridays cut into WWE Smackdown viewership?\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6916,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-ratings","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-12.08.14-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219561,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219551\/revisions\/219561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}