Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown drew an average of 2.271 million viewers, up 15.16% from the previous week’s final viewership of 1.972 million viewers for the taped Christmas Eve episode. Last week’s New Year’s Eve show was a Best of 2021 episode on FS1.
The first SmackDown of 2022 drew a 0.58 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, up 20.83% from the previous week.
Friday’s live SmackDown from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT had the following line-up advertised ahead of time – Rick Boogs vs. Sami Zayn, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar confronting WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, plus SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defending against The New Day in a Street Fight, which was the main event.
AEW Rampage drew an average of 588,000 viewers, up 12.14% from the previous week. The first Rampage of 2022 drew a 0.24 rating in the 18-49 key demographic, up 26.31% from the previous week.
Friday’s Rampage aired at 10pm on TNT, previously taped from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. The show featured a full card advertised ahead of time and spoilers were available for the following line-up – Adam Cole vs. Jake Atlas, Hook vs. Aaron Solow, Riho and Ruby Soho vs. Jamie Hayter and AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker, plus the main event, which was Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia and 2point0 in a No DQ, No Rules, No Holds Barred match.
