WWE SmackDown Ratings Surge with April 18 Episode, Highest Since March – The April 18 episode of WWE SmackDown saw a significant ratings boost, both in total viewership and in the key demographic, marking one of the show’s strongest performances in recent months.
According to Programming Insider, SmackDown brought in 1.741 million viewers on Friday night. This marks a notable increase from the April 11 episode, which drew 1.551 million viewers. It is also the highest audience the show has seen since the March 7 broadcast.
In the important 18–49 demographic, SmackDown posted a 0.55 rating—up from last week’s 0.45. This figure represents the highest demo rating since the August 16, 2024 episode. Despite going head-to-head with the NBA Play-In Tournament game between the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat on TNT (which averaged 1.7 million viewers and a 0.62 demo rating), SmackDown held strong and came close to outdrawing the NBA in total viewers.
The strong showing was driven by a loaded lineup and buzzworthy moments, several of which performed exceptionally well on YouTube:
Top 5 Most Viewed WWE SmackDown Videos (April 18):
- FULL SEGMENT: Cody Rhodes and John Cena verbally destroy each other — 1.6 million views
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins delivers a PIPEBOMB — 460K views
- Ripley, SKY, Belair, Naomi and Cargill get into a huge brawl — 457K views
- Randy Orton vows to compete at WrestleMania — 323K views
- LA Knight & Braun Strowman vs. Jacob Fatu & Solo Sikoa — 247K views
With WrestleMania 41 still fresh in fans’ minds and storylines escalating quickly, WWE will be looking to maintain this momentum as SmackDown heads into the next phase of its post-WrestleMania programming.
WWE SmackDown Ratings Surge with April 18 Episode
