The final viewership numbers for the latest episode of SmackDown are in.
According to Showbuzz Daily (h/t Marc Middleton of WrestlingInc.com), last week's show averaged 2.121 million viewers. For what it's worth, the overnight viewership numbers revealed an average audience of 2.042 million viewers.
Per WrestlingInc.com's viewership tracker, this marks the 10th straight episode that recorded over two million viewers. The post-WrestleMania Apr. 16 show had 2.119 million viewers.
The numbers have been consistent and strong for SmackDown here in 2021. Since the new year, SmackDown has only fallen below two million viewers once (the Feb. 12 episode recorded 1.990 million viewers).
Not only that, but SmackDown has reached over 2.1 million viewers 14 times this year. The Jan. 22 show remains the most-watched episode of 2021, having garnered 2.383 million viewers.
This week's show largely focused on the Universal Championship scene with Roman Reigns, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan.
Cesaro and Bryan defeated Seth Rollins (who abandoned the match) and Jey Uso in a tag team showdown. Bryan then grabbed a microphone and endorsed Cesaro, daring the Universal Champion to give him an opportunity.
In the final segment of the show, Reigns rejected Cesaro's wish for a title opportunity, telling him that that he doesn't "deserve it" and that he will never be on his level.
Reigns then gave Bryan one final chance to dethrone him as the Universal Champion, which the latter agreed to. If Bryan loses, however, he'll be forced to leave SmackDown.
For what it's worth, Bryan's WWE contract is set to expire soon, and it sounds like Cesaro will feud with the Universal Champion very shortly. Needless to say, things are about to get very interesting on SmackDown.
SmackDown Viewership Remains Consistently Strong
Moving SmackDown over to Friday nights felt risky at first, since it's not the most popular television time spot. But WWE officials, creative and superstars have put together a very exciting and entertaining product together. Simply put, they're giving fans a good reason to tune in on a weekly basis, and there's no reason to think the viewership will start decreasing any time soon. If anything else, it should only move up.