There was plenty of hype entering this week's episode of SmackDown Live, with the first day of the WWE draft plus a SmackDown Women's Championship match between Bayley and Charlotte Flair.

However, the ratings for yesterday's episode took a steep decline from last week's Fox premiere. According to Showbuzz Daily, the first hour of SmackDown Live averaged 2.925 million viewers, and the second averaged just 2.872 million.

Last week, the first hour averaged 3.920 million viewers, and the second 3.818 million. Indeed, this was a massive decline after such a memorable and action-packed event from last week.

WWE and Fox won't be pleased about this,, although Game 1 of the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals may have certainly played a big part in the declining ratings for WWE this week.

Worse yet for WWE, SmackDown Live wasn't the only brand that saw a drop in ratings. This week's episode of Monday Night Raw brought in just 2.334 million viewers, a fairly big decline from the 2.571 million that tuned in last week.

Of course, the decline in Raw ratings this week may have happened due to the controversial Hell in a Cell ending that left plenty of fans frustrated and disappointed. The show was also missing Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt.

Related: Yes, WWE Really Did Reveal The Draft Order Before It Had Even Started

NXT had 891,000 viewers last Wednesday as they went toe-to-toe with AEW for the very first time. This week, NXT slipped down significantly to 790,000 viewers. So yes, it was not the best of weeks for WWE.

The pressure is mounting already for WWE and Fox to work together and figure out how they can avoid such a decline in ratings. Moving the show to Friday nights was quite the risk, and only time will tell if it pays off.

Ratings Should Get Better From Here

The WWE draft will end on Monday, and with the rosters finally set, the creative team will be able to work around their new feuds. If they can push the right buttons and give fans some compelling storylines, then it'll undoubtedly help the ratings. And of course, the MLB postseason will end in just a few weeks, so WWE will have less sports competition to deal with.

Next: SmackDown Ended With Bayley Going Full Heel & Winning The SmackDown Women's Title Back