Adam Pearce and Roman Reigns face off at the Royal Rumble (WWE)
The SmackDown ratings was boosted thanks to the contract signing between WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns and Adam Pearce
WWE SmackDown had one major surprise in place and that was kept till the final segment of the show.
Adam Pearce signed the contract to face Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble. However, Reigns wanted more from Paul Heyman.
He wanted this match to be a Last Man Standing one, and that was something that Pearce was hesitant to sign.
However, he did have one trick up his sleeve. Pearce did sign the contract at the end of the show but claimed he was injured. This saw Kevin Owens replace Pearce for the Rumble clash, and that set Reigns off.
There were also some incredible matches on the show, which helped boost the ratings.
Shinsuke Nakamura beats Jey Uso
Natalya beats Liv Morgan
Baron Corbin beats Rey Mysterio
Cesaro beats Daniel Bryan
Apollo Crews beats Sami Zayn
The ratings for this SmackDown was slightly more than the last week. This SmackDown brought in an average of 2.153million viewers over the two hours.
Last week, it was around 2.120m viewers over the two hours. The first hour for this show got 2.200m viewers and the second hour got 2.105m, according to ShowBuzz Daily (h/t Wrestling Inc).
SmackDown also did well in the key demo rating of 18-49. It got 0.6 in the demo rating and that was #3 for the night too.
SmackDown has been the best wrestling show in terms of viewership over the past year or so. It has constantly beaten Raw as the premier show for WWE.
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