Smackdown Live Beats Raw in TV Rating for First Time Since the Draft

For the first time since the new brand split draft on July 19 of this year, Tuesday night’s Smackdown Live triumphed over Monday night’s Raw in television ratings.

While the final tallies were close, the end result saw Smackdown earn 2.9 million viewers, while Raw earned 2.85 on Monday night. This is only the second time since 2003 that Smackdown had garnered a higher TV rating than Raw (the other, as mentioned, was the 2016 WWE Draft on July 19 of this year).

Week after week, Smackdown Live was closing in on Raw in the television ratings, and this past Tuesday night the blue brand, carried by three championship matches and the return on John Cena, was the #2 sports broadcast of Tuesday evening, behind the Minnesota vs. Washington State Holiday Bowl.