Turns out you can't just bring back John Cena after a hiatus and expect an automatic ratings bump.
Not on the 4th of July anyway.
Tuesday's Independence Day edition of SmackDown Live, featuring Cena's return after a three-month sabbatical and a #1 Contender's Battle Royal in the Main Event, drew 2.329 million viewers, according to ShowBuzz Daily. This is a decrease of 11% from the 2.603 million viewers that watched the previous week, but the 4th of July is traditionally a terrible night for television ratings.
Still, SmackDown did manage to come in at #1 in overall viewership on cable and also took the top spot in the highly coveted 18-49 demographic as well.
The previous night's episode of Monday Night RAW drew 2.839 million viewers, which bested SmackDown's viewership by 22%.
