Smackdown 5/22 Viewership Falls Another 100,000

Smackdown rating are still falling leading into Money in the Bank. 

The build up to what WWE considers one of their bigger pay-per-views has not been great considering ratings. Last week, the ratings stalled around 2.3 million viewers but according to ShowBuzz Daily this week's Smackdown was just under 2.2 million viewers. While this is comparable to the numbers from this time last year, it is a 800 thousand viewer drop from the week of Superstar Shakeup. 

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Smackdown actually ranked higher than the previous past weeks as it was number 3 on the rankings of original content on cable. The NBA Conference Finals were aired at the same time as Smackdown and drew over 8 million viewers. 

On YouTube, the highest viewed videos were Shinsuke Nakamura announcing the stipulation for the WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank, Lana beating Billie Kay in a Money in the Bank qualifier, and Big E versus The Miz. None of those videos got more than 900 thousand views. Smackdown usually has at least one million view video. 

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