It's good news for the WWE as recent figures show the 3/3/2016 edition of SmackDown has seen a slight increase in viewership. It got on average 2.491 million viewers which is up from last weeks SmackDown which got on average 2.395 million viewers. Overall it got a 1.79 rating which can only be a good thing for the WWE heading into WrestleMania.

More Focus 

It seems like WWE are going to carry on pushing SmackDown as a main show after these figures have been released. With the high caliber matches that have been shown on recent broadcasts e.g.. AJ Styles Vs Chris Jericho it seems like SmackDown is becoming meaningful again. Ever since the brand split the quality of matches and advances in storylines on SmackDown have gone down hill, as the vast majority of major events happen on PPV's and RAW.

This has caused SmackDown to become stale and boring and it showed in how much the ratings dropped. If you compare the ratings between RAW and SmackDown you can see just how much interest is shown in RAW compared to the 'B show' SmackDown, but thankfully the WWE are adressing that issue.

Potential Brand Split

With rumors of a brand split happening again, this news could be crucial as to whether it will go ahead. A brand split would definitely increase the interest in SmackDown and with the influx in talent down on NXT it won't be hard to split the roster. In fact you could say that even with the brand split their would still be a lot of wrestlers left behind and not utilized, which shows just how big the current roster is.

With a brand split the WWE could easily make SmackDown a big show again and increases in ratings will become more frequent as there would be more reasons to watch the show. SmackDown as it is now seems to be more of a repeat of RAW, or a very diluted RAW which is why it is in desperate need of a revamp. Either way this is great news for the WWE and they can only hope it carries on like this.

How would you increase interest in SmackDown? Leave your comments in the section below

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About the author
Bayley Sutcliffe
Currently a my final year of A Levels, studying English Language and Literature as well as Media.