SmackDown ratings up a bit for Women's title steel cage main event

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com

By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Jan 19, 2017 8:18 am

SmackDown averaged 2.652 million viewers for Tuesday night's show, which was headlined by a steel cage match between Women's Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Becky Lynch.

That was up five percent from last week and follows an impressive rating from Monday Night Raw the night before, also on USA Network. The show was 10th for the night in total viewers but first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.9 rating.

Since the brand split, SmackDown has averaged between 80 and 85 percent of the Raw audience from the night before but that percentage had gone up during football season. With football done, SmackDown was down to just under 82 percent of the Raw number, the same average they've been at, removing the weeks of football season from the equation.

The show is now averaging almost 2.5 million viewers since moving to Tuesday nights and airing live, which is way up from the 2.1-2.2 million level they were at on Thursday nights.

[Big Red Machine]

This main event proves it. Alexa Bliss!=ratings.