Dwayne Johnson and Roman Reigns’ Return Helps WWE SmackDown Secure a Massive Television Feat

With The Rock now appearing regularly, and the issues between Cody Rhodes and The Bloodline heating up as WrestleMania approaches, WWE SmackDown has found itself on a hot streak with the ratings throughout February. However, at least for a week, the streak cooled down a bit.

While the latest edition of SmackDown drew 2.23 million total viewers, the SmackDown prior to this drew 2.272 million viewers. While that’s a respectable number by normal standards, this was a low week by SmackDown standards. However, there was one department where they secured good numbers. And that was with a certain demographic.

The Rock and Reigns helped boost the numbers

The SmackDown before Elimination Chamber did not emanate as a live episode, as the promotion had taped the show the week before. This trend occurred due to WWE traveling to Australia for the Elimination Chamber PLE. However, it still did better numbers than this week’s edition. This could have emerged as a scary prospect for the WWE. Especially, with The Rock, Roman Reigns, and Rhodes not taking part in the broadcast in February. However, thanks to the segment between the Rock and Roman Reigns, they dominated the night in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

With 763,000 viewers landing in that 18-49 sweet spot, this maths out to a 0.6 rating. But the drop in the latter half of the show could be because of the segment with the Brahma Bull being in the first half of the show. And being the most electrifying man in all of sports entertainment, it is possible that people just switched channels after getting their fair share of The Rock’s magic. For those who missed the segment, The Brahma Bull acknowledged the Tribal Chief and issued a challenge to Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins for a tag team match. But do you know that the promo cut other matches short?

The Rock and Reigns cause a mishap in the allotted timing

The Rock performed one of the most extensive promos we can remember in recent years. Between Roman Reigns’ appearance, his promo, The Rock’s appearance, and his promo, the entire segment video took over half an hour. This means that subtracting the commercials that aired on FOX, this moment took up a third of the episode of SmackDown that took place in Glendale, Arizona.

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This affected other matches and segments scheduled for the episode. This piece of information came from Sean Ross Sapp, a reliable journalist for Fightful. Sapp has revealed some interesting details of the show, such as Naomi’s entrance, and a few other things that suffered the short end of the stick as a result.

It should be noted that during The Bloodline segment, WWE muted the audio several times. This is due to reactions from the public that could not be shown on television. Several people in the audience shouted “Die Rocky Die.” A “Rock shops at BALCO” sign was also removed. BALCO was a business involved in a sports steroid scandal in the 2000s. What did you think of the segment? Let us know in the comments.

Read More: “My Tribal Chief”: Dwayne Johnson ‘Acknowledges’ Roman Reigns Despite Visible Power Struggle on SmackDown 03/01 – EssentiallySports