Cody Rhodes is no AJ Lee

One week after the all-but-promise of AJ Lee’s first WWE appearance in a decade helped SmackDown

draw some of its best television numbers of the year, the blue brand welcomed back Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes on Sept. 12.

QB1 isn’t quite the draw that CM Punk’s better half is. At least he wasn’t last Friday night

According to Programming Insider, the Rhodes-led SmackDown was watched by 1,316,000 viewers on USA Network, where it did a .37 rating among 18-49 year olds. Those are down considerably

from Sept. 5’s AJ Lee-return show (16% in total audience and 28% in the demo), and are among the show’s worst numbers since the Fourth of July.

While it wasn’t going up against a Super Bowl rematch like the previous Friday’s show was, the good news for WWE is that the latest SmackDown was second in the demo among all original programming on television last Friday. Only ESPN’s college football game of the night between an undefeated Houston team and Coach Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffalos did better with a .60 rating from 2.61 million viewers. The game was fourth in total viewers on the night, between three Fox News programs. SmackDown’s overall audience number didn’t crack the top ten in that metric.

This week will be the final push to Wrestlepalooza, with Lesnar the biggest name advertised. We’l see how it does, then add its numbers to our running list of every SmackDown performance from the past year:

• Sept. 13, 2024* – 1.72 million viewers / .55 demo rating
• Sept. 20 – 1.49 / .45
• Sept. 27 – 1.57 / .45
• Oct. 4 – 1.52 / .47
• Oct. 11 – 1.65 / .49
• Oct. 18 – 1.38 / .42
• Oct. 25 – 1.42 / .43
• Nov. 1 – 1.43 / .42
• Nov. 8 – 1.53 / .47
• Nov. 15 – 1.23 / .32
• Nov. 22 – 1.58 / .46
• Nov. 29 – 1.34 / .40
• Dec. 6 – 1.49 /.44
• Dec. 13 – 1.53 / .47
• Dec. 20 – 1.33 / .37
• Dec. 27 – 1.44 / .41
• Jan. 3, 2025** – 1.53 / .45
• Jan. 10 – 1.44 / .40
• Jan. 17 – 1.40 / . 42
• Jan. 24 – 1.44 / .44
• Jan. 31 – 1.58 / .51
• Feb. 7 – 1.51 / .48
• Feb. 14 – 1.38 / .42
• Feb. 21 – 1.74 / .51
• Feb. 28 – 1.73 / .52
• March 7 – 1.74 / .52
• March 14 – 1.57 / .52
• March 21 – 1.46 / .39
• March 28 – 1.35 / .40
• April 4 – 1.58 / .47
• April 11 – 1.55 / .45
• April 18 – 1.74 / .55
• April 25 – 1.60 / .51
• May 2 – 1.41 / .37
• May 9 – 1.46 / .41
• May 16 – 1.29 / .36
• May 23 – 1.38 / .33
• May 30 – 1.38 / .34
• June 6 – 1.42 / .42
• June 13 – 1.40 / .38
• June 20 – 1.52 / .38
• June 27 – 1.45 / .41
• July 4*** – 1.17 / .32
• July 11 – 1.40 / .37
• July 18 – 1.55 / .45
• July 25 – 1.71 / .48
• Aug. 1 – 1.54 / .46
• Aug. 8 – 1.56 / .48
• Aug. 15 – 1.43 / .35
• Aug. 22 – 1.26 / .35
• Aug. 29 – 1.15 / .28
• Sept. 5 – 1.59 / .51
• Sept. 12 – 1.32 / .37

* Moved from FOX to USA Network (broadcast to cable)
** Added a third hour
*** Returned to two hours

For complete results from the latest SmackDown, our live blog is here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.