Roman Reigns and John Cena are without a doubt two of SmackDown’s major draws. With Reigns being absent from SmackDown ever since Jey Uso quit SmackDown and WWE, the blue brand relied on The Cenation Leader’s return to bring in more viewers. But with both top stars absent from SmackDown last week, WWE saw a huge drop in viewers.
SmackDown’s ratings have undoubtedly been boosted by Roman Reigns and The Bloodline drama for the past 3 years. There are several twists and turns in their story to keep the fans engaged. On the other hand, John Cena‘s return has generated a lot of hype among fans who were awaiting The Cenation Leader’s return. The presence of these two stars brings in a large number of fans every week.
Cena’s upcoming appearance on The Grayson Waller Effect sparks excitement
Despite not appearing last week, John Cena has been confirmed to attend this week’s SmackDown. This was confirmed by Grayson Waller on SmackDown last week.
The September 15 edition of SmackDown is set to take place in Denver, Colorado. Last week, during LA Knight and Austin Theory’s bout, Grayson Waller was a guest commentator, and he revealed that the 16-time World Champion would be making an appearance next week at ‘The Grayson Waller Effect’.
The rivalry between Cena and Waller started back at Money In The Bank this year in London. As The Cenation Leader made a surprise appearance and was praising the London crowd, Grayson Waller came out and interrupted Cena’s speech. Waller irritated Cena to the point where he received an Attitude Adjustment for it.
SmackDown viewership drops 14.3% in Roman Reigns and John Cena’s absence
Last week’s SmackDown saw the absence of both John Cena and Roman Reigns, who were arguably the biggest draws for the blue brand. As a result, the viewership for the 8th edition of SmackDown saw a massive drop.
The September 8 episode of Friday Night SmackDown brought in about 2.094 million viewers on the Fox network, which was reportedly down 14.3% from the 1st September episode of the blue brand. It’s also the lowest audience total for SmackDown since May 5. Viewership from the 18-49 age demographic was down 18.5% from September 1. This massive drop in viewership was reportedly due to both Roman Reigns and John Cena’s absence from the show. Cena was absent due to his appearance at the Superstar Spectacle, while Reigns has been absent since Jey Uso quit SmackDown.
But to the delight of many, Cena is slated to return to the blue brand this week and will appear on The Grayson Waller Effect to face the superstar. On the other hand, Reigns’ status is still unknown. We can only hope to see him in the coming few weeks.
