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World Wrestling Entertainment has been on a hot streak, with WWE grabbing headlines heading into its signature WrestleMania event earlier this year with an ongoing storyline featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson making a months-long comeback. While Johnson’s been off the board since shortly after Mania, leaving to film ultimate fighting biopic “The Smashing Machine” before an expected return leading into next year’s WrestleMania, flagship show “WWE Raw” on USA is up 9% so far this quarter in the key 18-49 demographic versus 2023, according to Nielsen ratings figures.
Meanwhile, WWE’s “SmackDown” on Fox is up an impressive 17% vs. its 2023 third quarter average. “Raw” tallied an average of 776,000 viewers in 18-49 so far this quarter as “SmackDown” drew 886,000 viewers in the demo.
The promotion holds its “SummerSlam” premium event this weekend on NBCUniversal’s Peacock. Its business continues to expand with a Netflix deal set to kick off at the beginning of next year, though WWE’s premium events will continue to stream on Peacock domestically until 2026.
Over the first half of the year, “Raw” was up 4% compared with 2023, drawing 745,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo. “SmackDown’s” 18-49 rating rose by nearly 10% compared with 2023, drawing an average 862,000 viewers in the demo.
Top storylines heading into SummerSlam include Solo Sikoa challenging for Cody Rhodes’ WWE Championship as an extension of the Bloodline feud involving The Rock that drove this year’s WrestleMania, a returning-from-injury Rhea Ripley challenging Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship in a feud involving both vying for the affections of Dominik Mysterio and CM Punk in a grudge match against Drew McIntyre in a social media-driven rivalry, with Seth Rollins as the special referee.
WWE’s developmental NXT brand has flown under the radar at times, but it was also up in the first half of 2024 by a striking 26% in 18-49 viewers compared with the first half of 2023, pulling in an average of 252,000 viewers in the demographic. Several of its top wrestlers have moved to their “Raw” and “SmackDown” brands recently, with some of the main roster stars continuing to make special appearances on NXT.
They’ve also drawn buzz for crossing over with the TNA Wrestling brand, bringing in wrestlers from the rival group such as Jordynne Grace and Joe Hendry for appearances on NXT and sending WWE talent to TNA in return.
The working agreement is a rarity in the pro wrestling world, especially as WWE remains locked in a promotional war against their No. 2 opposition All Elite Wrestling. That rivalry has appeared to be particularly fierce with its flagship “AEW Dynamite” program.
AEW has been looking to close a new TV rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, which could help set the stage for the next phase of their competition with WWE. “Raw” will be leaving its longtime USA Network home for the streaming world in January 2025, while the game of television musical chairs sends “SmackDown” from Fox to USA this October as “NXT” leaves USA for The CW. WWE will retain a foothold in broadcast and cable, while also expanding its streaming imprint.
“Raw” and “SmackDown” frequently top their respective ratings world, with “Raw” ranked No. 1 on cable 17 times in the first half of 2024 and “Smackdown” on top across broadcast and cable 12 times in the same period.
