Cody Rhodes’ home invasion was no match for the College Football Playoffs

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The TV ratings and viewership data are in for the Dec.19 episode of WWE SmackDown on the USA Network.

Per Wrestlenomics, SmackDown was watched by 995,000 total viewers and did a .21 rating in the 18-49 year old demographic. The episode — which was mostly taped earlier in the week and featured a big Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre angle that wasn’t taped in front of an audience and therefore not SPOILed — dropped 20% in overall audience in comparison to the previous week’s live show, and was down 19% in the demo.

In addition to not being live, the episode also aired less than a week before the Christmas holiday and with more than a month to the next premium live event. The biggest challenge may have been that SmackDown was head-to-head with the first round of the College Football Playoff last Friday night. Sports Business Journal reports that Alabama’s win over Oklahoma in primetime last Friday was the weekend’s most watched game from the CFP’s first round, drawing close to 15 million viewers.

This Friday’s show is taped as well… and airs the day after Christmas. But it will miss any major football competition (there is a minor college game on ESPN… the First Responder Bowl with Florida International vs. Texas-San Antonio). We’ll see how it does, then update our running tracker of SmackDown results from the past year with its numbers:

• Dec. 20, 2024 – 1.33 million viewers / .37 demo rating
• 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
• Sept. 19 – 1.34 / .37
• Sept. 26 – 1.24 / .35
• Oct. 3º – 1.03 / .23
• Oct. 10 – 1.03 / .22
• Oct. 17 – 1.18 / .28
• Oct. 24 – 1.15 / .29
• Oct. 31 – 993K / .20
• Nov. 7 – 1.14 million / .26
• Nov. 14 – 1.16 / .27
• Nov. 21 – 1.21 / .29
• Nov. 28 – 1.14 / .28
• Dec. 5 – 1.06 / .24
• Dec. 12 – 1.24 / .26
• Dec. 19 – 995K / .21

_{* Added a third hour
** Returned to two hours
º Nielsen began using their Big Data + Panel calculation}

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