WWE News: Live Smackdown Rating Plummets, What's It Mean for Show's Future?

SmackDown was once given a solid time slot on Thursday night, but it is now stuck on one of the worst nights of the week for TV viewership: Friday. 

After long weeks at work, the average person doesn’t want to spend his Friday night at home, and that tends to be reflected in SmackDown’s ratings, which are significantly lower than Monday Night Raw’s. 

Many have suggested that the WWE combat its bad Friday time slot by moving SmackDown to another weekday, with Tuesdays being ideal. But after the way this Tuesday’s Live SmackDown special performed, I wouldn’t plan on seeing that happen anytime soon. 

From PWInsider.com (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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Tuesday’s SuperSmackDown LIVE! show featuring a Champion vs. Champion match between WWE Champion CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan garnered a 1.7 rating with 2,326,000 viewers. 

It is SmackDown‘s lowest rating since the September 16, 2011 show, which drew a 1.78. 

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Those who have considered the possibility of Tuesday Night SmackDown might want to, well, reconsider because this terrible rating likely means that Friday Night SmackDown is here to stay. 

Although I do think that SmackDown would be best-served in in the long-run if it were on Tuesdays, news of a huge ratings drop is exactly the kind of thing that’s going to make Vince McMahon keep it in its current Friday time slot. 

Chances are that the WWE boss likes the fact that SmackDown can be edited, that running it on Friday spreads the company’s two top shows out throughout the course of the week and that it doesn’t come along with the added production costs of producing a live show. 

Still, ratings on just about every major network will show that having more people at home on Tuesdays than on Fridays translates to higher ratings. 

I myself often DVR SmackDown because, let’s face it, Friday night is party time, and I can easily watch Daniel Bryan be awesome the next day. Though I realize that WWE officials are probably now scared to try to move SmackDown to Tuesdays, I hope that isn’t the case. 

SmackDown needs a new home, and if Tuesday doesn’t work, then I’ll settle for Wednesday or Thursday.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.