WWE SmackDown Ratings Drop Slightly with Hulk Hogan's Return on Valentine's Day

The ratings for WWE Friday Night SmackDown on Fox experienced a slight drop this week despite a show that featured WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and several other significant moments.

According to Showbuzz Daily, Friday's SmackDown averaged 2.482 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast, which was down from last week's 2.538 million. The rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic also dipped from 0.8 to 0.7, but it still tied for No. 1 on the night.

This week's SmackDown saw Hogan discuss the Universal Championship match between "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Bill Goldberg at WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 27. Wyatt responded and made some threats to Hogan, which led to The Hulkster saying he would see Wyatt in Tampa for the WWE Hall of Fame, which will see the nWo get inducted.

Aside from Hogan's appearance, a long-anticipated segment aired in the form of Otis' Valentine's Day date with Mandy Rose. It ended in disappointment, though, when Dolph Ziggler showed up and sat down next to Mandy, which broke Otis' heart when he walked in.

Also, the show opened with a SmackDown Women's Championship match between Bayley and Carmella. While Carmella was impressive and pushed Bayley to the limit, Bayley retained by illegally putting her feet on the ropes during a pinfall attempt.

Naomi interrupted Bayley's attempt to attack Carmella after the match, which set up a No. 1 contender's match between Carmella and Naomi next week, with the winner going on to face Bayley at Super ShowDown.

SmackDown was main-evented by a tag team match pitting The Miz and John Morrison against Roman Reigns and a mystery partner.

Daniel Bryan was revealed as The Big Dog's partner, and the pairing went on to beat Miz and Morrison, which was a big blow to the No. 1 contenders ahead of their SmackDown Tag Team Championship match against The New Day at Super ShowDown.

Next week's SmackDown could see a bump in viewership since it will be the final episode before Super ShowDown. That will be followed by John Cena's return on the Feb. 28 edition of SmackDown.

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