WWE SmackDown on Fox Ratings Up with Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus Bar Fight

Friday night's episode of SmackDown on Fox headlined by a bar fight between Jeff Hardy and Sheamus saw its viewership increase compared to last week.

According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown averaged 1.971 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast, which was up 3.1 percent from last week's 1.912 million. SmackDown also had a 0.5 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic, which led the night.

The main event of the night was a long-anticipated bar fight between Hardy and Sheamus. The veteran Superstars have been feuding for the past several weeks, with the rivalry largely focusing on Hardy's past issues with alcoholism.

Sheamus attempted to get inside Hardy's head by making him fight him inside a bar, but The Charismatic Enigma hit The Celtic Warrior with a Swanton Bomb off a ladder to score the victory.

SmackDown also featured a pair of No. 1 Contender's matches for championship bouts that will take place next week.

In the first, Nikki Cross beat her friend Alexa Bliss to become No. 1 contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship after titleholder Bayley said she would only give Cross a title shot if she could beat Bliss.

Also, Gran Metalik won a Fatal 4-Way match that also included Shorty G, Drew Gulak and Lince Dorado, meaning he will face AJ Styles for the Intercontinental Championship next week.

Elsewhere, Matt Riddle beat Tony Nese in an impressive performance and then called out King Corbin, who attacked him last week. Riddle and Corbin cut promos on each other to set the stage for a future match.

Naomi was a guest on Miz TV, where the #NaomiDeservesBetter hashtag was discussed. Lacey Evans interrupted, but Naomi laid her out to set up another match between them as well.

New Day member Kofi Kingston announced that he will be out of action for six weeks because of injuries suffered in a SmackDown Tag Team Championships loss to Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura at Extreme Rules in a tables match.

Kingston gave Big E his blessing to go off on his own and make some noise individually, which suggests the most powerful member of New Day may be in for a singles push.

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