WWE SmackDown Ratings Up with ThunderDome Debut, AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy

Friday's episode of SmackDown received a ratings bump with the debut of the WWE ThunderDome at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown on Fox averaged 2.168 million viewers, which was up 8.3 percent from last week's 2.002 million. SmackDown also had a 0.6 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic, which topped the night.

SmackDown and Raw have been airing from the WWE Performance Center since March because of the coronavirus pandemic, but with ratings falling, WWE decided to create a more appealing atmosphere by taking up residence in the Amway Center.

That allowed them to create the ThunderDome, complete with pyrotechnics, lasers, drone cameras and rows of LED boards showing the faces of fans watching from home, much like the NBA has done during its resumption of the 2019-20 season.

In addition to the ThunderDome, there were two title matches, with AJ Styles defending the Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy and the team of Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura defending the SmackDown Tag Team Championships against Lucha House Party.

Cesaro and Nakamura retained, which led to an argument between Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado, but there was a title change on the show.

Despite the fact that Styles injured Hardy's knee during a melee involving Retribution earlier in the night, Hardy still managed to compete. At one point, Styles attempted to get Hardy up for the Styles Clash, but Hardy kicked Styles and hit him with the brace on his injured knee.

That allowed Hardy to hit Styles with a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb to win the match and his fifth career Intercontinental title.

Also on the show, which was the go-home edition before SummerSlam, Big E beat Sheamus and Sasha Banks beat Naomi, while Bayley lost to Naomi, meaning Sasha's match against Asuka will be second at SummerSlam, while Bayley's will be first.

SmackDown ended with a confrontation between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt that saw Strowman throw Wyatt off a loading dock. Wyatt was loaded into an ambulance, but he re-emerged unharmed as The Fiend to close the show.

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