WWE SmackDown Ratings Decline Despite Roman Reigns-Daniel Bryan Contract Signing

Ratings for Friday night's episode of WWE SmackDown were down despite a contract signing between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan.

According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown averaged 2.01 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast on Fox, which was down from last week's 2.166 million in the overnight ratings. SmackDown also did a 0.5 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic Friday, which was No. 2 on the night.

This week's SmackDown featured follow-up from last week regarding the Universal Championship situation, as Bryan beat Jey Uso in a steel-cage match to earn a title shot against Reigns at Fastlane.

Friday's SmackDown concluded with a contract signing between Reigns and Bryan, and it saw Bryan get Reigns so heated that he vowed to "destroy" Bryan at Fastlane. Not surprisingly, the segment devolved into a brawl as well.

Uso suggested that he be the special enforcer for the Fastlane match, but then Edge came out and challenged Uso to a match next week on SmackDown with the winner being named special enforcer.

All four men then duked it out, and SmackDown ended with Bryan laying out Edge with a running knee after they had a heated discussion to start the show.

The rivalry between SmackDown Women's champion Sasha Banks and 2021 Women's Royal Rumble winner Bianca Belair was furthered Friday as well, as they took part in an episode of The KO Show and traded some verbal barbs.

Afterward, they faced Natalya and Tamina in a tag team match while WWE Women's Tag Team champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler were on commentary. Reginald was also there, which distracted Sasha.

In turn, Belair was distracted, and she got rolled up and pinned by Tamina, which caused Bianca to go off and blame Banks for the loss after the match.

Also on SmackDown, Cesaro beat Murphy by disqualification when Seth Rollins interfered and viciously attacked Cesaro, Big E defeated Sami Zayn to retain the Intercontinental Championship before getting beaten down by Apollo Crews, and the team of The Street Profits, Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio beat Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Chad Gable and Otis.

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