Account
WWE SmackDown Ratings Up with Reigns vs. Edge vs. Bryan WrestleMania Build
March 27, 2021
Friday night's episode of WWE SmackDown, featuring major WrestleMania 37 implications, saw its ratings improve compared to the previous week's show.
According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown averaged 2.03 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast on Fox, which was up from 1.946 million. SmackDown also did a 0.5 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic, good for No. 2 on the night.
The major story that played out Friday involved Roman Reigns, Edge, Daniel Bryan and the Universal Championship match at WrestleMania.
Bryan presented WWE official Adam Pearce with some potential scenarios to get himself added into the universal title mix at WrestleMania, and Pearce took the night to make a decision. Before that was announced, Reigns and Edge both tried to influence Pearce.
Ultimately, Pearce decided that Bryan will be added to the Reigns-Edge contest, making it a Triple Threat match. After that, all hell broke loose and Edge took out both Reigns and Bryan with a steel chair.
SmackDown featured the announcement of some other WrestleMania matches too, including Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro, which came to fruition after Cesaro saved Shinsuke Nakamura from an attack at the hands of Rollins following The Messiah's win over Nakamura.
Also, Sami Zayn accepted Kevin Owens' challenge for a WrestleMania match while also announcing that YouTube star Logan Paul will be on next week's SmackDown for the premiere of the trailer for Zayn's conspiracy-themed documentary.
Things heated up between SmackDown women's champion Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair ahead of their WrestleMania match as well, with Belair slapping Banks before beating Natalya in a match. Sasha laid out Bianca out with a Backstabber thereafter.
Other results of note on Friday's SmackDown included Apollo Crews, Otis and Chad Gable beating intercontinental champion Big E and The Street Profits in a six-man tag team match when Crews pinned Big E. And Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).