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WWE SmackDown Ratings Up Slightly with Bryan vs. Uso Street Fight; Reigns, Edge
April 3, 2021
The second-to-last SmackDown before WrestleMania 37 saw its ratings improve slightly Friday night compared to last week's show.
According to Showbuzz Daily, SmackDown averaged 2.036 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast on Fox, which was up from last week's 2.031 million. SmackDown also finished tied for third on the night in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic with a 0.5 rating.
The main event match of SmackDown saw Daniel Bryan face Jey Uso in a street fight, just over one week before Bryan faces Roman Reigns and Edge in the Triple Threat main event of WrestleMania 37 for the Universal Championship.
Bryan beat Uso by submission and then foiled an attack by Edge, who was on commentary, bashing his head against the ring post.
The leader of the Yes Movement then proceeded to take Reigns out with a running knee and put him in the Yes Lock until backstage personnel broke it up. SmackDown went off the air with Bryan doing his famous "Yes!" chant.
SmackDown also featured a promo segment between Seth Rollins and Cesaro ahead of their WrestleMania and a near confrontation between Bianca Belair and SmackDown Women's champion Sasha Banks after Bianca beat Carmella.
Sasha tried to attack Belair from behind for the second week in a row, but The EST caught her, so Banks backed away and decided to wait until WrestleMania.
There was also a big eight-man tag team match on SmackDown pitting Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Otis and Chad Gable against Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio and The Street Profits.
Otis won the match for his team by pinning Montez Ford with a big splash, meaning Otis and Gable have the momentum entering next week's Fatal 4-Way match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on the WrestleMania edition of SmackDown.
Other key moments on SmackDown included Natalya beating Shayna Baszler—leading to a brawl between multiple tag teams—Apollo Crews challenging Big E to a Nigerian Drum Fight at WrestleMania, and Logan Paul taking part in Sami Zayn's red-carpet premiere of his documentary, only for Kevin Owens to hit Zayn with a Stunner.
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