CM Punk has dealt a “receipt” to Sasha Banks following AEW’s impressive showing against WWE last Friday night.
The Internet has been buzzing about the Friday night ratings showdown between AEW Rampage and WWE SmackDown. Rampage aired in its usual time slot, while SmackDown aired on FS1 instead of the Fox broadcast network. WWE took the fight to AEW by extending SmackDown an extra 30 minutes (commercial-free) to go head-to-head with the first half of Rampage.
Prior to the showdown, Sasha Banks tweeted, “It’s Clobberin time #SmackdownonFS1” – a clear reference to CM Punk’s famous catchphrase.
CM Punk & Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks’ match against Becky Lynch went head-to-head with CM Punk’s match against Matt Sydal. The overlapping half hour also included The Bunny vs. Ruby Soho for AEW and a blockbuster contract signing between Roman Reigns & Brock Lesnar on SmackDown.
Overall, the 2 1/2 hour SmackDown broadcast averaged 866,000 viewers. The 60-minute Rampage show did 578,000 viewers. Both shows did a 0.24 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic, which caught many people by surprise.
Even more surprising was the 30-minute block when Rampage and SmackDown went head-to-head. Looking at that key demographic, AEW Rampage actually topped WWE SmackDown 328,000 viewers to 285,000, a 15% margin.
CM Punk has since responded to Sasha Banks’ tease that it would be “clobbering time” when WWE and AEW went head-to-head for 30 minutes. With AEW coming out on top, Punk agrees: “Indeed, it was.”
