Tuesday’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live from Washington, DC averaged 2.545 million viewers, up from 2,135 million the previous week, according to ShowbuzzDaily. This was the 1000th episode of the show.
As a result, it pulled in more viewers than this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW as that show drew 2.396 million viewers, up from last week’s 2,374 million viewers.
SmackDown had some notable moments including appearances by Shane, Stephanie & Vince McMahon, past general managers such as Teddy Long, Vickie Guerrero, and John Laurinaitis. The opening match had The Usos vs. AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan with the main event featuring the return of Rey Mysterio, who took on United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a World Cup qualifying match.
Other moments including a brief appearance by The Undertaker and a title change once The Bar beat The New Day to win the SmackDown Tag Teams Titles. In case you missed the show, you can check out the results here.
Despite WWE putting some together some intriguing segments for the show, this episode faced some solid competition. The show had to go up against two MLB playoff games that had TBS pulling in 4.871 million viewers while Fox Sports 1 drew 4.087 million viewers and an NBA game between the 76ers and Celtics on TNT that pulled in 2.945 views.
Also on cable, that night was Hannity (3.356 million viewers), Rachel Maddow Show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Last Word, The Five, The Ingraham Angle, Special Report and The Story.
WWE will attempt to capitalize on this show with next week’s episode. As of this writing, there are no matches or segments announced for the show.
Watch: Top 10 Moments from Tuesday’s SmackDown Live (10.16.18)