The Thursday, September 10th edition of WWE SmackDown scored a 1.54 cable rating, up a decent amount from last week’s 1.42 final draw.

Thursday’s SmackDown averaged 2.040 million viewers, which was also an increase from last week’s show. The September 3rd edition of WWE SmackDown drew 1.981 million viewers.

Oddly enough, following the disastrous 2.44 rating for Monday’s RAW, this week’s SmackDown numbers were up despite the fact that it was the first time this year that WWE faced the stiff competition from the NFL, as the season opening game between the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers drew 23.85 million viewers on NBC.

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WWE issued the following …

WWE SURPASSES NBA AS #1 SPORTS CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE

STAMFORD, Conn., February 25, 2015 – With more than 4.2 billion video views in the last 12 months, WWE has become the No. 1 Sports channel on YouTube ahead of the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, ESPN and NASCAR. In addition, WWE on YouTube has more than 5.2 million subscribers, which is more than MLB, NFL, NHL, ESPN, NASCAR, MLS and NBC Sports COMBINED.

WWE continues to remain a leader in social media, with more than 450 million combined social media followers globally. During the past year, WWE’s social media channels added more than 194 million followers, a nearly 75 percent increase year-over-year. WWE’s network of Facebook pages has more followers than the NFL and its 32 teams’ pages combined, and WWE Superstar John Cena is the No. 1 most-followed active American athlete on Facebook, with more than 36 million “Likes.”

Since launching in 2008, WWE’s YouTube channel has featured award-winning original short-form programming, including popular shows such as WWE Inbox, WWE Fury, 5 Things and WWE Top Ten. In addition, WWE uses its YouTube channel to promote its monthly WWE Network and pay-per-view events by airing live pre-shows that include exclusive matches and commentary.

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– John Cena missed Monday’s edition of WWE RAW because he was filming a role for an upcoming episode of the NBC sitcom, “Parks & Recreation.” No word yet on when the show is scheduled to air.

– Below is a new Rob Van Dam video interview where he talks about the struggling WWE Network numbers and reveals what he feels WWE could do to increase them.

John Cena will be appearing on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday to promote RAW in Brooklyn, New York.

The advertising lists Cena appearing to give the hosts of the show, Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb and Joan Lunden a “pep talk” prior to their gig as guest hosts of Monday’s RAW at the Barclays Center.

– WWE Chairman Vince McMahon celebrates his 69th birthday today. McMahon was born on August 24, 1945.

– As noted earlier this weekend, WWE has announced a segment for Monday’s RAW that features Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels all commenting on the upcominng rematch between John Cena and Brock Lesnar at WWE Night Of Champions. One of the reasons WWE is loading up this Monday’s show is because it is the first time in history that WWE will be going up against the Emmy Awards on NBC.

The adjusted WrestleMania XXX on NBC numbers came in at 2.54 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The initial overnight numbers for the NBC special came in at 3.9 million viewers, so the actual final number was down quite a bit.

It’s worth noting that this year’s final number of 2.54 million viewers was up considerably from last year, as the airing of WrestleMania 29 on NBC drew 1.92 million viewers on August 4, 2013.

– The official WWE website has a new poll up asking fans which stable they feel was the most underrated. The options for the poll are The Dangerous Alliance, The Million Dollar Corporation, The Triple Threat, nWo Wolfpac, The Un-Americans, The Flock, King Booker’s Court, The Straight Edge Society and The Jersey Triad. Currently leading the poll is nWo Wolfpac, followed by The Straight Edge Society. You can vote in the poll by going to WWE.com.

– The annual WWE WrestleMania highlight special on NBC is scheduled to air on Sunday, August 3rd at 7pm EST. The special will include highlights from WrestleMania XXX as the lead-in to the first NFL Sunday Night Football game of the season.