Programming Insider reports that Friday's WWE SmackDown drew 1.736 million viewers on USA Network. This number is up big from the 1.384 million viewers the show drew on February 14. Furthermore, this is the highest viewership that the show has recorded since returning to the USA Network in September 2024.

It took no time at all for WWE to establish that The Rock basically runs the show around these parts. That’s because SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis opened this week’s episode by telling WWE Champion Cody Rhodes he was being pulled from a previously scheduled six-man tag team match for reasons he could not even say.