WWE SmackDown Records Lowest Audience Since July Despite Brock Lesnar Return

The December 3 episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown reportedly recorded the lowest audience figures since early July despite the heavily advertised return of Brock Lesnar.

According to ShowBuzz Daily, this past week's SmackDown achieved an average of 2.03 million viewers on FOX, which is a dip of 5.5 per cent from the previous week. This makes the December 3 SmackDown the lowest viewed on FOX since July 9, which was the week before WWE returned to a touring schedule and live events.

In the critical 18-49 demographic, SmackDown drew a 0.51 rating, which is down 10.5 percent from the November 26 episode. Once again, this is also the lowest number drawn by SmackDown on FOX in the category since July 9.

It is worth noting that SmackDown faced stronger than usual sports competition last week, with the PAC-12 Championship game on ABC averaging more than 4.2 million viewers.

This past week's SmackDown centred around the return of Lesnar, who was seen on the blue brand for the first time since being 'indefinitely suspended' at the end of October. Lesnar would convince Sami Zayn to take his shot at Roman Reigns and the Universal Championship that night, but would then attack Zayn before the match.