As we all know, social media and other outlets have become a huge means of drawing in interaction and viewers for WWE. Most people will point to television ratings like they did during the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990’s, however that can be skewed with so many various means of watching today that do not include cable television.

As you’ve become accustomed to, here is this week’s SmackDown Live YouTube Report (2:30 PM EST, 9/11/18):

1. Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – 1.2 million views
2. Rusev Day vs. The Bar – 1 million views
3. Brie Bella vs. Maryse – 973k views
4. Charlotte Flair vs. Sonya Deville –  464k views
5. AJ Styles talks candidly about Samoa Joe – 281k views
6. Samoa Joe has a bedtime story for AJ Styles – 260k views
7. Asuka reveals why she helped Naomi – 198k views

A stark contrast once again this week for the SmackDown Live YouTube numbers compared to Monday Night RAW. An edition of the blue brand that was similar to RAW with a lot of video packages and segments, the action from SmackDown Live controls the board this week. Number one is taken by our opening contest as the Hardy/Nakamura feud was revitalized for the night. It was a great match and you knew Randy Orton would get involved in some fashion.

Our second spot is for the finale of the SmackDown Tag Title #1 Contenders Tournament, as Rusev Day continues to roll with a big win over The Bar. While the participants here are not known for drawing well on YouTube, it was a match with Hell In A Cell implications and as we all know by now, anything with an affect on an upcoming pay-per-view usually gives any clip a boost. Add that to the fact that SmackDown Live seemingly mailed it in for the most part this week (similarly to RAW) and you’ve got a great week for Rusev Day.

Number three is set aside this week for a match that showcased the blue brand roster’s small amount of mainstream appeal with Brie Bella taking on Maryse. This is about as big of a “mainstream media” match as you can get on SmackDown Live, as evidenced by it having the main event spot on the program. While I personally had no interest in Brie and Maryse being infused to the angle between their husbands, it has certainly added a new layer to the rivalry and given it longer legs.

Sliding into fourth is almost a default this week with the only other match on the show. Charlotte Flair vs. Sonya Deville isn’t very appealing, but again, it wasn’t the blue brand’s best effort this week. Perhaps the expectation of Becky Lynch getting involved, a feud with Charlotte that has had its ups-and-downs on YouTube Reports, may have helped out a little with this getting the fourth position.

The Charlotte/Sonya match could probably also fall under this umbrella, but numbers 5-7 are for the weekly “best of the rest”. It didn’t take a whole lot to make our top seven as we see with all of these clips falling under 300k views. It has been a bit of a trend with the final couple of spots when it comes to SmackDown Live the last couple of weeks, meaning to me there has been too much filler content of late.

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