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, 9/4/18):

1. AJ Styles gets retribution on Samoa Joe – 1.4 million views
2. R-Truth vs. The Miz – 854k views
3. The Usos vs. Rusev Day vs. SAnitY – 480k views
4. Daniel Bryan vs. Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas – 465k views
5. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch war of words – 390k views
6. Naomi vs. Peyton Royce – 362k views
7. Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella call out The Miz & Maryse – 309k views

Well, if you compare this week’s SmackDown YouTube to RAW’s, the difference is disparaging to say the least. Two clips tied at the top with over 3 million views for RAW, meanwhile our SmackDown YouTube Report it only takes 1.4 million for AJ Styles and Samoa Joe to hold the top spot. This was by far the hottest storyline of the evening and the blue brand didn’t have the luxury of trotting out more legends like they did on Monday. These are the best numbers we’ve seen out of the Joe/AJ rivalry, coming on a night that was primarily dominated by in-ring action.

Number two is a bit of a surprise in a sense with the main event of The Miz versus…R-Truth?! Now remember, Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella also played a role here, plus the added elements of Carmella to the mix. At the same time, R-Truth has been pretty hilarious of late and I do think that plays a small role as well.

The third spot is reserved for the next match in the tournament to crown The New Day’s number one contenders for Hell In A Cell. An entertaining match and a big win for Rusev Day, but look at the numbers. Not good there and the remainder of the list is only within 180k of having their rankings swapped. Occupying two of those spots is more Daniel Bryan, featuring the opening segment of the show at number seven while Bryan’s rematch with Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas slides in at number four.

The final two spots this week at five and six are an interview with SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, then Naomi vs. Peyton Royce, respectively. Positions two through seven would generally fall into my “best of the rest” category, but it’s not quite the case with only the top two spots of our rankings cracking 800k. Naomi against Peyton was another rematch, but also gives the return of Asuka which clearly did nothing to help views. Charlotte Flair and Becky have had unquestionably (in my opinion) the most interesting rivalry over the past couple of weeks, but after a good performance of one million last week, a major drop for Tuesday. Granted, it was merely an interview segment where neither Superstar was even in the arena. I feel like when you take away the chance of physicality, that immediately decreases interest.

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