As WWE heads toward WrestleMania 42, the hype train is picking up steam, with last week’s “WWE SmackDown” delivering another action-packed show that continued the brand’s main storyline — Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton. But how did the blue brand perform in viewership and ratings for the March 27 edition?

It was a mixed bag in terms of viewership and ratings, as the average overall viewership dipped when compared to the previous week, but the key demographic ratings saw a gain. Viewership dropped from 1.43 million for the March 20 edition to 1.30 million for last week’s show, according to “Programming Insider.” This is a 9 percent decline, while it’s also 4 percent less than the four-week average, as per “Wrestlenomics.” Over the last few weeks, viewership for “SmackDown” has yo-yoed between the 1.2 and 1.4 million mark. 

The 18-49 key demographic ratings for  “SmackDown” grew by a slight margin as it grew from 0.32 to 0.33, which is 0.2 above the four-week average. The show was fourth in the key demographic ratings on cable, a table dominated by the NCAA Basketball competition. 

Last week’s show saw Orton continue to torment Matt Cardona, whom he faced in the main event and defeated, before Rhodes came to the aid of Cardona. The show also saw The Bellas defeat former women’s tag team champions Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargill continue their rivalry ahead of their WrestleMania match, as well as Jelly Roll win in his very first singles match against Kit Wilson. There was also a title change as Sami Zayn became the WWE United States Champion for the second time in his career after he defeated Carmelo Hayes.