The March 6 edition of “WWE SmackDown” saw a decrease in viewership, despite the advertised main event that pit Cody Rhodes against Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The show was number two for the night on cable, however, and viewers saw Rhodes emerge victorious from the bout to head into WrestleMania 42 as champion.

According to Wrestlenomics, with data from Programming Insider, the March 6 episode of the blue brand drew an average of 1.90 million viewers, a 14 percent decrease from the previous week’s 1.379 million viewers. The episode earned a 0.27 rating in the ever-important ages 18-49 demographic, a 21 percent decrease from the previous week’s 0.34 rating.

The average viewership for the March 6 episode of “SmackDown” was down 22 percent compared to this time last year, which saw an average of 1.53 million viewers. The average rating was also down compared to March 2025, by 41 percent, when the average rating was 0.46.

The main event of “SmackDown” saw Rhodes taken on McIntyre for the title in a match announced by General Manager Nick Aldis following Elimination Chamber. McIntyre interfered in the match, costing Rhodes his opportunity, and now, it will be the new champion to take on Randy Orton on “The Grandest Stage of The All.”

Elsewhere on the show, Carmelo Hayes was successful yet again in his United States Championship open challenge when he defeated AAA’s El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss were successful in a match against Giulia and Kiana James, and Damian Priest and R-Truth became the new number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championships after winning a tag team turmoil gauntlet match.