WWE fans might be frustrated with the recent booking of the main event scene on “WWE SmackDown,” specifically Pat McAfee’s involvement in the feud between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes, but the blue brand still managed to post strong viewership numbers for last Friday’s episode.

According to Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider, “SmackDown” averaged 1,412,000 viewers and posted a 0.36 in the 18-49 demographic. Additionally, “SmackDown” was tied for first in the key demo on the night despite going up against CNN’s coverage of the astronauts on Artemis II returning to Earth. The program specifically ranked above “Jesse Watters Primetime,” which drew a 0.31 in the category, and coverage of The Masters, which logged a 0.17. However, when comparing both categories to the previous week, “SmackDown’s” viewership decreased by 6%, while the 18-49 demo fell by 16%.

Although “SmackDown” has managed to maintain its audience despite the poor reactions to WWE’s recent booking, the show’s overall viewership has declined by 10% since this time last year. Moreover, there’s been no improvement in the 18-49 demo, with the category dropping by 20% since April 2025.

There’s no doubt that “SmackDown” has managed to stay afloat on the charts with WrestleMania 42 being this weekend, but it remains to be seen if the program will be able to maintain its viewers following the two-night event, especially if the audience is still unsatisfied with the creative direction. That said, WWE’s yearly viewership usually hits its highest for the episodes of “SmackDown” and “WWE Raw” that follow WrestleMania, regardless if the event is poorly received or not.

A WWE WrestleMania 42 match is reportedly undergoing a slight change.

Last month, WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella sustained an ankle injury during a tag bout against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss on “WWE SmackDown.” Because of it, her status heading into WrestleMania 42 then became unclear. According to PWInsider, that uncertainty has finally vanished as Nikki has been ruled unable to compete at WrestleMania in Las Vegas, just one day before she and sister Brie were set to vie for the Women’s Tag Team Championships on the grand stage.

Due to Nikki’s void of medical clearance, the outlet adds that WWE has lined up a WrestleMania replacement for her, with their sources under the impression that it will be former WWE Divas Champion Paige. Paige, known as Saraya in AEW, was reportedly spotted taking part in a rehearsal for the upcoming Women’s Tag Team Championship match, which also involves Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, Lyra Valkyria and Bayley, and Nia Jax and Lash Legend.

Along with her return to the WrestleMania stage, PWInsider indicates Paige has inked an official contract with WWE. The exact length of that deal is unknown, but according to BodySlam+, it spans multiple years, which suggests that Paige’s return to WWE will extend beyond WrestleMania 42.

As Saraya, Paige left All Elite Wrestling in March 2025, opting to shift her focus to non-wrestling projects such as her memoir and her “Rulebreakers” podcast. Come January 2026, though, Paige scratched her wrestling itch once again by resuming her in-ring training.

The former “Anti-Diva” initially signed with WWE in 2011. In 2017, she suffered what was believed to be a career-ending neck injury. Still, she remained with WWE until the summer of 2022.

WWE President Nick Khan said it would be too tough today to run political storylines like the company used to. 

Khan sat down with Bill Simmons for an interview on Friday promoting WrestleMania weekend, and was asked whether the company could run storylines commenting on real life, like it used to.

“Would you ever consider doing the ’80s thing, using WWE to merit things going on in real life? Like some of the political stuff.”

“Tough,” Khan replied. “It’s too tough with the political environment now. To have, like, ICE officers arresting Dragon Lee.”

Simmons laughed with Khan and said that would be terrible, but clarified that he meant either a “Super Left Liberal” heel or a “Super MAGA” character.

“We did it for a moment of time for NXT when were coming out COVID; the guy who is in the Wyatt Sicks now, Joe Gacy, before he would body slam you he would apologize. It didn’t work. He’s like, ‘I’m very sorry I have to wrestle you.’ Everything, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.'” 

Simmons re-directed onto how the audience used to accept storylines of that nature, noting one exception to that rule as Sergeant Slaughter aligning with Iron Sheik as ‘Iraqi Sympathizers.’ 

“Life is wrestling, wrestling is life. Both reflect one another,” Khan said. “But the Sergeant Slaughter thing where he’s an Iraqi sympathizer. Brings in the Iron Sheikh as Colonel Mustafa, brings in Adnan Al-Kaissie as General Adnan. Sheikh speaking Farsi and not Arabic.”

Simmons said he thought it was the craziest thing and couldn’t believe it ran, to which Khan agreed. 

It’s WWE WrestleMania weekend and one of the biggest topics on the “Road to WrestleMania” has been ticket sales — more precisely, the lack of ticket sales. While initial sales were solid, they stalled even with WWE and secondary markets lowering prices. They’ve held multiple sales with the 3:16 sale being the most effective. WWE is even bringing John Cena in as host to help boost sales. Last Friday after Pat McAfee cut another promo about how the product isn’t good, he announced a sale with 25% off of Saturday tickets.

Did the tactic work? According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, only somewhat.

“The Saturday show was at 42,715, meaning with the discount they moved 3,370 tickets. The Sunday show was at 43,934, meaning without the discount, they moved 2,217 tickets this past week.”

According to Dave Meltzer, the company won’t come close to hitting maximum capacity at Allegiant Stadium, but it wouldn’t be accurate to say that sales have been “bad.” They’ll still be among the most profitable events in company history, and could even beat last year’s WrestleMania in revenue, despite the lower sales. 

As for current ticket prices, Meltzer noted that the “get-in” price hasn’t changed much in recent days, but it seems WWE has been steadily dropping costs for some of the higher-priced seats.

WrestleMania 42 was originally scheduled to be in New Orleans, Louisiana. However after the announcement had already been made, WWE made the decision to have it in Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. For the first time ever, WrestleMania will air on ESPN. The first hour of each show will air on the traditional ESPN channel. The remainder of Night One and Two will air on their streaming service.

There are a lot of hostilities that are coming to play between “The OTC” Roman Reigns and “The Best in the World” CM Punk. And in less than 48 hours, the world will learn who reigns atop the island of relevancy in WWE. But in Punk’s eyes, the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion doesn’t believe the fans deserve to have to witness or bear through seeing a “part-time” wrestler as their new world champion.

“I think anybody would be a fool to not look at Roman and respect the fact that he puts his family above everything else. I love that,” the champion told Corey Graves before tearing his opponent a new one ahead of their very personal match. “His priorities are in the right spot. But it’s real hard to sit back and look at a man who will do that and be a part-timer and think that’s okay. Because there is a responsibility that comes not only with being a WWE Superstar, with being a champion. This is about pro wrestling versus cinema.”

He then proceeds to give examples of other men who are balancing the art of fatherhood with their flag bearing responsibilities in the business, including Cody Rhodes and his other least favorite co-worker, Seth Rollins, to which he circles back by asking, “Why can’t Roman?”

Punk let his shield down on this past Monday’s go-home edition of “WWE Raw,” by telling Reigns that he was envious of all of his monikers, like holding the WWE Universal Championship for a historic 1,316 days, for example. However, the remarks he made about burying Reigns next to his late father, Sika, among many other disses, has created enough wrath and fury for Reigns to potentially decimate and end Punk’s golden reign. The clock is ticking for their main event showcase in Las Vegas.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “WWE” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.