Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed WWE SmackDown November 2025

WWE SmackDown Ratings Rise

Originally posted on The Sportster | By Kellie Crawford | Last updated Nov 26, 2025 10:14 PM ET

SmackDown averaged 1.21M viewers (Nov 21), up 4.5% week-to-week and 0.29 in 18–49, best since Nielsen's change.
Nov 21 highlights: Cody Rhodes attacked; Dragunov kept US Title; Hayes & Penta won 1st-round LTIN matches.
Taped go-home Survivor Series: LTIN matches plus 5v5 Traditional Elimination — MFTs vs Zayn, Nakamura, Fenix, MCMG.

After not a great October, WWE SmackDown has been holding steady in the ratings, and from the looks of it, it’s only getting better for the blue brand. Just like the SmackDown episode where Sami Zayn returned, last Friday's episode saw an increase.

Last Friday’s Episode Up From The Week Before

According to Programming Insider, last Friday’s (November 21) episode averaged 1.21 million viewers on the USA Network, which is up 4.5 percent from the November 14 episode of SmackDown. How did it rank on cable? Second.

The 18 to 49 demographic was up 7.4 percent from the November 14 episode. The November 21 episode saw a 0.29 rating. As per F4Wonline, this is the best audience total from the show since Nielsen changed its reporting system for ratings. The new reporting system is the “Big Data + Panel model.”

It was college football on ESPN that won the night with a 0.47 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic. The game was Florida State at NC State. It ended with NC State beating Florida State, 21-11.

As noted, October, even September, and August saw some of their lowest ratings. For example, some of those episodes were the October 10 episode, the August 28 episode, which hit a two-year low in the demographic, and the October 31 episode didn’t fare well either. It was because of the World Series, and it was also Halloween.

What happened during the November 21 episode?

The November 21 episode opened with Cody Rhodes being attacked by Drew McIntyre on his tour bus. Ilja Dragunov successfully defended the WWE United States Title against JD McDonagh. There were two first-round Last Time is Now Tournament matches. One saw Carmelo Hayes defeat Bronson Reed (Hayes would lose on this Monday’s episode of Raw), and Penta defeated Finn Balor.

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa defeated Axiom and Nathan Frazer. The show ended with AJ Lee and Becky Lynch officially joining the Women’s WarGames match for this Saturday, November 29, at Survivor Series. Lynch is on Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Asuka, and Kairi Sane’s team, while Lee is joining up with Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, and Charlotte Flair.

This week’s (November 28) episode was actually already filmed due to the holiday. It’s the go-home Survivor Series edition. There will be Last Time is Now tournament matches, and there will also be a five-on-five Traditional Survivor Series Elimination match. Those in the match will include The MFTs (Solo Sikoa, JC Mateo, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Talla Tonga) versus Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, Rey Fenix, and the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin).

This article first appeared on The Sportster and was syndicated with permission.

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