Ahead of last week's SmackDown, an appearance from WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg was heavily advertised by the company. Ultimately, he just showed up "live via satelite," but that still resulted in a big ratings boost for the blue brand.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, it was noted that the quarter hour with Goldberg saw ratings go "through the roof" and was the biggest 15 minutes the show has down for quite some time.
It's said that the segment (which ended with Goldberg challenging The Fiend for the Universal Championship at Super ShowDown later this month) drew around 3 million viewers and that his appearance in the quarter saw an increase in viewership of around 19% from the Roman Reigns/King Corbin brawl which took place in the same period.
It remains to be seen whether Goldberg shows up on SmackDown ahead of the PPV in Saudi Arabia, but with numbers like these, some sort of confrontation with Bray Wyatt does appear to be likely.
What do you guys think?