Tonight’s WWE NXT episode will take place from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL with fallout from TakeOver: WarGames and Survivor Series.
Corey Graves opened this week’s WWE After The Bell podcast with an apology for the comments he made about Mauro Ranallo on Twitter over the weekend.
“What’s up, everybody? Welcome to After The Bell, I am Corey Graves,” he said, opening the show. “A ton to get to this week as we do every week but before we go any further, on a personal note, I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the ‘Takeover: WarGames’ event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the intention of just stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody undue stress, especially a co-worker. So, I apologize.”
Graves revealed that he watched Takeover and tweeted from his hotel room.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
(Pre-show) Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Angel Garza –
Winner: Angel Garza
Women’s WarGames Match: Rhea Ripley (Captain), Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, and Candice LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler (Captain), Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and Kay Lee Ray –
Dakota Kai turned on her friend and teammate Tegan Nox, attacking her when the ref open the holding cage to let one of them out to enter the WarGames cage. Kai was forced out the arena by officials and William Regal. Nox was unable to compete, so the WarGames match was officially under way with Team Baszler with a 4 to 2 advantage.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1198398538071232512
https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1198400394923147264
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1198400950915878912
Rhea Ripley handcuffed herself to Shayna Baszler and slammed her through a couple of chairs and got the pin for the win.
Winners: Team Ripley
https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1198401616279289856
Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain
Winner faces NXT Champion Adam Cole at Survivor Series.
Winner: Pete Dunne
Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle –
Winner: Finn Balor
Mens’ WarGames Match: The Undisputed ERA (Adam Cole (Captain), Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (Captain), Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and TBA
Kevin Owens was the 4th member for team Ciampa.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1198424649299742720
https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1198424987016683521
https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1198426508148146176
https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1198427967816257536
https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1198429026127233024
Winners: Team Ciampa
There was an injury angle on tonight’s WWE NXT “Takeover: WarGames 2019” Pre-show that saw Mia Yim suffer an injury after a backstage attack by a mystery attacker. Team Captain Rhea Ripley later talked Dakota Kai into replacing Yim.
Yim legitimately suffered a broken nose during her Ladder Match loss to Io Shirai last Wednesday, so that could be why she was pulled.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1198390359019028480
Below is the updated Takeover card for tonight:
Mens’ WarGames Match: The Undisputed ERA (Adam Cole (Captain), Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (Captain), Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and TBA
Women’s WarGames Match: Rhea Ripley (Captain), Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, and Candice LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler (Captain), Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and Kay Lee Ray
Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle
Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain
Winner faces NXT Champion Adam Cole at Survivor Series.
Pre-show
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Angel Garza
November 23, 2019 at 7:00 PM ET (Preshow at 6:30 PM ET) – Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Mens’ WarGames Match: The Undisputed ERA (Adam Cole (Captain), Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (Captain), Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and TBA
Women’s WarGames Match: Rhea Ripley (Captain), Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, and Candice LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler (Captain), Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and Kay Lee Ray
Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle
Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain
Winner faces NXT Champion Adam Cole at Survivor Series.
It took 8 weeks, but WWE NXT has finally topped AEW Dynamite in viewership.
Wednesday’s NXT drew 916,000 viewers on the USA Network while AEW Dynamite on TNT drew 893,000 viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily. NXT topped Dynamite by 2.6%.
This is the best NXT viewership since the official two-hour USA premiere on October 2. The first two NXT USA episodes had just one hour air on cable, and they drew 1.179 million viewers and 1.006 million viewers. The NXT viewership is likely up due to fans expecting top RAW and SmackDown Superstars to appear for the final Survivor Series build on NXT. As noted, top main roster stars such as Seth Rollins, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, Drew McIntyre, The Revival, and others appeared.
AEW still topped NXT in the 18-49 demo, as it ranked #8 in the Cable Top 150 for the 18-49 demo, while NXT ranked #14. AEW ranked #36 in overall viewership, while NXT ranked #35 in viewership.
Last week’s Dynamite episode drew 957,000 viewers and ranked #5 in the Cable Top 150, and #37 in viewership, so it dropped 6.7%. Last week’s NXT episode drew 750,000 viewers and ranked #22 in the Cable Top 150, and #41 in viewership.
AEW drew a 0.39 rating in the 18-49 demographic while NXT drew a 0.30 in the same demo this week. Last week’s AEW episode drew a 0.43 in that demographic while NXT drew a 0.25.
The Democratic Debate on MSNBC topped the night in the 18-49 demographic at #1 with a 1.08 rating, also topping the night in viewership with 6.604 million viewers.
Chicago Med on NBC at 8pm topped the night in viewership on network TV with 8.433 million viewers. The Masked Singer on FOX topped the 18-34 demographic with a 1.2 rating.
To compare, this week’s pro wrestling viewership looks like this so far:
* Monday’s Survivor Series go-home edition of WWE RAW drew an average of 2.128 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.058 million viewers for the taped episode from England. RAW was #11 for the night in viewership on cable, and #4 in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150, for the fourth week in a row
* Tuesday’s Total Divas season 9 finale on the E! network drew 295,000 viewers, up from last week’s 258,000 viewers. Total Divas ranked #95 on the Cable Top 150 this week with a 0.12 cable rating in the 18-49 demo
* Tuesday’s WWE Backstage episode on FS1 drew 180,000 viewers in the 11pm hour, up from last week’s 100,000 viewers
* Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite on TNT drew 893,000 viewers, down from last week’s 957,000 viewers. Dynamite was #36 for the night in viewership on cable and #8 in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.39 rating
* Wednesday’s NXT episode on the USA Network drew 916,000 viewers, up from last week’s 750,000 viewers. NXT ranked #35 for the night in viewership on cable, and #14 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic
Below is 2019 NXT Viewership Tracker:
September 18 Episode: 1.179 million viewers (one hour on the USA Network)
September 25 Episode: 1.006 million viewers (one hour on the USA Network)
October 2 Episode: 891,000 viewers (season premiere, both hours on the USA Network)
October 9 Episode: 790,000 viewers
October 16 Episode: 712,000 viewers
October 23 Episode: 698,000 viewers
October 30 Episode: 580,000 viewers with a 0.18 demographic in the 18-49 demographic
November 6 Episode: 813,000 viewers with a 0.30 demographic in the 18-49 demographic
November 13 Episode: 750,000 viewers with a 0.25 demographic in the 18-49 demographic
November 20 Episode: 916,000 viewers
Below is 2019 AEW Dynamite Viewership Tracker:
October 2 Episode: 1.409 million viewers (premiere episode)
October 9 Episode: 1.018 million viewers (on TNT, 122k on truTV)
October 16 Episode: 1.014 million viewers
October 23 Episode: 963,000 viewers
October 30 Episode: 789,000 viewers with a 0.33 rating in the 18-49 demographic
November 6 Episode: 822,000 viewers with a 0.35 rating in the 18-49 demographic
November 13 Episode: 957,000 viewers with a 0.43 rating in the 18-49 demographic (post-Full Gear episode)
November 20 Episode:893,000 viewers
Source: Wrestling Inc.
NXT wrestler Jordan Myles aka ACH has officially been released from WWE.
WWE confirms that Myles is no longer under contract at this time, though no other details have been made available.
The 31-year-old first signed with in February of this year. He then took part in the NXT Breakout Tournament, which he won. Myles went on to face NXT champ Adam Cole in a title match.
ACH began taking bookings. His first post-WWE booking is scheduled to take place tonight in Texas.
The wrestler went public with his issues last month, speaking out against the company due to a racially insensitive shirt they released for him.
ACH is also booked to wrestle for the Wrestler Revolver in December.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode will air live from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University with the final hype for Saturday’s “Takeover: WarGames, plus hype for Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series.
A couple days ago, Jordan Myles (aka “Super” ACH) got on social media and said he quit WWE after calling out the company over one of his previous t-shirt design, claiming it to be racist. WWE had reportedly “very much tried” to work with Myles before he went public about his issues with the company.
Yesterday, Myles did a live Q&A on Twitter to answer questions from fans. In the Q&A he addressed: potential landing spots for him down the road, his mental health, if he’s legally cleared from WWE, and Jay Lethal. In regards to going to either AEW or NJPW, Myles felt like NJPW was where he’d like to return to.
“New Japan, not that I got anything against AEW, but New Japan, I love New Japan,” ACH said. I feel like I got a lot more left to accomplish there.”
One fan asked if ACH was legally able to move on from WWE, but he confirmed that’s not the case.
“Legally, no. Mentally, yes,” ACH responded.
ACH was asked about the “mental health rumors” and noted he can have severe mood swings due to his anxiety and depression, but that shouldn’t discredit what he’s previously said.
“The thing about the mental health, I do suffer with anxiety and I do suffer with depression and I can have bad mood swings sometimes, but that doesn’t mean when I speak out it doesn’t have any meaning behind it,” ACH said. “The t-shirt triggered things from my past and it all came up at once, and a lot of anger from my past came up with it, as well. That caused me to come at people the way that I did. Again, I’m not gonna apologize for what I said. What I said, I meant it.”
The topic of Jay Lethal was also brought up as ACH referred to him as an “Uncle Tom” while also blasting WWE on social media. ACH noted there is a story behind why he said that about Lethal, but wasn’t going to disclose it.
“There’s a huge story behind it, and to be fair and respectful, I won’t disclose that story,” ACH responded. “I won’t disclose that story because I won’t throw more salt on his name that I already have. I think any issues between him and I—now that it’s out there, I’m cool, I’m straight, it is what it is, you know what I mean? But our beef is our beef. There may not be any beef—to be fair—there ain’t no beef on my end. I said what I had to say and I’m done. I’m done with it, I got everything off my chest, it’s out there in the public eye. If anybody wants to know, your best bet is to ask him, or ask around, there were a ton of people around.”
ACH also confirmed that Lethal never said anything to him after his tweet.
https://twitter.com/ACHisSuper/status/1195739257266151424
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature more on the road to WWE Survivor Series and NXT “TakeOver: WarGames.
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