Tonight’s WWE NXT will air live from Full Sail Live in Winter Park, Florida on USA Network.
* Lio Rush challenges Drew Gulak for the NXT Crusierweight Championship tomorrow night
* Kushida and WALTER to clash on NXT
* Isaiah “Swerve” Scott to battle Roderick Strong
* How will Finn Bálor’s arrival impact NXT?
* How will Tommaso Ciampa’s quest to regain the NXT Title continue?
* Can anyone stop Shayna Baszler?
Wednesday’s WWE NXT season premiere episode on the USA Network drew 891,000 viewers while the AEW Dynamite premiere episode on TNT drew 1.409 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily. AEW Dynamite viewership topped NXT by 58%.
AEW ranked #2 in the Cable Top 150 18-49 demographic list, while NXT ranked #10. AEW ranked #16 in viewership, while NXT ranked #27 in viewership.
This is the first week that both hours of NXT have aired on the USA Network. Hour 1 of the first week drew 1.179 million viewers and ranked #4 on the Cable Top 150 while hour 1 of the second week drew 1.006 million viewers and ranked #8 on the Cable Top 150.
The MLB Wild Card game on ESPN topped the night in the 18-49 demographic and viewership with 3.969 million viewers. Chicago Med on NBC topped the night in network TV with 7.669 million viewers.
To compare this week’s WWE TV viewership, Monday’s RAW season premiere drew an average of 2.571 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.210 million viewers, and the best red brand viewership since the post-SummerSlam episode on August 12, which drew 2.729 million viewers.
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:
2019 AEW Dynamite Viewership Tracker:
October 2 Episode: 1.409 million viewers (premiere episode)
The AEW Dynamite replay drew 423,000 viewers on TNT, according to PWTorch. The replay aired right after the Dynamite premiere went off the air at 10pm ET.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Triple H recently talked about the WWE Cruiserweight division possibly blending in with NXT and having the Cruiserweight Championship move under the NXT brand. That change went into effect this week, as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship has been re-branded as the NXT Cruiserweight Championship on WWE.com.
Plus on last night’s NXT, they promoted a Crusierweight Championship for next week’s NXT between Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak and Lio Rush, by referring to the title at the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
Tommaso Ciampa made his highly-anticipated return to NXT on last night.
The former NXT Champion resurfaced in dramatic fashion this evening following the conclusion of the main event tag team title match – which ended due to interference from Roderick Strong.
Adam Cole hit the stage after the match was over to congratulate his stablemates, when suddenly Ciampa’s music and the Blackheart stared him down as the show came to a close.
Ciampa was forced to relinquish the NXT Championship (a.k.a., Goldie) after undergoing anterior cervical fusion surgery back in March. He was then replaced in main event of NXT TakeOver: New York by Adam Cole, who lost to Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match for the vacant title.
Former NXT Champion Finn Bálor made a surprise return to WWE NXT last night.
Bálor confronted current NXT Champion Adam Cole following his victory over Matt Riddle in the opening match.
Bálor proclaimed – “As of now, Finn Bálor is NXT.”
Bálor’s last NXT match was on 30 July 2016, when he teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura to defeat Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe. The former Universal Champion recently went on a hiatus from the main roster after losing to “The Fiend” at SummerSlam.
NXT will air live on the USA Network from Full Sail Live in Winter Park, Florida at 8 ET.
WWE has announced new commentary teams with some big changes for Raw and SmackDown.
According to WWE, the announce teams going forward are as follows:
RAW – Vic Joseph, Dio Maddin and Jerry Lawler
Friday Night SmackDown – Michael Cole and Corey Graves with Renee Young as a Special Contributor
WWE announced the following:
STAMFORD, Conn. – WWE Premiere Week ushers in an unprecedented era of coverage with special episodes of Monday Night Raw, NXT, Total Divas and the FOX debut of Friday Night SmackDown bringing fans eight hours of primetime programming.
As part of WWE Premiere Week, new voices will be brought to the Raw, NXT and SmackDown broadcasts. Raw’s new announce team will include play-by-play from Vic Joseph with Dio Maddin and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler serving as analysts; NXT play-by-play will be called by Mauro Ranallo with Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuiness as analysts; and SmackDown will feature Michael Cole handling play-by-play, Corey Graves serving as analyst and Renee Young as a Special Contributor.
Monday, September 30
The season premiere of Monday Night Raw airs at 8/7 C on USA Network as WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins defends his title against Rey Mysterio; The Miz hosts WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair on a special edition of Miz TV; Brock Lesnar makes a special appearance; AJ Styles defends his United States Title vs. Cedric Alexander; and Alexa Bliss takes on Sasha Banks.
Wednesday, October 2
NXT will make its two-hour live premiere this Wednesday, October 2, on USA Network at 8/7 C, as The Undisputed ERA defend their golden prophecy and the NXT Tag Team Championships in a match against the Street Profits. Also, NXT Champion Adam Cole defends his title against Matt Riddle; NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler takes on Candice LeRae; Johnny Gargano competes against Shane Thorne; and fans can witness “The Velveteen Dream Experience.”
Immediately following NXT, season nine of Total Divas will premiere on E! at 10/9 C. The hit series is back with a season more personal and action-packed than ever. WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey joins Natalya, Naomi and Nia Jax for the new season, which also includes returning cast member Carmella and newcomer Sonya Deville. Nikki Bella and Brie Bella will make guest appearances in the series as well.
Friday, October 4
SmackDown’s 20th anniversary will kick off the new era of Friday Night SmackDown’s highly-anticipated move to FOX broadcast network on Friday, October 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, when WWE Champion Kofi Kingston puts his title on the line against Brock Lesnar. The Four Horsewomen also square off as WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair team up against WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks in tag team competition. Later Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon look to finally settle their ongoing dispute in a high-stakes Ladder Match with the loser forced to leave WWE.
Prior to the premiere, the Friday Night SmackDown Kickoff Show “blue carpet” special will air at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on FOX from the Staples Center, featuring celebrity, Superstar and Legend arrivals, as well as backstage access.
Michael Cole’s return to SmackDown marks the end of a long run on Raw for “The Voice of WWE.” He first joined the Raw commentary team in 2008 and has remained there since. Before that he was the lead play-by-play man on SmackDown for nearly ten years.
Maddin recently made his debut on commentary during a recent edition of 205 Live.
The NXT announce team will reportedly stay the same for now. No word at this point on where Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton will be utilized in the future.
Lawler will likely only be used for a short period of time on Raw. Other people are reportedly being looked at for the spot on a full-time basis. This could explain why Mickie James was featured on commentary this week during Main Event, but we’ve been unable to verify this.
As we previously reported, Renee Young will now be hosting WWE Backstage Tuesday nights on FS1. Young is reportedly thrilled by the move since hosting is her passion and now she gets to do it on a giant platform every week. She echoed this sentiment via Twitter by sharing the new show announcement and calling it a dream come true.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Sportsnet 360 is set to air a “condensed” version of WWE NXT each Friday night.
The one-hour version of the weekly NXT episode will be a “Best Of” show with highlights from what aired on the USA Network, according to John Pollock and PostWrestling.
The one-hour NXT show will begin airing on Friday, October 4. Sportsnet 360 will begin airing a 4.5 hour block of WWE programming on Fridays, starting at 6:30pm ET with the Aftermath studio show. NXT will then air at 7pm ET, SmackDown at 8pm, and Main Event at 10pm.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode will air live from Full Sail Live in Winter Park, FL from 8-10pm ET. The first hour will air live on the USA Network and the second hour will air on the WWE Network.
Velveteen Dream is reportedly not cleared to compete after losing the North American Championship to Roderick Strong during NXT’s first live episode on USA Network.
WWE shared a video on Thursday of new digital host Matt Camp giving the NXT injury report following the brand’s big two-hour show.
According to the video, Dream was seen “gingerly” walking around Full Sail last night after losing and apparently has lumbar pain in his back after the match. Camp claims Velveteen Dream will not be cleared until further evaluation.
Two additional Superstars were also listed as “not cleared” in the injury report video:
Watch the video below for the full story.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
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