Tag: WWE

WWE NXT Preview 10/19/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network will feature the final build for next week’s Halloween Havoc special.

AEW Rampage Numbers Vs. Supersized SmackDown, Tony Khan Excited

AEW Rampage tied SmackDown in the key 18-49 demographic last week, and they drew more viewers in the 30-minute head-to-head competition.

The first 30 minutes of AEW Rampage went head-to-head with WWE’s “Supersized” edition of SmackDown last week, and the two shows wound up tying in the key 18-49 demographic.

Not only that, but according to PW Torch, Rampage actually drew higher viewership than SmackDown during the 30 minutes of head-to-head competition. The report stated that in the 18-49 demographic, Rampage recorded 328,000 viewers compared to 285,000 for SmackDown.

According to Showbuzz Daily (h/t WrestlingInc.com), SmackDown averaged 866,000 viewers, and Rampage averaged 578,000 viewers. Both shows recorded 0.24 ratings in the 18-49 demographic. It’s important to note that the Supersized show aired on FS1, as Game 1 of the 2021 ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros aired on FOX, and it recorded 6.136 million viewers (via WrestlingInc.com).

Following the release of the numbers for Rampage and SmackDown, WrestleVotes reported “the numbers news is a HOT topic right now backstage” in WWE.

WWE greatly attempted to stack up the Supersized edition of SmackDown, which featured a singles match between Sasha Banks and Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch. The match was won by the former thanks to assistance from Bianca Belair . Those three will face off for the Raw Women’s title in a triple threat match at Crown Jewel.

Zelina Vega defeated Carmella in their Queen’s Crown tournament semifinal, and Vega will face the winner of Doudrop and Shayna Baszler at Crown Jewel. Finn Balor got past Sami Zayn in the King of the Ring semifinal, and he’ll challenge the winner of Jinder Mahal vs. Xavier Woods at Crown Jewel. The show closed with Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns signing their Universal Championship match contract for Crown Jewel.

Though SmackDown predictably finished with far more total viewers than Rampage, this was a giant win for AEW. Their “B” show was able to outdraw the final 30 minutes of SmackDown, which has enjoyed much greater viewership than Raw in recent years.

AEW already soundly defeated NXT in the “Wednesday Night Wars”, and now they’re starting to gain momentum against WWE’s main show. It’ll be interesting to see if WWE reacts to this, and if we’ll see more direct competition between SmackDown and Rampage before long.

Tony Khan Excited:

Tony Khan is pretty happy on Monday after learning how AEW Rampage fared in the numbers while up against WWE SmackDown this past Friday.

Tony Khan is a pretty happy camper on Monday after learning that AEW Rampage not only kept up with WWE SmackDown in the ratings this past Friday, but actually beat the blue brand in some of the key demos they use to measure the successes and failures of a professional wrestling television program. While SmackDown was boosted by the over-50 demo and won in total viewers, the argument being made is that advertisers care most about the areas where AEW Rampage won.

Heading into Friday night, there was a lot of talk about how AEW was going to compete head-to-head with WWE for the first real time since they became a company a couple of years ago. This wasn’t NXT versus AEW Dynamite. No, this was one of AEW’s top shows versus one of WWE’s top shows and AEW President Tony Khan was hyped for it. He called out Raw by saying “it sucked” and he added a buy-in show to AEW while going commercial-free for the first 30 minutes to counter SmackDown’s commercial-free last 30 minutes. In some cases, Khan was criticized for calling out the competition so much, but it’s clear his strategy paid off.

The complete demographic breakdown for last Friday were as follows:

  • People 18-49 – 0.24 (SmackDown), 0.24 (Rampage)
  • Females 18-49 – 0.16 (SmackDown), 0.14 (Rampage)
  • Males 18-49 – 0.32 (SmackDown), 0.34 (Rampage)
  • People 18-34 – 0.15 (SmackDown), 0.17 (Rampage)
  • Females 12-34 – 0.10 (SmackDown), 0.10 (Rampage)
  • Males 12-34 – 0.20 (SmackDown), 0.16 (Rampage)
  • People 25-54 – 0.28 (SmackDown), 0.28 (Rampage)
  • People 50+ – 0.43 (SmackDown), 0.21 (Rampage)

Kahn said in a tweet before the numbers were revealed, “I’m only estimating but this suggests to me that we probably did pretty well in the yet-to-be-released head-to-head ratings from 10 pm-10:30 pm, a fight that I didn’t ask for or start, but one for which I was more than willing to show up and in which I was thrilled to participate.” When the numbers were revealed, he was clearly excited about it.

The ratings were extremely close and the demos tight, but this is a big victory for AEW in some respects.

While this was a one-time thing and SmackDown will shift back to its regular time and channel this Friday, one has to wonder if Khan is feeling good about his product and wondering if it’s time to try and take on WWE a bit more often. It is interesting how the supporters for each promotion have come out in droves to back both AEW and WWE. It certainly goes to show that competition in the wrestling industry certainly gets the fans going.

Source: TheSportster

WWE RAW Preview 10/18/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, with the final build for Thursday’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

Rhea Ripley Loses WWE Women’s Tag Team Title While Traveling

One half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Rhea Ripley, took to Twitter earlier today hoping to spread the word that her luggage has gone missing. Among the lost items is the Women’s Tag Team Title belt that Rhea travels with for press and appearances.

“*LOST GEAR BAG* My MosherZ of Albuquerque I know this is a stretch but, if any of you have seen a black travel suitcase around Office Boulevard & Montaño rd please hold onto it and let me know. It has all my gear in it, including my title. Cheers!”

It’s been noted in the past that WWE will give a replica title belt to their stars when traveling and doing press. They also have a series of championship titles made specifically for television that appear best on camera.

Rhea and Nikki A.S.H. (known as “Super Brutality”) have been defending their tag titles both on television and at WWE Live Events against Natalya and Tamina. They have been champions since September 20, 2021 when they defeated Natalya and Tamina in Charlotte, NC.

https://twitter.com/RheaRipley_WWE/status/1449791967634747392

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 10/15/21

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California will be a special Supersized edition that airs on FS1 due to the MLB airing on FOX. The episode will air for 2 hours and 30 minutes with the last half hour airing commercial-free.

Backstage Talk On WWE Knowing They Have An Issue With The Age Of The Main Roster

WWE officials are reportedly looking at getting more younger talents ready for the main roster.

A new report from Wrestling Observer Radio noted that WWE officials are very much aware of the idea that they have a lot of 40 year old Superstars on the main roster.

This is said to be the reason for the recent WWE NXT 2.0 brand changes as the company absolutely realizes they have to get wrestlers in their 20s ready for the main roster.

While there might be a feeling among some fans that WWE is in denial over the shape of the main roster, especially when it comes to the age of current talents and the lack of younger stars for the future, that is reportedly not the case as officials are “more than aware” of the problem, and are making changes to fix it.

WWE currently has 22 main roster Superstars who are 40 or older – Asuka (40), Cesaro (40), Finn Balor (40), Kofi Kingston (40), RAW Tag Team Champion Randy Orton (41), WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (41), Shayna Baszler (41), The Miz (41), Dolph Ziggler (41), John Morrison (42), Sheamus (43), Tamina Snuka (43), AJ Styles (44), Jeff Hardy (44), Titus O’Neil (44), Bobby Lashley (45), Robert Roode (45), Rey Mysterio (46), Shelton Benjamin (46), MVP (47), WWE Hall of Famer Edge (47), R-Truth (49). Furthermore, part-timers like Brock Lesnar (44), John Cena (44) and WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg (54) are also used. There are also dozens of Superstars in their mid-30s and who are pushing 40, such as Natalya (39) and WWE United States Champion Damian Priest (39).

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Won’t Run TLC Pay-Per-View In 2021?

WWE reportedly isn’t planning to hold the annual TLC pay-per-view in 2021. The company has performed the show every year since 2009.

The WWE TLC pay-per-view runs annually in the month of December, but it sounds like the show won’t be happening this year.

Previously, an unnamed pay-per-view was scheduled to run on Dec. 12 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Several weeks ago, it was reported that TLC 2021 would actually run on Dec. 12.

However, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingNews.co), that WWE isn’t actually running a pay-per-view in December. Meltzer added “the feeling is now” running 12 pay-per-views annually. Instead of a TLC December show, WWE will have the “Day 1” pay-per-view on Jan. 1 (a Saturday) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

With that, there are only two WWE pay-per-views remaining for 2021. Crown Jewel will be held next Thursday at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Barring a change of plans, Survivor Series will be the final PPV event of 2021 — at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 21.

Regarding other WWE pay-per-views that were held in 2020 but excluded this year include Payback (Aug. 30 of last year), and Clash of Champions (held in 2019 and 2020). Backlash was renamed “WrestleMania Backlash” this year, having featured several WrestleMania 37 rematches.

WWE performs two shows in Saudi Arabia annually, but they were only able to run the one in 2020 (Super ShowDown on Feb. 27) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crown Jewel 2021 will be the lone WWE pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia this year.

WWE performed TLC every year from 2009 to 2020, but it looks like they’re keen on changing things up this year. Instead of a December pay-per-view, there will be two PPVs in January — the aforementioned Day One event on Jan. 1 and the annual Royal Rumble. That show will be held on Jan. 29 inside The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT 2.0 Preview 10/12/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will feature a NXT North American Title match and the build for Halloween Havoc will continue.

* NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott defends against Santos Escobar

* NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa vs. Joe Gacy in a non-title match. If Gacy wins, he will be added to Bron Breakker vs. Ciampa for the NXT Title at Halloween Havoc

* Von Wagner and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Ridge Holland and Pete Dunne

* The second edition of “Lashing Out with Lash Legend”

Velvet Sky Says Jeff Hardy “Deserves Way More”

On Monday’s RAW, Jeff Hardy went up against Austin Theory after Theory took out Hardy the week prior. Near the end of the match, Hardy missed a swanton bomb and Theory rolled him up (while also grabbing his belt/pants) for the pinfall victory.

This loss was the latest in a string of losses Hardy has had over the past few weeks (WWE US Champion Damian Priest, 6-Man Tag Match, and a US Title Triple Threat at Extreme Rules) despite still receiving big cheers from the fans.

NWA Commentator Velvet Sky commented about Hardy and WWE’s usage of the veteran star.

“[In my honest opinion], Jeff Hardy deserves way more than how he’s being used,” Sky wrote.

https://twitter.com/VelVelHoller/status/1447736625346265089

A fan in the comments questioned if Hardy going over someone new, like Theory, was really the way to go, instead.

“No I didn’t say that at all,” Sky responded. “I don’t have a problem with vets putting over younger talent. But with Jeff he gets buried week after week.”

WWE RAW Preview 10/11/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Chase Center in San Francisco, California with the first red brand matches for the 2021 King of the Ring Tournament and the inaugural Queen’s Crown Tournament.