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Old 04-02-2021, 04:02 PM   #1552
Emperor Smeat
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The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

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The WWE and USA Network made the official announcement on 3/30 of NXT moving to Tuesdays at 8 p.m ...

With the announcement came a second announcement of a multi-year deal signed to keep the show on USA. The original two-year deal was to expire at the end of September.

As was expected, Sportsnet in Canada and BT in the U.K. are also moving NXT up a day to air live. NXT had just started in Canada live on 2/24 and had never even cracked the ratings chart, doing lower numbers then it had done on Friday night at 7 p.m.

The move ends the Wednesday night wars after just over 18 months, a war that went very different from almost all business predictions. It was thought that between the WWE’s muscle, NXT’s underground popularity and USA being a familiar spot for wrestling fans, that NXT had too many advantages for AEW to overcome, even if the novelty of AEW may win some early weeks ...

Paul Levesque held a team meeting before the 3/31 taping with talent. He talked about how it was six years ago, at WrestleMania 31, that the little NXT promotion sold out a show (they did 5,000 fans at the San Jose State University Gym on the Friday night before WrestleMania) and they’ve grown to having two hours of national television ...

Levesque said that NXT was always on Wednesday and then the competition came to their night.

He pushed that this was better, and it is for the brand, because they will have Raw as a lead-in and they now have the night to themselves.

The end result saw, with one week before the final competitive show on 4/7, that AEW has won 70 of the 71 head-to-head shows in 18-49, and doubled NXT 20 times. The only week NXT won was December 18, 2019, at which point AEW started a turnaround. The total viewer race due to NXT usually winning in 50+ and often by a sizeable margin, wasn’t quite as one-sided, but still ended up 60-9 in AEW’s favor with two ties (if you went to the next digit into the hundreds AEW and NXT each won one of the ties, but that’s way below the margin of error).

With 4/7 being a Takeover show, it would be a big surprise if NXT doesn’t win with total viewers. They could on the last week of competition, score their second win in 18-49, but that is less certain. The gap being so close this week for a normal show would indicate NXT should win, because it does better with themed shows. Putting the show on Peacock may siphon some viewers from television as UFC TV ratings when shows are simulcast on ESPN+ are a little lower than one would expect, but not a ton lower ...

NXT had major edges, being a WWE brand, being promoted on Raw, being on the wrestling channel and perhaps most importantly, almost always having the stronger lead-in. They also loaded up TV more as far as championship matches went. But they were the C brand for WWE. At first there was the attempt to make it seem to be the third brand, but two things happened. The first is, they kept losing, even when sending top stars from the main roster they lost. While winning in viewers, a key note was when Becky Lynch, the biggest star in wrestling at that moment, went to NXT to face Rhea Ripley, and lost head-to-head in 18-49 to Nick Jackson vs. Rey Fenix. The second was COVID, and for a while, Vince McMahon wanted to keep the main roster talent away from NXT with the idea that NXT was getting COVID breakouts and he didn’t want that spreading to the main roster to a significant degree (which also killed the Raw Underground concept).

There were a lot of lessons shown by the results of the last 18 plus months. Even though AEW had more viewers most weeks, roughly the same number of homes watched both shows (usually in the 520,000 range of late).

AEW drew significantly more viewers per home, so they produced a show that family members, usually in the 18-49 age group, watched together. At first we didn’t know if it was family or friends watching together that swelled the VPH numbers, but once the pandemic hit, AEW’s numbers were not hurt so it appeared to be family. They skewed younger and more direct. Often AEW would have more than 50 percent of its viewers being 18-49, something no other sport, not even the NBA or soccer, did regularly although the latter two sports would on occasion have individual games that did so. It will be interesting to see if this changes if one would presume more older and single viewer homes will be the new additions to watching AEW.

AEW was often the youngest skewing sports event of the week, and often the one watched by more people together. NXT was the second oldest skewing wrestling show of the week (there were weeks Smackdown skewed older but they were rare, Impact skews the oldest), normally late 50s median viewer and more often watched by one person.

However, with teenagers, the advantage was not big. With 18-49, the AEW advantage was huge. With over 50, the NXT advantage was significant.

At the beginning that would be one thing, but over the course of 18 months, the 18-49 gap widened, even as AEW’s viewers per home and women viewers declined this year ...

But in the end, it’s a product appeal. NXT had far more appeal to viewers over 50, long-time fans, and that makes up the largest percentage of the modern television audience. It’s an age group that either wasn’t going to accept a non-WWE product, or didn’t like the AEW product, even with a number of ex-WWE stars and lots of older stars who are familiar like Sting, Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Jon Moxley, and for older fans, people like Jake Roberts.

For teenagers, while AEW had the edge, it wasn’t a big edge, and some weeks NXT had more teenage viewers. But NXT’s 18-34 numbers were terrible and it’s 35-49 numbers were much lower. AEW was actually ahead of Raw and Smackdown at times with 18-34 women, but that is no longer the case. AEW very often doubled NXT with men 18-49. But AEW clearly has a troubling point regarding the loss of women viewers in recent months ...

If anything, what Wednesday taught us is that different aged fans are different. Older fans don’t want newer wrestling. The only time AEW really could attract an older audience was with Shaquille O’Neal. Even Sting couldn’t really do that, nor did the Crockett nostalgia segments. 18-49 fans did favor the faster and more acrobatic style. The men liked the heavier usage of blood. The women did not. AEW fans would tune to NXT to see a great technical wrestling match. NXT male fans did tune to AEW to see the women’s bloodbath, something NXT would never produce ...

Unique looking matches, such as out of the ring street fight type bouts, things that look out of the ordinary, did work in attracting viewers on both sides. Personalities were important, but on neither show was there a personality who would get people to switch every time when they were on the air. It’s more the segment, and the segment mix. Sting and Shaq were the exception, but even for Sting, that was only for a few weeks. News seemed to hurt AEW worse, as did rival sports, which makes sense with the younger viewership. NXT gained more when they had a themed name show, whereas AEW had a lot of shows give theme names but it was the matches, and not the theme name, that made the difference.

The move to Tuesday was the best for the industry as a whole as both shows should gain viewers across the board without competition. It wasn’t’ made for that reason, but because the USA Network expects to be airing NHL Hockey on Wednesdays, meaning there was no way NXT could have kept the time slot. Even though NXT numbers are higher than NHL numbers except generally during the playoffs, the NHL is considered is far more prestigious sports property and would have priority. NBCU has not signed a new deal with the NHL, which ends at the end of this season., but are still in talks ...

NXT’s role in moving from the network to cable and going live, expanding to two hours, was to keep AEW from being successful. That failed early when it lost nearly every week and AEW signed a four-year contract for $175 million in January, 2020, barely three months into a previous two-year deal where AEW only received production costs and a percentage of ad revenue. Given the pandemic wiping out live events, AEW would have been in terrible trouble had the new deal not been signed and those with the company have talked of the tapings done at QT Marshall’s gym in Decatur, GA, as saving the company.

When NXT was twice moved to Tuesday due to NHL playoff games (that ended up not airing on USA after all), it did far better unopposed, in particular with younger viewers, with a 33 percent increase in 18-49 numbers. However, AEW also did better, although most of the gains were with older viewers. Going unopposed only increased AEW’s 18-49 number by 16 percent, the key being NXT does so much less of that audience that there is less to gain, while for NXT, being no longer against AEW, there is more to gain in 18-49 since AEW dominated that demo when they went head-to-head ...

As far as what to expect, last year in the fall each show was in its new regular time slot unopposed twice. AEW averaged 972,000 viewers and 0.37 in 18-49. NXT averaged on Tuesdays 839,000 viewers and 0.24.

Given what both shows were averaging at the time, AEW increased 146,000 viewers and 0.05 in 18-49 without NXT competition, while NXT on Tuesday increased 165,000 viewers and 0.06 in 18-49 moving to Tuesday. It should be noted that NXT put on hotshot loaded shows on those Tuesdays and for normal shows it may not increase as much, although if it gets established as a normal time slot, perhaps in the long run it will increase that much or more. AEW may not increase quite as much in 18-49 because NXT had gotten so weak this year in that demo that there aren’t a lot of viewers to gain, particularly when a large number of NXT fans are not going to watch AEW. But there is clearly the crossover audience as shown by what happens in both directions during commercial breaks ...

AEW’s gains would likely be largely be over 50, and there is question with the type of show they have if they will maintain those new gains. NXT should make major gains in 18-49, which they did the few times AEW was moved ...

While categorizing this as a WWE retreat would be incorrect, and in the end, NXT will do far better without AEW competition, there is no way to categorize the Wednesday war as anything but a major win for AEW. AEW took a time slot that was averaging 450,000 viewers and an 0.12 in 18-49 for TNT.

As of 3/24, the 2021 average was AEW with 781,000 viewers and 374,000 (0.29) in 18-49 while NXT averaged 654,000 viewers and 208,000 (0.16) in 18-49. Both of these numbers are lower than the actual drawing power of this year. The January dates included shows against the attempted government takeover and impeachment trial days. NXT took a time slot that USA was doing about 750,000 viewers in, and had a huge advantage to start each show with a far stronger lead-in but most weeks that lead was over by the five minute mark of the show. Of late, AEW had been tripling NXT in head-to-head main events on some occasions.
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WWE is heading into its biggest week of the year which includes new events on either television or Peacock for nine straight days ..

Both [Mania] shows will be starting at 8 p.m. Eastern for the main card, with the pre-show believed to be starting at 6:30 p.m. This would be cutting 30 minutes off the pre-show, which has felt too long every year. They are also starting the main show one hour later than they have been starting PPV shows for some time.

Even though they are advertising that WrestleMania is exclusive to Peacock, it is still available from all television PPV outlets. ATT U-verse is charging $35 per night. InDemand is charging $29.99 per night. DirecTV is charging $34.95 per night. The Dish Network is charging $59.99 for both nights. And Vubquity is charging $29.97 per night.

Live event tickets sold almost completely in the presale. At press time, nine days before the show, there were 1,000 tickets left for Saturday and 809 tickets left for Sunday, so both will almost certainly sell out of their allotment of tickets that were originally put on sale. We still don’t know what that number is. We do know that expectations were that they would do a UFC 261-like immediate sellout with huge demand for the first events back with ticketed fans due to the pent-up demand, and there is disappointment that didn’t happen. But it’s a weird time.

Less people are willing to travel and in particular coming from the key overseas markets is very difficult due to quarantine rules.

The get in price on the secondary market is $57 on Saturday and $55 on Sunday, so it’s dropped, but basically that says it’s not a bad number by any means and doesn’t indicate scalpers are talking a bath. But it’s not a super hot ticket either. The 4/24 UFC show in Jacksonville which is sold out is at $298 get-in which is a very strong price.

WrestleMania will announce whatever number WWE wants, which has to be between 25,000 and 30,000 since they already announced 25,000 and can’t really announce less than that. Plus, they have to announce a number bigger than the Super Bowl (22,500) at Raymond James Stadium because that’s the M.O. I don’t see WWE having the New Japan mentality where they felt it was better to announce a lower number than the real one because they felt a low number in these times reflects better on the company to the public. But the Japanese mentality on that is very different than the American mentality. It is likely the real number won’t be available until the end of June or early July.

Right now each show has seven matches confirmed, and with the exception of a few women, everyone on the roster seems accounted for at this point for the weekend.

The 4/10 will be adding a multiple women’s tag team match. This will be announced on television over the next week as far as who is in it, but one would suspect Tamina & Natalya, Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke, Lana & Naomi and Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott to be among the teams. It would also appear that there would be no women’s Battle Royal, since there aren’t enough women on the main roster to add a Battle Royal. Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Billie Kay, Carmella and Reckoning (Mia Yim) are the only women not accounted for. Some could be added to the tag team match. Bliss is likely to only be used as part of the Randy Orton vs. The Fiend presentation. One would suspect Flair and Bayley in particular would be part of the show. The winners of this tag team match will face Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler for the titles on 4/11.

The rest of the 4/10 show is Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the Smackdown women’s title, which is being positioned in many card rundowns as the main event, on top of Lashley vs. McIntyre. Under that is Bad Bunny (with Damien Priest) vs. The Miz (with John Morrison), New Day vs. Omos & A.J. Styles for the Raw tag titles, Strowman vs. Shane McMahon in a cage match and Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins.
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Manuel Andrade did his first post-WWE interview on 3/29 with Hugo Savinovich and said a few things of note.

He said that the reason Charlotte Flair was pulled from the advertising of WrestleMania was that she was mistakenly told by a WWE doctor that she was pregnant. He said this took place before she got COVID. He also noted that he also had COVID a few weeks ago but is fine now.

He said that she took home pregnancy tests that indicated she wasn’t pregnant and later did an ultrasound and blood work that also indicated not being pregnant. He mentioned the same doctor informed him of his suspension for a Wellness policy violation. He maintained it was due to a tainted supplement that he couldn’t get tested ...

This explains why everyone was so secretive about her when she disappeared from television two weeks ago, and was pulled from advertising. WWE goes with the idea that somebody with COVID will generally be out 10-to-14 days and she’d easily make WrestleMania with that time frame.

Charlotte Flair was backstage at the 3/29 Raw show but wasn’t used on the show.

He also talked about the hostage situation in Saudi Arabia and noted that he was one of the guys who refused to do future trips. However, he was on the most recent Saudi Arabia show on February 27, 2020. What was the saddest part of the story is that he went on the trip and said that his mother was on her deathbed and because of the delay in getting home, she passed away before he could see her for the last time. He noted that when WWE arranged for the private plane for some of the stars of Smackdown to get out (they still ended up missing the show), he said that they knew the story but didn’t put him on that plane. While in Europe after the “hostage” trip, there was a movement where a lot of talent said they would never go back, but only a few that we know of, FTR being others and they were also looking to leave the company, actually in the end wouldn’t go back. Most of those who didn’t go to future shows, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Aleister Black either had refused to go prior to the hostage deal or weren’t allowed to go based on ethnicity or tattoos ...

He also said he’s looking at going to New Japan. We do know Takaaki Kidani was a big fan of his and was mad when he signed with WWE as they had plans for La Sombra. He had mentioned wanting to wrestle Psycho Clown in Mexico, and work for a new promotion (Rush has a new promotion) and wrestle Rush. He also brought up wanting to wrestle Kenny Omega. He said he felt he would have to sign with a full-time U.S. group but wanted to continue to wrestle in Mexico without being tied to any company. He mentioned AEW and ROH as companies he’d be interested in, as well as New Japan. He said he’s already had many offers from all over the world, as well as make appearances, and was being offered the level of money he was looking for ...

He was able to get a full release without a 90 day non-compete, and the question is still how he was allowed to pull that off. He could show up in AEW this week if he wants to. WWE told him they owned the names Andrade Cien Almas and Andrade. He noted that he owns the name La Sombra in the U.S., which he trademarked just recently, which was a sign he was looking at life after WWE. He said he’s looking at using names like Andrade el Idolo or Andrade el Sombra, but does want to keep using Andrade, since it is his real last name.

He said he learned a lot in WWE, wrestled great people but it wasn’t what he wanted it to be, but still said it was a positive experience. When asked about what he may have told Rush, he said that in WWE, the money isn’t great at first but in time it can be great ...

He said he made the decision he wanted out some time back when he was asked to put over Drew McIntyre via a squash and McIntyre wanted to give him offense feeling he was too good to be squashed.

He also complained about not being used, and both talent and producers constantly told him he was too good to not be used. He said he was told it was because his English wasn’t good, but he noted how many great wrestlers are in WWE who speak perfect English that also don’t get pushed. He also noted that they could have someone speak for him (Zelina Vega was in that role but they broke them up and in hindsight there was no real reason to do it other than that’s what they do, since the breakup only made both acts weaker).

He said he met with Levesque a few weeks ago and he was told he could go back to NXT for a year and then bring him back to the Raw or Smackdown after that point with a new contract. He said that there are wrestlers in NXT who don’t want to leave out of fear they’ll wind up like he wound up. But he said he had no interest in going backwards and felt he could make good money outside WWE. He said that he didn’t believe he was held back over race reasons. When brought up about his English skills, he didn’t buy that as a reason noting Asuka was pushed and that many people who speak good English were in the same boat he was. He was also told after getting his release that the door would be open to him to come back. He brought up that Drew McIntyre at one point was in the same position he was, left for years, and built up his name and came back. He positioned that he saw WWE as the top of the food chain and still wanted to be the best of the best. He said he thinks others in the company should do what he is doing. If they can’t get a better spot, leave and prove themselves worthy of one.

He said he wanted to go somewhere he has the chance to be either a top guy, or at least a place he would be given a fair chance to earn a top position. He expressed no interest in going to CMLL to feud with their new Ingobernables, saying that was the past. When asked if he wanted to reform the faction with Rush, he said he’d be more interested in wrestling against Rush for his title. He said he’d like to face all the top guys in New Japan, as well as he’d like a match with Omega over the AAA title. He said he wanted to face the biggest stars to prove that he belongs in that group ...

He also noted that WWE asked Angel Garza to cut his hair because they were going to push him, so he did, and they didn’t push him.
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Ring of Honor celebrated its 19th anniversary with a 3/26 PPV show that was taped in Baltimore ...

The main event saw Rush retain the ROH title over Jay Lethal in a match where LFI and Lethal’s group that includes Jonathan Gresham, Williams and Titus were all involved. After the match ended, LFI looked to be standing tall after Rush laid out Titus and Gresham with belt shots and Kenny King was choking Titus with a chair. Brody King came out, and they made fun of the idea there were three of them. Then he brought in Tony Deppen, and LFI laughed at him. Then Chris Dickinson and Homicide came from behind LFI and Dickinson laid out Kenny King with a brainbuster. Brody King helped Lethal up, but then clotheslined him and Homicide laid out Lethal with a cop killa. So it looks like a three-faction feud on top, and going back to Rush vs. Brody King, but this time with Brody King having backup.

As of last word, Deppen, Dickinson nor Homicide were signed to ROH.

Joe Koff this past week had talked about how the Maryland Commission may allow them to have fans at shows soon, but considered the possibility of continuing things as they are since with no fans, the TV tapings don’t get spoiled ahead of time.
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This year’s WrestleMania week events are down because of less travelers and COVID restrictions.

Game Changer Wrestling announced that they will be running 12 shows in Tampa over the weekend of WrestleMania. The events take place at the Cuban Club in Tampa, and will air on FITE TV, with the highlight event being the Josh Barnett Bloodsport show on Thursday at 8 p.m., or head-to-head with the second day of Takeover.

Last year’s Joey Janela Spring Break show was hopeful of drawing 4,000 fans to the Cuban Club, and they had an advance that indicated it was possible before the shutdown. With less people traveling, tickets across the board for these shows are way down. The hope for this year’s Spring Break show is to hit 1,000.

The shows will be from 4/8 to 4/10, meaning for the first time there are shows head-to-head with WrestleMania, since they booked shows with the idea that WrestleMania was only going to be on Sunday.

AEW isn’t coming to Tampa, although they will be doing live TV on 4/7, a closed-set TV taping on 4/8 (fans not allowed because they want to avoid results getting out) and a house show on 4/9, all in Jacksonville at Daily’s Place, which is 200 miles away and a roughly three-and-a-half hour drive.

AEW television tickets for 4/7 appear to have 602 tickets accounted for (sold or those listed for sale that are no longer for sale) and there were 201 tickets remaining as of Thursday. So that’s along the lines or slightly ahead of what usual TVs are doing.

The 4/9 show went on sale at the same time, and a few hours in they had sold or had accounted for 855 tickets, and at press time that was 903, with 177 tickets left. So that show will easily sell out given there will be people who will be there who decide to go at the last minute and those who decide this week.
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AAA: So here’s the deal with Lio Rush beating Laredo Kid to win the title on MLW television and then it never being talked about again. Rush wasn’t supposed to win the title but there was a miscommunication in the MLW match about what the finish was supposed to be and everyone just decided to go with it since it happened. They could have just edited it off TV but they had spent time building it up so they didn’t do it. The idea was just go with it and have Lio Rush come to Mexico to lose it back. But the AAA TV dates didn’t coincide with Rush’s schedule. They thought about just doing a phantom switch saying it happened in Mexico but when AAA’s digital team never announced the title switch to begin with, the decision was eventually made to just go with the idea in Mexico that it never happened.
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NEW JAPAN: Here are a few notes from the recent Bushiroad quarterly report. The notes on their sports business are, as usual, very limited. In the second quarter, which was November through January, the total revenue from New Japan and Stardom was $13.3 million. That’s down 19.5 percent from last year, for the obvious reasons. The decline over the six month period was 17.4 percent. New Japan World ended the period at 116,000 paid subscribers. Keep in mind that Stardom business grew tremendously so the New Japan decline is greater than those numbers would indicate. But you’re also comparing two Tokyo Domes in 2020 that drew more than 70,000 paid with two shows that did probably around 22,000 paid and that makes up for a lot of the difference. Plus there was a lot more merchandise purchased because of less restrictions in 2020
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The Lucha Underground reboot we wrote about a few weeks ago is actually a project of Konnan and Court Bauer which has to do with the angle they’ve been running on MLW television. The idea is to have Azteca Underground as the spiritual successor to the old Lucha Underground group. There have been teases since January when they started the storyline that Promociones Dorado, the group led by Salina de la Renta, was secretly purchased by a mysterious guy called El Jefe, who has yet to be revealed but evidently would be the guy in charge in the Dario Cueto role if and when the new idea gets rolling. They have launched an Azteca Underground website. There is a proprietor page on that site with a man in the distance in front of the old Temple building in Boyle Heights who is certainly being teased to be Cueto, who got rave reviews for his role as the head of Lucha Underground
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Ohio Valley Wrestling and FITE TV have reached a deal to air the weekly television show every Thursday night at 7 p.m.
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James Riley, a U.K. pro wrestler, may have become the first pro wrestler convicted and sentenced for assault that I know of in history. Riley was sentenced on 3/29 to 21 months in prison for an assault against Rob Wilson, 32. The incident took place on February 8, 2020 in Ferndown, UK at the Scout Hut. Riley, 33, was training his opponent. They later had a match with each other, and when another wrestler no-showed at the last minute, ended up in a match with each other with little time to prepare although they did talk before the match. During the match, Wilson was on his knees and Riley kicked him hard in the face. Wilson bled badly and Riley told him to continue the match. He said he was dazed and said the rest of the match he was on autopilot until the match ended. Wilson had to undergo surgery for facial bone fractures. People had recorded the match on their phones and police saw it and pressed charges. Riley also was given a restraining order to have no contact with the victim for ten years. Police said the assault went far beyond anything appropriate within the parameters of pro wrestling and the victim was left with significant injuries that had a lasting effect
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Rush announced he would be starting his own new promotion in Mexico in June. He hasn’t given any details of what that means past some expecting that would be Andrade’s return to Mexico, or at least he’d work with him since the two are close friends. Andrade in interviews this week teased working for Rush’s group, and seemed to tease the idea of working here as well
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Ivelisse hasn’t been used of late. A fan asked her about it and she said that if only she could speak. She was on a per event deal and not a full-time contract. She had been teaming with Diamante but Diamante has been working as a single of late. The story was there was an issue with her and “a few” coaches and she’s not being booked right now, but it’s not like she’s been let go either at this point
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The new NFL television schedule will have a significant impact on WWE starting the fall season. The key changes are there will be three Monday nights with two different football games, one on ABC and the other on ESPN. In addition, Monday Night football will go one week longer and the contract allows for changing of the schedule in the last weeks of the season to where they will be having high-profile marquee games with greater frequency. It also affects the Royal Rumble. WWE has always tried to hold the Rumble on the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, usually the last Sunday of January. However, with the season lasting longer, the conference championships will be the final weekend of January, and every Sunday in January will have big games. The only unopposed by football weekend that the Rumble would have would be to move it to 2/6
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Ripley said that since her blow-off on NXT and being assigned to Raw, she’s just shown up and sat in catering every week with nothing being told to her. She said she was then told she was facing Asuka while she was there at 4 p.m. on 3/22, which tells you how late the decision was made and she was told
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Paige said on her streaming show that she is looking to have another exam on her neck in hopes of being cleared to wrestle again. She’s seen Edge, Christian and Bryan all told that they could never wrestle again, and then all ended up being cleared to return. Sting was also told by WWE doctors he’d never wrestle again and was also cleared this past year. All of them are also much older than she is
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Murphy is clearly frustrated by his plight right now. His angle with the Mysterios ended. He in theory is back as a heel although who knows as the only thing he did was try and get back with Rollins and get blown off. Last week he did an Instagram post where he wrote, I guess shooting his own angle, “Let’s point out the obvious! The Mysterios used me! I never needed them! I'm beyond one of the most talent(ed) in-ring performers on the planet! Aalyah used me to be on tv and advance an acting career. Dominik used me so he had a reason to stand ringside. Rey was jealous that I became the new face of the cruiserweight(s) and he was left out of the discussion. They took what they wanted then they left me in the shadows! Sounds like my time in NXT.” Evidently he was told to take this down. He also posted that it’s still up that he and Black would tear the house down at Mania. I guess he was trying to do a public explanation as to why he wasn’t with the Mysterios anymore since it was just dropped without an explanation, but he did an unauthorized angle. So far this year, Murphy, 32, has done two quick TV matches with Cesaro and that’s it, past being a face in a crowd scene of wrestlers like when Rollins came back and the quick interplay with Rollins which was to turn him heel for the Cesaro matches. Given his talent, you can imagine his frustration

Ratings:
SPOILER: show

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Raw on 3/29 did 1,701,000 viewers and an 0.56 (717,000 viewers) in 18-34.

WWE programming this week had huge increases in men 18-34 which likely has to do with WrestleMania. Raw increased big with women 18-34, doing almost the same number as women 35-49, which is almost unheard of. 35-49 numbers were more at normal levels.

Total viewers were the lowest since the end of football season. On the flip side, it was the youngest audience Raw has done of late. The declines were in viewers over 35. The show increased in viewers from hour one in every demo except over 50, which is a rarity, and won every demo except over 50 on cable.

From last week, the show was down 6.3 percent in viewers, but up 5.1 percent in 18-49 and 39.5 percent in 18-34. Both Raw and Smackdown did excellent for modern times numbers in 18-34 this week.

As compared to one year ago, this was the lowest rate of decline for a non-special show in recent memory. Audience was down 11.6 percent but 18-49 was down 3.4 percent and 18-34 was down 7.9 percent, both much better than usual.

The first hour did 1,733,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,697,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,673,000 viewers.

The key opposition was the NCAA basketball tournament on CBS. The early game did 5,922,000 viewers and a 1.37 in 18-49 and 1.01 in 18-34. The late game did 6,447,000 viewers and a 1.71 in 18-49 and 1.33 in 18-34.

Raw won every demo including women on cable for the night, except over 50. It was eighth for total viewers, behind six news shows and ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, which did 1,703,000 viewers, 0.41 in 18-49 and 0.30 in 18-34.

The first-to-third hour movement saw women 18-49 increase 5.6 percent. Men 18-49 increased 13.0 percent. Teenage girls increased 37.8 percent from the first to third hour and teenage boys increased 10.6 percent. The reason the audience declined is that over 50, still the bulk of the viewers, was down 13.3 percent over the three hours.

Raw did 133,000 viewers in male 18-34 (up 40.0 percent from last week), 114,000 in women 18-34 (up 39.0 percent), 335,000 in men 35-49 (up 1.8 percent) and 135,000 in women 35-49 (down 23.3 percent).

The show did a 0.27 in 12-17 (up 7.5 percent from last week), 0.35 in 18-34 (up 39.5 percent from last week), 0.77 in 35-49 (down 6.9 percent from last week) and 0.77 in 50+ (down 13.5 percent from last week).
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Smackdown on 3/26 did a 1.32 rating and 2,191,000 viewers (1.37 viewers per home) and an 0.57 (740,000 viewers) in 18-49.

The most notable number is that the 18-34 number of 0.39 was the best for Smackdown of the year, but even with that increase, there was basically a similar decrease in 35-49 numbers. It’s hard to know what that was for, because the key to the show was a show-long angle leading to the Sunday Mania main event changing from Roman Reigns vs. Edge to the three-way with Daniel Bryan.

For viewers per home, Smackdown remained above average and was barely behind AEW at 1.39 for the top pro wrestling number.

Smackdown placed second behind Shark Tank (0.65) in 18-49, but won 18-34 by a wide margin (Shark Tank was at 0.32), and was No. 1 on television for the day by a significant margin in that demo. The NBA game on ESPN head-to-head did 940,000 viewers and 0.30 in 18-49.

Of the eight shows on the major networks, none of which were reruns, Smackdown was fifth in women 18-49, first in men 18-49 and last in 50+. The total viewers were by far the lowest with no other show finishing below 2,943,000 viewers.

The show was up 1.5 percent in homes, 4.7 percent in viewers, down 0.1 percent in 18-49 but up 13.4 percent in 18-34 from last week.

As compared to the same week last year, Smackdown was down 7.4 percent in viewers, 16.4 percent in 18-49 but down only 2.5 percent in 18-34. These year-to-year drops are much better than the show has been doing.

Smackdown did 169,000 viewers in men 18-34 (up 43.2 percent from last week), 101,000 in women 18-34 (down 15.8 percent), 268,000 in men 35-49 (down 9.5 percent) and 202,000 in women 35-49 (down 2.4 percent).
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While AEW won both total viewers and key demos overall on 3/31, there was a big shift and it was not good news for AEW.

The key viewers in 18-49 were about the same as last week, with 612,000 on 3/24 and 608,000 in 3/31, but the split was different with NXT gaining 39,000 viewers in 18-49 and AEW losing 43,000.

AEW actually lost in males 18-34, which at times in recent weeks it’s done multiples of NXT in, and while winning with women 18-34, it lost in overall 18-34 which hasn’t happened in recent memory. AEW also lost in women 35-49. It nearly doubled NXT in males 35-49.

AEW finished seventh for the night with 700,000 viewers and an 0.26 (341,000 viewers) in 18-49, a number similar to what they drew the night of the insurrection. But there was no excuse other than WWE has been very strong in 18-34 across the board and interest in the promotion is at a year high point.

NXT was up to No. 12, its best showing in a long time, with 654,000 viewers and 0.21 in 18-49 (267,000 viewers) ...

From last week, AEW was down 7.5 percent in viewers, 11.2 percent in 18-49 and 8.8 percent in 18-34.

NXT was down 4.5 percent in viewers, but up 17.1 percent in 18-49 and up 54.2 percent in 18-34, so it greatly declined in average viewer age watching.

As compared to the same week last year, AEW was up 2.2 percent in viewers, up 13.7 percent in 18-49 and down 19.4 percent in 18-34.

NXT was up 10.8 percent in viewers over the same week last year, up 17.1 percent in 18-49 and up 31.9 percent in 18-34, so it also greatly lowered its average age from one year ago.

In the demos, AEW did 46,000 in men 18-34 (down 17.9 percent from last week) to 59,000 for NXT (up 78.8 percent from last week. AEW did 37,000 in women 18-34 (up 5.7 percent) to 32,000 for NXT (up 23.1 percent). AEW did 197,000 in men 35-49 (down 9.2 percent from last week) to 104,000 for NXT (up 36.8 percent. AEW did 61,000 in women 35-49 (down 19.7 percent) to 72,000 for NXT (up 50.0 percent).

In the main event battle, AEW with Arcade Anarchy with Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy and a cast of thousands including Penelope Ford, Sue, Kris Statlander and Trent, did 717,000 viewers and 332,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Battle Royal did 596,000 viewers and 248,000 in 18-49.

After AEW went off the air, NXT gained 103,000 viewers and 39,000 in 18-49, which is a below average overrun gain.

NXT won quarters four, five and seven with total v48iewers but lost all eight in 18-49 but came within 50,000 in that demo the entire second hour. The issue was AEW fading after the second quarter and NXT going up in quarter four and stying well above usual the rest of the show. AEW actually had a gigantic lead for the Christian Cage match, but the rest of the show didn’t come close, although Good Brothers & Kenny Omega vs. Penta & Fenix & Laredo Kid and the Arcade Anarchy matches both posted solid gains.

What was notable is that with men, NXT’s strongest segments were all women’s segments, most involving Raquel Gonzalez, although the Xia Li handicap match was the high point in men 18-49.

Christian Cage’s in-ring debut against Frankie Kazarian was the star performer for AEW doing 844,000 viewers and 396,000 in 18-49. It was AEW’s peak in viewers, 18-49, male 18-49, female 18-49 male 35-49 and female 18-34. NXT opened with Roderick Strong vs. Cameron Grimes which did 678,000 viewers and 255,000 in 18-49. It was NXT’s peak with women 18-34.

The second quarter saw AEW do 745,000 viewers and 375,000 in 18-49 for the end of Christian vs. Kazarian, Sting & Darby Allin’s video, a Jade Cargill package and the beginning of Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall. This was AEW’s high point in women 35-49. NXT did 631,000 and 247,000 in 18-49 for a Karrion Kross video, a Tommaso Ciampa video, a Santos Escobar promo and the beginning of Escobar vs. Tyler Breeze.

The third quarter saw AEW do 696,000 viewers and 333,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Marshall and the post-match, Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page’s promo and Cargill attacking Red Velvet. NXT did 646,000 viewers ad 266,000 in 18-49 for most of Escobar vs. Breeze and the post-match with MSK, Legado del Fantasma and the Grizzled Young Veterans promo.

The fourth quarter saw AEW do 673,000 viewers and 343,000 in 18-49 for a Jon Moxley promo, Moxley vs. Cezar Bononi and segments with Team Taz as well as the Inner Circle/Pinnacle brawl segment. This was AEW’s high point in men 18-34. NXT did 675,000 viewers and 289,000 in 18-49 for Raquel Gonzalez beating up Io Shirai and Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae’s win plus the post-match with Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart. This was NXT’s high point in 18-49, women 18-49, and women 35-49.

The firth quarter saw AEW do 632,000 viewers and 311,000 in 18-49 for the Don Callis and Matt Jackson angle and the beginning of the Kenny Omega & Good Brothers vs. Penta & Fenix & Laredo Kid match. NXT did 688,000 viewers and 279,000 in 18-49 for Zoey Stark vs. Raquel Gonzalez and the Gonzalez beatdown of Io Shirai and Pete Dunne & Kushida. This was NXT’s high point with total viewers, males 18-34 and 18-34 overall.

The sixth quarter saw AEW do 683,000 viewers and 332,000 in18-49 for most of the Omega & Good Brothers six-man, the post-match and the Britt Baker interview. NXT did 665,000 viewers and 283,000 in 18-49 for the Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly piece and Xia Li vs. Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Cater. This was NXT’s high point in males 18-49 and tied for the high point in males 35-49.

The seventh quarter saw AEW do 611,000 viewers and 308,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida & Tay Conti vs. Nyla Rose & The Bunny with a cast of thousands at ringside. NXT did 638,000 viewers and 263,000 in 18-49 for Gonzalez beating up Shirai again and interviews with Ciampa and Finn Balor. This tied for the NXT high point in males 35-49.

In the final quarter, AEW gained 106,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 for Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor. NXT lost 42,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for most of the Battle Royal.
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Thus far in 2021, the key wrestling shows have all declined in quarter one. Raw is down 21.1 percent in 18-49, Smackdown down 20.3 percent, Dynamite down 9.2 percent and NXT down 22.6 percent. In overall viewers, Raw is down 17.1 percent, Smackdown is down 12.3 percent, AEW is down 12.2 percent and NXT is down 6.7 percent. AEW is the only show skewing younger but Raw isn’t skewing much older, while Smackdown is and NXT is more than anyone. Both Wednesday shows were hurt more by outside news but when you’re doing three months of shows, the weeks that have been the case will affect the average to a degree, but overall it is still basically representative of where things stand.
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