[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Callis pushed himself as the architect of two things that changed wrestling history, putting together the Omega vs. Jericho match at the Tokyo Dome, which they noted Tony Khan has said is in many ways spawned AEW and this angle. He pushed himself as knowing Omega since Omega was ten years old, because his original manager on Winnipeg independents, The Golden Sheik, was Omega’s uncle. Josh Matthews went in a luxury trailer and Callis said that he didn’t get back into the business to do a podcast or to announce for New Japan Pro Wrestling, but that this has been the plan for 27 years. From most accounts, he laid out this idea in December 2019. Callis has adopted the gimmick of “The Invisible Hand,” with the idea he’s the guy who worked behind the scenes to change the business. There is a lot of reality in this gimmick. Callis really did manipulate behind the scenes a situation that made Impact more relevant than any other possible angle. Everyone knew this angle would move Impact into a spotlight it hasn’t had for years. The gut reaction right now is that it’s the best wrestling angle in a long time. What it means is hard to say because wrestling is so different. The promo on Impact did feel like the birth of an 80s world champion Ric Flair/Bockwinkel type of guy in Omega. It had the feel of being a game changer for AEW as well, the dynamic of the executive from the rival company stealing the best wrestler and the champion but leading to a feud. Time will tell regarding the results. There is the force of social media allowing people to be more into wrestling than before, combined with fragmented media and two decades since the last boom period and fans run off that aren’t quick to come back, a majority of the fan base growing up with one major league and nothing else can be important, versus an out of the box angle that could be the best angle in wrestling in a long time. The actual idea was suggested by Callis when Omega and Adam Page started their team and while Page was to come out as the heel at one point, that changed based on the early reaction to Page. A combination of the team getting over as more than just a thing to break up and elevate Page, and the idea of waiting to split them up, along with COVID, delayed the start. There is the loose-end storyline in the sense the Omega/Page breakup dynamic has a second payoff when they are put back together. This run as a heel will make the Omega eventual run as a babyface that much stronger, yet this heel run with the Callis dynamic may have some long legs. It’s so early and there are so many unknowns and variables, between interpromotional matches and such, that nobody can really tell how long it goes. You kind of ride it but you also have to make sure it’s not WCW where you have no follow-up, no ending and you ride it all the way up and then even farther down. Interpromotional angles, historically, when done right and particularly at first, almost always work. While AEW has done tremendous for a start-up company, it’s very different from an era when the mainstream popularity and penetration of wrestling was so much larger. And while TV ratings are a measure, the real test of this would be live attendance and see how strong it is and when to make changes. The reality is, this is the one and only time in wrestling history where you don’t get that instant feedback regarding how well this is working.

AAA: Dorian Roldan did an interview on the Mas Lucha podcast talking on a number of subjects, as transcribed by The Cubs Fan. He said he’s learned it’s very important to always have a good main event because that’s how people end up viewing the show. He said some shows with good matches underneath but a so-so main event get worse reviews. When asked about the AEW/Impact relationship, he said to ask him again in a month and said he hopes to talk to AEW soon. He said he’s negative about bringing foreign wrestlers to Mexico as regulars now due to the AEW/WWE promotional war, as anyone they bring in that does well will immediately get taken. He said they’ve had a ton of great foreign wrestlers over the years but then lost them. He noted that they debuted Cain Velasquez and he got over great but then WWE signed him. He also said regarding foreign stars coming in for one-shots, that in many of the cities they ran, the local fans don’t even know who the foreign stars are. He brought up when they had an A.J. Styles vs. Mesias match that he thought was great, but the crowd didn’t care. He was more positive on Kenny Omega. He said the AAA/Twitch relationship was canceled months ago because the company wanted more exposure and instead went with YouTube and Facebook. He noted the company dropping a lot of the music where they were like the 80s in the U.S. and play classic rock and other classic music. Really, AAA in the 90s was born on familiar music at the shows. He said they had to change because their YouTube channel kept getting strikes ad the videos were getting de-monetized and categorized it as throwing money in the trash, but said he knows the fans preferred the old music. He said they had a plan for an AAA Training Center, but COVID put the plans on old.

NEW JAPAN: We’re not sure what is going on regarding the Super J Cup. The show was scheduled for 12/12 at Thunder Studios in Los Angeles. It’s possible it was already taped in which case it’s fine. Thunder Studios have shut down due to the pandemic and with the restrictions in Los Angeles, they would have to move out of the city most likely. NJPW has not commented on this. It will be an eight-man one-night tournament with wrestlers from multiple promotions, which is the historical theme of the Super J Cup. The first round has Chris Bey from Impact against Clark Connors of the New Japan California base crew, TJP of Impact vs. ACH, who has been working for New Japan’s U.S. group, Rey Horus from ROH vs Blake Christian and Lio Rush of MLW vs. El Phantasmo of New Japan Pro Wrestling, who was the 2019 winner. The show also has KENTA & Hikuleo vs. Karl Fredericks & Ren Narita

Nielsen will be changing its methodology of ratings once again, with all digital viewing being monitored the same as television, because advertisers are pushing it. The plan is to have this up and running by the fourth quarter of 2022

There will be a documentary released on Kurt Angle on 12/12 on the 411Mania YouTube page

IMPACT: Right now the belief is that Ethan Page isn’t re-signing. Page has pushed for his new Vlog as possibly his last one from Impact. The company and his friends are of the belief he’s finished up. That seems to end The North tag team at least for now. Josh Alexander has a long time left on his deal. We were told nine months. The North was the company’s flagship heel tag team for more than a year

Madison Rayne is apparently leaving her position as color commentator with husband Josh Matthews, who remains the lead voice. They [Impact] are looking for somebody new for the color spot

AEW: The 12/23 episode of Dynamite called Holiday Bash, is being moved due to TNT airing an NBA game at 7:30 p.m. Dynamite will air immediately after the NBA game which would be around a 10 p.m. start time at this point. So NXT will get the night unopposed as far as head-to-head goes and while AEW is not going to be in a good time slot, it probably will get a good lead-in because it’ll be the first night of the season. I don’t know the game will do usual first night numbers because the season feels like it just ended, but it’ll still be five to ten times the lead in, and even more with younger viewers, that AEW gets at 8 p.m., although obviously a 10 p.m. start isn’t as good an 8 p.m. start on a weeknight. But it is beneficial because of the bigger lead-in that they will at least for the first five to ten minutes get a lot of people sampling the show for the first time. It’s imperative they start off with something hot to build for something big later. The show will be taped on 12/17. The 12/30 and 1/6 shows will be a two week themed New Year’s Smash show with Snoop Dogg announcing on that show. There are those who associate Snoop Dogg with WWE and see this as breaking ranks but that’s silly. Snoop Dogg has worked with WWE, done WrestleMania, helped Banks, who he’s related to, with her entrance music and even did a T-shirt collaboration with Undertaker just recently. But he’s working for WarnerMedia, and has a new show on TBS (“Go Go Big Show” where Cody Rhodes is also a judge) that his appearance will likely promote

One of the many factors in Sting’s return is that Tony Khan made a deal with him that he can leave on his own terms, which WWE was not going to let him do. Khan also wanted Tony Schiavone to take the lead in calling when Sting showed up last week because of the idea it’s TNT and Schiavone was the announcer for WCW in Sting’s biggest years. He’s going to have to be protected given his age and the condition of his neck, but there are things he can do and there is the nostalgia thing. How long that is viable depends on the storyline, but writing last week about El Santo at 61 with Bobby Lee, and granted Sting is no Santo, but he doesn’t have to be to help AEW and the key is to use Sting to elevate younger talent

There have been some rumors regarding the idea that The Butcher (Andy Williams) leaving [AEW] because his band, Every Time I Die, is scheduled to tour this summer. At this point it’s very much up in the air whether they do them and nothing is certain. Williams has played rhythm guitar for the band of Buffalo, which he helped form, consistently since its inception in 1998, long before he was into pro wrestling. He’s actually 43, but has only been pro wrestling a little more than four years. The band has put out eight albums and has a reputation for great live shows. They have actually finished a ninth album but have held off on its release until they can tour to support it

UFC: Dana White told TSN that the company has conducted 26,300 COVID tests and the cost to the company to safely put on shows and screen for COVID has been $17 million

The latest on the TLC show on 12/20 is both main title matches, Reigns vs. Owens for the Universal title and McIntyre vs. Styles for the WWE title will be TLC matches. This comes two weeks after ladders used on two straight NXT main events and in one of the War Games matches. It is working short-term but this direction will turn TLC into the Texas Death match gimmick that went from sellouts to oblivion. Stips have not been announced for four other bouts officially on the show, which are Orton vs. The Fiend, Banks vs. Carmella for the Smackdown women’s title, Kingston & Woods vs. Alexander & Benjamin for the Raw tag titles and Baszler & Jax vs. Lana & Asuka for the women’s tag titles. They are doing Zayn vs. Big E this week in a match that if E wins, that leads to an IC title match. They are pushing Street Profits either against Roode & Ziggler or a three way adding Cesaro & Nakamura, and Lashley vs. Riddle has also been teased a few times

Regarding the direction of Roman Reigns for WrestleMania, as of right now, in December, there is no name on the books, which some note is mind-boggling since in the past much of the Mania card would be done and all booking on television and PPV would be based on leading to that direction. Sometimes there would be a change, but usually the top stuff has a direction. That’s the key when PPV revenue doesn’t ebb and flow by millions of dollars in either direction based on having the right formula for Mania, the pressure for a direction isn’t there and stuff feels thrown together as opposed to stories with a natural climax. Considering the two big names are Reigns and McIntyre, and McIntyre vs. Reigns is very much a possibility given McIntyre cutting the promo after losing to tease a return, and thus it also means McIntyre’s match isn’t locked in. What we do know is that as of right now, and this was also reported by Ringside News, that Dwayne Johnson is not scheduled. According to those very close to the situation, Johnson has brought up the possibility of doing a match with Reigns in 2022 but that’s a long way away and he’d be 49 by that time. Obviously this is all up to him, he wants in this year tomorrow, or next month, and he’s in. But on the creative side they’ve been told he’s a no go. The two most likely names are McIntyre and Bryan right now. Bryan was originally talked about for TLC, but with so few guys possible because of how few top babyfaces Smackdown has, you’ve only got Bryan, Big E, Owens and you can always turn back Uso, but Owens is being done now, Uso was just done, and Big E is at this point not under consideration. Goldberg as a name makes sense since that’s the match scheduled for last year’s show and he’s a bigger star as a special attraction and hasn’t been abused like Bryan. As of last week he was not high on the list of candidates but given he was on The Bump and directly issued the challenge, and Vince McMahon doesn’t like people hyping up a match that won’t be delivered, one has to think he’s higher on the list than even those in creative were aware. Goldberg cut a promo on Reigns saying, “He backed out on me at WrestleMania, he stole my move God knows how long ago, he continues to perform at a subpar level (this latter statement makes it clear it’s a promo gunning for the match). Let’s be perfectly honest, I’m the dude who delivers the spear and I don’t think he understands what it’s like until I deliver one to him. So Roman, it’s coming and I’m coming for you. I may be old, I may be grey, but I’m still Goldberg.” The feeling is Bryan has the ability to do incredible promos if put in that situation and that two of them can have a classic match. But from the outside, Bryan at Rumble and Goldberg at Mania does allow Mania to have the dream match that has never been done before which they like to do. McIntyre is the most protected guy other than Reigns. The one thing about Bryan, and really McIntyre as well, is that you should be confident in having a great match. The Fiend was also being set up for a program with Reigns on two separate occasions but one fell through when Vince changed his mind and the other fell through after the draft.

For the 12/25 Smackdown show, right now it will be taped either 12/22 or 12/23, most likely the latter day but it’s not official right now. Ringside News was the first to report it being a taped show

This is a long time in the future, but this will likely hurt the Wednesday shows if things continue as they are. Nielsen is going to start monitoring second-by-second ratings during commercial periods in 2024. They do minute-by-minute right now. Where it will hurt on Wednesday is with a very substantial number of viewers switching to the other show during both commercial and picture-in-picture, the second-by-second number may indicate less viewers of the ads, and it is the ad price that is one of the key factors in the value of the show. AEW in particular shares in the ad revenue during the show, which NXT and WWE shows do not, although the ad revenue is a key part of the value of those shows to the station

The WWE Network is debuting a documentary on 12/13 on Bill Goldberg’s 1997-98 WCW winning streak. A lot of people have taken credit for it over the years and as I’ve mentioned many times, I know the story because while not my idea, it was a phone call with me where Mike Tenay pitched the idea before WCW greenlit the idea for broadcast. During the past week I mentioned it in several places largely joking that I wonder if the documentary about the streak would actually give credit to the person who came up with the idea. After I’d done so, WWE on 12/8 contacted Tenay about the story. Whether they can or will try to get it on the documentary just a few days before release I don’t know, but it is clear that someone there wanted to do an accurate story rather than a bullshit story and probably felt bad they had this finished product and somehow either didn’t know where the entire idea came from or attributed it incorrectly. It’s not a secret, as I’ve told the story several times. But this is the full detailed version. Tenay grew up in Los Angeles and as a kid, you had the 88 game UCLA basketball winning streak in the Lou Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) years that ended in the most famous game of the era against Elvin Hayes and Houston. He also had the 33 game winning streak of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1971-72 season that is still a record nearly 50 years later. Goldberg got a push on Nitro and a few months into the push Tenay called me up and asked me what I thought about the idea of a legit Goldberg winning streak, which I thought was a great idea. I don’t remember the number when it started, maybe 20s or low 30s, but it would have been the week before Tenay on the air brought the number up and we both looked back on WCW results to get the actual real number from the start. For several months, every Monday before Nitro, he’d call me up because as silly as this sounds, nobody in the company knew anything about the house shows but I had all the results, so he’d ask how many matches did Goldberg have that week and he’d update it with the real number. Eric Bischoff can rightfully take credit in the sense that he okayed the idea and he was the guy in charge. As for others, no. I don’t recall when it got fake other than they had already passed 100 and the Hogan-Goldberg match when the decision was made. But for a long time, it was just something Tenay and best friend Bobby Heenan would push on the air every week and Bill’s 90 second matches would usually add 400,000 to 450,000 viewers every week out for the distinctive entrance and explosive spear and jackhammer combination. At one point management got involved and for whatever reason, never understood that all the signs with the number at all the shows were from fans who actually also paid attention on the Internet, in its infancy, and knew the house show results and knew it was real. Eventually, management decided to script the number for Tenay, Tony Schiavone and Heenan and the rest of the announcers to say on television and it became a fake number. Their mentality was that wrestling was fake anyway and the number wasn’t far off. At that point, the signs in the crowd disappeared because people knew it was a fake number. Between that and the fake Goldberg chants that they started piping in (made more embarrassing and uncool when WWF called attention to it), when people realized that, that’s when turning on Goldberg started becoming this cool thing. He went from no boos to some boos, not a lot, but they were there, to a few more. Management had no clue one of the keys to the streak was the authenticity aspect, in the sense wrestling was fake but the streak was real. On the night of the streak ending with Kevin Nash, Tenay and Bobby Heenan told Tony Schiavone leaving the MCI Center in Washington, DC that the handwriting was on the wall for a company collapse. Schiavone thought they were overreacting. 1999 was the year of one of the biggest one-year collapses of a company in pro wrestling history. Two years after a year where WCW grossed $230 million on $185 million in expenses, they were sold to WWF for $2.5 million in cash and an agreement by WWF to spend $2 million over the next ten years in advertising WWF on Turner properties. The Goldberg gimmick later led to Undertaker’s streak, which got bigger because the Mania streak was something the company couldn’t fake and no doubt never tried to. Then, due to being booed (not all that much, but enough that everyone noticed), management got the idea that they had to end the streak, and they did. Goldberg had thanked Tenay many times for it, and once Jeff Jarrett, who knew about it, tried to get Tenay to call Goldberg about coming to TNA. Goldberg’s reaction at the time was that he probably wasn’t interested (Goldberg also had another of his closest friends in wrestling, Ross Forman, working at TNA) but out of respect for Tenay, he’d talk to the company, but nothing ever transpired

Sonjay Dutt has been moved from the Raw/Smackdown producers to producing to NXT

For the most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week: 1. NXT Takeover War Games; 2. WWE 24: Keith Lee; 3. Best of Keith Lee; 4. NXT Takeover War Games pre-show; 5. Uncool with Alexa Bliss with Jon Heder; 6. 2020 Survivor Series; 7. NXT Takeover War Games 2019; 8. TLC 2009; 9. TLC 2019; 10. Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Undertaker. Talking Smack was No. 17. Raw Talk was No. 19. NXT from 12/2 was No. 20. NXT U.K. 205 Live or any indie stuff didn’t crack the top 25, which was filled with old TLC shows since that’s what the network was pushing all week

WWE Ratings, Impact Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings:

SPOILER: show

Raw on 12/7 averaged 1,737,000 viewers and 0.51 (661,000 viewers) in 18-49, which is the usual level. The first two hours did well and we were back to a significant third hour drop with a third hour built around Drew McIntyre & Sheamus vs. The Miz & John Morrison & A.J. Styles, Bobby Lashley vs. Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt. There was nothing that significant past men were up and women were down from last week, which had an unusually low men’s audience and an unusually high women’s audience. Raw placed 19th overall, much higher due to the decline of the news channels since the election has pretty much been settled. It was fourth in 18-49, behind only three NFL-related shows on ESPN ... As compared to last week, the show was down 0.2 percent in viewers and 2.8 percent in 18-49. As compared with the same week last year, the show was down 19.2 percent in viewers, 26.1 percent in 18-49 and 27.9 percent in 18-34. The declines were lower than usual. The NFL game with the Buffalo Bills vs. San Francisco 49ers aired on both ABC and ESPN at the same time, and did 14,174,000 viewers, which is the second best of the year. But it also meant ABC and ESPN individually did far lower than in a normal week. The first hour did 1,852,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,775,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,583,000 viewers. The show did 130,000 viewers in men 18-34 (up 68.8 percent from the unusually low number last week), 86,000 in women 18-34 (down 25.2 percent from last week), 302,000 in men 35-49 (down 1.9 percent) and 143,000 in women 35-49 (down 20.6 percent). The first-to-third hour decline of 14.5 percent was higher than has been the case of late. The drops were 20.5 percent for women 18-49, 11.4 percent for men 18-49, 35.5 percent in girls 12-17, 25.4 percent in boys 12-17 and 11.4 percent in over 50. The only real notes is that women and teenagers tuned out of the show in hour three at much higher than usual levels.

Smackdown on 12/4 did a 1.29 rating and 2,130,000 viewers (1.36 viewers per home) and an 0.59 (768,000 viewers) in 18-34. The number has to be a disappointment because it was in the same ballpark as the Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend. The show was up 1.6 percent in homes, down 0.5 percent in viewers and down 1.4 percent in 18-49. 18-34 was up from 0.4 from the prior week’s 0.3. Smackdown tied with Shark Tank on ABC for first in 18-49, and also had more viewers in 18-49 than any show on cable and aside from Gold Rush on Discovery, nothing on cable even figuring in the cable/network difference would have been more impressive. It was first among all shows on television in 18-34. However, it was last place among the four networks and aside from rerun programming nothing on the other three major networks did less than 3,084,000 viewers. Gold Rush and a number of cable news shows beat it for viewers. As compared to the same week last year, the show was down 15.7 percent in homes, 13.1 percent in viewers, 18.0 percent in 18-49 and stayed even in 18-34. Smackdown did 182,000 viewers in male 18-34 (up 24.7 percent from last week), 100,000 in women 18-34 (up 29.9 percent), 299,000 in men 35-49 (down 13.8 percent) and 197,000 in women 35-49 (down 5.7 percent) ... The first half hour with the Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Jey Uso segment with Kayla Braxton and Kevin Owens, plus Bayley vs. Natalya did 2.16 million viewers. The second half hour with Daniel Bryan & Rey Mysterio & Big E vs. Dolph Ziggler & Sami Zayn & Shinsuke Nakamura in the tribute to Pat Patterson match did 2.14 million viewers. The third segment, which is usually a high point, but this week was the low point, was the Reigns interview, the Sasha Banks/Carmella split screen interview and Murphy vs. King Corbin that did 2.07 million viewers. And the main event segment with Reigns & Uso vs. Otis & Owens did 2.14 million viewers.

Impact did 221,000 viewers and 0.08 in 18-49 (98,000 viewers), an increase of 38.1 percent in viewers and 77.8 percent in 18-49. Impact’s prior record on AXS was 207,000 viewers for its first show. What’s notable is that with television viewers, the peak was quarter four at 239,000 and quarter eight, with the Omega/Callis interview, did 215,000, actually below the average for the show. However, in 18-49 they did 111,000 for the interview, or 51.6 percent of the audience, which was by far the high point of the show. The last quarter had a usual AEW type of audience as opposed to the much older audience that watches Impact. One would have expected this to blow away the prior record, but it was a different audience because they’d never topped 58,000 in the 18-49 demo so it appears to have barely moved the 50+ number which previously had been the bulk of Impact’s viewers. Impact has been the oldest skewing of all the national wrestling shows probably because AXS itself skews so old with all the 70s and 80s rock stars and Dan Rather. This week, Impact will be the youngest skewing by a wide margin except for AEW and the Omega interview could skew younger than any sports event of the week aside from AEW based on last week’s numbers. Even with those percentage increases I think some would find the overall television number to not be as impressive as expected. It was elsewhere that the show blew up. On the first night alone, through the different channels the show’s two hours averaged about 583,000 viewers and the Omega/Callis promo did another 770,000 viewers and those figures all continued to climb throughout the rest of the week. By early 12/10, the full two hour show’s average when it came to television, YouTube, Twitch and Facebook was more than 750,000 viewers for the two hours. The Omega/Callis interview did an additional 904,000 viewers through social media meaning 1.67 million for the segment minimum (since the segment likely did well over 770,000 since that was a two hour average). The live Twitch feed, which has done as low as 800 viewers but usually does about 1,500 to 2,500 (which is actually considered very strong numbers for Twitch live sports) and the record for live viewers was 15,000. It was already ahead of that figure well before the show started. It was at 30,744 to start the show, and it continually grew throughout the show. The Omega interview started at 50,934 and ended at 55,396. Where Impact was really happy was the two-hour average was 42,953, the fourth largest of anything on Twitch that night. It beat the Baltimore Ravens vs. Dallas Cowboys NFL game head-to-head which also had a Twitch live feed and peaked, not averaged, 30,000 viewers as compared to 10 million on FOX. The key for Impact was that while people obviously were tuning in for Omega, far more watched the entire show than expected because on a social platform people are less likely to spend a long time watching then on a television platform but the quarters show most people watched early. After the show ended, a Facebook replay of the two-hour show averaged 70,000 viewers and YouTube did 190,000 in the first 12 hours, numbers far beyond anything Impact would have done in years. The 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. replay of Impact did 23,000 viewers. It wasn’t even advertised until the afternoon of the show that the show would air on a two hour delay on Facebook and YouTube. Within 12 hours, a later that night release of just the Omega and Callis interview did 142,000 views on Facebook (over 197,000 by Thursday morning), 253,000 on YouTube (342,000 by Thursday morning), 120,000 on Instagram (146,000 on Thursday morning) and 219,000 on Twitter.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter A show filled with major hooks coming off Winter is Coming, including the first interview by Sting, the first interview by Kenny Omega & Don Callis since winning the AEW title and the debut of Shaquille O’Neal led to AEW increasing from last week with 995,000 viewers and an 0.45 rating in 18-49, putting it in second place on the cable charts for the night. The show beat Winter is Coming, which had been promoted for weeks and the Jon Moxley vs. Omega match that was the company’s biggest television match to date. Granted, this week was the given with the three big segments plus the Inner Circle segment and a Young Bucks match. But Dynamite with competition was head-to-head with Raw numbers in women under 50 (Raw was ahead 229,000 to 220,000 in 18-49 women) and in 18-34 women tied Smackdown at 100,000, even though Smackdown has the huge advantage of being on network television. It beat Raw in women 18-34 but not with men 18-34. Sting’s debut interview really didn’t establish much. He interacted with Cody Rhodes, and pointed in the stands at Darby Allin, indicating that’s who he came for, more as an alliance than a rivalry. Shaq did a taped sitdown in a studio with Brandi Rhodes, where Shaq told Rhodes, who had her arm in a sling, that she should watch and learn from wrestling from Jade Cargill, which she took as an insult given Cargill has almost no experience. She threw a drink that Tony Schiavone had in O’Neal’s face. O’Neal said he was just having fun on Twitter with Cody. What happens from here is anyone’s guess but it could lead to Cody & Brandi vs. Shaq & Cargill based on the segment, if Shaq really wants to wrestle. From the quarters, it appears Sting and Shaq were the keys. Prior to the 12/2 Winter is Coming show, the biggest opposed demo figure of the year was 523,000 for the Young Bucks vs Top Flight match. Every single quarter this week beat that figure, with Sting’s first advertised appearance doing 1,069,000 viewers and 645,000 in 18-49, the latter in the same ballpark as most Raw shows. Shaq and Brandi Rhodes did 1,063,000 viewers and 618,000 in 18-49.

AEW had its best opposed numbers of the year for a show that should have done well given Sting, Shaq and coming off the title change. AEW did 995,000 viewers and an 0.45 (584,000 viewers) in 18-49. The audience didn’t skew quite as young as the prior week, but far younger than the show usually does. The number is more significant than last week because it shows what came out of last week, but next week without all the firsts will give a better idea of leveling off. If next week does better than 0.32, it’s solid and better than 0.36, it’s great. AEW was No. 2 behind Challenge Double Agent on MTV (900,000 viewers but 0.51 in 18-49) on the charts and beat College Basketball on ESPN (896,000 viewers; 0.24) head-to-head. Lio Rush is on the MTV show this season and featured for a long period on the first episode. NXT, coming off a Takeover show, was No. 37 overall with 659,000 viewers and 0.17 (217,000 viewers) in 18-49 ... AEW was up 9.0 percent in viewers and 8.3 percent in 18-49. NXT was up 0.2 percent in viewers and up 3.3 percent in 18-49. When compared to last year on the same date, AEW was up 27.9 percent in viewers, 60.7 percent in 18-49 and 61.1 percent in 18-34. NXT was down 15.3 percent in viewers, 29.2 percent in 18-49 and 35.7 percent in 18-34. AEW more than doubled NXT in every key demo, the first time that has ever happened. AEW did 104,000 viewers in men 18-34 (up 1.0 percent from last week) to 40,000 for NXT (up 185.7 percent). AEW did 100,000 viewers in women 18-34 (up 28.2 percent) to 20,000 for NXT (up 17.6 percent). AEW did 260,000 in men 35-49 (up 3.2 percent) to 101,000 for NXT (down 7.3 percent). AEW did 120,000 in women 35-49 (up 13.2 percent) to 56,000 for NXT (down 20.0 percent). As far as total viewers for the night, in men 18-34 it was 182,000 for Friday, 144,000 for Wednesday and 130,000 for Monday. In women 18-34, it was 117,000 for Wednesday, 100,000 for Friday and 86,000 for Monday. The men 35-49, it was 361,000 for Wednesday, 302,000 for Monday and 289,000 for Friday. In women 35-49, it was 197,000 for Friday, 176,000 for Wednesday and 143,000 for Monday. While it was Sting and Shaq that were the big difference makers, every AEW quarter was strong. In both of those quarters, not only did AEW triple the 18-49 numbers of NXT, but the AEW 18-49 numbers were more than the total viewers of NXT In the main event battle, AEW did 971,000 viewers and 563,000 in 18-49 with MJF vs. Orange Cassidy. NXT did 665,000 viewers and 225,000 in 18-49 for Raquel Gonzalez vs. Ember Moon. In 18-34, the Sting segment’s 229,000 went head-to-head with 50,000 for NXT. Shaq’s edge was 221,000 to 60,000. In the first quarter, AEW did 934,000 viewers and 531,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks vs. Jack Evans & Angelico. NXT, with its big lead-in, started at 782,000 viewer and 231,000 in 18-49 for a Finn Balor promo with Pete Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly, Damien Priest and Scarlett, plus a backstage brawl with Dunne and Killian Dain. In the second quarter, AEW did 1,069,000 viewers and 645,000 in 18-49 for a Darby Allin video and the Cody Rhodes and Sting segment. NXT did 615,000 viewers and 183,000 in 18-49 for Jake Atlas vs. Isaiah Scott, a Tommaso Ciampa interview and Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Ever Rise vs. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner. In the third quarter, AEW did 1,022,000 viewers and 593,000 in 18-49 for FTR vs. Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr. and Adam Page at the bar with Alex Reynolds and John Silver. NXT did 654,000 viewers and 214,000 in 18-49 with the ending of Grizzled Young Veterans vs; Ever Rise vs. Barthel & Aichner, a War Gams video and a Toni Storm brawl with Io Shirai. In the fourth quarter, AEW did 1,063,000 viewers and 618,000 in 18-49 for Dustin Rhodes vs. 10 and the Schiavone backstage segment with Shaq and Brandi Rhodes and the beginning of the Inner Circle segment. NXT did 600,000 viewers and 206,000 in 18-49 with Ciampa vs.; Cameron Grimes. In the fifth quarter, AEW did 1,010,000 viewers and 593,000 in 18-49 for The Inner Circle in-ring, an FTR & Tully Blanchard interview and the beginning of Butcher & Blade & Eddie Kingston vs. Penta & Rey Fenix & Lance Archer. NXT did 638,000 viewers and 216,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Grimes vs. Ciampa, a Gonzalez promo and Boa and Xia Lee being tortured. In the sixth quarter, AEW did 926,000 viewers and 547,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Butcher & Blade & Kingston vs. Penta & Fenix & Archer. NXT had 675,000 viewers and 231,000 in 18-49 for Karrion Kross attacking Priest and Killian Dain vs. Pete Dunne. In the seventh quarter, AEW did 963,000 viewers and 581,000 in 18-49 for Omega & Callis. NXT did 644,000 viewers and 224,000 in 18-49 for Dain vs. Dunne. In the final quarter, AEW gained 8,000 viewers and lost 18,000 in 18-49 for Orange Cassidy vs. MJF. NXT gained 21,000 viewers and lost 9,000 in 18-49 for Gonzalez vs. Moon. AEW did an 0.18 in 12-17 (same as last week), 0.29 in 18-34 (up 12.7 percent), 0.61 in 35-49 (up 6.1 percent) and 0.29 in 50+ (up 11.5 percent) ... NXT did a 0.10 in 12-17 (up 11.1 percent from last week), 0.09 in 18-34 (up 93.5 percent), 0.25 in 35-49 (down 12.2 percent) and 0.35 in 50+ (same as last week).

AEW, with the Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega title change Winter is Coming show, ended up second for the night in 18-49 by a very slim margin behind West Virginia vs. Gonzaga college basketball (549,000 to 543,000, an that game pitted two of the top teams in the country, with both averaging 0.42), but it was the women’s audience that made it second as it was well behind ESPN’s prime time game with men. It was both the youngest skewing sports show of the week as far as age was concerned with nothing really even close. It was also first in the sports category with 1.57 viewers per home. The CBS NFL game did 1.50. NBC Football was 1.45. Monday Night Football was 1.41. Alabama vs. LSU was 1.49. The UFC main card was 1.47 and prelims were 1.52. Duke vs. Michigan State basketball was 1.41. AEW was sixth for the night in women 18-49, which is much higher than usual, second in men 18-49, third in 18-34, fourth in women 12-34 (far better than usual) and fourth in males 12-34. NXT was No. 40 for the night overall, No. 28 in male 18-49 and did terrible (0.04) in the 18-34 overall demo. Some other highlights. The last four minutes of the Battle Royal topped 1 million viewers. Aside from the commercial break, Chris Jericho vs. Frankie Kazarian averaged 980,000 viewers and more than 560,000 in 18-49 and that built to the Young Bucks interview that did nearly 1.1 million viewers at its peak and 620,000 in 18-49 while NXT was in a break. Britt Baker vs. Leyla Hirsch was the big surprise of the night averaging 960,000 viewers and 550,000 in 18-49 when not during the commercial break. The Baker-Rosa angle topped 1 million viewers, helped by NXT being in a break. Cody Rhodes & Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs averaged 910,000 viewers and 535,000 in 18-49 but grew and when Sting was out, they averaged 1,050,000 viewers (725,000 men and 325,000 women) and 600,000 in 18-49 (400,000 men and 200,000 women), when NXT had the Pat McAfee promo and then a commercial break. The Hikaru Shida and Jon Moxley promos were about 915,000 viewers and 565,000 in 18-49. Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley averaged 970,000 for the match, and were right under one million the entire time other than during commercial breaks. Omega vs. Moxley averaged likely in the same ballpark as the Raw main event of Orton vs. Wyatt this week. Orton vs. Wyatt was ahead but they were basically tied (AEW up 210,000 to 209,000) if you look at each show’s final 15 minutes in 18-34. It’s not clear which would be higher but the number was probably about the same. While there are obvious reasons this is not a fair comparison–on both sides–it would be the first time in 2020 the Dynamite main event did about the same as the Raw main event. The Sting reveal and Young Bucks promo likely both beat the Raw main event, and that’s with a competitive show against it. The last five minutes were at 985,000, averaged 590,000 in 18-49. The match hit 600,000 five different points including the last five minute stretch. The Young Bucks and Sting segments were partially during commercial breaks while the Omega match was during NXT’s hottest match (the ladder match with Raquel Gonzalez vs. Shotzi Blackheart) where its demo number approached 240,000. The combined 840,000 is way above what Raw does and above what Smackdown does except in its best weeks. A big key is the huge increases in younger women. Women 18-34 were up 143.8 percent and Women 12-17 were up 200.0 percent from the weak numbers where it seemed women were sitting out the night before Thanksgiving and watching live for whatever reason. AEW did a 0.18 in 12-17 (up 100.0 percent), 0.26 in 18-34 (up 70.8 percent), 0.58 in 35-49 (up 54.7 percent) and 0.26 in 50+ (down 10.3 percent). The audience was 66.1 percent male in 18-49 and 57.0 percent male in 12-17. NXT did a 0.09 in 12-17 (up 80.0 percent), 0.04 in 18-34 (down 35.4 percent), 0.28 in 35-49 (down 12.7 percent) and 0.35 in 50+ (down 7.9 percent). The audience was 58.6 percent male in 18-49 and 82.8 percent male in 12-17.