[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

With just ten days left, the Chamber show only has three official matches. The main events as things stood on 2/11 was to be two men’s Chamber matches for the two key WWE titles The Raw match has Drew McIntyre defending against Sheamus, The Miz, Randy Orton, A.J. Styles and Jeff Hardy. This match has been criticized, not because of a Chamber match for the title, but who is in it. At press time there was to be a Smackdown match with Roman Reigns defending the title. We don’t know the participants, other than Kevin Owens is an obvious one. The key is it continues the pattern of pushing guys who have been around and have seen their peaks, rather than going with younger people to give them main event credibility for the future. The Chamber style is very physically punishing, and that it’s the perfect opportunity to introduce new people to the main event scene. With the exception of McIntyre, everyone in the match is over the age of 40. Sheamus is in a program with McIntyre, so that makes sense, and Orton and Styles are always kept strong. Neither needs to be in there but one of the two probably should and even two. Miz makes no sense, past the tiglon of McIntyre defending against five people who have held the title. Miz just lost on TV to Damien Priest and was beaten over and over in singles, tags and handicap matches on television. Hardy does make sense because it is a stunt style match and he’s good at that, but they’ve done nothing to build him either, having had Bobby Lashley (the second most protected guy on the brand and long-time U.S. champion can’t make the top six, although he’s also past 40) and Styles submit him and he’s even lost in recent weeks to Jaxson Ryker. It again emphasizes the problems of results not mattering and not building to the future, which has killed so many companies of the past. The other matches announced on Raw this past week are Asuka vs. Lacey Evans for the Raw women’s title, set up when Evans beat Charlotte Flair via DQ, and a three-way for the U.S. title with Lashley defending against Keith Lee and Riddle. Riddle’s involvement doesn’t make sense unless he’s winning it, since Lashley beat him multiple times, and usually booked as almost squashes, and he just lost clean to Lee this past week. There will likely be three or more Smackdown matches announced on 2/12. Based on angles last week, Sasha Banks was still seemingly programmed for Carmella, but after two straight clean wins on the last two PPV shows, that doesn’t seem to make sense. One would think they’d add a women’s chamber match, but as of midweek those in creative and outside of creative indicated negative on that at that point in time, and quite frankly, two of those matches on the same show is plenty. There is a Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. Street Profits Smackdown tag title match being built up, as well as Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Naomi & Lana for the women’s tag titles. Big E vs. Sami Zayn for the IC title is another match that looks to happen soon, whether on TV or PPV.

2/5 was a unique day in wrestling, and not just because it is every year, as the 37th anniversary of the death of El Santo, which is always a major deal in Mexico and for years was almost like an unofficial national holiday. It was also the 33rd anniversary of the match watched by 33 million Americans, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant in their WrestleMania III rematch from Indianapolis. The match aired live on a Friday night in prime time on NBC, the first time pro wrestling had aired in network prime time since 1954 with the folding of the Dumont Network. WWE promoted that 33rd of 33 million during the day and pushed that they would air highlights of the match and have Hulk Hogan on Smackdown that night. Andre won the title briefly when Earl Hebner was secretly hired from Jim Crockett Promotions to do an angle pretending to be twin brother Dave Hebner and fast counted Hogan’s shoulders to the mat, ending Hogan’s four-year undefeated reign as WWF champion. Andre then sold the belt to Ted DiBiase, and then it was ruled you couldn’t sell a title belt which led to the 1988 WrestleMania tournament for the title, which Randy Savage ended up winning. WWE ran clips on Smackdown that night and claimed it to have been the most watched pro wrestling match in history. It is probably the most-watched match ever in the U.S. As far as anything verifiable that we have, it would have been the record and by a large margin, for this country. It was definitely not the most-watched pro wrestling match in history, even if you figure in other countries because WWE didn’t have anywhere near the worldwide exposure it has today ... Hogan vs. Andre did a 15.2 rating, and in the early days of television, wrestling’s ratings every week on network TV blew that number away, but far less Americans owned televisions. It’s possible shows back then beat it, because pro wrestling was the No. 10 show in 1951 on network television over the course of the year, so its biggest peaks were probably top five for the week. If everyone had television, that number would have been broken every single week. But that wasn’t the case. While 33 million today sounds unbelievable, except for NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl, maybe the Emmys, nothing is coming close to a number like that now. But in 1988, the Hogan & Andre special was only No. 32 in prime time for that week. I had thought with Hogan vs. Andre they’d hit the top 15 for the week, but most TV experts pegged the number as being in the 30s going into the week, figuring even the biggest pro wrestling match with probably the two most famous pro wrestlers in the country had its limitations. Still, under any circumstances, far more watched Ali vs. Inoki on television worldwide in 1976 and the Japan number alone was over 40 million. Rikidozan vs. Destroyer in 1963 was a 64.0 rating and 60 million viewers and that would be the biggest live television audience for a pro wrestling match in history virtually for sure. The biggest ratings I know of were the first Thesz vs. Rikidozan on October 7, 1957, at the old Korakuen Stadium located not too far from today’s Tokyo Dome, and a Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kim Ill & Kim Duk (Tiger Toguchi) match on November 7, 1977. Thesz vs. Rikidozan drew an 87.5 rating, but television was relatively new in Japan. The number of viewers for that ratings was not close to what Rikidozan and Destroyer did. Baba & Tsuruta vs. Kim Ill & Kim Duk (Tiger Toguchi) on November 7, 1977, did an 88.0 rating which was 31.7 million viewers in South Korea. This was amazing because the population of the country at the time was less than 37 million. If that match aired on television in Japan, and one would think it did but I don’t have proof it did, then it surely with Japan would have been well over 40 million in those two countries. In the mid-60s, Toyonobori and Destroyer and Toyonobori and Fred Blassie approached 50 million ... The Inoki vs. Leon Spinks pro wrestling match on October 9, 1986 drew 30 million viewers in Japan, and keep in mind the population of Japan was maybe 40 percent of the U.S. Koji Kitao’s debut against Bam Bam Bigelow topped 25 million. New Japan during its early 80s television peak with Inoki and the first Tiger Mask as the big draws, frequently topped 20 million on Friday nights. All Japan women, on weekend afternoons on the Fuji Network, during the peak of The Beauty Pair and later The Crush Gals, hit 15 million as a regular number. It should be noted that with the smaller population, the actual ratings for a normal weekly show of these promotions during their heyday was higher, and with New Japan, much higher than Hogan vs. Andre did. But it’s a smaller country and didn’t hit 33 million most likely since 1976 with Ali vs. Inoki. But for the U.S., as far as anyone can verify, the Hogan vs. Andre match not only set the record, but because of how television viewing has changed and pro wrestling not having a Hogan character with that level of crossover appeal, it is likely that no match ever again will do even 25% of that number as even with a network special of WrestleMania, which isn’t in the cards, I can’t see it even possible to hit eight million viewers in this era.

AAA: The company started back in action for the first time this year as part of their new government deal, running in Tlaxcala and Tlaxco with no fans. They taped on 2/4 in Tlaxcala and the Plaza de Toros (bullring) and again on 2/6 in Tlaxco at the Hacienda de Santa Maria Xalostoc. That’s basically on an historical plantation. Until they can get back into arenas, they will be taping on historical sites with the idea of showing them and promoting tourism to those areas, similar to the commercials that air on UFC shows in Abu Dhabi and appeared on WWE shows in Saudi Arabia showing beautiful scenes in the country and pushing how great the hotels are. Several weeks of television were taped both nights. Maybe three TV tapings per night but that’s not official, but that’s a long day with two hour shows. There were photos of Rey Fenix working the 2/6 show. The belief is they will start airing in two weeks.

New Japan is debuting a new wrestler, Yuto Nakashima, on the 2/14 show at Korakuen Hall, against Yuya Uemura. He’ll be doing singles matches against Uemura, Yota Tsuji and Gabriel Kidd on shows the rest of the month. Nakashima started training in Tokyo in June, but went to New Zealand to train at Bad Luck Fale’s New Japan gym in that country as well. He’s 5-foot 10 ½, 209 pounds and has sports background includes MMA, judo, jiu jitsu and water polo.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH: They are doing a storyline for the 2/14 show in Saitama for the Tetsuya Endo KO-D title defense against Jun Akiyama. Endo is said to be training with Kenta Kobashi, a longtime rival and also at one point a regular tag team partner with Akiyama. Endo had announced on 1/31 that he had a secret trainer for the match. Shunma Katsumata defends the DDT Extreme title on 2/28 at Korakuen Hall against Mao. In addition, the Ironman heavymetalweight comedy title is coming back from AEW. While never talked about in AEW, they’ve had people, and objects trade the title back and forth which has been publicized and videotaped for Japan. The current champion is the Young Bucks “Killing the Business” autobiography. Given a book doesn’t have to quarantine, they are able to get the title back from AEW as the book arrives for the 2/28 show to0 defend against Danshoku Dino, Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata and Saki Akai

Shaul Guerrero Rehwoldt, 30, announced she was leaving pro wrestling and any appearances in conjunction with wrestling due to what she called a very scary mental illness issue. She said that she’s been advised by her loved ones and professionals not to participate in high stress events at this time. She said she will be seeking the health she needs, getting more treatment for her eating disorder and hopefully get answers and solutions for her to be able to reach a healthy mental state. Rehwoldt, who is the daughter of Eddy & Vickie Guerrero and wife of Matt Rehwoldt (the former Aiden English) was with WWE from 2010 to 2014 in developmental when she left for similar reasons, citing issues with an eating disorder. She had done well as a manager

Outsider.com ran a story this past week on the proposed Jerry Lawler vs. Elvis Presley match in Memphis. It’s been known, and at least in wrestling accepted as accurate that such a match was in the planning stages when Presley died at 42. Presley was a wrestling fan, more of women’s wrestling, but when he was young people remember him being sneaked into the old Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, which is where the matches were held prior to going to the Mid South Coliseum in 1971. People we know in Los Angeles said Presley would on occasion be snuck into matches there ... Otis Gibbs did a recent video on the backstory. In the spring or summer of 1977, Lawler and his manager Mickey Poole, were driving to a show and talking about Presley going on television and showing off his kung fu. Lawler talked about how great it would be if they could get Presley to do a match and all the publicity it would get them. Keep in mind Presley was multiple times a bigger star than Andy Kaufman. Poole then responded saying, “I’ll have my brother ask him if he wants to do that.” Lawler didn’t know what he was talking about and Poole said that his brother was the President of the Elvis International Fan Club and had known Presley personally for years. Lawler then told Poole to set it up, apparently more calling his bluff than really believing it was possible. The next day Mickey Poole told Lawler that his brother would talk to Vernon Presley, Elvis’ father. He said if Vernon liked the idea, they would take the idea to Elvis. Eventually Vernon called Lawler about details of it, saying Elvis loved the idea of doing a wrestling match. But Vernon said they couldn’t do it now because Elvis wasn’t in good shape. Vernon said that Elvis had a tour coming up. He said Elvis was about to start training to get in shape for his tour and when the tour was over, they would put the match together. But Presley shockingly passed away on August 16, 1977. Lawler said he’s thought many times what the two of them would have done. He said he’d have done whatever Presley wanted to do.

Cody Rhodes suffered a partially torn rotator cuff and damage to his left trapezoid in the match that aired on 2/10 and was taped six days earlier. The injury is legit. There was a spot in the match where Cezar Bononi gave him a pump handle slam and he landed on the left shoulder, immediately winced in pain and started selling it, but that was the story of the match. We were told that was the spot of injury by multiple people even so. They showed the replay and then Bononi and Peter Avalon started working on the left shoulder like it was a planned spot to build the heat. “Going to rehab with Bryce (Remsberg) and Doc Sampson at TV (next tapings on 2/17 and 2/18). It should have zero effect on my work 3/3 and onwards. Right now the expectation is he will be back for the 3/3 match with Shaquille O’Neal & Jade Cargill

While this is fairly common among women pro wrestlers, for obvious reasons, you perform in skimpy attire and especially at the top, you’re judged heavily on your body and real healthy bodies are often not good enough. It’s the same with guys, although not as bad. I’ll give you an example, I’ve seen people talk about Cash Wheeler saying that he needs to lift weights, and he’s more jacked than 95 percent of the guys who train hard in a gym of his or any age. I think the steroid era totally screwed up people’s understanding of what a body should look like. But Dax Harwood noted that he’s battled bulimia in the past. “Getting real for a second, I’ve always struggled with my weight,” he wrote in a post this past week. “At one time, I was actually bulimic. My highest weight was 282 lbs, which on a 5-10 frame is not very `attractive,’ nor healthy. I’ve tried every diet, but they rarely worked because I’m so afraid of food. I was scared of going backwards.

Strowman is back out of action dealing with an infection that he said has spread to his bloodstream. He said that he got the infection over the past weekend and is undergoing IV treatment to eradicate it s he can return. Strowman said he’s lost 15 pounds but feels like he’s gained 50 pounds of bloating in his joints and that the antibiotics seem to be working

Paul Levesque had a conference call on 2/11. He said that Edge wants to work with the young talents in NXT and that he loves talking to the younger talent. He said he could see Edge coming to NXT after WrestleMania. He said he’d love NXT talent at WrestleMania but didn’t say that it would happen. On Parker Boudreaux, he noted he looks a lot like Lesnar but “we will see what he can do and whether he is ready to be a performer.” He also brought up Bronson Rechsteiner, the son of Rick Steiner, who was a college football star running back at Kennesaw State and came to WWE after being cut in camp by the Baltimore Ravens. He was asked about adding another women’s title to NXT. He said he doesn’t like having too many titles but didn’t dismiss the idea either. When asked about Velveteen Dream, he said he’s got nothing more to add, and that he’s still training, had a physical thing but is still training. He said Pat McAfee told him that he just got married and will wait until after the Super Bowl. He also said Bad Bunny is training at the Performance Center right now. He was asked about NXT running shows on Peacock. Actually all the Takeovers are on Peacock live but he just said he didn’t know and to ask Nick Khan or Stephanie. When asked about the release of Steve Cutler, he said he had no knowledge of the situation or why it went down. He said he knows what he’s read but he hasn’t asked anyone

Bliss is the latest of WWE women stars to have trouble with social media stalkers. Bliss is reportedly dealing with someone who has used multiple Twitter accounts and harassed her and fiancé Ryan Cabrera. The person has threatened to show up at her house. In most cases these are deranged guys who won’t do anything, the Sonya Deville case shows that there are real dangers with some of these nutcases. Paige has also had to deal with things like this, and most likely a number of the women have kept it private. Recently Bliss wrote to him, “Sir, once again for the one millionth time, you do not know me. I do not know you. We have never spoken and we have never met. Stop making multiple accounts every time I block you, and stop harassing my fiancé. I really don’t know how many more times I can say this.” The person at one point on his Twitter account claimed to be Bliss’ husband. On 2/6, the person wrote, “Hello everyone who thinks I’m a troll, I’m not. I’m dead serious about getting rid of that piece of shit Ryan Cabrera so stop calling me a f***ing troll. I’m not a stalker. I’m a lover of Alexa Bliss. I will be at her house in Orlando, FL and pay her a little visit #LetMeIn.

After Jax said “Oh my hole” after missing a leg drop on the apron against Lana on Raw on 2/8, a company called Tushy, which makes bidets, made an offer to Jax to be a brand ambassador. Due to the WWE’s ruling about talent taking third party endorsements, this would have to go through WWE. The company, through founder Miki Agrawai, also wanted to send her a free bidet to install in her home. The company thought the injury was legit based on the letter Agrawai sent her. But it was a good publicity move on their part

Some notes regarding the Thunderdome set up and the audience from someone who has been on virtually every show since the start. 1) There are a few "Event Coordinators'' (at least 1 male and 1 female) that help guide fans to have the right camera angles, lighting, etc. They are really nice and helpful; 2) There is a host, who tells you who to boo and cheer, and interact with the matches; 3) The Event Coordinators helps fans much more than the host does, by a landslide; 4) The main way to get to the front row is to be animated (moving hands, clapping, booing, cheering, etc); 5) WWE NXT & WWE 205 Live reuses old footage from past Thunderdome events. (They do not tell you if you're going to be on those shows, it's done at random). NXT has used a live virtual audience once (via 1iota on January 13th, 2021), which I was also at. I've spotted myself several times on NXT, despite working and watching AEW Dynamite; 6) There are about 900-1,000 screens in the thunderdome. 7) During the breaks of RAW & Smackdown, there's WWE Community videos (stuff regarding the troops, Covid Relief, guest appearances on talk shows, etc). There are also sometimes bumper songs. On average two times a show, we get to see the wrestling action during the break, which is a really nice touch; 8) Regarding the crowd sounds, It's completely piped in. No audio from the thunderdome is live from the fans

Kacy Catanzaro got bad pub this week when somebody created a video showing her telling everyone to be careful and to stay inside except for essential things. And then, you guessed it, they showed her out partying with other WWE stars in another video

Zack Gibson and James Drake have shut down their Fighting Spirit Wrestling School in Maghull, England, north of Liverpool, since both have moved to the U.S

The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. WWE Untold: The APA; 2. Royal Rumble 2021; 3. Best of John Cena; 4. WWE Icons: Yokozuna; 5. Elimination Chamber 2020; 6. Elimination Chamber 2010; 7. NXT from 2/3 (did far better than usual); 8. Raw on 1/4; 9. Elimination Chamber 2019; 10 Smackdown on 1/8. Talking Smack finished at No. 11 and Raw Talk was No. 13. NXT U.K., 205 Live and indie shows all didn’t crack the top 25

Ratings stuff:

SPOILER: show

Raw on 2/8 did 1,715,000 viewers and an 0.49 in 18-49 (628,000 viewers), the lowest number since the end of football season. The big take was this was a show that women viewers 12-49 didn’t stay for. Men and older viewers actually held up well. The reason isn’t clear as to why there would be such a great dichotomy. The overall drop was entirely women based, as men held up better than usual. The main event pushed was Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton, but the women’s drop was from the start of the show and was big in hour two and even bigger in hour three. The women’s 18-49 demo did an 0.41 in hour one, 0.32 in hour two and 0.25 in hour three. It was the lowest mark outside of the football season except for shows done at the Performance Center. Raw was first in 18-49 and 19th overall. It was fourth for women 18-49 even with the huge drops, first by a wide margin in men 18-49, first by a wide margin in 18-34, first in women 12-34 even with the drop, and first in men 12-34. It was going to drop from last week, since that was the show the day after the Royal Rumble. The declines from last week were 9.4 percent in viewers, 15.6 percent in 18-49 and 12.1 percent in 18-34. From the same week last year, the declines were 26.6 percent in viewers, 38.8 percent in 18-49 and 45.3 percent in 18-34, so again aging. The first hour did 1,821,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,735,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,589,000 viewers. The show did 119,000 viewers in men 18-34 (down 12.5 percent from last week), 83,000 in women 18-34 (down 14.4 percent), 298,000 in men 35-49 (down 13.1 percent) and 128,000 in women 35-49 (down 23.8 percent). The story is basically told in the declines by demo, which speak well for men and not for women. The first-to-third hour declines were 39.0 percent in women 18-49, which is the largest figure I can recall, but just 4.5 percent for men 18-49, which is much lower than usual. The same dichotomy with teens showed a 20.3 percent decline in teenage girls but a 17.4 percent increase with teen boys and a 10.5 percent decline in 50+ viewers. These patterns are unusual, but they were almost the same last week, so whatever it is on the show that teenage boys like and adult and teenage women don’t, was also a part of the show last week. The two suggestions have been the portrayal of Alexa Bliss as a schoolgirl, but that’s been around for some time and I’ve monitored the women’s numbers. I feel like it’s been a negative since they started most weeks compared to men. But the big thing in recent weeks that has changed is the Ric Flair/Lacey Evans/Charlotte Flair storyline. That makes the most sense. Teenage boys are stronger and Flair, no matter what his age, always did well with that audience. Women 18-49 could find that one a real turnoff. Anyway, those are the two leading theories. The show did a 0.27 in 12-17 (down 27.0 percent from last week’s day after Rumble show), 0.29 in 18-34 (down 13.3 percent), 0.69 in 35-49 (down 16.6 percent) and 0.82 in 50+ (down 2.4 percent).

Smackdown on 2/5 did a 1.34 rating with 2,257,000 viewers (1.39 viewers per home, which is a strong showing for this show), an 0.65 (841,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.34 in 18-34. Overall it’s fine. People jumped on the lower viewers than last week, but the 35-49 viewers were way up. As compared to the previous week, the rating was down 5.0 percent, viewers were down 2.0 percent, 18-49 was up 5.5 percent and 18-34 was down 10.5 percent. As compared to the same week last year Smackdown was down 11.1 percent in viewers, 13.8 percent in 18-49 and 32.0 percent in 18-34, so again they are still aging. Smackdown was second for the night in 18-49, behind Shark Tank at 0.78 and right ahead of 20/20 at 0.64. In total viewers, it was in last place among all network shows with all but two shows topping four million. Smackdown was second to Shark Tank in 18-34, fourth in women 18-49, first in men 18-49 and obviously last by a wide margin in over 50. Smackdown in 18-49 and 18-34 beat everything on cable, the strongest being two NBA games. Smackdown did 145,000 viewers in men 18-34 (up 8.2 percent from last week), 96,000 in women 18-34 (down 27.8 percent), 345,000 in men 35-49 (up 7.8 percent) and 255,000 in women 35-49 (up 21.4 percent). The audience was 58.3 percent male in 18-49.

On 2/10, as expected, wrestling numbers fell due to the impeachment hearings, as news channels had 19 of the 20 highest rated shows of the day. AEW placed second among non-news shows to Challenge Double Agent in 18-49, beating NBA games and the NHL, but was still down significantly from the prior week, with 741,000 viewers and an 0.29 (376,000 viewers in 18-49). NXT fell to the No. 62 spot for the night with 558,000 viewers and a near record low 0.12 in 18-49 (159,000 viewers) in 18-49. As compared to last week, AEW was down 12.2 percent in viewers, 7.8 percent in 18-49 and up 7.1 percent in 18-34. So even though the numbers were down, the audience skewed younger than last week. NXT was down 8.7 percent in viewers and 19.3 percent in 18-49, so the audience skewed older this week. Comparisons to last week or last year aren’t as valuable as usual because last year didn’t have the news level. But AEW was 9.3 percent in viewers, 3.3 percent in 18-49 and 6.3 percent in 18-34, but it was still a younger audience than last year. NXT was down 26.3 percent in viewers and 50.0 percent in 18-49, skewing older. We don’t have an 18-34 number because NXT didn’t finish in the top 50. NBA games on ESPN did 780,000 viewers and 0.27 for the late game which started after the wrestling shows ended. The game head-to-head with the wrestling shows did 729,000 viewers and 0.24, with both games hurt significantly by news. The only non-news show to beat AEW, MTV’s Challenge Double Agent did 974,000 viewers and 0.56. AEW did more than quadruple NXT in men 18-34, almost doubled in women 18-34, more than doubled in men 35-49 and basically doubled in women 35-49. Still, AEW continues to be well down with women as compared to a few months back. NXT’s numbers were bad, but the truth is you can throw the numbers out as far as meaning much because you can’t find that level of news. AEW did 71,000 in men 18-34 (up 9.2 percent from last week) to 17,000 for NXT (down 15.0 percent). AEW did 33,000 in women 18-34 (down 5.7 percent) to 18,000 for NXT (down 10.0 percent). AEW did 185,000 in men 35-49 (down 9.8 percent) to 80,000 for NXT (down 20.8 percent). AEW did 87,000 in women 35-49 (down 15.5 percent) to 44,000 for NXT (down 21.4 percent). AEW doubled NXT every quarter in the key demo but the main event numbers were really strange. AEW’s final quarter with KENTA & Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley & Lance Archer only did 692,000 viewers and 335,000 in 18-49. NXT with Timothy Thatcher & Tommaso Ciampa vs. Grizzled Young Veterans did 536,000 viewers and 164,000 in 18-49. NXT had an overrun and to show how little AEW viewers cared, the switch over was only 41,000 viewers overall and 8,000 in 18-49, the lowest on record. It opened with AEW doing 860,000 viewers and 415,000 in 18-49 for Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin. This was the high point of the night in viewers, 18-49 and Men 18-49. NXT only did 499,000 viewers and 162,000 in 18-49 for MSK vs. Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde, its weakest first quarter history. In quarter two, AEW did 716,000 viewers and 369,000 in 18-49 for a Jon Moxley promo, MJF & Sammy Guevara’s angle, and the beginning of Cody Rhodes & Lee Johnson vs. Peter Avalon & Cezar Bononi. NXT did 554,000 viewers and 149,000 in 18-49 for a Mercedes Martinez feature, a Xia Li squash and Scarlett in William Regal’s office. In quarter three, AEW did 721,000 viewers and 373,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Rhodes & Johnson vs. Avalon & Bononi, The Young Bucks with Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson, Adam Page & Matt Hardy and Pac vs. Ryan Nemeth. NXT did 586,000 viewers and 149,000 in 18-49 for the Johnny Gargano and The Way promo and angle with Kushida. In quarter four AEW did 780,000 viewers and 405,000 in 18-49 for Miro & Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford interview, Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor interview and wedding recap, The Inner Circle promo and Chris Jericho & MJF vs. The Acclaimed. This was AEW’s best segment with women 18-49. NXT did 591,000 viewers and 151,000 in 18-49 for Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell vs. Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart. In quarter five, AEW did 743,000 viewers and 383,000 in 18-49 for the Jericho-Guevara in-ring, Alex Marvez with Guevara, Sting and Team Taz and Omega golfing. NXT did 586,000 viewers and 160,000 in 18-49 for a Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza segment and video packages building up Finn Balor and Pete Dunne. In quarter six, AEW did 713,000 viewers and 372,000 in 18-49 for Thunder Rosa vs. Leyla Hirsch and a Jungle Boy promo. NXT did 553,000 viewers and 156,000 in 18-49 Kushida vs. Austin Theory and a Toni Storm video. In quarter seven, AEW did 704,000 viewers and 355,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Moxley & Archer vs. Omega & KENTA. NXT did 548,000 viewers and 176,000 in 18-49 and an Imperium video, a Cameron Grimes promo and a Johnny Gargano promo. This was the highest segment for NXT in men 18-49. The final quarter with the main events saw AEW lost 12,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49. NXT lost 12,000 viewers and 12,000 in 18-49. However it was the best NXT segment for women.