WWE: Office Staff Layoffs, More Legends Announced for RAW 30, More on NXT Jan. 17, 2023 Viewership

WWE Office Staff Reportedly Hit with New Round of Layoffs

WWE reportedly was impacted with a new wave of layoffs, according to Fightful Select.

Sean Sapp Ross reported that his sources stated that this newest wave of layoffs took place on Friday and affected WWE’s office staff. No other details regarding which departments suffered layoffs nor the amount of people laid off was given.

Ross also reported that it is not currently known if there have also been cuts to WWE’s talent roster nor if such cuts will be taking place soon.

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More WWE Legends Announced for RAW 30th Anniversary Show

As noted before, WWE recently announced that WWE Hall of Famers and Legends Road Dogg, Ron Simmons, X-Pac, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Teddy Long, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Kurt Angle, and The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie Bella) will be making an appearance at this Monday’s RAW 30th Anniversary show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

During Friday’s SmackDown show in Detroit, Michigan, WWE announced that Hulk Hogan, Alundra Blayze (also known as Madusa), The Godfather, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, Irwin R. Schyster, Jimmy Hart, and Diamond Dallas Page will also be making an appearance at their upcoming RAW 30th Anniversary show.

In an interesting note, WWE’s updated graphic for the Legends scheduled to appear on the show no longer features the Bella Twins.

Hulk Hogan, Alundra Blayze (Madusa), The Godfather, Ted DiBiase, Irwin R. Schyster, Jimmy Hart, and Diamond Dallas Page added to WWE Raw XXX pic.twitter.com/xDT5F9loRn

— Robert DeFelice | Fightful, WrestleZone (@dudefelice) January 21, 2023

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Lita is also currently scheduled to make an appearance on the show as well.

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More on NXT Week 171 Viewership – Jan. 17, 2023

The January 17th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large decline in overall viewership, a large decline in key demographic rankings, and a slight decline in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 600,000 viewers and a 0.14 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 26th place.

Detailed viewership and key demographic breakdowns were not available in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reason for NXT’s declines this week was due to the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership and female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 22.2% and 33.3% respectively compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the large decline in their Over 50 viewership group, which was down 12.8% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gains from their male key demographic viewership group, which was up 2.3% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Toronto Raptors vs. Milwaukee Bucks drew 849,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of Kansas vs. Kansas State drew 1,535,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Georgia vs. Kentucky drew 1,165,000 viewers on ESPN, Bering Sea Gold drew 657,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, and Curse of Oak Island drew 2,552,000 viewers on History Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 182,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 136,000 male viewers and 46,000 female viewers for a split of 74.5% in favor of males. Melzter also reported that this week’s split in favor of males was one of the highest ever for a NXT show in USA Network history.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 2.2% in overall viewership and up 22.1% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 16.7% compared to the same week last year.