WWE: John Cena on His Match Performance at WrestleMania 39, A&E WWE Ratings, More News

May 17, 2023

John Cena Comments on His Match at WrestleMania 39 Being What’s Left of His Ring Performance

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured John Cena as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cena’s thoughts on his performance at WWE’s WrestleMania 39 event this past April being what he feels he is able to deliver on a “here and there” basis for the remainder of his in-ring career.

“I wish I was still there every day, it’s just my body can’t do it anymore and I don’t wanna give the consumer a bad product. That’s another thing that I learned from those veterans. At the time, guys like Eddie (Guerrero) would just risk so much [just in the name of not] giving the consumer a bad product. I don’t care how I feel, I don’t care how I feel physically, I don’t care what baggage I have mentally, when I’m on, they paid good money and I’m gonna go out there and give everything I have and sometimes find it when it’s not there. I’m at a point where everything I have, in comparison to the bar that’s been set… what I have is what you saw at WrestleMania 39. That’s what I feel confident that I can deliver, and that’s really nice for here and there, but that’s not every day in WWE. Sports entertainment has raised the bar and I’m humble enough to say that’s awesome, because you’re supposed to leave it better than you found it.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

A&E WWE Programming Ratings – May 14, 2023

This past Sunday’s WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures doubleheader first episode drew 288,000 viewers on A&E. This episode also drew a 0.08 rating in the 18-49 demographic and a #45 ranking in the key demographic rankings. This was down from last week’s 383,000 viewers, 0.11 key demographic rating, and #38 key demographic ranking.

This past Sunday’s WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures doubleheader second episode drew 394,000 viewers on A&E. This episode also drew a 0.14 rating in the 18-49 demographic and a #23 ranking in the key demographic rankings. This was up from last week’s 383,000 viewers, 0.11 key demographic rating, and #38 key demographic ranking. This episode focused on lost “Macho Man” Randy Savage memorabilia.

This past Sunday’s Stone Cold Takes America episode drew 277,000 viewers on A&E. This episode also drew a 0.07 rating in the 18-49 demographic and a #52 ranking in the key demographic rankings. This was down from last week’s 282,000 viewers, 0.09 key demographic rating, and #49 key demographic ranking.

More Sunday ratings: ShowBuzz Daily

WWE News & Notes

Seth Rollins was seen this past Monday on the filming set of Marvel’s upcoming Captain America: New World Order in Atlanta, Georgia. It is currently not known what Rollins’ role in the upcoming film will be.

As noted before, SmackDown commentator Pat McAfee has been in recent talks with ESPN for a new deal with the company to become the new home of his The Pat McAfee Show series. During Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee announced that he recently signed a multi-year contract with ESPN to move his show over to their network. McAfee’s status and future in WWE is currently not known.

Disney’s Upfronts presentation on Tuesday in New York City featured Montez Ford and Bianca Belair making an appearance to promote their upcoming new reality series for Hulu.

This past Sunday’s WWE Most Wanted Treasures episode on A&E featured WWE revealing that they had purchased the tape library of International Championship Wrestling, which was run by the Poffo family from 1978 to 1984 in Kentucky.

WWE is currently advertising that Roman Reigns will be making an appearance at their May 20th house show event in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This will be Reigns’ first appearance at a WWE house show event since March 4th.

As noted before, a lawsuit filed by a fan claiming that WWE had committed negligence resulting in him suffering an injury at last year’s WrestleMnaia 38 event in Arlington, Texas was dismissed earlier this month. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that the plaintiff Marvin Jackson had filed a notice of appeal to The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division on May 11th based on recent court records.

As noted before, WWE recently released a new SEC filing detailing their sale to Endeavor and upcoming merger with UFC into a new company. WWE recently announced that they have entered privately negotiated agreements with certain WWE investors to exchange 6.9 million shares of Class A common stock and $3.9 million in cash for $171.0 million principal amount of its outstanding 3.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 held by those investors.

Jim Diodati, Mayor of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, recently announced on Twitter that Trish Stratus was handed the keys to the city in a public ceremony held this past Monday.

NBC Sports announced that NBC’s Peacock will become the first streaming service ever to host the broadcast of a NFL Playoff game for this upcoming 2023-24 NFL season. It was announced that Peacock will be airing a NFL Wild Card Round Playoff game in primetime on Saturday, January 13, 2024.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials have given several talents more flexibility for their promos in recent weeks with the recent Karrion Kross and Shinsuke Nakamura feud as one example given.