WWE: New Champions at Night of Champions 2023, Gable Steveson, More on NXT May 23, 2023 Viewership

Two New Champions Crowned at Night of Champions 2023

Saturday’s Night of Champions 2023 event for WWE in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia featured two new champions crowned.

The first new champion involved Seth Rollins defeating AJ Styles in the Finals of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament to be crowned its inaugural champion. Following his victory, Rollins was handed the new championship in the ring by WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

New World Heavyweight Champion @WWERollins is joined by @TripleH for an emotional celebration at #WWENOC! pic.twitter.com/TWbOgF65QP

— WWE (@WWE) May 27, 2023

The second new champion involved Asuka defeating Bianca Belair to be crowned the new RAW Women’s Champion. The finish to this match involved Asuka spraying blue mist into her hands and rubbing it into Belair’s eyes to counter her KOD attempt. While Belair was blinded, Asuka landed two kicks and pinned Belair ending her 420 day reign as champion.

Reactions ⤵️#WWENOC pic.twitter.com/xTOoWV1yw7

— WWE (@WWE) May 27, 2023

---

Gable Steveson Comments on WWE Yet to Approve Him to Compete for 2024 Olympics

KSTP-TV held a recent interview with Gable Steveson. One of the topics discussed included Steveson stating that WWE has yet to give their permission to allow him to potentially compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France but have allowed him to compete at a couple smaller amateur wrestling tournaments.

“They’ve approved the fact that I can chase a couple tournaments. I think time will tell the Olympics story. Who knows because it’s a year away but I think we’re in good strides to make that progression.”

Steveson also provided an update about the the future of his in-ring wrestling career.

“I want to go out there on tv. I want to be the person people thought I was and I don’t want any doubt in my mind that I’m not. I’m getting the hang of doing everything the correct way – landing right, match psychology, everything in between. I’m flourishing and hopefully they see it, too. I’m excited because people haven’t really seen the real Gable because amateur wrestling kind of shelves a portion because we’re used to guys being disciplined.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

---

More on NXT Week 189 Viewership – May 23, 2023

The May 23rd episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a slight increase in overall viewership, key demographic ratings, and key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 578,000 viewers and a 0.16 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 14th 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 increases this week was due to the large increases from their younger key demographic and older key demographic viewership groups, which were up 9.1% and 11.4% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the decline from their Over 50 viewership group, which was down 3.3% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 4 of Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat drew 6,561,000 viewers on TNT, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 3 of Las Vegas Golden Knights vs. Dallas Stars drew 1,258,000 viewers on ESPN, the MLB game of Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves drew 300,000 viewers on TBS, the MLB simulcast games of Boston vs. Los Angeles Angels and Oakland vs. Seattle drew 117,000 viewers on MLB Network, Curse of Oak Island drew 1,258,000 viewers on History Channel, 7 Little Johnstons drew 693,000 viewers on TLC, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 984,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 201,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 149,000 male viewers and 52,000 female viewers for a split of 74.1% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 4.9% in overall viewership and up 18.2% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 71.4% compared to the same week last year.