WWE: Rey Mysterio Injury Update, Big E Neck Injury & WWE Future Update, More on NXT Aug. 1, 2023 Viewership

Aug 5, 2023

Rey Mysterio Head Injury Update

As noted before, Rey Mysterio suffered a head-related injury at last Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in New Orleans, Louisiana.

WWE SmackDown brand commentator Michael Cole provided an injury update during Friday’s SmackDown show in Dayton, Ohio stating that Mysterio had suffered “severe whiplash” during his match against Santos Escobar last week. Cole also stated that Mysterio currently remains ” day-to-day” in regards to his health and recovery status.

Big E Comments on Doctors Advising Him to Never Wrestle Again

As noted before, Big E has been out of action for WWE since March of 2022 due to a broken neck injury.

WWE held a recent SummerSlam media press conference in Detroit, Michigan with Big E among the guests. One of the topics discussed included Big E revealing that his doctors recently advised him to not wrestle again due to his neck injury and him currently being unsure about the future of his wrestling career.

“We did the year check-up and all that stuff looked great, but on the other side, I also talked to spine specialists, people who have worked on other people in the company and done their fusions and they said, ‘Hey, I would not wrestle again if I were you.’ For me, at 37, these are things that I think about. I think about quality of life. When I started this job at 23 and probably had a bit of a death wish and was okay at dying in the ring, I would now like to not die in the ring. I would like to do other things with my life. I don’t really have a timeline right now. I’m just really grateful to not have any nerve pain. My strength is great. Legit no issues whatsoever. It’s something I want to be smart about and make the best decision for my life. I’d like to have a lot of healthy life ahead of me. I want to be smart about things. Unfortunately, right now, I have no answer. I feel great, but I have nothing.”

In response to a question about potential commentary work for WWE while he is out of in-ring action, Big E stated:

“It’s something that has been discussed. Titus (O’Neil) is doing that and having great fun. I’ve had fun as well. I saw Becky’s comments about the pee break, and that’s something I’ve thought about many times. Many times. Do you wear a diaper? I’d probably wear a diaper. I like to stay hydrated. Three hours of being there, we can’t go in a bucket, there are people right behind you. I would. Maybe a catheter. It would be painful, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t sit there for three hours with no pee break. I’m going to add on to the Becky Lynch pee break commentary discourse and say that for me would be the biggest obstacle, the urine.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

More on NXT Viewership for August 1, 2023

The August 1st episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a small increase in overall viewership.

NXT drew 717,000 viewers and a 0.23 key demographic rating on USA Network.

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

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reasons for NXT’s gains this week was due to the large gains from their older male key demographic and older female key demographic groups, which were up 21.4% and 31.3% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the large decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 15.7% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of peak viewership, NXT’s peak reportedly was at 772,000 viewers for the quarter hour featuring the Schism and Creed Brothers segment. NXT’s peak for key demographic viewership was at 319,000 viewers for their fifth quarter.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 298,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 had 76,000 viewers (down 25.5%), Females 18-34 had 54,000 viewers (up 5.4%), Males 35-49 had 126,000 viewers (up 21.4%), and Females 35-49 had 43,000 viewers (up 31.1%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 202,000 male viewers and 97,000 female viewers for a split of 67.4% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 10.5% in overall viewership and up 47.5% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 207.1% compared to the same week last year.