WWE: Erick Rowan’s Tribute to Bray Wyatt & Brodie Lee, Seth Rollins, More on NXT Aug. 22 & 29, 2023 Viewership

Sep 2, 2023

Erick Rowan Posts Tribute to Bray Wyatt and Brodie Lee

Former WWE talent and member of the Wyatt Family Erick Rowan, current Erick Redbeard in the indies, recently paid tribute on Instagram to the late Bray Wyatt and Brodie Lee, real names Windham Rotunda and Jon Huber

“Writing this down makes my soul foggy and my heart ache. Over 12 years ago from the island of FCW we would talk of our mutual love of horror movies and music before embarking on this crazy journey that brought us around the world with Jon. In the process something happened, this family we portrayed weekly in the wrestling world became a real life bond. We spent more time together over the next few years than we would our own families. Strengthening our bond as we dealt with life trials and tribulations together. Eventually this family grew with the introduction of Adam. As did our love for one another. Life is sometimes unfair, I want to pick up the phone and talk to my brothers. For when I think of Windham It makes me think of Jon then the reality of the crazy truth that they are no longer with us. Though I know they are always listening and smiling. With their sudden passings I can not state enough how much they loved their families. My heart hurts for their kids, for Jojo for Amanda for their brothers and sisters or anyone lucky enough to call them a friend. I love you both so much. This is only Goodbye for Now, I will see you down the road.”

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A post shared by Joseph Ruud (@erickredbeard)

Seth Rollins Comments on His Belief of Wrestling Currently Being in a Boom Period

A recent episode of the WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves podcast featured Seth Rollins as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rollins thoughts on his belief that wrestling is currently in a boom period because of the recent big successes by WWE and AEW and the large amount of different wrestling shows on television each week.

“We are in the boom. You have to understand, there is another company that just put 80,000 people in a stadium for one night. A week before that, we sold 90,000 tickets to WrestleMania, broke the all-time gate on the first day. There are seven, eight different television programs of pro wrestling on a week, not counting premium live events or pay-per-views. The talent roster, across the board, is beyond what any generation has ever put forward. It’s very easy to look back at the past with rose-colored glasses and say, ‘but this, but that,’ I’m not taking anything away from the guys who paved the way, I stand on the shoulders of these guys. I don’t do what I do without the legends of our industry that have defined their own generations, but they should be proud, and I know they are, because they are the people who got us to where we are now. The business is bigger than it’s ever been, it makes more money than ever, it’s healthier. The future of the business is so bright and I’m so happy to be a part of it in any capacity. I can’t tell you the pride I take when I see young cats coming up and succeeding in our industry and pushing the thing forward or guys getting an opportunity to prove their worth, and they do because they are capable and seeing guys like Edge, who is close to deciding to hang it up one way or another, going out there and tear the house down with Sheamus in Toronto. On every level, it’s just firing. I can’t say enough about our industry right now. I’m so proud of it. It’s healthier physically than it’s ever been. The longevity for our generation is going to be better than the generation before us because we learned and got smarter. The business as a whole, the money, it’s all there. I can’t say enough, I really can’t.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

More on NXT Viewership for August 22, 2023

The August 22nd episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a large increase in overall viewership but suffered a slight decline in key demographic rankings. That week’s episode was notable for being the NXT Heatwave 2023 special.

NXT drew 720,000 viewers and a 0.19 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 3rd place.

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 increase that week was due to the large gains from their younger male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were up 44.2% and 11.1% compared to the prior week’s show. This reportedly offset the decline from their younger female key demographic viewership group, which was down 42.1% compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the 2023 Little League World Series game of California vs. Rhode Island drew 1,093,000 viewers on ESPN and Love & Hip Hop Atlanta drew 517,000 viewers on MTV.

In terms of peak viewership, NXT’s peak reportedly was at 774,000 viewers for their quarter featuring the Mixed Tag Team match of Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee & Lyra Valkyria. NXT’s peak for key demographic viewership was at 273,000 viewers for the prior quarter hour of the Mixed Tag Team match. NXT reportedly drew 731,000 overall viewers and 278,000 key demographic viewers for the overrun.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 254,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 had 75,000 viewers (up 44.2%), Females 18-34 had 33,000 viewers (down 42.1%), Males 35-49 had 106,000 viewers (up 1.9%), and Females 35-49 had 40,000 viewers (up 11.1%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 181,000 male viewers and 73,000 female viewers for a split of 70% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 6.2% in overall viewership and up 38.3% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 54.3% compared to the same week last year.

More on NXT Viewership for August 29, 2023

The August 29th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large decline in overall viewership and a small decline in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 614,000 viewers and a 0.16 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 3rd place.

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 declines this week was dues to tougher than usual competition that night from news coverage of Hurricane Idalia. Another reason reportedly was due to the large decline from their female key demographic viewership group, which was down 41.1% compared to last week’s show. NXT’s overall viewership was its lowest since the July 4th episode.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the 2023 U.S. Open tennis game drew 735,000 viewers on ESPN, the Hurricane Idalia Live Coverage drew 882,000 viewers on The Weather Channel, The Five drew 2,728,000 viewers on FOX News, and Love & Hip Hop Atlanta drew 405,000 viewers on MTV.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 212,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 had 69,000 viewers (down 8%), Females 18-34 had 23,000 viewers (down 30.3%), Males 35-49 had 100,000 viewers (down 5.7%), and Females 35-49 had 20,000 viewers (down 50%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 169,000 male viewers and 43,000 female viewers for a split of 79.7% in favor of males. Meltzer also reported that NXT’s male viewership split was the highest for either a WWE or AEW show in a very long time.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 9.2% in overall viewership but up 5.5% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 9.5% compared to the same week last year.