WWE: New Year’s Knockout Week Schedule Announced, Authors of Pain Return Plans Update, More on NXT Dec. 12 & 19, 2023 Viewership

Dec 23, 2023

WWE Announces New Year’s Knockout Week Schedule

WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque recently announced on Twitter that the first week of WWE programming for 2024 will be officially themed as New Year’s Knockout Week.

6 can’t-miss shows. 1 epic week.

We’re ringing in 2024 with WWE New Year’s Knockout Week: a full slate of @WWE programming to kick the new year off right.

It all starts one week from Monday with #WWERaw Day One and ends with #SmackDown: New Year’s Revolution…

Are you ready? pic.twitter.com/aqqH6UTIrs
— Triple H (@TripleH) December 22, 2023

Full schedule for WWE New Year’s Knockout Week:

January 1st – WWE Raw Day 1
January 2nd – NXT New Year’s Evil 2024
January 3rd – Best of The Bump 2023 (Peacock)
January 4th – WWE The Best of 2023 (Peacock)
January 4th – WWE Preview Special 2024 (Peacock)
January 5th – WWE SmackDown New Year’s Revolution

Update on WWE’s Current Plans for Authors of Pain Return

As noted before, Friday’s WWE SmackDown show featured the official on-screen return of the Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) and their manager Paul Ellering.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials currently have scheduled for AoP and Ellering to make their official return at their SmackDown New Year’s Revolution show on January 5, 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Johnson reported that the trio will be working as regular members of WWE’s SmackDown roster going forward after that point.

More on NXT Viewership for December 12, 2023

The December 12th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a large increase in overall viewership and a slight increase in key demographic rankings but suffered a small decline in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 678,000 viewers and a 0.18 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking was sixth place.

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

Dave Meltzer reported that the reason for NXT’s mixed results that week was due to the large decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 36.3% compared to the prior week’s show. This reportedly was mostly offset by the large gains from their older male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were up 29.6% and 13% respectively compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Los Angeles Lakers vs. Dallas Maverick drew 1,504,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of Hofstra vs. Duke drew 368,000 viewers on ESPN2, the NHL game of Detroit Red Wings vs. St. Louis Blues drew 626,000 viewers on ESPN, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,390,000 viewers on History Channel, Catfish drew 402,000 viewers on MTV, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drew 541,000 viewers on BRAVO, and 1000-LB Sisters drew 863,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 236,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was 44,000 viewers (down 45.7%), Females 18-34 was 35,000 viewers (down 18.6%), Males 35-49 was 105,000 viewers (up 29.6%), and Females 35-49 was 52,000 viewers (up 13%). Meltzer reported that NXT’s male/female viewership split was 149,000 male viewers and 87,000 female viewers for a split of 63.1% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 1.8% in overall viewership and up 3.1% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was down 24.8% compared to the same week last year.

More on NXT Viewership for December 19, 2023

The December 19th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a small decline in overall viewership and key demographic ratings and a slight decline in key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 641,000 viewers and a 0.17 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking was twelfth place.

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

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the reason for NXT’s declines this week was due to the stiffer than usual sports and television competition that night and the large declines from their older male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 24.8% and 21.2% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the large gains from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 29.1% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Memphis Grizzlies vs. New Orleans Pelicans drew 1,426,000 viewers, the College Basketball game of Florida vs. Michigan drew 870,000 viewers on ESPN, the College Football Bowl game of UTSA vs. Marshall drew 987,000 viewers on ESPN, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,227,000 viewers on History Channel, Catfish drew 287,000 viewers on MTV, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drew 586,000 viewers on BRAVO, and 1000-LB Sisters drew 1,006,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 223,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was 63,000 viewers (up 43.2%), Females 18-34 was 39,000 viewers (up 11.4%), Males 35-49 was 79,000 viewers (down 24.8%), and Females 35-49 was 41,000 viewers (down 21.2%). Meltzer reported that NXT’s male/female viewership split was 142,000 male viewers and 80,000 female viewers for a split of 62.6% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 9.1% in overall viewership but up 29.7% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 4.1% compared to the same week last year.