WWE: Brock Lesnar Removed from WWE Signature Video, More on NXT Feb. 6, 2024 Viewership, More News

WWE

Feb 10, 2024

WWE Removed Brock Lesnar from Their Signature Open Video for Shows

As noted before, WWE have dropped all of their plans for a potential return for Brock Lesnar to the company due to his involvement in the recent Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit. Lesnar was recently dropped from WWE’s SuperCard mobile game and the cover of WWE 2K24’s 40 Years of WrestleMania special edition.

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show was notable for Lesnar also being recently removed from WWE’s “Now, Then, Forever, Together” signature open video that aired prior to the start of the show.

Lesnar was replaced with LA Knight in the newest version of this signature video.

WWE removed Brock Lesnar from their opening video. pic.twitter.com/wFsHrlWU5O
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) February 10, 2024

More on NXT Viewership for February 6, 2024

The February 6th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a slight increase in overall viewership, key demographic ratings, and key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 650,000 viewers and a 0.19 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking was 8th place.

Detailed key demographic viewership 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 small gain from their overall key demographic viewership, which was up 5.9% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Dallas Mavericks vs. Brooklyn Nets drew 830,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of Clemson vs. North Carolina drew 1,145,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Texas Tech vs. Baylor drew 576,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Butler vs. UCONN drew 297,000 viewers on FS1, Vanderpump Rules drew 1,092,000 viewers on BRAVO, Moonshiners drew 865,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,477,000 viewers on History Channel, 1000-LB Sisters drew 1,347,000 viewers on TLC, and Love & Hip Hop Atlanta drew 376,000 viewers on MTV.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 251,000 viewers.

In terms of peak viewership, NXT’s peak overall viewership reportedly was at 709,000 viewers during the quarter hour featuring the Carmelo Hayes promo segment, the Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker promo segment, and the Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Axiom & Nathan Frazer tag team match. NXT peak key demographic viewership reportedly was at 300,000 viewers for the same quarter hour. Meltzer reported that NXT’s show suffered the rare occasion where the overrun lost overall viewers going from 647,000 overall viewers to 638,000 viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 15.7% in overall viewership and up 76.8% in key demographic viewership.

WWE News & Notes

As noted before, WWE recently changed the start time for both nights of this April’s WrestleMania 40 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from its usual start time of 8PM EST to a new start time of 6:30PM EST. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that while WWE recently emailed ticket holders listing this new start time, the event is currently scheduled to start at 7PM EST instead for the main card. Meltzer speculated that the reason for the earlier start time listed is very likely due to WWE officials wanting to make sure everyone attending has enough time to be in the venue by the actual start time for the show.

WWE recently revealed on Twitter that Cedric Alexander and Ashante Thee Adonis have formed a new tag team in the company.

WWE held one dark match prior to the start of Friday’s SmackDown show in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was a singles match of Gable Steveson defeating Cedric Alexander.

WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque recently announced on Twitter that this past Thursday’s WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press event was the most viewed non-in-ring event livestream ever in WWE history.

Deadline reported that their sources stated that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is currently in final talks to reprise his role as Maui for the Moana 2 animated film. It was reported that things are currently looking good that Johnson will be on board for the production of this upcoming film.

As noted before, Warner Bros Discovery shelved their plans this past November for the release of a their Coyote vs. Acme live action and animated film despite it being completed, which features John Cena among its cast. The Wrap reported that their sources stated that WBD has rejected all bids for their shelved film making it extremely likely that this film will never be officially released.

Montez Ford announced on Instagram that his grandfather passed away this past Thursday.

Mountain Dew recently released their Super Bowl LVIII commercial for their Baja Blast drink featuring Jade Cargill and actress Aubrey Plaza.

A recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast featured NXT commentator and co-host Booker T giving his thoughts about Carmelo Hayes’ promo segment dissing Trick Williams at this past Tuesday’s NXT show and Williams’ potential as a future top star for WWE. Booker T stated “That tells me a whole lot. It tells me a whole lot about ‘Melo, man. Kid got very, very thin skin. Because me personally, I didn’t do anything to ‘Melo. I thought when I would vibe as far as the ad-libs, as far as Trick Williams’ song, that was just something I was getting into. But that literally had nothing to do with Carmelo Hayes. But it seemed like it did something to him. It seemed like he took offense to it. It perhaps shook his confidence. Maybe it shook his confidence when he had so many title shots and just couldn’t get over the edge after Ilja Dragunov got that spot. Me personally, I don’t know. But I do take it personally, and I talked to the young man about it. But I have no ill will as far towards Carmelo Hayes. Do I think he’s a guy that’s gonna do a hell of a lot in this business? Oh, yes, I think he’s gonna do a hell of a lot. But Trick Williams, that kid? After what I saw at Vengeance Day, [he] showed up, showed out. How matches has Trick had on live television? How many has Carmelo had? [Brad Gilmore notes he’s had many more] Exactly my point. I’m gonna tell you, I can spot talent. I can see when somebody getting ready to get the rocket put on them and get sent straight to the moon. Look here, Trick, this kid could be main eventing WrestleMania next year. Am I gonna say that about ‘Melo? Hell no. I like this kid, he’s a good kid. But so is my next-door neighbor.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

WWE announced two new matches for the card of their WWE RAW show on February 12th in Lexington, Kentucky: