WWE: WWE Reportedly Planning Main Roster Call-up for Joe Gacy, More on NXT April 30, 2024 Viewership, More News

May 4, 2024

WWE Reportedly Has Plans for Main Roster Call-up for Joe Gacy

WWE reportedly has been working on plans for NXT talent Joe Gacy to be called-up to their main roster, according to PWInsider.

Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Gacy was recently spotted at WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Johnson reported that the reason for this visit was for talks between Gacy and WWE officials over future plans for him in the company, including a call-up to the main roster.

Gacy has been with WWE since August of 2020 and has primarily worked in their NXT developmental brand.

More on NXT Viewership for April 30, 2024

The April 30th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large decline in overall viewership and a large decline in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for being the NXT Spring Breakin 2024 Week 2 special.

NXT drew 564,000 viewers and a 0.14 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking was 15th 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 declines this week was due to stiff sports competition from the 2024 NBA and NHL Playoffs and the large decline from their overall key demographic viewership group, which was down 27.1% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that NXT’s viewership was the lowest since the July 4, 2023 show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the 2024 NBA Playoffs Game 5 of Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks drew 3,193,000 viewers on TNT and 400,000 on TruTV, the 2024 NBA Playoffs Game 5 of Indiana Pacers vs. Milwaukee Bucks drew 2,501,000 viewers on TNT and 313,000 viewers on TruTV, the 2024 NBA Playoffs Game 5 of Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Cavaliers drew 402,000 viewers on NBA TV, the 2024 NHL Playoffs Game 5 of Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins drew 1,224,000 viewers on ESPN, the 2024 NHL Playoffs Game 5 of New York Islanders vs. Carolina Hurricanes drew 539,000 viewers on TBS, Vanderpump Rules drew 858,000 viewers on BRAVO, The Valley drew 598,000 viewers on BRAVO, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,064,000 viewers on History Channel, and Catfish drew 363,000 viewers on MTV.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 191,000 viewers.

In terms of peak viewership, NXT’s peak overall viewership was at 645,000 viewers for the quarter hour featuring the Thea Hail vs. Jacy Jayne match & post-match attack by Fallon Henley. NXT’s peak key demographic viewership was at 241,000 viewers for the same quarter hour. NXT’s overrun reportedly was 590,000 overall viewers and 199,000 key demo viewers for the bulk of the Women’s NXT Underground match of Lola Vice vs. Natayla.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 0.7% in overall viewership but up 8.5% in key demographic viewership.

WWE News & Notes

WWE CEO Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced on Twitter that Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at the LDLC Center in Lyon-Decines, France broke the record for highest ever grossing SmackDown show in SmackDown series history.

As noted before, WWE currently has plans for Bo Dallas’ and the Uncle Howdy character potential return to the company. Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Lyon-Deines featured a new video teaser for Dallas and Uncle Howdy’s return. During the match between LA Knight and Angel, the screen briefly glitched and flashed a new QR code. When scanned, this lead to a video containing the message of “Our pain became his. We were reborn. We believed. Because we believed.” and the word “we believed” glitching and resembling “we Bolieved” which was Dallas’ catchphrase during his prior time in WWE.

WWE filed trademarks for “Samantha Irvin,” “Shiloh Hill,” “Layla Diggs,” and “Jasper Troy” on May 2nd for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan reported that his sources stated that the reason why WWE officials decided against having main roster talent be drafted to their NXT brand was due to concerns over certain talent would have viewed it as being a demotion of their status in the company. Anoter reason reportedly was due to issues over the differences between NXT and main roster contracts.

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan also reported that his sources stated that the general reaction within NXT over last week’s WWE Draft was mostly one of relief. NXT talents who were not drafted reportedly had this feeling due to them not wanting to be thrown into the deep end on WWE’s main roster just yet.

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan also reported that his sources stated that WWE officials had used placeholder names of “Alundra Blaze” for Michin and “Mae Young” for Chelsea Green in the rundown sheets and plans for this past Tuesday’s NXT show as way to prevent Michin and Green’s surprise appearances from being leaked early.

As noted before, Friday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Ricochet defeating Johnny Gargano in the Finals of the WWE Speed Championship tournament to be crowned the inaugural champion. Ricochet recently reflected on Twitter about his WWE Speed championship victory, Ricochet stated “Doesn’t matter how much time I have. The people need to see more Ricochet. 😎 👑“

As noted before, NXT talent Emmamaria Diaz was among eleven known NXT developmental talents released by WWE on Friday. Diaz confirmed on Twitter that she had been released from WWE and is currently accepting indie bookings. Diaz stated “I am very proud of and grateful for my time at WWE NXT. Having been trained by the best the business has to offer. Thank you @WWENXT. I would like to announce that I am now accepting independent wrestling bookings! There’s only one speed, and that’s mine.“

Besides Diaz, Julian Baldi was also among the NXT developmental talents released by WWE on Friday. Baldi confirmed on Twitter that he has been released by WWE and revealed that he had actually been signed with the company for the past seven months but had to keep it as a secret until the airing of WWE’s new WWE Next Gen series. Baldi stated “WWE, Thank you!!! For an incredible 7 months filled with incredible experiences. Despite a three-month visa delay, I had the privilege of joining the WWE and creating memories that will last a lifetime. I had to wait until WWE Next Gen aired to officially share my signing. I’m grateful to have had the chance to work with some fantastic WWE talent, coaches and a dedicated behind-the-scenes team. There are No Regrets, I gave everything I had. Everything happens for a reason. Although my WWE journey has come to an end, I look forward to what the future holds. If you know me, I thrive under Pain and Pressure. This is not the first time I’ve been told No, and with my wife in my corner nothing gone stop this journey. Excited for whats next – Follow the Journey.“

As noted before, this past Tuesday’s NXT show featured a new QR code that flashed during the show that when scanned lead to a video containing several cryptic messages. In a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, co-host Matt Hardy gave his thoughts about one of the messages being “They were broken.” Hardy stated “I did catch that. Interesting, very very interesting. I have a very long and storied history with Windham Rotunda, Bray Wyatt, so I think it’s cool how the word broken somehow slipped in there. Who knows, anything can happen in the extreme life of Matt Hardy.” Hardy also gave his thoughts about the QR code-based vignettes released by WWE. Hardy stated “I do gotta tell you, I love these vignettes and the Uncle Howdy stuff. Back to the white rabbit, this bonus, supplementary content that you can check out like you’re trying to figure out a mystery. This is something else too, my wife — let me think how to phrase this the right way. Being aware that these things were going to happen, I smartened my wife up to them a little bit and showed her the QR and she watched it and she’s like, ‘Oh my god this is so cool, it’s like trying to figure out a mystery almost like an escape room.’ It was cool and ironic how that happened to air on NXT.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

WWE recently announced the current card for next week’s SmackDown show on May 10th in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: