Kayla Braxton Gives Farewell to WWE Following Final Appearance at Friday’s SmackDown Show
As noted before, WWE backstage interviewer and WWE The Bump co-host Kayla Braxton left WWE following Friday’s SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Following the show, Braxton issued a farewell statement on Twitter to WWE and fans.
“I love my WWE family. Thank you guys so much. I’m overwhelmed. I will miss you all but we will see eachother again. ❤️”
I love my WWE family. Thank you guys so much. I’m overwhelmed. I will miss you all but we will see eachother again. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/41gQipSLsi
— Kayla Becker (@kaylabecker_tv) June 29, 2024
In a follow-up statement, Braxton reflected on Instagram about the post-show celebration she received from WWE in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd for her final day in the company.
“I’m so overwhelmed. So thankful. Wow. I still can’t put what last night meant to me into words. But to have @americannightmarecody buying me out into MSG to bid my farewell to all of you while @tripleh and members of my WWE family were waiting for me in the back to congratulate me … I couldn’t have asked for a better goodbye. This family is truly special and I plan to always be a part of it. I love you all more than you know.”
More on NXT Viewership for June 25, 2024
The June 25th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large decline in overall viewership, a large decline in key demographic ratings, and a small decline in key demographic rankings.
NXT drew 611,000 viewers and a 0.18 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking was 4th 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 the large decline from their male key demographic viewership, which was down 41.5% compared to the prior week’s show.
In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the 2024 Copa America soccer game of Chile vs. Argentina drew 1,149,000 viewers on FS1, the MLB game of New York Yankees vs. New York Mets drew 484,000 viewers on TBS, Secret Skinwalker Ranch drew 1,556,000 viewers on History Channel, Chopped drew 508,000 viewers on Food Network, Catfish drew 354,000 viewers on MTV, Deadliest Catch drew 890,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, and Real Housewives of Dubai drew 315,000 viewers on BRAVO.
In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 237,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that NXT’s males/female viewership split was 59.5% in favor of males.
In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 2.7% in overall viewership but up 7.7% in key demographic viewership.
WWE News & Notes
As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Sika Anoa’i, real name Leati Anoa’i, passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 79. Madison Square Garden recently paid tribute to the late Anoa’i on their marquee board outside of the venue.
Following Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, Cody Rhodes held a special post-show ceremony honoring his late father Dusty Rhodes and his legacy in wrestling.
WWE held two matches for their WWE Speed series prior to the start of Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden. The first match was Xavier Woods defeating Nathan Frazer in the Finals of the WWE Speed Championship #1 Contender’s tournament. The second match was Andrade defeating Xavier Woods to retain his WWE Speed Championship.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE President Nick Khan and former WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon were in attendance at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden.
NXT talents Wes Lee and Joe Coffey reportedly were in attendance backstage at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden, according to PWInsider.
WWE announced one new segment for next week’s NXT show on July 2nd. This new segment is a NXT Championship Fatal Four-way match contract signing segment featuring Je’Von Evans, Shawn Spears, Ethan Page, and Trick Williams.
Damian Priest announced on Twitter that he was unable to make his advertised appearance for Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden due to travel-related issues. Priest stated “Unfortunately the honor of main eventing The Garden is not possible tonight. Still haven’t taken off. Stuck on a plane in a runway. Very disappointed and apologies to my people. This one hurts. Enjoy the show! #SmackDown I’m sure will be awesome.“
In a recent interview with WFAN, former WWE talent Mercedes Mone gave her thoughts about if there were restrictions in her contract when it came to her doing outside projects during her time in WWE. Mone stated “Ohh yes. Oh yes. That’s definitely a big reason why I came to AEW. Even doing The Mandalorian was pulling teeth with the WWE, to even try and get time off to film that show. Tony (Khan) says, whatever I need. If I need the private jet to go from filming in LA to coming for a show, it’s available for me.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent fan Q&A video on YouTube, former WWE NXT talent Kiyah Saint claimed that she felt like she was getting bullied at WWE’s Performance Center during her time in the company from October of 2022 to May of 2024. Saint stated “The experience was great. I will say, when we first got there, the Nashville class, we had some trouble with some of the older girls. I don’t know, I mean, I get it. We’re all athletes, all of us are beautiful. I could understand why some of the older girls felt intimidated and they translated that by being mean to us. After the first few months, it was great. I met some of my really good friends. I don’t know, it was an experience. I’m glad it happened, I’m grateful it happened. It’s something that 99.8% of people cannot say that they were a WWE superstar, so I can say that with a chip on my shoulder.” Saint also gave her thoughts about if other newer female talent also got a hard time from other female talent at the Performance Center. Saint stated “I kind of touched on that. Long story short, I think the culture was changing towards the end. But my class definitely got a hard time. I feel like I told my mom at one point I was getting bullied. That’s literally what it felt like.” Saint also gave her thoughts about if the NXT Women’s locker room was full of drama and issues during her time in the company. Saint stated “Short answer, yeah. Was I a part of it? No, but somehow, someone always told me what was going on. I don’t like negativity, don’t like the drama, but best believe, there’s a lot of that in there.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the Behind The Turnbuckle podcast, Cody Rhodes gave his thoughts about wrestling veterans needing to have an open mind when it comes to changes in the wrestling industry. Rhodes stated “Have an open mind. A lot of the luminaries, legends, old-timers, when they mix with the modern locker room, the mistake is made of, ‘this is the only way it’s meant to be done. These are the rules. They are rigid, they are firm.’ You’ve seen this generation coming up of Gen Z. We see a lot of it at the Nightmare Factory. That doesn’t work. That type of motivation doesn’t work. ‘I did it all and I was at the top of my game so you have to listen to everything I’m saying.’ I’ve noticed talent, especially younger talent, are more independent-minded than they’ve ever been. They’re more strong-willed than they’ve ever been about what they can do. If you’re one of these guys coming in, having an open mind is the greatest thing ever. Triple H being the pime example. He could have easily taken (Killer) Kowalski’s rules, ‘this is how it’s done and how we do it.’ Vince’s (McMahon) rules, ‘this is how it’s done and how we do it.’ Instead, having an open mind. Those rules will always be there. The classic things like less is more. That stuff will always be there for us to look back and say, ‘that’s why they worked. We should continue to apply them.’ That’s the number one thing I like when I see a veteran talent, when they have an open mind and are willing to have fun. It’s a goofy industry. There are serious angles and life and death. In my case, there have been so many things that are real to me. Also, this is fun and this is a family show and entertainment. Generationally, fathers and sons. Mothers and daughters. To be open to, there are a bazillion ways to do this, as long as the crowds are coming and making noise, there are a lot of ways to do it. Having an open mind is huge.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
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