WWE: Becky Lynch Reportedly Not Expected to Return Ahead of WrestleMania 41, More on NXT March 18, 2025 Viewership, More News

Mar 22, 2025

Becky Lynch WWE Absence & Return Plans Status Update – Lynch Not Expected to Return Ahead of WrestleMania 41

As noted before, Becky Lynch has been on a break from wrestling since this past June. Lynch had signed a new contract with WWE earlier this year following the expiration of her prior deal this past June. WWE officials currently want Lynch to be involved in their plans for WrestleMania 41.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that Lynch is currently not expected to return before of this April’s WrestleMania 41 based on his sources.

It is currently not known if Lynch will not be returning at WrestleMania 41 itself or if she would be returning some time after the event.

More on NXT March 18, 2025 Viewership

The March 18th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a large decline in overall viewership.

NXT drew 676,000 viewers and a 0.15 key demographic rating on The CW.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reasons for NXT’s mixed results this week was due to stiff sports competition from the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament and the large declines from their Over 50 key demographic viewership and older key demographic viewership groups, which its percentages were not given. This reportedly offset the large increase from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 44.4% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that the bulk of NXT’s younger key demographic viewership gains took place during the 8:30PM to 9PM quarters of the show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Brooklyn Nets vs. Boston Celtics drew 324,000 viewers on NBA TV, the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament First Four game of San Diego State vs. North Carolina drew 2,198,000 viewers on truTV, the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament First Four game of Alabama State vs. St. Francis (PA) drew 1,352,000 viewers on truTV, the NHL game of Utah Hockey Club vs. Edmonton Oilers drew 147,000 viewers on ESPN, the TGL Golf game of The Bay Golf Club vs. Atlanta Drive GC drew 425,000 viewers on ESPN, Curse of Oak Island drew 1,670,000 viewers on History Channel, Love & Hip Hop Atlanta drew 347,000 viewers on MTV, Moonshiners drew 411,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 796,000 viewers on BRAVO.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 200,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that NXT’s male/female viewership skew was 67.7% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 18.8% in overall viewership and but down 12.3% in key demographic viewership.

WWE News & Notes

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Bologna, Italy featured current WWE Tag Team Champions Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) debuting a new entrance theme song.

WWE personality Megan Morant announced on Instagram that she recently gave birth to her first child for her family.

2K Games recently released a new patch for their WWE 2K25 video game featuring various fixes for the game’s MyRise, MyGM, Universe Mode, The Island, and the creation suite modes and the Bray Wyatt ’23 entrance for matches.

WWE recently revealed the next match in their on-going countdown of their Top 50 matches in WrestleMania history. The 27th spot was the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match of Hulk Hogan vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (c) from WrestleMania V. The 26th spot was the Streak vs. Career No Disqualification match of The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania XXVI.

WWE also recently released two new videos to their WCW Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Raven’s Rules match of Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page (c) from WCW Spring Stampede 1998. The second new video was the full March 19, 1993 WCW Live in England event.

WWE also recently released three new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a “Triple H joins The Shield against Bray Wyatt and The Bar in Glasgow.” The second new video was the WWE Women’s Championship Triple Threat match of Trish Stratus vs. Lita vs. Jazz (c) from WWE WrestleMania X8. The third new video was the WWE Championship match of Triple H vs. Eddie Guerrero from the March 22, 2004 episode of WWE RAW.

WWE also recently released three new videos to their NXT Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was the full March 6, 2014 episode of WWE NXT. The second new video was the full March 13, 2014 episode of WWE NXT. The third new video was the full NXT TakeOver: London event.

In a recent interview with Pro Wrestling Experience, Chelsea Green gave her thoughts about how often she hears her ring introduction from fans while out in public and her thanks to Samantha Irvin for everything she did for her entrance. Green stated “All the time and I love it. It never gets old. I thank Samantha for everything that she did for my entrance because it is amazing. Seriously, like, whether you’re really good at doing it or really terrible, it gives me a feeling, and I love it. That’s the whole point of wrestling, right? Like, the point is to feel something. Feel anything, whether it’s good or bad. Just feel something, and that’s what we get.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)