WWE: Booker T NXT Commentary Update, Reason for Doudrop’s Lengthy WWE Absence, More News

Booker T Comments on Becoming a Full-Time Member of NXT’s Commentary Team

As noted before, WWE made several changes to their commentary teams this past October. One of those changes included WWE Hall of Famer Booker T replacing Wade Barrett for NXT’s commentary team due to Barrett filling in for Pat McAfee for SmackDown’s commentary team.

A recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast featured co-host’s Booker T revealing that he was recently promoted as a full-time member of WWE’s NXT commentary team going forward. Booker T also stated that his tenure on NXT commentary was originally planned to end this past December.

“I gotta get back to work. NXT duties start tomorrow. My thing is, that job was only supposed to be until the end of December. But like I said, what’s that kid’s name that used to work there? Wade Barrett, he’s gone and forgotten, as you can see.”

Booker T expanded on his comments stating:

“That’s my job now, full-time. I’m full-time on NXT. I’m gonna be in your ear, all up in your ear [laughs]. Every Tuesday night. Wade Barrett, I don’t know if they gonna keep him on, find a spot for him over on Raw, SmackDown or something. But his ass ain’t coming back to NXT. He’s finished, he’s wrapped. Bad news for you. Booker T has stole that spot. I told you guys I was gonna steal it. You don’t give me a job and expect for somebody to come [back]. I’m like Tom Brady. Once I get in the game, I ain’t coming out. I’m serious man. The thing is, if wasn’t something that I was expecting or anything like that, but I’m excited about it. I’m excited about his new venture.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

---

Doudrop Reveals Reason for Her Recent Lengthy Absence from WWE

Doudrop has been absent from WWE programming since this past September.

While responding to a fan question on Twitter, Doudrop revealed that the reason for her lengthy absence away from WWE was due to her contracting a serious illness and has been recovering from it.

I was very sick, but I am healing. 🧠💪🏻 https://t.co/ptfWkBxwfi

— Miss Drop 💦 (@DoudropWWE) January 3, 2023

In a follow-up tweet, Doudrop also clarified that visa-related issues have not been a factor in her recent absence since she resolved those issues this past April. Doudrop had revealed in an interview with Inside The Ropes this past August that visa issues were the reason why she was unable to participate in last year’s WrestleMania 38 event.

---

WWE News & Notes

As noted before, the December 30th, 2022 WWE SmackDown show drew 2,629,000 viewers and a 0.64 key demographic rating. WrestleOps reported that the main event quarter hour featuring the John Cena & Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn & Roman Reigns managed to generate the highest viewership and key demographic rating for a quarter hour of any wrestling tv show of 2022. This quarter reportedly drew 2,832,000 overall viewers, 952,000 key demographic viewers, and a 0.74 rating.

During Monday’s RAW show in Nashville, Tennessee, WWE officially announced the country musician Hardy will be performing a live concert at their Royal Rumble 2023 event on January 28th in San Antonio, Texas. It was also announced that Hardy will be performing his song “Sold Out” which is the official theme song for this year’s event.

Monday’s RAW show also featured a RAW Women’s Championship match between Alexa Bliss and champion Bianca Belair, which was won by Belair. During the match, Belair suffered a facial injury following Bliss’ post-match attack on her. Following the show, Belair stated on Twitter that she needed several stitches to close the wound on her face.

Former WWE wrestler Summer Rae reportedly was seen in attendance backstage at Monday’s RAW show in Nashville, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that the reason for Rae’s visit was due to the event took place in her current hometown.

Kofi Kingston recently launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise money for the construction of a new computer lab and library for children in his home country of Ghana.

CT Insider reported that WWE is currently expected to open their new 13-story headquarters building in Stamford, Connecticut by the end of the first quarter of 2023. One WWE official spoken to stated that the company is currently planning to move all of their Stamford-based employees into this new building, which would be 800 people in total. This same person also stated that while WWE’s iconic Titan Towers headquarters is currently not available for sale, the company would “entertain discussions with interested parties.”

Dave Meltzer reported in Monday’s Daily Update that his sources have not heard of anything regarding the potential of Naomi working for NJPW in the future. Meltzer also reported that there have not been any talks within Stardom regarding potential plans for Naomi to work for the company.