WWE: Drew McIntyre Contract Update, Wade Barrett, More on NXT Mar. 28, 2023 Viewership

Drew McIntyre WWE Contract Status Update

Drew McIntyre’s contract with WWE reportedly is currently expected to expire within a year, according to PWInsider.

Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that McIntyre is currently in the final year of his contract with WWE and there has been no progress in talks between the two sides for a potential new deal. Johnson reported that should McIntyre’s contract expire, it is currently expected that he would attract a lot of interest from other major promotions should he become a free agent.

Fightful Select reported that their sources provided more details regarding McIntyre’s current contract situation in WWE. Those spoken to stated that McIntyre’s contract is currently set to expire “within the next nine months.” It was reported that the reason for the lack of progress in talks is due to McIntyre has made it clear to WWE officials that he wants to wait till near the end of his current deal before he makes any official decision for a potential new deal.

Besides McIntyre, it was reported that many other talents currently have their contracts set to expire by the end of 2024.

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Wade Barrett on Original Plans for His WWE SmackDown Commentary Job

A recent episode of the Cultaholic Wrestling podcast had WWE SmackDown commentator Wade Barrett as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Barrett revealing that WWE’s original plans for him was to only be on SmackDown’s commentary team until this past January. Barrett stated that this was due to WWE had originally believed Pat McAfee would make his return to the company by then.

“So the original plan when I came (to SmackDown commentary), I think I joined in September, was that I was going to be running until the beginning of January and then I think Pat (McAfee) was gonna tag back in. That plan has now changed and the seat on SmackDown is mine on a more permanent basis or as permanent as you can be in the world of WWE. Of course things change all the time and plans might change again, so nothing’s ever really permanent in this game.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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More on NXT Week 181 Viewership – March 28, 2023

The March 28th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a large increase in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a small increase in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 620,000 viewers and a 0.16 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 11th place.

Detailed viewership and key demographic breakdowns were not available in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reason for NXT’s increases this week was due to the very large gains from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 44.4% compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the large gains from their female key demographic viewership and Over 50 viewership groups, which were up 56.5% and 10% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA basketball game of New Orleans Pelicans vs. Golden State Warriors drew 1,255,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA game of Miami Heat vs. Toronto Raptors drew 687,000 viewers on TNT, the 2023 NIT Men’s Basketball game of Wisconsin vs. North Texas drew 868,000 viewers on ESPN, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,564,000 viewers on History Channel, 1000-lb Sisters drew 721,000 viewers on TLC, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 943,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 202,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 130,000 male viewers (up 18.6%) and 72,000 female viewers (up 56.5%) for a split of 64.4% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 1% in overall viewership but up 6.9% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 85.7% compared to the same week last year.