Vince McMahon Reportedly was Backstage at Friday’s SmackDown Show

WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly was in attendance backstage at Friday’s SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, according to PWInsider.

In regards to the reason for McMahon being physically present backstage, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that McMahon almost is always present backstage whenever WWE holds a show at Madison Square Garden.

In regards to who ran Friday’s SmackDown show, Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that McMahon was in his office backstage during the day and throughout the show while WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque was the person actually running the show from Gorilla Position backstage.

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Grayson Waller Comments on His SmackDown In-Ring Debut Match

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York featured a singles match between Edge and Grayson Waller, which was won by Edge. This match was notable for being Waller’s official in-ring debut for WWE’s SmackDown brand.

Following the match, WWE held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Waller discussing his thoughts about his in-ring debut for the SmackDown brand.

“I guess you could say this was a pretty crazy week for Grayson Waller. A week ago, I have global megastar Logan Paul on my show. Then I’m the O2 Arena, sold-out, with John Cena, and then I cap it off with my debut on the main roster, on Friday Night SmackDown, and I wrestle Hall of Famer Edge. For any other wrestler, they could retire happy. This is as good as it heels. How is Grayson Waller feeling right now? I’m feeling pretty damn bad. Because whether or not I hung with Edge, it doesn’t matter because I just lost. But that’s okay because what was that he said to me? He said, ‘Sink of swim.’ Well, I’m pretty damn sure Grayson Waller just swam, and this is just the beginning.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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More on NXT Week 195 Viewership – July 4, 2023

The July 4th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large drop in overall viewership and a small drop in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 508,000 viewers and a 0.13 key demographic rating on USA Network.

Detailed viewership and key demographic 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 show taking place on the July 4th holiday and the large declines from their male key demographic viewership and female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 26.2% and 20% respectively compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that NXT’s overall viewership for this week’s show was the lowest ever for a regular NXT show on USA Network in NXT history and the second lowest ever for a NXT show, only ahead of the February 8, 2022 show that aired on SYFY.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 166,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 had 46,000 viewers (down 36.1%), Females 18-34 had 15,000 viewers (down 31.8%), Males 35-49 had 61,000 viewers (down 16.4%), and Females 35-49 had 45,000 viewers (down 15.1%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 107,000 male viewers (down 26.2%) and 60,000 female viewers (down 20%) for a split of 64.5% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 14.3% in overall viewership but up 11.4% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 80% compared to the same week last year.