WWE: Rey Mysterio Injury Update, Brian Pillman Jr. Signing Update, More on NXT July 25, 2023 Viewership

Rey Mysterio Injury Status Update

As noted before, Rey Mysterio suffered a head-related injury during his match with Santos Escobar at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Fightful Select reported that their sources confirmed that Mysterio’s injury was legitimate and not something done for storyline reasons.

It was reported that WWE’s original plans for the match were for Escobar to win the match clean and an audible was called for the match’s ending and Escobar being declared the winner by ref stoppage.

It was also reported that WWE officials had originally planned for a follow-up backstage segment to take place on the show but this segment was dropped due to Mysterio’s injury.

---

Brian Pillman Jr. WWE Contract Signing Update

As noted before, former AEW talent Brian Pillman Jr. is believed to have recently signed or be close to signing a contract with WWE.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials are interested in potentially signing Pillman Jr. to a contract but did not confirm if he has signed a official contract yet. Those same sources reportedly also stated that WWE officials currently are limiting the amount of new signings at the moment with only special cases being allowed for signings.

Meltzer reported that those within NXT currently are under the belief that there will not be any new official signings until after WWE’s sale to Endeavor and merger with UFC is completed. NXT officials reportedly are allowed to scout potential new talent and those interested by the company have been told to just wait for the time being.

---

More on NXT Week 198 Viewership – July 25, 2023

The July 25th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a large decline in overall viewership but gained a slight increase in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 703,000 viewers and a 0.23 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 mixed results this week was due to the declines from their older male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 13.2% and 50.8% compared to last week’s show. This mostly offset the gains from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 91.3% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of peak viewership, NXT’s peak reportedly was at 760,000 viewers for their fifth quarter. Meltzer reported that this week’s show grew in viewership during its first five quarters but then declined in the last three quarters before rebounding with the overrun which drew 705,000 viewers.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 297,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 had 102,000 viewers (up 72.9%), Females 18-34 had 51,000 viewers (up 96.1%), Males 35-49 had 112,000 viewers (down 13.2), and Females 35-49 had 32,000 viewers (down 50.8%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 214,000 male viewers and 83,000 female viewers for a split of 72.1% in favor of males.

In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that NXT’s show managed to beat this week’s AEW Dynamite show in Females 18-34 at 51,000 viewers compared to 47,000 viewers for AEW. NXT reportedly came close to tying AEW in overall 18-34 at 153,000 viewers compared to 162,000 viewers for AEW.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 17.2% in overall viewership and up 79.1% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 173.2% compared to the same week last year.