[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter):

According to an article in Wrestling Inc. and since confirmed from others in the company, Vince McMahon sent an e-mail to talent that WWE would be taking control of all Twitch and Cameo accounts in four weeks. Talent was told that all accounts in those genres would be owned by the company but talent would earn a percentage of revenue from their accounts. What got people upset is that the revenue would count against their downside guarantees. With no house shows, essentially the old bookkeeping method of what talent that are under contract now earn in almost all cases except giant merchandise draws, would be less than the downside taking away the house show and such a large percentage of merchandise sales. Talent contacted at deadline has ranged from those saying they were aware of it and it is true, and others saying they received an e-mail regarding terminating all third party business relationships (which talent was warned to do several weeks ago) and being told this week that the hard deadline for this is 10/2. But some were not aware of any distinct change in the Twitch and Cameo policies, others have said they have heard it from other talent but did not hear it themselves and others have said they are aware of the one e-mail and not the other. At press time WWE had not clarified its position. As noted when the controversy started several weeks ago when WWE first banned talent from doing third-party deals with their WWE-owned names, the feeling was that talent under old contracts that weren’t with high downsides were taking a hit without house shows and lower merchandise numbers. But they have far more time off, so the Cameo accounts, Twitch accounts and other things of this nature would allow them to make money, and in the case in particular of some of the women, very significant money. But if that was to count against downsides, the fear is that in most cases, the percentage and the way the contract revenue is calculated is that talent is going to end up just getting their downside numbers ... The letter regarding Twitch and Cameo came as a surprise. WWE told us in the case of Twitch and YouTube, that talent was encouraged to use them, but that they could not make money off their WWE names through them since WWE owns those names. But talent thought what WWE had backed off a little after a number of Tweets by Andrew Yang. Yang noted that he has friends who are talent in WWE who were unhappy over the last turn of events several weeks ago. He said if the Democrats win the election, and he’s not Secretary of Labor, he will personally know the person who is and will call them about WWE talent being unfairly labeled independent contractors, with this being a key thing. A lot of talent believed that the company did not want to get into a battle of talent not being employees when they clearly are, and having the government look into it as possibly mislabeling it and penalties that could go with it. But the e-mail sent this week indicates another change ... One talent said, “This is amazing because it’s really going to open up the independent contractor issue. All these smart attorneys surrounding Vince and this is the battle he wants?” They also noted a lot of talent is livid, but as is usually the case in these situations, nobody would speak up about it.

The 9/27 Clash of Champions PPV was built around three matches, which all delivered at a high level ... But the show, and pro wrestling, were a backdrop to the bigger COVID story. Two scheduled matches were changed due to Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax and Nikki Cross being pulled from the show. In the case of Baszler and Jax, neither tested positive for COVID, but were in contact with somebody who had. With Cross, it has not been made clear which category she falls into ... The basic feeling at this point is that one of the coaches at the Performance Center had it unknowingly, and that’s what started it. It spread to more people at a party in the Orlando area that was attended by a number of people from both companies. There may have also been other spread, as there was at least one AEW person who got it who was definitely not at that party nor did they socialize with any of the WWE talent ... While no timetable is perfect, as a general rule these COVID related departures usually last two weeks, more if the case gets bad. So based on that, the NXT talent and announcers have a good shot at being back for the next nearly live show on 10/7, and most AEW talent should return for next week’s live show, while the Raw talent is likely for 10/12, but those are only estimates as nobody would have the actual answers. The one negative, and it’s a big one, is that WWE did know about the talent that wouldn’t be on Clash by at the latest, two days earlier. Cross not being on the show was being talked about in wrestling by 9/28, but WWE still advertised her match, even when she was pulled off Smackdown. Bayley even did a promo on 9/29 building up the match that everyone knew wasn’t taking place. Even CMLL, which hasn’t done a good job with this, has at least told people ahead of time when people were pulled from the show. WWE remains the only company to continue to advertise matches they know they aren’t going to have, and it’s been a policy dating back decades. I’ve had discussions over it and the excuses are preposterous, largely that “why should we be punished when we didn’t make the mistakes” and “we have them under contract so why can’t we advertise them.” With Jax and Baszler, there were people who knew a few days earlier but it didn’t get out to most until the day of the show. With the advent of social media, even some of the sleaziest companies have adopted the idea of telling people as soon as possible when something changes. Some companies may hold back for a day or two, or time their announcements for strategic reasons, but WWE is the only one that will continue to promote something they know isn’t happening.

The plan right now is to move NXT from Full Sail University to the Performance Center starting imminently, with Sunday’s Takeover. There had also been talk all week of moving Takeover to the Thunderdome but Wednesday came and went with no announcement and WWE at press time hadn’t answered any questions regarding the location of the Takeover show ... An interesting note is that 205 Live and NXT are going to be taped together as opposed to doing 205 Live on Friday’s each week live after Smackdown. We were told this was a precautionary measure related to COVID. The idea of taping Raw separate from Smackdown and separate from NXT was that if there was a COVID problem, it wouldn’t spread to different brands because they were kept apart. There was belief that some main roster spread came from the NXT talent that worked 205 Live, or at least the potential was there for such that needed to be shut down. Of course, what happened this past week with it spreading throughout WWE and AEW through socializing with so many people having friends in each company and a number of cross-company relationships that stuff can happen. But since main roster Smackdown talent no longer ever appear on 205 Live, but do appear on NXT, it was felt that it’s safer for all concerned doing it this way. There has also been talk of going back to live weekly shows from the Performance Center as opposed to Full Sail, every Wednesday as opposed to every other week. At press time there was discussion of that, but we were told it was not yet a done deal

Tegan Nox (Steffanie Newell, 25), underwent another knee operation this past week for a torn ACL. Generally you’re talking about around eight months or so out, give or take a couple of months in either direction. That’s why they did the angle on last week’s NXT show where Candice LeRae took out her knee. The injury in this case didn’t come from a match or even from training in the ring itself, and does have to do with prior knee problems. This would be her third ACL tear, two in one knee and one in the other

I'd be surprised if her in-ring career lasts that much longer in WWE. Supposedly Triple H has been wanting to make her the top women's star for his NXT brand ever since the last Mae Young Classic tournament but those plans kept getting derailed due to her knee issues.

Harold George Meij, the unlikely President and CEO of New Japan Pro Wrestling, who had gotten rave reports for his handling of the COVID-19 situation and headed a period of record revenues and profits, was replaced suddenly during the G-1 Climax tournament after a meeting on 9/29 by the Bushiroad Board of Directors. Technically, Meij will remain in his position until 10/23, when Takami Ohbari, who was the CEO of the New Japan of America division will take over the position ... There are a lot of people who have a lot of different things to say about Meij. His track record as far as the bottom line was very strong. His breaking with tradition and running two days at the Tokyo Dome this year generated so much revenue that New Japan was able to survive the pandemic far better than it could have otherwise. Unlike America companies who make their money from television, New Japan’s business was based on live ticket sales, huge merchandise business and its streaming service, which had great limitations as compared to U.S. services since Japanese don’t subscribe to streaming services in anywhere close to the level that Americans and Canadians do. But under him, international popularity had exploded, largely stemming from the Omega vs. Chris Jericho match on January 4, 2018, to where there were 8,000 tickets sold for both nights at the Tokyo Dome to non-Japanese nationals, with Australia and the U.K. being the strongest markets as well as the U.S. But it was also under his watch that they lost Omega, and he had made the call that due to Jericho’s high salary, which was worth it to the company and then some at first, that he wasn’t interested in using him after the January 5, 2019 show. In addition, he marketed very strongly to the women fan base. New Japan had been strong with women long before Meij came into power, with top stars like Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Omega, Kota Ibushi and others. It was under his watch Ibushi signed a long-term deal and didn’t go to AEW. But he pushed the large percentage of women in their 20s who attended matches as a calling card, and even created women’s only sections at shows so women could feel comfortable going to shows if they weren’t interested in dealing with or being hit on by male fans. But he was very divisive. There was the feeling he didn’t know or fully understand pro wrestling ... Some wrestlers felt that he didn’t see wrestlers as individual talents even though he was a wrestling fan. But there were also economic issues. Without the big television money, even though wrestlers rave about aspects of Japanese wrestling and many love Japan, they could make more money in the U.S. market, particularly once AEW elevated the pay structure ... Still, his departure was not a surprise. It happening this week was a surprise, but insiders had expected it for some time, particularly when Ohbari and not Meij nor his assistant, Canadian native Michael Craven, were put in charge of the most important aspect of company growth, the North American expansion. When Meij came aboard, he promised that within three years he would get annual revenue to $100 million. That would not have been possible without strong overseas television deals, in particular in the U.S., as well as India (where New Japan does have a deal) and the U.K. (where it doesn’t). Even before the pandemic hit, that didn’t look promising, and the odds were greatly against it ... And Meij had a business mind regarding profit and losses, and many complained about New Japan being cheap, whether it be the nature of flights or other things. Meij himself also had a very high salary, earning more than everyone in the company with the possible exception of Okada. While in the U.S., the CEO’s may earn more than the star employees, and in WWE the Executive Vice Presidents with their stock options are as wealthy or wealthier than the top talent, in Japan it is not that way at all, and in wrestling the people who run the business end never made what the star wrestlers made. The timing could be that with the company not generating revenue anywhere near expectations, and with no certainty that they will get to the level they were any time soon, and office workers already taking major cuts, that Meij’s salary would be a big one to get off the books ... One person in the company noted this had been in the works for a while, that Meij was divisive and had a huge ego, and that almost everyone is glad he was gone. The claim was that Bushiroad owner Takaaki Kidani knew a year ago he had to make the change and likely held off until now to both save face and then didn’t want to make the change while the worst of the pandemic in Japan was going on. Meij was able to get New Japan great publicity on mainstream shows that portrayed the company very positively. But he was still the focal point and not the talent on many of those specials. That was very unusual for Japanese wrestling officials who are mostly anonymous figures who wouldn’t even be recognized in public by anyone but the most ardent of fan ... Because of his meeting with so many fans, a large number of the Japanese fan base was quite vocal about the decision and disappointed. The office itself was more mixed. He was also credited for both signing talent to longer-term contracts as opposed to the one-year deals that company was famous for, which allowed the top stars to be raided by American groups. Some talent who was never under contract were able to get longer-term deals and given stability. Meij also had his own fan club. And at live events, Meij would often be there as fans entered the building, shaking hands, saying hello, and even handing out items as people came through the door. This was completely different from past CEO’s of New Japan and all but a few executives at his level in pro wrestling history ... Yet another insider felt that while Meij was not liked by many Americans, and noted that he had made the call not to use Jericho going forward because of his high salary, that others may not hold the line when it comes to higher priced talent. One person said it is great because they believe Jericho and others will eventually be brought back when the world gets normal, but the bad is the company may overspend on foreign talent. It was noted Meij was big on not cutting anyone during the pandemic either on the roster or working in the office, although there were many who took pay cuts in the office. From the AEW side, for those who have wanted the business relationship, the feeling is that it’s good news, but they don’t know much about Ohbari. “No idea (regarding opening up the business relationship with Meij out),” said one of AEW’s top names. “We want to. But he (Meij) was an idiot when it came to understanding the business. Hopefully things will change now.”

The largest pro wrestling crowd in North America since the pandemic, roughly 1,500 fans, showed up for the 50th anniversary of Jerry Lawler’s Memphis wrestling debut show. The show took place outdoors at The Ballpark in Jackson, the home of the Jackson Generals minor league baseball team, in the city that was a regular stop for Nick Gulas & Roy Welch, and later Jarrett Promotions ... WWE had a crew shooting the show for an upcoming Lawler piece.

AAA: AAA made the official announcement of its Auto Lucha shows, which are drive-in wrestling shows. They take place at the Hermanos Rodriguez auto racing track in Mexico City. They’ve so far announced three shows a day on 10/3, 10/4, 10/10 and 10/11 ... All the shows will be taped. The 10/3 8 p.m. show will air live on AAA’s social media and the rest will be taped for the company’s various television stations. The lineups won’t be announced ahead of time most likely and the idea is just to present good entertaining matches without a lot of storylines. They may open up drive-in shows in other cities, like Monterrey, if this proves to be successful. Everyone involved with the show, from the producers to the 75 wrestlers on the current roster was to start COVID testing this week. ... El Hijo del Vikingo, who is perhaps the company’s best young wrestler and one of the best flyers in the world, will not be on the return shows or anything going forward. Those close to him have said he’s gone incommuicado. Those in AAA are saying that he is taking a year off wrestling because his wife asked him to be home with her and his new child. AAA noted that they are wishing him well and he is under contract through 2023.

Leland Race, who wrestled as the son of Harley Race, real name Homer Jones and wrestled for years on indies as Jason Jones before working with Race as his son in Race’s World League Wrestling group in 2013) attempted to get a street in Troy, MO named Harley Race Lane on 9/21. It would be the street where Race’s gym has been located for years. While speaking to the Board of Alderman in Troy, he talked like Race was his father, and a local newspaper story listed him as the son of Harley Race. The proposal looks like it won’t happen since three local business owners were vehemently opposed tot the change and Jones said that he would drop his request.

AEW: They are taping live on 10/7, 10/14 and 10/21 instead of every other week. 10/7 is supposed to be a big show with the Jericho 30th anniversary and 10/14 is the Anniversary show with Moxley vs. Lance Archer for the AEW title. 10/7 goes against the Vice Presidential debate, so that may be tough, as will 10/21 for sure and maybe 10/28 with the World Series, and the night before Thanksgiving as AEW did one of its worst numbers that night because of the age group it draws from, since the week before and after did well and the DVR numbers after that week for that show were huge. The basic story is Tony Khan wanted the Jericho and Anniversary show live, and with the PPV on 11/7, he was bringing all talent in for the nine days from 11/4 to 11/12 where they would do a live show, Dark, PPV, live show and Dark. The only taped shows until December will be 10/28 and 11/18

The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Clash of the Champions; 2. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Kurt Angle; 3. Raw Talk on 9/28; 4. WWE Chronicle: Jey Uso; 5. Uncool with Alexa Bliss; 6.Clash of the Champions kickoff show; 7. Best of The Miz & John Morrison; 8. WWE Payback; 9. The Bump for 9/27; 10. Smackdown on 8/26. NXT was 13th. NXT U.K. was 20th. The only independent show in the top 25 was a May 11, 2009, Evolve show at No. 24. 205 Live didn’t crack the top 25

WWE Ratings, AEW vs NXT Ratings:

SPOILER: show

Raw on 9/28 was expected by many going in to do its all-time record low, and instead, it was the opposite. Raw went against the biggest NFL game so far this season, game six of the NHL playoffs (which ended up being the decider), and a night where news coverage was well above average, to the point Raw only finished No. 28 overall on cable. However, the combination of the day-after-PPV bump and bringing back Ric Flair (who when used sparingly seems to always bring up ratings), Shawn Michaels, Christian and Big Show did 1,828,000 viewers and 0.55 in 18-49 (707,000 viewers). The increases from the prior week were 9.6 percent for overall viewers, 10.0 percent in 18-49 and 9.3 percent in 18-34 ... The main competition was the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens game which had 14,019,000 viewers, likely to be the biggest ESPN number of the season, as well as a 4.60 in 18-49 and 3.66 in 18-34. What turned out to be the deciding game of the Stanley Cup playoffs on NBC did 2,877,000 viewers and an 0.8 in 18-49 and 0.6 in 18-34. Raw was fourth overall in 18-49 on cable, and fifth in males 18-49 and males 12-34, trailing only ESPN-related football coverage. As compared to last year for the same week, viewers were down 29.1 percent, 18-49 was down 38.2 percent and 18-34 was down 44.3 percent ... As far as who kept interest through all three hours, women 18-49 dropped 14.9 percent, males 18-49 dropped 7.2 percent, teenage girls dropped 26.5 percent, and teenage boys gained 7.2 percent and over 50 lost 14.7 percent.

Smackdown on 9/25 did bounce back from the lower number the week before doing a 1.30 rating and 2,110,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) and 0.59 in 18-49 (766,000 viewers). It was up 2.4 percent in ratings, 3.6 percent in viewers and 8.8 percent in 18-49 from what was considered a low number the prior week. The key to the growth was women 18-49, which was up 19.5 percent from the prior week. Smackdown was second to the Tampa Bay-Dallas Stanley Cup playoff finals in 18-49 on network TV, but it was a close second at 789,000 to 766,000, or 0.61 to 0.59. ESPN beat all the networks with the NBA in 18-49 (2,233,000 in 18-49 head-to-head and that’s being in far less homes, and still nearly tripling it) and beat Smackdown 5-to-1 in 18-34 (1.50 to 0.30). Among network shows, Smackdown tied for second behind the NHL playoffs in 18-34, tied for first in 18-49 and were second to the NHL in men 18-49 and tied for third with women 18-49 of the four network shows ... The first half hour averaged 2.18 million viewers with the promo with A.J. Styles, Jeff Hardy and Sami Zayn and subsequent three-way match. The second half hour did 2.08 million viewers with the Otis & Tucker & Miz & John Morrison segment, Bayley interview, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Gran Metalik and Jey Uso/Roman Reigns video. The third half hour did 2.12 million viewers with the Jey Uso promo, Paul Heyman interview and Matt Riddle vs. King Corbin. The final half hour did 2.03 million viewers with Lacey Evans vs. Alexa Bliss and the Reigns/Uso promo and angle.

A few interesting notes regarding the 9/23 NXT vs. AEW battle. NXT had a great lead-in, as the show opened with 1,205,000 viewers, although by four minutes in it was down to 896,000, but still the first quarter with the women’s Battle Royal averaged 913,000 and even came somewhat close to AEW in 18-49s. But it wasn’t the Battle Royal, since the conclusion was at 754,000 for the quarter. AEW opened at 791,000. NXT won the first quarter and was within shooting distance over the next two quarters. But the race turned around in quarter four when Brodie Lee vs. Orange Cassidy gained 106,000 viewers and Roderick Strong & Danny Burch vs. Fabian Aichner & Raul Mendoza lost 103,000 viewers, and in that quarter AEW nearly doubled NXT in 18-49. AEW doubled NXT in 18-49 in every subsequent quarter. The final quarter battle saw AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston do 873,000 viewers and 465,000 in 18-49, the latter being the peak number for the night, while NXT did 652,000 viewers and 204,000 in 18-49 for the five-way gauntlet eliminator with Kyle O’Reilly, Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Timothy Thatcher and Kushida ... In the first quarter, AEW did 762,000 viewers and 342,000 in 18-49 for Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss. NXT did 913,000 viewers and 294,000 in 18-49 for the women’s Battle Royal. In the second quarter, AEW did 789,000 viewers and 367,000 in 18-49 for a Kingston promo with Moxley coming out, plus the beginning of Adam Page vs. Evil Uno. NXT did 754,000 and 245,000 in 18-49 for the last few minutes of the Battle Royal, a Damien Priest promo and Fandango acting like Sherlock Holmes plus the beginning of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jake Atlas. Quarter three saw AEW at 762,000 viewers and 361,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Page vs. Uno and the angle with Matt Jackson and Tony Schiavone. NXT did 711,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Ciampa vs. Atlas, a Ridge Holland video, a video for the main event and the beginning of Strong & Burch vs. Mendoza & Aichner. Quarter four saw AEW do 868,000 viewers and 403,000 in 18-49 with Lee vs. Cassidy. NXT did 608,000 viewers and 202,000 in 18-49 for Strong & Burch vs. Mendoza & Aichner. Quarter five saw AEW do 893,000 viewers (its peak) and 445,000 in 18-49 for the Cody run-in on the Dark Order, Brodie Lee promo and the Matt Hardy & Private Party along with Jericho promo. NXT did 646,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49 for Damien Priest vs. Austin Theory. Quarter six saw AEW do 877,000 viewers and 449,000 in 18-49 for the Tully Blanchard & FTR promo with Best Friends coming out and the beginning of Hikaru Shida & Thunder Rosa vs. Diamante & Ivelisse. NXT did 616,000 viewers and 210,000 in 18-49 for an Isaiah Scott interview, the Ridge Holland squash and the Io Shirai, Candice LeRae, Johnny Gargano and Priest segment. Quarter seven saw AEW do 859,000 viewers and 449,000 in 18-49 with Shida & Rosa vs. Diamante & Ivelisse and the Chris Jericho promo with MJF. NXT did 663,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of the Gauntlet eliminator match. In quarter eight’s Battle of main events, AEW gained 14,000 total viewers and 16,000 in 18-45, while NXT lost 11,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49.

Both AEW and NXT saw increases on 9/30, even with the NBA playoff finals, Major League baseball playoffs and a South Park spoof of COVID-19 that was expected to be, and was, a monster in the key demo. AEW did 866,000 viewers and an 0.33 in 18-49 (428,000 viewers), good for the 11th spot of the night on cable, behind five baseball related shows, South Park and four news shows ... AEW Dynamite was up 3.7 percent overall, 4.4 percent in 18-49 and down 0.7 percent in 18-34 ... NXT did 732,000 viewers and 0.19 (247,000 viewers) in 18-49, good for the No. 50 spot on cable. It was up 5.2 percent in viewers, 9.3 percent in 18-49 and 11.6 percent in 18-34. While on the surface you look at this and say the NBA game didn’t hurt at all, actually that wasn’t the case. AEW before the game started averaged 918,000 viewers an 457,000 in 18-49, even against baseball playoffs. But against the NBA, it fell to 811,000 and 401,000. NXT did 796,000 viewers and 254,000 in 18-49 against baseball but not basketball, while fell to 669,000 and 240,000 respectively against basketball. The Ricky Starks vs. Darby Allin match averaged 1,026,000 viewers, and that’s with no lead-in. The Cody/Brodie Lee brawl averaged 503,000 in 18-49. In the main event battle, AEW with Jon Moxley vs. The Butcher for the AEW title did 815,000 viewers and 390,000 in 18-49, actually the lowest in 18-49 of the show which was due to the NBA. NXT with Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae vs. Damien Priest & Io Shirai did 635,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49. The NBA finals game one did 7,410,000 viewers and 2.6 in 18-49, the lowest in at least 26 years. The drop was a giant sports story, as the first game in 2017 did 18.70 million viewers, 2018 did 17.35 million and 2019 did 13.51 million. It may be the wrong time of the year, or it could be the political divisiveness and a segment of the public being negative toward the players due to the climate we live in. This is more of a drop than even WWE has done over the same time period. The baseball game head-to-head with both shows did 2,535,000 viewers and 0.68 in 18-49 and 0.50 in 18-34. The South Park special did 2,272,000 viewers, 1.16 in 18-49 and 1.14 in 18-34, and 1.14 with teenage boys. These three shows just destroyed AEW’s teenage boy viewership. Teenage girls, however, were up 18.7 percent and as a total, girls were 87.4 percent higher than boys for AEW among teenagers which is unheard of. AEW won every key demo. AEW did 74,000 in male18-34 (down 2.6 percent from last week) to 42,000 for NXT (up 7.7 percent). AEW did 65,000 in women 18-34 (up 1.6 percent) to 35,000 for NXT (up 16.7 percent). AEW did 206,000 in men 35-49 (up 12.0 percent) to 102,000 for NXT (up 4.1 percent). AEW did 83,000 in women 35-49 (down 3.5 percent) to 68,000 for NXT (up 7.9 percent). AEW was hit really hard with teenage boys, which likely has to do with the NBA and baseball, with a 43.6 percent week-to-week drop. The male drop was so much that NXT beat AEW with teenagers which rarely happens and hasn’t in a long time. NXT won with over 50s by 0.37 to 0.34 ... AEW more than doubled NXT in the first 30 minutes in 18-49. However, in quarter three NXT, won in total viewers 835,000 to 824,000. There was a huge shift with AEW losing 162,000 viewers and 79,000 in 18-49, and at the same time NXT gained 78,000 viewers and 44,000 in 18-49. The NBA pregame show also started at the same time, so that indicates the AEW fan base is far more into the NBA than the NXT fan base, as while both were hurt by the game itself, AEW averaged 1,006,000 viewers before the pre game show started, 830,000 against the pregame show and 811,000 against the game. For NXT, those figures were 803,000 unopposed, 789,000 against the pregame show and 669,000 against the game. In the first quarter, AEW did 1,026,000 viewers and 469,000 in 18-49 for Starks vs. Allin. NXT did 848,000 viewers and 231,000 in 18-49 for Shotzi Blackheart vs. Dakota Kai. In the second quarter, AEW did 986,000 viewers and 503,000 in 18-49 for the Cody and Brodie Lee brawl with Brandi and Anna Jay and all the other characters plus the FTR & Tully Blanchard promo. NXT did 757,000 viewers and 241,000 in 18-49 for the end of Blackheart vs. Kai, the Isaiah Scott/Santos Escobar promo segment and a Kyle O’Reilly video package. In quarter three, AEW fell badly with 824,000 viewers and 424,000 in 18-49 for the first part of FTR vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky for the tag titles. NXT did 835,000 viewers and 285,000 in 18-49 for a Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae promo, Cameron Grimes’ two matches including Ridge Holland and a Kushida video package. In quarter four, AEW did 836,000 viewers and 431,000 in 18-49 for the second half of FTR vs. Kazarian & Sky. NXT did 742,000 viewers and 257,000 in 18-49 for Kushida vs. Tony nese. In quarter five, AEW did 844,000 viewers and 417,000 in 18-49 for Chris Jericho vs. Isaiah Kassidy and the Miro & Kip Sabian segment. NXT did 741,000 viewers and 251,000 in 18-49 for Adam Cole vs. Austin Theory. In quarter six, AEW did 785,000 viewers and 396,000 in 18-49 for Orange Cassidy vs. 10 and MJF & Wardlow backstage with The Inner Circle. NXT did 687,000 viewers and 234,000 in 18-49 for Kayden Carter vs. Xia Li. In quarter seven, AEW did 806,000 viewers and 399,000 in 18-49 for Britt Baker vs. Red Velvet and an Eddie Kingston interview. NXT did 611,000 viewers and 231,000 in 18-49 for the Shawn Michaels, Finn Balor and Kyle O’Reilly segment. In quarter eight, AEW did 815,000 viewers and 390,000 in 18-49, so up 9,000 in viewers and down 9,000 in 18-49, for Moxley vs. Butcher. NXT did 635,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49, or up 24,000 in viewers and up 11,000 in 18-49, for Gargano & LeRae vs. Priest & Shirai.

Smeat's note: Baring any sudden changes, just going to take next week off as well except for Friday instead of the whole month as I had been seriously thinking of doing. Been recently feeling better mentally after last month's terrible ordeal of the passing of a family dog.