NXT's Ratings Dip Slightly in Second Week on USA, Remain Above One Million Viewers
NXT returned to the USA Network for its second one-hour broadcast on Wednesday night, and managed [...]
NXT returned to the USA Network for its second one-hour broadcast on Wednesday night, and managed to retain most of the viewers it had brought it in with its premiere back on Sept. 18. According to ShowBuzz Daily, NXT finished eighth among cable shows on Wednesday night in the 18-49 key demographic with a 0.32 rating and an average viewership of 1.006 million viewers. That viewership is down slightly from the week before at 1.179 million.
The show once again had to shunt its second hour back to the WWE Network due to Suits' series finale (which finished all the way down at 38th place and couldn't break one million viewers). The first hour featured Keith Lee defeating Dominik Dijakovic, Dakota Kai returning from injury to defeat Taynara Conti and Matt Riddle earning a shot at the NXT Championship by defeating Killian Dain in a Street Fight.
With the show moving to two-hours on USA and going head-to-head with AEW Dynamite on TNT, NXT looks to be building up a mini-TakeOver episode for Oct. 2. So far the card includes NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. Riddle, NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler vs. Candice LaRae and NXT Tag Team Champions Undisputed Era vs. The Street Profits.
Meanwhile AEW has already announced five matches for Dynamite's premiere — Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara, Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho and two mystery partners, SCU vs. Jurassic Express, MJF vs. Brandon Cutler and "Hangman" Adam Page vs. PAC.
Following the premiere episode, Triple H revealed in a media conference call that Vince McMahon gave the episode a glowing review.
"He sent me a few texts after the show," he continued. "He watched the entire thing. I'm sure he was at the office, probably in a meeting while he was doing it. But he enjoyed it, he loved it. He thought the talent did a hell of a job, thought they knocked it out of the park. He was excited, he sent me a massive congratulations after it was over, and was thrilled with the product."
In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Cole stated that the creative direction of NXT would go unchanged despite the move to a bigger network.
"I think an important recipe for NXT success, and I can tell you that our team feels this exact same way, is we need to keep and stay true to what made NXT NXT," Cole said. "Because this move to the USA Network is not a mistake."
"It's not by accident," he continued. "It's because of what NXT brings to the table already. So I think we very much recognize that keeping that formula and doing more of what this brand does better than anybody is how we're going to succeed on the USA Network. Of course, there's going to be some exciting new things happening in NXT, but at the same time, we know what brought us to the dance, and we're going to stay true to that."
