WWE NXT: Seth Rollins World Heavyweight Championship Defense Was a Huge Ratings Success

By Connor Casey

WWE's attempt to increase NXT's audience for this week's Gold Rush special episode paid off in a big way, according to the ratings from ShowBuzz Daily. The event was headlined by Seth Rollins defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker (and getting attacked by Finn Balor to further their storyline heading into Money in the Bank) and the show wound up drawing a 0.23 rating with an average audience of 773,000, making it the second-highest cable program for the night. That's the best audience size and ratings since April 2021 and (according to Wrestlenomics) the best daily ranking in the show's history. 

The event will continue with next week's episode, headlined by NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. Baron Corbin as one of four championship matches. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reported earlier this month that WWE is attempting to present NXT as a legitimate third brand again alongside Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, something the company previously attempted back in 2019 but eventually gave up on. 

"Initially, NXT was on WWE Network. And then when the pandemic hit, USA/NBCU needed content, we did not miss a week of production. So we went with Tuesday nights NXT on USA from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern time. NXT ratings are also trending up ... so that is going in the right direction," Khan said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

"We think NXT has the viability to be its own standalone brand instead of just being a developmental system – a third brand, if you will, where you can see cross-over from our superstars on Raw and SmackDown to NXT while our young talent develops there. Once we get all of that situated, then we will look at other nights of the week to develop new content as well," Khan said.

WWE Money in the Bank 2023 Card (So Far)

  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
  • Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs. The Usos
  • Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar vs. Butch vs. Damian Priest vs. Logan Paul
  • Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Zelina Vega vs. Zoey Stark vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bayley vs. Iyo Sky vs. Trish Stratus
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio
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