Month: January 2021

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Edge On Why This Year’s WWE Journey Is Different

WWE Hall of Famer Edge says his journey back to the WWE Title begins this Sunday at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. As noted, Edge returned to WWE TV during last night’s Royal Rumble go-home edition of RAW and announced that he will make his in-ring return during Sunday’s 30-Man Royal Rumble Match. He noted that […]

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Title Match Nixed From This Week’s WWE NXT?

It looks like the WWE NXT Cruiserweight Title match may have been pulled from tomorrow’s NXT episode on the USA Network.

It was announced last week that this week’s show would see Santos Escobar defend the NXT Cruiserweight Title against Curt Stallion. The official NXT preview has been posted for tomorrow’s show and that match is nowhere to be found.

Stallion earned a future title shot from Escobar after winning a Fatal 5 Way on WWE 205 Live back in November. He recently responded to a fan on Twitter who asked when the title match would happen. The fan noted that Stallion became the #1 contender back in November, but Stallion cleared things up.

“Excellent question, Jhanlit. To answer: 1. I never won a number 1 contenders match. The match I won was for a future cruiserweight championship opportunity at any time. 2. I’m treating this like my own personal “money in the bank contract.” When the time is right, I’ll cash in,” Stallion explained.

Stay tuned for more on tomorrow’s NXT show and the status of the Cruiserweight Title match. The following matches are still official for the show:

* Kyle O’Reilly and NXT Champion Finn Balor vs. NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in a non-title match

* Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Quarterfinals: The Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake, Zack Gibson) vs. Leon Ruff and Kushida

* Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Quarterfinals: Drake Maverick and Killian Dain vs. MSK (Wes Lee, Nash Carter)

* Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round: Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Aliyah and Jessi Kamea

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AEW Dark Live Coverage (1/26): Jurassic Express Vs. Lee Johnson And Aaron Solow, TNT Vs. SCU

Welcome to Wrestling Inc’s recap of AEW Dark, which airs every Tuesday at 7 PM EST on AEW’s YouTube Channel. Be sure to chime in on your thoughts about tonight’s show in the comments section below. Additionally, share our live coverage through social media. Make sure to click the REFRESH button to continue to get the most current up to date coverage. Below is what’s on tonight’s agenda:

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Drew McIntyre On Why He Doesn’t Want The Fiend Involved With The WWE Title Chase

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre recently spoke with Riju Dasgupta of Sportskeeda and revealed that he’s not interested in mixing the WWE Title with the environment of a cinematic-style match because he thinks the title should be defended in a realistic wrestling match setting.

McIntyre has never competed in a cinematic match. He believes the character of “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt is incredible, but not something he wants to see involved with the WWE Title chase.

“Maybe eventually, not right now,” McIntyre said of working a cinematic match. “I’m WWE Champion and I think, in fact I know, like the way I’ve been building the title, it’s about the honor and respect and about wrestling. And there’s room on the show for everything, a little bit something for everybody, different characters.

“It’d be boring if everyone was the same and The Fiend’s unique character is so incredible, so out there, but I don’t think that’s something I think I want to mix the WWE Title with. Like that’s for, you know that portion of the audience and for me as a fan to watch and be blown away by the spectacle.”

McIntyre continued, “But when it comes to the WWE Championship, I expect it to be in a wrestling match. You know, like man-on-man, fighting over the title with respect and honor. And that’s what I’m all about, that’s how I’ve tried to represent the title and that’s how I think it should be represented. Not in a comedic fashion or an outlandish fashion, but a realistic wrestling environment.”

McIntyre will defend the WWE Title against WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg at Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

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Triple H On John Cena Possibly Working WrestleMania 37, Stephanie McMahon Praises Sasha Banks

WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon and WWE Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development Triple H recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote WrestleMania 37.

WWE recently announced WrestleMania 37 for April 10 and April 11 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, WrestleMania 38 for April 3, 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and WrestleMania 39 on April 2, 2023 at SoFi Stadium in Hollywood, CA. They released a creative promo to make the announcements, featuring John Cena, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, and SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks. You can see the promo below. It was noted that veteran Superstar Cena, who has been focusing on his Hollywood career, was a natural choice to make the WrestleMania 39 announcement.

Triple H was asked about Cena appearing in the promo, and if he will work WrestleMania this year. He noted that if there’s a way for Cena to work WrestleMania 37, then he will be there.

“I won’t put words in John’s mouth, but I can speak to his passion, and it’s WWE and WrestleMania,” Triple H said. “Once you do this at a high level, and John does it at the highest, it’s very hard to put down. If there is a way for him to be there, he will be there.”

As noted earlier at this link, Cena is reportedly now considered to be a 100% lock for WrestleMania 37.

Stephanie had big praise for Banks when asked about using her for the WrestleMania 38 announcement. She mentioned Banks’ WrestleMania 32 Triple Threat with Becky Lynch and current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Charlotte Flair, which saw Flair win to become the inaugural WWE Women’s Champion.

“Sasha is a star, and she was a perfect choice to make that announcement,” Stephanie said. “That launched the rebranding of the women’s division on the biggest stage possible. Sasha, Becky and Charlotte tore it down in Dallas, and I can’t wait to see what they do at WrestleMania in 2022.”

Triple H also looked forward to WWE NXT Superstars headlining future WrestleMania events. He named NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai, Rhea Ripley, Shotzi Blackheart, Candice LeRae, Raquel Gonzalez, and Dakota Kai as top stars of the women’s division.

“Our roster right now includes Io Shirai, Rhea Ripley, Shotzi Blackheart, Dakota Kai, Candice LeRae and Raquel González,” Triple H said. “The division is deep, and it represents the way we want to build our future. Not the future in five days—the future in five years. That’s what we’re doing in NXT. I hope we’ll see them tearing it up in the main event of WrestleMania 40, and it won’t surprise me at all if that happens.”

Stay tuned for more.

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WWE RAW Viewership For The Royal Rumble Go-Home Show

Monday’s live Royal Rumble go-home edition of WWE RAW, featuring the final build for Sunday’s pay-per-view with Alexa Bliss vs. RAW Women’s & WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Asuka in the main event, drew an average of 1.820 million viewers on the USA Network, according to Showbuzz Daily.

This is down from last week’s 1.855 million viewers.

For this week’s show, the first hour drew 1.904 million viewers (last week’s hour 1 – 1.991 million), the second hour drew 1.838 million viewers (last week’s hour 2 – 1.875 million) and the final hour drew 1.716 million viewers (last week’s hour 3 – 1.697 million).

RAW ranked #23 for the night in viewership on cable, up from last week’s #34 spot, and behind Rachel Maddow Show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, Last Word, The Five, Reidout, All In, The Ingraham Angle, 11th Hour, Beat, Deadline: White House, Special Report, Lead, Erin Burnett Outfront, Anderson Cooper 360, Cuomo Prime Time, CNN Newsroom at 2pm, CNN Newsroom at 3pm, Situation Room at 5pm, CNN Newsroom at 1pm, Situation Room at 6pm, and FOX News Primetime.

RAW ranked #1 for the night on the Cable Top 150, with an average 18-49 demographic rating of 0.52, down from last week’s #3 ranked 0.60. Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC topped the night on cable in viewership with 3.984 million, ranking #16 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.27 rating in the key demo.

This is the second week where RAW had no football competition, and because of that the show took home the #1 spot in the key demo, but viewership was still low considering the lack of sports and cable news competition. This week’s RAW viewership was down 1.9% from last week, but down 13% in the 18-49 rating. This week’s viewership was down 24% from the same week in 2020.

The Bachelor on ABC drew an average of 5.245 million viewers on broadcast TV in the 8pm hour while The Neighborhood drew 6.410 million viewers on CBS, Ellen’s Game of Games drew 3.384 million viewers on NBC, 911 drew 7.208 million viewers on FOX and CW’s All American Stories drew 818,000 viewers, all in the 8pm hour on broadcast TV.

Below is our 2021 RAW Viewership Tracker:

January 4 Episode: 2.128 million viewers with a 0.68 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Legends Night episode)
January 11 Episode: 1.819 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 18 Episode: 1.855 million viewers with a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 25 Episode: 1.820 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 1 Episode:

2020 Total: 97.744 million viewers over 52 episodes
2020 Average: 1.880 million viewers per episode

2019 Total: 125.746 million viewers over 52 episodes
2019 Average: 2.418 million viewers per episode

2018 Total: 149.628 million viewers over 53 episodes
2018 Average: 2.823 million viewers per episode

2017 Total: 156.971 million viewers over 52 episodes
2017 Average: 3.018 million viewers per episode

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