WWE News: Smackdown Rating, NXT Dusty Classic Details

ByRobby Steven
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The start of 2022 has been hot and heavy for the WWE as the Royal Rumble inches closer. Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns are officially the top draws in the company, so all eyes are pointed towards the winner of the Rumble and a potential title match at Wrestlemania. With that, the viewership for WWE TV has been steady as other WWE News make the rounds.

WWE News: Smackdown Rating

Spoiler TV reports that the January 14 edition of Smackdown saw a dip from the previous week but was still steady. WWE Smackdown averaged 2.06 million viewers, a drop of 4.65 percent from the week before.. The first hour of Smackdown pulled in 2.069 million viewers, with hour two dropping slightly to 2.05 million. In the 18-49 demographic, Smackdown held a 0.5 rating, good enough for number 1 for the night. The Royal Rumble is only two weeks away leading into Wrestlemania season, so the ratings are expected to climb.

WWE NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

The first-round matches for the Dusty Rhodes Classic are set to begin in just one week Legado Del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza) are set to face The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed). Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) will battle Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward. Jacket Time (Ikemen Jiro & Kushida) take on the team of Edris Enofé & Malik Blade. MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter) square off against Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs in the final first-round match-up. The action kicks off on the January 18 edition of WWE NXT.

WWE News

Recent rumors have speculated that The Street Profits were coming to the end of their current contracts. Fightful Select reports that the team has “plenty of time” left on their deals. Being mainstays on WWE programming, The Street Profits are expected to remain on the scene for some time.

In an interview with the Toronto Star, the WWE released an official statement appearing to take a shot at AEW and their use of blood. “If you look at the gory self-mutilation that bloodied several women in the December 31 event on TNT, it quickly becomes clear that these are very different businesses,” the statement read. The statement went on to refer to AEW as “dangerous and brutal display.” 

WWE has kept their mentioning of AEW to a minimum to not make them appear as direct competition. The comments made in the above statement are yet another example of WWE’s framing of the current wrestling landscape. AEW has many former WWE wrestlers under contract, so it makes sense that WWE would try to get ahead of the comparison. AEW’s flagship show “Dynamite” averages nearly one million viewers a week, and recently made the move from TNT to TBS. WWE Raw pulls in nearly double those numbers.

Robby Steven
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