POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Dynamite (10 p.m. ET)
Thursday: Rewind-A-Wai – WCW Thunder April 26, 2000 (POST Wrestling Café)
Friday: POST Puroresu with WH Park & Karen Peterson
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: WWE Crown Jewel review
Saturday: NJPW Power Struggle review with Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal (POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: MCU L8R with WH Park & Rich Fann (POST Wrestling Café)
**Karim Zidan joined us on Pollock & Thurston on Wednesday to chat about the growing influence Saudi Arabia is obtaining in the combat sports world, this past weekend’s spectacle between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, WWE Crown Jewel, and the UFC’s deal with the country to bring a Fight Night card next year. Plus, Brandon & I go over the Collision numbers, the potential of Endeavor going private, Peacock subscribers & more.
**On Thursday, we are releasing Rewind-A-Wai #142 covering the April 26, 2000, episode of WCW Thunder where David Arquette wins the WCW Championship. You can submit feedback & questions for the show on the POST Wrestling Forum. The show will be released for all POST Wrestling Café members. The show will include Brandon from New Jersey joining John & Wai for the entire review.
**We have released our lineup on the POST Wrestling Café for November including three Rewind-A-Wai shows, a new edition of TALK, New Japan reviews of Power Struggle & Lonestar Shootout, MCU L8R, ASK-A-WAI & all your weekly staples.
AEW VIEWERSHIP – OCTOBER 2023
Dynamite
Overall Viewership
October 2023: 825,000*
September 2023: 904,000
October 2022: 1,006,000*
Adults 18-49
October 2023: 363,000*
September 2023: 411,000
October 2022: 419,000*
Adults 18-34
October 2023: 151,000*
September 2023: 154,000
October 2022: 158,000*
*Excluding one episode that aired on Tuesday night
Collision
Overall Viewership
October 2023: 462,000
September 2023: 435,000
Adults 18-49
October 2023: 173,000
September 2023: 177,000
Adults 18-34
October 2023: 74,000
September 2023: 55,000
Rampage
Overall Viewership
October 2023: 358,000
September 2023: 359,000*
October 2022: 431,000
Adults 18-49
October 2023: 154,000
September 2023: 157,000*
October 2022: 180,000
Adults 18-34
October 2023: 52,000
September 2023: 54,000*
October 2022: 52,000
*Includes two-hour Grand Slam edition
From month to month, AEW has not suffered much/if any drop when it comes to its television performance. While the perception of AEW appears to have lowered over the past several months, there has been a greater focus on metrics such as live attendance. While not accounting for the loss of cable homes for TBS & TNT, Dynamite is down 18% from this time last year and 12% in the 18-49 demographic. The year-over-year comparison does give a fair representation in the sense that both years were without its former star, CM Punk, who was suspended in 2022 and gone from the company this year. It is also comparing the Paul Levesque-led creative of WWE over both periods.
Collision took a major hit once the college football season began and was a double whammy with the firing of CM Punk. However, college football and CM Punk have not been the key factors to Collision’s success or failure but rather, WWE’s opposition. On nights when WWE/NXT have staged a premium live event, it has unquestionably been the largest hindrance to Collision’s performance. This Saturday is another test with Crown Jewel not airing head-to-head, but many fans may have gotten their fill for the day with a 3+ hour WWE show. The last time this occurred was on July 1 when Money in the Bank aired in the afternoon and a taped edition of Collision was hurt. This past Saturday’s Collision was a disappointment and did a WWE-opposition-level audience, but it was the World Series and three college games that were the culprit. It was a one-match show between MJF and Kenny Omega and based on the quarter-hour performance, it carried the show and saw a sizable increase for the final thirty minutes. This Saturday could also see a seventh game of the World Series if Arizona can win the next two games.
While a clear third priority, Rampage has its stable audience and has blossomed into a show of unique matches and a fast-paced sixty-minute show as a palate cleanser to the two-to-three-hour wrestling programs. I don’t see this audience growing but I also don’t see it falling much lower than its current status that didn’t get killed by the addition of Collision. Using this show as an outlet to throw on a unique match like El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander vs. Penta is a perfect use of the show. Overall viewership is down 17% from last year and 14% in the 18-49 demographic with TNT in 5% fewer homes than in December 2022.
WRESTLING NEWS
**The second night of Halloween Havoc averaged 674,000 viewers and 0.20 in the 18-49 demographic on Tuesday night. The show fell 14% in viewership from last week’s audience with the demo dropping from 0.21. It aired against Game 4 of the World Series, which averaged 8,480,000 viewers and a 1.72 rating in the demo, as well as the New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game that had 1,298,000 and 0.45. NXT’s audience in the 18-34 demo dropped by 19% from 263,000 to 212,000 with the key being men in the demo decreasing by 34% this week. Adults 35-49 grew by 6% to 358,000 which was a result of men in the demo growing while females decreased from last week. (Wrestlenomics & Sports TV Ratings)
**In Canada, NXT averaged 93,000 viewers and 54,600 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360. The show ranked #8 among sports programs on Tuesday behind three NHL games including the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. L.A. Kings, the World Series, and an NBA game between the Knicks and Cavaliers. It was NXT’s largest audience in Canada since July.
**AEW Dynamite takes place from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky with approximately 3,400 tickets distributed according to WrestleTix. The show will air against Game 5 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks. Last week, the show collapsed after thirty minutes and never recovered. It could be partially explained by the news coverage of the mass shooting in Maine, which occurred at the same time but was still a very unusual pattern and one to monitor this week and see if it was a one-week outlier. The following has been announced for tonight:
*AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy © vs. Claudio Castagnoli
*AEW Women’s Championship: Hikaru Shida © vs. Willow Nightingale
*MJF & TBA vs. Jay White, Juice Robinson & TBA
*Chris Jericho & Kenny Omega vs. Matt Menard & Angelo Parker
*Tony Khan’s announcement
*Adam Copeland and Christian Cage to speak
**Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has received a lot of attention after being fined $35,000 by the NBA for his DX-style crotch chop he displayed during Sunday’s game against Portland. Paul Levesque posted that he could attend WrestleMania in Philadelphia and do the crotch chop as often as he would like.
**AEW Collision averaged 472,000 viewers and 175,000 (0.13) in the 18-49 demographic on Saturday, highlighted by the MJF vs. Kenny Omega match. While the overall numbers were disappointing – airing against Game 2 of the World Series and three college football games, it was clear that the audience came for the main event. Wrestlenomics reported on the quarter hours with the final thirty minutes of the show averaging 557,000 viewers and 214,000 in the demo, well above the show’s average.
**If the Arizona Diamondbacks win tonight, Game 6 will air on Fox this Friday in SmackDown’s spot. A seventh game would be played on Saturday night and air head-to-head with Collision.
**Long-time producer David Sahadi has released a book titled My Dad My Rising Sun, which was co-written by his father Lou Sahadi, who recently passed away. From the description:
This is a story of the lives of David Sahadi and his “Poppa Lou” who have lived in the shadows of legends. Behind the scenes stories with superstars Frank Sinatra, The Undertaker, Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali, The Rock, Willie Mays, Bruno Sammartino and more. Lou Sahadi worked for Vince McMahon Sr, and eventually his son David worked for Vince McMahon Jr. In this book, many wrestling anecdotes are shared, such as the creation of the “Attitude Era” in the 1990s, the superstars Sahadi worked with, as well as the real reason David left WWE in 2003.
**Mariah May will be releasing a photo book titled Glamour featuring more than 50 portraits of the former Stardom talent. The book is available now for pre-order.
**MLW will promote a “Loser Leaves Town” match between Mance Warner and Matt Cardona at its Fightland event on November 18 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. After wrestling for MLW in 2018-19, Warner left the group and returned at Battle Riot in June 2022 and has been a regular since. Throughout 2023, Warner has primarily wrestled for Game Changer Wrestling and MLW. Warner beat Cardona in a “Kiss My Foot” match in September at its Fury Road event. Fightland will be streaming on FITE+.
**MLW has also announced Miyu Yamashita for its One-Shot event on December 7 when the promotion returns to the Melrose Ballroom in New York City.
**The TKO stock closed at $82.39 on Wednesday, which was up 0.5% for the day.
MMA NEWS
**Derrick Lewis was arrested and charged with reckless driving last week for speeding. Lewis is accused of speeding at 136 miles per hour in a 50-mph zone. He was arrested and let out on a $100 bond and is set to appear in court on December 27. The court record states that Lewis displayed “willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property by driving at a high rate of speed and changing lanes in an unsafe manner.” Lewis is set to fight this Saturday in Sao Paulo, Brazil against Jailton Almeida. (ABC13)
**The UFC has announced two fights for its December 2 event in Austin, Texas as the company runs its first show in the city since June 2022. The main event features a lightweight fight between Beneil Dariush (22-5-1) and Arman Tsarukyan (20-3) in a five-round contest. Dariush had won eight fights in a row until losing by TKO to Charles Oliveira this past June and will attempt to bounce back. Tsarukyan is 7-2 in the UFC and is coming off wins against Damir Ismagulov and Joaquim Silva in his last two fights. His only losses have come against current champion Islam Makhachev in 2019 and a decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot last year. The UFC has also added a fight between Bobby Green (31-14-1) and Dan Hooker (23-12) for the December 2 card. This will be Green’s fourth fight since April and is coming off wins against Tony Ferguson and Grant Dawson.
**The UFC Fight Night card in Sao Paulo this Saturday has lost a featherweight fight. David Onama had to withdraw from his bout against Lucas Alexander with the latter stating he will not be receiving a new opponent. Onama wrote, “My health comes first and I hope to be back in the octagon next year.” The card will proceed with thirteen fights and will stream on ESPN+.
**Then UFC is returning to Shanghai, China on December 9.
*****
POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston welcome journalist Karim Zidan back to the show to discuss Saudi Arabia’s emerging power in combat sports.
*****
upNXT – Halloween Havoc Night 2
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT Halloween Havoc Night 2 featuring Ilja Dragunov vs Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship!
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the Halloween-themed edition of WWE Raw with Seth Rollins vs. JD McDonagh, Dominik vs. Ricochet, and Chelsea Green vs. Natalya in a Trick or Street Fight.
*****
MCU L8R: Loki Season 2 Ep. 4
Rich Fann and WH Park are joined by Sam McCoy to talk about the tumultuous time mishaps that occurred in Loki Season 2 Episode 4, “The Heart of the TVA”.
*****
NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed Review
Bruce Lord and Karen Peterson wrap up October with NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed featuring Tama Tonga defending his NEVER Openweight Championship against Shingo Takagi.
*****
COLLISION COURSE
John Siino and Kate From MTL review AEW Collision featuring MJF vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW Championship as MJF attempts to break Omega’s longest-reign record.
*****
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