NXT scored its largest audience in over two years for a show featuring an appearance by Rey Mysterio for the North American Championship Match.
The August 8 edition of NXT averaged 776,000 viewers and 297,000 (0.23) in the 18-49 demographic and ranked first among cable programs on Tuesday, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
It was NXT’s largest audience since April 20, 2021, and increased by 8% from last week’s number.
In the 18-48 demographic, the show was equal to last week’s audience with minor adjustments as the female audience in the demo dropped from 96,000 to 93,000 and males grew from 201,000 to 203,000.
Adults 18-34 were down 2% with 127,000 with males up 4% and females dropping by 11%.
Adults 35-49 were up by 1% at 169,000 viewers.
The show did not air live on Sportsnet 360 in Canada but did air on SN Now. A replay at Midnight ET only averaged 3,000 viewers.
According the Wrestlenomics, the peak segment was the seven-minute overrun featuring the conclusion of the North American Championship Match with 870,000 viewers and 363,000 in the 18-49 demographic. The overrun led to a 13% increase in viewers and a 19% bump in the demo from the previous quarter. The really impressive quarter was 8:45 – 9 p.m. ET for the Von Wagner vs. Bron Breakker match and backstage segment with Lyra Valkyrie confronting Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley with 844,000 viewers and 314,000 in the demo and topped everything except the overrun.
The season finale of Dark Side of the Ring with “The World According to Marty Jannetty” fell to its lowest number of the season.
The episode averaged 115,000 viewers and 47,000 (0.04) in the 18-49 demographic. The audience fell by 27% from last week with the demo declining by 31%.
It was the second-lowest audience in the history of Dark Side of the Ring with the lowest being the October 21, 2021, episode on XPW that averaged 109,000 viewers.
Wrestlenomics noted that season four averaged 172,000 viewers and 0.05 in the demo over ten episodes, which was down 3% in viewers from season three and down 33% from season two.
The most-watched episode of the past season was on the Junkyard Dog (229,000 viewers) followed by Doink the Clown (207,000), The Grahams (197,000), Bam Bam Bigelow (185,000), Abdullah the Butcher (178,000), Bash at the Beach 2000 (158,000), Magnum T.A. (155,000), Adrian Adonis (152,000), Chris Candido & Tammy Sytch (147,000), and Marty Jannetty (115,000).