This week’s episode of WWE NXT held steady in the key 18–49 demographic but saw a drop in total viewership.
According to a report from Programming Insider, Tuesday’s edition of WWE NXT drew a 0.16 demo rating and 647,000 viewers. The demo was the same compared to last week, while total viewership declined by 9.6% from the previous week’s 747,000 viewers.
So far in 2025, WWE NXT is averaging a 0.162 demo rating and 709,000 viewers, compared to a 0.190 rating and 639,000 viewers over the same period in 2024.
TKO has announced the appointment of Sana Shuaib as Senior Vice President of Partnership Marketing & Digital, alongside the promotion of Brit Santypal to Senior Vice President of Operations.
Shuaib joins TKO from Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing, where she served as Senior Vice President of Partnership Marketing, Integrated Marketing Solutions & Commercial Insights.
In her new role, Shuaib will lead the end-to-end marketing and commercial strategy for all partnerships across TKO’s portfolio, including the UFC, WWE, and PBR. Her responsibilities include securing new partnerships and renewing existing agreements.
Santypal will oversee the Revenue Strategy and Marketing Solutions teams as Senior Vice President of Operations. She will focus on refining global partnership operations and driving strategic initiatives across the business.
During a recent appearance on “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Cody Rhodes commented on the WWE: Unreal docuseries on Netflix and how he feels about it, how kayfabe has changed these days, facing Seth Rollins with a torn pec, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On if he’s seen the show yet: “We have not — I know WWE keeps saying it’s an unprecedented look into our industry? Apparently it is, because I haven’t seen it. I keep hearing that it’s a really great episode, and they really did dig in there and show a really different side, a side people haven’t seen.”
On his stance regarding the series: “My whole outlook on it has been, seeing these people in a different light. Not Rhea Ripley out there in the ring, not CM Punk out there or myself. My whole thought process is, if that’s endearing to a completely new audience that now wants to come out there and check out what we do and see it? For example, if you come to a WrestleMania, if you come to a SummerSlam you’re gonna be a wrestling fan for life usually. There’s always something…
“But Unreal, my whole thought process is for new fans that don’t know. And then they see Rhea Ripley for example, or Punk. And they want to follow them into the actual — ‘Now I’ll watch the actual show.’ That’s how I’ve always thought it would be a good thing.
On how kayfabe has changed: “The veil’s been lifted a long time. Certainly there’s parts of it that haven’t been seen. But kayfabe does not mean what kayfabe used to mean. And I always tell people, ‘I’ll give you $1,000 if you can tell me what kayfabe means. If you can actually tell me,’ because it’s a one-word definition and nobody ever gets it. But to me, it’s all about capturing a new audience, because I feel the hardcore wrestling fan, they’re pretty much like myself. We’re in, we’re going through it. I’ve watched my whole life, I love it, I’ll continue to watch.”
On wrestlers wanting to take the hits: “Most wrestlers I know have a weird sense of, ‘Yeah [bring it on], yeah!’ It’s so toxic. For example, Cena turning on me; my hands aren’t up once on those belt shots. And by standards today it’s like, ‘Please, put your hands up, please!’ It’s just this weird, alpha toxic like, ‘Yeah!’”
On his match with Rollins: “I think the idea — so many lies went into making it so I could get in that ring that night. Because I was refusing to do the old school, ‘Hey, let me be laying there backstage, and who did it?’ It was the first main event I’d had with WWE. And Peacock had a bunch of like, subs went up on it and they had told me that. And it was Hell in the Cell with Seth Rollins and this was spinning out of my coming back at WrestleMania.
“So yeah, I’m back and what I said all along is, ‘Hey, I can be in the main event. I can handle it and I can do well for you guys. And this is my first main event, and here I am — ‘Oh, I’m going to have to go away. I wanted to at least give them something to remember me by.”
On if it’s a ‘Son Of a Wrestler’ mentality: “Oh, 100%… but here’s the thing. It’s ‘son of a wrestler’ for sure. However, if my dad had been alive, he wouldn’t have let me wrestle. Because my dad didn’t look at me like a wrestler. He wanted me to be an actor, and looked at me like I was — he was very happy when I got into it. But my dad just babied — I’m the baby of my family. Severely babied me. And just took care of me in the greatest way. To me, greatest dad ever, but if all the old school wrestlers were like, ‘Yeah, that’s it right there. That’s old school.’ He would have been the one to be like, ‘This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Why did you do that?’”
On lying to get to the match: “I lied on the way. I kept it so — the information was true. WWE’s doctors looked at me and said, ‘He can’t hurt it any worse.’ And that was true, couldn’t hurt it any worse… I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good, I’m good.’”
On when he felt like it was a mistake in the match: “It’s probably two minutes in. Because I hadn’t done anything… [His pec] would cramp up into the collarbone spot. So anytime you did anything, it would cramp up into the collarbone spot… it was giant. It literally was sticking out this much. And when it happened, it hurt more than anything I can remember.”
On going through with it: “I hate saying it, but I was really ashamed. I’d never been hurt. And then I finally got the spot and I got hurt. You know Nick, and Triple H and all these guys saying, ‘Hey, you’re right Cody. We’re gonna go all in on you now.’ So I felt like I’d blown it. So I wasn’t going to leave that night without at least leaving a very large mark on hopefully the fans.”
During a recent appearance on “The Wrestling Classic” podcast, WWE Superstar Roxanne Perez revealed that CM Punk advised her to avoid social media and ignore the loud voice of haters. The Prodigy said,
“To not look at Twitter and not look at the haters and not listen to any of the hate, because they can be loud sometimes, but we’re up there living our dream and making moments and inspiring people. So why listen to the hate when I’m doing everything that I’ve ever wanted to do?”
(h/t – Fightful)
