00:00A record low rating for WWE Raw, WWE frustrated with a Triple H incident, everyone just showed
00:07up in NXT, and more.
00:09I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16After a packed wrestling summer with about 58 major shows in just two and a half months
00:20between WWE, AEW, NXT, TNA, Triple A and ROH, last week was a welcome return from the holidays
00:27back to a normal wrestling schedule, with about 58 more shows in the next two and a half months.
00:32It never ends.
00:34It was back to school and, unfortunately for wrestling, back to the regular NFL football
00:38season, which began last Friday.
00:40And it all led to one of the lowest weeks ever for wrestling viewership.
00:45The September 1st episode of Raw, the episode directly after Clash in Paris, which was at
00:49an earlier European start time, has just had its viewership come out from Netflix at 2.4
00:55million global views, which brought in 5.2 million global hours in its first seven days.
01:01This was down 200,000 viewers from the previous week, and it was the lowest global views number
01:07since Raw moved to Netflix in January.
01:09The viewership collapse wasn't just limited to WWE either, as AEW Dynamite two days later
01:15also drew its lowest TV audience ever, with a shockingly low 472,000 viewers and a .11 in
01:23the 18-49 demographic, dropping a huge 19% from the previous week numbers.
01:30This, however, doesn't include anyone who watched on the Max streaming platform, which,
01:35depending on who you ask, is between 3 people and 1.79 billion.
01:40This comes the week after SmackDown also set its own record low, with the 29th of August
01:45Clash in Paris go home episode pulling in just 1.15 million.
01:49This also had an earlier start time as it aired from Europe.
01:52The only episode of SmackDown ever to be less watched was a Best Of show aired in December
01:582023.
01:59Thankfully, this appears to be just a summer hangover, as most shows since this run have
02:04bounced back in viewership.
02:05The 2nd of September NXT actually grew its audience from the previous week.
02:10Reaching 655,000 views, SmackDown pulled in 1.585 million viewers being the number one
02:16show of the night, a huge 38% increase week on week, likely thanks to the heavily hinted
02:22at, surprise, AJ Lee return, and Saturday's AEW collision rebounded from its disastrous previous
02:28week low to 300,000 views.
02:31Both against the restarted NFL, which usually harms wrestling viewership.
02:35We'll have to see how this week's wrestling TV ratings perform, now WWE and AEW are more
02:40heavily building towards their major shows on the 20th of September, Wrestlepalooza,
02:45and All Out, respectively.
02:48But WWE is still reportedly upset and frustrated behind the scenes.
02:53But it's not to do with views of a wrestling show.
02:55It's to do with views of Triple H's supposedly private family holiday.
03:01In mid-August, TMZ posted an article of Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and their two daughters
03:06holidaying on a boat in Greece, with the witty headline, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Check
03:12Out Our Greased Up Boards Journalism.
03:18The article included photos of Triple H in swim shorts, which prompted an online discussion
03:22about Levesque's physical condition.
03:24It was mostly people being shocked he no longer looked like THE GAME, an active wrestler in
03:29peak condition, despite him not wrestling since 2021 because of a cardiac event, and him now
03:34being 56.
03:35When I saw the photos, my first thought about how Triple H looked was actually, oh, oh.
03:42So Stephanie's trying to keep her name relevant in the celebrity press and these photos are
03:45staged.
03:46But in a new report from Fightful, it turns out this wasn't the case.
03:51Apparently these photos weren't pre-agreed with a photographer.
03:55Which is often the case for the impossibly glamorous, candid celebrity beat shots you usually see
03:59on the sidebar of the Daily Mail.
04:01Yes, I see what you're scrolling on your lunch break.
04:04I see you, you perv!
04:05I know this because in another life, I used to work for Heat magazine.
04:10According to Fightful, the photos of the McMahon-Helmsley holiday were taken by the so-called paparazzi.
04:16Which isn't just a line in a Lady Gaga song.
04:18They're freelance photographers who hound celebrities and public figures to get secret photos of them.
04:23And the images had been published without Paul and Stephanie's permission.
04:27There were reportedly a number of people in WWE that were frustrated and upset that the
04:32pictures emerged, calling it an invasion of privacy regardless of technicalities involving
04:38legality.
04:39It is important to note the regardless of legality part of that quote.
04:43Because while it is an invasion of privacy on moral grounds, sites like TMZ can legally
04:48argue that Levesque and McMahon are public figures.
04:50And by public interest, I mean yes, I see you looking more at the sidebar on the Daily
05:00Mail website, scrolling on your lunch break, getting all horny.
05:03Ironically, however, it isn't WWE, Triple H or Stephanie who are taking legal action about
05:08the photos.
05:09It's the photo agency themselves.
05:12Fightful continued that a number of people who reposted the images have received legal
05:16notices of some sort from the photo agency that holds the copyright, rather than WWE or the
05:23family themselves.
05:24And oddly, this isn't the only wrestling private photo story this week.
05:29Last Friday, the 5th, going head to head with AJ Lee's return on SmackDown.
05:33Does the AEW vs WWE counter-programming war know no bounds?
05:37MJF got married to Alicia Ataut.
05:40Alicia broke the news herself with the romantic social media post from Tits McGee to Mrs.
05:46Friedman.
05:47More images started to come out, like Taz posting a photo with him, his son Hook and Max on the
05:53special day.
05:55And what would turn out to be the most controversial, a group shot of the happy couple and a load
06:00of their guests, which included AEW President Tony Khan, Daniel Garcia, Tony Schiavone, Jeff
06:07Jarrett, Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford, and… MJF's sworn foe right now, Hangman Goddamn Page!
06:15You're exposing the business!
06:17As Max and Page just had a title match at August 24th's Forbidden Door.
06:21Many fans felt releasing this photo was ruining the kayfabe elements of AEW, particularly when
06:26it's someone like MJF, who goes through great lengths to live his gimmick.
06:31For instance, like this photo he posted on Instagram of him marrying the AEW world title
06:36instead of Alicia.
06:37Oh no, anthropomorphised championship belts are going to be an AI kink now.
06:42Tony Khan, who reportedly moved the Ring of Honor pay-per-view forward a week so he could
06:46attend the wedding, did a good Bill Watts-style explanation of why babyfaces and heels were
06:51hanging out.
06:52Alicia is a great person, and the fan favourites came to support her on her big night.
06:56But according to Wrestling Observer Radio, MJF is unhappy with the photos getting out.
07:02And just like the Triple H and Stephanie situation, it's because of an invasion of privacy.
07:07Apparently, the kayfabe offending photos showing faces and heels together weren't uploaded
07:12by any of the wrestling people, but by MJF and Alicia's family and friends.
07:16They simply put photos on their own Facebook profiles, which fans found and shared on the
07:22internet.
07:23But we've had holidays.
07:25We've had weddings.
07:26Now it's time for a Palooza!
07:29For such a big show, WrestlePalooza feels like it's been thrown together relatively quickly.
07:35Unlike the multi-months builds for the likes of WrestleMania and SummerSlam, WWE only announced
07:40WrestlePalooza four weeks before it was happening.
07:44And if it feels like it's been hastily booked, that's because it has, as Triple H has revealed
07:49on the Pat McAfee Show.
07:50There was a lot of thought into the PLE name, but it was in a brief period of time, so we
07:55were sort of under the gun.
07:57As soon as we heard that the Indianapolis venue was on the table, like, they got the date
08:01open, we were in.
08:03The whole thing came together very, very quickly.
08:06ESPN asked for the date.
08:07They wanted a mega event.
08:09We said yes.
08:10We just had to pick a name and go.
08:12WrestlePalooza is set to be one of the flagship events of ESPN's new streaming service launch,
08:21which is why the card, on paper, is one of the biggest of the year.
08:25But going by Levesque's comments, it seems like a show ESPN only decided they wanted imminently
08:30relatively recently.
08:31Levesque went on to say that we'll have to see how this one performs to see if WrestlePalooza
08:36will be an annual event.
08:37Levesque also confirmed that Cody Rhodes will be on the card for the show.
08:41So there was uncertainty he'd make it with him filming Street Fighter in Australia.
08:45It's highly likely he'll defend the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre.
08:49But it's the status of Stephanie Vaquer, who's been waiting for her women's title
08:53shot since July's Evolution show, that's far more confusing.
08:57Initially Vaquer was set to face Naomi at Clash in Paris for the women's title, as
09:01a reward for her winning the 20-woman battle royal at Evolution.
09:05But Naomi's pregnancy meant the title had to be vacated, and Vaquer's title match
09:09was pushed back to WrestlePalooza to be against Io Sky.
09:12But on this week's Raw, Adam Pearce vaguely told Io that her contract signing segment,
09:17which had been pre-announced, couldn't take place, not really giving any substantial
09:22reason why.
09:23Fightful later reported that talent behind the scenes on Raw were confused over the situation.
09:28And now, to confuse things even more, she turned up totally fine on last night's NXT,
09:33and set up a big match for next week's homecoming special episode.
09:37In a crazy end to the show, where JC Jane berated her faction mates for losing the main
09:41event, Stephanie Vaquer, Tiffany Stratton and Rhea Ripley all made shock appearances to
09:48set up a six-person tag for next week.
09:50Please watch the segment just for the guy near the entranceway's reactions, where each
09:54time he somehow manages to react even harder.
09:57But no one can beat Booker T's reaction for hardness, where, when Stratton made her
10:02entrance, it sounded like he said, I've got to pop my dick, man, which is backed up
10:07by the auto-transcribed captions of the clip.
10:10Apparently, he actually said, pop my neck, because I'm always confusing my neck with
10:15my dick.
10:16But that wasn't the only dick-popping return of the show, as Carmelo Hayes backed up
10:20Trick Williams against DIY, and Tyler Breeze made a surprise return to set up a North American
10:26title match against Ethan Page.
10:28I've watched Breezango skits so many times, I now find it weird when Breeze's entrance
10:32music doesn't turn into Fandangoing.
10:35Is AJ Styles looking to leave WWE?
10:38Click the video onscreen now to find out the latest on his work shoot promo on Raw, and
10:42how his contract is coming up soon.
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