WWE: Updated RAW & SD Ratings, New Executive Hires & Board Members, Jimmy Smith on RAW Debut

Jun 3, 2021

Updated WWE RAW Ratings

Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that the intital numbers given by PWTorch for this past Monday’s episode of WWE RAW were incorrect in regards to the third hour and overall viewership average.

Pollock reported that based on internal numbers given by WWE, the real average overall viewership number for Monday’s episode was around 1,577,000 viewers and not the 1,418,000 viewers as initially reported.

Pollock also reported that the real viewership number for the show’s third hour was 1,586,000 viewers and not the 1,168,000 viewers as initially reported.

Updated WWE Friday Night SmackDown Ratings

This past Friday’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a final viewership of 1,928,000 on FOX, according to the Wrestling Observer. This was up compared to the initial overnight number of 1,755,000 viewers on the network.

WWE Hires Three New High Level Executive & New Board Members Elected

WWE announced that they have recently hired Jamie Horowitz, Samira Shah, and Matt Drew to high level executive jobs in the company.

Horowitz will be the company’s new Executive Vice President, Development & Digital, Shah will be the company’s new General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and Shaw will be the company’s new Senior Vice President, International.

Official press release:

WWE^® ANNOUNCES JAMIE HOROWITZ, SAMIRA SHAH & MATT DREW TO JOIN SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
STAMFORD, Conn., June 1, 2021 – WWE^® (NYSE: WWE) today announced three additions to the organization’s senior leadership team.
Joining the company will be Jamie Horowitz as Executive Vice President, Development & Digital, Samira Shah as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and Matt Drew as Senior Vice President, International.
As EVP, Development & Digital, Horowitz brings to WWE two decades of experience in the sports media industry. In this new role, he will oversee much of WWE’s original content including scripted and unscripted programs for digital and social media. Horowitz will also be responsible for WWE Studios in Los Angeles.
Most recently, Horowitz served as Executive Vice President, Global Content at DAZN where he oversaw the company’s original programming, social content and editorial strategy. Prior to DAZN, Horowitz played a significant role in helping to create some of sports media’s most iconic programs.
As General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Shah will oversee WWE’s legal affairs and serve as principal legal adviser for the company. Her oversight will include litigation, intellectual property, corporate governance, government relations, risk management, talent contracts and compliance.
Most recently, Shah served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Moda Operandi, Inc. There, she was a key member of the executive leadership team, advising the organization and its board on all legal matters. Prior to Moda Operandi, Shah spent 20 years as a senior attorney for Cravath, Swaine & Moore as well as O’Melveny & Myers.
As SVP, International, Drew will be charged with growing WWE’s brand and business outside of the U.S. In addition to managing WWE’s global media partners, he will work with other company leaders to devise WWE’s international strategy for live events, digital, consumer products and new revenue opportunities.
Drew previously served as Executive Vice President, Rights Acquisition at DAZN. In this role, he was responsible for the streaming platform’s rights portfolio and partnerships across the Americas, Europe and Asia, managing relationships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, LaLiga, Bundesliga and F1, among others.

WWE also announced that Steve Koonin, Connor Schell, and Nick Khan have all been elected as the newest members of their Board of Directors.

Official press release:

WWE^® Elects Steve Koonin, Connor Schell & Nick Khan to Board of Directors
06/01/2021
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced that Steve Koonin, Connor Schell and Nick Khan have been elected to its Board of Directors.
“The addition of Steve, Connor and Nick provides WWE and its Board with some of the most accomplished executives in media,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. “With such proven track records across our industry, we look forward to their insight and contributions as members of our Board.”
Koonin is the Chief Executive Officer of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, a position he has held since April 2014. Previously, Koonin served as the President of Turner Entertainment Networks overseeing TNT, TBS, truTV and TCM, following a 14-year run with The Coca-Cola Company where he led marketing and advertising operations.
Schell is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of a new unscripted content venture announced with Chernin Entertainment. An award-winning producer of film and television, Schell previously served as Executive Vice President, Content at ESPN. In that role, he was responsible for the development and production globally of all live event, studio, and original content across ESPN’s platforms, products and services.
Khan has served as WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer since August 2020. Previously, Khan was Co-Head of the Television Department at Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA), where he represented top broadcasters while also helping to negotiate billions of dollars in media rights deals on behalf of WWE, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Top Rank Boxing. Khan was a practicing attorney prior to becoming an agent.

Jimmy Smith Comments on His WWE RAW Commentary Debut

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast had new WWE RAW commemorator Jimmy Smith as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Smith’s thoughts on his official WWE commentary debut for the RAW brand this past Monday.

“Number one, easier. Yeah, because I’ve heard all the stories you guys have heard but you gotta remember I had Bjorn Rebney yelling at me in Bellator, you know what I mean? That happens. It’s not a big deal. Dana [White] didn’t really do that in the UFC but, you know, I’ve dealt with people yelling and multiple people talking to me at the same time, that’s not weird at all and when Vince [McMahon] hopped on, it was about things that was specific to WWE that I need to learn that I found very, very helpful. He didn’t just, I don’t know. I don’t know what anybody expected but you know, things like, ‘Whenever we say WWE fans, it’s our fans.’ Got it, 100 percent. There’s verbiage that is specific to the WWE. They specifically want certain things, they specifically don’t want certain things that are very common in other sports especially MMA. So every time Vince jumped on, it was a specific, ‘Hey, in WWE we say this. Be sure next time –’ got it, 100 percent understand. So it wasn’t — it was all helpful. Three people were never talking at the same time, although it was three different voices, they all jumped on at different times. I had [Michael] Cole in my ear because Cole was producing from the event as well. I had Kevin [Dunn] and occasionally Vince. Vince not that much and Kevin and Cole were good at not stepping on each other. The hard part is when people try to tell me stuff at the same time. You know, the director and producer are yakking at the same time. You go, ‘Guys, one voice, I can’t hear.’ That never happened. So as far as that went, their on-air traffic was great and Kevin’s lead-ins were great, he gave me plenty of time. The count outs are a lot shorter, I gotta get used to that because they’ll go, ‘Commercial, 3, 2.’ You usually get more time than that. It’s just the nature of the way pro wrestling works, you know what I mean? But production-wise they were great.
But a big part of it was, they said, ‘You have energy. Just have energy. Just tell people they should be excited to be here and be excited to be seeing what you’re seeing.’ That was the advice from like four different people was, ‘Hey, you can F this up, you can F that up. You can F up people’s names. Have energy during the match’ and I went, ‘No problem, that’s what I’ve been doing for a long time’ so that was really the preparation is like, you know, if you don’t care, fans aren’t gonna care and I was able during the match — especially during the Kofi Kingston/Drew McIntyre [match], that was incredible. My energy level was through the roof the whole time, so as long as I have that, I felt good but that was the major advice I was given, you know?”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com