WWE: Randy Orton Return Plans Update, Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Dismissed, More on NXT Oct. 10, 2023 Viewership

WWE Reportedly Planning for Randy Orton to Return by This November

As noted before, Randy Orton has been out of action for WWE since May of 2022 due to a back injury and had underwent back fusion surgery this past November.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Orton and WWE officials are currently planning for Orton to make his potential return to injury by this November’s Survivor Series 2023 event.

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Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against WWE Update – Lawsuit Voluntarily Dismissed

As noted before, WWE has been dealing with a racial discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit by former WWE creative writer Britney Abrahams since this past April.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that Abrahams had filed a request on Friday that was granted by the court for her lawsuit against WWE to be voluntarily dismissed based on recent court records.

In the filing, it was stated that Abrahams’ lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, which means that Abrahams will not be legally allowed to refile this same lawsuit in the future.

The reason for the voluntarily dismissal nor if there was any settlement deal reached was not given.

In a follow up report, Thurston reported that Abrahams lawyer Derek Sells stated that this lawsuit was “resolved amicably” but provided not other details regarding potential terms that were reached.

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More on NXT Viewership for October 10, 2023

The October 10th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a large increase in overall viewership and key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 921,000 viewers and a 0.30 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 2nd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reasons for NXT’s increase this week was due to a combination of WWE heavily loading up the show with notable big name main roster star power and WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker and the large gain from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 44.9% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the stiff competition from AEW’s show that night, news programming coverage of the Israeli-Hamas War, and 2023 MLB Playoffs. Meltzer reported that NXT’s overall viewership was its highest since the September 25, 2019 episode and their key demographic viewership was its highest since their October 2, 2019 episode.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, AEW Dynamite drew 609,000 viewers on TBS, the 2023 MLB Playoffs Game 3 of Baltimore Orioles vs. Texas Rangers drew 4,139,000 viewers on FOX, the NHL game of Chicago Blackhawks vs. Boston Bruins drew 1,431,000 viewers on ESPN, the College Football game of Coastal Carolina vs. Appalachian State drew 499,000 viewers on ESPN2, BET Hip Hop Awards 2023 drew 657,000 viewers on BET, and My Big Fat Fabulous Lie drew 780,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 396,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was 111,000 viewers, Females 18-34 was 44,000 viewers, Males 35-49 was 155,000 viewers, and Females 35-49 was 86,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that NXT’s male/female viewership split was 266,000 male viewers and 130,000 female viewers for a split of 67.2% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, none of NXT’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. NXT’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 911,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 861,000 viewers for their third quarter.

In terms of head-to-head quarters with AEW, NXT won all eight quarters for overall viewership and seven out of eight quarters for key demographic viewership.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 25% in overall viewership and up 100% in key demographic viewership.

WWE NXT quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 991,000 overall viewers and 426,000 key demo viewers (Cody Rhodes, Ilja Dragunov, & Dominik Mysterio in-ring promo segment)
• 2Q – 956,000 overall viewers and 433,000 key demo viewers (Asuka vs. Roxanne Perez match & post-match brawl with Kiana James & Shotzi and the start of the Pub Rules Six-Man Tag Team match of Gallus vs. Brawling Brutes & Tyler Bate)
• 3Q – 861,000 overall viewers and 360,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Pub Rules match, the Lyra Valkyria vs. Becky Lynch hype video segment, and the Valkyria & Tegan Nox backstage segment)
• 4Q – 909,000 overall viewers and 396,000 key demo viewers (John Cena & Bron Breakker in-ring promo segment & brawl)
• 5Q – 958,000 overall viewers and 408,000 key demo viewers (Cody Rhodes, Tony D’Angelo, & Stacks backstage segment, the Baron Corbin backstage segment, and the bulk of the NXT Championship match of Dominik Mysterio vs. Ilja Dragunov (c))
• 6Q – 914,000 overall viewers and 385,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the NXT Championship match & post-match brawl with Corbin & Dijak, the John Cena, Carmelo Hayes, & Trick Williams backstage segment, the Paul Heyman & Ava backstage segment, the Jade Cargill & Shawn Michaels NXT parking lot segment, and the Rhodes & Corbin backstage segment)
• 7Q – 887,000 overall viewers and 371,000 key demo viewers (NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament First Round match of Lola Vice vs. Dani Palmer, the Andre Chase, Thea Hail, Jacy Jayne, & Duke Hudson video segment, the Paul Heyman & Bron Breakker backstage segment, and the Lexis King video promo segment)
• 8Q – 866,000 overall viewers and 372,000 key demo viewers (Asuka, Tiffany Stratton, Blair Davenport, & Fallon Henley backstage segment and the bulk of the Bron Breakker vs. Carmelo Hayes match)
• Overrun – 960,000 overall viewers and 422,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Breakker vs. Hayes match and post-match The Undertaker & Breakker promo & brawl segment)