Dominik Mysterio shocked the world this past Tuesday night when he defeated Wes Lee for the WWE NXT North American Championship with the help of The Judgment Day. It was a surprising move considering Mysterio is not a member of the full-time NXT roster and will now seemingly be a fixture as he defends his new-found gold. The decision was also unsurprising as the third-generation star has become a big hit with fans, who seem to love booing him, especially when he interacts with “Mami” Rhea Ripley.
Nick Khan has reportedly pushed for more main roster stars to appear on NXT to help lift its weekly viewership and hopefully secure a more lucrative TV rights fee in the near future. Wrestlenomics is reporting that the move to bring Mysterio, and The Judgment Day, to NXT certainly paid off for Khan in the viewership department, as the show drew an average of 746,000 viewers, an 11% increase from the week before. Viewership in the coveted P18-49 demographic, which is most important to advertisers, was up 9%.
Mysterio and Lee’s show closing match easily drew the highest quarter-hour viewership pulling in an average of 844,000 viewers, with 309,000 in the P18-49 demo. The next highest quarter drew an average of 763,000 viewers and included a backstage segment with Mysterio and Ripley.
For comparison, last week’s AEW Dynamite drew an average of 825,000 viewers, just 50,000 more than this week’s NXT. However, that episode of Dynamite pulled a .29 in the P18-49 demo, while the latest NXT drew a .21. Regardless, it would seem the inclusion of the wildly popular The Judgment Day on Tuesday nights is working, and with Mysterio’s title reign and presence on the program just taking shape, it will be interesting to see how high they can push those numbers.
“I am the new NXT North American Champion, and, now that I think about it, I’m 2-0 here in NXT,” Mysterio said in a post-match WWE.com interview. “Your boy ‘Dirty’ Dom is undefeated, and with The Judgment Day and Mami by my side, it looks like it’s gonna stay that way.”