NXT Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WWE’s “SmackDown” is officially set to return to USA Network in a new five-year rights deal. The weekly show currently airs on Fox but will move to its new network home in October 2024 when the Fox deal expires. “Smackdown” originally began airing on Fox in 2019 as part of a five-year deal between the network and WWE.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fresh off his win at WrestleMania 40, WWE star Damian Priest has signed with Paradigm for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. Paradigm will work to build his business across books, acting, marketing, unscripted and more. Priest, who was born Luis Berrios (Martinez), most recently won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship during Night 2 of WrestleMania 40 by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract against Drew McIntire, who himself had just won the championship from Seth Rollins.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WrestleMania 40 broke multiple WWE records and has become the most successful live event in the company’s history. WrestleMania 40 took place over two nights at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Per WWE, the gate for the event was up 78% compared to the previous record set during WrestleMania 39, with 145,298 in attendance across both nights this year.

WWE is making another change with it’s Monday Night Raw programming!

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. WWE‘s latest premium live event takes place tonight in Connecticut as Baron Corbin faces off against Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship at NXT Deadline. You can watch NXT Deadline tonight, Saturday, Dec.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The returns of both CM Punk and Randy Orton saw the ratings for WWE‘s “Monday Night Raw” rise by nearly a third over last week. The Best in the World and the Apex Predator helped the “Raw” viewership rise to 1.88 million viewers, up 29% over last week and 13% over the comparable show a year ago. That is the highest viewership for a “Raw” episode since August 7.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WWE‘s weekly NXT show is heading to The CW. NXT, which serves as a showcase for WWE’s developmental talent, currently airs on USA Network but will move to CW in October 2024 in a new five-year deal. NXT will air weekly throughout the year on CW, marking the first time the show has aired on broadcast television since it launched its weekly format in 2012.

The CW will become the official broadcast home of WWE NXT in a new five-year deal that will see the showcase for WWE’s up-and-coming stars move from USA Network in October of 2024.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WWE‘s NXT won out in the so-called Tuesday Night War against AEW‘s “Dynamite.” According to the Nielsen overnight ratings, NXT pulled in 921,000 viewers on Tuesday night with 396,000 in the key adults 18-49 demographic. “Dynamite” averaged 609,000 viewers with 346,000 in the demo. While that is a far cry from the numbers seen during the Monday Night Wars between WWE (then WWF) and WCW, it is still a resounding victory for WWE, with NXT up approximately 7.5% compared to last week’s show.

A major WWE show is moving to a new network.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WWE is once again making changes to its on-air commentary teams, Variety has learned exclusively. Beginning Aug. 7, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett will serve as the commentators for “Monday Night Raw” on USA Network.

Audiences flocked to Peacock for WWE‘s WrestleMania 39.

Peacock. WrestleMania 39 will stream live on Peacock beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 1 and continuing with the main events at 8:00 p.m.

Peacock. WrestleMania 39 will stream live on Peacock beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on both nights. Pre-show coverage starts at 6 p.m.

BreAnna Bell Professional wrestler, actress, and model Mercedes Varnado has signed with UTA for representation in all areas. The agency will help her secure new opportunities across film, television, theater and more. Varnado is most recognized for her work in WWE under the name Sasha Banks. She exited that company in 2022 and now wrestles under the name Mercedes Moné. In January 2023, she appeared in New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 17, which helped the company generate over 900,000 new users — the most in NJPW world history — and sell over 25k tickets, which marks the highest ticket sales for a non-WWE live event in the last three years.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter WWE superstar Bianca Belair has signed with WME for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. With the signing, the powerhouse Hollywood agency will work to build her business across podcasting, acting, marketing, and more. Belair was originally a track and field standout at the University of Tennessee, where she earned All-SEC and All-American Honors. She first signed with WWE in 2016, joining the sports entertainment giant’s developmental brand, NXT. During her time there, she challenged for the NXT Women’s Championship on multiple occasions and went on a winning streak that lasted just over a year.

Hours after Vince McMahon’s retirement as CEO from his WWE empire, his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, passed along her father’s thanks to fans in a live appearance on Fox’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown.

WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, a former wrestler and daughter of the entertainment empire founders, announced Thursday she’s taking a leave of absence.

WWE Live is doing a nine-date UK tour (tickets for all venues are available here ), and for one British wrestler the tour is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.

You wait 18 months for WWE to do a tour of the UK and then two come along (almost) at once.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) has officially set the date for “Dynamite’s” move to TBS.The pro wrestling promotion’s flagship weekly series will move from TNT to TBS on January 5, 2022. Until then, new episodes will continue to air weekly on TNT Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

WWE Superstar Alexa Bliss recently revealed that she isn't much of a 'wedding person' and that her partner will be arranging most, if not all, of the occasion.  The former WWE Raw and SmackDown Women's Champion is engaged to Ryan Cabrera, and apparently, he has told Bliss she can "just show up" on the day.

Poppy has released a new single called ‘Her’, which arrives with an impressive, animated stop motion video – watch it below.The new track, which comes a few weeks after the American singer-songwriter dropped a surprise new five-track EP, ‘EAT – NXT Soundtrack’, marks yet another stylistic pivot for Poppy.Produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen, ‘Her’ hears Poppy take on a more stream-lined songwriting approach, with her earworm melodies painted on a power pop guitar-led canvas.“I’m getting to know

Poppy has dropped a surprise new five-track EP called ‘EAT – NXT Soundtrack’ – you can listen to it below.Released as part of a special partnership between the WWE and Sumerian Records, Poppy announced the new project during an appearance on last night’s (June 8) WWE’s global NXT TV program.Made up of five new tracks, the EP includes the previously teased songs ‘EAT’, which was first debuted during Poppy’s Grammy performance in March, and ‘Say Cheese’, which she previewed in an NXT performance

Matt Hardy is proving to be a ratings draw nearly two decades into his pro-wrestling career.

Extending a long-term relationship with the WWE, NBCUniversal’s USA Network has set a multi-year extension of NXT.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterWWE and NBCUniversal have signed a new multi-year deal that will keep NXT on USA Network. In addition, NXT will be moving from Wednesday to Tuesday nights beginning April 13.Speaking with Variety, WWE executive vice president of global talent strategy and development Paul Levesque said that the decision to initially have the show on Wednesdays was to keep things consistent with its original timeslot on WWE Network.

Pro wrestling fans in the U.S. will soon be grappling with a significant transition in their streaming habits, with the WWE Network heading to Peacock.

NYFW: NXT — the free online training series launched last year by Endeavor Impact and IMG’s NYFW: The Shows team — is back for 2021 with a new program. The program will feature a series of live conversations, workshops and courses with key fashion industry leaders alongside archival runway presentations and talks all available on NYFW.com.

After raising eyebrows with their twitter feud, Randy Orton finally reacted to his recent back and forth with NXT star Tommaso Ciampa and revealed that he wants to work with him. Recently, before his Backlash ‘Greatest Wrestling Match Ever’ with Edge, Randy took to social media to take some shots at Tommaso.

WWE took everyone by surprise when earlier this year the company went on a firing spree as a part of budget cuts amid Coronavirus crisis. WWE released about 20 employees at one go as a measure to help compensate for the financial losses due to the pandemic. This included wrestlers like Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Rusev, Kurt Angle, and Drake Maverick. However, Drake has managed to make his way back to the wrestling and has been rehired by Tripple H.

Even though the world is currently under lockdown amid the Coronavirus crisis, WWE is not compromising on the action. The company aired its last episode of NXT before diving into its eagerly awaited WrestleMania 36 event.

Before Matt Hardy announced that he had decided to leave WWE after his contract expired on March 1, it was speculated that in an attempt to keep Hardy in the company, WWE even offered to include him in NXT. According to the rumours, Matt was considering renewing his contract with WWE and enter NXT. Now, in his latest interview, Matt admitted that WWE did offer to put him in NXT but the wrestler still turned down the deal.

Rhea Ripley, who is all set to feature in the upcoming WrestleMania 36 event, opened up about her mental health struggles in a candid tweet. The WWE NXT Women’s Champion will enter the ring in the biggest match of her career on the event which is scheduled to take place on April 5. In the soul-baring tweet, the 23-year-old wrestler mentioned that she deals with mental health illness like many others but manages to always stand tall. She also motivated others to fight back.

Matt Hardy’s contract with WWE is about to expire on March 1, 2020, and reportedly, the company is currently discussing and negotiating his future on the platform. While the two parties are trying to reach a deal, earlier this month, WWE seemingly wrote him off with a brutal match with Randy Orton. And since then, there has been no official announcement about the wrestler. However, the rumours are that Matt might renew his contract with WWE and enter NXT.