ASK TITO: WWE RAW on Netflix Viewership, NXT on CW, Malakai Black, Vince, Hogan, & More
The Excellence in Column Writing has returned where I take your current event related questions sent via email, social media (Blue Sky, Privately on X/Twitter), or possibly the Comments section below (more on that in a moment). I’ve been on a good writing groove lately, so it must be Rumble to Wrestlemania season. Life is good and I’m VERY grateful for my readers, longtime or recently obtained, who are pumping up my viewership numbers as we speak.
Of course, the more I post column, the more it attracts nuisances to my columns and their obsession with me floods each Comment section of my column. I can literally write on any random WWE topic or write on safe topics covering AEW, but that creates triggering responses by the same AEW marky marks like TKW, Shawn, Joe Cirillo, and whatever burner accounts are associated with them. My columns are read by thousands per post, yet 2-3 hateful AEW marks can flood my Comments sections with triggered responses.
Let’s look at my last 4 columns, for example… 2 were covering WWE (RAW review, Rock vs. Roman) and the other 2 were based on news stories that I’ve heard. The first one was how anyone born from 2025 through 2039 would be called “Generation Beta” and the other was about how Fox Sports 1 created a very toxic culture where an employee (Joy Taylor) allegedly corrupted an Executive Vice President with sexual favors for promotions. I related both current event situations to today’s wrestling product, while giving examples of the past.
With the WWE columns, I’m attacked for being “pro-WWE”. With the Generation Beta/FS1 columns, me mentioning AEW without viciously attacking them caused these same attacking and looking for attention marks to attack me. In no way, shape, or form were those columns anti-AEW. They were about the roster constructed, as they were lacking in confident leadership types (Generation Beta) and the obvious struggles Tony Khan has had as a leader himself (FS1). In BOTH of the Beta and FS1 columns, I clearly laid out that WWE, too, had their own problems with their roster and leadership which caused them to SUCK from 2010 through early 2020, only with them fully realizing their growth through mid 2022.
Here is what I want to emphasize with anyone attempting to grandstand within my columns AND to attack any of my readers… AEW fans are the MINORITY and DO NOT represent the MAJORITY of wrestling fans. Your top AEW show scores barely 600,000 viewers out of 70 million North American housesholds who still have Cable/Satellite. There’s an average of 2.5 people per household, so the true viewership potential is 175 million people. 600,000 out of 175 million possible people watch AEW dynamite… On top of that, filling an arena with 5,000 fans for AEW events is an absolute struggle for AEW right now.
Thus, AEW marks who keep flooding my Comments section, you have ZERO legs to stand on when lecturing ME about my wrestling opinions or columns, especially with one of them (TKW) being a columnist himself here at NoDQ.com. TKW, if you’ve got something to say, then WRITE BETTER COLUMNS YOURSELF instead of trying to obtain attention by flooding my Comments section with literally 10-20 comments per Mr. Tito columns. Seriously, count how many times below each of my columns that you see “TKW” posting below, along with his usual buddies who are in his AEW cult.
For one, go show me where I was unfair or purposely negative about AEW. You can’t… I gave my opinions recently about how AEW’s roster was constructed or the weaknesses of Tony as a leader, but I PROFESSIONALLY stated both opinions. In no way, shape, or form am I belittling anyone who enjoys AEW. Consistently, my issue with AEW is about their LEADERSHIP and the choices they’ve made with their AEW company. Tony Khan and the Young Bucks has NOT shown enough maturity to run a hotdog stand, let alone a company full of athletes who are putting their bodies on the line.
And again, instead of flooding my Comments with 10-20 comments each, how about you STOP reading my columns all together? Isn’t that a novel idea? If you don’t read my columns, it won’t upset you. Furthermore, if you don’t read my columns, you’ll save time by not posting 10-20 times underneath my columns in the Comments section.
Here’s the truth: I’m NOT going away anytime soon, nor can any of you AEW marks cancel or silence me. For one, I give zero Fs about your feelings over AEW and the only time I even react is when you flood my Comments section with hateful stuff or when you attack my readers. You can flood the other NoDQ posts with your AEW love or write whatever columns you’d like, I don’t care. But accusing ME of purposely bashing AEW on purpose or just being pro-WWE, that’s ridiculous.
Secondly, I’ve got a great relationship with Aaron Rift and nothing that I’ve posted has been censored or edited by him. No issues with ads that are present on my columns, and the significant majority of feedback on my columns is positive compared with 2-3 haters. Again, each column receives thousands of unique pageviews, so thus 2-3 loud haters are the significant minority of readers.
Furthermore, I’m ENJOYING writing about wrestling right now and I’m finally enjoying the WWE. That’s right, if you read my columns throughout the 2010s, I was HIGHLY critical of how Vince McMahon and Triple H led the company. From many NXT male call-ups failing to overpushing an inexperienced Roman Reigns as a main eventer, I actively held the WWE’s feet the fire. I held them accountable and after years upon years of literally BEGGING the WWE to get their Talent and Creative right, they finally have that with an experienced Triple H leading the way. Am I not allowed to enjoy that? Because all WWE metrics increasing prove that everyone else is enjoying that too.
You harass me with any column that I post and then you attack my readers, with one of this AEW mark clowns calling them “pedos” at one point. So toxic…
I’m not going anyway and would require a shotgun blast to get me out of this chair and to stop typing away on this keyboard. You are wasting your time yelling at me when you exist within a MINORITY of wrestling fans who are fully devoted to AEW and not accepting that WWE is very successful right now. Many AEW fans are not like you, and same thing with wrestling fans who like BOTH AEW and WWE.
And believe me, I could go waaaaaaaay more negative on AEW if I wanted, but I just let them sink on their own. I’ve already written multiple opinion pieces on what AEW could “improve”, so I don’t feel the need to repeat myself.
But that’s not going to silence my opinion when I come up with a comment idea where it can be related to AEW. Hence what I did with the “Generation Beta” and “FS1” recent columns, while doing so professionally.
How can I tell that you’re in a cult? When ANYTHING triggers you and you’re constantly trying to get new people to join said cult. Sounds very familiar, like anyone who isn’t fully devoted to a particular politician or pop stars. Yeah, say that you dislike Taylor Swift’s music online and see how many of her fans swarm you.
Again, you flood my Comments with your accusations that I fully hate AEW when I literally have 6 years of columns actively cheering them on to succeed and be a real competitor to WWE. But, your favorite company purposely sabotaged CM Punk instead of giving a real star the respect that he deserved. And viewership, attendance, and merch sales have declined ever since.
Don’t like my columns, don’t read them. Save your energy on more important things.
Did you understand the words coming out of my mouth (or keyboard)? You probably didn’t, as I expect this rant to merit 10-20 responses each by the usual 2-3 people below in the Comments section. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
If any of my posts have truly hurt your feelings, then I’m sorry…
Onto your questions…
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ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers
What are your thoughts on Netflix’s reported viewership for the debuting 1/6/25 RAW on their streaming service?
I’m going to be totally honest here… I don’t know. Before, when Cable/Satellite subscriptions were above 85 million households, I could point to that with WWE and say that nobody is demanding to tune in. However, if you look at WWE arenas nationwide, they are PACKED and that’s at a higher price level. Seriously, I looked into the recent Pittsburgh WWE houseshow and the same floor tickets that I purchased for an edition of Smackdown during the Spring of 2019 were DOUBLE for this houseshow for December 2024.
Now, however, Cable/Satellite subscriptions were at 70 million for the past year… I really struggled to assess what 1.5 million RAW viewership meant for USA Networks when attendance was way up for WWE shows. Conversely, I could probably make that same comment about AEW’s television numbers being difficult to read, but their attendance has factually declined since 2023.
Netflix numbers aren’t easy to obtain unless they report them. Since they have many shows, they aren’t obliged in their financials to present viewership. They mostly just post number of subscribers and total content viewed with breakdowns of the overall network. Then, if one of their shows specifically causes a loss, they’ll report that. From their news release, Netflix reported 4.9 million views globally. Now, keep in mind that they are computing how many subscribers watched RAW live, so that household number comes into play here of 2.5. Thus, that number is likely larger of total human beings who watched this thing here in the United States. A third-party estimates that 2.6 million households watched RAW in the United States, which suggests roughly 6.5 million COULD HAVE watched it live in the United States at maximum.
Not bad… And I think RAW displacing the very popular Squid Games 2 for a day proves that it was successful. THAT tells me that RAW was very successful on episode #1.
BUT, as I wrote recently, it’s all about the next few shows that truly matter. WWE put on a PLE-like show on 1/6, but they can’t exhaust energy or bring in the Rock for EVERY show, nor will Roman Reigns be wrestling for every show.
So, we’ll see… Going to be very difficult for WWE to keep both Netflix and NBC/Universal happy, but WWE does have a deep roster and a very motivated Creative Team right now.
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What does NXT’s 957,000 on their 1/8/25 show say about that brand?
It says trying a PLE type show with the Rock appearing draws viewers… Easy as that.
BUT, remember with the CW network, you do not need a Cable/Satellite subscription… It’s a local network channel that can be freely obtained with a digital antenna and is included in most Cable/Satellite subscriptions. Its reach, I’m guessing, is probably 90-100 million households, with there being 131 million households in the United States.
I still say that people overlook how valuable being on the CW Network is and how the WWE could really take advantage of that relationship through their NXT deal. Furthermore, both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery own a sliver of this channel each, while majority owner Nexstar owns 197 television stations nationwide (can vary between NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and CW of course).
Again, the Rock cannot show up every week, but NXT has a tactical advantage of being on a Network channel that most everyone has in the United States. Getting this deal was a steal for the WWE, history shall show.
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Do you think that Malakai Black will leave AEW and return to WWE?
He’s still married to Zelina Vega, who is currently happy in the WWE, so yes, he’ll return to WWE especially as a Triple H guy.
Many could get into the “Tony misused him”, but I’d argue that Malakai Black is just OK as a personality beyond his in-ring skill. He was groomed as a Triple H clone during the 2010s just like Bobby Roode, Tommaso Ciampa, Karrion Kross, or even Finn Balor (smaller version)… Dark gimmicks who are brooding as characters, whereas guys with more flash and charisma is what truly sells.
I think if Black returns to the WWE, they need to give him a new gimmick… Biker looking guy with a bunch of tattoos has been out there many, many times in the WWE. Try something new and present yourself in a different light. Otherwise, you’ll look the same as you were 5 years ago when WWE released you.
I don’t blame AEW for any “misuse” here… I think that he kept trying the same failing gimmick he had in NXT and WWE, and thus his refusal to vary has caused him to become a free agent… Again.
Fancy that… I just DEFENDED AEW!
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Thoughts on Vince McMahon settling with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)?
He got off cheap with them… Paying $1.3 million to TKO/WWE and $400,000 fine by SEC is a bargain compared to what Vince McMahon has done over the past 20 years with the WWE Corporation. He paid out those NDA payments out of WWE’s funds, not his, while never disclosing why such legal costs existed.
Janel Grant’s lawyers think that this will solidify their lawsuit case against Vince, TKO/WWE, and John Laurinaitis and it will probably result in a larger settlement of $2-3 million, I’m guessing. If I were Vince, I’d pay that “cheap insurance” immediately to prevent anything else humiliating from appearing in discovery. Vince is only in this hot water situation because he stop making payments for the NDA to Janel Grant. Had he just agreed to pay the $3 million originally (stopped after $1 million), this fool wouldn’t have the lawsuit.
I expect a $2-3 million settlement with Janel Grant coming soon and then the Trump-led Department of Justice will soon drop their investigation.
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What can WWE do with Hulk Hogan after the massive boos received at Netflix RAW?
This is pro wrestling, right? When someone is getting real heat, don’t you want to capitalize on it?
Next time that you see Hulk Hogan, he’s “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan with black and white clothing on and the NWO theme song blasting in the arena. Then, Hogan channels WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 and just shred the fans for booing him. LEAN into the hatred, Hogan.
That’s what I’d do… Oh, you think Hogan is still a racist? You think that he’s a liar? You dislike his political affiliation? Well, Hogan has something to say about that, brother.
Of course, Hulk Hogan probably doesn’t want to play the heel, as he still wants to be loved and he really wants a job as some sort of ambassador for the Donald Trump team. But, Hogan just signed a 2-year deal with the WWE and if he wants to stay relevant with them, then turn heel and lean into it.
Sorry, but Hogan is disliked for YEARS of telling lies, screwing over other wrestlers with his “creative” clause in his contract, and using the N-word repeatedly on a video. Sure, Hogan was openly supporting Donald Trump, but didn’t the Undertaker have Donald Trump on his Podcast recently? Yet, Undertaker was showered with cheers as he came out to embrace Rhea Ripley. Undertaker doesn’t have YEARS of lying, screwing over wrestlers, or using N-word slurs like Hulk Hogan. See the difference?
Make Hogan a heel again and he’ll draw you money with his appearances. Otherwise, enjoy the booing whenever the red and gold come out. Brother.
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How good could Gunther vs. Bill Goldberg be at Wrestlemania 41 (assuming it happens then)?
That’s really up to Gunther… Honestly, besides Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, nobody else has really squeezed a good match out of Bill Goldberg. He’s older, obviously not fully trained, and not always in the best cardio shape. Wrestling Goldberg is like wrestling a broomstick that breaks on you a few times… If you’re a good talent, then you can make that broomstick look great in a match.
Honestly with Gunther, WWE hasn’t had the best direction with him as World Champion. I think the better solution would be to pair him up with Drew McIntyre for an extended feud and maybe switch the title between the two of them. There’s more value in Drew, in my opinion, with his revised character than the same old Gunther that we’ve seen previously. Let them have an extended feud from Wrestlemania throughout the Summer where that title repeatedly changes hands and that will create excitement for one of the brands before we get to SummerSlam.
This is my opinion and am probably saying this as an old school WCW fan, but I think Goldberg’s career since 2016 has been successful. Matches weren’t always great, but Goldberg is a household name again and that mystique was always there. MUCH better than whatever joke we saw during 2003-2004.
Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ