NXT viewership drops for this week's episode without AEW competition

This week's NXT had no competition from AEW Dynamite, as All Elite Wrestling rescheduled their flagship show for Thursday.

The NXT episode was also a post-TakeOver show, and many big angles were expected to be booked by the company.

The August 26th episode of NXT drew 824,000 live viewers, which is slightly down from last week's figure of 853,000. The positive news for the Black and Gold brand is that NXT pulled in a 0.24 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was the same figure that they got last week.

When it came to the cable TV rankings, NXT stood #24. NXT was #23 last week, but the marginal drop shouldn't concern the WWE management as they maintained the 0.24 rating in the all-important 18-49 demo.

What happened on this week's episode of NXT?

The first show after NXT TakeOver opened with Karrion Kross relinquishing the NXT Championship due to injury. Kross suffered a separated shoulder at TakeOver: XXX during his title-winning match against Keith Lee.

William Regal would later drop a massive announcement of a special 'Super Tuesday' edition of NXT for next week. Johnny Gargano, Finn Balor, Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole will square off against each other in a 4-way 60-minute Ironman match to determine the new NXT Champion.

Wade Barrett, who returned to WWE TV as a commentator on this week's show, will appear on the Super Tuesday show.

This week's show also had a big title change as Breezango defeated Imperium to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

Tommaso Ciampa returned to NXT and was back in his ruthless avatar as he sadistically destroyed Jake Atlas after their match. Shotzi Blackheart picked up a win over Mia Yim while Santos Escobar successfully defended the NXT Cruiserweight title against Isaiah 'Swerve' Scott.

Austin Theory made a surprise return and kickstarted a programme with Bronson Reed. Kyle O'Reilly picked up a win against Drake Maverick. Following the match, Killian Dain turned heel by attacking Maverick.

In the main event, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez beat Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley, with Mercedez Martinez distracting Ripley to further their feud.

The next episode of NXT has been moved to Tuesday due to the NHL playoffs. However, it is being billed as one of the most high-profile shows of the year. Would NXT manage to breach the 900k or 1 million barrier on Super Tuesday?