What’s the news?
In a report from the most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the top ten most-watched shows for last week were ranked.
In case you didn’t know...
Based on a story written previously, sourcing Mike Johnson of PWInsider, the WWE Network has over 1.5 million subscribers, as of January 31, 2017. You can read the full article here.
The heart of the matter
The most-viewed programs on WWE Network for the week were the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, the February 1st episode of NXT, WWE 24: WrestleMania Dallas, Elimination Chamber 2016, NXT Takeover and episodes six through 10 of Holy Foley.
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The 2017 Royal Rumble had more than 1 million worldwide accounts (that includes free trial accounts and paid accounts) log in to watch at least one minute of the event.
No other program on the WWE Network gets anything close to that amount of views, save WrestleMania, which is expected to beat that number. Another note from the Observer was that 205 Live was only in 15th place for the week, falling behind two episodes of the new-to-the-network Total Bellas. Talking Smack for the week was in 16th place.
Here are the shows, ranked 1-10:
1. Royal Rumble2. NXT from February 1st3. WWE 24: WrestleMania Dallas 4. Elimination Chamber 20165. Holy Foley episode 76. NXT Takeover: San Antonio 7. Holy Foley episode 10 8. Holy Foley episode 89. Holy Foley episode 9 10. Holy Foley episode 6What’s next?
The next pay-per-view event to air on the WWE Network is the Smackdown Live brand Elimination Chamber event on Sunday, February 12th.
Sportskeeda’s take
This report is good news for Holy Foley, the Royal Rumble and NXT, and not much else. The fact that a pay-per-view from last year is on this list appears to be mighty concerning, especially when it’s in a position above shows like 205 Live and Talking Smack, which are favourites among some fans.
It will be interesting to see what plans WWE have in store for a show like 205 Live, that is struggling on the network. With the recent addition of Akira Tozawa, the impending debut of Gran Metalik, and the eventual return to action of Austin Aries, the show is really just getting started now.
There was a report that 205 Live may start touring soon, so it would seem that WWE is behind the show and wants it to succeed, but only time will tell.
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