WWE NXT Pulls Lowest Total Viewership Since December Against World Baseball Classic

Tuesday night saw the kind of personal, dramatic sports moment that could only be dreamed of in the movies. With Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani on the mound for Japan, opposing his Angels' teammate, center fielder Mike Trout, coming to bat as the last hope for the United States. Ohtani struck Trout out, cinching a 3-2 victory for the country of Japan in the decisive final game of the World Baseball Classic. The anticipation of that epic moment spelled disaster for "WWE NXT."

Wrestlenomics is reporting that Tuesday's episode of "NXT" saw the show's lowest viewership since December 6, only being seen by an average of 550,000 viewers overall, a seven percent drop from last week. The key P18-49 demographic suffered even worse, dropping 18 percent from last week to 157,000. The trend continues a downward slide for the "NXT" ratings, as last week's episode also saw a decrease from the special "Roadblock" episode which preceded it.

"NXT" Champion Bron Breakker and his title challenger at the upcoming Stand & Deliver event, Carmelo Hayes, teamed up in Tuesday night's main event against Pretty Deadly. The match was clearly no match for the WBC, which found itself number one in the ratings with more than 4.4 million viewers overall. Tuesday's "NXT" was also notable for qualifying matches for the "NXT" Women's Championship ladder match that is set for Stand & Deliver. Tiffany Stratton defeated Indie Hartwell to advance to the match, while Lyra Valkyiria defeated Ivy Nile to qualify. The show also featured a bruising match between J.D. McDonagh and Ilja Dragunov.