Impact Wrestling viewership on shark decline, Lawler says which celebrity he’ll be buried next to, new NXT DVD planned

-GFW Impact last Thursday drew 283,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research among those watching live or same night on DVR. That is up from last week’s year-low rating of 227,000, but lands as the second-lowest viewership number of the year. The 2017 average is 295,000. The average jumped above 300,000 for a three week stretch from July 13 to July 27, but otherwise has averaged under 300,000 the rest of the year. The monthly average through two weeks is 233,000, well below the 287,000 average in August and 319,000 average in July. Something is driving away Impact viewers in recent weeks. By contrast, a year ago in September, Impact averaged 351,000 viewers, up from just over 330,000 viewers in August of 2016. So the downward trend isn’t typical of the season.

-On his latest podcast, Jerry Lawler revealed where he plans to be buried. “I’m going to be buried next to Isaac Hayes; they literally have a celebrity row at Memphis Memorial Park. Yes, I’ve gone out there a couple times and just looked at the ground, the plot. Lauryn [Jerry’s fiancé] and I have gone out there a couple times, and I’ll say, ‘This is the spot.’” Jerry also talked about how the WWE “independent contractor” status works for WWE contracted talent. Read that in detail at PWPodcasts.com HERE.

-WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reports that WWE is releasing a DVD titled “NXT: From Secret to Sensation” in November featuring wrestlers who were apparently “secrets” before heading to NXT such as Finn Balor, Asuka, Seth Rollins, and Shinsuke Nakamura. The three-hour DVD will run 7-8 hours including a countdown portion and 23 bonus matches. The Blu-Ray version will have an exclusive 93 minutes of added material compared to the standard DVD. MORE DETAILS

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