NEWS ITEMS: WWE’s busy Christmas week schedule, no commercials in first hours of Raw and Smackdown, Total Divas viewership, NXT

-WWE announced that Raw and Smackdown will be commercial-free for the first hour next Monday (Christmas Day) and Tuesday. It is the first time Monday Night Raw will air on USA Network live on Christmas. In a press release issued to PWTorch, WWE touts: “Raw and SmackDown Live are the #1 and #2 longest running weekly episodic programs in U.S. primetime TV history and two of the most-watched, regularly scheduled programs on cable, airing live every Monday and Tuesday nights on USA. Averaging more viewers than any cable network in primetime, WWE programming is among the most socially active shows on TV, trending on Twitter 52 weeks per year. Raw and SmackDown Live have aired more original episodes than some of the most popular television series of all time, including The Simpsons, Gunsmoke, Lassie and Monday Night Football.”

-WWE is off through Monday, but then has a full week starting next Monday into the following weekend. WWE Raw takes place in Rosemont, Ill. on Monday night and the Smackdown crew is in the same venue on Tuesday night. The Raw crew then runs a show in New York City, N.Y. at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. They continue with a pair of events on Wednesday night, in Detroit, Mich. and Uniondale, N.Y. Then Thursday night in Pittsburgh, Pa. and Hartford. Conn. They continue a busy Christmas week schedule with live events in Hershey, Pa. and Albany, N/.Y. on Friday, and Saturday in Tampa, Fla. and Toronto, Ont. If you attend any of those events, please send a report to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!

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-With extra promotion by WWE in Raw and Smackdown this week, pushing the Lana-Natalya feud, drew 612,000 viewers last night, according to Zap2It.com. That’s well above the typical rating for the show, which last week was 517,000.

-Last night on NXT TV, Pete Dunne beat Tyler Bate in the TV main event with the UK Championship on the line. PWTorch NXT TV Reporter Justin James wrote: “It has been a very, very long time since I liked a match this much. Perhaps the last time was when Dunne beat Bate for the title about a year ago. These two are just so good, and the chemistry they show with each other is crazy.” READ HIS FULL REPORT. Also, check out the FREE episode the newest show on the PWTorch Livecast line-up – “PWT talks NXT,” featuring a roundtable format with three PWTorch NXT specialists who discuss last night’s episode, predict which NXT women might end up part of the Women’s Royal Rumble, and present some NXT trivia. CLICK HERE.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS NEWS UPDATE: Smackdown Rating: Key metrics including ten-week average and how this month compares to last six months (w/Keller’s Analysis)

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