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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

Following a night in which Raw had its second lowest non-holiday audience in history, SmackDown was actually up five percent this week, averaging 2.072 million viewers for Tuesday’s show.

This matched the April 23 episode for SmackDown’s highest number since April’s Superstar Shake-up.

The main reason for this week’s increase would be the lack of competition, as both the NBA and NHL playoffs had the night off. SmackDown finished seventh overall for the night on cable, trailing only news programming, and topped the 18-49 demo with a 0.69 rating. In fact, in that demo, SmackDown beat everything on television with the exception of NBC, which was the only network to have first-run shows on Tuesday night.

SmackDown retained 95 percent of Raw’s audience from the night before, which is much higher than usual and one of the highest percentages since the 2016 brand split. The only other times the retention number has been this high has been if it was a special episode of SmackDown, a big return had been announced, or if Raw fell on a bad night.

Raw did take place on Memorial Day, but that has historically not hurt Raw that badly. Last year’s SmackDown following Memorial Day did 88 percent of the Raw audience. In 2017, the number was 89 percent.

Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down six percent, the second straight week the year-over-year decline was in the single digits. In fact, it was the best retention from the previous year that SmackDown has done since going back to October 30 of last year, when the decline was 0.4 percent.

Here’s a look at the last 10 weeks of SmackDown viewership as compared to Raw’s from the same week:

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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

For the first time since suffering a torn meniscus in April, Big E returned to the ring last night.

The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods) defeated Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in the main event of SmackDown. Big E got a hot tag near the end of the match, and New Day won when Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise on Zayn and pinned him.

Kingston will defend his WWE Championship against Ziggler in a steel cage match at Stomping Grounds on June 23.

Also on SmackDown, Bayley took on Nikki Cross after Alexa Bliss accused Bayley of liking a mean tweet about Cross, Heavy Machinery didn’t get a match against Daniel Bryan & Rowan — but they got to face the YOLO County Tag Team Champions, and a Miz TV segment at the start of the show led to The Miz getting matches against Elias, Drew McIntyre, and Shane McMahon.

More coverage from last night —
WWE 205 Live results: Number one contender’s match, Gable debuts
Chad Gable makes WWE 205 Live debut
WWE SmackDown live results: New Day vs. Ziggler, Owens & Zayn
WWE SmackDown video highlights —

Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, and Elias appear on Miz TV

The Miz vs. Elias

The Miz vs. Drew McIntyre, Miz vs. Shane McMahon

Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville smash Ember Moon’s Nintendo Switch

Heavy Machinery vs. the YOLO County Tag Team Champions

R-Truth gets trapped in a case

Sonya Deville vs. Carmella

Alexa Bliss claims that Bayley liked a mean tweet about Nikki Cross

Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn interrupt The New Day

Aleister Black is begging for someone to pick a fight with him

Bayley vs. Nikki Cross

Apollo Crews calls out Andrade, Zelina Vega says not to provoke him

The New Day vs. Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

SmackDown fallout: Bayley says tonight was about proving that she can bounce back

SmackDown fallout: Ember Moon vows to get revenge on Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville

SmackDown fallout: Heavy Machinery are coming for Bryan & Rowan’s Tag Team titles

SmackDown fallout: Heavy Machinery have a photo shoot with the YOLO County titles

SmackDown fallout: The IIconics insult Sacramento

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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

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Two matches have been announced for next week’s NXT television.

The finals of the Breakout Tournament will air on next Wednesday’s episode, with Jordan Myles (formerly known as ACH) facing off with Cameron Grimes (Trevor Lee). The winner will get a shot at the NXT title of their choosing.

Myles defeated Boa and Angel Garza (Garza Jr.) in the tournament, while Grimes defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (Shane Strickland) and Bronson Reed (Jonah Rock).

A two-on-two tag match between Tyler Breeze & Fandango and The Forgotten Sons is also set for next week’s NXT episode. Fandango’s return aired on last week’s show, with him saving Breeze from The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler & Jaxson Ryker).

Both matches will be taped at the Scotiabank Arena prior to TakeOver: Toronto this Saturday. Here’s the card for TakeOver:

NXT Champion Adam Cole defending against Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match (one fall will be a street fight, the other will be a normal wrestling match, and William Regal will pick the stipulation if it goes to a third fall)
NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defending against Mia Yim
NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream defending against Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne in a triple threat match
NXT Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) defending against The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the world’s richest man, is to pay $38bn (£29bn) to settle the divorce with his wife of nearly 26 years, MacKenzie Bezos.

A judge is expected to rubber-stamp the world’s most expensive divorce settlement this week, confirming an agreement which will see Ms Bezos, taking a four per cent stake in the online shopping behemoth.

The couple, who have four children, married in 1993, before Mr Bezos set up Amazon from his garage in Seattle.

Ms Bezos, 49, who will become the world’s fourth richest woman, has promised she will hand over at least half the settlement to charity.

She announced her intention to make a massive donation in a blog on a website set up by The Giving Pledge, an organisation founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, which encourages the super-rich to devote more than half their wealth to philanthropic causes.

MacKenzie is going to be amazing and thoughtful and effective at philanthropy, and I’m proud of her. Her letter is so beautiful. Go get ‘em MacKenzie. https://t.co/S2gLLBQyRQ

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 28, 2019

Ms Bezos, an author, wrote: "I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. 

"My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty."

Her generosity was hailed by Mr Bezos on Twitter who voiced his pride at the gesture by his soon to be former wife.

The agreement dwarfs previous massive divorce settlements with the previous record having been set by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev was ordered by a Swiss court to pay more than $4.5 billion to his ex-wife, Elena.

A low-key stopover by a national leader in New York would normally barely stir a headline, but plans by Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese President, to transit in the US this week have already provoked a “stern” rebuke from China.

Beijing claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, denying its right to form formal relations with other states. But Ms Tsai is likely to shrug off Chinese objections with her stopover diplomacy that is likely to boost her image internationally and play well at home in a crucial election year.

The short visit en route to diplomatic allies in the Caribbean caps a bumper couple of months for Ms Tsai whose poll numbers have jumped over her outspoken support of Hong Kong protesters…

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