Wrestling News & Rumors [Archive] - Page 4

Emperor Smeat

06-18-2019, 10:17 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night was up only 5.2 percent from last week's show that went against the NBA Finals, doing 2.24 million viewers.

One would have hoped for at least a 10 percent bounce-back when you eliminate a game that did 18.22 million viewers from competition. This looks to be the new level for Raw for the summer with no major sports competition. The show was down 23 percent from the same week last year, although that was also helped by being the day after Money in the Bank ...

Raw was fifth for the night on cable.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.33 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.30 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.08 million viewer

WWE Raw did not receive a big bounce back with viewers this week following the conclusion of the NBA & NHL playoffs.

Monday’s three-hour episode on the USA Network averaged 2,235,000 viewers, which was up 5% from last week’s show against the NBA playoffs, but still the fourth lowest number of 2019.

The show was promoted around Seth Rollins facing Daniel Bryan in a non-title match along with the tease of who would be named the special referee at Stomping Grounds, which was never announced.

Sami Callihan won’t be returning to MLW. He lost a loser leaves town match to Mance Warner this past week, but plans were to bring him back under a mask. Court Bauer said on Twitter that Callihan caused extensive damage to the venue during their match.
According to Bauer, Callihan damaged a set of bleachers worth $15k each plus other stuff in the venue due to his recklessness. Besides MLW likely being banned, the bill from the venue for the damages was around $2700.

As noted last week on PWInsider.com, Major League Wrestling dropped Daga from their roster, unhappy that he had told them he was unavailable for dates due to a vacation when they were starting a heel turn for him, only to learn he had wrestled in Mexico.

In speaking today with Tessa Blanchard, who is dating Daga, PWInsider.com was told that MLW was informed well in advance that Daga was not available for the date in question, 6/1, as he was going to be in Guadalajara, Mexico for the christening of Rey Fenix's son. Fenix was involved in an event the next day in the same city and since Daga and Blanchard were in town for the christening, they stayed and worked the show as a favor for Fenix, as did Puma King, Pentagon Jr. and others who were in town for his son's christening.

Blanchard noted that Daga loved working for MLW and would still want to continue there if given the opportunity. She also noted that one of his goals is to get more work this year inside the United States and there was concern that the MLW situation would lead to other promoters thinking Daga couldn't be trusted to take dates in the States. She felt that there was a belief in MLW that Daga didn't take the date because he'd be more comfortable staying in Mexico, but he was only in Guadalajara for the christening.

With Scarlett Bordeaux being granted her release, the natural question that has been asked is whether Killer Kross is receiving one as well. We have been told by multiple Impact Wrestling sources today that at this point, Kross will not be receiving a release and will continue to work for the company. There were some in the company unhappy that Petey Williams provided Kross the forum on his podcast to speak out about his issues with the company, specifically since Williams is not just a talent but a Producer. As previously noted, there's been unhappiness that Kross spoke out at all in the interview.

There was absolutely unhappiness within Impact Wrestling management over Killer Kross' interview on the Petey Williams podcast. The feeling on Impact management's end is that they feel they have tried to work with Kross to offer a reworked contract and work with him on booking Kross out for third-party independent bookings. There was talk over the weekend that some in the company felt Kross may have broken the non-disparagement clause of his deal, with comparisons to Eli Drake. Having listened to the entire 35-minute interview Kross did with Williams (who is, of course, an Impact producer and performer, so the idea he would allow someone to knock the company on his show is kind of silly), I wouldn't state that is accurate. Kross never once attacked or knocked the company. He instead discussed his frustrations about being in his current situation (including the fact the story is even public) and wanting to make sure his family is better taken care of, as he felt as a man that fell on his shoulders.

Dana Brooke was injured during her match with Sarah Logan on the Main Event tapings Monday night in Los Angeles. Brooke took a knee to the head and appeared to have sustained a cut above her right eye and was bleeding. The match was stopped, and Brooke walked to the back on her own afterward..

Here is the full card for the opening night of the G1 Climax at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The show will air live on AXS TV and outside of the U.S. on New Japan World at 6 pm Eastern:
*Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K in a non-title match
*Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino vs. Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita
*Jay White & Chase Owens vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Tagaki & Bushi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Juice Robinson & Toru Yano
*Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer
*EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale
*Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Sanada
*Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA
*Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

A graphic was displayed on the screen at the Staples Center on Monday promoting that the first episode of SmackDown on Fox will take place from the arena on Friday, October 4th. There are 15 episodes remaining on the USA Network before the move as the WWE enters a five-year agreement with Fox for the show in a deal worth $205 million per year to the company.

In an interview with Jonathan & Kristina Snowden on the Inside Major League Wrestling podcast, company founder Court Bauer spoke to the two about MLW’s business. Bauer said a women’s division will happen when they can ‘do it right’. Bauer noted they did have women’s matches when they re-launched with the likes of Santana Garrett, Leva Bates, Mia Yim, and others, but they were promoting several divisions they didn’t want to fully launch a division until it could be done correctly. Bauer stated the big five in the company are Tom Lawlor, Salina de la Renta, and the Hart Foundation (Brian Pillman Jr., Teddy Hart, and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) that are signed long term and will be the focus most weeks on television. Bauer broke down MLW’s audience as a heavy Hispanic audience because of the exposure on beIN Sports Espanol, a significant number that he labeled ‘Joe Six Packs’ that enjoy wrestling but follow casually and a smaller percentage of die-hard wrestling fans.

At last weekend's AAA Verano de Escandalo event, Lucha Underground, Impact and AAA star Aerostar went viral with a psychotic dive that left him hospitalized. He was stretchered out of the arena after landing on his head ...

AAA would update Aerostar's status via a Twitch chat of all things, and confirm that he's going to make a full recovery. Their Twitter would also update his status, saying "We have a medical report: After what happened with Aerostar in Verano De Escándalo we want to inform you that the Cadete del Cosmos is in good condition and will be under medical observation to rule out complications. #ÁnimoAerostar "

WWE came up short at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Roman Reigns was nominated for Best Real Life Hero (won by Ruth Bader Ginsburg) and Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair from WrestleMania 35 was nominated for Best Fight (won by Captain Marvel vs. Minn-Erva from "Captain Marvel").

Impact head of creative Don Callis tweeted earlier today that he was trapped in the basement with terrified people after a shooting at Eaton Centre in Toronto. Hours later, he tweeted "Survived". The only news reports I've seen only talk about two stabbings in the area about four hours ago. The area is filled with a ridiculous amount of people today for the Toronto Raptors NBA championship winning parade.

Ring of Honor has come to terms with Jonathan Gresham on a new deal, PWInsider.com has confirmed. We are told that Gresham will be relocating to Baltimore and will be getting more involved with the ROH Dojo as part of the new deal. Gresham, 31, who teams regularly with Jay Lethal, has been with the company since 2014.

PWInsider.com has also confirmed that ROH has officially signed female star Maria Manic to a deal. Manic, a four year veteran who was originally trained by Damien Wayne, has emerged over the last year, transforming herself into an extremely powerful brawler who can battle with both men and women. She will absolutely bring a different element to ROH's Women of Honor division. There's been interest in Manic dating back months by ROH

Last week, Dana Warrior tweeted out a photo of herself wearing the Ultimate Warrior face paint in support of Pride month. Naturally, this received lots of pushback from aware of the former Jim Hellwig’s public statements regarding homosexuality. David Bixenspan has written a piece for Deadspin looking at Warrior’s past and the whitewashing of his image to the extent it has gone. The Deadspin article also examines the history of the Warrior Award that is presented each year at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony and how Warrior’s past comments regarding cancer patients are directly at odds with what the award seeks to honor. WWE has opted to place the Ultimate Warrior on a pedestal with awards and initiatives and while they have escaped scrutiny, it has been contained because WWE has an ability to fly under the radar on matters such as these. It is very difficult to balance the hypocrisy in lionizing someone like the Ultimate Warrior where its fanbase is not naïve to his public stance. It is impossible to divorce the WWE’s acknowledgment of Pride month with its relationship to the Government of Saudi Arabia as they run a show concurrent with Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose attending a GLAAD event on behalf of the company.
Link: https://deadspin.com/the-ultimate-warrior-is-not-a-gay-pride-mascot-1835536799/amp

A source in WWE told WrestleVotes that the vibe heading into WWE Stomping Grounds is similar to In Your House shows from 1995/96.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Texting with a WWE source, who travels with the crew. Said the vibe going into Sunday’s PPV is similar to the vibe around the “In Your House” shows from back in the day. Lack of meaningful matches, low ticket sales and general feeling reminds them of 1995/1996. Yikes.</p>— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/1140995696683888640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
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TPWW Frontpage stuff:

Triple Threat Tag Team Match Announced for Fyter Fest Pre-Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/triple-threat-tag-team-match-announced-for-fyter-fest-pre-show/)
Tony Khan Says There Will Be a Tag Team Tournament on AEW TV & Women’s Tag Team Titles (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/tony-khan-says-there-will-be-a-tag-team-tournament-on-aew-tv-womens-tag-team-titles/)
Jon Moxley Not Working NJPW G1 Show in Dallas Due to AEW Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/jon-moxley-not-working-njpw-g1-show-in-dallas-due-to-aew-deal/)
Impact Grants Scarlett Bordeaux’s Release Request (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/impact-grants-scarlett-bordeauxs-release-request/)

Mr. Nerfect

06-19-2019, 12:50 AM

I hear the horror stories from MLW, but I'm not sure what I do and don't believe. In theory, I like them refusing to get fucked around by performers. But I don't know why Daga would want to crawl back if he was blowing them off. Unless he's just mad he got caught? Jacob Fatu not being who they are building around makes me think he's not going to sign a long-term contract, which makes me hopeful that he'll go to AEW and be the top guy there.

Sami Callihan is such a fucking loser. Between that and spitting on Cornette and Bocchini, he just comes off like a piece of shit that thinks he is "old school" but seems more like a mark they put in front of the camera.

erickman

06-19-2019, 01:37 AM

I forgot sami had worked for mlw well cornetts show should be a hoot this week

Jordan

06-19-2019, 10:04 AM

Sami does seem like a total dick, however I must say that watching him vs Mance at MLW in Queens was amazing. Dude is a great worker.

Emperor Smeat

06-19-2019, 03:13 PM

Not the first time he's gotten in trouble with a venue since there was a noted incident last year where the venue's owner yelled at him during his match to stop him from breaking the chairs that was loaned out for the show.

Instead of just stopping, he kept mouthing off to the owner and threw a chair when he was done.

Like with MLW, AAW got in huge trouble with the venue's owner afterwards.

Droford

06-19-2019, 07:19 PM

I wonder who the source is who would remember what the vibe was around In Your House shows from 25 years ago is

Emperor Smeat

06-19-2019, 09:05 PM

The Sheets:

Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live drew 1,859,000 viewers on USA Network, down from last week’s 1,930,000 viewers.

That’s the fourth lowest number in SmackDown Live history and close to the lowest ever (1,827,000 on May 14) ...

This time last year, the June 19, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live drew 2,315,000 viewers. The June 20, 2017 episode drew 2,597,000 viewers.

After losing his mom earlier this month, Andrade announced that his aunt has passed away: “Now my aunt, now you are with my mom, I love you!! Fam.. OROPEZA RIP siempre en mi !!!”

A case study on WWE will be part of Anita Elberse’s “The Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports” course at Harvard Business School this fall.

Lucha Libre AAA held a press conference today to officially announce that they’re holding a show called Invading LA at The Forum in Inglewood, California on October 13. Tickets are now available via pre-sale (using the code “LUCHA”).

Ahead of retiring at the Tokyo Dome in January 2020, Jushin Thunder Liger will have his final match for CMLL at Arena Mexico on July 19.

Regional law firm Farah & Farah will be the presenting sponsor of AEW Fight for the Fallen. The show is taking place in Jacksonville, Florida on July 13 and will benefit the Jacksonville Victim Assistance Advisory Council.

MLW announced today that Tony Schiavone will be returning to the company as an announcer this summer. Schiavone, who was the lead announcer for the company's resurgence, had taken time off from the company when they changed their TV taping schedule due to his others sports broadcasting commitments. MLW's announcement notes that Schiavone will be working with Rich Bocchini , so as of yet, there will be no Schiavone-Jim Cornette reunion

Big news from the recent episode of Road to Fyter Fest.

Brandi Rhodes announced that All Elite Wrestling will unveil its Women's Title at All Out on Aug. 31. No further details were provided.

When it comes to NXT and the main roster, the differences in quality is noticeable as there has yet to be a TakeOver event that has "missed" while a show like WWE Super ShowDown, billed as being greater than or equal to WrestleMania, was a flop according to many fans.

Speaking to TalkSPORT, Adam Cole revealed that there are more creative freedoms in NXT.

"One of the coolest things about NXT is we have a ton of creative liberties to come up with the story and the vision we have for the match," revealed Cole. "Of course, there’s input and advice given and there’s suggestions or, you know ‘we need something this way’ but generally speaking, myself and Gargano, we come up with that match [two-out-of-three falls]. We decide ‘hey, let’s do this’ and then if we’re stumped on a little area then someone will chime in and come up with another way to take another cool dip or make the match or the story more exciting. We do have a lot of freedom, which is great."

One knock on WWE has been the micromanagement and reported restrictions put on talent. Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose in WWE) recently vented his frustrations in an interview with Chris Jericho.

Not many details are known about All Elite Wrestling's fall debut on TNT, but Tony Khan did offer more insight during an appearance on the Steve Austin Show. While discussing the deal with Austin, Khan revealed that the show would run for two hours and air live every week.

"The TNT deal came together [because] my friend Kevin Reilly is the President of TBS. It's going to start in the fall. We'll have specific details soon. It's a two-hour, live show. I can't tell you the day of the week or the timeslot. All Out will be our last pay-per-view going into it."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With <a href="https://twitter.com/TrueKofi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TrueKofi</a>'s wins this week on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SDLive</a>, the reigning <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WWE</a> Champion has become the 1st Superstar since Tony Garea (in '81) to earn TWO shut-out victories in Two out of Three Falls Matches on WWE TV.<br><br>Garea's came about 3 years apart. Kingston's occurred 2 days in a row.</p>— WWE Stats & Info (@WWEStats) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEStats/status/1141350426186571782?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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TPWW Frontpage:

“Best WWE Moment” Will Be a Category at the ESPY Awards (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/best-wwe-moment-will-be-a-category-at-the-espy-awards/)
WWE Studios Announces New Movie for Netflix, Featuring Kofi, Miz, Sheamus (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/wwe-studios-announces-new-movie-for-netflix-featuring-kofi-miz-sheamus/)
ICW World Champion Lionheart Adrian McCallum Passes Away at Age 36 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/icw-world-champion-lionheart-adrian-mccallum-passes-away-at-age-36/)
Two Title Matches Added to WWE Stomping Grounds – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/two-title-matches-added-to-wwe-stomping-grounds-updated-card/)

Simple Fan

06-19-2019, 11:55 PM

Just watched that MLW show, no way they caused that much damage to the bleachers. Unless it was something off camera, they did a weak brain buster spot on them and just slammed one another against the fencing around them for a bit.

Fignuts

06-20-2019, 03:13 AM

Fuck man, poor Andrade.

Mr. Nerfect

06-20-2019, 08:16 AM

I forgot sami had worked for mlw well cornetts show should be a hoot this week

I doubt Cornette mentions it. He didn't after the incident and it's probably a "hush, hush" thing with MLW.

Not the first time he's gotten in trouble with a venue since there was a noted incident last year where the venue's owner yelled at him during his match to stop him from breaking the chairs that was loaned out for the show.

Instead of just stopping, he kept mouthing off to the owner and threw a chair when he was done.

Like with MLW, AAW got in huge trouble with the venue's owner afterwards.

:lol: What a fucking idiot. It's like the guy forgets that when you're in a work you're just supposed to make it look real.

I wonder who the source is who would remember what the vibe was around In Your House shows from 25 years ago is

Probably production people, crew, etc. Either that or he's doing a comparison between responses from wrestlers then and now. Meltzer does like his "math."

Just watched that MLW show, no way they caused that much damage to the bleachers. Unless it was something off camera, they did a weak brain buster spot on them and just slammed one another against the fencing around them for a bit.

It's possible they did, but it's possible that this is just the up-front reason for firing Callihan, because it's "reasonable" and not going to stir up people who would be mad if he got fired for spitting on Cornette and Bocchini. You can imagine a lot of the anti-Cornette brigade whinging that it's homophobic or something stupid, and some talent would just get annoyed that Cornette is still more valuable to a promotion than a Sami Callihan. Easier to just fire him for "fair enough" reasons.

Simple Fan

06-20-2019, 12:35 PM

I think it's all a work. Even the the Cornette stuff.

erickman

06-20-2019, 01:40 PM

cornette did a whole show about sami today, cornette could be working aew but I don't think so.

ClockShot

06-20-2019, 05:15 PM

Don't know if it's news or not. But ESPN got it their headlines section right now.

"Nikki Bella says career over due to injuries"

https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/27018497/nikki-bella-says-career-due-injuries

Emperor Smeat

06-20-2019, 09:12 PM

The Sheets:

A stipulation has been added to Zack Sabre Jr. and YOSHI-HASHI's match at Kizuna Road next week.

Sabre is set to defend his Revolution Pro Wrestling British Heavyweight Championship against YOSHI-HASHI at NJPW's Kizuna Road show in Sendai next Tuesday (June 25). After a challenge that was issued by YOSHI-HASHI, Sabre's spot in this year's G1 Climax will also be on the line as part of the match.

All-time great wrestler "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton of The Midnight Express has been hospitalized since last Friday with cardiac issues. Eaton woke up that morning with his legs and other parts of his body swollen, so he went to the emergency room and has been hospitalized since then.

Eaton's long-time friend Jim Cornette took to Twitter to correct reports Eaton had suffered a heart attack, noting instead that congestive heart failure led to fluid buildup in Eaton's chest, legs and other parts of the body, forcing Eaton's heart to have to pump harder to make up the difference.

Eaton is being treated with new medications and diuretics. Cornette noted that Eaton's heart rate is down and that his Pacemaker is working fine and that the situation is improving.

The 1986 Crockett Cup is now available on the WWE Network.

WWE added the tournament as part of this week’s Hidden Gems content. It features over four hours of footage, including the tournament itself which was eventually won by the Road Warriors. It also has two non-tournament matches including Jim Duggan vs. Dick Slater for the UWF North American title and Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight title.

This was the first of three Crockett Cup events that were held in the 1980s, with the second and third being held in 1987 and 1988. The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes) and the team of Sting and Lex Luger won the tournament in the following years before being abandoned in 1989.

The Wrestling Observer reports that Rusev recently asked for time off, which is why he hasn't been on television or live events as of late.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer says AEW is in talks with a Canadian broadcast partner.

The Wild Card Rule was extra wild this week as eight SmackDown superstars were on Raw and seven Raw superstars were on SmackDown. When the Wild Card rule was first implemented, it was stated that only four superstars would be allowed on the other brand, and any uninvited guest would face repercussions. Thus far, no superstar has been reprimanded for showing up on the competing brand without an invitation.

Speaking to Sporting News, Kevin Owens gave his thoughts on the Wild Card Rule.

"I guess the whole point of the wild-card rule is to add a sense of unpredictability to all the shows and I guess it definitely has achieved that because you never know who is going to show up where," said Owens. "The wild-card rule itself was very loosely defined when it was first announced and it's been loosely enforced since it's been announced (laughs). I guess it was supposed to be four guys at first and now, really, 10 guys show up one night, three guys show up the next night, whatever. But like I said, I think the whole point is to give a more unpredictable feel to the show itself and its definitely achieved that."

AAA ran one of its major events of the year, Verano de Escandalo, on 6/16 in Merida at the Poliforuma Zamma, before almost 6,000 fans. There were about 14,000 Spanish language viewers and 7,000 English language at the peak on Twitch, which was during the Young Bucks match. It should be noted that Hugo Savinovich, who does the Spanish broadcasts, is tremendous. Even if you don’t know Spanish, he gets the excitement over to where it’s worth listening to. Of course if you’re a newcomer, the issue with the Spanish, like with the Japanese announcers, is if you don’t know the language, they can’t help you with storylines, match story and other issues. Still, when TripleMania comes, the Spanish broadcast is still the option to take.

There were some technical issues early, including video packages with no audio, bad crowd micing, entrance and ring mic issues. The show is the final major before TripleMania, so the key issue in the main event was building interest in the Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. mask vs. hair match which takes place on 8/3 at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City. Cain Velasquez makes his pro wrestling debut on that show.

They are working on a major international match for this show involving AEW talent. AEW talent will not be appearing on the AAA shows on 9/15 in Madison Square Garden or 10/13 at the Forum in Los Angeles. The latter show was just announced this week. The funny thing is AAA held a press conference to announce the Los Angeles show on 6/19, but kept the press conference secret. Think about that for a second. The Los Angeles date goes head-to-head with a WWE show in Anaheim.

Tickets aren’t on sale to the public yet, but fan club tickets to the Tokyo Dome shows on 1/4 and 1/5 had a ridiculous demand. There was a fan club lottery this week to get first tickets and people who were in the lottery noted to us that “nobody” even got floor seats for either show. Last the demand was high for great seats, but fan club members all could at least get the floor if they wanted it. Most people who wanted the floor ended up only getting the lower deck of the stadium. One ticket outlet with fan club memberships noted that for this to happen, the orders had to be up conservatively ten times the fan club ticket demand of last year. .. Kota Ibushi was back in action for the start of the new tour on 6/14 in Numazu. Aside from a black eye from the head-butt, there were no signs of anything different from usual. He’s been working the multiple-person matches so he can play it safe until G-1

Davey Boy Smith Jr., quit the promotion. He hasn’t been happy for some time. There were more a lot of small issues and frustration about not being used as well as things that build up from the past. There were issues because on the night before WrestleMania, he wanted to go to the WWE Hall of Fame because they were inducting Jim Neidhart, who is part of his family, as well as Bret Hart a second time. New Japan was running MSG and he kept asking whether he’s booked on the show so he could make plans either to do the Hall of Fame or not. Even as late as two weeks before the show he couldn’t get an answer. He also told them he’d rather go to the Hall of Fame for family reasons than be an afterthought on the show or used in a meaningless way. He ended up working multiple shows in the New York area that week but not the MSG show. New Japan let him work the Dynamite Kid tribute show that Satoru Sayama and Hisashi Shinma put on but there’s heat between Massao Hattori and Shinma.

Several months back, Smith had pitched an idea of he and Lance Archer doing a tribute to Dynamite on a New Japan show where he’d score a pin after a Dynamite Kid style diving head-butt. Gedo turned him down and told him he was too big to do that move and instead wanted to do the angle where stallionie T would go nuts and get DQ’d for a chair shot. The idea is that they wanted to turn stallionie into a wrestler who at times would just snap, basing it off the Ken Shamrock WWF character. Of course that fell apart when stallionie and Barreta didn’t sign new deals and instead signed with AEW. He had also asked for New Japan’s permission to work Impact and didn’t get permission. He asked what the problem was and they said “Fucking Jeff Jarrett and TNA,” and were still mad about how Okada was booked. Smith told them that Jarrett was long gone, and that he was going get a big push. The people at Impact were very high on him. New Japan told him he couldn’t go.

Somehow this turned into a miscommunication because when Lance Archer asked about them getting more dates this year, or that the team would be focused on more, the office told him they thought Smith was going to Impact. Except they had just told him he couldn’t do so. The office said that’s what Gedo told them. He ended up signing with MLW where he’s supposed to be put in a title program with Tom Lawlor, although MLW knew that New Japan had first dibs on his dates. There were reports he was going to ROH, but that’s not the case. He’s working MLW. With him no longer working New Japan, that could, like what happened with Michael Elgin, open up the door for Impact, although we’re told there has been no recent discussions with him with that promotion. Impact did have big plans for him originally.

PWG announced its 7/26 show at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles. Tickets will go on sale this week. What’s notable is that there is a ton of AEW talent on the show. The show features Flip Gordon vs. Trey Miguel, The Dark Order (formerly Super Smash Brothers) vs. Trent Baretta & stallionie T (a match coming directly off the AEW PPV angle), MJF vs. Darby Allin, Puma King & Laredo Kid & Black Taurus vs. Flamita & Bandido & Rey Horus (a genuine top flight Lucha Libre trios match), Jungle Boy vs. Joey Janela, David Starr vs. Brody King and Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz defend the PWG tag titles against LAX in a ladder match. Eight of the wrestlers on this show are under AEW contract. Right now no decision has been made regarding whether they will be able to continue working PWG once television starts. The contracted talent won’t be allowed to work elsewhere, aside from Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, who can work in Japan. For whatever reason, basically that PWG has a certain rep that elevates talent by being part of the shows, nobody except WWE bans its talent from PWG. Even ROH, whose full-time contracted talent can’t work anywhere else in the U.S., PWG is the exception. AEW hasn’t made a decision on this subject

Sami Callihan is done with MLW ... However, according to MLW, Callihan did $2,700 in damages to the building in Waukesha, WI, where the match took place. Bauer said he broke a new $15,000 bleacher and other property at the venue, dinged a garage door pretty bad, and the company had to pay $2,700. He said that Callihan was legitimately fired over that. Callihan also spit in Jim Cornette’s face during the show. Everyone has a different story about this. One story is that it was an angle because they believed people would believe in heat between the two since Cornette went nuts on his podcast months ago on Callihan because of the angle that went awry where Callihan hit Eddie Edwards with a baseball bat.

At least some if not all of what happened between the two of them dating back to April was meant as an insider angle, which is why it all aired on television because it if wasn’t, it would have ended immediately and would have been edited off television. Another version is that the spit thing wasn’t edited off but wasn’t planned either, but after, by playing up the Sonny Kiss thing, they thought he was shooting his own angle, played it off inside the company as a work nobody would overreact to it, and had talked to Cornette about using their internet heat to their advantage. But at this point everyone concedes whatever work they were doing turned into a shoot and right now the heat is real, because Callihan really believes Cornette got him fired and Cornette will always react to people trying to run him down publicly ...

It was noted by one person that Cornette went backstage to check on Callihan after the match with Warner and they hugged but as far as what Cornette was really thinking only he knows. People who were around Cornette said he was fine, never brought up or acted mad about being spit on to anyone after, and the belief is that if he thought it was legit, he’d have reacted completely differently. Another person backstage said that as far as he knows, the spitting was a shoot, but Cornette brushed it off backstage and laughed about it, saying he thought it was good heat and smart for Callihan to do it.

There were definitely people expecting Cornette to react differently and they had Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Low Ki there after the commotion to break it up if there were any problems, but there were no problems at all. Callihan was really mad when he got to the back after the match according to one person there.

WWE had expressed interest in Fatu. Everyone believes he’s going to be a superstar and both AEW and WWE are aware of it

Here’s an interesting trivia note. In the history of U.S. and Canadian pro wrestling, there have only been two shows that weren’t main roster WWE events that have done $1 million live gates. And the two events came on consecutive days just miles apart, which were the NXT show at the Barclays Center on 4/5 (which is actually WWE but not main roster) and the NJPW/ROH show in Madison Square Garden the next day. WCW hit $900,000 but never cracked $1 million

Because Juice Robinson is moving to Japan, he not scheduled for any future ROH shows. They are hopeful of bringing him fall in the fall but if he’s living in Japan, he’ll probably do every tour going forward in Japan. He told ROH officials he was very upset about reports that he didn’t like working there

There’s been a lot of talk regarding Rush when his contract expires here at the end of the year. The two key points are that Andrade, who was not happy in NXT and WWE for a long time when not being used, is happy now, has a good relationship with Charlotte Flair, is getting a push and making money. So the attitude of being negative to his good friend about coming has changed. WWE has obviously wanted Rush for some time, but the second issue is he’s still under contract to CMLL until early 2021

Regarding AEW television, the date is still not finalized but we were told it is 100 percent it will be either Tuesday or Wednesday nights, which everyone pretty much knew but was never said officially. Right now Wednesday is in the lead but the reason nothing is said is that there are a lot of decisions on the TNT side that still have to be made. International TV deals can’t be finalized until TNT makes those decisions so that’s where all of that stands

Regarding why Hikaru Shida isn’t on Fyter Fest, she is touring Japan and the date was in the middle of her final tour before moving to the U.S. Riho is also finishing up soon in Japan and moving to the U.S

WWE sent out a marketing study regarding future WrestleManias. They were asking people who have traveled to WrestleMania in the past who are in their data base what cities they were most interested in going to, as well as how much money they estimate they spend in merchandise, transportation and tickets. The cities they listed as under consideration for future WrestleManias were London (notable that the city is under consideration), Chicago, Jacksonville, Las Vegas (those three cities listed in a row are interesting, if it was just Chicago and Las Vegas you wouldn’t think twice but a number of people who got the survey immediately saw Jacksonville lumped in and saw the unique coincidence), Santa Clara, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Toronto, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Tampa on the list is weird because they are going there next year and one would think you wouldn’t be thinking about going back for many years to come.

Regarding the WWE move to FOX, while I know a lot of people are using the current Smackdown ratings and feeling it will bomb as a network property and be moved to FS 1, and while nothing is impossible, FOX does not see it that way. FOX noted the value of a show is a combination of it value in retransmission rights (how much they can get carriers to pay for the station based on the product) and value to advertisers. Wrestling has virtually no value, in the sense nobody is paying more money to buy transmission rights to FOX stations because WWE is on the station. Their belief is they can get the ad rates up for wrestling based on the size of the audience and that wrestling still gets low CPMs (basically ad revenue based on size of audience) and that they can grow it.

Another key is that wrestling is 52 weeks a year. While FOX’s fall lineup this past year will likely beat what Smackdown will do on Friday nights, that’s first run programming. The last few weeks with rerun programming, FOX has done numbers far lower than what Smackdown would do. On 6/14, FOX ran the U.S. Open golf tournament and did 2,601,000 viewers. But that’s a one-off. FOX feels wrestling will top that, but even if wrestling doubled it, golf ad rates are so much higher than wrestling that a U.S. Open broadcast is more valuable. But that’s not your typical Friday this time of the year. On 6/7, FOX averaged 1,337,000 viewers for rerun programming in that time slot. On 5/31, it was 1,510,000. On 5/24 it was 1,708,000

A note that hasn’t been brought up regarding the Saudi Arabia shows going forward is that Saudi Arabia has asked for date on Fridays, and WWE starting in October has FOX on Fridays. Right now for 11/1, the WWE has a listing for a FOX show from Newark, NJ and a show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and King Saad University Stadium. So that would either mean split crews or they’d have to change the Saudi date

FIt’s notable that New Japan put its U.S. title on a guy who can’t even work for them in the U.S. It’s still up in the air whether Moxley will be recognized as champion or wear the belt at Fyter Fest, which, ultimately is both up to Tony Khan agreeing to it as well as New Japan agreeing to it. He did neither on his independent dates with Northeast Wrestling this past weekend. This shows how much things have changed, and not for the better between the two sides.

Earlier this year, when New Japan had the visa issues that kept all of their Japanese talent off an American tour, and AEW was just starting, it was noted that they could have saved the tour in the eyes of the fans by using Omega. Some of the dates were when Omega was under control so they could have used him no matter what. One or two dates would have been after the contract expired, at which point he may have signed with AEW, but AEW had no problems with allowing him to work the entire tour. Of course New Japan didn’t even think in that direction nor have they made a play for Omega so far this year. But it’s gone from wanting to build a relationship to that no longer being the case.

KENTA recently spoke to Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine in Japan about his departure from WWE and arrival at New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier this month at Dominion ...

When he was called up to 205 Live in November 2017 he was excited about the call-up but then things started to ‘deteriorate’. He mentioned the Cruiserweight title tournament in early 2018 after Enzo Amore left the company and the title was vacant. Itami lost in the opening round to Roderick Strong and noted that he could never really figure out who Hideo Itami was due to his lack of in-ring activity. He also felt his in-ring style suffered as a result of being told what to do and not to do and lost sight of his goals there.

He added that ‘no good memories come to mind’ on the experience at 205 Live and said he was ‘defanged’ there.

TPWW Frontpage:

Drake Maverick Is Getting Married, Featuring the 24/7 Title (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/drake-maverick-is-getting-married-featuring-the-24-7-title/)
Lars Sullivan Could Be Out 6-9 Months With a Knee Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/lars-sullivan-could-be-out-6-9-months-with-a-knee-injury/)
WWE TV Moving to BT Sport in the UK and Ireland (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/wwe-tv-moving-to-bt-sport-in-the-uk-and-ireland/)

Mr. Nerfect

06-21-2019, 08:31 PM

Can't wait to see KENTA unleash. I've got a feeling it will be like Dustin Rhodes showing what he can do. Itami was really good in WWE when I saw him. Underrated because people like the flippy stuff and not so much the intricate stuff these days.

New Japan sounds like a mess though. Pretty shitty they wouldn't notify Davey Boy Smith, Jr. on his schedule. But I don't know why anyone would want to work with TNA.

When they say Fatu, do they mean Jacob Fatu? Because, yes -- he's going to be a huge fucking star if he keeps on the path he's going. The biggest no-brainer next to Velveteen Dream, provided WWE don't get in Dream's way.

Emperor Smeat

06-21-2019, 09:41 PM

The Sheets:

Bobby Fish suffered what was apparently a jaw injury last week in the match that aired on Wednesday's NXT TV show. During a trios match, Velveteen Dream did a quebrada and it looked like his knee connected with Fish's nose, but it was actually a jaw injury. Fish's eye started to swell shut during the match.

WWE announced today that Cathy Kelley and Kayla Braxton will host a live preview of WWE Stomping Grounds 2019 on WWE's social media accounts this Sunday at 3 PM EST with Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Dolph Ziggler and Heavy Machinery appearing.

As PWInsider.com noted earlier, WWE filmed a 24/7 title change at Drake Maverick's wedding, with R-Truth sneaking into the wedding and rolling up Maverick just seconds after he married former Mae Young Classic competitor Renee Michelle. We are told this was an idea Maverick pitched to the company that WWE loved.

The actual title change was filmed after the official nuptials had taken place, with WWE NXT writer Joseph Belcastro stepping in to play the pastor for the WWE material.

Braun Strowman, EC3, Jeremy Borash and former Impact Wrestling star Cheerleader Melissa (aka Alyssa Flash) were legitimately part of the Maverick/Michelle wedding party. Matt Hardy's son Maxel was ring bearer.

Other wrestling personalities in attendance at the ceremony included Matt and Reby Hardy, TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd), Natalya Neidhart, former LAX member Diamante and Impact star Kiera Hogan.

We are told there was some additional material filmed after the title change, but there's no word whether it will be utilized yet.

Ring of Honor is teasing that a fourth member of Villain Enterprises will be revealed next week over the course of Best in the World weekend in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

In regard to one of the most asked questions we receive about Impact, LAX remains in discussions with Impact Wrestling but have not yet signed a new deal with the company. We are told their current deal expires later this summer. Impact sources have noted getting LAX under a longer form deal is one of the their top priorities. LAX vs. The Rascalz is set for the 7/7 Slammiversary PPV.

Jon Moxley was interviewed by New Japan following his debut earlier this month at Sumo Hall against Juice Robinson. Here are some of the highlights from the discussion:

-He debated whether to incorporate his Shield entrance by walking through the crowd but acknowledged it was the right call because it’s a cool entrance and felt it enhanced the feel for the match because the mood in the arena adjusted when he came through the audience
-Moxley said he always loved wrestling in Japan when he was in WWE, more so than working on television or even at WrestleMania because of the respect the fans have for the sport
-Regarding his gear, he had new ring boots to wear that didn’t fit and neither did an old pair, so he went with the wrestling shoes. He hated wrestling in jeans in WWE and did so because it separated him from everyone else but never wants to wrestle in them again.
– He also discussed his history with Juice Robinson in FCW where Robinson would ride with him and Seth Rollins and seek advice from them. Moxley was ecstatic with their match at Sumo Hall and has been following his career since he came to New Japan in 2015.

Triple H speaks about his match with Sting and how the planned match with The Rock played into the result of the Sting match ...

Triple H defeated Sting but went on to explain why he picked up the victory during Sting's version of the WWE Network series 'WWE Untold'. Triple H confirmed that he was scheduled to take on The Rock at WrestleMania 32 which derived from the two having their confrontation at WrestleMania 31 that included Stephanie McMahon and Ronda Rousey. Triple H added that as the year of 2015 went on, The Rock's scheduled got tighter and the match eventually fell through.

“And then the next one he [Sting] threw out I think was me and so, at that point [it] was me going back to Vince and saying, ‘Do we wanna make this happen?’ And Vince was all for it and we were able to make a deal. Part of the impetus with the way things turned out with the Sting thing is because I was already booked to work with The Rock at the following year’s WrestleMania and we’ll build it for more than a year. That was the intent, belief, everything else." Triple H continued, "Just as time went on, Rock’s schedule changed later in the year and we weren’t able to do the match for the following year’s WrestleMania one-on-one against The Rock.”

Triple H says he has heard people state that Sting should've won the match but there was nothing he could do in that circumstance because the plan going forward was for him to take on The Rock the following year.

“You know there are people who’ll say, ‘Well…’, I should’ve put him over to give him the moment and that’s arguably -- to say that you should’ve... The Rock situation made that impossible, which didn’t happen, but that’s the truth of it. Are there things that could’ve been done differently? I don’t know that it took away from anything.” He said.

Conrad Thompson noted on Twitter today that his podcast co-host Bruce Prichard flew home from this week's WWE TV tapings to undergo emergency oral surgery. Conrad said things did not go well.

"@bruceprichard flew home from TV for emergency oral surgery this week. It didn't go well. He is still in great pain and the doctor advised against flying. So he will be out of commission for a few more days," Thompson wrote.

Prichard, who has been working with WWE creative and as the Senior Vice President, posted an update and noted that he ended up having 6 teeth pulled.

"Thanks for the well wishes. Ended up with 6 teeth pulled and had to drill into sinuses. In pain and on the mend . Should be good in a few days," Prichard wrote.

There's no word yet on if Prichard will be back to work for WWE at Sunday's Stomping Grounds pay-per-view

TPWW Frontpage:

Nikki Cross and Killian Dain Got Married (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/nikki-cross-and-killian-dain-got-married-2/)
MLW: WWE Interested in Jacob Fatu, Timothy Thatcher Debuting for MLW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/mlw-wwe-interested-in-jacob-fatu-timothy-thatcher-debuting-for-mlw/)
Mojo Rawley Signs New WWE Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/mojo-rawley-signs-new-wwe-contract/)
R-Truth Wins Back the 24/7 Championship at Drake Maverick’s Wedding (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/r-truth-wins-back-the-24-7-championship-at-drake-mavericks-wedding/)

Fignuts

06-21-2019, 10:23 PM

Mr. Nerfect

06-21-2019, 11:35 PM

Yeah, such a crock of shit. Also, why Triple H vs. Rock? Who the fuck wanted to see that in 2016? Oh wait, Triple H wanted to headline the biggest Mania against the biggest draw they had. Gotcha.

ClockShot

06-22-2019, 01:31 PM

Interested to know who's joining Scurll's crew.

Jordan

06-22-2019, 01:47 PM

Interested to know who's joining Scurll's crew.

Likely someone who can replace him once his ROH contact expires and he leaves for AEW.

Jordan

06-22-2019, 01:48 PM

I think his contact end in September if I remember correctly, sometime this fall.

#1-norm-fan

06-22-2019, 04:44 PM

“Impossible”

Such bullshit. You had an entire year. In an entire year, you’re telling me you couldn’t book triple h strong enough to recover from losing to Sting?

It should only take a month, if that. It’s not losing to Barry Horowitz for fucks sake. It’s Sting. Literally one of the greatest and most respected icons of the industry today.

Suddenly they decide booking a guy strongly for a year is important when Triple H is involved. NOW wins and losses matter. NOW long term booking is a thing. Not before and not since. But THEN, he decided building a guy up methodically a year in advance was the thing to do.

Such a crock of shit. Lol

#1-norm-fan

06-22-2019, 04:52 PM

Wasn’t that 2 years removed from when they had Ryback job squeaky clean to a jobber-to-the-stars level Mark Henry at WrestleMania before putting him in a multi-PPV program with Cena for the title the VERY NEXT NIGHT?

Trips jobbing to Sting a year before facing Rock would have been DEVASTATING though. :lol:

Emperor Smeat

06-22-2019, 04:53 PM

Seems Impact Wrestling granted Killer Kross' release from the company based on last night's episode and Kross' tease on Twitter afterwards.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://t.co/S5dMPAy49g">pic.twitter.com/S5dMPAy49g</a></p>— ��Killer Kross ⏳��❌ (@realKILLERkross) <a href="https://twitter.com/realKILLERkross/status/1142285615104348160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

erickman

06-22-2019, 08:16 PM

surprised they let him go cross owes impact big

Evil Vito

06-22-2019, 08:55 PM

Kross owes the company nothing.

Simple Fan

06-22-2019, 11:18 PM

Yeah they should have paid the man what he wanted.

Jordan

06-23-2019, 01:26 AM

Honestly have no idea who Kross is.

Fignuts

06-23-2019, 04:26 AM

Some guy

Mr. Nerfect

06-24-2019, 04:28 AM

No one does. He wrestled for TNA.

slik

06-24-2019, 09:52 AM

He seemed decent when I watched some random Impact ppv

re: Kross

Simple Fan

06-24-2019, 10:55 AM

Kross is the shit. Hopefully he goes to AEW, him and Moxley would be a killer match and he's already shown his displeasure with Jon taking bits of his gimmick.

Mr. Nerfect

06-24-2019, 03:33 PM

Moxley is basically doing a more polished version of his old CZW gimmick. It’s the serious side of his WWE one. Wtf is this stealing talk about?

Simple Fan

06-24-2019, 04:04 PM

yTFMWfe7Mfk

James Steele

06-25-2019, 02:57 AM

...so Killer Kross invented video packages? Also, I cringed when he started talking. Such forced “I’m a serious badass.” vibe. Reminded me of Low Ki promos.

Emperor Smeat

06-25-2019, 10:03 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night did 2.28 million viewers, a number that has to be considered bad coming off a pay-per-view. It was up 1.8 percent from last week's number.

The positive news is that the first-to-third hour drop was 11 percent, which is good based on recent history, although not good based on long-term history. The two big takeaways are that there was not a lot of interest in Stomping Grounds, as all metrics have shown, nor was there curiosity coming out of it in a big way, based on a first hour number that was very low coming off a PPV.

However, the episode itself did retain the audience better than most this year, which is a combination of the show itself, and the interest level in the Ricochet vs. AJ Styles main event ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.39 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.32 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.13 million viewers

Monday’s episode of Raw following the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view didn’t receive much of an increase in its viewership ...

This week was their fifth-lowest average of 2019 and is the second consecutive week without sports competition indicating fans that checked out during the playoff season have not returned. It was their second-lowest pay-per-view bump of 2019 behind the Raw following Fastlane in March ...

Here are the viewership averages following each pay-per-view from 2019 along with the percentage difference from the prior week:

*Stomping Grounds: June 24 – 2,276,000 (+1.83%)
*Super Showdown: June 3 – 2,405,000 (+9.8%)
*Money in the Bank: May 20 – 2,521,000 (+10.3%)
*WrestleMania 35: April 8 – 2,924,000 (+10.8%)
*Fastlane: March 11 – 2,818,000 (+1.26%)
*Elimination Chamber: Feb. 18 – 2,771,000 (+12.6%)
*Royal Rumble: Jan. 28 – 2,703,000 (+9.8%)
Some more details on the tiny PPV bump WWE got for Stomping Grounds and how it compares to other PPV bumps soo far this year.

From listener Ian, who attended Raw on Monday in Everett:

I attended Raw last night. The commercial breaks started taking a toll on the crowd in the third hour. The crowd was dead during the Alexa/Nikki vs Naomi/Natalya match. Commercials were just WWE related clips or appearances on other TV shows. Iconics and Dana Brooke also came out during the break to cut promos. I still had a great time, but the commercial breaks were too much and made the three hours lag a little bit.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Jinder Mahal recently signed a new five-year deal with WWE.

Zack Sabre Jr. retained both his RevPro British Heavyweight Championship and his spot in this year’s G1 Climax by defeating YOSHI-HASHI in the main event of this morning’s Kizuna Road show.

After defeating IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa in a non-title match this morning, Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls said they want Tonga & Loa’s titles. Tonga & Loa vs. Robinson & Nicholls (in what was announced as a non-title match) is set for Southern Showdown in Melbourne this Saturday.

AEW stars Cody and MJF will be appearing at an upcoming AAA television taping.

It was announced that the two will be teaming up to take on Brian Cage and Taurus at a television taping in Aguascalientes, Mexico on 7/18. There is a backstory, as it was Taurus who attacked Cody when he made his initial debut for AAA at Rey de Reyes back in April, cementing the relationship between AEW and AAA. While MJF and Cody have competed in Mexico in the past, this will be the in-ring debut for both in AAA.

Due to an injury, Colt Cabana won't be able to wrestle at ROH's Best in the World pay-per-view this Friday.

The NWA uploaded a video today where Cabana announced that he won't be able to team with Nick Aldis against The Briscoes at Best in the World. Cabana is the current NWA National Champion, while Aldis holds the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.

Cabana's replacement will be unveiled on the Best in the World pre-show, which is airing at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday.

Will Ospreay spoke to Marc Raimondi of ESPN about the comments made by Seth Rollins and their back-and-forth over the past two days:

I just think it’s a little bit of friendly banter. I love Rollins. Rollins is the absolute don. Hey’s the man, you know what I mean? He’s one of the best wrestlers ever – period. But you asked the question. You asked, find me, someone, alive. As far as I’m concerned, I’m breathing. There’s oxygen in my lungs. I think the last time I heard about an amazing Seth Rollins match was his one against A.J. and if you can’t get a good match out of A.J. Styles, then I think you should leave the planet. I’m still here, I’m still breathing. And I think my run this year – not just in New Japan, in the indies and everywhere I’ve been – is I don’t half-ass anything. I don’t do a terrible TV match. I just go hard every single night. If you give me an opportunity to show what I can do, I do it.

Undisputed ERA member and former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion Kyle O'Reilly was slated to wrestle at EVOLVE 129 and EVOLVE 130 this weekend. EVOLVE announced via their official social media platforms that O'Reilly would not be wrestling at the events this weekend and Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that O'Reilly was pulled from the shows because he is dealing with a staph infection.

Aleister Black is set to work his first main roster pay-per-view singles match at the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules event, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes.

There's no official word on the match but Black's opponent as of earlier this afternoon was planned to be Cesaro. Black is currently on the SmackDown roster while Cesaro is a RAW Superstar.

WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler could be one of the hosts of the WWE studio show that is scheduled to begin airing on FS1 later this year, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes.

The report noted that Fox officials have floated the idea of Lawler being a main part of the show to WWE. The feeling is that Lawler's image and voice will be familiar to fans, something Fox is looking for, likely to help bring viewers back to the product.

There's no word yet on who might work with Lawler to host the show, but it was recently reported that Renee Young was "highly likely" to land the role of host.

Rusev's WWE contract is reportedly expiring relatively soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

There's no word yet on if Rusev is interested in leaving WWE, but it would not come as a surprise to many as it's believed that he is unhappy with his position in the company due to some of his comments in media interviews and on social media.

Rusev is currently away from WWE as he recently requested some time off. There's no word yet on when he will be back, but it's likely just a short hiatus. Meltzer speculated that the hiatus has to do with Rusev being unhappy. It was also speculated that WWE could extend the length of the contract due to the time off by freezing it, which they do when a talent is out of action with an injury.

For AEW, the Leva Bates vs. Kylie Rae match for Sunday wasn't supposed to be announced and we're told it's probably changing. The plan is for a three fight preshow at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and the main show starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The preshow is Alex Jebailey vs. Michael Nakazawa in a hardcore match and a tag team title tournament match with Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian vs. Private Party vs. Trent Baretta & Chuckie T. There will probably be a third match announced this week which is the spot Bates vs. Rae would have.

OTT held their WrestleRama card in Dublin on Sunday and featured WALTER facing David Starr. The spot within the match that has received added attention involved Starr taking the NXT UK championship, placing it on the mat and stepping on it. In another era, this would be a massive deal and it very well could irk those in WWE that WALTER was involved with the company’s championship being disrespected.

Wrestling DVD Network has released trailers for the upcoming The Miz: A-List Superstar and "Getting Rowdy: The Unreleased Matches of Roddy Piper" DVDs

The 2019 WWE Money in the Bank PPV was officially released on DVD today in the United States with releases to come on 7/8 in Europe and 8/21 in Australia.

The Super Showdown event from Saudi Arabia will be release on DVD this September.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y-q5XiT2-lI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

Killer Kross Possibly Written Off of Impact? (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/killer-kross-possibly-written-off-of-impact/)
Seth Rollins Responds to Moxley’s WWE Comments: “Not Everyone Can Handle the Rigors of WWE” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/seth-rollins-responds-to-moxleys-wwe-comments-not-everyone-can-handle-the-rigors-of-wwe/)
Various: Fan Mentions CM Punk During Raw Segment, Tyler Breeze at EVOLVE, Janela Injury Update (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/various-fan-mentions-cm-punk-during-raw-segment-tyler-breeze-at-evolve-janela-injury-update/)
Seth Rollins, Will Ospreay and Chris Jericho Get Into It on Twitter (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/seth-rollins-will-ospreay-and-chris-jericho-get-into-it-on-twitter/)
New Vince McMahon Edict: No More Wrestling During Commercials (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/new-vince-mcmahon-edict-no-more-wrestling-during-commercials/)

Evil Vito

06-25-2019, 10:52 PM

LOL a 5-year contract for Jinder Mahal.

Blonde Moment

06-26-2019, 07:07 PM

Guess they want too keep him off of Impact

Emperor Smeat

06-26-2019, 09:30 PM

The Sheets:

Former WWE Champion Phil "CM Punk" Brooks filed a lawsuit against ROH star Scott "Colt Cabana" Colton on 6/18 in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, PWInsider.com can exclusively report.

The counter-suit, seeking $600,000 from Colton, was filed as part of Brooks' response to Colton's second, amended lawsuit against the former WWE and ROH Champion. Colton filed a lawsuit in August 2018 against Brooks in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, alleging unpaid legal fees and a breach of contract from Brooks stemming from the lawsuit that WWE physician Doctor Chris Amann filed against each of them in the fallout of Brooks' November 2014 appearance on Colton's Art of Wrestling podcast ...

In his counter-suit, Brooks stated that he spent over $1.2 million on legal bills over the two-year period where The Loeb Firm defended himself and Colton against Dr. Chris Amann's allegations. The Amann case went to court with the jury ruling unanimously in Colton and Brooks' favor. Amann received zero damages.

Brooks' counter-suit alleges Colton did not contribute anything towards their "attorney's fees and expenses incurred" in the Amann legal battle and that Colton "refused to contribute monies" towards the case, noting, "Colton's unjust retention of the benefits of receiving a high-quality, professional legal defense through the Loeb Firm paid for solely by Brooks without any reimbursement of Brooks violated fundamental principles of justice, equality, and good conscience."

Brooks lawsuit noted that Colton makes money from his Art of Wrestling series through advertisements and sponsors, YouTube impressions and through the sale of merchandise Colton promotes on the podcast. It notes that within five days of the November 2014 CM Punk episode, that episode was streamed or downloaded 1.5 million times, the largest audience ever for that podcast series. Within a week, that number was up to three million. The implication is that despite the episode being the most financially successful podcast episode ever for Colton, he did not offer any money towards their legal defense ...

Brooks is alleging that Colton breached his contract with Brooks by not reimbursing him, noting that he “conferred a benefit” on Colton by funding their legal defense against Dr. Chris Amann. Brooks noted in the lawsuit that he has paid $1,210,000 while Colton has paid zero. As noted, Brooks is seeking $600,000 “for general damages” as well as interest on such damages “as allowed by law”; costs of suit incurred and additional further relief that the court deems just and proper. Colton’s side must respond by 7/3 to Brooks’ lawsuit.

Guide Live asked Becky Lynch about Seth Rollins’ recent tweets and if their in-ring styles have started to rub off on one another: "No, to be honest with you, neither. None in either way. I've seen what he's been doing. That's completely him. He rightfully exposes the fact that we are the premiere wrestling show. We're constantly putting on matches, five-star matches time after time. I think that he just wants that to be noticed and appreciated. But that's got absolutely nothing to do with me, I don't know that I've rubbed off on him in that way. And in-ring, no. My style is my style. His style is his style. We're our own people, and then we can just fight side by side."

The fan who was involved in the Bully Ray incident at ROH State of the Art: Portland earlier this month attended SmackDown after Kevin Owens invited him to be his guest at a show the next time Owens was in town: “I had more fun tonight at the show than I have in a very long time. I’m humbled and grateful by the generosity of an absolute stranger. Never stop being there for each other. Never stop taking the high road. Never stop being the better man. Thank you @FightOwensFight”

In a video on DDP Yoga’s YouTube channel, Big Cass opened up on battling depression, anxiety, and alcohol issues and working to improve his life.
Link: https://youtu.be/7Qq_kaPSGgU

WWENetworkNews.com is reporting the following material will be this week's WWE Network Hidden Gems, including extremely rare footage from the old Amarillo territory featuring the Funk family:

NWA Western States 02/01/1971 – Father Knows Best [Duration: 06:42]
The patriarch of the Funk wrestling family, Dory Funk Sr., imparts some fatherly wisdom in this training session with Dory Jr. and Terry.

USWA 11/03/1990 – Texas Royalty [Duration: 10:23]
Long-time rivals square off once more when Terry Funk battles Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.

PWInsider.com is working on confirming particulars but several counts in Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment's lawsuit against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Sports were dismissed this past Monday 6/24. We should have more details shortly. The lawsuit is still continuing.

All Elite Wrestling announced this afternoon that Chris Jericho will be appearing at the 7/13 Fight for the Fallen event in Jacksonville, Florida, which will stream live for free for Bleacher Report Live subscribers

Oriental Wrestling Entertainment is expanding their brand to the United Kingdom this coming September. It was announced via the promotion's social media pages that they'll be launching a United Kingdom division and there will be OWE U.K. Champions along with a tag team division as well. In the graphic that was posted along with the announcement, an O.W.E Championship belt was featured but it was not specified whether that was the world title or the tag team title design.

OWE has a working relationship with All Elite Wrestling and OWE will be represented this weekend at AEW's Fyter Fest show as Christopher Daniels goes one-on-one with former Dragon Gate Open The Brave Champion CIMA.

Riki Choshu has had his final match in wrestling.

45-year veteran of the professional wrestling business, Riki Choshu had has final match today at Korakuen Hall as a part of the 'POWER HALL 2019-New Journey Begins' show. Riki ended his career with a loss when he, Shiro Koshinaka and Tomohiro Ishii took on Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiji Mutoh and Togi Makabe. Makabe pinned Choshu and after the match, the former 3-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion picked up a microphone and stated that it is time that he returns to his family after the years he has dedicated to wrestling.

Choshu began his career in the 1970s and has wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan and U.V.A. in a career that has stretched over 40 years and on June 26th, Choshu ended his career by leaving the victory with Togi Makabe who is still pushing forward as an in-ring competitor.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned Rusev’s deal with WWE is up soon and he asked for a leave of absence from the company.

On that same show, Meltzer also indicated the reason Baron Corbin is getting pushed the way he is is that Vince McMahon thinks women swoon over guys like him.

Many current and former WWE talents have recently complained about WWE and their creative process. Drew McIntyre has a different take on the perceived lack of opportunities. He spoke with Sam Roberts on Not Sam Wrestling about that and the journey he had back to WWE.

"You look in the mirror, you know if you are not giving it everything you got," McIntyre stated. "There are a lot of people that are talented and do deserve more opportunities. But there are those not putting in the work and maybe in their head think they deserve this, this and this. I assure you, outside the company when it is 100 percent on you, it becomes your life. You have to give it all you've got 24/7."

Sunday's WWE Stomping Grounds pay-per-view reportedly did an estimated 9,800 pay-per-view buys in the United States, according to Wrestling Observer Radio.

This would be a record-low number of buys for a WWE pay-per-view in this era. The previous low in the current era would have been 11,000 buys, reportedly for the recent WWE Super ShowDown pay-per-view from Saudi Arabia.

It should be noted that almost no one buys WWE pay-per-view events these days due to the WWE Network, but around 10% of the viewership still buys them on traditional pay-per-view platforms. WWE pay-per-view events average around 15-16,000 buys in this era, with some of the bigger events doing around 20,000. WrestleMania 35 reportedly drew around 100,000 buys this past April ...

An estimated 6,000 fans attended Stomping Grounds, which would have been one of the smallest WWE pay-per-view crowds in a long time. The paid attendance for the pay-per-view was said to be around 4,000 - 4,500 fans, and the Tacoma Dome can hold around 18,000 fans after production.

Tommy Dreamer had an entire podcast episode about depression. He shared his stories on the House of Hardcore podcast, because Tommy wants people to know that there will always be another day. That your world does not have to end because one day you feel like it should. Dreamer shares stories about his struggles in life, and gives two stories about the times he was suicidal ...

"When ECW went out of business I was 29 years old. I had a lot of my money, my parents money, trying to float the company. Paul Heyman, who I thought me and him were super tight, he screwed me over big time. He was in the WWE, the whole time. I had turned down hundereds of thousands of dollars to go to WCW. And now was unemployed. I went from a $750,000 offer, and Paul Heyman crying to me, that if I leave ECW, it will go out of business. Meanwhile he was getting a paycheck from WWE. I don’t begrudge him, but then I did. I was depressed as depressed can be. I had women, I had fame, I had everything and yes it was the worst time of my life. It really was. I was doing indies, making decent money on the indies. But, I lived at home…

This is crazy for me to admit it, but I am doing it for a reason, just like I admitted to other things previously. Wrestlemania Houston (X7) Paul Heyman told me I was going to debut. All this stuff, when they had TLC and Spike Dudley came in, and Rhyno came in, and Lita came in. That was supposed to be my spot and then uh, that got ixnayed. Then there was gonna be a hardcore 24/7 thing, that was gonna be “all about you”. That was when I was supposed to debut. I remember I did a show there, and I saw a sign that said “Guns Welcome” and I was in Houston. I did an indie show, and I said “What is this?” I’m from New York, what do you mean “Guns Welcome?” and they said “Oh you are allowed to bring a firearm into the venue. I was across the street from the Astrodome. When I tell you it resonated in my head so, so much. That I’ll tell you what I wanted to do. It’s sick that I think this. At Wrestlemania, I was gonna hop the rail and I was gonna whack Paul E. in the back of the head right at the announce table, then I was gonna whack myself. The ultimate martyr, I was gonna hit my pose crack, boom, pull the trigger. Because I was that insane. Don’t know if I would have went through with it, but that’s what I was thinking about everyday. I was like “I will go down in history.” Pop, boom. First they’d think it as an angle until I shot him. I was so severely depressed and so mental with rage, I needed help. That help came from a phone call from Jim Ross. Randomly I get a phone call from a number I didn’t know… I didn’t pick up, and I remember having these thoughts, and it was bad. I had a gun, I was psssh man. Could you think about the horribleness that I would have done for my legacy? I would have ruined Wrestlemania, which I love Wrestlemania. For everybody. These thoughts were so so crazed in my head. How dare that person, he screwed my parents over and I come from a mobster mentality. In my head I was like “I would become infamous.” Which is famous for the wrong reason. I’m glad I didn’t do it. But when that phone call came from Jim Ross. Again, just said leave a message. It said “Hey Tommy it’s Jim Ross, just want to let you know, we are still thinking about you, we are gonna get it done, just got to hang tight. Thank you.

Think of how stupid I would have been, how dumb and how messed up my thoughts would have been if they would have come to fruition. I am so happy I didn’t do it, I am so happy that I did get that phone call, from someone who was a stranger, I barely knew the guy. There was another day, there has been a lot of other days."

TPWW Frontpage:

EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Show to Stream Live on WWE Network (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/evolve-10th-anniversary-show-to-stream-live-on-wwe-network/)
Kenny Omega Says WWE Is “Trying to Undermine” AEW Fight for the Fallen Charity Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/kenny-omega-says-wwe-is-trying-to-undermine-aew-fight-for-the-fallen-charity-show/)

Mr. Nerfect

06-27-2019, 02:57 AM

I hope Rusev does leave. He would be a great pick-up for AEW.

ClockShot

06-27-2019, 06:24 AM

Got a feeling the CM Punk-Colt Cabana lawsuit is going to get nasty.

Fignuts

06-27-2019, 07:56 PM

Holy fucking shit at that Tommy Dreamer story.

06-27-2019, 08:05 PM

Holy fucking shit at that Tommy Dreamer story.

ya i woulda kept that one to myself

Emperor Smeat

06-27-2019, 09:40 PM

The Sheets:

With popularity falling and the XFL debut looming, Vince McMahon named Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff new Executive Directors of the company on 6/27 ... The official changes are set for mid-July. These will be actual decision making characters and not television performers playing the role.

The big question is what does this mean and how much autonomy will both men have. The only time McMahon ever turned creative over to someone in the past was when he brought in Bill Watts, a relationship that fell apart within weeks because Watts was told he would have complete control of direction, and then McMahon started overruling him immediately and he decided to quit ...

One of the key points at the time, and there were many, is that Watts wanted to do a more believable wrestling style and felt Bret Hart fit that role best as champion, while McMahon had already decided to replace Hart in the role with Shawn Michaels. Heyman, 53, and Bischoff, 64, will both be more political, in the sense both aren’t going to be so headstrong that they’ll quit over being overruled and probably go in expecting it will happen constantly and it’s just part of the game ...

Bischoff comes out of left field in a sense. Bischoff worked for McMahon in the past as a television General Manager character, but had no decision-making role. He was excellent in that role. Say what you want about Bischoff, and a lot can be said, but he has always been a great television heel character.

As far as a guy in charge of creative, the move was stunning. It’s been noted that the move shows just how little McMahon has really paid attention to wrestling, since Bischoff was put in a similar role with TNA and the run was largely considered a disaster. A number of people who were in TNA while he was there were stunned, noting it showed just how little McMahon had actually followed the industry.

In addition, Bischoff has very little familiarity with the current product, which was tough enough for Watts when he made his WCW comeback after five years away in a business that changed somewhat during the period he was gone, but hardly like the modern business is rapidly changing both in style and distribution. Bischoff, who had major financial issues in recent years, would have been an easier acquisition in that sense ...

The question becomes the hierarchy of everything. When Bruce Prichard came back, the idea was said at first that he’d be the guy under Vince, which ended up not being the case. The hierarchy had been Vince McMahon as the top guy, with Paul Levesque and Kevin Dunn as the other main guys, and Dave Kapoor as Senior Vice President of Creative, as well as Ed Koskey ...

With the investors call being a month away, and the promises that the house shows would turn around because they knew how to fix the problems, and the popularity would rebound when the stars came back from injuries, and neither happening, the timing of this announcement may be to pacify stockholders and curtail the recent stock declines ...

McMahon also knows the live box office tells the real story and if the idea he really believed was that recent declines were due to some key injuries and the illness of Roman Reigns, Reigns is back, most of the key players are back, and crowds are declining with this past week being alarming and a shocking wake-up call. The irony is that for the second time, the first being in 2001, the crowd in Tacoma was part of a huge change in the creative of the business ...

In addition, while Heyman has been at times a genius booker, Bischoff is not a booker. If his role is to change the look of the shows, or take risks with the product, that’s one thing. But he’s still going to need a guy to handle the nuts and bolts of multiple storylines, beginnings, middles, ends, building programs, going to the next programs, and allowing younger talent to move to the top, which are all weak points for him.

Everyone was caught by surprise in regards to WWE's announcement today.

We did, however, hear back from several wrestlers and employees of the company. Unanimously, across genders, roles, and positions in the company were very surprised by the news, and hadn't even heard of it coming.

The first reaction was a longtime WWE wrestler wondering aloud why Triple H wasn't set for one of the roles, and another saying that was some of the immediate chatter that they had heard. Another wrestler compared it to Shane McMahon wanting to improve his spot in the company but being bypassed, but we should note, this was simply discussion and chatter about why Triple H wasn't moved into the role, without much to add to it.

There was some pessimism to the announcement as well. One wrestler said that "Vince is still in charge, so that's all you really need to know," while another told us that the move couldn't possibly be worse than how things have went lately.

Jushin Thunder Liger will be facing off with three opponents in his CMLL farewell match.

CMLL announced yesterday that Liger will face Caristico, Negro Casas, and Ultimo Guerrero at their show on Friday, July 19. The event is taking place at Arena Mexico in Mexico City.

It will be a "Relevo CMLL" match. Two wrestlers will be in the ring at a time, with them being able to tag in and out. There will only be one fall in the match.

On Monday 6/24 United States District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw made several rulings in the Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment’s lawsuit against Impact Wrestling’s parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment.

Several of the rulings were in Anthem’s favor. Anthem had been arguing that they did not fall under Tennessee’s jurisdiction, despite three sets of discovery requested by the plaintiffs and having to produce over 12,000 pages of documents. Judge Waverly agreed with Anthem, ruling with prejudice that Anthem Sports was dismissed from that count of the lawsuit for failure to state a claim or a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Judge also ruled that Jarrett and GWE’s allegations of copyright infringement were also dismissed. Anthem had argued that since GWE and Jarrett failed to copyright and trademark their GFW Amped! TV tapes and since Jarrett provided a license for Anthem to use the tapes, there could be no trademark infringement. Anthem argued that by law, Jarrett & GWE should have filed their copyrights or have been refused registration in order to claim copyright infringement in court. Since neither had happened – as Jarrett does not have physical possession of the GFW master tapes, which Impact has already admitted they deleted – Anthem argued that claim could not go forward in court. The court sided with Anthem and dismissed that count.

All the remaining allegations against Anthem remain and are moving forward.

Ryan Capp sent word that ATT UVerse has dropped Impact Wrestling home the Pursuit Channel as their existing deal to carry the channel ended last month.

As noted yesterday, DirecTV is no longer carrying the channel in HD, either.

Sports Illustrated reports that The Undertaker asked to work with Drew McIntyre.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that FOX is spending $4 million a week to promote WWE while TNT is spending $500,000 a week to promote AEW.

Antonio Inoki, 75, the second biggest pro wrestling star in the history of Japan, announced this past week that he was retiring from politics. Inoki said it was due to health reasons. The exact nature of the health issue isn’t known, but Inoki has mostly been in a wheelchair the last several months, although he’s been careful to stay out of the public eye to where most aren’t aware of this.

The big story of the past week was the crowds. Stomping Grounds on 6/23 at the Tacoma Dome drew 6,000 fans, which is well below usual for a PPV show ... We don’t have the paid but it would be the smallest paid crowd for a WWE PPV show in recent memory.

Raw the next day in Everett, WA, drew 3,500 fans. This was the smallest crowd for a Raw taping that I can recall. But the worst sign was Smackdown on 6/25 in Portland, OR, with 2,500 fans. Tacoma is not a historically strong wrestling city, although they’ve drawn huge crowds when wrestling was hot there. Everett is right outside Seattle (the arena in Seattle is being renovated so they went to Everett instead), but it’s not Seattle. Portland, on the other hand, has always been a very good wrestling market. For WWE to draw 2,500 fans, that is serious. When people compare this to 1999-2000 WCW, I’ve noted that company fell off a cliff with some of the worst creative ever ...

Things will look better as the next PPV is in Philadelphia. But one-third of the lower deck and half the upper deck are not having tickets sold, and the secondary market price is $40 to get in. So it looks like about 8,000 at this point, which is weak, and you’d expect closer to 13,000. For SummerSlam, Toronto is mostly sold out with a strong secondary market asking price of $144 minimum and about 2,000 seats out. For All Out, it’s a $125 asking price with 895 seats out.

Historically, when companies decline, the first place you see the decline is in the house shows. The house shows used to be the immediate barometer of how well you are selling your product, because you get your answer on that night. Television is different. Ratings tell you something, but people watch as creatures of habit often when they are losing a connection to the product. The decline that you first see at house shows historically you will see later in ratings. That’s not a good sign, since ratings have already been at record low levels and there was no bounce-back of note after the NBA playoffs ended.

House shows haven’t been strong in a long time, really taking a hit when John Cena moved on. But it was never Death of WCW business. These numbers are very close to that level. And keep in mind the other difference, and that is because most tickets are bought two months or so before the show, rather than day off, this weekend is really a measure of interest level a few months ago.

After years of contract signings and McMahon going back-and-forth on the subject and in the end, always pulling out, the WWE announced the first non-WWE event to air live on the WWE Network will be the Evolve 10th anniversary show on 7/13 at 8 p.m. from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia ...

McMahon’s issue has always been the idea of seeing what he considers minor league wrestling on his major league platform. But this will be a WWE produced event, headlined by top-level WWE talent, so that issue isn’t there.

Konnan on his podcast said that Aerostar’s fall from the lighting grid was approved ahead of time. He said that he asked to do it again at TripleMania, because he wants to show everyone he can do it without being hurt, but they have told him not to. He also said that Pentagon Jr & Fenix would be signing deals where they would be exclusive to AAA and AEW

Aerostar this past week after that big fall off the lighting grid and bad landing did a press conference (that was kept secret from the press, which is the epitome of weird) for the Forum in Los Angeles show, and then worked his scheduled shows on 6/21 in Tampico and 6/23 in Austin, TX, so he missed no time at all

El Hijo del Vikingo is now in demand from every U.S. promotion it seems, since he’ll have a visa soon enough and Impact, AEW and MLW all want dates with him

Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan, is filing for an IPO. Some notes from the filing. Harold George Meij’s salary as Director or Bushiroad is $691,000 per year. That’s not clear if that’s including his pay as New Japan president or separate frm it. He was also given 452,000 shares of Bushiroad stock, meaning he’s a 3.01 percent owner of the parent company. Right now that would be worth another $5 million, and perhaps a ton more of the company goes public. Directors and Employees of Bushiroad, the parent company, get stock options. Those who work for New Japan do not. His contract would expire mid-to-late 2020 ...

At the end of the year, Bushiroad as a company had $270 million in revenue, of which $46 million came from New Japan. 2018 was the most successful year financially for New Japan. They listed at that time New Japan World subscribers at 100,000. They listed 2018 attendance as 400,000 in 160 shows which is 2,500 paid per show. That would be a little under half that of WWE main roster and three times that of NXT

We were told that New Japan is in the process of starting an International Fan Club and that those fans would be able to get shots at getting good seats for the big shows. The whole thing has been a mess because when you get down to it, the most loyal fans outside Japan did get screwed or felt screwed. Ticket demand for the two Tokyo Dome shows is said to be far higher than anyone internally expected which is another issue, because if a lot of foreigners got tickets, then they’d get complaints from their Japanese fan base. We’ll have to see how this plays out but no matter what, you should have the attitude of cultivating your international fans who want to travel and they need to get this alleviated to where there is a smooth way going forward to get tickets to the big shows

Ticket sales did improve a little in Dallas with the announcement of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Sanada as the top three matches. Tanahashi vs. Okada would be the biggest Japanese vs. Japanese main event that New Japan has put on in the U.S. market. Still, they are around 4,000 as there are 1,000 seats remaining in a 5,000 setup. That’s well short of what they expected for the first G-1 show ever held outside of Japan ...

Tickets for the Super J Cup went on sale on 6/24. The 8/22 show in Tacoma, WA had 50 tickets left out of 1,000 after the first day of sales and all the seats are sold out but at press time they had standing room available. 8/24 in San Francisco sold out immediately. The Long Beach finals on 8/25 at the Walker Pyramid had a lot of tickets left and they were only putting part of the building on sale.

Regarding the value of pro wrestling in the advertising community. Wrestling on cable is doing 60 to 80 percent what cable programming with similar sized audiences would do in ad sales and less than half of what network programming with a similar audience would get

An interesting note is that New Japan has filed for a trademark in the U.S. market for the term Death Rider for merchandise purposes. Them filing for the trademark is notable because it would mean Jon Moxley’s finishing move, the former Dirty Deeds, which was called the Death Rider in his matches with Juice Robinson and Shota Umino in New Japan, in theory couldn’t be marketed by AEW

At press time, WWE canceled a few shows on the November U.K. tour. No reason why at this point. The shows canceled were 11/5 in Nottingham, 11/6 in Birmingham, 11/8 in London and 11/9 in Minehead. This may have nothing to do with it, but it’s just weird from a schedule standpoint on 11/1 to have an afternoon PPV from Saudi Arabia and followed a few hours later by a live Smackdown. The London show at Wembley being canceled could be because they want all the talent at Smackdown that day which in theory would be in Manchester. But that wouldn’t explain the other moves. We’ve also been told that they are changing the Saudi date for that very reason we just mentioned and that the U.K. schedule has to be changed to fit that in

FOX has been testing out two new cameras that they want in use for the debut show on 10/4. They are also looking to invite a lot of celebrities which is one of the reasons the first show will be at the Staples Center. They want to kick it off with a bang like it’s the equivalent of a big boxing match and the place for real stars to be at. The idea in particular, since AEW will be debuting the same week 99 percent, is to make WWE look as major league as possible and to thus, make AEW from day one appear to be like a minor league group

The stock closed at $71.11 a share on 6/26, giving the company a $5.55 billion market value. There has been a lot of change of sentiments of late regarding the stock. An article in Benzinga noted a few warning points. First, they expect a big sell-off after 10/4 because of the buy on hype, sell on results, and the hype that led to the big stock gains are that the FOX deal not just will lead to more revenue on rights fees, but create a new boom period for the industry. People within the stock market world are studying the actual business more and seeing the popularity weaknesses and reading past the excuses. Some expect more of a downturn when the new quarterly figures come up because house shows haven’t looked strong of late, and ratings are continuing to decline and with Reigns back, last quarter’s excuse for the bad first quarter can’t be used again.

The second is a feeling that nobody in Wall Street at first considered, but now is a key thing on a lot of WWE’s buyers minds, which is the fear that the competition from AEW may be more than anyone anticipated.

TPWW Frontpage:

Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff Are Now the Executive Directors of Raw and SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/paul-heyman-and-eric-bischoff-are-now-the-executive-directors-of-raw-and-smackdown/)
Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela Is Now a “Non-Sanctioned” Match (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/jon-moxley-vs-joey-janela-is-now-a-non-sanctioned-match/)

Mr. Nerfect

06-28-2019, 03:16 PM

Lots of interesting business news.

Emperor Smeat

06-28-2019, 09:55 PM

The Sheets:

Eric Bischoff will officially kick off his tenure as Executive Director of WWE Smackdown at this Tuesday's TV taping. Paul Heyman, obviously, Will be at Monday Night Raw, as he is every week.

We are told that Paul Heyman and Eric Bishoff are already officially on the job and that their contributions and ideas will be implemented over time, so do not expect any immediate overnight massive changes.

It was reported by Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet that the changes will not be immediate with the two expected to ease into the roles. From a timing standpoint, now is the time to make that change where summer numbers don’t carry much weight and treat the summer as the acclimation period for the fall.

The programming will be under a microscope, not just from the fans but also from Vince McMahon and therein lies the source of pessimism. The best course of action would be giving each the proper amount of leeway to succeed or fail on their own. Patience has never been a virtue for the company and sending these two out to produce results within 4-6 weeks will only lead to short-term shock value and would ignore the foundational issues this company is dealing with. They don’t need a band-aid, they need a blood transfusion.

Eric Bischoff canceled a Canadian tour on Tuesday over a new contract that would prohibit such shows so that tells you roughly when the deal was finalized.

Tomorrow is All Elite Wrestling's second show, Fyter Fest. The show will be available, for free, on Bleacher Report Live. All you need to do is go to the website, www.bleacherreport.com, and set up a free account. You can watch in a browser that way.

They also have an app for both Apple TV and Roku. It's an easy download and set up.

Our buddy Ben Mitchell sent word that he contacted B/R and they told him that the event will be archived after it airs tomorrow, so if you can't watch it live you can catch it later.

Internationally, the show will air on FITE.TV.

Attorneys for Ring of Honor star Scott “Colt Cabana” Colton filed a response to former WWE Champion Phil “CM Punk” Brooks’ counter-suit against Colton Wednesday 6/26 in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, seeking the counter-suit’s dismissal ...

In regard to Brooks’ claim that he and Colton jointly hired The Loeb Firm to represent them in the Dr. Chris Amann lawsuit, Colton claims Brooks, “simply alleges that the parties jointly retained the Loeb Firm to represent them in the Amann Lawsuit and concludes, without any factual support whatsoever, that Colton "retained a benefit in the form of high-quality, professional legal services provided by the Loeb Firm...". Brooks' Counterclaim fails to describe a single act or service done or performed for or on behalf of Colton by the Loeb Firm in the Amann Lawsuit that Brooks purportedly paid for, let alone the reasonable value of same.”

Colton also claims that it wasn’t until he was dropped as a Loeb Firm client and hired his own counsel that Dr. Amann’s claim of defamation against Colton was dropped, insinuating that Loeb hadn’t been able to accomplish that while representing Colton.

In regard to Brooks’ claims that two years after the end of the Amann case that Colton has not paid Brooks back for his share of the $1,210,00 legal bill, Colton responded that Brooks, while testifying in the Dr. Amann trial, stated he told Colton that “I would make sure I took care of everything, because it was unfair that he's being lumped in and attacked. So I told him I would take care of it..." and that he would make sure that Colton was “100% covered" with respect to” Colton's attorney's fees. Colton’s side are arguing that testimony proves Colton was never expected to pay Brooks back ...

Colton claims that Brooks agreed to pay all of the legal bills and had no issue doing so until asking Colton to cover a legal payment “Until I got paid when I fought.” It appears Colton turned down the request to make the payment - which may be where the schism between the two occurred ...

*The motion also argued that Brooks paid the legal bill as a “friendly act” and that by Illinois law, it is “far too late” for the courts to get involved and make one side pay the other – pointing out that it was a year after Colton sued Brooks and after Colton’s third lawsuit filing (his second, amended version of the lawsuit) that Brooks opted to pursue the money he is allegedly owed ...

Colton is claiming that Brooks’ counterclaim alleging they had a contract that would see Colton pay Brooks back half of the legal expenses “law fails as a matter of law” and requests Brooks’ lawsuit be dismissed.

WWE held their first of two shows at Sumo Hall in Tokyo on Friday morning ... There was also a ceremony where Hisashi Shinma was presented with the Legacy Award following this past year’s Hall of Fame ceremony.

Advance ticket sales are running ahead of last year, especially for a FyterFest Live AEW Wrestling Show in the Ocean Center’s arena at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jebailey said.

“The wrestling event is going to be triple the size of last year,” he said. “At this point, we have sold about 1,000 more pre-sold tickets than last year. We had a lot of walk-ups last year and we expect that again this year.”

During the pre-show for Ring of Honor's Best in the World event, Nick Aldis announced Eli Drake as the newest signing of the National Wrestling Alliance. Drake will team with the NWA World Heavyweight Champion against The Briscoe Brothers during tonight's Best in the World pay-per-view.

Aldis needed a tag team partner after Colt Cabana suffered a leg injury and had to pull out of the bout. NWA teased Aldis' tag team partner all week before delivering on the pre-show.

Fans were left disappointed at WrestleMania 35 when Baron Corbin ended the career of Kurt Angle. Many, including Kurt himself, wanted Angle's final opponent to be John Cena. However, due to the ongoing storyline, Corbin was announced as Angle's final opponent. Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Angle revealed how Corbin got the honor of beating Angle in his last match.

"Baron and I worked a program after Jason Jordan went out. In my opinion, Vince McMahon said, 'If Jason is not gonna be around, we're gonna use Baron Corbin.' In a lot of ways, I think Baron ended up getting Jason's position. And rightfully so. I love Baron's progress and look. He's actually really good, and he takes care of you in the ring. He is a great worker, and he's continuing to learn. The whole concept of Angle vs. Corbin at WrestleMania 35 occurred because that's where we were going in the first place," recalled Angle. "Vince didn't know that I wanted to retire at WrestleMania. I gave him a list of guys that I wanted to wrestle and the person I wanted to wrestle at WrestleMania. Vince told me, 'I know who you want at WrestleMania [John Cena]. I was expecting you to go until WrestleMania 36 and I could have given you a different opponent, a guy you wanted. But we have been working this program for a year, and we're not going to drop it. If you want to retire this year, your last match will be against Baron.' I was cool with it, and I understood. Was Baron the right person? Probably not. But look at him now. I think he's the best heel in the business."

Jason Jordan is the on-screen son of Angle but has not been on television since February 2018 due to a neck injury. There is no update on when he'll return to the ring.

Glenn "Kane" Jacobs has transitioned from "The Big Red Machine" to the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. In August of 2018, Jacobs was officially sworn in as the Mayor of Knox County and just one month prior to that, he made his return to WWE programming to form a team with current SmackDown Live Tag Team Champion Daniel Bryan.

This coming November, Jacobs will be releasing a memoir about his careers in wrestling and politics. The memoir is entitled, 'Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Liberty' and here's the synopsis for the book:

"The wrestler-turned-politician hasn't hung up his wrestling boots yet. Politics is a contact sport and Jacobs is using his wrestling skills in that arena," the synopsis reads."My character Kane... it was always a character, you know, and you very rarely saw me, Glenn Jacobs, behind that character. This book is a glimpse into Glenn Jacobs, which I think a lot of wrestling fans will enjoy," Jacobs said.

The memoir will officially be released on November 26th and is currently available to pre-order.

Robert Roode, EC3, and Cesaro are calling themselves The Main Event Muscle Men. The trio teamed on this week's episode of WWE Main Event.

TPWW Frontpage:

Another Heyman and Bischoff Update + Emails Advertising Their Roles (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/another-heyman-and-bischoff-update-emails-advertising-their-roles/)
Jinder Mahal Injured, Undergoes Knee Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/jinder-mahal-injured-undergoes-knee-surgery/)
WWE Live Results – June 28, 2019 – Tokyo, Japan – Kabuki Warriors Win Title Shot, Rollins vs. Nakamura (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/wwe-live-results-june-28-2019-tokyo-japan-kabuki-warriors-win-title-shot-rollins-vs-nakamura/)
AEW Releases Fyter Fest Cold Open Video (https://www.tpww.net/2019/06/aew-releases-fyter-fest-cold-open-video/)

Mr. Nerfect

06-28-2019, 10:48 PM

Lol, Baron Corbin is not a good heel. No one wants to see him lose, because they don't want to see him at all. Also, I literally have no memory of this apparent build to Angle vs. Corbin that made it a Mania essential.

06-29-2019, 03:45 AM

Did X-Pac have Corbin levels of heat? They were doing an okay job by booking him in short matches during his early days of NXT. It's all been downhill since then.

Emperor Smeat

07-02-2019, 10:02 PM

The Sheets:

The first Paul Heyman Raw saw an immediate 9.7 percent increase in ratings from last week and a turnaround from the usual ratings pattern.

The key is that the first hour was up only three percent, which would probably be a combination of curiosity over the Heyman news and the big explosions and Bobby Lashley/Braun Strowman angle to start the show off strong.

But this week, instead of declining, the second hour jumped big, and was 16 percent ahead of last week ...

The third hour, built around Styles vs. Ricochet, Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, the 24/7 title, and Maria Kanellis lambasting Mike Kanellis after their mixed tag, was up 10 percent from last week, but it was still a 12.4 percent drop from hour two. But comparing hour one to three, the five percent drop would be the lowest in a long time ...

The first-to-second hour growth was strong across the board. The added viewers in hour two, usually a decline, were 10 percent in women 18-49, seven percent in men 18-49, 13 percent in teenage girls, and 15 percent in teenage boys. So this style was strongest with teenagers, the age group WWE television has had huge losses with over the past year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.47 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.68 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.35 million viewers

Here are some notes from Eric Bischoff's latest 83 Weeks podcast.

Bischoff said he was overwhelmed by the positive response he’s received since the announcement, calling it the biggest opportunity he’s ever had in the wrestling industry.

He’ll be heading to Connecticut full-time the week after the 4th of July holiday, calling the job a “deep dive” and a “23/7 job.”

The podcast, 83 Weeks, will continue (with Conrad acknowledging that a week off here and there might be necessary), but the live shows will end at this juncture.

83 Weeks will continue to be based on nostalgia, and they’ll never talk about the current product. Eric also thanked Conrad for the podcast, claiming it gave him a new perspective and renewed energy about wrestling.

The opening of tonight's WWE RAW saw Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley work a Falls Count Anywhere match until Strowman put Lashley through part of the Titantron.

This led to a big explosion backstage as WWE had pyro go off several times to add to the chaos. The announcers played up the seriousness of the situation as Strowman and Lashley were loaded up on stretchers by paramedics, then driven away in ambulances after the commercial. As seen in the photos and videos below, WWE really tried to make the angle feel real and dramatic.

It looks like WWE may have done the stage explosion angle to make way for a new stage and set. @Wrestlevotes reported on Twitter that the company has been working on having a new stage designed and built. It was speculated that this angle may have been done to speed up the arrival of the new set.
Link: https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/1145849777223077894

A-Kid is the first participant announced for this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles event. The announcement was made tonight on PWG's Twitter account. The Spanish-born wrestler has been wrestling since 2012, primarily wrestling for the WhiteWolf Wrestling promotion in Spain. In the years since his debut, he’s been making waves across Europe, wrestling for a number of top promotions including Defiant and RevoPro.

At today's EVE Wrestle Queendom 2UK event, Independent star Charlie Morgan announced her retirement due to injuries. Morgan is just 27 years old and is a former EVE Champion. She has wrestled for various Independent promotions including SHIMMER, RISE, and PROGRESS. She also appeared on the Mar. 6 episode of NXT UK, losing to Nina Samuels.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated has released a snippet from his upcoming interview with Roman Reigns, and The Big Dog commented on Jon Moxley leaving WWE for AEW. Reigns said he will always have love for the former Dean Ambrose.

"I don't think our working relationship is going to be what it used to be, but I'll always love that guy, he'll always be my close friend, and I wish the best for him," Reigns said.

Reigns continued and said their love for each other will continue past the wrestling world.

"We have a brotherhood, so I'm always cheering for him," Reigns said. "I've shared so many great moments with Ambrose, or Mox. We have love for each other well beyond the wrestling, and it will always be that way."

Today is Bret Hart’s 62nd birthday

On the post-Fyter Fest episode of Being the Elite, The Young Bucks offered Private Party full-time contracts with AEW after their match against Best Friends and SoCal Uncensored. Matt Jackson tweeted about the decision: “Literally right when Private Party stepped back through the curtain after their match at #FyterFest, Nick & I offered them full time contracts. Star making performances like that deserve to be rewarded.”

With AAA revealing the card for Triplemania XXVII at a press conference today, we now know who former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will be facing in his professional wrestling debut.

Psycho Clown, Cody Rhodes & Velasquez will take on El Texano Jr., Taurus and a mystery partner. Velasquez appeared at a press conference for AAA in March, with it being announced that he would be making his debut at Triplemania.

It appears that Texano & Taurus' mystery partner may be Killer Kross.

Triplemania will also feature a rematch from AEW's Fyter Fest event. The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) will again team with Laredo Kid against The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) & Kenny Omega.

Triplemania will be headlined by Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. hair match. The show is taking place at Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City on Saturday, August 3 and will air live on Twitch.

Ahead of the show airing on the WWE Network later this month, the card has been revealed for EVOLVE's 10th Anniversary Celebration ...

The full lineup for EVOLVE's 10th Anniversary Celebration is listed below:

NXT Champion Adam Cole defending against Akira Tozawa
EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory vs. WWN Champion JD Drake in a winner-take-all match
EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy defending against AR Fox & Leon Ruff (w/ Ayla Fox and The Skulk)
Matt Riddle vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak in a non-title match
Anthony Henry vs. Arturo Ruas
Babatunde vs. Colby Corino
Curt Stallion vs. Sean Maluta vs. Stephen Wolf vs. Harlem Bravado in a fatal four-way match
Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Greene (w/ Brandi Lauren)

Impact Wrestling signed D'Lo Brown to a full-time, multi-year deal as a Producer over the last day. Brown had been getting excellent reviews for his work in recent months and has already built a reputation for being someone who collaborated with talents as opposed to trying to push what worked for him as a worker onto their matches. A number of talents in recent weeks had pushed for Brown to be brought on.

We are told the company is in the process of signing another Producer as well.

Riho had her farewell event in Japan today as she's coming to AEW full-time. At today's Gatoh Move event, Emi Sakura pinned Riho with a La Magistral Cradle. There was a cool moment after as the entire roster came to the ring and gave Riho a send off by picking her up and tossing her really high into the air.

Jacques Rougeau Sr. passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89. Johnny was the father of Jacques Jr., Raymond, and Armand and the brother of legendary fixture Johnny Rougeau. Jacques stepped away from wrestling while his brother was able to run the territory after Eddie Quinn left Montreal. Johnny would help usher in a boom period for the province of Quebec and led to Jacques Sr. returning. Jacques Sr. won the IWA International heavyweight title five times in Montreal and tag titles once with partner Gino Brito. He also wrestled for Pedro Martinez’s NWF promotion in New York and became their heavyweight champion in January 1973 when he defeated Waldo Von Erich in a tournament final after Johnny Valentine vacated the championship.

Diamond Dallas Page posted a note that his former sidekick Max Muscle (John Czawlytko) passed away last Thursday at the age of 56. He was a bodybuilder that got into wrestling in 1992 and signed with WCW the following year. He wrestled as ‘Big Bad John’ and later was given the ‘Max Muscle’ moniker. He was paired with Page as his bodyguard and is the role he is most remembered for. He worked for the company until 1997 and would wrestle sporadically after leaving. He made a return in October 2009 and wrestled twice for the Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence promotion in Fort Worth, Texas.

WWE fans in Glasgow, Scotland who had purchased tickets to a live edition of Raw this November at the SSE Hydro have been informed the event is being changed to a house show. An email alert went out Tuesday announcing that the show will no longer be televised but the lineup of talent from Raw will stay intact. There was no reason given for the change and refunds are available until July 28th. The show is set to take place Monday, November 11th during the promotion’s European tour. This follows several dates on the tour being canceled recently. It has been speculated on that this could be a conflict with the next show in Saudi Arabia. The events have been taking place on Friday afternoon since the deal began last year but the problem with November is that SmackDown will be airing live on Fox the same day.

Dark Side Of The Ring producer Evan Husney and director Jason Eisener are awaiting clearance for a second season of the series and one of the stories that Husney feels could be reexamined is the story of Chris Benoit and the details surrounding the death of he and his family.

Husney stated that if an episode about Benoit were to be made, they would need to speak with the right people and get those who were truly affected the most by the incident to recount what they believe occurred during the month of June in 2007 with the Benoit family.

“I think that the Chris Benoit story is obviously a very dark story." Husney told Express Sport. “I think that it is a tragedy that is worth re-examining because there is a lot to be found out about the story since it happened. I think that if it were to be done then we would really need to have the right people to talk about it and we need the people that this incident really affected the most in order to tell it kind of appropriately. Because I think that story could have easily been told in an exploitative sort of way and so I think you just need to have the appropriate voices to be heard for that story in order to tell it properly. But I do think it is a story that is something that if done right is definitely necessary.”

TPWW Frontpage:

Anderson & Gallows Reportedly Close to Re-Signing With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/anderson-gallows-reportedly-close-to-re-signing-with-wwe/)
Maria Kanellis Is Legitimately Pregnant, Reportedly Told WWE After Signing New Contracts (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/maria-kanellis-is-legitimately-pregnant-reportedly-told-wwe-after-signing-new-contracts/)
Raw: Paul Heyman’s Influence on Last Night’s Show, Corey Graves Saying “Holy Sh*t” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/raw-paul-heymans-influence-on-last-nights-show-corey-graves-saying-holy-sht/)
Seth Rollins Apologizes to Will Ospreay for “Garbage Tweets” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/seth-rollins-apologizes-to-will-ospreay-for-garbage-tweets/)
Impact Reportedly in Talks With AXS TV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/impact-reportedly-in-talks-with-axs-tv/)

Fignuts

07-03-2019, 01:16 AM

Cool @ Riho coming to AEW full time.

Would be cool if they got Meiko for a few shows. Sendai Girls only has like 5 or 6 contracted wrestlers. They depend on freelancers and co-promotion to fill out their shows. AEW's women's division still needs more bodies, so a partnership would benefit both.

Emperor Smeat

07-03-2019, 09:16 PM

The Sheets:

Despite the fact that Monday Night Raw this week had a healthy increase in the ratings, last night's SmackDown did not follow suit. The show averaged 1.89 million viewers on the USA Network, down two percent from last week ...

This being the first week of July may have played a part in the low number. Tuesday's episode only dropped six percent year-over-year, much better than SmackDown has been doing.

Eric Bischoff was not at the SmackDown tapings on Tuesday night in San Antonio.

BeIn Sport announced today that they will broadcast a Major League Wrestling: FUSION marathon tomorrow:

beIN SPORTS TO AIR DAY-LONG 4th OF JULY MLW: FUSION MARATHON

WHAT: Tomorrow, July 4th, beIN SPORTS will air a Major League Wrestling Independence Day marathon special, offering fans day-long programming dedicated to some of the best MLW: FUSION matches in history. Catch up on all your favorite MLW fights - from MLW’s SuperFight and 2019 Battle Riot to epic title matchups including the World Middleweight Championship featuring Teddy Hart vs. Rey Horus.

Tune-in throughout the day tomorrow and relive all the best moments from your favorite MLW stars.

WHERE: Watch “MLW: Fusion” 4th of July Marathon this Wednesday, July 4th starting at 6:00 AM ET/ 3:00 AM PT on beIN SPORTS, availablenationwide via traditional and OTT providers including Charter, Dish, SlingTV, Verizon Fios, Cox, PS Vue, FuboTV, Liberty and Fanatiz, among others.

Maria Kanellis confirmed her pregnancy as announced on Raw with this Instagram post:

Tough as a Mother.

Becky Lynch responded to the announcement by saying, "You're Welcome" on Twitter.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzdKHCQB_2C , https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1146479393239437312

A scheduled Raw taping in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday 11/11 has been canceled, with the event being converted into a live event that evening instead. The current plan is to tape Raw for 11/11 on Friday 11/8 in Manchester, England . That event was already a TV taping for that evening's Smackdown Live broadcast , which would air live in Europe and air several hours later in the United States. WWE will now also tape Raw that evening in Manchester, with bell time changing to 6 PM local time.

WWE has also canceled the 11/5 Nottingham, 11/6 Birmingham, 11/8 tour date in London at the SSE Arena. and 11/9 event in Minehead, England, so it may be that the next Saudi Arabia event will be that week.

KENTA has had quite a year in professional wrestling, starting off 2019 as a part of the WWE 205 Live Roster and currently anticipating performing in NJPW's G1 Climax. The international superstar spoke with New Japan about what his experience was like transitioning to WWE ...

KENTA's perception of his time in WWE is laced with hardship and struggle. Although his original intentions were to expose the world to the "strong style" that Japan is renown for, KENTA feels like that was lost in his effort to adapt to what WWE wanted from him.

"It was a very tough five years. I got hurt, and beyond that I was really grasping for something during that whole time," KENTA said. "It's like, I came into the company to bring my style of wrestling worldwide, but what that actually became was bending and adapting to what the company wanted. That's important in a sense, but the strength and aggression that I bring to the table got lost. That's a real shame.

"One person there might tell you 'do it this way', and then another would be 'no, no, do it like this'. That meant my own personal vision just crumbled away," KENTA continued. "There are people who can do very well in that environment, but I just couldn't. So when that 'what next?' question came up, I didn't ask anybody else what they thought. I just decided to focus on what I wanted to do. Otherwise there's no point."

WWE NXT Tag Team Champions The Street Profits are still technically a part of the black & gold brand roster, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

This week's RAW appearance by Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins was not seen as their official main roster call-up, but they are still expected to appear on RAW at various times.

Regarding Monday's appearance, Meltzer noted that there were a lot of backstage politics involved, although it wasn't specified what that meant. Meltzer also speculated that The Profits appeared due to new RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman having his "fingerprints" on this week's show. They may have appeared as a "Heyman move" to get new, fresh faces on the show.

It was also noted that there could be an interesting situation brewing with Heyman and new SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff, with a potential "battle" over who gets the top NXT call-ups on their brand. There's also the potential issue with Triple H wanting to keep certain talents on NXT until he feels like they're ready to be called up. There's still no real word on how Triple H is fitting into the latest WWE creative shake-up with Heyman and Bischoff being hired, but there is an interesting layer added there with NXT and potential call-ups.

WWE officials have been very aware that they have lost touch with a key demographic - teenagers, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio.

There's reportedly been concern that the company will completely lose their teenage viewers when AEW TV starts on TNT in the fall.

WWE's recent attempts at an edgier product will work with keeping teenage fans and making new ones in that demographic. There was a feeling that they had to take this new edgier direction to help with the demo, and for other obvious reasons.

Regarding Superstars that could connect with teenagers, Meltzer noted that there aren't many younger top talents on the main roster, but we could see some called up soon.

The new push for WWE United States Champion Ricochet is likely being done, at least in part, to help with the teenage demographic. New RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman is said to be very high on Ricochet. Meltzer noted that Ricochet is a talent that can likely appeal to teenagers and that is a new goal for the company - to make sure teenagers don't go to AEW before their weekly TV show starts later this year.

WWE Hidden Gems is back again this week – and with a bang. We can exclusively confirm two WWE Hidden Gems additions set to arrive on WWE Network tomorrow and they come from Jim Crockett Promotions. More specifically, they appear to be complete or near complete shows from the Great American Bash 1986 tour! ...

07/05/1986 – GAB 1986 Charlotte [Duration: 02:53:27]
Ric Flair puts the World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Ricky Morton in a Steel Cage Match as the Bash rolls into Charlotte.

07/26/1986 – GAB 1986 Greensboro [Duration: 02:41:09]
The World Heavyweight Championship hangs in the balance as WWE Hall of Famers clash inside a steel cage when Ric Flair faces Dusty Rhodes.

TPWW Frontpage stuff:

AEW: Fight for the Fallen Price, Fyter Fest Recap Video (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/aew-fight-for-the-fallen-price-fyter-fest-recap-video/)
Various: Drake Maverick’s Honeymoon Pt. 2, EVOLVE History, D’Lo Brown Signed as Impact Producer (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/various-drake-mavericks-honeymoon-pt-2-evolve-history-dlo-brown-signed-as-impact-producer/)

* Unless this week's Observer Newsletter gets released tomorrow, probably not going to bother with a sheets report tomorrow due to the holiday and the likely lack of interesting news.

Emperor Smeat

07-04-2019, 09:40 PM

The Sheets:

While to an extent Vince-speak was still on display, the idea was there was more spontaneity, including Corey Graves saying “Holy shit” after the explosions, on the air, at about 8:10 p.m. Unlike angles that may happen and aren’t talked about again, or maybe get talked about once, this angle was constant brought up, by a number of talents, both babyfaces and heels, at the start of their promos. The term “hospital,” as the destination of the two, a formerly banned word in Vince-speak, was used at least twice during the show, although “local medical facility,” the Vince-speak word was also used.

Vince McMahon and Ed Koskey were the ones running the production meeting, although it was clear the Strowman/Lashley segment, the Mike & Maria Kanellis segment were clearly Heyman ideas, which has been confirmed. Heyman is also known to be a strong advocate of Ricochet, who got his second television main event in a row with Styles, Aleister Black, Lacey Evans and many others, and one of his first moves was to bring in the Street Profits.

The addition of Heyman and Bischoff comes for a variety of reasons and goes back several weeks. The key reasons were an expected negative reaction from Wall Street in the declining indicators of brand popularity, such as arena attendance, merchandise and WWE Network numbers based on he prior year ...

The second is that competition. It’s no secret that WWE audience declines have been terrible with those under the age of 30,and whatever stability the audiences have are because the over-50 audience has stayed more steady. The problem is, the aging audience isn’t being replenished. Once person who is involved with the company noted to us months ago, that in the real world, you never meet anyone who is a fan today that wasn’t a fan in the attitude era. The basic idea is that for two decades, very few new fans are being made, and the business is being carried by the 24 year olds in 1999 who are now 44. And even worse, because the median viewer age, which actually was as low as 23 during the Attitude era, was 54 last year and is probably older than that now given the huge declines over the last year in the younger age group.

While a lot of people are in denial about AEW, one person in the company noted to us that the most concerning thing are the stats that show that AEW fans are not WWE fans, and the belief is they come from two camps, those who despise WWE and want an alternative, and a new fan base they’ve created through social media and one-on-one marketing through appearances that is a younger audience that doesn’t care enough about WWE to hate it.

The combination of declining indicators, and no matter what is said publicly, privately Vince McMahon isn’t fooled by fake stats and understands there are problems, Wall Street starting to figure it out, and the competition, most notably the All Out ticket sale demand in Chicago, have led to the moves ...

In wrestling, the reaction to Heyman on Raw has been mixed, but more positive than negative.

Heyman and Bischoff will never have full control, because creative is one division Vince will never give up on. It’s will always be Vince’s company, but both will have enough input to either sink or swim. Part of this deal was also to lock both up, with the idea that both could provide help for AEW ...

The most interesting aspect is that Bischoff was chosen for FOX, which has both major advantages and disadvantages, and those Paul Levesque wasn’t chosen. As far as why, that would be speculation, but FOX being a success is far more important in 2020 than NXT. Unlike Bischoff, Levesque has followed the modern scene, has put together far better shows on a regular basis than Bischoff ever did, knows the modern fans and the modern talent. One person involved with this noted that Bischoff has even less modern product knowledge than feared, but that doesn’t mean he won’t adapt, learn or be successful ...

Still, Wall Street has largely praised the move ...

Bischoff’s meeting in Stamford for the job was said to have taken place a few days after the 6/10 and 6/11 Northern California tapings. If there was a timetable of when the Bischoff deal was finalized, it looks to be around or before 6/25. We were told that day that Bischoff had just canceled a series of appearances in Canada citing that he had just signed a contract that would prohibit him from doing the shows.

Many also questioned Bischoff getting the Smackdown position, because it’s actually the key position because it’s very much sink-or-swim. Even if Raw continues its declines, it’ll always be a fairly strong cable property that USA Network, which hasn’t made any hit shows in recent memory, needs to avoid becoming an also-ran network.

FOX hardly needs wrestling. They believe they will be getting a reliable 52 week a year sports-like show that they can use to cross-promote their other major weekend sports. But the ratings demands for network programming are higher, and Smackdown has been, for the past 15 years, less popular than Raw ...

But Smackdown should increase greatly and will almost certainly look good in a year in direct viewer comparisons. FOX is in nearly 120 million homes while USA is in 89 million. Also, FOX has a far greater base audience. Just staying the same, Smackdown should improve 34 percent in viewers starting in October just from the increase in homes, not to mention a second jump just based on being on a stronger station. Smackdown got a big bump moving from Syfy to USA a few years back, and this bump should be considerably larger. That will be offset by about 20 percent because of the move to Friday

Booker T, after agreeing to come, has pulled out of All Out. He evidently said when pulling out that he found out the WWE vs. AEW war was very real and he didn't want to be in the middle of it. I've been told to expect another major counter by WWE shortly

WWE has a two-for-one ticket offer out for the 7/14 Extreme Rules show at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Possible sign that Extreme Rules is selling lower than WWE expected. Doubt it will be as dire as Stomping Grounds was due to Philly being a stronger rasslin market than Tacoma.

Perro Aguayo, who at his peak was one of the biggest draws in lucha libre, has passed away at the age of 73.

Perros del Mal’s Facebook page first announced the passing. Both AAA and CMLL have since confirmed the news with their condolences.

Aguayo started wrestling in 1968, mainly working for the now defunct UWA. He helped found AAA in 1992 and continued his run as a top star, with a three way feud between Konnan and Cien Caras drawing huge business.

He jumped to CMLL as part of a retirement tour where he was successful in taking the hair of brothers Cien Caras and Mascara Año 2000. In 2001, he lost what was billed as a retirement match against a third brother, Universo 2000. Aguayo would return to lucha libre a few years later in 2005.

His last match on record is a tag team bout teaming with Rayo de Jalisco to defeat Mascara Año 2000 and Universo 2000 in Tijuana on August 24, 2007.

His son Perro Aguayo Jr., also a notable wrestler in Mexico who founded the Los Perros del Mal group, passed away in 2015 at the age of 35 following an in-ring accident that caused severe whiplash, breaking three vertebrae in his neck. Aguayo withdrew from public life following his son’s passing.

NJPW has released part two of their interview with KENTA and he minced no words when he stated that if this run does not work out, he is done because he simply just wants to enjoy wrestling.

"It took a lot of thought for me to decide to come here. Quite frankly, if this doesn’t pan out, I’m done. That’s the resolve I have going into this. I’ve deliberately chosen a situation for myself where I have no excuses, and that’s my mindset. That said, I want to enjoy wrestling. Plain and simple." He explained.

Dustin Rhodes has 31 years of experience in wrestling and with the young roster that AEW has, he wants to pass on some of his tips and tricks to the next generation of pro wrestlers. While speaking with Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald, Rhodes stated that his way of passing on that knowledge would come by way of an All Elite Wrestling school that he plans on talking to AEW President Tony Khan about opening.

“I think, and I was planning on talking to Tony [Khan] about this: I’ve been wanting to open up a wrestling school for quite some time, and I think Texas would be a good place for it and a good place for an AEW/Dustin Rhodes wrestling school to get these kids ready and I would be all for that. Yes, I definitely think they need a place, just like the other company [WWE] has the other place [Performance Center], and I think it’s important when you’re bringing in talent that is hungry and young, and need a place to train and learn and learn how to do things properly, learn how to speak properly, learn how to cut your promos and whatever else is offered. Yes, definitely. That is something that I think is 110% needed.” He said.

Triple held what is being described as a "secret interview" with Sareee.

Over the past several years, WWE has brought in a plethora of talents from the independent scene, other wrestling companies and promotions and have signed said wrestlers to exclusive deals. NXT founder and senior producer Triple H has done scouting for WWE and according to a report from Yahoo! Japan, while WWE was in Japan for their two house shows last weekend, Triple H held a secret meeting with the former JWP Junior Champion Sareee.

The 23 year old Sareee currently wrestles for the 'World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana' promotion in Japan where she is the World Champion. Triple H spoke with Yahoo! Japan and told the publication that he was originally coming to Japan for business, outside of the tag matches he had with The Club and Shinsuke Nakamura at Sumo Hall. The report notes that Triple H held the aforementioned meeting at Sumo Hall and talked briefly talked about the meeting.

Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows have either agreed to, or actually signed their five-year contracts. Company sources say they are there long-term. But unlike with The Revival where the push with Shane McMahon and the tag belts are an attempt to keep them from going to AEW next year, Anderson & Gallows have reportedly made their decision, and are to be focused on in he new Club group with Styles. This, and the Styles turn, were said to be written out before Heyman was given power.

Fyter Fest drew 4,200 paid and about 5,000 in the building ...

The show was considered a success on BR Live. The three-and-a-half hour broadcast averaged 140,000 viewers if you were to figure it like a television show. There were a total of 350,000 different viewers during the course of the live show and those numbers likely increased significantly with replay viewing. This is still very knew so establishing what this means is difficult. The 350,000 doesn’t correlate with YouTube numbers, since every view, including multiple by the same people, or just views inflated when YouTube sends you to a new video, isn’t the case here. We do know that AEW and BR Live had first talked about the idea of signing up more than 100,000 new subscribers to the channel, although after more input the feeling was that number would be higher. Not all 350,000 were new sign-ups, because there were 35,000 who signed up previously buying Double or Nothing on PPV. In addition, some of the 350,000, although likely not a high percentage, were already BR Live subscribers ...

Outside North America, the show was broadcast on Fite TV, and did about 14,000 iPPV buys. That’s a very good number. Nobody expected Double or Nothing level of buys. Double or Nothing did 20,000 outside the U.S. but DON aired on ITV Box Office while Fyter Fest did not. The U.K. iPPV buys were up, but that’s also because you had the DON television buyers that, if they wanted to see this show, had to do so through Fite.

A lot more will be learned in two weeks with Fight for the Fallen. The iPPV price will slightly higher since that will be part of the charitable contribution. In the U.S., it’ll be live on BR. At press time, five matches have been announced, headlined by Cody & Dustin Rhodes vs. The Young Bucks, plus Kenny Omega vs. Cima, Hangman Page vs. Kip Sabian, Jimmy Havoc & Joey Janela & Darby Allin vs. MJF & Shawn Spears & Sammy Guevara, and Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie. There is a storyline with MJF and Spears on the same team, as MJF, even though a heel, is friends with Cody and helped him to the back and they showed Spears and MJF having words backstage after Spears had laid out Cody with the chair shot.

Ring of Honor’s Best in the World show on 6/28 from the UMBC Arena in Baltimore was far from a good night for the promotion. The show got the weakest reaction for any ROH show in recent memory, as the company has fallen badly from its spot as the No. 2 group in the U.S. that it had last year.

Interest levels are down. The current programs and new champion Matt Taven hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. The PPV show appeared t have run long, leaving Taven vs. Jeff Cobb in the main event for the title to go just 9:45 and Cobb’s unbeaten streak ended cleanly with Taven’s climax. The feeling seems to be that Taven had to win, since Cobb is going into G-1 for the next month, and will likely lose several matches in his first tournament and the old-school feeling that it doesn’t look good for your world champion to lose repeatedly outside the promotion.

But it’s been a tough creative period for the company after losing so much key talent, both in the ring and office ...

The show drew 1,200 fans, which is better than ROH has been doing and a lot stronger than the advances going forward are. But in a 5,000 seat arena, there were visible empty seats everywhere. The early PPV numbers don’t look strong, as the previous show, the 17th anniversary show in March, did an estimated 2,800 television buys. The recent NWA/ROH Crockett Cup show did 2,600. This show was down to an estimated 1,200 based on early reports. Now, most ROH viewership will be on Honor Club and not traditional PPV, but it’s still a gigantic drop

The other big news is the expected deal between AEW and ITV4. While not announced yet, because it can’t be finalized until TNT finalizes the time slot for the show. Wednesday 8-10 p.m. Eastern starting 10/2 is the current plan but that still could change, but at this point I’d say the odds that’s the slot are extremely strong. which would be 1-3 a.m. in the U.K.

ITV 4 would be available in most of the U.K.’s 18 million television households. It’s not a powerhouse like ITV, and AEW’s first show, the one-hour Buy In pre-show for Double or Nothing, did 74,000 viewers as a one-off with little promotion, a number WWE shows rarely come close to. And going forward, they probably never will unless they can get a more widely distributed outlet. Sky was in about 8.6 million homes, while BT is in about 2.4 million homes based on figures at the end of May ...

WWE’s popularity has fallen significantly, most notably in the last two U.K. tours where most of the arenas for live shows drew well under what they had been doing historically. Whether the lesser number of homes the show is in, and the viewership numbers that in theory would be cut drastically, lead to more of a decline isn’t known. Unlike in the U.S., where big live business is related to live big numbers of television viewers (it’s not as big a correlation as you would think, but there is some correlation), in the U.K., with far less viewership, it has remained the company’s No. 2 market and the major arenas until recently did sellout or near sellout business for the two annual tours.

Impact, which had larger television viewing numbers for years, was never able to draw at anywhere near the level WWE did even with that advantage. Similarly, even though, if the ITV4 deal goes through, that AEW’s television numbers will be multiple that of WWE, that by no means makes them the No. 1 promotion in the market. WWE is still the market leader and has 30 years of live history.

However, that television difference does put AEW in a strong position to pick up an audience that WWE will lose by going to the smaller platform and at least narrow a gap.

Because of this, WWE is attempting to get other programming on a free-to-air station. Because of what BT has is an exclusive on the key shows, WWE is attempting to sell one of the highlights packages shows for a January start

AAA is now looking for help from AEW for the Madison Square Garden show. AEW seems willing to send them top guys for major shows, such as TripleMania, but their attitude seems to be to not want their own guys working in the U.S., at least in a place like Madison Square Garden, for somebody else’s show

Davey Boy Smith Jr., who is under contract here, has had offers from both All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH since leaving New Japan. There has been AEW talk with him as Jim Ross has always been high on him. They have used guys like Jimmy Havoc and MJF who have MLW deals, but everyone expects when these deals are up that they would be gone. I don’t think once AEW has television they’ll want to use guys under MLW contract, but I also think they’ll make whatever exception they have to for MJF. For MLW, having a guy on AEW shows that they are pushing is a positive, to a point. If Smith is going to be in the MLW title picture, which is the case, he shouldn’t work AEW as just a guy, and that’s tough. Obviously with MJF it’s not an issue

A correction from last week. WWE didn’t approve the David Starr stomping on Walter’s NXT U.K. title belt. Nobody knew ahead of time. Walter and Starr made the call to shock people live knowing it would get over huge. As you can imagine, the reaction from WWE was not positive. Many wrestlers thought it was disrespectful and the higher-ups weren’t happy either

The semi-main event of AAA TripleMania will be a rematch from Fyter Fest with the Young Bucks & Omega vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix & Laredo Kid. At one point the idea was to have Impact champion Brian Cage teaming with Pentagon & Fenix in this match, but wrestling politics got in the way. Right now AEW is going with the idea that if they are wrestling on outside shows, they are going to wrestle against partner promotion wrestlers (AAA or OWE at this point) and not wrestlers from other groups.

Emperor Smeat

07-05-2019, 08:46 PM

The Sheets:

WMC Action News 5 in Memphis ran a story on Glenn Moore, Jerry Lawler’s former podcast co-host, being accused of selling original artwork by Lawler and autographed T-shirts to fans and then not providing what they ordered. ‘I’m totally shocked by this behavior. I mean, we did like 90 podcasts together over a period of years. This is a guy I thought was a friend and I trusted him. I’m certainly sorry this has happened,” Lawler told WMC Action News. “We're gonna work to try to make this thing right. One way or another. Hopefully, we'll be able to get people's money back. If not, we'll get them the artwork they tried to buy." Lawler said Moore’s behavior changed after he lost his PR job in December and that Moore promised to make amends but doesn’t have the money to. Lawler also tweeted about the situation: “I'm sure many of you have heard that some of my fans have been taken advantage of through a dishonest scheme that I was never aware of. Let it be known that I am not doing art commissions nor do I have any memorabilia for sale. So, if someone promotes or advertises or contacts you for services on my behalf, IT IS NOT LEGITIMATE! I am working to get this unfortunate situation resolved as quickly as possible and I apologize to my fans that have been affected by this.”
Link: https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2019/07/05/jerry-lawler-plans-make-amends-amid-art-scam-accusations/

WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler announced today that he will be launching a new podcast entitled 'The Jerry Show' that will be co-hosted by Sean Reedy, who currently co-hosts the 'Booking Memphis' podcast with Jerry Jarrett.

Jon Moxley told ESPN about one of the differences between wrestling in WWE and NJPW: "[In WWE,] it's almost like Vince is in the ring with you, the producer is in the ring with you. It's like you have two little bubbles on your shoulder, like three heads in the ring. All of a sudden when I got in the ring [in New Japan], five minutes into the match I was like, there's no chatter. There was no producer-ref-Vince chatter. It was like silence. And I didn't expect that. I was like, 'Whoa, I'm alone again. It's just me in the ring.' And then I just started beating the [crap] out of Juice and I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is what I used to do.'"

Georgia Smith is joining the MLW broadcast team as a correspondent and will start at tomorrow’s tapings. Smith is the daughter of Davey Boy Smith and the sister of Davey Boy Smith Jr.

MLW today announced Gringo Loco vs. Zenshi for MLW: Kings of Colosseum at Cicero Stadium in Chicago. The event is a TV taping for beIN SPORTS on Saturday night July 6th with a 7 p.m. bell time.

The big show of the weekend is New Japan’s opening night of the G1 Climax from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. We will have coverage of the show throughout the night on Saturday and a POST Show with Wai Ting and I going live at 11 pm Eastern. Below is the full card, beginning at 6 pm Eastern on AXS TV and New Japan World outside the U.S.:
*Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K in a non-title match
*Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino vs. Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita
*Jay White & Chase Owens vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi vs. Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger & Toru Yano
*Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer – A BLOCK
*EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale – A BLOCK
*Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Sanada – A BLOCK
*Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA – A BLOCK
*Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – A BLOCK

Lavie Margolin has researched Ring of Honor’s attendance figures at the halfway mark of 2019. In his study, he has ROH drawing a record-setting 35,729 people, which is a new record and up 10% from the same point in 2018 with an average of 1,489 per show compared to 1,412 in 2018. The bad news is what you would assume and how the health of their business looks dramatically different when you exclude the G1 Supercard from Madison Square Garden, which was the most successful show in company history and sold out immediately over WrestleMania weekend. If you remove the G1 Supercard, they have drawn 19,195, which is down 28% from the same point last year and are averaging 834 per show this year compared to 1,213 in 2018.

This week marks 25 years since the beginning of the steroid distribution trial involving Vince McMahon and Titan Sports. David Bixenspan has obtained court records and other files related to the trial and is writing extensively about it. Bixenspan recently launched a subscriber-based newsletter called ‘Babyface v. Heel’ on Substack. His first piece of the ongoing series titled ‘The Boys Need Their Candies’ (a quote from Chief Jay Strongbow to Titan executive Anita Scales. CORRECTION: We had previously stated Pat Patterson was the one to deliver the line but it was Strongbow) is free to read and beginning next week will be available for $5 per month or $50 for the year. In the first piece, it looks at several memos and focuses on Scales, who was clearly against the usage of Dr. George Zahorian at their Pennsylvania shows while Patterson urged Scales to assign the doctor to an event on December 26, 1989. When Linda McMahon learned of a potential state department investigation involving Zahorian through lawyer Jack Krill, she called off the plans to assign Zahorian after initially backing Patterson’s request with Scales. The piece also contains testimony from Dr. Zahorian’s separate trial in 1991 and his affinity for the wrestlers that he prescribed and essentially became a pharmacy for these performers with quotations from Bret Hart’s 2007 autobiography that categorized the supply Zahorian was providing to the locker room.

MLW founder Court Bauer is taking MLW on the road to new locations as they made their Wisconsin debut last month.

The Chicago area has become a focal point for MLW and Bauer expressed those sentiments during an interview with Sportskeeda and shared that MLW has shows booked through 2020 in that area.

"I guess it's a question that I wonder about. I think it's more like we are developing our hubs that we go to a few times a year since we tape TV typically once a month, we might have a rotation that includes Chicago, New York, Dallas and maybe like a Philadelphia, and that might be kind of our hubs." Bauer said. "They probably get the lion's share of events every year and maybe three to four events a year until we expand our schedule. Again, all traditionally historically-great wrestling markets, and so far very receptive to MLW. But Chicago right now, we have events booked through 2020 at Cicero Stadium. For our long-term or immediate future, Chicago's a priority."

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Maverick’s Honeymoon Pt. 3, CM Punk in Horror Movie Trailer, Next Impact PPV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/various-mavericks-honeymoon-pt-3-cm-punk-in-horror-movie-trailer-next-impact-ppv/)
Two Tag Team Matches Announced for Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/two-tag-team-matches-announced-for-raw/)
MLW Announces First PPV, “Saturday Night SuperFight” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/mlw-announces-first-ppv-saturday-night-superfight/)

Bad News Gertner

07-05-2019, 10:46 PM

Bix writes really good pieces. Tempted to subscribe.

Emperor Smeat

07-09-2019, 10:03 PM

The Sheets:

According to this unlisted video on WWE’s YouTube page, they will be taping Raw and SmackDown on September 9th and 10th, respectively at Madison Square Garden. This comes just days before AAA is scheduled to run the venue on September 15.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu1EKhgtBZI

Booker T talked about his situation with Starrcast, saying that he was unaware that the Conrad Thompson booking was for Starrcast, with Thomspon only saying it was an autograph signing, and that WWE had nothing to do with him pulling out.

Dragon Gate’s Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2019 event on July 21 will have English commentary from Rich Bocchini and Larry Dallas.

Kota Ibushi is dealing with a left ankle injury following his match with KENTA this past weekend in Dallas. Ibushi posted a photo of the swollen ankle that has significant bruising. On Tuesday, he said he was able to walk 100 steps on the ankle and is hopeful of walking 200 steps on Wednesday. He is scheduled to work in a six-man tag on Saturday’s G1 show and then has a tournament match against EVIL on Sunday in Tokyo.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston was held off last night's Smackdown Live event with back issues.

He will likely be kept out of the ring on tonight's Smackdown as well.

The belief is that he will be OK to perform on Sunday's Extreme Rules PPV.

Alexa Bliss was kept off the show Monday as she had been sick throughout the week. She was scheduled to be part of the Beat the Clock Challenge and Nikki Cross took her place.

Rehearsals for the WWE’s studio show on FS 1 have begun with the show set to launch this fall on Tuesday nights.

Lavie Margolin has been tracking attendance figures for various promotions at the midway point of the year. Today, he looked at MLW, which has made significant gains compared to 2018. In the first six months of 2018, the promotion ran six live events compared to five in the same period this year. Overall attendance has increased 157% from 2,266 to 5,832 and that works out to an average of 377 per show in 2018 and 1,166 in 2019. The major difference is MLW’s decision to get out of Orlando where they had been running shows at the Gilt Nightclub, which is where all the 2018 shows during that six-month stretch took place from. This year, they have run Philadelphia, Cicero Stadium in Illinois (the promotion’s best market where they had 2,100 in attendance in March), two shows at the Melrose Ballroom, and ran in Waukesha, Wisconsin in June. This data doesn’t include this past weekend’s show at Cicero Stadium, which was said to be a sold-out event and took place after the six-month mark.
Link: https://twitter.com/Laviemarg/status/1148609419112067072

Former 4-time WWE RAW Women's Champion Sasha Banks took a trip to Japan and she posted photos of herself and fellow in-ring performers who she came in contact with during her trip. Banks also visited to the Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling dojo and Sendai Girls' was co-founded by former KO-D Openweight Champion Meiko Satomura. Meiko uploaded photos of Banks' workout to her Twitter page and noted that Sasha is working hard and it is very clear that she loves wrestling.
Link: https://twitter.com/satomurameiko/status/1148569391383998465

Pro-Wrestling EVE co-founders chat about WWE's women's revolution.

The conversation about WWE taking the reigns as the pioneers of the women's revolution in wrestling has been discussed on various fronts and many former and current female wrestlers have voiced their opinions on the topic. The latest to weigh in on the conversation was co-founder of the Pro-Wrestling EVE promotion, Dann Read. Dann Read and fellow co-founder Emily Read, were profiled by 'MancunianMatters' and were asked about the women's revolution in WWE and Dann explained his stance on why he thinks WWE's revolution is a lie.

“This whole women’s revolution is a lie. Work is being put in, but the acceptance isn’t there on the scale the promotion and fans are trying to make it. A lot of it is all talk. They make themselves look good, but actually, it’s not better.” He said.

Emily feels that there is a barrier in women's wrestling that hinders progression. She expressed that it is very telling that people who talk about WWE and the wrestlers they choose to feature are raving about those who are commercially beautiful.

“It’s very telling that people who talk about WWE wrestling and the wrestlers they show are raving about what I say are commercially beautiful. Whereas women who maybe don’t fit in that box won’t be given credit by those people.” She explained.

During WWE's Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia, Pro-Wrestling EVE hosted a stream of women's wrestling matches to counter no women's wrestling being featured on the Saudi Arabia show.

In what may be a sign that the second quarter WWE Network subscriber numbers are less than what WWE had anticipated, they expect quarter three subscriptions to drop precipitously or maybe a mix of both, WWE sent an email out today to addresses in their database, as well as current subscribers, offering the next three months of the WWE Network for just 99 cents. The email promotes that by signing up now, you would get Extreme Rules this Sunday, NXT Takeover Toronto, SummerSlam and the September 15 Clash of Champions events

WWE looks like it'll have a bit of a youth movement as far as viewership is concerned if they have their way.

Fightful Select learned that the word going around is that WWE is really focusing in on the 18-34 demographic this week, after numbers for teens in particular were way up for the first week under a new Executive Director regime. Those within WWE actually told Fightful that teen viewership was up by 37.5 percent, which we're working to verify.

Those we've spoken to say that the 'lost generation' of 18-34 is going to be a major target going forward. Paul Heyman himself has been pretty transparent about his role in saying that Vince McMahon will always have the final say, and that changes from Heyman's side are going to take some time.

We're told that Heyman sits in the middle of the production meetings among other writers instead of at the front of the room, and has spoken to several team members about Vince McMahon coming to grips with the fact that the program needs to be upgraded, and with that happening, true change could be on the way.

The edgier nature of Raw was pitched as a "third hour" idea months ago, and was short lived. After the success of last week's episode of Raw under a new direction for the duration of the show, the company is hoping to recapture that magic, and the lost teenage audience.

Some we've talked with are still taking the "wait and see" approach, but there is more optimism as it relates to things after last week's Raw.

TPWW Frontpage:

Johnny Impact’s Contract With Impact Has Expired (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/johnny-impacts-contract-with-impact-has-expired/)
LAX Possibly Done With Impact, Has Offers From AEW and WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/lax-possibly-done-with-impact-has-offers-from-aew-and-wwe/)
Various: Raw Ratings Delayed, Huskus the Pig Boy on Raw, Jericho at Fight for the Fallen (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/various-raw-ratings-delayed-huskus-the-pig-boy-on-raw-jericho-at-fight-for-the-fallen/)
WWE: Gallows and Anderson, Sasha Banks, & November’s European Tour Updates (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-gallows-and-anderson-sasha-banks-novembers-european-tour-updates/)

BigCrippyZ

07-09-2019, 11:47 PM

The Sheets:

In what may be a sign that the second quarter WWE Network subscriber numbers are less than what WWE had anticipated, they expect quarter three subscriptions to drop precipitously or maybe a mix of both, WWE sent an email out today to addresses in their database, as well as current subscribers, offering the next three months of the WWE Network for just 99 cents. The email promotes that by signing up now, you would get Extreme Rules this Sunday, NXT Takeover Toronto, SummerSlam and the September 15 Clash of Champions events

WWE looks like it'll have a bit of a youth movement as far as viewership is concerned if they have their way.

Fightful Select learned that the word going around is that WWE is really focusing in on the 18-34 demographic this week, after numbers for teens in particular were way up for the first week under a new Executive Director regime. Those within WWE actually told Fightful that teen viewership was up by 37.5 percent, which we're working to verify.

Those we've spoken to say that the 'lost generation' of 18-34 is going to be a major target going forward. Paul Heyman himself has been pretty transparent about his role in saying that Vince McMahon will always have the final say, and that changes from Heyman's side are going to take some time.

We're told that Heyman sits in the middle of the production meetings among other writers instead of at the front of the room, and has spoken to several team members about Vince McMahon coming to grips with the fact that the program needs to be upgraded, and with that happening, true change could be on the way.

The edgier nature of Raw was pitched as a "third hour" idea months ago, and was short lived. After the success of last week's episode of Raw under a new direction for the duration of the show, the company is hoping to recapture that magic, and the lost teenage audience.

Some we've talked with are still taking the "wait and see" approach, but there is more optimism as it relates to things after last week's Raw.

Link: https://twitter.com/Laviemarg/status/1148609419112067072
Link: https://twitter.com/satomurameiko/status/1148569391383998465
TPWW Frontpage:

Johnny Impact’s Contract With Impact Has Expired (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/johnny-impacts-contract-with-impact-has-expired/)
LAX Possibly Done With Impact, Has Offers From AEW and WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/lax-possibly-done-with-impact-has-offers-from-aew-and-wwe/)
Various: Raw Ratings Delayed, Huskus the Pig Boy on Raw, Jericho at Fight for the Fallen (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/various-raw-ratings-delayed-huskus-the-pig-boy-on-raw-jericho-at-fight-for-the-fallen/)
WWE: Gallows and Anderson, Sasha Banks, & November’s European Tour Updates (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-gallows-and-anderson-sasha-banks-novembers-european-tour-updates/)

Honestly, the idea that younger talent being the focus will make a difference is stupid and shows how inept this company is. I don't give a fuck about the age of talent (within reason) as much as I care that 1. the matches seem more realisitic, 2. the matches and feuds have actual stakes and outcomes that matter, and 3. matches, feuds, and storylines are actually thought out, connected, make sense, and don't make me feel like an idiot for watching and enjoying them.

Droford

07-10-2019, 04:45 AM

lol Im no longer in wwe's official target demographic although through the whole pg era i never felt like i was either

07-10-2019, 05:59 AM

I wonder if Alexa is out sick because she's getting an abortion

ClockShot

07-10-2019, 08:45 AM

So, is Sasha Banks still with WWE and on "strike" still?

Must have a lot of time and money stashed away if she can take a trip to Japan and drop in on another promotion.

Emperor Smeat

07-10-2019, 09:30 PM

The Sheets:

Raw on Monday did 2.35 million viewers, which would have to be considered good by modern standards, particularly against the Home Run Derby.

The Home Run Derby on ESPN did 5.35 million viewers. Raw was seventh for the night on cable, trailing the Home Run Derby, the Home Run Derby prelims, and news shows.

It was down six percent from last week. Raw last year on Home Run Derby night was down nine percent and the year-to-year drop was five percent, one of the lowest in recent memories.

The key was very little audience drop throughout the show, with only a 2.6 percent first-to-third hour drop. The key is once again that women stayed with the show and actually gained over the three hours, with women 18-49 gaining 7.7 percent throughout the show, a figure unheard of for modern Raw ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.38 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.35 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.32 million viewers

WWE Network News reported that an October 1993 WWF dark match between Sabu and Scott Taylor (Scotty 2 Hotty) will be added to the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section tomorrow. The Tazmaniac vs. Taylor from May of that year, which WWE previously released on DVD, is also set to be uploaded.

Yahoo Sports has an interview with R-Truth. He spoke about people in the 24/7 title picture coming up with their own ideas: “Guys like Drake Maverick, Jinder Mahal, EC3, these guys came up with their own gimmick with regard to the title. Drake Maverick came up with the poster idea on his own, he took that leap. The company takes notice of that. When the opportunity is there, you have to let your creative juices start flowing and reach and grab for it.”

Shotzi Blackheart vs. Brandi Lauren has been added to EVOLVE’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, which will air on the WWE Network this Saturday.

Jun Akiyama is resigning as president of AJPW, with the official announcement to be made on October 10. Akiyama said he’s going to focus on his in-ring work.

WWE and Quibi are teaming up for a new series called Fight Like a Girl.

The sypnosis in the press release says that in each episode of the series Stephanie McMahon will "[pair] a WWE Superstar with a young woman struggling with a personal issue that has been holding her back. The WWE Superstars draw from their own life experiences, to help their trainees overcome obstacles and become tougher, stronger and healthier versions of their former selves inside and out.”

Quibi describes itself as a “mobile-first media technology platform bringing together the best of Silicon Valley and Hollywood". It wasn’t made clear when the series will premiere on the platform.

The show will he shot at the WWE Performance Center, with both WWE Studios and Critical Content producing the show. It will be executive produced by Stephanie McMahon, Susan Levison, Ben Zietren and Richard Lowell for WWE Studios, while Tom Forman, Jenny Daly and Jon Beyer are the executive producers for Critical Content.

We are told that Impact has been working on potental new logo designs for if and when they secure a new TV deal.

Yesterday's scheduled hearing for Zachary Madsen, the man arrested after attacking WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart at the WWE Hall of Fame this past April, was postponed until 9/9, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Madsen is now scheduled to appear in Kings Criminal Court in Brooklyn that day. This is the fifth postponement in the case.

Madsen has been charged with two counts of assault in the third degree as well as trespassing after hitting the ring that was being used as the stage for the acceptance speeches to tackle Bret Hart, taking down the WWE Hall of Famer and his niece, WWE star Natalya Neidhart. In New York, Assault in the third degree is an A misdemeanor and can be punishable in up to a year in jail per count, should Madsen be found guilty.

TOKYO Princess of Princess Champion Shoko Nakajima is slated to appear at this weekend's Fight for the Fallen event in Jacksonville, Florida. “Fight for the Fallen” will air on Bleacher Report Live free at 7:30pm EST on this Saturday 7/13 and Internationallly on FITE.TV.

Roman Reigns is the first recipient of the ESPYS' WWE award.

For the first time, at ESPN's ESPY awards, a WWE award was presented for the 'Best Moment' category and rounding out at the top of the voting poll was former Universal Champion Roman Reigns for his return to in-ring competition after stepping away from WWE in the Fall of 2018 to battle Leukemia.

Included in the nominations for this category was Becky Lynch winning the RAW and SmackDown Live Women's Championships in the main event of WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston's WWE Title victory at WrestleMania 35 and Ronda Rousey winning the RAW Women's Championship at SummerSlam.

You may remember a situation a few months ago that featured AJ Styles "debunking" Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer's claim that he had been sidelined with a hernia. Meltzer claimed that the news came from an internal injury report, which many doubted. As of last week, Fightful was able to corroborate that WWE does in fact keep a list of "inactive" talent.

The document that Fightful learned of was a bit different than a standard injury report. Instead, it listed talent that were injured, and also included lists of talent that weren't able to be used for a specific week of TV tapings. For example, last week, Naomi and the Usos were listed as "on vacation," Finn Balor was included because he was in Ireland, Alexa Bliss was listed as having an "illness" keep her out Tuesday.

There are also estimated return times listed, and updates on status'. From wrestlers having evaluations on their injuries scheduled, to a full on "no contact" list. The "no contact" list is particularly interesting, because it contains active performers such as Paige, but also, several other names like Scott Hall, who are never on WWE television.

It's worth noting that Ronda Rousey wasn't listed whatsoever.

TPWW Frontpage:

New Match Announced for AEW Fight for the Fallen Pre-Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/new-match-announced-for-aew-fight-for-the-fallen-pre-show-2/)
Interview: The Young Bucks on CM Punk, PAC’s Status, Chair Shot, WWE Talks, AEW Game, More (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/interview-the-young-bucks-on-cm-punk-pacs-aew-status-chair-shot-wwe-talks-aew-game-more/)
Enzo Amore and Joey Janela Almost Got Into a Fight at a Blink-182 Concert (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/enzo-amore-and-joey-janela-almost-got-into-a-fight-at-a-blink-182-concert/)
Enzo Amore Posts a Video of His “Fight” With Joey Janela (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/enzo-amore-posts-a-video-of-his-fight-with-joey-janela/)

FDM

07-11-2019, 12:53 AM

Roman beating cancer was legitimate and not decided by Vince/writers.

Emperor Smeat

07-11-2019, 09:15 PM

The Sheets:

This week's SmackDown did the show's fourth-lowest ratings since moving to Tuesday night, coming in at 1.853 million viewers. Going up against the MLB All-Star Game on Fox, the episode was down two percent from last week and retained just 79 percent of the Monday Night Raw audience, which aired opposite the Home Run Derby.

The All-Star Game did 8.14 million viewers. SmackDown also aired against NBC's America's Got Talent, which averaged over 9.8 million.

It was a weak night in terms of cable TV viewership as, despite the near record low, SmackDown still finished seventh in overall viewership. It did fall to second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.53 rating, trailing Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 15 percent, one of the larger drops in recent weeks.

The field for this year's Battle of Los Angeles is now up to eight announced entrants.

On Wednesday, PWG announced Caveman Ugg as the latest entrant for this year's tournament. He's from Sydney, Australia and is the second Australian wrestler announced for BOLA thus far, joining Mick Moretti.

Ugg is the Pro Wrestling Australia Heavyweight Champion. He appeared stateside during WrestleMania weekend this year, taking part in the "Clusterf*ck" match at Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, part two.
Also recently announced for the field was Jake Atlas.

The original idea was Roman Reigns' opponent on Raw was to have an extra portray the role but over the course of the day, there was a pitch for Cedric Alexander to do the spots instead. We are told there will be a follow-up to Alexander's involvement on Raw Monday.

While many of the backstage segments on Raw are pre-taped, all of the Street Profit segments were live as they aired this past Monday in order to keep their energy as vibrant as possible.

The latest book from Mid-Atlantic Wrestling historian Dick Bourne was officially released this week. The Mid-Atlantic Championship traces the history of the Mid-Atlantic Championship that was of the utmost importance to Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas.

Promotional material for the book notes, "In 1970, Jim Crockett Promotions introduced the Eastern Heavyweight title to their fans. Four years later they changed the name of the title to the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. Within these pages you will find a complete history of that title, including a detailed account of every title change from the establishment of the title until it was retired at the end of 1986. Plus great photos of the legendary champions.Featured also is a breakdown of all four championship belts that represented the title, broken down into the five distinct periods the belts were worn. Featuring Danny Miller, Jerry Brisco, Rip Hawk, Ole Anderson, Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ken Patera, Tony Atlas, Jim Brunzell, Ray Stevens, Ricky Steamboat, Ivan Koloff, The Iron Sheik, Roddy Piper, Jack Brisco, Paul Jones, Dory Funk, Jr., Dick Slater, Ron Bass, Sam Houston, Ronnie Garvin, and many others!"

WWE issued the following:
WWE® To Report Second Quarter 2019 Results

07/11/2019

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WWE (NYSE:WWE) announced that it will report its second quarter 2019 results on Thursday, July 25, 2019, before the opening of the market. The Company’s Chairman & CEO, Vincent K. McMahon, and Co-Presidents, George A. Barrios and Michelle D. Wilson, will host a conference call beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results.

The return of Reigns after battling leukemia was voted Best WWE moment of the year at the ESPYs. It was pretty clear that would be the winner. The fact there is such an award is a real feather in the cap of WWE, because it’s best WWE moment and not best pro wrestling moment. For MMA, it’s not Best UFC fighter, it’s best MMA fighter

The WWE web site did some stuff building up Undertaker vs. Sting which set all kinds of rumors going. From those on the inside, the belief is that the company would never risk Sting taking a bump given he never had surgery on his neck. He’s a 60 year old man with spinal stenosis and the idea of him wrestling is not even broached. It’s purely a web site project as it is not a promotion for the upcoming videogame either

WWE is advertising Undertaker vs. McIntyre for SummerSlam on 8/11 in the Toronto market. We’re told that is typical local market advertising and that is not the actual plan right now for the show. But in pushing Undertaker so hard, that would seem to indicate he’ll be featured on the show, which makes sense. If Undertaker was only working one summer event, it would be SummerSlam, so him coming back for Extreme Rules only made sense to set the table for a big SummerSlam match. The problem is that given the Extreme Rules match, the big match being built would seem to be against either McIntyre or Shane, unless somebody new (Wyatt?) gets involved in the Extreme Rules match

R-Truth said that it was pitched for him to show up at Maverick’s wedding where he won the title back wearing a wedding dress but Vince nixed the idea because he thought it would come across as trying too hard to be funny

There are reports that Banks has been announced locally for a 7/22 house show in Tampa. When we asked about Banks returning soon, we were told it is “to be determined.” Banks and Vince talked a few months ago and the feeling was she’d be back by the end of the summer, but it was nothing official or is there an exact start date back at this moment. Banks was in Japan this past week training with the Sendai Girls promotion She did this on her own. Some speculate this is to get back into ring shape for her return. For contract reasons, if she’s going to wrestle, it has to be here, and they can freeze that deal forever, so the odds are strong she’s coming back unless she wants to retire. Her going to Japan to train indicates not looking at retirement

The first Smackdown show with Bischoff influence is expected to be the 7/16 in Worcester, MA. Bischoff and his family were moving this week to Stamford. The funny thing is that within the company and the creative team, they’ve been told nothing. Bischoff’s name has almost never come up and nobody from the outside has brought the name up and they know no more than what they’ve read

Vince McMahon was not at Smackdown in Manchester, NH, on Tuesday but he was on the phone constantly and he reviewed the show on the phone with people one hour before it started. Paul Levesque worked the Gorilla position. Bruce Prichard presented the show to the other producers. He started out with a rah rah speech which we were told came across very transparent. Ryan Ward is still the lead writer of Smackdown and will remain the lead writer unless Eric Bischoff tries to make a change, and most likely that will depend on whether Vince would allow it even if he wanted to. Prichard will be the one who acclimates Bischoff and is believed to be the person who pushed hardest for Bischoff. There was talk of people asking why Bischoff wasn’t at least at the show to watch how things are done before he starts full-time, and the same was said last week. His deal was to move in this week and start with the 7/16 show. It’s been noted to us that every week he’s not there puts him another week behind and the battles necessary to be the catalyst of change and improvement are going to take a long time

Essentially what happened is that well before the announcement of AEW, NJPW was told by The Young Bucks and others, what the plans were and that they wanted to work together. New Japan’s response was to pull all the Americans that they thought were going to AEW off New Year’s Dash and beat everyone at the Tokyo Dome. Still, a meeting was scheduled after the Tokyo Dome. New Japan’s reaction was they were working with ROH, and they had to given the agreed upon Madison Square Garden show. But from that point it was cold. Even though Kenny Omega contractually can work for New Japan, New Japan has not attempted to book him and it’s to the point that the subjects of AEW and Omega are not allowed to be acknowledged by anyone in New Japan. While things can always change, really with just one phone call, the idea that people think an Omega vs. Kota Ibushi match will be at one of the Tokyo Domes in January is simply not the case.

LAX is under contract for about a month. They’ve gotten significant offers from both WWE and AEW. No decision has been made. There are those in WWE who believe they will be starting in September there, but most close to the situation expect the decision will be AEW.

It was officially announced to the world on July 7th that CMLL owner Paco Alonso passed away. Many were affected by the news as those who Paco provided opportunity and positions in CMLL to, took to social media to reflect on the life of Paco and their time working with him. With Paco Alonso's passing, his daughter Sofia Alonso is now assuming the role as President of CMLL.

WWE officials may be changing some of the top SummerSlam plans due to the hiring of new RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman and SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff.

It was noted by @Wrestlevotes that anything WWE had planned in advance for SummerSlam was all subject to change once Bischoff and Heyman fully start their roles next week after Extreme Rules. This would allow Bischoff and Heyman to come in with a clean slate going into one of the biggest shows of the year.

There's no word yet on what WWE has had planned for SummerSlam but one rumored match was The Undertaker vs. Drew McIntyre.

TPWW Frontpage:

Two More Names Announced for AEW Fight for the Fallen (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/two-more-names-announced-for-aew-fight-for-the-fallen/)
WWE: More on Alexa Bliss’s Illness, Ramblin’ Rabbit on SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-more-on-alexa-blisss-illness-ramblin-rabbit-on-smackdown/)
Joey Janela Says He Started Enzo Amore “Fight,” Tries to Squash Things But Enzo Refuses (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/joey-janela-says-he-started-enzo-amore-fight-tries-to-squash-things-but-enzo-refuses/)

Emperor Smeat

07-12-2019, 09:50 PM

The Sheets:

This is a big weekend for EVOLVE with their debut on the WWE Network and it prompted reporter David Bixenspan to unearth some information regarding two outstanding liens. In Bixenspan’s research, he found two liens from the New Jersey Division of Taxation listed for World Wrestling Network, Inc., totaling $14,901.72 from unpaid taxes since March 13, 2014. The company ran shows in New Jersey over WrestleMania weekend in 2013 in New Jersey and have not promoted shows within the state since. A clerk court confirmed the liens are still active and unpaid with $10,450.86 listed for World Wrestling Network. Inc. and $4,450.86 against WWN owner Sal Hamaoui. Furthermore, World Wrestling Network, Inc. was voluntarily dissolved on April 29, 2016, after a new company named WWN, Inc. had been formed the prior September.
Link: https://babyfacevheel.substack.com/p/everything-evolves-but-wwn-isnt-exactly

The Huffington Post has a story about George Murdoch, the former Brodus Clay and Titus, and his text message to former Fox Nation co-host Britt McHenry. They were on a show together until this story surfaced in April, noting Murdoch had sent inappropriate text messages to McHenry in late 2018 through January of this year. Murdoch was not suspended and is still with the company, although he's been moved to a different show. I really don't see how they didn't can him over this. Really, with the nature of the messages, it looks bad that he's still there.
Link: http://ttps//www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-tyrus-britt-mchenry-text_n_5d277b6ce4b02a5a5d57cd13

The lineup for ROH's Summer Supercard event is starting to take shape.

Alex Shelley will be challenging for the ROH World Championship at the show. Matt Taven is the current champion and is defending his title against Jay Lethal at ROH's Manhattan Mayhem television tapings on July 20.

After taking a hiatus from pro wrestling in July 2018, Shelley returned at June's post-Best in the World tapings and set up that he'd be challenging the winner of Taven vs. Lethal. Shelley, Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. The Kingdom (Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O'Ryan) is set for ROH's Mass Hysteria show on July 21.

A CMLL trios match has also been announced for Summer Supercard. Caristico, Soberano Jr. & Stuka Jr. will team against Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero & Templario. Cavernario and Templario will be making their ROH debuts in the match.

Ring of Honor issued the following ...

Reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) have signed to compete at Summer Supercard in Toronto on Aug. 9 ...

G.O.D. will put their titles on the line against Jay and Mark Briscoe in a New York City Street Fight at Manhattan Mayhem on July 20. The winner of that match will then defend the titles against The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brawler Milonas) at Mass Hysteria in Lowell, Mass., on July 21.

Brian Cage and Melissa Santos got married yesterday in California. Among those in attendance were Joey Ryan, Kiera Hogan, Sami Callihan, Jessicka Havok, Nevaeh, Jake Crist, Su Yung, and Rich Swann.

DEFY has announced that Brian Cage has withdrawn from their card on July 26th ‘due to injury’ and they announced a new match between Christopher Daniels and SCHAFF for the event at Washington Hall in Seattle that night.

MLW has announced Austin Aries' opponent for Never Say Never

Aries vs. Ace Austin is set for the tapings, which are taking place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, July 25. This will be Aries' second match for MLW since returning to the promotion.

WWE will present a Extreme Rules preview show on their social media channels this Sunday at 2 PM with Cathy Kelley, Mike Rome and Kayla Braxton hosting, featuring appearances from WWE United States Champion Ricochet, Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin.

Another WWE digital series is headed to the WWE Network this Monday, July 15. "WWE Then & Now" is a short form digital series which sees a superstar or superstars look at their first promotional photo for the company and talk about the evolution from that point. So far, there've been six episodes done to date featuring the likes of Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, The Hardy Boyz, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and Alexa Bliss.

POST Wrestling has learned that there is another match expected for the WWE Extreme Rules show on Sunday with Kevin Owens set to face Dolph Ziggler.

The match was always scheduled for the card and is expected to be announced before the show, which takes place from the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia

Game Changer Wrestling is partnering with Black Label Pro wrestling and the two promotions will be presenting their '2 Cups Stuffed' show from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It has been announced by GCW that Mance Warner is slated to go one-on-one with WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler at the August 30th show.

"The Animal" Batista had his final professional wrestling match at WrestleMania 35 against Triple H and it was after that match concluded that Batista took to social media to officially announce his retirement from wrestling. Batista had been asking for that final match with Triple H for years and it was finally put into motion in October of 2018. Batista has stated on various fronts and in a number of interviews that he would not disrespect his wrestling career by coming back to the sport as an in-ring competitor after retiring. While making the rounds on the media circuit to promote the 'Stuber' film, he spoke with GQ and talked about The Undertaker versus Goldberg match from WWE Super ShowDown.

Batista reiterated that he contacted The Undertaker and asked him was he sure he wanted to go through with the match. Batista then went on to say that he would've said no to a WWE Saudi Arabia show, no matter who he'd be paired with.
Full interview via TPWW Frontpage link below.

TPWW Frontpage:

Tag Team Triple Threat Match Added to AEW Fight for the Fallen (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/tag-team-triple-threat-match-added-to-aew-fight-for-the-fallen/)
New Tag Team Match Announced and Cold Open Video for AEW Fight for the Fallen (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/new-tag-team-match-announced-and-cold-open-video-for-aew-fight-for-the-fallen/)
Batista Says He Tried to Talk Undertaker Out of His Match Against Goldberg (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/batista-says-he-tried-to-talk-undertaker-out-of-his-match-against-goldberg/)
Injury Updates: Randy Orton, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/injury-updates-randy-orton-alexa-bliss-nia-jax/)

Mr. Nerfect

07-16-2019, 10:07 AM

Batista is the best and was actually very good in Stuber.

Emperor Smeat

07-16-2019, 10:04 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night coming off the Extreme Rules PPV did 2.45 million viewers, a four percent increase from last week.

Considering last week was against the Home Run Derby and this week came off a PPV, you would have expected a bigger increase, but the ratings pattern was extremely strong for the episode itself. The first hour was surprisingly low, but there was a big increase in hour two, and while hour three dropped, it was still ahead of one hour, which almost never happens ...

If not for the weak first hour the overall gain would have been substantial.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.38 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.50 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.48 million viewers

Fightful was able to confirm reports last weekend that The Good Brothers combo have re-signed with WWE for five years. Beyond that we're told that the former WWE Raw Tag Team Champions signed for a big money deal, even compared to some of the figures going around recently with new re-signings.

We've reached out to several names within the company, including one that hadn't even heard that the team had re-signed in the days following the deal. That same name was sure that they'd be gone just a week or two prior when we spoke with them, and noted that New Japan Pro Wrestling and other companies had already showed interest.

The feeling that we got from wrestlers we spoke to wasn't one of optimism, but rather one of saying they couldn't really fault Gallows and Anderson for setting themselves up for the future. One wrestler said "more confident in this company than I am. I wouldn’t hold my breath as far as tag teams getting an opportunity."

Both Gallows and Anderson seem well liked based on the names that we spoke to, with one backstage employee particularly putting over their work in the gym, despite the fact that they weren't being booked.

Local advertising in New York City is listing the following matches for WWE's return to Madison Square Garden this September:
* Monday 9/9 Raw taping - Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre.
* Tuesday 9/10 Smackdown taping - Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton.

The AEW Fight for the Fallen event is available for VOD viewings on Bleacher Report Live. The event raised $150,000 to the Jacksonville Mayor's Victim Assistance Advisory Council and the hope is to make this an annual event ...

The date 10/2 has been seen in the background of some recent AEW-related digital videos. That is a Wednesday, so it could be a clue to the debut of the TNT series.

Tony Khan chatted with the media for nearly 30 minutes and during the scrum, Khan was asked about details concerning AEW television on TNT in October, specifically touring dates and venues. Khan responded by saying that more details about AEW TV will emerge before All Out on August 31 ...

“It won’t be that long. It’s coming. It’s coming and we’re working on it. There will definitely be an announcement soon and I would say before -- we’ve got a lot to do before All Out, but we’ve also got some time before All Out to build some stories -- build up the Chris Jericho/Hangman title match, build up Kenny Omega versus Jon Moxley and build up Cody Rhodes versus Shawn Spears and build up more of the big matches that we have planned. So I think, I would say, well before All Out and I can’t give an exact date but certainly, it’ll be before All Out but we’re really focusing on getting to All Out and along the way, I’ll definitely have more information.” He said.

As we previously reported, Dr. Britt Baker suffered a concussion at AEW Fight for the Fallen. It was speculated, but unconfirmed, to be a kick from Bea Priestley that led to the injury. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that concussion was “significant” and “pretty bad.”

One half of the Lucha Bros has been confirmed for this year's Battle of Los Angeles.

PWG has announced Fenix as the latest entrant for this year's tournament. He's the 11th wrestler to be confirmed for BOLA.

Fenix made his PWG debut in the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles and was also an entrant in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the tournament.

Jim Ross noted that he was invited to attend next week’s Raw Reunion but politely declined: “Because some are asking, I was cordially invited to attend #RAWReunion by @VinceMcMahon but I politely refused. @TonyKhan left it up to me. Nonetheless I hope the #RAWReunion is a ratings success.”

As noted earlier this week on PWInsider.com, World Wrestling Entertainment is holding a tryout in Shanghai, China. Today, WWE disclosed the following names were taking part in the tryout:

* Jiang Zhu, a 6-foot-3, 227-pounder Chinese talent who has wrestled for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan.
* Boxer Peng Qu, who stands 6-foot-3, weighs 210 pounds and holds a 14-2-1 professional record, considered to be one of China’s top boxers.
* Sojiro Higuchi pka Jiro Kuroshio, who has wrestled extensively in Japan.
* Alexis Lee, a 23-year-old billed as Singapore’s first female wrestler.
* Yuan Gao, who wrestles for China’s We Love Wrestling.
* Singapore Pro Wrestling co-founder “The Statement” Andrew Tang.
* The Queen of Philippine Wrestling” Vernice Crystal Gabriel. Gabriel was at one point slated for the 2nd annual Mae Young Classic but was later removed from the tournament.

Serena Deeb, Jessica Carr, Xia Li, and Jeremy Borash from WWE are over for the tryouts in Shanghai.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that former AWA, WWF, and WCW wrestler John Nord a.k.a. The Berzerker has been put on probation for five-years. Nord has been arrested seven times for driving under the influence of drugs, primarily from painkillers. The report added that Nord is in a wheelchair and dealing with ALS. There was a push from the prosecution for Nord to face prison time, but it was argued he would need to be in an assisted-living facility for the rest of his life. As part of the probation agreement, Nord is not allowed to drive and will return to court in three months to update the judge on his condition.

After the first four nights of the G1 Climax, one of the glaring observations on the New Japan World broadcast has been the reduced role of Chris Charlton. On the two shows from Ota Ward Gymnasium, Charlton was present at the broadcast booth but largely to translate promos rather than call the matches with Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero. Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that this was not a call by New Japan but from outside forces. There has been a lot of support for Charlton because he has become a popular member of New Japan’s broadcast team through encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese professional wrestling, ability to recall backstories on the fly, and also pick up on the significance of a maneuver that may have some historical significance that tells a deeper story. He was not part of Monday’s show in Hokkaido but also wasn’t scheduled to be at all the G1 events this summer.

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the original idea for the next reunion special was to hold it on October 4 -- Smackdown's debut on Fox.

Meltzer also noted on his show that Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz is not planned for next month's Summerslam card, despite their angle on Raw.

We want to send our best wishes to Harley Race, who was hospitalized over the weekend and had to miss a convention appearance in Knoxville, Tennessee. Race was on his way to Knoxville and was undergoing some issues and needed to be checked out and had some tests run. As of Monday afternoon, he was still in the hospital, but his people didn’t release any specifics regarding what the health issue is.

[Shawn]Spears has developed into one of All Elite Wrestling's top heels after the last two events, wrapping a steel chair around the head of Cody Rhodes and picking up a big six-man tag team win just a couple of weeks later. As his feud with Rhodes heats up going towards All Out, Fightful has learned of some plans for the former Tye Dillinger.

Fightful Select has learned that Spears will be getting a manager, a fact that is slated to come to light officially on this week's episode of "Road To." We don't know the identity of the manager, or even if they'll be revealed.

Before nicknaming himself "The Chairman," Spears attacked his former friend Rhodes with a steel chair at AEW's Fyter Fest, with a tweet later implying that he didn't appreciate Cody's comment that he was a "good hand." The two are slated to do battle on August 31 at All Elite Wrestling's "All Out" at the Sears Centre near Chicago.

TPWW Frontpage stuff:

Eric Bischoff Reportedly Not Involved w/ Tonight’s SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/eric-bischoff-reportedly-not-involved-w-tonights-smackdown/)
Finn Balor Reportedly Taking Time Off From WWE Next Month (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/finn-balor-reportedly-taking-time-off-from-wwe-next-month/)
More on “Raw Reunion” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/more-on-raw-reunion/)
Mickie James Undergoing Surgery Tomorrow, Out 7-9 Months (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/mickie-james-undergoing-surgery-tomorrow-out-7-9-months/)
Various: How Did Batista’s Movie Do? WWE Happy With EVOLVE Special (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/various-how-did-batistas-movie-do-wwe-happy-with-evolve-special/)

Mr. Nerfect

07-17-2019, 06:51 PM

Seth vs. Drew sounds really boring. Kofi vs. Orton in MSG could be cool if they replay the stuff between them from MSG years ago.

Emperor Smeat

07-17-2019, 09:36 PM

The Sheets:

Coming off of Sunday's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, SmackDown averaged 2.122 million viewers on Tuesday night, its highest total since the April 16 Superstar Shake-up episode and up a whopping 15 percent from last week.

It was one of the larger one-week increases since SmackDown moved to Tuesday nights. The last increase this large was October 18 of last year, but that was SmackDown 1000, which was a special episode. Prior to that, it would be April 10 of 2018, which was the post-WrestleMania show.

For a "normal" show, the previous highest increase would be October 24, 2017, which came the day after a SmackDown invasion of Raw. That episode increased 16 percent over the previous week ...

Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down seven percent. Over the last few months, the decline from 2018 is in the single digits more often than not.

Next week's rating should be higher than usual as well with some spillover from the Raw Reunion special the night before.

A Women's title match has been made official for NXT UK's next TakeOver special.

NXT UK Women's Champion Toni Storm will defend her title against Kay Lee Ray at UK TakeOver: Cardiff on Saturday, August 31. The announcement was made on this week's NXT UK television episode.

WWE Network News reported that The Best of ECW 1992, volumes one and two and an ECW TV pilot from November 1992 will be added to the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section tomorrow.
Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/07/17/exclusive-wwe-network-hidden-gems-set-to-continue-ecw-theme-with-trio-of-early-rarities-from-1992-including-full-tv-pilot/

While speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, Seth Rollins was asked if he cared to address critics who say he doesn’t have good on-screen chemistry with Becky Lynch: “I think those critics might be a little jealous. I think that’s where a lot of that stems from. I mean, if I’m a dude and I’m watching television, and I have a crush on Becky Lynch, I’m probably not going to be to fond of the guy who’s dating her either so I get that. We have such great chemistry I think it’s funny that people think we don’t. Either way it amuses me.”

World League Wrestling posted a statement on Harley Race’s hospitalization and are selling T-shirts to raise money for him:

“An update that have been wanting to know about in regards to the boss's situation over the weekend. This past weekend, he was scheduled to attend the Knoxville Fanboy Expo. While traveling to Knoxville, he exhibited some signs that needed to be addressed by medical personnel. He has been in the hospital since Thursday evening and that's where he currently is.

Due to privacy concerns, no specific information will be given out about his current health status or anything of the sort. All that can and will be said is that Harley Race was, is, and will always be a fighter. He doesn't know anything else and he hasn't thrown in the towel and he has promised that as long as it is up to him, that won't be an option. His health is obviously top priority and with that being said, all of his upcoming appearances will be immediately cancelled. All promoters have been notified about the situation and we here are currently trying to come up with a solution to rectify the situation the best way possible. Unfortunately, since this situation has taken place while traveling to a signing, he is currently in a hospital that is pretty far away from home that has his family there with him.

So, in an effort to help out with the un-expected expenses, we are selling t-shirts of which profits will be given directly to the situation. The link to purchase the t-shirts is below. We appreciate the support whether or not you purchase a t-shirt. This is just a little extra help when it is needed. The price of the shirt that has an exclusive design for both front and back prints are $24.99 (plus S&H). All shirts are going to start to be shipped on August 9, 2019.

Regardless, please continue to support Harley Race, The Harley Race Wrestling Academy, and World League Wrestling. All events and camps are going to take place as scheduled and we look forward to keeping it that way because that is what Harley Race would do. We look forward to getting him back home and continuing to have the Greatest Wrestler on God's Green Earth.”

Revolution Pro Wrestling is holding a tag team tournament, with the winning team advancing to challenge for the IWGP Tag Team titles at NJPW Royal Quest in London on August 31. The quarterfinals are taking place on August 4, the semifinals are being held on August 11 (and August 18 if scheduling requires it), and the finals will be at Summer Sizzler on August 30. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) are the IWGP Tag Team Champions.

All Elite Wrestling revealed on the Road to Double or Nothing that WWE Hall of Famer and founding member of the Four Horsemen Tully Blanchard will be managing Shawn Spears going forward.

Obviously, Blanchard has a long history with the Rhodes family.

Eric Bischoff arrived in Connecticut this week and officially starts his job as Executive Director of Smackdown tomorrow in Stamford at WWE HQ.

When Mexico's Lucha Libre AAA debuts in Madison Square Garden on Sunday 9/15 and returns to Los Angeles at the Forum on Sunday 10/13, each of those events will be presented live on PPV via all major PPV providers, PWInsider.com has confirmed. These would be the first official AAA PPV on PPV in years, although the company regularly streams big events on Twitch.TV.

We are told that the events will be presented on secondary PPV channels as they will run opposite the 9/15 WWE Clash of Champions PPV and a planned 10/13 WWE PPV event as well. WWE has a date in Anaheim, CA on 10/13 currently. AAA will now be in a position where the majority of promotion for those events will go to WWE, since they will be on a higher-tier PPV channel.

PWInsider.com has also confirmed that AAA has hired New York City-based Tupelo-Honey Productions to be their PPV production team for the PPV broadcasts.

Impact Wrestling is expected to provide some talent for the events. Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie and Tessa Blanchard appeared at the MSG press conference this past April.

According to the WWE Performance Center website roster page, there have been several WWE NXT name changes:
*Brennan Williams is now known as Dio Maddin
*Nick Comoroto is now Nick Ogarelli
*The former Robbie E/Robert Strauss in NXT is now Robert Stone
*Rachel Evers is listed now as Rachel Ellering, so she may be going back to using that name although on her twitter, she is still referring to herself as Rachel Evers.

The Rock is a very busy man, especially with his latest film, Hobbs & Shaw premiering in theaters on August 2, but that didn’t stop the WWE great from appearing at the WWE Performance Center earlier today.

Sami Zayn tweeted about The Rock’s appearance, as he was at the WWE Performance Center to have an injured shoulder looked at ...

There is no word yet as to why The Rock was at the WWE Performance Center, but his last in ring appearance was a victory over Erick Rowan at WWE Wrestlemania 32.

TPWW Frontpage:

Braun Strowman Signs New Four-Year WWE Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/braun-strowman-signs-new-four-year-wwe-contract/)
Will Ospreay Cleared to Return From Neck Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/will-ospreay-cleared-to-return-from-neck-injury/)
Updated WWE SummerSlam Card After SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/updated-wwe-summerslam-card-after-smackdown-2/)

07-17-2019, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by Observer
While speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, Seth Rollins was asked if he cared to address critics who say he doesn’t have good on-screen chemistry with Becky Lynch: “I think those critics might be a little jealous. I think that’s where a lot of that stems from. I mean, if I’m a dude and I’m watching television, and I have a crush on Becky Lynch, I’m probably not going to be to fond of the guy who’s dating her either so I get that. We have such great chemistry I think it’s funny that people think we don’t. Either way it amuses me.”

Ya critics are so jealous over a woman who sounds like she has a bag of marbles in her mouth and walks around like she has a dick in between her legs. Seth is not very bright.

Jordan

07-18-2019, 11:40 AM

Ya critics are so jealous over a woman who sounds like she has a bag of marbles in her mouth and walks around like she has a dick in between her legs. Seth is not very bright.

:rofl: Truth.

Evil Vito

07-18-2019, 12:07 PM

LOL the Observer is reporting that Bischoff will actually have no involvement in SmackDown creative and his role is mostly just to maintain the relationship with FOX.

ClockShot

07-18-2019, 01:40 PM

Sooooooooo?

Eric Bischoff is really a front man for SmackDown?

So who's really the shot caller?

Droford

07-18-2019, 03:15 PM

Ya critics are so jealous over a woman who sounds like she has a bag of marbles in her mouth and walks around like she has a dick in between her legs. Seth is not very bright.

She does call herself The Man

Evil Vito

07-18-2019, 03:19 PM

Sooooooooo?

Eric Bischoff is really a front man for SmackDown?

So who's really the shot caller?

Vince is the shot caller. Just like he always is.

Find it hilarious that Bischoff relocated his family to Connecticut for a role that has no actual creative power.

Emperor Smeat

07-18-2019, 09:01 PM

The Sheets:

Joey Janela is set to take part in the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, PWG announced Janela as the latest entrant for this year's tournament. He's the 13th participant to be confirmed, joining A-Kid, Jonathan Gresham, Artemis Spencer, Darby Allin, Mick Moretti, Orange Cassidy, Bandido, Caveman Ugg, Jake Atlas, Tony Deppen, Fenix, and Lucky Kid.

Janela made his PWG debut in BOLA 2017, losing to Sammy Guevara in the first round. He made it to the semifinals last year but lost to Bandido.
Also recently announced was Brody King.

Seth Rollins did a Q&A with Yahoo Sports in which he talked about Monday's "Raw Reunion", the legends returning, SummerSlam and more.

During the interview, Seth was asked whether there is an online sentiment that is cool to hate WWE in which he responded:

"We’re the New York Yankees. It’s easy to hate the New England Patriots. We’re those teams, we’re the dynasty. It’s easy to hate us, but we’re still the most popular company in the world at what we do. We’re so far beyond being a wrestling company that it’s very easy to point the finger and hate on us. That’s the cool thing to do, it makes perfect sense to me, it’s how it’s always been in sports and entertainment, you always hate the big guy. It’s fine, I’m not upset about it at all. I just want people to understand and appreciate the things we go through and the fact that we’re always trying to do our best. Nobody is taking it easy, nobody is just getting by. Everybody from top to bottom, every department in the entire company is putting in as much work as they possibly can to make this the best."

Add Melina and Candice Michelle to the list of names scheduled for this Monday's Raw Reunion event.

Melina will be making her first appearance on WWE programming since her release from the company in 2011.

I noticed in my email this morning a message from WWE Shop with the title "Because You Watched Extreme Rules" with recommendations for merchandise worn at the event this past Sunday. It appears that WWE is beginning to use the viewer data to customize experience which is said to be at the core of the company's "Network 2.0" plan integrating more user customization features like advertising tickets based on your geolocation, showing you merchandise or video featuring your favorite superstar, etc.

A number of major executives with Turner were at the [Fight for the Fallen] show live and came out of it with the idea from the packed crowd, and how over the talent was to that audience that this was more impressive than they had thought.

There is a reason you don’t do PPV shows two weeks apart. The number of FITE TV buys were down, but with the higher price charged per buy, the actual FITE revenue was the same as for the show two weeks earlier. They went with a higher price because the added revenue was to be part of the charity benefit.

B/R Live numbers were down about 10 to 14 percent, depending on the category, from Fyter Fest, when it comes to live viewership. The decrease is likely due to the amount of competition that night with some also likely due to being just two weeks between big shows. The audience was said to be very consistent, as from the start of the show to the finish the audience never varied by more than about 500. B/R added 18,000 new subscriptions that day, so there were that many new people who didn’t watch the two previous shows, a number that officials were pleased with. Most of the B/R Live executives were described as pleasantly caught off-guard by the success of the last two AEW shows and the PPV numbers from the first show, particularly that there has been a significant increase in subs every show.

Regarding the story itself, Evolve had the show booked and the talent on the show booked as well at the 2300 Arena before this date was publicly announced (although privately this date was pretty much known first). Evolve doing a show in Philadelphia on this date was not a WWE counter. The Evolve show airing on WWE Network, given the timing and the WWE track record historically, that’s a different question. WWE did have a PPV in Philadelphia the next night so a lot of production people were around. Still, do I believe Vince McMahon would have put a non-WWE live event on the WWE Network without this show being taken place and not as a counter? History of every move, whether you want to go back to the 80s gives you the same answer.

The creation of NXT U.K. and its slow rollout (countering ITV World of Sport), the huge offer to Jim Ross (who they didn’t want on ITV as the face of a new promotion that would have far greater viewership due to the platform), pretty much doing nothing in that direction, then all of a sudden coming back with it when ITV really did shoot a season is a recent example. As was signing up deals to essentially have control of a number of European companies when FloSlam was launched and having all those deals in place years ago to debut them on WWE Network and then McMahon changing his mind on airing any of it for years.

Three years ago, WWE attempted to strip New Japan of all its foreign talent and WWE made huge offers to the key people who AEW was going to need to get off the ground ... Then, suddenly, on this night, McMahon not just changed his mind, but also, on both Raw and Smackdown, promoted the Evolve show harder than they’ve ever pushed a Takeover on those shows

The Evolve show more than 800 fans and overall for what it was, it had to be considered a positive. Whether Vince McMahon would consider, or even care about a broadcast that did look out of place from a production standpoint, was on the network is an interesting question. In that sense, for the comparison of what McMahon has pushed as a well produced show, his wrestling show couldn’t touch the two rival shows. But everyone knew that going in.

A public mass for Paco Alonso took place on 7/12 in the afternoon in Mexico City. Fray Tormenta, the famed priest who the movie “Nacho Libre” was somewhat based on, presided over it. Atlantis Jr., Negro Casas and Amapola all spoke and lots of wrestlers were there, including Rayo de Jalisco Jr., who flew in for it. Both CMLL and New Japan had ceremonies for him at shows this past week.

The announcing situation ended up being a really big story this past week. At the two Ota Ward Gym shows in Tokyo, Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero and Chris Charlton were at the table, but Charlton said almost nothing. Basically a decision was made that Charlton would be used only as a translator and not to announce the matches, although he did occasionally say stuff ...

The problem is that the decision came from outside New Japan. It was believed to have been made by TV-Asahi, which is partners in NJPW World. The situation is that TV stations have this idea of voice and look for announcers and Charlton doesn’t have the traditional voice that they would expect. He’s more a guy with incredible historical and trivial knowledge of New Japan that would appeal to hardcore fans, and NJPW World, in English, is a pure hardcore fan service ...

But the announcing for the Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi G-1 final last year was one of the better announced matches I’ve ever seen (granted, a match like that has its advantages like Omega vs. Okada IV had) and since then Charlton was someone I always looked forward to on the shows that he did. After answering a question about what fans should do on the 7/16 show, both New Japan and TV-Asahi were flooded with correspondence regarding Charlton’s role. New Japan was always behind him but the outside forces who made the decision, in seeing so much reaction, made the call on 7/17 to have Charlton back in his former role starting with the shows this week

Viceland has reached a deal to air a second season of Dark Side of the Ring, with the pro wrestling documentaries. This would include documentaries already shot on the death of Dino Bravo and one on Chris Benoit. There will also be some new topics that are likely to be announced over the next week. I expect we’ll see more topics related to Jim Cornette, who was considered a big hit in several of the episodes

There was more this week to the story of George Murdoch, formerly Brodus Clay and Tyrus, and now a host on the streaming Fox Nation service, and his former co-host Britt McHenry. The two did a show together until she complained about texts he had sent. He was never suspended and was instead given his own new show. The Huffington Post ran a story covering the content of the text messages that created the situation. In one text, Murdoch told his former co-host “Just pull your boobs out now why don’t you. Just grin and bare it.” In another he wrote, “Keep being negative and I’ll send you another dick pic.” Murdoch was pulled off the show in April after McHenry complained to FOX management.

She claimed he sent sexually harassing texts between November (when the two were assigned to the same “UN-PC” as co-hosts) and January. Another one said, “I love the fact you (sic) always working if we ever had sex I feel like after an orgazzum (sic) you say speaking of feeling good did see the story on the puppy rescue we should do a segment on it hand me my phone.” McHenry had showed the text messages to friends before going to management, asking them how she should handle the situation. Murdoch is still a regular guest on Saturdays on The Greg Garfield Show on Fox News and regularly appears on Dana Perino’s “The Daily Briefing.” I have no clue how they can still employ him

The Young Bucks did an interview with Chris Van Vliet and said there was a time when they and Kenny Omega were in a room together last year and all three believed they were going to WWE. He said that Tony Khan made the right offer and the one thing AEW offered that WWE couldn’t match was the ability to control their own destiny. They also said that the tag team tournament brackets are almost finalized and that the tournament will be part of the early television shows. Regarding Pac, they said it’s about 99 percent that he’s coming in and it’s just a question of when. Essentially when he’s agreeable to lose within doing programs which would likely be after he drops the Open the Dream Gate title.

Once they know a date that he’s dropping the title, one would think they’ll come up with a program for him and it’s pretty much working out a schedule that works for both sides. But he would still likely have to sign a long-term deal at some point and before he was hesitant on that. They also said that, depending on the size of the market, that the TV’s will be taped in 5,000 to 12,000 seat arenas. Keep in mind that with the staging, that most of the NBA arenas these days are going to sellout with 13,000 to 14,000 fans for a pro wrestling TV set up. Given it’s midweek and that Smackdown often draws in the 3,000 to 5,000 range, and WWE is so much larger, doing 3,000 a week in the current economy in theory would be the expectation

Kylie Rae has been out of action. The situation has been kept quiet but it is a medical issue and she is expected back soon

WWE failed to get the Emmy nomination for Raw that they had pushed for in the category of Outstanding Structured Reality Program. Well, not that this played a part in it, because I’m sure it being pro wrestling would have made it difficult to begin with, but the show this past year was about as far from outstanding as the distance between the Earth and Alpha Centauri

Paul Heyman for Raw is trying to go with the idea of having backstage interviews have less of the fake dialogue and come across more realistic, and that there would be more consequences, essentially what AEW promises with the idea that wins and losses will matter and that angles won’t just be forgotten and dropped, and if someone gets hurt one week they won’t be fine the next week. Obviously with Strowman, that was barely the case, as he was supposedly gravely injured, missed one week of TV, and returned selling nothing. Wrestlers for the last 15 years have complained about how they’ll do a big match and want to sell the beating the next day on Raw, and Vince will allow mid-card guys to do that but when the top guys want to, Vince nixes it because the guys he wants to protect he doesn’t want to have on television appearing to be weak

There was a report that Harper is going back on the road. If that’s the case, it’s a secret since key people in the company don’t know it, nor do those close to he say that he’s heard a thing. He’s pretty much been told nothing since the decision was made not to use him in early April when Vince didn’t like his match with Dominic Dijakovic

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces “Smackville” Special Airing on WWE Network (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-announces-smackville-special-airing-on-wwe-network/)
Eric Bischoff Apparently Won’t Be Involved in SmackDown Creative Process (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/eric-bischoff-apparently-wont-be-involved-in-smackdown-creative-process/)
WWE/FOX Update: Talks for NXT on TV, 20th Anniversary Show, More (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-fox-update-talks-for-nxt-on-tv-20th-anniversary-show-more/)
CM Punk Will Appear on Starrcast III During AEW All Out Weekend (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/cm-punk-will-appear-on-starrcast-iii-during-aew-all-out-weekend/)
AEW: All Out Price, Tony Schiavone Working for AEW? Tully Blanchard Signs Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/aew-all-out-price-tony-schiavone-working-for-aew-tully-blanchard-signs-deal/)
Shawn Michaels Will Be on Commentary for This Week’s SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/shawn-michaels-will-be-on-commentary-for-this-weeks-smackdown/)

slik

07-19-2019, 06:07 PM

No AJ

Drew

Bray

Ricochet?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Paul Heyman's run down of the men in Monday's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Raw?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Raw</a> battle royal (Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins) is believed to be his intended main event scene as Executive Director. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a></p>— Tom Colohue (@Colohue) <a href="https://twitter.com/Colohue/status/1152189463130464262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Splaya

07-19-2019, 06:30 PM

They will more than likely re-push Drew on Smackdown Live. Bray needs to be rebuilt up so him being away from the main event scene is good. Riccochet is going to be big in the upper mid card. I would expect him to get a title shot out of necessity sometime before Mania, then he captures the MITB contract next summer.

Emperor Smeat

07-19-2019, 09:22 PM

The Sheets:

Tomorrow's Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay match is a somewhat rare IWGP heavyweight champion vs. junior heavyweight champion match. It has been done a handful of times in history, including those two including a March 6, 2018, match that Okada won. No junior heavyweight champion in history has ever beaten the heavyweight champion in a singles match in New Japan

Also, late tomorrow night is the biggest Dragon Gate event of the year, the Kobe World Festival. We have an interview up on the site with Larry Dallas talking about the show. It is the first time a Dragon Gate show from Japan will be broadcast live in the U.S. on a streaming service in English. Dallas and Rich Bocchini, who are having the times of their lives in Japan this week, will be doing the announcing. The thing with Dragon Gate historically is that it has always been the group in the last 15 years that is years ahead stylistically, so if you want to see what pro wrestling may look like in 2025 or so, this may be a good look. The main event result, if Ben K wins, would also at least open the door for talks for Pac in AEW.

While never advertised, we've been asked a lot about Bret Hart. Hart was asked but declined the offer.

Shawn Michaels announcing Smackdown on Tuesday is a one-time thing.
Hart stuff is in regards to the upcoming RAW Reunion show.

Ring of Honor has announced the dates for their next three shows in the United Kingdom.

This year's Honor United tour will take place across three days in October. The tour will begin at York Hall in London, England on Friday, October 25. It will continue at The Newport Centre in Newport, Wales on Saturday, October 26 and will conclude at Bolton Whites Hotel in Bolton, England on Sunday, October 27.

Tickets for the shows will go on sale to HonorClub members at 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday (July 24). They'll then go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. local time next Friday (July 26).

WWE has announced the main event of this Tuesday's episode of 205 Live will feature Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak vs. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott aka the former MLW Champion Shane Strickland. It would be Strickland's 205 Live debut.

Scott was announced as signing with WWE's NXT system this past April. Strickland, a former MLW and CZW Champion, also worked for the El Rey Network's Lucha Underground promotion as Killshot.

Prior to signing with WWE, Scott had also been a regular for WWE conduit EVOLVE Wrestling, debuting there in August 2018. Scott has been competing since 2009 and recently debuted on WWE NXT TV in the Breakout Tournament.

The 2019 WWE Hell in A Cell PPV will be Sunday 10/6 at the Golden Center in Sacramento, CA. Tickets will officially go on sale 7/26.

Locally advertised for the PPV is WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton and Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre.

UPDATED LINEUP FOR WWE SMACKVILLE SPECIAL ON WWE NETWORK

Local advertising in Nashville on the Bridgestone Arena's website features the following matches listed for the 7/27 WWE Smackville special on the WWE Network:
*WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Samoa Joe.
*WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Finn Bálor.
*WWE Smackdown Women's Champion Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss (with Nikki Cross).
*WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The New Day in action.
*A musical performance by Elias

A WWE graphic for this Monday's Raw reunion features the following names who had not been previously disclosed for the USA Network broadcast from Tampa:
*Jillian Hall.
*Eve Torres
*Jonathan Coachman.
*Kaitlyn.
*Alicia Fox

Local advertising in Tampa for Raw Reunion lists a DX Reunion featuring Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg and X-Pac. Billy Gunn, obviously, would not be available due to his AEW position.

WWE's website is also now selling a DX Reunion shirt listing the date of Monday's Raw, July 22, 2019.

WWE has filed trademarks on "Smackville" and "Shorty G"

Speaking to Collider, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts on CM Punk potentially joining AEW.

"I haven't been asked about CM Punk [by the Executive Vice Presidents]. Do we need him? No. Would it be a huge pop to get him? Yes. I don't know what his attitude or mindset is, but I think our roster is jam packed right now. We're not looking to headhunt WWE. We never were. We don't want to be WCW in 98 or IMPACT in 2011 where you're just bringing in old WWE guys. We have a lot of young guys. WWE doesn't have 23-year-old kids. They put them in NXT and five years later, they come up. We wanted to focus on the younger demographic. The teenage heartthrobs that they used to have in every wrestling territory."

Jericho specifically mentioned MJF and Jungle Boy as young talent who can capture the "teenage heartthrob" demographic.

When asked about the women's division, Jericho had one talent at the top of his list of who he would like to see in AEW.

"There's a lot of great women performers out there. There's a couple we have our eyes on that are working for other companies. Tessa Blanchard. She's a killer. She's amazing. From WWE, you can't go wrong with Charlotte. Becky Lynch is great too. But if you're talking about someone we might be able to get, Tessa is someone we might be able [to sign]."

Blanchard is currently signed to IMPACT Wrestling. Her father, Tully Blanchard, recently signed on with AEW to be the "executive advisor" of Shawn Spears.

TPWW Frontpage:

MJF Signs New Multi-Year Contract Extension With AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/mjf-signs-new-multi-year-contract-extension-with-aew/)
AEW: Britt Baker Injury Update, Kylie Rae Out With Medical Issue (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/aew-britt-baker-injury-update-kylie-rae-out-with-medical-issue/)
WWE: Finn Balor Engaged, Liv Morgan Getting a New Look? (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-finn-balor-engaged-liv-morgan-getting-a-new-look/)

James Steele

07-20-2019, 02:14 AM

CM Punk joining AEW could be a huge game changer for AEW. I keep waiting for him to want to scratch that itch again.

07-20-2019, 02:21 AM

Why wrestle when you can bang AJ Lee all day?

xrodmuc316

07-20-2019, 02:29 AM

CM Punk joining AEW could be a huge game changer for AEW. I keep waiting for him to want to scratch that itch again.

CM Punk would get a great pop at All Out, but he lost all cred with his UFC trash career. He is good enough to bump interest, but he isn't gonna be a game changer the way Moxley was. Punk has simply been gone too long and failed so hard on everything since leaving WWE, I just don't see him getting back up to that level.

Also, I thought everybody was trying to get out of WWE to go to AEW. Every week somebody reups with the E, and AEW hasn't inked anybody new or meaningful since Mox months ago.

James Steele

07-20-2019, 04:46 AM

CM Punk can talk them into the building though. It’s hard to turn down WWE money especially now that AEW has some product and it has a lot of Indy stink to it.

Evil Vito

07-20-2019, 01:41 PM

Every week somebody reups with the E, and AEW hasn't inked anybody new or meaningful since Mox months ago.

The worst thing AEW could so is sign a thousand people and end up with half their roster stuck in catering every week.

Splaya

07-20-2019, 01:45 PM

AEW needs to keep their roster thin epsecially with only having two hours of TV per week. You don't need to overload your roster and think that people are just going to watch youtube for you to feature wrestlers.

Ironically there's an indy promotion by me who started in March this year. They originally had 15 guys, then expanded to 24 for a show in May. They will have another show in August where they will have 42 wrestlers on their "active" roster. I understand that it's just an indy promotion but still.

Bad News Gertner

07-20-2019, 03:41 PM

Why wrestle when you can bang AJ Lee all day?

Banging a ladyboi gets old after a while I guess

Mr. Nerfect

07-20-2019, 08:30 PM

Would like to see them get Punk and Tessa.

I think they would benefit themselves by working with other promotions. When Spears’ heat begins to die down, send him to MLW or something. Get someone else in. Cycle in an out.

Emperor Smeat

07-23-2019, 10:05 PM

The Sheets:

The Raw Reunion show, as expected did Raw's biggest audience of the year, with 3.09 million viewers.

The previous high of 2.92 million came on the Raw after WrestleMania. Last night's Raw was the most-watched episode of the show since April 23, 2018 ...

It was up 26 percent from last week and 11 percent from the same week last year ...

The rating is still an aberration in the sense that the best comparison number, the Raw 25th anniversary show, also bringing back all the stars from the past with a similar format, did 4.53 million viewers 18 months ago, so in a sense it tells you over 18 months they've lost 32 percent of viewers who would come back once for nostalgia purposes, and this show also had Hogan on it ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.02 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.18 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.08 million viewers

Variety, of all places, had a major story on the decline in WWE television ratings. The story was titled that basically Vince McMahon has run out of excuses as they lead into Thursday's investors conference where the second quarter numbers will be released. With WrestleMania and the Saudi Arabia show in the quarter, the theory is it should be tremendously profitable. But WWE did indicate there won't be big profits this year until quarter three, when the new TV money kicks in. They noted Raw down 20 percent and Smackdown down 17 percent year-over-year. AEW was also mentioned. (thanks to Christopher Cruise and many others)
Link: https://variety.com/2019/tv/opinion/vince-mcmahon-wwe-woes-1203273548/

The WWE stock, which was trading near $100 before they announced the first quarter numbers and then dropped signficantly, is currently trading at $69.90 as I write this. It will be very interesting to see what happens when the company reports on Thursday. The stock run up was largely based off of the new TV deals so if WWE has a bad quarter, it's very possible that the stock will drop even lower. I fully expect them to announce on Thursday that they have brought Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff in to fix the problems. I hope that the callers that get through will really press Vince on whether he will give them a legitimate chance to do so or whether he will keep overseeing things.
Dropped down by another dollar today. Took just 2 months for WWE's stocks to decline over 30% in value.

7/22 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: VINCE MCMAHON BEATS THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IN COURT

1994 - After 16 hours of deliberation, a jury finds WWF owner Vince McMahon not guilty of conspiracy to distribute steroids to wrestlers.

It was seven-year ago today that WWE presented Raw 1000, which marked the beginning of the weekly three-hour format for the show. That show in July 2012 was promoted much more than this year’s Raw Reunion but to compare to seven years ago, the three-hour episode averaged 6,040,000 viewers and the 25th Anniversary of Raw in January 2018 averaged 4,500,000.

Earllier today, Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. of the U.S. District Court Middle District of Tennessee today shot down Global Force Entertainment and Jeff Jarrett's attempt at an interlocutory appeal regarding the court's decision to to dismiss their copyright infringement claim against Anthem, the parent company of Impact Wrestling.

AAA’s show at Madison Square Garden on September 15 and their event at The Forum in Inglewood, California on October 13 will be available to purchase as live iPPVs on Fite TV.

Jushin Thunder Liger will be in action at NJPW's Super J-Cup shows, but he won't be one of the entrants in the tournament.

NJPW has announced that Liger will be wrestling in non-tournament action at all three of next month's Super J-Cup events. Liger is also being billed as the "producer" of the Super J-Cup.

Liger's matches for the shows have yet to be revealed. Liger wrestling at the events comes in advance of him retiring at the Tokyo Dome in January.

The list of participants for the Super J-Cup has also yet to be announced. The tournament will feature 16 entrants. Will Ospreay, Dragon Lee, Caristico, El Phantasmo, SHO, and YOH have been included on advertising for the tournament.

The Hashtag #GiveWWEWomenAChance has been trending on Twitter since Monday Night Raw presented last night’s Raw Reunion event, mostly centered around complaints about how little time female stars were given on last night’s USA Network special.

Last night’s Raw Reunion broadcast featured several segments devoted to promoting Becky Lynch vs. Natalya for Summerslam next month as well as Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle and Alundra Blayze (Madusa) all winning the WWE 24/7 Championship, but in short segments.

The fact the women were featured in short segments, that there were no women’s wrestling bouts last night and that Melina (in her first WWE appearance in 2011) and Jillian Hall (her first appearance since 2010) were relegated to supporting, cameo roles all factored into complaints featured under the hashtag, which began showing up last night and were trending highly in different areas as late as this morning ...

The hashtag comes on the anniversary of the week that WWE announced the first-ever all women’s WWE Evolution PPV, a follow-up to which has not been announced. This summer has been the first in several years that a Mae Young Classic Tournament has not been announced, either. This led to some complaints that the women's roster is back to where they started several years ago, which isn't exactly true.

The hashtag brings forth memories of the #GiveDivasAChance hashtag that hit the Internet in 2015 after a short women’s tag match on Raw led to droves of fans complaining about the lack of opportunities WWE’s female cast were receiving ...

WWE has not, as of yet, publicly acknowledged the response to how women were utilized on Raw.

Ric Flair was holding court at the hotel last night after the show, ordering round after round of drinks for WWE guests in a VIP area of the bar and having a slew of pizzas delivered. Flair's wife, the former Fifi the Maid in WCW, was with him.

A number of WWE NXT stars were backstage at the Raw Reunion.

Nicholas Cone, the son of referee John Cone, who held the Tag Team titles with Braun Strowman, was backstage visiting.

Maryse was backstage ...

Katie Forbes aka Chloe Hurtz in WOW was backstage with Rob Van Dam.

As noted earlier, Viceland officially announced the second season for Dark Side of the Ring today. We are told the current plan is for ten episodes ...

There will also be an episode dedicated to 1999's Brawl for All tournament in the WWF. Jim Cornette and Butterbean, among others, have already sat down with producers to discuss the WWF's lone attempt to create a shoot tournament, which resulted in scores of injuries and not much else.

The Heartbreak Kid has been part of plenty of memorable moments through the history of WWE Monday Night Raw. But it wasn't a match or a fiery promo in the middle of a heated feud that stands out to Shawn Michaels.

“If I had to pick a favorite Raw moment, and that’s very tough to do, it would be Hunter and I with and Chyna when we were wearing the Christmas thongs,” said Michaels in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “That sticks out to me because it had absolutely nothing to do with wrestling and it was so unbelievably silly. But it was our job that day, we actually called that ‘work.’ That’s still funny to me. It’s not something many people could say they do at work.”

When Seth Rollins stated WWE has the "Best pro wrestling on the planet. Period," he became the flag bearer for WWE. Since that comment, Rollins has adamantly defended the promotion he works for in the face of criticism from online fans and anyone who questions WWE's place in the wrestling landscape.

“It just felt to me nobody was standing up for WWE when we have a lot to be proud of," Rollins told TV Insider. "If taking on a leadership role is what you want to call it, it’s certainly something where I stepped forward and put my foot down...The fact I had people from different departments shoot me texts to let me know they had my back because they felt I had their back. That was cool and validating. I felt really good I was representing many people who felt the way I felt."

Rollins continued, "We try to put out the best show possible every single time. And I’m not just talking about Monday Night Raw or PPVs. I’m talking about every live event. I’m talking about every department. So, if you see a t-shirt that comes out that you don’t love, nobody is trying to put out a crappy t-shirt. Every department, everybody who is trying to do their jobs. Everybody that writes stories and gets in the ring, even if it’s two minutes to have a match. Everyone gives one thousand percent effort all the time. The expectations are just so high every single time WWE does anything that I guess there is disappointment at times because expectations are through the roof."

The Beastslayer finished by saying, “Fact is everyone loves what they’re doing and wants to be the best. That’s where all the negativity I think stems from. The fact everybody wants to be so good at it and the product to be as great as it possibly can be that it’s easy to point fingers and say, ‘Well, I can do better.’ Or say things like, ‘They’re not trying hard enough.’ Until you put yourself in a talent’s shoes or anyone’s shoes in any department. You can’t throw stones. You just don’t understand the type of work that goes into it. Just having that negative viewpoint sets a bad precedent and a tone for everybody."

Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe had to stall for time during their promo to reach the commercial break.
Vince's "no wrestling during commercials" rule seriously needs to be canned.

TPWW Frontpage:

Possible Name for WWE’s New FS1 Talk Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/possible-name-for-wwes-new-fs1-talk-show/)
AEW: Announcement Scheduled for Wednesday, TV Viewer Number Expectations (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/aew-announcement-scheduled-for-wednesday-tv-viewer-number-expectations/)
Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring Officially Renewed for 10-Episode Second Season (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/vices-dark-side-of-the-ring-officially-renewed-for-10-episode-second-season/)
Raw Reunion: Sid Vicious Cancels, Scott Hall, Bella Twins, Bray Wyatt & JoJo (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/raw-reunion-sid-vicious-cancels-scott-hall-bella-twins-bray-wyatt-jojo/)
Raw Reunion: John Cena Left Early, Rikishi & Pat Patterson Not Cleared (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/raw-reunion-john-cena-left-early-rikishi-pat-patterson-not-cleared/)
Ricochet Was Not Cleared for Raw Reunion, So Seth Rollins Took His Spot (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/ricochet-was-not-cleared-for-raw-reunion-so-seth-rollins-took-his-spot/)
Two WWE Lead Writers Were Let Go Last Week (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/two-wwe-lead-writers-were-let-go-last-week/)

Emperor Smeat

07-24-2019, 09:50 PM

The Sheets:

For the second straight week, SmackDown posted its highest viewership total since the April 16 Superstar Shake-up episode. Tuesday night's show averaged 2.162 million viewers, up two percent from last week.

There was little carryover from Monday's huge rating for Raw Reunion. SmackDown only retained 69 percent of the Raw audience, the second-lowest percentage since the show's move to Tuesday nights. Not so coincidentally, the lowest was the January 23, 2018 episode, which followed the Raw 25th anniversary show, which did over 4.5 million viewers. SmackDown followed with 2.58 million viewers that week.

For the second straight week, SmackDown had just under an eight percent drop year-over-year, the third week of the last four that the drop was in the single digits

The Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas noted that Brock Lesnar has been added to next Monday’s (July 29) episode of Raw.

Ahead of tomorrow’s second quarter earnings report, WWE stock closed today at $68.73 per share. That’s up under one percent from yesterday.
The stock price after tomorrow's fiscal report is going to be really interesting. Very little of the company has improved since the last report and its rumored WWE will officially announce the Network suffered its first major quarterly decline in the service's history.

According to a new SEC filing, WWE Executives Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, George Barrios, Kevin Dunn, Mark Kowal, and Michelle Wilson all sold WWE stock on July 22.

- Vince McMahon sold 2,627 shares at $70.23 (estimated value: $886,794.21).

- Paul Levesque (Triple H) sold 17,563 shares at $70.23 (estimated value: $1,233,449.49).

- Stephanie McMahon sold 17,681 shares at $70.23 (estimated value: $1,241,736.63).

- George Barrios sold 139,175 shares at between $69.46 to $70.62 (estimated value: $9,828,538).

- Kevin Dunn sold 68,628 shares at $70.23 (estimated value: $4,820,430.72).

- Mark Kowal sold 3,845 shares at $70.23 (estimated value: $270,034.35).

- Michelle Wilson sold 65,318 shares at $70.23 (estimated value: $4,612,757.16).

The Spirit Squad (Kenn Doane & Mike Mondo) have joined MLW and will hold an “open workout” at MLW’s TV tapings in Queens, New York tomorrow night.

The National Wrestling Alliance and Ring Of Honor have decided to part ways amicably, with Nick Aldis no longer being advertised for next month’s Summer Supercard event.

PWInsider were the first to report the split, with Dave Meltzer confirming soon after. The report also says that Dave Lagana, who has been producing pre-tapes for ROH over the last seven months, finished his commitments with the promotion this past weekend.

It was also noted in the report that Billy Corgan, president of the NWA, will be focusing on producing a weekly NWA television show following the conclusion of a Smashing Pumpkins tour later this year.
Being rumored that Corgan had been in talks with ROH for a weekly NWA show to air on ROH's HonorClub as part of the partnership but now that's out the window.

Just read your article titled "Vince McMahon will not be happy today, not at all". The news of the continuing ratings drop I know came as no surprise to you or PWI readers. You reported that USA and Fox may be getting anxious. Do you think that maybe just maybe Vince has dug a hole too deep and WWE could actually end up in REAL trouble? As a fan who has been tuned out from Raw & Smackdown for quite some time now, it'll take good word of mouth over a period of time for me to commit to tuning back in. I think it'll be the same for many fans who have left. The networks may not have the patience!

To be fair, Variety reported that the networks were getting anxious. Here's the deal, as far as I know there isn't an out clause in the TV deals. As long as there isn't one, WWE has years to turn things around. Even if there is some kind of clause, getting over two million viewers for the shows in 2019 is still good value for the price paid. The key is for WWE to stop the bleeding and start to build the foundation to get people back. It took a long time for them to all leave, and it will take a while to get them back, if they CAN get them back.
From PWI's weekly Q&A article. Found it really interesting that FOX doesn't have an opt out clause for their Smackdown deal. Even NBC had one when they got RAW back for USA Network and why WWE stuff stopped airing on their network after a while due to low ratings.

WWE Japan announced that they have made a donation of 193,947 Yen to the Yoshihiro Takayama 'Takayamania' Foundation. This was set up during the WWE Japan tour last month where fans were able to make donations. The foundation was created to assist Takayama and his family with costs relating to his injuries.

Takayama, 52 years old, has been paralyzed from the neck down after suffering an injury in May 2017 while wrestling in Osaka, Japan for DDT.

On Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Charlotte Flair hinted she would have a match at SummerSlam to prove she is the greatest of all-time and called herself the ‘Queen of All Eras’.

We can confirm through multiple sources that Charlotte Flair is scheduled to face Trish Stratus at SummerSlam on Sunday, August 11th in Toronto.

Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet was the first to report that the two sides were in talks and POST Wrestling can confirm that the match is happening.

On this day in 2013, Paige defeated Emma on NXT TV to become the first-ever NXT Women's Champion.

Hijo del Fantasma says he has three more matches left as an independent (last 08/04 in Monterrey for NLL), and then he's moving onto a new adventure.

But who does Austin consider to be at the top of the wrestling mountain? None other than the 16-time World Champion.

"[Ric Flair] is the absolute greatest of all-time to ever lace-up a pair of boots and the greatest world champion of all-time," Austin told TMZ Sports. "Hulk Hogan was such a huge name in putting wrestling on the map and taking it to the heights that he did but Ric Flair is someone that I hold near and dear to me. Many people know Ric better than I do but we've become such good friends and I have such admiration for him. I've been down in the dumps too and I've had guys reach out to me and it's helped me when I've been in a bad time. Any kind of support that I can be there for Ric, I'm glad and proud to be his friend. I wish him nothing but the best. He's a very special human being. They broke the mold when they made that guy."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AXS is not interested in exploring a buyout with Anthem. Things appear very unstable at Anthem Media. Employees on edge.</p>— Fight Oracle (@fightoracle) <a href="https://twitter.com/fightoracle/status/1154013182274560000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Forgot to mention ... AXS declining interest from Impact/Anthem is the reason for the Twitch press release. An attempt to save face. The timing is no coincidence.</p>— Fight Oracle (@fightoracle) <a href="https://twitter.com/fightoracle/status/1154020393360986115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Notes on Eric Bischoff’s First SmackDown, John Cena’s Girlfriend (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-notes-on-eric-bischoffs-first-smackdown-john-cenas-girlfriend/)
Impact’s Parent Company Reportedly Trying to Buy AXS TV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/impacts-parent-company-reportedly-trying-to-buy-axs-tv/)
New, Re-Designed WWE Network Launching This Week (Screenshots & Video) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/new-re-designed-wwe-network-launching-this-week-screenshots-video/)
Jungle Boy Pays Tribute to His Late Father, Luke Perry (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/jungle-boy-pays-tribute-to-his-late-father-luke-perry/)

Emperor Smeat

07-25-2019, 10:08 PM

The Sheets:

Prior to their investors' call Thursday morning, WWE released their 2019 Q2 numbers, showing a year-over-year decrease in revenue to $268.9 million and 1.69 million average paid WWE Network subscribers.

They attributed the 5% year over year decrease from $281.6 million to declines in their media, live events, and consumer products divisions.

WWE highlighted the following quarterly highlights in their release:

- $17.1 million operating income, down from $21.2 million in last year's Q2.

- $34.6 million adjusted OBIDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization) which was higher than they previously forecasted for ...

- Network subscribers were down 6% and they expect a further drop in Q3 to 1.53 million average paid subscribers, saying they do not expect a record number of subscribers this year.

- A 17% increase in digital video views to 9 billion and a 22% increase in consumed hours to 324 million hours across digital platforms. Those are assumed to include YouTube and other social media platforms and not just WWE Network ...

- They pointed to June for improvements in year over year decline of both Raw/SmackDown TV ratings and live attendance ...

- Average North American attendance was 5800, down 2%. Average international attendance was 4900, a 14% decrease.

- Merchandise sales were down 13% year over year to $23.1 million, attributed to lower online sales, lower toy product royalties, and less live events to sell merchandise at.
Stock market ended up being happy for some strange reason and WWE stocks rose to $75.83 afterwards.

George Barrios said today on the WWE Second Quarter earnings call that for the month of July, Raw's audience share is up. In a Greg Brady kind of way (for those who aren't aware, it's a classic moment from The Brady Bunch), it's true. But, there's a caveat. If you look at the first three weeks of the month, they were actually down over 9% from 2018 ...

When you add in this week's shows, the numbers change. Last year Raw did 2,780,000 while Monday's show did 3,093,000 viewers. Of course, this year we had the Raw Reunion nostalgia show, which was designed to bring back lapsed viewers. And it worked, but it also allowed WWE to make a point that things were turning around that went unchallenged on the call.

Major League Wrestling has entered into an official working relationship with Japan’s Pro Wrestling NOAH, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The relationship will be announced officially in the days ahead.

The Austin, Texas-based Wrestlecircus group has canceled its 7/28 date. Owner Al Lenhart sent an email to those booked on the show apologizing, stating that he was shutting down and was done with wrestling. The promotion has not announced the cancellation but a number of talents booked forwarded the email announcing the cancellation privately.

WWE Network News is reporting today's WWE Network "Hidden Gem" selection for today is the April 19, 1985 Pro Wrestling USA Show from East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Meadowlands. The description reads as follows:

Pro Wrestling USA 04/19/1985 – Meadowlands Mayhem [Duration: 01:54:41]
Sgt. Slaughter battles Kamala in a Ugandan Death Match, while Larry Zbyszko tangles with Bob Backlund in this Pro Wrestling USA spectacular.

The term Wednesday Night Dynamite was never used in the release and only All Elite Wrestling, but Tony Khan said that All Elite Wrestling would not be the name of the television show. It is believed the show name will be announced in the next week or two. Dynamite is a possibility but there are other names being test marketed ...

The 10/2 date means it will go head-to-head with major league baseball playoffs, which are likely for at least three of the four Wednesdays up through 10/23 including the World Series on the latter date. There is a National League playoff game on 10/2, an American League playoff game on 10/16, and the second game of the World Series is 10/23. If there is a seventh game of the World Series, it would be on 10/30. But all wrestling in October will have major baseball competition.

It’s also not a secret that WWE is looking to counter program this show with an FS 1 airing of NXT. Whether that show would be one hour or two hours, or live or taped, is not known. The talks are serious enough that in a FOX call to Northeastern affiliates last week, they brought up that possibility ...

It should be noted that FS 1 had a contract to air Big East basketball on Wednesday nights, so there may be a scheduling issue in the early months. The idea of NXT on FS 2 would be counter productive since the goal is to beat AEW in ratings with a developmental show, not to draw lower numbers than AEW.

AEW would have the advantage of being on a much stronger station that is also available in more homes.

TNT is in about 89 million homes as compared to 82 million for FS 1 and 57 million for FS 2.

Among WWE plans for the show, if the deal is done, would be to have more main roster talents appear on NXT, but it would not be a haven for main roster talents. The idea right now is a few guys here and there and not to have them dominate the show. Even though A.J. Styles made a remark to Shawn Michaels about he knows he’s in NXT, which some felt was leading to the O.C. going to NXT for a program, we were told that was not the current plan. Of course, all plans will change greatly as time comes closer and in particular, after the early ratings come in.

While we’ve heard nothing official on this, one idea that has been floated from both the AEW and TNT side has been to air the U.S. debut of “Omegaman,” the TSN in Canada documentary on Kenny Omega, as a promotion vehicle for the launch in some form and to expose Omega to a wider audience as a top superstar. The documentary is very strong in Omega coming across as someone who can carry a promotion, but the flip side is much of the documentary focuses on the Omega & Kota Ibushi Golden Lovers tag team, and there is no movement at all right now regarding Ibushi working for AEW. At this point it seems like it’s something that has been brought up, but I don’t know the odds of it happening are particularly good.

Fyter Fest ended up being the second biggest event ever on B/R Live. The only event the service has ever had that added more subscribers was the day they did the Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson golf head-to-head match this past November

The goal right now is to run 100 to 120 live events per year, probably four PPVs, 51 television shows and many Saturday night house shows and on occasion more than one house show a week, but with the idea that in spreading the talent out, the top talent does maybe 75 matches, a number hopeful to keep their ability to work great matches high, since that’s probably more of a key goal is high match quality on top as compared with any other promotion

SummerSlam has been updated with six official matches as well as one other confirmed, and likely several more to be added over the next few weeks ...

The other name from the past originally advertised for the show, The Undertaker, is not going to be there at least as of right now. He was never on the list of matches even though Undertaker vs. Drew McIntyre was the only match being advertised in the market prior to the Extreme Rules show. You have to always remember that WWE, for whatever reason, believes that they have no compunction to deliver advertised matches they do for the local market. It still boggles my mind how they do this regularly and because it’s wrestling, it’s acceptable ...

Bray Wyatt, in his new character, The Fiend, will face Finn Balor ... This would seem to be a program that can lead to Balor’s split personality of The Demon coming out. The last we were told, Balor was not doing this match as The Demon, but it would seem that at some point down the road it would be logical.

They haven’t done interviews for Benoit but the names they were hoping for were the first ones I would have picked, Sandra Toffoloni (the sister of Nancy Benoit who knows the case better than anyone), Chris Jericho (who has studied the case harder than any pro wrestler because he considered Chris Benoit his best friend in wrestling at one time), Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Who Benoit was close with, often traveled with, and who Benoit texted that weekend), Michael (Chris’ father) and David (Chris’ son from a first marriage) Benoit. They either have or will talk to Bravo’s widow soon for that piece. Brawl for All looks to be a certainty as a topic and they have already talked to Bart Gunn for that story. A piece on Jimmy Snuka has also been discussed
In regards to current plans for season 2 of Viceland's Dark Side of the Ring series.

Dr. Michael Sampson, who was a longtime WWE doctor and the guy who saved Jerry Lawler’s life, is the head physician at AEW

The Saudi Arabia show is back to its original date on 11/1 in Riyadh at King Saud University Stadium ... So now it’s back to a situation where there is going to be a PPV on a Friday afternoon, and a few hours later there will be a live Smackdown from the Prudential Center in Newark, unless the decision is made to tape Smackdown that Monday or move the Newark show to Tuesday that week and tape Smackdown ahead of time.

One way they could manage is promote the Friday show in Newark as an all-women’s Smackdown show. That would at least take the place of the Evolution PPV that for whatever reason isn’t on the schedule this year. They could heavily promote it as an all-women’s Smackdown, the first time ever and could use that to offset the obvious criticism of them running if Saudi Arabia doesn’t allow the women to come ...

I really don’t know why they didn’t schedule an Evolution show this year and it is still possible they could but it’s not on the schedule.

Last year’s show was considered a huge success as far as a show itself goes. Business-wise, it did sell out the Nassau Coliseum even though it was a slower moving ticket than usual and the secondary market tanked ...

There is the feeling that without Ronda Rousey they didn’t want to risk an all-women’s PPV show, but that doesn’t matter if it’s a television show. We’re told that it being back on the same day as a TV taping, which is the plan right now so they aren’t planning on moving TV up at this point. As far as how all of this is handled, we’re told that is so far in advance that no discussions have taken place

Paul Levesque met with officials from Dragon Gate when he was in Japan. WWE officials have also met with Stardom officials. So that tells you Japan is more of a target. Australia is also a major target right now as they have been actively recruiting all the top wrestlers there. Robbie Eagles, who many consider the best guy, is under a New Japan deal and Gino Gambino has been announcing for New Japan and is a member of Bullet Club but no word if he’s got a deal there

Corbin was the first performer in WWE this year to hit 100 matches. At press time, he’s got 20 wins and 80 losses. Others with the most matches are Scott Dawson with 96 (which includes two matches on most shows in recent weeks the way they’ve been booking the tag title at house shows), Dash Wilder with 95, Kofi Kingston with 95 and Ricochet with 90

The most notable name people asked about not being there was Bret Hart. Hart was asked, but declined. Some thought his being on the AEW show made him a persona non grata, and I’m certain they weren’t thrilled he was, but he was invited. He said that he’s loving the summer in Calgary and didn’t want to miss one day of it. He wasn’t taking any appearances this summer because of that, and won’t be until August. He’s in a unique position in life that he can do what he wants in life and has no need to do anything he doesn’t want to at this stage

Regarding the 10/4 Smackdown debut on FOX in Los Angeles, the hoped for big hook would be Dwayne Johnson there live. At this point he has not committed to doing the show but that is something talked about

Some have thought Balor would enter the club. Of course anything is possible at some point but right now there are no plans in that direction. There are actually no plans with Balor after SummerSlam since he’s leaving on a two-month sabbatical at that time

Even though during the DX vs. The O.C. angle on Raw Styles made a remark about knowing you’re at NXT to Michaels, right now there are no plan for Styles, Gallows and Anderson to invade NXT.

At this point, at least for now, there are no plans for The Street Profits to do anything but what they are doing on Raw, meaning no plans for them to wrestle at this time on Raw. By wearing the NXT tag titles in all of their segments, while this is not the main reason they’re on the show, it is considered an advertisement for NXT and that if you like them and want to see them, that NXT is where you see them wrestle
Didn't take long before WWE started messing up Heyman's plans since I doubt he actually wanted them to do nothing on the main roster.

TPWW Frontpage:

Impact TV Update: Potential Bad News as Talks With AXS TV May Have Failed (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/impact-tv-update-potential-bad-news-as-talks-with-axs-tv-may-have-failed/)
WWE: SmackDown Re-Written By Vince, Why Corey Graves Missed SD, HBK Not Wrestling (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-smackdown-re-written-by-vince-why-corey-graves-missed-sd-hbk-not-wrestling/)
Vince McMahon Says WWE Will Stay “PG,” Won’t Have “Blood and Guts” Like AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/vince-mcmahon-says-wwe-will-stay-pg-wont-have-blood-and-guts-like-aew/)
CM Punk Says AEW Made Him an Offer Last Month, Talks the Probability of His Future in Wrestling (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/cm-punk-says-aew-made-him-an-offer-last-month-talks-the-probability-of-his-future-in-wrestling/)
WWE Network Launching Free & Premium Tiers Over the Next Few Months (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-network-launching-free-premium-tiers-over-the-next-few-months/)
Jimmy Uso Arrested for DUI (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/jimmy-uso-arrested-for-dui/)

Tom Guycott

07-25-2019, 11:38 PM

LOL the Observer is reporting that Bischoff will actually have no involvement in SmackDown creative and his role is mostly just to maintain the relationship with FOX.

Sooooooooo?

Eric Bischoff is really a front man for SmackDown?

So who's really the shot caller?

Well, that Bruce Pritchard news dried up. Maybe he's the actual Smackdown "intermediary" for Vince.

Also, that "no real power" thing might not be bad pending on the amount of money thrown at him. WWE has broadened the scope of their toy collection, and I'm sure Easy E isn't nearly as sore as some of the boys about getting a fat paycheck for basically nothing... especially if the rumor is true about basically hiring the man to keep him away from AEW.

I mean, if someone backed a Brinks truck up your house, would you say "But, I wasn't really interested in working there" or would you leave WWE up to their suppositions and just laugh to yourself all the way to the bank? It can't be peanuts being paid if it warranted a relocation.

Emperor Smeat

07-26-2019, 09:49 PM

The Sheets:

Pensacola, FL, TV station WEAR-TV released more information from the police report regarding Jimmy Uso's arrest Thursday morning for DUI and an unlawful speeding citation ...

After the deputy pulled Fatu over, he noted Fatu had issues holding his license, registration, and proof of insurance. He had bloodshot and watery eyes, droopy eyelids, dilated pupils, and slow/slurred speech according to the deputy.

The deputy said he could smell an alcoholic beverage from the driver side window and asked Fatu several times to step out of the car. When he did, he appeared to be unsteady and the deputy asked him to ride with him to a flat parking lot to do a field sobriety test. Fatu agreed and then was reportedly confused and didn't know what was happening, asking if he needed a lawyer and if he was being detained.

According to the report, Fatu took out his phone and attempted to put it toward the deputy's face. At that point, he was arrested for DUI and became uncooperative, eventually getting into the police vehicle after being asked several times.

Fatu said he was uncomfortable with the police vehicle and wanted to speak with another deputy. The arresting officer said he had to roll down his back windows due to the overwhelming smell of alcohol in the car.

WWE stock closed the week at $75.99 per share, which was up an additional 1.75 percent from yesterday’s gains.

Wrestle Circus confirmed that their show that was scheduled for Sunday has been canceled and announced that the promotion is shutting down for good.

It looks like with the desktop/browser version of the WWE Network is a little different than its other versions. The main difference is search, it appears that when you search content you not only get content from the streaming platform but WWE.com as well. So it looks like it's become the master search. The top of the website is even adorned with the same menu items as you see on the streaming players.
Besides issues with missing content as part of the new design, seems its also a lot less accessible for those with certain disabilities according to Post Wrestling. Link: https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/26/wwe-networks-accessibility-foibles-for-blind-and-visually-impaired-users/

There has been major media coverage of Dwayne Johnson showing his support of protesters who are against the construction of the TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) that has been slated to be built at the base of Mauna Kea. The $1.4 billion project has been protestant since 2015. The native Hawaiians say the mountain is sacred. Johnson and his family have a long history in Hawaii going back to the Great One's grandfather and grandmother who ran Hawaii as a promotion.

Brandon Thurston, who was our guest on the Café Hangout Thursday, has an extensive breakdown at Fightful of the WWE’s earnings report and second-quarter report. Of note, is the WWE’s disclosure in the Key Performance Indicators regarding the paid attendance for this past year’s WrestleMania at MetLife Stadium. While the company announced 82,265, the paid number was closer to 63,000. Based on the KPI, you can arrive at a range of at least 60,399 and no more than 65,547 as the paid number. The show did a gate of $16.9 million, which is the second-highest in history behind WrestleMania 32 from AT&T Stadium in April 2016.

One person within the company noted to us that the reason Daniel Bryan was off television this week was that he had vacation time. They do have a program scheduled for Bryan, but he was never set for television this week despite the tease on the website preview for SmackDown.

Recently The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling welcomed to the podcast WWE RAW and Smackdown LIVE commentator, "The Savior of Mis-Behavior" Corey Graves. Corey Graves joins the show to tell us all about his clothing line collaboration "The Stay Down" Collection with FATAL Clothing. In this revealing interview, Graves holds nothing back about the current happenings in WWE to include the recent Executive additions to both RAW and Smackdown Live as well as the comments made by Seth Rollins to the rest of the pro wrestling world about WWE's stature as the top dogs in the industry ...

Where does WWE go from here?

"I am going to give you a weird analogy and I don't know if it is a good one or not. Even Disney every once in a while turns out a movie that sucks. It doesn't sink Disney and people don't stop loving Mickey Mouse, they go that movie sucked and I won't see it again and Disney says well that movie sucked and we need to make the next one better. WWE is not going anywhere and I'm excited for the state of the business. I like that the business is heating up and I don't want to call it competition yet but it is something healthy and respectable and I say the word “yet” with that being the operative word and I hope the best for everybody and I think the best thing that could happen for everyone is competition. When everyone has to be on their toes all the time nobody is complacent, everyone is at their best all the time and the only people who really win is the fans. I lived through the Monday Night Wars and just to tell you the entire time they were going on I was never not at my house on a Monday night from 8pm to 11pm my entire high school career and beyond."

AEW's Luchusaurus was recently interviewed by Wrestling Epicenter's Interactive Wrestling Radio. You can see the full interview at this link, and submitted highlights below.

Being murdered/killed off on Lucha Underground Season 4:
"Well, it wasn't supposed to happen. What had happened is I had a match I was really happy with against Johnny (Impact) Mundo. It was kind of the culmination of everything I was working towards for 2 years between season tapings. Then, the next night I do a run in, freak accident, I tear my bicep getting clotheslined out of the ring. So, they had to cover. So, they killed me off. They were going to bring the character back if there was another season. But, it was really disappointing to be killed off right when I felt I was at the height of my career with Lucha Underground. But, it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because my entire style in the ring changed after that and I started to incorporate what I do now which is more martial arts and I've become known for a lot of the kicks that I do. It has kind of set me apart a little bit. It is one of the reasons AEW is interested. I couldn't really train the way that I had been training. So, I started kicking, learning the drills until I perfected it. It just opened up new pathways in the ring for me."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I would think so <a href="https://t.co/zAVIAJlF3l">https://t.co/zAVIAJlF3l</a></p>— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1154641096867057664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: WWE Hires Important ROH Producer/Director, MJF on Jericho Podcast (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/various-wwe-hires-important-roh-producer-director-mjf-on-jericho-podcast/)
WWE: Why Maria & Mike Missed 205 Live, WWE Network Updates, Stone Cold’s Beer (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-why-maria-mike-missed-205-live-wwe-network-updates-stone-colds-beer/)
Cody Responds to CM Punk Comments, Says He Wouldn’t Be Surprised if Punk Went Back to WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/cody-responds-to-cm-punk-comments-says-he-wouldnt-be-surprised-if-punk-went-back-to-wwe/)

Emperor Smeat

07-30-2019, 10:16 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night did 2.32 million viewers, the lowest figure since the Paul Heyman regime began.

The number was going to be down greatly from last week because of how Raw Reunion was going to be a number that couldn't be duplicated this year. The drop was 25 percent. But it was also down five percent from the show two weeks earlier.

There is a mixed bag regarding the show itself. The first hour started low -- not a good sign after such a high number the prior week. But it held up better than usual with only a 7.2 percent first-to-third hour drop ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.41 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.32 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.23 million viewers

Marko Stunt is the latest addition to the AEW roster.

Stunt announced today that he's officially signed with AEW: "It’s my 23rd birthday, and I can’t think of another way to celebrate, than by announcing something huge! I would like to announce that I have OFFICIALLY signed with @AEWrestling! Thank you to everyone who has supported me, and everyone at AEW! This is just the beginning"

During a media conference call on Monday, Becky Lynch spoke to POST Wrestling’s Wai Ting about her initial apprehensions regarding WWE’s use of her real-life romance with Seth Rollins in a storyline against Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin ahead of Extreme Rules:

Honestly, I was very apprehensive. Just because… I don’t know that… I don’t know that we needed to see… What I didn’t want was everybody talking about the relationship. What I wanted was two bad asses, two people at the top of their game fighting side-by-side. Not for the world to be reminded every five minutes that this is Becky Lynch’s boyfriend or that’s Seth Rollins’ girlfriend. Which, of course, they didn’t do. They were the masters of subtlety.

ROH and CMLL are partnering together for a three-show tour this September.

It was announced today that the Global Wars Espectacular tour will take place across three days in September. It will begin in Dearborn, Michigan on Friday, September 6. The tour will then continue in Villa Park, Illinois on Saturday, September 7 and then conclude in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday, September 8.

Legendary World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champions Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin sit down at the 2019 Raw Reunion to record an episode of Austin’s self-titled PodcastOne show. During the interview, Hogan reminisces on the feeling of selling out arenas in the 80’s, the events that led to a major smackdown between Hogan and his tag team partner, Randy Savage, and the timeline behind being recruited by the infamous Eddie Graham. Below is an excerpt from the episode, available now on PodcastOne and Apple Podcasts.

On Hogan’s Fight with Randy Savage:

Hogan: “When I first met Randy, man, he was the best at everything. I loved working with him. The only really b*tch we had was in Paris, France one night… Elizabeth [Savage’s wife at the time] was my manager, and we went to the ring in Paris. There were no steps. Elizabeth was probably 95 or 100 pounds soaking wet. So, I reached over the top rope - reached all the way over where she’s standing next to me - and grabbed her by the armpits, picked her all the way up - she had a dress on - and put her in the ring. [Randy said,] ‘You son of a b*tch you grabbed her boobs…We walk up and he grabs a headlock on me, but he puts that side headlock on me. I’m hanging in - I’m hanging in there - and I didn’t want my eyeball to pop out, so I grab his waist and I squeezed. ‘Randy, if you don’t let go, I’m going to dump you on your head.’ He was so pissed at me. The match sucked. We had a horrible match…We went back to the dressing room in Paris, and I walked in. I said, ‘Randy, we need to talk right now.’ I reached to open the door, and when I pulled the door, I ripped it off the hinges. The door was so old and so rotted by termites...So, me and Randy went in the back and [he said] ‘Hey, man, I’m sorry I got mad.’ I said, ‘Randy, I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to touch her inappropriately – there were no steps.’ But I think the door is the thing that kind of cooled everything down, it was hanging on by a thread.”
Once again, Macho was right about Hogan having the "jealous eyes" for Miss Elizabeth.

If WWE's YouTube banner can be believed, we are getting a one hour Summerslam Kickoff this year instead of the two hour broadcast we have seen in the past.

I also noticed that WWE began uploading the Raw clips on YouTube during the third hour of the show. Before, segments would usually appear on the YouTube channel within a half-hour of the East Coast airing. As previously discussed many times on the site, I wouldn't be surprised if USA Network didn't ask WWE to delay the videos to maximize live viewing.

With the expected drop from the Raw Reunion, there was a drop in the amount of wrestling by 25 minutes from last week ...

Only officially announced 24/7 Title Matches will be considered for this column.

Here is a breakdown of the matches on each show broadcasted this past week:

WWE Raw
* none

WWE Smackdown
* Ember Moon versus Charlotte Flair: 1 Minute

205 Live
* none (no women's division)

WWE NXT
* Bianca Belair versus Xia Li: 3 Minutes
* Io Shirai versus Kacy Catanzaro: 1 Minute

WWE NXT UK
* Jinny, Jazzy Gabbert, and Kay Lee Ray versus Toni Storm, Piper Niven, and Xia Brookside: 8 Minutes

WWE Main Event
* Naomi versus Sarah Logan: 5 Minutes
If it wasn't for NXT UK and Main Event, last week would have been a total disaster for women's wrestling in WWE in terms of ring time. Making things worse was last week was the 1 year anniversary of WWE officially announcing their first ever all-women's event Evolution.

WWE is advertising a 6 pm Eastern start time for the SummerSlam kickoff show on Sunday, August 11th. This would mean the kickoff show will be one hour as opposed to the usual two for a big four event. It would also indicate fewer matches unless they plan to have the show run later than usual. I think this is a smart move as the big four events have become marathons to get through and the kickoff show being cut in half is a sign that ease of viewing is a priority compared to the “number of hours consumed”. The main portion of SummerSlam is still listed for a 7 pm start.

Santino Marella is coming to DDT Pro Wrestling.

Anthony Carelli, or better known by some as former two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella will be making his debut for DDT Pro Wrestling at the promotion's 'Summer Vacation: Memories Of 2019' show on August 25th at Korakuen Hall.

On the B Block side, everyone is mathematically alive but if Moxley defeated Yano that would eliminate Jeff Cobb, Tetsuya Naito, Taichi, and Shingo Takagi. So, Moxley is probably due for a loss and Yano gets the big upset win over the undefeated leader of the block.

A number of people have noted that ICW from Scotland appears on the WWE Network when you search for it, as well as a weekly show "Fight Club" as a series. Both are locked at the moment. It appears this is getting ready for the new content that will appear on a more expensive tier when they start the three-tiered network.

TPWW Frontpage:

Vince McMahon Calls for SmackDown Re-Write Again, New Match Announced (Updated) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/vince-mcmahon-calls-for-smackdown-re-write-again-new-match-announced/)
First Match Announced for AEW on TNT Debut (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/first-match-announced-for-aew-on-tnt-debut/)
SummerSlam Rumors & Card: Mask vs. Hair? Submission Match, New Match Added (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/summerslam-rumors-card-mask-vs-hair-submission-match-new-match-added/)
WWE: Paul Heyman’s Influence on Raw, Main Event Results (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/wwe-paul-heymans-influence-on-raw-main-event-results/)
AEW: Britt Baker Injury Update, Blink-182 in AEW Video (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/aew-britt-baker-injury-update-blink-182-in-aew-video/)

Emperor Smeat

07-31-2019, 09:52 PM

The Sheets:

After a night in which Raw had its poorest showing since mid-June, SmackDown ratings fell 12 percent for Tuesday night's episode. The show averaged 1.911 million viewers after two straight weeks over the two million mark.

Despite going up against the first night of this week's Democratic Party debates, SmackDown retained the usual 82 percent of the Monday night audience. The debate dominated the cable TV news ratings while averaging almost nine million viewers on CNN ...

The show fell over 20 percent from the same week in 2018, a similar drop to what Monday's Raw suffered. It will be interesting to see if the Roman Reigns cliffhanger leads to an increase next week.

After being set up at Fyter Fest, Cody Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears is now official for All Out.

Episode three of the Road to All Out featured a contract signing for Cody vs. Spears. Tully Blanchard, who is managing Spears, had it stipulated that Cody and Spears will each only be allowed to have one person in their corner for the match ...

Tully Blanchard was revealed as Spears' manager on the first Road to All Out episode.

WWE and 2K Sports released the first two screenshots for WWE 2K20 today, with the screenshots featuring Brock Lesnar and Bayley. The cover of WWE 2K20, game footage, and more information will be revealed on Monday.
Links: https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/1156565209718259712, https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/1156576210878513152

IDW Comics' Jim Cornette Presents: Behind the Curtain—Real Pro Wrestling Stories by Jim Cornette, Brandon Easton & Denis Medri has been officially released. The graphic novel's promotional material notes, "Pro-Wrestling's secrets and greatest moments are immortalized in this graphic novel from legendary wrestling personality Jim Cornette. A true-story style anthology, these insider tales will show the lengths that wrestlers went to uphold "kayfabe" (the old carny term for the presentation of legitimate conflict), as well as the noteworthy cultural, racial, and economic effects these events and characters had on society. This is the graphic novel that old school wrestling fans have been waiting their entire lives for: a no-holds-barred representation of the moments that wrestling insiders couldn't talk about for years."

LAX are advertised for the 8/15 and 8/16 Impact tapings in Mexico City at Frontón México Centro de Entretenimiento. Their current deals are slated to expire at the end of August. They have not agreed to a new deal with Impact as of this writing. Also advertised for the Mexico tapings are Impact Champion Brian Cage, Knockouts Champion Taya, Rhino, Konnan, Rob Van Dam, Moose, Tessa Blanchard, TJP, and Tenille Dashwood.

WWE NXT star Karen Q underwent surgery this morning to repair her broken ankle.

Q suffered the injury over the weekend while working the Atlanta live event.

There is no word yet how long she will be out of the ring.

MLW is teasing Kevin Von Erich will be appearing at their 9/7 debut in Dallas, which is being built around Marshall and Ross Von Erich and the first-ever War Chamber match, which looks to be The Von Erichs & Low Ki & Tom Lawlor vs. CONTRA Unit. Timothy Thatcher and Davey Boy Smith Jr. are also set for that show.

Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch did an interview with talkSPORT. The Man had the following comments on whether she sees a second Evolution pay-per-view happening, "Oh, absolutely! First and foremost, it was one of the best pay-per-views of the year. And that’s not me being biased, that’s a fact,” Lynch confidently stated. “It had Match of the Year on it, including yours truly. Absolutely, I don’t see any reason why not. I think we have a strong enough women’s division [without Rousey], as long as they tell the stories around us and let us go. And… that’s all I’ll say.”

THE GREAT 'ROWDY' RODDY PIPER PASSES AWAY: 7/31 THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2015 - One of the greatest performers and talkers in the history of professional wrestling, Rowdy Roddy Piper, passed away at the age of 61 from cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, CA.

It was announced on today's episode of NXT UK that Tyler Bate will challenge WALTER for the NXT UK Title at TakeOver: Cardiff. Bate returned from a month-long absence to go after WALTER and the rest of Imperium. After the brawl, Sid Scala made the NXT Title bout official for Aug. 31.

Fightful has learned a little more news on some current WWE injuries.

We mentioned last week that Bobby Lashley had been sidelined with an undisclosed injury. While we don't specifically know the injury in question, WWE internally has him listed as being out well into the fall. On a recent list that Fightful Select was able to see, they have Bobby Lashley with a November 2 return date.

Jeff Hardy, who has been sidelined with knee issues, is also listed to return on November 2. The list also featured the names of Peyton Royce and Ricochet who have since been cleared.

Jinder Mahal's patella injury has him listed as a "January 1" return. He'd just signed a new five-year deal ahead of the injury. Previous reports had indicated a possible return at the end of the year.

Tamina, who suffered a concussion, is listed as "TBD." Based on the listing we saw, Ronda Rousey and Jason Jordan were both listed as much of the same.

Throughout the Monday Night Wars, one match fans clamored for was Hulk Hogan against Steve Austin. The bout would have pitted the top two stars in their respective companies and two of the biggest box office attractions of all-time against each other. When WCW went out of business and Hogan returned to WWE in 2002, the dream match looked possible.

However, Hogan ended up working with The Rock at WrestleMania X-8 while Austin battled Scott Hall. In the end, Hogan and Austin never met in singles competition.

On the latest episode of his podcast, Austin talked with Hogan about why the match never came together.

"I was in such a different headspace when that window of opportunity presented itself. Sometimes I kick myself in the ass over it. I was so frazzled towards the end and was just in a bad space. It never happened. And it should have happened. I think if we could have just got in a room, you and I, and just talked," said Austin. "[When you came to WCW], I remember, I'm up-and-coming and here comes the biggest attraction in the history of the business to WCW and I'm thinking, 'Great, here comes the top attraction and now I'm another notch down the ladder.' I always had this grudge against you because you were the guy. How am I going to overtake [you] when I can't even get past midcard status? It was a competitive grudge. [When you came back to WWE], if we had ever got into a room, we probably could have done business together. That's one of the biggest regrets off my career outside of not showing up against Brock [Lesnar]. I would have loved to work a program with you."

TPWW Frontpage:

Rumors: Ziggler Not Actually Facing Miz? New SmackDown Cameras, Ali vs. Nakamura (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/rumors-ziggler-not-actually-facing-miz-new-smackdown-cameras-ali-vs-nakamura/)
Omega & Bucks vs. Jericho & Mystery Partners Announced for AEW on TNT Debut (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/omega-bucks-vs-jericho-mystery-partners-announced-for-aew-on-tnt-debut/)
Updated NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Tournament Standings and Results (https://www.tpww.net/2019/07/updated-njpw-g1-climax-2019-tournament-standings-and-results-3/)

Emperor Smeat

08-02-2019, 05:28 AM

Sorry for the delay for Thursdays news. Took a nap in the evening that was supposed to be short but ended up being several hours instead.

Anyhow, here are The Sheets:

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be doing a show tomorrow night on Harley Race. There is so much to say about him. The NWA did a nice video of Nick Aldis talking about him and I'm sure there will be many others. Race epitomized blue collar pro wrestling, just a tough guy who did believable interviews and was a master performer inside the ring. An ironic part about Race is some modern fans who hear old-timers complain about using too many finishers and them not being finishes, nobody did that move than Race. It was always funny that he'd use every finishing of the 70s even in his TV squash matches, including piledrivers, and then job guy would kick out of all of them until he'd win with his delayed vertical suplex. A few people grumbled about it then, but not many. And in title matches, he did it even more. He was exceptional at the art of beating someone while elevating them at the same time. When he'd face the upcoming athletic young babyface as champion, he'd win at the end, but give them so much offense against the world champion that people left with the idea that in a few years that guy was going to be something. When Don Muraco first came to Florida in 1974, I can recall he and Race having a classic where Muraco came within a hair of beating Race, who was not the world champion at the time, but as a former champion and perennial top contender, was protected in booking and it was matches with Race and Jack Brisco that made Muraco into a babyface people thought would be world champion some day. You can now substitute Muraco with literally every top young wrestler of that era and the story was identical.

Crowbar Press is releasing what looks to be a major historical book in English called "The Rikidozan Years." Japanese historians Koji Miyamoto and Haruo Yamaguchi put this book together with Scott Teal, with more than 300 photos and coverage of 978 different live events. Rikidozan was the single most important and influential pro wrestler of the 20th century, bar none,and that includes Santo (who was more beloved and a bigger cultural figure, but not as influential). For more info go to http://www.crowbarpress.com/index.html

MLW announced the signing of Douglas James. He is a pro wrestler with a background in Jiu Jitsu under Eddie Bravo and MMA and has been a regular in California for a few years. He debuts on he 9/7 show in Dallas at the NYTEX Sports Center.

It's been a big couple of weeks for Kiera Hogan as she revealed on July 20 that she is in a relationship with former IMPACT knockout Diamante. Now, she's signed a new multi-year deal with IMPACT Wrestling.

British promotion Defiant Wrestling, which originally opened its doors in 2016 as WCPW, has now shut down. The company made it official on Twitter.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s second quarter numbers largely exemplified the pattern that the company will continue going forward. Financially, things look great. The company will set profit records starting with the third quarter and particularly quarter four on top due to the new television deals with USA and FOX. But product popularity continues to fall, slowly but steadily. Every legitimate measure of popularity is down, network subs, house shows, merchandise, PPV, licensing and television ratings.

The only revenue segment up is worldwide rights fees for Raw and Smackdown, which by contract escalate each year. Even television advertising revenue is down ...

While Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff were never mentioned by name, McMahon talked about the change, which Wall Street has responded well to. The belief still in Wall Street, except in a few circles, is that Vince McMahon is the genius who runs wrestling and nobody else can. The idea is that with Heyman and Bischoff doing more of the grunt work, that McMahon will spend more time focusing on the big picture and long-term storytelling, and thus aspects related to creative, which is most revenue streams other than the guaranteed television money, will improve. But it’s clear, just from McMahon doing overhauls on Smackdown the past two weeks, that he’s hardly out of the weeds and leaving that work to Heyman and Bischoff ...

Those within the company have spoken to us on the hirings. The key belief on the timing was that they needed something to show stockholders that they were making significant structural changes to offset questions abut the popularity declines. In addition, more for Heyman, but perhaps for both Heyman and Bischoff, the deals, which are very lucrative for both, keep them away from AEW. Heyman did have a talent contract. We don’t know how long but his deals have often been concurrent with Lesnar, whose latest deal is up at next year’s WrestleMania. Tony Khan was a huge ECW fan. AEW did put Bischoff on its Road To show before he signed with WWE. Those in AEW told us that they had no interest in either. Whether one, both or neither would benefit AEW a year from now in a war is speculative, and as noted many times, McMahon wants anyone who could be valuable on his side, whether their talents are made use of nor not ...

It was very notable in the presentation that McMahon wanted to position his side as the sophisticated and evolved product and the opposition as heavily blood and guts oriented (there were two bloody matches and one accidental cut from a gimmicked chair shot in AEW’s first three shows) . Those at TNT immediately responded feeling he was trying to hurt their side sign up advertisers by the portrayal. Tony Khan has already said that television product wouldn’t go in that direction, but on occasion, PPV matches would have more latitude in that direction. Khan was a fan of both WCW when it was good, and ECW. Cody Rhodes is the son of Dusty Rhodes, who as both a wrestler and booker was involved in and later produced more bloody matches than all but a few in the history of the business ...

It also should be noted that four days after McMahon said this, he produced a graphic bloody angle involving Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar that was as blood and guts as possible, not a simple blade job and facial blood like you would see literally any night watching a combat sport like MMA or boxing, but a beating with Rollins coughing up blood and the portrayal of internal bleeding, which is the ultimate in blood and guts.

One can make a very strong argument that the most important pro wrestling event this year will be the 10/2 debut of AEW on TNT from the Capital One Arena (formerly the Verizon Center) in Washington, DC. There are two key business aspects to the story. The most important is the television rating, a shot in the dark and even though people within the industry have made predictions (the television industry numbers expected about 500,000 viewers, a consistent number we’ve heard from people within the television industry that are completely up to speed on this story), it is a complete shot in the dark.

One thing that will hurt ratings on a weeknight, although hardcore fans will be happy, is that, according to those at TNT, it will be treated as a sports event and go live on the West Coast. It’s far more beneficial to ratings to be 8-10 p.m. and taped on the West Coast on any night, but even more a weeknight, than to go live from 5-7 p.m. It was noted to me that is not a definite, but is the way everything is leaning ...

The number of people who attempted to get tickets for All Out was substantially more than the number of American subscribers to New Japan World, and in most cases these were people willing to travel and spend money on a vacation to see the show as opposed to, in the case of New Japan World, spend $9 a month and get the hottest wrestling in the world multiple times per week this month in sold out arenas with hot crowds.

The metrics that tell about actual mainstream level interest are not as impressive. I mean, it is impressive that Double or Nothing did 200,000 Google searches, beating some WWE PPVs and secondary UFC shows. But it’s the only show that has done that. Neither Fight for the Fallen or Fyter Fest had that level of mainstream interest ...

Tickets go on sale on Friday, 8/2, at Noon Eastern time. The building is being set up for 14,000 tickets, something WWE these days only does for its biggest PPV shows. It does have the obvious hook of being the first episode of the show, and thus, viewers will be seeing history in some form, and perhaps major history if the promotion makes it long-term. Really, the more important numbers are shows two through ten, because then we’ll know the true level of what they can draw ...

A first day ticket sales number under 6,000 would be another lesson. Anything north of 6,000, which is about what a first day ticket sale for a Raw event would do, but not a sellout, would be good, and north of 9,000 would be great. There is no logical reason to expect AEW to pull WWE numbers. They don’t have the time in, nor the exposure, nor do all but a few of their stars have the level of exposure as almost every top WWE star has ...

Just as important, if not more, is the quality of the show itself. That doesn’t mean **** matches, although that would be good. It means the show has to look major league and not have gaffes. While some will jump on minor issues, they won’t make a difference. The key is a crowd that looks good on television, and WWE has made 4,000 fans in NBA arenas look fine through clever ticket distribution and shooting, reacts well, star reactions to the stars, good promos before the live audience, good storylines and no embarrassing storylines. It’s a balancing act because this is not and can’t be a show for the few hundred thousand BTE fans who know all the inside references. This has to be an introduction show. And you can’t introduce 30 new characters in one week and have any of them get over ...

The fourth aspect is the effect on PPV numbers. There will be one PPV show after the debut of the show and before the end of the year, with the idea of probably four a year being the plan for 2020. UFC exploded on PPV in 2005 when it got on television. The perfect example is Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell’s fight prior to television did 48,000 buys and the first PPV in 2005 after getting on Spike did 280,000 buys for a rematch between the two. Now, that is not going to happen here. But if television creates a new fan base, it would make sense it would boost PPV numbers. It did to a degree with Impact, but in the long run Impact ended up being the case study for how large numbers of television viewers didn’t mean shit because they never drew well at the gate and in the long run, PPV’s dwindled.

Sofia Alonso, 28, who is now in charge of the company as the fourth generation Lutteroth family member, did her first major interview with Excelsior since the death of her father put the company’s future in her hands ...

A number of ROH stars are headed here between now and the end of the year based on the strengthening of the business relationship and more CMLL guys going to ROH. This is part of the changes Sofia Alonso put into place as one of her first moves was to contact ROH and wanting to expand their working agreement. She will be meeting with officials from ROH in late August about more working together

There is a lot of talk on what happens at the end of the year when both Jeff Cobb and Bandido become free agents. The key to staying with ROH for both of them is the New Japan connection as both love going there

The talks with AXS are not dead regarding television but we don’t know much more as there are NDA’s all over the place regarding the Anthem/AXS talks that started late last year.

Jorge Alcantar, 35, better known as El Hijo del Fantasma as well as King Cuerno from Lucha Underground, is expected to start in the September camp. There have been rumblings of a number of major names starting then. WWE has been wanting him since the first season of Lucha Underground aired, as he was a good worker and speaks perfect English. But his Lucha Underground contract kept it from happening for years.

The 7/30 Smackdown show in Memphis was rewritten hours before the show took place by Vince. Vince felt the show presented to him both didn’t do a good job following up from the prior week, nor did it build SummerSlam strongly enough. Eric Bischoff and Bruce Prichard are working together on the show, but Bischoff at this point doesn’t have much to do with any creative ideas as he’s just learning who is what and the system. Vince was still working on changes in the second hour while the first hour was taking place. Shane, Owens and Bryan pitch most of their stuff to the writers so segments involving those three often come from those three, but they are the only ones the writers seem to listen to. You can tell with Owens and Bryan as their interviews are so much different from everyone elses.

With Roman Reigns set to have a role in "Hobbs & Shaw," fans are already starting to wonder if "The Big Dog" will be transitioning out of the ring and onto the silver screen. In an interview with TMZ, Reigns gave a potential timeline for his future.

"I'm still in love with the ring and still holding it down for Raw and SmackDown. It's really neat to have many opportunities, but I still love doing my physical thing in the ring. I still have a few more years of being in the prime of my athletic career. If I can handle it in the ring, I'm willing to do it. I can hold this schedule for at least five more years of being full-time. Eventually, it'll be time to rest my body."

We noted earlier in the week that it looked as though WWE Hidden Gems weren’t finished like some may have predicted. For those unaware, due to the WWE Network update, many of the Hidden Gems videos (along with collections and select other content) are at least temporarily no longer available. With there being no Hidden Gems folder added as of yet, some believed the concept was done altogether ...

Tomorrow, on Thursday, August 1st, the WWE Network will be adding the 1993 Summerslam Spectacular show. The show is headlined by a steel cage match between the Steiner Brothers and Money Inc. and the video will be over 90 minutes long ...

Below are the exclusive details for this week’s Hidden Gems addition:

08/22/1993 – SummerSlam Spectacular 1993 [Duration: 01:33:56]
Money Inc. face The Steiners inside a steel cage for the tag titles while Shawn Michaels defends his IC title against Bob Backlund.

TPWW Frontpage:

Seven Unannounced Matches That May Be Added to SummerSlam (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/seven-unannounced-matches-that-may-be-added-to-summerslam/)
Cody Responds to Vince McMahon’s “Blood and Guts” Comments (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/cody-responds-to-vince-mcmahons-blood-and-guts-comments/)
The First AEW Women’s Champion Will Be Crowned on AEW’s First TNT Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/the-first-aew-womens-champion-will-be-crowned-on-aews-first-tnt-show/)
The Brand Split Will Reportedly Be More Strict When SmackDown Moves to FOX (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/the-brand-split-will-reportedly-be-more-strict-when-smackdown-moves-to-fox/)
Goldberg Reportedly Will Face Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/goldberg-reportedly-will-face-dolph-ziggler-at-summerslam/)

Emperor Smeat

08-02-2019, 10:23 PM

The Sheets:

AAA presents their biggest card of the year with TripleMania XXVII from Arena Ciudad on Saturday night in Mexico City. The show is streaming live on Twitch with the pre-show at 8 pm Eastern and the main card at 9 pm ...

The English commentary for TripleMania is expected to feature Matt Striker and a new announcer. Rob Bihari was on our show this week and said he could confirm that. Vampiro has said publicly that he is calling the show but on his podcast this week, Konnan hinted that might not be the case.

Cain Velasquez said in an interview today that he has two more dates with AAA after TripleMania. He didn't say what they were but presumably that's the Madison Square Garden and Forum in Los Angeles shows. I do know that when the deal was made for Velasquez, the idea was he would do MSG if he didn't fight on 9/21 in Mexico City, and he's not fighting on that show.

Some updates on the WWE Netflix film The Main Event, which is currently filming in Vancouver, British Columbia:

*WWE NXT star Babatunde has been cast in the role of the lead villain of the film.

*NXT star Keith Lee will have a tremendously important and large role in the film. One source noted that they wouldn't be surprised to see Lee get a big push timed with the release of the film.

*Otis of Heavy Machinery will also be featured.

*A number of local independent wrestlers are working on scenes this week. We are told that Ace Steele (who played Donald Trump many years ago on Raw and recently was a Guest Coach at the WWE Performance Center) seemed to be producing/agenting matches involving those for the film ...

We are told by one source who has seen the initial scripts that the show resembles "a Kevin James sort of sitcom comedy" but with Show in that lead role. We are told by those who has seen the initial scripts that they have been very funny.

DK Publishing will be releasing a WWE book titled WWE Beyond Extreme in March 2020. Promotional material for the book, by Dean Miller, notes:

Top action from the most rip-roaring matches and incidents across the world-renowned WWE franchise. Hell in a Cell, No Holds Barred, Extreme Rules, Survivor Series, Last Man Standing, Payback--major WWE events like these convey just one thing: nail-biting excitement. WWE Beyond Extreme features WWE's greatest Superstars in their most edge-of-the-seat, over-the-top events. Celebrate iconic moments in WWE history, such as Big Show and Brock Lesnar's battle that collapsed the ring. Discover WWE's scariest and strangest Superstars. Get blown away by tougher than tough, one-time encounters, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Booker T's supermarket clash. Marvel at spectacular takedowns and death-defying stunts, like Shane McMahon's elbow drop off a 20-ft-high steel cage. Sports entertainment doesn't get more extreme!

Broadwayworld.com has an article on a pro-wrestling related musical called "Rockquiem for a wrestler" by Philip Paul Kelley which had a first reading at the Triad Theater in NYC in March 2019. The musical is a dramatic parody inspired by the life of Ivan Koloff. There will be a second elevated reading set for spring 2020 also at the Triad Theater ...

The official website for the musical is at https://www.rockquiem.com and notes the musical "is about a champion wrestler named IKAN KOOLOFF (I-Kin Cool-Off). A dramatic parody inspired by the legendary wrestler IVAN KOLOFF. The plot centers around Ikan revisiting his past while answering questions during a “Look Back At The Life Of A Legend” interview at a radio station. He struggles with his memories as if “wrestling” with the duality between his quest for success and fame and the price he paid for it. He recounts his pursuits beginning from youth as a reckless teenager ending up an ex-convict to his crazy days as a wrestler which lead to his struggle with alcohol and drugs and ultimately his choice for recovery. The play explores the social impact of Entertainment Wrestling in an age when the public’s hunger, thirst and fascination for spectacle entertainment and reality TV has become obsessive and insatiable. The action moves forward to flamboyantly and spiritedly dramatize his life, encompassing the dangerous, absurd and often tragic lives of wrestlers within the world of Entertainment Wrestling often transporting the audience to being at a Rock Concert."

Jim Smallman has revealed he will be leaving Progress Wrestling at the end of 2019. He will finish with the company on December 30th at their Chapter 100 card. Smallman already works full-time on NXT UK and will be focusing solely on that position when he steps away after this year. Smallman launched Progress alongside Jon Briley in 2012 with Glen Robinson joining the three. Smallman was also the front-facing representative for the group as its ring announcer and was excellent in that role that was closer to an MC than strictly ring announcing. The promotion held its first card in March 2012 and grew to become a highly influential promotion contributing to a renaissance of the UK wrestling scene. The promotion will continue to operate under Briley and Robinson.

The G1 Climax heads into Osaka this weekend with back-to-back nights at the Edion Arena beginning Saturday with a show at 4 am Eastern with an A Block show with the following card ...

For the A Block, it’s must-win for EVIL to stay alive and would also be eliminated if Okada defeated Sanada. If Okada wins, it would eliminate EVIL, Tanahashi, and KENTA with the latter two losing their tiebreakers even if they could tie Okada at the end. If Okada wins and Ibushi loses, Ibushi would be out.

The B Block show takes place late Saturday night/early Sunday morning at 2 am Eastern and will feature the following lineup ...

The block is led by Moxley with ten points and then there is a seven-way tie for second-place with that logjam of six points. The only ones eliminated from the B Block are Shingo Takagi and Taichi. If Moxley beats White, it would eliminate Tomohiro Ishii, Jeff Cobb, Jay White, and Tetsuya Naito. That seems an unlikely scenario as it would leave the block down to Moxley, Goto, and Yano.

The WWE stock closed at $69.37 on Friday, so it appears the Q2 report led to a short-term bump for the stock that lasted one week and has almost returned to the same level it was before the quarterly report was released.

Being the biggest movie star in the world means that The Rock doesn't have as much time to appear in front of a WWE camera. But that doesn't mean The Rock isn't pining to return. Appearing on "Live with Kelly and Ryan," The Rock discussed his love for pro wrestling and how he still misses being in front of a live audience.

"I miss wrestling. I love wrestling. I quietly retired from wrestling because I was lucky enough to have a wonderful career and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. But there's nothing like a live crowd, live audience, live microphone."

The Rock then discussed his debut match in WWF, which took place at Survivor Series 1997 inside Madison Square Garden. The Rock -- then going by Rocky Maivia -- teamed with Jake Roberts, Marc Mero, & The Stalker to defeat Crush, Goldust, Jerry Lawler & Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

"I had my very first match ever in the WWE in Madison Square Garden. It was a big pay-per-view and, it's funny because I credit my journey in pro wrestling to getting me to where I am today — especially that particular night," said The Rock. "Generally, your first match, you have it in a small town, small crowd, non-televised. This is Madison Square Garden, sold out, one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year, Survivor Series. I was in one of the main events. No one knew who I was. There is the saying, 'If you can make it New York, you can make it anywhere' because it's the toughest crowd and they really test you, especially in the world of wrestling. At the 15-minute mark of my match, 22,000 people are chanting 'Rocky, Rocky, Rocky.' It just set me on a path in my career that I'll never forget."

Gangrel is working at the WWE Performance Center this week. As previously reported, Chris Sabin is also working as a guest coach.

The Wrestling Observer reports that Paul Heyman made the decision to have wrestling during commercial breaks.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Tickets for First TNT Show Sell Out on the First Day (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-tickets-for-first-tnt-show-sell-out-on-the-first-day/)
WWE: Ronda Rousey Fake Horror Movie Trailer, Gangrel at WWE PC, Where Is Muhammad Hassan? (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-ronda-rousey-fake-horror-movie-trailer-gangrel-at-wwe-pc-where-is-muhammad-hassan/)
Rachael Ellering Suffers Torn ACL, Undergoing Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/rachael-ellering-suffers-torn-acl-undergoing-surgery/)
WWE: WWE Says Reigns Attack Was Due to “Forklift Driver Error,” Bellas on Family Feud (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-wwe-says-reigns-attack-was-due-to-forklift-driver-error-bellas-on-family-feud/)

slik

08-04-2019, 08:08 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As I previously reported, a new set with an Attitude Era-feel is coming to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SDLive</a> on Fox. I’m told the plan is for the new set to feature the return of the Smackdown fist. The fist is currently ready for use and in storage. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OYDKWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OYDKWS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ProSportsExtra?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ProSportsExtra</a></p>— Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBradShepard/status/1158158229538574336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mr. Nerfect

08-05-2019, 02:05 AM

I do like the idea of the sets being very distinct from each other.

Lock Jaw

08-05-2019, 02:26 AM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clips of Daniel Bryan not giving a single fuck will always have a special place in my heart <a href="https://t.co/bT35gHrHqo">pic.twitter.com/bT35gHrHqo</a></p>— Hairy Wrestling Fan (@hairywrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/hairywrestling/status/1001106997989838849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

DaveWadding

08-05-2019, 04:00 AM

Jorge Alcantar, 35, better known as El Hijo del Fantasma as well as King Cuerno from Lucha Underground, is expected to start in the September camp. There have been rumblings of a number of major names starting then. WWE has been wanting him since the first season of Lucha Underground aired, as he was a good worker and speaks perfect English. But his Lucha Underground contract kept it from happening for years.

This dude is so good, but I'm super afraid they'll ruin him. Also, his tope is probably the best in the world.

Mr. Nerfect

08-05-2019, 04:40 AM

Evil Vito

08-05-2019, 06:54 AM

He stayed with WWE so as to not jeopardize his wife’s relationship with the company only for her to retire not long after he re-signed

Mr. Nerfect

08-05-2019, 07:27 AM

I don’t think Brie’s commercial ties with WWE are predominantly in-ring.

Emperor Smeat

08-06-2019, 10:58 PM

The Sheets:

Raw saw good news in the ratings last night with a seven percent increase from last week, doing 2.48 million viewers and finishing third for the night ...

The key was the lessening of the third-hour drop. The show grew in the second hour and fell in the third hour, but hour three actually beat hour one, which has been a rarity in recent years ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.41 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.57 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.44 million viewers

During Monday Night Raw, WrestlePro owner Pat Buck was shown during the aftermath of the Roman Reigns car accident as one of several on the scene checking on Reigns.

PWInsider.com has confimed that Buck was hired by WWE to work as a Producer for the company. Buck worked several weeks back as a Guest Coach at the WWE Performance Center and was given a Producer tryout recently as well.

The bouncer who stopped the shooter in Dayton, OH at the door of a bar was area independent wrestler Jeremy Ganger. Ganger is a close friend of James Yun, who many of you will remember as Jimmy Wang Yang.

PAC has suffered an injury during a match at a recent TNT Extreme Wrestling show.

A tweet posted by Ring Rules said he suffered a groin injury after competing in in TNT's Summer Explosion show in the United Kingdom, though the picture in the tweet looks more like it was closer to his inner thigh.

The severity of PAC's injury was not revealed or if he will have to miss any future bookings he had already committed to.

Roman Reigns was interviewed about a number of topics by Martin Hoffman German of sports website Sports1.De to promote the forthcoming WWE 2K20 videogame:

Over the course of the conversation, All Elite Wrestling was brought up. Reigns commented, "I’ll be damned if anyone is gonna disrespect what we do here, especially within our company. If you’re within our walls, within our locker room and not handling your business the right way, I have no problem with stepping up. I fear no man and if you don’t like what I’m coming from, there’s a couple of options we can do. I firmly believe in the history that my family has had in this business, the relationship they had with the McMahons and WWE. And I’ll be damned if anyone disrespects our way of life. I’ve been fed and I fed my family for years now from this meal plan and I’m not gonna let anyone step on that. If that makes me a locker room leader, then yeah, you can call me that. “I think Seth Rollins is being generous in calling them a competition. I don’t want to get too deep into this… I said it before: it’s an option and that’s great for professional wrestlers, pretty cool for fans. Before my family was WWE only, we’ve been a territorial family. You had to move, work with different promotions and territories. I’m always gonna be ‘pro pro-wrestler’, but at the end of the day, WWE is my home. It’s what I represent and we’re so far ahead. You can see it in other shows – it’s not easy to have a clean production. You have to have a lot of experience. Our talent is top-notch, we’ve got main eventers for days but it also is our crew. They’re busting their asses all night to get the show running. There are so many people that make this place work. When you see other people out there trying to do it, you see the flaws and it makes you respect what we do even more. It’s easy to complain and to say this and this on paper, but when it’s time to go out there and actually do it, nobody will do it like WWE. Period.”

WWE Network News reported the following:

There will be a new episode of "Prime Target: Takeover" Wednesday at 7:30 PM Eastern before this week's episode of NXT focusing on Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano for the NXT Championship

An episode of the audio documentary series "WWE Untold" will air this Friday at 8 PM and tell the story of WWE's most unlikely duo of Kane and Daniel Bryan otherwise known as Team Hell No. It will feature Daniel Bryan, Kane and others, discussing Team Hell No

After initially promoting a 6 pm Eastern start time, the SummerSlam kickoff show is back to its usual run time of two hours and begins at 5 pm this Sunday.

All Elite Wrestling has announced locations for the second and third episodes on TNT. On Wednesday, October 9th they will be going to the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts and on October 16th they will be in Philadelphia at the Liacouras Center. The Agganis Arena has a listed capacity of 7,200, which will fluctuate based on the staging. The Liacouras Center is on the grounds of Temple University and is a big building at 10,200, which Impact Wrestling ran for their Lockdown pay-per-view in 2009 and Bound for Glory in 2011. Ticket information is going to be released on Friday. The advertising for both shows features Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks, Jon Moxley, and Cody.

In Boston, the larger TD Garden is already booked on October 9th for a Post Malone concert. In Philadelphia, there is nothing scheduled for the Wells Fargo Center on the 16th, so in theory, they could have the larger building that WWE just ran for Extreme Rules last month.

According to our data, SmackDown Live averaged 1,988,000 viewers per episode in July 2019, which is down 11.5% compared to July 2018 when they averaged 2,246,000 per episode.

The third season of Netflix's acclaimed series GLOW will debut this Friday 8/9 with the complete third season available for streaming.

The G1 Climax picks back up on Wednesday as we go into the final stretch with five cards remaining. Wednesday’s show in Hamamatsu is an A Block show that streams at 5:30 am Eastern on New Japan World ...

If Okada defeats or goes to a draw with EVIL then EVIL is eliminated. If Okada wins then Ibushi must win to stay alive. If EVIL wins and Ibushi loses, then EVIL is alive going into the final day and would win the block if he beats Archer and Ibushi beats Okada forcing a three-way tie at 12 points, which EVIL would win based off wins over Ibushi and Okada. I’m expecting Ibushi and Okada to win their matches tomorrow and then EVIL is out, and it comes down to Okada vs. Ibushi on Saturday to determine the block winner.

All Elite Wrestling has held just three shows since its formation on January 1, 2019. AEW Double or Nothing was presented on pay-per-view and reportedly did nearly 100,000 buys. AEW Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen were presented free on B/R Live and were two of the most popular live-streaming events in the platform's history.

But the decision to give away Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen came with a risk.

“In terms of putting shows out there for free, we took a bath financially on that and I took a big hit, and I was willing to do it as a company because I believed in our brand of wrestling,” AEW President Tony Khan told The Decider. “There hasn’t been a legitimate other company [besides WWE] presenting weekly, high quality wrestling, and never before was HD available. [Once AEW premieres on TNT] the revenue streams are going to be huge.”

Khan went on to say that his “dream” was to get AEW to the level “where WCW was.”

SmackDown again underwent changes this week, with Vince McMahon tearing up the show and having it rewritten today. Dave Meltzer noted that Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Daniel Bryan & Rowan is the latest main event planned for the show. It’s taking place at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Kevin Owens inviting Shane McMahon to be on the KO Show has also been announced, and Kingston will respond to Randy Orton’s comments in an exclusive interview.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Bobby Lashley recently underwent surgery to remove bone spurs in his elbow and is on track to return in early November.

During tonight's WWE SmackDown Live, Jessika Carr served as the referee for the women's match between Ember Moon and Natalya. The match ended in a no contest when Natalya kept the Sharpshooter locked on Ember Moon on the outside. Carr is the first full-time female referee in WWE history and has worked the Mae Young Classic and NXT.

TPWW Frontpage:

FOX Exec Comments on WWE’s Declining Ratings, Says WWE Is “Going to Be a Home Run” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/fox-exec-comments-on-wwes-declining-ratings-says-wwe-is-going-to-be-a-home-run/)
AEW Announces Locations for Their Second and Third TNT Shows (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-announces-locations-for-their-second-and-third-tnt-shows/)
Roman Reigns Says He Disagrees With Jon Moxley About WWE’s Creative Process (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/roman-reigns-says-he-disagrees-with-jon-moxley-about-wwes-creative-process/)
Matt Riddle Says He’ll “Beat the Sh*t Out of” Chris Jericho, Responds to Booker T, Lance Storm (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/matt-riddle-says-hell-beat-the-sht-out-of-chris-jericho-responds-to-booker-t-lance-storm/)
WWE 2K20: Lynch & Reigns on Cover, Commercial and More Info Released (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-2k20-lynch-reigns-on-cover-commercial-and-more-info-released/)

Emperor Smeat

08-07-2019, 09:09 PM

The Sheets:

SmackDown's go-home show for SummerSlam averaged 2.088 million viewers on the USA Network, up nine percent from last week. With Raw also being up this week, SmackDown retained the usual 84 percent of Monday night's audience ...

SmackDown was only down five percent from the same week in 2018, the third time in the last four weeks that the year-over-year decline has been in the single digits.

There were a lot of changes to last night's Smackdown episode. The original plan for last night's Smackdown episode was to feature Kofi Kingston vs. Andrade in the main event. However, once WWE had their production meeting for the show, plans were changed and the new main event was to be Xavier Woods & Kingston teaming against Daniel Bryan and Rowan. However, about an hour before the show went on the air, the decision was made to pull Kingston from the main event and replace him with Big E. We are told all the changes were Vince McMahon calls.

Originally, the Summerslam card was to have featured Roman Reigns against Daniel Bryan, but the word making the rounds at TV last night was that the bout will likely be dropped in order to let the current storyline play out.

The Daniel Bryan career announcement has also appeared to have been dropped, unless WWE decides to work that back into a storyline. There was zero mention of it last night backstage.

Last night's Smackdown ended with a reveal that Rowan was responsible for the attacks on Roman Reigns, but we are told that may not be 100% set in stone as other ideas have been pitched. Reigns is slated to wrestle Daniel Bryan on a TON of live events coming out of Summerslam.

WWE is holding an invited tryout over this weekend in Canada, seeking new potential talents.

The only name we have confirmed in taking part thus far in the tryouts is Canadian female talent Maddison Miles, a 19 year old talent from Halifax.

We have not heard any additional confirmed invited talents as of this writing, but it's likely that WWE will disclose the names via their website in the forthcoming days.

Triple H, who recently turned 50-years old sat down with the Performance Center's own Josiah Williams and talked about a variety of topics including the fulfillment he gets from seeing NXT talents have their shining moments. Triple H added that he receives more fulfillment from that than he did his in-ring career.

“Shawn [Michaels] and I talk about this all the time: I think, in some ways [I] get more out of what I’m doing now than I did in my career where it was just about me -- now it’s, the ability… For me to sit in gorilla and watch kids realize their dream and their passion and have that light bulb moment or whatever that is or see their success, know how much they poured their heart and soul into it and have that success. To see you [Josiah Williams] go out there and tear it up -- knowing how that all came to be. Those are just really cool moments and I think that’s the passion now so to me, 50 is just a number.” He explained.

In an interview with the Nikkan Sports outlet in Japan, Jon Moxley spoke about working with New Japan Pro Wrestling and his future with the promotion ...

In the interview, Moxley confirmed his AEW contract doesn’t restrict him from taking future dates with New Japan beyond the summer and said:

"Fortunately, there is no problem in fighting in New Japan while belonging to an American organization (AEW). In the future, I can always show up in Japan."

He indicated that he wanted to wrestle on the Tokyo Dome shows next January when New Japan will stage back-to-back cards at the venue on January 4th and 5th.

Regarding any future opponents he would like to face, Moxley said he wants to have a match with Minoru Suzuki along with other wrestlers with new and unique styles.

The National Wrestling Alliance announced that they will be holding television tapings this fall.

The company posted a video with NWA President Billy Corgan talking about studio tapings from the 1970s and 1980s, leading to an announcement about the NWA starting their own television tapings. The video then announced that tapings would be held in Atlanta, Georgia on September 30 and October 1. No venue was announced, nor was it mentioned where the tapings would be airing.

After being part of the 24/7 title segment on Raw, NXT referee Jessika Carr appeared on last night’s SmackDown and 205 Live. She was the referee for Ember Moon vs. Natalya and Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Dorado. Carr wrote about her main roster appearances: “These past few days have been an absolute blur and more incredible than I could have even imagined. The train keeps chugging along as tomorrow we head into our #nxttakeovertoronto weekend! See you soon #nxtalbany #nxtbuffalo. Grateful. Blessed. Determined. Never satisfied. Keep on working, always more to accomplish, there are no ceilings. #wwe #nxt #wearenxt #sdlive #raw #natalyawwe #embermoon #205live”

MLW announced that their War Chamber match in North Richland Hills, Texas on September 7 will be Tom Lawlor, Marshall Von Erich, Ross Von Erich, and a partner vs. Contra Unit (Jacob Fatu, Josef Samael, Simon Gotch and a partner). It’s a War Games-type match, with two wrestlers from each team starting off. After five minutes, the team that won a coin toss will have their second teammate enter. There will then be alternate additions to the match every two minutes until everyone is in. The match can be won by pinfall, submission, or surrender once everyone enters.

WWE has had talks on possibly doing Roman Reigns vs. Buddy Murphy at Sunday's WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes. The talks were held backstage at Tuesday's SmackDown.

There's no word yet on if Reigns vs. Murphy will happen on Sunday, but it remains a possibility as we get closer to Sunday's big event in Toronto.

AEW has revealed how they will determine who's going to challenge for the Women's World Title.

The newest episode of 'Road To All Out' has been released and it featured AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes revealing how a challenger to the AEW Women's World Championship on October 2nd will be determined. Brandi stated that the Casino Battle Royale will be returning at All Out on August 31st and the rules are the exact same from the Casino Battle Royale at Double Or Nothing.

There are not 21 members of AEW's women's division to compete in the match so coming into the fray to compete at All Out in the Casino Battle Royale is Ivelisse, former NWA World Women's Champion Jazz and Teal Piper, who is the daughter of late WWE Hall Of Famer 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper.

WWE, Converse and Foot Locker are partnering to release new sneakers inspired by WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch, and WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. The sneakers will be available this Friday at the Foot Locker flagship store in New York City, and at FootLocker.ca. You can see the sneakers below:

Limited edition custom @Converse kicks inspired by @BretHart, @BeckyLynchWWE, @TrueKofi, and @ShawnMichaels will be available EXCLUSIVELY at @footlocker's flagship store and https://t.co/rP5QY814sS THIS FRIDAY! https://t.co/nXSsaNKTyG
— WWE (@WWE) August 7, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1159164418703405057

Bret Hart announced he will be getting limited edition converse that will be sold in Toronto at Foot Locker's Yonge Street location over Summerslam weekend:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">All I can say is WOW! Limited edition <a href="https://twitter.com/Converse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@converse</a> Hitman shoes available this Friday August 9 online & in Toronto at the @footlockercanada 247 Yonge St. location. @alexanderjohndesign <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/summerslam?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#summerslam</a> <a href="https://t.co/anAiUIADb2">pic.twitter.com/anAiUIADb2</a></p>— Bret Hart (@BretHart) <a href="https://twitter.com/BretHart/status/1158879793196064768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Files Trademark for “AEW Revolution” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-files-trademark-for-aew-revolution/)
Daniel Bryan Responds to Roman Reigns Accusations (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/daniel-bryan-responds-to-roman-reigns-accusations/)
Interview: Roman Reigns on People’s Criticisms of WWE and if AEW Is Real Competition to WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/interview-roman-reigns-on-peoples-criticisms-of-wwe-and-if-aew-is-real-competition-to-wwe/)

slik

08-07-2019, 09:12 PM

BOSTON will possibly be named the host of SummerSlam 2020 soon. It's been between Boston and one other northeastern city.

credit - Brad Shepard/OYDK Podcast

Emperor Smeat

08-08-2019, 11:43 PM

The Sheets:

The following Harley Race footage will be today's "Hidden Gems" selection on WWE Network:
* CWF 10/08/1974 – Harley Race & Bill Watts vs. The Brisco Brothers [Duration: 08:42]
Harley Race teams with “Cowboy” Bill Watts to face the team of Jack and Gerald Brisco in this bout from Florida.
* CWF 01/25/1978 – Harley Race vs. “Superstar” Billy Graham [Duration: 13:53]
Harley Race and “Superstar” Billy Graham put their respective championships on the line as they face off at the Superbowl of Wrestling.
* CWF 08/12/1978 – Harley Race vs. Jack Brisco for Heavyweight Title [Duration: 11:57]
The World Heavyweight Championship is up for grabs as Harley Race defends the title against former champion Jack Brisco.
* Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 11/14/1980 – Ric Flair vs. Harley Race [Duration: 07:12]
Witness film highlights of Ric Flair going to war with the legendary Harley Race in front of a rabid audience.
* WWF 10/01/1987 – Superstars visit Napoleon’s tomb in Paris [Duration: 02:29]
See exclusive outtakes of Andre the Giant, Harley Race and Frenchy Martin visiting Napoleon’s tomb in Paris.

When Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff were named executive directors of Raw and SmackDown respectively, some were wondering why Triple H was not put in their position. There was a report floating around, which was quickly debunked, that Triple H turned down the role of executive director of SmackDown. On today's NXT media call, Triple H put the rumors to bed.

"The way it's laid out, their scope of what they're doing is very specific to those shows. While I'm still at those shows, there are many weeks where, due to my schedule and other commitments, I can't be at every single Raw or SmackDown," said Triple H "The scope of the things that I do are way beyond that with live events and creative. In my role, creative encompasses a lot different things. It's not main roster creative, it's shirts and billboards and where everything else goes in the world. It's all the creative stuff where it's the things you don't see; they just sort of appear. And everything with talent. As our company continues to grow and our talent roster continues to grow, and talent development continues to grow and as we expand to our global localization overseas and everything else, there's only so many hours in a day. Even though the WWE and Vince are working very hard on creating an eighth day and extra hours so we can get more accomplished, there are only so many hours in a day. I already see the positive and the changes [under Heyman and Bischoff]. As this whole thing continues to grow, a lot of it comes down to organizational processes. To have somebody to spearhead the process is very helpful and smart. I'm thrilled it's those guys and I think they're gonna knock it out of the park. I'm excited to work with both of them. Heyman, I've worked with for a while. Bischoff, it's been a while, but this is the first time I've worked with him in this manner. So far, it's an exciting process. I already see positives from it. It's great."

On the latest edition of "Grilling JR" Jim Ross remembers Harley Race. JR mentioned that fundraising efforts in association with AEW/Starrcast to aid those affected by the tragedies in El Paso and Dayton.

Scottish star Joe Hendry, who was seen last year in Impact Wrestling, announced today he has officially signed with Ring of Honor

Several readers sent word that all four seasons of The El Rey Network's Lucha Underground series are now licensed and available to stream for free at TubiTV.com, an online streaming site.

TubiTV has a Roku channel, so if you prefer to watch the series on your TV, you have that option as well.

WWE are in the process of trademarking Adam Cole. They were given an initial rejection on December 6th of last year, as they had to clarify whether Adam Cole identified a particular living individual.

WWE responded on May 6th noting that "Adam Cole" does not identify a particular living individual. The USPTO quickly responded back with evidence from Adam Cole's Wikipedia page (which has his pre-WWE history) to show that it in fact identifies a real person, Austin Jenkins. They also provided the bio page for Cole from WWE.com for futher evidence to prove the name refers to a real person. They noted that WWE should provide written consent from Jenkins allowing WWE to trademark his wrestling name.
Probably the first time in recent years WWE wasn't allowed to trademark a name used on the indies that wasn't the wrestler's real name. Also pretty much revealed their real intentions of wanting to trademark the name so he couldn't use it after leaving the company.

TripleMania, AAA’s biggest show of the year, was a mix of a variety of different stars and styles, and ended with a number of different headlines. In Mexico, the show was about a battle of legends, as Blue Demon Jr. beat Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. hair match before a near sellout of 18,000 fans, the largest pro wrestling crowd in the world since WrestleMania, on 8/3 at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City. But there were other headlines, including the debut of Cain Velasquez, which got great reviews, the return of L.A. Park and his family, plus the tease of a Fenix vs. Kenny Omega AAA heavyweight title match.

Pro Wrestling EVE, a women’s promotion that uses most of the top women stars in Europe and brings in Japanese (relations with Stardom, Pure-J, Ice Ribbon and has regularly used Meiko Satomura), and Americans (Su Yung, Mercedes Martinez and Jordynne Grace are semi-regulars) as well, has signed a contract agreeing to a Code of Conduct, with Equity U.K., a trade union for performers who are self-employed and work in the entertainment industry. One of the key aspects of this is insurance for competitors, because of the issues with injuries in the ring. Even though wrestling is essentially stunt performing, insurance companies who cover stunt performers were negative on covering pro wrestlers.

Even at certain points companies actually said when asked that the difference is if somebody breaks a bone doing a stunt it is an accident but if they do so in wrestling, it’s done on purpose by the person they’re fighting. Which is ludicrous. Other arguments used were that stunt and circus performers were trained in their stunts while wrestlers were not. But Equity was able to convince its insurance company to change its mind and its classification of pro wrestlers and now they can get insurance that at least covers them in the event of an injury that takes place in the ring, or one that effects their ability to perform. There are many other issues that have come with this. There are questions regarding if talent should receive royalties for appearing on paid streaming services, which would happen in most entertainment forms but does not happen in pro wrestling.

Those at EVE noted that this wasn’t an issue t them, but it was the last thing discussed and came to an agreement on that which was sufficient to the union. There were WWE U.K. talent that at first were publicly negative on the idea of a union, notably Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews, but after getting a negative reaction, they deleted their tweets. According to U.K. reporter Will Cooling, a rep from Equity UK was on David Starr’s podcast and said they had spoken at one point to Attack Wrestling, which is run by Dunne and Andrews, but Attack backed off and discussion ended. The next issue would be that of talent joining, because of fear that by being part of Equity UK, that would eliminate any chance of going to WWE. Other promoters have threatened not to book any talent that has joined.

The first AEW TV show will be going head-to-head with the American League baseball wildcard game, which is usually good for six million or more viewers, so that’s very real competition.

The question is now whether they can sustain this. Washington, DC, was chosen because their B/R stats showed Baltimore, Philadelphia and DC as some of their strongest markets. This sold out based on the history aspect if it being the first show on TNT, and really, the most important in some ways pro wrestling show of the year ... Week two will be in Boston at the Agannis Arena, and not the T.D. Garden where WWE would run, and it would be set up for 5,000, so it’s not a stretch to say it could be a quick sellout. Week three will be the real test as they are in Philadelphia, once again not going to the Wells Fargo Center but instead to the Licouras Center, which for a television set up would hold 7,000.

The positive is that even if they don’t sell out, they’ll probably do reasonably well as far as the look for television, and no doubt these arenas are much cheaper to rent than the major buildings in the market. But there is also a stigma of establishing yourself as the secondary wrestling when the competition is running the top building where the major league acts play, and you’re not running those buildings ...

Even in the late 80s JCP vs. WWE war when JCP was hot, the reality is that in the Northeast, everywhere but Baltimore (where JCP ran the big building in the market), JCP could draw well for big shows, but WWE always was considered major league by most because they played the big arena and JCP played the secondary arena ...

The perception of legit selling out you can get running the Agannis Arena in Boston is if they sell out Boston quickly it’s a perception home run of always selling out for now ... To me, Philadelphia will answer a short-term question of sustainability, because it’s a good market, but it’s not that far from DC, and it’s no longer week one. It’s not the long-term, because the value of TNT won’t fully kick in until a few months in. When Nitro started, it was about four to five months in before we started seeing live attendance go up but they were also a company that had been on national TV for years, just not in as good a time slot ...

Make no mistake about it, and nobody will say this publicly because they can’t, but a huge part of this story is the disenfranchised fan base which never had anyone to unify them. New Japan could have done it with their 2018 crew with the right backing.

ROH had the chance. The talent was there but those groups were too conservative and in the case of New Japan, getting into a big-time fight with Vince while being based in Japan would be a tough decision. ROH could have done it, and Sinclair could have seen the signs with the 2018 success but they didn’t make the move, which left the key guys frustrated because after All In, and maybe even before that, they saw the opening. Even WWE could have nipped it in the bud, and they did try with big offers, but they way undershot and while Vince was adamant about not leaving in a crack in the bottom of the door open and being aggressive, and he did realize the Khan family’s wealth, he left the crack open and couldn’t pull the trigger on keeping Chris Jericho because he saw him as a 48 year old guy and with the exception of Kenny Omega, I don’t think he saw the others at the level that they saw themselves

While 10/2 will be the first live wrestling show, it will not be the first show on TNT. There is other programming yet to be announced to provide an introduction and build major shows

After All Out, there will be one more PPV this year, with the plan with TV to do four PPV events in 2020

AEW will miss one week of television at least this year as the plan is to not run on Christmas night. New Year’s night, against the Bowl Games, is scheduled to be a live show head-to-head

Pac, who is high on the list of those speculated on to be one of Jericho’s mystery partners against Young Bucks & Omega on the first TV show, suffered a leg injury in an 8/1 match for the TNT Extreme Promotion in Liverpool against Jodie Fleisch. At this point we don’t have any more info other than he finished the match, but that it looked bad visually although it appears to have been just a bad gash in the thigh

Also heavily speculated on for Jericho’s surprise partners is LAX. Obviously WWE will be trying to stop that from happening. LAX starting in AAA in September would indicate they at least right now would not have a deal with WWE. Plus, if LAX comes in, the obvious program would be with the Young Bucks

While not announced, the NXT on FS 1 is tentatively set for 8-10 p.m. on Wednesday nights. For obvious reasons, that was the time slot expected but this was the first info we were given listing a time slot. Of course it wasn’t going to be finalized until TNT announced the time slot. Not sure when this starts or how Big East basketball on FS 1 affects this, or what this means for NXT on WWE Network, or what the start date will be. It’s not official until the announcement is made but this has been expected and as noted a few weeks ago, it’s far enough along that FOX told some affiliates already. The working idea is for a live two hour show with the feeling that a taped show will not work to head-off AEW. Where WWE feels they have the edge is they have an endless supply of main roster talent they can shuffle in whenever they want them.

Whether this goes from Full Sail, which may get tough with shows weekly to keep crowd enthusiasm up int the same venue (although they’ll be using more main roster guys and the Full Sail crowd pops big for those every time out) or they tape it and tour with it is unknown. But we were told this was largely agreed to in late June. or early July. One would think WWE and FOX will heavily promote this on Smackdown each week and possibly on Raw, and FS 1 will see that they are in a war with TNT on Wednesdays which means FOX will be out there promoting it. The other psychology over who gets off stronger and how WWE reacts if they lose early or AEW reacts if they lose early will be very interesting. TNT is in more homes, is a much higher rated station, but WWE is the name brand to the masses and NXT would be promoted on the two most-watched shows

In news that affects both WWE with its Hulu deal, and more UFC, Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ will be offered in a combined streaming bundle deal for $12.95 per month. At the same time, cable companies are losing homes at a faster rate to where traditional cable and satellite homes are expected to fall to 86.5 million (the peak was 100.5 million) by the end of the year. But many of the key television cable channels are coming close to maintaining coverage through streaming services. Paul Levesque couldn’t talk about it but did somewhat acknowledge it cryptically saying about talk of counter programming another announced show on FS 1, that Wednesday has always been NXT’s night and they are doing what they see as best for the company and not counter programming. So that will be the public reaction even though all the talk internally has used the term counter programming and how Vince is certain with their resources they will draw more viewers even when pointed out TNT is a stronger station and in more homes.

There has been talk regarding the latest WWE doctrine that its U.K. talent can no longer appear on streaming matches. This is one of those deals where the word goes out, but then its kind of forgotten about with the key member promotions. It’s more a situation where those groups, which would be ICW, Progress and wXw, and whoever else WWE has financial ties to, will all be moving to the WWE Network sooner than later so obviously they’ll be able to do programs and use the WWE U.K. guys. There has been a lot of talk of late with the decline of interest overall in the U.K. because WWE has signed most of the top talent, and the few that they haven’t are under contract to someone else outside the U.K. like New Japan or ROH, that it’s killed the indie scene and the shows overall have a much lower level of talent depth than a few years ago.

But everyone knew that was inevitable and on the flip side that talent is able to make more money and work less dates to make it, and have guarantees and if hurt will still get a check, so there are two sides. But it does greatly hinder the talent development side of things that created so many of these awesome young workers because there were so many shows in short geographical distances and enough good talent around to teach them. But that’s a cycle we’ve seen as well. But the WWE itself has also declined greatly in the market which led to Sky dropping them and NXT U.K. being unable to get a television deal ...

It should be noted that WWE talent believed they could still work On Demand, meaning on streaming services that weren’t airing the matches live. Because this doctrine would cut way back on their ability to get non-WWE bookings. There are promotions who have had opportunities to do live iPPVs or even Fite TV events that have had to turn those down because they use WWE talent

WWE has had recent interest in purchasing Fite TV to the point there are meetings upcoming regarding it. What that would mean isn’t clear, as could they just own it thinking it’s a good future business and have it run separately, or incorporate it into a higher tiered network. One thing for sure, it would make indies that work with Fite TV in jeopardy in some form, and the key is, it would for sure shut down AEW’s leading streaming partner. That said, AEW can get a new streaming partner within the Turner family and may end up that way anyway, and WWE talks to a lot of people and that doesn’t mean a deal is getting done

Paul Levesque on a press call mentioned plans for a 2019 Mae Young Classic. He just said with so much of a workload, you can’t get to everything and time kind of ran out to do it at the same point in the year. But he gave the impression an announcement was coming. He also noted that both McIntyre and Cesaro have talked with him about being interested in working on NXT U.K. shows

There have been complaints from some fans which has gotten to NXT management over the actions of a very few but local other fans based on chants and actions of those fans. The complaints have been about too many racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic actions from fans at the Florida shows. Because they run such small buildings, one fan being obnoxious can really hurt the show. It’s essentially something I’ve seen at other shows and have written about, which is the clash between new fans who see wrestling as an art form and artists, and old fans who think wrestling is a night out to yell and scream and being able to say what ever you want based on what was okay 15 or 20 years ago, when those kind of remarks were commonplace at every show and the product encouraged them.

One fan wrote to the company and said they and a friend avoid going to Daytona shows for that reason. Another noted that crowd was chanting “kick him out” at one fan who was doing a Nazi salute to back Marcel Barthel, who broke character and basically said that was not acceptable. But his not being kicked out was a common complaint. Another fan complained that on 7/18 in Lakeland a fan yelled the N word at black referee D.A. Brewer and was not kicked out.

There were complaints that on 8/2 in Melbourne some guys were yelling out profanity around children and were very disrespectful in making remarks at Tegan Nox. There was also complaints about fans chanting “build a wall” during an Humberto Carrillo match in Daytona in May. Daniel Vidot, a rookie wrestler, also complained about racial slurs by fans saying there is no humor in any type of racial stereotyping or immature displays of racial gesturing and said that they should kick fans out of venues when they try to disrupt shows with those kind of remarks.

TPWW Frontpage:

Why Potential SummerSlam Matches Happened on TV Instead (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/why-potential-summerslam-matches-happened-on-tv-instead/)
MLB Releases Entire 2019 Playoffs Schedule Revealing WWE & AEW TV Shows Affected (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/mlb-releases-entire-2019-playoffs-schedule-revealing-wwe-aew-tv-shows-affected/)
Trish Stratus Says SummerSlam Will Be Her “Final Match” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/trish-stratus-says-summerslam-will-be-her-final-match/)

Bad News Gertner

08-09-2019, 01:55 AM

Been saying this forever: NXT fans at these shows are the worst. The fucking worst. I might actually watch NXT from time to time if it weren't for them. I used to watch NXT regularly when it started, but these neck bearded Incels are so unbearably obnoxious.

Ol Dirty Dastard

08-09-2019, 08:59 AM

Bad News Gertner

08-09-2019, 09:36 AM

The fucking losers at NXT shows telling everyone to be quiet so they can head Mauro's commentary

Ol Dirty Dastard

08-09-2019, 09:44 AM

so, the art form guys. Fuck those fans. Not big on 'inappropriate' behavior I guess, but jesus fucking christ it's a wrestling show. There's a reason nobody gives a shit about wrestling anymore and it's because of these smelly neckbeards who think wrestling is a Monet painting.

Emperor Smeat

08-09-2019, 11:37 PM

The Sheets:

AEW has announced when tickets for their second and third television episodes will be going on sale.

Episode two of AEW TV will take place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday, October 9, while the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will host episode three on Wednesday, October 16. Tickets for both shows will go on sale via Ticketmaster at noon Eastern time next Friday (August 16).

Tickets will be priced at $90, $75, $50, $35, and $20 before facility fees and service charges.

MLW will be posthumously honoring Gary Hart at their Dallas area television tapings next month.

It was announced today that Hart will be "posthumously recognized for his contributions to Dallas and professional wrestling" at MLW's War Chamber TV tapings in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, September 7. Hart's sons Jason and Chad will be in attendance for the tribute.

Earlier this week it was said by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer and reported by others that WWE didn't hold "Test Fans on WWE Knowledge" segments during commercial breaks on Raw and SmackDown this week because "nobody was following the script good enough." The report went on to say that WWE was trying to script the kids, so they didn't say a name like CM Punk or Chris Jericho during the contest. A fan previously mentioned Punk during a segment back in June.

Host of the segments Sarah Scheiber took to social media to give why they did not do the segments this week.

"There is no 'script' what so ever, other than just knowing the names. When we don't do the contests, it's [because] I get too busy backstage doing interviews or there's just other things happening during the commercial breaks."

Lance Storm announced today that he will be closing down his Storm Wrestling Academy after his next session in September. Storm noted that in the last 14 years he has trained wrestlers from approximately 30 countries. He already notified those who had signed up for 2020 sessions that he was finishing up at the end of the year. Storm said, "My body is getting tired and my kids are adults now, so a moderate road schedule is acceptable. I reached out to see what my options were and got an offer I liked."

WWE has released a new theme song collection Uncaged 9 via iTunes, featuring the following songs:
01 - Then, Now, Forever (WWE Signature)
02 - Prime Time Open (Prime Time Wrestling 1988)
03 - I Like It Raw (WWE Raw 1995)
04 - High Voltage (Livewire 1997)
05 - Imminent Danger (Cage Lowering)
06 - Sunday Night Heat Theme (Sunday Night Heat 1998)
07 - Astros (Super Astros 1998)
08 - Rage (WrestleMania 15)
09 - No Mercy (No Mercy 2002)
10 - Confidential (WWE Confidential 2002)
11 - Velocity (WWE Velocity 2002)
12 - End (WWE Judgement Day 2003)
13 - Vengeance (WWE Vengeance 2004)
14 - Great American Bash Theme (Great American Bash 2004)
15 - This Time It's Mine (Saturday Morning Slam 2012)
16 - Coronation (King Of The Ring 2015)
17 - One Against The World (Royal Rumble 2016)
18 - Connected (WrestleMania 31)
19 - Feet On The Ground (Shawn Michaels "My Journey" 2010)
20 - Relic (Survivor Series 2013)
21 - Bald Headed Blues (Battle Of The Billionaires)

Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis) recently had a consultation with her doctor regarding her neck. Paige stated that the first fusion healed perfectly but she developed a hernia above it after her last match in Uniondale, New York back in December 2017. The issue is going to force her to have another surgery.

LuchaCentral reports that AAA TripleMania XXVII drew 1,630,450 viewers and a 2.89 rating on Azteca 7. The number made TripleMania one of the highest-rated shows in Mexican TV this past weekend. AAA’s weekly Friday show on Azteca 7 drew a 0.74 rating with 417,320 viewers. Triplemania was the most-watched sports program of the week and third most-watched cable program. It is estimated that 8.2 million viewers tuned in at some point to watch the show between Azteca 7 and Space. Roughly 50,000 viewers tuned in to watch the show on Twitch between the English and Spanish broadcast.

While this has not been announced officially, ITV Box Office will be carrying All Out as a PPV event in the U.K.

This Sunday at WWE SummerSlam, Kofi Kingston puts his WWE Title on the line against Randy Orton in a match that is a decade in the making. Back in 2009, Kingston looked to be on the rise in WWE, and a feud with Orton was thought to be the program that would elevate him to the next level. Kingston received a massive pop in Madison Square Garden when he put Orton through a table, but instead of breaking the glass ceiling, it was Kofi who came crashing down.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp caught up with Kingston at WWE SummerSlam media day to discuss the real-life beef between himself and Orton.

"On a very legitimate level, those who have been watching the videos about our history, it's very legitimate in the fact that he did not want me to be here to the point where he would tell people who made decisions that I shouldn't be in the position that I was at," stated Kofi. "A lot of people asked me over the years, 'What happened in 2009? You put Randy Orton through the table at Madison Square Garden. I thought you were going to be going up here.' That's where I was supposed to go. You come to find out that because of him, it didn't go that way, not right away. It took a little awhile. Ups and downs. And now here we are 11 years later, through a stroke of luck, a touch of fate, hard work, and taking advantage of some opportunities."

Nielsen Holdings, the company that handles television ratings, is having trouble finding a buyer and there is now talk of selling the company in pieces. Blackstone, a private equity group, had been in talks of buying the company until backing out in March. The New York Post reported that Apollo Global Management, also in talks of buying the company, has lost interest. They said that on 7/30, Goldman Sachs, the latest to expect to buy it, backed out of the deal.

The problem is that Nielsen has working with $8 billion of debt that the new buyers who have to assume, plus the purchase price was expected to be well over $9 billion, meaning such a deal would cost the new buyers $17 billion. The board of Nielsen has been calling those who backed out with the idea of selling portions of the company at lower prices to different former suitors. There is also the feeling that there will be new ways to measure ratings that will cost less that will eventually surface and thus, Nielsen, the market leader, will face competition for its position

Let’s go over what we know:

AAA sold few tickets to the New York & Los Angeles shows, so few that they turned off the ability to see a seat map so no fan could see a visual representation of unsold tickets in one space. (Though the ticket selection screen still shows no many more tickets have moved.)
one source told me the MSG show had sold much less than 1,000 tickets as of mid-July.
No matches have been announced for either show.
AAA had been posting canned Tweets regularly (and probably automatically) to hype these shows. Those have vanished.
AAA hasn’t tweeted the word “MSG” since June 26th.
AAA hasn’t used the #LUCHALIBREAAAenNY tag since June 18th
AAA hasn’t used the #LUCHALIBREAAAenLA tag since June 29th
AAA has continued to push their Mexico shows as normal; they’re not giving on social media ticket sales, just these shows.
Neither the Spanish nor the English announce crew mentioned the AAA US shows on TripleMania commentary when it would normally be a focal point
This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletters says the announcers were specifically told not to bring up the US shows.
Fite.TV were announced as carrying these shows on PPV. They currently list no show airing on September 15th.
An AAA show was announced for September 16th outside Mexico City, the day after the scheduled show in New York. It’s possible for everyone to make it back from New York to be on this show, but it would be challenging.
I’ve been waving “AAA’s shows look concerning” red flags. AAA’s usually helpful in telling me when I’m way off base. No one’s gotten back to me to say I’m wrong.

None of this is definite proof the shows are canceled. The tickets for New York and Los Angeles remain on-sale as of late Thursday and there were still ads playing for it in the Forum last night. The evidence showing they’re not running theses is getting overwhelming though. We’re waiting for someone on the AAA show to be announced as working somewhere else on September 15 or for AAA to say something. That may still take a while. The social media mentions being dropped in June suggest someone knew to stop pushing it a while ago and yet nothing’s been said. You shouldn’t wait for them to finally change say it to make other plans.

TPWW Frontpage:

Goldberg Reportedly Made More Money for One Saudi Arabia Match Than All of 2003-2004 in WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/goldberg-reportedly-made-more-money-for-one-saudi-arabia-match-than-all-of-2003-2004-in-wwe/)
Jimmy Uso Reportedly Not Allowed Into Canada for SummerSlam Weekend (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/jimmy-uso-reportedly-not-allowed-into-canada-for-summerslam-weekend/)
WWE Might Purchase FITE TV (Update: Denied by FITE) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-might-purchase-fite-tv/)

Bad News Gertner

08-09-2019, 11:43 PM

Droford

08-10-2019, 12:49 AM

so basically:

AAA has trouble selling tickets in US
NJPW has slightly less trouble selling tickets in US
ROH can't sell tickets in US or UK

The business is booming Maggle!

Emperor Smeat

08-10-2019, 12:57 AM

That's very surprising that they aren't doing well in LA considering the demographic.

One thing to remember though is that generally Lucha shows have a substantially higher walk up attendance than American shows. Mexican fans typically don't buy tickets in advance.

From what I've read elsewhere, that might not happen for the LA show in terms of sizable walk up sales.

Something about the difference in mentality between US-based Mexican lucha fans and local lucha fans for AAA shows and their traveling habits. Same for AAA likely won't have a large fly in happen from Mexico for their LA show.

NJPW learned the hard way how very different US wrestling fans are when it comes to advertising shows and the lack of walk up sales.

Even WWE and indies quickly realized that US wrestling fans are very picky when it comes to traveling to big events since the early numbers for SummerSlam weekend's fly-in fans was lower than both were expecting. WWE and the indies wanted SummerSlam in Toronto to reach Mania-level in outside fan support which is why a ton of events and festivities are taking place this weekend in the city.

Bad News Gertner

08-10-2019, 08:12 AM

Times have certainly changed.

I remember Ron Skolar running Lucha shows in LA in the early 90s and almost cancelling the shows because nobody was buying tickets in advance. They ended up drawing over 15,000.

Mr. Nerfect

08-11-2019, 12:37 AM

I think people who automatically assume that wrestling is cool again because the niche of the niche are supporting AEW really need to reflect on some of those metrics. And it's why it's so important that AEW don't piss away this golden opportunity to try and bring some people back in.

slik

08-11-2019, 01:53 AM

These same people also think wrestling is about to be 'huge again' bc of FOX airing SD....on Friday night, a night known for people not watching TV, especially those over the age of 10 and under the age of 60.

Evil Vito

08-13-2019, 03:13 PM

Yeah...I rarely am doing anything on Friday nights due to being tired and exhausted from work and even then I'm generally unwinding with PS4 if anything else.

slik

08-13-2019, 03:40 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Interesting job posting by Fox Sports: it appears they are forming a “WWE team” ahead of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SDLive</a> moving to Fox primetime and are hiring specific producers for that, akin to other major sports properties. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a> <a href="https://t.co/lxNEmmO4u6">pic.twitter.com/lxNEmmO4u6</a></p>— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonAlba/status/1161355230040264704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Most importantly, this shows that Fox itself will have a hand in content creation for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a> branding, and not all just handled by WWE itself.</p>— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonAlba/status/1161355927494320128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Emperor Smeat

08-13-2019, 10:10 PM

The Sheets:

The Raw after SummerSlam, as expected, was up 10 percent from last week. Last night's episode averaged 2.73 million viewers.

The ratings pattern wasn't as good as in recent weeks in the sense that there was a third hour drop. Since Paul Heyman got more influence, hour three actually beat hour two in three of the previous four weeks. The show also reverted back to the usual summer pattern of hour two being the highest, which had not been the case for much of this summer but was historically the case ...

Last year's Raw after SummerSlam averaged 3.09 million viewers, so it was an 11.7 percent year-to-year drop ...

The three hours for Raw were:

8 p.m. 2.77 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.82 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.60 million viewers

WWE is slated to begin filming promos for Smackdown on FOX shortly. We are told that talents from each brand will be utilized for those shoots.

WWE NXT will tape TV this Thursday at Full Sail University. Internally, the next tapings after Thursday are slated for 9/11, 9/12 and 10/12, all at Full Sail. If they are going to pull the trigger on going live or expanding the show, as rumors persist will happen, an announcement would have to be made soon. There's been no indication made to anyone internally that is happening, so if it is, it's being kept extremely close to the vest.

Regarding last night, Katsuyori Shibata has not been cleared to wrestle. We don't have more info and very very few people knew about the angle last night before it happened. The angle was one of the best angles you'll ever see, with an in-depth story of Shibata being the person who got KENTA his job in New Japan and trained him for his comeback, only to have KENTA join Bullet Club and Bullet Club beat down his proteges Clark Connors and Karl Frederick in the brawl. Shibata ran in and everyone flew with every blow he did but the number got to him and KENTA gave him a PK, the move he popularized and choked him out and then sat on him and mocked him. The pop when he started on offense was unreal and the heat when KENTA laid him out was as well.

When you saw the angle you for sure would figure it's building KENTA vs. Shibata, which should be a super hot program, and that makes all the sense in the world. I guess we'll know tonight or tomorrow when the new cards are announced if there's any follow-up. Shibata has always wanted to return but doctors have said in the past that there is no way he'd be cleared. Still, he did a lot more than you'd think, and medical diagnosis can change over time. But we were told this morning shortly after the show that the word was Shibata was not cleared for a match. Edge was told he would never be allowed to do anything physically in the ring but was cleared to do that spear spot last night, so never in pro wresting is a funny term.

Broadcast details for this month's NJPW Royal Quest show have now been officially confirmed.

NJPW and Fite TV announced today that Royal Quest will air live on Fite as an iPPV. The show will later be made available on New Japan World.

The price for Royal Quest on Fite is listed as $24.99. The show is taking place at the Copper Box Arena in London, England on Saturday, August 31 and will begin at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time.

NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff and AEW All Out are both also taking place on August 31 ...

Here's the full card for Royal Quest:

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Minoru Suzuki
RevPro British Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi
NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii defending against KENTA
IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny defending against the winners of the RevPro Road to Royal Quest tournament
Tetsuya Naito & SANADA vs. Jay White & Chase Owens
Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo
Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH

New Japan Pro Wrestling released the full card for Royal Quest on August 31st at the Copper Box Arena in London, England ... POST Wrestling has learned that the English commentary will feature Kevin Kelly and Gino Gambino calling the event.

Kota Ibushi suggested competing for both the IWGP and Intercontinental titles at Wrestle Kingdom 14 during this morning’s NJPW press conference. He also said he would defend the right to the Wrestle Kingdom match against EVIL and KENTA.

Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, and Juice Robinson will be in action on the final night of the Super J-Cup in Long Beach, California on August 25. Jushin Thunder Liger is also wrestling in non-tournament action on all three Super J-Cup shows.

Tenille Dashwood has an opponent for her Impact Wrestling debut.

Impact has announced Dashwood vs. Kiera Hogan for their television tapings in Mexico City, Mexico this Thursday. Impact has TV tapings at Fronton Mexico on both Thursday and Friday of this week.

The Natalya dislocated elbow is a worked injury. She is not hurt and there is no MRI set for today. It was just done to help set the stage for Sasha Banks' return last night.

After falling to the $63 range, the WWE stock was up 5% Tuesday and closed at $66.70
Had a sizeable drop yesterday that wasn't really explainable. It did lead to one of WWE's co-Presidents selling off a ton of her stock today as a result though.

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reports that Santana Garrett has signed a developmental contract with WWE. Garrett has appeared on WWE television, most notably wrestling in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. Garrett was defeated by Piper Niven in the first round of the tournament, but worked a six-woman tag match on the second night of the tapings, teaming with Sarah Logan & Marti Belle in a loss to Tessa Blanchard, Jazzy Gabert, and Kay Lee Ray.

Appearing on ESPN First Things First, Kofi explained the origin of the pancake toss.

"Myself and Big E had a lumberjack match against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Xavier [Woods] was one of the lumberjacks," recalled Kingston. "He had his flannel vest on and had his lumberjack hat. What do lumberjacks eat? They eat pancakes. He brought out a whole tray of pancakes, and before we knew, the entire arena is chanting 'We want pancakes.' So, we threw out pancakes to everybody. The next week, we went up to Vince [McMahon] and were like, 'Hey, do you mind if we bring out pancakes again?' He was like, 'Do you wanna?' 'Yeah, it'd be cool if we did that.' Fast forward to a year later; pancake power is a real thing. People are clamoring for pancakes. It doesn't make sense, but we give the people want they want. And right now, they want pancakes."

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Bray Wyatt’s Fiend Entrance Theme, Legends at SD FOX Debut, Ratings for Steve Austin’s Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-bray-wyatts-fiend-entrance-theme-legends-at-sd-fox-debut-ratings-for-steve-austins-show/)
Roman Reigns Signs New Multi-Year Contract With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/roman-reigns-signs-new-multi-year-contract-with-wwe/)
WWE: Rollins vs. Strowman at Next PPV? King of the Ring Finals at Clash of Champions (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-rollins-vs-strowman-at-next-ppv-king-of-the-ring-finals-at-clash-of-champions/)
WWE Cancels Five Raw House Shows (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-cancels-five-raw-house-shows/)

Emperor Smeat

08-14-2019, 09:55 PM

The Sheets:

SmackDown ratings were up four percent coming off Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. Tuesday night's show averaged 2.164 million viewers on the USA Network, which was the highest viewership for SmackDown since the April 16 Superstar Shake-up episode ...

Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down five percent -- but SummerSlam took place earlier than usual this year. The 2018 post-SummerSlam episode did 2.437 million viewers, so it was down 14 percent from that ...

Miz & Mrs, which followed SmackDown on USA, averaged 1.009 million viewers. That was down five percent from last week but still the second highest total of the current run of episodes.

Impact Wrestling has added four matches to their television tapings in Mexico City, Mexico.

Impact is taping TV at Fronton Mexico tomorrow and Friday. Michael Elgin vs. Rhino, Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) vs. LAX (Santana & Ortiz), and Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) are set for Thursday's tapings.

Jessicka Havok vs. Su Yung has been confirmed for Friday.

As was previously announced, Tenille Dashwood vs. Kiera Hogan and RVD vs. Madman Fulton are set for Thursday. Dr. Wagner Jr. will be appearing on Friday.

In addition to announcing the newest Performance Center signees, WWE revealed that Kendo Kashin has been hired as a coach at the Performance Center. Kashin had a stint as a guest coach this February.

A last man standing match is the latest addition to the NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff lineup.

On this week's NXT UK episode, it was confirmed that Dave Mastiff will face Joe Coffey in a last man standing match in Cardiff. The announcement comes after Mastiff and Coffey fought to a double countout in the main event of last Wednesday's show.

Cardiff is the second TakeOver special in NXT UK history. Coffey lost to Pete Dunne in the main event of UK TakeOver: Blackpool in January, while Mastiff defeated Eddie Dennis in a no DQ match.

UK TakeOver: Cardiff is being held at Motorpoint Arena Cardiff on Saturday, August 31. NJPW Royal Quest and AEW All Out are both also taking place that day.

Jerry Jarrett tweeted yesterday that his father-in-law Tennessee wrestling legend and on-screen authority figure for Memphis TV Eddie Marlin is in the process of being moved to hospice care.

According to tweets, the 89-year-old is experiencing multiple organ failure.

Ring Of Honor will be streaming their 'Honor For All' show on August 25th from Nashville, Tennessee and announced for that show is a ROH World Tag Team Championship match that will pit the champions, The Briscoes against WWE Hall Of Famers and former NWA World Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express.

Another match has been added to ROH Honor For All taking place on August 25 as Matt Taven, Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb and Kenny King will face off in a Defy or Deny match.

Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton are being advertised for WWE live events in October.

The current IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley just wrapped up his first G1 Climax tournament and capped off his tournament debut with ten points and in third place in the B block. Moxley is slated to wrestle for Northeast Wrestling this month and on August 31st at All Out, he'll go one-on-one with Kenny Omega. According to Sports Illustrated, Moxley's run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling is not done as his contract with the company runs through the first of two Tokyo Dome shows next year.

With All Elite Wrestling set to start on TNT on Oct. 2, people are already wondering the number of viewers they will be able to attract. AEW Double or Nothing reportedly did just under 100,00 buys while B/R Live streaming events Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen have been two of the most popular B/R Live events in the platform's history.

Speaking to Busted Open Radio, Cody discussed the fanbase they are looking to attract on TNT.

"The term 'casual fan,' honestly, I throw up in my mouth every time I hear it. It's this vernacular to describe wrestling based on the Monday Night Wars," stated Cody. "They are over and aren't happening in the present. What's happening in the present is, we can't determine what it is. Only history will be able to tell us. My focus is the base that built AEW. That base, if you've seen it, you get it. If you haven't seen it, you have to see and feel. There's a lot of confidence that can be misplaced for arrogance. But I've seen the power and I want to focus on them. There are people who are plenty critical of what AEW does. Instead of signal boosting that, I'd rather [have] 100 fans in our base than the one salty son of a bitch who isn't coming aboard anyway. The first way to fail is to try and please everybody."

According to Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens, Alica Fox was allegedly "a drunken mess" over WWE SummerSlam weekend and was sent home after an "incident" with a fan.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Jan LaQue, the mother of WWE Hall of Famer Chyna has sent a letter to the producers of Autopsy: The Last Days Of… over the Aug. 25 episode that will focus on Chyna’s passing.

"I want to make it clear to you, very very clear, that NO ONE – NO ONE – really knows what happened during Joanie’s final hours. So you can’t possibly air something on the supposed “Truth” because you don’t know it. I don’t know it!!

I expect a contact immediately back from you stating that you will not be airing this program. If I don’t hear from you by the end of the day on Monday, August 12th 2019, you will give me no other choice but to have my attorney contact you on this matter. So someone had better contact me on this ASAP.

If you continue on with this and defame Chyna or tarnish her legacy in any way, you are really opening yourself up to defamation. Not to mention personal and emotional duress on the part of myself and her family because of what you are doing.

You need to be VERY clear that as her mother and her sole beneficiary, I am going to vigorously defend my daughter and her estate, protect her legacy from vultures like you who want to drag it through the mud, and do whatever I can to stop you and those like you from making a buck off of her tragedy both now and in the future."

Once again it is that time of the week where we can supply info for WWE Hidden Gems! In good news for fans of the 1980’s we can exclusively reveal that this week the Hidden Gem arriving on the service on Thursday, August 15th is a Mid Atlantic show from 1984. More specifically, this event is Boogie Jam 1984 and the upload features an epic hour long match between Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair.

Clocking in at over two and a half hours, it is possible the full 7 match card ends up being added to the archives but taking into account the Ric Flair match going so long, it is also very possible something ends up not making the final cut. Regardless, the event also featured another championship match, a Hair vs. Mask match, along with a plethora of legends from the territory days including the iconic Dory Funk Jr. battling Tully Blanchard.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces Nine New Performance Center Signees, Including EVOLVE Champ Austin Theory (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-announces-nine-new-performance-center-signees-including-evolve-champ-austin-theory/)
AEW World Championship to Be Defended on Week 3 of AEW on TNT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-world-championship-to-be-defended-on-week-3-of-aew-on-tnt/)
Impact: Tenille Dashwood’s First Match, Dr. Wagner Jr. on Impact, Ethan Page Interview (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/impact-tenille-dashwoods-first-match-dr-wagner-jr-on-impact-ethan-page-interview/)

Emperor Smeat

08-15-2019, 09:12 PM

The Sheets:

MLW has announced the latest addition to their behind-the-scenes staff.

It was announced today that Dr. Tom Prichard has joined MLW as a senior agent. MLW noted that Prichard "will work as a coach and coordinator as some of his many duties" for the promotion.

Former Memphis Wrestling star and promoter Eddie Marlin passed away this morning at the age of 89, former Memphis wrestling personality Randy Hales (who had been helping to care for Marlin) announced

A GoFundMe campaign was quietly launched several days ago to assist independent wrestler Jeremy Ganger, who was bouncing at Dayton, Ohio establishment Ned Pepper's during last week's shooting in Dayton, Ohio where the person responsible murdered ten people and injured 27 others despite being confronted and killed by authorities within a minute of opening fire.

Ganger exited Ned Peppers, brought several people into the restaurant and barred the door, preventing the shooter from entering. After the shooter was killed by authorities, Ganger returned outside to assist in disarming him.

Ganger suffered injuries after being hit with shrapnel, which he has yet to undergo surgery to remove.
Link for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jeremy-ganger-help-with-medical-amp-other-expenses

The WWE Network's Hidden Gems section has finally returned to the revamped version of the streaming platform.

The section is now featured in the In Ring section on the Featured tab of the category. When you click on the section, It is now broken down into four carousels under five sections:
*Recently Added
*WWE Hall of Famers
*Before They Were Superstars
*Classic Title Matches
*Memorable Interviews.

After the reboot of the WWE Netwotk, this content was available via search or in different sections, but now it is housed under one umbrella again. However, It is no longer listed by year. The Recently Added section shows that they've uploaded a lot of the content that was on the previous system already, but not in chronological order.

Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that WWE has signed hip-hop artist, boxing trainer and extreme CrossFit athlete Briana Brandy to a developmental deal. Brandy took part in a 2017 WWE tryout. Yesterday the site reported that WWE has also signed Santana Garrett to NXT.

Apologies for the delay in match announcements. Unfortunately, there was a scheduling conflict with Bárbaro Cavernario, and he will not be able to wrestle in the tournament. Aramis has now entered the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles!

Toni Storm is reportedly injured which explains her missing at least one date last week with wXw.

SummerSlam had a different issue, with Endeavor’s Neulion taking over as the host server from Bam Tech, which WWE had used since its inception, the show was filled with widespread problems. Many people gave up on watching. Many reported multiple buffering. There were some problems with Takeover the night before, which was the new hosts first major live event ...

The show drew a legitimate sellout of more than 13,500, with an announced figure of 16,904. With the wrestling war going on, they brought back heaps of pyro. Preliminary numbers indicate 19,600 buys on PPV, which is down from 29,900 last year, a 34 percent decline even with the network issues and even with network subscribers being down probably around eight to nine percent from one year ago.

WWE quietly announced the cancellation of five house shows in August, all on the Raw side. This coincides with the report we had last week of doing more dual branded “Supershows” going forward. The shows canceled are the entire Raw house show tour in two weeks, with shows on 8/23 in Bossier City, LA, 8/24 in Lafayette, LA and 8/25 in Mobile, AL, as well as two of the three shows the following week, on 8/30 in Bangor, ME and 8/31 in Portland, ME. What’s notable is that out of nowhere, Kane was booked to work the Bossier City and Lafayette house shows.

In the case of the first weekend, this is simply canceling shows likely due to bad advances. Even with the high ticket prices, it’s no longer the case that almost all house shows are profitable ...

There are two keys to the cancellations. The first is to save money as obviously the company saw that they would be money losing tours. The second is to kind of hide the house show decline to investors. As noted with the last quarter, the average attendance (and this includes TV tapings and PPV shows) fell from 5,000 to 4,700 in North America. It’s a drop, but not an alarming drop. It’s six percent, notable but nothing to panic over. But the key is that they ran eight less shows due to Monday cancellations for the most part.

If you figure those shows would have averaged 2,000 paid, that would take the average down to 4,100, which now is an 18 percent drop that investors would start questioning. It’s the right move for the company, as last quarter the house shows were profitable which hasn’t been the case every quarter. But it was also the WrestleMania quarter so Mania and Mania week live event profits are going to make the quarter better than other quarters.

The update regarding Madison Square Garden on 9/15 and The Forum in Los Angeles on 10/13 is that as of right now, both shows are on, a press release is said to be forthcoming regarding MSG and New York, but there will be a show on that day at this point, and Cain Velasquez is being talked with about doing the show. There will be no AEW talent on that show. About 2,000 tickets have been sold thus far for MSG and the only match we know of it Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya for the Reina de Reinas title. On the weekend television, once again, the announcers never once mentioned anything about either show. No card has been announced and one would think you’d want the MSG card out by now.

A big issue with the complete card is the visa issue. It’s been hard for Japan, but because of Donald's presidency, it’s ten times worse for those from Mexico. We were told that visas used to take maybe a month, but there are some visas that have taken eight months and they still haven’t been approved. With the show one month off, that’s made things very difficult. Plus, regarding the television production team they would be bringing, so many of them also don’t have visas so that gets in the way of other people familiar with how they shoot big shows. They weren’t promoting the shows on social media for a few weeks but then this past week did start promoting the idea that there are shows with no hints as to what is on those shows

Regarding Hiromu Takahashi, the only thing we’ve heard is that he’s almost ready to return and they want to do is right and there’s no rush. It seems it’s more about how Gedo can weave a storyline around his return for impact and having the return coincide with something big

The idea of piggybacking off SummerSlam in Toronto, the first time this has really been tried, after being a successful formula for years at WrestleMania, was pretty much a flop. There were a number of reasons. First, SummerSlam isn’t a traveling show. Second, with four WWE shows in the market over the week, for those local, the last thing they were going to want to do was go to another show. In addition, there were far too many shows. OWE on 8/7 and 8/10 drew about 150 fans each show, Smash vs. Progress that same day did about 225 and wXw with Walter vs Daisuke Sekimoto, which was said to be a blow away match, did about 225. The biggest of the indies was the 8/10 show called The Summit, featuring women from Shimmer, Rise, Femmes Fatales (a Quebec women’s group) and Smash. That show did 353 with 343 paid. Smash on 8/10 did about 250 fans. IWS from Quebec did about 160.

Jim Cornette said that he just came back from Oklahoma helping things out because his father-in-law had died. He said that after a few more obligations he’s made this year that he will no longer be doing conventions for at least a year and would no longer be driving long distances to shows, nor flying. He said he may announce at some MLW and NWA shows but only if the events are within reasonable driving distance. He said he’s hit a wall from working so hard in he past year. He said he would remain doing his podcasts because he can make money from doing them while staying home

Aja Kong, Yuki Sakazaki, Shoko Nakajima and Bea Priestley are all booked in Japan on dates that would coincide with All Out, so it would appear they wouldn’t be available for the Casino Battle Royale or a Kong vs. Kong confrontation unless something changes.
Observer issued a correction later in today's Daily Update article mentioning Priestley isn't booked for any Stardom shows around All Out's date.

Goldberg and Riddle actually had a confrontation of sorts before SummerSlam. Riddle had been mocking Goldberg and Lesnar on social media for some time. Keep in mind this stuff is all approved, if not encouraged by WWE management because if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t be doing it. It’s just a way for him to get attention. I guess he never did see Lesnar. But he was backstage and Goldberg threw a shoulder at him and Riddle, whose stuff on Goldberg dating back months to the build for Saudi Arabia was that Goldberg wasn’t any good, because when he was a kid watching, he could see through him. So, according to Riddle’s description of their meeting, Goldberg looked at him, evidently knew what he had been writing and said, “We’ve got some talking to do.” And Riddle said, “We can talk any time.” Riddle called him bro, and he said, “I’m not your bro.” And Riddle said, “Alright Bro, take it easy” Goldberg said, “I’ll see you later, and it was a pleasure meeting you (Bill has the attitude generally if people are dicks to him to in his words, “kill them with kindness”), and Riddle said, “The pleasure was all mine, bro.” And Goldberg said, “I’m not your bro.
Link to Riddle's story: https://twitter.com/WRESTLEZONEcom/status/1160692763593236481

With Sofia Alonso taking over control of CMLL after Paco Alonso passed away, WWE has had talks with the promotion.

WWE has opened up talks about bringing a number of people in that they’ve never had any interest in, with the obvious reason that there is a belief they could be of value to the opposition

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Stone Cold on “Hot Ones,” Kushida vs. Gulak at EVOLVE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-stone-cold-on-hot-ones-kushida-vs-gulak-at-evolve/)
AEW Women’s Title Match Announced for Week 3 of AEW on TNT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-womens-title-match-announced-for-week-3-of-aew-on-tnt/)
WWE Reportedly Wants Rey Mysterio’s Son to Wrestle (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-reportedly-wants-rey-mysterios-son-to-wrestle/)
The Fiend Will Be a Bonus/Downloadable Character in WWE 2K20 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/the-fiend-will-be-a-bonus-downloadable-character-in-wwe-2k20/)

Gerard

08-16-2019, 11:48 AM

"According to a source in WWE that I spoke with this past Monday was supposed to be Dolph Ziggler’s last day with the company. I was told that there was a 'handshake deal' in place between Vince McMahon and Dolph Ziggler, and that Vince would let Dolph out of the deal following SummerSlam so that Ziggler could pursue his 'other projects.' On Monday prior to RAW, Dolph approached Vince McMahon to thank him, however it was then that Vince told Dolph that he could not let him out of his deal, and that he would 'rather just pay him to stay home.'”

Quite a few places reporting this.

Jordan

08-16-2019, 01:56 PM

I bet he was going to AEW.

ClockShot

08-16-2019, 03:26 PM

I need to hear more details before I jump out and say "Dolph should have left when the had the chance."

Handshake agreements are sketchy.

Mr. Nerfect

08-16-2019, 03:48 PM

If they only had a handshake deal, there wouldn’t be a piece of paper obligating Dolph to go in. Unless the handshake deal was to let Dolph out?

Emperor Smeat

08-16-2019, 03:50 PM

Its from BodySlam.net which is pretty much the bottom of the barrel in terms of dirtsheets reliability.

Sepholio

08-16-2019, 05:14 PM

It's pretty funny. Forbes ran the story. FORBES. Citing Bodyslam.net as their source.

Meanwhile Meltzer says 100% fake newz.

Emperor Smeat

08-16-2019, 09:11 PM

The Sheets:

During today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer brought up that he had gotten word that NXT may be moving to the USA Network. According to Meltzer, there has been talk of NXT either moving to FS1 or USA, with the latter being the current candidate. An announcement regarding NXT’s future is expected to be made soon.

Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales went into further detail about what this would mean for future NXT television tapings. Meltzer mentioned that the plan is for the show to be two hours, airing head-to-head with AEW’s television series on TNT on Wednesdays every week. The premiere date for NXT on USA could also come before October 2, which is when AEW debuts on TNT.

Meltzer noted that there would be a live component to NXT on USA, though whether it would be live every week or every other week have both been discussed.

The first round matchups are set for this year's Battle of Los Angeles.

There's been one change to the list of participants for the tournament, with PWG announcing that luchador Aramis is replacing Barbaro Cavernario. PWG said that Cavernario isn't able to wrestle in the tournament due to a scheduling conflict ...

If current PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb doesn't win BOLA, the winner will get a future shot at his title.

Here are the first round matches for the tournament:
Night one --

Jeff Cobb vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
Jonathan Gresham vs. Artemis Spencer
Darby Allin vs. Black Taurus
Dragon Lee vs. Rey Horus
Brody King vs. Caveman Ugg
A-Kid vs. Lucky Kid

Night two --

Bandido vs. Laredo Kid
Orange Cassidy vs. David Starr
Pentagon Jr. vs. Tony Deppen
Fenix vs. Aramis
Joey Janela vs. Mick Moretti
Jake Atlas vs. Jungle Boy

After announcing the return of King of the Ring earlier this week, WWE has now revealed the full bracket for the tournament.

Here are the first round matches for the Raw side of the bracket:

Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe
Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre
Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn
The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

The matchups on the SmackDown side are:

Kevin Owens vs. Elias
Ali vs. Buddy Murphy
Chad Gable vs. Shelton Benjamin
Apollo Crews vs. Andrade

The tournament will begin on Raw next Monday (August 19). It will be a multi-week tournament on both Raw and SmackDown, leading to the finals taking place at Clash of Champions. The Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina is hosting the pay-per-view on September 15.

A number of All Elite Wrestling executives including Tony Khan and Cody were in New York City this week meeting with TNT sponsors regarding the AEW weekly series

On today's Edge and Christian podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer talked about spearing Elias on the Summerslam kickoff last Sunday. He states that the appearance was booked last minute. In regards to the physicality of the segment, the Rated R Superstar goes on to say, there are many misconceptions about the severity of his neck ...

Later in the show, when jokingly being brought up about coming out of retirement, Edge states that he definitely feels like he could have a match tomorrow, but probably would be blown up cardio wise. However, he doesn't believe WWE would allow it.

Although, he does follow that up by saying he talked to a doctor who said that he thinks his neck could be "relatively healthy" within the next five years. Edge also mentions he is also looking into stem cell therapy. But he makes it clear all this progress is due to life without bumps. Edge says doing an occasional bump is not a problem but constant physicality would not be good.

WWE Network News is reporting that more 1993 WCW Saturday Night episodes are coming to the streaming service this Monday as a part of the August Classic Content Drop. Currently, WWE Network features episodes of the series from its April 4.1992 debut to January 4, 1993. It is unclear how many episodes we will be getting, but if patterns hold true, it will be at least 20 episodes.

The Undisputed Era's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly just defeated The Street Profits to become the new WWE NXT Tag Team Champions at the ongoing TV Taping in Florida.

This is the duo's second title reign.
Spoiler tags used since its related to the Street Profits and the recent set of NXT TV tapings.

The WWE stock closed at $69.61 on Friday.

TPWW Frontpage:

Lucha Libre AAA Show Moved From MSG to Hulu Theater, Matches Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/lucha-libre-aaa-show-moved-from-msg-to-hulu-theater-matches-announced/)
AEW Sells Out Weeks 2 and 3 in Under an Hour (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-sells-out-weeks-2-and-3-in-under-an-hour/)
Updated AEW All Out Card – New Match Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/updated-aew-all-out-card-new-match-announced/)
Rumored WWE Clash of Champions Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/rumored-wwe-clash-of-champions-card/)

Droford

08-16-2019, 09:15 PM

I cant see USA airing taped NXT..at best everyone would DVR at worst everyone reads spoilers. I couldnt see FS1 doing it at all because theres too much sports programming that it would interfere with

Emperor Smeat

08-20-2019, 10:08 PM

The Sheets:

While Raw was down seven percent from last week, doing 2.53 million viewers, it was still the best number the show has done with the exception of Raw Reunion and last week's episode dating back to night one of the Superstar Shake-up on April 15.

It followed the usual recent pattern of peaking in hour two and then falling in hour three. The third hour was below the first hour this week, but the third hour drop has lessened significantly since Paul Heyman was put in a role with major influence on the show, with the third hour 4.9 percent down from the first. Prior to Heyman, it was often near and even above a 20 percent drop from hour one to three ...

The rating was down 18 percent from the same week in 2018, but that's an unfair comparison because SummerSlam was a week earlier this year, so the comparison is with the day after SummerSlam. If we look at the week after SummerSlam from last year, the drop was 11 percent.

Straight Up Steve Austin, airing on the USA Network after Raw, did 1.08 million viewers, a drop of 11 percent from the first week. Again, part of that -- and probably a big part -- is a lesser lead-in because of the lower rated Raw ...

The three hours for Raw were:

8 p.m. 2.55 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.63 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.42 million viewers

As far as his vignettes, WWE intentionally stay hands off on them because they know they can't recreate them well. When Vince McMahon orders one, Ali has it made.
In regards to the videos Ali has been doing on Smackdown for a while.

Daffney posted:

Some of you know that I had neck surgery 2 1/2 years ago. They put a metal plate between my C4 & C5. Recently, I noticed my fingers on my left hand going numb again, especially my thumb. My wrist and forearm began to hurt, my temple, neck, collarbone and trap were next, and then finally my shoulder felt like it was being ripped out of the socket if I didn't keep my arm cradled. Just like 2 1/2 years ago. By Thursday night it had gotten so bad, I decided I needed to go get it checked the next day. Good news: I haven't hurt another disc in my neck. Bad news: They found a cyst or growth next to my T1.

They gave me steroids & anti inflammatories and I've been keeping my left arm propped up. It's weird because my middle finger especially hurts this time - almost like it's broken so it sticks up. I'm constantly giving Dina, my roomie, the bird. Which she totally doesn't deserve because she just made me some amazing grits and has been a guardian angel.
In the morning I make an appointment with a spinal specialist to find out what is next to my T1 & what is causing the pain.

I'll keep y'all updated. Wanted to explain my absence and request good juju please

WCW, TNA, WWE and ECW veteran Johnny Swinger was recently a guest on Wrestling Epicenter's Interactive Wrestling Radio ...

On training Rick Steiner's son:
"I'm getting ready to train Rick Steiner's son, Bronson. He's been wanting to do it for a few years now. He's finishing up college. He's going to be the next big thing. He really is. He's about 6'1... He was a state champion. He's playing football for KSU right now. He's going to be a stud, man!"

Kevin Von Erich is returning to Texas for next month's MLW War Chamber event.

MLW has announced that Kevin will be appearing at their television tapings at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills on Saturday, September 7. He'll be in the corner of his sons Marshall & Ross as they team with Tom Lawlor to take on Contra Unit in a War Chamber match.

Following the NXT to USA announcement, WWE stock closed today at $74.51 per share. That was up 3.59 percent from yesterday.

AJ Mendez (formerly known as AJ Lee) and actress Aimee Garcia are writing a four-part comic book series called “GLOW vs. The Babyface” that will launch this November

Where is Rusev? I remember how deadly he was when he first got here. What do you think happened?

The rumors for a while now are that he and Lana have not been happy with how they have been used by WWE (I can’t say I blame them). Creative has not been using them. I would not be shocked if they left when their contracts are up. I never understood the way that he was used, a big, strong agile big man should have been used so much better than he was.
From a recent Q&A article.

With WWE NXT moving to a two-hour weekly series on the USA Network starting on 9/18, the series will now be available on a 24-hour tape delay, airing Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern on the WWE Network. After that airing, it will be available via VOD.

There are no planned changes in regard to Takeover events. Those remain exclusive to the WWE Network.

I have been asked nonstop about NXT airing in Canada and Sportsnet 360’s response has been that they “have nothing to share at this time.”

NXT will launch on the USA Network beginning September 18th, which is the date we reported on Monday with AEW set to premiere on October 2nd. It is WWE’s biggest head-to-head challenge in years and while most point to Impact’s move to Monday nights in January 2010, realistically, that was a one-week spike for Impact, who were quickly destroyed against Raw and retreated to Thursdays by the spring. AEW has a sound business strategy and has been able to prove an ability to move tickets at a level Impact never approached in its existence.

Some comparisons can be made to October 3, 2005, when Raw moved back to the USA Network and went head-to-head with a UFC Fight Night card. While UFC was not going to be weekly competition, they did represent the hot brand that was on fire after the first season of the Ultimate Fighter, which was enough to given Spike the confidence to publicly walk away from their re-negotiations with WWE, whose deal was up that year. WWE treated the head-to-head battle that night as war and promoted the show around a “Homecoming”, which was the first time they brought back every legend possible and became the company’s go-to strategy to pop a big number. Fourteen years later, it’s the strategy they will use for the first episode of SmackDown on Fox.

Unlike UFC, AEW represents a direct competitor that WWE cannot write off as “they’re legitimate sport and we are entertainment” ...

NXT is now a vehicle to draw eyeballs in large amounts with the pressure of a weekly scorecard on Thursday afternoons. In many ways, they could fall into the trap of WCW in 1998. At the time, WCW was doing monster business at live events and on pay-per-view, but the WWF had surpassed them in viewership and that was the metric that determined a win or a loss. Instead of maintaining a solid business and building new stars when the company was hot, they became obsessed with Tuesday afternoons and winning the night, instead of winning the war.
John Pollock had an interesting view about NXT's announcement from a historical perspective.

Bloomberg has an article on Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan Pro Wrestling, which took the company public in July. Yoshitaka Hashimoto, the CEO of Bushiroad, spoke to Bloomberg and emphasized taking New Japan global and citing video streaming as one tool. In the article, they attribute New Japan to being responsible for 20% of Bushiroad’s annual revenue last year, which grew to 28.9 billion yen ($271.9 million U.S.) for their fiscal year that ended in July 2018. Bloomberg listed New Japan’s annual sales at 5 billion yen ($47,045,000 U.S.). Hashimoto added that four of every ten New Japan fans are female and it was mentioned that when Bushiroad bought the company they encouraged the wrestlers to get on Twitter and interact with fans to grow the audience. Harold Meij added that “New Japan Pro Wrestling used to see themselves as just a sports organization. Now we consider every wrestler to be a piece of intellectual property, a kind of anime character.”

It's been months since Sheamus last appeared in a WWE ring and the former WWE champion is still unsure of when he'll return.

The 41-year-old former King of the Ring winner spoke on when he could be returning the ring. After being out of the ring since April, Sheamus admitted in a recent Q & A in the Philippines that he doesn't know when he'll be back but he does miss it.

"I've not yet retired... I don't know what the story is in my future. I have no idea, I honestly don't. I just know that I like have some time off but I miss it. I do miss being in the ring," Sheamus said.

TPWW Frontpage stuff:

AEW: Two New Entrants in Women’s Casino Battle Royale, Tag Team Tournament Note (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-two-new-entrants-in-womens-casino-battle-royale-tag-team-tournament-note/)
NXT/USA Update: How Much Money Will USA Pay? Vince McMahon’s Role, Mauro Ranallo, More (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/nxt-usa-update-how-much-money-will-usa-pay-vince-mcmahons-role-mauro-ranallo-more/)
WWE Officially Announces That NXT Is Moving to USA Network (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-officially-announces-that-nxt-is-moving-to-usa-network/)
Kalisto and Gran Metalik Hint at Leaving WWE When Their Contracts Expire (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/kalisto-and-gran-metalik-hint-at-leaving-wwe-when-their-contracts-expire/)
A Wrestling Mini-Series Called “Heels” Is Coming to Starz (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/a-wrestling-mini-series-called-heels-is-coming-to-starz/)

Emperor Smeat

08-21-2019, 09:23 PM

The Sheets:

Tuesday's SmackDown averaged 2,142,000 viewers, slightly down from last week's 2.164 million, which was the post-SummerSlam show. The big hook on this week's episode was the potential reveal of Roman Reigns' mystery attacker.

The show retained the usual 84 percent of the Raw audience. SmackDown was down 12 percent year-over-year, but SummerSlam was a week later in 2018. A more realistic comparison would be the 2.35 million the show did two weeks after last year's SummerSlam.

SmackDown was fifth for the night on cable in terms of total viewers, higher than it usually finishes. It topped the 18-49 demo with a 0.68 rating, over 40 percent higher than Real Housewives of OC, which finished in second. SmackDown also beat everything on network TV in that demo except for The Bachelorette and America's Got Talent.

Miz and Mrs, which followed SmackDown on the USA Network, dropped to 997,000 viewers. That's still the third-highest total of the current run of episodes.

The lineup for NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff looks to be officially set.

Two matches were announced for the special on this week's NXT UK episode. Travis Banks will face Noam Dar, and NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) will defend their titles against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a triple threat match.

For those of you holding out hope for the release of a mythical pre-PPV King of the Ring tournament or two, you’re going to have to keep waiting, I’m afraid. However, that doesn’t mean that this week’s selection is without merit. Far from it, in fact. Tomorrow, WWE Network is set to upload an NWA TV special to the Hidden Gems category by the name of Superstars on the Superstation. At 2-hours in length (or roughly 90 minutes without commercials if you prefer) and featuring 3 major title matches, it was practically a condensed free-to-air pay-per-view and a spiritual predecessor to the legendary Clash of the Champions super cards.

Here is the confirmed card for the upcoming upload, courtesy of Cagematch.net:

NWA World Tag Team Title: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) (c) vs. The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey)
The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk) vs. The Russians (Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff)
NWA National Heavyweight Title: Dusty Rhodes (c) vs. Tully Blanchard
NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Ron Garvin

With such a heavy emphasis on title matches throughout the 4-match card, this could well be a nod to WWE’s upcoming Clash of Champions event, rather than a random choice. Finally, here is the official description:

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 02/07/1986 – Superstars on the Superstation [Duration: 01:28:02]

Ric Flair puts the title on the line against Ron Garvin, while Dusty Rhodes battles Tully Blanchard in this star-studded extravaganza.

AEW has confirmed when their first-ever Tag Team Champions will be crowned.

The finals of the promotion's Tag Team title tournament will take place on week five of AEW on TNT. The Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia is hosting the episode on Wednesday, October 30.

Former WWE star Eugene aka Nick Dinsmore was at last night's Smackdown taping.

On the latest episode of Road to All Out it was announced that Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) will take on Angelico & Jack Evans as part of The Buy In at AEW All Out. The Buy In is the pre-show prior to the pay-per-view.

Prior to today's episode of NXT UK, Assistant to the General Manager Sid Scala announced that NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff has officially sold out. Tickets for the television tapings the following night are still available.

Yesterday it was announced that NXT would be moving to USA Network beginning on Sept. 18. With the brand moving from WWE Network to cable, many fans are worried that Vince McMahon will be more hands-on with the product, which is widely viewed as a bad thing. Count former WWE Champion and current AEW star Chris Jericho as among those who believe Vince will want to control the yellow brand.

"Of course he is. He's Vince McMahon," Jericho told Busted Open Radio when asked if Vince will be involved. "He's a genius. I think the appeal of NXT, whatever it is because I don't watch it. Don't care. It's the minor leagues to me. The appeal is that it's its own little entity outside of the WWE world. If Vince gets involved, to me, it's going to become another SmackDown and Raw. I think you're going to see all three of those shows interacting with each other. It's gonna be another WWE show. Whatever the appeal of NXT is, it's now going to be changed to another Raw and SmackDown. If you like Raw and SmackDown, you're gonna like NXT. There's no way Vince McMahon is gonna stay at home and not be involved in this. That's what he does."

AEW and OWE team up in the UK.

Oriental Wrestling Entertainment will head to the UK for a five-day event running from Sept. 18 to 22 as the launching point for OWE UK. The tour will be headlined by a four-day tag team tournament to crown the first-ever OWE Tag Team Champions. Mirror reports that AEW stars Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) and Marko Stunt & Luchasaurus will be part of the tournament. The Stronghearts (CIMA & Lindaman) will also be featured in the tournament.

TPWW Frontpage:

Rumor: CFO$, WWE’s Main Entrance Theme Producers, Possibly Done With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/cfo-wwes-main-entrance-theme-producers-reportedly-done-with-wwe/)
XFL Announces All Eight Team Names and Logos (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/xfl-announces-all-eight-team-names-and-logos/)

Emperor Smeat

08-22-2019, 09:41 PM

The Sheets:

MLW has announced another match for next month's War Chamber television tapings.

Austin Aries will face Brian Pillman Jr. at the event. It's taking place at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, September 7.

This Friday's episode was filmed at the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood venue and has been dubbed "Cali Combat." We have heard from several Impact sources that when you see the show, it was designed to be a backdoor pilot for a potential studio style Impact show that's been talked about as a secondary series if and when the flagship Impact series lands on another cable home. You could imagine management's reaction when the NWA announced their plans to begin producing a weekly studio series this fall.

Ring of Honor announced today that several of their stars will be heading to Mexico for CMLL's Grand Prix tournament.

ROH Champion Matt Taven, Mark and Jay Briscoe and Kenny King will all be competing in the tournament. Luke Hawx, Oraculo, Big Daddy and Mecha Wolf 450 are also being brought in for the event.

Previously announced for the tournament are CMLL stars Dragon Lee, Cavernario, Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Diamante Azul, Forastero, Rush and Soberano Jr. Last year's event streamed live for ROH Honor Club, but there has been no announcement yet that this will happen again in 2019.

The tournament will take place on Friday 8/30 at Arena Mexico.
According to the Observer, the tournament won't be airing live on HonorClub.

Now in its sophomore year for the franchise, WWE 2K20’s 2K Towers invites players to take a WWE Superstar or created MyPLAYER into one of several different towers, each with a unique gauntlet of matches that boast different challenges, match stipulations and player modifications.

WWE 2K20 will shine a spotlight on Roman Reigns, who shares the game cover with WWE Superstar Becky Lynch. In 2K Towers: Roman’s Reign, players will follow “The Big Dog” through his early days in WWE, including his time as a member of The Shield to his rivalries with Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Undertaker and more. Overall, players will compete in 16 matches and live out key chapters in Reigns’ impressive mark on WWE history, all while claiming championships and igniting the WWE Universe along the way. Every match includes a live action introduction from “The Big Dog” himself in exclusive, never-before-seen footage.

Will Ospreay recently spoke about his contract status with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Ospreay tweeted that he is with New Japan for the next five-years and his deal allows him to work for Revolution Pro and OTT. Ospreay has been with New Japan since 2016 and is coming off his first appearance in the G1 Climax.

The Wednesday Night Wars are now official, with WWE announcing on 8/20 that NXT would be going live weekly on the USA Network ...

Obviously FOX expected the deal since they had told affiliates a few weeks ago to expect the new wrestling show on FS 1. It had come out after that FOX affiliates meeting that the USA Network was also in play, but even then, FS 1, with the FOX synergy that they were looking for, looked to be the favorite. Even though this deal is groundbreaking, and makes NXT an economically profitable brand, which it was not previously, all negotiations were primarily done as a counter to AEW's deal on TNT from 8-10 p.m. on Wednesday.

Anyone who knows Vince McMahon knew the move would be a counter. The key point brought up was that a lot of people felt that a show on lower-rated FS 1, which is in fewer homes than TNT, could lose in the ratings, something in this case McMahon couldn't stand for. While this does somewhat change the complexion of the FOX/WWE relationship, because it had previously been that WWE would have Smackdown and all other programming besides Raw on FOX or FS 1 (which is looking for new programming after losing so many hours of UFC in January), instead, it's more that the USA Network will come across as WWE's home base with FOX just having Smackdown and a weekly talk show.

USA will be paying in the range of $30 million to $50 million per year over what appears to be two years for the two hours of live NXT from Full Sail University it appears ... So the deal appears to be in the ballpark of the AEW deal with TNT, depending on the value of the ad split. That speaks volumes since WWE also gives up 15 percent to CAA as its negotiator ...

Another key is the far greater exposure of the brand's talent from a combination of the longer show and the far wider audience it will reach with viewership no longer confined to the roughly 1,167,000 U.S. homes (6/30 number) who have the WWE Network and instead be in the USA Network's 89 million homes

The question then becomes what does that mean for the talent. Will NXT tour more extensively and move to larger arenas? The last time WWE did something like this was with the creation of the ECW brand, which was televised on Syfy, they did about 1,000 fans per show and very quickly WWE pulled out of touring the brand because the show were money losers. That's about the same as what NXT out of Florida shows are doing, with only WWE Network exposure. Florida shows range from 150 to 500 for the most part with most 200 to 350 ...

It also changes the dynamic of NXT from developmental, where you go to Full Sail to learn how to work on television, to a show with experienced workers aiming for the masses on television. But NXT Takeovers have been dominated by recruited independent stars, with only a few homegrown talents for years now. WWE touts to the investors the percentage of talent that makes the main roster through NXT, but in reality, the Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Robert Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe types were already established stars with major names to the NXT fan base the day they walked in the door. There are a higher percentage of women who are actually NXT trained that make the main roster.

Another question revolves around the West Coast. Thus far we've gotten no official answers on AEW on TNT, but the belief is it will go live on the West Coast from 5-7 p.m. That will be a disadvantage in theory for ratings, but also removes head-to-head, since USA will air NXT from 8-10 p.m. Pacific on a three-hour tape delay. From a ratings standpoint, that helps NXT, but if the goal of NXT is to siphon off viewers, at least for the West Coast, it doesn't look like that will be the case.

Then there are questions about NXT talent ...

While not confirmed, the word going around is that all developmental deals are going to be changed to main roster deals shortly. One would think that WWE would up the scale for new signees to prevent the next hot talent from going to AEW, but that also hasn't happened yet, but it does figure to be the next logical step as this plays out.

The story going around is that NXT will continue its same path, with Paul Leveque in charge and no Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn. And as long as ratings are good, while it's Vince's company and his directions and suggestions will happen, he'll probably be mostly hands off. He hardly has the time now and certainly won't come January with the launch of the XFL. If AEW wins in the ratings, Vince will obviously get more involved and all things are open to change, from increased use of major main roster stars, to moving out of Full Sail, to more ideas and suggestions and changes.

Another very important key is that in the quest of big dollars now, the company's are risking audience burn out even worse.

If we go with the idea that WWE and AEW are major league products, we are going from five hours of national television per week to either nine or ten (because it's been talked about adding a third hour of Smackdown, possibly for FS 1). That's with a business where the increase from four to five hours of WWE has led to strong decrease in viewers. Granted, for years we had six hours with TNA on Spike which did more than one million viewers. And during the Monday Night Wars, we had eight or nine at times between WWF and WCW, which worked until WCW collapsed ...

There is an equivalent in MMA as when UFC increased television hours greatly on FS 1, the result hurt Bellator's numbers, and every other start up, because people couldn't keep up with all the television of the major brand, that the other brands got little unless they had some nostalgia act type of show. Even burning out their audience, UFC still fell upwards because of escalating rights fees, like WWE, and even Bellator did with its DAZN streaming deal. But it hurt them in the most recent negotiations because unlike WWE, which was holding steady when they were negotiating new deals, UFC was coming off a badly declining year. So WWE got the better end of the deals. Long-term, the real losers here look to be Impact and ROH, because AEW takes their slot as the alternative, and for fans who want to watch as much as possible, those will be the shows people will start to skip. New Japan will be hurt stateside as well, but the product is so strong that their small cult audience probably will not be hurt as badly.

But from a WWE standpoint, if the move from four to five hours led to a greatly accelerating decline in virtually every business metric aside from the fact TV is willing to spend so much, adding more hours of WWE product is guaranteed more money short term and likely to speed the decline in popularity long-term. And in these types of businesses, few are playing the long game ...

One television executive of a national station with great familiarity with both wrestling history, the current and the television landscape gave this appraisal of the situation.

"I think it will help both shows the first couple of weeks, but fade from there and become a zero-sum game unless one/both get hot and create new demand for wrestling.

Regarding Katsuyori Shibata, he hasn't been cleared, but he will be attempting to get cleared. He trains with his students, but the issue in question is whether it can ever be healthy for him to take head shots, and if he were to return as Katsuyori Shibata, can they work around that issue within the New Japan style.

Some of this is known and some is also not hard to figure out, but Gedo's original booking of 2019 was for Kenny Omega to beat Hiroshi Tanahashi and keep the IWGP title at the Tokyo Dome, and then defend it against Kazuchika Okada in Madison Square Garden. Omega would then be the one to lose to Kota Ibushi in the G-1 finals in the spot Jay White had. Whether that would have meant Okada vs. Ibushi or Omega vs. Ibushi at the Tokyo Dome, or both, I don't know.

CAA, which represents CM Punk and also represents WWE, has had an agent reach out to FOX head honchos about Punk as a co-host of the upcoming new FS 1 talk show. From a WWE standpoint, my gut is that they'd hate the idea. He'd be working for FOX, not WWE. We're told there have been no negotiations at all regarding that. The impression is WWE wouldn't like it but things change daily.

Jon Moxley has some kind of an elbow injury. It may be an infection that he got in Japan. He worked shows this weekend for Northeast Wrestling and with the exception of the 8/16 show in Poughkeepsie, his singles bouts were made tags. He pretty much insisted on doing his singles match with Pentagon Jr., and was very careful not to bump on the elbow.

What's notable is that starting with show No. 2, every TNT show is being held on or adjacent to a college campus. It will be interesting if that comes into play in the television presentation. The one thing both WWE and UFC are weak on is in using the location to bring the atmosphere to a show. WWE does it somewhat in the U.K., and there are markets like Toronto and New York that do have a different feel, but for the most part, every arena is set up the same, looks the same, and there's nothing on the show, past a few graphics that WWE has started to put up, to give any kind of a location feel. WCW, when Zane Bresloff was promoting the live shows, went heavily for the unique location ideas, with college campuses being part of that playbook. But WWE often tapes on college campuses and the shows look exactly the same, and they do little or nothing on campus to give that feel.

The plan for Rousey, as I'd been told, was at least as of a month or so ago, that the idea was if she decided to come back, she would but that they didn't want her on television just for a one-off like this. But those rules go out the window with the debut episode on all-stars on deck on FOX. There is no way of knowing if she'll return, as a lot has to do with whether she's going to have kids, which is her next goal in life. But if she comes back, the belief is she'll work a more limited schedule and be booked more as an attraction

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. confirms Los Angeles is a finalist for WrestleMania 37 in 2021 according to Arash Markazi.

Sometimes, shit happens.

It certainly happened to arguably the most successful WWE star, Stone Cold Steve Austin, as he revealed on an episode of Hot Ones. While he was experiencing a wing eating challenge, he was asked if he'd ever crapped his pants in the ring.

The outspoken WWE Hall of Famer readily admitted he had.

"A lot of times when you're doing international travel and there's a dietary change, things happen. He was weighing 600 pounds at the time. When he picked me up and slammed me, something happened. Things went south! Luckily I was wearing black trunks. Yoko was so cool -- he's no longer with us, god rest his soul. I was laying there on the mat, just crapped my trunks and said 'Yok, let's go home.' He said 'Okay, brah.' We did the finish, I got beat, went to the back and took a hell of a shower!" said Austin.

Austin would joke right after that, he hoped the hot wings that he was ingesting wouldn't force him to have a Yokozuna match moment in front of the nine million-plus viewers who have already watched the episode.

Based on our crack reporting, the incident would have happened on September 10 or 12th in 1996, during a tour of South Africa. However, both results have Austin beating Yokozuna.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: AEW Signs “Goldenboy” to Broadcast Team, AEW Had Talks w/ Mike Tenay (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-aew-signs-goldenboy-to-broadcast-team-aew-had-talks-w-mike-tenay/)
WWE Launching a Podcast Network (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-launching-a-podcast-network/)

Fignuts

08-22-2019, 10:35 PM

https://imgshare.io/images/2019/08/22/C7A84BEE-6F71-43D3-B2D8-7F96C39B835F.png

Emperor Smeat

08-23-2019, 10:04 PM

The Sheets:

So in short form, Jon Moxley has MRSA staph in his left elbow and his doctor believes he will have to be out of action for four weeks. Kenny Omega faces Pac in Chicago at All Out ...

Also, from those close to the situation, Dragon Gate has no issue with Pac working AEW. And Pac is expected to return there.

The long talked about Sinclair Broadcasting purchase of the Fox Regional Sports Networks was announced today by Sinclair. This should get ROH exposure in some new markets.

Regarding ticket sales, AEW did not sellout in Pittsburgh or Charleston, WV today. I don't have any figures on how the shows did It appears from seating charts both shows did well.

Several weeks after announcing a partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre, Major League Wrestling announced their first co-promoted show with the Mexican wrestling company Friday morning.

The Saturday, October 5th event will be held at the 5000-seat Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, with tickets going on sale this September. The joint press release mentioned they are looking into travel packages.

The show will also be taped for episodes of Fusion, MLW's weekly TV show.

The Rock announced today via Instagram that the forthcoming fifth season of Ballers on HBO will be the final of the series

Going back to Summerslam, there was one thing that really seemed to bother me. Why is it that the referee counted Orton and Kofi out but they didn't count out Rollins and Brock? I feel like there should be more leeway in a championship match when both competitors are on the outside. On a separate note: wouldn't putting someone though a announce table be a DQ in a regular match? The table would be considered using a weapon.

One can make excuses or try to explain the logic, but I won't. Here's what happened - WWE management didn't care to be consistent with how they presented the stories on the matches. It is, unfortunately, what it is. Perhaps we'll see that sort of things be strengthened under Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff. The table should be a DQ but again, it is what it is.
From a recent Q&A article.

MLW: FUSION is now available on Playstation Vue, which has netted the series an additional 500,000 viewers. MLW is working on several additional streaming platforms to increase the footprint of their weekly series.

The promotion expects to sell out their 9/7 debut in Dallas, Texas at the 1,700 seat NYTEX Sports Centre. As of this writing, only general admission bleacher sears are left. Thus far, the promotion has only announced three bouts - The War Chamber match with Tom Lawlor & The Von Erichs & Low Ki vs. CONTRA Unit, The Dynasty vs. The Hart Foundation in a Best of Three Falls bout for MLW Tag Team titles and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Brian Pillman. As noted previously, Kevin Von Erich will be attending ...

Ricky Martinez will be the first MLW star heading to The Crash in Mexico, working their 9/7 Anniversary event, so he will miss MLW's Dallas debut.

Savio Vega will miss the Dallas event and will be back full-time this October working as a Producer for the company. With the recent addition of Dr. Tom Prichard (who starts in Dallas), the remainder of the producers/agents are Low Ki, George Carroll and Josef Samael.

WrestleVotes reports that a source told him a sixth NXT TakeOver event is a possibility in 2020. The extra event will depend on how NXT performs on USA Network.

This past Tuesday, WWE confirmed that NXT will be moving to the WWE Network. Effectively, this move has started the Wednesday Night War, as they go head-to-head with the All Elite Wrestling program on TNT every Wednesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern.

David Bixenspan of Deadspin reached out to WWE for a comment regarding their apparent counterprogramming of AEW on TNT, and received a reportedly testily response:

“The premise to your story is wrong. NXT has been on Wednesday nights since 2015 [sic] as I’m sure you know.” The spokesman was quoted as saying. The spokesman would go on to try and further dissociate NXT's move to USA as a means of "counter-programming" by providing what they feel is the proper use of the term:

“It isn’t called counter-programming if you continue to air a series on the same day/time as it has been on for nearly five years.” The spokesman closes this interaction by suggesting this line of questioning be directed at AEW as well. “Perhaps you’ll ask AEW about counter-programming NXT?”

The article notes AEW was also contacted to provide a response but declined to do so.

On a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross answered fan questions on a variety of subjects. A common subject was the current state of the All Elite Wrestling roster and who JR would like to see added.

Ross was specifically asked about Lance Archer, who is coming off a well-received run in the NJPW G1 Climax tournament.

"I like his upside. His maturity level is marketable," said Ross. "Size, you can't coach size, he's got that. He's athletic for a big man. I'd love to call some more of his matches, hinting that I wish he was a member of AEW at some point in time. I don't know if that's possible, contractually or philosophically. I'm not hiring talent. But I could see worse hires being made going forward than a 6'7" athletic heavyweight. We don't have a lot of those types in AEW. I always hold out hope that Lance can join the team, but that's not my call. He's a keeper."

Later in the episode, Ross was asked to give names of those who appeal to him for AEW. Ross specified that he would name wrestlers who are considered free agents.

"I like Jack Swagger," commented Ross. "He would be on my imaginary wishlist to come to AEW because he has a lot of skills, size, and background. He's been around long enough that he knows the right way and wrong way of doing things. He hasn't touched the surface on how good he can be. He needs coaching. Jack was getting better when he was working so close with Dutch Mantel because Dutch is old school, good coach. Jack had a personal tutor on the road, which I thought helped him a lot."

Ross then added, "I like Harry Smith, Davey Boy Jr. I'm not so wild about the name. I'm sure he's proud of his father, I am too, but don't try to replicate or go back. Harry Smith, to me, has a great upside. All he needed to do was continue to develop his entertainment side, personality side. He's doing that."

It should be noted that Davey Boy Smith Jr. signed a multi-year deal with MLW in January. Swagger currently competes for Bellator MMA.

JR finished by saying, "I like those bruisers. Big, physical guys who add that balance to what we're trying to do in AEW. Having size, and athleticism with that size, always interests me. Our shortcomings are size and villains. All three of those guys could fill the bill."

TPWW Frontpage:

Jon Moxley Forced to Pull Out of AEW All Out Due to Injury, Replaced by PAC (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/jon-moxley-forced-to-pull-out-of-aew-all-out-due-to-injury-replaced-by-pac/)
Braun Strowman Says He Was “Miserable” in WWE Earlier This Year, But Vince “Talked Him Off a Ledge” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/braun-strowman-says-he-was-miserable-in-wwe-earlier-this-year-but-vince-talked-him-off-a-ledge/)
Various: NJPW Super J-Cup Night 1 Results, CMLL World Grand Prix 2019, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/various-njpw-super-j-cup-night-1-results-cmll-world-grand-prix-2019-indies/)

Jordan

08-24-2019, 09:59 AM

I agree that Archer could be top guy in AEW. You could do so much with him and he can talk... Archer and Omega would do insane stuff. Harry Smith also is one of my favorites... He does have it all, not The Rock on the mic but he's fine. Plus he's big and has a serious legacy, and can work high quality technical matches. I'm not as interested in Hagger, he's on of those that spend too much time under the bad thumb of WWE for me to really take serious. Shawn Spears was almost there but I think he's escaped it. I like Hagger in Bellator and I'd like to see him make a real career there.

Jordan

08-24-2019, 09:59 AM

With that said I also want to see Archer stay in NJPW if they want to give him a serious run and I certainly want to see Harry Smith in NJPW.

slik

08-25-2019, 02:38 AM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cain Velasquez is at the New Japan Super J Cup show tonight in San Francisco. Sources said he’ll be having an informal meeting with NJPW officials. Velasquez is signed on for two more Lucha Libre AAA matches, but several other wrestling promotions have interest, per sources.</p>— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) <a href="https://twitter.com/marc_raimondi/status/1165473212534124544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Damian Rey 2.0

08-25-2019, 04:12 AM

I'd love to see Velasquez mix it up in NJPW. He was impressive in his debut.

Ben Rodrigues

08-25-2019, 04:14 AM

Cain needs to take out a top-five UFC heavyweight and then finish Stipe to get this belt back.

ClockShot

08-25-2019, 08:03 AM

Ol Dirty Dastard

08-25-2019, 08:12 AM

I don't think he can hang.

I'd stick with AAA until he gets enough wrestling experience before thinking about jumping to New Japan.

I'm always impressed with how fast wrestling/judo-based MMA people catch onto pro wrestling. I don't see Cain being any different. Maybe would take some time to feel fully comfortable, but if they protected him he'd probably transition nicely.

Jordan

08-25-2019, 12:45 PM

Cain would be an interesting addition to The Bullet Club.

Emperor Smeat

08-25-2019, 08:04 PM

I'm always impressed with how fast wrestling/judo-based MMA people catch onto pro wrestling. I don't see Cain being any different. Maybe would take some time to feel fully comfortable, but if they protected him he'd probably transition nicely.

NJPW's use of multi-man matches would be a perfect way to get him adjusted before putting him in a singles match or big feud.

If it was WWE, he'd have a bit tougher time due to WWE being more based on promo abilities than in-ring skills. For as good as Ronda was in the ring, she struggled a lot when it came to delivering WWE style promos.

Bad News Gertner

08-25-2019, 10:02 PM

If Cain did a year in the New Japan Dojo, it would do wonders for him

Simple Fan

08-27-2019, 12:47 AM

Agree. Feel like his AAA appearances have been more of go out and follow the leader instead of having his persona really take over. Needs to really learn how to to work and then he'll be better off.

Emperor Smeat

08-27-2019, 10:02 PM

The Sheets:

There was both good and bad news related to the Raw ratings last night.

The show averaged 2.53 million viewers, identical to last week. Based on the standards of the last few months, it's a good number, really behind only Raw Reunion and the show after SummerSlam as far as episodes since April.

It's even impressive because it went head-to-head with the MTV Video Music Awards, and the first two hours were strong. It beat the VMAs, which averaged 1.93 million viewers ..

The bad news was a huge third hour decline. Hour one in particular was very strong, and hour two had a small gain, but not at the level of prior weeks. But there was a 16 percent drop from hour two to hour three, which even by 2019 standards was unusually high ...

The second to third drop was the seventh worst of all-time ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.64 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.26 million viewers

Darby Allin, Joey Janela, and Jimmy Havoc's triple threat match at All Out is now known as the "Cracker Barrel Clash."

AEW issued a press release today announcing Cracker Barrel as the presenting match sponsor for Allin vs. Janela vs. Havoc. The partnership between AEW and Cracker Barrel also includes "cross-promotional activities with AEW talent, customized co-branded graphics, in-venue signage, and social media activation."

A Cracker Barrel themed-barrel was also in the ring during the introductions for Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing, and the barrel was used as a prop in Janela vs. Hangman Page at All In last year.

The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) may be getting a Universal title shot at Hell in a Cell.

The Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California posted a tweet today advertising that The Fiend will challenge either Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match at October's pay-per-view: "Get ready @WWE fans... 'The Fiend' @WWEBrayWyatt challenges @WWERollins or @BraunStrowman to a #HIAC match! Get your tickets now, and stay tuned"

Whether or not the match will happen remains to be seen. The Golden 1 Center had been advertising Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the PPV.

Dave Meltzer notes that Vince McMahon had been tearing up the script for tonight’s SmackDown and that it will be a show heavily influenced by McMahon.

Last night’s episode of Straight Up Steve Austin averaged 987,000 viewers on the USA Network. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.39.

A Twitter account for Arn Anderson's upcoming podcast "The Arn Show" with Conrad Thompson has been launched.

The show will begin in September and air on Tuesdays.

It will be distributed through the Westwood One platform.

With NXT UK set to head over to Cardiff, Wales this Saturday for their latest TakeOver event, it only makes sense that the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section would put a spotlight on WWE action from foreign lands ...

In regards to Adrian Street, we have 3 videos, one from Stampede and 2 from Mid-South. While the pair from Mid-South (wherein Street battles Bobby Fulton and Terry Taylor respectively) appear to be full house show bouts, the Stampede offering is barely 3 minutes long (with Street taking on a young Davey Boy Smith), meaning that it’s most likely an edited TV highlight just like the majority of the territory’s library.

The other half of this week’s Hidden Gems offering is where things get interesting as WWE serves up 3 major championship bouts from international house shows. 2 of them are more modern, with Randy Orton defending his WWE Championship against Triple H during the post-WrestleMania 24 European tour and Finn Bálor defending his NXT Championship against Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn at a Cardiff live event from 2015. However, it’s the 3rd of these foreign title defenses that should excite old school WWF fans as a sought after rarity.

As anyone who watched the company in late 1991 will undoubtedly know, Undertaker’s first WWF Championship reign was extremely short-lived. He defeated Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series that year, only to be stripped of the belt just days later following controversy at This Tuesday in Texas. However, Undertaker did manage to get 2 successful defenses under his belt during this window. They were at house shows, never aired on US television nor released on home video. This coming Thursday, WWE will finally release one of those matches, taking place in Ontario, Canada.

Former WWE and WCW enhancement talent Barry Horowitz joined VOC Nation’s IN THE ROOM with Brady Hicks to talk about his career, what’s missing from today’s product, and how he wished to have done more in the WWE. Here is what Barry had to say ...

On the science of being enhancement talent: “Some people needed tutoring. Take Ultimate Warrior; you’re not going to get over by running to the ring, jumping on the ropes, and looking good. Imagine if I made him look like a fool. He wouldn’t (have gotten over). You can’t just have anybody (as an enhancement talent). You have to have a guy with no ego, that can get a match over, not themselves. Not everyone can be Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, or HHH. It doesn’t work that way. To be an enhancement talent, there is a proper (formula). You want people to feel like (the enhancement talent) put up a fight. Otherwise people would be bored.”

On not getting a bigger push in WWE: “I knew I was with the major promotion, I was making money, I was on TV. People loved to hate me. Even though they weren’t (going to push me) I made myself stand out. I just wanted to show people that I had talent and I wasn’t just some fall guy. I just wish after the Candido feud that I could have stayed there longer. They could have put me with someone else or did something else with me. I would have like to have gotten more respect or to have gotten more out of it, but I’m not complaining. (I feel like) if you hit the gym hard, show up on time, do your part…if you do all of that (and still don’t get a push) then someone just don’t like you, period. Maybe it was the way I combed my hair? What else can I say?”

El Hijo del Vikingo will be out six weeks with a torn MCL. That means he's out of the MSG show on 9/15 which still has no lineup announced. He was wrestling Saturday night in Ciudad Guzman and caught Carta Brava Jr. on a simple crossbody. We had written yesterday that his feet were out of position but those at AAA have said his feet were fine but that it was a beer soaked ring that was the culprit. He will be in a walking boot for three weeks and then need three more weeks of rehab. Dave the Clown was also injured on that same show due to the slippery ring.

ROH is holding a number one contender's tournament to decide their World title challenger for Final Battle 2019.

It was announced today that the first-round matches for the tournament will take place at ROH's Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on Friday, September 27 and their post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings on Saturday, September 28. Both of those shows are being held at Sam's Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For those who have asked, we are told Lance Storm is not coming into Impact full-time after working as an agent/producer here. Storm announced he would be shutting down his Lance Storm Academy and would be returning full-time to working in the pro wrestling world. That leaves WWE and AEW as the most obvious places he's heading.

On Tuesday, former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski announced a new partnership with CBDMedic. During the presentation, Gronkowski addressed his health, recovery, retirement, Andrew Luck, and more. At one point, Gronkowski was asked about the possibility of turning up in WWE now that he's no longer playing football.

"With wrestling, I don't feel like I would be a full-time wrestler, but there is one thing I'm down for. And that's to do one crazy match," said Gronkowski. "Practice it for a little bit, go out there, like in a Royal Rumble, go out there, I got my friend in WWE [Mojo Rawley], practice it and do a full-on WWE match. I'm not saying when. Maybe five years. I got the rest of my life to do that. I've always dreamed about doing that, just one time, going in there and going full out. That may be a possibility, one time, down the road."

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Alexa Bliss Gets a New Tattoo, Cesaro Removes Braces, Cesaro at NXT UK TakeOver (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-alexa-bliss-gets-a-new-tattoo-cesaro-removes-braces-cesaro-at-nxt-uk-takeover/)
WWE: Adrian Street Documentary, Intercontinental Championship Marathon, Trademarks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-adrian-street-documentary-intercontinental-championship-marathon-trademarks/)
Update on Killer Kross’s Status in Impact (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/update-on-killer-krosss-status-in-impact/)
AEW Announce Team Update: Tony Schiavone Might Not Be on Commentary Yet (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-announce-team-update-tony-schiavone-might-not-be-on-commentary-yet/)
Impact Is Now Covering the Cost of Hotels for Wrestlers (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/impact-is-now-covering-the-cost-of-hotels-for-wrestlers/)

Emperor Smeat

08-28-2019, 09:27 PM

The Sheets:

SmackDown ratings were down three percent this week, with the show averaging 2.088 million viewers on Tuesday night. That tied the August 6 episode for the lowest number this month.

The show retained the usual 83 percent of Raw's audience. Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 11 percent from the same week in 2018.

Owens tweeted out an explanation for why he didn’t go after the 24/7 title: “I have a family. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats. I have responsibilities. I can’t worry about being rolled up by some dude while I’m dropping my kids off at school or enjoying a lovely night out with my wife. Congrats @WWEMaverick, though. Have fun with all of that.”

Toni Storm spoke to Sportskeeda about the shoulder issue she dealt with prior to UK TakeOver: Cardiff: “But yeah, I did have a little bit of an issue with my shoulder and I just needed to take a break because there's so much at stake. I'm going into the biggest match of my career so far. My biggest title defence since being champion. So I just have to actually take care of myself for a few weeks leading into this. I can't take any risks at the moment because what we do to our bodies can be so dangerous so I'm basically just getting myself in proper condition because there's so much at stake."

The semifinals and finals of ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will take place at Glory By Honor in New Orleans on October 12. The tournament will begin at next month’s Death Before Dishonor PPV and post-PPV TV tapings, with the winner getting a World title shot at Final Battle. The participants for the tournament will be revealed tomorrow and Friday.

On Tuesday's episode of WWE SmackDown, Bayley defeated Lacey Evans in singles competition. Evans is on the Raw brand, but came over to SmackDown as part of the muddy Wild Card Rule. After the match, Cathy Kelley spoke with Bayley, congratulating her on her victory over the Raw superstar.

"That's just it...Raw's Lacey Evans. Nothing against Lacey, that was a hell of a match from her. But, I'm tired of wrestling the girls from Raw," stated Bayley. "It's nothing against them, the division is stacked, they are great athletes and amazing superstars...on Raw. I'm the SmackDown Women's Champion. I want to compete against women from SmackDown. The Carmellas, Zelina Vegas, Kairi Sanes, that would be so cool. What about the real Liv Morgan? Where's she at? I would love to have a match with Liv. I want to prove Charlotte wrong when she says I'm not elevating the championship or this division. It's because I don't get a chance to. Give me that chance. I need that chance. I'm going to show Charlotte how far I'm willing to go at Clash of Champions."

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, NJPW has not contacted Kenny Omega for future dates. Omega's AEW contract allows him to take dates with NJPW.

PWInsider reports that Heavy Machinery's Tucker has received praise backstage.

Don't expect Bret Hart in AEW anytime soon.

At AEW Double or Nothing on May 25, Bret Hart unveiled the AEW World Championship for the first-time ever. All Elite Wrestling reportedly wanted Ric Flair to handle the honors, but Flair's health issues at the time wouldn't allow him to travel to Las Vegas.

Speaking on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show, Hart discussed his appearance for AEW and whether he will have a role in the company moving forward.

"It was convenient the first time. I'm a big fan of the promotion, and I like a lot of the wrestlers that are there, and I think it's good for the industry if there's another wrestling company besides WWE. At the same time, it was a one-time thing, mostly because I was in the area. But I do have a lot of fondness for what they're trying to do, and I support them. I hope they become a real big wrestling company in the next year."

The special TMPT Feature Episode #12 welcomed in ECW Original, the Homicidal, Suicidal, and Genocidal, Sabu ...

Time in WWE during the ECW reboot:

“Well, they lied to me. They said they were going to keep Sabu the way he was and push it the way ECW was and keep it in the small venues and all that stuff which I agreed with because I didn't want to do the big venues. I like the more intimate venues where the people think they are special and part of the assembly line but anyways I wasn't happy there. First couple of months was okay but they slowly wanted to completely change what they said and they went from liking Sabu to not liking Sabu and I could feel it."

"It just looked like WWE with different lettering, the ECW lettering. It was the same show and no different. There was no extreme to it, no hardcore to it and we couldn't even have the ECW Extreme Rules match every night. We had them every other night. Some nights we'd go to house shows and not one extreme match."

"I was afraid people were thinking we were lazy or something but we were being told that we couldn't break a table and could not do this and could not do that. Before I could say, could I do it? Before it they would say well you can do that tomorrow so instead of me doing stuff and saying I couldn't do it anymore they'd stop me before I could even do it."

Was WWE’s ECW set up to fail?

"I don't think they tried to kill ECW, they were just trying to show that WWE style is stronger I guess. I don't know, I don't think they were trying to kill it because why would Vince spend the money on it to try and kill something? He could've killed it by not using it again."

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: Straight Up Steve Austin, Miz & Mrs Season Finale (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/ratings-straight-up-steve-austin-miz-mrs-season-finale/)
WWE: Vince Re-Wrote SmackDown Again, SD Dark Match, KOTR Bracket (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-vince-re-wrote-smackdown-again-sd-dark-match-kotr-bracket/)
Awesome Kong Announced for AEW Casino Battle Royale (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/awesome-kong-announced-for-aew-casino-battle-royale/)

Emperor Smeat

08-29-2019, 09:47 PM

The Sheets:

Dustin Rhodes has signed a contract extension with AEW.

AEW issued a press release announcing the news today. It's a multi-year extension, though the exact length of the deal wasn't revealed.

Dustin will be an in-ring wrestler for AEW and is also joining their coaching staff as a promo coach and match producer.

ROH has confirmed the first four participants for their number one contender's tournament.

It was announced today that Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Marty Scurll will be participating in the eight-man, single-elimination tournament. The other four wrestlers for it will be announced tomorrow.

ROH wrote that the bracket will be revealed on Monday (September 2).

The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle, which is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13. Matt Taven currently holds the title.

Australian wrestler Shazza McKenzie will be taking part in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out.

On Twitter today, AEW confirmed McKenzie as the latest entrant for the match. It's taking place on Saturday's All Out pre-show and will feature 21 wrestlers in total.

WWE have applied to trademark Breezango and The Outliers.

Also of note: After proclaiming earlier this month that Adam Cole never used his name prior to joining WWE (which was obviously factually incorrect) and could never use it if he were to leave WWE, WWE sent the following to the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

"The Applicant would like to correct information that was provided in the previously filed response. Applicant wishes to advise the Examining Attorney that the “name” in the mark does indeed identify a stage name or professional nickname. Mr. Austin Jenkins that is referred to in the Examiner’s Office Action did actually use this fictional character name prior to working with Applicant and can use this name if he were to cease working with Applicant. Accordingly, attached to this response is the required Consent, which has been signed by Mr. Jenkins."

It's not clear whether Pac has signed a long-term deal with the company. Those in the company said that Pac was not booked for an angle on the show. But it had been known they were talking with him about coming in ever since they knew the date he was going to lose the Open the Dream Gate title. Pac and AEW had a five-date deal but not a full-time deal, and the match in England against Hangman Page that AEW released on YouTube was one of those dates. There has been an attempt to get him to sign a full-time deal but he's been very loyal to Dragon Gate. Pac was heavily speculated to be one of Chris Jericho's mystery partners for the first TV show in a six-man tag against Omega & The Young Bucks, but LAX has also been speculated on for that role. But if a deal was made with him, the idea was likely for him to make a surprise debut, but the circumstances were necessary that they needed a top guy for the match and he was the best name for the spot.

Double or Nothing did about 111,000 buys on PPV worldwide between streaming and television, a record for a pro wrestling promotion without television. So that would be the goal here to see if they can maintain that. Losing Omega vs. Moxley hurts somewhat since PPV is usually a late decision, but it also only makes the match bigger when they do it next. The show will be unopposed. But the same day there are two shows a few hours earlier that are head-to-head, NXT UK Takeover on WWE Network and NJPW Royal Quest from London on FITE.

Because of the Olympics in 2020, which takes place in August and most of the key arenas will be used, the decision has been made to move G-1 to the fall next year

There is a going on behind-the-scenes regarding TV-Asahi, which has an ownership stake in New Japan (Bushiroad is the primary owner) and is partners with New Japan World. Apparently the issue is FITE getting the live broadcasts for the Melbourne and London shows. For Melbourne, we were told it was a situation where they weren't equipped to handle the technical end and FITE was, and thus FITE got the live broadcast. I don't know why London is on FITE but the New Japan World subscribers in many cases were wondering why the J Cup shows weren't on.

Lance Archer noted being unsigned with New Japan. I can't imagine, given the dearth of guys his size who can work at the level he can (like, basically nobody) that WWE or AEW wouldn't want him. The only negative I can see is he's 42 and traditionally big guys don't have the longevity athletically, but he also seems to be the exception to the rule

Billy Corgan's NWA announced more details on its first set of TV tapings. We don't know if this will be a weekly Internet series, as they have talked about, or actual television. the tapings will be on 9/30 and 10/1 in Atlanta at the Georgia Public Broadcasting Studios, so it'll be the return of studio wrestling with a 100 seat capacity. They announced that multiple former NWA champions would be brought to the first tapings. Of the legendary enduring champions, really the only ones alive are The Funk Brothers and Ric Flair, and Flair I can't see doing it even though he lives in Atlanta. Terry Funk hasn't been traveling due to health issues. Dory I could see doing it. There are shorter term guys like Ron Garvin and Tommy Rich who are around, and all the post 1991 guys. Nick Aldis as world champion, James Storm as National champion, Allysin Kay as women's champion, plus Eli Drake and Ricky Starks are announced. Joe Galli was announced as the lead announcer.

Regarding any idea of running on Mondays down the line, Tony Khan has said that he'd never go against the NFL, and that's four months of the year on Mondays

At one point the scheduled first show on TNT was to be an introduction special and PPV hype show, similar to what UFC has done, which would have aired on 8/30, the night before All Out. It was never announced and evidently with the schedule listing "Supernatural" in the time slot it was talked about for, it doesn’t look like it’s happening. I was on the TNT schedule at one point. Nobody in AEW had said a word about it of late

There was at least last week still talk of an introduction special to promote the debut on the network but has been announced on that front either

Regarding Kenny Omega's DDT appearance on 11/3, his contract allows him to work Japan provided it doesn't interfere with an AEW date. Nobody knows big picture. He was offered a match with DDT on their big show and took it. The reality is that New Japan has not called him to offer him any dates, unlike with Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley. At one point, when Dallas got off to a slow start, there was at least talk of calling him but they never did, and even if they did, it was in the U.S. and would likely not be allowed. It's just like everything with NJPW and AEW in the sense that from the outside everyone knows they can be mutually very beneficial to each other but there's no movement as best we can tell of anything happening. It is notable that New Japan is not sending talent as much to ROH but that's because they look to be running the U.S. more on their own. AEW's policy, as shown by the AAA situation, is they are glad to work with AAA, will send their top guys to AAA's big shows in Mexico, but not in the U.S

Testimony regarding UFC pay brought up a few notable things. Between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2017, all the UFC fighters combined made $626 million. All the WWE wrestlers combined made about $400 million. During that same period, Floyd Mayweather made $638 million. A lot of WWE talent is paying attention to this case. People realize that if the plaintiffs win (which I still can't fully understand how this would happen), there is virtually no difference between UFC and WWE within their respective markets from a history standpoint and there is probably more of a history of WWE holding down competition and underpaying talent as a percentage of revenue than against UFC.

While WWE and UFC talent is underpaid compared to the revenues generated, that isn't illegal and the talent signed deals. They can unionize and do collective bargaining. If they don't, I don't see how a court case can rule against the companies for getting people to sign for less money and to increase profits, because whatever you think of it, whether it's WalMart, or whatever, these companies are hardly unique in that structure. A lot of talent in NXT have seen that AEW and ROH are offering a lot more money and better working schedules. WWE is renegotiating deals and bumping some NXT talent up in pay

Daniel Bryan hopes to see a trio of top Mexican wrestlers make the jump to WWE.

While Bryan was in Colombia for a WWE Live Event in Bogota, he spoke to Super Luchas and was asked about which three Mexican wrestlers he would love to see go to WWE. After Bryan initially mentioned the likes of Negro Casas and Blue Panther, he changed his answer to three more modern grapplers: Rush, Bandido and Dragon Lee, all of whom wrestle for either New Japan Pro Wrestling or Ring of Honor outside of Mexico.

"It's tough to pick because my favorites are now too old to go to WWE. I could aay, 'Wait a moment, I want Negro Casas in WWE' or something like that. I love Blue Panther, I love Negro Casas. The first time I saw him wrestle was like back in 1987 but he is incredible. In 2019, it still looks impressive. I have a ton of respect for them but thinking about guys that could potentially make the jump now to WWE, I would say someone like Rush. I think someone like Bandido would make it big as well as Dragon Lee," Bryan said.

Following his victory in the Super J-Cup, El Phantasmo called Will Ospreay the "Autistic Assassin," playing off Ospreay's "Aerial Assassin" nickname. For obvious reasons, the comment drew backlash from those in attendance, leading to ELP issuing an apology.

"I'd like to address my actions after winning the Super J Cup this past (weekend)....

In the heat of the moment I called Will Ospreay "The Autistic Assassin" and I want to say sorry to anyone that was offended by my comment. It was uncalled for on my behalf and you deserve better. Looking back I wish I didn't say it, I promise it wasn't scripted, it was an unnecessary way of getting cheap [heat] and I genuinely apologize if you were hurt by my words. I've never been comfortable on the mic, the inexperience showed and I promise to do better going forward.

Sincerely, ELP"

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: MSG Tickets Not Close to Sold Out, Mauro Ranallo in Outpatient Treatment for Bipolar Disorder (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-msg-tickets-not-close-to-sold-out-mauro-ranallo-in-outpatient-treatment-for-bipolar-disorder/)
Various: Brian Cage on His “Disappointing” Title Reign, Matt Taven’s ROH Contract Expiring Soon (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/various-brian-cage-on-his-disappointing-title-reign-matt-tavens-roh-contract-expiring-soon/)
WWE Considering Another Draft and Legit Roster Split (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/wwe-considering-another-draft-and-legit-roster-split/)
Seth Rollins Tops This Year’s “PWI 500” List of Top 500 Wrestlers (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/seth-rollins-tops-this-years-pwi-500-list-of-top-500-wrestlers/)

Emperor Smeat

08-30-2019, 10:12 PM

The Sheets:

Lucha Libre AAA and Impact Wrestling are partnering together for AAA's show in New York City.

In a press release that was issued today, it was announced that AAA has engaged Impact to "promote the LUCHA INVADES NY event to be held in the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on the eve of Mexican Independence Day, Sunday, Sept. 15, at 6:00 p.m. ET."

All eight wrestlers have now been confirmed for ROH's number one contender's tournament.

It was announced today that Bandido, Colt Cabana, Mark Haskins, and PCO will be in the eight-man, single-elimination tournament. They join Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Marty Scurll as the wrestlers who will be taking part in it.

The bracket for the tournament will be revealed on Monday (September 2).

Recently, Ric Flair applied to trademark 'The Man' for wrestling and merchandise purposes

Jim Ross shared some notes on his Grilling JR podcast this week regarding WWE moving to Fox. When discussing the FS 1 studio show that WWE will have, Ross, said he was offered a role to be part of the weekly studio show. He was extended the offer from a top executive, but Ross was committed to AEW and could not accept it. Ross added that he expects Fox to have a greater say in SmackDown’s presentation and sound of the show than any partner WWE has had. In addition, he believes the current commentary team may not be the team that calls the show when it moves to Fox on October 4th.

During The Women of AEW stage show at Starrcast ...

Brandi Rhodes then talked about some of the other women that are working behind the scenes at All Elite Wrestling including Matt Jackson's wife, Dana, who is the Chief Marketing Officer for the promotion, and Awesome Kong, who in addition to being a wrestler for the company, is also their first female coach behind the scenes.

“I don't think a lot of people know this yet, but I work very closely with our PR executive. Her name is Mandy O'Donnell, and she's a crazy badass, too," Brandi touted. “I mean, I'm not sure if everybody knows this too. Awesome Kong. She's one of our coaches. She's not just a competitor. She's the female coach. So we're getting there.”

AEW officially confirmed the signing of announcer Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez, with Goldenboy announcing that he’ll be calling All Out tomorrow. Dave Meltzer reported that the announce team for All Out will be Jim Ross, Excalibur & Goldenboy.

Sports Illustrated reported that Impact Wrestling is working on a deal for Tenille Dashwood to appear in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out. Dashwood made her Impact debut earlier this month after signing with them.

WWE will hold an online, streaming celebration of the Intercontinental Championship this Sunday 9/1. WWE's social media channels will feature the following content:

Sunday, Sept. 1
WWE Playback with Shawn Michaels, Jeff Jarrett & Road Dogg
20 matches that define the Intercontinental Title marathon event on WWE Network
Former Intercontinental Champion Zack Ryder hosts a look back at 20 matches that define what the Intercontinental Title stands for, and the title bouts feature such memorable champions as Seth Rollins, The Rock and Randy Orton. The marathon begins streaming exclusively on WWE Network at 1 p.m. ET.

Monday, Sept. 2
WWE Top 10: Emotional Intercontinental Title victories
From Ricky Steamboat’s landmark victory over “Macho Man” Randy Savage at WrestleMania III to Zack Ryder’s dream-come-true Show of Shows win 29 years later, capturing the Intercontinental Championship has a habit of bringing emotions to the surface for any Superstar. WWE Top 10 ranks the most heart-wrenching wins in the title’s history.

Tuesday, Sept. 3
The Intercontinental Championship: By the Numbers
Go inside the unique history of the Intercontinental Title like never before with this video highlighting the stats that make this championship one of the most sought-after prizes in sports-entertainment.

Wednesday, Sept. 4
WWE Pop Question: Intercontinental Title edition
WWE Pop Question asks the Superstars of today who they feel is the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time ... and some of their answers will surprise you.

The 8 most underrated Intercontinental Champions
Which bearers of the Intercontinental Title never got their rightful place in the spotlight? Which workhorses rarely come up in discussions about the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time? WWE.com gives eight unsung Intercontinental Champions the recognition they deserve.

Thursday, Sept. 5
Intercontinental Championship 40th anniversary roundtable with Randy Orton, Christian and The Miz

Cathy Kelley sits down with The Viper, Captain Charisma and The A-Lister to recap their own personal history with the Intercontinental Championship, their most memorable rivalries and matches involving the coveted prize and the title’s place in the annals of sports-entertainment. The roundtable begins streaming on WWE’s official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels at noon ET.

Friday, Sept. 6
20 matches that define the Intercontinental Title marathon event digital replay
If you missed WWE Network’s marathon of the 20 matches that defined the Intercontinental Title, catch the replay on WWE’s digital and social media platforms. The stream begins on WWE’s official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels at noon ET.

Saturday, Sept. 7
Editors’ Choice: 10 Superstars who will be Intercontinental Champion
Intercontinental Championship 40th Anniversary Week concludes with a look ahead to the future, as the WWE.com editorial staff predicts which competitors from WWE, NXT, NXT UK and 205 Live are destined to join the legendary Superstars to hold the prestigious title.

On Thursday night, Starrcast featured a panel called “From Undesirable to Undeniable” where Tony Schiavone sat down to speak with Cody Rhodes.

Off the top, they addressed Schiavone’s new role with All Elite Wrestling while confirming interest from WWE in Schiavone’s services. Schiavone revealed it was Bruce Prichard that reached out and Conrad Thompson served as his agent going back-and-forth before he landed this deal ...

Schiavone added that he will be calling matches with Jim Ross in the future for All Elite Wrestling.

Cody discussed his role as an Executive Vice President and loves the job, to the point he’d be willing to take a step back from wrestling to focus more on it, if necessary ...

Regarding the television show on TNT, he emphasized a sports presentation and that’s the world Tony Khan comes from. There would be no twenty-minute promos in the ring, no invisible cameras backstage, and are not going to have a PG rating attached to it.

He is bullish on bringing big events to his home market of Atlanta, mentioning the 21,000 seat State Farm Arena as a possibility and adding the likelihood of bringing the TNT show and a future pay-per-view to the market ...

On the signing of Orange Cassidy, the said the Young Bucks made that hire and he was disappointed that those within the company didn’t defend the signing more. He mentioned critics of the signing and his argument is they are presenting a buffet, Cassidy is talented, and that more should have backed the decision to hire him.

He ended by reflecting on Rey Mysterio, who he credits for making his career by choosing to work with Cody at WrestleMania 27 in 2011. He added that he hopes WWE does right by Rey, or else he will scoop him up.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Announces Return to Chicago for TNT Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/aew-announces-return-to-chicago-for-tnt-show/)
New SmackDown Logo and Commercial for FOX Released (https://www.tpww.net/2019/08/new-smackdown-logo-and-commercial-for-fox-released/)

Bad News Gertner

08-30-2019, 10:14 PM

Remember when Dalton Castle was all the rage for about 6 months? Boy that fizzled out fast.

Mr. Nerfect

09-01-2019, 01:04 AM

If the signing of someone needs to be defended then that itself is an issue.

slik

09-01-2019, 07:31 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Triple H also shut down Dave Meltzer’s theory Vince will get more involved in NXT.<br><br>“Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of things that people like Dave say don’t make sense. In simple terms, he won’t be involved.”</p>— Alex McCarthy (@AlexM_talkSPORT) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexM_talkSPORT/status/1167768849980092416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mr. Nerfect

09-01-2019, 07:53 PM

I’m sure Vince already did more on Wednesday than sit around and twiddle his thumbs.

It’s a great opportunity to expand business and prove to stockholders that Triple H can run the day-to-day.

slik

09-01-2019, 08:17 PM

Bad News Gertner

09-01-2019, 10:11 PM

I’m sure Vince already did more on Wednesday than sit around and twiddle his thumbs.

It’s a great opportunity to expand business and prove to stockholders that Triple H can run the day-to-day.

It's almost like when Vince Sr gave Vince jr Maine to promote to see if he could handle the business back in the late 70s

Emperor Smeat

09-01-2019, 10:14 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kacy Catanzaro Finishes With WWE <a href="https://t.co/T236cvb7qe">https://t.co/T236cvb7qe</a> <a href="https://t.co/JrqFKFFg73">pic.twitter.com/JrqFKFFg73</a></p>— squared circle sirens (@SCsirens) <a href="https://twitter.com/SCsirens/status/1168315612537544704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Casey gave an update revealing more details on her recent back injury.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From what was told to me Kacy was having an issue with her discs and called it quits. WWE has a no fire rule right now so if someone leaves, it's becauuse they quit.</p>— Casey Michael (@ifyouseekcasey) <a href="https://twitter.com/ifyouseekcasey/status/1168316739555332101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mr. Nerfect

09-02-2019, 03:58 AM

That's actually a shame. Kacy had real potential.

Droford

09-02-2019, 02:32 PM

Casey gave an update revealing more details on her recent back injury.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From what was told to me Kacy was having an issue with her discs and called it quits. WWE has a no fire rule right now so if someone leaves, it's becauuse they quit.</p>— Casey Michael (@ifyouseekcasey) <a href="https://twitter.com/ifyouseekcasey/status/1168316739555332101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

What would prevent someone from just getting injured on purpose to leave?

Emperor Smeat

09-02-2019, 05:13 PM

Besides being a really dumb and risky thing to do, WWE probably has that loophole closed since they already add injury time to contracts whenever they feel like it.

Supposedly WWE ignores Wellness Policy violations if they think it was done on purpose in order to trigger the three strikes firing.

Damian Rey 2.0

09-02-2019, 06:42 PM

Imagine forcing someone to work for your company when they so badly want out, they tank their own drug test as an avenue to get canned.

Simple Fan

09-02-2019, 09:48 PM

What if they decide to retire and then 6 months later decide to come back?

Mr. Nerfect

09-02-2019, 10:06 PM

I would not be surprised if there was some sort of release clause that prevented the talent from working elsewhere. A conditional release. But if not and talent did that, I just expect it could burn bridges there and make you look like you can't really be trusted. But I don't blame talent for wanting out of WWE and getting desperate.

Just release everybody who wants out and leave them lying around. Fans will demand that AEW pick up everybody and it floods them. If AEW don't choose other talents, then people will bitch that AEW is missing opportunities. It murkies the water around them.

Emperor Smeat

09-02-2019, 11:30 PM

I would not be surprised if there was some sort of release clause that prevented the talent from working elsewhere. A conditional release. But if not and talent did that, I just expect it could burn bridges there and make you look like you can't really be trusted. But I don't blame talent for wanting out of WWE and getting desperate.

Believe that is the actual case. WWE only willingly grants releases if some guarantees are made by the talent and/or they feel confident that person has no real star power of value for elsewhere.

WWE would also lock down even harder on granting future releases the moment someone fools the company or gets very popular elsewhere.

Emperor Smeat

09-03-2019, 10:23 PM

The Sheets:

The ratings for this week's Raw and Smackdown will be delayed due to the Labor Day holiday here in the United States.

After the participants were confirmed last week, ROH has now revealed the bracket for their number one contender's tournament.

The left side of the bracket has PCO vs. Kenny King and Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins in the first round. The right side has Colt Cabana vs. Marty Scurll and Bandido vs. Jay Lethal.

The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle this December.

Batista will be a playable character in the upcoming Xbox One game Gears 5 starting September 15 following WWE Clash of Champions.

Asuka has started her own YouTube channel.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFzfw5Idu6qC1ub3eVl2YA

Trenesha Sims, who worked as Rhaka Khan in Impact Wrestling back in 2008-9, is currently listed as one of El Paso’s Texas most wanted fugitives. She is charged with interference with child custody.

On the viewership front, the AEW countdown special from this past Friday night averaged 390,000 viewers on TNT. I would view that very positively as it was a short-notice program and would suggest there is a lot of momentum behind the brand going into their television debut next month. To compare, last year’s “Zero Hour” pre-show going into ALL IN averaged 196,000 viewers on WGN America.

DK Publishing, in conjunction with WWE, will be releasing WWE Kicking Down Doors: Female Superstars Are Ruling the Ring and Changing the Game! on May 5, 2020.

The book, by L. J. Tracosas, will feature, according to promotional material released to PWInsider.com:

Matt Taven will be defending the ROH title against Volador Jr. this Saturday in Villa Park, Illinois at Global Wars Espectacular and the winner will defend the title against Rush at Death Before Dishonor Friday, September 27th in Las Vegas.

On the latest edition of "Being The Elite," Page revealed that he named the horse, "Hunter Horse Helmsley." Of course, it doesn't take much to make the connection of that horse to WWE's Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley).

As Casey of Squared Circle Sirens mentioned on Twitter this week, there was an altercation backstage at AEW All Out between Sadie Gibbs and Bea Priestly. Matt Jackson was seen trying to smooth things over and talking to Sadie Gibbs about the situation.

During a post show media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan stated ...

The AAA Tag Team Championships will not be featured in All Elite Wrestling going forward so that the company can focus on their own Tag Team Championships which will be crowned in a tournament on the AEW TV series. The hope and plan is that AAA will still be sending talent to the company.

Referee Aubrey Edwards announced that she’s working with AEW full-time starting today: “Yesterday was huge, but today is too! Today I'm officially a full-time referee for @AEWrestling. This was a long time coming, but I needed to close the doors on my previous job before saying anything. Now I yell at people to pay my bills. What is life?”

Conrad Thompson quickly got another Starrcast on the books as it's been announced that Starrcast IV will take place from Nov. 7 - 10 in Baltimore. The event will once again be held in conjunction with another major All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view as AEW will hold their Full Gear event on Nov. 9 from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reports that Candice LeRae is "banged up." Casey also reports that WWE was recently turned down by a female referee who currently works on the Independent circuit.

TPWW Frontpage:

Chris Jericho’s AEW World Championship Belt Has Been Stolen (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/chris-jerichos-aew-world-championship-belt-has-been-stolen/)
Impact Reportedly Has Heat on Killer Kross Because He Refused to Blade (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/impact-reportedly-has-heat-on-killer-kross-because-he-refused-to-blade/)
Marty Scurll’s ROH Contract Expires in November (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/marty-scurlls-roh-contract-expires-in-november/)
Pentagon and Fenix Officially Free Agents, Expected to Sign With AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/pentagon-and-fenix-officially-free-agents-expected-to-sign-with-aew/)
A Closer Look at the AEW Women’s World Championship (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/a-closer-look-at-the-aew-womens-world-championship/)

Emperor Smeat

09-04-2019, 09:13 PM

The Sheets:

Raw on Labor Day finished pretty much exactly like it did the week before, averaging 2.51 million viewers, a drop of one percent from the prior week's 2.53 million viewers.

The old pattern returned with a major third hour decline, although the 12 percent first-to-third hour drop was still well below the period before Paul Heyman was put in control ...

Raw was down 13 percent from the same week last year ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.64 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.56 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.33 million viewers

Smackdown audience information will be delayed until tomorrow due to the Labor Day holiday.

Monday’s Labor Day episode of Straight Up Steve Austin with Becky Lynch as the guest averaged 1,097,000 viewers. That’s up from last week’s 987,000 viewers and is the show’s best viewership since the series premiere drew 1,211,000 viewers on August 12. This week’s rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.44.

In a post on Instagram, Carmella wrote about a recent health scare: “I recently had a health scare that shook my world. I was super apprehensive (still am) to post about it because I’m not looking for any sort of sympathy. Instead, I wanted to share what this past month has taught me. You might find my perception to be trivial and unimportant, but these are my thoughts. For the first time in six years I was forced to slow down. I’ve never had an injury with time off or anything of the sort since I started with WWE. I was able to slow down for a few weeks and just be. It opened my mind and my eyes to the world I didn’t notice for six years and allowed me to be present instead of worrying about the next thing on my to do list. I took a break from social media and it really allowed me to live in the moment and see what was right in front of me. I had conversations with people I would have normally never seen because my head would be buried in my phone. More importantly, social media is not real. The fact that I at one point or another would get bothered by a few crass comments made by presumptuous ill mannered trolls makes me laugh now. It’s all so insignificant at the end of the day. Do these trolls care about my health and well being? Are they the ones who will be there for me when sh*t hits the fan? Hell no. So why would I care what people on an app in my phone have to say about me? I spent time with the most important people in my life. In a world where I’m constantly on the road, I rarely get more than a few hours with those who matter most to me. I’m grateful I was able to spend so much time with my sister and my parents who are my world. I was also constantly laughing with my boyfriend who is the most supportive man on the planet. I truly don’t know what I would do without him. Things can and will go wrong, regardless of how healthy your lifestyle is. It’s important to feed our bodies with happy thoughts, clean and healthy foods and all of the positive vibes. Let’s all try to be a little better as humans. Everyone we meet is going through SOMETHING. Be nice. Life is short. Hug your family, laugh more, let the little things go, buy the shoes and drink the wine”

An AEW panel with Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Brandi Rhodes, Awesome Kong, Nyla Rose, and Jungle Boy will be part of New York Comic Con on October 4.

WWE Raw is one of the eight nominees for The Show of 2019 in this year's E! People's Choice Awards.

Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Riverdale, Stranger Things, The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, and This is Us are the other nominees for the award. Fan voting is underway now and will end on Friday, October 18 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

During his Starrcast panel over the weekend, Dean Malenko revealed he is battling Parkinson's Disease.

On his podcast, Chris Jericho noted that Kenny Omega and PAC were both upset as they ran out of time and didn't get to do everything they wanted in their match at All Out.

It was also noted that the entire roster had their faces scanned for future usage, likely meaning video games or action figures.

Jericho specifically noted he requested Aubrey Edwards to referee his match against Adam Page at the PPV. Malenko was the Producer for that match.

2K Games officially released the following ...

WWE 2K20 tells the whole story in 2K Showcase: The Women’s Evolution. Cover Superstar Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Sasha Banks – the Four Horsewomen – describe the journey to bring women’s wrestling to the forefront of WWE in their own words with exclusive live action footage.

WWE 2K20 2K SHOWCASE: THE WOMEN’S EVOLUTION

NXT TakeOver – Charlotte Flair w/ Ric Flair v. Natalya w/Bret Hart
NXT TakeOver: Rival – Sasha Banks v. Charlotte Flair v. Bayley v. Becky Lynch
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn – Bayley v. Sasha Banks
Night of Champions 2015 – Charlotte Flair w/Paige & Becky Lynch v. Nikki Bella w/Brie Bella & Alicia Fox
WrestleMania 32 – Charlotte Flair w/Ric Flair v. Becky Lynch v. Sasha Banks
RAW – Sasha Banks v. Charlotte w/Dana Brooke
Backlash – Becky Lynch v. Alexa Bliss v. Carmella v. Naomi v. Natalya v. Nikki Bella
Hell in a Cell – Charlotte Flair v. Sasha Banks
Elimination Chamber – Becky Lynch v. Mickie James
RAW – Bayley v. Charlotte Flair
Fastlane – Sasha Banks v. Nia Jax
WrestleMania 33 – Bayley v. Charlotte Flair v. Nia Jax v. Sasha Banks
WrestleMania 34 – Charlotte Flair v. Asuka
Evolution – Becky Lynch v. Charlotte Flair
WrestleMania 35 – Becky Lynch v. Charlotte Flair v. Ronda Rousey

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEkay5XJTcI

WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon joined Barstool Sports’ The Corp podcast and elaborated on several topics including her stating that WWE is not listening to their fans to a certain degree. “I think we’re maybe not listening as closely as we want to be right about now. I just think that they’re being very vocal and they’re telling us exactly what they want and sometimes to your point earlier, it’s not what you want to do because you’re setting them up for something else. Well, sometimes it’s a setup for a payoff of something even bigger and they just have to be patient and sometimes, we’re not listening as well as we would like to.” Stephanie said.

While speaking about the WWE Network app, Stephanie mentioned that there could be different price points for the app: “And then, of course, our direct-to-consumer platform which is the app — the WWE Network, and that currently has — it bounces between 1.5 and 2 million subscribers and that is what we created to super-serve our most ardent fan base. So that’s where WrestleMania is, that’s where our previously called, still called pay-per-views are. Later this year, we’re going to be rolling out version 2.0 with some more customized features and potentially different price points.”

Stephanie McMahon also commented on the storied rumors about Vince McMahon hating sneezing. She stated that he hates it because he cannot control it and it upsets him. “Totally,” Stephanie admitted that she has sneezed around her father. “He doesn’t hate me for it but it’s always with a *growling noise*. But, on the flip side, I’ve been around when he has sneezed. He doesn’t like anything he can’t control. So the fact that he can’t control the sneeze is very — it makes him upset.”

n noticing that Kross hasn't been booked to wrestle for IMPACT since Slammiversary, Fightful sent an inquiry to the company for clarity on his status Sunday. Tuesday, Bill Pritchard of Wrestlezone issued a report that Fightful was able to confirm, noting that Kross refused to blade during his Slammiversary match with Eddie Edwards in July. The concerns raised were the lack of blood testing, and the absence of an on-site doctor that made talent feel unsafe about the request. Word is, that Kross had no problem losing, but preferred to use fake blood given the circumstances.

The story ended up tying together with another, when Fightful reached out to several employees and wrestlers about the news that IMPACT would be paying for hotels. In asking around, many wrestlers claimed that they've not been paid in full for their merchandise. We should clarify this wasn't across the board, but were told is was a point of contention between IMPACT and Kross in the past, as well.

We were told that many IMPACT contracts are structured to include non-disparagement clauses, and provisions to prevent talent from speaking on what the deals entail. When speaking with an employee of IMPACT Wrestling, they noted that Kross has been speaking with the company via an attorney for several weeks, and believes that IMPACT has been in breach of his contract. IMPACT still reportedly has several months on the deal, and the option to roll it over, though the amount of time was indeterminate.

This could also end up affecting Kross' AAA bookings. AAA has a show coming up on September 15, and is actually gaining the help of IMPACT to promote the event, an IMPACT worker revealed. IMPACT and Ed Nordholm specifically are said to be allowing AAA to use their promoter's license and several other amenities, and implied to the company that they'd prefer Killer Kross to not be on those shows. Kross has worked dozens of dates for AAA over the last several years, most recently at August's TripleMania show.

TPWW Frontpage:

Scarlett Bordeaux Is Reportedly Trying Out at the WWE Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/scarlett-bordeaux-is-reportedly-trying-out-at-the-wwe-performance-center/)
Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley Will Happen at AEW’s Full Gear PPV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/kenny-omega-vs-jon-moxley-will-happen-at-aews-full-gear-ppv/)
Raw and SmackDown Draft Reportedly Set for October (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/raw-and-smackdown-draft-reportedly-set-for-october/)
The Lost AEW Title Has Apparently Been Found (Updated) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/the-lost-aew-title-has-apparently-been-found/)

slik

09-04-2019, 10:33 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shakeup to lead writers for WWE Raw and SmackDown <a href="https://t.co/QzEYsGen9x">https://t.co/QzEYsGen9x</a> <a href="https://t.co/dIax1dy7DA">pic.twitter.com/dIax1dy7DA</a></p>— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) <a href="https://twitter.com/WONF4W/status/1169434107287232512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

slik

09-05-2019, 01:45 AM

Not sure the man who crafted the reign of Lacey/Corbin and Lashley's sister, Ed Koskey, crafting SDLIVE as it moves to FOX is the best move, but we'll see...

Emperor Smeat

09-06-2019, 10:16 PM

The Sheets:

In their article on the WWE writing team shake-up that Dave Meltzer reported last night, The Wrap wrote: “The SmackDown moves also come amid growing questions about Bischoff’s leadership of the show. The insider cited Bischoff’s decision to hire Stevie Long, a former Sons of Anarchy writer who was found asleep in the writers room by longtime producer Michael P.S. Hayes on his first day on the road with WWE. (Long is still with WWE.) Bischoff declined to comment; Long’s manager was unable to provide a comment from his client by the time of publication. Bischoff and his SmackDown creative team have also come under scrutiny for this summer’s Erick Rowan doppelgänger storyline, in which an unknown attacker drop heavy backstage scaffolding on top of Roman Reigns, injuring the company’s No. 1 star. According to the WWE insider, the storyline was botched so bad that explaining to anyone what it was supposed to be wouldn’t make any sense at all.”

Daga has signed with Impact

In advance of tomorrow's War Chamber event (which is about to sell out in advance), MLW issued the following announcement ...

DALLAS – With Major League Wrestling's Dallas debut tomorrow night tracking to sellout, MLW today announced its return to the Dallas area.

MLW will return Saturday night January 11, 2020 to the NYTEX Sports Centre with MLW: ZERO HOUR

Starting with this Wednesday's Ohio Valley Wrestling Fight for Freedom event at 4th Street Live in Louisville, Kentucky, OVW will be airing their TV series live weekly on WBNA Channel 21.

The series will air every Wednesday until October, where the series will move to Tuesday nights for the first time in its existence, airing live on that day instead in order to avoid the WWE NXT vs. AEW Wednesday Night War.

With one week remaining, AAA has finally announced additional matches for their card at Madison Square Garden. On Friday, they announced that Cain Velasquez will team with Psycho Clown and Brian Cage against Black Taurus, Rey Escorpion, and Texano Jr. Despite the set up at TripleMania, Killer Kross is not booked in the match, it was reported by Fightful this week that due to the issues between Kross and Impact Wrestling that it was implied to AAA not to book Kross on the Madison Square Garden show next weekend.

The AAA show at The Garden will also feature a tag match with Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix vs. LAX, and they confirmed the Reina de Reinas championship match between Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie. The main event on the show is a rematch from TripleMania between Dr. Wagner Jr. and Blue Demon Jr. The card takes place Sunday, September 15th and will be available on Fite TV.

WWE are gearing things up for October. A few things are notable. One is that even though NXT will be on television, the idea of bringing up guys from NXT to the main roster, being Raw and Smackdown, will continue, as opposed to NXT being its own third major league brand . There are plans for people to be called up. As noted earlier, there are plans for the announcing teams to be separated, at least at this point, which would mean no more Graves on both shows. He’ll end up on one or the other. There will be changes in the roster, not a ton but some, with the idea of another draft special for October ratings mostly to try and keep the expected first week momentum that the first Smackdown show is expected to get bringing in all the stars from the past as well as Lesnar and all the Raw stars being on Smackdown first week. So the next draft will take place starting on the second Smackdown on 10/11 in Las Vegas, with it finishing up on the 10/14 Raw show in Denver. The idea is that FOX will present that show like it is a legitimate sports draft. Starting on Smackdown is supposed to be a sign that Smackdown is no longer the B show as well

On the announcing side, with Renee Young hosting the FS 1 weekly version of UFC Tonight, except it being WWE and I’m virtually certain it’ll be even more of a house organ (not that UFC Tonight wasn’t but they never ignored big issues and I can’t imagine the WWE show being like that), FOX is very high on her which could lead to her being exclusive with that brand. The second part is still up in the air

For MSG, it’s about 75 percent sold for Raw on 9/9 and 55 percent for Smackdown on 9/10. They’ve been advertising heavily in the local market, far more than usual. The belief was that even before Austin was announced, they would sell out Raw for sure, but given how many tickets are left, it doesn’t look good and Smackdown has little chance without a late gimmick or papering. Those within the company have said they don’t believe it’s the lack of interest, but the ticket prices, and the ticket prices are a major factor for sure. I was told Sacramento, which is historically a great WWE market, is not looking like it will sell out for Hell in a Cell either, which in the market is also blamed on the pricing as opposed to a lack of fans having interest. Smackdown with Undertaker given ten days out and 7,000 tickets out, that has to be the lowest for a TV shoot in that building in history

Bayley, Banks and Mysterio’s promos on Raw were all done without being scripted word-for-word, basically the old bullet points style and going for it. There is a movement to try and do more of that going forward, similar to the leeway that Owens (and I believe Bryan but that hasn’t been told to me directly) get on Smackdown and why his promos, if not both of theirs, come off better than almost anyone

As far as the All Out PPV goes, it was a mixed bag. Traditional U.S. television PPV was down significantly from Double or Nothing, although will finish well ahead of All In. Streaming PPV in the U.S. on B/R Live was up, although we don’t know by how much. TNT did a one hour hype show at 10 p.m. the night before, but on TNT, they pushed B/R Live as the way to see it and not traditional PPV as hard, so it made sense B/R numbers would be up.

FITE TV worldwide numbers were down ... But ITV PPV numbers in the U.K. were up. The impression was that they expected to end up about the same as the last show, which would be considered a success. But based on the U.S. PPV numbers, I think it’ll be down slightly, since TV PPV was down in almost every city we’ve gotten numbers from.

The only straight number we have, which is U.S. television PPV, looks to be about 28,000 buys. Double or Nothing as of a few days after was closer to 35,000 and ended up 39,000, so this should have another ten to 12 percent added to that number when all is said and done. All this together would indicate something around 100,000, which, while not up from last time, does show staying power which was the big question. It’s still above what any company other than WWE/F and WCW ever did, and many of those companies had weekly television on strong stations. It also beat most of the WCW shows at the end.

On both television PPV and B/R, 46 percent of those ordering had ordered Double or Nothing. That means 54 percent didn’t.

New Japan ran its biggest show in the U.K. in its history, Royal Quest, on 8/31 at the Copper Box Arena in London. The show drew a near sellout crowd, with 6,119 paid. What’s notable about this crowd is that they had a lottery for tickets, similar to what AEW did for its first show in Las Vegas

The 9/15 AAA show at the Hulu Theater is now a joint show with Impact. That’s strange announcing this two weeks before the show. The reason is that AAA didn’t have a license to promote in New York, so they asked for a local promotion, ended up asking Impact, which has run there many times, and Impact wanted to be part of the branding in exchange for using their license.

Daniel Rodimer, 41, who was part of the 2004 Tough Enough show with The Miz and Daniel Puder, and was the company’s No. 1 pick for stardom out of the group, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 as a heel from Nevada. Rodimer with his blond hair,6-foot-6 and 285 pound fame and bodybuilder physique giving him the Dave Draper look to Vince McMahon (Draper was a famous 1960s bodybuilder who was the poster boy in that world before losing his spot to Arnold Schwarzenegger), didn’t win, because WWE left the voting up to the fans, who picked Puder due to his angle with Kurt Angle where he got Angle in a Kimura in a shoot.

There were forces in the company, including coach Bill DeMott who tried to push WWE to ignore the voting, where it was clear Puder would win, and just pick Miz, who was far more of a fan. Anyway, Rodimer was signed and sent to OVW. He cut his hair which changed his look. Still, Stephanie McMahon loved him and wanted to put him in Team RKO with Edge and Randy Orton in 2007, and giving him the name Daniel Rodman. But he decided pro wrestling wasn’t for him, and quit right before the team was going to be put into play and he was already on the booking sheets and figured in when he quit. He ended up moving to Las Vegas and got his law degree in 2013. He ran unsuccessfully for state senate in Nevada last year.

The Daily Beast in an article on him brought up a 2010 arrest for misdemeanor battery at a Waffle House in Naples, FL. As the police report goes, he was at the Waffle House at 2:30 a.m., and allegedly was bothering some women and a friend of the women asked him to leave them alone and he gabbed the guy by the neck and shoved him hard t the floor, hard enough that the police noted fresh red marks all over his back and neck. He then allegedly challenged another person to a fight, was screaming that he likes to “F*** people up” until two of his friends calmed him down. Police were able to arrest him quickly because, after doing all this, he threw down his business card with his name and face on it to the women, which was how police knew to arrest him. He allegedly told police at the time that he liked to hurt people. The charge was dropped after he agreed to go through anger management. He was on Fox & Friends recently and vowed to form a tag team with Donald if elected

Talks of Impact going to AXS are said to be still quite active. As noted before, those at Impact were talking up the idea they’d be off Pursuit by the summer and move to a bigger station and those were the talks referred to, but the deal has been slower in being put together. Some of the talks did involve Anthem purchasing AXS, which would be interesting. I’ve heard nothing in this direction, and who knows what deals would have to be made, but when The Fight Network first started with Mike Garrow in charge, before he had to sell it to the Asper Family because of the losses, he and I always talked about the station coming to the U.S.

The [AEW] talent was all being face scanned over the weekend for a video game, which Nick Jackson basically confirmed last week

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces Signing of El Hijo del Fantasma and Former Mexican Football Player (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-announces-signing-of-el-hijo-del-fantasma-and-former-mexican-football-player/)
NXT on USA Update: Only the First Hour Will Air on USA for the First Two Weeks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/nxt-on-usa-update-only-the-first-hour-will-air-on-usa-for-the-first-two-weeks/)
AEW on TNT Will Be Rated TV-14 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/aew-on-tnt-will-be-rated-tv-14/)
Ricochet Comments on Rumors of Kacy Catanzaro Leaving WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/ricochet-comments-on-rumors-of-kacy-catanzaro-leaving-wwe/)

Mr. Nerfect

09-06-2019, 10:58 PM

Interesting that over half the people who ordered DON didn’t return for All Out. We’re dealing with estimates here, but if All Out gets 63k (56k + 12%), then that’s about 29k of the 71k DON got. That’s about 41% retention.

Droford

09-06-2019, 11:06 PM

I admittedly found a stream online. Especially after the Mox injury I didn't feel like the card was worth $55. The way I see it, I'm planning on going to 2 shows they're going to get my merch money (ticket money to resellers unless I get a direct ticket for Full Gear). The show ended up being ok but not worth $55. They should really consider a reduced ppv price

Droford

09-06-2019, 11:11 PM

Also find it hard to believe Anthem is buying AXS Tv since it's owned by Mark Cuban//Ryan seacrest/CBS and some other people

Sepholio

09-06-2019, 11:52 PM

I don't think AEWs PPV are going to be a good indicator of their audience retention/staying power until they drop the price. It's hard to justify that price in this day and age considering the price of getting competing companies PPVs.

mike adamle

09-07-2019, 11:53 AM

I torrented (still haven't even watched it yet.) I bought Double or Nothing. They're going downhill fast. Putting Hangman Page in a main event position this early was a major flub in my opinion. He isn't ready yet. He'd be a great midcard-upper midcard wrestler, not someone you want wrestling for your first main championship.

I get not wanting to go with an all ex-WWE main event for that belt on the first go around, but they have no one else ready to do something like that besides maybe the lucha bros who were obviously tied up in the tag division and Omega who already main evented the first ppv with Jericho so I can see why you wouldn't want to repeat that.

There in lies the problem though. They have nothing really interesting to offer on the main event side until they start making their own main eventers, which besides Cody hasn't happened yet.

Mr. Nerfect

09-07-2019, 12:27 PM

When you ask yourself “what’s next?” when it comes to AEW, the possibilities are pretty scant. MJF vs. Cody and The Revival coming over for The Bucks in 2020 are potentially exciting things. Everything else is just...there.

I genuinely think NXT is going to steamroll them. The show has existed for some time and has a formula down. It’s got a much deeper roster and can dig into its history and external rosters to bolster it. AEW is going to struggle between toggling TV matches designed to build and PPV matches given away on TV.

slik

09-09-2019, 05:39 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Takeover replaced by Worlds Collide? ��<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NXT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NXT</a> <a href="https://t.co/oCvjrDcYmC">pic.twitter.com/oCvjrDcYmC</a></p>— Kenton (@Kenton_la) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kenton_la/status/1171174624241037317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

slik

09-09-2019, 10:57 PM

Meltzer: WWE will no longer run the same arena on multiple nights during Big 4 PPV weekends. The Smackdown before the Royal Rumble will be moved to Dallas, Worlds Collide will be in Houston at the Toyota Center. The Rumble will be in Minute Maid Park, and RAW will be in San Antonio at AT&T Center.

Emperor Smeat

09-10-2019, 10:19 PM

The Sheets:

Even Steve Austin couldn't save Raw from Monday Night Football last night.

Raw averaged 2.13 million viewers, its second lowest modern era mark in history for a non-holiday show. The 15.4 percent drop from last week was much larger than usual for the first show against football.

The number speaks to the audience watching Raw being less loyal as compared to other years when football started.

The only episodes of Raw in modern history that did worse was a June 10 show against the NBA finals, and this past Christmas and New Year's Eve shows, which really shouldn't even count in comparison.

The most notable thing is that the Austin segment should have been held for later in the episode, as Raw opened well in the first quarter, fell once Austin left, and continued to decline the rest of the show, with the main event being one of the lowest rated matches in Raw history.

None of the stats are good. The third hour was the lowest third hour except for Christmas and New Year's. The first-to-third hour drop, largely due to Austin, was the sixth worst in history at 21.9 percent. The audience was down 22.3 percent from last year's first show against Monday Night Football ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.36 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.18 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.85 million viewers

Becky Lynch told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi about Ric Flair trying to trademark “The Man”: “All I can say about Ric is, I like Ric. He's been a good friend to me over the years. We'll see what happens with that."

Triple H spoke to Yahoo Sports about AEW going against NXT and being an alternative to WWE: “If you talk about the upstart, what they’re going out and saying is that they’re an alternative. We were that alternative five years ago. We opened the door for being an alternative, we opened the door to show people that it can be done on a bigger level and on a different basis. As far as being the alternative, great, go put on the best show you can put out, and we’ll put out the best one we can put out.”

WWE and 2K announced today that for every retweet of this Twitter post, WWE 2K will donate $2 (up to $500,000) to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Link for those interested: https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/1171392901919567873

Anthem Sports & Entertainment has already made moves in the last 24 hours regarding AXS. PWInsider reported this afternoon that AXS’ Dallas office has been shut down. Adam Swift, who was behind getting wrestling on the network dating back to the ROH on HDNet days, has been let go as well as Cindy Ronzoni, who handled PR.
The Dallas office had been in charge of handling AXS' NJPW stuff. Fightful reported that AXS is looking at around 40% of their staff getting laid off as the fallout from Anthem's purchase.

The Shane McMahon vs. Chad Gable match was a Vince McMahon call, PWInsider.com has been told. As we noted earlier, there was a pitch for a battle royal but it was shot down.

A number of talents who are now contracted full-time to AEW will be closing their independent commitments up in the next few weeks. So, if you see talents working indies past the start of October, that's a pretty good sign they have not signed exclusives with the company.

Game Changer Wrestling will hold a "Curtain Call" event for Joey Janela on 9/30 with the show streaming live on FITE.TV

At the weekly AEW TV tapings, there will be additional content taped for future usage, potentially for Bleacher Report Live.

According to a tweet from Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens, Kylie Rae & & Kris Statlander did some of the mo-capping for the upcoming WWE 2K20 video game.

Another New Japan Showdown event is set for California this November. NJPW has announced that New Japan Showdown in Los Angeles will take place at the Globe Theatre on Monday, November 11. New Japan Showdown in San Jose is also being held at the San Jose Civic on Saturday, November 9.

Controversy in Revolution Pro Wrestling.

At RevPro Summer Sizzler on Aug. 30, Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels in tag team action to earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Titles. But perhaps the bigger story coming out of the match was the post-match attack on referee Aaren Wilde.

Wilde was attacked by Bodom & Samuels, who were allegedly upset over Wilde counting the pinfall earlier than planned. According to Wilde, he suffered shoulder and neck injuries, which have forced him to retire ...

Bodom has deleted his Twitter account. He wrote after the match, "Yo @RevProUK, plz get some qualified refs that aren’t shit. Also the York Hall fans are incurable, depressed slop jalops. Congrats to @DUNKZILLADavis & @kylefletcherpro on getting a free pass to Royal Quest tho. xoxox"
More details: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/revpro-referee-retires-due-injuries-suffered-post-match-attack

NJPW announced this evening that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, will be part of the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour later this month. A short video was released with Ricky and Robert talking about the upcoming tour.

Just one week after getting back to averaging a million viewers, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's show got its lowest viewership since it premiered.

According to Showbuzz Daily, "Straight Up Steve Austin" averaged 841,000 viewers and a 0.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down from the 1,097,000 viewers and 0.44 rating the September 2 episode drew.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Two NXT Stars Rumored to be Making MSG Debut, New NXT UK Belt Rumor, Trademarks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-two-nxt-stars-rumored-to-be-making-msg-debut-trademarks-new-nxt-uk-belt-rumor/)
WWE: Bray Wyatt/Undertaker Tease, MSG Almost Sold Out, Lawler’s 2012 Heart Attack (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-bray-wyatt-undertaker-tease-msg-almost-sold-out-lawlers-2012-heart-attack/)
Impact: New Logos Coming, Ken Shamrock Booked for More Tapings, AXS TV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/impact-new-logos-coming-ken-shamrock-booked-for-more-tapings-axs-tv/)
Drew McIntyre Not at Raw, Underwent Minor Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/drew-mcintyre-not-at-raw-underwent-minor-surgery/)

Droford

09-11-2019, 06:46 AM

Becky vs Charlotte for Flair's "the man" trademark at WM 36

Mr. Nerfect

09-11-2019, 06:05 PM

I don’t know what it is about that retweeting for donations thing, but something about it just feels a bit sleazy to me. I guess it’s no different to other charity or paid advertisement, but the tone of it just feels off. Modern times, I guess.

Emperor Smeat

09-11-2019, 09:05 PM

The Sheets:

SmackDown averaged 2.061 million viewers on Tuesday night, down two percent from last week. More notably, the show retained 97 percent of the previous night's Raw audience, one of the highest retention rates since moving to Tuesday nights.

This confirms the thought that Raw's bad number was due to competition from Monday Night Football, which affected the rating more than it has in previous years, even with Steve Austin making an appearance on Raw.

SmackDown was only down seven percent year-over-year, while Raw had a 22 percent drop when compared to the first week of Monday Night Football in 2018.

With Anthem having taken over the majority ownership in AXS TV, we have been besieged with questions about the future of WOW and New Japan Pro Wrestling on the cable network ...

However, at some point, decisions will have to be made and there has been extreme cost-cutting across the board already at AXS TV's offices across the United States. This is normal when one company absorbs another, as sad as it is, and there are likely more to come after over 40 employees were let go from offices in Los Angeles (the corporate HQ), Dallas (where a lot of day to day work was done) and Denver, which is extremely important to pro wrestling fans as that studio was where the nuts and bolts of the New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV show was put together.

We are told the Denver office was extremely gutted and as of now, there's no real understanding from the New Japan side yet on how things will be proceeding. Currently, New Japan has a deal through January 2020 with AXS TV. The process before the takeover was that New Japan would send over their tapes, which were edited live as NJPW produced their live events. AXS TV would do some minor editing with additional voiceover work by Kevin Kelly to fit the American broadcasts ...

Nothing is set in stone yet, but It's entirely possible that the NJPW on AXS TV shows, as part of a cost-cutting maneuver, could now be post-produced by Impact's production team or that AXS could go into New Japan repeats as everything is sorted out. We are told that the announcing teams for New Japan on AXS are not signed to AXS, so technically, Anthem could even have their own Impact Wrestling announcers voicing over any new content that is released.

The Wrap is reporting that at least 40 people have been let go from AXS TV following the news that Anthem had acquired a majority stake in AXS. The report notes that there were more than 40 employees cut which includes contractors, consultants, and freelancers. The cuts happened within hours of the announcement. A source told The Wrap that there was no time for consultants to negotiate a new deal. Bob Gold, who is a spokesman for Anthem told The Wrap that AXS had a few more than 100 hundred employees before the cuts. There are currently 20 AXS employees left per the report but Bob Gold believes that number is higher. There are some AXS employees remaining in the Los Angeles office but most staffers in Dallas and Denver have been laid off.
Some more details about the recent layoffs at AXS TV.

All three New Japan Pro Wrestling Super J Cup 2019 shows are up for viewing on New Japan World. Plus, last week's Road to Destruction shows have been given English commentary.

The Super J-Cup tournament was presented last month for the first time in the United States, produced by Jushin Liger, who competed in non-tournament matches.

WWE Network News is reporting that more episodes of WCW Thunder are headed to WWE Network this Monday, September 16 as the September 2019 classic content drop. Currently, episodes on the streaming service run-up to June 21, 2000. It is unclear how many episodes will be added at this point. But if we get the normal 20 episodes that would put us at November 2000, meaning there would be one more content drop of Thunder in the future to complete the series.

The latest Hidden Gem details are in and while we’re set for quite the considerable chunk of content tomorrow, there is a caveat to that statement. In 1994 and 1995, TBS decided to fill the early hours of its schedule with several different WCW marathons. These were given the name “WCW All Nighter” and featured a selection of classic matches alongside themed skits involving Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, “Mean” Gene Okerlund etc as they partake in a late-night party.

This brings us to the upload planned for tomorrow. Dated 01/20/1995, this would appear to be the second of these long-form shows. However, that is where the controversy lies as this edition focused on the top 10 matches in Clash of the Champions history up until that point (with such a link possibly explaining WWE’s timing) ...

As always, here is the official description:

WCW 01/20/1995 – WCW All Nighter 1995 [Duration: 04:36:24]
Join Tony Schiavone, Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan as they count down the 10 greatest Clash of the Champions matches of all time.

During an interview with Sporting News, Killer Kross told the publication that his relationship with IMPACT Wrestling is not in a good state. Kross did not dive into specifics but he stated that one of the roots of his issues with IMPACT has to do with merchandising. Kross says that he is trying his best to address the situation and is remaining civil and professional although it can be difficult. Killer Kross also confirmed that he will not be working AAA’s show in New York City on September 15th as he was originally scheduled to work the show but when IMPACT got involved, he was told he was no longer going to be a part of the event.

Former CZW Tag Team Champions Beaver Boys (John Silver & Alex Reynolds) were the opponents of Heavy Machinery on the 9/10 edition of SmackDown Live at Madison Square Garden.

Three years ago today at WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view, Becky Lynch became the first-ever SmackDown Live Women’s Champion and Heath Slater and Rhyno became the inaugural SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions.

WrestleVotes reports that changes will be coming to WWE commentary teams once SmackDown moves to Fox. "A source has said the return of the 2 man booth is coming."

The plans as of now for the new announce teams include Michael Cole heading to SmackDown on FOX. I’m also told Vic Joseph is set to become the lead man on Monday Night RAW. Not set in stone, as nothing is with WWE, but this is their working idea.

At Dragon Gate Storm Gate 2019 on Sept. 11, Ultimo Dragon officially joined Dragon Gate after a teary in-ring speech alongside his disciple Masato Yoshino ...

Dragon returned to Dragon Gate on July 21 at Dragon Gate Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2019. It was a historic night as he had not wrestled for the promotion since 2004.

Dragon was with the promotion, then called Toryumon, before their falling out. Toryumon would become Dragon Gate after the two parties split ways and Dragon took the name and trademarks with him to Mexico. Toryumon was designed to give trainees of Ultimo Dragon's school their initial in-ring experience.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Network’s Free and Premium Tiers Coming “in Weeks” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-networks-free-and-premium-tiers-coming-in-weeks/)
WWE: New 205 Live Commentator, Bray Wyatt in Dark Match, SmackDown Crowd (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-new-205-live-commentator-smackdown-crowd-sd-dark-match/)
WWE: Kurt Angle Working as a WWE Producer, Seth Rollins Finds Siblings Through DNA Test (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-kurt-angle-working-as-a-wwe-producer-seth-rollins-finds-siblings-through-dna-test/)
Triple H Says 205 Live Will Move Under the NXT Brand (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/triple-h-says-205-live-will-move-under-the-nxt-brand/)
Pete Dunne and Toni Storm May Be More Heavily Featured in NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/pete-dunne-and-toni-storm-may-be-more-heavily-featured-in-nxt/)

Mr. Nerfect

09-11-2019, 09:14 PM

Who do you think Cole’s partner on SmackDown is going to be? JBL? Daniel Cormier?

Emperor Smeat

09-11-2019, 09:28 PM

Assuming they actually go through with a 2-man booth, probably Tom Phillips or Corey Graves.

Mr. Nerfect

09-11-2019, 09:33 PM

I think Corey Graves will stay on Raw. Cole & Phillips would be really weird.

Actually...I could maybe see Cole & Lawler.

Emperor Smeat

09-12-2019, 10:31 PM

The Sheets:

Just as TNT will be airing a preview show of AEW before its 10/2 debut, FOX will be airing a one hour special called Smackdown's Greatest Hits on 9/27 at 8 p.m. the Friday night before the debut.

In responding to a PWInsider.com inquiry about the future of New Japan and WOW on AXS TV, Ed Nordholm sent the following statement:

“Anthem has been public that it has not made any decisions regarding current programming. We have been long-time broadcast partners with TV Asahi for NJPW at Fight Network and hope to build on that relationship. We are in the middle of a season with WOW and about to tape another series of episodes next week, so no reason to make any decisions there in the short term. We’re looking forward to getting to know them better.”

The deal actually first started with an attempt by Anthem to get Impact on AXS when they got word in the latter stages of 2018 that they weren’t going to be renewed by Pop TV. AXS turned down the initial deal, since Impact did not have a good reputation in the wrestling world at the time and AXS had its own wrestling franchise with New Japan. We first heard in December that talks were serious about Anthem buying AXS. Those in the industry have noted to us that with cord cutting and the emergence of alternative viewing options, there are more sellers than buyers when it comes to cable TV channels these days. While negotiations went slower than hoped for, they were completed with the idea Mark Cuban saw it as a good time to exit the genre, although he does retain an ownership percentage.

AXS had slightly more than 100 employees before the cuts and the number of those employees left is expected, depending on different info, range between 20 and 60. Most were let go immediately upon the word of Cuban selling with no options for people trying to negotiate deals to stay. The Wrap reported that the cuts were heaviest among those working on the fight shows, MMA and pro wrestling, as well as virtually the entire Dallas office, most of the Denver office and many in the Los Angeles office. New Japan was produced weekly out of the Los Angeles office or the Denver office. Although Swift was in the bloodletting, Bob Gold, a spokesperson for Anthem, told The Warp that almost all the senior executives will be kept, although a lot of hints have been going that may not be the case.

With Anthem owning the station, it could lead to pressure for New Japan regarding relations with ROH, the company they are currently working with, or Impact, which has been wanting to work with New Japan for some time. New Japan has had no interest in working with Impact, even though Don Callis, the head of creative of Impact, has worked as an announcer for New Japan. New Japan and Impact have had problems stemming from the treatment of Kazuchika Okada when he was sent to Impact prior to his ascending to stardom in 2012.

The early word from Japan is that this change will have no effect on their business relationships with other promotions, but this happened very suddenly from their standpoint. A few months ago, when it appeared this deal was close, those at TNA were talking like they expected when this deal went through that it would lead to New Japan working with them. Really, because it just happened, and nobody knows the future of New Japan on the station, everything is likely going to have to be sorted out.

In that seven year period, Impact management has completely changed. Nobody from that era is even around today. New Japan’s management has changed as well, although not nearly as drastically. The problems in the past are such that New Japan has told its talent not to work for Impact. Davey Boy Smith Jr., was known and one would believe Michael Elgin also fit into the category of those who were told not to work for Impact. Both have since quit New Japan, although Smith never made a deal with Impact, instead signing with MLW.

The update on the [AAA] 9/15 show is that nothing from Impact has been announced and that Impact did, in fact, keep Killer Kross off the show. Hugo Savinovich and Matt Striker will be announcing the show. It will also air on iPPV through FITE TV, but not in Mexico, where it’s not airing live because it’ll be on TV Azteca shortly. There are some Impact wrestlers who will be added to the show since Impact is helping promote it, but maybe only a few names besides Blanchard, Taya and Cage.

There was some complaining regarding the taping the Brian Cage wedding angle. It was an early morning shoot. Nobody had breakfast and they taped more than three hours with no water, coffee or food. People were more joking than complaining as it went on, about not having food and water. Ethan Page said something about how it would be nice to have something to drink, and Jimmy Jacobs, who is a producer, snapped in front of everyone and cut a promo about guys complaining and that if they didn’t like it they didn’t need to be there, but then stopped himself and realized he wasn’t coming off well and tried to walk it back
According to Fightful, the reason for lack of catering was due to Impact forgetting to put it in the budget for the tapings and didn't have the money on hand to pay for it.

As far as business goes, the PPV, updated, is going to fall a little under what Double or Nothing did. What’s notable is the U.S. was down overall and somewhat significantly, while the U.K. was up, and outside the U.S./U.K. was down. Internally because the decline wasn’t big, they are blaming it on losing the Omega vs. Moxley match which was considered going in as the money match on the show ...

I think college football opening weekend hurt a little as well, but that will be the case every year since the plan is Labor Day Saturday from the Sears Center as tradition. Things changed since last week. U.S. cable & satellite was down, as of those reported by 9/9, it was at about 28,700 ...

B/R Live looks to end up even with DON, not up as early numbers looked, so that’s around 37,000. FITE, which handled the streaming internationally, ended up being up due to the U.K. Outside the U.K. it was down, but we’re told the final number is looking less than 20,000. ITV Box Office, which is U.K. television, was also up, so that’s over 15,000. We were told it was a lot easier to purchase this show through ITV Box Office, as it was push a button as opposed to going through steps. So we’re looking at in the range of 101,000, although I’ve been given indications the total number may end up shy of that.

Double or Nothing was around 109,000 to 111,000. If you compare it to All In, and throw out the ITV number since that’s not a fair comparison with those added in for this show, it’s up 40 percent year-to-year and most companies use year-to-year comparisons for shows. As for why it would be up in the U.K. and down the rest of the world, it’s been theorized that Double of Nothing may have been hurt by being on a holiday weekend or that the increase may be because of Pac being in a prominent position on the show, whereas DON had nobody prominent from the U.K. on it. I don’t sense Pac being strong enough, but in Japan, they’ve credited the strong performance the last few months of NJPW World in the U.K. to Will Ospreay.

It may also be the U.S. was only down due to first week of college football, but the drop in cable/sat was far more than one would think. It’s probably that there was more must-see for the first show of the new promotion, and the DON numbers were so much higher than expected, and like everything, now things are coming back to reality levels. The long run, there is still the question of if the WWE Network and its pricing putting the $9.99 value on WrestleMania and Rumble will make it hard to get people to spend $50 on quarterly PPV shows

Right now the plan is for the next television show on TNT to be a preview show for the Washington, DC opener, which would air on 10/1. That hasn’t been announced but has been scheduled for some time, with the idea of running at 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday that Smackdown isn’t on. Tuesday Night Dynamite, which AEW trademarked, was obviously based on the idea of starting in the current Smackdown time slot the first week the show moves to Friday, but that didn’t work for TNT due to NBA commitments

Cody came under fire from Outsports regarding the “puto” chant he was involved with at TripleMania. It wouldn’t have been an issue most likely except AEW put it on this past week’s Road To show. Puto is a derogatory chant that has been part of Mexican and Mexican American sports forever. That doesn’t make it right. Technically it means male prostitute, but at times it has been used as a gay slur. After their TripleMania match, Psycho Clown led the crown in chanting that at their opponents, as he does all the time. It’s considered part of AAA. That’s not a defense of it now because it used to be common at sports events like soccer in Mexico and I’ve heard that chant for decades in the U.S. at Mexican sports. But it’s a different time. Soccer has cracked down heavily on it so it is changing in that culture.

In Mexico, there has been no heat on AAA and it being chanted at wrestling is not an issue, and Psycho is probably the most popular of the current generation wrestlers in Mexico. After Psycho did it, Cain Velasquez joined in, as did Cody. It’s highly unlikely Cody even realized what it was he was doing. Velasquez would have known, being Hispanic and I’d say just living in San Jose you would know, but it’s also part of Mexican wrestling. AEW responded to the article saying, “Cody joined his teammates at AAA TripleMania for what he understood to be their post-match tradition in Mexico and was unaware of any negative connotations. Certainly the last thing Cody would want to do is hurt of offend anyone, anywhere.” At All Out, and this was prior to this being a controversy, Pentagon Jr. said the word during the ladder match. I’d be pretty much certain AEW from this point would ban that word and that the wrestlers won’t join in fans chants when they perform in AA

Both WWE and AEW, and perhaps even MMA groups may have to reclassify their performers when they come to California in legislation that, if it passes there, may lead to other states following suit. Assembly Bill 5 was passed on 9/10 in the California State Senate, that is expected to pass through the State Assembly, and Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign it and put it into law on 1/1, redefining the employee vs. independent contractor law. The bill states that workers must be designated as employees, as opposed to independent contractors, if the company they work for exerts control over how they perform their tasks or if their work is part of the company’s regular daily business.

Pro wrestling likely fits into the former, but there is no arguing it fits into the latter, which would make wrestlers employees if they perform in California. Labor Groups are pushing for similar legislation in New York, and other states would be expected to follow. Because live touring is less important, it is not inconceivable that WWE and/or AEW would simply avoid running in California to avoid the law, but if New York and other states follow suit, that becomes far more difficult

Even though there is a dispute given Ric Flair filed a trademark on “The Man,” since WWE has used the phrase for Lynch, Flair is still booked for the 10/4 first FOX show in Los Angeles. Flair’s contention is that he trademarked “To Be the Man,” so feels that’s part of it. WWE contends differently. In a funny story, Undertaker was on ESPN, and whether he knows about this or not, when on, talked about how Ric Flair is “The man.

The Jericho belt story brings up similar stolen belt stories with Bruno Sammartino (WWWF) and Verne Gagne (AWA). Sammartino’s WWWF title belt was stolen after the September 27, 1965, match with Tarzan Tyler at Madison Square Garden. He had put the belt in a locked car as he, Arnold Skaaland and a few others went out for dinner after the show. The car was broken into. It got local TV coverage the next morning and local newspaper coverage. They brought it up on television and Sammartino was given a new belt. I don’t completely recall the Gagne story, but my best memory was that it was stolen at the arena in Decatur, IL, around 1976

This past week was the ROH Global Wars tour, using CMLL talent instead of New Japan, and it’s quite clear the interest in CMLL doesn’t touch that of New Japan. The 9/6 show in Dearborn, MI, drew 600, while 9/7 in Villa Park, IL (Chicago area) and 9/8 in Milwaukee both drew 500 fans.

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Joey Ryan Possibly Signed With Impact, NJPW/AXS TV Expiration Date Update (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/various-joey-ryan-possibly-signed-with-impact-njpw-axs-tv-expiration-date-update/)
Various: Jim Cornette Doing Commentary for NWA Shows, PCO’s ROH Contract Expiring Soon (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/various-jim-cornette-doing-commentary-for-nwa-shows-pcos-roh-contract-expiring-soon/)
Drew McIntyre Underwent Surgery After Feeling Sick for Weeks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/drew-mcintyre-underwent-surgery-after-feeling-sick-for-weeks/)

Sepholio

09-12-2019, 11:19 PM

Sounds like maybe Drew has appendicitis.

Emperor Smeat

09-13-2019, 09:06 PM

The Sheets:

John Cena is officially part of the cast for the next Suicide Squad movie.

The cast of the film was revealed via a tweet from director and writer James Gunn today, with Gunn writing "Don’t get too attached." The movie is called "The Suicide Squad" and is scheduled to be released on August 6, 2021.

NJPW has announced the first set of names for their New Japan Showdown tour in California.

There will be two New Japan Showdown events on the tour. New Japan Showdown in San Jose will take place at the San Jose Civic on Saturday, November 9, while the Globe Theatre will host New Japan Showdown in Los Angeles on Monday, November 11 ...

Here are the wrestlers that have been confirmed for the New Japan Showdown events:
Kota Ibushi
Jushin Thunder Liger (San Jose only)
Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada (San Jose only)
Will Ospreay (San Jose only)
Tetsuya Naito
EVIL
SANADA
Jay White
Chase Owens
Minoru Suzuki
Lance Archer

It looks as though WWE is running a few tests when it comes to video-on-demand content on the WWE Network. According to the WWE Network Updates Facebook Page, showed that content listed under animation was uploaded to the server as a test one being listed as VOD What this really was is there using this week's episode of 205 Live to seemingly try to get a better recording live that will automatically be perfect for VOD. Meaning not have any excess content or advertisements on either side.

Q - Has there been any talk of AEW running anywhere but the East Coast? We like wrestling out here in Minnesota, too!

A - Thus far, the bulk of the shows announced are in the East Coast but they just announced Nashville and I am told there will be a Mid-West city announced soon for TV.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles

Impact executives will be in attendance at the AAA Invades NY PPV this Sunday and the WOW TV tapings next week in Los Angeles.

Killer Kross is not featured on a photo of the Impact Wrestling roster used to promote the move to AXS TV.

With 48-hours until the AAA/Impact Wrestling “Invading New York” card at the Hulu Theatre, it is hard not to view this show as a missed opportunity by the promotion and running a major market in the United States. There are currently four matches advertised and minimal buzz for the show that will be airing on traditional and streaming pay-per-view. In Canada, Rogers is carrying the pay-per-view at $39.99 and Fite TV lists it for $14.99 (U.S). The card currently has the following listed:
*Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Blue Demon Jr.
*Rey Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs. Ortiz & Santana for the AAA tag titles
*Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Reina de Reinas championship
*Cain Velasquez, Brian Cage & Psycho Clown vs. Black Taurus, Rey Escorpion & Texano Jr.

Adult entertainment company Bang Bros stated it has submitted a $10 million bid for the naming rights for the the arena where the NBA's Miami Heat play. WWE has done shows at the venue, previously named the American Airlines Arena.
Sort of want to see it happen just for the weirdness of WWE running one of their weekly PG television shows from a venue called "BangBros Center" and "The BBC"

Thunder Rosa is making the transition to mixed martial arts after reportedly signing a deal with Combate Americas.

According to Marc Raimondi of ESPN, the promotion signed Thunder Rosa, whose real name is Melissa Cervantes, to a multi-fight deal and could make her debut on November 8 at a card in San Antonio, Texas. Squared Circle Sirens first reported that Cervantes could potentially sign with Combate Americas. She would go on and confirm the news on social media added that her weight class in MMA is yet to be determined.
Both WWE and AEW were very interested in signing her prior to her deciding to try a career in MMA instead.

Casey Michael at Squared Circle Sirens reports that Indi Hartwell has signed a developmental deal with WWE. She will reportedly report to the WWE Performance Center next month.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports Japanese wrestling legend Genichiro Tenryu recently suffered a stroke, and as a result of that stroke, also suffered a cerebellar infarction that caused him to lose motor skills and balance.

Planeta Wrestling reports that the WWE/CMLL meetings were concerning WWE seeking to acquire CMLL's tape library, looking for additional latinx content for their upcoming premium tier.

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Anthem Cancels AXS TV MMA Programming, Vote for Final Spot in AEW Tag Team Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/various-anthem-cancels-axs-tv-mma-programming-vote-for-final-spot-in-aew-tag-team-tournament/)
Interview: Ken Shamrock on His Impact Future, Being a “Black Sheep” in WWE, Why He Left (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/interview-ken-shamrock-on-his-impact-future-being-a-black-sheep-in-wwe-why-he-left/)

My Final Heaven

09-13-2019, 09:59 PM

mike adamle

09-14-2019, 03:48 PM

That fucking sucks about Tenryu. Such a legend. Getting old sucks.

slik

09-15-2019, 06:38 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The image is perfect <a href="https://t.co/qxwLzNoqNd">https://t.co/qxwLzNoqNd</a></p>— M (@MarkRedbeliever) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkRedbeliever/status/1173345583593132033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 15, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

DaveWadding

09-16-2019, 10:42 PM

Sort of want to see it happen just for the weirdness of WWE running one of their weekly PG television shows from a venue called "BangBros Center" and "The BBC"

Hiring RP as the Head of Marketing was the best thing BangBros ever did.

slik

09-17-2019, 12:20 PM

Undertaker rumored to cost Fiend the match at HIAC as revenge for Kane...feel like Fiend getting pinned by Seth sould be a really bad idea....rumored Fiend vs Taker at Survivor Series...

Jordan

09-17-2019, 03:24 PM

Undertaker rumored to cost Fiend the match at HIAC as revenge for Kane...feel like Fiend getting pinned by Seth sould be a really bad idea....rumored Fiend vs Taker at Survivor Series...

Could be interesting. Would be better if Feind doesn't get pinned of course. I dunno, Taker takes him "to hell" or something.

09-17-2019, 03:45 PM

It’s like they can’t avoid booking themselves in a corner. People will firmly be behind Bray in a match vs. Seth, they’ll be pissed if/when Taker costs him the match/Seth wins. But The Fiend should not be champ, and should not be beaten yet.

Emperor Smeat

09-17-2019, 04:08 PM

WWE better be fully prepared with having crowds despising Taker if that happens since there is no way he's getting cheered in a feud against Bray.

Same for if Taker ends up being the first guy to beat the Fiend clean.

09-17-2019, 04:44 PM

Yep.

There’s an element of schadenfreude in it but it’s quite laughable.

09-17-2019, 04:49 PM

What about Demon Balor?

Mr. Nerfect

09-17-2019, 06:32 PM

I think Bray is getting the belt from Seth and Seth goes to Smackers.

Jordan

09-17-2019, 06:53 PM

Seth should go back to ROH.

Jordan

09-17-2019, 06:53 PM

Seth vs Taven Final Battle BABY

Emperor Smeat

09-17-2019, 10:03 PM

The Sheets:

After doing one of the worst numbers in the show's history last week, Raw rebounded with a seven percent increase to 2.27 million viewers for its three hour average last night ...

Raw was down 14 percent from the same week last year and was 10th place overall on cable for the night ...

Raw had the usual pattern with a third hour drop, but the decline was nowhere close to record levels ...

The three hours for Raw were:

8 p.m. 2.42 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.32 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.08 million viewers

Both NJPW and WOW are pre-empted next Saturday on AXS. This was planned before the sale so don't read this into a decision having been made. Not to say that getting rid of many involved with putting together both shows can be seen as a positive either.
According to PWI, AXS is airing the 2019 Farm Aid concert this weekend and had it scheduled way in advance of Anthem's eventual purchase of the network.

WWE has said that they expect to make an announcement very soon, perhaps tomorrow, regarding Starrcade, which is expected to be a WWE Network special. We were independently given an 11/30 date for the show, and WWE's current schedule lists Atlanta for that day, but WWE only confirmed the imminent announcement of Starrcade.

Taz said on Twitter that he's talked to promotions about doing commentary work, but has not found the right fit.

Jerry Lawler is becoming more active with his official YouTube channel, including episodes of his Classic Memphis Wrestling TV. If you've never had a chance to see Memphis, you have truly missed out on some of the best, most entertaining stuff of all time.
Link for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_bxosJoZaVZCxJ3AQOhdrQ/videos

The main event of MLW's first-ever pay-per-view will be a no disqualification match.

It was announced today that Jacob Fatu and LA Park's MLW World Heavyweight Championship match at Saturday Night SuperFight will have a no DQ stipulation. The PPV is taking place at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on November 2.

In storyline, Park is cashing in his golden ticket to challenge for Fatu's World Heavyweight title at the PPV. Park got the golden ticket by winning this year's Battle Riot match.

In a correction from earlier today, Vince McMahon is not at tonight's Smackdown taping in Atlanta, GA.

McMahon went through plans for the show several times over the course of the day via telephone during production meetings, but is not physically present at the taping ...

PWInsider.com is told that Bruce Prichard, Michael Hayes, Ed Koskey and Eric Bischoff are running tonight's TV taping.

We are told Paul Heyman, who heads the Raw side of things, is not at the taping.

Ric & Charlotte Flair are scheduled for WWE appearances while SmackDown is in Atlanta today, but with Ric’s contract up at the end of the year (according to Wrestling Observer), the fight over “The Man” trademark, and his booking on Chris Jericho’s Jan. 2020 cruise, there’s talk he might not re-sign.

As Luke Harper was at Clash of Champions, Pro Wrestling Sheet’s sources told them Rusev was hidden backstage all day and during Raw to keep his return a surprise. WrestleVotes tweeted earlier one element of the show was being kept a secret on the production rundown, and it was his part in the Kanellis angle.

ECW Press will release an official biography on WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant in April 2020.

The book, titled, The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant will be written by Pat Laprade and Bertrand Hebert, who have done several excellent books on pro wrestling together. Laprade was also one of the producers on HBO's Andre the Giant documentary.

NOAH is going to run cards at Korakuen Hall on January 4th and 5th on the same days of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome cards next year.

Lenny Leonard, who is one of the best commentators in the industry is going to Japan in November to call the next major Dragon Gate card. Leonard and Larry Dallas will be calling the Gate of Destiny card on November 4th in Osaka.

It looks like Jeff Hardy won't be going anywhere for a while.

Fightful Select learned this weekend that the former WWE, World Heavyweight, TNA Champion Jeff Hardy has already had his WWE contract extended for "at least" another year due to injury.

Earlier this year, WWE opted to roll over Matt and Jeff Hardy's contracts for another year into 2020. However, we're told that this decision to add time to Jeff's contract came after that.

On the latest episode of Road To AEW on TNT, All Elite Wrestling revealed the bracket for the Tag Team Title tournament. The tournament will consist of seven teams and begin on Oct. 9 in Boston.

On one side of the bracket, The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) will face Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) on the Oct. 9 episode of AEW on TNT. The bottom half of the bracket features The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr & Fenix) against A Boy And His Dinosaur (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus), who were voted into the tournament by the fans. That match takes place on the Oct. 16 episode of AEW on TNT.

The other side of the bracket features two members of SCU (Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky & Kazarian) against The Best Friends (Chuckie T & Beretta). That match also takes place on Oct. 16. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) received a first-round bye in the tournament as a result of winning mini-tournament, defeating The Best Friends in the finals at AEW All Out.

The semifinals will take place on Oct. 23 while the finals of the tournament are set for the Oct. 30 episode of AEW on TNT.

TPWW Frontpage:

Notes on WWE’s Upcoming FS1 Studio Show
Various: Triple H on WWE’s Goal to Reach Disney’s Level, WWE Network Additions, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/various-triple-h-on-wwes-goal-to-be-at-disneys-level-wwe-network-additions-indies/)
Big Cass Releases Statement About Incident at WrestlePro Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/big-cass-releases-statement-about-incident-at-wrestlepro-show/)
AEW Files New Trademark for “AEW Dynamite” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/aew-files-new-trademark-for-aew-dynamite/)
Various: Harper Hidden Backstage, The Revival Note, AXS to Broadcast AAA NYC Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/various-harper-hidden-backstage-the-revival-note-axs-to-broadcast-aaa-nyc-show/)

Emperor Smeat

09-18-2019, 10:01 PM

The Sheets:

The 9/10 edition of Smackdown Live brought in 2,064,000 overnight viewers up from last week's 2,061,000 overnight viewers.

The season one finale episode of the USA Network's Straight Up Steve Austin brought in 848,000 overnight viewers.

The average audience for the season was 990,000.

After returning on SmackDown last night, Brock Lesnar is being advertised for another WWE appearance this month.

The Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona announced today that Lesnar will appear on the Monday, September 30 episode of Raw at the venue. It's being advertised as the "season premiere" of the show, with that being the first week of WWE's new TV schedule. SmackDown's FOX debut is taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Friday, October 4

Furthermore, Wrestling INC reports that Lesnar is being advertised for the Nov. 15 episode of SmackDown, which emanates from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.

NJPW’s English-language website interviewed Jon Moxley. Moxley said he plans to be at Wrestle Kingdom 14: “100% I plan to be at the Tokyo Dome. I don’t know who I’ll be facing, whether I’m still US Champion. But I’ve been in Wrestlemania, in the G1, and this is the next step. Anyone who’s anyone in Japan has competed in the Tokyo Dome, so I absolutely plan on being there.”

A number of readers have sent words their cable guides are listing the series title for All Elite Wrestling's TNT series as "All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite."

Eric sent word that on Tuesday 10/1, TNT has a two-hour special listed titled "Countdown to All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite" airing from 8 -10 PM Eastern.

Matt Bloom commented on tonight's big NXT broadcast:

It took a lot of hard work from a lot of hard working, talented people to get to this point. The hard work doesn’t stop and there’s a lot of hard working, talented people ready to give their all. We are ready for tonight. We. Are. NXT. #NXTonUSA pic.twitter.com/m5FxgQwlks
— Matt Bloom (@NXTMattBloom) September 18, 2019

WWE have applied to trademark "Follow That My Friend" and "FTMF" as a name for a show as well as for merchandise use.

The trademark is a reference to a statement Triple H made after the NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff event.

WWE has already released a NXT t-shirt using the term.

The former Hijo del Fantasma is posting NXT graphics pushing tonight's debut with his real name, Jorge Bolly, so it appears that (for now at least), that will be his NXT ring name.

Ed Nordholm and Scott D'Amore were at last night's WOW, Women of Wrestling TV taping in Hollywood. Nordholm was seen in the crowd while D'Amore was in the production truck. There will be another WOW taping tonight at the Belasco Theater.

It was announced yesterday that Anthem Sports & Entertainment has hired Randy Brown as Senior Vice President of Distribution and Peter Cohen at Senior Vice President, Programming Strategy & Content Development. Both had been working as strategic advisors for the company. Brown had previously worked with ESPN, among other companies. Cohen has worked for HBO, MTV and Much Music in the past.

For those who have asked why Impact didn't immediately shift over to AXS TV, we are told that they are finishing commitments to the Pursuit Channel. AXS TV's social media is already heavily pushing Impact's forthcoming debut.

The Arn Anderson podcast tweeted the following heralding the arrival of the first episode this Tuesday, as well as a new shirt

Less than a week away from the premier The Arn Show. The excitement is building. Arrive. Spinebuster. Leave. Get your shirt now. https://t.co/UNUtRx0JwN pic.twitter.com/N2FS3tj318
— Arn Anderson (@TheArnShow) September 18, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/TheArnShow/status/1174433799956062208

Although NXT got its Wednesday television show up and running before AEW, that hasn't stopped AEW from making its presence known, even in the middle of NXT programming.

In the middle of NXT's debut show on the USA Network, a commercial for AEW aired after the fatal four-way match involving Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair and Mia Yim. LeRae won the match to become the No. 1 contender to the NXT Women's Championship.

Fightful has learned of people seeing that ad on multiple television providers with Optimum and Verizon Fios being among those listed. The commercial wasn't aired nationally, but it did air locally in markets such as New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Detroit, Tampa and more.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE “Blue Carpet” Special to Air Before SmackDown on FOX (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-blue-carpet-special-to-air-before-smackdown-on-fox/)
WWE Announces Starrcade Live Special (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-announces-starrcade-live-special/)
WWE Injury Updates: Elias, Bobby Lashley, Tommaso Ciampa, Drew McIntyre, Others (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-injury-updates-elias-bobby-lashley-tommaso-ciampa-drew-mcintyre-others/)

Mr. Nerfect

09-18-2019, 11:43 PM

I don’t like “Follow That My Friend” for a TV show.

Jordan

09-19-2019, 11:11 AM

I don’t like “Follow That My Friend” for a TV show.

Probably going to an NXT UK catchphrase.

NXT UK - Follow That My Friend

Kinda cool. WWE is showing so much product. Three hours on Monday, Tuesday (soon to be Friday), and three hours on Wednesday with NXT and NXT UK. Insanity.

Emperor Smeat

09-19-2019, 10:47 PM

The Sheets:

The much-hyped live debut of NXT on USA Network averaged 1.179 million viewers last night.

That's almost 40 percent higher than when an NXT episode aired on USA during WWE Holiday Week in December 2017, although that was a taped show that aired out of prime time and was also simulcast on the WWE Network ...

NXT did not finish inside the top 20 in terms of total cable TV viewers but did land fourth in the 18-49 demo with a 0.43 rating. The season premiere of American Horror Story did a monster 1.00 rating in the demo and 2.126 million viewers.

Suits, which immediately followed NXT on USA, averaged 955,000 viewers for its penultimate episode. Last week’s Suits did a virtually identical 965,000 viewers, so the strong NXT lead-in appears to have had no effect, but it does give an indication of what kind of numbers USA Network might be expecting from programming in that time slot.

The last time WWE had a third television brand, ECW, it started with more than three million viewers and the number fell quickly.

In presentation, there were some similarities to ECW, trying to present itself using terms like unapologetic. There was a wild brawl at the end of the second hour. But they pushed the wrestling and refrained from breaking tables. It was very organized and it was not about a blow out show, but more about building, with some stuff for next week and even more for the week after, when it goes head-to-head with AEW’s debut.
Some historical tidbits on the last time WWE debuted a third show on cable television although the key difference was ECW being doomed from the start because of Vince and the clashes in creative with Heyman.

Paramount Animation and WWE Studios are partnering together for a project that includes roles for Becky Lynch and Roman Reigns.

It was announced today that Paramount Animation and WWE Studios will co-produce an animated film called "Rumble." The film "is set in a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes. Winnie seeks to follow in her father’s footsteps by coaching a lovable underdog monster into a wrestling champion." ...

"Rumble" is expected to be released in the summer of 2020. It's being directed by Hamish Grieve. WWE Studios' Susan Levison and Richard Lowell are executive producers on the film.

Lio Rush officially returned to WWE NXT tonight. Returning to WWE NXT has been the plan for Rush since last April/May when he was pulled from the main roster. Rush defeated Oney Lorcan to become the top contender for the Cruiserweight Championship, so we'll be seeing a lot more of him soon.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke with the media following the 9/18/19 edition of NXT on the USA and WWE Networks. Here are a few notes from the media call:
* Triple H expressed to the NXT roster that it would be difficult to top what they did on the debut show.
* One major concern was the pacing of the show due to commercials. Triple H feels that things were handled well.
* He stated that last night’s episode was about character building being presented in a different manner than usual but a matches-only format won’t always be on the schedule.
* In regards to Lio Rush’s return, that has been in the works for quite some time and he praised Rush and Oney Lorcan for their performance[s].
* Vince McMahon kept in contact with Triple H throughout the day and was seemingly excited. Triple H received a congratulatory text from Vince after the show and added that Vince embraces the uniqueness of NXT.
* Triple H stated that Tommaso Ciampa is close to being cleared to return.
* Triple H expressed that there is no wiggle room on the USA Network as they have hard outs that NXT would not have on the WWE Network.

Former WWE star Marc Copani, better known by most as Muhammad Hassan was profiled by Syracuse.com. Copani is currently the principal at Fulton Junior High School in New York. Copani shared that he was heartbroken by how quickly his WWE career came to an end because he gave his all to the company:

“I was heartbroken,” he said. “I put everything I had into the WWE and had it all taken away from me. I just withdrew from wrestling altogether.”

Marc returned to in-ring competition in 2018 for ‘The Dynasty’ promotion. He wrestled on three separate occasions for said promotion but told Syracuse.com that he is never wrestling again because he does not enjoy it the way that he used to.

NXT debuted on the USA Network on 9/18 as the third straight night of pro wrestling that week on the station. The first show consisted of two dark matches, a one-hour show on USA followed by another 51 minutes on the WWE Network. You got a lot of hard work, an emphasis on in-ring and building matches for the future. There was less time for interviews, and much higher quality of wrestling than on Raw or Smackdown. Indeed, if it wasn’t a WWE product, the push of no B.S., had any other company said it, would be taken as a knock on the WWE main brands themselves ...

The negative is that of those on the first show, few had ever been on any sort of major television before.

Mia Yim was in Impact, using the name Jade, but very few new viewers would know her. Cameron Grimes was in Impact as Trevor Lee, but that was long after Impact left Spike. Roderick Strong spent years in ROH, as did Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. There was no attempt to educate people on who these people were, or bring up to speed who were the champions and what were the programs. Considering this show was there to reach a new audience, the assumption that everyone knew was a mistake. That was a clear weakness. But if they did that they’d have to cut back on the ring time.

At some points, notably some of the backstage stuff, it did feel low rent. The 400-seat arena came across like you’d think, but the crowd was very hot for the first hour, and quite normal for the second. Of course this crowd understands the game and their role and they were there to do their part. Whether it can last for two hours is a question, as those there said it was almost like a switch went off after the first hour ended. They knew the stakes weren’t as high on USA and the reactions were toned down. But for the first hour, the crowd was said to be as up as it has been since the first night of the first Mae Young Classic. The show sold out the 400 seats at Full Sail, and it’s likely every show will do that for at least the next few months. With all the talk of Twitter trending, the real stat that correlates with public interest, the Google searches, saw it not crack the top 20, where No. 20 was 50,000, meaning it fell well below that. By contrast, Clash of Champions had 200,000.

The next PPV, Hell in a Cell, only has a three week television build, taking place on 10/6 in Sacramento. The show is not selling well. At this point only six of the 22 upper deck sections are on sale and even three lower deck sections on the side of the hard camera aren’t for sale, and Sacramento has always been an historically strong WWE market . There were 781 secondary market tickets out with an entry price of $43.

Anthem’s purchase of AXS TV last week, which led to a number of major executives being let go, has led to more changes. As expected, Impact Wrestling was announced as starting on the station in October, right after the 10/20 Bound for Glory event. No day or time slot has been announced. One of the reasons Impact had taken a 10 p.m. Friday night slot earlier this year was the idea that when Smackdown went to FOX and ended at 10 p.m., they’d have an audience of a few million fans already watching TV. Given Anthem’s ownership of the station and the company, they will get what Anthem feels is the best time slot and I’d think Tuesday or Thursday would be better ...

Nothing has been said regarding New Japan or WOW. Some will jump to conclusions because on 9/21, neither show will air, but that was a planned preemption before the sale. Still, when Ed Nordholm made the comment to the Observer last week, it hardly sounded like a vote of confidence for either show. WOW was and still is scheduled to tape 12 weeks of television this week in Los Angeles at the Belasco Theater.

There are already ads on AXS touting Impact coming to the station, in October, debuting after Bound for Glory, calling it a redemption. They ran them all through the New Japan show on 9/14.

When the sale of the station story started being known, there were those in Impact who felt that the sale would lead to a New Japan/Impact relationship, even though those in New Japan, with no knowledge of what was going to happen, were said to be loyal to ROH. Still, New Japan running ROH arenas in the Northeast on their own, with a far greater ticket demand than ROH has, on the same weekend ROH is having a PPV with no New Japan talent, says something. New Japan, for the first time in years, was not part of the War of the Worlds tour, and ROH talent, since Jeff Cobb appeared for G-1, has not been on New Japan shows either in Japan or the U.S. It was notable that there was no ROH talent in the Super J Cup, nor advertised for the next California shows.

At this point there is some relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH and Impact, with Naomichi Marufuji at Bound for Glory and Rhino at NOAH’s major show on 9/16 in Osaka. NOAH has also worked with MLW.

After years of talk about AAA coming to Madison Square Garden, it didn’t exactly happen, but Invading New York did take place on 9/15 at the Hulu Theater in the MSG complex ...

The PPV numbers were so low you wouldn’t believe them. In more than one market with a high percentage of Hispanics, there were 0 buys, as in not a low number, but zero. Based on actual numbers we have, it would indicate less than 60 buys nationwide and even that may be high because the early market actuals included heavy Hispanic markets. There must have been some iPPV numbers, but our response level was very low.

They had a great walk-up and were nearly sold out, with 3,000 fans. It was a mostly Mexican fan base, as opposed to Puerto Rican, since the New York-based Puerto Rican combo of LAX (without Konnan, who never appeared on the show) were not the crowd favorites when challenging Pentagon Jr.& Fenix for the AAA tag titles ...

Between visa problems and injuries, there were 18 wrestlers and referees that were listed as appearing in original announcements who weren’t there. La Parka, in particular was a part of all the advertising and was never mentioned. In all, 20 visas didn’t come through by the time of the show, even though they were applied for months ago. All 20 were expected to come in this week, and those wrestlers will be available for Los Angeles.

Every performer on the show already was a regular worker in the U.S., whether getting visas years ago through Lucha Underground or other prior U.S. work, or not being Mexican. The only exception was Dave the Clown, and odds are he must have had a visa going in given he was the only exception to that rule. Others who at one point were scheduled on the show were Amazing Red, Dezmond Xavier and Homicide.

Some notes from the Bushiroad annual financial report. New Japan grossed $50 million during the period from August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019, which would be the biggest year in its history. It was up 10.8 percent from last year. New Japan drew 436,000 paid for live attendance during the year, which makes the sixth year in a row live attendance has increased. Profits for New Japan were down from last year. Actual profits were not listed, but there was a category Bushiroad reported for sports companies, which means New Japan and their other sports company, Kixroad, their kickboxing company. In that category, which is dominated by New Japan, profits dropped from $7 million to $5.6 million. The difference, with revenue up, is that the company made more investments in visual content (all the videos) and in expansion into international markets (U.S., Australia and U.K. in particular) ...

House show revenue for New Japan was up 12.8 percent from the previous fiscal year. They actually ran fewer live events, but because they ran more shows in larger buildings, the total attendance was up with less events. Also, New Japan’s overseas merchandise revenue was way down, which is due to the loss of the big U.S. merch movers after January. They did about $25 million in ticket sales (average ticket price at $57.33 per head), $15 million in merchandise and $10 million in content, which would be basically New Japan World and television.

The only mention of New Japan World listed the number as above 100,000. If we go with that number as the average for the year and about $8.33 per sub monthly, you get to the $10 million mark, but that’s split with TV-Asahi, the co-owners. So it looks like $5 million from World and $5 million from television. That’s the difference between the Japanese and American markets, as in the U.S., television (and some streaming services) will pay big money for rights fees of pro wrestling. New Japan is not strong enough in the U.S. to do so, and in Japan, paying big for pro wrestling doesn’t exist because their television is so different. The strength of the business is merchandise, with LIJ and Bullet Club leading the way. The business plan for this coming year is to grow attendance by running more larger arena shows, which, in turn, will continue the growth of merchandise. New Japan does, when it comes to per-head at events, roughly double the merchandise sales as WWE.

Long-term, the goal is to follow the lead of WWE and UFC in growing the content business ... The plan to grow the content business is running more live events in the U.S., and making New Japan World more user-friendly for those speaking English.

Session Moth Martina, who signed here last week, also had a WWE offer. There are ups and downs. The ROH deal allows her to work her indies in Japan and the U.K. without any restrictions, past the dates ROH runs shows. There’s also a lot quicker ascension to the spotlight in ROH that in NXT due to the difference in roster size. WWE has its obvious advantages, notably more talented women overall and a bigger spotlight and money for those who break out of the pack, but it’s also much harder to do so.

There is nothing new regarding Kacy Catanzaro. From what we’ve been told, she hasn’t been around the Performance Center of late and she’s on a leave. There is no definitive word of whether she will come back and wrestle again or not. She’s just in a situation of deciding what she wants to do

WrestleNomics noted some things about roster growth. In 2014, WWE had 90 wrestlers on the main roster and 59 in training. Now they have 129 wrestlers listed on the main roster and 136 in training. So for the first time they have more wrestlers on the roster than WCW did at its most bloated

Maria Kanellis angle back on Raw this week, the eventual plan is to reveal who the father is and build to that as a mystery for a ratings boost. Rusev is not the answer. It was described that this will be more a running joke than an angle building to a major reveal

Some other stuff:

Because of the upcoming Wednesday Night War, Meltzer reported that the Observer Newsletter will be going on a new weekly release schedule from late Wednesday to now a late Thursday release. Main reason is due to AEW & NXT ratings news being too important to hold off for the following week under the current schedule.

TPWW Frontpage:

NXT Injuries: Velveteen Dream, Joaquin Wilde, Kona Reeves, Arturo Ruas (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/nxt-injuries-velveteen-dream-joaquin-wilde-kona-reeves-arturo-ruas/)
Kenny Omega Cuts a Promo on NXT, Says AEW Is on Another Planet (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/kenny-omega-cuts-a-promo-on-nxt-says-aew-is-on-another-planet/)
Updates: The Usos, Sheamus, Jason Jordan (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/updates-the-usos-sheamus-jason-jordan/)
AEW’s TNT Show Will Officially Be Called “AEW Dynamite” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/aews-tnt-show-will-officially-be-called-aew-dynamite/)
NXT and SmackDown Reportedly Won’t Air Live on the West Coast, AEW Will (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/nxt-and-smackdown-reportedly-wont-air-live-on-the-west-coast-aew-will/)

Mr. Nerfect

09-20-2019, 01:28 AM

Uh, Dave, I’m pretty sure the no BS line is aimed at AEW, and they’re awful at introducing their characters and you never call them out on it. I think the idea is to not use major stars and launch fairly “cold.”

Emperor Smeat

09-20-2019, 09:51 PM

The Sheets:

ROH has announced appearances by "Speedball" Mike Bailey and Aussie Open for next month's United Kingdom tour.

Bailey will make his ROH debut in a match against Bandido at ROH's Honor United show in Bolton, England on Sunday, October 27. That event will also feature Jeff Cobb challenging either Matt Taven or Rush for the ROH World Championship. Taven is defending his World title against Rush at Death Before Dishonor on September 27 ...

Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) will face Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) at ROH's Honor United show in London, England on Friday, October 25.

The Big Lead reported that the current plan is for WWE’s weekly studio show on FS1 to premiere on Tuesday, November 5. The show will be hosted by Renee Young and the working title is "WWE Backstage." The Big Lead wrote that: “Who will be joining [Young] is not yet decided. Several names are being discussed including, but not limited to, Booker T, Edge, Christian, and Paige.”

The Young Bucks told TalkSport’s Alex McCarthy that AEW’s United Kingdom TV deal is still in negotiations. When asked if the deal would be done before the AEW Dynamite premiere, Nick Jackson said: “I don't want to say yes and then it's not."

Team Pump (Scott Steiner, Jordynne Grace & Petey Williams) vs. Team MDK (Nick Gage, Kris Statlander & Thomas Santell) is the first match announced for the opening round of CHIKARA’s King of Trios 2019. The tournament is taking place from October 4-6.

WWE applied to trademark "WWE's The Bump" for a show title on 9/16. The filing was for good and services, specifically, "A show about professional wrestling; the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live and through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing wrestling news and information through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing information in the fields of professional wrestling through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing a website in the field of professional wrestling."

WWE also applied to trademark Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Riddick Moss, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel over the last week.

The big test is October 2nd and what the percentage of the audience watching this past Wednesday is going to stay or sample the new alternative ...

October 2nd needs to be a major show and WWE has the tricky predicament of promoting NXT, SmackDown’s launch on Fox, and to a lesser extent the pay-per-view that same week. This week’s audience would back the theory that there was a strong word of mouth and awareness of the show with an adequate promotion on Raw and SmackDown that didn’t include an over-the-top hammering of the premiere.

The numbers that come out on October 3rd for NXT and AEW will be dissected and decoded from all angles, but one question it should answer is a crossover. Has AEW created its own fanbase or will there be a siphoning of the NXT audience on week one? If AEW and NXT both put up shows that attract 900,000 to one million apiece, it tells me there was a large audience not being served that have returned or been created by AEW. If NXT has a drop of 30-40% from their first two weeks, that would indicate AEW having the curiosity appeal and taking a healthy amount from the NXT audience. Realistically, this cannot be examined like our calendars are set to 1999 and I expect a strong amount to be watching both shows weekly and if this drives people to the WWE Network or B/R Live then it’s still a win for each side. A lot will be made of the viewership figures, and they are an important metric for the long-term but the best option for everyone is healthy audiences for both sides and that is my expectation.

The trap is whether either side will feel the pressure to hotshot matches and storylines in hopes of winning the week versus the long-term objective. WCW was caught in this trap in 1998 and beyond where winning the week superseded everything else ...

My last thought on this week’s show, and it hit me almost immediately Wednesday night, is how badly this is needed for the wrestling industry. The fact is, the industry has needed this level of competition and interest since 2001 but no company was ready. As much promise as Impact had in 2010 when they moved to Monday nights, they were not ready for that spot and could not sustain. In AEW’s short existence, it has passed the tests given from selling tickets, hitting remarkable pay-per-view figures without television, and seem poised for a long-term strategy that is distinctly different from WWE, which is key to the public’s interest. By December, if we are looking at consistent audiences of 1.8-2 million viewers watching the shows combined, I take that as a solid win for each and finally represent the tent expanding of professional wrestling fans.
John Pollock had a really great article that I felt was worth sharing about the importance of the Wednesday Night War on the wrestling industry.

The Wrap’s Tony Maglio and Jennifer Maas reported that Friday Night SmackDown on Fox will be airing on tape delay for viewers on the west coast. The live airing at 8 pm will allow for live viewership for those in the eastern and central time zones along with those on DirecTV. The mountain time viewers will either get the show at 6 or 9 pm dependent on their cable affiliate. The Wrap added that the show will stream live on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app live at 8 pm Eastern across the country and remain on the app for 30-days. The strategy is inherently to appeal to viewers on the west coast where treating SmackDown as a live sporting event would mean airing at 5 pm Pacific, which is a much weaker timeslot than prime time even on tape delay.

Speaking to Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT, The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) gave their thoughts on NXT's debut show on Wednesday ...

Matt added, "I'm rooting for them, I want them to have a good show. Ours is just going to be better."

The Wednesday Night War will not only take place in the ring and through the ratings, but in the media as well. We've already seen various NXT and AEW superstars comment on the upcoming war with most championing their product above all. Triple H recently stated that he wouldn't trade anyone on the NXT roster for anyone else.

The Bucks found those comments funny given WWE's courting of The Elite when they were free agents at the end of 2018.

"It just made me laugh. C'mon... we know you wanted us," said Nick.

Matt noted, "A year ago you were trying to get us all [The Elite]! Don't act like there was no interest and you wouldn't trade for us because I know for a fact you would."

Former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann recently took to Twitter to voice his displeasure about Braun Strowman of hearing during a baseball game on Fox Sports to promote WWE SmackDown moving to the Fox Network.

This, of course, led to a response by The Monster Among Men himself who is simply played it off as though Keith could not believe how good he looked in the clip.

However, Weatherman Kevin Lighty stepped up to the plate to voice his displeasure, and Braun shut him down quick.

This led to a flurry of responses from many in the industry including Mark Henry, Sean Waltman, Corey Graves, and The Blue Meanie.
Link with all the tweets: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/wwe-superstars-respond-keith-olbermann-s-irritation-over-braun-strowman-plugging-wwe-during-baseball

In an interview that he gave to The Sporting News earlier this month, Kross explained that “the issues began last year regarding merchandising,” though he’s “been advised not to go into the full detail of the issues.” According to two sources familiar with the situation who spoke to Deadspin, the merchandising issues are that Impact talent just haven’t been sent merchandise royalty statements, much less royalty payments themselves, since last year. (Kross also said in the Sporting News interview that he “was attempting to retrieve something that was supposed to be given to me.”)

The reasons for this are unclear, with possible explanations including staff changes and embarrassment. (To that latter point, Joe Lanza of Voices of Wrestling revealed on a recent edition of their flagship podcast that traffic data he saw for Impact’s website, the home of their merchandise business, showed embarrassingly low numbers.) Since quarterly royalty accounting statements is guaranteed contractually for all Impact wrestlers, not sending them would be a breach; it’s one that it appears only Kross has responded to, and which Impact won’t recognize because it could turn the entire roster into effective free agents.

TPWW Frontpage:

EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory Makes His NXT In-Ring Debut (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/evolve-champion-austin-theory-makes-his-nxt-in-ring-debut/)
EC3 Wins, Then Loses 24/7 Championship in Philippines (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/ec3-wins-then-loses-24-7-championship-in-philippines/)
Maury Povich Possibly Coming to Raw as Part of the Kanellis Baby Storyline (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/maury-povich-possibly-coming-to-raw-as-part-of-the-kanellis-baby-storyline/)
Various: Keith Olbermann vs. WWE, Kenny Omega and Matt Riddle Are Bros (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/various-keith-olbermann-vs-wwe-kenny-omega-and-matt-riddle-are-bros/)

Mr. Nerfect

09-21-2019, 08:59 PM

Triple H has a team and something resembling a vision. Wanting to sign The Young Bucks to be part of the circus isn’t the same as constructing NXT-specific plans around them. If I were the WWF in 2000, I’d rather have the Radicalz than the nWo. The Young Bucks are mistaking an attempt to prevent the travelling audience from galvanizing with their intrinsic value. They aren’t putting their foot in it like Omega, but it is clear things go way over their head.

09-22-2019, 06:28 PM

what
the
fuck
are
you
babbling
about
?

Mr. Nerfect

09-23-2019, 01:20 AM

The Young Bucks firing back at Triple H.

09-23-2019, 05:25 AM

Is that still a thing? Why are they even concerned about WWE?

Anyway.

Every time I see this thread, I hope the rumors are a lot more spicy. Like maybe one day I come in and read a rumor that Alexa Bliss jacked Rey Mysterio's son off with her butt cheeks.

" Word backstage is that Natty recently submitted a DNA test to Ancestory.com and found out her her father is one of the Bushwackers "

" Naomi may have gotten so drunk one night she had sex with the wrong Uso Brother. "

" Before becoming engaged to Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch came clean with him about being born with a small testicle attached to her clitoris "

" Asuka will wrestle on TV "

Mr. Nerfect

09-24-2019, 04:20 AM

I remember those insane click bait rumors back in the day.

Emperor Smeat

09-24-2019, 10:05 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night averaged 2.21 million viewers, down three percent from the 2.27 million viewers of the prior week's show.

Even with loading up the third hour with a number one contender's match with Rey Mysterio vs. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Robert Roode vs. Ricochet and doing a rematch of the Clash of Champions main event of Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman, it was unable to prevent the usual third hour drop, as hour one to hour three fell 13.8 percent, which is normal for the show ...

The year-to-year drop was six percent, much lower than usual, but last year's Raw during this week set the modern record low at the time of 2.35 million viewers, although that has been broken a number of times since ...

It was the eighth smallest audience for Raw of the modern era, with the other seven shows all having taken place since December, two of which were Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, which shouldn't count ...

The three hours for Raw were:

8 p.m. 2.37 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.21 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.04 million viewers

Mickie James worked as a commentator for this week's edition of Main Event. We had heard last week there had been talk of her working as a Producer as well.

Mauury Povich tweeted the following video, playing up the current Maria Kanellis baby daddy storyline:

The door is open...@WWE @RusevBUL @MariaLKanellis @RealMikeBennett #Raw #Maury22 pic.twitter.com/RkqwsflT04
— The Maury Show (@TheMAURYShow) September 23, 2019

As PWInsider.com noted on 9/20, there was a pitch within WWE to have Povich take part in a segment on Raw regarding the Kanellis baby storyline. We'll see if it goes beyond social media videos.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced today that Amazing Red will be taking part in this year's British J-Cup. It's being held at York Hall in London, England on Sunday, November 24.

Though Kofi Kingston will have little to do with the Wednesday Night War as he is not involved with NXT, that hasn't stopped media from asking questions about the upcoming battle with AEW. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Kofi weighed in on All Elite Wrestling.

"Not for me," Kofi said when asked if AEW was on his radar. "I think it's great to have competition and it's awesome, especially Cody [Rhodes], I know him very well and he's out there doing something special and giving an opportunity to a lot of other people. Kudos to that. But for me, I'm so busy trying to do so much significant stuff trying to be the best WWE Champion that I don't really have time to watch other wrestling. But I'm all for competition. It brings out the best in everybody."

TheWrap.com reported that AEW has been talking with WarnerMedia executives about a studio show in addition to the weekly Dynamite show. Executive Brett Weiss was quoted as saying, "Knowing full well that within the WarnerMedia ecosystem we have B/R Live, we’ve got all these different components at our disposal. The more content for these fans the better, and we would love to figure out what something like that looks like."

Cody confirmed on Twitter that AEW Dynamite will be rated TV-14.

The current plan is to provide some sort of Impact Wrestling programming on The Pursuit Channel going forward, but nothing has been confirmed in terms of those plans.

Nolan Edwards, an independent wrestler from Tenneseee, has been hired to join the company's production team ...

There's a lot of excitement about AXS TV among those in the company. They should be happy as it's the biggest thing to happen to Impact since Anthem usurped the company from Dixie Carter.

Impact will continue to stream its episodes weekly on Twitch,

Sportsnet 360, the Canadian broadcaster for WWE programming will be picking up NXT and airing a Friday night block of wrestling content.

Beginning October 4th to coincide with Friday Night SmackDown’s move, Sportsnet 360 will carry 4 ½ hours of wrestling content beginning at 6:30 pm Eastern with the Aftermath studio show.

The studio show that is hosted by Caroline Szwed with panelists Anthony Carelli, Jimmy Korderas, and Mike “Nug” Nahrgang will serve as the lead-in for the WWE block that begins with an airing of NXT at 7 pm Eastern followed by Friday Night SmackDown at 8 pm and WWE Main Event at 10 pm.

Sportsnet 360 is only listing NXT for a one-hour slot and not the full two hours that the show has expanded to.

NXT is not available in Canada on Wednesday nights but will be available on the WWE Network for Canadian and international viewers on Thursday nights on a 24-hour delay from the USA Network airing.

Impact Wrestling confirmed its move to Tuesdays next month with the first episode of Impact airing October 29th at 8 pm Eastern ...

With the move to AXS TV, there is stability and not a pressure to hotshot or drive numbers up to keep the broadcaster happy as they are now the supply and the demand of the equation. The goals will be centered around growing their audience and monetizing the property through pay-per-view, live events, and other ancillary income. By going this route, they have chosen, they have given up the option of Impact securing television rights fees from another outlet, which has been so lucrative for WWE, UFC, and Bellator.

The success of the move to AXS TV will be hard to quantify as the network doesn’t subscribe to Nielsen and therefore, their numbers won’t be known, although the increase in visibility alone guarantees more eyes than with Pursuit ...

When you add up WWE, AEW, Impact, New Japan, Ring of Honor, and MLW’s weekly programming on U.S. television, we are now looking at fourteen hours of original programming in the United States on a weekly basis. That number greatly increases when you include all the digital offerings on a weekly basis from all the promotions out there ...

New Japan is in an interesting position with its U.S. strategy going into this weekend’s shows in the Northeast. Aside from the Guerrillas of Destiny working the Summer Supercard show in Toronto this past August, there has been little to no crossover between Ring of Honor and New Japan. On paper, it makes a lot of sense for New Japan and Impact Wrestling to be working together but it also made a ton of sense for New Japan and AEW to sort out their problems and that has not happened.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced Shota Umino and Ren Narita are leaving overseas excursions. Narita is going to Los Angeles and will train at the L.A. Dojo under Katsuyori Shibata while Umino will be going to the U.K.

WrestleVotes says he was told by a person who works for Fox that the network wants The Fiend on SmackDown. It is unknown which brand The Fiend Bray Wyatt will appear on following the draft.

WrestleVotes is reporting that WWE will change the look of Raw and SmackDown next week. The account also reports that pyro will return next week as well.

Nyla Rose apologizes.

On Sept. 22, AEW star Nyla Rose sent out a hateful tweet in reply to a user who sent a hateful tweet of their own. Rose hinted that the user may have been molested before quickly deleting the comment. Of course, being the internet, nothing truly dies. You can view the original tweet in the screenshot below. The account Rose replied to no longer appears to exist.

Rose issued an apology for her tweet, writing, "I would like to apologize for my comment yesterday. I have always tried to take the high road and rise above/ignore the hateful/hurtful insults I receive daily. Unfortunately, I let some hateful comments get in the way of my better judgment. I believe that sometimes people forget that real people are on the other end of the screen. I replied in frustration and anger and didn't consider the people that it could affect and hurt. For that I am truly sorry."
Link: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/nyla-rose-issues-apology-hurtful-tweet

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE 205 Live Moving to Fridays Starting Next Week (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-205-live-moving-to-fridays-starting-next-week/)
Impact Will Air on AXS TV on Tuesday Nights, Debuting October 29 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/impact-will-air-on-axs-tv-on-tuesday-nights-debuting-october-29/)
Impact’s VP of Production Reportedly Leaving for AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/impacts-vp-of-production-reportedly-leaving-for-aew/)
AEW Will Be on Tape Delay on the West Coast (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/aew-will-be-on-tape-delay-on-the-west-coast/)

Emperor Smeat

09-25-2019, 10:04 PM

The Sheets:

SmackDown averaged 2.099 million viewers on Tuesday night, up two percent from last week. This was the final SmackDown on USA Network before the show moves to FOX next Friday night (October 4) ...

Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down four percent from the same week in 2018. Network TV ran their season premieres last night and -- despite strong numbers for those shows -- SmackDown held up pretty well all things considered.

Since moving to USA, SmackDown has averaged 2.364 million viewers. That's 84 percent of Raw's viewership during the same time span.

WWE Network News is reporting that tomorrow's "Hidden Gem" selection on WWE Network will be none other than AWA SuperClash IV from April 8, 1990 emanating from the St. Paul Civic Center, which featured the following action:

Jake Milliman vs Todd Becker
Brad Rheingans & DJ Peterson vs. The Texas Hangmen (Killer & Psycho)
Baron von Raschke vs. Col. DeBeers
Tommy Jammer vs. Tully Blanchard
Kokina Maximus (the future Yokozuna) (w/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie) vs. Nord The Barbarian
AWA World Heavyweight Championship w/ Nick Bockwinkel as Guest Referee: Mr. Saito © vs. Larry Zbyszko
Tag Team Steel Cage Match: Paul Diamond & The Trooper vs. The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom)

Impact Wrestling recently paid a bonus to talents who worked on a long pre-tape day in Las Vegas for the Brian Cage-Melissa Santos wedding, which will air this Friday on Impact Wrestling. The long day had been a bone of contention for talents, which management realized and provided the bonus as a combination thank you and make-good.

WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin is now being promoted as appearing on the debut of WWE Friday Night Smackdown next week on FOX.

WWE had previously been promoting a number of legends as appearing, including Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair and Sting. Add Austin to the list.

As reported on PWInsider.com, WWE recently trademarked the name "The Bump" for a future series. During the video, text quickly flashes on screen saying next Wednesday at 10 AM, so it appears this will be a digital series with elements similar to some of ESPN's sports discussion shows.

2K issued the following in advance of the release of the WWE 2K20 video game next month:

The highly requested online lobby system is back in WWE 2K20. Lobbies will streamline the process of pairing up players and getting them into a match as quickly as possible. We’re also excited to talk about new developments in MyPLAYER, Road to Glory, and MyPLAYER Towers.

CREATE A LOBBY.

If you have an exact online multiplayer match in mind, creating a lobby is the way to go. Select from a wide variety of match types and rules with up to six players. Choose the arena, Superstar gender, and even toggle the restriction to only allow default WWE Superstars (a.k.a. Fair Play). You can start out in private mode to invite friends and then open the remaining slots to the general public if you prefer. Once in a lobby together, everyone can voice chat as they select Superstars and the lobby creator makes decisions on the match at hand. Players will now have full visibility on how the match is coming together ...

MYPLAYER EVOLUTION

... For the first time ever, any special creation parts you unlock through playing MyCAREER, Road to Glory, and MyPLAYER Towers are also available in the general Create-a-Superstar mode. On top of that, you can export the appearance of your MyPLAYER out to the general character creations as well!

Road to Glory and MyPLAYER Tower fans will be familiar with the process of earning stars to enter special pay-per-view events. These Road to Glory events now include female matches for the first time, in addition to male matches.

DAILY REFRESHED MATCH CHALLENGES

The new Tonight’s Match feature in Multiplayer places you in a new match every day that rotates through match types, rules, genders, and arenas to make it simple to constantly try something new

Beyond airing live on FOX starting 10/4, WWE's Friday Night Smackdown will also air live on Fridays in Spanish on FOX Deportes.

There are replays listed for the FOX premiere episode for FOX Sports 2 for Saturday 10/5 and Tuesday 10/8 as well. If that replay pattern continues, the series will still be available for fans on Tuesday nights if they wish to watch it on that day.

All Elite Wrestling filed to trademark the Chris Jericho catchphrase "A Little Bit of the Bubbly" on 9/18.

During a Twitter Q&A, Nick Jackson stated AEW was working on a video game deal and that there would be dark matches before and after the AEW Dynamite TV tapings.

There is a big story in AdAge covering lots of news items regarding Friday Night SmackDown’s launch on Fox. The article includes the news that Progressive Insurance will be coming on board as the presenting sponsor of the show, lots of information regarding the response from the advertising community, and a potential lessening of the commercial spots on the show. The article also teases a potential appearance by Dwayne Johnson on the debut show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Basically FOX managed to do what USA Network and NBC struggled to do by getting a bunch of notable companies to sponsor and/or buy ads for the first time for WWE shows where in the past they had no interest or viewed wrestling as a weak tv market.

It was reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kevin Sullivan will be joining All Elite Wrestling as their VP of Post-Production. We have not been able to confirm the additional number of people that had been working with Sullivan and are leaving, as well. Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com reported that Jim Morris is also leaving with Sullivan for AEW.

UPDATE: I spoke with one person at Impact Wrestling who told us the number of people that left with Kevin Sullivan was “less than ten”. We were not given the specific number.

Brad Davis of SE Scoops has further details on the move, reporting that Sullivan could not secure a contract with Anthem, leading to Sullivan striking a deal with AEW that will bring his entire production company and team at Kevin Sully TV (KSTV) over to AEW. Sullivan and his team will work directly with AEW lead producer Keith Mitchell.

IMPACT had been outsourcing the majority of its production work to KSTV, which had assembled all of IMPACT's weekly programming for domestic and international providers.

KSTV had previously done work with AEW, producing the cold opens for Fight for the Fallen and Fyter Fest.

IMPACT has reportedly hired a local Tennessee producer to handle the work in the wake of KSTV's departure. A source told SE Scoops that securing Sullivan and KSTV is a “huge strategic move” by AEW and “crippling” to IMPACT.

The UK-based Southside Wrestling group announced Wednesday that talent under WWE contract have been pulled from their ninth anniversary card on October 26th. The news came two-days after Revolution Pro announced they would take over operations of Southside, beginning on October 28th, although we can’t confirm if that was the specific reason for talent being pulled. The card was set to feature Joseph Conners, Ilja Dragunov, Kay Lee Ray, El Ligero, Saxon Huxley, and Xia Brookside, who are all NXT UK performers. In the release from Southside, the promotion said “We asked permission in advance and accepted all conditions. We have spent a small fortune on posters / flyers / banners for the show which are now unusable”. They went on to end the release with “Although this is business we have personally taken this badly. 9as was our goodbye and we wanted to say it with the stars who made us what we are, our previous champions and most importantly our close friends”.

NXT superstar Lacey Lane revealed on social media that she has had her name changed to Kayden Carter. Carter still has her Twitter user name as "Lacey Lane" but her handle has been changed to @wwekayden.

Who is the greatest WWE SmackDown superstar of all-time? That's the question WWE has posed to fans in a new social media tournament.

For 20 years, SmackDown has been home to some of the most iconic Superstars in all of sports-entertainment history. But who is the greatest? That’s up to you!

Right now on WWE’s official Twitter page, Instagram Story and Facebook Story, you can decide which blue brand competitor will advance to the next round of the SmackDown Greatest Superstar tournament. The 16 first-round matchups, featuring 32 SmackDown stalwarts, were seeded according to Superstars’ win percentages in matches that took place on SmackDown. The winner of the SmackDown Greatest Superstar tournament will be announced next Friday prior to SmackDown’s debut on FOX.

The tournament is broken into four distinct regions based on legendary Team Blue General Managers: Paige, Teddy Long, Vickie Guerrero and Paul Heyman.

Link with all the first round matchups: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/wwe-begins-tournament-determine-greatest-smackdown-superstar-all-time

Podcast One sent out a press release with comments Steve Austin made on his podcast about if he could ever have one more match: “For the last couple of weeks, down there at the Raw reunion in Tampa, down there at the Madison Square Garden show at Monday Night Raw -- people always ask me, ‘Hey man, you’re still in really good shape. You got one more match left in you?’ And I tell them, ‘Man.’ I say, ‘You know, it’s a tough thing to think about.’ Physically, would I be able to have one more match? Yes, most definitely, and I could make it to that match without being injured. Although the risks are always there, just because I think all of the surgeries, I had… where I had the spinal stenosis, and getting that bone spur taken off my spinal cord -- I’m in a good place. Nerves are feeling a lot better than they use to. So, you know, in theory, could I have a match? In theory, yes.”

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Announces “AEW Plus” Service, Will Stream AEW Dynamite Live Internationally (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/aew-announces-aew-plus-service-will-stream-aew-dynamite-live-internationally/)
AEW and ITV Announce Underwhelming UK TV Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/aew-and-itv-announce-underwhelming-uk-tv-deal/)
NXT UK Moving to Thursdays (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/nxt-uk-moving-to-thursdays/)
NJPW Announces Full Card for King of Pro Wrestling 2019 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/njpw-announces-full-card-for-king-of-pro-wrestling-2019/)
Hangman Page vs. PAC Announced for AEW Dynamite Premiere – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/hangman-page-vs-pac-announced-for-aew-dynamite-premiere-updated-card/)

Emperor Smeat

09-26-2019, 09:34 PM

The Sheets:

Going against network TV season premieres, NXT on USA ratings dropped this week, averaging 1.006 million viewers on Wednesday night.

After finishing an impressive fourth in the 18-49 demo last week, the show dropped 26 percent in that important category and fell to eighth place with a 0.32 rating. The viewership total was only down 15 percent, meaning the show lost more viewers in that age range than overall.

The audience drop-off for NXT was far greater than it was for Raw, which only dropped three percent this week. Tuesday's SmackDown actually gained viewers from the previous week. The highly-rated premieres on the main broadcast networks can't be blamed either as that was also the case on Monday and Tuesday night.

Though Wrestle Kingdom 14 will be a two-night event, New Year Dash will still be taking place in January.

NJPW has announced that New Year Dash 2020 will take place at Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo on Monday, January 6. The Tokyo Dome will host Wrestle Kingdom 14 night one on January 4 and night two on January 5.

New Year Dash is NJPW's annual post-Wrestle Kingdom event and features the start of new angles coming out of the company's biggest show of the year.

New Year Dash had taken place at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall up until now.

Although All Elite Wrestling filed a trademark on the Chris Jericho catchphrase "A Little Bit of the Bubbly" on 9/18, Jericho himself actually beat them to the filing. On 9/10, Jericho applied to trademark 'A little bit of the bubbly' for the following:

"Goods & Services: Bandanas; Hats; Shirts; Sweatshirts. FIRST USE: 20190905. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20190905"

"Goods & Services: Champagne; Sparkling wines; Wine; Wines and sparkling wines"

Meanwhile, AEW applied to trademark All Elite Fleet on 9/2

Former WWE, WCW and World Class star Samu Anoa'i is scheduled to undergo a liver transplant today in Pennsylvania. Anoa'i announced in October 2018 that he was battling stage four liver cancer.

After several days of being in the hospital, WWE Hall of Famer Superstar Billy Graham posted the following on his Facebook page:

Heart Issues

Hey fans, I am back home from the Mayo Clinic Hospital. I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers. I need rest right now but by this coming Sunday evening I will give all my Facebook fans an in-depth report on the status of my heart. All I will say for now is that I have suffered a heart attack and am in constant heart failure. I am of course on medications for my heart and will be for the remainder of my life. I am keeping the faith and will fight !!!

Superstar Billy Graham

Post Consumer Brands and WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced an expanded partnership that brings the thrill and excitement of WWE to cereal boxes nationwide as superstars Becky Lynch and Big Show will be featured on the front of nearly 7 million boxes of Post Honeycomb® cereal and Post Golden Crisp® cereal. The partnership was announced today at Advertising Week in New York City ...

For a limited time, fans can get a free three-month trial of WWE Network when they purchase three boxes of participating Honeycomb cereal or Golden Crisp cereal and redeem their receipts online. The promotion begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, and runs through Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. To redeem the promotion and for full details and terms, please visit www.wwexpost.com.
Missed a big opportunity not doing this with The New Day when they had the cereal-based gimmick.

2K officially announced the following updates to Universe Mode for the upcoming WWE 2K 20 videogame:

Are you a hardcore Universe Mode player? Then there’s plenty to get excited about in WWE 2K20. Check out this list of updates that will give players more freedom to create than ever before.

Major and minor show match limits have increased from 7 to 9.
Pay-Per-View match limits have doubled from 7 to 14.
The number of championship titles per major show has increased from 6 to 7.
Simultaneous rivalries on major shows have increased from 3 to 4.
Pay-Per-Views can be co-hosted by up to 3 major shows versus the previous 2.
Players have more freedom to delete and add promos and matches.
50 of the most-used cutscenes have been reshot with female mocap actors to look more authentic when female Superstars are used.
25 new cutscenes have been added.
3,040 new promo lines are in the game.
Custom Matches can now be included in Match Tables, along with new Mixed Tag Matches.
New Championship Match setting in Match Tables can be used to make certain matches a title match.
Main Event matches in Match Tables have been tweaked so that those match types are more likely to occur on the show (Example: Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View).
New rivalry content includes options such as low-intensity enemies making peace after a single Pay-Per-View or low to mid-intensity allies slowly falling out over several weeks instead of a sudden turn.
The overall menu flow has been streamlined to make it more accessible to those new to Universe Mode. All deeper options are still available for experienced players.

The NWA has announced Thunder Rosa, Marti Belle and Ashley Vox have been announced for next week's NWA TV tapings in Atlanta.

The announcing team will be Joe Galli and Jim Cornette. Dave Marquez and Kyle Durden will be working as correspondents on the tapings.

On September 30th, the National Wrestling Alliance will hold a press conference at the Hard Rock Café in Atlanta, Georgia ahead of their television tapings later that day and on October 1st. Appearing at the press conference are all champions of the NWA. Also, Billy Corgan will reveal the name of NWA’s weekly television series and where viewers can watch the show.

The Washington Post profiled several stars of All Elite Wrestling ahead of the company’s debut show on TNT in Washington, DC. The publication also spoke with Brett Weitz, who is the general manager for TNT, TBS, and truTV. Brett said that he is surprised WWE Chairman Vince McMahon “went to defense” as quick as he did in regards to NXT going head-to-head with AEW:“It’s really rare for a challenger to be on offense right out of the gate and I’m surprised Vince went to defense as fast as he did,” TNT’s Weitz says, adding, “I don’t think a monarchy can last forever.”

WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER is not appearing at wXw’s show this coming Sunday. WALTER took to Twitter and revealed that he asked for that day off to lighten his travel schedule and apologized to those who were looking forward to seeing him live.

According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, Dish Network has dropped FOX channels.

Newsweek interviewed Ring Of Honor C.O.O. Joe Koff. Koff opened up about ROH’s partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and NJPW wanting a stake in America and touring the country independently without the assistance of other promotions:

“They [partnerships] are important in the development of your organization. We’ve been very generous in that regard because we think wrestling as an industry is important, not just being the promotion or ‘that’ promotion. So whenever an opportunity arises, we are open to taking it. I think right now what you are seeing is, as more eyes are on it, you have people saying, ‘Let’s get in it’, and getting in it today is a lot different than the past,” Koff explained. “One thing Sinclair has always afforded us, and one reason we got into professional wrestling, is that I had distribution. I have a lot of distribution via our over-the-air, free coverage, be it at our emerging network like on Stadium or Charge. Hopefully, soon, nothing is finalized yet. Plus we have our own streaming platform. I don’t have to go out and find it. That will always be an advantage. Right now it’s a good time for a lot of these promotions to start to come out on their own. New Japan is a wonderful partner. I don’t want you to think MSG was all Ring of Honor. It was a combination at the right time with a good card, and it was a good partnership. We would have done the same for them at Wrestle Kingdom and their Japan shows. But they want a stake in America as well and not be associated with it, which is why you’re seeing New Japan touring independently of other promotions. I don’t blame them. It’s a business and that’s their business.”

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) vs. Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt) will be the dark mark for AEW Dynamite on Oct. 2.

as mentioned a few days ago on the blog, Dragon Lee is off all CMLL cards as apparent punishment for working PWG's BOLA against orders.

very quietly, Rush has also not worked a show for CMLL in about three weeks and isn't on any current lineups.

It was reported earlier this week that the WWE 205 Live series is set to move to Friday nights on the WWE Network next week, and that WWE would still film the show after SmackDown each week.

In an update, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that this is not a permanent schedule change. 205 Live will air from Los Angeles next Friday night, after SmackDown goes off the air, but the company has not decided on if they will keep the show on Fridays. It was noted that several ideas are being thrown around, including possibly ending 205 Live altogether. Until they come to a final decision on the future of the show, it will air on the WWE Network after SmackDown goes off the air on Fridays ...

Apparently 205 Live is suffering from low viewership on the WWE Network as well. Meltzer noted that Network numbers show that the show hasn't done well in a long time. He speculated that it would be more cost-effective for WWE to sell an hour of weekly post-SmackDown programming to FS1 or some other network, than to tape 205 Live for airing on the WWE Network each week.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Pulls Wrestlers from UK Indie Show, Cody Rhodes Offers to Help (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-pulls-wrestlers-from-uk-indie-show-cody-rhodes-offers-to-help/)
Legendary Composer Jim Johnston Created an Entrance Theme for Ring of Honor (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/legendary-composer-jim-johnston-created-an-entrance-theme-for-ring-of-honor/)
WWE Announces “WWE Backstage” Studio Show on FS1, Hosted by Renee Young & Booker T (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-announces-wwe-backstage-studio-show-on-fs1-hosted-by-renee-young-booker-t/)
WWE Announces New Commentary Teams (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-announces-new-commentary-teams/)

Emperor Smeat

09-27-2019, 09:53 PM

The Sheets:

The promotional push for SmackDown's move to FOX will include WWE personalities appearing on FOX News' "FOX & Friends" next week.

Kofi Kingston will be on the morning show on Monday (September 30), Stephanie McMahon will appear on Tuesday (October 1), Charlotte Flair will appear on Wednesday (October 2), and Roman Reigns will be on the show on Thursday (October 3).

The segments will begin at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. There will then be a meet-and-greet with that day's guest at 9:15 a.m. Eastern. WWE noted that the meet-and-greets are only for the first 150 fans and will be weather permitting.

WWE's return to Saudi Arabia is set for Halloween.

WWE's Arabic website announced today that Crown Jewel 2019 will take place at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 31. Tickets will go on sale on Monday (September 30) at 6 p.m. local time ...

With SmackDown moving to Friday nights on FOX, SmackDown will take place the day after Crown Jewel.

Over the last several days, WWE has been teasing a series titled "The Bump" on social media ...

PWInsider.com is told that The Bump will be a morning talk-show style series that will debut on Wednesday morning 10/2 featuring discussion of WWE-centric topics. We were told the idea for the show is to be a light and fun talk show mixed with ESPN Sportscenter style discussion.

The series will stream on WWE social media channels. We have not heard if it will be airing on the WWE Network.

Jerry Lawler spoke with The Memphis Commercial Appeal about returning to the Raw commentary booth. On how the conversation went, Lawler noted, "I got a call about it Tuesday morning from Kevin Dunn (WWE's executive vice president of television production)," Lawler said. "He said, 'I've got a proposition for you. It may be good news, and it may be bad news.' He knows I don't like to travel a whole lot anymore, so that was the bad part. I said, 'What's the good part?' He said, 'We want you back on Raw. He told me it's for however long I want to do it, so that sealed the deal."

The WWE Hall of Famer stated that the original plan was to have a two-man booth, "It was (Raw's executive director) Paul (Heyman's) idea to put Vic and Dio on Raw," Lawler said. "Apparently, what I was told, Vince (McMahon) said, 'You can't throw these two new, young guys on our flagship show. Call King.' That's how it happened."

Neither NXT or AEW will air live in the U.K. NXT won’t be on television, limited to the next day airing on the WWE Network. Even though it will air on the WWE Network first in full form, NXT will air in Canada at 7 p.m. on Fridays, edited to one hour. AEW is very close to a Canadian deal, and given the word being out that the FITE stream won’t be available in Canada, that tells you that the hope and talks include going live. At this point main components of the Canadian deal are either done or close to it, and it’s at the Turner side’s level of the finishing touches.

For AEW, the U.K. deal was the subject of a ton of talk in recent days. ITV announced its deal with AEW on 9/25. The announcement was not scheduled and what happened is one person in ITV programming released the news on Twitter before either ITV or AEW had approved it, leaving people scrambling ...

Negotiations were still going on at the time for a first airing, on Thursday or Friday, with Friday being the day at one point, once the idea of going live fell through recently. The announcements weren’t supposed to be made until that was all finalized, which, at press time, it is still has not been.

What killed the live airing were problems between TNT and ITV 4 regarding commercial breaks that couldn’t be rectified. In the U.K., OFCOM, which regulates over-the-air television (as opposed to Sky and BT, which WWE airs on), mandates no more than 12 commercial minutes per show. TNT will have 15 or 16 minutes, and there are ways you think you can work through it by having one break per hour that is taken on TNT but not ITV 4, but that didn’t work out because they each had certain specifications on timing of breaks during the hours that couldn’t be worked out.

It would not have been impossible, but would have been difficult and ITV 4 decided they couldn’t do it live. There are ways around it with having dark breaks but ITV 4 didn’t want to do it and they aren’t doing it with any other shows and it was not something they wanted ...

But after a lot of negative reaction ITV 4 got, there is talk about debuting the show in a time slot closer to Wednesday or some kind of an earlier OnDemand solution. There will be availability live on FITE TV in countries that don’t get the show live, which would be priced at $4.99 per month or $2.99 per single episode. It is notable that besides Canada, FITE is not taking orders from Germany either, although it has not announced that. That would at least hint strongly of negotiations going on for television in Germany, and there are also talks in Australia, as well as one or two other countries that are coming down to the wire ...

At this point, with just days to go, nothing has been announced for Canada. The word is that Canada is also close at this point with sources close to the TSN side, the station rumored to be in he lead for the show for some time, saying the deal isn’t completed. The only thing that is confirmed is that a Canadian deal was in its final stages in the past few days. As noted before, Khan has been working on the deals himself rather than outsourcing to an agency like WWE does with CAA and previously did with Endeavor.

In cost per point of demo ratings, these were the numbers FOX was charging for some different shows, Masked Singer was $2,500; Simpsons was $2,300; Empire was $2,250; Prodigal Son was $1,925 and Smackdown was $1,100. So the value for selling advertising is about half of a regular TV show, if the ratings of the two shows are identical. That’s actually an improvement for wrestling but it still means for ad value Smackdown really has to double the audience in the desired demos of other programming to be an advertising success. While USA Network was able to make money last year based on what it was getting in ad revenue for Raw and Smackdown vs. what it paid, with the higher rights fees, both USA and FOX will not come close to recouping their rights fees with ad sales on the shows.

Within television, the belief is that Smackdown will average a 1.0 in the 18-49 demo, up from the 0.6 to 0.7 range it does now on USA, and the 0.8 FOX did this past season during the 8-10 p.m. Friday time slot. While not exact, that would figure to be 3.1 million viewers on average. But as these show, even if it beats last year’s 0.8, for it to be as valuable, it would have to average closer to a 1.6 in that demo, a figure that it is almost impossible for it to do, because to do so it would probably need to hit five million viewers on average and that is out of the range of possibility.

An 0.6 would be considered a failure. While a demo increase and audience increase doesn’t have to be the same thing, the expectations of a 35 percent increase sounds lofty. The first week and second week, the all the promotion in week one and the draft in week two, should beat that figure. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. The key is more the value of just being on FOX, because the increase in available homes and the decrease in audience by being on Fridays basically evens both out. So anything above 2.1 million or 2.3 million is the actual value of FOX over USA ..

Winter expects Smackdown to dominate the night in 18-49s. They also talked about reducing commercials in the show by 10 to 20 percent as a way to keep the younger audience from drifting away. But doing that will only raise the losses FOX takes because last year’s Smackdown did about $72 million in ad sales and the cost of Smackdown for FOX is $205 million, a large disparity. Even though FOX will likely get that ad sales number up somewhat, it’ll never come close to be able to make up that deficit.

There are a lot of issues going on in CMLL after the death of Paco Alonso. Sofia Alonso is in control by title and has power, but her uncle, Chavo Lutteroth, who ran the promotion before Paco Alonso, is the one making all the financial decisions. Among the moves are increasing the cut the promotion gets and increasing their prices to American promoters. Another change is that the guarantees that many of the top stars are on have been cut greatly. We’re told the legends like Atlantis, Blue Panther and Negro Casas weren’t cut but many of the current biggest younger stars including Dragon Lee were

Lee was also pulled from at least three shows this week, including the Anniversary show, this coming week and the 9/24 Arena Mexico show ... While nobody has said why, the belief was that he worked BOLA, when CMLL told both he and Cavernario that they couldn’t do the show and he didn’t listen. We’ll see how this plays out because there was certainly talk over the weekend that all the things that have happened could get him to leave.

But the question is that if he does leave, how does that affect New Japan, which is a spot he doesn’t want to lose. The belief is that a guy like him can make as much money outside CMLL in Mexico, and more in the U.S. without the hindrances of CMLL. Plus, one would think every promotion in the U.S. would want him since he’s a genuine special talent with charisma. But no television promotion aside from ROH wants to use CMLL guys because MLW was burned by the guys then going to ROH, while AEW and Impact work with AAA and WWE has no deal with CMLL

There was a lot of frustration regarding the New York show with the card having to change so often due to all the visas not coming in. This led to them using so many Americans and having to rely on AAA guys who were with Lucha Underground. The belief is all the visas will be in for Los Angeles on 10/23, but we don’t have that confirmed that they are in. That’s probably why no card has been announced but the idea is for it to be a loaded show ...

An interesting note is that a reason it did so terribly is that nobody knew. While these numbers being so small as estimates are tough to pin down, what we do know is that buys now look to be between 300 and 400, but almost none were live, like estimated at around 60. So of the very few people who bought the PPV, it appears most likely had no idea it was even on, then heard after the fact or perhaps saw favorable reviews and then bought it. With such a small number, that actually makes sense. ...

There’s also no word right now on how the 10/13 show in Los Angeles will be broadcast, or if

Well, we now know why there was an El Rey Network mention on the screen throughout the New York show. El Rey will be airing that show on 10/6 at 9 p.m. Eastern

Regarding the name AEW Dynamite, like the original Tuesday Night Dynamite, in a trivia note, Khan as a kid used to book pro wrestling television and the name Dynamite was the name of his fantasy television show he put together so that’s the actual origination of the name

The updated All Out television PPV number is just over 29,000, which is down from about 39,000 for the last show.

One thing we’ve seen a lot of is WWE trying to close the holes that AEW can exploit going forward. The making NXT a very heavy wrestling product built around producing hot in-ring was to close the hole that AEW could have exploited since neither Raw nor Smackdown will likely go that direction. WWE is also going to bring back pyro to television. I mean, they’re getting so much money there’s no reason not to, because it’s again a little thing that fans like that AEW was expected to have, since they did with PPVs. WWE dropped it feeling it was an unnecessary cost and made no real difference when it came to ratings, but economics aren’t nearly as tight as they were when that decision was made

The reason Lana hasn’t been around with Rusev is because they’ve got other ideas for Lana’s character and not like they don’t want to use her or anything like that

Regarding NXT, there were some noting that raises have not come yet for talent since the TV deal started. There are guys who know that the company got a $30 million a year deal from USA and NXT talent is being told they are a third brand, but most of the talent is earning less than $100,000 per year, if not all but a few. The talent is also required to do a full rehearsal every Tuesday night at Full Sail for the Wednesday television. This will happen weekly and it’s mandatory, even for those with a decent amount of television experience ...

A lot of the regular fans were unhappy bout a few things. One was that during the live hour, when they did a commercial break, the action would slow down. It was noted to me by several people at Full Sail who were also at PWG, that the women’s match and Roderick Strong vs Velveteen Dream came across much better on television because the action was chinlocks and nobody did anything much for 4:00 during breaks. The women’s match, which came across as an easy **** match on television, was actually 6:00 of super action and four minutes of not so much. Strong vs. Dream also had a lot of non-action during breaks.

There’s also less fan interaction with talent. The die-hard fans were such because they got to know the talent personally and wanted to help them get over. They would hang out with them before the show at the food trucks. They’d go out after the show to the Ale House. There were no food trucks at the first taping, although it was a positive for talent as they had the WWE catering. Nobody went to the Ale House after ...

The talent used to park in the Full Sail parking lot and hang out with fans, and go in through the front entrance and leave through the front door and talk with fans and take pictures with them. This was changed to them parking in the back and it was impossible for any interaction at the first tapings. The tradition of the talent and fans ordering dinner together before the show was gone.

While The Revival’s contracts are up in April, WWE has extended Daniel Wheeler’s (Dash Wilder) deal another ten weeks due to the period he was out of action in 2016 with a broken jaw.

The greatest duo in history reunites at Starrcast IV.

Starrcast made some major talent announcements, beginning with Sting returning to Baltimore, the site of his first WCW World Championship victory. Sting will be decked out in the red, white, and blue facepaint and jacket, and carrying the WCW World Championship for photo opportunities with fans.

But the bigger announcement is that, for the first time ever, RoboCop will be coming to Starrcast.

Fans may remember RoboCop appearing at WCW Capital Combat 1990 to help Sting fend off the Horsemen. You can view RoboCop's WCW appearance in the video above.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: FOX Dropped By DISH/Sling, Reigns vs. Rowan Added to SmackDown, NXT Pre-Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-fox-dropped-by-dish-sling-reigns-vs-rowan-added-to-smackdown-nxt-pre-show/)
WWE: Jerry Lawler on Raw Just Temporarily? Mickie James on Main Event Commentary (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-jerry-lawler-on-raw-just-temporarily-mickie-james-on-main-event-commentary/)
New Sets and Pyro Coming to Raw and SmackDown Next Week (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/new-sets-and-pyro-coming-to-raw-and-smackdown-next-week/)
CM Punk Could Possibly Be Part of “WWE Backstage” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/cm-punk-could-possibly-be-part-of-wwe-backstage/)

Emperor Smeat

10-01-2019, 08:55 PM

The Sheets:

The promotion of a loaded Raw with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Brock Lesnar, led to a 16 percent jump in audience last night with Raw averaging 2.57 million viewers ...

9-1-1 on FOX, which featured Ronda Rousey, was the second highest rated show on television last night with 7.46 million viewers ...

Raw did its usual patterns of falling each hour, although the 10.6 percent first-to-third hour drop was less than usual, which is also a good sign ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.70 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.59 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.42 million viewers

If you exclude the night after SummerSlam and the Raw Reunion in July, this was their highest overall average for Raw since the Superstar Shakeup on April 15th.

A celebrity appearance has been added to this week's episode of NXT.

Wale posted a tweet today announcing that he'll be appearing with The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) tomorrow: "breaking news I’ll be on @WWENXT tmrw on @USA_Network at 8pm ... we gettin to it .. wit @AngeloDawkins an @MontezFordWWE. Please believe we want all the smoke!!!"

The Street Profits are getting their rematch for Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish's NXT Tag Team titles on the episode.

Wale is a rapper and professional wrestling fan who has appeared on WWE programming in the past. He hosted a rap battle between The New Day and The Usos on an episode of SmackDown in 2017 and did commentary on a 205 Live episode last year ...

The NXT appearance comes in advance of Wale's next album being released on October 11.

AEW welcomed Alex Abrahantes to their broadcast team.

Kevin Kelly tweeted that he was heading into the studio today to do English commentary for last Saturday’s NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed show in New York City.

Stephanie McMahon appeared this morning on FOX Sport 1’s First Things to promote the Friday Night Smackdown move to FOX this week ...

It was noted the role of women has evolved over the years. McMahon was asked why that was important to her. She said there’s a huge knock against women’s sports because there’s no attendance or no buzz and she said that’s because there’s no promotion for it. When you look at WWE, their fans demanded they “give Divas a chance” with a hashtag that trended for days, calling for better athleticism and storylines. Vince McMahon saw it and told the fans to give them a chance. They rebranded the Divas division into Superstars and they received a new championship and since then they have been presenting the women stronger and have headlined Wrestlemania, breaking the MetLife Stadium revenue record.

On why fans should tune into Smackdown, she said they will see the best of sports and entertainment. The storylines are protagonists and antagonists like any other story but their issues are settled inside a 20 x 20 ring with the best performers in the world.

It was noted they have fans across generations and demographics. Stephanie said they are generational viewing because it translates to anyone. They have over 200 characters. They have one of the top YouTube channels. They appeal to everyone ...

Stephanie was asked if she would encourage her daughters to get involved in the sport when they were of age. McMahon said her oldest daughter (Note from Mike: 13 years old) has already started training and she would encourage them to follow their passion and use their work ethic. They would have to work hard if that was their choice.

McMahon was asked the secret of WWE’s staying power. She said it goes back to relatability and engaging the audience. What the audience does reflects what WWE does. Keeping that connection with the audience is what matters.

Bandido posted a photo from a hospital on Tuesday while covering his face and added #7weeks in the post. Someone familiar with the situation informed us that the wrestler had surgery earlier today. Bandido had been working with a knee injury that is believed to have been an issue for him prior to the Battle of Los Angeles tournament but worked through the tournament and Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor event. Due to the injury, which ROH stated was a knee injury, he missed Saturday’s television tapings in Las Vegas. If he is out for seven weeks, that would mean he would be off ROH’s Honor United tour of the UK from October 25-27.

In other wrestling news, a potential surprise for AEW’s premiere on TNT, Sports Illustrated has learned, is Jake Hager, better known from his WWE run as Jack Swagger. An ardent Trump supporter and legitimate big guy, Hager would fit in nicely as a villain for the promotion. He would also add depth to the card, and his work in Bellator MMA could have crossover appeal for AEW.
Spoiler tags used since its related to a potential surprise debut for AEW's TV show tomorrow.

Cody Rhodes discusses the series of events that led him to AEW ...

Cody left WWE in May 2016 after being denied a request to drop the Stardust gimmick in favor of being Cody Rhodes again. Vince declining Cody's gimmick change kicked off the series of events that eventually led to the formation of AEW.

"It's very romantic, very like Game of Thrones-style with these warring houses," Cody said. "When I left WWE in 2015, I didn't think, like, 'I'm picking up that sword, we're going to war.' It's a wild, wild series of events. There were so many combustible pieces that led to all of this. You throw them together, and suddenly we are in a situation where I'm standing in front of the Turner Mansion with Brandi, in exactly the same spot Dusty took the team picture with WCW. And we're taking another team picture with a billionaire NFL owner who's a mega wrestling fan, ready to launch another national wrestling promotion. Had Vince listened to me when I really wanted to make the transition back to being Cody Rhodes, we wouldn't be sitting here. It's that fragile."

Instead of remaining in WWE, thanks to the advice and help of Kevin Owens, Cody linked up with The Young Bucks on the Independent circuit. The trio, along with Kenny Omega, SCU, and others, began making waves on Being The Elite, eventually leading to Cody and The Young Bucks running All In, billed as the largest Independent wrestling show in history.
Wonder if Vince is going to be pissed at Kevin Owens for accidentally playing a role in the birth of AEW.

MLW announced A.J. Kirsch, has joined its broadcast team. Kirsch was on the 2011 version of Tough Enough as a wrestler but has mainly worked as a broadcaster in Northern California in recent years.

Replays for Friday's SmackDown on Fox premiere:
Saturday (FOX Sports 2): 9 PM – 11 PM
Sunday (FOX Sports 1): 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Tuesday (FOX Sports 2): 5 PM – 7 PM

In the United States, AEW Dynamite's premiere episode will replay on TNT this Saturday 10/5 at 10 AM and 10:30 PM EST as well as Tuesday 10/8 at 10 PM EST.

Impact has announced they have invited Joe Maddon, the former manager of the Chicago Cubs, who led to the team to the 2016 World Series championship, to be a guest at Bound for Glory on 10/20 in Chicago's Odeum Expo Center. They said Maddon would be at ringside for a 20 person Rumble style match where the winner gets a future title match. The idea is that Maddon will give advice to the winner on what title to cash in on.

Minoru Suzuki wrote that Yoshihiro Takayama has been moved to a new facility and note improvements Takayama has experienced. Takayama suffered a cervical spinal cord injury in May 2017 during a match where he attempted a sunset flip and landed on his head. The injury has left Takayama paralyzed.

With the exception of the ambulance issue in New York City, New Japan was extremely happy with the weekend’s Fighting Spirit USA tour with stops in Lowell, MA, NYC and Philadelphia. Of the three shows, the Philadelphia event was said to have been the most profitable for the company at the gate, but New York City was the #1 night in terms of merchandise sales, with Lowell coming in second for merchandise numbers ...

Philadelphia was completely sold out, including an additional 200 standing room tickets that were made available because there were so many inquiries to the 2300 Arena for tickets after the initial immediate sellout ...

The Rock N’ Roll Express being brought in was said to have been a Jado idea.

Backstage in Philadelphia were WWE’s Kairi Sane, Ring of Honor’s Sumie Sakai and Cheeseburger and CZW’s DJ Hyde. Also at the Philly show, for the first time in decades in the building, was former ECW promoter Ed Zohn, who now works with PWX ...

There is early talk of perhaps doing more United States shows in the first quarter of 2020, but that is nowhere near confirmed.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Joaquin Wilde Injury Update, Corbin’s Throne Breaks, NXT Overrun (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-joaquin-wilde-injury-update-corbins-throne-breaks-nxt-overrun/)
RUSH Comments on His and Dragon Lee’s Recent Release from CMLL (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/rush-comments-on-his-and-dragon-lees-recent-release-from-cmll/)
AEW: Dynamite Name Origin, Deal With Hot Topic, Jericho Mystery Partner Announcement Tonight (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-deal-with-hot-topic-dynamite-name-origin-jericho-mystery-partner-announcement-tonight/)
WWE: Seth Rollins Back on Twitter, Naomi Update, Chelsea Green on Commentary? (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/wwe-seth-rollins-back-on-twitter-naomi-update-chelsea-green-on-commentary/)
NWA Power: New NWA Show Will Air Every Tuesday for Free Online (https://www.tpww.net/2019/09/nwa-power-new-nwa-show-will-air-every-tuesday-for-free-online/)

Simple Fan

10-02-2019, 12:29 AM

Eli Drake is winning the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship at that PPV.

Mr. Nerfect

10-02-2019, 05:21 AM

I'm going to go out of my way to watch NWA Power. It's not going to be too widely watched, I imagine, but I want to do what I can for it, provided it's good.

Emperor Smeat

10-02-2019, 10:24 PM

The Sheets:

While doing an appearance on Wednesday's Collider Live podcast to promote Girl On The Third Floor, CM Punk discussed his recent tryout with Fox for the WWE Backstage studio show.

He confirmed the tryout and that his agents reached out to him because of how much Fox is investing into WWE with SmackDown. He said Fox was interested in him and that he hasn't dealt with anyone from WWE during the process, nor has he heard anything from WWE after the tryout.

He said he loves Renee Young and that the role would be similar to what he does for CFFC MMA. He said he was clear that he didn't want to come in just to dump on the product but that if there's something that's bad, he would have to be honest about it.

Punk didn't say where the process is at or how the tryout went. He did reiterate that he's not interested in returning to the ring, but is in a position where he's open to anything other than wrestling because he's grown as a person and is a businessman.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Ix5njGkAE

Triple H appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast and responded to a question about CM Punk trying out for WWE’s Backstage studio show on FS1: “Look, I’ve read about that as well. You know -- to be clear -- FOX is doing this show, and it’s their show, and it’s something they’re doing to talk about the WWE Universe and everything going on in it. They have a long list of people they’ve been interviewing and everything. But as far as for us, one of the things I think this company has shown over and over again, is never say never. If the opportunity is right for everybody and it’s right for our fans, then we are willing to put the past behind us and move forward. So -- you know -- I would say, never say never, but that’s also probably a long way from coming true. I don’t know. That’s also a little bit outside of my purview at the moment, but like I said, never say never.”

The first episode of WWE’s The Bump premiered on the WWE Network and WWE’s Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages today. The talk show will air live at 10 a.m. Eastern time every Wednesday. Kayla Braxton, Matt Camp, Evan T. Mack, McKenzie Mitchell, Ryan Pappolla, and Dan Vollmayer are hosts for the show.

Macaulay Culkin narrated a video about how The Rock got the word “smackdown” into the dictionary.
Link: https://youtu.be/FUVyDuSmUAQ

Sports Illustrated reported that Chris Jericho vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi is scheduled for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14. Jericho’s contract with AEW allows him to have NJPW matches, and NJPW has already started building to him facing Tanahashi.

MLW has officially unveiled the first member of its women's division.

It was announced today that Zeda Zhang has signed a "multi-year exclusive contract" with MLW. She previously appeared for MLW in 2018 after being released by WWE.

Zhang wrestled for NXT and took part in the inaugural Mae Young Classic while with WWE. She lost to Shayna Baszler in the first round of the tournament.

MLW noted that their women's division is scheduled to launch this year and that more details about the division and Zhang's first match will be revealed soon. The division is returning after MLW initially featured women's matches when it relaunched starting in 2017.

Daniel Bryan participated in a Q&A for Nikki and Brie Bella’s podcast. The topic of retirement came up and Bryan said that his retirement from full-time in-ring competition is coming up sooner rather than later within the next few years:

“Well, and now, even still, as we look at my retirement from full-time wrestling which will be coming up sooner rather than later in the next couple of years, that probably won’t mean retirement for you [Brie Bella] for how busy you are. It will probably be me taking on more of the parental role, and so depending on jobs and that sort of thing, that’s been a nice switch in society that can happen.” Bryan said.

At Monday's NWA TV taping press conference, owner Billy Corgan said that the National Wrestling Alliance is open to doing business and having their champions appear for any number of promotions. However, IMPACT Wrestling isn't among those.

"We consider ourselves a free agent in the market. We're available to work with anyone from All Elite Wrestling to Championship Wrestling from Hollywood to Ring of Honor. The only prohibition is IMPACT. We won't do business with them. Of course, we'll do business with WWE. We feel like an early UFC or Bellator. We feel like we're in the market and can do whatever we want to do. We have the champions right here.Think back of when ECW guys would appear on Raw. I think people really want innovation in the space," said Corgan. "I think our relationships with Ring of Honor, which extend to New Japan -- we have a great relationship with AAA. I think we could work with anybody at any time."

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: AEW Countdown Special on TNT, Total Divas Premiere Does All-Time Low (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/ratings-aew-countdown-special-on-tnt-total-divas-premiere-does-all-time-low/)
NWA Power Taping Results – Sep. 30/Oct. 1 – Eight Episodes Taped (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nwa-power-taping-results-sep-30-oct-1-eight-episodes-taped/)
AEW UK TV Deal Update: Dynamite Will Now Air on Thursdays (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-uk-tv-deal-update-dynamite-will-now-air-on-thursdays/)
Bandido Undergoes Surgery for Knee Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/bandido-undergoes-surgery-for-knee-injury/)

Mr. Nerfect

10-03-2019, 01:19 AM

That TNA stank.

Emperor Smeat

10-03-2019, 08:52 PM

The Sheets:

AEW Dynamite is the victor in week one of the Wednesday Night War.

The Dynamite premiere averaged 1.409 million viewers on TNT last night and finished second for the night on cable in the all-important 18-49 demo with a 0.68 rating.

The latter was more than double the 0.32 rating that NXT on USA Network pulled in the same demo. NXT, despite limited commercial interruption and a loaded lineup featuring three title matches, averaged only 891,000 viewers, an 11 percent drop from the previous week, although the rating in the demo was the exact same as last week.

The most watched show on cable was an MLB Wild Card game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics, which did 3.969 million viewers and a 1.03 rating in the 18-49 demo.

This can’t be spun as anything but a positive for AEW, as there had been previous industry projections that pegged the show as doing in the 500,000 viewer range.

1,409,000 viewers for AEW Dynamite is a fantastic number. It’s not far off what Smackdown has done on some weeks. And to give a little perspective, the 2.4M fans that AEW and NXT did head to head last night would have beaten the Raw audience three of the last five weeks ...

At minimum, AEW brought more in more than 1.2M fans to the party last night. They also more than doubled NXT in the coveted people 18-49 demographic. That means that not only did they bring in new people, they brought in new YOUNGER people. Advertisers love to see that and they pony up to reach them ...

In WWE’s case, AEW’s strong debut, should it continue, could put pressure on Raw and Smackdown to change the way that they do some things. I can’t imagine TV partners ignoring the fact that a start up with very few household names is getting very close to the established brands right out of the gate. Maybe it leads to changes that fans like us will like. Of course, it could also lead to changes in NXT that we don’t like. It’s all to be determined.
The demo splits are a big key since after 3 weeks, the only demo that managed to stay consistent and/or grow was the 50+ demo which is the same demo that's been the strongest for RAW & SD and closer to the average age of a WWE viewer. Triple H keeps pushing the idea that NXT is the show that caters towards younger fans and disgruntled fans of WWE's main roster product but that might not end up being the case if things continue now that NXT is on regular TV.

After he returned from injury last night, a documentary on Tommaso Ciampa is set to air on the WWE Network next week.

The special is titled "Tommaso Ciampa: blackHEART." It will debut on the WWE Network at 10 p.m. Eastern next Wednesday (October 9), which is right after next week's NXT airs live on the USA Network.

WWE.com described the special: "Witness the heroic struggle of former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa as he embarks on a difficult road to recovery from a devastating injury and finds strength from his wife, baby daughter, friends and the NXT Universe."

A second match has been confirmed for MLW's Blood & Thunder television tapings.

MLW announced today that Low Ki vs. Timothy Thatcher is set for the tapings. They're taking place at GILT Nightclub in Orlando, Florida on the afternoon of Saturday, November 9.

Some more information has been announced for tomorrow's SmackDown "blue carpet" pre-show.

Ahead of the Friday Night SmackDown premiere, the half-hour kickoff show will air live on FOX starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. FOX issued a press release today announcing that Renee Young and Booker T will anchor the desk for the pre-show, "welcoming special guests and offering insight and analysis on the upcoming matchups."

Charissa Thompson, the host of FOX NFL Kickoff, will be "on hand for arrivals and interviews outside the Staples Center, while WWE reporter Kayla Braxton provides exclusive backstage access to Superstars just moments before all the action."

Though a new date for the event hasn't been announced, Lucha Libre AAA is rescheduling their Invading LA show.

The Forum in Inglewood, California had been scheduled to host Invading LA on Sunday, October 13. The venue sent out an email announcing that the show has been rescheduled

Q - Why wouldn't WWE have John Cena advertised for the FOX Smackdown debut?

A - Cena has been announced as part of the cast for the new Suicide Squad film and that began filming in Georgia this week, so he's likely not available. It's possible he pops up as a surprise, but with everyone else scheduled, they are better off leaving John as something special down the line
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles

Diamond Dallas Page and Awesome Kong were backstage. Atlas Security were in the house. Conrad Thompson was sitting ringside.

Alex Marvez handled a lot of research for the announcers last night.

In regards to last night's AEW Dynamite show.

The premiere of AEW Dynamite on TSN 2 in Canada reportedly drew 109,000 viewers on Tuesday night, according to POST Wrestling's John Pollock on Twitter.

AEW faced stiff competition in Canada last night as they went up against the NHL Opening Night game between the Ottawa Senator and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Prime Ministers French-language election debate also aired last night.

The AEW viewership was described as a good number for Canadian TV, according to Pollock.

PWInsider reports that Vince McMahon was not backstage at last night’s NXT taping. They also report that Pete Dunne has officially moved to the United States to live here full-time.

On Wednesday's episode of AEW Dynamite, Cody was laid out in two separate segments on the show. First, he was attacked by Chris Jericho following his victory over Sammy Guevara. Later in the night, Cody tried to save The Young Bucks from a beatdown by Jericho and Santana & Ortiz, but was eventually taken out by Guevara and a debuting Jake Hager.

Following the show, fans wondered where Cody's best friend, MJF, was as Cody was being attacked.

"I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm not in a good mood, at all because my best friend just got completely bludgeoned in the middle of the ring," MJF said in the post-show media scrum. "And I had no idea it was going on because I was back in my locker room, after my match, and I had no clue, and I just found out after the fact."

When asked why he wasn't paying more attention, MJF said, "Why wasn't I watching the monitor closely? Because I wrestled a match and I had to make sure that after the match that I had my ice bath, that I went in my whirlpool, and that I got a massage. Because I'm a top tier athlete and I make sure I'm 100% good to go after my match because unlike everybody else on this roster, I'm not some schmuck who is gonna get back in their car and go, 'Yipee, it's done.' That's not what real athletes do. Do you think that after Kobe Bryant is done playing a basketball game, that he doesn't put ice on his knees, that he doesn't get worked on? No."

MJF also vowed revenge on Chris Jericho, the man behind the attacks on Cody

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Jake Hager Has Been Signed for a While, No Schiavone at Next PPV, Dark Matches (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-jake-hager-has-been-signed-for-a-while-no-schiavone-at-next-ppv-dark-matches/)
WWE Congratulates AEW on Dynamite’s Premiere (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-congratulates-aew-on-dynamites-premiere/)
The WWE Cruiserweight Championship Is Now the “NXT Cruiserweight Championship” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/the-wwe-cruiserweight-championship-is-now-the-nxt-cruiserweight-championship/)
AEW: Four Dark Matches (Results), Chris Jericho vs. Hot Dog (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-four-dark-matches-results-chris-jericho-vs-hot-dog/)
NXT: Tommaso Ciampa Returns, Next Week’s Matches, Dark Matches (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nxt-tommaso-ciampa-returns-next-weeks-matches-dark-matches/)

Damian Rey 2.0

10-03-2019, 11:36 PM

God I love MJF

Emperor Smeat

10-04-2019, 10:37 PM

The Sheets:

The night when it came to ratings was a big win for AEW, drawing 1,409,000 viewers to 891,000 for NXT. More important, because for the stations themselves, this battle was about the 18-49 demo, where AEW placed second for the night behind only the Major League Baseball Wildcard game that did a 1.03 in the demo and 3,969,000 total viewers. AEW did a 0.68 rating and 878,000 viewers in 18-49 while NXT did a 0.32 rating and 414,000 viewers. The big key is that while NXT had spent two weeks building up this show with essentially a Takeover card with three title matches, advertised limited commercials, did screen-in-screen during breaks, and did a nine minute overrun, their audience declined 11.4 percent from last week.

But in the 18-49 demo, the audience was identical to last week. Now, obviously NXT had a better and more heavily promoted show and it should have increased in the demo rather than stayed even, so the competition did hurt. But the story was that for the most part, AEW drew some, but not a lot of viewers away from NXT, and it confirmed a few things. One is most of the AEW fan base was not a WWE fan base, as all studies of PPV buys up to this point had indicated. Although they very well may be heavily lapsed former fans. The other is that there are far more potential wrestling fans than people realized who are not WWE fans.

Another factor is that when you add the replay number, which we don’t have officially at this point but was around 650,000 viewers, that the total AEW viewers were not too far behind a typical Raw, and pretty much identical to what Smackdown had been doing on Tuesdays on USA.

It also appears strongly that WWE going out and rushing into getting the two week jump probably backfired. NXT has declined significantly both weeks ...

Indications are that this is not a nostalgia rating, as much as a sample rating. A TNT nostalgia rating for Nitro would have skewed older. This skewed young. One would expect the number to drop next week, just as NXT did, because TNT was plugging the show all over TNT and TBS at the end. But a major point is that the shows they were plugging it on skewed heavily over 50, but AEW did not draw that audience at all. If anything, this showed the value of the younger audience they had cultivated through social media.

The NXT decline was not the age groups AEW was strong in, but the age groups AEW was weak with. Now, granted this week’s show with three title matches should have increased by a good percentage from last week in every demo, and it didn’t so AEW did hurt. But the big drop was over 50, and that means the baseball game, which dominated that demo last night, was probably more of a factor in the NXT decline.

In just looking at teenagers, boys saw AEW, with head-to-head competition from a WWE product and only the first episode, beat unopposed Raw by 37.5 percent, Smackdown by 42.1 percent and NXT (with competition) by 239 percent. For teenage girls, AEW was 11.1 percent behind Raw, 0.6 percent behind Smackdown and 52.6 percent ahead of NXT. For 18-34, for males AEW opposed (and only first episode not including reply) beat Raw by 39.9 percent, beat Smackdown by 36.4 percent and beat NXT by 157.7 percent. For 18-34, for women, AEW (first episode) beat Raw by 13.5 percent, beat Smackdown by 37.0 percent and beat NXT by 48.8 percent. Conversely, once you get to 35-49, both Raw and Smackdown have solid edges with both men and women, although AEW basically doubled NXT. Over 50, NXT beats AEW slightly and Raw beats AEW 0.99 to 0.34 and Smackdown beats it 0.97 to 0.34.

And while there is momentum, they did well in the age groups that have become the hardest for cable to reach, making them a good value for younger-skewing products for advertisers. But on the flip side, even if people liked the show, people liked NXT as well ...

The ultimate story here is that unless AEW drops significantly under 35 next week, and this isn’t a flash in the pan, WWE is already behind with fans in that age group. If that is the case, it completely exposes WWE as it’s not the change in television viewership that has changed their demos, nor run off older fans, but that they have lost touch with the younger audience. Even if AEW does drop big, this shows in that age group WWE probably has either way because there’s no way a new group in week one that has never had television should beat the industry leader solidly like that.

The quarter hours are also notable because for AEW, teenagers opened at 330,000 and grew to 580,000 for the main event. But every other demo opened strong and either went down and picked up for the main event (18-34) or just declined throughout. Teen boys went from 260,000 for Cody’s match to 500,000 for the main event, but overall viewers went from 1,609,000 for Cody’s match to 1,381,000 for the main event. Teen girls opened at 70,000, grew to 140,000 for Riho vs. Nyla Rose, but then dropped big for the main event. At the same time, NXT declined with teens from 210,000 to 120,000 (they did grow to 150,000 for the unopposed overrun). The average viewer age hovered around 39 to 41, as compared to the 54 average for WWE programming and the 48 average for younger skewing NXT. Overall, both shows generally declined outside of AEW’s big increase throughout the show with teenagers. But in over 50, AEW declined from 455,000 to 334,000 for the main event and NXT fell from 408,000 to 352,000, but NXT won the night slightly in that demo during those quarters in between.

The night opened with 1,609,000 viewers for AEW and 913,000 for NXT. NXT with Riddle vs. Cole closed the gap to 1,551,000 to 981,000 against Cody vs. Sammy Guevara. MJF vs. Brandon Cutler lost 111,000 viewers vs. Io Shirai vs Mia Yim losing 15,000. Pac vs. Adam Page lost 125,000 viewers while Johnny Gargano vs. Shane Thorne lost 50,000. Riho vs. Rose lost 1,000 while Shayna Baszler vs. Candice LeRae lost 20,000. Pete Dunne vs. Danny Burch gained 29,000 viewers. The six-man main event of AEW gained 67,000 viewers while the NXT tag title match with Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Street Profits head-to-head lost 193,000 viewers in the final quarter. However, when AEW ended, NXT did pick up 139,000 viewers in the final ten minutes.

Interestingly, Baszler vs. LeRae killed it with those under 35, kind of like AEW, but got killed with older viewers. During the final quarter hour, with the battling main events, AEW had a 575,000 to 120,000 edge in teenagers and 444,000 to 145,000 edge with 18-34. In male 18-49, the final quarter was 629,000 to 228,000 for AEW and 280,000 to 126,000 in women 18-49.

NXT had two surprises, both as new contenders for Cole, in Finn Balor and Tommaso Ciampa. Balor is in NXT as a full-time regular for the time being, as opposed to being a guy who will be on Raw or Smackdown. It was noted to us that even if Balor’s contract remains the same, he will end up making less money from the move unless they gave him a raise to go to NXT ...

But unless Balor got a higher guarantee, he will be missing out because on the main roster he’d be up for more house shows that talent is paid a percentage on as opposed to NXT when you just get your salary, he’d be out the bigger payoff events like a WrestleMania, Rumble or SummerSlam or European tour, and for him, his merchandise sales would be significantly lower.

It took less than three months after the death of Paco Alonso for CMLL, the oldest and thought to be one of the most stable promotions in the world, to be in chaos. There is a ton going on behind-the-scenes that led to Rush and his father, Bestia del Ring announcing right after Rush won the ROH title in Las Vegas that they were going independent on 9/27. Immediately after, CMLL announced that they were firing Rush, and his brother, Dragon Lee, Lee, claiming that both men were not living up to the standards of the organization ...

The stuff reported on in recent weeks led to this. The basic story is that with Sofia Alonso in charge of the promotion, a lot of the old guard feared change, that they would lose their positions and she would hire younger people, or genuinely feared that a 28-year-old woman who had only been with the company for a relatively short period of time could run a business like this, even though she insisted, having learned from her father, that she was the person most equipped for it.

They went to Chavo Lutteroth, who ran the company in the 70s and 80s, before it was turned over to Paco Alonso around 1989 since Lutteroth had more interest in the family’s boxing and real estate business. Lutteroth essentially demoted Sofia Alonso , moving her back to her former position as the company’s head of marketing, and took charge of the business end. She still has power because some of her projects are continuing. But she has not attended shows in recent weeks and was not even at the 9/27 86th anniversary show, the company’s biggest event of the year.

New moves were made. Among them were both elevating the price of their talent to U.S. promoters and taking a higher percentage. Another was cutting way back on the guarantees, which included all members of the Munoz (Rush) family. Because of loyalty, the older stars like Atlantis, Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero and Blue Panther and the likes didn’t have their guarantees cut, but the younger stars, even though they were carrying things, did ....

another thing that irked the younger wrestlers, banning fans from the decades-old tradition of throwing money in the ring, although the latter was partially a safety concern because fans at ringside can get hurt by coins being thrown at the ring. For obvious reasons, a lot of the younger talent wants out, but getting a visa to work the U.S. is the hardest it has ever been.

In addition, previously CMLL talent in Mexico when working non-CMLL dates, were not allowed to work with AAA talent and other talent that the promotion didn’t like, but they were allowed to work with local independent wrestlers. The change was made that they would only be allowed to work with other CMLL wrestlers, with the idea that CMLL would then be able to get more bookings for their talent ...

The situation gets even more tense because CMLL is a longtime partners with New Japan, as partners now with ROH. ROH, with booker Hunter Johnston (Delirious) just in Mexico for the Grand Prix and meetings, was hopeful to strengthen that relationship. But Rush is their world champion and under a long-term deal. It appears Lee will become more of a regular. Will CMLL try and push those rules to ROH, where Rush and Lee couldn’t work with their talent, or New Japan, which brings to question the Lee & Titan tag team. In addition, ROH with Rush in particular, and New Japan with Lee, wouldn’t want to change the names of established star talent. So there is a ton of uncertainty, including questions over who else would leave.

Rush and Lee both know that they can get into WWE when they want. Paul Levesque is said to be high on Lee, for good reason, and he’s a special talent, even though guys like him, see Gran Metalik, usually don’t fare too well in the WWE system. But it’s also taking major chess pieces off the board ...

Rush isn’t interested in New Japan as that’s not his cup of tea. Lee loves it there. Then there’s the question of AEW, and if Lee went there if it would keep New Japan from booking him, although they do use Jon Moxley and will use Chris Jericho most likely at the Tokyo Dome. It also should be noted that in AEW, there were those who are higher on Rush than Lee due to the injury to Hiromu Takahashi ... As you can imagine, AAA would want he and Lee, but that creates political issues with ROH and New Japan, and Rush has not committed to any AAA television dates at this point ...

Lee said that he’s heard from wrestlers in ROH, New Japan as well as from Andrade and has a big surprise announcement coming.

Velasquez’s final AAA match on his current deal was to be the 10/13 show at The Forum in Los Angeles. The Forum confirmed rumors over the last week that the show is being postponed. One main event wrestler on the show had told friends that they were told the show was being moved to early 2020.

About 3,000 tickets had been sold for the show, which is realistically more than should have been expected for advanced sales, since Mexican shows are still heavily walk-up, but no doubt it would be a money loser. This was with no matches announced. But it’s not like ticket sales are going to be any better at that point in time.
Current estimated PPV Buys numbers for AAA's NY show reportedly are at 800 total.

The biggest news regarding the Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor show on 9/27 is the lack of interest in the show ...

As does the fact that in a 900-seat arena in Las Vegas, Sam’s Town, not only did they have a weak advance, but even with giving away tickets at the end to basically anyone who wanted them, they started the show with maybe 600 in the building and ended up with about 800.

Worse are the PPV numbers. The last ROH show, Best in the World on 6/28 in Baltimore did an estimated 3,500 PPV buys. Death Before Dishonor at press time is estimated at just under 800. The actual decline from the last show was 77.7 percent, and this is not a year-to-year drop but a drop from June to September.

An interesting note is that last year, on the opening Friday night of the season, FOX did 6 million viewers. As noted many times, while Smackdown may not beat first-run numbers FOX was getting last season, it’s 51 weeks of new programming and some of the rerun weeks of late have hovered around 1 million viewers.

When Strowman signed his latest deal, it was a four-year contract believed to be for $1.2 million per year. The key to that number is there are exceptions, but generally, the top downside number WWE offers is $1 million. Obviously Styles signed for significantly more than that when his deal was due because of AEW. There are others who just because they knew how to negotiate, the company knew they could go elsewhere and make money, and the company feels were valuable that have guarantees above the $1 million threshold. The recent deal that Gallows & Anderson signed was five years at $700,000 per year each. They had turned down a $500,000 per year deal and were ready to leave when their contracts were due

The decision was made this afternoon to not broadcast a new episode of 205 Live.

We are told that WWE made the decision to focus on the FOX Smackdown debut and things will return to normal next week.

The Cruiserweights were brought to Smackdown and had been preparing their matches tonight when the word came down from management.

Konnan on his podcast talked about the possibility of Sofia Alonso leaving CMLL and starting her own promotion. This relates to the story in this week's Observer. All I can say about this is I'm stunned he said it publicly, but there is smoke to that fire.

Scarlett Bordeaux has pulled out of a number of independent dates based on having signed a contract. She just had a WWE tryout.

WWE star Jeff Hardy was arrested yesterday evening in Moore County, North Carolina and charged with driving while impaired, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

The Moore County Police Department confirmed that Hardy was released around 11:30 PM last night from being incarcerated but declined to give additional details beyond what he has been charged with citing the fact that it is an ongoing investigation

The latest digital album featuring unreleased versions of WWE theme songs "Uncaged X" is now available on all major streaming platforms. It features the following track listing:

1. Know Your Role (Nation Leader) [The Rock]
2. End of Days (I've Had Enough) [The Corre]
3. Sher (The Maharaja) [Jinder Mahal]
4. Interrogation (1998)
5. New Rockers (2007)
6. Not My Fault (2005)
7. Piracy (2006)
8. Quicksand (2006)
9. Southern Pride (2005)
10. New Kind of Power (Jeff Jarrett)
11. Who I Am (9th Wonder of the World) [Chyna]
12. Take a Pill (1997)
13.You Look so Good to Me (The Runway) [2003]
14. Man Beast (1997)
15. Too Much (1997)
16. Poetic Devastation (Virgil)
17. Addonas (1995)
18. You Better Recognize (D'Lo Brown)
19. Return the Hitman (Excellence of Execution) [Bret Hart]
20. Break an Egg (The Gobbledy Gooker)
21. Are You Ready? (Hall of Fame 2019) [D-Generation X]
22. With My Baby Tonight (Instrumental) [Jeff Jarrett & Jesse James]
23. Dark Side (Fully Loaded 1998) [Undertaker]
24. Medal (Retirement Medley) [Kurt Angle]
25 The Time Is Now (Champ Is Here) [John Cena]

Randy Orton appeared to have been drinking a bit while playing Call of Duty on a Twitch stream on Thursday. During the stream, Orton praised the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite.

"Speaking of Vince, that AEW looked fucking cool, huh? Did you watch that show last night? Oh my God! I'll tell you what. It's that big match feel, the big show feel. Cody and Sammy Guevara, that kid can do some shit. I'd love to work with that kid. They had a great match. I thought opening the show with that match was a good idea and well received" ...

The full stream was deleted as Orton used the N-word while gaming.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Jim Ross was offered a spot on WWE Backstage, which is WWE's upcoming studio show on Fox Sports 1. Ross reportedly turned down the offer.

As previously reported, Fox, not WWE, is in charge of producing and handling of WWE Backstage. Jim Ross currently serves as the announcer for All Elite Wrestling, a direct competitor against WWE.

Fox being in charge of the show has been evident in recent weeks as it was reported that CM Punk tested on-camera for the show. In a recent interview with Collider Live, Punk confirmed the report that he met with Fox and tested on-camera, but did not say if they reached an agreement.

TPWW Frontpage:

Tom Phillips Is Now on the NXT UK Commentary Team (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/tom-phillips-is-now-on-the-nxt-uk-commentary-team/)
Various: Kacy Catanzaro Update, Tommaso Ciampa Officially Cleared (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/various-kacy-catanzaro-update-tommaso-ciampa-officially-cleared/)
WWE: Randy Orton Challenges The Rock, NXT Japan Update (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-randy-orton-challenges-the-rock-nxt-japan-update/)
Anti-WWE Signs Reportedly Banned from AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/anti-wwe-signs-reportedly-banned-from-aew-dynamite/)
There’s Been Talk About Edge Wrestling Another Match, But He May Never Be Cleared (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/theres-been-talk-about-edge-wrestling-another-match-but-he-may-never-be-cleared/)

Droford

10-08-2019, 05:24 PM

Hogan wants a final match next year at Wrestlemania, brother.

Emperor Smeat

10-08-2019, 09:27 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night dropped nine percent from last week, doing 2.33 million viewers on average.

The drop should have been expected since last week's number was heavily boosted by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, and this week was still above the 2.21 million number of two weeks ago, and going against far tougher competition.

The show probably got a boost from Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. Next week's episode should be high due to the draft. The negative reaction to the main event finish of Hell in a Cell was never going to have a statistical influence on ratings ...

The show was down only slightly from the 2.36 million mark the same week last year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.44 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.33 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.23 million viewers

The three-hour built around an angle involving boxer Tyson Fury averaged 2,334,000 viewers on the USA Network. Among people 18-49, Raw did a 0.75 for the night and was down from a 0.89 last week.
If the idea was for Fury's appearance to lead to a spike in interest from sports fans or younger viewers, it didn't work.

TMZ.com was able to acquire a copy of Jeff Hardy's arrest report from his Driving While Impaired arrest on Thursday 10/3.

The police report notes that authorities received a tip about a careless driver around 8:40 PM.

Authorities located the car in front of a liquor store. Hardy emerged carrying a case of beer. Authorities followed the car and pulled him over when they "observed him weaving badly in his lane."

Hardy had "what seemed to be dried blood on his nose" and advisors officers that he and his wife "got into a fight."

The police report states that Hardy admitted to having two shots of vodka and admitted to being impaired. He failed a field sobriety test and according to TMZ was "was uncooperative when asked for a breathalyzer or blood sample." A judge signed off on a search warrant, allowing officers to extract a blood sample from Hardy, which was done after Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene.

It appears that two expected WWE matches will be made official this Friday.

WWE has announced a press conference for noon Pacific time at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday. It will be with Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Cain Velasquez, Rey Mysterio, Braun Strowman, Tyson Fury, and Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

As of last week, Lesnar vs. Velasquez and Strowman vs. Fury were planned to take place at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 31.

MLW has confirmed two new matches for their Saturday Night SuperFight pay-per-view.

Tom Lawlor vs. Timothy Thatcher is officially set for the PPV, which is taking place at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on Saturday, November 2. MLW National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone will also defend his title against Davey Boy Smith Jr. at the event.

WWE will kick off the Draft this Friday at the Friday Night Smackdown taping in Las Vegas with personalities from FOX and NBC Universal appearing to help draft WWE personalities to Raw and Smackdown. The word we are hearing is that once the Draft is done, there will be very little crossing over from one brand to another beyond WWE PPVs. The Draft will conclude on this Monday's Raw.

Several readers sent word that AEW could conceivably be postponed tomorrow from its live airing on TNT. Each National League Playoff series are slated to go to Game 5 tomorrow. Ken McAndrew noted that yesterday, the early game went past the late game start, so they moved the late game to TNT until TBS cleared. Should that repeat itself, it's possible Dynamite's start time could be pushed back with the episode airing late.

When asked why Havoc and Allin were being given a title oppportunity given that others have had better win/loss records on Twitter, Cody responded that the quality of their wins were being taken into consideration.

AEW backer Shahid Khan was listed by Forbes as the 61st richest man in America on their most recent list, dated 10/02. Khan was listed as worth $7.8 billion. Vince McMahon also made the list, listed as worth $2.9 billion and ranked at #296.

An arrest warrant was issued on 9/10 for Zachary Madsen, the man arrested after attacking WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart at the WWE Hall of Fame this past April, after he did not appear in court as scheduled on 9/9 in Kings Criminal Court in Brooklyn that day. Court records indicate the Nebraska native was returned on the warrant (which means he was picked up by authorities) and appeared before the court on 9/24. He is slated for another hearing on 11/12. Madsen is not currently listed as in custody.

Jake Hager was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday. He said he was recruited to join All Elite Wrestling by Chris Jericho with the two sharing a trainer in Josh Rafferty. Hager is adjusting his training schedule to accommodate his mid-week travel for Dynamite episodes and worked it out with Bellator, who he said was behind his decision to join AEW. Hager’s next fight is on October 25th when he fights Anthony Garrett at Bellator 231 in Uncasville, Connecticut. It’s going to be interesting to see how much they promote his fight on a rival cable network with Hager fighting on the Paramount Network while TNT has a partnership with ONE Championship.

Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Nyla Rose, Kia Stevens, and Jungle Boy spoke on a panel with Yahoo’s BUILD series about the launch of AEW Dynamite, the audience numbers from the debut, and their position in the industry. When asked how he landed in AEW, Moxley said it was Jericho that first alerted him that the company even existed. Moxley said he didn’t tell anyone in WWE, including friends, he was leaving other than his wife and Jericho was the first person he told, and Jericho said he needs to come to AEW. Shortly after, Moxley was on the phone with Cody and brought up to speed on AEW and called it great timing more than any other factor with the added bonus that Double or Nothing was in his hometown of Las Vegas.

David Lagana notes on Tuesday that former TNA writer Matt Conway is working with the NWA as a producer on the new Power series.

Impact Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH are holding a tryout on Tuesday, October 22nd at the Can-Am Dojo in Windsor, Ontario. The tryout will be run by Naomichi Marufuji and Scott D’Amore with the winner being sent on an excursion to Japan with NOAH.

John Cena appeared on NBC's Today Show this morning and commented on why he's cut back so much on his WWE performance schedule....and it's not Hollywood.

Cena explained that even if it wasn't for his film and TV schedule, he'd be actively performing less, noting, "My body just can't handle the schedule anymore.

Cena explained. "When I turned 40, I really took a look in the mirror and said, 'Hey, man, I know you really like this, but instead of two hundred fifty performances a year, from here on out, just do it a hundred times and do it well, and then it became, 'Just do it fifty times and do it well.' Now it's like, 'Hey, you really have to prepare to get ready to perform and then really recover after a performance.' "

Boom Studios! revealed the creative team behind the upcoming New Day graphic novel set for a 2020 release. The team consists of writers Evan Narcisse and Austin Walker as well as artists Daniel Bayliss The book will chronicle the trio's journey through WWE detailing behind-the-scenes stories featuring each member.
Link: http://www.boom-studios.com/archives/wwes-the-new-day-announces-original-graphic-novel-creative-team-at-new-york-comic-con-2019/

AA has announced the Invading LA show is postponed.

Dorian Roldan calls it "unexpected"

No new date has been determined.
Show was supposed to take place this Sunday.

TPWW Frontpage:

Hulk Hogan Wants to Wrestle One Last Match (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/hulk-hogan-wants-to-wrestle-one-last-match/)
WWE: More on Hell in a Cell’s Ending, Blue Carpet Special Ratings, The Rock (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-more-on-hell-in-a-cells-ending-blue-carpet-special-ratings-the-rock-205-live-cancelled/)
“Big Show vs. The World” Travel Show in Production (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/big-show-vs-the-world-travel-show-in-production/)
Samoa Joe Out With a Broken Thumb (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/samoa-joe-out-with-a-broken-thumb/)
Sasha Banks Possibly Suffered a Back Injury at HIAC (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/sasha-banks-possibly-suffered-a-back-injury-at-hiac/)

Emperor Smeat

10-09-2019, 10:17 PM

The Sheets:

The eight teams taking part in this year’s Super Junior Tag League have been announced.

The tournament will begin at Korakuen Hall on October 16, which is just days after Kings of Pro Wrestling. The finals will take place at Power Struggle on November 3.

The teams for the tournament are:

Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura
Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero
Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles
SHO & YOH
Volador Jr. & Titan
TJP & Clark Connors
Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Missing from the tournament is Dragon Lee, who had been advertised previously on posters. Lee and his brother Rush were fired from CMLL last month.

On the newest edition of WWE ‘The Bump’, a statement from referee Rod Zapata was issued to The Bump. Zapata was the official for Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt’s Universal Championship match at Hell In A Cell that resulted in a no-contest. Here’s the statement: “With Bray motionless, and Seth clearly doing whatever it was going to take to win that match… I had to think of the competitor’s safety and at that moment, I did what I thought was best.”
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALy9CDCvKLk

Count Tommaso Ciampa among the many who were displeased with how WWE Hell in a Cell ended. Competing inside Hell in a Cell, the main event between Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins was ruled a "match stoppage" after referee Rod Zapata rang the bell following Seth Rollins using a sledgehammer.

Appearing on WWE's The Bump, former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa gave his thoughts on the finish.

"From a performer standpoint, if Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: New Orleans ended by a ref stoppage, it's something that just doesn't fly in NXT. And that's what makes NXT the A Show."

WWE Network News is reporting that a new version of the old Watchlist feature called "My List" has appeared on the WWE Network for the Amazon Fire Stick devices. The feature essentially allows you to save content to watch later. This means that the feature will likely be coming to other devices soon, which I'm sure will make most users very happy. According to the app notes when you update, any old content from the previous platform you had in your Watchlist should carry over. As with the prior version of this feature, when you add stuff to your list, it will ask you if you want to add a singular event to your list or all the events in a certain category i.e. TV show, pay-per-view, etc.

Alyse Zwick, a news reporter based in New York City, tweeted the following:

BEYONDDDD thrilled to join the @WWE family!! ????
Tune in to @WWENetwork ! I’ll be hosting every week with “your buddy...your pal” @scottstanford1 !!
This Week in WWE will air every Thursday night on #WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/j6Z71ogSDC
— Alyse Zwick (@IAmAlyseZwick) October 9, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/IAmAlyseZwick/status/1181739652484603905

RISE Wrestling announced that Kylie Rae is slated to appear at their show on November 1st in Illinois. Kylie was recently announced for IMPACT Wrestling’s ‘All Glory’ show on-which she will be challenging for the Zelo Pro Women’s Championship as a part of a three-way match involving Shotzi Blackheart and champion, Laynie Luck.

Cody Rhodes appeared on the Joe Cronin Show and was asked about the AEW chants at the conclusion of WWE’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Cody shared that one of the participants in the Universal Championship main event left the bout concussed but did not say who. He admitted that hearing about the chants was flattering but would not gloat about it because of the injury he stated occurred during that match:

“When those come up… I wasn’t watching the pay-per-view but when those come up, everyone — your phone starts blowing up and your socials start blowing up. Whenever the crowd chants something whether it’s, ‘boring’, whether it’s the promotion, whether it’s your name, it means they want to be rewarded with something. When you’re in the ring, wrestling 101, and we know we want to reward them, so it was flattering. I wouldn’t be one to gloat about it only because I know one of the guys in that match got concussed and this job ain’t that easy but nonetheless, whenever we hear those chants, it’s more validation that what we’re doing and what we’ve been saying about this market existing is real.” Cody explained.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke with Scott Fishman of TV Insider. Levesque stated that NXT will not be making TakeOver events longer just because they now have a bigger bandwidth for storylines. Levesque added that the USA Network was thrilled with the rating NXT received on its first-ever episode on the network. The piece also featured comments from Johnny Gargano and Gargano expressed that he is welcoming of All Elite Wrestling and thinks it’s cool that people are enjoying wrestling.

Luke Harper's Twitter bio now reads

IG: @thislukeharper

DMs are wide open. Wwe threatened to fine me but it's cool when nxt talent cusses on Twitter.... got it.
Link: https://twitter.com/LukeHarperWWE

NWA Powerrr premiered on Tuesday night on YouTube and Facebook to strong viewership numbers ...

Part of the YouTube viewership can be attributed to AEW Dark, which also premiered on Tuesday ...

NWA Vice President Dave Lagana told The Wrap that 22.1% of fans who watched NWA Powerrr came over on the suggested viewing from AEW Dark. Social Blade reports that NWA's YouTube channel gained 11,000 new subscribers over the past 24 hours

The Rock congratulated Jim Cornette and the NWA on the premiere of NWA Power: “Congrats Jim, the boys, crew etc. Stumbled across this show last night and enjoyed it. I grew up in territories and started my career at channel 5 in Memphis so I have a lot of love/respect for small scale, crowd tv shows. Cool vintage feel. Keep working hard boys. Rock”
Link: https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1181985618202521600

As seen above, AEW World Champion Chris Jericho and actor Kevin Smith appeared on The Rich Eisen Show earlier today. Jericho was promoting AEW Dynamite and Smith was promoting the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot that hits theaters next week.

Smith and actor Jason Mewes appeared on last week's AEW Dynamite premiere from the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, to promote the "Reboot" movie. Smith revealed that they were disinvited from appearing on the WWE SmackDown FOX premiere a few nights later at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

"You know how big it was?," Smith asked during a discussion on the Dynamite premiere. "It was big enough that... me and Jay were lucky enough to be involved, Chris invited us to be involved with the debut match on TNT. We were supposed to go do WWE, me and Jay, the very next day, which was Friday. Was it Friday? SmackDown. And then the morning after... because we were on the AEW show, it trended, like, there was a lot of coverage and stuff. So, the next morning we were told that WWE was like, you can't come on anymore, and they canceled us. They kicked me and Jay off the show, but not in a crazy way."

On what would have been his 52nd birthday, WWE posted a milestone video on Eddie Guerrero’s championship victories.
Link: https://youtu.be/GgqwXh-LfNE

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Holding a Press Conference This Friday w/ Lesnar, Velasquez, Strowman and Fury (Update) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-holding-a-press-conference-this-friday-w-lesnar-velasquez-strowman-and-fury/)
NXT: Finn Balor Officially Moved to NXT Roster, Tonight’s NXT Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nxt-finn-balor-officially-moved-to-nxt-roster-tonights-nxt-card/)
XFL: Broadcast Teams on ESPN and FOX, Player Draft Date (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/xfl-broadcast-teams-on-espn-and-fox-player-draft-date/)
Videos: Watch the First Episodes of AEW Dark and NWA Powerrr (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/videos-watch-the-first-episodes-of-aew-dark-and-nwa-powerrr/)
Viewers: Total Divas Ratings, NWA Powerrr and AEW Dark Viewer Counts (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/viewers-total-divas-ratings-nwa-powerrr-and-aew-dark-viewer-counts/)

Mr. Nerfect

10-10-2019, 02:45 AM

The Rock doing his bit to help out some premium wrestling. :y:

Emperor Smeat

10-10-2019, 10:15 PM

The Sheets:

Going up against the end of Major League Baseball's NLDS, AEW Dynamite dropped 28 percent in total viewers and 32 percent in the 18-49 demo last night, averaging 1,018,000 viewers on TNT and a 0.46 rating in that key demo.

Last night's truTV simulcast of Dynamite drew 122,000 viewers, so live/same-night DVR viewership was a smaller drop-off overall.

NXT was down a similar 32 percent in the 18-49 demo but down just 11 percent overall, coming in with 790,000 viewers.

AEW beat NXT in every demo except for people over 50, where NXT had a 0.50 rating as opposed to AEW's 0.40 ...

AEW finished eighth for the night in the 18-49 demo, while NXT dropped all the way to 27th. AEW did not rank in the top 25 on cable in terms of total viewers.

The strongest demo for AEW was males 18-49, where they scored a 0.66 rating, fifth for the night on cable.

We have been told there have been some ideas tossed around for a new Steve Austin-WWE Network series in recent weeks.

Q - Any update on CM Punk and FOX/WWE?

A - Nothing yet. We have not heard Punk has signed anything. He's in the middle of promoting his horror film "Girl on the Third Floor."
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

A commercial airing on TNT last night touted 7 million viewers for AEW Dynamite, so that's likely including the replays and DVR viewings.

The name of Chris Jericho's new stable is The Inner Circle. There was a plug for ProWrestlingTees.com releasing a shirt for the group on AEW last night and within seconds, it crashed their website. Basically, the idea is the Inner Circle will be The Legion of Doom to The Elite's Superfriends.

The expectation among those we've spoken to within WWE is that tomorrow's press conference in Las Vegas will officially announce Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez and Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman for the 10/31 Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

WWE Network News is reporting that today's " Hidden Gem" coming today on the streaming service is the never-aired 27, 1999 WCW Telemundo "Festival De Lucha" pilot, which was taped in Waco, Texas. If that may sound a little familiar to you, one of the matches from the pilot has made it to the section before. The full pilot has the following matches:
*Felino, Super Boy & Villano V vs. Kendo, Silver King & Venum
*Damien, El Mosco & Halloween vs. La Parka, Salsero & Super Calo
*Blitzkrieg, Piloto Suicida & Raul vs. El Texano, Rey Misterio Sr. & Villano III
*Juventud Guerrera, Pirata Morgan & Psicopata vs. Hector Garza, Konnan & Rey Mysterio Jr.
*El Mosco, Felino & Juventud Guerrera vs. Piloto Suicida, Raul & Salsero
*Kaz Hayashi, Psychosis & Ron Rivera vs. Blitzkrieg, Kendo & La Parka
*Fidel Sierra, Pierroth Jr., Psicopata & Ricky Santana vs. El Texano, Rey Misterio Sr., Villano III & Villano V
*Chris Jericho, Johnny Swinger, Lenny Lane & Norman Smiley vs. Hector Garza, Konnan, Rey Mysterio Jr. & Silver King
*Disco Inferno vs. Konnan

AEW’s Alex Marvez noted on Twitter that Kip Sabian suffered a legit injury to his finger in a dark match prior to AEW: Dynamite going live on TNT from Boston.

Owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and father of AEW President Tony Khan, Shad Khan was interviewed by Yahoo! Finance. Shad said that AEW is not looking to compete with WWE and talked about the type of fan[s] that AEW is looking to engage: “WWE is a great company, but we are not here competing with them. In the golden age of wrestling during the late 90s, there were 10 million fans. Now it’s down to 2 million. So we’re tapping into fans who were not engaged and quite frankly the younger fan who never got quite into it. Competition is good for everybody, but it’s very important for AEW to do our own thing.” He explained.

Shad talked about the launch of All Elite Wrestling and credited Tony for his passion and drive and just being a lifelong wrestling fan which is why he [Shad] supported Tony financially with this idea that has come to fruition: “It all started with my son Tony. It was his idea, his passion, his drive as a lifelong wrestling fan — so I’ve supported him financially. He kept talking about it, that we ought to do it, and here are the reasons why we should do it. I kept stress testing the idea, and then I struck a check to fund it because if you’re going to do it, it’s gotta be right. That was the most important thing,” He said. “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, but his idea, his passion, and his drive, and it’s off to a great start.”

FanSided interviewed AEW World Champion Chris Jericho and Jericho talked about the idea behind using “Judas” as his theme song and debuting it at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Jericho also praised longtime WWE composer Jim Johnston and is all for Johnston coming to All Elite Wrestling: “Judas is a song I started using at the Tokyo Dome because we’d been trying to go over to Japan, and for some reason we just couldn’t build a good enough market. I said well f–k it, we got 50,000 people in [the] Tokyo Dome, I’ll play Judas so they’ll have to hear it. I’ll just walk really slow to the ring, at least we get one spin, and you know it has a really great vibe to it, it’s very heavy. It’s very dark and deep. It’s the perfect ring music for me. So, I don’t think there’s any need to switch it up for that.” Jericho continued, “Jim Johnston, I will say though is a genius for really figuring out the vibe and the attitude of the character to give them music that really fit. They don’t have that now. The music now is very generic, just play heavy music here. Here’s a Japanese guy, just play Japanese stringed stuff. Jim would really talk to you and see what kind of person you were. Then would really bring something out in the song that fit perfectly. So, if Jim is out there looking for a job, hopefully he gets hired because dude, he’s one of the best.”

Zack Ryder posted the following message to his Instagram page regarding the upcoming WWE Draft that kicks off on Friday Night SmackDown: “The #WWEDraft starts this week. Let’s be honest, I won’t be a top draft pick. I’ll probably find out if I’m staying on #Raw or going to #Smackdown by reading @wwe.com. That’s fine. It doesn’t make me angry. It motivates me even more. I’ve made an entire career out of proving people wrong…and I fully intend on continuing that and making the most out of every opportunity. (But I sure wouldn’t mind getting drafted to #Smackdown with @thecurthawkins to add those Blue Tag Team titles to my collection) #StillHere”

English boxing manager and promoter Frank Warren spoke with Metro and expressed that he is weary of Tyson Fury’s activities in the WWE because he doesn’t want Fury to further open any cuts that are healing from Fury’s fight against Otto Wallin in September: “Tyson Fury loves it,” Warren said about the guest appearances on WWE. “That brawl clip doing the rounds on social media has something like 4 million views. Madness. His profile gets bigger every time and he’s doing us promoters a real favor by going on WWE. But truthfully, I don’t like the risk of his cut opening up. Tyson’s a law unto himself. It’s risky though, no doubt about that. In an ideal world I’d prefer he didn’t do it, but it’s all about the bigger picture for him. He’s a natural wrestling star.”

Michael Mulvihill, FOX Sports Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy joined Jimmy Traina on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. Mulvihill stated that FOX was very pleased with the rating SmackDown did for its debut show on FOX and went into strategy and talked briefly about analytics in regard to SmackDown ...

Michael explained that FOX does not expect SmackDown to do that 4 million number every week but does expect them to beat out what SmackDown had been averaging on the USA Network: “I’m gonna probably give you a more vague answer than what you want, right?” He laughed. “Because I don’t want to put a specific number to it but I will tell you that… I don’t think there’s a realistic expectation that we’re going to see the number that we saw last Friday every week. We know that-that was sort of an extraordinary debut and the show will now have to settle at a cruising altitude. So, without putting a precise number to it, I think we have an opportunity to be maybe double what we’d previously been doing on FOX on Friday nights which was probably 1.2 million. I’d like to think that we can be meaningfully bigger than what the show had been averaging on USA which was more like 2.2. million. So, hopefully that kind of gives you a ballpark idea of where I would expect us to be and where I’d like for us to be, without being too precise,” he shared. “If we can feel six months from now, that we have grown the show, versus what it was doing with the previous rights holder and that we have grown our Friday night primetime and provided a better lead-in for our affiliate late local news… if we can just convert on those points, we’re gonna be happy.”

Dragon Lee is slated to compete at four Ring of Honor events next month: The Experience in Pittsburgh on Nov. 2nd; ROH Unauthorized in Columbus, Ohio on Nov. 3rd; and Survival of the Fittest Night 1 in Dallas on Nov. 9th and Night 2 in San Antonio on Nov. 10th.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Ember Moon is currently out with a leg injury. The report indicates that she suffered "an ankle or an Achilles injury," but not further details are provided. Meltzer goes on to report the injury will keep her out a "decent length of time," though the timetable would change depending on the type of injury.

Luke Harper changed his Twitter bio to "IG: @thislukeharper DMs are wide [censored] open. I've never been more happy!" It previously read, "IG: @thislukeharper DMs are wide open. Wwe threatened to fine me but it’s cool when nxt talent cusses on Twitter…. got it.”

It was announced during the premiere episode of NWA Powerrr that the company will return to Atlanta on December 14 - 16.

So Dave reported that the MYC WAS scheduled on November 3rd and it got pushed back to next year which is the same thing I was told.

They had makeup artist booked and Full Sail booked for those dates as well from what I know.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Releases List of Wrestlers Eligible for Each Night of the Draft (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-releases-list-of-wrestlers-eligible-for-each-night-of-the-draft/)
WWE Announces Draft Rules and Celebrity Appearances (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-announces-draft-rules-and-celebrity-appearances/)
WWE Draft: FOX/USA Reps Will Reportedly Make Picks, Rollins vs. Reigns for #1 Pick (Update) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-draft-tv-execs-will-reportedly-announce-picks-rollins-vs-reigns-for-1-pick/)
AEW: Four Matches Announced for Next Week, Chris Jericho’s Stable, Britt Baker Black Eye (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-four-matches-announced-for-next-week-chris-jerichos-stable-britt-baker-black-eye/)
NXT: Next Week’s NXT Matches, Dark Match Results (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nxt-next-weeks-nxt-matches-dark-match-results/)