Wrestling News & Rumors

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The heavily promoted debut of Smackdown on FOX took place on 10/4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, drawing the largest television audience for the product since the 25th anniversary of Raw ...

This time they pushed a higher level than ever before, having Dwayne Johnson, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting, Undertaker, Bill Goldberg, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, and many more advertised. That turned into an issue because Johnson was the only one who even had a real role in the show and Undertaker, Austin and Sting were never on the show, while the others were limited to being shown at ringside ...

The show did a 2.36 rating and 3,888,000 viewers (we don’t know viewers per home because the rating point covers 120.6 million homes, every television home in the U.S., and FOX is in maybe 107 million home but this week that number was lower because of the Dish Network issue). The key stat for FOX is that it did a 1.4 in the key adults 18-49 demo. In that demo it was among the ten most-watched shows of the past week in all of television, both broadcast and cable ...

But on a positive standpoint, sometimes it takes a few weeks to bring your audience to a new time slot and this was promoted so well that they got them there on the first night. That key demo rating for a Friday night, when a lot of people in that age group go out, is particularly noteworthy for the show itself ...

The audience was six percent below what FOX did last year for the same Friday, with Last Man Standing (6.34 million viewers), The Cool Kids (4.78 million) and Hell’s Kitchen (2.75 million viewers). But these days, a six percent year-to-year drop is fine and the demo was stronger, although far from double, a key because Smackdown right now is only getting about half the advertising dollars per ratings point of a regular FOX television show ...

Sting was there in that setting, and even though he never appeared before the live crowd, which was a disappointment to many, he was in the building and spent the night in the company’s hospitality suite. Undertaker, who had pushed being there in his social media, after the show addressed it by saying that he was told before the show not to come as he was no longer needed. Austin and WWE have said nothing regarding him, but one of the reasons they likely maintained a strong audience throughout the show was people waiting for Austin ...

There were AEW and Austin chants as the show ended. When the show went off the air, the chants for Austin were loud and then they turned all the lights on, told the fans the show was over, and gave the date for the next show in December. There were some boos, some AEW chants, and mostly groans from people as they were leaving. While we got a lot of complaints about Undertaker and some about Sting, those live said that nobody leaving complained about either, but it seemed like everyone on the way out was complaining about Austin.


WWE’s Hell in a Cell show started out strong, and ended with a bang. The wrong kind of a bang ...

There were two major problems with the show. The main event, obviously, was the biggest. It’ll go down as perhaps the worst misfire of a main event in company history. The Hell in a Cell match started out with problems, as they did a red tint for the match, making it hard for viewers either live or watching on television to focus on the action ... The story of the match led to Wyatt being cheered more and more. People expected a title change, since it was Hell in a Cell, there had to be winner, and beating Wyatt after all this monster build in his first match made no sense at all ...

Finally, Rollins grabbed a sledge hammer from under the ring. Ref Rod Zapata told Rollins he was better than this and not to use it. Keep in mind this was Hell in a Cell and weapons were being used throughout the match. Rollins hit Wyatt with it and Zapata called for the bell. While it appeared Rollins was disqualified in a no DQ rules match, WWE later clarified the finish as the match simply being stopped ...

“Cancel WWE Network” was trending on Twitter, for whatever that is worth, and really it’s means little. The last time that happened led to WWE having a big increase in WWE Network orders. Vince McMahon was reportedly, and this was confirmed by multiple people, that he was laughing about the crowd reaction and hardly taking it as a negative. But actions speak louder. It was very clear on Raw the next night that the subject of the match was not to be talked about during the show aside for one package that aired late ...

The finish of the match was from McMahon, obviously. His idea was always that he wasn’t beating Wyatt this early, but wanted Lesnar, Rollins, Lynch and Flair as the four champions going into the draft and the new beginnings ...

It’s hard to say if they hurt Wyatt long-term by not winning. The only prior example was when Ryback was really hot, and John Cena got hurt, he was put into a Hell in a Cell match with C.M. Punk. Since the long-term plan at the time was in place for Punk to have a long title reign before losing to The Rock, Ryback had to be sacrificed. Ryback never recovered from the wrong loss at the wrong time. And what made it worse was Ryback was so hot that the buy rate for that show was shockingly high, as people figured it was Ryback’s time to win. It was, but they had bigger fans than Ryback, so it went down like it did.
Meltzer gave that match -2 stars and the first negative star WWE match from him in the past 5 years.

Week two of the Wednesday Night Wars saw both AEW and NXT suffer significant declines. It’s hard to exactly evaluate AEW because it aired on both TNT and Tru TV in a simulcast. Realistically TNT vs. TNT would be the proper comparison which saw a significant 27.8 percent drop from week one. Even adding in Tru numbers, the decline from week one was 19.2 percent. Even though week one saw major increases throughout the show with teenagers, the teenage demo dropped 36 percent from the first week. The key seems to be that teenagers liked week one, but as far as changing their lives to make it a regular weekly part of viewing, that didn’t happen.

Some of the decline could be attributed to the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Washington Nationals game doing 5,856,000 viewers on TBS, but that would not lead to a decline of that magnitude. For TNT over the past few years, the average weekly decline of a new series is 20 percent, but this fell above that figure, and even adding in Tru numbers with the simulcast the decline was nearly 20 percent.

AEW did 1,018,000 viewers on TNT and another 122,000 on Tru, for 1,140,000 viewers. The TNT replay at 10 p.m. drew another 360,000 viewers, down 14.9 percent from 423,000 the week before. NXT fell 11.3 percent from last week to 790,000 viewers ...

It is still well above the original projections for the show and those at AEW were happy as it more than doubled NXT in the key demo ...

But in the ad demo, AEW fell from a 0.68 to 0.46 (or 0.51 including Tru–32.4 percent for the station and 25.0 percent overall ), compared to NXT at 0.22 (a 31.3 percent drop from the big show the prior week). AEW went from No. 2 on cable for the night to No. 8. Still, in its time slot, it was in third place in the key demo, behind only baseball on TBS and Basketball Wives and Black Ink Crew 8 on VH-1. It beat an NBA preseason game on ESPN that did 1,000,000 and a 0.43 in the demo. NXT on USA in the key demo fell behind TBS, VH-1, TNT, MSNBC, Fox News and The History Channel.

Because of the bigger decline in younger viewers, the median age for an AEW viewer grew to 42, still the youngest of any wrestling show. Worse, NXT was 55, six years higher than the week before ...

AEW on TNT opened with 1,138,000 viewers and ended with 1,036,000. Overall, the end of the Young Bucks vs. Private Party and the Jericho interview, a segment that was the peak in a number of major markets, actually lost 44,000 viewers overall. Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc lost 196,000 viewers. The women’s tag match gained 58,000 viewers. Jon Moxley vs. Shawn Spears gained 27,000 viewers. And the main event and post-match angle gained 53,000 viewers ...

NXT opened with 836,000 viewers and the last quarter did 728,000 but after AEW ended, they did grow to 792,000, so they only got 64,000 viewers after AEW ended. Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah lost 45,000 viewers. Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. The Forgotten Sons gained 17,000 viewers. Cameron Grimes vs. Boa and Killian Dain post-match lost 29,000 viewers. Roderick Strong vs. Isaiah Scott and the post-match stuff the Undisputed Era and Velveteen Dream gained 47,000 viewers. Bianca Belair vs. Dakota Kai lost 25,000 viewers. Walter vs. Kushida lost 73,000 at the same time AEW gained 53,000, and then Walter vs. Kushida picked up 64,000 for its finish once AEW was off the air ...

While the AEW drop is not good, for NXT it’s worse because this is not week one of lots of hype to week two, but week three to four, with all four weeks dropping significantly, and now being well below the USA Network prime time average for a show that will deliver much lower per viewer ad rates. If AEW in week four has those level of drops from week three in the key demos, that would be very bad.

In other news on this week's AEW viewership, the Dynamite replay that airs at 10pm ET on TNT drew 363,000 viewers, according to PWTorch. Last week's 10pm replay on TNT drew 423,000 viewers, so it dropped 14%.

New Japan announced the annual junior heavyweight tag team tournament lineup this past week, and the biggest news was that Dragon Lee was out.

Lee & Titan were scheduled, but not announced, but posters in some cities listed them on the tour. CMLL has this past week forced promotions in Mexico to choose between either using Rush or Dragon Lee, or their own talent, even going to so far as to pull four wrestlers off sold out Crash show on 10/5 in Tijuana because the promotion wouldn’t pull Rush and Lee off the card. Other promotions have pulled Rush & Lee off shows ... New Japan said that they wanted Lee and CMLL to sort out their differences.

For Lee, things become interesting. ROH also has a strong affiliation with CMLL. However, what was key here is Lee teaming with a CMLL wrestler. Perhaps if CMLL wrestlers weren’t in the same ring the situation would be different, although CMLL has pushed promoters with the idea that they would not send any talent to a show that Lee or Rush are on ...

Losing New Japan would change Lee’s mentality, where before he had no interest in going anywhere that would preclude him from working with New Japan. This could open the door to MLW, which is working with Crash and Lee will be working regularly with Crash ...

With no New Japan, Lee would also be open to individual deals with either AEW or WWE. Paul Levesque is said to be high on Lee, and who wouldn’t be, as he’s a very special talent. Still, as Gran Metalik shows, a Luchador of Lee’s level does not have great career prospects in WWE at his size. Rey Mysterio was already a huge name before he went to WWE, and Andrade was bigger and even he’s struggled on the main roster when you consider his push vs. his talent level and how well his act with Zelina Vega got over in NXT. Lee would probably do better in AEW, and Lee would be a gift-wrapped present that they never expected. And with AEW, it would not close the door to New Japan forever, where WWE likely would.

The look and feel of NWA Power was to bring you back to the early 80s ... One of the throwbacks was no music, and lots of interview time between matches. But the interviews were completely different from WWE. They were clearly unscripted past bullet points, and free flowing. The personalities came through and you didn’t have wording that felt insincere.

About 15,000 people between YouTube and Facebook watched the show “live,” as in first run as it was going on. The number was impressive when you consider AEW Dark the same night did 25,000, Impact has been doing about 3,500 and when WWE did Mixed Match Challenge, immediately after Smackdown and heavily promoted, an average week might peak around 60,000.

For total viewers, which is a horribly misleading stat because of how they compile them, the show at press time had 168,000; as compared to 419,000 for AEW Dark the same night, 31,000 for MLW on Friday, 60,000 for CMLL on Friday (anniversary show did 294,000) and the last four minutes of the first AEW show did 2,048,732 and Scarlett Bordeaux’s debut in AAA is at 32.7 million. With the average viewer watching 13.9 minutes of the NWA show, the 168,000 viewers, if it was a television rating, translates not to 168,000 viewers but to 39,000 viewers.
The last paragraph is pretty interesting since it gives an idea of what the potential conversion rate of Youtube viewers to TV viewers likely would be not just for NWA's new show but other promotions as well that have a big focus on Youtube.

Tyler Bateman, who debuted on 9/28 in Las Vegas by beating Jake Atlas, will be a regular for ROH. Jake Atlas is also expected to be working more dates in ROH. Atlas had already turned down deals from Impact and MLW

MLW taped TV on 10/5 at The Crash show in Tijuana with their biggest crowd in their history, a sellout of more than 4,500 fans at the Auditorio. They noted that WWE was in San Diego, which is the next city over, head-to-head, and they outdrew WWE.

There is a lot of talk regarding taking NXT on the road every Wednesday and looking at 5,000-seat buildings, similar to AEW. The target seems to be January, because WWE has inquired about buildings of that size to shoot television on Wednesday nights. Even before the first week ratings came out, there was talk that Full Sail was only running weekly because they had no time to set things up and that a move to different arenas would take place in early 2020. As noted, once week one ratings came out, with NXT having such a strong show on 10/4 and having spent two weeks building it, the location was more likely to get the blame

AEW Dynamite will have replays this weekend on the following cable stations and times:
* Sunday 10/13 on TNT at 1 AM.
* Sunday 10/13 on TruTV at 2 AM.
* Sunday 10/13 on TruTV at 10 AM.
* Sunday 10/13 on TBS at 11 PM.
* Tuesday 10/15 on TNT at 2 AM.
* Tuesday 10/15 on TruTV at 8 PM.

The majority of CM Punk shirts have been removed from ProWrestlingTees.com, replaced by a "CM Punk Sucks" t-shirt. I am sure someone will find a conspiracy theory in all that!

We've had some emails asking about WWE touting that FOX and the USA Network were involved with tonight's Draft and what it means. We are told that WWE consulted with the Networks to make sure each side was happy with what talents they ended up with as the plan is to keep the rosters separate as much as possible after the Draft is completed. So, execs from the networks were involved but WWE made the final determinations. The company is keeping the Draft plans heavily under wraps

Former wrestler Nick Mondo is working with All Elite Wrestling and is listed as a director. Mondo got into film after his pro wrestling career ended and directed the spots involving Jon Moxley escaping prison earlier this year that were released after Moxley left WWE.

Fight Network in Canada will be moving Impact Wrestling to Tuesdays at 8 pm eastern to coincide with the move to AXS TV on Tuesday, October 29th. The move will also include Fight Network’s international feeds, including in Greece and Portugal. Impact will continue to air on Game TV in Canada each Saturday at 7 pm eastern, which is also a property of Anthem Sports and Entertainment.

Ronda Rousey will be back in WWE, at least according to Triple H.

Rousey, a decorated MMA star-turned-pro wrestler had an impressive showing in the WWE over her year-long run from WrestleMania 34 to WrestleMania 35. However, since headlining the latter, she's been completely absent from the ring.

On Friday, WWE hosted a press event to announce matches for the upcoming Crown Jewel show. Afterwards, Triple H participated in a media scrum, where he reportedly stated "she's coming back," per Ryan McKinnell, who was in attendance.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE’s Original Idea for Wyatt vs. Rollins Also Wasn’t Very Good (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwes-original-idea-for-wyatt-vs-rollins-also-wasnt-very-good/)
Cain Velasquez Signs “Lucrative” Multi-Year Contract With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/cain-velasquez-reportedly-signs-lucrative-multi-year-contract-with-wwe/)
Sasha Banks Injury Update (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/sasha-banks-injury-update-2/)
AEW Is Now the Most Watched Wrestling Show in the UK + Impact Beats Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-is-now-the-most-watched-wrestling-show-in-the-uk-by-far-impact-beats-raw/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can see some bigger things happening to NXT in 2020.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

After the weak draft special on Friday night, combined with a monster NFL game, Raw fell to 2.28 million viewers for the second part of the draft

This compares 2.67 million viewers the last time Raw had a draft-type special in April, and 3.62 million viewers for the 2018 version of the shake-up. One can clearly say that Friday ruined whatever drawing power the draft gimmick had left.

On the flip side, if the draft meant nothing and SmackDown can maintain next week the number it got on Friday, that would be a great sign going forward ...

As far as where the audience fell off, women 18-49 fell 21 percent from the first to third hour, men 18-49 fell 24 percent, which is almost unheard of, teenage girls fell 35 percent and teenage boys fell 34 percent. The teenage boy drop is also pretty much unheard of. Over 50 dropped 11 percent, which is a normal figure, so the turnoff of this show was with the 49 and under crowd.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.52 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.32 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.00 million viewers


The firing of Eric Bischoff, which was not a shock to those close to the situation, happened this morning.

Both Bruce Prichard and brand head writer Ed Koskey will be the main people in charge of the show going forward. What was interesting is that Bischoff was brought in partially on the recommendation of Prichard and the two had been working together on the show.

We are also told that since he was an executive, not a talent, Bischoff likely does not have the usual 90 day no compete and could pop up somewhere else if he desired. It should be interesting to see if someone decides to tap him for an on-air talent role as he's always been excellent in that regard.

In other WWE news, regarding the Crown Jewel show, Seth Rollins at this point is only scheduled to work one match on the event, his falls count anywhere Universal Championship match with Bray Wyatt. Rollins was originally set to be the captain of Team Hogan in the five vs. five Team Hogan vs. Team Flair match. As of right now, he is no longer scheduled for the match and his removal will likely be addressed on television over the next week.

Regarding The Usos, after Jimmy's most recent arrest for a DUI in late July, The Usos and Naomi were all taken off the road. While they were at a recent television taping backstage, there is right now no creative for them nor return date, nor a decision regarding which brand they will be with. Because of that, they weren't involved in the draft.

There was a screw-up with the list of talent available for Friday’s draft. It was told to us at POST Wrestling that the WWE.com side was supposed to list the available talent in alphabetical order but instead, the list went according to the actual picks for the first half of the draft. It was also said to us that the WWE.com site didn’t use the final version.

The reason Jon Moxley wasn't on the New Japan show and travel issues was legit. Zack Sabre Jr. also missed the show, and Kevin Kelly barely made it in time for the show. We'd heard some concern about the guys coming from Australia, Will Ospreay, Robbie Eagles and Gino Gambino, but they all made it. The worst of the typhoon is over although it did a lot of damage to the bottom floor of the New Japan Tokyo dojo.

Coming out of King of Pro Wrestling, the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 14 night one is set.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will defend his title against G1 Climax winner Kota Ibushi at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2020. Night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14 will then take place at the Tokyo Dome on January 5.

Also announced for Wrestle Kingdom 14 is Jushin Liger's retirement bout. Liger will team with Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask to take on Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Ootani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Ryusuke Taguchi in eight-man tag team action. El Samurai will corner Team Liger while Kuniaki Kobayashi will be in the corner of Team Sano. Norio Honaga will be the special guest referee for the match.

Liger will compete in a second retirement match on Jan. 5 at night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14. His opponent has not been announced. A retirement ceremony for Liger will be held on Jan. 6 at New Year Dash.

If there's one thing Eric Bischoff understands it's how to sell a wrestling product in the best way possible with the assistance of the TNT Network.

On the latest episode of the 83 Weeks podcast, see above, Eric Bischoff talks about AEW on TNT and The major positive they have working in their favor, their passionate audience.

"I think the takeaway for me the biggest thing that I saw that I liked was the crowd," said the former WCW President after admitting he watched the weekly program twice. "I've always believed that the crowd, you know, if there's two women or two guys in a match with a referee as the third person in the ring, the fourth person in the ring is the audience. They're as much a part of the show as anything in my opinion. And I think what I saw Wednesday night from AEW was a crowd that was just intensely engaged in the product in the ring and in the show. And from a production value point of view, you could see it the lighting made the audience a part of the show and that to me was that was my biggest positive of that show."

Cain Velasquez on Ariel Helwani’s show mentioned that WWE is allowing him to work one more AAA date.

Roman Reigns spoke to Forbes about how fans reacted to the finish of Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend at Hell in a Cell: “I think you should express your opinions, but it doesn’t hurt anybody if you have a shred of respect. Have a little respect for the performers who were out there killing themselves for you. I didn’t like the Hell in a Cell finish either, but I wasn’t about to cuss some guys out who got hit in the head over and over. Bray Wyatt put his health on the line to entertain some fans to the best of his ability. I didn’t like it, but I respect Bray’s effort and willingness to go out there and do what you have to do. So, if you can, just a little bit of respect.

California-centric pro wrestling website SoCalUncensored are reporting Tyler Bateman has signed an exclusive deal with Ring of Honor and will officially start there next month.

Bateman debuted at last month's TV Taping in Las Vegas, being put over strong with wins and an angle where he attacked and laid out Lifeblood's Tracy Williams.

Bateman, who has been wrestling since 2001, has been a long-time California mainstay, holding the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood TV title several times as well as the AWS title. Bateman had WWE and Impact Wrestling tryouts last year.

MLW has released producer Alex Greenfield, who was notified of their decision on Monday. There was no comment from MLW regarding the decision, but it was confirmed that he was let go on Monday. Greenfield had been associated with MLW prior to the re-launch of the wrestling promotion being a figure within their podcast space and then brought on as a producer for the weekly Fusion series. Greenfield had recently traveled to Tijuana for the MLW show with The Crash earlier this month. The departure comes several weeks before MLW’s first pay-per-view on November 2nd at Cicero Stadium in Illinois.

Jim Crockett will be appearing at Starrcast IV this November.

Q - Does WWE have same contract as other shows on fox? Can they be cancelled or not brought back due to low ratings or are they guaranteed 5 yrs on fox regardless of ratings?

A - Their deal is like when sports leagues sign with networks, in that they sell rights fees. They are not like entertainment programs.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

On Tuesday's episode of NWA Powerrr, the promotion announced they will return to pay-per-view on Dec. 14 with an event entitled Into The Fire. The event, named after the NWA Powerrr theme song performed by Dokken, will emanate from Atlanta, GA. No venue was announced ...

The last NWA pay-per-view was held on Apr. 27. On that night, the promotion brought back The Crockett Cup and crowned new NWA Tag Team Champions. The event, held in Concord, NC, was headlined by Nick Aldis defending the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Marty Scurll.


TPWW Frontpage:

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross Traded to SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/alexa-bliss-nikki-cross-traded-to-smackdown/)
Maria Kanellis Comments on Mike’s Release Request (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/maria-kanellis-comments-on-mikes-release-request/)
Eric Bischoff Gone From WWE, Replaced by Bruce Prichard (U: Bischoff Comments) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/eric-bischoff-out-as-executive-producer-of-smackdown-replaced-by-bruce-prichard/)
WWE: Rollins vs. Wyatt Dark Match After Raw, RIP Ramblin’ Rabbit, Main Event Results (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-rollins-vs-wyatt-dark-match-after-raw-rip-ramblin-rabbit-main-event-results/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Greenfield being released is a bit surprising, given that he's buds with the MLW guys. He showed up as a producer in a segment once and looked super into it. He seems like a highly strung guy at times though, so I wonder if it just turned into a tiring fit?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Don’t know the credibility of the source, so take this as rumor or whatever, but apparently Greenfield was shopping himself around to other promotions and using information about MLW as a bargaining tool. MLW found out and Greeny got capped.

[Emperor Smeat]

If that's true, nobody is going to sign him without risking a serious lawsuit.

Not even WWE would want that legal mess on their hands considering what happened when ROH accused them of having insider access to their contracts and I think a similar situation regarding sensitive Impact info.

[GD]

Didn't expect that from Alex.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

According to PW Insider's Mike Johnson, Luchasaurus has an injured hamstring and is out of Wednesday's tag team championship tournament match on AEW Dynamite.

Filling in to team with Jungle Boy is fellow Jurassic Express member Marko Stunt. The duo will face the Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr and Fenix) in a first round bout.

Maria Manic, who was most recently a part of Ring of Honor, is at the WWE Performance Center this week for a tryout.

Fightful was the first to report the news. According to a report from PWInsider, she signed a six-month contract with ROH earlier this year that had recently expired. As recently as two weeks ago, there had been pitches for her to become involved in a storyline that would eventually lead to an intergender bout.

On the day after it was confirmed that he's no longer with WWE, Eric Bischoff was announced for the next Starrcast convention.

Bischoff will be appearing at Starrcast IV, which is being held in Baltimore, Maryland from November 7-10. Bischoff previously appeared at Starrcasts I and II.

With Major League Baseball postponing games due to the inclement weather in the Northeast tonight, the natural question from wrestling fans is whether Friday Night Smackdown's third episode on FOX would be preempted or moved.

The answer to that is no. MLB coverage will take place this Friday on FOX Sports 1, so Smackdown will air as scheduled this Friday on FOX itself.

The November 4th edition of RAW is emanating from Long Island at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the arena is advertising Seth Rollins versus “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt for the Universal Title in a Steel Cage match.

WWE Network News is reporting the October 2019 Classic Content Drop will be more Midsouth television. Those episodes will make it to the service this Monday 10/21.

Dave Meltzer stated on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE wanted to purchase Pro Wrestling NOAH but the deal fell through. Meltzer added that WWE has talked to several companies in Japan and has attempted to purchase those companies as well.

ScreenGeek chatted with Jon Moxley recently and asked Moxley if he has ever thought about how different his career would be had he left WWE in 2015 which was the last time he signed a contract with the sports-entertainment company.

“That’s an interesting question. I’ve often thought, and wondered, what would have happened if I left in September of 2015, which was when I signed my last contract with WWE. But, at that point, I was still kinda like, still trying to do things their way and I just kinda like… It never occurred to me to leave really back then. It felt like I wasn’t, like I hadn’t completely… I never really bought into their bullsh*t kind of thing, but I was trying to be optimistic. Like, be grateful for the opportunity and try to make the most of it and, you know, save money and so forth. But, I often wonder what would have happened if I had the foresight to just leave back then. I don’t know,” he said. “It could have been worse, it could have been better, but, ultimately, everything’s supposed to work out how it’s supposed to be. The timing of, like, leaving at just the moment that AEW came into existence and just merging at the same time, that feels like a historical thing that I’m very grateful that it happened. Hopefully, it’s historical. We look back in five years and maybe it didn’t matter at all. But, you know, we’ll find out.”

NJPW1972.com published an open letter from Shota Umino who is set to embark on excursion soon. Here’s a portion of the letter in-which Shota talks about working with Jon Moxley:

“I want to start again. Put myself in a new environment, in new circumstances. Nobody to help me, nobody to show me what to do. Square one, from scratch. That’s why I never once thought to follow Jon Moxley. I want to do this by and for myself, to study and search for that ‘something’. When I was with Moxley during the G1, he didn’t give me any advice. If I asked for some he would just give some vague praise. ‘Good job, like that’. If I asked him for anything more concrete, he’d tell me to be more confident. What makes him who he is isn’t moves, style, technique. It isn’t ‘heart’. It’s… ‘something’. That something is a stance toward professional wrestling. Teaming with Moxley, I don’t know if I can say I learned any new moves, or that I showed any more heart than normal. What I learned was something important about attitude and stance toward a match. I did nothing but grow underneath him.”

WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard chatted with AEW co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes ahead of AEW’s show in Philadelphia. Cody revealed that on the Friday before Full Gear, AEW will release their top five W/L records for singles competitors and tag teams.

“So not to scoop it, but I don’t think anyone will mind this bit of news: On Friday before Full Gear, the Friday before Full Gear, I think we’re going to put out our first ever top fives, and the top five should become a weekly thing, and this isn’t just broadcast, this is also social,” Rhodes revealed. “Just like with college football and the AP poll. You get your top 20, and sometimes a guy who’s 5-0 is not ranked in the top three because of the quality of the wins, the softness of the schedule and it’s fun because in college football, people argue, especially when we get near the playoffs, should they, should they not. PAC right now, has these great wins over Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. He’s essentially Ohio State for us at this point. There’s got to be a title shot in his future, and there is if he keeps winning and keeps going. But I believe before Full Gear, we’ll have our top five for women, for tags and for singles and now that we have more and more — every week this helps us so much from data. I’ve expanded… to be fair, Kevin Sullivan’s expanded the lower thirds on talents so you can see their records. We want their records to be more present because Jim Ross is talking about them, Tony Schiavone is talking about them but once we get a few more wins, a few more losses, a few more draws, whatever they may be, it really helps create that tapestry for us, which is something we promised and it wasn’t just a campaign promise. Sports-centric, the guys winning the matches are the guys in the title matches.”

talkSPORT interviewed Matchroom Sport founder and chairman Barry Hearn and asked him about Tyson Fury’s current run in WWE. Hearn stated that what Fury is doing is “a bit cringey” but Tyson needs the profile. Hearn added that on the publicity front, Fury needs people to buy the pay-per-views that he’s on.

“Tyson Fury has a big problem in terms of – not enough people know him in America. He’s looking for the big payday obviously against Deontay Wilder. He needs a higher profile to make that attractive and he’s doing what he does best. It is a bit of a circus, of course it is, it’s a rehearsed nonsense, but this is the world we’re in. Today’s world commercially, I hate to say this because I love sports, it’s probably more important to be famous than good,” Hearn expressed. “That’s the social media world we’re living in. What Tyson Fury’s doing in a funny old way is making himself famous. It is a big cringey I know, but bless him, he needs the profile. He’s not the most exciting boxer but he’s very, very good. In other words, he’s not attractive in his style, but he’s difficult to beat. That’s ticking the box on the boxing front. On the publicity front, he needs people to buy pay-per-views, he needs people to recognize him in the street. If you dress up like he’s dressing up or go on WWE or whatever and slap a few people around, it’s hilarious to start with, then it’s a bit cringey. But in the American market more people probably know him from that than any of the fights he’s had so far in America.”

As we exclusively revealed yesterday, more Mid-South Wrestling is coming to the WWE Network this Monday. Normally, WWE waits for the bulk content to land before spotlighting it with Hidden Gems. On this occasion, however, it appears that our treasure-hunting archivists were too excited to wait. With that in mind, we have a full card from New Orleans. If that isn’t enough, WWE has sprinkled in some Houston and Central States action. Let’s take a look:

Dated 04/02/1977, we have a little over 6 minutes of highlights of an NWA World Heavyweight Championship bout between Dick Murdoch vs Champion Harley Race. WWE’s description refers to this as footage from Mid-South’s predecessor, NWA Tri-State ...

Next up, we make our way to Houston as Kerry von Erich battles Gino Hernandez for the Texas Heavyweight Championship. While Houston Wrestling was a separate entity, Cowboy Bill Watts and Mid-South had such a close working relationship with Paul Boesch that Watts received a copy of any shows featuring Mid-South talent. Thus this was part of WWE’s purchase of the library and WWE often lumps both together.
More details: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/10/16/exclusive-latest-wwe-network-hidden-gems-set-to-focus-on-mid-south-houston-and-central-states-includes-full-new-orleans-card/

WarnerMedia has confirmed an official All Elite Wrestling podcast hosted by Brandi Rhodes is currently in the works.

The media company made a slew of podcast related announcements today at an upfront for advertisers and one of the things mentioned was an official AEW podcast.

According to WarnerMedia, who we reached out to for more information, the podcast is currently in development with the wrestling promotion’s Chief Brand Officer as host and targeted to launch by the end of the year.

Dave: "We knew this was going to happen the day it started". They hired him to be a scapegoat. He wasn't involved in creative, they just needed someone to take the fall when Fox became unhappy.

Vince was writing the scripts and running Smackdown as usual, nothing changed

Hasn't heard of Bischoff having ever had any creative input or influences on the show

Bischoff obviously didn't, but Dave says that even Heyman didn't have anything to do with how the draft was booked or presented on TV (even if he did get some input as to who he wanted to end up on Raw).

Nobody they bring in will be in control. They're just scapegoats for Vince's fuckups. The ones that do get a bit of input are basically just there to give advice to Vince, not actually run the show or have control.

Bischoff is completely gone, knew it was temporary going in. Dave thinks Bischoff probably thought it was going to be a bit longer, but knew it was only a temporary stage in his life.

Prichard was the one who brought Bischoff in. Dave & Garrett speculate it was a bit strange, and that he probably did it because he likely was offered it first, but didn't want to be the fall guy.


TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: WWE Backstage Preview on FS1, Total Divas (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/ratings-wwe-backstage-preview-on-fs1-total-divas/)
13 More Wrestlers Drafted (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/13-more-wrestlers-drafted/)
Various: AEW Dark and NWA Powerrr Episodes, Another AEW Dynamite in Texas (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/various-aew-dark-and-nwa-powerrr-episodes-another-aew-dynamite-in-texas/)
AEW Is Now Listing Wins and Losses on Their Website (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-is-now-listing-wins-and-losses-on-their-website/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Despite the lack of baseball competition due to a rainout of the Yankees/Astros ALCS game that was scheduled to air opposite both shows, AEW and NXT each saw their audiences fall for the second straight week.

AEW Dynamite averaged 1,014,000 viewers last night, nearly identical to last Wednesday's 1,018,000 average on TNT, but it was down four percent in the 18-49 demo with a 0.44 rating. Dynamite was also simulcast on truTV last week, drawing 122,000 viewers on that channel.

NXT averaged 712,000 viewers last night, which was down 10 percent from the previous week. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.20, down nine percent from last Wednesday.

With no major sports competition, AEW was up to fifth place for the night on cable in 18-49. In their strongest demo, males 18-49, AEW finished second on cable with a 0.65 rating, trailing only a preseason NBA game.

NXT came in at 30th for the night in 18-49 and trailed AEW in every demo once again except for people over 50, where they had a 0.35 rating to a 0.33 for AEW.

On this week's edition of NXT UK, it was officially announced that Spain's A-Kid has signed with World Wrestling Entertainment:

.@AKidWrestler is coming... #NXTUK pic.twitter.com/R6VRv0Xsai
— NXT UK (@NXTUK) October 17, 2019

Although only 22 years old, A-Kid has been wrestling since 2012 and received several WWE tryouts earlier this year.

The Camden New Journal in England published an article today noting that an investigation into the passing of lucha libre legend Silver King, real name, César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón, 51 years old this past May while performing for a promotion named Lucha Libre World at the Roundhouse Theatre in Camden in North London blamed "multiple faillures" in the minutes after Barron suffered a heart attack in the ring.

The St. Pancras Coroner's Court's Senior Coroner Mary Hassell stated that an ambulance not being called for five minutes after Barrón suffered cardiac arrest as well as "ineffective" CPR being performed on him before EMTs arrived meant the lucha star "lost the opportunity to have the best treatment possible and lost the opportunity of survival that otherwise would have been afforded to him" ...

Hassell stated, "When I'm talking about failure in first aid, I'm talking about a whole raft, the whole context of the first aid that was offered. In every way, there was a failure properly to plan that everybody knew what they were doing, that procedures were in place so that first and foremost a person who would became unwell would be identified in the ring immediately" ...

The inquest's Dr. Alan Bates also determined that Barron had likely suffered a previous heart attack in the months or even years before his passing, but noted that there would have been a greater likelihood of Barron surviving if he had been given mouth to mouth resuscitation immediately, but would not state it would have been probably that he would have survived.

Another factor that delayed EMTs getting to Barrón by several minutes was that after the ambulance arrived at the front of the building, a security guard brought EMTs around and had them enter from the back of the venue, which delayed them in getting to and providing aid for Barrón. Paramedic Cara Mitchell stated that she would have liked to have gotten to Barrón quicker and that when they arrived at the ring, the person provided CPR was doing it in a "fast" and "ineffective" manner.

There was also confusion in the moment as the first responder who was on hand at the event, Katharine Locke, was not made aware of what the issue was when she was asked to come to the ring and initially believed it was for an issue in the crowd. She did not bring a defibrillator with her initially and did not provide CPR as someone who had claimed they were a Doctor was already in the ring doing it. That person was not identified in the report. Locke did not see Barrón's collapse and was initially worried there was a spinal injury.

Promoter Ruben Cordero admitted there were no pre-show medicals and that Barrón had not volunteered any information regarding any health issues. Cordero also stated that in hindsight, the procedures they had in place were not adequate and that there was a question of whether he or the venue were in charge of the medical aspect of the show - and that he wishes he had pushed to be in charge and oversee that aspect.

Last night's AEW Philadelphia taping ended with Cody cutting a promo putting over the fan with the giant cut-out Ted Turner head before putting over a young fan dressed as Orange Cassidy ...

Cody worked the show last night despite being sick with a 102 degree fever the night before. He was given the option of not performing but refused to stay out of the ring ...

There's no word yet how long Luchasaurus will be out of action. The word backstage at the taping was he had torn it, which if that is confirmed to be the case, could mean he's out for several months ...

Backstage at the taping in Philadelphia were CHIKARA founder Mike Quackenbush, JT Dunn, Austin Gunn, former WWE NXT star Bull James (fka Dempsey), David Starr and Mike Verna.

MLW Middleweight Champion Teddy Hart, accompanied by two cats, was also at the taping.

Former ECW World Champion Mikey Whipwreck was in the house. With Tommy Dreamer and Jerry Lynn working as Producers and Taz commentating for AEW Dark, there were four former ECW World Champions at the taping.

Former CZW star Nick Mondo was also at the taping as he was the talented director and producer behind all of Jon Moxley's post-WWE videos. The pair visited the 2300 Arena on Tuesday as well. Speaking of the Arena, its owner Roger Artigiani was in attendance with his family.

Ruby Riott was the latest guest on Vickie Guerrero’s podcast and Ruby provided an update on when she could be back after undergoing double shoulder surgery:

“I’m not 100% sure yet, honestly. They said that I’m on a good track for recovery, sometime, hopefully in early 2020. But they haven’t given me an exact date. I’m just hoping the sooner the better honestly, because like you said, it’s just been such a hard road and physically, I lost a lot of muscle in my shoulders and in my arms and everything. I guess I never realized how much I used my arms until I was without one and then both of them, but just mentally, it’s such a shift and when you’re so used to the adrenaline — go, go, go, go, go, and I had a full-time job when I was on the independents and I was wrestling as much as I possibly could for quite some time and I never really had the want or the desire to stop, because I just loved it so much.”

“I loved what I did and the people I grinded by, and then all of a sudden, it’s such a screeching halt so suddenly… it was such a mental difficulty where it was just like, ‘I don’t know what to do with myself’ so I’ve been trying things to occupy my time as of recent[ly]. Its been hard but I’m getting there.”

Cody Rhodes took to Twitter and noted that AEW now refers to the Gorilla Position as “The Dusty Position”.
Link: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1184615303881187329

Creative Director for Visual Concepts, Lynell Jinks was interviewed by ‘Hardcore Gamer’ and talked about some of the hurdles that came with creating WWE 2K20:

“Creation is the most important part to me in the game. It was a struggle to make sure that everything that fans have grown to love was in the game and working as intended. That alone, we spent so much time on that. It’s so complex and deep and we have so much content year after year that we basically have to rip everything apart and put it back together to make sure it worked as is and then see if we could make it better. Certain things we tried to but at the end of the day, we’re running out of time so the decision to postpone Create a Championship and Create a Superstar was such a huge undertaking to get working again. We had to pull resources off of Create a Championship and put them on Create a Superstar to get rid of all the issues and then update it in a patch to have it. Knowing that, our focus early on and how deep that code base was for the content that we had to focus on more content through MyPlayer and Road to Glory and with Originals, you’ll actually get a ton of new content for Create A Arena and parts that are geared towards 2K Originals. Like Bump in the Night, you’ll see weapons. The thing that we saw early on at the event last year with the Wyatt Compound was that there was nothing else to do. There’s some weapons in the MyCareer version of it that was patched in later. There has to be things in these environments for people to play with that affects gameplay and the match type. That kind of spawned into this whole other thing. Let’s add different categories of weapons like one handed and two-handed objects. Let’s build on that and what can we do and if you look at the Originals, the weapon wheel allows for customization and you can have the bat that has a pumpkin skull on it. I want to use a bone instead of a bat or use a tombstone instead of a chair. On the surface you might think we didn’t add that much to create, but what we added to customize your match or character with our new content, there is a ton of content. The head of Bray Wyatt will also be in the game.”

Alicia Fox has been moved to the ‘Alumni’ section of WWE.com.

Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni Stephon Smith has signed with WWE to be a full-time referee in NXT.

WrestleCon announced the return of the Joey Ryan ‘Penis Party’ show for WrestleMania 36 weekend in Tampa, Florida.

Bleacher Report chatted with Britt Baker ...

Baker also shared praise for AEW E.V.P. Kenny Omega. She told the site that Omega is very involved in the women’s division and agents most of the matches. One of the major selling points for Britt from Cody and Brandi Rhodes was being able to work closely with the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion:

“Kenny Omega has a huge role in the women’s division. He agents a lot of the matches and he’s brought his passion for the Japanese joshi wrestling to our world and it’s amazing. I don’t have a ton of experience with joshi wrestling, but I love it. I’m learning from Kenny by watching how he puts matches together. How lucky can I be? That was one of the selling points for AEW to me when Brandi and Cody told me he’d have a major role with the women’s division. I was a huge fan. I was the girl staying up all night to watch Wrestle Kingdom even though I had class the next day. Now I work with Kenny Omega, one of the best wrestlers in the world and a creative genius. Some of his ideas just amaze me. There seems to be no end to his creative insanity" ...

Baker also revealed that Cole is best friends with AEW Executive Vice Presidents The Young Bucks, so he's very supportive of AEW.

"But we sit at home and watch each other's matches," she continued. "We actually watch each other's whole show. We support each other's company. My boyfriend is basically best friends with The Young Bucks, so he's very supportive of All Elite Wrestling."

CM Punk appeared on WGN News to promote the ‘Girl On The Third Floor’ film and stated that he hopes both AEW and WWE push one another to make wrestling better for the viewers:

“I think it’s great. I wish those guys [AEW] nothing but success. If they’re successful, it will force WWE to be more creative and it’s always better when there’s not just one place to work. It’s better for the wrestlers, it’s better for the fans. I think competition drives industry so if there’s only one place in town to work, I think the creatives will be lazy, so hopefully, both companies will push each other and make the product better for the fans.”

Fumi Saito on the Pacific Rim podcast he did with Dave Meltzer said that WWE had no plan for after they bought the company. Fumi said that WWE's offer was to buy STARDOM and then figure out what they would do regarding NXT Japan. Also, WWE offered Rossy, the head of STARDOM and close friend of Fumi, a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame if he sold the company to them.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces New Weekly Podcast Hosted by Corey Graves (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-announces-new-weekly-podcast-hosted-by-corey-graves/)
WWE: AOP Added to Raw Roster, Seth Rollins Removed From Team Hogan vs. Team Flair Match (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-aop-added-to-raw-roster-seth-rollins-removed-from-team-hogan-vs-team-flair-match/)
Sasha Banks Reportedly Scheduled to Be at SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/sasha-banks-reportedly-scheduled-to-be-at-smackdown/)
Luchasaurus Injury Update (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/luchasaurus-injury-update/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The WWE’s latest reset, the second draft in a six-month period ended up as kind of a nothing ...

The idea was to present this like a sports draft, such as the NFL and NBA drafts, which are now major television events on ESPN. But from the start it didn’t work ...

The idea was once again three picks for Raw for every two for Smackdown. Stephanie McMahon announced the picks. She was good in the sense of presenting the right emphasis on them, but it was bad with the idea she, and nobody else, was reading off names. The idea that the first pick would be determined by matches, but with alternating picks in rounds, Raw had to go 1-3-5. So in both first pick determining matches, Raw won ...

In another snafu of sorts, when the WWE web site listed the wrestlers that would be drafted on the Smackdown show the day before the draft, with maybe one minor change, it was the exact order that they were drafted. What happened is that the day before the draft, the web site was sent the list of who would be drafted on Smackdown and then on Raw, and it was the order it was planned. They weren’t told that this was the order. And they were told to alphabetize each list. Somehow that got lost in the communications and they printed it in the order. The decision was made not to change the Smackdown order for whatever reason, and then people noticed and called attention to it like crazy. So for Raw, they at least changed the order of the picks somewhat.

The only real take is that Raw seemed to get the stronger roster. Heyman picked up some of his key people that were on Smackdown, Flair, Black, Buddy Murphy (who he is said to be super high on) but did lose Lesnar, which had to happen since FOX wanted Lesnar or Rousey on the show as their big sports star. Lesnar’s winning of the WWE title was a key. Flair going to Raw seemed likely when she dropped her title after only five days, clean, to Bayley. But on the other hand, Flair had done extensive promotional work for FOX for the past six months, and the original crew FOX had been advertising around, led by Reigns, featured Flair prominently as well as Rey Mysterio, who is staying on Raw ...

Nobody from NXT was drafted, past Humberto Carrillo, who was really more a 205 Live guy. So it appears they want to stick with the key stars on that show rather than bring guys up which gives the impression that NXT is a feeder brand and not a third brand ...

The only major acts broken up were Erick Rowan & Luke Harper and R-Truth and Carmella ... With R-Truth and Carmella, it’s the thing of not breaking up couples. With Corey Graves on Smackdown, Carmella ends up on Smackdown. But since the whole 24/7 title idea came from the USA Network and they’ve decided that R-Truth is the focal point of that title, they put him on Raw, ending the unit.

Even though Flair worked as a heel against Lynch, the plan is for her to be a babyface. There is a clear imbalance and heel weakness, although won’t be if Asuka and Sane work singles, and there has been a clear set up for both to work with Lynch. There’s also the possibility of Natalya as a heel, which was the plan last year to lead to a major program with Ronda Rousey, until Vince McMahon nixed it when Jim Neidhart died and he felt Natalya shouldn’t be turned ...

Flair only worked heel on Raw this past week because they needed a name opponent to lose to Lynch in the match for the draft choice and the decision was made not to use Bayley in that spot, likely not wanting the Raw champion at that point to beat the Smackdown champion.

With Asuka and Kairi Sane on Raw, while tag champions, expect both at times to be featured as singles. Lynch vs. Asuka is a planned direction at some point, and Sane pinned Lynch in a tag match on television as well.

According to Levesque, Fury approached WWE years ago about doing something. Levesque said Fury was a big fan, and his approach to boxing promotion does feel inspired by pro wrestling and Muhammad Ali, with his charisma and promos. At the time, the two sides didn’t make a deal. With the Saudi Arabia show coming, and Saudi Arabia wanting to bring athletic celebrities into the country, WWE reached out to Fury and with the Saudi money, they could make a economically justifiable big money offer to him.

Fury said that with him not fighting until February, against Wilder, he had free time, plus doing this would help keep him in shape. He’s training extensively at the Performance Center in Orlando until fight time. But this is a single event deal, and as far as going forward, both sides seem up for it if the timing aligns and it makes sense economically. Aside from the Saudi Arabia shows, WWE really doesn’t have an event that generates the revenue to justify the type of money one would think a heavyweight champion would want, although with their huge TV revenue, you could do it for a WrestleMania, but the added revenue for a Mania that Fury would generate is unlikely to be enough to match the kind of money he’d want.


Even though Undertaker was used in the first announcement for the show [Crown Jewel] and he’s been a key part of the previous shows, neither he nor Bill Goldberg at this point are slated to be on the show, likely with the idea it makes no sense to have other outside attractions when you already have Velasquez and Fury.

Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan refused to work the last Saudi Arabia show and at this point neither are scheduled for this show either. Sami Zayn, who was not allowed to work any of the shows since this series began due to his ethnicity, is also not scheduled for the show at this point even though Shinsuke Nakamura is.

Kushida suffered a hairline fracture of the wrist on 9/18 in doing the angle with Imperium, but continued to work on it to do the planned program with Walter, and is now taking time off with the storyline that he was hurt in their 10/11 television match. He’s expected out for about a month.

The Wednesday night Wars on 10/16 saw AEW hold steady, although skew older in doing so, while NXT continued its decline.

AEW did almost the exact same audience as the week before on TNT, doing 1,014,000 viewers as compared to 1,018,000. However, last week’s actual live number was 1,140,000 because of Tru, and they also had tougher competition with a Major League Baseball game that did 5,856,000 viewers ...

On the positive side for a new entity, they were fifth on cable for the night, and second in their time slot behind only VH-1 programming in 18-49 overall, and second for the night, and first in their time slot, in males 18-49 ... They once again doubled NXT in 18-49, but even with no baseball, AEW dropped from 0.46 to 0.44 in 18-49 and NXT from 0.22 to 0.20 ...

AEW did a 0.20 in 12-17 (down 13.0 percent from the prior week), 0.29 in 18-34 (down 12.1 percent), 0.59 in 35-49 (identical to last week) and 0.33 in 50+ (up 10.0 percent). So basically it was growth over 50 that made up for losses under 35. The huge teenage and 18-34 audience they opened with has whittled and the older audience has stayed more steady ...

We didn’t get an AEW replay number but based on selected markets, it looks to have declined from the 360,000 the prior week ...

NXT fell another 10.0 percent this week to 711,000 viewers.

The show did a 0.14 in 12-17 (up 40.0 percent from the prior week, which was a good sign), 0.14 in 18-34 (down 6.7 percent), 0.26 in 35-49 (down 10.3 percent) and 0.35 in 50+ (up 29.6 percent).

In the segment-by-segment numbers, Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair gained 265,000 viewers. Andrade vs. Ali and the draft picks lost 259,000 viewers. Viking Raiders vs. Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler quarter first loss 176,000 viewers but the finish of the match and Aleister Black vs. Eric Young gained 144,000 viewers. Draft picks and the angle with the Street Profits vs. The OC lost 182,000 viewers. Ricochet vs. Shelton Benjamin and the Lana/Bobby Lashley segment gained 69,000 viewers. Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Natalya & Lacey Evans in the main event segment plus the burning of the Firefly Fun house lost 132,000 viewers. The overall peak quarter was 2,699,000 viewers for Flair vs. Lynch. The low point was the main event and Fun House segment with 1,826,000 viewers.

Regarding NXT Japan, here are a few notes that we know of. WWE was in talks in recent months to attempt to buy both Pro Wrestling NOAH and Stardom, which would have been the base of talent to start things out. However, neither group wanted to sell to an outside company which has a lot to do with a difference in mentality in Japan about selling businesses to foreigners. WWE was also involved in talks with a number of other promotions but we don’t know how serious they were. There were stories going around that WWE has hired or is in the process of hiring two major stars to be head trainers for a Japanese performance center. We have confirmed through WWE that Meiko Satomura, who may be the best woman wrestler in the world (most have either she or Io Shirai as the best) has been working for the company for some time, who was one of the names listed for that role, but that is the only name confirmed. At this moment, the other name going around, Daisuke Sekimoto, is not working for WWE. Jiro Kuroshio is slated to be one of the top stars for this group, which is notable because he’s been saying that he’s moving to the U.S. Another name going around is Sari Fujimura, 23, who is the current world champion of the Pro Wrestling Diana promotion under the name Saree.

In addition, the belief is that Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley will be on at least one of the shows [NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14]. Jericho would likely have a singles match with Tanahashi. Moxley could face Lance Archer, who captured the U.S. title at KOPW, which was vacated when Moxley couldn’t get to Japan in time for the show due to travel complications caused by the Typhoon Hagibis.

World Wonder Ring Stardom, the Japanese women's pro wrestling company best known as Stardom, has been sold to Kix Road, a subsidiary of Bushiroad, in a deal announced 10/17 in Japan ...

Ogawa had been approached in recent months by both Bushiroad and WWE, both of which wanted to buy the promotion. The WWE plans were to merge Stardom with a men’s promotion as NXT Japan and run it themselves. The Bushiroad idea was to keep Stardom as its own entity, allowing Ogawa to stay on and run the business ...

Ogawa wasn’t looking at selling when first approached in February by Bushiroad. This past summer, both WWE and Bushiroad were, independently, and not with knowledge of the other, looking to buy the group. Ogawa never strongly considered selling to WWE. Part of the situation was that Bushiroad had a battle plan for what they wanted to do, while WWE really didn’t, past the point they wanted to use the women to start NXT Japan. But they really didn’t seem to have a battle plan past the point they wanted to do it. There was no plan on who would run it, how it would be run, and it was likely to be merged with a men’s group or the women would be put on shows with men as WWE does things. There were no decisions on house shows, as NXT U.K. was supposed to have house show and now only does TV tapings and one or two big shows a year ...

However, WWE did offer to sign the entire roster to contracts and bring them in for WrestleMania week, and also to induct Ogawa into the Hall of Fame in 2020 if the deal went through. Bushiroad wanted to keep the Stardom structure as it was, with the same house show schedule, but build the stars and run occasional shows in larger arenas ...

What this means, with all the Japanese talent under contract, is that it would likely become the premier place for Japanese women talent, and it would become more difficult for WWE to sign their top talent, like they did with Io Shirai and Kairi Sane ...

With the company being backed by Bushiroad, it would enable them to pay more if necessary, if that is an issue, although WWE did not pay big money for Shirai and Sane, believed to be in the range of $60,000 per year for each to start, which is less than both were earning in Stardom. Sane likely makes more now working on the main roster than she did in Japan.

Bushiroad believes they can also enhance the product by making the characters more interesting. They have looked at hiring a coach/producer to help the women with new characters. One former New Japan wrestler was offered that position but turned it down last month.

Alex Greenfield, who has been one of the producers with MLW since its relaunch, is no longer with the promotion. He was an agent who would coordinate the crews and shoot stuff for the company at shows and coordinate some post production stuff. The company believed he was pitching himself hard to AEW but felt there were issues in how that was done, even though they consider themselves allies of AEW. Those internally said they felt they had no choice but to let him go.

PCO’s contract expires on 12/1, but he is expected to stay and ROH has been working hard to keep him and he was very happy how he was treated in the last year

Jake Hager had an agreement that he wouldn’t wrestle until after his fight for Bellator at the Mohegan Sun Casino on 10/25 on a show that will air on Paramount ... Hager noted with his gimmick in AEW as a badass MMA fighter, he really can’t afford a loss. His agreement was that he’s doing TV every week and taking Tuesday and Wednesdays as his days off training while training the other five days, but wouldn’t wrestle matches until after the fight to avoid the injury risk

The full lineup for this year's British J-Cup is now set.

Revolution Pro Wrestling has announced that PAC will be taking part in the eight-man tournament. It's being held at York Hall in London, England on Sunday, November 24.

Robbie Eagles, Amazing Red, El Phantasmo, Barbaro Cavernario, Michael Oku, Rocky Romero, Senza Volto, and PAC are the eight wrestlers in the tournament.

NJPW has set a date for Jushin Thunder Liger's final match in the United States.

It was announced tonight that Liger's last US match will take place at New Japan Showdown in San Jose on Saturday, November 9. Who Liger will be facing in the match has yet to be revealed.

The NWA placed tickets on sale Friday for their December 14th “Into the Fire” pay-per-view at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The 255 seat studio sold out on the first day without any match announcements. The company will run the pay-per-view on Saturday, December 14th on Fite TV followed by two nights of television tapings on December 15th and 16th.

Tribute to the Troops has been a WWE holiday tradition for 15 years now.

A report from PWInsider has revealed the details for this year’s taping of the special event. It will take place on Friday 12/6 in Fayetteville, North Carolina at the Crown Coliseum. This will be a special dual event. That week's SmackDown will be held on the same day in the same venue. Tickets will be available next Friday, October 25, 2019.


TPWW Frontpage:

More on Why Eric Bischoff Was Let Go By WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/more-on-why-eric-bischoff-was-let-go-by-wwe/)
MLW: MLW Could Be Gone From YouTube Soon, Women’s Division Launching Next Month (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/mlw-mlw-could-be-gone-from-youtube-soon-womens-division-launching-next-month/)
Velveteen Dream Injured, Could Be Out for a While (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/velveteen-dream-injured-could-be-out-for-a-while/)
Cain Velasquez Teaming With Rey Mysterio at Mexico City WWE House Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/cain-velasquez-teaming-with-rey-mysterio-at-mexico-city-wwe-house-show/)

[Sepholio]

Dream :(

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw, with both a lower rated NFL game and no baseball playoff competition, grew three percent from last week averaging 2.34 million viewers. It also didn't have the bad first-to-third hour drop at the level of last week.

The first-to-third hour drop of 12 percent is in the normal range as compared to the 21 percent drop last week, which was the eighth largest in history ...

What was notable is that women grew big in hour two, up 22 percent in hour two in 18-49, and more than 40 percent among teenage girls on a show with no women. Men 18-49 declined every hour with a first-to-third hour drop being nine percent, which is usual levels.

However, with teenagers, boys grew throughout the show and girls had a huge second hour increase and not nearly as big of a third hour drop ...

Raw was down eight percent from the 2.54 million viewers the show did last year on the same Monday, going against comparable television competition.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.48 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.37 million viewers
10 p.m. 2;18 million viewers


Sami Zayn has partnered with Pro Wrestling Tees to create a Sami vs. El Generico T-shirt. All of the profits will go toward Zayn’s Sami for Syria campaign.
Link: https://twitter.com/SamiZayn/status/1186764765219049472?s=20

Dave Meltzer notes that Alex Shelley is guest coaching at the WWE Performance Center for a week

Cody responded to someone on Twitter about AEW Dynamite ratings: “We are happy and our partner is happy. We overshot projections and set a record for a [WarnerMedia] debut. This is the era of cord cutting, simulcast and dvr bumps. We are proud of how incredible the numbers have been and know we need to work hard now more than ever.”

There was a scary scene at Arena Coliseo in Monterrey, Mexico on Sunday. La Parka (the second version, not LA Park) hit a suicide dive onto Rush and miscalculated the distance and smashed into the guardrail knocking himself out. La Parka was taken to hospital and was thought to be in bad shape. On Wrestling Observer Radio, it was reported that he had begun to get feeling back in his lower body and legs. Luchablog added that La Parka was set to go into surgery on Monday morning. Super Luchas is reporting that La Parka was diagnosed with a neck and cervical fracture.

Dorian Roldan of AAA spoke to the Caliente outlet regarding the status of La Parka. Roldan noted that he came out of surgery on Monday in stable condition. but the following 48 hours would be vital. He was treated for an injury to his fourth vertebrae following a dive to the floor on a KAOZ event at Arena Coliseo. La Parka’s feet clipped the middle rope and he crashed to the floor and hit the guardrail. He lost feeling in his hands and legs but was said to have regained the feeling prior to his operation on Monday morning.

Scott Fishman of TV Insider spoke with Matt & Nick Jackson on the early success of AEW Dynamite as well as the challenges of their scheduled and balancing their home life, the injury to Luchasaurus last week and how that affected the show, and also discussed the viewership figures over the first three weeks with Matt Jackson stating:

"I heard the expectations were possibly in the 400 or 500,000 range. The fact we crossed a million was great. I think opening we expected a big number. I don’t know if we expected the number, we got in 1.4. Of course, a week or two after there will always be a drop. We expected that.

If we can keep around a million, we’d be thrilled. That would be amazing. We’re such a brand-new thing for them. The next week is tough with Major League Baseball, NBA coming up. We understand that. This whole thing is a whirlwind. We are thrilled right now. And of course, you think about the other wrestling playing that night. And you want to best them, and the fact we are is great. We are also not taking that for granted because they have a great show too. Right now, we have one step foot forward and think about our brand, our television show and making it the best we can make it."

WWE on Fox Twitter account posted tweet asking fans to stop the "What?" chant that has since been deleted.

Since its inception earlier this year, All Elite Wrestling has trumpeted the fact that they take care of the wrestlers. Tony Khan revealed that he's created office positions for wrestlers as a way to ensure they get the benefits afforded to office members in other professions. Awesome Kong not only serves as a wrestler for AEW, but is also a coach for the women's division. Speaking to Collider Live, Awesome Kong discussed the differences in health care provided by AEW compared to WWE.

"From my time in WWE, what I understood was, if you got hurt in the ring then that is something they would take care of," recalled Kong. "However, your everyday exams and check-ups, that was something that you had to be responsible for. As an individual, it's hard and expensive to acquire such medical care with the profession we are in. When you have a company like [AEW] that's behind you and providing [medical care], that really makes it a lot easier on the pocketbook. Just to have that support of, 'these people don't see me as this product in a box. They see me as an actual person.' We had a meeting about concussions and their approach to it was full of humanity and putting yourself and your health first. For old school people, it's hard to comprehend because we'll literally break our neck and try to keep going. To have that attitude of care and putting talent before the bottom line is new for us and surprising, but appreciated."

Fightful was able to speak with a couple of people close to the WWE-Fox deal about the relationship between the two, which seems to still be doing swell.

One source at Fox said that the company is happy with WWE and how things have gone so far.

As far as the rest of the partnership, CM Punk did try out for WWE Backstage last month, but was not offered a deal by Fox. As mentioned before, Punk's tryout went well and he impressed the Backstage team, but it was left in the hands of higher ups at Fox that seemed like they'd "moved on" as recently as this week. Nothing is concrete in that regard, though.

The show is run through them, as opposed to UFC Tonight, which would see names get a check from the UFC instead of Fox. We're also told that WWE doesn't have much input on the WWE Backstage show, and it was originally set to feature more inside terminology and references than it does now, even.

In an update on the Maria Manic-ROH situation, Casey of Squared Circle Sirens indicated to Fightful that she's back with the company. Fightful was able to confirm the news, and heard that she got a good deal to return to ROH. We're told that Manic is back on a one year deal, salaried, and "non exclusive," but weren't given any indication on how expansive the latter part of the deal was.

FOX has a one-hour WWE Special scheduled to air this Sunday at 5 PM EST.

The title of the special has not been officially announced, but the description reads, "A profile of some of the greatest stars in wrestling and the sport itself."

Major League Wrestling's Court Bauer is slated for a series of TV meetings this week in Los Angeles, looking to lock in plans to add MLW's television and streaming footprint in 2020.

While the promotion is in the midst of a multi-year deal with BeIN Sport, an agreement that each side has been happy with, and are holding their first PPV on 11/9, their existing deals allow them the opportunity to create additional content for other outlets.

We are told the meetings are planned to explore what MLW can add beyond their BeIN Sport commitments and with AEW, WWE and Impact Wrestling all locked into existing deals, the belief is now is the time to strike to expand the company's footprint.

On Oct. 31, heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury will make his professional wrestling debut when he goes one-on-one with Braun Strowman. Reports have circulated that Fury will make $15 million for the bout, though those numbers have not been confirmed. ESPN's Ariel Helwani spoke with Fury and WWE Executive Vice President Triple H about the deal, and asked whether the $15 million number was true.

Fury replied, "That's what I've read. I don't know where that information has come from. But I'm not gonna confirm or deny. I don't want to breach my contract."

Triple H added, "It's amazing how much people count other people's money. You can make an argument right now that, if you said, what are the four big sports in America, you can make an argument that we're right there. I'm not gonna confirm or deny, but the positioning of what we are, it's no different than any other sport. We're not the size of the NFL or anything like that, but what we do is up there."


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Brandi No Longer Accompanying Cody to the Ring, Germany TV Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-brandi-no-longer-accompanying-cody-to-the-ring-germany-tv-deal/)
WWE: Firefly Fun House Returning on SD, Main Event Results, Rollins vs. Wyatt After Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-firefly-fun-house-returning-on-sd-main-event-results-rollins-vs-wyatt-after-raw/)
Impact: Reno Scum Sign, Match Pulled From PPV, Next PPV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/impact-reno-scum-sign-match-pulled-from-ppv-next-ppv/)
Xavier Woods Suffers Achilles Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/xavier-woods-suffers-achilles-injury/)
NJPW Announces New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/njpw-announces-new-japan-pro-wrestling-of-america/)

[Sepholio]

Damn that sucks about La Parka and Xavier Woods. Especially La Parka though. Hope he makes a full recovery.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I would like to see MLW expand. It's weird, because I don't follow them as closely as I could, and they are accessible on YouTube and such, but I feel that having a better deal would help them out tremendously. So much about wrestling is perception, I guess. I want them to be perceived as a bigger deal.

I want another big-time player to be in there with WWE and AEW. Neither product is really suiting me right now, and when Randy Orton's contract comes up, for example, the WWE/AEW dynamic is going to suit him, but selfishly it doesn't suit me as a fan.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I really do think we're going to see CM Punk back in the WWE very soon. He may not get the WWE Backstage deal, but from what I've heard, the show wouldn't suit him anyway. But I can see him doing some part-time stuff to try and get his name "hot" again.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

EVIL will miss the remainder of NJPW's Road to Power Struggle tour due to injury.

NJPW announced today that EVIL has suffered a left ankle injury and won't be wrestling on the rest of the Road to Power Struggle tour. EVIL's Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate BUSHI will replace him in the matches that he was scheduled for.

WWE officially announced on today's edition of "The Bump" that a "WWE 24" documentary on R-Truth is coming soon to WWE Network.

Lynell Jinks, creative director of Visual Concepts spoke to GameSpot about how it felt to create a WWE video game without the involvement of Yuke’s:

“I think freeing is the first feeling that you get. When you realize that now that all the ideas that you had and wanted to pursue are now at your fingertips, that’s the first feeling you have, and the second one you have is the reality, where that sets in where you’re like, ‘Oh, now that it’s all ours, that means that we have to write tools and write systems, and actually understand how these things were really put together.’ Every system in the game, every piece of code, and every art asset had to go through our pipeline — had to go through us, and it was our responsibility to make sure that we understood everything that we’re putting in the game from front to back, right? And this is 20 years of just Yuke’s code, Yuke’s art, Yuke’s pipelines that we had to take apart and understand. Not only understand, but make it ours and try to make it better at the same time, or make it as good as it was.”

Savio Vega sat down with Hannibal TV for an exclusive interview and revealed that former WWE United States Champion Carlito received a new contract offer from WWE:

“Carlito, they [WWE] tried to get Carlito back. I talked to him last week. I was with him, and I said, ‘Brother, just go there, get a contract, get whatever [amount of] money, higher every year, whatever, because you’re not gonna make that kind of money in the street. Make some money, leave OK. It’s good.’ If I had the opportunity, I’d do it.”

Savio then began talking about Primo and Epico Colon. The last time that Primo and Epico wrestled on WWE TV was in August of 2018. Their last documented match for WWE was a dark match this past February following an episode of SmackDown Live:

“His brother and Primo, I believe they finished. I don’t know if they finished yet. They probably don’t say it or they’re gonna do it this year coming up… next year because they’re working Puerto Rico.”

Pro Wrestling NOAH announced that current GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya is out of action for a week after injuring his cervical spine. It is noted in the article that there are no symptoms such as numbness or paralysis in the limbs. Kiyomiya is no longer competing at NOAH’s October 27th event but will be back in action on November 2nd.

On the most recent edition of Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s ‘X-Pac 12360’ podcast, Waltman talked about the criticism Marko Stunt received after his appearance on AEW: Dynamite and opened up about his own experiences as a smaller in-ring performer:

“The way I looked and how I was, you talk about Marko Stunt, oh f*** people laughed at me. The first time I got in the ring, I wrestled Ricky Rice, he’s built very well, I mean not huge but fn built well. And I was totally pale, skinny af, and so everyone laughed, they were all laughing at me as I come to the ring. So it took about a minute and then they were on their feet because I German-suplexed them, wrestled them, and then I dove out of the ring. No one had ever seen that kind of shit. So it didn’t take long, they took to me really quick, it was something different, everyone else were these big jacked up guys, and to be honest with you, a lot of them had this sense of entitlement. That they were from Minnesota and they were jacked up on the gas, and that they were gonna get a phone call.”

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet welcomed Jungle Boy and Kia “Awesome Kong” Stevens in-studio for an exclusive interview. Jungle Boy spoke about the criticism that Marko Stunt received following he and Marko’s AEW TNT debut:

“Yeah, its kinda been wild. Its been a lot bigger than I expected it to be. That whole day was kind of crazy stressful — that is not how I would’ve imagined my TV debut to go. But I was super happy, personally, with the match. Most of the feedback I guess, about Marko, it’s kinda just the same stuff always. I think that was his first time being introduced to a lot of people — being on a platform that big — it was for all of us but, with him, the thing is, it’s just… you’re kind of open to it or you’re not. I think Marko being so small, I think it maybe makes a lot of people feel not great about themselves, and I say that because I think there’s this attitude that bigger is better, and I think for him to be his size, which in a way, will hold him back a lot, but he’s out there doing what so many people have dreamed of doing and they’ve never been able to do it. I think that kind of just adds a little bit of insult to injury in their minds I guess, and I get it, but at the same — it’s not anything he has control over. I’m super proud of him, and I think if you can get past that, I think everybody should be super proud of him because not only is he doing something for anybody, it’s a huge thing, it’s a scary thing. He’s doing it his way, with what he’s always had to deal with and I think he’s killing it.”

WrestleVotes reports WWE is planning on bringing back the Stone Cold Podcast to the WWE Network.

Deadline reports former WWE superstar Christian and former UFC Champions Chuck Liddell and Luke Rockhold have signed for the film "Cagefighter," which also stars AEW wrestler Jon Moxley.

The movie follows MMA knock-out specialist Reiss Gibson (UK MMA fighter Alex Montagnani) climbing the MMA ranks before promoter Max Black (Gina Gershon) sets up a cross-promotional bout against pro wrestler Randy Stone (Moxley).

Christian has previously starred in the films "Shoot 'Em Up" and "SuperGrid." Liddell has been in multiple films and TV series, including "Workaholics," "Entourage," "Kick-Ass 2," "A Violent Man," and "How High." Rockhold has no film or television credits.

Production is set to start on Nov. 1 in Saskatchewan, Canada. The film is scheduled to release in quarter two of 2020 and is being sold by UK outfit Kaleidoscope with Calgary’s Anamorphic Media financing the project.

Jesse Quinones (Calloused Hands) is writer-director on the movie. Producers include Shayne Putzlocher (Cold Brook) and Jessica Gaube of Trilight Entertainment, Sara Shaak (Girl) of Anamorphic Media, and Lorianne Hall (Shoplifters of the World).

Though Big Show hasn't been on WWE television since November 2018, the "World's Largest Athlete" has kept busy filming "The Big Show Show" for Netflix. Ahead of WWE Crown Jewel, TMZ caught up with Big Show to get his thoughts on the showdown between Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar ...

Finally, Big Show was asked about criticisms of WWE booking as Velasquez is getting a WWE Title shot in his first bout. Big Show replied, "You're never gonna make everyone happy. Some people say, 'you're rushing too much' or 'you're taking too long.' Everyone is gonna have an opinion. My advice is to sit back, watch the show, and enjoy it. Quit trying to direct it."

Show also mentioned that he didn't have much room to talk as he wrestled Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Title in his first match.

Reddit user WrestlignGamer posted a list of talent who did motion capture work for WWE 2K20.

Aerial Johnson - Aerial Monroe
Austin White - Austin Theory
Brian Button - Brian Cage
Brianna Sparrey - Kylie Rae
Deveon Everhart Aikens - Dezmond Xavier
Drew Everett Wenkel - Andrew Everett
Jason Seaton - ??????
Allysin Kay - Allysin Kay / Sienna
Jessica Cricks - Jessika Havok
Jeff Cobb - Jeff Cobb
Jonathan Cruz Rivera - Jay Cruz
Kenny Layne - Kenny King
Kristen Stadtlander - Kris Stadtlander
Marty Elias - Marty Elias
Matthew Capiccioni - Matt Cross
Nicole Matthias - Nicole Savoy
Olivia Hasler - Penelope Ford
Peter Hernandez - The Librarian Peter Avalon
Rachael Ellering - Rachel Evers
Ronald Arneill - Tye Dillinger/Shawn Spears
Santana Garrett - Santana Garrett
Schuyler Andrews - Scorpio Sky
Shaun Ricker - Eli Drake
Stephon Strickland - Isaiah "Swerve" Scott
Tanea Brooks - Rebel
TJ Perkins - TJP
Trevor Lee Caddell - Cameron Grimes

Along with being a wrestler and coach for All Elite Wrestling, Awesome Kong plays "The Welfare Queen" Tammé Dawson on Netflix's GLOW. AEW President Tony Khan has hinted at AEW and GLOW working together in some capacity in the future and Awesome Kong dropped some more hints in an interview with Collider Live.

"Collectively, [GLOW castmates] were very excited for my return (to wrestling). They celebrated that and thought it was absolutely awesome. I can't make any promises, but I believe we might see someone (from GLOW) visit (AEW) at least. Could be cool. Nice little moment. There have been discussions about the possibilities of what that would look like and what we would do. Right now, there is a plan. And once those plans are realized, then we can get 'loosey-goosey' and see what else we can go onto next. We would have to be careful and make sure things fit together nice and it's something the fans can appreciate and not ridicule. Ya'll, sometimes it's hard to please them," said Kong.

As of now, nothing has been announced for an AEW-GLOW crossover.

CNN Business published a story on the declines WWE’s stock has seen this year.
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/investing/wwe-stock-smackdown-fox/index.html

WWE 2K20 received a 4.3/10 rating from IGN.

Jake Hager (formerly known as Jack Swagger) spoke to Sports Illustrated about the end of his time with WWE: “I was lost in the mix there [in WWE]. When I look now at guys like Cesaro, guys like Bobby Lashley, they’re just lost. When I look at them, that whole cloud of doom comes right back over me. I’m so glad I’m not in that. It’s something you deal with within big companies, but it’s also about how they treat their talent. They know exactly what they’re doing, and I hate to say it, but it’s on purpose.”


TPWW Frontpage:

AJ Styles Will Defend the US Title Against the Winner of a Battle Royal at Crown Jewel (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aj-styles-will-defend-the-us-title-against-the-winner-of-a-battle-royal-at-crown-jewel/)
AEW Dynamite Results – Oct. 23, 2019 – Moxley vs. Pac, Tag Title Tournament Semifinals (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-dynamite-results-oct-23-2019-moxley-vs-pac-tag-title-tournament-semifinals/)
NXT Results – Oct. 23, 2019 – Strong vs. Lee vs. Dijakovic (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nxt-results-oct-23-2019-strong-vs-lee-vs-dijakovic/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wouldn't mind seeing a Colons vs. New Day feud. Yeah, they've run that family into the ground, but Primo has always impressed me with his work in front of live crowds, and Carlito always had something there.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Against competition from both the World Series and NBA, AEW viewership dropped for the third straight week, averaging 963,000 viewers last night.

That's down five percent from last week and is the first time Dynamite has fallen below a million viewers. In the key 18-49 demo, Dynamite averaged a 0.45, which was actually up two percent and good for fourth place on the night in all of cable.

NXT on USA also dropped for the fifth straight week, falling two percent to 698,000 viewers. Like AEW, the rating in the 18-49 demo was also up. It increased five percent to a 0.21 and finished 21st overall on cable for the night.

Aside from people over 50 -- where the WWE product had an advantage of 0.33 to 0.25 -- Dynamite beat NXT in every ratings demo.

The over 50 demo was obviously the strongest for NXT. AEW was strongest in the 25-54 demo, where they averaged a 0.46 rating. One demo where they completely dominated NXT was in young males (12-34), where they had an advantage of 0.43 to 0.12, almost four times as many viewers.

If the Astros vs. Nationals goes to a seventh game, it would be played next Wednesday and go head-to-head with both programs.

A special edition of WWE Backstage has been added to FS1's schedule for tomorrow.

WWE on FOX's Twitter account posted a video today where Renee Young announced that a new episode of the Backstage studio show will air live immediately after Friday Night SmackDown at 10 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow.

Due to game three of the World Series being on FOX, tomorrow's SmackDown will air live on FS1.

Paige and Christian will join Young and Booker T on the WWE Backstage episode. Young noted that they'll be speaking to Finn Balor, who turned heel by attacking Johnny Gargano on this week's NXT.

Next week's episode of Dynamite will include a bit of collaboration between AEW and Adult Swim animated hit Rick & Morty.

After AEW teased the partnership for next week's show, Cody Rhodes posted a tweet with some more information: "SPOILER: fans attending this Wednesday in Charleston for the Halloween @AEWonTNT will receive @RickandMorty masks #AEW."

Season four of Rick & Morty will premiere on Adult Swim at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, November 10. TNT and the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim are both part of WarnerMedia.

AEW is set to crown its inaugural Tag Team Champions next week, and a Hall of Fame team will be playing a part in the process.

It was announced today that The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) will be appearing on next week's episode of Dynamite. They'll present the AEW Tag Team titles to the winners of the promotion's Tag Team Championship tournament.

Impact Wrestling co-executive vice president Scott D'Amore, Impact World Champion Brian Cage, and Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie were part of an hour-long conference call Thursday, hitting up a variety of topics on the company's past and future ahead of their official weekly AXS TV debut this Tuesday.

The whole call can be heard below, but a few highlights:

D'Amore addressed the rumor of the TNA brand returning for one night in April during WrestleMania weekend in Orlando. He said it's early in the process, but that "we don't run from our history, we embrace it."
On Kylie Rae returning to the company, "the door is certainly open if she is interested."
D'Amore and Valkyrie were asked a lot about intergender matches which D'Amore said they are proud to be at the forefront of. Valkyrie jokingly challenged Cage to a title match and Cage retorted with that it didn't go well for Valkyrie when they wrestled in another organization.
D'Amore said their rebuilding process is over and that they have spent two years putting out a great product. He talked about restoring trust in the Impact name. He said they had to rebuild that when he and Callis took over two years ago. After a lot of negativity in '18, he feels they have reclaimed a lot of that trust in '19, but need to keep at it."
D'Amore said that other wrestling organizations are competition, but in a good way. "While other companies are competition, they aren't enemies. For us to success, they don't have to fail. Competition breeds innovation. We need to answer the challenge," he said.



Because of Crown Jewel, next week's episode of NXT UK will premiere at 11 AM Eastern (4 PM GMT).

AEW NEWS AND NOTES
The plan for the end of last night's episode was for it to end as Kenny Omega hit the ring but he was a little late getting to the ring.

In another incident of AEW stepping in where NXT/NXT UK talent was originally scheduled, Private Party will be replacing Mustache Mountain on the International Wrestling Syndicate show in Montréal entitled One Night Only 11/8.

Tony Schiavone tweeted:
I am having more fun than I’ve ever had before calling wrestling. I hope everyone realizes that. Working with @JRsBBQ and @ShutUpExcalibur is a blast. And the @AEWrestling in ring works amazing
— Tony Schiavone (@tonyschiavone24) October 24, 2019

Per TVAzteca, Karis la Momia Jr. who is the son of La Parka stated that his father is in stable condition after attempting to hit a suicide dive in a match this past Sunday. La Parka crashed into a barricade head first. It is noted in the article that doctors planned to reevaluate La Parka on 10/24 and Karis la Momia Jr. sent his thank you’s to all who wished La Parka well.

WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins made headlines on Oct. 21 when he called AEW the "minor leagues" in a response to a question about when he would face Kenny Omega. Rollins was speaking at Fandemic in Houston and you can view his full comments by clicking here.

The comment was viewed by many as another jab between WWE and AEW, which began seemingly the moment All Elite Wrestling became a reality at the start of the year. Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho have taken similar strikes at WWE and NXT talent in recent months. However, AEW announcer Jim Ross didn't dismiss the comment as a light jab or "workers working."

"I'm pissed off about it," Ross said on the latest episode of Grilling JR. "It doesn't do any favors for our business. Any promotion, is bigger than any individual. I'm not inferring that Seth thinks he's bigger than the business. But, by what he says sometimes, you can make that assessment, rightly or wrongly. It's not a classy thing to say for an athlete of his designation.

"I talked to two Hall of Fame guys, off the record, that were embarrassed by those remarks as well. It doesn't do the business any good and one of these cats even said to me, 'Maybe Rollins is breaking under pressure because he's getting a lot of criticism.' Here's the deal, the WWE is a whole different world today than it was when guys were earning above their downside based on live events and pay-per-view. A guy like Steve Austin might be making $1 million a year, downside guarantee. But he might have a year where he could make $10 million, $13 million, $9 million. It's always over that. Now guys in WWE, like Rollins, is on a salary. In broad terms. I don't know how many houses Seth has drawn that has sold out. As another Hall of Famer mentioned to me, it's not about the individuals being over or drawing the house. It's about the WWE brand selling out."

Ross didn't let up on Rollins, saying, "Rollins is in a great spot, he's blessed, maybe someday he'll be as over as his girlfriend [Becky Lynch]. I don't know. I've always liked his work. He's a solid guy. But saying things like that makes him look bad. I feel bad for him. I was upset at Seth because I thought his comments made him sound bad. Made him sound bush league, like he was born on third base, woke up, and thought he hit a triple. I don't know what's happened to some of these guys. I don't know if it's internal, what they're driven to say, what they're obligated to say. They think it'll gain favor of their bosses. I don't know what the answer is."

Despite his criticism of Rollins' comments, Ross did admit that he believes Rollins is a great worker and that a match between him and Omega would be great.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling official Tiger Hattori will be refereeing CMLL’s November 15th show as a part of his retirement tour. Hattori’s last bout that he will officiate will be at the Tokyo Dome in January.

Josh Barnett announced the third installment of his Bloodsport event in conjunction with Game Changer Wrestling. The event is scheduled for WrestleMania 36 weekend in Tampa, Florida.

Sportskeeda has an interview published with Michael Nakazawa. Nakazawa shared that he is more involved in the backstage scene of All Elite Wrestling opposed to the in-ring portion. Nakazawa specifically mentioned assisting Kenny Omega and helping Japanese talent.

Deontay Wilder told SunSport he believes Tyson Fury is going to use a made-up injury after his match at Crown Jewel as an excuse to hold off he and Fury’s rematch:

“I’m not surprised he got into WWE. We’d been saying this a long time ago that he’s gonna try it, he’s been making excuses about the rematch. Now he’s got into the WWE, he’s gonna get ‘injured’, make up excuses and lo and behold, we’re already hearing about his sprained ankle. But yeah, he’s messing around with those big guys, but I do not want to hear no excuses, none, no excuses.”

Wilder also stated that he does not believe the reported number that WWE is paying Tyson Fury to be with the company. He questioned why WWE would even give that type of money to Tyson when he can’t sell out Las Vegas.

“I wish everyone well, especially fighters. We work so hard and put our lives on the line so whatever outside of boxing comes to us, I’m happy for everyone. I’m into acting, my thing is acting. I’ve been doing my thing, super busy, I got a lot of acting stuff, movies, a lot of sh*t presented to me. But I’ve been hearing some bits about the WWE. You know, some of the stuff I just don’t believe – like the $15 million. I just can’t see them giving Fury $15 million for what is a guest appearance, when the highest paid I believe is Brock Lesnar on $12 million. Why would they give that to a guy that can’t even sell out Vegas? In his first fight he sold 1,500 tickets, and the second he sold 3,500 tickets. The rest he gave away. Why would they give someone $15 million after that? It’s just like the ESPN deal, that was a lie. He was never getting $100 million. Even his promoter Bob Arum came out and said that’s not true. If everything goes perfect then maybe he got $100 million. A lot of it is smoking mirrors and clout chasing.”


TPWW Frontpage:

Interview: Tessa Blanchard on World Title, Her Father, Why She Signed With Impact (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/interview-tessa-blanchard-on-world-title-her-father-why-she-signed-with-impact/)
Women’s Tag Title Match & More Announced for Next Week’s NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/womens-tag-title-match-more-announced-for-next-weeks-nxt/)
Two More Matches Set for AEW Full Gear PPV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/two-more-matches-set-for-aew-full-gear-ppv/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Jim Ross isn’t wrong about Rollins, but AEW guys are just as insecure.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

For the ratings for last week in Canada, Smackdown on 10/11 for the draft dropped to 201,300 viewers, Raw on 10/14 was up to 294,000 viewers, NXT didn’t crack the sports top ten for its night while AEW fell to 108,000 viewers, which was a 29.4 percent drop, although those in Canada blamed this drop to the Toronto Maple Leafs playing head-to-head, which kills all competing sports

Orton got a lot of talk this past week with a tease on Twitter. He could just be having fun, but Orton’s ten-year WWE deal expires in 2020 and he’s in a great position to play both sides against each other, and that’s the smart thing to do. In the end, for someone like Orton, who is believed to be making in the $3 million per year range, and doesn’t work a full house show schedule, WWE is probably the better place. At 39, he may be able to get an even lesser schedule. Whether he’s the right mix for AEW is a question but next year you’d think they’d be looking for a big pick up and Orton would fit that bill, there’s the question if they want to spend at that level for a new guy.

There is a photo that shows Orton looking at a sign that says “Elite level” and had a caption that reads “tick tock tick tock.” He tagged Riddick Moss, Dawson, Wilder, Cody and Jericho. I’m not sure of the significance of Moss, who is a former college football player who is in NXT and is one of many there with potential kind of caught in the numbers game. The Revival, who Orton had teamed with on Smackdown until they were just separated, definitely had interest in AEW when their WWE deals expire since there’s a natural already made program with The Young Bucks ... Orton and Cody have a relationship as part of the old Legacy faction and Orton had inquired about AEW from the time of its launch, as a large number of WWE stars did ...

Orton once tweeted to Will Ospreay about wanting to face him and used the date June 2020, so the belief is that would be around the period when his deal expires. No matter what Orton wants to do, the smart thing is to, especially right now given his age, to use both sides to get the best offer, which at this stage is not just money, but schedule and perhaps putting a cap on professional legacy.

Kacy Catanzaro has been removed quietly from the WWE roster page. Nobody has confirmed she’s gone, but that is usually an indication. She had taken time off and was considering retiring but the last we’d heard was that she hadn’t made a decision

Even though Cain Velasquez said that WWE had given him permission to do one last AAA match, WWE’s official response to that is to say that the event that he was going to work was canceled, meaning the 10/13 show at The Forum in Los Angeles. Those at AAA believe that they have one date left with him

We have complete rundowns on how every segment did with almost every demo for the 10/16 Wednesday night Wars. For AEW, the show ranged from 1,174,000 viewers for the SCU vs,. Best Friends match that opened the show to 999,000 for the Chris Jericho vs. Darby Allin title match that ended it. The actual low point was 912,000 viewers for the beginning of the Pentagon & Fenix vs. Marko Stunt & Jungle Boy match.

As far as the segments, the Ortiz & Santana vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds match, the Jericho interview and the Cody video package lost 174,000 viewers ...

Riho vs. Britt Baker gained 3,000 viewers. Pentagon & Fenix vs. Stunt & Jungle Boy lost 17,000 viewers in total, which was a combination of losing 91,000 viewers early and gaining 74,000 late. Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Pac & Jon Moxley gained 71,000 viewers. Jericho vs. Allin lost 58,000 viewers ...

For NXT, the show opened at 732,000 viewers, the last quarter was 639,000, the overrun after AEW ended gained 127,000 viewers to 766,000 (so that would be a good estimate of the audience that NXT would gain without AEW) and it would be the first week where the overrun helped the final rating, as usually it either hurt it slightly or made no difference. The peak number was the overrun, followed by the Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic match that peaked at 740,000 viewers. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner lost 38,000 viewers. Io Shirai vs. Kayden Carter and the post-match with Rhea Ripley and Shirai gained 35,000 viewers. Lee vs. Dijakovic gained 10,000 viewers. A combination of Matt Riddle vs. Bronson Reed and Tegan Nox vs. Taynara lost 41,000 viewers. Killian Dain vs. Boa and a Finn Balor segment lost 5,000 viewers. Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest lost 54,000 viewers until AEW ended and then gained 127,000 at that point.

Keys are that while the overrun did show a crossover, if you look at comparisons, you don’t see a lot of crossover. Both shows dropped audience in the second quarter. Baker vs. Riho gained while Io Shirai vs. Cayden Carter also gained. Pentagon & Fenix match with Jungle Boy & Stunt lost while Lee vs. Dijakovic gained, but in the latter stages the Pentagon & Fenix match gained while Lee vs. Dijakovic held steady. Omega & Page vs. Moxley & Pac did gain strong at the same time NXT was falling with Riddle vs. Reed, Nox vs. Taynara and Boa vs. Dain, and one would think that would happen, but in some demos that was not the case. But AEW lost 58,000 in its final quarter at the same time NXT lost 54,000.

Key here is 18-34s appear to be interested in both as it picked up 44 percent when AEW ended, but in 35-49, the pick up was only seven percent (misleading because it was 49,000 to 52,000 among women, but 93,000 to 122,000 among men) and for teenagers it was only 2.5 percent while for over 50 it was 15.3 percent. So basically, the crossover is big in 18-34 across the board, and in 35-49 with men but not with women and noticeable but not nearly as large over 50

WWE also talked a few months ago with Dragon Gate, talking about buying it to become the transition for NXT Japan

One of the reasons for going with an all Japanese hierarchy for New Japan Pro Wrestling of America was an overreaction to vocal fans who had complained that under Meij, they had tried to Americanize New Japan and not give the U.S. the authentic product. The reality is that Americanizing drew better, and the complaints would come after shows where the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega would get the biggest reactions and the fans would complain they were catering too much to the American audience by featuring them ... The funny part of this is that Meij never had a hand in the booking, and all those decisions on the U.S. shows were made by Gedo ...

It is notable that Takaaki Kidani of Bushiroad had hired Harold Meij to head up these expansion plans, and neither Meij nor his lead hire, Michael Craven, who is from the Vancouver area, are part of the new company ... Ohbari was a Bushiroad business employee who was moved into the New Japan office in 2018. Ohbari was actually a Meij hiring in February, and while new to pro wrestling, he’s an experienced businessman ... Some believe he’s being groomed to be the backup for Harold Meij in the company ...

Ohbari called the creation of the new subsidiary company as stage three of their U.S. market strategy. Stage one was opening up the dojo in Carson, CA, and stage two was running occasional live events.

While nothing was said about the relationship with ROH, the fact they’ve had access to no New Japan talent in a few months is telling, particularly with the recent Global Wars touring being only CMLL wrestlers, who have little U.S. drawing appeal. Aside from Jeff Cobb, there is nobody from ROH who has been working for New Japan and Cobb with New Japan predates his signing with ROH. It will be interesting if Cobb works New Japan U.S. shows, or if Cobb, who is a big fan of working for New Japan, even gets offered a full-time New Japan deal and leaves ROH ...

New Japan itself took a hit as far as its drawing potential in this market with the development of AEW. And New Japan running a full-time U.S. company probably means, at least for the time being, a relationship with AEW would be out the window ... I think the one thing that hurt attempts to combat WWF in every time period was when the top non-WWF talent was fragmented rather than united.

The plan is to run shows in arenas that hold 2,000 fans or less. With so many events, meaning having to draw from local markets rather than fly ins, that is the right size. But it also means you’re going to mostly cater to a very small fan base ... The idea is to run more events, and not bigger buildings. The idea is to grow from there, and build to running major arenas. New Japan has maybe 1,700 tickets out for the San Jose show in a 2,500-seat building, and has plenty of tickets remaining for a Monday night show at the Globe Theater, which PWG sells out routinely at barely 600 people.

The NWA PPV show on 12/14 in Atlanta is sold out, although that’s in a 250-seat television studio, but it also sold out instantly. Right now the idea is to run weekly television on YouTube until a few weeks before the show, and then do “10 Pounds of Gold” shows weekly leading up to the PPV. Then they’ll tape maybe seven weeks of new TV after the PPV that will build for a live Clash of Champions like YouTube special which would start the next set of tapings, and those tapings would build to another PPV. Right now the plan is four PPVs per year, but like everything, the more they learn, the more things can change. The hope for now is that they can sell ads within their show because they reach a specialized 18 to 44 male audience, and with merch revenue, PPV revenue and other things, that it can be viable financially to continue with this model. It’s also a good place for talent to showcase themselves if they can get in, because you are given a direction and ideas, but you do your own promos and work your own style.

In the U.K., the AEW Sunday morning show has been dropped, but the Friday night time slot has been moved up to 10 p.m. on ITV 4, which is a major upgrade from an 11:20 p.m. start ...

The Sunday morning show on ITV 4 at 8:20 a.m. averaged 24,000 viewers, which was down 34 percent. Really, the most impressive U.K. number for the past weeks may have been Impact, which did 77,000 viewers on 10/18, which was more than AEW did live the previous Friday. WWE numbers have been bad, as the 10/14 Raw did 38,000 viewers, down from 48,000 for the 10/7 show that featured Tyson Fury, who is a huge name in the U.K. Smackdown on 10/18 was down to 23,000 viewers. Raw on 10/21 did 3,000 viewers. It was so bad people thought it was a computer glitch but we’re told the data was sound

Regarding Kenny Omega and the AAA heavyweight title, this was not a long-term program worked out between AEW and AAA like the Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix program in AAA and AEW over the AAA tag titles, where both companies worked it all out ahead of time. This is more of a thing in progress. Omega’s title win was acknowledged by AEW, unlike Jon Moxley’s New Japan U.S. title. Each situation is different. Tony Khan said that obviously the relationship between AEW and AAA is very different from the non-relationship with AEW and NJPW, plus he noted it was their U.S. title, not the IWGP heavyweight title, which he’d have considered acknowledging if one of his guys wins it (which isn’t going t happen right now).


Unlike the last Saudi Arabia show, where the government gave WWE the impression they would allow women on the show, to the point the Natalya vs. Alexa Bliss match was quietly booked and both were flown over, and the rug was pulled out, we’ve heard nothing in that direction so far this time for Allahween Havoc.

WWE, which, due to controversy last year, would not mention Saudi Arabia in the promotion of the recent shows, has mentioned the country on television. Paul Levesque at the press conference opened up talking about how huge Riyadh season, as it’s being called in Saudi Arabia, with various forms of entertainment involved.

In regard to questions we have received about the long-term status of Cain Velasquez and Tyson Fury, here is where things stand with them:

Tyson Fury - He has been working out at the WWE Performance Center with Jonny Moss in preparing for his bout with Braun Strowman this Thursday at Crown Jewel. As of this week, that is his only planned WWE appearance and he is not signed to anything with the company. We are told that he's absolutely loved his time with the company and is open to doing more down the line, however.

Cain Velasquez - The former UFC Heavyweight Champion has signed a multi-year deal (believed to be three years) with WWE and will be appearing regularly for the company going forward.

TMZ.com released video footage of the 7/25 arrest of WWE star Jimmy Uso (Jonathan Solofa Fatu) in Pensacola, Florida th

In the video, Uso's car is seen swerving on the road and pulls over after the police turn their lights on. He is polite with the officers and admits that his swerving and speed (85 mph in a 45 zone) were both "stupid." Once he realizes he is being asked to take tests to measure his level of intoxication (Uso had admitted to having a glass of wine at dinner "two hours ago"), he begins to get more aggressive and asks to record the officers and for his lawyer to be present, consistently asking if he's being arrested or detained. He is finally placed under arrest and put into the police car.

The Usos have not been used regularly by WWE since the arrest. The case against Uso is still open.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia9L_ho8fKE

For those in Canada, AEW Dynamite will be airing on TSN 2 next Wednesday after originally being scheduled for TSN 3. The Wednesday night program will run on TSN 2 on October 30th, November 6th, November 13th, November 20th, and November 27th. TSN has not finalized its schedule beyond that but Dynamite will have a consistent channel destination at least through the end of November.

This Sunday's FOX special at 5 PM Eastern (check your local listings and affiliates) is slated to be a one-hour version of this week's Smackdown.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that "a handful of wrestlers in the middle and lower parts of the card" in IMPACT Wrestling were told they would be given a raise prior to Friday's television tapings in Windsor. Other wrestlers were reportedly told on Sunday at Bound For Glory.

Wrestlers who were told they would receive a raise include IMPACT Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page), X-Division Champion Ace Austin, The Rascalz (Trey, Wentz, & Dez) and Knockouts wrestler Jessicka Havoc.

Satin reports "management wanted to give back to the men and women who’ve sacrificed their bodies to help the company as of late."

It is unclear how significant the raises are, but Satin reports everyone in the locker room was happy with the increase, with one wrestler reportedly "almost brought to tears."


TPWW Frontpage:

CNN Business Releases Report on WWE’s Declining Stock Value This Year (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/cnn-business-releases-report-on-wwes-declining-stock-value-this-year/)
NXT Looking to Broadcast from Other Arenas Next Year (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nxt-looking-to-broadcast-at-other-arenas-next-year/)
AEW: Dynamite Beats Raw in NYC, Extended Dynamite Episode Tonight (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-dynamite-beats-raw-in-nyc-extended-dynamite-episode-tonight/)
Xavier Woods Has a Torn Achilles, Will Be Out for Several Months (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/xavier-woods-has-a-torn-achilles-will-be-out-for-several-months/)
Luchasaurus Injury Not as Bad as Originally Feared (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/luchasaurus-injury-not-as-bad-as-originally-feared/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hang on, so Marko Stunt actually attracting viewers is BS? It’s more likely people tuned out of the match and waited until that shit was over?

[Emperor Smeat]

No, the match still gained the most for AEW since that's 74k by the time it ended and not all of a sudden. It was only a net loss since it didn't make up the 91k drop between the previous segment and start of the match.

Same for Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest was NXT's biggest decline in viewers until the over-run kicked in and turned that match into a net gain. The over-run also had the biggest audience gain for NXT meaning they didn't tune in specifically for that match but because AEW's show ended.

[Mr. Nerfect]

But the viewers left at the start of the match.

[Emperor Smeat]

Yeah but it still gained 74k viewers by the end of it which was 3k more than what Omega/Page vs. Moxley/PAC did despite being a net loss in the end.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

A Raw episode built around the Rusev and Lana marriage split angle last night ended up doing the third-worst non-holiday number in the modern history of the show.

The show did 2.13 million viewers on average, barely beating the September 9 episode this year and the June 10 episode against the NBA finals. The only other shows finishing lower were on this past Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Football hurt, as it does all fall, but that's not the excuse since the Pittsburgh Steelers-Miami Dolphins game did 9.98 million viewers, the lowest Monday game so far this season.

It was a nine percent drop from last week with lesser competition, with significant losses in every hour ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.33 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.15 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.93 million viewers


The third drop experienced an additional drop of 10% with the show built around the Divorce Court segment involving Rusev, Lana, and Bobby Lashley. Despite the success the segment saw on YouTube, the viewing pattern of the show told a different story regarding people sticking around for the third hour. The final hour of Raw was the fourth-lowest third hour of 2019.

The major loss was seen among female viewership with women 12-34 down 21% from last week’s show and a tune-out of 19% from the first to the third hour. Among women 18-49, they were down 12.5% from last week and down 26% from the first hour of the show to the third hour.

The only key demographic that stayed steady was males 18-49 where they were up 1% from last week but dropped 13% from the first hour to the third.
More on this week's RAW viewership.

Steve Austin's new show on the WWE Network called Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, which will be interview segments with different wrestlers, debuts Thursday on the WWE Network. Austin's prior interviews were the most-watched non-PPV programming on the network in the past.

In regard to a question we have received about XFL Players' potential of playing for the NFL, we are told that the current contracts allow a player to leave for the NFL after the existing XFL season is completed. So, if someone goes on a tear in the inaugural season, they would be free to sign with an NFL team (if there was interest in them) after the XFL season has been completed.

Mike Johnson at PWInsider reports JoJo Offerman will be back on the road with WWE on Monday, Oct. 28. She is scheduled to be backstage at WWE Raw, though it is not known if she will appear on television or in social media segments.

JoJo has been off the road since January as she was pregnant with Bray Wyatt's child. She gave birth to Knash Sixx Rotunda in May.

For those of you in Canada, AEW Dynamite this week will air on TSN 2.

We have heard the Friday 10/25 Dynamite replay on TNT, which featured an "extended" five minutes of content, brought in either 254,000 or 255,000 overnight viewers.

TNT is not scheduled to air a replay of AEW Dynamite tomorrow night at 10 pm eastern. For the first three weeks, they ran a replay immediately after the live broadcast but didn’t air one last week. TNT will be running a one-hour version of Dynamite on Saturday morning at 9 am.

John Cena announced yesterday that he is planning on donating $500,000 to a charity of Paramount Pictures’ choosing as long as it aids first responders. Paramount Pictures responded by saying they would be donating the money to the Los Angeles Fire Department and the California Fire Foundation. Fires have been raging in California in the last week, forcing evacuations.
Link: https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/1188965875141038084

Seth Rollins did a promo after his match last night talking about his perceived lack of respect, saying “There's been a lot of disrespect lately, I feel like. The Fiend is cool, fresh, and new and has this cult following. And that just puts a chip on my shoulder. I feel like I'm out here every single week, busting my back, breaking my back, putting this whole company on my back sometimes. And I don't get the respect I deserve because there's this new flavor of ice cream.”

Musician Poppy is advertised for tomorrow's episode of NXT.

The Chicago Cubs jobber team from last night’s Raw were Mike Sydal (brother of Matt) and Kyle Roberts.

A pre-Crown Jewel media event will stream live on the WWE Network and WWE's YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts early Wednesday morning.

It was announced today that "WWE Superstars are set to meet the media in Saudi Arabia one day before they take center stage at WWE Crown Jewel." The media event will begin at 4 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow (October 30).

The Crown Jewel pre-show will begin at noon Eastern this Thursday, with the main card starting an hour later.

Less than two weeks before they were supposed to take place, ROH has postponed their two November shows in Texas.

The ROH shows that were set for Gilley's Dallas in Dallas, Texas on November 9 and The Aztec Theatre in San Antonio on November 10 will no longer be taking place on those dates. They've been postponed to June 5 and June 6, 2020.

Ahead of their first pay-per-view, MLW has confirmed a behind-the-scenes addition to the company.

It was announced via Sports Illustrated today that Chris DeJoseph has joined MLW as a co-executive producer. DeJoseph was formerly an executive producer for Lucha Underground and was also part of the WWE writing team for six years during his career.

As PWInsider.com reported earlier, Hulk Hogan's plane landing in Iceland led to several burst tires, preventing Hogan and Jimmy Hart from continuing on to Saudi Arabia. While Hogan did not mention it on his videos, likely to prevent the current storyline, Ric Flair was also traveling with him. Hogan stated earlier that a "friend from Minnesota" offered them seats on his plane to allow them to continue on to Saudi Arabia on schedule.

PWInsider.com has learned that friend was actually Brock Lesnar as his plane to Saudi had stopped in Iceland as well, likely to refuel. So, Hogan, Flair and Hart jumped on Lesnar's flight.

WWE announceed this afternoon that tomorrow at 7 PM EST, the USA Network will be airing a one-hour version of last week's WWE NXT episode, which ended with Finn Balor turning on and attacking Johnny Gargano.

One would think the strategy here is to get fans to watch NXT and continue watching, as opposed to switching over to AEW on TNT.

In an interview with Marca.com, Rey Mysterio noted that his son Dominick is slated to begin training at the WWE Performance Center in 2020.

Corey Graves was interviewed about the forthcoming WWE Podcast he will be hosting by Newsweek at this link. On getting involved with the project, Graves said, "WWE reached out to me. I heard mumblings of a podcast partnership for the last year or so, and this place is so big that you can't believe anything until you see it. So I got a call about a month, maybe two months ago, asking if I'd be interested in hosting the WWE flagship podcast. For me that's a great compliment because it's a big undertaking and the company is putting a lot of effort into this, so I was flattered to be the first one asked to do this and be entrusted with the keys to the castle. The first question I asked when they approached me about the podcast was, "is this going to be a WWE fluff piece?" And they assured me that it wouldn't because I said "if you want me to go on and talk about how great everything is and put my head in the sand and not talk about things that most podcasts cover then I wasn't interested." They assured me that I am allowed to rock the boat a little bit. That to me was very exciting."

The Jordan Myles situation boiling over has plenty of people talking, among those is WWE Hall of Famer Booker T.

A situation unfolded over the weekend where Myles went off on WWE brass for pushing through a WWE t-shirt featuring his name that appeared to utilize black face.

After being tagged in numerous tweets about the matter, Booker spoke of it on his Youtube channel Monday.

"I've been a part of WWE since 2001, and I've had several t-shirts. Every t-shirt all the way up to the hall of fame, they came up to me and gave me several designs. Even back to WCW, I was always a part of the process. I don't know how this t-shirt got out without him knowing about it first and foremost," said Booker.

Beyond Booker's feelings about the situation, he didn't think the shirt was created with malice, but that it was a garbage looking shirt. He also feels like racial controversies are cooked up out of nowhere.

"It's not our job to step up and defend Jordan Myles over his t-shirt. One thing I will say, it's not a good looking t-shirt. It's an ugly shirt. The t-shirt has a black background to it, 90 percent of the shirts have a black background to it. Did it look like black face? Maybe to some people on social media said that. There's a lot of negative people on social media who are looking for anything to make racial. It happens all the time. I can't think the guys went into it (looking) to make a racial shirt about Jordan Myles. To me, the firestorm is not worth going through this," Booker stated.

The WWE Hall of Famer continued to sound off on the controversy by taking the former ACH to task for voicing his grievances on social media. To Booker, unless he's getting paid by his social media following, the issues are meant for WWE and Myles to directly handle.

"Is it something that should have been talked about? Yes. This going to social media crap is the worst thing I've seen in my life. Your business and your job is your business, with that company. It's not for the world to come in. I don't know the last time someone on social media signed my check. Because they don't sign your check they shouldn't know what you're doing? You're damn right! It should be handled, and handled behind closed doors. I've had many racial issues I've dealt with in this business, and none of them have been on social media. There has never been a racial issue that has gone over my head or I've swept under the rug. Every time anyone has said anything racial to me, I've handled it. To hear this Uncle Tom crap -- I heard Jay Lethal's name. I've heard people call me an Uncle Tom, I wish they'd do it to my face, I'll show you what an Uncle Tom looks like, if you do it in public," said Booker T, before clarifying he wants social media complaints reduced.
In regards to Booker's claims that talent are involved throughout the design process, Myles provided the receipts denying that to be the case in NXT. Deadspin's Bixenspan also provided evidence from others in NXT supporting Myles side in that part of the dispute.


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Judges Will Decide Cody vs. Jericho Match In Case of a Time Limit Draw (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/judges-will-decide-cody-vs-jericho-match-in-case-of-a-time-limit-draw/)
Jordan Myles Says His Tweets Were “Disrespectful and Unprofessional” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/jordan-myles-says-his-tweets-were-disrespectful-and-unprofessional/)
Jay Lethal Suffers a Broken Arm (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/jay-lethal-suffers-a-broken-arm/)
Identity of the Masked Luchadora Who Debuted on Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/identity-of-the-masked-luchadora-who-debuted-on-raw/)
NXT Wrestlers Have Reportedly Not Gotten Pay Raises, Despite Millions from USA TV Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/nxt-wrestlers-have-reportedly-not-gotten-pay-raises-despite-millions-from-usa-tv-deal/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

NXT and AEW will both face competition from game seven of the World Series tonight. The Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros last night to extend the series, with last night’s game drawing more than 16 million viewers on FOX.

With the seventh game of the World Series tonight, AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT will face a massive distraction to their audiences tonight. This is how they and their respective cable networks plan to battle the threat:

AEW - TNT will air an immediate replay of Dynamite at 10 PM EST when it goes off the air live.

WWE NXT - The USA Network will air a one hour replay version of last week's NXT at 7 PM EST. They will air the live two hour broadcast at 8 PM. They will then, for the first time, air an immediate NXT replay at 10 PM EST.

So, each network is hoping that fans who are watching Major League Baseball live will check out their respective replays after the game ends.
The AEW Dynamite portion of the report ended up being wrong since TNT is currently airing a movie instead.

WWE trademarked "UUDD" on 10/22 for clothing purposes. That's the Xavier Woods YouTube gaming channel.

Natalya tweeted the following:

The world will be watching. I am so incredibly proud to represent our women’s division tomorrow night at #WWECrownJewel. It’s time to bring your best, Lacey. pic.twitter.com/TeglMWzbZM
— NattieByNature (@NatbyNature) October 30, 2019

WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins was one of the first guests on the After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves. Seth had the opportunity to further address the comment he made about Kenny Omega at a recent Q&A session during-which Rollins referred to All Elite Wrestling as the ‘minor leagues’ when asked about a potential match-up between himself and Omega:

“So, that was fun. We do Q&A sessions and so I had somebody ask me about a potential match-up between Kenny Omega and myself. Kenny and I worked together at Ring of Honor, nine, ten years ago or whatever it was. Maybe a little longer even, and we worked with each other and had some really good matches and I had a great rapport with Kenny. I actually considered him a pretty good friend and stuff and he told me about his time in developmental because he signed to WWE in Deep South [Wrestling] for a little while. He ended up getting sick of it and quitting and stuff like that and went on to have great success in his own right. But yeah, no ill will towards Kenny Omega and I’ve seen Kenny’s stuff since then and he’s an incredible performer but again, if I just sit there and say, ‘Oh, Kenny Omega, what a talent. I would love to wrestle him someday.’ Womp womp. That doesn’t make a headline man. That’s boring, then J.R. has nothing to talk about. God, just let us hate each other. Look, Kenny is great. Kenny’s gotta prove himself in the WWE. So, that’s what I was saying. It is what it is. WWE is the top of the mountain. I’m the guy sitting at the top of the top of the mountain and so if Kenny wants to come and like I said, play in the major leagues, get out of the minor leagues or whatever then that’s fine. The bottom line is, I [asked] Kenny to come to me because I’m not going to him anytime soon.”

Over the summer, Seth Rollins made some enemies online when he got into a back-and-forth with Will Ospreay over who the best wrestler in the world is, with both Rollins and Ospreay laying claim to the title. The discussion quickly went off-topic as Rollins brought up his bank account compared to Ospreay's. The comment didn't go over well with fans, but Rollins explains that he was just having some fun.

"To me, a big part of being one of the best is being able to draw money," Rollins told Corey Graves on After The Bell. "That's what our industry is at the end of the day and people don't like that for some reason when it came from my mouth. When other people talk about it, say Cody Rhodes or Sasha Banks, they're cool. But if I come right out and say, 'I've drawn more money than you over the last however many years' I'm the bad guy. Fine. I'll be that guy. I've got nothing but respect for Will Ospreay. It's cool that he stepped up and we got into a spat. If we're all buddies and friends, that's lame. I can be the most humble dude on the planet, but that's boring. Twitter is a place where you have fun."

Keith Lee spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated prior to the 10/30/19 edition of NXT. Lee was asked about the Jordan Myles t-shirt situation and Lee had the following to say about the way black wrestlers and their characters are treated in WWE:

“My character isn’t a character. Keith Lee is Keith Lee. There’s not really a character involved here, so it’s hard for me to really answer that. I’m me, and the only thing that was ever given to me was ‘Bask In My Glory,’ which is thanks to Dusty Rhodes. So I can’t really have qualms about how I represent myself, because it’s by choice. In terms of story, its taken some time to get where I am. But with the work and buzz I’ve created, I’ve put myself in a position where I’m given opportunities that I feel like I deserve. My job is to continue to produce results, ones that continue my narrative—that Keith Lee is everything he says he is, and then some.”

According to the Orlando Business Journal, between 2022 and 2025 is a timeline that the city wants to host either a WrestleMania, SummerSlam and/or Survivor Series.

Nick Hausman welcomed IMPACT World Champion Sami Callihan onto the WINCLY podcast and Sami revealed that he is under contract with IMPACT Wrestling until December of 2020:

“I’m tied in with IMPACT Wrestling until next December. Not this one coming up. The one coming afterwards but right now, that’s not even on my mind. My mind right now, is being the full force behind saving IMPACT Wrestling and I think I’ve done exactly just that.”

AAA held a press conference today. It was announced during the presser that Kenny Omega will defend the AAA Mega Championship on December 1st.

Stephanie McMahon told Bleacher Report about why Natalya and Lacey Evans were chosen for WWE’s first women’s match in Saudi Arabia: “Natalya is somewhat of a legend in the women's division. She is the veteran. She has been here for so long, been a part of so many of the changes that have happened. When you consider her legacy and family history, it's pretty remarkable. You take Lacey Evans, who is fairly new on the scene but who has not been shy about sharing her perspective on overcoming, especially in her life and the things she's been through. She has a young daughter and she wants to set an example and pave the way not only for her daughter but boys and girls all around the world. That's their personal stories. I can't think of better representatives for WWE. You can go on their social media. They've made some pretty awesome statements."

Stephanie noted that Natalya and Evans’ ring gear will be different than what it normally is: “I haven't seen the designs but I do know there are certain restrictions and we want to be respectful of the culture. Their costuming will be different than what you would see in a typical WWE show.”

Stephanie also confirmed that another Evolution PPV is most likely not going to happen this year: “We did consider it. A lot of our focus has been on having this particular match as a part of this PPV in Saudi Arabia. More to come on Evolution but it's most likely not going to happen in 2019.”
Her comments about Evolution 2's postponement contradicts Triple H's comments he made a while ago. According to Triple H, Evolution 2 was postponed due to them being very busy with getting things ready for the start of their new tv deals and juggling a bunch of events at the same time.

Diamond Dallas Page joined Wrestling INC’s WINCLY podcast and talked about his recent appearance on AEW: Dynamite and made it clear that he has not signed a deal with the company and everything he does with AEW is for Cody Rhodes.

“I wasn’t supposed to be at the AEW show. Cody called me — he was like, ‘Hey, can you do this?’ And I go, ‘Yeah, okay’.” He continued, “I started with Cody on this. First of all, I don’t have a contract. I’m not employed by AEW. I’m doing this for Cody, and you have to understand that it’s a thing of… I’ll give you an example: Without Dusty Rhodes, there’s no Diamond Dallas Page. I don’t have… I probably don’t — I’m positive I don’t have everything that I’ve been able to accomplish, and a lot of it had to with The Dream giving me the opportunity. Well, being as close as we were, you know, I’ve known Cody since he was 12 years old and we just hit it off immediately.”

DDP went on to explain that the reason he hasn’t signed with AEW is that he wants to continue working with WWE:

“And I also wanted him to know as this was starting to grow, the reason I’m not gonna take a contract with AEW is because I still wanna work WWE, because my fitness and wellness plan is really important to me and I know how Tommaso [Ciampa] and [Johnny] Gargano and Lacey Evans and the people who are there I’ve done it with — Shayna [Baszler]. All the different artists that are there and I helped them by getting them in my program and helping them. So I wanted to help the boys and the girls, and of course AEW, but WWE, I’ve been doing for years. So I didn’t really want to take any kind of contract, but when I talked to Code about it, I also wanted him to know that if I was giving him any kind of advice, it wouldn’t be tainted.”

Scott Stanford, Charly Caruso and David Otunga will be part of the WWE Crown Jewel kick-off panel. The 20-man battle royal with the winner receiving a United States Title shot will be part of the kick-off show.

The WWE on Fox official Twitter account has earned high marks from other Twitter users for interacting with fans and making jokes at the expense of reports and reporters. But the person behind the account admitted to making a poor tweet on Monday.

The account posted a photo hyping Raw featuring Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Erick Rowan, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, and Kairi Sane. All six were advertised for big matches or segments at the show, but one user wondered where were the people of color. WWE on Fox replied, "What do you think Kairi Sane is?" The tweet was deleted after backlash from fans.

A "person of color" is defined as "a person who is not white or of European parentage."

In a post on Reddit, the WWE on Fox social media team admitted to making a mistake.

"It was a bad tweet our on end. We shouldn't have even replied, or we could've used other examples like The Street Profits, R-Truth etc. But we just should've stayed quiet. Mistakes happen, and this was on us."

A reply to the Reddit post said "While I can see why you'd think responding to that wasn't necessary, I personally thought it was quite enlightening to those who are ignorant of the fact that the Japanese are also PoC." The WWE on Fox account responded, "Imagine if they found out that I'm hispanic."

This isn't the first time the WWE on Fox account has deleted a tweet. A tweet asking fans to stop chanting "What?" was deleted on Oct. 21 during Raw. The team later admitted that the timing of the tweet was poor as it took away from WWE Raw. The social media team also deleted a tweet following WWE Hell in a Cell where they declared 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt the winner over Seth Rollins by disqualification. The match was officially ruled a "match stoppage."
Link: https://twitter.com/TheBarrylad/status/1188965053967372288 , https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/dohphy/wwe_on_fox_tweet_that_was_deleted_immediately/f5o15qo/

Jordan Myles noted that all of the proceeds from his “F%#k Racism, Watch Wrestling” shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees will go to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Link: https://twitter.com/GoGoMyles/status/1189546771837603840?s=20

MJF will join Excalibur on commentary for the episode of AEW Dark that’s being taped tonight.


TPWW Frontpage:

Starrcast Releases Full Schedule for Starrcast IV Convention (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/starrcast-releases-full-schedule-for-starrcast-iv-convention/)
Various: Rusev & Lana Angle Doing Well on YouTube, Ratings Likely to Be Hurt By World Series Tonight (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/various-rusev-lana-angle-doing-well-on-youtube-ratings-likely-to-be-hurt-by-world-series-tonight/)
“First Ever” Women’s Wrestling Match in Saudi Arabia Announced for Crown Jewel (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/first-ever-womens-wrestling-match-in-saudi-arabia-announced-for-crown-jewel/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Going up against game seven of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, AEW and NXT ratings were both significantly down from last week.

AEW did an average of 759,000 viewers, down 21 percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show finished sixth overall on cable with a 0.33 rating, down 27 percent from the previous week, which aired against game one of the World Series.

NXT wasn't down quite as much in terms of either audience or the key demo. NXT averaged 580,000 viewers, which was down 14 percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show did a 0.18, down 17 percent.

The strongest demo for AEW was men 18-49, where they averaged a 0.48 rating, more than double the 0.23 for NXT. They beat NXT in every category except for persons over 50 (where NXT has an advantage every week), as well as women 12-34 ...

Last night's World Series game averaged 20.8 million viewers on FOX for the two hours that aired opposite wrestling.

Where AEW got slaughtered was among younger viewers as people 18-34 were down 51%, females 12-34 were down 65%, and males 12-34 were down 44%. The audience AEW has struggled with most, adults 50+, was unchanged from the week prior with a 0.25 both weeks.

NXT topped AEW among females 12-34 and adults 50+. They saw fewer erratic drops among the key demos with the largest being females 18-49 that dropped 31.5%. They also displayed gains among males 12-34 that were up 27% and people 18-49 that increased 15%

Joey Mercury 's run with Ring of Honor ended this week, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Mercury had been overseeing the company's training dojo and was working on the creative team as well as a Producer behind the scenes.

We are told that Mercury was removed from his positions this week. We are told that it was a "mutually agreed upon decision" following this past weekend's in the UK.

For those asking how AEW Tag Team Champion Frankie Kazarian is after smacking his head on the apron during a hurancarana off the top rope to the floor, we are told that while he got banged up, he is OK and isn't expected to miss any action. He did not suffer a concussion.

In honor of Halloween, WWE Network News is reporting that we are getting two dark matches from a WWF Superstars taping which took place on October 31, 1989 as today's WWE Network "Hidden Gems" selection:

WWF Superstars Taping Dark Match 10/31/1989 – Rowdy and Ravishing [Duration: 00:11:48]
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper looks to show Rick Rude just how ravishing he can be when they face off in this rarely seen contest from Halloween 1989.

WWF Superstars Taping Dark Match 10/31/1989 – A Savage Halloween [Duration: 00:14:08]
On Halloween night 1989, “Macho King” Randy Savage, accompanied by Sensational Queen Sherri, battles “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan.

Ring of Honor issued the following ...

Beginning Nov. 8, Fight Network UK will broadcast ROH’s TV show every Friday night at 9 p.m. This will mark the first time “Ring of Honor Wrestling” will air on British television. The program is currently available via the FITE TV app.

Continuing his recent run of having superhero-inspired gimmicks, Ricochet's ring gear was inspired by All Might from the "My Hero Academia" franchise.

On Wednesday's NXT, William Regal announced the first-ever women's War Games bout for NXT TakeOver: WarGames III. While the competitors have yet to be announced, it was confirmed that NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley would serve as the respective captains.

"It's crazy to think all the big moments in history I've been a part of," Baszler told CBS Sports. "I say this every single time. The first-ever Mae Young Classic and the first-ever all women's pay-per-view. Every time a historical moment happens, I think, 'What next?' This is what's next. I ask that every time.

"But the thing I have to look at for the future is retaining and defending the NXT women's championship, whatever that entails. Just the way NXT has been run and the importance placed on the women's division, as long as I concentrate on the NXT women's championship, that title has history behind it and historical importance. As long as I do my job in defending that, history will come my way. I don't need to seek it out."

On NXT, Baszler was aligned with her Horsewomen running mates Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir along with Io Shirai and Bianca Belair. On the other side, Ripley stood with Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Tegan Nox. It is unknown how many competitors will be in the bout.

"I have a whole lot of mixed feelings, to be honest," Ripley said. "I just can't wait to get in there. To be able to make history time and time again, that's all that I've ever wanted to do since being a little girl. I always knew that I was destined for something big in this world. I've already made history becoming the first-ever NXT UK women's champion, and I've been in the first ever Mae Young Classic.

"Now, to be able to break history again and be in the first ever women's WarGames? It's insane. And not only just be in it, but to be the captain of my own team is just incredible. I have so many mixed feelings about it and I can't wait to step in there and give Shayna's team what they have coming, you know?"

During his feud with 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt, fans have turned on Seth Rollins after getting behind him heading into WrestleMania and his clash with Brock Lesnar. Fans have become more vocal about their displeasure with Rollins, stating their opinion on Twitter. Rollins hasn't backed down from the criticism, often engaging in a war of words on social media that seems to do him more harm than good.

Speaking to Corey Graves on After The Bell, Rollins addressed the backlash.

"If they don't get what they want, they whine about it on Twitter. That's kinda what happens nowadays. It happens with everything, not just our industry. If you do something, and it strikes a chord, it's almost like you're doing the right thing. I don't even know anymore. It's a weird industry. It's 2019 and I don't know what wrestling looks like anymore. It's a weird place," he said. "A year ago, I was everybody's favorite. The same people panning Hell in a Cell are the same people who were clamoring for me to be the guy to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. I don't know what changed, except for the fact that I became the person they wanted me to be. Then they hated me for it. It's a very fickle audience."

When asked about the crowd booing his WWE Hell in a Cell match with 'The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Rollins replied, "It's not a good feeling to put your body on the line, and you go out there and people don't like it. It hurts your feelings. You go out there, work hard, and you can have your opinion on it but it's a tough pill to swallow sometimes."

Fans not only boo'd the contest, but chanted for rival promotion "AEW" and "refund" as the show went off the air.


TPWW Frontpage:

Survivor Series Will Be Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/survivor-series-will-be-raw-vs-smackdown-vs-nxt/)
WWE Stock Price Plummets After WWE Releases Financial Report (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/wwe-stock-price-plummets-after-wwe-releases-financial-report/)
AEW Dark Taping Results – Oct. 30, 2019 – Janela & Havoc vs. Jurassic Express (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/aew-dark-taping-results-oct-30-2019-janela-havoc-vs-jurassic-express/)
Women’s WarGames Match Announced for NXT TakeOver: WarGames (https://www.tpww.net/2019/10/womens-wargames-match-announced-for-nxt-takeover-wargames/)

[BigCrippyZ]

Seth Rollins is either 1. a money grubbing pussy or coward for agreeing to simply tow the company line, or 2. he's an out of touch idiot or moron (just like his employer's "creative" CEO) for not seeing the forest for the fucking trees. Regardless, as a result, while I respect his physical abilities and sacrifices, I don't respect him or his opinion as an individual.

[Sepholio]

Said it in another thread but I've come to the realization that Seth Rollins is the real life personification of Dolph Zigglers gimmick.

[Fignuts]

https://i.imgur.com/NAMFOq4.png

[Triple A]

Yeah it's good tbh... sort of a "slow build" heel turn based on reality... assuming that he actually does turn heel.........

[erickman]

he is a better heel then face

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I am desperately hoping he's working us marks. Would give him mad cred for that.

[Sepholio]

Working in what regard though? He isn't exactly acting like a heel in the media. He's acting like a cry baby. Is he planning to make a bitch turn or something?

[BigCrippyZ]

Working in what regard though? He isn't exactly acting like a heel in the media. He's acting like a cry baby. Is he planning to make a bitch turn or something?

Not only that, it doesn't make me want to tune in and watch him more, or even watch him eventually turn heel and then get beat by a face. Instead, it just makes me want to tune out because he comes across as just as out of touch or delusional about the quality of the product as his bosses are. If this is some "master plan" of a work, it's one of the lamest ideas I've ever heard of.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

We’ll have a more detailed look next week, but the WWE financial numbers, while beating profit estimates, indicated far more core business declines ...

The decline in ratings since the FOX deal started and with NXT was not brought up, nor AEW’s success against NXT, either by the company or those asking questions, who were more concerned with overseas television contracts as opposed to consumer engagement in the product. The other key is that WWE lost $3.5 million during the quarter on their house show business. They have never lost $3.5 million on house shows over the course of a year, let alone a quarter. The losses were such even with canceling a number of shows, as well as doing a number of Supershows with stars from both brands, which in theory, although this didn’t happen, should have led to increased attendance.

House show business doesn’t look bad on the surface, falling from a 4,500 average to 4,400. But that’s misleading because they produced 86 shows in North America, which were 29 television shoots and 57 house shows. The house shows draw significantly lower so that will weigh more heavily downward on the average. This year they were down to 67 shows, again with 29 television shots but only 38 house shows. They did increase overseas shows from four to seven, but that average dropped from 5,600 to 4,500.

Ticket sales declined from $22.4 million in North America and $2.3 million outside North America to $18.3 million in North America and $2.3 million outside, but that’s also a misleading stat with 74 shows instead of 90. The gist is house shows are losing significant money for the first time, which doesn’t bode well for the industry as a whole. If the market leader can’t make money touring, what does that say for the prospects of doing so with the No. two, three or four group. Luckily house shows for WWE are a small part of their overall business, but they are still the constant to determine how many true customers the company is making and the strength of the brand to consumers. NXT averaged 817 paid and $32,287 per show in the third quarter of 2018. This past quarter attendance dropped to 693 paid on average and $26,467 gross per show.

[Tyson] Fury said that the original idea talked with him about was a Crown Jewel match with Lesnar, but the idea changed when they were able to sign Velasquez. According to those internally, Lesnar vs. Fury was discussed but never got past early discussions, likely due to Velasquez having the storyline from the past and being the bigger star in the U.S. market, which is WWE’s primary market, and for Saudi Arabia, it wasn’t the matchups that were important as much as delivering matches with Fury and Velasquez

Balor is being advertised on Smackdown brand shows on the U.K. tour but we’re told the decision has changed and because of his being with NXT, he won’t be on the tour. Before they made the move to put him on NXT, the plan was for him to be on the Smackdown crew. When he lost to Wyatt badly, the idea was he’d go on his sabbatical and switch to Smackdown on his return, but then when the ratings ended up going the way they did, he was moved to NXT with the idea that his star power could make more of a difference there

The WWE Backstage show, which has had two introduction shows, one right after baseball playoffs and the other right after Smackdown this past week on FS 1, starts in its new regular Tuesday at 11 p.m. time slot on 11/5. Cena and Rob Gronkowski will be the guests. Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet will have a regular role on the show, likely as the reporter to break news in the role Ariel Helwani had on the UFC version of the show. I didn’t hear of any other names up for that spot
Satin has been very public the past few months about trying to get a job in WWE and why he's been slanting a lot more pro-WWE online. He was also the one intitally trying to downplay last night's Saudi issues as being nothing more than just plane-related problems.

In the segment-by-segment, the high point for AEW was 880,000 in the first segment. The low point was 701,000 for the Cody and Tony Schiavone car ride and Best Friends & Orange Cassidy vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver & QT Marshall. Hikaru Shida vs. Shanna lost 85,000 viewers. The end of Shida vs. Shanna and the angle with Ortiz & Santana and the Rock & Roll Express lost 60,000 viewers. The Cody car ride and Best Friend s match lost 34,000 viewers,. The Cody/Chris Jericho contract signing and beating of Dustin Rhodes by Jake Hager gained 51,000 viewers. The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Jack Evans & Angelico & Kip Sabian lost 45,000 viewers. The end of that match plus the Jon Moxley/Peter Avalon angle and Moxley promo gained 9,000 viewers. And the Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian tag title win over Pentagon Jr. & Fenix gained 55,000 viewers to 781,000.

NXT did very close to AEW from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox, going against the Jericho contract signing and Young Bucks & Omega match. The AEW edge was 730,000 to 679,000 during that half hour, the closest it has come. But NXT collapsed in the last half hour of the show with the Tyler Bate vs. Cameron Grimes match and tag title match, with the head-to-head tag title matches doing 781,000 to 467,000.

For NXT, the Finn Balor promo grew 30,000 viewers. I had expected Balor promo vs. Hikaru Shida to be close, but AEW had a 795,000 to 607,000 edge. Bronson Reed vs. Shane Thorne lost 62,000 viewers. The women’s tag title match gained 143,000 viewers, so they ended up meaning far more than Balor. The War Games angle after the match lost 39,000 viewers. Grimes vs. Bate lost 163,000 viewers. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Matt Riddle & Keith Lee lost 27,000 viewers in the head-to-head, but when AEW ended, they gained 145,000 viewers in the overrun so that’s probably a lot of AEW viewers. It probably also kills them in the last quarter because fans watch the NXT main events in fewer numbers knowing they can watch the AEW closing angle and miss nothing on NXT and still see its closing angle.

A video patterned after the character Sans has led to a lot of talk regarding a relationship between New Japan Pro Wrestling and AEW. The video, which played for Kenny Omega’s ring entrance on the 10/30 Dynamite show from Charleston, WV, had a message and gave a very cryptic message regarding Kota Ibushi and Omega. The video included a character of Ibushi holding his G-1 trophy.

The rule of thumb with these guys is never do a tease that isn’t going to pay off. But we’re told emphatically there is nothing going on in the direction of Ibushi in AEW or AEW working with New Japan from people on both sides who would know. In fact, the video was closer to Cody sledge hammering the throne in meaning than signaling a working relationship and the return of the Golden Lovers ...

The story behind the video does have its deep personal meaning and it plays off a similar video that Omega used at the 1/4 show at the Tokyo Dome. The story is that the universe of “Kenny’s Quest” is very similar to one featured in a hit, award winning video game, Undertale. Omega felt there were parallels in that game to his relationship right now with New Japan and he was behind it ...

The video on Dynamite was meant as the continuation of the Tokyo Dome story. The ominous, evil being could be seen as New Japan, or whatever ominous evil the viewer wants to see.

Regarding La Parka and his condition, the only news of the past week is El Hijo del Santo said he talked with Parka’s daughter who said he underwent a second neck surgery. Parka’s son, who wrestles as Karis La Momia Jr. (Parka was Karis La Momia prior to becoming La Parka Jr., and then just La Parka after AAA had its falling out with the original La Parka, who is now L.A. Park), denied the story only saying his father is in stable condition and sedated

Rush did an interview with Solo Wrestling. He said he wanted to keep working in CMLL but he couldn’t come to an agreement with the new boss (this was after CMLL cut his guarantee, believed to be in half) ... He said he is open to returning to CMLL with on a per show basis like the other outsiders do, although aside from Gilbert El Boricua, CMLL hasn’t been using the others of late. Rush was critical of CMLL for not bringing in more bigger names from New Japan and ROH. He said he’s not interested in signing a contract with anyone in Mexico. He said he’s had talks with Konnan and Dorian Roldan, but they haven’t reached an agreement.

He said he’d working on a per-show deal with NLL (Alberto’s promotion) and would do the same with AAA ... He also complained about CMLL’s treatment of his brother, Dragon Lee, saying they didn’t treat him fairly saying he was fired because Rush left. That and because they told him not to work PWG and he did anyway. Rush said that three of the best promotions in the world (New Japan and WWE are two, I would presume AEW is the other one but he could mean ROH or AAA) want Dragon Lee but he’s not making any decisions until the new year

This week was the U.K. tour which did not do well. We didn’t get official numbers from the tour but 10/25 in London did about 400 at York Hall which is terrible, 10/26 in Newport, Wales, did about 150 and 10/27 in Bolton, UK looked to have done a little over 300

There are internal debates going regarding running Lakeland, FL over Mania week or not running in Florida that weekend at all, which would be the first time in many years they [ROH] wouldn’t run Mania week

The WWE wrestlers and staff who ended up stuck in Saudi Arabia yesterday will finally be flying home in about three hours.

PWInsider.com has confirmed WWE will be bringing everyone home on one chartered flight together from Riyadh that will land tomorrow in New York City.

For Raw talents that were stuck in Saudi Arabia, they can either continue on home and then turn around and travel back to NYC Sunday for Monday's Raw at the Nassau Coliseum or opt to remain on the road in NYC and then go home after Raw.

Atlas Air, the charter jet company that was traveling WWE talents from Saudi Arabia to The United States, issued the following statement:

“A chartered WWE passenger flight operated by Atlas Air is currently delayed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia due to a mechanical issue. The flight was scheduled to depart at 0300 local time on November 1. Our top priority is always to ensure our passengers arrive safely and on time at their destination. The aircraft is being repaired and will be inspected and certified before returning to service to transport our passengers to their final destination. We regret that operational disruptions delayed the flight and apologize to our passengers who were inconvenienced.”

The Young Bucks appeared on 98 ROCK Baltimore to chat about AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view. During the conversation, Nick Jackson was asked what talents have impressed him the most thus far in AEW and Nick shared high praise for Luchasaurus and added that AEW is going “full blast” on him when he returns from his hamstring injury:

“I’ll tell you right away, the first one who popped in my mind is Luchasuarus. He’s probably getting the strongest reaction live than anyone on the roster which blows my mind because man, maybe just a year ago, not many people knew who he was. So when he comes back from this injury, we’re gonna go full blast on him because he’s a star in the making and he already is a star.”


According to PWInsider, Joey Mercury is no longer working with Ring of Honor. Mercury had been working on the creative team, worked as producer and oversaw the ROH dojo. The site added that Joey Mercury was removed from his positions this week and it was a mutual decision. Mercury is still with Ring of Honor until the non-compete period in his contract expires.

Joey Mercury took to Twitter and opened up about his departure from Ring of Honor. He shared text messages between himself and ROH GM Greg Gilleland. Mercury noted that he doesn’t want Gilleland out of a job but wants him out of the role he’s in now. There were transportation issues that Gilleland was set to take care of but did not and Joey Mercury released that information. Greg confronted Joey through text message about him coming to shows high, skipping shows and Joey telling wrestlers he can get them work elsewhere. Joey Mercury also recalled the incident that occurred with a fan in Portland at an ROH show this past June. Mercury said there was no security on-site and was disappointed that a “respected veteran” being Bully Ray, had to make a judgement call in that situation. He revealed that Shane Taylor’s contract with the company is up on January 1st, Bandido’s contract is up January 2nd and PJ Black’s contract expires February 2nd. BJ Whitmer added that everything Joey Mercury noted on Twitter is true.

Stone Cold Steve Austin joined ‘The Taz Show’ and during the conversation, Taz and Steve Austin began to talk about All Elite Wrestling. Austin praised the AEW World Title match between Chris Jericho and Darby Allin and said the young talents of today are more polished than he was when he was their age.

“They [AEW] are pushing more athleticism and the business has changed. Its sped up and it’s a different landscape, and man… for that kid [Darby Allin] to be as young as he is — what is he? 22? 23 tops? Hell, when I started — I think I went to school when I was 23 and I had my first match when I was 24. But that kid, however long he’s been in the business, way more polished than I was at that time. Hell, half that roster is more polished than what I was at that age and so, hey man, they’re learning things at rapid fire fashion. It’s interesting to see just the creativity and what lengths — not lengths as far as risks, but just ways to push the creative envelope with respect to staying somewhat safe and you saw that kid get his hands taped up behind him and do all that stuff. It was great. I ain’t never seen nothing like that and I enjoyed seeing it. Wasn’t nothing like it.”

Austin shared high praise for MJF. He talked about MJF looking the part and having everything it takes to be successful in wrestling but feels MJF needs a few more years under his belt to further develop his talents.

“Oh absolutely. The whole way,” Austin said when asked if MJF stayed in character on the Steve Austin Show podcast. “You know, we shot an angle at the end of the thing. We shot a wrestling audio angle. It was tremendous. Nah, I like that kid. I like what I see in him. In his core, we say when we hit the mute button and go off air, hey man, he’s a good f*cking kid. Good looking kid, talk his ass off and you [Taz] love promo just as much as I do. Cutting them and listening to them so, this kid can talk a blue streak. He’s just full of sh*t. I mean that in a compliment, and full of himself and a hundred percent confident. He’s still young in the business and everybody would like to heap praise on him and say, ‘Hey man, he’s the next…’ Well, let’s see how the work keeps developing. So he’s a good worker right now. I’m not saying that he isn’t, but his promo — I think his appearance, everything, he looks the part, he talks the part and he works the part. But the work is gonna progress as he gets some more experience under his belt and I think that’ll be the telling factor, but as far as checking the boxes on being a star, he checks a lot of those boxes right now.”

The NWA has released a statement regarding Jim Cornette and his recent controversial remarks on Twitter regarding suicide.

In 2019, Jim Cornette is often regarded as a source of controversy and recently on Twitter, he made some off-color remarks about suicide on Twitter, that picked up a heavy negative response ...

The National Wrestling Alliance, through Vice President Dave Lagana, released the following statement regarding Cornette:
"STATEMENT BY NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE ON JIM CORNETTE

Over the last few days, a situation was brought to our attention in regard to comments made by Jim Cornette that have been taken as making light on the subject of suicide.

We’ve addressed the situation internally with Mr. Cornette and made it clear that any comments in regards to this subject, joking or serious, are not endorsed by Lightning One and the National Wrestling Alliance.

Mr. Cornette understands the seriousness of this situation and with that he will remain the color commentator for NWA Powerrr."
Link with the tweets in question: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/nwa-release-statement-jim-cornette-s-contreversial-remarks-say-he-will-still-call-powerrr

On Wednesday's episode of AEW Dynamite, fans were treated to the AEW debut of Shanna. Despite losing to Hikaru Shida, Shanna was able to win over the crowd with her performance. In an interview with the Portuguese media (translation via @ucancallme), Shanna confirmed she has signed a three-year deal with All Elite Wrestling.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated released its 2019 Top 100 Women list and perhaps to the surprise of no one, Becky Lynch took the top spot. Lynch has had a banner year, ascending to the top of the WWE mountain by headlining WrestleMania 35 and winning both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships at the event. "The Man" placed 11th on the 2018 list, which was topped by Ronda Rousey. Though Lynch didn't place in the top ten last year, she was named 2018 PWI Woman of the Year, which was based on fan voting.


TPWW Frontpage:

Interview: Seth Rollins on AEW, Kenny Omega & Will Ospreay Comments, and Today’s Wrestling (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/interview-seth-rollins-on-his-aew-kenny-omega-will-ospreay-comments-and-todays-wrestling/)
WWE Confirms That Wrestlers Will Miss SmackDown, NXT Wrestlers Being Flown In (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-confirms-that-wrestlers-will-miss-smackdown-nxt-wrestlers-being-flown-in/)
WWE Wrestlers in Danger of Missing SmackDown Because of Flight Delay in Saudi Arabia (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-wrestlers-in-danger-of-missing-smackdown-because-of-flight-delay-in-saudi-arabia/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

I couldn’t be less interested in Seth Rollins if I tried. He’s just bland in main events. The reason they need to turn him heel is because he’s fucked as a babyface anyway.

[Jordan]

They should do an angle where STROWMAN cucks ROLLINS, BECKY just can't say no to BRAUN and it drives SETH cRaZy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They should do an angle where STROWMAN cucks ROLLINS, BECKY just can't say no to BRAUN and it drives SETH cRaZy.

Right on, Partner.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wrestling could use some sex. Not the way they do it between Lashley/Lana/Rusev though.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Going against a strong New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys game last night, Raw did 2.14 million viewers on average, the fourth lowest non-holiday number in modern history.

The number was slightly up from the 2.13 million viewers last week. The NFL was up 40 percent from last week, doing 14.00 million viewers, so it actually would have been expected to do much worse ...

The bad news was the first-to-third hour drop of 22 percent was one of the biggest in the history of the show ...

The show built to an Adam Cole vs. Seth Rollins NXT title match in the main event position. The third hour was the third least watched hour Raw has had, beating only hour three this past Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.36 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.21 million viewers
10 pm. 1.85 million viewers


Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin officially announced he will be joining the WWE Backstage show as a news correspondent.

The Hampton Boys from last night’s episode of Raw were WrestlePro wrestlers Bobby Wayward and Nikos Rikos.

The word making the rounds backstage at Monday Night Raw yesterday on Long Island, NY was that Randy Orton inked a new, multi-year deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. PWInsider.com has confirmed that is the case.

Locking Orton, 39, into a new deal was a big priority for WWE as he had been using social media to tease the idea of a jump to AEW, which would have been a major hit to WWE's prestige.

Major League Wrestling's Saturday Night Super Fight PPV is now available for replay buys on all PPV providers and on FITE.TV. The early word on the PPV is that the numbers were in line with what MLW expected and they will move forward with another PPV next year. A date and venue for that has not been locked down yet. FITE was very happy with the numbers. There is a possibility of doing more than one PPV but that decision won't be made until the final Super Fight PPV numbers are in and the promotion decides its course of action.

During the PPV, MLW announced a partnership with Mexico's AAA. We are told that Court Bauer and Dorian Rodan have always been on good terms, which opened up the door to discussions. PWInsider.com can exclusively confirm so MLW has ended their working relationship with The CRASH.

Tom Lawlor's current MLW deal is coming towards its end. The two sides are in discussions for a new deal and we are told discussions are going well ...

We are told there were several TV executives in attendance at the PPV as MLW is seeking to add additional partnerships beyond BeIN Sports and are in discussions.

The WWE has come out and addressed the Crown Jewel event being delayed on MBC Action in Saudi Arabia last Thursday. The company issued a statement to Forbes.com contributor Alfred Konuwa and denied the allegations stating that the feed issues had nothing to do with payments. The company added that there is a strong relationship with its partners in Saudi Arabia. We did reach out to WWE regarding why the feed was delayed but have not been given a response.

Natalya was a guest with Jim Norton and Sam Roberts on Monday promoting tonight’s Raw in Uniondale, New York and was asked about last week’s travel delays:

"I wasn’t stuck on a plane for too long because we were told to get off the plane. We boarded the plane after the show and the flight attendants said, ‘Hey, there is a mechanical issue’. So, when I’m told there is a mechanical issue on an airplane, I get off and I stay off until it’s fixed. It was a wild couple of days."
Link: https://youtu.be/C_1ZZJa1lSA?t=9394

On his Mixer account, AJ Styles outlined his experience from the past few days getting out of Saudi Arabia in the wake of the news coverage of the travel delays. Styles reiterated the mechanical problems that the charter flight experienced coupled with issues among flight personnel that had clocked out leaving the WWE talent and staff waiting. Styles said he did not know what when down between Vince McMahon and those running the show but added it’s not his job to speak about that. Below is a transcript from the two videos:

"We got to the airport; they weren’t letting us board. What was the problem? Not really sure, I heard there was a fuel truck in the way and the guy that drove the fuel truck had left to go home. I know, this makes no sense. Why would the fuel guy leave when he knew he had a plane that was leaving, doesn’t make much sense?

Then, there were some paperwork issues and then finally, after at least four or five hours we get on the plane. Then, they found something going on with the fuel ‘something or other’. It was broken. Now, people can say what they want, ‘No, it wasn’t broken, I don’t know’, but I talked to the pilot on that fourteen-hour flight, the pilot, I guess they take naps, too. So, he came out and we were all chatting and sitting around, talking. I said ‘Oh, so what happened?’ and he said, ‘Listen, there was a problem, that’s a real thing’ and I said, ‘Okay’.

The problem was, is we spent all that time from 1 o’clock until 6 or 8 in the morning waiting to board this plane, then getting on the plane, then telling us we can’t go anywhere because the pilots and everybody had timed out. From the pilots, from the help, they can only go for so long before they’re not able to fly because they can’t go for 24 hours at a time. So, they had to go back to a hotel, we had to find a hotel.
* Were there guns, did they come out and go ‘Everybody off the plane? No. That didn’t happen’. My wife called me in a panic, and she’s scared to death and I go, ‘Babe, listen, we’re just not able to go anywhere. It’s not a big issue, nobody has threatened to kill us. There was none of that going on, nobody was going to get murdered, none of that ever happened. There was no threat."

"I had the best sleep of my life in this hotel because I hadn’t slept because of jetlag. So, I know it sounds worse, it’s almost blown up to as if, you know, we were on the verge of being killed. That wasn’t the case.

I have no idea what happened with Vince and the Prince or the King, or whoever was putting on the show. I have no idea what happened. That’s not my job to say anything. My job is to go to work. Was I pretty angry about not getting home because I missed my son’s wrestling match? You have no idea; you have no idea how angry I was. But, if this is out of our hands, if it’s out of the pilot’s hands then there is nothing we can do. There is no point of getting mad and angry about something I have no control of.

So, I’m home now and I’m happy to be here. We’ll find out as we go along why things happened, or we won’t. I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward, it’s just going to be what it’s going to be. And, I’ll deal with it when I need to but I’m not going to throw WWE under the bus either, that’s not how I work. I am a guy who is committed to making the best product that I can and it’s not going to do me any good to throw good people under the bus, there are a lot of good that people that work for WWE and I will not make them look bad. There are a lot of people that were on that plane with me.

Until I know more, I’m not going to say more, I’m not going to say anything negative that’s not who I am as a person and if I did find out and I was offended, I will go to the source, believe me on that one."
Links: https://twitter.com/GIFSkull/status/1191169818369544192 , https://twitter.com/GIFSkull/status/1191171716485042176

Dave Meltzer was a guest on Sunday Night’s Main Event with Jason Agnew and discusses additional details that he has gathered from the circumstances behind the travel delay:

"There were people who were working on the plane without a doubt, wrestlers told me there were people working on the plane and they were told there was a mechanical delay but they didn’t believe it. Again, I don’t know the situation, I think it was a combination of the fact that there was the showdown between Vince and the Prince earlier in the day. One person told me there were military guards that were there and the whole situation didn’t add up. Aside from Vince McMahon and a couple of other people I don’t think anyone really knows what happened.

This is what we know, as of September 30th they were not paid for the last show and other money. They were owed about $66 million from the Saudis on September 30th, which may have been two shows it certainly included the last show. They also didn’t have a television deal that they thought they were going to have. Now, they did get $60 million of that money recently, exactly when we don’t know but it was sometime between September 30th and October 31st. Something happened with Vince, they pulled the feed in Saudi Arabia of the television show. It did air about forty minutes later, so it aired on tape delay rather than live and that had to do with something. People in the company, unofficially, were saying it was a money issue between the sides and then they did the show and when they tried to leave the plane had mechanical problems. They were sitting there waiting for six hours and then they were told that the pilot’s time was up and they couldn’t go until later, and then that flight ended up not happening. Later, they finally did go about 25 1/2 hours later."
Link: https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/PBC5E410CCPPC

After Natalya and Lacey Evans competed in the first-ever women’s wrestling match in Saudi Arabia, Yahoo! Finance chatted with Pascal Menoret who is a professor of modern Middle East studies at Brandeis University. Pascal stated that people should not look too much into the allowing of Natalya and Lacey to compete in Saudi Arabia. Menoret had the following to say about the subject:

"The Saudi government is operating a worldwide propaganda campaign to whitewash its repression of activists, including feminists, and that one should take seemingly good news coming from there with a heavy pinch of salt."

WrestleVotes is saying the vibe backstage at Raw is "weariness, with a majority of the Superstars still speaking about the events of the weekend."

More matches have been announced for both Wrestle Kingdom cards, including the double championship match.

It was confirmed during tonight’s NJPW press conference that both titles will be on the line on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5. This double champions match will be between the winners of two matches that take place on January 4: Jay White vs. Tetsuya Natio for the Intercontinental title and Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight title.

The two non-champions after January 4 will compete the following day in a special singles match.

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that Brandon and Brent Tate, formerly known as “The Boys” in Ring of Honor will be receiving a WWE tryout in December.

Goldenboy" Alex Mendez tweeted that he'll be at AEW Full Gear to call the action.


TPWW Frontpage:

Alexa Bliss Has a Shoulder Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/alexa-bliss-has-a-shoulder-injury/)
Seth Rollins Denies Giving Speech at WWE Meeting, Dave Meltzer Apologizes (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/seth-rollins-denies-giving-speech-at-wwe-meeting-dave-meltzer-apologizes/)
WWE Backstage Premieres Tonight: No CM Punk, Bray Wyatt Adds “Personal Touch” to Title (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-backstage-premieres-tonight-no-cm-punk-bray-wyatt-adds-personal-touch-to-title/)
WWE Confirms Signings of Scarlett Bordeaux, Shotzi Blackheart and More (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-confirms-signings-of-scarlett-bordeaux-shotzi-blackheart-and-more/)
WWE: Adam Cole Wrestling With Fractured Wrist, Carolina Update

[Simple Fan]

Wrestling could use some sex. Not the way they do it between Lashley/Lana/Rusev though.



Could Seth and Becky pull off Edge/Lita type stuff? That'd be their best go I think.

[Evil Vito]

I dunno, Lita had no qualms about traipsing about in her lingerie during that angle. Becky has self-admitted body image issues which is why her fear covers up her midsection despite the fact that she’s ripped.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The ratings for the official debut of WWE Backstage on FS1 can only be described as disappointing.

ShowBuzzDaily reported that WWE Backstage averaged 49,000 viewers last night, with a 0.02 rating in the 18-49 demo. It did not crack the top 150 shows on cable for Tuesday ...

This was the first time that Backstage aired in its regular time slot at 11 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. Two preview episodes aired last month and did significantly better in the ratings, though both of those shows had strong lead-ins.

The first preview episode on October 15, which aired following an MLB playoff game, drew 597,000 viewers. The second episode on October 25, which followed SmackDown airing on FS1 due to the World Series, scored 426,000 viewers.

WWE had promoted last night's show with appearances by Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Rob Gronkowski. They also advertised an episode of Firefly Fun House featuring new WWE Universal Champion The Fiend Bray Wyatt.


This Friday's episode of 205 Live will indeed be taped at tonight's WWE NXT taping at Full Sail University.

Impact Wrestling officially announced their next PPV, Hard to Kill, will take place on 1/12/20 at Gilley's in Dallas, Texas, which was the site of Slammiversary 2019:

Hard to Kill - January 12th, 2020 - Dallas, Texas! pic.twitter.com/y9tgTjgHwq
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) November 6, 2019

The XFL issued the following:

Two commentator teams from ESPN’s college football and NFL rosters will call ABC and ESPN’s 22-game schedule during the inaugural XFL 2020 season.

Play-by-play voice Steve Levy, analyst Greg McElroy, field analyst Tom Luginbill and reporter Dianna Russini will call the highly-anticipated XFL kickoff game – Seattle Dragons vs. DC Defenders (Feb. 8, 2 p.m. ET), the West Final (April 19, 3 p.m. ET), the XFL Championship (April 26, 3 p.m. ET) and weekly Saturday games on ABC in 2020 ...

Play-by-play voice Tom Hart, analyst Joey Galloway and field analyst Pat McAfee will call weekly Sunday games on ESPN and ABC, beginning with the St. Louis BattleHawks vs. Dallas Renegades (Feb. 9, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN).

In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote his appearance on ABC's The Goldberg's tonight, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan disclosed that he's undergoing yet another back surgery next week.

“I’m going in for another back surgery next Tuesday,” said Hogan. “They’re going to fuse six levels together, so we’ll see how I feel after that.”

Hogan has pushed for one final Wrestlemania match, and with Mania 36 in his hometown of Tampa, Florida, it makes sense he would be envision that as the environment for a final Hogan hurrah.

On Monday evening, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter had reported in his daily update some notes from the meeting. Meltzer included that ‘Seth Rollins attempted to do a rah-rah speech while telling people to keep things like this off social media in the future’.

On Tuesday, Rollins refuted the story in a pair of posts on his Twitter account. This included Rollins denying that he spoke: “before, during or after the meeting.”

In a statement to Fightful, Rollins elaborated on his involvement at the meeting:

"Vince and Triple H held an all talent meeting to explain the travel situation returning from Crown Jewel. They commended the talent for their conduct in a tough spot and fielded questions and allowed anyone to voice their feelings on the matter. Some talent spoke up and overall it was a productive forum. I said zero words. I made no speech. Pretty simple."

Following Rollins’ posts on Twitter, Dave Meltzer issued an apology and retraction on his website on Tuesday evening.

MJF says his "controversial" commentary needing to be edited out was the reason for the delay for the November 5 episode of AEW Dark.
Ended up causing a situation where AEW's Twitter account was live tweeting stuff that was supposed to happen but had not yet aired due to those tweets being pre-scheduled and the Youtube stream being delayed.

On a recent episode of Prime Time with Sean Mooney, NWA Vice President David Lagana joined the podcast to discuss NWA Powerrr and his time in WWE.

You can listen to the full podcast at this link. Fightful was sent the following highlights which can be seen below.

On NWA's business model: "This is not a sustainable model. Meaning spending what we spend per episode, and putting it on YouTube.... I'll be transparent; the production is not being paid for right now on YouTube money alone. But what has happened since we launched was, the audience has grown so quickly, that we are a lot closer to being sustainable than when we started.

Paying for this is ticket sales, merch and YouTube ad money. Our breaks will evolve...as long as it fits the genre, and we produce the content so it fits inside of our world, this show can be a marketing tool to anyone who wants to sell to this kind of audience."

ROH World Champion RUSH's issues with CMLL have been well-documented, but he goes deeper on what the future of the CMLL/ROH relationship could be.

In an interview conducted in Spanish with Solo Wrestling, RUSH said things could get complicated with him standing at the top of ROH because of the working partnership the two promotions currently have. CMLL stars have gone to ROH, especially during the annual Global Wars tour.

But RUSH goes one step further and criticizes CMLL for not fully taking advantage of its partnerships with both ROH and NJPW. Like with ROH, CMLL sends stars to NJPW, especially every January for the Fantastica Mania tour. Yet, RUSH mentions the fact that top NJPW and ROH stars rarely, if ever, make the trip down to Mexico for their biggest shows.

"I think there is [going to be issues] because I'm the champion, I'm the face of the company now and with the partnerships [CMLL] has had, honestly, they don't know how to make the most of it. They have a tremendous alliance with NJPW, but you never see their top stars in Arena Mexico, you never see top ROH stars. When they sent us to Japan, they sent their stars, but didn't take advantage of it. Why? I don't know but those were factors that slowly wore me out. I asked for opportunities, I wanted to face new people. I was one of the strongest, if not the strongest out of CMLL, but there was nothing, no big challenge for me there," RUSH said.

The National Wrestling Alliance will be featured in the upcoming RetroMania Wrestling game. The deal was announced on Tuesday's episode of NWA Powerrr in a video package led by Nick Aldis. RetroMania Wrestling is a new take on the classic WWF WrestleFest arcade game. The game is set to release in 2020 and will be available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

The addition of NWA means fans can play in 3 new arenas, including NWA Powerrr, NWA 70, and Austin Idol's Universal Wrestling College and go for the 10 Pounds of Gold in an all-new game mode

NWA Champion Nick Aldis and NWA National Champion Colt Cabana have been added to the game roster as well.

On the latest episode of his After The Bell podcast, Corey Graves gave his account of what happened in Saudi Arabia and addressed theories floating around online. For those unaware, WWE talent was stranded in Saudi Arabia following WWE Crown Jewel due to reported mechanical issues ...

While mechanical issues have been the given reason by WWE and Atlas Air, not everyone is buying it. Vince McMahon allegedly got into a dispute with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over unpaid money, leading to the Crown Jewel feed in Saudi Arabia being delayed. After Crown Jewel, Vince immediately left the country, and some theorized that Vince perhaps knew there would be an issue and got out before anything happened, leaving the talent behind. However, Graves isn't buying this theory.

"What really got to me was when the rumors started coming out. The first one being, that Vince left everybody in Saudi Arabia. That's not true," he stated. "If you work here, you know that every week, no matter where we are, as soon as the final bell rings, Vince gets on his jet and goes home or to the next city because the guy is busy running WWE. It might be a sexy headline saying, 'Vince left before everybody. Everybody was stuck except for Vince and Brock.' When you're Brock Lesnar, Tyson Fury, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair; you've earned that. It wasn't like [Vince] said 'to hell with the talent.' Vince did exactly what he has done every week, without fail. It wasn't some, 'Gotta get the hell out of the country, there's something crazy going on.' It was exactly how it works. That's how things operate every week, this is no different."

In fact, Graves is putting partial blame on WWE superstars for taking to social media and adding fuel to the fire that is was more than mechanical issues.

"All these conspiracy theories that have been drawn up...and half of it comes from some of the boys that were on the plane. If you are that insecure and you feel so strongly that you're gonna get on Twitter and complain that our flight got screwed up, what's Twitter gonna do? All it is is fuel for these 'journalists,' and then everyone puts their two cents in and starts coming up with their conspiracy theories. If you're mad that your flight got delayed and you weren't one of the Saudi 20, that's on you. Quit crying about it on Twitter. You know who wasn't complaining? Randy Freakin' Orton. If anyone has the cache and the right to speak his mind, it would be Randy Orton. He got it. It was about doing the damn show," he explained.
Also claimed the top talent that left on a separate plane was only due to them being advertised for Smackdown the next night and not WWE playing favorites. Same for repeating the company line of mechanical issues being the cause of the delay and nothing else happened during that time.

The updated advertised lineup for WWE’s house show in Mexico City on November 30 lists that Rey Mysterio will now team with Humberto Carrillo against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. Mysterio teaming with Cain Velasquez had originally been announced for the show. Velasquez is still advertised to appear but doesn’t have a match listed.

WWE noted that Alexa Bliss' injury is minor and she’s expected to return to the ring soon. PWInsider reported yesterday that Bliss is dealing with a shoulder injury.

Shayna Baszler spoke to the Sporting News about NXT’s invasion of last Friday’s SmackDown: “It was very last minute. I'm sure people have heard but I got up that morning and went and did a workout. I actually wasn't booked for anything NXT-wise the rest of the week. I happened to have that Friday and Saturday off so I crushed it in the gym expecting, OK, I can kill myself in here right now because I can rest for a couple days finally. So, I was on my way home and got the call to pack up and be ready to leave on a word, be ready to leave right now. Got all ready, did that, and the timing worked out that, no exaggeration, that the shuttle to the arena... The plane landed and the show had started already. I left my bags on the shuttle and ran from the bus to the ring. That's not an exaggeration. It wasn't like we cut it close. I literally ran. There was someone waiting and I ran off the shuttle when we got to the venue to the ring. It was pretty wild.”


TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: Total Divas Ratings Tank, Impact on AXS Not in Top 150 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/ratings-total-divas-ratings-tank-impact-on-axs-not-in-top-150/)
Women’s Title Match Announced for AEW Full Gear – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/womens-title-match-announced-for-aew-full-gear-updated-card/)
WWE: Firefly Fun House on WWE Backstage, Tyson Fury Will Be on SmackDown, SD Match Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-firefly-fun-house-on-wwe-backstage-tyson-fury-will-be-on-smackdown-sd-match-announced/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

So Graves is basically saying exactly what the reports said. Okay.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol these fucking bootlickers

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

NXT's invasions of Raw and SmackDown led to the show getting a boost in the ratings last night.

This week's NXT averaged 813,000 viewers, the best audience for the show since October 2. This was the smallest gap there's been between NXT and AEW Dynamite, though AEW still finished slightly ahead with 822,000 viewers last night.

In the 18-49 demo, AEW finished eighth for the night with a 0.35 rating. NXT came in 12th with a 0.30 rating ...

AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson appeared on last night's NXT, but them being on the show wasn't announced in advance. They attacked The Undisputed Era in an angle right before the episode went on the air and faced Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee & Matt Riddle in the main event.

Last night's Dynamite was the go-home show for Saturday's Full Gear pay-per-view.


AEW won all the key demographics except for females 12-34 and adults over 50, the latter being a demo that NXT has controlled since the head-to-head competition began.

NXT showed enormous swings among the 18-49 demo and people 25-54 with increases of 66%, 61.5%, and 54.5% among those categories. Between both shows, the only decline came among AEW’s male 18-49 audience that fell 4% from last week’s number.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Ringside News), WWE is actually decreasing its paydays for its Saudi Arabian shows for many of its superstars:

“While the Saudi Arabia payouts to WWE talent started off very high, they’ve decreased for some since the initial show.”

For those who asked about pictures if pictures on social media that showed the hard camera side being completely empty at last night's [AEW Dynamite] show were legitimate, they were indeed. From what we heard the crowd was in the 5,000 range.

Many of the great AEW packages that are being put together of late are a mixture of Kevin Sullivan's post-production crew and the Atlanta-based Comeback Studios, a division of DDPY (Yoga).

The Cody stipulation that was announced last night is meant to be that Cody will never challenge for the AEW title ever again, period, if he doesn't win the title on Saturday. Obviously, the idea is to tease that Cody is going to win the belt this weekend, just like the old days of Memphis where Jerry Lawler would have a big stip to put him up against the wall for a big Mid-South Coliseum main event. Interesting to note the timing here with Chris Jericho's band Fozzy having a new record coming out soon.

The Full Gear PPV theme is Fozzy's "Nowhere to Run", the first single from that album ...

ROH's Caprice Coleman was backstage visiting last night ...

The matches taped last night for AEW Dark will debut on a special episode that will debut this week, with the current plan being for it to debut sometime Friday, in order for the matches to be seen prior to the Full Gear PPV. Arn Anderson provided guest commentary on the episode.

A new jury trial date of 6/1/20 at 9:00 AM in Benton Courthouse has now been scheduled in the civil lawsuit brought by tattoo artist Catherine Alexander against World Wrestling Entertainment, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., 2K Games, Inc., 2K Sports, Inc., Visual Concepts Entertainment, Yuke’s Co., Ltd. and Yuke’s LA Inc.

The lawsuitl, filed in April 2018 in the United States District Court of Southern District of Illinois, alleges that all of Alexander's tattoo work on WWE star Randy Orton are her original designs that she owns and that she has never given any of the defendants permission to recreate them in the WWE videogames, therefore they and other defendants have infringed on her copyrights ...

Attempts at settling the case have, thus far, gone nowhere.

The case was at one point scheduled to go to trial but was pushed back to after the original presiding Judge retired from the bench, requiring a new Judge, Judge Staci M. Yandle, to take over the proceedings. The trial was pushed back again to June 2020 at the request of 2K and several other plaintiffs. The court noted that barring "extraordinary circumstances" there would be no additional delays in going to trial on the scheduled date.

All motions disputing materials filed to the case must be filed by tomorrow, 11/8, so unless that happens, the trial date should stand.

Current AEW Producer and former ECW and ROH Champion Jerry Lynn announced he would be missing this weekend's Starrcast and the AEW PPV due to some health issues that has come up, stemming from all the punishment he has put his body through over the three decades of his in-ring career. Lynn is slated for an MRI today and hopes to have results by Tuesday to pinpoint and treat the problem.

WWE has confirmed to POST Wrestling that the recent changes for the upcoming live event in Mexico City this month are accurate ...

A WWE spokesman responded to POST Wrestling’s inquiry regarding the changes that list Cain Velasquez appearing but no longer wrestling on the show:

"Yes, that’s the correct match card right now. But as you know, the match card can and probably will change between now and the live event."

Initially, Velasquez was advertised to be teaming with Rey Mysterio on the show and now, Mysterio is listed for a tag match with Humberto Carrillo against Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.

AEW Full Gear is going to have a bit of a different look compared to the typical AEW event.

Responding to a question someone asked on social media, Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks revealed that the upcoming AEW pay-per-view will be unique.

Different set for the PPV. https://t.co/6kXDRpCS4B

— The Young Bucks (@NickJacksonYB) November 7, 2019

WWE announced that Adam Cole will be a special guest on the November 12 episode of WWE Backstage

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Cena explained why a return to WWE at this time is unlikely. Cena said he was very appreciative of what the wrestling industry has to offer, but it has its advantages and disadvantages. With Cena's current projects and past comments about his body not being able to handle a full-time WWE schedule, a lengthy return to the company isn't something in the cards for now.

“Professional wrestling is a wonderful industry, but it’s also extremely addictive. It’s addictive because it makes you feel relevant, it makes you feel important. It can fill the void of a lot of things that you may not be brave enough to face. It also pays really well, so you get attached to the financial security. It allows you to make irresponsible financial decisions because you think the money’s always going to be there," Cena said.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had some high praise for Cody Rhodes.

Perhaps the talk of social media coming out of the November 6 episode of AEW Dynamite was Cody's promo on Chris Jericho heading into their AEW World Championship match at Full Gear. Among the many people praising the promo was Johnson himself, who tweeted about it the following day.

Below is Johnson's tweet:
Link: https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1192466512222674944

NWA Powerrr keeps impressive viewers in high places.

The NWA rebirth is on Youtube for now, and has gained the praise of wrestlers around the world. Among those, include Hollywood's biggest star in The Rock, who put over the hour-long program weeks ago. Now, Edge has joined the fold, touting the show heavily on Twitter and congratulating the creators of the program.
Link: https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/status/1192500063756570625

AAA's next major show will feature Mega Champion Kenny Omega and ROH World Champion RUSH.

At a press conference in Mexico, AAA announced the full card for the TripleMania Regia show taking place at Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey in Monterrey on December 1. The show will see Omega defending the Mega Champion against Dragon Lee in Omega's first title defense since winning the belt back at Heroes Inmortales XIII on October 19.

Also announced for the show is RUSH, who will face L.A. Park and Pagano in a three-way match, but RUSH's ROH title will not be on the line. The main event will be a multi-man steel cage match where the last man to stay in the cage will either have their hair shaved off or lose their mask.


TPWW Frontpage:

Joey Janela vs. Shawn Spears Added to AEW Full Gear – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/joey-janela-vs-shawn-spears-added-to-aew-full-gear-updated-card/)
Injury Updates: Sasha Banks Cleared to Return, Alexa Bliss, Xavier Woods, Cedric Alexander (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/injury-updates-sasha-banks-cleared-to-return-alexa-bliss-cedric-alexander/)
Impact: Ratings Correction, TV Tapings Tonight, “Hard to Kill” PPV Info (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/impact-ratings-correction-tv-tapings-tonight-hard-to-kill-ppv-info/)
NJPW Announces Teams and Full Schedule for World Tag League 2019 Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/njpw-announces-teams-and-full-schedule-for-world-tag-league-2019-tournament/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The Wednesday night wars had its closest week to date, as NXT, with the exposure on Smackdown and Raw, plus the appearance of A.J. Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in the main event, took a big chunk out of the AEW audience and built its own, with AEW still winning 822,000 to 813,000.

AEW had a super strong show, but that means little coming off the angle and exposure that NXT had with the fresh new brand vs. brand angle. AEW still won in the 18-49 demo with 0.35 to NXT’s 0.30, but AEW had been doubling NXT in that age group ...

AEW was up 8.9 percent from last week, but it should have been up considerably more. NXT was up 39.8 percent ...

The key take in all this, is that while the NXT number has its reasons for rising, and we don’t know if this was a one-time thing or will change next week without main roster stars, AEW has not stabilized. The number it’s at is still a good number, but the continued drops among the under 35 audience that were so strong from week one is a major issue.

The key take on the show is AEW’s numbers opened well ahead and mostly declined, even with a hot show. NXT opened behind, and largely grew. By saying that, you’d think it was an audience switch as the two hours were going. Yet, an examination of the quarters tells you that wasn’t the case. While the AEW audience was tuning out, for the most part they were not switching to NXT.

In the overall, AEW started with a solid lead, 976,000 for Pac vs. Trent vs. 819,000 for the OC Invasion and TV main event build and the beginning of Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest.

But NXT role and AEW fell as a general rule, with NXT winning the final 45 minutes.

In the second quarter, AEW with the Cody interview did 959,000 viewers, down 18,000. NXT with the ending of Dunne vs. Priest and the Killian Dain attack on both did 800,000 viewers, down 19,000.

In the third quarter, AEW with Private Party vs. Dark Order did 809,000 viewers, a loss of 150,000. NXT with Taynara vs. Santana Garrett did 813,000, winning slightly, with a gain of 13,000 viewers. So in both these quarters it’s not so much the same people switching.

In the fourth quarter, AEW had the ending of the Private Party vs. Dark Order match and the Chris Jericho video, doing 827,000 which was up 18,000. NXT had Shayna Baszler vs. Dakota Kai, which did 819,000, up 6,000. So again, not a switch.

In quarter five, AEW had Riho & Shanna vs. Emi Sakura & Jamie Hayter, which did 798,000 viewers a drop of 29,000. NXT had the post-Baszler-Kai wild women’s brawl and an interview segment with Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee and Matt Riddle, and did 793,000 viewers, a drop of 26,000. Once again, not a switch.

In quarter six, AEW did 698,000 viewers for the Brandi Rhodes video and Shawn Spears vs. Brandon Cutler, a loss of 99,000 viewers. NXT had Tony Nese vs. Angel Garza, and did 769,000 viewers, a loss of 24,000, so again, not a switch.

In quarter seven, AEW had the Jon Moxley/Kenny Omega video package and beginning of Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Omega & Adam Page, which did 739,000 viewers, up 40,000. AEW had Isaiah Scott vs. Dominik Dijakovic which did 784,000 viewers, up 15,000. That’s the issue with promotional videos, they are great for building characters and matches, but are not going to do the numbers of in-ring in most cases. This was not a quarter one would have expected AEW to lose. But again here, both groups rose at the same time.

In quarter eight, AEW had the end of Jericho & Guevara vs. Omega & Page match, and the big brawl at the end, which gained 29,000 viewers to 768,000. NXT had Lee & Riddle & Ciampa vs. Styles & Gallows & Anderson, which did 807,000 viewers, gaining 23,000, so again, not a switch.

What was a switch is that once AEW ended, NXT gained 190,000 viewers to 997,000 so the overrun, which had not helped the NXT rating in the past, did here. It’s not a major difference, as without the overrun, NXT would have averaged 802,000 viewers

At TV this week, Styles pitched the idea of the OC against the Undisputed Era for Survivor Series. However, it looks right now that if the match will take place on NXT television down the line, or on television somewhere since they shot the angle for it on NXT. It could be moved to Survivor Series but Styles is currently booked in the three secondary title match on that show. So that led to a change because the original booking of Raw had The Street Profits & Humberto Carrillo beating the OC with Carrillo getting a shocking pin on Styles to heat up a longer program with the two over the U.S. title. The decision was then made that if the OC was going into a feud with NXT then they couldn’t lose this week on Raw. Since the Street Profits are being protected, that meant Carrillo had to lose again, and with the loss to Rollins in week one and losses to Styles in singles matches on TV and in Saudi Arabia, Carrillo has now started out on Raw with four losses in a row

One of the craziest few days in WWE history included a problem with getting talent out of Saudi Arabia after the Crown Jewel show, the best episode of Smackdown which could change the trajectory of the Wednesday night wars, and the company announcing a new deal with Saudi Arabia ...

The story is very complicated and left very bitter feelings among much of the crew, many of whom are saying they will never go back, although others are very skeptical whether that will be the case. And some have expressed questions regarding with working for the company, although the nature of the contracts and their ability to be frozen means that you really can’t quit until your contract expires if you want to stay working in the industry. The company is releasing nobody these days. In addition, saying you would never go back this week and actually doing so next summer when the next show is likely to take place are two different things ...

Most, but not all, of the talent, as well as those in the company not in Saudi Arabia who were in constant contact with talent and every person but two in the company who contacted us claimed the story that there was a mechanical problem with the flight was a cover story even before the early reports of that being the reason came out. WWE remains insistent that the mechanical problems were the entire issue and noted that the statement made by Atlas Airlines should have ended all speculation ...

The story with talent, and with all those who believed the mechanical problems were a cover, were they were told by a WWE official during the show that the Saudis owed WWE a huge money figure and that Vince McMahon had delayed allowing the television broadcast of the show in Saudi Arabia until they got it. According to people in the country, the broadcast strangely was delayed 40 minutes. Others in WWE claim that while the broadcast was delayed, that it had nothing to do with money payments and was a technical issue that caused the delay ...

The recent WWE 10-Q earnings report showed a major accounts receivable figure that was far higher than usual in the second quarter, and then even higher in the third quarter. In the third quarter, the accounts receivables was listed at $143 million and that 46 percent, which would be $65.8 million, came from one unnamed account. George Barrios, in the earnings conference, which took place less than 90 minutes before the show started, said that since 9/30, the date the report covered, that the company had received $60 million from an outstanding debt. There was also a listing in the 10-Q, which covers the period up through 9/30, about WWE not having been paid yet for the Super Showdown show on 6/7 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But that was as of 9/30 and Barrios at the investors call talked about that $60 million payment being received after the current books they were discussing were closed, without saying what it was ...

The story going around from the talent was that they were told, after several hours, which included the appearance of military police according to one wrestler waiting for the flight, that the plane they were supposed to leave on at 3 a.m. after the show had a mechanical issue. Then, about six hours later, while in the plane the entire time, they were told that the pilots had timed out and thus, even if fixed, the plane couldn’t take off and they needed to leave the plane. They were told to leave the airport and go to hotels ... They were first told they couldn’t get another flight out until 8 p.m., but then that story changed and then they were told they couldn’t get a flight out until 3 a.m. They did get on that flight, although it left about 90 minutes late.

Keep in mind this is talent that probably does anywhere from 90 to 120 flights a year, and every one of them has run into mechanical problems and delays as a matter of course, likely multiple times per year, and that those are for the most part of the job and taken in stride. Perhaps it was being in a foreign country, and perhaps it was just that foreign country

The story continued at Raw on 11/4. Vince McMahon called a meeting at 3 p.m. with the Raw locker room. Vince McMahon basically said the same story that the company has been saying. He said that there was no issue with Saudi Arabia and that the feed to the Saudi Arabian television network was cut at the request of Saudi Arabia, not himself. He opened up for questions and nobody asked any questions. Nobody said anything about the story given. It was noted that there was a feeling that saying anything negative wouldn’t do anyone any good and nobody spoke up.

There was a feeling that saying anything won’t do anyone any good and that was the correct call. Randy Orton said something but he was just trying to break tension by being funny and Vince said, “Anybody else want to just kiss my ass?” The meeting was about to wrap up when Paul Levesque called out Karl Anderson for making a remark on Twitter about who is going to be the locker room leader on Monday. Anderson didn’t say much of anything. The situation with Anderson was that besides that remark, he tried to be funny by teasing the idea he was mad and wouldn’t go back, only to joke about it, saying that he needed to pay for a new pool. His wife responded back saying that it’s actually a second house, but indicated not wanting him to go again for concerns about him being more important than the second house.

A.J. Styles spoke but didn’t say much. He was very unhappy that the delay caused him to miss one of his son’s wrestling matches. Rusev started and mostly thanked Mark Carrano of Talent Relations for his work in quickly booking hotel rooms for everyone while they were stranded. Nobody voiced anything negatively. There were some remarks about how at times during this ordeal they didn’t have access to Wifi and thus couldn’t contact their families.

On today's "Jerry Lawler Show" Podcast, The King discusses Monday's talent meeting this past week at Raw.

Regarding the issues discussed at the talent meeting regarding Saudi Arabia travel this past Monday, Lawler states that Vince addressed the roster saying, they never saw so many issues happening with travel at one time. The King states he was not aware of any of the issues before the talent meeting. The Hall of Famer explains how many were frustrated that things were not explained to them regarding issues with fueling the plane and an onboard sensor. He discusses the language barrier that causes more problems.

According to Lawler, AJ Styles and Karl Anderson spoke up about talent concerns not knowing what the hell was going on. Lawler states everything was explained in detail, debunking rumors and talking about the new Saudi deal through 2027.

According to Lawler Vince said that they would not be using that charter company anymore. The King says that wrestlers are their own worst enemy when it comes to believing what they hear.
Lawler joining Graves in blaming WWE's talent for complaining online and claiming all they were doing was spreading rumors. Also PWInsider feeling the same way in regards to talent making the issue into a bigger mess based on a recent Q&A article.

Even with Cain Velasquez and Tyson Fury on the show, likely because the show took place on a Thursday afternoon and most people weren’t even aware, Crown Jewel became the first WWE PPV show not to crack the top 20 in Google trends, falling under 100,000. Even the Australia show in the middle of the night did so and previous Saudi shows. This indicates the least interest in such a show.

The finish of the Flair & Natalya vs. Asuka & Sane match was also changed. The original finish was Asuka getting the fall on Natalya, since there is, or at least was, a direction in a few months of Asuka challenging for the title which is why the announcers had pushed that Asuka beat Lynch at the Rumble. Notably, that wasn’t touched this week. I don’t know the reason for the change, but the presumption, and this does make sense, is that with Natalya shining so big at the Crown Jewel show and mainstream media in the wake of it, that having her lose in her first television match back wouldn’t be the right thing. And I’d agree with that call. That doesn’t mean Asuka had to lose to her, because you could have taken the fall on Sane just as easily and Lynch has already beaten Sane. Really, this shouldn’t change anything because by the time they were going to get to Asuka challenging for the title, the fact she tapped out in a tag team match would be largely forgotten

NXT has booked January dates at Full Sail University. They had been talking with buildings for Wednesday night television dates in 2020. The last we’d heard was the idea they would run Full Sail some weeks and from arenas other weeks

For Survivor Series, the plan was for a three secondary title match, Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong vs. Styles. I don’t know this is happening, and was only told the plan was that it wouldn’t be that exact match, meaning either Nakamura or Styles loses before that date. Styles stuff has all been changed due to the NXT program he’s doing. But the most interesting aspect is that Bryan is doing a program with Nakamura, so there is a chance of a Strong vs. Bryan vs. Styles match if Nakamura was the change expected for that match. If given time, that could be as good a main roster bout as there has been this year. Keep in mind that is reading something into it and when it comes to something like that, even if planned this week, that can change five times in the next week. But we do know that before the Styles program with NXT was put together, he was earmarked to be champion on 11/24
Spoiler tag used since its related to potential Survivor Series plans.

[AEW Dynamite] Numbers for the U.K. were down this past week. ITV 4 moved the show from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday night which led to a decline to 78,000 viewers, although it is better than the first week at 10 p.m. and they did move the slot again. The Monday at 11:45 p.m time slot on ITV did 148,000 viewers, down from 221,000 the prior week ...

For WWE, with less penetration on Sky, Raw on 11/5 did 49,000 viewers, and once again had a huge quarter hour for the segment with HHH, Seth Rollins and the debut of the NXT crew. However, the live Smackdown on 11/2 only did 11,000 viewers

In Canada this past week, Smackdown on 11/1 did 139,500 viewers, NXT on 11/1 didn’t crack the top ten (less than 82,000 viewers), Raw on 11/4 did 255,900 viewers and AEW did 109,100 viewers. The 10/30 AEW show didn’t make the top ten in the sports ratings in Canada which means it did less than 121,200 viewers. The World Series and all the sport news shows on the different sports stations covering the World Series is what knocked them off the listings

In an update on Jesus Huerta (La Parka), the doctors have said that his injuries could have been fatal had they not done immediate surgery to reduce pressure. There have been other surgeries to stabilize his spine as well as a tracheotomy. He has been unable to talk but can communicate. He was moved out of intensive care in the past few days and he has gotten feeling back and some movement back in his arms and legs

One idea talked about for 2020 is breaking Evil away from LIJ and Sanada and giving him a strong singles push

Tessa Blanchard is getting a World Championship shot at Impact Wrestling's next pay-per-view.

Impact confirmed today that Sami Callihan will defend his World title against Blanchard in the main event of Hard to Kill. The PPV is taking place at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, January 12, 2020.

The match is being promoted as "the first time in professional wrestling that a woman will challenge a man for the top title live on pay-per-view."

During a media scrum at Starrcast, AEW star The Luchasaurus said he is targeting a January 2020 return from his hamstring inury.

Cody held a conference call with members of the media on Friday ahead of Full Gear. We have posted the entire call on the site and below are some of the highlights ...

* He doesn’t like the term ‘mid-card’, acknowledges it exists and he toiled there, but no one considers themselves ‘mid-card’ mentioning how the Intercontinental title when on last at SummerSlam 1992. He said in the next month or so, there would be a ‘prize’ for those on the rise. He added that all the titles need to be treated the same as the AEW title.
* They are releasing top five rankings for each division tonight and will hopefully be updated every Friday
* Cody debriefs every department after each week’s show. He mentioned the music is piped into the mix because they want to hear the crowd over top of it and Cody monitors the music each week. Mikey Rukus is the composer who has developed many of the theme songs in AEW.
* Christopher Daniels and Chris Harrington have been working hard on getting international talent into the country legally through visa work, etc.
* Kenny Omega is trying to do something different with the women’s division and praised the Joshi talent while the women’s division will grow after the pay-per-view this weekend ...
* Jim Ross has told him that they need to bring up what happens on AEW Dark on the Dynamite show. He doesn’t want to make all their shoulder programming ‘mandatory’ and Dynamite is the hub for everything. The shoulder program is there for you but as long as you see Dynamite, you aren’t missing anything.

Regarding the excellent video from the Inner Circle that aired on Dynamite this week, there were no writers involved in the making of the video. Those involved were instructed to put over Chris Jericho and do so in their own unique way. It was also edited tremendously and came off as one of the better-produced comedy bits in a wrestling show that I can recall.

According to a report from bodyslam.net Big Swole impressed AEW officials so much in her match at AEW Dark, that she was offered on contract with the company as soon as she made her way to the back.

We have learned that she has in fact signed a contract and the announcement of her signing with the company is coming soon ...

She’s no stranger to AEW having been one of the partici[ants on the All Out – The Buy-In Casino Battle Royal and teaming with Mercedes Martinez on AEW Dark in a losing effort to Allie and Sadie Gibbs.


The standout performer has made a name for himself quickly within the ranks of All Elite Wrestling. As one of the top independent names in wrestling over the last several years, Allin had options, but points to one specific point of appeal as to why he ended up joining AEW instead of the likes of WWE.

"Creative freedom, hands down. A lot of people if they see me at first, they don't know how present me. AEW is like 'how do you want to be presented?' instead of 'this is how we're going to present you.' Give me that creative freedom. WWE would have probably made me a creepy figure in a boiler room jacking off or something. No, I'm fine. I want to skateboard and represent that culture," said Darby Allin at the Starrcast IV media scrum on Friday.

Allin joined EVOLVE and WWN very early in his career and worked dozens of matches there over the course of several years. However, it seems as if any good will between the two sides, as Allin said "Tell EVOLVE to go fuck itself" during the scrum.
https://i.imgur.com/hE3K8Pg.gif


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Full Gear Ticket Sales, Theme Song, New Set, Show Length (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aew-full-gear-ticket-sales-official-theme-song-stage-plans-and-buy-in-plans/)
Newest WWE Signee Indi Hartwell Debuts at NXT House Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/newest-wwe-signee-indi-hartwell-debuts-at-nxt-house-show/)
WWE SmackDown Taping Results – Nov. 8, 2019 – Manchester, England (Spoilers) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-smackdown-taping-results-nov-8-2019-manchester-england-spoilers/)
WWE Raw Taping Results – Nov. 8, 2019 – Manchester, England (Spoilers) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-raw-taping-results-nov-8-2019-manchester-england-spoilers/)
WWE Injury Updates: Aleister Black, Sami Zayn, Alexa Bliss (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-injury-updates-aleister-black-sami-zayn-alexa-bliss/)
Impact Taping Results – Nov. 7, 2019 – Night 1 from Queens, NY (Spoilers) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/impact-taping-results-nov-7-2019-night-1-from-queens-ny-spoilers/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

With the ratings being so close between AEW and NXT this week, it’s probably only a few boxes difference. Not really discernible as to which one was the more watched program. Especially when you figure in WWE Network numbers.

I was led to believe that AEW was slaughtering NXT with young people, but it’s only in the 18-49. In the 18-34 they are basically square (the week before this was like a 0.15 to a 0.14). Lots of spin to make AEW look hotter ticket than it really is.

Not horrible numbers compared to the rest of television, but some sneaky wording to try and make one look like it’s way ahead of the other.

[Seanny One Ball]

If anyone saw that Cornette Twitter thing it's pretty funny. The people complaining seem to think wrestling is all about making friends.

[Emperor Smeat]

With the ratings being so close between AEW and NXT this week, it’s probably only a few boxes difference. Not really discernible as to which one was the more watched program. Especially when you figure in WWE Network numbers.

I was led to believe that AEW was slaughtering NXT with young people, but it’s only in the 18-49. In the 18-34 they are basically square (the week before this was like a 0.15 to a 0.14). Lots of spin to make AEW look hotter ticket than it really is.

Not horrible numbers compared to the rest of television, but some sneaky wording to try and make one look like it’s way ahead of the other.

It also took NXT needing to appear on main roster programming, being included in the Survivor Series build, and hype of main roster invading NXT to bring the numbers that close though.

AEW might push the gap wider next week due to them coming off from a PPV and NXT unlikely having a big notable main roster star showing up due to the European tour.

The week after is likely when NXT beats AEW for the first time since that is the Survivor Series go-home show for all three WWE brands, NXT's go-home show for their own War Games event, and very likely when the big main roster invasion of NXT happens.

[ClockShot]

LIJ just got Hiromu back and now they're thinking of splitting off EVIL?

Eh, mixed feelings here. I thought he was great during the G1.

I wanna say maybe make a run at the NEVER belt?

Does Naito go on a recruitment drive if he leaves altogether?

Dunno.

[Black Widow]

TNA would seriously make a woman their main champ LAME!

[Fignuts]

https://i.imgur.com/O5qdSu4.png

[Simple Fan]

Yeah Sanada would make more sense. He's already had bangers with Okada and has a higher ceiling than Evil.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If anyone saw that Cornette Twitter thing it's pretty funny. The people complaining seem to think wrestling is all about making friends.

They’re just happy to be there and love to have a good time.

It also took NXT needing to appear on main roster programming, being included in the Survivor Series build, and hype of main roster invading NXT to bring the numbers that close though.

AEW might push the gap wider next week due to them coming off from a PPV and NXT unlikely having a big notable main roster star showing up due to the European tour.

The week after is likely when NXT beats AEW for the first time since that is the Survivor Series go-home show for all three WWE brands, NXT's go-home show for their own War Games event, and very likely when the big main roster invasion of NXT happens.

AEW might get a PPV bump, but honestly, I’m not sure enough people give a shit about it. I think NXT have turned this thing around on them.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Going against what ended up as the biggest Monday Night Football game of the year, Raw set a record low for a non-major holiday show, doing 2.06 million viewers last night.

The show was on Veteran's Day, but that is not considered the type of a holiday that impacts ratings.

The episode was expected to do a weak number, with the combination of the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks game, and that Raw was taped.

The only Raw episodes in modern history to fall under this number were this past Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. However, the third hour last night was lower than the third hour either of those nights ...

The third hour was the least watched third hour in history, even behind Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. That was likely due to the closeness and interest in the game, plus the six-man tag with Ricochet, Humberto Carrillo & Randy Orton vs. The OC wasn't going to keep viewers who had any interest in football. The main event segment itself did gain viewers from The Viking Raiders match with Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews ...

The 26 percent drop in audience from hour one to hour three was the largest in history, but given the excitement of the game, which went into overtime, that isn't a shock either ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.36 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.06 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.75 million viewers


The demographics told an interesting story as Raw was hit most among 18-49 with men down 12.5% and women down 18%. They only fell 17.5% among people 25-54 from last week. Interestingly, men 12-34 was up 2% from last week while adults over 50 stayed even from the previous week, which is remarkable.

The actual tune-out numbers from hour one to hour three were gigantic. While males 12-34 were up from last week, throughout the show they fell 31%, which tied the largest decline during the episode along with men 18-49. People 18-49 fell 30% from the first to the third hour, 25-54 fell 28% and people 18-34 fell 27%. Adults over 50 only fell 18% during the show, which was the strongest retention among the key demographics.

The John Cena narrated "Wrestlemania's Legendary Moments" documentary which aired on Fox last month is coming to WWE Network this Friday, 10 AM on demand

A new "Beyond the Ring" presentation will be added to WWE Network this Friday at 12 PM Eastern. It will be the 2017 "1997: Dawn of the Attitude" which features a roundtable hosted by Renée Young featuring Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Ron Simmons, Kane, and the Godfather talking about the pivotal year in WWE history.

There is a new edition of Table for 3 airing tonight on the WWE Network featuring Shane McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and John Laurinaitis. The company released a clip previewing the show with McMahon recounting a ridiculous story regarding the sale of WCW in March 2001 and going to Panama City, Florida for the final Monday Nitro. According to McMahon’s story, he informed the locker room in WCW that the company had been bought out and everyone was stunned as he delivered the news. Laurinaitis then chimed in that only he and some of the lawyers were aware of the sale. The news broke the previous week and was the biggest story in the industry well in advance prior to the day of the final Nitro. This isn’t even one of those stories where there were reports out there, but the company had kept quiet, the WWE issued a press release on Friday announcing the purchase. So, this story was quite insane.

David Penzer doesn't believe Shane McMahon remembers things too well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is inaccurate. There was an announcement made online the WCW website, a few days before Nitro, that WWE had purchased the company. We had no details of our future when Shane addressed us but we did know that the company had been sold. <a href="https://t.co/xC3GGO8R44">https://t.co/xC3GGO8R44</a></p>&mdash; David Penzer (@davidpenzer) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidpenzer/status/1193990167519993863?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

During his promo on at the Oct. 9 episode of AEW Dynamite, Chris Jericho shut down a "We The People" chant by saying, "'We The People' sucks. It's dead and buried. It was a stupid idea from bad creative and all of that's gone." The "We The People" phrase was popularized by Jake Hager (Jack Swagger in WWE) and Cesaro during their time as a tag team.

Speaking to Sportskeeda, Cesaro revealed that "We The People" may not have been an idea from "bad creative."

“I was lucky to be in some very great tag teams with people I’ve gotten along with tremendously well: Jack Swagger, Tyson Kidd and Sheamus. ‘We The People’, by the way... That was our idea and it’s still over!"

At WWE SummerSlam 2019, Goldberg made short work of Dolph Ziggler, laying him out with a spear and jackhammer in less than two minutes. After the bout, Ziggler continued to egg on Goldberg and received a few more spears for his troubles.

Speaking to Alex McCarthy of TalkSport, Ziggler revealed that he did everything in his power to get more time for the match.

"As a kid, yeah. You know now, I’m a grown-up and I see these guys and I go ‘Ok, I’m here to do business and special things’ So I try not to be like ‘the fan’. I find out what the business is and I’m like ‘Cool, this will be a special moment’. But yeah, as a kid, big time [fan]," he said. "Then having that ‘You’re the guy to do this’ to set the record straight and give this guy and awesome match you go ‘Fantastic’. And they go ‘It’s going to be a bell, spear, pin’ and I go ‘come one’. I fought all day long, threatened to leave, threatened to quit, did everything I had to – ‘Give me two damn minutes!’ And I got a minute, whatever, what you going to do?"

EVOLVE has revealed WALTER's matches for their December events.

WALTER will be in action at EVOLVE 141 in Livonia, Michigan on Friday, December 6 and EVOLVE 142 in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, December 7. He'll face Timothy Thatcher at the Livonia show. The next night in Chicago, it will be WALTER vs. EVOLVE Champion Josh Briggs in a non-title match.

Jerry Lynn on Twitter: “Went over the MRI with the doctor today. Getting surgery for a bulging disc on Nov 29th. Good news is 3 to 4 week recovery!”

Retrosoft Studios announced today that RetroMania Wrestling is officially the sequel to the 1980s arcade game WrestleFest. They reached an agreement with Arc System Works Co. Ltd, who obtained the IP rights to WrestleFest and Mat Mania from defunct developer Technos of Japan. The developers noted in the press release that characters from the Mat Mania series will appear in the new game.

Former WWE and ECW star Francine announced this [Monday] evening that she was being re-admitted back into a hospital in New Jersey from issues she did not disclose pending from a surgery last week for an abdominal reconstruction as well as a hernia repair. This had the third such surgery the "Queen of Extreme" has undergone with doctors placing mesh to secure her stitching, which came underdone prematurely after the first two surgeries.

Rusev spoke with The Sun in the U.K. earlier this week and discussed the storyline involving his Lana and Bobby Lashley:

There’s adjustments that we make, but that’s just life. We’re committed to our characters on TV, so we just have to make slight adjustments, but we’re professionals and we’re coping with it. It’s great, I think we are in the best storyline currently going on and the best storyline that’s been around for years. It’s getting a lot of views and a lot of eyes on it. Some people like it, some people love it, but at the end of the day, it’s the hottest storyline going on.

In the interview, he added that if he were to team with a female on the roster it would be Asuka and noted that he began taking lessons to speak Japanese earlier this year.

From almost the beginning, All Elite Wrestling has made it well known that wins and losses will matter heavily in the company. When wrestlers head to the ring, the graphic that displays their name also includes their record (in singles competition and overall).

On Twitter, a fan asked AEW EVP Nick Jackson how AEW will handle things down the road to avoid booking problems in regards to wrestlers' records, "Do you have a way of booking around the possible problems down the road that you may encounter with the win-loss record?"

Jackson retweeted the question and confirmed, "It'll reset."

Rather than wins-losses just going on and on, it sounds like AEW will have something of a "season" where wrestlers will get an opportunity for a start fresh.

During their panel at Starrcast IV, a fan asked Brandi what her thoughts are on which women would she like to bring in to the division. Brandi, who had spent years working in WWE, said she'd bring in former Raw and Women's champion Alexa Bliss into AEW, adding that she is a big fan of her work.

"I would take Alexa Bliss in a heartbeat. I love Bliss, I love her. She's got something. She's multi-dimensional and talented," Brandi said.

Of course, Cody had to step in and show off his appreciation for Bliss by not only saying she has the best theme song in WWE, but also briefly playing her theme song on his phone.

"It's a good song! Literally at the top of my playlist," Cody said.

Brandi then asked Cody what his pick would be and Cody jokingly said if he mentioned anyone from WWE, then that person would get locked up under a brand new contract. So he decided to go in another direction and go for someone that is actually a member of IMPACT Wrestling.

"The tricky thing about it is if I say someone from WWE, then Vince [McMahon] will sign them for $18 million. They would appreciate it... I think Tessa Blanchard would be a good addition," Cody said.

Next IMPACT Plus special announced.

IMPACT Wrestling announced the promotion will return to IMPACT Plus for a special on Saturday, Dec. 7. IMPACT No Surrender will take place in Dayton, Ohio and will be headlined by an IMPACT World Championship match pitting Sami Callihan defending his title against Rich Swann.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces Starrcade Special + Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-announces-current-card-and-one-hour-network-special-for-starrcade-2019/)
Updated Survivor Series Card: New Matches + Team Raw Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/updated-survivor-series-card-new-matches-team-raw-announced/)
AEW: Dynamite Coming to Miami, Backstage at Full Gear (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aew-dynamite-coming-to-miami-backstage-at-full-gear/)

[Simple Fan]

Anthem could probably offer her just as much but they'd probably be more interested in just working with AEW. Pretty sure they'll give her the World Championship to boot. She also has WOW which is in bed with AXS TV.

I'd really like to see Tessa vs Charlotte but have no faith in WWE. If they were to do the 4 Horsewomen and then have Tessa come into fight them it'd be pretty cool.

AEW is a bit too new to really see her there. She's way above those Joshi girls but they'd probably have some killer matches.

She'll be the biggest free agent since AJ Styles though.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

CM Punk's return on WWE Backstage tonight was kept a secret from everyone on camera with the exception of Renee Young as a way to prevent the return from leaking. Obviously, FOX was successful.

PWInsider.com has confirmed that Punk signed a deal with FOX but has not signed anything with World Wrestling Entertainment as of this writing.

The decision to bring Punk on was 100% a FOX call, but we are told that WWE gave the return their personal blessing. The two sides had circled on a deal but it was finally completed within the last few days.

Punk will be appearing regularly on WWE Backstage going forward, but will not be on every week we are told.

The return led to CM Punk's name and WWE Backstage trending on social media.

When CM Punk returned on WWE Backstage last night, it was the first time since 2005 in Ring of Honor that he and Samoa Joe appeared on the same show for the same promotion.

Joe noted on WWE Backstage that he would be out of action for a few more weeks due to his broken thumb.

On WWE Backstage last night, it was announced that Gargano will not be medically cleared to wrestle at NXT TakeOver: WarGames due to a neck injury. WWE is claiming that the injury happened when Finn Balor turned heel and attacked Gargano on NXT three weeks ago.

Bryan Alvarez said on today's Wrestling Observer Live that the injury to Gargano is legitimate, though he didn't know if that's when the injury happened.

MLW has announced their first matchup for next month's Opera Cup tournament.

TJP vs. Brian Pillman Jr. is set for the first round of the tournament. It's being held at MLW's television tapings at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, December 5.

There will be four opening round matches in the Opera Cup, with MLW hyping that they've "invited some of the best wrestlers from around the world to compete in this one-night single-elimination tournament."

In his piece for the New Japan Pro-Wrestling website, NJPW President Harold Meij commented on the report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kenny Omega was stopped from entering Japan for his recent match for DDT Pro Wrestling. It was noted in the report that this incident was the third time Omega had trouble entering Japan since departing from NJPW in January of 2019. Here’s how Meij responded to the report:

“By the way, a few days ago, there were some unbelievable rumors that New Japan Pro-Wrestling tried to prevent Kenny Omega from entering Japan, but there was no reason why a company could not do that. I don’t want to do that. I thought it would be through because it was rumors spread from somebody’s speculation, but I mentioned that it was important to tell the fact by denying it once. Kenny Omega has made a great contribution to New Japan Pro Wrestling, and I wish him success.”

Deadline reported that due to the cancellation of the computer-animated feature film adaptation of "Rugrats", the WWE Paramount Animation project "Rumble" has been moved back six months to January 21, 2021 to fill the void.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated interviewed Jim Ross and Ross talked about how proud he is of Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega for their match at AEW Full Gear. Ross said their match challenged him as a broadcaster:

“Its been years since I was this proud of two guys in a match like I am with Moxley and Kenny. I’ve never seen a main event like that. They should be congratulated. The effort they put forth was absolutely amazing. This match was a great indication of the in-ring spirit of AEW. We want to be about innovation and delivering a great effort. The match gave us stunts, it gave us wrestling, it gave us drama, it gave us uniqueness. This was about two guys that were given a chance to lay out their own game plan and execute their match, and that’s what they did. I loved that the Mox-Kenny match challenged me as a broadcaster. People kept telling me, ‘JR, this match isn’t for you.’ How do you know that? I wasn’t with ECW; that was Joey Styles’ gig. I never got to call a lot of the hardcore stuff. I don’t find it distasteful, I don’t find it bad. We’re supposed to have something for everybody, and AEW offers a variety of styles and presentations that fans are going to like. This is not a one-dimensional company.”

NWA Into The Fire PPV and subsequent television tapings in Atlanta have all sold out.

During the post-Full Gear media scrum, Chris Jericho was asked about AEW's unblemished record over WWE NXT in the Wednesday night TV ratings competition ...

Chris would go on to say NXT lost its uniqueness and is now just another WWE show. He would even go so far as to say he sees it in the same light of the ECW brand a decade ago. He also said the NXT Arena should prepare to feel the power of Hulkamania soon with the way the show is going.

"So, am I surprised that we're winning? Of course not. I knew we'd win," he continued. "Our star power crushes NXT's star power and exactly what I knew was going to happen. NXT, what made it cool before, it was a standalone thing. Now it's just another WWE show. It's like, you know, 2009 ECW, so good for them. God bless them. I'm sure at some point Roman Reigns will be on NXT now, and Hulk Hogan will return to a TV studio for the first time since 1981 in Memphis. That's fine. All we're going to do is continue to worry about ourselves, concentrate on our storylines, our matches, and our characters, building stars."

Rusev recently spoke with Digital Spy and once again defended his current WWE RAW storyline with wife Lana and Bobby Lashley ...

"How can I not be happy?" he said. "It's the hottest storyline in the whole WWE, it's been the hottest storyline for years. So of course, I'm happy with it."

Rusev also addressed criticism on the storyline potentially doing damage to his marriage, saying this is no different than what any other actor would do.

"Not many people are willing to do something like this, but we're professionals so, of course, we're used to it," he said. "(Being professional) is what any other actor does, you know, when you're going to step on stage or whatever. This is no different than that."

Corey Graves recently called the storyline ridiculous on WWE's "After The Bell" podcast and called on the company to "let it end." Rusev responded and incorrectly claimed that they are drawing the highest views on YouTube ...

"Just because Corey Graves doesn't like it or somebody else it doesn't mean anything. Obviously, the numbers speak for itself, we're the highest viewed YouTube video in a long, long time. I'm stoked about it," Rusev said.

Rusev continued and said when he meets fans, he receives positive reactions, and that the naysayers are just "internet warriors" who like to complain about WWE.

"We have fans that are not even fans of WWE that tune in because they like the drama," Rusev said. "That's what I don't understand, when you watch Game of Thrones or any of your favourite shows there's always a scandal, there's always things like that. That's why I don't understand why some people are trying to reject that. It's just those super ultra fans in their basement that are trying to reject it, which it is what it is, you know, if you don't like it, you don't have to watch it."

With Survivor Series a little over a week away, it makes sense that the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems spotlight would finally begin to focus in on the last “big 4” pay-per-view of the year. And with that in mind, it makes sense for what is steadily becoming a modern tradition to continue as well; the release of corresponding TV hype specials to the streaming service. After being graced by a Sunday Night Slam special for SummerSlam 1994 earlier this year, we’re now set to receive the followup of the same name for Survivor Series 1994, which taped on November 8, 1994 at the Fernwood Resort & Country Club in Pennsylvania but didn’t air until the 20th, just 3 days before the PPV. While the August show was 2-hours long, the runtime was cut in November as the era of standalone TV “spectaculars” began to run its course ...

Also of note for the purists out there is that the video has a perfectly healthy runtime of 44:58 and zero significant edits have been made to the presentation. Meaning that both a Bob Backlund vs. Bret Hart recap and a Survivor Series Report segment with Todd Pettingill are completely intact ...

As always, we wrap up with WWE’s official description:
Sunday Night Slam: November 1994 [Duration: 00:44:58]
Yokozuna, The British Bulldog, The Smoking Gunns and more compete in exciting matches just days before Survivor Series 1994.

The Boys, formerly of ROH and Dalton Castle proteges, are backstage at AEW Dynamite in Nashville.

Dustin Rhodes worked as a commentator for AEW Dark.


TPWW Frontpage:
Ratings: WWE Backstage and Total Divas Both Up (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/ratings-wwe-backstage-and-total-divas-both-up/)
ACH (Jordan Myles) Quits WWE – “I Hate That F*cking Company” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/ach-jordan-myles-quits-wwe-i-hate-that-fcking-company/)
Ali’s Name Changed Back to Mustafa Ali (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/alis-name-changed-back-to-mustafa-ali/)
Five Members of Team SmackDown Announced – Updated Survivor Series Card (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/five-members-of-team-smackdown-announced-updated-survivor-series-card/)
CM Punk Joins WWE Backstage (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/cm-punk-joins-wwe-backstage/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t trust Omega or The Bucks, but Meij also came out and called Meltzer a liar when he reported that US talent was unhappy in New Japan before.

Rusev trying really hard to justify being Marc Mero.

Jericho is awesome on-air, but he better be careful that joshing around or not, he doesn’t paint AEW in arrogant tones, because they’re probably not going to win and a lot can be said to criticize AEW too, and them looking like hypocrites is not going to be good for their perception.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

After a week in which NXT came its closest to beating AEW since the beginning of the Wednesday Night Wars, AEW Dynamite ratings were up 16 percent from last week, averaging 957,000 viewers.

Dynamite finished fifth for the night on cable in the 18-49 demo, averaging a 0.43 rating in that important category. That number is up 22 percent from the previous week.

NXT on USA Network was down eight percent in total viewers, averaging 750,000 viewers. In the 18-49 rankings, they finished 22nd on the night with a .25 rating. That's down 17 percent from last week.

AEW beat NXT in every demo except for persons over 50, which is the case most weeks. NXT had an edge of 0.35 to 0.29 in that demo.

Dynamite was strongest in the males 18-49 category, with a 0.55 rating, almost doubling NXT's 0.32.

The AEW number was almost identical with where the show finished on October 23. The NXT audience has grown eight percent from that date, which is likely the effects of the current angle involving the NXT invasion of Raw and SmackDown leading into Survivor Series.

AEW saw gains across the board led by females 12-34 that rose an incredible 91% from last week and up 200% from two weeks ago where the show went against Game 7 of the World Series.

The 18-34 demo was up 48% for AEW and women 18-49 grew 35% from last week’s among the biggest jumps.

For NXT, they were hit hardest among the female 12-34 demo that AEW benefited from with NXT down 23% in that category. A small positive for NXT was a rise among males 12-34 which was up 6% and the over 50 audience was up 3%.

Two members of The Dynasty will face off in the opening round of MLW's Opera Cup tournament.

MLW has announced that MJF will face his Dynasty stablemate Alexander Hammerstone in the first round of the Opera Cup. The one-night single-elimination tournament is being held at MLW's television tapings at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, December 5.

The Ronda Rousey Story: Through My Father’s Eyes A Lionsgate documentary on UFC Hall of Famer and former WWE Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey will be released for digital streaming and on demand orders next Tuesday 11/9.

Written and directed by Gary Stretch (former WBC International Light Middleweight Boxing champion), the documentary follows Rousey from her difficult, humble beginnings through her rise to the top of the male-dominated mixed martial arts and sports entertainment worlds to become one of the most recognizable and iconic superstars in the entire world.

Jordan Myles has deleted his Twitter account. In a move that can't make WWE happy, People Magazine picked up on the Myles story.
Link: https://people.com/sports/jordan-myles-quits-the-wwe-citing-racism

On November 13th, Jordan Myles (ACH) made it clear on social media that he is quitting WWE. He stated during a Twitter Live video that he does not want to be a part of the company. Last week, Myles noted on Twitter that if WWE didn’t reach out to him following the offensive and racial t-shirt situation, he was going to continue speaking out. Myles’ Twitter account is not activated at the moment. WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T talked about the situation during the latest edition of his ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast and shared his thoughts about the entire situation and where it is now:

“I don’t know if Jordan Myles has quit the company but on social media he says he quit the company. My thing is, I’m not gonna sit here and judge or anything like that. I’m not gonna sit here and say, ‘The guy should’ve did this’ or, ‘The guy should’ve did that’. I’m gonna lay out on that because I don’t want any backlash before someone’s saying, ‘Oh Booker said this’ and ‘Booker said that’. I’m just gonna say this: The situation to where… it all started with the t-shirt and now its gotten to this and I don’t know where it’s gonna go from here but I do know, some of the stuff he was saying as far as the company goes, I cannot… I’ve been on this earth for 54 years and if you think one person is something, call it that. If you think that person is something, call it that. But I cannot judge a group and say everybody is that and when you make a blanket statement like that, you do no justice for yourself or the culture… like I said, I say this because I’ve had a lot of years and a lot of experience and I do know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for a white guy by the name of Bruce Gasarch who made this all happen for me as far as changing my life. That’s another story, and I easily could’ve judged everyone the same way after my situation — going to prison, being a kid who had never been in trouble before. First time being in the back of a police car, getting locked up and saying, ‘The system did me wrong. I hate everybody of that color.’ You know what I mean? And if I would’ve did that, I would’ve did myself an injustice more than anything and I think that’s the situation I wanna make clear here that the way he’s going about this, he’s doing himself an injustice and that’s my take on that and I’m gonna leave it at that.”

Comicbook.com interviewed Jim Ross and asked him about CM Punk’s appearance at the conclusion of WWE Backstage. Ross said he was not surprised and shared that he was offered the co-hosting spot for Backstage along with Renee Young but had already committed to Tony Khan and All Elite Wrestling:

“[I wasn’t] big-time surprised. I thought [they’d get him when] they got the pay in line with what he’s looking for to work part-time. The other thing is that he doesn’t have to [be on WWE TV]. That’s my understanding, he won’t be going back to the WWE community at TV. He’ll be going to LA, very different deal. I was offered that opportunity. Not his opportunity, I was offered an opportunity to be on a show with Renee, but I already had already committed to Tony Khan and AEW. I’m not big on breaking my commitments or breaking my word… I’m glad to see him going back on TV. He’s got a lot to offer. He’s creative, he’s smart, he’s a great polarizing performer. He’s a great talent, one of the best talents I’ve ever been around. Would I have wanted him to work for us? Of course I would. We would love that too. But it wasn’t in the cards right now and it may never be in the cards.”

According to Squared Circle Sirens, independent wrestler Karissa Rivera will be backstage at Friday Night SmackDown in Philadelphia.

Adam Cole did a Q&A that the WWE on FOX Twitter account posted. During the Q&A, Adam Cole shared that Bobby Fish recently lost a tooth and Fish went to Britt Baker to get it fixed.

In an interview with Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, Page spoke about the current Raw superstar and believes McIntyre could succeed really well if WWE were to let him be himself. Page added that he doesn't believe that he has been portrayed as the "Scottish Psychopath" as he has been nicknamed as such.

"I think they just have to let him be himself, you know? With WWE, it's a lot of stories. Guys have different stories that they have to live out. Like, I never saw him as a psychopath. Do you know what I mean? A warrior? Okay, but psychopath? I never saw that. You know, so, I think that, in the big picture, they've just got to let him be himself, and sometimes it takes time," Page said.

Page shared examples of past wrestlers who have done tremendously well being themselves, namely "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Ted DiBiase.

"Look at Stone Cold Steve Austin. When he came in, when he was the Ringmaster, and he was working with Ted DiBiase, he was the same wrestler. He just wasn't the same guy. They had to let Steve be Steve, and eventually they did. And we know what happened," Page said.

Raven is a fan of Pac, writing on Twitter, "Saw AEW last night & if you’re a young wrestler & u want to learn how to wrestle & do more than just high spots, @BASTARDPAC is who u should watch! He sells, he begs off.. he’s the most acrobatic guy there but he uses his acrobatics judiciously.
Plus, who doesn’t love a bastard?"

WWE Survivor Series is "the one time a year where brands collide over brand supremacy." And though the Wild Card Rule has led to plenty of inter-brand matches this year, brand supremacy remains at stake when Raw, SmackDown, and NXT battle at Survivor Series on Nov. 24.

But Corey Graves wishes there was something larger on the line.

"I understand the battle for brand supremacy. But, does anybody in the WWE Universe, really identify with a particular brand?" wondered Graves on his After The Bell podcast. "The whole brand supremacy thing doesn't seem to matter to anybody outside the doors of WWE. We need some stakes. It's becoming like the NFL Pro Bowl. How about, which ever brand wins the most matches at Survivor Series, you reward them with something. Maybe the 30th spot in the Royal Rumble matches. Maybe [the winning brand] gets the main event spot at WrestleMania. Give the WWE Universe a reason to be excited for the entire pay-per-view. That way, one brand walks away with 'bragging rights,' which is the only reason we can give for why these guys are trying to fight each other and form these weird alliances, but something tangible to look forward to in the future."

Graves continued, addressing the title situation at Survivor Series as well.

"I don't think I'm the only one who thinks there are too many freakin' titles in WWE. Why not consolidate all of them? How much bigger would Survivor Series be if all these champion vs. champion vs. champion matches were winner take all? Then let the champion float (between brands)."

As of now, no extra stakes have been attached to Survivor Series.


TPWW Frontpage:

Former MLW World Champion Filthy Tom Lawlor Leaving MLW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/former-mlw-world-champion-filthy-tom-lawlor-leaving-mlw/)
Three Matches Advertised for WWE TLC PPV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/three-matches-advertised-for-wwe-tlc-ppv/)
Aliyah and Mia Yim Bloodied and Injured at NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aliyah-and-mia-yim-bloodied-at-nxt/)
WWE: Title Match & Segment Announced for SmackDown, Lacey Evans Joins Team SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-title-match-segment-announced-for-smackdown-lacey-evans-joins-team-smackdown/)
The Rock Announces He’ll Star in a “Black Adam” Movie (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/the-rock-announces-hell-star-in-a-black-adam-movie/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

WWE are in a tricky situation. They won’t want to set a precedent of encouraging talent to speak out in order to get released, but it looks awful keeping a black person locked under contract.

[Black Widow]

Yeah they should keep them locked in chains see if he would prefer that.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The Wednesday night wars on 11/13 saw AEW up 16.4 percent coming off the PPV to 957,000 viewers (1.55 viewers per home), while NXT fell 7.5 percent to 750,000 viewers (1.29 viewers per home).

AEW was back to a 0.43 in the 18-49 demo to 0.25 for NXT. AEW was No. 2 in its time slot in 18-49, trailing only an NBA game on ESPN that did a 0.64 in the demo and 1,664,000 viewers. NXT was 12th in its time slot in the key demo ...

The pattern remains that AEW has won every week, and dominated under 50 every week but one (which is still won, but didn’t dominate), NXT has won every week with the over 50 audience) ...

In the segments, AEW opened with a Kenny Omega promo, Jon Moxley vs. Michael Nakazawa and a Moxley promo and did 1,080,000 viewers and 600,000 in 18-49. NXT opened with Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza in a title mach that drew 738,000 viewers and 312,000 in 18-49.

AEW’s second quarter was Dark Order vs. Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt, plus a post-match angle to bring back Luchasaurus. It did 975,000 viewers overall and 542,000 in 18-49, or losses of 105,000 total and 58,000 in 18-49. NXT had the ending of Rush vs. Garza plus Xia Li vs. Aliyah. It did 774,000 viewers and 327,000 in 18-49, gains of 36,000 and 15,000 respectively.

The third quarter saw AEW have Shawn Spears vs. Darby Allin vs. Peter Avalon. It did 861,000 viewers and 489,000 in 18-49, losses of 114,000 and 53,000 in 18-49. NXT had a Finn Balor promo, Matt Riddle attack and angle for War Games with Undisputed Era, Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee. It did 755,000 viewers and 334,000 in 18-49, a loss of 19,000 viewers but a 7,000 gain in 18-49.

The fourth quarter saw AEW with a Nyla Rose squash, an Allie interview and attack by Awesome Kong and Brandi Rhodes, plus the beginning of the Chris Jericho interview. That did 916,000 viewers total and 527,000 in 18-49, a gain of 55,000 total and 38,000 in 18-49. NXT had Keith Lee vs. Roderick Strong. That did 709,000 viewers and 316,000 in 18-49, a loss of 46,000 and a loss of 8,000 in 18-49.

The fifth quarter was after MJF came out so it was the Jericho/MJF show, with the Cody run in and debut of Wardlow. That did 1,013,000 viewers and 585,000 in 18-49, increases of 101,000 and 55,000. NXT had the end of Lee vs. Strong and another post-match brawl with the War Games angle. That did 766,000 viewers and 339,000 in 18-49, gains of 57,000 overall and 23,000 in 18-49.

AEW followed with Adam Page vs. Pac, which did 940,000 viewers and 560,000 in 18-49, a loss of 77,000 overall and 25,000 in 18-49. NXT had Isaiah Scott vs. Bronson Reed. That did 723,000 viewers and 289,000 in 18-49, drops of 43,000 overall and 50,000 in 18-49.

AEW next had the big Young Bucks brawl with Santana & Ortiz and the SCU ring entrance. That did 899,000 viewers and 547,000 in 18-49, drops of 41,000 overall and 13,000 in 18-49. NXT had the Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain non-match with Damien Priest running in, which did 672,000 viewers and 275,000 in 18-49, drops of 51,000 overall and 14,000 in 18-49.

The battle of main events saw AEW have Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky for the tag titles, which did 968,000 viewers and 584,000 in 18-49, gains of 64,000 overall and 37,000 in18-49. NXT had Io Shirai vs. Mia Yim in a ladder match which did 747,000 viewers and 308,000 in 18-49, gains of 75,000 overall and 33,000 in 18-49.

After AEW ended, the NXT overrun gained 215,000 viewers, the largest to date, with 422,000 in 18-49. These were clearly AEW fans because not only did they pick up viewers, but their median age dropped two years immediately. The overrun improved the overall show number from 735,500 to 750,000.


The high point of the show was the Kabuki Warriors vs. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch title match that did 2,454,000 viewers. The low point, of 1,680,000 viewers was for the beginning of the OC vs. Ricochet & Randy Orton & Humberto Carrillo match, although the audience did grow during the match.

The Kabuki Warriors vs. Lynch & Flair grew 75,000 viewers from start-to-finish. R-Truth vs. Singh Brothers lost 280,000 viewers continuing the trend of the 24/7 belt doing poorly. The Seth Rollins interview leading to the Walter match gained 64,000 viewers. Rollins vs. Walter turning into Rollins & Kevin Owens & Street Profits vs. Imperium lost 59,000 viewers. Cedric Alexander vs. Andrade lost 319,000 viewers. The Lana/Rusev/Lashley segment gained 85,000 viewers, Erick Rowan’s squash lost 12,000 viewers, Viking Raiders vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews lost 245,000 viewers, Orton & Ricochet & Carrillo vs. OC in the main event spot gained 16,000 viewers.
In regards to this past Monday's episode of RAW.

In the latest example of never say never, C.M. Punk showed up at the end of WWE Backstage on 11/12, and announced he would be starting on the show next week. The news was something of a surprise, even though it was known he had pushed for the spot and had taken a screen test, and at the time it was widely expected he’d be hired ...

The first episodes of the show were hardly the type of show those involved with the station had promised, with the idea they would surprise people with in-depth and real journalistic coverage ...

Even though there were definitely people within WWE negative of the idea of Punk, because of how he left, what he said on the Colt Cabana podcast that led to a lawsuit, the nature of the WWE business is such that if he wanted back, he’d be back. Now was the right timing because he was the last free agent AEW could have signed that may have been a game changer. Still, some expected him to be the exception to the rule with the idea he would be adamant about never going back ...

Times are competitive and Punk did get offers from AEW, which opened talks with him in 2018, long before anyone knew there was an AEW. When Tony Khan first decided to explore the idea of starting a wrestling company, Punk was one of the first people he contacted. According to those with knowledge of the deal, he was given a money offer and obviously he didn’t accept the offer. He had one personal meeting with Khan and the two had dialogue over time. But it went cold at the time AEW as a promotion became very serious and started having legitimate success, although there was contact as late as June based on what Punk has said ...

FOX at one point pushed for him to co-host the show. Those in WWE who were aware of it, noted negativity about it at first, because of the past bad blood. But later, when he got a tryout, we were told that the expectation was that an offer would be made to him. He had claimed to have not gotten an offer when asked. That could have been true, or it could have been to build for the surprise moment.

Apparently one of the reasons little WWC content has shown up on WWE Network after they purchased the tape collection is that Hurricane Maria, which paralyzed Puerto Rico in September 2017 damaged some of the tapes. There is said to be a ton of tape and film reels that have been salvaged as well as some that can’t be restored

For Survivor Series, it appears that Bryan was originally earmarked for almost a dream match three-way with Roderick Strong and A.J. Styles in a non-title match of secondary title performers. We were never specifically told it was Bryan, but were told last week, before the match had been teased, that such a match would take place with Strong and Styles, and that Nakamura would lose the title. The Nakamura-Bryan program that started on Smackdown has been completely dropped, and Wyatt attacked Bryan in an interview segment to start their program. Nakamura at this point is not scheduled to drop the title and has been put into this match.

As far as Full Gear goes, the show got a largely positive response, with most, but not all of the negativity regarding the polarizing Lights Out match. Chris Jericho beat Cody in the main event to retain the AEW title when MJF threw in the towel ...

As far as the stips go, Cody had said that if he didn’t win the title, he would never challenge for it again. Those in the company are insistent that is exactly what will happen, and that this is step one in trying to teach people stipulations matter. Most modern fans, who only know of stipulations never adhered to, are hardly going to buy it. That’s probably one of the reasons the stipulation probably didn’t increase buys, because it’s a generation taught not to believe anything and think of the loophole and not even consider that it’s real. Time will tell here but so much damage has been done to stipulations in wrestling that it may not be able to be undone. Nick Jackson sent out a tweet when people were coming up with their own loopholes and how Cody will get another shot, saying that they were going to 100 percent live up to stips.

The big question regards talent whose deals are up within the next few months, most notably Marty Scurll, Brody King, Jeff Cobb, and Bandido. Scurll’s deal expires on 11/30 and people have believed he was AEW bound when his deal was up from the moment AEW was formed. ROH is said to have been making a strong offer to try and keep him and there’s always WWE, because he’d be a lock to be a top star in NXT with his ready-made name to that audience. Cobb’s big thing is still wanting to work as much New Japan as possible, and Bandido is the same, but one would think everyone wants Bandido. In the case of Bandido, another option those close to him have noted to us is that he signs nowhere, with the idea he could be the top guy who is a pure indie and could work for anyone, the way Pentagon & Fenix have been

It hasn’t been announced but the belief is Jon Moxley is working the Tokyo Dome. From those in AEW, they believe that to be the case but weren’t 100 percent on it. The logical match would be Lance Archer for the U.S. title since Moxley never lost the belt in the ring. They did a set-up for Archer vs. Juice Robinson in San Jose. They could do a three-way, although hopefully not, or they could do title matches both nights

Takaaki Kidani, the head of Bushiroad, did an interview for Tokyo Sports regarding their goals in building up Stardom. The first thing he said was that they are looking at bringing back Io Shirai and Kairi Sane after their current WWE deals expire. Whether this will happen or not really depends on things down the line when their deals are up, in some form with Shirai if she’s making main roster money. The key is whether or not they would like to return to living in Japan and in the end, the WWE main roster money is strong ...

Bushiroad takes over the company officially on 12/1 and have started marketing, setting up media and photo shoots for the top talent. The goal is to take the company from sales of $2 million per year to $6 million by 2022 or 2023. They are pushing media that hits young women in Japan, trying to change the audience base from almost exclusively young men to both men and women, in particular trying to get the teenage girls that made Japanese women’s wrestling such a hit on television and live in the 70s and 80s, or the mixed audience of male wrestling fans and women fans that attended in the 90s. At the press conference when they bought the promotion, they pushed attracting more women fans. He also brought up the idea of creating an IWGP women’s championship belt, with the idea that the IWGP name of the title has become big in Japan

The Austin Idol wrestling school commercials on NWA Powerrr, which were a spoof, is now a reality. Idol, 70, real name Mike McCord, has opened the Austin Idol Universal Wrestling College in Greenville, SC, where he’s lived since 2007.

The NWA officially sold out the third night of their 12/14 to 12/16 tapings at the PBS Studios in Atlanta. The first night PPV and second night tapings were already sold out. It is 150 to 250 tickets

There was an altercation on 11/7 at Tony Schiavone’s birthday party at Jimmy’s Seafood in Baltimore. The gist of the story was that Jimmy Havoc had too much to drink, was being talked with, apparently took a swing at Excalibur, who then choked him out. From those who were there, they said it really wasn’t as dramatic as it reads nor was the swing as big a deal as it sounds, although Excalibur did choke him out. One person who was there was actually on the phone with me when it happened and I didn’t even know it until two days later as he said it was so nothing if you were there that he didn’t even think it was a big enough deal to stop the conversation or mention it and pretty much felt it was a nothing and was shocked it became this story afterwards. Tony Khan at the post-show press conference said it happened but categorized it as nothing big and called it a draw

IPW in the U.K. has decided to end its tenure as a live event promotion. The company, which has been in operation since 2004, issued the following statement on Friday:

"IPW can confirm that after several internal discussions, the company will cease being a live wrestling events promotion at the end of 2019.

The company has a rich history of over 15 years, however with many changes in the British wrestling climate in the last 2 years, it has been decided that this is an appropriate time to draw an end to live events.

Therefore, the IPW World Championship will be defended for the last time at Undisputed III, taking place at Mote Hall in Maidstone on December 15th, where we plan to celebrate IPW’s successful years of live events."

Thanks to BritWres Roundtable's Robin Reid for compiling this list of companies that have died/scaled-down since NXT UK was announced. For the record, not all of these companies are dead BECAUSE of WWE or NXT UK but it's undeniable that the scene has seen a collapse:

Defiant
Southside
IPW:UK
Clash
Chaos
Breed (hiatus)
ICW (running a 1/4 of the shows they used to)
Lucha Forever
5 Star
Fight! Nation
Pro Wrestling Kingdom
Great Bear
Pro Wrestling Pride
Fight Forever (Haven't run a show since March)
World of Sport
PWU
CCW
Shropshire Wrestling Alliance (Haven't run a show since March)
OWE:UK
PROGRESS (drew 5k for biggest show last year, down to below 2.5k this year & far less shows)


During Friday’s NXT UK television tapings, they announced NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II for January 2020. Wrestling INC is reporting that the show is set for Saturday, January 11th.

During this week's episode of Total Divas, it was revealed that the original Wrestlemania 35 plan was for Asuka to defend the Smackdown Women's title against Sonya Deville at Metlife Stadium, but creative plans changed, leading to the Smackdown title and the Raw title both being defended in the Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch bout that main evented the PPV.

Moxley, who wrestled as Dean Ambrose for years in WWE before signing with AEW, spoke about feeling unhappy during his final year with WWE on a panel at Starrcast IV. Moxley, who cited frustrations with the direction of his character as a key reason for leaving WWE, had hoped a heel turn done correctly would entice him to stay.

But even that ended up not being enough and Moxley explained his feelings in those final months with WWE. Moxley called WWE so incomeptent that it basically forced him to walk away from what was surely a lot of money if he had decided to re-sign with the company.

"The whole time from when I came back to about the beginning of the year, I knew I was leaving. But I was pissed about it. I wasn't excited to leave, I was bitter about it. I can't believe that they're going to make me leave. I can't believe they're going to make me walk away from all this money. Can [WWE] not write just one good storyline? Can they just give me one good promo? Does everything have to be f***ing stupid? Does everything have to make me look like an idiot? For f***'s sake, you're going to make me walk away from all this f***ing money because it's not like I wanted that money. Yeah, I want it, but I'm not doing that sh*t. So I was pissed. I can't believe they were so incompetent that they're going to make me walk away from all this money. Jesus Christ, now I have to go back to the indies, f*** it, let's go," Moxley said.

Moxley said he started to map out what his post-WWE career would be like during a hike with his wife Renee Young at the start of the year. Moxley said he figured he would wrestle in Japan, go to the indies and make his own schedule, which he sounded excited to do.

TPWW Frontpage:

Nick Jackson vs. Fenix Announced for AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/nick-jackson-vs-fenix-announced-for-aew-dynamite/)
WWE: ACH in Contact With Another Promotion, Hulk Hogan Has Surgery, CM Punk Behind the Scenes (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-ach-in-contact-with-another-promotion-hulk-hogan-has-surgery-cm-punk-behind-the-scenes/)
AEW Full Gear PPV Buy Estimates (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aew-full-gear-ppv-buy-estimates/)
AEW Releases Their Top Five Weekly Rankings as of 11/15 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aew-releases-their-top-five-weekly-rankings-as-of-11-15/)
MLW Re-Signs World Champion Jacob Fatu to Multi-Year Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/mlw-re-signs-world-champion-jacob-fatu-to-multi-year-deal/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Moxley didn't need WWE's help to make him look like an idiot in the Full Gear match.

[Sepholio]

I know there's more nuance to it, but I think Mox looks stupider now than I ever though he did in WWE. And that interview makes it worse because it confirms what I had suspected.

He left his wife (and a shit ton of money) in WWE so he could go massacre himself with weapons like he used to in CZW. That's the creative freedom he was hung up over; he wants to be more violent and do ridiculous levels of hardcore shit. I honestly think he might have a couple of screws lose for real and I'd be willing to wager he for sure is suffering from CTE.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

That match actually was nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be. Very similar to Cactus Jack vs HHH from Rumble 2000 but with some bigger bumps and with glass instead of thumbtacks. My only gripe was it was too fucking long, therefore, self-indulgent.

Mox is way more over now than he was in WWE, especially by the time he left. At the end of the day, if you were a fan of Foley as Cactus Jack, I don't understand what's wrong with Moxley. I think he's great.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw last night was up from last week, but still the second lowest non-holiday number in modern history.

The show did 2.13 million viewers, slightly below two other episodes that also did very close to that number. Only last week's episode, which did 2.06 million viewers against a monster football game, would have been lower.

The key points were that the audience started lower than even in bad weeks, but also declined less during the show ...

The number can't be considered good given all the brand invasion stuff that did help SmackDown ratings at first.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.25 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.21 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.93 million viewers


The three-hour show leading into the Survivor Series averaged 2,127,000 viewers, which was up 3% from last week’s figure. It would still place this week’s episode as the third-lowest of the year behind last week’s episode and the June 10th show going against the NBA Finals ...

Raw opened with 2,245,000 viewers in the first hour, which was their lowest first hour of the year. That is a remarkable statistic given that last week’s show aired on a three-day delay and opened with 2.36 million viewers.

After originally announcing that Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain would be on this week's NXT, WWE has noted that the match will instead take place at TakeOver: WarGames on Saturday night. The winner will challenge for Adam Cole's NXT Championship at Survivor Series.

Kenny Omega's first defense of the AAA Mega Championship will take place on AEW Dark.

AEW has announced that Omega will defend the AAA Mega title against Jack Evans on the episode of Dark that's being taped in Indianapolis, Indiana tomorrow. It will air on YouTube at 7 p.m. Eastern time next Tuesday (November 26).

Next month's Opera Cup event will see CIMA make his MLW debut.

MLW announced this morning that Strong Hearts (CIMA, El Lindaman & Shigehiro Irie) will face CONTRA Unit (MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu, Ikuro Kwon & Simon Gotch) in a six-man tag match at the Opera Cup television tapings. In storyline, the match was set up after an incident that CONTRA Unit got into in Japan.

CIMA is signed to AEW, where his Strong Hearts stable has also been featured. Lindaman & T-Hawk vs. The Young Bucks will air on this week's episode of AEW Dark.

Bill Goldberg told Sports Illustrated that his match with Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam was not his last: “It’s by no means my farewell performance, nor was it my best performance, but you have to be realistic and take all things into consideration. It’s a very good possibility I’ll be back, but you don’t know it until it’s done.”

A WWE 24 episode on Trish Stratus and her match against Charlotte Flair from SummerSlam will premiere on the WWE Network after Starrcade on December 1.

Funko announced a new line of WWE Pop Figures which include "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Diesel, The Miz Naomi, "Thuganonics" John Cena and Hulk Hogan.

Cody Rhodes applied to trademark "The Match Beyond" for:
* G & S: Hats; Shirts; Golf shirts; Hooded sweat shirts; T-shirts
* G & S: Entertainment in the nature of wrestling contests; Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer; Providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network

Since Kylie Rae left All Elite Wrestling, rumors have run rampant on why she left.

Kylie Rae became AEW's first release this summer, and has since returned to the independent wrestling circuit where she competed in the past. She hasn't spoken on what led to her departing the company as of yet, but that hasn't stopped fans and wrestlers from theorizing.

One fan sent AEW Chief Branding Officer Brandi Rhodes a tweet saying "Did you bully Kylie out of AEW because that’s What literally everyone seems to say in private?" Rhodes would reply with the first public, on the record comments from an AEW employee outside of Tony Khan.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">No. If that were true “literally everyone” would be saying it in public.</p>&mdash; Brandi Rhodes (@TheBrandiRhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBrandiRhodes/status/1196642853356736517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

We feel it is important to disclose that we don't know specifically why Kylie Rae left All Elite Wrestling. As specified on our Fightful Select service, Fightful has spoken to no less than two dozen wrestlers on the matter, with various stories on the matter going around via multiple sources. It's reckless to speculate on the story, but with Rhodes going on the record publicly about a rumor, deemed it appropriate to publish.
Even former Deadspan's David Bixenspan was unable to find the reason why she left in regards to it fitting with the rumors going around regarding her departure. Also the apparent originator of these rumors is a known hated person in the IWC. That person recently had a Twitter feud with Bixenspan trying to get dirt on this situation to prove his rumors only to be told by Bix that there is none.

The NWA announced a new series called The Circle Squared, where talent will be given the opportunity to showcase their skills with the possibility of earning an NWA contract. The first episodes of the series will be recorded at the next NWA tapings, which take place December 14 -16 at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

AEW announced that going forward, KultureCity will provide sensory bags for every taping of AEW Dynamite.

The major show tonight is not one with any wrestling matches but rather, CM Punk’s first official episode of WWE Backstage where he will serve as an analyst ... Tonight’s show should see a gigantic leap in viewership from the paltry numbers the last two shows have generated with 49,000 and 100,000 respectively.

Tonight’s show will be an interesting look to see what is covered with Punk and more importantly, what is avoided. You would think this episode should be treated as their version of the Art of Wrestling interview from 2014 with Punk being interviewed and discussing his fallout with the company and why he agreed to join this show, which he has pointed out is a deal with Fox and not WWE. Punk’s tweet from Monday hinted that he’ll be giving his thoughts on what he’s missed over the past five-years.

Ember Moon and David Arquette will also be guests on WWE Backstage tonight.

TSN has finalized their programming schedule for December and all episodes of AEW Dynamite will air on TSN 2 next month. There is no episode on Wednesday, December 25th due to Christmas.

The NWA has issued a statement on a controversial remark that was said during NWA Powerrr.

NWA Vice President David Lagana wrote a statement on Twitter apologizing to fans for comments "one of our talents made" that were offensive that took place during the November 19 episode of Powerrr.

Although Lagana never mentioned who the talent was or what specific comment was uttered during the episode of NWA Powerrr, a clip floating across social media, which can be seen below, showed Cornette saying the following in the middle of a match between Nick Aldis and Trevor Murdoch.

"Trevor Murdoch is the only man that I've ever known that can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia," Cornette said on Powerrr.
Link: https://twitter.com/CeeHawk/status/1196936758363119618

We're told by those close to Orton and Khan that neither really sold the argument, outside of Khan wanting to clarify that the article Orton posted was baseless. Orton seemed to laugh off the situation after Raw.

WWE wrestlers that we reached out to weren't surprised that Orton spoke up, and we're told that in regards to his controversial game stream comments, he apologized privately to at least a few members of the roster back at the WWE Smackdown debut on Fox in LA. "Randy didn't mean it, and was sorry. Hulk meant it, and was sorry he got caught" is what one wrestler has indicated to us.

One wrestler noted to us that they were just glad it was someone besides Seth Rollins, because even if he made good points, certain divisions of Twitter "have it out for him."


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Updated WWE SmackDown Ratings, Upcoming WWE Network Additions, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/various-updated-wwe-smackdown-ratings-upcoming-wwe-network-additions-indies/)
WWE: Aliyah Not Really Injured, Cain Velasquez’s Next Match, NXT UK Sells Out (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-aliyah-not-really-injured-cain-velasquezs-next-match-nxt-uk-sells-out/)
Updated Survivor Series Card – Team Raw Women’s Team Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/updated-survivor-series-card-team-raw-womens-team-announced/)
Randy Orton and Tony Khan Go at It on Twitter (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/randy-orton-and-tony-khan-go-at-it-on-twitter/)
Flamita Signs With Ring of Honor (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/flamita-signs-with-ring-of-honor/)
MLW: Alicia Atout Joins MLW, New Fusion Logo Soon, TV Talks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/mlw-alicia-atout-joins-mlw-new-fusion-logo-soon-tv-talks/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The 11/19 episode of WWE Backstage on FS1, featuring a CM Punk interview brought in 180,000 viewers, up from last week's 1000,000.

On today’s NXT conference call, Triple H said people will find out the final member of Team Ciampa for TakeOver: WarGames on the day of the show. He called it epic and said people will be very excited. Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and a partner will face The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) in the men’s WarGames match this Saturday.

Randy Orton, Rhea Ripley, and Steve Austin were guests on today’s episode of After the Bell with Corey Graves.

During his appearance, Orton spoke about re-signing with WWE and the teases he did on social media before signing: “Yeah, I was just having fun man. I’ve been, more-so now than ever, I’m aware of other guys like Will Ospreay and other guys that work with Cody. I’m watching a little more wrestling. I’m not in the WWE bubble as much as I’ve been for almost the last two decades and I’m learning to appreciate other styles a little more instead of just quickly seeing something that isn’t how I would do it or isn’t how I would sell it and I’m realizing in its own way, it’s good. This might be upsetting for some people, but I never really saw myself leaving WWE. To me, it was about getting to a point where I’m happy and what I’m doing to my body, the amount of time I’m gone from my family. In the end, it’s all gonna be worth it and that’s where I’m at right now, so I’m definitely happy being a WWE superstar.”

AEW's return to the Sears Centre Arena will include a rematch from their last trip to the venue.

AEW has announced that Kenny Omega will face PAC on next Wednesday's episode of Dynamite in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It's a rematch from All Out, where PAC defeated Omega after replacing Jon Moxley due to Moxley's MRSA infection.

AEW noted that we'll also hear from Omega on tonight's Dynamite. He doesn't have a match on the show, but he'll be defending his AAA Mega Championship against Jack Evans on tonight's AEW Dark tapings. That match will air on YouTube next Tuesday.

WWE COO Paul "Triple H" Levesque held his traditional pre-NXT TakeOver conference call Wednesday morning and answered several interesting questions including one about talents asking for releases.

When asked by Jason Powell about wrestlers going to social media, Levesque said he hoped talent would talk to management instead of going to the media and social media to air their issues. He said that people get frustrated in the moment and say things they later would like to take back. "It's a maturity issue and not how you handle it. You handle your business like a professional."
Considering the stories of Harper and others who dealt with Triple H regarding work related issues, he's not going to be any different and maybe even worse than Vince when it comes to handling talent issues.

For those who have asked, Dio Maddin is still, as of today, officially part of the Raw broadcast team.

He is currently off TV selling the Brock Lesnar attack.

Championship Wrestling of Arkansas (CWA) is pleased to announce that legendary Memphis wrestling announcer, Dave Brown is scheduled to make a rare appearance at CWA’s “No Surrender” event on Saturday, January 18th, at the Maumelle Event Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Rhino chatted with Mirror Sport ...

Rhino was asked about the possibility of a union forming in professional wrestling. He is not keen on the idea and feels that it could destroy the industry:

“It wouldn’t work, it would kill the industry. When you look at unions for things like movies, it works because movies are planned so far in advance and actors/actresses get the scripts and have to accept it or turn it down. But wrestling is so fast paced and changes, that it just wouldn’t work. I come from Detroit which is a union town, so I get having unions in certain industries, but it wouldn’t work in wrestling. It would kill the independent scene and a lot of start-up promotions. Lots of states in America have commissions and stuff that creates more hoops for them to jump through and we all know that most companies don’t make a lot of money as it is, so to have these extra hurdles would kill a lot of companies.”

Sami Zayn’s ‘Sami vs. Generico’ t-shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees has brought in $12,000 which has been raised for a mobile clinic in Syria. Sami and Pro Wrestling Tees have extended the availability of the shirt.

AEW President Tony Khan joined WrestlingINC’s WINCLY podcast and talked about CM Punk tagging him in a tweet along with Vince McMahon and members of WWE Backstage that eventually led to Khan’s back and forth with Randy Orton on Twitter:

“You know what’s funny? I never once brought him up. I’ve never once brought his name up to bring him into the conversation but whenever I get asked a question, I try to be good about answering questions. People, especially when people travel to go to the scrums and stuff, and I always made it really clear that I had conversations with him but, never tried to lead anybody on to think that he would be doing anything with us and whatever. I haven’t talked to him in a long time, but I wish him the best. I’m not sure why he tagged me, but he kept talking about wrestling. I think it would be hard to talk about all the great things happening without talking about what we’re doing in AEW. But yeah, I got the sense he felt like we would bring him up and it’s like, ‘If you actually watch…’ not that he’s gonna actually take the time to watch because he’s getting tagged in that stuff too. Not by me, but by all the people asking the questions.”

In the past, WWE has shied away from releasing any Survivor Series Showdown or SummerSlam Spectacular specials before 1993 via Hidden Gems. This was always presumed to be because they very openly used the Prime Time Wrestling branding and thus would be released as classic content within that series. Well, as stated above, the company has spiced this one up considerably so that it isn’t merely “as seen on TV”. Of course, we do initially have Survivor Series Showdown 1992, as it aired with the following card:

Repo Man vs. Tatanka
Marty Jannetty vs. The Brooklyn Brawler
Kamala (w/Harvey Wippleman & Kim Chee) vs. Red Tyler
Earthquake vs. Irwin R. Schyster (w/Jimmy Hart)
Barry Horowitz vs. The Big Boss Man
Red Fox & Royce Royal vs. The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (w/Afa)

But then, the fun truly begins after that ending copyright notice, with over an hour of the following “dark footage”:

Nailz vs. Big Boss Man
A Jimmy Garvin interview with Mean Gene
WWF Championship: The Mountie vs. Bret Hart ©
Virgil vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Razor Ramon vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage
WWF Championship: Papa Shango vs. Bret Hart ©
Nailz vs. Ultimate Warrior

Yes, both Nailz and Bret have 2 matches and yes, the raw footage timestamp confirms that all of this happened after the show. Speaking of raw footage, we can confirm that none of the post-TV footage has commentary.

Tickets for NXT at Full Sail through the end of January will be on sale soon, indicating the show will remain at Full Sail through at least January.

WWE Backstage might not be afraid to address the hot topic issues in wrestling. But even they want nothing to do with Jim Cornette. Cornette, who resigned from his position as NWA Powerrr commentator on Wednesday after making a racist comment on Tuesday's episode, promoted his upcoming podcast, hinting that he'll explain everything behind the decision. A fan suggested Cornette go on WWE Backstage to explain the situation, tagging host Renee Young, frequent panelist Paige and other members of the show.

Neither Young nor Paige were very receptive to the idea.
Links: https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1197229353618165760 , https://twitter.com/ReneeYoungWWE/status/1197230737780441088


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces a New Podcast From The New Day (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-announces-a-new-podcast-from-the-new-day/)
CM Punk Responds to Seth Rollins Challenging Him, Says Rollins “Needs to Stop Tweeting” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/cm-punk-responds-to-seth-rollins-challenging-him-says-rollins-needs-to-stop-tweeting/)
Ember Moon Out With a Torn Achilles (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/ember-moon-out-with-a-torn-achilles/)
Jim Cornette Resigns From the NWA (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/jim-cornette-resigns-from-the-nwa/)
CM Punk Asked About Possible In-Ring Return During WWE Backstage (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/cm-punk-asked-about-possible-in-ring-return-during-wwe-backstage/)

[Sepholio]

LMAO that Jim Cornette bit needs more attention. Like wtf was he even thinking when he said that shit? LOL Jesus

[Simple Fan]

He was thinking of putting over Trevor Murdoch.

[Seanny One Ball]

Sometimes your bluntness is a gift, Fan.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Seanny, why is this so hard for you to understand?

I love Jim... and I think he was being his usual cheeky self. It's a joke he's made a bunch of times and got away with. Unfortunately, when you break down the statement, there's no excusing it.

I mean, was it the worst thing ever? No. Do I want Jim Cornette on my TV? Yes. Is he actually racists? I'm guessing no. Did he put his company in a shitty spot by saying something that'd never fly in today's climate? Very much so.

Just be real with about what happened and quit with the mental gymnastics.

[Simple Fan]

You'd have to do mental gymnastics to be offended by the comment.

[Simple Fan]

Also the NWA put themselves in a shitty spot not Jim. They obviously didn't have a problem with it but someone's pussy wast hurt and they panicked. Had they done nothing it would have just blown over and not been such a big deal. Whats the point t of having Jim Cornette if he can't offend people?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

You'd have to do mental gymnastics to be offended by the comment.

Fan. Come on man. I get that you're a good old boy. But how do you not understand the offensive connotations of the comment?

Again, it was most likely said without malice (in fact, I'd say said with literally zero malice).

But it's similar to making a joke about jews burning in the oven on the boradcast. If you made that joke to me in person, fan, as a Jewish guy I'd LOL cuz we're cool with one another. However, you don't have that benefit when your audience isn't people you know personally. In fact, Cornette puts a massive fucking target on his back with his controversial takes. So, as much as it's a money-getter for him, his volatile personality creates these problems.

I get you understand this but it's not just "WOW PC CULTURE." What he said is a shitty, awful thing to say. I mean... it was a funny, shitty awful thing but it sets a bad precedent and I fully understand him being let go.

[Simple Fan]

It's a joke.

[Seanny One Ball]

Seanny, why is this so hard for you to understand?

I love Jim... and I think he was being his usual cheeky self. It's a joke he's made a bunch of times and got away with. Unfortunately, when you break down the statement, there's no excusing it.

I mean, was it the worst thing ever? No. Do I want Jim Cornette on my TV? Yes. Is he actually racists? I'm guessing no. Did he put his company in a shitty spot by saying something that'd never fly in today's climate? Very much so.

Just be real with about what happened and quit with the mental gymnastics.


I think you've just broken down exactly why me being okay with it took no mental gymnastics at all.

He's not a bigot, he was being cheeky and it's a joke he has made before. I can't call "inappropriate" on something that actually shouldn't offend anyone at all.

I think trying to find the offence in that comment is akin to pretending to be high when somebody gives you a placebo.

[Seanny One Ball]

Jim Cornette's comment was the 51st State of offence.

It had every element necessary to sound racist but if you add it all up it's completely inert.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

But it is a shitty joke to make despite its hilarity. In fact, it’s hilarious because it is shitty. I don’t think people are wrong for voicing their displeasure because the historical connotations are actually revolting. There are things about the over sensitivity in today’s culture that suck, but I think limiting shitty racist jokes isn’t one of them. Remember I’m a Jew, so I’ve heard it all and am pretty unaffected. But I can’t say I’m crying for someone using a jokes that doesn’t hold up societally. I mean fuck, watch Eddie Murphy specials from the 80s, I’m happy those gay jokes aren’t stood for anymore.

[Seanny One Ball]

At worst he is guilty of stating the obvious.

[Seanny One Ball]

Who the fuck doesn't like fried chicken, thinks Ethiopia is well fed and finds Trevor Murdoch to be a pussy?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Dude. Come on.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Look up tiger woods and fuzzy zellar and that tells you what you need to know.

[Seanny One Ball]

I'm not having it.

The line is drawn.

[Seanny One Ball]

It's pretty fucked up that this type of silliness gets lumped in with actual racism nowadays.
That's what really bothers me. I definitely don't like certain types of joke but this was the sort of thing where you close your eyes and laugh tiredly because you know it's inappropriate. It's not worth the effort of anger because there's nothing to it.

[Seanny One Ball]

2019 has tired me out with this crap.

[Simple Fan]

It's pretty fucked up that this type of silliness gets lumped in with actual racism nowadays.

Exactly, it's like crying wolf.

[Seanny One Ball]

But it's similar to making a joke about jews burning in the oven on the boradcast.

This is an outrageous false equivalency.

Nazis rounded up and murdered Jews for a very specific period of time and the world was appalled.
Ethiopia has been starving for numerous reasons for generations, and the world has no big problem with it. Cornette was just abusing that allowance like everybody that caned him for it does on a daily basis by not helping the starving Africans.

The depth of the comment could sire PHD thesis' on the nature of the mutated Western concepts of pity and righteousness.

[Seanny One Ball]

My cheek and tongue are tired

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Come on dude. It wasn’t the hunger thing. It was the fried chicken. Look it’s not the worst thing, but when you put a target on your back like Jim this is the thing that sinks you. Live by the sword and die by the sword. I like Jim but he insists on learning things the hard way. He will be fine though. He will monetize the fuck out of it cuz he is savvy.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

And come on. Slavery on the south and segregation still runs deep in the veins of America. People love to downplay it, but let’s not put our heads in the sand on this one.

[Sepholio]

HeRiTaGe NoT hAtE

[Seanny One Ball]

So you think that a stereotype(black people like fried chicken) is more problematic than a large fraction of a nation dying of hunger and thirst over and over for generations while the West watches?

That's weird.

[Simple Fan]

Your reaching now. Plus black/fried chicken joke are probably the least offensive black jokes there are.

[Sepholio]

You guys aren't ever gonna get your N passes like that.

[Simple Fan]

What does hat even mean? Probably more offensive than fried chicken.

[Seanny One Ball]

Your reaching now. Plus black/fried chicken joke are probably the least offensive black jokes there are.

Ahahahahahahah

Oh God.

New sig?

[Seanny One Ball]

I'm honestly cackling here.

[Sepholio]

What does hat even mean? Probably more offensive than fried chicken.

Like so many other things on a daily basis, this flew right over your head.

[Sepholio]

Honestly cute watching you try to spin it into something offensive though fan while simultaneously making excuses for why something that is commonly known to be offensive is perfectly OK. Good job.

[Simple Fan]

Hope you enjoy your N pass.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Lol well this escalated. Gotta love them good old boys

[Simple Fan]

Never meaning no harm.

[Sepholio]

Never meaning no harm is a double negative indicating you do mean harm. Not surprised it came out of a good ole boys mouth, tbh.

I'm aware it's just a misuse of grammar though. Also not surprised by that coming out of a good ole boys mouth, coincidentally.

[Sepholio]

Simple Fan's first reaction to that is probably "HUR DUR HE DONT KNOW THATS SONG WORDS HYUCK"

[Simple Fan]

No I was just amazed with your mental gymnastics.

[Sepholio]

It amazes me how often you try to use that term unironically.

[Sepholio]

I'm also pretty sure you just made that statement because you thought it sounded smart because it's really out of place right now and makes no sense given what I said.

[Simple Fan]

You think way too much therefore have thoughts flipping through your head while also tryin to flip what I said. Make sense now.

[Sepholio]

I'm sure that makes sense to you massa.

[Simple Fan]

You get it.

[Sepholio]

Imagine trying to define mental gymnastics for someone while simultaneously competing in said mental gymnastics by completely glossing over the point.

[Simple Fan]

Have you not been paying attention?

[Sepholio]

Nah, too busy nailing down this floor routine.

[Simple Fan]

You do you.

[Savio]

What does hat even mean?
A hat is something you put on your head.
Like so many other things on a daily basis, this flew right over your head.
Try making the snaps tighter next time, SF.

[Simple Fan]

Now that's a good one. Was on the tablet and fucked up a bunch of post in here. Not a snapback I fan though.

[Evil Vito]

I’ve never seen so many backward ass country fucks in my life.

[Simple Fan]

Where the hell are you?

[Seanny One Ball]

He's in white town, white country, white mentality.

[Emperor Smeat]

Nice, a lot more comments than usual for sheets reports. Last night's report must have been really good.

Time to celebrate the occasion with some pizza and ...

https://i.imgur.com/j0NRg0a.gif

[Seanny One Ball]

I got a pretty solid belly laugh out of that.

Good stuff.

[Simple Fan]

If he just had fried chicken it would have brought everything full circle.

[Seanny One Ball]

Get out.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

With a loaded up go-home show featuring several appearances by wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown, NXT managed to squeak out a win for the first time in the Wednesday Night Wars.

NXT averaged 916,000 viewers, up 22 percent from last week and the best number the show has done against AEW. They did still trail in the important 18-49 demo with a 0.30 rating. That was up 20 percent from last week and tied the November 6 episode for NXT's second-best number since the start of the wars.

AEW Dynamite trailed with 893,000 viewers but had a 0.39 rating in the 18-49 demo. That was good for eighth on the night in cable. NXT finished 13th. AEW was down nine percent in the demo and seven percent overall in terms of viewers from last week's post-Full Gear episode.

As per usual, Dynamite beat NXT in every demo except for persons over 50, where NXT had a bigger than usual advantage of 0.40 to 0.29. It's logical to assume it did better in that demo due to the influx of Raw and SmackDown performers who would be more familiar to that older audience

Compared to last week, the largest gains for NXT were among women with 18-49 up 22% and 12-34 increasing by 20%. People 25-54 improved 21% from last week’s figure. They also tapped into the older audience with the over 50 demographic improving 14%.

On the AEW side, they were hit among people 18-34, which dropped 26.5% and males 12-34 fell 25%. The 50+ audience remained unchanged from last week, so this wasn’t a case of older AEW fans turning over to NXT this week.

The larger question is how NXT reacts to this number and if it’s a signal of future involvement of Raw and SmackDown talent to inflate their viewership. It becomes a different show at that point if the Raw and SmackDown talent becoming the stars of the show, which they need to be if they are going to be difference makers.

For AEW, it was a strong show on paper but didn’t have the feel of a lineup that was designed to spike the number while NXT was a hotshot style of show and not a formula that can work every week

All four matches have now been revealed for the opening round of MLW's Opera Cup.

MLW announced the final first-round matchup for the tournament this morning, with Timothy Thatcher set to face Richard Holliday. The Opera Cup is a one-night tournament that's taking place at MLW's television tapings at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, December 5.

BJ Whitmer, the husband of Kelly Klein, the reigning ROH Women of Honor Champion, stated on Twitter that Klein was fired by the promotion this past Tuesday, writing, "Now that the cat is out of the bag. Yes, my wife@RealKellyKlein was fired by @ringofhonor COO Joe Koff, via email Tuesday evening. Not a phone call, an EMAIL. Kelly is still very much suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome and was fired while still injured."

Klein has been out of action since ROH's United Kingdom tour. She has been the primary focus of the company's Women of Honor division for some time and was the promotion's only two-time WOH Champion. She had most recently been feuding with The Allure.

We are told Klein's current deal expires 12/31 but the two sides had been in discussions for a new deal.

Ring of Honor issued the following statement to PWInsider.com:

"We don’t generally discuss personal issues but they seem to have made it public – we didn’t fire [Kelly Klein], we just notified her that we would not be renewing her contract."

As PWInsider.com noted, Klein's current deal expires on 12/31.

There was no comment on the status of the Women of Honor Championship.

Joey Mercury posted another screenshot of text messages between himself and ROH GM Greg Gilleland. This set of text messages included Gilleland calling Bullet Club’s Hikuleo a “waste of $”. Chase Owens grabbed a screenshot of Mercury’s screenshot which made its way to Hikuleo. The big man would go on to post the text messages onto his own Twitter with the following caption:

“Appreciate the amount of support coming from this, much love to you all….know your worth, i know mine, and i know once this excursions done, it’ll be 10x that….wonder if greg will still be around then”

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez was at the WWE Performance Center this week, working out, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Velasquez is set to perform at WWE's next event in Mexico, his second-ever WWE bout and his fourth professional wrestling match, period.

Cain Velazquez and Humberto Carillo vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson is set for WWE's Supershow in Mexico City on 11/30.

Denzel Curry’s song ‘Ricky’ is an official theme song for NXT TakeOver: WarGames.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was interviewed by Newsweek to promote the debut of ‘Broken Skull Sessions’ on the WWE Network. Austin’s first guest will be The Undertaker and during the [Newsweek] interview, Austin talked about how people would come up to him in airports and ask if Undertaker was dead or alive.

“People say, ‘Man I can’t believe his voice sounds like that’. You’re used to hearing him as The Undertaker. That’s one of the biggest things people used to ask is if he was alive or dead. That’s how shielded this guy was. People at the airport would ask if he was alive or dead. Well he’s alive, and he has a regular voice, and he’s a very charismatic and engaging guy, and very down to earth. You’ll enjoy the conversation, and [it will] catch a lot of people off guard because of how laid back he is.”

Following NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Paul “Triple H” Levesque is doing a Q&A with Cathy Kelley that will be streamed on Facebook Live.

Jim Cornette confirmed he doesn't have an Instagram account and thus the apology floating around didn't come from him.

[WOL] Dave: "The gist of the situation from what I understand from the NWA, a big aspect of it was that Cornette would not apologize, and that was an impasse."
Regarding Cornette's resignation from NWA due to the inappropriate comments he made.

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reports Nikki Cross has signed a new multi-year deal with WWE. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cross originally signed with WWE in April 2016. She spent two-plus years in NXT, aligning with Sanity, before being moving to the main roster on a permanent basis in the winter of 2018 ...

She is currently scheduled to be part of Team SmackDown in the Women's Elimination Match at Survivor Series.

For years, detractors have declared that pay-per-view is dead. FITE and GCW seem to be making it work just fine.

In an age of $9.99 streaming services, Game Changer Wrestling has found an outstanding niche in streaming their events on pay-per-view. From Bloodsport to Joey Janela's Spring Break, the GCW shows have become some of the most in-demand events outside of national wrestling. FITE COO Mike Weber seems like he couldn't be happier with the marriage ...

Back to the topic of the success story that is GCW, Weber noted that the promotion sees buys for shows that happened, weeks, months, even a year ago.

"I don’t want to sit here and make this the GCW show, but they are definitely ones that started off sorta small and didn’t have a long track record before hand. And who have, I almost think they’re pinching themselves considering where they’re at. You know, the funny thing about them, they do so many shows—I just looked at our sales this morning and what’s interesting about them is, so we’ve been airing their shows for a year now. And they’ve probably had buys, maybe not a lot of buys, for individual shows over 25-30 shows this week. You gotta remember these are people buying a show that took place four months, six months, eight months ago," said Weber.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Confirms ACH/Jordan Myles Is No Longer Under Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-confirms-ach-jordan-myles-is-no-longer-under-contract/)
Tessa Blanchard and Daga Engaged to Be Married (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/tessa-blanchard-and-daga-engaged-to-be-married/)
ACH Announces Indie Bookings, Tweets at Vince McMahon (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/ach-announces-indie-bookings-tweets-at-vince-mcmahon/)

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

NXT defeated AEW this week. They all should be shitting in their pants.

[Simple Fan]

The old men they beat them with probably are.

[Droford]

Billy Gunn = Ratings killer

[Seanny One Ball]

Monty Sopp is your superior in every way.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

For the first time since the Wednesday Night head-to-head battle started, WWE won the night on 11/20 with overall viewership although realistically if someone would be shook up by the results, it should be WWE ...

NXT did 916,000 viewers (1.26 viewers per home) and AEW did 893,000 viewers (1.40 viewers per home). Head-to-head was slightly closer at 906,000 for NXT not including the overrun ...

52 percent of the NXT viewership was over the age of 50 as compared to 34 percent for AEW.

NXT won the first three quarters overall and five of eight ...

In the key 18-49 demo, AEW fell to 0.39, trailing the debates on MSNBC, the NBA on ESPN and lost the second hour to MTV War of the World’s Challenge. NXT did a 0.30 ...

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with Nick Jackson vs. Rey Fenix and did 912,000 viewers and 498,000 in 18-49. NXT opened with a Becky Lynch promo and Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley, doing 1,047,000 viewers and 430,000 in 18-49 ...

The second segment saw AEW with Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida do 862,000 viewers, a loss of 50,000, and 472,000 in the key demo, a loss of 26,000. NXT had the end of Lynch vs. Ripley, an interbrand brawl, Ricochet vs. Matt Riddle and another interbrand brawl. It did 1,072,000 viewers for the peak, an increase of 25,000, and 450,000 in the key demo, an increase of 20,000. Even though NXT skews heavily post-50, the gains here were young, but still you had a far stronger star power hour losing in the key demo to Baker vs. Shida.

The third segment saw AEW with the Dark Order and beginning of the Battle Royal doing 875,000 viewers, a gain of 13,000, and 497,000 in 18-49, a gain of 25,000 (meaning older losses). NXT did 918,000 for the beginning of Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Revival, a loss of 154,000 viewers. It also did 387,000 in 18-49, a loss of 63,000. The idea of a great match means a great deal to the AEW younger audience, but to the NXT older audience, what also promised to be a great match lost even in the younger demo, but heavily in the older demo.

The fourth segment for AEW was the end of the Battle Royal and the beginning of the Chris Jericho interview, which did 973,000 viewers, an increase of 98,000. It did 556,000 in 18-49, an increase of 59,000. NXT had the bulk of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Revival, which did 851,000 viewers, a drop of 67,000, and 369,000 in 18-49, a drop of 18,000 ...

The fifth segment for AEW was the Jericho interview, SCU coming out, the post match brawl and Luchasaurus vs. Peter Avalon, which did 1,004,000 viewers, a gain of 21,000. In 18-49, it did 582,000, a gain of 26,000. For NXT, it was the end of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Revival and beginning of Dakota Kai vs. Kay Lee Ray, which did 828,000 viewers, a drop of 23,000 overall. In 18-49, it fell to 363,000 viewers, drop of 6,000 ...

The sixth segment for AEW was Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, which lost 196,000 viewers to 810,000. It also fell to 472,000 in 18-49, a drop of 110,000. For NXT, it was the bulk of Kai vs. Ray and beginning of Viking Raiders vs. Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. This did 876,000 viewers, gaining 48,000, and 391,000 in 18-49, a gain of 28,000. It’s very clear there was both switching off AEW and switching to NXT here.

The seventh segment for AEW, the post-match of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, and the Moxley vs. Allin intros, that did 806,000, a drop of 4,000, and 456,000 in 18-49, a drop of 19,000. For NXT, it was 840,000 viewers total, a loss of 36,000 and 362,000 in 18-49, a loss of 28,000.

AEW’s final segment was Moxley vs. Allin, which did 899,000, an increase of 83,000, and 508,000 in 18-49, an increase of 52,000. NXT did 821,000 for Cole vs Dijakovic in the ladder match, a drop of 19,000, and 359,000 in 18-49, a loss of 3,000.

The NXT overrun with the ladder match and the last T-shirt brawl gained 229,000 viewers to 1,050,000, but they were mostly older viewers as 18-49 after AEW ended did 447,000 viewers, an increase of 88,000 ...

The overrun, largely the AEW audience that transferred to watch the end of NXT was 9,000 teenagers, 6,000 women 18-34, 12,000 women 35-49, 41,000 men 18-34, 35,000 men 35-49 and 120,000 over 50.

C.M. Punk’s first full-night with WWE affiliation led WWE Backstage to an 80 percent increase in viewers with an 0.17 rating and 180,000 viewers (1.25 viewers per home) ...

The four quarters were 195,000, 184,000, 175,000 and 165,000. If the show can maintain numbers close to 125,000 it would have to be considered a solid success given the station and the time slot. Reviews were positive of the show, largely built around him. Punk came across as honest, and not at all a shill. It was very clear the show still didn’t broach any serious topics, such as wrestlers who were wanting out or the Saudi Arabia trip which led to a number of wrestlers vowing to never go back.

The latest wrestler to ask for their release is Chris Girard (Oney Lorcan, 33). Girard changed his social media accounts to Biff Busick, the name he was using on the indie scene from 2009 until September 2015, when he signed here. He used his real name for a short period of time before taking on the Oney Lorcan name. He hasn’t wrestled since losing to Lio Rush on the 10/25 205 Live show. He had been unhappy for some time. Girard is a very intense solid worker. He was put into 205 Live and also worked with NXT, mostly as a tag team partner of Danny Burch
He also recently threw a dig at Triple H over H's comments about talent who speak out in public lack maturity and management willingly listens to talent concerns. Link: https://twitter.com/_StarDESTROYER/status/1197906261418921984

There is talking of cutting back on NXT house shows, particularly in Florida, in 2020. The attendance has gone down pretty significantly in the last year. The talk is to cut back on Thursday shows because they are the weakest drawing night. According to one person familiar with the Florida scene, the issue is local burnout.

There’s not one specific reason, but a number of things that they believe have hurt attendance, some of which has to do with the divergence of fans (the respectful fan vs. old school fan who comes to yell at heels and make noise and often drink a lot and try and rile up heels leaves both fans not having fun when you’re in a small building with so few fans). Then it becomes an issue with security, as if they let the old school fans go, the new school fans are mad the crowd isn’t respectful and it’s no fun, or they think the crowd is cheering match quality and not booing heels and it’s no fun.

There are also issues of not advertising talent and attending shows with such few television names and mostly non-TV guys, and that has hurt as well. Plus, the key guys like Tommaso Ciampa, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and others don’t work the Florida house shows ever or infrequently due to the injuries, and there are weeks when there is the out-of-Florida tour and that cuts back on talent. And there aren’t the legit drawing cards like people like Balor, Nakamura and Ricochet were

The 11/15 CMLL show at Arena Mexico drew 8,000 fans, although it was a two-for-one ticket special. That is basically Mexico’s Black Friday so there were all kinds of deals with two-for-ones and three-for-ones all over Mexico City.

The biggest news was political. At the show they were honoring Tiger Hattori, who is retiring from New Japan at the end of the year. Chavo Lutteroth, the son of the original Salvador Lutteroth, who has now taken back over after the death of Paco Alonso, was out with his son. He has now turned the promotion over to his son. Sofia Alonso, who briefly ran the promotion until Chavo pulled her and started cutting people’s pay, which led to Rush quitting, was back. When her father was alive, she would have been front and center as the face of the promotion during the ceremony. Sofia hasn’t been around for weeks and she was there but never did anything related to the show. Chavo Lutteroth during the ceremony, talked about how his father built all of these arenas and if it wasn’t for his father, there would be no Lucha Libre. Generally, his father is credited with importing the pro wrestling that he saw in Texas into Mexico

For whatever this is worth, Marty Scurll is not advertised on Final Battle and given the tease on BTE, one would put AEW as the favorites to get him. His contract expires on 11/30. Scurll owns the rights to the name Villain Club, so he could bring it with him to AEW, WWE or New Japan if he or they wanted it. The belief is that Scurll’s two places he most wants to go are AEW, which many thought it was a given from the day it was launched and I’ll just say it was not a given but certainly always a chance, or New Japan, but New Japan could mean staying with ROH and working more New Japan. You can’t say WWE isn’t a contender, as he lives in Florida and he’d be a lock to be a top star in NXT, but the strong sense is that isn’t happening


[AEW] At one point there were plans to run a spring break at Club La Vela, which was one of the most unique Nitro shows of the year in its heyday, but that club is currently shut down between both a hurricane and a fire in recent years

AEW has revealed their third set of top-five roster rankings.

The rankings are released on Fridays. The first set was revealed on the night before Full Gear, with the second set being released last week.

Here are the updated rankings for each division:
Men's division --

PAC (4-1-1 singles record, 4-2-1 overall)
Jon Moxley (3-0-1 singles record, 3-1-1 overall)
Cody Rhodes (3-1-1 singles record, 4-2-1 overall)
Hangman Page (4-3 singles record, 5-5 overall)
Kenny Omega (3-2 singles record, 6-4 overall)


Women's division --

Hikaru Shida (3-1 singles record, 4-1 overall)
Britt Baker (3-2 singles record, 6-3 overall)
Emi Sakura (1-1 singles record, 2-3 overall)
Nyla Rose (2-3 singles record, 3-3 overall)
Allie (1-2 singles record, 3-2 overall)


Tag team division --

The Lucha Bros (4-3 tag team record, 5-5 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 6-4 overall record for Fenix)
The Young Bucks (4-3 tag team record, 7-4 overall record for Matt Jackson, 7-5 overall record for Nick Jackson)
Private Party (4-4 tag team record, 4-6 overall)
Santana & Ortiz (2-1 tag team record, 3-1 overall)
The Dark Order (3-2 tag team record, 4-2 overall)



Kelly Klein has clarified some of the key points in her recent issues among Ring of Honor management. On Thursday, it was revealed that Klein had been notified that her contract would not be renewed after its expiration, which Dave Meltzer notes is on December 31st. Klein went into details about a concussion she suffered while in the UK with Ring of Honor and the help that Joey Mercury, who she stated was done with the company, provided her in canceling a booking in South Africa. Klein’s issue is that Mercury was technically done with ROH and the company did not have the proper people in place to take care of her while concussed and make proper decisions in her altered state from the concussion. Below are Klein’s statements regarding the matter that were posted Friday mainly to clarify she was not forced to wrestle while concussed by ROH and didn’t work the date in South Africa:
Link: https://twitter.com/RealKellyKlein/status/1197895416722968577

Tickets for Joey Janela’s Spring Break IV went on sale today for their WrestleMania weekend event on Friday, April 3rd at The Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida. According to the Eventbrite ticket site, they have sold out the 2nd, 5th, and 6th-row ringside seats along with all the elevated seats on the risers. General admission seats are available at $35 but are standing room only and you can also get tickets front row ringside ($210), 3rd row ringside ($85), 4th row ringside ($80), 7th row ringside ($50), and there are luxury boxes available for $349. Spring Break has become one of the major events of the weekend. So far, the only announcement for the show is that The Great Muta will be on the card. The capacity for this year’s show is much larger than the set up in 2019 with The Cuban Club able to hold in the range of 3,500 – 4,000 in their courtyard.

There is a huge mess associated with Kelly Klein, ROH Women of Honor Champion. She was informed Tuesday that her deal would expire without renewal, as she's dealing with a concussion.

Fightful has spent the evening speaking with several in Ring of Honor talent, who seem to unanimously (at least based on who we spoke to) sympathize with Klein's position. Klein had been making $20,000 per year, and was rejected a raise to $24,000 initially. There were also several on the roster who mentioned the talent summit, implying they would speak out there, though no one specifically said they would.

The two sides had been in negotiations that would have resulted in some back pay to the summer and a possible three-year deal higher than the raise she sought out, but there were snags along the way involving hotel room reimbursement and the like that we're told neither side would budge on. One ROH talent told us that Klein should have had a raise well before this, and knew of other talents who used the same negotiating tactics as her and prevailed, whereas she didn't initially.

A lot of the women's deals have been constructed similarly in the past, to where they either make $500 per date or $20,000 per year. Initially a lot of the women's deals were for $12,000 per year when the division started before being bumped up. There were frustrations expressed among some talent that ROH officials actually put in writing that all the women on the roster made the same amount of money, with no wiggle room, and it was significantly less than their male counterparts.

On the latest episode of his Jim Cornette Experience podcast, Cornette detailed his position and explained why the comment wasn't racist. Cornette started by saying NWA Vice President David Lagana called him to address the comment, wondering if he would apologize.

"How can I apologize for something I didn't say? That these people are mad that I don't like their favorite wrestler, said I said. They're butthurt and they take it the wrong way and try to get offended. I can't apologize because I didn't say that. However, you can reprimand me for it and tell me how serious you're taking it. And that's the statement they put out. And I said I would continue to not do the things I didn't do," Cornette said in reference to the NWA apologizing on behalf of Cornette of his comments about suicide. "In this case, I said, 'David, this was a taped show. What did you think about it when you heard it?' He said, 'Well, it went right past me.' I said, 'You think?' 'They are so upset on Twitter.' That's another thing I've talked about with him before. If you give these people the idea that every time they complain about something, you'll just jump around apologizing whether it was said or meant in a bad way, then they'll do it all the time. He's already proven he will do that," he said.

Cornette continued, "Someone said, 'If he hadn't said chicken, it would have been fine.' Well, a bucket of chicken sounds funnier than a fucking plate of sushi or ham sandwich. So it happened to be that, because it was funny. Ethiopia is a place where people are fucking starving. It's a starvation joke. Not a race joke. Whether it was a good joke or bad joke, it was a joke that's been told on TBS, USA Network, broadcast TV stations across America for the past 30 years. Suddenly, it isn't good for YouTube" ...

Finally, Cornette did sort of apologize for the comment.

"I didn't mean it in any racist way. I think the people that took it as racist must think that's the only things on peoples mind when they think of black people and chicken. For all the people overblown about this, fuck you. People who were mildly offended, I apologize because it wasn't meant that way. To anyone who was legitimately offended by a bad joke in a 'kinda sorta' way and would accept a reasonable apology as humans sometimes do; Yes, I'm sorry because I didn't intend it that way. For people who thought it was various stages of hilarious or just rolled their eyes, then I don't need to apologize. For people who think I was 'fuckity mcfuck cunt face' on television and professing Nazi ideology and expressing hate for a variety of people and I should be boiled in oil and have my fat sold for soap for a bad joke; fuck you. I don't care if you don't like me," he stated.

The Ethiopian comment was the second time NWA had to issue an apology on behalf of Cornette. The first came when he "joked" about suicide on social media.

When asked whether it was true that he resigned or if he was fired, Cornette stated, "[Lagana] didn't get a chance to fire me if he was going to because I got wound up, I was talking, he was listening, and I said, 'Fuck it, it aint fun anymore. You don't want this. I don't want this and I'm fucking sick of it and I'm fucking done.' And I hung up on him."

Cornette also said the job was no longer fun due to the apologies he was being asked to give and felt he was distracting from what the NWA was trying to do.


TPWW Frontpage:

More on Jim Cornette’s Resignation from NWA (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/more-on-jim-cornettes-resignation-from-nwa/)
Former MLW World Champion Tom Lawlor Re-Signs With MLW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/former-mlw-world-champion-tom-lawlor-re-signs-with-mlw/)
Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein Fired By ROH (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/women-of-honor-champion-kelly-klein-fired-by-roh/)

[Sepholio]

lol Cornette. What a maroon.

[slik]

B Alvarez reporting Vince is "done" with Humberto Carillo already...

I knew that would happen ala Buddy, Cedric, Ali, etc

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw last night averaged 2.11 million viewers, the second lowest non-holiday number of the modern era.

That was down one percent from the prior week, but in a sense this is worse because of two factors. The first is that the Baltimore Ravens blow-out win over the Los Angeles Rams (45-6) led to the NFL number declining 13 percent from last week to 10.93 million viewers. The second is this show was the day after Survivor Series, so it should have been expected to get a significant bump ...

It was down 11 percent from the same week last year ...

The shocking number was hour one coming off the pay-per-view.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.24 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.19 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.90 million viewers


Monday’s three-hour episode averaged 2,109,000 viewers with the only episodes in recent years to fall below that figure being the taped November 11th show from England two weeks ago (2,057,000), and last year’s Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve shows (1,775,000 and 1,968,000 respectively). In total viewers, Raw was nearly identical with last week’s figure of 2,127,000.

Two title matches have been made official for this week's post-Survivor Series edition of NXT.

WWE has announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) will defend their titles against Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic on tomorrow's show. Akira Tozawa will also challenge for Lio Rush's NXT Cruiserweight Championship tomorrow night.

James Storm is getting a World title shot in the main event of the NWA's Into the Fire pay-per-view.

On tonight's episode of NWA Power, it was announced that NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis will defend his title against former National Champion James Storm in the main event of Into the Fire. The PPV is taking place at GPB Studios in Atlanta on Saturday, December 14 and will be available via Fite TV.

Becky Lynch today has surpassed Ronda Rousey’s Raw Women’s championship title run, making her the longest reigning champion at 232 days.

ROH has officially confirmed Marty Scurll's match for Final Battle.

It will be Villain Enterprises (Scurll & Flip Gordon) vs. Bandido & Flamita at the December 13 pay-per-view. The match was announced via a video that Scurll posted today. Scurll mentioned that there's a lot of speculation about his whereabouts, then said he's agreed to wrestle at Final Battle and gets to choose his own match.

Scurll also said that his match will go on first at the PPV.

Dave Meltzer reported on Scurll's status with ROH in last Friday's Daily Update: "Marty Scurll will be on the 12/13 Final Battle show even though his contract expires prior to that date. Scurll had agreed while talks were going on, that no matter what, he would work that show. He has not signed a new deal with ROH so when that match is officially announced, don't take it as meaning he has."

Since WWE NXT won the battle for "brand supremacy" at Survivor Series over the weekend, PWInsider.com has received a slew of emails asking whether that was step one in putting the NXT brand on the road and broadcasting out of larger venues on Wednesday nights.

As of this writing, the answer to that question is no.

PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that NXT remains contractually locked into regular Wednesday night dates at Full Sail Live in Winter Park, Florida through the end of March 2020. So, if WWE was planning on pulling the trigger and taking NXT out on the road, it's not going to happen immediately.

WWE applied to trademark 'Barely Legal' and 'Cyberslam' ...

Barely Legal was the title of the first ECW PPV in April 1997.

Cyberslam was an annual event held in Philadelphia based around an Internet fan convention, held from February 1996 through February 2000 before the company shuttered operations in early 2001.

Chuck Carroll of CBS spoke with Xavier Woods, who noted there is no timetable for his return from Achilles tear. "Could be 5 months. Could be 9 months. There's a lot of wiggle room," said Woods.

After a decade of being 'The Deadman,' Undertaker transformed into the 'American Badass' in May 2000, playing a biker instead of a phenom. The change helped refresh the character, giving Undertaker extra legs at the end of the Attitude Era. Speaking to Steve Austin on the Broken Skull Sessions, Undertaker revealed why he decided to make the switch.

"I think that's my best attribute is being able to figure out -- I always felt like, if I started feeling stale, my audience is probably feeling it before me. You get wrapped up in what you're doing. The small changes, the breaks at the right time. I don't think I would have made it through if I hadn't changed when I did to go to the American Badass. I don't think the [Deadman] character would have lasted through the Attitude Era. I was too handcuffed for our content. I had already been there for 9-10 years. I needed the handcuffs off and let them see a different variation, which opened the door to when I brought the gimmick back, I kept a little bit of everything."

Undertaker continued, "So many variables there. One, the bike. I had been off close to a year. I had a big-time groin injury. And about three weeks before I came back, I tore my peck. It ended up being close to 8 or 9 months that I was off TV. Not only am I coming back, I'm coming back as a completely different dude. You're running through all those (scenarios). Everything that could go wrong. If this doesn't work, you're dead right there. Fortunately, it was the right move at the right time."

Undertaker would evolve the 'American Badass' character into 'Big Evil,' which was a heel take on the gimmick. The 'American Badass' gimmick lasted until 2003 when Kane buried Undertaker alive at Survivor Series. Undertaker returned as the 'Deadman' at WrestleMania XX.

In the final segments of today's WOR, Meltzer speaks on the DVR numbers for both Wednesday night shows from Oct 2 until mid November, which he had enquired about this morning.

He didn't go into deep specifics, but indicated both shows are picking up an extra couple of hundred thousand viewers on DVR, but since people watching on DVR are more likely to skip commercials, that won't be of much help when if comes to working contracts when they are up for renewal.

Survivor Series was the 12th most searched topic on Google yesterday [Sunday] with 200,000. That indicates less mainstream interest for a major WWE show than anyone in a long time. Usually a big four WWE show will get 500,000 or up.

Bruno Sammartino, a documentary on the late, great WWE Hall of Famer, will officially open theatrically after many years of preparation this Friday in both New York City and Santa Monica, CA. The run is in advance of a planned, larger release and is being done, in part, to insure the film will be eligible for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Following the Survivor Series, the story involving Corey Graves and Mauro Ranallo is one of the items most are focused on. Graves did not remove the tweets referencing Ranallo’s commentary on TakeOver this past Saturday, which led to Ranallo going home and not appearing at the Survivor Series where he was set to call several matches. On the broadcast, they announced that Ranallo’s voice was gone but that was their way of explaining his absence with the plan for him to return this Wednesday. Graves continued Monday by lashing out at Frank Shamrock (Ranallo’s manager) and Dave Meltzer for his reporting on the story. Shamrock invited Graves to stop by stating he was in Los Angeles or he could call him.

In foresight and hindsight, it was a bad idea to come up with the on-air excuse of Ranallo’s voice, but you must imagine WWE’s intentions were to address his absence with minimal attention and just move on. I don’t think there is anyone that has not pieced everything together and can see the real reason Ranallo didn’t work the show on Sunday.

Rather than just apologize for an ill-thought-out series of tweets, Graves is just on the attack and it’s a bad look for both him and the company. I would say that when emotions are at a high, which they appear to be, Twitter is not the avenue to venture down. My hope is that cooler heads prevail and that Graves does realize fault and makes an apology and allow the tension to die down. Graves did not make things better today and it would be best for him to stay offline and away from the comments, which are going to heavily lean on Ranallo’s side given his issues and that most believe he was just doing his job. It’s not an argument that announcers are above criticism but it’s a separate scenario when it’s done on a public forum through Twitter as opposed to privately between colleagues.

The next question is whether Ranallo goes to NXT this Wednesday. If he does the appearance, then the story will probably die down and all parties move on but if he’s not there it’s obviously a bigger story.
Graves was also going after others online as well for their issues with his comments. Besides that, there was also at least one instance of him acting in a condescending tone towards someone who had some issues with the booking at SummerSlam.

Over the weekend, Kenny Omega spoke with Dave Meltzer and Jim Valley on Wrestling Observer Radio in a wide-ranging discussing AEW following the Full Gear event and numerous subjects about the state of the company. One issue discussed was the other side of the argument when it comes to the schedule. One of the ways AEW has distinguished itself is a less intensive road schedule with one taping per week. It’s great for guys that have done the intense WWE schedule and should preserve performers without the wear and tear of three or four shows per week. However, younger talent requires that experience and Omega discussed that aspect of AEW and the issues the schedule creates:

"We’ve always wanted to motivate people outside of AEW to try to find ways to get that ring time. We have not shut the doors on any outside bookings. We always encourage talent if they have a home promotion, if you want to do a Japan tour, a Japan stop or whatever please do it. That’s the one thing we don’t have right now and I wish we did. We don’t have anything like a Dojo or Performance Center and it’s kind of hurting us. There are people that would benefit greatly from having more ring time. I’m sure that change in the future but for now, the lack of having that, it’s a worry for me – not in the immediate future but for people we are trying to develop because there is talent that is going to be green that we are going to sign and give a chance to and they need to be put on a fast-track or whatever. Even if there is a move a guy wants to try, if there’s no ring to try it in or a sequence or whatever, they’ll never know if it’s going to work in the match. These are things that are pretty important, that need to be looked at and need to be addressed and I’m sure that it’s going to be a non-issue eventually but for now, it is, unfortunately, an issue for us."

While Omega is obviously high on the division he helps run, fans have quickly pointed out that the women's division is often overlooked on AEW Dynamite. When asked about why the division doesn't get as much time as the men's division, Omega placed some blame on himself while also pointing to a lack of time.

"I want the women to have the largest stage possible on Dynamite and Dark. I'm fighting for it every week for them to have more time," stated Omega. "'Cut mine, I don't care.' When you have such a focus on the (tag team title) tournament, which took up so much time on each episode, it was two to one titles. I have to put blame on myself because I had the angle with [Jon] Moxley as well. At the end of the day, there's only so much time in an episode. It's almost amazing how fast it gets eaten up. We haven't been able to focus on women as much as I'd like. Some of it has been availability. We have girls signed and hopping on board. I hate to say 'wait til 2020,' but I can safely say in 2020 there are going to be interesting and exciting signings that will shake up the division. As soon as we have a women's tag division, that will balance (things) more and give the women more of a stage. Once there's that 'thing' for them to fight for, you're going to see more time devoted per episode for the women."


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: AEW Dynamite & Batman, Updated WWE SmackDown Ratings, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/various-aew-dynamite-batman-themed-episode-updated-wwe-smackdown-ratings-indies/)
Lana Signs New Five-Year Contract With WWE + Rusev in Contract Talks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/lana-signs-new-five-year-contract-with-wwe-rusev-in-contract-talks/)
Vince McMahon Reportedly Upset About Seth Rollins Mentioning CM Punk on Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/vince-mcmahon-reportedly-upset-about-seth-rollins-mentioning-cm-punk-on-raw/)
WWE: Matt Hardy Returns to TV, New Firefly Fun House Character Coming (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-matt-hardy-returns-to-tv-new-firefly-fun-house-character-coming/)
No CM Punk on WWE Backstage This Week + More CM Punk Notes (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/no-cm-punk-on-wwe-backstage-this-week-more-cm-punk-notes/)
WWE Announces Worlds Collide: NXT vs. NXT UK (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/wwe-announces-worlds-collide-nxt-vs-nxt-uk/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Following last week's episode that featured a heavily promoted appearance by CM Punk, Tuesday's edition of WWE Backstage on FS1 averaged 121,000 viewers, down from 180,000 last week.

An appearance by WWE COO Paul "HHH" Levesque was the most promoted aspect from this week's show as Punk was not advertised to appear. This week's panel featured regulars Renee Young, Christian, Paige, Samoa Joe, and Booker T.

Backstage drew a 0.05 rating in the 18-49 demographic, placing it 125th in the demo for the day on cable.

This year's WWE Starrcade will include an appearance by the event's most iconic performer.

WWE announced today that Ric Flair will appear on a KO Show segment with Kevin Owens at Starrcade on Sunday (December 1). The segment will be part of the WWE Network portion of the show.

Starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time, one hour from Starrcade will air live on the WWE Network on Sunday. The show is taking place at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, Georgia.

ROH has announced Cobb vs. Maff for Final Battle 2019. The pay-per-view is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13

NXT officially announced TV dates at Full Sail for 1/8, 1/15, 1/22, 1,29 and 2/5.

The 1/8 and 1/15 dates have sold out while tickets for 1/22 and 1/29 go on sale on 12/6. Tickets for 2/5 go on sale on 12/13 ...

NXT also announced a return to Buffalo, NY on 1/12 at Buffalo Riverworks.

NXT’s Joaquin Wilde noted on Twitter that he is back in the ring after four months of recuperating. Over the Summer, Wilde suffered an injury and Pro Wrestling Sheet confirmed that the injury turned out to be a broken eye socket.

Fightful released their interview with Matt Hardy. Hardy was asked about the conversation[s] he’s had with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about the ‘Broken’ character and Hardy explained that he doesn’t think McMahon quiet understands the character just yet.

“Yeah, when I first was gonna do Woken Matt Hardy, I had to talk with him for 30 minutes and I kind of explained the whole Broken Universe deal. I don’t think he understands it completely. Part of it is based off different, various TV shows I’ve watched and it’s very Deadpool-driven. Broken Matt Hardy winks at the audience and kind of breaks the fourth wall and I don’t know if that’s something Vince really enjoys or likes to do a lot or whatever, unless it’s his specific idea. I think it was very involved and I don’t think he got all [of it]. I know when he watched the Ultimate Deletion, he said, ‘Well people seem to like it. I don’t know if I get it.’ The thing that I give Vince credit for is that he allowed me to do it, he allowed me to have that Ultimate Deletion, did give us an opportunity and internally it was a success and did well.”

Shawn Michaels chatted with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated following the 2019 Survivor Series weekend. Michaels praised Keith Lee, NXT Champion Adam Cole and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler for their respective performances this past weekend:

“They deliver every single time they’re out there. All three of them embrace and adapt to big situations. I’ve never seen one of them not look cool, calm or collected when they go out into high impact, highly visible matches. There hasn’t been a time for any of them where the situation was too big or got the better of them, and that gives us a great deal of confidence moving forward. These are all big-time performers.”

Current RAW Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik) joined the After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves ...

Both Ivar and Erik talked about their names being changed from “War Machine” to “War Raiders” to “Viking Experience” to “Viking Raiders”. Erik explained that the reason the “War Machine” name was changed is because of MMA fighter War Machine who was convicted of multiple felony charges including sexual assault.

“The best part about that name is that I think people have been mad about Viking Raiders, as a name, and the funny thing is that — that was Ivar and I’s first pitch when we came to NXT,” Erik said. “They told us we were gonna have to change our name, that War Machine wasn’t gonna work because of the MMA fighter. If you type it into Google, that’s the first…”

Ivar then chimed in on the conversation: “You can’t have kids who are 10 and 12 years old typing in trying to find their favorite wrestler and now there’s all types of different conversations that has to happen.”

Fightful contributor Kristen Ashly debunks recent "Firefly Fun House" story where a fake account claimed a female character would be debuting this week. WWE confirmed to Fightful that the Erica Gimbel account is not affiliated with WWE.
Link: https://twitter.com/KristenAshly/status/1199729984102903814

Over the summer, Jerry Lawler's former podcast host Glenn Moore was accused of scamming fans out of thousands of dollars. Jason Lurie claimed to have paid Moore $1,500 for a piece of artwork done by Lawler, which he never received.

Lawler claimed to be shocked by the report, saying he was unaware of Moore's actions and would work to resolve the situation.

Lurie filed a lawsuit against Lawler and Moore, alleging he never received the art he paid for or his money back. Lurie sued for $1,750 ($1,500 for a painting, $250 for a cat sketch).

According to a report from BodySlam.net, the court hearing happened on Nov. 26 with the Tennessee court ruling Moore did not act as an agent for Lawler, but as a facilitator. Lurie told BodySlam, "Here’s the crux of the case… according to me, Glenn acted as an agent for the mystery boxes, the sketches and the oil. For the judge to rule that he wasn’t an agent but a facilitator is just horseshit. Legally he met every condition for being an agent. The fact that there is no state law concerning a facilitator – well that’s because they are called agents. Not facilitators."

In a statement put out but Lawler, he claimed to be more of a victim than Lurie because of the "bad publicity" he received through Moore's scam. Lawler claims that he offered to do the painting Lurie originally paid for, but Lurie only wanted money.

According to the report, Lurie's legal team was told Lawler's legal team advised Jerry to settle for the original $1,500 Lurie had spent, but Lawler decided to see what the judge had to say. While there is no transcript of the hearing, BodySlam goes on to report that Lawler testified, saying he told Lurie (through Moore) the price for the cat painting was $3,000. The higher price was used as a way to scare Lurie off, though his tactic didn't work as Moore and Lurie agreed to the deal. Moore was reportedly not part of the hearing as he went off the grid and was not served.

Ever since CM Punk made his return to WWE television (through Fox on WWE Backstage), Seth Rollins has been poking at him on social media. Rollins has challenged Punk to "fight him" on social media and Punk has told Rollins to delete his Twitter and look for relevancy elsewhere.

Speaking to Kiss FM, Rollins once again took aim at Punk.

"I've been a little disheartened thus far," said Rollins about the lack of "CM Punk" chants during his segments. "I know Chicago will be the exception -- I figured, after the last two weeks of what I've been saying on Twitter and what he's been saying back to me, that I'd get [CM Punk] chants at the events and they haven't happened. Not a peep. I was very upset. People were so excited for him to be back. I guess not."

Chicago did chant for Punk during Rollins' opening segment on Raw. Rollins responded to the chants by noting he invited Punk to show up, but Punk wasn't there.

"Let him know you want to see him on Raw and see him in the ring. Let him know you don't want to see him behind a desk, hiding in Los Angeles," said Rollins. "He spent five years on hiatus. Good for him. Hopefully, he's got his head right. But he comes back to sit behind a desk and talk? That's not very CM Punk. That's not the guy that they want."

When asked if they've ever wrestled, Rollins replied, "We had one singles match, six years ago at least. We're in different places now. The match would look a lot different. He says 'never say never,' I say 'when?'"
Assuming the stuff about Vince being very upset at Rollins for teasing the idea of a match between the two on RAW is true, doubt Vince is going to be happy once he finds out Rollins didn't listen to him.

Tom Phillips is calling NXT tonight


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Joey Janela Deletes Tweet, Join Dark Order Website, Moxley & Renee Young (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aew-joey-janela-deletes-tweet-join-dark-order-website-moxley-renee-young/)
Corey Graves Apologizes for Mauro Ranallo Tweet (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/corey-graves-apologizes-for-mauro-ranallo-tweet/)
Mauro Ranallo Reportedly Won’t Be on NXT This Week (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/mauro-ranallo-reportedly-wont-be-on-nxt-this-week/)
Impact Results – Nov. 26, 2019 – IPWF Throwback Throwdown Special (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/impact-results-nov-26-2019-ipwf-throwback-throwdown-special/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The next two Takeovers shows, the U.K. show on 1/12 and this one, will be on Sundays rather than Saturdays as an experiment to see how the new night does for viewing on the WWE Network.

They are also doing a special in Houston called World’s Collide on 1/25, the night before the Rumble, which an ad for the show listed Cole, Baszler, Walter and Kay Lee Ray, the champions of the regular and the U.K. brands ... The experiment is to have more shows like this on Saturdays before PPVs down the line, with NXT and Takeovers on Sundays, to make Sunday the day for every brand’s individual big show. But all of this right now is just in the experimental phase.

There were a couple of other notes regarding the show. They did an angle where Mia Yim was “injured” and replaced in the Women’s War Games by Dakota Kai. The angle leading to the match certainly seemed to tease Kai being unhappy that Yim was picked ahead of her by captain Ripley. Yim did suffer a broken nose, but the angle taking her out and having Kai take her place, and then Kai turn heel on Tegan Nox was planned all along.

After a tweet by Corey Graves during the Takeover show, which Mauro Ranallo found out about after the show, Ranallo, 49, who suffers from a very severe case of mental health issues, missed both Survivor Series and the Wednesday NXT tapings. Ranallo’s situation was unclear, but it was known that he was not dong well, but there was communication with either he and the company or at least his representatives and the company. They were told a day ahead of time at least that he wouldn’t be doing the NXT show.

Ranallo had made it clear at times of late that he was not doing well, although Graves may not have known that ...

There were issues from the beginning, most notably broadcast partner Jerry Lawler the first few weeks giving him the nickname “M.R.” On playgrounds during the 50s and 60s in particular, “M.R.,” for mental retard, was among the uglier slurs of the time, equivalent to gay slurs and other ethnic slurs. After it was brought up, Lawler quickly stopped using it on the air ...

Prior to the show, Graves tweeted a line from Ice T that said, “Social media has made too many of you comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the mouth for it.” During the Takeover show, he tweeted, “Just for the record guys, I know you wouldn’t know it, but there’s actually a WWE Hall of Famer and a former Ring of Honor champion on commentary. I’d imagine they have a lot to offer.” Knowing Ranallo’s situation, I knew there was potential trouble from that tweet. It’s one thing regarding every public figure with a Twitter presence being harassed, but it is another thing for it to be a fellow broadcaster and former broadcast partner, as it was with Layfield. Graves also made references to Ranallo making too many rap music references during the show, which is a fair criticism, but also came after Graves himself complained about talent going on Twitter and being unprofessional.

Graves later claimed according to reports elsewhere, as well as those in the company, that he was trying to just start an angle with Ranallo. Ranallo had no idea of this and usually if one would be starting an angle, you’d let the other guy know, especially given the track record. The starting the angle story didn’t come until days later, and a number of people have been very skeptical because of the idea if you were starting an angle brand vs. brand, you would not have tweeted it like that, in a sense you may have buried all three announcers, or been critical of an announcer for being a homer, but not made the specific comment he did. But the two were set to do at least one match, and perhaps more, working together at Survivor Series.

Ranallo deleted all his social media accounts shortly after. Frank Shamrock, his agent and best friend, was in Chicago with him and they did leave before Survivor Series. Graves did apologize to Shamrock, but not to Ranallo. Shamrock then tweeted Graves’ Ice T line right back to him. It was already reported that Ranallo had left and would not be doing the show ...

Graves never took down the tweet. He never commented on anything actually related to Ranallo again, but did blame me for making up a story, which in this case, was a ridiculous deflection. It was noted to me that logic would have had WWE management trying to reel him in after Ranallo left, but in the strange world of WWE, Graves was considered by many the babyface in the situation, and even the victim.

We have some updated information regarding viewing habits of wrestling fans. We’ve listed overall viewership numbers as far as live vs DVR in the past for Raw and Smackdown. These are the averages for the four major shows in the U.S. as measured from 10/1, the start of the fall season, through the shows the week of 11/11. Now this is only the 18-49 demo and not overall and is the average for each show during those six weeks ...

One would think Smackdown would be heavy DVR viewing being on Friday night, when people go out, but it is actually viewed more live by percentage than the other three shows. Smackdown viewership as measured by Nielsen is watched 70 percent in the demo live or same day, with another 14 percent watching over the next three days and 14 percent more from day four to seven ...

For Raw, those numbers are 67 percent live, 19 percent over the next three days, another 12 percent days four through seven, and two percent past seven days. For AEW, it is 57 percent live, 22 percent over the next three days, 17 percent days four through seven and four percent after more than seven days. With NXT, it is 63 percent live, 15 percent the next three days, 19 percent days four through seven and three percent more than seven days. On average, if you include all DVR viewership, there are 1,301,000 viewers 18-49 eventually watching Smackdown, 1,147,000 watching Raw, 741,000 watching AEW and 400,000 watching NXT on an average week. Keep in mind that the Smackdown and the AEW average is inflated based on the huge first week each show had

Wyatt is now the company’s top merchandise seller

Chris Girard, responding to Paul Levesque saying that the mature professional thing is not for talent to go on social media and talk about their issues or wanting to leave the promotion and that it should be handled via private conversation with management, responded by saying about Levesque, “The mature professional thing to say would be no comment and have a private conversation promoter to independent contractor instead of burying talent publicly to the media. That’s how I do business. It’s all about the game and how you play it.” Girard never publicly talked about asking for a release but had asked for a release and felt Levesque’s remarks publicly were notable because of the reasons he gave
For some reference, Girard is Oney Lorcan in WWE.

The decision was made to put the battle of women’s champions, Baszler vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bayley, in the final spot. It seemed to make sense ahead of time. Only two bouts on the show really had a strong consistent push, that match and the Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio WWE title match that went on next to last.

But the women’s match didn’t click and the crowd was mostly silent. The idea of the match, and really the entire angle, was for Baszler. Baszler carries herself and talks like a badass bully. The original plan was for her to be on the main roster in 2020. Based on so much of the build, and the match and post-match, it appeared she was being groomed for Lynch.

But the match wasn’t good. There were a few awkward spots, surprising since the bout was heavily worked on and practiced. It got so bad that Vince McMahon was really mad about it as it was going on. There was a story going around Vince was so mad he was telling the ref high spots for them to do as the match was going on, but those in the company have only said McMahon was mad, saying he had every right to be, but said he was not sending high spots to the referee while the match was going on.

WWE has tried to oppose some of the trademarks that Cody Runnels was attempting to gain the rights to. We don’t know which ones in specific, but he has largely tried to gain the intellectual property rights to a lot of WCW names that WWE hasn’t used or trademarked. WWE is opposing his claims on at least some of them. Cody has been trying to gain ownership of things for usage in AEW, such as Bash at the Beach that is being used in January. In particular he’s looking for ownership of ideas that his father came up with. Runnels filed for new trademarks for SuperBrawl and Slamboree, which were the names of two other WCW PPV events

NWA Powerrr has had several edits for reasons of taste, including a couple of prior lines by Cornette and one by Eddie Kingston, which was not racial but violent speak that they thought went too far. Lagana knew the risk of hiring Cornette because he knew from the start there were people ready to pounce on him based on the reaction by some to the decision to hire him. That actually had made him more cautious when it came to editing the show. He felt from day one he had to be extra careful because a line he would say that nobody would give a second thought to if someone else would say, would garner controversy if Cornette said it. That line, for whatever reason, perhaps the way it was delivered, didn’t stand out and snuck through the entire process, unlike other lines that they caught.

Lagana noted he and the NWA got some criticism when the word got out they were using Cornette as a television announcer. He said it was a recent thing and nothing that had been said by anyone previously when he had done previous NWA PPV shows, all of which he did with no controversy. The only people who showed any kind of negativity for using him on prior shows was one wrestler as best we know. I don’t even know if he ever even told them. But it was someone who wasn’t happy about doing a show with Cornette as an announcer, but decided to take his payoff for that show and donate it to charity to rationalize that what he as doing by working a show with Cornette as an announcer was for a greater good than bad.

When the controversy started, Lagana, called Cornette, who didn’t answer the phone. Cornette claimed he wasn’t around, wasn’t on the Internet, and had no idea any controversy was even happening until the next day. Lagana then issued an apology statement before talking to Cornette. Lagana eventually talked with Cornette and asked him to apologize immediately and asked him to take a hiatus, but that they would bring him back. It got heated enough at first that Cornette hung up the phone on him. ...

He also wanted to address the subject first on his podcast, ironically the same decision Corey Graves made a few days later. Lagana felt the apology had to come immediately and insisted on it. The line had already gotten TMZ coverage by the time this call had taken place. Cornette eventually quit, although he described it more as a decision based on what was best for the company ...

Another issue had to do with owner William Patrick “Billy” Corgan, whose newest album was being released and he would be heavily promoting it, and the feeling was he wanted media coverage of his album, and not people asking his opinions on what somebody said in a wrestling promotion he owned that was getting negative press.

There was also the concern that because Cornette turns so many phrases so quickly and people were clearly looking for anything on him at this point, that putting him on a live PPV was asking for trouble.

There was a news report this past week saying La Parka was back in intensive care due to a bacterial infection. There have also been reports Parka suffered a heart attack at one point. AAA has denied all this saying that he is in stable condition

The company [NJPW] announced its schedule through early March. If there is a key thing, it is that they have major plans for early February big shows, and there is no Honor Rising tour this year, which is more a confirmation of relations with that company not being what they once were.

Former WCW announcer Chris Cruise contacted the Maryland State Athletic Commission regarding the Omega vs. Jon Moxley I Quit match at the Full Gear PPV show on 11/9. He asked about commission rules on blading, and allowing matches to continue if a performer is bleeding either intentionally or unintentionally and if there was a commission doctor at the show. After repeated requests, he was told that the commission prohibits wrestlers from deliberately lacerating themselves or their opponents, or introducing human or animal blood into the match, none of which happened in that match. The commission noted that they were at the match and there was a doctor assigned to the show. The commission also stated they were conducting a formal investigation into the match and thus, since the investigation is ongoing, they can’t comment on questions regarding the match. I’m not sure what the investigation would be on

Regarding Kris Statlander, it looks like she’ll be signing with AEW. She and WWE were close to a deal but they had not sent a contract and then AEW booked her. WWE was under the impression she was coming in January and both sides want her. Her working here the last few weeks, and we know AEW is looking to sign her as well, would indicate AEW is the likely final destination

Tessa Blanchard is out of action with an eye injury suffered on the British J Cup show for Revolution Pro with Gisele Shaw. She was scheduled for the Thanksgiving weekend WrestleCade show in Winston-Salem, NC. She will still be appearing but not wrestling

Regarding Japan, we had a long discussion that was not on the show. He said he knew who was behind his having trouble getting in and was outright told at customs, and that there was an attempt to keep him out of the country for ten years. For legal reasons he didn’t want to discuss it in detail and that it’s an ongoing issue, but said he took care of everything beforehand when going back so he was allowed in, even though there was an attempt to block him all three times he went this year. He said it was not anyone he had dealt with and categorized it as businessmen just doing what they perceived was their jobs and that he felt those people in New Japan proper probably wouldn’t have known about it and that he was not against working for New Japan in the future.

Earlier today [Thursday], B/R Wrestling started a debate on Twitter after asking users who they would add to their wrestling Mount Rushmore. The Rock even joined in and made his own list.

The former WWE star picked Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Gorgeous George, Bruno Sammartino, and Steve Austin for his wrestling Mount Rushmore.

His full tweet was, "*I made an edit after thinking about the wrestling star's impact and drawing power during their respective runs. Thanks for the carve out and always a cool debate. I'd go with/ Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Gorgeous George/Bruno Sammartino, Steve Austin ?? #WrestlingsMtRushmore"
Link: https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1200222001048064000

Ryan Satin has been popping up on WWE Backstage as a correspondent after working for TMZ as a producer, while also serving as the editor in chief for Pro Wrestling Sheet ...

When he heard about FOX being interested in an FS1 - WWE show, he lit up and reached out to guys like Ariel Helwani to figure out what to do. Satin then met with an FOX Sports executive a couple years ago and tried to get a studio show on the air, but it didn't materialize at the time.

"I thought ESPN was severely under-utilizing the relationship they had with WWE at the time. So I went to FOX and said we should do something together," Satin stated before adding that he pitched himself for a role on the show.

"My goal from day one has always been to make some sort of a change. I hated looking at wrestling coverage and seeing stories that didn't come into fruition or narratives based off conjecture. My goal was always to have a reliable website where people can go to for news they can trust."

Satin noted that he doesn't work for WWE, he works for FOX Sports. He also said that fans should appreciate that his news is more valid because he's actually on the inside with a wrestling promotion.

Backstage has vowed to cover lighthearted topics as well as more serious situations. Satin was asked if he could cover things like the ACH (Jordan Myles) t-shirt controversy.

"I'm not the producer of the show so I don't make those decisions. I'm very low on the totem pole in terms of what's going to be discussed. I don't think they want me there for opinions as they want me there to break news," stated Satin who then added that he's still figuring it out as he goes but he hasn't been told to shy away from anything.

"What people don't understand is that I've had a great relationship with WWE since day one. They've helped me out and are very open with me. I work hard to make sure my news is verified by talking to people within WWE…

"When it comes to negative stories, I believe there will be times when I have to talk about negative things. It's just we're in Week 2 and nothing super-negative has happened for me to discuss."

Satin noted that he pitched that they should talk about the Saudi issues but it was already on the run sheet.

"When it comes to the ACH situation, there is a lot of unknowns and I think they'd rather play it safe," said Satin. "It's a case-by-case basis I think."
Considering he's the same guy who reported on the debunked Sasha and Bayley tantrum incident at Mania, kind of funny for him to say he wants to be the most trusted source for wrestling and other sites are just rumor mongers. Also him becoming very close to WWE has led to him becoming a lot more pro-WWE with his reports in recent weeks.

With the release of this week's top-five roster rankings, Jon Moxley is currently ranked as the top challenger in AEW's men's division ...

Men's division --
Jon Moxley (3-0-1 singles record, 3-1-1 overall)
PAC (4-2-1 singles record, 4-3-1 overall)
Kenny Omega (4-2 singles record, 7-4 overall)
Cody Rhodes (4-1-1 singles record, 5-2-1 overall)
MJF (2-1 singles record, 3-1 overall)

Women's division --
Hikaru Shida (3-1 singles record, 4-2 overall)
Emi Sakura (1-1 singles record, 3-3 overall)
Britt Baker (3-2 singles record, 6-3 overall)
Nyla Rose (2-3 singles record, 3-3 overall)
Bea Priestley (1-2 singles record, 3-2 overall)

Tag team division --
Santana & Ortiz (3-1 tag team record, 4-1 overall)
The Young Bucks (4-3 tag team record, 7-4 overall record for Matt Jackson, 7-5 overall record for Nick Jackson)
Best Friends (4-3 tag team record, 6-5 overall record for Trent Barreta, 5-4 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
The Lucha Bros (4-4 tag team record, 5-6 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 6-5 overall record for Fenix)
Private Party (4-4 tag team record, 4-6 overall)


Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Omega discussed fans choosing sides in the war ...

AEW Dynamite drew more viewers than NXT for the first seven weeks of the head-to-head battle, but NXT won the viewership battle on Nov. 20. However, AEW continued to draw stronger in key demographics, losing only the 50+ audience ...

"NXT, I don't want to sound derogatory, I can see how they're winning that demographic of 50 and over because they have a great, solid wrestling product. Those are probably the people who came up watching traditional wrestling that happens in the ring. AEW is more so of a variety show. You're going to get in-ring action, but you're going to get oddball stuff too. They're two very different shows. But me, being a wrestling fan, I can watch and enjoy all of them. I think it's cool that the ratings are close together and it's not like, they're having a terrible show but we're neck and neck. Both products are hitting it out of the park every week."

Eric Bischoff speaks to Fightful.

Eric Bischoff's return to WWE lasted just a few months as he was fired from his position as executive director of SmackDown in October after being hired in June. Bischoff, who found massive success in leading WCW at its peak in the mid-90s, was never able to establish himself as the leader of WWE's blue brand. Reports circulated that Vince McMahon routinely ripped up the script before SmackDown, with many blaming Bischoff for his creative direction. However, as Bischoff told Fightful at Starrcast IV, he had nothing to do with SmackDown creative.

"I wasn't hired necessarily to takeover creative. I was brought up more to manage the process. And that was clear to me in the beginning. None of the creative that you saw had anything to do with me, good or bad," he said.


TPWW Frontpage:

There Are Reportedly No Plans for a Joey Janela vs. Kip Sabian/Penelope Ford Feud (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/there-are-reportedly-no-plans-for-a-joey-janela-vs-kip-sabian-penelope-ford-feud/)
EC3 Out With a Concussion (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/ec3-out-with-a-concussion/)
Batista and Dana Brooke Are Flirting Online (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/batista-and-dana-brooke-are-flirting-online/)
AEW: Joey Janela Challenges Jon Moxley, More on Matt Knicks (https://www.tpww.net/2019/11/aew-joey-janela-challenges-jon-moxley-more-on-matt-knicks/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

NXT’s over 50 audience was the only demo that stayed even among the two shows from last week. Every other category was down for the shows.

The biggest losses for AEW were among males 18-49 and 12-34 with drops of 37% for each with adults 18-34 down 36%. The audience they retained most was adults over 50, which were down 14% from last week.

NXT saw their females 12-34 fall 42%, people 18-34 down 37%, and males 12-34 down 25%
Some details on how NXT managed to win last week against AEW. Pretty much old people tuning in to NXT in huge numbers and AEW having bigger demo drops across the board than NXT did.

Charlotte Flair applied to trademark “Ashley Flair” and “The Queen Of Wrestling” and Andrade applied to trademark “La Sombra” and “El Idolo”. @luchablog noted on Twitter that Andrade trademarked “La Sombra” in the U.S. but the Alonso family still has the trademark in Mexico.

The New York Times has a piece on the Saudi Arabian government's rebranding, noting the first women's match between Natalya and Lacey Evans at Crown Jewel as being "sportswashing."
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/business/economy/saudi-arabia-image-sports.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

According to WWE Network News, a new episode of ‘WWE Day Of’ is coming to the WWE Network next week and the forthcoming episode is based around the 2019 Survivor Series pay-per-view.

DS Shin of Ring The Belle conducted an interview with AEW’s Nyla Rose. Nyla was asked about the criticisms of AEW’s women’s division and there not being storylines for the women while there is a heavy focus on the men’s singles and tag team divisions.

“I think it’s a valid concern, but I think people need to slow down, hold their horses. We’ve only been on TV for six weeks. We’re just as excited as you guys are. Absolutely, don’t get it twisted, but we have to establish everything. Absolute pandemonium you know? So we’re getting our ducks in a row. The first up, we got our World Champion lined up. Cool, you know what’s next? Tag team. He said right from the get-go, tag team is gonna be a very focused point of this promotion, so we established a tag team division. On the first show, we established who the Women’s Champion is so you knew some of the people coming into this so that could kind of take — I don’t wanna say, ‘Take a back seat’ but it’s kind of running in the background a little bit, but now, if you look on TV, we got three, four segments going. Things are picking up. Just be calm, be patient. There’s a method to the madness.”

Nyla also stated that AEW is a safe environment for wrestlers that are a part of the LGBTQ community. She said they have their family positives and negatives but it’s a welcoming environment overall.

“Absolutely, absolutely. I’ve said it a million times, I’ll say it a million more. It’s such a different environment. It’s very warm, very welcoming. Granted, when we’re running TV, everybody is a little stressed and like, ‘Get out of the way!’ But, no, it’s very warm, very welcoming, everybody feels like family. Like many families, we bicker, we fight, we handle that all in the ring but its been very welcoming.”

The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame announced the following inductees in their class of 2020:

Executive Division- Dory Funk Sr.
Referee Division- Dick Woehrle.
Pioneer Era (1865-1942) -- George Zaharias & Bobby Managoff
International Division - The Great Kabuki
Tag Team Division - The Sheepherders / The Bushwackers/ The Kiwis - Butch & Luke Williams
Ladies Division - Luna Vachon & Debbie Combs
Television Era (1943-1984) - King Curtis Iaukea & Killer Karl Kox
Territory/Colleague Division - Killer Tim Brook
Modern Era (1985 - present) - Jake " the Snake" Robert's & Magnum TA


The induction ceremony will be the weekend of 5/14-5/16 in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Leaders in Orlando, Florida have made bids to host SummerSlam and Survivor Series in the near future.

Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport III will take place at The Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida on April 2, which is the Thursday of WrestleMania week.

According to PWInsider's Mike Johnson, former WWE creative team member Chris DeJoseph is returning to the company.

The return was also confirmed by our Dave Meltzer. It's also confirmed that DeJoseph left Major League Wrestling in an amicable split after roughly a month as a co-executive producer. Johnson reported that DeJoseph's WWE talks predated his MLW job.

He has yet to confirm the news on Twitter or elsewhere.

DeJoseph was a member of WWE creative from 2004-10 and even had an occasional on-air role as a wacky character known as Big Dick Johnson. He was part of the founding team and an executive producer for Lucha Underground which went on indefinite hiatus in 2018 after four years.

Lance Storm officially started yesterday as a Producer for WWE at last night's Raw taping. The decorated veteran recently shut down his SWA Wrestling Academy in Calgary, leading to his WWE return. Storm left WWE in 2005 and had recently done some producing work for Impact Wrestling.

For those who have asked, we are told that Classic Drops (such as the recent collection of WCW Thunder episodes) will still continue on the WWE Network.
In regards to WWE dropping their Hidden Gems series from the WWE Network.

"Smart" Mark Sterling, who works as a producer on the Major Wrestling Figure podcast, and "Mama's Boy" Jake Tucker, who won the 2014 "Show Us Your Superstar" contest, worked as the enhancement talent against the Viking Raiders on WWE Raw.

Kofi Kingston has reached another milestone.

With numerous tag team title reigns, including a record-breaking run as having the longest title reign in WWE history, Kingston has now surpassed 1,000 days holding a tag team title. He is the only person in WWE to ever accomplish that feat.

Though Big E had a relatively successful career prior to New Day forming in 2014, there were some backstage who believed he was "boring." According to Big E, WWE wanted him to start juggling and pec dancing after matches to enhance his personality.

When New Day formed, Big E came under more criticism as others backstage, including Big Show, believed Big E and Xavier Woods would drag Kofi Kingston down.

"Big Show said some terrible things to us about how Kofi was wasting his time with us. It wasn't a joke. The fact that you would meet so much resistance by trying to better yourself and improve your career is wild to me," said Big E on the New Day: Feel The Power podcast before revealing Big Show did apologize to the group.

Big E continued, discussing the creative process in WWE and how he wishes certain aspects were different.

"In so many different facets, from talent to backstage people, a lot of it was behind our backs. One of the best things with our relationship [with former WWE writer Michael Notarile] is understanding the process. Because he was a writer and in the meetings, we got to better understand when to pitch [and] when to talk with Vince to get a better temperature of the room. That's one of the things that I wish more talent had a better understanding of; how the creative process works. It's such a massive body as far as the creative team is concerned, but there's so many tiers. Entry level writers, senior writers, producers, and you don't really know who to go to. Often times, you get so much feedback in the meetings that never actually gets to you. I didn't find out that the office thought I was boring or that I needed something until it was too late in the eyes of the people that mattered. That's one of the things that I always wish worked better in this machine, is that you have more instant feedback from creative. That you got an opportunity to talk to the decision makers and say, 'Hey, this is where we see a deficit in your character, in your work, whatever' and so we can all address that," he said.

The Kelly Klein situation with Ring of Honor has had a lot of fallout, and ended up with Fightful Select learning of several plans for their division in 2018 and 2019.

Though the Women of Honor Championship went between Sumie Sakai and Kelly Klein in 2018, originally one of the champions in the interim was supposed to be either Kelly or Deonna Purrazzo winning it from Sakai, according to several people familiar with the booking plans. Depending on who you talk to, Kelly Klein was either supposed to win the title back at Final Battle last year, or lose it to Deonna after a feud. This didn't end up happening as Purrazzo signed with WWE.

However, several in the company were frustrated with Purrazzo's second round exit from the championship tournament, as those in charge said that Klein vs. Purrazzo in the finals was "too predictable," and they wanted to switch things up. Among the plans mentioned was Purrazzo working as a babyface to battle Klein, who would ridicule her early exit from the tourney.

In addition, we're told that AEW star Britt Baker had about a half-dozen dates remaining with Ring of Honor, but they were cut when she signed with All Elite Wrestling. The word backstage was that Joe Koff specifically told members of ROH they didn't feel like they owed Baker anything as it related to keeping their dates. Others had to go to bat for Baker in order to get her a five minute match with Kelly Klein, when she arrived at a venue unaware that the dates had been cut and she'd been removed from the show.

As mentioned on Fightful Select, the initial offerings for Women of Honor talent was $12,000 a year at this point -- the start of 2018, which were said to be non negotiable. This was later bumped to $20,000. There were multiple women who say they tried to explain to the ROH office how women's matches took off on the company's digital platforms, as they tried to get more screen time. Prior to the $12,000 number, the base rate for non-exclusive, non-contracted talent was $150 for male or female talent, and lower at times for enhancement talent or one-offs.


TPWW Frontpage:

John Cena to Star in Upcoming Comedy Movie, “Vacation Friends” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/john-cena-to-star-in-upcoming-comedy-movie-vacation-friends/)
Wade Barrett Joins NWA Commentary Team, Replacing Jim Cornette (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wade-barrett-joins-nwa-commentary-team-replacing-jim-cornette/)
Ratings Delayed (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/ratings-delayed/)
Mauro Ranallo Reportedly Told WWE That He’ll Be Back on NXT This Week (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/mauro-ranallo-reportedly-told-wwe-that-hell-be-back-on-nxt-this-week/)
Tommaso Ciampa Says He’d Retire if Moved to Raw or SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/tommaso-ciampa-says-hed-retire-if-moved-to-raw-or-smackdown/)

[Seanny One Ball]

Twelve grand a year ffs

[Seanny One Ball]

$12,000 for wrestling in 2019 would be the equivalent of earning $1,380 in 1960.

[Frank Drebin]

12k? Who's doing the paychecks.....Vito?

[Seanny One Ball]

He should date some of them then, guaranteed a second date if he let's them doggy bag that grub.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw had what had to be considered good news on the ratings front as Monday's show averaged 2.21 million viewers, up five percent from the prior week and breaking a three-week streak of the three least-watched non-holiday episodes of the show dating back to 1997 ...

The rating was down only three percent from the same week last year, although this week last year was at the time the lowest non-holiday number for the show since early 1997.

The bad news is the 20 percent first-to-third hour drop just missed the top 10 of all-time ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.42 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.28 million viewers
10 p.m,. 1.93 million viewers


Ahead of the tapings taking place tomorrow, there's been a change to the lineup for MLW's Opera Cup tournament.

MLW announced today that Shinjiro Otani has withdrawn from the tournament. He was scheduled to face Davey Boy Smith Jr. in the first round.

With Otani off the show, it will now be Smith Jr. vs. Low Ki in the opening round.

The Opera Cup is a one-night, eight-man tournament. MJF vs. Alexander Hammerstone, Timothy Thatcher vs. Richard Holliday, and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. TJP are the other first-round matches.

After two weeks off, CM Punk's next appearance on WWE Backstage will take place next Tuesday.

Last night's Backstage included the announcement that Punk will be back on the show next week. It will be Punk's second appearance as an analyst. After making a surprise appearance the prior Tuesday, Punk officially debuted on Backstage on November 19.

When FOX Sports announced that he was joining Backstage, it was noted that Punk's role will be as a "special contributor and analyst." He'll make select appearances in studio but won't be on the show every week.

Jordynne Grace is getting a Knockouts Championship shot at Impact Wrestling's next pay-per-view.

Impact confirmed yesterday that Grace will challenge for Taya Valkyrie's Knockouts title at Hard to Kill. The PPV is being held at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, January 12, 2020.

Stephen Amell noted on Twitter that he was not able to do his ‘Promo School’ segment on WWE Backstage due to a pinched nerve in his back on top of being under the weather.

Sports Illustrated has an in-depth feature up on their site about former Women Of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein and her situation with Ring of Honor. Klein spoke out about the company not having a proper protocol in place after she suffered a concussion during a match on an overseas tour in October ...

Klein claims there were no medical personnel at ringside when she suffered her concussion. ROH C.O.O. Joe Koff had the following to say about the situation:

“The protocol is just this: We recognize the dangers that are inherent in professional wrestling. More specifically, the possibility exists of a wrestler suffering a concussion during a match, and we take all injuries very, very seriously. When we are alerted or when we feel there is an injury, we immediately defer to the medical professional on staff. I wasn’t there, but I was made aware that Kelly did not realize she was concussed until sometime after the match. That hour could very well be a true lapse of time. But as soon as she reported she was concussed, she received immediate attention. Kelly declined the option to go to the hospital at that point. Ring of Honor had management present at the event, including the hired operating agent for the tour. I will tell you that as soon I learned about it, I texted her and she told me she appreciated my text and told me she was fine.”

Minutes passed before Klein received medical attention and Koff was asked were mistakes made by ROH officials and he declined to comment because he was not there. Ring of Honor is reimbursing Kelly Klein for medical bills related to the concussion. Kelly Klein met with Joe Koff at the ROH headquarters in November and suggested the following to him:

“I suggested that we could develop independent contractor standards, similar to an employee handbook, but it would apply to independent contractors, and Joe Koff told me that my contract was my handbook,” said Klein. “I said that the contract did not have any information on how we handle these situations or who I talk to. Joe said, ‘If I was there, I’d always tell you to seek medical help.’ But Joe wasn’t there. Our general manager did not see me. No one from management [at the venue] told me to go to the hospital.”

Joe Koff confirmed that the meeting did take place in November but it was before Klein was informed that ROH was not going to renew her contract. Koff said that ROH has always had a good rapport with Klein but her sharing private emails and information was a breach of her contract. When asked about ROH blocking Kelly Klein on Twitter, here’s what Koff had to say:

“That was not a company decision,” said Koff. “It was a lapse of judgment from one of our administrators who emotionally wanted to prevent our company from further attack [from people on social media supporting Klein]. We never would condone this, and we apologized immediately privately to Kelly and remedied the situation as soon as I found out about it.”

To close the discussion, Koff responded with, “I don’t know” when asked if the relationship between Kelly Klein and Ring of Honor could be repaired before December 31st.

Coming out of WrestleCade, IMPACT Wrestling’s Jordynne Grace tweeted out that The Sandman came up to athletes that were about to main event a show at WrestleCade and told them that women main-eventing is wrong. The four athletes closing that night were Jordynne Grace, Rosemary, Su Yung, and Taya Valkyrie. After the match, Tessa Blanchard came out to the ring and addressed the comments directly and expressed that she thought the comments were a “crock of horse sh*t”. Tessa concluded her statement by pointing out the athletes that just finished competing and said that she couldn’t think of anyone else better to main event.

The Sandman made an appearance on Busted Open Radio with Bully Ray and David LaGreca to give his side of the story. Sandman admitted that he made the comments but doesn’t think any of the backlash he received was called for.

“Yeah, I did [cause controversy on social media]. But I didn’t think any of it was warranted at all, and so, my kids are calling me yesterday like, ‘You’ve been trending for like two days since Sunday’ or whatever the day was dude, and I’m trending for telling somebody — to me it’s not important… the bottom line is, all I said was I don’t think that most fans are ready for girls to be in main events. With that said, there are so many girls that totally deserve to be main eventers in all different kinds of organizations. WWE to AEW. Dude, they’re so good right now it’s absolutely incredible, but no, I absolutely do not think like that, and that’s just the way it is so I don’t know where that girl got her information but I know that I never talked to that girl.”

Sandman said he was not talking to a group of people and was only talking to Taya Valkyrie. Sandman claimed that he never talked to Jordynne Grace and went on to tell his side of what transpired between himself and Taya Valkyrie. He added that he does not watch any of the current product:

“I was not talking to four women, ever. I don’t even know who that girl is. Never talked to that girl.” Sandman said that he made those comments but not directly to the four female athletes involved in the main event match at WrestleCade. “Well yeah dude, after it originally happened, yeah I was talking about it to more people but originally, I was talking to John… dude, I am so bad with people’s names. What’s Johnny Morrison’s girl? Yeah, his girl [Taya Valkyrie]. Wasn’t she in the match? Dude, I was just walking by her, working the room, saying hi to everybody. She asked, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ I say, ‘What number are you tonight because I like watching the matches and helping out anyway I can’, and I was talking to her. Not talking to four people at all.”

Jordynne Grace then called into the show to give her side of the story. She stated that herself, Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie were all talking as a group. Sandman approached them, asked Taya what match she was in and questioned her being in the main event. Jordynne said Tessa went back and forth with Sandman and she [Jordynne] shared additional claims that were made by Sandman:

“Okay, so he did not just say it to Taya and that’s not the only thing he said. I didn’t go into the whole conversation on social media because it was about a ten minute back and forth thing that went on. It was me, Taya and Tessa all standing around talking. The Sandman comes up to Taya, asks her what match she was in. She said she’s the last match. He said, ‘The main event?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, the main event’ and he said, ‘Excuse me?’ And we all just kind of stared at him because I didn’t know if he was joking or not, and then he said, ‘You know that’s wrong right?’ Looked at every one of us, then he started talking about the WrestleMania women’s match and how bad it was, and then Tessa, she’s a little bit more outspoken. I was in shock, and she tried to start talking, he cut her off, stuck out his hand and said, ‘Oh, I’m The Sandman by the way.’ She said, ‘Oh hey, I’m Tessa Blanchard’, and he says, ‘Oh, I respect your family so much.’ Continues to complete sh*t on women’s wrestling. Him and her start going back at it, back and forth. Rosemary walks up, we tell her what Sandman just said. We’re all standing there listening to him argue about women’s wrestling with Tessa. He throws up his hands, walks away. Two minutes later, comes back and says, ‘Excuse me ladies, I just went around to the locker room and I pulled a bunch of people with over 200 years of wrestling experience. Women main-eventing is wrong.’ So, that’s exactly what happened. Tessa and him went back at it a little bit more. She told him how disrespectful he was. He clearly didn’t care. He came on here [Busted Open Radio] and he’s completely lying through his teeth to try and save face now.”

During his appearance on WWE Backstage, Seth Rollins joined the show and talked about his Twitter exchange with Will Ospreay and that possibly being where the shift in his fan-base began. Seth expressed that he did not enjoy competing under the red lights in matches with Bray Wyatt. He added that the lights distracted him and were not a fan of it. Rollins said that he was unaware that the red light was going to stay on during his Hell In A Cell match with Bray Wyatt in October.

According to Tokyo Sports, former Sendai Girls World Champion Sareee will wrestle in WWE in 2020. Squared Circle Sirens ran a story and noted that at Sareee’s self-produced show on December 3rd, she announced that she’ll be competing in STARDOM soon. This past July, Paul “Triple H” Levesque met with Sareee while WWE was in Japan for a string of live events.

Rhea Ripley joined the Swerve City podcast with Isaiah Scott, Big Swole and Teasy. At the age of 23 years old, Rhea stated that she has been burned out on wrestling several times throughout her career but clarified that it is not the in-ring portion that burns her out but the outside noise:

“I’ve already burned out a few times to be honest. It’s what happens. I’ve been wrestling for like seven years now. I started when I was 16, and there’s been so many times where I just like, stopped caring and was like, ‘I’m gonna quit wrestling. What am I doing with my life?’… Mostly people in wrestling,” Rhea said, after being asked what leads to those stressful moments. “It’s never the actual wrestling. I love going out in front of everyone and performing and doing what I do best but it’s people [behind the scenes]. They get in your head and they make you hate yourself and that’s the one thing that I dislike about wrestling.”
Rhea better hope she never gets called up to the main roster if dealing with backstage management issues has been a big problem for her in the past since WWE's is arguably one of the worst to deal with.

WWE tryouts brings people from all different walks of life for a potential shot at a WWE contract, including the daughter of a famous actor.

Squared Circle Sirens first reported that Arissa LeBrock is one of several people that will be participating in the upcoming WWE tryouts taking place on December 5. LeBrock, a model in her own right, is the daughter of action movie star Steven Seagal and actress and model Kelly LeBrock.

The 26-year-old works as a model who has done ad campaigns, runway modeling and appeared on the cover of PLUS Model Magazine. Arissa has also been featured on the reality show "Growing Up Supermodel" that aired on Lifetime TV, a show that takes a look at several children of celebrities looking to break into the modeling business. Aside from modeling, Arissa also practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Paragon Jiu Jitsu & Kickboxing Academy in California.

Alexa Bliss, who returned to WWE on last week's SmackDown, seemed to express some frustration with the lack of promo time she's had lately. A fan on Twitter posted a video of an old Bliss promo, to which she replied, "I remember a time when I was given a microphone in the middle of the ring ... good times"
Link: https://twitter.com/AlexaBliss_WWE/status/1201641862039257088

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: WWE Backstage and Total Divas (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/ratings-wwe-backstage-and-total-divas/)
XFL Reveals All Team Uniforms (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/xfl-reveals-all-team-uniforms/)
CM Punk and Seth Rollins Take More Little Shots at Each Other (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/cm-punk-and-seth-rollins-take-more-little-shots-at-each-other/)
Dio Maddin Not Returning to Raw Commentary Team, Will Be Replaced by Samoa Joe for Now (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/dio-maddin-not-returning-to-raw-commentary-team-will-be-replaced-by-samoa-joe-for-now/)
John Morrison Officially Signs With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/john-morrison-officially-signs-with-wwe/)

[Emperor Smeat]

Ended up oversleeping what was meant to be just a short nap. Here are the sheets news from Thursday.

The Sheets:

After two weeks of falling behind NXT in total viewers, AEW slightly regained the lead this week.

AEW Dynamite averaged 851,000 viewers last night, edging out NXT, which did 845,000 viewers.

The AEW number was up 28 percent from last week's series low. In the 18-49 demo, the show did a 0.32 rating, eighth place for the night on cable and up 23 percent from last week.

NXT was up four percent in total viewers and up 21 percent in the demo, averaging a 0.26 rating. That placed NXT 12th for the night on cable.

Both numbers were up from the 10-week average for NXT. They were down from the 10-week average for AEW, but the really strong numbers for their first few weeks skew those numbers for Dynamite.

Among the key demos, every category was up for each show except NXT’s over 50 audience, which fell 5% while AEW grew 24% in that category.

NXT won three demos in total. Aside from adults over 50, which they dominate in, they won with people 18-34 and females 12-34 edging past AEW by 0.01 in both ...

It was a mixed bag for AEW as they were up from last week but down in each category except adults over 50 from two weeks ago so they didn’t recover the total audience that tuned out last week.

Coming out of the 12/5/19 episode of NXT U.K. on the WWE Network, it was announced that at NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II in January, WALTER will defend the NXT U.K. Championship against Joe Coffey. At a later date in the coming weeks, Alexander Wolfe will clash with Ilja Dragunov. On the December 12th episode of NXT UK, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang are defending their NXT U.K. Tag Team Titles against Imperium’s Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner.

Per Squared Circle Sirens, one-half of the current SHINE Tag Team Champions Aja Perera is receiving a WWE tryout on December 5th. Also, Lainey Nations, Ebony Payne, Jessica Roden, and Jennifer Cantu are receiving tryouts as well.

NASCAR.com interviewed former WWE 24/7 Champion Kyle Busch. Busch captured the title this past Monday on RAW by pinning R-Truth and later lost the title back to Truth. Busch told the site how his involvement on RAW came to be:

“We were just going there for the show, just to watch,” Busch said about his appearance alongside Michael Waltrip at the taping of Monday Night RAW. “They heard we were coming and then set us up and said, ‘Hey, you want to be a part of the show?’ And I was like, ‘Well, alright, sure. What do you got in mind?’ Then they brought this up and I’m like, ‘Oh hell, this is going to be fun.’ ”

Busch added that he had trouble with some of the lines that scriptwriters gave to him so he was instructed to not speak.

Scott Dawson noted on Twitter that his daughter’s new favorite wrestler is AEW’s Sonny Kiss.
Link: https://twitter.com/ScottDawsonWWE/status/1202344339298500608

Scott D'Amore finds himself at the center of the ongoing lawsuit between Jeff Jarrett and IMPACT Wrestling parent company Anthem,

The lawsuit between Jarrett and Anthem revolves around the usage, and deleted, of the GFW Amped tapes. Jarrett and GWE hit IMPACT and Anthem with a lawsuit in August 2018, suing over copyright infringement pertaining to their use of Jarrett's name and likeness along with their use of GFW Amped content.

In the latest updated from PWInsider, Jarrett's side is pursing to depose Scott D'Amore. However, D'Amore is a Canadian citizen and cannot be ordered by the United States court to submit himself to be deposed. Jarrett's side could pay $4,000 in legal fees, but the lawsuit would be delayed until D'Amore testifies. Anthem argues that D'Amore is an independent contractor and cannot be forced to testify ...

D’Amore currently owns 5% of Global Force Entertainment and is “a silent shareholder with no functions, responsibilities, or ongoing involvement with the company. Global Force Entertainment, Inc., a corporation, has no more authority to force Mr. D’Amore to show up for a deposition than Walmart would have to force someone who owns shares in that company.”

Anthem argues that because D'Amore is a shareholder, Jarrett knew D'Amore was a Canadian citizen and "that is a problem of his own making."

The two sides were ordered to work out details for D’Amore to take part in a 2-3 hour deposition, either in person or via video conference. A deposition has yet to take place.

Flip Gordon sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview and talked about his future and people suggesting that he’ll join All Elite Wrestling after his Ring of Honor run:

“There is lots of options, and I saw one question that had asked where do I see myself five years from now, and that’s a mind blowing question because I haven’t even been wrestling for five years. So, look how much the business has changed since I’ve started. It could change so much more in another five years so I’m happy with what my ghosts of my friends are doing, but I want to see how the landscape of professional wrestling changes, because I am the mercenary and I’m gonna see all my offers before I make any decision whether it’s staying or going anywhere.”

We thought we told you that he won't stop. Joey Janela is thinking one step ahead of Rusev, filing a trademark on "The Bad Boy."

Janela filed for the trademark on Dec. 1. The description for the trademark reads as followed.

Lana and WWE had been referring to Rusev as a "Bad Boy" at WWE Starrcade and Raw. Janela has been using the "Bad Boy" nickname on the Independent scene since 2014, he tells Fightful.

Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio noted the audio issues on AEW Dynamite were only prevalent on the TNT feed. The Fite TV and TSN feeds reportedly ran smoothly.


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Nyla Rose “Suspended,” Kris Statlander Officially Signs (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-nyla-rose-suspended-kris-statlander-officially-signs/)
WWE Network Free Tier Quietly Launches (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-network-free-tier-reportedly-coming-next-week/)
WWE: Matt and Reby Hardy Welcome Third Child, NXT Year-End Awards (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-matt-and-reby-hardy-welcome-third-child-nxt-year-end-awards/)
AEW: Who Joined the Nightmare Collective? Britt Baker Spoofs NXT Appearance, MJF Promo (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-who-joined-the-nightmare-collective-britt-baker-spoofs-nxt-appearance-mjf-promo/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The Wednesday night race was very close on 12/4, with AEW winning with 851,000 viewers to 845,000 for NXT.

AEW won via a 0.32 margin to 0.29 in the 18-49 demo. If you factor out the overrun, NXT would have done 838,000 viewers head-to-head.

Those numbers say a few things. First, because the NXT audience is mostly over the age of 50, it was going to be hurt more by the impeachment hearings and would have easily won in total viewers without it. That said, because the AEW audience is younger and more apt to DVR the show, by the end of the week, they’d have won in overall viewers as they have done every week if you factor in DVR viewership.

However, the most concerning number was the 0.32 in 18-49 for AEW without an excuse like last week. After the early weeks, factoring out things like the World Series and night before Thanksgiving, they were consistently in the 0.39 to 0.46 range. Granted, NXT gaining momentum off the last few weeks shows, cut into that number, but they also did 0.39 against a three-branded show two weeks ago and fell to 0.32 with lesser competition ...

Their big calling card was strength in 18-34, more people watching together than any other wrestling show, and being the youngest skewing sports property on television along with Major League Soccer. They are no longer that ...

AEW won six of eight quarters overall, losing only the first two. Basically whether it was interest at first, or the sound issue (and I would dismiss that), NXT started strong and faded 30 minutes in. AEW won all eight quarters in 18-49 with only the fourth quarter (367,000 to 355,00) which with mostly Nyla Rose on one side and the Forgotten Sons on the other being close.

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with Young Bucks & Dustin Rhodes vs. Santana & Ortiz & Sammy Guevara, doing 893,000 viewers and 451,000 in18-49. That is with bad audio difficulties. NXT opened with Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain, doing 944,000 viewers and 360,000 in 18-49 ...

The second segment saw AEW with Rey Fenix vs. Trent lose 76,000 viewers and 49,000 in 18-49. NXT with the end of Dain vs. Dunne and the angle with Undisputed Era and Keith Lee lost 52,000 overall viewers but gained 2,000 in 18-49.

The third segment saw AEW, with the Cody promo, gain 53,000 viewers and 42,000 in 18-49. NXT with a Kushida video and Shayna Baszler vs. Xia Li, lost 41,000 overall but gained 27,000 in 18-49.

The fourth segment saw AEW, with the Dark Order video, Nyla Rose vs. Leva Bates and the post-match, lost 76,000 viewers overall and 77,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Kassius Ohno interview and Forgotten Sons vs. Leon Ruff & Adrian Alanis lost 87,000 viewers and 34,000 in 18-49.

The fifth quarter saw AEW with the Chris Jericho promo and beginning of Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida gain 115,000 viewers and 88,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley and Mia Yim angle gained 110,000 viewers and 36,000 in 18-49.

The sixth quarter saw AEW with the rest of Statlander vs. Shida and the Kong & Brandi Rhodes angle lost 46,000 viewers overall and 59,000 in 18-49. NXT with Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno lost 66,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49.

The seventh quarter with AEW with Pentagon Jr. vs. Christopher Daniels lost 38,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Horseman laying out Ripley and Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes gained 22,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49.

The main event battle had AEW with Joey Janela vs. Jon Moxley gained 11,000 overall but lost 1,000 in 18-49. NXT with Adam Cole & Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic & Tommaso Ciampa lost 88,000 viewers overall and lost 40,000 in 18-49 ...

But after AEW ended, they handed NXT 212,000 viewers. The breakdown was 14,000 teenagers (8,000 boys, 6,000 girls), 23,000 18-34 (25,000 males, -2,000 females), 53,000 35-49 (29,000 men, 24,000 women) and 116,000 over the age of 50.

NXT scored a decisive win in viewers on 11/27 and came close to AEW in the 18-49 demo, more because of the decline by AEW than an increase in NXT ...

The key is that AEW had usually been second to the NBA in 18-49 in its time slot in the demo, and has now fallen behind War of the Worlds Challenge on MTV ... So going from No. 2 or No. 3 to No. 9 in the time slot is a decline vs. competition, meaning it’s a lot more significant than just a bad night for viewers in an age group.

In 18-34, AEW’s edge was 115,000 to 87,000 while in 35-49, NXT was ahead 221,000 to 218,000 which has never happened before. With numbers that close and USA being in more homes than TNT, that’s really a dead heat in a demo AEW had been dominating ...

NXT won in viewers in every quarter, with only the main event coming close with the beginning of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Finn Balor at 699,000 to 684,000 for Chris Jericho vs. Scorpio Sky. NXT, after AEW ended, gained 151,000 viewers for the last eight minutes, likely mostly being AEW viewers ...

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with 730,000 viewers and 394,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho celebration while NXT had 916,000 viewers and 349,000 in 18-49 for its quick celebration and the Roderick Strong (replacing Bobby Fish) & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Dominik Dijakovic & Keith Lee tag title match.

In quarter two, AEW lost 37,000 viewers over and 45,000 in 18-49 for Best Friends vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix. NXT lost 53,000 viewers and 34,000 in 18-49 for the continuation of the tag team match. So this wasn’t people switching shows as much as people switching off.

In quarter three, AEW lost 34,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 for Bea Priestley & Emi Sakura vs. Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander. NXT lost 11,000 viewers and gained 23,000 in 18-49 for the finish of the tag title match and Mansoor vs. Shane Thorne. This was the first quarter that NXT has ever won in 18-49, by a 338,000 to 317,000 margin.

In quarter four, AEW lost 43,000 viewers and lost 10,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Matt Knicks and the debut of The Butcher & The Blade. This was not good because it was a Cody quarter. NXT lost 67,000 viewers and 39,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai vs. Candice LeRae, so AEW was ahead 307,000 to 299,000 in the key demo.

In quarter five, AEW gained 40,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for Kenny Omega vs. Pac. NXT gained 27,000 and 7,000 in 18-49 viewers for the end of Kai vs. LeRae, the post-match, and start of Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa.

In quarter six, AEW lost 6,000 viewers but gained 11,000 in 18-49 for Adam Page vs. MJF in the battle for the diamond ring. NXT lost 66,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for Rush vs. Tozawa.

In quarter seven, AEW lost 32,000 viewers and 31,000 in 18-49 for the Dustin Rhodes promo and the Inner Circle attack and Young Bucks save. NXT gained 26,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for Xia Li vs. Vanessa Borne. AEW had 305,000 viewers in 18-49 during the quarter with two commercial breaks while NXT had 303,000 with one commercial break.

In quarter eight, AEW gained 66,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for Jericho vs. Scorpio Sky while NXT lost 84,000 and 37,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Balor vs. Ciampa.

In the overrun, NXT gained 151,000 viewers broken down as 4,000 teenage boys, 4,000 teenage girls, 9,000 18-34 women, 15,000 18-34 men, 13,000 35-49 women, 46,000 35-49 men and 55,000 over 50 men ...

The reality is that younger viewers were significantly down, especially those under 35 across the board, but NXT came closer to maintaining its 35-49 numbers while AEW did not.

At press time, with ten days to go before the WWE TLC PPV show on 12/15 in Minneapolis, they are exactly zero matches officially announced on television ...

one of the reasons nothing else has been advertised, and directions aren’t even clear from television, is because Vince McMahon hasn’t made final decisions. McMahon’s new philosophy is that the PPV’s are all about network sign-ups, as opposed to the limited PPV business still being done. The belief based on patterns of sign-ups is that they are big the last day of the show, and not before. So unlike ticket sales, which come a month or more in advance, and PPV parties, which get arranged days if not a week plus out, the dynamic is completely different and there is no need to rush anything

Brandon Thurston, who studies the economics of pro wrestling, on our show this past week noted that he had done research just a few weeks ago that showed that even after six years, that the costs and profits of the WWE Network were such that WWE would have been financially better off from a profit margin sticking with PPV. He used Google trends to extrapolate how the PPV shows would have done, so that would figure in a decline. It’s been a given that they made less regarding major shows, but the idea is the monthly regular shows have done better with 1.5 million subscribers at $9.99 vs. 150,000 purchasers at $60. The problem is the profit margin on the network isn’t nearly so large.

For a long time, the monthly profit on the network was less than $2 per month per subscriber, plus there is the cost of programming and the network itself. Also, a key is there were tremendous start-up costs that weren’t recouped. It’s notable that when the network was launched we were talking with people in WWE and any change in a company that was profitable, but not wildly so, of that magnitude is a concern. The idea was that the good thing was the television rights were going up a little so that increase could carry them until network revenues, which was thought to be the key in long-term growth, would catch up to what was lost in PPV. As it turned out, the network, which they were expecting to be at between three and four million subscribers by this point, never caught on at the level expected, but television rights exploded and that ended up being the key to business.

Tommaso Ciampa claimed that he told management that he would retire from wrestling if they made the call to move him to Raw or Smackdown. It would surprise people if you talk with talent how many really don’t look at money as their primary thing, because a top guy in NXT makes (a guy like Balor being the obvious exception), if they are lucky, one-fourth of a lower level guy on Raw or Smackdown or more likely one-sixth. But there are absolutely guys who don’t want to be called up. Some recognize the realities of it, and for Ciampa, another key is the schedule. He isn’t working any house shows so he’s just doing TV and Takeover right now, and Johnny Gargano has been doing that as well since March. That wouldn’t work on the main rosters. NXT has so many guys that need work so the guys whose bodies are breaking down but are great are being saved for big shows and to help with Wednesday ratings since NXT house shows are drawing the same no matter who is on them, and most of the guys in NXT need more house show work, not less, so this works for all concerned.

There were a couple of major changes with the WWE Network this past week. The first is that they launched the free tier on 12/5 with no fanfare. The idea has been to do a three-tiered network, with a free tier, the $9.99 tier and a $14.99 tier (which should be launched early next year and would feature content from Evolve, Progress, wXw and perhaps other promotions) for early next year. The other change is a crackdown on people from other countries who are getting the network in a manner they aren’t supposed to by using a U.S. proxy address. It appears this is aimed at Canada, where WWE has deals in place with the cable providers and fans are going around those deals.

The WWE Network in Canada is a cable television station and there aren’t the options and archives like the U.S. version, just the live stream and limited VOD content. So Canadians have been using a VPN address to subscribe and get the full VOD content. They have found a way to crack down on this. What makes this notable is if there are a significant number of Canadians or people from other countries doing this, it would mean a significant drop in U.S. subs by 12/31, a number that was already feared would fall below 1 million for the first time in many years

The Sports Business Journal annual survey, if anything, how much UFC has declined in interest in the sports business world. UFC used to be all over the survey responses and now it was nil. There were a few WWE mentions. WWE was listed as the 10th hottest sports property, but also in 7th for the sports property trending in the wrong direction. When it came to the XFL, people were not bullish. 26 percent believed the league would last less than one season while another 66 percent felt it would last between two and five seasons. Only eight percent believed it would reach its sixth season. Neither WWE nor UFC were listed as companies you would want your company to sponsor, which, in order were NBA, MLB, minor league baseball, NFL, NCAA, MLS, PGA, NHL, EPL and Overwatch League.

Arn Anderson did a Q&A on the weekend and was more open than he was in the past. He noted that he felt Vince McMahon, even after 17 years with the company, still saw him as a WCW guy. He noted that he laid out 95 percent of Cena matches when he was there. Anderson was known as Cena’s guy and the guy who laid out Cena’s matches, but when Cena left for Hollywood, his days were known to be numbered because Vince McMahon didn’t like him, but he was somewhat untouchable because of Cena. When he was fired, talent was very defensive of him. He was fired for allowing Alicia Fox to go into a match while allegedly drunk, but talent in that match said there was no way Anderson could have known about that before the match started

In one of the bigger moves in Mexico this year, L.A. Park and Rush, who had the hottest feud in the country, but one that was never able to be settled, are joining forces to evidently reform Los Ingobernables. What makes that notable is that CMLL owns the Los Ingobernables name ...

The new Los Ingobernables group looks to be Rush, Park, Konnan and Bestia del Ring. There was no mention of Dragon Lee being part of that group with his brother and father. The plan is for them to be the top heel group, with the idea they are joining forces to take down AAA. Konnan has been part of heel groups trying to take down AAA regularly for nearly 15 years.

Tokyo Dome ticket sales on 12/3 were on both nights ahead of the pace of last year’s show, which sold out. The difference is over the last month there was one show to buy tickets to rather than two, but the pace may not reflect double sellouts. Last year’s show did just under 39,000 paid with 6,000 coming from overseas, up from 2,500 the year before and a couple of hundred the year before that. The overseas growth was attributed to Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho being in the top two bouts. The network numbers grew from about 60,000 to 100,000 before the 2018 Dome for Omega vs. Jericho, but the network didn’t show that level of growth in 2019. There was some thought that losing Omega, Cody and The Young Bucks would hurt overseas sales, but that appears to have been negated by the idea of seeing two Domes instead of one. Also, there has been a growth of interest in Australia, even though this year’s tour didn’t do the attendance at the level of the first tone. But network numbers are up because New Japan can be viewed live in a decent time slot. New Year’s Dash on 1/6, moved to the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo, which holds probably just over 4,000, is not sold out, but is very close to being so and will

AXS will be airing Impact specials on 12/28 and 1/4 at 8 p.m. for their awards. Notable is that 1/4 would be in the New Japan time slot. AXS has totally downplayed New Japan since the purchase since they own Impact. There hasn’t been a new episode of the show in a few weeks and this coming weekend they are airing three hours of the July show in Dallas rather than anything new. And historically they have pushed hard the 1/4 show, which has historically set record ratings with a special show and this year nothing has been mentioned.

Shahid Khan talked with Forbes last week on a number of different subjects. When AEW came up, he made it clear he was skeptical at first, but was in the position of giving it a try and categorized it as doing far better than expectations. “This is one of those cases where, as a father, you don’t mind being wrong. Obviously my son Tony, who had passion for it, this was his idea and God’s blessed us, we have the financial means, and we’ll try it. You get to a stage in life where you can fail and it’s not life-threatening and this was one of those. I am as surprised as anybody.” He talked about what convinced him to get into wrestling and he said, “The golden age of wrestling would be in the late 90s when you had two competitive leagues, WCW and WWF, and we know wrestling is scripted but what was definitely unscripted, real, was the competition between the leagues. In those days you had 10 million hardcore wrestling fans, today there are probably 2 million or less. So there was an audience that was underserved.” Ironically, the fan base they are attracting is younger and are likely fans turned off more by the content in recent years than those who tuned out in 2001 and never came back

In something that needed to be on the TV show, but instead was released that night on Twitter, MJF, who mentioned on Twitter (but not television) that he will never wrestle Cody, did cut a very good promo, also on Twitter but not television, saying that he was the one who paid for Butcher & Blade to come in and attack Cody. MJF is also playing a rich spoiled kid character and put over the $45,000 diamond ring he won last week. If there is one major problem right now, it is the assumption that the television audience is already aware of everyone, follows Dark, BTE and social media and television is about presenting matches and angles and that the storylines can be tied together elsewhere. There is also the mentality that the promotion is a smorgasbord, a little of this, a little of that, as opposed to have a certain style and theme.

It comes from Eddie Graham, but the big difference is that when Eddie Graham was on his game, it was all about wrestling and being a sport, and granted, this is 45 years later and you can’t go back in time. But Eddie’s smorgasbord was technical matches with good workers underneath, a fun tag match, maybe a European style, good young guys, wily vets and both brawls and different gimmick matches and divergent storylines both with factions and blood feuds and rivalries over belts. It wasn’t about trying to appeal to different genres of hardcore fans, whether through great wrestling, silly gimmicks (which did come at the end in Florida when it was dying as attempted hotshots), comedy or irony.

The attempt to appeal to everyone isn’t going to work as people want a WWE alternative. The last few weeks are coming across very much TNT, essentially WWE Lite, except with hotter fans, better in-ring in some but not all cases, and definitely a higher level of promos

Kenny Omega came in and retained is his AAA Mega heavyweight title over Dragon Lee. There is no specific future date scheduled with Omega, but they [AAA] are looking at using Omega & The Young Bucks as a trio on a future major show and also looking at using Jon Moxley.

I should note that in talking this week to Joe Koff, he said that right now, due to New Japan booking its own shows in the U.S., there is nothing on the books for any New Japan talent to be working for ROH

The Knockouts Championship match at Impact Wrestling's Hard to Kill pay-per-view will now be a triple threat.

Impact announced today that ODB has been added to the title match for the PPV, making it Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace vs. ODB. Valkyrie defending her title against Grace had originally been announced.

Ring of Honor's Final Battle has been expanded to a four-hour PPV on Friday 12/13, ROH's Kevin Eck announced tonight on the company's official website.

Eck also announced that the first hour will stream for free from 7 - 8 PM EST on ROH's Facebook and YouTube pages, FITE.TV and PPV barker channels.

Bandido is CMLL bound as the masked star appeared on the Nov. 29 show to announce he had signed with the promotion. Bandido stated he would be coming after the "big heads" in the promotion.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Bandido's deal with CMLL is not a full-time deal. He is still under contract with ROH until the end of the year. ROH and CMLL have a working relationship, but it has not been reported if he's signed a new deal with ROH ...

Bandido and Flamita were scheduled to appear at AAA TripleMania Regia on Dec. 1, but both no-showed the event.

ACH has elected to publicly expand upon his side of the issues between himself and Jay Lethal.

When ACH revealed that he had felt a WWE t-shirt design meant for him during his time in NXT as Jordan Myles was racially insensitive, he also revealed that he has problems with Jay Lethal, calling him an "Uncle Tom," and also stated that he does not have fond memories of how he was treated in Ring of Honor.

Today, on Twitter, ACH gave more of his side of the story with Jay Lethal, claiming Lethal slapped him for using a racial slur that he says Jay Lethal also uses.

ACH claims that Jay Lethal tried to call his "bish card" In front of the ROH locker room but that he would defend himself and actually take Lethal down.

The former NXT star says he was excited to work with Lethal' when he got to Ring of Honorbut lost respect for him after seeing how Lethal treats others.

ACH would say that he will not apologize for his past remarks about Lethal and also claims that Ring Of Honor was the worst locker room experience he had in his career. Also, ACH proclaims himself as mentally stable and says that tomorrow is his birthday and he will be focusing on that.
Link with the tweets: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/ach-claims-he-took-down-jay-lethal-during-altercation-calls-roh-his-worst-locker-room-experience


TPWW Frontpage:

NXT Held an All Women House Show Last Night (Results + Pics) (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/nxt-held-an-all-women-house-show-last-night-results-pics/)
AEW Top Five Rankings – Dec. 6, 2019 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-top-five-rankings-dec-6-2019/)
ACH Is Back in MLW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/ach-is-back-in-mlw/)
MLW Releases Teddy Hart (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/mlw-releases-teddy-hart/)
WWE: MSG House Show Match Announced, Sareee Update, Lance Storm Update, NXT Holiday Break (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-msg-house-show-match-announced-sareee-update-lance-storm-update-nxt-holiday-break/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw last night did 2.15 million viewers, a three percent drop from last week, largely because of a lower first hour.

The show maintained its audience better than usual with an 11.5 percent drop in viewers from hour one to hour three ...

One year ago, Raw did 2.19 million viewers, which at the time was the lowest non-holiday number for the show in modern history ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.26 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.20 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.00 million viewers


People Magazine interviewed Ronda Rousey, who said the door is open to a WWE return but is focused on her family right now: “Right now, I think my family needs my undivided attention. I’m happy to give them that. But I’m trying to figure out a way or a system or somehow that I could give both my family and WWE the best of me and not be half ass in both.”

The jobber from last night’s Erick Rowan squash on Raw was Tracer X, who also appeared on this past Friday’s episode of 205 Live, losing to Tony Nese.

Tokyo Sports announced their annual awards today. Kazuchika Okada took the top honor of MVP of the Year for the fourth time, previously winning in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Antonio Inoki holds the record with six wins. The winners of this year’s awards are:

MVP: Kazuchika Okada (NJPW)
Best Bout: Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA from NJPW King of Pro Wrestling
Best Tag Team: Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa (AJPW)
Outstanding Performance: Kento Miyahara (AJPW)
Technique: Kota Ibushi (NJPW)
Rookie: Strong Machine J (Dragon Gate)
Women: Mayu Iwatami (Stardom)


MLW has rescheduled their return to Chicago. Originally set for February 29, they will instead run on April 18 at the Cicero Stadium in Chicago.

It was announced this afternoon that an International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame has been formed and approved by the New York State Board of Regents with plans for a physical location and annual Hall of Fame ceremony and more to be announced.

Vanity Fair is reporting FOX News personality Britt McHenry filed a sexual-harassment complaint against George Murdoch, the former WWE and Impact Wrestling star known as Brodus Clay andTyrus, among others, including the FOX News Network, Fox Entertainment Group, Fox Corp, News Corp, Fox Nation head John Finley, Fox Nation executive producer Jennifer Rauchet and FOX human resources executive Monica Mekeel over the lewd text messages she alleges she received while she and Murdoch were co-hosting FOX News' Un-PC. PWInsider.com is working to acquire a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed today in the Southern District of New York.

The story first came to light this past June when The Daily Beast in Great Britain reported that Tyrus had been removed from the series and later followed up with accusations that Tyrus had allegedly sexually harassed McHenry. The Beast’s report alleged that Tyrus, “on multiple occasions, sent her unwanted and unsolicited text messages with lewd, sexual comments.”

On yesterday's Being the Elite, it was noted that the audio issues on last week's AEW Dynamite was due to a TNT Network satellite issue. The audio issues did not take place on broadcasts beyond TNT.

Aubrey Edwards is taking on a new role in AEW as she announced she has signed on to be a project coordinator outside the ring.

At a WWE Live event on December 8 in Daytona Beach, Florida, an incident occurred with Sami Zayn and a fan at ringside.

While ringside for a match inside of a steel cage that featured Shinsuke Nakamura, who was wrestling "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, a fan who was sitting front row allegedly started hurling repeated homophobic slurs in Sami Zayn's direction.

Sami became irate with this audience member and footage captured him saying, "get him out of my fucking face, homophobic moron." When the fan persisted to be confrontational, Sami would say, "say it louder for everyone, homophobic dick.”

The fan was also ejected from ringside.
Link with tweets of the incident: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/sami-zayn-gets-altercation-alleged-homophobic-fan-sitting-ringside-live-event

Less than 24 hours after CMLL held its weekly show at Arena Puebla in Mexico, armed assailants reportedly stole all of the money that the even generate at the live gate.

Several Hispanic publications are reporting that the live gate from the December 9 show was stolen by three armed assailants at around 1 p.m. local time. The assailants reportedly went to the venue to ask about information before threatening employees. The reports did not mention an exact number for the entire live gate, but it is estimated that around 230,000 Mexican pesos, which converts to roughly $11,940 was stolen.

Trevor Murdoch responds to someone on Twitter who said they lost interest in the NWA after Jim Cornette's recent resignation.

"Well then you weren’t a fan to begin with. Cornette’s not the one taking the bumps. Cornette’s not the one putting on the show for you. Myself and about 30 other people work hard to give you an amazing product. You give up on us that easy? Bye!!!"
Link: https://twitter.com/TheRealTMurdoch/status/1204413798557323264

Nick Aldis doesn't want Jim Cornette's controversial comments to define the NWA.

A few weeks ago, Cornette made racially insensitive comments on NWA Powerrr during a match between Aldis and Trevor Murdoch. The comments would eventually lead the NWA to not only edit the episode and apologize for the remarks, but announce that Cornette is no longer working for the company.

Aldis, the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion, took time to address Cornette's comments in a media call. Aldis admitted that he has defended Cornette for controversial comments he made in the past, but didn't like the fact that Cornette's "faux pas" is what made people talk about the NWA and wants people to look at the company in a positive light.

“I’ll break that down into a couple of sections. As far as me personally, anything I chose to say on the matter was my own decision. That is what it is. Like I said, I was very careful about the words I choose and I stand by them. And again, you can go back, I’ve written articles I have published and I have given interviews where I strongly defended Jim when people were accusing him of making homophobic comments, saying that they weren’t homophobic. He was talking about someone’s act. You can have a difference of opinion on Jim, but you can’t hurl accusations on Jim. That’s not fair. But when you make a faux pas like that, it’s not up to me to decide what’s acceptable and what isn’t. It’s not up to me to decide who’s offended and who’s not and it certainly isn’t up to me to decide who’s allowed to be offended by something and who isn’t. Ultimately, my opinion on the subject matter was solely on thinking of the boys and thinking of the talent because if you have a show like that and Trevor Murdoch steps into the light and reminds everyone that he is a player and then you have Melina debut and all everyone is talking about is a controversial line from a controversial commentator from a controversial podcast, that’s a problem for me. And that’s all there is to me. Jim was a hugely valuable resource and we consult with Jim for advice because he’s an encyclopedia of the business. It’s unfortunate that he made a faux pas and refused to own it. It’s not the reason I want the NWA to be trending. Nobody has worked harder than me and David Lagana to make this company what it is. We don’t want things to be distracting for that because someone wants to be controversial. If that’s what [he] wants to do, have at it. Go do your podcast and we’ll move in a different direction. We just don’t need that distraction," Aldis said.


TPWW Frontpage:

More on Luke Harper and Other WWE Releases, NXT Releases Rumored for Early 2020 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/more-on-luke-harper-and-others-wwe-releases-nxt-releases-rumored-for-early-2020/)
Seth Rollins Has a Broken Finger (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/seth-rollins-has-a-broken-finger/)
Robert Roode and Primo Colon Suspended for WWE Wellness Policy Violations (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/robert-roode-and-primo-colon-suspended-for-wwe-wellness-policy-violations/)
NJPW Announces Schedule for USA Shows Next Year (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/njpw-announces-schedule-for-new-beginning-usa-2020-tour/)
WWE Announces NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay for WrestleMania Weekend (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-announces-nxt-takeover-tampa-bay-for-wrestlemania-weekend/)
WWE: Lars Sullivan Injury Update, Braun Strowman Has a Minor Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-lars-sullivan-injury-update-braun-strowman-has-a-minor-injury/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Even with an appearance by CM Punk, Tuesday's episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 fell in viewership.

The show averaged 127,000 viewers, drawing a .06 rating in the 18-49 demo, down from last week's .08. That marked a drop of 11,000 from last week's 138,000 viewers which was the second highest in the history of the show thus far ...

This was Punk's second appearance on the show. His first on November 19th remains Backstage's most-viewed airing at 180,000 viewers and a .10 in the key 18-49 demo.

The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line at TLC -- but The Viking Raiders' challengers haven't been revealed in advance.

It was announced on tonight's episode of WWE Backstage that The Viking Raiders will issue a Tag Team title open challenge at Sunday's TLC pay-per-view. Erik & Ivar also issued an open challenge on Raw this week, with The Street Profits unsuccessfully challenging for the titles.

Two more matches have been officially confirmed for Impact Wrestling's first pay-per-view of 2020.

Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) will defend their titles against Rich Swann & Willie Mack at Hard to Kill. Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards has also been confirmed for the PPV.

The Cauliflower Alley Club disclosed this afternoon that former WWF official and wrestler Rene Goulet passed away this past May. His passing was not officially announced until today, according to CAC:

Goulet, real name Robert Bedard, broke into the business in the late 1950s in his native Quebec City. Like many stars of the era, he made his way through a number of territories, most notably the WWWF, where he held the Tag Team titles with Karl Gotch.

Over the course of his career, Goulet worked for Verne Gagne’s AWA (as Sgt. Goulet), for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Eddie Graham’s Championship Wrestling from Florida and countless other territories.

Goulet was considered an excellent wrestler in the ring and would often be entrusted with inexperienced talents to help carry them along. He was one of the first men to wrestle Ric Flair when Flair was breaking into the business in the AWA. He was usually used in a supporting role to make pushed stars look stronger.

Goulet retired in 1986, at which point he became a road agent for the WWF, working there for the next decade before leaving the company in 1997. I believe his final match was a legends battle royal in East Rutherford, NJ.

The nature of Goulet's passing was not disclosed. He was 86 years old.

The Nielsen company released their rankings for the most social TV shows of 2019 with WWE programming landing three spots in the top ten.

Monday Night Raw was #2 for the year, behind only HBO's Game of Thrones with an average of 1,944,000 interactions over 46 episodes.

Friday Night Smackdown on FOX and FOX Deportes was listed as #3 with an average of 1,409,000 interactions over 30 episodes.

Smackdown, during its time on Tuesdays on the USA Network, was counted as a separate series and landed at #6 on the list with an average 1,144,000 interactions over 39 episodes.

Santana and Ortiz sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview ...

Also, Ortiz recalled when he and Santana were about to turn down a deal from WWE. He said part of the agreement was that it was guaranteed that after NXT, they were headed to either RAW or SmackDown with the incentive that instead of moving to Florida, the two could continue residing in New York.

“We were about to turn down WWE, and we sat down and we were like, ‘Alright man, we don’t want to burn a bridge.’ We never want to burn any bridge anywhere we go, because that’s not how you do business. You should keep every avenue open. So he [Santana] had this whole spiel. He was like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re gonna say so we don’t burn a bridge’ and then we go, and then we get cut off and they were like, ‘Listen, just really think about your decision’ and then we stopped and we hang up the phone and we were about to turn them down and then we sit there and we’re like, ‘Damn, they’re making this really hard for us…’ Yes, it was for NXT with the guarantee to eventually go to the main roster. So we were just like alright man, dang. But honestly, what the ultimate decision was, we were like, ‘Do we wanna just be a part of something that’s already established? Or do we wanna be a part of something new and make history?’ Because no matter what happens with AEW… again, we’re here to make it successful but no matter what happens, we will always be a part of the first-ever main event on the first-ever television of AEW. We were like, ‘Do we want to be a part of history, or fade into black?’ And even best case scenario, we’re just gonna be small fish in an ocean. There’s so many people there, it would be an uphill battle. Not saying that we wouldn’t be able to do it because we’re confident in our abilities, but, we could be a part of history. We could be a part of change and we could be a part of change that literally, you’re seeing the change. We were just talking about this before the camera went on and it’s changing wrestling for the better. No matter what happens with this company, wrestling has changed for the better and it’s continually changing for the better and we were like, ‘Man, we want to be a part of history.’”

Ric Flair was a guest on WrestlingINC’s WINCLY podcast and was asked for his thoughts about Corey Graves’ comments concerning Charlotte Flair that were made on WWE’s After The Bell podcast. Flair said he is not too pleased with how Charlotte is being booked but does agree with the sentiments that she is the best that the company has to offer in multiple categories.

“I am not happy with the way they’re doing it, but then again, I have nothing to say about it and I guess what I don’t like is she’s been put in that role where number one, I hate… and this is important that people [are] finally getting this through their head. They never will. Number one, I need to be left out of the equation. She has surpassed me in talent, and she’s never gonna be around for 40 years which is one of the reasons that I’m still — if I’m a household name or whatever you call me. It’s because I was in the business for so long, you don’t walk away from 40 years of TV, and I think if they look at it as she — well say she’s like her dad. Number one, she’ll do anything they want her to do because she’s a pro just like I did. She won’t drag her feet. She’s so damn good. So damn good, and much better than anybody else that they could do it if they want, because the next day she’ll rise up and be who she is, and I don’t think she’ll ever be bored with a storyline. Does that make sense? And not participate at its fullest. So that part is wrong on Corey [Graves’] part, but as far as her being the best athlete in the company, he’s spot on. As far as her being in the Hall Of Fame already, he’s spot on, and as far as her being the biggest star, she’s the face of the women’s division.”

Following the December 9th edition of Monday Night RAW, Randy Orton did an interview with WWE.com and it was mentioned that three-fourths of Evolution (Triple H, Batista & Ric Flair) are Hall Of Famers and he was asked will he soon be heading into the WWE Hall Of Fame:

“Sooner or later? I’d say later. I still got a few more bumps to take in a WWE ring before I’m ready to step into the Hall Of Fame, but sh*t, I don’t even know how that works. Like, I gotta be nominated or something? People say I’m a future first-ballot Hall Of Famer but I don’t know. There’s a lot of time between now and then so who knows what could happen. One day if I’m fortunate enough to be in the Hall Of Fame, it’ll be one hell of an honor but I’m in no hurry to be in the Hall Of Fame right now.”

Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas suggested that it might be time for WWE to induct a referee into their Hall Of Fame.
Link: https://twitter.com/jimmykorderas/status/1204773627708760064?s=20

Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert interviewed Scott Norton and Norton had some positive things to say about All Elite Wrestling and GCW’s Joey Janela:

“I love Joey. I’ve had three matches with Joey, and that dude is a stud. He’s the toughest little son of a b*tch that’s come down the line. He’s not a little guy, but he’s not a big man. I banged on that little… that’s a tough son of a b*tch. I’m so happy for Joey. He’s one of the good guys and he’s doing really well in our business. He’s an outstanding professional wrestler and a hell of a guy.”

Booker T comments on Luke Harper's recent WWE release and has an idea where he should go next to succeed.

During a recent episode of "The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore," the WWE Hall of Famer said Harper's look wasn't something he was much of a fan of, but did admit that he is tremendously talented. When looking at Harper's skillset, Booker believes that he could not only have a run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but be someone that could be like a modern Stan Hansen, who had a big run in Japan for years.

"I didn't think the overalls was ever going to get over with me or anything like that. Was he talented? Very, very talented. Was he a guy that you couldn't wait to see next week? He didn't put himself in that position for that to happen, but what I see with Luke Harper is, when I look at that box and I look at that picture, what I see in Luke Harper is Stan Hansen. I see Japan written all over this kid. I see New Japan. I see this guy working over there for many, many years getting paid because they love big Americans like Luke Harper in Japan. I see Luke Harper having a great career even after WWE, making perhaps more money than he ever made in his life. Some people are made for Japan, are made for that lifestyle. If Harper can be like a Stan Hansen in Japan, he could make a lot of money. I just see New Japan written all over for him," Booker said.


TPWW Frontpage:

Matt Hardy Says He’s “At Peace” in His WWE Role, Reby Hardy Responds (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/matt-hardy-says-hes-at-peace-in-his-wwe-role-reby-hardy-responds/)
WWE Files Trademarks for Several ECW and WCW PPV Names (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-files-trademarks-for-several-ecw-and-wcw-ppv-names/)
WWE Tribute to the Troops Reportedly Won’t Air This Year (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-tribute-to-the-troops-reportedly-wont-air-this-year/)
Braun Strowman Was Originally Set to Face Nakamura at TLC (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/braun-strowman-was-originally-set-to-face-nakamura-at-tlc/)
Various: Jushin Thunder Liger’s Final 2019 Matches, MLW News, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/various-jushin-thunder-ligers-final-2019-matches-mlw-news-indies/)

[GD]

I've heard rumors about Strowman's backstage conduct and social media presence. WWE doesn't seem to be confident in pushing him to the next level.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

In a first for the Wednesday Night Wars, AEW Dynamite and NXT both finished with the same average number of total viewers on TNT and USA Network respectively.

Both shows averaged 778,000 viewers last night. Where AEW can claim a victory is in the important 18-49 demo, with the show finishing 11th on cable for the night with an average rating of 0.28. That was down 12 percent from last week, while the average viewership was down nine percent.

Over on the USA Network, NXT was down eight percent in total viewers and 17 percent in the demo, averaging a 0.24 rating and dropping to 21st for the night on cable television.

The cable news channels saw larger-than-average viewership due to coverage of the impeachment hearings. There were also two NBA games that partially aired against the wrestling shows.

After a week in which NXT won a couple of the other demos, it was back to usual with that show only beating Dynamite with viewers over 50, scoring a 0.38 to 0.29 victory.

In the key demos, AEW was down 27% among females 18-49, down 20% with males 12-34, and 18% among females 12-34.

The larger drops were experienced by NXT falling 33% with both females 18-49 and 12-34 while people 18-34 dropped 30% – the latter being a demo they edged over AEW last week by 0.01.

Between both shows, the only demo that didn’t fall was NXT’s over 50 audience that was identical to last week with a 0.38.

The USA Network will be airing an episode of WWE NXT on Christmas Night 12/25 at 8 PM. The episode will not be live.

During two clips that aired last night, it was revealed that a Prime Target special will premiere on the WWE Network at 8 p.m. Eastern time next Tuesday (December 17). It will build up next Wednesday's Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley NXT Women's Championship match.

Last night's WWE 24 documentary on the first WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event, which aired last night on the USA Network following NXT garnered 367,000 overnight viewers.

Next Wednesday 12/18, the USA Network will air the WWE 24 documentary "Becky Lynch: The Man." It will be the first time that documentary, originally seen on the WWE Network, airs on cable television.

For the first time in many years, the USA Network is not scheduled to air this year's WWE Tribute to the Troops special. There is no word whether the special will air anywhere else. We are told that internally, it has not been discussed as a WWE Network special over the last few days, but obviously, that could change since WWE controls their own programming there.

If the show does not broadcast, it will be the first time since the advent of the Tribute to the Troops concept that it does not air on broadcast or cable television.

Squared Circle Sirens reported today Kacy Catanzano, who has been out of action, was spotted at the WWE Performance Center today.

Chris Jericho has been going well out of his way to work with a lot of the younger talent on the roster, offering advice and feedback, we are told. He's made himself very accessible to everyone.

Teddy Hart was sitting in the crowd at last night's taping in Garland, Texas, with his cats.

A story making the rounds is that one of AEW's ring mics was stolen from ringside last night during the taping.

AEW drew in the 4,500-4,600 area last night. We heard raves about the building in terms of being perfect for a wrestling show. The venue, The Curtis Culwell Center, has a 6,860 capacity in the round, so with a side of the venue cut off for staging and production, they were close to 75% or so of capacity.

Q - Is it true that WWE is working to pull talents from wrestling conventions?

A - Yes and no. I have heard that certain WWE Legends contracts that are being renewed now give the company the option to prevent talents from appearing at conventions, so I'd expect the Wrestlecons and Starrcasts, etc. to have to a smaller pool to work from as more talents sign those deals. We have also heard that WWE has pretty much made it clear to promoters that if AEW talents are appearing, WWE-contracted talents can not appear at the same convention.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

NWA Powerr commentator Joe Galli joined the Pro Wrestling Boom podcast with Jason Powell. During their conversation, Galli shared his thoughts about Jim Cornette resigning from his role as a commentator for the National Wrestling Alliance:

“I knew as soon as he said it… my first initial thought was, ‘Boy we’re gonna get some angry tweets,’ and we kinda plowed on through and I know that there’s an opportunity to cut things out because obviously it doesn’t broadcast live so I didn’t know what was gonna happen with it, and I knew it was bad and he had made some other crash jokes that people had pointed out before, but this one definitely stepped over the line for a lot of people, and it required a reaction and this is the reaction that it got whether it’s something that you support or you don’t support. It’s something that I feel just had to happen, and it did happen and we’re kind of pressing on forward with what we have and I have to say, I love working with Jim Cornette for a lot of reasons. For a lot of reasons. He is a walking, talking encyclopedia of professional wrestling, especially when it comes to the National Wrestling Alliance and that brand. I feel like there’s probably nobody on planet earth that’s more knowledgeable about professional wrestling than that man, and he actually brought to the table when we were having production meetings before the broadcast, a lot of the stuff that fans really, really liked about our show, came from Jim Cornette or at least slightly influenced by Jim Cornette or things were just adjusted based on things that he brought up based on his experience. So, you have to give the devil their due if you want to use that expression and say that he certainly had an influence on NWA Powerrr.”

@TashaXXRollins on Twitter who was in attendance for the Gorilla Position’s stage show with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, recorded a video of Seth responding to the question of if there was ever an issue between himself and Jon Moxley after Moxley did the Jericho podcast and Rollins reacted to Moxley’s comments during his appearance on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. Rollins said there was never any beef and he even texted Moxley recently and wished him well.

“Oh absolutely not. I never had any beef with him for leaving. He marches to the beat of his own drum. We were all kind of talking contract-wise, we knew his stuff was up and he decided he didn’t wanna stay and that had nothing to do with wanting to go somewhere else. He was exhausted because of the process and wrestling 200 matches a year and traveling an extra 100 days on top of that for six-plus years or whatever he did, just was beating him into the ground, and his elbow wasn’t getting better as much as he wanted [it] to. So there was never any beef with him on him leaving at all, at no point. So I think some of the comments that I made after that were misconstrued. I never had a problem with him leaving or anything like that. I thought some of the stuff he said on the Jericho podcast was a little unnecessary and I thought it was one of those things where he couldn’t handle the pressure, and it’s not for everybody at that point, and that’s all I was commenting on. I was commenting on him leaving. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh you betrayed us and left.’ Absolutely not. I sent him a text on his birthday which was a few days ago and wished him well. I hope that he’s good and he seems to be doing great at AEW and New Japan so, I wish nothing but the best for him and his lovely wife.”
Link: https://twitter.com/TashaXXRollins/status/1205158228524441601?s=20

According to WrestleVotes, NXT will be involved at WrestleMania 36.

Charlotte Flair is regarded as one of, if not the best female superstar in WWE. But on a recent episode of After The Bell, Corey Graves wondered how much Charlotte is "feeling it" in recent weeks.

Heading into WWE TLC, Charlotte has been paired with Becky Lynch as the friends, turned enemies, turned friends battle the Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Graves believes that Charlotte's current story has made her feel "less than."

Charlotte made an appearance on Thursday's After The Bell where she addressed Graves and his criticism.

"I feel like The Queen is held to a different standard," stated Charlotte. "Unless I'm not out there doing above extraordinary or having the greatest match ever, it's like 'what's happening?' Now that I'm walking into TLC in a tag match, I'm thinking about my last year after that TLC match, and I found a new gear walking into the triple threat. Then there was Royal Rumble and the storytelling with Nia and Becky. I main evented WrestleMania, I arguably retired the greatest WWE superstar for the women's division we've had [Trish Stratus]. I felt those moments. Survivor Series with Ronda [Rousey], that was the most legit thing I've ever seen. How did I fall off? I think it's just, the bar is set so high, maybe it doesn't feel like that gear. I looked at it like, the one thing about my character is I'm consistent. I'm never injured. Has that hurt me? Instead of getting angry and frustrated, I have to look at it like, 'this is just the story right now. Not everything can be main event.' That's the gear (I've always had). When you say you miss the Evil Queen, that's where I feel like I shine. I've built this character where I don't need friends. You see Charlotte thinking she's above everyone. That's the disconnect."

Charlotte continued, "I just spent my last three title reigns -- everyone is like, 'Charlotte gets handed things.' In reality, those title reigns were not for bigger pictures. That's what's frustrating. That gets to me."


TPWW Frontpage:

Dakota Kai Needed 8 Staples After Scary Bump on NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/dakota-kai-needed-8-staples-after-scary-bump-on-nxt/)
Nick Jackson Wrestled in Last Night’s Match With a “Terrible Flu” (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/nick-jackson-wrestled-in-last-nights-match-with-a-terrible-flu/)
Angel Garza Wins Cruiserweight Title, Proposes to Girlfriend in the Ring (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/angel-garza-wins-cruiserweight-title-proposes-to-girlfriend-in-the-ring/)
AEW Announces Their Next PPV, “AEW Revolution” on February 29 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-announces-their-next-ppv-aew-revolution-on-february-29/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The 12/11 ratings war saw a tie with viewers at 778,000 each while AEW won the key demos for the 11th week in a row.

In the head-to-head two hours, NXT had 771,000 viewers.

AEW in the head-to-head won the first six quarters and the only reason it was close was because of how strongly NXT won the main event segment with the three-way with Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Keith Lee overwhelming the Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz street fight by a 756,000 to 685,000 overall number, and then the overrun after AEW ended doing 881,000 viewers. Usually the overrun of late has been gaining 150,000 to 200,000 viewers and this week it was only 125,000, which says that people who normally would wait until AEW is over, switched over early to see the main event ...

The overall show demo numbers were closer but AEW still won in every key category except teenagers and over 50 ...

The difference was such that AEW would have won without the Spectrum cable blackout of TNT in many markets, but that wasn’t enough to make up the difference when falling from last week ...

The first quarter saw AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Alex Reynolds and Chris Jericho recruiting Moxley doing 870,000 viewers and 424,000 in 18-49. NXT with Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza for the cruiserweight title did 840,000 viewers and 320,000 in 18-49.

The second quarter with AEW with Cody & QT Marshall vs. Butcher & Blade lost 48,000 total viewers and 59,000 in 18-49. NXT with the ending of Rush vs.; Garza and a Shayna Baszler video package lost 55,000 viewers overall and 24,000 in 18-49.

The third quarter with AEW with the MJF promo and a Dark Order vignette lost 8,000 overall viewers and 15,000 in 18-49. NXT had the Garza proposal and Raul Mendoza vs. Cameron Grimes and lost 26,000 overall viewers and 7,000 in 18-49.

The fourth quarter with AEW with Big Swole vs. Emi Sakura and a Pac promo lost 18,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49. NXT with Travis Banks vs. Jaxson Ryker and a Mia Yim package lost 36,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49.

The fifth quarter with AEW with Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Joey Janela & Shawn Spears lost 14,000 viewers but gained 3,000 in 18-49. NXT with Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai gained 59,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49.

The sixth quarter with AEW with the ending of the Omega tag match and Sammy Guevara vs. Luchasaurus lost 10,000 overall viewers and gained 10,000 in 18-49. NXT with Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. The Singh Brothers lost 40,000 viewers and lost 18,000 in 18-49.

The seventh quarter with AEW with the end of Guevara vs. Luchasaurus and the Jericho/Jungle Boy post-match angle lost 87,000 viewers and lost 30,000 in 18-49. NXT with Bianca Belair vs. Kayden Carter gained 41,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49. This looks to be people tuning out for the NXT main event.

The final quarter with AEW with Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz lost 2,000 viewers and stayed even in 18-49, so as noted the viewers really left before this match even started. NXT with the Lee vs. Ciampa vs. Balor match lost 27,000 viewers but gained 15,000 in 18-49.

The overrun gained 125,000 views and 69,000 in 18-49.
Interesting enough is Meltzer thinks NXT has a good chance of winning the overall viewership but still not the key demo next week solely because of Finn Balor's star power and his match next week being a major one.

Raw on 12/9 did 2,149,000 viewers (1.36 viewers per home), down 2.6 percent from the prior week. The number was lower even though the NFL game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles was down 19 percent to 11,360,000 viewers ...

The high pont of the show was the Lana/Rusev divorce which did 2,363,000 viewer. The low point was the spoof on Saturday Night Live’s weekend update with The Street Profits that did 1,864,000 viewers.

WWE’s final PPV of the year, Tables, Ladders and Chairs, which takes place on 12/15 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, has six matches official and four more expected to be announced later this week ...

Other matches officially announced at press time were Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley in a tables match, New Day vs. The Revival for the Smackdown tag team titles and Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy. The Revival are replacing the originally planned Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler. We’re not sure if this was switched because of Roode’s drug test failure and suspension or not. Last week, before the suspension was announced, it was listed on the schedule but even then we were told that it could change.

There was a tease for Viking Raiders vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for the Raw tag titles already. The match was on the schedule for the show last week, teased on Raw, and indications we were given is that it is still on the card. What has been announced is the Viking Raiders doing an open challenge for the titles, but with that match not a secret and teased, who knows if they will go with the original plans ...

Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens had an angle shot on Raw, and was a possibility last week. As of 12/10, it was not scheduled and at that point in time it was not expected to be added either. Rollins suffered a broken little finger in a 12/8 house show match with Erick Rowan, so he did not wrestle on Raw the next day. The injury isn’t serious and he was expected to be cleared by Sunday. But they shot an angle where Owens was beaten down by Rollins and AOP and he went out in an ambulance, so returning six days later seems premature. As far as an angle on the show or on Raw the next night, that would seem likely.

The advance for the show isn’t strong by current standards. Most of the upper deck, except sections in front of the hard camera, aren’t being sold. There are even sections in the lower bowl not being sold. There are 560 tickets on the secondary market with a $43.48 get-in price.

In a strange one, especially given no wellness test failures in seemingly forever (none have been announced since 2016 but there have been failures in NXT that were not announced since then), WWE announced on 12/10 that Robert Roode, 42, and Primo Colon, 36, were suspended for test failures. Colon hasn’t even worked a show for the company since February and it wasn’t even clear if he was still under contract as he’s been working for WWC in Puerto Rico. It’s possible Roode’s failure was discovered a few weeks back, since they did the angle with Reigns on the 11/29 Smackdown where he was injured and went out on a stretcher. But Roode was still tentatively booked for TLC a week ago and I’m guessing that changed because of the suspension being known. But it’s hard to say because when it comes to failures and suspensions, even if management times them, literally nobody is told about them besides the talent, Vince, maybe Paul Levesque but the creative team has never known about them in advance in the past.

Both are first violations and are 30 day suspensions without pay. It is hard to believe that nobody could fail on the main roster in more than three years and then two do essentially at the same time, especially when we have so many failures in UFC, where bodies aren’t nearly as important and when you face two year suspensions and not 30 days on the first offense. A key difference is that in many real sports, and UFC being one of them, TUE’s for testosterone are not allowed while in WWE they are, so often when you see guys who you look at and think they have to be on something (and there’s not a lock they are as there are people who have the right genetics and are very disciplined) they may have TUE’s for testosterone, essentially giving them free reign for at least testosterone use and that’s the base of most cycles.

At one point about a dozen years ago we were told only a few were approved and nobody new would be, but talent there says TUE’s are plentiful so that doctrine is no longer the case. Obviously WWE isn’t completely serious with the policy as compared to UFC, and there’s an argument that as not a real sport they don’t need to be.

The next season of Miz & Mrs. on USA will debut on 1/29. It will air on Wednesdays at 10 p.m., after NXT. That may mean an end to the overrun. Another key is how the ratings hold up as Miz & Mrs. popularity was from following Smackdown and a wrestling audience of 2.1 million, as opposed to NXT with an audience of maybe 35 percent of that

After attempting and failing to get a release and some digs at management, Chris Girard, 33, (Oney Lorcan) has agreed to return to the company. Girard noted on Twitter that he had signed a new deal. At the time he posted it, according to those with knowledge of the situation, the contract had not been signed, but his actual wording was he had agreed to a new deal, which was confirmed to us that the WWE side was confident that they had an agreement and he was staying. Whether WWE would have released him is unknown. He had stopped working for the company and his contract had been frozen. Unless he came back, they could have frozen him out pretty much forever. With Sin Cara and Harper, they were willing to work but wanted to leave, so they couldn’t be frozen and with Harper, give the 90 days, it all ended up the same either way.

Regarding releases, within the company the belief is that there are more coming. But these things change rapidly, as for so long it was nobody getting released, then it was if they aren’t happy let them go, and then still, nobody was getting released. It is notable that everyone released was 39 or older except for Albert Hardie Jr. (ACH/Jordan Myles)

Some notes on the WWE tryouts this past week. While there are some independent wrestlers, you can see with guys they are back to focusing on big guys, with a lot of college football players. While their track record with the big football players hasn’t been the best, the reality is they are loaded with smaller guys who can work and the independents will continue to turn these guys out. On the women’s side, there are some models but the focus, unlike years ago, is on higher level legitimate athletes including legitimate top tier track, basketball and volleyball players as well as the MMA and kickboxer types. I think the success of Bianca Belair as a home grown star that the feeling is those type of people can do well at this. Before it was always about looks first, the ability to pose in bikinis and hopefully some athletic background to go with it

Regarding Scurll, obviously from the BTE tease (and some would say the Jericho tease although “Marty” in his list of guys he wouldn’t defend against could mean a number of different things), the betting line would be AEW. What we do know is that he’s agreed to at least one indie date that both sides have agreed to keep secret for now, but that deal would indicate right now he’s not planning on renewing here. He also posted a photo of himself with Luke Harper with the idea of them being the Villain Club. Scurll owns the rights to the Villain Club name. The indie group he’s working with would not be allowed generally speaking if he signed a new ROH contract, but he’d probably be able to do it for now with an AEW deal

The next [AEW] PPV will be 2/29, avoiding major competition, in Chicago at the Wintrust Arena, the home of DePaul University basketball, which with a PPV set up can probably hold about 8,000 fans. Chicago was chosen because much of the talent was already going to be part of the C2E2 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo that weekend. AEW will have a major presence at the Expo.

Chris Jericho on his podcast this week talked about the forming of the Inner Circle. He said Tony Khan came up with a name for the group that he didn’t like, and he came up with the name FIST, thought it would make for cool merchandise, but Khan didn’t like that name. Jericho had used the term inner circle in a BTE episode so the Young Bucks came up with that name and Jericho liked it. They wanted Pentagon & Fenix in he group but Jericho thought they were too much like super heroes for Mexicans and wanted a more ruthless type of team, so Santana & Ortiz fit better. The company suggested Anthony Agogo, an Olympic medalist in boxing that they are training, for the enforcer role. Jericho said he wanted somebody physically bigger which was where Jake Hager fit in

The reason the 12/11 [AEW Dynamite] show was booked in Dallas was because the NFL Owners meeting was in Dallas on that same day and Tony Khan had to attend the meeting on a Wednesday and still have a television show to run that same day

The problem previously with Dragon Lee in AEW is that he was a New Japan/CMLL guy, but that barrier isn’t there now, as I don’t think New Japan would stop him, although it is possible they might, and AEW works with AAA, so that channel should be open.

ImpactWrestling tweeted that, officially, Rob Van Dam will face Brian Cage at the January 12 "Hard to Kill Pay-Per-View in Dallas, Texas.

WWE announced the following:

WWE and TikTok have launched a new partnership to bring WWE’s unique blend of family-friendly entertainment, edge-of-your-seat action and world-class athleticism to the TikTok community leading into the WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view event this Sunday, Dec. 15.

To kick off the partnership, WWE launched their official TikTok account and is also making available WWE Superstar entrance themes for more than 30 Superstars and Hall of Famers including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, Becky Lynch, John Cena and Sasha Banks, among others. The themes and original entrance music will be integrated into TikTok’s vast content library joining music from top artists like Lil Nas X, Mariah Carey, Lizzo, and emerging artists like Arizona Zervas.

WWE Network News is reporting that the December Classic Content Drop will be more episodes of " WWE Confidential" coming this Monday, December 16. It is unclear at this point, how many episodes of the series will be added.

The Wrap has tabulated the prime-time audience numbers for all cable networks in 2019 ...

TNT was #7 with 1,055,000 viewers in prime-time. AEW would fall below that figure with 921,000 viewers per episode since its launch on October 2nd.

The USA Network was #8 with 1,042,000 viewers, so it tells you how valuable Raw is to their overall average. At worst, Raw is hitting a two million viewer average on Mondays with the third hour frequently hitting 1.8-2.0 million. Conversely, NXT would be below that average at 829,000 viewers per episode since launching September 18th ...

E! was listed at #43 with 302,000 viewers, a figure Total Divas fell beneath for this past season that just wrapped and was its lowest in franchise history.

Viceland, which carried Dark Side of the Ring and The Wrestlers was #83 with 77,000 viewers on average. The first season of Dark Side blew past the station’s average with the six-episode season doing 206,000 viewers per show ...

AXS TV was #92 with a prime-time average of 61,000 viewers. We don’t get any viewership figures for Impact Wrestling, New Japan, or WOW on the station. The average is below Impact’s prior homes on Pop TV and Destination America but above the Pursuit Network (which wasn’t listed among the top 115 cable stations).

beIN Sports Espanol was #109 with 11,000 viewers on average and beIN Sports was #112 with 5,000 average viewers. I don’t know what numbers MLW does on the station, but it would be hard to imagine wrestling doesn’t top those low figures.


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Top Five Rankings – Dec. 13, 2019 (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-top-five-rankings-dec-13-2019/)
AEW Signs The Beaver Boys, Alex Reynolds & John Silver (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-signs-the-beaver-boys-alex-reynolds-john-silver/)
More on Why Teddy Hart Was Released By MLW (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/more-on-why-teddy-hart-was-released-by-mlw/)
Piper Niven Says She Has Bell’s Palsy (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/piper-niven-says-she-has-bells-palsy/)

[Evil Vito]

Kofi Kingston has signed a new five-year contract with WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw numbers last night were not good, as even coming the day after a pay-per-view and without a big football game, the show set the all-time non-holiday low with 2.05 million viewers.

The previous low was for the November 11 episode that did 2.06 million viewers, but that went against the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks game that did 15.98 million viewers. Last night's New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts game did 11.06 million viewers.

The only episodes in the modern era to do fewer viewers were shows that aired on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this past year.

The show started low, meaning not much curiosity or interest coming off TLC, and as is the case with most wrestling television shows, lost viewers throughout ...

Because the open was low, the actual drops were not unusually high, but they were there. First-to-third hour in women 18-49 dropped 20 percent, first-to-third in male 18-49 dropped 24 percent, teenage girls dropped 34 percent, teenage boys dropped 20 percent, and the only reason the drops were not near record breaking was because the major audience, those over 50, were only down eight percent.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.20 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.10 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.86 million viewers


Friday Night SmackDown finished with 2,330,000 viewers last week on Fox and was down 5% in viewers from the week prior. They did a 0.7 in the 18-49 demo and 0.4 with 18-34s, which were both #1 among network programs that night.
Down by around 9k compared to the initial ratings which only covered major tv markets.

Cody Rhodes gave his take on Marty Scurll after his recent appearance on NWA programming.

Scurll, whose future is not set in stone once his contract with Ring of Honor expired, appeared at the NWA Into The Fire pay-per-view this past weekend. In an interview with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Cody reacted to Scurll heading to the NWA and said Scurll is simply testing the waters and doesn't think that what he might be doing in the coming weeks is any indication of where he might end up.

"Marty is going to do what Marty is going to do. We all love Marty. Anything he does in the next few weeks or months, I wouldn't look at as permanent for him. He's very much testing the waters here and there and that's pretty much all I can say on Marty," Cody said.

There has been a lot of talk internally that WWE's third podcast will be centered around a female personality.

Kazuchika Okada will be one of the torch relay runners for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The NWA announced that their January 24 PPV will be called “Hard Times.”

Impact Wrestling will run Mexico City in conjunction with AAA on 1/17 and 1/18, it was announced today. They will be running Fronton Mexico.

Josh Mathews has signed a new deal with the company ...

The 12/24 and 12/31 edition of Impact will be looks at 2019 in the promotion, along with talents talking holiday memories and Impact Year-End Awards ...

The promotion has already announced a 2/21 Twitch special titled Outbreak and will return to the Davis Arena in Louisville, KY on 2/22 for an Impact+ broadcast.

Tracy Smothers, who's career has carried him across the WWF, WCW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Memphis, ECW and beyond, announced this evening that he has been battling lymphoma since being diagnosed on 11/14. Smothers had appeared at ringside at the Bobby Eaton Tribute event in Knoxville, TN over the weekend looking ill, which brought up concern publicy.

Smothers, on his Facebook account, addressed those concerns, writing:

"To all concerned I was diagnosed Nov.14 w Lymphoma cancer which now am on my 3rd treatment 3 to go Of Chemo which is shrinking the rapid growing tumors.Doc told me yrs ago I have blockage in my artery so here we are an have lost 45percent of my heart use.Also he said I have lots of head,body trauma.Doc said I had a heart attack some time back an didnt know it.Have felt bad for awhile now but thought I was getting old,lol.This is not fatal as its between my Pancreas,Colon,neck.A big TY to all of u but I look at it as getting a tube up,overhaul,tires rotated,oil change,etc.all in one lol.Remember LIFE is a BATTLE an I'm in it to win it so dont hesitate in trying to be tough by putting off getting checked out in this day an age u never know??GOD BLESS EVERYBODY.."

We are told that Smothers is currently hospitalized as a result of his current treatment.

An arrest has been made in the criminal investigation into the death of Matt "Travis" Palacios.

48-year-old Luc Vu of Elmwood Park, NJ has been charged with reckless driving, failure to yield to a bicyclist, failure to obey a traffic device, drive left of pavement marking and failure to exercise due care, according to MSN.com.

Palacios was struck while traveling on a bike path in East Harlem about 2:30 AM on Saturday 11/9 when a dump truck driver made an illegal left u-turn to get onto the Willis Avenue Bridge. Travis was struck and although rushed to the hospital, suffered serious trauma and was pronounced dead when he arrived.

It is not yet clear whether Vu was aware he struck Travis. Vu was driving for D&A Contracting, which fired him upon learning of his arrest.

Ethan Page’s Body Guy Extravaganza over WrestleMania week will be headlined by Brian Cage vs. Scott Steiner in a 3 Stages of Hell match. Stage one is a live debate, stage two is a pose off, and stage three is a match with Page as the special referee. The show is taking place on Friday, April 3rd in Tampa as part of Wrestlecon at 3 pm that day.

This was a note about the MTV show The Challenge on Wednesday nights from those close to the situation regarding ratings and why DVR numbers may be so high for AEW & NXT. "I know you briefly referenced an MTV show that beats AEW/NXT most weeks. That show is The Challenge. We are the number one podcast and touring live show about The Challenge. Wanted to give you a heads up for some stuff to look out for. I know there is a bit of crossover between Challenge fans and wrestling fans. Among our listeners we have a ton of wrestling fans and we've even begun scheduling our live shows around wrestling weekends. We're doing the Tampa Improv Mania weekend and we did Chicago Improv this past November. MIZ started on The Challenge. Ziggler hosted the Season 33 reunion. CM Punk did Champs vs Stars. Overall it is a competition with drama etc so it does appeal to a similar audience. Like wrestling, their bread and butter is also 18-49.This coming week is the reunion for this season but then The Challenge will be dark for a few weeks between seasons 34 and 35. Season 35 will likely premiere around Feb. Might be interested to see how AEW/NXT do in the weeks with no Challenge whatsoever.”

Although WWE traditionally has a 90 day no compete, we are told that Cara is telling those reaching out to book him that he has no such clause. We are also told he is close to signing a contract with AAA in Mexico.

Paige has made the most of her in-ring career being shortened, successfully transitioning from wrestler to panelist on WWE Backstage.

The former Divas Champion has become a regular on the show, joining Renee Young and Booker T each week to recap the latest news and notes in WWE. Those who work on WWE Backstage have consistently said the show, which airs on Fox Sports 1, is separate from WWE and they are allowed certain freedoms they wouldn't have on Raw, SmackDown, or NXT.

But Paige wishes she had even more freedom on the show.

"I wish I got to have more," Paige told Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell when asked about the freedom she has on the show. "Sometimes, you get a little pulled back. Obviously, with Punk on the show now, since he's working under contract with Fox and not WWE, he can voice a lot more opinion. I would love to go in a little bit more. I love to talk crap and I feel like the crap that I talk is what the people say anyway. It feels good, but I wish I got to do it more."

Taz and Corey Graves have an interesting exchange on Twitter after Graves posted a tweet about Vic Joseph and Samoa Joe being the "new and improved" Michael Cole and Tazz on commentary.
Link with the tweets: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/kazuchika-okada-vs-kota-ibushi-promo-video-corey-graves-and-taz-twitter-beef-fight-size-update

Hiromu Takahashi was interviewed by New Japan about his 2018 injury during the match against Dragon Lee and recent return. He said that after he wasn’t going to return for the Best of the Super Juniors tournament this past spring that it had to be Osaka where he returned at Power Struggle and setting up the match with Will Ospreay for Wrestle Kingdom. He described the injury from July 2018 in San Francisco and thought his career might be over. Referee Marty Asami asked if he wanted to stop the match and Takahashi continued and thought it was adrenaline that got him through it. When he went to the hospital, he had to wait eight hours for a CT scan after the injury. The return at Power Struggle was kept a surprise with Takahashi that few knew, including people in the company. His first match back is this Thursday at Korakuen Hall teaming with Bushi against Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles and is doing multi-person tags on Friday and Saturday.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: No 205 Live for Next Two Weeks, Samoa Joe Close to Returning to Ring (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-no-205-live-for-next-two-weeks-samoa-joe-close-to-returning-to-ring/)
WWE: Rey Mysterio on His Career’s Future, Vince Not at TLC, TakeOver: Portland Tickets (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-rey-mysterio-on-his-careers-future-more-on-tlc-ppv-nxt-takeover-portland-tickets/)
Kairi Sane Pulled From Upcoming WWE House Shows (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/kairi-sane-pulled-from-upcoming-wwe-house-shows/)
Sin Cara Changes His Name (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/sin-cara-changes-his-name/)
NXT and AEW Announce Commercial-Free Opening Matches for This Week (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/nxt-and-aew-announce-commercial-free-opening-matches-for-this-week/)
Primo Colon Explains His WWE Suspension, Says He Didn’t Test Positive for Anything (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/primo-colon-explains-his-wwe-suspension-says-he-didnt-test-positive-for-anything/)

[BigCrippyZ]

It's like Corey Graves doesn't realize the reason he's successful is because of the market/media influence his employer has enabled him to generate. What are the odds a clueless, idiotic douche doesn't know the actual reasons for his success and instead thinks it's all his own doing? Seems like his boss' clueless, idiotic traits are rubbing off on him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

God, Corey Graves is such a git.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The 12/17 episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 brought in 95,000 viewers, down from last week's 127,0000 viewers
2nd lowest viewership since the show officially launched.

Killer Kross is officially a free agent after being at an impasse with Impact Wrestling for months over his contract.

Impact announced today that Kross is no longer with the promotion. The statement on their website simply states: “IMPACT Wrestling has come to terms on the release of Kevin Kesar (Killer Kross).”

Kross has not been seen on Impact television since July when Eddie Edwards defeated him in a first blood match at Slammiversary. It was reported back in May that he had requested his release, but Impact did not grant it. Kross finished his program with Edwards at Slammiversary and has not been used since.

Kross’ contract was set to expire this month, but Impact had the option of rolling the contract over another year.

MLW's partnership with Lucha Libre AAA will kick off next month with four AAA wrestlers appearing at MLW's Zero Hour television tapings.

MLW announced this morning that AAA's Aerostar, Drago, Puma King, and Taurus are set for Zero Hour. The show is taking place at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, January 11.

WWE star Jimmy Uso (Jonathan Solofa Fatu) was found not guilty of DUI earlier today in Pensacola, Florida, according to Florida ABC affiliate WEAR-TV.

Uso was arrested 7/25 in Pensacola, Florida and charged with DUI. He had been pulled over at 3:04 AM after authorities observed him "driving erratically" and "swerving left and right."

A video released via TMZ showed Uso request his attorney be present after he was asked to take a breathalyzer. He was arrested at that point.

Uso went to court this morning and was found not guilty after a jury deliberated for over an hour. His speeding ticket in relation to the incident will remain on his record.

Stephanie McMahon was interviewed by talkSPORT in the UK about the move over to BT Sport in January. McMahon was asked about the progress of the women's division with the final pay-per-view main event of the year, featuring the Women's Tag Team Titles, in which she replied, "I just couldn’t be more proud of the women’s evolution that has taken place in WWE and really all around the world, but especially WWE. When you consider the stat that you just gave me and then you think about the fact that our women headlined WrestleMania, which is akin to our biggest championship playoff, and our women were the main event. And then you consider that our women were allowed to compete for the first time in history in Saudi Arabia just about a month ago, it is… proud is the word that comes to mind. I’m so incredibly proud. And these women deserve every opportunity not because they’re women, but because they’re some of the greatest performers in WWE."

When asked about female talent pushing for a second women-only “Evolution" pay-per-view and whether there were any official plans she could reveal, "It is certainly something that we are pushing for. There’s no official announcement just yet and yes, there were balls in the air and wheels in motion in terms of this year and, of course, one of the big focuses was on our event in Saudi Arabia and having our women being allowed to perform. I’m hopeful to have an announcement on an Evolution 2, but there is nothing official to announce just yet."

On whether she feels the WWE has listened to the fans after making the announcement in the ring that they would and moving to BT Sport "We are certainly doing our best to listen to our audience and give them what they want. I think we always need to be listening, we always need to be trying and we couldn’t be more excited to be launching in the UK on BT Sport for the first-time in history. Providing an experience to our fans that is hopefully easier to enjoy, including same-day prime time re-airs of RAW and SmackDown. Personalized highlights on the BT Sports app, original programming like the BT Sports acclaimed document series ‘No Filter’. It really is a huge opportunity for us and we need to make sure the content is worthy of our fans’ passion.
:lol: at her answer to the last question.

Britt Baker has noted several times on social media she's having issues getting to tonight's AEW taping in Corpus Christie, Texas as her flight has been delayed twice. She is slated to face Kris Statlander tonight ...

Tony Schiavone will be hosting an official AEW podcast next year that will be produced in conjunction with Warnermedia.

There will be online pre-sales tomorrow for the Revolution PPV and the Atlanta and Kansas City Dynamite episodes.

Tito Santana was recently a guest with Ken Resnick and Bruce Wirt on VOC Nation’s Wrestling with History program. Tito talked about the evolution of pro wrestling, the WWE Network lengthening careers, and the racial overtones that ultimately helped his character. Here are some highlights ...

On the difference in pro wrestling booking and production: “I remember when I went in to introduce Alberto Del Rio on one of the Raw (shows) several years ago, they gave me a script and I was nervous and hell because I had to memorize it. We used to talk from the heart and the fans could feel what we were trying to get across. They felt what we were saying, and then in the match we would even make them feel it more. We were able to continue the story from our interviews with the match, and the story could go on forever and ever and ever. Me and Greg Valentine wrestled each other for a year and a half pretty much every night. You couldn’t get away with it now.”

The legendary Keiji Mutoh a.k.a. The Great Muta will also be one of the carriers of the 2020 Olympic flame in Tokyo

While speaking with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Cody Rhodes shared that MJF has been taken off AEW’s media list because MJF has upset a few people during interviews:

“Max is really a special talent. He is not the nicest guy. If you’re doing this interview with him, he always has some choice words. He is off our media list. Brandi [Rhodes] has taken him off our media list because he has upset a few folks, but he is definitely the future of pro wrestling. Now here is where push comes to shove: Here’s me who doesn’t want to give any inch on the role I’m in right now in this crazy kind of moment I’m having with these fans and supporting me. I wanted to keep that going. There’s him who doesn’t want to give an inch and wants to know everything and how he knows everything and has commitments to MJF. It’s the perfect match for a wrestling match. People will point things about the industry that are artificial so often that they don’t do things that are very real. The best wrestling rivalries come when things are very real. We have gotten under each other’s skin. When you are challenging each other to be better in the ring… this is his time. He does have the platform, but if he doesn’t deliver, he won’t have the platform. At the moment he is continuing to deliver.”

During a media call with U.K. outlets, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was the subject of the call. Metro posted a highlight from the junket and Stephanie had the following to say about CM Punk and AJ Lee:

“I think Punk’s been pretty vocal that he’s not interested in an in-ring return right now, but for sure, that would be interesting [Punk getting back in the ring], and I would love to see AJ Lee back in the women’s division. I think AJ Lee was an incredibly compelling character. Some of our most interesting and intriguing storylines were with AJ, and I think she deserves as much credit as every other woman on our roster. Nobody should be overlooked, and that’s not the goal to overlook anybody’s name. Every single person is a huge reason for why this happened. You know, I’m a big fan of AJ Lee’s, I really am.”

Kevin Owens joined Booker T and Brad Gilmore on the Hall Of Fame podcast. During their conversation, Owens talked about not using social media and some of the interactions he’s had and/or seen on social media that has driven him away from it:

“One guy that used to get dragged through the mud a lot was Roman, Roman Reigns, by a lot of people, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for Roman. So a lot of times I would see people say really terrible things about him or his family and I feel like I just can’t… and I would look and those people were following me. I’m like, ‘I don’t want these people to have access to me’ and it’s not just Roman, it’s so many people. The Young Bucks are friends of mine and that’s well documented and I remember seeing a fan, and I was tagged in this tweet which is how I saw it. I don’t know why I was tagged in it but this guy was talking about how he hopes The Young Bucks break their neck[s]. Then you’re not a fan. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like them, don’t care for their stuff. To wish that on somebody, I want no part of it and I actually — funny because I met that fan at an airport and I recognized him and he wanted my autograph and I told him, ‘No, we’re good. You wish for my friends to break their necks.’ He was all, ‘Oh, I got hacked.’ I’m like, ‘No you didn’t get hacked’, but you know what I mean? That’s just the kind of stuff that has driven me away from social media. I’ll still use it once in a while. I like posting about my kids, my wife, my family. I like posting about my cats and stuff. It’s weird. I try to keep wrestling out of it because I don’t enjoy that part of it. Everybody’s got an opinion. Everybody thinks their opinion is important and I don’t care for it in that way.”

Of all the unknowns heading into AEW's television premiere in October, perhaps no one has benefitted more from being on TNT than Darby Allin.

Since AEW Dynamite premiered on Oct. 2, Allin has challenged Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship and stepped in the ring with Jon Moxley. He also delivered a highlight reel attack, riding down the ramp on his skateboard to jump Jericho. And Le Champion sees even more big things in the future for Allin.

"Look at the projects we've had in eight weeks. Darby Allin, you see him come out and people are dressing like him now. Kids and women are putting the face paint on. At first, you're like, 'who is this guy?' Then I had him come down and attack me off the skateboard. Then we had the match where he had his hands tied behind his back and all that stuff. He did the crazy promo where he's in a bodybag, getting crowd surfed at a punk rock show. Then he has an amazing match with Moxley. He's made. He went from nothing to a legit made star in less than two months. He wants it. He reminds me a lot of Jeff Hardy. He's got an x-factor to him. Get into a room or a ring with that guy, he's got a presence," Jericho said on Keepin It 100 podcast.

@BeltsByDan notes that a new WWE United States Championship has reportedly been delivered to the company.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise, but Joey Janela is the person who contacted Virgil to come in to AEW. They asked around about who would have Virgil's number, and someone mentioned Janela and within five minutes, Joey had a deal in place for Virgil to appear.

Cody comments on NWA using "Hard Times" as its pay-per-view name.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">His legacy is really hard to contain and that’s a good thing. Always nice to see his influence on the sport. <a href="https://t.co/MBn82aKMFK">https://t.co/MBn82aKMFK</a></p>&mdash; Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1207326161472241666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


TPWW Frontpage:

The New Day and The Street Profits Sign New Multi-Year Contracts With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/the-new-day-and-the-street-profits-sign-new-multi-year-contracts-with-wwe/)
NWA Powerrr Taping Results – Dec. 15/16 – Spoilers (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/nwa-powerrr-taping-results-dec-15-16-spoilers/)
Current Impact Hard to Kill PPV Card – Eight Matches Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/current-impact-hard-to-kill-ppv-card-eight-matches-announced/)
Impact: Year End Awards/Best Of Episodes, Mexico TV Tapings, Josh Mathews Signs New Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/impact-year-end-awards-best-of-episodes-mexico-tv-tapings-josh-mathews-signs-new-deal/)

[Seanny One Ball]

Who would want to be compared to Tazz and Michael Cole?!

[rez]

So Edge has signed a wrestling contract with WWE?

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Going up against coverage of the presidential impeachment hearings that dominated the cable TV ratings scene, NXT ratings rose this week, averaging 795,000 viewers on Wednesday night.

That number was up two percent from last week. Perhaps more importantly, the show was up 13 percent in the important 18-49 demo. NXT averaged a 0.27 rating, good for 27th place for the night on cable.

The news was not as good for AEW Dynamite. That show averaged just 683,000 viewers overall, down 12 percent from last week. It was the second lowest viewership total so far on TNT.

NXT got its first win against Dynamite in the 18-49 demo this week. Dynamite was down 11 percent in that demo -- to a 0.25 rating -- and finished 31st for the night on cable. That rating was the lowest in the history of the show.

While NXT usually only wins in the 50+ demo, this week they won every category except for men 18-49 and females 12-34.

NXT's biggest win was in the 50+ demo, averaging a 0.36 rating to Dynamite's 0.27. But the impeachment hearings also drew heavily from that demo, so it's reasonable to assume the show may have had an even bigger lead with no competition.
Meltzer might be off in regards to the idea NXT's viewership lead could have been bigger if it wasn't for the Impeachment hearings. Younger viewers were also pulled away enough to hurt AEW a lot since that has been their strongest demo base.

While NXT has topped AEW’s total viewers twice and tied them last week, this was their first victory in the key demo with AEW hitting its lowest mark among 18-49s since launching in October ...

NXT saw a major spike in females with the 18-49 audience up 57% from the past week and with females 12-34 up by 37.5% from last week. Interestingly, Raw also had a spike in that demo this week by 32% from the week prior with a 0.22 that ties their highest mark in that demo since the first head-to-head week. Females 12-34 increased 37.5%, which is a demo Raw shot up with earlier in the week by 32%. In fact, NXT, AEW & Raw also saw major increases in that female demo this week.

The 18-34 demo was up 29% for NXT.

For AEW, the show also performed well with females 12-34 with a 44% increase from last week. Dynamite fell among males 12-34 by 25%, males 18-49 fell 15% and the 18-49 demo was down 11% from last week.

AEW did win among males 18-49 (0.34 to 0.31), females 12-34 (0.13 to 0.11), and were even with people 25-54 with each show doing a 0.28.

CIMA is getting a World Heavyweight Championship shot when MLW returns to Philadelphia in February.

MLW has announced that Jacob Fatu will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against CIMA at Fightland on Saturday, February 1. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena.

NJPW has announced the rules for Lance Archer and Jon Moxley's Texas death match at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

It will be a no disqualification match that can only be won by 10-count knockout or via submission. There will be no pinfalls in the match.

Fox announced that their 'New Year's Eve with Steve Harvey' Special will feature a "WWE Match with Roman Reigns".

The event will be hosted by Maria Menounos and Rob Gronkowski.

The Becky Lynch special that aired after NXT last night did 420,000 overnight viewers.

Colt Cabana worked last night's TV taping doing commentary for AEW Dark. We have not heard Cabana has signed with the promotion.

For those who have asked, there are no plans for an AEW event in Florida over Wrestlemania week.

MLW today announced newly minted free agent Killer Kross will compete at MLW: FIGHTLAND at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday February 1. The event will be a MLW FUSION TV taping for beIN SPORTS.

SmackDown Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston did an interview with Newsweek and talked about the new five-year extension that he, Big E and Xavier Woods signed with WWE and Kofi stated he has thought about putting the final touches on his career at the end of this next five-year stretch.

“I’ve definitely thought about that. Five years is such a long time away, but you’d be a fool if you didn’t plan ahead. It’s really early to say, but at the end of this five years [it] might be the end of my career, not just from an injury or physical perspective, but just not being home. Being away from my kids is very difficult. We had to go an extra day last week and we had a live event and then media day in Minneapolis, and then we had TLC and then I came home Monday and then back on the road Tuesday. I’m doing the WWE holiday party in Stamford, and then I’ll go back home and come back to New York early on Friday to do a whole bunch of interviews and the live taping. All of that just to say that it’s a lot, and my kids are growing up, and there’s a lot of days that we miss. I’m considering hanging them up at the end of this five-year period, but you just don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen next week, but it has crossed my mind for sure. I’ve been doing this for a long time, over a decade. It’ll be 12 years on television in January, which is crazy to think about, but that’s the reality. You have to be thinking about those things as a family man and as a person in general.”

During an interview with talkSPORT, AEW co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes shared that there are plans to bring All Elite Wrestling to the United Kingdom in 2020 and the name ‘Royal Flush’ was thrown around as an event name:

“So, Royal Flush was a real thing and we all actually thought it was a really good name until we said it multiple times and we realized it was a terrible name. Tony [Khan] was one of the first to spot that. But, with the U.K. and our representation with ITV and FITE, and the fact that the fan-base is really thriving and hungry, I mean, the U.K. independent scene got hot before the American independent scene and so many of us imports were going over there to do shows like I did with What Culture Pro Wrestling. I would say 100 percent that AEW is coming to the U.K. in 2020. I can’t be sure if we’re coming for Dynamite, a pay-per-view or a rare live event tour, but everyone is on-board with us coming in 2020 and if I’m incorrect with that statement, I will give you $500. No, I don’t know,” Cody laughed. “100 percent, you can hold us to it. We are coming to the U.K. in 2020 and we’ve got some tentative dates circled, but it’s a matter of where you’re going to hit as well. Are you going to hit as many markets as you can possibly hit or are you just going to do London and Manchester? What’s it going to be? But, for sure, in 2020 we’ll be live over there with AEW.”

Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson covered the 12/20/99 episode of WCW Nitro for their ‘What Happened When’ podcast. As they were reviewing the show, Conrad Thompson brought up that the n.W.o. (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman & Hulk Hogan) are going into the WWE Hall Of Fame this coming April. Schiavone stated that it’s not right that Eric Bischoff isn’t going into the Hall Of Fame with them and said that he feels Bischoff was brought back to WWE just to be fired. Tony Schiavone also said that his family has been instructed to not let WWE induct him into the Hall Of Fame after he is no longer here.

“Well Eric got f*cked over once by Vince [McMahon] this year, so why wouldn’t Vince f*ck him over again? You know what? That’s f*cking fine with me,” Schiavone said about not going into the WWE Hall Of Fame. “And I hope that I’m working with AEW until the day I die, because once it’s all over with, my family has been instructed… I’ve told you this I think on the air here before. My family has been instructed that if they want to induct me in anyway, postmortem, the answer from the family is no. So, don’t expect from me to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. You know, now I’m pissed off. I’m pissed off because Eric is not a part of the n.W.o. into the Hall Of Fame, and I’m pissed off because Eric got f*cked over by Vince McMahon. Not Bruce Prichard, who’s our friend, who’s a good guy, straight up guy, but by Vince McMahon. You know, and everybody knows that Eric was brought in just so he could get fired, and that f*cking sucks. I know it, and I’ll guarantee you that I’m right, and the fact he wasn’t put in the n.W.o. Hall Of Fame — into the Hall Of Fame with the n.W.o. confirms it.”

Ember Moon is the latest WWE superstar to speak out on the lack of spotlight currently on the women's division.

Moon recently appeared on WWE Backstage where the topic of the current state of the WWE women's division was discussed. Women have had a banner year in WWE with the peak being at WrestleMania 35 when Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair headlined the show. But since then, some have felt that the division has cooled off.

"Since WrestleMania, we've only featured four or five of our female superstars and there is a plethora out there," said Ember. "It's irritating to sit back and watch these women who work so hard and are so passionate, that just want to steal the show and entertain that aren't getting that opportunity and aren't getting that platform. Just because Ronda is gone doesn't mean there isn't a women's division. There are so many girls; Sarah Logan, The IIconics, Liv Morgan, Dana Brooke. There's so many people reaching for that brass ring and they just need that platform. I want another Evolution. I want to give those women the opportunity to show the world what they can do. We proved the first time that Evolution was the hottest pay-per-view of the year. We deserve every year to have that opportunity."

Paige made similar comments on WWE After The Bell, believing some girls are held back at the expense of others.

As one of the biggest box office draws in wrestling history, Steve Austin knows what it takes to get over in the business.

When it comes to the current generation, Austin has praised the likes of Becky Lynch and Kevin Owens for ascending to the top of the mountain. And now he has his eye on another superstar he believes has "top guy" potential.

“Right now, the people that are on top are the people that should be on top,” Austin told Sports Illustrated. “But I called this two years ago watching his match when he did the favors for somebody that night, and I said, ‘Man, this Andrade kid is going to be a player one of these days.’ I think he’s proving that. The people that have tremendous success either have a gimmick that is so close to them that it’s basically them turned up or it’s so far away from them that it cannot be missed. It’s all about how you resonate with the people. Wrestling is a relationship, whether you’re a heel or a babyface, you’re establishing yourself as a brand. How do you make them feel? They’re living vicariously through your storylines. They feel strength, vulnerability, or power. If it works, you’re doing something that resonates with people in regards to entertainment and wanting to invest in a person."

Austin said about Andrade, "He still has a ways to go, but it’s just tweaking that character. The kid’s a hell of a damn worker."

Oney Lorcan has another interesting story to share, this time from his time appearing as enhancement talent for WWE.

Lorcan shared a tweet that included a picture of himself in what was technically his WWE debut a decade ago. Lorcan wrestled as "The Carolina Panther" and lost to The Great Khali on the January 1, 2010 edition of Friday Night SmackDown (the show was taped on December 29, 2009).

Earlier in that day, Lorcan claimed he saw AEW World Champion Chris Jericho taking a dump. Here is what Lorcan wrote.
Link: https://twitter.com/_StarDESTROYER/status/1207176553605414913

John Cena reportedly wants to have a big role at WrestleMania 36.

It was reported today, via @Wrestlevotes, that Cena wants to do "something substantial" at WrestleMania in April. Cena appeared at WrestleMania 35 earlier this year for a segment with Elias, but word now is that he wants to do more than just an appearance like that this year.

WrestleMania 36 takes place on April 5, 2020 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It was noted that Cena lives within the Tampa area and it seems like this WrestleMania is important to him.

Q - There's been a lot of talk about Edge returning to the ring. Do you think this will actually happen?

A - I do. We've heard that Edge signed a new deal with WWE that has a pretty nice upside. We also reported a few months ago he was in Pittsburgh for WWE business and that's where WWE Wellness Policy head Dr. Joseph Maroon is headquartered. My gut feeling is we'll see Edge in the Royal Rumble as a surprise (as that seems like the perfect place to make a big splash with a return for Wrestlemania season) and possibly even see him do a few matches on major events. I will point out that Edge has denied on social media that he's doing anything, but the talk has persisted internally that he's on the way back to the ring and I do believe there is something to it. We will see if I am right soon enough.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.


TPWW Frontpage:

Injury Updates: Samoa Joe, EC3, Jinder Mahal, Nia Jax, Ruby Riott, Xavier Woods, Lars Sullivan (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/injury-updates-for-samoa-joe-ec3-jinder-mahal-nia-jax-ruby-riott-xavier-woods-lars-sullivan/)
AEW Dark Taping Results – Dec. 18, 2019 – Janela vs. Spears, 4-Way Tag Match (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-dark-taping-results-dec-18-2019-janela-vs-spears-4-way-tag-match/)
Several Matches for Next NXT and AEW Dynamite Episodes Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/several-matches-for-next-nxt-and-aew-dynamite-episodes-announced/)
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Returning Next Year (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/dusty-rhodes-tag-team-classic-returning-next-year/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

NXT clearly won the 12/18 ratings war, beating AEW for the first time in the key demos ...

NXT did 795,000 viewers, of which 344,000 fell between 18-49 (789,000 and 341,000 head-to-head) and set a show record with 1.32 viewers per home.

AEW did 683,000 viewers, of which 319,000 fell between 18-49, and were still the most-watched shows as far as multiple people watching together for the week with 1.39 viewers per home ...

I do think AEW was hurt by the last five minutes of their show as far as going forward. What has happened based on DVR numbers is that NXT has gained viewers and many are switching to watching live. Based on normal DVR patterns, AEW probably still wins in total viewers when you throw in DVR numbers, but it’ll be close, although the 18-49 differential will easily be made up ...

A key difference, and why NXT won the overall 18-49, was women, as NXT did 58.5 percent women in 18-49, which I attribute to Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley ..

NXT opened big with 977,000 viewers in the first quarter for Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor, which was the biggest thing of the night and by a huge margin. Baszler vs. Ripley was not even close if you’re looking at what drew the audience. Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix did 689,000 viewers against it.

In the second quarter, the finish of Cole vs. Balor and post match lost 104,000 viewers while the finish of the AEW tag match and post-match brawl gained 2,000 viewers.

In the third quarter, Killian Dain vs. Damien Priest 84,000 viewers. Cody & Darby Allin vs. The Butcher & The Blade gained 11,000 viewers. It was still a 789,000 to 703,000 edge for NXT.

In the fourth quarter, Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes lost 25,000 viewers while Awesome Kong vs. Miranda Alize lost 57,000 viewers.

The only quarter AEW won was the fifth.

The ending of Grimes vs. Kushida and beginning of Io Shirai vs. Santana Garrett lost 32,000 viewers. Chris Jericho vs. Jungle Boy gained 135,000 viewers and AEW won 780,000 to 732,000.

In quarter six, the ending of Shirai vs. Garrett and Pete Dunne vs. Travis Banks gained 34,000 viewers, likely the switch back from NXT viewers who wanted to see the Jericho match. AEW lost 113,000 viewers taking two long commercial breaks and interviews.

In quarter seven, NXT lost 100,000 viewers for Dunne vs. Banks and AEW lost 29,000 viewers for Kris Statlander vs. Britt Baker.

The main event battle saw Baszler vs. Ripley gain 38,000 viewers to 725,000 while the Young Bucks vs. SCU lost 3,000 viewers to 645,000.

The overrun gained 145,000 for the Baszler vs. Ripley, which is usual levels of gain.

AEW is the most DVR’d pro wrestling show now most weeks. It always was by percentage, as thus far, in the 18-49 demo, only 57 percent of the total viewers in that demo watch it live. NXT, by percentage is the second most, but does fall behind Raw & Smackdown (both usually around 400,000 to 500,000 as well) total DVR viewers. If you include DVR viewers, AEW beats NXT every week and most weeks handily a AEW does 140,000 more DVR viewers per week (about 540,000 to 400,000) and even the show the night before Thanksgiving saw AEW having a very small overall lead with +7 DVR viewers factored in. So it’s around 1.3 million to 1.4 million viewers for AEW and around 1.2 million to 1.25 million for NXT of late.

What all that means to advertisers is a different story. One person with FOX noted to us that DVR numbers have little to no impact on the sales side ... He noted that there may be places where they may use +3 DVR viewers but within all the FOX stations, it doesn’t have much use. Others have noted the same thing. This is why sports rights have increased so much, because the culture is more and more turning to DVR viewing of television, but advertisers don’t see that as valuable. What is bad is that even five to seven years ago, wrestling fans viewed wrestling like sport and it wasn’t that long ago when 90 to 93 percent of wrestling television viewers watched live. Now, the need to watch live has changed with younger viewers. It’s a positive that the AEW audience skews younger while WWE is aging, but the negative is that those younger viewers watch on their own time and not live, so if they do 800,000 live and 540,000 via DVR, they are not getting credit financially for a huge percentage of their fan base. There is a premium on live viewing because it means you are watching the ads.

There has also been a change in the AEW/NXT dynamic. Previously, AEW fans would switch to NXT in significant numbers during commercials but NXT fans would not do the same. And there is the huge number of viewers from AEW who at 10 p.m. switch to USA to see the end of NXT. TNT research has shown that there is an increase in NXT fans switching to AEW during commercial breaks. This came in the last month. By theory is what has happened with the tightening of the demos is that there are 18-49 fans who watched AEW and didn’t watch NXT, that are now making NXT priority but will switch back to AEW and not the original small 18-49 NXT demo just becoming AEW fans. But there is no way to prove that aspect

Smackdown on 12/13 did A 1.46 rating and 2,330,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home), down 4.6 in ratings and 5.0 percent from the prior week, with its usual 0.7 in the 18-49 demo.

One year ago FOX in the same time slot averaged 3,730,000 viewers and an 0.8 in the 18-49 demo, so down 37.5 percent in viewers but only 12.5 percent in 18-49.

There were stories that Ric Flair signed a new deal, pointing to his pulling his merch from Pro Wrestling Tees after 1/13, but that’s not the case. It was his own team’s move regarding other businesses making offers to be able to carry Ric Flair merch. Flair’s WWE deal expires right around the end of the year. He is friends with Tony Khan, to the degree that Khan was an invited guest to his wedding. I would expect WWE to make a good offer to keep him given they wouldn’t want him on the AEW television show

The appearances of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo on Raw (Green was on the taped show losing to Flair) were just meant to be people to lose. It appears the idea is that if people in NXT are being used on the television show, they aren’t to be brought now to Raw or Smackdown to lose. However, if they are not on television, and either side wants someone to be competitive and lose, those people are available. It’s also possible if they impress in those roles they can be brought up. The people pushed on NXT television at this point can only be brought up when it is planned. It’s not going to be Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa building a big match and one day Vince feels they need new stars so he brings them in as a tag team with no notice or caring about NXT storylines, because NXT then was a feeder system.

Now it’s a television product that has to be kept strong because it’s being used as the defense to make sure opposition doesn’t get more of a following. An interesting note, and the San Jose show this weekend was similar to other markets, is that now that NXT has two hours of television with all those viewers, the live show attendance is down, not up. Given AEW’s lower PPV number and house show attendance not growing as compared to the pre-television numbers, that is consistent and it shows just how much the business and world has changed, as 15 years ago television would have led to both products drawing more
NXT also going down in attendance in regards to house shows since the move to USA Network is interesting since that wasn't an area affected by show fatigue like the Florida loop.

For Raw, current ideas are to push Carrillo and Andrade in a program to try and get both over, as well as Andrade with Mysterio, and Mysterio with Rollins & AOP and Rollins with Owens. It’s having top guys with two different programs instead of one

Kacy Catanzaro remains under contract. Nothing much else has been said. She’s not around and the speculation was she may come back in 2020. There was a story going around that she may try to do something in Titan Games since she’s a great athlete if they were to let her do it

Natalya was swerved by someone who claimed to be Jason Momoa who called her and wanted her to play a major part in a sequel to “The Wrestler.” While this was going on, “Total Divas” was filming so it made it on the show, and people thought it was real since she talked about it. But it was someone swerving her

Because of the April sellout of Madison Square Garden, ROH likely sold as many tickets and grossed more revenue than any year of its existence in 2019. But they’ve ended the year as cold as they’ve been in probably a decade or longer.

ROH drew 1,000 fans on 12/13 in Baltimore for Final Battle, a show that had routinely sold out the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York well in advance in past years ...

Those at ROH haven’t commented on who is going or staying. Cobb was put over Dan Maff at Final Battle and Maff just signed a new deal. Scurll did a surprise appearance on the 12/14 NWA PPV show from Atlanta, but also won in the main event, scoring the pin, on the 12/15 show in Philadelphia and they were indicating Villain Enterprises, which Scurll owns the rights to, was staying. Everything on the Philadelphia show indicated more dates with Scurll, who hasn’t said anything publicly about his future ...

Scurll’s ROH contract expired at the end of November, but agreed to work this past weekend, and as a free agent, was able to work the NWA show and they seemed to be building Scurll headlining a PPV show there against Nick Aldis as some point ...

Scurll likely got a similar level offer since we’d heard they were going to make a big play to keep him. Until he signs, because he is a free agent now, he can work anywhere he wants and we had heard of at least one more date for a non-NWA or ROH promotion soon, so it doesn’t look like he would be signing here right away, although it is notable that date has not been announced and the parties involved were asked to hold off on it ...

Cobb’s priorities have always been New Japan, and ROH was the first company to offer him a contract with real money after the years with his career pretty much on hold due to Lucha Underground ... Even though New Japan talent hasn’t worked ROH, while continuing to work RevPro, the sides have worked together as far as New Japan getting dates on Cobb ...

But the only names confirmed gone are Cabana, Klein and Taylor.

Flamita has signed a multi-year deal with Ring of Honor, PWInsider.com can confirm.

While it appeared Shane Taylor bid farewell to Ring of Honor after Final Battle, the two sides are in conversations for him to remain ...

There's been some talk of late about Bullet Club (likely Guerrillas of Destiny) being involved in future storylines leading into Wrestlemania weekend in Lakeland, Florida.

The final ROH show of the year was 12/15 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena, drawing just 350 fans. That would be the smallest crowd I’ve heard them do in that building, even during down periods in the past ...

But it’s been noted ROH has been offering great money and such a light schedule that some are looking at it that ROH is now a good money option, and while you get less notoriety, there is less physical wear-and-tear and that extends your career

The California State Legislature passed a law, aimed at cracking down on independent contractors in the state. A lot of people have talked about what affect that will have on pro wrestlers performing in California, and the WWE has put forth a lobbying effort, as have other businesses, to get pro wrestling exempt from the new law. At this point it is unclear but where pro wrestling falls under the radar is that there are so few people working as WWE pro wrestlers, and with the exception of AEW and ROH, due to the nature of some contracts, all over America pro wrestlers really are independent contractors.

La Parka is out of the hospital and recovering from his life-threatening injuries in a house in Monterrey that the AAA promotion owns. News reports are that his medical expenses have topped $157,000 and that AAA has covered them all

Tickets for both Tokyo Dome shows are selling ahead of the pace of last year’s sellout. The advance is ahead of the pace of any show in more than 20 years ... Unlike in the U.S. where most buy their ticket show tickets on the first day, for the Tokyo Dome, because the matches are such a big part of the draw, tickets continue to sell steadily and they usually still sell thousands in the last few days based on the promotional hype

On a popular day for pay-per-view onsales, the NWA's second PPV sold out in three hours Friday with VIP tickets selling out in just three minutes.

Hard Times is scheduled for Friday, January 24th at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, GA, and will be available on Fite.tv. December's Into The Fire ppv, their first in this latest relaunch of the company, also sold out in three hours.

WWE will be taping content for future episodes of WWE NXT tonight as part of tonight's Smackdown taping at the Barclays center. That is why they are not broadcasting 205 Live tonight.

Keith Lee & Lio Rush vs. Tony Nese & Damian Priest are among the matches scheduled. That match will air on 12/25.
205 Live could have benefited a lot from being in a big market crowd tonight but nope Triple H only gives a shit about his NXT brand these days.

WWE Hall of Famer Edge posted the following statement on his Twitter seeming to rebuff the claims that he has been cleared medically is making an in ring come back:

Still not and still not. Period.
— Adam (Edge) Copeland (@EdgeRatedR) December 20, 2019

So, for now, still not!

In regard to the Tony Khan stunner on Shawn Spears that closed the Dynamite taping this week, it was not something that was planned out or booked in advance. The entire thing was improvised and was a Shawn Spears' suggestion on the fly ...

Cody called Khan to the ring on the house mic, which was not something Khan knew was coming. When Khan did come out, Nick Jackson suggested he hit the stunner but Khan declined. Realizing Spears was setting up for him to do it, anyway, Khan then hit the move, because otherwise everyone would be standing around looking at each other. Obviously, anytime someone in charge who isn't a wrestler doing something like this is going to open the door to criticism and that was certainly realized. We are told that Khan is adamant he will not be an on-air character for the company, which is something we have seen a lot of readers believe is coming based on the segment ...

There were about 3,500 in Corpus Christie this week
Link: https://twitter.com/Perfec10n/status/1207712898992218113

Since its TNT premiere on Oct. 2, AEW Dynamite's viewership has suffered drops throughout its twelve-week run ...

The shows remain generally well-received, though more criticism has come to light in recent weeks. Two issues some fans seem to have are the lack of video packages and the length of matches. And AEW World Champion Chris Jericho hears those complaints loud and clear.

"We have to get more promo pieces and video packages to explain who the people are. People complain about that, a lot of fans complain about it. Like I keep saying, it's only been eight weeks. You can't build a roster of 50 people in eight weeks. Give it some time. We have to be different. Some of our matches go too long, I agree," Jericho said on the Keepin It 100 podcast.

AEW has started to do more video packages on Dynamite compared to the first few weeks. They've also mixed in more squash matches in recent weeks.

Jim Cornette has filed a federal lawsuit against William J. Molnar Jr. and Brandon Graver (G-Raver) for selling T-shirts that contain his image and uses the term "F*** Jim Cornette."


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Cain Velasquez at Royal Rumble? The Revival Being Booked as a Comedy Act? (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwe-cain-velasquez-at-royal-rumble-the-revival-being-booked-as-a-comedy-act/)
AEW Notes: Dark Order Angle, Colt Cabana, Shawn Spears, Jacksonville Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-notes-dark-order-angle-colt-cabana-shawn-spears-jacksonville-show/)
AEW Revolution PPV Tickets Sell Out in Under an Hour (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-revolution-ppv-tickets-sell-out-in-under-an-hour/)



Side note:
Except for next Friday since that is when the next Observer Newsletter arrives, taking next week off as a break from doing Sheets report posts.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

With no competition from AEW, ratings for the Christmas night edition of NXT on USA Network were up 5% to 831,000 viewers ...

NXT was down 19% in the 18-49 demo, averaging 0.22, which landed them 29th in the rankings on cable TV for the day. The ratings were dominated by NBA games on ESPN as well as the TNT/TBS marathon of "A Christmas Story" which aired on the usual home of AEW Dynamite. 13 separate airings of the movie all finished above NXT.

Per usual, NXT was carried by the 50+ demo, where they averaged a 0.42. That was the only category in which there was an increase from the previous week although they did have the exact same rating in the 12-34 category for both males and females at .19 and .11 respectively.

There will be a new member of the Raw announcing team for the 12/30 show as 12/23 was Joe’s last show

Jason Jordan noted that there will be a new addition to his family, a girl, Ava Rose Everhart, due in June. Kurt Angle then, seriously, acted like he was going to be become a grandfather

There are still rumblings of Los Angeles for the 2021 Mania. As noted before, the city wants is in 2021 to get ready for the Super Bowl in 2022. WWE wants it in 2022 so they can announce an attendance figure larger than the Super Bowl in the same stadium, whether real or not

Mr. Niebla, a wrestler that CMLL groomed from his start with them more than two decades ago to be one of the major stars of this generation, but never quite reached that level due to his problems with drinking, passed away on 12/23 due to a blood infection. Born Efren Tiburcio Marquez on February 22, 1973, he was 46 at the time of his death and his legacy included holding CMLL’s world heavyweight, world tag team and world trios titles.

There will always be a strong speculation that it was his problems with alcohol that weakened his body so badly that he was unable to survive the blood infection. His being ill was well publicized, and originally the assumption was it was alcohol related, as he lived on a regular cycle of being suspended and then being forgiven. After an incident in 2015 on the New Japan Fantastica Mania tour, many thought that because his drinking embarrassed CMLL as he had to be pulled from the tour, that this time it would be it. But he was back again after a suspension and the belief was there was nothing he could do that would permanently end his tenure with the company ...

After a while, even though he was always used near the top of the shows, he was no longer trusted to be put in a key position. But CMLL would use him, and it was only when things got out of control, such as passing out during matches, which happened many times, that he would be given time outs. If the same thing happened on smaller shows, people would cover for him. Niebla spoke openly in recent years regarding his issues, but he could never put them in the past. Over the last week, there had been reports he would have to retire soon due to knee and other joint problems from 29 years in the ring and not taking care of himself.

The 1/4 show has added a women’s match for the first time at a New Japan Tokyo Dome show since 2002. With Bushiroad purchasing Stardom, the idea was to put the stars they want to build around before the largest audience of wrestling fans possible. The match, Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Hana Kimura & Giulia will open the show ...

As of press time, the match will not air on New Japan World. The deal was put together at the end of November after cutting through a lot of red tape, and kept quiet until the official announcement on Christmas Day. The Stardom side had wanted it, obviously. At first they were told no way, and then, because of the pressure from above, notably Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani, there was talk of a women’s match on the January 4, 2021 show. But Kidani then pushed for it this year. Some in New Japan were negative, noting the idea that in Japan, men’s wrestling and women’s wrestling are separate products with different fan bases. Those who attend New Japan big shows aren’t there to watch women’s wrestling and the announcement was met negatively by the New Japan fans.

In addition, there is the broadcasting issue with New Japan aligned with TV-Asahi, and they are co-owners of New Japan World, and Stardom has just started on Tokyo MX and BS Nippon TV, a rival network. Because of that, putting it on the show means for the first time New Japan can’t show a Dome match on its streaming service. At this point the match may be released at a later date on Stardom World, but that is not a sure thing due to those same issues, since this is a TV-Asahi show.

As soon as the announcement was made, New Japan fans, particularly women fans, were very vocal in their opinions negatively toward this. The negativity was so strong that it may be difficult for this to happen again. Right now the word is that this will happen, but don’t expect to see Stardom matches on New Japan shows much going forward. There were also long-time Stardom fans, and some of the women, upset that Giulia just started and she’s already in the showcase match. Tam Nakano and Momo Watanabe publicly complained about not being in the match.

Bushiroad released its financial report for the months of August through October. They have rearranged their businesses in two categories, Digital IP and live event IP. New Japan and the kickboxing promotion fall into the live event IP group. I guess New Japan World would be digital. Stardom doesn’t really have an effect since that will start during the next quarterly report. Bushiroad also promotes concerts and has theaters as part of their live event business ... The New Japan and kickboxing business numbers were similar to that of last year. Live events were slightly up due to the increase in ticket sales for G-1 overall.

But merchandise business declined, which was due to the loss of the guys who went to AEW and drove Bullet Club merch sales. They said their expectations for the next year are unchanged. Harold Meij’s salary was listed at $212,000 per year from his work on the Bushiroad board of directors and $851,000 from his work as New Japan President or $1,063,000 total. Some talent was surprised. Unlike in the U.S. where heads of companies make the most, in the Japanese wrestling business, the wrestling stars always make the most and Meij making more than most of the main event talent is surprising in their culture, but wouldn’t be in our culture.

The New Japan bodybuilding contest, with the idea it would be like the annual CMLL contest, was, in fact, nothing close to the same thing. The idea came from Tanahashi, with the idea of having everyone get into their best shape two weeks before the Tokyo Dome show. And it worked for Tanahashi, who was moving better this past weekend than he has in a long time. But it was just people cutting up and getting into shape and doing some poses, not a competition. Most were in their ring gear, so Tanahashi was in long tights and even had the sleeve over his left arm where he tore the biceps. Guys like Tanahashi, Toa Henare most notably and Yuya Uemura dropped weight and looked better. Ryusuke Taguchi entered as more of a joke but looked the same.

Pieter (Yujiro Takahashi’s big show second who at least at one point if not still was Bad Luck Fale’s girlfriend) posed from behind wearing a thong panty. Kota Ibushi was in his regular ring gear looking like the same Kota Ibushi you’d see every night, and would have easily taken third ... The top two, as expected, were the two who have actually competed at this, Taiji Ishimori and Sho. Ishimori, who wore long tights, has won bodybuilding contests in the past and looked like a bodybuilder. Sho has competed in fitness contests where bodybuilding is part of it.

Kagetsu, 27, who held the World of Stardom title in the early part of the year announced her retirement on Christmas Day. This came after losing a power struggle and also ties into the retirement of Hazuki ... Her last match in Stardom will be on 1/26 in her home city of Osaka, and she will be promoting a retirement show on her own on 2/24 in Osaka. Hazuki retired with her last match on 12/24 at Korakuen Hall. Kagetsu was in charge of training all the women and Hazuki was her best student, and then became her most trusted ally. In a sense, Hazuki, because of that, also had significant locker room power.

Kagetsu’s management style was compared to that of Bill Watts, and that doesn’t fly in today’s world. She was fining people when they were late and taking away their personal time. Management stepped in once and told her not to do that. But she continued to do the same thing. Most of the women came to management to protest Kagetsu being in charge. A vote was held and Kagetsu was voted out as the head trainer and locker room boss. With her out of power, both Kagetsu and Hazuki lost interest in the company. Hazuki decided to retire, basically feeling that wrestling in Madison Square Garden in April was a goal and she had achieved that. But that also explains Kagetsu constantly badmouthing the new owners since the Bushiroad purchase was announced, which led to her announcing her retirement, putting a positive spin on it by saying Stardom is in good hands with Mayu Iwatani in charge. For the public, Kagetsu said her retirement had nothing to do with Hazuki, and that Hazuki’s retirement may have been due to more difficult times than pleasant ones

An interesting note is that Marty Scurll was announced for the main event of the 1/12 show in Concord, NC. No word if that means he’s staying with ROH, which we were told gave him a great offer. The match announced as the main event is a battle of factions with La Faccion Ingobernable of Rush & Dragon Lee & Kenny King vs. Villain Enterprises of Scurll & Body King & PCO

The third and most embarrassing clip was a close-up of the Dark Order brawl showing a guy under a mask throwing punches on the ground that missed Dustin Rhodes badly. I mean, the masked guy was punching the ground. Granted bad punches that miss happen all the time (think Ronda Rousey and Ruby Riott months back which was way way worse) but it became a Twitter talking point and Randy Orton jumped on it writing “He apparently is a seasoned vet and is used to live tv and just assumed that the camera to his left was the one with that red dot thingy on it for those horrendous f**king punches #workonyourpunchkid” “Or quit the business cuz you’re the drizzling sh**s .. or you can come to the top company and I’ll teach you one of the most important aspects of our biz. Throwing a f**king (punch). Hey, the first half was fair game as the video was embarrassingly bad. Orton making it a WWE vs. AEW thing was silly given botched spots happen in both companies all the time and Orton’s lecture was bad given his selling comically bad punches that missed badly by Shane McMahon that popped up everywhere

The combination of it being a bad year at the gate for WWE and a good one for UFC meant that this was the first year in history that UFC had more shows than WWE that topped 10,000 in live attendance.

Not only that, but it was nearly by double, as UFC did so in 32 of its 42 shows while WWE only topped that figure 18 times according to Matt Farmer’s records, although the 12/26 Madison Square Garden show should end the year with 19.

Although this is very much a misleading stat, it is also the first time probably going back 36 years that a U.S.-based pro wrestling promotion averaged more in live attendance than WWE. AEW averaged 6,200 fans and 5,701 paid per show this year. Because of running fewer dates, AEW had the highest average of any promotion in the world. Obviously that is misleading because WWE and CMLL ran so many more dates and if you just took the average of each Raw over the course of the year you would beat that number, and the average Friday night at Arena Mexico would beat that given 6,000 fans there is considered a weak Friday.

WWE averaged 5,000 per show over the first nine months but will probably finish the year closer to 4,600 to 4,700. The last time a promotion would have had a higher average than WWE in the U.S. that ran ten or more shows would have probably been the St. Louis Wrestling Club in 1983 ...

Besides WWE, the only other company since 1984 to top a 5,701 per year paid average would be WCW in 1998 when it averaged 8,029. However, WCW never beat WWF in average live attendance even when winning the ratings. The closest year, and best year overall for industry popularity since the mid-80s would have been in 1998. WWF averaged 10,006 per event in 1998 ...


For those who think this is the worst period for WWE attendance, that’s not close to the case. The worst year was 1994 at 2,880 average when wrestling was really in its dark ages. WCW that year averaged 1,620.

Over the past year, New Japan averaged 2,698 paid per event. Its U.S. average was roughly the same as their world average, at 2,648 per event. But that’s also misleading as if you take MSG out of the New Japan U.S. number, it falls to around 1,500. That still puts New Japan as easily the No. 3 pro wrestling promotion in the U.S. and I don’t see that changing. But New Japan in 2020 will have troubles because of high ticket prices, not announcing lineups until late and running more shows. The other issue is what happens with television ...

Because of the Madison Square Garden show, ROH finished 2019 with 45,479 attendance and a 1,082 per show average. It was the company’s third best year of its history ...

However, if you take MSG out, the average falls to 707, the lowest in many years, and that is more of a true indicator. The way things are going, they will be lucky to do more than 500 per next year.

Given MSG was a seven figure gate, which is the only seven-figure gate ever in the U.S. by a company other than WWE in history (WCW’s record gate was just over $900,000 and AEW has yet to do a $1 million gate), the ticket gross for ROH was surely the largest of any year in its history. That is unique because at the same time they are in their worst shape when it comes to popularity since the early years of the company.

Major League Wrestling had by far its biggest year, averaging 1,457 per event on 11 shows, for about 16,032 total according to figures compiled by Lavie Morgolan from Observer research.

WWE will be set business records for revenue and profit next year. As will UFC.

The rest of the industry is a question. There are signs Japan has peaked as the second level promotions are declining. New Japan is steady in its home country and hopes to run far more in the U.S., but it’s a virtual lock it won’t come close to 2019 numbers because they don’t have a sold out Madison Square Garden show to base the year around. After large growth every year dating back to 2011, the last quarter for New Japan no longer showed major growth.

But with all this, it’s tier three, which is MLW, Impact, NWA, ROH and New Japan that are going to have a tough year in the U.S. market.

For all the talk of AEW’s declining live numbers, NWA has had great critical approval and its numbers have declined greatly simply because of the overload of product.

Impact has strong backers and is the safest it has been probably in its history, but also the lowest on the food chain it has been. NWA is tough because with no paying television, the number of fans willing to buy a PPV for a tier three company being the lowest in history, it’s hard to find a working economic model. ROH is all about Sinclair’s decision-making process on whether to keep it as weekly syndicated programming or not. New Japan in the U.S. is going to struggle running so many events in the market, but they also present live shows at a level that the other companies can only come close to on their best nights. But it’s great hype and great stars, not great shows, that are the difference maker. Unless New Japan does major arena signature events here, it’ll just be a company drawing 500 to 2,000 fans in small buildings and selling a lot of merchandise per head. MLW had great growth this past year, but it seems to have hit a ceiling, plus almost any star they make is going to be getting offers from multiple places that pay better to leave.

There are still rumblings of Los Angeles for the 2021 Mania. As noted before, the city wants is in 2021 to get ready for the Super Bowl in 2022. WWE wants it in 2022 so they can announce an attendance figure larger than the Super Bowl in the same stadium, whether real or not

WWE is reportedly headed to Dallas, Texas for the 2020 Survivor Series pay-per-view, and to Seattle, Washington for the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The new report from @Wrestlevotes notes that T-Mobile Park will likely be the location for the 2021 Rumble. This is where WrestleMania 19 set a new attendance record in 2003 with 54,097 announced fans in attendance, and is the home to MLB's Seattle Mariners. The report did not state where the 2020 Survivor Series pay-per-view will be held, but WWE usually holds events at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Regarding the change in the AEW women's title match, there was a communications issue in the sense because AEW runs Wednesdays and normally indies don't run Wednesdays, they usually book talent without worrying about other dates. And obviously they didn't know about the other date. Kris Statlander had just started and was booked for both Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week for Bar Wrestling. Based on her contract, they could have done what WWE does when it comes to things like this all the time and just pulled the talent, but Statlander asked for the favor and they were able to work it in a way where they'll do title matches the next two weeks, with Riho vs. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose for the title on 1/1, and Statlander getting her shot on 1/8. Statlander is scheduled on New Year's Eve to face Priscilla Kelly and on 1/1 to face Gisele Shaw for shows in the Los Angeles area.

Cody Rhodes' attempt to trademark his father's in-ring name has hit a speed bump, not due to opposition by WWE but the similarity to the trademark owned by his brother, Dustin.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Cody’s initial attempt to trademark Dusty Rhodes, which of course was the ring name of his father, was rejected due to the similarity to the trademark of Dustin Rhodes, which is owned by his brother.

The official rejection notice cites the similarities between the terms and their filings as a potential cause for confusion.

The Dark Order segment to close the Dec. 18 episode of AEW Dynamite was subject to much criticism after the show. In the segment, masked Creepers beatdown The Elite and SCU as fans watched on in relative silence. A clip went viral of a masked Creeper throwing punches at nothing while on top of Dustin Rhodes.

Jim Ross, who called the segment, weighed in on what he saw on the latest Grilling JR podcast.

"Since the 70s, how many matches do you think I've called that are the absolute drizzling shits? Every brand, with some big names, you don't have to be an unknown under a mask to shit the bed," stated Ross. "I knew that the crowd did not go crazy with how we went off the air. You can feel those things. There are stories being told that's great market research for all of us to pay attention to. I never knew how bad that piece of business was until it was everywhere. A lot of people wanted to make sure I saw it, as if I could go back in time to fix it. It was poorly executed and hopefully nothing like that will ever occur again. I know everybody that has ability to change things in AEW are well aware of it. If I had not seen that clip, I would not have known just how bad it was. Not an ideal way you want to go off the air, but come on folks."

Ross continued, "Everything people saw, can be fixed. I'm as excited about this brand as I've ever been. I know we're going to be fine. It's going to take some time. How much time? I don't know. A year from now, I think we'll see a lot of growth, things change, different faces in different roles, new talent coming in. It's a hard act to keep your incumbents over while getting other talents over. I was embarrassed to see what I saw. Did I like it? Hell no, I didn't like it. Who could like it? I thought it was the drizzling shits. The drizzling shits can be cured."

Randy Orton used the same "drizzling shits" term when giving his thoughts on the punches. The Elite and SCU poked fun at the segment on the recent Being The Elite, with Matt Jackson pulverizing Christopher Daniels with phantom punches.

A World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. stockholder is suing for a peek at records that detail the company’s involvement with a football league resurrected by WWE Chairman Vincent McMahon.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 26 in Delaware Chancery Court by an Oklahoma firefighters pension fund, claims there is “a credible basis to believe” that McMahon and other WWE senior officers breached their duties to investors by diverting valuable resources to the XFL.

The suit also suggests that the company’s board members may have failed to conduct appropriate oversight to ensure McMahon didn’t engage in transactions that conflict with WWE’s interests.
Link: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/corporate-law/wwe-sued-for-internal-records-on-companys-xfl-ties (pay article though)


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE’s Potential Plans for Brock Lesnar and the Royal Rumble (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/wwes-potential-plans-for-brock-lesnar-and-event-card-at-royal-rumble-2020/)
NJPW No Longer Broadcasting Shows on US TV, Apparently Done With AXS TV (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/njpw-no-longer-broadcasting-shows-on-us-tv-apparently-done-with-axs-tv/)
AEW Women’s Title Match Changed, New Match Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-womens-title-match-changed-new-match-announced/)
Andrade Wins United States Championship at MSG WWE House Show (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/andrade-wins-united-states-championship-at-msg-wwe-house-show/)
AEW: Taz to Appear on This Week’s Dynamite, More on Win/Loss Records Resetting (https://www.tpww.net/2019/12/aew-taz-to-appear-on-this-weeks-dynamite-more-on-win-loss-records-resetting/)



Side note:
Also taking next week off as an extended break from Sheets report posts. Not sure if next Friday will have a Sheets posting due to no new Observer Newsletter next week. Also likely scaling back on the amount of stuff posted for Sheets reports in the future.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

After a week off for Christmas, AEW Dynamite returned on Wednesday night with its best ratings numbers since October 16. The show averaged 967,000 viewers, up 42 percent from the previous episode that aired on December 18.

In the important 18-49 demo, AEW finished 13th for the night on cable with a 0.36 rating, up 44 percent from the previous episode and also the best number Dynamite has done in that category since October 16.

NXT, which aired a year in review show that featured the announcement of NXT's year-end awards and the teams for the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, had its lowest number on the USA Network, averaging 548,000 viewers. That was down 34 percent from last week.

NXT did a 0.15 rating in the 18-49 demo, dropping to 66th for the night on cable in that category ...

Detailed demo ratings are not available at this time for NXT since it finished outside the top 50. For AEW, their strongest category was men 18-49, where the show averaged a 0.52 rating.

Both shows faced much stronger than usual sports competition in the form of college football's Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, along with the studio shows that aired before and after the games. The Rose Bowl did almost 15.7 million viewers, with the last 45 minutes of that game airing opposite NXT and AEW.

The post-game show and Sugar Bowl pre-game show dropped to 13 million. The Sugar Bowl averaged almost 10 million viewers, with the first hour going against the wrestling shows.

In the 18-49 demographic, AEW reeled in 467,000 viewers and NXT drew 195,000 viewers. The 967,000 number is AEW’s highest viewership since the October 16th episode of Dynamite. NXT’s last live rating was December 18th which saw the crowning of Rhea Ripley as NXT Women’s Champion.

Longtime videogame journalist and wrestling fan Dan Rycert announced today that he was leaving CBS interactive's GiantBomb.com. Beginning next week, he will be moving over behind-the-scenes of WWE's podcasting network becoming a producer on the New Day's "Feel the Power" podcast, according to a Newsweek interview with Kofi Kingston.

Major League Wrestling today announced a World Heavyweight Title Fight: Jacob Fatu vs. Brian Pillman Jr. for MLW: Zero Hour at the NYTEX Sports Centre in the greater Dallas/Ft. Worth area on Saturday January 11. The event will be a MLW FUSION TV taping for beIN SPORTS.

There is a lot of talk that a major story involving MLW and a new partnership will be breaking imminently. Court Bauer was in LA a number of times in recent weeks meeting with potential TV and licensing partners. We are told the story has a lot of potential to tranform the company's future in a positive way.

Chris Jericho is gearing up for his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi on night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14. He did an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote the match and Jericho revealed that he wanted to work with Tanahashi last year but Gedo insisted that he work with Tetsuya Naito first.

“I wanted to work with Tanahashi last year. When I attacked Naito in Korakuen Hall, I wanted to attack Tanahashi, but Gedo wanted it to be Naito, which turned out to be great. This is a main-event, money match, and there is a lot of buzz about it. I just watched the match Tanahashi had with Kenny from last year in the Tokyo Dome, and it was amazing.”

The stipulation of Tanahashi earning an AEW World Title opportunity if he defeats Jericho has been thrown out there. When asked what is next for him in New Japan, Jericho said he doesn’t know but he’d like to work Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi.

“I came to work with Omega, Naito, Okada and Tanahashi. Will I come back after the Tana match? I don’t know. I’d love to work with Ospreay and Ibushi. It might be mission accomplished after this, it might not, but it’s really cool to go back as a main event heavyweight after being a junior heavyweight.”

Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that AXS informed New Japan Pro-Wrestling that they could stay on AXS if NJPW got a working relationship with IMPACT Wrestling going. New Japan turned the offer down which led to them no longer being on AXS TV.

WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon left the XL Center in Hartford, CT on Monday afternoon before RAW hit the air, but returned to the arena because he didn't want to miss the wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley.

We noted earlier this week, via PWInsider, that while Triple H and Kevin Dunn missed Monday's show, Vince arrived backstage at the XL Center right before the show hit the air. That is incorrect as WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler revealed during the latest episode of his podcast, featuring Rusev as the special guest, that Vince left around 2pm ET but returned around 5:30pm ET because he didn't want to miss the ceremony.

Lawler also revealed that the wedding was highly anticipated by people backstage. He talked about Vince missing recent WWE TV events due to important XFL meetings, as we've speculated ...

"Vince has his own office there, and he told everybody he had to leave at 2 o'clock. He left, the limousines took him out. We even went from the Talent Relations.. I dress in the Talent Relations office with Mark Carrano and those guys. So we moved the Talent Relations office into Vince's office. So we moved all our stuff over into his bigger, nicer office, where we had more room and we're all sitting there and I don't know, about 5:30 or so, somebody comes in and says, 'Hey, Vince is on his way back, he doesn't want to miss the wedding!'"

Lawler continued, "So, he came all the way back... all of a sudden we're in the back scrambling, we're grabbing up all of our stuff. We had to put his office back together so he wouldn't know that we'd stolen his office from him. But yeah, Vince came back just to make sure he was there for the wedding. So, it was great."

Rusev said he heard the same story, and commented on how Vince is a big fan of weddings.


TPWW Frontpage:

Fatal Four-Way Match Announced for NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/fatal-four-way-match-announced-for-nxt/)
Various: New Matches for NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Taz on AEW Dynamite Appearance, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/various-new-matches-for-nxt-uk-takeover-blackpool-ii-taz-on-aew-dynamite-appearance-indies/)
Wrestler Possibly at SmackDown Tonight (Possible Spoiler) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wrestler-possibly-at-smackdown-tonight-possible-spoiler/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Vince is going to have to take a step back with the XFL. That is going to give Heyman more room.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Last night's Raw averaged 2.39 million viewers, down only two percent from last week's wedding show, which would be a good sign, and seems to establish a significant bounce back this year after football season ends.

Next week's Raw, which goes against the college football championship game of Clemson vs. LSU, will be the last show against major sports competition until the NCAA basketball finals in April, and usually starts Raw's biggest ratings period of the year ...
The audience was up from 2.33 million viewers for the same show one year ago.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.56 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.41 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.20 million viewers


AEW has revealed some more information about the tribute to the legends of Memphis wrestling that's taking place on Wednesday's episode of Dynamite.

It was announced today that the legends that AEW is paying tribute to will include Angelo Poffo & Randy Savage, Lance Russell, Eddie & Tommy Gilbert, Brian Christopher, Austin Idol, Dave Brown, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson), and Jimmy Valiant.
Poffo, Savage, Russell, Eddie & Tommy Gilbert, and Christopher are being honored posthumously.

We have additional notes for the tribute to Memphis Wrestling that will take place on this week’s AEW Dynamite.

Dave Brown will be appearing and calling Dark and Excalibur will be trying as best he can to call it as close to a Lance Russell as possible on that show. Doug Gilbert will be appearing to honor Tommy & Eddie Gilbert. Shane Russell, Lance's son, will be there to help honor Lance Russell.

Since this has come up a few times recently, Matt Hardy's current WWE deal expires on 3/1, so if he does not come to terms on a new deal, he would be free to appear anywhere on that date. Hardy has obviously been preparing for a potential exit with his "Release the Delete" videos online and we are told that the major hurdle between the two sides is how he would be used going forward, not money.

Jeff Hardy's deal will not expire at the same time as it has been held up at times due to his legal issues and injuries. Hardy has a hearing on 1/13 on his DWI arrest last year. We are told that WWE has pushed Hardy to address his personal health in the wake of the arrest and Hardy has been working hard at doing so, which is a great thing.

On the latest edition of New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast, the trio talked about their experience at WrestleMania 32 where they took on The League Of Nations (Alberto El Patron, Rusev & Sheamus) in a six-man tag. They were also involved in the segment with Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was at that WrestleMania that New Day made their entrance through a massive box of Booty O’s but Xavier Woods revealed that they originally wanted to come out of buttcheeks:

“The original idea that we actually had for the entrance was kind of insane too. So, we haven’t done this and hopefully we’ll get to at some point. We wanted to get a big van and have it look like a unicorn but the back doors are taken off and they’ve been replaced with huge buttcheeks that are on springs. So when the van is moving, the buttcheeks are shaking and once it gets to the end of the ramp, it fits in. Essentially, [the] cheeks open up, and then we come out of the van on tricycles with all our unicorn stuff on just having a great time, and so we explained this to Triple H, to Paul, he who shall be named, and he says, ‘I mean that’s great, and we can look into it if you want to, or you could guys could come out of a big box of Booty O’s like the toys’ and we were like, ‘Yes please.’”

CHIKARA and the Wrestle Factory training school issued a statement announcing that they’ve severed ties with Rory Gulak: “Last week, both CHIKARA, Inc and The Wrestle Factory, LLC severed ties with Rory Gulak. We take allegations of misconduct very seriously. In accordance with this, we cooperate completely and transparently with all law enforcement agencies. Our priority is and always will be the safety of our fans, cast and crew.” ICW also announced that Rory Gulak has been removed from their Gonzo Wrestling show on February 1.
Rumor going around the net is Gulak allegedly being in possession of child porn and on at least one occasion, showed it off to someone who didn't bother to inform the police afterwards. Also other allegations of him being a sexual predator and animal abuser.

Former WWE developmental talent Eric Angle, brother of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, plead guilty for his role in an underground group that manufactured and sold steroid on the dark web, according to Cleveland.com.

Angle was part of a group that sold controlled substanances, including steroids, through Internet sites. He and two other co-conspirators were set to go to trial next week but yesterday plead guilty. Angle pleaded guilty Monday to a drug conspiracy charge and admitted that he bought 721 grams of steroids in liquid form for redistribution.

Angle who was signed to WWE in the early 2000s and worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling before a biceps injury curtailed his wrestling career. He had a memorable angle where he switched places his Kurt during a PPV bout against the Undertaker, which was well done, leading to his developmental deal.

Angle will be sentenced this April.

Prior to Monday Night RAW going live on the USA Network from Oklahoma City, Natalya defeated Chelsea Green, and Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose. Those matches were taped for WWE Main Event.
Seems Green (and likely Deonna Purrazzo) was actually called up from NXT since that's her 3rd appearance in a row with the main locker room. Also recently was involved in a photo shoot likely to get new renders for her match graphics on RAW and Main Event.

On night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14, Tetsuya Naito defeated Kazuchika Okada to retain his IWGP Intercontinental Championship and to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Naito’s road to that accomplishment was not a smooth one as he underwent right eye surgery in November of 2019, as reported by Yahoo! Japan.

It is noted in the article that around May of 2019, the Los Ingobernables de Japon member began to notice something off with his vision. Naito told the publication that while he was in the ring, the ropes began to multiply and it started to look like six ropes instead of three ...

Naito is not a fan of hospitals but he could not concentrate during his matches so he decided to visit hospitals that specialized in ophthalmology, brain surgery and otolaryngology. None of the hospitals could find out what was wrong and Naito just figured that he’d finish out his wrestling career with the issue ...

There were no results regarding Naito’s eye issue until October at a college hospital where he learned that he had paralysis in his eye muscles. The dual champion continued to wrestle until November 27th and teamed with BUSHI to take on Jay White and Bad Luck Fale during a World Tag League event. The next day, Naito made his way back to Tokyo and on the 29th, he underwent right eye surgery in a hospital in Tokyo. His vision was fixed and he returned to in-ring action on December 19th at the Road to Tokyo Dome show.


TPWW Frontpage:

Will Ospreay Injury Status Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/will-ospreay-injury-status-update/)
Lana & Lashley’s Wedding Officiant Was Tackled by Security on Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/lana-lashleys-wedding-officiant-was-tackled-by-security-on-raw/)
NJPW: Naito vs. Kenta Double Title Match Announced, Liger’s Retirement Ceremony (Video) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/njpw-naito-vs-kenta-double-title-match-announced-ligers-retirement-ceremony-video/)
Jeff Cobb’s ROH Contract Expires (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/jeff-cobbs-roh-contract-expires/)

[Evil Vito]

Rory Gulak is an Olympic-style wrestling trainer and presumably works with children in that regard.

SO yeah, the abuse rumors are baaaaaaaaaaaad.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That fucking sucks. It's just dank. Obviously he's not the biggest victim in the story, but I feel bad for Drew Gulak. Facing that sort of shit about your brother must be super-uncomfortable.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Ahead of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Triple H was asked about potential future locations for UK TakeOvers: “In terms of future NXT UK TakeOver locations, @TripleH pinpoints London as a place on a priority list, as well as Dublin, to @AlexM_talkSPORT, before saying he'd love to go to Germany, France and Italy, too.”

Fans may have noticed that the reported match between Austin & Billy Gunn against Shawn Spears & Preston Vance did not air on Tuesday's AEW Dark. The match was taped on Jan. 1 as part of the AEW Dark tapings before AEW Dynamite in Jacksonville. The Gunn Club picked up the victory in the tag team bout.

According to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, the match was never intended to air on AEW Dark. Satin reports that the match was more of a tryout, which was said to have gone well. Austin & Billy will reportedly team again on Wednesday for a match that will likely air on next Tuesday's Dark.

Variety ran an article this afternoon, looking at the Wednesday night war between WWE NXT and All Elite Wrestling.

Interesting to note that the article cites that when DVR +7 viewership (meaning the show has been watched within seven days of its live airing) is factored in with the live viewership, each promotion's weekly average is far stronger.

With the Live +7, AEW is averaging 1.2 million viewers a week, according to Variety. 654,000 of those viewers are in the coveted 18-49 demo. That raises AEW 32%.

Meanwhile, NXT is averaging 972,000 viewers in Live+7 with 428,000 in the 18-49 demo. NXT is raised 20%.

All Elite Wrestling is gearing up to present the January 8th episode of AEW Dynamite from the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi. One of several segments scheduled for the show is a tribute to the legends of Memphis Wrestling. Brian Christopher Lawler, Angelo Poffo, Randy Savage, Lance Russell, “Hot Stuff” Eddie & Tommy Gilbert, Austin Idol, Dave Brown, The Rock & Roll Express and “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant are going to be honored during the show. Also, Dave Brown will be doing commentary on AEW Dark alongside Excalibur.

Memphis’ own Jerry Lawler shared his thoughts about the segment during an interview with Cerrito Live. The WWE Hall Of Famer feels that a tribute to Memphis wrestling is the last thing on AEW officials’ minds and they just want to sell tickets and pop the crowd in attendance.

“Now you finally hit on it. They’re looking to sell some tickets and pop the crowd. I think a Tribute to Memphis wrestling is actually the last thing on their mind. They’re looking to sell some tickets and pop the crowd.”

While speaking with Commercial Appeal to promote the show, Matt Jackson said the idea to have a Tribute to Memphis Wrestling segment was Tony Khan’s and added that AEW would’ve loved to have Jerry Lawler come in but Lawler is a commentator on Monday Night RAW. Lawler’s son, the late Brian Christopher Lawler will be honored by his brother, Kevin Lawler who’ll be in attendance at the event.

“I think the idea is Tony (Khan) wanted to do a 10-bell salute for all of the fallen brothers,” said Matt. "It would have been great to have 'The King' [Jerry Lawler], but obviously he's working elsewhere."

New York Post conducted an interview with Cody Rhodes ...

When asked about the rumored partnership between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and AEW, Cody thinks it’s strange that people were asking for it. He said there is a sense of partnership or collaboration because of Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho being in marquee matches at Wrestle Kingdom 14. As far as the ‘forbidden door’, Cody thinks it’s continuously opening and closing.

“I think the thing that was strange to me was people were asking for this partnership. I don’t know what a partnership would look like other than what you saw. Chris Jericho was part of one of the main events of Wrestle Kingdom, Jon Moxley as well. They both were successful. What did he call it? The forbidden door? The forbidden door. It may be forbidden, but clearly the door is opening and closing and opening and closing. It’s public knowledge that some guys here, myself included, have exemptions to work New Japan Pro-Wrestling. But I know that New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s focus is New Japan, and AEW’s focus is AEW. So more likely what a partnership would look like is perhaps some sharing of talent, some shared creative, but we’re not going to do a Super Clash III where (Kerry) Von Erich and (Jerry) Lawler are fighting over the title. Sorry, that’s a real specific angle I brought up. I’m always hesitant to combine banners versus just respecting each other’s banners. But I like how it’s referred to as the forbidden door. I don’t really think it’s forbidden at all. Like I said, many people have the exemption to work there. They put on a great Wrestle Kingdom. They have some amazing talent, particularly Will Ospreay. He’s a top-five wrestler in the world right now. So, we’ll see where that goes. I know everyone pretty much feels the same about it.”

Here are a few highlights from Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s media call with members of the U.K. wrestling media:

– Triple H is for the idea of NXT U.K. possibly going live on BT Sport. He said that over time, if there can be an NXT U.K. roster assembled that can stand on its own then it could certainty be an option.
– Triple H welcomes both CM Punk and AJ Lee back to WWE as wrestlers.
– Thinks the sky is the limit for Drew McIntyre in 2020. Adds that Drew wants to be the best in the world.
– When asked about the possibility of NXT talents showing up TakeOver: Blackpool II, Triple H said that anything is possible.

Inside The Ropes released their interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley. During their conversation, Foley talked about some of his criticisms of All Elite Wrestling and narrowed his points down to some of the talents not being trained to wrestle on television and thinks that’s where NXT has the advantage over AEW.

“Yeah, I mean they’ve got an amazing talent roster but I think with the exception of eight-to-ten guys, you have a lot of guys who haven’t worked full-time for a promotion and they haven’t had the chance to make mistakes in a smaller venue. One of the things I liked about the ‘For All Mankind’ DVD was that you literally got to see me grow and they’d show a promo from 1989 and it clearly wasn’t quite there. You could see the growth, and I’m sure you will see the growth of the AEW characters as they go but in the meantime, you get to see some mistakes being made on live television so, some of the guys have grown up yearning after the, ‘This is awesome’ chant, but haven’t had the experience of being in angles that need to draw money. I think for guys of my era, there was definitely a very real sense of if the angle wasn’t successful, you didn’t draw at the houses and there was no other ancillary means of income, and I’m not down on the guys but I think you’re seeing some inexperience when it comes to shooting angles and performing for the camera and so guys are out there and it’s an admirable trait that they wanna have they best match they possibly can but every guy wanting to have the best match at every venue doesn’t necessarily lead to [the] best promotion. That’s just my opinion. So I think someone needs to rein some of these guys in. Like Gerald Brisco told me when I got to WWE, he says, ‘We know you like to do a lot of these things. There may come a time when we ask you to do that but until then, we’re gonna ask you not to,’ and that really improved my longevity so I think NXT’s advantage is that their guys have been trained to work for the camera, and I think they have an advantage of having more seasoned stars, and now a dedicated team writing for them, but in the end, it comes down to who has the ability to tell better long-term stories and get the audience engaged.”

Becky Lynch opens up on the pressures of being a woman competing in main event matches in WWE.

During CES 2020, Lynch spoke about her journey to being a top star in WWE and the challenges that come with being a woman in the wrestling industry. One thing she spoke about was the amount of pressure women feel when they perform, especially at a marquee event or match. In Lynch's case, she headlined WrestleMania last year alongside Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey in a triple threat match.

When talking about wrestling in the main event, Lynch says men face less criticism if they have a bad main event match than the women. Lynch added that if women don't perform well in the main event, then there will be doubts raised by skeptics over women being in the main event in general.

"If there's a guy and he made an error, it's kind of passed over. Often times, I feel like I have the weight of a gender on my shoulders. A million guys have had terrible main event matches, but if I have a subpar main event match, the question comes up, 'Should women be main eventing?' And that's a load of crap. We all have off days, but we're all trying to be the absolute best. Unfortunately, we always have to be on our game until that's not a question anymore. So we are in a position where we have to be extra so that the future generations don't have to deal with that anymore. It's a little bit unfortunate but it's a little bit of the way it is. It's not good, it's not right, but it's what we have to do. I don't want this to be a question of the future... Those barriers should be gone by now," Lynch said.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Updated SmackDown Ratings, Big Show on His WWE Return, WWE Ice Cream on Sale (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-updated-smackdown-ratings-big-show-on-his-wwe-return-wwe-ice-cream-on-sale/)
WWE Backstage Ratings – Jan. 7, 2020 – Up (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-backstage-ratings-jan-7-2020-up/)
CM Punk Attacks The Miz in a Now Deleted Tweet (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/cm-punk-attacks-the-miz-in-a-now-deleted-tweet/)
AEW Top Five Rankings – Jan. 8, 2020 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-top-five-rankings-jan-8-2020/)
WWE Signs Mercedes Martinez (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-signs-mercedes-martinez/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Following the holiday season, the Wednesday Night Wars were back to their normal schedule last night -- and AEW was the clear ratings winner by a big margin.

This week's Dynamite averaged 947,000 viewers, down two percent from last week. The rating in the important 18-49 demo was a 0.36, good for sixth on the night on cable and matching last week's number in that category ...

NXT failed to finish in the top 50 for the night in the 18-49 demo for the second week in a row ...

NXT was up 32 percent in total viewers from last week's year in review episode, averaging 721,000 viewers. That was still the show's second lowest number since October 30.

In the 18-49 demo, NXT finished 55th for the night on cable with a 0.19 rating, up 27 percent from last week. The show had gotten as high as 0.3 in that demo during the Survivor Series build, so that's a huge drop.

WWE has announced two more matches for the NXT vs. NXT UK Worlds Collide special that's taking place during Royal Rumble weekend.

NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley will officially defend her title against Toni Storm on the Worlds Collide show. The match was confirmed after an angle where Storm interrupted Ripley on last night's NXT and challenged her for Worlds Collide.

Finn Balor vs. Ilja Dragunov has also been announced for Worlds Collide.

Juan Kachmanian, best known as Pampero Firpo, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina who grew up to headline almost every major pro wrestling arena in the world as one of pro wrestling's top stars of the 60s and 70s, passed away this morning at the age of 89.

For the modern era, while not well known to many, Firpo was the wrestler that Randy Savage copied his interview style, from the guttural voice, the stream of conscious flow right down to the "Ooooh yeah," which were all staples of the Firpo style.
More on Firpo's legacy and career in wrestling: https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/pampero-firpo-passes-away-89-years-old-301281

Since we have gotten a lot of questions about who books what within All Elite Wrestling, AEW President Tony Khan has been the driving force behind the creative direction for many of the top AEW Dynamite storylines. The Jon Moxley-Inner Circle recruitment angle was a Khan idea (it was his father's car that Chris Jericho offered) with Jericho working side by side with Khan to help put together small details. That angle felt very much like a WCW Nitro storyline and Khan spent a lot of time studying what made Nitro work while planning to launch AEW.

Chris Jericho is extremely engaged in every story and segment he is involved in (which obviously shows) and has been a big locker room leader in terms of pulling younger talents over to help guide and teach them and give them advice.

Khan has also been specifically working on building Jungle Boy and Scorpio Sky, among others, as long-term prospects. Sky was handpicked from the start as a future player, to the point that Chris Jericho's throwaway line in his promo backstage at All Out after winning the AEW title as he passed SCU that Scorpio Sky would never get a title shot was meant to foreshadow everything that would come down the line with Sky getting a shot on Dynamite last year.

The EVPs (Kenny Omega, Young Bucks, Cody) are given a lot of freedom for their matches and segments - as they are in a position of strong trust - and there is a back and forth creative flow with Khan, but Khan is in the Vince McMahon role of having the final say

Khan is very hands on with all the Dynamite segments every week. At last night's taping, Khan was intimately involved in laying out the Jericho-Moxley segment that closed Dynamite, the ongoing Kenny Omega & Adam Page storyline as well as their tag bout with Private Party, The Best Friends vs. Jurassic Express six man tag team bout and The Rhodes Brothers vs. The Lucha Brothers. The Omega-Page storyline creative has been a Khan idea. Khan is not as involved in AEW Dark behind the scenes ...

The belief among those we've spoken to is that Colt Cabana will be back once he completes commitments elsewhere ...

That was Dr. Luther of FMW fame in the early 1990s debuting last night as a member of the Nightmare Collective.

Ahead of her IMPACT World Championship match this Sunday at Hard To Kill, Tessa Blanchard joined Tommy Dreamer and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio. Tommy asked Tessa how she will deal with the backlash if she is crowned the new IMPACT World Champion and Tessa responded with the following:

“I think I’ve talked to you [Tommy Dreamer] a little bit about it and D’Lo a little bit about it too at tapings. I feel that sometimes, I’m not oblivious to it, I’m not stupid, and I feel like no matter what happens in life, people are always gonna have something to say, and the way that I look at it is I think that no matter what you go through, whether it’s a positive, a negative, whatever it is, if you’re able to turn the way you think about it into a positive then you’ll be able to get through it, and I feel like anyone who’s put in a position that I’m in, especially going into Sunday, it’s different. People aren’t used to it. Some people might not be OK with it, ‘cause it’s not traditional, it’s not what we’ve been taught. It’s not what we’ve seen all the time. But that’s what I love about it. I love that it’s different, I love that we’re doing something that hasn’t been done before. I think it makes it special. I think it draws more attention to our company. I’m pretty good at having mental strength. I feel like I’ve got one of the strongest minds that I probably could ever have, because of my dad.”

WWE released a one minute clip from the upcoming episode of ‘Broken Skull Sessions ‘with Glenn “Kane” Jacobs that’ll premiere after NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II. In the clip, Kane talked about the night he unmasked and not telling his wife about his haircut because he wanted to surprise her. He said it was initially supposed to be shaved bald and while he was getting his haircut, Bruce Prichard stopped the barber and wanted to bring Vince McMahon in to see the half-cut because that was a look that Bruce found interesting.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bWpLrGeJzg

Per a report from WrestlingINC, there is interest in Major League Wrestling from Showtime premium television network.

SoCal Uncensored did a deep dive into WWE Hall Of Famer Sgt. Slaughter’s career and discovered that Sgt. Slaughter did not serve in the military.
Seems the main issue is WWE and Slaughter continues to pass off his military service as being legit when that wasn't the case, especially when WWE releases articles honoring wrestlers who were actual military veterans. Link: https://twitter.com/socaluncensored/status/1215336444492800000

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that the WWE ice cream sandwiches are coming out in February and the price range is $3.00 – $5.29. John Cena, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and “Macho Man” Randy Savage are emblazoned on the sandwiches.

With AEW being a year old and already gaining national television on TNT, selling out arenas, and winning some bidding wars for talent in free agency, many see them as a threat to WWE.

But, while he welcomes the fight, WWE Co-President George Barrios doesn't see them as an existential threat. Speaking at Citi 2020 Global TMT West Conference, Barrios was asked about All Elite Wrestling and whether they present competition to WWE.

"I'm a kid from Queens so everything is a competition and fight. That's one of the things I love about WWE. My DNA fits within that. We don't take anything for granted. We are serious like a heart attack around fighting for our unfair share. Having said that, I think it's fair to say that there's been other wrestling in the United States and abroad, who we respect people behind it, the talent, and what they do. It can be tough to compete with us because we're so good at what we do. We've built up capabilities and competencies over a long, long time. How to build stars, present the content, and engage fans over multiple platforms. We think we're hard to compete with. We don't take anything for granted. If you said to me, existential, do I feel [like they're a threat]? No. But I love a good fight. We enjoy it," he said.

Psycho Clown has threated to leave AAA, according to a report by Cancha. There's are no details given as to the reasons he might leave. The article says it is something he is considering but is talking to his lawyer first.
For some reference, he is one of AAA's top stars and maybe the equivalent of WWE's John Cena in terms of being very popular with younger fans and star status.


TPWW Frontpage:

ROH Announces Return of Supercard of Honor Event for 2020 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/roh-announces-return-of-supercard-of-honor-event-for-2020/)
Three Matches Announced for Next Week’s NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/three-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-nxt/)
Three Matches Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite, Including DDP’s Return (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/three-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-aew-dynamite-including-ddps-return/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Matt Hardy is expected to leave WWE in March. He produced new Broken videos and offered an idea for a “Free the Delete” series to lead to his return with the old character. But they weren’t interested. Hardy is the leading speculated name for the leader of the Dark Order since they just started teasing a leader and Hardy just started putting out the videos. Plus, the Young Bucks and Broken Hardys had talked over a year-long program in ROH and Impact for three years ago, but when the Hardys got the WWE offer to return at Mania, they rushed through it. The problem here is that Jeff Hardy, who may not be on the same page right now with Matt since their wives went at it not that long ago in social media, has had a lot of time added to his WWE contract to due to injuries.

The return of head-to-head live shows on 1/8 saw AEW benefit from a great show the week before to score a surprisingly one-sided win in a race that it appeared NXT had the momentum in when the head-to-heads ended on 12/18 ...

AEW appeared to build the stronger show for 1/8, and it showed, doing 947,000 viewers and a 0.36 in the demo over NXT’s 721,000 viewers and 0.19 in the demo ...

Both numbers were likely held down by a combination of increased interest in news, and even more, a Jeopardy special on ABC that did 14,872,000 viewers and did in particular gigantic numbers in 35-49, AEW’s biggest fan demo, and 50+, NXT’s biggest ...

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened at 1,013,000 for the bulk of Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Private Party. NXT opened at 818,000 for promos and the beginning of Rhea Ripley & Toni Storm & Candice LeRae vs. Bianca Belair & Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray.

The second quarter saw AEW lost 69,000 viewers for the ending of Omega & Page vs. Private Party and the post-match stuff. NXT lost 48,000 viewers for the bulk of the women’s six-person and a Tommaso Ciampa video package.

The third quarter saw AEW gain 17,000 viewers for Riho vs. Kris Statlander and all the post-match stuff with the Nightmare Collective. NXT lost 48,000 for The Forgotten Sons vs. Imperium in the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament.

The fourth quarter saw AEW lost 48,000 viewers for Christopher Daniels vs. Sammy Guevara and post-match with the Dark Order, SCU and Young Bucks. NXT lost 54,000 viewers for Austin Theory vs. Joaquim Wilde.

The fifth quarter saw AEW gain 28,000 viewers for Dustin & Cody Rhodes vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix while NXT gained 61,000 viewers for the battle of tag champs with Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Mark Coffey & Wolfgang.

The sixth quarter saw AEW stay even for the MJF promo which also featured DDP, Butcher, Blade, Bunny, Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall. NXT lost 13,000 for the ending of the tag team battle of champions and promos with Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor.

The seventh quarter saw AEW lose 44,000 viewers for Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt vs. Trent & Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy. NXT lost 71,000 viewers for Mia Yim vs. Kayden Carter and video packages.

For the head-to-head main events, AEW’s segment with Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle with Jon Moxley gained 73,000 viewers to 970,000. NXT with Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Damien Priest lost 71,000 viewers to 605,000.

When AEW went off the air, NXT gained 195,000 viewers for the ending of the main event.

In the same time slots last year, USA Network averaged 902,000 viewers and TNT averaged 520,000 viewers, so NXT was 20 percent down and AEW was 82 percent up.

The first episode of NXT on BT Sport, by the way, did not carry the overrun and went off the air early before the finish of the Fatal Four Way won by Keith Lee.

The Wednesday night wars on 1/1 were one-sided since NXT did an awards and best of 2019 show.

AEW’s live show did 967,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) , a huge increase from recent weeks with a heavily promoted show. It was more impressive since the first part of the show went head-to-head with the Rose Bowl, which drew 15,698,000 viewers and the second part went against the Sugar Bowl, which did 9,915,000 viewers.

The best of show dropped NXT to 548,000 viewers and only a 0.15 in 18-49, falling to 66th place on the night. AEW did a 0.36 ...

In the segment-by-segment, NXT opened with 772,000 viewers and 285,000 in 18-49 for the ladder match with Undisputed Era, Street Profits, Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel and Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. AEW opened with 1,074,000 viewers and 494,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Darby Allin.

In the second quarter, NXT lost 104,000 viewers and 42,000 in 18-49 for the end of the ladder match and Tag Team of the Year award presentation. AEW lost 105,000 viewers and 31,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Cody vs. Allin.

In the third quarter, NXT lost 146,000 viewers and 55,000 in 18-49 Male Wrestler of the Year and Female Wrestler of the Year awards. AEW gained 47,000 viewers and 34,000 in 18-49 for Riho vs. Nyla Rose vs. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida.

In the fourth quarter, NXT gained 9,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for the Rivalry of the Year and beginning of the Women’s War Games match. AEW lost 104,000 viewers and 67,000 in 18-49 for the Dark Order promo and Jon Moxley vs. Trent.

In the fifth quarter, NXT gained 11,000 viewers but lost 20,000 in 18-49 for the rest of the Women’s War Games match. AEW gained 67,000 viewers and 33,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Moxley vs. Trent and Chris Jericho’s offer to Moxley.

In the sixth quarter NXT lost 41,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the Future Star award. AEW lost 13,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara.

In the seventh quarter, NXT lost 72,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the Breakout Star of the Year and beginning of Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole 2/3 fall Match of the Year. AEW lost 39,000 viewers but gained 9,000 in 18-49 for the MJF promo.

In the eighth quarter, the battle of main events saw AEW’s six man tag do 893,000 viewers and 458,000 in 18-49 to NXT’s doing 418,000 viewers and 155,000 in 18-49. NXT lost 11,000 viewers but gained 9,000 in 18-49 with Gargano vs. Cole. AEW had Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Pac & Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix and lost 34,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49.

After AEW ended, NXT gained 141,000 viewers and 61,000 in 18-49 for the end of Gargano vs. Cole and Cole winning the Overall Competitor of the Year award.

A note on the ratings for 12/18. That was the week that NXT first won in the 18-49 demos. Even including DVR viewership, after seven days, NXT was still ahead in both overall and 18-49 numbers. That would be the only week so far that NXT with DVR viewership won either overall or in 18-49, although 18-49 only had a 2,000 viewer difference and since AEW traditionally does more past seven day viewers than NXT. So even that show may end up in a dead heat or with AEW winning. On 11/27, when NXT won 813,000 to 668,000 live, it ended up with AEW ahead with DVR viewership by 2,000 and in 18-49 had a 528,000 to 412,000 edge. But on 12/18, even with DVR viewers NXT won 949,000 to 942,000 in total viewers, making the first time AEW fell below 1 million viewers and NXT had the edge 457,000 to 455,000 in 18-49. So with NXT running that loaded show, a lot of AEW fans didn’t even bother to watch the show

For the first time in history, New Japan ran two straight nights of major shows at the Tokyo Dome, selling out the traditional 1/4 event with a paid attendance of 40,008, and probably about 43,000 total; and 30,063 paid the next day, looking to be about 34,000 to 35,000 total ...

There were about 8,300 tickets for the first night and 6,500 for the second night purchased outside of Japan. Both were records and shows that much of the growth in recent years comes from overseas. There were few tickets sold outside of Japan for any Tokyo Dome event until the 2017 show headlined by Okada vs. Kenny Omega ...

Surprisingly, the two countries that sold the most tickets were Australia and the U.K., the former topping 3,000 tickets to night one.

The bad blood between the two sides also stems from New Japan’s booking plans for 2019. Originally, Omega was to retain the IWGP title against Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome and then lead to a match with Okada, their first ever meeting in the U.S., for Madison Square Garden. While we were under the impression Omega was to lose that match, he was not. The Tokyo Dome final four booking plan with both the IWGP and IC belts at stake was to be Omega vs. Ibushi and Okada vs. Naito (meaning one of those two would have been IC champion) on the first night. The idea from that would seem to be that Naito would have beaten both Okada and then Omega since the plan was always for Naito to be the first with the two belts at the same time.

One person noted that Harold Meij wanted at the time to go directly to Khan. Khan didn’t come and who, for reasons having nothing to do with the wrestling industry, has never been to Japan and may never come to Japan. Things got worse due to legal threats made against AEW and Omega, which put relations at a terrible level, to the point neither side wanted to acknowledge the other. Those in AEW were frustrated with the idea that there was a fan base that no matter what, had this mentality that New Japan could do no wrong but they had seen a very different side of the company. It was easy for both sides to be bitter, AEW due to the snub, New Japan due to the taking of the talent, with the idea they don’t need the other, since both have done well on their own.

Khan decided against plugging anything related to Jericho vs. Tanahashi or the Tokyo Dome show on its television or social media because he felt that was of no benefit to AEW. Yet, after the Tokyo Dome, on AEW, Jericho and the announcers talked about how Jericho and Moxley had big wins over the past week at the Tokyo Dome, a step that just a week earlier wouldn’t have been allowed. However, Moxley was not mentioned as winning the U.S. title, which is a Khan ruling with the idea that on Dynamite, the only titles he wants mentioned are AEW titles. If you note, Omega has stopped being called AAA champion, although that may be acknowledged going forward on Dark and he could defend it there, but won’t on Dynamite or PPV. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix are never mentioned as AAA tag champs in AEW even though those titles were defended in the past on AEW PPV shows.

New Japan officially announced that there are no plans for television in the U.S. right now. This had been inevitable since Anthem purchased AXS. Really, the only way they could have kept was if they became an affiliate of Impact and that just wasn’t going to happen. New Japan did have that option but turned it down. As noted last week, this is more of a blow to New Japan in the U.S. than people recognize. Those in the bubble will say that you still have New Japan World, but the reality is that maybe has 50,000 subscribers outside of Japan, and that’s covering the rest of the world so maybe 35,000 in the U.S.

B.J. Whitmer and Kelly Klein have split up. Whitmer brought up it was due to her relationship with somebody else. Most have tabbed that as Adam Birch (Joey Mercury). That seems to explain a number of things. Birch had contacted a number of ROH wrestlers with the idea of getting them out of their contracts and him representing them with the idea they could make more money playing WWE and AEW against each other than they could in ROH. It didn’t go anywhere because it was felt Birch was trying to take down ROH to do so, and virtually nobody was in favor of that. Birch was banned from Twitter for comments about Whitmer, who now works for AEW backstage

This is a true story and it shows how brainwashed some are. There was an international documentary being done on pro wrestling and both myself and Fumi Saito were involved this past week. They had interviewed people in WWE recently as well. I had actually blocked the director not that long ago because he asked me if it was true that Tony Khan actually bought all the tickets for those first day sold out events to make it appear the product was hot, given I seem to be a magnet for people who, for whatever reason, cling on to desperation wanting AEW to fail, even though I’ve never said once it’s a lock for them to succeed, just they’ve gotten off to a great start and their results thus far for a company getting started and selling tickets are strong. Anyway, the story came from people in WWE who explained to them that version, that the fast ticket sales and early sellouts were the company buying up all the tickets. So it’s actually a story propagated from within WWE talent or told to WWE talent from within the organization. You’d think people who see through the obvious, but I guess not

Historically, bigger than Naito’s win was the final match ever of Liger. Nikkan Sports covered the Liger retirement as the major sports story of the day. But it wasn’t just Liger’s retirement, as unbeknownst to everyone, his biggest rival during the period Liger became known as arguably the best in-ring performer in the business, Naoki Sano, wanted to retire with Liger. But rather than take any spotlight away, Sano teamed with Liger, losing to Ryu Lee (Dragon Lee) & Hiromu Takahashi on this show, and then the next day announced his retirement quietly.

Hirooki Goto pinned KENTA to win the Never Open weight title in 16:12. What hurt this match live was no Katsuyori Shibata at ringside since the angle was based on KENTA attacking Shibata. Evidently Shibata tried to get cleared, which was admittedly a huge longshot at best. The result was that not only was he not cleared, but told in no uncertain terms that there was zero percent chance he could ever be cleared.

With WrestleMania season approaching, Will Ospreay has been announced for two independent shows in Tampa.

Ospreay will be in action at Game Changer Wrestling's Joey Janela's Spring Break 4 at The Cuban Club in Ybor City on Friday, April 3. This will be the first time Ospreay has wrestled at a Spring Break or for GCW.

WKYT-TV in Kentucky is reporting that WWE is making a push to have Corbin, Kentucky renamed King Corbin, Kentucky as part of a marketing ploy for this weekend's live event in the city.

WWE is running Corbin this Sunday with Baron Corbin advertised to face Roman Reigns in a Loser Eats Dogfood match. Prior to that event, according to WKYT, Corbin and WWE reps will be in front of the Colonel Sanders statue in downtown Corbin Sunday afternoon, collecting signatures to join Corbin's petition for the name change. WWE cameras will be filming and there will be giveaways for tickets for Sunday's live event.

Vice is in the midst of putting together and filming the second season of Dark Side of The Ring. PWInsider.com can confirm some of the topics that will be covered in Season Two will be:
* Brawl For All.
* The Benoit Tragedy.
* Dino Bravo.

There's also been talk of Herb Abrams and New Jack episodes, but we have not confirmed whether they have moved forward on including those in season two.

The plan is for ten episodes for season two.

The Benoit tragedy episode will feature Nancy Benoit’s sister Sandra Toffoloni and Chris Benoit's son David. Since Toffoloni has noted this publicly on her Twitter account, she has reunited with David and thanked the series for giving her back her nephew. Toffoloni and Benoit were together at an AEW PPV last year.

Mirror Sport uploaded highlights from their portion of the recent media call with Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Levesque confirmed that there will be more NXT U.K. TakeOvers this year and it was just a matter of mapping it out with the rest of the WWE schedule.

“We absolutely will. As you can imagine, trying to put together a WWE calendar, with closing in on 600 live events all over the globe, is a difficult process and it’s a puzzle, and if one thing changes it moves bits and pieces around and you don’t want to be running shows that step on each other. So it’s a bit of a puzzle. There absolutely are plans for more NXT UK TakeOvers this year. As you see even just now, this weekend we’re heading to Blackpool for another massive event there and then a few weeks from that, the NXT UK talent will be over here in Houston, Texas for Worlds Collide, where Imperium will face off with The Undisputed ERA. There will be so many other matches you will see on that card as it gets laid out here in the next few days and into the next week, you will learn exactly what that entire card is, but as you will see, that card will be spectacular as well. So Worlds Collide will be another epic event. It’s all about the exposure for these talents and these brands and getting them the opportunity as you said to have these mega events that you can build towards and you can give them these spectacle match of the year type things and make everybody into bigger and bigger stars and household names around the world.”
600 events this year is pretty insane and then WWE wonders why they keep burning out their audiences both on tv and for events because of how over exposed the company is.


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Marty Scurll ROH Update, More on Andrade’s US Title Win at MSG, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/various-marty-scurll-roh-update-more-on-andrades-us-title-win-at-msg-indies/)
Rumor: Major League Wrestling in Talks with Cable Network Showtime for Television Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/rumor-major-league-wrestling-in-talks-with-cable-network-showtime-for-television-deal/)
“Straight Up Steve Austin” Renewed for a Second Season (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/straight-up-steve-austin-renewed-for-a-second-season/)
Four Way Tag Team Match Announced for AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/four-way-tag-team-match-announced-for-aew-dynamite/)

[Ultra Mantis]

Is Meltzer still using the Elite as his New Japan source or something? Kenny with a year and half long title reign & main eventing both nights in the dome, including his dream match against Ibushi being placed over Okada / Naito sounds ludicrously off. Who would even know the original plans other than Gedo? What was Meij allegedly suing Omega for? Was he refusing to do business on the way out? Who is supposed to look good in that story?

[Emperor Smeat]

Probably someone else for the Omega story since that goes against what Omega mentioned before about his title reign. Omega vs Naito and then Omega vs. Ibushi makes way more sense for both nights than the other way around. Also explains Jay White's direction post-Omega departure since that would have been Omega's plans had he stayed.

In regards to the lawsuit threats, it probably had to do with how Trent Baretta left the company and maybe them feeling Omega purposely sabotaged their plans despite that not being the case according to the Bucks. Pretty much the Bullet Club Civil War storyline being rushed lines up with the Bucks mentioning they gave their notice to leave months prior to Wrestle Kingdom 13.

Also seems its mostly NJPW's upper management and owners that still hold a huge grudge over the Elite leaving considering the issues with Omega's work visa in Japan and Gedo being very receptive to using an AEW storyline for Wrestle Kingdom 14.

[Mr. Nerfect]

There's no way Omega would have held the belt for that long.

Meltzer is extremely biased towards AEW. Listening to him review NXT and try to pick logic holes in it while he just shrugs at AEW's nonsensical stuff is excruciating. I get that the dude's a wrestling fan, and an alternative to WWE is needed, but you can see where the silly "he's on the take" rumors come from.

The Bucks and Omega dicked over New Japan. They say they gave notice months before, but they were also negotiating with WWE and New Japan, by their own admission, right up until signing with AEW -- something they would have known they were going to do months before, but obviously led New Japan down a primrose path of "we might stay."

They've established a new US promotion that is going to impact New Japan's business presence in the country. Omega was very public about New Japan being cheap. They're not fucking pure babyfaces in this story.

[Sting Fan]

There's no way Omega would have held the belt for that long.

Meltzer is extremely biased towards AEW. Listening to him review NXT and try to pick logic holes in it while he just shrugs at AEW's nonsensical stuff is excruciating. I get that the dude's a wrestling fan, and an alternative to WWE is needed, but you can see where the silly "he's on the take" rumors come from.

The Bucks and Omega dicked over New Japan. They say they gave notice months before, but they were also negotiating with WWE and New Japan, by their own admission, right up until signing with AEW -- something they would have known they were going to do months before, but obviously led New Japan down a primrose path of "we might stay."

They've established a new US promotion that is going to impact New Japan's business presence in the country. Omega was very public about New Japan being cheap. They're not fucking pure babyfaces in this story.

Those absolute bastards... How dare they try and negotiate the best deal for themselves across multiple bidders. Scum!!!

P.S. I am loving you as the anti Meltzer, great schtick.

[Mr. Nerfect]

There's nothing wrong with negotiating deals at all. I just think it's absolute bullshit that they were transparent from day-dot, and they may have given assurances that might be deemed disrespectful to a company that feels that is important.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Going head-to-head with the college football championship game, Raw last night did 2.03 million viewers, the second lowest in modern history for a non-holiday show and lowest for a live show.

Raw attempted to load up this week to avoid a bad number, but with the LSU-Clemson game doing 25.00 million on ESPN and 381,000 on ESPN 2, roughly double a good Monday Night Football game, there was only so much that could have helped. The audience was down 12.7 percent from last year's Raw which was head-to-head with a championship game that did 24.33 million viewers on ESPN and 666,000 on ESPN 2 ...

The only episode in history that was non-holiday and did worse was the December 23 taped show that did 1.84 million viewers.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.22 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.06 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.81 million viewers


Triple H faced backlash yesterday after making a joke directed at Paige. When answering a question about her or Edge making a possible return to the ring, Triple H replied that he hoped they would be able to be cleared to return, saying “Edge has kids. Paige, she probably has some she doesn't know of”. Paige wasn’t happy with the line, writing on Twitter, “Even my boss jokes about me.. no wonder you guys still do it too.”

It was a very awkward line from Levesque and my hope would be that he regretted stating it given Paige’s openness regarding the abuse she has endured since a tape of her was leaked several years ago and caused her enormous harassment. When she was interviewed in 2018 on Lilian Garcia’s podcast, she described what she had gone through:

“That scarred me, just people invading my privacy, to the point where sometimes I don’t want to go out. People are just looking at me bad. I was out with my friend. We were just sitting there having a Bloody Mary. This guy comes up to my friend and says, ‘That’s the porn star.’

I cried in the toilet. I find it really hard to be close to anybody. And that’s the reason why. When they came out, I barricaded myself in the house for a couple of months. I was so sad to the point I was contemplating suicide. I was on the floor, I was so low. I got so skinny, I ended up collapsing with exhaustion in hospital in England. They told me at the time it was like stress-induced anorexia.”

Even worse, was a story from Paige on an episode of Total Divas where she revealed having a miscarriage when she was younger and that she may not be able to have children.

The point is not whether Levesque was attempting to be malicious and I would hope he wasn’t. The point is that it was an insensitive comment towards someone that must endure daily comments about that tape and had endured great pain in the wake of it. Even worse, is that this wasn’t a random person on Twitter it was one of her superiors and an executive within the company. At best, it can be labeled as a highly inappropriate and unprofessional comment for someone of Levesque’s status in the company.

SoCal Uncensored reached out to the Department of the Navy to verify if Robert Remus, aka Sgt. Slaughter, had ever served in the Marine Corps or the Marine Corps Reserve. They got a letter back from the Navy, which said they were unable to identify Remus as a member or former member of the Marines.
Link: https://twitter.com/socaluncensored/status/1217182949390446592

While announcing their newest Performance Center signees, WWE has confirmed the addition of two independent wrestling standouts.

Mercedes Martinez and Jake Atlas have officially signed with WWE. Martinez joins the company after appearing in the Mae Young Classic in both 2017 and 2018. She made it to the semifinals in the first tournament before losing to Shayna Baszler. In 2018, she lost to Meiko Satomura in the second round ...

Martinez was the 21st entrant in the Casino Battle Royale at AEW All Out in August and also wrestled one match on AEW Dark that was taped in October.

Atlas broke out on the Southern California indie scene. Last year, he made it to the quarterfinals of PWG's Battle of Los Angeles. He defeated Jungle Boy in the first round and then lost to Dragon Lee in the second ...

Atlas appeared on the WWE-themed "Celebrity Undercover Boss" episode that aired in 2018 and said that his goal is to become the first openly gay WWE World Champion.

"Titan Games" competitor Emily Andzulis, former NFL defensive lineman Anthony Francis, acrobat Sidney Bateman, and former college basketball player Zechariah Smith were also announced as signing with WWE:

Deadline.com reported Tuesday that Court Bauer's Major League Wrestling has signed a deal with major Hollywood agency ICM Partners as they look to sign a new TV and streaming deal ...

The article said that MLW is looking to take advantage of the recent upswing in live sports TV rights deals, especially in pro wrestling. Bauer was quoted as saying MLW is in an unique position, given they are the only wrestling free agent property available in 2020.

The ICM deal also includes representation for MLW Studios, "a multi-platform media studio focusing on original scripted and non-scripted programming."


ICM also represents John Cena.
Found that bit to be the most interesting from Post Wrestling's article about MLW's newest deal. Doubt Cena would bother ever showing up at a MLW show but still found it to be very interesting tidbit either way.

A second NJPW star has been confirmed for WrestleCon's WrestleMania week SuperShow.

WrestleCon announced today that Shingo Takagi will be in action at this year's Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow. The event is taking place at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, April 2 and will start at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

This will be the first time Takagi has taken part in WrestleCon.

Will Ospreay has also been announced for this year's WrestleCon SuperShow, along with Bandido, Alex Zayne, Blake Christian, and Jordan Oliver.

The first bout for NWA Hard Times is official as Nick Aldis will take on Flip Gordon in an inter-promotional matchup.

The match was confirmed on Tuesday's episode of NWA Powerrr. Aldis made a surprise appearance at ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage in Atlanta this past Saturday, attacking Gordon in the middle of a brawl between Villain Enterprises and La Faccion Ingobernable.

Speaking to ESPN West Palm, The Young Buck explained the thought process behind the Bash at the Beach special.

"Our plan is to do four pay-per-views a year, so we realized we have to dress up some of the shows on Wednesday to not fall into a formula. Try to make some of them feel more special than other ones. That was the thinking process on this. To bring something back from the past that has such a cool history. Cody happened to get the trademark and owns it now. He brought it to Tony's attention and we all thought it was a good idea. I think fans are gonna be excited because we're gonna try to make it a special show, even from the look of things," said Nick Jackson.

Following the passing AAA's La Parka, fans wondered if LA Park, who went by La Parka in WCW and AAA in the 90s, would regain the name.

LA Park was forced to change his name after a legal battle with Lucha Libre AAA once he returned to Mexico and began working for CMLL in 2003. LA Park would return to AAA in 2010, kicking off a feud with La Parka.

When asked about the possibility of using the La Parka name once again, LA Park replied, "No one will fill the place that La Parka did, not me, nor anyone. The truth is you should respect his name so that Chuy Escoboza can never be forgotten. I don't plan on recovering anything, only that God has received him in its glory. In life, we'll fight up until we can."

There was a lengthy series of tweets posted by Gabe Sapolsky on Monday responding to David Starr, who has made several statements regarding EVOLVE and whether they pay certain performers on their shows. In the tweets, which Sapolsky has since deleted, he ran down Starr but acknowledged he kept 1-3 spots on shows where rising talent could have a spot but did not get paid. He defended this practice citing his longevity in the game and that they don’t eliminate paying spots, they are created in addition to those that are booked.
Also made everything into an even bigger mess afterwards by going on a blocking spree on Twitter, retweeting everyone who was praising him despite some of them using the occasion to just attack "SJWs", deleted all of his apology tweets, and got into an argument with GCW over EVOLVE's status as an indies fed despite EVOLVE also promoting NXT's Rhea Ripley and using NXT talent for their upcoming shows at the same time. Link with the tweets: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/david-starr-calls-gabe-sapolsky-out-low-pay-sapolsky-responds

Ring of Honor announced today that former IWGP Champion Jay White will be appearing for the company Wrestlemania 36 weekend at Supercard of Honor.

PWInsider.com has been told that other members of Bullet Club will be appearing on the event as well and they will be in a top level main event match on the show.

This is the first major indication in some time that the Ring of Honor-New Japan working relationship is continuing on in 2020.


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Ember Moon on WWE’s Issues with Lower Card, Santana’s Father Passes Away, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/various-ember-moon-on-wwes-issues-with-lower-card-santanas-father-passes-away-indies/)
News Updates: Brian Cage & AEW, Marty Scurll’s ROH Booker Status, Tessa Blanchard’s “Attitude” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/news-updates-brian-cage-aew-marty-scurlls-roh-booker-status-tessa-blanchards-attitude/)
Jon Moxley vs. Josh Barnett Announced for Bloodsport III (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/jon-moxley-vs-josh-barnett-announced-for-bloodsport-iii/)
Dave Bautista to Star in Apple TV+ Series, “See” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/dave-bautista-to-star-in-apple-tv-series-see/)
MJF Finishes Up With MLW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/mjf-finishes-up-with-mlw/)

[Simple Fan]

Getting Bloodsport 3 now. Watched the first show but passed last year.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Good for MLW. This is going to be a very interesting year for pro-wrestling, I think.

[Sepholio]

Rusev changed his twitter bio to "Soon to be free agent"

I see a lot of rumblings that he's either leaving WWE or trying to get a better deal, but I don't think it's either necessarily. His choice of words, free agent, makes me think otherwise. That's the term WWE uses for people who are open to go to any brand. I'm wondering if Rusev is going to "quit" RAW after the Lashley feud and end up on Smackdown....or even better, NXT. He would be a great fit in NXT, especially if they are planning on bringing Keith Lee up. Rusev could fill his spot as a big toughy rather easily.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda caught up with Paige during BT Sport’s WWE launch event and asked Paige about Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s comment that Paige possibly has a few kids she doesn’t know about yet. Paige said she was taken aback by the comment because she respects Levesque and added that he did reach out to her.

“Obviously, I was a little bit perplexed, a little bit taken [aback] because he’s someone that I truly look up to, and he’s always been very respectful so, I just feel like he kind of got caught up, maybe in a joke but I don’t think it was appropriate to joke about. Again, it’s just something that I’m not gonna continually talk about because I feel like people on the internet have done a good job of that. He’s definitely reached out and we’re gonna be talking about some things.”

Paige did not appear on WWE Backstage this week as she is in England doing promotional work for WWE. For those who asked, there's no correlation between Paige missing the episode and the Twitter issues that arose over the last few days after Triple H joked about Paige having children she didn't know existed running around during a media conference promoting Takeover. There was a big push-back against the joke from some fans with Paige commenting:

Even my boss jokes about me.. no wonder you guys still do it too. https://t.co/dOmZAiwvyX
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) January 13, 2020

The winners from two matches that are scheduled for tonight's Dynamite will face each other next week in a number one contender’s match for the AEW World title.

PAC vs. Darby Allin and Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara have already been announced for tonight. AEW’s social media today added a new stipulation to those matches. The winners of both matches will face one another next week on the Jericho's Rock 'n' Wrestling Cruise edition of Dynamite. The winner of that match will become the one contender to the AEW World title.

AEW announced late-Wednesday afternoon that Awesome Kong is out of tonight's AEW Dynamite tag team match due to an undisclosed illness.

In her place and making her Dynamite in-ring debut: Brandi Rhodes. She will team with fellow Nightmare Collective member Mel (also making her Dynamite in-ring debut) to face Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida.

For what is being touted as their first appearance in Madison Square Garden in more than ten years, WWE Hall of Fame faction D-Generation X will return for a March afternoon house show.

Announced via an MSG ticket presale email and on social media, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and Road Dogg will all be in New York City on Sunday, March 22nd. It's not expected the foursome will actually wrestle.

Notably absent is Billy Gunn who is part of the AEW roster.

While cards are subject to change, the Raw show is scheduled to be headlined by Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Big Show vs. Seth Rollins and the AOP in a six-man tag while Raw women's champion Becky Lynch will defend against Asuka.

Will Ospreay is the latest NJPW wrestler to be added to ROH's WrestleMania weekend show.

ROH has announced that Ospreay will be in action at Supercard of Honor XIV. The show is taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4 and will go against NXT TakeOver: Tampa.

NJPW's Jay White and El Phantasmo have also been confirmed for Supercard of Honor XIV

Killer Kross has an opponent for his MLW debut.

MLW announced today that Kross will make his debut for the promotion against Tom Lawlor at their Fightland set of television tapings. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, February 1.

NJPW is running a Lion's Break show as part of WrestleCon's events over WrestleMania week in Tampa.

NJPW announced tonight that Lion's Break Project 3 will take place at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, April 2 at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ren Narita, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors, and Alex Coughlin are the first names confirmed for the show.

Over the weekend, PWInsider.com reported that WWE would return to Saudi Arabia on Thursday 2/20.

WWE sources have since indicated to PWInsidercom that preliminary date has been moved to the following week, Thursday 2/27.

We are told that crearive for the event has not been locked in.

While speaking with SunSport, Cain Velasquez stated that he believes he’s going to be in the 2020 men’s Royal Rumble match.

“I think I’m doing it, right? I think so. I can win it, hell yeah, that’s my mentality for everything. For everyone as well, that is how your mentality has to be. I’m going in to win this thing.”

Following NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II, Paul “Triple H” Levesque chatted with members of the media and he spoke about Tyson Fury and the door being open for Fury to return to WWE. Levesque added that he knows Tyson Fury’s next potential appearance for WWE likely depends on the turnout of Fury’s upcoming fight against Deontay Wilder on February 22nd.

Tag team wrestling is as healthy as it's ever been with New Day, Revival, Usos, Proud N Powerful, SCU, The North, Briscoes, Lethal & Gresham, and many more being able to lay claim to the "best tag team in the world" moniker. And Matt & Nick Jackson would like to settle the score once and for all against at least two of those teams.

"I would say The Elite vs. New Day because that is something that was actually close to happening at one point, but it never actually happened. If that six-man happened, it would have tore the house down," Nick told ESPN West Palm when asked about potential dream matches.

The Elite and New Day competed in a Street Fighter battle, but never in an in-ring bout.

Matt stated, "The obvious one is us and The Revival. I feel like there's some real-life tension there. I don't know if it's competitive or friendly but there's definitely a competitive rivalry. Talk about two teams that have polar opposite of styles. I think it'd be a fun styles clash. I'd love to have that match. That's probably number one on my bucket list."

The Revival and Young Bucks have teased a match and feuded on social media for years with #FTR becoming a knock against Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder (Fuck The Revival) or a show of support (Forever The Revival).


TPWW Frontpage:

Rocky Johnson, WWE Hall of Famer and Father of The Rock, Passes Away at Age 75 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/rocky-johnson-wwe-hall-of-famer-and-father-of-the-rock-passes-away-at-age-75/)
Triple H Apologizes for His Joke About Paige (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/triple-h-apologizes-for-his-joke-about-paige/)
AEW Top Five Rankings – Jan. 15, 2020 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-top-five-rankings-jan-15-2020/)
AEW Dynamite Extended Through 2023, New AEW Show Coming (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-dynamite-extended-through-2023-new-aew-show-coming/)
Kane Returning for a “Special Appearance” on Friday’s SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/kane-returning-for-a-special-appearance-on-fridays-smackdown/)
Elias Signs Three Year Contract Extension With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/elias-signs-multi-year-contract-extension-with-wwe/)

[Sepholio]

RIP Rocky

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Wednesday night ratings are in and last night's Bash at the Beach-themed episode of AEW Dynamite was essentially even with last week, averaging 940,000 total viewers and a 0.38 rating in the 18-49 demo.

The latter number was good for fifth on the night on cable TV and was up six percent from last week.

NXT was down three percent in total viewers, averaging 700,000. The 18-49 rating was 0.21, which was up 11 percent from last week. The show finished 31st on cable in that category.

As was the case early in the ratings war -- but had stopped leading into the holiday season -- AEW beat NXT in every demo except those over 50.. NXT had a very narrow win in that category, drawing a 0.35 rating to AEW's 0.34.

The biggest gap in the demos was in men 18-49. AEW almost doubled NXT with a 0.51 rating to 0.26.

Zack Sabre Jr. has been announced for this year’s WrestleCon SuperShow. It’s taking place at The Ritz Ybor on Thursday, April 2.

Marty Scurll has been announced for one night of the NWA's post-Hard Times television tapings.

The NWA announced today that Scurll will appear in front of the crowd at their Power tapings in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, January 26. The show starts at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Impact Wrestling will be presenting a TNA-themed live event as part of Wrestlecon this April:

There's no place like home.
TNA officially returns for one night only on Friday, April 3rd at 7pm.
Tickets go on sale on Monday at 12pm EST at https://t.co/6BISigVGvG! pic.twitter.com/o19R8OVO4z
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 16, 2020

There's been a lot of talk of late that the WWE UK Championship, currently held by WALTER, will be rechristened the NXT UK Championship to bring it in line with all the other NXT UK title belts.

The Undertaker is at the WWE Performance Center today in Orlando, Florida.

Obviously, with the Royal Rumble next week, that timing is very interesting.

Updated: 12:39 PM - Thus far today, Undertaker not been inside the ring. He has been reviewing last night's WWE NXT TV episode with the roster, giving advice and feedback to the roster.

TNT President Kevin Reilly discussed All Elite Wrestling Dynamite's new TV pact during the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles yesterday, commenting, “I just had this idea that this was the time to invest. This is a startup. It’s already over-delivered out of the gate. That’s really when you want to hit the gasoline a little bit. The guys already have ideas about additional talent and things they want to do and I wanted to incentivize them as a partner to do that. We also wanted to gave fans and talent who potentially want to come work with us the sense that this is here to stay. You can invest in it, it’s here to stay, and it’s only going to get better.”

TV Insider spoke with Chelsea Green and Chelsea talked about she and Zack Ryder’s forthcoming wedding. She mentioned that she wants to have a New Year’s wedding and wants to incorporate Zack’s love of action figures into the wedding.

“Of course, with his crazy toy podcast and love of toys and things like that, we’ve got some fun things planned — a little wedding pin we are going to give out to everybody at our wedding, fun stuff like that. I think we are going to do a New Year’s Eve wedding. We’re in the midst of trying to plan, but life on the road is crazy. It’s hard to plan a wedding when you’re on RAW, NXT, on the road. We’re both kind of taking it day-to-day.”

A new episode of WWE After The Bell came out on 1/16 and Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee joined the show. During Corey Graves’ singular portion of the podcast, he briefly talked about Wrestle Kingdom 14 and proposed the idea of WWE splitting WrestleMania up into two days:

“I am still late to the party as I often am because I have little to no free time. Tried my best to check out New Japan Wrestle Kingdom. Shout out to those guys. My guy Juice Robinson who I will never forget even though he doesn’t acknowledge us and he’s disowned us and his WWE family. I think it’s really cool that the event has gotten so big, they did it over two days, which doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for WrestleMania. What do you think? Would you be into two, four hour WrestleManias or a three hour and a four hour show rather than a 31 hour WrestleMania like we’ve had for the last few years?”
Same episode had him complain a lot about this past Monday's episode of RAW to the point it felt more like him complaining or needing to stir controversy just for the sake of it.

Sheamus returned to WWE television in November 2019, after being absent since September, reverting back to his old non-mohawk look. A series of vignettes began to run, hyping his return to WWE SmackDown. He finally appeared in front of the live audience in January, taking out Shorty G with a Brouge Kick.

The old look with spiked hair brought back memories of Sheamus' singles run when he was a multi-time World. But the original idea for his return could have had him stuck on 205 Live.

"Mate, I got these notebooks of ideas from creative with like, a small moustache, and suspenders and my hair go over to the side…it looked almost exactly like Jack Gallagher from 205 Live and I said ‘you know, we have a person who looks just like this here, right?’ Man, if I did any of it any of those pictures, I’d just be done! I would have been toast. The amount of slaggings (abuse) I would have gotten.. and that would have just been off my granny! It was just terrible," Sheamus told Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT. "But you know, we just went so far with the Mohawk. The Mohawk was done. I thought about it and, creatively, myself and a guy I work with called Ray, we just talked about it and it was like [debuting the mohawk] so shocking, you know, and I got that reaction ‘you look stupid’ and stuff and it was a great reaction. It was completely different because we we just hit a roadblock with whatever it was. You can’t go further than that."


TPWW Frontpage:

Baron Corbin Takes a Shot at AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/baron-corbin-takes-a-shot-at-aew/)
Taz Signs Multi-Year Deal With AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/taz-signs-multi-year-deal-with-aew/)
AEW Dark Will Rebrand and Move to TNT, President of TNT Says (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-dark-will-rebrand-and-move-to-tnt-president-of-tnt-says/)
NXT: Three Matches Announced for Next Week, Kacy Catanzaro Returns (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/nxt-three-matches-announced-for-next-week-kacy-catanzaro-returns/)
AEW: Cody vs. Wardlow Cage Match Announced + Four Matches Announced for Next Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-cody-vs-wardlow-cage-match-announced-four-matches-announced-for-next-week/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

AEW on 1/15 did 940,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) and a 0.38 in the 18-49 demo to not just beat NXT, which did 700,000 viewers (1.28 viewers per home) and a 0.21 in 18-49, but also for the first time beat the NBA on ESPN head-to-head.

The first NBA game against the first 97 minutes of AEW and NXT did 934,000 viewers and a 0.34 in 18-34. The late game on ESPN did 1,128,000 viewers and a 0.44 in 18-49.

AEW won its time slot in Males 18-49 for the first 97 minutes although the NBA game did beat them in 12-34 and the second game beat AEW over the last 23 minutes..

AEW was fifth in 18-49 while NXT was No. 31.

We don’t have quarter hours at press time. In the different key demos, AEW won Women 18-34 70,000 to 39,000. AEW won Women 35-49 98,000 to 62,000. AEW won Men 18-34 101,000 to 56,000. AEW won Men 35-49 226,000 to 112,000, so more than a two-to-one margin. AEW more than doubled NXT with teenagers and NXT won slightly with viewers over 50, as it does every week ...

AEW did a 0.20 in 12-17 (up 17.6 percent from last week), 0.24 in 18-34 (up 9.1 percent), 0.52 in 35-49 (up 4.0 percent) and 0.34 in 50+ (down 5.6 percent) ...

Because last week’s NXT show didn’t crack the top 50, we don’t have comparisons withe last week, but the show did a 0.08 in 12-17 (well under half of AEW), 0.14 in 18-34, 0.28 in 35-49 (barely half) and 0.35 in 50+, beating AEW only slightly in the demo NXT has won almost every week.

Unlike in the past when they would run four shows in the same market on big show weekends, this time the 1/23 Smackdown show will be from Dallas and the 1/26 Raw will be from San Antonio.

There are two shows in Houston, the Rumble, and the Worlds Collide show the night before at the Toyota Center. Worlds Collide ticket sales are very weak, basically ringside and most but not all of 100s as they haven’t sold out the side of the hard camera, and the rest of the building isn’t for sale. Similarly, the 2/16 Takeover show in Portland also has a weak advance. About 60 percent of the 100s that would normally be for sale are on sale, not including what you’d expect not for sale due to the stage. They are not opening up any other seats at this point for Worlds Collide.

It appears the next Saudi Arabia show will be on 2/27, a Thursday afternoon, with Smackdown being on 2/28 in Boston. It will be very interesting to see who goes and who doesn’t go. It’s both what happened last time combined with the situation in the Middle East. That situation in theory, since it doesn’t involve Saudi Arabia, may not play a part in some people’s thinking but you can imagine wives and family members right now thinking about celebrities going to the Middle East with the problems with the U.S. and Iran. And that doesn’t even take into account several guys were talking about not going back after the problems getting home from the last show.

The Revival have hired the same lawyer who does trademarks for Cody Rhodes and are looking and trademarking shatter machine. They’ve already trademarked FTR and Forever The Revival, so at worst if WWE claims rights to the name The Revival, they can go as Forever the Revival using the FTR name that the Young Bucks mocked years ago when building the feud in social media back when people would debate which of the two teams was the best in the world before The Revival was brought up to the main roster and people stopped talking abut them as much

The Big Show return is only planned to be temporary, as they needed a babyface to team with Joe & Owens for a brief period of time. Mysterio was supposed to be the third person in that feud but they are working the short-term Mysterio vs. Andrade program until they work their way out of it. Originally, and this doesn’t appear to have changed, the idea was for Andrade to have a longer very serious program over the title with Carrillo as a way to get both guys over as singles Latino stars. But now with Murphy being added to the Rollins group, they are again one short on the face side

While not signed yet, the betting line is that Kevin Kaser, 34 (Killer Kross) ends up here. There was thought to be interest in him across the board in wrestling due to his look. Multiple sources said Kaser and Paul Levesque were to have met this week. Besides Impact he had worked a lot on-and-off in AAA and Konnan was a huge proponent of him as far as potential. During his time in AAA, he was booked like a monster and never asked to lose. While it never went anywhere due to WWE signing Cain Velasquez, they were planning on a Velasquez vs. Kross program in AAA and started teasing it in Velasquez’s first match. Kross had been one of Impact’s most pushed stars until he was in a contract dispute with the promotion which led to him being iced for months and eventually released. His girlfriend, Elizabeth Chihaia, better known as Scarlett Bordeaux, is in NXT although has not been pushed on television although she did a quick cameo in an outdoor shot on one of the TV shows. Paul Levesque is said to be high on him

In a deal that will make the company profitable in 2020 and beyond, TNT, Warner Media and AEW have renegotiated and signed a new four-year contract that would keep Dynamite on the station through the end of 2023.

The four-year deal is worth $175 million in rights fees, just under $45 million per year, and includes TNT having an option to keep the show through the end of 2024 at a significantly increased price. The deal has annual escalators built into the contract.

The move protects TNT because there can be no bidding war to increase the costs of Dynamite, like what happened with Raw and Smackdown in the last negotiation period. For AEW, the deal insures 2020 profitability and pretty much protects them for being taken off the air through the end of 2023 if ratings decrease. In television there are always ways to cancel programming or change time slots or move to a different station. But if the show gets hotter or the value of such a show changes as sports rights fees continue to increase, it takes AEW out of the negotiation game where its television value could greatly increase until the beginning of 2025.

The new deal is now similar in scope to the kind of deals WWE has for Raw, Smackdown and NXT, in that the cost of production, which in the old deal was $500,000 per week, is no longer covered by TNT.

The new deal will continue the ad split aspect of the original deal, and through adding a second show, a weekly one-hour taped show, it would increase the amount of ad time from what the company has been getting a percentage of. WWE does not have ad sharing in its television deals.

Essentially it is an increase of about $18 million per year in value, which is said to be more than the difference between making 2020 and beyond profitable. While AEW President and CEO Tony Khan was hopeful when the promotion debuted that it would be profitable by the end of 2020, with the old deal that was not likely to happen, saying it would have taken a miracle for 2020 to end up as a profitable year and we just got that miracle ...

While the deal pales in comparison to the $265 million that USA pays for Raw and the $205 million that FOX pays for Smackdown, but it is more than the $30 million per year that USA currently pays for NXT.

The deal includes adding another weekly hour of television later this year ...

The second show will air on a WarnerMedia station, with TNT its most likely destination. It would not air on Sunday, Monday or Thursday, because Khan has an agreement to not air wrestling against the NFL since his family owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tuesday is out due to NBA commitments as far as TNT goes, although it is possible it could air on TBS. Saturday would be tough with UFC, Boxing and College Football, plus it’s the night AEW runs its PPV shows and the night UFC and boxing run their biggest events. But every night has something, as Friday has Smackdown.

Tessa Blanchard was the center of controversy on 1/12 for her past on the day she was booked to become the first female pro wrestler to win a male world championship on a PPV show ...

Blanchard has been controversial for years, since she was a standout for WWE at the Mae Young Classic, but due to a number of issues, even with her looks, heritage and ability, they passed on signing her. There was always talk of attitude issues and other problems, including issues of not getting along with talent, that followed her career in its early years including in Japan.

For whatever reason, the day before the PPV, Blanchard sent out a tweet saying, “Hey women, try supporting one another. Cool things happen.”

This touched a nerve with women who had worked with her in the past. Most notable was Allysin Kay, who was women’s champion in Impact as Sienna in 2016, who wrote, “Remember when you spat in a black woman’s face and called her the N word in Japan? Was that you `supporting women?’ The audacity of this tweet.”

The woman in question was La Black Rose of Puerto Rico, who later confirmed the story, as did Renee Michelle, the wife of James Curtin (Drake Maverick) who had a run on WWE television recently in her real-life role as the new bride, until it was dropped ...

So the day of the show, Callis and D’Amore had a couple of major issues. Would they go ahead with the plans to put the title on her and conclude the story? And as a company, how would they handle it and how would they have her publicly handle it? ...

From those there, there never seemed to be a serious consideration of not going through with the plans, but there was concern, very quickly alleviated regarding how the crowd would react. The question was more whether she should apologize in some form. She didn’t. Nor did the company make a statement. The decision, at least for the show, was to ignore it.
Supposedly she also allegedly bullied others during the tapings of Women of Wrestling's first two seasons that led to WOW dropping all their major plans for her.

As far as New Japan World went, I believe the increase was around 20,000 new subscribers, perhaps slightly more, roughly the same as last year. I don’t know what the figure was in December but that would traditionally be a lower month since we are now months removed from G-1, and it’s January and August when interest peaks. In hindsight, that Omega vs. Jericho year where they gained 40,000 is a ridiculous stat. What’s notable is that most of the growth was foreign. The reality is Japan isn’t big on paid streaming services. A lot of the growth was from the U.S

The movie “Crossface,” about Chris Benoit, that nobody has heard a thing about in years is apparently a dead project according to Matt Randazzo, Lexi Alexander and Chris’ son David Benoit. David Benoit told Chris Van Vliet in an interview that the filmmakers needed the permission of the family to do the movie but the family refused to give it to them. That’s the same reason attempts many years back to do screenplays on the Von Erichs fell through. David said that the family hired a lawyer to make sure it got shut down. David said the family would not be opposed to a documentary about Chris Benoit noting that he has a lot of home video footage. Alexander, who signed on to direct the screenplay in 2016, said the movie was dead but that story about why was made up. “They really just made up some stuff. I never sent anybody a script...but I did have a very nice and polite convo which I still have a copy of with Sandra Toffoloni (the sister of Nancy Benoit and who probably has the most understanding of what happened of anyone) who is lively and told me of her plans to bring the story to screen herself and I fully encouraged that.” Randazzo said that legal threats never happened. “After years of collecting option checks, I left because of repeated delays over casting, financing, etc., problems with the script and that Nancy’s sister was pursuing a movie. Never aware of any legal threat. Had no role.” The book “Ring of Hell” by Matt Randazzo was to be the template for the movie and Randazzo was one of the executive producers

The company [ROH] opened its checkbook big with major signings this past week of the two most in-demand talents that had become free agents, in Marty Scurll and Bandido. Both signed multi-year deals. Scurll got what was said to be the most lucrative contract in company history and will work in creative as a co-booker with Hunter Johnston (Delirious) and basically as things are working out will be the lead. The two are working together with Johnston still as the Executive Producer of television and he and Scurll listed as booker. Johnston didn’t disagree with any of Scurll’s ideas or directions this weekend so Scurll did get all his ideas through. Johnston had been full-time booker as well as run the wrestling school since 2010 and had booked since 2010 and been lead booker since 2012 when Jim Cornette left. There had been other people involved in booking in recent years as well but he was always the titled head booker. The plan right now is for Scurll to determine the direction and for Johnston to run the television shows using Scurll’s ideas and adding in details and formatting it for television. Johnston has said that he doesn’t want to get in the way of Scurll’s creative vision. Johnston was said to be thrilled by not having to be in full charge of creative and called it a new lease on life, and hoping that his level of pressure and anxiety would decrease. Essentially Scurll is getting WWE main roster money guaranteed for maybe 40+ dates per year, plus he can work just about anywhere else he wants without the restrictions that ROH talent had in the past ...

It’s notable because when he was not allowed to work the Super J Cup, the feeling was he was going to leave, but the offer was said to be significantly better than the big offer Matt Taven got. He also be working other shows that he wants to. We know the deal won’t allow him to work WWE, and WWE wouldn’t use a guy from another company anyway, and when negotiations were going on, we were told it may not exclude him from AEW although others have said the deal will only exclude AEW and WWE. Scurll’s role when it comes to office work will be to work as a liaison to New Japan, the NWA and other organizations including AEW, which ROH will try and get a working relationship with. That may be difficult because I don’t know what AEW has to gain at this time from an ROH relationship because you never know the twists and turns of the future. Scurll has a lot of friends in AEW so it makes sense to be guy to try and open up communications and boundaries. Those at New Japan love Scurll and they would want to send him more talent this year but they are running so many shows themselves in the U.S. and Japan that it’s hard

[AEW] Regarding the booking which has come together better over the last three weeks, Tony Khan took more control after the negativity from the Corpus Christi show and you can see more seeds of long-term planning and layers in storylines, like in the four team tag match and other angles. But that’s also related to all involved

For the first time since 2009, KENTA is returning to Ring of Honor.

KENTA will be in action at Supercard of Honor XIV in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4. He's the third Bullet Club member and fourth NJPW wrestler announced for the show. It will also feature Jay White, El Phantasmo, and Will Ospreay.

Impact Wrestling's Twitch channel remains suspended as of this writing.

Major League Wrestling's Zero Hour event in Dallas on Saturday 1/11 drew 1,387 paid with about 1,500 in the building. The promotion saw a ride in advance tickets sold for that event and their pre-sales for the 5/2 return are already well ahead of any previous pre-sale in the Dallas market. The promotion added capacity by 10% in Dallas and still sold out ...

The Dallas event was also the best merchandise night in the history of the promotion with about 40% of the sales coming from Marshall and Ross Von Erich merchandise ...

The promotion is negotiating with a major entertainment company about holding a live event in Hawaii later this year, likely built around the Von Erichs, who live there. This was something that was originally planned to be MLW's first PPV last year but then when it didn't come together, Chicago became the first PPV market ...

While he has wrestled his final match for MLW, MJF will remain on TV for several months as there has been content pre-taped. He's local to MLW HQ so he can always come in if needed to shoot promos. His official deal expires in a few months and at that point, he'll be exclusively locked in with AEW as part of a five year deal.

On 1/13, WWE applied to trademark Harlem Heat ...

This is especially interesting given the tease for the team's return after the Revival challenged Booker T to have Harlem Heat to return and face them, which has yet to be followed up upon on TV. The 2020 Royal Rumble is being held in Harlem Heat's hometown of Houston, Texas next week.

The WWE United Kingdom Championship is now under the NXT banner as the belt has officially been renamed.

During the NXT UK TV tapings on Friday, Jan. 17, WALTER was presented with the new NXT UK Championship during an unveiling ceremony held by NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint. The new title reportedly has an NXT logo in place of the WWE logo. You can see highlights from the ceremony below.
Link: https://twitter.com/WrestlingRoyal1/status/1218260966116380672


TPWW Frontpage:

Marty Scurll Was Reportedly Set to Be the Leader of the Dark Order (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/marty-scurll-was-reportedly-set-to-be-the-leader-of-the-dark-order/)
Kalisto Re-Signs With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/kalisto-re-signs-with-wwe/)
Injured Wrestlers Possibly Set to Return at the Royal Rumble (Possible Spoilers) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/injured-wrestlers-possibly-set-to-return-at-the-royal-rumble-possible-spoilers/)
The Rock Comments on the Passing of His Father, Rocky Johnson (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/the-rock-comments-on-the-passing-of-his-father-rocky-johnson/)
Tessa Blanchard Responds to Racial Slur Allegations (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/tessa-blanchard-responds-to-racial-slur-allegations/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

TalkSport asked Charlotte Flair about coping with Kairi Sane’s injury at TLC and how it affected what they were planning to do in the match: “It didn’t in the moment. I guess, everyone, how they felt afterwards is what made them feel different. In the moment, it was more it’s a tough spot. It’s the main event of a brutal pay-per-view and everyone has already seen tables, ladders and chairs. It’s feeding off the crowd, going with the crowd and feeding off their reactions. So I didn’t really think anything until after. Obviously Kairi was hurt, but in the match I’m just thinking ‘how do we keep people invested?’ with them already seeing so many different TLC, brutal matches. You’ve already seen a kendo stick, you’ve already seen a chair, you’ve seen a ladder, a table. And the pressure of us delivering that, with a weird dynamic seeing me and Becky tag? To me, me and Becky tagging is more what I was thinking about. How does that come across and how our characters should be interacting on television. How do you go from this [indicates high level] to all of a sudden, they’re tagging? We had the let’s fight the enemy because we have a common enemy [mentality].”

PWinsider reported that Mike Kanellis & Tony Nese teaming together on this weekend's NXT house shows is a test run for a potential team for NXT TV. They defeated Nick Ogarelli & Mohamed Fahim at last night’s house show in Melbourne, Florida, with this being the first time Kanellis has wrestled since he requested his released from WWE.

Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com is reporting that Jeff Hardy is scheduled for a court date on Monday, April 6th, which is the day after WrestleMania in Tampa. This stems from his October 2019 arrest in Moore County, North Carolina when he was seen driving erratically after exiting a liquor store. He was said to have been uncooperative when asked for a breathalyzer test and a sample of blood to be drawn. Hardy was arrested for driving while impaired. Hardy, 42, has been off the road with WWE since last April when he suffered an injury and the Hardys vacated the SmackDown tag titles.

In a recent media session, Rhyno revealed that he is Vic Joesph's child's godfather.

Mexican soccer team Toluca FC honored the late La Parka, who recently died, with a team photo of the players wearing La Parka masks and gave his family members a special team shirt.
Link: https://twitter.com/TolucaFC/status/1218969768851640320 , https://twitter.com/TolucaFC/status/1218990275504287744

WWE announced this morning a new television deal in the United Kingdom that brings them back to free-to-air television in the country.

They have partnered with ViacomCBS’s Channel 5 to broadcast one hour versions of Raw and SmackDown on the network starting on February 2. Raw will air on Sundays starting at 10:30 a.m., while SmackDown will air Saturdays at 10:30 a.m.

Under the deal, NXT UK will also have a new broadcast home. It will air on the Paramount Network each Wednesday at midnight.

Wrestlecon announced this morning that AEW Champion Chris Jericho will be making his very first appearance at their event this April in Tampa over Wrestlemania 36 weekend
Link: https://twitter.com/wrestlecon/status/1219682539058663426

Comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias is listing WWE Wrestlemania 35 weekend and Monday Night Raw for his upcoming schedule on several YouTube videos, as seen below:

Interestingly, he does not list the Wrestlemania dates on his website's upcoming tour dates, so it would appear to be something WWE-related, as opposed to Iglesias performing concerts.

It wouldn't be far fetched to see WWE induct Iglesias into the Celebrity wing of their Hall of Fame, but nothing has been confirmed at this time beyond Iglesias listing Wrestlemania and Raw as upcoming appearances.

Iglesias, a massive WWE fan, has made a number of WWE-related appearances in the past, including Tribute to the Troops, WWE Backstage, Straight Up With Steve Austin and more.

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are auctioning off ring worn gear on eBay with a hundred percent of the proceeds helping out those affected by the Australian wildfires

Don’t forget to bid on @BillieKayWWE eBay listing!! We are so grateful for all the support so far in helping us help our country! ?????????????? https://t.co/9XpZYmeJtB
— Peyton Royce (@PeytonRoyceWWE) January 20, 2020

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported on Tuesday that AEW is filming Dynamite tonight on two master tapes and flying them in two separate airplanes to Atlanta. The reason is that if there is an issue with one flight then there is a backup to ensure the show airs on TNT on Wednesday night.

Daniel Bryan spoke with My San Antonio, which is where Friday Night SmackDown takes place this week and gave an in-depth look at his program with The Fiend Bray Wyatt. In the interview, he acknowledged how much he was enjoying the environmentalist version of his character and then was getting set to sink his teeth into the Sami Zayn program. What he liked about the Zayn issue was the crossroads of Bryan either reverting to the ‘Yes’ version of himself or moving forward. He felt there was unfinished business with that story and wasn’t clamoring to go back to the ‘Yes’ version of himself:

"I think it varies depending on the person and the situation. I honestly wasn’t really ready to go back to the ‘yes’ chants yet. I was really enjoying the stuff that I was doing as the ‘Planet’s Champion’ and environmentalist type of stuff. But sometimes you do what duty calls for, right? There’s the switch, and I still enjoy doing that. But it’s weird, because it almost feels a little bit unfinished. We were starting a story with me and Sami Zayn, and to me that was very compelling. It was, ‘Do you want to go backward with these people and go back to being the ‘yes’ guy, or do you want to go forward with us?’ And to me, that’s a very interesting real question in my life and in my career. Do you want to go back to this? It’s easy to get reactions as the ‘yes’ guy and be the guy who goes out there and does the ‘yes’ chants. Or do I want to push things forward? Which is more interesting to me creatively? In this particular instance, it was kind of like, ‘OK, we’re ready as a company for the ‘yes’ guy to be back.’ And I really enjoy doing that. I do. But, I like to also push my own creative boundaries, and so one of the things that I’m trying to do with this, although I haven’t necessarily done a great job of it yet, is evolving the ‘yes’ character from what it had been before."

With Wyatt, the idea to cut his hair came about after Bryan suggested cutting his beard and then it ended with his hair being cut off, which he did not want to do. The story sounded insane as he described being pulled underneath the ring and having his hair cut beneath the ring with barbers and a producer present. The fact that Bryan wasn’t visible or his haircut revealed until another episode makes this one sound so strange that they wouldn’t use prop hair for Bray to grab rather than cutting his actual hair at that moment.

WALTER was interviewed by Metro to promote the Worlds Collide show this weekend and spoke about his experience at the Survivor Series this past November. WALTER was a member of Team NXT with Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic and was notably eliminated in three minutes. He shared the following reaction to his participation in the match that included teams from Raw and SmackDown:

I wasn’t invested in that. I didn’t care. I care about my guys, my group, I care about the sport, but I don’t care about all those people being angry each other. It was a weird match too – three five-men tag teams, and always three guys in the ring. That’s when wrestling turns from competition to putting acrobats in a circus to do a show.


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: ROH Announces Past vs. Present Event, WWE Network’s January Classic Content, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/various-roh-announces-past-vs-present-event-wwe-networks-january-classic-content-indies/)
WWE: Royal Rumble “By The Numbers”, Matt Hardy on WWE Future, New Talent Hiring, Trademarks (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-royal-rumble-by-the-numbers-matt-hardy-on-wwe-future-new-talent-hiring-trademarks/)
Andrade vs. Carrillo Added to Royal Rumble (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/andrade-vs-carrillo-added-to-royal-rumble/)
Pre-Show Match Added to WWE Worlds Collide (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/pre-show-match-added-to-wwe-worlds-collide/)
Kane May Be Part of the Royal Rumble Match (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/kane-may-be-part-of-the-royal-rumble-match/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Following a week where the show went against the college football championship game, Raw viewership was up almost 17 percent this Monday night, averaging 2.376 million viewers.

The episode opened with 2.548 million viewers in hour one and stayed relatively steady with 2.492 million in hour two. There was the usual big third-hour drop this week, with only 2.101 million viewers on average sticking around for the third hour and three-minute overrun.

The show averaged a 0.83 rating in the important 18-49 demo, which topped all of cable TV. It was seventh on cable in terms of total viewers, trailing only news-related programming but besting an NBA game on TNT that did just over two million viewers ...

The 15.7 percent drop from hour two to hour three was the 10th worst the show has done since moving to three hours, so it seems as if the Lana/Bobby Lashley/Rusev saga may not have the same ratings legs as it did a few weeks ago. This week's main event segment was Lana & Lashley vs. Rusev & Liv Morgan.

A new report is indicating that Lance Archer is in talks to join AEW.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported that Archer is currently in high level talks with the promotion. Although he regularly tours with New Japan Pro Wrestling, he is not under contract and thus is able to negotiate with other companies.

This year's Chris Jericho cruise will see history made for AEW as they will hold their first-ever intergender tag team match.

Made in a BTE-style video posted on AEW's Twitter account earlier this morning, Kenny Omega and AEW women's champion Riho will face Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford.

In the clip seen below, Sabian and Ford come into Omega's locker room where he's hanging out with the Young Bucks. After putting down Riho, he pitches the match with an angle that the cruise is in international waters but it's still for AEW. The Bucks give their vote and the match was made:

However, two things are unclear as of this writing. One is when the match is going to happen and the other is whether fans not on the cruise are going to be able to watch the match on AEW Dark, YouTube, or even a Dynamite segment.

Link: https://twitter.com/AEWrestling/status/1219915850376982530

Deadline is reporting Sean Durkin, the Canadian filmmaker behind "Martha Marcy May" and upcoming Sundance feature "The Nest", is working on a feature film detailing the rise and fall of the Von Erich family.

WWE has launched an official Twitch channel at www.Twitch.TV/WWE.

The channel will be live streaming WWE's The Bump and PPV Kickoff shows, among other content.

Asuka, who will face Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Title on Sunday at the Royal Rumble, noted on Twitter [Tuesday] tonight that she was at the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip this evening when a shooting happened.

Local news is reporting that a fight escalated in the mall and gunfire broke out, injuring three people (none of whom was Asuka). The injuries were reported as being non-life threatening. Details are still coming in (I live in Las Vegas) but at approximately 8 p.m. local time the scene had been cleared and Las Vegas Metro Police are searching for two suspects, who fled the mall after the shooting.

Mae Young Classic competitor and former NXT U.K. talent Jazzy Gabert tweeted out on January 18th that she is now a free agent. The following day, she noted that she was in a car accident the previous Sunday and was not cleared for the post-NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II tapings. Her scheduled match with Killer Kelly was announced before she was seen by doctors and she was still willing to wrestle, but her health was the main priority.

WrestleTalk recently chatted with Jazzy Gabert and she explained why she decided to depart from WWE. She said that she was the one to request her release because there were outside projects that she was partaking in due to the schedule she had with NXT UK. Jazzy, who was paired with Jinny on the weekly WWE Network show, didn’t see herself progressing in regard to storylines and with the outside projects she was participating in, she knew there was more she could be doing.

POST Wrestling has learned that Tom Phillips will be on the call for WWE Worlds Collide on January 25th in Houston, Texas. Mauro Ranallo is calling the Showtime Boxing event on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.

Following his Ladder match for the United States Title against Andrade on the 1/20/20 episode of RAW, Rey Mysterio was checked on by WWE’s medical team, per Pro Wrestling Sheet. There was one point during the match when Rey was hanging onto the championship belt and attempted to execute a hurricanrana on Andrade but ended up falling back/neck first. Sources told Pro Wrestling Sheet that Mysterio is not seriously injured and he will not be missing any time from the ring.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis. Aldis revealed that he drove 12 hours to ROH’s Center Stage show for two minutes of action and feels it was worth every hour he spent making his way to Atlanta.

“I drove 12 hours for two minutes of action in Ring of Honor, and it was worth it. It’s no secret that Marty Scurll has been able to land himself an incredible deal, and it makes sense. Now you can feel the shift.”

Nick Aldis reiterated that the NWA is open to working with anyone, including All Elite Wrestling and WWE. He stated that the organization wants to present “super-fights” to the fans.

“Working with AEW is brought up to me almost daily,” said Aldis, who says he was offered an AEW contract but chose to stay with the NWA. “The NWA is open to working with anyone. There are a number of wrestlers outside the WWE that are viewed as elite-level guys, so it’s only a matter of time before the audience starts demanding the main-event matches they want to see. We want to give the fans the matches they want to see, these super fights. If AEW wants to be involved in big, marquee matches, then they have two choices: go out and write some more big checks to some more guys, or they’re going to have to come to the table and work out some super fights with the NWA.”


All Elite Wrestling turned the viral Dark Order segment into a storyline. The viral segment being referred to is when the Dark Order member threw punches at Dustin Rhodes that were not connecting and the clip made its way around social media and was critiqued by many within the business. In the video below, Evil Uno was told by “The Exalted One” that he wants the “weak one” gone and then a clip of the weak one was shown. Stu Grayson then got rid of said individual by punching him out in front of other Dark Order members.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jsvjERWrsI

Enzo Amore recently put out a video on YouTube during-which he addressed Tama Tonga’s offer for a match between the two. During the video, Enzo stated that he was offered $25,000 for the match between him and Tama and shortly after that revelation, he thanked Josh Barnett who offered through social media to host the Tama versus Enzo match. Josh Barnett is presenting the third edition of Bloodsport this coming WrestleMania weekend. GCW publicly denied that they offered any money to Amore.

Enzo first clarified via Twitter that he never mentioned any specific promotion offering him the aforementioned amount of money. He then issued a statement to Pro Wrestling Sheet and told the publication that it was WrestleCon who offered him $25,000. WrestleCon noted on Twitter that they never made an offer and listened to Enzo’s agent’s offer and only offered the opportunity to use their space to host his event.

Lars Sullivan's knee recovery also started to recover a lot slower than anticipated. WWE always had him marked down to miss a full year, but he was of the belief he'd be back sooner, having recovered from a knee injury prior.

Hunter Johnston/Delirious remains executive producer of ROH, and the roster is under the impression that there's already been some collaboration and ideas together with Marty Scrull. Delirious is still responsible for how the show looks and feels, and is expected to mentor Scurll in the role. Those we talked to said that Scrull is in "good hands" starting out ...

Fightful has learned that there were "generous" offers made to Cody Rhodes at the very least to retain him. It was confirmed to us that in negotiations the idea of being a booker was broached there, as well, and that both sides seemed to leave with a positive interaction.


TPWW Frontpage:

The New Day and Natalya Added to Royal Rumble Matches – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/the-new-day-and-natalya-added-to-royal-rumble-matches-updated-card/)
Naomi May Return at the Royal Rumble (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/naomi-may-return-at-the-royal-rumble/)
WWE: Matt Riddle Teases Showdown With Lesnar, Keith Lee Responds to CM Punk (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-matt-riddle-teases-showdown-with-lesnar-keith-lee-responds-to-cm-punk-natalya-enters-rumble/)
AEW Dynamite Will Be Live From the Jericho Cruise Next Year, Cody Says (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-dynamite-will-be-live-from-the-jericho-cruise-next-year-cody-says/)

[slik]

Baltimore rumored for MITB

[slik]

Dallas rumored for Survivor Series

Los Angeles still the front runner for WrestleMania 37 at their huge new stadium

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Ratings are in for this week's installment of the Wednesday Night Wars.

AEW Dynamite, with matches taped on the Chris Jericho cruise the previous day, averaged 871,000 viewers, down seven percent from last week.

The show finished eighth on cable in the 18-49 demo with a 0.35 rating, down eight percent from last week. Last week's show had finished in fifth place.

NXT was up 10 percent in viewers, averaging 769,000. They were up 14 percent in the 18-49 demo with a 0.24 rating, which landed NXT in 35th place for the night on cable ...

As per usual, Dynamite won in every demo except for those over 50. NXT had an edge of 0.38 to 0.34 in that category. The gap was largest with men 18-49, where Dynamite finished 50 percent higher than NXT with a 0.48 to 0.32 advantage.

If you are looking for patterns for the AEW show, it was clear that the taped nature didn’t affect older viewers. Adults over 50 were the same as last week while adults 25-54 were only down 2%. The big decreases were among females 12-34 which fell 33%, males 12-34 down 23% and adults 18-34 declining 17% this week.

NXT was helped by large increases among adults 18-34 by 29%, males 18-49 by 23%, and females 12-34 increasing 22%.

A wrestler who was with Ring of Honor during its inception will be appearing for the promotion again over WrestleMania weekend.

ROH announced this morning that Amazing Red will be wrestling at Supercard of Honor XIV. The show is taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4.

After announcing his retirement last April, Red has been wrestling since returning to the ring against Will Ospreay in NJPW's Super J-Cup in August. Red tweeted earlier this month that he was going away for a small surgery but would be back in February.

The word making the rounds is that Australian star Adam Brooks is likely Ring of Honor bound in the near future. PWInsider.com is hearing the company is working on bringing him in regularly.

Brooks, 29, was originally trained by Buddy Murphy and has been a consistent main events for Australian promotions, including Melbourne City Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Australia.

He has wrestled for ROH and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in the past and has already announced he will be in Tampa competing over Wrestlemania 36 week.

The Cauliflower Alley Club issued the following sad news:

?We heard this morning that Ruben Cruz, better known to wrestling as Hercules Ayala, passed away last night due to heart issues at the age of 69. Born in Puerto Rico, Cruz wrestled all over the world, winning dozens of titles in his career. No one will ever forget his unique look, and we offer our condolances at this time ?to his family and his loved ones.

Ayala, originally born in Puerto Rico, was trained in professional wrestling by the late Angelo Savoldi while living in Boston, where his mother had moved to from the island. After a chance meeting in a gym, Ayala was taken under Savoldi's wing and worked underneath matches for the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Working as Ruben Ayala, a babyface, he would work undercard matches, losing to the likes of Baron Mikel Scicuna and getting put over Johnny Rodz and Tony Altimore on live events ...

We are told Ayala had been in poor health for some time. He was 69 years old at the time of his passing.

Our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Hercules Ayala.

Last night's episode of Dynamite was taped on Tuesday 2/21 in the Bahamas with the company then sending on multiple copies of the show back to Atlanta (to insure that no matter what, the show made it back to the United States), at which point Kevin Sullivan and his team went into a marathon post-production session to get the episode polished and ready for air on TNT last night.

Ring of Honor has signed a new multi-year deal with PJ Black aka former WWE star Justin Gabriel, PWInsider.com has confirmed. An official announcement could come at any time. His existing deal, signed last year after turning down a chance to return to WWE, was slated to expire shortly

Following his WWE debut on the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX in October, it was confirmed by WWE that Cain Velasquez signed a multi-year deal with the company. While speaking on the Gorilla Position podcast, Velasquez said his deal is a full-time one for three years.

“Yeah, full-time thing for three years.”


All Elite Wrestling posted Joey Janela and Rey Fenix’s match that was taped after AEW Dynamite: Bash At The Beach went off the air on TNT.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uMo6CEbSoc

Becky Lynch refers to herself as "The Man" because she doesn't believe in gender specificity. And she doesn't think WWE should believe in it either. The women in WWE continue to make history, but Lynch believes the time for making history is over and it's time for full equality in WWE ...

WWE has seemingly taken the first step in dropping "women's" from its vocabulary by now referring to the NXT Women's Championship as simply the NXT Championship. Mauro Ranallo never made mention of the "women's" part of the championship when Rhea Ripley was on Wednesday's NXT.

It is unclear if Raw and SmackDown will start using this designation moving forward.

Becky took to social media to offer more clarity on her comments.
Link: https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1220489376821583873

In 2016, The Rock returned to WWE Raw to hype his appearance at WrestleMania 32. During his promo, he was interrupted by The New Day, leading to the four men engaging in a promo battle. New Day began the battle, joking about The Rock leaving Miami for Hollywood and putting themselves over as the reigning WWE Tag Team Champions before The Rock offered his rebuttal ...

On the latest episode of New Day: Feel The Power; Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods recalled the moment with The Rock.

"How about when we hopped on the microphone with the microphone king, The Rock? I don't know what the consensus was, but that was pretty cool. We were out there for a few minutes and he made his remarks. And we said 'penis' a lot," said Big E

Kofi added, "You can't say 'penis' on TV and we said it on TV."

When discussing the challenge of going against The Rock on the mic, Xavier Woods stated, "That day, we knew we were going up against 'The Godfather on the Microphone.' He's absolutely incredible. Probably the best entertainer I've ever seen on all platforms. We knew he was going to come in with all that Attitude Era vibe; say whatever he wants, going into the crowd, back to the hard cam and everyone is going to love it. One of the things we wanted to try and do is stay within our PG lane and still go toe-to-toe with somebody who was breaking all of our rules. We did our best to do that and I felt really good after it. We didn't just get washed out."

Meanwhile, Kofi praised The Rock for being gracious with how giving he was.

"Shoutout to The Rock for being cool enough for allowing us to be us. He could have easily stifled whatever it is that he wanted us to say. It's always cool when you see somebody that you grew up watching, you meet them in real life, and they're cool. Especially in the parameters of this business. He was gracious enough to allow us to be us. I felt like it legitimized us."


TPWW Frontpage:

Rich Swann Undergoing Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/rich-swann-undergoing-surgery/)
Impact’s Twitch Channel Returns After Suspension (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/impacts-twitch-channel-returns-after-suspension/)
Nia Jax and Ruby Riott May Return at the Royal Rumble (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/nia-jax-and-ruby-riott-may-return-at-the-royal-rumble/)
NXT Women’s Championship to Be Referred to as Just the “NXT Championship” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/nxt-womens-championship-to-be-referred-to-as-just-the-nxt-championship/)
WWE Backstage Ratings – Jan. 21, 2020 – CM Punk and Becky Lynch (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-backstage-ratings-jan-21-2020-cm-punk-and-becky-lynch/)

[GD]

I am certainly in favor of dropping the gender-specific identifiers for all three women's titles. Genuinely curious to see if it will be adapted on RAW and Smackdown as well.

[erickman]

I wonder if that is Tessa envy, she may want to get into intergender crap too. not knowing that female wrestlers hate working with Tessa an all Tessa has left to work with is men.

[Seanny One Ball]

"gender specificity" or just "gender" as we used to all it.

I hope her tits fall off.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I am certainly in favor of dropping the gender-specific identifier's for the women's titles. Genuinely curious to see if it will be adapted by RAW and Smackdown as well.

lol the fuck is this post?

[GD]

I got carried away :o

[GD]

I am in favor of them removing the "women's" portion from the NXT, RAW and Smackdown Women's titles.

[erickman]

vince may bring back diva belts

[GD]

you are a diva belts

[Droford]

If it just becomes the NXT Championship I want a man to hold the belt

Equal rights

[GD]

https://media.tenor.com/images/5f467f509cbff3d2f791e90b352586db/tenor.gif

[Seanny One Ball]

Imagining a guy running up to Nancy Kerrigan, whacking her leg with a pipe and running away screaming "Equal rights!"

[GD]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDBiYzYzYWMtZTZjYy00NzIyLWJkMjgtMzljZTg0NWJmY2RlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTgxOTIzNzk@._V1_.jpg

[Helmsphere]

Is the qualification that to win the title you have to been pentrated by a penis? That means Sonya Deville can mever win it but Lars Sullivan can?

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Daniel Bryan and WWE have worked together to release a new eco-friendly T-shirt.

The "Planet's Champion" shirt was released today and costs $27.99. Here's WWE's description of it:

Show your support for Daniel Bryan & help the Earth with this Eco-Friendly T-Shirt! It may look like any regular tee, but it's actually made from organic cotton and recycled poly rPET blend that makes the fabric more durable and heavyweight. Each shirt saves at least 4 plastic bottles from ending up in a landfill, or worse. Helping to clean our planet will make YOU The Planet's Champion. Say YES to this Eco-Friendly T-Shirt!

Bryan also wrote that -- in partnership with American Forests -- a tree will be planted for every one of the eco-friendly shirts that is sold: "Today my new shirt has come out, one that @wwe made out of organic cotton and recycled materials. And thanks to a partnership with @americanforests, a tree will be planted for every shirt that’s sold!!! #Smackdown"
Link: https://shop.wwe.com/daniel-bryan-the-planets-champion-authentic-eco-t-shirt/1224F6997B.html

AEW has a strong advance ahead of their upcoming New Jersey debut.

Dave Meltzer reports that the show, which will take place at the Prudential Center on Wednesday, March 25, has already sold 10,000 tickets. Tickets went on sale to the general public at noon Eastern time today. Meltzer notes that the show would have sold out instantly if there was scalper activity.
That already puts it in the upper tier for AEW tv shows in terms of ticket sales. Outside of the first set of shows, they were averaging around the 6k range for weekly Dynamite shows.

The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion is set for ROH Supercard of Honor XIV.

Nick Aldis is the latest name announced for this year's Supercard of Honor event. The RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida is hosting the show on April 4, which is the Saturday of WrestleMania weekend. Supercard of Honor will go against NXT TakeOver: Tampa.

Hornswoggle posted a photo on Twitter of the Houston airport, so he's either in town or trolling fans. We haven't confirmed either way, but one would think if he was a Rumble surprise, he'd be trying to hide that.
Link: https://twitter.com/wwehornswoggle/status/1220764959497424896

Why exactly was the Rocky Johnson book pulled off the market? Was it due to the issues with Scott Teal?

ECW Press noted in a local article in Canada that the book was pulled due to concern over some of the text in the book. Johnson had a falling out with co-author Scott Teal after not going forward with their agreed upon deal and withholding payments due for Teal's work interviewing and writing the actual book, but Johnson's brother Ricky has noted on Facebook he would make sure Teal would get what he was owed. We are told Teal's issues with Johnson had nothing to do with the ECW Press decision and that it was a separate issue that the company has declined to comment further on.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

ITV Box Office, which had been carrying the AEW pay-per-view events, announced this week they are shutting down the channel effective today. This means that for those in the UK, the only way to watch the AEW pay-per-views for now is through Fite TV. The next pay-per-view is the ‘Revolution’ show on Sunday, February 29th.

Black Label Pro has added a match between Haku and ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor for their WrestleMania weekend card on Friday, April 3rd at 11:59 pm ET in Ybor City, Florida. The card takes place at The Cuban Club where The Collective shows are taking place.

For decades, John Cena was made fun of for wearing jean shorts -- known as jorts -- in a wrestling ring. While everyone else wore trunks or tights, Cena kept to his gimmick by wrestling in jorts and sneakers. It was a move not only to prove he was from the mean streets of Massachusetts but also to make sure everyone kept their focus elsewhere.

Appearing on the Late Late Show with James Corden, Cena revealed the reason behind the jorts.

"If you look at my other options, it's just underwear," he said. "So, I wanted to do some sort of street clothes because my persona was a tough wanna-be rapper kid from the mean street of West Newbury. Tough to do that in your underwear. So, I also wear sneakers. Most guys wear calf-high or knee-high leather boots. I'm pretty much in street clothes and I chose denim because you don't blow the crotch out of denim. I tried cargo pants and in front of the world a few times, everybody is just looking at my dick. So denim is a safe play. And, they're back in, so it stood the test of time."

Before he was "The Show-Off," Dolph Ziggler was Nicky in the Spirit Squad, a group of male cheerleaders.

Originally, Zigger was under the impression that he was going to be in a group that seemingly combined the NWO with the Four Horsemen. Speaking to Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell, Ziggler recalled how he found out he was going to be part of the Spirit Squad.

"'Well, there's a group of guys, it's gonna be pretty cool. Kinda like a new Four Horsemen,'" Zigger said of the original pitch. "If I can remember the exact words, it was cooler than that. 'Think of like the Horsemen, but like controversial.' We're like, 'Woah, what.' That is where I got to meet Vince [McMahon]. He pulls me into a room and is like, 'We're gonna do something that's never been done before. It's going to be controversial. People are gonna be talking...' I'm like, 'Woah, this is the craziest thing.' I've never met Vince in my life to this point. And he goes...'MALE! CHEERLEADERS!' My heart sank into my stomach and I went, 'Oh..man. Whatever gets me on the show sounds good to me.'"

Speaking to Mirror in the UK, WALTER addressed his respect and admiration for Lesnar, telling the publication that he feels Brock is the most intelligent wrestler on the planet.

"I will go in [the Royal Rumble] second, I don't care," he said. "I respect the guy because I think Brock Lesnar is the smartest professional wrestler on the planet right now. The number one, work the least amount of time for everybody else, do your own thing... perfect. I like how everybody else hates him for that because they're just jealous that they are not as smart as him, right? So yeah, of course. I would love to wrestle Brock Lesnar. He is one of my favorite wrestlers too, I think he is very skilled, very athletic. And yeah, that's a good mind for wrestling. And yeah, obviously, I focus on definitely him being one of the matches I really want to do."


TPWW Frontpage:

Brian Cage Undergoing Surgery, Gives Update on His AEW/Impact Status (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/brian-cage-undergoing-surgery-gives-update-on-his-aew-impact-status/)
Final Card for Saturday’s WWE Worlds Collide Special (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/final-card-for-saturdays-wwe-worlds-collide-special/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't think WWE really get what equality is.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

In a surprising turn of events, the Royal Rumble did not cause any kind of significant bump to Raw ratings, as last night's show did 2.40 million viewers, even with it being built around Drew McIntyre and Charlotte Flair making their choices of WrestleMania opponents and the return interview of Edge.

It was down 12 percent from last year's post-Rumble show that did 2.71 million viewers. To show the ratings decline, for the episode after the Royal Rumble, Raw did 4.10 million viewers in 2016, 3.62 million in 2017, and 3.40 million in 2018 ...

The Raw after the Rumble is usually one of the higher rated episodes of the show during the year, but last night's episode was actually lower than the December 30 show (Lana/Bobby Lashley wedding) and the September 30 show (Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan appearing). It was also lower than the show was routinely doing last summer prior to football season starting. It was only up 0.9 percent, as compared with a 10 percent jump last year and in 2017. In 2018, the show followed the Raw 25th anniversary episode which was the highest rated Raw in years ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.54 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.44 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.22 million viewers


WWE Network will soon debut a new series titled "Ruthless Aggression" focusing on that era of WWE history.

Brock Lesnar tied the record for most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match with 13 eliminations tonight.

Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler now share the record for the most eliminations inside of the women's Royal Rumble. During the 2020 30-women spectacular, both members of the NXT roster got eight eliminations apiece, but they did so from drastically different positions in the match.

There is a full page color ad for AEW in the official program for next week's Super Bowl. It is right next to the table of contents so it's very prominent

There were attempts to bring in Melina and Victoria for last night's Rumble at one point. No word why it didn't happen. Melina worked the NWA TV tapings in Atlanta over the weekend.

Mark Hildreth, who wrestled as ‘Van Hammer’ in WCW was arrested following an incident Sunday. The Palm Beach Post reported that Hildreth struck a 5-year old boy on his bicycle with his car and proceeded to leave the scene. Hildreth is facing charges of leaving the scene of an injury crash and a DUI. The unnamed victim was taken to hospital and is in stable condition with possible internal injuries. Hildreth was in court on Monday morning with bail set at $125,000 and includes an option to be placed under house arrest. In the story, it also states he was believed to be going 58 mph where the limit was 35. As Van Hammer, he debuted for WCW in 1991 and was placed on a two-month winning streak out of the gate. The company would go hot and cold with him and he ended up staying with WCW throughout the decade. He was a member of Raven’s Flock and then given another push in 1999 around the time Kevin Nash was booking the show. His last run in WCW saw him as a member of the Misfits in Action as ‘Major Stash’ until leaving the company in mid-2000.

Tokyo Sports reported that Pro Wrestling NOAH has become a subsidiary of CyberAgent, which is also the parent company of DDT.

This past week's episode of MLW FUSION, headlined by the no ropes barbed wire match between Jimmy Havoc and Mance Werner was the highest rated episode of MLW on BeIN Sport to date. MLW sources have claimed they are in discussions with four potential outlets for TV and streaming rights and they are positive on future media rights revenue.

There has been some discussion of adding a Trios (Six Man Tag Team) Championship to the promotion.

MLW will return to Philadelphia, PA this Saturday 2/1 for Fightland The event has a great advance for the promotion, which sold it its last show at the 2300 Arena last year, to the point that additional seats have been added and released for sale at www.MLW2300.com ...

The women's division is on hold as Zeda Zhang, who it was to be built around, is out with an injury. Priscilla Kelly's final contracted date with the promotion is 2/1.

In regard to stories that Brock Lesnar and Matt Riddle had a run-in at the Royal Rumble backstage, where Lesnar made it clear to Riddle (who constantly talks about retiring Lesnar on social media) that he will never work with Riddle, so he should knock it off, there's absolutely truth to the story, to the point that earlier today, during a media class at the WWE Performance Center, there was a specific mention of not tweeting and calling out talents from Raw and Smackdown without their knowledge, which got a big laugh from the NXT talents in attendance.

Carlos Rocha has passed away at age 93. “The Portuguese Champion” wrestled all over the world including for the International Wrestling Association and the WWWF.

He won the International Title from Abdullah the Butcher in December 1971 and lost it to The Sheik in the May 1972. Both matches took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada where IWA was based. His matches with The Sheik drew attendance records at the time.

Rocha appeared for the WWWF in the later 1970s when he was in his early 50s. He was the first pro wrestler from Portugal to work for the company. He lost a 2 out of 3 falls match to WWF Champion “Superstar” Billy Graham in 1977 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Taya Valkyrie took to Twitter noting that she was in attendance at the Royal Rumble, was there to see her husband John Morrison in a WWE ring for the first-time ever and that fans shouldn't look any deeper into her being there:

Hey guys last night I went and supported my husband John. It was the first time I’ve ever seen him in a WWE ring live. So stop reading into it or making assumptions. Love,
Kira
— Wera Loca (@TheTayaValkyrie) January 27, 2020

Valkyrie's Impact deal was automatically renewed in December for another year, so she is locked in until December 2020.

As you saw last night on Monday Night Raw, Byron Saxton joined Tom Phillips and Jerry Lawler as a member of the Raw broadcast team.

PWInsider.com has confirmed that Saxton is back on the Raw broadcast team full-time going forward with the company going back to a three-man format.

Killer Kross is a free agent and, at the moment, he's uncertain about his future. Kross was released from his IMPACT contract in December, putting him on the market. He is set to compete at MLW Fightland on Feb. 1, but his future following Fightland is up in the air.

It was reported on Jan. 17 by the Wrestling Observer that Kross was set to or had already met with NXT Founder and WWE Executive Triple H. Fightful Select reported on Jan. 26 that as of last week, Triple H and Kross had not had a face-to-face meeting.

In an interview with Two Man Powertrip, Kross himself denied ever meeting Triple H.

"I have to address this. You had mentioned Hunter or Triple H. I've never met him. I don't know where the story came up exactly first in the dirt sheets and I don't really pay that much attention to them, but I've never met him. I think it's cool and kind of flattering that those stories circulate but I'd like to meet him. If someone could make that happen that would be great. I know it's not meant to be malicious or whatnot and it's fun to fantasize about that stuff but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet," he said.

In addition to the report that Triple H and Kross had not met face-to-face, Fightful Select reported to not expect Killer Kross to be available for bookings during WrestleMania week. Kross is free to sign with any promotion, though he says he isn't sure what is next for him.
Considering what happened the last couple times someone denied any involvement with WWE, safe to say the odds of him meeting Triple H and going to WWE are high. Plus his girlfriend, Scarlett Brodeaux, is already in the company.


TPWW Frontpage:

More Details on Matt Riddle’s Backstage Altercation With Brock Lesnar (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/more-details-on-matt-riddles-backstage-altercation-with-brock-lesnar/)
Charlotte Flair’s WrestleMania Opponent Reportedly Will Be Rhea Ripley (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/charlotte-flairs-wrestlemania-opponent-reportedly-will-be-rhea-ripley/)
Samoa Joe Injured During Raw (Update) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/samoa-joe-injured-during-raw/)
Who Will Becky Lynch Face at WrestleMania? (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/who-will-becky-lynch-face-at-wrestlemania/)
Andrade Suspended for WWE Wellness Policy Violation (Update) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/andrade-suspended-for-wwe-wellness-policy-violation/)
Former WWF Announcer Sean Mooney Joins the NWA (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/former-wwf-announcer-sean-mooney-joins-the-nwa/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The night before he faces Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, Drew McIntyre will be the focus of a new episode of WWE Chronicle.

During his appearance on WWE's The Bump today, it was announced that a Chronicle episode on McIntyre will premiere on the WWE Network after NXT TakeOver: Tampa on Saturday, April 4. McIntyre will challenge Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36 the next day.

Shingo Takagi and Bandido are set to face off over WrestleMania week.

WrestleCon announced today that Takagi vs. Bandido will take place at their Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, April 2. The show is taking place at The Ritz Ybor City and will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

WrestleCon wrote that this may be the only match they announce for the SuperShow in advance. Will Ospreay, Black Taurus, Zack Sabre Jr., and Amazing Red have also been confirmed for the event.

The pro-wrestling related musical called "Rockquiem For A Wrestler" by Philip Paul Kelley is moving forward in production and will have a new reading on Sunday 5/3 at the Triad Theater in New York City. The second Staged Reading will be an elevated event featuring a 5-piece band with technical enhancements.

The musical is a dramatic parody inspired by the life of Ivan Koloff.

An update on Taya Valkyrie's contract status from yesterday. She is stating on social media that her contract did not automatically roll over as I wrote yesterday and that she actually signed a new multi-year Impact Wrestling contract last year. We were told her deal automatically rolled over in December 2019, which she disputes. A new deal would lock her in with the company through sometime in 2021, based on her claims. Konnan stated on a recent episode of his podcast that he believed her deal was up in ten months, which falls in line with what we have heard.

Two different venues known as the Sportatorium that were important to pro wrestling fans in their respective cities will move forward, leaving their past behind,

The Dallas Morning News reported earlier this month that the land that once housed the Sportatorium that housed World Class Championship Wrestling, the USWA and the Global Wrestling Federation, which has sat as a vacant field for years, has been sold to a developer that owns the adjacent land with plans to develop the site into a new development. The site, when the Sportatorium was standing, housed pro wrestling dating back to the 1950s.

Meanwhile, in Tampa, the Sportatorium that once housed Championship Wrestling from Florida, located at 106 N. Albany Avenue was reported to have been leased for future commercial purposes, according to the Tampa-Bay Times.

STARDOM officially announced a second DLC pack featuring 11 performers will be coming to the Fire Pro Wrestling World video game March 5. The promotion had a press conference and tweeted the following

The main event of the 2020 NWA Crockett Cup PPV in Atlanta this April will be NWA Champion Nick Aldis vs. Marty Scurll with the stipulation that if Scurll loses, he must write a check to refund the cost of attendance that night.

The scene was set with the following segment:

"What if you have to pay for your greed?"@RealNickAldis lays out very EXPENSIVE TERMS for @MartyScurll on #AldisVsScurll 2 at #CrockettCup.#NWAPowerrr - https://t.co/GIJypXxeCP pic.twitter.com/W6aAVmxN3a
— NWA (@nwa) January 29, 2020

The event will also feature the 2020 Crockett Cup tournament.
Link: https://twitter.com/nwa/status/1222308453630324736

The biggest story concerns the state of Pro Wrestling NOAH, which is now under new management as a subsidiary of CyberAgent Incorporated with the news first reported by Tokyo Sports. Just last year, 75% of the company had been sold to LIDET from Estbee Co. Ltd. CyberAgent has acquired 100% ownership of NOAH ...

CyberAgent purchased DDT (Dramatic Dream Team) in 2017 and is going to lead to the two companies working together in several capacities ...

The @DDTpro_eng handle translated Wednesday’s press conference and provided the following notes:
*Sanshiro Takagi will serve as President of both DDT and NOAH while Naomichi Marfuji is listed as the Executive Vice President of NOAH
*Takagi is designated to work on the business end and leave the creative day-to-day with Marufuji and former NOAH President Arihiro Takeda
*It was Takagi who got the ball rolling after NOAH’s finances were hit and approached Susumu Fujita about saving NOAH with Takagi and Takeda beginning to speak in November
*NOAH’s relationship with LIDET (the previous owners)will continue with the group staying on board as a corporate sponsor
*NOAH will be running a free show on Thursday on DDT Universe, which is their streaming service and is the first time NOAH has been linked to a streaming service with several shows airing on YouTube over the past year. The plan is for DDT Universe to carry 1-2 NOAH shows per month. They have already added a NOAH section on the service.
*They also announced that DDT and NOAH will run back-to-back nights at Sumo Hall on November 21st and 22nd

Diamond Dallas Page returned to the ring for the first time in nearly four years on the Jan. 15 episode of AEW Dynamite. Page teamed with Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall in a losing effort to The Butcher, The Blade, & MJF.

Page has worked with AEW dating back to All In, helping out Cody on-screen and off. Despite his input in certain aspects, Page told Wrestling Inc that he is not part of the creative team in AEW. And while many may believe that DDP isn't welcome in WWE due to his AEW affiliation, DDP stated that's not the case.

"WWE's coming here on Wednesday and they're gonna interview me for [Karl] Malone and [Dennis] Rodman. I'm like in the middle – I wanna be able to help Cody with whatever he needs but if WWE needs something from me, then I'm always there for them. They've treated me super-great for the last 10 years," he said.

After nearly nine years away from the ring, Edge made his return at WWE Royal Rumble. Edge was forced to retire in 2011 due to cervical spinal stenosis, but was able to get healthy and cleared for his in-ring return on Sunday.

Appearing on WWE Backstage, his longtime tag team partner and friend Christian, gave a little more insight on how Edge was feeling about his return.

"It was alright," Christian joked when asked how amazing the moment was for himself and Edge. "WWE is about creating moments. Creating moments that will stand the test of time. You think back to when Edge had to retire due to his neck injury. It's an unforgettable moment. This is much bigger than that. It's unheard of for somebody to come back from this type of injury after nine years off from the ring. As a performer, those thoughts always creep into your mind when you've been away for that long. 'Can I still do this at the level that I did before?' You don't want to come back at any less than that. When I talked to him after, I was like, 'How did it feel out there?' He's like, 'Man, I was really nervous.' To put that in perspective, I was the one that got nervous in our team. He was always calming me down. He had nerves of steel. For him to say that, that just shows you how big of a moment that was for him and the WWE Universe. It will be remembered forever."

In the Royal Rumble match, Edge shared the ring with an old friend in Randy Orton and some new faces in Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, and AJ Styles. Christian discussed Edge's mindset on his future, revealing that Edge can't wait to work with fresh opponents.

"When talking to him before he came back, his mindset is already like, 'Man, I can get in the ring with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Aleister Black.' All of these superstars that he's never had a chance (to wrestle). Dream matches. These are legit dream matches. The sky is the limit from here," he said.


TPWW Frontpage:

Details on Edge’s WWE Contract: Length, Money, Number of Appearances and Matches (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/details-on-edges-wwe-contract-length-money-number-of-appearances-and-matches/)
WWE Backstage Ratings – Jan. 28, 2020 – Reigns and New Day (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-backstage-ratings-jan-28-2020-reigns-and-new-day/)
Matt Riddle Promises That He Will Still End Brock Lesnar’s Career (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/matt-riddle-promises-that-he-will-still-end-brock-lesnars-career/)

[Sepholio]

lol I absolutely adore Matt Riddle. I feel like at some point Lesnar is going to squash him for all this but idgaf because Riddle is still a king.

[Mr. Nerfect]

lol I absolutely adore Matt Riddle. I feel like at some point Lesnar is going to squash him for all this but idgaf because Riddle is still a king.

If they work together, I do think Brock will win, but I don't think it will be a squash. Riddle will get the AJ/Daniel Bryan/Finn Balor treatment with him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

WWE have handled Drew McIntyre pretty fucking perfectly so far. His spotlight in the Rumble was incredible, and they're clearly going all-in. To have a special on him come out the night before WrestleMania too? WWE is in star-making mode.

[Droford]

lol, the Marty Scurll thing is brilliant.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Didn't see it mentioned in this thread, but maybe I missed it, but MVP has said that his match on Raw against Rey was his last WWE match, and that he's not finished completely, but the end of his career is coming up very soon.

[Emperor Smeat]

Splitting the sheet news into 2 posts since this week's Observer Newsletter was released earlier than usual. First post is just from this week's Newsletter and the next one will be have Thursdays daily news.

The Sheets Part Evil Uno:

What’s notable is that in all the plans until the last week, Reigns and Baszler were scheduled as the Rumble winners. Vince McMahon changed his mind about a week ahead of time. We don’t know exactly when, but significant money came in on Flair to win on 1/19, so that’s a pretty good hint.

The reasons were that it was said he wanted matches to create stronger main events for Mania. For the men’s side, that does make sense. The decision is to go all out with Lesnar vs. McIntyre as the main event at this point, barring an outside attraction match, and not Wyatt vs. Reigns. The original idea was for Lesnar to destroy everyone in the Rumble, eliminating the first 13 guys, until a combination of a low blow by Ricochet (in retaliation to Lesnar laying out Ricochet on TV the week before with a low blow) and a Claymore kick by McIntyre would lead to Lesnar being out. The idea is that once he eliminated Lesnar, that McIntyre didn’t need to win, and that Reigns could win and challenge Wyatt so you have the two title matches as someone even.

But McMahon wanted to establish Lesnar vs. McIntyre as the main event, and thus everything is geared to making the main event as strong as it

It should also be noted that it was only in the last few weeks that McIntyre was in the spot to face Lesnar. We were only told that Cain Velasquez, Tyson Fury and Edge, who were the names rumored for Lesnar, were all not true. The decision came down to McIntyre and Aleister Black, the latter a major Paul Heyman project. The feeling is that at this point in time, McIntyre was the more over of the two so the decision was made for him.

Right now the Flair match on the books is with Ripley for the NXT title. It’s the latest move to give NXT new juice since it fell behind AEW once again in the ratings after the momentum had seemingly turned away from AEW in November and December. While some thought that the AEW vs. NXT deal as a prime concern was over in McMahon’s mind, since the whole idea was to make sure AEW didn’t get strong enough numbers to get the paying television deal that would make them profitable and not going away any time soon. In that sense, McMahon failed in the big picture, with only some little wins like keeping other groups out of Madison Square Garden, which is a big deal to him, but far less important nowadays in the big picture ...

Still, if Lynch vs. Baszler is the key women’s match on the show, then it would have made sense for Baszler to win the Rumble, particularly since a large percentage of the viewership doesn’t watch NXT and isn’t familiar with her, yet she’s in the top women’s match on the show unless Rousey is coming back, which according to what we are told, Rousey will not be wrestling this year at Mania.

The other major story was the return of Edge (Adam Copeland, 46), who retired after the 2011 WrestleMania due to neck problems ...

He wouldn’t have been allowed to do that spear at SummerSlam if he wasn’t cleared. This all dates back to last summer when AEW made Edge a major offer to wrestle a few matches per year. Edge used that offer, which he told WWE was for $3 million per year and he would start when the company got television as his leverage, to get the same deal with WWE. So that was his leverage to get one of the highest deals in WWE history ...

Since this is now a second time this has happened, it does bring up unique speculation as to guys who were medically disqualified from ever wrestling in WWE again (Edge and Bryan) both were cleared when it became clear that they were going to wrestle outside WWE. It’s not as cut-and-dried as that, but when it happens twice in a row involving talents that legitimately would garner substantial interest outside WWE, it is notable.

The men’s Rumble was put together by Shane McMahon, James Gibson (Noble) , Chris Park (Abyss) and Lance Evers (Storm) with input by Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar regarding the early part of the match. Vince McMahon was heavily involved in the finishing sequence and not only made the final call on McIntyre winning, but also the sequence and his eliminating Reigns last.

The women’s Rumble was put together by Michael Seitz (Hayes), T.J. Wilson (Tyson Kidd), Adam Pearce, Mickie James and Paul Levesque had input the day of the show to help out and made it flow better.

U.S. champion Andrade failed a drug test, which those in the company were informed of on 1/27 in the afternoon. Paul Heyman made the call not to take the title off Andrade, who was suspended without pay for 30 days. He sees Andrade as one of his major players going forward and felt it was too early for him to lose, and too early in a planned long-term program with Humberto Carrillo for Carrillo to win. So they did an angle where Carrillo gave Andrade a hammerlock DDT after removing the protective mats on the floor. It was retaliation for what Andrade did to Carrillo that put him out of action for a few weeks. So there was a storyline fit in how it was handled.

The Rumble drew a sellout of 36,000 fans to Minute Maid Park in Houston with the announced figure being 42,715. There were some people turned away the day of the show. They sold out with the walk-up as they were selling tickets until just before show time. The paid would have been in excess of 30,000 as that was the figure they were in the ballpark of two weeks out ...

As impressive as that crowd is given the general toughness in selling tickets to live wrestling these days in the U.S., the interest in this year’s Rumble was way down. It had 500,000 Google searches, which by modern standards would mean the equivalent of a PPV show that by old standards would do 125,000 to 230,000 buys, which is way lower than any Rumble has ever done in modern times prior to the network.

For the second time in less than a year, Pro Wrestling NOAH has been sold, this time to CyberAgent, a Japanese media company that is worth $5 billion.

CyberAgent also owns the DDT promotion, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and Genbare Pro Wrestling. The company is best known for advertising and games, and also owns Abema TV, major Japanese sports streaming service ...

How this affects the Japanese big picture scene is a tough call. New Japan is far more popular, and really is in a different league than all other companies in the Japanese market right now. But CyberAgent is larger than Bushiroad, and everyone also knows that WWE is coming with an NXT brand in Japan. There is the feeling that a WWE/CyberAgent affiliation could be a threat to New Japan’s market domination far more than either could separately, with the idea that DDT doesn’t have the mass appeal, while NOAH doesn’t have the star power, and a combination of the two would probably be stronger, but also alienate both company’s current fan bases since each fan base like the current style and a melding of styles would get a bad reaction from much of each group’s current base.

WWE’s latest new concept show, NXT World’s Collide, built around a series of all-star matches with the U.S. and U.K. brands against each other, debuted the night before the Royal Rumble, on 1/25 in Houston ...

The crowd was 3,500 at the Toyota Center, about half or less of what you’d expect for a Takeover in the same building.

The NWA did its Hard Times PPV on 1/24 from Atlanta’s PBS Studios ...

Dave Lagana said that this PPV did more streaming buys than the first one.

It’s largely expected that Parka’s son will take over the La Parka gimmick in some form, but not any time soon. AAA feels the La Parka character is part of the legacy of the promotio

There have been at least openings of lines of communication between New Japan and Viceland for U.S. television. It’s a long process because TV-Asahi owns the footage rights and the AXS/New Japan deal was originally between AXS and TV-Asahi

In a move that will significantly hurt AEW’s PPV numbers going forward, ITV has dropped its entire PPV division. Right now the 2/29 Revolution show will be on FITE streaming and they are in talks with another television PPV provider in the U.K. but there aren’t that many options. ITV 4 would air the one hour pre-show live on television to push buys which made sense since they were partners and that also helped drive buys. U.K. television PPV usually meant around 15,000 to 20,000 buys, and while some will move to FITE, not everyone does so because a solid percentage of the audience still has an aversion to Internet only PPV

Tony Khan went to TNT before the 1/15 show to get the station’s approval on Jericho spiking Moxley in the eye with a spike, noting that TBS was furious in 1988 when the Road Warriors did the same thing to Dusty Rhodes. In fact, Rhodes got in a lot of trouble for booking that then. The other thing he got cleared in advance was MJF’s idea to wear the “I banged Dallas’ daughter” t-shirt. In reality, MJF and Page’s daughter Lexy Nair, who is now working for AEW as a backstage interviewer are actually good friends and she got a kick out of it. MJF is a big fan of old-time territories and got the idea from Greg Valentine wearing the “I broke Wahoo’s leg” T-shirts in the Carolinas in the 70s

There was a lot of talk this past week regarding the funeral of Rocky Johnson on 1/21. Superstar Billy Graham, who was not at the funeral, but his mother-in-law, who was friends with Johnson, was. He made a facebook post saying Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson were inconsiderate and tasteless. We heard from two people at the funeral who said that was true. They said that the pastor went very long and was more negative toward pro wrestling and it being fake than some were comfortable with. They said Vince did his strut coming to the podium which was way out of place and first put over Johnson for being a great athlete and performer. He then ended by saying the best thing Rocky ever did was marry Ata (Ata Maivia). He then pointed to Ata and said that Ata had kids (they had one child, Dwayne) and then he strutted off the stage. He then left the building. Shane and Paul Levesque left shortly after. Two people said that Vince made it clear he was annoyed the funeral went long. Vince did do the same thing at Eddy Guerrero’s funeral in 2005 ... One person noted that the preacher went long, which took away from time for friends and family speeches. He described Patterson’s speech as weird. The description was that he made perverted jokes, used the word shit, didn’t really talk that much in his speech about Johnson, kind of insulted Johnson at one point and eventually they cut his mic off. Patterson also talked about getting drunk the night before and going to the bathroom to drink some water when the toilet seat fell and hit him in the head, implying he was drinking out of the toilet ... Al Rosen, a close friend of Johnson’s, said that the family was not offended by anything that happened

There was an incident backstage at the Royal Rumble where Lesnar went to Riddle and told him to quit tagging him in posts and talking about him in social media because he would never work with him ever ... After the show, Riddle filmed some interviews where he was still challenging Lesnar and guaranteed some day the match will happen. Put it this way, if this is a Paul Heyman work, and to be fair, this would fit into his M.O. (think Lesnar/Undertaker at UFC), the one flaw is that if he’s grooming Riddle for Lesnar in a year, or even two years, that Riddle would have been protected more in the Rumble and got to stand out more rather than just being a guy dumped quickly. We’re told that Riddle’s Rumble performance was because he has a lot of heat right now with the Vince McMahon and this was to send a message. At a class at the Performance Center this week, on dealing with social media, talent was told not to call out anyone on the main roster in social media without their knowledge. The elimination was not primarily to use Riddle’s hardcore fan popularity as a way to get Corbin over more as a heel past the idea Corbin himself was chosen for it for that reason. But that wasn’t the reason he was in and out so quickly. We’re not sure as to why McMahon wanted to do that to him but it does explain his push not being commensurate with his marketability or how over he is.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets Part Deuce 'n Domino:

Ratings are in for the latest installment of the Wednesday Night Wars -- and both shows dropped from last week against better-than-usual competition from both the NBA and cable news programming.

AEW Dynamite on TNT averaged 828,000 viewers, down five percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show was down three percent, averaging a 0.34 rating. That rating, though, was good for third place overall on cable, the best the show has ever performed in relation to cable competition.

NXT on the USA Network was down seven percent, averaging 712,000 viewers. In the demo, they finished 37th on cable with a 0.22 rating, down eight percent from last week ...

As it does most weeks, NXT lost to Dynamite in every demo except those over 50, where NXT had a 0.36 to 0.29 advantage. The strongest category for AEW was men 18-49, where they had a 0.48 to 0.28 advantage.

The season two premiere of Miz & Mrs., which aired after NXT last night, averaged 437,000 total viewers and a 0.18 rating in the 18-49 demo. The season one finale averaged 1.094 million viewers and a 0.38 rating in the demo when airing after SmackDown in August.

With Miz & Mrs. airing after the show, NXT didn't have an overrun last night.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, who will be inducted into the company's Hall of Fame for the second time over Wrestlemania 36 weekend, is slated to be part of the Thursday 2/27 WWE Super Showdown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, PWInsider.com has confirmed

Production on the only “Official and Authorized” feature-length documentary of Joanie “Chyna” Laurer has begun. Laurer was known to the world as a groundbreaking professional wrestler and as the “9th Wonder Of The World.” This documentary has been authorized by Joanie Laurer’s estate.

The documentary will explore Laurer’s tremendous influence both inside and outside the ring to millions of adoring fans through interviews and images with a wide range of subjects selected, including Joanie’s mother, Jan LaQue.

WWE filed for a trademark on “Viktor” on 1/24, likely to prevent him from using the name in post-WWE endeavors following The Ascension’s release. They are slated to begin working independent dates next month.

The company also filed for a new trademark on Dana Brooke on 1/24.

Mauro Ranallo was a guest on TSN 1040 in Vancouver for Bell Let’s Talk Day to discuss his struggles with mental health issues and his treatment.

Ranallo noted that the past year was one of the hardest between his schedule, turning 50, and spending lots of money for mental health treatment. He disclosed that he was hospitalized this past summer at UCLA and is continuing intensive treatment when he isn’t on the road.

With regards to his treatment, he said when he isn’t on road he is at a center where he attends various treatment classes that begin at 10 am and lasts until around 5 pm.

The incident over Survivor Series weekend with Corey Graves was brought up by the hosts and addressed for the first time publicly by Ranallo ...

“It was a blessing in disguise. I have nothing really to say about Corey Graves or anyone else in my professional existence in the sense that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, everyone is able to critique everyone the way they would. I would never do something like that to a co-worker but that has been addressed and if anything, I even publicly thank Corey Graves because he was the straw that broke the proverbial back in terms of my social media activity and I will say here and now, I have deactivated all of my social media since November and I would implore everyone, especially those with mental health issues. Social media is so dangerous to those of us with mental health conditions and I know in the media and our everyday lives now, people are being hired and fired by their social media followings or the amount of information they post or how popular they are.

I think it’s a disease. So out of that situation with my colleague, I am no longer on social media. I will never get back on social media. If anything, it was a benefit to me. I try to look towards the positive among the negatives that we all endure and for me, it just allowed me to unhook myself from the social media aspects of life. I found myself doing way too much and it ate way too much time. Being in the media, being a sports commentator for combat sports, I am following as much as I can, I know as much as I ever did. So for anyone dealing with mental health issues, I would suggest decreasing, or deactivating your social media... I know how important it is for a lot of people in terms of their jobs, but I said a big 'F-U' to social media and I wish I would have done it sooner"

Ronda Rousey will return to WWE whenever she wants. And it might be at a live event in Largo.

Appearing on WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves, Ronda was asked the question on everyone's mind; when will she return to WWE?

"Whenever the hell I feel like it. If they would just let me show up at live events, probably very soon," she replied.

Rousey hasn't been seen on WWE television since losing to Becky Lynch in the triple threat main event at WrestleMania 35. There was a lot of speculation surrounding a potential appearance at the 2020 Royal Rumble, but nothing came to fruition.

Her mentioning "showing up at live events" was a reference to an earlier part of the conversation when she was asked what she missed most about her time in WWE.

"I miss live shows, so much," she said. "I wish I could show up randomly at live shows, if that makes sense. That's what I miss the most. I would never do hair and makeup on those days, we'd just hang out in the locker room until we had to go out there and [perform]. I love the camaraderie and the laid back feeling of live show days. Jump in the car after and go to the next town. Never being able to find food and eating beef jerky all night. I miss that."
Think she mentioned before about her plans for a new family were put on hold due to her being unsure about her future life and wrestling plans. Also some rumored issues with trying to get pregnant.


TPWW Frontpage:

Killer Kross Expected to Start With WWE Soon (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/killer-kross-expected-to-start-with-wwe-soon/)
WWE Stock Tanks After Departures of Two Co-Presidents (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-stock-tanks-after-departures-of-two-co-presidents/)
Luke Harper Expected to Debut With AEW in March (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/luke-harper-expected-to-debut-with-aew-in-march/)
Ronda Rousey Reportedly Will Not Wrestle at WrestleMania (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/ronda-rousey-reportedly-will-not-wrestle-at-wrestlemania/)
AJ Styles Injury Update: Expected Back in 4-6 Weeks (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aj-styles-injury-update-expected-back-in-4-6-weeks/)
MVP Says That He’s Wrestled His Final WWE Match (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/mvp-says-that-hes-wrestled-his-final-wwe-match/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interesting that Ronda teased the NXT Women's Title match and then teases working live events... I wonder if she's part of the plan to try and drive house show numbers up?

If you ran shows with Ronda on one tour and Goldberg on the other, just doing their usual shit and being a star, then you might be able to drive up attendance a bit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

There must be a standing order to trademark the names on any departing WWE talent, because there is no way anyone of any importance gives a shit whether or not Viktor uses his name outside of WWE.

[Droford]

I like how below the Ronda might show up soon thing there's a link


Ronda Rousey Reportedly Will Not Wrestle at WrestleMania

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

A "Killer" has joined the ranks of Josh Barnett's Bloodsport III.

GCW and Barnett announced Friday that Killer Kelly has been added to the Thursday, April 2nd event in Ybor City, Florida.

The German-based talent from Portugal is currently a member of the NXT UK roster, but isn't exclusive to them as she is a frequent presence in wXw and as of two weeks ago, wants to fill up her schedule.

ROH has made a pair of match announcements for their Past vs. Present event.

Members of Generation Next and Villain Enterprises are set to face off at Past vs. Present, with Alex Shelley & Matt Sydal teaming against Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon.

Shelley and Sydal weren't in Generation Next at the same time. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans were the other members of the group.

Homicide will also take on Brody King of Villain Enterprises in a singles match at Past vs. Present.

After the challenge was issued on Monday, ROH has confirmed that Marty Scurll vs. Jay White is official for Supercard of Honor XIV.

While there has been some conspiracy theories about the exit of Barrios and Wilson (which we will touch upon below), we are told that the primary reason they are gone is that McMahon and his Co-Presidents had completely different visions as to how the company could generate revenue, new and existing, going forward and as one staffer joked, “It’s never going to be Vince who loses that argument" ...

PWInsider.com is told that an internal announcement released by the company to its employees was even more direct, alluding to irreconcilable differences in the company’s strategic priorities. Barrios and Wilson had one vision and Vince McMahon had another. Vince’s vision will always win. He’s Vince McMahon. The end.

Within WWE, the reaction among employees we have spoken to was pretty much complete shock. If there was something brewing that was leading to yesterday’s ouster, it was kept extremely quiet and was not something being spoken about openly within WWE’s Stamford offices. Given that the news wasn’t held for the weekend (when most companies would dump negative news, hoping it’s forgotten by the time the work week begins) and was announced out of nowhere, that would be an indication that something happened that led to an immediate blowup and departure.

One WWE employee, speaking under condition of anonymity, stated that when the news was announced internally, all work that they were aware of pretty much “ground to a halt” as everyone was stunned by the news. Another staffer claimed it was the most shocking day they could remember since “that horrible day in 2007”, a day where WWE fired 10% of its workforce.

There was a lot of feelings of “what happens now” with projects and strategies that were already underway, including the planned tiered launch of the WWE Network that had been earmarked for the first quarter of 2020. Others, however, tempered that worry, noting that if the company “lived on” after Linda McMahon left and Shane McMahon’s 2009 resignation from the company, that the “machine” that is WWE won’t stop for anyone’s departure.

Evercore ISI media analyst John Belton was cited in Multichannel News with the following reaction to Thursday’s news:

"These developments will clearly cause weakness in WWE shares for a variety of reasons. 2020 adjusted OIBDA expectations must be further cut, particularly given updated 2019 guidance now targeting the low end of the prior range. Second, to the extent that the disagreements between McMahon and Barrios / Wilson centered on reinvestment and / or capital allocation policies, hopes for more shareholder-friendly initiatives moving forward could be diminished. Third, the abrupt nature of the release suggests a tumultuous situation at the company which makes it difficult to gain confidence in forecasting the near- and long- term financial outlook."

Eric Handler of MKM Partners as noted in Market Watch:

"This change, in our view, was unexpected. Investors are now even more concerned about 2020 adjusted OIBDA guidance. However, given the known step-up in the domestic TV rights deal, we do not believe the company is in a ‘precarious’ financial position."

The WWE stock closed at $48.88 on Friday and represents a drop of 21.5% from Thursday’s close.
At the moment, its currently at $48.74 for after-hour trading.

Q - Is Robert Stone designed to be a Tony Khan parody?

A - No. I get this question a lot, specifically whether WWE costumed Stone to look like Khan. That isn't the case. Stone has been dressed in that fashion on the independents and for House of Hardcore for several years, long before Tony Khan was involved in professional wrestling. I don't think the idea is to parody Khan.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

FOX sent out the following

Earlier today Roku notified their users they intend to remove FOX apps, including FOX Sports, FOX NOW, FOX News, and FOX Nation. We’re as surprised – and disappointed – as you! Only Roku can remove our apps from your device, and we’ve not asked them to do that. Be assured, if there’s a disruption, it will be Roku’s decision alone. While we work to continue our relationship with Roku, we are happy to keep our apps available to you, and we regret Roku has chosen to threaten your access solely to improve its own business interests ...

For those of you who watch Smackdown via FOX Apps, Roku has responded to the FOX situatiion with the following statement:

Roku’s distribution agreement with FOX Corp to distribute FOX channels is set to expire on Jan. 31. We don’t want to see that happen but we have tried for months to get FOX to sign an agreement and we offered FOX an extension but they declined.

If an agreement is not reached, we will be forced to remove FOX channels from the Roku platform because we can’t distribute content without an agreement. Every content provider has a distribution agreement on every platform. It gives the legal right to distribute.

Meanwhile customers can view FOX programming including the big game in many other ways on the Roku platform including through fuboTV, Sling TV, Hulu + LiveTV, and YouTube TV. Many offer free trials for new customers. In addition Roku TV customers can use an antenna to watch FOX channels.

The Revival once again asked for their release from WWE at some point last week. As of now, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder remain under contract with the company.

Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live first reported the news. Fightful was able to confirm the report.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Cena discussed his Royal Rumble viewing experience and the one performer who really stood out to him.

"I thought the [Royal Rumble] was extra special," Cena told Sports Illustrated. "It was great to be able to watch it as a fan and not endure any fear of missing out and just enjoy the event. And I can say with the utmost sincerity that I believe Brock Lesnar is best in-ring performer that I've seen and I know it's an opinion, and if you want a cool quote, here it is: I think he's the best in-ring performer of all time. I thought his performance at the Rumble was a clinic on how to establish yourself, how to establish those around you, establish the championship, establish the importance of one event. He did so in less than 30 minutes, and I certainly don't have the skill set to do that, and it was awesome to be able to see a masterclass man put on a clinic on what to do and how to do it and I was really impressed with the Rumble."

When asked if Brock is the best ever, Cena didn't back down from his statement.

"I really do think so," he stated. "I genuinely think he has a good understanding of who he is. I think he's the best at when he needs to be dominant, he's the best in situations of jeopardy. He makes people better. He still has a mystique about him that will draw eyeballs to watch him and when he does he never disappoints. I watched from home did not know the result of the Rumble and I thought Brock was gonna run the table and win. I knew the first 27 entrants would be boring, but I knew by 28 and 29 I'd be on the edge of my seat and asking the question, "What happens to the WrestleMania main event now that the No. 1 entrant ran the table and is the champion for the first time ever?"

He continued, "And I love it when a plan comes together, to quote a member of the A Team. You could see how uneasy the crowd was with Brock's dominance and then over the course of time, how it became exciting and how it became riveting and then how it became like must-see and that's who Brock Lesnar is. He believes so much in his presence, and he has such a definable presence you can't ignore him and he never wastes anyone's time and everything he does is special and everything he does meaningful and it's not all selfish. He's one of the most giving performers in the WWE and that is the mark of a true craftsman and a true professional. It was awesome to watch. My jaw dropped when I watched the Rumble."

Taya Valkyrie will be with IMPACT Wrestling into 2021 according to a recent tweet from her.

There seemed to be some confusion around the expiration of Taya's contract as PWInsider reported her deal had rolled over and would run through December 2020. Taya denied that her contract rolled over, saying she signed a two-year deal in 2019. She didn't give a date on when in 2019 she signed a new contract. The earliest her current deal would expire is January 2021.


TPWW Frontpage:

Impact: Ultimate X Match at TNA Show, More TNA Names Announced, Sacrifice Main Event (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/impact-ultimate-x-match-at-tna-show-more-tna-names-announced-sacrifice-main-event/)
AEW Announces Two New Dynamite Locations – Updated Schedule (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/aew-announces-two-new-dynamite-locations-updated-schedule/)
WWE Signs Five Wrestlers to NXT UK (https://www.tpww.net/2020/01/wwe-signs-five-wrestlers-to-nxt-uk-2/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw last night did 2.17 million viewers, which would be among the lowest non-holiday and non-football numbers in the history of the show.

The only non-holiday Raw shows that weren't against major football competition in modern history that were lower were two episodes last year against major NBA playoff games. For a non-holiday show without major sports competition, it was the lowest in the last 23 years.

It was down 10 percent from last week's post-Royal Rumble episode and down 14 percent from the same week last year. WWE did have the top three spots in the 18-49 demo on cable, but were down 12 percent to 0.67 in that demo from last week ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.32 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.16 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.02 million viewers


This was Raw’s second-lowest mark of 2020 with their lowest number of January 13th going against the LSU vs. Clemson football game that did over 25 million viewers.

WWE stock continued to fall today, closing at $46.08 per share, the lowest close since before the FOX deal was signed. A big part of the drop was Benjamin Swinburne of Morgan Stanley downgrading the price target from $80 to $54, based on the firing of George Barrios and Michelle Wilson. He said the three things of concern are losing Barrios & Wilson leaves the company without senior leadership at the same time Vince McMahon is starting the XFL, concern about WWE's capital allocation plans which was part of the dispute, and fear the loss of Wilson and Barrios will affect WWE's relationships with Fox, Progressive Insurance (a key sponsor) and key talent. He felt the company will be pressured by Wall Street until they hire at least one well-known new executive with a strong track record.
WWE stocks are currently at $47.36 for Tuesday's after-hours trading.

Bill Goldberg's appearance on Friday Night Smackdown this week is to set the stage for Goldberg's involvement in the 2/27 Super Showdown event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, PWInsider.com has confirmed. As noted several weeks ago in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, there had been a push for Sting to be used at the 2/27 event, but as of last night, we are told those talks have died down. Hulk Hogan is slated to appear at that event on 2/27 as well.

SI.com spoke with Dave Meltzer about the departures of George Barrios and Michelle Wilson and the health of the company going into Thursday’s investor’s call. Meltzer’s analysis includes the stats that the average age of a Raw and SmackDown viewer is 50 while NXT is 55. That compares to the average WWE viewer in 2000 being 23 ... The subject of AEW must be one that is increasing among the business community that is catching up to its impact. Once TNT renewed Dynamite, it was clear to see it isn’t a flash in the pan but here for the long haul. The impact on WWE’s business has been a big increase in talent expenses with those with deals coming making significantly more to stay, NXT going to USA has to be grouped with AEW’s influence and while it’s created more television revenue it’s also removed the WWE Network’s most consistent live weekly programming for those within the U.S. Conversely, those outside the U.S. must wait 24 hours to watch NXT so it does influence the worldwide and domestic subscriber base.
NXT's audience being even older than WWE's main tv audience is pretty telling since its both been growing older since moving to USA Network and doing all the heavy lifting for NXT's viewership. The over-run breakdowns has shown that to be the case for a long while. NXT pretty much has been failing to develop a new young core tv audience for WWE's future despite Triple H's claims.

The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) are now the longest reigning WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. The duo has held the titles for 121 days, surpassing the reign of The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce).

The Revival reportedly once again requested their release from WWE in late January, though Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder remain under contract at this time ...

Speaking on his Hall of Fame radio show, Booker T offered up the following advice for The Revival.

"If I could give them any advice, 'Take the money. Take what's behind door number one.' If they came to me and said, 'Hey Book, we're going to give you a million dollars a year. You're not going to win any titles. We'll give you TV time. A 15-year contract.' I'm gonna shut the hell up. I don't give a damn about no titles. Legacy and all that is okay. But if I had the choice of getting the money, and not working, I'm taking the money and I'm not gonna care about the legacy. I'm gonna take that $15 million and parlay that into 45 or 50. For me, it was about getting paid and parlaying professional wrestling into what I'm doing right now."

WWE is making an attempt to crack down on backstage news, at least at the PC.

Last week, Wrestling Observer Newsletter ran a story noting that at a WWE Performance Center meeting, talent were told not to call out main roster talent. The report upset some involved at the WWE PC, and was addressed later in the week.

As it turns out the original meeting in question where the recommendation was handed out was at an orientation for new Performance Center recruits. The information was leaked shortly after that.

Wednesday ahead of the NXT television tapings, another meeting was held to instruct NXT talent to not talk to "dirt sheets." The talent we spoke to (naturally, since they're effectively talking to one) weren't keen on the message. They were also reminded that they need proof of health coverage, which may have motivated talent to contact us.

One source previously unfamiliar to Fightful in NXT said "they reminded me that I'm a contractor, then tried to tell me who I couldn't talk to, so here I am," before reiterating issues with crowding at the PC.

The new theme for [NWA] Power is ‘I’m Broken’ by Pantera that replaces ‘Into the Fire’ by Dokken

Disney has released updated figures for its streaming platforms. ESPN+ grew exponentially and was listed at 6.6 million subscribers by the end of 2019 compared to 1.6 million subs at the end of 2018. It is believed the service received a big bump by being bundled alongside the Disney+ and Hulu for U.S. subscribers. Disney+ is currently at 26.5 subscribers after three months since its launch.
Felt that was interesting since it involves UFC and how ESPN's streaming service has grown a lot since their deal. Compare that with WWE who has struggled for years to grow the Network to the level they wanted by now and is rumored to have taken a big hit this past fiscal quarter.

Cryme Tyme is "For The Culture."

GCW announced that the longtime tag team consisting of JTG and Shad Gaspard, who have wrestled together for more than a decade, will compete on the "For The Culture" event on April 3.


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: MLW & Dragon Gate Partnership Update, ROH News, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/various-mlw-dragon-gate-partnership-update-roh-news-indies/)
Timothy Thatcher Signs With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/timothy-thatcher-signs-with-wwe/)
WWE Denies Rumor That Samoa Joe Was Suspended (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-denies-rumor-that-samoa-joe-was-suspended/)
Kalisto Out With an Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/kalisto-out-with-an-injury/)
Goldberg to Appear on SmackDown This Friday (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/goldberg-to-appear-on-smackdown-this-friday/)

[Fignuts]

https://i.imgur.com/Gt5wGaf.png

[DaveWadding]

"If I could give them any advice, 'Take the money. Take what's behind door number one.' If they came to me and said, 'Hey Book, we're going to give you a million dollars a year. You're not going to win any titles. We'll give you TV time. A 15-year contract.' I'm gonna shut the hell up. I don't give a damn about no titles.

Five time

Five time

Five time

Five time

Five time

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

https://i.imgur.com/Gt5wGaf.png

Plus, Into the Fire was so good--makes no sense. Though, honestly, I'm Broken is still a pretty good theme song, especially compared to both Dynamite's and all of WWE's.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero & Amazing Red are getting an ROH Six-Man Tag Team title shot at Supercard of Honor XIV.

ROH has announced that Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus will defend their Six-Man titles against Ospreay, Romero & Amazing Red at April's Supercard of Honor event. It's taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4.

Independent wrestler Aja Perera (Aja Smith) has officially signed with WWE and joined the Performance Center as a referee.

Perera signing with WWE was first reported by Squared Circle Sirens. The news was then announced by WWE.com today, with them noting that Perera will be the first African-American full-time female referee in the company's history

AEW has revealed this week's top-five rankings in their men's, women's, and tag team divisions:
Men's division --

Champion: Chris Jericho (0-0 singles record in 2020, 10-1-1 overall record)

Jon Moxley (3-0 singles record in 2020, 8-1-1 overall record)
Cody Rhodes (2-0 singles record in 2020, 9-3-1 overall record)
PAC (1-1 singles record in 2020, 6-5-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (0-0 singles record in 2020, 13-5 overall record)
Sammy Guevara (2-1 singles record in 2020, 6-7 overall record)


Women's division --

Champion: Riho (2-0 singles record in 2020, 10-2 overall record)

Nyla Rose (2-1 singles record in 2020, 6-4 overall record)
Hikaru Shida (1-1 singles record in 2020, 6-4 overall record)
Kris Statlander (0-1 singles record in 2020, 4-3 overall record)
Britt Baker (1-1 singles record in 2020, 8-5 overall record)
Awesome Kong (1-0 singles record in 2020, 3-1 overall record)


Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (3-0 tag team record in 2020, 13-5 overall record for Omega, 9-7 overall record for Page)

SCU (1-1 tag team record in 2020, 14-5 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 13-4 overall record for Frankie Kazarian
The Young Bucks (1-1 tag team record in 2020, 11-7 overall record for Nick Jackson, 11-6 overall record for Matt Jackson)
Santana & Ortiz (0-1 tag team record in 2020, 7-4 overall record)
The Dark Order (1-0 tag team record in 2020, 5-2 overall record)
Best Friends (1-1 tag team record in 2020, 6-8 overall record for Chuck Taylor, 7-11 overall record for Trent Barreta)



CM Punk's next appearance on WWE Backstage has been officially confirmed for next week.

On last night's episode of the show, it was announced that Punk will be part of the Backstage panel next Tuesday. It was also revealed that Women's Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair will be the featured guest on next Tuesday's show.

For those of you in the UK, NXT UK TV debuts tonight on Paramount Network UK.

WWE's trademark application for EC3 was abandoned on 1/25 due to not responding to a notice of initial refusal issued on 7/24 last year within the allowed 6 month period.

Incidentally, the refusal was because EC3 already had a registered trademark himself on 4/23 last year.

WWE, if they choose to, can revive their own application at a later date.

On a recent edition of The WrestlingINC Daily podcast, former NXT U.K. talent Jazzy Gabert joined the show. Jazzy recently requested her release from WWE and during the podcast, she opened up about what led to that decision. While speaking about her time on NXT UK, Jazzy stated that the money in NXT U.K. is not that good.

“This is also the thing, I just came out of the injury, right? And before my injury, I was in so much pain. I guess I was walking around with this really bad neck for a while but I didn’t know this because I thought, ‘Hey, I’m a wrestler. Of course I’m in pain.’ For me, it was freaking normal and then when I signed the contract in 2017 I think, they found out that I had this bad neck, then I had the surgery, and straight after the surgery, like the next day, there was zero pain. I was like, ‘Woah! What is this? I have no pain at all,’ and like 2018, the whole year, I was not in pain and then 2019, I signed a contract with WWE again and I’m hitting the gym, I’m having muscle pain and I’m going to the ring, my back is hurting again. I’m like, ‘Wow, I miss not being in pain.’ It was kind of strange for me. I love this business so much, but I love being pain-free too. So for me, it wasn’t really worth it. Don’t get me wrong, NXT UK, I see it’s improving if you’re all working hard, but, it was too much sacrifice for me I think for what I was getting out of there. It’s not a secret but the money is not that good there, you know? And I think if I would’ve made a little bit more money that my life would be a little bit more easier. Then, of course I could say, ‘Okay, come on. Let’s do it. It’s worth it.’ But, yeah, it was too many things. It was not just one thing. It was many things that made me feel like, ‘Okay, it’s not worth it.”


Prior to WWE Backstage going on live on FS1 on February 4th, the guest of the night, Drew McIntyre participated in the pre-show Q&A and when he was asked about the “Broken Dreams” theme song, he thinks it would be cool to bring it back for his WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar.

“Oh, for WrestleMania? Oh that’s different. I keep seeing the Broken Dreams thing everyday. For years I’ve seen this on social media and people ask me this. It doesn’t work for my character and I love the song too, but it’s a little too slow. The lyrics kind of match my story so that’s interesting so I think WrestleMania would be a really cool place for it, and it would be cool that the crowd would probably know the words since I assume everyone knows every single word because you tweet me so often about it. So yes, Broken Dreams at Mania would be awesome.”


As first reported by ‘Toy News International’, All Elite Wrestling action figures will be revealed at the New York toy fair on February 22nd. Wicked Cool Toys/Jazwares are behind the design of the action figures.

While speaking with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Jon Moxley talked about the story that he, Chris Jericho and AEW have been piecing together to build to their AEW World Title match at ‘Revolution’. Moxley made comparisons between AEW and WWE and talked about the differences between the two companies when it comes to telling stories.

“It’s what it’s supposed to be. That’s pro wrestling. That’s the kind of wrestling I enjoyed as a kid. That’s the thing, the difference for us is we don’t have to have 37 pay-per-views a year and 600 network specials every year. We have Dynamite every week but four or five pay-per-views a year. We can keep those high-quality, big matches for those. A big fight feel. I think some of that has been missing over the last few years when you have to rush through stories and car crash stuff and give away so much on TV. The gratifying part for me is that it’s so much easier. You don’t have to over-complicate things. The story is simple. You have professionals who know what they are doing, veteran guys. Sometimes you can take risks and try something out. Maybe it works or doesn’t. It’s always great to be willing to do that. The lack of 30 writers buzzing around with all this weird f—’in energy is the biggest difference. Instead of a 10-minute sports entertainment segment, at AEW I don’t have anyone bugging me with [a] 40-page script to memorize or drilled to me how it’s supposed to be done. It’s very stress-free when you just let guys do their jobs. It’s easier when you have more in command of the rudder of the ship. Better than having the wind blowing in 50 f—-’in directions.”


NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin is ready to bring NXT UK to Ireland.

Devlin has exploded in popularity over the past few months, earning more opportunities on NXT UK and coming up with an NXT Cruiserweight Championship victory at Worlds Collide.

Speaking to Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Devlin stated that he believes NXT UK is great for the European scene and he hopes to expand the brand into Ireland.

“It’s really good for the UK scene. It has breathed life into us," he said. "To have the UK Performance Center as well and learn from the best minds in the business...NXT UK has grown so much in the last three years. I couldn’t have imagined we’d be here if you’d ask me three years ago. Maybe we can be a company or brand that tours across Europe and not just the UK. I’d love to see NXT UK TakeOver Dublin. There is talk of maybe going to Germany and other parts of Europe. I’d love to take the show on the road. It would be awesome for the brand.”
The opposite has been happening at least in regards to his claims that NXT UK has been great for the UK and European wrestling scene.


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Announces Double or Nothing 2 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/aew-announces-double-or-nothing-2/)
Awesome Kong Apparently Written Off of AEW for Now (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/awesome-kong-apparently-written-off-of-aew-for-now/)
MLW Has Had Talks With Amazon Prime (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/mlw-has-had-talks-with-amazon-prime/)
MLW and AAA Announce Co-Promoted Show in Mexico (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/mlw-and-aaa-announce-co-promoted-show-in-mexico/)

[Ultra Mantis]

Of course Devlin wants to work Ireland with NXT, that's where he is over as fuck and hes not even allowed to work there since WWE banned him from OTT. He's obviously not going to shit on his employer but this is more of the same propaganda that HHH, Regal and BSS have been putting out for years.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Ratings are in for this weeks installment of the Wednesday night wars. AEW Dynamite got the win, averaging 928,000 viewers on TNT.

That viewership number was up 25 percent from last week.

With coverage of the impeachment hearings and Democratic primaries dominating the cable news ratings, Dynamite dropped to 11th in the 18-49 demo with a 0.36 rating, up six percent from last week.

NXT averaged 770,000 viewers, which was up eight percent from last Wednesday. In the demo, the episode drew a 0.22 rating. That number was even with last week, but NXT climbed slightly to 34th overall in the cable TV ratings ...

Miz and Mrs., which followed NXT on USA, averaged 475,000 viewers and a 0.20 rating. Those numbers were up from 437,000 viewers and a 0.18 rating for last week's season premiere but still well below what the show was doing when it aired after SmackDown.


Prior to their investors' call Thursday morning, WWE released their 2019 Q4 numbers, showing 18% revenue growth to $322.8 million, good for their highest quarterly revenue in company history.

The reason for the increase was revenue from their new TV deals, offsetting lower revenue from their live events. Quarterly net revenue in Media increased to $264.6 million, up from Q3's $205.3 million. Year over year, Media net revenue increased to $743.1 million, up from 2018's $683.4 million.

Despite the increase, Wall Street didn't respond favorably as the stock was trading at $42.34 as of this writing, down $6.62 from Wednesday ...

A few quarterly notes from their release:

WWE Network subscriptions dropped by 10% to 1.42 million. They are predicting a slight increase to 1.47 million for Q1 of 2020.


Quarterly and yearly notes for Live Events/Consumer Products/Network

Quarterly live event revenue increased to $27.4 million, but was down from last year's $34.4 million. The lack of a supershow in Australia was blamed as well as less events ///
Year over year, live event revenue fell to $125.6 million, down from $144.2 million in 2018. That was attributed to 56 fewer shows, lower average attendance, and the lack of an Australian supershow.
Average North American attendance increased by 15% to 5800 with an average ticket price of $57.13.
Average International attendance decreased to 4100 with a 30% average ticket price increase to $84.26 ...
Yearly Network revenue was down to $184.6 million, down from $199.3 million in 2018.


As of around 7:37PM, WWE stock was at around $44.19 for after-hour trading.

In today's WWE earnings report, it is interesting to note the company was not touting televison rights fees for WWE NXT on the USA Network, but noted that the company has taken on additional production costs for the series with it's second hour. There was no specific mention of NXT TV revenue in the earnings report at all. So, whatever revenue WWE is deriving from the series has been folded into somewhere else, not specifically noted.

On Thursday's fourth-quarter earnings call, Vince McMahon was asked about the transition of leadership process.

McMahon answered, "I think in terms of changing or reimagining our culture and the way we do business, it's going to be far more inclusive. Quite frankly, with that, our strong management team currently going forward, attracting world class individuals to our company. Who wouldn't want to work for WWE? I mean, come on! It's exciting."

Speaking on the WWE fourth quarter earnings call, Vince was asked about All Elite Wrestling and how the company may have changed WWE's content since it launched on TNT in October.

Vince replied, "AEW has not changed our content at all. It's all about our characters, storylines, and resolutions. It really hasn't changed our point of view in terms of what we present. We don't need more 'edgy' content. PG, one of the few programs out there that really is PG. As far as NXT, we're competing. NXT is competing on Wednesday night with AEW and doing extremely well. We're confident that NXT will continue on with success."

Vince previously referred to AEW's content as "blood and guts" on the second quarter 2019 earnings call last July.
Guess Vince completely forgot all about the Lana-Rusev infidelity angle that also included a lesbian twist.

WWE's "Ruthless Aggression" era will be the subject of a new docuseries that's premiering on the WWE Network this month.

The company announced today that the debut episode of WWE Ruthless Aggression will be made available on the WWE Network on demand at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, February 16. New episodes will then be uploaded on demand every Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern starting on February 17.

WWE wrote that the series "picks up where WWE Network’s critically acclaimed Monday Night War docuseries left off, detailing the prolific, if turbulent, years that followed the Attitude Era, after WWE won the battle for Monday night supremacy and absorbed its top rival, WCW.

The New York Times ran an article today covering a massive embezzlement scandal in the State of Mississippi involving a state auditor and former WWE developmental talent Brett DiBiase, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase, Brett DiBiase. According to the article, the former director of the state welfare agency and five others are being charged in one of the biggest embezzlement scandals in the history of the office. Allegedly, DiBiase was given funds to go to a drug treatment facility in Malibu that was earmarked for Mississippi's welfare programs. According to documents, DiBiase was allegedly given the money as payment for classes that he didn't teach for drug abuse.

Former 6-time WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett talked to SunSport about the lineage and importance of the Intercontinental Title in WWE:

“I’ve had this conversation with a lot of folks and it’s just a completely [different] generation now. It’s like getting a No.1 song way back, that was really something special. Now today, the methods of the distribution, it doesn’t quite carry the same cachet. That Intercontinental Title will always be that logical progression, steppingstone if you will, but nowadays we can pick up our phone and watch wrestling instantly. Years ago in WWF, and yes you had WCW and some other organizations, but there was only one main one and that’s what you watched. WCW had the U.S. Title and then others in Japan and Mexico that were steppingstones to a world championship. Nowadays due to the method of distribution, you can watch so much content that is original from independent promotions all across the world, so there are so many more belts and titles that, in essence, it brings the overall championship aura down. In WWE, you have the WWE Title and the Universal Championship that didn’t exist years ago. The I.C. Title has always been and always will be a unique belt with the lineage that goes with it. But it all depends on the champion and it always has. You are looking at the greatest of all-time, and do you know why I was the greatest of all-time? Because I told you that I’m the greatest of all-time. But it is just a different era.”


Southpaw Regional Wrestling characters and the stage set-up will be included in the February 7th WWE 2K20 update.
Link: https://wwe.2k.com/news/wwe-2k20-originals-southpaw-regional-wrestling/ Speaking of WWE 2K20, sales for the game are down by around $2 million compared to WWE 2K19. Link: https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1225424515515195392

Hosting a special NWO panel on the Chris Jericho Rock N Wrestling Rager At Sea: Part Deux, Scott Hall was telling the story of how he went to Vince and let him know about WCW's contract offer. Hall, as he's said many times, wanted to take the money and Vince wasn't offering the same amount

Chiming in, Jericho discussed his conversation with McMahon when he signed with AEW.

"I'm not in AEW because I was a rebel. I'm in AEW because Vince went, 'Go.' And then when I went, he went, 'You signed the contract?' 'Yeah.' 'Can you get out of it?' 'No. You told me to sign it.' He had the opportunity to stop it, like he did with [Scott Hall], which is very interesting to me. 23 years later, he made the same...I love Vince," he said.


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Backstage Ratings, New Woman Ref Signed, Jake Atlas Debuts (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-backstage-ratings-new-woman-ref-signed-jake-atlas-debuts/)
WWE Stock Price Plummets Again After Release of Q4 2019 Financial Report (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-stock-price-plummets-again-after-release-of-q4-2019-financial-report/)
WWE Considering Airing Their PPVs on Another Streaming Service (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-considering-airing-their-ppvs-on-another-streaming-service/)

[Blonde Moment]

It's why i come here

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter edition):

The WWE had one major change and hints of a second one when it comes to business, which led to a major drop in the stock price ...

The second bit of news, perhaps related to the first, was Vince McMahon at the 2/6 conference call noting that they were in talks with other parties as it related to distribution of the former PPV events ...

There are a number of key players, obviously ESPN+ and DAZN, and another key player, Peacock, which is scheduled to launch this year. Sources in the industry have said that Peacock would look to WWE to be its key initial programming to draw subscribers from the start, very much as ESPN+ did with UFC. Instead of having to rely on declining network subscription money for big shows, they can get significantly money guaranteed, with the idea they can sell the PPV shows to a streaming service for $12 million to $13 million per monthly event ...

According to industry sources, Peacock is scheduled to kick off on 4/15 and would likely have about a $10 per month price point. That date would miss WrestleMania by ten days, which is by far WWE’s most valuable event of the year, and the one they leave tens of millions on the table in making it part of their own network package.

DAZN’s situation has changed due to how much money it has lost so far with so many gigantic deals, particularly when it comes to boxing content that subscription revenue can’t come close to covering. ESPN+, with all its growth, is also losing tons of money, as Disney announced losses of $693 million for the year between ESPN+, Hulu and start-up costs for Disney Plus ...

If this happens, it would mean a new direction for the network, like it has for Fight Pass. Depending on whether this would be just the 12 or more PPVs, or include Takeovers (more likely not) is to be determined. Like with UFC, the WWE Network may end up being a place for other smaller company content, like wXw, Evolve, Progress and OTT, which has been talked about for years. The latest plan was for a more expensive tier using that content, and perhaps others, but that launch has been delayed as well until all of this gets sorted out ...

Based on the price going around, it’s a great deal for WWE. But at some point realism will come into these deals and the overpaying based on streaming revenue it generates not being nearly what is being paid for, there will be a market correction. But right now, nobody knows what the long-term brings and all decisions are short-term.

WWE Network and PPV revenue fell from $46.8 million last year to $41.6 million this year. The word is that WWE is attempting to sell their PPVs rights for a number barely below the total revenue the network and PPV combined was generating at this pace, and with none of the costs past production of the shows.
In terms of subs, seems moving NXT to USA Network cost the Network at least 66k subs in the US but not as bad of a drop compared to the year before for the fiscal 4th quarter.

Other media revenue went from $63.5 million to $56.1 million. This would be revenue from reality shows, video and theatrical releases, and mostly from Saudi Arabia. This would cover the first show of 2019 where the payment came in during October. It would also indicate that the payment for the second show has not come in yet. That would be why the total revenue for the year would not have broken $1 billion for the first time.

The 1/29 head-to-head saw AEW do 828,000 viewers (1.39 viewers per home) and a 0.34 in 18-49 and NXT do 712,000 viewers (1.22 viewers per home) and a 0.22 in 18-49 ...

NXT was hurt by probably 10,000 in the average viewership by no longer having an overrun. It also led to the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament final with Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake losing to the AEW main event of Chris Jericho & Santana & Ortiz vs. Private Party & Darby Allin by a 777,000 to 668,000 margin, since there’s probably a good 120,000 to 200,000 viewers who figured they could watch the end of the NXT main event after AEW ended ...

The number seems to indicate that AEW being taped last week had very little to do with the lower rating from the week before, since this was live and did a lower number than the taped show. It also seemed to show that the show on the cruise didn’t hurt or help much ...

AEW opened with 911,000 viewers and 476,000 in 18-49 with Jon Moxley doing an interview and being confronted by the Inner Circle. NXT opened at 755,000 viewers and 266.000 in 18-49 for Finn Balor vs. Trent Seven. Basically the luster Balor had from behind a main roster star in NXT has dissipated with AEW nearly doubling him in 18-49.
Both shows had 2 notable shifts in channel switching but the Balor stuff was the most interesting part of Meltzer's report.

Both AEW and NXT showed strong increases in viewers on 2/5, although most out of the 18-49 demo, and the gap in AEW’s favor widened even though WWE heavily hyped its show with commercials all over Raw and pushing the first Charlotte Flair appearance on NXT.

AEW, built largely around Cody taking ten lashes from MJF did 928,000 viewers (1.43 viewers per home, one of the best of any wrestling show this TV season) and a 0.36 in 18-49, up 12 percent in viewers from last week and six percent in the key demo.

NXT did 770,000 viewers (1.25 viewers per home) and 0.22 in 18-49, an increase of 8.1 percent but staying the same in 18-49.

In 18-49, AEW had 468,000 viewers to 288,000 for NXT. In all groups within that demo, the edge went to AEW. In women 18-34, it was 56,000 to 32,000. In men 18-34 it was 101,000 to 64,000. In women 35-it was 90,000 to 64,000. In men 35-49, it was 221,000 to 128,000 ...

The key component in this story relates to Flair ... Thing can change, but week one indicated Flair did increase NXT’s audience with older viewers, but AEW increased more with younger viewers ...

For Miz & Mrs., they drew a very different audience from NXT, much younger and far more women, particularly teenage girls and less than half of AEW and only 40 percent of NXT when it comes to over 50.
Meltzer didn't include the quarter breakdowns but found the Miz & Mrs part to be very interesting. It did a much better job drawing younger viewers than NXT and Charlotte's appearance did.

Smackdown on 1/31 did a 1.50 rating and 2,422,000 viewers (1.35 viewers per home), almost identical with the 1.52 rating and 2,448,000 viewers the prior week. I’d call that good because on the West Coast, the show got hurt by the giant numbers the first Los Angeles Lakers game since Kobe Bryant’s death. It started at 10 p.m. Eastern meaning it only went against the West Coast feed ...

Smackdown did an 0.7 in 18-49 ...

Last year on the same weekend, FOX did a 1.0 in 18-49 and 4,185,000 viewers, so they are down 30 percent in 18-49 and 42.1 percent in viewers.

Rusev has been off television due to a contract dispute

Shayna Baszler will be a regular on Raw shortly. She is leaving NXT and this has been planned for a long time, probably close to a year so the thing about not wanting to transfer stars in NXT to the main roster and give the idea NXT is developmental or a stepping stone rather than a third brand doesn’t apply to her.

For Angel Garza, the story is different. He is considered an NXT guy, but he will be on Raw for now as a fill-in for Andrade. It keeps Carrillo in a program and keeps Vega on television. There is no decision long-term, as he could stay and probably should stay on Raw because the guy is loaded with charisma either as a face or a heel, and he can go in the ring. But he was not a scheduled call-up and those on the NXT roster aren’t allowed to be called up right now unless it’s something planned long-term

Regarding social media, the issues with Vince McMahon and Matt Riddle are due to his social media posts and challenges. Brock Lesnar doesn’t like him for it and Lesnar has tremendous pull with Vince. Vince also sees him as an outside guy and feels Riddle has no respect for the hierarchy of the business by challenging Goldberg and Lesnar.

New Japan Pro Wrestling ran the first two of three major New Beginning shows this past weekend, as well as finished its weakest attended foreign tour since its popularity comeback in the U.S. ...

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa regained the IWGP tag team titles beating Juice Robinson & David Finlay on 2/1 at the Coca Cola Roxy in Atlanta ...

The idea was for Tonga & Loa to next do a program with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi, but that depends on Ibushi’s condition. Ibushi is currently out of action with Mallory Weiss Syndrome, which is serious but generally not a long lasting condition and he is still booked for the 2/9 show in Osaka Jo Hall

There is still talk about a summer show in Madison Square Garden. It’s not been announced but they did have an August date talked about a few weeks ago. It is close, but you still have the WWE component that at one point got the show shut down last year. The date wasn’t finalized in time to announce it at the Dome on 1/5. But because New Japan did sellout in one day the first time, MSG did not close the door on them for booking even against the wishes of WWE. There are those who think they can sell out again because the first went clean on day one ... Plus, while they did sell out instantly, the secondary market was weak because so many bought tickets with the idea of Omega defending the IWGP title, since he was champion at the time the tickets were put on sale. New Japan is going with the idea the sellout was the popularity of New Japan and the drawing power of Okada in particular and that it can be pulled off again.

Joey Janela’s Spring Break show on 4/3 at the Cuban Club in Ybor City, FL, which is the Friday night before WrestleMania, is looking at trying to sell upwards of 4,000 tickets, making it the biggest indie crowd of the year. The first major matches announced are Orange Cassidy vs. Minoru Suzuki and Tony Deppan vs. Alex Shelley. They’ve also announced Will Ospreay and Great Muta

There are issues behind-the-scenes between MLW and Impact. MLW claims Impact tried to break up the NOAH/MLW relationship as well as the AAA/MLW relationship. The latter wasn’t successful since Konnan and Laredo kid were on the show

Three other names that have been talked about as being part of the TNA show bringing back talent from the past are Mike Tenay (asked but right now I’d say more likely not happening), Dixie Carter and the other guy they are going back-and-forth about asking is Vince Russo. There seems to be the idea that if they bring in Russo, that it would stir up so much negativity that people would for sure know the date and time of the show and that it would help business

The angle with Ace Austin hitting on Trey Miguel’s mom has been dropped. The woman who played Miguel’s mom actually worked a regular job for the company but she’s no longer working here

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Friday's non-Newsletter edition):

The WWE stock has not reacted well to any of the news following Thursday. On Friday, the stock was down 4.4% and closed at $42.53 after opening at $44.85.
It improved to $42.75 as of 5:39PM EST for after-hour trading.

An interesting story floating around on Friday comes from Needham analyst Laura Martin following WWE’s investor’s call. Martin, who is a regular on the investor’s calls, believes that Amazon securing the streaming rights would put the giant in a great position to eventually buy the entire WWE. Martin believes that WWE’s programming is far more valuable due to a built-in audience that other start-up series don’t have the benefit of. Martin has placed a ‘buy’ rating for the stock given its level it has dipped to, which she adds makes the WWE more attractive to buy versus several months ago when the stock was significantly higher. On his radio show today, Dave Meltzer said that Amazon Prime is not interested in WWE.

One-half of the Raw Tag Team Champions has undergone a slight name change.

Post Wrestling reported today that Buddy Murphy will now be promoted as just "Murphy" by WWE. The name change has also been confirmed on WWE.com.

Post Wrestling wrote that they "learned of the alteration through several sources in the company that were notified of the change moving forward."

On Friday, AEW announced they are partnering with the Atlanta chapter of the American Heart Association, giving donators a pair of tickets to Dynamite on February 19th.

February is American Heart Month, designed to raise awareness for heart disease, the number one cause of death for men and women in the U.S. From now through February 14th, donations for $50 or more to the AHA's Atlanta chapter will earn two tickets to Dynamite.

WrestleCon has announced that Kenny Omega will be signing autographs and available for photo ops on Friday, April 3rd at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

Arizona Central is reporting that former WWF and WCW star Emmet Bryan Clark (professionally known as The Nightstalker, Wrath, Adam Bomb and as Bryan Clark over the course of his wrestling career),55, has plead not guilty to a series of drug related charges in the State of Arizona.

Clark has been charged with conspiracy, illegal control of enterprise, transporting or selling narcotics, drug possession and possessing a weapon during a drug offense for incidents that took place in January 2019 and April 2019.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office declined to give comment on the case to the Arizona Republic.

Clark's attorney released a statement that "The police report contains alleged facts that have been grossly misconstrued and are incorrect" and that Clark "has been targeted because of his notoriety and acquaintances."

The resurrected XFL, owned by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment, officially launches this weekend.

There will be four games this weekend:

*Tomorrow, Saturday 2/8 The DC Defenders host the Seattle Dragons at 2 PM EST, a game that will air on ABC.

*A second game, featuring The Los Angeles Wildcats at the Houston Roughnecks will air 5 PM EST on FOX.

*Sunday 2/9, The New York Guardians will host the Tampa Bay Vipers on FOX at 2 PM on FOX.

*The St. Louis BattleHawks will be hosted by The Dallas Renegades on ESPN at 5 PM EST.

Ring of Honor has signed Australian wrestler Adam Brooks (Adam Wilmot). He has been wrestling for a decade and is the current heavyweight champion for Melbourne City Wrestling He had a busy 2019 wrestling all over the world including for Rev Pro, Progress, MLW, The Crash, and PWG.

With several EVPs, many wondered early on how much influence The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and others coupled with the fact that founder Tony Khan had the "final say." As it turns out, things have expanded well beyond that, as reported on our Fightful Select service this week.

The Fightful Select update read as follows.

I'm told that people in AEW have been having fun working on the creative aspects of the Hangman Page storyline. Tony Khan specifically has evolved from being the person with the final say to a person developing more stories and ideas creatively of his own, as well as being more outspoken about other people's ideas. Thus far, we've heard that his creative input has been received positively from people on the roster. That Hangman Page story specifically was one that he's worked closely on and contributed to heavily.

Kenny Omega is credited with the idea of turning Britt Baker heel internally, and the promo lines about Tony Schiavone's job were said to have come from Tony Khan.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling will reportedly return to Madison Square Garden at some point in 2020.

According to Mike Killam at ProWrestling.com, NJPW is targetting August for its return to MSG. Super J-Cast reports that the most common date relayed to them was Saturday, Aug. 22 with Killam noting that is the weekend NJPW officials have been pushing for, but as of now nothing is set in stone.


TPWW Frontpage:

Shayna Baszler May Debut on Raw as Early as Monday (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/shayna-baszler-may-debut-on-raw-as-early-as-monday/)
Taynara Conti Reportedly Left WWE After a Contract Dispute (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/taynara-conti-reportedly-left-wwe-after-a-contract-dispute/)
More on WWE’s Q4 Fiscal Report, Vince on Leadership Changes and AEW Impact (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/more-on-wwes-q4-fiscal-report-vince-on-leadership-changes-and-aew-impact/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw increased eight percent from last week's low level with a show that did the best job of keeping the audience in a long time.

Raw averaged 2.34 million viewers, not far off the 2.40 million for the show the day after the Royal Rumble. But more important was the ratings pattern where for the first time since August 26, the audience grew in the second hour. This isn't unusual during daylight savings time but it is very unusual during standard time, particularly in the winter ...

The show was down five percent from the same week last year ...

In particular, the big winner was Angel Garza, whose match with Cedric Alexander was the high point of the show.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.40 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.41 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.20 million viewers


Raw was up 8% in total viewership with an average of 2,337,000 viewers on the USA Network. The show was likely assisted by avoiding the New Hampshire primary which takes place tonight while the Iowa primary was on Monday night last week ...

The key demographics saw growth across the board. In the 18-49 demo, Raw did a 0.80 up 19% from last week’s figure placing Raw as the top cable program on Monday night.

Adults 25-54 were also up big with an increase of 24% from last week followed by males and females 18-49 that jumped 18% each. There were no declines among the key demos, although adults over 50 didn’t budge with a 1.02 just as they did last week.

Matt Riddle did a post-match promo after the NXT Las Vegas house show main event on Saturday and talked about how he was fired by Dana White (they were at The Pearl, a building UFC often runs), how some people don't like him, and that he would be the guy who retires Brock Lesnar. From what I'm told, NXT has given him permission to follow up on the Lesnar stuff.

Wells Fargo has cut its target price for WWE stock from $80 to $36 due to all the concerns. The stock closed [Monday] today at $42.05 per share.
JPMorgan also recently downgraded WWE's stock value due to WWE's recent actions. As of 6:28PM today, WWE stocks were at $42.35 for after-hour trading.

The guy who King Corbin poured the drink on Friday night on Smackdown was Markus Mack, the promoter of All Pro Wrestling in Northern California.

Fale Dojo (Auckland, NZ) is now an official part of the New Japan Pro Wrestling training system. Going forward internationally, the Dojo will now be known as NJPW New Zealand Dojo, however, locally, we will maintain our Fale Dojo brand.

During their TV taping in Las Vegas last night, Impact Wrestling announced that Ken Shamrock would be inducted into their Hall of Fame during Bound for Glory weekend this October.

Shamrock, who returned to the promotion last year, was the first-ever NWA: TNA Champion, winning a Gauntlet Match to win the then-vacant NWA title in June 2002.
Spoiler tag used since its related to Impact's Hall of Fame inductee announcement this year.

On the latest episode of his Jim Cornette Experience podcast, Jim Cornette goes into detail regarding his former business with the NWA. During the discussion, Cornette confirmed that the NWA was originally hoping for its programming to land on the WWE Network.

“The NWA show was what they were thinking was going to end up on the (WWE) Network,” said Jim Cornette.

“Then (Lagana) started talking about ‘well, we’re going to do a TV show,” Cornette said. “I said ‘what do you mean, Dave?’ He said ‘well, we’re going to start doing TV.’ I said ‘what would it be on?’ and he said ‘well we’re not sure yet but we think it might be on the WWE Network.”

“He did have meetings unless he was just bald-faced lying to me,” Cornette continued. Cornette then said he was skeptical about this actually happening.

“I said ‘do you honestly believe that the WWF is going to put an NWA television show on their network?'” Cornette said he asked Lagana.

“Finally, he called and said ‘Well, we’re going to do it on YouTube,'” Cornette said of his conversation with Lagana.

“Originally the NWA show was going to be on the WWE Network and then that didn’t work out and they put it on YouTube,” Cornette continued.
NWA also had considered the idea of being on ROH's HonorClub service before talks between the two sides broke down.

The UFC’s Jon Jones told Sports Illustrated that he thinks it’s “inevitable” he’ll end up working with WWE in some form:

“I think it’s inevitable. I’ve always respected WWE, and I feel like the sports can be so similar.”

“I have the size and athleticism and the following to transition over really well. To get the opportunity to just show up, even as a special guest, would be a dream come true.”


Interesting to note that for the week ending 2/2, MLW Fusion on Freesports brought in 16,8000 viewers, beating WWE NXT on BT Sport 2, which garnered 12,600 viewers that week.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. announced today he would be debuting in All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in the 2020 Champion Carnival tournament:

Very excited to announce that I will be participating in the 2020 All Japan Pro-Wrestling Champion Carnival! My father Davey Boy Smith, and also Dynamite Kid and Johnny Smith once competed in the same league. I plan on winning this one! ???????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/rMn9WCHZ1c
— Davey Boy Smith Jr. (@DBSmithjr) February 11, 2020

Neilsen has conducted a study that shows in the fourth quarter of 2019, 19% of viewers watching TV spent that time on a streaming service. The study doesn’t include those watching on tablets or mobile devices and only monitored streaming on televisions. Of the streaming services, Netflix leads the way with 31% with connected-TV viewing followed by YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon. The study noted that 91% of the people that responded subscribe to a streaming service with 96% among those 18-34. It notes that 30% of consumers in the United States subscriber to three or more services.

Among adults over the age of 18, average daily viewing for live and time-shifted programs on TV fell 7% in the third quarter of 2019 at 3 hours and 56 minutes per day. Time spent watching connected-TV devices increased 17% to 55 minutes per day while viewing on smartphones increased 45% to sixteen minutes per day and viewing on computers stayed the same at seven minutes per day.
Link: https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/streaming-video-netflix-total-tv-viewing-nielsen-1203500634/

NWA's The Circle Squared competition series has a premiere date.

During the most recent episode of Powerrr, Sean Mooney revealed that the show, which will see wrestlers perform in front of an audience in order to secure a contract to compete for the NWA, will premiere on February 18 at 6:05 p.m. ET. Mooney, who will host the show, also mentioned that Powerrr will take a one-week hiatus as a result and return on February 25.

Speaking with Wrestling Observer Radio, Cody Rhodes was asked about a second show being added to AEW's TNT schedule and admitted that although no formal discussions have happened with Warner Media, they are prepared for when the trigger is pulled on the third hour ...

One of the formats being considered would center directly around the younger men and women of AEW, saying it's hard enough for established talent to get on TV every week, and this would provide the company with an avenue to highlight countless up-and-coming talents with whom the audience is not yet entirely familiar ...

"Initially there was talk that it’ll be like Dark but on another channel. I don’t think it’ll be like Dark. I think it’s gonna be its own animal, and we would want that. We would want to test ourselves,” Cody said.

The conversation then pivoted towards secondary championships and when one might be introduced into AEW. Cody acknowledged that it is being discussed, but cautions that they're moving slowly.

"I think we have an idea that's different than anything that's been done and I would just hope that everyone remains patient. Their yearning, their lust for that type of belt - championship - I think will be satiated in 2020. Again, I'm not saying there's a mid-card title, because if I was to say that there is a mid-card title coming to AEW, Nick Jackson would superkick my skull clean off my head. We're moving slow. It's something that the EVP's all have to agree on, but there is a really great idea in gestation. There's a great idea out there. Hopefully something that maybe (will) come along with the third-hour news (as) that kind of becomes more prominent," Cody said.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_A_4UFzN1s


TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Becky Lynch on Wanting to Be Highest Paid Star, MVP Update, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-updated-smackdown-ratings-becky-lynch-on-wanting-to-be-highest-paid-star-mvp-update/)
XFL Ratings for All Week 1 Games (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/xfl-ratings-for-all-week-1-games/)
Brandi Rhodes Says That She’s Done With the Nightmare Collective (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/brandi-rhodes-says-that-shes-done-with-the-nightmare-collective/)
Matt Hardy Says Goodbye, Possibly Written Off of TV + Jeff Hardy Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/matt-hardy-says-goodbye-possibly-written-off-of-tv-jeff-hardy-update/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

This week's episode of WWE Backstage drew the show's second-best viewership since it premiered in its regular time slot.

Backstage averaged 169,000 viewers on FS1 last night, which was up 74 percent from the 97,000 viewers it did last week. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.06, up from last week's 0.05.

This week's Backstage began at 11:15 p.m. Eastern time and had a strong lead-in. The second and final day of this year's Westminster Dog Show averaged 1.089 million viewers on FS1 and did a 0.17 rating in 18-49.

Teddy Hart, former MLW roster member, frequent indie wrestler, and New Hart Foundation member, was arrested Tuesday in Richmond, Virginia, on drug related charges.

The 40-year-old born Edward Annis was charged with possession of a Schedule III narcotic (a Class 1 misdemeanor) and possession with intent to sell or distribute. According to PW Insider, Hart was incarcerated at the Richmond County Jail after being booked at midnight. It's unknown if he has been released on bail, but he does have an April 23rd court date.

Schedule III drugs include codeine, anabolic steroids, hydrocodone, and others in that family.

Hart faces up to a year in jail and up to a $2500 fine for the misdemeanor while the possession with intent charge also carries jail time of between 1-10 years in prison or up to a year in jail with a fine to not exceed $2500.

Ring of Honor is replacing their Women's title with a new championship.

Following the departure of champion Kelly Klein at the end of last year, ROH has revealed how they're handling their Women's title situation. A tournament to crown a new champion will begin at Quest for Gold in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday, April 24. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena and will feature eight first-round matches in the tournament.

The winner of the tournament will receive the ROH Women's World Championship, with that title replacing the Women of Honor World Championship.

Paul Levesque met with reporters on a conference call this morning in advance of Sunday's Takeover Portland event ...

The first question came from Jason Powell. He asked about why NXT isn’t doing as well as AEW in the key demos on Wednesday nights. He said he think it’s all about the long game. What they have to do is get to the people in the younger demos. He said when you are promoted and viewed in the younger demos, those are the people that you will attract. He said that the NXT numbers are similar to a basic USA number. The long game is building up the brand. He said that they have proven the product in a hardcore, wrestling action sense. Now they need to start add in different things, entertainment wise. They have established that it’s great wrestling. Now they can work on other aspects. He said he is happy with the show and its trajectory and now they have to go in the direction they wanted to go ...

Why wasn’t there a Halftime Heat this year? Did it sneak up on you?

He said they were aware of when the Super Bowl was. He said FOX is their partner now and you don’t do that. Last year the timing was right. This year it wasn’t. He said he was glad they didn’t. He was at the Halftime Show live and it was spectacular. It was mind boggling how they did it.

Has Shayna Baszler officially moved to Raw?

That will play out. He said that Becky’s rise has been insane but you still need great opponents. He hopes it turns into something massive for both of them. Right now, he looks at it like sports teams making deals. He said right now he sees her as an NXT talent until they make a deal for her to go somewhere else ...

On the potential of taking NXT TV on the road, HHH said Full Sail is one of the most valuable partners they have in WWE. He sees it as more of a family relationship more than a business relationship. He said he couldn’t even comment on whether they have a contractual relationship. Their partnership doesn’t just train talent but producers and directors doing Wrestlemania now who cut their teeth in Florida. They have camera guys who are doing that now who started in Full Sail. The amount of stuff that they do that we see and don’t see – and the people who are inside the gears of the machine are from inside in Full Sail. They aren’t just renting a facility every Wednesday. Full Sail is family and part of that partnership. They will always do what’s best for business if there’s an opportunity.

He noted that there’s a week coming up where they can’t run Full Sail that week because Full Sail had a prior commitment so NXT will be on the road that week. He reiterated each side is super committed and will help each other.

On the Matt Riddle-Brock Lesnar story, Vince McMahon has never issued his disapproval of what was said by Riddle. There was a conversation between Riddle and Lesnar and that’s between them. They are grown adults and whatever they decided amongst themselves is what it is. Sometimes he reads things and wonders if it’s a shoot or a work but he’s entertained by it. He said that it is what it is. Riddle is an incredibly talented performer. He has his own viewpoints and that’s his own thing. He said he thinks Brock probably thinks don’t write checks you can’t cash and he thinks Riddle, in his mind, is writing checks he can cash.

ESPN featured a piece on WWE's media day yesterday in Los Angeles to promote Wrestlemania 37.

In the piece, it was noted that Roman Reigns pushed the idea of himself vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania in 2021, commenting, ""Hey, DJ, check it out. Not bad, right? I mean, the weather is good. Everyone is always talking about a dream match, me and him. First of all, we're family, so it's all love. If there was gonna be an event for him to compete in, to perform in, a venue to hold that mass scale of attention he's gonna bring? It's right here in your backyard. You ain't gotta go far."

While appearing on the Swerve City Podcast with Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Teasy and AEW’s Big Swole, Breeze opened up about his days in WWE’s developmental brand. He talked about how he was also cutting it close when it came to being let go from the company and later revealed that he and former WWE star Big Cass were supposed to be fired from WWE at the conclusion of ESPN’s E:60 documentary about NXT that released in 2015. Breeze accredited him and Cass not being fired to both men coming up with creative ideas for their respective characters.

“I get brought into a room, and it was me, Corey Graves, Xavier Woods, Colin Cassady [Big Cass] and somebody else… Adam Rose, and we’re told that we’re doing an ESPN thing. We’re doing an E:60, and so of course we’re all like, ‘Awesome. This is great, this is really cool.’ So they follow us around, they do some interviews, they do all this other stuff. Little did I know, I find this out after. After Tyler Breeze comes into existence, and I end up being on NXT and it took like a year or whatever it was… after I came into existence and Cassady, the same thing. Enzo and Cass went together and they became a thing. Hunter’s in front doing the post-NXT chat and he’s talking to everybody, and he goes, ‘Alright, just so you know, on this E:60, there was supposed to be guys that made it and guys that did not make it.’ Me and Colin Cassady were supposed to be the guys that did not make it and got fired at the end of this thing. We had no idea. We thought it was like, ‘Hey, these are the guys we want to showcase.’ Not the case whatsoever. We were supposed to be fired. Hunter’s telling everybody that we were supposed to be fired and now because we came up with stuff, our job is saved. Six months before that, I’m about to get fired again so, we do the E:60 thing. I guess they’re supposed to fire me but they can’t fire me until the episodes come up.”

Not surprised WWE would do something as stupid as have a documentary made about them and actually plan to fire people in order to fit the film's narrative.

All Elite Wrestling Co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio ...

While talking about storylines, Rhodes said that he specifically likes to have things planned out six months in advance. There are things that come up that alter certain people’s timing but with him, Chris Jericho and those alike, things are mapped out months in advance.

“I’d say not a full year but maybe six months. Not everybody likes to talk about six months from now. It’s not the conversation that everyone wants to talk about now and this week, but I think one of the keys to what we do is gonna be having an advanced plan and to be honest, some of the stuff we do, have kind of a thought process [of] one year — ‘What does this look like?’ For example, Double Or Nothing. Not this year but what will Double Or Nothing look like next year. I think we’ve gotta stay to that and we haven’t had any signs that we won’t be able to accomplish that. With a weekly show, we’ve kept it at six months at minimum for certain stuff. There’s certain guys that flow a little bit more improvisationally, and move like maybe every — they’ve got four weeks mapped out. Guys like Jericho and myself I guess, who I got it mapped out pretty far in advance. That’s a part of what I was telling you. Again, real inside baseball here but, this is the Observer but, I like to have everything well mapped out for me. It just gives me something to work for, and something to flow off of and it’s wrestling. Stuff can change, at any minute, at any second. I’m used to that. I’m used to change. It’s nice to have that structure. That’s a big thing. AEW is the renegade wild company but, it’s amazing how much real structure exists here and I love the fact that that’s the way it is.”

Charly Caruso posted on her Instagram story that she’s going to be working on an official XFL show.

On the most recent edition of Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast, he talked about the creative control that Paul Heyman really has in WWE and explained that no one truly has creative control and people on the outside have a misconception that Heyman and/or Bruce Prichard are running things.

“There’s one guy who has creative control. It’s not Paul Heyman. I hate to break your bubble, and I love Paul by the way. Conrad, you and I talked about Paul a little bit when I visited you last week and I shared with you how highly I regard Paul’s creative abilities and things like that so this is not meant to be any kind of half-assed attempt to take a shot or anything like that, but Paul Heyman doesn’t have creative control, and anybody that thinks he does is kidding themselves. I know Paul doesn’t, and neither does anybody else. One guy has creative control, and we all know who that is. So when I said, while I was there, I didn’t have creative control, I was being honest. I didn’t, because one man did. Paul Heyman doesn’t, Eric Bischoff didn’t. Nobody who follows in either my footsteps including Bruce Prichard — you know how much I love Bruce… or Paul Heyman, have creative control.”


Kurt Angle is very impressed by the NXT product but still feels that it can't be said NXT is a better product than Raw or SmackDown.

Speaking to Sportskeeda, the 2017 WWE Hall of Famer says he is very impressed by what his former rival, Triple H, has put together but to him, it is still the training ground for one of WWE's more traditional television shows.

“I think NXT is a great brand. I think Triple H has done an incredible job with that. But you know what? It is still the 'training ground' for RAW and SmackDown,” Angle said. “These guys might have a little more leeway than the guys on RAW and SmackDown. They get more time in their matches than the guys on RAW and SmackDown. If you watch any NXT TakeOver, every match is 30 minutes. Guys and girls on RAW and SmackDown, they don't get that kind of time so I wouldn't say they are the better product, I would say they have more freedom on what they want to do.

"But when you get up to the big show, you've got to make the time cues and you've got to listen to your boss, you have to do things specifically and I don't think that NXT has to do that. That's probably the reason why a lot of the guys want to stay there and I don't blame them for that - but would I say it's a better product? No, not by any means but I would say that they are doing an excellent job and Triple H has done an unbelievable job of making that an entity. Basically a product of its own. It could survive on its own. So it has become huge and there are a lot of fans that follow it.”

TJPW announced that Yuka Sakazaki will miss their March 1 card at KFC Hall due to scheduling reasons. AEW Revolution takes place a day prior


TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings/)
John Cena Will Appear on the February 28 SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/john-cena-will-appear-on-the-february-28-smackdown/)
PWG Announces Card for Their Next Show, “Kobe” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/pwg-announces-card-for-their-next-show-kobe/)

[Evil Vito]

Jushin Liger and The Bella Twins rumored for the HOF

[DaveWadding]

Jushin Liger and The Bella Twins rumored for the HOF

#HOFThreesome

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Ratings are in for Wednesday's installment of the Wednesday Night Wars -- with AEW Dynamite taking the night with an average viewership of 817,000 to NXT's 757,000.

However, the Dynamite number was down 12 percent from last week while NXT dipped by just two percent.

In the 18-49 demo, AEW averaged a 0.3 rating, down 17 percent from last week, good for a 10th place finish on cable. NXT was up nine percent in the demo, averaging a 0.24, putting them 21st.

The NXT demo number represents one of their best showings since their first few weeks, and the gap of 0.6 between the two was the closest the WWE property has been since December 18 when they beat Dynamite.

In addition to people over 50, NXT also had a slight win in females 18-49 with a 0.18 to 0.16 advantage over AEW. Per usual, AEW's strongest category was men 18-49, where they had a 0.41 to 0.28 advantage ...

Miz and Mrs, which immediately followed NXT on USA, was down four percent this week, averaging 457,000 viewers. That was good for 49th on cable in the 18-49 demo with a 0.16 rating.
USA Network probably regrets not putting the new season of Miz & Mrs on Tuesdays since that was a better day for viewership and also had a better lead-in due to Smackdown.

The former El Hijo del Fantasma is set to make his NXT debut this weekend.

WWE announced last night that Jorge Bolly (formerly known as El Hijo del Fantasma and King Cuerno) will make his debut for the promotion at NXT's house show in Fort Pierce, Florida this Saturday (February 15) ...

It was officially announced in September 2019 that Bolly had signed with WWE. Dave Meltzer reported last week that the reason there had been no mentions of Bolly since he signed with WWE was because he had blown out his knee. Meltzer wrote that Bolly was expected to be cleared to return imminently.

WWE has also revealed that Tino Sabbatelli, who suffered a torn pec in 2018, is set for NXT's house show in Tampa, Florida this Friday night.

Current NWA Women’s Champion and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling International Princess Champion Thunder Rosa noted on social media that she was the victim of a hit and run accident while in their car yesterday and is selling some of her gear to help finance the car repairs.

Hey guys, yesterday I was involved in a hit and run accident a d to raise money to fix my car, I'm selling different gears! DM
Me or email me at thunderrosa22@gmail.com
Thanks for your support! pic.twitter.com/g4Q5xRdh04
— Thunder Rosa (@thunderrosa22) February 13, 2020

For those who have asked, the creative direction within the company since the onset of 2020 has primarily been Tony Khan. The EVPs all have a say in what they are doing and are trusted, but all of the current storylines and pushes are Khan edicts and he's been very hands on with laying out exactly what he wants out of each segment in recent weeks. Chris Jericho remains very involved with working to get the newer stars in the company over.

The Double or Nothing pre-sale today was extremely strong and all signs are the PPV will sell out when it goes on sale tomorrow officially.

As of today, Jeff Cobb is only booked for next Wednesday's Dynamite in Atlanta. His status with Ring of Honor and New Japan remains unchanged. As we reported yesterday, he is not signed to anyone and can work anywhere he wants.

With her win last night, Nyla Rose becomes the first Native American to win a women's title that I can recall in recent times as well as the first transgender athlete to be crowned a Women's Champion in the United States that we are publicly aware of ...

New Japan star Chase Owens was backstage visiting last night
The Nyla stuff is interesting since around the same time AEW announced a deal with her, WWE held a tryout shortly afterwards that had a transgendered athlete/wrestler among those invited. Not sure if WWE signed a deal with person in the end.

There has been talk recently of adding some independent promotions to the Impact+ streaming service.

We were able to see a quarter-hour breakdown of last Friday’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown that featured Bill Goldberg’s appearance to challenge The Fiend for a Universal title match.

The show peaked in the first segment with the return of ‘The Dirt Sheet’ with The Miz and John Morrison, who was confronted by the New Day with an average of 2,657,000 viewers ...

9 – 9:15 pm increased by 125,000 viewers to 2,634,000 viewers for Roman Reigns attacking King Corbin followed by Bill Goldberg’s satellite interview and Firefly Fun House segment and the locker room segment with Daniel Bryan and Heath Slater.
The Goldberg segment block had the highest gains in terms of viewership for the night. Only two other segments had gains and combined they were lower than Goldberg's quarter-hour.

Metro chatted with Alexa Bliss about the song that ‘Bowling For Soup’ created about her and Bliss stated that she would love if they were able to play the song live for her entrance at WrestleMania 36 if she’s on the card.

“I mean, I would love that. Any opportunity to be able to have my favorite band playing a song about me at WrestleMania would be incredible. I don’t know what I’m doing at WrestleMania, but it’s definitely something I’m going to throw out into the universe.”


Chris Van Vliet conducted an interview with NWA President Billy Corgan. During their conversation, Corgan revealed that NWA is in discussions about doing some live touring shows.

“It was always heavy TV production and let’s see how it goes but our thing was, we will pivot from being a TV production first to a live touring [show] and people always ask, ‘When are you gonna start touring?’ And we’re in discussions right now to start doing live touring events.”


Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson hosted a Q&A session for the latest edition of the Grilling JR podcast. Jim Ross mentioned that he ran into Mickie James at an airport recently. Mickie is married to NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis. Ross said that he would love to have Aldis in AEW.

“Nick Aldis is a good hand, man. Nick Aldis is a hell of a hand. I wish we had him in AEW. I’m sure any promotion [wishes] they had Nick Aldis because he’s that good.”

One of the questions that was presented to Jim Ross was who will he pass the torch to after he decides to step away from the AEW commentary booth and he said Excalibur. Ross said that both he and Tony Schiavone agreed to pass on any knowledge that they have to Excalibur so he can thrive in his role.

“Excalibur… does a good job. Tony [Schiavone] and I both have made a commitment to share any knowledge we have, anything he wants to hear with him because, somewhere down the road, he should be the voice of AEW. But I’m not quite ready to step aside right now and neither is Tony. But we’re actually having a great time. Traveling with Tony from time to time. We did a show in Huntsville [Alabama] a couple weeks ago, a week ago. He’s [Tony Schiavone] an old woman,” Ross joked. “I love him though. I finally convinced Tony Khan how valuable Tony Schiavone would be if he was on our team and all the things he could do for us, and that was one of the best hires Tony Khan has made is getting Schiavone back in the game, and I’m so glad he’s on our team but Excalibur’s evolving, learning. He’s never done a national broadcast. He was doing very inexpensive, little streaming shoots on PWG. So he’s like a lot of our guys we have in the locker room. He’s new, he’s green and he’s learning but he’s gonna be really good.”

AJ Styles could potentially have a big match at WrestleMania this spring.

According to a report from WrestleZone, Styles is currently planned to face The Undertaker at this year's WrestleMania, taking place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE officially announced on 2/10 that the 37th WrestleMania will be coming to the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, just outside Los Angeles, on March 28, 2021 ...

SoFi Stadium, which is scheduled to open in July and be the home of both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers starting with the upcoming football season, is listed with a capacity of 70,240, but it can be expanded for another 30,000 seats and the Super Bowl is legitimately expected to draw 100,000. WWE will also likely announce six figures, likely announcing a larger number than their public company record of 101,763 set for WrestleMania 32 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX on April 3, 2016.

The Arlington police department later reported that 80,709 fans was the actual turnstile count for that event. If they expand the stadium, and likely will, this can break what is the legitimate largest crowd in WWE history.

New Japan Pro Wrestling made two major announcements and a few minor ones on 2/9 at the New Beginning in Osaka show.

The big one is that New Japan World Pro Wrestling will return to prime time in April, with a weekly show at 8 p.m. on Friday nights on BS Asahi, the satellite channel of TV-Asahi ...

From its inception in 1972, until 1987, 8 p.m. on Friday night was the traditional New Japan television time slot. When ratings declined in 1987, it was moved first to Tuesday, and then to Monday, also at 8 p.m. In 1988, it was moved to Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. and then after that, as has been the case for the last 30 plus years, the show has aired post-midnight, first a 60 minute show, and then cut to 30 minutes, around 2:30 a.m. early Sunday morning ...

Harold Meij put the new deal together which gives the company its strongest television time slot in decades. Part of the deal is that no planned blood is allowed on the show, although the bloodbath Tetsuya Naito vs. KENTA match may be allowable since the blood was not planned. Those in New Japan believe that being back in prime time will help create a new fan base.

A second announcement is that New Japan will promote its biggest event for the remainder of 2020, Wrestle Dynasty, on 8/22 in Madison Square Garden. The show will take place on the same weekend as SummerSlam, which will take place the next day in Boston. But it will go head-to-head with the NXT Takeover show in Boston. It also comes two weeks before All Out 2 in Chicago.

The idea is that New Japan will present a card equivalent to a Wrestle Kingdom ...

As things stand right now, neither Jon Moxley or Chris Jericho would be allowed to appear on the show as their AEW deal only allows for them to work for New Japan in Japan.

It’s notable that after all the pressure coming from the WWE side, that in the end, Madison Square Garden gave them this date. New Japan had planned on announcing this show on 1/5 at the Tokyo Dome, but it wasn’t finalized until recently for the obvious issues.

The combined New Japan and ROH show sold out the MSG this past April, and it was very clear it was New Japan, and not ROH, that was the key. It is the only non-WWE show in United States and Canadian pro wrestling history ever to do a $1 million gate. But when tickets were sold, Kenny Omega was the IWGP champion. There was also a huge amount of scalper interest in the show, as it was the first non-McMahon family promoted pro wrestling event in MSG since 1960.

As it turned out, it was a soft secondary market, so scalpers may not be as apt to buy in this time. There are a lot of questions that will be answered regarding the interest level in the U.S. of a pure New Japan show without any major American names as well as a second show in the building as opposed to a first. Going against NXT, even if it’s four hours away, is also legit competition for some of the some of the same fans. Most likely NXT will get a jump by putting tickets on sale first.

The XFL debuted this past week to what I’d call very impressive numbers, and also positive reaction.

Unlike the first incarnation, which was treated as a laughing stock after a few weeks due to terrible (for the time) prime time ratings, this league, basically marketing straight football with no gimmicks, was covered like a legitimate major league sport with scores read on sports radio and ESPN SportsCenter. While the ratings were not much higher than the AAF debuted with in its first week (2.9 million for AAF, 3.3 million for XFL), the XFL had a better station lineup with FOX, ABC, ESPN and FS 1 all having games ...

The long-term goal for success would be if the network games average 1.5 million viewers and the games on ESPN and FS 1 end up at 700,000. The expectation is a big drop over the next few weeks and by week three or four things would settle in ...

The good sign was that they were able to hit that same level for the second game, and more importantly the Sunday games. That was the big story here. Basically it said the first day numbers were more than just a one-time novelty of people checking something out once out of curiosity and moving on. The FOX 5 p.m. game on Saturday did 1,418,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo while the FOX 2 p.m. Sunday game did 1,336,000, the ABC game on Saturday did 1,366,000 and the ESPN game did 1,211,000.

Because the league was more organized and had hired Elevate Sports Ventures to hire sales staffs well ahead of time, the league is said to have already, through season tickets, sold more tickets for this season than the AAF did even though AAF claimed more.

The league is projecting doing attendance figures of 15,000 to 20,000 per game. The first weekend average of 17,455 was less than the AAF’s first week of 19,210. The first XFL averaged 35,115 in week one, but it came in with so much more hype, and also all three of these numbers came with liberal papering. But Seattle and St. Louis came into the season having sold more than 10,000 season tickets.
According to Meltzer, any new tv contract for XFL likely will need to be around at least $125 million per year just to cover the losses the league is planning to lose for the 1st 3 years.

Bill Goldberg’s latest WWE return will be for the 2/27 Super Showdown event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the International Arena at The Boulevard, where he will face Bray Wyatt for the Universal title.

It’s going to be a tough match to put together, although it no doubt will be kept short. The problem is that Goldberg isn’t good in a match where he has to sell much, and Wyatt’s gimmick is based on not selling big moves. Previously on his WWE run, Goldberg had been a Paul Heyman project, starting with carefully crafting his matches and interviews to do a program with Brock Lesnar. That was supposed to be his retirement run, but it got over so big and he still looked the part, so Heyman, when he was put in control of Raw, wanted Goldberg to be his late 1970s Bruno Sammartino, who would come back every once in a while to pop ratings and vanquish a heel. The idea, like with Sammartino, is that he wouldn’t lose until his finite time ended to where you couldn’t do the role ...

The sad part of this is when it became apparent Goldberg was facing Wyatt, it also became clear that there would be more interest in Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania for the title than Wyatt in the spot, even though Wyatt has been pushed in his Fiend character as an unbeatable monster. The plan originally was still Wyatt vs. Reigns and Goldberg was only scheduled for Saudi Arabia. But his return to television showed he still had a level of ratings juice, at least at first, that nobody else on the roster has. It also says volumes about the ability to create a star now. Bringing someone back based on a huge run nearly 22 years ago outshines the guy protected more in booking than anyone else who is also the company’s top merchandise seller.

Even though both had strong shows, both AEW and NXT were down this week, but the AEW drop was significant and NXT drop was minimum, leading to a significant closing of the gap ...

The difference is that NXT won three of the first four quarters overall, although AEW won every quarter in 18-49. NXT faded while AEW grew as the show was going on. AEW won by a significant margin in the second hour.

AEW’s lead-in was down 42 percent from usual (coincidentally it was the movie “Pain and Gain” featuring Dwayne Johnson), and that could partially explain the weak open, but only partially. Most wrestling fans tune in to a station rather than are regulars watching the station. A big lead-in helps and a bad lead-in hurts, but it shouldn’t be to this degree. But the show started so low after the bad lead-in, and that’s with a strong opening segment, that it broke the Wednesday pattern for both shows of starting high and trickling off ...

Also notable is that after AEW ended, NXT’s main event of Adam Cole vs. Kushida only gained 136,000 viewers and 38,000 in 18-49, a far lower increase than is usual. The overrun really meant little difference overall as NXT would have done 755,000 without the overrun.

There is an interesting thing going on regarding some of the talent like Taurus, El Hijo del Vikingo, Laredo Kid and others. AAA right now has business relationships with AEW, Impact and MLW. That in and of itself is difficult because MLW realizes it has no leverage and doesn’t insist on exclusivity, Impact doesn’t really want them dealing MLW but knows they can’t try and push them not to deal with AEW. AEW hasn’t forced them not to deal with anyone else but at times has muscled them regarding Impact guys on their shows that AEW would be on. Impact did for a time push for them not to use Killer Kross when he was under contract to them but they were at the impasse. Anyway, AAA wants the guys who are great workers to sign a U.S. deal but their own stability. Impact, AEW and MLW all run very few dates, so if they sign with those groups, AAA can still use them on pretty much all their TV tapings, maybe every now and then there’s a conflict but usually not. But what it does is solidify their guys being in the U.S., which is now the goal for a lot of the younger talent and where there is more money, but keeps them from going to WWE, which will sign anyone with talent to stockpile, but if they do, then AAA can’t use them anymore. For obvious reasons, AEW has the edge and priority, but AEW isn’t in the mode of signing everyone with talent. They’ve slowed down on new people because they don’t have enough TV to feature all the guys they have. So they aren’t rushing to sign new guys, even Vikingo. MLW and Impact have interest in signing those guys

Kenny Omega will return to defend his AAA title at Rey de Reyes on 3/21 in Merida. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix will also be defending the tag titles on that show. The main event will be the Psycho Circus vs. Rush & Park & Bestia del Ring stemming from an angle shot this past week

The story with Cobb is that he’s still a free agent and only has agreed at this point to do the program with Moxley. It’s interesting that they were willing to use an ROH guy (Cobb never signed a new ROH contract so he can work wherever he wants) for a short-term program. They used footage to introduce him from All Pro Wrestling rather than ROH or NJPW, which was also telling about relationships. Cobb has been offered a deal by Cody but his goal is working as much New Japan as he can right now

There is still not a full explanation as to why Michelle Wilson and George Barrios were fired. Within the company it was said that they were against the idea of signing up talent that wasn’t being used and the much higher talent expenses to keep anyone and everyone from leaving, which lowered the profit margin that Wall Street was expecting from the big TV windfall, and thus made the stock price not hold. From Vince’s standpoint, I can see it. You can see he still remembers the WCW situation, where WWF had such a lead and WCW was always floundering as a business in comparison, and then suddenly he was No. 2. And if not for Steve Austin and the sheer incompetence of those in charge of WCW being so out of touch with their audience, he could have lost that war. McMahon’s feeling in hindsight was always that WCW nearly beat him with his own creations, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper and so many others. So the idea is not to let that repeat itself

As of right now, the plans for the 3/8 Elimination Chamber PPV will be Reigns, Corbin, Bryan, Strowman, Nakamura and Roode in a Chamber match with the winner getting a shot at Wyatt at WrestleMania. Those names may change and probably will. We were told that the ad has placeholders in the sense Reigns is probably a lock but they haven’t decided on the others and was told there is a solid chance some of these names will change. They were just looking to advertise a men’s chamber match for a title shot locally in Philadelphia to move tickets. Right now Reigns would be the scheduled winner since Wyatt vs. Reigns has been earmarked for the match but again, nothing happens until it happens

WWE has been making overtures to some U.S. indie companies regarding tape libraries for new network content. This isn’t new and was part of the premium tier idea, but with the new idea, nobody knows what that means for the tiers idea

The story going around about Brie & Nikki Bella and Jushin Liger as being in the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame class is accurate as of right now. The Bellas make sense as WWE unwritten rules are that a woman has to go in every year and they’ve both just retired, and it makes sense to put them in together. Liger is an interesting one but he’s probably as far as a true pro wrestling Hall of Fame is concerned, would be among the most deserving of anyone in the last 40 years. He only worked one match for WWE in his career, on an NXT Takeover against Tyler Breeze, but he did just retire and his name is pretty well known in the U.S. One would expect both announcements imminently

[Mr. Nerfect]

Good for New Japan.

[rez]

Apparently Matt Hardy has been scheduled a match versus Orton for RAW lol. Oh, Vince

[Mr. Nerfect]

That doesn't need to happen.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Friday's News Edition):

Flamita has been pulled from two upcoming Ring of Honor shows due to injury.

In this week's edition of his Eck's Files column for ROH's website, Kevin Eck wrote that Flamita suffered a torn meniscus while teaming with Bandido against The Briscoes at Free Enterprise. Flamita won't be able to wrestle at Bound By Honor in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday, February 28 or Gateway to Honor in St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday, February 29 ...

ROH didn't announce a timetable for when Flamita will be returning from his injury.

The New York Post ran an article today noting that WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase's non-profit religious organization tHE Heart of David Ministries reportedly received more than $2.1 million in welfare from the state of Mississippi after his son Brett DiBiase began working for the State.

The organization had received just $5,000 in grants in 2013, but pulled in $271,000 in welfare money, the same year Brett was hired as a senior official at the Mississippi Department of Human Services. DiBiase’s group received as much as $900,000 one year.

The New York Times ran an article on 2/6 covering a massive embezzlement scandal in the State of Mississippi involving a state auditor and former WWE developmental talent Brett DiBiase. According to that article, the former director of the state welfare agency and five others are being charged in one of the biggest embezzlement scandals in the history of the office. Allegedly, Brett DiBiase was given funds to go to a drug treatment facility in Malibu that was earmarked for Mississippi's welfare programs. According to documents, DiBiase was allegedly given the money as payment for classes that he didn't teach for drug abuse.

Now, questions have been raised about money directed to DiBiase Sr.'s organization, especially since, as The Post reported, "The state of Mississippi denied more than 98 percent of individual welfare applicants, while giving more than $2 million to DiBiase’s foundation."

Kevin Ku, who was trained by Brian Fury, has signed a Major League Wrestling contract and will debut in April in Chicago.

LA Park Jr, LA Park’s youngest son, will soon debut in MLW.

There have been some reports floating around that MLW was trying to actively sign AAA stars to deals. MLW states they are not pursuing any Stateside contracts with AAA talents, but will continue to book AAA talents as well as independent lucha talents from Mexico.

The company is currently looking for a heel analyst type announcer to add to their broadcast team. They are looking outside the company for potential ideas.

The XFL, the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority and the University of Houston today announced at a news conference that Houston, Texas, and TDECU Stadium on the U of H campus will host the league’s championship game on Sunday, April 26, 2020.

The game will feature the league’s champions from the East and West divisions and be televised nationally by ESPN at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The WWE stock closed at $44.93 on Friday after opening at $44.00

The WWE PC YouTube account has been releasing a great series on Tegan Nox’s comeback this week in the lead-up to her street fight with Dakota Kai at TakeOver this Sunday. Part 1 and Part 2 can be viewed with the third episode of the series below (these definitely should have aired on NXT over the past few weeks)
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22IVjQ91lWM , Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg3iFywEM04 , Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzdxtx3YLpQ

Jon Moxley has filed to trademark this past week for both "Jon Moxley" and "Mox."

The two trademarks were filed in the first week of February with "Jon Moxley" being filed on February 7 and "Mox" being filed on February 8. According to Wrestling Inc, the trademarks were filed by Toledo, Ohio lawyer Michael E. Dockins, the same attorney who has done recent filings for The Revival and several AEW stars.

According to a report in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required), MVP is being transitioned into a backstage producer role within WWE. This transition comes just under a month after MVP returned to WWE as part of the 2020 men's Royal Rumble match, and then subsequently wrestled his final match with the company the following night on Raw against Rey Mysterio.

Most recently, MVP was the host of his talk show segments, the VIP lounge, where he offered his managerial services to Drew McIntyre along the Road to WrestleMania, but was promptly meant with a boot to the face. According to the report from the Observer, while this isn't something that will be happening on a regular basis, MVP does so well in the role that it may be utilized sporadically.

WWE has unveiled a new Table for 3... only smaller.

Released on their YouTube channel, WWE gathered Braun Strowman, Drake Maverick, and Elias around a "tiny" table to talk about their careers and eat "tiny" tacos. In the video (seen above), Braun and Drake shared stories from their time travelling together, including one where Drake tried to eat the same meals as Braun, but the portions were so large that he was miserable and gave up halfway through the day.

Asked by Elias to share something interesting, Drake revealed that he was once mistaken for Braun's child.

"I remember once walking into the gym, and we asked, "do you do day passes?" Braun took over the conversation and then the women goes "yep, you and your son have a good day."

Sharing one of the moments that has stood out to him, Elias described the night he insulted the Seattle SuperSonics a career highlight.

"One moment that really sticks out to me is, I was in Seattle, and I was sitting there with Kevin Owens on the stool and I said this line about the Sonics and their basketball team. I triggered that crowd so much. I swear, I think they tried to boo me out of that building. I remember Kevin Owens was standing right next to me, screaming in my ear and I couldn't hear him."
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdKUDTszRuk


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Jeff Cobb AEW Status Update, ROH News & New Matches for Past vs. Present, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/various-jeff-cobb-aew-status-update-roh-news-new-matches-for-past-vs-present-indies/)
Cathy Kelley Announces She’s Leaving WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/cathy-kelley-announces-shes-leaving-wwe/)
Matt Hardy Not Done Yet, Will Wrestle on Raw on Monday (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/matt-hardy-not-done-yet-will-wrestle-on-raw-on-monday/)

[slik]

Meltzer reporting Cena vs Elias at WM

Makes sense.

Cena can't have a long match and risk injury due to his filming commitments. This lets him have a short, sweet match that's a few minutes long to hit his spots, maybe for the last time too.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Isn't Elias back to being a face or did he turn again? He's quickly becoming this era's Big Show.

[erickman]

Meltzer reporting Cena vs Elias at WM

Makes sense.

Cena can't have a long match and risk injury due to his filming commitments. This lets him have a short, sweet match that's a few minutes long to hit his spots, maybe for the last time too.

i thought elias was a face now, I can see them in a sing rap off more then a match. they need to add the rock since he can't do anything ether, let that be a good blow off segment.

[Emperor Smeat]

Meltzer reporting Cena vs Elias at WM

Makes sense.

Cena can't have a long match and risk injury due to his filming commitments. This lets him have a short, sweet match that's a few minutes long to hit his spots, maybe for the last time too.

Seems dumb considering the whole mentality of that match supposedly isn't for Cena to put over Elias but instead WWE hoping Elias gets the "rub" from losing. This despite WWE showing countless times before that they don't follow through with that type of rub or any in general against Cena for the most part.

Elias has way more to lose than gain going by WWE's booking habits.

[Sepholio]

The only way they can have Elias lose and it be ok imo is if at some point during the match, Cena basically starts mocking him and Elias snaps and gets himself DQ'd. Destroys Cena with his guitar.

It would require WWE sticking with it though and booking Elias stronger coming out of it. If they just go back to business as normal with him then it's a waste. He kinda did well with a cocky heel role when he first came up, it took him awhile, but he got the crowd behind him in a kind of strange love/hate relationship. Was really weird now that I think about it. But it's the best he's been and they need to go back to that but have him actually win for awhile instead.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Elias doesn't matter. Cena has beaten him up at the past two Manias. He's the Pete Rose to Cena's Kane.

[erickman]

Elias doesn't matter. Cena has beaten him up at the past two Manias. He's the Pete Rose to Cena's Kane.

yeah pretty much he is like r truth, that segment is just to give the crowd a rest after a hot match.

[Sepholio]

I'm gonna need to both of you to shut your dirty mouths. Look at Elias. Look closely. Listen. That's the second coming of the Macho Man in disguise brother and he just needs to be given the spotlight to show the world the MADDDDDNNNEESSSS.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Due to the holiday on Monday, ratings for the XFL and Raw have been delayed.

Vince McMahon is still hands-on, but it's definitely at a distance these days.

After word that WWE was potentially shopping PPV content to outside providers dropped on the WWE Q4 2019 call, Fightful was given a tip that McMahon's attendance isn't exactly what it once was.

On the Smackdown side of things, we were told that Vince McMahon was rarely, if ever at the show between Thanksgiving and the February 5th episode. We're told that Bruce Prichard has assumed his position at Gorilla for those shows, but we don't know exactly how much input Prichard has on the final product.

Over on Raw, it was noted that Vince McMahon was around "approximately half the time." Outside of that, McMahon is said to have been exceptionally private of late. This is still a far cry from decades past, when McMahon would almost never miss an episode of WWE Raw if he could help it.

In conversation during the Royal Rumble 2005 episode of his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross revealed that before his contract expired in December 2004, The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) did indeed pitch a WrestleMania match versus Sting.

He adds, "Rock knew in his heart that he could get a match out of Sting, who had been dormant for quite a while, without any problem. Full confidence. I believe that too."

According to the legendary announcer, WWE had been trying to sign Sting since WCW closed its doors in 2001. At the time, there was a belief that he would be happy (having just been paid money owed by Time Warner), healthy, and refreshed.

"We only wanted him for a part-time role, at best, to maximize the investment, and not overuse an asset that had more matches in him than he had left," said Jim Ross.

Ultimately, the match never happened, and Johnson opted not to renew his contract. That said, Jim Ross does not believe one thing has anything to do with the other. Furthermore, responding to the assertion that Vince McMahon was "picking sides" and showing Steve Austin preferential treatment, Ross believes it was a matter of ego. It's not that Rock wasn't a priority, or that there were issues of control, but rather, in his estimation, this was Vince overcompensating and saying "no matter how big you have gotten, I will always run the ship here."

You may have noticed some changes to WWE's musical production over the last several months. That's because CFO$ is no longer working with WWE.

Fightful Select was informed that the music group had an issue with their publisher. According to one source, CFO$ was out a significant cut of money as it relates to their deal. The same aforementioned source indicated that CFO$ tried to get WWE to buy them out of their deal, which WWE seemed on board with, but the publisher rejected.

The plan that we'd heard was that WWE hoped to bring them in house, but the talks got to a stand-still, and eventually ran out. It's thought that CFO$ have a non-compete with their publisher, which is why they haven't returned.

The move was said to be a big one considering WWE's willingness to outsource the work instead of keeping it to themselves as they'd done for decades working with Jim Johnston.

This situation has caused a slowdown on WWE's lucrative WWE Music Group Youtube channel as well, with no new uploads in six months. We're told WWE had plenty of exclusive tracks from CFO$ that they've used in the months since the split happened. This has led to WWE using library tracks and an in-house editor, as they've had other departures in that department as well. WWE is still actively seeking out new employees for that division

Impact announced that their Impact Plus VOD service will add a new event from Ontario-based Alpha 1 Wrestling, which is Ethan Page's promotion. They will be uploading the 2/16 show in Hamilton, ONT.

In the wake of NXT UK TakeOver: Dublin being announced for April 26, Progress Wrestling announced on Twitter that it will have an update on an event the promotion is scheduled to run on that same day.

We now have a date for the next Crockett Cup tournament.

The promotion announced this afternoon that this year’s tournament will take place on April 19 at the Gateway Arena in College Park, Georgia. Tickets will go on sale February 28, with a pre-sale taking place a day prior.

The show will take place on the same day as Impact’s Rebellion pay-per-view event, which will take place in New York City.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has issued some new guidelines for fans as Japan struggles with the coronavirus outbreak.

The company said all future live shows will go on, but are advising fans that if they fell ill, they should stay home. They are also encouraging fans and their staff to wear surgical-style masks in addition to providing disinfectant spray at events.

The statement also said attendee health checks may be part of future shows and that fans that don't feel well at shows may be asked to leave.

They also said that all meet and greets and autograph signings are canceled until further notice. They have events scheduled in Tokyo all weekend long.

Stardom announced Tuesday they are canceling the rest of their February slate of shows and making a drastic change to their March 8th show Korakuen Hall show due to the coronavirus outbreak ...

Their March 7th FC Members Only Event Spring Bus tour set for Gunma has been postponed while their March 8th tournament show at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall will be an empty arena show with no fans allowed in the building. The event will be shown in full on their YouTube channel.

They are offering refunds to those fans who purchased tickets.

AEW vice president Cody Rhodes spoke to the media for 40 minutes Tuesday afternoon, answering questions on everything from Jeff Cobb's deal to free agency to Canadian dates and plenty more ...

Some key talking points:

He said it's unlikely to see the Bash At The Beach name or other events he owns the trademarks to with the exception of one.
He said AEW and Jeff Cobb are still in a "gestation" stage. He's signed for more dates, but he needs to keep it vague for now ...
He said that when it comes to free agents, the doors are open ...
He's taken lead and an ownership role in Norcross, GA's Nightmare Factory. It's not affiliated with AEW, but open to all talent and could be something down the road ...
They haven't talked to ROH about getting rights to the original All In, but they have a good relationship there. Young Bucks and Dana Massie own the name, so it could happen down the road.


While Good Humor had announced that the returning WWE Superstars Ice Cream bars would be hitting shelves in April, PWInsider.com has confirmed that the ice cream is already being sold at Stop N Shop stores, among other locations. We've heard from ten different readers in the Northeast that they've found the bars on sale. John Cena, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Randy Savage are featured on the cookies of the sandwich.

Former WWE talent Eve Torres-Gracie put out a post regarding an incident from 2009 involving Donald Trump during the period he was given control of Raw. Torres-Gracie cited a press event in June 2009 in Green Bay prior to Raw where she appeared alongside Torrie Wilson, Maryse Ouellet, The Bella Twins, and Maria Kanellis where she alleges that Trump forcefully grabbed her. Below is the Instagram post from Torres-Gracie:
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/B8sfLTPlsB9/?utm_source=ig_embed

The WWE stock closed at $45.96 on Tuesday, which was up over 2% during the day.

Following Nyla Rose's AEW Women's Title victory over Riho last Wednesday, former WWE superstar Val Venis took to social media to give his thoughts on the matter.

Venis criticized AEW and Rose, an openly transgender wrestler, for allowing Rose to win the Women's World Title. Venis wrote, "When I turn on the mind numbing boob-tube to watch two women wrestle for the championship, I expect to see REAL WOMEN wrestling. Today I identify as a Great Dane. Gonna enter the Westminster dog show and win the XL Dog title.”

He later clarified his comments, writing, "I never claimed #NylaRose was cheating. Its scripted & could be a heat seeking story line when portrayed responsibly. My position was & still is that portraying a biological MAN winning the Womens championship is not something to portray as moral, ethical or logical."

Speaking on a media call, AEW Co-Executive Vice President Cody addressed Venis' comments.

"It's disappointing. If you are someone that perhaps grew up liking Val Venis, he's kind of like the Disco Inferno of WWE, I don't know if anyone really knows who Val Venis is anymore. It's disappointing because I don't think he actually means the terrible, awful things, he's putting in writing. I think he's just trying to get a booking. We're not booking Val Venis and you're not gonna be booked anywhere near us."

He continued, "The real way to end some of this bigotry, transphobia, and negativity is don't hit the ball back. We all know who we're talking about here. They're the same people who do this. When we hit the ball back, you give them oxygen. I'm not giving Val Venis any oxygen when it coming to Nyla Rosa. Nyla Rose won the Women's World Championship because she was the best woman at AEW. That's just it. Stop hitting the ball back to those people. It's 2020, everybody should love everybody."

Venis was in the vocal minority of those who spoke against Rose's victory, with the majority supporting Rose for her achievement.

John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) is reportedly set to be inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame.

Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc first reported the news ...

As of now, the only confirmed inductees into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame class are the New World Order (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, & Sean Waltman) and Batista. Other names reportedly set to be inducted include The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie Bella), Jushin "Thunder" Liger, and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith.


TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Arena Refused to Host AEW Due to WWE Ties, Bad Luck Fale on AEW-NJPW Issues, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/various-arena-refused-to-host-aew-due-to-wwe-ties-bad-luck-fale-on-aew-njpw-issues-indies/)
WWE: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte WrestleMania Note, Tito Ortiz at WWE PC, New Trademark (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-rhea-ripley-vs-charlotte-wrestlemania-update-tito-ortiz-at-pc-new-trademark/)
Matt Hardy Comments on His Raw Segment (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/matt-hardy-comments-on-his-raw-segment/)
“The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith to Be Inducted Into WWE Hall of Fame (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/the-british-bulldog-davey-boy-smith-to-be-inducted-into-wwe-hall-of-fame/)
Raw Tag Team Championship Added to Super ShowDown – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/raw-tag-team-championship-added-to-super-showdown-updated-card/)
NXT UK TakeOver: Dublin Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/nxt-uk-takeover-dublin-announced/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Raw on Monday night did its best showing since December 30 with a 2.44 million viewer average.

For whatever reason, there is a history of Raw doing big numbers on President's Day weekend, as last year's show did 2.77 million.

The number was up four percent from last week, but the bad news was that the 22 percent first-to-thurd hour drop in audience was the seventh biggest in the history of the show ...

The second-to-third hour drop was the second largest of all-time, trailing only a 2018 episode that had Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appearing at the end of the second hour ...

The first hour was the most-watched first hour of the show since September 30.

The three hours were:
8 p.m. 2.67 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.56 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.08 million viewers


A documentary on WWE's Florida Championship Wrestling developmental brand is set to premiere next month.

It was announced today that "A Future WWE: The FCW Story" will debut on the WWE Network on Sunday, March 8. It will be made available on-demand at 10 a.m. Eastern time that day.

FCW was WWE's developmental brand prior to it becoming NXT.

Ahead of tonight's Dynamite episode in Atlanta, AEW has revealed the latest top-five roster rankings for their men's, women's, and tag team divisions:
Men's division --

Champion: Chris Jericho (0-0 singles record in 2020, 10-1-1 overall record)

Jon Moxley (5-0 singles record in 2020, 10-1-1 overall record)
Cody Rhodes (2-0 singles record in 2020, 9-3-1 overall record)
PAC (1-1 singles record in 2020, 6-5-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (0-0 singles record in 2020, 14-6 overall record)
MJF (2-0 singles record in 2020, 6-1 overall record)


Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (3-1 singles record in 2020, 7-4 overall record)

Riho (3-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3 overall record)
Kris Statlander (1-1 singles record in 2020, 5-3 overall record)
Hikaru Shida (2-1 singles record in 2020, 7-4 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-0 singles record in 2020, 1-2 overall record)
Britt Baker (1-2 singles record in 2020, 8-6 overall record)


Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (4-0 tag team record in 2020, 14-6 overall record for Omega, 10-8 overall record for Page)

The Young Bucks (2-1 tag team record in 2020, 12-8 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-7 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 15-6 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 14-5 overall record for Frankie Kazarian
The Dark Order (2-0 tag team record in 2020, 6-2 overall record for Evil Uno, 6-2 overall record for Stu Grayson)
Santana & Ortiz (0-1 tag team record in 2020, 7-5 overall record for Santana, 7-5 overall record for Ortiz)
The Lucha Bros (0-1 tag team record in 2020, 8-8 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 9-8 overall record for Fenix)



Lucha Libre AAA has revealed when Kenny Omega will be making his next Mega title defense

Omega will defend his AAA Mega Championship against Laredo Kid at this year's Rey de Reyes event. The show is taking place at Poliforum Zamna in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico on Saturday, March 21 and will air live on Twitch.

PROGRESS Wrestling posted they will be moving their Chapter 105 event to the date April 20 due to the announcement of NXT Takeover UK Dublin
PROGRESS originally announced their event on the 26th before WWE announced that date for their next NXT UK Takeover event. Also seems PROGRESS wasn't informed ahead of time of WWE's decision which is why they had to scramble to change their plans.

As PWInsider.com reported yesterday in the Elite section, WWE is beginning to reach out to former WWE stars about coming in for Wrestlemania 36 weekend to make appearances.

Beyond the four names we reported yesterday, PWInsider.com can exclusively also confirm that WWE has booked Brodus Clay and Ariane "Cameron" Andrew for the weekend, setting the stage for a potential reunion with current Smackdown star Naomi, who was paired with Andrew as the The Funkadactyls tag team while also linked with Clay during his time in WWE.

Clay has two developmental runs with WWE, with the second one leading to his main roster debut. He received a big push out in 2012 when he debuted as the Funkasaurus. He departed WWE in 2014, continuing to wrestle under the name Tyrus for Impact Wrestling and on the independent scene. He currently appears as a personality on FOX News' streaming FOX Nation platform. He's currently involved in a lawsuit against him and the Network for his alleged conduct towards former FOX personality Britt McHenry. He is slated to respond to that lawsuit on 3/9 after being granted an extension on responding.
Considering the serious legal issues Clay is currently dealing with, just another boneheaded decision that's going to cause them PR headaches afterwards. The other people WWE recently reached out to were JBL, Darren Young, Hornswoggle, and Santino Marella.

Sky Germany will no longer offer WWE pay-per-views as of April. They are now offering AEW events instead.

The official announcement from Sky (translated to English) reads:
Sky Germany and the WWE go their separate ways

Wrestling formats will no longer be available at Sky from April. The end of the collaboration is due to a WWE decision. Sky will now add another wrestling league to the program.

Sky Deutschland and the WWE wrestling series will no longer work together. The current contract expires at the end of March. Sky Deutschland stated that it had not continued the cooperation because the important pay-per-view events that would bring the great stories within the shows to the top and also to the end were no longer separately advertised for Germany - and could not be acquired at all. As a result, only the weekly shows “Raw” and “Smackdown” were available for the period from April onwards - in fan circles these two in particular have recently been criticized more and more because of falling quality.

Jeremy Lambert of Fightful reached out to WrestleCon about Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara being pulled from their scheduled appearances during WrestleMania 36 week/weekend. WrestleCon told Lambert that they were not contacted directly by All Elite Wrestling so they were not given a reason as to why Allin and Guevara were pulled. Both men are set to appear at The Great Philadelphia Comic Con on the same weekend as WrestleCon. It is also noted in the article that the contracts with Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho are with Barry Bloom Talent Agency and that goes over AEW and the same goes for Jon Moxley who is booked through PrimeTime Appearances.

David Benoit was the most recent guest on Vickie Guerrero’s podcast and David revealed that he reached out to Booker T about training with Booker in Houston by way of Reality Of Wrestling:

“I talked to Booker T last Friday. So he said he would give me a call but I’m still waiting so, we’ll see.”

Vickie Guerrero and David Benoit chatted about their experiences backstage in AEW. Vickie Guerrero has done commentary on AEW Dark and she told the story of how she reached out to WWE to line up talent interviews for her podcast but once they found out she was on AEW programming, the communication between the two sides stopped.

“I have the podcast now and I had asked to interview some superstars for my podcast and they found out I went to AEW and now they don’t even talk to me, and between me and you [David Benoit], let’s just put it that way — they didn’t call me for two years. I haven’t heard from them, so what did they expect me to do? Just to sit here and wait for them to call so I can do some work? I love wrestling, I love to work in the ring and if someone’s giving me an opportunity to go and show up and have some fun, then I should be able to because I’m not obligated to anybody. But you know, I saw that I pissed in their Cheerios and so be it."

While speaking on an international media call, Rhea Ripley told Digital Spy that she doesn’t mind if the NXT Women’s Championship is referred to as its original name or simply the “NXT Championship”. She thinks it was changed back to the NXT Women’s Title because of the backlash on social media.

All Elite Wrestling is launching their official podcast entitled “AEW Unrestricted” and the podcast is set to debut on February 20th. There is a one minute teaser up on Apple Podcasts and it’s also noted in the description that AEW referee Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone are hosting the podcast.

At 45 years old, Tito Ortiz may be looking to add WWE Superstar to his resume.

The former UFC champion is currently training at the WWE Performance Center, according to a report by Dave Meltzer on the February 15th episode of Wrestling Observer Radio ...

On Tuesday, WWE confirmed to ESPN that Ortiz had been training at the WWE Performance Center. Ortiz declined to comment, though sources told ESPN that he did well in his training.
Link: https://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41091567-4


TPWW Frontpage:

XFL Ratings Down for Week 2 Games (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/xfl-ratings-down-for-week-2-games/)
Impact Signs Chris Bey, AEW Had Expressed Interest (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/impact-signs-chris-bey-aew-had-expressed-interest/)

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Going against the Democratic presidential debate but no major sports competition, both AEW Dynamite and NXT were up in the ratings this week.

Dynamite averaged 893,000 viewers, up nine percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show averaged a 0.31 rating, which was up three percent from the prior week. Dynamite finished fifth in the cable TV ratings in that category.

NXT was up five percent, averaging 794,000 viewers. In the 18-49 demo, it averaged a 0.25 rating, up four percent from last week. NXT finished 16th in the cable rankings, one of their better finishes in that category.

Aside from when the show ran unopposed on Christmas night, it was the highest viewership total for NXT since December 18.

The demos were different than usual this week as the shows tied in people over 50, a category NXT usually wins out in. NXT had a slight win in people 18-34, with a 0.19 rating to Dynamite's 0.18.

AEW won big in males 18-49 with a 0.44 rating to NXT's 0.32. But with females in that age range, the shows both had a 0.18 rating.

The debate likely hurt NXT more than AEW, given that the debate did a monster rating in people over 50, the category NXT usually wins in.

On Wednesday's Wrestling Observer Radio (subscription needed), Dave Meltzer gave some updates on New Japan's UK plans and their effort to get a new U.S. TV deal.

London

He said they are planning to hold a big show in London, England, later this year on a similar scale to last year's Royal Quest event. Originally, the company was going to focus on shows solely in Japan and the U.S. for 2020, but have changed their plans. Meltzer speculated the show will again be at the Copper Box Arena.

U.S. TV Deal

Meltzer said the company is working on a U.S. TV deal, but would describe them as preliminary at best. AXS TV canceled their deal with New Japan a year early, leaving them without a U.S. TV outlet for the first time in five years. Meltzer said that New Japan chose not to sue AXS for breaking their contract while regional MMA group Legacy Fighting Alliance filed a lawsuit earlier this month.


Over the Top Wrestling in Ireland announced today that NXT star Tyler Bate has been pulled from their event due to injury:

Due to recent injury, Tyler Bate will no long appear at #DeadOn
This is unavoidable in wrestling, Apologies #OTT pic.twitter.com/MAUKsCgOHX
— OTT WRESTLING (@OTT_wrestling) February 20, 2020

There's been word making the rounds about Bate being injured over the last week or so, but there's no official confirmation on the nature of the injury or how it happened.

Steve Austin, responding to a fan on social media, noted his Straight Up Steve Austin USA Network series will be returning "soon."

For those who asked, yes, that was former ECW World Champion Raven sitting in the crowd during last night's Dynamite episode. He lives in Atlanta.

As noted last night, Austin Aries and DDP were backstage visiting.

According to Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net, Aries and Diamond Dallas Page were at AEW Dynamite trying to get AEW to buy into a stem cell treatment venture that they are part of.

Wrestlers have taken to stem cell treatment in past few years with Rey Mysterio, Brian Cage, John Morrison, Rob Van Dam, and more undergoing stem cell treatment to help prolong their careers and deal with past injuries. Aries has mentioned BioXcellerator stem cell therapy on his social media in the past.

Recently, Aries has been hanging out with Page and taken to DDP Yoga. Page has a DDP Yoga studio based in Georgia and is a regular at AEW events due to his relationship with Cody Rhodes.

The early word is that the AEW action figure line will be released this summer. Our good friends at www.RingsideCollectibles.com will be carrying them, obviously! AEW will have representation at the International Toy Fair this week promoting the line, which is being produced by Jazware's Wicked Cool Toys. WCT is headed by Jeremy Padawer, who was responsible for the WWE Jakks Classics Superstars line, so AEW couldn't ask for a better partner when it comes to creating and launching that toy line.

Soon-to-be two-time WWE Hall Of Famers Scott Hall and Kevin Nash joined Corey Graves on After The Bell. Hall and Nash were asked who would they pick to join them, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman and Hogan on stage for their induction into the WWE Hall Of Fame this year and here are their respective selections:

Scott Hall: “I guess, from a fan’s point of view, maybe they wouldn’t agree but from somebody who’s behind the curtain, I would think Eazy E. I would think Eric Bischoff because the whole thing was his idea, but I guess if you’re a viewing fan, you don’t see it that way. That’s the way I see it. I would have Bischoff up there with us.”

Kevin Nash: “I would have Kevin Sullivan. Yeah, because Sullivan was the guy that basically… though it was Eric’s idea, Sullivan was the one that made sure… there’s always been the equation that if you’re a heel, in order for you to be successful it’s like a hot air balloon and the more heat that you allow inside that balloon, the higher it goes and the more valuable that heel energy is, and Sullivan just really battled day in, day out to make sure that they didn’t take heat off us, and nobody got through the n.W.o. and Sullivan always books heat and he continued to book heat and his booking of that heat is what made the nWo.”

Kevin Nash stayed on the podcast for the remainder of the show and he and Corey Graves chatted about a variety of topics. Graves asked Nash what would’ve happened in his career had he stayed with WWF and didn’t go to WCW and Nash said he wouldn’t have dropped the world title to Bret Hart unless he was guaranteed a win over The Undertaker at WrestleMania.

“If I would’ve stayed, I wouldn’t have dropped the belt to Bret to give to Shawn unless I was guaranteed a win at Mania against Taker. I wouldn’t have done it. I would’ve had too many losses in a row. I would’ve needed a big win right there. So then there goes the streak. I’m just saying, butterfly effect. Mark wasn’t a mark. For me to do business, that could’ve been a possibility. I’m not saying it would’ve happened, I’m not saying if Vince would’ve booked it I would’ve went over but I definitely wouldn’t have coughed it up without something. I was leaving so I mean, it was just like, ‘Alright.’ It was a lot of things that could’ve changed.”


Jon Moxley stunned the wrestling world when he showed up at AEW Double or Nothing 2019, just weeks after his WWE contract had expired. Moxley appeared at the end of the pay-per-view, attacking Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega, standing tall on a poker chip prop to close the show.

Fans treated Moxley like a hero for his debut, but Moxley was worried he would be seen as Dean Ambrose to the audience.

"Double or Nothing was three weeks after my contract was going to be up. And it was in Vegas. Something about it being in Vegas made it a sign. I didn't even find that show, that show found me," Moxley said on AEW Unrestricted. "I was like, 'Alright, I guess we're doing this.' I didn't know if people would cheer, boo, or not make any noise at all. I feel like my reputation had been tarnished so bad that I had to start from scratch. Once you get popped in the ass with a syringe on TV....I remember one time standing in the ring in a bear suit and I can't explain to you why. I DDT'd The Miz and took off the bear hat. You get the Pavlovian response of 'yeah!' but I remember thinking, 'This is so stupid. This is not funny or entertaining.' I remember standing in the ring thinking, 'I've hit rock bottom. I'm just done. This sucks. What have I become in the bear suit?' I had many moments like that. I was scared fans outside of WWE, they want an alternative. I was scared that I was so synonymous with WWE crap that I'd walk out and they'd be like 'Oh God, the idiot from WWE. What are you gonna do, hit someone with a hot dog?' I was scared of that. I never explained my gratitude toward the people that were in the building that night for embracing and accepting me as myself and not putting any of WWE's crap onto me. Then it's off the to races. I thought it was going to be a long rehabilitation process, but it came back so quickly. Like I had been asleep for years and I woke up out of a nap. It was like a guy who was in jail. 'Oh, Jon is out of jail.' Cool. He's back."

Moxley went on to say that he believes the video where he re-introduced Jon Moxley by escaping the jail went a long way in helping tell the audience that he was entering a fresh start.


TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: WWE Backstage and Miz & Mrs. – Feb. 18-19, 2020 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/ratings-wwe-backstage-and-miz-mrs-feb-18-19-2020/)
The Bella Twins Announced for SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/the-bella-twins-announced-for-smackdown/)
Samoa Joe Injured Again During a Commercial Shoot (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/samoa-joe-injured-again-during-a-commercial-shoot/)
Updated AEW Revolution Card: Two Matches Made Official (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/updated-aew-revolution-card-two-matches-made-official/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

The Aries/DDP relationship is...interesting. They seem like very different sorts of people.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE produced one of the strongest in-ring shows in company history with the 2/14 NXT Takeover Portland show ...which drew 7,800 fans to the Moda Center in Portland, OR. Paul Levesque said the live gate was the largest for a pro wrestling event in the state of Oregon since 2008. It was October 5, 2008, to be specific, the No Mercy show at the Rose Garden in Portland which drew 9,527 fans for a show headlined by Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho in a ladder match.

Riddle came across as the show’s biggest star. He got the best reaction coming out. He survived an idea that was funny at first on television, but in typical WWE fashion, was shoved down your throat to where it no longer was, trying to get the crowd to chant “How much fish could Bobby Fish fry if Bobby Fish could fry fish.” The reaction to the title change, as figured, was also the biggest of the show.

The Riddle situation seems notable because unlike the other guy who gets over on charisma in NXT, Velveteen Dream, Riddle is tremendous in the ring. People like Gargano, Ciampa, Roderick Strong, Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly and others are great but are more likely than not to be ruined ont he main roster. Keith Lee, with his size and momentum also has a chance. But Riddle, even at 34, comes across as young, which can be a blessing and a curse. With a company lacking anyone who can really draw young viewers since John Cena left, Riddle makes sense, but at some point he won’t be able to play his current role ...

That said, the current view at the top on Riddle is that there are some who think he’s got magic and others who don’t see it, but the key in his situation is his “lack of understanding of politics” which translated would seem to be trying to do programs with Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar without going to them first. One person compared him with Randy Orton when he first became a big star, and they don’t want someone like that now for harmony’s sake, or other talent that would say things that would get talent upset, noting Dave Bautista making very strong negative remarks about Smackdown when he was on Raw, which led to a lot of negative feelings in the locker room. It should be noted the disconnect, since WWE’s social media has put up his comments and he also made them at the Las Vegas house show, so it appears somebody wants this turned into an angle and they are playing both sides.

Davey Boy Smith joins Jushin Liger and the Bella Twins as far as names not yet announced but confirmed for the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Class.

They will join Batista and the NWO (in this case being Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman) for the ceremony that takes place on 4/2 in Tampa ...

The Bella Twins are obvious as well. WWE rules seem to be one African-American and one woman every year. So that also means there should be more names coming up. The Bella Twins, given they were the stars of Total Divas, were far more influential than most of the women they’ve put in ...

It would look like Vader, who Mick Foley has been heavily pushing for, won’t be put in. Vader is a no-brainer, but it’s the audience of one. And most likely he’d go in some day, but Vader is also the example of a guy who flourished as a top guy everywhere in the world but WWF.

Brandon Thurston compiled ratings records for Wednesday night, based on how much different characters grew or lost ratings based on the usual rating for that position in the show.

The survey was dominated by women, particularly in NXT. There are different ways to look at ratings, including just the number of viewers watching on average, which benefits people in the first segment, or the gain or less during the segments, which often hurts people who are on later in the show.

The NXT women dominating is also partially because we have a limited number of weeks, as this survey was covering the 10/30 AEW show through 2/12, and the 11/6 NXT show through 2/12. During that period there was the women’s Battle Royal on NXT which was a big hit.

Based on these factors, the biggest draw as compared with what would be expected based on usual patterns was Bianca Belair, followed by The Inner Circle, Mia Yim, Rhea Ripley, MJF, Cody, Jungle Boy, Io Shirai, Matt Riddle and Dakota Kai.

Such a survey also seems to favor people who were in some big segments, but not in a ton of segments, because the big segments would affect their specific averages more. Of the names on the list, the only ones in more than 15 segments during that period were Cody and Riddle, while Chris Jericho was in more, but not the Inner Circle as a group.
Link: https://twitter.com/wrestlenomics/status/1230174426945261568

WWE performers are working less dates than ever before and it’s notable in the 2019 stats, where the Iron Man award for the year goes to Ricochet, who worked 159 matches, to 156 for Baron Corbin.

In years past, top stars would routinely top 200 matches and even in 2018, the top three were Finn Balor at 180 and Shinsuke Nakamura and Corbin at 175. It was also frequent that most of the people at the top in one year would have a major injury cutting down their dates the next year. Corbin and Seth Rollins were near the top the past two years, although Rollins did have a significant back injury in the early part of last year.

MOST MATCHES: 1. Ricochet 159; 2. Corbin 156; 3. Kingston 152; 4. Dawson 151; 5. Wilder and Rollins 149

MOST WINS: 1. Kingston 123; 2. Rollins 115; 3. Ricochet 112; 4. Bayley 110; 5. Strowman 105.

MOST LOSSES: 1. Corbin 122; 2 Cesaro 110; 3. Dawson 96; 4. Flair 95; 5. Wilder 94

With 19.7 million people watching the Democratic debate, it figured to hurt the 2/19 wrestling shows. But AEW had promoted a “destination” show for 2/19 in Atlanta with a loaded lineup paced by Cody vs. Wardlow in a cage, while NXT was coming off its Takeover show.

Both shows were likely hurt significantly by the debate, as if you take the debate out of the picture, AEW was No. 3 in 18-49 (No.5 including news shows), trailing only Real Housewives of New Jersey. NXT, usually ranked in the high 20s or low30s, was only beaten in 18-49 by nine non-news shows, so a No. 10 ranking (No. 16 including news shows) isn’t a level they haven’t approached since competition began.

AEW did 893,000 viewers and a 0.31 in 18-49, up 9.3 percent in total viewers and 3.3 percent in 18-49. NXT did 794,000 viewers and 0.25 in 18-49, up 4.9 percent in viewers and 4.2 percent in 18-49 ...

There were some interesting demo notes, as NXT won with both teenagers and even 18-34, demos they almost never win with. However, AEW tied NXT in over 50, a demo they have never tied them in previously.

The key difference is NXT drew far more women than usual, and hurt AEW with that audience. Without quarters it’s hard to pinpoint a reason, but NXT’s draws would be the Takeover follow-up and the promotion on the show was all about Velveteen Dream vs. Roderick Strong, an angle that was going to resonate more with women than men.

AEW won by 26.6 percent in male teens, but NXT won by 133 percent, well over doubling AEW, with teenage girls.

In 18-49, AEW won by 37.6 percent in males while the two sides were identical with women 18-49, with NXT having the edge in 18-34 women and AEW having the edge in 35-49 women.

Smackdown on 2/14 did a 1.53 rating and 2,464,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) and an 0.7 in the 18-49 demo.

The show was down 2.5 percent in ratings, 2.9 percent in viewers and 12.5 percent in 18-49 ...

Last year during the same week, FOX averaged 4,446,000 viewers but only an 0.8 in 18-49, so it was down 45 percent in viewers but only 13 percent in 18-49.

It appears based on the top ten markets that the key ratings driver was the Hulk Hogan/Bray Wyatt confrontation and the main event.

At the [AAA] 2/13 show in Tlalnepantla, there was another tribute to La Parka, where his son, who currently wrestled as Karis La Momia Jr., officially announced that he would soon be wrestling as La Parka Jr. This has been known since his death but I think it’s the first time it was said in front of fans

New Japan has opened up talks to get back on U.S. television

It’s also now planned for a major U.K. show held at the Copper Box Arena in London at some point this year. Originally the idea was to use 2020 to focus on the U.S. and no shows were scheduled for either Australia or the U.K. They would be working in conjunction with RevPro on the show. The idea of a Will Ospreay IWGP title challenge would make sense

AEW put tickets on sale for the 5/23 show in Las Vegas, as well as TV tapings on 4/15 in Boston and 4/22 in Philadelphia, on 2/14. These are all key shows since Las Vegas is a PPV show. Also, all three cities sold out instantly the first time AEW ran them. Las Vegas didn’t sell out first day but aside from eight sections at the top, many of which had a ton of tickets left, the rest was gone. It looked like 8,000 to 9,000 tickets were gone. Boston did a little over 3,300 tickets Philadelphia had only part of the building put on sale and there were plenty still available. Both are well below what a WWE TV shot would do in those markets while Las Vegas was well ahead of what WWE just did in their last time in the market which was the second FOX show. AEW also announced Dynamite on 5/27 would also be from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. That’s kind of risky running the same building four days later. Even taping Sunday or Monday (since it’s a holiday weekend) would be one thing because you could use that to convince people to come from out-of-town to see two shows, but four days later it’ll be tough and Las Vegas has rarely been a good wrestling market when it came to locals.

Jeff Cobb was offered a deal this past week. Tony Khan had never met him until this week. Cody had been trying to get him since the start of the year. Cobb had only agreed to a few dates. They protected him rather than just beat him clean (the cradle off superplex finish) which one would have thought would happen given Jon Moxley was in the PPV main event. They offered him a deal where he could still work New Japan and that’s where talks left

There will be a one-hour special on TNT on 2/26 after Dynamite as a PPV countdown show. For whatever reason, aside from a very quick mention in the middle of a hot match on TV, this hasn’t been promoted at all

Regarding this week’s TV, Tony Khan wrote the Battle Royal along with input from The Young Bucks, BJ Whitmer and QT Marshall. Khan wrote it with Marshall and Whitmer as the assistants and the Bucks ran the point position on it and they explained it to the other 18 guys in detail and we’re told nobody missed a planned spot. Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko laid out the post-match of Jericho-Moxley. It was Khan’s decision to turn the lights out before Darby Allin came out. Kenny Omega was in charge of both the Kris Statlander match and his own tag match while Cody was in charge of his match

Expect the announcement of a Japan performance center in the next few months, maybe around summer time if everything goes as expected. They already reached out to Sen. Hiroshi Hase and Antonio Inoki about the political situation. The original thought was working with Pro Wrestling NOAH, but NOAH was sold to Cyberagent

[Mr. Nerfect]

What good is a contract that lets you work New Japan if New Japan isn't using the guys with that clause in their contract (other than Jericho and Moxley)?

[slik]

Major WM news being reported by both John Pollock of POST wrestling and Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer


The SD card has been completely tossed out. Vince changed his mind and all the rumored WM matches on the SD side are being changed.

[GD]

That doesn't sound very good.

[slik]

For whatever it is worth Meltzer also noted any quarter hour segment with Goldberg surges in the ratings (same for Mandy and Otis).