Wrestling News & Rumors

[slik]

Probably time to start a new thread, RIP Smeat's classic Dirty Sheetz thread

And on that note...




AJ Styles Negotiating With WWE, Looking For Reduced Schedule

Fightful.com was informed by two sources that former WWE Champion AJ Styles is currently negotiating a new contract with WWE after nearly three years with the company. We've been told that he wants a reduced schedule that resembles that of Randy Orton's where he'd work television and limited live event dates.


We were only able to get one of the sources to confirm that Styles and WWE were discussing a new three-year deal, and that Styles had advocated dropping the WWE Title recently because of the time he spent away from his family over the past year. Needless to say, Styles knows he has plenty of options outside of WWE if he opts to go that route.

https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/exclusives/exclusive-aj-styles-still-negotiating-wwe-looking-reduced-schedule






Chicago to host Survivor Series 2019

WWE announced via the Chicago Tribune that next year's Survivor Series PPV will take place at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on November 24.


With SmackDown moving to Fox, there will be a change to how WWE structures its "Big Four" weekends starting with Survivor Series 2019. The Allstate Arena will host four straight nights of shows, but they will begin with the go-home episode of SmackDown on Friday, November 22. NXT TakeOver will take place at the venue on November 23 and Monday Night Raw will be held on November 25.


All of WWE's "Big Four" events for 2019 have now been announced. Royal Rumble weekend is set for Phoenix, Arizona in January, WrestleMania 35 weekend will be in the New York/New Jersey area in April, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada hosts SummerSlam weekend in August.

https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/chicago-area-host-wwe-survivor-series-2019-270521

[slik]

Smackdown wasn't supposed to win the kick-off match

“So here’s the deal, okay? The storyline was supposed to be a clean-sweep for Raw and somewhere in the communications process, don’t as me why, SmackDown won that tag match so they had to tell everyone that it didn’t count.”


“That was the reason. One hand forgot what the other was doing. Vince wanted a clean-sweep and I don’t know how this happens, so yeah, it didn’t count.”

http://www.bodyslam.net/2018/11/19/wwe-botches-who-was-supposed-to-win-survivor-series-kickoff-show-match/





Kalisto injured during Survivor Series kick-off match

On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talks about the incident and he reports that Kalisto was indeed injured and that he took himself out of the match. Gran Metalik quickly jumped in and took over for Kalisto and the match continued.


Regarding the spot where Kalisto exited the match and Gran Metalik took over, Metlzer said, “So Kalisto suffered a knee injury in the match and he just kind of got off the apron and then Gran Metalik got on the apron.”

http://www.bodyslam.net/2018/11/19/wwe-superstar-reportedly-suffers-injury-during-match-at-survivor-series/





Survivor Series was the first big 4 PPV without Cena or Reigns since Survivor Series 2007, per Reddit.

[xrodmuc316]

I don't understand the purpose of love events anymore, certainly not at the number they run.

Yeah, they are good to help guys get better, more reos, get used to working with somebody, ect.

WWE doesn't make much from live events, they shouldn't be wearing down guys like AJ who does not need to learn his craft.

[Bad News Gertner]

It serves a purpose of a lot of reasons. Most of the towns they run have arenas too small for a Raw/Smackdown/PPV. Plus it keeps their name around. The Indies all started because the WWE stopped running B and C shows in those towns. I love going to House Shows, even though I don't watch anymore. They are usually cheap, and you get to see the wrestlers work a different style than they do on t.v.

[Fignuts]

What is this news sponsored by? I don't believe anything without a sponsor.

[slik]

Sponsored by ur nuts

And Twizzlers

[slik]

Potential RAW Spoiler - 11.19.18

EC3, Lars, and Bray Wyatt are backstage at RAW currently.
Whether they are used or not or there for meetings, can't say, but they are there.

credit - intern @ wwe

[Mr. Nerfect]

Man, you know what would be weird? Is if Vince McMahon feels like AJ Styles only being with them for three years doesn't qualify him for a part-time schedule, so he actually leaves the company and goes back to New Japan? AJ is the one guy I thought they wouldn't lose, but how surreal would that be?

[ClockShot]

Styles got a lot of leverage in contract negotiations right now if you ask me.

One of the main anchors on Smackdown right now and it's gonna be huge next year.

Then again, he can always go back to New Japan and pick up where he left off without any trouble, I bet.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I have no doubt Vince will give him what he needs. There's no way he's having Styles go back to New Japan in the wake of an MSG show and put over the main New Japan guys. He's also way too tied up in marketing (on the cover of the latest video game which is going to be in stores way past when this contract expires). AJ's age, the significance of the work he's put in, and his respect in the locker-room means that Vince won't be a stubborn prick about it. He might not care about AJ's body of work outside WWE, but he's not going to run him into the ground like he might some other talent that have only been there for three years.

The big concern about giving him a part-time contract is that it blows up his system if he gives a talent what they want, all the others are going to want it. But AJ is north of 40 and started last century. I think he's a different case, and I don't think you'd see a revolt in the locker-room because of it. But the next cycle for guys like Dolph Ziggler, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura and the like would then be interesting. But none of those three have been WWE Champion for north of a year and is depended on to carry shows and keep fans in with promise of a dark match.

But Vince can get all sorts of crazy shit in his mind, lol. If he decides "god damn it, pal" and won't come to the table, weird stuff could happen. I don't think it will, but it could.

[xrodmuc316]

It serves a purpose of a lot of reasons. Most of the towns they run have arenas too small for a Raw/Smackdown/PPV. Plus it keeps their name around. The Indies all started because the WWE stopped running B and C shows in those towns. I love going to House Shows, even though I don't watch anymore. They are usually cheap, and you get to see the wrestlers work a different style than they do on t.v.

Sure, but guys like AJ Styles shouldn't be running that many dates. Leave that to the younger guys.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, but that wasn't Gerty's point. It was why they run shows in the first place.

[slik]

Braun Strowman to have elbow surgery

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the nature of Braun’s injury.


“Well, I guess the biggest news is that Braun Strowman is going to have elbow surgery so the deal tonight was a cover for that. He has bone spurs in the elbow. It’s touch and go whether he’ll be in San Jose for the match with Baron Corbin, the TLC match they announced. I guess it depends on the seriousness of the surgery. The belief is he’s fine for the Royal Rumble with Brock Lesnar. So that is the plan."


http://www.bodyslam.net/2018/11/20/report-braun-strowman-will-need-to-have-surgery-after-brutal-attack-on-raw/

[Simple Fan]

Styles got a lot of leverage in contract negotiations right now if you ask me.

One of the main anchors on Smackdown right now and it's gonna be huge next year.

Then again, he can always go back to New Japan and pick up where he left off without any trouble, I bet.

If he's wanting a lighter schedule I doubt NJPW would be his first choice but he could probably get a deal like Jericho. Doubt he leaves WWE though but it'd be crazy if he joined up with the Elite for what ever they're going to do in 2019. Also think he'd give Impact a listen if they came anywhere close on the money.

[xrodmuc316]

I have no doubt Vince will give him what he needs. There's no way he's having Styles go back to New Japan in the wake of an MSG show and put over the main New Japan guys. He's also way too tied up in marketing (on the cover of the latest video game which is going to be in stores way past when this contract expires). AJ's age, the significance of the work he's put in, and his respect in the locker-room means that Vince won't be a stubborn prick about it. He might not care about AJ's body of work outside WWE, but he's not going to run him into the ground like he might some other talent that have only been there for three years.

The big concern about giving him a part-time contract is that it blows up his system if he gives a talent what they want, all the others are going to want it. But AJ is north of 40 and started last century. I think he's a different case, and I don't think you'd see a revolt in the locker-room because of it. But the next cycle for guys like Dolph Ziggler, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura and the like would then be interesting. But none of those three have been WWE Champion for north of a year and is depended on to carry shows and keep fans in with promise of a dark match.

But Vince can get all sorts of crazy shit in his mind, lol. If he decides "god damn it, pal" and won't come to the table, weird stuff could happen. I don't think it will, but it could.

The real difference with AJ over Finn, Dolph, Shin, ect is that none of them are "Vince's Guy". I know that is an unexpected thing, but for whatever reason Vince decided AJ is one of his top guys, something he has thought about very few people over the years.

AJ will get whatever deal he wants like Cena, Orton, Taker, or HBK.

Leaner gets it because he went and did good in UFC, not because he was Vinces guy. It's why Lesnar left the first time, and why WWE tried to use him for it.

Aside from the above 4 I mentioned, I think the only other ones who have that kind of pull to carve their own deal besides AJ would be Daniel Bryan and Jeff Hardy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The real difference with AJ over Finn, Dolph, Shin, ect is that none of them are "Vince's Guy". I know that is an unexpected thing, but for whatever reason Vince decided AJ is one of his top guys, something he has thought about very few people over the years.

AJ will get whatever deal he wants like Cena, Orton, Taker, or HBK.

Leaner gets it because he went and did good in UFC, not because he was Vinces guy. It's why Lesnar left the first time, and why WWE tried to use him for it.

Aside from the above 4 I mentioned, I think the only other ones who have that kind of pull to carve their own deal besides AJ would be Daniel Bryan and Jeff Hardy.

You're right. I don't think the AJ thing is a mystery though. The dude is so fucking talented and knocked everything they gave him out of the park.

[xrodmuc316]

You're right. I don't think the AJ thing is a mystery though. The dude is so fucking talented and knocked everything they gave him out of the park.

Right, not at all surprising from AJs talent point of view, it's just strange that for a long time Vince refused to even sign people from Impact to THE guy from their being one of Vinces guys.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Right, not at all surprising from AJs talent point of view, it's just strange that for a long time Vince refused to even sign people from Impact to THE guy from their being one of Vinces guys.

Vince probably never saw him. And if he did, he probably thought he wasn't the right fit for WWE. When he came in to WWE, it really felt like they were just going to use him as a new toy. Almost to gloat that they can get anyone they want. But he got that reaction in the 2016 Rumble and got to work with Jericho, he played ball and didn't whinge when he was asked to lie down, and then had a phenomenal match with Roman Reigns and energized everyone when he went against Cena. They didn't let him talk at first, but then he cut some fine promos and I can just envision him winning Vince over.

It's more to do with AJ being really good once he got there than anything AJ did prior that has gotten Vince to enjoy him, I think.

[Big Vic]

AJ probably moves merch.

[slik]

Alexa Bliss to be named new RAW GM?

On the latest audio update of PW Insider Elite, Mike Johnson noted how he had heard Alexa would become the RAW General Manager after TLC.


“The impression that I have is that she went through some medical testing while she was in Los Angeles and that there was no clearcut indication that she was returning to the ring anytime soon. It doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen. That’s to the best of my knowledge it’s not a Paige situation where she’s been permanently sat out, but it did seem like, ‘Ok in two weeks you’re going to be good to go, or in three weeks you’re going to be good to go.”


“It’s still very much up in the air. They’ll probably still keep testing her. There was some expectation backstage at Raw that when they come out of TLC Alexa Bliss will probably end up the General Manager of Raw which makes sense when you think about it but given how they change ideas so quickly I don’t know that definitely 100% the plan.”

http://www.bodyslam.net/2018/11/21/report-wwe-might-make-alexa-bliss-raw-general-manager/

[Big Vic]

Did Nia injure her too or someone else did?

[slik]

Notes from Brad Shepard podcast 11.21.18

* Axxess will be held in Brooklyn this year. Not at Barclays Center obviously, but one of the convention centers in Brooklyn.


* AJ has been working a little hurt. Nothing major, just a little hurt.


* HBK will definitely wrestle again, likely at WM35.


* Expect more part-timers to return for limited schedules and/or work tag matches in the future.


* Despite Vince McMahon saying XFL would be entirely separate from WWE there is XFL stuff all over WWE HQ in every department. The WWE staff are basically doubling as XFL staff in numerous areas, despite already having a full plate handling current WWE needs. This will likely continue and isn't something many are pleased about in Stamford.


* A lot of people in Corporate WWE are not fans of HHH. They think he's great at handling creative/booking and inspiring talent, and obviously knows the wrestling aspect extremely well, but he is often the subject of eye-rolling and fist palms on anything related to the business side of WWE. He is described as very much "in over his head" and "clueless" and many hope he doesn't gain further power in WWE on the executive level.

credit - Oh You Didn't Know podcast on SoundCloud

[slik]

Did Nia injure her too or someone else did?

I actually don't remember how Bliss got concussed...I think Ronda maybe?

[Mr. Nerfect]

The Triple H thing is interesting, because I was talking to someone that was claiming to know someone on the inside, and they heard the same thing. They often have to send Barrios to clean up his messes.

I doubt Triple H will actually run the business side of things. That will be Stephanie. Triple H will just be creative/talent relations, etc.

It's a shame about Bliss. I'm not a big fan (obviously), but it sucks when someone is out. She is better as a character than as a wrestler though, so this might be good for her. She can focus on doing one thing at one time.

[slik]

From this week's edition of The Wrestling Observer/ WO Radio




Seth vs Brock scheduled for WrestleMania 35

Vince McMahon has been in a shaking up plans mood, Lesnar is right now scheduled to face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35. I haven’t been directly told Lesnar is beating Strowman again, as that would make his third singles PPV win over Strowman. However, Lesnar vs. Rollins is scheduled to play off Roman Reigns leukemia in some fashion, so Reigns’ name and illness are scheduled to be used in storylines going forward.



Ronda Rousey heading into WrestleMania 35

Rousey, Flair and David Finlay trained extensively in Southern California from 11/14 to 11/17 for the Survivor Series bout. People in WWE, as well as Rousey, are pulling for her feud with Nia Jax to be a short program. This is being meant as a temporary thing for Rousey as she wants her focus to be on Charlotte Flair next before moving back to Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35.



All Elite Wrestling

The revelation of certain trademarks that have been filed looks to answer questions about the probable destination of The Young Bucks, Cody, Brandi Rhodes and Hangman Page.


A group using the address of the Jacksonville Jaguars football team filed for several trademarks on 11/5, the key being All Elite Wrestling, the name of the promotion, along with AEW, All Out, Double or Nothing, AEW Double or Nothing and Tuesday Night Dynamite. Normally trademark filings would hardly be a big deal. But the key is All Elite Wrestling is the name of the group, and The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega own the Elite name for marketing purposes.In addition, Double or Nothing was known to be the name of the second All In show, an idea for a show on a holiday weekend in the second quarter of 2019 in Las Vegas. This show is not confirmed by any means, but it was an idea and that was the name of it.


The Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as Fulham FC of the English Premier League, are owned by Shahid Khan, 68, who Forbes Magazine once called the face of the American Dream, and as the 70th richest man in the U.S. and 221st richest man in the world with a net worth of $7 billion. He recently attempted, although the bid fell through, to purchase Wembley Stadium. His son, Tony Khan, 36, is a huge wrestling fan and is the person behind AEW. Khan is a well-known pro wrestling fan. He has been an Observer subscriber since he was a teenager and even sent in live event reports. He was part of some Internet wrestling groups. He knows many of the biggest names in wrestling and was considered one of the best friends of The Young Bucks.



NJPW's Tokyo Dome show to air on US Cable Station AXS

New Japan and AXS TV have announced same-day coverage for Wrestle Kingdom 13, but in limited form. The top two hours of the show will air on an approximately 14-hour tape delay on AXS TV after airing live on New Japan World, from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern time. AXS is scheduling five hours for Tokyo Dome matches, with another two hours from 8-10 p.m. on 1/11 and one hour on 1/18.


“Same-day coverage of NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 13 ushers in a new era of NJPW on AXS TV,” said AXS TV Fights CEO Andrew Simon. “Based on the tremendous growth of NJPW on AXS TV, we are making major changes to reward wrestling fans by delivering NJPW in prime time on Friday nights as close to when it takes place as possible.” New Japan has been a success to a degree on AXS TV. As of press time, their TV numbers have been up 18 percent from 2017 (they were slightly over 200,000 in 2017). NJPW is currently drawing higher ratings than IMPACT.


AXS also announced that New Year’s Dash, which takes place on 1/5 at Korakuen Hall, which is basically New Japan’s version of the Raw after WrestleMania, which sets up the angles for the next several months, will air in one hour form on 2/1.



NXT Takeover

Shawn Michaels was the agent who put together the War Games match at NXT Takeover.



Owen Hart

A documentary is being done on the life of Owen Hart by Curate Films of the U.K. Keaton Stone is doing the project and he’s going to Japan to interview people there who knew him. Martha Hart is cooperating with the documentary and both Bret Hart and Natalya have been interviewed



IMPACT looking for a new cable home

IMPACT has had talks with WGN America, Tru TV and Syfy to host the series when the deal with POP TV ends in early 2019.



NXT As A Global Brand


Some more regarding the expansion of NXT territories. They are actually working very hard right now to get things going and there is likely to be an announcement within the next few weeks regarding a second Performance Center, likely the U.K. Plans are on for WWE within a few years to be in every major wrestling geographical area in the world, as well as Saudi Arabia with the long-term goal of running a regular regional promotion in that area. This does include Japan, as well as Germany, South America and Australia.



NXT Takeover: UK

There are plans right now for U.K. Takeover specials in 2019, not every few months although obviously everything depends on how well they are received.


Two PPVS between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 35

WWE is doing something different this year with two PPVs in between Rumble and WrestleMania instead of one. For the first time in many years, they are doing a non-Mania March show, and only doing four weeks of direct Mania build instead of the usual seven or so. The Elimination Chamber PPV will be 2/17 in Houston. They are also doing a Fast Lane PPV on 3/10 in Cleveland.



SmackDown LIVE on FOX

Here are a few more notes regarding tentative plans for October. There was speculation going around that with the move to FOX that they would go to one brand because they would need all the top stars on FOX because of how important network prime time numbers are. That was denied to us and said that FOX doesn’t really want to cross-promote the same talent as NBC Universal and the expectation is split crews would remain. We are still more than ten months away from launch and anything could end up happening.



Shane McMahon

The storylines to follow-up Shane winning the World Cup are still scheduled but now for the first quarter of the year to presumable set up Shane's WrestleMania program.



The time Kofi Kingston challenged Vince McMahon to a drunken fight

Jericho told a story on a recent podcast about Vince McMahon and Kingston from 2010. Jericho, Vince, Cena, Kingston and John Laurinaitis were flying from Nashville to Phoenix for a press conference for that year’s WrestleMania. They were all drinking and by the time the four-hour flight landed they were all drunk. Kingston got up to leave and Vince said, “Maybe you’ll get over one of these days.” Kingston ignored it. Jericho then went to Kingston and told him to go back on the plane and challenge Vince to a fight right there. “If you don’t, he’ll know he can walk all over you whenever he wants. If you challenge him, he’ll love it and respect you for it.” Jericho noted he wasn’t ribbing at all.


Kingston thought about it for a few seconds and went back. Kingston went to Vince and said, “Vince, do you have a problem with me?” Vince looked surprised and said, “Maybe I do. Do you want to do something about it?” Vince again looked at him and said, “Do you want to do something about it?” Kingston said, “Do you want me to do something about it?” In the middle of the sentence, Vince went for a double leg. “They both went down and rolled around and Vince started laughing and said, “That’s the way to do it” and he got off the plane.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hacksaw Jim Duggan has been hospitalized. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a></p>&mdash; WWE Talking Points (@WWETalkingPoint) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWETalkingPoint/status/1065829427530088450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dolph Ziggler is dealing with a foot injury. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a></p>&mdash; WWE Talking Points (@WWETalkingPoint) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWETalkingPoint/status/1065454635077505024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[mike adamle]

I'd be cool with Lesnar-Rollins but I really want a Lesnar-Bryan rematch at Mania

[Mr. Nerfect]

That Vince/Kofi story is amazing.

I always assumed it would be Lesnar vs. Rollins at Mania, probably with Roman coming out to hug Seth afterwards. Truth be told, I've always expected that to be the main event-main event, despite all this talk about the women getting it.

Seth is also my pick to win the Royal Rumble at this point, as that sets up the story the best, since there's no real "heat" reason for Brock and Seth to get into it. On the SmackDown side, I'd like to see Bryan vs. Cena, in truth. There's enough behind that match to make it feel special, and I can see them actually getting Cena to do something important with Triple H out and all that. Bryan vs. Michaels would be cool, but I just don't see them going that route. I've got this bad feeling it's going to be Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt though. I don't know why, I can just see Bray coming back to feud with him given all their "history."

[Evil Vito]

Lars Sullivan might be the latest example of you need to be careful what you write on social media because you never know when it could come back to haunt you. We previously reported how Sullivan under the username “Disenfranchised” made a pretty racist joke on a bodybuilding message board followed by a homophobic comment about NFL quarter Philip Rivers. He also called out KFC for being “lower class food.”

But apparently, he also made some comments WWE’s Chief Brand Ambassador Stephanie McMahon who also happens to be the wife of Sullivan’s NXT boss, Triple H. This doesn’t help that Steph is also the daughter of Sullivan’s overall boss Vince McMahon.

Under the Disenfranchised name, Sullivan commented on a video of Stephanie McMahon saying, “Very sexy, Thanks for the fap vid.” But then his account was soon banned for a plethora of apparent reasons probably due to his abusive language.

When asked to clarify what McMahon said in an old K-Rock interview with Howard Stern, apparently Sullivan remembered what she had to say when he replied: “She was a good sport and went along with the sexual answers Howard threw at her. It’s been several years since it aired but I remember her talking about getting it ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ from HHH. No anal ‘yet.’ And she’s completely shaven.” Those are some very personal things to know about your bosses’ wife and daughter, especially if you’re going to talk openly about it.

http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/11/22/lars-sullivan-caught-using-racist-joke-message-board-battle/
http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/11/22/lars-sullivan-message-board-exchange-included-homophobic-rant-nfl-quarterback/
http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/11/22/lars-sullivan-said-that-kfc-is-for-lower-class-people/

[Evil Vito]

Would be pretty fucked if he lost his push or his job over dumb stuff he said as a teenager.

I would, however, like to know what Stephanie vid he knocked one off to. Just for research purposes.

[Mr. Nerfect]

*exhales with emphasis*

[Mr. Nerfect]

All you can do is wear it, apologize to parties it directly affects and demonstrate that you've grown.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

No no no. The correct response is to fire him immediately. Get with the times, Noid.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hey, that's the company's prerogative. All he can do is grit his teeth and do his best.

[Evil Vito]

Ok, so apparently some of his racist and homophobic posts were traced back to 2013 when he was 25 years old. Okay, that’s pretty bad.

[Evil Vito]

http://content.invisioncic.com/r229509/monthly_2018_11/A8BB01EC-3873-4208-9719-D62B10886FA0.jpeg.142f42ee6d9538b7c274a2b9e0007c82.jpeg

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, that doesn't bode well from a PR perspective. That's way too recent and way too old to be clueless.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Good news is that fans can ask what is Kevin Von Trier doing in the Impact Zone?!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Apparently things are still up in the air about whether or not Hiromu Takahashi will be able to return to wrestling at all. Do you think there is a lesson in this? We've seen a lot more careers ending prematurely than I can ever really remember due to injury. Or am I just being pedantic?

[Black Widow]

http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/11/22/lars-sullivan-caught-using-racist-joke-message-board-battle/
http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/11/22/lars-sullivan-message-board-exchange-included-homophobic-rant-nfl-quarterback/
http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/11/22/lars-sullivan-said-that-kfc-is-for-lower-class-people/I'm gonna buy one of his shirts.

[RP]

I'm gonna buy one of his shirts.

Why? Did he say he hated black people?

[Black Widow]

Why? Did he say he hated black people?
What it seemed like to me.

[Evil Vito]

Black Widow flicks her clit to racism

[slik]

From this week's Observer:


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




NJPW/Japan notes from Meltzer


* The company has a long-term vision for Europe as part of its world expansion, but right now the goal is to get television in as many markets in Europe as possible before doing anything else.


* On Twitter, somebody unearthed perhaps the most unique wrestling product endorsement of all-time, from the 50's in Japan where they had newspaper and magazine ads for Rikidozan vibrators. In the 00s, during the Bob Sapp phenomenon, they had Bob Sapp dildos.





ROH/ALL IN

* Silas Young was offered a new three-year deal that right now he’s expected to accept. There were rumors of him leaving because he was at the 11/26 Raw show, but he was there because his son, a big WWE fan, wanted to attend.


* Stephen Amell revealed that he suffered a fractured left hip doing the ALL IN match with Daniels. This came during the middle of filming the “Arrow” series. He noted that the episode that aired on 11/26 was the one right after suffering the injury.






WWE

* With Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day coming on Mondays and Tuesdays this year, they are taping television ahead of time both days. Given the holidays and the overall declining trend of the ratings, these shows are likely to do the lowest ratings in the history of Raw and the lowest ratings for Smackdown since it’s move to Tuesdays.


* One wrestler with experience working with tables, ladders and chairs noted to us that putting Strowman in a TLC match coming back from elbow surgery, if he indeed does do the show, is the worst thing possible. It was noted that the worst thing about working with tables, ladders and chairs is the damage it does to your elbows. Unless you want to get your face and head destroyed, you have to get your arms/hands up for all the chair and ladder shots and they almost smash the hell out of your elbows.


* Big Show, who talked of retirement previously, has signed a new multi-year deal that will keep him wrestling in WWE for the foreseeable future.


* Big Show is taking time off due to being immobile because of injuries, which is why he turned face on SMACKDOWN LIVE as a way of writing him off television.


* Shane Helms is coming into Orlando this week as he is next to coach at the PC. Helms will also be working as an agent at NXT house shows. If this goes well it's expected he might be offered a job full-time in either position.


* Meltzer on this week's RAW - This show was pretty bad. Boring, almost nothing good past the last few minutes of a Rollins vs. Ziggler match and some of the worst overacting by Roode in a segment where Maverick pissed on his robe. The Ambrose segments in the doctor’s office and the Maverick pissing on Roode’s robe were outdated comedy and didn’t work. Yes, Vince McMahon wrote much of the show himself this week. Raw really feels like it’s missing star power. The stuff with Ambrose comes across like a desperate idea to get him booed. The heel turn just isn't working very well so far.


* RAW had 7,500 fans in attendance this week. SMACKDOWN LIVE had 8,000 fans in attendance this week.


* Meltzer on Rusev - Rusev is less over without Aiden English and English has been written off of television and is being used instead as the Curt Hawkins of the house show tours. Change for the sake of change that results in everyone being less over is not creativity, it’s stupidity.

[Evil Vito]

lol signing Big Show to a multi-year deal only for him to go back offscreen again. Excellent con job for him.

[Big Vic]

He also called out KFC for being “lower class food.”Oh no fire him.


* Meltzer on Rusev - Rusev is less over without Aiden English and English has been written off of television and is being used instead as the Curt Hawkins of the house show tours. Change for the sake of change that results in everyone being less over is not creativity, it’s stupidity.Knew that would happen.

[slik]

One more thing I missed from today's Observer



All Elite Wrestling

* At a meet and greet in Melbourne, Australia, Cody was asked about a new promotion and said to wait for January as an announcement will be made, and said the announcement would be bigger than anyone expects.

[slik]

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

[ClockShot]

Yeah, who'd wanna buy an XFL team? :roll:

[Franco Vazquez]

Cody and Elite should be going to WWE rather than being ambitious to start their own promotion.

[slik]

Oh You Didn't Know Podcast w/ Brad Shepard



* Vince's opinion of ALL ELITE WRESTLING - “So I talked to some sources in the company about this and it was pretty clear that hardly anybody cared about All Elite Wrestling. In fact, they went on to question the credibility of Dave’s source and elaborated that the very idea that WWE would give Cody’s potential company that much credit to the level where they try to lock their talent up is nuts.”



* Florida is likely to land WrestleMania 36. Minnesota isn't really being talked about at all by anyone in WWE. No specific city yet but it seems to be between Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville. Reiterates Vince loves Florida and New Orleans for WrestleManias more than anywhere else.




Seattle & St. Louis two of the cities getting XFL Teams.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">According to a source in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a>, the city of Seattle will be home to one of 8 XFL teams, to be announced by the <a href="https://twitter.com/xfl2020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@xfl2020</a> on December 5th, 2018. <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FOXSports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YahooSports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FanSided?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FanSided</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/barstoolsports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@barstoolsports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSSports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBCSports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BleacherReport</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PTI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PTI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/alphaentllc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alphaentllc</a></p>&mdash; Brad Shepard (@TheBradShepard) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBradShepard/status/1068307097023119360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Splaya]

Please give Detroit a team. It would be so much better than the shitty Lions

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kind of got a feeling that All Elite is either going to be on TNT or Netflix.

[Splaya]

Lol there is no medium there noid

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, they are different delivery mechanisms of televised content.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Would you trademark the name for a show and tease all these announcements re: your promotion that everyone assumes will be getting a show, if you didn't have a deal locked? I criticized Cody for the "Field of Dreams" approach to promoting All In, but it seems even more cart-before-the-horsey to promote something "big" re: these trademarks if you don't have anything big. Surely they've learnt from TNA?

That's why my feeling is TNT. It's got a larger penetration than USA and has had wrestling in the past. The name "Dynamite" suits the station too. But that could be an innocuous coincidence. I don't think a deal with WGN America has that big a pop to it, and I don't think that's "bigger than expected."

But with TV being archaic, you have to think that streaming is the future. But there are all these separate networks. Disney has one coming out. It's all a bit much. Piggy-backing off an existing one makes the most sense. Content is what keeps these things chugging along, and having weekly wrestling content (or even monthly) is something that hasn't really been trialed by an OTT service.

Netflix has GLOW. They've done some crossover work with WWE, but maybe they are looking for actual wrestling content for their service now? Netflix does differ between countries, but it potentially allows All Elite to have an instant global audience.

If I were them, I'd probably try and get a limited run series on Netflix or Disney -- maybe that is the "All Out" trademark -- and use that as an advertisement for my cable television program, and try to use that to segue international television deals to ride that last wave of TV momentum as it fizzles out, but ensuring you have a foot in the door for later streaming content.

Say you can get 10 episodes on Netflix/Disney. You can tell a complete arc, crown your champions, whatever. You can even end on a cliffhanger. You can promote the show on TNT, but the streaming content can live on and serve as a constant introduction to the world of All Elite.

You can do your Double or Nothing show and try to top All In, but you can also keep "All Out" as a limited run Netflix/Disney series and maybe add a "season 2" (for lack of a better term) the following year, if there's the demand for it, and use that to try and triangulate your audiences.

So you basically run basic cable weekly, the world's largest streaming service for a limited time each year and iPPV. So their Tuesday Night Dynamite show is something like SmackDown, All Out is more like an NXT Takeover and their yearly PPV is like their attempt at "their version of WrestleMania." Realistically, I think they could get away with two. Keep the All In period and try and use that to get people in yearly and also try and jump on WrestleMania weekend.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Actually, a shower thought I just had: Cody said this in Australia. Presumably to Australians. It doesn't really make sense to make a big deal out of an American cable deal that isn't going to get your show shown to the market you are teasing in front of.

Using that deduction -- unless Cody is talking out his ass -- an international streaming deal makes the most sense. Why would you promote something as "big" in Australia when you could just sidestep the question or suggest it's big for American audiences and hopefully Australia will be next? And it only really makes sense for that to be international.

[slik]

NXT Takeover Brooklyn has moved to Friday Night and the HOF has moved to Saturday Night.

NXT and the MSG show will no longer be in conflict w/ one another now.

[erickman]

NXT Takeover Brooklyn has moved to Friday Night and the HOF has moved to Saturday Night.

NXT and the MSG show will no longer be in conflict w/ one another now.

good that will help both shows out, hurt the Friday indy shows though

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

NXT Takeover Brooklyn has moved to Friday Night and the HOF has moved to Saturday Night.

NXT and the MSG show will no longer be in conflict w/ one another now.

Fuck.

This means I'll have to add another hotel day if I want to see NXT and Mania. Balls.

[mike adamle]

Awesome. Probably going to all three now. When do tickets go on sale for NXT?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Very interesting move for them though. Think it shows a little concern they're going to be upstaged?

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if in the future they do spread WrestleMania out to two nights and keep Takeover on the Friday and do the Hall of Fame on the Thursday. That way they can potentially block out Friday-Monday with wrestling shows.

[Evil Vito]

That news makes me want to jump for joy. I was always going to the MSG show but sad I'd miss Takeover. No longer.

[slik]

Very interesting move for them though. Think it shows a little concern they're going to be upstaged?

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if in the future they do spread WrestleMania out to two nights and keep Takeover on the Friday and do the Hall of Fame on the Thursday. That way they can potentially block out Friday-Monday with wrestling shows.

The only way they'd do Takeover on Friday after the FOX move is if it aired immediately after SDLive ends. The HOF might move to Thursday starting in 2020 for sure.

I have been thinking WM will get to the point it has to be two days long eventually. Sell double the tickets, make double the profits.

[slik]

Miami hosting the SuperBowl in 2020 knocks it out of contention for hosting WM36. Cities raise taxes to host big events like SB and WM to help pay for things and that, along with the reasoning that tourism departments would market the SB over WM until February, is why WM and the SB have never been held in the same city in the same calendar year.



Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville looking more likely as the frontrunners to host WM36 in 2020.

[Sepholio]

Jacksonville would be the greatest thing ever.

[slik]

Notes from this week's Wrestling Observer




Becky Lynch
The reason Lynch hasn’t worked house shows or done anything physical on television is that she also hasn’t been cleared as of press time. She was cleared from the concussion, but not from the nasal fracture.


TLC
The show isn’t sold out, but there are very few tickets left on the primary market and there are only 800 left on the secondary market -- but even so the demand isn’t that high as the price for entry is $51.


MMA
The 11/24 debut of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy MMA, built around the third Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell fight, is estimated at doing 40,000 PPV buys. Very underwhelming.


TV Ratings
Ratings were bad this week for both major WWE shows. RAW broke the all-time modern record for least-watched episode with a 1.61 rating and 2,286,000 viewers. There was a December 23, 1996 episode of RAW that did a 1.5 rating head-to-head with Nitro, which did a 3.1 rating head-to-head. Aside from that, this was the lowest rating for a WWE Monday night show, including Prime Time Wrestling, dating back to 1984. Baron Corbin's presence has seemed to repel viewership.

Bayley and Rousey should be big with teenage girls, but Bayley’s been botched at a level where she’s not going to have any significant appeal and when Rousey comes out, you don’t hear women cheering, you hear men. RAW did a 0.47 in 12-17 (down 14.5 percent from last week), 0.55 in 18-34 (down 8.3 percent), 1.07 in 35-49 (up 9.2 percent from last week) and 0.87 in 50+ (down 9.4 percent).

SMACKDOWN on 12/4 did 1,948,000 viewers. It was the lowest rating the show has ever done since moving to its live Tuesday night time slow with the exception of the 1,921,000 viewers on November 8, 2016, the night of the last presidential election. All demos were scary low by usual standards. SMACKDOWN did a 0.37 in 12-17 (down 21.3 percent from last week), 0.45 in 18-34 (down 21.1 percent), 0.87 in 35-49 (down 17.1 percent) and 0.78 in 50+ (down 10.3 percent).


Dragon Gate
Dragon Gate is the second most popular promotion at Korakuen Hall behind only New Japan. PAC winning the "Open the Dream Gate Title" was a standing room only crowd at the show. They overflowed Korakuen Hall with 1,858 people.


NJPW
FITE TV will be airing an Internet PPV of Wrestle Kingdom for $35. Not sure why you would order that when you could get the same show on New Japan World plus a month subscription for less than $9, but FITE is more convenient for some people to stream than New Japan World.


MLW
MLW announced the first of what they are hoping will be regular live shows on Bein Sports. They will be airing one hour live on 12.14.18.


WWE HOF
The reason behind NXT Takeover and the 2019 Hall Of Fame switching nights be might to accommodate The Rock. Dwayne Johnson is rumored to be the headliner for the HOF. If Johnson isn't it, then the reason for the move is to avoid NJPW/ROH at Madison Square Garden. Perhaps there is the feeling that, because of the respective building sizes and setups that more people would be at the MSG show and they didn’t want the news stories about how a rival promotion outdrew them. NXT will absolutely sell out once tickets are available for Takeover. This is a one-year thing and in 2020 things have to be changed since the Friday show will be a live Smackdown. So NXT or Hall of Fame would be Saturday and the other event would have to be on Thursday.


WWE interested in New Japan star
Kushida is a name that has been talked about for weeks by WWE management. He’s under contract to New Japan until the end of January.


WWE Queen of the Ring
An idea being talked about for 2019 would be a Queen of the Ring tournament with the main roster women. At this point it’s just an idea thrown around but they are looking for ideas for a second all women’s PPV show next year.


Why you will never see Men vs Women in WWE again
There was a promise to Mattel years ago when the deal was first made that they would never portray men physically overpowering women.


WWE Attendance
RAW doing 6,200 in Houston, one of the best wrestling markets in the country, is not good. SMACKDOWN only drew 3,800 fans in Austin the next night. The 12/5 WWE show in Santiago, Chile drew a nearly sold out crowd of 10,000 fans.


WrestleMania 35
WWE might be planning a Sasha/Bayley vs Trish/Lita bout for the show.

[BigCrippyZ]

I have been thinking WM will get to the point it has to be two days long eventually. Sell double the tickets, make double the profits.

Jesus. I hope not. Talk about over saturation, or completing ignoring the concept of quality over quantity, which is already an issue.

In fairness, I barely watch as it is, due to the quality or lack thereof... generally catch WM, Rumble, Summerslam, the occasional Raw or SD segment, hour, or half hour... but come on. Two days of WM? Who's going to watch that? It's already too much as it is with the ridiculous "pre-show", etc.

[XL]

I don’t know, 2 three hour shows could be more palatable than 1 seven hour show.

[slik]

^ Yes

[BigCrippyZ]

I don’t know, 2 three hour shows could be more palatable than 1 seven hour show.

Sure, but I doubt that's what they'd end up doing. It'd just become two 4-5 hour shows.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

They don't need 2 days tho. Do they really have so much going on that they need to pack a huge 4 hr show? I think not.

Obvs the titles should be defended. So that's 8 matches right there. Maybe a couple grudge matches and you've got 10 matches. Do we really need more than that?

[slik]

8 matches is the perfect # to me for WM
But they like to do 13-16 when you throw the pre-shows in.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The only way they'd do Takeover on Friday after the FOX move is if it aired immediately after SDLive ends. The HOF might move to Thursday starting in 2020 for sure.

I have been thinking WM will get to the point it has to be two days long eventually. Sell double the tickets, make double the profits.

I completely forgot they were going to Fridays when I typed that, lol.

They don't need 2 days tho. Do they really have so much going on that they need to pack a huge 4 hr show? I think not.

Obvs the titles should be defended. So that's 8 matches right there. Maybe a couple grudge matches and you've got 10 matches. Do we really need more than that?

No, but they don't need that many titles either. Not every match should be a title match, and those matches should be spaced out. Ideally, WWE would be one unified roster with a select few titles and well-built matches. 8 or 9 seems perfect, but we don't live in that world.

[slik]

I would say WMXXX and WM31 were the best WMs of the modern era and each had 7/8 matches. Starting w/ WM32 Vince decided he wanted WM to feature as much of the roster as possible. On on hand, that is great for the talent because more people get a WM payday.

On the other, it can be tough for fans watching at home and even more in person. I've attended two WMs (32 & 34) and standing outside for two hours to go in and sit for seven hours of wrestling, you get kind of 'wrestled out' on and off after about the third hour.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Why can't they just give everyone on the roster who helps scaffold their product over the course of the year a payday come WrestleMania time and not jam them onto a card for the sake of it? Performing at Mania should be special. I don't need to see Zack Ryder on eight consecutive cards in Battle Royals just because.

[XL]

Sure, but I doubt that's what they'd end up doing. It'd just become two 4-5 hour shows.

I’m sure they would.

[XL]

They don't need 2 days tho. Do they really have so much going on that they need to pack a huge 4 hr show? I think not.

Obvs the titles should be defended. So that's 8 matches right there. Maybe a couple grudge matches and you've got 10 matches. Do we really need more than that?

You forgot the Cruiserweight Championship, and by Mania the Women’s Tag Team Championship too.

Plus you need to get HHH/Taker/Cena into high profile matches, away from the belts.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Why couldn't they just pay Vickie Guerrero and why did they have to have her come out and humiliate herself all the time?

[slik]

No Holds Barred Podcast


Note: They are not always 'on the money' (but sometimes they are).
Currently penciled in for WrestleMania 35 (supposedly):


* HHH vs. Batista (if HHH is healed)

* AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton

* Daniel Bryan vs. HBK

* Shane McMahon vs. The Miz

* Rey Mysterio vs Nakamura OR Samoa Joe OR Almas

* The Rock to possibly headline HOF

* Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins

* Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey

* He doesn't mention plans for Cena, Drew, Braun - but obviously all will be a big part of WM. I heard a rumor elsewhere Cena vs LARS might happen and Braun vs Drew might happen and that Dean could be added to Seth vs Brock.



<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/543269529&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe>

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Bryan/HBK, Lesnar/Rollins and Becky/Rhonda are the only 3 there that'd I wanna see. Shane/Miz sounds like it'd free a fucking train wreck.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was just sitting around thinking about how I would like Mania to go. I'm on a Bryan vs. Cesaro kick at the moment. This new Bryan character is ripe for making someone -- especially someone with a surplus of ring talent. Bryan being put-off by Cesaro's ring work could make for a great story. Bryan is the guy to get people invested in Cesaro if anyone can.

Benefits to this:

* Good morale boost for those who aren't happy in WWE. Cesaro seems like a guy who would be respected. Also, if he doesn't get an opportunity, I can eventually see him leaving when his contract expires, and you don't want the perception of talented people leaving WWE for places they can wrestle.

* It would be a kick-ass match.

* Could steal the weekend at a time when New Japan and ROH will be making their biggest play for notoriety.

* Cesaro seems to fit the "sports presentation" element FOX apparently want, as dubious as I am of that.

Run AJ vs. Shawn, Cena vs. Braun, Brock vs. Seth vs. Ambrose (if you really need to have Ambrose in there), Ronda vs. Charlotte and Becky vs. Asuka. That's basically your card set. I'd go with Cesaro winning the Rumble in a bit of a shocker with Rollins being eliminated illegally by Ambrose to keep those wheels spinning. Seth can get to Brock through other means.

[slik]

I don't put much stock in those rumors of Rock/Brock.

The Rock is one of the busiest men in entertainment and I can't picture him having enough time to train for a match between his film/producing commitments. In addition to that, I'm not sure any of his projects would allow him to do so b/c it could be a liability to them, I believe that has stopped him from wrestling a couple times before (remember - Rock got injured during WM29 pretty badly in his ribcage).

[slik]

On RAW I think they subtly hinted at Seth/Brock, when Seth kept mentioning having a problem repeatedly during his promo to Corbin.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can't wait for the Seth promos about how Brock isn't there.

[slik]

Notes from today's Wrestling Observer




MMA
A third major player has now entered the U.S. television scene when it comes to MMA, as ONE has signed a three-year deal to air 24 live events per year on TNT starting next year.


ROH/ALL ELITE WRESTLING
In what appears to be the end of an era, The Young Bucks & Cody, most likely Adam Page, and perhaps Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian and others finish up this weekend with ROH with Final Battle on 12/14 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York and a television taping on 12/15 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena.

Cody adamantly stated that he wasn’t going to WWE, and although WWE made offers to The Young Bucks, Cody and Page, at this point it looks like all are committed to the new AEW promotion that Tony Khan is looking at starting.


NJPW
The key performer to New Japan is Omega, who is the top foreigner. It’s pretty clear watching the last few months that the company has done a big push to get Jay White ready for the top foreigner spot in case Omega leaves. Omega’s next direction is unclear, to the point he’s avoided doing media to build up the Tokyo Dome match with Hiroshi Tanahashi thus far because he knows about the inevitable questions about New Japan, WWE and AEW and he’s not in any position to say anything right now.

Obviously both AEW and ROH will want a business relationship with New Japan.


AXS TV
AXS TV is doing a 10-hour marathon of Kenny Omega matches called the Omega-thon on 12/28 running 2 p.m. to midnight Eastern time.


Women Of Wrestling
The Women of Wrestling promotion (WOW) on AXS TV will be starting with weekly shows on 1/18 in a Friday night at 9 p.m. time slot. This will WOW a lead-in with New Japan, which would be the best lead-in possible. A key element is that the top star in the promotion is clearly going to be Tessa Blanchard, and she’ll be on a show that, unless things change, is likely to draw bigger numbers than Impact.


NJPW's Annual Dome Show
Dave feels there could be four to six match of the year contenders by the end of the first week of January coming out of this show.


205 Live on the verge of Cancellation
The current plan for 205 Live is to remain airing on Wednesday rather than live on Tuesday when there is no more Mixed Match Challenge. After that a decision will be made for 2019. While the viewership for the show at first increased with the move to Wednesday, it has dropped greatly in recent weeks to the point it’s very low now.


TV Attendance
Attendance for RAW in San Diego was 4,000. Attendance for SmackdownLive in Las Vegas was 6,000.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Back to news: I’m hearing Braun Strowman is still not likely to compete Sunday at TLC. So much so, that on the holiday tours, John Cena will wrestle in his place. Strowman will still appear at the holiday tour shows, just won’t work. So I can’t see him working a TLC match.</p>&mdash; WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/1073315101481058304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

<img src="https://statics.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/baron-corbin-wins-2-1469997817-800.jpg" alt="See the source image">

without hair

[Evil Vito]

The Mighty Don't Team: Nick Miller released

Sounds like he asked for it because he wanted to return home

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

The Mighty Don't Team: Nick Miller released

Sounds like he asked for it because he wanted to return home

<img src="https://media.tenor.com/images/6e79ba091604c121321226f781497e3c/tenor.gif" alt="See the source image">

[DaveWadding]

The Mighty Don't Team: Nick Miller released

Sounds like he asked for it because he wanted to return home

They've been glorified jobbers since they came back after the injury anyways.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Mr. Meekmahn will be on the post-TLC Raw this Monday Night!

[Evil Vito]

Apparently Miller's got a newborn baby so that's the reason he wanted to go home. Makes sense, and presumably the door is open for him to return.

Shane Thorne might actually have potential as a singles guy. He's got a good look.

[XL]

Which one is which?

[mike adamle]

Nick Miller is the one that just got fired, Shane Thorne is still there.

[Droford]

The Mighty Don't Team: Nick Miller released

Sounds like he asked for it because he wanted to return home

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/8/5/16/anigif_enhanced-buzz-10254-1375733924-7.gif

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was very underwhelmed by TMDK in WWE after hearing amazing things about them in NOAH. Oh well.

Why would WWE promote Braun for TLC if he isn't going to make it back?

[DAMN iNATOR]

Mr. Meekmahn will be on the post-TLC Raw this Monday Night!

He supposedly wants to "shake things up" again, with the rumor being he will announce some kind of plan to improve the product, whether that be a shift away from the TV-PG style of shows or making promos less and/or not at all scripted and more spontaneous or returning to a different formula that worked well for the company in the past.

This seems likely (IMHO) to be a move to attempt to show Nona fide improvements in the weekly product to try to convince USA execs that RAW will be worth renewing their TV contract beyond 2024 and also to show FOX that SDL will be a more sports-themed, less entertainment aspect of a show and assure their execs and investors that they won't be throwing away a billion dollars.

That's all just speculation on a couple of things I've seen lately. I have no inside information, I'm just making my best educated guess.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Haha, they're not going to move away from PG or let talent do their own promos. It will be something on-air to try and fleece viewers. Hulk Hogan as GM or something. Baron Corbin fired and put into a Handicap Match against some babyfaces that beat the crap out of him. They're not going to divorce themselves from their philosophies.

[slik]

From today's Wrestling Observer



State of WWE - The big problem is when the stars are the authority figures, it means the wrestlers aren’t. When you do tours you have no stars. It’s telling that aside from Lynch, the company’s biggest stars are the ones UFC created for them, and who are nowhere near the level of stars they were when they were in UFC.

The McMahons all over the shows is a short-term fix, something very similar to WCW always going back to the NWO because nothing new was clicking. Vince McMahon is one of the few guys who can move ratings for a return, but in time, the same way of doing things is always going to yield the same results. There are no signs of doing things differently. Both shows felt, looked and were paced the same. The reality is that every boom period has been based on doing something completely new and different with the television show, or lucking into or creating hot characters.


WWE & Saudi Arabia - While not announced and probably they won’t be for as long as possible to keep the heat away, they right now have May and November dates booked for Saudi Arabia.


Vince's original plan for WrestleMania 27 - Vince McMahon wanted to headline the 2011 WrestleMania in a match against Dana White (this was when White wouldn’t approve of having Brock Lesnar, under contract with UFC at the time, face Undertaker to headline WrestleMania 27). Vince would have been 65 at the time. Dana White declined the offer for a match and WWE went with The Rock guest-hosting instead, which lead to Rock vs Cena the next two years at WrestleMania 28 and 29.


Finn Balor - Balor, after being mired in the middle card, is about to get a significant push, at least for a little while.


Alexa Bliss as RAW GM - Alexa Bliss as an authority figure (internally planned for the Baron Corbin spot once Corbin lost to Braun Strowman) has been completely dropped. Her role as GM of the women that Corbin appointed her to has been dropped as well.


Shane winning Best In The World - The Shane angle based on his winning the Crown Jewel tournament that was to lead to a heel turn looks like it’s been completely dropped (although it wasn’t supposed to happen until January anyway). Whatever reason Smackdown got shut out at Survivor Series looks like it’s been dropped.


AEW - The official departure of the Young Bucks, Cody and Adam Page from ROH, combined with them turning down WWE’s offer in a skit on their BTE show that mirrored real life, has made things clear that they see All Elite Wrestling as more than just an idea. Three of the four turned down WWE main event money, multi-year deals for more than seven figures annually.

The fact that terms related to All In and Elite, owned by the Bucks and Cody, are part of the trademark filing and the identity of Tony Khan, who owns a sports analytics company and is part of management with Fulham FC in the U.K. and the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, gives some hints. If they don’t get a significant television deal, both in terms of exposure, and enough revenue to where they can run a business without going deep in the red, then the reality is that they won’t make it.


Pro Wrestling NOAH - NOAH pulled the trigger on the year-long build of 22-year-old Kaito Kiyomiya to be the next big superstar of the company.


NJPW - No numbers have been released but two New Japan sources (as well as their Twitter) have said that ticket sales for the Tokyo Dome are still ahead of the pace of last year’s show.

[slik]

From today's Wrestling Observer



Impact Wrestling - Impact Wrestling announced its move from Pop TV to Pursuit TV, a move that is both a negative as far as exposure and time slot. Pursuit TV is in 30.3 million homes, a downgrade from the 67.5 million homes that Pop TV was in. What’s even scarier is that they are moving to Friday nights, a worse night, at 10 p.m. The fact they ended up on Pursuit, after talking with and not getting picked up by a number of stations, the biggest being Syfy, Tru TV and WGN America, could be a bad sign for pro wrestling in the U.S. outside of WWE. Pursuit TV, based in Glenwood, AL, is a hunting/outdoors channel. Dave later notes the most recent IMPACT Twitch stream topped out at about 800 viewers.


Dave News - There will not be a Wrestling Observer issue next week as Dave will be in Japan for the Tokyo Dome Show. Dave anticipates some five and six star matches will happen.


RevPro - RevPro will no longer be airing on TV in the UK, as episodes tended to draw less than 7,000 viewers. Dave states that it seems like there is no casual fan base in the UK, he speculates this could happen in the U.S. but would take longer, as Dave notes "since the U.S. still has millions of viewers of WWE".


WrestleMania 35 - The original plan for Ronda at WM35 was Natalya, but that was scrapped after Jim Neidhart passed away. Charlotte then became the plan but that has changed due to Becky Lynch's rise in popularity. As of this week the plan for WM35 is Rousey vs. Lynch, but Dave speculates as to if it will close the show or Charlotte won't be added before it's all said and done. Dave notes that Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose was likely the planned main-event of WM35 prior to Roman's medical situation.


SmackDownLIVE on FOX - Dave says a decision has not been made if SD will air live on the West Coast or via delay. If FOX airs the show live on the West Coast it will air Friday at 5-7pm. Dave questions how well SDLive will do on FOX and states "WWE is a declining property and we’ve got ten plus months of possible more slow declines" before it debuts. Dave notes that moving to FOX will gain some viewers, lose others and that Friday is known for being a bad night for TV ratings.


Mandy Rose - Vince is very high right now on the idea of making Mandy Rose a star. It’s the similar mindset they earlier had with Lana, with the big introduction, before she faded into becoming another woman on the roster and then was put back with Rusev.


John Cena - Cena said last week he was only coming back for house shows, yet his dates include a few TV tapings. I thought that sounded weird but it’s not like there’s any reason to make up that one, so it’s probably the usual miscommunications or plans changed situation. Cena is expected to take time off from WWE at the end of January to film a movie.

[slik]

Ronda vs Nattie and Dean vs Roman sounds as tone deaf of an idea as the original WMXXX plans of DBry vs Sheamus II and Orton vs Batista

[ClockShot]

Ah. Vince discovered Mandy Rose got the 4 B's going for her.

No surprise.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ah. Vince discovered Mandy Rose got the 4 B's going for her.

No surprise.

What are the four B's? Boobs, butt, blonde and...?

[slik]

Blue eyes?

[Mr. Nerfect]

On Impact Wrestling: It could be a bad sign for wrestling OR it could just be because it's FUCKING TNA!!! Anyone doing any research into that property can find endless articles on what a stupid fucking promotion it's been for a majority of its tenure, how much of its fan-base its lost, and how cynical the attitude towards it from anyone with a brain is. Not only has it lost viewers, but it continues to do so. There is no growth possible with TNA and everybody knows it. That being said:

On RevPro: B-but there's supposed to be a wrestling boom! Bullshit. People say the same thing about Australia and I think "Wtf? No one talks about wrestling." It's not cool, folks, and WWE has gone out of their way to do damage to themselves and the geeks in the business do their best to make sure they aren't cool by doing goofy play-fights. Of course there is no casual fan-base for wrestling in the UK, or Australia, or anywhere else.

On WrestleMania 35: It was pretty obvious that the plan was going to be Charlotte/Ronda in a highly promoted Mania main for 35. I would have guessed a Shield Triple Threat as well. Roman vs. Dean, on its own, would have been cold as ice. It would have needed that dynamic of Seth being in there to complete the Shield magic. I'm still doubtful they actually go with Becky against Ronda, since they do like their "plans." Charlotte vs. Ronda is a plan, and I can see them sticking to it.

On SmackDown: As I've said before, I'm positive FOX has an out clause with a reasonable amount of time and a reasonable pay-out to WWE should their ratings dip below industry predictions. FOX's official statement bragged about 2 million viewers. If television across the board drops by a percentage that affects that number, I'm sure things will still go ahead as planned, but there is no way that FOX is putting on a WWE product that has gone down 30% if television has only gone down 15%. That decrease is too far outside norms, and it's an indicator of WWE taking money and not delivering the service they offered. You can see WWE begin to respond to this -- not panic, but respond. It'll be interesting to see if they can stop the bleeding or if they've truly lost touch to the point where if they try to fix things they end up making them worse.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Blue eyes?

Ah, that would be it. I've honestly never heard the expression before.

[RP]

I guessed Blowjobs

[Mr. Nerfect]

I had that thought in my mind, but I bet Vince made Mandy blow him much earlier than now.

[ClockShot]

I was gonna say boner inducing.

But blue eyes and blow jobs also work too.

[Evil Vito]

Mandy Rose is so fucking hot

[slik]

Meltzer reporting on Observer Radio that Finn Balor is getting a main-event push and that current WrestleMania 35 plans are:

Ronda vs Charlotte vs Becky
Seth vs Brock

Meltzer reporting the current Rollins/Lashley feud is to teach Seth how to work in the ring w/ someone of Lesnar's size before WM

[Fignuts]

Fuck off with the triple threat

[Evil Vito]

Ugh, triple threat. Not a fan of that at all.

As far as setting it up, I'd guess Charlotte wins the Rumble and Becky takes someone from Raw out at Elimination Chamber, leading both to stake claim to having a shot at Ronda.

[Emperor Smeat]

Possible interesting twist for Lesnar's future in MMA and WWE.

Apparently his MMA suspension in Nevada was recently upgraded from a delayed one-year suspension to now an indefinite one due to him failing to pay off his fine in time.

He owed $250k as part of his punishment for failing a drug test in 2016 and since his suspension was supposed to end today, the Commission now will only reinstate until after the fine is paid off.


MMAWeekly has reported that current WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar has still not paid his $250,000 fine to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his MMA suspension. As a result, he will be indefinitely suspended in Nevada until he pays his fine.

The fine was levied against Lesnar after failing a drug test related to his UFC 200 fight against Mark Hunt.

Lesnar's suspension with the Commission was due to end on January 8th.

Lesnar will be returning to WWE TV tonight on Monday Night Raw from Orlando to help build to his 2019 Royal Rumble match against Braun Strowman for the Universal title.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/brock-lesnar-has-yet-to-pay-quarter-million-dollar-fine-in-nevada

[Fignuts]

How the fuck did he not pay that on time considering what WWE is paying him?

[Mr. Nerfect]

He probably just doesn’t care to.

[slik]

Oh You Didn't Know Podcast - 1.9.19

* Alexa Bliss's in-ring status is still murky.

* Despite what PWInsider implied Brock is very much wrestling at WM35

* Brad Shepard says his WWE source told him WWE isn't offering millions to people like Dave Meltzer reports, and says Meltz is doing that to help his friends appear like bigger deals than they are to help benefit AEW when they sign with them.

* 80% chance that WrestleMania 36 will be in Florida. Not likely to be Orlando. Tampa and Jacksonville are big possibilities. Here is a list of stadiums in FL:

http://www.worldstadiums.com/north_america/countries/united_states/florida.shtml


* Tony Khan has more net worth than Ted Turner did when he started WCW.

* Brad says The Young Bucks are bad at promos

* There are WWE superstars who are interested in jumping ship to AEW, but they are curious to see how things go first.

* Praises AEW for getting Conrad Thompson to host rally, says Tens of Thousands of old fans listen to Conrad's show each week so he's a great person to have as a cheerleader.

[ClockShot]

News, news, rumors, news, Young Bucks are bad a promos, rumors.

Huh.

[slik]

The Khans own the NFL Stadium in Jacksonville. While that might sound if WM ended up there because of AEW, stranger things have happened.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dave Meltzer has always exaggerated money. He used to talk about how much The Young Bucks made and suggested it was mid-seven figures or something ridiculous. I crunched the numbers and worked out they would have to be getting paid about 10x what AJ Styles was getting (ironic exaggeration). That’s more than what Tony Khan’s estimated net worth is, by the way.

[Emperor Smeat]

Bunch of stuff from the sheets:

WWE Network News is reporting that WWE will be adding the following Hidden Gems to the streaming service:
* AWA 09/13/1981 – Billy Robinson vs. Ray Stevens.
* Championship Wrestling from Florida 09/13/1981 – Les Thornton vs. Jerry Brisco for World Junior Championship.
* Stampede Wrestling 10/09/1981 – The Hart Brothers & Davey Boy Smith vs. J.R. Foley’s Army.
* NXT Live Event 06/08/2017 – Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews for WWE UK Championship.
Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/01/09/hidden-gems-gets-a-uk-flavor-with-4-varied-matches-coming-to-wwe-network-tomorrow/

Lana tweeted the following:

Today is a life changing day for @RusevBUL and I. We are welcoming a new family member into the Rusev Day & Lana Day family !
— Lana Day (@LanaWWE) January 9, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/LanaWWE/status/1083105938725314561

Former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham, 75 years old, was taken to the emergency room yesterday and was hospitalized as he is battling pneumonia. The hope was that he would be released and sent home, but we have not confirmed that to yet be the case.

Graham, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004, has dealt with a number of health issues in recent years.

Brandi Rhodes clarified her statement regarding equal pay for the female competitors at All Elite Wrestling with a statement posted on Wednesday:

Equal pay means equal opportunity regardless of sex. It does not mean that everyone will be paid the exact same salary regardless of their position. It means the gender pay gap does not apply. An entry level woman won’t make less than an entry level man because of her gender.
For some reference, WWE used to pay women more in NXT as part of covering for makeup and other expenses but supposedly swung the balance back to men recently who now get paid a lot more for entry level and standard contracts.

Lars Sullivan was originally slated to work a dark match at Monday’s Raw and was replaced by EC3, who defeated Curt Hawkins on the show. Then, Sullivan was scheduled for a dark match at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping and didn’t wrestle the match on that show either. We cannot confirm what the reason was, but Mike Johnson of PWinsider.com did report that Sullivan was backstage in Orlando on Monday during the day.

New Japan president Harold Meij posted a lengthy statement on the health of New Japan Pro Wrestling considering the recent departures. The following portions of the statement were translated on Twitter by New Japan announcer Chris Charlton:

Talent will come & go. That’s life. Half of Japanese people have had more than one occupation. More overseas. There are different life stages, priorities change. What counts is that while here, ppl shine as bright as possible & produce the best product possible for us. Our job as a business in New Japan is to make sure our wrestlers are not spending their life worrying about ticket sales, living expense, feeding their family, or injury. They need to be able to focus on the ring. I often see talk along the lines of “since Meij came in, they’re only looking at international, they don’t care about Japan.” That couldn’t be more wrong. New Japan has gotten to the stage that the world has taken notice of it and we can do these things abroad. I’m not pushing the company international; if anything it’s the other way round. I’m doing my job as a professional to fulfill very strong demand. I didn’t get this job because I’m foreign. International business is one string to my bow. There’s a lot more I can do, and a lot more I have to do in Japan. I have done, and am doing a lot, more than you can see, to increase revenue. This is a Japanese company. I want to bring that Japanese excellence, that New Japan ism, as is, unchanged, to fans in Japan and all over the world. For now, don’t worry. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy Fantasticamania.
Link: https://sp.njpw.jp/freediary/harold-george-meij36


According to Dave Meltzer, this week's Observer Newsletter will be delayed by about a day due to scheduling issues.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Even if what he meant to say was The Young Bucks were making $1.4-$1.6 million, that would still mean that New Japan/ROH would have had them on $200,000 a piece for them to still need to be making $1 million on merchandise and that be 70% of their income, which is ridiculous.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That comes off like a very weird statement from Meij. Sounds “desperate”. Like, why even the need to respond?

[RP]

Why would any of the NXT people need to work a dark match? What's the difference between a dark match and a NXT match?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Bigger crowd.

[Emperor Smeat]

That comes off like a very weird statement from Meij. Sounds “desperate”. Like, why even the need to respond?
Probably just simply reassuring fans that the company will quickly rebound like was the case a couple years ago after WWE raided them.

Most of the debate from fans revolves around Omega and how much of a hit its going to be for the main event scene and NJPW's US expansion plans for the short term. Pretty much a split of people downplaying how important Omega was to NJPW the past couple years and others thinking NJPW is going to suffer a "doom and gloom" type period.

Then you have another split of people blaming AEW for NJPW's current woes and others blaming ROH for making things harder on NJPW's end.

And then you just have a sizeable portion of fans that just hate Meij in general since he took power.

[Fignuts]

See now would be a good time to reestablish a connection with Noah. Back when they were first partnered they were still developing their talent, but now they’ve got an impressive batch of talented workers. Guys like Kenoh, Hajime O’Hara, and Masa Kitamaya would fit in well in NJPW.

That said, while I don’t remember why they stopped working together, I do remember it wasn’t pretty. Some egos would have to be set aside.

[Fignuts]

God knows their junior division needs help with Kushida, and Hiromu gone, and Scurll likely being around less.

Now is the time to give SHO a singles push, methinks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They’ve got a bunch of guys they can push. Like, they have their “Three Kings.” Omega was a really good fit, but it also felt like he was kind of in this eye of the needle phase and could have used some time away so people would miss him. It’s probably somewhere in between — I think western audiences overvalue him, but that also says something about what western audiences are into.

I’m personally not hooked on New Japan. I gave WK a go, and the stuff I saw didn’t do it for me. I don’t think that’s hurt by the All Elite guys going though. I feel like they need something “hot.” One new star or one major angle. Personally, I’d push Sanada and make 2019 his meteoric rise. It seems equal parts shocking but acceptable.

Either that or I’d just have Suzuki eat everyone. The whole ZSJ angle seems like it’s designed to push him, but imagine if it led to a Hank Shrader moment for Suzuki where he anticipates it destroys ZSJ like he was two assassins. Thanks, kid, now I’ve remembered how dangerous I really am.

Naito also seems to have international cred. Refocusing on him could be cool. If the belt went from Tanahashi to Suzuki to Naito (it takes a bastard to beat a bastard), I would be fine.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Ring of Honor has confirmed another one of Bandido's matches for this month.

It was announced on Thursday that Bandido vs. Flip Gordon will headline ROH's Road to G1 Supercard show in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, January 24. ROH also has Road to G1 Supercard shows in Houston on Friday, January 25 and San Antonio on Saturday, January 26. The shows will air live on HonorClub.

Taz commented on today being the 20 year anniversary of the night he won the ECW World Championship from Shane Douglas at the 1999 Guilty as Charged PPV:

20 years ago today I won my first major world championship. I would like to thank @TheFranchiseSD for the match and his creativity.
Thank you to @HeymanHustle for the special opportunity.
Lastly, thank you to all of the ECW fans worldwide. #SURVIVE
— TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) January 10, 2019

Pete Dunne has now reached 600 days as WWE United Kingdom champion
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsdd0VNFPD8/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1qudpxt5rk2fc

Former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham, 75 years old, has been released from the hospital and is back home in Arizona. He has pneumonia and is battling it with antibiotics.

Humberto Carrillo was originally announced as representing 205 Live in the WWE Worlds Collide tournament, but he’s now been removed and “A Superstar to be named” is listed in his place. Carrillo, who was known as Ultimo Ninja before signing with WWE, has been wrestling at NXT house shows and on some episodes of NXT TV since joining the company. WWE has been hyping that fresh faces will be added to the cruiserweight division in 2019.

Carrillo, who's 205 Live debut was spoiled by the announcement, is the former Ultimo Ninja in Mexico. There is an open challenge with Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy on next week's episode of 205 Live, so it could be that's where Carrillo will debut.

In a close vote, Becky Lynch topped Ronda Rousey for 2018's "Woman of the Year", as voted by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Lynch received 40 percent of the vote, four percent better than Rousey. Asuka and Tessa Blanchard were distant runners-up.

Rousey being selected number one in PWI's "Woman's 100" led to Lynch posting some disparaging tweets about PWI - and Publisher Stu Saks in particular. Even though Lynch appeared happy while posing for the PWI cover of the awards issue with the Woman of the Year plaque, she complained about her #11 placement in the "100" throughout much of the photo shoot.

Rousey achieved a near-record 87 percent of the vote in being named "Rookie of the Year". The widest margin of victory in the 46-year history of the PWI awards was enjoyed by The Giant (Big Show), who garnered 88 percent of the vote for "Rookie of the Year" in 1996.

AJ Styles was named "Wrestler of the Year" for the third straight year. Styles now has earned a total of seven Achievement Awards. Styles earned 46 percent of the votes in the "Wrestler of the Year" category, followed by Kenny Omega (17 percent), Cody (8 percent), and Seth Rollins (7 percent). He also was voted "Most Popular" for the second straight year. The only other wrestler to receive WOTY honors for three straight years is Ric Flair (1984-1986).

Lana and WWE United States Champion Rusev trolled the internet on Wednesday, teasing their first child. It ended up being a new puppy for the happy couple. You can see their tweets below:
Link: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/01/lana-and-rusev-troll-fans-on-new-addition-to-their-family-649671/

[Bad News Gertner]

1999 ECW is fucking horrendous

[Fignuts]

Fuck yeah, Lana and Rusev made the right choice. Puppies are awesome, unlike those boring, ugly flesh blob babies!

[slik]

Big update on my post in this thread from 12.11.18 where Brad Shepard reported Cena vs Lars was penciled in for WM35:




Sullivan, real name Dylan Miley, 30, was scheduled to debut on the main roster, probably in a dark match, on the 1/7 Raw in Orlando. He either didn’t show up at the arena, or did and left the building, believed to be due to an anxiety attack.

The office, which is a lot more understanding of mental health issues to do its experience with Mauro Ranallo, talked with him and smoothed things out and everything was fine. He was then supposed to do a dark match at the 1/8 Smackdown tapings in Jacksonville. Not only did he not show up in Jacksonville, but he apparently flew back home to Colorado. Nothing else is known, whether they will change plans or how it will be handled.

Sullivan was scheduled for a monster push. The Cena match was confirmed and logic would say if he was facing Cena in his first big match, with Cena working limited dates and Sullivan being groomed to be one of the top guys in the company, that Sullivan would have won that match. But we were also told that would be premature and that while the match was on the books, there has been no discussion this far in advance regarding the finish.

While this was not told to us directly, all hints and signs pointed to the angle getting started at the Royal Rumble. So the Rumble show will likely tell the story as to whether they will go with this program or not. They may feel it’s just something they can work through or they may feel that it’s a risk giving that much of a push to him.

- Wrestling Observer

[Jordan]

Well that is a sad report. Lars is really cool so I wish him the best. And I can empathize. Years ago he'd be swept away by management for this but hopefully they are more considerate. I could still see this being the end though.

[Jordan]

1999 ECW is fucking horrendous

Anything ECW not in clip format is the worst. Except Dean, Eddie, Rey, Psicosis, and RVD's matches with Jerry Lynn. You can keep the rest. Except the TV title 4 way with Jericho, Scorpio, Douglas and Pitbull.

[slik]

Whenever I tried to watch ECW's tv show I couldn't get into it. I enjoyed their ppvs but the weekly tv shows were pretty awful.

[slik]

IIRC Meltz or Alvarez hinted at a Balor push heading into WM and casually segued that into mentioning Taker on a recent Wrestling Observer Radio.

I'm not feeling Balor vs Taker since Taker is a 'lil rusty these days, but if they do it we'll see what they cook up. Could give Finn a nice rub being in the ring w/ Taker as long as it's not a 15 second bout.

[owenbrown]

1999 ECW is fucking horrendous

Wasn't this the year the Dudleys had that infamous promo where they were basically trolling the crowd before they dropped the tag titles and soon after that they jumped to the WWF?

[Helmsphere]

Wasn't this the year the Dudleys had that infamous promo where they were basically trolling the crowd before they dropped the tag titles and soon after that they jumped to the WWF?

Yeah it did happen in 99.

[Emperor Smeat]

Big update on my post in this thread from 12.11.18 where Brad Shepard reported Cena vs Lars was penciled in for WM35:

Depending on how severe Lars' anxiety issues are, could be looking at a similar situation that occurred several years ago in the NBA. A player out of college with known anxiety issues pretty much had his NBA career end before it started due to him suffering anxiety attacks from planes and long road trips.

Going from NXT to WWE would be a similar situation since its a lot more traveling and events to deal with while getting a lot less rest in return.

[erickman]

I guess that is good that they all started in dark matches, good thing lars did not have an attack on live raw

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Based on the Oxford dictionary of the English language, the word "jabroni" is now an official word for loser

There will be a special on Mean Gene Okerlund called “Let Me Tell You Something Gene” that will air following Raw this Monday on the WWE Network.
Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/01/12/wwe-network-airing-special-on-mean-gene-okerlund-next-week/

1/11 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE FIRST EPISODE OF MONDAY NIGHT RAW

1993 - The premiere edition of WWF Monday Night RAW came live from the Manhattan Center in New York City, New York. Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Don Imus radio sidekick Rob Bartlett were on commentary, with Sean Mooney reporting from outside on West 34th Street. Segments throughout the show featured Bobby Heenan, who had been replaced with Bartlett, trying to get in the building. Heenan posed as Bartlett's aunt, and as his uncle, both times being busted by Mooney. Heenan was finally let in at the end of the show.

WWE co-president George Barrios recent spoke at Citi’s 2019 Global TMT West Conference in Las Vegas. Barrios went over the business strategy and goals for the company in 2019 and beyond. There was a lot of emphasis on the distinction between their advertiser and subscription-supported content. He noted that 70% of the revenue is domestic but 60% of their paid television content is being viewed internationally with a belief that the money will follow the viewing patterns internationally. They expect 2018 to produce $869 million in revenue and $88 million in operating income. He stated that growing their numbers for 2020 is a big priority to display year-over-year growth for the next time their domestic television package is due, with the upcoming USA Network and Fox deals lasting until 2024.

Barrios listed the top “heroes” on WWE programming as John Cena, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, and Roman Reigns.

The WWE has announced the opening of its UK Performance Center at a 17,000 square foot venue. A press conference was held with Paul Levesque, Charlotte Flair, and Finn Balor among those speaking. In the press release, they do not list where the PC is located but noted that over 30 of their European performers will train out of the Performance Center.

Ryan Barkan, who created and is the President of Pro Wrestling Tees, will also be part of the merchandise arm of the company [AEW]. Chris Harrington, a stats whiz who has extensive knowledge of pro wrestling finances and business, has been hired as the head of business development. A number of other positions are in the process of being filled. There is expected to be at least one more Executive Vice President added to senior management.

Women wrestlers from Stardom and other promotions have been contacted. One of the key ones was Mayu Iwatani, who is unlikely to come. ROH, which also has an affiliation with Stardom, paid for Iwatani’s three-year U.S. visa so unless ROH and AWE make a deal, which will be difficult because they are competitors, Stardom feels it would be wrong to have her work against ROH, which also has booked Iwatani for its Madison Square Garden show. Several Japanese women have been talked about for at least certain dates, including Hall of Famer Aja Kong, but that deal is not believed to be completed. But the Japanese women are being heavily scouted.

The other underlying story from AEW and the past week revolves around New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Every AEW wrestler, Jericho, The Young Bucks, Cody and Page lost at WrestleKingdom ...

The problem was the success of All In changed the value structure. Paul Levesque worked hard at getting all four into WWE. Page was offered main roster money to work NXT, where he’d have been pushed as one of its top stars. The Bucks & Cody were offered strong deals. The Bucks deal was for money roughly the same as WWE champion A.J. Styles, which would have also included BTE being made a regular weekly show on the WWE Network, as well as something I’ve never heard WWE concede on, which was a six-month window where they could have left their three-year contract if they wanted and weren’t happy with their push.

Of course, WWE was fully aware of the Khan deal as this was going down, which was one of the reasons they went so hard in locking up talent of late. The great offer with the six-month window was with knowledge that Khan was not doing the promotion without The Bucks & Cody and signing them would keep them from being opposition. Without them, Khan wouldn’t have the star power and stars of All In, meaning he’d likely not have the openings to everything from television to top talent that was necessary.

Those who work in WWE with knowledge of the deal were certain they wouldn’t turn it down, and outright told me that they would be debuting at the Rumble, and had a Rumble-to-Mania significant storyline. When they made the decision to go to AEW, they remarked that it was mind-boggling that they would ever get an offer at that level, and even more that they were turning it down ...

A lot of WWE and NXT talent have been aware of this and have adopted a wait-and-see aspect.

Kushida is going from New Japan to WWE, expected to be for NXT, which combined with other departures is a strong loss for the NJPW junior division, particularly since Hiromu Takahashi’s injury was so serious. It was known Kushida was in talks with WWE, but while he’ll do well in NXT, that’s a big step down from NJPW, and 205 Live is purgatory, and the plight of Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa makes a guy of his size, regardless of talent, questionable in the world Vince McMahon controls. But he’s also at the age of either do it now or don’t do it, and he was heavily recruited.

Viper, who is under contract with WOS, which will expire soon, is expected to sign with WWE, for NXT, rather than AEW, which both made offers.

Kay Lee Ray, also under contract with WOS, is also expected to sign with WWE.

Bea Priestly, also with WOS, and currently with Stardom, has gotten a WWE offer. At last word, her future was undecided but she and Will Ospreay have talked about getting a place and moving full-time to Japan.

Two key matches planned for WrestleMania this year are part of the news this week. The first has to do with the Royal Rumble, and changes in plans. The Rumble card was revamped after Christmas, with the key change being plans for Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair getting changed to Rousey vs. Sasha Banks, a match that came out of nowhere on Raw. The back story is that as of right now, as noted a few weeks ago, the arguments to get Flair into the WrestleMania Rousey match were accepted by Vince McMahon. The current plan is a three-way for the title with Rousey vs. Flair vs. Becky Lynch. The feeling was also to not compromise that match, that Rousey shouldn’t face Flair at the Rumble.

We were also told that while that is the plan right now, it is not locked in stone and there are still two PPVs between Rumble and WrestleMania (Elimination Chamber on 2/17 in Houston and Fast Lane on 3/10 in Cleveland) that Rousey vs. Flair could take place at if McMahon changes his mind. We pretty much ran down the key arguments made for adding Flair and making it a three-way, especially if it’s promoted as the first-ever women’s main event in Mania history. It will give both Flair and Lynch the distinction for the rest of their career as being part of the first, which should elevate both and eventually make them legends of the industry. It also should be a better match with Flair involved.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m still not convinced Becky even makes it in. Good for Harrington getting an AEW job.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Mental health issues are important to be sensitive to, but Lars Sullivan has proven to be a lot of fucking trouble already. Between the way he carried himself as an entity online to now just not being the sort of person who has the make-up to be a performer. I'm not saying this with prejudice, but it might be time to cut bait on the guy if this just isn't the environment and line of work for him.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

WWE Network News is reporting that episodes of WWE Superstars from April of 1992 will be added to the network on January 21. The show has been entangled in legal issues, hence why they adding shows starting on that date.
https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/01/15/exclusive-update-on-january-classic-content-on-wwe-network-major-show-to-debut/

Ivelisse is saying that she is “being legally held hostage” by Lucha Underground. She said that they convinced her to do season four of the show under the promise that she would be released after the season concluded but are still refusing to let her go. Eric Van Wagnen told Pro Wrestling Sheet that no producers, executives or lawyers at MGM make those kinds of decisions and that the LLC, which is ran by Dorian Roldan and John Fogelman, are in charge of that.

Showbuzz Daily noted that they don’t have any ratings for the Pursuit Channel: “CABLE NOTE: Because so many people have asked, note that we have no ratings at all for the Pursuit service, including for IMPACT WRESTLING.” Impact debuted on the channel last Friday and also simulcasts on Twitch.

For those who have asked, there has been zero confirmation on an overnight audience for the 1/11 debut edition of Impact Wrestling on The Pursuit Channel. That would mean not only was it not in the top 150 broadcasts that night but many of the outlets that cover such things in the entertainment world don't have access to those numbers. Within the company, if they have the numbers, they were not being openly shared. This may be the new reality going forward, that the number is so low that access to getting it may be extremely hard.

Lars Sullivan reportedly had a panic attack before a planned match in Orlando last week. We were told he left the arena parking lot and has had virtual radio silence since then. Fightful.com was also told that Heavy Machinery had a showing that was said to have put their call-up in question initially, when a match with the Colons after Smackdown Live last week didn't go well at all.
Those two incidents apparently caused WWE to shelve all the plans they had for this group and just let them linger around both brands for the time being.

New Japan World has announced there will be English commentary for all seven cards in February. The shows will be the New Beginning in Sapporo on February 2nd, New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2 on February 3rd, the Road to the New Beginning card in Osaka on February 9th, New Beginning in Osaka (Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White) on February 11th, New Japan Road (Takashi Iizuka’s retirement match) on February 21st at Korakuen Hall, and the Honor Rising cards on February 22nd and 23rd from Korakuen Hall.

The Attitude Era-lite Alexa Bliss segment on last night's RAW featuring a stagehand walking into her dressing room while she was changing has been a big hit online. On YouTube, the segment is already nearing 2 million views. By comparison, Bliss announcing the Women's Tag Team Championship on the show is at 480,000 views. The segment from last night's RAW with Braun Strowman flipping over Vince McMahon's limousine is at over a little over 2 million views, but it was uploaded hours before the Bliss segment, and the Bliss segment has been climbing at a faster rate.

In 2016, they did a similar angle where Eva Marie faked a wardrobe malfunction to get out of a match on SmackDown. Because of the thumbnail image they chose from the clip, they produced two separate videos with one doing 51 million views and the other 37 million.

As previously reported, WWE has had plans to do Finn Balor vs. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view going back to November, despite the build to Braun Strowman vs. Lesnar, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Vince McMahon reportedly started having second thoughts on Strowman vs. Lesnar coming out of Crown Jewel in November, according to Meltzer. The idea was to have Lesnar go over Strowman at the Rumble, building to Seth Rollins vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania 35. Vince felt at one point that Strowman vs. Lesnar was not a good idea because Strowman had started cooling off some. WWE had to do the injury angle with Strowman because he legitimately needed elbow surgery, but the feeling was that this hurt him some more. Vince also felt like they couldn't afford to beat Strowman again and their choices were to have Strowman win the title, which was not an option, have a bad finish in the match, but they didn't want to do that either, or not do the match at all, which is what they went with.

WWE continued to advertise Lesnar vs. Strowman to help move tickets, because this year's Rumble pay-per-view is taking place at a baseball stadium - Chase Field in Phoenix.

Ring of Honor announced that they have signed Mexican superstar Rush to a US-exclusive contract.

Rush wrestles mainly in CMLL in Mexico, where he is one of their top stars. He also wrestles part time in NJPW, where he’s part of the Los Ingobernables de Japon stable.

Shane Strickland announced that he is officially a free agent.

It has been rumored that Strickland would be signing with WWE for months, but his signing was delayed because of an issue with his Lucha Underground contract. He wrestled in Lucha Underground as “Killshot.”

That has now apparently been cleared up, so Strickland is free to sign with WWE, or elsewhere

[Sepholio]

The Khans own the NFL Stadium in Jacksonville. While that might sound if WM ended up there because of AEW, stranger things have happened.

No they don't own it at all. They literally have 0 stake in the stadium. It is owned by Jacksonville.

Edit: The only stake Khan ever had in it was putting up $20 million for renovations, but that was part of his deal to get the team and have them there or whatever.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">⬇️⬇️⬇️<a href="https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28">https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28</a></p>&mdash; Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/1085701564302471168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[erickman]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">⬇️⬇️⬇️<a href="https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28">https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28</a></p>&mdash; Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/1085701564302471168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

boy did he fall when he went to wwe, they should have stayed in the indys

[ClockShot]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">⬇️⬇️⬇️<a href="https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28">https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28</a></p>&mdash; Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/1085701564302471168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I honestly believe I saw him in, like, 3 matches on TV. That's it. Another talent that got wasted.

With them and The Revival wanting out, and with AEW now out there, looks like everyone's making their decisions on jumping ship and making something out of their careers while they still can.

[erickman]

yeah anyone who has there contract coming up mid carders this is a good time to test the waters.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The official autobiography of WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino, Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography Of Wrestling's Living Legend is in the final stages of having a new, expanded version released, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The book was being worked on prior to Sammartino's passing last year at the age of 82 and after his passing, was pushed back to incorporate his passing and legacy.

MLW's next live special on beIN Sports is set for next month. It was announced today that MLW Fusion Live will air on beIN Sports at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, February 2. The special is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is part of the MLW Superfight event, with MLW also holding tapings that night in addition to the live show.

This week's Attitude Era-esque segments on RAW and SmackDown have been huge hits on YouTube.

As noted, Monday's random RAW segment of a stagehand walking into Alexa Bliss' dressing room is the most watched clip from the show by far. It now stands at a 4.2 million views, and is the most watched RAW clip since a match between Ronda Rousey & Ember Moon against Nia Jax & Tamina on December 3, 2018, which is at 4.3 million views.

The Mandy Rose hotel room segment above with Naomi and Jimmy Uso from Tuesday's SmackDown is also a big hit on YouTube. The video is at 1.5 million views as of this writing, far surpassing anything else on that show.

The Women of Wrestling (WOW) promotion has seen a resurgence in recent years thanks to the women's evolution sweeping through pro wrestling as well as the Netflix series, GLOW.

The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion was founded by David McLane in the 1980s and McLane also co-owns WOW along with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. McLane was on a WOW media call in which Wrestling Inc.'s Nick Hausman asked him about offering health insurance for talent.

"Each of our wrestlers has already and always been insured," stated McLane. "Unlike any other wrestling organization, we have full coverage for the talent if they get injured and many of the performers appreciate that and say thank you to Jeanie Buss for that."

McLane then said the Buss demanded that performers are insured even though no other wrestling promotion does that.

"We already do it and we've done it from day one due to Jeanie's concerns to make sure that the talent is protected," stated McLane.

But there hasn't been as much discussion about the behind-the-scenes personnel involved with AEW. Outside of Billy Gunn being a producer, we haven't heard much else about the agents, production staff or writers.

There's a good reason for that as Cody Rhodes said that the promotion isn't looking to hire writers any time soon. Cody had an interview with sescoops.com where he said the "wrestlers are the writers" and talent doesn't need to be micro-managed.

"We're talking bullet points, we're talking an overall knowledge of the business, and hey, let them go out and play," said Cody. "Take a look back at the wrestling you and I love. For the most part, they're all grown men and women doing what they were hired to do. They've cut their teeth, they've paid their dues and now they're going to go out there and play their music. I would very much like a presentation that mirrors that. We don't need to micro-manage and we certainly don't need to script a great deal of the product we're planning."

Fandango was at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on Tuesday, working towards his ring return, according to PWInsider. Fandango underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum back in July and it was believed that he would be back in action around January.

As Robert noted earlier, Sami Zayn and Sin Cara have also been at the Performance Center in the last week, also working to get cleared for their ring returns. Sami has been out of action since June and underwent surgery on both shoulders. WWE recently started airing "returning soon" vignettes for his return. Cara has been out of action since August with a knee injury.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported today on The Revival’s status with WWE: “Fightful.com learned today that several within WWE were fearful that Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were finishing up with the company. I'm careful to make sure not to say they outright asked for their releases, as I wasn't told explicitly that's what happened. Instead, I was told ‘has reason to be very fearful that The Revival are done or finishing up with the company’ after a situation unfolded at WWE Raw.”
Some details from Fightful.com's report from slik's earlier post.

The Bludgeon Brothers, Harper and Rowan, have both been cleared to return from injury and could be back as early as next week’s SmackDown, according to PWInsider.

On the latest episode of Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho, Jericho talks about how he ended up signing with All Elite Wrestling and his journey along the way, including being in negotiations with WWE until the final days.

Interestingly, Jericho also mentioned that Impact was also in the mix and that they made him a big offer and he “really, really thought about going there” until Tony Khan came in with the biggest offer of Jericho’s career.

[Emperor Smeat]

boy did he fall when he went to wwe, they should have stayed in the indys

I honestly believe I saw him in, like, 3 matches on TV. That's it. Another talent that got wasted.


To be fair a bit, WWE supposedly was never that interested in signing him and only did it as a package deal since they were way more interested in signing Maria back.

Also didn't help that he was pretty much doomed at the start because of his gimmick and some other untimely things happening.

[Simple Fan]

Yeah wish he'd been able to keep the Miracle gimmick from TNA. Could probably get it now if they really wanted but he's a lost cause at this point. Might be saved if he was to join up with Undisputed Era once they're called up. Or put him with KO and Sami once they return.

[Mr. Nerfect]

To be fair a bit, WWE supposedly was never that interested in signing him and only did it as a package deal since they were way more interested in signing Maria back.

Also didn't help that he was pretty much doomed at the start because of his gimmick and some other untimely things happening.

There’s probably truth to that, but what have they even done with Maria? Like, isn’t she back from maternity leave? Bennett himself seems like nothing special, but it’s cool to hear talent want out.

Re: Jericho Impact: He did say he considered it. Don Callis is his buddy. But he also later in the podcast took a swipe at them when talking about TV deals and said this wouldn’t be on “the dirt bike channel” or anything like that. He followed that up with “no offense,” but it would be a bad career move for him.

[XL]

Yeah wish he'd been able to keep the Miracle gimmick from TNA. Could probably get it now if they really wanted but he's a lost cause at this point. Might be saved if he was to join up with Undisputed Era once they're called up. Or put him with KO and Sami once they return.

Yeah I saw Bennett as part of Undisputed Era (ugh). Maybe they would have gone that route when Bobby Fish went out injured when Maria was off TV if not for his admission to rehab. (Not sure how the timeline maps out, Fish was injured in March, Strong joined them in April, and Maria was off TV from September 2017, so depending on when he went to rehab this may not have worked)

[slik]

I honestly believe I saw him in, like, 3 matches on TV. That's it. Another talent that got wasted.

With them and The Revival wanting out, and with AEW now out there, looks like everyone's making their decisions on jumping ship and making something out of their careers while they still can.

They basically got paid to go to rehab and have a baby

[slik]

From today's Observer



With the move to the Pursuit Channel, Impact ratings look to no longer be available due to tracking so low.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

From today's Observer

IT'S OVER!

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Over the last several weeks, there have been a number of stories and rumors about WWE talents asking for releases and/or departing in the wake of the announcement of All Elite Wrestling. While we normally shy away from rumors, we've received so many emails and questions about this, I figured it was best to address what we know in one place. So, in no particular order:

*Dolph Ziggler - There has been a lot of talk in the last week that Ziggler is done with WWE after turning down an offer to become a producer. His last TV appearance was the beat-down he took in a steel cage on Raw against Drew McIntyre last month. He has removed the Dolph Ziggler name from his social media and is embarking on a comedy tour soon. He has not been on the road for WWE in recent weeks after the completion of the Holiday house show tour. As of today, sources claim he remains under a WWE deal (and some there have denied he is exiting at all) but others have been pointing to 1/31 as an exit date ...

*Goldust - While his name obviously would be attached to his brother Cody's due to their relationship, PWInsider.com has not been able to substantiate any rumors that Dustin Runnells has asked for a WWE release.

*Mike Kanellis - We have heard from several sources that Mike Kanellis requested a release from WWE but was denied three weeks ago ... The belief among some WWE wrestlers is that Kanellis was hoping to return to Ring of Honor, but as of today, he has not been released from the company.

*Maria Kanellis - Her name has floated around in the last few days as also having asked for a WWE release, but PWInsider.com has not been able to substantiate that story.

*The Revival - Yesterday, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that there was "fear" within WWE that The Revival, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, were trying to get out of their deals with the company ... As of this morning, they are still slated for this weekend's Raw live events. Obviously, if they were able to get out of their deals, in a perfect world, they would be the perfect foil All Elite Wrestling could use against The Young Bucks, which is exactly why WWE wouldn't release them.

PWInsider.com can confirm, however, that WWE officials have started approaching talents whose deals are coming up in the next year, seeking to lock them up to longer form deals now. Whether there is a cause and effect there is debatable, since WWE has been locking talents (including Kevin Owens and The Miz) to new five-year deals for some time, but the timing is interesting, to say the least.

Ronda Rousey was announced as voicing the role of Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat 11.

WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh is reporting that WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle's sixteen-year-old niece has been recovered by authorities in a McKeesport, PA home after being kidnapped.

The report states that Angle's niece was forced into a car by 19-year old Jermaine Rodgers, of East Pittsburgh, who was arrested on charges that include felony counts of kidnapping of a minor, burglary and unlawful restraint of a minor. Angle's niece was found by authorities in the living room of the same home that Rodgers was later found to be hiding in. She had bruising on her face.

WTAE-TV reported that Rodgers had forced his way into her home in order to get her to leave with him. Angle's niece's location was discovered by authorities after she and Rodgers were spotted on a Facebook live video by someone, who then tipped the local police off.

Rodgers had hidden himself in a coal cellar, forcing authorities to go in and retrieve him after a SWAT team was called. Another missing girl was found in the home.

Angle had taken to social media asking for help in finding his niece and after she was rescued, wrote, "My niece has been found. Just wanted to say thank you to all those who have prayed and have shared posts to help locate her. My family is truly appreciative. Love you all.”

Major League Wrestling has signed California star Jacob Fatu, PWInsider.com has learned.

Fatu, the son of former WWE star The Tonga Kid aka Tama of the Islanders, has been wrestling for several years using the "Samoan Werewolf" nickname. I've always been impressed with his work when I've covered shows he's worked.

The plan is for Fatu to get a big push out of the gate as a heel with the company. There have already been comparisons internally between Fatu's work and the late Umaga, which is obviously high praise.

One of the most talked about stories over the last several days has been CMLL star Rush signing an exclusive deal with Ring of Honor, pulling out of Major League Wrestling and his slot in the main event of their 4/4 event on Wrestlemania week in New York City.

The backstory here is that Major League Wrestling had planned a massive push for Rush in the new year, including a potential MLW Championship run. He had been offered what sources have told PWInsider.com was a $200,000 a year contract that would have seen MLW also assist him and his family financially in becoming United States citizens. The deal also would have been a conduit to Rush doing broadcast work for BeIN Sports. MLW saw him as the centerpiece going forward and was going to bend over backwards to give him all sorts of contract points that to date, they had not offered anyone else, including his father, lucha legend Bestia del Ring, being brought in to be honored at a MLW event.

We are told that CMLL, which has Rush under contract exclusively in Mexico and owns the rights to book him out, was aware of the MLW deal and had given Rush approval for him to sign the deal ...

Before pen was put to paper, however, Ring of Honor stepped into the picture, wanting to use Rush as part of an internal push to have more Latin stars on their programming, which is why Bandido was also signed. We are told that their deal was exclusive to the United States and Canada and actually paid Rush less financially, but with their relationship to CMLL, the decision was made that ROH was an official partner and that it was better for Rush to sign there
Observer reporting Rush's contract with ROH is for 1 year and around $155k.

Ironically, with this new deal, he’ll be working far more dates for ROH than he would have for MLW, and ROH, and not CMLL, has priority on dates, although CMLL is supposed to have the ability to book him on all their major Friday shows. But both Rush and Bandido signed one-year deals with ROH, giving them good money for limited dates in ROH. The deal opens New Japan up for Bandido (Rush already had New Japan opened up but he’s not really a Japanese style wrestler and it wasn’t high on his priority list) and still allows them to work Mexico on their off dates. And then, if AEW is stable at the end of this year, they will both become free agents after being pushed as top guys in ROH, meaning at least three different companies will be after them.

In the case of Rush, he’s very close with Andrade, who pretty much warned him and Dragon Lee about going to WWE. There is the belief Dragon Lee will be making a move similarly, with the same idea of signing a one-year deal if possible, to take advantage of free agency early next year. It still could be ROH because ROH offers the line to New Japan which, at least this week, AEW doesn’t. But who knows what happens by the end of this year. MLW had also offered him their world title as part of the deal to get him to sign and multiple sources said had beaten the ROH financial deal, surprisingly enough, for what would have been far fewer dates, which shows how much the market has changed quickly when it comes to marketable free agents.

Kay Lee Ray is still booked for the World of Sport tour that starts this weekend, but she and Viper (who was in Japan and had a major match on 1/14 so coming in would be difficult) are both expected in WWE when those contracts expire. Viper reportedly got a much better offer, since AEW had interest and the market has changed, than the women in the NXT U.K. brand. Gabert would have also likely had AEW interest, and got over huge in the 2017 Mae Young Classic and was offered a contract, only to have it rescinded because of the state of her neck after being examined. She since underwent surgery.

Supposedly Viper will be making more money than any other woman wrestler in NXT UK solely because AEW was also interested in her and WWE broke their pay scale for women in order to ensure AEW couldn't have her.

One of the things with Kushida which led to his leaving for WWE is that early last year he wanted to go heel and join the Bullet Club, but Gedo wanted him to stay in his place. The deal was that New Japan needed the solid junior heavyweight guy, with Will Ospreay in Chaos, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Desperado and Taka Michinoku in Suzuki-gun, Taiji Ishimori in Bullet Club and Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi in LIJ. The home team side had Ryusuke Taguchi, but he’s more comedy now and only turning it on as a serious guy for a few matches a year like Super Juniors, and Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger are legends, but they are no longer in the singles title picture. That probably isn’t the only reason but it was part of it. He handled it professionally, working until 1/29, doing his clean jobs at the Dome and Dash, and because he handled it so professionally he’s getting his first career singles match with Hiroshi Tanahashi on his last night at Korakuen Hall

There has been a lot of talk regarding who owns the All In footage. Based on the contracts signed at the time, ROH owns all of the broadcast rights to that show

There’s really nothing new on the Lars Sullivan story. The company is handling it about as well as could be possible and to the best of our knowledge he has been told he has the option to return when he is ready and the company is very supportive of him. He was not mentioned once on television this week. It’s probably for the best he didn’t come back this week given the way they debuted most of the newcomers

Regarding the debuts, Vince is of the mentality right now he just wants people to see their faces on television. So the writers have to write stuff where they are in the background. They haven’t decided how to use them or on what show, but he wants people seeing them and feels what matters is when they come up with the plan how to use them and people will forget this, but they’ll know who they are, with the idea the majority of his fans don’t know who they are. Thus far EC 3 has come across as a minor league Lex Luger, Dozovic as a stocky Eugene, Cross as kind of wacky but charismatic woman with no direction and Evans likes wearing hats and is somebody’s idea of a Southern Belle from the 50s

Although the USA Network constantly pushes the idea they were No. 1 in prime time in 2018, technically that’s far from the case. USA was actually No. 5 on basic cable averaging a 1.07 rating and 1,291,000 viewers. That number is greatly boosted by Raw and Smackdown. And it will decline significantly after Smackdown leaves and will likely fall several notches. With no Smackdown this year the average would have fallen to 1,164,000 and move it to eighth place. Fox News, ESPN, MSNBC and Home & Garden TV were the top four. TBS and TNT have a strong shot of beating USA next year and even more so in 2020 without Smackdown

Even though Kevin Owens is expected to be cleared fairly soon, right now the decision is not to bring him back to television until after Mania

After the Bandido situation, WWE has made it clear, at least for certain people, that they will beat anyone’s offer for talent, although they did not do so in the case of Chris Jericho. WWE has told people if you can show on paper an offer from another company, they’ll beat it, even double it on the spot provided you sign immediately


Vince McMahon is the one behind the decision to air WWE 205 Live each week as a live show.

The show was moved back to airing live each week mainly because Vince reportedly wants there to be live programming on the WWE Network, according to PWInsider.

There was some talk online this week about how airing the show live after SmackDown killed the crowd reactions that some of the cruiserweights were getting when the show was taped before SmackDown to air on Wednesday nights. PWInsider touched on this and noted that the crowd reactions from this week's live show vs. the recent taped episodes were "night and day."

We've mentioned how WWE's more risque segments this week involving Alexa Bliss on RAW and the Mandy Rose - Naomi hotel room brawl on SmackDown have been garnering huge views on YouTube (5.1 million and 2.1 million as of this writing, respectively). Bliss' segment is actually now the most viewed RAW clip on YouTube since Roman Reigns announced his leukemia diagnosis last October.

The same applies for Impact Wrestling this week. The segment above on the latest episode of Impact Wrestling featuring Scarlett Bordeaux in her lingerie teasing giving Scott Steiner a lapdance is at 853,000 views on YouTube. It is the most viewed clip from an episode of Impact in recent memory.

As a comparison, the most viewers for a first-run episode of Impact since the show left Spike TV was 410,000 for the Final Deletion episode on July 5th.

Dakota Kai said on Twitter that she suffered a torn ACL last month and was going in for surgery today.

She suffered the injury at an NXT house show on December 7. After a running kick spot, she had trouble getting up and the referee threw up the “X” and she was taken out of the match.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Man, the Angle family has some crazy stuff happen to it. Wasn’t one of Kurt’s brothers a murderer or armed robber or victim thereof or something? And now his niece gets kidnapped. The dude has a tumultuous life.

Ha @ WWE doubling offers on the spot. That shows some nerves. I hope talent is smart enough to hear that and think “Hmm...maybe I’ll see what the others can do?”.

[Emperor Smeat]

Might be thinking of Ziggler. His brother got arrested two years ago for robbery and murder.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Might be thinking of Ziggler. His brother got arrested two years ago for robbery and murder.

Oh shit, I’m conflating stories. Dolph has a brother, Donald, who killed someone in a drug deal/robbery, while Kurt has a brother, David, who killed his wife in an argument.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tamina’s dad is probably a murderer. The Colons’ dad probably helped cover up a murder. Surprisingly quite a few WWE roster members with a familial relationship to a murderer.

[GD]

*Dolph Ziggler - There has been a lot of talk in the last week that Ziggler is done with WWE after turning down an offer to become a producer. His last TV appearance was the beat-down he took in a steel cage on Raw against Drew McIntyre last month. He has removed the Dolph Ziggler name from his social media and is embarking on a comedy tour soon. He has not been on the road for WWE in recent weeks after the completion of the Holiday house show tour. As of today, sources claim he remains under a WWE deal (and some there have denied he is exiting at all) but others have been pointing to 1/31 as an exit date ...

I genuinely worry for Ziggler. His comedy act isn't that good.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Only took us 10 and a half years but when it's right, its right. I love you <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiCrossWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NikkiCrossWWE</a> <a href="https://t.co/933kzvB3Md">pic.twitter.com/933kzvB3Md</a></p>&mdash; Killian Dain (@KillianDain) <a href="https://twitter.com/KillianDain/status/1086010554563682305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First photo and most recent, 2008 and 2019 :-) <a href="https://t.co/rGQclryjkq">pic.twitter.com/rGQclryjkq</a></p>&mdash; Nikki Cross (@NikkiCrossWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiCrossWWE/status/1086010990691524611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[GD]

Petty.

[Fignuts]

Slik seems like the kind of person who would be mean to dogs.

[Mr. Nerfect]

#TeamSlik

[RP]

what the fuck happened to Killian Dane in that 10 years?

[Simple Fan]

what the fuck happened to Killian Dane in that 10 years?

Nikki might be a great cook.

[erickman]

well he looked chubby 10 years ago, he is one harry man

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Despite reports to the contrary, Harper has not been medically cleared as of press time. He’s pretty much healed and shouldn’t be far off, but it hasn’t happened yet. Rowan has been training for his return. Guys who are on the injured list and not cleared are having the Mysterio/Bryan thing with their contracts so each day they are out of action their contract extends for another day, so in the case of guys like this out for months, the contracts are being extended for months

WWE have a job posting for a temporary position of Logger.

The posting reads "WWE is looking for passionate WWE fans to be part of a logging project. The logger will be responsible for watching WWE content and recognizing key attributes that should be tagged within WWE programming on WWE Network."

Key Responsibilities:
Watch and log hours of WWE footage daily
Utilizing strong product knowledge from the last 30 years of WWE, WCW, ECW and other professional wrestling libraries, create catalog of content.
Data entry of key moments in WWE programming
Provide consistent updates to manager and key stakeholders

Link: https://wwecorp.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/wwecorp/job/Remote---Connecticut/Logger---TEMP_R0002290

The demand for tonight's PWG show in Los Angeles is the lowest in recent memory. It's the byproduct of changes in the industry that will keep companies like that from having the same length of time to use the upcoming talent since everyone good is being signed. The last I heard the show wasn't sold out. Some of it also is because a lot of regulars went to the Tokyo Dome show and weren't up for another trip so quickly.
British indies scene had a similar issue happen regarding declining interest after ITV and WWE locked down as many notable stars as possible for their own shows.

Rush will begin with Ring of Honor as soon as his work visa is approved.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan spoke with People about his recent return to Monday Night Raw to honor Gene Okerlund and where he is in life compared to when the infamous tape featuring Hogan dropping some horribly racist language was filmed ...

On potentially returning to the ring as a wrestler, Hogan admitted, "I’m too old to wrestle. I embarrassed myself enough out there by moving too slow, so I don’t want to get back in there again. I don’t think I could. I could probably wrestle somebody like John Cena or Vince McMahon, but as soon as I’d be done they’d be taking me straight to the hospital to fix something … the body’s too worn out for that.”

The article states that Vince McMahon was the one who reached out and asked Hogan to make an appearance on Raw to pay tribute to the late Gene Okerlund, who passed away on 1/2.
Link: https://people.com/sports/hulk-hogan-life-now-2019-exclusive-interview/

Joey Janela announced that at his Spring Break event over Wrestlemania 35 weekend, former WWE star Mantaur will be appearing, in that gimmick:

We had to travel to the island of Crete, to find our first participant Many islanders there believed he was killed by big game hunters. Until we entered a cave to find him feasting on raw Gazelle and we realized it was time for to reintroduce you to THE MANTAUR! #JJSB3 pic.twitter.com/OBdcbqemvl
— Bad Boy Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) January 17, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/1085718362804637696

For those of you attempting to DVR Impact Wrestling now that it has migrated to The Pursuit Channel, be aware of the following:

* If you are a Verizon Fios subscriber, the series is NOT listed in the cable guide as airing tonight at 10 PM EST, so you'll need to manually go in and record that time period.

* If you are a DirecTV subscriber, Impact is listed as four different 30 minute episodes, so make sure you are covered.

* Cox Cable does carry Pursuit, so look for the channel if you want to watch Impact.

* The Pursuit Channel is not currently carried by Spectrum/fka Time-Warner Cable.

* The series will also stream live at 10 PM Eastern on Impact's Twitch.tv channel at Twitch.tv/ImpactWrestling.

Impact is trying something new for Twitch users, where you can take the Impact Wrestling feed and provide your own commentary on your Twitch channel. The promotion requests that you delete the VOD version after Impact airs but can take the audio and post wherever you would like.
They did something similar last year for their Impact vs Lucha Underground super-show held during Mania 34 weekend.

Maria Kanellis

Maria Kanellis made the following post on Instagram, denying that she asked for her release from WWE. The report was that she and Mike Kanellis requested their release three weeks ago, but the release was denied by WWE.

For what it’s worth, PWInsider reported that Mike Kanellis asked for his release, but said that they weren’t able to substantiate the rumors of Maria also asking for her release. In Maria’s post, she doesn’t deny that Mike asked for his release. Pro Wrestling Sheet, which first reported the story, said that they’ve had multiple sources confirm it to them.


The Revival

As mentioned, The Revival also reportedly requested their release on Monday.

Dash Wilder has changed his name on Twitter to his real name, Daniel Wheeler. It was previously “Dash.”

He also has this tweet pinned:
Maria: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsyjI8fBaQI , Wilder: https://twitter.com/DashWilderWWE/status/1069792017528557568

Scott Stanford revealed on Twitter that he and Charly Caruso were filming an episode of WWE Vintage today. The show was hosted by Okerlund for years but later became an international program, at times hosted by Renee Young. We're not sure if the show is still airing internationally but it looks like this could be a reboot, perhaps for the WWE Network. We will keep you posted on updates. Below is Sanford's tweet:

An honor to keep the legacy of Mean Gene alive by co hosting a show that he hosted for many years! #vintage @CharlyCarusoWWE @WWE pic.twitter.com/VDYCs2XFdC
— Scott Stanford (@scottstanford1) January 18, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/scottstanford1/status/1086332316690116619

[rez]

Can you do a video? That's too much reading

[Mr. Nerfect]

No it's not. Thanks for the updates, Smeat.

[Emperor Smeat]

Can you do a video? That's too much reading

Too lazy to do something like that and never really liked hearing my own voice when recorded. Also would probably get interrupted a lot with other stuff going around in the house.

[slik]

I like the way Smeat does things now and appreciate all the hard work he puts into it.

[Fignuts]

Smeat, can you shine my shoes as well?

Don't miss a spot or no tip, fella!

[Sting Fan]

I watched that Steiner Impact segment on Youtube... What a disaster. I know hes getting on but he looked terrible and the chick looked so uncomfortable dancing. I would like a few Attitude era segments coming through again but that was just an uncomfortable watch.

[xrodmuc316]

I watched that Steiner Impact segment on Youtube... What a disaster. I know hes getting on but he looked terrible and the chick looked so uncomfortable dancing. I would like a few Attitude era segments coming through again but that was just an uncomfortable watch.

I know he was wearing a sweatshirt, but it looked like his "largest arms in the world" were gone.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Steiner is more than double her age. I like the way that when trying to get more fans in, the model they use is 2003 Raw.

[Heisenberg]

I watched that Steiner Impact segment on Youtube... What a disaster. I know hes getting on but he looked terrible and the chick looked so uncomfortable dancing. I would like a few Attitude era segments coming through again but that was just an uncomfortable watch.

Wouldn’t have gotten that many views if Eli Drake had his crotch grinded on.

You know it

The IMPACT fans know it

Lastly, PISS CLUb tonight

[Evil Vito]

Velveteen Dream is teasing a match with John Cena. If the rumored Lars Sullivan match is off the table, this should happen. Dream vs. Cena at Wrestlemania would be fucking awesome.

[Sting Fan]

Wouldn’t have gotten that many views if Eli Drake had his crotch grinded on.

You know it

The IMPACT fans know it

Lastly, PISS CLUb tonight

I only clicked on it because of Steiner, thats true. The thought of seeing a nice crisp suplex to someone got me plus a little nostalgia. I marked out a little for his music then it all went down hill because it's been almost 20 years since he was worth watching.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Velveteen Dream is teasing a match with John Cena. If the rumored Lars Sullivan match is off the table, this should happen. Dream vs. Cena at Wrestlemania would be fucking awesome.

I was thinking of heels that I would like to have seen Cena go against. I'm just assuming that Bryan vs. Cena is off limits and was never the plan. Drew McIntyre, Shinsuke Nakamura and Andrade are the three that come to mind. I'm also not opposed to a babyface Rusev getting a chance for redemption against Cena at Mania. But I do have to say...Cena vs. Dream is mighty appealing.

Dream has got that legitimate star potential. He's oozes charisma. Him doing his "obsessed fan" kind of thing with Cena, attacking him at the Rumble and then following him right through until Mania where "be careful what you wish for, kid," he gets Big Match John. That could be fucking ace. Lars can win the Andre Battle Royal or eventually become Dream's bodyguard. Give the Dream his starring moment.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think having unhappy soldiers in the back is just going to be counterproductive right now. That Revival asked for their release 3 months back and promises to them have been broken, I just think it's better for morale to call the big dog shot and just let them go to AEW.

[Evil Vito]

Dream/Cena reminds me a bit of Fandango/Jericho, except with a more prominent position on the card. And I imagine they'll get more than a three-week build.

[Evil Vito]

Speaking of Fandango, he should definitely win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal to get another unexpected win in MetLife Stadium

Failing that, it's not like they're gonna do anything with the fucking thing so just have Curt Hawkins win it to give him some semblance of payoff to his losing streak

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dream/Cena reminds me a bit of Fandango/Jericho, except with a more prominent position on the card. And I imagine they'll get more than a three-week build.

That match did go through my head, haha. I'm not sure if I would use this as an opportunity to repackage Fandango and give him a serious singles push, or if I would put him back with Breeze but with a slightly modified gimmick where they can be real challengers to the Raw Tag Titles. Roode & Gable vs. Johnny Curtis & Breeze could be a damn fine feud.

Man, I'm getting way more excited at the prospect of a Cena/Dream feud than I really should.

[Mr. Nerfect]

This might be going too much down a Goldust/Marlena route, but with Andrade apparently unhappy, you have to believe they would consider reassigning Zelina Vega somewhere. Imagine if she became the manager to Dream. Eventually they can become "involved" which can bring out Aleister Black and add another tier to their feud.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It seems naive to believe that they would matter as a team, but I wonder what Triple H told them, or what Vince said to their faces?

[xrodmuc316]

Dream/Cena reminds me a bit of Fandango/Jericho, except with a more prominent position on the card. And I imagine they'll get more than a three-week build.

The best is that Jerichos pitch was a squash match with Ryback, which would have kept Rybacks momentum.

Instead they jobbed Jericho to Fandango, jobbed Ryback to Mark Henry, and Vince did the Fandango dance all the way to the top of the iTunes charts for a few days...WORTH IT PAL!

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd take Jericho/Fandango.

[slik]

Akam of AOP has undergone knee surgery and that is why they haven't been used

- Bryan Alvarez on WOR

[Evil Vito]

Aiden English has been added to the 205 Live commentary team.

[Big Vic]

really cool of WWE to give Ziggler the win over an undefeated guy before leaving the company.

[erickman]

Aiden English has been added to the 205 Live commentary team.

he should do good at that

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

WWE has confirmed the announce teams for Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The men's Royal Rumble match will be called by Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jerry Lawler, and JBL. Lawler had noted on his podcast that he'd be calling the match with Cole and JBL.

Renee Young, Beth Phoenix, Tom Phillips, and Graves will be the announce team for the women's Royal Rumble match.

The other Raw and SmackDown matches will be called by the usual announce teams for each brand (Cole, Graves, and Young for Raw and Phillips, Graves, and Byron Saxton for SmackDown). Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson are calling Buddy Murphy's Cruiserweight Championship defense against Kalisto, Akira Tozawa, and Hideo Itami.

Mike Rome and Greg Hamilton have been announced as the ring announcers for the event.

Dolph Ziggler was not backstage at last night's Monday Night Raw and was only scheduled for this past weekend's live events. Ziggler lives in Phoenix so if WWE wants to place him in the Royal Rumble match, they could do so rather easily at the last second.
If they don't use in the Rumble, another possible sign that Ziggy isn't staying in the WWE since his contract expires soon.

The International Wrestling Syndicate tweeted the following, announcing that tag team 3.0, who have been seen in the past in CHIKARA, have been signed to WWE NXT deals:

Well the cats out of the bag!
IWS pro wrestling would like to congratulate former IWS tag team, canadian and world champions and IWS dojo trainers Big Magic and Scott Parker on signing with NXT . Tear the house down boys !!!
Were so proud of you !!! pic.twitter.com/BAXqnVJAjO
— IWS (@IWSHardcore) January 22, 2019

WWE put out a press release saying they are now partnering with New Era Cap, who will make hats and other headwear for WWE going forward.

Lavie Margolin at Wrestling Inc looks at the streaming numbers for Impact Wrestling and AAA from Twitch this past week. He notes that Impact peaked with 7,866 live viewers for this past Friday’s episode, compared to a high of 10,422 for the debut on Twitch the week prior. Impact was the most-watched program among wrestling programming on the service with AAA in second place.

Otis Dozovic has been removed from the WWE NXT team for the Worlds Collide tournament that will take place during the Royal Rumble Axxess sessions this coming weekend, likely due to his main roster call-up. Otis has been replaced by Shane Thorne.

The WWE RAW and SmackDown viewership will be delayed this week due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

As we previously reported, former Impact X-Division Champion Trevor Lee recently announced that he has signed with WWE. He will be starting at the WWE Performance Center in early February with several other recognizable names.

Former TNA Gut Check winner Sam Shaw will also be reporting to the Performance Center in February. Shaw worked for TNA from 2010 through June of 2015.

Rachael Ellering and Karen Q will also be a part of the February class. Both women competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament. Ellering also worked the 2017 Mae Young Classic, as well as several matches in NXT.

ACH will also be a part of the February class. ACH had recently been working for NJPW.

Other names for the February class include Canadian tag team 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews), Jonah Rock, Elliot Sexton and former Monster Factory Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Nick Comoroto, who is 6 ft. 3 inches and weighs 275 lbs.

John Cena’s injury is not legit, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. WWE announced last night that Cena was “questionable” for the Royal Rumble after suffering an ankle injury from a Drew McIntyre ankle lock last week, then re-aggravating the injury while he was working out.

Meltzer speculated that WWE originally wanted to have Lars Sullivan attack Cena and “injure” him to take him out of the Royal Rumble, but Sullivan’s debut hasn’t happened yet, reportedly because of anxiety issues.

Luke Harper was training for his return at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando yesterday.

Both he and Harper have been cleared to return and could be back as early as this week.

Rowan has been out since August with a torn right bicep and while he was out, Harper underwent surgery on his left arm.

[Fignuts]

WWE signing so many people. What the fuck are they going to even do with them all?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I wonder if this means Cena vs. McIntyre at Mania? He seems like the most likely candidate to slip into a Cena match.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

A Royal Rumble burger will be on sale for those in attendance at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday. It’s an 18 ounce pork bratwurst patty on a toasted onion roll with cheddar cheese, smoked bacon, crispy coleslaw, fried onions, and BBQ aioli. The burger is topped with fried macaroni and cheese wedges.
Link: https://twitter.com/ChaseField/status/1088157622887276544

Chris Sabin has confirmed that the knee injury he suffered earlier this month is a torn ACL.

Sabin tweeted out an injury update today, writing that the injury is a "complete ACL tear" in his right knee and that he expects to be out of action for 8-12 months.

Paul Levesque met with reporters this morning for the NXT TakeOver Phoenix conference call ...

Mike asked what the status of Lars Sullivan is.

Paul said that there is always speculation and stories all the time. He said Lars is in a good place and nothing has really changed. He said you will know when you see it but nothing has changed.

All Elite Wrestling applied to trademark the term 'Change The Universe' for wrestling and merchandise purposes on 1/17. That was the line Chris Jericho used when he announced he was signing with the upstart promotion earlier this month in Jacksonville, Florida.

A trademark for Starrcast was applied for by Starrcast LLC, based out of Hunstville, AL on 1/10. Obviously, that's the parent company for the Conrad Thompson-promoted gathering, which will have its second incarnation this May in Las Vegas in conjunction with AEW's Double or Nothing event.

On a related note, there was some speculation on CM Punk being associated with AEW after a RedBubble designer was sent a copyright claim related to CM Punk artwork. The claim came from rights holder Creative Ventures Inc. and the listed subject matter was "All Elite Wrestling, ProWrestling Tees."

Ryan Barkan from Pro Wrestling Tees, which is working closely with AEW, explained the CM Punk speculation on Twitter and noted that he just filed copyright violations for bootleg merchandise of Punk, AEW and others, at the same time, and that is why AEW was mentioned on the Punk copyright claim.

"For the record, I file copyright violations weekly at the same time for hundreds of designs on tons of bootleg sites including new japan designs, bucks, macho man, cm punk, AEW, legion of doom etc.," Barkan wrote. "I'm not sure why this is news. People should stop bootlegging merch, THAT'S NEWS!"

Rusev discussed the origin of Rusev Day and how other WWE Superstars helped promote it during an interview with Planeta Wrestling.

"It was supposed to be a one off, just a celebration after I beat Randy Orton and that was it," said Rusev. "A few weeks after I was going "Rusev Day, Rusev Day" and people really started digging it, even in the backstage with the New Day and with Aiden signing "Rusev Day" helped. People just got it and loved the whole concept and it became really big."

There's been a lot of speculation on JoJo's WWE status but word is that she's just off the road due to personal reasons.

JoJo has not appeared on WWE RAW as a ring announcer since the New Year's Eve episode, which was taped in late December. PWInsider reports that she is still employed by WWE and there is nothing wrong as far as backstage heat or anything like that.

There's no word yet on when JoJo will return to WWE TV but it looks like she's expected to be gone past Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view. WWE confirmed the ring announcers and the commentators for Rumble weekend and JoJo was not listed. Mike Rome will be handling the red brand ring announcing until she's back.

There has been talk of linking Sin Cara with Rey Mysterio on the SmackDown brand when Cara returns to action, according to PWInsider. Cara should be returning soon after being out of action since August with a knee injury. The masked Superstar was back at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando today training in the ring.

In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE is planning to push unhappy talent to prevent them from leaving upon the expiration of their contracts.

This news comes on the heels of The Revival asking for their release from the company due to their unhappiness with the booking. The Revival have recently made several references on Twitter to All Elite Wrestling.

Sasha Banks has also hinted at wanting out of her contract, tweeting at Scott Dawson to "take me with you!" when he spoke about potentially leaving WWE.

Meltzer spoke to the fact that WWE does not want fans to know that unhappy talents are wanting to leave and potentially go to competing promotions like AEW.

WWE believes they can keep talents like The Revival and Andrade by giving them pushes, as this could make them want to stay with the company.

[slik]

On this week's OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW Podcast Brad Shepard said WrestleMania 36 is 100% in Florida. He did not confirm TAMPA as the host city, but he did not deny it either. JACKSONVILLE, as crazy as that might sound, has also been rumored as a favorite.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The major news today was Dave Meltzer’s report in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter regarding the status of Ronda Rousey beyond WrestleMania. Meltzer reported that she is expected to be finishing up her run around that time, although is expected to continue her affiliation with the company. It is no secret Rousey has always stated she eventually wants to start a family and has hinted in the past about not being able to wrestle forever ...

Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet added that Rousey informed the company around the Survivor Series that she would be taking a break after WrestleMania, although stated it is not set in stone.

In regard to Royal Rumble surprises, we are told that if there are going to be any, the decision would have been made at TV this past week. We haven't confirmed any outside names being brought in as of this morning, but if we do confirm anyone, we'll report. Just wanted to mention that since it's been a big email topic the last 24 hours.

On Thursday, I was told that the status of John Cena has not changed for this Sunday’s Royal Rumble and he is not expected for Sunday’s show. The WWE has not issued any update beyond Monday’s announcement that he was “questionable” for the show, there was also no mention of Cena’s status on SmackDown. The person I spoke with stated that if Cena were to appear in the Rumble, it would mean a lot of people were kept in the dark and I can’t imagine them going to these lengths for a surprise that isn’t even a big one when they’re still semi-advertising him.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has revealed the cards for their New Beginning USA events.

The lineups for the three-show tour were affected by the government shutdown that's going on in the United States, with NJPW issuing a statement saying that they were unable to obtain visas for their Japanese wrestlers.
To show how dire the cards are in star power, biggest name on the cards is arguably Juice Robinson.

At this point the delays were such that even if everything cleared up this week, it would still be a few weeks before they could be processed or past the point of these shows. They felt that 1/24 was the deadline for announcing the cards and thus the shows had to be changed from the original plans. The key guys this affected were Tomohiro Ishii and Yuji Nagata, who were supposed to be the headliners, as well as Hirooki Goto (who was supposed to be programmed with Jeff Cobb) and I think Satoshi Kojima (that wasn’t confirmed to me but the name was mentioned and he wasn’t booked in Japan) and Jushin Liger

Unlike with other companies who would have announced the shows originally and then been announced the changes when the shutdown screwed everything up, they waited until the last possible time, but the shows also aren’t what was originally on the books and if you know anything about Japan, they hate to change original plans because everything is intricately laid out. A number of visas were applied for in November with the idea they’d be taken care of by December and the cards could be announced after Dash. But even today, the visas haven’t been processed so they were waiting to announce the cards

The Rumble itself looks to be close to a six-hour show. Right now the plan is seven matches for the main card, which starts at 7 p.m. and can go as long as until midnight. Seven matches is a lot when two 30-person Rumbles on the same show would both be around one hour duration time

One of the reasons MLW went to such great lengths for Rush is because they don’t want to be just another promotion catering to the indie fans and figure that the Hispanic market is the one not being fully served in the U.S., which I agree with. Another aspect not really talked about is that even though Rush and Konnan are fine, Paco Alonso hates Konnan because they were on opposite sides of a brutal AAA vs. CMLL war in the 90s, and Konnan was CMLL’s golden boy who had one of the best Arena Mexico runs in history with Perro Aguayo, and then both left for AAA, although Aguayo was never office in AAA while Konnan was Antonio Pena’s right-hand man who was constantly trying to recruit his top talent. But MLW was going to not just sponsor Rush, but also Dragon Lee and Mistico for visas and use them as top guys.


Matt Jackson talked about the OWE deal in an interview with Nuclear Convoy ... He said he fully expects OWE talent at the Las Vegas show. He said he plans on having OWE talent as among the first things people see when the promotion starts up because they will grab audience’s attention and deliver something most fans have never seen. “I plan to have OWE be one of the first things on our show, because we’ve got one first time impression and we’ve got to make it a big one.”

He also said that part of the deal would include AEW talent working OWE shows in China. “The plan is to definitely expand into China, as it’s one of the few untapped markets with lots of potential.”

HHH also pretty much said without saying that the reason the Brooklyn Takeover show was moved up a day to 4/5 was because of the NJPW/ROH show in Madison Square Garden. Obviously he didn’t say it, but when asked why the date was changed, he said it was because they didn’t want to make the fan base choose

It should be noted that talent is being told that when the new television money kicks in later this year, that new contracts will be way up from past deals ... There’s been talk of it being like all sports where you’re signed for a figure and that’s what you make, and anything above that is either a bonus or a contracted percentage of merchandise

The Revival’s contracts aren’t up until April 2020. They asked for their release because they are really serious about doing the best work they can do, and with tag teams not being a focus and different priorities, that wasn’t going to happen in WWE ...

It will be interesting what happens next because with some people, them being unhappy results in them getting a push because they don’t want unhappy people nor do they want people who want to leave or people starting to have a grass is greener mentality from what happened with Cody.

The last thing right now you would want is for someone to leave, go to AEW, and end up over more there and doing better in the ring there. For a lot of the guys, while money is a big thing, it’s not the only thing and the ones who grew up as fans want to have great matches. If the money is close, and the schedule is easier, and your work is better, many will find the outside better. Of course, WWE has the ability to make the money not close, and for a lot of talent, it’s money, and for some who didn’t grow up as fans of wrestling but only saw WWE, there is no emotional attachment toward anything but being a WWE wrestler as opposed to being a pro wrestler. The Revival grew up on the legend of Carolinas wrestling so that’s a different mentality to a lot of the guys who grew up where WWE was it

Both Matt & Jeff Hardy’s contracts expire at Mania season but the expectation is they are staying for at least one more year. They signed a two year deal in 2017 with a third year option. It’s believed WWE will pick up the option now, which does include a substantial pay raise in year three.

Mike & Maria Kanellis also asked for their release several weeks ago and were turned down. They haven’t been used much since. Pro Wrestling Sheet reported the story. Maria denied it. It was already done long before it broke but the original story was accurate

While not a certainty, there is a school of thought that Andrade is now the new project big Latin babyface star for the future. Plus, if he’s happy, it opens the door for him as an influence in bringing in the young stars. While not a sure thing, the direction looks to be that Mysterio & Andrade end their program as a babyface tag team with Andrade getting the rub from Mysterio as part of strengthening of the tag team division. That’s likely because AEW is logically going to use tag teams on top, rather than just taking up mid-level space, and that creates the grass is greener scenario for every WWE team, which makes The Revival situation make complete sense. Plus, WWE’s most popular gimmick team, The New Day, is already friends with the Young Bucks and have wanted to work with them for years

As of right now, there is no planned match for The Undertaker at WrestleMania this year, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

But that could always change as the show gets closer, of course.

Impact Wrestling was “very close” to signing deals with both Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho last year before AEW entered the picture, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Don Callis, who is close to both Omega and Jericho, was the main person brokering the deal.

The expectation with Omega was that he would still work for NJPW and would do about 30 dates a year at Impact. When AEW became a thing, plans obviously changed.

With Jericho, he wanted to work another year in New Japan and would have also worked in Impact during that time. Jericho said last week that he was in negotiations with Impact until late last year and they made him a big offer and he “really, really thought about going there” until AEW came in with the biggest offer of Jericho’s career.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

ESPN wrote about the testing that Daniel Bryan goes through after every match: “Daniel Bryan walks backstage after finishing a match, something he's done thousands of times over the course of his 19-year career. Instead of heading right to the locker room to shower and change before driving on to the next town, Bryan has to first take the number eight and multiply it by three, multiple that number by three and divide it all by four. If he can't come up with the correct answer, he's not wrestling. This is the cost that Bryan has to pay if he wants to wrestle for the WWE. It's just one of the tests a WWE doctor performs on Bryan after he's endured any physical activity in the ring. First, he gets his eyes checked. Next, he goes through a series of balance tests. And in the final step, as we've covered, the doctor asks Bryan to solve a math equation -- nothing too complicated, but something challenging enough to determine if his brain is functioning properly. The series of tests can be strenuous given that they occur night in and night out, but the WWE isn't taking any chances with a performer who has suffered 10 documented concussions.”

WWE and Bunim-Murray Productions are partnering together for another reality series.

WWE has announced that they're developing a reality show with Bunim-Murray that will "document the search for the next great female competitor." Bunim-Murray are also partners with WWE on Total Divas and Total Bellas.

"Search for the Next Female Superstar" is the working title for the show. Casting applications are now open.

Any word on the Bellas in The Rumble?

I haven't heard anything about them working the Rumble match but the word around Evolution was that they would be teaming at Wrestlemania together. Whether those plans have changed, I have not heard.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Minoru Suzuki is set to appear at Game Changer Wrestling's WrestleMania week Bloodsport event for the second straight year.

It was announced today that Suzuki will be wrestling at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, which is taking place at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey on Thursday, April 4. The event will begin at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Barnett, Hideki Suzuki, Timothy Thatcher, Jonathan Gresham, Simon Grimm, Tom Lawlor, Frank Mir, Dan Severn, and Suzuki have now been announced for Josh Barnett's Bloodsport. Mir will be making his professional wrestling debut at the show.

Lucha Underground said they put in for new visas in November 2017 and did not receive them until shortly after their season had finished taping in March 2018. And that was when things were slightly less a disaster than now.
Link: https://twitter.com/luchablog/status/1088456801899532292

A new edition of WWE Chronicle featuring Paige will air on the WWE Network following TakeOver: Phoenix on Saturday night.

Denny Burkholder of CBS Sports has a tremendous piece on the original Royal Rumble match the WWF promoted in 1987. Prior to the Royal Rumble in Hamilton in January 1988, they tried out the concept on a house show in St. Louis the previous October at the Kiel Auditorium. The 12-man Rumble ended with One Man Gang eliminating Junkyard Dog but the other participants in the match are unknown beyond the assumption those on the undercard worked twice. The match was considered a failure as the show didn’t draw well and was fumbled by a mid-show announcement.

The battle royal was designed to set up a title challenger for Hulk Hogan when the promotion returned to the market in November, however, as was customary at intermission they announced tickets for the next event and the main event would be Hogan vs. One Man Gang for the title eliminating any suspense for the main event. The match, always credited to Pat Patterson, was shelved until January when they ran a special on the USA Network opposing the NWA’s Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view and revisited the Rumble idea and improved its presentation.

Burkholder also uncovered a similar-themed battle royal from 1976 in Bangor, Maine that advertised an 18-man battle royal with participants entering “two at a time” for a $5,000 prize.
Link: https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/the-lost-royal-rumble-and-how-a-signature-wwe-event-survived-despite-early-failure/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interesting note aboiut that 1987 Rumble. I can't remember if I've heard that before or not, but I seem to recall something about One Man Gang winning one once. I know Owen Hart has won one in MSG and The Undertaker won one in Japan. Are there any other "secret Rumbles?" Eddie Guerrero won one on SmackDown once.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Total Bellas on Sunday did 454,000 viewers, a record viewership low for the series.

PWInsider reported that MLW has departed ways with Sammy Guevara. They reported that Guevara double-booked himself for select MLW dates, including the show this weekend and felt there was no way to use him consistently
Guess someone had to take over Riddle's mantle now that's he's in the WWE.

Ricochet is the latest WWE/NXT wrestler to be announced for a two-show return to EVOLVE.

EVOLVE has announced that Ricochet will be wrestling at their shows in March. He'll be in action at EVOLVE 123 in Melrose, Massachusetts on Friday, March 15 and EVOLVE 124 in Queens, New York on Saturday, March 16. Meet and greets with Ricochet will be available to purchase at both events.

EVOLVE 123 is taking place at Melrose Memorial Hall, while EVOLVE 124 is being held at La Boom.

Opponents for Ricochet have yet to be revealed.

On 1/10, Riki Paul Johnson, the ex-husband of Charlotte Flair was granted an extension to file an amended lawsuit against Ric Flair, World Wrestling Entertainment, Charlotte Flair and author Brian Shields Johnson's original lawsuit surrounded claims made about him in the WWE book Second Nature, which told an intertwining story about the careers and lives of Ric and Charlotte. He is being given until 3/15 to file. The defendants have been given until 3/28 to respond to the original lawsuit in case there is no new version filed. If there is, the clock on their response would be reset by the U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina
For some reference, this lawsuit also includes allegations of Charlotte using the N word during a past domestic issue involving cops.

PWInsider.com sources have independently confirmed that Ambrose was offered a new, five year contract worth a little over seven figures per year, but turned the deal down. The news that Ambrose had given notice had been kept very quiet during last night's Raw taping but began to spread among wrestlers after the show was over. One source categorized the move as Ambrose being able to "do what he wants" as he doesn't live an expensive lifestyle and has made great money over his WWE run.

Former IWGP Junior Heavyweight and ROH TV Champion KUSHIDA officially ended his run with New Japan Pro Wrestling today, wrestling IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in his final appearance for the company.

LIDET Entertainment has purchased a majority stake in Pro Wrestling NOAH. The group has purchased a 75% ownership stake in the group and is expected to install their own executives with many of the current staff set to depart the company. NOAH’s chairman Masayuki Uchida is among those departing the company and will take on an advisory role with Lidet, which is a similar agreement that Dixie Carter made with Anthem Sports when the purchase of Impact Wrestling was completed. Company president Yusuke Fuwa will stay on board with NOAH, but the company will be overseen by Yukihiro Takeda, who reports to LIDET’s owner Hiroyuki Suzuki.

In numbers available on SullyGnome (a Twitch statistics and analysis website) for the 7 day period of January 22nd-28th, IMPACT Wrestling peaked at 8,732 viewers (at some point on Friday night), an 11% increase from last week's 7,866 viewers ...

IMPACT was the most watched program in the Wrestling category. In comparison, AAA was ranked second. The AAA promotion peaked at 3,464 viewers and streamed 147 hours of content. It averaged 155 viewers with a total watch time of 23,152 hours.

Kurt Angle’s spot in the Royal Rumble match was originally booked for Zack Ryder, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

The decision was made to put Kurt Angle in the match just the day before the Royal Rumble and rather than come up with something specific for him, they just inserted him into the same spot and role that was originally meant for Zack Ryder.

WWE figured that Angle would obviously get a bigger reaction than Ryder, so they put him in the spot instead.

Angle entered at #4 and lasted only 3:15. He was eliminated second (by Nakamura), after Jeff Jarrett. So the reason that WWE basically put him in a “nothing” role in the match was because the spot was supposed to be Zack Ryder’s.


The plan for the Raw women’s title match at WrestleMania is still a triple threat between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair as of now, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

On Raw last night, Becky Lynch challenged Rousey for the title at WrestleMania and the match was officially announced, but as of last night after Raw, the plan was still to eventually add Charlotte Flair. Of course, WWE’s plans could always change and the one on one segment between Rousey and Lynch got a great reaction from the crowd, so we’ll see what happens depending on reactions going forward and how Vince McMahon feels.

But as of last night, the plan is for a triple threat match and WWE has a storyline in place to add Charlotte.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was having trouble picturing Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch without Charlotte for a while there, but after the vibe of that Raw segment, I really think they should just do it one-on-one. Put Charlotte against Asuka.

[Bad News Gertner]

Interesting note aboiut that 1987 Rumble. I can't remember if I've heard that before or not, but I seem to recall something about One Man Gang winning one once. I know Owen Hart has won one in MSG and The Undertaker won one in Japan. Are there any other "secret Rumbles?" Eddie Guerrero won one on SmackDown once.


Yuppers, and if you're ever wondering why Hogan, Backlund etc wrestled the World Title Match in the middle of the card, that's why.
They would announce next months card at intermission, so if Hogan wrestled after intermission and they announce next months card as Hulk vs so and so for the World Title, you know the finish of the upcoming Title match before it happened.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Good news for The Big Dog, you might be seeing him on WWE TV again sooner than you thought. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (via Cageside Seats), Dave Meltzer said that he spoke with a doctor about Roman Reigns’ leukemia and the fact that he’s starring inthe movie Hobbs & Shaw.

The doctor said that Reigns filming a movie soon after his diagnosis suggests that his leukemia is “not a deadly form” and “with that form he would be wrestling soon.” This means that he could be back sooner than whenever he was expected. A timetable was never announced when he said he was going on hiatus this past fall.

Impact Wrestling and MLW issued the following:

IMPACT Wrestling and Major League Wrestling Announce Collaboration for April 4 Events ...

April 4 show details for both organizations are below:

Major League Wrestling
MLW will host “Rise of the Renegades” tapings on April 4 at 7:00 p.m. ET for its weekly television program “Fusion” airing on beIN Sports. Tickets start at $20 and are already on sale atMLWTickets.com. The live event will take place at Melrose Ballroom (36-08 33rd St.) in Long Island City, NY. Click here for directions.

IMPACT Wrestling
IMPACT Wrestling presents “United We Stand” on Thursday, April 4 at Rahway Recreation

The fact that Chris Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling was somewhat of a surprise in itself. But Jericho saying that his AEW contract is better than any previous wrestling contract he's signed was downright shocking.

While the exact numbers aren't known, word of his AEW contract did make its way back to the WWE locker room. Dave Meltzer spoke about the reaction Jericho's contract received on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer said that people backstage in WWE were stunned or freaked out, depending on their position. While it's not as much as what John Cena or Brock Lesnar is making, it would be more than almost any other star in the company.

When the idea of Brock Lesnar possibly signing with AEW with the amount of money that they're throwing around, Meltzer noted that Vince McMahon would probably pay anything to not lose Lesnar to UFC or AEW. However, Meltzer did say that Jericho wants a match with Lesnar, and Jericho "has a lot of sway" in AEW, although that doesn't mean that the company would make a bad deal.

It was reported yesterday on Wrestling Observer Radio that Charlotte Flair will eventually be added to the WWE RAW Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 35, making it a triple threat between Flair, Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch. On today's WOR, Dave Meltzer went into greater detail about how the plans with all three women have rearranged over the past year and lead us to this upcoming match.

According to Meltzer, WWE's original idea was to gradually build toward a Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey one-on-one match at WrestleMania 35. The push for both women started at last year's WrestleMania 34, where Flair defeated Asuka's 914 winning streak to retain her WWE SmackDown Women's Championship and Rousey debuted in an impressive showcase many media outlets called the match of the night.

WWE then decided to start building toward a Natalya vs. Rousey feud because Flair and Lynch were in the midst of a heated rivalry on WWE SmackDown. Unfortunately, the sudden loss of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart put a halt to the WWE's plan to turn Natalya heel and face Rousey.

November and WWE Survivor Series rolled around, and it was scheduled to be a one-off match between Rousey and Lynch - Champion vs. Champion - however, it's well documented how Lynch suffered a broken face and severe concussion after a punch from Nia Jax. This injury, just days prior to her Survivor Series match, would force Lynch to sit on the sidelines and watch her friend-turned-rival, Flair face Rousey one-on-one at the PPV.

Meltzer noted how the ending of the Flair vs. Rousey match was the exact same plan they set for the Lynch vs.Rousey match, where Flair went berserk with a kendo stick and crushed Rousey's throat with a chair. The waves that the Rousey vs. Flair match caused convinced WWE management to rearrange things once more. A new plan that originally saw Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey at WWE Royal Rumble and Becky Lynch one-on-one with Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35 also got scrapped because they wanted Flair, Rousey, and Lynch to all be a part of the same match at WrestleMania this year.

On the creative side of things, Meltzer reported that the majority of the creative team was unaware that Ambrose was exiting, and they had no idea that the program with Nia Jax was made to humiliate him on his way out of the company. Ambrose's fellow employees are surprised that he turned down such a lucrative five year deal with WWE, but Meltzer emphasized that he is unhappy and doesn't care about the money. Meltzer added that Ambrose is very good friends with AEW's Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes.

WWE Champion Daniel Bryan wasn't wearing the most heelish attire on SmackDown last night. As seen in the photo below, the shirt that Bryan wore on the show read:

"No violence
No homophobia
No sexism
No racism
Freedom
Peace
Love"

Daniel Bryan's shirt we love a woke king pic.twitter.com/htJiskJW8O
— Omar (@EC3WinsLOL) January 30, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/EC3WinsLOL/status/1090440562673664005

As noted, WWE Champion Daniel Bryan revealed a new title belt on this week's SmackDown after tossing the regular title in the trash can. The new belt is made from hemp and wood from a naturally fallen oak tree, according to Bryan.

WWE had two new designs in mind for Bryan's replacement title, according to @Wrestlevotes. They posted details before tonight's SmackDown of the version that was unveiled on the show. The other design was said to be not as "drastic" as the one that was revealed. The other design included an "eco sourced" strap and "recycled materials" to make up the plates. That design also still had a shine to it.

Trent Barreta, Chuck Taylor, Sammy Guevara and Kylie Rae are all rumored to be heading to AEW soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Barreta and Taylor are likely done with NJPW. Baretta was offered a contract and reportedly was expected to get a big push by New Japan, but he is choosing to not re-sign, Meltzer says. No word on if Taylor was also offered a deal. Trent and Chuckie T frequently team with each other as “The Best Friends” and have appeared on “Being the Elite” before. Chuck Taylor also wrestles for ROH and is a two time former PWG World Champion. Trent Barreta worked in WWE from 2007-2013 and has most recently been in NJPW and ROH.

Today is Becky Lynch’s 32nd birthday.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ronnie, wish The Man a happy birthday you little weirdo. <a href="https://t.co/Tei29bCRRI">pic.twitter.com/Tei29bCRRI</a></p>&mdash; The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1090688055785213954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I wish Trent Baretta/Barrera/Berreta/Whatever would change his name. It was cute when he left WWE to stick it to them, but it doesn’t have that much value and it’s frustrating to keep up with how he spells it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Brock is going to have a lot of options as to how to bend Vince over next contract negotiation.

Good for Reigns, by the way. I mean, Meltzer would have to be an idiot to shoot off about that without consulting a leading oncologist, right?

[Sepholio]

Wait...so WWE did the Nia Jax angle to embarrass Dean? While his wife is commentator? Then issue a statement saying they hope he comes back in the future? Why would they embarrass him and then say PLZ COME BACK? This whole thing reeks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't think it was done to embarrass him. It was just to try and tease the waters of "Nia Jax: Prize Fighter."

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Nia Jax is grossly unathletic, has no charisma and lacks any real presence. She's just fat and a beneficiary of nepotism. Why they seem intent on positioning her to be strong outside of being related to the Rock is beyond me.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Nia Jax is grossly unathletic, has no charisma and lacks any real presence. She's just fat and a beneficiary of nepotism. Why they seem intent on positioning her to be strong outside of being related to the Rock is beyond me.

I think that nails it though, to be honest. Keeping The Rock happy is probably their main goal there.

[slik]

I did think Nia hit a good big boot on Rey in the RR tbh

[Mr. Nerfect]

Of the things she could do, beating up guys like Curt Hawkins is probably the best. I don’t think that makes it good, but I’m talking the best place to take the glove.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Jeremy Borash tweeted that Vic Joseph and Shawn Michaels will be calling Halftime Heat, which is taking place from the Performance Center during halftime of Sunday’s Super Bowl and airing live on the WWE Network, WWE.com and the WWE app, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black & Ricochet are facing Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano & Adam Cole.

Lawyers hired by the Lawler family have issued subpoenas to the Hardeman County Sheriff's Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as part of their investigation into the death of Brian Christopher Lawler. The subpoenas are part of a civil action “to pursue a civil rights claim against Hardeman County, and the deputies that were supposed to protect Brian Christopher Lawler."
Link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/123728/update-on-investigation-into-brian-christophers-death-subpoenas-issued-demanding-answers-.html?p=1

Killian Dain posted a tweet asking “#WHEREISSANITY ?!?”, with Alexander Wolfe quote tweeting “Sick of this” in response. The group, which includes Eric Young, haven’t been on television since December 18.

All Elite Wrestling issued a press release today hyping next week's Double or Nothing ticket announcement party.

The ticket announcement party will take place at the Splash Pool at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada at 9 p.m. Eastern time (6 p.m. Pacific) on Thursday, February 7. AEW is promoting that Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Brandi Rhodes will "reveal spectacular new signings, exciting new partnerships, ticket on-sale information, and a surprise special guest" at the party.

TheWrap is reporting that Charlie Ebersol's Alliance Of American Football has signed a multiyear cross-platform agreement with Turner Sports with the first season starting February 9. So when the XFL starts February 2020, Vince McMahon will find himself in a very familiar situation with Turner Sports.

An update on Cody Rhodes' knee injury.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Cody Rhodes will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Feb. 12 in Atlanta. He is expected to miss two to three months of action but is not scheduled to wrestle until AEW Double or Nothing on May 25.

There is a lot of talent expected at the AEW Double of Nothing Ticket Announcement Party. CIMA is likely going to be there. They want some surprises. They're trying to bring in names that were not in Jacksonville. Kenny Omega is not signed, but I believe he is going to AEW and this is a good shot that he may be there. The only name that I've heard among women is STARDOM's Bea Priestley, who WWE was pushing hard for, but AEW looks closer with her. She’s not signed as of yet.

All Elite seems like a great choice for newer women to go right now. WWE has a lot of great wrestlers, but there is so many people, that it's easy to get lost in the talent pool, or take forever to make it up the ranks. AEW, if a success, they're going to feature women at a top level, so there is more opportunity to be featured and make an impact quicker. There are arguments for both sides but AEW wants to push women and the roster is thin, just Britt Baker and Brandi Rhodes. They are heavily scouting Japan. A good woman wrestler would be featured on major television far quicker in AEW.

When comparing with current ticket sales that WWE is having for RAW, Smackdown, or the Rumble, AEW selling 3,000 tickets on release date would using logic be a good number for modern pro wrestling for a group with no TV. Look at ROH and they have TV or Impact’s history when they had good TV.

The only indicator right now are AEW's merchandise sales, that have completely exceeded projections since launch. Furthermore, activities like the pool party, the Young Bucks appearances at DEFY and Bar Wrestling, the rallies, are there to try and keep the buzz going for Double or Nothing, working as the week to week promotion for the show. The rallies are very expensive, described as expensive as an ROH TV taping but with no revenue coming in except some merch money.

So far, there have been no conversations between NJPW and AEW, and given the situation with the New Beginnings US tour missing all of their Japanese talent, the shows could have benefitted from the return of the talent from AEW, but with so many politics involved, NJPW didn't reach out. Harold Meij made a statement, saying "AEW is a new organization to start from now, and I do not know what kind of relationship we would make, I think it is necessary to figure out what policy they would develop on pro wrestling". The statement seems to imply that NJPW is waiting to see where AEW goes and whether it is successful or not. The style of pro wrestling that AEW wants to have is likely to be very compatible with NJPW, not an exact copy since AEW does have certain ideas that they want to implement. AEW is looking to bring in the sports aspect of wrestling to their promotion for fans to have something to grasp on.

A.J. Styles contract expires in April. He couldn't be asking for a better time for this to happen. Even though he has friends in AEW he appears to be staying with WWE.

With WWE releasing the Ambrose contract story to the media, that he was leaving because he turned down a new deal, and his contract expires in April, a lot of people are thinking that this whole thing is a work, that is including people within WWE. When I asked for confirmation on Monday night, wrestlers didn’t know, although some may have, but it definitely hadn’t gotten around. Creative didn’t know, although most believe the key people in company were well aware of it. But most of the creative team had no idea, not even that the last things written for him were in a way write him off ...

He turned down a five-year contract with a downside of just over $1 million per year. At this point, we only know he'd be a free agent in April, assuming that WWE doesn't freeze the contract to make up for last year's nine month absence with his surgery for a torn triceps. But the company outright gave April as the date, so it appears they aren’t going to say they froze his contract. Still, Daniel Bryan found out just before his deal was to expire that they claimed he was under contract for yet another year. We know Ambrose is friends with Jericho and Cody. We also know he hasn’t been talking to AEW about coming. However, in April, if he wants to continue wrestling, they would very much be interested in making a deal with him.

As for Renee Young, there's really no idea what her status would be. ESPN had interest in her in the past but she stayed with WWE. There's no reason to believe that she would leave WWE, many people work with WWE while their spouses don't. But she’s in a spot where she’s not being used effectively right now.

Jericho has not signed with NJPW, but he's been in talks with Gedo. It seems that there are some ideas that both parties want to play out. AEW's contract allows Jericho to do NJPW, so it's now just a matter of them signing a new contract for 2019. Jericho has said that he has interest in wrestling Tanahashi and Okada, and from the NJPW side, there is interest in Jericho against both of them as well as Minoru Suzuki.

ROH is hurting for losing the Bucks, Cody and Page, and numbers are down, but it wasn't a death blow as a lot of people expected.

In January 2019, Ring of Honor ran 5 shows. Utilizing numbers from The Wrestling Observer / Wrestling Observer Radio, the company drew a total of 3,900 fans and averaged 780 fans per show.

Center Stage hosted the first show of 2019 and was the usual 700 person sellout. Concord, NC was down from shows that drew 1,000-1,100 in 2017-2018 and drew only 750 this month. Dallas was down from 800 in attendance in 2018 to 700 in January. San Antonio was down from last year's 800 in attendance to 750 this year. Houston drew 1,000 in a very large building. There is no comparable number for Houston as the last time ROH hit the market was for WrestleMania weekend many years ago (outdrawing this show by nearly double).

In 2017 and 2018, the company only ran one show in the month of January and drew 700 and 1,400, respectively, in Atlanta's Center Stage and the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. In 2016, the company ran 4 shows and drew a total of 3,200 and an average of 800. In 2015, the company drew 3,700 over 4 shows and averaged 925.

Many are watching for an All Elite Effect - in that, did the Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, etc. migration influence attendance drops? It is early to say, but during the first half of 2018, the company averaged 1,412 but in the second half of the year, the average for ROH was 964 (a 46% drop in attendance). The first half of the year will be stronger as well with the company's upcoming sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on April 6th.

Lesnar’s sponsorship deal with Jimmy John’s Gourmet sandwiches expired and wasn’t renewed which is why he no longer has that logo on his ring outfit.

According to Sports Illustrated, sources close to WWE have said the current plan is to have WWE RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch be the main event of WrestleMania 35. WWE's biggest show of the year will go down on April 7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

There was a “big flurry of activity” backstage at SmackDown on Tuesday, with WWE officials meeting with wrestlers whose contracts are set to expire in the next year or two and seeking to lock them into new longer-term deals, according to PWInsider.

PWInsider said that the departure of Ambrose and the possibility of him going to AEW when his deal expires appeared to set things off with a new sense of urgency, though WWE had already been trying to lock wrestlers into longer-term deals since the announcement of AEW and even before that (Kevin Owens and The Miz signed new five year deals before the announcement of AEW).

[Mr. Nerfect]

Haha, imagine being a color commentator on Raw being an unfortunate position. That is the reality of the world we live in.

I understand why Sanity are frustrated -- I'd hate just hanging out backstage too -- but is going on Twitter and posting about it really the smart thing? That being said, it seems squeaky wheels are getting grease lately, which just goes to show how crazy things are.

The guy I am still curious about is AJ Styles. It does seem likely he will stay with WWE, but everything is a possibility right now. What's going through his head right now? If he and Brock Lesnar both ended up in AEW come May -- holy shit. The whole landscape is different.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

The broadcast for Raw is fucking abysmal. Anytime I've checked in, or watched the condensed highlight shows of the ppvs on YouTube, they sound shitty as fuck. So produced and lacking any sense of genuine emotion.

Michael Cole was so much better during the initial brand split.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Michael Cole was never good. He's less terrible when the shackles are removed in a house show setting (like that random Japanese show on the network) but beyond that, he is and always has been hideous. I GUESS there's the idea that he was okay when he was heavily edited by Heyman but that was so brief it's hard to even consider it.

He doesn't even have a good voice. In fact, none of the commentators do. And even when they show a hint of potential, Vince sinks his claws in and they go to shit. I want to hunt Corey Graves down and disembowel him every time I hear him pretend to be a commentator.

[Evil Vito]

I dunno, I enjoyed the Cole/Tazz and Cole/JBL teams on 2002-07 SmackDown. Vince wasn't micromanaging the commentators then, especially not on the blue brand as Vince was always heavily prioritizing Raw.

There would still be arguments now and then, but it came across as friendly banter. Fast forward to 2012 and the heel announcers are made to be confrontational dickheads for the entire duration of the show.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I dunno. Cole always came across as an utter limp dick.

Gorilla Monsoon by no means was a "good" commentator as far as actually calling the action. In fact, he talked an absolute load of shit most of the time. BUT, he had a great voice, could be hilarious, was undeniably lovable (if not surly from time to time), and he just seemed like an authority. It was all about how he carried himself and he was 100% authentic. And he fucking LOVED wrestling.

Michael Cole has always come across like he doesn't understand wrestling. He also doesn't have the voice of a commentator. Even if he arguably had decent spurts and Vince has "ruined" him, he represents a shift in commentating from it being an art to whatever the garbage it is today.

To tie it back into Gorilla, while move-for-move he was kind of an idiot, you couldn't help but feel an affection for the guy. You felt attached to Gino. With Cole, he's so phony he doesn't resonate with you beyond pissing you the fuck off because he sucks.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

"Vertical suplex, and a beauty".

I loved Monsoon. He wasn't a great play by play caller but he was Ann excellent storyteller and definitely helped with lifting up a moment.

[Innovator]

I feel bad for Cole now considering how much shit he has to do, hit, and get across. All with a guy yelling at him in his ear.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I feel bad for Cole now considering how much shit he has to do, hit, and get across. All with a guy yelling at him in his ear.

All this stuff doesn't help him. But even with that out of the way, he's a complete fucking schmuck. He has corporate stooge written all over his style, even at his best.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

What I'm getting at... is Michael Cole could call a match perfectly - no fake laughter, no plugs, no ridiculous inauthentic statements to push storylines, no mention of the "WWE Universe" - and he's still rigid. There's nothing about him that makes you feel a connection to his words. He's nothing but a shill. Always has been, always will be.

I'm sure he's a great guy and he's a better commentator than I could be but I'm also not a professional commentator. I just know what one should sound like.

[Bad News Gertner]

Cole is fine. Never had an issue with him.

Lol as much as I love Gorilla, going through all those old House Shows in my collection, if Cole acted like Gorilla did on commentary, he'd probably be fired.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

how could you possibly like Cole? He is the fucking shits.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

and I'm not saying "act like gorilla" but more... there needs to be a connection with a commentator. With Cole, there is none.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

like "Remember that time Michael Cole faked laughed at the thing that wasn't funny... GOOD TIMES"

[Mr. Nerfect]

I dunno, I enjoyed the Cole/Tazz and Cole/JBL teams on 2002-07 SmackDown. Vince wasn't micromanaging the commentators then, especially not on the blue brand as Vince was always heavily prioritizing Raw.

There would still be arguments now and then, but it came across as friendly banter. Fast forward to 2012 and the heel announcers are made to be confrontational dickheads for the entire duration of the show.

I liked them at the time, but I think a large part of that was the "otherness" of them, and that they were calling SmackDown. Cole could do better than what he currently does -- as could just about anybody -- but he's far from an all-time great commentator or anything. I think how good he is when he's not produced so heavily by Vince is overblown because it's contrasted with how shitty he is 99% of the time.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

The NWA also confirmed that Ian Riccaboni will be part of the announce team for the Crockett Cup tournament, which is taking place in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, April 27. The NWA and ROH are partnering together for the tournament.

Wrestling DVD Network is reporting that WWE will be including the following matches on the DVD release of HBO's Andre the Giant documentary this May:

Handicap Match
Andre the Giant vs. Jose Estrada & Tony Russo
All-Star Wrestling • August 30, 1978

Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan
Showdown at Shea • August 9, 1980

Steel Cage Match
Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd
Philadelphia, PA • September 24, 1983

$15,000 Body Slam Match
Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd
WrestleMania • March 31, 1985

WWE & NFL Battle Royal
WrestleMania 2 • April 7, 1986

WWE Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
WrestleMania III • March 29, 1987

WWE Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
The Main Event • February 5, 1988

Oliver Luck (Andrew's dad, the XFL commissioner shared some details on the league yesterday on WFAN.

1. Vince has a minority stake in Draft Kings and the plan is to encourage legalized gambling on the games and do fantasy on the XFL via Draft Kings.
2. Vince owns 100% of the XFL and Oliver Luck is the commissioner.
3. Luck is trying to avoid stuff like "He Hate Me" on the back of the jerseys.
4. There will be drug testing for PEDs.
5. All 8 head coaches will make the same money - $500,000 annual salary.
6. The top players can make up to $250,000 with the possibility of bonuses to teams for winning games like the old XFL.
Link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/123765/details-on-vince-mcmahons-xfl.html?p=1

There was some grumbling among talents that Impact announced their 4/7 event had been moved from Queens, NY to New Jersey publicly without telling the talent first. It wasn't so much about the move as it was the talents being caught unaware when they are also trying to strategize other appearances and bookings on the biggest weekend of the year. More than one talent commented to me that this was a good example of where Sonjay Dutt will be missed as he was the most communicative member of management when it came to talent.

A big part of the reason for the move to New Jersey was concern about the New York State Athletic Commission curfew on pro wrestling. In New Jersey, there is no commission, hence relative freedom. One thing Impact will have to make sure is that their event on Thursday 4/4 is over before the last New Jersey Transit train back to NYC leaves Rahway, NJ, which as of the current scheduled, would be 1:52 AM as the next train would not be until after 4:30 AM. With an 11 PM start, that's going to require their live production to be really right.

For those of you with Verizon Fios, please be aware that if you did a series record for Impact Wrestling last week, the network listing featured the two hour broadcast as FOUR different half-hour episodes with only the 8-8:30 PM segment listed as a new episode. So, unless you set your DVR to record new episodes AND repeats, you are chancing the possibility of not getting the entire episode. We have heard Impact has made the network aware of the issues with the program guide, but Pursuit has been slow in responding in general.

Jerry Lawler claimed on his podcast R-Truth was really upset Nia Jax attacked him? Come on. That's some b******* right there. Who's going to believe that?

Well, that's not what Lawler actually said. He stated that Truth was upset about how hard Jax laid it in on him when she attacked him and that his face got banged up. I can absolutely see a pro wrestling being upset if they felt someone took liberties. It happens, accidentally and on purpose, on a regular basis.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles

Lance Archer spoke with Pro Wrestling Sheet about why he's not allowed to spit water into NJPW crowds any longer. When asked if he did it to the wrong person, here was Hoyt's response:

"I guess so, a small portion of the NJPW audience—the majority of them loved it," Archer began. "I would go through the audience and do the water spraying, spitting throwing, and stuff. People were holding signs in Japan—in English—saying, 'water, please.' I came around the corner one time and an adult father had his child, maybe two years old, holding it up for me to come around the corner and spray the child. I said, 'nope,' went around the child and he was disappointed! There was a small portion of the audience that was complaining about bags and their hair. That got listen to and now I can't do it."
Link: https://twitter.com/WrestlingSheet/status/1091091824003837952

Dean Ambrose is working WWE house shows this weekend and is scheduled for upcoming Raw shows, PWInsider says, in case there was any doubt.

WWE said that he’s leaving in April, so he’ll still probably be on TV until then.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It'll be interesting to hear the reaction if he is used on TV.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Heavy Machinery’s profiles on the WWE website have been altered with the duo simply referred to as “Otis” and “Tucker” as they appear to have had their last names dropped.

Big E tweeted about Otis and Tucker’s apparent name change: “Welcome to the club, boys. Silver lining: autograph sessions are much quicker.”

Katsuya Kitamura posted the following after news broke he had left NJPW (via translation): ”Lastly, thank you for your continued support and encouragement over the past three years. Your support meant everything to me. I am thankful and hope you continue to support Katsuya Kitamura when he goes to a new stage."
Pretty much suffered 2 really bad leg injuries within the span of a year with one as a result of a scooter accident that made NJPW officials fear he'd never wrestle again.

The NWA has revealed the commentary team for the return of the Crockett Cup tag team tournament.

In a video uploaded by the NWA today, Jim Cornette announced that he'll be doing color commentary for the event. The NWA's Joe Galli and ROH's Ian Riccaboni will be calling the show with him.

Jim Cornette, in making those announcements, noted the tournament would feature teams from the National Wrestling Alliance, Ring of Honor, Japan, Mexico and more.

After their 10-year deal began with two controversy-filled shows, WWE is set to make their return to Saudi Arabia this May.

Fightful reported today that WWE's next show in Saudi Arabia will take place on Friday, May 3. Dave Meltzer has confirmed that WWE will be returning to Saudi Arabia in early May.

Starrcast announced that Sting will appear at Starrcast II in Las Vegas this May.

Who will be the first official Superstarr announced as appearing at Starrcast II this Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas?
As Tony Schiavone used to say, “IT’S STING!”
Stay tuned to https://t.co/VShyAsTu00 for more info regarding “the Man Called Sting!” pic.twitter.com/AmsMa0QKTn
— #StarrcastOnFITE (@StarrcastEvents) February 5, 2019

WWE reportedly wanted Lars Sullivan at last week's RAW, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Sullivan was not at the show, and his status is unknown.

Kris Wolf has announced she has been dealing with symptoms from concussions and is about to take part in her final tour and appears to be stepping away from professional wrestling. She has been talking about having her final match in London later this year and is going to fulfill her remaining bookings. She said she has noticed changes from her concussions and doesn’t want to do further damage that won’t be evident until much further down the road.

Seth Rollins has a bad back and is going to be rested, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

It was reported yesterday that he may not be cleared for physical action for the next month.

He should be fine for WrestleMania, but he may not be at Elimination Chamber since it’s under two weeks away.



AJ Styles has a hernia, according to Meltzer, but it’s unclear how much time he’ll miss. He wasn’t at house shows this past weekend.

[slik]

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Undertaker removed mention of WWE from his social media and replaced it w/ contact info to book him for events.

[slik]

On this week's OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW Podcast Brad Shepard said WrestleMania 36 is 100% in Florida. He did not confirm TAMPA as the host city, but he did not deny it either. JACKSONVILLE, as crazy as that might sound, has also been rumored as a favorite.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tampa next year. <a href="https://t.co/wVRF9vMkMd">https://t.co/wVRF9vMkMd</a></p>&mdash; Justin LaBar (@JustinLaBar) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinLaBar/status/1092271071091482626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling's War of the Worlds tour is back for 2019.

ROH announced today that this year's War of the Worlds tour will begin with a show in Buffalo, New York on Wednesday, May 8. It will continue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Thursday, May 9 and Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday, May 11 before wrapping up in Chicago, Illinois on Sunday, May 12.

Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said about Fox sports networks having other WWE programming: “The Fox sports networks, FS1, and others, will have some other wrestling -- not live SmackDown, not Raw, but other ties to the WWE world." FS1 having a weekly WWE studio show had been reported last May.

A reference was made by Collier to Smackdown being on Fridays "short term", which certainly leaves the window of opportunity for the series to be moved to another night down the line ...

As far as the FOX Network itself, their current deal is for Smackdown and Smackdown alone, nothing else.

Bret Hart has been announced for the Double or Nothing weekend Starrcast convention in Las Vegas. Sting, Bruce Prichard, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, and Sean Mooney have also been confirmed for the convention.

Regarding several reader questions about rumors relating to several talents:

AJ Styles - The former WWE Champion denied he had come to terms with WWE on a new deal on Twitter several days ago. We are told the two sides have been in discussions for some time and that WWE has made a strong play to keep Styles. Obviously, given Styles' relationships with The Young Bucks and others now in the All Elite Wrestling fold, one would think there is strong interest in acquiring him if he opts to leave WWE.

The Usos - PWInsider.com has been told by multiple sources that the duo's current deals are slated to expire in April. WWE has been in discussions with the former Tag Team Champions about a new deal.

Dolph Ziggler - We are told that the company's "relationship" with Ziggler is continuing.

AJ Styles sets the record straight.

On Tuesday morning, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that AJ Styles suffered a hernia that kept him off live events over the weekend. Styles appeared during the main event segment of SmackDown Live, getting physical during a brawl with his Elimination Chamber opponents.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp said on the post-SmackDown podcast, "I was told people backstage didn’t hear of AJ Styles sustaining any type of a hernia or anything like that.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Styles took to social media to shut down the report of him suffering a hernia.

Yeah, about that. I don’t have a hernia. -- https://t.co/ilqge7BlZw

— AJStyles.Org (@AJStylesOrg) February 6, 2019

Randy Orton is the Viper, but could he slither his way out of WWE?

On Tuesday, Twitter account WrestleVotes had wrestling fans curious as to the name behind a potential "offer."

Seems like the first real shot has been fired... source says AEW has made an “outstanding” offer to a current, big time WWE superstar. An offer that is almost too good to turn down. Things are really about to get interesting.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) February 5, 2019

On the post-Smackdown Fightful Podcast (and Fightful Select prior) we revealed that WWE sources have told us that Randy Orton has expressed his willingness backstage to speak to All Elite Wrestling. This doesn't mean we've heard of any contract offer or actual discussions. That was, however, the wrestler referenced in the tweet.

In fact, when we reached out to AEW, we were told they weren't interested in tampering and were looking to take. They told me their recruitment mission is more targeted towards fresh and independent, and that the source of the original tweet was likely a wrestler or agent hoping to leverage more money out of WWE by planting info. It should be noted this was before the Orton information emerged.

As reported earlier this week, NJPW has announced that one of its rising stars, Katsuya Kitamura, has decided to leave the company. On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer had some more details about what took place with Kitamura on the road to recovery from his shattered leg.

Meltzer explained that Kitamura actually broke his leg in an unfortunate scooter accident, which is the reason he hasn't competed in a NJPW match since last March when he teamed up with Manabu Nakanishi in a loss against Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano. Officials at NJPW were unsure if Kitamura would ever be able to wrestle again but they still offered him a contract at the start of the year, one that he obviously has turned down since. It was noted that it was a situation similar to Daniel Bryan, where Kitamura wouldn't have been cleared to compete for a very long time, possibly forever.

Meltzer notes that Kitamura feels ready to compete and doesn't want to wait around for NJPW to finally give him the green light. It is believes that Kitamura will sign with another Japanese company that will clear him for in-ring competition.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Very interesting news in regards to Randy Orton and even The fucking Undertaker.

[slik]

From today's Wrestling Observer



Stephanie McMahon vs. Becky Lynch is being discussed as a potential SummerSlam feud.

[Big Vic]

So did Ziggler trade wins with undefeated McIntyre and not be seen on regular TV since?

This company is fucking stupid.

[Emperor Smeat]

That might have been done to entice Ziggy to sign a new deal since he's supposedly still in talks even though he also keeps teasing he wants to leave and start a comedy career.

He had an interview recently where he hinted at having an idea of possibly leading a stable if he does end up staying in the WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

From Dave Meltzer on Trent Barreta/AEW/NJPW: “New Japan is not upset at AEW over Trent Barreta. The issue is that they felt Baretta had made a commitment to them for 2019 to key people and then decided to leave but they have no beef with AEW over them signing him.”

On Thursday, WWE released their highly-anticipated fourth quarter and year end earnings numbers but while their numbers were impressive, the stock market has yet to respond with a big surge in price.

Some key revenue numbers for the year:

Revenues were just over $903 million for the year, beating out 2017's $801 million.
They had $99.6 million in net income, up from $32.6 million in 2017.
The WWE Network closed the year with 1.563 million subscribers, 1.528 million paid and 35,000 free. Over the fourth quarter, they lost nearly 100,000 subscribers.
Revenues were $63.5 million for Q4, up from 2017's $20.6 million.


Other interesting numbers and facts:

WWE will no longer release a Network subscription number the day after WrestleMania.
Live event revenue was $144.2 million, down from 2017's $151.7 million. That encompasses 308 total events, down 18 from 2017.
Q4 attendance averaged 5000, down from 5400 in 2017's Q4.
Raw and Smackdown viewership numbers were down year over year, 15% and 14% respectively.
They forecasted $1 billion in revenue for 2019, bolstered by new TV deals that kick in during Q4.
They forecasted a slight increase in paid Network subscribers for Q1, up to 1.59 million.


On the call, Vince McMahon was asked about Ronda Rousey's much-rumored departure following WrestleMania and how that would damage the brand. He put her over big, cited other stars being absent over the past year, and said they can work around her schedule if they know the dates she'll be gone for.
Vince confirming Rousey is taking a break after Mania sort of makes Rousey's big rant against the media a bit foolish now. Also WWE is still hiding how much money they get from the Saudi deal.

In today's WWE 2018 earnings release, the company announced that paid subscriptions to their WWE Network streaming service have risen to "approximately" 1.59 million paid subscribers.

WWE noted in the release they are developing the "next iteration" of the Network, which likely means the long-planned tiered version.
Seems the Network is starting to flat out at around the 1.5 million range for subs which is well below WWE's initial expectations.

Barrios on no UK TV deal yet: "...hasn't happened. I think it's fair to say all the agreements will be made by the middle of the year [2019]."

PWInsider reports that even though her husband Dean Ambrose is leaving WWE when his contract expires in April, Renee Young is expected to remain with the company.

MLW’s weekly TV series FUSION will be moving to a new timeslot shortly, the promotion announced today. An official announcement about the change is forthcoming.

A new video shows Chyna -- real name Joanie Laurer -- wanting to make amends with WWE. The video, which was released by Rob Potylo, was filmed two months prior to her passing.

"One of the things I'm having difficulty with still is my communication with WWE. I've been trying to convey that through the Hall of Fame and asking for sitdowns," said Chyna in the clip. "The more I go to these shows and appearances, it's about family. I miss my family. I don't want to show up at these places with my brothers and sisters who I was on the road with, that I love, to see them and feel awkward because the battle with WWE. It's something I would love to resolve. I would like to do it privately where I can atone and say I'm sorry for the things I've said and done. I feel bad about having said certain things under duress and pain and things I haven't resolved privately. That's all I want to do."

The actual Monday injury report on Styles listed him as out with a hernia. On Tuesday, when he was cleared, he was listed as still having injuries to “shoulder/abdominal.”

WWE is believed to be returning to Saudi Arabia on 5/3. We were told early May and November for two Saudi Arabia shows in 2019. I can’t confirm 5/3 but I would be right around that date. WWE’s only official word was that they have not confirmed a specific date. Reader Nawaf Zubar noted that due to Ramadan starting on 5/5, there could be no entertainment event in the country in May after that date. 5/3 is a Friday and the previous two events were on Fridays

Canadian wrestler El Phantasmo, who works in the U.K. and won the British J Cup tournament Dave was at in Manchester last year, is expected to debut for NJPW at Best of the Super Juniors.

There haven't really been any big changes since the McMahon family announcement on Raw December 17th about how there would be changes. There also haven’t been any changes to house shows since three months ago when Vince McMahon said they understood the problem and were going to make changes to the house shows to fix the problem and bring attendance up.

WWE had representatives in Japan last week to talk to different companies about potentially opening up an NXT Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. No other details are available right now.

Becky Lynch vs. Stephanie McMahon is an idea that was suggested in WWE and is currently being talked about, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but they added that it is “most definitely not a done deal.”

If it is the plan, the groundwork was obviously laid on Monday’s Raw when Stephanie McMahon suspended Becky Lynch and Lynch attacked her. Then on SmackDown, Becky slapped Triple H. The angle is clearly “inspired” by the Austin vs. McMahon feud.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Today would have been Jim Neidhart’s 64th birthday. Sherri Martel was also born on this date in 1958 and Freddie Blassie was born on this date in 1918.

Natalya wished her father a happy birthday: “Happy birthday to my dad. What an amazing life he lived!!! So grateful we got so many wonderful years together”
Link: https://twitter.com/NatbyNature/status/1093867216339173376

AEW’s Nyla Rose is the first transgender wrestler to sign with a major promotion in the United States.

There will be representation from New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL when the Crockett Cup returns in April.

The NWA announced today that NJPW and CMLL "will be sending teams" to the Crockett Cup, which is taking place at Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, April 27. The NWA didn't reveal further details on which NJPW and CMLL teams are going to be in the tournament.

I remember watching an old ECW show where there was a match called Ultimate Jeopardy, and the ending of the match was Shane Douglas pinning Terry Funk via the piledriver for the title. Could you help explain the history of this match as I also saw other wrestlers involved in this match as well?

Ultimate Jeopardy was a 1994 Steel Cage match that headlined a Valley Forge, PA ECW event. The match had Wargames rules with the idea that everyone was facing a stipulation if they lost. The result of the match saw Shane Douglas, Mr. Hughes and The Public Enemy defeating Road Warrior Hawk, Kevin Sullivan, Tazz and Terry Funk in a WarGames Match. Terry Funk's ECW Heavyweight Title on the Line. Douglas pinned Funk. As a result of stipulations, Douglas won the ECW Title. Had Hawk been pinned, he would have had to give up the Road Warrior gimmick. Had Douglas lost, his head would have been shaved. Public Enemy would have been forced to split up. Tazz & Sullivan would have been forced to split up, etc. ECW did the stipulation again in 1996 where everyone had something to lose and it ended up with The Sandman pinning Raven substitute Steve Richards, winning the ECW title.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has a report on the asking price for The Undertaker for his upcoming signings and appearances. According to the report, the WWE legend is charging $25,000 per hour for his appearances and booking dates in the United States.

This number comes from one person who attempted to book him. Additionally, The Undertaker is not accepting regular bookings until later this summer. The report didn’t have any notes on his booking fees for overseas appearances.

As previously reported, he’s set to make appearances at the For the Love of Wrestling convention in April and the Inside The Ropes tour in the UK from April 30 to May 2. As of now, he’s currently not scheduled to work WrestleMania 35.

Additionally, the Observer noted that as of this week, he’s not scheduled to work the next WWE event in Saudi Arabia. WWE’s next event in the country is scheduled for May 3, which is a day after his last scheduled date on the Inside The Ropes tour.

Kofi Kingston recently spoke with The Canton Repository and said The New Day works so well together because their chemistry is unbelievable ...

Kofi also talked about what WWE Chairman Vince McMahon saw when the group brought their original idea to him - three preachers serving up the gospel of positivity.

"From the very inception of New Day, we told Vince McMahon no matter what he gave us we would be able to make it work, because we believe in the chemistry we had," Kofi said. "Going back and forth with Vince, we had a very different idea of what we wanted it to be. The idea he came back with, we said, 'OK, he's really gonna test us on this guarantee we gave him of making anything he gave us work.' But we just kept doing it, and we evoked a lot of emotion from people, and really, that was what it was all about. Eventually, we kind of got to do what we first wanted, and over time it turned into what it is now."

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, New Japan Pro Wrestling's "THE NEW BEGINNINGS USA" tour drew a total of 2,118 fans over 3 shows, with an average of 706 per show. In comparison, Ring of Honor drew 3,900 fans over 5 shows in January, and averaged 780 per show.

Rumors for the Day:
* Kota Ibushi is expected to work with All Elite Wrestling once he’s cleared from the concussion he sustained at Wrestle Kingdom 13.


WWE officially announced today that Ronda Rousey will defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Ruby Riott at Elimination Chamber.

[Sepholio]

I would like to see that Ultimate Jeopardy match brought back after reading that. Not necessarily as a war games type match, but just the part about every wrestler having various stipulations on them if they happen to take the L in the match. The elimination chamber would actually be a very good match type for this gimmick tbh.

[erickman]

25 grand for undertaker what indy can afford that

[Mr. Nerfect]

I thought Nyla Rose was transgender. I like that they didn’t beat you over the head with it like WWE would with its tokenism.

[GD]

Are you guys following the Graves twitter saga?

[slik]

Yeah, I wonder if he was really drunk.

He really was attacking people right and left last night on Twitter. Was even more 'over the top' than his CM Punk Twitter meltdown.

[Volare]

I love it!