Originally Posted by Observer

A big Monday Night Football rating led to yet another modern low as Raw last night fell another two percent from last week's mark with 2.29 million viewers ...

The actual rating isn't available but it would be expected to be the second-lowest Monday night rating for wrestling ever on the USA Network.

Raw lost to everything on the networks except CW and Raw was 16th for the day on cable, the lowest it has done in years ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.50 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.33 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.08 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Young spoke to The Mirror about her new role as a commentator on Raw and said she’d love to be an on-screen general manager if ever given the opportunity: “Would I like to do that? Oh my God, actually, I would love to do that. The way that I'm watching Paige navigate being the general manager of SmackDown, it looks like it it's so much fun. Who gets to yell at Samoa Joe and kind of put a little bit of fear in his eyes? Not a lot of people get to do that. If that was an opportunity that came down my way, I would definitely wear that hat, that would be really, really fun.”

Originally Posted by Observer

Collections on Rey Mysterio and Sasha Banks are set to arrive on the WWE Network next month.

Originally Posted by Observer/Post Wrestling

ROH has announced two title matches for Glory by Honor night one in Baltimore on October 12. Jay Lethal will defend his ROH World Championship against Silas Young, and SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) will challenge for The Young Bucks & Cody’s Six-Man Tag Team titles.

As was noted in our post on the card for the show, a new member of Los Ingobernables de Japon will debut at NJPW King of Pro Wrestling next Monday. They’ll team with Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI against Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Sho & Yoh.

Pentagon Jr. & Fenix will defend their Tag Team titles against LA Park & Hijo de LA Park in the main event of MLW’s TV tapings in Chicago on November 8.

WALTER defending his PROGRESS World Championship against Zack Sabre Jr. has been announced for PROGRESS’ show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden on October 28.

After wrestling for the promotion on their United States tour, LAX (Santana & Ortiz) are set to make their UK PROGRESS debut in Manchester on December 8. They’ll also be wrestling for PROGRESS in Sheffield on December 9.

IPW UK revealed that they’ll be producing a weekly series for the Fight Network on Sky channel 455 in the United Kingdom. They noted that the premiere date will be announced soon.

ROH Honor Club will be streaming Friday night's Arena Mexico show featuring the World Grand Prix tournament starting at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time for subscribers.

ACH is expected to be in the Super Juniors tag team tournament that starts in two weeks in New Japan.

PROGRESS Wrestling’s “Hello Wembley” card on Sunday ran long and caused many fans to leave the building to catch their train home and missed the main event. As a cool gesture on the part of the promotion, they are going to post the main event between Walter and Tyler Bate for free as a make good on their Demand Progress streaming service. The entire show from Sunday should be up and available for purchase this week.

Game Changer Wrestling has announced “Joey Janela’s L.A. Confidential” card will take place from Los Angeles on Friday, November 16th (the weekend of Survivor Series in the city) with tickets going on sale tonight. Janela will not be wrestling on the show.

Originally Posted by Observer

The full card has been released for next week’s King of Pro Wrestling.

As expected, the main event will feature Kenny Omega defending the IWGP title in a triple threat match against Cody and Kota Ibushi, which was set up this past Sunday at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. In the co-main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his WrestleKingdom 13 briefcase against Jay White ...

Meanwhile, a new member of Los Ingobernables de Japon will make their debut at the show, after a YouTube video featuring LIJ indicated that they would be bringing in a new pareja. The mystery partner will team with Naito, SANADA and BUSHI in an eight man tag against CHAOS ...

Here is the full card for King of Pro Wrestling, which will take place next Monday at Sumo Hall:

Kenny Omega vs. Cody vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White for Tanahashi’s WrestleKingdom 13 title shot briefcase
KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll for the IWGP Jr. title
EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano and Roppongi 3K vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI and a mystery partner
Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and Will Ospreay vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and Takashi Iizuka
The Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Chase Owens vs. Guerillas of Destiny, Bad Luck Fale and Taiji Ishimori
Togi Makabe and Tomoak Honma vs. Juice Robinson and Toa Henare
Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask for the IWGP Jr. tag team titles

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The English commentary for King of Pro Wrestling will be feature Kevin Kelly with Chris Charlton

Originally Posted by PWI

World Wrestling has continued their recent strategy of filing trademarks on older material ... On 9/27, WWE filed a trademark on the term "WCCW", obviously a reference to World Class Championship Wrestling. WWE purchased the rights to the WCCW video library from Kevin Von Erich in 2006.

On 9/26, the company also filed trademarks on the following terms:
-"Phenomenal One", obviously in reference to WWE Champion AJ Styles.
-"Fearless Nikki", for usage related to Nikki Bella.
-"The Awesome One", for usage related to Miz.
-"The Glorious One", related obviously to Bobby Roode.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE recently filed to trademark Saturday Night's Main Event, WCW Saturday Night and WCW Thunder.

Originally Posted by PWI

Yesterday, Alberto Del Rio announced he is preparing for a return to MMA and will be fighting when Combate Americas holds its first PPV event: Del Rio made the announcement during an interview on the MMA hour

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

New Japan announced attendance at 3,007 for Sunday’s card at the Walter Pyramid. The empty seats were very visible throughout the show and acknowledged by Kenny Omega in his closing promo. As great a show as it was, shows don’t sell tickets in hindsight and it’s all about the promotion and anticipation ahead of time.

Mauro Ranallo, Kairi Sane, and Io Shirai were all seen in the audience at the New Japan card in Long Beach on Sunday.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On the WWE Network’s schedule, they are listing a timeslot of 5 – 10 am Eastern for the Super Show-Down event this Saturday from Melbourne.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE has a new poll asking fans which title should Dean Ambrose go after. As of this writing, 47% voted for Roman Reigns' WWE Universal Title while 11% voted for Seth Rollins' WWE Intercontinental Title. The rest, 42%, voted, "Neither as long as a member of The Shield holds them."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Above is a clip for tonight's post-RAW edition of Table For 3 on the WWE Network, featuring a 3MB reunion with Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and RAW Tag Team Champion Drew McIntyre.

Originally Posted by Observer

After a night in which Raw had its lowest audience total of the modern era, SmackDown followed with its second-lowest number of the year.

Tuesday night's episode drew 2.095 million viewers. That's the fourth-lowest total since the 2016 brand split, trailing only the night of the 2016 election, the July 3 show from this year (holiday weekend), and June 13, 2017, which went up against game seven of the NBA finals.

Originally Posted by Observer

Content highlighting professional wrestling’s shooters is coming to the WWE Network tomorrow.

WWE Network News reports that this week’s WWE Hidden Gems content relates to professional wrestling’s shooters. These matches will feature shoot wrestlers/athletes such as Lou Thesz, Karl Gotch, Danny Hodge, Nobuhiko Takada and Billy Robinson. These matches span several decades in multiple promotions, including Stampede Wrestling, AWA, WWE and the Florida and Texas territories.

The matches that will be uploaded include:

• Lou Thesz vs. Wild Bill Longson (Texas Rasslin’, 6/17/52)
• Karl Gotch and Rene Goulet vs. The Rugged Russians (WWE MSG event, 1/31/72)
• Danny Hodge and Jos Leduc vs. Pak Song and Toru Tanaka (Championship Wrestling from Florida, 11/12/74)
• Nobuhiko Takada vs. Athol Foley (Stampede, 8/12/83)
• Billy Robinson vs. Rick Martel (AWA, 10/18/84)

Originally Posted by PWI

The United States District Court of Connecticut officially closed the concussion-related lawsuits brought against World Wrestling Entertainment and Vince McMahon on 9/27 with the following judgment issued ...

ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that declaratory judgment is entered in favor of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. as to Ware and Billington; that judgment is entered for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. as to Evan Singleton and Vito LoGrasso; and judgment is entered for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and Vincent K. McMahon as to Joseph M. Laurinaitis, Carole M. Snuka on behalf of Estate of James W. Snuka, Paul Orndorff, Salavador Guerrero IV, Kelli Fujiwara Sloan on behalf of Estate of Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara, Bryan Emmett Clark, Jr., Anthony Norris, James Harris, Dave Hebner, Earl Hebner, Chris Pallies, Ken Patera, Terry Michael Brunk, Barry Darsow, Bill Eadie, John Nord, Jonathan Hugger, James Brunzell, Susan Green, Angelo Mosca, James Manley, Michael “Mike” Enos, Bruce “Butch” Reed, Carlene B. Moore-Begnaud, Sylvain Grenier, Omar Mijares, Don Leo Heaton, Troy Martin, Marc Copani, Mark Canterbury, Victoria Otis, Judy Hardee, Mark Jindrak, Gayle Schecter on behalf of Estate of Jon Rechner, Barbara Marie Leydig & Bernard Knighton as co-representatives of Estate of Brian Knighton, Marty Jannetty, Jon Heidenreich, Terry Szopinski, Sione Havea Vailahi, Larry Oliver, Bobbi Billard, Ashley Massaro, Perry Satullo, David Silva, John Jeter, Charles Bernard Scaggs, Charles Wicks, Shirley Fellows on behalf of Estate of Timothy Alan Smith, Tracy Smothers, Michael R Halac, Rick Jones, Ken Johnson, George Gray, Ferrin Jesse Barr, Lou Marconi, Rod Price, Donald Driggers, Rodney Begnaud, Ronald Scott Heard on behalf of Estate of Ronald Heard, and Boris Zhukov.

Originally Posted by Observer

Charlotte Flair praised NXT’s Bianca Belair during an interview with GiveMeSport: “She is the future. She’s a real stud.”

Originally Posted by Observer/PWI

Indies Roundup:
Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham & a mystery partner vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) has been announced for ROH’s Glory by Honor TV tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on October 14.

The promotion will also return to Philadelphia on Sunday 10/14 for a TV taping at the 2300 Arena.

LA Park vs. MJF and Sammy Guevara vs. Fenix are set for AAW’s show in Merrionette Park, Illinois on October 26.

House of Glory Wrestling will return to NYC this Friday 10/5 in Jamaica, Queens. The promotion issued the following in support of the event. New York's biggest Wrestling Promotion returns October 5th for "Extreme Warfare!" featuring the Crown Jewel Champion Sami Callihan taking on WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray!

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Ever since Shawn Michaels called it a career in 2010, he has constantly been asked about returning to the ring, not just by fans but by WWE as well. Rumors of Michaels' return have popped up again now that he's involved in the "Last Time Ever" match between Triple H and The Undertaker at Super Show-Down.

Michaels joined Inside the Ropes where he talked about the biggest temptation he ever had to return to the ring.

"It was probably about four years after I retired, there was an idea that was, it was with 'Taker again," revealed Michaels. "But it was just from a creative standpoint, it was easily the most intriguing idea, one of those ones where my wife said, 'oh, that's pretty cool.' And that was the one, when I said no, she said 'you really are done.'"

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

It looks like WWE's main focus for this year's Survivor Series pay-per-view won't be the usual Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown theme.

There are plans to do a traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match between teams captained by RAW General Manager Kurt Angle and Acting RAW GM Baron Corbin, according to the @WrestleVotes Twitter account, which has broken several WWE scoops in the last year so. There most likely will be matches with the red brand vs. the blue brand but Team Corbin vs. Team Angle is currently scheduled.

There's no word yet on when Angle will be back on WWE TV but he was temporarily written out last month when RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon forced him into a vacation, naming Corbin as the Acting General Manager. It's been reported that Angle has been training for a return to the ring, possibly for more than one match. It's possible that the Survivor Series match could see the winning captain become the full-time General Manager.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

As noted, WWE cameras were filming a Halloween-themed pilot episode for a potential WWE Network series at Matt Hardy's Hardy Compound in North Carolina last week. PWInsider reports that the crew was scheduled to wrap filming this week.

In an update on the project, the footage being filmed is for a Halloween special that will premiere on the WWE Network later this month. The footage is doubling as the pilot for a potential series titled "House Hardy" that would feature Matt, Queen Rebecca Hardy, Senor Benjamin, King Maxel and the others, including "Brother Nero" Jeff Hardy.

Word is that the content filmed is very much in-line with the "Broken Hardy" segments that were featured on Impact Wrestling while The Hardys were with that company. We noted before that former Impact producers Jeremy Borash and James Long, who now work with WWE, were working on the new project and it's said that the creative for this new project is very much being dictated by those who know what made the Impact content work so well.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Renee Young recently spoke with the UK's Express Sport and discussed Saturday's WWE Super Show-Down match between Triple H and The Undertaker. Renee, who will be one of the announcers for the match, called it history for the company.

"It's history. This is such a showcase match," Renee said. "It's the kind of match that dads can show their kids what they grew up on. I think it can be such a bonding moment for people that have watched WWE for so many years and now we get to see this again for the last time ever. [It's a chance] to show the new audience that have never seen Undertaker and Triple H. They might have been able to see some old matches of them on the WWE Network but to see these two men where they are in their careers - Triple H being the COO [Chief Operating Officer] of WWE [and] The Undertaker, The Phenom, stepping back into the ring to face Triple H - it's gonna be mind-blowing. This is going to be a match for the ages."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Dewey Foley was the man who played Mr. Bootyworth in the SmackDown segment with The Bar and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day last night. Dewey works behind-the-scenes for WWE and is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley. Dewey tweeted on Cesaro and Sheamus after the segment:

Sheamus and Cesaro are my heroes
— Dewey Foley (@DeweyHaveTo) October 3, 2018

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Night 3 of WWE's Mixed Match Challenge Season 2 saw two teams pick up wins - Finn Balor & Bayley, Jimmy Uso & Naomi. Team B&B defeated Alicia Fox & Jinder Mahal while Day One Glow defeated Rusev & Lana ...

Live Facebook Watch viewership for this week's episode peaked at 42,800 viewers. The premiere had peaked at 52,400 live viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Liv Morgan was cleared on 10/1 so she will be wrestling in the Ronda Rousey & The Bella Twins vs. The Riott Squad match. This match is supposed to set up the angle for the Evolution main event of Rousey vs. Nikki Bella for the Raw women’s title on 10/28 at the Nassau Coliseum, unless that plan has been nixed. Nothing has indicted that is the case.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE issued the following:
WWE® to Report Third Quarter 2018 Results

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WWE (NYSE:WWE) announced that it will report its third quarter 2018 results on Thursday, October 25, 2018, before the opening of the market. The Company’s Chairman & CEO, Vincent K. McMahon, and Co-Presidents, George A. Barrios and Michelle D. Wilson, will host a conference call beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results.

Originally Posted by PWI

Mercedes Martinez tweeted:

Thank you all for your kind words. See it for the first time or relive it again on @WWENetwork. The Latina Sensation vs. @satomurameiko was truly a battle where all combatants left everything in the ring. https://t.co/yEGdkehsSQ
— Mercedes Martinez (@RealMMartinez) October 4, 2018

Originally Posted by Fightful.com

Lita has high praise for a NXT standout.

Bianca Belair is one of the fastest rising stars in NXT and she's already caught the eye of a WWE Hall of Famer. Speaking to The Sun's Gary Stonehouse, Lita revealed what she loves about the EST of NXT.

“She’s physically gifted, a great attitude, and when I very first saw her she had that intangible star quality that I just want to see more," she said. "Every time I see her I just want to see more. I can’t wait to see where her career goes. It’s crazy… no-one has ever used their hair as a weapon. It’s so cool how she thought of that and how it works. She sure has that star quality and uniqueness.”

Lita isn't the only one to take notice of Belair. Recently, Charlotte Flair called Belair "the future" of the division.

Originally Posted by Fightful/Observer

Indies Roundup:
4 months after being dethroned by Low Ki for the World Heavyweight Championship, Shane “Swerve” Strickland has optioned his rematch clause. Strickland will challenge for the World Heavyweight Title at MLW’s Chicago debut on November 8th as part of its FUSION TV taping for beIN SPORTS the Cicero Stadium. Shane Strickland’s World Championship Rematch is the second main event announced for the big MLW: FIGHTLAND card in Chicago November 8th.

Chris Jericho announced a James Ellsworth vs. Jenny Rose match for the intergender championship on his cruise.

Progress Wrestling ran its biggest show in its history, “Hello Wembley,” on 9/30 at Wembley Arena, drawing 4,750 fans, the largest crowd for a U.K.-based promotion in England since the 1981 Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks match that drew 7,000 fans. Everyone in the U.K. for years has used 10,000 as the attendance with the idea Daddy vs. Haystacks sold out Wembley, but the actual numbers for Daddy’s three Wembley shows were about 10,000, a legitimate sellout, for the 1979 show against Mighty John Quinn, about 5,500 for the 1980 show with Daddy & Wayne Bridges vs. Quinn & Yasu Fuji, and 7,000 for Daddy vs. Haystacks.

There will be two small [NJPW] shows as part of an expo at the Anaheim Convention Center on 11/10 and 11/11. Both will be four or five matches, focusing on younger wrestlers with a Lion’s Gate style programs. The 11/10 show will have Jeff Cobb vs. Hirooki Goto as the main event and 11/11 will be the first-ever meeting of Kenny Omega vs. David Finlay.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Wednesday's episode of WWE's Total Divas drew 367,000 viewers on the E! network. This is down 5.9% from last week's episode, which drew 390,000 viewers, and is a new historic low for the show.

This week's show ranked #63 on the Cable Top 150 in the 18-49 demographic. Last week's show ranked #56.

Originally Posted by Observer

There have been some notes from Chris Harrington and others regarding the drop in women watching Raw as compared to men. In the recent year-to-year declines it has hit women harder. Basically the key is this. When wrestling was at its most popular two decades ago, it was usually about a 70/30 men/women split, similar to most sports. Due to the popularity of Total Divas, the women’s had audience increased while the men’s audience decreased significantly ...

What has happened this year is that Total Bellas and Total Divas have declined greatly in ratings, and thus, that women’s audience has also declined. It’s notable that this is taking place at a time when women are being treated as characters with more respect. The belief was that this change might help the women’s audience but could hurt the men’s audience, with the idea women want to see women treated respectably and as athletes rather than sex objects, but a lot of men watch the women only because they are hot and could care less if they could wrestle well or not. In fact, the opposite has happened ...

But the decline in Total Divas, probably because of the show being on for so many seasons and shows like that run out of steam, and perhaps a big part if the Cena/Nikki break up since it was their relationship that was the key driver, has led to fewer viewers, and that “new” women’s fan base is now declining significantly. The funny part of that decline is it came at the same time Ronda Rousey became a regular character on Raw, and she was a huge mover among women on her UFC PPV shows. That also says that while Rousey is popular with wrestling fans, that the Rousey MMA sports fan and older women fan base, did not follow her in significant numbers to WWE television.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE on television was using the number 70,000 for Super Show Down, which means they have to announce a number in that realm or slightly higher. We were told that paid attendance expectations were 58,000 to 60,000. The MCG holds 100,000, and the Australian Football League (Australian Rules Football, like rugby, not soccer) on 9/29 drew a number in that realm. With the stage, WWE would have legitimately sold out with 80,000, which was the goal. But 60,000 for pro wrestling, WWE’s largest crowd ever outside of the U.S., Canada or England, would still have to be considered a major success.

Originally Posted by Observer

Yoshi-Hashi’s shoulder is pretty bad off. New Japan rarely edits their stuff on New Japan World, and the only one I can recall was a blade job caught on camera, but they did edit Yoshi-Hashi’s run-in where he lost his footing and crashed into the ring. WWE would have replayed the same thing to death, and did with O’Neil

Lance Archer has been banned from doing his running around the crowd, drinking water and spitting it all over people ring entrance. He’s taken to social media trying to get fans to get behind him to get the decision changed

There is new regime in charge, not just Harold Meij as the new President, but also others that he’s put in key positions. The new people in charge for the most part don’t have any background in wrestling so there are things like some things said and etiquette that are different. They’ve replaced popular long-time officials that the wrestlers trusted and respected. The question a lot of wrestlers are asking is why a company that was on such a major business upswing has gutted the business team in charge during that upswing. Obviously the idea is to expand the business outside of Japan, but there is concern.

Originally Posted by Observer

The reason WWE is filing for all kinds of trademarks on old wrestling terms from WCW, WCCW and other companies is because they were not happy that MLW trademarked War Games and has the ability to use the term

Originally Posted by Observer

The final episode of World of Sport was on 9/29. It was a good show, built around two title changes to end the first season. The bad news is that the audience dropped again, down to 200,000 viewers in a 2:30 p.m. Time slot. They opened on 7/28 with 937,000 at 5 p.m. There was major erosion after week one, and then secondary erosion with the time slot change in week six (700,000 down to 400,000). We didn’t have the 9/22 rating in last week’s issue but it was 300,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

wXw announced major changes in hierarchy and business...

The company also confirmed a deal with WWE. We don’t know if this was the case with this deal, but WWE’s deals working with other companies are that WWE would allow its talent on shows and also have the right to purchase the promotion at an agreed upon price should they choose to do so, as well as own the library. We don’t NWO that this deal is similar to other deals. But WWE is looking for independent libraries when they add tiers to the WWE Network. Robbie Brookside and Canyon Ceman of WWE were at the training school scouting talent last week and were looking for talent to bring to a November tryout in Cologne

Originally Posted by Observer

There is definitely talk about All In 2 and even 3, but the contract situation is what it is. We’ve heard Memorial Day and Labor Day both being talked about, as well as Southern California and Chicago. Nothing is definite. The Memorial Day drawback is that’s less than two months from the MSG show and that’s a quick turnarond since it’s going to be a major traveling audience, and even though the MSG show actually sold out mostly to those within driving distance of New York, a large percentage of the All In crowd base will be going to New York that weekend

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE is looking at expanding talent and the NXT side with all the added revenue coming in from the new deals. Among the ideas are more international Performance Centers and international territories, which means being even more aggressive in locking down people who they spot having marketable potential

Originally Posted by Observer

There are those in the company pushing for the idea of the NXT TV show going two hours because they have so much talent, and to also increase the time of their Takeover shows. I could see the idea of two different one hour shows if one moves to a television platform as I’ve suggested in the past, and even could see a 90 minute show, but two hours seems like too much product. Similarly, the Takeover shows are the one thing in wrestling that isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing. A key is that they already have one hour in the building before Takeover since they have to tape then next week of TV. So if they try and increase from 2:15 to 2:40 or so and go over three hours, you’re talking about a four plus hour live event, and that’s the night before a five to six hour live show

Originally Posted by Observer

Wrestle Talk magazine claims through their sources in Saudi Arabia that the Saudi sports minister’s tweet regarding Hulk Hogan was not meant as a hint of a Hogan appearance on the 11/2 show. The tweet read in their language, “What is this World Cup that nobody is talking about?” It was meant to be Saudi Arabia mocking that its political enemy, Qatar, got the 2022 World Cup. They didn’t rule out Hogan being there, just that the tweet itself was meant to run down Qatar

Originally Posted by Observer

An interesting stat regarding retention of the audience, and maybe product interest. Miz & Mrs. being promoted on television and airing right after Smackdown was doing 1.1 million to 1.5 million viewers. Mixed Match Challenge, promoted even harder on Smackdown and featuring live matches, airing in the same time slot, but on Facebook watch, live, as far as average viewership for the 30 minute show, was doing just under 30,000

Originally Posted by Observer

The top ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. NXT on 9/26; 2. Table for 3 with McIntyre, Slater and Mahal; 3. Mae Young Classic week four on 9/26; 4. 205 Live on 9/26; 5. Hell in a Cell 2018; 6. 19998 Kuwaiti Cup; 7. Photo Shoot: Scott Hall; 8. Mixed Match Challenge from 9/18; 9. Mae Young Classic from 9/19; 10. Mixed Match Challenge from 9/25. So the key takes on this are that 205 Live is doing better when moved from being live to Wednesday and the week of the second week of Mixed Match Challenge, interest declined so badly that the first week beat it during the second week, which coincides with the decline on that show of the live audience

Originally Posted by Observer

Pete Dunne is currently dealing with a foot injury, though the extent of the injury isn’t known at this time.

It isn’t known when exactly the injury went down. He last wrestled on September 30, when he took on Ilja Dragunov at the Hello Wembley show from PROGRESS Wrestling. He was noticeably limping during the match, picking up the win. The injury isn’t expected to keep him out of action at next weekend's NXT tapings, according to Dave Meltzer.

Destiny Wrestling, a independent promotion out of Canada, said that he pulled out of wrestling there this coming weekend. He was also set to wrestle CIMA before the 9/30 PROGRESS show for the second night of Fight Club Pro’s Project Mayhem on 9/29. The match did not take place as scheduled, but did appear on the first night in a non-wrestling capacity.

The next set of NXT UK television tapings will take place at The Plymouth Pavillions in Plymouth, England on October 13 and 14.

Originally Posted by Observer/Post Wrestling

Indies Roundup:
MLW made a couple of announcements at last night's television tapings in Queens, New York. It was revealed that CMLL's Rush will be making his MLW debut this fall. When and where Rush will be debuting hasn't been announced.

MLW has announced a second show during WrestleMania Week at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York. The promotion will be holding a Fusion television taping on Thursday, April 4th and have booked the venue the following night on April 5th with the return of “Battle Riot”.

Impact Wrestling has announced Matt Sydal & Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann & a mystery partner for Bound for Glory. The PPV is taking place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on October 14.

Jeff Cobb vs. Eli Isom and Flip Gordon & Kenny King vs. The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) have been added to ROH Glory by Honor night one in Baltimore on October 12.

Already announced for Joey Janela’s LA Confidential include The Great Sasuke and a match between Hardcore Holly and Brody King.

This week’s viewership of Lucha Underground fell off a clip with a 43% drop from last week. This week’s episode did an all-time low for a first run episode with 51,000 viewers on the El Rey Network, down from 89,000 last week. The season will wrap on November 6th with a two-part Ultima Lucha special on the final two episodes.

Originally Posted by Observer

Impact Wrestling fell below 200,000 viewers for last night's episode.

The show averaged 190,000 viewers on Pop TV, down from last Thursday's 222,000. This is the second-lowest number that Impact has drawn in 2018, only ahead of the episode that averaged 168,000 viewers on August 9 ...

For a year-over-year comparison, the October 5, 2017 edition of Impact drew 251,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Super Show-Down airs live on the WWE Network at 5 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow morning. It’s listed as running from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Originally Posted by Observer

Liv Morgan spoke to The Mirror about being cleared for Super Show-Down: “"I'm 100% cleared by the WWE doctors. They took great care of me. They have a very extensive concussion protocol, which we followed 100% and luckily I am feeling fantastic and we are ready to win.”

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE announced the following:

A few professors at Herzing University in Milwaukee might be surprised when one of their students shouts out, "Excuse me!" during a lecture this semester.

That's because former Raw and SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero has been named as one of the recipients of the 2018 WWE Talent Scholarships.

“I am honored,” Guerrero told WWE.com. “I’ve always considered WWE my second family, and for them to recognize that I have this dream of graduating and continuing my education has motivated me even more to keep continuing what I’m doing.”

Guerrero is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in science and healthcare administration at Herzing University and plans on graduating next summer.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Ronda Rousey & The Bella Twins vs. The Riott Squad

Liv Morgan has been cleared to compete and will be in the match. Most of the focus is on Rousey with The Bellas and whether they turn the Bellas or they simply win the match and leads to a challenge by Nikki. I prefer the former as The Bellas have played such obnoxious characters in every scene with Rousey that it seems to telegraph a turn. I don’t know if they go through with the actual turn on this show or save it for Raw, but there is a great tie-in with The Bellas causing Rousey’s first loss in the WWE in the same city where she had her first MMA loss in 2015 to Holly Holm.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

In the photo below, WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch headed to a mural of herself in Australia. Lynch also sent a message to WWE, "You keep me off your posters, your morning shows, and your magazines while the people put me on their walls." Lynch will be defending her title against Charlotte at tomorrow's event.

You keep me off your posters, your morning shows and your magazines while the people put me on their walls. #thechamp #boothewoo pic.twitter.com/QzJ8hH7skk
— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) October 5, 2018

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Vince McMahon remains at the head of the WWE creative crew, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and gives the final say for everything on RAW and SmackDown. Ed Koskey is the lead writer for RAW and currently has the most creative input of anyone next to Triple H and Vince. "Road Dogg" Brian James and Ryan Ward are the head writers for SmackDown while Joe Belcastro is the lead writer for WWE NXT.

Dave Kapoor, who previously played the Ranjin Singh character on TV, is the show-runner or the Chief of Staff for creative. The other writers, for the most part, aren't at the meetings with Vince at WWE headquarters and only work with him at TV tapings.

The Observer adds that Vince usually just dictates what creative plans he wants and the writing team doesn't get a lot through to him, with a few exceptions.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

While Taz was with WWE, he was asked by Vince McMahon to return to ECW to wrestle Mike Awesome for the ECW Championship. Awesome was the ECW Champion and had made a surprise jump from ECW to WCW while holding the belt. A deal was made for Awesome to make one appearance to drop the title.

It was the first time that there was a WCW contracted talent facing a WWE star for the ECW Championship. While Taz went on to defeat Awesome for the title, he revealed that he did not want to do the match.

"It was awesome, it was a lot of fun, but I didn't want to," Taz said. "I remember coming back from the road and I get a call on the phone from WWE, and Vince [McMahon] is one of the guys on the other phone, I was at the mall with my wife pushing my kid in a stroller.

"They're like 'hey, uh, Paul Heyman needs a little help', and I'm like 'what do you mean?' Vince was like 'hey look pal, they got a guy there who is holding the title hostage and I need you to go in there and help Paul and take the title from this Mike Awesome guy.'"

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE is promoting the upcoming nWo reunion fan event with WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. This is not an event put together by WWE but it's interesting that they are promoting the show.

The "2 Sweet" event will take place on Saturday, October 27 in Orlando and will also feature a live recording of the "83 Weeks Podcast" on WCW with Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson.

Originally Posted by Observer

If there was some good news in the ratings, last night's Raw was up from the prior two weeks. The show averaged 2.37 million viewers, which would still be the third-lowest number of the modern era.

With the combination of the NFL, where a New Orleans Saints blowout over the Washington Redskins did 10.51 million viewers (a 20 percent drop from last week), and a Yankees vs. Red Sox baseball playoff game that did 4.41 million viewers, a record low could have been set ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.53 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.39 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.20 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

We were informed that last night’s angle involving Bobby Lashley and Kevin Owens was done to explain Owens’ needing time off for knee surgery. It was conveyed to us that Owens is not expected to miss too much time, so it doesn’t appear to be a major injury. During the match, Lashley attacked Owens’ knee and then repeatedly wrapped it around the post after the match. This also saw Lashley turn heel and had been something that people with the company had been pushing for. For his part, Owens was received strongly by the Chicago audience as a babyface and it will be interesting to see how he is booked when he returns and if they opt to turn him or keep him in the heel role.

UPDATE: We were informed later in the day that while the hope is Owens’ knee surgery is minor, they won’t know the full extent of the injury until the knee is assessed. There is a possibility of the injury being more serious and could require a longer recovery time.

Originally Posted by Observer

Commenting on a promo that she cut, Lynch mentioned that she’s working with a cracked jaw.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE uploaded a Raw fallout video where The Bellas explained the reason for the storyline where they attacked Ronda Rousey last night. Brie Bella accused Rousey of taking their spotlight, and Nikki Bella said they’re here to remind everyone that this is a “Bellalution.”

Rousey also continued the angle in a post on Instagram: “Dante’s Inferno says the innermost circle of hell is reserved for betrayers... That each of Lucifer’s three heads gnaw on the greatest sinners of human history .... Believe me, @thenikkibella @thebriebella you’ll prefer a relaxing break in the devil’s mouth over what’s coming for you at Evolution. #RondaVsBella #Evolution #WWEevolution”

Originally Posted by Observer/Post Wrestling

Indies Roundup:
Tracy Williams is the first participant announced for this year’s ROH Survival of the Fittest, where the winner will receive a future ROH title shot. This will take place on November 4.

OVW's 1,000th television show will air as an iPPV on FITE TV from Fourth Street Live in Louisville on Wednesday night. There will be an OVW title tournament that will include Billy Gunn, Abyss, Tommy Dreamer and Hurricane Helms, plus appearances by Jim Cornette, Danny Davis, Mick Foley, Al Snow, Ken Anderson, ODB and Lisa Varon.

Shingo Takagi was revealed as “X” and is the newest member of LIJ. Takagi got a big response when he unmasked prior to the eight-man tag. Takagi was the star of the match and pinned SHO with the Last Falconry. It appears that Takagi will be wrestling in the junior heavyweight division. Takagi had wrestled for Dragon Gate since 2004 and his background was acknowledged on the English broadcast today. Takagi recently decided to leave Dragon Gate and work as a freelancer with his final match with the promotion taking place last weekend.

Originally Posted by Observer

A number of new faces and teams will take part in this year’s Super Junior tag league.

Unlike previous years, this year the winners will not be determined via a single elimination tournament. Instead, it will be a round robin tournament where eight teams compete in matches against one another. The two teams with the most points will face each other in the finals at Power Struggle.

The participants for this year’s tournament include:

IWGP Jr. tag team champions El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
SHO and YOH from Roppongi 3K
Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask
Taiji Ishimori and Robbie Eagles
BUSHI and Shingo Takagi
KUSHIDA and Chris Sabin
ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi
Volador Jr. and Soberano Jr. from CMLL

Originally Posted by Observer

A Intercontinental title match will headline this year’s Power Struggle.

Chris Jericho will defend the Intercontinental title against EVIL. The two have had staredowns with one another before, but Jericho took it to a new level at King of Pro Wrestling when he jumped EVIL as he went to face Zack Sabre Jr. in a singles match. Jericho, who was wearing a druid outfit, attacked EVIL as he was entering the ring and left him laying bad enough that the match was ruled a forfeit.

A NEVER Openweight title match has also been announced, with new champion Taichi defending against Will Ospreay, who scored a big win over Taichi at King of Pro Wrestling, and intends on capitalizing on his momentum by taking Taichi’s title ...

Power Struggle will take place on November 3 at the Osaka Prefectural Gym. Here is the card announced thus far:

Chris Jericho vs. EVIL for the IWGP Intercontinental title
Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Taichi vs. Will Ospreay for the NEVER Openweight title
Hiroshi Tanahashi and David Finlay vs. The Golden Lovers
Kazuchika Okada and Beretta vs. Jay White and Bad Luck Fale
Finals of the Super Jr. Tag League 2018

Originally Posted by PWI

Add Lacey Evans, Mia Yim, Rhea Ridley and Kacy Catanzo to the list of WWE NXT talents who will be at the 10/28 WWE Evolution PPV in Long Island, NY. There is no word yet on what their role, if any, will be at the show. As we reported yesterday, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, Jessamyn Duke, Candice LaRae, Dakota Kai and Marina Shafir are also slated to be at the PPV. With so many NXT talents scheduled, I have to wonder if they are doing a Battle Royal on the undercard of the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

On WWE's website, it lists that Network Collections for Sasha Banks and Rey Mysterio are slated to come to the streaming service. Usually, the site lists upcoming Collections for the next month but this just says "coming soon". So there's a possibility with Mysterio's return at Smackdown 1000 and the upcoming Evolution pay-per-view that these may come before the end of the month. Much like the Curt Hawkins and Undertaker versus Triple H in September.

Originally Posted by PWI

ITV Studios Global Entertainment is working to license the World of Sport Wrestling product and will be exhibiting at the forthcoming Brand Licensing Europe convention.Grad

Promotional material from ITV Studios notes that seasone one odf the series, produced by ITV Studios Entertainment, debuted to more than 1 million viewers in the UK, "making it the highest-rated British wrestling show in 30 years" ...

While there has been no official word on a second season, the promotion has announced a seven event live tour for January and February 2019 in the UK and with ITV moving forward with seeking out licensing partners, there are signs that the project will continue:

EXCLUSIVE NEW NAMES ANNOUNCED FOR THE WOS TOUR!@WillOspreay @Kay_Lee_Ray @joeshendry @Robbie_X_ @Nathan_Cruz90 @Shasamuels will all be appearing!
Get your tickets now!! https://t.co/lzKnZsh9cm pic.twitter.com/BWVW7PAyws
— WOS Wrestling (@WOSWrestling) September 22, 2018

Originally Posted by PWI

World Wrestling has continued their recent strategy of filing trademarks on names related to older material.

As PWInsider.com broke lasr week, the company has filed trademarks on several WCW-related titles as well as All Star Wrestling.

On 10/4, WWE filed a trademark on the name "World Class Championship Wrestling", the promotion owned by Fritz Von Erich in the 1980s. On 9/27, the company had filed a trademark on the term "WCCW."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Rey Mysterio recently filed for two trademarks related to merchandise use - G.M.O.A.T. and The Greatest Mask of All Time. As noted, Rey recently signed a two-year deal with WWE and has been announced for next Tuesday's SmackDown 1000 episode from Washington, DC.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

As seen on RAW last night, WWE announced that the Alexa Bliss vs. Trish Stratus and Mickie James vs. Lita scheduled singles matches for the WWE Evolution pay-per-view have been nixed. The two bouts have been combined into a tag team match with Alexa & Mickie vs. Trish & Lita.

The plan was reportedly always for it to be a tag team match, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said that WWE had announced the Stratus vs. Bliss match to boost ticket sales early on, since they didn't want to announce the Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella match until they shot the angle for it. Once Bella vs. Rousey was announced, they felt that they could publicly change the Stratus vs. Bliss match to a tag team bout.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE has a new poll asking fans which RAW tag team should be next in line for a RAW Tag Team Title shot from Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. As of this writing, 63% voted for The Authors of Pain while 23% voted for The Revival and 14% voted for The B Team.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

At Super Show-Down, Melbourne's own Buddy Murphy won his first-ever WWE singles championship, as he defeated Cedric Alexander to become the Cruiserweight Champion ...

Following his Cruiserweight Championship win, Murphy shared his thoughts on the emotional moment on Instagram.

A long, long road! When I was on the verge of closing a chapter, I seeked out the light! Taking 1 opportunity, creating a second... to 70,000 people standing up, cheering for a guy as he lived out his dream! To all those people who said I would be back in Australia after 3 months of leaving for the USA... who's laughing now! It doesn't end here! #205live will be seen by the world! And people will realize where the Best of the Best are located on a Wednesday night!

As a result of his win at Super Show-Down, Murphy is the first Australian wrestler to ever win a singles title in WWE history.

Originally Posted by Observer

SmackDown ratings were up two percent this week, coming in at 2.135 million viewers. That tied the June 26 episode for the third-lowest number so far in 2018 ...

After starting the year up from 2017 totals more often than not, the show has now had a year-over-year drop in 20 of the last 21 weeks.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ahead of him returning to the company, WWE is advertising Rey Mysterio for his first set of appearances. He’ll return on SmackDown 1000 next week and face Shinsuke Nakamura in a World Cup qualifying match. He’s also advertised for:

Hartford, Connecticut -- October 20 (house show)
Boston, Massachusetts -- October 21 (house show)
White Plains, New York -- October 22 (house show)
Newark, New Jersey -- October 23 (SmackDown episode)
Atlanta, Georgia -- October 30 (SmackDown episode)
Cardiff, Wales -- November 3 (house show)
Aberdeen, Scotland -- November 4 (house show)
Birmingham, England -- November 5 (house show)
Manchester, England -- November 6 (SmackDown episode)

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting the following pieces of the content in line with Hispanic Heritage Month will be this week's Hidden Gems selection that will be added to the streaming service tomorrow:

WWWF @ MSG 08/01/1977 – Unpredictable Greatness
WWE Hall of Famers square off at The World’s Most Famous Arena when ‘The Unpredictable’ Johnny Rodz battles Carlos Colon.

WWE 01/08/1992 – The Art of War
Lucha legend Konnan makes a rare WWE appearance as Latin Fury when he takes on the former partner of Eddie Guerrero, ‘The Juicer’ Art Barr.

WWE Super Astros 11/22/1998 – When Stars Align
Before becoming an ECW and WWE mainstay, Super Crazy performed as Super Loco against El Hijo del Santo in this bout from Super Astros.

OVW 11/20/2002 – The Heat Comes to OVW
Latino Heat Eddie Guerrero makes his presence felt in his one and only OVW appearance when he takes on Nova in this match from 2002.

Originally Posted by Observer

Kane (Glenn Jacobs) and Tom Prichard are opening a wrestling school in January 2019

Originally Posted by Observer/Post Wrestling

Indies Roundup:

During a Twitch stream, Kenny Omega said he’s working with a fractured rib.

Marty Scurll is the second wrestler to be confirmed for ROH’s Survival of the Fittest tournament in Columbus, Ohio on November 4. It was announced yesterday that Tracy Williams will make his ROH debut in the tournament.

Cody Rhodes vs. Kenny King, Sumie Sakai, Madison Rayne & Jenny Rose vs. Britt Baker, Karen Q & Kelly Klein, and Jeff Cobb vs. Shane Taylor have been added to ROH’s TV tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday.

AXS TV announced that Women of Wrestling’s premiere episode will air on Friday, January 18..

Nick Gage vs. Joey Ryan is set for Joey Janela’s LA Confidential on November 16, which is the Friday of Survivor Series weekend.

MLW is planning to hold a television taping on February 2nd over Super Bowl weekend. They have not announced a location for the taping but stated that Tom Lawlor will be challenging for the MLW title on the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

A number of independent promotions have announced they will be joining a "Collective" of events being held in Jersey City, NJ, right outside of NYC over Wrestlemania 35 weekend in April 2019.

Game Changer Wrestling, CHIKARA, Cleveland's Absolute Intense Wrestling, Pittsburgh's Black Label Wrestling and Canada's Inter Species Wrestling have all announced plans to run that weekend at White Eagle Hall.

More details, lineups and ticket information will be announced in the weeks to come.

Originally Posted by PWI

Following an arraignment hearing this morning in Orange County, Florida, a trial date of 1/14/19 was set for Adam Birch aka Joey Mercury in one of the two current criminal cases against him in the Sunshine State.

In this case, Birch has beeng acused of allegedly using a credit card belonging to the victim to acquire $300 around 4/28. There were two incidents which Mercury was allegedly involved in, both on 4/8. The first incident took place, according to court records, in the Area of 1201 N. Lakemont Ave in Winter Park, FL between 9 AM to 1 PM and the second in the area 430 N. Orlando Ave., Winter Park, FL, between 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

Birch has been charged with Fraudulent Use or Possession of Personal Identification Information, Fraudulent Use of a Credit Card to obtain more than $100 in value, Grand Theft Third Degree and Petit theft.

Originally Posted by PWI

NXT TV is taping this weekend in Plymouth, Great Britain. If anyone is attending, we are seeking spoiler reports. Wrestletalk in the UK has reported there is an expected TV deal to be announced for the NXT UK brand tomorrow. The company had been in talks and had pitches to a number of TV broadcasters in the market including ITV, Channel 4 and BT Sport based on the idea that it would be the company's first local content offering, made in the UK with UK talents for the UK, including Nigel McGuinness as the host. At one point, there were plans to brand the potential series King of the Ring as well.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Ed Nordholm of Impact Wrestling was a guest with David Penzer on the Sitting Ringside podcast to promote this Sunday’s Bound for Glory card. The interview featured Nordholm going through the past two years overseeing the company since Anthem’s purchase of the company and taking control at the start of 2017. The most interesting note was his assertion that the darkest period occurred in August and September 2017. During this period, Nordholm stated they had to make a lot of hard decisions whether to continue with the operation of the company and was not prepared to throw good money after bad. If you recall, Justin Barrasso of SI.com reported that Anthem was considering selling in September 2017. At the time, Nordholm went on Wrestling Observer Radio to deny the sale talk, which publicly he had to do, but regardless this new revelation validated Barrasso’s report at the time.

Nordholm stated in the interview with Penzer that last year’s Bound for Glory was a “watershed” for the company that they needed to get through that show and after that make a concrete plan for the next steps to be taken. This eventually led to the hiring of Don Callis to work with Scott D’Amore as executives, which Nordholm said in the interview was his biggest success citing their common view of the product.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

After it was revealed last week that Michelle McCool will appear at SmackDown 1000, it looks like she has plans on wrestling at WWE Evolution as well.

The former WWE women's champion posted a wrestling training video of herself today on Instagram with the hashtag "#evolution."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair tweeted the following on last night's SmackDown opener between Charlotte Flair and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch. The match ended in a double count out and the two will now do battle in a Last Woman Standing match at WWE Evolution.

Unbelievable Championship Match! So Proud Of You Both! WOOOOO! @MsCharlotteWWE @BeckyLynchWWE pic.twitter.com/w7UwJO0uYZ
— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) October 10, 2018

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

The WWE Stats Twitter account noted that Big Show was the only Superstar to compete on SmackDown's first episode in 1999 and the 999th episode this week. Show lost to Randy Orton in the main event this week, which was a World Cup qualifier. No word yet on if Show will be appearing at SmackDown 1000 next week.

Originally Posted by Observer

The first four wrestlers have been confirmed for this year's Survival of the Fittest tournament.

Ring of Honor announced Andrew Everett and Jonathan Gresham for Survival of the Fittest today. They join Tracy Williams and Marty Scurll in the lineup for the one-night tournament, which will take place in Columbus, Ohio on November 4 and air live on HonorClub ...

This will be the first time Everett has wrestled for ROH since 2015. Last month, Everett announced that he had been granted his release from Impact Wrestling. He thanked the company for the opportunities he received there and noted that he felt he needed to test the waters in free agency.

Originally Posted by PWI

As Dave Scherer and I discussed on this week's edition of The We Don't Need No Name Show, the timing of the WWE event on 11/2 in Saudi Arabia has come under additional scrutiny following the disappearance of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian national who had been critical of aspects the country in his writing and reporting.

Khashoggi, who was in Turkey at the time, entered a Saudi Arabian consulate to pick up paperwork that would allow him to re-marry and hasn't been seen since ... The Washington Post has reported that Turkish officials believe that Khashoggi was murdered, possibly during an attempt to kidnap and spirit him back to Saudi Arabia that went wrong ...

Several other American companies who have events with ties to Saudi Arabia have canceled or postponed events, including The New York Times. With WWE receiving a huge payday froim the Kingdom in exchange for running events there (which have including promotional videos touting how progressive the regime has become, including allowing women to drive), there has been a spotlght on WWE to see how they will handle the 11/2 event, which is their second event in the country as part of a ten year agreement.

WWE issued the following response to queries about the event and the situation: “We are currently monitoring the situation."

Originally Posted by PWI

BOOM! Studios issued the following:
BOOM! Studios Announces WWE: FOREVER

LOS ANGELES, CA (October 11, 2018) – BOOM! Studios and WWE today announced WWE: FOREVER #1, an all-new, over sized, one-shot special featuring action-packed stories of the greatest WWE Legends on-sale in January 2019.

Originally Posted by PWI/Observer

Indies Roundup:

Ring of Honor has announced there will be a Women of Honor tag team match at Glory By Honor: Coming off of her defeat of Tenille Dashwood at Death Before Dishonor, Women of Honor World Champion Sumie Sakai feels like the newly minted addition of the word World to her Championship has been validated. In her first match since her victory, Sumie has signed to team up with the returning Dr. Britt Baker, DMD to take on two former proteges eager to test themselves in Jenny Rose and Stella Grey!

MLW TO DEBUT IN MIAMI WITH DECEMBER 13 & 14 FUSION TV TAPINGS; TICKETS ON SALE 10/19 at 10 A.M. December 13th’s event is the second MLW: Never Say Never show while the December 14th event is entitled MLW: Zero Hour.

Impact announced a deal with Kings Highway Media, LLC to assist and expand video and content distribution across all platforms. King Highway Media is the company headed by Andrew Whitaker, who headed running all international territories for WWE for years.

Pro Wrestling Revolver on 10/20 in West Des Moines, IA at the Val Air Ballroom with a Cage of Horrors match with Sami Callihan & Jake & Dave Crist & Larry D vs. Matthew Palmer & Shane Strickland & Jason Cade and a mystery partner, plus Walter vs. PCO, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs. Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega vs. Dustin Rayz & Aaron Williams, Rich Swann vs. David Starr vs. Trey Miugel, Colt Cabana vs. Jake Manning, Jimmy Jacobs vs. JT Dunn, Marko Stunt vs. Ace Romero and more.

Tessa Blanchard comes to Australia for a three-way with Savannah Summer and Xema on 10/24 in Sydney for Future Wrestling Australia.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting that 10 more episodes of the original WWE Main Event episodes from 2012-2013 will be hitting the streaming service today. It looks like WWE may be trying a new strategy when it comes to the Classic Content drops for the month. Instead of dropping all the episodes before the beginning of the month they may be doing a steady weekly rollout all throughout the month. Enticing new viewers not to be overwhelmed with the glut of content at one time.

Originally Posted by Observer

Don Callis looks like he won’t be back as an [NJPW] announcer. Lanny Poffo was at first said to be the replacement but we’re told at this point that right now that’s just a name out there and at this point is to be a one-time deal. The idea right now is to have a rotation of color commentators through the end of the year ... Callis wasn’t called for the KOPW show and hasn’t been called about any future dates, nor has he been told he’s no longer being used so he’s really in limbo.

This came after timing of Impact work and tapings didn’t allow him to do the last three days of G-1. Those in Japan are going with the idea his schedule won’t allow him to be back, so this could be a communications issue that still could change. He wouldn’t be able to go back as frequently due to his Impact duties but probably could do four to five big shows a year. It’s notable because Callis was the guy who helped put together the Jericho vs. Omega match at last year’s Tokyo Dome that led to the big increase in attendance and even bigger increase in New Japan World subscriber numbers ...

The name Jim Ross has been talked about for the Tokyo Dome, with the idea of using the live feed on AXS rather than going in studio and voicing it over. The Tokyo Dome is on a Friday this year so they could do the show on AXS live in the middle of the night (they had done New Year’s Eve MMA and kickboxing shows live on the station from Japan) or go in the regular time slot on a 17 or 18 hour tape delay.

Originally Posted by Observer

David Arquette is filming a documentary around his return to wrestling. He has put up a wrestling ring in his backyard and practices constantly. He lost 50 pounds getting in shape for this run and he has wrestlers over his house all the time to teach him. He’s also amazed that after all this time, there are still people mad at him personally about the WCW title run ... Whenever he’s on the road, he looks to see if there’s an independent show in the area he can attend. He’s trying to do as many indie dates as his schedule allows

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the note about New Japan guys talking about coming to Impact, there was more than New Japan contracted wrestlers who had interest in working here between tours who were told that New Japan didn’t want them doing that.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE stock had a terrible weak, falling to $80.18 per share at press time on 10/10, giving the company a $6.252 billion market value, meaning it lost well over a billion in value over the past week ... It fell to around $86 based on an analysis piece, and the drop lower was a combination of that piece but more the overall big drop of the stock market that took place on 10/10. The analysis piece was by Dan Victor of CFA where he believed the stock was overvalued and basically thought the big run up was a bullish euphoria based on the TV deal. He said that the big TV deal masked a lot of weakness that people aren’t seeing ... He noted the bull case for greater growth is based on the idea that the move to FOX will lead to a new growth among the fan base, meaning more fans going to shows and buying the network because of placement on the bigger platform ...

He said that’s a stretch and he doesn’t buy it. It is unproven, just as it’s unproven how Smackdown will do on Fridays ... In theory, moving to FOX should raise the audience 22 percent based on new homes and slightly more based on being on a bigger station with a higher base audience. But, a move from Tuesday to Friday is going to cause a big drop ...

So after the first few week honeymoon where the shows will be promoted like crazy and they’ll no doubt do loaded shows, when they level off, anything above 2.14 million would be the value of FOX over USA. Those 3.3 million to 3.5 million weekly predictions for FOX that they’d get 52 weeks a year with WWE in that time slot are looking very ambitious right now ...

But the idea of FOX leading to a new growth period, we thought that with UFC. Its ups and downs in popularity over seven years was not FOX as much as creation of the larger-than-life stars that bring in a new audience, something WWE hasn’t done well at for a long time.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding NXT, there are several different people in charge of running the house shows. Matt Bloom runs the shows near Orlando. Steve Corino runs the shows in Florida that are farther from Orlando since Bloom’s main job is running the Performance Center. Michael Hayes books the outside of Florida tours and he’s the one who also decides which talent works those shows so the main headquarters are running those events

Originally Posted by Observer

While nothing is imminent, there is talk of opening up different Performance Centers in different parts of the world. U.K. and Saudi Arabia are high on the list and there are other places considered as well, including Japan, which surprises me since WWE really isn’t that popular in Japan as compared with other countries, but Japan culturally for a number of reasons does develop some great pro wrestlers and it’s not just New Japan but across the board, both men and women seem to adapt quickly to it

Originally Posted by Observer

Paul Levesque was on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and talked about men vs. women and intergender matches that got a lot of comments. Right now the company’s thoughts seem to be that it’s okay for a women to get offense on a man, whether in a mixed match for a spot, or in an angle, but not the other way around as far as physical. I don’t think the portrayal of a man hitting or kicking a woman right now will do WWE any favors, and clearly, they don’t either ... Obviously other companies have different ideas but the other companies don’t have the same level of sponsors nor play before more casual audiences. Levesque said that they can do it as a shock moment and a spectacle moment but he feels women don’t need a man to make them successful or to give them credibility.

Originally Posted by Observer

Lawler was in TMZ noting that he was inundated with hate mail after a photo was shown of him at a Donald rally in Mississippi on 10/2. Lawler was sitting behind Donald at the rally where the President mocked Christine Blasey Ford, which got tons of mainstream news. He said he was asked by some people to attend, he went and got hate mail. He said he wasn’t going to see Donald, the president, but Donald the WWE Hall of Famer

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

The current state of New Japan Pro Wrestling has been a hot topic of discussion amongst pro wrestling as of late. On the last episode of Wrestling Observer Radio this morning, Dave Meltzer touched on the current backstage morale in NJPW.

According to Meltzer, "There is a lot of unrest, everyone is unhappy." Apparently much of the unrest comes from the fact that NJPW is under new management. Toy magnate Harold Meij was brought on as the new NJPW President this summer.

The new management, while excellent businessmen, do not appear to be wrestling people. Before Meij came in to power the feeling backstage was reportedly that NJPW was doing great. Their business was up, the roster was, "very prideful of their work," and they were making in-roads into the US market.

Meltzer went on to note that it's not just Meij, or new GM Michael Craven, that have rubbed the roster the wrong way. It's many members of the new management. He went so far as to say that, "A lot of people that you wouldn't even think about leaving are thinking about it. People who I knew who were considering absolutely staying are questioning that commitment."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

It looks like Sasha Banks could be returning to the ring in time for the first-ever all-women's WWE Evolution pay-per-view on October 28.

The WWE website currently has Banks advertised for the live event in Portland, Maine on Saturday, October 20.

Banks is not advertised for any other live events that weekend, including the WWE Supershow that Saturday in her hometown of Boston. She is advertised for that Monday's RAW in Providence, Rhode Island but only by the arena and it appears to be a dated listing ...

Banks has been advertised for Evolution since the event was announced but the current listings appear to be dated. It's worth noting that the WWE website does not have Banks listed on the Evolution event page but she is still featured on some of the promotional graphics.

Originally Posted by Noid (Post 5183844)

Thank god, Don Callis is an awful announcer. He reminds me of Kevin Nash. Witty guy in a certain context, but when it goes to putting it into practice...yikes. Impact is doing worse since he's come around, I believe (despite people on here that are determined to say it is good), and his commentary makes him sound like they got a smark and put them in the booth and told them to act like a "cool heel."

A bit surprised to hear that about backstage turmoil in New Japan. Harold Meij sounds like a genius in everything I've read about him. Like an actual genius and not an Eric Bischoff genius. So rare to hear anything "heel" coming in about New Japan.

Originally Posted by Slik (Post 5183902)

Some twitter insiders reporting Sponsors (like Snickers) are starting to 'put heat' on WWE to cancel Crown Jewel. If they cancel most matches will be moved to Survivor Series.

Vince is said to 'not want to cancel' via $$$$$$$$$ but some in company are saying to listen to the sponsors and this is 'very bad pr' for WWE.

Originally Posted by Slik (Post 5183902)

Some twitter insiders reporting Sponsors (like Snickers) are starting to 'put heat' on WWE to cancel Crown Jewel. If they cancel most matches will be moved to Survivor Series.

Vince is said to 'not want to cancel' via $$$$$$$$$ but some in company are saying to listen to the sponsors and this is 'very bad pr' for WWE.

Originally Posted by Simple Fan (Post 5183903)

I'll agree his commentary can be cringe wothy at times. When he gets into a match and is more professional he's pretty good. As far as what he's done on the management side of Impact, he's done an incredible job.

Originally Posted by owenbrown (Post 5183915)

But Vinnie Mac loves money

Originally Posted by Noid (Post 5183947)

I can't dichotomize it like that. His awfulness does not get excused because sometimes he isn't quite as awful.

TNA currently gets <200,000 viewers. Just because you like it, doesn't mean that it's working. There's a difference between a subjective statement and an objective one.

Originally Posted by Simple Fan (Post 5183952)

Cable viewership doesn't mean shit anymore. People may not be watching on Pop but there are many other ways to watch the show. Impact pretty much post every segment on YouTube and do a Twitter rundown live for people like you that do like to watch. As someone who's watched the product I can guarantee you its way better since Don has come in. I don't think you realize how bad 2017 was for that company. They're actually selling tickets for shows now and are even doing live events again. They haven't done that in years.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 10/4 edition of Impact did 183,000 overnight viewers down from last week's 190,000 overnight viewers. Obviously that is not the way they want the numbers to go.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Viewership for Impact Wrestling has taken a big hit since July with their last 11 weeks of programming averaging 227,000 viewers going back to July 26th. In the 11-week period prior to that, the show was averaging 283,000 viewers and dropped 20%. While the return of Thursday night football can explain the audience being down to a degree, the plunge began in August prior to football. It’s a mystery what led to the decline because buzz for the product was its highest in years following Slammiversary but after a one-week grace period, the audience dropped dramatically.

Originally Posted by PWI/Observer/Post Wrestling

Indies Roundup:

On the newest edition of the National Wrestling Alliance's YouTube series, Jim Cornette discusses the legacy of the NWA title, Cody vs. Nick Aldis for the championship next weekend and more leading into the NWA 70th Anniversary event, which will air live on Fite.TV

The [MLW] promotion is finalizing the location of its 2/2 Superfight which will see Low Ki vs. Tom Lawlor headline for the MLW Championship. The plan is to make this a major marquee event for the company, running Superbowl weekend every year. We are told that the first event will not be held in NYC. They are looking at venues in the Northeast and Mid-West. The hope is to officially announce the market and venue in early November.

[MLW] Management absolutely loves Marko Stunt and are planning for him to be used regularly by the company. There’s even been early discussions of building an entire division around him.

Bar Wrestling has a show on 10/17 called Breastlemania. The show will benefit the Susan Love Foundation for breast cancer research and has Tessa Blanchard vs. Brian Cage, Penelope Ford vs. Shotzi Blackheart vs. Heather Monroe vs. Indi Hartwell, Scarlett Bordeaux & Katrina vs. Ruby Raze & Sage Sin and Nicole Savoy vs. Diamante.

AAW will be running a card tonight at 9 pm Eastern from Austin, Texas and will be streaming it live on Twitch with the following card: Brody King & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Sami Callihan & Darby Allin, ACH vs. Eddie Kingston, Trevor Lee vs. Rich Swann for the Heritage title, Aaron Solow & Ricky Starks vs. Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega, Myron Reed & AR Fox vs. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz, Thunder Rosa vs. Kylie Ray, Laredo Kid vs. Jason Cade, Steven Wolf & Pacu vs. Curt Stallion.

Originally Posted by PWI

BREAKING: Father James Mitchell will induct @TherealAbyss into the IMPACT Hall of Fame as it streams TOMORROW live on Twitch.

MORE: https://t.co/z9BI6KbMln pic.twitter.com/dyq4EjMqFD
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) October 12, 2018

Impact Wrestling will live stream their Hall of Fame induction of Abyss tomorrow night on their Twitch channel, it was announced this afternoon

Jim Mitchell, Abyss' storyline father and long-time manager, will be officially inducting the former NWA Champion into the company's Hall of Fame at the ceremony, which will take place tomorrow night at McHale's Pub in NYC.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 12/26 WWE Live Event at Madison Square Garden, which was advertised as a Smackdown Live has been changed to a Raw brand show..

The new lineup for the traditional day after Christmas event features:
*Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in a Steel Cage match for the Universal Championship
*Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre for the RAW Tag Team Championships
*Ronda Rousey vs. Mickie James for the RAW Women's Championship

Also advertised to appear are Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley, Elias, Jinder Mahal, Alexa Bliss, Bayley and more.

Originally Posted by Observer

NEW JAPAN SUPER JUNIOR TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT STARTS TUESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Toa Henare & Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Ayato Yoshida & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano & Baretta & Chuckie T vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Taiji Ishimori & Robbie Eagles vs. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask
Ryusuke Taguchi &ACH vs. Volador Jr. & Soberano Jr.
Kushida & Chris Sabin vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado
Bushi & Shingo Takagi vs. Sho & Yoh

Originally Posted by Observer

Several major media sources including Viacom, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times have pulled out of a Saudi Arabian media conference and Fox Business is examining the situation. This puts more pressure on WWE because it makes it look like they can't make a moral stand and it will be a very bad reflection to the pubic of the image of WWE as a company.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the tweet where Khabib Nurmagomedov said he was in talks with WWE, officials at WWE say that is not the case. Nurmagomedov is under contract to UFC and UFC contracts prohibit talent from doing pro wrestling without clearing it with the company.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

A return to WWE has been rumored for Rey Mysterio since he was a surprise entrant in the 2018 Men's Royal Rumble Match in January and it will finally happen next week.

WWE announced this week that Mysterio will square off with United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a WWE World Cup Qualifying Match on next Tuesday's historic 1000th episode of SmackDown LIVE in Washington D.C. Mysterio is advertised to wrestle twice on the show as WWE revealed tonight in an email to those in the D.C. area that he will also compete in a tag team match.

In updated advertising for the event, Mysterio is slated to team with WWE Champion AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan against Randy Orton, The Miz, and Nakamura. A match pitting Styles and Bryan against Samoa Joe and Miz was previously advertised.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

On the debut episode of Vince Russo: Truth with Consequences with Matt Koon on the Westwood One Podcast Network, Vince Russo discussed his booking philosophy, time with WCW and more. You can check out the podcast on iTunes, they sent us these highlights ...

The decision to book himself winning the WCW World title:

"The week of the show in the creative meeting the decision was made. The people in the booking meeting all thought the same. The goal is to get as many eyeballs as possible on the show. Everybody on the creative side was looking at it as TV show rather than a wrestling show. I put the WWE title on [Vince] McMahon, the WCW title on [David] Arquette, another WCW title on [Eric] Bischoff. Why? We are looking to create stories and not for the wrestling fan, for the casual wrestling fan."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Jeff Cobb spoke with the Baltimore Sun on recently winning the ROH World TV title, his top career moments, picking ROH over other promotions, and if he had any offers from other companies. Here are some of the highlights ...

Picking ROH over other companies:

"I definitely want to wrestle more in New Japan. Ring of Honor has that great relationship with them. New Japan guys are on ROH TV, and ROH guys are out on New Japan shows. The schedules don't conflict that often. That's definitely a big factor that made me want to sign with Ring of Honor."

Originally Posted by Simple Fan (Post 5183972)

My Imoact thread alone is proof more people are interested. They've been way more successful this year than in years past, did you not read the part about selling tickets and doing live events. I'm not saying their doing big numbers but the company has rebounded and are headed in the right direction.