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Former TPWW Royalty
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The Sheets:
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Originally Posted by Observer
While Raw was down seven percent from last week, doing 2.53 million viewers, it was still the best number the show has done with the exception of Raw Reunion and last week's episode dating back to night one of the Superstar Shake-up on April 15.
It followed the usual recent pattern of peaking in hour two and then falling in hour three. The third hour was below the first hour this week, but the third hour drop has lessened significantly since Paul Heyman was put in a role with major influence on the show, with the third hour 4.9 percent down from the first. Prior to Heyman, it was often near and even above a 20 percent drop from hour one to three ...
The rating was down 18 percent from the same week in 2018, but that's an unfair comparison because SummerSlam was a week earlier this year, so the comparison is with the day after SummerSlam. If we look at the week after SummerSlam from last year, the drop was 11 percent.
Straight Up Steve Austin, airing on the USA Network after Raw, did 1.08 million viewers, a drop of 11 percent from the first week. Again, part of that -- and probably a big part -- is a lesser lead-in because of the lower rated Raw ...
The three hours for Raw were:
8 p.m. 2.55 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.63 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.42 million viewers
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Originally Posted by Fightful
As far as his vignettes, WWE intentionally stay hands off on them because they know they can't recreate them well. When Vince McMahon orders one, Ali has it made.
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In regards to the videos Ali has been doing on Smackdown for a while.
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Originally Posted by PWI
Daffney posted:
Some of you know that I had neck surgery 2 1/2 years ago. They put a metal plate between my C4 & C5. Recently, I noticed my fingers on my left hand going numb again, especially my thumb. My wrist and forearm began to hurt, my temple, neck, collarbone and trap were next, and then finally my shoulder felt like it was being ripped out of the socket if I didn't keep my arm cradled. Just like 2 1/2 years ago. By Thursday night it had gotten so bad, I decided I needed to go get it checked the next day. Good news: I haven't hurt another disc in my neck. Bad news: They found a cyst or growth next to my T1.
They gave me steroids & anti inflammatories and I've been keeping my left arm propped up. It's weird because my middle finger especially hurts this time - almost like it's broken so it sticks up. I'm constantly giving Dina, my roomie, the bird. Which she totally doesn't deserve because she just made me some amazing grits and has been a guardian angel.
In the morning I make an appointment with a spinal specialist to find out what is next to my T1 & what is causing the pain.
I'll keep y'all updated. Wanted to explain my absence and request good juju please
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Originally Posted by Fightful
WCW, TNA, WWE and ECW veteran Johnny Swinger was recently a guest on Wrestling Epicenter's Interactive Wrestling Radio ...
On training Rick Steiner's son:
"I'm getting ready to train Rick Steiner's son, Bronson. He's been wanting to do it for a few years now. He's finishing up college. He's going to be the next big thing. He really is. He's about 6'1... He was a state champion. He's playing football for KSU right now. He's going to be a stud, man!"
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Originally Posted by Observer
Kevin Von Erich is returning to Texas for next month's MLW War Chamber event.
MLW has announced that Kevin will be appearing at their television tapings at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills on Saturday, September 7. He'll be in the corner of his sons Marshall & Ross as they team with Tom Lawlor to take on Contra Unit in a War Chamber match.
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Originally Posted by Observer
Following the NXT to USA announcement, WWE stock closed today at $74.51 per share. That was up 3.59 percent from yesterday.
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Originally Posted by Observer
AJ Mendez (formerly known as AJ Lee) and actress Aimee Garcia are writing a four-part comic book series called “GLOW vs. The Babyface” that will launch this November
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Originally Posted by PWI
Where is Rusev? I remember how deadly he was when he first got here. What do you think happened?
The rumors for a while now are that he and Lana have not been happy with how they have been used by WWE (I can’t say I blame them). Creative has not been using them. I would not be shocked if they left when their contracts are up. I never understood the way that he was used, a big, strong agile big man should have been used so much better than he was.
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From a recent Q&A article.
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Originally Posted by PWI
With WWE NXT moving to a two-hour weekly series on the USA Network starting on 9/18, the series will now be available on a 24-hour tape delay, airing Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern on the WWE Network. After that airing, it will be available via VOD.
There are no planned changes in regard to Takeover events. Those remain exclusive to the WWE Network.
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Originally Posted by Post Wrestling
I have been asked nonstop about NXT airing in Canada and Sportsnet 360’s response has been that they “have nothing to share at this time.”
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Originally Posted by Post Wrestling
NXT will launch on the USA Network beginning September 18th, which is the date we reported on Monday with AEW set to premiere on October 2nd. It is WWE’s biggest head-to-head challenge in years and while most point to Impact’s move to Monday nights in January 2010, realistically, that was a one-week spike for Impact, who were quickly destroyed against Raw and retreated to Thursdays by the spring. AEW has a sound business strategy and has been able to prove an ability to move tickets at a level Impact never approached in its existence.
Some comparisons can be made to October 3, 2005, when Raw moved back to the USA Network and went head-to-head with a UFC Fight Night card. While UFC was not going to be weekly competition, they did represent the hot brand that was on fire after the first season of the Ultimate Fighter, which was enough to given Spike the confidence to publicly walk away from their re-negotiations with WWE, whose deal was up that year. WWE treated the head-to-head battle that night as war and promoted the show around a “Homecoming”, which was the first time they brought back every legend possible and became the company’s go-to strategy to pop a big number. Fourteen years later, it’s the strategy they will use for the first episode of SmackDown on Fox.
Unlike UFC, AEW represents a direct competitor that WWE cannot write off as “they’re legitimate sport and we are entertainment” ...
NXT is now a vehicle to draw eyeballs in large amounts with the pressure of a weekly scorecard on Thursday afternoons. In many ways, they could fall into the trap of WCW in 1998. At the time, WCW was doing monster business at live events and on pay-per-view, but the WWF had surpassed them in viewership and that was the metric that determined a win or a loss. Instead of maintaining a solid business and building new stars when the company was hot, they became obsessed with Tuesday afternoons and winning the night, instead of winning the war.
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John Pollock had an interesting view about NXT's announcement from a historical perspective.
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Originally Posted by Post Wrestling
Bloomberg has an article on Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan Pro Wrestling, which took the company public in July. Yoshitaka Hashimoto, the CEO of Bushiroad, spoke to Bloomberg and emphasized taking New Japan global and citing video streaming as one tool. In the article, they attribute New Japan to being responsible for 20% of Bushiroad’s annual revenue last year, which grew to 28.9 billion yen ($271.9 million U.S.) for their fiscal year that ended in July 2018. Bloomberg listed New Japan’s annual sales at 5 billion yen ($47,045,000 U.S.). Hashimoto added that four of every ten New Japan fans are female and it was mentioned that when Bushiroad bought the company they encouraged the wrestlers to get on Twitter and interact with fans to grow the audience. Harold Meij added that “New Japan Pro Wrestling used to see themselves as just a sports organization. Now we consider every wrestler to be a piece of intellectual property, a kind of anime character.”
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Originally Posted by Fightful
It's been months since Sheamus last appeared in a WWE ring and the former WWE champion is still unsure of when he'll return.
The 41-year-old former King of the Ring winner spoke on when he could be returning the ring. After being out of the ring since April, Sheamus admitted in a recent Q & A in the Philippines that he doesn't know when he'll be back but he does miss it.
"I've not yet retired... I don't know what the story is in my future. I have no idea, I honestly don't. I just know that I like have some time off but I miss it. I do miss being in the ring," Sheamus said.
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TPWW Frontpage stuff:
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