[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer The promotion of a loaded Raw with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Brock Lesnar, led to a 16 percent jump in audience last night with Raw averaging 2.57 million viewers ... 9-1-1 on FOX, which featured Ronda Rousey, was the second highest rated show on television last night with 7.46 million viewers ... Raw did its usual patterns of falling each hour, although the 10.6 percent first-to-third hour drop was less than usual, which is also a good sign ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.70 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.59 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.42 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling If you exclude the night after SummerSlam and the Raw Reunion in July, this was their highest overall average for Raw since the Superstar Shakeup on April 15th.

Originally Posted by Observer A celebrity appearance has been added to this week's episode of NXT. Wale posted a tweet today announcing that he'll be appearing with The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) tomorrow: "breaking news I’ll be on @WWENXT tmrw on @USA_Network at 8pm ... we gettin to it .. wit @AngeloDawkins an @MontezFordWWE. Please believe we want all the smoke!!!" The Street Profits are getting their rematch for Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish's NXT Tag Team titles on the episode. Wale is a rapper and professional wrestling fan who has appeared on WWE programming in the past. He hosted a rap battle between The New Day and The Usos on an episode of SmackDown in 2017 and did commentary on a 205 Live episode last year ... The NXT appearance comes in advance of Wale's next album being released on October 11.

Originally Posted by Observer AEW welcomed Alex Abrahantes to their broadcast team.

Originally Posted by Observer Kevin Kelly tweeted that he was heading into the studio today to do English commentary for last Saturday’s NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed show in New York City.

Originally Posted by PWI Stephanie McMahon appeared this morning on FOX Sport 1’s First Things to promote the Friday Night Smackdown move to FOX this week ... It was noted the role of women has evolved over the years. McMahon was asked why that was important to her. She said there’s a huge knock against women’s sports because there’s no attendance or no buzz and she said that’s because there’s no promotion for it. When you look at WWE, their fans demanded they “give Divas a chance” with a hashtag that trended for days, calling for better athleticism and storylines. Vince McMahon saw it and told the fans to give them a chance. They rebranded the Divas division into Superstars and they received a new championship and since then they have been presenting the women stronger and have headlined Wrestlemania, breaking the MetLife Stadium revenue record. On why fans should tune into Smackdown, she said they will see the best of sports and entertainment. The storylines are protagonists and antagonists like any other story but their issues are settled inside a 20 x 20 ring with the best performers in the world. It was noted they have fans across generations and demographics. Stephanie said they are generational viewing because it translates to anyone. They have over 200 characters. They have one of the top YouTube channels. They appeal to everyone ... Stephanie was asked if she would encourage her daughters to get involved in the sport when they were of age. McMahon said her oldest daughter (Note from Mike: 13 years old) has already started training and she would encourage them to follow their passion and use their work ethic. They would have to work hard if that was their choice. McMahon was asked the secret of WWE’s staying power. She said it goes back to relatability and engaging the audience. What the audience does reflects what WWE does. Keeping that connection with the audience is what matters.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Bandido posted a photo from a hospital on Tuesday while covering his face and added #7weeks in the post. Someone familiar with the situation informed us that the wrestler had surgery earlier today. Bandido had been working with a knee injury that is believed to have been an issue for him prior to the Battle of Los Angeles tournament but worked through the tournament and Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor event. Due to the injury, which ROH stated was a knee injury, he missed Saturday’s television tapings in Las Vegas. If he is out for seven weeks, that would mean he would be off ROH’s Honor United tour of the UK from October 25-27.

SPOILER: show

Originally Posted by Sports Illustrated In other wrestling news, a potential surprise for AEW’s premiere on TNT, Sports Illustrated has learned, is Jake Hager, better known from his WWE run as Jack Swagger. An ardent Trump supporter and legitimate big guy, Hager would fit in nicely as a villain for the promotion. He would also add depth to the card, and his work in Bellator MMA could have crossover appeal for AEW.

Spoiler tags used since its related to a potential surprise debut for AEW's TV show tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Fightful Cody Rhodes discusses the series of events that led him to AEW ... Cody left WWE in May 2016 after being denied a request to drop the Stardust gimmick in favor of being Cody Rhodes again. Vince declining Cody's gimmick change kicked off the series of events that eventually led to the formation of AEW. "It's very romantic, very like Game of Thrones-style with these warring houses," Cody said. "When I left WWE in 2015, I didn't think, like, 'I'm picking up that sword, we're going to war.' It's a wild, wild series of events. There were so many combustible pieces that led to all of this. You throw them together, and suddenly we are in a situation where I'm standing in front of the Turner Mansion with Brandi, in exactly the same spot Dusty took the team picture with WCW. And we're taking another team picture with a billionaire NFL owner who's a mega wrestling fan, ready to launch another national wrestling promotion. Had Vince listened to me when I really wanted to make the transition back to being Cody Rhodes, we wouldn't be sitting here. It's that fragile." Instead of remaining in WWE, thanks to the advice and help of Kevin Owens, Cody linked up with The Young Bucks on the Independent circuit. The trio, along with Kenny Omega, SCU, and others, began making waves on Being The Elite, eventually leading to Cody and The Young Bucks running All In, billed as the largest Independent wrestling show in history.

Wonder if Vince is going to be pissed at Kevin Owens for accidentally playing a role in the birth of AEW.

Originally Posted by Observer MLW announced A.J. Kirsch, has joined its broadcast team. Kirsch was on the 2011 version of Tough Enough as a wrestler but has mainly worked as a broadcaster in Northern California in recent years.

Originally Posted by Fightful Replays for Friday's SmackDown on Fox premiere: Saturday (FOX Sports 2): 9 PM – 11 PM Sunday (FOX Sports 1): 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Tuesday (FOX Sports 2): 5 PM – 7 PM

Originally Posted by PWI In the United States, AEW Dynamite's premiere episode will replay on TNT this Saturday 10/5 at 10 AM and 10:30 PM EST as well as Tuesday 10/8 at 10 PM EST.

Originally Posted by Observer Impact has announced they have invited Joe Maddon, the former manager of the Chicago Cubs, who led to the team to the 2016 World Series championship, to be a guest at Bound for Glory on 10/20 in Chicago's Odeum Expo Center. They said Maddon would be at ringside for a 20 person Rumble style match where the winner gets a future title match. The idea is that Maddon will give advice to the winner on what title to cash in on.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Minoru Suzuki wrote that Yoshihiro Takayama has been moved to a new facility and note improvements Takayama has experienced. Takayama suffered a cervical spinal cord injury in May 2017 during a match where he attempted a sunset flip and landed on his head. The injury has left Takayama paralyzed.

Originally Posted by PWI With the exception of the ambulance issue in New York City, New Japan was extremely happy with the weekend’s Fighting Spirit USA tour with stops in Lowell, MA, NYC and Philadelphia. Of the three shows, the Philadelphia event was said to have been the most profitable for the company at the gate, but New York City was the #1 night in terms of merchandise sales, with Lowell coming in second for merchandise numbers ... Philadelphia was completely sold out, including an additional 200 standing room tickets that were made available because there were so many inquiries to the 2300 Arena for tickets after the initial immediate sellout ... The Rock N’ Roll Express being brought in was said to have been a Jado idea. Backstage in Philadelphia were WWE’s Kairi Sane, Ring of Honor’s Sumie Sakai and Cheeseburger and CZW’s DJ Hyde. Also at the Philly show, for the first time in decades in the building, was former ECW promoter Ed Zohn, who now works with PWX ... There is early talk of perhaps doing more United States shows in the first quarter of 2020, but that is nowhere near confirmed.

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Joaquin Wilde Injury Update, Corbin’s Throne Breaks, NXT Overrun
• RUSH Comments on His and Dragon Lee’s Recent Release from CMLL
• AEW: Dynamite Name Origin, Deal With Hot Topic, Jericho Mystery Partner Announcement Tonight
• WWE: Seth Rollins Back on Twitter, Naomi Update, Chelsea Green on Commentary?
• NWA Power: New NWA Show Will Air Every Tuesday for Free Online