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Originally Posted by Observer Last night's AEW Dynamite on TNT averaged 886,000 viewers, down 12.8 percent from last week but up almost 10 percent from the last time the show aired head-to-head with NXT. NXT was also up from the previous head-to-head battle, averaging 689,000 viewers. That's down 17.8 percent from running unopposed last Tuesday night but up 11 percent from the last head-to-head week on August 12. With no NBA or NHL competition and news shows with a normal level of audience, Dynamite finished third on cable in the 18-49 demo on the night with a 0.34 rating. That's down 8.1 percent from last week but up six percent from August 12. NXT managed a 0.18 rating in the demo, finishing 31st on cable. It was down 15 percent from last week but up 12.5 percent from August 12 In the other demo categories, it was the usual with AEW winning everything except people over 50, where NXT had a 0.36 to 0.32 advantage. in women 18-49, AEW had a 0.23 rating to NXT's 0.13. In men 18-49, AEW doubled NXT with a 0.46 rating to NXT's 0.23. AEW was number one on cable in that demo. In people 18-34, AEW had a huge advantage with a 0.24 rating to NXT's 0.10. AEW topped all of cable in that demo as well. In females 12-34, AEW had an advantage of 0.15 to 0.06. In males of the same age group, AEW drew a 0.26 rating and NXT drew a 0.14. AEW also topped cable in that category. In people 25-54, AEW had a 0.38 rating to NXT's 0.22. The combined audience of 1.575 million viewers was down 15.2 percent from last week when both shows aired on different nights but up 11.6 percent from the last time both aired on Wednesday.

Originally Posted by PWTorch While AEW Dynamite and NXT on USA go head-to-head again this week, last week was the fourth week in a row the shows didn’t battle head-to-head with their first-run programs. Last week NXT was moved to Tuesday night for the second straight week, bumped from the usual timeslot due to NHL playoffs on USA Network. It drew 838,000 live and same-night-delayed viewers last week (9/8), down from the prior week’s (9/1) viewership of 849,000. The following are the viewership numbers for NXT the last four weeks without Dynamite as competition. 9/8: 838,000 9/1 849,000 8/26: 824,000 8/19: 853,000 AVERAGE: 841,000 The prior four weeks averaged 684,000 viewers. So NXT, without AEW as competition, despite airing on a different night the last two weeks, gained 157,000 viewers on average each week. Meanwhile, AEW was unopposed in its usual Wednesday night timeslot the last two weeks, drawing 1,016,000 live and same-night-delayed viewers last week (9/9), an improvement on the 928,000 the prior wee (9/2). The preview two weeks NXT aired on Thursday and Saturday instead, bumped from its usual Wednesday night timeslot due to scheduled NBA playoff games. The last two weeks averaged 972,000 viewers. The prior two weeks moved from its usual timeslot but airing unopposed averaged 784,000. The previous four weeks averaged 831,000. So the last two Wednesdays, unopposed by NXT, AEW drew on average 161,000 more viewers than it averaged during the prior four week “normal” period when up against NXT. So bottom line, it appears that each show gained right around 160,000 viewers who typically would have watched the other show instead live or on a same-night-delay. This week, the shows get back to normal and it’s possible that one of the shows will end up retaining some new viewers if some of those 160,000 who sampled the other show end up sticking with that show instead.

Originally Posted by PWI On the latest edition of Wrestling with History on VOC Nation, Ken Resnick talked about the period in 1983 prior to the WWF recruiting Hulk Hogan and going national. Resnick discussed business mistakes made by Verne Gagne, Hogan giving Gagne an opportunity to match the WWF’s offer, the territory system, and much more. Here are some highlights: On Verne Gagne’s reaction to McMahon’s push to go national: “I remember being in some of the discussions where Vince was kind of going through the country like a blitzkrieg…if you’re facing in business what was essentially a hostile takeover attempt by Vince McMahon or the WWF, the first thing you are taught in any business school is you circle your wagons (and) protect your own business. Being old school and so angered by what Vince was beginning to successfully do, Vern focused in trying to get into Vince’s backyard and let markets like Chicago and Milwaukee be basically second in thought and ripe for takeover.” On business mistakes Gagne made that ultimately killed the promotion: “Vern sold the Winnipeg market and Winnipeg television to Wally Karbo, Jack Lanza, and Nick Bockwinkel. For a number of reasons, they ended up taking that television and giving that market to Vince. The late Dennis Hilgart, the promoter in Milwaukee, again a lot of it was financial, but he left Vern and he had the contacts and the agreements in Milwaukee and he went with Vince. It was a lot because Vern didn’t quite understand the corporate premise when you’re facing a hostile takeover that you circle the wagons. Vern left a lot of flanks exposed.” On whether Hulk Hogan considered staying with the AWA: “Hulk did give Vern an opportunity. He was thinking about staying. One of the big things that Vince was able to offer was a high percentage of the secondary marketing – the tee shirts and hats and everything else – and Vern didn’t want to do that. He said ‘without me, you wouldn’t be able to sell anything; I’m not giving you that.’ I remember talking with Hulk and finally I said what’s stopping you? You’ve got 2 choices: You’ve got A, or you’ve got B which is 25x what A is.”

Originally Posted by PWI Daniel Rose, the attorney for WWE Smackdown star Matt Riddle announced today that Riddle has filed a civil lawsuit against independent wrestler Samantha "Candy Cartwright" Tavel. PWInsider.com has not yet been able to acquire the lawsuit. As previously reported, Tavel alleges that in May 2018 when both were working for EVOLVE, Riddle allegedly attempted to force her to sleep with him, leading to her performing oral sex instead out of fear after he allegedly grabbed her by the throat. She alleges this took place in a van with several others sleeping in the van at the time ... In court documents for the now-dropped restraining order (also filed in July), Riddle stated he was in a relationship with Tavel outside of his marriage and that after he broke it off, Tavel has since targeted and harrased him. He also alleged she timed her accusations for the date of his "WWE" debut (on Smackdown) and alleged that Tavel was removed from a WWE taping at Full Sail University. Tavel denied the removal in the court documents, stating that she was not at the venue on the night in question. Tavel continued to post proof of her relationship with Riddle on her social media since her initial allegation.

Originally Posted by PWI Major League Wrestling ("MLW") today welcomed its newest member to the roster with LA Park Jr. officially joining the league. The youngest son of the legendary LA Park, LA Park Jr. is the latest of several roster acquisitions that will be revealed in conjunction with MLW's highly anticipated restart this fall.

Originally Posted by PWI PWInsider.com has confirmed Ivar of the Viking Raiders underwent neck surgery earlier this week in Birmingham, Alabama. We are told there is currently no timetable for his return but it is not expected to be a short recovery. WWE NXT developmental talent Simone Johnson had knee surgery at the start of the week in Birmingham as well.

Originally Posted by PWI For those of you who ordered the FITE.TV version of the United Wrestling Network Primetime Live PPV series, the replay version features a corrected broadcast. We are told that FITE was able to isolate what the issue was with the stream on Tuesday night and believes the issues have been resolved. As we reported, several hours before the premiere, there was a power outage in Long Beach, CA that wiped out all the power at Thunder Studios. As they were going on the air live, UWN learned that the power outage completely wiped out all of their presets for graphics, lighting and audio, so just as viewers were watching for the first time, the production truck was feverishly trying to get everything that had worked for two days to have prepared back up and running. Rocky Romero and several other New Japan Pro Wrestling reps were at the taping Tuesday.

Originally Posted by PWI Q - Is it true Robert Englund was supposed to host Raw at some point? A - Yes, Englund, immortalized by his turn as Freddy Krueger in The A Nightmare on Elm Street film series, was scheduled to guest host to promote his autobiography "Hollywood Monster" in 2013 but scheduling conflicts caused him to pull out. He was never officially announced by WWE.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Rob Van Dam did an interview with WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard. When asked about his contract status with IMPACT Wrestling, RVD said that he’s on a per-taping agreement with the company and elaborated on why he has chosen to not let his emotions get wrapped up in pro wrestling. “We kind of are like by a handful of shows, you know? So Scott [D’Amore] said, ‘Hey…’ I gotta figure what month it is but, ‘Hey, we got these tapings coming up in August, can you make it? What about these dates?’ So it’s still like that so we [do it], might be two shows ahead and then at the end you might say, ‘Hey, what about the next ones?’ So right now I’m sort of taking it one step at a time and even though I’m having fun and stuff, I would never allow myself to invest feelings into it to a point where I could hurt emotionally or mentally. You really got to learn to not give a — can I swear on here? You have to learn what to give a f*ck about in life. In this business, there’s plenty of heartbreaks, there’s plenty of promises that are made that are gonna not come through and that’s just part of it. How you adjust to that depends on who you are, what your values are and those are all factors on where you get. For me, I’ve always been up front and saying I adjusted by not giving a f*ck after a while. So when someone says something’s gonna happen, I believe it when it does happen and so, I’m stoked that IMPACT thinks that I’m a worthy investment. Some people ask, ‘Dude you’re not even on the opening of the show. How could they have the biggest star there and not even have you –’ I don’t know but you know what? I don’t give a f*ck, they’re paying me, so I’m doing my part and I hope to see them go and I know they are gonna go places but how they do it, regardless of [if] it’s different than how I would do it or not, that’s part of my adjustment to make it work.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Doc Gallows, Rocky Romero and Karl Anderson joined Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast. Gallows revealed that while he was under contract to WWE, he was running independent shows based out of Georgia and when WWE found out about it, they wanted him to stop but Gallows quietly continued running shows. Karl Anderson: “He was running shows about halfway through this little four year run in the fed and well, they shut him down halfway through because he wasn’t allowed to anymore.” Doc Gallows: “So like any good brother would do, I just sold the promotion and then changed the name and just started silently running more.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling John Morrison sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview. Morrison talked about his return to WWE and choosing them over All Elite Wrestling: “So when season four of Lucha [Underground] ended, they have some stuff on their contracts where there’s a tail and the tail doesn’t stop until the episodes stop airing, and so I had signed with IMPACT and when everything was free and clear, I decided — I’m a free agent again, completely free, no ties anywhere. I’m going to figure out where I want to go. So I talked to WWE and I talked to AEW and I had a really good conversation with Vince [McMahon], and they made me a really nice offer and I ended up taking it.”

If the choice was about money, then he made a great decision being in WWE but if the choice was about anything else, then he made a bad decision since his current run has been a big waste compared to what he was doing on the indies.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Shane McMahon joined Corey Graves on WWE’s After The Bell podcast ... On the topic of RAW Underground, Shane McMahon talked about the inspiration behind the project and how some of his life experiences and interests led to the formation of RAW Underground. “Quite a bit, quite a bit. I mean this goes way back. This is an original concept. This is more even going back to roman gladiator times when they used to have short matches to determine who was gonna be [the successor]. So the iterations, there’s been lots of stuff or similar things I should say — got ‘em in Japan for quite some time and I’ve been traveling to Japan since the late 80s, so when I was a teenager and I saw some of this so, it always resonated with me and again, you mentioned MMA and a lot of my friends do that sport. I also practice multiple forms of it and I really enjoy it so, if you can blend that with WWE entertainment and what we can compact together and again, it’s a work in progress. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Originally Posted by Fightful WWE 2K Battlegrounds is set to release on Friday, September 18, but reviewers were able to get an early copy of the game. Twitch streamers newLEGACYinc played a handful of games this week and discovered an image that has a striking resemblance to former IMPACT Champion Tessa Blanchard. Blanchard is currently a free agent after she departed from IMPACT Wrestling in June. It is unknown where she will end up next or if she has an offer from any company. She has remained at home during the pandemic era, choosing not to wrestling for IMPACT as they held empty arena shows heading into Slammiversary.

Link: https://twitter.com/TigerDriver9X/st...36974896812032

Originally Posted by Fightful Trent's Mom Sue is a jack of all trades. We previously learned that Sue brought the crew at AEW Dynamite a batch of homemade cookies. MJF called the cookies "meh" while Eddie Kingston cut a promo on one cookie before burying it in his mouth. Now, thanks to Bryce Remsburg, we also know that Sue brought brownies to AEW as well and even gave out some parenting advice. Sue made another appearance on Wednesday's Dynamite, picking up her son Trent and his best friends Chuckie T and Orange Cassidy from their parking lot brawl against Proud-N-Powerful (Santana & Ortiz). Sue even let them in her vehicle even though they were a bloody mess. She also left Santana & Ortiz with a parting gift.

Link to the gift: https://twitter.com/tde_gif/status/1306413109859491846

Originally Posted by HeelByNature.com During this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, a match between NWA Women’s Champion and Ivelisse broke down, with real life strikes exchanged between both competitors. According to Fightful Select (subscription required), Thunder Rosa took exception to Ivelisse no-selling, which caused both wrestlers to go at each other physically. Following the match, other wrestlers in AEW stated “they didn’t seem to be getting along prior.” Those in attendance believed the match would have to be edited, but it’s unknown if certain spots were removed from the broadcast. While many felt uncomfortable during the match, there has been support for Thunder Rosa backstage in the locker room.

TPWW Frontpage:

• More on Parking Lot Fight Match at This Week’s AEW Dynamite Show
• Two Episodes of Dynamite Next Week, Six Matches Announced
• Battle Royal, Gauntlet Match & More Announced for Future NXT Episodes