Wrestling News & Rumors

[Droford]

Not nearly enough time to do a complete makeover so he can be Jon Moxley or J Mox

[#1-norm-fan]

Originally Posted by Jordan X In response to the report that dubya dubya E is gonna make a star from the MITB winner the first guy that popped up in my mind was Almos. Drew Mac would be a great choice too but I personally see more in Andrade.

I think the idea is probably to make a star out of the winner every year so I wouldn't put any stock into that report.

[Black Widow]

NXT must not have paid well enough if a gofundme was needed to help his mom out.

[Fignuts]

Top stars in NXT make around 50-60,000, which is a nice income, but not enough to be able to buy your mom a new house at a moment's notice.

[slik]

BREAKING:

The latest WWE Fan Council survey lists The Viking Raiders as “The Viking Warriors” pic.twitter.com/mx7OZPA6EK

— HeelByNature.com (@HeelByNatureYT) April 24, 2019

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Originally Posted by Fignuts Top stars in NXT make around 50-60,000, which is a nice income, but not enough to be able to buy your mom a new house at a moment's notice.

I make almost 60k a year at my insurance gig. It's not luxurious salary at all

[slik]

Big Doggo Dog rumored to face Shane McMahon at Saudi Arabia ppv

Elias rumored to face Undertaker at event

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Fignuts Top stars in NXT make around 50-60,000, which is a nice income, but not enough to be able to buy your mom a new house at a moment's notice.

Plus having to quickly replace personal stuff lost in the fire. Even with fire insurance, that's still a sizable amount of money needed to get life back to normal.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.072 million viewers, down seven percent from last week's episode. It was the second straight night of bad ratings news for the company -- as Raw was down from the previous week and down over 26 percent year-over-year. SmackDown retained a higher-than-usual 87 percent of the Raw audience and thus was "only" down just over 18 percent from 2018 ... Miz and Mrs., which followed SmackDown on the USA Network, did a series-low 940,000 viewers, so last episode having the show's highest ratings for the second part of season one was likely a result of the higher-than-usual SmackDown number.

Originally Posted by Observer Former WWE creative team member/indie wrestler RD Evans posted a video referencing quitting at this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony. He’s changed his Twitter name to R.D. “Quitman” Evans. At the end of the video, Evans holds up a “Will Wrestle 4 Food” sign, says that’s a terrible idea and he doesn’t want to wrestle, and then changes it to “Will Wrestle Orange Cassidy 4 Food.”

Originally Posted by Observer At Starrcast II, Bret Hart and Tom Magee will take part in an event where they’ll discuss their famous “lost” match from 1986. Mark Henry, Allie, and Rosemary were also announced for Starrcast.

Originally Posted by PWI No Sasha Banks at WWE TV this week and there doesn't seem to be any known indication of when she would be returning based on those we've spoken to. Luke Harper was not at Smackdown last night.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News is reporting that July 28, 1985, Midsouth Wrestling "Wrestlefest" event will be tomorrow's Hidden Gem. 07/28/1985 – Mid-South Wrestlefest 1985 [Duration: 01:46:23] Dusty Rhodes battles ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair, while Ted Dibiase faces Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts in this star-studded spectacular. The event which took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma featured the following action: Al Perez vs. Mark Ragin One Man Gang vs. Wendell Cooley Barbarian (John Nord) vs. Brickhouse Brown The Fantastics vs. Eddie Gilbert & Jerry Gray Ted DiBiase vs. Jake The Snake Roberts Dutch Mantell vs. Butch Reed NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes Bill Watts, Hacksaw Duggan, & Dick Murdoch vs Kareem Muhammed, Kamala, & Skandor Akbar

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Lucha Central has reported on the recent television viewership figures AAA has been posting on Friday nights on TV Azteca’s Azteca 7 network. This past Friday’s show on Good Friday did a 3.2 rating and 5,400,000 viewers for the show featuring The Young Bucks defeating Pentagon Jr. and Fenix for the AAA tag titles from the Rey de Reyes card last month. The audience number is up 38% from the previous week’s episode that averaged 3,900,000 viewers. This past week’s audience was their highest mark since starting on Azteca 7 with the previous weekly high of 4.4 million viewers.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc As noted, this week's WWE RAW saw Cesaro come to the roster from SmackDown, in a late Superstar Shakeup move. Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that Cesaro came over due to WWE wanting to keep some of the couples together. The Cesaro roster change was not originally planned for the Shakeup. There was reportedly a lot of negativity within WWE over Charlotte Flair and Andrade being split up in the Superstar Shakeup. Meltzer noted that there were a lot of people who were not happy with Flair and Andrade being on different rosters coming out of the Shakeup. That is part of the reason why WWE quietly brought Andrade and Zelina Vega back to SmackDown this week. Vega returning to SmackDown meant Aleister Black had to move to the blue brand as well.

WWE's handling of this year's Shakeup was a big mess even going by their low standards.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Sasha Banks is reportedly at a stalemate with WWE, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio ... Word from within WWE is that Banks wants to sit out the rest of her contract, according to Meltzer. There's no word yet on when Banks would be eligible to leave the company but Meltzer noted that WWE could add time to the contract for the time she spends not working, similar to the situation with Neville in late 2017. She could be out of action for a significant amount of time if WWE adds time to the contract. It was noted that WWE does want Banks back in the mix, but she wants things to be different. Those differences are unclear and not agreed on because the two sides have not made up yet.

Some TPWW Frontpage stuff:

• WWE Releases Two NXT Developmental Wrestlers
• Interview: AEW Owner Tony Khan on AEW’s 5-Year Plan, If AEW Will Be “Edgy,” WCW Comparisons
• Charlotte Flair Denies Rumors That She’s Engaged to Andrade
• WWE: Daniel Bryan Still Out of Action, Jinder Mahal Moves to SmackDown

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Originally Posted by Iceman King Gertner Yeah same here, same gig. I ain't limousine ridin or jet flyin.

I'm definitely wheeling and dealing.......for bargains lol

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I hopeSasha Banks just quits. She's not going to be happy there. Prob ever. The idea that Vince would sit there and pay a wrestlerto sit on their ass and sit out their contract is asinine. If the person is that miserable and wants nothing to do with your company, they're no longer an asset. Let them go.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Word on the street is that sponsors aren't a big fan of the Bray Wyatt gimmick. The source I saw was sketchy, but the story makes sense, and it will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

[Emperor Smeat]

If true, wouldn't be surprised since evil clowns might be the limit sponsors would feel comfortable with for twisted gimmicks involving kids.

WCW had a similar problem when it came to debuting Seven (Goldust) since his hype involved kids and leaned way too much towards the creepy territory.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh well, that's what you get when you sell your soul for a quick buck.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI The third episode episode of Viceland's pro wrestling documentary series Dark Side of the Ring on 4/10 garnered 214,000 overnight viewers for their Bruiser Brody episode, up from last week's 181,000 overnight viewers. Next Wednesday's episode will focus on the Von Erich family.

Originally Posted by Observer Rhea Ripley issued an apology after using a homophobic slur while appearing on a Twitch stream with Brennan Williams, Mansoor Al-Shehail, and Reina Gonzalez. The stream had an option for viewers to tip $15 and receive an insult in Spanish or Australian. Ripley wrote in her apology: “Demi Bennett speaking here: I know a lot of you are upset with me after tonight, but I just wanted to publically say that I am sorry. My brain to mouth filter came down for a second and I forgot that some words are a big no no to a lot of people. I am a firm believer that everyone should be treated equally, whether that be race or sexual orientation. With that said, I just wanted to say how dearly sorry I am to everyone that was offended by my choice of words tonight.”

Apparently the NXT person who hosted the stream scrubbed both his Tiwtch account and Youtube channel afterwards likely due to WWE being pissed when they found out.

Originally Posted by PWI The Shad Gaspard and Jayson Paul General Partnership have applied to trademark 'Cryme Tyme' for "Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer." WWE trademarked the name back in 2009 but cancelled their registration in 2015. The 'AEW', 'All Elite Wrestling', 'Tuesday Night Dynamite' and 'Fight for the Fallen' trademarks will be published for opposition on 5/28. This may not mean much now but the 'Dead Man Talking' trademark by Starrcast will be published for opposition on 5/21.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The biggest thing was the about-face of breaking up the relationship between Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte Flair) and Manny Andrade by putting them on different brands. The relationship wasn’t a secret and the decision was made with knowledge of this. But it didn’t play out well in real life so it was reversed with Andrade moving back to Smackdown the next week. Because they didn’t want to break up the Andrade/Zelina Vega act, they moved Thea Trinidad (Vega) back to Smackdown as well. Unfortunately, then they were breaking up a married couple, so her husband, Tom Budgen (Aleister Black) also had to be moved to Smackdown. That broke up the Ricochet & Aleister Black tag team, and based on Ricochet losing to a repackaged Bobby Roode, now back to doing the Robert Roode character with a Don Frye mustache, the orders from above to protect the second run of NXT call-ups ended. Regarding reports that Andrade and Vega were moved to Smackdown at the request of FOX, wanting a Latino act on the show, that’s not the reason, or at least the prime reason, but it’s not untrue either. The prime reason regarded breaking up the couple, whether it be because they were unhappy or because it made the company look bad regarding the original decision. The company is trying to listen to the audience and not look like bad guy, although that’s within reason, as it’s not like they’re going to give up the Saudi Arabia deal. The company is doing more focus group work than ever before to try and identify why ratings and arena business are down and what will keep fans engaged. In addition, they are fully aware that there is a wrestling war, and don’t want to come across as the bad guy promotion, giving the opposition the role of having fans rallying behind them as the protest vote.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The Sasha Banks situation also remains unchanged. She isn’t happy and the company isn’t reacting much to her. The attitude right now from the company side is that she can go sit out the rest of her contract if she wants to. The bad part of that is that if she doesn’t wrestle and tries to sit out, they can freeze the contract as well.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Another change, based on fan reaction, is that the former War Raiders, then changed to Viking Experience, had their names changed again after one week to the Viking Raiders. There was also a questionnaire sent to fans after TV that listed their names as Viking Warriors, so it may change again next week, or at least at some point that name has also been considered.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter As was expected by many and reported in some places including Pro Wrestling Sheet a few weeks ago, Dustin Runnels’ (Dustin Rhodes/Goldust) is headed here and will face brother Cody on Double or Nothing on 5/25 in Las Vegas. Runnels asked for his notice from WWE on 1/19, and they gave it to him, but he was given a 90-day non-compete which ended on 4/19. From the WWE side, Vince McMahon was said to be against it but Paul Levesque talked him into allowing Runnels to leave. The reality is WWE hadn’t done anything with Runnels in years, and he’s 50, and coming off double knee surgery. It’s hard to figure the decisions on who they let go, since with Runnels, it was a lock if he was let out of his contract, he was coming here (and his contract was expiring fairly soon, but WWE could have frozen it and continued it for another eight months due to his time off after the most recent surgeries).

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter A few notes on ratings. While USA Network bills itself as No. 1 on cable, they use the term in entertainment. For 2018, the top ten stations, in order, were Fox News Channel, ESPN, MSNBC, HGTV, USA, TBS, TNT, Hallmark, History and The Discovery Channel. USA averaged 1,291,000 in prime time but would fall to around 950,000 without WWE, or out of the top ten, which is why the rights to Raw were so valuable. If nothing changes next year with USA and the other channels, with the loss of Smackdown would fall only below TBS and still beat TNT. But with the loss of Raw, they’d fight for the ninth spot, and that explains the value of Raw t that network even with the declining ratings. USA dropped nine percent for the year, so the wrestling shows are declining faster than the network. Since, with AEW rumors, TNT’s prime time average in 2018 was 1,171,000 viewers. That’s going to be a very difficult number for a new show with only an Internet fan base to hit. It should also be noted that TNA did beat station averages, albeit far weaker stations, on Spike, Destination America and Pop, even if all three canceled it for various reasons, and New Japan has consistently been one of the best rated shows on AXS, as has MLW on Bein, but the standards are obviously far lower on those stations. FOX this past Friday averaged 3,043,000 viewers in the time slot Smackdown is getting

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Kota Ibushi said that he’s made a lifetime deal to stay with New Japan. He signed an extended contract and said that he would be with New Japan for the rest of his career, using the term “until the day I die.” I guess we should hope for Kenny Omega to be back because The Golden Lovers really need to do matches from time-to-time and there needs to be an Omega vs. Ibushi match in MSG or the a Dome

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The 7/13 show in Jacksonville had about 1,000 tickets left (set up for 5,180) after the first day of ticket sales to the general public. It wasn’t the instant sellout, but I don’t know that anyone expected a local market show in Jacksonville to have that kind of a ticket run. Daytona Beach on 6/29, the over/under would be the 2,350 that the similar CEO show did in the market last year with Omega, Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito as the top stars and now it’s Omega, Young Bucks and Cody. Jacksonville usually draws 250 to 400 for NXT and the AEW crowd will beat most WWE shows in the market.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The Saudi Arabian government once again made WWE look sleazy by going. One would have thought they wanted to make the announcement of going at the investors call on 4/25 because the expectation is the company will either make a very small profit or actually have lost money this past quarter due to major added expenses. So announcing a $40 million plus show would be a good thing, especially when the negativity the company got about going last time has quelled down. But on 4/23, the Saudi government beheaded 37 people.

WWE's Saudi deal might be the ultimate "Monkey's Paw" scenario in wrestling history. WWE got a ton of money and in return can't catch a break with the timing of all the controversies that keep happening.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Obviously with the Becky 2 belts chant and catch phrase, the ban on the word belts has come to a close. WWE even sent out a promotional e-mail using the term “title belts,” a term that had been banned for years because Vince associated it with old school rasslin

Originally Posted by Sports Illustrated WWE road agent Dean Malenko has quit his role with the company, multiple sources have told Sports Illustrated. Malenko (real name Dean Simon, 58) had been employed by WWE as a backstage agent for the past eight years, booking matches .

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The WWE released their results for the first quarter with the company hit with declines in several key areas ... For the WWE Network, they did release the total number of subscribers on the day after WrestleMania 35 earlier this month. On April 8, there were 2 million total subscribers, which is down 6% from the day after WrestleMania 2018, which hit an all-time high of 2,124,000 subs. Of the 2 million subscribers worldwide this year, 1,767,000 were paid and 233,000 were on a free trial. The paid number is down 2% year-over-year, but the free number dropped 26% when it had 316,000 free subs last year. The free number being down isn’t inherently a negative if free subscribers were converting over but in this case, the paid number was also down and would indicate there are less interest in this year’s show. For the entire quarter, they averaged 1,584,000 paid subscribers, which is up slightly from 1,558,000 in the first quarter last year. They are projecting an average of 1.7 paid subs for the second quarter, which includes WrestleMania ... Television ratings were down 14% for Raw and 13% for SmackDown this quarter with the USA Network down 12% and the top 25 cable outlets down 5% ... The explanation the company kept going back to what the number of performers that missed time and citing this as reasons for television viewership and live events being down. That reason only holds so much water because this decline came at their peak time of the year leading into WrestleMania and it’s not like we don’t write about the enormous declines each week, which have continued, specifically for Raw. When assessing viewership being down due to cord cutting, the USA Network was in 91 million homes in 2018 and this year they are in 90 million homes.

Stocks got hammered due to investors not buying Vince and WWE's excuses this time for the company's woes. They also remembered all the broken promises within the past year by Vince to fix the company.


Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE Reportedly Not Going to Release Luke Harper, Adding More Time to His Contract
• Lio Rush Reportedly Has Backstage Heat
• Decision to Turn Kevin Owens Heel Was Made After Daniel Bryan Injury
• More Superstar Shake-up Brand Changes: Nikki Cross, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, More
• WWE Releases 2019 Q1 Earnings Report – Stock Down Big

[Fignuts]

37 people getting beheaded is not a "controversy". It's a fucking massacre.

[Droford]

Becky needs to start saying other banned words

Maybe Vince can't understand her because of her accent

[Droford]

Also time to bring Simon Dean back

The Simon System 2.0

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dean Malenko and Arn Anderson as road agents in AEW would be a good thing for them.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't know if the WWE should really consider the timing of the "controversy" unlucky, or if that's just the inevitability of doing business with an evil fucking regime.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Fignuts 37 people getting beheaded is not a "controversy". It's a fucking massacre.

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect I don't know if the WWE should really consider the timing of the "controversy" unlucky, or if that's just the inevitability of doing business with an evil fucking regime.

Yeah its bad either way for WWE's image.

Felt comparing the whole thing with a Monkey's PAW scenario fit the best since WWE got its richest ever non-television deal but in return, they have gotten nothing but bad luck and a tarnished image because of how despicable the current Saudi government has been since then.

WWE had a chance to save face from this deal but refused because of greed and now any bad PR caused for them is all self-inflicted.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's not something that they will be able to deny. I know some people are like "whatever, does anyone even care?" but it doesn't need to be a timely issue or have an immediate impact to become something people get upset over at any point in the future, even if you consider that to be frivolous.

All it would take is one really big faux pas by WWE, a really slow news week, or a viral social media trend that gets people upset for accepting Saudi money. They can't play ignorant -- now or ever. It may not be anyone's biggest priority right now, but should it become an actual news story to people (and it's far more likely than them getting any sort of mainstream media attention for anything positive), then they could be dropped by sponsors and even TV networks.

They've got ten years of this shit lined up, and it's not going to be a major story until it is. Then they've got ten years of history for people to eventually dig up and use against them, or to keep younger engaged people from financially supporting the company. Engaged people are probably far less likely to be fans of WWE in the first place, because they'd have fucking lives lol, but it could certainly be a factor.

For example, it's an edge that AEW is always going to have over WWE. They don't have the history of accepting blood money from a murderous regime. One is clearly going to be the babyface for the upcoming generation that was born in an era where not having a smart phone that can summon up this history in seconds is unthinkable, and the other is clearly going to be a heel, and that's not something ideal when you're a publicly traded company.

Well, there's that and then there's that they generally insult your intelligence.

[Mr. Nerfect]

There's another rumor going around that SmackDown is going to be expanded to 3 hours when they move to FOX. George Barrios said something about WWE monetizing 6 hours of content a week. Some have speculated that the 6th hour is just going to be the studio show.

Personally, I hope they do add a 3rd hour to SmackDown. Anything to make them even more unwatchable when AEW shows up.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Coming off the disappointing quarterly report, the WWE stock dropped another 2% on Friday and closed at $83.52.

Originally Posted by Observer The day after it was revealed that he quit WWE, Dean Malenko was confirmed for Starrcast II. Starrcast announced today that Malenko will be appearing at their convention next month: "This Superstarr is known as The Man of a 1000 holds!! He’s held championships all over the world... #Starrcast II is proud to welcome DEAN MALENKO to Las Vegas, Memorial Day Weekend! Appearing Friday 1-4pm at Caesars Palace Meet & Greets on sale now."

Originally Posted by Observer Stacey Ervin Jr. is officially no longer with WWE. In an Instagram post today, Ervin confirmed his departure from the company ... Ervin is a gymnast who joined the Performance Center in July 2018 after signing with WWE. He received strong reviews for his performances and high flying at NXT house shows and also wrestled one match on NXT television during his time with the company. The last time Ervin wrestled was on March 8. Squared Circle Sirens reported that Ervin quit WWE after going through a concussion scare.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwuaae8l3LB/

Originally Posted by Observer Forty athletes are at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida for a tryout this week. WWE.com posted an article today revealing the list of names attending the tryout. Among those in attendance are Lucha Underground wrestler Ivelisse Velez and Lance Anoa'i, who is Samu's son and a member of the Anoa'i dynasty.

Link: https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/art...out-april-2019

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling NXT referee Tom Castor suffered a broken leg during Thursday’s main event in Omaha, Nebraska. Castor was the referee for Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Breeze and suffered the break but finished the match and made the three count.

Originally Posted by PWI Dave Schilling, who had been hired for WWE Creative a few weeks back, is already gone from the company.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Progress Wrestling is holding their Super Strong Style 16 tournament next weekend from Alexandra Palace in London. The 16-man tournament features several performers being sent by NXT with the following opening round matches revealed by the promotion: *Chris Brookes vs. Ilja Dragunov *Aerostar vs. Trevor Lee *Travis Banks vs. DJ Z *David Starr vs. Artemis Spencer *Kyle O’Reilly vs. Chris Ridgeway *Darby Allin (the lone AEW talent) vs. Paul Robinson *Lucky Kid vs. Jordan Devlin *Kyle Fletcher vs Daga

Originally Posted by Fightful Daniel Bryan is no longer the WWE Champion, but lest we not forget the greatest gift he gave us during his title reign. Not happy with the leather strap on the current WWE Title, Daniel Bryan trashed the belt on the Jan. 29 episode of SmackDown Live. He went on to reveal a more eco-friendly title made of natural wood and hemp. Unfortunately, a replica of the belt was not for sale. Until now. WWE announced that fans can finally purchase replicas of Bryan's eco-friendly title, even though it will no longer be seen on WWE television. Supplies are limited, but more will be available in May. Originally Posted by WWE Replicas of The Beard’s custom, sustainable variation on the WWE Title are now available for the first time on WWEShop.com. The titles are priced at $399.99 with a limited initial quantity in stock of 50. Additional titles will be available at the end of May with a second delivery. Get one of your very own at #WWEShop today & join the eco-movement!

Originally Posted by Fightful The National Wrestling Alliance announced the teams for the Wild Card Battle Royal for this Saturday's Crockett Cup. The winning team will occupy the final spot in the NWA Crockett Cup, facing Jax Dane & Crimson in the first round. The teams are as followed: - Jocephus & A Mystery Partner - The Boys - Zane & Dave Dawson

SuperLuchas source has AAA getting 777K viewers, not 5.4 million. https://t.co/XY68AZzXIU

— luchablog (@luchablog) April 26, 2019

[Mr. Nerfect]

That's a big discrepancy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

You'd think that with FOX paying out the ass for SmackDown, they wouldn't want ratings that don't match their previously scheduled Friday programming. That means that WWE is going to have to make 1 million fans out of this FOX exposure. Hmm.

[Evil Vito]

Lance Anoa'i is, well, an Anoa'i so he's 100% getting signed soon.

[Mr. Nerfect]

As long as AEW gets Jacob Fatu.

[Jordan]

Lance Anoai is okay. I saw him at the MLW WM week tapings. He was fine but Jacob Fatu is awesome.

[slik]

The curse of the Saudi Arabia show strikes again, this time taking out the NXT Takeover event scheduled for San Jose in June, per Meltzer.

”Takeover is supposed to be June 8th, but since the Saudi show is June 7th, the San Jose TakeOver…I was told today...it does not look like the San Jose TakeOver will take place on that day.”

[Evil Vito]

Fuck this company.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, that’s not so much the curse so much as it is the company rescheduling. Not so much the shows are cursed as WWE getting into bed with a massive human rights abuser.

[Droford]

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect There's another rumor going around that SmackDown is going to be expanded to 3 hours when they move to FOX. George Barrios said something about WWE monetizing 6 hours of content a week. Some have speculated that the 6th hour is just going to be the studio show. Personally, I hope they do add a 3rd hour to SmackDown. Anything to make them even more unwatchable when AEW shows up.

Problem with that is Fox only does 2 hours of primetime and local news at 10. They have moved things around for the World Series before but I can bet that it won't happen every week for wrestling. It's going to be either the studio show or NXT on Fs1

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ah okay. What do they do before?

[Droford]

they delay the news til whatever sports thing is over. I dont know how hard local affiliates would fight moving news back to 11 on fridays (who watches the news on a friday night?) but I would at least say FOX has been a network for 30 years or more and theyve never strayed from 2 hour primetime except for sports events, and I dont know if wrestling qualifies.

still think the 6th hour is the weekly studio show or possibly nxt.

[slik]

More on Lio Rush being an idiot from PWInsider

There's been a lot of talk about the future of Lio Rush. He was backstage at Raw last night, but was not used. There's been a lot of talk within the company that he's going to be shifted back over to WWE NXT in the near future. Rush has been a polarizing figure backstage for some time among other wrestlers, dating back to the November 2018 European tour, where as the junior member of the tour, he blew off what has long been considered standard backstage etiquette for the junior member of the roster on overseas tours, including being at the gorilla position after matches to provide water to talents as they returned from the ring as well as carrying coolers and drinks into the hotels where the roster was staying in order to set up a common area where everyone could socialize privately together. These sorts of menial jobs are often done to show respect to the locker room and the business and are usually passed on to the next junior member of the locker room when someone else is brought up to the main roster. Given that this was his first European tour, these responsibilities would have technically fallen on Rush’s shoulders. When several veterans tried to explain to Rush that he was making a mistake, he blew off the advice and complained to WWE management, which didn't score him any points. Things calmed down in recent months, but there have been additional issues, including Rush allegedly bringing friends and relatives backstage without proper credentials and other moments where he has blown off counsel of senior Raw roster members. Rush has completely disappeared from Raw with zero explanation of the end of his on-screen relationship with Bobby Lashley.

[erickman]

wheres wrestlers cort when needed who is running that locker room

[slik]

I think Big Doggo is in charge of wrestler's court now, he's the one that evicted Enzo from being allowed to change in the locker room w/ everyone else.

[Evil Vito]

-Jim Ross mentioned during a podcast appearance that there was one talent AEW was interested in but it turned out he had also just signed a $500k a year extension. While he obviously didn't disclose the name, he described the person as being in their early 30s and who never gets used on TV, but WWE was still content to pay them that to keep around because he could help younger talents.

Most people are jumping to the conclusion that this was Tyler Breeze who is 31 and had been vocal on Twitter about not getting used, but he's recently been getting sent to work the NXT live event loops to work with people there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

What a fucking idiot.