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

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.

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

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!"

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tuesday's SmackDown averaged 2,142,000 viewers, slightly down from last week's 2.164 million, which was the post-SummerSlam show. The big hook on this week's episode was the potential reveal of Roman Reigns' mystery attacker.

The show retained the usual 84 percent of the Raw audience. SmackDown was down 12 percent year-over-year, but SummerSlam was a week later in 2018. A more realistic comparison would be the 2.35 million the show did two weeks after last year's SummerSlam.

SmackDown was fifth for the night on cable in terms of total viewers, higher than it usually finishes. It topped the 18-49 demo with a 0.68 rating, over 40 percent higher than Real Housewives of OC, which finished in second. SmackDown also beat everything on network TV in that demo except for The Bachelorette and America's Got Talent.

Miz and Mrs, which followed SmackDown on the USA Network, dropped to 997,000 viewers. That's still the third-highest total of the current run of episodes.

Originally Posted by Observer

The lineup for NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff looks to be officially set.

Two matches were announced for the special on this week's NXT UK episode. Travis Banks will face Noam Dar, and NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) will defend their titles against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a triple threat match.

Originally Posted by WWENetworkNews

For those of you holding out hope for the release of a mythical pre-PPV King of the Ring tournament or two, you’re going to have to keep waiting, I’m afraid. However, that doesn’t mean that this week’s selection is without merit. Far from it, in fact. Tomorrow, WWE Network is set to upload an NWA TV special to the Hidden Gems category by the name of Superstars on the Superstation. At 2-hours in length (or roughly 90 minutes without commercials if you prefer) and featuring 3 major title matches, it was practically a condensed free-to-air pay-per-view and a spiritual predecessor to the legendary Clash of the Champions super cards.

Here is the confirmed card for the upcoming upload, courtesy of Cagematch.net:

• NWA World Tag Team Title: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) (c) vs. The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey)
• The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk) vs. The Russians (Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff)
• NWA National Heavyweight Title: Dusty Rhodes (c) vs. Tully Blanchard
• NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Ron Garvin

With such a heavy emphasis on title matches throughout the 4-match card, this could well be a nod to WWE’s upcoming Clash of Champions event, rather than a random choice. Finally, here is the official description:

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW has confirmed when their first-ever Tag Team Champions will be crowned.

The finals of the promotion's Tag Team title tournament will take place on week five of AEW on TNT. The Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia is hosting the episode on Wednesday, October 30.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE star Eugene aka Nick Dinsmore was at last night's Smackdown taping.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On the latest episode of Road to All Out it was announced that Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) will take on Angelico & Jack Evans as part of The Buy In at AEW All Out. The Buy In is the pre-show prior to the pay-per-view.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Prior to today's episode of NXT UK, Assistant to the General Manager Sid Scala announced that NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff has officially sold out. Tickets for the television tapings the following night are still available.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Yesterday it was announced that NXT would be moving to USA Network beginning on Sept. 18. With the brand moving from WWE Network to cable, many fans are worried that Vince McMahon will be more hands-on with the product, which is widely viewed as a bad thing. Count former WWE Champion and current AEW star Chris Jericho as among those who believe Vince will want to control the yellow brand.

"Of course he is. He's Vince McMahon," Jericho told Busted Open Radio when asked if Vince will be involved. "He's a genius. I think the appeal of NXT, whatever it is because I don't watch it. Don't care. It's the minor leagues to me. The appeal is that it's its own little entity outside of the WWE world. If Vince gets involved, to me, it's going to become another SmackDown and Raw. I think you're going to see all three of those shows interacting with each other. It's gonna be another WWE show. Whatever the appeal of NXT is, it's now going to be changed to another Raw and SmackDown. If you like Raw and SmackDown, you're gonna like NXT. There's no way Vince McMahon is gonna stay at home and not be involved in this. That's what he does."

Originally Posted by Fightful

AEW and OWE team up in the UK.

Oriental Wrestling Entertainment will head to the UK for a five-day event running from Sept. 18 to 22 as the launching point for OWE UK. The tour will be headlined by a four-day tag team tournament to crown the first-ever OWE Tag Team Champions. Mirror reports that AEW stars Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) and Marko Stunt & Luchasaurus will be part of the tournament. The Stronghearts (CIMA & Lindaman) will also be featured in the tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer

MLW has announced another match for next month's War Chamber television tapings.

Austin Aries will face Brian Pillman Jr. at the event. It's taking place at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, September 7.

Originally Posted by PWI

This Friday's episode was filmed at the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood venue and has been dubbed "Cali Combat." We have heard from several Impact sources that when you see the show, it was designed to be a backdoor pilot for a potential studio style Impact show that's been talked about as a secondary series if and when the flagship Impact series lands on another cable home. You could imagine management's reaction when the NWA announced their plans to begin producing a weekly studio series this fall.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor announced today that several of their stars will be heading to Mexico for CMLL's Grand Prix tournament.

ROH Champion Matt Taven, Mark and Jay Briscoe and Kenny King will all be competing in the tournament. Luke Hawx, Oraculo, Big Daddy and Mecha Wolf 450 are also being brought in for the event.

Previously announced for the tournament are CMLL stars Dragon Lee, Cavernario, Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Diamante Azul, Forastero, Rush and Soberano Jr. Last year's event streamed live for ROH Honor Club, but there has been no announcement yet that this will happen again in 2019.

The tournament will take place on Friday 8/30 at Arena Mexico.

Originally Posted by PWI

Now in its sophomore year for the franchise, WWE 2K20’s 2K Towers invites players to take a WWE Superstar or created MyPLAYER into one of several different towers, each with a unique gauntlet of matches that boast different challenges, match stipulations and player modifications.

WWE 2K20 will shine a spotlight on Roman Reigns, who shares the game cover with WWE Superstar Becky Lynch. In 2K Towers: Roman’s Reign, players will follow “The Big Dog” through his early days in WWE, including his time as a member of The Shield to his rivalries with Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Undertaker and more. Overall, players will compete in 16 matches and live out key chapters in Reigns’ impressive mark on WWE history, all while claiming championships and igniting the WWE Universe along the way. Every match includes a live action introduction from “The Big Dog” himself in exclusive, never-before-seen footage.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Will Ospreay recently spoke about his contract status with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Ospreay tweeted that he is with New Japan for the next five-years and his deal allows him to work for Revolution Pro and OTT. Ospreay has been with New Japan since 2016 and is coming off his first appearance in the G1 Climax.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The Wednesday Night Wars are now official, with WWE announcing on 8/20 that NXT would be going live weekly on the USA Network ...

Obviously FOX expected the deal since they had told affiliates a few weeks ago to expect the new wrestling show on FS 1. It had come out after that FOX affiliates meeting that the USA Network was also in play, but even then, FS 1, with the FOX synergy that they were looking for, looked to be the favorite. Even though this deal is groundbreaking, and makes NXT an economically profitable brand, which it was not previously, all negotiations were primarily done as a counter to AEW's deal on TNT from 8-10 p.m. on Wednesday.

Anyone who knows Vince McMahon knew the move would be a counter. The key point brought up was that a lot of people felt that a show on lower-rated FS 1, which is in fewer homes than TNT, could lose in the ratings, something in this case McMahon couldn't stand for. While this does somewhat change the complexion of the FOX/WWE relationship, because it had previously been that WWE would have Smackdown and all other programming besides Raw on FOX or FS 1 (which is looking for new programming after losing so many hours of UFC in January), instead, it's more that the USA Network will come across as WWE's home base with FOX just having Smackdown and a weekly talk show.

USA will be paying in the range of $30 million to $50 million per year over what appears to be two years for the two hours of live NXT from Full Sail University it appears ... So the deal appears to be in the ballpark of the AEW deal with TNT, depending on the value of the ad split. That speaks volumes since WWE also gives up 15 percent to CAA as its negotiator ...

Another key is the far greater exposure of the brand's talent from a combination of the longer show and the far wider audience it will reach with viewership no longer confined to the roughly 1,167,000 U.S. homes (6/30 number) who have the WWE Network and instead be in the USA Network's 89 million homes

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The question then becomes what does that mean for the talent. Will NXT tour more extensively and move to larger arenas? The last time WWE did something like this was with the creation of the ECW brand, which was televised on Syfy, they did about 1,000 fans per show and very quickly WWE pulled out of touring the brand because the show were money losers. That's about the same as what NXT out of Florida shows are doing, with only WWE Network exposure. Florida shows range from 150 to 500 for the most part with most 200 to 350 ...

It also changes the dynamic of NXT from developmental, where you go to Full Sail to learn how to work on television, to a show with experienced workers aiming for the masses on television. But NXT Takeovers have been dominated by recruited independent stars, with only a few homegrown talents for years now. WWE touts to the investors the percentage of talent that makes the main roster through NXT, but in reality, the Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Robert Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe types were already established stars with major names to the NXT fan base the day they walked in the door. There are a higher percentage of women who are actually NXT trained that make the main roster.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Another question revolves around the West Coast. Thus far we've gotten no official answers on AEW on TNT, but the belief is it will go live on the West Coast from 5-7 p.m. That will be a disadvantage in theory for ratings, but also removes head-to-head, since USA will air NXT from 8-10 p.m. Pacific on a three-hour tape delay. From a ratings standpoint, that helps NXT, but if the goal of NXT is to siphon off viewers, at least for the West Coast, it doesn't look like that will be the case.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Then there are questions about NXT talent ...

While not confirmed, the word going around is that all developmental deals are going to be changed to main roster deals shortly. One would think that WWE would up the scale for new signees to prevent the next hot talent from going to AEW, but that also hasn't happened yet, but it does figure to be the next logical step as this plays out.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The story going around is that NXT will continue its same path, with Paul Leveque in charge and no Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn. And as long as ratings are good, while it's Vince's company and his directions and suggestions will happen, he'll probably be mostly hands off. He hardly has the time now and certainly won't come January with the launch of the XFL. If AEW wins in the ratings, Vince will obviously get more involved and all things are open to change, from increased use of major main roster stars, to moving out of Full Sail, to more ideas and suggestions and changes.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Another very important key is that in the quest of big dollars now, the company's are risking audience burn out even worse.

If we go with the idea that WWE and AEW are major league products, we are going from five hours of national television per week to either nine or ten (because it's been talked about adding a third hour of Smackdown, possibly for FS 1). That's with a business where the increase from four to five hours of WWE has led to strong decrease in viewers. Granted, for years we had six hours with TNA on Spike which did more than one million viewers. And during the Monday Night Wars, we had eight or nine at times between WWF and WCW, which worked until WCW collapsed ...

There is an equivalent in MMA as when UFC increased television hours greatly on FS 1, the result hurt Bellator's numbers, and every other start up, because people couldn't keep up with all the television of the major brand, that the other brands got little unless they had some nostalgia act type of show. Even burning out their audience, UFC still fell upwards because of escalating rights fees, like WWE, and even Bellator did with its DAZN streaming deal. But it hurt them in the most recent negotiations because unlike WWE, which was holding steady when they were negotiating new deals, UFC was coming off a badly declining year. So WWE got the better end of the deals. Long-term, the real losers here look to be Impact and ROH, because AEW takes their slot as the alternative, and for fans who want to watch as much as possible, those will be the shows people will start to skip. New Japan will be hurt stateside as well, but the product is so strong that their small cult audience probably will not be hurt as badly.

But from a WWE standpoint, if the move from four to five hours led to a greatly accelerating decline in virtually every business metric aside from the fact TV is willing to spend so much, adding more hours of WWE product is guaranteed more money short term and likely to speed the decline in popularity long-term. And in these types of businesses, few are playing the long game ...

One television executive of a national station with great familiarity with both wrestling history, the current and the television landscape gave this appraisal of the situation.

"I think it will help both shows the first couple of weeks, but fade from there and become a zero-sum game unless one/both get hot and create new demand for wrestling.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding Katsuyori Shibata, he hasn't been cleared, but he will be attempting to get cleared. He trains with his students, but the issue in question is whether it can ever be healthy for him to take head shots, and if he were to return as Katsuyori Shibata, can they work around that issue within the New Japan style.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Some of this is known and some is also not hard to figure out, but Gedo's original booking of 2019 was for Kenny Omega to beat Hiroshi Tanahashi and keep the IWGP title at the Tokyo Dome, and then defend it against Kazuchika Okada in Madison Square Garden. Omega would then be the one to lose to Kota Ibushi in the G-1 finals in the spot Jay White had. Whether that would have meant Okada vs. Ibushi or Omega vs. Ibushi at the Tokyo Dome, or both, I don't know.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

CAA, which represents CM Punk and also represents WWE, has had an agent reach out to FOX head honchos about Punk as a co-host of the upcoming new FS 1 talk show. From a WWE standpoint, my gut is that they'd hate the idea. He'd be working for FOX, not WWE. We're told there have been no negotiations at all regarding that. The impression is WWE wouldn't like it but things change daily.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Jon Moxley has some kind of an elbow injury. It may be an infection that he got in Japan. He worked shows this weekend for Northeast Wrestling and with the exception of the 8/16 show in Poughkeepsie, his singles bouts were made tags. He pretty much insisted on doing his singles match with Pentagon Jr., and was very careful not to bump on the elbow.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

What's notable is that starting with show No. 2, every TNT show is being held on or adjacent to a college campus. It will be interesting if that comes into play in the television presentation. The one thing both WWE and UFC are weak on is in using the location to bring the atmosphere to a show. WWE does it somewhat in the U.K., and there are markets like Toronto and New York that do have a different feel, but for the most part, every arena is set up the same, looks the same, and there's nothing on the show, past a few graphics that WWE has started to put up, to give any kind of a location feel. WCW, when Zane Bresloff was promoting the live shows, went heavily for the unique location ideas, with college campuses being part of that playbook. But WWE often tapes on college campuses and the shows look exactly the same, and they do little or nothing on campus to give that feel.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The plan for Rousey, as I'd been told, was at least as of a month or so ago, that the idea was if she decided to come back, she would but that they didn't want her on television just for a one-off like this. But those rules go out the window with the debut episode on all-stars on deck on FOX. There is no way of knowing if she'll return, as a lot has to do with whether she's going to have kids, which is her next goal in life. But if she comes back, the belief is she'll work a more limited schedule and be booked more as an attraction

Originally Posted by Fightful

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. confirms Los Angeles is a finalist for WrestleMania 37 in 2021 according to Arash Markazi.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Sometimes, shit happens.

It certainly happened to arguably the most successful WWE star, Stone Cold Steve Austin, as he revealed on an episode of Hot Ones. While he was experiencing a wing eating challenge, he was asked if he'd ever crapped his pants in the ring.

The outspoken WWE Hall of Famer readily admitted he had.

"A lot of times when you're doing international travel and there's a dietary change, things happen. He was weighing 600 pounds at the time. When he picked me up and slammed me, something happened. Things went south! Luckily I was wearing black trunks. Yoko was so cool -- he's no longer with us, god rest his soul. I was laying there on the mat, just crapped my trunks and said 'Yok, let's go home.' He said 'Okay, brah.' We did the finish, I got beat, went to the back and took a hell of a shower!" said Austin.

Austin would joke right after that, he hoped the hot wings that he was ingesting wouldn't force him to have a Yokozuna match moment in front of the nine million-plus viewers who have already watched the episode.

Based on our crack reporting, the incident would have happened on September 10 or 12th in 1996, during a tour of South Africa. However, both results have Austin beating Yokozuna.

Originally Posted by Observer

So in short form, Jon Moxley has MRSA staph in his left elbow and his doctor believes he will have to be out of action for four weeks. Kenny Omega faces Pac in Chicago at All Out ...

Also, from those close to the situation, Dragon Gate has no issue with Pac working AEW. And Pac is expected to return there.

Originally Posted by Observer

The long talked about Sinclair Broadcasting purchase of the Fox Regional Sports Networks was announced today by Sinclair. This should get ROH exposure in some new markets.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding ticket sales, AEW did not sellout in Pittsburgh or Charleston, WV today. I don't have any figures on how the shows did It appears from seating charts both shows did well.

Originally Posted by Observer

Several weeks after announcing a partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre, Major League Wrestling announced their first co-promoted show with the Mexican wrestling company Friday morning.

The Saturday, October 5th event will be held at the 5000-seat Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, with tickets going on sale this September. The joint press release mentioned they are looking into travel packages.

The show will also be taped for episodes of Fusion, MLW's weekly TV show.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Rock announced today via Instagram that the forthcoming fifth season of Ballers on HBO will be the final of the series

Originally Posted by PWI

Going back to Summerslam, there was one thing that really seemed to bother me. Why is it that the referee counted Orton and Kofi out but they didn't count out Rollins and Brock? I feel like there should be more leeway in a championship match when both competitors are on the outside. On a separate note: wouldn't putting someone though a announce table be a DQ in a regular match? The table would be considered using a weapon.

One can make excuses or try to explain the logic, but I won't. Here's what happened - WWE management didn't care to be consistent with how they presented the stories on the matches. It is, unfortunately, what it is. Perhaps we'll see that sort of things be strengthened under Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff. The table should be a DQ but again, it is what it is.

Originally Posted by PWI

MLW: FUSION is now available on Playstation Vue, which has netted the series an additional 500,000 viewers. MLW is working on several additional streaming platforms to increase the footprint of their weekly series.

The promotion expects to sell out their 9/7 debut in Dallas, Texas at the 1,700 seat NYTEX Sports Centre. As of this writing, only general admission bleacher sears are left. Thus far, the promotion has only announced three bouts - The War Chamber match with Tom Lawlor & The Von Erichs & Low Ki vs. CONTRA Unit, The Dynasty vs. The Hart Foundation in a Best of Three Falls bout for MLW Tag Team titles and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Brian Pillman. As noted previously, Kevin Von Erich will be attending ...

Ricky Martinez will be the first MLW star heading to The Crash in Mexico, working their 9/7 Anniversary event, so he will miss MLW's Dallas debut.

Savio Vega will miss the Dallas event and will be back full-time this October working as a Producer for the company. With the recent addition of Dr. Tom Prichard (who starts in Dallas), the remainder of the producers/agents are Low Ki, George Carroll and Josef Samael.

Originally Posted by Fightful

WrestleVotes reports that a source told him a sixth NXT TakeOver event is a possibility in 2020. The extra event will depend on how NXT performs on USA Network.

Originally Posted by Fightful

This past Tuesday, WWE confirmed that NXT will be moving to the WWE Network. Effectively, this move has started the Wednesday Night War, as they go head-to-head with the All Elite Wrestling program on TNT every Wednesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern.

David Bixenspan of Deadspin reached out to WWE for a comment regarding their apparent counterprogramming of AEW on TNT, and received a reportedly testily response:

“The premise to your story is wrong. NXT has been on Wednesday nights since 2015 [sic] as I’m sure you know.” The spokesman was quoted as saying. The spokesman would go on to try and further dissociate NXT's move to USA as a means of "counter-programming" by providing what they feel is the proper use of the term:

“It isn’t called counter-programming if you continue to air a series on the same day/time as it has been on for nearly five years.” The spokesman closes this interaction by suggesting this line of questioning be directed at AEW as well. “Perhaps you’ll ask AEW about counter-programming NXT?”

The article notes AEW was also contacted to provide a response but declined to do so.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross answered fan questions on a variety of subjects. A common subject was the current state of the All Elite Wrestling roster and who JR would like to see added.

Ross was specifically asked about Lance Archer, who is coming off a well-received run in the NJPW G1 Climax tournament.

"I like his upside. His maturity level is marketable," said Ross. "Size, you can't coach size, he's got that. He's athletic for a big man. I'd love to call some more of his matches, hinting that I wish he was a member of AEW at some point in time. I don't know if that's possible, contractually or philosophically. I'm not hiring talent. But I could see worse hires being made going forward than a 6'7" athletic heavyweight. We don't have a lot of those types in AEW. I always hold out hope that Lance can join the team, but that's not my call. He's a keeper."

Later in the episode, Ross was asked to give names of those who appeal to him for AEW. Ross specified that he would name wrestlers who are considered free agents.

"I like Jack Swagger," commented Ross. "He would be on my imaginary wishlist to come to AEW because he has a lot of skills, size, and background. He's been around long enough that he knows the right way and wrong way of doing things. He hasn't touched the surface on how good he can be. He needs coaching. Jack was getting better when he was working so close with Dutch Mantel because Dutch is old school, good coach. Jack had a personal tutor on the road, which I thought helped him a lot."

Ross then added, "I like Harry Smith, Davey Boy Jr. I'm not so wild about the name. I'm sure he's proud of his father, I am too, but don't try to replicate or go back. Harry Smith, to me, has a great upside. All he needed to do was continue to develop his entertainment side, personality side. He's doing that."

It should be noted that Davey Boy Smith Jr. signed a multi-year deal with MLW in January. Swagger currently competes for Bellator MMA.

JR finished by saying, "I like those bruisers. Big, physical guys who add that balance to what we're trying to do in AEW. Having size, and athleticism with that size, always interests me. Our shortcomings are size and villains. All three of those guys could fill the bill."

Originally Posted by Slik (Post 5279511)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cain Velasquez is at the New Japan Super J Cup show tonight in San Francisco. Sources said he’ll be having an informal meeting with NJPW officials. Velasquez is signed on for two more Lucha Libre AAA matches, but several other wrestling promotions have interest, per sources.</p>&mdash; Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) <a href="https://twitter.com/marc_raimondi/status/1165473212534124544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Originally Posted by ClockShot (Post 5279529)

I don't think he can hang.

I'd stick with AAA until he gets enough wrestling experience before thinking about jumping to New Japan.

Originally Posted by The Dastardly One (Post 5279531)

I'm always impressed with how fast wrestling/judo-based MMA people catch onto pro wrestling. I don't see Cain being any different. Maybe would take some time to feel fully comfortable, but if they protected him he'd probably transition nicely.

Originally Posted by Observer

There was both good and bad news related to the Raw ratings last night.

The show averaged 2.53 million viewers, identical to last week. Based on the standards of the last few months, it's a good number, really behind only Raw Reunion and the show after SummerSlam as far as episodes since April.

It's even impressive because it went head-to-head with the MTV Video Music Awards, and the first two hours were strong. It beat the VMAs, which averaged 1.93 million viewers ..

The bad news was a huge third hour decline. Hour one in particular was very strong, and hour two had a small gain, but not at the level of prior weeks. But there was a 16 percent drop from hour two to hour three, which even by 2019 standards was unusually high ...

The second to third drop was the seventh worst of all-time ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.64 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.26 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Darby Allin, Joey Janela, and Jimmy Havoc's triple threat match at All Out is now known as the "Cracker Barrel Clash."

AEW issued a press release today announcing Cracker Barrel as the presenting match sponsor for Allin vs. Janela vs. Havoc. The partnership between AEW and Cracker Barrel also includes "cross-promotional activities with AEW talent, customized co-branded graphics, in-venue signage, and social media activation."

A Cracker Barrel themed-barrel was also in the ring during the introductions for Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing, and the barrel was used as a prop in Janela vs. Hangman Page at All In last year.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) may be getting a Universal title shot at Hell in a Cell.

The Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California posted a tweet today advertising that The Fiend will challenge either Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match at October's pay-per-view: "Get ready @WWE fans... 'The Fiend' @WWEBrayWyatt challenges @WWERollins or @BraunStrowman to a #HIAC match! Get your tickets now, and stay tuned"

Whether or not the match will happen remains to be seen. The Golden 1 Center had been advertising Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the PPV.

Originally Posted by Observer

Dave Meltzer notes that Vince McMahon had been tearing up the script for tonight’s SmackDown and that it will be a show heavily influenced by McMahon.

Originally Posted by Observer

Last night’s episode of Straight Up Steve Austin averaged 987,000 viewers on the USA Network. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.39.

Originally Posted by PWI

A Twitter account for Arn Anderson's upcoming podcast "The Arn Show" with Conrad Thompson has been launched.

The show will begin in September and air on Tuesdays.

It will be distributed through the Westwood One platform.

Originally Posted by WWE Network News

With NXT UK set to head over to Cardiff, Wales this Saturday for their latest TakeOver event, it only makes sense that the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section would put a spotlight on WWE action from foreign lands ...

In regards to Adrian Street, we have 3 videos, one from Stampede and 2 from Mid-South. While the pair from Mid-South (wherein Street battles Bobby Fulton and Terry Taylor respectively) appear to be full house show bouts, the Stampede offering is barely 3 minutes long (with Street taking on a young Davey Boy Smith), meaning that it’s most likely an edited TV highlight just like the majority of the territory’s library.

The other half of this week’s Hidden Gems offering is where things get interesting as WWE serves up 3 major championship bouts from international house shows. 2 of them are more modern, with Randy Orton defending his WWE Championship against Triple H during the post-WrestleMania 24 European tour and Finn Bálor defending his NXT Championship against Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn at a Cardiff live event from 2015. However, it’s the 3rd of these foreign title defenses that should excite old school WWF fans as a sought after rarity.

As anyone who watched the company in late 1991 will undoubtedly know, Undertaker’s first WWF Championship reign was extremely short-lived. He defeated Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series that year, only to be stripped of the belt just days later following controversy at This Tuesday in Texas. However, Undertaker did manage to get 2 successful defenses under his belt during this window. They were at house shows, never aired on US television nor released on home video. This coming Thursday, WWE will finally release one of those matches, taking place in Ontario, Canada.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE and WCW enhancement talent Barry Horowitz joined VOC Nation’s IN THE ROOM with Brady Hicks to talk about his career, what’s missing from today’s product, and how he wished to have done more in the WWE. Here is what Barry had to say ...

On the science of being enhancement talent: “Some people needed tutoring. Take Ultimate Warrior; you’re not going to get over by running to the ring, jumping on the ropes, and looking good. Imagine if I made him look like a fool. He wouldn’t (have gotten over). You can’t just have anybody (as an enhancement talent). You have to have a guy with no ego, that can get a match over, not themselves. Not everyone can be Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, or HHH. It doesn’t work that way. To be an enhancement talent, there is a proper (formula). You want people to feel like (the enhancement talent) put up a fight. Otherwise people would be bored.”

On not getting a bigger push in WWE: “I knew I was with the major promotion, I was making money, I was on TV. People loved to hate me. Even though they weren’t (going to push me) I made myself stand out. I just wanted to show people that I had talent and I wasn’t just some fall guy. I just wish after the Candido feud that I could have stayed there longer. They could have put me with someone else or did something else with me. I would have like to have gotten more respect or to have gotten more out of it, but I’m not complaining. (I feel like) if you hit the gym hard, show up on time, do your part…if you do all of that (and still don’t get a push) then someone just don’t like you, period. Maybe it was the way I combed my hair? What else can I say?”

Originally Posted by Observer

El Hijo del Vikingo will be out six weeks with a torn MCL. That means he's out of the MSG show on 9/15 which still has no lineup announced. He was wrestling Saturday night in Ciudad Guzman and caught Carta Brava Jr. on a simple crossbody. We had written yesterday that his feet were out of position but those at AAA have said his feet were fine but that it was a beer soaked ring that was the culprit. He will be in a walking boot for three weeks and then need three more weeks of rehab. Dave the Clown was also injured on that same show due to the slippery ring.

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH is holding a number one contender's tournament to decide their World title challenger for Final Battle 2019.

It was announced today that the first-round matches for the tournament will take place at ROH's Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on Friday, September 27 and their post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings on Saturday, September 28. Both of those shows are being held at Sam's Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Originally Posted by PWI

For those who have asked, we are told Lance Storm is not coming into Impact full-time after working as an agent/producer here. Storm announced he would be shutting down his Lance Storm Academy and would be returning full-time to working in the pro wrestling world. That leaves WWE and AEW as the most obvious places he's heading.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On Tuesday, former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski announced a new partnership with CBDMedic. During the presentation, Gronkowski addressed his health, recovery, retirement, Andrew Luck, and more. At one point, Gronkowski was asked about the possibility of turning up in WWE now that he's no longer playing football.

"With wrestling, I don't feel like I would be a full-time wrestler, but there is one thing I'm down for. And that's to do one crazy match," said Gronkowski. "Practice it for a little bit, go out there, like in a Royal Rumble, go out there, I got my friend in WWE [Mojo Rawley], practice it and do a full-on WWE match. I'm not saying when. Maybe five years. I got the rest of my life to do that. I've always dreamed about doing that, just one time, going in there and going full out. That may be a possibility, one time, down the road."

Originally Posted by Observer

SmackDown ratings were down three percent this week, with the show averaging 2.088 million viewers on Tuesday night. That tied the August 6 episode for the lowest number this month.

The show retained the usual 83 percent of Raw's audience. Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 11 percent from the same week in 2018.

Originally Posted by Observer

Owens tweeted out an explanation for why he didn’t go after the 24/7 title: “I have a family. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats. I have responsibilities. I can’t worry about being rolled up by some dude while I’m dropping my kids off at school or enjoying a lovely night out with my wife. Congrats @WWEMaverick, though. Have fun with all of that.”

Originally Posted by Observer

Toni Storm spoke to Sportskeeda about the shoulder issue she dealt with prior to UK TakeOver: Cardiff: “But yeah, I did have a little bit of an issue with my shoulder and I just needed to take a break because there's so much at stake. I'm going into the biggest match of my career so far. My biggest title defence since being champion. So I just have to actually take care of myself for a few weeks leading into this. I can't take any risks at the moment because what we do to our bodies can be so dangerous so I'm basically just getting myself in proper condition because there's so much at stake."

Originally Posted by Observer

The semifinals and finals of ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will take place at Glory By Honor in New Orleans on October 12. The tournament will begin at next month’s Death Before Dishonor PPV and post-PPV TV tapings, with the winner getting a World title shot at Final Battle. The participants for the tournament will be revealed tomorrow and Friday.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On Tuesday's episode of WWE SmackDown, Bayley defeated Lacey Evans in singles competition. Evans is on the Raw brand, but came over to SmackDown as part of the muddy Wild Card Rule. After the match, Cathy Kelley spoke with Bayley, congratulating her on her victory over the Raw superstar.

"That's just it...Raw's Lacey Evans. Nothing against Lacey, that was a hell of a match from her. But, I'm tired of wrestling the girls from Raw," stated Bayley. "It's nothing against them, the division is stacked, they are great athletes and amazing superstars...on Raw. I'm the SmackDown Women's Champion. I want to compete against women from SmackDown. The Carmellas, Zelina Vegas, Kairi Sanes, that would be so cool. What about the real Liv Morgan? Where's she at? I would love to have a match with Liv. I want to prove Charlotte wrong when she says I'm not elevating the championship or this division. It's because I don't get a chance to. Give me that chance. I need that chance. I'm going to show Charlotte how far I'm willing to go at Clash of Champions."

Originally Posted by Fightful

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, NJPW has not contacted Kenny Omega for future dates. Omega's AEW contract allows him to take dates with NJPW.

Originally Posted by Fightful

PWInsider reports that Heavy Machinery's Tucker has received praise backstage.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Don't expect Bret Hart in AEW anytime soon.

At AEW Double or Nothing on May 25, Bret Hart unveiled the AEW World Championship for the first-time ever. All Elite Wrestling reportedly wanted Ric Flair to handle the honors, but Flair's health issues at the time wouldn't allow him to travel to Las Vegas.

Speaking on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show, Hart discussed his appearance for AEW and whether he will have a role in the company moving forward.

"It was convenient the first time. I'm a big fan of the promotion, and I like a lot of the wrestlers that are there, and I think it's good for the industry if there's another wrestling company besides WWE. At the same time, it was a one-time thing, mostly because I was in the area. But I do have a lot of fondness for what they're trying to do, and I support them. I hope they become a real big wrestling company in the next year."

Originally Posted by Fightful

The special TMPT Feature Episode #12 welcomed in ECW Original, the Homicidal, Suicidal, and Genocidal, Sabu ...

Time in WWE during the ECW reboot:

“Well, they lied to me. They said they were going to keep Sabu the way he was and push it the way ECW was and keep it in the small venues and all that stuff which I agreed with because I didn't want to do the big venues. I like the more intimate venues where the people think they are special and part of the assembly line but anyways I wasn't happy there. First couple of months was okay but they slowly wanted to completely change what they said and they went from liking Sabu to not liking Sabu and I could feel it."

"It just looked like WWE with different lettering, the ECW lettering. It was the same show and no different. There was no extreme to it, no hardcore to it and we couldn't even have the ECW Extreme Rules match every night. We had them every other night. Some nights we'd go to house shows and not one extreme match."

"I was afraid people were thinking we were lazy or something but we were being told that we couldn't break a table and could not do this and could not do that. Before I could say, could I do it? Before it they would say well you can do that tomorrow so instead of me doing stuff and saying I couldn't do it anymore they'd stop me before I could even do it."

Was WWE’s ECW set up to fail?

"I don't think they tried to kill ECW, they were just trying to show that WWE style is stronger I guess. I don't know, I don't think they were trying to kill it because why would Vince spend the money on it to try and kill something? He could've killed it by not using it again."

Originally Posted by Observer

Dustin Rhodes has signed a contract extension with AEW.

AEW issued a press release announcing the news today. It's a multi-year extension, though the exact length of the deal wasn't revealed.

Dustin will be an in-ring wrestler for AEW and is also joining their coaching staff as a promo coach and match producer.

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH has confirmed the first four participants for their number one contender's tournament.

It was announced today that Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Marty Scurll will be participating in the eight-man, single-elimination tournament. The other four wrestlers for it will be announced tomorrow.

ROH wrote that the bracket will be revealed on Monday (September 2).

The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle, which is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13. Matt Taven currently holds the title.

Originally Posted by Observer

Australian wrestler Shazza McKenzie will be taking part in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out.

On Twitter today, AEW confirmed McKenzie as the latest entrant for the match. It's taking place on Saturday's All Out pre-show and will feature 21 wrestlers in total.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE have applied to trademark Breezango and The Outliers.

Also of note: After proclaiming earlier this month that Adam Cole never used his name prior to joining WWE (which was obviously factually incorrect) and could never use it if he were to leave WWE, WWE sent the following to the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

"The Applicant would like to correct information that was provided in the previously filed response. Applicant wishes to advise the Examining Attorney that the “name” in the mark does indeed identify a stage name or professional nickname. Mr. Austin Jenkins that is referred to in the Examiner’s Office Action did actually use this fictional character name prior to working with Applicant and can use this name if he were to cease working with Applicant. Accordingly, attached to this response is the required Consent, which has been signed by Mr. Jenkins."

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

It's not clear whether Pac has signed a long-term deal with the company. Those in the company said that Pac was not booked for an angle on the show. But it had been known they were talking with him about coming in ever since they knew the date he was going to lose the Open the Dream Gate title. Pac and AEW had a five-date deal but not a full-time deal, and the match in England against Hangman Page that AEW released on YouTube was one of those dates. There has been an attempt to get him to sign a full-time deal but he's been very loyal to Dragon Gate. Pac was heavily speculated to be one of Chris Jericho's mystery partners for the first TV show in a six-man tag against Omega & The Young Bucks, but LAX has also been speculated on for that role. But if a deal was made with him, the idea was likely for him to make a surprise debut, but the circumstances were necessary that they needed a top guy for the match and he was the best name for the spot.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Double or Nothing did about 111,000 buys on PPV worldwide between streaming and television, a record for a pro wrestling promotion without television. So that would be the goal here to see if they can maintain that. Losing Omega vs. Moxley hurts somewhat since PPV is usually a late decision, but it also only makes the match bigger when they do it next. The show will be unopposed. But the same day there are two shows a few hours earlier that are head-to-head, NXT UK Takeover on WWE Network and NJPW Royal Quest from London on FITE.

Originally Posted by Observer

Because of the Olympics in 2020, which takes place in August and most of the key arenas will be used, the decision has been made to move G-1 to the fall next year

There is a going on behind-the-scenes regarding TV-Asahi, which has an ownership stake in New Japan (Bushiroad is the primary owner) and is partners with New Japan World. Apparently the issue is FITE getting the live broadcasts for the Melbourne and London shows. For Melbourne, we were told it was a situation where they weren't equipped to handle the technical end and FITE was, and thus FITE got the live broadcast. I don't know why London is on FITE but the New Japan World subscribers in many cases were wondering why the J Cup shows weren't on.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Lance Archer noted being unsigned with New Japan. I can't imagine, given the dearth of guys his size who can work at the level he can (like, basically nobody) that WWE or AEW wouldn't want him. The only negative I can see is he's 42 and traditionally big guys don't have the longevity athletically, but he also seems to be the exception to the rule

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Billy Corgan's NWA announced more details on its first set of TV tapings. We don't know if this will be a weekly Internet series, as they have talked about, or actual television. the tapings will be on 9/30 and 10/1 in Atlanta at the Georgia Public Broadcasting Studios, so it'll be the return of studio wrestling with a 100 seat capacity. They announced that multiple former NWA champions would be brought to the first tapings. Of the legendary enduring champions, really the only ones alive are The Funk Brothers and Ric Flair, and Flair I can't see doing it even though he lives in Atlanta. Terry Funk hasn't been traveling due to health issues. Dory I could see doing it. There are shorter term guys like Ron Garvin and Tommy Rich who are around, and all the post 1991 guys. Nick Aldis as world champion, James Storm as National champion, Allysin Kay as women's champion, plus Eli Drake and Ricky Starks are announced. Joe Galli was announced as the lead announcer.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding any idea of running on Mondays down the line, Tony Khan has said that he'd never go against the NFL, and that's four months of the year on Mondays

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

At one point the scheduled first show on TNT was to be an introduction special and PPV hype show, similar to what UFC has done, which would have aired on 8/30, the night before All Out. It was never announced and evidently with the schedule listing "Supernatural" in the time slot it was talked about for, it doesn’t look like it’s happening. I was on the TNT schedule at one point. Nobody in AEW had said a word about it of late

There was at least last week still talk of an introduction special to promote the debut on the network but has been announced on that front either

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding Kenny Omega's DDT appearance on 11/3, his contract allows him to work Japan provided it doesn't interfere with an AEW date. Nobody knows big picture. He was offered a match with DDT on their big show and took it. The reality is that New Japan has not called him to offer him any dates, unlike with Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley. At one point, when Dallas got off to a slow start, there was at least talk of calling him but they never did, and even if they did, it was in the U.S. and would likely not be allowed. It's just like everything with NJPW and AEW in the sense that from the outside everyone knows they can be mutually very beneficial to each other but there's no movement as best we can tell of anything happening. It is notable that New Japan is not sending talent as much to ROH but that's because they look to be running the U.S. more on their own. AEW's policy, as shown by the AAA situation, is they are glad to work with AAA, will send their top guys to AAA's big shows in Mexico, but not in the U.S

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Testimony regarding UFC pay brought up a few notable things. Between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2017, all the UFC fighters combined made $626 million. All the WWE wrestlers combined made about $400 million. During that same period, Floyd Mayweather made $638 million. A lot of WWE talent is paying attention to this case. People realize that if the plaintiffs win (which I still can't fully understand how this would happen), there is virtually no difference between UFC and WWE within their respective markets from a history standpoint and there is probably more of a history of WWE holding down competition and underpaying talent as a percentage of revenue than against UFC.

While WWE and UFC talent is underpaid compared to the revenues generated, that isn't illegal and the talent signed deals. They can unionize and do collective bargaining. If they don't, I don't see how a court case can rule against the companies for getting people to sign for less money and to increase profits, because whatever you think of it, whether it's WalMart, or whatever, these companies are hardly unique in that structure. A lot of talent in NXT have seen that AEW and ROH are offering a lot more money and better working schedules. WWE is renegotiating deals and bumping some NXT talent up in pay

Originally Posted by Fightful

Daniel Bryan hopes to see a trio of top Mexican wrestlers make the jump to WWE.

While Bryan was in Colombia for a WWE Live Event in Bogota, he spoke to Super Luchas and was asked about which three Mexican wrestlers he would love to see go to WWE. After Bryan initially mentioned the likes of Negro Casas and Blue Panther, he changed his answer to three more modern grapplers: Rush, Bandido and Dragon Lee, all of whom wrestle for either New Japan Pro Wrestling or Ring of Honor outside of Mexico.

"It's tough to pick because my favorites are now too old to go to WWE. I could aay, 'Wait a moment, I want Negro Casas in WWE' or something like that. I love Blue Panther, I love Negro Casas. The first time I saw him wrestle was like back in 1987 but he is incredible. In 2019, it still looks impressive. I have a ton of respect for them but thinking about guys that could potentially make the jump now to WWE, I would say someone like Rush. I think someone like Bandido would make it big as well as Dragon Lee," Bryan said.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Following his victory in the Super J-Cup, El Phantasmo called Will Ospreay the "Autistic Assassin," playing off Ospreay's "Aerial Assassin" nickname. For obvious reasons, the comment drew backlash from those in attendance, leading to ELP issuing an apology.

"I'd like to address my actions after winning the Super J Cup this past (weekend)....

In the heat of the moment I called Will Ospreay "The Autistic Assassin" and I want to say sorry to anyone that was offended by my comment. It was uncalled for on my behalf and you deserve better. Looking back I wish I didn't say it, I promise it wasn't scripted, it was an unnecessary way of getting cheap [heat] and I genuinely apologize if you were hurt by my words. I've never been comfortable on the mic, the inexperience showed and I promise to do better going forward.

Sincerely, ELP"

Originally Posted by Observer

Lucha Libre AAA and Impact Wrestling are partnering together for AAA's show in New York City.

In a press release that was issued today, it was announced that AAA has engaged Impact to "promote the LUCHA INVADES NY event to be held in the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on the eve of Mexican Independence Day, Sunday, Sept. 15, at 6:00 p.m. ET."

Originally Posted by Observer

All eight wrestlers have now been confirmed for ROH's number one contender's tournament.

It was announced today that Bandido, Colt Cabana, Mark Haskins, and PCO will be in the eight-man, single-elimination tournament. They join Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Marty Scurll as the wrestlers who will be taking part in it.

The bracket for the tournament will be revealed on Monday (September 2).

Originally Posted by PWI

Recently, Ric Flair applied to trademark 'The Man' for wrestling and merchandise purposes

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Jim Ross shared some notes on his Grilling JR podcast this week regarding WWE moving to Fox. When discussing the FS 1 studio show that WWE will have, Ross, said he was offered a role to be part of the weekly studio show. He was extended the offer from a top executive, but Ross was committed to AEW and could not accept it. Ross added that he expects Fox to have a greater say in SmackDown’s presentation and sound of the show than any partner WWE has had. In addition, he believes the current commentary team may not be the team that calls the show when it moves to Fox on October 4th.

Originally Posted by Fightful

During The Women of AEW stage show at Starrcast ...

Brandi Rhodes then talked about some of the other women that are working behind the scenes at All Elite Wrestling including Matt Jackson's wife, Dana, who is the Chief Marketing Officer for the promotion, and Awesome Kong, who in addition to being a wrestler for the company, is also their first female coach behind the scenes.

“I don't think a lot of people know this yet, but I work very closely with our PR executive. Her name is Mandy O'Donnell, and she's a crazy badass, too," Brandi touted. “I mean, I'm not sure if everybody knows this too. Awesome Kong. She's one of our coaches. She's not just a competitor. She's the female coach. So we're getting there.”

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW officially confirmed the signing of announcer Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez, with Goldenboy announcing that he’ll be calling All Out tomorrow. Dave Meltzer reported that the announce team for All Out will be Jim Ross, Excalibur & Goldenboy.

Originally Posted by Observer

Sports Illustrated reported that Impact Wrestling is working on a deal for Tenille Dashwood to appear in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out. Dashwood made her Impact debut earlier this month after signing with them.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE will hold an online, streaming celebration of the Intercontinental Championship this Sunday 9/1. WWE's social media channels will feature the following content:

Sunday, Sept. 1
WWE Playback with Shawn Michaels, Jeff Jarrett & Road Dogg
20 matches that define the Intercontinental Title marathon event on WWE Network
Former Intercontinental Champion Zack Ryder hosts a look back at 20 matches that define what the Intercontinental Title stands for, and the title bouts feature such memorable champions as Seth Rollins, The Rock and Randy Orton. The marathon begins streaming exclusively on WWE Network at 1 p.m. ET.

Monday, Sept. 2
WWE Top 10: Emotional Intercontinental Title victories
From Ricky Steamboat’s landmark victory over “Macho Man” Randy Savage at WrestleMania III to Zack Ryder’s dream-come-true Show of Shows win 29 years later, capturing the Intercontinental Championship has a habit of bringing emotions to the surface for any Superstar. WWE Top 10 ranks the most heart-wrenching wins in the title’s history.

Tuesday, Sept. 3
The Intercontinental Championship: By the Numbers
Go inside the unique history of the Intercontinental Title like never before with this video highlighting the stats that make this championship one of the most sought-after prizes in sports-entertainment.

Wednesday, Sept. 4
WWE Pop Question: Intercontinental Title edition
WWE Pop Question asks the Superstars of today who they feel is the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time ... and some of their answers will surprise you.

The 8 most underrated Intercontinental Champions
Which bearers of the Intercontinental Title never got their rightful place in the spotlight? Which workhorses rarely come up in discussions about the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time? WWE.com gives eight unsung Intercontinental Champions the recognition they deserve.

Thursday, Sept. 5
Intercontinental Championship 40th anniversary roundtable with Randy Orton, Christian and The Miz

Cathy Kelley sits down with The Viper, Captain Charisma and The A-Lister to recap their own personal history with the Intercontinental Championship, their most memorable rivalries and matches involving the coveted prize and the title’s place in the annals of sports-entertainment. The roundtable begins streaming on WWE’s official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels at noon ET.

Friday, Sept. 6
20 matches that define the Intercontinental Title marathon event digital replay
If you missed WWE Network’s marathon of the 20 matches that defined the Intercontinental Title, catch the replay on WWE’s digital and social media platforms. The stream begins on WWE’s official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels at noon ET.

Saturday, Sept. 7
Editors’ Choice: 10 Superstars who will be Intercontinental Champion
Intercontinental Championship 40th Anniversary Week concludes with a look ahead to the future, as the WWE.com editorial staff predicts which competitors from WWE, NXT, NXT UK and 205 Live are destined to join the legendary Superstars to hold the prestigious title.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On Thursday night, Starrcast featured a panel called “From Undesirable to Undeniable” where Tony Schiavone sat down to speak with Cody Rhodes.

Off the top, they addressed Schiavone’s new role with All Elite Wrestling while confirming interest from WWE in Schiavone’s services. Schiavone revealed it was Bruce Prichard that reached out and Conrad Thompson served as his agent going back-and-forth before he landed this deal ...

Schiavone added that he will be calling matches with Jim Ross in the future for All Elite Wrestling.

Cody discussed his role as an Executive Vice President and loves the job, to the point he’d be willing to take a step back from wrestling to focus more on it, if necessary ...

Regarding the television show on TNT, he emphasized a sports presentation and that’s the world Tony Khan comes from. There would be no twenty-minute promos in the ring, no invisible cameras backstage, and are not going to have a PG rating attached to it.

He is bullish on bringing big events to his home market of Atlanta, mentioning the 21,000 seat State Farm Arena as a possibility and adding the likelihood of bringing the TNT show and a future pay-per-view to the market ...

On the signing of Orange Cassidy, the said the Young Bucks made that hire and he was disappointed that those within the company didn’t defend the signing more. He mentioned critics of the signing and his argument is they are presenting a buffet, Cassidy is talented, and that more should have backed the decision to hire him.

He ended by reflecting on Rey Mysterio, who he credits for making his career by choosing to work with Cody at WrestleMania 27 in 2011. He added that he hopes WWE does right by Rey, or else he will scoop him up.

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect (Post 5281161)

I’m sure Vince already did more on Wednesday than sit around and twiddle his thumbs.

It’s a great opportunity to expand business and prove to stockholders that Triple H can run the day-to-day.

Originally Posted by Slik (Post 5281171)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kacy Catanzaro Finishes With WWE <a href="https://t.co/T236cvb7qe">https://t.co/T236cvb7qe</a> <a href="https://t.co/JrqFKFFg73">pic.twitter.com/JrqFKFFg73</a></p>&mdash; squared circle sirens (@SCsirens) <a href="https://twitter.com/SCsirens/status/1168315612537544704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5281196)

Casey gave an update revealing more details on her recent back injury.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From what was told to me Kacy was having an issue with her discs and called it quits. WWE has a no fire rule right now so if someone leaves, it's becauuse they quit.</p>&mdash; Casey Michael (@ifyouseekcasey) <a href="https://twitter.com/ifyouseekcasey/status/1168316739555332101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect (Post 5281404)

I would not be surprised if there was some sort of release clause that prevented the talent from working elsewhere. A conditional release. But if not and talent did that, I just expect it could burn bridges there and make you look like you can't really be trusted. But I don't blame talent for wanting out of WWE and getting desperate.

Originally Posted by PWI

The ratings for this week's Raw and Smackdown will be delayed due to the Labor Day holiday here in the United States.

Originally Posted by Observer

After the participants were confirmed last week, ROH has now revealed the bracket for their number one contender's tournament.

The left side of the bracket has PCO vs. Kenny King and Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins in the first round. The right side has Colt Cabana vs. Marty Scurll and Bandido vs. Jay Lethal.

The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle this December.

Originally Posted by Observer

Batista will be a playable character in the upcoming Xbox One game Gears 5 starting September 15 following WWE Clash of Champions.

Originally Posted by Observer

Asuka has started her own YouTube channel.

Originally Posted by Observer

Trenesha Sims, who worked as Rhaka Khan in Impact Wrestling back in 2008-9, is currently listed as one of El Paso’s Texas most wanted fugitives. She is charged with interference with child custody.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On the viewership front, the AEW countdown special from this past Friday night averaged 390,000 viewers on TNT. I would view that very positively as it was a short-notice program and would suggest there is a lot of momentum behind the brand going into their television debut next month. To compare, last year’s “Zero Hour” pre-show going into ALL IN averaged 196,000 viewers on WGN America.

Originally Posted by PWI

DK Publishing, in conjunction with WWE, will be releasing WWE Kicking Down Doors: Female Superstars Are Ruling the Ring and Changing the Game! on May 5, 2020.

The book, by L. J. Tracosas, will feature, according to promotional material released to PWInsider.com:

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Matt Taven will be defending the ROH title against Volador Jr. this Saturday in Villa Park, Illinois at Global Wars Espectacular and the winner will defend the title against Rush at Death Before Dishonor Friday, September 27th in Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On the latest edition of "Being The Elite," Page revealed that he named the horse, "Hunter Horse Helmsley." Of course, it doesn't take much to make the connection of that horse to WWE's Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley).

Originally Posted by Fightful

As Casey of Squared Circle Sirens mentioned on Twitter this week, there was an altercation backstage at AEW All Out between Sadie Gibbs and Bea Priestly. Matt Jackson was seen trying to smooth things over and talking to Sadie Gibbs about the situation.

Originally Posted by PWI

During a post show media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan stated ...

The AAA Tag Team Championships will not be featured in All Elite Wrestling going forward so that the company can focus on their own Tag Team Championships which will be crowned in a tournament on the AEW TV series. The hope and plan is that AAA will still be sending talent to the company.

Originally Posted by Observer

Referee Aubrey Edwards announced that she’s working with AEW full-time starting today: “Yesterday was huge, but today is too! Today I'm officially a full-time referee for @AEWrestling. This was a long time coming, but I needed to close the doors on my previous job before saying anything. Now I yell at people to pay my bills. What is life?”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Conrad Thompson quickly got another Starrcast on the books as it's been announced that Starrcast IV will take place from Nov. 7 - 10 in Baltimore. The event will once again be held in conjunction with another major All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view as AEW will hold their Full Gear event on Nov. 9 from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore

Originally Posted by Fightful

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reports that Candice LeRae is "banged up." Casey also reports that WWE was recently turned down by a female referee who currently works on the Independent circuit.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw on Labor Day finished pretty much exactly like it did the week before, averaging 2.51 million viewers, a drop of one percent from the prior week's 2.53 million viewers.

The old pattern returned with a major third hour decline, although the 12 percent first-to-third hour drop was still well below the period before Paul Heyman was put in control ...

Raw was down 13 percent from the same week last year ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.64 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.56 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.33 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI

Smackdown audience information will be delayed until tomorrow due to the Labor Day holiday.

Originally Posted by Observer

Monday’s Labor Day episode of Straight Up Steve Austin with Becky Lynch as the guest averaged 1,097,000 viewers. That’s up from last week’s 987,000 viewers and is the show’s best viewership since the series premiere drew 1,211,000 viewers on August 12. This week’s rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.44.

Originally Posted by Observer

In a post on Instagram, Carmella wrote about a recent health scare: “I recently had a health scare that shook my world. I was super apprehensive (still am) to post about it because I’m not looking for any sort of sympathy. Instead, I wanted to share what this past month has taught me. You might find my perception to be trivial and unimportant, but these are my thoughts. For the first time in six years I was forced to slow down. I’ve never had an injury with time off or anything of the sort since I started with WWE. I was able to slow down for a few weeks and just be. It opened my mind and my eyes to the world I didn’t notice for six years and allowed me to be present instead of worrying about the next thing on my to do list. I took a break from social media and it really allowed me to live in the moment and see what was right in front of me. I had conversations with people I would have normally never seen because my head would be buried in my phone. More importantly, social media is not real. The fact that I at one point or another would get bothered by a few crass comments made by presumptuous ill mannered trolls makes me laugh now. It’s all so insignificant at the end of the day. Do these trolls care about my health and well being? Are they the ones who will be there for me when sh*t hits the fan? Hell no. So why would I care what people on an app in my phone have to say about me? I spent time with the most important people in my life. In a world where I’m constantly on the road, I rarely get more than a few hours with those who matter most to me. I’m grateful I was able to spend so much time with my sister and my parents who are my world. I was also constantly laughing with my boyfriend who is the most supportive man on the planet. I truly don’t know what I would do without him. Things can and will go wrong, regardless of how healthy your lifestyle is. It’s important to feed our bodies with happy thoughts, clean and healthy foods and all of the positive vibes. Let’s all try to be a little better as humans. Everyone we meet is going through SOMETHING. Be nice. Life is short. Hug your family, laugh more, let the little things go, buy the shoes and drink the wine”

Originally Posted by Observer

An AEW panel with Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Brandi Rhodes, Awesome Kong, Nyla Rose, and Jungle Boy will be part of New York Comic Con on October 4.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE Raw is one of the eight nominees for The Show of 2019 in this year's E! People's Choice Awards.

Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Riverdale, Stranger Things, The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, and This is Us are the other nominees for the award. Fan voting is underway now and will end on Friday, October 18 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

Originally Posted by PWI

During his Starrcast panel over the weekend, Dean Malenko revealed he is battling Parkinson's Disease.

Originally Posted by PWI

On his podcast, Chris Jericho noted that Kenny Omega and PAC were both upset as they ran out of time and didn't get to do everything they wanted in their match at All Out.

It was also noted that the entire roster had their faces scanned for future usage, likely meaning video games or action figures.

Jericho specifically noted he requested Aubrey Edwards to referee his match against Adam Page at the PPV. Malenko was the Producer for that match.

Originally Posted by PWI

2K Games officially released the following ...

WWE 2K20 tells the whole story in 2K Showcase: The Women’s Evolution. Cover Superstar Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Sasha Banks – the Four Horsewomen – describe the journey to bring women’s wrestling to the forefront of WWE in their own words with exclusive live action footage.

WWE 2K20 2K SHOWCASE: THE WOMEN’S EVOLUTION

• NXT TakeOver – Charlotte Flair w/ Ric Flair v. Natalya w/Bret Hart
• NXT TakeOver: Rival – Sasha Banks v. Charlotte Flair v. Bayley v. Becky Lynch
• NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn – Bayley v. Sasha Banks
• Night of Champions 2015 – Charlotte Flair w/Paige & Becky Lynch v. Nikki Bella w/Brie Bella & Alicia Fox
• WrestleMania 32 – Charlotte Flair w/Ric Flair v. Becky Lynch v. Sasha Banks
• RAW – Sasha Banks v. Charlotte w/Dana Brooke
• Backlash – Becky Lynch v. Alexa Bliss v. Carmella v. Naomi v. Natalya v. Nikki Bella
• Hell in a Cell – Charlotte Flair v. Sasha Banks
• Elimination Chamber – Becky Lynch v. Mickie James
• RAW – Bayley v. Charlotte Flair
• Fastlane – Sasha Banks v. Nia Jax
• WrestleMania 33 – Bayley v. Charlotte Flair v. Nia Jax v. Sasha Banks
• WrestleMania 34 – Charlotte Flair v. Asuka
• Evolution – Becky Lynch v. Charlotte Flair
• WrestleMania 35 – Becky Lynch v. Charlotte Flair v. Ronda Rousey

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon joined Barstool Sports’ The Corp podcast and elaborated on several topics including her stating that WWE is not listening to their fans to a certain degree. “I think we’re maybe not listening as closely as we want to be right about now. I just think that they’re being very vocal and they’re telling us exactly what they want and sometimes to your point earlier, it’s not what you want to do because you’re setting them up for something else. Well, sometimes it’s a setup for a payoff of something even bigger and they just have to be patient and sometimes, we’re not listening as well as we would like to.” Stephanie said.

While speaking about the WWE Network app, Stephanie mentioned that there could be different price points for the app: “And then, of course, our direct-to-consumer platform which is the app — the WWE Network, and that currently has — it bounces between 1.5 and 2 million subscribers and that is what we created to super-serve our most ardent fan base. So that’s where WrestleMania is, that’s where our previously called, still called pay-per-views are. Later this year, we’re going to be rolling out version 2.0 with some more customized features and potentially different price points.”

Stephanie McMahon also commented on the storied rumors about Vince McMahon hating sneezing. She stated that he hates it because he cannot control it and it upsets him. “Totally,” Stephanie admitted that she has sneezed around her father. “He doesn’t hate me for it but it’s always with a *growling noise*. But, on the flip side, I’ve been around when he has sneezed. He doesn’t like anything he can’t control. So the fact that he can’t control the sneeze is very — it makes him upset.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

n noticing that Kross hasn't been booked to wrestle for IMPACT since Slammiversary, Fightful sent an inquiry to the company for clarity on his status Sunday. Tuesday, Bill Pritchard of Wrestlezone issued a report that Fightful was able to confirm, noting that Kross refused to blade during his Slammiversary match with Eddie Edwards in July. The concerns raised were the lack of blood testing, and the absence of an on-site doctor that made talent feel unsafe about the request. Word is, that Kross had no problem losing, but preferred to use fake blood given the circumstances.

The story ended up tying together with another, when Fightful reached out to several employees and wrestlers about the news that IMPACT would be paying for hotels. In asking around, many wrestlers claimed that they've not been paid in full for their merchandise. We should clarify this wasn't across the board, but were told is was a point of contention between IMPACT and Kross in the past, as well.

We were told that many IMPACT contracts are structured to include non-disparagement clauses, and provisions to prevent talent from speaking on what the deals entail. When speaking with an employee of IMPACT Wrestling, they noted that Kross has been speaking with the company via an attorney for several weeks, and believes that IMPACT has been in breach of his contract. IMPACT still reportedly has several months on the deal, and the option to roll it over, though the amount of time was indeterminate.

This could also end up affecting Kross' AAA bookings. AAA has a show coming up on September 15, and is actually gaining the help of IMPACT to promote the event, an IMPACT worker revealed. IMPACT and Ed Nordholm specifically are said to be allowing AAA to use their promoter's license and several other amenities, and implied to the company that they'd prefer Killer Kross to not be on those shows. Kross has worked dozens of dates for AAA over the last several years, most recently at August's TripleMania show.

Originally Posted by Observer

In their article on the WWE writing team shake-up that Dave Meltzer reported last night, The Wrap wrote: “The SmackDown moves also come amid growing questions about Bischoff’s leadership of the show. The insider cited Bischoff’s decision to hire Stevie Long, a former Sons of Anarchy writer who was found asleep in the writers room by longtime producer Michael P.S. Hayes on his first day on the road with WWE. (Long is still with WWE.) Bischoff declined to comment; Long’s manager was unable to provide a comment from his client by the time of publication. Bischoff and his SmackDown creative team have also come under scrutiny for this summer’s Erick Rowan doppelgänger storyline, in which an unknown attacker drop heavy backstage scaffolding on top of Roman Reigns, injuring the company’s No. 1 star. According to the WWE insider, the storyline was botched so bad that explaining to anyone what it was supposed to be wouldn’t make any sense at all.”

Originally Posted by Observer

Daga has signed with Impact

Originally Posted by PWI

In advance of tomorrow's War Chamber event (which is about to sell out in advance), MLW issued the following announcement ...

DALLAS – With Major League Wrestling's Dallas debut tomorrow night tracking to sellout, MLW today announced its return to the Dallas area.

MLW will return Saturday night January 11, 2020 to the NYTEX Sports Centre with MLW: ZERO HOUR

Originally Posted by PWI

Starting with this Wednesday's Ohio Valley Wrestling Fight for Freedom event at 4th Street Live in Louisville, Kentucky, OVW will be airing their TV series live weekly on WBNA Channel 21.

The series will air every Wednesday until October, where the series will move to Tuesday nights for the first time in its existence, airing live on that day instead in order to avoid the WWE NXT vs. AEW Wednesday Night War.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

With one week remaining, AAA has finally announced additional matches for their card at Madison Square Garden. On Friday, they announced that Cain Velasquez will team with Psycho Clown and Brian Cage against Black Taurus, Rey Escorpion, and Texano Jr. Despite the set up at TripleMania, Killer Kross is not booked in the match, it was reported by Fightful this week that due to the issues between Kross and Impact Wrestling that it was implied to AAA not to book Kross on the Madison Square Garden show next weekend.

The AAA show at The Garden will also feature a tag match with Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix vs. LAX, and they confirmed the Reina de Reinas championship match between Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie. The main event on the show is a rematch from TripleMania between Dr. Wagner Jr. and Blue Demon Jr. The card takes place Sunday, September 15th and will be available on Fite TV.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

WWE are gearing things up for October. A few things are notable. One is that even though NXT will be on television, the idea of bringing up guys from NXT to the main roster, being Raw and Smackdown, will continue, as opposed to NXT being its own third major league brand . There are plans for people to be called up. As noted earlier, there are plans for the announcing teams to be separated, at least at this point, which would mean no more Graves on both shows. He’ll end up on one or the other. There will be changes in the roster, not a ton but some, with the idea of another draft special for October ratings mostly to try and keep the expected first week momentum that the first Smackdown show is expected to get bringing in all the stars from the past as well as Lesnar and all the Raw stars being on Smackdown first week. So the next draft will take place starting on the second Smackdown on 10/11 in Las Vegas, with it finishing up on the 10/14 Raw show in Denver. The idea is that FOX will present that show like it is a legitimate sports draft. Starting on Smackdown is supposed to be a sign that Smackdown is no longer the B show as well

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

On the announcing side, with Renee Young hosting the FS 1 weekly version of UFC Tonight, except it being WWE and I’m virtually certain it’ll be even more of a house organ (not that UFC Tonight wasn’t but they never ignored big issues and I can’t imagine the WWE show being like that), FOX is very high on her which could lead to her being exclusive with that brand. The second part is still up in the air

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

For MSG, it’s about 75 percent sold for Raw on 9/9 and 55 percent for Smackdown on 9/10. They’ve been advertising heavily in the local market, far more than usual. The belief was that even before Austin was announced, they would sell out Raw for sure, but given how many tickets are left, it doesn’t look good and Smackdown has little chance without a late gimmick or papering. Those within the company have said they don’t believe it’s the lack of interest, but the ticket prices, and the ticket prices are a major factor for sure. I was told Sacramento, which is historically a great WWE market, is not looking like it will sell out for Hell in a Cell either, which in the market is also blamed on the pricing as opposed to a lack of fans having interest. Smackdown with Undertaker given ten days out and 7,000 tickets out, that has to be the lowest for a TV shoot in that building in history

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Bayley, Banks and Mysterio’s promos on Raw were all done without being scripted word-for-word, basically the old bullet points style and going for it. There is a movement to try and do more of that going forward, similar to the leeway that Owens (and I believe Bryan but that hasn’t been told to me directly) get on Smackdown and why his promos, if not both of theirs, come off better than almost anyone

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

As far as the All Out PPV goes, it was a mixed bag. Traditional U.S. television PPV was down significantly from Double or Nothing, although will finish well ahead of All In. Streaming PPV in the U.S. on B/R Live was up, although we don’t know by how much. TNT did a one hour hype show at 10 p.m. the night before, but on TNT, they pushed B/R Live as the way to see it and not traditional PPV as hard, so it made sense B/R numbers would be up.

FITE TV worldwide numbers were down ... But ITV PPV numbers in the U.K. were up. The impression was that they expected to end up about the same as the last show, which would be considered a success. But based on the U.S. PPV numbers, I think it’ll be down slightly, since TV PPV was down in almost every city we’ve gotten numbers from.

The only straight number we have, which is U.S. television PPV, looks to be about 28,000 buys. Double or Nothing as of a few days after was closer to 35,000 and ended up 39,000, so this should have another ten to 12 percent added to that number when all is said and done. All this together would indicate something around 100,000, which, while not up from last time, does show staying power which was the big question. It’s still above what any company other than WWE/F and WCW ever did, and many of those companies had weekly television on strong stations. It also beat most of the WCW shows at the end.

On both television PPV and B/R, 46 percent of those ordering had ordered Double or Nothing. That means 54 percent didn’t.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

New Japan ran its biggest show in the U.K. in its history, Royal Quest, on 8/31 at the Copper Box Arena in London. The show drew a near sellout crowd, with 6,119 paid. What’s notable about this crowd is that they had a lottery for tickets, similar to what AEW did for its first show in Las Vegas

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The 9/15 AAA show at the Hulu Theater is now a joint show with Impact. That’s strange announcing this two weeks before the show. The reason is that AAA didn’t have a license to promote in New York, so they asked for a local promotion, ended up asking Impact, which has run there many times, and Impact wanted to be part of the branding in exchange for using their license.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Daniel Rodimer, 41, who was part of the 2004 Tough Enough show with The Miz and Daniel Puder, and was the company’s No. 1 pick for stardom out of the group, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 as a heel from Nevada. Rodimer with his blond hair,6-foot-6 and 285 pound fame and bodybuilder physique giving him the Dave Draper look to Vince McMahon (Draper was a famous 1960s bodybuilder who was the poster boy in that world before losing his spot to Arnold Schwarzenegger), didn’t win, because WWE left the voting up to the fans, who picked Puder due to his angle with Kurt Angle where he got Angle in a Kimura in a shoot.

There were forces in the company, including coach Bill DeMott who tried to push WWE to ignore the voting, where it was clear Puder would win, and just pick Miz, who was far more of a fan. Anyway, Rodimer was signed and sent to OVW. He cut his hair which changed his look. Still, Stephanie McMahon loved him and wanted to put him in Team RKO with Edge and Randy Orton in 2007, and giving him the name Daniel Rodman. But he decided pro wrestling wasn’t for him, and quit right before the team was going to be put into play and he was already on the booking sheets and figured in when he quit. He ended up moving to Las Vegas and got his law degree in 2013. He ran unsuccessfully for state senate in Nevada last year.

The Daily Beast in an article on him brought up a 2010 arrest for misdemeanor battery at a Waffle House in Naples, FL. As the police report goes, he was at the Waffle House at 2:30 a.m., and allegedly was bothering some women and a friend of the women asked him to leave them alone and he gabbed the guy by the neck and shoved him hard t the floor, hard enough that the police noted fresh red marks all over his back and neck. He then allegedly challenged another person to a fight, was screaming that he likes to “F*** people up” until two of his friends calmed him down. Police were able to arrest him quickly because, after doing all this, he threw down his business card with his name and face on it to the women, which was how police knew to arrest him. He allegedly told police at the time that he liked to hurt people. The charge was dropped after he agreed to go through anger management. He was on Fox & Friends recently and vowed to form a tag team with Donald if elected

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Talks of Impact going to AXS are said to be still quite active. As noted before, those at Impact were talking up the idea they’d be off Pursuit by the summer and move to a bigger station and those were the talks referred to, but the deal has been slower in being put together. Some of the talks did involve Anthem purchasing AXS, which would be interesting. I’ve heard nothing in this direction, and who knows what deals would have to be made, but when The Fight Network first started with Mike Garrow in charge, before he had to sell it to the Asper Family because of the losses, he and I always talked about the station coming to the U.S.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The [AEW] talent was all being face scanned over the weekend for a video game, which Nick Jackson basically confirmed last week

Originally Posted by Observer

Even Steve Austin couldn't save Raw from Monday Night Football last night.

Raw averaged 2.13 million viewers, its second lowest modern era mark in history for a non-holiday show. The 15.4 percent drop from last week was much larger than usual for the first show against football.

The number speaks to the audience watching Raw being less loyal as compared to other years when football started.

The only episodes of Raw in modern history that did worse was a June 10 show against the NBA finals, and this past Christmas and New Year's Eve shows, which really shouldn't even count in comparison.

The most notable thing is that the Austin segment should have been held for later in the episode, as Raw opened well in the first quarter, fell once Austin left, and continued to decline the rest of the show, with the main event being one of the lowest rated matches in Raw history.

None of the stats are good. The third hour was the lowest third hour except for Christmas and New Year's. The first-to-third hour drop, largely due to Austin, was the sixth worst in history at 21.9 percent. The audience was down 22.3 percent from last year's first show against Monday Night Football ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.36 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.18 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.85 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Becky Lynch told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi about Ric Flair trying to trademark “The Man”: “All I can say about Ric is, I like Ric. He's been a good friend to me over the years. We'll see what happens with that."

Originally Posted by Observer

Triple H spoke to Yahoo Sports about AEW going against NXT and being an alternative to WWE: “If you talk about the upstart, what they’re going out and saying is that they’re an alternative. We were that alternative five years ago. We opened the door for being an alternative, we opened the door to show people that it can be done on a bigger level and on a different basis. As far as being the alternative, great, go put on the best show you can put out, and we’ll put out the best one we can put out.”

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE and 2K announced today that for every retweet of this Twitter post, WWE 2K will donate $2 (up to $500,000) to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Originally Posted by Observer

Anthem Sports & Entertainment has already made moves in the last 24 hours regarding AXS. PWInsider reported this afternoon that AXS’ Dallas office has been shut down. Adam Swift, who was behind getting wrestling on the network dating back to the ROH on HDNet days, has been let go as well as Cindy Ronzoni, who handled PR.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Shane McMahon vs. Chad Gable match was a Vince McMahon call, PWInsider.com has been told. As we noted earlier, there was a pitch for a battle royal but it was shot down.

Originally Posted by PWI

A number of talents who are now contracted full-time to AEW will be closing their independent commitments up in the next few weeks. So, if you see talents working indies past the start of October, that's a pretty good sign they have not signed exclusives with the company.

Game Changer Wrestling will hold a "Curtain Call" event for Joey Janela on 9/30 with the show streaming live on FITE.TV

At the weekly AEW TV tapings, there will be additional content taped for future usage, potentially for Bleacher Report Live.

Originally Posted by Fightful

According to a tweet from Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens, Kylie Rae & & Kris Statlander did some of the mo-capping for the upcoming WWE 2K20 video game.

Originally Posted by Observer

Another New Japan Showdown event is set for California this November. NJPW has announced that New Japan Showdown in Los Angeles will take place at the Globe Theatre on Monday, November 11. New Japan Showdown in San Jose is also being held at the San Jose Civic on Saturday, November 9.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Controversy in Revolution Pro Wrestling.

At RevPro Summer Sizzler on Aug. 30, Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels in tag team action to earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Titles. But perhaps the bigger story coming out of the match was the post-match attack on referee Aaren Wilde.

Wilde was attacked by Bodom & Samuels, who were allegedly upset over Wilde counting the pinfall earlier than planned. According to Wilde, he suffered shoulder and neck injuries, which have forced him to retire ...

Bodom has deleted his Twitter account. He wrote after the match, "Yo @RevProUK, plz get some qualified refs that aren’t shit. Also the York Hall fans are incurable, depressed slop jalops. Congrats to @DUNKZILLADavis & @kylefletcherpro on getting a free pass to Royal Quest tho. xoxox"

Originally Posted by Fightful

NJPW announced this evening that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, will be part of the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour later this month. A short video was released with Ricky and Robert talking about the upcoming tour.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Just one week after getting back to averaging a million viewers, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's show got its lowest viewership since it premiered.

According to Showbuzz Daily, "Straight Up Steve Austin" averaged 841,000 viewers and a 0.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down from the 1,097,000 viewers and 0.44 rating the September 2 episode drew.

Originally Posted by Observer

SmackDown averaged 2.061 million viewers on Tuesday night, down two percent from last week. More notably, the show retained 97 percent of the previous night's Raw audience, one of the highest retention rates since moving to Tuesday nights.

This confirms the thought that Raw's bad number was due to competition from Monday Night Football, which affected the rating more than it has in previous years, even with Steve Austin making an appearance on Raw.

SmackDown was only down seven percent year-over-year, while Raw had a 22 percent drop when compared to the first week of Monday Night Football in 2018.

Originally Posted by PWI

With Anthem having taken over the majority ownership in AXS TV, we have been besieged with questions about the future of WOW and New Japan Pro Wrestling on the cable network ...

However, at some point, decisions will have to be made and there has been extreme cost-cutting across the board already at AXS TV's offices across the United States. This is normal when one company absorbs another, as sad as it is, and there are likely more to come after over 40 employees were let go from offices in Los Angeles (the corporate HQ), Dallas (where a lot of day to day work was done) and Denver, which is extremely important to pro wrestling fans as that studio was where the nuts and bolts of the New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV show was put together.

We are told the Denver office was extremely gutted and as of now, there's no real understanding from the New Japan side yet on how things will be proceeding. Currently, New Japan has a deal through January 2020 with AXS TV. The process before the takeover was that New Japan would send over their tapes, which were edited live as NJPW produced their live events. AXS TV would do some minor editing with additional voiceover work by Kevin Kelly to fit the American broadcasts ...

Nothing is set in stone yet, but It's entirely possible that the NJPW on AXS TV shows, as part of a cost-cutting maneuver, could now be post-produced by Impact's production team or that AXS could go into New Japan repeats as everything is sorted out. We are told that the announcing teams for New Japan on AXS are not signed to AXS, so technically, Anthem could even have their own Impact Wrestling announcers voicing over any new content that is released.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The Wrap is reporting that at least 40 people have been let go from AXS TV following the news that Anthem had acquired a majority stake in AXS. The report notes that there were more than 40 employees cut which includes contractors, consultants, and freelancers. The cuts happened within hours of the announcement. A source told The Wrap that there was no time for consultants to negotiate a new deal. Bob Gold, who is a spokesman for Anthem told The Wrap that AXS had a few more than 100 hundred employees before the cuts. There are currently 20 AXS employees left per the report but Bob Gold believes that number is higher. There are some AXS employees remaining in the Los Angeles office but most staffers in Dallas and Denver have been laid off.

Originally Posted by PWI

All three New Japan Pro Wrestling Super J Cup 2019 shows are up for viewing on New Japan World. Plus, last week's Road to Destruction shows have been given English commentary.

The Super J-Cup tournament was presented last month for the first time in the United States, produced by Jushin Liger, who competed in non-tournament matches.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting that more episodes of WCW Thunder are headed to WWE Network this Monday, September 16 as the September 2019 classic content drop. Currently, episodes on the streaming service run-up to June 21, 2000. It is unclear how many episodes will be added at this point. But if we get the normal 20 episodes that would put us at November 2000, meaning there would be one more content drop of Thunder in the future to complete the series.

Originally Posted by WWE Network News

The latest Hidden Gem details are in and while we’re set for quite the considerable chunk of content tomorrow, there is a caveat to that statement. In 1994 and 1995, TBS decided to fill the early hours of its schedule with several different WCW marathons. These were given the name “WCW All Nighter” and featured a selection of classic matches alongside themed skits involving Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, “Mean” Gene Okerlund etc as they partake in a late-night party.

This brings us to the upload planned for tomorrow. Dated 01/20/1995, this would appear to be the second of these long-form shows. However, that is where the controversy lies as this edition focused on the top 10 matches in Clash of the Champions history up until that point (with such a link possibly explaining WWE’s timing) ...

As always, here is the official description:

WCW 01/20/1995 – WCW All Nighter 1995 [Duration: 04:36:24]
Join Tony Schiavone, Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan as they count down the 10 greatest Clash of the Champions matches of all time.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

During an interview with Sporting News, Killer Kross told the publication that his relationship with IMPACT Wrestling is not in a good state. Kross did not dive into specifics but he stated that one of the roots of his issues with IMPACT has to do with merchandising. Kross says that he is trying his best to address the situation and is remaining civil and professional although it can be difficult. Killer Kross also confirmed that he will not be working AAA’s show in New York City on September 15th as he was originally scheduled to work the show but when IMPACT got involved, he was told he was no longer going to be a part of the event.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Former CZW Tag Team Champions Beaver Boys (John Silver & Alex Reynolds) were the opponents of Heavy Machinery on the 9/10 edition of SmackDown Live at Madison Square Garden.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Three years ago today at WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view, Becky Lynch became the first-ever SmackDown Live Women’s Champion and Heath Slater and Rhyno became the inaugural SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions.

Originally Posted by Fightful

WrestleVotes reports that changes will be coming to WWE commentary teams once SmackDown moves to Fox. "A source has said the return of the 2 man booth is coming."

Originally Posted by WrestleVotes

The plans as of now for the new announce teams include Michael Cole heading to SmackDown on FOX. I’m also told Vic Joseph is set to become the lead man on Monday Night RAW. Not set in stone, as nothing is with WWE, but this is their working idea.

Originally Posted by Fightful

At Dragon Gate Storm Gate 2019 on Sept. 11, Ultimo Dragon officially joined Dragon Gate after a teary in-ring speech alongside his disciple Masato Yoshino ...

Dragon returned to Dragon Gate on July 21 at Dragon Gate Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2019. It was a historic night as he had not wrestled for the promotion since 2004.

Dragon was with the promotion, then called Toryumon, before their falling out. Toryumon would become Dragon Gate after the two parties split ways and Dragon took the name and trademarks with him to Mexico. Toryumon was designed to give trainees of Ultimo Dragon's school their initial in-ring experience.

Originally Posted by Observer

Just as TNT will be airing a preview show of AEW before its 10/2 debut, FOX will be airing a one hour special called Smackdown's Greatest Hits on 9/27 at 8 p.m. the Friday night before the debut.

Originally Posted by PWI

In responding to a PWInsider.com inquiry about the future of New Japan and WOW on AXS TV, Ed Nordholm sent the following statement:

“Anthem has been public that it has not made any decisions regarding current programming. We have been long-time broadcast partners with TV Asahi for NJPW at Fight Network and hope to build on that relationship. We are in the middle of a season with WOW and about to tape another series of episodes next week, so no reason to make any decisions there in the short term. We’re looking forward to getting to know them better.”

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The deal actually first started with an attempt by Anthem to get Impact on AXS when they got word in the latter stages of 2018 that they weren’t going to be renewed by Pop TV. AXS turned down the initial deal, since Impact did not have a good reputation in the wrestling world at the time and AXS had its own wrestling franchise with New Japan. We first heard in December that talks were serious about Anthem buying AXS. Those in the industry have noted to us that with cord cutting and the emergence of alternative viewing options, there are more sellers than buyers when it comes to cable TV channels these days. While negotiations went slower than hoped for, they were completed with the idea Mark Cuban saw it as a good time to exit the genre, although he does retain an ownership percentage.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

AXS had slightly more than 100 employees before the cuts and the number of those employees left is expected, depending on different info, range between 20 and 60. Most were let go immediately upon the word of Cuban selling with no options for people trying to negotiate deals to stay. The Wrap reported that the cuts were heaviest among those working on the fight shows, MMA and pro wrestling, as well as virtually the entire Dallas office, most of the Denver office and many in the Los Angeles office. New Japan was produced weekly out of the Los Angeles office or the Denver office. Although Swift was in the bloodletting, Bob Gold, a spokesperson for Anthem, told The Warp that almost all the senior executives will be kept, although a lot of hints have been going that may not be the case.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

With Anthem owning the station, it could lead to pressure for New Japan regarding relations with ROH, the company they are currently working with, or Impact, which has been wanting to work with New Japan for some time. New Japan has had no interest in working with Impact, even though Don Callis, the head of creative of Impact, has worked as an announcer for New Japan. New Japan and Impact have had problems stemming from the treatment of Kazuchika Okada when he was sent to Impact prior to his ascending to stardom in 2012.

The early word from Japan is that this change will have no effect on their business relationships with other promotions, but this happened very suddenly from their standpoint. A few months ago, when it appeared this deal was close, those at TNA were talking like they expected when this deal went through that it would lead to New Japan working with them. Really, because it just happened, and nobody knows the future of New Japan on the station, everything is likely going to have to be sorted out.

In that seven year period, Impact management has completely changed. Nobody from that era is even around today. New Japan’s management has changed as well, although not nearly as drastically. The problems in the past are such that New Japan has told its talent not to work for Impact. Davey Boy Smith Jr., was known and one would believe Michael Elgin also fit into the category of those who were told not to work for Impact. Both have since quit New Japan, although Smith never made a deal with Impact, instead signing with MLW.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The update on the [AAA] 9/15 show is that nothing from Impact has been announced and that Impact did, in fact, keep Killer Kross off the show. Hugo Savinovich and Matt Striker will be announcing the show. It will also air on iPPV through FITE TV, but not in Mexico, where it’s not airing live because it’ll be on TV Azteca shortly. There are some Impact wrestlers who will be added to the show since Impact is helping promote it, but maybe only a few names besides Blanchard, Taya and Cage.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There was some complaining regarding the taping the Brian Cage wedding angle. It was an early morning shoot. Nobody had breakfast and they taped more than three hours with no water, coffee or food. People were more joking than complaining as it went on, about not having food and water. Ethan Page said something about how it would be nice to have something to drink, and Jimmy Jacobs, who is a producer, snapped in front of everyone and cut a promo about guys complaining and that if they didn’t like it they didn’t need to be there, but then stopped himself and realized he wasn’t coming off well and tried to walk it back

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

As far as business goes, the PPV, updated, is going to fall a little under what Double or Nothing did. What’s notable is the U.S. was down overall and somewhat significantly, while the U.K. was up, and outside the U.S./U.K. was down. Internally because the decline wasn’t big, they are blaming it on losing the Omega vs. Moxley match which was considered going in as the money match on the show ...

I think college football opening weekend hurt a little as well, but that will be the case every year since the plan is Labor Day Saturday from the Sears Center as tradition. Things changed since last week. U.S. cable & satellite was down, as of those reported by 9/9, it was at about 28,700 ...

B/R Live looks to end up even with DON, not up as early numbers looked, so that’s around 37,000. FITE, which handled the streaming internationally, ended up being up due to the U.K. Outside the U.K. it was down, but we’re told the final number is looking less than 20,000. ITV Box Office, which is U.K. television, was also up, so that’s over 15,000. We were told it was a lot easier to purchase this show through ITV Box Office, as it was push a button as opposed to going through steps. So we’re looking at in the range of 101,000, although I’ve been given indications the total number may end up shy of that.

Double or Nothing was around 109,000 to 111,000. If you compare it to All In, and throw out the ITV number since that’s not a fair comparison with those added in for this show, it’s up 40 percent year-to-year and most companies use year-to-year comparisons for shows. As for why it would be up in the U.K. and down the rest of the world, it’s been theorized that Double of Nothing may have been hurt by being on a holiday weekend or that the increase may be because of Pac being in a prominent position on the show, whereas DON had nobody prominent from the U.K. on it. I don’t sense Pac being strong enough, but in Japan, they’ve credited the strong performance the last few months of NJPW World in the U.K. to Will Ospreay.

It may also be the U.S. was only down due to first week of college football, but the drop in cable/sat was far more than one would think. It’s probably that there was more must-see for the first show of the new promotion, and the DON numbers were so much higher than expected, and like everything, now things are coming back to reality levels. The long run, there is still the question of if the WWE Network and its pricing putting the $9.99 value on WrestleMania and Rumble will make it hard to get people to spend $50 on quarterly PPV shows

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Right now the plan is for the next television show on TNT to be a preview show for the Washington, DC opener, which would air on 10/1. That hasn’t been announced but has been scheduled for some time, with the idea of running at 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday that Smackdown isn’t on. Tuesday Night Dynamite, which AEW trademarked, was obviously based on the idea of starting in the current Smackdown time slot the first week the show moves to Friday, but that didn’t work for TNT due to NBA commitments

Originally Posted by Observer Newletter

Cody came under fire from Outsports regarding the “puto” chant he was involved with at TripleMania. It wouldn’t have been an issue most likely except AEW put it on this past week’s Road To show. Puto is a derogatory chant that has been part of Mexican and Mexican American sports forever. That doesn’t make it right. Technically it means male prostitute, but at times it has been used as a gay slur. After their TripleMania match, Psycho Clown led the crown in chanting that at their opponents, as he does all the time. It’s considered part of AAA. That’s not a defense of it now because it used to be common at sports events like soccer in Mexico and I’ve heard that chant for decades in the U.S. at Mexican sports. But it’s a different time. Soccer has cracked down heavily on it so it is changing in that culture.

In Mexico, there has been no heat on AAA and it being chanted at wrestling is not an issue, and Psycho is probably the most popular of the current generation wrestlers in Mexico. After Psycho did it, Cain Velasquez joined in, as did Cody. It’s highly unlikely Cody even realized what it was he was doing. Velasquez would have known, being Hispanic and I’d say just living in San Jose you would know, but it’s also part of Mexican wrestling. AEW responded to the article saying, “Cody joined his teammates at AAA TripleMania for what he understood to be their post-match tradition in Mexico and was unaware of any negative connotations. Certainly the last thing Cody would want to do is hurt of offend anyone, anywhere.” At All Out, and this was prior to this being a controversy, Pentagon Jr. said the word during the ladder match. I’d be pretty much certain AEW from this point would ban that word and that the wrestlers won’t join in fans chants when they perform in AA

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Both WWE and AEW, and perhaps even MMA groups may have to reclassify their performers when they come to California in legislation that, if it passes there, may lead to other states following suit. Assembly Bill 5 was passed on 9/10 in the California State Senate, that is expected to pass through the State Assembly, and Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign it and put it into law on 1/1, redefining the employee vs. independent contractor law. The bill states that workers must be designated as employees, as opposed to independent contractors, if the company they work for exerts control over how they perform their tasks or if their work is part of the company’s regular daily business.

Pro wrestling likely fits into the former, but there is no arguing it fits into the latter, which would make wrestlers employees if they perform in California. Labor Groups are pushing for similar legislation in New York, and other states would be expected to follow. Because live touring is less important, it is not inconceivable that WWE and/or AEW would simply avoid running in California to avoid the law, but if New York and other states follow suit, that becomes far more difficult

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Even though there is a dispute given Ric Flair filed a trademark on “The Man,” since WWE has used the phrase for Lynch, Flair is still booked for the 10/4 first FOX show in Los Angeles. Flair’s contention is that he trademarked “To Be the Man,” so feels that’s part of it. WWE contends differently. In a funny story, Undertaker was on ESPN, and whether he knows about this or not, when on, talked about how Ric Flair is “The man.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The Jericho belt story brings up similar stolen belt stories with Bruno Sammartino (WWWF) and Verne Gagne (AWA). Sammartino’s WWWF title belt was stolen after the September 27, 1965, match with Tarzan Tyler at Madison Square Garden. He had put the belt in a locked car as he, Arnold Skaaland and a few others went out for dinner after the show. The car was broken into. It got local TV coverage the next morning and local newspaper coverage. They brought it up on television and Sammartino was given a new belt. I don’t completely recall the Gagne story, but my best memory was that it was stolen at the arena in Decatur, IL, around 1976

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

This past week was the ROH Global Wars tour, using CMLL talent instead of New Japan, and it’s quite clear the interest in CMLL doesn’t touch that of New Japan. The 9/6 show in Dearborn, MI, drew 600, while 9/7 in Villa Park, IL (Chicago area) and 9/8 in Milwaukee both drew 500 fans.

Originally Posted by Observer

John Cena is officially part of the cast for the next Suicide Squad movie.

The cast of the film was revealed via a tweet from director and writer James Gunn today, with Gunn writing "Don’t get too attached." The movie is called "The Suicide Squad" and is scheduled to be released on August 6, 2021.

Originally Posted by Observer

NJPW has announced the first set of names for their New Japan Showdown tour in California.

There will be two New Japan Showdown events on the tour. New Japan Showdown in San Jose will take place at the San Jose Civic on Saturday, November 9, while the Globe Theatre will host New Japan Showdown in Los Angeles on Monday, November 11 ...

Here are the wrestlers that have been confirmed for the New Japan Showdown events:
Kota Ibushi
Jushin Thunder Liger (San Jose only)
Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada (San Jose only)
Will Ospreay (San Jose only)
Tetsuya Naito
EVIL
SANADA
Jay White
Chase Owens
Minoru Suzuki
Lance Archer

Originally Posted by PWI

It looks as though WWE is running a few tests when it comes to video-on-demand content on the WWE Network. According to the WWE Network Updates Facebook Page, showed that content listed under animation was uploaded to the server as a test one being listed as VOD What this really was is there using this week's episode of 205 Live to seemingly try to get a better recording live that will automatically be perfect for VOD. Meaning not have any excess content or advertisements on either side.

Originally Posted by PWI

Q - Has there been any talk of AEW running anywhere but the East Coast? We like wrestling out here in Minnesota, too!

A - Thus far, the bulk of the shows announced are in the East Coast but they just announced Nashville and I am told there will be a Mid-West city announced soon for TV.

Originally Posted by PWI

Impact executives will be in attendance at the AAA Invades NY PPV this Sunday and the WOW TV tapings next week in Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by PWI

Killer Kross is not featured on a photo of the Impact Wrestling roster used to promote the move to AXS TV.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

With 48-hours until the AAA/Impact Wrestling “Invading New York” card at the Hulu Theatre, it is hard not to view this show as a missed opportunity by the promotion and running a major market in the United States. There are currently four matches advertised and minimal buzz for the show that will be airing on traditional and streaming pay-per-view. In Canada, Rogers is carrying the pay-per-view at $39.99 and Fite TV lists it for $14.99 (U.S). The card currently has the following listed:
*Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Blue Demon Jr.
*Rey Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs. Ortiz & Santana for the AAA tag titles
*Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Reina de Reinas championship
*Cain Velasquez, Brian Cage & Psycho Clown vs. Black Taurus, Rey Escorpion & Texano Jr.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Adult entertainment company Bang Bros stated it has submitted a $10 million bid for the naming rights for the the arena where the NBA's Miami Heat play. WWE has done shows at the venue, previously named the American Airlines Arena.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Thunder Rosa is making the transition to mixed martial arts after reportedly signing a deal with Combate Americas.

According to Marc Raimondi of ESPN, the promotion signed Thunder Rosa, whose real name is Melissa Cervantes, to a multi-fight deal and could make her debut on November 8 at a card in San Antonio, Texas. Squared Circle Sirens first reported that Cervantes could potentially sign with Combate Americas. She would go on and confirm the news on social media added that her weight class in MMA is yet to be determined.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Casey Michael at Squared Circle Sirens reports that Indi Hartwell has signed a developmental deal with WWE. She will reportedly report to the WWE Performance Center next month.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports Japanese wrestling legend Genichiro Tenryu recently suffered a stroke, and as a result of that stroke, also suffered a cerebellar infarction that caused him to lose motor skills and balance.

Originally Posted by Lucha Blog

Planeta Wrestling reports that the WWE/CMLL meetings were concerning WWE seeking to acquire CMLL's tape library, looking for additional latinx content for their upcoming premium tier.

Originally Posted by Slik (Post 5285178)

Undertaker rumored to cost Fiend the match at HIAC as revenge for Kane...feel like Fiend getting pinned by Seth sould be a really bad idea....rumored Fiend vs Taker at Survivor Series...

Originally Posted by Observer

After doing one of the worst numbers in the show's history last week, Raw rebounded with a seven percent increase to 2.27 million viewers for its three hour average last night ...

Raw was down 14 percent from the same week last year and was 10th place overall on cable for the night ...

Raw had the usual pattern with a third hour drop, but the decline was nowhere close to record levels ...

The three hours for Raw were:

8 p.m. 2.42 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.32 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.08 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Both NJPW and WOW are pre-empted next Saturday on AXS. This was planned before the sale so don't read this into a decision having been made. Not to say that getting rid of many involved with putting together both shows can be seen as a positive either.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE has said that they expect to make an announcement very soon, perhaps tomorrow, regarding Starrcade, which is expected to be a WWE Network special. We were independently given an 11/30 date for the show, and WWE's current schedule lists Atlanta for that day, but WWE only confirmed the imminent announcement of Starrcade.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Taz said on Twitter that he's talked to promotions about doing commentary work, but has not found the right fit.

Originally Posted by PWI

Jerry Lawler is becoming more active with his official YouTube channel, including episodes of his Classic Memphis Wrestling TV. If you've never had a chance to see Memphis, you have truly missed out on some of the best, most entertaining stuff of all time.

Originally Posted by Observer

The main event of MLW's first-ever pay-per-view will be a no disqualification match.

It was announced today that Jacob Fatu and LA Park's MLW World Heavyweight Championship match at Saturday Night SuperFight will have a no DQ stipulation. The PPV is taking place at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on November 2.

In storyline, Park is cashing in his golden ticket to challenge for Fatu's World Heavyweight title at the PPV. Park got the golden ticket by winning this year's Battle Riot match.

Originally Posted by PWI

In a correction from earlier today, Vince McMahon is not at tonight's Smackdown taping in Atlanta, GA.

McMahon went through plans for the show several times over the course of the day via telephone during production meetings, but is not physically present at the taping ...

PWInsider.com is told that Bruce Prichard, Michael Hayes, Ed Koskey and Eric Bischoff are running tonight's TV taping.

We are told Paul Heyman, who heads the Raw side of things, is not at the taping.

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats

Ric & Charlotte Flair are scheduled for WWE appearances while SmackDown is in Atlanta today, but with Ric’s contract up at the end of the year (according to Wrestling Observer), the fight over “The Man” trademark, and his booking on Chris Jericho’s Jan. 2020 cruise, there’s talk he might not re-sign.

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats

As Luke Harper was at Clash of Champions, Pro Wrestling Sheet’s sources told them Rusev was hidden backstage all day and during Raw to keep his return a surprise. WrestleVotes tweeted earlier one element of the show was being kept a secret on the production rundown, and it was his part in the Kanellis angle.

Originally Posted by PWI

ECW Press will release an official biography on WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant in April 2020.

The book, titled, The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant will be written by Pat Laprade and Bertrand Hebert, who have done several excellent books on pro wrestling together. Laprade was also one of the producers on HBO's Andre the Giant documentary.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

NOAH is going to run cards at Korakuen Hall on January 4th and 5th on the same days of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome cards next year.

Lenny Leonard, who is one of the best commentators in the industry is going to Japan in November to call the next major Dragon Gate card. Leonard and Larry Dallas will be calling the Gate of Destiny card on November 4th in Osaka.

Originally Posted by Fightful

It looks like Jeff Hardy won't be going anywhere for a while.

Fightful Select learned this weekend that the former WWE, World Heavyweight, TNA Champion Jeff Hardy has already had his WWE contract extended for "at least" another year due to injury.

Earlier this year, WWE opted to roll over Matt and Jeff Hardy's contracts for another year into 2020. However, we're told that this decision to add time to Jeff's contract came after that.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On the latest episode of Road To AEW on TNT, All Elite Wrestling revealed the bracket for the Tag Team Title tournament. The tournament will consist of seven teams and begin on Oct. 9 in Boston.

On one side of the bracket, The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) will face Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) on the Oct. 9 episode of AEW on TNT. The bottom half of the bracket features The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr & Fenix) against A Boy And His Dinosaur (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus), who were voted into the tournament by the fans. That match takes place on the Oct. 16 episode of AEW on TNT.

The other side of the bracket features two members of SCU (Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky & Kazarian) against The Best Friends (Chuckie T & Beretta). That match also takes place on Oct. 16. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) received a first-round bye in the tournament as a result of winning mini-tournament, defeating The Best Friends in the finals at AEW All Out.

The semifinals will take place on Oct. 23 while the finals of the tournament are set for the Oct. 30 episode of AEW on TNT.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 9/10 edition of Smackdown Live brought in 2,064,000 overnight viewers up from last week's 2,061,000 overnight viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI

The season one finale episode of the USA Network's Straight Up Steve Austin brought in 848,000 overnight viewers.

The average audience for the season was 990,000.

Originally Posted by Observer

After returning on SmackDown last night, Brock Lesnar is being advertised for another WWE appearance this month.

The Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona announced today that Lesnar will appear on the Monday, September 30 episode of Raw at the venue. It's being advertised as the "season premiere" of the show, with that being the first week of WWE's new TV schedule. SmackDown's FOX debut is taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Friday, October 4

Originally Posted by Fightful

Furthermore, Wrestling INC reports that Lesnar is being advertised for the Nov. 15 episode of SmackDown, which emanates from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Originally Posted by Observer

NJPW’s English-language website interviewed Jon Moxley. Moxley said he plans to be at Wrestle Kingdom 14: “100% I plan to be at the Tokyo Dome. I don’t know who I’ll be facing, whether I’m still US Champion. But I’ve been in Wrestlemania, in the G1, and this is the next step. Anyone who’s anyone in Japan has competed in the Tokyo Dome, so I absolutely plan on being there.”

Originally Posted by PWI

A number of readers have sent words their cable guides are listing the series title for All Elite Wrestling's TNT series as "All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite."

Eric sent word that on Tuesday 10/1, TNT has a two-hour special listed titled "Countdown to All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite" airing from 8 -10 PM Eastern.

Originally Posted by PWI

Matt Bloom commented on tonight's big NXT broadcast:

It took a lot of hard work from a lot of hard working, talented people to get to this point. The hard work doesn’t stop and there’s a lot of hard working, talented people ready to give their all. We are ready for tonight. We. Are. NXT. #NXTonUSA pic.twitter.com/m5FxgQwlks
— Matt Bloom (@NXTMattBloom) September 18, 2019

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE have applied to trademark "Follow That My Friend" and "FTMF" as a name for a show as well as for merchandise use.

The trademark is a reference to a statement Triple H made after the NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff event.

WWE has already released a NXT t-shirt using the term.

Originally Posted by PWI

The former Hijo del Fantasma is posting NXT graphics pushing tonight's debut with his real name, Jorge Bolly, so it appears that (for now at least), that will be his NXT ring name.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ed Nordholm and Scott D'Amore were at last night's WOW, Women of Wrestling TV taping in Hollywood. Nordholm was seen in the crowd while D'Amore was in the production truck. There will be another WOW taping tonight at the Belasco Theater.

It was announced yesterday that Anthem Sports & Entertainment has hired Randy Brown as Senior Vice President of Distribution and Peter Cohen at Senior Vice President, Programming Strategy & Content Development. Both had been working as strategic advisors for the company. Brown had previously worked with ESPN, among other companies. Cohen has worked for HBO, MTV and Much Music in the past.

For those who have asked why Impact didn't immediately shift over to AXS TV, we are told that they are finishing commitments to the Pursuit Channel. AXS TV's social media is already heavily pushing Impact's forthcoming debut.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Arn Anderson podcast tweeted the following heralding the arrival of the first episode this Tuesday, as well as a new shirt

Less than a week away from the premier The Arn Show. The excitement is building. Arrive. Spinebuster. Leave. Get your shirt now. https://t.co/UNUtRx0JwN pic.twitter.com/N2FS3tj318
— Arn Anderson (@TheArnShow) September 18, 2019

Originally Posted by Fightful

Although NXT got its Wednesday television show up and running before AEW, that hasn't stopped AEW from making its presence known, even in the middle of NXT programming.

In the middle of NXT's debut show on the USA Network, a commercial for AEW aired after the fatal four-way match involving Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair and Mia Yim. LeRae won the match to become the No. 1 contender to the NXT Women's Championship.

Fightful has learned of people seeing that ad on multiple television providers with Optimum and Verizon Fios being among those listed. The commercial wasn't aired nationally, but it did air locally in markets such as New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Detroit, Tampa and more.

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect (Post 5285719)

I don’t like “Follow That My Friend” for a TV show.

Originally Posted by Observer

The much-hyped live debut of NXT on USA Network averaged 1.179 million viewers last night.

That's almost 40 percent higher than when an NXT episode aired on USA during WWE Holiday Week in December 2017, although that was a taped show that aired out of prime time and was also simulcast on the WWE Network ...

NXT did not finish inside the top 20 in terms of total cable TV viewers but did land fourth in the 18-49 demo with a 0.43 rating. The season premiere of American Horror Story did a monster 1.00 rating in the demo and 2.126 million viewers.

Suits, which immediately followed NXT on USA, averaged 955,000 viewers for its penultimate episode. Last week’s Suits did a virtually identical 965,000 viewers, so the strong NXT lead-in appears to have had no effect, but it does give an indication of what kind of numbers USA Network might be expecting from programming in that time slot.

Originally Posted by Observer

The last time WWE had a third television brand, ECW, it started with more than three million viewers and the number fell quickly.

In presentation, there were some similarities to ECW, trying to present itself using terms like unapologetic. There was a wild brawl at the end of the second hour. But they pushed the wrestling and refrained from breaking tables. It was very organized and it was not about a blow out show, but more about building, with some stuff for next week and even more for the week after, when it goes head-to-head with AEW’s debut.

Originally Posted by Observer

Paramount Animation and WWE Studios are partnering together for a project that includes roles for Becky Lynch and Roman Reigns.

It was announced today that Paramount Animation and WWE Studios will co-produce an animated film called "Rumble." The film "is set in a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes. Winnie seeks to follow in her father’s footsteps by coaching a lovable underdog monster into a wrestling champion." ...

"Rumble" is expected to be released in the summer of 2020. It's being directed by Hamish Grieve. WWE Studios' Susan Levison and Richard Lowell are executive producers on the film.

Originally Posted by PWI

Lio Rush officially returned to WWE NXT tonight. Returning to WWE NXT has been the plan for Rush since last April/May when he was pulled from the main roster. Rush defeated Oney Lorcan to become the top contender for the Cruiserweight Championship, so we'll be seeing a lot more of him soon.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke with the media following the 9/18/19 edition of NXT on the USA and WWE Networks. Here are a few notes from the media call:
* Triple H expressed to the NXT roster that it would be difficult to top what they did on the debut show.
* One major concern was the pacing of the show due to commercials. Triple H feels that things were handled well.
* He stated that last night’s episode was about character building being presented in a different manner than usual but a matches-only format won’t always be on the schedule.
* In regards to Lio Rush’s return, that has been in the works for quite some time and he praised Rush and Oney Lorcan for their performance[s].
* Vince McMahon kept in contact with Triple H throughout the day and was seemingly excited. Triple H received a congratulatory text from Vince after the show and added that Vince embraces the uniqueness of NXT.
* Triple H stated that Tommaso Ciampa is close to being cleared to return.
* Triple H expressed that there is no wiggle room on the USA Network as they have hard outs that NXT would not have on the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Former WWE star Marc Copani, better known by most as Muhammad Hassan was profiled by Syracuse.com. Copani is currently the principal at Fulton Junior High School in New York. Copani shared that he was heartbroken by how quickly his WWE career came to an end because he gave his all to the company:

“I was heartbroken,” he said. “I put everything I had into the WWE and had it all taken away from me. I just withdrew from wrestling altogether.”

Marc returned to in-ring competition in 2018 for ‘The Dynasty’ promotion. He wrestled on three separate occasions for said promotion but told Syracuse.com that he is never wrestling again because he does not enjoy it the way that he used to.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

NXT debuted on the USA Network on 9/18 as the third straight night of pro wrestling that week on the station. The first show consisted of two dark matches, a one-hour show on USA followed by another 51 minutes on the WWE Network. You got a lot of hard work, an emphasis on in-ring and building matches for the future. There was less time for interviews, and much higher quality of wrestling than on Raw or Smackdown. Indeed, if it wasn’t a WWE product, the push of no B.S., had any other company said it, would be taken as a knock on the WWE main brands themselves ...

The negative is that of those on the first show, few had ever been on any sort of major television before.

Mia Yim was in Impact, using the name Jade, but very few new viewers would know her. Cameron Grimes was in Impact as Trevor Lee, but that was long after Impact left Spike. Roderick Strong spent years in ROH, as did Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. There was no attempt to educate people on who these people were, or bring up to speed who were the champions and what were the programs. Considering this show was there to reach a new audience, the assumption that everyone knew was a mistake. That was a clear weakness. But if they did that they’d have to cut back on the ring time.

At some points, notably some of the backstage stuff, it did feel low rent. The 400-seat arena came across like you’d think, but the crowd was very hot for the first hour, and quite normal for the second. Of course this crowd understands the game and their role and they were there to do their part. Whether it can last for two hours is a question, as those there said it was almost like a switch went off after the first hour ended. They knew the stakes weren’t as high on USA and the reactions were toned down. But for the first hour, the crowd was said to be as up as it has been since the first night of the first Mae Young Classic. The show sold out the 400 seats at Full Sail, and it’s likely every show will do that for at least the next few months. With all the talk of Twitter trending, the real stat that correlates with public interest, the Google searches, saw it not crack the top 20, where No. 20 was 50,000, meaning it fell well below that. By contrast, Clash of Champions had 200,000.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The next PPV, Hell in a Cell, only has a three week television build, taking place on 10/6 in Sacramento. The show is not selling well. At this point only six of the 22 upper deck sections are on sale and even three lower deck sections on the side of the hard camera aren’t for sale, and Sacramento has always been an historically strong WWE market . There were 781 secondary market tickets out with an entry price of $43.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Anthem’s purchase of AXS TV last week, which led to a number of major executives being let go, has led to more changes. As expected, Impact Wrestling was announced as starting on the station in October, right after the 10/20 Bound for Glory event. No day or time slot has been announced. One of the reasons Impact had taken a 10 p.m. Friday night slot earlier this year was the idea that when Smackdown went to FOX and ended at 10 p.m., they’d have an audience of a few million fans already watching TV. Given Anthem’s ownership of the station and the company, they will get what Anthem feels is the best time slot and I’d think Tuesday or Thursday would be better ...

Nothing has been said regarding New Japan or WOW. Some will jump to conclusions because on 9/21, neither show will air, but that was a planned preemption before the sale. Still, when Ed Nordholm made the comment to the Observer last week, it hardly sounded like a vote of confidence for either show. WOW was and still is scheduled to tape 12 weeks of television this week in Los Angeles at the Belasco Theater.

There are already ads on AXS touting Impact coming to the station, in October, debuting after Bound for Glory, calling it a redemption. They ran them all through the New Japan show on 9/14.

When the sale of the station story started being known, there were those in Impact who felt that the sale would lead to a New Japan/Impact relationship, even though those in New Japan, with no knowledge of what was going to happen, were said to be loyal to ROH. Still, New Japan running ROH arenas in the Northeast on their own, with a far greater ticket demand than ROH has, on the same weekend ROH is having a PPV with no New Japan talent, says something. New Japan, for the first time in years, was not part of the War of the Worlds tour, and ROH talent, since Jeff Cobb appeared for G-1, has not been on New Japan shows either in Japan or the U.S. It was notable that there was no ROH talent in the Super J Cup, nor advertised for the next California shows.

At this point there is some relationship with Pro Wrestling NOAH and Impact, with Naomichi Marufuji at Bound for Glory and Rhino at NOAH’s major show on 9/16 in Osaka. NOAH has also worked with MLW.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

After years of talk about AAA coming to Madison Square Garden, it didn’t exactly happen, but Invading New York did take place on 9/15 at the Hulu Theater in the MSG complex ...

The PPV numbers were so low you wouldn’t believe them. In more than one market with a high percentage of Hispanics, there were 0 buys, as in not a low number, but zero. Based on actual numbers we have, it would indicate less than 60 buys nationwide and even that may be high because the early market actuals included heavy Hispanic markets. There must have been some iPPV numbers, but our response level was very low.

They had a great walk-up and were nearly sold out, with 3,000 fans. It was a mostly Mexican fan base, as opposed to Puerto Rican, since the New York-based Puerto Rican combo of LAX (without Konnan, who never appeared on the show) were not the crowd favorites when challenging Pentagon Jr.& Fenix for the AAA tag titles ...

Between visa problems and injuries, there were 18 wrestlers and referees that were listed as appearing in original announcements who weren’t there. La Parka, in particular was a part of all the advertising and was never mentioned. In all, 20 visas didn’t come through by the time of the show, even though they were applied for months ago. All 20 were expected to come in this week, and those wrestlers will be available for Los Angeles.

Every performer on the show already was a regular worker in the U.S., whether getting visas years ago through Lucha Underground or other prior U.S. work, or not being Mexican. The only exception was Dave the Clown, and odds are he must have had a visa going in given he was the only exception to that rule. Others who at one point were scheduled on the show were Amazing Red, Dezmond Xavier and Homicide.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Some notes from the Bushiroad annual financial report. New Japan grossed $50 million during the period from August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019, which would be the biggest year in its history. It was up 10.8 percent from last year. New Japan drew 436,000 paid for live attendance during the year, which makes the sixth year in a row live attendance has increased. Profits for New Japan were down from last year. Actual profits were not listed, but there was a category Bushiroad reported for sports companies, which means New Japan and their other sports company, Kixroad, their kickboxing company. In that category, which is dominated by New Japan, profits dropped from $7 million to $5.6 million. The difference, with revenue up, is that the company made more investments in visual content (all the videos) and in expansion into international markets (U.S., Australia and U.K. in particular) ...

House show revenue for New Japan was up 12.8 percent from the previous fiscal year. They actually ran fewer live events, but because they ran more shows in larger buildings, the total attendance was up with less events. Also, New Japan’s overseas merchandise revenue was way down, which is due to the loss of the big U.S. merch movers after January. They did about $25 million in ticket sales (average ticket price at $57.33 per head), $15 million in merchandise and $10 million in content, which would be basically New Japan World and television.

The only mention of New Japan World listed the number as above 100,000. If we go with that number as the average for the year and about $8.33 per sub monthly, you get to the $10 million mark, but that’s split with TV-Asahi, the co-owners. So it looks like $5 million from World and $5 million from television. That’s the difference between the Japanese and American markets, as in the U.S., television (and some streaming services) will pay big money for rights fees of pro wrestling. New Japan is not strong enough in the U.S. to do so, and in Japan, paying big for pro wrestling doesn’t exist because their television is so different. The strength of the business is merchandise, with LIJ and Bullet Club leading the way. The business plan for this coming year is to grow attendance by running more larger arena shows, which, in turn, will continue the growth of merchandise. New Japan does, when it comes to per-head at events, roughly double the merchandise sales as WWE.

Long-term, the goal is to follow the lead of WWE and UFC in growing the content business ... The plan to grow the content business is running more live events in the U.S., and making New Japan World more user-friendly for those speaking English.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Session Moth Martina, who signed here last week, also had a WWE offer. There are ups and downs. The ROH deal allows her to work her indies in Japan and the U.K. without any restrictions, past the dates ROH runs shows. There’s also a lot quicker ascension to the spotlight in ROH that in NXT due to the difference in roster size. WWE has its obvious advantages, notably more talented women overall and a bigger spotlight and money for those who break out of the pack, but it’s also much harder to do so.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There is nothing new regarding Kacy Catanzaro. From what we’ve been told, she hasn’t been around the Performance Center of late and she’s on a leave. There is no definitive word of whether she will come back and wrestle again or not. She’s just in a situation of deciding what she wants to do

Originally Posted by Observer Newlstter

WrestleNomics noted some things about roster growth. In 2014, WWE had 90 wrestlers on the main roster and 59 in training. Now they have 129 wrestlers listed on the main roster and 136 in training. So for the first time they have more wrestlers on the roster than WCW did at its most bloated

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Maria Kanellis angle back on Raw this week, the eventual plan is to reveal who the father is and build to that as a mystery for a ratings boost. Rusev is not the answer. It was described that this will be more a running joke than an angle building to a major reveal

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH has announced appearances by "Speedball" Mike Bailey and Aussie Open for next month's United Kingdom tour.

Bailey will make his ROH debut in a match against Bandido at ROH's Honor United show in Bolton, England on Sunday, October 27. That event will also feature Jeff Cobb challenging either Matt Taven or Rush for the ROH World Championship. Taven is defending his World title against Rush at Death Before Dishonor on September 27 ...

Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) will face Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) at ROH's Honor United show in London, England on Friday, October 25.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Big Lead reported that the current plan is for WWE’s weekly studio show on FS1 to premiere on Tuesday, November 5. The show will be hosted by Renee Young and the working title is "WWE Backstage." The Big Lead wrote that: “Who will be joining [Young] is not yet decided. Several names are being discussed including, but not limited to, Booker T, Edge, Christian, and Paige.”

Originally Posted by Observer

The Young Bucks told TalkSport’s Alex McCarthy that AEW’s United Kingdom TV deal is still in negotiations. When asked if the deal would be done before the AEW Dynamite premiere, Nick Jackson said: “I don't want to say yes and then it's not."

Originally Posted by Observer

Team Pump (Scott Steiner, Jordynne Grace & Petey Williams) vs. Team MDK (Nick Gage, Kris Statlander & Thomas Santell) is the first match announced for the opening round of CHIKARA’s King of Trios 2019. The tournament is taking place from October 4-6.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE applied to trademark "WWE's The Bump" for a show title on 9/16. The filing was for good and services, specifically, "A show about professional wrestling; the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live and through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing wrestling news and information through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing information in the fields of professional wrestling through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing a website in the field of professional wrestling."

WWE also applied to trademark Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Riddick Moss, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel over the last week.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The big test is October 2nd and what the percentage of the audience watching this past Wednesday is going to stay or sample the new alternative ...

October 2nd needs to be a major show and WWE has the tricky predicament of promoting NXT, SmackDown’s launch on Fox, and to a lesser extent the pay-per-view that same week. This week’s audience would back the theory that there was a strong word of mouth and awareness of the show with an adequate promotion on Raw and SmackDown that didn’t include an over-the-top hammering of the premiere.

The numbers that come out on October 3rd for NXT and AEW will be dissected and decoded from all angles, but one question it should answer is a crossover. Has AEW created its own fanbase or will there be a siphoning of the NXT audience on week one? If AEW and NXT both put up shows that attract 900,000 to one million apiece, it tells me there was a large audience not being served that have returned or been created by AEW. If NXT has a drop of 30-40% from their first two weeks, that would indicate AEW having the curiosity appeal and taking a healthy amount from the NXT audience. Realistically, this cannot be examined like our calendars are set to 1999 and I expect a strong amount to be watching both shows weekly and if this drives people to the WWE Network or B/R Live then it’s still a win for each side. A lot will be made of the viewership figures, and they are an important metric for the long-term but the best option for everyone is healthy audiences for both sides and that is my expectation.

The trap is whether either side will feel the pressure to hotshot matches and storylines in hopes of winning the week versus the long-term objective. WCW was caught in this trap in 1998 and beyond where winning the week superseded everything else ...

My last thought on this week’s show, and it hit me almost immediately Wednesday night, is how badly this is needed for the wrestling industry. The fact is, the industry has needed this level of competition and interest since 2001 but no company was ready. As much promise as Impact had in 2010 when they moved to Monday nights, they were not ready for that spot and could not sustain. In AEW’s short existence, it has passed the tests given from selling tickets, hitting remarkable pay-per-view figures without television, and seem poised for a long-term strategy that is distinctly different from WWE, which is key to the public’s interest. By December, if we are looking at consistent audiences of 1.8-2 million viewers watching the shows combined, I take that as a solid win for each and finally represent the tent expanding of professional wrestling fans.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The Wrap’s Tony Maglio and Jennifer Maas reported that Friday Night SmackDown on Fox will be airing on tape delay for viewers on the west coast. The live airing at 8 pm will allow for live viewership for those in the eastern and central time zones along with those on DirecTV. The mountain time viewers will either get the show at 6 or 9 pm dependent on their cable affiliate. The Wrap added that the show will stream live on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app live at 8 pm Eastern across the country and remain on the app for 30-days. The strategy is inherently to appeal to viewers on the west coast where treating SmackDown as a live sporting event would mean airing at 5 pm Pacific, which is a much weaker timeslot than prime time even on tape delay.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Speaking to Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT, The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) gave their thoughts on NXT's debut show on Wednesday ...

Matt added, "I'm rooting for them, I want them to have a good show. Ours is just going to be better."

The Wednesday Night War will not only take place in the ring and through the ratings, but in the media as well. We've already seen various NXT and AEW superstars comment on the upcoming war with most championing their product above all. Triple H recently stated that he wouldn't trade anyone on the NXT roster for anyone else.

The Bucks found those comments funny given WWE's courting of The Elite when they were free agents at the end of 2018.

"It just made me laugh. C'mon... we know you wanted us," said Nick.

Matt noted, "A year ago you were trying to get us all [The Elite]! Don't act like there was no interest and you wouldn't trade for us because I know for a fact you would."

Originally Posted by Fightful

Former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann recently took to Twitter to voice his displeasure about Braun Strowman of hearing during a baseball game on Fox Sports to promote WWE SmackDown moving to the Fox Network.

This, of course, led to a response by The Monster Among Men himself who is simply played it off as though Keith could not believe how good he looked in the clip.

However, Weatherman Kevin Lighty stepped up to the plate to voice his displeasure, and Braun shut him down quick.

This led to a flurry of responses from many in the industry including Mark Henry, Sean Waltman, Corey Graves, and The Blue Meanie.

Originally Posted by Deadspin

In an interview that he gave to The Sporting News earlier this month, Kross explained that “the issues began last year regarding merchandising,” though he’s “been advised not to go into the full detail of the issues.” According to two sources familiar with the situation who spoke to Deadspin, the merchandising issues are that Impact talent just haven’t been sent merchandise royalty statements, much less royalty payments themselves, since last year. (Kross also said in the Sporting News interview that he “was attempting to retrieve something that was supposed to be given to me.”)

The reasons for this are unclear, with possible explanations including staff changes and embarrassment. (To that latter point, Joe Lanza of Voices of Wrestling revealed on a recent edition of their flagship podcast that traffic data he saw for Impact’s website, the home of their merchandise business, showed embarrassingly low numbers.) Since quarterly royalty accounting statements is guaranteed contractually for all Impact wrestlers, not sending them would be a breach; it’s one that it appears only Kross has responded to, and which Impact won’t recognize because it could turn the entire roster into effective free agents.

Originally Posted by PWI

Mickie James worked as a commentator for this week's edition of Main Event. We had heard last week there had been talk of her working as a Producer as well.

Originally Posted by PWI

Mauury Povich tweeted the following video, playing up the current Maria Kanellis baby daddy storyline:

The door is open...@WWE @RusevBUL @MariaLKanellis @RealMikeBennett #Raw #Maury22 pic.twitter.com/RkqwsflT04
— The Maury Show (@TheMAURYShow) September 23, 2019

As PWInsider.com noted on 9/20, there was a pitch within WWE to have Povich take part in a segment on Raw regarding the Kanellis baby storyline. We'll see if it goes beyond social media videos.

Originally Posted by Observer

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced today that Amazing Red will be taking part in this year's British J-Cup. It's being held at York Hall in London, England on Sunday, November 24.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Though Kofi Kingston will have little to do with the Wednesday Night War as he is not involved with NXT, that hasn't stopped media from asking questions about the upcoming battle with AEW. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Kofi weighed in on All Elite Wrestling.

"Not for me," Kofi said when asked if AEW was on his radar. "I think it's great to have competition and it's awesome, especially Cody [Rhodes], I know him very well and he's out there doing something special and giving an opportunity to a lot of other people. Kudos to that. But for me, I'm so busy trying to do so much significant stuff trying to be the best WWE Champion that I don't really have time to watch other wrestling. But I'm all for competition. It brings out the best in everybody."

Originally Posted by Observer

TheWrap.com reported that AEW has been talking with WarnerMedia executives about a studio show in addition to the weekly Dynamite show. Executive Brett Weiss was quoted as saying, "Knowing full well that within the WarnerMedia ecosystem we have B/R Live, we’ve got all these different components at our disposal. The more content for these fans the better, and we would love to figure out what something like that looks like."

Originally Posted by Observer

Cody confirmed on Twitter that AEW Dynamite will be rated TV-14.

Originally Posted by PWI

The current plan is to provide some sort of Impact Wrestling programming on The Pursuit Channel going forward, but nothing has been confirmed in terms of those plans.

Nolan Edwards, an independent wrestler from Tenneseee, has been hired to join the company's production team ...

There's a lot of excitement about AXS TV among those in the company. They should be happy as it's the biggest thing to happen to Impact since Anthem usurped the company from Dixie Carter.

Impact will continue to stream its episodes weekly on Twitch,

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Sportsnet 360, the Canadian broadcaster for WWE programming will be picking up NXT and airing a Friday night block of wrestling content.

Beginning October 4th to coincide with Friday Night SmackDown’s move, Sportsnet 360 will carry 4 ½ hours of wrestling content beginning at 6:30 pm Eastern with the Aftermath studio show.

The studio show that is hosted by Caroline Szwed with panelists Anthony Carelli, Jimmy Korderas, and Mike “Nug” Nahrgang will serve as the lead-in for the WWE block that begins with an airing of NXT at 7 pm Eastern followed by Friday Night SmackDown at 8 pm and WWE Main Event at 10 pm.

Sportsnet 360 is only listing NXT for a one-hour slot and not the full two hours that the show has expanded to.

NXT is not available in Canada on Wednesday nights but will be available on the WWE Network for Canadian and international viewers on Thursday nights on a 24-hour delay from the USA Network airing.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Impact Wrestling confirmed its move to Tuesdays next month with the first episode of Impact airing October 29th at 8 pm Eastern ...

With the move to AXS TV, there is stability and not a pressure to hotshot or drive numbers up to keep the broadcaster happy as they are now the supply and the demand of the equation. The goals will be centered around growing their audience and monetizing the property through pay-per-view, live events, and other ancillary income. By going this route, they have chosen, they have given up the option of Impact securing television rights fees from another outlet, which has been so lucrative for WWE, UFC, and Bellator.

The success of the move to AXS TV will be hard to quantify as the network doesn’t subscribe to Nielsen and therefore, their numbers won’t be known, although the increase in visibility alone guarantees more eyes than with Pursuit ...

When you add up WWE, AEW, Impact, New Japan, Ring of Honor, and MLW’s weekly programming on U.S. television, we are now looking at fourteen hours of original programming in the United States on a weekly basis. That number greatly increases when you include all the digital offerings on a weekly basis from all the promotions out there ...

New Japan is in an interesting position with its U.S. strategy going into this weekend’s shows in the Northeast. Aside from the Guerrillas of Destiny working the Summer Supercard show in Toronto this past August, there has been little to no crossover between Ring of Honor and New Japan. On paper, it makes a lot of sense for New Japan and Impact Wrestling to be working together but it also made a ton of sense for New Japan and AEW to sort out their problems and that has not happened.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced Shota Umino and Ren Narita are leaving overseas excursions. Narita is going to Los Angeles and will train at the L.A. Dojo under Katsuyori Shibata while Umino will be going to the U.K.

Originally Posted by Fightful

WrestleVotes says he was told by a person who works for Fox that the network wants The Fiend on SmackDown. It is unknown which brand The Fiend Bray Wyatt will appear on following the draft.

Originally Posted by Fightful

WrestleVotes is reporting that WWE will change the look of Raw and SmackDown next week. The account also reports that pyro will return next week as well.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Nyla Rose apologizes.

On Sept. 22, AEW star Nyla Rose sent out a hateful tweet in reply to a user who sent a hateful tweet of their own. Rose hinted that the user may have been molested before quickly deleting the comment. Of course, being the internet, nothing truly dies. You can view the original tweet in the screenshot below. The account Rose replied to no longer appears to exist.

Rose issued an apology for her tweet, writing, "I would like to apologize for my comment yesterday. I have always tried to take the high road and rise above/ignore the hateful/hurtful insults I receive daily. Unfortunately, I let some hateful comments get in the way of my better judgment. I believe that sometimes people forget that real people are on the other end of the screen. I replied in frustration and anger and didn't consider the people that it could affect and hurt. For that I am truly sorry."

Originally Posted by Observer

SmackDown averaged 2.099 million viewers on Tuesday night, up two percent from last week. This was the final SmackDown on USA Network before the show moves to FOX next Friday night (October 4) ...

Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down four percent from the same week in 2018. Network TV ran their season premieres last night and -- despite strong numbers for those shows -- SmackDown held up pretty well all things considered.

Since moving to USA, SmackDown has averaged 2.364 million viewers. That's 84 percent of Raw's viewership during the same time span.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting that tomorrow's "Hidden Gem" selection on WWE Network will be none other than AWA SuperClash IV from April 8, 1990 emanating from the St. Paul Civic Center, which featured the following action:

Jake Milliman vs Todd Becker
Brad Rheingans & DJ Peterson vs. The Texas Hangmen (Killer & Psycho)
Baron von Raschke vs. Col. DeBeers
Tommy Jammer vs. Tully Blanchard
Kokina Maximus (the future Yokozuna) (w/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie) vs. Nord The Barbarian
AWA World Heavyweight Championship w/ Nick Bockwinkel as Guest Referee: Mr. Saito © vs. Larry Zbyszko
Tag Team Steel Cage Match: Paul Diamond & The Trooper vs. The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom)

Originally Posted by PWI

Impact Wrestling recently paid a bonus to talents who worked on a long pre-tape day in Las Vegas for the Brian Cage-Melissa Santos wedding, which will air this Friday on Impact Wrestling. The long day had been a bone of contention for talents, which management realized and provided the bonus as a combination thank you and make-good.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin is now being promoted as appearing on the debut of WWE Friday Night Smackdown next week on FOX.

WWE had previously been promoting a number of legends as appearing, including Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair and Sting. Add Austin to the list.

Originally Posted by PWI

As reported on PWInsider.com, WWE recently trademarked the name "The Bump" for a future series. During the video, text quickly flashes on screen saying next Wednesday at 10 AM, so it appears this will be a digital series with elements similar to some of ESPN's sports discussion shows.

Originally Posted by PWI

2K issued the following in advance of the release of the WWE 2K20 video game next month:

The highly requested online lobby system is back in WWE 2K20. Lobbies will streamline the process of pairing up players and getting them into a match as quickly as possible. We’re also excited to talk about new developments in MyPLAYER, Road to Glory, and MyPLAYER Towers.

CREATE A LOBBY.

If you have an exact online multiplayer match in mind, creating a lobby is the way to go. Select from a wide variety of match types and rules with up to six players. Choose the arena, Superstar gender, and even toggle the restriction to only allow default WWE Superstars (a.k.a. Fair Play). You can start out in private mode to invite friends and then open the remaining slots to the general public if you prefer. Once in a lobby together, everyone can voice chat as they select Superstars and the lobby creator makes decisions on the match at hand. Players will now have full visibility on how the match is coming together ...

MYPLAYER EVOLUTION

... For the first time ever, any special creation parts you unlock through playing MyCAREER, Road to Glory, and MyPLAYER Towers are also available in the general Create-a-Superstar mode. On top of that, you can export the appearance of your MyPLAYER out to the general character creations as well!

Road to Glory and MyPLAYER Tower fans will be familiar with the process of earning stars to enter special pay-per-view events. These Road to Glory events now include female matches for the first time, in addition to male matches.

DAILY REFRESHED MATCH CHALLENGES

The new Tonight’s Match feature in Multiplayer places you in a new match every day that rotates through match types, rules, genders, and arenas to make it simple to constantly try something new

Originally Posted by PWI

Beyond airing live on FOX starting 10/4, WWE's Friday Night Smackdown will also air live on Fridays in Spanish on FOX Deportes.

There are replays listed for the FOX premiere episode for FOX Sports 2 for Saturday 10/5 and Tuesday 10/8 as well. If that replay pattern continues, the series will still be available for fans on Tuesday nights if they wish to watch it on that day.

Originally Posted by PWI

All Elite Wrestling filed to trademark the Chris Jericho catchphrase "A Little Bit of the Bubbly" on 9/18.

During a Twitter Q&A, Nick Jackson stated AEW was working on a video game deal and that there would be dark matches before and after the AEW Dynamite TV tapings.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

There is a big story in AdAge covering lots of news items regarding Friday Night SmackDown’s launch on Fox. The article includes the news that Progressive Insurance will be coming on board as the presenting sponsor of the show, lots of information regarding the response from the advertising community, and a potential lessening of the commercial spots on the show. The article also teases a potential appearance by Dwayne Johnson on the debut show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

It was reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kevin Sullivan will be joining All Elite Wrestling as their VP of Post-Production. We have not been able to confirm the additional number of people that had been working with Sullivan and are leaving, as well. Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com reported that Jim Morris is also leaving with Sullivan for AEW.

UPDATE: I spoke with one person at Impact Wrestling who told us the number of people that left with Kevin Sullivan was “less than ten”. We were not given the specific number.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Brad Davis of SE Scoops has further details on the move, reporting that Sullivan could not secure a contract with Anthem, leading to Sullivan striking a deal with AEW that will bring his entire production company and team at Kevin Sully TV (KSTV) over to AEW. Sullivan and his team will work directly with AEW lead producer Keith Mitchell.

IMPACT had been outsourcing the majority of its production work to KSTV, which had assembled all of IMPACT's weekly programming for domestic and international providers.

KSTV had previously done work with AEW, producing the cold opens for Fight for the Fallen and Fyter Fest.

IMPACT has reportedly hired a local Tennessee producer to handle the work in the wake of KSTV's departure. A source told SE Scoops that securing Sullivan and KSTV is a “huge strategic move” by AEW and “crippling” to IMPACT.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The UK-based Southside Wrestling group announced Wednesday that talent under WWE contract have been pulled from their ninth anniversary card on October 26th. The news came two-days after Revolution Pro announced they would take over operations of Southside, beginning on October 28th, although we can’t confirm if that was the specific reason for talent being pulled. The card was set to feature Joseph Conners, Ilja Dragunov, Kay Lee Ray, El Ligero, Saxon Huxley, and Xia Brookside, who are all NXT UK performers. In the release from Southside, the promotion said “We asked permission in advance and accepted all conditions. We have spent a small fortune on posters / flyers / banners for the show which are now unusable”. They went on to end the release with “Although this is business we have personally taken this badly. 9as was our goodbye and we wanted to say it with the stars who made us what we are, our previous champions and most importantly our close friends”.

Originally Posted by Fightful

NXT superstar Lacey Lane revealed on social media that she has had her name changed to Kayden Carter. Carter still has her Twitter user name as "Lacey Lane" but her handle has been changed to @wwekayden.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Who is the greatest WWE SmackDown superstar of all-time? That's the question WWE has posed to fans in a new social media tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer

Podcast One sent out a press release with comments Steve Austin made on his podcast about if he could ever have one more match: “For the last couple of weeks, down there at the Raw reunion in Tampa, down there at the Madison Square Garden show at Monday Night Raw -- people always ask me, ‘Hey man, you’re still in really good shape. You got one more match left in you?’ And I tell them, ‘Man.’ I say, ‘You know, it’s a tough thing to think about.’ Physically, would I be able to have one more match? Yes, most definitely, and I could make it to that match without being injured. Although the risks are always there, just because I think all of the surgeries, I had… where I had the spinal stenosis, and getting that bone spur taken off my spinal cord -- I’m in a good place. Nerves are feeling a lot better than they use to. So, you know, in theory, could I have a match? In theory, yes.”

Originally Posted by Observer

Going against network TV season premieres, NXT on USA ratings dropped this week, averaging 1.006 million viewers on Wednesday night.

After finishing an impressive fourth in the 18-49 demo last week, the show dropped 26 percent in that important category and fell to eighth place with a 0.32 rating. The viewership total was only down 15 percent, meaning the show lost more viewers in that age range than overall.

The audience drop-off for NXT was far greater than it was for Raw, which only dropped three percent this week. Tuesday's SmackDown actually gained viewers from the previous week. The highly-rated premieres on the main broadcast networks can't be blamed either as that was also the case on Monday and Tuesday night.

Originally Posted by Observer

Though Wrestle Kingdom 14 will be a two-night event, New Year Dash will still be taking place in January.

NJPW has announced that New Year Dash 2020 will take place at Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo on Monday, January 6. The Tokyo Dome will host Wrestle Kingdom 14 night one on January 4 and night two on January 5.

New Year Dash is NJPW's annual post-Wrestle Kingdom event and features the start of new angles coming out of the company's biggest show of the year.

New Year Dash had taken place at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall up until now.

Originally Posted by PWI

Although All Elite Wrestling filed a trademark on the Chris Jericho catchphrase "A Little Bit of the Bubbly" on 9/18, Jericho himself actually beat them to the filing. On 9/10, Jericho applied to trademark 'A little bit of the bubbly' for the following:

"Goods & Services: Bandanas; Hats; Shirts; Sweatshirts. FIRST USE: 20190905. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20190905"

"Goods & Services: Champagne; Sparkling wines; Wine; Wines and sparkling wines"

Meanwhile, AEW applied to trademark All Elite Fleet on 9/2

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE, WCW and World Class star Samu Anoa'i is scheduled to undergo a liver transplant today in Pennsylvania. Anoa'i announced in October 2018 that he was battling stage four liver cancer.

Originally Posted by PWI

After several days of being in the hospital, WWE Hall of Famer Superstar Billy Graham posted the following on his Facebook page:

Heart Issues

Hey fans, I am back home from the Mayo Clinic Hospital. I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers. I need rest right now but by this coming Sunday evening I will give all my Facebook fans an in-depth report on the status of my heart. All I will say for now is that I have suffered a heart attack and am in constant heart failure. I am of course on medications for my heart and will be for the remainder of my life. I am keeping the faith and will fight !!!

Superstar Billy Graham

Originally Posted by PWI

Post Consumer Brands and WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced an expanded partnership that brings the thrill and excitement of WWE to cereal boxes nationwide as superstars Becky Lynch and Big Show will be featured on the front of nearly 7 million boxes of Post Honeycomb® cereal and Post Golden Crisp® cereal. The partnership was announced today at Advertising Week in New York City ...

For a limited time, fans can get a free three-month trial of WWE Network when they purchase three boxes of participating Honeycomb cereal or Golden Crisp cereal and redeem their receipts online. The promotion begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, and runs through Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. To redeem the promotion and for full details and terms, please visit www.wwexpost.com.

Originally Posted by PWI

2K officially announced the following updates to Universe Mode for the upcoming WWE 2K 20 videogame:

Are you a hardcore Universe Mode player? Then there’s plenty to get excited about in WWE 2K20. Check out this list of updates that will give players more freedom to create than ever before.

• Major and minor show match limits have increased from 7 to 9.
• Pay-Per-View match limits have doubled from 7 to 14.
• The number of championship titles per major show has increased from 6 to 7.
• Simultaneous rivalries on major shows have increased from 3 to 4.
• Pay-Per-Views can be co-hosted by up to 3 major shows versus the previous 2.
• Players have more freedom to delete and add promos and matches.
• 50 of the most-used cutscenes have been reshot with female mocap actors to look more authentic when female Superstars are used.
• 25 new cutscenes have been added.
• 3,040 new promo lines are in the game.
• Custom Matches can now be included in Match Tables, along with new Mixed Tag Matches.
• New Championship Match setting in Match Tables can be used to make certain matches a title match.
• Main Event matches in Match Tables have been tweaked so that those match types are more likely to occur on the show (Example: Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View).
• New rivalry content includes options such as low-intensity enemies making peace after a single Pay-Per-View or low to mid-intensity allies slowly falling out over several weeks instead of a sudden turn.
• The overall menu flow has been streamlined to make it more accessible to those new to Universe Mode. All deeper options are still available for experienced players.

Originally Posted by PWI

The NWA has announced Thunder Rosa, Marti Belle and Ashley Vox have been announced for next week's NWA TV tapings in Atlanta.

The announcing team will be Joe Galli and Jim Cornette. Dave Marquez and Kyle Durden will be working as correspondents on the tapings.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On September 30th, the National Wrestling Alliance will hold a press conference at the Hard Rock Café in Atlanta, Georgia ahead of their television tapings later that day and on October 1st. Appearing at the press conference are all champions of the NWA. Also, Billy Corgan will reveal the name of NWA’s weekly television series and where viewers can watch the show.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The Washington Post profiled several stars of All Elite Wrestling ahead of the company’s debut show on TNT in Washington, DC. The publication also spoke with Brett Weitz, who is the general manager for TNT, TBS, and truTV. Brett said that he is surprised WWE Chairman Vince McMahon “went to defense” as quick as he did in regards to NXT going head-to-head with AEW:“It’s really rare for a challenger to be on offense right out of the gate and I’m surprised Vince went to defense as fast as he did,” TNT’s Weitz says, adding, “I don’t think a monarchy can last forever.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER is not appearing at wXw’s show this coming Sunday. WALTER took to Twitter and revealed that he asked for that day off to lighten his travel schedule and apologized to those who were looking forward to seeing him live.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, Dish Network has dropped FOX channels.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Newsweek interviewed Ring Of Honor C.O.O. Joe Koff. Koff opened up about ROH’s partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and NJPW wanting a stake in America and touring the country independently without the assistance of other promotions:

“They [partnerships] are important in the development of your organization. We’ve been very generous in that regard because we think wrestling as an industry is important, not just being the promotion or ‘that’ promotion. So whenever an opportunity arises, we are open to taking it. I think right now what you are seeing is, as more eyes are on it, you have people saying, ‘Let’s get in it’, and getting in it today is a lot different than the past,” Koff explained. “One thing Sinclair has always afforded us, and one reason we got into professional wrestling, is that I had distribution. I have a lot of distribution via our over-the-air, free coverage, be it at our emerging network like on Stadium or Charge. Hopefully, soon, nothing is finalized yet. Plus we have our own streaming platform. I don’t have to go out and find it. That will always be an advantage. Right now it’s a good time for a lot of these promotions to start to come out on their own. New Japan is a wonderful partner. I don’t want you to think MSG was all Ring of Honor. It was a combination at the right time with a good card, and it was a good partnership. We would have done the same for them at Wrestle Kingdom and their Japan shows. But they want a stake in America as well and not be associated with it, which is why you’re seeing New Japan touring independently of other promotions. I don’t blame them. It’s a business and that’s their business.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) vs. Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt) will be the dark mark for AEW Dynamite on Oct. 2.

Originally Posted by Lucha Blog

as mentioned a few days ago on the blog, Dragon Lee is off all CMLL cards as apparent punishment for working PWG's BOLA against orders.

very quietly, Rush has also not worked a show for CMLL in about three weeks and isn't on any current lineups.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

It was reported earlier this week that the WWE 205 Live series is set to move to Friday nights on the WWE Network next week, and that WWE would still film the show after SmackDown each week.

In an update, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that this is not a permanent schedule change. 205 Live will air from Los Angeles next Friday night, after SmackDown goes off the air, but the company has not decided on if they will keep the show on Fridays. It was noted that several ideas are being thrown around, including possibly ending 205 Live altogether. Until they come to a final decision on the future of the show, it will air on the WWE Network after SmackDown goes off the air on Fridays ...

Apparently 205 Live is suffering from low viewership on the WWE Network as well. Meltzer noted that Network numbers show that the show hasn't done well in a long time. He speculated that it would be more cost-effective for WWE to sell an hour of weekly post-SmackDown programming to FS1 or some other network, than to tape 205 Live for airing on the WWE Network each week.

Originally Posted by Observer

The promotional push for SmackDown's move to FOX will include WWE personalities appearing on FOX News' "FOX & Friends" next week.

Kofi Kingston will be on the morning show on Monday (September 30), Stephanie McMahon will appear on Tuesday (October 1), Charlotte Flair will appear on Wednesday (October 2), and Roman Reigns will be on the show on Thursday (October 3).

The segments will begin at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. There will then be a meet-and-greet with that day's guest at 9:15 a.m. Eastern. WWE noted that the meet-and-greets are only for the first 150 fans and will be weather permitting.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE's return to Saudi Arabia is set for Halloween.

WWE's Arabic website announced today that Crown Jewel 2019 will take place at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 31. Tickets will go on sale on Monday (September 30) at 6 p.m. local time ...

With SmackDown moving to Friday nights on FOX, SmackDown will take place the day after Crown Jewel.

Originally Posted by PWI

Over the last several days, WWE has been teasing a series titled "The Bump" on social media ...

PWInsider.com is told that The Bump will be a morning talk-show style series that will debut on Wednesday morning 10/2 featuring discussion of WWE-centric topics. We were told the idea for the show is to be a light and fun talk show mixed with ESPN Sportscenter style discussion.

The series will stream on WWE social media channels. We have not heard if it will be airing on the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by PWI

Jerry Lawler spoke with The Memphis Commercial Appeal about returning to the Raw commentary booth. On how the conversation went, Lawler noted, "I got a call about it Tuesday morning from Kevin Dunn (WWE's executive vice president of television production)," Lawler said. "He said, 'I've got a proposition for you. It may be good news, and it may be bad news.' He knows I don't like to travel a whole lot anymore, so that was the bad part. I said, 'What's the good part?' He said, 'We want you back on Raw. He told me it's for however long I want to do it, so that sealed the deal."

The WWE Hall of Famer stated that the original plan was to have a two-man booth, "It was (Raw's executive director) Paul (Heyman's) idea to put Vic and Dio on Raw," Lawler said. "Apparently, what I was told, Vince (McMahon) said, 'You can't throw these two new, young guys on our flagship show. Call King.' That's how it happened."

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Neither NXT or AEW will air live in the U.K. NXT won’t be on television, limited to the next day airing on the WWE Network. Even though it will air on the WWE Network first in full form, NXT will air in Canada at 7 p.m. on Fridays, edited to one hour. AEW is very close to a Canadian deal, and given the word being out that the FITE stream won’t be available in Canada, that tells you that the hope and talks include going live. At this point main components of the Canadian deal are either done or close to it, and it’s at the Turner side’s level of the finishing touches.

For AEW, the U.K. deal was the subject of a ton of talk in recent days. ITV announced its deal with AEW on 9/25. The announcement was not scheduled and what happened is one person in ITV programming released the news on Twitter before either ITV or AEW had approved it, leaving people scrambling ...

Negotiations were still going on at the time for a first airing, on Thursday or Friday, with Friday being the day at one point, once the idea of going live fell through recently. The announcements weren’t supposed to be made until that was all finalized, which, at press time, it is still has not been.

What killed the live airing were problems between TNT and ITV 4 regarding commercial breaks that couldn’t be rectified. In the U.K., OFCOM, which regulates over-the-air television (as opposed to Sky and BT, which WWE airs on), mandates no more than 12 commercial minutes per show. TNT will have 15 or 16 minutes, and there are ways you think you can work through it by having one break per hour that is taken on TNT but not ITV 4, but that didn’t work out because they each had certain specifications on timing of breaks during the hours that couldn’t be worked out.

It would not have been impossible, but would have been difficult and ITV 4 decided they couldn’t do it live. There are ways around it with having dark breaks but ITV 4 didn’t want to do it and they aren’t doing it with any other shows and it was not something they wanted ...

But after a lot of negative reaction ITV 4 got, there is talk about debuting the show in a time slot closer to Wednesday or some kind of an earlier OnDemand solution. There will be availability live on FITE TV in countries that don’t get the show live, which would be priced at $4.99 per month or $2.99 per single episode. It is notable that besides Canada, FITE is not taking orders from Germany either, although it has not announced that. That would at least hint strongly of negotiations going on for television in Germany, and there are also talks in Australia, as well as one or two other countries that are coming down to the wire ...

At this point, with just days to go, nothing has been announced for Canada. The word is that Canada is also close at this point with sources close to the TSN side, the station rumored to be in he lead for the show for some time, saying the deal isn’t completed. The only thing that is confirmed is that a Canadian deal was in its final stages in the past few days. As noted before, Khan has been working on the deals himself rather than outsourcing to an agency like WWE does with CAA and previously did with Endeavor.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

In cost per point of demo ratings, these were the numbers FOX was charging for some different shows, Masked Singer was $2,500; Simpsons was $2,300; Empire was $2,250; Prodigal Son was $1,925 and Smackdown was $1,100. So the value for selling advertising is about half of a regular TV show, if the ratings of the two shows are identical. That’s actually an improvement for wrestling but it still means for ad value Smackdown really has to double the audience in the desired demos of other programming to be an advertising success. While USA Network was able to make money last year based on what it was getting in ad revenue for Raw and Smackdown vs. what it paid, with the higher rights fees, both USA and FOX will not come close to recouping their rights fees with ad sales on the shows.

Within television, the belief is that Smackdown will average a 1.0 in the 18-49 demo, up from the 0.6 to 0.7 range it does now on USA, and the 0.8 FOX did this past season during the 8-10 p.m. Friday time slot. While not exact, that would figure to be 3.1 million viewers on average. But as these show, even if it beats last year’s 0.8, for it to be as valuable, it would have to average closer to a 1.6 in that demo, a figure that it is almost impossible for it to do, because to do so it would probably need to hit five million viewers on average and that is out of the range of possibility.

An 0.6 would be considered a failure. While a demo increase and audience increase doesn’t have to be the same thing, the expectations of a 35 percent increase sounds lofty. The first week and second week, the all the promotion in week one and the draft in week two, should beat that figure. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. The key is more the value of just being on FOX, because the increase in available homes and the decrease in audience by being on Fridays basically evens both out. So anything above 2.1 million or 2.3 million is the actual value of FOX over USA ..

Winter expects Smackdown to dominate the night in 18-49s. They also talked about reducing commercials in the show by 10 to 20 percent as a way to keep the younger audience from drifting away. But doing that will only raise the losses FOX takes because last year’s Smackdown did about $72 million in ad sales and the cost of Smackdown for FOX is $205 million, a large disparity. Even though FOX will likely get that ad sales number up somewhat, it’ll never come close to be able to make up that deficit.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There are a lot of issues going on in CMLL after the death of Paco Alonso. Sofia Alonso is in control by title and has power, but her uncle, Chavo Lutteroth, who ran the promotion before Paco Alonso, is the one making all the financial decisions. Among the moves are increasing the cut the promotion gets and increasing their prices to American promoters. Another change is that the guarantees that many of the top stars are on have been cut greatly. We’re told the legends like Atlantis, Blue Panther and Negro Casas weren’t cut but many of the current biggest younger stars including Dragon Lee were

Lee was also pulled from at least three shows this week, including the Anniversary show, this coming week and the 9/24 Arena Mexico show ... While nobody has said why, the belief was that he worked BOLA, when CMLL told both he and Cavernario that they couldn’t do the show and he didn’t listen. We’ll see how this plays out because there was certainly talk over the weekend that all the things that have happened could get him to leave.

But the question is that if he does leave, how does that affect New Japan, which is a spot he doesn’t want to lose. The belief is that a guy like him can make as much money outside CMLL in Mexico, and more in the U.S. without the hindrances of CMLL. Plus, one would think every promotion in the U.S. would want him since he’s a genuine special talent with charisma. But no television promotion aside from ROH wants to use CMLL guys because MLW was burned by the guys then going to ROH, while AEW and Impact work with AAA and WWE has no deal with CMLL

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There was a lot of frustration regarding the New York show with the card having to change so often due to all the visas not coming in. This led to them using so many Americans and having to rely on AAA guys who were with Lucha Underground. The belief is all the visas will be in for Los Angeles on 10/23, but we don’t have that confirmed that they are in. That’s probably why no card has been announced but the idea is for it to be a loaded show ...

An interesting note is that a reason it did so terribly is that nobody knew. While these numbers being so small as estimates are tough to pin down, what we do know is that buys now look to be between 300 and 400, but almost none were live, like estimated at around 60. So of the very few people who bought the PPV, it appears most likely had no idea it was even on, then heard after the fact or perhaps saw favorable reviews and then bought it. With such a small number, that actually makes sense. ...

There’s also no word right now on how the 10/13 show in Los Angeles will be broadcast, or if

Well, we now know why there was an El Rey Network mention on the screen throughout the New York show. El Rey will be airing that show on 10/6 at 9 p.m. Eastern

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding the name AEW Dynamite, like the original Tuesday Night Dynamite, in a trivia note, Khan as a kid used to book pro wrestling television and the name Dynamite was the name of his fantasy television show he put together so that’s the actual origination of the name

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The updated All Out television PPV number is just over 29,000, which is down from about 39,000 for the last show.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

One thing we’ve seen a lot of is WWE trying to close the holes that AEW can exploit going forward. The making NXT a very heavy wrestling product built around producing hot in-ring was to close the hole that AEW could have exploited since neither Raw nor Smackdown will likely go that direction. WWE is also going to bring back pyro to television. I mean, they’re getting so much money there’s no reason not to, because it’s again a little thing that fans like that AEW was expected to have, since they did with PPVs. WWE dropped it feeling it was an unnecessary cost and made no real difference when it came to ratings, but economics aren’t nearly as tight as they were when that decision was made

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The reason Lana hasn’t been around with Rusev is because they’ve got other ideas for Lana’s character and not like they don’t want to use her or anything like that

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding NXT, there were some noting that raises have not come yet for talent since the TV deal started. There are guys who know that the company got a $30 million a year deal from USA and NXT talent is being told they are a third brand, but most of the talent is earning less than $100,000 per year, if not all but a few. The talent is also required to do a full rehearsal every Tuesday night at Full Sail for the Wednesday television. This will happen weekly and it’s mandatory, even for those with a decent amount of television experience ...

A lot of the regular fans were unhappy bout a few things. One was that during the live hour, when they did a commercial break, the action would slow down. It was noted to me by several people at Full Sail who were also at PWG, that the women’s match and Roderick Strong vs Velveteen Dream came across much better on television because the action was chinlocks and nobody did anything much for 4:00 during breaks. The women’s match, which came across as an easy **** match on television, was actually 6:00 of super action and four minutes of not so much. Strong vs. Dream also had a lot of non-action during breaks.

There’s also less fan interaction with talent. The die-hard fans were such because they got to know the talent personally and wanted to help them get over. They would hang out with them before the show at the food trucks. They’d go out after the show to the Ale House. There were no food trucks at the first taping, although it was a positive for talent as they had the WWE catering. Nobody went to the Ale House after ...

The talent used to park in the Full Sail parking lot and hang out with fans, and go in through the front entrance and leave through the front door and talk with fans and take pictures with them. This was changed to them parking in the back and it was impossible for any interaction at the first tapings. The tradition of the talent and fans ordering dinner together before the show was gone.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

While The Revival’s contracts are up in April, WWE has extended Daniel Wheeler’s (Dash Wilder) deal another ten weeks due to the period he was out of action in 2016 with a broken jaw.

Originally Posted by Fightful

The greatest duo in history reunites at Starrcast IV.

Starrcast made some major talent announcements, beginning with Sting returning to Baltimore, the site of his first WCW World Championship victory. Sting will be decked out in the red, white, and blue facepaint and jacket, and carrying the WCW World Championship for photo opportunities with fans.

But the bigger announcement is that, for the first time ever, RoboCop will be coming to Starrcast.

Fans may remember RoboCop appearing at WCW Capital Combat 1990 to help Sting fend off the Horsemen. You can view RoboCop's WCW appearance in the video above.

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.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Observer

While doing an appearance on Wednesday's Collider Live podcast to promote Girl On The Third Floor, CM Punk discussed his recent tryout with Fox for the WWE Backstage studio show.

He confirmed the tryout and that his agents reached out to him because of how much Fox is investing into WWE with SmackDown. He said Fox was interested in him and that he hasn't dealt with anyone from WWE during the process, nor has he heard anything from WWE after the tryout.

He said he loves Renee Young and that the role would be similar to what he does for CFFC MMA. He said he was clear that he didn't want to come in just to dump on the product but that if there's something that's bad, he would have to be honest about it.

Punk didn't say where the process is at or how the tryout went. He did reiterate that he's not interested in returning to the ring, but is in a position where he's open to anything other than wrestling because he's grown as a person and is a businessman.

Originally Posted by Observer

Triple H appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast and responded to a question about CM Punk trying out for WWE’s Backstage studio show on FS1: “Look, I’ve read about that as well. You know -- to be clear -- FOX is doing this show, and it’s their show, and it’s something they’re doing to talk about the WWE Universe and everything going on in it. They have a long list of people they’ve been interviewing and everything. But as far as for us, one of the things I think this company has shown over and over again, is never say never. If the opportunity is right for everybody and it’s right for our fans, then we are willing to put the past behind us and move forward. So -- you know -- I would say, never say never, but that’s also probably a long way from coming true. I don’t know. That’s also a little bit outside of my purview at the moment, but like I said, never say never.”

Originally Posted by Observer

The first episode of WWE’s The Bump premiered on the WWE Network and WWE’s Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages today. The talk show will air live at 10 a.m. Eastern time every Wednesday. Kayla Braxton, Matt Camp, Evan T. Mack, McKenzie Mitchell, Ryan Pappolla, and Dan Vollmayer are hosts for the show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Macaulay Culkin narrated a video about how The Rock got the word “smackdown” into the dictionary.

Originally Posted by Observer

Sports Illustrated reported that Chris Jericho vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi is scheduled for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14. Jericho’s contract with AEW allows him to have NJPW matches, and NJPW has already started building to him facing Tanahashi.

Originally Posted by Observer

MLW has officially unveiled the first member of its women's division.

It was announced today that Zeda Zhang has signed a "multi-year exclusive contract" with MLW. She previously appeared for MLW in 2018 after being released by WWE.

Zhang wrestled for NXT and took part in the inaugural Mae Young Classic while with WWE. She lost to Shayna Baszler in the first round of the tournament.

MLW noted that their women's division is scheduled to launch this year and that more details about the division and Zhang's first match will be revealed soon. The division is returning after MLW initially featured women's matches when it relaunched starting in 2017.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Daniel Bryan participated in a Q&A for Nikki and Brie Bella’s podcast. The topic of retirement came up and Bryan said that his retirement from full-time in-ring competition is coming up sooner rather than later within the next few years:

“Well, and now, even still, as we look at my retirement from full-time wrestling which will be coming up sooner rather than later in the next couple of years, that probably won’t mean retirement for you [Brie Bella] for how busy you are. It will probably be me taking on more of the parental role, and so depending on jobs and that sort of thing, that’s been a nice switch in society that can happen.” Bryan said.

Originally Posted by Fightful

At Monday's NWA TV taping press conference, owner Billy Corgan said that the National Wrestling Alliance is open to doing business and having their champions appear for any number of promotions. However, IMPACT Wrestling isn't among those.

"We consider ourselves a free agent in the market. We're available to work with anyone from All Elite Wrestling to Championship Wrestling from Hollywood to Ring of Honor. The only prohibition is IMPACT. We won't do business with them. Of course, we'll do business with WWE. We feel like an early UFC or Bellator. We feel like we're in the market and can do whatever we want to do. We have the champions right here.Think back of when ECW guys would appear on Raw. I think people really want innovation in the space," said Corgan. "I think our relationships with Ring of Honor, which extend to New Japan -- we have a great relationship with AAA. I think we could work with anybody at any time."

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW Dynamite is the victor in week one of the Wednesday Night War.

The Dynamite premiere averaged 1.409 million viewers on TNT last night and finished second for the night on cable in the all-important 18-49 demo with a 0.68 rating.

The latter was more than double the 0.32 rating that NXT on USA Network pulled in the same demo. NXT, despite limited commercial interruption and a loaded lineup featuring three title matches, averaged only 891,000 viewers, an 11 percent drop from the previous week, although the rating in the demo was the exact same as last week.

The most watched show on cable was an MLB Wild Card game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics, which did 3.969 million viewers and a 1.03 rating in the 18-49 demo.

This can’t be spun as anything but a positive for AEW, as there had been previous industry projections that pegged the show as doing in the 500,000 viewer range.

Originally Posted by PWI

1,409,000 viewers for AEW Dynamite is a fantastic number. It’s not far off what Smackdown has done on some weeks. And to give a little perspective, the 2.4M fans that AEW and NXT did head to head last night would have beaten the Raw audience three of the last five weeks ...

At minimum, AEW brought more in more than 1.2M fans to the party last night. They also more than doubled NXT in the coveted people 18-49 demographic. That means that not only did they bring in new people, they brought in new YOUNGER people. Advertisers love to see that and they pony up to reach them ...

In WWE’s case, AEW’s strong debut, should it continue, could put pressure on Raw and Smackdown to change the way that they do some things. I can’t imagine TV partners ignoring the fact that a start up with very few household names is getting very close to the established brands right out of the gate. Maybe it leads to changes that fans like us will like. Of course, it could also lead to changes in NXT that we don’t like. It’s all to be determined.

Originally Posted by Observer

After he returned from injury last night, a documentary on Tommaso Ciampa is set to air on the WWE Network next week.

The special is titled "Tommaso Ciampa: blackHEART." It will debut on the WWE Network at 10 p.m. Eastern next Wednesday (October 9), which is right after next week's NXT airs live on the USA Network.

WWE.com described the special: "Witness the heroic struggle of former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa as he embarks on a difficult road to recovery from a devastating injury and finds strength from his wife, baby daughter, friends and the NXT Universe."

Originally Posted by Observer

A second match has been confirmed for MLW's Blood & Thunder television tapings.

MLW announced today that Low Ki vs. Timothy Thatcher is set for the tapings. They're taking place at GILT Nightclub in Orlando, Florida on the afternoon of Saturday, November 9.

Originally Posted by Observer

Some more information has been announced for tomorrow's SmackDown "blue carpet" pre-show.

Ahead of the Friday Night SmackDown premiere, the half-hour kickoff show will air live on FOX starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. FOX issued a press release today announcing that Renee Young and Booker T will anchor the desk for the pre-show, "welcoming special guests and offering insight and analysis on the upcoming matchups."

Charissa Thompson, the host of FOX NFL Kickoff, will be "on hand for arrivals and interviews outside the Staples Center, while WWE reporter Kayla Braxton provides exclusive backstage access to Superstars just moments before all the action."

Originally Posted by Observer

Though a new date for the event hasn't been announced, Lucha Libre AAA is rescheduling their Invading LA show.

The Forum in Inglewood, California had been scheduled to host Invading LA on Sunday, October 13. The venue sent out an email announcing that the show has been rescheduled

Originally Posted by PWI

Q - Why wouldn't WWE have John Cena advertised for the FOX Smackdown debut?

A - Cena has been announced as part of the cast for the new Suicide Squad film and that began filming in Georgia this week, so he's likely not available. It's possible he pops up as a surprise, but with everyone else scheduled, they are better off leaving John as something special down the line

Originally Posted by PWI

Diamond Dallas Page and Awesome Kong were backstage. Atlas Security were in the house. Conrad Thompson was sitting ringside.

Alex Marvez handled a lot of research for the announcers last night.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

The premiere of AEW Dynamite on TSN 2 in Canada reportedly drew 109,000 viewers on Tuesday night, according to POST Wrestling's John Pollock on Twitter.

AEW faced stiff competition in Canada last night as they went up against the NHL Opening Night game between the Ottawa Senator and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Prime Ministers French-language election debate also aired last night.

The AEW viewership was described as a good number for Canadian TV, according to Pollock.

Originally Posted by FIGHTFUL

PWInsider reports that Vince McMahon was not backstage at last night’s NXT taping. They also report that Pete Dunne has officially moved to the United States to live here full-time.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On Wednesday's episode of AEW Dynamite, Cody was laid out in two separate segments on the show. First, he was attacked by Chris Jericho following his victory over Sammy Guevara. Later in the night, Cody tried to save The Young Bucks from a beatdown by Jericho and Santana & Ortiz, but was eventually taken out by Guevara and a debuting Jake Hager.

Following the show, fans wondered where Cody's best friend, MJF, was as Cody was being attacked.

"I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm not in a good mood, at all because my best friend just got completely bludgeoned in the middle of the ring," MJF said in the post-show media scrum. "And I had no idea it was going on because I was back in my locker room, after my match, and I had no clue, and I just found out after the fact."

When asked why he wasn't paying more attention, MJF said, "Why wasn't I watching the monitor closely? Because I wrestled a match and I had to make sure that after the match that I had my ice bath, that I went in my whirlpool, and that I got a massage. Because I'm a top tier athlete and I make sure I'm 100% good to go after my match because unlike everybody else on this roster, I'm not some schmuck who is gonna get back in their car and go, 'Yipee, it's done.' That's not what real athletes do. Do you think that after Kobe Bryant is done playing a basketball game, that he doesn't put ice on his knees, that he doesn't get worked on? No."

MJF also vowed revenge on Chris Jericho, the man behind the attacks on Cody

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The night when it came to ratings was a big win for AEW, drawing 1,409,000 viewers to 891,000 for NXT. More important, because for the stations themselves, this battle was about the 18-49 demo, where AEW placed second for the night behind only the Major League Baseball Wildcard game that did a 1.03 in the demo and 3,969,000 total viewers. AEW did a 0.68 rating and 878,000 viewers in 18-49 while NXT did a 0.32 rating and 414,000 viewers. The big key is that while NXT had spent two weeks building up this show with essentially a Takeover card with three title matches, advertised limited commercials, did screen-in-screen during breaks, and did a nine minute overrun, their audience declined 11.4 percent from last week.

But in the 18-49 demo, the audience was identical to last week. Now, obviously NXT had a better and more heavily promoted show and it should have increased in the demo rather than stayed even, so the competition did hurt. But the story was that for the most part, AEW drew some, but not a lot of viewers away from NXT, and it confirmed a few things. One is most of the AEW fan base was not a WWE fan base, as all studies of PPV buys up to this point had indicated. Although they very well may be heavily lapsed former fans. The other is that there are far more potential wrestling fans than people realized who are not WWE fans.

Another factor is that when you add the replay number, which we don’t have officially at this point but was around 650,000 viewers, that the total AEW viewers were not too far behind a typical Raw, and pretty much identical to what Smackdown had been doing on Tuesdays on USA.

It also appears strongly that WWE going out and rushing into getting the two week jump probably backfired. NXT has declined significantly both weeks ...

Indications are that this is not a nostalgia rating, as much as a sample rating. A TNT nostalgia rating for Nitro would have skewed older. This skewed young. One would expect the number to drop next week, just as NXT did, because TNT was plugging the show all over TNT and TBS at the end. But a major point is that the shows they were plugging it on skewed heavily over 50, but AEW did not draw that audience at all. If anything, this showed the value of the younger audience they had cultivated through social media.

The NXT decline was not the age groups AEW was strong in, but the age groups AEW was weak with. Now, granted this week’s show with three title matches should have increased by a good percentage from last week in every demo, and it didn’t so AEW did hurt. But the big drop was over 50, and that means the baseball game, which dominated that demo last night, was probably more of a factor in the NXT decline.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

In just looking at teenagers, boys saw AEW, with head-to-head competition from a WWE product and only the first episode, beat unopposed Raw by 37.5 percent, Smackdown by 42.1 percent and NXT (with competition) by 239 percent. For teenage girls, AEW was 11.1 percent behind Raw, 0.6 percent behind Smackdown and 52.6 percent ahead of NXT. For 18-34, for males AEW opposed (and only first episode not including reply) beat Raw by 39.9 percent, beat Smackdown by 36.4 percent and beat NXT by 157.7 percent. For 18-34, for women, AEW (first episode) beat Raw by 13.5 percent, beat Smackdown by 37.0 percent and beat NXT by 48.8 percent. Conversely, once you get to 35-49, both Raw and Smackdown have solid edges with both men and women, although AEW basically doubled NXT. Over 50, NXT beats AEW slightly and Raw beats AEW 0.99 to 0.34 and Smackdown beats it 0.97 to 0.34.

And while there is momentum, they did well in the age groups that have become the hardest for cable to reach, making them a good value for younger-skewing products for advertisers. But on the flip side, even if people liked the show, people liked NXT as well ...

The ultimate story here is that unless AEW drops significantly under 35 next week, and this isn’t a flash in the pan, WWE is already behind with fans in that age group. If that is the case, it completely exposes WWE as it’s not the change in television viewership that has changed their demos, nor run off older fans, but that they have lost touch with the younger audience. Even if AEW does drop big, this shows in that age group WWE probably has either way because there’s no way a new group in week one that has never had television should beat the industry leader solidly like that.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The quarter hours are also notable because for AEW, teenagers opened at 330,000 and grew to 580,000 for the main event. But every other demo opened strong and either went down and picked up for the main event (18-34) or just declined throughout. Teen boys went from 260,000 for Cody’s match to 500,000 for the main event, but overall viewers went from 1,609,000 for Cody’s match to 1,381,000 for the main event. Teen girls opened at 70,000, grew to 140,000 for Riho vs. Nyla Rose, but then dropped big for the main event. At the same time, NXT declined with teens from 210,000 to 120,000 (they did grow to 150,000 for the unopposed overrun). The average viewer age hovered around 39 to 41, as compared to the 54 average for WWE programming and the 48 average for younger skewing NXT. Overall, both shows generally declined outside of AEW’s big increase throughout the show with teenagers. But in over 50, AEW declined from 455,000 to 334,000 for the main event and NXT fell from 408,000 to 352,000, but NXT won the night slightly in that demo during those quarters in between.

The night opened with 1,609,000 viewers for AEW and 913,000 for NXT. NXT with Riddle vs. Cole closed the gap to 1,551,000 to 981,000 against Cody vs. Sammy Guevara. MJF vs. Brandon Cutler lost 111,000 viewers vs. Io Shirai vs Mia Yim losing 15,000. Pac vs. Adam Page lost 125,000 viewers while Johnny Gargano vs. Shane Thorne lost 50,000. Riho vs. Rose lost 1,000 while Shayna Baszler vs. Candice LeRae lost 20,000. Pete Dunne vs. Danny Burch gained 29,000 viewers. The six-man main event of AEW gained 67,000 viewers while the NXT tag title match with Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Street Profits head-to-head lost 193,000 viewers in the final quarter. However, when AEW ended, NXT did pick up 139,000 viewers in the final ten minutes.

Interestingly, Baszler vs. LeRae killed it with those under 35, kind of like AEW, but got killed with older viewers. During the final quarter hour, with the battling main events, AEW had a 575,000 to 120,000 edge in teenagers and 444,000 to 145,000 edge with 18-34. In male 18-49, the final quarter was 629,000 to 228,000 for AEW and 280,000 to 126,000 in women 18-49.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

NXT had two surprises, both as new contenders for Cole, in Finn Balor and Tommaso Ciampa. Balor is in NXT as a full-time regular for the time being, as opposed to being a guy who will be on Raw or Smackdown. It was noted to us that even if Balor’s contract remains the same, he will end up making less money from the move unless they gave him a raise to go to NXT ...

But unless Balor got a higher guarantee, he will be missing out because on the main roster he’d be up for more house shows that talent is paid a percentage on as opposed to NXT when you just get your salary, he’d be out the bigger payoff events like a WrestleMania, Rumble or SummerSlam or European tour, and for him, his merchandise sales would be significantly lower.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

It took less than three months after the death of Paco Alonso for CMLL, the oldest and thought to be one of the most stable promotions in the world, to be in chaos. There is a ton going on behind-the-scenes that led to Rush and his father, Bestia del Ring announcing right after Rush won the ROH title in Las Vegas that they were going independent on 9/27. Immediately after, CMLL announced that they were firing Rush, and his brother, Dragon Lee, Lee, claiming that both men were not living up to the standards of the organization ...

The stuff reported on in recent weeks led to this. The basic story is that with Sofia Alonso in charge of the promotion, a lot of the old guard feared change, that they would lose their positions and she would hire younger people, or genuinely feared that a 28-year-old woman who had only been with the company for a relatively short period of time could run a business like this, even though she insisted, having learned from her father, that she was the person most equipped for it.

They went to Chavo Lutteroth, who ran the company in the 70s and 80s, before it was turned over to Paco Alonso around 1989 since Lutteroth had more interest in the family’s boxing and real estate business. Lutteroth essentially demoted Sofia Alonso , moving her back to her former position as the company’s head of marketing, and took charge of the business end. She still has power because some of her projects are continuing. But she has not attended shows in recent weeks and was not even at the 9/27 86th anniversary show, the company’s biggest event of the year.

New moves were made. Among them were both elevating the price of their talent to U.S. promoters and taking a higher percentage. Another was cutting way back on the guarantees, which included all members of the Munoz (Rush) family. Because of loyalty, the older stars like Atlantis, Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero and Blue Panther and the likes didn’t have their guarantees cut, but the younger stars, even though they were carrying things, did ....

another thing that irked the younger wrestlers, banning fans from the decades-old tradition of throwing money in the ring, although the latter was partially a safety concern because fans at ringside can get hurt by coins being thrown at the ring. For obvious reasons, a lot of the younger talent wants out, but getting a visa to work the U.S. is the hardest it has ever been.

In addition, previously CMLL talent in Mexico when working non-CMLL dates, were not allowed to work with AAA talent and other talent that the promotion didn’t like, but they were allowed to work with local independent wrestlers. The change was made that they would only be allowed to work with other CMLL wrestlers, with the idea that CMLL would then be able to get more bookings for their talent ...

The situation gets even more tense because CMLL is a longtime partners with New Japan, as partners now with ROH. ROH, with booker Hunter Johnston (Delirious) just in Mexico for the Grand Prix and meetings, was hopeful to strengthen that relationship. But Rush is their world champion and under a long-term deal. It appears Lee will become more of a regular. Will CMLL try and push those rules to ROH, where Rush and Lee couldn’t work with their talent, or New Japan, which brings to question the Lee & Titan tag team. In addition, ROH with Rush in particular, and New Japan with Lee, wouldn’t want to change the names of established star talent. So there is a ton of uncertainty, including questions over who else would leave.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Rush and Lee both know that they can get into WWE when they want. Paul Levesque is said to be high on Lee, for good reason, and he’s a special talent, even though guys like him, see Gran Metalik, usually don’t fare too well in the WWE system. But it’s also taking major chess pieces off the board ...

Rush isn’t interested in New Japan as that’s not his cup of tea. Lee loves it there. Then there’s the question of AEW, and if Lee went there if it would keep New Japan from booking him, although they do use Jon Moxley and will use Chris Jericho most likely at the Tokyo Dome. It also should be noted that in AEW, there were those who are higher on Rush than Lee due to the injury to Hiromu Takahashi ... As you can imagine, AAA would want he and Lee, but that creates political issues with ROH and New Japan, and Rush has not committed to any AAA television dates at this point ...

Lee said that he’s heard from wrestlers in ROH, New Japan as well as from Andrade and has a big surprise announcement coming.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Velasquez’s final AAA match on his current deal was to be the 10/13 show at The Forum in Los Angeles. The Forum confirmed rumors over the last week that the show is being postponed. One main event wrestler on the show had told friends that they were told the show was being moved to early 2020.

About 3,000 tickets had been sold for the show, which is realistically more than should have been expected for advanced sales, since Mexican shows are still heavily walk-up, but no doubt it would be a money loser. This was with no matches announced. But it’s not like ticket sales are going to be any better at that point in time.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The biggest news regarding the Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor show on 9/27 is the lack of interest in the show ...

As does the fact that in a 900-seat arena in Las Vegas, Sam’s Town, not only did they have a weak advance, but even with giving away tickets at the end to basically anyone who wanted them, they started the show with maybe 600 in the building and ended up with about 800.

Worse are the PPV numbers. The last ROH show, Best in the World on 6/28 in Baltimore did an estimated 3,500 PPV buys. Death Before Dishonor at press time is estimated at just under 800. The actual decline from the last show was 77.7 percent, and this is not a year-to-year drop but a drop from June to September.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

An interesting note is that last year, on the opening Friday night of the season, FOX did 6 million viewers. As noted many times, while Smackdown may not beat first-run numbers FOX was getting last season, it’s 51 weeks of new programming and some of the rerun weeks of late have hovered around 1 million viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

When Strowman signed his latest deal, it was a four-year contract believed to be for $1.2 million per year. The key to that number is there are exceptions, but generally, the top downside number WWE offers is $1 million. Obviously Styles signed for significantly more than that when his deal was due because of AEW. There are others who just because they knew how to negotiate, the company knew they could go elsewhere and make money, and the company feels were valuable that have guarantees above the $1 million threshold. The recent deal that Gallows & Anderson signed was five years at $700,000 per year each. They had turned down a $500,000 per year deal and were ready to leave when their contracts were due

Originally Posted by PWI

The decision was made this afternoon to not broadcast a new episode of 205 Live.

We are told that WWE made the decision to focus on the FOX Smackdown debut and things will return to normal next week.

The Cruiserweights were brought to Smackdown and had been preparing their matches tonight when the word came down from management.

Originally Posted by Observer

Konnan on his podcast talked about the possibility of Sofia Alonso leaving CMLL and starting her own promotion. This relates to the story in this week's Observer. All I can say about this is I'm stunned he said it publicly, but there is smoke to that fire.

Originally Posted by Observer

Scarlett Bordeaux has pulled out of a number of independent dates based on having signed a contract. She just had a WWE tryout.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE star Jeff Hardy was arrested yesterday evening in Moore County, North Carolina and charged with driving while impaired, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

The Moore County Police Department confirmed that Hardy was released around 11:30 PM last night from being incarcerated but declined to give additional details beyond what he has been charged with citing the fact that it is an ongoing investigation

Originally Posted by PWI

The latest digital album featuring unreleased versions of WWE theme songs "Uncaged X" is now available on all major streaming platforms. It features the following track listing:

1. Know Your Role (Nation Leader) [The Rock]
2. End of Days (I've Had Enough) [The Corre]
3. Sher (The Maharaja) [Jinder Mahal]
4. Interrogation (1998)
5. New Rockers (2007)
6. Not My Fault (2005)
7. Piracy (2006)
8. Quicksand (2006)
9. Southern Pride (2005)
10. New Kind of Power (Jeff Jarrett)
11. Who I Am (9th Wonder of the World) [Chyna]
12. Take a Pill (1997)
13.You Look so Good to Me (The Runway) [2003]
14. Man Beast (1997)
15. Too Much (1997)
16. Poetic Devastation (Virgil)
17. Addonas (1995)
18. You Better Recognize (D'Lo Brown)
19. Return the Hitman (Excellence of Execution) [Bret Hart]
20. Break an Egg (The Gobbledy Gooker)
21. Are You Ready? (Hall of Fame 2019) [D-Generation X]
22. With My Baby Tonight (Instrumental) [Jeff Jarrett & Jesse James]
23. Dark Side (Fully Loaded 1998) [Undertaker]
24. Medal (Retirement Medley) [Kurt Angle]
25 The Time Is Now (Champ Is Here) [John Cena]

Originally Posted by Fightful

Randy Orton appeared to have been drinking a bit while playing Call of Duty on a Twitch stream on Thursday. During the stream, Orton praised the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite.

"Speaking of Vince, that AEW looked fucking cool, huh? Did you watch that show last night? Oh my God! I'll tell you what. It's that big match feel, the big show feel. Cody and Sammy Guevara, that kid can do some shit. I'd love to work with that kid. They had a great match. I thought opening the show with that match was a good idea and well received" ...

The full stream was deleted as Orton used the N-word while gaming.

Originally Posted by Fightful

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Jim Ross was offered a spot on WWE Backstage, which is WWE's upcoming studio show on Fox Sports 1. Ross reportedly turned down the offer.

As previously reported, Fox, not WWE, is in charge of producing and handling of WWE Backstage. Jim Ross currently serves as the announcer for All Elite Wrestling, a direct competitor against WWE.

Fox being in charge of the show has been evident in recent weeks as it was reported that CM Punk tested on-camera for the show. In a recent interview with Collider Live, Punk confirmed the report that he met with Fox and tested on-camera, but did not say if they reached an agreement.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw last night dropped nine percent from last week, doing 2.33 million viewers on average.

The drop should have been expected since last week's number was heavily boosted by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, and this week was still above the 2.21 million number of two weeks ago, and going against far tougher competition.

The show probably got a boost from Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. Next week's episode should be high due to the draft. The negative reaction to the main event finish of Hell in a Cell was never going to have a statistical influence on ratings ...

The show was down only slightly from the 2.36 million mark the same week last year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.44 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.33 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.23 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The three-hour built around an angle involving boxer Tyson Fury averaged 2,334,000 viewers on the USA Network. Among people 18-49, Raw did a 0.75 for the night and was down from a 0.89 last week.

Originally Posted by PWI

TMZ.com was able to acquire a copy of Jeff Hardy's arrest report from his Driving While Impaired arrest on Thursday 10/3.

The police report notes that authorities received a tip about a careless driver around 8:40 PM.

Authorities located the car in front of a liquor store. Hardy emerged carrying a case of beer. Authorities followed the car and pulled him over when they "observed him weaving badly in his lane."

Hardy had "what seemed to be dried blood on his nose" and advisors officers that he and his wife "got into a fight."

The police report states that Hardy admitted to having two shots of vodka and admitted to being impaired. He failed a field sobriety test and according to TMZ was "was uncooperative when asked for a breathalyzer or blood sample." A judge signed off on a search warrant, allowing officers to extract a blood sample from Hardy, which was done after Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene.

Originally Posted by Observer

It appears that two expected WWE matches will be made official this Friday.

WWE has announced a press conference for noon Pacific time at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday. It will be with Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Cain Velasquez, Rey Mysterio, Braun Strowman, Tyson Fury, and Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

As of last week, Lesnar vs. Velasquez and Strowman vs. Fury were planned to take place at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 31.

Originally Posted by Observer

MLW has confirmed two new matches for their Saturday Night SuperFight pay-per-view.

Tom Lawlor vs. Timothy Thatcher is officially set for the PPV, which is taking place at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on Saturday, November 2. MLW National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone will also defend his title against Davey Boy Smith Jr. at the event.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE will kick off the Draft this Friday at the Friday Night Smackdown taping in Las Vegas with personalities from FOX and NBC Universal appearing to help draft WWE personalities to Raw and Smackdown. The word we are hearing is that once the Draft is done, there will be very little crossing over from one brand to another beyond WWE PPVs. The Draft will conclude on this Monday's Raw.

Originally Posted by PWI

Several readers sent word that AEW could conceivably be postponed tomorrow from its live airing on TNT. Each National League Playoff series are slated to go to Game 5 tomorrow. Ken McAndrew noted that yesterday, the early game went past the late game start, so they moved the late game to TNT until TBS cleared. Should that repeat itself, it's possible Dynamite's start time could be pushed back with the episode airing late.

Originally Posted by PWI

When asked why Havoc and Allin were being given a title oppportunity given that others have had better win/loss records on Twitter, Cody responded that the quality of their wins were being taken into consideration.

Originally Posted by PWI

AEW backer Shahid Khan was listed by Forbes as the 61st richest man in America on their most recent list, dated 10/02. Khan was listed as worth $7.8 billion. Vince McMahon also made the list, listed as worth $2.9 billion and ranked at #296.

Originally Posted by PWI

An arrest warrant was issued on 9/10 for Zachary Madsen, the man arrested after attacking WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart at the WWE Hall of Fame this past April, after he did not appear in court as scheduled on 9/9 in Kings Criminal Court in Brooklyn that day. Court records indicate the Nebraska native was returned on the warrant (which means he was picked up by authorities) and appeared before the court on 9/24. He is slated for another hearing on 11/12. Madsen is not currently listed as in custody.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Jake Hager was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday. He said he was recruited to join All Elite Wrestling by Chris Jericho with the two sharing a trainer in Josh Rafferty. Hager is adjusting his training schedule to accommodate his mid-week travel for Dynamite episodes and worked it out with Bellator, who he said was behind his decision to join AEW. Hager’s next fight is on October 25th when he fights Anthony Garrett at Bellator 231 in Uncasville, Connecticut. It’s going to be interesting to see how much they promote his fight on a rival cable network with Hager fighting on the Paramount Network while TNT has a partnership with ONE Championship.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Nyla Rose, Kia Stevens, and Jungle Boy spoke on a panel with Yahoo’s BUILD series about the launch of AEW Dynamite, the audience numbers from the debut, and their position in the industry. When asked how he landed in AEW, Moxley said it was Jericho that first alerted him that the company even existed. Moxley said he didn’t tell anyone in WWE, including friends, he was leaving other than his wife and Jericho was the first person he told, and Jericho said he needs to come to AEW. Shortly after, Moxley was on the phone with Cody and brought up to speed on AEW and called it great timing more than any other factor with the added bonus that Double or Nothing was in his hometown of Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

David Lagana notes on Tuesday that former TNA writer Matt Conway is working with the NWA as a producer on the new Power series.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Impact Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH are holding a tryout on Tuesday, October 22nd at the Can-Am Dojo in Windsor, Ontario. The tryout will be run by Naomichi Marufuji and Scott D’Amore with the winner being sent on an excursion to Japan with NOAH.

Originally Posted by PWI

John Cena appeared on NBC's Today Show this morning and commented on why he's cut back so much on his WWE performance schedule....and it's not Hollywood.

Cena explained that even if it wasn't for his film and TV schedule, he'd be actively performing less, noting, "My body just can't handle the schedule anymore.

Cena explained. "When I turned 40, I really took a look in the mirror and said, 'Hey, man, I know you really like this, but instead of two hundred fifty performances a year, from here on out, just do it a hundred times and do it well, and then it became, 'Just do it fifty times and do it well.' Now it's like, 'Hey, you really have to prepare to get ready to perform and then really recover after a performance.' "

Originally Posted by PWI

Boom Studios! revealed the creative team behind the upcoming New Day graphic novel set for a 2020 release. The team consists of writers Evan Narcisse and Austin Walker as well as artists Daniel Bayliss The book will chronicle the trio's journey through WWE detailing behind-the-scenes stories featuring each member.

Originally Posted by Lucha Blog

AA has announced the Invading LA show is postponed.

Dorian Roldan calls it "unexpected"

No new date has been determined.

Originally Posted by Observer

The eight teams taking part in this year’s Super Junior Tag League have been announced.

The tournament will begin at Korakuen Hall on October 16, which is just days after Kings of Pro Wrestling. The finals will take place at Power Struggle on November 3.

The teams for the tournament are:

Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura
Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero
Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles
SHO & YOH
Volador Jr. & Titan
TJP & Clark Connors
Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Missing from the tournament is Dragon Lee, who had been advertised previously on posters. Lee and his brother Rush were fired from CMLL last month.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On the newest edition of WWE ‘The Bump’, a statement from referee Rod Zapata was issued to The Bump. Zapata was the official for Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt’s Universal Championship match at Hell In A Cell that resulted in a no-contest. Here’s the statement: “With Bray motionless, and Seth clearly doing whatever it was going to take to win that match… I had to think of the competitor’s safety and at that moment, I did what I thought was best.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Count Tommaso Ciampa among the many who were displeased with how WWE Hell in a Cell ended. Competing inside Hell in a Cell, the main event between Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins was ruled a "match stoppage" after referee Rod Zapata rang the bell following Seth Rollins using a sledgehammer.

Appearing on WWE's The Bump, former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa gave his thoughts on the finish.

"From a performer standpoint, if Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: New Orleans ended by a ref stoppage, it's something that just doesn't fly in NXT. And that's what makes NXT the A Show."

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting that a new version of the old Watchlist feature called "My List" has appeared on the WWE Network for the Amazon Fire Stick devices. The feature essentially allows you to save content to watch later. This means that the feature will likely be coming to other devices soon, which I'm sure will make most users very happy. According to the app notes when you update, any old content from the previous platform you had in your Watchlist should carry over. As with the prior version of this feature, when you add stuff to your list, it will ask you if you want to add a singular event to your list or all the events in a certain category i.e. TV show, pay-per-view, etc.

Originally Posted by PWI

Alyse Zwick, a news reporter based in New York City, tweeted the following:

BEYONDDDD thrilled to join the @WWE family!! ????
Tune in to @WWENetwork ! I’ll be hosting every week with “your buddy...your pal” @scottstanford1 !!
This Week in WWE will air every Thursday night on #WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/j6Z71ogSDC
— Alyse Zwick (@IAmAlyseZwick) October 9, 2019

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

RISE Wrestling announced that Kylie Rae is slated to appear at their show on November 1st in Illinois. Kylie was recently announced for IMPACT Wrestling’s ‘All Glory’ show on-which she will be challenging for the Zelo Pro Women’s Championship as a part of a three-way match involving Shotzi Blackheart and champion, Laynie Luck.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Cody Rhodes appeared on the Joe Cronin Show and was asked about the AEW chants at the conclusion of WWE’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Cody shared that one of the participants in the Universal Championship main event left the bout concussed but did not say who. He admitted that hearing about the chants was flattering but would not gloat about it because of the injury he stated occurred during that match:

“When those come up… I wasn’t watching the pay-per-view but when those come up, everyone — your phone starts blowing up and your socials start blowing up. Whenever the crowd chants something whether it’s, ‘boring’, whether it’s the promotion, whether it’s your name, it means they want to be rewarded with something. When you’re in the ring, wrestling 101, and we know we want to reward them, so it was flattering. I wouldn’t be one to gloat about it only because I know one of the guys in that match got concussed and this job ain’t that easy but nonetheless, whenever we hear those chants, it’s more validation that what we’re doing and what we’ve been saying about this market existing is real.” Cody explained.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke with Scott Fishman of TV Insider. Levesque stated that NXT will not be making TakeOver events longer just because they now have a bigger bandwidth for storylines. Levesque added that the USA Network was thrilled with the rating NXT received on its first-ever episode on the network. The piece also featured comments from Johnny Gargano and Gargano expressed that he is welcoming of All Elite Wrestling and thinks it’s cool that people are enjoying wrestling.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Luke Harper's Twitter bio now reads

IG: @thislukeharper

DMs are wide open. Wwe threatened to fine me but it's cool when nxt talent cusses on Twitter.... got it.

Originally Posted by Fightful

NWA Powerrr premiered on Tuesday night on YouTube and Facebook to strong viewership numbers ...

Part of the YouTube viewership can be attributed to AEW Dark, which also premiered on Tuesday ...

NWA Vice President Dave Lagana told The Wrap that 22.1% of fans who watched NWA Powerrr came over on the suggested viewing from AEW Dark. Social Blade reports that NWA's YouTube channel gained 11,000 new subscribers over the past 24 hours

Originally Posted by Observerl

The Rock congratulated Jim Cornette and the NWA on the premiere of NWA Power: “Congrats Jim, the boys, crew etc. Stumbled across this show last night and enjoyed it. I grew up in territories and started my career at channel 5 in Memphis so I have a lot of love/respect for small scale, crowd tv shows. Cool vintage feel. Keep working hard boys. Rock”

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

As seen above, AEW World Champion Chris Jericho and actor Kevin Smith appeared on The Rich Eisen Show earlier today. Jericho was promoting AEW Dynamite and Smith was promoting the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot that hits theaters next week.

Smith and actor Jason Mewes appeared on last week's AEW Dynamite premiere from the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, to promote the "Reboot" movie. Smith revealed that they were disinvited from appearing on the WWE SmackDown FOX premiere a few nights later at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

"You know how big it was?," Smith asked during a discussion on the Dynamite premiere. "It was big enough that... me and Jay were lucky enough to be involved, Chris invited us to be involved with the debut match on TNT. We were supposed to go do WWE, me and Jay, the very next day, which was Friday. Was it Friday? SmackDown. And then the morning after... because we were on the AEW show, it trended, like, there was a lot of coverage and stuff. So, the next morning we were told that WWE was like, you can't come on anymore, and they canceled us. They kicked me and Jay off the show, but not in a crazy way."

Originally Posted by Observer

On what would have been his 52nd birthday, WWE posted a milestone video on Eddie Guerrero’s championship victories.

Originally Posted by Observer

Going up against the end of Major League Baseball's NLDS, AEW Dynamite dropped 28 percent in total viewers and 32 percent in the 18-49 demo last night, averaging 1,018,000 viewers on TNT and a 0.46 rating in that key demo.

Last night's truTV simulcast of Dynamite drew 122,000 viewers, so live/same-night DVR viewership was a smaller drop-off overall.

NXT was down a similar 32 percent in the 18-49 demo but down just 11 percent overall, coming in with 790,000 viewers.

AEW beat NXT in every demo except for people over 50, where NXT had a 0.50 rating as opposed to AEW's 0.40 ...

AEW finished eighth for the night in the 18-49 demo, while NXT dropped all the way to 27th. AEW did not rank in the top 25 on cable in terms of total viewers.

The strongest demo for AEW was males 18-49, where they scored a 0.66 rating, fifth for the night on cable.

Originally Posted by PWI

We have been told there have been some ideas tossed around for a new Steve Austin-WWE Network series in recent weeks.

Originally Posted by PWI

Q - Any update on CM Punk and FOX/WWE?

A - Nothing yet. We have not heard Punk has signed anything. He's in the middle of promoting his horror film "Girl on the Third Floor."

Originally Posted by PWI

A commercial airing on TNT last night touted 7 million viewers for AEW Dynamite, so that's likely including the replays and DVR viewings.

Originally Posted by PWI

The name of Chris Jericho's new stable is The Inner Circle. There was a plug for ProWrestlingTees.com releasing a shirt for the group on AEW last night and within seconds, it crashed their website. Basically, the idea is the Inner Circle will be The Legion of Doom to The Elite's Superfriends.

Originally Posted by PWI

The expectation among those we've spoken to within WWE is that tomorrow's press conference in Las Vegas will officially announce Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez and Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman for the 10/31 Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting that today's " Hidden Gem" coming today on the streaming service is the never-aired 27, 1999 WCW Telemundo "Festival De Lucha" pilot, which was taped in Waco, Texas. If that may sound a little familiar to you, one of the matches from the pilot has made it to the section before. The full pilot has the following matches:
*Felino, Super Boy & Villano V vs. Kendo, Silver King & Venum
*Damien, El Mosco & Halloween vs. La Parka, Salsero & Super Calo
*Blitzkrieg, Piloto Suicida & Raul vs. El Texano, Rey Misterio Sr. & Villano III
*Juventud Guerrera, Pirata Morgan & Psicopata vs. Hector Garza, Konnan & Rey Mysterio Jr.
*El Mosco, Felino & Juventud Guerrera vs. Piloto Suicida, Raul & Salsero
*Kaz Hayashi, Psychosis & Ron Rivera vs. Blitzkrieg, Kendo & La Parka
*Fidel Sierra, Pierroth Jr., Psicopata & Ricky Santana vs. El Texano, Rey Misterio Sr., Villano III & Villano V
*Chris Jericho, Johnny Swinger, Lenny Lane & Norman Smiley vs. Hector Garza, Konnan, Rey Mysterio Jr. & Silver King
*Disco Inferno vs. Konnan

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

AEW’s Alex Marvez noted on Twitter that Kip Sabian suffered a legit injury to his finger in a dark match prior to AEW: Dynamite going live on TNT from Boston.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and father of AEW President Tony Khan, Shad Khan was interviewed by Yahoo! Finance. Shad said that AEW is not looking to compete with WWE and talked about the type of fan[s] that AEW is looking to engage: “WWE is a great company, but we are not here competing with them. In the golden age of wrestling during the late 90s, there were 10 million fans. Now it’s down to 2 million. So we’re tapping into fans who were not engaged and quite frankly the younger fan who never got quite into it. Competition is good for everybody, but it’s very important for AEW to do our own thing.” He explained.

Shad talked about the launch of All Elite Wrestling and credited Tony for his passion and drive and just being a lifelong wrestling fan which is why he [Shad] supported Tony financially with this idea that has come to fruition: “It all started with my son Tony. It was his idea, his passion, his drive as a lifelong wrestling fan — so I’ve supported him financially. He kept talking about it, that we ought to do it, and here are the reasons why we should do it. I kept stress testing the idea, and then I struck a check to fund it because if you’re going to do it, it’s gotta be right. That was the most important thing,” He said. “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, but his idea, his passion, and his drive, and it’s off to a great start.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

FanSided interviewed AEW World Champion Chris Jericho and Jericho talked about the idea behind using “Judas” as his theme song and debuting it at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Jericho also praised longtime WWE composer Jim Johnston and is all for Johnston coming to All Elite Wrestling: “Judas is a song I started using at the Tokyo Dome because we’d been trying to go over to Japan, and for some reason we just couldn’t build a good enough market. I said well f–k it, we got 50,000 people in [the] Tokyo Dome, I’ll play Judas so they’ll have to hear it. I’ll just walk really slow to the ring, at least we get one spin, and you know it has a really great vibe to it, it’s very heavy. It’s very dark and deep. It’s the perfect ring music for me. So, I don’t think there’s any need to switch it up for that.” Jericho continued, “Jim Johnston, I will say though is a genius for really figuring out the vibe and the attitude of the character to give them music that really fit. They don’t have that now. The music now is very generic, just play heavy music here. Here’s a Japanese guy, just play Japanese stringed stuff. Jim would really talk to you and see what kind of person you were. Then would really bring something out in the song that fit perfectly. So, if Jim is out there looking for a job, hopefully he gets hired because dude, he’s one of the best.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Zack Ryder posted the following message to his Instagram page regarding the upcoming WWE Draft that kicks off on Friday Night SmackDown: “The #WWEDraft starts this week. Let’s be honest, I won’t be a top draft pick. I’ll probably find out if I’m staying on #Raw or going to #Smackdown by reading @wwe.com. That’s fine. It doesn’t make me angry. It motivates me even more. I’ve made an entire career out of proving people wrong…and I fully intend on continuing that and making the most out of every opportunity. (But I sure wouldn’t mind getting drafted to #Smackdown with @thecurthawkins to add those Blue Tag Team titles to my collection) #StillHere”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

English boxing manager and promoter Frank Warren spoke with Metro and expressed that he is weary of Tyson Fury’s activities in the WWE because he doesn’t want Fury to further open any cuts that are healing from Fury’s fight against Otto Wallin in September: “Tyson Fury loves it,” Warren said about the guest appearances on WWE. “That brawl clip doing the rounds on social media has something like 4 million views. Madness. His profile gets bigger every time and he’s doing us promoters a real favor by going on WWE. But truthfully, I don’t like the risk of his cut opening up. Tyson’s a law unto himself. It’s risky though, no doubt about that. In an ideal world I’d prefer he didn’t do it, but it’s all about the bigger picture for him. He’s a natural wrestling star.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Michael Mulvihill, FOX Sports Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy joined Jimmy Traina on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. Mulvihill stated that FOX was very pleased with the rating SmackDown did for its debut show on FOX and went into strategy and talked briefly about analytics in regard to SmackDown ...

Michael explained that FOX does not expect SmackDown to do that 4 million number every week but does expect them to beat out what SmackDown had been averaging on the USA Network: “I’m gonna probably give you a more vague answer than what you want, right?” He laughed. “Because I don’t want to put a specific number to it but I will tell you that… I don’t think there’s a realistic expectation that we’re going to see the number that we saw last Friday every week. We know that-that was sort of an extraordinary debut and the show will now have to settle at a cruising altitude. So, without putting a precise number to it, I think we have an opportunity to be maybe double what we’d previously been doing on FOX on Friday nights which was probably 1.2 million. I’d like to think that we can be meaningfully bigger than what the show had been averaging on USA which was more like 2.2. million. So, hopefully that kind of gives you a ballpark idea of where I would expect us to be and where I’d like for us to be, without being too precise,” he shared. “If we can feel six months from now, that we have grown the show, versus what it was doing with the previous rights holder and that we have grown our Friday night primetime and provided a better lead-in for our affiliate late local news… if we can just convert on those points, we’re gonna be happy.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Dragon Lee is slated to compete at four Ring of Honor events next month: The Experience in Pittsburgh on Nov. 2nd; ROH Unauthorized in Columbus, Ohio on Nov. 3rd; and Survival of the Fittest Night 1 in Dallas on Nov. 9th and Night 2 in San Antonio on Nov. 10th.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Ember Moon is currently out with a leg injury. The report indicates that she suffered "an ankle or an Achilles injury," but not further details are provided. Meltzer goes on to report the injury will keep her out a "decent length of time," though the timetable would change depending on the type of injury.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Luke Harper changed his Twitter bio to "IG: @thislukeharper DMs are wide [censored] open. I've never been more happy!" It previously read, "IG: @thislukeharper DMs are wide open. Wwe threatened to fine me but it’s cool when nxt talent cusses on Twitter…. got it.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

It was announced during the premiere episode of NWA Powerrr that the company will return to Atlanta on December 14 - 16.

Originally Posted by Squared Circle Sirens

So Dave reported that the MYC WAS scheduled on November 3rd and it got pushed back to next year which is the same thing I was told.

They had makeup artist booked and Full Sail booked for those dates as well from what I know.