Originally Posted by Simple Fan (Post 5303221)

What does hat even mean?

Originally Posted by Seph (Post 5303228)

Like so many other things on a daily basis, this flew right over your head.

Originally Posted by Observer

With a loaded up go-home show featuring several appearances by wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown, NXT managed to squeak out a win for the first time in the Wednesday Night Wars.

NXT averaged 916,000 viewers, up 22 percent from last week and the best number the show has done against AEW. They did still trail in the important 18-49 demo with a 0.30 rating. That was up 20 percent from last week and tied the November 6 episode for NXT's second-best number since the start of the wars.

AEW Dynamite trailed with 893,000 viewers but had a 0.39 rating in the 18-49 demo. That was good for eighth on the night in cable. NXT finished 13th. AEW was down nine percent in the demo and seven percent overall in terms of viewers from last week's post-Full Gear episode.

As per usual, Dynamite beat NXT in every demo except for persons over 50, where NXT had a bigger than usual advantage of 0.40 to 0.29. It's logical to assume it did better in that demo due to the influx of Raw and SmackDown performers who would be more familiar to that older audience

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Compared to last week, the largest gains for NXT were among women with 18-49 up 22% and 12-34 increasing by 20%. People 25-54 improved 21% from last week’s figure. They also tapped into the older audience with the over 50 demographic improving 14%.

On the AEW side, they were hit among people 18-34, which dropped 26.5% and males 12-34 fell 25%. The 50+ audience remained unchanged from last week, so this wasn’t a case of older AEW fans turning over to NXT this week.

The larger question is how NXT reacts to this number and if it’s a signal of future involvement of Raw and SmackDown talent to inflate their viewership. It becomes a different show at that point if the Raw and SmackDown talent becoming the stars of the show, which they need to be if they are going to be difference makers.

For AEW, it was a strong show on paper but didn’t have the feel of a lineup that was designed to spike the number while NXT was a hotshot style of show and not a formula that can work every week

Originally Posted by Observer

All four matches have now been revealed for the opening round of MLW's Opera Cup.

MLW announced the final first-round matchup for the tournament this morning, with Timothy Thatcher set to face Richard Holliday. The Opera Cup is a one-night tournament that's taking place at MLW's television tapings at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, December 5.

Originally Posted by PWI

BJ Whitmer, the husband of Kelly Klein, the reigning ROH Women of Honor Champion, stated on Twitter that Klein was fired by the promotion this past Tuesday, writing, "Now that the cat is out of the bag. Yes, my wife@RealKellyKlein was fired by @ringofhonor COO Joe Koff, via email Tuesday evening. Not a phone call, an EMAIL. Kelly is still very much suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome and was fired while still injured."

Klein has been out of action since ROH's United Kingdom tour. She has been the primary focus of the company's Women of Honor division for some time and was the promotion's only two-time WOH Champion. She had most recently been feuding with The Allure.

We are told Klein's current deal expires 12/31 but the two sides had been in discussions for a new deal.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor issued the following statement to PWInsider.com:

"We don’t generally discuss personal issues but they seem to have made it public – we didn’t fire [Kelly Klein], we just notified her that we would not be renewing her contract."

As PWInsider.com noted, Klein's current deal expires on 12/31.

There was no comment on the status of the Women of Honor Championship.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Joey Mercury posted another screenshot of text messages between himself and ROH GM Greg Gilleland. This set of text messages included Gilleland calling Bullet Club’s Hikuleo a “waste of $”. Chase Owens grabbed a screenshot of Mercury’s screenshot which made its way to Hikuleo. The big man would go on to post the text messages onto his own Twitter with the following caption:

“Appreciate the amount of support coming from this, much love to you all….know your worth, i know mine, and i know once this excursions done, it’ll be 10x that….wonder if greg will still be around then”

Originally Posted by PWI

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez was at the WWE Performance Center this week, working out, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Velasquez is set to perform at WWE's next event in Mexico, his second-ever WWE bout and his fourth professional wrestling match, period.

Cain Velazquez and Humberto Carillo vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson is set for WWE's Supershow in Mexico City on 11/30.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Denzel Curry’s song ‘Ricky’ is an official theme song for NXT TakeOver: WarGames.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Stone Cold Steve Austin was interviewed by Newsweek to promote the debut of ‘Broken Skull Sessions’ on the WWE Network. Austin’s first guest will be The Undertaker and during the [Newsweek] interview, Austin talked about how people would come up to him in airports and ask if Undertaker was dead or alive.

“People say, ‘Man I can’t believe his voice sounds like that’. You’re used to hearing him as The Undertaker. That’s one of the biggest things people used to ask is if he was alive or dead. That’s how shielded this guy was. People at the airport would ask if he was alive or dead. Well he’s alive, and he has a regular voice, and he’s a very charismatic and engaging guy, and very down to earth. You’ll enjoy the conversation, and [it will] catch a lot of people off guard because of how laid back he is.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Following NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Paul “Triple H” Levesque is doing a Q&A with Cathy Kelley that will be streamed on Facebook Live.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Jim Cornette confirmed he doesn't have an Instagram account and thus the apology floating around didn't come from him.

Originally Posted by Observer via r/SquaredCircle

[WOL] Dave: "The gist of the situation from what I understand from the NWA, a big aspect of it was that Cornette would not apologize, and that was an impasse."

Originally Posted by Fightful

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reports Nikki Cross has signed a new multi-year deal with WWE. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cross originally signed with WWE in April 2016. She spent two-plus years in NXT, aligning with Sanity, before being moving to the main roster on a permanent basis in the winter of 2018 ...

She is currently scheduled to be part of Team SmackDown in the Women's Elimination Match at Survivor Series.

Originally Posted by Fightful

For years, detractors have declared that pay-per-view is dead. FITE and GCW seem to be making it work just fine.

In an age of $9.99 streaming services, Game Changer Wrestling has found an outstanding niche in streaming their events on pay-per-view. From Bloodsport to Joey Janela's Spring Break, the GCW shows have become some of the most in-demand events outside of national wrestling. FITE COO Mike Weber seems like he couldn't be happier with the marriage ...

Back to the topic of the success story that is GCW, Weber noted that the promotion sees buys for shows that happened, weeks, months, even a year ago.

"I don’t want to sit here and make this the GCW show, but they are definitely ones that started off sorta small and didn’t have a long track record before hand. And who have, I almost think they’re pinching themselves considering where they’re at. You know, the funny thing about them, they do so many shows—I just looked at our sales this morning and what’s interesting about them is, so we’ve been airing their shows for a year now. And they’ve probably had buys, maybe not a lot of buys, for individual shows over 25-30 shows this week. You gotta remember these are people buying a show that took place four months, six months, eight months ago," said Weber.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

For the first time since the Wednesday Night head-to-head battle started, WWE won the night on 11/20 with overall viewership although realistically if someone would be shook up by the results, it should be WWE ...

NXT did 916,000 viewers (1.26 viewers per home) and AEW did 893,000 viewers (1.40 viewers per home). Head-to-head was slightly closer at 906,000 for NXT not including the overrun ...

52 percent of the NXT viewership was over the age of 50 as compared to 34 percent for AEW.

NXT won the first three quarters overall and five of eight ...

In the key 18-49 demo, AEW fell to 0.39, trailing the debates on MSNBC, the NBA on ESPN and lost the second hour to MTV War of the World’s Challenge. NXT did a 0.30 ...

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with Nick Jackson vs. Rey Fenix and did 912,000 viewers and 498,000 in 18-49. NXT opened with a Becky Lynch promo and Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley, doing 1,047,000 viewers and 430,000 in 18-49 ...

The second segment saw AEW with Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida do 862,000 viewers, a loss of 50,000, and 472,000 in the key demo, a loss of 26,000. NXT had the end of Lynch vs. Ripley, an interbrand brawl, Ricochet vs. Matt Riddle and another interbrand brawl. It did 1,072,000 viewers for the peak, an increase of 25,000, and 450,000 in the key demo, an increase of 20,000. Even though NXT skews heavily post-50, the gains here were young, but still you had a far stronger star power hour losing in the key demo to Baker vs. Shida.

The third segment saw AEW with the Dark Order and beginning of the Battle Royal doing 875,000 viewers, a gain of 13,000, and 497,000 in 18-49, a gain of 25,000 (meaning older losses). NXT did 918,000 for the beginning of Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Revival, a loss of 154,000 viewers. It also did 387,000 in 18-49, a loss of 63,000. The idea of a great match means a great deal to the AEW younger audience, but to the NXT older audience, what also promised to be a great match lost even in the younger demo, but heavily in the older demo.

The fourth segment for AEW was the end of the Battle Royal and the beginning of the Chris Jericho interview, which did 973,000 viewers, an increase of 98,000. It did 556,000 in 18-49, an increase of 59,000. NXT had the bulk of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Revival, which did 851,000 viewers, a drop of 67,000, and 369,000 in 18-49, a drop of 18,000 ...

The fifth segment for AEW was the Jericho interview, SCU coming out, the post match brawl and Luchasaurus vs. Peter Avalon, which did 1,004,000 viewers, a gain of 21,000. In 18-49, it did 582,000, a gain of 26,000. For NXT, it was the end of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Revival and beginning of Dakota Kai vs. Kay Lee Ray, which did 828,000 viewers, a drop of 23,000 overall. In 18-49, it fell to 363,000 viewers, drop of 6,000 ...

The sixth segment for AEW was Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, which lost 196,000 viewers to 810,000. It also fell to 472,000 in 18-49, a drop of 110,000. For NXT, it was the bulk of Kai vs. Ray and beginning of Viking Raiders vs. Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. This did 876,000 viewers, gaining 48,000, and 391,000 in 18-49, a gain of 28,000. It’s very clear there was both switching off AEW and switching to NXT here.

The seventh segment for AEW, the post-match of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, and the Moxley vs. Allin intros, that did 806,000, a drop of 4,000, and 456,000 in 18-49, a drop of 19,000. For NXT, it was 840,000 viewers total, a loss of 36,000 and 362,000 in 18-49, a loss of 28,000.

AEW’s final segment was Moxley vs. Allin, which did 899,000, an increase of 83,000, and 508,000 in 18-49, an increase of 52,000. NXT did 821,000 for Cole vs Dijakovic in the ladder match, a drop of 19,000, and 359,000 in 18-49, a loss of 3,000.

The NXT overrun with the ladder match and the last T-shirt brawl gained 229,000 viewers to 1,050,000, but they were mostly older viewers as 18-49 after AEW ended did 447,000 viewers, an increase of 88,000 ...

The overrun, largely the AEW audience that transferred to watch the end of NXT was 9,000 teenagers, 6,000 women 18-34, 12,000 women 35-49, 41,000 men 18-34, 35,000 men 35-49 and 120,000 over 50.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

C.M. Punk’s first full-night with WWE affiliation led WWE Backstage to an 80 percent increase in viewers with an 0.17 rating and 180,000 viewers (1.25 viewers per home) ...

The four quarters were 195,000, 184,000, 175,000 and 165,000. If the show can maintain numbers close to 125,000 it would have to be considered a solid success given the station and the time slot. Reviews were positive of the show, largely built around him. Punk came across as honest, and not at all a shill. It was very clear the show still didn’t broach any serious topics, such as wrestlers who were wanting out or the Saudi Arabia trip which led to a number of wrestlers vowing to never go back.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The latest wrestler to ask for their release is Chris Girard (Oney Lorcan, 33). Girard changed his social media accounts to Biff Busick, the name he was using on the indie scene from 2009 until September 2015, when he signed here. He used his real name for a short period of time before taking on the Oney Lorcan name. He hasn’t wrestled since losing to Lio Rush on the 10/25 205 Live show. He had been unhappy for some time. Girard is a very intense solid worker. He was put into 205 Live and also worked with NXT, mostly as a tag team partner of Danny Burch

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There is talking of cutting back on NXT house shows, particularly in Florida, in 2020. The attendance has gone down pretty significantly in the last year. The talk is to cut back on Thursday shows because they are the weakest drawing night. According to one person familiar with the Florida scene, the issue is local burnout.

There’s not one specific reason, but a number of things that they believe have hurt attendance, some of which has to do with the divergence of fans (the respectful fan vs. old school fan who comes to yell at heels and make noise and often drink a lot and try and rile up heels leaves both fans not having fun when you’re in a small building with so few fans). Then it becomes an issue with security, as if they let the old school fans go, the new school fans are mad the crowd isn’t respectful and it’s no fun, or they think the crowd is cheering match quality and not booing heels and it’s no fun.

There are also issues of not advertising talent and attending shows with such few television names and mostly non-TV guys, and that has hurt as well. Plus, the key guys like Tommaso Ciampa, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and others don’t work the Florida house shows ever or infrequently due to the injuries, and there are weeks when there is the out-of-Florida tour and that cuts back on talent. And there aren’t the legit drawing cards like people like Balor, Nakamura and Ricochet were

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The 11/15 CMLL show at Arena Mexico drew 8,000 fans, although it was a two-for-one ticket special. That is basically Mexico’s Black Friday so there were all kinds of deals with two-for-ones and three-for-ones all over Mexico City.

The biggest news was political. At the show they were honoring Tiger Hattori, who is retiring from New Japan at the end of the year. Chavo Lutteroth, the son of the original Salvador Lutteroth, who has now taken back over after the death of Paco Alonso, was out with his son. He has now turned the promotion over to his son. Sofia Alonso, who briefly ran the promotion until Chavo pulled her and started cutting people’s pay, which led to Rush quitting, was back. When her father was alive, she would have been front and center as the face of the promotion during the ceremony. Sofia hasn’t been around for weeks and she was there but never did anything related to the show. Chavo Lutteroth during the ceremony, talked about how his father built all of these arenas and if it wasn’t for his father, there would be no Lucha Libre. Generally, his father is credited with importing the pro wrestling that he saw in Texas into Mexico

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

For whatever this is worth, Marty Scurll is not advertised on Final Battle and given the tease on BTE, one would put AEW as the favorites to get him. His contract expires on 11/30. Scurll owns the rights to the name Villain Club, so he could bring it with him to AEW, WWE or New Japan if he or they wanted it. The belief is that Scurll’s two places he most wants to go are AEW, which many thought it was a given from the day it was launched and I’ll just say it was not a given but certainly always a chance, or New Japan, but New Japan could mean staying with ROH and working more New Japan. You can’t say WWE isn’t a contender, as he lives in Florida and he’d be a lock to be a top star in NXT, but the strong sense is that isn’t happening

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

[AEW] At one point there were plans to run a spring break at Club La Vela, which was one of the most unique Nitro shows of the year in its heyday, but that club is currently shut down between both a hurricane and a fire in recent years

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW has revealed their third set of top-five roster rankings.

The rankings are released on Fridays. The first set was revealed on the night before Full Gear, with the second set being released last week.

Here are the updated rankings for each division:
Men's division --

1. PAC (4-1-1 singles record, 4-2-1 overall)
2. Jon Moxley (3-0-1 singles record, 3-1-1 overall)
3. Cody Rhodes (3-1-1 singles record, 4-2-1 overall)
4. Hangman Page (4-3 singles record, 5-5 overall)
5. Kenny Omega (3-2 singles record, 6-4 overall)

Women's division --

1. Hikaru Shida (3-1 singles record, 4-1 overall)
2. Britt Baker (3-2 singles record, 6-3 overall)
3. Emi Sakura (1-1 singles record, 2-3 overall)
4. Nyla Rose (2-3 singles record, 3-3 overall)
5. Allie (1-2 singles record, 3-2 overall)

Tag team division --

1. The Lucha Bros (4-3 tag team record, 5-5 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 6-4 overall record for Fenix)
2. The Young Bucks (4-3 tag team record, 7-4 overall record for Matt Jackson, 7-5 overall record for Nick Jackson)
3. Private Party (4-4 tag team record, 4-6 overall)
4. Santana & Ortiz (2-1 tag team record, 3-1 overall)
5. The Dark Order (3-2 tag team record, 4-2 overall)

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Kelly Klein has clarified some of the key points in her recent issues among Ring of Honor management. On Thursday, it was revealed that Klein had been notified that her contract would not be renewed after its expiration, which Dave Meltzer notes is on December 31st. Klein went into details about a concussion she suffered while in the UK with Ring of Honor and the help that Joey Mercury, who she stated was done with the company, provided her in canceling a booking in South Africa. Klein’s issue is that Mercury was technically done with ROH and the company did not have the proper people in place to take care of her while concussed and make proper decisions in her altered state from the concussion. Below are Klein’s statements regarding the matter that were posted Friday mainly to clarify she was not forced to wrestle while concussed by ROH and didn’t work the date in South Africa:

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Tickets for Joey Janela’s Spring Break IV went on sale today for their WrestleMania weekend event on Friday, April 3rd at The Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida. According to the Eventbrite ticket site, they have sold out the 2nd, 5th, and 6th-row ringside seats along with all the elevated seats on the risers. General admission seats are available at $35 but are standing room only and you can also get tickets front row ringside ($210), 3rd row ringside ($85), 4th row ringside ($80), 7th row ringside ($50), and there are luxury boxes available for $349. Spring Break has become one of the major events of the weekend. So far, the only announcement for the show is that The Great Muta will be on the card. The capacity for this year’s show is much larger than the set up in 2019 with The Cuban Club able to hold in the range of 3,500 – 4,000 in their courtyard.

Originally Posted by Fightful

There is a huge mess associated with Kelly Klein, ROH Women of Honor Champion. She was informed Tuesday that her deal would expire without renewal, as she's dealing with a concussion.

Fightful has spent the evening speaking with several in Ring of Honor talent, who seem to unanimously (at least based on who we spoke to) sympathize with Klein's position. Klein had been making $20,000 per year, and was rejected a raise to $24,000 initially. There were also several on the roster who mentioned the talent summit, implying they would speak out there, though no one specifically said they would.

The two sides had been in negotiations that would have resulted in some back pay to the summer and a possible three-year deal higher than the raise she sought out, but there were snags along the way involving hotel room reimbursement and the like that we're told neither side would budge on. One ROH talent told us that Klein should have had a raise well before this, and knew of other talents who used the same negotiating tactics as her and prevailed, whereas she didn't initially.

A lot of the women's deals have been constructed similarly in the past, to where they either make $500 per date or $20,000 per year. Initially a lot of the women's deals were for $12,000 per year when the division started before being bumped up. There were frustrations expressed among some talent that ROH officials actually put in writing that all the women on the roster made the same amount of money, with no wiggle room, and it was significantly less than their male counterparts.

Originally Posted by Fightful

On the latest episode of his Jim Cornette Experience podcast, Cornette detailed his position and explained why the comment wasn't racist. Cornette started by saying NWA Vice President David Lagana called him to address the comment, wondering if he would apologize.

"How can I apologize for something I didn't say? That these people are mad that I don't like their favorite wrestler, said I said. They're butthurt and they take it the wrong way and try to get offended. I can't apologize because I didn't say that. However, you can reprimand me for it and tell me how serious you're taking it. And that's the statement they put out. And I said I would continue to not do the things I didn't do," Cornette said in reference to the NWA apologizing on behalf of Cornette of his comments about suicide. "In this case, I said, 'David, this was a taped show. What did you think about it when you heard it?' He said, 'Well, it went right past me.' I said, 'You think?' 'They are so upset on Twitter.' That's another thing I've talked about with him before. If you give these people the idea that every time they complain about something, you'll just jump around apologizing whether it was said or meant in a bad way, then they'll do it all the time. He's already proven he will do that," he said.

Cornette continued, "Someone said, 'If he hadn't said chicken, it would have been fine.' Well, a bucket of chicken sounds funnier than a fucking plate of sushi or ham sandwich. So it happened to be that, because it was funny. Ethiopia is a place where people are fucking starving. It's a starvation joke. Not a race joke. Whether it was a good joke or bad joke, it was a joke that's been told on TBS, USA Network, broadcast TV stations across America for the past 30 years. Suddenly, it isn't good for YouTube" ...

Finally, Cornette did sort of apologize for the comment.

"I didn't mean it in any racist way. I think the people that took it as racist must think that's the only things on peoples mind when they think of black people and chicken. For all the people overblown about this, fuck you. People who were mildly offended, I apologize because it wasn't meant that way. To anyone who was legitimately offended by a bad joke in a 'kinda sorta' way and would accept a reasonable apology as humans sometimes do; Yes, I'm sorry because I didn't intend it that way. For people who thought it was various stages of hilarious or just rolled their eyes, then I don't need to apologize. For people who think I was 'fuckity mcfuck cunt face' on television and professing Nazi ideology and expressing hate for a variety of people and I should be boiled in oil and have my fat sold for soap for a bad joke; fuck you. I don't care if you don't like me," he stated.

The Ethiopian comment was the second time NWA had to issue an apology on behalf of Cornette. The first came when he "joked" about suicide on social media.

When asked whether it was true that he resigned or if he was fired, Cornette stated, "[Lagana] didn't get a chance to fire me if he was going to because I got wound up, I was talking, he was listening, and I said, 'Fuck it, it aint fun anymore. You don't want this. I don't want this and I'm fucking sick of it and I'm fucking done.' And I hung up on him."

Cornette also said the job was no longer fun due to the apologies he was being asked to give and felt he was distracting from what the NWA was trying to do.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw last night averaged 2.11 million viewers, the second lowest non-holiday number of the modern era.

That was down one percent from the prior week, but in a sense this is worse because of two factors. The first is that the Baltimore Ravens blow-out win over the Los Angeles Rams (45-6) led to the NFL number declining 13 percent from last week to 10.93 million viewers. The second is this show was the day after Survivor Series, so it should have been expected to get a significant bump ...

It was down 11 percent from the same week last year ...

The shocking number was hour one coming off the pay-per-view.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.24 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.19 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.90 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Monday’s three-hour episode averaged 2,109,000 viewers with the only episodes in recent years to fall below that figure being the taped November 11th show from England two weeks ago (2,057,000), and last year’s Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve shows (1,775,000 and 1,968,000 respectively). In total viewers, Raw was nearly identical with last week’s figure of 2,127,000.

Originally Posted by Observer

Two title matches have been made official for this week's post-Survivor Series edition of NXT.

WWE has announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) will defend their titles against Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic on tomorrow's show. Akira Tozawa will also challenge for Lio Rush's NXT Cruiserweight Championship tomorrow night.

Originally Posted by Observer

James Storm is getting a World title shot in the main event of the NWA's Into the Fire pay-per-view.

On tonight's episode of NWA Power, it was announced that NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis will defend his title against former National Champion James Storm in the main event of Into the Fire. The PPV is taking place at GPB Studios in Atlanta on Saturday, December 14 and will be available via Fite TV.

Originally Posted by Observer

Becky Lynch today has surpassed Ronda Rousey’s Raw Women’s championship title run, making her the longest reigning champion at 232 days.

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH has officially confirmed Marty Scurll's match for Final Battle.

It will be Villain Enterprises (Scurll & Flip Gordon) vs. Bandido & Flamita at the December 13 pay-per-view. The match was announced via a video that Scurll posted today. Scurll mentioned that there's a lot of speculation about his whereabouts, then said he's agreed to wrestle at Final Battle and gets to choose his own match.

Scurll also said that his match will go on first at the PPV.

Dave Meltzer reported on Scurll's status with ROH in last Friday's Daily Update: "Marty Scurll will be on the 12/13 Final Battle show even though his contract expires prior to that date. Scurll had agreed while talks were going on, that no matter what, he would work that show. He has not signed a new deal with ROH so when that match is officially announced, don't take it as meaning he has."

Originally Posted by PWI

Since WWE NXT won the battle for "brand supremacy" at Survivor Series over the weekend, PWInsider.com has received a slew of emails asking whether that was step one in putting the NXT brand on the road and broadcasting out of larger venues on Wednesday nights.

As of this writing, the answer to that question is no.

PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that NXT remains contractually locked into regular Wednesday night dates at Full Sail Live in Winter Park, Florida through the end of March 2020. So, if WWE was planning on pulling the trigger and taking NXT out on the road, it's not going to happen immediately.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE applied to trademark 'Barely Legal' and 'Cyberslam' ...

Barely Legal was the title of the first ECW PPV in April 1997.

Cyberslam was an annual event held in Philadelphia based around an Internet fan convention, held from February 1996 through February 2000 before the company shuttered operations in early 2001.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Chuck Carroll of CBS spoke with Xavier Woods, who noted there is no timetable for his return from Achilles tear. "Could be 5 months. Could be 9 months. There's a lot of wiggle room," said Woods.

Originally Posted by Fightful

After a decade of being 'The Deadman,' Undertaker transformed into the 'American Badass' in May 2000, playing a biker instead of a phenom. The change helped refresh the character, giving Undertaker extra legs at the end of the Attitude Era. Speaking to Steve Austin on the Broken Skull Sessions, Undertaker revealed why he decided to make the switch.

"I think that's my best attribute is being able to figure out -- I always felt like, if I started feeling stale, my audience is probably feeling it before me. You get wrapped up in what you're doing. The small changes, the breaks at the right time. I don't think I would have made it through if I hadn't changed when I did to go to the American Badass. I don't think the [Deadman] character would have lasted through the Attitude Era. I was too handcuffed for our content. I had already been there for 9-10 years. I needed the handcuffs off and let them see a different variation, which opened the door to when I brought the gimmick back, I kept a little bit of everything."

Undertaker continued, "So many variables there. One, the bike. I had been off close to a year. I had a big-time groin injury. And about three weeks before I came back, I tore my peck. It ended up being close to 8 or 9 months that I was off TV. Not only am I coming back, I'm coming back as a completely different dude. You're running through all those (scenarios). Everything that could go wrong. If this doesn't work, you're dead right there. Fortunately, it was the right move at the right time."

Undertaker would evolve the 'American Badass' character into 'Big Evil,' which was a heel take on the gimmick. The 'American Badass' gimmick lasted until 2003 when Kane buried Undertaker alive at Survivor Series. Undertaker returned as the 'Deadman' at WrestleMania XX.

Originally Posted by Observer Radio via r/SquaredCircle

In the final segments of today's WOR, Meltzer speaks on the DVR numbers for both Wednesday night shows from Oct 2 until mid November, which he had enquired about this morning.

He didn't go into deep specifics, but indicated both shows are picking up an extra couple of hundred thousand viewers on DVR, but since people watching on DVR are more likely to skip commercials, that won't be of much help when if comes to working contracts when they are up for renewal.

Originally Posted by Observer

Survivor Series was the 12th most searched topic on Google yesterday [Sunday] with 200,000. That indicates less mainstream interest for a major WWE show than anyone in a long time. Usually a big four WWE show will get 500,000 or up.

Originally Posted by Observer=PWI

Bruno Sammartino, a documentary on the late, great WWE Hall of Famer, will officially open theatrically after many years of preparation this Friday in both New York City and Santa Monica, CA. The run is in advance of a planned, larger release and is being done, in part, to insure the film will be eligible for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Following the Survivor Series, the story involving Corey Graves and Mauro Ranallo is one of the items most are focused on. Graves did not remove the tweets referencing Ranallo’s commentary on TakeOver this past Saturday, which led to Ranallo going home and not appearing at the Survivor Series where he was set to call several matches. On the broadcast, they announced that Ranallo’s voice was gone but that was their way of explaining his absence with the plan for him to return this Wednesday. Graves continued Monday by lashing out at Frank Shamrock (Ranallo’s manager) and Dave Meltzer for his reporting on the story. Shamrock invited Graves to stop by stating he was in Los Angeles or he could call him.

In foresight and hindsight, it was a bad idea to come up with the on-air excuse of Ranallo’s voice, but you must imagine WWE’s intentions were to address his absence with minimal attention and just move on. I don’t think there is anyone that has not pieced everything together and can see the real reason Ranallo didn’t work the show on Sunday.

Rather than just apologize for an ill-thought-out series of tweets, Graves is just on the attack and it’s a bad look for both him and the company. I would say that when emotions are at a high, which they appear to be, Twitter is not the avenue to venture down. My hope is that cooler heads prevail and that Graves does realize fault and makes an apology and allow the tension to die down. Graves did not make things better today and it would be best for him to stay offline and away from the comments, which are going to heavily lean on Ranallo’s side given his issues and that most believe he was just doing his job. It’s not an argument that announcers are above criticism but it’s a separate scenario when it’s done on a public forum through Twitter as opposed to privately between colleagues.

The next question is whether Ranallo goes to NXT this Wednesday. If he does the appearance, then the story will probably die down and all parties move on but if he’s not there it’s obviously a bigger story.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Over the weekend, Kenny Omega spoke with Dave Meltzer and Jim Valley on Wrestling Observer Radio in a wide-ranging discussing AEW following the Full Gear event and numerous subjects about the state of the company. One issue discussed was the other side of the argument when it comes to the schedule. One of the ways AEW has distinguished itself is a less intensive road schedule with one taping per week. It’s great for guys that have done the intense WWE schedule and should preserve performers without the wear and tear of three or four shows per week. However, younger talent requires that experience and Omega discussed that aspect of AEW and the issues the schedule creates:

"We’ve always wanted to motivate people outside of AEW to try to find ways to get that ring time. We have not shut the doors on any outside bookings. We always encourage talent if they have a home promotion, if you want to do a Japan tour, a Japan stop or whatever please do it. That’s the one thing we don’t have right now and I wish we did. We don’t have anything like a Dojo or Performance Center and it’s kind of hurting us. There are people that would benefit greatly from having more ring time. I’m sure that change in the future but for now, the lack of having that, it’s a worry for me – not in the immediate future but for people we are trying to develop because there is talent that is going to be green that we are going to sign and give a chance to and they need to be put on a fast-track or whatever. Even if there is a move a guy wants to try, if there’s no ring to try it in or a sequence or whatever, they’ll never know if it’s going to work in the match. These are things that are pretty important, that need to be looked at and need to be addressed and I’m sure that it’s going to be a non-issue eventually but for now, it is, unfortunately, an issue for us."

Originally Posted by Fightful

While Omega is obviously high on the division he helps run, fans have quickly pointed out that the women's division is often overlooked on AEW Dynamite. When asked about why the division doesn't get as much time as the men's division, Omega placed some blame on himself while also pointing to a lack of time.

"I want the women to have the largest stage possible on Dynamite and Dark. I'm fighting for it every week for them to have more time," stated Omega. "'Cut mine, I don't care.' When you have such a focus on the (tag team title) tournament, which took up so much time on each episode, it was two to one titles. I have to put blame on myself because I had the angle with [Jon] Moxley as well. At the end of the day, there's only so much time in an episode. It's almost amazing how fast it gets eaten up. We haven't been able to focus on women as much as I'd like. Some of it has been availability. We have girls signed and hopping on board. I hate to say 'wait til 2020,' but I can safely say in 2020 there are going to be interesting and exciting signings that will shake up the division. As soon as we have a women's tag division, that will balance (things) more and give the women more of a stage. Once there's that 'thing' for them to fight for, you're going to see more time devoted per episode for the women."

Originally Posted by Observer

Following last week's episode that featured a heavily promoted appearance by CM Punk, Tuesday's edition of WWE Backstage on FS1 averaged 121,000 viewers, down from 180,000 last week.

An appearance by WWE COO Paul "HHH" Levesque was the most promoted aspect from this week's show as Punk was not advertised to appear. This week's panel featured regulars Renee Young, Christian, Paige, Samoa Joe, and Booker T.

Backstage drew a 0.05 rating in the 18-49 demographic, placing it 125th in the demo for the day on cable.

Originally Posted by Observer

This year's WWE Starrcade will include an appearance by the event's most iconic performer.

WWE announced today that Ric Flair will appear on a KO Show segment with Kevin Owens at Starrcade on Sunday (December 1). The segment will be part of the WWE Network portion of the show.

Starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time, one hour from Starrcade will air live on the WWE Network on Sunday. The show is taking place at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, Georgia.

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH has announced Cobb vs. Maff for Final Battle 2019. The pay-per-view is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13

Originally Posted by PWI

NXT officially announced TV dates at Full Sail for 1/8, 1/15, 1/22, 1,29 and 2/5.

The 1/8 and 1/15 dates have sold out while tickets for 1/22 and 1/29 go on sale on 12/6. Tickets for 2/5 go on sale on 12/13 ...

NXT also announced a return to Buffalo, NY on 1/12 at Buffalo Riverworks.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

NXT’s Joaquin Wilde noted on Twitter that he is back in the ring after four months of recuperating. Over the Summer, Wilde suffered an injury and Pro Wrestling Sheet confirmed that the injury turned out to be a broken eye socket.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Fightful released their interview with Matt Hardy. Hardy was asked about the conversation[s] he’s had with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about the ‘Broken’ character and Hardy explained that he doesn’t think McMahon quiet understands the character just yet.

“Yeah, when I first was gonna do Woken Matt Hardy, I had to talk with him for 30 minutes and I kind of explained the whole Broken Universe deal. I don’t think he understands it completely. Part of it is based off different, various TV shows I’ve watched and it’s very Deadpool-driven. Broken Matt Hardy winks at the audience and kind of breaks the fourth wall and I don’t know if that’s something Vince really enjoys or likes to do a lot or whatever, unless it’s his specific idea. I think it was very involved and I don’t think he got all [of it]. I know when he watched the Ultimate Deletion, he said, ‘Well people seem to like it. I don’t know if I get it.’ The thing that I give Vince credit for is that he allowed me to do it, he allowed me to have that Ultimate Deletion, did give us an opportunity and internally it was a success and did well.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Shawn Michaels chatted with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated following the 2019 Survivor Series weekend. Michaels praised Keith Lee, NXT Champion Adam Cole and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler for their respective performances this past weekend:

“They deliver every single time they’re out there. All three of them embrace and adapt to big situations. I’ve never seen one of them not look cool, calm or collected when they go out into high impact, highly visible matches. There hasn’t been a time for any of them where the situation was too big or got the better of them, and that gives us a great deal of confidence moving forward. These are all big-time performers.”

Originally Posted by Pst Wrestling

Current RAW Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik) joined the After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves ...

Both Ivar and Erik talked about their names being changed from “War Machine” to “War Raiders” to “Viking Experience” to “Viking Raiders”. Erik explained that the reason the “War Machine” name was changed is because of MMA fighter War Machine who was convicted of multiple felony charges including sexual assault.

“The best part about that name is that I think people have been mad about Viking Raiders, as a name, and the funny thing is that — that was Ivar and I’s first pitch when we came to NXT,” Erik said. “They told us we were gonna have to change our name, that War Machine wasn’t gonna work because of the MMA fighter. If you type it into Google, that’s the first…”

Ivar then chimed in on the conversation: “You can’t have kids who are 10 and 12 years old typing in trying to find their favorite wrestler and now there’s all types of different conversations that has to happen.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Fightful contributor Kristen Ashly debunks recent "Firefly Fun House" story where a fake account claimed a female character would be debuting this week. WWE confirmed to Fightful that the Erica Gimbel account is not affiliated with WWE.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Over the summer, Jerry Lawler's former podcast host Glenn Moore was accused of scamming fans out of thousands of dollars. Jason Lurie claimed to have paid Moore $1,500 for a piece of artwork done by Lawler, which he never received.

Lawler claimed to be shocked by the report, saying he was unaware of Moore's actions and would work to resolve the situation.

Lurie filed a lawsuit against Lawler and Moore, alleging he never received the art he paid for or his money back. Lurie sued for $1,750 ($1,500 for a painting, $250 for a cat sketch).

According to a report from BodySlam.net, the court hearing happened on Nov. 26 with the Tennessee court ruling Moore did not act as an agent for Lawler, but as a facilitator. Lurie told BodySlam, "Here’s the crux of the case… according to me, Glenn acted as an agent for the mystery boxes, the sketches and the oil. For the judge to rule that he wasn’t an agent but a facilitator is just horseshit. Legally he met every condition for being an agent. The fact that there is no state law concerning a facilitator – well that’s because they are called agents. Not facilitators."

In a statement put out but Lawler, he claimed to be more of a victim than Lurie because of the "bad publicity" he received through Moore's scam. Lawler claims that he offered to do the painting Lurie originally paid for, but Lurie only wanted money.

According to the report, Lurie's legal team was told Lawler's legal team advised Jerry to settle for the original $1,500 Lurie had spent, but Lawler decided to see what the judge had to say. While there is no transcript of the hearing, BodySlam goes on to report that Lawler testified, saying he told Lurie (through Moore) the price for the cat painting was $3,000. The higher price was used as a way to scare Lurie off, though his tactic didn't work as Moore and Lurie agreed to the deal. Moore was reportedly not part of the hearing as he went off the grid and was not served.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Ever since CM Punk made his return to WWE television (through Fox on WWE Backstage), Seth Rollins has been poking at him on social media. Rollins has challenged Punk to "fight him" on social media and Punk has told Rollins to delete his Twitter and look for relevancy elsewhere.

Speaking to Kiss FM, Rollins once again took aim at Punk.

"I've been a little disheartened thus far," said Rollins about the lack of "CM Punk" chants during his segments. "I know Chicago will be the exception -- I figured, after the last two weeks of what I've been saying on Twitter and what he's been saying back to me, that I'd get [CM Punk] chants at the events and they haven't happened. Not a peep. I was very upset. People were so excited for him to be back. I guess not."

Chicago did chant for Punk during Rollins' opening segment on Raw. Rollins responded to the chants by noting he invited Punk to show up, but Punk wasn't there.

"Let him know you want to see him on Raw and see him in the ring. Let him know you don't want to see him behind a desk, hiding in Los Angeles," said Rollins. "He spent five years on hiatus. Good for him. Hopefully, he's got his head right. But he comes back to sit behind a desk and talk? That's not very CM Punk. That's not the guy that they want."

When asked if they've ever wrestled, Rollins replied, "We had one singles match, six years ago at least. We're in different places now. The match would look a lot different. He says 'never say never,' I say 'when?'"

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Tom Phillips is calling NXT tonight

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The next two Takeovers shows, the U.K. show on 1/12 and this one, will be on Sundays rather than Saturdays as an experiment to see how the new night does for viewing on the WWE Network.

They are also doing a special in Houston called World’s Collide on 1/25, the night before the Rumble, which an ad for the show listed Cole, Baszler, Walter and Kay Lee Ray, the champions of the regular and the U.K. brands ... The experiment is to have more shows like this on Saturdays before PPVs down the line, with NXT and Takeovers on Sundays, to make Sunday the day for every brand’s individual big show. But all of this right now is just in the experimental phase.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There were a couple of other notes regarding the show. They did an angle where Mia Yim was “injured” and replaced in the Women’s War Games by Dakota Kai. The angle leading to the match certainly seemed to tease Kai being unhappy that Yim was picked ahead of her by captain Ripley. Yim did suffer a broken nose, but the angle taking her out and having Kai take her place, and then Kai turn heel on Tegan Nox was planned all along.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

After a tweet by Corey Graves during the Takeover show, which Mauro Ranallo found out about after the show, Ranallo, 49, who suffers from a very severe case of mental health issues, missed both Survivor Series and the Wednesday NXT tapings. Ranallo’s situation was unclear, but it was known that he was not dong well, but there was communication with either he and the company or at least his representatives and the company. They were told a day ahead of time at least that he wouldn’t be doing the NXT show.

Ranallo had made it clear at times of late that he was not doing well, although Graves may not have known that ...

There were issues from the beginning, most notably broadcast partner Jerry Lawler the first few weeks giving him the nickname “M.R.” On playgrounds during the 50s and 60s in particular, “M.R.,” for mental retard, was among the uglier slurs of the time, equivalent to gay slurs and other ethnic slurs. After it was brought up, Lawler quickly stopped using it on the air ...

Prior to the show, Graves tweeted a line from Ice T that said, “Social media has made too many of you comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the mouth for it.” During the Takeover show, he tweeted, “Just for the record guys, I know you wouldn’t know it, but there’s actually a WWE Hall of Famer and a former Ring of Honor champion on commentary. I’d imagine they have a lot to offer.” Knowing Ranallo’s situation, I knew there was potential trouble from that tweet. It’s one thing regarding every public figure with a Twitter presence being harassed, but it is another thing for it to be a fellow broadcaster and former broadcast partner, as it was with Layfield. Graves also made references to Ranallo making too many rap music references during the show, which is a fair criticism, but also came after Graves himself complained about talent going on Twitter and being unprofessional.

Graves later claimed according to reports elsewhere, as well as those in the company, that he was trying to just start an angle with Ranallo. Ranallo had no idea of this and usually if one would be starting an angle, you’d let the other guy know, especially given the track record. The starting the angle story didn’t come until days later, and a number of people have been very skeptical because of the idea if you were starting an angle brand vs. brand, you would not have tweeted it like that, in a sense you may have buried all three announcers, or been critical of an announcer for being a homer, but not made the specific comment he did. But the two were set to do at least one match, and perhaps more, working together at Survivor Series.

Ranallo deleted all his social media accounts shortly after. Frank Shamrock, his agent and best friend, was in Chicago with him and they did leave before Survivor Series. Graves did apologize to Shamrock, but not to Ranallo. Shamrock then tweeted Graves’ Ice T line right back to him. It was already reported that Ranallo had left and would not be doing the show ...

Graves never took down the tweet. He never commented on anything actually related to Ranallo again, but did blame me for making up a story, which in this case, was a ridiculous deflection. It was noted to me that logic would have had WWE management trying to reel him in after Ranallo left, but in the strange world of WWE, Graves was considered by many the babyface in the situation, and even the victim.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

We have some updated information regarding viewing habits of wrestling fans. We’ve listed overall viewership numbers as far as live vs DVR in the past for Raw and Smackdown. These are the averages for the four major shows in the U.S. as measured from 10/1, the start of the fall season, through the shows the week of 11/11. Now this is only the 18-49 demo and not overall and is the average for each show during those six weeks ...

One would think Smackdown would be heavy DVR viewing being on Friday night, when people go out, but it is actually viewed more live by percentage than the other three shows. Smackdown viewership as measured by Nielsen is watched 70 percent in the demo live or same day, with another 14 percent watching over the next three days and 14 percent more from day four to seven ...

For Raw, those numbers are 67 percent live, 19 percent over the next three days, another 12 percent days four through seven, and two percent past seven days. For AEW, it is 57 percent live, 22 percent over the next three days, 17 percent days four through seven and four percent after more than seven days. With NXT, it is 63 percent live, 15 percent the next three days, 19 percent days four through seven and three percent more than seven days. On average, if you include all DVR viewership, there are 1,301,000 viewers 18-49 eventually watching Smackdown, 1,147,000 watching Raw, 741,000 watching AEW and 400,000 watching NXT on an average week. Keep in mind that the Smackdown and the AEW average is inflated based on the huge first week each show had

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Wyatt is now the company’s top merchandise seller

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Chris Girard, responding to Paul Levesque saying that the mature professional thing is not for talent to go on social media and talk about their issues or wanting to leave the promotion and that it should be handled via private conversation with management, responded by saying about Levesque, “The mature professional thing to say would be no comment and have a private conversation promoter to independent contractor instead of burying talent publicly to the media. That’s how I do business. It’s all about the game and how you play it.” Girard never publicly talked about asking for a release but had asked for a release and felt Levesque’s remarks publicly were notable because of the reasons he gave

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The decision was made to put the battle of women’s champions, Baszler vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bayley, in the final spot. It seemed to make sense ahead of time. Only two bouts on the show really had a strong consistent push, that match and the Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio WWE title match that went on next to last.

But the women’s match didn’t click and the crowd was mostly silent. The idea of the match, and really the entire angle, was for Baszler. Baszler carries herself and talks like a badass bully. The original plan was for her to be on the main roster in 2020. Based on so much of the build, and the match and post-match, it appeared she was being groomed for Lynch.

But the match wasn’t good. There were a few awkward spots, surprising since the bout was heavily worked on and practiced. It got so bad that Vince McMahon was really mad about it as it was going on. There was a story going around Vince was so mad he was telling the ref high spots for them to do as the match was going on, but those in the company have only said McMahon was mad, saying he had every right to be, but said he was not sending high spots to the referee while the match was going on.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

WWE has tried to oppose some of the trademarks that Cody Runnels was attempting to gain the rights to. We don’t know which ones in specific, but he has largely tried to gain the intellectual property rights to a lot of WCW names that WWE hasn’t used or trademarked. WWE is opposing his claims on at least some of them. Cody has been trying to gain ownership of things for usage in AEW, such as Bash at the Beach that is being used in January. In particular he’s looking for ownership of ideas that his father came up with. Runnels filed for new trademarks for SuperBrawl and Slamboree, which were the names of two other WCW PPV events

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

NWA Powerrr has had several edits for reasons of taste, including a couple of prior lines by Cornette and one by Eddie Kingston, which was not racial but violent speak that they thought went too far. Lagana knew the risk of hiring Cornette because he knew from the start there were people ready to pounce on him based on the reaction by some to the decision to hire him. That actually had made him more cautious when it came to editing the show. He felt from day one he had to be extra careful because a line he would say that nobody would give a second thought to if someone else would say, would garner controversy if Cornette said it. That line, for whatever reason, perhaps the way it was delivered, didn’t stand out and snuck through the entire process, unlike other lines that they caught.

Lagana noted he and the NWA got some criticism when the word got out they were using Cornette as a television announcer. He said it was a recent thing and nothing that had been said by anyone previously when he had done previous NWA PPV shows, all of which he did with no controversy. The only people who showed any kind of negativity for using him on prior shows was one wrestler as best we know. I don’t even know if he ever even told them. But it was someone who wasn’t happy about doing a show with Cornette as an announcer, but decided to take his payoff for that show and donate it to charity to rationalize that what he as doing by working a show with Cornette as an announcer was for a greater good than bad.

When the controversy started, Lagana, called Cornette, who didn’t answer the phone. Cornette claimed he wasn’t around, wasn’t on the Internet, and had no idea any controversy was even happening until the next day. Lagana then issued an apology statement before talking to Cornette. Lagana eventually talked with Cornette and asked him to apologize immediately and asked him to take a hiatus, but that they would bring him back. It got heated enough at first that Cornette hung up the phone on him. ...

He also wanted to address the subject first on his podcast, ironically the same decision Corey Graves made a few days later. Lagana felt the apology had to come immediately and insisted on it. The line had already gotten TMZ coverage by the time this call had taken place. Cornette eventually quit, although he described it more as a decision based on what was best for the company ...

Another issue had to do with owner William Patrick “Billy” Corgan, whose newest album was being released and he would be heavily promoting it, and the feeling was he wanted media coverage of his album, and not people asking his opinions on what somebody said in a wrestling promotion he owned that was getting negative press.

There was also the concern that because Cornette turns so many phrases so quickly and people were clearly looking for anything on him at this point, that putting him on a live PPV was asking for trouble.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There was a news report this past week saying La Parka was back in intensive care due to a bacterial infection. There have also been reports Parka suffered a heart attack at one point. AAA has denied all this saying that he is in stable condition

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The company [NJPW] announced its schedule through early March. If there is a key thing, it is that they have major plans for early February big shows, and there is no Honor Rising tour this year, which is more a confirmation of relations with that company not being what they once were.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Former WCW announcer Chris Cruise contacted the Maryland State Athletic Commission regarding the Omega vs. Jon Moxley I Quit match at the Full Gear PPV show on 11/9. He asked about commission rules on blading, and allowing matches to continue if a performer is bleeding either intentionally or unintentionally and if there was a commission doctor at the show. After repeated requests, he was told that the commission prohibits wrestlers from deliberately lacerating themselves or their opponents, or introducing human or animal blood into the match, none of which happened in that match. The commission noted that they were at the match and there was a doctor assigned to the show. The commission also stated they were conducting a formal investigation into the match and thus, since the investigation is ongoing, they can’t comment on questions regarding the match. I’m not sure what the investigation would be on

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding Kris Statlander, it looks like she’ll be signing with AEW. She and WWE were close to a deal but they had not sent a contract and then AEW booked her. WWE was under the impression she was coming in January and both sides want her. Her working here the last few weeks, and we know AEW is looking to sign her as well, would indicate AEW is the likely final destination

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Tessa Blanchard is out of action with an eye injury suffered on the British J Cup show for Revolution Pro with Gisele Shaw. She was scheduled for the Thanksgiving weekend WrestleCade show in Winston-Salem, NC. She will still be appearing but not wrestling

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding Japan, we had a long discussion that was not on the show. He said he knew who was behind his having trouble getting in and was outright told at customs, and that there was an attempt to keep him out of the country for ten years. For legal reasons he didn’t want to discuss it in detail and that it’s an ongoing issue, but said he took care of everything beforehand when going back so he was allowed in, even though there was an attempt to block him all three times he went this year. He said it was not anyone he had dealt with and categorized it as businessmen just doing what they perceived was their jobs and that he felt those people in New Japan proper probably wouldn’t have known about it and that he was not against working for New Japan in the future.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Earlier today [Thursday], B/R Wrestling started a debate on Twitter after asking users who they would add to their wrestling Mount Rushmore. The Rock even joined in and made his own list.

The former WWE star picked Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Gorgeous George, Bruno Sammartino, and Steve Austin for his wrestling Mount Rushmore.

His full tweet was, "*I made an edit after thinking about the wrestling star's impact and drawing power during their respective runs. Thanks for the carve out and always a cool debate. I'd go with/ Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Gorgeous George/Bruno Sammartino, Steve Austin ?? #WrestlingsMtRushmore"

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Ryan Satin has been popping up on WWE Backstage as a correspondent after working for TMZ as a producer, while also serving as the editor in chief for Pro Wrestling Sheet ...

When he heard about FOX being interested in an FS1 - WWE show, he lit up and reached out to guys like Ariel Helwani to figure out what to do. Satin then met with an FOX Sports executive a couple years ago and tried to get a studio show on the air, but it didn't materialize at the time.

"I thought ESPN was severely under-utilizing the relationship they had with WWE at the time. So I went to FOX and said we should do something together," Satin stated before adding that he pitched himself for a role on the show.

"My goal from day one has always been to make some sort of a change. I hated looking at wrestling coverage and seeing stories that didn't come into fruition or narratives based off conjecture. My goal was always to have a reliable website where people can go to for news they can trust."

Satin noted that he doesn't work for WWE, he works for FOX Sports. He also said that fans should appreciate that his news is more valid because he's actually on the inside with a wrestling promotion.

Backstage has vowed to cover lighthearted topics as well as more serious situations. Satin was asked if he could cover things like the ACH (Jordan Myles) t-shirt controversy.

"I'm not the producer of the show so I don't make those decisions. I'm very low on the totem pole in terms of what's going to be discussed. I don't think they want me there for opinions as they want me there to break news," stated Satin who then added that he's still figuring it out as he goes but he hasn't been told to shy away from anything.

"What people don't understand is that I've had a great relationship with WWE since day one. They've helped me out and are very open with me. I work hard to make sure my news is verified by talking to people within WWE…

"When it comes to negative stories, I believe there will be times when I have to talk about negative things. It's just we're in Week 2 and nothing super-negative has happened for me to discuss."

Satin noted that he pitched that they should talk about the Saudi issues but it was already on the run sheet.

"When it comes to the ACH situation, there is a lot of unknowns and I think they'd rather play it safe," said Satin. "It's a case-by-case basis I think."

Originally Posted by Observer

With the release of this week's top-five roster rankings, Jon Moxley is currently ranked as the top challenger in AEW's men's division ...

Men's division --
Jon Moxley (3-0-1 singles record, 3-1-1 overall)
PAC (4-2-1 singles record, 4-3-1 overall)
Kenny Omega (4-2 singles record, 7-4 overall)
Cody Rhodes (4-1-1 singles record, 5-2-1 overall)
MJF (2-1 singles record, 3-1 overall)

Women's division --
Hikaru Shida (3-1 singles record, 4-2 overall)
Emi Sakura (1-1 singles record, 3-3 overall)
Britt Baker (3-2 singles record, 6-3 overall)
Nyla Rose (2-3 singles record, 3-3 overall)
Bea Priestley (1-2 singles record, 3-2 overall)

Tag team division --
Santana & Ortiz (3-1 tag team record, 4-1 overall)
The Young Bucks (4-3 tag team record, 7-4 overall record for Matt Jackson, 7-5 overall record for Nick Jackson)
Best Friends (4-3 tag team record, 6-5 overall record for Trent Barreta, 5-4 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
The Lucha Bros (4-4 tag team record, 5-6 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 6-5 overall record for Fenix)
Private Party (4-4 tag team record, 4-6 overall)

Originally Posted by Fightful

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Omega discussed fans choosing sides in the war ...

AEW Dynamite drew more viewers than NXT for the first seven weeks of the head-to-head battle, but NXT won the viewership battle on Nov. 20. However, AEW continued to draw stronger in key demographics, losing only the 50+ audience ...

"NXT, I don't want to sound derogatory, I can see how they're winning that demographic of 50 and over because they have a great, solid wrestling product. Those are probably the people who came up watching traditional wrestling that happens in the ring. AEW is more so of a variety show. You're going to get in-ring action, but you're going to get oddball stuff too. They're two very different shows. But me, being a wrestling fan, I can watch and enjoy all of them. I think it's cool that the ratings are close together and it's not like, they're having a terrible show but we're neck and neck. Both products are hitting it out of the park every week."

Originally Posted by Fightful

Eric Bischoff speaks to Fightful.

Eric Bischoff's return to WWE lasted just a few months as he was fired from his position as executive director of SmackDown in October after being hired in June. Bischoff, who found massive success in leading WCW at its peak in the mid-90s, was never able to establish himself as the leader of WWE's blue brand. Reports circulated that Vince McMahon routinely ripped up the script before SmackDown, with many blaming Bischoff for his creative direction. However, as Bischoff told Fightful at Starrcast IV, he had nothing to do with SmackDown creative.

"I wasn't hired necessarily to takeover creative. I was brought up more to manage the process. And that was clear to me in the beginning. None of the creative that you saw had anything to do with me, good or bad," he said.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

NXT’s over 50 audience was the only demo that stayed even among the two shows from last week. Every other category was down for the shows.

The biggest losses for AEW were among males 18-49 and 12-34 with drops of 37% for each with adults 18-34 down 36%. The audience they retained most was adults over 50, which were down 14% from last week.

NXT saw their females 12-34 fall 42%, people 18-34 down 37%, and males 12-34 down 25%

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Charlotte Flair applied to trademark “Ashley Flair” and “The Queen Of Wrestling” and Andrade applied to trademark “La Sombra” and “El Idolo”. @luchablog noted on Twitter that Andrade trademarked “La Sombra” in the U.S. but the Alonso family still has the trademark in Mexico.

Originally Posted by Observer

The New York Times has a piece on the Saudi Arabian government's rebranding, noting the first women's match between Natalya and Lacey Evans at Crown Jewel as being "sportswashing."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

According to WWE Network News, a new episode of ‘WWE Day Of’ is coming to the WWE Network next week and the forthcoming episode is based around the 2019 Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

DS Shin of Ring The Belle conducted an interview with AEW’s Nyla Rose. Nyla was asked about the criticisms of AEW’s women’s division and there not being storylines for the women while there is a heavy focus on the men’s singles and tag team divisions.

“I think it’s a valid concern, but I think people need to slow down, hold their horses. We’ve only been on TV for six weeks. We’re just as excited as you guys are. Absolutely, don’t get it twisted, but we have to establish everything. Absolute pandemonium you know? So we’re getting our ducks in a row. The first up, we got our World Champion lined up. Cool, you know what’s next? Tag team. He said right from the get-go, tag team is gonna be a very focused point of this promotion, so we established a tag team division. On the first show, we established who the Women’s Champion is so you knew some of the people coming into this so that could kind of take — I don’t wanna say, ‘Take a back seat’ but it’s kind of running in the background a little bit, but now, if you look on TV, we got three, four segments going. Things are picking up. Just be calm, be patient. There’s a method to the madness.”

Nyla also stated that AEW is a safe environment for wrestlers that are a part of the LGBTQ community. She said they have their family positives and negatives but it’s a welcoming environment overall.

“Absolutely, absolutely. I’ve said it a million times, I’ll say it a million more. It’s such a different environment. It’s very warm, very welcoming. Granted, when we’re running TV, everybody is a little stressed and like, ‘Get out of the way!’ But, no, it’s very warm, very welcoming, everybody feels like family. Like many families, we bicker, we fight, we handle that all in the ring but its been very welcoming.”

Originally Posted by PWI

The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame announced the following inductees in their class of 2020:

• Executive Division- Dory Funk Sr.
• Referee Division- Dick Woehrle.
• Pioneer Era (1865-1942) -- George Zaharias & Bobby Managoff
• International Division - The Great Kabuki
• Tag Team Division - The Sheepherders / The Bushwackers/ The Kiwis - Butch & Luke Williams
• Ladies Division - Luna Vachon & Debbie Combs
• Television Era (1943-1984) - King Curtis Iaukea & Killer Karl Kox
• Territory/Colleague Division - Killer Tim Brook
• Modern Era (1985 - present) - Jake " the Snake" Robert's & Magnum TA

The induction ceremony will be the weekend of 5/14-5/16 in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Originally Posted by Observer

Leaders in Orlando, Florida have made bids to host SummerSlam and Survivor Series in the near future.

Originally Posted by Observer

Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport III will take place at The Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida on April 2, which is the Thursday of WrestleMania week.

Originally Posted by Observer

According to PWInsider's Mike Johnson, former WWE creative team member Chris DeJoseph is returning to the company.

The return was also confirmed by our Dave Meltzer. It's also confirmed that DeJoseph left Major League Wrestling in an amicable split after roughly a month as a co-executive producer. Johnson reported that DeJoseph's WWE talks predated his MLW job.

He has yet to confirm the news on Twitter or elsewhere.

DeJoseph was a member of WWE creative from 2004-10 and even had an occasional on-air role as a wacky character known as Big Dick Johnson. He was part of the founding team and an executive producer for Lucha Underground which went on indefinite hiatus in 2018 after four years.

Originally Posted by PWI

Lance Storm officially started yesterday as a Producer for WWE at last night's Raw taping. The decorated veteran recently shut down his SWA Wrestling Academy in Calgary, leading to his WWE return. Storm left WWE in 2005 and had recently done some producing work for Impact Wrestling.

Originally Posted by PWI

For those who have asked, we are told that Classic Drops (such as the recent collection of WCW Thunder episodes) will still continue on the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by Fightful

"Smart" Mark Sterling, who works as a producer on the Major Wrestling Figure podcast, and "Mama's Boy" Jake Tucker, who won the 2014 "Show Us Your Superstar" contest, worked as the enhancement talent against the Viking Raiders on WWE Raw.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Kofi Kingston has reached another milestone.

With numerous tag team title reigns, including a record-breaking run as having the longest title reign in WWE history, Kingston has now surpassed 1,000 days holding a tag team title. He is the only person in WWE to ever accomplish that feat.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Though Big E had a relatively successful career prior to New Day forming in 2014, there were some backstage who believed he was "boring." According to Big E, WWE wanted him to start juggling and pec dancing after matches to enhance his personality.

When New Day formed, Big E came under more criticism as others backstage, including Big Show, believed Big E and Xavier Woods would drag Kofi Kingston down.

"Big Show said some terrible things to us about how Kofi was wasting his time with us. It wasn't a joke. The fact that you would meet so much resistance by trying to better yourself and improve your career is wild to me," said Big E on the New Day: Feel The Power podcast before revealing Big Show did apologize to the group.

Big E continued, discussing the creative process in WWE and how he wishes certain aspects were different.

"In so many different facets, from talent to backstage people, a lot of it was behind our backs. One of the best things with our relationship [with former WWE writer Michael Notarile] is understanding the process. Because he was a writer and in the meetings, we got to better understand when to pitch [and] when to talk with Vince to get a better temperature of the room. That's one of the things that I wish more talent had a better understanding of; how the creative process works. It's such a massive body as far as the creative team is concerned, but there's so many tiers. Entry level writers, senior writers, producers, and you don't really know who to go to. Often times, you get so much feedback in the meetings that never actually gets to you. I didn't find out that the office thought I was boring or that I needed something until it was too late in the eyes of the people that mattered. That's one of the things that I always wish worked better in this machine, is that you have more instant feedback from creative. That you got an opportunity to talk to the decision makers and say, 'Hey, this is where we see a deficit in your character, in your work, whatever' and so we can all address that," he said.

Originally Posted by Fightful

The Kelly Klein situation with Ring of Honor has had a lot of fallout, and ended up with Fightful Select learning of several plans for their division in 2018 and 2019.

Though the Women of Honor Championship went between Sumie Sakai and Kelly Klein in 2018, originally one of the champions in the interim was supposed to be either Kelly or Deonna Purrazzo winning it from Sakai, according to several people familiar with the booking plans. Depending on who you talk to, Kelly Klein was either supposed to win the title back at Final Battle last year, or lose it to Deonna after a feud. This didn't end up happening as Purrazzo signed with WWE.

However, several in the company were frustrated with Purrazzo's second round exit from the championship tournament, as those in charge said that Klein vs. Purrazzo in the finals was "too predictable," and they wanted to switch things up. Among the plans mentioned was Purrazzo working as a babyface to battle Klein, who would ridicule her early exit from the tourney.

In addition, we're told that AEW star Britt Baker had about a half-dozen dates remaining with Ring of Honor, but they were cut when she signed with All Elite Wrestling. The word backstage was that Joe Koff specifically told members of ROH they didn't feel like they owed Baker anything as it related to keeping their dates. Others had to go to bat for Baker in order to get her a five minute match with Kelly Klein, when she arrived at a venue unaware that the dates had been cut and she'd been removed from the show.

As mentioned on Fightful Select, the initial offerings for Women of Honor talent was $12,000 a year at this point -- the start of 2018, which were said to be non negotiable. This was later bumped to $20,000. There were multiple women who say they tried to explain to the ROH office how women's matches took off on the company's digital platforms, as they tried to get more screen time. Prior to the $12,000 number, the base rate for non-exclusive, non-contracted talent was $150 for male or female talent, and lower at times for enhancement talent or one-offs.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw had what had to be considered good news on the ratings front as Monday's show averaged 2.21 million viewers, up five percent from the prior week and breaking a three-week streak of the three least-watched non-holiday episodes of the show dating back to 1997 ...

The rating was down only three percent from the same week last year, although this week last year was at the time the lowest non-holiday number for the show since early 1997.

The bad news is the 20 percent first-to-third hour drop just missed the top 10 of all-time ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.42 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.28 million viewers
10 p.m,. 1.93 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Ahead of the tapings taking place tomorrow, there's been a change to the lineup for MLW's Opera Cup tournament.

MLW announced today that Shinjiro Otani has withdrawn from the tournament. He was scheduled to face Davey Boy Smith Jr. in the first round.

With Otani off the show, it will now be Smith Jr. vs. Low Ki in the opening round.

The Opera Cup is a one-night, eight-man tournament. MJF vs. Alexander Hammerstone, Timothy Thatcher vs. Richard Holliday, and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. TJP are the other first-round matches.

Originally Posted by Observer

After two weeks off, CM Punk's next appearance on WWE Backstage will take place next Tuesday.

Last night's Backstage included the announcement that Punk will be back on the show next week. It will be Punk's second appearance as an analyst. After making a surprise appearance the prior Tuesday, Punk officially debuted on Backstage on November 19.

When FOX Sports announced that he was joining Backstage, it was noted that Punk's role will be as a "special contributor and analyst." He'll make select appearances in studio but won't be on the show every week.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jordynne Grace is getting a Knockouts Championship shot at Impact Wrestling's next pay-per-view.

Impact confirmed yesterday that Grace will challenge for Taya Valkyrie's Knockouts title at Hard to Kill. The PPV is being held at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, January 12, 2020.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Stephen Amell noted on Twitter that he was not able to do his ‘Promo School’ segment on WWE Backstage due to a pinched nerve in his back on top of being under the weather.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Sports Illustrated has an in-depth feature up on their site about former Women Of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein and her situation with Ring of Honor. Klein spoke out about the company not having a proper protocol in place after she suffered a concussion during a match on an overseas tour in October ...

Klein claims there were no medical personnel at ringside when she suffered her concussion. ROH C.O.O. Joe Koff had the following to say about the situation:

“The protocol is just this: We recognize the dangers that are inherent in professional wrestling. More specifically, the possibility exists of a wrestler suffering a concussion during a match, and we take all injuries very, very seriously. When we are alerted or when we feel there is an injury, we immediately defer to the medical professional on staff. I wasn’t there, but I was made aware that Kelly did not realize she was concussed until sometime after the match. That hour could very well be a true lapse of time. But as soon as she reported she was concussed, she received immediate attention. Kelly declined the option to go to the hospital at that point. Ring of Honor had management present at the event, including the hired operating agent for the tour. I will tell you that as soon I learned about it, I texted her and she told me she appreciated my text and told me she was fine.”

Minutes passed before Klein received medical attention and Koff was asked were mistakes made by ROH officials and he declined to comment because he was not there. Ring of Honor is reimbursing Kelly Klein for medical bills related to the concussion. Kelly Klein met with Joe Koff at the ROH headquarters in November and suggested the following to him:

“I suggested that we could develop independent contractor standards, similar to an employee handbook, but it would apply to independent contractors, and Joe Koff told me that my contract was my handbook,” said Klein. “I said that the contract did not have any information on how we handle these situations or who I talk to. Joe said, ‘If I was there, I’d always tell you to seek medical help.’ But Joe wasn’t there. Our general manager did not see me. No one from management [at the venue] told me to go to the hospital.”

Joe Koff confirmed that the meeting did take place in November but it was before Klein was informed that ROH was not going to renew her contract. Koff said that ROH has always had a good rapport with Klein but her sharing private emails and information was a breach of her contract. When asked about ROH blocking Kelly Klein on Twitter, here’s what Koff had to say:

“That was not a company decision,” said Koff. “It was a lapse of judgment from one of our administrators who emotionally wanted to prevent our company from further attack [from people on social media supporting Klein]. We never would condone this, and we apologized immediately privately to Kelly and remedied the situation as soon as I found out about it.”

To close the discussion, Koff responded with, “I don’t know” when asked if the relationship between Kelly Klein and Ring of Honor could be repaired before December 31st.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Coming out of WrestleCade, IMPACT Wrestling’s Jordynne Grace tweeted out that The Sandman came up to athletes that were about to main event a show at WrestleCade and told them that women main-eventing is wrong. The four athletes closing that night were Jordynne Grace, Rosemary, Su Yung, and Taya Valkyrie. After the match, Tessa Blanchard came out to the ring and addressed the comments directly and expressed that she thought the comments were a “crock of horse sh*t”. Tessa concluded her statement by pointing out the athletes that just finished competing and said that she couldn’t think of anyone else better to main event.

The Sandman made an appearance on Busted Open Radio with Bully Ray and David LaGreca to give his side of the story. Sandman admitted that he made the comments but doesn’t think any of the backlash he received was called for.

“Yeah, I did [cause controversy on social media]. But I didn’t think any of it was warranted at all, and so, my kids are calling me yesterday like, ‘You’ve been trending for like two days since Sunday’ or whatever the day was dude, and I’m trending for telling somebody — to me it’s not important… the bottom line is, all I said was I don’t think that most fans are ready for girls to be in main events. With that said, there are so many girls that totally deserve to be main eventers in all different kinds of organizations. WWE to AEW. Dude, they’re so good right now it’s absolutely incredible, but no, I absolutely do not think like that, and that’s just the way it is so I don’t know where that girl got her information but I know that I never talked to that girl.”

Sandman said he was not talking to a group of people and was only talking to Taya Valkyrie. Sandman claimed that he never talked to Jordynne Grace and went on to tell his side of what transpired between himself and Taya Valkyrie. He added that he does not watch any of the current product:

“I was not talking to four women, ever. I don’t even know who that girl is. Never talked to that girl.” Sandman said that he made those comments but not directly to the four female athletes involved in the main event match at WrestleCade. “Well yeah dude, after it originally happened, yeah I was talking about it to more people but originally, I was talking to John… dude, I am so bad with people’s names. What’s Johnny Morrison’s girl? Yeah, his girl [Taya Valkyrie]. Wasn’t she in the match? Dude, I was just walking by her, working the room, saying hi to everybody. She asked, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ I say, ‘What number are you tonight because I like watching the matches and helping out anyway I can’, and I was talking to her. Not talking to four people at all.”

Jordynne Grace then called into the show to give her side of the story. She stated that herself, Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie were all talking as a group. Sandman approached them, asked Taya what match she was in and questioned her being in the main event. Jordynne said Tessa went back and forth with Sandman and she [Jordynne] shared additional claims that were made by Sandman:

“Okay, so he did not just say it to Taya and that’s not the only thing he said. I didn’t go into the whole conversation on social media because it was about a ten minute back and forth thing that went on. It was me, Taya and Tessa all standing around talking. The Sandman comes up to Taya, asks her what match she was in. She said she’s the last match. He said, ‘The main event?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, the main event’ and he said, ‘Excuse me?’ And we all just kind of stared at him because I didn’t know if he was joking or not, and then he said, ‘You know that’s wrong right?’ Looked at every one of us, then he started talking about the WrestleMania women’s match and how bad it was, and then Tessa, she’s a little bit more outspoken. I was in shock, and she tried to start talking, he cut her off, stuck out his hand and said, ‘Oh, I’m The Sandman by the way.’ She said, ‘Oh hey, I’m Tessa Blanchard’, and he says, ‘Oh, I respect your family so much.’ Continues to complete sh*t on women’s wrestling. Him and her start going back at it, back and forth. Rosemary walks up, we tell her what Sandman just said. We’re all standing there listening to him argue about women’s wrestling with Tessa. He throws up his hands, walks away. Two minutes later, comes back and says, ‘Excuse me ladies, I just went around to the locker room and I pulled a bunch of people with over 200 years of wrestling experience. Women main-eventing is wrong.’ So, that’s exactly what happened. Tessa and him went back at it a little bit more. She told him how disrespectful he was. He clearly didn’t care. He came on here [Busted Open Radio] and he’s completely lying through his teeth to try and save face now.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

During his appearance on WWE Backstage, Seth Rollins joined the show and talked about his Twitter exchange with Will Ospreay and that possibly being where the shift in his fan-base began. Seth expressed that he did not enjoy competing under the red lights in matches with Bray Wyatt. He added that the lights distracted him and were not a fan of it. Rollins said that he was unaware that the red light was going to stay on during his Hell In A Cell match with Bray Wyatt in October.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

According to Tokyo Sports, former Sendai Girls World Champion Sareee will wrestle in WWE in 2020. Squared Circle Sirens ran a story and noted that at Sareee’s self-produced show on December 3rd, she announced that she’ll be competing in STARDOM soon. This past July, Paul “Triple H” Levesque met with Sareee while WWE was in Japan for a string of live events.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Rhea Ripley joined the Swerve City podcast with Isaiah Scott, Big Swole and Teasy. At the age of 23 years old, Rhea stated that she has been burned out on wrestling several times throughout her career but clarified that it is not the in-ring portion that burns her out but the outside noise:

“I’ve already burned out a few times to be honest. It’s what happens. I’ve been wrestling for like seven years now. I started when I was 16, and there’s been so many times where I just like, stopped caring and was like, ‘I’m gonna quit wrestling. What am I doing with my life?’… Mostly people in wrestling,” Rhea said, after being asked what leads to those stressful moments. “It’s never the actual wrestling. I love going out in front of everyone and performing and doing what I do best but it’s people [behind the scenes]. They get in your head and they make you hate yourself and that’s the one thing that I dislike about wrestling.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

WWE tryouts brings people from all different walks of life for a potential shot at a WWE contract, including the daughter of a famous actor.

Squared Circle Sirens first reported that Arissa LeBrock is one of several people that will be participating in the upcoming WWE tryouts taking place on December 5. LeBrock, a model in her own right, is the daughter of action movie star Steven Seagal and actress and model Kelly LeBrock.

The 26-year-old works as a model who has done ad campaigns, runway modeling and appeared on the cover of PLUS Model Magazine. Arissa has also been featured on the reality show "Growing Up Supermodel" that aired on Lifetime TV, a show that takes a look at several children of celebrities looking to break into the modeling business. Aside from modeling, Arissa also practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Paragon Jiu Jitsu & Kickboxing Academy in California.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

Alexa Bliss, who returned to WWE on last week's SmackDown, seemed to express some frustration with the lack of promo time she's had lately. A fan on Twitter posted a video of an old Bliss promo, to which she replied, "I remember a time when I was given a microphone in the middle of the ring ... good times"

Originally Posted by Observer

After two weeks of falling behind NXT in total viewers, AEW slightly regained the lead this week.

AEW Dynamite averaged 851,000 viewers last night, edging out NXT, which did 845,000 viewers.

The AEW number was up 28 percent from last week's series low. In the 18-49 demo, the show did a 0.32 rating, eighth place for the night on cable and up 23 percent from last week.

NXT was up four percent in total viewers and up 21 percent in the demo, averaging a 0.26 rating. That placed NXT 12th for the night on cable.

Both numbers were up from the 10-week average for NXT. They were down from the 10-week average for AEW, but the really strong numbers for their first few weeks skew those numbers for Dynamite.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Among the key demos, every category was up for each show except NXT’s over 50 audience, which fell 5% while AEW grew 24% in that category.

NXT won three demos in total. Aside from adults over 50, which they dominate in, they won with people 18-34 and females 12-34 edging past AEW by 0.01 in both ...

It was a mixed bag for AEW as they were up from last week but down in each category except adults over 50 from two weeks ago so they didn’t recover the total audience that tuned out last week.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Coming out of the 12/5/19 episode of NXT U.K. on the WWE Network, it was announced that at NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II in January, WALTER will defend the NXT U.K. Championship against Joe Coffey. At a later date in the coming weeks, Alexander Wolfe will clash with Ilja Dragunov. On the December 12th episode of NXT UK, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang are defending their NXT U.K. Tag Team Titles against Imperium’s Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Per Squared Circle Sirens, one-half of the current SHINE Tag Team Champions Aja Perera is receiving a WWE tryout on December 5th. Also, Lainey Nations, Ebony Payne, Jessica Roden, and Jennifer Cantu are receiving tryouts as well.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

NASCAR.com interviewed former WWE 24/7 Champion Kyle Busch. Busch captured the title this past Monday on RAW by pinning R-Truth and later lost the title back to Truth. Busch told the site how his involvement on RAW came to be:

“We were just going there for the show, just to watch,” Busch said about his appearance alongside Michael Waltrip at the taping of Monday Night RAW. “They heard we were coming and then set us up and said, ‘Hey, you want to be a part of the show?’ And I was like, ‘Well, alright, sure. What do you got in mind?’ Then they brought this up and I’m like, ‘Oh hell, this is going to be fun.’ ”

Busch added that he had trouble with some of the lines that scriptwriters gave to him so he was instructed to not speak.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Scott Dawson noted on Twitter that his daughter’s new favorite wrestler is AEW’s Sonny Kiss.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Scott D'Amore finds himself at the center of the ongoing lawsuit between Jeff Jarrett and IMPACT Wrestling parent company Anthem,

The lawsuit between Jarrett and Anthem revolves around the usage, and deleted, of the GFW Amped tapes. Jarrett and GWE hit IMPACT and Anthem with a lawsuit in August 2018, suing over copyright infringement pertaining to their use of Jarrett's name and likeness along with their use of GFW Amped content.

In the latest updated from PWInsider, Jarrett's side is pursing to depose Scott D'Amore. However, D'Amore is a Canadian citizen and cannot be ordered by the United States court to submit himself to be deposed. Jarrett's side could pay $4,000 in legal fees, but the lawsuit would be delayed until D'Amore testifies. Anthem argues that D'Amore is an independent contractor and cannot be forced to testify ...

D’Amore currently owns 5% of Global Force Entertainment and is “a silent shareholder with no functions, responsibilities, or ongoing involvement with the company. Global Force Entertainment, Inc., a corporation, has no more authority to force Mr. D’Amore to show up for a deposition than Walmart would have to force someone who owns shares in that company.”

Anthem argues that because D'Amore is a shareholder, Jarrett knew D'Amore was a Canadian citizen and "that is a problem of his own making."

The two sides were ordered to work out details for D’Amore to take part in a 2-3 hour deposition, either in person or via video conference. A deposition has yet to take place.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Flip Gordon sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview and talked about his future and people suggesting that he’ll join All Elite Wrestling after his Ring of Honor run:

“There is lots of options, and I saw one question that had asked where do I see myself five years from now, and that’s a mind blowing question because I haven’t even been wrestling for five years. So, look how much the business has changed since I’ve started. It could change so much more in another five years so I’m happy with what my ghosts of my friends are doing, but I want to see how the landscape of professional wrestling changes, because I am the mercenary and I’m gonna see all my offers before I make any decision whether it’s staying or going anywhere.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

We thought we told you that he won't stop. Joey Janela is thinking one step ahead of Rusev, filing a trademark on "The Bad Boy."

Janela filed for the trademark on Dec. 1. The description for the trademark reads as followed.

Lana and WWE had been referring to Rusev as a "Bad Boy" at WWE Starrcade and Raw. Janela has been using the "Bad Boy" nickname on the Independent scene since 2014, he tells Fightful.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio noted the audio issues on AEW Dynamite were only prevalent on the TNT feed. The Fite TV and TSN feeds reportedly ran smoothly.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The Wednesday night race was very close on 12/4, with AEW winning with 851,000 viewers to 845,000 for NXT.

AEW won via a 0.32 margin to 0.29 in the 18-49 demo. If you factor out the overrun, NXT would have done 838,000 viewers head-to-head.

Those numbers say a few things. First, because the NXT audience is mostly over the age of 50, it was going to be hurt more by the impeachment hearings and would have easily won in total viewers without it. That said, because the AEW audience is younger and more apt to DVR the show, by the end of the week, they’d have won in overall viewers as they have done every week if you factor in DVR viewership.

However, the most concerning number was the 0.32 in 18-49 for AEW without an excuse like last week. After the early weeks, factoring out things like the World Series and night before Thanksgiving, they were consistently in the 0.39 to 0.46 range. Granted, NXT gaining momentum off the last few weeks shows, cut into that number, but they also did 0.39 against a three-branded show two weeks ago and fell to 0.32 with lesser competition ...

Their big calling card was strength in 18-34, more people watching together than any other wrestling show, and being the youngest skewing sports property on television along with Major League Soccer. They are no longer that ...

AEW won six of eight quarters overall, losing only the first two. Basically whether it was interest at first, or the sound issue (and I would dismiss that), NXT started strong and faded 30 minutes in. AEW won all eight quarters in 18-49 with only the fourth quarter (367,000 to 355,00) which with mostly Nyla Rose on one side and the Forgotten Sons on the other being close.

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with Young Bucks & Dustin Rhodes vs. Santana & Ortiz & Sammy Guevara, doing 893,000 viewers and 451,000 in18-49. That is with bad audio difficulties. NXT opened with Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain, doing 944,000 viewers and 360,000 in 18-49 ...

The second segment saw AEW with Rey Fenix vs. Trent lose 76,000 viewers and 49,000 in 18-49. NXT with the end of Dain vs. Dunne and the angle with Undisputed Era and Keith Lee lost 52,000 overall viewers but gained 2,000 in 18-49.

The third segment saw AEW, with the Cody promo, gain 53,000 viewers and 42,000 in 18-49. NXT with a Kushida video and Shayna Baszler vs. Xia Li, lost 41,000 overall but gained 27,000 in 18-49.

The fourth segment saw AEW, with the Dark Order video, Nyla Rose vs. Leva Bates and the post-match, lost 76,000 viewers overall and 77,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Kassius Ohno interview and Forgotten Sons vs. Leon Ruff & Adrian Alanis lost 87,000 viewers and 34,000 in 18-49.

The fifth quarter saw AEW with the Chris Jericho promo and beginning of Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida gain 115,000 viewers and 88,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley and Mia Yim angle gained 110,000 viewers and 36,000 in 18-49.

The sixth quarter saw AEW with the rest of Statlander vs. Shida and the Kong & Brandi Rhodes angle lost 46,000 viewers overall and 59,000 in 18-49. NXT with Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno lost 66,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49.

The seventh quarter with AEW with Pentagon Jr. vs. Christopher Daniels lost 38,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49. NXT with the Horseman laying out Ripley and Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes gained 22,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49.

The main event battle had AEW with Joey Janela vs. Jon Moxley gained 11,000 overall but lost 1,000 in 18-49. NXT with Adam Cole & Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic & Tommaso Ciampa lost 88,000 viewers overall and lost 40,000 in 18-49 ...

But after AEW ended, they handed NXT 212,000 viewers. The breakdown was 14,000 teenagers (8,000 boys, 6,000 girls), 23,000 18-34 (25,000 males, -2,000 females), 53,000 35-49 (29,000 men, 24,000 women) and 116,000 over the age of 50.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

NXT scored a decisive win in viewers on 11/27 and came close to AEW in the 18-49 demo, more because of the decline by AEW than an increase in NXT ...

The key is that AEW had usually been second to the NBA in 18-49 in its time slot in the demo, and has now fallen behind War of the Worlds Challenge on MTV ... So going from No. 2 or No. 3 to No. 9 in the time slot is a decline vs. competition, meaning it’s a lot more significant than just a bad night for viewers in an age group.

In 18-34, AEW’s edge was 115,000 to 87,000 while in 35-49, NXT was ahead 221,000 to 218,000 which has never happened before. With numbers that close and USA being in more homes than TNT, that’s really a dead heat in a demo AEW had been dominating ...

NXT won in viewers in every quarter, with only the main event coming close with the beginning of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Finn Balor at 699,000 to 684,000 for Chris Jericho vs. Scorpio Sky. NXT, after AEW ended, gained 151,000 viewers for the last eight minutes, likely mostly being AEW viewers ...

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with 730,000 viewers and 394,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho celebration while NXT had 916,000 viewers and 349,000 in 18-49 for its quick celebration and the Roderick Strong (replacing Bobby Fish) & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Dominik Dijakovic & Keith Lee tag title match.

In quarter two, AEW lost 37,000 viewers over and 45,000 in 18-49 for Best Friends vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix. NXT lost 53,000 viewers and 34,000 in 18-49 for the continuation of the tag team match. So this wasn’t people switching shows as much as people switching off.

In quarter three, AEW lost 34,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 for Bea Priestley & Emi Sakura vs. Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander. NXT lost 11,000 viewers and gained 23,000 in 18-49 for the finish of the tag title match and Mansoor vs. Shane Thorne. This was the first quarter that NXT has ever won in 18-49, by a 338,000 to 317,000 margin.

In quarter four, AEW lost 43,000 viewers and lost 10,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Matt Knicks and the debut of The Butcher & The Blade. This was not good because it was a Cody quarter. NXT lost 67,000 viewers and 39,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai vs. Candice LeRae, so AEW was ahead 307,000 to 299,000 in the key demo.

In quarter five, AEW gained 40,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for Kenny Omega vs. Pac. NXT gained 27,000 and 7,000 in 18-49 viewers for the end of Kai vs. LeRae, the post-match, and start of Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa.

In quarter six, AEW lost 6,000 viewers but gained 11,000 in 18-49 for Adam Page vs. MJF in the battle for the diamond ring. NXT lost 66,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for Rush vs. Tozawa.

In quarter seven, AEW lost 32,000 viewers and 31,000 in 18-49 for the Dustin Rhodes promo and the Inner Circle attack and Young Bucks save. NXT gained 26,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for Xia Li vs. Vanessa Borne. AEW had 305,000 viewers in 18-49 during the quarter with two commercial breaks while NXT had 303,000 with one commercial break.

In quarter eight, AEW gained 66,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for Jericho vs. Scorpio Sky while NXT lost 84,000 and 37,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Balor vs. Ciampa.

In the overrun, NXT gained 151,000 viewers broken down as 4,000 teenage boys, 4,000 teenage girls, 9,000 18-34 women, 15,000 18-34 men, 13,000 35-49 women, 46,000 35-49 men and 55,000 over 50 men ...

The reality is that younger viewers were significantly down, especially those under 35 across the board, but NXT came closer to maintaining its 35-49 numbers while AEW did not.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

At press time, with ten days to go before the WWE TLC PPV show on 12/15 in Minneapolis, they are exactly zero matches officially announced on television ...

one of the reasons nothing else has been advertised, and directions aren’t even clear from television, is because Vince McMahon hasn’t made final decisions. McMahon’s new philosophy is that the PPV’s are all about network sign-ups, as opposed to the limited PPV business still being done. The belief based on patterns of sign-ups is that they are big the last day of the show, and not before. So unlike ticket sales, which come a month or more in advance, and PPV parties, which get arranged days if not a week plus out, the dynamic is completely different and there is no need to rush anything

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Brandon Thurston, who studies the economics of pro wrestling, on our show this past week noted that he had done research just a few weeks ago that showed that even after six years, that the costs and profits of the WWE Network were such that WWE would have been financially better off from a profit margin sticking with PPV. He used Google trends to extrapolate how the PPV shows would have done, so that would figure in a decline. It’s been a given that they made less regarding major shows, but the idea is the monthly regular shows have done better with 1.5 million subscribers at $9.99 vs. 150,000 purchasers at $60. The problem is the profit margin on the network isn’t nearly so large.

For a long time, the monthly profit on the network was less than $2 per month per subscriber, plus there is the cost of programming and the network itself. Also, a key is there were tremendous start-up costs that weren’t recouped. It’s notable that when the network was launched we were talking with people in WWE and any change in a company that was profitable, but not wildly so, of that magnitude is a concern. The idea was that the good thing was the television rights were going up a little so that increase could carry them until network revenues, which was thought to be the key in long-term growth, would catch up to what was lost in PPV. As it turned out, the network, which they were expecting to be at between three and four million subscribers by this point, never caught on at the level expected, but television rights exploded and that ended up being the key to business.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Tommaso Ciampa claimed that he told management that he would retire from wrestling if they made the call to move him to Raw or Smackdown. It would surprise people if you talk with talent how many really don’t look at money as their primary thing, because a top guy in NXT makes (a guy like Balor being the obvious exception), if they are lucky, one-fourth of a lower level guy on Raw or Smackdown or more likely one-sixth. But there are absolutely guys who don’t want to be called up. Some recognize the realities of it, and for Ciampa, another key is the schedule. He isn’t working any house shows so he’s just doing TV and Takeover right now, and Johnny Gargano has been doing that as well since March. That wouldn’t work on the main rosters. NXT has so many guys that need work so the guys whose bodies are breaking down but are great are being saved for big shows and to help with Wednesday ratings since NXT house shows are drawing the same no matter who is on them, and most of the guys in NXT need more house show work, not less, so this works for all concerned.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There were a couple of major changes with the WWE Network this past week. The first is that they launched the free tier on 12/5 with no fanfare. The idea has been to do a three-tiered network, with a free tier, the $9.99 tier and a $14.99 tier (which should be launched early next year and would feature content from Evolve, Progress, wXw and perhaps other promotions) for early next year. The other change is a crackdown on people from other countries who are getting the network in a manner they aren’t supposed to by using a U.S. proxy address. It appears this is aimed at Canada, where WWE has deals in place with the cable providers and fans are going around those deals.

The WWE Network in Canada is a cable television station and there aren’t the options and archives like the U.S. version, just the live stream and limited VOD content. So Canadians have been using a VPN address to subscribe and get the full VOD content. They have found a way to crack down on this. What makes this notable is if there are a significant number of Canadians or people from other countries doing this, it would mean a significant drop in U.S. subs by 12/31, a number that was already feared would fall below 1 million for the first time in many years

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The Sports Business Journal annual survey, if anything, how much UFC has declined in interest in the sports business world. UFC used to be all over the survey responses and now it was nil. There were a few WWE mentions. WWE was listed as the 10th hottest sports property, but also in 7th for the sports property trending in the wrong direction. When it came to the XFL, people were not bullish. 26 percent believed the league would last less than one season while another 66 percent felt it would last between two and five seasons. Only eight percent believed it would reach its sixth season. Neither WWE nor UFC were listed as companies you would want your company to sponsor, which, in order were NBA, MLB, minor league baseball, NFL, NCAA, MLS, PGA, NHL, EPL and Overwatch League.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Arn Anderson did a Q&A on the weekend and was more open than he was in the past. He noted that he felt Vince McMahon, even after 17 years with the company, still saw him as a WCW guy. He noted that he laid out 95 percent of Cena matches when he was there. Anderson was known as Cena’s guy and the guy who laid out Cena’s matches, but when Cena left for Hollywood, his days were known to be numbered because Vince McMahon didn’t like him, but he was somewhat untouchable because of Cena. When he was fired, talent was very defensive of him. He was fired for allowing Alicia Fox to go into a match while allegedly drunk, but talent in that match said there was no way Anderson could have known about that before the match started

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

In one of the bigger moves in Mexico this year, L.A. Park and Rush, who had the hottest feud in the country, but one that was never able to be settled, are joining forces to evidently reform Los Ingobernables. What makes that notable is that CMLL owns the Los Ingobernables name ...

The new Los Ingobernables group looks to be Rush, Park, Konnan and Bestia del Ring. There was no mention of Dragon Lee being part of that group with his brother and father. The plan is for them to be the top heel group, with the idea they are joining forces to take down AAA. Konnan has been part of heel groups trying to take down AAA regularly for nearly 15 years.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Tokyo Dome ticket sales on 12/3 were on both nights ahead of the pace of last year’s show, which sold out. The difference is over the last month there was one show to buy tickets to rather than two, but the pace may not reflect double sellouts. Last year’s show did just under 39,000 paid with 6,000 coming from overseas, up from 2,500 the year before and a couple of hundred the year before that. The overseas growth was attributed to Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho being in the top two bouts. The network numbers grew from about 60,000 to 100,000 before the 2018 Dome for Omega vs. Jericho, but the network didn’t show that level of growth in 2019. There was some thought that losing Omega, Cody and The Young Bucks would hurt overseas sales, but that appears to have been negated by the idea of seeing two Domes instead of one. Also, there has been a growth of interest in Australia, even though this year’s tour didn’t do the attendance at the level of the first tone. But network numbers are up because New Japan can be viewed live in a decent time slot. New Year’s Dash on 1/6, moved to the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo, which holds probably just over 4,000, is not sold out, but is very close to being so and will

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

AXS will be airing Impact specials on 12/28 and 1/4 at 8 p.m. for their awards. Notable is that 1/4 would be in the New Japan time slot. AXS has totally downplayed New Japan since the purchase since they own Impact. There hasn’t been a new episode of the show in a few weeks and this coming weekend they are airing three hours of the July show in Dallas rather than anything new. And historically they have pushed hard the 1/4 show, which has historically set record ratings with a special show and this year nothing has been mentioned.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Shahid Khan talked with Forbes last week on a number of different subjects. When AEW came up, he made it clear he was skeptical at first, but was in the position of giving it a try and categorized it as doing far better than expectations. “This is one of those cases where, as a father, you don’t mind being wrong. Obviously my son Tony, who had passion for it, this was his idea and God’s blessed us, we have the financial means, and we’ll try it. You get to a stage in life where you can fail and it’s not life-threatening and this was one of those. I am as surprised as anybody.” He talked about what convinced him to get into wrestling and he said, “The golden age of wrestling would be in the late 90s when you had two competitive leagues, WCW and WWF, and we know wrestling is scripted but what was definitely unscripted, real, was the competition between the leagues. In those days you had 10 million hardcore wrestling fans, today there are probably 2 million or less. So there was an audience that was underserved.” Ironically, the fan base they are attracting is younger and are likely fans turned off more by the content in recent years than those who tuned out in 2001 and never came back

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

In something that needed to be on the TV show, but instead was released that night on Twitter, MJF, who mentioned on Twitter (but not television) that he will never wrestle Cody, did cut a very good promo, also on Twitter but not television, saying that he was the one who paid for Butcher & Blade to come in and attack Cody. MJF is also playing a rich spoiled kid character and put over the $45,000 diamond ring he won last week. If there is one major problem right now, it is the assumption that the television audience is already aware of everyone, follows Dark, BTE and social media and television is about presenting matches and angles and that the storylines can be tied together elsewhere. There is also the mentality that the promotion is a smorgasbord, a little of this, a little of that, as opposed to have a certain style and theme.

It comes from Eddie Graham, but the big difference is that when Eddie Graham was on his game, it was all about wrestling and being a sport, and granted, this is 45 years later and you can’t go back in time. But Eddie’s smorgasbord was technical matches with good workers underneath, a fun tag match, maybe a European style, good young guys, wily vets and both brawls and different gimmick matches and divergent storylines both with factions and blood feuds and rivalries over belts. It wasn’t about trying to appeal to different genres of hardcore fans, whether through great wrestling, silly gimmicks (which did come at the end in Florida when it was dying as attempted hotshots), comedy or irony.

The attempt to appeal to everyone isn’t going to work as people want a WWE alternative. The last few weeks are coming across very much TNT, essentially WWE Lite, except with hotter fans, better in-ring in some but not all cases, and definitely a higher level of promos

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Kenny Omega came in and retained is his AAA Mega heavyweight title over Dragon Lee. There is no specific future date scheduled with Omega, but they [AAA] are looking at using Omega & The Young Bucks as a trio on a future major show and also looking at using Jon Moxley.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

I should note that in talking this week to Joe Koff, he said that right now, due to New Japan booking its own shows in the U.S., there is nothing on the books for any New Japan talent to be working for ROH

Originally Posted by Observer

The Knockouts Championship match at Impact Wrestling's Hard to Kill pay-per-view will now be a triple threat.

Impact announced today that ODB has been added to the title match for the PPV, making it Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace vs. ODB. Valkyrie defending her title against Grace had originally been announced.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor's Final Battle has been expanded to a four-hour PPV on Friday 12/13, ROH's Kevin Eck announced tonight on the company's official website.

Eck also announced that the first hour will stream for free from 7 - 8 PM EST on ROH's Facebook and YouTube pages, FITE.TV and PPV barker channels.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Bandido is CMLL bound as the masked star appeared on the Nov. 29 show to announce he had signed with the promotion. Bandido stated he would be coming after the "big heads" in the promotion.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Bandido's deal with CMLL is not a full-time deal. He is still under contract with ROH until the end of the year. ROH and CMLL have a working relationship, but it has not been reported if he's signed a new deal with ROH ...

Bandido and Flamita were scheduled to appear at AAA TripleMania Regia on Dec. 1, but both no-showed the event.

Originally Posted by Fightful

ACH has elected to publicly expand upon his side of the issues between himself and Jay Lethal.

When ACH revealed that he had felt a WWE t-shirt design meant for him during his time in NXT as Jordan Myles was racially insensitive, he also revealed that he has problems with Jay Lethal, calling him an "Uncle Tom," and also stated that he does not have fond memories of how he was treated in Ring of Honor.

Today, on Twitter, ACH gave more of his side of the story with Jay Lethal, claiming Lethal slapped him for using a racial slur that he says Jay Lethal also uses.

ACH claims that Jay Lethal tried to call his "bish card" In front of the ROH locker room but that he would defend himself and actually take Lethal down.

The former NXT star says he was excited to work with Lethal' when he got to Ring of Honorbut lost respect for him after seeing how Lethal treats others.

ACH would say that he will not apologize for his past remarks about Lethal and also claims that Ring Of Honor was the worst locker room experience he had in his career. Also, ACH proclaims himself as mentally stable and says that tomorrow is his birthday and he will be focusing on that.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw last night did 2.15 million viewers, a three percent drop from last week, largely because of a lower first hour.

The show maintained its audience better than usual with an 11.5 percent drop in viewers from hour one to hour three ...

One year ago, Raw did 2.19 million viewers, which at the time was the lowest non-holiday number for the show in modern history ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.26 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.20 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.00 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

People Magazine interviewed Ronda Rousey, who said the door is open to a WWE return but is focused on her family right now: “Right now, I think my family needs my undivided attention. I’m happy to give them that. But I’m trying to figure out a way or a system or somehow that I could give both my family and WWE the best of me and not be half ass in both.”

Originally Posted by Observer

The jobber from last night’s Erick Rowan squash on Raw was Tracer X, who also appeared on this past Friday’s episode of 205 Live, losing to Tony Nese.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tokyo Sports announced their annual awards today. Kazuchika Okada took the top honor of MVP of the Year for the fourth time, previously winning in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Antonio Inoki holds the record with six wins. The winners of this year’s awards are:

MVP: Kazuchika Okada (NJPW)
Best Bout: Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA from NJPW King of Pro Wrestling
Best Tag Team: Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa (AJPW)
Outstanding Performance: Kento Miyahara (AJPW)
Technique: Kota Ibushi (NJPW)
Rookie: Strong Machine J (Dragon Gate)
Women: Mayu Iwatami (Stardom)

Originally Posted by OBSERVER

MLW has rescheduled their return to Chicago. Originally set for February 29, they will instead run on April 18 at the Cicero Stadium in Chicago.

Originally Posted by PWI

It was announced this afternoon that an International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame has been formed and approved by the New York State Board of Regents with plans for a physical location and annual Hall of Fame ceremony and more to be announced.

Originally Posted by PWI

Vanity Fair is reporting FOX News personality Britt McHenry filed a sexual-harassment complaint against George Murdoch, the former WWE and Impact Wrestling star known as Brodus Clay andTyrus, among others, including the FOX News Network, Fox Entertainment Group, Fox Corp, News Corp, Fox Nation head John Finley, Fox Nation executive producer Jennifer Rauchet and FOX human resources executive Monica Mekeel over the lewd text messages she alleges she received while she and Murdoch were co-hosting FOX News' Un-PC. PWInsider.com is working to acquire a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed today in the Southern District of New York.

The story first came to light this past June when The Daily Beast in Great Britain reported that Tyrus had been removed from the series and later followed up with accusations that Tyrus had allegedly sexually harassed McHenry. The Beast’s report alleged that Tyrus, “on multiple occasions, sent her unwanted and unsolicited text messages with lewd, sexual comments.”

Originally Posted by PWI

On yesterday's Being the Elite, it was noted that the audio issues on last week's AEW Dynamite was due to a TNT Network satellite issue. The audio issues did not take place on broadcasts beyond TNT.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Aubrey Edwards is taking on a new role in AEW as she announced she has signed on to be a project coordinator outside the ring.

Originally Posted by Fightful

At a WWE Live event on December 8 in Daytona Beach, Florida, an incident occurred with Sami Zayn and a fan at ringside.

While ringside for a match inside of a steel cage that featured Shinsuke Nakamura, who was wrestling "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, a fan who was sitting front row allegedly started hurling repeated homophobic slurs in Sami Zayn's direction.

Sami became irate with this audience member and footage captured him saying, "get him out of my fucking face, homophobic moron." When the fan persisted to be confrontational, Sami would say, "say it louder for everyone, homophobic dick.”

The fan was also ejected from ringside.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Less than 24 hours after CMLL held its weekly show at Arena Puebla in Mexico, armed assailants reportedly stole all of the money that the even generate at the live gate.

Several Hispanic publications are reporting that the live gate from the December 9 show was stolen by three armed assailants at around 1 p.m. local time. The assailants reportedly went to the venue to ask about information before threatening employees. The reports did not mention an exact number for the entire live gate, but it is estimated that around 230,000 Mexican pesos, which converts to roughly $11,940 was stolen.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Trevor Murdoch responds to someone on Twitter who said they lost interest in the NWA after Jim Cornette's recent resignation.

"Well then you weren’t a fan to begin with. Cornette’s not the one taking the bumps. Cornette’s not the one putting on the show for you. Myself and about 30 other people work hard to give you an amazing product. You give up on us that easy? Bye!!!"

Originally Posted by Fightful

Nick Aldis doesn't want Jim Cornette's controversial comments to define the NWA.

A few weeks ago, Cornette made racially insensitive comments on NWA Powerrr during a match between Aldis and Trevor Murdoch. The comments would eventually lead the NWA to not only edit the episode and apologize for the remarks, but announce that Cornette is no longer working for the company.

Aldis, the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion, took time to address Cornette's comments in a media call. Aldis admitted that he has defended Cornette for controversial comments he made in the past, but didn't like the fact that Cornette's "faux pas" is what made people talk about the NWA and wants people to look at the company in a positive light.

“I’ll break that down into a couple of sections. As far as me personally, anything I chose to say on the matter was my own decision. That is what it is. Like I said, I was very careful about the words I choose and I stand by them. And again, you can go back, I’ve written articles I have published and I have given interviews where I strongly defended Jim when people were accusing him of making homophobic comments, saying that they weren’t homophobic. He was talking about someone’s act. You can have a difference of opinion on Jim, but you can’t hurl accusations on Jim. That’s not fair. But when you make a faux pas like that, it’s not up to me to decide what’s acceptable and what isn’t. It’s not up to me to decide who’s offended and who’s not and it certainly isn’t up to me to decide who’s allowed to be offended by something and who isn’t. Ultimately, my opinion on the subject matter was solely on thinking of the boys and thinking of the talent because if you have a show like that and Trevor Murdoch steps into the light and reminds everyone that he is a player and then you have Melina debut and all everyone is talking about is a controversial line from a controversial commentator from a controversial podcast, that’s a problem for me. And that’s all there is to me. Jim was a hugely valuable resource and we consult with Jim for advice because he’s an encyclopedia of the business. It’s unfortunate that he made a faux pas and refused to own it. It’s not the reason I want the NWA to be trending. Nobody has worked harder than me and David Lagana to make this company what it is. We don’t want things to be distracting for that because someone wants to be controversial. If that’s what [he] wants to do, have at it. Go do your podcast and we’ll move in a different direction. We just don’t need that distraction," Aldis said.

Originally Posted by Observer

Even with an appearance by CM Punk, Tuesday's episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 fell in viewership.

The show averaged 127,000 viewers, drawing a .06 rating in the 18-49 demo, down from last week's .08. That marked a drop of 11,000 from last week's 138,000 viewers which was the second highest in the history of the show thus far ...

This was Punk's second appearance on the show. His first on November 19th remains Backstage's most-viewed airing at 180,000 viewers and a .10 in the key 18-49 demo.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line at TLC -- but The Viking Raiders' challengers haven't been revealed in advance.

It was announced on tonight's episode of WWE Backstage that The Viking Raiders will issue a Tag Team title open challenge at Sunday's TLC pay-per-view. Erik & Ivar also issued an open challenge on Raw this week, with The Street Profits unsuccessfully challenging for the titles.

Originally Posted by Observer

Two more matches have been officially confirmed for Impact Wrestling's first pay-per-view of 2020.

Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) will defend their titles against Rich Swann & Willie Mack at Hard to Kill. Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards has also been confirmed for the PPV.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Cauliflower Alley Club disclosed this afternoon that former WWF official and wrestler Rene Goulet passed away this past May. His passing was not officially announced until today, according to CAC:

Goulet, real name Robert Bedard, broke into the business in the late 1950s in his native Quebec City. Like many stars of the era, he made his way through a number of territories, most notably the WWWF, where he held the Tag Team titles with Karl Gotch.

Over the course of his career, Goulet worked for Verne Gagne’s AWA (as Sgt. Goulet), for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Eddie Graham’s Championship Wrestling from Florida and countless other territories.

Goulet was considered an excellent wrestler in the ring and would often be entrusted with inexperienced talents to help carry them along. He was one of the first men to wrestle Ric Flair when Flair was breaking into the business in the AWA. He was usually used in a supporting role to make pushed stars look stronger.

Goulet retired in 1986, at which point he became a road agent for the WWF, working there for the next decade before leaving the company in 1997. I believe his final match was a legends battle royal in East Rutherford, NJ.

The nature of Goulet's passing was not disclosed. He was 86 years old.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Nielsen company released their rankings for the most social TV shows of 2019 with WWE programming landing three spots in the top ten.

Monday Night Raw was #2 for the year, behind only HBO's Game of Thrones with an average of 1,944,000 interactions over 46 episodes.

Friday Night Smackdown on FOX and FOX Deportes was listed as #3 with an average of 1,409,000 interactions over 30 episodes.

Smackdown, during its time on Tuesdays on the USA Network, was counted as a separate series and landed at #6 on the list with an average 1,144,000 interactions over 39 episodes.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Santana and Ortiz sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview ...

Also, Ortiz recalled when he and Santana were about to turn down a deal from WWE. He said part of the agreement was that it was guaranteed that after NXT, they were headed to either RAW or SmackDown with the incentive that instead of moving to Florida, the two could continue residing in New York.

“We were about to turn down WWE, and we sat down and we were like, ‘Alright man, we don’t want to burn a bridge.’ We never want to burn any bridge anywhere we go, because that’s not how you do business. You should keep every avenue open. So he [Santana] had this whole spiel. He was like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re gonna say so we don’t burn a bridge’ and then we go, and then we get cut off and they were like, ‘Listen, just really think about your decision’ and then we stopped and we hang up the phone and we were about to turn them down and then we sit there and we’re like, ‘Damn, they’re making this really hard for us…’ Yes, it was for NXT with the guarantee to eventually go to the main roster. So we were just like alright man, dang. But honestly, what the ultimate decision was, we were like, ‘Do we wanna just be a part of something that’s already established? Or do we wanna be a part of something new and make history?’ Because no matter what happens with AEW… again, we’re here to make it successful but no matter what happens, we will always be a part of the first-ever main event on the first-ever television of AEW. We were like, ‘Do we want to be a part of history, or fade into black?’ And even best case scenario, we’re just gonna be small fish in an ocean. There’s so many people there, it would be an uphill battle. Not saying that we wouldn’t be able to do it because we’re confident in our abilities, but, we could be a part of history. We could be a part of change and we could be a part of change that literally, you’re seeing the change. We were just talking about this before the camera went on and it’s changing wrestling for the better. No matter what happens with this company, wrestling has changed for the better and it’s continually changing for the better and we were like, ‘Man, we want to be a part of history.’”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Ric Flair was a guest on WrestlingINC’s WINCLY podcast and was asked for his thoughts about Corey Graves’ comments concerning Charlotte Flair that were made on WWE’s After The Bell podcast. Flair said he is not too pleased with how Charlotte is being booked but does agree with the sentiments that she is the best that the company has to offer in multiple categories.

“I am not happy with the way they’re doing it, but then again, I have nothing to say about it and I guess what I don’t like is she’s been put in that role where number one, I hate… and this is important that people [are] finally getting this through their head. They never will. Number one, I need to be left out of the equation. She has surpassed me in talent, and she’s never gonna be around for 40 years which is one of the reasons that I’m still — if I’m a household name or whatever you call me. It’s because I was in the business for so long, you don’t walk away from 40 years of TV, and I think if they look at it as she — well say she’s like her dad. Number one, she’ll do anything they want her to do because she’s a pro just like I did. She won’t drag her feet. She’s so damn good. So damn good, and much better than anybody else that they could do it if they want, because the next day she’ll rise up and be who she is, and I don’t think she’ll ever be bored with a storyline. Does that make sense? And not participate at its fullest. So that part is wrong on Corey [Graves’] part, but as far as her being the best athlete in the company, he’s spot on. As far as her being in the Hall Of Fame already, he’s spot on, and as far as her being the biggest star, she’s the face of the women’s division.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Following the December 9th edition of Monday Night RAW, Randy Orton did an interview with WWE.com and it was mentioned that three-fourths of Evolution (Triple H, Batista & Ric Flair) are Hall Of Famers and he was asked will he soon be heading into the WWE Hall Of Fame:

“Sooner or later? I’d say later. I still got a few more bumps to take in a WWE ring before I’m ready to step into the Hall Of Fame, but sh*t, I don’t even know how that works. Like, I gotta be nominated or something? People say I’m a future first-ballot Hall Of Famer but I don’t know. There’s a lot of time between now and then so who knows what could happen. One day if I’m fortunate enough to be in the Hall Of Fame, it’ll be one hell of an honor but I’m in no hurry to be in the Hall Of Fame right now.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas suggested that it might be time for WWE to induct a referee into their Hall Of Fame.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert interviewed Scott Norton and Norton had some positive things to say about All Elite Wrestling and GCW’s Joey Janela:

“I love Joey. I’ve had three matches with Joey, and that dude is a stud. He’s the toughest little son of a b*tch that’s come down the line. He’s not a little guy, but he’s not a big man. I banged on that little… that’s a tough son of a b*tch. I’m so happy for Joey. He’s one of the good guys and he’s doing really well in our business. He’s an outstanding professional wrestler and a hell of a guy.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Booker T comments on Luke Harper's recent WWE release and has an idea where he should go next to succeed.

During a recent episode of "The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore," the WWE Hall of Famer said Harper's look wasn't something he was much of a fan of, but did admit that he is tremendously talented. When looking at Harper's skillset, Booker believes that he could not only have a run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but be someone that could be like a modern Stan Hansen, who had a big run in Japan for years.

"I didn't think the overalls was ever going to get over with me or anything like that. Was he talented? Very, very talented. Was he a guy that you couldn't wait to see next week? He didn't put himself in that position for that to happen, but what I see with Luke Harper is, when I look at that box and I look at that picture, what I see in Luke Harper is Stan Hansen. I see Japan written all over this kid. I see New Japan. I see this guy working over there for many, many years getting paid because they love big Americans like Luke Harper in Japan. I see Luke Harper having a great career even after WWE, making perhaps more money than he ever made in his life. Some people are made for Japan, are made for that lifestyle. If Harper can be like a Stan Hansen in Japan, he could make a lot of money. I just see New Japan written all over for him," Booker said.

Originally Posted by Observer

In a first for the Wednesday Night Wars, AEW Dynamite and NXT both finished with the same average number of total viewers on TNT and USA Network respectively.

Both shows averaged 778,000 viewers last night. Where AEW can claim a victory is in the important 18-49 demo, with the show finishing 11th on cable for the night with an average rating of 0.28. That was down 12 percent from last week, while the average viewership was down nine percent.

Over on the USA Network, NXT was down eight percent in total viewers and 17 percent in the demo, averaging a 0.24 rating and dropping to 21st for the night on cable television.

The cable news channels saw larger-than-average viewership due to coverage of the impeachment hearings. There were also two NBA games that partially aired against the wrestling shows.

After a week in which NXT won a couple of the other demos, it was back to usual with that show only beating Dynamite with viewers over 50, scoring a 0.38 to 0.29 victory.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

In the key demos, AEW was down 27% among females 18-49, down 20% with males 12-34, and 18% among females 12-34.

The larger drops were experienced by NXT falling 33% with both females 18-49 and 12-34 while people 18-34 dropped 30% – the latter being a demo they edged over AEW last week by 0.01.

Between both shows, the only demo that didn’t fall was NXT’s over 50 audience that was identical to last week with a 0.38.

Originally Posted by PWI

The USA Network will be airing an episode of WWE NXT on Christmas Night 12/25 at 8 PM. The episode will not be live.

Originally Posted by Observer

During two clips that aired last night, it was revealed that a Prime Target special will premiere on the WWE Network at 8 p.m. Eastern time next Tuesday (December 17). It will build up next Wednesday's Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley NXT Women's Championship match.

Originally Posted by PWI

Last night's WWE 24 documentary on the first WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event, which aired last night on the USA Network following NXT garnered 367,000 overnight viewers.

Next Wednesday 12/18, the USA Network will air the WWE 24 documentary "Becky Lynch: The Man." It will be the first time that documentary, originally seen on the WWE Network, airs on cable television.

Originally Posted by PWI

For the first time in many years, the USA Network is not scheduled to air this year's WWE Tribute to the Troops special. There is no word whether the special will air anywhere else. We are told that internally, it has not been discussed as a WWE Network special over the last few days, but obviously, that could change since WWE controls their own programming there.

If the show does not broadcast, it will be the first time since the advent of the Tribute to the Troops concept that it does not air on broadcast or cable television.

Originally Posted by PWI

Squared Circle Sirens reported today Kacy Catanzano, who has been out of action, was spotted at the WWE Performance Center today.

Originally Posted by PWI

Chris Jericho has been going well out of his way to work with a lot of the younger talent on the roster, offering advice and feedback, we are told. He's made himself very accessible to everyone.

Teddy Hart was sitting in the crowd at last night's taping in Garland, Texas, with his cats.

A story making the rounds is that one of AEW's ring mics was stolen from ringside last night during the taping.

AEW drew in the 4,500-4,600 area last night. We heard raves about the building in terms of being perfect for a wrestling show. The venue, The Curtis Culwell Center, has a 6,860 capacity in the round, so with a side of the venue cut off for staging and production, they were close to 75% or so of capacity.

Originally Posted by PWI

Q - Is it true that WWE is working to pull talents from wrestling conventions?

A - Yes and no. I have heard that certain WWE Legends contracts that are being renewed now give the company the option to prevent talents from appearing at conventions, so I'd expect the Wrestlecons and Starrcasts, etc. to have to a smaller pool to work from as more talents sign those deals. We have also heard that WWE has pretty much made it clear to promoters that if AEW talents are appearing, WWE-contracted talents can not appear at the same convention.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

NWA Powerr commentator Joe Galli joined the Pro Wrestling Boom podcast with Jason Powell. During their conversation, Galli shared his thoughts about Jim Cornette resigning from his role as a commentator for the National Wrestling Alliance:

“I knew as soon as he said it… my first initial thought was, ‘Boy we’re gonna get some angry tweets,’ and we kinda plowed on through and I know that there’s an opportunity to cut things out because obviously it doesn’t broadcast live so I didn’t know what was gonna happen with it, and I knew it was bad and he had made some other crash jokes that people had pointed out before, but this one definitely stepped over the line for a lot of people, and it required a reaction and this is the reaction that it got whether it’s something that you support or you don’t support. It’s something that I feel just had to happen, and it did happen and we’re kind of pressing on forward with what we have and I have to say, I love working with Jim Cornette for a lot of reasons. For a lot of reasons. He is a walking, talking encyclopedia of professional wrestling, especially when it comes to the National Wrestling Alliance and that brand. I feel like there’s probably nobody on planet earth that’s more knowledgeable about professional wrestling than that man, and he actually brought to the table when we were having production meetings before the broadcast, a lot of the stuff that fans really, really liked about our show, came from Jim Cornette or at least slightly influenced by Jim Cornette or things were just adjusted based on things that he brought up based on his experience. So, you have to give the devil their due if you want to use that expression and say that he certainly had an influence on NWA Powerrr.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

@TashaXXRollins on Twitter who was in attendance for the Gorilla Position’s stage show with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, recorded a video of Seth responding to the question of if there was ever an issue between himself and Jon Moxley after Moxley did the Jericho podcast and Rollins reacted to Moxley’s comments during his appearance on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. Rollins said there was never any beef and he even texted Moxley recently and wished him well.

“Oh absolutely not. I never had any beef with him for leaving. He marches to the beat of his own drum. We were all kind of talking contract-wise, we knew his stuff was up and he decided he didn’t wanna stay and that had nothing to do with wanting to go somewhere else. He was exhausted because of the process and wrestling 200 matches a year and traveling an extra 100 days on top of that for six-plus years or whatever he did, just was beating him into the ground, and his elbow wasn’t getting better as much as he wanted [it] to. So there was never any beef with him on him leaving at all, at no point. So I think some of the comments that I made after that were misconstrued. I never had a problem with him leaving or anything like that. I thought some of the stuff he said on the Jericho podcast was a little unnecessary and I thought it was one of those things where he couldn’t handle the pressure, and it’s not for everybody at that point, and that’s all I was commenting on. I was commenting on him leaving. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh you betrayed us and left.’ Absolutely not. I sent him a text on his birthday which was a few days ago and wished him well. I hope that he’s good and he seems to be doing great at AEW and New Japan so, I wish nothing but the best for him and his lovely wife.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

According to WrestleVotes, NXT will be involved at WrestleMania 36.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Charlotte Flair is regarded as one of, if not the best female superstar in WWE. But on a recent episode of After The Bell, Corey Graves wondered how much Charlotte is "feeling it" in recent weeks.

Heading into WWE TLC, Charlotte has been paired with Becky Lynch as the friends, turned enemies, turned friends battle the Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Graves believes that Charlotte's current story has made her feel "less than."

Charlotte made an appearance on Thursday's After The Bell where she addressed Graves and his criticism.

"I feel like The Queen is held to a different standard," stated Charlotte. "Unless I'm not out there doing above extraordinary or having the greatest match ever, it's like 'what's happening?' Now that I'm walking into TLC in a tag match, I'm thinking about my last year after that TLC match, and I found a new gear walking into the triple threat. Then there was Royal Rumble and the storytelling with Nia and Becky. I main evented WrestleMania, I arguably retired the greatest WWE superstar for the women's division we've had [Trish Stratus]. I felt those moments. Survivor Series with Ronda [Rousey], that was the most legit thing I've ever seen. How did I fall off? I think it's just, the bar is set so high, maybe it doesn't feel like that gear. I looked at it like, the one thing about my character is I'm consistent. I'm never injured. Has that hurt me? Instead of getting angry and frustrated, I have to look at it like, 'this is just the story right now. Not everything can be main event.' That's the gear (I've always had). When you say you miss the Evil Queen, that's where I feel like I shine. I've built this character where I don't need friends. You see Charlotte thinking she's above everyone. That's the disconnect."

Charlotte continued, "I just spent my last three title reigns -- everyone is like, 'Charlotte gets handed things.' In reality, those title reigns were not for bigger pictures. That's what's frustrating. That gets to me."

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The 12/11 ratings war saw a tie with viewers at 778,000 each while AEW won the key demos for the 11th week in a row.

In the head-to-head two hours, NXT had 771,000 viewers.

AEW in the head-to-head won the first six quarters and the only reason it was close was because of how strongly NXT won the main event segment with the three-way with Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Keith Lee overwhelming the Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz street fight by a 756,000 to 685,000 overall number, and then the overrun after AEW ended doing 881,000 viewers. Usually the overrun of late has been gaining 150,000 to 200,000 viewers and this week it was only 125,000, which says that people who normally would wait until AEW is over, switched over early to see the main event ...

The overall show demo numbers were closer but AEW still won in every key category except teenagers and over 50 ...

The difference was such that AEW would have won without the Spectrum cable blackout of TNT in many markets, but that wasn’t enough to make up the difference when falling from last week ...

The first quarter saw AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Alex Reynolds and Chris Jericho recruiting Moxley doing 870,000 viewers and 424,000 in 18-49. NXT with Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza for the cruiserweight title did 840,000 viewers and 320,000 in 18-49.

The second quarter with AEW with Cody & QT Marshall vs. Butcher & Blade lost 48,000 total viewers and 59,000 in 18-49. NXT with the ending of Rush vs.; Garza and a Shayna Baszler video package lost 55,000 viewers overall and 24,000 in 18-49.

The third quarter with AEW with the MJF promo and a Dark Order vignette lost 8,000 overall viewers and 15,000 in 18-49. NXT had the Garza proposal and Raul Mendoza vs. Cameron Grimes and lost 26,000 overall viewers and 7,000 in 18-49.

The fourth quarter with AEW with Big Swole vs. Emi Sakura and a Pac promo lost 18,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49. NXT with Travis Banks vs. Jaxson Ryker and a Mia Yim package lost 36,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49.

The fifth quarter with AEW with Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Joey Janela & Shawn Spears lost 14,000 viewers but gained 3,000 in 18-49. NXT with Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai gained 59,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49.

The sixth quarter with AEW with the ending of the Omega tag match and Sammy Guevara vs. Luchasaurus lost 10,000 overall viewers and gained 10,000 in 18-49. NXT with Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. The Singh Brothers lost 40,000 viewers and lost 18,000 in 18-49.

The seventh quarter with AEW with the end of Guevara vs. Luchasaurus and the Jericho/Jungle Boy post-match angle lost 87,000 viewers and lost 30,000 in 18-49. NXT with Bianca Belair vs. Kayden Carter gained 41,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49. This looks to be people tuning out for the NXT main event.

The final quarter with AEW with Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz lost 2,000 viewers and stayed even in 18-49, so as noted the viewers really left before this match even started. NXT with the Lee vs. Ciampa vs. Balor match lost 27,000 viewers but gained 15,000 in 18-49.

The overrun gained 125,000 views and 69,000 in 18-49.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Raw on 12/9 did 2,149,000 viewers (1.36 viewers per home), down 2.6 percent from the prior week. The number was lower even though the NFL game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles was down 19 percent to 11,360,000 viewers ...

The high pont of the show was the Lana/Rusev divorce which did 2,363,000 viewer. The low point was the spoof on Saturday Night Live’s weekend update with The Street Profits that did 1,864,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

WWE’s final PPV of the year, Tables, Ladders and Chairs, which takes place on 12/15 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, has six matches official and four more expected to be announced later this week ...

Other matches officially announced at press time were Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley in a tables match, New Day vs. The Revival for the Smackdown tag team titles and Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy. The Revival are replacing the originally planned Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler. We’re not sure if this was switched because of Roode’s drug test failure and suspension or not. Last week, before the suspension was announced, it was listed on the schedule but even then we were told that it could change.

There was a tease for Viking Raiders vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for the Raw tag titles already. The match was on the schedule for the show last week, teased on Raw, and indications we were given is that it is still on the card. What has been announced is the Viking Raiders doing an open challenge for the titles, but with that match not a secret and teased, who knows if they will go with the original plans ...

Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens had an angle shot on Raw, and was a possibility last week. As of 12/10, it was not scheduled and at that point in time it was not expected to be added either. Rollins suffered a broken little finger in a 12/8 house show match with Erick Rowan, so he did not wrestle on Raw the next day. The injury isn’t serious and he was expected to be cleared by Sunday. But they shot an angle where Owens was beaten down by Rollins and AOP and he went out in an ambulance, so returning six days later seems premature. As far as an angle on the show or on Raw the next night, that would seem likely.

The advance for the show isn’t strong by current standards. Most of the upper deck, except sections in front of the hard camera, aren’t being sold. There are even sections in the lower bowl not being sold. There are 560 tickets on the secondary market with a $43.48 get-in price.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

In a strange one, especially given no wellness test failures in seemingly forever (none have been announced since 2016 but there have been failures in NXT that were not announced since then), WWE announced on 12/10 that Robert Roode, 42, and Primo Colon, 36, were suspended for test failures. Colon hasn’t even worked a show for the company since February and it wasn’t even clear if he was still under contract as he’s been working for WWC in Puerto Rico. It’s possible Roode’s failure was discovered a few weeks back, since they did the angle with Reigns on the 11/29 Smackdown where he was injured and went out on a stretcher. But Roode was still tentatively booked for TLC a week ago and I’m guessing that changed because of the suspension being known. But it’s hard to say because when it comes to failures and suspensions, even if management times them, literally nobody is told about them besides the talent, Vince, maybe Paul Levesque but the creative team has never known about them in advance in the past.

Both are first violations and are 30 day suspensions without pay. It is hard to believe that nobody could fail on the main roster in more than three years and then two do essentially at the same time, especially when we have so many failures in UFC, where bodies aren’t nearly as important and when you face two year suspensions and not 30 days on the first offense. A key difference is that in many real sports, and UFC being one of them, TUE’s for testosterone are not allowed while in WWE they are, so often when you see guys who you look at and think they have to be on something (and there’s not a lock they are as there are people who have the right genetics and are very disciplined) they may have TUE’s for testosterone, essentially giving them free reign for at least testosterone use and that’s the base of most cycles.

At one point about a dozen years ago we were told only a few were approved and nobody new would be, but talent there says TUE’s are plentiful so that doctrine is no longer the case. Obviously WWE isn’t completely serious with the policy as compared to UFC, and there’s an argument that as not a real sport they don’t need to be.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The next season of Miz & Mrs. on USA will debut on 1/29. It will air on Wednesdays at 10 p.m., after NXT. That may mean an end to the overrun. Another key is how the ratings hold up as Miz & Mrs. popularity was from following Smackdown and a wrestling audience of 2.1 million, as opposed to NXT with an audience of maybe 35 percent of that

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

After attempting and failing to get a release and some digs at management, Chris Girard, 33, (Oney Lorcan) has agreed to return to the company. Girard noted on Twitter that he had signed a new deal. At the time he posted it, according to those with knowledge of the situation, the contract had not been signed, but his actual wording was he had agreed to a new deal, which was confirmed to us that the WWE side was confident that they had an agreement and he was staying. Whether WWE would have released him is unknown. He had stopped working for the company and his contract had been frozen. Unless he came back, they could have frozen him out pretty much forever. With Sin Cara and Harper, they were willing to work but wanted to leave, so they couldn’t be frozen and with Harper, give the 90 days, it all ended up the same either way.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding releases, within the company the belief is that there are more coming. But these things change rapidly, as for so long it was nobody getting released, then it was if they aren’t happy let them go, and then still, nobody was getting released. It is notable that everyone released was 39 or older except for Albert Hardie Jr. (ACH/Jordan Myles)

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Some notes on the WWE tryouts this past week. While there are some independent wrestlers, you can see with guys they are back to focusing on big guys, with a lot of college football players. While their track record with the big football players hasn’t been the best, the reality is they are loaded with smaller guys who can work and the independents will continue to turn these guys out. On the women’s side, there are some models but the focus, unlike years ago, is on higher level legitimate athletes including legitimate top tier track, basketball and volleyball players as well as the MMA and kickboxer types. I think the success of Bianca Belair as a home grown star that the feeling is those type of people can do well at this. Before it was always about looks first, the ability to pose in bikinis and hopefully some athletic background to go with it

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Regarding Scurll, obviously from the BTE tease (and some would say the Jericho tease although “Marty” in his list of guys he wouldn’t defend against could mean a number of different things), the betting line would be AEW. What we do know is that he’s agreed to at least one indie date that both sides have agreed to keep secret for now, but that deal would indicate right now he’s not planning on renewing here. He also posted a photo of himself with Luke Harper with the idea of them being the Villain Club. Scurll owns the rights to the Villain Club name. The indie group he’s working with would not be allowed generally speaking if he signed a new ROH contract, but he’d probably be able to do it for now with an AEW deal

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The next [AEW] PPV will be 2/29, avoiding major competition, in Chicago at the Wintrust Arena, the home of DePaul University basketball, which with a PPV set up can probably hold about 8,000 fans. Chicago was chosen because much of the talent was already going to be part of the C2E2 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo that weekend. AEW will have a major presence at the Expo.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Chris Jericho on his podcast this week talked about the forming of the Inner Circle. He said Tony Khan came up with a name for the group that he didn’t like, and he came up with the name FIST, thought it would make for cool merchandise, but Khan didn’t like that name. Jericho had used the term inner circle in a BTE episode so the Young Bucks came up with that name and Jericho liked it. They wanted Pentagon & Fenix in he group but Jericho thought they were too much like super heroes for Mexicans and wanted a more ruthless type of team, so Santana & Ortiz fit better. The company suggested Anthony Agogo, an Olympic medalist in boxing that they are training, for the enforcer role. Jericho said he wanted somebody physically bigger which was where Jake Hager fit in

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The reason the 12/11 [AEW Dynamite] show was booked in Dallas was because the NFL Owners meeting was in Dallas on that same day and Tony Khan had to attend the meeting on a Wednesday and still have a television show to run that same day

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The problem previously with Dragon Lee in AEW is that he was a New Japan/CMLL guy, but that barrier isn’t there now, as I don’t think New Japan would stop him, although it is possible they might, and AEW works with AAA, so that channel should be open.

Originally Posted by PWI

ImpactWrestling tweeted that, officially, Rob Van Dam will face Brian Cage at the January 12 "Hard to Kill Pay-Per-View in Dallas, Texas.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE announced the following:

WWE and TikTok have launched a new partnership to bring WWE’s unique blend of family-friendly entertainment, edge-of-your-seat action and world-class athleticism to the TikTok community leading into the WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view event this Sunday, Dec. 15.

To kick off the partnership, WWE launched their official TikTok account and is also making available WWE Superstar entrance themes for more than 30 Superstars and Hall of Famers including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, Becky Lynch, John Cena and Sasha Banks, among others. The themes and original entrance music will be integrated into TikTok’s vast content library joining music from top artists like Lil Nas X, Mariah Carey, Lizzo, and emerging artists like Arizona Zervas.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News is reporting that the December Classic Content Drop will be more episodes of " WWE Confidential" coming this Monday, December 16. It is unclear at this point, how many episodes of the series will be added.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

The Wrap has tabulated the prime-time audience numbers for all cable networks in 2019 ...

TNT was #7 with 1,055,000 viewers in prime-time. AEW would fall below that figure with 921,000 viewers per episode since its launch on October 2nd.

The USA Network was #8 with 1,042,000 viewers, so it tells you how valuable Raw is to their overall average. At worst, Raw is hitting a two million viewer average on Mondays with the third hour frequently hitting 1.8-2.0 million. Conversely, NXT would be below that average at 829,000 viewers per episode since launching September 18th ...

E! was listed at #43 with 302,000 viewers, a figure Total Divas fell beneath for this past season that just wrapped and was its lowest in franchise history.

Viceland, which carried Dark Side of the Ring and The Wrestlers was #83 with 77,000 viewers on average. The first season of Dark Side blew past the station’s average with the six-episode season doing 206,000 viewers per show ...

AXS TV was #92 with a prime-time average of 61,000 viewers. We don’t get any viewership figures for Impact Wrestling, New Japan, or WOW on the station. The average is below Impact’s prior homes on Pop TV and Destination America but above the Pursuit Network (which wasn’t listed among the top 115 cable stations).

beIN Sports Espanol was #109 with 11,000 viewers on average and beIN Sports was #112 with 5,000 average viewers. I don’t know what numbers MLW does on the station, but it would be hard to imagine wrestling doesn’t top those low figures.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw numbers last night were not good, as even coming the day after a pay-per-view and without a big football game, the show set the all-time non-holiday low with 2.05 million viewers.

The previous low was for the November 11 episode that did 2.06 million viewers, but that went against the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks game that did 15.98 million viewers. Last night's New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts game did 11.06 million viewers.

The only episodes in the modern era to do fewer viewers were shows that aired on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this past year.

The show started low, meaning not much curiosity or interest coming off TLC, and as is the case with most wrestling television shows, lost viewers throughout ...

Because the open was low, the actual drops were not unusually high, but they were there. First-to-third hour in women 18-49 dropped 20 percent, first-to-third in male 18-49 dropped 24 percent, teenage girls dropped 34 percent, teenage boys dropped 20 percent, and the only reason the drops were not near record breaking was because the major audience, those over 50, were only down eight percent.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.20 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.10 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.86 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Friday Night SmackDown finished with 2,330,000 viewers last week on Fox and was down 5% in viewers from the week prior. They did a 0.7 in the 18-49 demo and 0.4 with 18-34s, which were both #1 among network programs that night.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Cody Rhodes gave his take on Marty Scurll after his recent appearance on NWA programming.

Scurll, whose future is not set in stone once his contract with Ring of Honor expired, appeared at the NWA Into The Fire pay-per-view this past weekend. In an interview with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Cody reacted to Scurll heading to the NWA and said Scurll is simply testing the waters and doesn't think that what he might be doing in the coming weeks is any indication of where he might end up.

"Marty is going to do what Marty is going to do. We all love Marty. Anything he does in the next few weeks or months, I wouldn't look at as permanent for him. He's very much testing the waters here and there and that's pretty much all I can say on Marty," Cody said.

Originally Posted by PWI

There has been a lot of talk internally that WWE's third podcast will be centered around a female personality.

Originally Posted by Observer

Kazuchika Okada will be one of the torch relay runners for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Originally Posted by Observer

The NWA announced that their January 24 PPV will be called “Hard Times.”

Originally Posted by PWI

Impact Wrestling will run Mexico City in conjunction with AAA on 1/17 and 1/18, it was announced today. They will be running Fronton Mexico.

Josh Mathews has signed a new deal with the company ...

The 12/24 and 12/31 edition of Impact will be looks at 2019 in the promotion, along with talents talking holiday memories and Impact Year-End Awards ...

The promotion has already announced a 2/21 Twitch special titled Outbreak and will return to the Davis Arena in Louisville, KY on 2/22 for an Impact+ broadcast.

Originally Posted by PWI

Tracy Smothers, who's career has carried him across the WWF, WCW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Memphis, ECW and beyond, announced this evening that he has been battling lymphoma since being diagnosed on 11/14. Smothers had appeared at ringside at the Bobby Eaton Tribute event in Knoxville, TN over the weekend looking ill, which brought up concern publicy.

Smothers, on his Facebook account, addressed those concerns, writing:

"To all concerned I was diagnosed Nov.14 w Lymphoma cancer which now am on my 3rd treatment 3 to go Of Chemo which is shrinking the rapid growing tumors.Doc told me yrs ago I have blockage in my artery so here we are an have lost 45percent of my heart use.Also he said I have lots of head,body trauma.Doc said I had a heart attack some time back an didnt know it.Have felt bad for awhile now but thought I was getting old,lol.This is not fatal as its between my Pancreas,Colon,neck.A big TY to all of u but I look at it as getting a tube up,overhaul,tires rotated,oil change,etc.all in one lol.Remember LIFE is a BATTLE an I'm in it to win it so dont hesitate in trying to be tough by putting off getting checked out in this day an age u never know??GOD BLESS EVERYBODY.."

We are told that Smothers is currently hospitalized as a result of his current treatment.

Originally Posted by PWI

An arrest has been made in the criminal investigation into the death of Matt "Travis" Palacios.

48-year-old Luc Vu of Elmwood Park, NJ has been charged with reckless driving, failure to yield to a bicyclist, failure to obey a traffic device, drive left of pavement marking and failure to exercise due care, according to MSN.com.

Palacios was struck while traveling on a bike path in East Harlem about 2:30 AM on Saturday 11/9 when a dump truck driver made an illegal left u-turn to get onto the Willis Avenue Bridge. Travis was struck and although rushed to the hospital, suffered serious trauma and was pronounced dead when he arrived.

It is not yet clear whether Vu was aware he struck Travis. Vu was driving for D&A Contracting, which fired him upon learning of his arrest.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Ethan Page’s Body Guy Extravaganza over WrestleMania week will be headlined by Brian Cage vs. Scott Steiner in a 3 Stages of Hell match. Stage one is a live debate, stage two is a pose off, and stage three is a match with Page as the special referee. The show is taking place on Friday, April 3rd in Tampa as part of Wrestlecon at 3 pm that day.

Originally Posted by Observer

This was a note about the MTV show The Challenge on Wednesday nights from those close to the situation regarding ratings and why DVR numbers may be so high for AEW & NXT. "I know you briefly referenced an MTV show that beats AEW/NXT most weeks. That show is The Challenge. We are the number one podcast and touring live show about The Challenge. Wanted to give you a heads up for some stuff to look out for. I know there is a bit of crossover between Challenge fans and wrestling fans. Among our listeners we have a ton of wrestling fans and we've even begun scheduling our live shows around wrestling weekends. We're doing the Tampa Improv Mania weekend and we did Chicago Improv this past November. MIZ started on The Challenge. Ziggler hosted the Season 33 reunion. CM Punk did Champs vs Stars. Overall it is a competition with drama etc so it does appeal to a similar audience. Like wrestling, their bread and butter is also 18-49.This coming week is the reunion for this season but then The Challenge will be dark for a few weeks between seasons 34 and 35. Season 35 will likely premiere around Feb. Might be interested to see how AEW/NXT do in the weeks with no Challenge whatsoever.”

Originally Posted by PWI

Although WWE traditionally has a 90 day no compete, we are told that Cara is telling those reaching out to book him that he has no such clause. We are also told he is close to signing a contract with AAA in Mexico.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Paige has made the most of her in-ring career being shortened, successfully transitioning from wrestler to panelist on WWE Backstage.

The former Divas Champion has become a regular on the show, joining Renee Young and Booker T each week to recap the latest news and notes in WWE. Those who work on WWE Backstage have consistently said the show, which airs on Fox Sports 1, is separate from WWE and they are allowed certain freedoms they wouldn't have on Raw, SmackDown, or NXT.

But Paige wishes she had even more freedom on the show.

"I wish I got to have more," Paige told Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell when asked about the freedom she has on the show. "Sometimes, you get a little pulled back. Obviously, with Punk on the show now, since he's working under contract with Fox and not WWE, he can voice a lot more opinion. I would love to go in a little bit more. I love to talk crap and I feel like the crap that I talk is what the people say anyway. It feels good, but I wish I got to do it more."

Originally Posted by Fightful

Taz and Corey Graves have an interesting exchange on Twitter after Graves posted a tweet about Vic Joseph and Samoa Joe being the "new and improved" Michael Cole and Tazz on commentary.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Hiromu Takahashi was interviewed by New Japan about his 2018 injury during the match against Dragon Lee and recent return. He said that after he wasn’t going to return for the Best of the Super Juniors tournament this past spring that it had to be Osaka where he returned at Power Struggle and setting up the match with Will Ospreay for Wrestle Kingdom. He described the injury from July 2018 in San Francisco and thought his career might be over. Referee Marty Asami asked if he wanted to stop the match and Takahashi continued and thought it was adrenaline that got him through it. When he went to the hospital, he had to wait eight hours for a CT scan after the injury. The return at Power Struggle was kept a surprise with Takahashi that few knew, including people in the company. His first match back is this Thursday at Korakuen Hall teaming with Bushi against Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles and is doing multi-person tags on Friday and Saturday.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 12/17 episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 brought in 95,000 viewers, down from last week's 127,0000 viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Killer Kross is officially a free agent after being at an impasse with Impact Wrestling for months over his contract.

Impact announced today that Kross is no longer with the promotion. The statement on their website simply states: “IMPACT Wrestling has come to terms on the release of Kevin Kesar (Killer Kross).”

Kross has not been seen on Impact television since July when Eddie Edwards defeated him in a first blood match at Slammiversary. It was reported back in May that he had requested his release, but Impact did not grant it. Kross finished his program with Edwards at Slammiversary and has not been used since.

Kross’ contract was set to expire this month, but Impact had the option of rolling the contract over another year.

Originally Posted by Observer

MLW's partnership with Lucha Libre AAA will kick off next month with four AAA wrestlers appearing at MLW's Zero Hour television tapings.

MLW announced this morning that AAA's Aerostar, Drago, Puma King, and Taurus are set for Zero Hour. The show is taking place at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, January 11.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE star Jimmy Uso (Jonathan Solofa Fatu) was found not guilty of DUI earlier today in Pensacola, Florida, according to Florida ABC affiliate WEAR-TV.

Uso was arrested 7/25 in Pensacola, Florida and charged with DUI. He had been pulled over at 3:04 AM after authorities observed him "driving erratically" and "swerving left and right."

A video released via TMZ showed Uso request his attorney be present after he was asked to take a breathalyzer. He was arrested at that point.

Uso went to court this morning and was found not guilty after a jury deliberated for over an hour. His speeding ticket in relation to the incident will remain on his record.

Originally Posted by PWI

Stephanie McMahon was interviewed by talkSPORT in the UK about the move over to BT Sport in January. McMahon was asked about the progress of the women's division with the final pay-per-view main event of the year, featuring the Women's Tag Team Titles, in which she replied, "I just couldn’t be more proud of the women’s evolution that has taken place in WWE and really all around the world, but especially WWE. When you consider the stat that you just gave me and then you think about the fact that our women headlined WrestleMania, which is akin to our biggest championship playoff, and our women were the main event. And then you consider that our women were allowed to compete for the first time in history in Saudi Arabia just about a month ago, it is… proud is the word that comes to mind. I’m so incredibly proud. And these women deserve every opportunity not because they’re women, but because they’re some of the greatest performers in WWE."

When asked about female talent pushing for a second women-only “Evolution" pay-per-view and whether there were any official plans she could reveal, "It is certainly something that we are pushing for. There’s no official announcement just yet and yes, there were balls in the air and wheels in motion in terms of this year and, of course, one of the big focuses was on our event in Saudi Arabia and having our women being allowed to perform. I’m hopeful to have an announcement on an Evolution 2, but there is nothing official to announce just yet."

On whether she feels the WWE has listened to the fans after making the announcement in the ring that they would and moving to BT Sport "We are certainly doing our best to listen to our audience and give them what they want. I think we always need to be listening, we always need to be trying and we couldn’t be more excited to be launching in the UK on BT Sport for the first-time in history. Providing an experience to our fans that is hopefully easier to enjoy, including same-day prime time re-airs of RAW and SmackDown. Personalized highlights on the BT Sports app, original programming like the BT Sports acclaimed document series ‘No Filter’. It really is a huge opportunity for us and we need to make sure the content is worthy of our fans’ passion.

Originally Posted by PWI

Britt Baker has noted several times on social media she's having issues getting to tonight's AEW taping in Corpus Christie, Texas as her flight has been delayed twice. She is slated to face Kris Statlander tonight ...

Tony Schiavone will be hosting an official AEW podcast next year that will be produced in conjunction with Warnermedia.

There will be online pre-sales tomorrow for the Revolution PPV and the Atlanta and Kansas City Dynamite episodes.

Originally Posted by PWI

Tito Santana was recently a guest with Ken Resnick and Bruce Wirt on VOC Nation’s Wrestling with History program. Tito talked about the evolution of pro wrestling, the WWE Network lengthening careers, and the racial overtones that ultimately helped his character. Here are some highlights ...

On the difference in pro wrestling booking and production: “I remember when I went in to introduce Alberto Del Rio on one of the Raw (shows) several years ago, they gave me a script and I was nervous and hell because I had to memorize it. We used to talk from the heart and the fans could feel what we were trying to get across. They felt what we were saying, and then in the match we would even make them feel it more. We were able to continue the story from our interviews with the match, and the story could go on forever and ever and ever. Me and Greg Valentine wrestled each other for a year and a half pretty much every night. You couldn’t get away with it now.”

Originally Posted by PWI

The legendary Keiji Mutoh a.k.a. The Great Muta will also be one of the carriers of the 2020 Olympic flame in Tokyo

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

While speaking with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Cody Rhodes shared that MJF has been taken off AEW’s media list because MJF has upset a few people during interviews:

“Max is really a special talent. He is not the nicest guy. If you’re doing this interview with him, he always has some choice words. He is off our media list. Brandi [Rhodes] has taken him off our media list because he has upset a few folks, but he is definitely the future of pro wrestling. Now here is where push comes to shove: Here’s me who doesn’t want to give any inch on the role I’m in right now in this crazy kind of moment I’m having with these fans and supporting me. I wanted to keep that going. There’s him who doesn’t want to give an inch and wants to know everything and how he knows everything and has commitments to MJF. It’s the perfect match for a wrestling match. People will point things about the industry that are artificial so often that they don’t do things that are very real. The best wrestling rivalries come when things are very real. We have gotten under each other’s skin. When you are challenging each other to be better in the ring… this is his time. He does have the platform, but if he doesn’t deliver, he won’t have the platform. At the moment he is continuing to deliver.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

During a media call with U.K. outlets, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was the subject of the call. Metro posted a highlight from the junket and Stephanie had the following to say about CM Punk and AJ Lee:

“I think Punk’s been pretty vocal that he’s not interested in an in-ring return right now, but for sure, that would be interesting [Punk getting back in the ring], and I would love to see AJ Lee back in the women’s division. I think AJ Lee was an incredibly compelling character. Some of our most interesting and intriguing storylines were with AJ, and I think she deserves as much credit as every other woman on our roster. Nobody should be overlooked, and that’s not the goal to overlook anybody’s name. Every single person is a huge reason for why this happened. You know, I’m a big fan of AJ Lee’s, I really am.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Kevin Owens joined Booker T and Brad Gilmore on the Hall Of Fame podcast. During their conversation, Owens talked about not using social media and some of the interactions he’s had and/or seen on social media that has driven him away from it:

“One guy that used to get dragged through the mud a lot was Roman, Roman Reigns, by a lot of people, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for Roman. So a lot of times I would see people say really terrible things about him or his family and I feel like I just can’t… and I would look and those people were following me. I’m like, ‘I don’t want these people to have access to me’ and it’s not just Roman, it’s so many people. The Young Bucks are friends of mine and that’s well documented and I remember seeing a fan, and I was tagged in this tweet which is how I saw it. I don’t know why I was tagged in it but this guy was talking about how he hopes The Young Bucks break their neck[s]. Then you’re not a fan. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like them, don’t care for their stuff. To wish that on somebody, I want no part of it and I actually — funny because I met that fan at an airport and I recognized him and he wanted my autograph and I told him, ‘No, we’re good. You wish for my friends to break their necks.’ He was all, ‘Oh, I got hacked.’ I’m like, ‘No you didn’t get hacked’, but you know what I mean? That’s just the kind of stuff that has driven me away from social media. I’ll still use it once in a while. I like posting about my kids, my wife, my family. I like posting about my cats and stuff. It’s weird. I try to keep wrestling out of it because I don’t enjoy that part of it. Everybody’s got an opinion. Everybody thinks their opinion is important and I don’t care for it in that way.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Of all the unknowns heading into AEW's television premiere in October, perhaps no one has benefitted more from being on TNT than Darby Allin.

Since AEW Dynamite premiered on Oct. 2, Allin has challenged Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship and stepped in the ring with Jon Moxley. He also delivered a highlight reel attack, riding down the ramp on his skateboard to jump Jericho. And Le Champion sees even more big things in the future for Allin.

"Look at the projects we've had in eight weeks. Darby Allin, you see him come out and people are dressing like him now. Kids and women are putting the face paint on. At first, you're like, 'who is this guy?' Then I had him come down and attack me off the skateboard. Then we had the match where he had his hands tied behind his back and all that stuff. He did the crazy promo where he's in a bodybag, getting crowd surfed at a punk rock show. Then he has an amazing match with Moxley. He's made. He went from nothing to a legit made star in less than two months. He wants it. He reminds me a lot of Jeff Hardy. He's got an x-factor to him. Get into a room or a ring with that guy, he's got a presence," Jericho said on Keepin It 100 podcast.

Originally Posted by Fightful

@BeltsByDan notes that a new WWE United States Championship has reportedly been delivered to the company.

Originally Posted by Fightful

It shouldn't be much of a surprise, but Joey Janela is the person who contacted Virgil to come in to AEW. They asked around about who would have Virgil's number, and someone mentioned Janela and within five minutes, Joey had a deal in place for Virgil to appear.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Cody comments on NWA using "Hard Times" as its pay-per-view name.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">His legacy is really hard to contain and that’s a good thing. Always nice to see his influence on the sport. <a href="https://t.co/MBn82aKMFK">https://t.co/MBn82aKMFK</a></p>&mdash; Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1207326161472241666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Originally Posted by Observer

Going up against coverage of the presidential impeachment hearings that dominated the cable TV ratings scene, NXT ratings rose this week, averaging 795,000 viewers on Wednesday night.

That number was up two percent from last week. Perhaps more importantly, the show was up 13 percent in the important 18-49 demo. NXT averaged a 0.27 rating, good for 27th place for the night on cable.

The news was not as good for AEW Dynamite. That show averaged just 683,000 viewers overall, down 12 percent from last week. It was the second lowest viewership total so far on TNT.

NXT got its first win against Dynamite in the 18-49 demo this week. Dynamite was down 11 percent in that demo -- to a 0.25 rating -- and finished 31st for the night on cable. That rating was the lowest in the history of the show.

While NXT usually only wins in the 50+ demo, this week they won every category except for men 18-49 and females 12-34.

NXT's biggest win was in the 50+ demo, averaging a 0.36 rating to Dynamite's 0.27. But the impeachment hearings also drew heavily from that demo, so it's reasonable to assume the show may have had an even bigger lead with no competition.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

While NXT has topped AEW’s total viewers twice and tied them last week, this was their first victory in the key demo with AEW hitting its lowest mark among 18-49s since launching in October ...

NXT saw a major spike in females with the 18-49 audience up 57% from the past week and with females 12-34 up by 37.5% from last week. Interestingly, Raw also had a spike in that demo this week by 32% from the week prior with a 0.22 that ties their highest mark in that demo since the first head-to-head week. Females 12-34 increased 37.5%, which is a demo Raw shot up with earlier in the week by 32%. In fact, NXT, AEW & Raw also saw major increases in that female demo this week.

The 18-34 demo was up 29% for NXT.

For AEW, the show also performed well with females 12-34 with a 44% increase from last week. Dynamite fell among males 12-34 by 25%, males 18-49 fell 15% and the 18-49 demo was down 11% from last week.

AEW did win among males 18-49 (0.34 to 0.31), females 12-34 (0.13 to 0.11), and were even with people 25-54 with each show doing a 0.28.

Originally Posted by Observer

CIMA is getting a World Heavyweight Championship shot when MLW returns to Philadelphia in February.

MLW has announced that Jacob Fatu will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against CIMA at Fightland on Saturday, February 1. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena.

Originally Posted by Observer

NJPW has announced the rules for Lance Archer and Jon Moxley's Texas death match at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

It will be a no disqualification match that can only be won by 10-count knockout or via submission. There will be no pinfalls in the match.

Originally Posted by PWI

Fox announced that their 'New Year's Eve with Steve Harvey' Special will feature a "WWE Match with Roman Reigns".

The event will be hosted by Maria Menounos and Rob Gronkowski.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Becky Lynch special that aired after NXT last night did 420,000 overnight viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI

Colt Cabana worked last night's TV taping doing commentary for AEW Dark. We have not heard Cabana has signed with the promotion.

For those who have asked, there are no plans for an AEW event in Florida over Wrestlemania week.

Originally Posted by PWI

MLW today announced newly minted free agent Killer Kross will compete at MLW: FIGHTLAND at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday February 1. The event will be a MLW FUSION TV taping for beIN SPORTS.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

SmackDown Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston did an interview with Newsweek and talked about the new five-year extension that he, Big E and Xavier Woods signed with WWE and Kofi stated he has thought about putting the final touches on his career at the end of this next five-year stretch.

“I’ve definitely thought about that. Five years is such a long time away, but you’d be a fool if you didn’t plan ahead. It’s really early to say, but at the end of this five years [it] might be the end of my career, not just from an injury or physical perspective, but just not being home. Being away from my kids is very difficult. We had to go an extra day last week and we had a live event and then media day in Minneapolis, and then we had TLC and then I came home Monday and then back on the road Tuesday. I’m doing the WWE holiday party in Stamford, and then I’ll go back home and come back to New York early on Friday to do a whole bunch of interviews and the live taping. All of that just to say that it’s a lot, and my kids are growing up, and there’s a lot of days that we miss. I’m considering hanging them up at the end of this five-year period, but you just don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen next week, but it has crossed my mind for sure. I’ve been doing this for a long time, over a decade. It’ll be 12 years on television in January, which is crazy to think about, but that’s the reality. You have to be thinking about those things as a family man and as a person in general.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

During an interview with talkSPORT, AEW co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes shared that there are plans to bring All Elite Wrestling to the United Kingdom in 2020 and the name ‘Royal Flush’ was thrown around as an event name:

“So, Royal Flush was a real thing and we all actually thought it was a really good name until we said it multiple times and we realized it was a terrible name. Tony [Khan] was one of the first to spot that. But, with the U.K. and our representation with ITV and FITE, and the fact that the fan-base is really thriving and hungry, I mean, the U.K. independent scene got hot before the American independent scene and so many of us imports were going over there to do shows like I did with What Culture Pro Wrestling. I would say 100 percent that AEW is coming to the U.K. in 2020. I can’t be sure if we’re coming for Dynamite, a pay-per-view or a rare live event tour, but everyone is on-board with us coming in 2020 and if I’m incorrect with that statement, I will give you $500. No, I don’t know,” Cody laughed. “100 percent, you can hold us to it. We are coming to the U.K. in 2020 and we’ve got some tentative dates circled, but it’s a matter of where you’re going to hit as well. Are you going to hit as many markets as you can possibly hit or are you just going to do London and Manchester? What’s it going to be? But, for sure, in 2020 we’ll be live over there with AEW.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson covered the 12/20/99 episode of WCW Nitro for their ‘What Happened When’ podcast. As they were reviewing the show, Conrad Thompson brought up that the n.W.o. (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman & Hulk Hogan) are going into the WWE Hall Of Fame this coming April. Schiavone stated that it’s not right that Eric Bischoff isn’t going into the Hall Of Fame with them and said that he feels Bischoff was brought back to WWE just to be fired. Tony Schiavone also said that his family has been instructed to not let WWE induct him into the Hall Of Fame after he is no longer here.

“Well Eric got f*cked over once by Vince [McMahon] this year, so why wouldn’t Vince f*ck him over again? You know what? That’s f*cking fine with me,” Schiavone said about not going into the WWE Hall Of Fame. “And I hope that I’m working with AEW until the day I die, because once it’s all over with, my family has been instructed… I’ve told you this I think on the air here before. My family has been instructed that if they want to induct me in anyway, postmortem, the answer from the family is no. So, don’t expect from me to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. You know, now I’m pissed off. I’m pissed off because Eric is not a part of the n.W.o. into the Hall Of Fame, and I’m pissed off because Eric got f*cked over by Vince McMahon. Not Bruce Prichard, who’s our friend, who’s a good guy, straight up guy, but by Vince McMahon. You know, and everybody knows that Eric was brought in just so he could get fired, and that f*cking sucks. I know it, and I’ll guarantee you that I’m right, and the fact he wasn’t put in the n.W.o. Hall Of Fame — into the Hall Of Fame with the n.W.o. confirms it.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Ember Moon is the latest WWE superstar to speak out on the lack of spotlight currently on the women's division.

Moon recently appeared on WWE Backstage where the topic of the current state of the WWE women's division was discussed. Women have had a banner year in WWE with the peak being at WrestleMania 35 when Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair headlined the show. But since then, some have felt that the division has cooled off.

"Since WrestleMania, we've only featured four or five of our female superstars and there is a plethora out there," said Ember. "It's irritating to sit back and watch these women who work so hard and are so passionate, that just want to steal the show and entertain that aren't getting that opportunity and aren't getting that platform. Just because Ronda is gone doesn't mean there isn't a women's division. There are so many girls; Sarah Logan, The IIconics, Liv Morgan, Dana Brooke. There's so many people reaching for that brass ring and they just need that platform. I want another Evolution. I want to give those women the opportunity to show the world what they can do. We proved the first time that Evolution was the hottest pay-per-view of the year. We deserve every year to have that opportunity."

Paige made similar comments on WWE After The Bell, believing some girls are held back at the expense of others.

Originally Posted by Fightful

As one of the biggest box office draws in wrestling history, Steve Austin knows what it takes to get over in the business.

When it comes to the current generation, Austin has praised the likes of Becky Lynch and Kevin Owens for ascending to the top of the mountain. And now he has his eye on another superstar he believes has "top guy" potential.

“Right now, the people that are on top are the people that should be on top,” Austin told Sports Illustrated. “But I called this two years ago watching his match when he did the favors for somebody that night, and I said, ‘Man, this Andrade kid is going to be a player one of these days.’ I think he’s proving that. The people that have tremendous success either have a gimmick that is so close to them that it’s basically them turned up or it’s so far away from them that it cannot be missed. It’s all about how you resonate with the people. Wrestling is a relationship, whether you’re a heel or a babyface, you’re establishing yourself as a brand. How do you make them feel? They’re living vicariously through your storylines. They feel strength, vulnerability, or power. If it works, you’re doing something that resonates with people in regards to entertainment and wanting to invest in a person."

Austin said about Andrade, "He still has a ways to go, but it’s just tweaking that character. The kid’s a hell of a damn worker."

Originally Posted by Fightful

Oney Lorcan has another interesting story to share, this time from his time appearing as enhancement talent for WWE.

Lorcan shared a tweet that included a picture of himself in what was technically his WWE debut a decade ago. Lorcan wrestled as "The Carolina Panther" and lost to The Great Khali on the January 1, 2010 edition of Friday Night SmackDown (the show was taped on December 29, 2009).

Earlier in that day, Lorcan claimed he saw AEW World Champion Chris Jericho taking a dump. Here is what Lorcan wrote.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

John Cena reportedly wants to have a big role at WrestleMania 36.

It was reported today, via @Wrestlevotes, that Cena wants to do "something substantial" at WrestleMania in April. Cena appeared at WrestleMania 35 earlier this year for a segment with Elias, but word now is that he wants to do more than just an appearance like that this year.

WrestleMania 36 takes place on April 5, 2020 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It was noted that Cena lives within the Tampa area and it seems like this WrestleMania is important to him.

Originally Posted by PWI

Q - There's been a lot of talk about Edge returning to the ring. Do you think this will actually happen?

A - I do. We've heard that Edge signed a new deal with WWE that has a pretty nice upside. We also reported a few months ago he was in Pittsburgh for WWE business and that's where WWE Wellness Policy head Dr. Joseph Maroon is headquartered. My gut feeling is we'll see Edge in the Royal Rumble as a surprise (as that seems like the perfect place to make a big splash with a return for Wrestlemania season) and possibly even see him do a few matches on major events. I will point out that Edge has denied on social media that he's doing anything, but the talk has persisted internally that he's on the way back to the ring and I do believe there is something to it. We will see if I am right soon enough.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

NXT clearly won the 12/18 ratings war, beating AEW for the first time in the key demos ...

NXT did 795,000 viewers, of which 344,000 fell between 18-49 (789,000 and 341,000 head-to-head) and set a show record with 1.32 viewers per home.

AEW did 683,000 viewers, of which 319,000 fell between 18-49, and were still the most-watched shows as far as multiple people watching together for the week with 1.39 viewers per home ...

I do think AEW was hurt by the last five minutes of their show as far as going forward. What has happened based on DVR numbers is that NXT has gained viewers and many are switching to watching live. Based on normal DVR patterns, AEW probably still wins in total viewers when you throw in DVR numbers, but it’ll be close, although the 18-49 differential will easily be made up ...

A key difference, and why NXT won the overall 18-49, was women, as NXT did 58.5 percent women in 18-49, which I attribute to Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley ..

NXT opened big with 977,000 viewers in the first quarter for Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor, which was the biggest thing of the night and by a huge margin. Baszler vs. Ripley was not even close if you’re looking at what drew the audience. Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix did 689,000 viewers against it.

In the second quarter, the finish of Cole vs. Balor and post match lost 104,000 viewers while the finish of the AEW tag match and post-match brawl gained 2,000 viewers.

In the third quarter, Killian Dain vs. Damien Priest 84,000 viewers. Cody & Darby Allin vs. The Butcher & The Blade gained 11,000 viewers. It was still a 789,000 to 703,000 edge for NXT.

In the fourth quarter, Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes lost 25,000 viewers while Awesome Kong vs. Miranda Alize lost 57,000 viewers.

The only quarter AEW won was the fifth.

The ending of Grimes vs. Kushida and beginning of Io Shirai vs. Santana Garrett lost 32,000 viewers. Chris Jericho vs. Jungle Boy gained 135,000 viewers and AEW won 780,000 to 732,000.

In quarter six, the ending of Shirai vs. Garrett and Pete Dunne vs. Travis Banks gained 34,000 viewers, likely the switch back from NXT viewers who wanted to see the Jericho match. AEW lost 113,000 viewers taking two long commercial breaks and interviews.

In quarter seven, NXT lost 100,000 viewers for Dunne vs. Banks and AEW lost 29,000 viewers for Kris Statlander vs. Britt Baker.

The main event battle saw Baszler vs. Ripley gain 38,000 viewers to 725,000 while the Young Bucks vs. SCU lost 3,000 viewers to 645,000.

The overrun gained 145,000 for the Baszler vs. Ripley, which is usual levels of gain.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

AEW is the most DVR’d pro wrestling show now most weeks. It always was by percentage, as thus far, in the 18-49 demo, only 57 percent of the total viewers in that demo watch it live. NXT, by percentage is the second most, but does fall behind Raw & Smackdown (both usually around 400,000 to 500,000 as well) total DVR viewers. If you include DVR viewers, AEW beats NXT every week and most weeks handily a AEW does 140,000 more DVR viewers per week (about 540,000 to 400,000) and even the show the night before Thanksgiving saw AEW having a very small overall lead with +7 DVR viewers factored in. So it’s around 1.3 million to 1.4 million viewers for AEW and around 1.2 million to 1.25 million for NXT of late.

What all that means to advertisers is a different story. One person with FOX noted to us that DVR numbers have little to no impact on the sales side ... He noted that there may be places where they may use +3 DVR viewers but within all the FOX stations, it doesn’t have much use. Others have noted the same thing. This is why sports rights have increased so much, because the culture is more and more turning to DVR viewing of television, but advertisers don’t see that as valuable. What is bad is that even five to seven years ago, wrestling fans viewed wrestling like sport and it wasn’t that long ago when 90 to 93 percent of wrestling television viewers watched live. Now, the need to watch live has changed with younger viewers. It’s a positive that the AEW audience skews younger while WWE is aging, but the negative is that those younger viewers watch on their own time and not live, so if they do 800,000 live and 540,000 via DVR, they are not getting credit financially for a huge percentage of their fan base. There is a premium on live viewing because it means you are watching the ads.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There has also been a change in the AEW/NXT dynamic. Previously, AEW fans would switch to NXT in significant numbers during commercials but NXT fans would not do the same. And there is the huge number of viewers from AEW who at 10 p.m. switch to USA to see the end of NXT. TNT research has shown that there is an increase in NXT fans switching to AEW during commercial breaks. This came in the last month. By theory is what has happened with the tightening of the demos is that there are 18-49 fans who watched AEW and didn’t watch NXT, that are now making NXT priority but will switch back to AEW and not the original small 18-49 NXT demo just becoming AEW fans. But there is no way to prove that aspect

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Smackdown on 12/13 did A 1.46 rating and 2,330,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home), down 4.6 in ratings and 5.0 percent from the prior week, with its usual 0.7 in the 18-49 demo.

One year ago FOX in the same time slot averaged 3,730,000 viewers and an 0.8 in the 18-49 demo, so down 37.5 percent in viewers but only 12.5 percent in 18-49.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There were stories that Ric Flair signed a new deal, pointing to his pulling his merch from Pro Wrestling Tees after 1/13, but that’s not the case. It was his own team’s move regarding other businesses making offers to be able to carry Ric Flair merch. Flair’s WWE deal expires right around the end of the year. He is friends with Tony Khan, to the degree that Khan was an invited guest to his wedding. I would expect WWE to make a good offer to keep him given they wouldn’t want him on the AEW television show

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The appearances of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo on Raw (Green was on the taped show losing to Flair) were just meant to be people to lose. It appears the idea is that if people in NXT are being used on the television show, they aren’t to be brought now to Raw or Smackdown to lose. However, if they are not on television, and either side wants someone to be competitive and lose, those people are available. It’s also possible if they impress in those roles they can be brought up. The people pushed on NXT television at this point can only be brought up when it is planned. It’s not going to be Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa building a big match and one day Vince feels they need new stars so he brings them in as a tag team with no notice or caring about NXT storylines, because NXT then was a feeder system.

Now it’s a television product that has to be kept strong because it’s being used as the defense to make sure opposition doesn’t get more of a following. An interesting note, and the San Jose show this weekend was similar to other markets, is that now that NXT has two hours of television with all those viewers, the live show attendance is down, not up. Given AEW’s lower PPV number and house show attendance not growing as compared to the pre-television numbers, that is consistent and it shows just how much the business and world has changed, as 15 years ago television would have led to both products drawing more

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

For Raw, current ideas are to push Carrillo and Andrade in a program to try and get both over, as well as Andrade with Mysterio, and Mysterio with Rollins & AOP and Rollins with Owens. It’s having top guys with two different programs instead of one

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Kacy Catanzaro remains under contract. Nothing much else has been said. She’s not around and the speculation was she may come back in 2020. There was a story going around that she may try to do something in Titan Games since she’s a great athlete if they were to let her do it

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Natalya was swerved by someone who claimed to be Jason Momoa who called her and wanted her to play a major part in a sequel to “The Wrestler.” While this was going on, “Total Divas” was filming so it made it on the show, and people thought it was real since she talked about it. But it was someone swerving her

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Because of the April sellout of Madison Square Garden, ROH likely sold as many tickets and grossed more revenue than any year of its existence in 2019. But they’ve ended the year as cold as they’ve been in probably a decade or longer.

ROH drew 1,000 fans on 12/13 in Baltimore for Final Battle, a show that had routinely sold out the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York well in advance in past years ...

Those at ROH haven’t commented on who is going or staying. Cobb was put over Dan Maff at Final Battle and Maff just signed a new deal. Scurll did a surprise appearance on the 12/14 NWA PPV show from Atlanta, but also won in the main event, scoring the pin, on the 12/15 show in Philadelphia and they were indicating Villain Enterprises, which Scurll owns the rights to, was staying. Everything on the Philadelphia show indicated more dates with Scurll, who hasn’t said anything publicly about his future ...

Scurll’s ROH contract expired at the end of November, but agreed to work this past weekend, and as a free agent, was able to work the NWA show and they seemed to be building Scurll headlining a PPV show there against Nick Aldis as some point ...

Scurll likely got a similar level offer since we’d heard they were going to make a big play to keep him. Until he signs, because he is a free agent now, he can work anywhere he wants and we had heard of at least one more date for a non-NWA or ROH promotion soon, so it doesn’t look like he would be signing here right away, although it is notable that date has not been announced and the parties involved were asked to hold off on it ...

Cobb’s priorities have always been New Japan, and ROH was the first company to offer him a contract with real money after the years with his career pretty much on hold due to Lucha Underground ... Even though New Japan talent hasn’t worked ROH, while continuing to work RevPro, the sides have worked together as far as New Japan getting dates on Cobb ...

But the only names confirmed gone are Cabana, Klein and Taylor.

Originally Posted by PWI

Flamita has signed a multi-year deal with Ring of Honor, PWInsider.com can confirm.

While it appeared Shane Taylor bid farewell to Ring of Honor after Final Battle, the two sides are in conversations for him to remain ...

There's been some talk of late about Bullet Club (likely Guerrillas of Destiny) being involved in future storylines leading into Wrestlemania weekend in Lakeland, Florida.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The final ROH show of the year was 12/15 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena, drawing just 350 fans. That would be the smallest crowd I’ve heard them do in that building, even during down periods in the past ...

But it’s been noted ROH has been offering great money and such a light schedule that some are looking at it that ROH is now a good money option, and while you get less notoriety, there is less physical wear-and-tear and that extends your career

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The California State Legislature passed a law, aimed at cracking down on independent contractors in the state. A lot of people have talked about what affect that will have on pro wrestlers performing in California, and the WWE has put forth a lobbying effort, as have other businesses, to get pro wrestling exempt from the new law. At this point it is unclear but where pro wrestling falls under the radar is that there are so few people working as WWE pro wrestlers, and with the exception of AEW and ROH, due to the nature of some contracts, all over America pro wrestlers really are independent contractors.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

La Parka is out of the hospital and recovering from his life-threatening injuries in a house in Monterrey that the AAA promotion owns. News reports are that his medical expenses have topped $157,000 and that AAA has covered them all

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Tickets for both Tokyo Dome shows are selling ahead of the pace of last year’s sellout. The advance is ahead of the pace of any show in more than 20 years ... Unlike in the U.S. where most buy their ticket show tickets on the first day, for the Tokyo Dome, because the matches are such a big part of the draw, tickets continue to sell steadily and they usually still sell thousands in the last few days based on the promotional hype

Originally Posted by Observer

On a popular day for pay-per-view onsales, the NWA's second PPV sold out in three hours Friday with VIP tickets selling out in just three minutes.

Hard Times is scheduled for Friday, January 24th at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, GA, and will be available on Fite.tv. December's Into The Fire ppv, their first in this latest relaunch of the company, also sold out in three hours.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE will be taping content for future episodes of WWE NXT tonight as part of tonight's Smackdown taping at the Barclays center. That is why they are not broadcasting 205 Live tonight.

Keith Lee & Lio Rush vs. Tony Nese & Damian Priest are among the matches scheduled. That match will air on 12/25.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Hall of Famer Edge posted the following statement on his Twitter seeming to rebuff the claims that he has been cleared medically is making an in ring come back:

Still not and still not. Period.
— Adam (Edge) Copeland (@EdgeRatedR) December 20, 2019

So, for now, still not!

Originally Posted by PWI

In regard to the Tony Khan stunner on Shawn Spears that closed the Dynamite taping this week, it was not something that was planned out or booked in advance. The entire thing was improvised and was a Shawn Spears' suggestion on the fly ...

Cody called Khan to the ring on the house mic, which was not something Khan knew was coming. When Khan did come out, Nick Jackson suggested he hit the stunner but Khan declined. Realizing Spears was setting up for him to do it, anyway, Khan then hit the move, because otherwise everyone would be standing around looking at each other. Obviously, anytime someone in charge who isn't a wrestler doing something like this is going to open the door to criticism and that was certainly realized. We are told that Khan is adamant he will not be an on-air character for the company, which is something we have seen a lot of readers believe is coming based on the segment ...

There were about 3,500 in Corpus Christie this week

Originally Posted by Fightful

Since its TNT premiere on Oct. 2, AEW Dynamite's viewership has suffered drops throughout its twelve-week run ...

The shows remain generally well-received, though more criticism has come to light in recent weeks. Two issues some fans seem to have are the lack of video packages and the length of matches. And AEW World Champion Chris Jericho hears those complaints loud and clear.

"We have to get more promo pieces and video packages to explain who the people are. People complain about that, a lot of fans complain about it. Like I keep saying, it's only been eight weeks. You can't build a roster of 50 people in eight weeks. Give it some time. We have to be different. Some of our matches go too long, I agree," Jericho said on the Keepin It 100 podcast.

AEW has started to do more video packages on Dynamite compared to the first few weeks. They've also mixed in more squash matches in recent weeks.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jim Cornette has filed a federal lawsuit against William J. Molnar Jr. and Brandon Graver (G-Raver) for selling T-shirts that contain his image and uses the term "F*** Jim Cornette."

Originally Posted by Observer

With no competition from AEW, ratings for the Christmas night edition of NXT on USA Network were up 5% to 831,000 viewers ...

NXT was down 19% in the 18-49 demo, averaging 0.22, which landed them 29th in the rankings on cable TV for the day. The ratings were dominated by NBA games on ESPN as well as the TNT/TBS marathon of "A Christmas Story" which aired on the usual home of AEW Dynamite. 13 separate airings of the movie all finished above NXT.

Per usual, NXT was carried by the 50+ demo, where they averaged a 0.42. That was the only category in which there was an increase from the previous week although they did have the exact same rating in the 12-34 category for both males and females at .19 and .11 respectively.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There will be a new member of the Raw announcing team for the 12/30 show as 12/23 was Joe’s last show

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Jason Jordan noted that there will be a new addition to his family, a girl, Ava Rose Everhart, due in June. Kurt Angle then, seriously, acted like he was going to be become a grandfather

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

There are still rumblings of Los Angeles for the 2021 Mania. As noted before, the city wants is in 2021 to get ready for the Super Bowl in 2022. WWE wants it in 2022 so they can announce an attendance figure larger than the Super Bowl in the same stadium, whether real or not

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Mr. Niebla, a wrestler that CMLL groomed from his start with them more than two decades ago to be one of the major stars of this generation, but never quite reached that level due to his problems with drinking, passed away on 12/23 due to a blood infection. Born Efren Tiburcio Marquez on February 22, 1973, he was 46 at the time of his death and his legacy included holding CMLL’s world heavyweight, world tag team and world trios titles.

There will always be a strong speculation that it was his problems with alcohol that weakened his body so badly that he was unable to survive the blood infection. His being ill was well publicized, and originally the assumption was it was alcohol related, as he lived on a regular cycle of being suspended and then being forgiven. After an incident in 2015 on the New Japan Fantastica Mania tour, many thought that because his drinking embarrassed CMLL as he had to be pulled from the tour, that this time it would be it. But he was back again after a suspension and the belief was there was nothing he could do that would permanently end his tenure with the company ...

After a while, even though he was always used near the top of the shows, he was no longer trusted to be put in a key position. But CMLL would use him, and it was only when things got out of control, such as passing out during matches, which happened many times, that he would be given time outs. If the same thing happened on smaller shows, people would cover for him. Niebla spoke openly in recent years regarding his issues, but he could never put them in the past. Over the last week, there had been reports he would have to retire soon due to knee and other joint problems from 29 years in the ring and not taking care of himself.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The 1/4 show has added a women’s match for the first time at a New Japan Tokyo Dome show since 2002. With Bushiroad purchasing Stardom, the idea was to put the stars they want to build around before the largest audience of wrestling fans possible. The match, Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Hana Kimura & Giulia will open the show ...

As of press time, the match will not air on New Japan World. The deal was put together at the end of November after cutting through a lot of red tape, and kept quiet until the official announcement on Christmas Day. The Stardom side had wanted it, obviously. At first they were told no way, and then, because of the pressure from above, notably Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani, there was talk of a women’s match on the January 4, 2021 show. But Kidani then pushed for it this year. Some in New Japan were negative, noting the idea that in Japan, men’s wrestling and women’s wrestling are separate products with different fan bases. Those who attend New Japan big shows aren’t there to watch women’s wrestling and the announcement was met negatively by the New Japan fans.

In addition, there is the broadcasting issue with New Japan aligned with TV-Asahi, and they are co-owners of New Japan World, and Stardom has just started on Tokyo MX and BS Nippon TV, a rival network. Because of that, putting it on the show means for the first time New Japan can’t show a Dome match on its streaming service. At this point the match may be released at a later date on Stardom World, but that is not a sure thing due to those same issues, since this is a TV-Asahi show.

As soon as the announcement was made, New Japan fans, particularly women fans, were very vocal in their opinions negatively toward this. The negativity was so strong that it may be difficult for this to happen again. Right now the word is that this will happen, but don’t expect to see Stardom matches on New Japan shows much going forward. There were also long-time Stardom fans, and some of the women, upset that Giulia just started and she’s already in the showcase match. Tam Nakano and Momo Watanabe publicly complained about not being in the match.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Bushiroad released its financial report for the months of August through October. They have rearranged their businesses in two categories, Digital IP and live event IP. New Japan and the kickboxing promotion fall into the live event IP group. I guess New Japan World would be digital. Stardom doesn’t really have an effect since that will start during the next quarterly report. Bushiroad also promotes concerts and has theaters as part of their live event business ... The New Japan and kickboxing business numbers were similar to that of last year. Live events were slightly up due to the increase in ticket sales for G-1 overall.

But merchandise business declined, which was due to the loss of the guys who went to AEW and drove Bullet Club merch sales. They said their expectations for the next year are unchanged. Harold Meij’s salary was listed at $212,000 per year from his work on the Bushiroad board of directors and $851,000 from his work as New Japan President or $1,063,000 total. Some talent was surprised. Unlike in the U.S. where heads of companies make the most, in the Japanese wrestling business, the wrestling stars always make the most and Meij making more than most of the main event talent is surprising in their culture, but wouldn’t be in our culture.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The New Japan bodybuilding contest, with the idea it would be like the annual CMLL contest, was, in fact, nothing close to the same thing. The idea came from Tanahashi, with the idea of having everyone get into their best shape two weeks before the Tokyo Dome show. And it worked for Tanahashi, who was moving better this past weekend than he has in a long time. But it was just people cutting up and getting into shape and doing some poses, not a competition. Most were in their ring gear, so Tanahashi was in long tights and even had the sleeve over his left arm where he tore the biceps. Guys like Tanahashi, Toa Henare most notably and Yuya Uemura dropped weight and looked better. Ryusuke Taguchi entered as more of a joke but looked the same.

Pieter (Yujiro Takahashi’s big show second who at least at one point if not still was Bad Luck Fale’s girlfriend) posed from behind wearing a thong panty. Kota Ibushi was in his regular ring gear looking like the same Kota Ibushi you’d see every night, and would have easily taken third ... The top two, as expected, were the two who have actually competed at this, Taiji Ishimori and Sho. Ishimori, who wore long tights, has won bodybuilding contests in the past and looked like a bodybuilder. Sho has competed in fitness contests where bodybuilding is part of it.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Kagetsu, 27, who held the World of Stardom title in the early part of the year announced her retirement on Christmas Day. This came after losing a power struggle and also ties into the retirement of Hazuki ... Her last match in Stardom will be on 1/26 in her home city of Osaka, and she will be promoting a retirement show on her own on 2/24 in Osaka. Hazuki retired with her last match on 12/24 at Korakuen Hall. Kagetsu was in charge of training all the women and Hazuki was her best student, and then became her most trusted ally. In a sense, Hazuki, because of that, also had significant locker room power.

Kagetsu’s management style was compared to that of Bill Watts, and that doesn’t fly in today’s world. She was fining people when they were late and taking away their personal time. Management stepped in once and told her not to do that. But she continued to do the same thing. Most of the women came to management to protest Kagetsu being in charge. A vote was held and Kagetsu was voted out as the head trainer and locker room boss. With her out of power, both Kagetsu and Hazuki lost interest in the company. Hazuki decided to retire, basically feeling that wrestling in Madison Square Garden in April was a goal and she had achieved that. But that also explains Kagetsu constantly badmouthing the new owners since the Bushiroad purchase was announced, which led to her announcing her retirement, putting a positive spin on it by saying Stardom is in good hands with Mayu Iwatani in charge. For the public, Kagetsu said her retirement had nothing to do with Hazuki, and that Hazuki’s retirement may have been due to more difficult times than pleasant ones

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

An interesting note is that Marty Scurll was announced for the main event of the 1/12 show in Concord, NC. No word if that means he’s staying with ROH, which we were told gave him a great offer. The match announced as the main event is a battle of factions with La Faccion Ingobernable of Rush & Dragon Lee & Kenny King vs. Villain Enterprises of Scurll & Body King & PCO

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The third and most embarrassing clip was a close-up of the Dark Order brawl showing a guy under a mask throwing punches on the ground that missed Dustin Rhodes badly. I mean, the masked guy was punching the ground. Granted bad punches that miss happen all the time (think Ronda Rousey and Ruby Riott months back which was way way worse) but it became a Twitter talking point and Randy Orton jumped on it writing “He apparently is a seasoned vet and is used to live tv and just assumed that the camera to his left was the one with that red dot thingy on it for those horrendous f**king punches #workonyourpunchkid” “Or quit the business cuz you’re the drizzling sh**s .. or you can come to the top company and I’ll teach you one of the most important aspects of our biz. Throwing a f**king (punch). Hey, the first half was fair game as the video was embarrassingly bad. Orton making it a WWE vs. AEW thing was silly given botched spots happen in both companies all the time and Orton’s lecture was bad given his selling comically bad punches that missed badly by Shane McMahon that popped up everywhere

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The combination of it being a bad year at the gate for WWE and a good one for UFC meant that this was the first year in history that UFC had more shows than WWE that topped 10,000 in live attendance.

Not only that, but it was nearly by double, as UFC did so in 32 of its 42 shows while WWE only topped that figure 18 times according to Matt Farmer’s records, although the 12/26 Madison Square Garden show should end the year with 19.

Although this is very much a misleading stat, it is also the first time probably going back 36 years that a U.S.-based pro wrestling promotion averaged more in live attendance than WWE. AEW averaged 6,200 fans and 5,701 paid per show this year. Because of running fewer dates, AEW had the highest average of any promotion in the world. Obviously that is misleading because WWE and CMLL ran so many more dates and if you just took the average of each Raw over the course of the year you would beat that number, and the average Friday night at Arena Mexico would beat that given 6,000 fans there is considered a weak Friday.

WWE averaged 5,000 per show over the first nine months but will probably finish the year closer to 4,600 to 4,700. The last time a promotion would have had a higher average than WWE in the U.S. that ran ten or more shows would have probably been the St. Louis Wrestling Club in 1983 ...

Besides WWE, the only other company since 1984 to top a 5,701 per year paid average would be WCW in 1998 when it averaged 8,029. However, WCW never beat WWF in average live attendance even when winning the ratings. The closest year, and best year overall for industry popularity since the mid-80s would have been in 1998. WWF averaged 10,006 per event in 1998 ...


For those who think this is the worst period for WWE attendance, that’s not close to the case. The worst year was 1994 at 2,880 average when wrestling was really in its dark ages. WCW that year averaged 1,620.

Over the past year, New Japan averaged 2,698 paid per event. Its U.S. average was roughly the same as their world average, at 2,648 per event. But that’s also misleading as if you take MSG out of the New Japan U.S. number, it falls to around 1,500. That still puts New Japan as easily the No. 3 pro wrestling promotion in the U.S. and I don’t see that changing. But New Japan in 2020 will have troubles because of high ticket prices, not announcing lineups until late and running more shows. The other issue is what happens with television ...

Because of the Madison Square Garden show, ROH finished 2019 with 45,479 attendance and a 1,082 per show average. It was the company’s third best year of its history ...

However, if you take MSG out, the average falls to 707, the lowest in many years, and that is more of a true indicator. The way things are going, they will be lucky to do more than 500 per next year.

Given MSG was a seven figure gate, which is the only seven-figure gate ever in the U.S. by a company other than WWE in history (WCW’s record gate was just over $900,000 and AEW has yet to do a $1 million gate), the ticket gross for ROH was surely the largest of any year in its history. That is unique because at the same time they are in their worst shape when it comes to popularity since the early years of the company.

Major League Wrestling had by far its biggest year, averaging 1,457 per event on 11 shows, for about 16,032 total according to figures compiled by Lavie Morgolan from Observer research.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

WWE will be set business records for revenue and profit next year. As will UFC.

The rest of the industry is a question. There are signs Japan has peaked as the second level promotions are declining. New Japan is steady in its home country and hopes to run far more in the U.S., but it’s a virtual lock it won’t come close to 2019 numbers because they don’t have a sold out Madison Square Garden show to base the year around. After large growth every year dating back to 2011, the last quarter for New Japan no longer showed major growth.

But with all this, it’s tier three, which is MLW, Impact, NWA, ROH and New Japan that are going to have a tough year in the U.S. market.

For all the talk of AEW’s declining live numbers, NWA has had great critical approval and its numbers have declined greatly simply because of the overload of product.

Impact has strong backers and is the safest it has been probably in its history, but also the lowest on the food chain it has been. NWA is tough because with no paying television, the number of fans willing to buy a PPV for a tier three company being the lowest in history, it’s hard to find a working economic model. ROH is all about Sinclair’s decision-making process on whether to keep it as weekly syndicated programming or not. New Japan in the U.S. is going to struggle running so many events in the market, but they also present live shows at a level that the other companies can only come close to on their best nights. But it’s great hype and great stars, not great shows, that are the difference maker. Unless New Japan does major arena signature events here, it’ll just be a company drawing 500 to 2,000 fans in small buildings and selling a lot of merchandise per head. MLW had great growth this past year, but it seems to have hit a ceiling, plus almost any star they make is going to be getting offers from multiple places that pay better to leave.

Originally Posted by Wrestling Observer

There are still rumblings of Los Angeles for the 2021 Mania. As noted before, the city wants is in 2021 to get ready for the Super Bowl in 2022. WWE wants it in 2022 so they can announce an attendance figure larger than the Super Bowl in the same stadium, whether real or not

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE is reportedly headed to Dallas, Texas for the 2020 Survivor Series pay-per-view, and to Seattle, Washington for the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The new report from @Wrestlevotes notes that T-Mobile Park will likely be the location for the 2021 Rumble. This is where WrestleMania 19 set a new attendance record in 2003 with 54,097 announced fans in attendance, and is the home to MLB's Seattle Mariners. The report did not state where the 2020 Survivor Series pay-per-view will be held, but WWE usually holds events at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the change in the AEW women's title match, there was a communications issue in the sense because AEW runs Wednesdays and normally indies don't run Wednesdays, they usually book talent without worrying about other dates. And obviously they didn't know about the other date. Kris Statlander had just started and was booked for both Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week for Bar Wrestling. Based on her contract, they could have done what WWE does when it comes to things like this all the time and just pulled the talent, but Statlander asked for the favor and they were able to work it in a way where they'll do title matches the next two weeks, with Riho vs. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose for the title on 1/1, and Statlander getting her shot on 1/8. Statlander is scheduled on New Year's Eve to face Priscilla Kelly and on 1/1 to face Gisele Shaw for shows in the Los Angeles area.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Cody Rhodes' attempt to trademark his father's in-ring name has hit a speed bump, not due to opposition by WWE but the similarity to the trademark owned by his brother, Dustin.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Cody’s initial attempt to trademark Dusty Rhodes, which of course was the ring name of his father, was rejected due to the similarity to the trademark of Dustin Rhodes, which is owned by his brother.

The official rejection notice cites the similarities between the terms and their filings as a potential cause for confusion.

Originally Posted by Fightful

The Dark Order segment to close the Dec. 18 episode of AEW Dynamite was subject to much criticism after the show. In the segment, masked Creepers beatdown The Elite and SCU as fans watched on in relative silence. A clip went viral of a masked Creeper throwing punches at nothing while on top of Dustin Rhodes.

Jim Ross, who called the segment, weighed in on what he saw on the latest Grilling JR podcast.

"Since the 70s, how many matches do you think I've called that are the absolute drizzling shits? Every brand, with some big names, you don't have to be an unknown under a mask to shit the bed," stated Ross. "I knew that the crowd did not go crazy with how we went off the air. You can feel those things. There are stories being told that's great market research for all of us to pay attention to. I never knew how bad that piece of business was until it was everywhere. A lot of people wanted to make sure I saw it, as if I could go back in time to fix it. It was poorly executed and hopefully nothing like that will ever occur again. I know everybody that has ability to change things in AEW are well aware of it. If I had not seen that clip, I would not have known just how bad it was. Not an ideal way you want to go off the air, but come on folks."

Ross continued, "Everything people saw, can be fixed. I'm as excited about this brand as I've ever been. I know we're going to be fine. It's going to take some time. How much time? I don't know. A year from now, I think we'll see a lot of growth, things change, different faces in different roles, new talent coming in. It's a hard act to keep your incumbents over while getting other talents over. I was embarrassed to see what I saw. Did I like it? Hell no, I didn't like it. Who could like it? I thought it was the drizzling shits. The drizzling shits can be cured."

Randy Orton used the same "drizzling shits" term when giving his thoughts on the punches. The Elite and SCU poked fun at the segment on the recent Being The Elite, with Matt Jackson pulverizing Christopher Daniels with phantom punches.

Originally Posted by BloombergLaw.com

A World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. stockholder is suing for a peek at records that detail the company’s involvement with a football league resurrected by WWE Chairman Vincent McMahon.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 26 in Delaware Chancery Court by an Oklahoma firefighters pension fund, claims there is “a credible basis to believe” that McMahon and other WWE senior officers breached their duties to investors by diverting valuable resources to the XFL.

The suit also suggests that the company’s board members may have failed to conduct appropriate oversight to ensure McMahon didn’t engage in transactions that conflict with WWE’s interests.

Originally Posted by Observer

After a week off for Christmas, AEW Dynamite returned on Wednesday night with its best ratings numbers since October 16. The show averaged 967,000 viewers, up 42 percent from the previous episode that aired on December 18.

In the important 18-49 demo, AEW finished 13th for the night on cable with a 0.36 rating, up 44 percent from the previous episode and also the best number Dynamite has done in that category since October 16.

NXT, which aired a year in review show that featured the announcement of NXT's year-end awards and the teams for the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, had its lowest number on the USA Network, averaging 548,000 viewers. That was down 34 percent from last week.

NXT did a 0.15 rating in the 18-49 demo, dropping to 66th for the night on cable in that category ...

Detailed demo ratings are not available at this time for NXT since it finished outside the top 50. For AEW, their strongest category was men 18-49, where the show averaged a 0.52 rating.

Both shows faced much stronger than usual sports competition in the form of college football's Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, along with the studio shows that aired before and after the games. The Rose Bowl did almost 15.7 million viewers, with the last 45 minutes of that game airing opposite NXT and AEW.

The post-game show and Sugar Bowl pre-game show dropped to 13 million. The Sugar Bowl averaged almost 10 million viewers, with the first hour going against the wrestling shows.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

In the 18-49 demographic, AEW reeled in 467,000 viewers and NXT drew 195,000 viewers. The 967,000 number is AEW’s highest viewership since the October 16th episode of Dynamite. NXT’s last live rating was December 18th which saw the crowning of Rhea Ripley as NXT Women’s Champion.

Originally Posted by PWI

Longtime videogame journalist and wrestling fan Dan Rycert announced today that he was leaving CBS interactive's GiantBomb.com. Beginning next week, he will be moving over behind-the-scenes of WWE's podcasting network becoming a producer on the New Day's "Feel the Power" podcast, according to a Newsweek interview with Kofi Kingston.

Originally Posted by PWI

Major League Wrestling today announced a World Heavyweight Title Fight: Jacob Fatu vs. Brian Pillman Jr. for MLW: Zero Hour at the NYTEX Sports Centre in the greater Dallas/Ft. Worth area on Saturday January 11. The event will be a MLW FUSION TV taping for beIN SPORTS.

Originally Posted by PWI

There is a lot of talk that a major story involving MLW and a new partnership will be breaking imminently. Court Bauer was in LA a number of times in recent weeks meeting with potential TV and licensing partners. We are told the story has a lot of potential to tranform the company's future in a positive way.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Chris Jericho is gearing up for his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi on night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14. He did an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote the match and Jericho revealed that he wanted to work with Tanahashi last year but Gedo insisted that he work with Tetsuya Naito first.

“I wanted to work with Tanahashi last year. When I attacked Naito in Korakuen Hall, I wanted to attack Tanahashi, but Gedo wanted it to be Naito, which turned out to be great. This is a main-event, money match, and there is a lot of buzz about it. I just watched the match Tanahashi had with Kenny from last year in the Tokyo Dome, and it was amazing.”

The stipulation of Tanahashi earning an AEW World Title opportunity if he defeats Jericho has been thrown out there. When asked what is next for him in New Japan, Jericho said he doesn’t know but he’d like to work Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi.

“I came to work with Omega, Naito, Okada and Tanahashi. Will I come back after the Tana match? I don’t know. I’d love to work with Ospreay and Ibushi. It might be mission accomplished after this, it might not, but it’s really cool to go back as a main event heavyweight after being a junior heavyweight.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that AXS informed New Japan Pro-Wrestling that they could stay on AXS if NJPW got a working relationship with IMPACT Wrestling going. New Japan turned the offer down which led to them no longer being on AXS TV.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc

WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon left the XL Center in Hartford, CT on Monday afternoon before RAW hit the air, but returned to the arena because he didn't want to miss the wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley.

We noted earlier this week, via PWInsider, that while Triple H and Kevin Dunn missed Monday's show, Vince arrived backstage at the XL Center right before the show hit the air. That is incorrect as WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler revealed during the latest episode of his podcast, featuring Rusev as the special guest, that Vince left around 2pm ET but returned around 5:30pm ET because he didn't want to miss the ceremony.

Lawler also revealed that the wedding was highly anticipated by people backstage. He talked about Vince missing recent WWE TV events due to important XFL meetings, as we've speculated ...

"Vince has his own office there, and he told everybody he had to leave at 2 o'clock. He left, the limousines took him out. We even went from the Talent Relations.. I dress in the Talent Relations office with Mark Carrano and those guys. So we moved the Talent Relations office into Vince's office. So we moved all our stuff over into his bigger, nicer office, where we had more room and we're all sitting there and I don't know, about 5:30 or so, somebody comes in and says, 'Hey, Vince is on his way back, he doesn't want to miss the wedding!'"

Lawler continued, "So, he came all the way back... all of a sudden we're in the back scrambling, we're grabbing up all of our stuff. We had to put his office back together so he wouldn't know that we'd stolen his office from him. But yeah, Vince came back just to make sure he was there for the wedding. So, it was great."

Rusev said he heard the same story, and commented on how Vince is a big fan of weddings.

Originally Posted by Observer

Last night's Raw averaged 2.39 million viewers, down only two percent from last week's wedding show, which would be a good sign, and seems to establish a significant bounce back this year after football season ends.

Next week's Raw, which goes against the college football championship game of Clemson vs. LSU, will be the last show against major sports competition until the NCAA basketball finals in April, and usually starts Raw's biggest ratings period of the year ...
The audience was up from 2.33 million viewers for the same show one year ago.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.56 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.41 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.20 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW has revealed some more information about the tribute to the legends of Memphis wrestling that's taking place on Wednesday's episode of Dynamite.

It was announced today that the legends that AEW is paying tribute to will include Angelo Poffo & Randy Savage, Lance Russell, Eddie & Tommy Gilbert, Brian Christopher, Austin Idol, Dave Brown, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson), and Jimmy Valiant.
Poffo, Savage, Russell, Eddie & Tommy Gilbert, and Christopher are being honored posthumously.

We have additional notes for the tribute to Memphis Wrestling that will take place on this week’s AEW Dynamite.

Dave Brown will be appearing and calling Dark and Excalibur will be trying as best he can to call it as close to a Lance Russell as possible on that show. Doug Gilbert will be appearing to honor Tommy & Eddie Gilbert. Shane Russell, Lance's son, will be there to help honor Lance Russell.

Originally Posted by PWI

Since this has come up a few times recently, Matt Hardy's current WWE deal expires on 3/1, so if he does not come to terms on a new deal, he would be free to appear anywhere on that date. Hardy has obviously been preparing for a potential exit with his "Release the Delete" videos online and we are told that the major hurdle between the two sides is how he would be used going forward, not money.

Jeff Hardy's deal will not expire at the same time as it has been held up at times due to his legal issues and injuries. Hardy has a hearing on 1/13 on his DWI arrest last year. We are told that WWE has pushed Hardy to address his personal health in the wake of the arrest and Hardy has been working hard at doing so, which is a great thing.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On the latest edition of New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast, the trio talked about their experience at WrestleMania 32 where they took on The League Of Nations (Alberto El Patron, Rusev & Sheamus) in a six-man tag. They were also involved in the segment with Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was at that WrestleMania that New Day made their entrance through a massive box of Booty O’s but Xavier Woods revealed that they originally wanted to come out of buttcheeks:

“The original idea that we actually had for the entrance was kind of insane too. So, we haven’t done this and hopefully we’ll get to at some point. We wanted to get a big van and have it look like a unicorn but the back doors are taken off and they’ve been replaced with huge buttcheeks that are on springs. So when the van is moving, the buttcheeks are shaking and once it gets to the end of the ramp, it fits in. Essentially, [the] cheeks open up, and then we come out of the van on tricycles with all our unicorn stuff on just having a great time, and so we explained this to Triple H, to Paul, he who shall be named, and he says, ‘I mean that’s great, and we can look into it if you want to, or you could guys could come out of a big box of Booty O’s like the toys’ and we were like, ‘Yes please.’”

Originally Posted by Observer

CHIKARA and the Wrestle Factory training school issued a statement announcing that they’ve severed ties with Rory Gulak: “Last week, both CHIKARA, Inc and The Wrestle Factory, LLC severed ties with Rory Gulak. We take allegations of misconduct very seriously. In accordance with this, we cooperate completely and transparently with all law enforcement agencies. Our priority is and always will be the safety of our fans, cast and crew.” ICW also announced that Rory Gulak has been removed from their Gonzo Wrestling show on February 1.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE developmental talent Eric Angle, brother of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, plead guilty for his role in an underground group that manufactured and sold steroid on the dark web, according to Cleveland.com.

Angle was part of a group that sold controlled substanances, including steroids, through Internet sites. He and two other co-conspirators were set to go to trial next week but yesterday plead guilty. Angle pleaded guilty Monday to a drug conspiracy charge and admitted that he bought 721 grams of steroids in liquid form for redistribution.

Angle who was signed to WWE in the early 2000s and worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling before a biceps injury curtailed his wrestling career. He had a memorable angle where he switched places his Kurt during a PPV bout against the Undertaker, which was well done, leading to his developmental deal.

Angle will be sentenced this April.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Prior to Monday Night RAW going live on the USA Network from Oklahoma City, Natalya defeated Chelsea Green, and Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose. Those matches were taped for WWE Main Event.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

On night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14, Tetsuya Naito defeated Kazuchika Okada to retain his IWGP Intercontinental Championship and to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Naito’s road to that accomplishment was not a smooth one as he underwent right eye surgery in November of 2019, as reported by Yahoo! Japan.

It is noted in the article that around May of 2019, the Los Ingobernables de Japon member began to notice something off with his vision. Naito told the publication that while he was in the ring, the ropes began to multiply and it started to look like six ropes instead of three ...

Naito is not a fan of hospitals but he could not concentrate during his matches so he decided to visit hospitals that specialized in ophthalmology, brain surgery and otolaryngology. None of the hospitals could find out what was wrong and Naito just figured that he’d finish out his wrestling career with the issue ...

There were no results regarding Naito’s eye issue until October at a college hospital where he learned that he had paralysis in his eye muscles. The dual champion continued to wrestle until November 27th and teamed with BUSHI to take on Jay White and Bad Luck Fale during a World Tag League event. The next day, Naito made his way back to Tokyo and on the 29th, he underwent right eye surgery in a hospital in Tokyo. His vision was fixed and he returned to in-ring action on December 19th at the Road to Tokyo Dome show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ahead of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Triple H was asked about potential future locations for UK TakeOvers: “In terms of future NXT UK TakeOver locations, @TripleH pinpoints London as a place on a priority list, as well as Dublin, to @AlexM_talkSPORT, before saying he'd love to go to Germany, France and Italy, too.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Fans may have noticed that the reported match between Austin & Billy Gunn against Shawn Spears & Preston Vance did not air on Tuesday's AEW Dark. The match was taped on Jan. 1 as part of the AEW Dark tapings before AEW Dynamite in Jacksonville. The Gunn Club picked up the victory in the tag team bout.

According to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, the match was never intended to air on AEW Dark. Satin reports that the match was more of a tryout, which was said to have gone well. Austin & Billy will reportedly team again on Wednesday for a match that will likely air on next Tuesday's Dark.

Originally Posted by PWI

Variety ran an article this afternoon, looking at the Wednesday night war between WWE NXT and All Elite Wrestling.

Interesting to note that the article cites that when DVR +7 viewership (meaning the show has been watched within seven days of its live airing) is factored in with the live viewership, each promotion's weekly average is far stronger.

With the Live +7, AEW is averaging 1.2 million viewers a week, according to Variety. 654,000 of those viewers are in the coveted 18-49 demo. That raises AEW 32%.

Meanwhile, NXT is averaging 972,000 viewers in Live+7 with 428,000 in the 18-49 demo. NXT is raised 20%.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

All Elite Wrestling is gearing up to present the January 8th episode of AEW Dynamite from the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi. One of several segments scheduled for the show is a tribute to the legends of Memphis Wrestling. Brian Christopher Lawler, Angelo Poffo, Randy Savage, Lance Russell, “Hot Stuff” Eddie & Tommy Gilbert, Austin Idol, Dave Brown, The Rock & Roll Express and “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant are going to be honored during the show. Also, Dave Brown will be doing commentary on AEW Dark alongside Excalibur.

Memphis’ own Jerry Lawler shared his thoughts about the segment during an interview with Cerrito Live. The WWE Hall Of Famer feels that a tribute to Memphis wrestling is the last thing on AEW officials’ minds and they just want to sell tickets and pop the crowd in attendance.

“Now you finally hit on it. They’re looking to sell some tickets and pop the crowd. I think a Tribute to Memphis wrestling is actually the last thing on their mind. They’re looking to sell some tickets and pop the crowd.”

While speaking with Commercial Appeal to promote the show, Matt Jackson said the idea to have a Tribute to Memphis Wrestling segment was Tony Khan’s and added that AEW would’ve loved to have Jerry Lawler come in but Lawler is a commentator on Monday Night RAW. Lawler’s son, the late Brian Christopher Lawler will be honored by his brother, Kevin Lawler who’ll be in attendance at the event.

Originally Posted by Fightful

“I think the idea is Tony (Khan) wanted to do a 10-bell salute for all of the fallen brothers,” said Matt. "It would have been great to have 'The King' [Jerry Lawler], but obviously he's working elsewhere."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

New York Post conducted an interview with Cody Rhodes ...

When asked about the rumored partnership between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and AEW, Cody thinks it’s strange that people were asking for it. He said there is a sense of partnership or collaboration because of Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho being in marquee matches at Wrestle Kingdom 14. As far as the ‘forbidden door’, Cody thinks it’s continuously opening and closing.

“I think the thing that was strange to me was people were asking for this partnership. I don’t know what a partnership would look like other than what you saw. Chris Jericho was part of one of the main events of Wrestle Kingdom, Jon Moxley as well. They both were successful. What did he call it? The forbidden door? The forbidden door. It may be forbidden, but clearly the door is opening and closing and opening and closing. It’s public knowledge that some guys here, myself included, have exemptions to work New Japan Pro-Wrestling. But I know that New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s focus is New Japan, and AEW’s focus is AEW. So more likely what a partnership would look like is perhaps some sharing of talent, some shared creative, but we’re not going to do a Super Clash III where (Kerry) Von Erich and (Jerry) Lawler are fighting over the title. Sorry, that’s a real specific angle I brought up. I’m always hesitant to combine banners versus just respecting each other’s banners. But I like how it’s referred to as the forbidden door. I don’t really think it’s forbidden at all. Like I said, many people have the exemption to work there. They put on a great Wrestle Kingdom. They have some amazing talent, particularly Will Ospreay. He’s a top-five wrestler in the world right now. So, we’ll see where that goes. I know everyone pretty much feels the same about it.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Here are a few highlights from Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s media call with members of the U.K. wrestling media:

– Triple H is for the idea of NXT U.K. possibly going live on BT Sport. He said that over time, if there can be an NXT U.K. roster assembled that can stand on its own then it could certainty be an option.
– Triple H welcomes both CM Punk and AJ Lee back to WWE as wrestlers.
– Thinks the sky is the limit for Drew McIntyre in 2020. Adds that Drew wants to be the best in the world.
– When asked about the possibility of NXT talents showing up TakeOver: Blackpool II, Triple H said that anything is possible.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Inside The Ropes released their interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley. During their conversation, Foley talked about some of his criticisms of All Elite Wrestling and narrowed his points down to some of the talents not being trained to wrestle on television and thinks that’s where NXT has the advantage over AEW.

“Yeah, I mean they’ve got an amazing talent roster but I think with the exception of eight-to-ten guys, you have a lot of guys who haven’t worked full-time for a promotion and they haven’t had the chance to make mistakes in a smaller venue. One of the things I liked about the ‘For All Mankind’ DVD was that you literally got to see me grow and they’d show a promo from 1989 and it clearly wasn’t quite there. You could see the growth, and I’m sure you will see the growth of the AEW characters as they go but in the meantime, you get to see some mistakes being made on live television so, some of the guys have grown up yearning after the, ‘This is awesome’ chant, but haven’t had the experience of being in angles that need to draw money. I think for guys of my era, there was definitely a very real sense of if the angle wasn’t successful, you didn’t draw at the houses and there was no other ancillary means of income, and I’m not down on the guys but I think you’re seeing some inexperience when it comes to shooting angles and performing for the camera and so guys are out there and it’s an admirable trait that they wanna have they best match they possibly can but every guy wanting to have the best match at every venue doesn’t necessarily lead to [the] best promotion. That’s just my opinion. So I think someone needs to rein some of these guys in. Like Gerald Brisco told me when I got to WWE, he says, ‘We know you like to do a lot of these things. There may come a time when we ask you to do that but until then, we’re gonna ask you not to,’ and that really improved my longevity so I think NXT’s advantage is that their guys have been trained to work for the camera, and I think they have an advantage of having more seasoned stars, and now a dedicated team writing for them, but in the end, it comes down to who has the ability to tell better long-term stories and get the audience engaged.”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Becky Lynch opens up on the pressures of being a woman competing in main event matches in WWE.

During CES 2020, Lynch spoke about her journey to being a top star in WWE and the challenges that come with being a woman in the wrestling industry. One thing she spoke about was the amount of pressure women feel when they perform, especially at a marquee event or match. In Lynch's case, she headlined WrestleMania last year alongside Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey in a triple threat match.

When talking about wrestling in the main event, Lynch says men face less criticism if they have a bad main event match than the women. Lynch added that if women don't perform well in the main event, then there will be doubts raised by skeptics over women being in the main event in general.

"If there's a guy and he made an error, it's kind of passed over. Often times, I feel like I have the weight of a gender on my shoulders. A million guys have had terrible main event matches, but if I have a subpar main event match, the question comes up, 'Should women be main eventing?' And that's a load of crap. We all have off days, but we're all trying to be the absolute best. Unfortunately, we always have to be on our game until that's not a question anymore. So we are in a position where we have to be extra so that the future generations don't have to deal with that anymore. It's a little bit unfortunate but it's a little bit of the way it is. It's not good, it's not right, but it's what we have to do. I don't want this to be a question of the future... Those barriers should be gone by now," Lynch said.

Originally Posted by Observer

Following the holiday season, the Wednesday Night Wars were back to their normal schedule last night -- and AEW was the clear ratings winner by a big margin.

This week's Dynamite averaged 947,000 viewers, down two percent from last week. The rating in the important 18-49 demo was a 0.36, good for sixth on the night on cable and matching last week's number in that category ...

NXT failed to finish in the top 50 for the night in the 18-49 demo for the second week in a row ...

NXT was up 32 percent in total viewers from last week's year in review episode, averaging 721,000 viewers. That was still the show's second lowest number since October 30.

In the 18-49 demo, NXT finished 55th for the night on cable with a 0.19 rating, up 27 percent from last week. The show had gotten as high as 0.3 in that demo during the Survivor Series build, so that's a huge drop.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE has announced two more matches for the NXT vs. NXT UK Worlds Collide special that's taking place during Royal Rumble weekend.

NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley will officially defend her title against Toni Storm on the Worlds Collide show. The match was confirmed after an angle where Storm interrupted Ripley on last night's NXT and challenged her for Worlds Collide.

Finn Balor vs. Ilja Dragunov has also been announced for Worlds Collide.

Originally Posted by Observer

Juan Kachmanian, best known as Pampero Firpo, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina who grew up to headline almost every major pro wrestling arena in the world as one of pro wrestling's top stars of the 60s and 70s, passed away this morning at the age of 89.

For the modern era, while not well known to many, Firpo was the wrestler that Randy Savage copied his interview style, from the guttural voice, the stream of conscious flow right down to the "Ooooh yeah," which were all staples of the Firpo style.

Originally Posted by PWI

Since we have gotten a lot of questions about who books what within All Elite Wrestling, AEW President Tony Khan has been the driving force behind the creative direction for many of the top AEW Dynamite storylines. The Jon Moxley-Inner Circle recruitment angle was a Khan idea (it was his father's car that Chris Jericho offered) with Jericho working side by side with Khan to help put together small details. That angle felt very much like a WCW Nitro storyline and Khan spent a lot of time studying what made Nitro work while planning to launch AEW.

Chris Jericho is extremely engaged in every story and segment he is involved in (which obviously shows) and has been a big locker room leader in terms of pulling younger talents over to help guide and teach them and give them advice.

Khan has also been specifically working on building Jungle Boy and Scorpio Sky, among others, as long-term prospects. Sky was handpicked from the start as a future player, to the point that Chris Jericho's throwaway line in his promo backstage at All Out after winning the AEW title as he passed SCU that Scorpio Sky would never get a title shot was meant to foreshadow everything that would come down the line with Sky getting a shot on Dynamite last year.

The EVPs (Kenny Omega, Young Bucks, Cody) are given a lot of freedom for their matches and segments - as they are in a position of strong trust - and there is a back and forth creative flow with Khan, but Khan is in the Vince McMahon role of having the final say

Khan is very hands on with all the Dynamite segments every week. At last night's taping, Khan was intimately involved in laying out the Jericho-Moxley segment that closed Dynamite, the ongoing Kenny Omega & Adam Page storyline as well as their tag bout with Private Party, The Best Friends vs. Jurassic Express six man tag team bout and The Rhodes Brothers vs. The Lucha Brothers. The Omega-Page storyline creative has been a Khan idea. Khan is not as involved in AEW Dark behind the scenes ...

The belief among those we've spoken to is that Colt Cabana will be back once he completes commitments elsewhere ...

That was Dr. Luther of FMW fame in the early 1990s debuting last night as a member of the Nightmare Collective.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Ahead of her IMPACT World Championship match this Sunday at Hard To Kill, Tessa Blanchard joined Tommy Dreamer and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio. Tommy asked Tessa how she will deal with the backlash if she is crowned the new IMPACT World Champion and Tessa responded with the following:

“I think I’ve talked to you [Tommy Dreamer] a little bit about it and D’Lo a little bit about it too at tapings. I feel that sometimes, I’m not oblivious to it, I’m not stupid, and I feel like no matter what happens in life, people are always gonna have something to say, and the way that I look at it is I think that no matter what you go through, whether it’s a positive, a negative, whatever it is, if you’re able to turn the way you think about it into a positive then you’ll be able to get through it, and I feel like anyone who’s put in a position that I’m in, especially going into Sunday, it’s different. People aren’t used to it. Some people might not be OK with it, ‘cause it’s not traditional, it’s not what we’ve been taught. It’s not what we’ve seen all the time. But that’s what I love about it. I love that it’s different, I love that we’re doing something that hasn’t been done before. I think it makes it special. I think it draws more attention to our company. I’m pretty good at having mental strength. I feel like I’ve got one of the strongest minds that I probably could ever have, because of my dad.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

WWE released a one minute clip from the upcoming episode of ‘Broken Skull Sessions ‘with Glenn “Kane” Jacobs that’ll premiere after NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II. In the clip, Kane talked about the night he unmasked and not telling his wife about his haircut because he wanted to surprise her. He said it was initially supposed to be shaved bald and while he was getting his haircut, Bruce Prichard stopped the barber and wanted to bring Vince McMahon in to see the half-cut because that was a look that Bruce found interesting.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Per a report from WrestlingINC, there is interest in Major League Wrestling from Showtime premium television network.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

SoCal Uncensored did a deep dive into WWE Hall Of Famer Sgt. Slaughter’s career and discovered that Sgt. Slaughter did not serve in the military.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that the WWE ice cream sandwiches are coming out in February and the price range is $3.00 – $5.29. John Cena, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and “Macho Man” Randy Savage are emblazoned on the sandwiches.

Originally Posted by Fightful

With AEW being a year old and already gaining national television on TNT, selling out arenas, and winning some bidding wars for talent in free agency, many see them as a threat to WWE.

But, while he welcomes the fight, WWE Co-President George Barrios doesn't see them as an existential threat. Speaking at Citi 2020 Global TMT West Conference, Barrios was asked about All Elite Wrestling and whether they present competition to WWE.

"I'm a kid from Queens so everything is a competition and fight. That's one of the things I love about WWE. My DNA fits within that. We don't take anything for granted. We are serious like a heart attack around fighting for our unfair share. Having said that, I think it's fair to say that there's been other wrestling in the United States and abroad, who we respect people behind it, the talent, and what they do. It can be tough to compete with us because we're so good at what we do. We've built up capabilities and competencies over a long, long time. How to build stars, present the content, and engage fans over multiple platforms. We think we're hard to compete with. We don't take anything for granted. If you said to me, existential, do I feel [like they're a threat]? No. But I love a good fight. We enjoy it," he said.

Originally Posted by Lucha Blog

Psycho Clown has threated to leave AAA, according to a report by Cancha. There's are no details given as to the reasons he might leave. The article says it is something he is considering but is talking to his lawyer first.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Matt Hardy is expected to leave WWE in March. He produced new Broken videos and offered an idea for a “Free the Delete” series to lead to his return with the old character. But they weren’t interested. Hardy is the leading speculated name for the leader of the Dark Order since they just started teasing a leader and Hardy just started putting out the videos. Plus, the Young Bucks and Broken Hardys had talked over a year-long program in ROH and Impact for three years ago, but when the Hardys got the WWE offer to return at Mania, they rushed through it. The problem here is that Jeff Hardy, who may not be on the same page right now with Matt since their wives went at it not that long ago in social media, has had a lot of time added to his WWE contract to due to injuries.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The return of head-to-head live shows on 1/8 saw AEW benefit from a great show the week before to score a surprisingly one-sided win in a race that it appeared NXT had the momentum in when the head-to-heads ended on 12/18 ...

AEW appeared to build the stronger show for 1/8, and it showed, doing 947,000 viewers and a 0.36 in the demo over NXT’s 721,000 viewers and 0.19 in the demo ...

Both numbers were likely held down by a combination of increased interest in news, and even more, a Jeopardy special on ABC that did 14,872,000 viewers and did in particular gigantic numbers in 35-49, AEW’s biggest fan demo, and 50+, NXT’s biggest ...

In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened at 1,013,000 for the bulk of Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Private Party. NXT opened at 818,000 for promos and the beginning of Rhea Ripley & Toni Storm & Candice LeRae vs. Bianca Belair & Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray.

The second quarter saw AEW lost 69,000 viewers for the ending of Omega & Page vs. Private Party and the post-match stuff. NXT lost 48,000 viewers for the bulk of the women’s six-person and a Tommaso Ciampa video package.

The third quarter saw AEW gain 17,000 viewers for Riho vs. Kris Statlander and all the post-match stuff with the Nightmare Collective. NXT lost 48,000 for The Forgotten Sons vs. Imperium in the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament.

The fourth quarter saw AEW lost 48,000 viewers for Christopher Daniels vs. Sammy Guevara and post-match with the Dark Order, SCU and Young Bucks. NXT lost 54,000 viewers for Austin Theory vs. Joaquim Wilde.

The fifth quarter saw AEW gain 28,000 viewers for Dustin & Cody Rhodes vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix while NXT gained 61,000 viewers for the battle of tag champs with Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Mark Coffey & Wolfgang.

The sixth quarter saw AEW stay even for the MJF promo which also featured DDP, Butcher, Blade, Bunny, Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall. NXT lost 13,000 for the ending of the tag team battle of champions and promos with Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor.

The seventh quarter saw AEW lose 44,000 viewers for Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt vs. Trent & Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy. NXT lost 71,000 viewers for Mia Yim vs. Kayden Carter and video packages.

For the head-to-head main events, AEW’s segment with Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle with Jon Moxley gained 73,000 viewers to 970,000. NXT with Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Damien Priest lost 71,000 viewers to 605,000.

When AEW went off the air, NXT gained 195,000 viewers for the ending of the main event.

In the same time slots last year, USA Network averaged 902,000 viewers and TNT averaged 520,000 viewers, so NXT was 20 percent down and AEW was 82 percent up.

Originally Posted by PWI

The first episode of NXT on BT Sport, by the way, did not carry the overrun and went off the air early before the finish of the Fatal Four Way won by Keith Lee.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

A note on the ratings for 12/18. That was the week that NXT first won in the 18-49 demos. Even including DVR viewership, after seven days, NXT was still ahead in both overall and 18-49 numbers. That would be the only week so far that NXT with DVR viewership won either overall or in 18-49, although 18-49 only had a 2,000 viewer difference and since AEW traditionally does more past seven day viewers than NXT. So even that show may end up in a dead heat or with AEW winning. On 11/27, when NXT won 813,000 to 668,000 live, it ended up with AEW ahead with DVR viewership by 2,000 and in 18-49 had a 528,000 to 412,000 edge. But on 12/18, even with DVR viewers NXT won 949,000 to 942,000 in total viewers, making the first time AEW fell below 1 million viewers and NXT had the edge 457,000 to 455,000 in 18-49. So with NXT running that loaded show, a lot of AEW fans didn’t even bother to watch the show

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

For the first time in history, New Japan ran two straight nights of major shows at the Tokyo Dome, selling out the traditional 1/4 event with a paid attendance of 40,008, and probably about 43,000 total; and 30,063 paid the next day, looking to be about 34,000 to 35,000 total ...

There were about 8,300 tickets for the first night and 6,500 for the second night purchased outside of Japan. Both were records and shows that much of the growth in recent years comes from overseas. There were few tickets sold outside of Japan for any Tokyo Dome event until the 2017 show headlined by Okada vs. Kenny Omega ...

Surprisingly, the two countries that sold the most tickets were Australia and the U.K., the former topping 3,000 tickets to night one.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The bad blood between the two sides also stems from New Japan’s booking plans for 2019. Originally, Omega was to retain the IWGP title against Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome and then lead to a match with Okada, their first ever meeting in the U.S., for Madison Square Garden. While we were under the impression Omega was to lose that match, he was not. The Tokyo Dome final four booking plan with both the IWGP and IC belts at stake was to be Omega vs. Ibushi and Okada vs. Naito (meaning one of those two would have been IC champion) on the first night. The idea from that would seem to be that Naito would have beaten both Okada and then Omega since the plan was always for Naito to be the first with the two belts at the same time.

One person noted that Harold Meij wanted at the time to go directly to Khan. Khan didn’t come and who, for reasons having nothing to do with the wrestling industry, has never been to Japan and may never come to Japan. Things got worse due to legal threats made against AEW and Omega, which put relations at a terrible level, to the point neither side wanted to acknowledge the other. Those in AEW were frustrated with the idea that there was a fan base that no matter what, had this mentality that New Japan could do no wrong but they had seen a very different side of the company. It was easy for both sides to be bitter, AEW due to the snub, New Japan due to the taking of the talent, with the idea they don’t need the other, since both have done well on their own.

Khan decided against plugging anything related to Jericho vs. Tanahashi or the Tokyo Dome show on its television or social media because he felt that was of no benefit to AEW. Yet, after the Tokyo Dome, on AEW, Jericho and the announcers talked about how Jericho and Moxley had big wins over the past week at the Tokyo Dome, a step that just a week earlier wouldn’t have been allowed. However, Moxley was not mentioned as winning the U.S. title, which is a Khan ruling with the idea that on Dynamite, the only titles he wants mentioned are AEW titles. If you note, Omega has stopped being called AAA champion, although that may be acknowledged going forward on Dark and he could defend it there, but won’t on Dynamite or PPV. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix are never mentioned as AAA tag champs in AEW even though those titles were defended in the past on AEW PPV shows.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

New Japan officially announced that there are no plans for television in the U.S. right now. This had been inevitable since Anthem purchased AXS. Really, the only way they could have kept was if they became an affiliate of Impact and that just wasn’t going to happen. New Japan did have that option but turned it down. As noted last week, this is more of a blow to New Japan in the U.S. than people recognize. Those in the bubble will say that you still have New Japan World, but the reality is that maybe has 50,000 subscribers outside of Japan, and that’s covering the rest of the world so maybe 35,000 in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

B.J. Whitmer and Kelly Klein have split up. Whitmer brought up it was due to her relationship with somebody else. Most have tabbed that as Adam Birch (Joey Mercury). That seems to explain a number of things. Birch had contacted a number of ROH wrestlers with the idea of getting them out of their contracts and him representing them with the idea they could make more money playing WWE and AEW against each other than they could in ROH. It didn’t go anywhere because it was felt Birch was trying to take down ROH to do so, and virtually nobody was in favor of that. Birch was banned from Twitter for comments about Whitmer, who now works for AEW backstage

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

This is a true story and it shows how brainwashed some are. There was an international documentary being done on pro wrestling and both myself and Fumi Saito were involved this past week. They had interviewed people in WWE recently as well. I had actually blocked the director not that long ago because he asked me if it was true that Tony Khan actually bought all the tickets for those first day sold out events to make it appear the product was hot, given I seem to be a magnet for people who, for whatever reason, cling on to desperation wanting AEW to fail, even though I’ve never said once it’s a lock for them to succeed, just they’ve gotten off to a great start and their results thus far for a company getting started and selling tickets are strong. Anyway, the story came from people in WWE who explained to them that version, that the fast ticket sales and early sellouts were the company buying up all the tickets. So it’s actually a story propagated from within WWE talent or told to WWE talent from within the organization. You’d think people who see through the obvious, but I guess not

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Historically, bigger than Naito’s win was the final match ever of Liger. Nikkan Sports covered the Liger retirement as the major sports story of the day. But it wasn’t just Liger’s retirement, as unbeknownst to everyone, his biggest rival during the period Liger became known as arguably the best in-ring performer in the business, Naoki Sano, wanted to retire with Liger. But rather than take any spotlight away, Sano teamed with Liger, losing to Ryu Lee (Dragon Lee) & Hiromu Takahashi on this show, and then the next day announced his retirement quietly.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Hirooki Goto pinned KENTA to win the Never Open weight title in 16:12. What hurt this match live was no Katsuyori Shibata at ringside since the angle was based on KENTA attacking Shibata. Evidently Shibata tried to get cleared, which was admittedly a huge longshot at best. The result was that not only was he not cleared, but told in no uncertain terms that there was zero percent chance he could ever be cleared.

Originally Posted by Observer

With WrestleMania season approaching, Will Ospreay has been announced for two independent shows in Tampa.

Ospreay will be in action at Game Changer Wrestling's Joey Janela's Spring Break 4 at The Cuban Club in Ybor City on Friday, April 3. This will be the first time Ospreay has wrestled at a Spring Break or for GCW.

Originally Posted by PWI

WKYT-TV in Kentucky is reporting that WWE is making a push to have Corbin, Kentucky renamed King Corbin, Kentucky as part of a marketing ploy for this weekend's live event in the city.

WWE is running Corbin this Sunday with Baron Corbin advertised to face Roman Reigns in a Loser Eats Dogfood match. Prior to that event, according to WKYT, Corbin and WWE reps will be in front of the Colonel Sanders statue in downtown Corbin Sunday afternoon, collecting signatures to join Corbin's petition for the name change. WWE cameras will be filming and there will be giveaways for tickets for Sunday's live event.

Originally Posted by PWI

Vice is in the midst of putting together and filming the second season of Dark Side of The Ring. PWInsider.com can confirm some of the topics that will be covered in Season Two will be:
* Brawl For All.
* The Benoit Tragedy.
* Dino Bravo.

There's also been talk of Herb Abrams and New Jack episodes, but we have not confirmed whether they have moved forward on including those in season two.

The plan is for ten episodes for season two.

The Benoit tragedy episode will feature Nancy Benoit’s sister Sandra Toffoloni and Chris Benoit's son David. Since Toffoloni has noted this publicly on her Twitter account, she has reunited with David and thanked the series for giving her back her nephew. Toffoloni and Benoit were together at an AEW PPV last year.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Mirror Sport uploaded highlights from their portion of the recent media call with Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Levesque confirmed that there will be more NXT U.K. TakeOvers this year and it was just a matter of mapping it out with the rest of the WWE schedule.

“We absolutely will. As you can imagine, trying to put together a WWE calendar, with closing in on 600 live events all over the globe, is a difficult process and it’s a puzzle, and if one thing changes it moves bits and pieces around and you don’t want to be running shows that step on each other. So it’s a bit of a puzzle. There absolutely are plans for more NXT UK TakeOvers this year. As you see even just now, this weekend we’re heading to Blackpool for another massive event there and then a few weeks from that, the NXT UK talent will be over here in Houston, Texas for Worlds Collide, where Imperium will face off with The Undisputed ERA. There will be so many other matches you will see on that card as it gets laid out here in the next few days and into the next week, you will learn exactly what that entire card is, but as you will see, that card will be spectacular as well. So Worlds Collide will be another epic event. It’s all about the exposure for these talents and these brands and getting them the opportunity as you said to have these mega events that you can build towards and you can give them these spectacle match of the year type things and make everybody into bigger and bigger stars and household names around the world.”

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect (Post 5313669)

There's no way Omega would have held the belt for that long.

Meltzer is extremely biased towards AEW. Listening to him review NXT and try to pick logic holes in it while he just shrugs at AEW's nonsensical stuff is excruciating. I get that the dude's a wrestling fan, and an alternative to WWE is needed, but you can see where the silly "he's on the take" rumors come from.

The Bucks and Omega dicked over New Japan. They say they gave notice months before, but they were also negotiating with WWE and New Japan, by their own admission, right up until signing with AEW -- something they would have known they were going to do months before, but obviously led New Japan down a primrose path of "we might stay."

They've established a new US promotion that is going to impact New Japan's business presence in the country. Omega was very public about New Japan being cheap. They're not fucking pure babyfaces in this story.

Originally Posted by Observer

Going head-to-head with the college football championship game, Raw last night did 2.03 million viewers, the second lowest in modern history for a non-holiday show and lowest for a live show.

Raw attempted to load up this week to avoid a bad number, but with the LSU-Clemson game doing 25.00 million on ESPN and 381,000 on ESPN 2, roughly double a good Monday Night Football game, there was only so much that could have helped. The audience was down 12.7 percent from last year's Raw which was head-to-head with a championship game that did 24.33 million viewers on ESPN and 666,000 on ESPN 2 ...

The only episode in history that was non-holiday and did worse was the December 23 taped show that did 1.84 million viewers.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.22 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.06 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.81 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Triple H faced backlash yesterday after making a joke directed at Paige. When answering a question about her or Edge making a possible return to the ring, Triple H replied that he hoped they would be able to be cleared to return, saying “Edge has kids. Paige, she probably has some she doesn't know of”. Paige wasn’t happy with the line, writing on Twitter, “Even my boss jokes about me.. no wonder you guys still do it too.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

It was a very awkward line from Levesque and my hope would be that he regretted stating it given Paige’s openness regarding the abuse she has endured since a tape of her was leaked several years ago and caused her enormous harassment. When she was interviewed in 2018 on Lilian Garcia’s podcast, she described what she had gone through:

“That scarred me, just people invading my privacy, to the point where sometimes I don’t want to go out. People are just looking at me bad. I was out with my friend. We were just sitting there having a Bloody Mary. This guy comes up to my friend and says, ‘That’s the porn star.’

I cried in the toilet. I find it really hard to be close to anybody. And that’s the reason why. When they came out, I barricaded myself in the house for a couple of months. I was so sad to the point I was contemplating suicide. I was on the floor, I was so low. I got so skinny, I ended up collapsing with exhaustion in hospital in England. They told me at the time it was like stress-induced anorexia.”

Even worse, was a story from Paige on an episode of Total Divas where she revealed having a miscarriage when she was younger and that she may not be able to have children.

The point is not whether Levesque was attempting to be malicious and I would hope he wasn’t. The point is that it was an insensitive comment towards someone that must endure daily comments about that tape and had endured great pain in the wake of it. Even worse, is that this wasn’t a random person on Twitter it was one of her superiors and an executive within the company. At best, it can be labeled as a highly inappropriate and unprofessional comment for someone of Levesque’s status in the company.

Originally Posted by Observer

SoCal Uncensored reached out to the Department of the Navy to verify if Robert Remus, aka Sgt. Slaughter, had ever served in the Marine Corps or the Marine Corps Reserve. They got a letter back from the Navy, which said they were unable to identify Remus as a member or former member of the Marines.

Originally Posted by Observer

While announcing their newest Performance Center signees, WWE has confirmed the addition of two independent wrestling standouts.

Mercedes Martinez and Jake Atlas have officially signed with WWE. Martinez joins the company after appearing in the Mae Young Classic in both 2017 and 2018. She made it to the semifinals in the first tournament before losing to Shayna Baszler. In 2018, she lost to Meiko Satomura in the second round ...

Martinez was the 21st entrant in the Casino Battle Royale at AEW All Out in August and also wrestled one match on AEW Dark that was taped in October.

Atlas broke out on the Southern California indie scene. Last year, he made it to the quarterfinals of PWG's Battle of Los Angeles. He defeated Jungle Boy in the first round and then lost to Dragon Lee in the second ...

Atlas appeared on the WWE-themed "Celebrity Undercover Boss" episode that aired in 2018 and said that his goal is to become the first openly gay WWE World Champion.

"Titan Games" competitor Emily Andzulis, former NFL defensive lineman Anthony Francis, acrobat Sidney Bateman, and former college basketball player Zechariah Smith were also announced as signing with WWE:

Originally Posted by Observer

Deadline.com reported Tuesday that Court Bauer's Major League Wrestling has signed a deal with major Hollywood agency ICM Partners as they look to sign a new TV and streaming deal ...

The article said that MLW is looking to take advantage of the recent upswing in live sports TV rights deals, especially in pro wrestling. Bauer was quoted as saying MLW is in an unique position, given they are the only wrestling free agent property available in 2020.

The ICM deal also includes representation for MLW Studios, "a multi-platform media studio focusing on original scripted and non-scripted programming."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

ICM also represents John Cena.

Originally Posted by Observer

A second NJPW star has been confirmed for WrestleCon's WrestleMania week SuperShow.

WrestleCon announced today that Shingo Takagi will be in action at this year's Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow. The event is taking place at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, April 2 and will start at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

This will be the first time Takagi has taken part in WrestleCon.

Will Ospreay has also been announced for this year's WrestleCon SuperShow, along with Bandido, Alex Zayne, Blake Christian, and Jordan Oliver.

Originally Posted by Fightful

The first bout for NWA Hard Times is official as Nick Aldis will take on Flip Gordon in an inter-promotional matchup.

The match was confirmed on Tuesday's episode of NWA Powerrr. Aldis made a surprise appearance at ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage in Atlanta this past Saturday, attacking Gordon in the middle of a brawl between Villain Enterprises and La Faccion Ingobernable.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Speaking to ESPN West Palm, The Young Buck explained the thought process behind the Bash at the Beach special.

"Our plan is to do four pay-per-views a year, so we realized we have to dress up some of the shows on Wednesday to not fall into a formula. Try to make some of them feel more special than other ones. That was the thinking process on this. To bring something back from the past that has such a cool history. Cody happened to get the trademark and owns it now. He brought it to Tony's attention and we all thought it was a good idea. I think fans are gonna be excited because we're gonna try to make it a special show, even from the look of things," said Nick Jackson.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Following the passing AAA's La Parka, fans wondered if LA Park, who went by La Parka in WCW and AAA in the 90s, would regain the name.

LA Park was forced to change his name after a legal battle with Lucha Libre AAA once he returned to Mexico and began working for CMLL in 2003. LA Park would return to AAA in 2010, kicking off a feud with La Parka.

When asked about the possibility of using the La Parka name once again, LA Park replied, "No one will fill the place that La Parka did, not me, nor anyone. The truth is you should respect his name so that Chuy Escoboza can never be forgotten. I don't plan on recovering anything, only that God has received him in its glory. In life, we'll fight up until we can."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

There was a lengthy series of tweets posted by Gabe Sapolsky on Monday responding to David Starr, who has made several statements regarding EVOLVE and whether they pay certain performers on their shows. In the tweets, which Sapolsky has since deleted, he ran down Starr but acknowledged he kept 1-3 spots on shows where rising talent could have a spot but did not get paid. He defended this practice citing his longevity in the game and that they don’t eliminate paying spots, they are created in addition to those that are booked.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor announced today that former IWGP Champion Jay White will be appearing for the company Wrestlemania 36 weekend at Supercard of Honor.

PWInsider.com has been told that other members of Bullet Club will be appearing on the event as well and they will be in a top level main event match on the show.

This is the first major indication in some time that the Ring of Honor-New Japan working relationship is continuing on in 2020.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda caught up with Paige during BT Sport’s WWE launch event and asked Paige about Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s comment that Paige possibly has a few kids she doesn’t know about yet. Paige said she was taken aback by the comment because she respects Levesque and added that he did reach out to her.

“Obviously, I was a little bit perplexed, a little bit taken [aback] because he’s someone that I truly look up to, and he’s always been very respectful so, I just feel like he kind of got caught up, maybe in a joke but I don’t think it was appropriate to joke about. Again, it’s just something that I’m not gonna continually talk about because I feel like people on the internet have done a good job of that. He’s definitely reached out and we’re gonna be talking about some things.”

Originally Posted by PWI

Paige did not appear on WWE Backstage this week as she is in England doing promotional work for WWE. For those who asked, there's no correlation between Paige missing the episode and the Twitter issues that arose over the last few days after Triple H joked about Paige having children she didn't know existed running around during a media conference promoting Takeover. There was a big push-back against the joke from some fans with Paige commenting:

Even my boss jokes about me.. no wonder you guys still do it too. https://t.co/dOmZAiwvyX
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) January 13, 2020

Originally Posted by Observer

The winners from two matches that are scheduled for tonight's Dynamite will face each other next week in a number one contender’s match for the AEW World title.

PAC vs. Darby Allin and Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara have already been announced for tonight. AEW’s social media today added a new stipulation to those matches. The winners of both matches will face one another next week on the Jericho's Rock 'n' Wrestling Cruise edition of Dynamite. The winner of that match will become the one contender to the AEW World title.

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW announced late-Wednesday afternoon that Awesome Kong is out of tonight's AEW Dynamite tag team match due to an undisclosed illness.

In her place and making her Dynamite in-ring debut: Brandi Rhodes. She will team with fellow Nightmare Collective member Mel (also making her Dynamite in-ring debut) to face Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida.

Originally Posted by Observer

For what is being touted as their first appearance in Madison Square Garden in more than ten years, WWE Hall of Fame faction D-Generation X will return for a March afternoon house show.

Announced via an MSG ticket presale email and on social media, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and Road Dogg will all be in New York City on Sunday, March 22nd. It's not expected the foursome will actually wrestle.

Notably absent is Billy Gunn who is part of the AEW roster.

While cards are subject to change, the Raw show is scheduled to be headlined by Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Big Show vs. Seth Rollins and the AOP in a six-man tag while Raw women's champion Becky Lynch will defend against Asuka.

Originally Posted by Observer

Will Ospreay is the latest NJPW wrestler to be added to ROH's WrestleMania weekend show.

ROH has announced that Ospreay will be in action at Supercard of Honor XIV. The show is taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4 and will go against NXT TakeOver: Tampa.

NJPW's Jay White and El Phantasmo have also been confirmed for Supercard of Honor XIV

Originally Posted by Observer

Killer Kross has an opponent for his MLW debut.

MLW announced today that Kross will make his debut for the promotion against Tom Lawlor at their Fightland set of television tapings. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, February 1.

Originally Posted by Observer

NJPW is running a Lion's Break show as part of WrestleCon's events over WrestleMania week in Tampa.

NJPW announced tonight that Lion's Break Project 3 will take place at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, April 2 at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ren Narita, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors, and Alex Coughlin are the first names confirmed for the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

Over the weekend, PWInsider.com reported that WWE would return to Saudi Arabia on Thursday 2/20.

WWE sources have since indicated to PWInsidercom that preliminary date has been moved to the following week, Thursday 2/27.

We are told that crearive for the event has not been locked in.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

While speaking with SunSport, Cain Velasquez stated that he believes he’s going to be in the 2020 men’s Royal Rumble match.

“I think I’m doing it, right? I think so. I can win it, hell yeah, that’s my mentality for everything. For everyone as well, that is how your mentality has to be. I’m going in to win this thing.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Following NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II, Paul “Triple H” Levesque chatted with members of the media and he spoke about Tyson Fury and the door being open for Fury to return to WWE. Levesque added that he knows Tyson Fury’s next potential appearance for WWE likely depends on the turnout of Fury’s upcoming fight against Deontay Wilder on February 22nd.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Tag team wrestling is as healthy as it's ever been with New Day, Revival, Usos, Proud N Powerful, SCU, The North, Briscoes, Lethal & Gresham, and many more being able to lay claim to the "best tag team in the world" moniker. And Matt & Nick Jackson would like to settle the score once and for all against at least two of those teams.

"I would say The Elite vs. New Day because that is something that was actually close to happening at one point, but it never actually happened. If that six-man happened, it would have tore the house down," Nick told ESPN West Palm when asked about potential dream matches.

The Elite and New Day competed in a Street Fighter battle, but never in an in-ring bout.

Matt stated, "The obvious one is us and The Revival. I feel like there's some real-life tension there. I don't know if it's competitive or friendly but there's definitely a competitive rivalry. Talk about two teams that have polar opposite of styles. I think it'd be a fun styles clash. I'd love to have that match. That's probably number one on my bucket list."

The Revival and Young Bucks have teased a match and feuded on social media for years with #FTR becoming a knock against Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder (Fuck The Revival) or a show of support (Forever The Revival).

Originally Posted by Observer

Wednesday night ratings are in and last night's Bash at the Beach-themed episode of AEW Dynamite was essentially even with last week, averaging 940,000 total viewers and a 0.38 rating in the 18-49 demo.

The latter number was good for fifth on the night on cable TV and was up six percent from last week.

NXT was down three percent in total viewers, averaging 700,000. The 18-49 rating was 0.21, which was up 11 percent from last week. The show finished 31st on cable in that category.

As was the case early in the ratings war -- but had stopped leading into the holiday season -- AEW beat NXT in every demo except those over 50.. NXT had a very narrow win in that category, drawing a 0.35 rating to AEW's 0.34.

The biggest gap in the demos was in men 18-49. AEW almost doubled NXT with a 0.51 rating to 0.26.

Originally Posted by Observer

Zack Sabre Jr. has been announced for this year’s WrestleCon SuperShow. It’s taking place at The Ritz Ybor on Thursday, April 2.

Originally Posted by Observer

Marty Scurll has been announced for one night of the NWA's post-Hard Times television tapings.

The NWA announced today that Scurll will appear in front of the crowd at their Power tapings in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, January 26. The show starts at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Originally Posted by PWI

Impact Wrestling will be presenting a TNA-themed live event as part of Wrestlecon this April:

There's no place like home.
TNA officially returns for one night only on Friday, April 3rd at 7pm.
Tickets go on sale on Monday at 12pm EST at https://t.co/6BISigVGvG! pic.twitter.com/o19R8OVO4z
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 16, 2020

Originally Posted by PWI

There's been a lot of talk of late that the WWE UK Championship, currently held by WALTER, will be rechristened the NXT UK Championship to bring it in line with all the other NXT UK title belts.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Undertaker is at the WWE Performance Center today in Orlando, Florida.

Obviously, with the Royal Rumble next week, that timing is very interesting.

Updated: 12:39 PM - Thus far today, Undertaker not been inside the ring. He has been reviewing last night's WWE NXT TV episode with the roster, giving advice and feedback to the roster.

Originally Posted by PWI

TNT President Kevin Reilly discussed All Elite Wrestling Dynamite's new TV pact during the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles yesterday, commenting, “I just had this idea that this was the time to invest. This is a startup. It’s already over-delivered out of the gate. That’s really when you want to hit the gasoline a little bit. The guys already have ideas about additional talent and things they want to do and I wanted to incentivize them as a partner to do that. We also wanted to gave fans and talent who potentially want to come work with us the sense that this is here to stay. You can invest in it, it’s here to stay, and it’s only going to get better.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

TV Insider spoke with Chelsea Green and Chelsea talked about she and Zack Ryder’s forthcoming wedding. She mentioned that she wants to have a New Year’s wedding and wants to incorporate Zack’s love of action figures into the wedding.

“Of course, with his crazy toy podcast and love of toys and things like that, we’ve got some fun things planned — a little wedding pin we are going to give out to everybody at our wedding, fun stuff like that. I think we are going to do a New Year’s Eve wedding. We’re in the midst of trying to plan, but life on the road is crazy. It’s hard to plan a wedding when you’re on RAW, NXT, on the road. We’re both kind of taking it day-to-day.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

A new episode of WWE After The Bell came out on 1/16 and Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee joined the show. During Corey Graves’ singular portion of the podcast, he briefly talked about Wrestle Kingdom 14 and proposed the idea of WWE splitting WrestleMania up into two days:

“I am still late to the party as I often am because I have little to no free time. Tried my best to check out New Japan Wrestle Kingdom. Shout out to those guys. My guy Juice Robinson who I will never forget even though he doesn’t acknowledge us and he’s disowned us and his WWE family. I think it’s really cool that the event has gotten so big, they did it over two days, which doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for WrestleMania. What do you think? Would you be into two, four hour WrestleManias or a three hour and a four hour show rather than a 31 hour WrestleMania like we’ve had for the last few years?”

Originally Posted by Fightful

Sheamus returned to WWE television in November 2019, after being absent since September, reverting back to his old non-mohawk look. A series of vignettes began to run, hyping his return to WWE SmackDown. He finally appeared in front of the live audience in January, taking out Shorty G with a Brouge Kick.

The old look with spiked hair brought back memories of Sheamus' singles run when he was a multi-time World. But the original idea for his return could have had him stuck on 205 Live.

"Mate, I got these notebooks of ideas from creative with like, a small moustache, and suspenders and my hair go over to the side…it looked almost exactly like Jack Gallagher from 205 Live and I said ‘you know, we have a person who looks just like this here, right?’ Man, if I did any of it any of those pictures, I’d just be done! I would have been toast. The amount of slaggings (abuse) I would have gotten.. and that would have just been off my granny! It was just terrible," Sheamus told Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT. "But you know, we just went so far with the Mohawk. The Mohawk was done. I thought about it and, creatively, myself and a guy I work with called Ray, we just talked about it and it was like [debuting the mohawk] so shocking, you know, and I got that reaction ‘you look stupid’ and stuff and it was a great reaction. It was completely different because we we just hit a roadblock with whatever it was. You can’t go further than that."

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

AEW on 1/15 did 940,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) and a 0.38 in the 18-49 demo to not just beat NXT, which did 700,000 viewers (1.28 viewers per home) and a 0.21 in 18-49, but also for the first time beat the NBA on ESPN head-to-head.

The first NBA game against the first 97 minutes of AEW and NXT did 934,000 viewers and a 0.34 in 18-34. The late game on ESPN did 1,128,000 viewers and a 0.44 in 18-49.

AEW won its time slot in Males 18-49 for the first 97 minutes although the NBA game did beat them in 12-34 and the second game beat AEW over the last 23 minutes..

AEW was fifth in 18-49 while NXT was No. 31.

We don’t have quarter hours at press time. In the different key demos, AEW won Women 18-34 70,000 to 39,000. AEW won Women 35-49 98,000 to 62,000. AEW won Men 18-34 101,000 to 56,000. AEW won Men 35-49 226,000 to 112,000, so more than a two-to-one margin. AEW more than doubled NXT with teenagers and NXT won slightly with viewers over 50, as it does every week ...

AEW did a 0.20 in 12-17 (up 17.6 percent from last week), 0.24 in 18-34 (up 9.1 percent), 0.52 in 35-49 (up 4.0 percent) and 0.34 in 50+ (down 5.6 percent) ...

Because last week’s NXT show didn’t crack the top 50, we don’t have comparisons withe last week, but the show did a 0.08 in 12-17 (well under half of AEW), 0.14 in 18-34, 0.28 in 35-49 (barely half) and 0.35 in 50+, beating AEW only slightly in the demo NXT has won almost every week.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Unlike in the past when they would run four shows in the same market on big show weekends, this time the 1/23 Smackdown show will be from Dallas and the 1/26 Raw will be from San Antonio.

There are two shows in Houston, the Rumble, and the Worlds Collide show the night before at the Toyota Center. Worlds Collide ticket sales are very weak, basically ringside and most but not all of 100s as they haven’t sold out the side of the hard camera, and the rest of the building isn’t for sale. Similarly, the 2/16 Takeover show in Portland also has a weak advance. About 60 percent of the 100s that would normally be for sale are on sale, not including what you’d expect not for sale due to the stage. They are not opening up any other seats at this point for Worlds Collide.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

It appears the next Saudi Arabia show will be on 2/27, a Thursday afternoon, with Smackdown being on 2/28 in Boston. It will be very interesting to see who goes and who doesn’t go. It’s both what happened last time combined with the situation in the Middle East. That situation in theory, since it doesn’t involve Saudi Arabia, may not play a part in some people’s thinking but you can imagine wives and family members right now thinking about celebrities going to the Middle East with the problems with the U.S. and Iran. And that doesn’t even take into account several guys were talking about not going back after the problems getting home from the last show.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The Revival have hired the same lawyer who does trademarks for Cody Rhodes and are looking and trademarking shatter machine. They’ve already trademarked FTR and Forever The Revival, so at worst if WWE claims rights to the name The Revival, they can go as Forever the Revival using the FTR name that the Young Bucks mocked years ago when building the feud in social media back when people would debate which of the two teams was the best in the world before The Revival was brought up to the main roster and people stopped talking abut them as much

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The Big Show return is only planned to be temporary, as they needed a babyface to team with Joe & Owens for a brief period of time. Mysterio was supposed to be the third person in that feud but they are working the short-term Mysterio vs. Andrade program until they work their way out of it. Originally, and this doesn’t appear to have changed, the idea was for Andrade to have a longer very serious program over the title with Carrillo as a way to get both guys over as singles Latino stars. But now with Murphy being added to the Rollins group, they are again one short on the face side

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

While not signed yet, the betting line is that Kevin Kaser, 34 (Killer Kross) ends up here. There was thought to be interest in him across the board in wrestling due to his look. Multiple sources said Kaser and Paul Levesque were to have met this week. Besides Impact he had worked a lot on-and-off in AAA and Konnan was a huge proponent of him as far as potential. During his time in AAA, he was booked like a monster and never asked to lose. While it never went anywhere due to WWE signing Cain Velasquez, they were planning on a Velasquez vs. Kross program in AAA and started teasing it in Velasquez’s first match. Kross had been one of Impact’s most pushed stars until he was in a contract dispute with the promotion which led to him being iced for months and eventually released. His girlfriend, Elizabeth Chihaia, better known as Scarlett Bordeaux, is in NXT although has not been pushed on television although she did a quick cameo in an outdoor shot on one of the TV shows. Paul Levesque is said to be high on him

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

In a deal that will make the company profitable in 2020 and beyond, TNT, Warner Media and AEW have renegotiated and signed a new four-year contract that would keep Dynamite on the station through the end of 2023.

The four-year deal is worth $175 million in rights fees, just under $45 million per year, and includes TNT having an option to keep the show through the end of 2024 at a significantly increased price. The deal has annual escalators built into the contract.

The move protects TNT because there can be no bidding war to increase the costs of Dynamite, like what happened with Raw and Smackdown in the last negotiation period. For AEW, the deal insures 2020 profitability and pretty much protects them for being taken off the air through the end of 2023 if ratings decrease. In television there are always ways to cancel programming or change time slots or move to a different station. But if the show gets hotter or the value of such a show changes as sports rights fees continue to increase, it takes AEW out of the negotiation game where its television value could greatly increase until the beginning of 2025.

The new deal is now similar in scope to the kind of deals WWE has for Raw, Smackdown and NXT, in that the cost of production, which in the old deal was $500,000 per week, is no longer covered by TNT.

The new deal will continue the ad split aspect of the original deal, and through adding a second show, a weekly one-hour taped show, it would increase the amount of ad time from what the company has been getting a percentage of. WWE does not have ad sharing in its television deals.

Essentially it is an increase of about $18 million per year in value, which is said to be more than the difference between making 2020 and beyond profitable. While AEW President and CEO Tony Khan was hopeful when the promotion debuted that it would be profitable by the end of 2020, with the old deal that was not likely to happen, saying it would have taken a miracle for 2020 to end up as a profitable year and we just got that miracle ...

While the deal pales in comparison to the $265 million that USA pays for Raw and the $205 million that FOX pays for Smackdown, but it is more than the $30 million per year that USA currently pays for NXT.

The deal includes adding another weekly hour of television later this year ...

The second show will air on a WarnerMedia station, with TNT its most likely destination. It would not air on Sunday, Monday or Thursday, because Khan has an agreement to not air wrestling against the NFL since his family owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tuesday is out due to NBA commitments as far as TNT goes, although it is possible it could air on TBS. Saturday would be tough with UFC, Boxing and College Football, plus it’s the night AEW runs its PPV shows and the night UFC and boxing run their biggest events. But every night has something, as Friday has Smackdown.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

Tessa Blanchard was the center of controversy on 1/12 for her past on the day she was booked to become the first female pro wrestler to win a male world championship on a PPV show ...

Blanchard has been controversial for years, since she was a standout for WWE at the Mae Young Classic, but due to a number of issues, even with her looks, heritage and ability, they passed on signing her. There was always talk of attitude issues and other problems, including issues of not getting along with talent, that followed her career in its early years including in Japan.

For whatever reason, the day before the PPV, Blanchard sent out a tweet saying, “Hey women, try supporting one another. Cool things happen.”

This touched a nerve with women who had worked with her in the past. Most notable was Allysin Kay, who was women’s champion in Impact as Sienna in 2016, who wrote, “Remember when you spat in a black woman’s face and called her the N word in Japan? Was that you `supporting women?’ The audacity of this tweet.”

The woman in question was La Black Rose of Puerto Rico, who later confirmed the story, as did Renee Michelle, the wife of James Curtin (Drake Maverick) who had a run on WWE television recently in her real-life role as the new bride, until it was dropped ...

So the day of the show, Callis and D’Amore had a couple of major issues. Would they go ahead with the plans to put the title on her and conclude the story? And as a company, how would they handle it and how would they have her publicly handle it? ...

From those there, there never seemed to be a serious consideration of not going through with the plans, but there was concern, very quickly alleviated regarding how the crowd would react. The question was more whether she should apologize in some form. She didn’t. Nor did the company make a statement. The decision, at least for the show, was to ignore it.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

As far as New Japan World went, I believe the increase was around 20,000 new subscribers, perhaps slightly more, roughly the same as last year. I don’t know what the figure was in December but that would traditionally be a lower month since we are now months removed from G-1, and it’s January and August when interest peaks. In hindsight, that Omega vs. Jericho year where they gained 40,000 is a ridiculous stat. What’s notable is that most of the growth was foreign. The reality is Japan isn’t big on paid streaming services. A lot of the growth was from the U.S

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The movie “Crossface,” about Chris Benoit, that nobody has heard a thing about in years is apparently a dead project according to Matt Randazzo, Lexi Alexander and Chris’ son David Benoit. David Benoit told Chris Van Vliet in an interview that the filmmakers needed the permission of the family to do the movie but the family refused to give it to them. That’s the same reason attempts many years back to do screenplays on the Von Erichs fell through. David said that the family hired a lawyer to make sure it got shut down. David said the family would not be opposed to a documentary about Chris Benoit noting that he has a lot of home video footage. Alexander, who signed on to direct the screenplay in 2016, said the movie was dead but that story about why was made up. “They really just made up some stuff. I never sent anybody a script...but I did have a very nice and polite convo which I still have a copy of with Sandra Toffoloni (the sister of Nancy Benoit and who probably has the most understanding of what happened of anyone) who is lively and told me of her plans to bring the story to screen herself and I fully encouraged that.” Randazzo said that legal threats never happened. “After years of collecting option checks, I left because of repeated delays over casting, financing, etc., problems with the script and that Nancy’s sister was pursuing a movie. Never aware of any legal threat. Had no role.” The book “Ring of Hell” by Matt Randazzo was to be the template for the movie and Randazzo was one of the executive producers

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

The company [ROH] opened its checkbook big with major signings this past week of the two most in-demand talents that had become free agents, in Marty Scurll and Bandido. Both signed multi-year deals. Scurll got what was said to be the most lucrative contract in company history and will work in creative as a co-booker with Hunter Johnston (Delirious) and basically as things are working out will be the lead. The two are working together with Johnston still as the Executive Producer of television and he and Scurll listed as booker. Johnston didn’t disagree with any of Scurll’s ideas or directions this weekend so Scurll did get all his ideas through. Johnston had been full-time booker as well as run the wrestling school since 2010 and had booked since 2010 and been lead booker since 2012 when Jim Cornette left. There had been other people involved in booking in recent years as well but he was always the titled head booker. The plan right now is for Scurll to determine the direction and for Johnston to run the television shows using Scurll’s ideas and adding in details and formatting it for television. Johnston has said that he doesn’t want to get in the way of Scurll’s creative vision. Johnston was said to be thrilled by not having to be in full charge of creative and called it a new lease on life, and hoping that his level of pressure and anxiety would decrease. Essentially Scurll is getting WWE main roster money guaranteed for maybe 40+ dates per year, plus he can work just about anywhere else he wants without the restrictions that ROH talent had in the past ...

It’s notable because when he was not allowed to work the Super J Cup, the feeling was he was going to leave, but the offer was said to be significantly better than the big offer Matt Taven got. He also be working other shows that he wants to. We know the deal won’t allow him to work WWE, and WWE wouldn’t use a guy from another company anyway, and when negotiations were going on, we were told it may not exclude him from AEW although others have said the deal will only exclude AEW and WWE. Scurll’s role when it comes to office work will be to work as a liaison to New Japan, the NWA and other organizations including AEW, which ROH will try and get a working relationship with. That may be difficult because I don’t know what AEW has to gain at this time from an ROH relationship because you never know the twists and turns of the future. Scurll has a lot of friends in AEW so it makes sense to be guy to try and open up communications and boundaries. Those at New Japan love Scurll and they would want to send him more talent this year but they are running so many shows themselves in the U.S. and Japan that it’s hard

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter

[AEW] Regarding the booking which has come together better over the last three weeks, Tony Khan took more control after the negativity from the Corpus Christi show and you can see more seeds of long-term planning and layers in storylines, like in the four team tag match and other angles. But that’s also related to all involved

Originally Posted by Observer

For the first time since 2009, KENTA is returning to Ring of Honor.

KENTA will be in action at Supercard of Honor XIV in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4. He's the third Bullet Club member and fourth NJPW wrestler announced for the show. It will also feature Jay White, El Phantasmo, and Will Ospreay.

Originally Posted by PWI

Impact Wrestling's Twitch channel remains suspended as of this writing.

Originally Posted by PWI

Major League Wrestling's Zero Hour event in Dallas on Saturday 1/11 drew 1,387 paid with about 1,500 in the building. The promotion saw a ride in advance tickets sold for that event and their pre-sales for the 5/2 return are already well ahead of any previous pre-sale in the Dallas market. The promotion added capacity by 10% in Dallas and still sold out ...

The Dallas event was also the best merchandise night in the history of the promotion with about 40% of the sales coming from Marshall and Ross Von Erich merchandise ...

The promotion is negotiating with a major entertainment company about holding a live event in Hawaii later this year, likely built around the Von Erichs, who live there. This was something that was originally planned to be MLW's first PPV last year but then when it didn't come together, Chicago became the first PPV market ...

While he has wrestled his final match for MLW, MJF will remain on TV for several months as there has been content pre-taped. He's local to MLW HQ so he can always come in if needed to shoot promos. His official deal expires in a few months and at that point, he'll be exclusively locked in with AEW as part of a five year deal.

Originally Posted by PWI

On 1/13, WWE applied to trademark Harlem Heat ...

This is especially interesting given the tease for the team's return after the Revival challenged Booker T to have Harlem Heat to return and face them, which has yet to be followed up upon on TV. The 2020 Royal Rumble is being held in Harlem Heat's hometown of Houston, Texas next week.

Originally Posted by Fightful

The WWE United Kingdom Championship is now under the NXT banner as the belt has officially been renamed.

During the NXT UK TV tapings on Friday, Jan. 17, WALTER was presented with the new NXT UK Championship during an unveiling ceremony held by NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint. The new title reportedly has an NXT logo in place of the WWE logo. You can see highlights from the ceremony below.

Originally Posted by Observer

TalkSport asked Charlotte Flair about coping with Kairi Sane’s injury at TLC and how it affected what they were planning to do in the match: “It didn’t in the moment. I guess, everyone, how they felt afterwards is what made them feel different. In the moment, it was more it’s a tough spot. It’s the main event of a brutal pay-per-view and everyone has already seen tables, ladders and chairs. It’s feeding off the crowd, going with the crowd and feeding off their reactions. So I didn’t really think anything until after. Obviously Kairi was hurt, but in the match I’m just thinking ‘how do we keep people invested?’ with them already seeing so many different TLC, brutal matches. You’ve already seen a kendo stick, you’ve already seen a chair, you’ve seen a ladder, a table. And the pressure of us delivering that, with a weird dynamic seeing me and Becky tag? To me, me and Becky tagging is more what I was thinking about. How does that come across and how our characters should be interacting on television. How do you go from this [indicates high level] to all of a sudden, they’re tagging? We had the let’s fight the enemy because we have a common enemy [mentality].”

Originally Posted by Observer

PWinsider reported that Mike Kanellis & Tony Nese teaming together on this weekend's NXT house shows is a test run for a potential team for NXT TV. They defeated Nick Ogarelli & Mohamed Fahim at last night’s house show in Melbourne, Florida, with this being the first time Kanellis has wrestled since he requested his released from WWE.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com is reporting that Jeff Hardy is scheduled for a court date on Monday, April 6th, which is the day after WrestleMania in Tampa. This stems from his October 2019 arrest in Moore County, North Carolina when he was seen driving erratically after exiting a liquor store. He was said to have been uncooperative when asked for a breathalyzer test and a sample of blood to be drawn. Hardy was arrested for driving while impaired. Hardy, 42, has been off the road with WWE since last April when he suffered an injury and the Hardys vacated the SmackDown tag titles.

Originally Posted by Fightful

In a recent media session, Rhyno revealed that he is Vic Joesph's child's godfather.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Mexican soccer team Toluca FC honored the late La Parka, who recently died, with a team photo of the players wearing La Parka masks and gave his family members a special team shirt.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE announced this morning a new television deal in the United Kingdom that brings them back to free-to-air television in the country.

They have partnered with ViacomCBS’s Channel 5 to broadcast one hour versions of Raw and SmackDown on the network starting on February 2. Raw will air on Sundays starting at 10:30 a.m., while SmackDown will air Saturdays at 10:30 a.m.

Under the deal, NXT UK will also have a new broadcast home. It will air on the Paramount Network each Wednesday at midnight.

Originally Posted by PWI

Wrestlecon announced this morning that AEW Champion Chris Jericho will be making his very first appearance at their event this April in Tampa over Wrestlemania 36 weekend

Originally Posted by PWI

Comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias is listing WWE Wrestlemania 35 weekend and Monday Night Raw for his upcoming schedule on several YouTube videos, as seen below:

Interestingly, he does not list the Wrestlemania dates on his website's upcoming tour dates, so it would appear to be something WWE-related, as opposed to Iglesias performing concerts.

It wouldn't be far fetched to see WWE induct Iglesias into the Celebrity wing of their Hall of Fame, but nothing has been confirmed at this time beyond Iglesias listing Wrestlemania and Raw as upcoming appearances.

Iglesias, a massive WWE fan, has made a number of WWE-related appearances in the past, including Tribute to the Troops, WWE Backstage, Straight Up With Steve Austin and more.

Originally Posted by PWI

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are auctioning off ring worn gear on eBay with a hundred percent of the proceeds helping out those affected by the Australian wildfires

Don’t forget to bid on @BillieKayWWE eBay listing!! We are so grateful for all the support so far in helping us help our country! ?????????????? https://t.co/9XpZYmeJtB
— Peyton Royce (@PeytonRoyceWWE) January 20, 2020

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported on Tuesday that AEW is filming Dynamite tonight on two master tapes and flying them in two separate airplanes to Atlanta. The reason is that if there is an issue with one flight then there is a backup to ensure the show airs on TNT on Wednesday night.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Daniel Bryan spoke with My San Antonio, which is where Friday Night SmackDown takes place this week and gave an in-depth look at his program with The Fiend Bray Wyatt. In the interview, he acknowledged how much he was enjoying the environmentalist version of his character and then was getting set to sink his teeth into the Sami Zayn program. What he liked about the Zayn issue was the crossroads of Bryan either reverting to the ‘Yes’ version of himself or moving forward. He felt there was unfinished business with that story and wasn’t clamoring to go back to the ‘Yes’ version of himself:

"I think it varies depending on the person and the situation. I honestly wasn’t really ready to go back to the ‘yes’ chants yet. I was really enjoying the stuff that I was doing as the ‘Planet’s Champion’ and environmentalist type of stuff. But sometimes you do what duty calls for, right? There’s the switch, and I still enjoy doing that. But it’s weird, because it almost feels a little bit unfinished. We were starting a story with me and Sami Zayn, and to me that was very compelling. It was, ‘Do you want to go backward with these people and go back to being the ‘yes’ guy, or do you want to go forward with us?’ And to me, that’s a very interesting real question in my life and in my career. Do you want to go back to this? It’s easy to get reactions as the ‘yes’ guy and be the guy who goes out there and does the ‘yes’ chants. Or do I want to push things forward? Which is more interesting to me creatively? In this particular instance, it was kind of like, ‘OK, we’re ready as a company for the ‘yes’ guy to be back.’ And I really enjoy doing that. I do. But, I like to also push my own creative boundaries, and so one of the things that I’m trying to do with this, although I haven’t necessarily done a great job of it yet, is evolving the ‘yes’ character from what it had been before."

With Wyatt, the idea to cut his hair came about after Bryan suggested cutting his beard and then it ended with his hair being cut off, which he did not want to do. The story sounded insane as he described being pulled underneath the ring and having his hair cut beneath the ring with barbers and a producer present. The fact that Bryan wasn’t visible or his haircut revealed until another episode makes this one sound so strange that they wouldn’t use prop hair for Bray to grab rather than cutting his actual hair at that moment.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

WALTER was interviewed by Metro to promote the Worlds Collide show this weekend and spoke about his experience at the Survivor Series this past November. WALTER was a member of Team NXT with Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic and was notably eliminated in three minutes. He shared the following reaction to his participation in the match that included teams from Raw and SmackDown:

I wasn’t invested in that. I didn’t care. I care about my guys, my group, I care about the sport, but I don’t care about all those people being angry each other. It was a weird match too – three five-men tag teams, and always three guys in the ring. That’s when wrestling turns from competition to putting acrobats in a circus to do a show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Following a week where the show went against the college football championship game, Raw viewership was up almost 17 percent this Monday night, averaging 2.376 million viewers.

The episode opened with 2.548 million viewers in hour one and stayed relatively steady with 2.492 million in hour two. There was the usual big third-hour drop this week, with only 2.101 million viewers on average sticking around for the third hour and three-minute overrun.

The show averaged a 0.83 rating in the important 18-49 demo, which topped all of cable TV. It was seventh on cable in terms of total viewers, trailing only news-related programming but besting an NBA game on TNT that did just over two million viewers ...

The 15.7 percent drop from hour two to hour three was the 10th worst the show has done since moving to three hours, so it seems as if the Lana/Bobby Lashley/Rusev saga may not have the same ratings legs as it did a few weeks ago. This week's main event segment was Lana & Lashley vs. Rusev & Liv Morgan.

Originally Posted by Observer

A new report is indicating that Lance Archer is in talks to join AEW.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported that Archer is currently in high level talks with the promotion. Although he regularly tours with New Japan Pro Wrestling, he is not under contract and thus is able to negotiate with other companies.

Originally Posted by Observer

This year's Chris Jericho cruise will see history made for AEW as they will hold their first-ever intergender tag team match.

Made in a BTE-style video posted on AEW's Twitter account earlier this morning, Kenny Omega and AEW women's champion Riho will face Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford.

In the clip seen below, Sabian and Ford come into Omega's locker room where he's hanging out with the Young Bucks. After putting down Riho, he pitches the match with an angle that the cruise is in international waters but it's still for AEW. The Bucks give their vote and the match was made:

However, two things are unclear as of this writing. One is when the match is going to happen and the other is whether fans not on the cruise are going to be able to watch the match on AEW Dark, YouTube, or even a Dynamite segment.

Originally Posted by PWI

Deadline is reporting Sean Durkin, the Canadian filmmaker behind "Martha Marcy May" and upcoming Sundance feature "The Nest", is working on a feature film detailing the rise and fall of the Von Erich family.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE has launched an official Twitch channel at www.Twitch.TV/WWE.

The channel will be live streaming WWE's The Bump and PPV Kickoff shows, among other content.

Originally Posted by PWI

Asuka, who will face Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Title on Sunday at the Royal Rumble, noted on Twitter [Tuesday] tonight that she was at the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip this evening when a shooting happened.

Local news is reporting that a fight escalated in the mall and gunfire broke out, injuring three people (none of whom was Asuka). The injuries were reported as being non-life threatening. Details are still coming in (I live in Las Vegas) but at approximately 8 p.m. local time the scene had been cleared and Las Vegas Metro Police are searching for two suspects, who fled the mall after the shooting.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Mae Young Classic competitor and former NXT U.K. talent Jazzy Gabert tweeted out on January 18th that she is now a free agent. The following day, she noted that she was in a car accident the previous Sunday and was not cleared for the post-NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II tapings. Her scheduled match with Killer Kelly was announced before she was seen by doctors and she was still willing to wrestle, but her health was the main priority.

WrestleTalk recently chatted with Jazzy Gabert and she explained why she decided to depart from WWE. She said that she was the one to request her release because there were outside projects that she was partaking in due to the schedule she had with NXT UK. Jazzy, who was paired with Jinny on the weekly WWE Network show, didn’t see herself progressing in regard to storylines and with the outside projects she was participating in, she knew there was more she could be doing.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

POST Wrestling has learned that Tom Phillips will be on the call for WWE Worlds Collide on January 25th in Houston, Texas. Mauro Ranallo is calling the Showtime Boxing event on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Following his Ladder match for the United States Title against Andrade on the 1/20/20 episode of RAW, Rey Mysterio was checked on by WWE’s medical team, per Pro Wrestling Sheet. There was one point during the match when Rey was hanging onto the championship belt and attempted to execute a hurricanrana on Andrade but ended up falling back/neck first. Sources told Pro Wrestling Sheet that Mysterio is not seriously injured and he will not be missing any time from the ring.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis. Aldis revealed that he drove 12 hours to ROH’s Center Stage show for two minutes of action and feels it was worth every hour he spent making his way to Atlanta.

“I drove 12 hours for two minutes of action in Ring of Honor, and it was worth it. It’s no secret that Marty Scurll has been able to land himself an incredible deal, and it makes sense. Now you can feel the shift.”

Nick Aldis reiterated that the NWA is open to working with anyone, including All Elite Wrestling and WWE. He stated that the organization wants to present “super-fights” to the fans.

“Working with AEW is brought up to me almost daily,” said Aldis, who says he was offered an AEW contract but chose to stay with the NWA. “The NWA is open to working with anyone. There are a number of wrestlers outside the WWE that are viewed as elite-level guys, so it’s only a matter of time before the audience starts demanding the main-event matches they want to see. We want to give the fans the matches they want to see, these super fights. If AEW wants to be involved in big, marquee matches, then they have two choices: go out and write some more big checks to some more guys, or they’re going to have to come to the table and work out some super fights with the NWA.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

All Elite Wrestling turned the viral Dark Order segment into a storyline. The viral segment being referred to is when the Dark Order member threw punches at Dustin Rhodes that were not connecting and the clip made its way around social media and was critiqued by many within the business. In the video below, Evil Uno was told by “The Exalted One” that he wants the “weak one” gone and then a clip of the weak one was shown. Stu Grayson then got rid of said individual by punching him out in front of other Dark Order members.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Enzo Amore recently put out a video on YouTube during-which he addressed Tama Tonga’s offer for a match between the two. During the video, Enzo stated that he was offered $25,000 for the match between him and Tama and shortly after that revelation, he thanked Josh Barnett who offered through social media to host the Tama versus Enzo match. Josh Barnett is presenting the third edition of Bloodsport this coming WrestleMania weekend. GCW publicly denied that they offered any money to Amore.

Enzo first clarified via Twitter that he never mentioned any specific promotion offering him the aforementioned amount of money. He then issued a statement to Pro Wrestling Sheet and told the publication that it was WrestleCon who offered him $25,000. WrestleCon noted on Twitter that they never made an offer and listened to Enzo’s agent’s offer and only offered the opportunity to use their space to host his event.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Lars Sullivan's knee recovery also started to recover a lot slower than anticipated. WWE always had him marked down to miss a full year, but he was of the belief he'd be back sooner, having recovered from a knee injury prior.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Hunter Johnston/Delirious remains executive producer of ROH, and the roster is under the impression that there's already been some collaboration and ideas together with Marty Scrull. Delirious is still responsible for how the show looks and feels, and is expected to mentor Scurll in the role. Those we talked to said that Scrull is in "good hands" starting out ...

Fightful has learned that there were "generous" offers made to Cody Rhodes at the very least to retain him. It was confirmed to us that in negotiations the idea of being a booker was broached there, as well, and that both sides seemed to leave with a positive interaction.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ratings are in for this week's installment of the Wednesday Night Wars.

AEW Dynamite, with matches taped on the Chris Jericho cruise the previous day, averaged 871,000 viewers, down seven percent from last week.

The show finished eighth on cable in the 18-49 demo with a 0.35 rating, down eight percent from last week. Last week's show had finished in fifth place.

NXT was up 10 percent in viewers, averaging 769,000. They were up 14 percent in the 18-49 demo with a 0.24 rating, which landed NXT in 35th place for the night on cable ...

As per usual, Dynamite won in every demo except for those over 50. NXT had an edge of 0.38 to 0.34 in that category. The gap was largest with men 18-49, where Dynamite finished 50 percent higher than NXT with a 0.48 to 0.32 advantage.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

If you are looking for patterns for the AEW show, it was clear that the taped nature didn’t affect older viewers. Adults over 50 were the same as last week while adults 25-54 were only down 2%. The big decreases were among females 12-34 which fell 33%, males 12-34 down 23% and adults 18-34 declining 17% this week.

NXT was helped by large increases among adults 18-34 by 29%, males 18-49 by 23%, and females 12-34 increasing 22%.

Originally Posted by Observer

A wrestler who was with Ring of Honor during its inception will be appearing for the promotion again over WrestleMania weekend.

ROH announced this morning that Amazing Red will be wrestling at Supercard of Honor XIV. The show is taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4.

After announcing his retirement last April, Red has been wrestling since returning to the ring against Will Ospreay in NJPW's Super J-Cup in August. Red tweeted earlier this month that he was going away for a small surgery but would be back in February.

Originally Posted by PWI

The word making the rounds is that Australian star Adam Brooks is likely Ring of Honor bound in the near future. PWInsider.com is hearing the company is working on bringing him in regularly.

Brooks, 29, was originally trained by Buddy Murphy and has been a consistent main events for Australian promotions, including Melbourne City Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Australia.

He has wrestled for ROH and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in the past and has already announced he will be in Tampa competing over Wrestlemania 36 week.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Cauliflower Alley Club issued the following sad news:

?We heard this morning that Ruben Cruz, better known to wrestling as Hercules Ayala, passed away last night due to heart issues at the age of 69. Born in Puerto Rico, Cruz wrestled all over the world, winning dozens of titles in his career. No one will ever forget his unique look, and we offer our condolances at this time ?to his family and his loved ones.

Ayala, originally born in Puerto Rico, was trained in professional wrestling by the late Angelo Savoldi while living in Boston, where his mother had moved to from the island. After a chance meeting in a gym, Ayala was taken under Savoldi's wing and worked underneath matches for the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Working as Ruben Ayala, a babyface, he would work undercard matches, losing to the likes of Baron Mikel Scicuna and getting put over Johnny Rodz and Tony Altimore on live events ...

We are told Ayala had been in poor health for some time. He was 69 years old at the time of his passing.

Our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Hercules Ayala.

Originally Posted by PWI

Last night's episode of Dynamite was taped on Tuesday 2/21 in the Bahamas with the company then sending on multiple copies of the show back to Atlanta (to insure that no matter what, the show made it back to the United States), at which point Kevin Sullivan and his team went into a marathon post-production session to get the episode polished and ready for air on TNT last night.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor has signed a new multi-year deal with PJ Black aka former WWE star Justin Gabriel, PWInsider.com has confirmed. An official announcement could come at any time. His existing deal, signed last year after turning down a chance to return to WWE, was slated to expire shortly

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Following his WWE debut on the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX in October, it was confirmed by WWE that Cain Velasquez signed a multi-year deal with the company. While speaking on the Gorilla Position podcast, Velasquez said his deal is a full-time one for three years.

“Yeah, full-time thing for three years.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

All Elite Wrestling posted Joey Janela and Rey Fenix’s match that was taped after AEW Dynamite: Bash At The Beach went off the air on TNT.

Originally Posted by Fightful

Becky Lynch refers to herself as "The Man" because she doesn't believe in gender specificity. And she doesn't think WWE should believe in it either. The women in WWE continue to make history, but Lynch believes the time for making history is over and it's time for full equality in WWE ...

WWE has seemingly taken the first step in dropping "women's" from its vocabulary by now referring to the NXT Women's Championship as simply the NXT Championship. Mauro Ranallo never made mention of the "women's" part of the championship when Rhea Ripley was on Wednesday's NXT.

It is unclear if Raw and SmackDown will start using this designation moving forward.

Becky took to social media to offer more clarity on her comments.

Originally Posted by Fightful

In 2016, The Rock returned to WWE Raw to hype his appearance at WrestleMania 32. During his promo, he was interrupted by The New Day, leading to the four men engaging in a promo battle. New Day began the battle, joking about The Rock leaving Miami for Hollywood and putting themselves over as the reigning WWE Tag Team Champions before The Rock offered his rebuttal ...

On the latest episode of New Day: Feel The Power; Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods recalled the moment with The Rock.

"How about when we hopped on the microphone with the microphone king, The Rock? I don't know what the consensus was, but that was pretty cool. We were out there for a few minutes and he made his remarks. And we said 'penis' a lot," said Big E

Kofi added, "You can't say 'penis' on TV and we said it on TV."

When discussing the challenge of going against The Rock on the mic, Xavier Woods stated, "That day, we knew we were going up against 'The Godfather on the Microphone.' He's absolutely incredible. Probably the best entertainer I've ever seen on all platforms. We knew he was going to come in with all that Attitude Era vibe; say whatever he wants, going into the crowd, back to the hard cam and everyone is going to love it. One of the things we wanted to try and do is stay within our PG lane and still go toe-to-toe with somebody who was breaking all of our rules. We did our best to do that and I felt really good after it. We didn't just get washed out."

Meanwhile, Kofi praised The Rock for being gracious with how giving he was.

"Shoutout to The Rock for being cool enough for allowing us to be us. He could have easily stifled whatever it is that he wanted us to say. It's always cool when you see somebody that you grew up watching, you meet them in real life, and they're cool. Especially in the parameters of this business. He was gracious enough to allow us to be us. I felt like it legitimized us."

Originally Posted by Guru Dave (Post 5315890)

I am certainly in favor of dropping the gender-specific identifier's for the women's titles. Genuinely curious to see if it will be adapted by RAW and Smackdown as well.

Originally Posted by Observer

Daniel Bryan and WWE have worked together to release a new eco-friendly T-shirt.

The "Planet's Champion" shirt was released today and costs $27.99. Here's WWE's description of it:

Show your support for Daniel Bryan & help the Earth with this Eco-Friendly T-Shirt! It may look like any regular tee, but it's actually made from organic cotton and recycled poly rPET blend that makes the fabric more durable and heavyweight. Each shirt saves at least 4 plastic bottles from ending up in a landfill, or worse. Helping to clean our planet will make YOU The Planet's Champion. Say YES to this Eco-Friendly T-Shirt!

Bryan also wrote that -- in partnership with American Forests -- a tree will be planted for every one of the eco-friendly shirts that is sold: "Today my new shirt has come out, one that @wwe made out of organic cotton and recycled materials. And thanks to a partnership with @americanforests, a tree will be planted for every shirt that’s sold!!! #Smackdown"

Originally Posted by Observer

AEW has a strong advance ahead of their upcoming New Jersey debut.

Dave Meltzer reports that the show, which will take place at the Prudential Center on Wednesday, March 25, has already sold 10,000 tickets. Tickets went on sale to the general public at noon Eastern time today. Meltzer notes that the show would have sold out instantly if there was scalper activity.

Originally Posted by Observer

The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion is set for ROH Supercard of Honor XIV.

Nick Aldis is the latest name announced for this year's Supercard of Honor event. The RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida is hosting the show on April 4, which is the Saturday of WrestleMania weekend. Supercard of Honor will go against NXT TakeOver: Tampa.

Originally Posted by PWI

Hornswoggle posted a photo on Twitter of the Houston airport, so he's either in town or trolling fans. We haven't confirmed either way, but one would think if he was a Rumble surprise, he'd be trying to hide that.

Originally Posted by PWI

Why exactly was the Rocky Johnson book pulled off the market? Was it due to the issues with Scott Teal?

ECW Press noted in a local article in Canada that the book was pulled due to concern over some of the text in the book. Johnson had a falling out with co-author Scott Teal after not going forward with their agreed upon deal and withholding payments due for Teal's work interviewing and writing the actual book, but Johnson's brother Ricky has noted on Facebook he would make sure Teal would get what he was owed. We are told Teal's issues with Johnson had nothing to do with the ECW Press decision and that it was a separate issue that the company has declined to comment further on.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

ITV Box Office, which had been carrying the AEW pay-per-view events, announced this week they are shutting down the channel effective today. This means that for those in the UK, the only way to watch the AEW pay-per-views for now is through Fite TV. The next pay-per-view is the ‘Revolution’ show on Sunday, February 29th.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling

Black Label Pro has added a match between Haku and ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor for their WrestleMania weekend card on Friday, April 3rd at 11:59 pm ET in Ybor City, Florida. The card takes place at The Cuban Club where The Collective shows are taking place.

Originally Posted by Fightful

For decades, John Cena was made fun of for wearing jean shorts -- known as jorts -- in a wrestling ring. While everyone else wore trunks or tights, Cena kept to his gimmick by wrestling in jorts and sneakers. It was a move not only to prove he was from the mean streets of Massachusetts but also to make sure everyone kept their focus elsewhere.

Appearing on the Late Late Show with James Corden, Cena revealed the reason behind the jorts.

"If you look at my other options, it's just underwear," he said. "So, I wanted to do some sort of street clothes because my persona was a tough wanna-be rapper kid from the mean street of West Newbury. Tough to do that in your underwear. So, I also wear sneakers. Most guys wear calf-high or knee-high leather boots. I'm pretty much in street clothes and I chose denim because you don't blow the crotch out of denim. I tried cargo pants and in front of the world a few times, everybody is just looking at my dick. So denim is a safe play. And, they're back in, so it stood the test of time."

Originally Posted by Fightful

Before he was "The Show-Off," Dolph Ziggler was Nicky in the Spirit Squad, a group of male cheerleaders.

Originally, Zigger was under the impression that he was going to be in a group that seemingly combined the NWO with the Four Horsemen. Speaking to Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell, Ziggler recalled how he found out he was going to be part of the Spirit Squad.

"'Well, there's a group of guys, it's gonna be pretty cool. Kinda like a new Four Horsemen,'" Zigger said of the original pitch. "If I can remember the exact words, it was cooler than that. 'Think of like the Horsemen, but like controversial.' We're like, 'Woah, what.' That is where I got to meet Vince [McMahon]. He pulls me into a room and is like, 'We're gonna do something that's never been done before. It's going to be controversial. People are gonna be talking...' I'm like, 'Woah, this is the craziest thing.' I've never met Vince in my life to this point. And he goes...'MALE! CHEERLEADERS!' My heart sank into my stomach and I went, 'Oh..man. Whatever gets me on the show sounds good to me.'"

Originally Posted by Fightful

Speaking to Mirror in the UK, WALTER addressed his respect and admiration for Lesnar, telling the publication that he feels Brock is the most intelligent wrestler on the planet.

"I will go in [the Royal Rumble] second, I don't care," he said. "I respect the guy because I think Brock Lesnar is the smartest professional wrestler on the planet right now. The number one, work the least amount of time for everybody else, do your own thing... perfect. I like how everybody else hates him for that because they're just jealous that they are not as smart as him, right? So yeah, of course. I would love to wrestle Brock Lesnar. He is one of my favorite wrestlers too, I think he is very skilled, very athletic. And yeah, that's a good mind for wrestling. And yeah, obviously, I focus on definitely him being one of the matches I really want to do."