[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

The state of emergency in Japan, combined with nine COVID test failures, has led New Japan Pro Wrestling to postpone both its 5/15 show at the Yokohama Baseball Stadium and 5/29 show at the Tokyo Dome. It had become curious coming off the 5/4 Dontaku show at the Fukuoka Convention Center that no direct angles happened to set up matches with three major shows in the next five weeks. It was more notable when no press conference was held in the two days after Dontaku for the stadium shows. The government announced a state of emergency through the end of May. It had already been decided that attendance at the 5/15 and 5/29 show and all entertainment events in a number of major cities in Japan be capped off at 5,000 ... The irony is that Japan has done this with numbers minute compared to the U.S. per capita and even more minute in total. Yet in the U.S. things are returning to usual. A huge difference is that the Japanese mentality regarding vaccination is very different, in that the public doesn’t believe in it. Only 2.2 percent of Japanese had been vaccinated as of when the shows were called off and there were vaccines in Japan going to waste, some of which was because of the mentality and also because they didn’t have the set up to administer the number of vaccines as they had. While Japan will comply with measures when it comes to mask wearing and things like going to shows and not cheering, booing, chanting or vocalizing at all that would never work in the U.S., and has the Olympics in a few months (7/23 to 8/8), the closest thing to a solution to the problem in the world is something their mentality is not to accept ... Those in the company have confirmed to us that both buildings will run when the situation improves. The next major event is Dominion on 6/6, but Osaka is one of the cities in the state of emergency so that show is very much in question. The foreign talent, with no work in Japan for a month, would want to return home but the issue then becomes the two weeks of quarantine required before returning to action. Some talent scheduled for Dominion are staying there for the month. But it’s a major issue and has become incredibly frustrating for some who were unhappy about being kept in the dark. Plus, Dominion itself has to change greatly from the original plans because there were major things planned for the two stadium shows that have to be delayed. Announcer Kevin Kelly, who was in Japan, was quarantining to be ready to broadcast the two stadium shows and Dominion, instead flew home when the stadium shows were postponed. Nine different wrestlers tested positive for COVID. None of the cases are said to be serious. As noted last week, two wrestlers, one from the Gabriel Kidd vs. Yuya Uemura match on 5/1 in Beppu, and one from the Sho & Yoh & Kazuchika Okada vs. Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki match on 5/3 in Fukuoka, had gotten a fever and some symptoms. For precautionary measures, all wrestlers in both matches were pulled from the 5/4 show. Those wrestlers, along with every wrestler on the roster, was tested and nine came back positive from the outbreak. The company announced the results but did not announce the names of those who had tested positive. Right now the schedule would be to return to action on 6/1 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, followed by a 6/2 show at Korakuen Hall, 6/4 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo and 6/6 would be Dominion at Osaka Jo Hall.

AEW officially announced its first show outside of Jacksonville will be 7/7 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, and from there, it appears they will be doing weekly Wednesday night shows on the road ... The company also announced television tapings for 11/5 at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis and for January 12, 2022 at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. It is expected they will shortly announce dates in other cities like Rochester, NY (tentative 9/29), Houston, TX (tentative 8/18), Milwaukee (tentative 8/25), Boston (tentative 9/8), Newark, NJ (right now scheduled for 9/15), and Philadelphia (tentative 10/6) shortly. The notable thing is the St. Louis show is on a Friday night. What we’ve been told is that the plan, which may start in St. Louis, is that AEW will do television tapings on Friday nights prior to PPV shows. There will be a live show on 11/3 as well that week and most weeks it will be just Wednesday night shows. The Full Gear show is scheduled for 11/6. The other dates listed are all Wednesday nights. A notable aspect of the first three shows, which are the first real tests as far as fan interest in live pro wrestling events other than WrestleMania, is the size of the venues. In all three markets they are going to secondary as opposed to the NBA arena or in the case of Austin, the main arena in the city that WWE would run. That does give the perception of a less than major league attraction, but on the flip side, if you draw 3,000 to 6,000 fans in a smaller arena it comes across much better than in an NBA arena. All three of these are cities AEW ran just prior to the pandemic so it’s not going into new markets which is interesting. AEW has in the past, and this is logical, drawn much better first time in the market, which is how it usually is historically for pro wrestling.

Frankie Garavuso, a musician and songwriter who did a lot of theme music for ECW in the 90s, passed away this past week, from what was believed to have been an embolism at the age of 51. Sometimes known as Frankie Fortune, he was the front man in the band Reckless Fortune who did a number of songs including the second version of “This is Extreme.”

MLW: A good chunk of the library is being removed from YouTube. The company is attempting to put together a rights deal for its library right now. Most episodes will end up being removed but there will be a few left off and remain on YouTube based on how much flexibility they can negotiate in a new deal

AEW due to the NBA will be off Wednesday at 8 p.m. for a while. TNT has NBA playoff games set for 6/9, 6/16 and 6/23, so the choice would be either late Wednesday after the NBA or on Thursday or Friday. On 5/27 and 6/3, TNT also had NBA playoffs on Thursday so it had to be Friday. NBA games are not booked on TNT on 6/10, 6/17 and 6/24. I believe going Friday at 10 p.m. rather than 8 p.m. is to avoid going head-to-head with Smackdown, and going with the idea there will be two million plus wrestling fans watching TV at 10 p.m. on another channel. How well that works will be interesting. Last year showed when being bounced around, AEW will hold up reasonably well. But they did lose the women’s audience being bounced around while the guys followed strongly, and it took a few weeks to get it back

The Countdown to DON show on TNT is scheduled as airing sometime between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on 5/29, the Saturday night the day before the show, dependent upon the NBA schedule that day

Ricky Starks suffered a fractured neck taking a bad fall in his 4/21 match with Adam Page. He thought he was okay but the pain in his neck persisted and the company sent him to a specialist who diagnosed a small fracture that doesn’t look like it will need surgery. He’s been told to rest for three months

Chris Jericho suffered a dislocated elbow in the fall off the cage at the end of the Blood & Guts match on 5/5. I presume he’s working Stadium Stampede based on the television angle but otherwise he’s out four to six weeks. Jericho addressed complaints about it being so safe and even some WWE talent openly mocking it, which has its ironies since WWE does that stuff all the time. Jericho said that he, MJF and Tony Khan came up with the idea nearly two months ago, said he was nervous because he’d never done anything like it and noted that as safe as it looked, if you land a few inches off it can be really bad. He said he barely missed hitting his head on the stage lights. He said most in the business recognized how dangerous it was because the margin for error in falling is so slim. He also said he would never do it again

The reason Santana wasn’t on the 5/12 show is because he was ill and they created a storyline reason that MJF got him arrested and he was detained for using a knife in the match

Tony Khan was interviewed by the Variety Intelligence Platform on the Changing Face of Sports Viewership on 5/11. He said that the most real thing in pro wrestling is the competition between the companies and in particular when there are free agents. That was notable for its timeliness. He said the last big boom which was 25 years ago was fueled by that and he’s hoping another growth period will come since this is the most competitive pro wrestling has been in more than 20 years. He was asked if the stats show if it’s the same people watching all the shows and he said that their research shows it’s mostly different people, and brought up two different audiences on Wednesdays. He noted they competed against NXT, a WWE property and won 74 and 75 weeks in 18-49 and “something like 65-10" in total viewers. He noted the company is up significantly year-over-year and that the competition moved to another night and they’ve gained some audience since then. He said how their audience held up better than any other wrestling show during the pandemic. He said that both he and TNT took a big gamble when launching the brand. He noted TNT took a huge gamble putting an unknown wrestling company in a weeknight prime time slot. He said he took a huge gamble of tens of millions of dollars in signing talent to contracts and setting things up before he had any commitment from TNT for a television deal. He said ITV actually made the deal with him before TNT but the ITV deal isn’t a big revenue stream, noting that there is money in international rights but the biggest money is in the U.S. market. He noted that the ITV deal gives them the most viewers of all the wrestling shows in that country and they can’t wait to tour when things open up. He also noted when asked about moving off television to streaming that he’s seen a lot of people in the last 20 years make moves too early because they think there’s a new trend ... He noted wrestling is very popular all over the world, but the U.S. is still the key market for money. He noted (we noted this two weeks ago and this may end up a major story) that WWE is now more open to working with other companies. He said he’d be happy to open up and work with WWE. He called New Japan the closest thing to being the top competitor to WWE before AEW came along and that they have great viewership in their country and that they’ve got plans to do stuff with New Japan that he’s excited about

AEW: There have been talks with Andrade but not sure where they stand

With the AEW announcement of TV on the road in July, just days later comes the expected word that WWE is looking to do the same thing. We’re told that right now they are targeting July for a return to television shows in front of live audiences. The Mat Men podcast listed the 7/16 Smackdown show as the first television date on the road

Zayn was the subject of controversy this past week due to the tweets regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict. On 5/9, Zayn tweeted, “There is no viable moral defense for stealing people’s homes based on their ethnicity.” and later noted he was talking about Israel. He also attacked Andrew Yang for his support of Israel, writing about that support saying, “Not the most tasteful statement to make within hours of Israel bombing Gaza and killing 20 Palestinians, nine of whom were children. But then again, I’m not a soulless piece of shit politician so what do I know?” This wound up with pro-Israel groups and media contacting WWE, NBCU and FOX, which did not respond

WWE has changed its policy regarding fans attending the Tuesday night NXT tapings. Previously you had to come in on Monday and get COVID tested. Now all fans have to get COVID tested on Tuesday instead. WWE will provide free testing for the fans before every show and there is a turnaround time of 30-60 minutes before you get the results and can enter the arena For talent, there has also been a minor change. Previously, all talent had to get tested the day before, with the key being they would then know who failed and could adjust accordingly. Now, with so many being vaccinated, those who come from out of town get tested in Tampa at the hotel the day before the show, as before. But if you live in Orlando, you can avoid the drive to Tampa the day before the show and get tested at 8:30 a.m., or around that time, at the Performance Center, and then go home. You can then wait to get the results before having to be at the building generally around 1 p.m. for the show. It’s a convenience issue for those who live in the Orlando area, they don’t have to drive to Tampa the day before or get tested the morning of the show at 8:30 a.m., then stick around Tampa all day until the show ends at 10-11 p.m. They can test, go home for three plus hours and then leave Orlando for the 75 or so minute drive to Tampa for the show. For NXT they can test in the morning rather than the day before, and go back home for several hours. Most of the NXT performers, live in the Orlando area

Velveteen Dream was backstage at the 5/10 Raw show but was never booked to appear on the show. He’s also been back at the Performance Center this week after having been gone for some time

Although because of WWE rules, nobody can say anything until the company announces it, but Bea Priestley is almost surely headed to NXT U.K

Drake Wuertz missed the 5/11 tapings because he attended a Seminole County school board meeting to complain about kids having to wear masks at school. He did something similar a few weeks ago at another council meeting. Wuertz claims that the dangers of wearing a mask outweigh the dangers of COVID-19 and that ordering children to wear masks to attend school goes against the wishes of God. When brought up that one of the reasons for this mandate is to protect the health of teachers and administrators, he said that in God’s country we put the needs of children first and read a bible passage. He also said, and this isn’t the first time he’s used this argument, that putting masks on children leads to sexual predators and also disrespects the wishes of the parents of the children. He argued at the county commissioners meeting that child sex offenders love the mask mandate on children. Wuertz was one of the people working without a mask setting up rings during the week of another COVID outbreak, although the timing of at least some of the positives that week that came the day after meant it predated the violation of company policy by working without a mask. He was off for two weeks after that based on contact tracing of the outbreak

Ratings:

SPOILER: show

Raw on 5/10 was down a little in viewers but similar in the key demos as the week before, finishing No. 1 by a wide margin for the night with 1,817,000 viewers and 0.53 in 18-49. It was a more normal viewing pattern with the first hour the highest and a 10.6 percent first-to-third hour drop. Raw was down 2.9 percent in viewers from last week, but was up 0.6 percent in 18-49 and down 4.9 percent in 18-34. Raw was second in women 18-49, first in men 18-49 (with no NBA Raw’s 0.70 in males 18-49 more than doubled the second place shows at 0.33, one of which was Miz & Mrs. from the Raw lead-in. Raw’s 0.40 in males 12-34 almost doubled second place American Dad on TBS at 0.21. In 18-49, Raw beat ABC over the three hours (0.46), and CBS (0.50) and wasn’t far off NBC (0.56) with only FOX (0.81) ahead. With no NBA, ESPN had baseball which did 693,000 viewers and 0.18. Raw was seventh in total viewers trailing six news shows. The first hour did 1,912,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,828,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,710,000 viewers. 1,617,000 watched live and another 200,000 watched the same day via DVR. The average viewer watched 56.7 percent of the show. The total number of different individuals who watched at some point just that night (not including any days on DVR) was 3,205,000. The show did 138,000 viewers in men 18-34 (up 2.2 percent), 74,000 in women 18-34 (down 15.9 percent), 314,000 in men 35-49 (up 18.9 percent) and 163,000 in women 35-49 (down 17.7 percent). As compared to the same week one year ago, the show was down 5.3 percent in viewers, up 1.9 percent in 18-49 and up 10.7 percent in 18-34, so it is skewing younger. As far as the first-to-third hour drops, Women 18-49 were down 5.3 percent, men 18-49 were down 6.9 percent, teenage girls were down 14.4 percent, teenage boys were up 2.1 percent and the key drop was over top at 13.0 percent. The show did an 0.29 in 12-17 (up 20.8 percent), 0.31 in 18-34 (down 4.9 percent), 0.75 in 35-49 (up 3.2 percent) and 0.87 in 50+ (down 6.5 percent). The audience was 65.6 percent male in 18-49 and 75.7 percent male in 12-17.

Smackdown on 5/7 with the Throwback theme, once again proved nostalgia is the WWE’s biggest ratings draw. Coming off the lowest number in some time due to the competition from the NFL draft, this week bounced back with a 1.37 rating, 2,282,000 viewers (1.38 viewers per home) with an 0.65 (835,000 viewers) in 18-49 and an 0.43 in 18-34. It was the most viewers for Smackdown since the 1/29 show and the most viewers in 18-49 since 2/5. Smackdown won 18-49 by a wide margin, with Shark Tank second at 0.54. In 18-34, it was also the highest by a wide margin, with second place Blue Bloods at 0.28. The head-to-head NBA game on ESPN did 896,000 viewers and 0.29, so Smackdown beat the NBA by more than double in the key demo, which is a bigger margin than your usual cable-to-network fair comparison point. Smackdown was fifth in 25-54 among the eight network shows, second in women 18-49, first in men 18-49 and last in over 50. It also finished last in total viewers with second to last being 2,800,000. The gains over the prior week were 9.6 percent in homes, 13.1 percent in viewers, 32.5 percent in 18-49 and 41.8 percent in 18-34, so not only were viewers much higher with the Throwback theme, as we’ve seen over-and-over, the nostalgia shows drew better with the younger audience, not the older audience. The gains were huge in both men and women 18-34, as well as women 35-49. The show did 186,000 in men 18-34 (up 38.8 percent from last week), 116,000 in women 18-34 (up 46.8 percent), 266,000 in men 35-49 (up 19.3 percent) and 267,000 in women 35-49 (up 36.9 percent). The audience was 54.1 percent male in 18-49. As compared to one year ago at the Performance Center, the show was up 3.0 percent in homes, 12.7 percent in viewers, 22.8 percent in 18-49 and 36.7 percent in 18-34.

NXT on 5/11 fell to No. 25 in the charts with 697,000 viewers and 0.17 (214,000 viewers) in 18-49, both low points since moving to Tuesday. The show went head-to-head with the NBA on TNT (960,000 viewers and 0.32) and Baseball on ESPN (514,000 viewers and 0.13). The show was down 8.4 percent in viewers, down 6.6 percent in 18-49 and down 9.3 percent in 18-34 from last week. As compared to last year the show was up 15.4 percent in viewers, up 13.3 percent in 18-49 and down 12.5 percent in 18-34 from last year. The live viewing audience was 620,000 and 77,000 was the DVR audience watching before 3 a.m. that night. Those who watched the night of the show on average watched 50 percent of the show and total different viewers of the show as of midnight was 1,394,000. The show did 30,000 viewers in men 18-34 (up 3.4 percent from last week), 19,000 in women 18-34 (down 24.0 percent from last week), 110,000 in men 35-49 (down 1.9 percent) and 55,000 in women 35-49 (down 17.9 percent). The show opened with Karrion Kross vs. Austin Theory and Kross & Balor after the match did 651,000 viewers and 177,000 in 18-49. MSK vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango did 640,000 viewers and 203,000 in 18-49. A Pete Dunne interview and Dunne vs. Leon Ruff did 723,000 viewers and 225,000 in 18-49. Raquel Gonzalez vs. Mercedes Martinez for the women’s title did 711,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49. This was the high point of the show in 35-49. The ending of Gonzalez vs. Martinez and Isaiah Scott introducing his new group did 757,000 viewers and 234,000 in 18-49. This was the high point in viewers, 18-49 and 18-34. A Zoey Stark interview and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Oney Lorcan did 700,000 viewers and 217,000 in 18-49. The ending of Lorcan vs. O’Reilly, the post-match with Dunne and Bobby Fish and the start of Kushida vs. Santos Escobar did 675,000 viewers and 209,000 in 18-49. Kushida vs. Escobar in quarter eight did 710,000 viewers and 222,000 in 18-49. The ending of Kushida vs Escobar in the overrun did 731,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49. The show did a 0.11 in 12-17 (down 8.3 percent from last week), 0.07 in 18-34 (down 9.3 percent), 0.29 in 35-49 (down 5.7 percent) and 0.38 in 50+ (down 7.3 percent). The audience was 65.4 percent male in 18-49 and 72.2 percent male in 12-17.

This is based on non-Nielsen data when it comes to same day viewing. On 5/4, of the 761,000 NXT viewers on that date, 670,000 on average were watching the show live and 91,000 were watching later that night on DVR. As of midnight on 5/10, so this would be plus +6 viewership was 944,000 and the total of people who tuned into the show at some point was 1,701,000. The AEW Blood & Guts show of the 1,090,000 who watched the same night, 905,000 were watching live and 185,000 watched via DVR before midnight. A total of 1,460,000 watched as of midnight on 5/10, so that’s a +5 number and the total who watched at least a portion of the show was 2,086,000. For the week of 5/3, Raw +6 totals were 73 percent live, 22 percent DVR and 5 percent VOD. The average viewer watched 62.7 percent of the show. AEW with +4 was 62 percent live, 31 percent DVR and 7 percent VOD and the average viewer watched 71.5 percent of the show. NXT with +5 was 71 percent live, 25 percent DVR and 4 percent VOD, with the average viewer watching 55.7 percent of the show. Impact with +3 was 75 percent live, 22 percent DVR and 3 percent VOD, with the average viewer watching 51.7 percent of the show. ROH with +1 was 88 percent live, 11 percent DVR and 1 percent VOD with the average viewer watching 55.6 percent of the show. Smackdown with +2 is 67 percent live, 24 percent DVR and 9 percent VOD, with the average viewer watching 58.5 percent of the show. An interesting note is that DVR viewers on average watch significantly more of the show.

We don’t have full details on the 5/12 AEW ratings because of a technical issue but the show did 936,000 viewers and 0.31 (398,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.19 in 18-34. It was the lowest number in the key demo that AEW has ever done for an unopposed show. The number has to be considered a disappointment, particularly in the key demo. What’s notable is that in 18-34 the show did well, beating the Blood & Gust show slightly. The show had huge declines in both men and women 35-49, starting out very low, but it did show growth and peaked well for the Darby Allin vs. Miro TNT title match. The huge decline in the strongest demo usually points to a competing show, which may have been the NFL schedule show hurting the men. The women 35-49 was way down, but that’s more expected given the heavy blood the past two weeks. It was a loaded show as far as good matches, but shows draw more based on a marquee main event and this show didn’t have it. Yuji Nagata and Jon Moxley was a great match on paper, and they did promote it well last week, but people still don’t have a connection with Nagata. Similarly, Young Bucks vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian had a great video interview that aired before the match, but set up angle was months ago on Dark and for most viewers it was just a one-week build. Plus, the stip was similar to the stip on Smackdown with Daniel Bryan that also didn’t draw well. At the end of the day, the one thing the last few weeks have shown is that the casual fan doesn’t believe in stips because they’ve had 30 years of being taught they don’t matter. AEW hasn’t betrayed trust on stips yet, but it’s a generation of a fan base taught by WWE not to take things like that seriously, even if this one was supposed to be not reneged on. Viewers were down 14.1 percent from last week, while 18-49 was down 27.4 percent but 18-34 was up 2.3 percent. As compared to one year ago, viewers were up 43.1 percent, 18-49 was up 35.4 percent and 18-34 was up 35.7 percent. The show did 89,000 in men 18-34 (down 3.3 percent from last week), 45,000 in women 18-34 (up 15.4 percent), 193,000 in men 35-49 (down 30.8 percent) and 71,000 in women 35-49 (down 48.6 percent). In 18-49, the audience was 70.9 percent male. The show opened with 938,000 viewers and 357,000 in 18-49 for Jon Moxley vs. Yuji Nagata. The second quarter with promos with Cody Rhodes and a Christopher Daniels video interview did 945,000 viewers and 373,000 in 18-49. Young Bucks vs. Daniels & Frankie Kazarian for the tag team titles did 972,000viewers and 394,000 in 18-49. This did the peak numbers in 18-34. Quarter four with a Christian Cage and Matt Sydal interview and the beginning of Pac vs. Orange Cassidy did 925,000 viewers and 382,000 I 18-49. The second part of Cassidy vs. Pac, the Kenny Omega & Don Callis promo the Young Bucks, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson promo from their dressing room and the Adam Page & Dark Order promo did 928,000 viewers and 398,000 in 18-49. The Pinnacle/Inner Circle promo and angle did 956,000 viewers and 446,000 in 18-49. A Britt Baker interview, Thunder Rosa vs. Jazmin Allure and a Darby Allin video did 857,000 viewers and 389,000 in 18-49. Allin vs. Miro for the TV title did 969,000 viewers and 448,000 in 18-49. It topped the show in total viewers, 18-49 and 35-49. Actual total viewers watching for the night were not down all that much from last week, but the big difference is last week last week the average viewer watched 71.5 percent and this week as far as same night viewership goes (this number will likely increase with DVR viewership) it was only 57.8 percent of the show. That also points to a competing show that caused people to tune in later or out earlier, but ratings patterns point to the former. Of the 936,000 average viewers per minute, that would be 758,000 live and 178,000 via DVR by midnight. The total individual viewers that watched part of the show was 1,619,000 before midnight, down from 1,730,000 the prior week, so actual viewers were only down 6.4 percent.

We don’t have anything for Canada this week past that NXT on 5/11 did 45,000 viewers, which is less than the show did on Friday and about the same as it did on Wednesday. AEW on 5/12 did 118,900

Meltzer's Match Star Ratings:

SPOILER: show

A match that got a lot of talk this past week was a 5/8 bout for Pro Wrestling Australia in Sydney with The Velocities (Jude London & Paris da Silva) defending and losing the PWA tag team titles to Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher). I saw the bout. If you’re just into great moves you’d probably go ***** for it, although I went ****3/4. It went 36:54, but they peaked at 32:00 and there were points where it wasn’t great (it was never less than good) but other points that were out of this world. It did have the indie match feel (as it should, given it was performed in front of an indie crowd and it was exactly what they were looking for out of it). Three of the four guys (London being the exception) have worked for PWG in the U.S., and Aussie Open is well known in Europe. Da Silva is very small, but he was about to become one of the name indie guys I think since he had just debuted for PWG right before they had to shut down and got over big with his flying moves. PWA tag team matches are under Lucha rules. Among the highlights was Fletcher holding da Silva up in a vertical suplex forever, even doing it with one arm, then holding, tagging Davis with the free arm, handing it off and Davis holding him for a long time and tagged back Fletcher. Fletcher put him almost all the way down, stopped, picking him back up and finally suplexed him. Both Velocities did a tope and were caught on the floor and slammed together. Both Velocities then did flip dives off the stage. Davis bodyslammed both guys at the same time. Aussie Open’s offense was creative as hell. Fletcher did a top rope Michinoku driver on London. Davis followed with a splash off the top rope for a near fall. Announcers Andrew Rose and Chris Gale also did one hell of a job telling the story of the match. There isn’t a WWE announce team right now that brings 30 percent of the excitement to a big match that these two did. London did a springboard flip and Davis caught him upside in the ring and suplexed him. Da Silva and London each hit Davis with topes. Da Silva used a dragon rana for a near fall. London did a poison rana on both Davis & Fletcher at the same time. Da Silva did a tornillo moonsault to the floor on both. Da Silva did a shooting star DDT on Fletcher. Da Silva climbed off Davis’ shoulders and gave Fletcher a Spanish fly off the top rope which was where the match peaked. Aussie Open did their spinner finisher

Notes from the 5/12 show in Jacksonville ... Dynamite opened with Jon Moxley retaining the IWGP U.S. title over Yuji Nagata in 8:30 of a ***3/4 match. Moxley came out to the song “Wild Thing” by the Troggs, which will probably be another thing that gets over once crowds are back. The one notable thing and I don’t know if this is culture or what, but this song is fro 1966 and aside from Jericho’s music, Tarzan Boy (for Jungle Boy is from 1985). One thing during what I’d call the early and mid 80s when wrestling was really big with teenagers in multiple places is that they used rock music from the mid-70s and early 80s, so stuff that debuted on wrestling anywhere from the year after it was released to maybe six years. In the 90s with ECW, it was all new music. “Wild Thing” had a wrestling history because that was the song for Atsushi Onita in his FMW heyday, but he used a later version of it, with Onita taking it because he loved a character in the movie “Major League,” that used that music. Nagata came out with Ren Narita. The announcers did a very good job of explaining who Nagata was and that he was a legend. They showed Rocky Romero at ringside watching. The two had a hell of a match, just a hard hitting battle of kicks and elbows. Moxley was bleeding under the left eye. About the only negative was it was too short but based on what the show was supposed to be, that was a necessary evil. Moxley won with the paradigm shift clean. Moxley got down on his knees and bowed to Nagata and Nagata bowed back.

Young Bucks beat Daniels & Frankie Kazarian in 13:51 to retain the titles. The match was great, at ****1/4. They noted that the two teams have had 12 matches against each other over their careers and were 6-6. A lot of big spots. Daniels went for the Best Meltzer Ever but Matt shoved Daniels off the top rope to the floor. Nick superkicked Daniels into the post and he came up very bloody. It was bad in the sense the blood was flowing out of his head and almost causing puddles. I get the blood in Daniels’ last match with Kazarian but we just had a heavy blood match last week. As it turned out, there was also accidental blood last week and this week, and that just happens, but to the average viewer at home, they are just seeing a lot of blood each week and not giving the company the benefit of the doubt because Matt Jackson and Moxley were accidental. Kazarian looked great including pinning Matt and then giving Nick a Northern lights suplex. He backdropped Nick on the ramp. Kazarian had Matt pinned but Doc Gallows distracted ref Rick Knox. Kazarian used the Styles clash on Matt but Nick saved. Daniels gave Nick the Angel’s wings but Matt speared Daniels and began punching the cut. Daniels went for the Angel’s wings on Matt but Matt backdropped out of it. Daniels was bleeding all over Matt’s expensive tennis shoes. Matt did the “I’m sorry, I love you” spot from Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (he had all but promised that spot in a promo) and superkicked Daniels, who kicked out. Daniels, who was selling being woozy from blood loss, slipped off the top rope which you could tell since he got right back up and hit a moonsault. The finish saw Matt spray the cold spray that they use in Japan in Daniels’ eyes and hit him with the can, but Daniels still kicked out. They hit the BTE trigger on Daniels for the pin. The negative is that they cut away too fast. They did go back for a short clip of Daniels & Kazarian breaking up. Really, this angle needed more promotion on television and more time to soak in the ending. Daniels teased on Twitter that it might be his last match.

Miro beat Allin in 11:32 of a **** match to win the TNT title. Allin was tremendous here bumping for Miro, and they totally positioned Miro as a powerhouse monster. The idea was Allin was injured coming in from being thrown down the stairs by Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky last week. Miro was wearing trunks with the TNT title belt on them. He was throwing Allin around. Ethan Page & Sky were laughing at Allin. Allin’s right shoulder was all taped up. Miro gave him an overhead suplex over the barricade. Miro did the Matchka kick but Allin kicked out. Allin threw a running dropkick on the floor and threw Miro into the post and gave him a great tope. Allin came off the top rope to the floor with a coffin drop but Miro caught him and gave him a German suplex on the floor. Ethan Page & Sky attacked Sting at ringside and took out his knees. Ethan Page distracted Sting and Sky chop blocked him. Miro started suplexing him around but Allin got a choke and Miro made the ropes. Allin got the choke on again but Miro backed him into the barricade to break it. Miro tore off Allin’s kiniseo tape on his shoulder and began working on it. Allin came back with a stunner, a cradle and second stunner. He went for the coffin drop but Miro caught him and gave him another German suplex, but Allin landed on his feet and hit the Code red and got the Fujiwara armbar. But Miro escaped and got the camel clutch on and the ref stopped the match. The camel clutch is called Game Over, not to be confused with KENTA’s submission finisher, which is the yes lock, also called game over. After the match Ethan Page & Sky attacked Sting again and the Dark Order made the save. Lance Archer came out to challenge Miro and the show ended.

Notes from the 5/6 Smackdown show. This was the Throwback show, and whenever WWE does nostalgia, it draws good ratings ... Cesaro pinned Rollins in 12:39 in a ***3/4 match. The work was pretty great. But it had a lot of hijinx and Cesaro really should have gotten a cleaner win. It was definitely more about protecting Rollins tan getting Cesaro over strong, and the goal with Cesaro as a “weak” title challenger (weak in that he’s never been pushed at this level), is he needs to be booked strong and Rollins should sacrifice for him. Jey distracted Cesaro which allowed Rollins to use a top rope superplex followed by a falcon arrow for a near fall. Both Usos were at ringside. At one point Jey went to interfere but Rollins told him not to and to stay out of his business. Rollins shoved down Jey. Jimmy superkicked Rollins and Cesaro used a pescado on Jimmy and a Neutralizer on Rollins for the pin.

Gable & Otis & Crews & Corbin & Zayn beat The Street Profits & Owens & Nakamura & Big E in 10:42. This was basically an AEW style match or a PWG style match where it was just big moves for most of the time, well at least the time on the air because it would have been stupid to be doing big moves during the commercial break without picture in picture and no live crowd. Among the highlights were Owens doing a splash off the apron on Zayn. Everyone did their finishers. Gable gave Owens a German suplex no the floor. Ford did a crazy flip dive on Otis. Nakamura hit the Kinshasa on Zayn, but Corbin pinned Nakamura after the end of days. I’d go **** on this one.

Kushida won 2/3 falls over Santos Escobar to retain the cruiserweight title in 22:13. I had this as ****. It wasn’t all that great in the first two falls but it turned into an excellent match by the end. Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza were interfering early but MSK made the sve. All four were brawling and then all four were kicked out. MSK acted happy as it came off like they set the thing up to get Wilde & Mendoza away from the ring. Escobar won the first fall in 10:56 with the Phantom driver. Kushida came right back with an armbar in the middle for the second fall submission at 11:42. The third fall saw Kushida continually work for the hoverboard lock. Escobar did a tope. Kushida did a kneedrop to the elbow and started working on the shoulder. Kushida did the divorce court on the floor. There were a lot of near falls. Kushida used a hoverboard lock into a Spanish fly. Kushida got the hoverboard lock in the middle of the ring but Escobar made the ropes. Kushida got the hoverboard lock again, and this time held it while doing a Northern lights suplex for the pin.