Wrestling News & Rumors

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

so, the art form guys. Fuck those fans. Not big on 'inappropriate' behavior I guess, but jesus fucking christ it's a wrestling show. There's a reason nobody gives a shit about wrestling anymore and it's because of these smelly neckbeards who think wrestling is a Monet painting.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer AEW has announced when tickets for their second and third television episodes will be going on sale. Episode two of AEW TV will take place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday, October 9, while the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will host episode three on Wednesday, October 16. Tickets for both shows will go on sale via Ticketmaster at noon Eastern time next Friday (August 16). Tickets will be priced at $90, $75, $50, $35, and $20 before facility fees and service charges.

Originally Posted by Observer MLW will be posthumously honoring Gary Hart at their Dallas area television tapings next month. It was announced today that Hart will be "posthumously recognized for his contributions to Dallas and professional wrestling" at MLW's War Chamber TV tapings in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, September 7. Hart's sons Jason and Chad will be in attendance for the tribute.

Originally Posted by Fightful Earlier this week it was said by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer and reported by others that WWE didn't hold "Test Fans on WWE Knowledge" segments during commercial breaks on Raw and SmackDown this week because "nobody was following the script good enough." The report went on to say that WWE was trying to script the kids, so they didn't say a name like CM Punk or Chris Jericho during the contest. A fan previously mentioned Punk during a segment back in June. Host of the segments Sarah Scheiber took to social media to give why they did not do the segments this week. "There is no 'script' what so ever, other than just knowing the names. When we don't do the contests, it's [because] I get too busy backstage doing interviews or there's just other things happening during the commercial breaks."

Originally Posted by Observer Lance Storm announced today that he will be closing down his Storm Wrestling Academy after his next session in September. Storm noted that in the last 14 years he has trained wrestlers from approximately 30 countries. He already notified those who had signed up for 2020 sessions that he was finishing up at the end of the year. Storm said, "My body is getting tired and my kids are adults now, so a moderate road schedule is acceptable. I reached out to see what my options were and got an offer I liked."

Originally Posted by PWI WWE has released a new theme song collection Uncaged 9 via iTunes, featuring the following songs: 01 - Then, Now, Forever (WWE Signature) 02 - Prime Time Open (Prime Time Wrestling 1988) 03 - I Like It Raw (WWE Raw 1995) 04 - High Voltage (Livewire 1997) 05 - Imminent Danger (Cage Lowering) 06 - Sunday Night Heat Theme (Sunday Night Heat 1998) 07 - Astros (Super Astros 1998) 08 - Rage (WrestleMania 15) 09 - No Mercy (No Mercy 2002) 10 - Confidential (WWE Confidential 2002) 11 - Velocity (WWE Velocity 2002) 12 - End (WWE Judgement Day 2003) 13 - Vengeance (WWE Vengeance 2004) 14 - Great American Bash Theme (Great American Bash 2004) 15 - This Time It's Mine (Saturday Morning Slam 2012) 16 - Coronation (King Of The Ring 2015) 17 - One Against The World (Royal Rumble 2016) 18 - Connected (WrestleMania 31) 19 - Feet On The Ground (Shawn Michaels "My Journey" 2010) 20 - Relic (Survivor Series 2013) 21 - Bald Headed Blues (Battle Of The Billionaires)

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis) recently had a consultation with her doctor regarding her neck. Paige stated that the first fusion healed perfectly but she developed a hernia above it after her last match in Uniondale, New York back in December 2017. The issue is going to force her to have another surgery.

Originally Posted by Fightful LuchaCentral reports that AAA TripleMania XXVII drew 1,630,450 viewers and a 2.89 rating on Azteca 7. The number made TripleMania one of the highest-rated shows in Mexican TV this past weekend. AAA’s weekly Friday show on Azteca 7 drew a 0.74 rating with 417,320 viewers. Triplemania was the most-watched sports program of the week and third most-watched cable program. It is estimated that 8.2 million viewers tuned in at some point to watch the show between Azteca 7 and Space. Roughly 50,000 viewers tuned in to watch the show on Twitch between the English and Spanish broadcast.

Originally Posted by Observer While this has not been announced officially, ITV Box Office will be carrying All Out as a PPV event in the U.K.

Originally Posted by Fightful This Sunday at WWE SummerSlam, Kofi Kingston puts his WWE Title on the line against Randy Orton in a match that is a decade in the making. Back in 2009, Kingston looked to be on the rise in WWE, and a feud with Orton was thought to be the program that would elevate him to the next level. Kingston received a massive pop in Madison Square Garden when he put Orton through a table, but instead of breaking the glass ceiling, it was Kofi who came crashing down. Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp caught up with Kingston at WWE SummerSlam media day to discuss the real-life beef between himself and Orton. "On a very legitimate level, those who have been watching the videos about our history, it's very legitimate in the fact that he did not want me to be here to the point where he would tell people who made decisions that I shouldn't be in the position that I was at," stated Kofi. "A lot of people asked me over the years, 'What happened in 2009? You put Randy Orton through the table at Madison Square Garden. I thought you were going to be going up here.' That's where I was supposed to go. You come to find out that because of him, it didn't go that way, not right away. It took a little awhile. Ups and downs. And now here we are 11 years later, through a stroke of luck, a touch of fate, hard work, and taking advantage of some opportunities."

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Nielsen Holdings, the company that handles television ratings, is having trouble finding a buyer and there is now talk of selling the company in pieces. Blackstone, a private equity group, had been in talks of buying the company until backing out in March. The New York Post reported that Apollo Global Management, also in talks of buying the company, has lost interest. They said that on 7/30, Goldman Sachs, the latest to expect to buy it, backed out of the deal. The problem is that Nielsen has working with $8 billion of debt that the new buyers who have to assume, plus the purchase price was expected to be well over $9 billion, meaning such a deal would cost the new buyers $17 billion. The board of Nielsen has been calling those who backed out with the idea of selling portions of the company at lower prices to different former suitors. There is also the feeling that there will be new ways to measure ratings that will cost less that will eventually surface and thus, Nielsen, the market leader, will face competition for its position

Originally Posted by Lucha Blog Let’s go over what we know: AAA sold few tickets to the New York & Los Angeles shows, so few that they turned off the ability to see a seat map so no fan could see a visual representation of unsold tickets in one space. (Though the ticket selection screen still shows no many more tickets have moved.) one source told me the MSG show had sold much less than 1,000 tickets as of mid-July. No matches have been announced for either show. AAA had been posting canned Tweets regularly (and probably automatically) to hype these shows. Those have vanished. AAA hasn’t tweeted the word “MSG” since June 26th. AAA hasn’t used the #LUCHALIBREAAAenNY tag since June 18th AAA hasn’t used the #LUCHALIBREAAAenLA tag since June 29th AAA has continued to push their Mexico shows as normal; they’re not giving on social media ticket sales, just these shows. Neither the Spanish nor the English announce crew mentioned the AAA US shows on TripleMania commentary when it would normally be a focal point This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletters says the announcers were specifically told not to bring up the US shows. Fite.TV were announced as carrying these shows on PPV. They currently list no show airing on September 15th. An AAA show was announced for September 16th outside Mexico City, the day after the scheduled show in New York. It’s possible for everyone to make it back from New York to be on this show, but it would be challenging. I’ve been waving “AAA’s shows look concerning” red flags. AAA’s usually helpful in telling me when I’m way off base. No one’s gotten back to me to say I’m wrong. None of this is definite proof the shows are canceled. The tickets for New York and Los Angeles remain on-sale as of late Thursday and there were still ads playing for it in the Forum last night. The evidence showing they’re not running theses is getting overwhelming though. We’re waiting for someone on the AAA show to be announced as working somewhere else on September 15 or for AAA to say something. That may still take a while. The social media mentions being dropped in June suggest someone knew to stop pushing it a while ago and yet nothing’s been said. You shouldn’t wait for them to finally change say it to make other plans.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Goldberg Reportedly Made More Money for One Saudi Arabia Match Than All of 2003-2004 in WWE
• Jimmy Uso Reportedly Not Allowed Into Canada for SummerSlam Weekend
• WWE Might Purchase FITE TV (Update: Denied by FITE)

[Bad News Gertner]

That's very surprising that they aren't doing well in LA considering the demographic.

One thing to remember though is that generally Lucha shows have a substantially higher walk up attendance than American shows. Mexican fans typically don't buy tickets in advance.

[Droford]

so basically:

AAA has trouble selling tickets in US
NJPW has slightly less trouble selling tickets in US
ROH can't sell tickets in US or UK

The business is booming Maggle!

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Iceman King Gertner That's very surprising that they aren't doing well in LA considering the demographic. One thing to remember though is that generally Lucha shows have a substantially higher walk up attendance than American shows. Mexican fans typically don't buy tickets in advance.

From what I've read elsewhere, that might not happen for the LA show in terms of sizable walk up sales.

Something about the difference in mentality between US-based Mexican lucha fans and local lucha fans for AAA shows and their traveling habits. Same for AAA likely won't have a large fly in happen from Mexico for their LA show.

NJPW learned the hard way how very different US wrestling fans are when it comes to advertising shows and the lack of walk up sales.

Even WWE and indies quickly realized that US wrestling fans are very picky when it comes to traveling to big events since the early numbers for SummerSlam weekend's fly-in fans was lower than both were expecting. WWE and the indies wanted SummerSlam in Toronto to reach Mania-level in outside fan support which is why a ton of events and festivities are taking place this weekend in the city.

[Bad News Gertner]

Times have certainly changed.

I remember Ron Skolar running Lucha shows in LA in the early 90s and almost cancelling the shows because nobody was buying tickets in advance. They ended up drawing over 15,000.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think people who automatically assume that wrestling is cool again because the niche of the niche are supporting AEW really need to reflect on some of those metrics. And it's why it's so important that AEW don't piss away this golden opportunity to try and bring some people back in.

[slik]

These same people also think wrestling is about to be 'huge again' bc of FOX airing SD....on Friday night, a night known for people not watching TV, especially those over the age of 10 and under the age of 60.

[Evil Vito]

Yeah...I rarely am doing anything on Friday nights due to being tired and exhausted from work and even then I'm generally unwinding with PS4 if anything else.

[slik]

Interesting job posting by Fox Sports: it appears they are forming a “WWE team” ahead of #SDLive moving to Fox primetime and are hiring specific producers for that, akin to other major sports properties. #WWE pic.twitter.com/lxNEmmO4u6

— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) August 13, 2019

Most importantly, this shows that Fox itself will have a hand in content creation for #WWE branding, and not all just handled by WWE itself.

— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) August 13, 2019

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer The Raw after SummerSlam, as expected, was up 10 percent from last week. Last night's episode averaged 2.73 million viewers. The ratings pattern wasn't as good as in recent weeks in the sense that there was a third hour drop. Since Paul Heyman got more influence, hour three actually beat hour two in three of the previous four weeks. The show also reverted back to the usual summer pattern of hour two being the highest, which had not been the case for much of this summer but was historically the case ... Last year's Raw after SummerSlam averaged 3.09 million viewers, so it was an 11.7 percent year-to-year drop ... The three hours for Raw were: 8 p.m. 2.77 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.82 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.60 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI WWE is slated to begin filming promos for Smackdown on FOX shortly. We are told that talents from each brand will be utilized for those shoots.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE NXT will tape TV this Thursday at Full Sail University. Internally, the next tapings after Thursday are slated for 9/11, 9/12 and 10/12, all at Full Sail. If they are going to pull the trigger on going live or expanding the show, as rumors persist will happen, an announcement would have to be made soon. There's been no indication made to anyone internally that is happening, so if it is, it's being kept extremely close to the vest.

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding last night, Katsuyori Shibata has not been cleared to wrestle. We don't have more info and very very few people knew about the angle last night before it happened. The angle was one of the best angles you'll ever see, with an in-depth story of Shibata being the person who got KENTA his job in New Japan and trained him for his comeback, only to have KENTA join Bullet Club and Bullet Club beat down his proteges Clark Connors and Karl Frederick in the brawl. Shibata ran in and everyone flew with every blow he did but the number got to him and KENTA gave him a PK, the move he popularized and choked him out and then sat on him and mocked him. The pop when he started on offense was unreal and the heat when KENTA laid him out was as well. When you saw the angle you for sure would figure it's building KENTA vs. Shibata, which should be a super hot program, and that makes all the sense in the world. I guess we'll know tonight or tomorrow when the new cards are announced if there's any follow-up. Shibata has always wanted to return but doctors have said in the past that there is no way he'd be cleared. Still, he did a lot more than you'd think, and medical diagnosis can change over time. But we were told this morning shortly after the show that the word was Shibata was not cleared for a match. Edge was told he would never be allowed to do anything physically in the ring but was cleared to do that spear spot last night, so never in pro wresting is a funny term.

Originally Posted by Observer Broadcast details for this month's NJPW Royal Quest show have now been officially confirmed. NJPW and Fite TV announced today that Royal Quest will air live on Fite as an iPPV. The show will later be made available on New Japan World. The price for Royal Quest on Fite is listed as $24.99. The show is taking place at the Copper Box Arena in London, England on Saturday, August 31 and will begin at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff and AEW All Out are both also taking place on August 31 ... Here's the full card for Royal Quest: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Minoru Suzuki RevPro British Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii defending against KENTA IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny defending against the winners of the RevPro Road to Royal Quest tournament Tetsuya Naito & SANADA vs. Jay White & Chase Owens Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling New Japan Pro Wrestling released the full card for Royal Quest on August 31st at the Copper Box Arena in London, England ... POST Wrestling has learned that the English commentary will feature Kevin Kelly and Gino Gambino calling the event.

Originally Posted by Observer Kota Ibushi suggested competing for both the IWGP and Intercontinental titles at Wrestle Kingdom 14 during this morning’s NJPW press conference. He also said he would defend the right to the Wrestle Kingdom match against EVIL and KENTA. Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, and Juice Robinson will be in action on the final night of the Super J-Cup in Long Beach, California on August 25. Jushin Thunder Liger is also wrestling in non-tournament action on all three Super J-Cup shows.

Originally Posted by Observer Tenille Dashwood has an opponent for her Impact Wrestling debut. Impact has announced Dashwood vs. Kiera Hogan for their television tapings in Mexico City, Mexico this Thursday. Impact has TV tapings at Fronton Mexico on both Thursday and Friday of this week.

Originally Posted by PWI The Natalya dislocated elbow is a worked injury. She is not hurt and there is no MRI set for today. It was just done to help set the stage for Sasha Banks' return last night.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling After falling to the $63 range, the WWE stock was up 5% Tuesday and closed at $66.70

Had a sizeable drop yesterday that wasn't really explainable. It did lead to one of WWE's co-Presidents selling off a ton of her stock today as a result though.

Originally Posted by Fightful Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reports that Santana Garrett has signed a developmental contract with WWE. Garrett has appeared on WWE television, most notably wrestling in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. Garrett was defeated by Piper Niven in the first round of the tournament, but worked a six-woman tag match on the second night of the tapings, teaming with Sarah Logan & Marti Belle in a loss to Tessa Blanchard, Jazzy Gabert, and Kay Lee Ray.

Originally Posted by Fightful Appearing on ESPN First Things First, Kofi explained the origin of the pancake toss. "Myself and Big E had a lumberjack match against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Xavier [Woods] was one of the lumberjacks," recalled Kingston. "He had his flannel vest on and had his lumberjack hat. What do lumberjacks eat? They eat pancakes. He brought out a whole tray of pancakes, and before we knew, the entire arena is chanting 'We want pancakes.' So, we threw out pancakes to everybody. The next week, we went up to Vince [McMahon] and were like, 'Hey, do you mind if we bring out pancakes again?' He was like, 'Do you wanna?' 'Yeah, it'd be cool if we did that.' Fast forward to a year later; pancake power is a real thing. People are clamoring for pancakes. It doesn't make sense, but we give the people want they want. And right now, they want pancakes."

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Bray Wyatt’s Fiend Entrance Theme, Legends at SD FOX Debut, Ratings for Steve Austin’s Show
• Roman Reigns Signs New Multi-Year Contract With WWE
• WWE: Rollins vs. Strowman at Next PPV? King of the Ring Finals at Clash of Champions
• WWE Cancels Five Raw House Shows

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer SmackDown ratings were up four percent coming off Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. Tuesday night's show averaged 2.164 million viewers on the USA Network, which was the highest viewership for SmackDown since the April 16 Superstar Shake-up episode ... Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down five percent -- but SummerSlam took place earlier than usual this year. The 2018 post-SummerSlam episode did 2.437 million viewers, so it was down 14 percent from that ... Miz & Mrs, which followed SmackDown on USA, averaged 1.009 million viewers. That was down five percent from last week but still the second highest total of the current run of episodes.

Originally Posted by Observer Impact Wrestling has added four matches to their television tapings in Mexico City, Mexico. Impact is taping TV at Fronton Mexico tomorrow and Friday. Michael Elgin vs. Rhino, Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) vs. LAX (Santana & Ortiz), and Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) are set for Thursday's tapings. Jessicka Havok vs. Su Yung has been confirmed for Friday. As was previously announced, Tenille Dashwood vs. Kiera Hogan and RVD vs. Madman Fulton are set for Thursday. Dr. Wagner Jr. will be appearing on Friday.

Originally Posted by Observer In addition to announcing the newest Performance Center signees, WWE revealed that Kendo Kashin has been hired as a coach at the Performance Center. Kashin had a stint as a guest coach this February.

Originally Posted by Observer A last man standing match is the latest addition to the NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff lineup. On this week's NXT UK episode, it was confirmed that Dave Mastiff will face Joe Coffey in a last man standing match in Cardiff. The announcement comes after Mastiff and Coffey fought to a double countout in the main event of last Wednesday's show. Cardiff is the second TakeOver special in NXT UK history. Coffey lost to Pete Dunne in the main event of UK TakeOver: Blackpool in January, while Mastiff defeated Eddie Dennis in a no DQ match. UK TakeOver: Cardiff is being held at Motorpoint Arena Cardiff on Saturday, August 31. NJPW Royal Quest and AEW All Out are both also taking place that day.

Originally Posted by PWI Jerry Jarrett tweeted yesterday that his father-in-law Tennessee wrestling legend and on-screen authority figure for Memphis TV Eddie Marlin is in the process of being moved to hospice care. According to tweets, the 89-year-old is experiencing multiple organ failure.

Originally Posted by Fightful Ring Of Honor will be streaming their 'Honor For All' show on August 25th from Nashville, Tennessee and announced for that show is a ROH World Tag Team Championship match that will pit the champions, The Briscoes against WWE Hall Of Famers and former NWA World Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express. Another match has been added to ROH Honor For All taking place on August 25 as Matt Taven, Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb and Kenny King will face off in a Defy or Deny match.

Originally Posted by Fightful Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton are being advertised for WWE live events in October.

Originally Posted by Fightful The current IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley just wrapped up his first G1 Climax tournament and capped off his tournament debut with ten points and in third place in the B block. Moxley is slated to wrestle for Northeast Wrestling this month and on August 31st at All Out, he'll go one-on-one with Kenny Omega. According to Sports Illustrated, Moxley's run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling is not done as his contract with the company runs through the first of two Tokyo Dome shows next year.

Originally Posted by Fightful With All Elite Wrestling set to start on TNT on Oct. 2, people are already wondering the number of viewers they will be able to attract. AEW Double or Nothing reportedly did just under 100,00 buys while B/R Live streaming events Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen have been two of the most popular B/R Live events in the platform's history. Speaking to Busted Open Radio, Cody discussed the fanbase they are looking to attract on TNT. "The term 'casual fan,' honestly, I throw up in my mouth every time I hear it. It's this vernacular to describe wrestling based on the Monday Night Wars," stated Cody. "They are over and aren't happening in the present. What's happening in the present is, we can't determine what it is. Only history will be able to tell us. My focus is the base that built AEW. That base, if you've seen it, you get it. If you haven't seen it, you have to see and feel. There's a lot of confidence that can be misplaced for arrogance. But I've seen the power and I want to focus on them. There are people who are plenty critical of what AEW does. Instead of signal boosting that, I'd rather [have] 100 fans in our base than the one salty son of a bitch who isn't coming aboard anyway. The first way to fail is to try and please everybody."

Originally Posted by Fightful According to Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens, Alica Fox was allegedly "a drunken mess" over WWE SummerSlam weekend and was sent home after an "incident" with a fan.

Originally Posted by Fightful Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Jan LaQue, the mother of WWE Hall of Famer Chyna has sent a letter to the producers of Autopsy: The Last Days Of… over the Aug. 25 episode that will focus on Chyna’s passing. "I want to make it clear to you, very very clear, that NO ONE – NO ONE – really knows what happened during Joanie’s final hours. So you can’t possibly air something on the supposed “Truth” because you don’t know it. I don’t know it!! I expect a contact immediately back from you stating that you will not be airing this program. If I don’t hear from you by the end of the day on Monday, August 12th 2019, you will give me no other choice but to have my attorney contact you on this matter. So someone had better contact me on this ASAP. If you continue on with this and defame Chyna or tarnish her legacy in any way, you are really opening yourself up to defamation. Not to mention personal and emotional duress on the part of myself and her family because of what you are doing. You need to be VERY clear that as her mother and her sole beneficiary, I am going to vigorously defend my daughter and her estate, protect her legacy from vultures like you who want to drag it through the mud, and do whatever I can to stop you and those like you from making a buck off of her tragedy both now and in the future."

Originally Posted by WWENetworkNews Once again it is that time of the week where we can supply info for WWE Hidden Gems! In good news for fans of the 1980’s we can exclusively reveal that this week the Hidden Gem arriving on the service on Thursday, August 15th is a Mid Atlantic show from 1984. More specifically, this event is Boogie Jam 1984 and the upload features an epic hour long match between Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair. Clocking in at over two and a half hours, it is possible the full 7 match card ends up being added to the archives but taking into account the Ric Flair match going so long, it is also very possible something ends up not making the final cut. Regardless, the event also featured another championship match, a Hair vs. Mask match, along with a plethora of legends from the territory days including the iconic Dory Funk Jr. battling Tully Blanchard.

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE Announces Nine New Performance Center Signees, Including EVOLVE Champ Austin Theory
• AEW World Championship to Be Defended on Week 3 of AEW on TNT
• Impact: Tenille Dashwood’s First Match, Dr. Wagner Jr. on Impact, Ethan Page Interview

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer MLW has announced the latest addition to their behind-the-scenes staff. It was announced today that Dr. Tom Prichard has joined MLW as a senior agent. MLW noted that Prichard "will work as a coach and coordinator as some of his many duties" for the promotion.

Originally Posted by PWI Former Memphis Wrestling star and promoter Eddie Marlin passed away this morning at the age of 89, former Memphis wrestling personality Randy Hales (who had been helping to care for Marlin) announced

Originally Posted by Observer A GoFundMe campaign was quietly launched several days ago to assist independent wrestler Jeremy Ganger, who was bouncing at Dayton, Ohio establishment Ned Pepper's during last week's shooting in Dayton, Ohio where the person responsible murdered ten people and injured 27 others despite being confronted and killed by authorities within a minute of opening fire. Ganger exited Ned Peppers, brought several people into the restaurant and barred the door, preventing the shooter from entering. After the shooter was killed by authorities, Ganger returned outside to assist in disarming him. Ganger suffered injuries after being hit with shrapnel, which he has yet to undergo surgery to remove.

Link for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jeremy-ga...other-expenses

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE Network's Hidden Gems section has finally returned to the revamped version of the streaming platform. The section is now featured in the In Ring section on the Featured tab of the category. When you click on the section, It is now broken down into four carousels under five sections: *Recently Added *WWE Hall of Famers *Before They Were Superstars *Classic Title Matches *Memorable Interviews. After the reboot of the WWE Netwotk, this content was available via search or in different sections, but now it is housed under one umbrella again. However, It is no longer listed by year. The Recently Added section shows that they've uploaded a lot of the content that was on the previous system already, but not in chronological order.

Originally Posted by PWI Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that WWE has signed hip-hop artist, boxing trainer and extreme CrossFit athlete Briana Brandy to a developmental deal. Brandy took part in a 2017 WWE tryout. Yesterday the site reported that WWE has also signed Santana Garrett to NXT.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Guerilla Apologies for the delay in match announcements. Unfortunately, there was a scheduling conflict with Bárbaro Cavernario, and he will not be able to wrestle in the tournament. Aramis has now entered the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles!

Originally Posted by Observer Toni Storm is reportedly injured which explains her missing at least one date last week with wXw.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter SummerSlam had a different issue, with Endeavor’s Neulion taking over as the host server from Bam Tech, which WWE had used since its inception, the show was filled with widespread problems. Many people gave up on watching. Many reported multiple buffering. There were some problems with Takeover the night before, which was the new hosts first major live event ... The show drew a legitimate sellout of more than 13,500, with an announced figure of 16,904. With the wrestling war going on, they brought back heaps of pyro. Preliminary numbers indicate 19,600 buys on PPV, which is down from 29,900 last year, a 34 percent decline even with the network issues and even with network subscribers being down probably around eight to nine percent from one year ago.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter WWE quietly announced the cancellation of five house shows in August, all on the Raw side. This coincides with the report we had last week of doing more dual branded “Supershows” going forward. The shows canceled are the entire Raw house show tour in two weeks, with shows on 8/23 in Bossier City, LA, 8/24 in Lafayette, LA and 8/25 in Mobile, AL, as well as two of the three shows the following week, on 8/30 in Bangor, ME and 8/31 in Portland, ME. What’s notable is that out of nowhere, Kane was booked to work the Bossier City and Lafayette house shows. In the case of the first weekend, this is simply canceling shows likely due to bad advances. Even with the high ticket prices, it’s no longer the case that almost all house shows are profitable ... There are two keys to the cancellations. The first is to save money as obviously the company saw that they would be money losing tours. The second is to kind of hide the house show decline to investors. As noted with the last quarter, the average attendance (and this includes TV tapings and PPV shows) fell from 5,000 to 4,700 in North America. It’s a drop, but not an alarming drop. It’s six percent, notable but nothing to panic over. But the key is that they ran eight less shows due to Monday cancellations for the most part. If you figure those shows would have averaged 2,000 paid, that would take the average down to 4,100, which now is an 18 percent drop that investors would start questioning. It’s the right move for the company, as last quarter the house shows were profitable which hasn’t been the case every quarter. But it was also the WrestleMania quarter so Mania and Mania week live event profits are going to make the quarter better than other quarters.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The update regarding Madison Square Garden on 9/15 and The Forum in Los Angeles on 10/13 is that as of right now, both shows are on, a press release is said to be forthcoming regarding MSG and New York, but there will be a show on that day at this point, and Cain Velasquez is being talked with about doing the show. There will be no AEW talent on that show. About 2,000 tickets have been sold thus far for MSG and the only match we know of it Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya for the Reina de Reinas title. On the weekend television, once again, the announcers never once mentioned anything about either show. No card has been announced and one would think you’d want the MSG card out by now. A big issue with the complete card is the visa issue. It’s been hard for Japan, but because of Donald's presidency, it’s ten times worse for those from Mexico. We were told that visas used to take maybe a month, but there are some visas that have taken eight months and they still haven’t been approved. With the show one month off, that’s made things very difficult. Plus, regarding the television production team they would be bringing, so many of them also don’t have visas so that gets in the way of other people familiar with how they shoot big shows. They weren’t promoting the shows on social media for a few weeks but then this past week did start promoting the idea that there are shows with no hints as to what is on those shows

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Regarding Hiromu Takahashi, the only thing we’ve heard is that he’s almost ready to return and they want to do is right and there’s no rush. It seems it’s more about how Gedo can weave a storyline around his return for impact and having the return coincide with something big

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The idea of piggybacking off SummerSlam in Toronto, the first time this has really been tried, after being a successful formula for years at WrestleMania, was pretty much a flop. There were a number of reasons. First, SummerSlam isn’t a traveling show. Second, with four WWE shows in the market over the week, for those local, the last thing they were going to want to do was go to another show. In addition, there were far too many shows. OWE on 8/7 and 8/10 drew about 150 fans each show, Smash vs. Progress that same day did about 225 and wXw with Walter vs Daisuke Sekimoto, which was said to be a blow away match, did about 225. The biggest of the indies was the 8/10 show called The Summit, featuring women from Shimmer, Rise, Femmes Fatales (a Quebec women’s group) and Smash. That show did 353 with 343 paid. Smash on 8/10 did about 250 fans. IWS from Quebec did about 160.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Jim Cornette said that he just came back from Oklahoma helping things out because his father-in-law had died. He said that after a few more obligations he’s made this year that he will no longer be doing conventions for at least a year and would no longer be driving long distances to shows, nor flying. He said he may announce at some MLW and NWA shows but only if the events are within reasonable driving distance. He said he’s hit a wall from working so hard in he past year. He said he would remain doing his podcasts because he can make money from doing them while staying home

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Aja Kong, Yuki Sakazaki, Shoko Nakajima and Bea Priestley are all booked in Japan on dates that would coincide with All Out, so it would appear they wouldn’t be available for the Casino Battle Royale or a Kong vs. Kong confrontation unless something changes.

Observer issued a correction later in today's Daily Update article mentioning Priestley isn't booked for any Stardom shows around All Out's date.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Goldberg and Riddle actually had a confrontation of sorts before SummerSlam. Riddle had been mocking Goldberg and Lesnar on social media for some time. Keep in mind this stuff is all approved, if not encouraged by WWE management because if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t be doing it. It’s just a way for him to get attention. I guess he never did see Lesnar. But he was backstage and Goldberg threw a shoulder at him and Riddle, whose stuff on Goldberg dating back months to the build for Saudi Arabia was that Goldberg wasn’t any good, because when he was a kid watching, he could see through him. So, according to Riddle’s description of their meeting, Goldberg looked at him, evidently knew what he had been writing and said, “We’ve got some talking to do.” And Riddle said, “We can talk any time.” Riddle called him bro, and he said, “I’m not your bro.” And Riddle said, “Alright Bro, take it easy” Goldberg said, “I’ll see you later, and it was a pleasure meeting you (Bill has the attitude generally if people are dicks to him to in his words, “kill them with kindness”), and Riddle said, “The pleasure was all mine, bro.” And Goldberg said, “I’m not your bro.

Link to Riddle's story: https://twitter.com/WRESTLEZONEcom/s...92763593236481

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter With Sofia Alonso taking over control of CMLL after Paco Alonso passed away, WWE has had talks with the promotion.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter WWE has opened up talks about bringing a number of people in that they’ve never had any interest in, with the obvious reason that there is a belief they could be of value to the opposition

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Stone Cold on “Hot Ones,” Kushida vs. Gulak at EVOLVE
• AEW Women’s Title Match Announced for Week 3 of AEW on TNT
• WWE Reportedly Wants Rey Mysterio’s Son to Wrestle
• The Fiend Will Be a Bonus/Downloadable Character in WWE 2K20

[Gerard]

"According to a source in WWE that I spoke with this past Monday was supposed to be Dolph Ziggler’s last day with the company. I was told that there was a 'handshake deal' in place between Vince McMahon and Dolph Ziggler, and that Vince would let Dolph out of the deal following SummerSlam so that Ziggler could pursue his 'other projects.' On Monday prior to RAW, Dolph approached Vince McMahon to thank him, however it was then that Vince told Dolph that he could not let him out of his deal, and that he would 'rather just pay him to stay home.'”

Quite a few places reporting this.

[Jordan]

I bet he was going to AEW.

[ClockShot]

I need to hear more details before I jump out and say "Dolph should have left when the had the chance."

Handshake agreements are sketchy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If they only had a handshake deal, there wouldn’t be a piece of paper obligating Dolph to go in. Unless the handshake deal was to let Dolph out?

[Emperor Smeat]

Its from BodySlam.net which is pretty much the bottom of the barrel in terms of dirtsheets reliability.

[Sepholio]

It's pretty funny. Forbes ran the story. FORBES. Citing Bodyslam.net as their source.

Meanwhile Meltzer says 100% fake newz.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer During today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer brought up that he had gotten word that NXT may be moving to the USA Network. According to Meltzer, there has been talk of NXT either moving to FS1 or USA, with the latter being the current candidate. An announcement regarding NXT’s future is expected to be made soon. Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales went into further detail about what this would mean for future NXT television tapings. Meltzer mentioned that the plan is for the show to be two hours, airing head-to-head with AEW’s television series on TNT on Wednesdays every week. The premiere date for NXT on USA could also come before October 2, which is when AEW debuts on TNT. Meltzer noted that there would be a live component to NXT on USA, though whether it would be live every week or every other week have both been discussed.

Originally Posted by Observer The first round matchups are set for this year's Battle of Los Angeles. There's been one change to the list of participants for the tournament, with PWG announcing that luchador Aramis is replacing Barbaro Cavernario. PWG said that Cavernario isn't able to wrestle in the tournament due to a scheduling conflict ... If current PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb doesn't win BOLA, the winner will get a future shot at his title. Here are the first round matches for the tournament: Night one -- Jeff Cobb vs. Daisuke Sekimoto Jonathan Gresham vs. Artemis Spencer Darby Allin vs. Black Taurus Dragon Lee vs. Rey Horus Brody King vs. Caveman Ugg A-Kid vs. Lucky Kid Night two -- Bandido vs. Laredo Kid Orange Cassidy vs. David Starr Pentagon Jr. vs. Tony Deppen Fenix vs. Aramis Joey Janela vs. Mick Moretti Jake Atlas vs. Jungle Boy

Originally Posted by Observer After announcing the return of King of the Ring earlier this week, WWE has now revealed the full bracket for the tournament. Here are the first round matches for the Raw side of the bracket: Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn The Miz vs. Baron Corbin The matchups on the SmackDown side are: Kevin Owens vs. Elias Ali vs. Buddy Murphy Chad Gable vs. Shelton Benjamin Apollo Crews vs. Andrade The tournament will begin on Raw next Monday (August 19). It will be a multi-week tournament on both Raw and SmackDown, leading to the finals taking place at Clash of Champions. The Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina is hosting the pay-per-view on September 15.

Originally Posted by PWI A number of All Elite Wrestling executives including Tony Khan and Cody were in New York City this week meeting with TNT sponsors regarding the AEW weekly series

Originally Posted by PWI On today's Edge and Christian podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer talked about spearing Elias on the Summerslam kickoff last Sunday. He states that the appearance was booked last minute. In regards to the physicality of the segment, the Rated R Superstar goes on to say, there are many misconceptions about the severity of his neck ... Later in the show, when jokingly being brought up about coming out of retirement, Edge states that he definitely feels like he could have a match tomorrow, but probably would be blown up cardio wise. However, he doesn't believe WWE would allow it. Although, he does follow that up by saying he talked to a doctor who said that he thinks his neck could be "relatively healthy" within the next five years. Edge also mentions he is also looking into stem cell therapy. But he makes it clear all this progress is due to life without bumps. Edge says doing an occasional bump is not a problem but constant physicality would not be good.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News is reporting that more 1993 WCW Saturday Night episodes are coming to the streaming service this Monday as a part of the August Classic Content Drop. Currently, WWE Network features episodes of the series from its April 4.1992 debut to January 4, 1993. It is unclear how many episodes we will be getting, but if patterns hold true, it will be at least 20 episodes.

Originally Posted by PWI SPOILER: show The Undisputed Era's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly just defeated The Street Profits to become the new WWE NXT Tag Team Champions at the ongoing TV Taping in Florida. This is the duo's second title reign.

Spoiler tags used since its related to the Street Profits and the recent set of NXT TV tapings.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The WWE stock closed at $69.61 on Friday.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Lucha Libre AAA Show Moved From MSG to Hulu Theater, Matches Announced
• AEW Sells Out Weeks 2 and 3 in Under an Hour
• Updated AEW All Out Card – New Match Announced
• Rumored WWE Clash of Champions Card

[Droford]

I cant see USA airing taped NXT..at best everyone would DVR at worst everyone reads spoilers. I couldnt see FS1 doing it at all because theres too much sports programming that it would interfere with

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer While Raw was down seven percent from last week, doing 2.53 million viewers, it was still the best number the show has done with the exception of Raw Reunion and last week's episode dating back to night one of the Superstar Shake-up on April 15. It followed the usual recent pattern of peaking in hour two and then falling in hour three. The third hour was below the first hour this week, but the third hour drop has lessened significantly since Paul Heyman was put in a role with major influence on the show, with the third hour 4.9 percent down from the first. Prior to Heyman, it was often near and even above a 20 percent drop from hour one to three ... The rating was down 18 percent from the same week in 2018, but that's an unfair comparison because SummerSlam was a week earlier this year, so the comparison is with the day after SummerSlam. If we look at the week after SummerSlam from last year, the drop was 11 percent. Straight Up Steve Austin, airing on the USA Network after Raw, did 1.08 million viewers, a drop of 11 percent from the first week. Again, part of that -- and probably a big part -- is a lesser lead-in because of the lower rated Raw ... The three hours for Raw were: 8 p.m. 2.55 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.63 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.42 million viewers

Originally Posted by Fightful As far as his vignettes, WWE intentionally stay hands off on them because they know they can't recreate them well. When Vince McMahon orders one, Ali has it made.

In regards to the videos Ali has been doing on Smackdown for a while.

Originally Posted by PWI Daffney posted: Some of you know that I had neck surgery 2 1/2 years ago. They put a metal plate between my C4 & C5. Recently, I noticed my fingers on my left hand going numb again, especially my thumb. My wrist and forearm began to hurt, my temple, neck, collarbone and trap were next, and then finally my shoulder felt like it was being ripped out of the socket if I didn't keep my arm cradled. Just like 2 1/2 years ago. By Thursday night it had gotten so bad, I decided I needed to go get it checked the next day. Good news: I haven't hurt another disc in my neck. Bad news: They found a cyst or growth next to my T1. They gave me steroids & anti inflammatories and I've been keeping my left arm propped up. It's weird because my middle finger especially hurts this time - almost like it's broken so it sticks up. I'm constantly giving Dina, my roomie, the bird. Which she totally doesn't deserve because she just made me some amazing grits and has been a guardian angel. In the morning I make an appointment with a spinal specialist to find out what is next to my T1 & what is causing the pain. I'll keep y'all updated. Wanted to explain my absence and request good juju please

Originally Posted by Fightful WCW, TNA, WWE and ECW veteran Johnny Swinger was recently a guest on Wrestling Epicenter's Interactive Wrestling Radio ... On training Rick Steiner's son: "I'm getting ready to train Rick Steiner's son, Bronson. He's been wanting to do it for a few years now. He's finishing up college. He's going to be the next big thing. He really is. He's about 6'1... He was a state champion. He's playing football for KSU right now. He's going to be a stud, man!"

Originally Posted by Observer Kevin Von Erich is returning to Texas for next month's MLW War Chamber event. MLW has announced that Kevin will be appearing at their television tapings at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills on Saturday, September 7. He'll be in the corner of his sons Marshall & Ross as they team with Tom Lawlor to take on Contra Unit in a War Chamber match.

Originally Posted by Observer Following the NXT to USA announcement, WWE stock closed today at $74.51 per share. That was up 3.59 percent from yesterday.

Originally Posted by Observer AJ Mendez (formerly known as AJ Lee) and actress Aimee Garcia are writing a four-part comic book series called “GLOW vs. The Babyface” that will launch this November

Originally Posted by PWI Where is Rusev? I remember how deadly he was when he first got here. What do you think happened? The rumors for a while now are that he and Lana have not been happy with how they have been used by WWE (I can’t say I blame them). Creative has not been using them. I would not be shocked if they left when their contracts are up. I never understood the way that he was used, a big, strong agile big man should have been used so much better than he was.

From a recent Q&A article.

Originally Posted by PWI With WWE NXT moving to a two-hour weekly series on the USA Network starting on 9/18, the series will now be available on a 24-hour tape delay, airing Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern on the WWE Network. After that airing, it will be available via VOD. There are no planned changes in regard to Takeover events. Those remain exclusive to the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling I have been asked nonstop about NXT airing in Canada and Sportsnet 360’s response has been that they “have nothing to share at this time.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling NXT will launch on the USA Network beginning September 18th, which is the date we reported on Monday with AEW set to premiere on October 2nd. It is WWE’s biggest head-to-head challenge in years and while most point to Impact’s move to Monday nights in January 2010, realistically, that was a one-week spike for Impact, who were quickly destroyed against Raw and retreated to Thursdays by the spring. AEW has a sound business strategy and has been able to prove an ability to move tickets at a level Impact never approached in its existence. Some comparisons can be made to October 3, 2005, when Raw moved back to the USA Network and went head-to-head with a UFC Fight Night card. While UFC was not going to be weekly competition, they did represent the hot brand that was on fire after the first season of the Ultimate Fighter, which was enough to given Spike the confidence to publicly walk away from their re-negotiations with WWE, whose deal was up that year. WWE treated the head-to-head battle that night as war and promoted the show around a “Homecoming”, which was the first time they brought back every legend possible and became the company’s go-to strategy to pop a big number. Fourteen years later, it’s the strategy they will use for the first episode of SmackDown on Fox. Unlike UFC, AEW represents a direct competitor that WWE cannot write off as “they’re legitimate sport and we are entertainment” ... NXT is now a vehicle to draw eyeballs in large amounts with the pressure of a weekly scorecard on Thursday afternoons. In many ways, they could fall into the trap of WCW in 1998. At the time, WCW was doing monster business at live events and on pay-per-view, but the WWF had surpassed them in viewership and that was the metric that determined a win or a loss. Instead of maintaining a solid business and building new stars when the company was hot, they became obsessed with Tuesday afternoons and winning the night, instead of winning the war.

John Pollock had an interesting view about NXT's announcement from a historical perspective.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Bloomberg has an article on Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan Pro Wrestling, which took the company public in July. Yoshitaka Hashimoto, the CEO of Bushiroad, spoke to Bloomberg and emphasized taking New Japan global and citing video streaming as one tool. In the article, they attribute New Japan to being responsible for 20% of Bushiroad’s annual revenue last year, which grew to 28.9 billion yen ($271.9 million U.S.) for their fiscal year that ended in July 2018. Bloomberg listed New Japan’s annual sales at 5 billion yen ($47,045,000 U.S.). Hashimoto added that four of every ten New Japan fans are female and it was mentioned that when Bushiroad bought the company they encouraged the wrestlers to get on Twitter and interact with fans to grow the audience. Harold Meij added that “New Japan Pro Wrestling used to see themselves as just a sports organization. Now we consider every wrestler to be a piece of intellectual property, a kind of anime character.”

Originally Posted by Fightful It's been months since Sheamus last appeared in a WWE ring and the former WWE champion is still unsure of when he'll return. The 41-year-old former King of the Ring winner spoke on when he could be returning the ring. After being out of the ring since April, Sheamus admitted in a recent Q & A in the Philippines that he doesn't know when he'll be back but he does miss it. "I've not yet retired... I don't know what the story is in my future. I have no idea, I honestly don't. I just know that I like have some time off but I miss it. I do miss being in the ring," Sheamus said.

TPWW Frontpage stuff:

• AEW: Two New Entrants in Women’s Casino Battle Royale, Tag Team Tournament Note
• NXT/USA Update: How Much Money Will USA Pay? Vince McMahon’s Role, Mauro Ranallo, More
• WWE Officially Announces That NXT Is Moving to USA Network
• Kalisto and Gran Metalik Hint at Leaving WWE When Their Contracts Expire
• A Wrestling Mini-Series Called “Heels” Is Coming to Starz

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday's SmackDown averaged 2,142,000 viewers, slightly down from last week's 2.164 million, which was the post-SummerSlam show. The big hook on this week's episode was the potential reveal of Roman Reigns' mystery attacker. The show retained the usual 84 percent of the Raw audience. SmackDown was down 12 percent year-over-year, but SummerSlam was a week later in 2018. A more realistic comparison would be the 2.35 million the show did two weeks after last year's SummerSlam. SmackDown was fifth for the night on cable in terms of total viewers, higher than it usually finishes. It topped the 18-49 demo with a 0.68 rating, over 40 percent higher than Real Housewives of OC, which finished in second. SmackDown also beat everything on network TV in that demo except for The Bachelorette and America's Got Talent. Miz and Mrs, which followed SmackDown on the USA Network, dropped to 997,000 viewers. That's still the third-highest total of the current run of episodes.

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

Originally Posted by WWENetworkNews For those of you holding out hope for the release of a mythical pre-PPV King of the Ring tournament or two, you’re going to have to keep waiting, I’m afraid. However, that doesn’t mean that this week’s selection is without merit. Far from it, in fact. Tomorrow, WWE Network is set to upload an NWA TV special to the Hidden Gems category by the name of Superstars on the Superstation. At 2-hours in length (or roughly 90 minutes without commercials if you prefer) and featuring 3 major title matches, it was practically a condensed free-to-air pay-per-view and a spiritual predecessor to the legendary Clash of the Champions super cards. Here is the confirmed card for the upcoming upload, courtesy of Cagematch.net: NWA World Tag Team Title: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) (c) vs. The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey) The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk) vs. The Russians (Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff) NWA National Heavyweight Title: Dusty Rhodes (c) vs. Tully Blanchard NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Ron Garvin With such a heavy emphasis on title matches throughout the 4-match card, this could well be a nod to WWE’s upcoming Clash of Champions event, rather than a random choice. Finally, here is the official description: Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 02/07/1986 – Superstars on the Superstation [Duration: 01:28:02] Ric Flair puts the title on the line against Ron Garvin, while Dusty Rhodes battles Tully Blanchard in this star-studded extravaganza.

Originally Posted by Observer AEW has confirmed when their first-ever Tag Team Champions will be crowned. The finals of the promotion's Tag Team title tournament will take place on week five of AEW on TNT. The Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia is hosting the episode on Wednesday, October 30.

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

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

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

Originally Posted by Fightful Yesterday it was announced that NXT would be moving to USA Network beginning on Sept. 18. With the brand moving from WWE Network to cable, many fans are worried that Vince McMahon will be more hands-on with the product, which is widely viewed as a bad thing. Count former WWE Champion and current AEW star Chris Jericho as among those who believe Vince will want to control the yellow brand. "Of course he is. He's Vince McMahon," Jericho told Busted Open Radio when asked if Vince will be involved. "He's a genius. I think the appeal of NXT, whatever it is because I don't watch it. Don't care. It's the minor leagues to me. The appeal is that it's its own little entity outside of the WWE world. If Vince gets involved, to me, it's going to become another SmackDown and Raw. I think you're going to see all three of those shows interacting with each other. It's gonna be another WWE show. Whatever the appeal of NXT is, it's now going to be changed to another Raw and SmackDown. If you like Raw and SmackDown, you're gonna like NXT. There's no way Vince McMahon is gonna stay at home and not be involved in this. That's what he does."

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

TPWW Frontpage:

• Rumor: CFO$, WWE’s Main Entrance Theme Producers, Possibly Done With WWE
• XFL Announces All Eight Team Names and Logos

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer MLW has announced another match for next month's War Chamber television tapings. Austin Aries will face Brian Pillman Jr. at the event. It's taking place at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, September 7.

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

Originally Posted by PWI Ring of Honor announced today that several of their stars will be heading to Mexico for CMLL's Grand Prix tournament. ROH Champion Matt Taven, Mark and Jay Briscoe and Kenny King will all be competing in the tournament. Luke Hawx, Oraculo, Big Daddy and Mecha Wolf 450 are also being brought in for the event. Previously announced for the tournament are CMLL stars Dragon Lee, Cavernario, Volador Jr., Negro Casas, Diamante Azul, Forastero, Rush and Soberano Jr. Last year's event streamed live for ROH Honor Club, but there has been no announcement yet that this will happen again in 2019. The tournament will take place on Friday 8/30 at Arena Mexico.

According to the Observer, the tournament won't be airing live on HonorClub.

Originally Posted by PWI Now in its sophomore year for the franchise, WWE 2K20’s 2K Towers invites players to take a WWE Superstar or created MyPLAYER into one of several different towers, each with a unique gauntlet of matches that boast different challenges, match stipulations and player modifications. WWE 2K20 will shine a spotlight on Roman Reigns, who shares the game cover with WWE Superstar Becky Lynch. In 2K Towers: Roman’s Reign, players will follow “The Big Dog” through his early days in WWE, including his time as a member of The Shield to his rivalries with Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Undertaker and more. Overall, players will compete in 16 matches and live out key chapters in Reigns’ impressive mark on WWE history, all while claiming championships and igniting the WWE Universe along the way. Every match includes a live action introduction from “The Big Dog” himself in exclusive, never-before-seen footage.

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

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The Wednesday Night Wars are now official, with WWE announcing on 8/20 that NXT would be going live weekly on the USA Network ... Obviously FOX expected the deal since they had told affiliates a few weeks ago to expect the new wrestling show on FS 1. It had come out after that FOX affiliates meeting that the USA Network was also in play, but even then, FS 1, with the FOX synergy that they were looking for, looked to be the favorite. Even though this deal is groundbreaking, and makes NXT an economically profitable brand, which it was not previously, all negotiations were primarily done as a counter to AEW's deal on TNT from 8-10 p.m. on Wednesday. Anyone who knows Vince McMahon knew the move would be a counter. The key point brought up was that a lot of people felt that a show on lower-rated FS 1, which is in fewer homes than TNT, could lose in the ratings, something in this case McMahon couldn't stand for. While this does somewhat change the complexion of the FOX/WWE relationship, because it had previously been that WWE would have Smackdown and all other programming besides Raw on FOX or FS 1 (which is looking for new programming after losing so many hours of UFC in January), instead, it's more that the USA Network will come across as WWE's home base with FOX just having Smackdown and a weekly talk show. USA will be paying in the range of $30 million to $50 million per year over what appears to be two years for the two hours of live NXT from Full Sail University it appears ... So the deal appears to be in the ballpark of the AEW deal with TNT, depending on the value of the ad split. That speaks volumes since WWE also gives up 15 percent to CAA as its negotiator ... Another key is the far greater exposure of the brand's talent from a combination of the longer show and the far wider audience it will reach with viewership no longer confined to the roughly 1,167,000 U.S. homes (6/30 number) who have the WWE Network and instead be in the USA Network's 89 million homes

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The question then becomes what does that mean for the talent. Will NXT tour more extensively and move to larger arenas? The last time WWE did something like this was with the creation of the ECW brand, which was televised on Syfy, they did about 1,000 fans per show and very quickly WWE pulled out of touring the brand because the show were money losers. That's about the same as what NXT out of Florida shows are doing, with only WWE Network exposure. Florida shows range from 150 to 500 for the most part with most 200 to 350 ... It also changes the dynamic of NXT from developmental, where you go to Full Sail to learn how to work on television, to a show with experienced workers aiming for the masses on television. But NXT Takeovers have been dominated by recruited independent stars, with only a few homegrown talents for years now. WWE touts to the investors the percentage of talent that makes the main roster through NXT, but in reality, the Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Robert Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe types were already established stars with major names to the NXT fan base the day they walked in the door. There are a higher percentage of women who are actually NXT trained that make the main roster.

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

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

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

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Another very important key is that in the quest of big dollars now, the company's are risking audience burn out even worse. If we go with the idea that WWE and AEW are major league products, we are going from five hours of national television per week to either nine or ten (because it's been talked about adding a third hour of Smackdown, possibly for FS 1). That's with a business where the increase from four to five hours of WWE has led to strong decrease in viewers. Granted, for years we had six hours with TNA on Spike which did more than one million viewers. And during the Monday Night Wars, we had eight or nine at times between WWF and WCW, which worked until WCW collapsed ... There is an equivalent in MMA as when UFC increased television hours greatly on FS 1, the result hurt Bellator's numbers, and every other start up, because people couldn't keep up with all the television of the major brand, that the other brands got little unless they had some nostalgia act type of show. Even burning out their audience, UFC still fell upwards because of escalating rights fees, like WWE, and even Bellator did with its DAZN streaming deal. But it hurt them in the most recent negotiations because unlike WWE, which was holding steady when they were negotiating new deals, UFC was coming off a badly declining year. So WWE got the better end of the deals. Long-term, the real losers here look to be Impact and ROH, because AEW takes their slot as the alternative, and for fans who want to watch as much as possible, those will be the shows people will start to skip. New Japan will be hurt stateside as well, but the product is so strong that their small cult audience probably will not be hurt as badly. But from a WWE standpoint, if the move from four to five hours led to a greatly accelerating decline in virtually every business metric aside from the fact TV is willing to spend so much, adding more hours of WWE product is guaranteed more money short term and likely to speed the decline in popularity long-term. And in these types of businesses, few are playing the long game ... One television executive of a national station with great familiarity with both wrestling history, the current and the television landscape gave this appraisal of the situation. "I think it will help both shows the first couple of weeks, but fade from there and become a zero-sum game unless one/both get hot and create new demand for wrestling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Originally Posted by Fightful Sometimes, shit happens. It certainly happened to arguably the most successful WWE star, Stone Cold Steve Austin, as he revealed on an episode of Hot Ones. While he was experiencing a wing eating challenge, he was asked if he'd ever crapped his pants in the ring. The outspoken WWE Hall of Famer readily admitted he had. "A lot of times when you're doing international travel and there's a dietary change, things happen. He was weighing 600 pounds at the time. When he picked me up and slammed me, something happened. Things went south! Luckily I was wearing black trunks. Yoko was so cool -- he's no longer with us, god rest his soul. I was laying there on the mat, just crapped my trunks and said 'Yok, let's go home.' He said 'Okay, brah.' We did the finish, I got beat, went to the back and took a hell of a shower!" said Austin. Austin would joke right after that, he hoped the hot wings that he was ingesting wouldn't force him to have a Yokozuna match moment in front of the nine million-plus viewers who have already watched the episode. Based on our crack reporting, the incident would have happened on September 10 or 12th in 1996, during a tour of South Africa. However, both results have Austin beating Yokozuna.

TPWW Frontpage:

• AEW: AEW Signs “Goldenboy” to Broadcast Team, AEW Had Talks w/ Mike Tenay
• WWE Launching a Podcast Network

[Fignuts]

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer So in short form, Jon Moxley has MRSA staph in his left elbow and his doctor believes he will have to be out of action for four weeks. Kenny Omega faces Pac in Chicago at All Out ... Also, from those close to the situation, Dragon Gate has no issue with Pac working AEW. And Pac is expected to return there.

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

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

Originally Posted by Observer Several weeks after announcing a partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre, Major League Wrestling announced their first co-promoted show with the Mexican wrestling company Friday morning. The Saturday, October 5th event will be held at the 5000-seat Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, with tickets going on sale this September. The joint press release mentioned they are looking into travel packages. The show will also be taped for episodes of Fusion, MLW's weekly TV show.

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

Originally Posted by PWI Going back to Summerslam, there was one thing that really seemed to bother me. Why is it that the referee counted Orton and Kofi out but they didn't count out Rollins and Brock? I feel like there should be more leeway in a championship match when both competitors are on the outside. On a separate note: wouldn't putting someone though a announce table be a DQ in a regular match? The table would be considered using a weapon. One can make excuses or try to explain the logic, but I won't. Here's what happened - WWE management didn't care to be consistent with how they presented the stories on the matches. It is, unfortunately, what it is. Perhaps we'll see that sort of things be strengthened under Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff. The table should be a DQ but again, it is what it is.

From a recent Q&A article.

Originally Posted by PWI MLW: FUSION is now available on Playstation Vue, which has netted the series an additional 500,000 viewers. MLW is working on several additional streaming platforms to increase the footprint of their weekly series. The promotion expects to sell out their 9/7 debut in Dallas, Texas at the 1,700 seat NYTEX Sports Centre. As of this writing, only general admission bleacher sears are left. Thus far, the promotion has only announced three bouts - The War Chamber match with Tom Lawlor & The Von Erichs & Low Ki vs. CONTRA Unit, The Dynasty vs. The Hart Foundation in a Best of Three Falls bout for MLW Tag Team titles and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Brian Pillman. As noted previously, Kevin Von Erich will be attending ... Ricky Martinez will be the first MLW star heading to The Crash in Mexico, working their 9/7 Anniversary event, so he will miss MLW's Dallas debut. Savio Vega will miss the Dallas event and will be back full-time this October working as a Producer for the company. With the recent addition of Dr. Tom Prichard (who starts in Dallas), the remainder of the producers/agents are Low Ki, George Carroll and Josef Samael.

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

Originally Posted by Fightful This past Tuesday, WWE confirmed that NXT will be moving to the WWE Network. Effectively, this move has started the Wednesday Night War, as they go head-to-head with the All Elite Wrestling program on TNT every Wednesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern. David Bixenspan of Deadspin reached out to WWE for a comment regarding their apparent counterprogramming of AEW on TNT, and received a reportedly testily response: “The premise to your story is wrong. NXT has been on Wednesday nights since 2015 [sic] as I’m sure you know.” The spokesman was quoted as saying. The spokesman would go on to try and further dissociate NXT's move to USA as a means of "counter-programming" by providing what they feel is the proper use of the term: “It isn’t called counter-programming if you continue to air a series on the same day/time as it has been on for nearly five years.” The spokesman closes this interaction by suggesting this line of questioning be directed at AEW as well. “Perhaps you’ll ask AEW about counter-programming NXT?” The article notes AEW was also contacted to provide a response but declined to do so.

Originally Posted by Fightful On a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross answered fan questions on a variety of subjects. A common subject was the current state of the All Elite Wrestling roster and who JR would like to see added. Ross was specifically asked about Lance Archer, who is coming off a well-received run in the NJPW G1 Climax tournament. "I like his upside. His maturity level is marketable," said Ross. "Size, you can't coach size, he's got that. He's athletic for a big man. I'd love to call some more of his matches, hinting that I wish he was a member of AEW at some point in time. I don't know if that's possible, contractually or philosophically. I'm not hiring talent. But I could see worse hires being made going forward than a 6'7" athletic heavyweight. We don't have a lot of those types in AEW. I always hold out hope that Lance can join the team, but that's not my call. He's a keeper." Later in the episode, Ross was asked to give names of those who appeal to him for AEW. Ross specified that he would name wrestlers who are considered free agents. "I like Jack Swagger," commented Ross. "He would be on my imaginary wishlist to come to AEW because he has a lot of skills, size, and background. He's been around long enough that he knows the right way and wrong way of doing things. He hasn't touched the surface on how good he can be. He needs coaching. Jack was getting better when he was working so close with Dutch Mantel because Dutch is old school, good coach. Jack had a personal tutor on the road, which I thought helped him a lot." Ross then added, "I like Harry Smith, Davey Boy Jr. I'm not so wild about the name. I'm sure he's proud of his father, I am too, but don't try to replicate or go back. Harry Smith, to me, has a great upside. All he needed to do was continue to develop his entertainment side, personality side. He's doing that." It should be noted that Davey Boy Smith Jr. signed a multi-year deal with MLW in January. Swagger currently competes for Bellator MMA. JR finished by saying, "I like those bruisers. Big, physical guys who add that balance to what we're trying to do in AEW. Having size, and athleticism with that size, always interests me. Our shortcomings are size and villains. All three of those guys could fill the bill."

TPWW Frontpage:

• Jon Moxley Forced to Pull Out of AEW All Out Due to Injury, Replaced by PAC
• Braun Strowman Says He Was “Miserable” in WWE Earlier This Year, But Vince “Talked Him Off a Ledge”
• Various: NJPW Super J-Cup Night 1 Results, CMLL World Grand Prix 2019, Indies

[Jordan]

I agree that Archer could be top guy in AEW. You could do so much with him and he can talk... Archer and Omega would do insane stuff. Harry Smith also is one of my favorites... He does have it all, not The Rock on the mic but he's fine. Plus he's big and has a serious legacy, and can work high quality technical matches. I'm not as interested in Hagger, he's on of those that spend too much time under the bad thumb of WWE for me to really take serious. Shawn Spears was almost there but I think he's escaped it. I like Hagger in Bellator and I'd like to see him make a real career there.

[Jordan]

With that said I also want to see Archer stay in NJPW if they want to give him a serious run and I certainly want to see Harry Smith in NJPW.

[slik]

Cain Velasquez is at the New Japan Super J Cup show tonight in San Francisco. Sources said he’ll be having an informal meeting with NJPW officials. Velasquez is signed on for two more Lucha Libre AAA matches, but several other wrestling promotions have interest, per sources.

— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) August 25, 2019

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I'd love to see Velasquez mix it up in NJPW. He was impressive in his debut.

[Ben Rodrigues]

Cain needs to take out a top-five UFC heavyweight and then finish Stipe to get this belt back.

[ClockShot]

Originally Posted by Slik Cain Velasquez is at the New Japan Super J Cup show tonight in San Francisco. Sources said he’ll be having an informal meeting with NJPW officials. Velasquez is signed on for two more Lucha Libre AAA matches, but several other wrestling promotions have interest, per sources. — Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) August 25, 2019

I don't think he can hang.

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

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Originally Posted by ClockShot I don't think he can hang. I'd stick with AAA until he gets enough wrestling experience before thinking about jumping to New Japan.

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

[Jordan]

Cain would be an interesting addition to The Bullet Club.

[Emperor Smeat]

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

NJPW's use of multi-man matches would be a perfect way to get him adjusted before putting him in a singles match or big feud.

If it was WWE, he'd have a bit tougher time due to WWE being more based on promo abilities than in-ring skills. For as good as Ronda was in the ring, she struggled a lot when it came to delivering WWE style promos.

[Bad News Gertner]

If Cain did a year in the New Japan Dojo, it would do wonders for him

[Simple Fan]

Agree. Feel like his AAA appearances have been more of go out and follow the leader instead of having his persona really take over. Needs to really learn how to to work and then he'll be better off.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer There was both good and bad news related to the Raw ratings last night. The show averaged 2.53 million viewers, identical to last week. Based on the standards of the last few months, it's a good number, really behind only Raw Reunion and the show after SummerSlam as far as episodes since April. It's even impressive because it went head-to-head with the MTV Video Music Awards, and the first two hours were strong. It beat the VMAs, which averaged 1.93 million viewers .. The bad news was a huge third hour decline. Hour one in particular was very strong, and hour two had a small gain, but not at the level of prior weeks. But there was a 16 percent drop from hour two to hour three, which even by 2019 standards was unusually high ... The second to third drop was the seventh worst of all-time ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.64 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.69 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.26 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer Darby Allin, Joey Janela, and Jimmy Havoc's triple threat match at All Out is now known as the "Cracker Barrel Clash." AEW issued a press release today announcing Cracker Barrel as the presenting match sponsor for Allin vs. Janela vs. Havoc. The partnership between AEW and Cracker Barrel also includes "cross-promotional activities with AEW talent, customized co-branded graphics, in-venue signage, and social media activation." A Cracker Barrel themed-barrel was also in the ring during the introductions for Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing, and the barrel was used as a prop in Janela vs. Hangman Page at All In last year.

Originally Posted by Observer The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) may be getting a Universal title shot at Hell in a Cell. The Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California posted a tweet today advertising that The Fiend will challenge either Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match at October's pay-per-view: "Get ready @WWE fans... 'The Fiend' @WWEBrayWyatt challenges @WWERollins or @BraunStrowman to a #HIAC match! Get your tickets now, and stay tuned" Whether or not the match will happen remains to be seen. The Golden 1 Center had been advertising Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the PPV.

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

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

Originally Posted by PWI A Twitter account for Arn Anderson's upcoming podcast "The Arn Show" with Conrad Thompson has been launched. The show will begin in September and air on Tuesdays. It will be distributed through the Westwood One platform.

Originally Posted by WWE Network News With NXT UK set to head over to Cardiff, Wales this Saturday for their latest TakeOver event, it only makes sense that the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section would put a spotlight on WWE action from foreign lands ... In regards to Adrian Street, we have 3 videos, one from Stampede and 2 from Mid-South. While the pair from Mid-South (wherein Street battles Bobby Fulton and Terry Taylor respectively) appear to be full house show bouts, the Stampede offering is barely 3 minutes long (with Street taking on a young Davey Boy Smith), meaning that it’s most likely an edited TV highlight just like the majority of the territory’s library. The other half of this week’s Hidden Gems offering is where things get interesting as WWE serves up 3 major championship bouts from international house shows. 2 of them are more modern, with Randy Orton defending his WWE Championship against Triple H during the post-WrestleMania 24 European tour and Finn Bálor defending his NXT Championship against Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn at a Cardiff live event from 2015. However, it’s the 3rd of these foreign title defenses that should excite old school WWF fans as a sought after rarity. As anyone who watched the company in late 1991 will undoubtedly know, Undertaker’s first WWF Championship reign was extremely short-lived. He defeated Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series that year, only to be stripped of the belt just days later following controversy at This Tuesday in Texas. However, Undertaker did manage to get 2 successful defenses under his belt during this window. They were at house shows, never aired on US television nor released on home video. This coming Thursday, WWE will finally release one of those matches, taking place in Ontario, Canada.

Originally Posted by PWI Former WWE and WCW enhancement talent Barry Horowitz joined VOC Nation’s IN THE ROOM with Brady Hicks to talk about his career, what’s missing from today’s product, and how he wished to have done more in the WWE. Here is what Barry had to say ... On the science of being enhancement talent: “Some people needed tutoring. Take Ultimate Warrior; you’re not going to get over by running to the ring, jumping on the ropes, and looking good. Imagine if I made him look like a fool. He wouldn’t (have gotten over). You can’t just have anybody (as an enhancement talent). You have to have a guy with no ego, that can get a match over, not themselves. Not everyone can be Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, or HHH. It doesn’t work that way. To be an enhancement talent, there is a proper (formula). You want people to feel like (the enhancement talent) put up a fight. Otherwise people would be bored.” On not getting a bigger push in WWE: “I knew I was with the major promotion, I was making money, I was on TV. People loved to hate me. Even though they weren’t (going to push me) I made myself stand out. I just wanted to show people that I had talent and I wasn’t just some fall guy. I just wish after the Candido feud that I could have stayed there longer. They could have put me with someone else or did something else with me. I would have like to have gotten more respect or to have gotten more out of it, but I’m not complaining. (I feel like) if you hit the gym hard, show up on time, do your part…if you do all of that (and still don’t get a push) then someone just don’t like you, period. Maybe it was the way I combed my hair? What else can I say?”

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

Originally Posted by Observer ROH is holding a number one contender's tournament to decide their World title challenger for Final Battle 2019. It was announced today that the first-round matches for the tournament will take place at ROH's Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on Friday, September 27 and their post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings on Saturday, September 28. Both of those shows are being held at Sam's Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

Originally Posted by Fightful On Tuesday, former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski announced a new partnership with CBDMedic. During the presentation, Gronkowski addressed his health, recovery, retirement, Andrew Luck, and more. At one point, Gronkowski was asked about the possibility of turning up in WWE now that he's no longer playing football. "With wrestling, I don't feel like I would be a full-time wrestler, but there is one thing I'm down for. And that's to do one crazy match," said Gronkowski. "Practice it for a little bit, go out there, like in a Royal Rumble, go out there, I got my friend in WWE [Mojo Rawley], practice it and do a full-on WWE match. I'm not saying when. Maybe five years. I got the rest of my life to do that. I've always dreamed about doing that, just one time, going in there and going full out. That may be a possibility, one time, down the road."

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Alexa Bliss Gets a New Tattoo, Cesaro Removes Braces, Cesaro at NXT UK TakeOver
• WWE: Adrian Street Documentary, Intercontinental Championship Marathon, Trademarks
• Update on Killer Kross’s Status in Impact
• AEW Announce Team Update: Tony Schiavone Might Not Be on Commentary Yet
• Impact Is Now Covering the Cost of Hotels for Wrestlers

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer SmackDown ratings were down three percent this week, with the show averaging 2.088 million viewers on Tuesday night. That tied the August 6 episode for the lowest number this month. The show retained the usual 83 percent of Raw's audience. Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 11 percent from the same week in 2018.

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

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

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

Originally Posted by Fightful On Tuesday's episode of WWE SmackDown, Bayley defeated Lacey Evans in singles competition. Evans is on the Raw brand, but came over to SmackDown as part of the muddy Wild Card Rule. After the match, Cathy Kelley spoke with Bayley, congratulating her on her victory over the Raw superstar. "That's just it...Raw's Lacey Evans. Nothing against Lacey, that was a hell of a match from her. But, I'm tired of wrestling the girls from Raw," stated Bayley. "It's nothing against them, the division is stacked, they are great athletes and amazing superstars...on Raw. I'm the SmackDown Women's Champion. I want to compete against women from SmackDown. The Carmellas, Zelina Vegas, Kairi Sanes, that would be so cool. What about the real Liv Morgan? Where's she at? I would love to have a match with Liv. I want to prove Charlotte wrong when she says I'm not elevating the championship or this division. It's because I don't get a chance to. Give me that chance. I need that chance. I'm going to show Charlotte how far I'm willing to go at Clash of Champions."

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

Originally Posted by Fightful PWInsider reports that Heavy Machinery's Tucker has received praise backstage.

Originally Posted by Fightful Don't expect Bret Hart in AEW anytime soon. At AEW Double or Nothing on May 25, Bret Hart unveiled the AEW World Championship for the first-time ever. All Elite Wrestling reportedly wanted Ric Flair to handle the honors, but Flair's health issues at the time wouldn't allow him to travel to Las Vegas. Speaking on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show, Hart discussed his appearance for AEW and whether he will have a role in the company moving forward. "It was convenient the first time. I'm a big fan of the promotion, and I like a lot of the wrestlers that are there, and I think it's good for the industry if there's another wrestling company besides WWE. At the same time, it was a one-time thing, mostly because I was in the area. But I do have a lot of fondness for what they're trying to do, and I support them. I hope they become a real big wrestling company in the next year."

Originally Posted by Fightful The special TMPT Feature Episode #12 welcomed in ECW Original, the Homicidal, Suicidal, and Genocidal, Sabu ... Time in WWE during the ECW reboot: “Well, they lied to me. They said they were going to keep Sabu the way he was and push it the way ECW was and keep it in the small venues and all that stuff which I agreed with because I didn't want to do the big venues. I like the more intimate venues where the people think they are special and part of the assembly line but anyways I wasn't happy there. First couple of months was okay but they slowly wanted to completely change what they said and they went from liking Sabu to not liking Sabu and I could feel it." "It just looked like WWE with different lettering, the ECW lettering. It was the same show and no different. There was no extreme to it, no hardcore to it and we couldn't even have the ECW Extreme Rules match every night. We had them every other night. Some nights we'd go to house shows and not one extreme match." "I was afraid people were thinking we were lazy or something but we were being told that we couldn't break a table and could not do this and could not do that. Before I could say, could I do it? Before it they would say well you can do that tomorrow so instead of me doing stuff and saying I couldn't do it anymore they'd stop me before I could even do it." Was WWE’s ECW set up to fail? "I don't think they tried to kill ECW, they were just trying to show that WWE style is stronger I guess. I don't know, I don't think they were trying to kill it because why would Vince spend the money on it to try and kill something? He could've killed it by not using it again."

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• Ratings: Straight Up Steve Austin, Miz & Mrs Season Finale
• WWE: Vince Re-Wrote SmackDown Again, SD Dark Match, KOTR Bracket
• Awesome Kong Announced for AEW Casino Battle Royale

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Dustin Rhodes has signed a contract extension with AEW. AEW issued a press release announcing the news today. It's a multi-year extension, though the exact length of the deal wasn't revealed. Dustin will be an in-ring wrestler for AEW and is also joining their coaching staff as a promo coach and match producer.

Originally Posted by Observer ROH has confirmed the first four participants for their number one contender's tournament. It was announced today that Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Marty Scurll will be participating in the eight-man, single-elimination tournament. The other four wrestlers for it will be announced tomorrow. ROH wrote that the bracket will be revealed on Monday (September 2). The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle, which is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13. Matt Taven currently holds the title.

Originally Posted by Observer Australian wrestler Shazza McKenzie will be taking part in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out. On Twitter today, AEW confirmed McKenzie as the latest entrant for the match. It's taking place on Saturday's All Out pre-show and will feature 21 wrestlers in total.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE have applied to trademark Breezango and The Outliers. Also of note: After proclaiming earlier this month that Adam Cole never used his name prior to joining WWE (which was obviously factually incorrect) and could never use it if he were to leave WWE, WWE sent the following to the United States Patent and Trademark Office: "The Applicant would like to correct information that was provided in the previously filed response. Applicant wishes to advise the Examining Attorney that the “name” in the mark does indeed identify a stage name or professional nickname. Mr. Austin Jenkins that is referred to in the Examiner’s Office Action did actually use this fictional character name prior to working with Applicant and can use this name if he were to cease working with Applicant. Accordingly, attached to this response is the required Consent, which has been signed by Mr. Jenkins."

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

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

Originally Posted by Observer Because of the Olympics in 2020, which takes place in August and most of the key arenas will be used, the decision has been made to move G-1 to the fall next year There is a going on behind-the-scenes regarding TV-Asahi, which has an ownership stake in New Japan (Bushiroad is the primary owner) and is partners with New Japan World. Apparently the issue is FITE getting the live broadcasts for the Melbourne and London shows. For Melbourne, we were told it was a situation where they weren't equipped to handle the technical end and FITE was, and thus FITE got the live broadcast. I don't know why London is on FITE but the New Japan World subscribers in many cases were wondering why the J Cup shows weren't on.

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

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

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

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter At one point the scheduled first show on TNT was to be an introduction special and PPV hype show, similar to what UFC has done, which would have aired on 8/30, the night before All Out. It was never announced and evidently with the schedule listing "Supernatural" in the time slot it was talked about for, it doesn’t look like it’s happening. I was on the TNT schedule at one point. Nobody in AEW had said a word about it of late There was at least last week still talk of an introduction special to promote the debut on the network but has been announced on that front either

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

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Testimony regarding UFC pay brought up a few notable things. Between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2017, all the UFC fighters combined made $626 million. All the WWE wrestlers combined made about $400 million. During that same period, Floyd Mayweather made $638 million. A lot of WWE talent is paying attention to this case. People realize that if the plaintiffs win (which I still can't fully understand how this would happen), there is virtually no difference between UFC and WWE within their respective markets from a history standpoint and there is probably more of a history of WWE holding down competition and underpaying talent as a percentage of revenue than against UFC. While WWE and UFC talent is underpaid compared to the revenues generated, that isn't illegal and the talent signed deals. They can unionize and do collective bargaining. If they don't, I don't see how a court case can rule against the companies for getting people to sign for less money and to increase profits, because whatever you think of it, whether it's WalMart, or whatever, these companies are hardly unique in that structure. A lot of talent in NXT have seen that AEW and ROH are offering a lot more money and better working schedules. WWE is renegotiating deals and bumping some NXT talent up in pay

Originally Posted by Fightful Daniel Bryan hopes to see a trio of top Mexican wrestlers make the jump to WWE. While Bryan was in Colombia for a WWE Live Event in Bogota, he spoke to Super Luchas and was asked about which three Mexican wrestlers he would love to see go to WWE. After Bryan initially mentioned the likes of Negro Casas and Blue Panther, he changed his answer to three more modern grapplers: Rush, Bandido and Dragon Lee, all of whom wrestle for either New Japan Pro Wrestling or Ring of Honor outside of Mexico. "It's tough to pick because my favorites are now too old to go to WWE. I could aay, 'Wait a moment, I want Negro Casas in WWE' or something like that. I love Blue Panther, I love Negro Casas. The first time I saw him wrestle was like back in 1987 but he is incredible. In 2019, it still looks impressive. I have a ton of respect for them but thinking about guys that could potentially make the jump now to WWE, I would say someone like Rush. I think someone like Bandido would make it big as well as Dragon Lee," Bryan said.

Originally Posted by Fightful Following his victory in the Super J-Cup, El Phantasmo called Will Ospreay the "Autistic Assassin," playing off Ospreay's "Aerial Assassin" nickname. For obvious reasons, the comment drew backlash from those in attendance, leading to ELP issuing an apology. "I'd like to address my actions after winning the Super J Cup this past (weekend).... In the heat of the moment I called Will Ospreay "The Autistic Assassin" and I want to say sorry to anyone that was offended by my comment. It was uncalled for on my behalf and you deserve better. Looking back I wish I didn't say it, I promise it wasn't scripted, it was an unnecessary way of getting cheap [heat] and I genuinely apologize if you were hurt by my words. I've never been comfortable on the mic, the inexperience showed and I promise to do better going forward. Sincerely, ELP"

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• WWE: MSG Tickets Not Close to Sold Out, Mauro Ranallo in Outpatient Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
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• Seth Rollins Tops This Year’s “PWI 500” List of Top 500 Wrestlers