New Year's themed Hidden Gem, Interview with Cornette, NXT philanthropy, why Impact is switching nights, assorted injury updates, why Tozawa is working non-WWE event, ROH breaks yearly attendance record, Daniels-ROH update, Whitmer's future, ROH star gets heat, WM35 main event plan, SDL plan update, 205 Live name teasing exit, top indie name to EVOLVE, NJPW headliner signs new deal, ROH name re-signs, Elite moving on from design, big Mania book coming, former WWE star writes wrestling screenplay, WWE live event notes, and Questions on WWE content airing outside of WWE, NXT names working more live events, Pursuit's reach, linking the new and old women's tag titles, and Fandango's status

Mid-South Wrestling's 1985 New Year's Eve show is the latest WWE Network Hidden Gem. This featured a Dog Collar match between Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer and Butch Reed.

Jim Cornette is on Chris Jericho's latest podcast to discuss The Elite and more. I'll give Cornette credit for recognizing the great success of talent he strongly dislikes.

NXT stars volunteered at "Give Kids The World." WWE is doing an amazing job with philanthropy.

Impact's new timeslot was deliberately chosen so the show will follow Smackdown Live starting in October. That would suggest the show will stay at that time if it moves from Pursuit. Banking on fans wanting four straight hours of wrestling on Fridays is bold, to say the least.

Michael Elgin had knee surgery and will miss about two months. I definitely miss him in ROH.

Stardom's Mayu Iwatani suffered a sprained MCL and will miss a few weeks of action. She's worked WOH in the past.

Akira Tozawa working Fight Club Pro is a concession for NXT UK talents not being allowed to compete at that event.

Tank Abbott is recovering from a liver transplant.

Revolution Pro has lost their UK TV deal due to low audience numbers.

ROH again broke the average ticket sales in a year, with 1,200 in 2018. That's up from 1,100 in 2017. They've got their work cut out for them topping that number in 2019, although the big crowd for Supercard will definitely go a long way.

Christopher Daniels could remain in ROH as a producer while wrestling outside of the promotion. He's continuing to take indie dates.

BJ Whitmer is expected to go to AEW. He has at times been Burnard the Business Bear.

Jonathan Gresham was pulled from ROH's most recent TV taping after missing a spot at Final Battle where he was to fight off Hangman Page during the Jay Lethal vs. Cody match. He was also late for that taping. It's believed issues have been smoothed over now.

WrestleMania 35 could be headlined by Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch, as that match is still being planned. It's possible Charlotte Flair is added to make it a triple threat. That could really be amazing.

Smackdown Live is expected to air live in the western U.S. when it moves to FOX.

Gran Metalik is reportedly considering leaving WWE, possibly to return to CMLL. I don't see WWE making a huge offer to keep him given the state of 205 Live.

Shane Strickland is set to start in EVOLVE in February. He's being groomed for NXT once he's free of LU commitments.

Hiroshi Tanahashi has re-signed with NJPW for a one-year deal. He will likely have a big 2019!

Raw drew 1.78 million viewers(!) for a taped Christmas Eve show, the lowest number the show has ever drawn by a comfortable margin. I know we can only read so much into this given the date and it not being live, but last year's Christmas Day show drew 2.71 million. WWE TV is really stumbling lately.

Beer City Bruiser has re-signed with ROH through 2019. There was talk of him going to WWE, but obviously that won't be happening. He will be able to take some outside bookings under his new deal.

The Elite's Bullet Club style shirts will no longer be sold as of January 7, signaling the formal split of the two sides.

A 35 years of WrestleMania book is coming September 2019. That's a really impressive milestone.

Shad Gaspard has a critically-praised unproduced screenplay about pro wrestling. I'm curious how that will turn out.

Bray Wyatt returned to action at Raw's December 27 live event in Ohio, defeating Baron Corbin in a no disqualification match. Bray was backstage at WWE's Madison Square Garden event, but not used. He did not have a new gimmick, as some speculated.

On Smackdown Live's December 27 live event in New York:
- AJ Styles missed the show due to the flu
- Mustafa Ali defeated The Miz after MizTV.
- John Cena faced Daniel Bryan in a steel cage match, with Bryan retaining the WWE Championship by escaping the cage. That's a really big match!

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. The Atlanta market was a key one for WWF at that time, which of course led to further moves that ended up creating WCW.

2. No. The hope was having NXT talent working the show would help get some of the G1 Supercard ticketholders to watch the show. WWE drew about 11,900 to a venue NJPW and ROH sold 15,000 tickets for. This venue, of course, is historically a WWE stronghold.

3. Much fewer people than get Pop or Destination America. For comparison, it's also lower than El Rey Network and AXS but a step up from BeIN Sports. I'll be surprised if they get 100,000 viewers a week given the numbers they're drawing now and how much smaller Pursuit is.

4. I fully expect them to separate the new "WWE" lineage from the "WWF" Women's Tag Team Championship. History is what they want it to be, after all.

5. It's notable Tyler Breeze mentioned him on Raw and WWE Network is featuring a show with him starring in it. I imagine he'll be back in time for the Andre the Giant Battle Royal.

More wrestling tomorrow.