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Thursday, June 6, 2019

Assorted WWE press, another NJPW show on FITE, Saudi Arabia women updates, Moxley-NJPW update, who's going to SSD, SyFy cancels show with WWE star, more on WWE comic, new WWE live events, new Impact+ROH PPV matches, NWA releases title match, Interviews with Dustin/Ryback/Becky/Kofi, SDL audience, SSD Kickoff match, new AEW series, another Sami charity, Mickie getting surgery, top NJPW international name moving to Japan, NJPW attendance, and Questions on Vince getting the message, AEW's commentary team, WWE Network dropping platforms, Dustin's journey to AEW, and AEW competing with WWE for younger fans

Andrade and Zelina Vega visited a children's hospital before Smackdown Live. That's pretty good of them.

Mia Yim has her first WWE T-shirt.

NJPW's Australian show on June 29 will also air on FITE TV, as NJPW continues to expand U.S. availability. I expect Jon Moxley on that event to increase non-Japanese interest.

Super ShowDown may feature Natalya vs. Alexa Bliss, as WWE is flying both women into Saudi Arabia in the hopes a women's match will be approved for the show. WWE has been pushing to have a women's match for months. If that's approved, WWE will undoubtedly tout the match as a big sign of progress the company brought about and justification for WWE continuing to work with the Saudi government. It's definitely a positive step.

- Renee Young will once more be an announcer at the show.

Jon Moxley won NJPW's United States Championship during NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors 26 Finals event, defeating Juice Robinson. So they have plans for him beyond that one match. I hope him working there boosts the company, and it's good to see Moxley getting right out there and proving himself.

Super ShowDown has booked Big E, Sin Cara, and Humberto Carrillo, likely for the 50-man battle royal. That would be the first two names' return from injury. 

SyFy has canceled the show Happy!, which featured Big Show in a recurring role.

WWE's comic being canceled was decided several months ago.

Smackdown Live has announced live events for:
- July 20 in Georgia
- August 3 in Kentucky
- August 4 in Illinois
- August 5 in Michigan

Raw has announced live events for:
- July 26 in Arkansas
- July 27 in Oklahoma

Slammiversary has officially added Johnny Impact vs. Rich Swann for the X-Division Championship, as was hinted on TV.

Best in the World has added Nick Aldis and Colt Cabana vs. The Briscoes in something of a crossover with NWA.

- NWA has released Colt Cabana vs. James Storm, taped at ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds on May 12.

WWE assets from the 1980s are being added to Rocket League's summer expansion, specifically related to Ultimate Warrior.

Dustin Rhodes is on Chris Jericho's latest podcast.

Ryback spoke to Chris Van Vliet about leaving WWE and more. He was clever with getting his downside guarantee despite walking out.

Becky Lynch spoke to Sports Illustrated. I'm really curious what will headline WrestleMania 36.

A Randy Savage Slim Jim figure is coming from Mattel. AMAZING.

WWE superstars wished India Eid Mubarak.

Smackdown Live drew 2.01 million viewers Tuesday night, pretty close to last week's number.

Super ShowDown's Kickoff special will have The Usos vs. The Revival. I expect Jimmy and Jey to take that one.

AEW has launched a Road to Fyter Fest series.

Sami Zayn is launching another Syrian fundraiser right as Super ShowDown comes on WWE Network. Zayn will not be on that show due to Saudi Arabia's relationship with Syria.

Mickie James is undergoing surgery for a torn ACL suffered at a recent live event. She could easily be out the rest of 2019. Hopefully she still has a good run in her once she recovers.

Kofi Kingston discussed returning to Ghana. WWE is working on a "WWE 24" episode featuring that trip. Kofi vs. Big E is an intriguing direction, but one they want to be careful with executing if it means the end of New Day's success.

Will Ospreay is moving to Japan. He just won NJPW's Best of Super Juniors tournament, so he's likely in for a bigger role there.

NJPW's Best of Super Juniors finals, featuring Jon Moxley's first post-WWE match, drew 7,650 fans. That's pretty impressive.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. If the Kofi-Dolph segment pulls big social media numbers, that could theoretically send a message. Overall, if segments and matches like that are received favorably (as in, viewed a lot on TV and online), there's an easier argument for Vince to do more like them. As for Shane's win, it was over someone the WWE audience had never seen wrestle before, and he had help to do it. Hardly egregious.

2. I'm glad they tried that idea at DON instead of debuting them all cold on TNT! Marvez definitely seemed out of place. Hopefully they adjust things between now and October.

3. I'm under the impression the big updates needed to create the "new" (tiered) WWE Network won't work on those older platforms. WWE's taking a risk that the new model will take hold with more subscribers.

4. Rhodes is the only talent who's worked all those promotions, yes. If we're just going with WWE, WCW, Impact, and AEW, Christopher Daniels also has those credentials. Either way, yes, Dustin has had an amazing career.

5. In some ways we won't see just whom AEW will appeal to until it's on TNT and thus easily available to a wider variety of potential fans. There's absolutely potential for AEW to appeal to younger generations going forward in a way that hurts WWE's attempts to court that same demographic. AEW is going to be in a position to reach a lot of fans in a lot of demographics come October, and that will affect WWE and every other promotion that runs in the same markets AEW is going to run.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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