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Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Interviews with Jungle/Hogan/Becky, Show gets Netflix show, Santino working Japan, Ember appearance, another AEW star in BOLA, AEW TV match, Raw rating, SDL rewritten, ROH+CMLL tour, Impact star working Bloodsport, AEW signing, SDL dark matches, and Questions on the MYC returning, AEW helping AAA, AEW pushing the BTE crew, and Kofi in the HoF

Jungle Boy spoke to Entertainment Tonight about honoring his father.

Big Show is starring in a Netflix series that begins filming right before Summerslam. Interestingly the show's synopsis refers to him as retired. He is still under WWE contract.

Santino Marella will work DDT's August 25 event. That will be interesting.

Ember Moon was at Gen Con in Indiana.

Hulk Hogan is on Stone Cold's latest podcast. The two of them discussed why a match between them never happened. It's really cool to see them look back and make amends.

Jungle Boy has been added to Battle of Los Angeles. I really wonder what the series looks like next year if there's no AEW involvement.

AEW's October 2 TV taping will feature Cody vs. Sammy Guevara.

Monday's Raw drew 2.32 million viewers. So, if you're wondering how many casual viewers stuck around after Raw Reunion, the answer is none.

Smackdown Live was completely rewritten Tuesday. WWE had initially advertised Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville vs. The IIconics, as well as Big E and Xavier Woods vs. Drew McIntyre and Elias. The latter match was changed to an announced six-man tag between New Day and all three members of The O.C., which was also dropped. I don't think it's a stretch to say constant changes are part of the reason the audience level is down.

ROH and CMLL have announced Global Wars Espectacular for the following dates:
- September 6 in Michigan
- September 7 in Illinois
- September 8 in Wisconsin

-- CMLL talent booked for the tour include:
- Caristico (only for September 7 and September 8)
- Volador, Jr.
- Stuka, Jr.
- Triton
- Barbaro Cavernario
- Hechicero
- Rey Bucanero
- Okumura
-- It looks like the ROH/CMLL partnership is strengthening, which is good with NJPW doing their own U.S. tours without ROH.

Becky Lynch discussed working with Seth Rollins and more:
- It's definitely tougher to do Evolution without the draw of Ronda being there.

- I also think they've gone a little heavy on the "these two are dating" thing, although I've generally liked the pairing.

Killer Kross has been booked for Bloodsport II. He'll fit right in there.

AEW has signed Marko Stunt. Not especially surprising given his appearances there. The company has definitely built up a notable roster.

Heavy Machinery defeated The B-Team before Smackdown Live for the third straight week.

Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair after Smackdown Live to retain the Smackdown Women's Championship for the second straight week.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Previously the MYC has been used to sign new women's wrestlers. I'd say they've already got quite a few under contract now and don't really need to do another one unless it's largely made of people they've already signed and are just looking to give an opportunity to.

2. There's nothing to indicate AAA is pulling out of the show; it's been something they've wanted to do for decades. And yes, that could definitely be a match that sells tickets, but AEW wants to sell tickets for their own upcoming TV tapings more importantly than AAA's event. AEW wisely wouldn't run Madison Square Garden the same night WWE has a PPV in a different market, so they're staying out of this one.

3. I wouldn't be surprised to see Maria continue to appear for a while; Paul Heyman is strongly in her corner. She almost certainly won't be taking bumps, though.

4. As I've said, the show is ALL ELITE WRESTLING. It makes sense for The Elite to be front-and-center, since they're the ones who drew interest for the product to come together in the first place. And it's not like Omega, Cody, and the Bucks weren't prominent stars in other promotions before making their own. That said, we definitely are going to need to see other stars developed in the months and years to come. I expect that will happen.

5. Honestly even before that win he was HoF-worthy as something of a lifetime achievement award. That win should solidify it, though.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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