HoFers at Raw, WWE names removed from roster, new Hidden Gems, WWE slot machines, Interviews with Flairs/Fury, Silver King passing investigation complete, Impact opening, Lawler appearance, Sasha booked for shows, WWE podcast launch set, Raw signs free agents, NXT UK signing official, AEW+NXT ratings, FNSD preview, draft note, Cain updates, Liger retirememnt plans, more on Stardom purchase, WWE attempts to buy Japanese companies, AAA cancels California return, more on Japanese talent situation, ODB benefit show set, MLW shifting digital distribution, more on MLW departure, another top ROH contract coming up, Hager in-ring update, international AEW name finishes outside shows, another Performance Center in the works, NXT injury notes, Ember update, Rocky Johnson press, WWE signs OVW name, NXT live event updates, and Questions on Cornette in NWA, Atout-AEW, Joey Styles' whereabouts, wrestling visitors, and a missing HoFer

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair are set for the October 28 Raw, which will of course lead to Crown Jewel. Their angle started hot and disappeared.

Alicia Fox is now listed on WWE.com's alumni section, marking an official end to her in-ring career. I expect she'll still pop up here and there for appearances.

- The Bella Twins have also been moved there, but that's much less surprising given how long it's been since either wrestled.

WWE Network's latest Hidden Gems are:
- Harley Race v. Dick Murdoch from NWA Tri-State in 1977
- Kerry Von Erich vs. Gino Hernandez for the Texas Heavyweight Championship from Houston Wrestling in 1985
- Mid-South Wrestling from November 11, 1985

WWE is creating slot machines featuring past and present superstars. John Cena, Triple H, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, and Shawn Michaels will all be featured in some way.

Ric Flair and Charlotte Flair discussed WWE 2K20.

Silver King's passing was covered in England's Camden New Journal, with the publication strongly criticizing the circumstances that led to his death at 51. As indicated, there were a lot of failures there that wouldn't have happened at, say, a WWE show. This needs to lead to some real changes.

Impact released the opening to tonight's show. It's easy to forget their show this weekend with WWE and AEW doing such major things.

Jerry Lawler will appear at this weekend's Memphis Comic Con, bringing along his Batmobile.

Sasha Banks is booked for this weekend's live events. Glad she's healthy.

Tyson Fury promoted his WWE work on ESPN. I'm glad he has such a passion for it.

- Fury apparently approached WWE years ago to work with them, but it didn't end up happening until now, where he has an opening in his schedule and WWE can spend big on him with what the Saudi government is paying to make Crown Jewel happen.

- Fury has been training regularly at the Performance Center.

WWE's After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves will debut October 30. Graves is a very busy man!

- Triple H will be his first guest. That's definitely newsworthy.

Raw has added AOP to their roster. I've really enjoyed their reinvention.

NXT UK officially announced signing A-Kid. He's getting lauded at only 22. There are a LOT of opportunities for wrestlers in 2019.

Dynamite drew 1.01 million viewers this week. It's a shame to see them taper off after that really strong first night. This is still a strong number, however.

NXT drew 712,000 viewers this week. They're also slumping. I wonder how each show would do if not against the other. Is the competition actually hurting both brands? It's a real shame WWE is prioritizing sabotaging AEW at any expense.

Friday Night Smackdown announced Thursday:
- A Smackdown Women's Championship contendership match with Lacey Evans vs. Nikki Cross vs. Carmella vs. Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose vs. Dana Brooke
- New Day and Heavy Machinery vs. Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, and The Revival

WWE made draft moves to keep couples on the same brand, as with last time.

Cain Velasquez is looking to avoid knee surgery, likely underdoing stem cell treatment to do so. I hope he doesn't have to pull out after such a big debut.

- Cain has been training with Rey Mysterio and will work more at the WWE Performance Center soon.

Jushin "Thunder" Liger's January 5 retirement match will be a singles match. He wants to face someone he's never wrestled before.

- His final U.S. match will be November 9 in California. Amazing to see his career finally winding down.

WWE attempted to buy Japan's Stardom promotion as part of an NXT Japan project. However, Stardom's CEO wanted to continue to run the company himself, as he will be able to do under the new deal with NJPW's parent company Bushiroad. Stardom becoming part of NXT Japan would have been a massive change for both sides. That would have been intriguing.

- WWE would have signed the entire Stardom roster and inducted the company's CEO in their Hall of Fame as part of the deal, but they didn't have concrete plans for NXT Japan that would justify shuttering a company that runs as regularly as Stardom does.

- Bushiroad wants to run Stardom in larger venues occasionally, and is looking at hiring a coach/producer to enhance characters in the company.

- Bushiroad stock saw a jump of more than four percent after this announcement.

AAA will not run a California show at the venue they initially booked. Fans have been refunded.

Japan's Giulia was apparently not under written contract to Ice Ribbon when she abruptly appeared for Stardom, but had been announced for Ice Ribbon events through the end of the year. Her tag team partner Tequila Saya will fill those bookings before retiring at the end of the year. Saya had originally intended to retire on the October 12 show that was canceled due to Typhoon Hagibis.

Mick Foley is doing a benefit show for ODB on November 10. ODB recently lost her food truck to a fire. Foley is a very giving man.

MLW looks to be dropping YouTube as a platform due to a lack of revenue from the site. It seems they have another streaming option in mind.

MLW dropped Alex Greenfield due to him trying to get to AEW. Interesting. We'll see if he ends up there.

PCO's ROH contract expires before Final Battle, but the two sides are expected to come to terms on another contract. It would really be a mess if they had to change their world title match for a major show like that.

Jake Hager won't wrestle for AEW until after his October 25 MMA fight. It was smart to hold off his debut for TNT, then.

AEW's Hikaru Shida has finished her Japanese commitments.

WWE attempted to buy Pro Wrestling NOAH as part of NXT Japan, but the company didn't want to sell to a non-Japanese company. That's very, very big and shows how serious WWE's global expansion plans are.

WWE is looking to start a Japanese Performance Center in conjunction with a planned NXT Japan. Meiko Satomura is set to be a key trainer there. They've got their work cut out for them breaking into that market given how the Stardom and NOAH deals fell apart. We'll see if they're able to get any other companies on board.

Velveteen Dream has a legitimate back injury. It's unknown how long he'll be out.

Kushida's hairline fracture is legitimate. He will miss about a month, which may or may not mean he'll be out of Takeover:WarGames.

Ember Moon is working as a trainer in Texas while recovering. Glad to see her giving back.

Rocky Johnson got press before his autobiography released. Good look at his background.

WWE has signed OVW's Stephon Smith as a referee. Cool to see.

NXT's Jordan Omogbehin worked his first live event since August 24 Friday night, defeating Cezar Bononi in Florida.

Finn Balor returned to the ring for the first time since Summerslam Friday night, defeating Kassius Ohno in Oregon.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. They're seemingly confident he won't cause issues in that role. His commentary style fits well with the style of product they want to deliver; he's definitely a great historian.

2. I've wondered the same thing! They've gone with others in the role she served, so she's a free agent.

3. Living life as Joseph Bonsignore, essentially. He completely distanced himself from wrestling after the EVOLVE incident.

4. It's definitely a regular thing for wrestlers to visit at prominent events to connect for personal and/or professional reasons.

5. Jess McMahon deserves a big, big honor for getting the ball rolling.

More wrestling tomorrow.