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Saturday, November 30, 2019

Survivor Series week attendance, Takeover day change explained, Mauro-Corey note, Bandido update, Lucha Bros Mexico update, Liger to be honored on Japanese TV, NJPW-ROH schedule update, Stardom press conference notes, more on Stardom retirement, NWA legend in NZ Hall of Fame, Mexican return update, Bret honored in Puerto Rico, Colons wrestle but not for WWE, nZo co-promotes wrestling event, Rush looking to get more lucha names in ROH, Tessa injured, AEW continuing to grow, AEW under investigation, WWE and AEW scouting female name, WWE has new top merch name, Brock update, ROH interested in WWE names looking for releases, EC3's whereabouts, NXT UK injury, Xavier update, Interviews with Vic/Titus/Kofi/ZSJ, Braun at NFL game, PWT documentary out, IPWF merchandise, Dynamite match set, NXT looking for marketing campaigns, Bourne/Sydal update, Seth saying sorry on Raw, SD dark match, and Questions on future HoFers, a Northeast Rumble, the Gooker's whereabouts, and Terry Taylor

Survivor Series drew a legitimate sellout of 11,500 fans.

Takeover: WarGames drew about 10,500 fans, which is pretty good in its own right.

Raw drew 7,200 fans in the same venue as the previous two events.

Dynamite drew 6,100 fans this week. That's a pretty good number.

Takeover specials are being planned for Sundays now as an experiment to increase viewership. We could see more "Worlds Collide" style specials on Saturdays before shows like Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. That's an interesting direction given the big attendance they get pairing Takeover events with other major shows the next night.

Mauro Ranallo found out about Corey Graves' tweet after Takeover. That situation was not handled well at all.

Bandido is now The Crash's top champion. Either he's going to have a quick title reign or he's not going to WWE when his ROH deal ends at the end of the year.

The Lucha Bros are done with The Crash. It's believed they will be exclusive to AAA while in Mexico going forward. Of course AAA has a working agreement with AEW, so that won't affect the team's availability there.

Jushin "Thunder" Liger will be honored by a 24-hour TV marathon at the end of the year in Japan. That's major! I hope WWE puts him in their Hall of Fame, but I don't know if they'd want to honor someone who's still likely going to be part of NJPW after retiring.

NJPW is not planning Honor Rising events for February, instead doing a Tiger Hattori retirement tour at that time. The lack of announced crossover between the two sides is telling with Final Battle and Wrestle Kingdom approaching.

Stardom had a press conference regarding changes under their new ownership:
- Milano Collection AT will be the new head coach/trainer.

- The promotion will have a 30-minute TV show in Japan starting January 2, featuring highlights of matches and interviews.

- There will be a large tryout looking for talents between the ages of 15 and 30.

- There will be a new fan club.

- Right now the company is focusing on growing the Japanese market.

Stardom's Hazuki's retirement is due to wanting to move on from wrestling. After competing in Madison Square Garden, she decided she had achieved all she had wanted to. There is no heat with the company or anything else; she just wants to start a new chapter. I wish her the best in doing so!

Former NWA Champion Pat O'Connor has been voted into his native New Zealand's Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame. That's really cool.

Mexico's Cuervo is looking to return to the ring after last year's brick to the head incident. He's still dealing with mental affects from that. Very sad to hear his life quality was changed from it.

Bret Hart was celebrated in Puerto Rico by Hugo Savinovich's Wrestling Superstars promotion.

WWE's Primo and Epico worked in Puerto Rico for WWC recently. The two and Carlito were in a triple threat for the promotion's championship, with Epico retaining. Epico and Primo are still listed as WWE superstars, though their last match there was in February.

The former Enzo Amore and NEW co-promoted a show in California recently.

Rush is looking to get ROH to use his father Bestia del Ring as well as La Mascara. He's one of their biggest assets right now, so it's worth considering.

Tessa Blanchard has an eye injury and will not be wrestling at WrestleCade. That obviously could put Impact in a tough spot.

AEW intends to further expand its women's division. It seems to have a lot of names already, but I wouldn't mind seeing more joshis in the mix.

AEW is being investigated by the Maryland State Athletic Commission for the Lights Out match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley. Staff and doctors were at the event, so if something happened they weren't happy with, they could have acted.

Kris Statlander is being scouted by both WWE and AEW. She's competed for the latter twice now.

Bray Wyatt is now WWE's top merchandise seller. That's great! He's over.

Brock Lesnar isn't expected back until the Royal Rumble build. No surprise there.

ROH is interested in Mike Kanellis and Oney Lorcan if WWE grants them their releases. Oney/Biff could be an asset in a number of places, and of course Kanellis/Bennett has history there. And really in ROH's current state I don't think WWE should view them as competition; I doubt either man would really boost business there, and that's not a knock on them as talents.

EC3 has been out of action due to a concussion suffered in late September. That sucks. I hope he can get some momentum when he recovers.

- EC3 addressed his absence in true EC3 fashion. I miss this man.

NXT UK's Ilja Dragunov is out injured.

Xavier Woods is expected to miss between five and nine months. That's a rough break.

Vic Joseph is on Jerry Lawler's latest podcast.

Braun Strowman was at FOX's Thanksgiving football game. WWE made him give out a custom title before he wins a world title himself. That's savage.

Titus O'Neil helped make meals on Thanksgiving. Great, great work.

Pro Wrestling Tees' documentary has been released. They've really made an impact with their business.

The Impact Provincial Wrestling Federation has released a number of T-shirt designs. That episode was really entertaining.

Dynamite has added Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela. Janela "accepted Moxley's open challenge" while at a GCW event Wednesday night. So Janela was able to work that show in place of Dynamite. Not a bad idea.

NXT is looking for fan marketing ideas. That's interesting!

Kofi Kingston spoke before Smackdown.

Zack Sabre, Jr. discussed his vegan lifestyle. I unironically want to see Daniel Bryan, Austin Aries, and ZSJ do a vegan faction now.

Matt Sydal will continue wrestling for EVOLVE under that name, rather than Evan Bourne. No word on why the change was made.

Seth Rollins has announced an apology for Raw. That could be really fun if he goes full Twitter Seth.

Before Smackdown, The Revival defeated Lucha House Party's Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik. Seemingly LHP are part of Smackdown again, as WWE.com has their bios on that brand. Pretty crazy.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I really haven't heard anything on that front. I'd like to think we'll know around the time of the Rumble.

2. I would think so unless there's a really good opportunity to draw a good crowd in the cold!

3. Survivor Series and its fallout probably superseded any Thanksgiving silliness. I'm not complaining!

4. I expect we will at some point given his accomplishments.

5. Yeah, he's pretty important there.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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