MLW titleholder signs new deal, Dynamite matches, FNSD audience, AEW stipulation set for WK14, more 24/7 title changes, another job for former Sin Cara, Dusty trademark refused, AEW uploads Cody/Darby I, more video game press, Sports Illustrated's top wrestlers, and Questions on the importance of angles, NJPW U.S. crossover, NWA turning a profit, and HHH's influence in EVOLVE

MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed has signed a new long-term deal. He has an opportunity to build a name for himself there.

Dynamite has added:
- Jon Moxley vs. Trent?
- Sammy Guevara vs. Dustin Rhodes

Smackdown drew 2.43 million viewers this week, basically identical to last week.

Chris Jericho vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14 has officially added a stipulation where Tanahashi can challenge for the AEW World Championship if he wins. Very interested to see how that will play out. I expect either Jericho will win or the title match will take place in NJPW.

The 24/7 Championship changed hands four times at Raw's December 27 live event in Pennsylvania:
- Samir Singh scored a pinfall in a handicap match with Sunil Singh against R-Truth
- Announcer Mike Rome pinned Samir to win the title for the first time.
- Sunil Singh then pinned Rome to take the title for himself.
- R-Truth won the title for the 27th time after pinning Sunil. This win ties him with Raven's number of reigns for the Hardcore Championship, which also had a 24/7 rule for a time.

Cinta de Oro (formerly Sin Cara) is now English Premier League's Wolverhampton Wanderers' director of International Development. Interesting post-WWE role for him.

Cody's trademark for Dusty Rhodes was refused due to similarities with the Dustin Rhodes trademarked owned by Dustin. What will likely happen is Cody will get permission from Dustin to trademark the name.

AEW's YouTube uploaded Cody vs. Darby Allin to promote their upcoming rematch. Smart move.

Kenny Omega, Xavier Woods, and Excalibur discussed their top ten video games of 2019.

Sports Illustrated named their top ten wrestlers of 2019. It's an eclectic mix, for sure.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I also think this is a mischaracterization of the argument, which was that the stories of why people are facing off and who those people are matters more than the actual quality of the matches in drawing viewers. That's definitely true for Hollywood. There are plenty of movies with big stars and big properties attached that aren't critically successful, but they keep getting made because there's a ready audience for them. There are also occasions where movies have big budgets, big name actors, and awesome scripts/directions/etc, but a lot of great movies aren't seen because they don't draw a casual audience in. The audience that follows the movie (promotion, match) the second it's announced is already paying attention; movie studios (promotions) need to get others outside that group interested to be largely successful.

2.a. So, there will still be a small amount of NJPW/ROH crossover, but not to the level we saw before G1 Supercard. Notably there are plans to have a number of NJPW names on the as-yet-unannounced WrestleMania weekend show, but it won't be another joint show in the sense of last year's show.

2.b. I don't expect NJPW to pair with anyone else at this time, as their current goal is to run a set number of dates in the U.S. on their own, and it looks like they've already put a lot of planning into that. In some ways they've had to plan their 2020 schedule earlier than usual, as the Olympics will take up a lot of their usual Japanese venues this summer. Obviously a lot of people want an AEW/NJPW crossover, but NJPW wants to focus on their own brand right now.

3. I expect they're looking for profitable distribution deals as they continue to build up an audience.

Nothing to add to 4.

5. Obviously Triple H is very busy with other endeavors, so he's not hands-on. I expect Sapolsky's relationship with Triple H is similar to HHH's with Vince in the sense that EVOLVE is Gabe's project but HHH is kept in the know about talents and plans for when they could become part of NXT. And of course HHH sends some NXT names there to get extra experience and help EVOLVE draw.

More wrestling tomorrow.