Taz on AEW commentary, Interview with Xavier, NJPW off AXS, NXT viewership, new Network series coming, WWE Day Of coming soon, AEW changes title match, RVD set for Middle Eastern event, Smackdown dark match, Billy Gunn competing on AEW Dark, AEW names working Defy, Washington State wrestling paperwork, and Questions on XFL tickets, WWE responding to AEW in NJ, Alexa's podcast, and Andrade's title win

Taz will appear on Dynamite this week, substituting for Tony Schiavone on commentary, as Schiavone has a college football game to call. I wouldn't mind him joining the Raw commentary team, but I would think this booking shoots down whatever chance there was of that.

Xavier Woods discussed his favorite NES games.

NJPW and AXS have parted ways. NJPW confirmed there are currently no plans for any U.S. broadcasts in 2020. That's obviously a big blow to NJPW as they do more shows here, and, honestly could end up hurting AXS more than helping Impact and WOW on the channel. I don't see why they'd willingly turn away a passionate wrestling audience at a time when they're trying to build passionate wrestling audiences! NJPW would have been an obvious vehicle to show commercials, promos, graphics, etc. to promote other wrestling shows.

NXT drew 831,000 viewers Christmas night, which is surprisingly right what they usually do when it's not a holiday. The obvious question is how many people who would normally watch Dynamite watched NXT unopposed, and how much that boosted things.

WWE Network is debuting "Break It Down," which will feature superstars discussing big matches and moments. The first episode is January 5. That sounds like WWE Untold, but I guess this will have videoed interviews.

"WWE Day Of" focusing on TLC will air after Raw.

Kris Statlander won't compete on Dynamite this week due to a previously agreed to indie booking, which AEW is allowing her to fulfill. Instead, Riho will defend the AEW Women's Championship in a four-way match with Nyla Rose, Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida. Statlander will face the winner on January 8. Apparently AEW wasn't aware of the previous booking. Yeah this was a screw-up. I hope AEW learns from what happened here so they don't end up in a similar situation. They did a good move to make up for it, though.

Rob Van Dam is set for Qatar Pro Wrestling's February 21 show.

Dash Wilder returned to the ring before Friday Night Smackdown, as The Revival defeated Kalisto and Gran Metalik. Wilder was held off Thursday's live event for unspecified reasons.

AEW's January 7 Dark has added Billy Gunn and Austin Gunn vs. Ortiz and Santana. That's a cool opportunity for the father and son duo.

AEW's Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt, Cima, T-Hawk, and Lindaman are set for Defy Wrestling's January 31 event.

The Washington State Archives uncovered a lot of wrestling-related paperwork.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It would definitely indicate ticket sales aren't what they were hoping. The league is expected to need a LOT of money to get through the next few years, but the hope is that eventually content providers will pay big rights fees to keep it airing.

2. Honestly that would be very short-sighted of WWE. Hopefully they don't run bigger venues at a loss (?) just to stick it to AEW.

3. Basically they're testing her out to host the next official WWE podcast. It's a way for each side to see how it could theoretically go.

4. It's possible this is part of something bigger they have planned for the weeks and months ahead. It's also possible they just wanted to do something special for Madison Square Garden given the decades of WWE history there.

5. I'm under the impression WWE always has cameras at live events in case something newsworthy happens. I would expect we'll at least see the ending on Raw to show why Andrade is now the champion (and theoretically sell the point that live events are worth going to because titles can indeed change hands there).

More wrestling tomorrow.