Johnny Gargano was injured during Wednesday's NXT taping. He completed his match after being evaluated by officials. It's possible the match is edited to remove any evidence of his being hurt. Unfortunate to see that. I'm glad he appears to be OK.
NJPW canceled Thursday's event due to a wrestler running a fever. The promotion is exercising caution while waiting for COVID test results. NJPW is VERY on the ball with combating the crisis.
Big Show and Gabriel Iglesias appeared on "The Bump."
MLW's Ross and Marshall Von Erich appeared on the Working Fan's podcast.
WWE announced independent wrestling content coming to WWE Network beginning this weekend. Saturday's additions are:
- EVOLVE compilations for Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee
- wXw Ambition 11 and Femme Fatales 2019
- PROGRESS Chapter 92
- ICW Shug's Hoose Party 5 - Night 2
-- It seemed at one point the plan was for this to be part of a premium tier of the Network, but that concept seems to have been shuttered. Very important move in theory, but throwing the content on the service with little notice at the same price makes the long-discussed additions feel arbitrary and minor. WWE again seems to show a level of directionlessness with the Network.
MJF created a Change.org petition to ban Jon Moxley's Paradigm Shift. That's actually really funny.
AEW Unrestricted this week features the creator of their action figures.
Shotzi Blackheart recovered her stolen car, with gear intact. Glad to see that.
Santino Marella is shutting down his wrestling and MMA academy at the end of September in order to spend more time with his family. The promotion's final events are set for September 12 and September 13 in front of no more than 100 fans each due to COVID precautions.
Scott Steiner and Rick Steiner reunited for Highspots' virtual gimmick table.
Summerslam will be held at Amway Arena in Orlando. The show will not have fans in attendance, but WWE is considering using virtual fans in a similar matter to MLB. That could really make a difference in their presentation.
- WWE could begin holding TV tapings at the venue, as well. That would explain why no WWEPC tapings have been announced.
Summerslam is expected to add AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy for the Intercontinental Championship based on plans on the Smackdown taping that ended up getting canceled. That's an interesting direction for both.
Smackdown has added:
- Big E vs. John Morrison
- Alexa Bliss being interviewed
Jeff Jarrett and Anthem have been ordered to have settlement talks. This has really, really drug on.
Dynamite drew 792,000 viewers this week. That's normally a pretty good number, but down from the impressive high of last week.
NXT drew 619,000 viewers this week. That's a pretty significant slide from previous weeks.
MLW is doing an angle where Dominic Garrini is missing in South America. That's certainly... inventive.
Vampiro is the subject of a documentary debuting September 4 in theaters and September 8 for streaming.
AEW allowed around 150 outsiders at Dynamite this week, with social distancing, mask wearing, and temperature taking enforced. Glad to see things continue to open up.
Kamala will be laid to rest this weekend.
AEW has released:
- Jimmy Havoc, who was undergoing mental health counseling following being named in the Speaking Out movement.
- Bea Priestley, who had not appeared since March due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
- Sadie Gibbs, another UK talent who was unavailable due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
-- While Havoc is in a unique situation, it's likely AEW was looking at side talents they weren't likely to be able to use anytime soon. I'm curious if we'll see further international releases for that same reason.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I guess they figured it would look "backward" if they didn't do it like that. Either that or it's a really bad oversight.
2. If anyone's expecting any major names in the group, they will almost definitely be disappointed. I fully expect it to be some talents who haven't gotten a lot of exposure yet, hence the need to tear up the Performance Center.
3. NJPW has a tendency to play hardball on such matters. Something similar happened with Rush "having" to choose ROH over MLW since he was a CMLL name and CMLL is allied with NJPW.
Nothing to add to 4 or 5.
More wrestling tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment