ICW's November 2 show will be headlined by NXT UK's Wolfgang challenging Liam Thomson for the Zero-G Championship in a Good Housekeeping match. ICW's November 3 show will be headlined by NXT UK's Joe Coffey challenging Stevie Boy for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.
Roman Reigns will guest star on Disney's "Elena of Avalor" for its third season.
WWE stars will appear on tomorrow night's "25 Words or Less" on FOX.
Kane winning the 24/7 Championship got local press.
Impact's Scott D'Amore was in the production truck at WOW's Tuesday taping. Ed Nordholm was in the crowd.
Impact is waiting to move to AXS because they had commitments in place with Pursuit through Bound For Glory. Honestly, the timing works out well for them to have a fresh start when they will.
Ken Shamrock will be the subject of a Fight Network documentary.
Impact's October 18 Impact Plus event in Indiana will feature Rob Van Dam, Rhino, and Naomichi Marufuji vs. Michael Elgin and The North.
CBS Sports covered NXT's move to USA, with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, and Shayna Baszler quoted.
NXT has released a substantial number of new talent T-shirts in conjunction with the USA debut. Frankly a lot of them look generic and uninspired; they would have been better off doing a few at a time as those names appeared on TV instead of rushing them out.
Titus O'Neil got press for wearing a University of Tennessee shirt designed by a bullied fan. That's pretty cool.
Randy Orton retracted his Baron Corbin praise. Vintage Twitter Orton.
Jon Moxley intends to work Wrestle Kingdom 14.
MJF and Brandon Cutler feuding over Dungeons & Dragons got press with Comicbook.com and Muscle & Fitness. I guess this is the kind of thing you have to do to get attention now.
Da Crusher's Wisconsin statue was vandalized. Well that didn't take long! It sounds like it was just a way to get attention rather than an act against Da Crusher specifically.
MLW has signed jiujitsu competitor Dominic Garrini to a multi-year contract.
WWE has trademarked "Follow That My Friend" and "FTMF" as a show name as well as for merchandise purposes. Triple H made the remark after NXT UK: Takeover Cardiff.
Seth Rollins, Jeff Hardy, Sasha Banks, and Ricochet will appear at Ringside Fest 2019 in New York on November 3.
Brock Lesnar is advertised for the September 30 Raw. So there will be a Beast, a Monster, and a Fiend there!!
Kevin Owens will work this weekend's Smackdown Live live events as Shane McMahon "considers Owens' lawsuit." It was expected Owens would appear on NXT as part of the angle, but he needed to travel for this international tour.
Adam Cole spoke to Fox News and Sports Illustrated before NXT's USA debut.
Bianca Belair spoke to Channel Guide Magazine and Newsweek before NXT's USA debut. Interesting story about the braid!
Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville were at the Olympia 2019 Fitness & Performance Weekend.
"All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite" has been confirmed as the title of AEW's TV show. TNT will have a two-hour countdown special on October 1 before that show debuts the next night.
FOX has announced the following WWE related content:
- Smackdown's Greatest Hits on September 27
- WrestleMania's Legendary Moments, narrated by John Cena, on September 29
- Friday Night Smackdown Kickoff Show on October 4 half an hour before the series debut. This will feature celebrities, athletes, and past WWE stars as part of the "blue carpet" festivities.
Smackdown Live drew 2.06 million viewers Tuesday night, almost identical to last week.
ROH's September 28 TV taping has added PCO and Brody King vs. Rush and Dragon Lee.
ROH has announced:
- The Experience in Pennsylvania on November 2. This event will have fans choosing stipulations and opponents.
- ROH Unauthorized in Ohio on November 3. This event is presented as ROH booking matches and talents they don't normally book.
- Survival of the Fittest in Texas on November 8 and November 9.
Braun Strowman, Tomasso Ciampa, Kalisto, and Sarah Logan were all backstage at NXT.
NXT coaches Matt Bloom (Albert) and Sarah Amato spoke to The Orlando Sentinel before NXT's USA debut.
The Rock 'n' Roll Express will compete on NWA's October 1 TV taping.
Billy Corgan unveiled NWA's logo for their TV tapings. Pretty cool, although of course just featuring one state kind of goes against the "National" part of the name.
CaZXL released another brief apology.
NXT sold a "Live From Full Sail" shirt at Wednesday's taping.
Before NXT:
- Angel Garza defeated Raul Mendoza
- Damian Priest defeated Kona Reeves. Reeves was busted open during the match and helped to the back by referees and a doctor. He ended up needing stitches.
WWE Network experienced issues with so many people logging in to see the second hour of NXT. That's impressive in a sense.
After NXT, Triple H cut another promo before posing in the crowd for a photo. This was a big moment for him.
The former Jack Swagger will compete at Bellator 231 on October 25 in Connecticut.
Triple H did a conference call after NXT, recapped here:
- Everyone definitely delivered.
- TV is a whole different animal.
- There really needs to be a balance of in-ring action and character progression.
- Yikes. "Developmental" and "midcard" are dirty words to HHH. I see his point, though, about developing.
- I'll be quite surprised if they stay at Full Sail long-term given the growth potential.
- Vince is very often painted as someone who only wants one kind of wrestling. He's put tens of millions of dollars, if not more, into NXT.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm under the impression AEW did tone down what was proposed for the Cracker Barrel Brawl. There's an understanding that a lot of his appeal is pushing boundaries the way he does, just as the appeal of the Young Bucks is seeing what crazy stuff they'll come up with next.
2. He doesn't need it, and it would be weird in some ways for him to have it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a big moment for him.
3. Essentially he's cleared for a small amount of physicality, but for obvious reasons he wants to keep such impacts few and far between!
4. Right now it's just on WWE Network, but it's possible that expands.
5. AEW is working on TV deals for Canada and the UK. I believe others are in the works, too.
More wrestling coming up.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
NXT UK stars challenging for ICW titles, assorted wrestling press, Impact roles at WOW, Impact Plus event match, lots of NXT debut press, NXT releases a lot of merch, Orton retracts Corbin praise, Moxley-NJPW update, AEW stars feud over D&D, Crusher statue vandalized, MLW signs debuting star to deal, NXT-related trademarks, RingsideFest guests announced, another Brock date, Owens update, AEW-TNT notes, FOX content coming, SDL audience, new ROH TV match, ROH events set, NXT backstage notes, Rock 'n' Roll returning to NWA, new NWA logo, more from CaZXL, NXT dark matches, WWE Network issues, what happened after NXT, Swagger back in the cage, HHH conference call, and Questions on
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
AEW trademarks possible show name, TV Guide on NXT vs. AEW, MJF's last indie show, new WWE and Stone Cold trademarks, Rock show returning, Orton praises KOTR, Booker praises WWE team, MLW PPV main event, Andre book update, DBD pre-show match, CaZXL statement and reactions, Vince and HHH miss TV, former trainer at Raw, WWE-FOX press, Gulak discusses title care, NXT name teases battle with Raw name, WWE-FS1 staff and likely show name, EVOLVE update, NWA main event, note on Raw's graphics, Kane's referee, Taz in discussions to return to business, Raw name moving to NXT UK?, SDL names visit children's hospital, Raw audience, Becky appearance, Interviews with Ciampa/Abbott, NFG match official, MLW profiled, ex-announcer gets podcast, AEW tournament bracket, Starrcade return announced, SDL dark matches, and Questions on women being in bigger matches, AEW statistics, WWE's huge roster, and who owns All In
AEW has trademarked "All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite," almost certainly for the name of their upcoming TV series.
TV Guide covered NXT going against AEW. WWE treating AEW as a threat is probably getting the latter company publicity and hype it wouldn't have otherwise gotten.
MJF's final independent appearance is Sunday in Rhode Island.
WWE has trademarked "The Disrespected" and "Boa." I'm curious who the first will apply to.
Stone Cold has trademarked "King of Professional Wrestling," "King of Attitude," "Queen of Attitude," "Broken Skull Ranch," and "Skullaflage" for merchandise purposes.
The Rock's "Titan Games" is returning for a second season.
Randy Orton praised Baron Corbin, subtly taking shots at the rest of the roster. It definitely often feels like the fundamentals aren't treated as importantly as flashy moves, etc.
Booker T. discussed wanting to manage the Street Profits. I'm not sure if that would help them or draw attention away from them onto the Hall of Famer.
MLW Saturday Night Superfight will be headlined by Jacob Fatu vs. LA Park for the MLW Championship in a no disqualification match.
Andre the Giant will have an official biography released in April 2020.
Death Before Dishonor's pre-show will feature Jeff Cobb vs. Brody King. That could really be good.
CaZXL released a statement after the recent WrestlePro situation. That was a very mature approach, and I hope he comes out of this in a better place.
- Kevin Matthews and nZo tweeted out support.
Paul Heyman ran Raw Monday, as neither Vince McMahon nor Triple H were in attendance.
- Vince McMahon was also not at Smackdown Live. Bruce Prichard, Eric Bischoff, and Michael P.S. Hayes took over his duties.
Dr. Tom Prichard was at Raw.
WWE had "moving trucks" at Clash of Champions and Raw to promote Smackdown going to FOX.
Drew Gulak discussed taking care of championship belts.
Kacy Catanzaro teased going after Maria Kanellis for her Raw comments. Funny!
WWE's FS1 talk show will be taped weekly in California. Renee Young and Cathy Kelley will be involved, and a number of WWE personalities and Hall of Famers have tried out to be added to the panel.
- There series is currently expected to be called "WWE Backstage."
EVOLVE's events this weekend in New York will feature meet and greets with everyone on the card.
NWA's upcoming TV tapings will be headlined by Nick Aldis vs. Tim Storm for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Raw's upside down graphics were a deliberate direction to tie into The Fiend. I'm enjoying WWE's creepypasta.
Kane's referee on Raw was former WWE developmental star Micah Taylor. Amazing that he finally got his chance on Raw more than a decade after being done there!
Taz has recently had discussions to return to wrestling commentary. I'm curious who was interested in using him again.
Ember Moon teased going to NXT UK to face Kay Lee Ray. She might as well at this point.
Kofi Kingston, Ali, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville visited Children's Healthcare of Atlanta before Smackdown Live.
Raw drew 2.27 million viewers Monday night, only seeing a slight increase from last week.
Becky Lynch spoke at Sports Business Journal's Game Changers event.
FOX had NASCAR's Jeff Gordon promote SmackDown's move.
Tommaso Ciampa spoke to NXT's Izzy. I'm glad his recovery is going well.
Bound For Glory has officially added Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji.
MLW got press with The Ringer. Jim Ross, Court Bauer, Dave Lagana, and Jacob Fatu were quoted.
Former WWE/AWA announcer Ken Resnick is joining VOC Nation Radio's Wrestling With History show beginning October 2.
Tank Abbott discussed Goldberg and more.
AEW has released the brackets for their tag team championship tournament:
- The Young Bucks vs. Private Party on October 9 in Massachusetts
- The Lucha Bros vs. The Jurassic Express on October 16 in Pennsylvania
- Best Friends vs. SCU on October 16 in Pennsylvania
- Dark Order vs. the winners of Best Friends vs. SCU on October 23 in Pennsylvania
- The other semifinal match on October 23 in Pennsylvania
- The champions will be crowned on October 30 in West Virginia
WWE Starrcade will return on December 1 in Georgia as a one-hour WWE Network broadcast. Raw and Friday Night Smackdown stars are advertised for the show.
Before Smackdown Live, Aleister Black defeated Buddy Murphy.
After Smackdown Live, Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair to retain the Smackdown Live Women's Championship.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm under the impression Triple H and Stephanie McMahon pushed for those events to happen given the ability and prominence of the women featured in them.
2. I agree it would be an alternative, but I definitely enjoy angles more than statistics.
Nothing to add to 3.
4. WWE would rather have talent and not want to use them than want to use talent and not have them. Lio at least is being benched to send him a message in humility. I'm not sure what the story is with Lana. As for names like The Ascension, there's always the possibility WWE wants to do something with them before their contracts run out. If not, WWE will just let the contracts expire naturally. They've got more than enough money to do pretty much whatever they want now.
5. The show was produced by ROH, so it's theirs.
More wrestling tomorrow.
TV Guide covered NXT going against AEW. WWE treating AEW as a threat is probably getting the latter company publicity and hype it wouldn't have otherwise gotten.
MJF's final independent appearance is Sunday in Rhode Island.
WWE has trademarked "The Disrespected" and "Boa." I'm curious who the first will apply to.
Stone Cold has trademarked "King of Professional Wrestling," "King of Attitude," "Queen of Attitude," "Broken Skull Ranch," and "Skullaflage" for merchandise purposes.
The Rock's "Titan Games" is returning for a second season.
Randy Orton praised Baron Corbin, subtly taking shots at the rest of the roster. It definitely often feels like the fundamentals aren't treated as importantly as flashy moves, etc.
Booker T. discussed wanting to manage the Street Profits. I'm not sure if that would help them or draw attention away from them onto the Hall of Famer.
MLW Saturday Night Superfight will be headlined by Jacob Fatu vs. LA Park for the MLW Championship in a no disqualification match.
Andre the Giant will have an official biography released in April 2020.
Death Before Dishonor's pre-show will feature Jeff Cobb vs. Brody King. That could really be good.
CaZXL released a statement after the recent WrestlePro situation. That was a very mature approach, and I hope he comes out of this in a better place.
- Kevin Matthews and nZo tweeted out support.
Paul Heyman ran Raw Monday, as neither Vince McMahon nor Triple H were in attendance.
- Vince McMahon was also not at Smackdown Live. Bruce Prichard, Eric Bischoff, and Michael P.S. Hayes took over his duties.
Dr. Tom Prichard was at Raw.
WWE had "moving trucks" at Clash of Champions and Raw to promote Smackdown going to FOX.
Drew Gulak discussed taking care of championship belts.
Kacy Catanzaro teased going after Maria Kanellis for her Raw comments. Funny!
WWE's FS1 talk show will be taped weekly in California. Renee Young and Cathy Kelley will be involved, and a number of WWE personalities and Hall of Famers have tried out to be added to the panel.
- There series is currently expected to be called "WWE Backstage."
EVOLVE's events this weekend in New York will feature meet and greets with everyone on the card.
NWA's upcoming TV tapings will be headlined by Nick Aldis vs. Tim Storm for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Raw's upside down graphics were a deliberate direction to tie into The Fiend. I'm enjoying WWE's creepypasta.
Kane's referee on Raw was former WWE developmental star Micah Taylor. Amazing that he finally got his chance on Raw more than a decade after being done there!
Taz has recently had discussions to return to wrestling commentary. I'm curious who was interested in using him again.
Ember Moon teased going to NXT UK to face Kay Lee Ray. She might as well at this point.
Kofi Kingston, Ali, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville visited Children's Healthcare of Atlanta before Smackdown Live.
Raw drew 2.27 million viewers Monday night, only seeing a slight increase from last week.
Becky Lynch spoke at Sports Business Journal's Game Changers event.
FOX had NASCAR's Jeff Gordon promote SmackDown's move.
Tommaso Ciampa spoke to NXT's Izzy. I'm glad his recovery is going well.
Bound For Glory has officially added Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji.
MLW got press with The Ringer. Jim Ross, Court Bauer, Dave Lagana, and Jacob Fatu were quoted.
Former WWE/AWA announcer Ken Resnick is joining VOC Nation Radio's Wrestling With History show beginning October 2.
Tank Abbott discussed Goldberg and more.
AEW has released the brackets for their tag team championship tournament:
- The Young Bucks vs. Private Party on October 9 in Massachusetts
- The Lucha Bros vs. The Jurassic Express on October 16 in Pennsylvania
- Best Friends vs. SCU on October 16 in Pennsylvania
- Dark Order vs. the winners of Best Friends vs. SCU on October 23 in Pennsylvania
- The other semifinal match on October 23 in Pennsylvania
- The champions will be crowned on October 30 in West Virginia
WWE Starrcade will return on December 1 in Georgia as a one-hour WWE Network broadcast. Raw and Friday Night Smackdown stars are advertised for the show.
Before Smackdown Live, Aleister Black defeated Buddy Murphy.
After Smackdown Live, Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair to retain the Smackdown Live Women's Championship.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm under the impression Triple H and Stephanie McMahon pushed for those events to happen given the ability and prominence of the women featured in them.
2. I agree it would be an alternative, but I definitely enjoy angles more than statistics.
Nothing to add to 3.
4. WWE would rather have talent and not want to use them than want to use talent and not have them. Lio at least is being benched to send him a message in humility. I'm not sure what the story is with Lana. As for names like The Ascension, there's always the possibility WWE wants to do something with them before their contracts run out. If not, WWE will just let the contracts expire naturally. They've got more than enough money to do pretty much whatever they want now.
5. The show was produced by ROH, so it's theirs.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Smackdown Live and 205 Live Reax - 9/17/19
Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown Live and 205 Live.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Interviews with Gargano/Gable/Austin, October hype, Revival milestone, signing before Smackdown Live, Lawler featuring classic Memphis content, Vickie launches podcast, new ROH matches, WOH action figures coming, top CMLL name to compete for ROH, ROH titleholder's contract bought out, Shamrock promoting fighting tournament, Harper update, BOLA change, another AEW taping set, HHH conference call, AAA show airing on AXS, new AEW TV match, Flair commercials and appearance, Starrcade returning?, and Questions on the WarGames lineup and moving top names to NXT
Johnny Gargano is on Lilian Garcia's latest podcast.
WWE was pushed on weekend sports events on FOX, FS1, and NBC Sports Network.
The Revival are the first team to be Raw, Smackdown Live, and NXT Tag Team Champions. That's quite the resume!
Becky Lynch did a signing at a Cricket Wireless store before Smackdown Live.
Jerry Lawler is uploading Classic Memphis Wrestling episodes on his YouTube channel.
Vickie Guerrero has launched a podcast. I'm curious how that will go.
ROH's September 28 TV taping has announced:
- Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins in the first round of the Final Battle contendership tournament.
- Jay Lethal vs. Bandido in the first round of the Final Battle contendership tournament.
ROH will have action figures for Kelly Klein and all three members of The Allure.
Death Before Dishonor has announced Silas Young and Vincent (Vinny Marseglia) vs. The Bouncers. I'm curious what this means for The Kingdom long-term.
Ultimo Guerrero will compete for ROH later this year. That should be good!
ROH has announced they have bought out Shane Taylor's contract, and that they are negotiating for him to defend his TV Championship at Death Before Dishonor as a final match. Not sure what's going on there; it looks like a storyline as you'd think they'd have him work that date before leaving.
Ken Shamrock is promoting a bare knuckle fighting tournament on FITE Saturday night.
Luke Harper is now back to using that name rather than just his last name. It's very good to see him back. His return was a late decision to set up a tag match with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan.
PWG's Battle of Los Angeles is seeing a lineup change, as Laredo Kid has been cast in a reality show in the Dominican Republic. Puma King will replace him.
AEW's November 20 TV taping will come from Indiana. The venue seats 6,800 fans.
Triple H did a conference call before NXT's USA Network debut, recapped here:
- People are REALLY going to analyze each and every number they draw.
- So obviously 205 Live isn't going to air Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. once Smackdown changes nights. It would be nice to know more on that end given how close we are to the FOX move.
- Sounds like we could get the Undisputed Era vs. Imperium War Games match people have asked for.
- Being upset about a championship being defended in the middle of the show being called a midcard championship is kind of silly.
- I like the idea of Worlds Collide specials.
- It will be really interesting to see what happens to NXT touring and the "developmental" wrestlers.
AAA's New York event will air on AXS Friday night. I'm curious how that will do and if it will open the door for more AAA content to air there.
AEW's October 2 TV taping has added MJF vs. Brandon Cutler.
Ric Flair appeared in commercials for Cumberland Farms and Tide.
- Flair was also at an Auburn football game.
Starrcade is expected to return as a WWE Network special on November 30. I assume that will just be a bigger live event rather than a show at the level of Clash of Champions.
TV Guide will have stories on Smackdown, AEW, and NXT in next week's issue. It's about to be a big time for wrestling fans.
Chad Gable spoke before Raw. I'm really curious what's next for him after the KOTR loss.
Stone Cold was on B/R Live's Rich Eisen Show.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That would all makes sense. I definitely want to see something fresh there so they're not doing WarGames just to do it.
2. I REALLY don't see Bryan moving to 205 Live. That show isn't a priority at all, and it would be a huge waste of Bryan to put him there. Having Owens in NXT to cause a ruckus before finishing his feud with Shane at Survivor Series would make a lot of sense.
3. Partially, but having NXT be a success is also a goal in its own right.
4. I have no idea where this hypothetical came from, but it would depend on what they did with him.
5. Only if it's framed as a demotion instead of a big opportunity to improve the standing of their new brand, have fresh feuds, etc.
6. The more important the talent, the more say they have in such a move.
More wrestling tomorrow.
WWE was pushed on weekend sports events on FOX, FS1, and NBC Sports Network.
The Revival are the first team to be Raw, Smackdown Live, and NXT Tag Team Champions. That's quite the resume!
Becky Lynch did a signing at a Cricket Wireless store before Smackdown Live.
Jerry Lawler is uploading Classic Memphis Wrestling episodes on his YouTube channel.
Vickie Guerrero has launched a podcast. I'm curious how that will go.
ROH's September 28 TV taping has announced:
- Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins in the first round of the Final Battle contendership tournament.
- Jay Lethal vs. Bandido in the first round of the Final Battle contendership tournament.
ROH will have action figures for Kelly Klein and all three members of The Allure.
Death Before Dishonor has announced Silas Young and Vincent (Vinny Marseglia) vs. The Bouncers. I'm curious what this means for The Kingdom long-term.
Ultimo Guerrero will compete for ROH later this year. That should be good!
ROH has announced they have bought out Shane Taylor's contract, and that they are negotiating for him to defend his TV Championship at Death Before Dishonor as a final match. Not sure what's going on there; it looks like a storyline as you'd think they'd have him work that date before leaving.
Ken Shamrock is promoting a bare knuckle fighting tournament on FITE Saturday night.
Luke Harper is now back to using that name rather than just his last name. It's very good to see him back. His return was a late decision to set up a tag match with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan.
PWG's Battle of Los Angeles is seeing a lineup change, as Laredo Kid has been cast in a reality show in the Dominican Republic. Puma King will replace him.
AEW's November 20 TV taping will come from Indiana. The venue seats 6,800 fans.
Triple H did a conference call before NXT's USA Network debut, recapped here:
- People are REALLY going to analyze each and every number they draw.
- So obviously 205 Live isn't going to air Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. once Smackdown changes nights. It would be nice to know more on that end given how close we are to the FOX move.
- Sounds like we could get the Undisputed Era vs. Imperium War Games match people have asked for.
- Being upset about a championship being defended in the middle of the show being called a midcard championship is kind of silly.
- I like the idea of Worlds Collide specials.
- It will be really interesting to see what happens to NXT touring and the "developmental" wrestlers.
AAA's New York event will air on AXS Friday night. I'm curious how that will do and if it will open the door for more AAA content to air there.
AEW's October 2 TV taping has added MJF vs. Brandon Cutler.
Ric Flair appeared in commercials for Cumberland Farms and Tide.
- Flair was also at an Auburn football game.
Starrcade is expected to return as a WWE Network special on November 30. I assume that will just be a bigger live event rather than a show at the level of Clash of Champions.
TV Guide will have stories on Smackdown, AEW, and NXT in next week's issue. It's about to be a big time for wrestling fans.
Chad Gable spoke before Raw. I'm really curious what's next for him after the KOTR loss.
Stone Cold was on B/R Live's Rich Eisen Show.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That would all makes sense. I definitely want to see something fresh there so they're not doing WarGames just to do it.
2. I REALLY don't see Bryan moving to 205 Live. That show isn't a priority at all, and it would be a huge waste of Bryan to put him there. Having Owens in NXT to cause a ruckus before finishing his feud with Shane at Survivor Series would make a lot of sense.
3. Partially, but having NXT be a success is also a goal in its own right.
4. I have no idea where this hypothetical came from, but it would depend on what they did with him.
5. Only if it's framed as a demotion instead of a big opportunity to improve the standing of their new brand, have fresh feuds, etc.
6. The more important the talent, the more say they have in such a move.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Main Event Reax - 9/14/19, former Cass ejected after getting physical, no NJPW+WOW this week, more Thunder, joshi star on WWE meeting, WWE draft confirmed, injured female WWE name return, AAA event notes, and Questions on booking the KOTR finals, entrance music, pushing Jazzy, how NXT will change, and if AXS changes Impact
-- Main Event:
- IIconics vs. Dana/Sarah:
Oh wow! I guess there's respect between them now.
I don't dislike this new team at all.
Oh. Well. So much for that alliance bearing fruit.
The former Big Cass was ejected from Saturday's WrestlePro event after having a physical altercation with Pat Buck. Cass had been belligerent to varying degrees to other wrestlers at the show all night, notably Joey Janela following Janela's incident with the former Enzo Amore at a Blink-182 show. Janela and Cass had been in the same locker room the previous night for Northeast Wrestling with no issues between them. In fact, NEW has praised Cass' work with them in the past few months.
- The battle with Buck came after threatening other wrestlers for allegedly stealing his sweater. Cass was moved to a smaller locker room with Buck and SCU to go over their main event for the night due to the issues he was having with others at the show, but Cass continued to accuse those present of stealing his belongings. This led to Cass spitting on Buck and Buck taking Cass down until wrestlers could separate them. Staff then asked local police to escort Cass from the building. He was then taken to a local hospital.
-- Very scary situation, and I hope Cass gets help before things further spiral out of control.
- Joey Janela commented on the altercation. Very professional of him to not name names and give support to a man who could use it right now.
NJPW and WOW will not air on AXS this weekend due to the channel broadcasting Farm Aid. They will return next week. This is unrelated to the Anthem buyout.
WCW Thunder episodes from June 28, 2000 through November 8, 2000 have been added to WWE Network. The show ran through March 2001, so the next batch of episodes will complete the series. It's unknown when those episodes will be added.
Japanese joshi star Sareee discussed recent conversations with WWE. It sounds like she's open to going there. That could definitely shake things up in the NXT women's division.
WWE confirmed a draft for October 11 and October 14, with FOX and NBCUniversal both sending celebrities to the shows as part of the process. We'll see how it all plays out and who will be involved.
Tamina Snuka has returned to the ring after concussion issues. I'm curious where she fits into things given how many other talented women are in WWE.
ESPN released a video on Cain Velasquez wrestling.
At AAA Invading NY:
- Impact's Michael Elgin, Sami Calligan, and Josh Alexander defeated Drago, Faby Apache, and Murder Clown. Impact wanted to use Ethan Page on the show, but he had already booked a date in Washington state and Impact didn't want to pull him from it.
- Taya Valkyrie won AAA's women's championship over Tessa Blanchard.
- Cain Velasquez, Brian Cage, and Psycho Clown defeated Texano,Jr., Taurus and Rey Escorpion. Escorpion was replacing Killer Kross as Impact requested Kross be pulled from the booking.
- Konnan was backstage running things but didn't appear before the crowd. That's surprising given his level of involvement.
- Former WWE/WCW director Craig Leathers was in charge of the FITE broadcast.
- ROH's Flip Gordon was backstage. I hope he doesn't get heat for that, since ROH is aligned with CMLL and of course Impact helped put this show on.
- Ed Nordholm and Scott D'Amore were on hand.
- John E. Bravo was used as a referee. He was involved in a lot of the production setup the night before. El Hijo del Tirantes missed the show due to visa issues, as a lot of talents did.
- AAA used new theme music for a lot of talents due to rights issues. It would have been quite expensive to use licensed music!
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think he's finding a niche for himself, but Gable could definitely use the momentum. Followup will be key if Chad does take it. Corbin will be at about the same place if he wins; he's already won MITB, retired Kurt Angle, and challenged for the WWE Title. KOTR doesn't really seem to boost him.
2. Very funny that you say that because I was at Clash of Champions and his music got a great reaction. No reason to change it! I do think a fitting theme song helps a wrestler's presentation. No one immediately comes to mind as needing a change, but I agree with the philosophy that it's similar to scoring a movie rather than just pairing someone with a catchy song.
3. I expect with Toni and Rhea being in NXT "US," her importance will grow.
4. I REALLY hope we still get to see a variety of talents, and some names we don't get to see much now. That's really been NXT's strength. WWE really doesn't want to be shown up by AEW, though, so it's entirely possible we do see changes.
5. Presumably Anthem's going to have the same say they have over the product now since it's on another Anthem channel, so unless sponsors aren't pleased and fans don't react negatively to what they're doing, things could stay about the same.
More wrestling tomorrow.
- IIconics vs. Dana/Sarah:
Oh wow! I guess there's respect between them now.
I don't dislike this new team at all.
Oh. Well. So much for that alliance bearing fruit.
The former Big Cass was ejected from Saturday's WrestlePro event after having a physical altercation with Pat Buck. Cass had been belligerent to varying degrees to other wrestlers at the show all night, notably Joey Janela following Janela's incident with the former Enzo Amore at a Blink-182 show. Janela and Cass had been in the same locker room the previous night for Northeast Wrestling with no issues between them. In fact, NEW has praised Cass' work with them in the past few months.
- The battle with Buck came after threatening other wrestlers for allegedly stealing his sweater. Cass was moved to a smaller locker room with Buck and SCU to go over their main event for the night due to the issues he was having with others at the show, but Cass continued to accuse those present of stealing his belongings. This led to Cass spitting on Buck and Buck taking Cass down until wrestlers could separate them. Staff then asked local police to escort Cass from the building. He was then taken to a local hospital.
-- Very scary situation, and I hope Cass gets help before things further spiral out of control.
- Joey Janela commented on the altercation. Very professional of him to not name names and give support to a man who could use it right now.
NJPW and WOW will not air on AXS this weekend due to the channel broadcasting Farm Aid. They will return next week. This is unrelated to the Anthem buyout.
WCW Thunder episodes from June 28, 2000 through November 8, 2000 have been added to WWE Network. The show ran through March 2001, so the next batch of episodes will complete the series. It's unknown when those episodes will be added.
Japanese joshi star Sareee discussed recent conversations with WWE. It sounds like she's open to going there. That could definitely shake things up in the NXT women's division.
WWE confirmed a draft for October 11 and October 14, with FOX and NBCUniversal both sending celebrities to the shows as part of the process. We'll see how it all plays out and who will be involved.
Tamina Snuka has returned to the ring after concussion issues. I'm curious where she fits into things given how many other talented women are in WWE.
ESPN released a video on Cain Velasquez wrestling.
At AAA Invading NY:
- Impact's Michael Elgin, Sami Calligan, and Josh Alexander defeated Drago, Faby Apache, and Murder Clown. Impact wanted to use Ethan Page on the show, but he had already booked a date in Washington state and Impact didn't want to pull him from it.
- Taya Valkyrie won AAA's women's championship over Tessa Blanchard.
- Cain Velasquez, Brian Cage, and Psycho Clown defeated Texano,Jr., Taurus and Rey Escorpion. Escorpion was replacing Killer Kross as Impact requested Kross be pulled from the booking.
- Konnan was backstage running things but didn't appear before the crowd. That's surprising given his level of involvement.
- Former WWE/WCW director Craig Leathers was in charge of the FITE broadcast.
- ROH's Flip Gordon was backstage. I hope he doesn't get heat for that, since ROH is aligned with CMLL and of course Impact helped put this show on.
- Ed Nordholm and Scott D'Amore were on hand.
- John E. Bravo was used as a referee. He was involved in a lot of the production setup the night before. El Hijo del Tirantes missed the show due to visa issues, as a lot of talents did.
- AAA used new theme music for a lot of talents due to rights issues. It would have been quite expensive to use licensed music!
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think he's finding a niche for himself, but Gable could definitely use the momentum. Followup will be key if Chad does take it. Corbin will be at about the same place if he wins; he's already won MITB, retired Kurt Angle, and challenged for the WWE Title. KOTR doesn't really seem to boost him.
2. Very funny that you say that because I was at Clash of Champions and his music got a great reaction. No reason to change it! I do think a fitting theme song helps a wrestler's presentation. No one immediately comes to mind as needing a change, but I agree with the philosophy that it's similar to scoring a movie rather than just pairing someone with a catchy song.
3. I expect with Toni and Rhea being in NXT "US," her importance will grow.
4. I REALLY hope we still get to see a variety of talents, and some names we don't get to see much now. That's really been NXT's strength. WWE really doesn't want to be shown up by AEW, though, so it's entirely possible we do see changes.
5. Presumably Anthem's going to have the same say they have over the product now since it's on another Anthem channel, so unless sponsors aren't pleased and fans don't react negatively to what they're doing, things could stay about the same.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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