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1WWE SURVIVOR SERIES POLL RESULTS
2
3Thumbs up 217 (60.4%)
4
5Thumbs down 41 (11.4%)
6
7In the middle 101 (28.1%)
8
9 
10
11BEST MATCH POLL
12
13Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne 225
14
15Men’s Survivor Series match 69
16
17Strong vs. Styles vs. Nakamura 24
18
19Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio 18
20
21Women’s Survivor Series match 13
22
23 
24
25WORST MATCH POLL
26
27Baszler vs. Lynch vs. Bayley 143
28
29Tag Team Battle Royal 88
30
31Women’s Survivor Series match 47
32
33Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio 46
34
35Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan 36
36
37Men’s Survivor Series match 10
38
39 
40
41NXT TAKEOVER WAR GAMES POLL RESULTS
42
43Thumbs up 361 (99.4%)
44
45Thumbs down 1 (00.3%)
46
47In the middle 1 (00.3%)
48
49 
50
51BEST MATCH POLL
52
53Women’s War Games 164
54
55Men’s War Games 146
56
57Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle 37
58
59Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain vs. Damien Priest 10
60
61 
62
63WORST MATCH POLL
64
65Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain vs. Damien Priest 153
66
67Angel Garza vs. Isaiah Scott 89
68
69Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle 29
70
71Women’s War Games 14
72
73Men’s War Games 9
74
75Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/26.
76
77 
78
79WWE’s four days in Chicago’s Allstate Arena were headlined by the Survivor 
80Series, which drew the largest, but hardly the loudest crowd of the weekend.
81
82A legitimate sellout of 11,500 fans on 11/24 indicated a few things.
83
84First, the lowest rated brand by far drew the loudest reactions. The matches 
85pushed the hardest on television got mixed reactions. Nobody seemed to care much 
86for Raw and Smackdown, and were heavily into NXT.
87
88And based on the fact they did a scoreboard on the seven interbrand matches, 
89which ended with NXT winning four, Smackdown two and Raw one, you could very 
90clearly see the priority right now is trying to market the NXT brand as not 
91being viewed as developmental or lesser, and most importantly, use the show to 
92increase Wednesday night ratings. From a strategic standpoint, they couldn’t 
93have done better. Time will tell if the strategy works long-term but writing 
94this without knowledge of how numbers will turn out, thus far the angles that 
95built the show plus the appearances of main roster talent have turned around the 
96NXT ratings. The idea is, at least for now, that you will no longer see the Raw 
97and Smackdown talent on NXT as much, so getting the brand over is the key 
98long-term. It should help and the race should tighten up. I would suspect NXT 
99viewership to increase even without Raw & Smackdown talent, at least to well 
100above the pre-SS build-up levels. The key was the push in making people like 
101Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley, Keith Lee, Roderick Strong and Matt Riddle into 
102stars based on booking here, combined with the fact that of the three singles 
103title matches, the NXT title bout with Adam Cole beating Pete Dunne was clearly 
104the best of the three.
105
106The other aspect is if it hurts live viewership of AEW, which was the initial 
107goal. DVR viewership (see WWE section) is another aspect of the Wednesday story. 
108All you can say is WWE did everything it could to do so and as well as it could.
109
110The show itself was mostly good, with the highlights being the NXT title match 
111and the men’s Survivor Series elimination match where Lee was the last man left 
112before losing to Roman Reigns and Riddle pinned Randy Orton. NXT wrestlers also 
113put over were cruiserweight champion Lio Rush, North American champion Strong, 
114women’s champion Baszler, and her top contender, Ripley.
115
116The decision was made to put the battle of women’s champions, Baszler vs. Becky 
117Lynch vs. Bayley, in the final spot. It seemed to make sense ahead of time. Only 
118two bouts on the show really had a strong consistent push, that match and the 
119Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio WWE title match that went on next to last.
120
121But the women’s match didn’t click and the crowd was mostly silent. The idea of 
122the match, and really the entire angle, was for Baszler. Baszler carries herself 
123and talks like a badass bully. The original plan was for her to be on the main 
124roster in 2020. Based on so much of the build, and the match and post-match, it 
125appeared she was being groomed for Lynch.
126
127But the match wasn’t good. There were a few awkward spots, surprising since the 
128bout was heavily worked on and practiced. It got so bad that Vince McMahon was 
129really mad about it as it was going on. There was a story going around Vince was 
130so mad he was telling the ref high spots for them to do as the match was going 
131on, but those in the company have only said McMahon was mad, saying he had every 
132right to be, but said he was not sending high spots to the referee while the 
133match was going on.
134
135WWE has two more notable network specials between now and the end of the year, 
136Starrcade on 12/1 in Atlanta and TLC on 12/15 in Minneapolis.
137
138Starrcade appears to be just a one hour or so special because all they are 
139advertising is a Kevin Owens show segment with Ric Flair, Bobby Lashley vs. 
140Rusev, which is strange since they’ve kept them apart on television for so long 
141and are putting them on a show that will have very limited viewership, and a 
142four-way women’s tag title match with Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Nikki Cross & Alexa 
143Bliss (her first match back after minor surgery), Charlotte Flair & Lynch and 
144Bayley & Sasha Banks. Ric Flair headlined the first eight Starrcade shows from 
1451983-90, as well as two others in 1993 and 1995. The Starrcade concept came from 
146Flair’s quest to win the NWA world title for a second time from Harley Race and 
147to have the first NWA world title change that ever took place in the Carolinas, 
148on a show called “A Flair for the Gold,” on Thanksgiving night at the Greensboro 
149Coliseum. It was the first purely pro wrestling show ever closed-circuited at 
150the level it was, with Jim Crockett Promotions booking 17 of its regular arenas 
151in the Carolinas to air the show. The first-ever pro wrestling closed-circuit 
152show were a series of shows in 1971 and 1972 in Los Angeles, where the shows 
153were aired in local movie theaters. The first and biggest until the WrestleMania 
154era was the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki show from Budokan Hall in Tokyo, which went all 
155over North America and really was a pro wrestling show aimed to merge the 
156wrestling and boxing audiences. But the main event was not a pro wrestling 
157match, but billed as a boxer vs. wrestler fight, which in Japan if often 
158credited as the birth of mixed martial arts.
159
160The other matches being promoted locally are Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman in a 
161cage match for the WWE title, Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin, Seth Rollins vs. 
162Randy Orton, The Miz vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn, New Day vs. Revival for 
163the Smackdown tag titles, and A.J. Styles vs. Kevin Owens. Also advertised on 
164the show are Andrade, The Street Profits, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Ricochet 
165and Aleister Black.
166
167Even though it’s a short period after Survivor Series to TLC, this week’s Raw 
168didn’t strongly build much. There was a push for a Styles vs. Orton match, Buddy 
169Murphy vs. Aleister Black (which may not even be on the PPV) and something with 
170the AOP and Owens. The only matches scheduled for the show are Asuka & Sane vs. 
171Flair & Lynch for the tag titles in a TLC match, Rusev vs. Lashley and Reigns 
172vs. Corbin in some kind of a gimmick match.
173
1741. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode won a tag team Battle Royal in 8:19. Other teams 
175in were Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, The Revival, The Forgotten Sons (Wesley 
176Blake & Steve Cutler, with Jaxson Ryker in the corner), The Street Profits, Zack 
177Ryder & Curt Hawkins, Tyler Breeze & Fandango, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik, 
178Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner and Heavy Machinery. The rules were that when 
179one member of the team goes over the top rope, both members are out. Roode & 
180Ziggler, who ended up winning, also got the biggest reaction to their entrances. 
181Cutler was first out, followed by Dorado. Barthel threw out Ryder. Ziggler spent 
182the whole match doing the almost eliminated spots. Roode tackled Aichner out. 
183The crowd was dead for this and the match looked like it was taking place 
184underwater, in slow motion. The only crowd reaction early was for Otis. And then 
185the OC & Revival teamed up to throw Otis out. The Revival knocked Breeze over 
186the top, but Fandango was on the floor and not eliminated, and caught him. A few 
187seconds later, The Revival threw Breeze out again and Fandango couldn’t block it 
188so his team was out. The Street Profits gave both members of The Revival a 
189double dropkick and but were knocked over the top. That left Ziggler & Roode, 
190Anderson & Gallows and Street Profits. Ziggler superkicked Gallows over the top. 
191Montez Ford frog splashed Ziggler and then Roode jumped in the ring and threw 
192Ford over the top to win it. *1/2
193
1942. Lio Rush retained the NXT cruiserweight title over Akira Tozawa and Kalisto 
195in 8:19. The crowd was dead here. Rush did a Spanish fly off the top with both 
196of them at the same time. A lot of people still thought Rush was a heel. Several 
197near falls. Kalisto hit the Salida del Sol on Tozawa and then Rush did the 
198splash off the top rope on Kalisto for the pin. **½
199
2003. The Viking Raiders won the Battle of tag champs in 14:41 over New Day (Big E 
201& Kofi Kingston) and Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly. The Viking Raiders scored the 
202only Raw win, and it was in the pre-game show. It is notable that last year in 
203Survivor Series, it was made clear that the pre-show matches didn’t count, while 
204this year they did. The match didn’t have a lot of heat, partially because of 
205the pre-show match stigma, but they worked hard and there was nothing wrong with 
206it. Erik slammed Ivar off the apron onto the other four who were on the floor 
207waiting to catch him. Fish chop blocked Erik while he was slamming O’Reilly to 
208set up a heat spot. Ivar got a hot tag. E threw Kingston over the top on 
209everyone and then he tackled Erik off the apron. Kingston went for a Trouble in 
210Paradise but kicked the post. Fish & O’Reilly took out Kingston with a high-low 
211on the floor. The finish saw Fish down and the Vikings delivered the Viking 
212Experience on O’Reilly on top of Fish, and Ivar pinned Fish. ***
213
2144. Team NXT of Rhea Ripley & Io Shirai & Bianca Belair & Toni Storm & Candice 
215LeRae won the women’s Survivor Series over Team Raw of Charlotte Flair & Natalya 
216& Asuka & Kairi Sane & Sarah Logan and Team Smackdown of Carmella & Sasha Banks 
217& Dana Brooke & Nikki Cross & Lacey Evans in 27:52. There were “Io” chants 
218early, for a heel on the brand with the lowest attendance and ratings, which set 
219the tone for the entire show. The crowd was also into Asuka. But it was a tough 
220crowd. Everyone did their big moves and the crowd reacted to big moves. They did 
221a spot where Shirai and LeRae were both injured and the match was stopped and 
222they were taken to the back. The idea was NXT was already down to three. They 
223did something similar with the NXT faces handicapped in numbers in the War Games 
224match the night before, and in both cases, the story was similar. It worked 
225better night one, as one would expect. The match was stopped with Shirai and 
226LeRae taken out at 7:43. There was something with Flair vs. Belair, as Flair was 
227considered the best athlete of any of the woman wrestlers they’d had until 
228Belair, a legit D-1 track star who is both unusually strong and powerful, showed 
229up. Ripley pinned Cross with a schoolboy using the ropes in 9:39. Belair pinned 
230Logan after a 450 in 12:10. Flair pinned Carmella after natural selection in 
23115:36. Banks pinned Sane after a Meteora in 16:48. Asuka pinned Brooke after a 
232kick in 17:25. Then Charlotte and Asuka started arguing. Asuka blew mist in 
233Flair’s face and Asuka walked out, getting counted out, in 19:00. Evans pinned 
234the blinded Flair with the women’s right in 19:08. Natalya pinned Evans with a 
235schoolboy in 19:50. Fans started with NXT chants. Natalya used the sharpshooter 
236while Banks used the banks statement on Storm who tapped out in both submissions 
237in 20:56. Then Natalya and Banks did a double-team Hart Attack on Belair for the 
238pin in 21:16. So the last three were Natalya and Banks, who had been working 
239together, along with Ripley. The idea was Ripley was now the underdog, although 
240it’s weird they put babyface Natalya in the spot as the bully. But Banks 
241immediately sucker punched and pinned Natalya in 21:56. So it was Ripley vs. 
242Banks. The crowd was not into much of the match, but were very into the final 
243two. Fans were chanting NXT. Banks used a meteora (which won earlier) for a near 
244fall. Banks came off the top rope into a kick. Ripley used her standing sort of 
245scorpion leglock submission. Banks countered into the banks statement. Shirai 
246and LeRae then came out. They pulled Ripley out of the banks statement to 
247safety. To make sure everyone knew the score, Jerry Lawler said that they 
248weren’t injured to begin with. LeRae distracted the ref, Shirai hit Banks with a 
249springboard missile dropkick and Ripley pinned her with riptide. **3/4
250
251Seth Rollins was with Kevin Owens. Owens said that he loved NXT but NXT doesn’t 
252need him, basically establishing his being in the main event the prior night 
253wasn’t a move to NXT. Owens made fun of Rollins questioning anyone’s team 
254loyalty because of The Shield breakup.
255
2565. Roderick Strong won a three-way over A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in 
25716:44. This was a very good match, but also lacked heat and never hit the great 
258level. Because of expectations given Strong and Styles in the same match, it was 
259a disappointment to many. They traded all kinds of big moves. Styles had Strong 
260on his shoulders and Nakamura came off the top rope with a Rider kick. Sami Zayn 
261interfered a few times including throwing Styles into the post. Nakamura used a 
262GTS on Strong leading to C.M. Punk chants. Styles hit the phenomenal forearm on 
263Nakamura, but Strong threw Styles out of the ring and stole the pin in the trope 
264finish. All three looked good. ***½
265
266Bryan and Miz were together. Miz gave Bryan a pep talk about how he had to stop 
267The Fiend for the good of society basically. He brought up for their children’s 
268sake. Bryan told him to get out of his face.
269
2706. Adam Cole retained the NXT title over Pete Dunne in 14:04. Cole had taped 
271ribs to sell the beating from the night before. Dunne did a moonsault off the 
272middle rope to the floor. Dunne tried one in the ring but Cole got his knees up. 
273Cole hit the last shot but Dunne kicked out. Cole kicked out of the bitter end. 
274The work here was excellent, but the crowd was quiet for the first 10:00. It 
275appeared Dunne was bleeding from the mouth, maybe from a kick. The ref put his 
276gloves on (the sign of blood) but it wasn’t clear. Dunne went for a moonsault 
277block off the top but Cole kicked him as he was flying. This woke up the crowd 
278and they were strong the last 4:00. In fact, a lot of the crowd at that point 
279was standing. The crowd also went nuts for Cole delivering a Panama Sunrise on 
280the apron. Dunne did the finger breaking spot and went for the bitter end, but 
281Cole reversed it into another Panama Sunrise and hit the last shot for the pin. 
282****1/4
283
2847. The Fiend Bray Wyatt beat Daniel Bryan to retain the Universal title in 9:58. 
285This was The Fiend’s best match to date. Even with the red tinting, the crowd 
286did get into the match and there are little ways where Bryan is a different 
287level worker. Bryan threw him into the post and did a running knee off the 
288apron. He did a plancha over the post and two missile dropkicks. He did yes 
289kicks, that Wyatt first no sold but he kept throwing them and then stomped him 
290like crazy. The Bryan stomps because of the curb stomping nature of them really 
291get over. Bryan hit his Busaiku knee finisher but Wyatt kicked out. The crowd 
292was super hot at this point. Wyatt stood up and used the mandible claw but Bryan 
293reversed into an armbar over the ropes. Bryan got out of Sister Abigail, and got 
294a great near fall with a cradle. But then Wyatt got the mandible claw on again 
295and Bryan was pinned. ***½
296
297Mysterio did a promo saying he’s taking out Lesnar’s knees with the pipe again 
298and hopes Dominick is watching.
299
3008. Team Smackdown of Roman Reigns & King Corbin & Shorty G & Mustafa Ali & Braun 
301Strowman beat Team NXT of Tommaso Ciampa & Keith Lee & Matt Riddle & Damien 
302Priest & Walter and Team Raw of Seth Rollins & Drew McIntyre & Ricochet & Randy 
303Orton & Kevin Owens in 29:46. It opened with Goldberg chants because of Riddle. 
304Nigel McGuinness quickly stepped in, sounding like a Vince McMahon voice, saying 
305that this is one of those things people do to make NXT a family affair. They 
306quickly went to the battle of the power guys with Strowman, McIntyre and Walter. 
307Walter dropkicked Strowman, but was hit by a Claymore kick by McIntyre and 
308pinned in 2:56. The fans were furious that Walter was out so early. There was 
309great stuff with G and Ricochet, and then even better stuff with G and Riddle 
310exchanging moves on the ground including trading ankle locks. Owens frog 
311splashed and pinned G in 6:25, setting up a pattern where somebody gets cool 
312offense and then immediately is pinned. It’s a WWE pattern which people who have 
313grown up on modern elimination matches all copy, but it becomes way too 
314predictable. Reigns and Corbin were arguing. Owens superkicked Reigns and then 
315gave Corbin a stunner outside the ring. Ciampa then hit Owens with a draping DDT 
316as he was getting back in the ring and pinned Owens in 7:39. Orton hit an RKO on 
317Ciampa and another on Priest and pinned Priest in 10:14. Orton tried one on 
318Riddle, who escaped and cradled Orton for the pin in 10:27. The place went nuts 
319for Riddle pinning Orton, and to make sure he didn’t get any more over in the 
320match, Orton hit him with the RKO and Corbin pinned Riddle in 10:51. Lee and 
321Strowman teased going at it until Strowman got out of the ring and started 
322running over everyone. Then Strowman ran into Lee and they both went down. 
323McIntyre hit Strowman with a Claymore kick and Strowman was counted out of the 
324ring in 13:20. Now it was Ricochet’s turn. He did a bunch of hot moves including 
325a Fosbury Flop on Reigns. Ricochet went for a 450 on Lee, who moved and then 
326Corbin hit Ricochet with the end of days in 14:29. Ali got in and the crowd was 
327way behind him since Ali was a former Chicago police officer. Ali hit a tope on 
328Corbin, Rollins and Ciampa. Corbin then started yelling at Ali. Ali slapped 
329Corbin and then Ali walked into a curb stomp by Rollins and was pinned in 16:09. 
330Reigns and Corbin had words over Corbin costing Ali, a teammate. They started 
331shoving each other. Rollins got in and fans started chanting for Punk. He hit a 
332tope on Lee. McIntyre set up a Claymore kick on Ciampa, but instead ran into a 
333spear by Reigns. Reigns pinned McIntyre in 17:36. Reigns hit a Superman punch on 
334Corbin, his teammate, and Ciampa pinned Corbin in 19:54. This left Reigns, 
335Rollins, Ciampa and Lee. Reigns & Rollins set up a Shield power bomb on the 
336American announcers table on Ciampa, but Lee ran over everyone. Ciampa hit 
337Project Ciampa on Rollins, who kicked out. Ciampa set up the fairy tale ending 
338on Rollins, but Reigns hit Ciampa with a Superman punch and Rollins then curb 
339stomped Ciampa for the pin in 23:59. Lee then pinned Rollins after a jackhammer 
340in 26:33. Fans went wild for that one. With Reigns and Lee as the last two, 
341everyone got behind Lee. Fans at ringside were singing “Oh, Bask in his Glory.” 
342Lee got a near fall with a spirit bomb. Lee missed a middle rope moonsault and 
343Reigns pinned Lee with a spear. Reigns after the match played babyface by fist 
344bumping Lee. ****1/4
345
3469. Brock Lesnar pinned Rey Mysterio in 6:54 to retain the WWE title. This match 
347got a good reaction to all the spots, but it was short and ended flat. Mysterio 
348came out with a pipe and wearing a mask designed after Psycho Clown. Lesnar got 
349the pipe away fast, beat him down and threw hm over the Spanish table. Lesnar 
350used an overhead suplex and rammed Mysterio’s back into the post. Lesnar gave 
351Mysterio a German suplex on the pipe but Mysterio really didn’t land on it. 
352Lesnar gave him two more German suplexes and then picked up the pipe. Before he 
353could use it, Dominick came in the ring and had a towel, basically teasing the 
354Cody-Jericho finish since a lot of people are waiting for a Dominick turn. 
355Lesnar then grabbed the towel from Dominick and threw it in the crowd, with the 
356idea he was going to give Mysterio a beating with the pipe. Mysterio gave Lesnar 
357a low blow and then Dominick gave Lesnar a second low blow. Mysterio hit Lesnar 
358with the pipe and Dominick hit Lesnar with a chair to the back. Only because 
359everyone likes Mysterio did these low blows, weapons shots and two-on-ones not 
360lead to the fans turning on the Mysterios. The Mysterios did a double 619, 
361Dominick did a frog splash and Rey did a frog splash and both jumped on Lesnar, 
362who bench pressed them off. Dominick went to the top for a moonsault but Lesnar 
363pulled him off the top with a German suplex. Rey came off the top rope but 
364Lesnar caught him on his shoulders and gave him an F-5 for the pin. **½
365
36610. Shayna Baszler won a three-way over Becky Lynch and Bayley in 18:04. This 
367never clicked. Bayley botched a sunset flip into the corner. The crowd was dead. 
368Each would get a finisher or pin and the third person would break it up. Baszler 
369used a gut wrench on Lynch and it felt like the focus was to make Baszler a 
370threat to Lynch. Baszler kicked out of Bayley’s Bayley-to-belly. More Punk 
371chants. Lynch power bombed Baszler off the ropes for a near fall. She got the 
372disarm her on Baszler but Baszler reversed into a choke. Baszler backdropped 
373Bayley over the top rope, but Bayley pulled Baszler out of the ring. Baszler 
374threw Bayley into the post. Baszler then threw Lynch into the post. Fans were 
375wanting tables. Baszler gave Lynch a Bruno backbreaker and threw Lynch on the 
376announcing table. In the ring, Bayley came off the top rope with the Randy 
377Savage elbow, but Baszler caught Bayley in a choke on landing and Bayley tapped 
378out. After the match, Baszler was celebrating on the announcer table. Lynch 
379tripped her up, hop tossed Baszler over the German table. Lynch came off the 
380barricade with a butt splash putting Baszler through the table. To again point 
381to Baszler vs. Lynch, the announcers made the point that Baszler won the match, 
382but she never beat Lynch. **
383
384<hr class="observer-hr">
385
386NXT Takeover continues to be the only show that is almost universally praised.
387
388The obvious reason is that they put together matches that look strong on paper, 
389give the talent time, have winners and losers, and the matches are all promoted 
390well going in.
391
392The big advantage is time. The 11/23 Takeover War Games show had only four 
393matches on the main card. Usually it’s five, but two War Games matches take up 
394enough time and the two-and-a-half hour length of the main show (three hours if 
395you including the opener) of nothing but quality matches that mean something is 
396a lot easier to go through than main WWE shows, as well as AEW or UFC. Plus, 
397with the talent having a Performance Center, they can be practiced more. Another 
398key is there is no mentality about getting everyone on every show, because with 
399the huge developmental roster, that would be impossible.
400
401Takeover is anything but a developmental show. With the exception of Bianca 
402Belair, of the 23 wrestlers on the show, nobody was a product of WWE 
403developmental. Shayna Baszler, who had made a name in MMA, and wrestled on 
404indies for a few years and had a name but was inexperienced, was the only other 
405performer on the show you could even say came to WWE without years of 
406international experience with significant promotions.
407
408With guys, it’s almost like the all-star team, the PWG and ROH graduates who are 
409doing what they did before, but on a worldwide stage.
410
411And it works. There were about 10,500 fans at the Allstate Arena on 11/23 for 
412War Games, a number even more impressive because there were five shows in six 
413nights and drew the second largest crowd of the five. If even a few years ago 
414the suggestion was made that you could put NXT and Raw in the same city on the 
415same weekend and that NXT would draw more fans, regardless of how strong 
416Takeovers always have been, it would have sounded ludicrous. The fact the shows 
417almost always have more heat than the major WWE PPV show the next day built on 
418higher profile shows is something that shouldn’t happen.
419
420Takeovers now are very different from when they started, which was to give 
421wrestlers trained in the WWE system a chance to do essentially programs on 
422television to build to PPV, to garner inexperience for when they are called up 
423to the main roster.
424
425Now it has nothing to do with that. One can argue rightly that they need more 
426shows, perhaps even a special, for the real developmental talent. One could also 
427say, given the numbers, that it’s beyond proven that the independent scene is 
428far superior to WWE when it comes to creation of the next wave of stars. The 
429irony is developmental was pushed so hard not that many years ago because of the 
430idea the independents don’t turn out wrestlers who can be marketable on a big 
431stage, so they need to find them and train them and run shows with them for the 
432future of the company.
433
434Now, it’s all about trying to present the best big shows in the industry. One 
435can argue where they rank with a New Japan major show, or PWG, or AEW, or anyone 
436else when it comes to putting out great matches. But because of the fewer 
437matches, meaning really every match is a main event caliber bout given time to 
438excel, shorter time show, you rarely gave the just “good” matches that happen 
439underneath for everyone else. There is also the fact they are mostly younger and 
440not working a ton of dates, allowing for recovery and healing time. Still, the 
441injury rate is high and several of the top guys aren’t working house shows 
442because they are working big shows at a high level while healing injuries.
443
444The booking is also not convoluted. The angles are simple. It’s obvious from 
445watching television the direction of things, which is a good thing. On this 
446show, with no title matches and two War Games, both had finishes where the 
447expected next title contender, Rhea Ripley and Tommaso Ciampa, pinned the 
448champion to win. Both would be the most obvious and predictable but both were 
449done, because they made the most sense. Adam Cole vs. Ciampa and Baszler vs. 
450Ripley in title matches could headline the next Takeover on 2/16 in Portland, 
451OR, or perhaps sooner on television since both bouts are ready right now and 
452three more months seems too long. Baszler vs. Ripley feels like it’s ready now 
453and three months seems too long to wait, although Baszler did seem to start a 
454smaller program with Xia Li. Cole vs. Ciampa can wait since they are likely 
455first going with Cole vs. Balor.
456
457The next two Takeovers shows, the U.K. show on 1/12 and this one, will be on 
458Sundays rather than Saturdays as an experiment to see how the new night does for 
459viewing on the WWE Network.
460
461They are also doing a special in Houston called World’s Collide on 1/25, the 
462night before the Rumble, which an ad for the show listed Cole, Baszler, Walter 
463and Kay Lee Ray, the champions of the regular and the U.K. brands. WWE sources 
464confirm the show will be built around brand vs. brand matches that have never 
465been seen before. We’re told that has been the plan for this show for a few 
466months, long before any such plans for Survivor Series took place with a similar 
467concept. The experiment is to have more shows like this on Saturdays before PPVs 
468down the line, with NXT and Takeovers on Sundays, to make Sunday the day for 
469every brand’s individual big show. But all of this right now is just in the 
470experimental phase.
471
472There were a couple of other notes regarding the show. They did an angle where 
473Mia Yim was “injured” and replaced in the Women’s War Games by Dakota Kai. The 
474angle leading to the match certainly seemed to tease Kai being unhappy that Yim 
475was picked ahead of her by captain Ripley. Yim did suffer a broken nose, but the 
476angle taking her out and having Kai take her place, and then Kai turn heel on 
477Tegan Nox was planned all along.
478
479The other unique moment saw, at the finish of the main event, when Ciampa came 
480off the top of the cage with Cole, doing the most air raid crash of all air raid 
481crashes, putting him through a table, was the cameras panned to AEW star Britt 
482Baker. Announcer Mauro Ranallo identified her by name and said she was the 
483girlfriend of Cole, obviously not mentioning she was a pro wrestler or her 
484affiliation.
485
486Paul Levesque after the show addressed that and said that it was all just a 
487coincidence. He said that they were simply looking for someone who would look 
488stunned at the bump, and they found her reactions and cut to it. Ranallo knew 
489who it was and identified her. Given Baker works for AEW, one would think they 
490wouldn’t identify her by name. The odds of all those people in the crowd and 
491they’d pick her, even though she did look like a girlfriend who just saw her 
492boyfriend take a giant risk and they are going to find attractive young women 
493ahead of anyone else for that shot if they can, is still astronomical. One would 
494think Ranallo wouldn’t id someone from another company without being told to. 
495Baker ended up being the most searched person associated with the show, and I 
496can’t believe that was anyone’s goal.
497
4981. Angel Garza pinned Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in 7:36. This was the dark match 
499opener and it was good action. Garza did a nice spot where he was backdropped, 
500but in taking it, springboarded off the ropes and came around on the other side 
501with a power bomb. Scott did a DDT on the apron. The ref got squashed in the 
502corner, Garza went for a low blow, it was blocked, but Garza used a knee to the 
503gut and the wing clipper for the win. **3/4
504
5052. Rhea Ripley & Candice LeRae & Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox beat Bianca Belair & Kay 
506Lee Ray & Io Shirai & Shayna Baszler in a War Games match in 27:24. LeRae and 
507Shirai opened for 5:00. Shirai did cool stuff like a 619 to the back twice and a 
508double springboard dropkick. Belair was next in and she did a standing shooting 
509star press on LeRae plus two power bombs and a third into the cage. Ripley was 
510in, next, throwing several garbage cans, chairs and kendo sticks into the ring. 
511Ray was in next, bringing in more chairs. For an easy heat spot, Ray, the heel, 
512saw a table, and then refused to grab it and it worked, as people booed the heel 
513for not pulling out a table they saw. There was a tower of doom spot where 
514everyone landed on chairs. Belair hit a 450 on Ripley. Belair and Ripley are 
515going to be two of the biggest female stars in the company before too long. Kai 
516was supposed to be in next, but she turned on Nox as she was let out of the 
517shark cage everyone had to stay in until their turn to come out. She slammed the 
518cage door on Nox’s head and then her knee over and over. Kai was great. Nox’s 
519selling was great. The announcers were great putting it over. It came across 
520exactly as it should, a vile act. William Regal came out and Kai even punched 
521him. He ordered her to the back. She then came back out and attacked Nox again. 
522I don’t know if this was meant as a copy but Nox did seem to channel the famous 
523Nancy Kerrigan scene when she was attacked before the 1994 Olympics. So the deal 
524was that Kai was ordered out and Nox couldn’t continue meaning the faces were 
525down two people. Baszler came out to make it 4-on-2 on LeRae and Ripley. The 
526faces mostly sold. LeRae came back with kendo stick shots and did a poison rana 
527off the top on Ray. Baszler had the choke on Ripley, but she broke it while 
528handcuffing herself to Baszler. Ripley then gave Baszler a riptide onto chairs 
529for the pin. ****1/4
530
5313. Pete Dunne won a three-way for a title shot at Adam Cole the next day over 
532Killian Dain and Damien Priest in 19:58. Very good, yet the weakest thing on the 
533main show. Dain did a fallaway slam with both on the floor at the same time. 
534Priest gave Dunne a Razor’s Edge on the Spanish announces table and Dain hit a 
535tope on Priest. Dain used a cannonball on Priest through the barricade. Fans 
536were cheering for the high spots as opposed to the guys. Lots of near falls and 
537saves. Dunne did a moonsault to the floor on both. The crowd did get quiet here 
538at times when they weren’t doing big moves. Dunne did the finger break on 
539Priest. Dunne superplexed Dain and did the Bitter End of Priest, but Dain saved. 
540Dain fell back with Dunne falling on top of Priest and Dunne got the pin. ***½
541
5424. Finn Balor pinned Matt Riddle in 14:22. Ranallo pushed how Riddle beat Jon 
543Jones when both were high school wrestlers in New York. The year that Riddle won 
544the state title, Jones placed third although they didn’t wrestle in that meet 
545but did wrestle that year. Excellent match, exactly what you would expect. 
546Riddle did the ankle lock to the right leg and then the left leg. Balor did ta 
547German suplex, but Riddle landed on his feet and hit a V trigger and German 
548suplex. Lots of big moves. Riddle used a jackhammer for a near fall, looking to 
549get Goldberg chants since they had their backstage thing people know about. 
550Balor used a GTR and 1916 for near falls. Riddle went floating bro, Balor got 
551his knees up. He went for the coup de gras but Riddle moved. After an attempted 
552bromission (twister) by Riddle, Balor got out and hit the 1916 again for the 
553pin. That looks to be his new finisher since it’s the move Gargano went down to. 
554I’d have gone with Riddle winning here. Riddle has had a few losses, notably 
555with Cole on television. Balor is already made and in NXT, he doesn’t need the 
556win now. Now, if this is building to where Riddle beats Balor later, then I 
557could see Balor winning the first one. I see Riddle as a major star on the way 
558up while Balor will always be strong here even if he loses at times. If Ciampa 
559is winning the title and Balor is being groomed for a program, I could see it, 
560but even then, he could lose here and beat other guys to get there. ****
561
5625. Tommaso Ciampa & Dominik Dijakovic & Kevin Owens & Keith Lee beat Adam Cole & 
563Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong in 38:27. Strong started with 
564Ciampa. Ciampa came out with a crutch as a weapon and handed it to Strong. 
565Strong, rather than use it, threw it out of the cage. O’Reilly was next in. They 
566beat him down until Dijakovic entered and cleaned house. Fish was in next. They 
567laid out Dijakovic with the high-low and Strong used a backbreaker on Ciampa. 
568Fish & O’Reilly used Chasing the Dragon on Ciampa. The heels did the beatdown 
569until Lee came in. Lee did a leapfrog over both Fish & O’Reilly and a cross 
570tackle, basically the divide, on both. Cole was in next to a big reaction. Cole 
571brought in a table and set it up on the floor. Ciampa then, before Cole could 
572enter the cage, shoved him off the apron and Cole flew backwards and went 
573through the table. Owens, who was not out and never advertised, showed up as the 
574mystery partner. He power bombed Fish, gave O’Reilly a choke suplex and power 
575bombed Fish onto O’Reilly. This led to a “Welcome back” chant. Owens hit a 
576stunner on Cole. Lee & Dijakovic went to do a double Biel on Strong from one 
577ring to the other. He was supposed to land on the other three but landed shot 
578and it was a bad landing. Lee did a crossbody off the top on everyone. O’Reilly 
579did a kneedrop on Lee’s knee and went for an Achilles lock. Then there was a ton 
580of big moves including Strong using an Olympic slam off the top on Lee. Owens 
581was cleaning house on everyone. Cole twice got out of a package piledriver 
582between rings on the metal strip between the rings. Cole then used a delayed 
583Panama Sunrise (Canadian Destroyer) on Owens between rings. Ciampa did three 
584running knees on Cole. Dijakovic choke slammed Strong through a table. Owens did 
585a frog splash on O’Reilly through a table. Lee power bombed Fish off the top 
586rope through a table. And finally, with Ciampa and Cole both on the top of the 
587cage, Ciampa used the air raid crash off the top through a table. It was 
588spectacular and Ciampa clearly protected Cole on the move. Wrestling is about 
589death-defying moves at times and more people do seem to get hurt just doing 
590stuff than on these type of moves. Those kind of spots are worrisome because of 
591what could happen if someone slips up. ****½
592
593
594The search for 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt 
595Harris, which got national attention, looks to have ended in the worst way 
596possible.
597
598What were believed to be the remains of Blanchard were found in Macon County, AL 
599on 11/25. It was confirmed two days later after forensic tests.
600
601Blanchard went missing on 10/23 and two days later her black Honda SUV was found 
602in Montgomery, AL in damaged condition and evidence taken showed enough blood to 
603believe she had been seriously injured.
604
605Two more suspects have been arrested this past week.
606
607Antwain “Squirmy” Fisher, 35, was arrested on 11/22 in Montgomery, AL and 
608charged with first-degree kidnapping. Fisher was being held without bond. A gag 
609order has been placed on the case.
610
611David Johnson Jr., was arrested on 11/25 and charged with hindering prosecution.
612
613Ibraheem Yazeed, 30, had earlier been charged with first degree kidnapping. With 
614the body being found, more charges are almost sure to be added to both men. 
615Yazeed was also denied bond.
616
617Yazeed, to make this story even more tragic, had been out on bond when Blanchard 
618disappeared, on prior charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery.
619
620More than $105,000 had been raised in reward money for information to hopefully 
621lead to finding Blanchard and prosecuting any perpetrators, which included money 
622donated by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, UFC President Dana White, and a number of 
623fighters including Jon Jones.
624
625Harris, on Instagram, wrote: “My sweet baby girl... I just wanna thank you for 
626helping me change my life for the better... For teaching me how to be a man and 
627a better father! For being my biggest fan win, lose , or draw! For always 
628knowing what to say to put a smile on my face and lift me up when I was down and 
629wanted to give up. You light up my world I’m so many ways. This pain is 
630unbearable... I know you want me to be strong but it so hard baby it so hard. 
631I’m gonna find away I promise you I will. Right now nothing makes sense and I’m 
632so lost. I just want you back. I hope I made you proud... I’m gonna keep going 
633daddy just needs time. I love you so much. Look after us like you always did. We 
634need you now more than ever. My lil mighty mighty tiger is a angel now. I love 
635you baby girl forever and ever! “
636
637
638The UFC’s anti-doping policy, which has been one of extreme controversy, has 
639been revamped this past week.
640
641One of the big questions is that so many UFC athletes test positive for very 
642small amounts of banned substances, and very often in testing their supplements, 
643they are found tainted.
644
645The one question, and this may have to do with how vigilant the testing is, is 
646why this happens so often with UFC athletes, and not athletes in so many other 
647sports who have drug testing programs and where athletes also use supplements. 
648And another issue is the unfairness, because a fighter who makes money is able 
649to pay for his supplements to be tested, which isn’t cheap, while a lower ranked 
650fighter often can’t afford it and has to take a lengthy suspension, usually two 
651years, which has ruined careers.
652
653There are other issues, both perceived double standards and evolving science. 
654Drug testing is a great thing for the sport, especially one like MMA where it is 
655a fighting sport that PED use not only can change outcomes, but can lead to a 
656higher level of injuries, for both the person on them and the opponent. But even 
657many of the staunchest anti-drug guys have become anti-USADA guys over the years 
658because of questions regarding enforcement, especially with Jon Jones.
659
660The reality is that other combat sports like boxing and other MMA groups have 
661some drug testing, it is usually far less effective and comprehensive athletic 
662commission testing. Some bigger boxing matches will have outside programs, but 
663they are often limited to just the period leading up to big fights.
664
665One of the changes announced is more thresholds for substances, in the sense 
666that if a fighter tests positive for a banned substance at a level so low that 
667it would appear to be trace levels that are not enough to provide performance 
668enhancing benefits, they would no longer by viewed as positive test. This has 
669already been implemented, and it also leads to questions because who has done 
670the testing to determine what levels of substances help performance. The fact 
671is, that supplements themselves enhance performance but are considered legal if 
672not drug tainted, but again, there is no proven less of performance increase 
673truly known in most cases.
674
675The big move, which has been talked about for some time, is that UFC fighters 
676have no been told to use only certain supplements, basically those on five 
677different lists of supplements that are accredited by key certification 
678agencies.
679
680The idea is the supplements allowed are those believed to be from reputable 
681companies that don’t contaminate supplements with low level of banned 
682substances. Because the supplement industry is unregulated, often manufacturers 
683will put small levels of PEDs in the supplements, especially when first released 
684and promoted, with the idea word-of-mouth would get around to athletes that they 
685are getting great training gains since starting the supplements. It popularizes 
686them, and maybe, in time, after the word is out, they may even clean up the 
687supplement because it has gotten the reputation for being effective. And that is 
688also unethical in a different way.
689
690UFC has formed a partnership with supplement provider Thorne to provide fighters 
691with supplements. While fighters don’t have to take those supplements, the idea 
692is that they can get those through the UFC Performance Institute with the idea 
693they are developing supplements specifically geared for the needs of the 
694fighters.
695
696The idea is that using accredited supplements only would cut down on test 
697positives from tainted supplements. In addition, and this was not specified, if 
698a fighter does test positive at a low level consistent with contamination who 
699has only used those supplements, they should be allowed to have their 
700supplements tested at no cost. If those supplements are found to have caused it, 
701obviously they would be removed from the list of those recommended and allowed, 
702and the test positive should be overturned.
703
704The new rulings lead to very low levels of Clomiphene, DHCMT (oral Turinabol, a 
705steroid which is the drug that Jon Jones has failed multiple tests for, with 
706USADA ruling his body pulsed low levels of the drug for years after claims of no 
707evidence of new use–the problem is while Jones was suspended for reasons that 
708have never been explained, he went through an eight month period without a test 
709and it should be noted similar test results of low levels in and out of systems 
710have shown up in another fighters who have also not been suspended for multiple 
711positives), HCTZ, SARMs (which includes Ostarine, which has led to a number of 
712drug test failures for low levels in the past including Tom Lawlor), GW-1516, 
713Trenbolone (a steroid), Zeranol and Zilpaterol. Low levels would be viewed as an 
714atypical finding and not subject to suspensions. Travis Tygart of USADA said 
715that athletes with atypical findings are allowed to compete but they are going 
716to research and investigate and how the low levels of banned substances got into 
717their system. Another new rule, which some are calling the Jones rule, is that 
718repeated test failures for the same drug may not be enforced if they believe the 
719failures were likely not intentional.
720
721USADA can, at its sole discretion, elect not to impose sanctions for multiple 
722violations if USADA has determined it was unlikely the violations were 
723intentional.
724
725
726After a tweet by Corey Graves during the Takeover show, which Mauro Ranallo 
727found out about after the show, Ranallo, 49, who suffers from a very severe case 
728of mental health issues, missed both Survivor Series and the Wednesday NXT 
729tapings.
730
731Ranallo’s situation was unclear, but it was known that he was not dong well, but 
732there was communication with either he and the company or at least his 
733representatives and the company. They were told a day ahead of time at least 
734that he wouldn’t be doing the NXT show.
735
736Ranallo had made it clear at times of late that he was not doing well, although 
737Graves may not have known that. However, Graves was on the show and the actual 
738segment where John Layfield buried Ranallo in March 2017, which led to a major 
739health crisis and Ranallo quit the company at the time. With Newsweek preparing 
740a major article on Layfield, the sides reached a release and settlement where 
741Ranallo would publicly absolve Layfield as not being the reason for the issue. 
742In reality, the issues were far deeper than Layfield. While the segment on the 
743show “Bring It To The Table,” was the breaking point, his biggest issues were 
744not with Layfield and were with others in the hierarchy.
745
746Ranallo had signed with WWE in late 2015, as a major acquisition for the USA 
747Network when Smackdown moved from Syfy in January 2016. Ranallo started in pro 
748wrestling at the age of 16, in 1986, as a heel manager for Al Tomko’s All-Star 
749Wrestling promotion in Vancouver, BC, and later became the show’s television 
750announcer. He remained with the promotion until it folded in 1989. Later, he and 
751Badnews Allen were broadcast partners for a remake of Stampede Wrestling in 
752Calgary in 1999 and 2000. But he gained his first national fame working with Bas 
753Rutten as the voice of the Pride Fighting Championships in the heyday of the 
754promotion from 2003 to 2005. He also did voiceover work during the heyday of Pro 
755Wrestling NOAH for The fight Network, and in was part of the original announcing 
756team for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2015 on AXS. Ranallo won Announcer of the 
757Year in the Observer year-end poll in 2015 with New Japan and 2016 and 2017 with 
758WWE.
759
760However, it was the fact that an experienced pro wrestling announcer had called 
761the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, a fight so enormous that in 
762one day it brought in nearly as much revenue as WWE or UFC did in an entire 
763year, that led to Paul Levesque trying to get Ranallo into WWE as part of a 
764facelift for Smackdown on the USA Network.
765
766There were issues from the beginning, most notably broadcast partner Jerry 
767Lawler the first few weeks giving him the nickname “M.R.” On playgrounds during 
768the 50s and 60s in particular, “M.R.,” for mental retard, was among the uglier 
769slurs of the time, equivalent to gay slurs and other ethnic slurs. After it was 
770brought up, Lawler quickly stopped using it on the air.
771
772It was actually Ranallo tweeting a thank you for the 2016 award that led to 
773Layfield going off on him on the air, something considered highly unprofessional 
774but also noted that there were those higher on the food chain that approved the 
775situation.
776
777Ranallo missed the next Smackdown, which the company claimed was due to not 
778being able to make it to the building due to a snowstorm, and never returned to 
779the show.
780
781At the time the sides publicly said they were going their separate ways and WWE 
782released him from his deal, we noted that WWE was still trying to get him back.
783
784That June, Ranallo agreed to return as the announcer with NXT. The agreement at 
785the time was that he would work Takeovers and televison tapings. His public 
786explanation was that the weekly Smackdown scheduled was too demanding with his 
787other work, which included Showtime boxing and Bellator MMA. The new schedule in 
788theory would have been 18 dates per year. The reality is the weekly schedule was 
789not the issue, as NXT went to weekly live and there was no issue of the schedule 
790nor talk of him not working every week. The deal was more about being away from 
791those who made the environment toxic for him, and that he would be overseen by 
792Levesque and Michael Cole, who he never had any issues with and were the two 
793people who were responsible for bringing him to the company. In time, he was 
794working alongside at times with the offending parties again, and Layfield, who 
795still on occasion works for the company, did attempt to make amends.
796
797Prior to the show, Graves tweeted a line from Ice T that said, “Social media has 
798made too many of you comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting 
799punched in the mouth for it.”
800
801During the Takeover show, he tweeted, “Just for the record guys, I know you 
802wouldn’t know it, but there’s actually a WWE Hall of Famer and a former Ring of 
803Honor champion on commentary. I’d imagine they have a lot to offer.”
804
805Knowing Ranallo’s situation, I knew there was potential trouble from that tweet. 
806It’s one thing regarding every public figure with a Twitter presence being 
807harassed, but it is another thing for it to be a fellow broadcaster and former 
808broadcast partner, as it was with Layfield.
809
810Graves also made references to Ranallo making too many rap music references 
811during the show, which is a fair criticism, but also came after Graves himself 
812complained about talent going on Twitter and being unprofessional.
813
814Graves later claimed according to reports elsewhere, as well as those in the 
815company, that he was trying to just start an angle with Ranallo. Ranallo had no 
816idea of this and usually if one would be starting an angle, you’d let the other 
817guy know, especially given the track record. The starting the angle story didn’t 
818come until days later, and a number of people have been very skeptical because 
819of the idea if you were starting an angle brand vs. brand, you would not have 
820tweeted it like that, in a sense you may have buried all three announcers, or 
821been critical of an announcer for being a homer, but not made the specific 
822comment he did. But the two were set to do at least one match, and perhaps more, 
823working together at Survivor Series.
824
825Ranallo deleted all his social media accounts shortly after. Frank Shamrock, his 
826agent and best friend, was in Chicago with him and they did leave before 
827Survivor Series. Graves did apologize to Shamrock, but not to Ranallo.
828
829Shamrock then tweeted Graves’ Ice T line right back to him.
830
831It was already reported that Ranallo had left and would not be doing the show.
832
833Cole, before the Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne NXT title match that Ranallo was 
834scheduled to broadcast, said that Ranallo was so passionate that, unfortunately, 
835he blew his voice out and couldn’t be on the show, but would return Wednesday. 
836That made the company look terrible since it was an outright lie, coming far too 
837soon after the provable outright lie regarding the Saudi Arabian flight issues. 
838While some aspects of the story were suspicious and people were skeptical of, 
839the claiming that it was the talent being so loyal that set up the flight that 
840never made it to Smackdown on time, was clearly untrue.
841
842Graves never took down the tweet. He never commented on anything actually 
843related to Ranallo again, but did blame me for making up a story, which in this 
844case, was a ridiculous deflection.
845
846It was noted to me that logic would have had WWE management trying to reel him 
847in after Ranallo left, but in the strange world of WWE, Graves was considered by 
848many the babyface in the situation, and even the victim.
849
850On 11/26, Graves taped a segment for his After the Bell podcast that was 
851released the next morning, where he opened the show saying, “On a personal note, 
852I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the Takeover War Games 
853event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the 
854intention of stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk 
855about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to 
856go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage 
857anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize 
858deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody 
859undue stress, especially a coworker. So, I apologize.”
860
861
862Here are some more notes on the Jim Cornette situation.
863
864Cornette did a podcast on 11/22 which saw he and co-host Brian Last discuss the 
865situation with his fried chicken in Ethiopa line and his departure from the NWA.
866
867Cornette did apologize to people who were offended by his line, but basically 
868said he was sorry for those who were truly offended and that he felt a lot of 
869the people claiming they were offended were using the line to get back at him 
870and he wasn’t apologetic at all to them. He was totally defiant to them. I think 
871he was honest in his own mind and made it clear he wouldn’t do a fake apology. 
872But at this stage, this was not an issue to fight over because legitimately 
873there are regular people who would read that line and see it as a cut-and-dried 
874racial issue no matter what the intent. The intent was just a throw-away line 
875that didn’t work and was taken wrong, but he should have looked at why, accepted 
876that it was, and said how sorry he was for it. Any qualified apology, or push 
877back at this point in time, was going to be taken as a non-apology. It simply 
878wasn’t the time or the place to insult a group of people who he was mad at.
879
880He said that he thought he came up with the joke one day with Ray Traylor (Big 
881Bubba Rogers aka Big Bossman) and then used it on television, and had used it 
882several times over the years. It was a joke about something preposterous, a huge 
883giant guy on a motor scooter in Ethiopia and a bucket of fried chicken. He noted 
884that all the comedians in that era did Ethiopia jokes due to the constant 
885television commercials about starving children. He also said that he wasn’t 100 
886percent sure that he came up with and that Richard Pryor may have come up with 
887the crux of it and he adapted it for Bubba. He said it was a starvation joke and 
888not racial. The problem is how he saw it or delivered it, almost nobody saw. The 
889story is what people read on paper and an average person not knowing who Jim 
890Cornette is could easily read that line and be very offended by it. Because of 
891that, this wasn’t the time to blame perceived enemies or try to rationalize it.
892
893There should not have been any conditions put on the apology because it ended up 
894with many then not taking it as an apology, however it was meant. At the same 
895time, I’m not sure at this point what an apology would have done and many 
896weren’t going to accept any explanation for a variety of reasons.
897
898Brian Last said that he didn’t find the joke funny, but said that he hates 
899racism. He noted growing up militantly anti-racist and would never ever 
900associate with someone racist. He said that he’s known Cornette for 25 years and 
901they are social friends when they are in the same city and said that Cornette is 
902not racist. Unfortunately there are tapes of Cornette using the N word and 
903granted, they are decades ago, they can and have resurfaced as this story got 
904play. The story also resurfaced stories about his temper and similar lines he’s 
905said over the phone to various people in wrestling, Mark Madden, Wade Keller and 
906Bruce Mitchell come to mind immediately, over the years who said he said the 
907same thing while cutting heated promos on them for things they had written about 
908him in the 90s. That’s one thing, but once, when he was furious at Madden, he 
909called up for him, got Madden’s mother (who was a wonderful lady by the way) and 
910according to what Madden said, Cornette cut a promo on her, which was so bad 
911that I don’t even feel comfortable in writing it. But suffice to say she was 
912completely innocent in all this. Granted, all of these are a quarter-century ago 
913and people do change. But that was still part of the reason many people argued a 
914pattern and thus the stronger reaction as compared to others who said things 
915similar or far worse once the line became an issue. It’s also why a complete 
916apology was the right thing to do at the time. Whether it would have mattered in 
917the big picture is a different question. But it was just the right thing to do.
918
919He noted that the line was used on a show, that numerous people saw the tape, 
920and were listening to the show as it was being done. Nobody as it was done said 
921a word abut the line and it’s a lot more than just David Lagana. Lagana in the 
922end was the point man who handles all the final editing, and he was very quick 
923to admit he made a mistake in allowing it to air.
924
925He noted that the line got through standards and practices and aired on 
926previously-taped shows on TBS and other television stations, the first time 
927viewed by millions with literally nobody saying a word about it. That was true, 
928but that was also in the 80s and 90s. Much of what constituted television color 
929commentary and interviews, particularly by heels, in the 70s, 80s and 90s would 
930not be allowed today. And that’s probably a good thing because a lot of the race 
931and ethnic baiting that was a staple of pro wrestling in another era was way 
932behind the times even in the 70s and 80s, but that’s what that era of the 
933business was and played on. Cornette is a product of that era.
934
935It also didn’t help his cause that he’s made a lot of enemies, and said some 
936completely outrageous things while getting into public feuds with a variety of 
937current personalities in wrestling. Some defend him because at certain aspects 
938of the industry, history, and certain aspects of psychology, he is really smart. 
939He makes valid points, but a lot of his other points when it comes to the 
940psychology of pro wrestling are from a different era and today’s fans are 
941very,very different from fans of that era. The argument he would make is that 
942the style of wrestling has limited appeal and there are not enough of those 
943fans, even if they are willing to pay far more money than fans in the past. It’s 
944a debate and there are points on both sides, but things weren’t always rosy and 
945there were a lot of down business periods and dead places in those eras as well. 
946But his enemies are a side issue, as is the current style or previous styles of 
947wrestling. Neither are the story here.
948
949The NWA had no choice but to get rid of him and he himself recognized that under 
950the circumstances the controversy wasn’t good for the company.
951
952NWA Powerrr has had several edits for reasons of taste, including a couple of 
953prior lines by Cornette and one by Eddie Kingston, which was not racial but 
954violent speak that they thought went too far. Lagana knew the risk of hiring 
955Cornette because he knew from the start there were people ready to pounce on him 
956based on the reaction by some to the decision to hire him. That actually had 
957made him more cautious when it came to editing the show. He felt from day one he 
958had to be extra careful because a line he would say that nobody would give a 
959second thought to if someone else would say, would garner controversy if 
960Cornette said it. That line, for whatever reason, perhaps the way it was 
961delivered, didn’t stand out and snuck through the entire process, unlike other 
962lines that they caught.
963
964Lagana noted he and the NWA got some criticism when the word got out they were 
965using Cornette as a television announcer. He said it was a recent thing and 
966nothing that had been said by anyone previously when he had done previous NWA 
967PPV shows, all of which he did with no controversy. The only people who showed 
968any kind of negativity for using him on prior shows was one wrestler as best we 
969know. I don’t even know if he ever even told them. But it was someone who wasn’t 
970happy about doing a show with Cornette as an announcer, but decided to take his 
971payoff for that show and donate it to charity to rationalize that what he as 
972doing by working a show with Cornette as an announcer was for a greater good 
973than bad.
974
975When the controversy started, Lagana, called Cornette, who didn’t answer the 
976phone. Cornette claimed he wasn’t around, wasn’t on the Internet, and had no 
977idea any controversy was even happening until the next day. Lagana then issued 
978an apology statement before talking to Cornette. Lagana eventually talked with 
979Cornette and asked him to apologize immediately and asked him to take a hiatus, 
980but that they would bring him back. It got heated enough at first that Cornette 
981hung up the phone on him. Eventually Cornette was not against the idea of 
982apologizing, but also wanted to make it clear that he was sorry for those he 
983offended, but not sorry at all for people who he believed weren’t the slightest 
984bit offended and used what he said for mock outrage because they were out to get 
985him. He argued that a number of the people making the most noise weren’t really 
986outraged, and they were using it to get at him and apologizing would give them 
987power and it would be worse in the long run because they will then constantly 
988demand apologies for anything. The problem is a ton of people who hear the line 
989and immediately call it racist, as noted by the media coverage it did receive, 
990even without knowing anything about him, his background, or what style of pro 
991wrestling he likes or doesn’t like.
992
993Because it was mainstream and those who know nothing about Cornette or pro 
994wrestling published it as an offensive remark, he should have apologized without 
995qualifications. A qualified apology just keeps the story going and makes even 
996the people who were legit offended and didn’t react over the wrong reasons not 
997say he didn’t mean it.
998
999He also said that he would never apologize if he didn’t truly mean to, unlike 
1000most public apologies in these situations which are moves from people who hire 
1001firms to help clean up problems and apologies are more strategically motivated 
1002than sincere.
1003
1004He also wanted to address the subject first on his podcast, ironically the same 
1005decision Corey Graves made a few days later. Lagana felt the apology had to come 
1006immediately and insisted on it. The line had already gotten TMZ coverage by the 
1007time this call had taken place. Cornette eventually quit, although he described 
1008it more as a decision based on what was best for the company.
1009
1010Cornette noted that he didn’t need the job and if it wasn’t going to be fun, he 
1011didn’t want to do it. He does very well between podcasting and selling of 
1012merchandise and whatever pro wrestling he has done of late.
1013
1014Cornette was mad about last week’s issue, reading it as an obituary issue on him 
1015while he was still alive. “Which is worse, me telling a 35-year-old joke or you 
1016trying to tell people a 35-year-old joke is the greatest wrestler in the world?”
1017
1018“Glad to know the end of my career came from doing a part-time announcing gig 
1019after I gave up the wrestling business seven years ago. I just had the best 
1020financial year of my career and the NWA contributed approximately four percent 
1021of that gross. This is, however, a reminder that I need to quit answering the 
1022phone, because the wrestling business is so F***ed up that shit like this can 
1023happen any time get near it. And it’s aggravation I don’t need.”
1024
1025Another issue had to do with owner William Patrick “Billy” Corgan, whose newest 
1026album was being released and he would be heavily promoting it, and the feeling 
1027was he wanted media coverage of his album, and not people asking his opinions on 
1028what somebody said in a wrestling promotion he owned that was getting negative 
1029press.
1030
1031There was also the concern that because Cornette turns so many phrases so 
1032quickly and people were clearly looking for anything on him at this point, that 
1033putting him on a live PPV was asking for trouble.
1034
1035Because of what happened, the attempt will be to remove Cornette from all NWA 
1036broadcasts, including things that had already been taped leading to the next PPV 
1037show on 12/14. On the show that aired on 11/26, it was edited and changed 
1038significantly and while it was impossible to remove Cornette completely because 
1039of key things pre-taped, he will be moved as much as possible going forward. 
1040From early numbers of the show, which were down, the controversy hardly helped 
1041the NWA as far as viewership went.
1042
1043Cornette went off early, and thus came off badly at first, blaming AEW fans for 
1044his problems and that this was a backlash by people who didn’t like him making 
1045fun of their “cosplay wrestlers.” While there is some crossover of those 
1046outraged by him and the AEW fan base, it was a bad look blaming the issue on any 
1047group of fans of a promotion or wrestlers. The subject of Cornette’s comments on 
1048ring announcer Justin Roberts never came up in any of this talk, as that was 
1049addressed on a prior podcast. But it was not lost on NWA officials when this 
1050went down.
1051
1052Lagana himself had noted that YouTube stats have shown him that 30 percent of 
1053the audience for NWA Powerrr on YouTube were people who are coming from or going 
1054to or otherwise watch AEW Dark. Probably even more watch Dynamite. It served the 
1055NWA no good to have their announcer go so strongly negative on a product that a 
1056large percentage of their fan base enjoys. It really doesn’t come off well when 
1057an announcer with a promotion criticizes another group unless it’s something 
1058clearly deserved. But it’s not good when an announcer criticizes a rival group 
1059past a sentence or two, and never when it’s over-the top. But really, that’s a 
1060different issue as well.
1061
1062We’ve seen people come back from worse. Hulk Hogan, is the obvious example that 
1063comes to mind, but he’s also Hulk Hogan and it was inevitable and always a 
1064matter of time. He also took ten times worse of a hit initially because his 
1065remarks were far worse, and also, because he was Hulk Hogan. Historically that 
1066would be the case here, at least as far as doing appearances as there will 
1067always be promoters of shows who will book him and he’ll likely maintain a fan 
1068base for his podcast as long as he is entertaining. As far as announcing 
1069wrestling, something he is better at than all but a few people in this world, 
1070that’s a very different issue for all the obvious reasons. He hasn’t gone out of 
1071his way to get those type of jobs, and the number of enemies he’s made with 
1072modern wrestlers makes it uncomfortable, as his MLW stint showed. It’s too bad. 
1073He was the right guy for the NWA, until he became the wrong guy.
1074
1075
1076WWE Backstage on 11/26 did 121,000 viewers, down from the 180,000 the week 
1077before for the debut of C.M. Punk. Punk was not on the show, nor advertised, but 
1078I’m sure some expected him since they gave the impression he was a regular and 
1079never said he wasn’t going to be on. It did better than the two prior shows in 
1080that time slot that Punk wasn’t advertised ahead of time on.
1081
1082Raw has now had its three least-watched non-holiday episodes in history over the 
1083last three weeks.
1084
1085The 11/25 had to be the most disappointing of the three. The show did a 1.75 
1086rating and 2,107,000 viewers (1.35 viewers per home). It was down 0.9 percent 
1087from the 2,126,000 viewers, the second-lowest of the last 22 plus years, a week 
1088earlier. The record low was two weeks ago when going against the highest rated 
1089football game of the season.
1090
1091But there were key differences. The 11/18 show went against an NFL game that did 
109212,567,000 viewers. The 11/25 show went against the biggest blowout of the 
1093season, a Baltimore Ravens 45-6 win over the Los Angeles Rams. The game was 
1094basically over by halftime, and averaged 10,926,000 viewers.
1095
1096But worse, the show came the day after Survivor Series, one of the company’s 
1097major events of the year. Usually that leads to a substantial bump. But not only 
1098was the overall number down, the 2,241,000 viewers in the first hour indicated 
1099no great interest in the follow-up after the PPV.
1100
1101Raw was tenth for the night on cable, but also only trailed three NFL-related 
1102shows on ESPN in the 18-49 demo. It was down 11.1 percent from the same show one 
1103year ago.
1104
1105The median viewer was 50.0 years old. Teenagers grew throughout the show peaking 
1106with the Rollins vs. Owens match with 81,000. 18-34 peaked with Lashley vs. 
1107O’Neil. 35-49 peaked with the opening segment. Males 18-34 peaked with the OC 
1108segment building the four-way as did Women 35-49, but women 18-34 saw that drop 
1109considerably. Men 35-49 and 50+ peaked with the opening segment.
1110
1111It had the usual ratings pattern with the big third hour drop, although the drop 
1112was basically everyone but teenagers. The first-to-third hour drop was 14.5 
1113percent in women 18-49, 22.0 percent in men 18-49, 2.7 percent with teenage 
1114girls, 1.6 percent with teenage boys and 14.4 percent over 50.
1115
1116The show’s peak was 2,375,000 viewers for the Seth Rollins show opening segment 
1117and it fell from there. The low point was the beginning of Rollins vs. Kevin 
1118Owens at 1,767,000 viewers, although most of the main event averaged 1,896,000 
1119viewers.
1120
1121Bobby Lashley vs. Titus O’Neil and AOP vs. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins lost 44,000 
1122viewers. Andrade vs. Akira Tozawa lost 271,000 viewers, although the segment 
1123also had two commercial breaks. Buddy Murphy vs. Matt Hardy gained 139,000 
1124viewers. The challenges leading to the four-way match gained 77,000 viewers. 
1125Drew McIntyre vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton vs. Ricochet lost 59,000 viewers. 
1126A.J. Styles vs. Mysterio for the U.S. title gained 17,000 viewers. Charlotte 
1127Flair vs. Asuka lost 65,000 viewers. Erick Rowan vs. Kyle Roberts lost 153,000 
1128viewers. Rollins vs. Owens in the main event lost 20,000 viewers.
1129
1130The first hour did 2,241,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,190,000 viewers. The 
1131third hour did 1,896,000 viewers.
1132
1133The show did a 0.37 in 12-17 (up 15.7 percent from last week), 0.46 in 18-34 (up 
11347.0 percent), 0.96 in 35-49 (up 3.2 percent) and 0.92 in 50+ (down 3.2 percent).
1135
1136The audience was 64.1 percent male in 18-49 and 58.7 percent male with 12-17.
1137
1138Smackdown on 11/22 did a 1.59 rating and 2,544,000 viewers (1.45 viewers per 
1139home) for the multi-branded go-home show the night before Survivor Series. The 
1140rating was up 8.2 percent and audience up 10.2 percent from the prior week.
1141
1142While the multi-brand aspect could be an outlier, it does appear to show 
1143Smackdown will have its ups and downs, but we’re far enough along to say the 
1144show is doing fine in the time slot. The goal was a 1.0 in 18-49 and close to 
1145three million viewers, and it won’t average close to that. But it also isn’t 
1146going to level off under two million, which would be a negative.
1147
1148The 0.8 in 18-49 tied Hawaii 5-0 for No. 1 for the night on network, but the 
11490.72 for the NBA, on cable in far less homes, would really be the top 18-49 
1150performance since the real percentage of an 0.72 in 120 million homes translates 
1151to 1.02 in the demo based on actual ESPN coverage area. FOX did do the lowest in 
1152total viewers of the four networks and Smackdown was the second least watched 
1153show on network TV that night, beating only one 30 minute block on ABC.
1154
1155Last year in the same time slot ESPN had college football which did a 1.0 in the 
1156demo and 4,076,000 viewers, so they were down 20 percent in the demo and 37.6 
1157percent overall.
1158
1159The fast nationals had the first hour at 2,701,000 viewers and the second at 
11602,500,000 viewers. That would average slightly higher, because there were 
1161markets that preempted Smackdown on FOX for other programming and fast nationals 
1162measure the network affiliates in the major markets in the time slot while final 
1163ratings measure the show itself.
1164
1165The show did a 2.0 in New York, 1.0 in Los Angeles, 1.9 in Chicago, 1.7 in 
1166Philadelphia, 2.3 in Dallas, 0.8 in San Francisco, 1.8 in DC, 1.7 in Houston and 
11672.7 in Atlanta.
1168
1169There really weren’t a lot of major variations. The audience had its ups and 
1170downs, more downs, but no giant shifts. The second part of the Charlotte Flair 
1171vs. Sasha Banks vs. Rhea Ripley match and post-match brawl lost 0.6 percent of 
1172viewers based on the top ten markets. Some promos and the set up of the 
1173Undisputed Era vs. New Day & Heavy Machinery bout lost 6.0 percent. The match 
1174itself lost 1.3 percent. The brawl after the eight-man, a Styles promo and the 
1175Bray Wyatt/Miz promo segment gained 3.2 percent. Bryan vs. Miz and the Wyatt 
1176stuff after gained 1.3 percent. The Shayna Baszler/Bayley angle lost 1.9 
1177percent. And the Roman Reigns & Shorty G & Ali vs. King Corbin & Dolph Ziggler & 
1178Robert Roode match and the three-way brawl at the end with all three brands and 
1179the DX tank reprise gained 1.3 percent.
1180
1181
1182This is the first issue of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address 
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1184
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1197
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1227
1228  For back issues of the Observer, the "Wrestling Observer Index" lists almost 
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1234
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1250
1251
1252RESULTS
1253
1254 
1255
125611/25 Chicago Allstate Arena (WWE Raw/Main Event TV tapings - 7,200): Natalya b 
1257Sarah Logan, No Way Jose b Eric Young, Bobby Lashley b Titus O’Neil-DQ, Andrade 
1258b Akira Tozawa, Buddy Murphy b Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio won four-way over Drew 
1259McIntyre, Ricochet and Randy Orton, U.S. title: Rey Mysterio b A.J. Styles to 
1260win title, Asuka b Charlotte Flair, Erick Rowan b Kyle Roberts, Seth Rollins NC 
1261Kevin Owens, Cage match for Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Drew McIntyre
1262
126311/27 Chicago Sears Center (AEW TV tapings - 6,100): Jimmy Havoc b Brandon 
1264Cutler, Chuck Taylor & Trent b Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix, Bea Priestley & Emi 
1265Sakura b Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander, Cody b Matt Knicks, Kenny Omega b Pac, 
1266MJF b Adam Page, AEW title: Chris Jericho b Scorpio Sky, Shawn Spears b Sonny 
1267Kiss, Santana & Ortiz b Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt
1268
126911/27 Winter Park, FL (WWE NXT - 400 sellout): Raul Mendoza b Arturo Ruas, 
1270Santana Garrett b Deonna Purrazzo, Tag titles: Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong b 
1271Keith Lee & Dominic Dijakovic, Mansoor b Shane Thorne, Candice LeRae b Dakota 
1272Kai-DQ, Cruiserweight title: Lio Rush b Akira Tozawa, Xia Li b Vanessa Borne, 
1273Finn Balor b Tommaso Ciampa
1274
127511/27 Hamamatsu (New Japan - 1,320): Shingo Takagi & El Terrible b Hirooki Goto 
1276& Karl Fredericks, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi b Yuji Nagata & Manabu 
1277Nakanishi, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer b Hiroyoshi Tenzan& Satoshi Kojima, 
1278Juice Robinson & David Finlay b Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls, Zack Sabre Jr. & 
1279Taichi b Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma, Jay White & Gedo b Tetsuya Naito & Bushi, 
1280Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa b Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens, Colt Cabana & Toru Yano b 
1281Evil & Sanada
1282
128311/27 Oro (All Japan - 315): Koji Iwamoto won three-way over Atsushi Maruyama 
1284and Dan Tamura, Takao Omori & Hikaru Sato b Jun Akiyama & Atsuki Aoyagi, Zeus & 
1285Joe Doering & Jun Akiyama b Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman & Black Menso-re, Suwama & 
1286Shuji Ishikawa & Yusuke Okada b Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura & Hokuto Omori, Parrow & 
1287Odinson b Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta, Tajiri & Kai b Kento Miyahara & 
1288Yuma Aoyagi
1289
1290CMLL: The CMLL welterweight title, which Dragon Lee held when he was fired, will 
1291be decided with a two-week tournament on 12/1 and 12/8. There will be an 
1292eight-man elimination match on 12/1, and the last two guys left will have a 2/3 
1293fall match for the title the next week. Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Drone and Fuego 
1294were all announced
1295
1296The longstanding feud with this promotion and El Hijo del Santo may be settling. 
1297Santo said on +Lucha TV that he would be open to returning, and there was talk 
1298that before his death, that Santo and Paco Alonso had talked but that with 
1299Alonso’s death, the chances are lower that it will happen
1300
1301Mano Negra, who is 68 and works a few times a year, said that his appearance on 
1302the 12/7 legends show will be his last match ever at Arena Mexico
1303
1304Ultimo Guerrero retained the CMLL heavyweight title over Valiente on 11/25 in 
1305Puebla
1306
1307The 11/22 show at Arena Mexico was headlined by Ultimo Guerrero & Negro Casas & 
1308Gran Guerrero over Mistico & Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. in two straight falls 
1309with Casas beating Soberano to take the deciding fall to set up a third Soberano 
1310Jr. Mexican national welterweight title defense against Casas on 11/29. They 
1311were down to 5,000 fans this week. The Dinamitas of Sanson & Forastero Cuatrero 
1312beat Titan & Valiente & Stuka Jr. and Audaz & Kraneo & Star Jr. beat Hechicero & 
1313Rey Bucanero & Templario. . Also on 11/29 besides the Soberano title defense, is 
1314tecnico Caristico teaming with rudos Felino & Ultimo Guerrero against tecnicos 
1315Angel de Oro (who fans are really into booing) & Volador Jr. and rudo 
1316Cavernario, and the Dinamitas against Mistico & Titan & Valiente
1317
1318The annual CMLL bodybuilding contest took place on 11/26. In the beginners 
1319category, Titan won with Johnny Dinamo second and Angelito third. Dalys won the 
1320women’s division, as she has for the fifth straight year, even more impressive 
1321given she about 50 years old, with Lluvia second and Avispa Dorada third. Fugaz 
1322won the intermediate division with Crixus second and Olimpico third. Angel de 
1323Amor won the advanced division with Sangre Imperial second and Esfinge third.
1324
1325AAA: There was a news report this past week saying La Parka was back in 
1326intensive care due to a bacterial infection. There have also been reports Parka 
1327suffered a heart attack at one point. AAA has denied all this saying that he is 
1328in stable condition
1329
1330The last major show of the year, Guerra de Titanes, takes place on 12/14 in 
1331Ciudad Madero. The lineup opens with Aramis (who got over huge and is now a PWG 
1332regular) & Dinastia & Octagoncito vs. Arez & Mini Psycho Clown & Parkita Negra, 
1333Mascarita Dorada & Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburguesa vs. Demus & Latigo & Villano 
1334III Jr., a lumberjack match with Octagon Jr. & Faby Apache & Taya Valkyrie vs. 
1335Mocho Cota Jr. & Carta Brava Jr.& Tito Santana vs. Abismo Negro Jr. & Ayako 
1336Hamada & Keyra, Brian Cage & Murder Clown & Pagano & Puma King vs. Chessman & 
1337Killer Kross & Black Taurus & El Texano Jr., Pentagon Jr. & Fenix defend the AAA 
1338tag titles in a three-way against Angelico & Australian Suicide and El Hijo del 
1339Vikingo and a mystery partner, Big Mami vs. Lady Maravilla in a hair vs. hair 
1340match and Dr. Wagner Jr. & Drago & Psycho Clown vs. Blue Demon Jr. & Bestia del 
1341Ring & Rush. This is Angelico’s first show back in two years
1342
1343The 12/1 baseball stadium show in Monterrey which includes Kenny Omega vs. 
1344Dragon Lee for the AAA Mega championship, has 7,000 tickets out right now. For 
1345Mexico, that’s a very healthy advance. But now they have a problem with two 
1346major soccer games head-to-head in Monterrey, one of which is right next door. 
1347The reason the show isn’t available is because Multimedios, the local television 
1348station, is behind the show and they will be airing it on 12/15
1349
1350Super Crazy is being advertised for 11/30 in Veracruz but we’re told he’s not 
1351going to be there
1352
1353Myzteziz, who has been out of action because he and Laredo Kid have been on a 
1354popular reality show, Extalon, may have been voted off the show since he’s 
1355announced for the 11/30 tapings in Veracruz
1356
1357Pentagon & Fenix are still taking new dates in Mexico, just not with Crash.
1358
1359THE CRASH: Bandido won the heavyweight title in a three-way over champion Rey 
1360Horus and newcomer Marty Scurll on the 11/23 show in Tijuana. The match was said 
1361to be good. The show drew 3,000 fans. Bandido winning the title would indicate, 
1362if booking was logical, that he wouldn’t be going to WWE when his contract is up 
1363at the end of the year. Bandido is hardly taking it easy since he came back from 
1364his knee injury. He worked a show at a children’s birthday party on 11/22 in 
1365Monterrey, did three matches on 11/24 in winning a tournament, and then works 
1366Thursday through Sunday this week including the big AAA shows in Veracruz and 
1367Monterrey. Penta 0M & Rey Fenix did their farewells to The Crash and beat Jack 
1368Evans & Angelico. That seems to indicate they are going to be exclusive in 
1369Mexico with AAA. We were told that was the case as of mid-December. Bestia 666 
1370beat Jimmy Havoc in the other top match on the show. This show did not draw 
1371particularly well but we didn’t get a number.
1372
1373DRAGON GATE: An update on Final Gate, the company’s 12/15 show from the Fukuoka 
1374International Center Arena. This show will air on their streaming service live 
1375with English commentary. The show at this pont has Ben K vs. Naruki Doi for the 
1376Open the Dream Gate title in the Ben K story of beating all the previous 
1377multiple time champions. The Open the Twin Gate title match has Eita & Big R 
1378Shimizu defending against Yamato & BxB Hulk. The Open the Triangle Gate title 
1379match has the Strong Machines defending in a three-team match against Hyo & 
1380Takashi Yoshida & Diamante of R.E.D. and Kzy & Genki Horiguchi & Susumu Yokosuka 
1381of Natural Vibes. Also announced is a special appearance by Naomichi Marufuji, 
1382who will face Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa in a comedy match
1383
1384I guess this wouldn’t be counted as the end of the winning streak, but the 
1385Strong Machines had a no contest on 11/26 at Kobe Sambo Hall in a match with 
1386Masaaki Mochizuki & Ryo Saito & Yasushi Kanada due to outside interference
1387
1388There will also be English commentary with Lenny Leonard and Larry Dallas on 
138912/18 for Fan Appreciation Night at Korakuen Hall. The Dragon Gate Network airs 
1390live shows on 11/29, 11/30 and 12/1 from Sapporo, with the first two shows at 
13913:45 a.m. and the third show at 10:45 p.m. Eastern and 7:45 p.m Pacific so it’s 
1392a rare show in a good U.S. slot late Sunday night. The story is R.E.D. of Eita & 
1393Shimizu & Hyo will headlined all three nights. They face MaxiMum of Masato 
1394Yoshino & Naruki Doi & Dragon Kid the first night. They face Toryumon of Ultimo 
1395Dragon & Ryo Saito & Yasushi Kanda the second night. And they face Tribe 
1396Vanguard of Yamato & Hulk & Yosuke Santa Maria the third night
1397
139812/4 at Korakuen Hall, also live with a 4:15 a.m. start, has Ultimo Dragon vs. 
1399Eita where if Dragon loses, he must leave Dragon Gate, a non-title battle of tag 
1400partners with Ben K vs. Shun Skywalker and Yoshino & Doi & Kaito Ishida vs. 
1401Shimizu & Yoshida & Hyo.
1402
1403ALL JAPAN: As of 11/29, the standings in the tag team tournament are: 1. Jun 
1404Akiyama & Joe Doering and Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa 4-1; 3. Parrow & Odinson 4-3; 
14054. Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta 3-2; 5. Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura 3-3; 6. 
1406Tajiri & Kai and Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi 2-3; 8. Zeus & Ryoji Sai 2-4; 9. 
1407Daisuke Sekimoto & The Bodyguard and, Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman 1-3
1408
140911/23 in Hiroshima before 323 fans saw Doering & Akiyama beat Yoshitatsu & 
1410Redman in 9:22 when Doering pinned Yoshitatsu with a Revolution power bomb. 
1411Yoshida & Valletta beat Zeus & Sai in 15:23 when Yoshida pinned Sai after the 
1412pineapple bomber
1413
141411/24 in Takamatsu saw Lee & Nomura beat Yoshida & Valletta in 12:04 when Lee 
1415pinned Valletta with a back suplex and Doering & Akiyama beat Zeus & Sai in 
141616:37 when Doering pinned Sai with a revolution power bomb
1417
141811/26 in Fukuoka before 542 fans saw Yoshitatsu & Redman get their first win 
1419over Lee & Nomura in 10:53 when Redman pinned Lee with a cradle, and Miyahara & 
1420Aoyagi beat Zeus & Sai in 23:31 when Miyahara pinned Zeus after the shutdown 
1421German suplex
1422
142311/27 in Oro before 315 fans saw Parrow & Odinson beat Yoshida & Valletta in 
142411:22 with a double F-5 on Valletta. Tajiri & Kai beat Miyahara & Aoyagi in 
142518:09 when Kai pinned Aoyagi after a meteor impact
1426
142711/28 in Shunan before 415 fans, Yoshida & Valletta beat Tajiri & Kai in 7:48 
1428when Valletta beat Kai and Suwama & Ishikawa beat Lee & Nomura in 24:44 when 
1429Suwama pinned Nomura with a last ride power bomb.
1430
1431PRO WRESTLING NOAH: The biggest show of the week was 11/26 in Niigata before 
14321,020 fans. The show was built around the 15th anniversary of the pro debuts of 
1433both Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Shiozaki, now 37, had his actual pro 
1434debut on July 24, 2004. Nakajima, 31, actually was an accomplished karate 
1435competitor who was recruited into pro wrestling at the age of 14 by Riki Choshu. 
1436He was 15 when he made his MMA debut in 2003 with a 1:35 knockout on a card 
1437promoted by Kensuke Sasaki. Whether that was legit or not, we don’t know, but 
1438there was plenty of speculation about it at the time since there was so much 
1439hype on him and everyone thought it was weird that he was doing an MMA fight 
1440that young on a show put together by pro wrestlers. His pro wrestling debut was 
1441January 5, 2004. In the main event, Shiozaki & Nakajima & Hitoshi Kumano beat 
1442GHC champion Kaito Kiyomiya & Naomichi Marufuji & Masao Inoue in 23:01 when 
1443Shiozaki pinned Inoue after a short lariat. Takashi Sugiura retained his 
1444National heavyweight title over Shuhei Taniguchi in 23:59 with an Olympic slam. 
1445Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Kotoge won the GHC jr. tag titles over Tadasuke & 
1446Daisuke Harada in 20:01 when Kotoge pinned Tadasuke with killswitch.
1447
1448NEW JAPAN: TV-Asahi Ch. 2 in Japan is promoting a 30 years of Liger celebration 
1449with Liger taking over the station for a 24 hour marathon on 12/30 and 12/31. 
1450That would be the equivalent of an NBC or ABC in the U.S. doing a 24 hour 
1451marathon building up the retirement of a wrestler
1452
1453The company announced its schedule through early March. If there is a key thing, 
1454it is that they have major plans for early February big shows, and there is no 
1455Honor Rising tour this year, which is more a confirmation of relations with that 
1456company not being what they once were. After the two Tokyo Dome shows on 1/4 and 
14571/5 and New Year’s Dash on 1/6 at the Ota Ward Gym, will be the Fantastica Mania 
1458tour will be 1/10 to 1/20. The shows are 1/10 in Osaka, 1/11 in Ehime, 1/12 in 
1459Kyoto, 1/13 in Nagoya, and then four dates, 1/16, 1/17, 1/19 and 1/20 in 
1460Korakuen Hall. In February, the three New Beginning shows are 2/1 and 2/2 in 
1461Sapporo at the Hokkaido Prefectural Gym, and 2/9 at Osaka Jo Hall. That’s a big 
1462one as usually they only run Jo Hall for Dominion and run the Edion Arena for 
1463the other big Osaka events during the year. To run Jo Hall, they will need a 
1464major main event and deep show one would think. They are running the Tiger 
1465Hattori Retirement show on 2/19 at Korakuen Hall, as the first of three straight 
1466nights in the building. Those were the ROH Honor Rising dates in recent year. 
1467The 48th anniversary show will be 3/3 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo, as it always 
1468is since that’s the gym the first New Japan card ever was held in 1972
1469
1470The tag team tournament standings as of 11/28: 1. Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi 
14717-1 and Evil & Sanada 7-1; 3. Juice Robinson & David Finlay and Tama Tonga & 
1472Tanga Loa 6-2; 5. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano and Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer 6-3; 
14737. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls and Shingo Takagi & El Terrible 5-5; 9. KENTA & 
1474Yujiro Takahashi 4-4; 10. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima 4-4; 11. Bad Luck 
1475Fale & Chase Owens 3-5; 12. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi 3-6; 13. Togi Makabe & 
1476Tomoaki Honma 3-7; 14. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks 2-6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & 
1477Toa Henare 2-7; 16. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi 1-9. Even though he’s lost no 
1478falls, and probably will lose no falls, something about Tanahashi being in 15th 
1479place in a 16 team tournament under any circumstances doesn’t feel right. 
1480Especially because Henare is the most underrated guy on the roster. Sabre & 
1481Taichi are both also faring worse tan expected
1482
1483There is only one live show this week on New Japan World, a 4:30 a.m. Eastern 
1484time show from Korakuen Hall with Goto & Fredericks vs. Cobb & Nicholls, Nagata 
1485& Nakanishi vs. Yano & Cabana, Kojima & Tenzan vs. Sabre Jr. & Taichi, Robinson 
1486& Finlay vs. Fale & Owens, Kazuchika Okada & Sho & Yoh vs. Kota Ibushi & Yota 
1487Tsuji & Yuya Uemura, Makabe & Honma vs. Tonga & Loa and Evil & Sanada vs. Ishii 
1488& Yoshi-Hashi. It will only be broadcast in Japanese. The following week has the 
1489final three nights of the tournament which will be in English on 12/5 in Fukuoka 
1490at 4:30 a.m. Eastern, 12/6 in Kumamoto at 5 a.m. Eastern, and the final night is 
149112/8 in Hiroshima at 3 a.m. Eastern. Basically it’s a couple of hours after UFC 
1492ends on Saturday night. There is no final match as 12/8 has a full card of 
1493tournament matches and whoever ends up with the highest point total wins. 
1494Although I’m sure with the booking, that the last match of the show will be the 
1495championship match
1496
1497In tournament matches this past week: 11/23 in Kawasaki before 1,833 fans saw 
1498Cobb & Nicholls over Tenzan & Kojima in 9:56 when Nicholls pinned Kojima after a 
1499power bomb. Evil & Sanada beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 10:31 when Evil pinned 
1500Nakanishi after the magic killer. Makabe & Honma beat Cabana & Yano in 8:12 when 
1501Makabe pinned Cabana after a King Kong kneedrop. KENTA & Takahashi beat Sabre 
1502Jr. & Taichi in 11:10 when KENTA cradled Taichi. Robinson & Finlay beat Takagi & 
1503Terrible in 8:07 when Finlay pined Terrible with an amateur Granby roll. Ishii & 
1504Yoshi-Hashi beat Tanahashi & Henare in 12:48 when Yoshi-Hashi beat Henare with 
1505Karma. Main event saw Tonga & Loa over Suzuki & Archer in 14:31 when Tonga 
1506pinned Suzuki after a stun gun.. . 11/24 in Nagoya drew 3,536 fans to Dolphins 
1507Arena, which isn’t particularly great for the building but the tag tournament 
1508with normal matches isn’t going to do big numbers. Suzuki & Archer beat Nagata & 
1509Nakanishi in 9:47 when Archer pinned Nakanishi with the claw. It should be noted 
1510how Gedo is looking at things when with the Suzuki/Archer team, it’s Suzuki 
1511losing the falls when they have to most of the time, while Archer is the one 
1512taking the falls. Fale & Owens beat Makabe & Honma in 9:45 when Owens pinned 
1513Honma after a package piledriver. Cabana & Yano beat Tanahashi & Henare in 10:08 
1514when Cabana pinned Henare with a Superman press. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Tenzan 
1515& Kojima in 11:08 when Ishii pinned Tenzan after a brainbuster. Takagi & 
1516Terrible beat KENTA & Takahashi in 10:14 when Takagi pinned Takahashi with Last 
1517of the dragon. Cobb & Nicholls beat Sabre & Taichi in 11:51 when Cobb pinned 
1518Taichi with the tour of the islands. Evil & Sanada beat Tonga & Loa in 13:40 
1519when Evil beat Tonga with the scorpion deathlock
1520
152111/25 in Komatsu before 2,168 fans saw Tenzan & Kojima beat Yano & Cabana in 
15229:08 when Kojima pinned Cabana after a lariat. Robinson & Finlay beat Nagata & 
1523Nakanishi in 9:18 when Robinson pinned Nakanishi with pulp friction. Cobb & 
1524Nicholls beat Tanahashi & Henare in 10:15 when Nicholls pinned Henare after a 
1525power bomb. Suzuki & Archer beat Takagi & Terrible in 11:12 when Archer pinned 
1526Terrible using the claw. Tonga & Loa beat Goto & Fredericks in 8:22 when Tonga 
1527pinned Goto with the gun stun. That’s a big surprise since Fredericks would be 
1528the guy on the team to drop the falls. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Makabe & Honma 
1529in 12:56 when Ishii beat Honma with the butterfly lock. Evil & Sanada beat KENTA 
1530& Takahashi in 12:20 when Evil pinned Takahashi after the magic killer
1531
153211/27 in Hamamatsu before 1,320 fans saw Takagi & Terrible beat Goto & 
1533Fredericks in 10:39 when Terrible pinned Fredericks with a flying body press. 
1534Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 10:01 when Yoshi-Hashi beat 
1535Nakanishi with the butterfly lock. Suzuki & Archer beat Tenzan & Kojima in 12:10 
1536when Archer pinned Kojima using the claw. Robinson & Finlay beat Cobb & Nicholls 
1537in 9:38 when Robinson pinned Nicholls with pulp friction. Sabre Jr. & Taichi 
1538beat Makabe & Honma in 10:23 when Taichi pinned Honma with Black Mephisto. Tonga 
1539& Loa beat Fale & Owens in the battle of Bullet Club 10:07 when Loa pinned 
1540Owens. Main event saw Cabana & Yano, a team you would never think would win a 
1541main event match in New Japan, beat Evil & Sanada in 13:22 when Cabana pinned 
1542Sanada with the Superman press. I wonder if Cabana had to slap himself to take 
1543up from this weird dream when he got that finish
1544
154511/28 at Korakuen Hall before 1,606 fans, which would be just shy of a sellout, 
1546saw Yano & Cabana beat Goto & Fredericks in 8:08 when Cabana pinned Fredericks 
1547with a Superman press. Fale & Owens beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 8:10 when Fale 
1548pinned Nakanishi with a schoolboy. KENTA & Takahashi beat Tenzan & Kojima in 
154911:32 when KENTA made Kojima submit to Game Over (LeBell lock). Suzuki & Archer 
1550beat Makabe & Honma in 12:27 when Archer Honma with the claw. Takagi & Terrible 
1551beat Tanahashi & Henare in 13:04 when Takagi pinned Henare with Last of the 
1552Dragon. Tonga & Loa beat Cobb & Nicholls in 14:47 when Loa pinned Nicholls. Evil 
1553& Sanada beat Sabre & Taichi in 17:52 when Sanada pinned Sabre after a 
1554moonsault. That should lead to a British title match with Sabre vs. Sanada 
1555either at the Tokyo Dome or with Revolution Pro.
1556
1557OTHER JAPAN NOTES: A press conference was held regarding Bushiroad taking over 
1558Stardom which becomes official on 12/1. The new chain of command will be Takaaki 
1559Kidani, as the head of Bushiroad, then Hirada, the head of Kicksroad, which is 
1560the overseeing company of Stardom (as noted before, they are putting Stardom 
1561with the same company as their kickboxing company and separate from their larger 
1562New Japan Pro Wrestling company), and then Rossy Ogawa as CEO of Stardom. Milano 
1563Collection A.T., a former wrestler who is the television announcer for New 
1564Japan, will be the new head coach and trainer of the women wrestlers. They will 
1565have television on BS NTV. That is the satellite station of the NTV network. The 
1566network had been the home of pro wrestling in Japan dating back from Rikidozan 
1567in 1954 through the JWA, All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH until a financial 
1568crisis caused them to cut NOAH, which has left the company struggling ever 
1569since. Starting on Jan. 2, they will have a 30 minute show on Thursday nights at 
157011:30 p.m. and that show will be replayed on Tokyo MX on Sundays at 1:35 a.m. 
1571The show will consist of edited highlights of the top matches from the week and 
1572some interview segments. There will be a big push for recruiting new talent 
1573using the name “Stardom Cinderella Audition 2020,” looking for potential new 
1574talent between the ages of 15 and 30. Japan has a very different type of rules 
1575for this type of thing. WWE, or a U.S. group, would never recruit someone under 
1576the age of 18 for a multitude of reasons while a lot of the best woman wrestlers 
1577in history in Japan were recruited at 15 and left high school early. They are 
1578also pushing a new Stardom Fan Club and will be pushing hard to get more social 
1579media followers. Stage one of the new plans is directed at building the Japanese 
1580market. Even though Stardom World, the streaming service, has more subscribers 
1581outside of Japan, step one is the home market and not worrying about 
1582international business yet, and we’re told, probably not for a long time. They 
1583also did contract signings for the two main events on the 12/24 Korakuen Hall 
1584show, which are Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu for the World of Stardom title and 
1585Arisa Hoshiki vs. Konami for the Wonder of Stardom title, plus there will be a 
1586singles match with Hana Kimura vs. Giulia. Kidani will appear live ad speak to 
1587the crowd at that show. We’re told the higher-ups want to focus on Kimura, 
1588Hoshiki, Utami Hayashishita, Iwatani and Tam Nakano to market the company, and 
1589not so much on Momo Watanabe, Jungle Kyona and Kagetsu. Ogawa will be running 
1590the wrestling direction and booking, but Bushiroad, as owners, will have a lot 
1591of influence on his direction
1592
1593Hazuki, also known at times as HZM, 22, announced at the 11/24 Stardom show that 
1594she will retire from pro wrestling with her final match on 12/24, facing Natsuko 
1595Tora. She was one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion. According to 
1596those in the company, she made the decision earlier in the year that she wanted 
1597to live a normal life. She said that wrestling (in a pre-show match) in April in 
1598Madison Square Garden fulfilled her dreams and that played a part in her 
1599decision. She is healthy and had no issues with the company. She wanted 
1600wrestling to be a phase in her life and she is happy with what she did and is 
1601ready to move on. In the main event of that show, Goddesses of Stardom tag 
1602champs Jungle Kyona & Konami beat Arisa Hoshiki & Tam Nakano when Konami used 
1603the triangle submission on Nakano. Konami then issued a challenge to Hoshiki for 
1604her Wonder of Stardom title which will headline 12/24. On the 11/23 show, which 
1605included AEW wrestlers Bea Priestley, Jamie Hayter and Riho, Momo Watanabe & AZM 
1606& Utami Hayashishita won the Artist of Stardom trios titles from Kagetsu & Natsu 
1607Sumire & Andras Miyagi. Miyagi turned on Kagetsu and Sumire and AZM submitted 
1608Sumire after Miyagi had beaten her down
1609
1610DDT ran Korakuen Hall on 11/24 before 1,214 fans with Harashima retaining the 
1611KO-D title over Yuki Iino in 16:51 with the Somato. Iino got the push now as a 
1612former rugby star because of how big the Rugby World Cup has been in Japan. Iino 
1613was compared to Otis or Ishii although not in the same universe as Ishii in the 
1614ring. Said to be a **** match. There’s been no new talk of Harashima vs. Kenny 
1615Omega since they did their in-ring tease a few weeks ago. Daisuke Sasaki & Soma 
1616Takao kept the tag team titles over Masahiro Takanishi & Chris Brookes in 13:43 
1617in what was said to be a ***½ match with no comedy. The other major match was a 
1618comedy bout with Antonio Honda & Miyu Yamashita facing Jiro Kuroshio & Konosuke 
1619Takeshita. It was pretty much all comedy including a point when Honda & 
1620Yamashita went to do a tope and both went down like their knee gave out. That’s 
1621a standard Honda spot he does almost every night but was new for Yamashita, a 
1622woman wrestler
1623
1624OWE, which is the group with the Stronghearts from AEW that is now based in 
1625Cambodia after leaving China, ran on 11/24 in Fukuoka before a sellout of 520 
1626fans. The show was mostly the Chinese wrestlers they trained, Cima, T-Hawk & 
1627Lindaman as well as Alex Zayne, who is the guy who is a super athlete that got 
1628over huge over BOLA weekend for PWG. They also sold out Shinjuku Face in Tokyo 
1629on 11/28
1630
1631Big Japan ran Korakuen Hall on 11/26 before 980 fans with the semifinals and 
1632finals of their annual tag team tournament. The Strong style finals, which is 
1633basically the division with straight hard hitting wrestling, saw Yuji Okabayashi 
1634& Shigehiro Irie beat Daichi Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani in 10:32 when 
1635Okabayashi pinned Hashimoto after a splash. The death match division, which is 
1636weapons style wrestling, had a fluorescent light tubes and thumbtacks death 
1637match where Rickey Shane Page & Ryuji Ito beat Masashi Takeda & Takumi Tsukamoto 
1638in 12:45 when Page beat Tsukamoto with a choke backbreaker into light tubes and 
1639thumbtacks. In the finals, conducted under death match rules, Okabayashi & Irie 
1640beat Page & Ito in 16:19 when Okabayashi pinned Page after a lariat.
1641
1642HERE AND THERE: The NWA announced the lineup for their Into the Fire PPV show on 
164312/14 from Center Stage in Atlanta. The show will start at 6:05 p.m. Eastern, so 
1644part of the idea is that the show will be over before the UFC PPV starts at 10 
1645p.m. that night. It’s a very busy weekend with ROH having a PPV the night before 
1646and WWE the night after. Nick Aldis vs. James Storm in a two out of three fall 
1647match for the NWA title is the main event. Ashley Vox & Allisyn Kay will face 
1648two members of a trio of Melina, Thunder Rosa and Marti Belle. Fans will get to 
1649vote on which two are in the match. Colt Cabana will defend the National title 
1650but his opponent wasn’t named, plus Eli Drake vs. Ken Anderson and Question Mark 
1651vs. Trevor Murdoch
1652
1653The documentary on the life of Bruno Sammartino opens on 11/29 in New York and 
1654Los Angeles. It will have a one week release through 12/5 at Cinema Village in 
1655New York City and at the Monica Film Center in Los Angeles. There are plans for 
1656a larger release later as they wanted something before the end of the year for 
1657possible Oscar considerations. The trailer heavily focused on Arnold 
1658Schwarzenegger comments, but did feature WWWF footage so they were able to work 
1659out a deal with the company. It also heavily talked about his childhood, the 
1660situation with his mother and nearly dying while in the mountains in World War 
1661II. I’ve only seen one review of the movie, from the Los Angeles Times, from a 
1662critic who clearly was familiar with Sammartino and he labeled it a 
1663disappointment. Larry Rickert, a Pittsburgh media personality who was friends 
1664with Sammartino was one of the key people involved with the movie. I believe 
1665some of the stuff in the movie, largely based on Sammartino’s love for his 
1666mother, aired a few years ago on Pittsburgh television
1667
1668The annual WrestleCade weekend in Winston-Salem, NC takes place 11/29 to 12/1. 
1669Listed as headliners for appearances are Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, Iron 
1670Sheik, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, The Dudleys, Great Muta, Sid Vicious, Arn 
1671Anderson, Lilian Garcia and Melina
1672
1673After getting his WWE release last week, Albert Hardie Jr., back as ACH, did his 
1674first match since leaving NXT. He wrestled in San Antonio, where he s from, on 
167511/22 for Heavy Metal Wrestling. He put over Chandler Hopkins in the main event. 
1676After the match, he said the show was like a dream he was trying to piece 
1677together. He said he hoped he would wake up tomorrow happy, told the crowd that 
1678life is short and you have to live every day like it’s your last. He said the 
1679fans were there because they love pro wrestling and Texas. Fans brought him a 
1680Texas flag and a crown because his nickname on area indies is the King of Texas
1681
1682Pat O’Connor, a former NWA world heavyweight champion who was generally 
1683considered one of the best workers of the 50s and 60s, after a strong amateur 
1684wrestling career, was voted into the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame in New 
1685Zealand, where he was from. O’Connor held the NWA title from 1959, when he beat 
1686Dick Hutton, before losing to Buddy Rogers on June 30, 1961, at Comiskey Park in 
1687Chicago. Rogers-O’Connor was one of the biggest matches in pro wrestling 
1688history. It set a gate record that held up until the 1971 Fred Blassie vs. John 
1689Tolos match. Some say the Blassie-Tolos gate claim was exaggerated and the 
1690record held up longer. It was claimed to be a U.S. attendance record of 38,161 
1691fans although there is a claim that in the 30s Danno O’Mahoney drew a bigger 
1692crowd in Boston. The actual legitimate attendance record held up until the 1987 
1693Hogan-Andre match for the U.S, and the 1986 Hogan-Orndorff match in Toronto for 
1694North America. O’Connor was a two-time national amateur champion, winning in 
16951949 and 1950, as a heavyweight in New Zealand and won a silver medal as a 
1696heavyweight in the 1950 British Empire games. He turned professional rather than 
1697wait for the 1952 Olympics. He was then trained by former NCAA champion Butch 
1698Levy and went into pro wrestling in 1950 and quickly became a major star. 
1699O’Connor was generally considered the best babyface style worker of the era. He 
1700was also Sam Muchnick’s booker in St. Louis from the late 60s until the early 
170180s, working with Larry Matysik the last few years and always protected as a 
1702significant star until his retirement in those days when there were so few 
1703ex-NWA world champions that having that status basically meant you were 
1704considered a legendary figure by fans. His technical style was way ahead of its 
1705time and he’s one of the few guys from that era who could be transported to 
1706today and his in-ring would fit in with little adaptation. He had ownership in 
1707both the Central States territory and St. Louis. He wrestled through 1982, 
1708retiring from the ring on Sam Muchnick’s final show with a big ceremony on 
1709January 1, 1982. He did a tour of Japan for his Japanese farewell, and wrestled 
1710a number of matches in the Central States through the rest of that year. His 
1711final match was a WWF Legends Battle Royal in 1987 at the Meadowlands, which, to 
1712show the respect they had, it came down to O’Connor and Lou Thesz, with Thesz 
1713winning. O’Connor died from cancer in 1990 at the age of 65
1714
1715It has now been one year since Cuervo was hit in the head with brick thrown by 
1716Angel o Demonio in an infamous incident. Cuervo said that he still can’t 
1717remember parts of that match and said that he needed CPR three times that night 
1718before he stabilized. He has not been able to return to the ring and is 
1719suffering from panic attacks, depression and anxiety. There is talk he will be 
1720returning to the ring some time soon. He was supposed to return last week in 
1721Puerto Rico but the show ended up being canceled. There are teases he will be 
1722back in the ring very soon for the IWRG promotion in Mexico, perhaps on 12/1. 
1723There is the obvious question that if he comes back will he do a program with 
1724the guy who easily could have killed him. The answer is likely up to him because 
1725there’s no doubt promoters would be open for it, even though there is a very 
1726ugly side to the idea of it
1727
1728Brian “No Neck” Keck, who was one of the best heavyweight amateur wrestlers in 
1729the U.S. and briefly did both MMA and pro wrestling, passed away this past week. 
1730Details are limited but his family confirmed the story. Keck, who was working as 
1731a wrestling coach of the Alliance MMA team in San Diego, went to Mexico to 
1732attend a soccer game and died in that country. He would have been in his late 
173340s. Keck placed multiple times in the U.S. nationals in freestyle wrestling, 
1734including in 2001, when he was under contract to WWF. He was based in Louisville 
1735and training at Ohio Valley Wrestling. They had some strong legit wrestlers 
1736there at the time like Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin and Ron Waterman. Those 
1737guys did legit training with each other, as Waterman once told me that the only 
1738guy he ever wrestled who he simply could not stop his takedowns was Lesnar. Keck 
1739got enough training to where he left Louisville for a weekend and, with no 
1740knowledge of the company, went to nationals, where he placed top eight. WWE had 
1741no knowledge of it until the results came out that he had placed and were not 
1742happy about it. He was one of the first top level U.S. wrestlers in his prime to 
1743try MMA in 1997, with guys like Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Tom Erikson. 
1744He only had one fight, in Brazil, losing to Pedro Otavio, one of the top Vale 
1745Tudo fighters in Brazil of that era, finally submitting after nearly 20 minutes. 
1746In 2001, he signed with WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He ended up 
1747being cut shortly after he went to nationals. In 2003, he won a gold medal in 
1748the Pan American Games. At one point he was the head wrestling coach at Xtreme 
1749Couture when Bryan Danielson lived in Las Vegas and trained there and the two 
1750trained together some
1751
1752Regarding the mention of C.M. Punk’s movie and the Roger Ebert grade, a 
1753clarification is that obviously it was the Roger Ebert site review and not a 
1754review by Ebert himself, which would be impossible since Ebert passed away
1755
1756Hugo Savinovich ran a show called “Fight Forever: A Tribute to Bret Hart,” in 
1757Guaynabo, PR, on 1/23 under the Wrestling Superstars banner. The main event saw 
1758Rob Van Dam beat Mil Muertes in a falls count anywhere match. It’s interesting 
1759that Ricky Banderas, who was a huge star for seemingly decades in Puerto Rico, 
1760was being used under a mask with his Lucha Underground gimmick. Blue Demon Jr. 
1761beat L.A. Park when Rush interfered and cost Park the match by throwing the same 
1762box full of crystal bottles at him that Park had thrown at Rush in the previous 
1763match. Demon put Park in a submission. The prior bout was Rush beating Mecha 
1764Wolf 450 via DQ when Park threw a box full of crystal bottles at him. Katie 
1765Forbes of Impact beat Kamille Brickhouse of the NWA, the second of Nick Aldis. 
1766Ken Anderson beat Mr. Aguila, the former Essa Rios. Hart was involved in an 
1767in-ring segment. Killer Kross beat Brian Cage via DQ when Melissa Santos 
1768interfered and hit Kross with a low blow. Savinovich interviewed Bret Hart 
1769during the show and Hart talked about his early days wrestling in Puerto Rico 
1770and thanked the fans. Teddy Hart went to a double count out with Chicano. They 
1771announced a return date on November 21, 2020, which is an incredible amount of 
1772lead time to announce for a next show
1773
1774The WWC ran Noches de Cameones at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in Bayamon the same 
1775night. Ray Gonzalez, 47, who along with Carlito were the two biggest stars of 
1776the post-Carlos Colon and Invader era of the promotion, lost a retirement match 
1777when guest referee Peter John Ramos turned on Gonzalez and gave him a choke slam 
1778and he was pinned by Gilbert. Ramos is a 7-foot-2 former basketball player that 
1779the WWE had interest in at one point. Gonzalez has rarely wrestled and this may 
1780have been in first match in a year. Chicano worked both shows since they weren’t 
1781far apart. The main event was a three-way bout with Orlando (Epico), Primo and 
1782Carlito against each other for the Universal title. Orlando retained and Primo 
1783turned heel after the match. He gave both his brother Carlito and cousin and 
1784longtime tag partner low blows and La Pesadilla came out and the two beat down 
1785Carlito and Orlando with chair shot. Pesadilla unmasked as Gilbert. Ricky 
1786Banderas then cleaned house with chair shots. This was before Banderas went to 
1787the other show to work under the mask as Muertes
1788
1789Mick Foley raised another $4,100 to get Jessica Kresa (ODB) a new food truck 
1790from merchandise sales at five of his recent talk shows
1791
1792Gable Steveson, the University of Minnesota heavyweight who Paul Heyman and 
1793Brock Lesnar have been eyeing since high school, is still suspended by school 
1794because of an investigation of criminal sexual assault. He was listed at the 
1795start of the season as the No. 2 heavyweight . Steveson and teammate Dylan 
1796Martinez haven’t been charged but the school has a rule that any athlete charged 
1797with or under investigation for criminal investigations are suspended either 
1798until the case is resolved or unless the Athletic Director makes a ruling to 
1799lift the suspension. Steveson is also trying to make the Olympic team next year 
1800and there’s no word on how the case may affect if he will be allowed to do so or 
1801not
1802
1803Northeast Wrestling promoter Michael Lombardi and the former Enzo Amore 
1804co-promoted an 11/23 show in Hollywood, CA at the World Famous Comedy store. It 
1805sold out with a main event of Pentagon Jr. & Fenix over Darby Allin & Matt 
1806Sydal. Enzo beat Brian Pillman Jr. Luchasaurus beat Jervis Cottonbelly. 
1807Priscilla Kelly beat Joey Ryan. David Arquette beat Bull James, who came dressed 
1808up like the Shockmaster of WCW fame. Royce Isaacs of NWA & Jorel Nelson beat 
1809Erik Watts & Peter Avalon. Josh Barnett also worked the show.
1810
1811EUROPE: Revolution Pro Wrestling ran the British J Cup on 11/24 at York Hall in 
1812London. They had a good crowd but it wasn’t sold out. Several weeks back they 
1813had 750 tickets sold but it likely ended up less than 1,000. In the first round, 
1814El Phantasmo beat Senza Volto with a low blow after distraction from Hikuleo. 
1815Good opener, with lots of rope walking and counters. Volto was off with 
1816positioning and timing at times but he won the crowd over. After the match, 
1817Shota Umino attacked Hikuleo. Umino grew his hair out somewhat like Tanahashi. 
1818Robbie Eagles beat Cavernario Barbaro. The crowd didn’t know Cavernario but he 
1819won them ver. He did the splash off the top rope to the floor. There was a 
1820brutal thud on landing. Eagles won with via submission with the Ron Miller 
1821special. Fans chanted “Please come back” at Cavernario. Michael Oku beat Rocky 
1822Romero after a shock cradle. Romero sold the loss like total shock. The crowd by 
1823the end was going crazy for Oku, who is local. Pac beat Amazing Red with the 
1824black arrow to the back and brutalizer. Pac got a lot of heat by teasing moves 
1825people wanted to see and not doing them. Red did a top rope Code red but Pac 
1826landed on his feet. The crowd went crazy for Red when it was over. In a 
1827non-tourney match, Ren Narita beat Branden White with a cloverleaf. Not much 
1828heat but solidly worked Young Lions match. Next was a tag team title match where 
1829champions Rampage Brown & Great O’Kharn beat Southside Wrestling tag team 
1830champions Speedball Mike Bailey & Mao when Brown pinned Mao. RevPro took over 
1831Southside, which was about to close down. So they had the two sets of champs 
1832battle to unify the belts. Bonesaw & Corvin, the Kings of the North, Kurtis 
1833Chapman came out and challenged Minoru Suzuki to a match on 12/15. Gisele Shaw 
1834beat the debuting Tessa Blanchard via submission with a bridging disarm her. The 
1835crowd was shocked, as everyone expected Blanchard to win and nobody believed the 
1836finish was coming when it did. Blanchard had the longest lines at the Q&A before 
1837the show. The finals was a four-way elimination match with Oku winning over 
1838Phantasmo, Eagles and Pac in more than 20:00. Pac and Phantasmo did a great rope 
1839walking spot. Phantasmo put Pac on his shoulders and continued to walk the ropes 
1840with Pac still on his shoulders. While still doing so, he hit a Super Samoan 
1841drop as well as an arm drag on Oku as a combination move. Pac was DQ’d for 
1842hitting Oku with a chair shot. Phantasmo pinned Eagles with a kung fu punch to 
1843the groin and a roll-up after a ref bump. Oku recovered from the chair shot and 
1844made a comeback. They kicked out of all kinds of big moves until Oku did an 
1845Avalanche Canadian Destroyer, a running Canadian Destroyer and put him in a 
1846liontamer style half crab and got the submission. The crowd was chanting “tap, 
1847tap, tap,” at him. At the trophy presentation, Pac attacked Oku and threw the 
1848trophy out of the ring and this set up their singles match on 12/15, so this is 
1849where Pac not losing actually made sense to build the next show. We were told it 
1850was a fantastic show, with no super match you have to see but great pacing and 
1851matches that started with little heat ended up red hot by the end
1852
1853Joe D’Orazio, who was 97 years and 120 days on 11/24, became what was believed 
1854to be the oldest British pro wrestler in history. He is the oldest living pro 
1855wrestler. Gerry Hoggarth, who passed away in August, died at the age of 97 and 
1856119 days. As best we can tell, the oldest person ever in the industry was Harry 
1857Elliott, the Seattle promoter, who was just shy of 102 when he passed away in 
18582006. Abe Coleman, who passed away in 2007, was the oldest wrestler that anyone 
1859has been able to find a record of, at more than 101 years old
1860
1861Progress ran the Electric Ballroom in London on 11/24 with Paul Robinson beating 
1862Timothy Thatcher to keep the Proteus title and tag champs Jordan Devlin & Scotty 
1863Davis beat Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch.
1864
1865MLW: After having a contract impasse, Court Bauer and Tom Lawlor came to terms 
1866on a new deal on 11/21 and he will remain one of the company’s signature stars 
1867going forward
1868
1869The next show is the Opera Club on 12/5. It’ll be an eight man single 
1870elimination tournament at the Melrose Ballroom, playing on the Opera Cup which 
1871was a New York traditional event in the early days of pro wrestling in the city, 
1872but that tradition ended in the 1940s. The first round matches are Davey Boy 
1873Smith Jr. vs. Shinjiro Otani, MJF vs. Alex Hammerstone, Timothy Thatcher vs. 
1874Richard Holliday and TJP vs. Brian Pillman Jr. Also on the show is Jacob Fatu & 
1875Ikuro Kwon & Simon Gotch vs. Cima & Lindaman & Shigehiro Irie, Jimmy Havoc vs. 
1876Mance Warner in a blindfold match as well as The Von Erichs, Lawlor and King Mo 
1877Lawal.
1878
1879ROH: Marty Scurll will be working Final Battle even though his contract expires 
1880on 11/30. Scurll teams with Flip Gordon against Bandido & Flamita. Scurll had 
1881agreed to work the show no matter what. Right now there is nothing official on 
1882what he will be doing after Final Battle. Also added to the show is Dan Maff vs. 
1883Jeff Cobb
1884
1885They announced 2/28 in Nashville and 2/29 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, 
1886MO. They’ll have to cut way down in the latter arena since that’s a 10,400 seat 
1887arena
1888
1889Rush has been pushing for ROH to bring in his father, Bestia del Ring, and his 
1890friend, La Mascara.
1891
1892IMPACT: Tessa Blanchard is out of action with an eye injury suffered on the 
1893British J Cup show for Revolution Pro with Gisele Shaw. She was scheduled for 
1894the Thanksgiving weekend WrestleCade show in Winston-Salem, NC. She will still 
1895be appearing but not wrestling
1896
1897They did a comedy-based TV show this week withe the idea they were transporting 
1898back to 1983 doing small territory wrestling, something of a spoof on Stampede 
1899Wrestling. Don Callis wore this long blond wig and said his name was Sexton 
1900Hardcastle, which was Edge’s name before he became Edge. Tessa Blanchard, 
1901Allysin Kay and Jordynne Grace spoofed being the Four Horsemen. Cody Deaner and 
1902Cousin Jake spoofed being the Fabulous Ones.
1903
1904AEW: Kenny Omega was on Observer radio this past week and talked about a 
1905multitude of subjects. Regarding the match with Jon Moxley, he said that if he 
1906was to consider himself one of the best wrestlers in the world, he had to prove 
1907that doing many different styles. He went thorough that most of the spots, from 
1908the broken glass from the table he took the Paradigm shift on in an angle, to 
1909the mouse traps from a video, and the barbed wire bat and broom all came from 
1910things that had been done to promote the match and were part of the story. He 
1911said that other then the Phoenix splash on the boards, that he was basically 
1912fine other than some of the cuts in his hand were a pain after the match. He 
1913said he was given the indication the Phoenix splash wouldn’t be that much worse 
1914of a bump than doing it in the ring, but it was. I believe that’s where his 
1915black eye came from but said in the landing he smashed his face up and would 
1916never do that spot again. He said it would be a long time before he does a match 
1917like that again. He appreciated that a lot of fans liked it and called it one of 
1918the best matches of that style and also understood not everyone did. He said his 
1919main focus has been the women’s division and noted that right now as management 
1920he’s putting his own matches last and that he’s done matches of late that were 
1921pretty much called on the fly, which he called they go into the ring PWG style, 
1922because his main focus is everyone else’s matches and that takes up much of his 
1923time. He helps lay out all the women’s matches and often other matches as well, 
1924and also has a hand in creative. Even though he is doing far less matches he 
1925said the creative process is very mentally draining. He also noted that the 
1926company’s goal right now is to get new talent over. As I’ve noted, there are two 
1927schools of thought here. As far as booking for the live ticket paying audience, 
1928and from a traditional wrestling standpoint, because that was the money, the 
1929booking has been strong in the sense they are spending a lot of time giving 
1930exposure to new talent to build a foundation and The Young Bucks in particular 
1931have been putting people over constantly, with the idea they and Omega are 
1932already over to the people who are the existing fan base, and they are behind 
1933WWE but if you consider that in ROH when they had pretty much the basic crew 
1934besides Moxley and Chris Jericho, really a crowd of 1,500 was considered a good 
1935night so they are close to triple that every week. But for television, I believe 
1936the key at first should be that Jericho and Moxley were the only established 
1937current television stars. People know Dustin Rhodes but he hadn’t been pushed as 
1938a top guy in more than a decade, Cody was a midcarder and Pac was super 
1939talented, but he wasn’t pushed at all on Raw and while he shined on 205 Live, 
1940that had very limited viewership. So the idea to me is that they needed to focus 
1941on getting Omega and Cody and The Young Bucks over first as television stars, 
1942which none of them were. Cody feels like one now because of his promo work and 
1943he was pushed great in the Jericho program. Omega is intriguing to somebody new 
1944and the fact he is a headliner was strong, but he hasn’t been New Japan Kenny 
1945Omega. He said that isn’t the idea to be right now. The Young Bucks come across 
1946as guys who the crowd is into, are super talented, but traditionally super 
1947talented guys that lose all the time on television are not viewed as superstars 
1948or television stars, although The Young Bucks to a degree are proving that to 
1949the under-50 television audience it is changing. Omega said there would be new 
1950signings in the women’s division in 2020 and it would be getting a lot better. 
1951Regarding Japan, we had a long discussion that was not on the show. He said he 
1952knew who was behind his having trouble getting in and was outright told at 
1953customs, and that there was an attempt to keep him out of the country for ten 
1954years. For legal reasons he didn’t want to discuss it in detail and that it’s an 
1955ongoing issue, but said he took care of everything beforehand when going back so 
1956he was allowed in, even though there was an attempt to block him all three times 
1957he went this year. He said it was not anyone he had dealt with and categorized 
1958it as businessmen just doing what they perceived was their jobs and that he felt 
1959those people in New Japan proper probably wouldn’t have known about it and that 
1960he was not against working for New Japan in the future. Regarding NXT, he said 
1961he watched the show, was complimentary of the show, said that it is a good thing 
1962the race is close but said he didn’t personally consider it a war, that in his 
1963mind they are just trying to build their new company. He praised Adam Cole (in 
1964fairness, I brought up Cole in the conversation) but said he really liked the 
1965Full Sail University crowd and how they enhance the show. He talked about going 
1966to Japan and DDT and putting on entertaining intergender matches which is 
1967something he can’t do in AEW. He also noted how great he thought Dragon Lee was 
1968and how excited he was to do the match, saying that he knows Lee from New Japan 
1969and how great Lee is, but they have never once touched in the ring, in singles 
1970or tags. He also talked about an upcoming AEW video game. He said he couldn’t go 
1971into details on it but that he would be heavily involved with it
1972
1973WWE has tried to oppose some of the trademarks that Cody Runnels was attempting 
1974to gain the rights to. We don’t know which ones in specific, but he has largely 
1975tried to gain the intellectual property rights to a lot of WCW names that WWE 
1976hasn’t used or trademarked. WWE is opposing his claims on at least some of them. 
1977Cody has been trying to gain ownership of things for usage in AEW, such as Bash 
1978at the Beach that is being used in January. In particular he’s looking for 
1979ownership of ideas that his father came up with. Runnels filed for new 
1980trademarks for SuperBrawl and Slamboree, which were the names of two other WCW 
1981PPV events
1982
1983Kylie Rae, for the first time, addressed her departure from AEW with a post 
1984saying, “I don’t know how to start this and I can’t speak on other’s behaves. I 
1985can only speak for myself and what’s in my heart. I don’t know many rumors and 
1986honestly try to stay away from everything, obviously. But here: nobody made me 
1987leave. AEW took my career to new levels and I’m beyond grateful for every 
1988opportunity and experience that has come along the way and wish nothing but the 
1989best. It’s a great group of people who truly love wrestling and just want 
1990everyone to succeed. I’ve always tried to be a good person but I make many 
1991mistakes along the way. I needed to get my mind, body, and soul right with God. 
1992I wish I had the answers but the truth is I don’t. We all go through obstacles 
1993in life and we may want all the answers but we don’t need them. It’s God’s plan 
1994and he has shown me what’s truly important in life and to find a blessing in 
1995every moment because in the blink of an eye, everything can be gone. So instead 
1996of bashing, let’s just love one another and appreciate what we have, or 
1997something like that lol sorry I’awkward.” Rae had, and still does have, a great 
1998natural appeal and was the best worker of the Americans that AEW had on the 
1999roster. She and the company kept very private about the issue or issues that 
2000caused her to disappear. I know that they wanted her to return in Chicago for 
2001All Out if she was able to, but she asked for her release before the show after 
2002disappearing from wrestling for months. She is back wrestling and doing 
2003independent shows
2004
2005The 1/29 Dynamite show will come from Cleveland
2006
2007Former WCW announcer Chris Cruise contacted the Maryland State Athletic 
2008Commission regarding the Omega vs. Jon Moxley I Quit match at the Full Gear PPV 
2009show on 11/9. He asked about commission rules on blading, and allowing matches 
2010to continue if a performer is bleeding either intentionally or unintentionally 
2011and if there was a commission doctor at the show. After repeated requests, he 
2012was told that the commission prohibits wrestlers from deliberately lacerating 
2013themselves or their opponents, or introducing human or animal blood into the 
2014match, none of which happened in that match. The commission noted that they were 
2015at the match and there was a doctor assigned to the show. The commission also 
2016stated they were conducting a formal investigation into the match and thus, 
2017since the investigation is ongoing, they can’t comment on questions regarding 
2018the match. I’m not sure what the investigation would be on
2019
2020Right now there are no plans for a Joey Janela vs. Kip Sabian program. Penelope 
2021Ford just slipped the line in on the PPV interview and when Janela tweeted that 
2022he wouldn’t do that program, that was legit. Not that it could never happen, but 
2023right now it’s not happening. It was notable they avoided each other in the 
2024Battle Royal on 11/20
2025
2026Regarding Kris Statlander, it looks like she’ll be signing here. She and WWE 
2027were close to a deal but they had not sent a contract and then AEW booked her. 
2028WWE was under the impression she was coming in January and both sides want her. 
2029Her working here the last few weeks, and we know AEW is looking to sign her as 
2030well, would indicate AEW is the likely final destination
2031
2032. Notes on the 11/27 show in Chicago. They drew 6,100 fans to the Sears Center. 
2033Considering the night before Thanksgiving has been historically death for live 
2034pro wrestling, and it was the fifth show in six days in the market, that figure 
2035was good even if it was lower than Raw or Smackdown. The idea of going to 
2036Chicago, which was already booked for four WWE dates this week, didn’t make 
2037sense on the surface, but the idea is that Tony Khan wants to make Labor Day and 
2038the night before Thanksgiving traditional nights in Chicago and it’s not like 
2039WWE is likely to book four dates in a row every year in the days before. The 
2040crowd in Chicago wasn’t as hot as for NXT, but that’s because it was TV and not 
2041a Takeover. Even with the market burnout that may have hurt Survivor Series and 
2042clearly hurt Raw, they had the second hottest crowd of the week. . The second 
2043hour was very good but the first hour was the worst hour they’ve done on TNT. 
2044Everything just seemed off. No Tony Schiavone this week as he had commitments to 
2045college basketball in Hawaii. In the first match for dark, Jimmy Havoc pinned 
2046Brandon Cutler in 10:00. Havoc stapled a check on Cutler’s forehead after the 
2047match. The show opened with Soul Train Jones, the former Virgil/Vincent 
2048introducing the Chris Jericho Thanksgiving celebration. Jericho is usually the 
2049master of these type of things, but the mic was off and it went too long. The 
2050crowd was super hot at first with “Thank you Jericho” chants. He pushed his new 
2051product, “A Little Bit of the Bubbly,” a new sparkling wine that he, actor 
2052Stephen Amell and AEW are putting out. It’s being made by Amell’s Nocking Point 
2053Wines, a company he founded in 2013. He said it comes from the best grapes from 
2054Nepal. He called out the Inner Circle. Sammy Guevara gave him a present which 
2055was a photo of Jericho & Guevara. Santana & Ortiz gave him new flip flops and 
2056cold medicine and made Jericho an official Boricua. Jake Hager came out with a 
2057goat which was named Chris Jerigoat. There was a giant present box and when they 
2058unveiled the box, it was Ted Irvine, Jericho’s father, sitting down wearing a 
2059New York Rangers jersey. Irvine played for the Rangers from 1970 to 1975 and in 
2060a 2009 book about the team, was named one of the 100 greatest players in the 
2061history of the team. Anyway, I was just waiting for a reference to Stan Mikita 
2062or Bobby Hull, the Golden Jet, who were the two most famous players on the 
2063Blackhawks when he was a Rangers, and really two of the most famous players of 
2064that era, with Hull the biggest star in the league at one point. He talked about 
2065how he used to beat the crap out of Bobby Hull. The reality is that’s so far 
2066back it didn’t get too much heat. He said the Blackhawks were wimps then and 
2067would always be wimps. He gave everyone Rangers jerseys with everyone’s 
2068nicknames, Le Champion, The Spanish God, The Big Hurt, Thug and Ruffian. Jericho 
2069then gave Justin Roberts a letter to read, which was supposedly a letter from 
2070TNT thanking Jericho for the success of AEW. They pushed that Roberts grew up in 
2071the area and went to Buffalo Grove High School. By this point the segment was 
2072too long and really the pops for the local reference for Roberts weren’t that 
2073big. Jericho slapped Roberts and they all beat him up. Excalibur made a line 
2074about how they were beating a guy up in his home town, a spoof on how WWE always 
2075does that and used to always try to ridicule Jim Ross in Oklahoma. Christopher 
2076Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky were disguised as members of the 
2077marching band and they made the save. Dasha Gonzalez did the ring announcing the 
2078rest of the show. Chuck Taylor & Trent beat Pentagon Jr. & Fenix in 7:51. Orange 
2079Cassidy came out with Taylor & Trent. Cassidy was wearing a turkey suit and did 
2080a twisting dive to the floor on Pentagon & Fenix. Fenix worked the first several 
2081minutes wearing a sweatshirt. This match was just off. Maybe the ridiculous 
2082schedule and crazy high workrate is starting to catch up with Pentagon & Fenix 
2083or it was just a bad night. Fenix was clearly not the same guy as last week. 
2084Taylor did a flip dive on both but actually missed them by flying over them. 
2085Taylor later did a flip off the steps and Trent pinned Fenix with the 
2086Dudebuster. They announced Trent vs. Fenix in a singles match for 12/4 in 
2087Champaign, IL. Bea Priestley & Emi Sakura beat Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander in 
20889:35. Statlander did a moonsault off the apron on Priestley. Sakura used a mic 
2089stand assisted abdominal stretch on Shida. Fans were chanting for Shida and 
2090popped big late when Statlander made the hot tag. The crowd was really hot and 
2091there were a lot of big moves. But parts of this match were off as well. Sakura 
2092pinned Statlander with a La Magistral cradle. While not official, it looks like 
2093Statlander vs. Shida will take place on the 12/4 show in Champaign, IL. Jon 
2094Moxley did an interview. It was just basic and not aimed at anyone. Cody beat 
2095local wrestler Matt Knicks with an Oscutter and the figure four in 1:24. Cody 
2096got easily the biggest reaction of anyone on any of the shows this past week in 
2097Chicago. His ribs were all taped up. His forehead still had a lump and 
2098noticeable cut from the Jericho match. He looked really rough and got this over 
2099quickly. After the match, Cody was going to do his big interview with the 
2100expectations he’d talk Jericho and MJF and never challenging for the title 
2101again. Out from under the ring came The Blade & The Butcher. The Blade is Jesse 
2102Guilmette, who was Braxton Sutter in Impact. The Butcher is Andy Williams, and 
2103they’ve been teaming with Beyond Wrestling and other groups in the Northeast. 
2104Even though you have probably a fan base that knows indies more than pretty much 
2105anything except some of the real hardcore indie fan bases, it appeared nobody 
2106knew who they were. Allie, now a heel with her dark bunny gimmick, also came 
2107out, so she’s the manager. Allie and Guilmette are married and worked together 
2108in Impact. They all beat Cody down. I’m not sure about this. Cody has a program 
2109with MJF and Wardlow that really hasn’t started, plus one would think a Match 
2110Beyond Program with the Inner Circle. They need to get the talent they already 
2111have over as television stars before brining more people in unless they are 
2112major difference makers. When a segment with Cody runs flat with the AEW crowd, 
2113that is something. Fenix vs. Trent was announced for next week. Kenny Omega beat 
2114Pac in 11:47 of a **** match. This match was tremendous given the time 
2115limitations, as you would expect. Omega did a Kotaro crusher and Pac landed on 
2116his feet, but Omega gave him the snap dragon suplex and power bombed him into 
2117the turnbuckles. Omega did a Terminator dive. Pac did his moonsault off the top 
2118rope to the floor. Omega either did a great job selling his right shoulder 
2119realistically, or it was hurting. Omega did this great teep. Pac did a top rope 
2120falcon arow for a near fall. Crowd loved this match, great heat. Pac missed the 
2121black arrow. Omega hit the V Trigger. Pac escaped the One Winged Angel, and then 
2122they had a series of cradles by Omega into a crucifix cradle and Omega got the 
2123three count. The finishing sequence was strong. MJF beat Page to win the $43,000 
2124diamond ring in 6:20. Page did a tope and a moonsault to the floor. Page had the 
2125match won using the buckshot lariat, but Wardlow put MJF’s foot on the ropes. 
2126Wardlow sucker punched Page and MJF pinned him with a clumsy looking crossroads, 
2127which they called the double cross, so MJF used a bad looking version of Cody’s 
2128finisher. DDP came out to present the diamond ring to MJF. To his credit, DDP 
2129looks in great shape for his age. Then again, as a fitness instructor, it would 
2130kill his gimmick if he wasn’t, but at 63, that’s no easy feat. MJF took the 
2131ring. DDP went to offer his hand for a handshake. MJF put his gum in DDP’s hand. 
2132Wardlow then jumped in front and MJF was mocking DDP while hiding behind 
2133Wardlow. DDP said that Wardlow was about to get his ass kicked by a 63-year-old. 
2134They started but had a quick pull-apart. The usual protocol from WWE would be to 
2135humiliate the legend, which nobody ever likes to see, and at one time it did get 
2136heat but that time ended because it became so repetitive and really made the 
2137legends come across as goofs. So while everyone figured Wardlow should take him 
2138out, this was really better this way to let the legend maintain dignity. Dustin 
2139Rhodes came out for an interview. He wants Jake Hager. Instead, Sammy Guevara, 
2140Ortiz and Santana all beat him down. The Young Bucks made the save. They build 
2141to a triple superkick spot Guevara and a triple shattered dreams spot. Next week 
2142will be a six-man tag. There was another Dark Order vignette where all these 
2143guys are in a room being talked with like it was a cult leader and most ended up 
2144with the masks on at the end. Jericho beat Scorpio in 12:15 to retain the title. 
2145Very good match. It was what you would expect and what it should have been, with 
2146Scorpio getting lots of near falls. Sky did an in and out Ace crusher. Jim Ross 
2147made an Ace crusher remark like that isn’t the thing which sounded like a joke 
2148on John Laurinaitis. Sky also used a diamond cutter and dragon sleeper. Hager 
2149came out even though they announced that nobody was allowed at ringside for the 
2150match. Sky went after Hager and Jericho schoolboyed him for a near fall. 
2151Kazarian & Daniels attacked Hager. Jericho went for a belt shot but Sky ducked 
2152and used a TKO for a near fall. Sky also did a great Frankensteiner off the top 
2153and enzuigiri for near falls. Sky came off the top into a codebreaker, but he 
2154kicked out. The finish saw Sky go for another enzuigiri. Jericho caught the leg 
2155and countered into a Boston crab. Sky tapped out. After the match, Jericho put 
2156him in the crab again until Moxley came down through the crowd to end the show. 
2157So Jericho’s next title defense looks to be with Moxley. For Dark, Shawn Spears 
2158beat Sonny Kiss in 5:00. After the match, Spears and Tully Blanchard laid out 
2159Kiss with a stuff piledriver. The final match saw Santana & Ortiz beat Marko 
2160Stunt & Jungle Boy. Lots of big spots here. They mostly beat on Stunt and 
2161eventually he was pinned. After the match, Guevara came out as well and they did 
2162beatdown until Luchasaurus made the save. Hager came out and he and Luchasaurus 
2163had a staredown. Luchasaurus went to choke slam Hager when Ortiz & Santana 
2164attacked Luchasaurus. The Young Bucks made the save. Luchasaurus power slammed 
2165Guevara. The last spot saw Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy basically javelin throw 
2166stunt across the ring at Guevara and Stunt gave him a Canadian Destroyer. The 
2167spot looked tremendous and the pop was huge for it.
2168
2169UFC: It looks like the first part of the year will revitalize interest. Conor 
2170McGregor has signed to fight Donald Cerrone on 1/18 in Las Vegas according to 
2171what Dana White told ESPN. Cerrone hasn’t signed, but obviously this is a fight 
2172Cerrone isn’t turning down. You’ve got two great talkers with a ton of charisma. 
2173It’s also a fight McGregor should win unless his partying habits have ruined him 
2174badly, because Cerrone did not look good in his last fight and seems to have 
2175aged. But if McGregor has slipped, Cerrone is the naturally bigger guy and has, 
2176or at least had, more all-around skills
2177
2178The second PPV show of 2020, scheduled for 2/8 in Houston, will have Jon Jones 
2179vs. Dominick Reyes for the light heavyweight title and Valentina Shevchenko vs. 
2180Katlyn Chookagian for the women’s flyweight title as the top fights
2181
2182A fight the company has tried to make four different times will have try No. 5 
2183coming up as Dana White told ESPN they are looking at Khabib Nurmagomedov 
2184defending the lightweight title against Tony Ferguson on 4/18 at the Barclays 
2185Center in Brooklyn. Stylistically, with Ferguson’s wrestling ability and insane 
2186cardio, he has the best chance against Nurmagomedov of anyone in the division. I 
2187believe Nurmagomedov has already signed his bout agreement
2188
2189The lawsuit filed by Mark Hunt against the UFC and Brock Lesnar alleging they 
2190conspired to allow Lesnar to use steroids and cover it up and it caused him to 
2191lose his fight with Lesnar was completely thrown out. The lawsuit had little 
2192chance because there was no evidence UFC knew about Lesnar failing until after 
2193the fight. The lawsuit was mostly thrown out in February in U.S. district court 
2194in Nevada. Hunt was furious at the result, saying “I tried to make things even 
2195on the battle field of MMA but again the cheating company, Dana White, UFC, with 
2196all its billions, they ripped everyone off again. Someone will die against a 
2197steroid using cheater and your shit rip-off company will be at fault, UFC.” “You 
2198won this battle, but the war will continue. I’m not the first to sue this rip 
2199off company and sure as hell won’t be the last to sue UFC. You can’t keep 
2200ripping fighters off and run (a) monopoly on the market. Someone’s going to put 
2201you motherf***ers down.” Hunt’s UFC 200 fight with Lesnar in 2016, which Lesnar 
2202originally won via decision, was overturned and ruled a no contest because 
2203Lesnar failed a test for clomiphene, an anti-estrogen during. Clomiphene is 
2204often used at the end of a steroid cycle and is banned in drug tested sports. 
2205Lesnar failed the test 11 days before the fight but UFC was not informed of the 
2206result of the test until after the fight. Hunt tried to prove UFC knew ahead of 
2207time but there was no evidence that was the case. At that time when he failed, 
2208he was working for WWE and it came out that Lesnar, because he is not a 
2209full-time performer, is exempt from WWE’s drug testing program
2210
2211Gina Carano did an interview with Ariel Helwani and said that UFC had offered 
2212her $1 million to fight Ronda Rousey when Rousey was in her heyday. She said she 
2213had dinner with the key UFC people and told them she was up for it, but she 
2214needed to find a gym, find a team to train with and asked them to keep it quiet 
2215for six months before making any announcement so she could get in fight shape. 
2216She said she left the dinner all excited about coming back to the sport. She 
2217said the next day Dana White was telling people that they were going to sign 
2218Carano, and he started putting on pressure through the media for her to sign and 
2219she texted him and said that she needed time. She said he kept pushing it while 
2220she was trying to put together a team noting by this point everyone would know 
2221she was coming back for Rousey and she wanted the team together for months 
2222before that was public. Then one day she got a text from White saying “this 
2223bitch is f***ing us around or something like that,” so she wrote him back saying 
2224I think you sent this to the wrong person, and he said that he didn’t, so she 
2225said she cut off all communication with him at that point. She said that later 
2226she saw White as a Nevada Sports Hall of Fame dinner and White apologized to her 
2227about everything there but she said once she got that text she had no 
2228inclination to work for him, money or no money
2229
2230Paige VanZant, who has one fight left on her contract and has said she’s testing 
2231the free agent market, will face Amanda Ribas on 3/14 in Brasilia. VanZant will 
2232have been out of action for 13 months since multiple surgeries to repair a 
2233broken arm. Ribas looked like a genuine contender in her win over Mackenzie Dern 
2234and looks to be a fighter well above VanZant. This booking looks to be a way to 
2235get Ribas some exposure since any VanZant fight will get media attention
2236
2237Mickey Gall was pulled off the 12/7 show in Washington, DC. They couldn’t get 
2238him a new opponent after Carlos Condit pulled out due to an eye injury. The card 
2239currently has 12 fights, and will have ten fights in a row on ESPN on a Saturday 
2240starting at 7 p.m.
2241
2242The company has announced a 2/15 show in Rio Rancho, NM. The first match 
2243announced is Ray Borg vs. Rogerio Bontonin. Borg is from the area and Bontonin 
2244looks to be a possible new star in the division with a 16-1 record and this 
2245would be a major test for him
2246
2247Livinha Souza pulled out of the 12/7 show in Washington, DC, the company’s next 
2248show, with a back injury. Her opponent, Virna Jandiroba will now face Mallory 
2249Martin
2250
2251Rafael dos Anjos vs. Michael Chiesa is scheduled for the 1/25 show in Raleigh at 
2252welterweight. Chiesa moved up to the new class and has wins over Diego Sanchez 
2253and Carlos Condit. Junior dos Santos vs. Curtis Blaydes headlines that show. 
2254Also added is Josh Emmett vs. Arnold Allen.
2255
2256Anthony Pettis is moving from welterweight back to lightweight and they are 
2257looking at putting him against Diego Ferreira on the 1/18 PPV show from Las 
2258Vegas. Aleksei Oleinik vs. Maurice Greene has been added to the show, which 
2259still doesn’t have a main event. This is the show that at least at one point 
2260they wanted to headline with Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone. .. Paul Felder 
2261vs. Dan Hooker in a major lightweight fight has been added to the 2/23 show in 
2262Auckland, New Zealand, which would air on 2/22 in the U.S
2263
2264Jared Gordon, who was knocked out by Charles Oliveira on the 11/16 show in Sao 
2265Paulo, suffered a broken left orbital bone and said that he may need surgery
2266
2267Andre Fili vs. Sodiq Yusuff is expected to take place on the 1/18 show in Las 
2268Vegas
2269
2270Juan Adams vs. Justin Tafa has been added to the 2/8 Houston show
2271
2272Veronica Macedo, who had to pull out of the 11/16 show in Sao Paulo the day 
2273before weigh-ins due to being diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms, was 
2274pulled off the 12/21 show in Busan, South Korea. They had been booked on both 
2275shows. Amanda Lemos, who was to face her in South Korea, will now face Miranda 
2276Granger.
2277
2278BELLATOR: Kyoji Horiguchi, who holds both the Bellator and Rizin bantamweight 
2279titles, has vacated both titles due to having to undergo knee surgery. Scott 
2280Coker said that when Horiguchi heals up, he will get an immediate title shot. 
2281Horiguchi obviously had to pull out of his 12/31 defense of the Rizin title 
2282against Kai Asakura, who knocked Horiguchi out in the first round of a non-title 
2283match in August.
2284
2285OTHER MMA: DAZN has now topped eight million worldwide subscribers. What’s 
2286notable is the different breakdown with WWE Network. WWE Network hovers around 
22871.1 million U.S. subscribers and a little more than 400,000 outside the U.S. 
2288DAZN has roughly 800,000 U.S. subscribers and 7.2 million outside the U.S. It 
2289has had phenomenal growth in the last few months, which included the Canelo 
2290Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev fight and the Logan Paul vs. KSI fight, as they had 
2291four million subscribers in June.
2292
2293WWE: We have some updated information regarding viewing habits of wrestling 
2294fans. We’ve listed overall viewership numbers as far as live vs DVR in the past 
2295for Raw and Smackdown. These are the averages for the four major shows in the 
2296U.S. as measured from 10/1, the start of the fall season, through the shows the 
2297week of 11/11. Now this is only the 18-49 demo and not overall and is the 
2298average for each show during those six weeks. What this shows is viewers in that 
2299demo are far more likely than older viewers to watch wrestling delayed. That 
2300makes perfect sense if you think about it. And for whatever reason, the 
2301Wednesday shows, perhaps because of the nature of going head-to-head, have the 
2302most DVR viewing by percentage. One would think Smackdown would be heavy DVR 
2303viewing being on Friday night, when people go out, but it is actually viewed 
2304more live by percentage than the other three shows. Smackdown viewership as 
2305measured by Nielsen is watched 70 percent in the demo live or same day, with 
2306another 14 percent watching over the next three days and 14 percent more from 
2307day four to seven. Another two percent watched after seven days. Those numbers 
2308are much higher than overall, including all viewers, so the key demo they are 
2309looking for is the DVR demo. The problem is those viewers are also likely 
2310fast-forwarding past commercials, and probably watching less than the entire 
2311show (although the way the numbers are figured that also is taken into account 
2312and it’s still about average minute and not total viewers) as they are probably 
2313not watching every segment. For Raw, those numbers are 67 percent live, 19 
2314percent over the next three days, another 12 percent days four through seven, 
2315and two percent past seven days. For AEW, it is 57 percent live, 22 percent over 
2316the next three days, 17 percent days four through seven and four percent after 
2317more than seven days. With NXT, it is 63 percent live, 15 percent the next three 
2318days, 19 percent days four through seven and three percent more than seven days. 
2319On average, if you include all DVR viewership, there are 1,301,000 viewers 18-49 
2320eventually watching Smackdown, 1,147,000 watching Raw, 741,000 watching AEW and 
2321400,000 watching NXT on an average week. Keep in mind that the Smackdown and the 
2322AEW average is inflated based on the huge first week each show had
2323
2324Sports Business Journal ran a piece on Punk being signed by FS 1 for the WWE 
2325Backstage show. They said that six of the 24 people in the room knew Punk was 
2326going to be there. Of the WWE talent, the only one told in advance was Renee 
2327Young, since she was going to introduce him, but the others weren’t told. Brad 
2328Zager, a Fox Sports Executive Vice President, said one of the things they want 
2329from the show is shock. Jacob Ullman, the Fox Sports Senior Vice President of 
2330Production and talent development, said, “To do a show on sports entertainment, 
2331where we all know it’s scripted, it’s almost more like covering a television 
2332show than a sporting event.” Zager said that the goal is to create moments on 
2333the show that would give the show credibility to WWE fans. Punk signed the week 
2334before his debut and FOX, WWE and Punk were all told to keep quiet about it. 
2335Punk, Zager and Ullman went out to dinner on 11/11 in Los Angeles and all three 
2336noted that they were surprised the news had still not gotten out. “It was the 
2337tightest circle of people to ever know about something that we’ve done,” Zager 
2338said
2339
2340While no surprise, the show whiffed again on the chance to show it was really a 
2341news show on 11/26 when they failed to touch the Mauro Ranallo story
2342
2343The build to Survivor Series has been a huge hit in Canada. On 11/22, Smackdown 
2344was the most-watched sports show in the country with 224,000 viewers. They had 
2345several weeks of late with less than half that number. NXT, which has never made 
2346the top ten and always been under 100,000, was at 170,800 as the Smackdown 
2347lead-in. And even Aftermath, the WWE news show, did 99,300 viewers for sixth 
2348place. It was a weak night overall for television sports in that country so that 
2349helped, but those were great numbers. Raw on 11/25 did 206,900 viewers
2350
2351The company made a last-minute decision not to tape 205 Live on 11/22. Most 
2352likely it’s a matter of having so many shows in the same building and not 
2353wanting to burn out the audience with a long show on the first of four nights. 
2354Lio Rush, the champion, publicly complained about the cancellation, which is 
2355never a good thing to do politically
2356
2357A Sports Business Journal readership survey listed WWE as getting the most votes 
2358in the category of Entity Best at Producing Live Event Spectacles. WWE also was 
2359voted for that award last year
2360
2361Wyatt is now the company’s top merchandise seller
2362
2363Catherine Jo Perry, 34, aka Lana, has signed a new multi-year contract. She said 
2364it was a multi-million dollar deal. With most of the deals being five years, any 
2365performer who is a significant television star would be signing for more than 
2366$2.5 million over the course of the deal and many for considerably more. Pro 
2367Wrestling Sheet first reported it and WWE confirmed the signing after
2368
2369A correction, or really an update on ratings listed last week for Germany. We 
2370listed the prelim ratings last week. So these are final ratings. AEW on 11/15 
2371did 30,000 viewers and 11/22 did 20,000. Smackdown on 11/176 did 160,000 and 
237211/23 did 220,000. Raw on 11/20 did 240,000
2373
2374The 12/26 Madison Square Garden show must not have gotten off to a good start 
2375because they were will be doing ticket discounts this coming week for the 
2376holiday season
2377
2378Lesnar is back on hiatus until probably around January. His next show is the 
2379Rumble so he’ll be back when it comes to shoot his angle for that show
2380
2381Mya Lesnar, Brock’s daughter, who is 17, has committed to Arizona State 
2382University on a track scholarship. Last year, as a junior, Lesnar won the state 
2383title in the shot put and placed second in the state in the discus. She had 
2384placed second in the shot put as a sophomore and third as a freshman. She is 
2385currently ranked sixth in the nation in the shot going into the outdoor track 
2386season
2387
2388Matt Hardy was called back for TV on 11/25 in Chicago to put over Murphy. His 
2389wife, Reby, who is about to give birth and had a labor scare two days earlier 
2390was asked about putting Matt on TV when she is going to give birth any day now 
2391and wrote, “Some f***ing timing.
2392
2393While the company was in discussion with different arenas for NXT TV tapings as 
2394early as January, they are committed at this point for Full Sail right now 
2395through March
2396
2397Glenn Jacobs autobiography, “Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Liberty” was 
2398released on 11/2
2399
2400Goldberg has put his home in suburban San Diego for sale, asking $3.2 million. 
2401The 6,800 square foot home which also includes a basketball court and resort 
2402style swimming pool, is on 28 acres and, since he’s avid car buff, has room for 
2403more than 20 cars. It also has a barn for animals and 15 miles of riding trails. 
2404He had the home built especially for his wants in 1997. The home also has a gym
2405
2406Chris Girard, responding to Paul Levesque saying that the mature professional 
2407thing is not for talent to go on social media and talk about their issues or 
2408wanting to leave the promotion and that it should be handled via private 
2409conversation with management, responded by saying about Levesque, “The mature 
2410professional thing to say would be no comment and have a private conversation 
2411promoter to independent contractor instead of burying talent publicly to the 
2412media. That’s how I do business. It’s all about the game and how you play it.” 
2413Girard never publicly talked about asking for a release but had asked for a 
2414release and felt Levesque’s remarks publicly were notable because of the reasons 
2415he gave
2416
2417Mike Bennett, who is trying to get out of his contract, because he can’t wrestle 
2418unless released, is looking at doing motivational speaking. He’s also willing to 
2419attend shows and talk to talent and can’t accept money for this but would be 
2420looking for travel expenses. There was talk that ROH would attempt to work with 
2421WWE and book Bennett and/or Oney Lorcan. The sides have talked in the past, and 
2422reached business deals such as ROH giving them footage for documentaries and 
2423other things over the years have been discussed but the usual politics of ROH 
2424being affiliated with New Japan have seemingly kept anything past licensing some 
2425video as the extent of working together. Bennett was taken off everything after 
2426he asked for his release but since has done everything the company has asked of 
2427him to do. He hasn’t said a thing publicly since. Lorcan has continued to post 
2428on social media so his situation is different
2429
2430Bennett did talk on the Stars and Stripes podcast about his situation, saying, 
2431“Since the minute I got to WWE, they treated me great, they treated my wife 
2432great, they treated my daughter great. When I came out and said that I had an 
2433addiction, there was no negativity from anybody, just constant support, and so, 
2434for me personally, having been almost two-and-a-half years sober, it got to the 
2435point when I started reflecting on my past and what I did and it became very 
2436hard for me to almost sit and reflect on the fact that I blew four years of my 
2437life doing drugs, and now I felt like my mind was clear, my head is clear, and I 
2438just wanted to work, I just want to wrestle. I feel like I could do and have my 
2439best matches right now and it’s extremely difficult when there’s so many people 
2440on the roster and you just don’t get that opportunity and like I said, everybody 
2441wants to come at me and come at me negatively and say that I’m mad. I’m not mad 
2442at anybody. I’m genuinely not. If WWE called me tomorrow and was like, `We're 
2443gonna put you on TV, I’d do it. I’m not mad. I just want to work, and I just 
2444want to work a lot. I want to be able to go home and tell my daughter that, 
2445`Daddy put in the time. Daddy put in the effort.’ It’s incredibly difficult for 
2446me to go on social media and preach that you have to work hard, you have to work 
2447your ass off and then not do it myself, and so, I’m a worker. I’ve always been a 
2448worker and now I’m kind of at the point where I just want to work and work and 
2449work and I’ll go wherever that opportunity exists.” “As far as not giving me my 
2450release, I think it’s like anywhere -- the Patriots aren’t going to trade or 
2451release a player that they think that the Jets are going to pick up, and I think 
2452we have to think of it like that. It’s not a negative, that’s just how it works. 
2453It works in sports, it works in wrestling.
2454
2455EC 3 remains out of action with a concussion suffered at the end of September
2456
2457Tony Nese and his wife had a nine-pound baby boy named Eric on 11/22
2458
2459Kimbely Benson, best known as Viper and in WWE, as Piper Niven, was proposed to 
2460and accepted over the weekend
2461
2462Ilja Dragunov is injured and missed shows this past week, including his 11/23 
2463main event for wXw in Dresden, Germany against Alexander Wolfe. .. Reader C.J. 
2464Baley said that the offer we’ve noted regarding that you can get three months of 
2465the WWE Network for free if you buy three boxes of Golden Crisps or Honeycombs 
2466cereal is not quite that simple. Bailey said he purchased three boxes, and sent 
2467a receipt in. He was then told you need to have three different receipts as 
2468opposed to one receipt for three boxes because it has to be three separate 
2469purchases. Once you do that, you can get sent a promo code that arrives a few 
2470weeks later. And you also have to have an active subscription, so you have to 
2471buy it for a month but then you can get three months added. He noted that they 
2472bought three boxes of cereal they’ll never eat thinking they were going to get 
2473three months of the network free
2474
2475Xavier Woods told CBS Radio’s Chuck Carroll that there’s no timetable at this 
2476point for his return from Achilles tendon surgery. He said it could be anywhere 
2477from five to nine more months
2478
2479Jerry Lawler was asked about his role at Galaxy Con. He said he didn’t now how 
2480long he would be on Raw, but just signed a new three-year contract earlier this 
2481month. When the new Raw announcing team of Vic Joseph, Lawler and Dio Maddin 
2482were put on Raw, Lawler’s role was not meant to be long-term, more the veteran 
2483presence since Joseph was new at announcing on that big of a stage and Maddin 
2484had never even announced before. But the feeling is that he’s done well in 
2485helping the other two
2486
2487WWE 2K20 has donated $500,000 to the leukemia and lymphoma society. The donation 
2488will support breakthrough blood cancer research to advance live saving 
2489treatments and critical support for patients and their families. It was spurred 
2490on by Reigns, and his being on their game cover this year
2491
2492Jessicka Carr, the referee, has been moved up from NXT to Smackdown and starts 
2493with the 11/29 TV show. It’s funny because they did a big thing in front of the 
2494fans at Full Sail on 11/27 to congratulate her for moving up while at the same 
2495time trying to push that NXT is equal
2496
2497Evolve has shows on 12/6 in Livonia, MI and 12/7 in Chicago. The first night has 
2498Walter vs. Timothy Thatcher non-title, Josh Briggs vs. JD Drake in an Evolve 
2499tile match, Babatunde & Arturo Ruas & Anthony Gutierrez vs. Joe Gacy & Eddie 
2500Kingston & Sean Maluta plus a battle of WWE contracted wrestlers with Reina 
2501Gonzalez vs. Shotzi Blackheart. The second show has Walter vs. Briggs with 
2502neither title at stake, AR Fox & Len Ruff vs. Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega, Ruas 
2503vs. Thatcher, plus Andrew Everett is on the show along with Matt Sydal
2504
2505WWE stock closed at $62.46 per share on 11/27, giving the company a $4.907 
2506billion market value. The market itself is at record levels, and WWE stock is at 
2507its best mark since the third quarter call where key declines and uncertainty 
2508about Saudi Arabia and international television deals led to a major price fall
2509
2510The list of the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network is 
2511notable because of what was No. 2 and No. 3. 1. Survivor Series; 2. Stone Cold 
2512Sessions with Undertaker; 3. NXT Takeover War Games; 4. Survivor Series kickoff 
2513show; 5. WWE Untold - the Sting vs. Seth Rollins match; 6. Day of WWE Draft; 7. 
25142018 Survivor Series
2515
2516Notes from the 11/22 Smackdown tapings. This was a good show. Even though I find 
2517the T-shirt brawls overdone, not idea of the brawls, but the unfocused sending a 
2518million guys out in T-shirts, the fact is the interbrand stuff has made the 
2519promotion across the board hotter than it has been in a long time. While the 
2520crowd was small for TV in Chicago at 7,800, that’s more because of five shows in 
2521six days. Those who were there were probably the hottest Smackdown crowd in 
2522recent memory and the NXT brand was the most over to this audience. They’ve made 
2523NXT cool which they needed to do because NXT on its own, as good as the shows 
2524were, they were fading until putting the top stars on Raw & Smackdown and mostly 
2525putting them over. The whole theme of this show was the three brands fighting. 
2526Smackdown on the show was presented as the babyface brand with the announcers 
2527cheerleading them and Reigns as the team leader. The dark match opener saw 
2528Cesaro pin Crews with the neutralizer in 8:00. Said to be good. The show opened 
2529with a team meeting. Corbin acted like the team leader and nobody listened to 
2530him. Then Reigns took over and everyone listened to him, and he said let’s open 
2531the doors and let them all in and beat them up if they come. As it turned out, 
2532the key to the story was the ending where Michaels, HHH and Road Dogg came out 
2533in a jeep with the idea that NXT is the cool group like DX, using the members of 
2534DX (well, Michaels wasn’t around but HHH and Road Dogg were in the 1998 skit 
2535they referenced) with the idea that Reigns and Smackdown had the guts to let 
2536them in, unlike WCW which locked the doors. Banks was in the ring and invited 
2537Team Raw to come out. Team Raw came out. Flair challenged Banks to a singles 
2538match. There was a big brawl and Team NXT came out, and it ended up Banks vs. 
2539Flair vs. Ripley. Banks and Cross did argue. Flair did a moonsault off the top 
2540rope onto both of them. Flair was bleeding a decent amount, looked like her nose 
2541but maybe her nose and mouth. She did the natural selection on both Banks and 
2542Ripley but the other saved. Flair had Banks in the figure eight when Ripley 
2543jumped back in the ring and got underneath Flair in her bridge and crucifix 
2544pinned her in 9:39. That was a clever finish. Flair and Banks went at it after 
2545the match and we had another T-shirt brawl. Corbin was backstage with Roode & 
2546Ziggler. Corbin dictated the strategy, which was when Raw comes out to attack 
2547Reigns, Ali and Shorty G, to let them do it, and then after that, and Raw 
2548leaves, they can beat the hell out of them as well. Bayley came out. She said 
2549that she knew Lynch was tactical but Baszler was a hothead and she knew Baszler 
2550was there and if she challenged her, she’d come out for sure. Zayn was in the 
2551ring with Nakamura. He said that they both were what was known as studs. He then 
2552unveiled a new cool-looking IC belt so they ditched the old one. Nakamura 
2553pretended to have no idea who Strong was. The Undisputed Era came out and fans 
2554were chanting “Undisputed.” Nakamura & Zayn pretty much walked away but stayed 
2555on the stage and watched the next match to set up a later angle. Adam Cole did 
2556an interview. This led to Cole & O’Reilly & Fish & Strong beating New Day & 
2557Heavy Machinery in 14:57. This was really good and the crowd was hot for it. 
2558They teased problems with E and Otis outside the ring so it looks like a New Day 
2559vs. Machinery program is coming. The guy the crowd reacted the most to was Otis 
2560with all of his unique mannerisms. When Machinery was brought up, I was told by 
2561someone who knows Vince well that either Vince will give them a few weeks and 
2562give up on them (which kind of happened at first), or Vince will get Otis, in 
2563which case Tucker will be doing a lot of jobs. Tucker is big, athletic and 
2564really talented but he’s a guy who will get lost here if Vince sees a single 
2565star in Otis. Fish & O’Reilly did the high/low on E outside the ring. Cole 
2566superkicked Tucker and Strong pinned him with a high knee. It was the right 
2567finish. Strong needed a win on WWE television going into his match. Strong and 
2568Nakamura then did a face-off on the stage when Styles attacked both. Zayn then 
2569grabbed a chair and hit Styles and Strong. Styles did a promo with Gallows & 
2570Anderson ripping on Chicago. He said Chicago wouldn’t know entertainment if it 
2571slapped them in face. He said he was the best thing in Chicago today, which led 
2572to C.M. Punk chants. By the way, some took the Punk chants as a negative, but it 
2573was very clear that a response like that was exactly what Styles was after, 
2574because when he said it, my thought was, here come the Punk chants, and I mean 
2575that as a positive for Styles as a heel. Bryan came out. He called out Wyatt. 
2576The lights went out. When they came on, no Wyatt. But Miz came out. Miz said 
2577that Bryan was weak and vulnerable and that The Fiend will tear him apart. Miz 
2578slapped Bryan. At that point they went to a commercial break. When we were back, 
2579they had a match. Bryan had the advantage. Fans had started the “yes” chants and 
2580the lights went out. When they came back on, Miz had disappeared and it was over 
2581without a finish at 6:00. Wyatt was in the corner selling, in the same position 
2582Miz was in, like we’re supposed to believe ether Wyatt took over his body, or he 
2583very quickly ate him. Miz was back on Sunday with no mention of how he 
2584disappeared two days earlier. Wyatt immediately put Bryan in the mandible claw. 
2585Then they went to a commercial break. The build for most of Survivor Series has 
2586been good, but Miz vs. Bryan has portrayed Bryan as having no chance to the 
2587level that I had no interest in seeing the match, and me not having an interest 
2588in a Bryan match is almost mind-boggling. Baszler came out and called out 
2589Bayley. She was looking up the ramp when Bayley came from behind and chop 
2590blocked her. Baszler still made a comeback and got Bayley I a choke. Bayley 
2591broke it driving her into the barricade. Bayley threw Baszler into the post and 
2592then bailed out. Corbin & Roode & Ziggler beat Reigns & Shorty G & Ali in 8:50 
2593in the main event. Ali is back to being Mustafa Ali. Good match for the time it 
2594was given. Corbin & Roode slammed G off the apron and onto the announcers table, 
2595which looked like a tough bump. So G was out and Reigns was selling. Reigns made 
2596a hot tag to Ali, who looked great. He did a tope on Ziggler and a flip dive on 
2597Corbin. Roode gave G a spinebuster on the floor. Reigns hit a Superman punch on 
2598Roode. Corbin then pinned Ali with the Deep Six. Corbin grabbed the scepter to 
2599use it on Ali, but Reigns speared him. Team Raw came out. Rollins got in the 
2600ring and he and Reigns went at it. Fans were chanting for Punk here. Then we had 
2601yet another T-shirt brawl. The whole place was chanting NXT at this point. 
2602That’s when Road Dogg, Michaels and HHH came out in the jeep leading what seemed 
2603to be dozens of guys from NXT. They continued to brawl on the floor. Strowman 
2604and Keith Lee ended up in the ring together and they went at it as the show went 
2605off the air. Really fun and effective two hours
2606
2607Notes from the 11/25 Raw tapings in Chicago. The final show of the weekend drew 
26087,200 fans, so NXT outdrew Raw by more than 3,000 fans. With sales slow, at the 
2609NXT show they announced tickets were available for Raw and that The Fiend would 
2610defend against Rollins in a cage match. And then the match didn’t happen. They 
2611did have Fiend do a dark cage match with McIntyre instead. The show was weird. 
2612Rollins turned heel in the opening segment to set up a program with Owens. Then 
2613he worked the entire match as a face and it got little heat. The stuff with 
2614Mysterio winning the U.S. title from Styles was great but aside from that, not a 
2615lot of good stuff. Dio Maddin still wasn’t back, which feels like too many weeks 
2616to still be selling the Lesnar F-5. However, after Samoa Joe did such a great 
2617job last week in the spot, he was nowhere to be found this week. The funny part 
2618of that is that this was not just my opinion on Joe, but one shared by multiple 
2619people in the company, making the decision not to bring him back in the spot 
2620strange. For Main Event, it opened with Natalya over Logan with the 
2621sharpshooter. No Way Jose pinned Eric Young. The show opened with all the 
2622wrestlers except Lesnar and Lynch surrounding the ring for Rollins to do a 
2623speech. Both weren’t going to be put in a situation where they were in a group 
2624of worker bees. Fans chanted for Punk. Rollins reacted to the chants and said he 
2625wanted to get Punk here but he didn’t want too show up. He said that Punk wants 
2626to talk about change that he’s too afraid to make himself. Vince has a rule that 
2627you never promote a big match on television that you aren’t planning on 
2628delivering, I watched this and figured this is where they are going. Punk 
2629himself has denied that, but Rollins does keep pushing it on Twitter. However, 
2630unless Vince was putting on a show to swerve everyone and that he and Rollins 
2631are the only ones who know, that isn’t the case. Vince was furious backstage 
2632about Rollins acknowledging the Punk chants and we are told that it was 
2633definitely not scripted by the writers. The fans started chanting “NXT.” Rollins 
2634said that NXT mopped the floor with Raw. Rollins said he hates that because he 
2635grew up loving Raw and hate to see what it has become. He said the show is 
2636better than that and said that last night, you all sucked, we all dropped the 
2637ball and we went from the A show to the C show. He said that we need to make 
2638this place great. It was clearly meant as one of the most unique heel turns. One 
2639person described the idea as 1997 Bret Hart, an idea that Rollins has wanted to 
2640do, where Hart was actually right in what he said and that he wasn’t a bad guy 
2641(although Hart did, in fact, do heel things), but the idea is he claimed he was 
2642a good guy but it was the fans who changed. Fans were booing. Rollins told Orton 
2643he was the weak link on Team Raw. Orton walked off. He went to Flair and said 
2644“You call yourself a Flair?” She walked off. He went to the AOP and said that 
2645they weren’t even at Survivor Series. Well, they weren’t booked. The whole idea 
2646of them not being there was to protect them from losing in the Battle Royal. He 
2647told Mysterio that he was a big fan of his growing up but he let all of us down. 
2648He said that he’s beaten Lesnar twice but Mysterio can’t beat him with a lead 
2649pipe and your stupid kid helping you. At this point, everyone walked off. The 
2650only guy who didn’t walk off was Owens. Rollins called Owens Mr. NXT and a lazy 
2651piece of crap. Owens laid out Rollins with a stunner. After the commercial break 
2652Rollins said that he’s just trying to do the right thing, and challenged Owens 
2653to a match. Rusev showed up to the building. A fan in a Mysterio T-shirt wanted 
2654to have him sign something but it turned out it was someone serving him papers 
2655that Lana got another temporary restraining order against him in the state of 
2656Illinois. Security asked him to leave, which he did. Lashley beat O’Neil in 
26571:03. Lawler talked about how Rusev should just get over her when the storyline 
2658if he was paying attention was that Rusev said he was done with her weeks ago. 
2659The match was short, and it was also just a mess. Both were off and then Rusev 
2660showed up and attacked Lashley. He beat Lashley up on the ground, and threw him 
2661into the steps. The brawl went longer than normal. It almost felt too long 
2662before he police showed up and handcuffed him. Rusev then, while handcuffed, ran 
2663into Lashley and knocked him off the ramp, and then pushed a lighting tower over 
2664onto him. Rusev was then screaming “I’m back.” AOP beat Hawkins & Ryder in 1:23. 
2665They used the super collider on both, and then Rezar pinned Hawkins after a 
2666double-team neckbreaker. Andrade beat Tozawa in 2:27 with a hammerlock DDT. 
2667Black said that he was coming to collect on what he is owed. Murphy pinned Matt 
2668Hardy in 2:56. Hardy looked in good shape. Murphy got a bloody nose. Murphy won 
2669after two V triggers. Black came out and said he was going to pick a fight with 
2670Murphy. Black hit Murphy with a jumping knee. Caruso was with Flair. She said 
2671she’s never been a team player but she was the only one who was qualified to 
2672lead Team Raw. She cut a promo on Asuka, saying that Asuka was bitter because 
2673she won the Smackdown title from Asuka and beat her at WrestleMania and ended 
2674her streak. Styles vs. Carrillo for the U.S. title never got started. Gallows & 
2675Anderson attacked Carrillo before the match. Gallows choke slammed Carrillo on 
2676the apron. Anderson threw Carrillo into the ring steps. They have Carrillo the 
2677magic killer on the ring steps. Ricochet ran in. Styles made fun of Ricochet for 
2678how long it took him to come out. They made jokes about Ricochet being a super 
2679hero. Ricochet challenged Styles to a U.S. title match. Styles turned him down. 
2680Orton came out and he wanted a U.S. title bout. Styles said that he beat Orton 
2681at WrestleMania and beat Ricochet to keep the U.S. title and has nothing to 
2682prove to two guys he’s already beaten. McIntyre came out and said that last 
2683night he beat Strowman and Walter. He said Styles has never beaten him but that 
2684Chicago doesn’t deserve this match. Mysterio came out and he wanted a title 
2685shot. Styles declined and said none of the four deserve it. Ricochet then 
2686suggested them doing a four-way with the winner getting a title match. Styles 
2687didn’t like that idea, but Gallows did. And then Anderson did. So Gallows & 
2688Anderson took out Carrillo to protect Styles from defending the title, but then 
2689want four guys who are all slotted much higher than Carrillo to get a shot at 
2690the title. So Styles agreed. Mysterio won the four-way over Orton, Ricochet and 
2691McIntyre in 14:28. Good match. There was a cool spot where McIntyre was hanging 
2692from the corner upside down. Orton went to superplex Ricochet. McIntyre then did 
2693the roman chair style sit up and German superplexed Orton and Ricochet. Gallows, 
2694Anderson and Styles came out. Several near falls. Orton hit the RKO on McIntyre 
2695but Gallows & Anderson pulled Orton out of the ring and threw him into the 
2696barricade. There’s no DQ’s in WWE four-ways, and logic would be that everyone 
2697should bring their friends and interfere. Mysterio went for a moonsault block on 
2698Ricochet, who blocked it and was going for a power bomb out of it but Mysterio 
2699turned it into a cradle for the pin. Very nice looking finishing sequence. 
2700Mysterio pinned Styles in 15:16 to win the U.S. title. A ***½ match. Mysterio 
2701hit a 619 which knocked Styles into the ref who went down. Anderson & Gallows 
2702came out. Orton then ran in for the save. Mysterio hit Styles with a 619 and 
2703Styles flew into an RKO by Orton. Mysterio hit the splash off the top rope and 
2704the ref recovered and counted the pin. Dominick ran in and carried his father 
2705around the ring on his shoulders. Caruso was with Owens. Owens said that he’s 
2706always been himself. He said Rollins has always tried to be what the company 
2707wants him to be. He said Rollins had turned into a miserable, insufferable prick 
2708and called him Mr. Crossfit. Asuka beat Flair in 17:15. Flair still had some 
2709green mist in her hair from the night before. Sane was at ringside. Flair kicked 
2710Sane allowing Asuka to take over. Flair chased Sane away. They had some problems 
2711in this match. A few spots had some very noticeable miscommunication issues. 
2712There was a nice sequence where Flair went for natural selection but Asuka 
2713countered into an armbar. Flair countered into a Boston crab. Asuka escaped. 
2714Flair hit a spear and Sane came back. Flair went after her and threw her into 
2715the post. She got back in the ring and Asuka blew a world record of green mist. 
2716The mist was all around Asuka’s mouth and Flair’s face and upper chest was caked 
2717in it. The ref counted the pin which was kind of ridiculous when the mist was so 
2718obvious everywhere. Wyatt said that there would be a nice face in the Firefly 
2719Fun House on Friday. Rowan pinned Kyle Roberts in 1:22 with two claw slams. 
2720Styles acted mentally broken and didn’t want to talk, but he eventually said he 
2721wanted Orton. Caruso interviewed Lana. She said that WWE should fire Rusev and 
2722sent him back to Bulgaria. Caruso asked how Lashley was doing and she said that 
2723despite this very traumatic experience, “I’m going to be okay.” The idea is that 
2724Lana thinks everything is about her. Main event saw Owens over Rollins via DQ in 
272514:00 when the AOP interfered. The crowd hated this finish. Rollins worked as a 
2726face. The action was good but the crowd didn’t boo Rollins and the match had no 
2727heat. The AOP came out. Owens slapped Rezar and then both beat down Owens. Fans 
2728chanted “bullshit” while AOP threw Owens’ shoulder into the post over and over. 
2729They continued to beat down Owens. Rollins fired up like he was going to save 
2730Owens, but AOP left instead. Then Rollins gave Owens a curb stomp to the end the 
2731TV show. After Raw ended they did a cage match where Wyatt retained over 
2732McIntyre. Wyatt gave McIntyre three Sister Abigails and walked out the door to 
2733win
2734
2735Notes from the 11/27 NXT tapings. A solid show, nothing off the charts but moved 
2736well. There were a few scary spots. Bobby Fish was teaming with Kyle O’Reilly in 
2737a tag title defense against Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic. Fish was injured 
2738about one minute in. We didn’t get an update past at the moment there was fear 
2739of a concussion. Lee threw Fish over the top rope and he was supposed to throw 
2740him on O’Reilly who would break the fall. But he threw him and O’Reilly wasn’t 
2741close enough to break the fall. Since there was no planned title change and they 
2742had 20 minutes of TV time laid out for the match, they impromptu sent Roderick 
2743Strong in the ring. Strong wasn’t ready and worked in his street clothes and did 
2744an entire match basically working on the fly. It went well, not a great match 
2745but a good match. Lee gave Adam Cole a pounce outside the ring into a section of 
2746fans who looked like family/friends/trainees rather than fans as no way they’d 
2747have Cole fly into fans. He took the pounce and flew two rows deep. Candice 
2748LeRae was supposed to back suplex Dakota Kai on the apron, but missed and both 
2749crashed to the floor. They seemed okay and continued the match. In a planned 
2750spot, Akira Tozawa gave Lio Rush a German suplex off the apron and Rush flipped 
2751in mid air and landed on his face. At least he got all the way over or it could 
2752have been worse. Later, Rush kicked Tozawa in the head and it looked like a 
2753flash knockout. In the first dark match, Raul Mendoza beat Arturo Ruas. The 
2754other dark match saw Santana Garrett beat Deonna Purrazzo. The show opened with 
2755a big celebration for the success over the weekend. Rapper Josiah Williams came 
2756out and all the faces were out dancing around. The Undisputed Era came out to 
2757cut it off. Cole said that the success was all due to the Undisputed Era and the 
2758rest of you did nothing. Fans were chanting “We Are NXT” and Cole told them that 
2759none of them are NXT, and the Undisputed Era is NXT. Ciampa brought up that they 
2760lost at War Games and how War Games was the beginning of the end for them. He 
2761said the war was over and daddy won and he’s bringing goldy (the belt) home. 
2762Balor came out and said he was standing in Ciampa’s way. Ciampa said, “Prince, 
2763you just met your king.” Ciampa challenged Balor and Keith Lee challenged Fish & 
2764O’Reilly to a tag title match and said it was basking season. Fish & O’Reilly 
2765went to defend against Lee & Dominik Dijakovic. Right away was the spot where 
2766Fish got hurt. Strong just replaced him as they took Fish to the back. Nigel 
2767McGuinness talked about it being Freebird rules. Freebird rules didn’t mean 
2768someone gets hurt and the other can replace him but whatever. There’s no logical
2769
2770sense at all to do it the way they did, not that things like that haven’t 
2771happened before. But they are doing live TV and if something goes wrong, you 
2772have to wing it. Dijakovic suplexed Lee on both of them. Actually Lee didn’t 
2773land on either. Strong kept going to chop blocks to set up heat spots. The fans 
2774took to Lee as a bigger star coming off Survivor Series. Dijakovic power bombed 
2775O’Reilly with one hand and choke slammed Strong with the other. Dijakovic also 
2776did a springboard flip dive on both. He also choke slammed both at the same 
2777time. Cole came out and Lee pounced him and Cole went flying. That was awesome. 
2778In the ring, Strong & O’Reilly used the high/low on Dijakovic for the pin in 
277920:16. Candice LeRae was mad at Dakota Kai for turning on Tegan Nox, who she 
2780said was like her little sister. She said Kai was supposed to be their friend. 
2781She had Nox will get Kai but tonight Kai has to face Nox’s pissed off big 
2782sister. Mansoor beat Shane Thorne in 3:02. This was good while it lasted. 
2783Mansoor did a tope but Throne caught him in mid-air and gave him a Saito suplex 
2784on the floor. Mansoor later did an elbow suicida. Mansoor won coming off the 
2785apron and in the ring with a neckbreaker. LeRae beat Kai via DQ in 12:29. Kai 
2786came out with Nox’s knee brace as a trophy. LeRae hit a tope. There was the 
2787botched suplex on the apron. There was also a messed up tornado DDT. Kai tried 
2788to use the knee brace but LeRae ducked and power bombed her for a near fall. 
2789There were a lot of near falls including Kai using a Canadian Destroyer into 
2790double knees. LeRae used a Mistica into a Gargano escape but Kai made the ropes. 
2791LeRae went for a tope but Kai hit her with the knee brace for the DQ. Kai 
2792continued to pound on her, throwing LeRae into nit the steps and the post. Kai 
2793grabbed a chair when Rhea Ripley cran in for the save and got the chair. The 
2794crowd reacted to Ripley like she was big star. Ciampa did an interview and said 
2795Balor may have been the longest reigning champion but he’s the one who turned 
2796NXT into the A show and turned goldy into the most important championship in 
2797sports entertainment. There was a video of Cameron Grimes. Lio Rush beat Akira 
2798Tozawa to keep the cruiserweight title in 13:03. This was really good. Rush did 
2799a springboard off the ropes and Tozawa was supposed to German suplex him it 
2800appeared. Rush bounced off and Tozawa was still out so Rush just fell down. But 
2801Tozawa did recover and they went back to that spot and then followed with a 
2802second delayed German suplex. Tozawa came off the top rope with a high senton, 
2803but Rush got his knees up. Rush did a frog splash to the back and followed with 
2804a frog splash to the chest for the pin. I’d go ***3/4. Balor did an interview. 
2805Xia Li beat Vanessa Borne in 1:10. The idea is Borne was going for revenge for 
2806what Li did to Aliyah. Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir and Shayna Baszler came out. 
2807Li kicked Borne in the head for the pin. After, Duke and Shafir attacked Li but 
2808she held her own with them. Finally Baszler jumped in and they beat her down. Li 
2809made a comeback on Baszler, including Baszler going down to a kick that missed 
2810by a lot. Finally Duke and Shafir held Li and Baszler gave her a running kick. 
2811Baszler cut a promo saying that she beat Bayley and Banks at the same time. The 
2812fans were chanting for Ripley, who then came out. Baszler, Shafir and Duke all 
2813left the ring. Ripley said that Baszler beat Bayley and Banks, but when she went 
2814face-to-face with her, I beat you. Baszler said that you may be the nightmare, 
2815but I’m the reality and the reality is you’ll be tapping or napping like the 
2816rest of them. Ripley said “Why don’t you do it now?” Baszler then walked out 
2817with Duke and Shafir. Balor pinned Ciampa in 11:31. Beth Phoenix compared 
2818Ciampa’s offense to that of Mick Foley. I didn’t see that at all but Phoenix’s 
2819explanation is that both did offensive moves that hurt themselves. Balor 
2820dropkicked Ciampa on the floor into the barricade. Lots of near falls, with 
2821Balor kicking out of Project Ciampa and Ciampa kicking out of a double foot 
2822stop. Ciampa used an Air Raid crash on Balor, who kicked out. Cole came out. 
2823After a series of reversals, Balor went for a belt shot with Cole’s belt. Ref 
2824Jessicka Carr grabbed the belt from him. Balor used a GTR on the belt for a near 
2825fall. Balor ended up getting the pin with an enzuigiri and a 1916. Cole & Balor 
2826celebrated over a fallen Ciampa. Cole went to pat Balor on the back but Balor 
2827then hit Cole with a Pele kick to end the show with the idea nobody knows what 
2828Balor is up to
2829
2830The only house show of the week was 11/23 in Grand Rapids, MI, a dual branded 
2831Super show that drew 3,800 fans
2832
2833In Grand Rapids, Ricochet pinned Orton. Orton got a big reaction. McIntyre 
2834pinned Tozawa with the Claymore kick. Carrillo pinned Andrade. Rusev beat 
2835Lashley via DQ for a low blow. Lana was booed heavily. Cross pinned Evans. Cross 
2836appeared to have a shoulder injury the way she was holding her arm. Reigns 
2837pinned Corbin with a spear. Corbin had a lot of heat. Nakamura pinned Miz with 
2838the Kinshasa with help from Zayn to keep the IC title. Flair used the figure 
2839eight to beat Sane. Asuka was in Sane’s corner. Heavy Machinery beat The Revival 
2840quickly in a match that was almost a squash. Main event saw Fiend beat Bryan to 
2841keep the Universal title after Sister Abigail in a cage match. Lots of “Yowie 
2842Wowie” chants. They were selling “Yes is back” shirts so that is the idea even 
2843if the storyline hasn’t quite gotten there yet.