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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
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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
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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 Series, which drew the largest, but hardly the loudest crowd of the weekend.
80
81A legitimate sellout of 11,500 fans on 11/24 indicated a few things.
82
83First, the lowest rated brand by far drew the loudest reactions. The matches pushed the hardest on television got mixed reactions. Nobody seemed to care much for Raw and Smackdown, and were heavily into NXT.
84
85And based on the fact they did a scoreboard on the seven interbrand matches, which ended with NXT winning four, Smackdown two and Raw one, you could very clearly see the priority right now is trying to market the NXT brand as not being viewed as developmental or lesser, and most importantly, use the show to increase Wednesday night ratings. From a strategic standpoint, they couldn’t have done better. Time will tell if the strategy works long-term but writing this without knowledge of how numbers will turn out, thus far the angles that built the show plus the appearances of main roster talent have turned around the NXT ratings. The idea is, at least for now, that you will no longer see the Raw and Smackdown talent on NXT as much, so getting the brand over is the key long-term. It should help and the race should tighten up. I would suspect NXT viewership to increase even without Raw & Smackdown talent, at least to well above the pre-SS build-up levels. The key was the push in making people like Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley, Keith Lee, Roderick Strong and Matt Riddle into stars based on booking here, combined with the fact that of the three singles title matches, the NXT title bout with Adam Cole beating Pete Dunne was clearly the best of the three.
86
87The other aspect is if it hurts live viewership of AEW, which was the initial goal. DVR viewership (see WWE section) is another aspect of the Wednesday story. All you can say is WWE did everything it could to do so and as well as it could.
88
89The show itself was mostly good, with the highlights being the NXT title match and the men’s Survivor Series elimination match where Lee was the last man left before losing to Roman Reigns and Riddle pinned Randy Orton. NXT wrestlers also put over were cruiserweight champion Lio Rush, North American champion Strong, women’s champion Baszler, and her top contender, Ripley.
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91The decision was made to put the battle of women’s champions, Baszler vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bayley, in the final spot. It seemed to make sense ahead of time. Only two bouts on the show really had a strong consistent push, that match and the Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio WWE title match that went on next to last.
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93But the women’s match didn’t click and the crowd was mostly silent. The idea of the match, and really the entire angle, was for Baszler. Baszler carries herself and talks like a badass bully. The original plan was for her to be on the main roster in 2020. Based on so much of the build, and the match and post-match, it appeared she was being groomed for Lynch.
94
95But the match wasn’t good. There were a few awkward spots, surprising since the bout was heavily worked on and practiced. It got so bad that Vince McMahon was really mad about it as it was going on. There was a story going around Vince was so mad he was telling the ref high spots for them to do as the match was going on, but those in the company have only said McMahon was mad, saying he had every right to be, but said he was not sending high spots to the referee while the match was going on.
96
97WWE has two more notable network specials between now and the end of the year, Starrcade on 12/1 in Atlanta and TLC on 12/15 in Minneapolis.
98
99Starrcade appears to be just a one hour or so special because all they are advertising is a Kevin Owens show segment with Ric Flair, Bobby Lashley vs. Rusev, which is strange since they’ve kept them apart on television for so long and are putting them on a show that will have very limited viewership, and a four-way women’s tag title match with Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss (her first match back after minor surgery), Charlotte Flair & Lynch and Bayley & Sasha Banks. Ric Flair headlined the first eight Starrcade shows from 1983-90, as well as two others in 1993 and 1995. The Starrcade concept came from Flair’s quest to win the NWA world title for a second time from Harley Race and to have the first NWA world title change that ever took place in the Carolinas, on a show called “A Flair for the Gold,” on Thanksgiving night at the Greensboro Coliseum. It was the first purely pro wrestling show ever closed-circuited at the level it was, with Jim Crockett Promotions booking 17 of its regular arenas in the Carolinas to air the show. The first-ever pro wrestling closed-circuit show were a series of shows in 1971 and 1972 in Los Angeles, where the shows were aired in local movie theaters. The first and biggest until the WrestleMania era was the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki show from Budokan Hall in Tokyo, which went all over North America and really was a pro wrestling show aimed to merge the wrestling and boxing audiences. But the main event was not a pro wrestling match, but billed as a boxer vs. wrestler fight, which in Japan if often credited as the birth of mixed martial arts.
100
101The other matches being promoted locally are Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman in a cage match for the WWE title, Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin, Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton, The Miz vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn, New Day vs. Revival for the Smackdown tag titles, and A.J. Styles vs. Kevin Owens. Also advertised on the show are Andrade, The Street Profits, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Ricochet and Aleister Black.
102
103Even though it’s a short period after Survivor Series to TLC, this week’s Raw didn’t strongly build much. There was a push for a Styles vs. Orton match, Buddy Murphy vs. Aleister Black (which may not even be on the PPV) and something with the AOP and Owens. The only matches scheduled for the show are Asuka & Sane vs. Flair & Lynch for the tag titles in a TLC match, Rusev vs. Lashley and Reigns vs. Corbin in some kind of a gimmick match.
104
1051. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode won a tag team Battle Royal in 8:19. Other teams in were Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, The Revival, The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler, with Jaxson Ryker in the corner), The Street Profits, Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, Tyler Breeze & Fandango, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner and Heavy Machinery. The rules were that when one member of the team goes over the top rope, both members are out. Roode & Ziggler, who ended up winning, also got the biggest reaction to their entrances. Cutler was first out, followed by Dorado. Barthel threw out Ryder. Ziggler spent the whole match doing the almost eliminated spots. Roode tackled Aichner out. The crowd was dead for this and the match looked like it was taking place underwater, in slow motion. The only crowd reaction early was for Otis. And then the OC & Revival teamed up to throw Otis out. The Revival knocked Breeze over the top, but Fandango was on the floor and not eliminated, and caught him. A few seconds later, The Revival threw Breeze out again and Fandango couldn’t block it so his team was out. The Street Profits gave both members of The Revival a double dropkick and but were knocked over the top. That left Ziggler & Roode, Anderson & Gallows and Street Profits. Ziggler superkicked Gallows over the top. Montez Ford frog splashed Ziggler and then Roode jumped in the ring and threw Ford over the top to win it. *1/2
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1072. Lio Rush retained the NXT cruiserweight title over Akira Tozawa and Kalisto in 8:19. The crowd was dead here. Rush did a Spanish fly off the top with both of them at the same time. A lot of people still thought Rush was a heel. Several near falls. Kalisto hit the Salida del Sol on Tozawa and then Rush did the splash off the top rope on Kalisto for the pin. **½
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1093. The Viking Raiders won the Battle of tag champs in 14:41 over New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) and Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly. The Viking Raiders scored the only Raw win, and it was in the pre-game show. It is notable that last year in Survivor Series, it was made clear that the pre-show matches didn’t count, while this year they did. The match didn’t have a lot of heat, partially because of the pre-show match stigma, but they worked hard and there was nothing wrong with it. Erik slammed Ivar off the apron onto the other four who were on the floor waiting to catch him. Fish chop blocked Erik while he was slamming O’Reilly to set up a heat spot. Ivar got a hot tag. E threw Kingston over the top on everyone and then he tackled Erik off the apron. Kingston went for a Trouble in Paradise but kicked the post. Fish & O’Reilly took out Kingston with a high-low on the floor. The finish saw Fish down and the Vikings delivered the Viking Experience on O’Reilly on top of Fish, and Ivar pinned Fish. ***
110
1114. Team NXT of Rhea Ripley & Io Shirai & Bianca Belair & Toni Storm & Candice LeRae won the women’s Survivor Series over Team Raw of Charlotte Flair & Natalya & Asuka & Kairi Sane & Sarah Logan and Team Smackdown of Carmella & Sasha Banks & Dana Brooke & Nikki Cross & Lacey Evans in 27:52. There were “Io” chants early, for a heel on the brand with the lowest attendance and ratings, which set the tone for the entire show. The crowd was also into Asuka. But it was a tough crowd. Everyone did their big moves and the crowd reacted to big moves. They did a spot where Shirai and LeRae were both injured and the match was stopped and they were taken to the back. The idea was NXT was already down to three. They did something similar with the NXT faces handicapped in numbers in the War Games match the night before, and in both cases, the story was similar. It worked better night one, as one would expect. The match was stopped with Shirai and LeRae taken out at 7:43. There was something with Flair vs. Belair, as Flair was considered the best athlete of any of the woman wrestlers they’d had until Belair, a legit D-1 track star who is both unusually strong and powerful, showed up. Ripley pinned Cross with a schoolboy using the ropes in 9:39. Belair pinned Logan after a 450 in 12:10. Flair pinned Carmella after natural selection in 15:36. Banks pinned Sane after a Meteora in 16:48. Asuka pinned Brooke after a kick in 17:25. Then Charlotte and Asuka started arguing. Asuka blew mist in Flair’s face and Asuka walked out, getting counted out, in 19:00. Evans pinned the blinded Flair with the women’s right in 19:08. Natalya pinned Evans with a schoolboy in 19:50. Fans started with NXT chants. Natalya used the sharpshooter while Banks used the banks statement on Storm who tapped out in both submissions in 20:56. Then Natalya and Banks did a double-team Hart Attack on Belair for the pin in 21:16. So the last three were Natalya and Banks, who had been working together, along with Ripley. The idea was Ripley was now the underdog, although it’s weird they put babyface Natalya in the spot as the bully. But Banks immediately sucker punched and pinned Natalya in 21:56. So it was Ripley vs. Banks. The crowd was not into much of the match, but were very into the final two. Fans were chanting NXT. Banks used a meteora (which won earlier) for a near fall. Banks came off the top rope into a kick. Ripley used her standing sort of scorpion leglock submission. Banks countered into the banks statement. Shirai and LeRae then came out. They pulled Ripley out of the banks statement to safety. To make sure everyone knew the score, Jerry Lawler said that they weren’t injured to begin with. LeRae distracted the ref, Shirai hit Banks with a springboard missile dropkick and Ripley pinned her with riptide. **3/4
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113Seth Rollins was with Kevin Owens. Owens said that he loved NXT but NXT doesn’t need him, basically establishing his being in the main event the prior night wasn’t a move to NXT. Owens made fun of Rollins questioning anyone’s team loyalty because of The Shield breakup.
114
1155. Roderick Strong won a three-way over A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in 16:44. This was a very good match, but also lacked heat and never hit the great level. Because of expectations given Strong and Styles in the same match, it was a disappointment to many. They traded all kinds of big moves. Styles had Strong on his shoulders and Nakamura came off the top rope with a Rider kick. Sami Zayn interfered a few times including throwing Styles into the post. Nakamura used a GTS on Strong leading to C.M. Punk chants. Styles hit the phenomenal forearm on Nakamura, but Strong threw Styles out of the ring and stole the pin in the trope finish. All three looked good. ***½
116
117Bryan and Miz were together. Miz gave Bryan a pep talk about how he had to stop The Fiend for the good of society basically. He brought up for their children’s sake. Bryan told him to get out of his face.
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1196. Adam Cole retained the NXT title over Pete Dunne in 14:04. Cole had taped ribs to sell the beating from the night before. Dunne did a moonsault off the middle rope to the floor. Dunne tried one in the ring but Cole got his knees up. Cole hit the last shot but Dunne kicked out. Cole kicked out of the bitter end. The work here was excellent, but the crowd was quiet for the first 10:00. It appeared Dunne was bleeding from the mouth, maybe from a kick. The ref put his gloves on (the sign of blood) but it wasn’t clear. Dunne went for a moonsault block off the top but Cole kicked him as he was flying. This woke up the crowd and they were strong the last 4:00. In fact, a lot of the crowd at that point was standing. The crowd also went nuts for Cole delivering a Panama Sunrise on the apron. Dunne did the finger breaking spot and went for the bitter end, but Cole reversed it into another Panama Sunrise and hit the last shot for the pin. ****1/4
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1217. The Fiend Bray Wyatt beat Daniel Bryan to retain the Universal title in 9:58. This was The Fiend’s best match to date. Even with the red tinting, the crowd did get into the match and there are little ways where Bryan is a different level worker. Bryan threw him into the post and did a running knee off the apron. He did a plancha over the post and two missile dropkicks. He did yes kicks, that Wyatt first no sold but he kept throwing them and then stomped him like crazy. The Bryan stomps because of the curb stomping nature of them really get over. Bryan hit his Busaiku knee finisher but Wyatt kicked out. The crowd was super hot at this point. Wyatt stood up and used the mandible claw but Bryan reversed into an armbar over the ropes. Bryan got out of Sister Abigail, and got a great near fall with a cradle. But then Wyatt got the mandible claw on again and Bryan was pinned. ***½
122
123Mysterio did a promo saying he’s taking out Lesnar’s knees with the pipe again and hopes Dominick is watching.
124
1258. Team Smackdown of Roman Reigns & King Corbin & Shorty G & Mustafa Ali & Braun Strowman beat Team NXT of Tommaso Ciampa & Keith Lee & Matt Riddle & Damien Priest & Walter and Team Raw of Seth Rollins & Drew McIntyre & Ricochet & Randy Orton & Kevin Owens in 29:46. It opened with Goldberg chants because of Riddle. Nigel McGuinness quickly stepped in, sounding like a Vince McMahon voice, saying that this is one of those things people do to make NXT a family affair. They quickly went to the battle of the power guys with Strowman, McIntyre and Walter. Walter dropkicked Strowman, but was hit by a Claymore kick by McIntyre and pinned in 2:56. The fans were furious that Walter was out so early. There was great stuff with G and Ricochet, and then even better stuff with G and Riddle exchanging moves on the ground including trading ankle locks. Owens frog splashed and pinned G in 6:25, setting up a pattern where somebody gets cool offense and then immediately is pinned. It’s a WWE pattern which people who have grown up on modern elimination matches all copy, but it becomes way too predictable. Reigns and Corbin were arguing. Owens superkicked Reigns and then gave Corbin a stunner outside the ring. Ciampa then hit Owens with a draping DDT as he was getting back in the ring and pinned Owens in 7:39. Orton hit an RKO on Ciampa and another on Priest and pinned Priest in 10:14. Orton tried one on Riddle, who escaped and cradled Orton for the pin in 10:27. The place went nuts for Riddle pinning Orton, and to make sure he didn’t get any more over in the match, Orton hit him with the RKO and Corbin pinned Riddle in 10:51. Lee and Strowman teased going at it until Strowman got out of the ring and started running over everyone. Then Strowman ran into Lee and they both went down. McIntyre hit Strowman with a Claymore kick and Strowman was counted out of the ring in 13:20. Now it was Ricochet’s turn. He did a bunch of hot moves including a Fosbury Flop on Reigns. Ricochet went for a 450 on Lee, who moved and then Corbin hit Ricochet with the end of days in 14:29. Ali got in and the crowd was way behind him since Ali was a former Chicago police officer. Ali hit a tope on Corbin, Rollins and Ciampa. Corbin then started yelling at Ali. Ali slapped Corbin and then Ali walked into a curb stomp by Rollins and was pinned in 16:09. Reigns and Corbin had words over Corbin costing Ali, a teammate. They started shoving each other. Rollins got in and fans started chanting for Punk. He hit a tope on Lee. McIntyre set up a Claymore kick on Ciampa, but instead ran into a spear by Reigns. Reigns pinned McIntyre in 17:36. Reigns hit a Superman punch on Corbin, his teammate, and Ciampa pinned Corbin in 19:54. This left Reigns, Rollins, Ciampa and Lee. Reigns & Rollins set up a Shield power bomb on the American announcers table on Ciampa, but Lee ran over everyone. Ciampa hit Project Ciampa on Rollins, who kicked out. Ciampa set up the fairy tale ending on Rollins, but Reigns hit Ciampa with a Superman punch and Rollins then curb stomped Ciampa for the pin in 23:59. Lee then pinned Rollins after a jackhammer in 26:33. Fans went wild for that one. With Reigns and Lee as the last two, everyone got behind Lee. Fans at ringside were singing “Oh, Bask in his Glory.” Lee got a near fall with a spirit bomb. Lee missed a middle rope moonsault and Reigns pinned Lee with a spear. Reigns after the match played babyface by fist bumping Lee. ****1/4
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1279. Brock Lesnar pinned Rey Mysterio in 6:54 to retain the WWE title. This match got a good reaction to all the spots, but it was short and ended flat. Mysterio came out with a pipe and wearing a mask designed after Psycho Clown. Lesnar got the pipe away fast, beat him down and threw hm over the Spanish table. Lesnar used an overhead suplex and rammed Mysterio’s back into the post. Lesnar gave Mysterio a German suplex on the pipe but Mysterio really didn’t land on it. Lesnar gave him two more German suplexes and then picked up the pipe. Before he could use it, Dominick came in the ring and had a towel, basically teasing the Cody-Jericho finish since a lot of people are waiting for a Dominick turn. Lesnar then grabbed the towel from Dominick and threw it in the crowd, with the idea he was going to give Mysterio a beating with the pipe. Mysterio gave Lesnar a low blow and then Dominick gave Lesnar a second low blow. Mysterio hit Lesnar with the pipe and Dominick hit Lesnar with a chair to the back. Only because everyone likes Mysterio did these low blows, weapons shots and two-on-ones not lead to the fans turning on the Mysterios. The Mysterios did a double 619, Dominick did a frog splash and Rey did a frog splash and both jumped on Lesnar, who bench pressed them off. Dominick went to the top for a moonsault but Lesnar pulled him off the top with a German suplex. Rey came off the top rope but Lesnar caught him on his shoulders and gave him an F-5 for the pin. **½
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12910. Shayna Baszler won a three-way over Becky Lynch and Bayley in 18:04. This never clicked. Bayley botched a sunset flip into the corner. The crowd was dead. Each would get a finisher or pin and the third person would break it up. Baszler used a gut wrench on Lynch and it felt like the focus was to make Baszler a threat to Lynch. Baszler kicked out of Bayley’s Bayley-to-belly. More Punk chants. Lynch power bombed Baszler off the ropes for a near fall. She got the disarm her on Baszler but Baszler reversed into a choke. Baszler backdropped Bayley over the top rope, but Bayley pulled Baszler out of the ring. Baszler threw Bayley into the post. Baszler then threw Lynch into the post. Fans were wanting tables. Baszler gave Lynch a Bruno backbreaker and threw Lynch on the announcing table. In the ring, Bayley came off the top rope with the Randy Savage elbow, but Baszler caught Bayley in a choke on landing and Bayley tapped out. After the match, Baszler was celebrating on the announcer table. Lynch tripped her up, hop tossed Baszler over the German table. Lynch came off the barricade with a butt splash putting Baszler through the table. To again point to Baszler vs. Lynch, the announcers made the point that Baszler won the match, but she never beat Lynch. **
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131<hr class="observer-hr">
132
133NXT Takeover continues to be the only show that is almost universally praised.
134
135The obvious reason is that they put together matches that look strong on paper, give the talent time, have winners and losers, and the matches are all promoted well going in.
136
137The big advantage is time. The 11/23 Takeover War Games show had only four matches on the main card. Usually it’s five, but two War Games matches take up enough time and the two-and-a-half hour length of the main show (three hours if you including the opener) of nothing but quality matches that mean something is a lot easier to go through than main WWE shows, as well as AEW or UFC. Plus, with the talent having a Performance Center, they can be practiced more. Another key is there is no mentality about getting everyone on every show, because with the huge developmental roster, that would be impossible.
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139Takeover is anything but a developmental show. With the exception of Bianca Belair, of the 23 wrestlers on the show, nobody was a product of WWE developmental. Shayna Baszler, who had made a name in MMA, and wrestled on indies for a few years and had a name but was inexperienced, was the only other performer on the show you could even say came to WWE without years of international experience with significant promotions.
140
141With guys, it’s almost like the all-star team, the PWG and ROH graduates who are doing what they did before, but on a worldwide stage.
142
143And it works. There were about 10,500 fans at the Allstate Arena on 11/23 for War Games, a number even more impressive because there were five shows in six nights and drew the second largest crowd of the five. If even a few years ago the suggestion was made that you could put NXT and Raw in the same city on the same weekend and that NXT would draw more fans, regardless of how strong Takeovers always have been, it would have sounded ludicrous. The fact the shows almost always have more heat than the major WWE PPV show the next day built on higher profile shows is something that shouldn’t happen.
144
145Takeovers now are very different from when they started, which was to give wrestlers trained in the WWE system a chance to do essentially programs on television to build to PPV, to garner inexperience for when they are called up to the main roster.
146
147Now it has nothing to do with that. One can argue rightly that they need more shows, perhaps even a special, for the real developmental talent. One could also say, given the numbers, that it’s beyond proven that the independent scene is far superior to WWE when it comes to creation of the next wave of stars. The irony is developmental was pushed so hard not that many years ago because of the idea the independents don’t turn out wrestlers who can be marketable on a big stage, so they need to find them and train them and run shows with them for the future of the company.
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149Now, it’s all about trying to present the best big shows in the industry. One can argue where they rank with a New Japan major show, or PWG, or AEW, or anyone else when it comes to putting out great matches. But because of the fewer matches, meaning really every match is a main event caliber bout given time to excel, shorter time show, you rarely gave the just “good” matches that happen underneath for everyone else. There is also the fact they are mostly younger and not working a ton of dates, allowing for recovery and healing time. Still, the injury rate is high and several of the top guys aren’t working house shows because they are working big shows at a high level while healing injuries.
150
151The booking is also not convoluted. The angles are simple. It’s obvious from watching television the direction of things, which is a good thing. On this show, with no title matches and two War Games, both had finishes where the expected next title contender, Rhea Ripley and Tommaso Ciampa, pinned the champion to win. Both would be the most obvious and predictable but both were done, because they made the most sense. Adam Cole vs. Ciampa and Baszler vs. Ripley in title matches could headline the next Takeover on 2/16 in Portland, OR, or perhaps sooner on television since both bouts are ready right now and three more months seems too long. Baszler vs. Ripley feels like it’s ready now and three months seems too long to wait, although Baszler did seem to start a smaller program with Xia Li. Cole vs. Ciampa can wait since they are likely first going with Cole vs. Balor.
152
153The next two Takeovers shows, the U.K. show on 1/12 and this one, will be on Sundays rather than Saturdays as an experiment to see how the new night does for viewing on the WWE Network.
154
155They are also doing a special in Houston called World’s Collide on 1/25, the night before the Rumble, which an ad for the show listed Cole, Baszler, Walter and Kay Lee Ray, the champions of the regular and the U.K. brands. WWE sources confirm the show will be built around brand vs. brand matches that have never been seen before. We’re told that has been the plan for this show for a few months, long before any such plans for Survivor Series took place with a similar concept. The experiment is to have more shows like this on Saturdays before PPVs down the line, with NXT and Takeovers on Sundays, to make Sunday the day for every brand’s individual big show. But all of this right now is just in the experimental phase.
156
157There were a couple of other notes regarding the show. They did an angle where Mia Yim was “injured” and replaced in the Women’s War Games by Dakota Kai. The angle leading to the match certainly seemed to tease Kai being unhappy that Yim was picked ahead of her by captain Ripley. Yim did suffer a broken nose, but the angle taking her out and having Kai take her place, and then Kai turn heel on Tegan Nox was planned all along.
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159The other unique moment saw, at the finish of the main event, when Ciampa came off the top of the cage with Cole, doing the most air raid crash of all air raid crashes, putting him through a table, was the cameras panned to AEW star Britt Baker. Announcer Mauro Ranallo identified her by name and said she was the girlfriend of Cole, obviously not mentioning she was a pro wrestler or her affiliation.
160
161Paul Levesque after the show addressed that and said that it was all just a coincidence. He said that they were simply looking for someone who would look stunned at the bump, and they found her reactions and cut to it. Ranallo knew who it was and identified her. Given Baker works for AEW, one would think they wouldn’t identify her by name. The odds of all those people in the crowd and they’d pick her, even though she did look like a girlfriend who just saw her boyfriend take a giant risk and they are going to find attractive young women ahead of anyone else for that shot if they can, is still astronomical. One would think Ranallo wouldn’t id someone from another company without being told to. Baker ended up being the most searched person associated with the show, and I can’t believe that was anyone’s goal.
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1631. Angel Garza pinned Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in 7:36. This was the dark match opener and it was good action. Garza did a nice spot where he was backdropped, but in taking it, springboarded off the ropes and came around on the other side with a power bomb. Scott did a DDT on the apron. The ref got squashed in the corner, Garza went for a low blow, it was blocked, but Garza used a knee to the gut and the wing clipper for the win. **3/4
164
1652. Rhea Ripley & Candice LeRae & Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox beat Bianca Belair & Kay Lee Ray & Io Shirai & Shayna Baszler in a War Games match in 27:24. LeRae and Shirai opened for 5:00. Shirai did cool stuff like a 619 to the back twice and a double springboard dropkick. Belair was next in and she did a standing shooting star press on LeRae plus two power bombs and a third into the cage. Ripley was in, next, throwing several garbage cans, chairs and kendo sticks into the ring. Ray was in next, bringing in more chairs. For an easy heat spot, Ray, the heel, saw a table, and then refused to grab it and it worked, as people booed the heel for not pulling out a table they saw. There was a tower of doom spot where everyone landed on chairs. Belair hit a 450 on Ripley. Belair and Ripley are going to be two of the biggest female stars in the company before too long. Kai was supposed to be in next, but she turned on Nox as she was let out of the shark cage everyone had to stay in until their turn to come out. She slammed the cage door on Nox’s head and then her knee over and over. Kai was great. Nox’s selling was great. The announcers were great putting it over. It came across exactly as it should, a vile act. William Regal came out and Kai even punched him. He ordered her to the back. She then came back out and attacked Nox again. I don’t know if this was meant as a copy but Nox did seem to channel the famous Nancy Kerrigan scene when she was attacked before the 1994 Olympics. So the deal was that Kai was ordered out and Nox couldn’t continue meaning the faces were down two people. Baszler came out to make it 4-on-2 on LeRae and Ripley. The faces mostly sold. LeRae came back with kendo stick shots and did a poison rana off the top on Ray. Baszler had the choke on Ripley, but she broke it while handcuffing herself to Baszler. Ripley then gave Baszler a riptide onto chairs for the pin. ****1/4
166
1673. Pete Dunne won a three-way for a title shot at Adam Cole the next day over Killian Dain and Damien Priest in 19:58. Very good, yet the weakest thing on the main show. Dain did a fallaway slam with both on the floor at the same time. Priest gave Dunne a Razor’s Edge on the Spanish announces table and Dain hit a tope on Priest. Dain used a cannonball on Priest through the barricade. Fans were cheering for the high spots as opposed to the guys. Lots of near falls and saves. Dunne did a moonsault to the floor on both. The crowd did get quiet here at times when they weren’t doing big moves. Dunne did the finger break on Priest. Dunne superplexed Dain and did the Bitter End of Priest, but Dain saved. Dain fell back with Dunne falling on top of Priest and Dunne got the pin. ***½
168
1694. Finn Balor pinned Matt Riddle in 14:22. Ranallo pushed how Riddle beat Jon Jones when both were high school wrestlers in New York. The year that Riddle won the state title, Jones placed third although they didn’t wrestle in that meet but did wrestle that year. Excellent match, exactly what you would expect. Riddle did the ankle lock to the right leg and then the left leg. Balor did ta German suplex, but Riddle landed on his feet and hit a V trigger and German suplex. Lots of big moves. Riddle used a jackhammer for a near fall, looking to get Goldberg chants since they had their backstage thing people know about. Balor used a GTR and 1916 for near falls. Riddle went floating bro, Balor got his knees up. He went for the coup de gras but Riddle moved. After an attempted bromission (twister) by Riddle, Balor got out and hit the 1916 again for the pin. That looks to be his new finisher since it’s the move Gargano went down to. I’d have gone with Riddle winning here. Riddle has had a few losses, notably with Cole on television. Balor is already made and in NXT, he doesn’t need the win now. Now, if this is building to where Riddle beats Balor later, then I could see Balor winning the first one. I see Riddle as a major star on the way up while Balor will always be strong here even if he loses at times. If Ciampa is winning the title and Balor is being groomed for a program, I could see it, but even then, he could lose here and beat other guys to get there. ****
170
1715. Tommaso Ciampa & Dominik Dijakovic & Kevin Owens & Keith Lee beat Adam Cole & Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong in 38:27. Strong started with Ciampa. Ciampa came out with a crutch as a weapon and handed it to Strong. Strong, rather than use it, threw it out of the cage. O’Reilly was next in. They beat him down until Dijakovic entered and cleaned house. Fish was in next. They laid out Dijakovic with the high-low and Strong used a backbreaker on Ciampa. Fish & O’Reilly used Chasing the Dragon on Ciampa. The heels did the beatdown until Lee came in. Lee did a leapfrog over both Fish & O’Reilly and a cross tackle, basically the divide, on both. Cole was in next to a big reaction. Cole brought in a table and set it up on the floor. Ciampa then, before Cole could enter the cage, shoved him off the apron and Cole flew backwards and went through the table. Owens, who was not out and never advertised, showed up as the mystery partner. He power bombed Fish, gave O’Reilly a choke suplex and power bombed Fish onto O’Reilly. This led to a “Welcome back” chant. Owens hit a stunner on Cole. Lee & Dijakovic went to do a double Biel on Strong from one ring to the other. He was supposed to land on the other three but landed shot and it was a bad landing. Lee did a crossbody off the top on everyone. O’Reilly did a kneedrop on Lee’s knee and went for an Achilles lock. Then there was a ton of big moves including Strong using an Olympic slam off the top on Lee. Owens was cleaning house on everyone. Cole twice got out of a package piledriver between rings on the metal strip between the rings. Cole then used a delayed Panama Sunrise (Canadian Destroyer) on Owens between rings. Ciampa did three running knees on Cole. Dijakovic choke slammed Strong through a table. Owens did a frog splash on O’Reilly through a table. Lee power bombed Fish off the top rope through a table. And finally, with Ciampa and Cole both on the top of the cage, Ciampa used the air raid crash off the top through a table. It was spectacular and Ciampa clearly protected Cole on the move. Wrestling is about death-defying moves at times and more people do seem to get hurt just doing stuff than on these type of moves. Those kind of spots are worrisome because of what could happen if someone slips up. ****½
172
173The search for 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris, which got national attention, looks to have ended in the worst way possible.
174
175What were believed to be the remains of Blanchard were found in Macon County, AL on 11/25. It was confirmed two days later after forensic tests.
176
177Blanchard went missing on 10/23 and two days later her black Honda SUV was found in Montgomery, AL in damaged condition and evidence taken showed enough blood to believe she had been seriously injured.
178
179Two more suspects have been arrested this past week.
180
181Antwain “Squirmy” Fisher, 35, was arrested on 11/22 in Montgomery, AL and charged with first-degree kidnapping. Fisher was being held without bond. A gag order has been placed on the case.
182
183David Johnson Jr., was arrested on 11/25 and charged with hindering prosecution.
184
185Ibraheem Yazeed, 30, had earlier been charged with first degree kidnapping. With the body being found, more charges are almost sure to be added to both men. Yazeed was also denied bond.
186
187Yazeed, to make this story even more tragic, had been out on bond when Blanchard disappeared, on prior charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery.
188
189More than $105,000 had been raised in reward money for information to hopefully lead to finding Blanchard and prosecuting any perpetrators, which included money donated by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, UFC President Dana White, and a number of fighters including Jon Jones.
190
191Harris, on Instagram, wrote: “My sweet baby girl... I just wanna thank you for helping me change my life for the better... For teaching me how to be a man and a better father! For being my biggest fan win, lose , or draw! For always knowing what to say to put a smile on my face and lift me up when I was down and wanted to give up. You light up my world I’m so many ways. This pain is unbearable... I know you want me to be strong but it so hard baby it so hard. I’m gonna find away I promise you I will. Right now nothing makes sense and I’m so lost. I just want you back. I hope I made you proud... I’m gonna keep going daddy just needs time. I love you so much. Look after us like you always did. We need you now more than ever. My lil mighty mighty tiger is a angel now. I love you baby girl forever and ever! “
192
193The UFC’s anti-doping policy, which has been one of extreme controversy, has been revamped this past week.
194
195One of the big questions is that so many UFC athletes test positive for very small amounts of banned substances, and very often in testing their supplements, they are found tainted.
196
197The one question, and this may have to do with how vigilant the testing is, is why this happens so often with UFC athletes, and not athletes in so many other sports who have drug testing programs and where athletes also use supplements. And another issue is the unfairness, because a fighter who makes money is able to pay for his supplements to be tested, which isn’t cheap, while a lower ranked fighter often can’t afford it and has to take a lengthy suspension, usually two years, which has ruined careers.
198
199There are other issues, both perceived double standards and evolving science. Drug testing is a great thing for the sport, especially one like MMA where it is a fighting sport that PED use not only can change outcomes, but can lead to a higher level of injuries, for both the person on them and the opponent. But even many of the staunchest anti-drug guys have become anti-USADA guys over the years because of questions regarding enforcement, especially with Jon Jones.
200
201The reality is that other combat sports like boxing and other MMA groups have some drug testing, it is usually far less effective and comprehensive athletic commission testing. Some bigger boxing matches will have outside programs, but they are often limited to just the period leading up to big fights.
202
203One of the changes announced is more thresholds for substances, in the sense that if a fighter tests positive for a banned substance at a level so low that it would appear to be trace levels that are not enough to provide performance enhancing benefits, they would no longer by viewed as positive test. This has already been implemented, and it also leads to questions because who has done the testing to determine what levels of substances help performance. The fact is, that supplements themselves enhance performance but are considered legal if not drug tainted, but again, there is no proven less of performance increase truly known in most cases.
204
205The big move, which has been talked about for some time, is that UFC fighters have no been told to use only certain supplements, basically those on five different lists of supplements that are accredited by key certification agencies.
206
207The idea is the supplements allowed are those believed to be from reputable companies that don’t contaminate supplements with low level of banned substances. Because the supplement industry is unregulated, often manufacturers will put small levels of PEDs in the supplements, especially when first released and promoted, with the idea word-of-mouth would get around to athletes that they are getting great training gains since starting the supplements. It popularizes them, and maybe, in time, after the word is out, they may even clean up the supplement because it has gotten the reputation for being effective. And that is also unethical in a different way.
208
209UFC has formed a partnership with supplement provider Thorne to provide fighters with supplements. While fighters don’t have to take those supplements, the idea is that they can get those through the UFC Performance Institute with the idea they are developing supplements specifically geared for the needs of the fighters.
210
211The idea is that using accredited supplements only would cut down on test positives from tainted supplements. In addition, and this was not specified, if a fighter does test positive at a low level consistent with contamination who has only used those supplements, they should be allowed to have their supplements tested at no cost. If those supplements are found to have caused it, obviously they would be removed from the list of those recommended and allowed, and the test positive should be overturned.
212
213The new rulings lead to very low levels of Clomiphene, DHCMT (oral Turinabol, a steroid which is the drug that Jon Jones has failed multiple tests for, with USADA ruling his body pulsed low levels of the drug for years after claims of no evidence of new use–the problem is while Jones was suspended for reasons that have never been explained, he went through an eight month period without a test and it should be noted similar test results of low levels in and out of systems have shown up in another fighters who have also not been suspended for multiple positives), HCTZ, SARMs (which includes Ostarine, which has led to a number of drug test failures for low levels in the past including Tom Lawlor), GW-1516, Trenbolone (a steroid), Zeranol and Zilpaterol. Low levels would be viewed as an atypical finding and not subject to suspensions. Travis Tygart of USADA said that athletes with atypical findings are allowed to compete but they are going to research and investigate and how the low levels of banned substances got into their system. Another new rule, which some are calling the Jones rule, is that repeated test failures for the same drug may not be enforced if they believe the failures were likely not intentional.
214
215USADA can, at its sole discretion, elect not to impose sanctions for multiple violations if USADA has determined it was unlikely the violations were intentional.
216
217After a tweet by Corey Graves during the Takeover show, which Mauro Ranallo found out about after the show, Ranallo, 49, who suffers from a very severe case of mental health issues, missed both Survivor Series and the Wednesday NXT tapings.
218
219Ranallo’s situation was unclear, but it was known that he was not dong well, but there was communication with either he and the company or at least his representatives and the company. They were told a day ahead of time at least that he wouldn’t be doing the NXT show.
220
221Ranallo had made it clear at times of late that he was not doing well, although Graves may not have known that. However, Graves was on the show and the actual segment where John Layfield buried Ranallo in March 2017, which led to a major health crisis and Ranallo quit the company at the time. With Newsweek preparing a major article on Layfield, the sides reached a release and settlement where Ranallo would publicly absolve Layfield as not being the reason for the issue. In reality, the issues were far deeper than Layfield. While the segment on the show “Bring It To The Table,” was the breaking point, his biggest issues were not with Layfield and were with others in the hierarchy.
222
223Ranallo had signed with WWE in late 2015, as a major acquisition for the USA Network when Smackdown moved from Syfy in January 2016. Ranallo started in pro wrestling at the age of 16, in 1986, as a heel manager for Al Tomko’s All-Star Wrestling promotion in Vancouver, BC, and later became the show’s television announcer. He remained with the promotion until it folded in 1989. Later, he and Badnews Allen were broadcast partners for a remake of Stampede Wrestling in Calgary in 1999 and 2000. But he gained his first national fame working with Bas Rutten as the voice of the Pride Fighting Championships in the heyday of the promotion from 2003 to 2005. He also did voiceover work during the heyday of Pro Wrestling NOAH for The fight Network, and in was part of the original announcing team for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2015 on AXS. Ranallo won Announcer of the Year in the Observer year-end poll in 2015 with New Japan and 2016 and 2017 with WWE.
224
225However, it was the fact that an experienced pro wrestling announcer had called the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, a fight so enormous that in one day it brought in nearly as much revenue as WWE or UFC did in an entire year, that led to Paul Levesque trying to get Ranallo into WWE as part of a facelift for Smackdown on the USA Network.
226
227There were issues from the beginning, most notably broadcast partner Jerry Lawler the first few weeks giving him the nickname “M.R.” On playgrounds during the 50s and 60s in particular, “M.R.,” for mental retard, was among the uglier slurs of the time, equivalent to gay slurs and other ethnic slurs. After it was brought up, Lawler quickly stopped using it on the air.
228
229It was actually Ranallo tweeting a thank you for the 2016 award that led to Layfield going off on him on the air, something considered highly unprofessional but also noted that there were those higher on the food chain that approved the situation.
230
231Ranallo missed the next Smackdown, which the company claimed was due to not being able to make it to the building due to a snowstorm, and never returned to the show.
232
233At the time the sides publicly said they were going their separate ways and WWE released him from his deal, we noted that WWE was still trying to get him back.
234
235That June, Ranallo agreed to return as the announcer with NXT. The agreement at the time was that he would work Takeovers and televison tapings. His public explanation was that the weekly Smackdown scheduled was too demanding with his other work, which included Showtime boxing and Bellator MMA. The new schedule in theory would have been 18 dates per year. The reality is the weekly schedule was not the issue, as NXT went to weekly live and there was no issue of the schedule nor talk of him not working every week. The deal was more about being away from those who made the environment toxic for him, and that he would be overseen by Levesque and Michael Cole, who he never had any issues with and were the two people who were responsible for bringing him to the company. In time, he was working alongside at times with the offending parties again, and Layfield, who still on occasion works for the company, did attempt to make amends.
236
237Prior to the show, Graves tweeted a line from Ice T that said, “Social media has made too many of you comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the mouth for it.”
238
239During the Takeover show, he tweeted, “Just for the record guys, I know you wouldn’t know it, but there’s actually a WWE Hall of Famer and a former Ring of Honor champion on commentary. I’d imagine they have a lot to offer.”
240
241Knowing Ranallo’s situation, I knew there was potential trouble from that tweet. It’s one thing regarding every public figure with a Twitter presence being harassed, but it is another thing for it to be a fellow broadcaster and former broadcast partner, as it was with Layfield.
242
243Graves also made references to Ranallo making too many rap music references during the show, which is a fair criticism, but also came after Graves himself complained about talent going on Twitter and being unprofessional.
244
245Graves later claimed according to reports elsewhere, as well as those in the company, that he was trying to just start an angle with Ranallo. Ranallo had no idea of this and usually if one would be starting an angle, you’d let the other guy know, especially given the track record. The starting the angle story didn’t come until days later, and a number of people have been very skeptical because of the idea if you were starting an angle brand vs. brand, you would not have tweeted it like that, in a sense you may have buried all three announcers, or been critical of an announcer for being a homer, but not made the specific comment he did. But the two were set to do at least one match, and perhaps more, working together at Survivor Series.
246
247Ranallo deleted all his social media accounts shortly after. Frank Shamrock, his agent and best friend, was in Chicago with him and they did leave before Survivor Series. Graves did apologize to Shamrock, but not to Ranallo.
248
249Shamrock then tweeted Graves’ Ice T line right back to him.
250
251It was already reported that Ranallo had left and would not be doing the show.
252
253Cole, before the Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne NXT title match that Ranallo was scheduled to broadcast, said that Ranallo was so passionate that, unfortunately, he blew his voice out and couldn’t be on the show, but would return Wednesday. That made the company look terrible since it was an outright lie, coming far too soon after the provable outright lie regarding the Saudi Arabian flight issues. While some aspects of the story were suspicious and people were skeptical of, the claiming that it was the talent being so loyal that set up the flight that never made it to Smackdown on time, was clearly untrue.
254
255Graves never took down the tweet. He never commented on anything actually related to Ranallo again, but did blame me for making up a story, which in this case, was a ridiculous deflection.
256
257It was noted to me that logic would have had WWE management trying to reel him in after Ranallo left, but in the strange world of WWE, Graves was considered by many the babyface in the situation, and even the victim.
258
259On 11/26, Graves taped a segment for his After the Bell podcast that was released the next morning, where he opened the show saying, “On a personal note, I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the Takeover War Games event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the intention of stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody undue stress, especially a coworker. So, I apologize.”
260
261Here are some more notes on the Jim Cornette situation.
262
263Cornette did a podcast on 11/22 which saw he and co-host Brian Last discuss the situation with his fried chicken in Ethiopa line and his departure from the NWA.
264
265Cornette did apologize to people who were offended by his line, but basically said he was sorry for those who were truly offended and that he felt a lot of the people claiming they were offended were using the line to get back at him and he wasn’t apologetic at all to them. He was totally defiant to them. I think he was honest in his own mind and made it clear he wouldn’t do a fake apology. But at this stage, this was not an issue to fight over because legitimately there are regular people who would read that line and see it as a cut-and-dried racial issue no matter what the intent. The intent was just a throw-away line that didn’t work and was taken wrong, but he should have looked at why, accepted that it was, and said how sorry he was for it. Any qualified apology, or push back at this point in time, was going to be taken as a non-apology. It simply wasn’t the time or the place to insult a group of people who he was mad at.
266
267He said that he thought he came up with the joke one day with Ray Traylor (Big Bubba Rogers aka Big Bossman) and then used it on television, and had used it several times over the years. It was a joke about something preposterous, a huge giant guy on a motor scooter in Ethiopia and a bucket of fried chicken. He noted that all the comedians in that era did Ethiopia jokes due to the constant television commercials about starving children. He also said that he wasn’t 100 percent sure that he came up with and that Richard Pryor may have come up with the crux of it and he adapted it for Bubba. He said it was a starvation joke and not racial. The problem is how he saw it or delivered it, almost nobody saw. The story is what people read on paper and an average person not knowing who Jim Cornette is could easily read that line and be very offended by it. Because of that, this wasn’t the time to blame perceived enemies or try to rationalize it.
268
269There should not have been any conditions put on the apology because it ended up with many then not taking it as an apology, however it was meant. At the same time, I’m not sure at this point what an apology would have done and many weren’t going to accept any explanation for a variety of reasons.
270
271Brian Last said that he didn’t find the joke funny, but said that he hates racism. He noted growing up militantly anti-racist and would never ever associate with someone racist. He said that he’s known Cornette for 25 years and they are social friends when they are in the same city and said that Cornette is not racist. Unfortunately there are tapes of Cornette using the N word and granted, they are decades ago, they can and have resurfaced as this story got play. The story also resurfaced stories about his temper and similar lines he’s said over the phone to various people in wrestling, Mark Madden, Wade Keller and Bruce Mitchell come to mind immediately, over the years who said he said the same thing while cutting heated promos on them for things they had written about him in the 90s. That’s one thing, but once, when he was furious at Madden, he called up for him, got Madden’s mother (who was a wonderful lady by the way) and according to what Madden said, Cornette cut a promo on her, which was so bad that I don’t even feel comfortable in writing it. But suffice to say she was completely innocent in all this. Granted, all of these are a quarter-century ago and people do change. But that was still part of the reason many people argued a pattern and thus the stronger reaction as compared to others who said things similar or far worse once the line became an issue. It’s also why a complete apology was the right thing to do at the time. Whether it would have mattered in the big picture is a different question. But it was just the right thing to do.
272
273He noted that the line was used on a show, that numerous people saw the tape, and were listening to the show as it was being done. Nobody as it was done said a word abut the line and it’s a lot more than just David Lagana. Lagana in the end was the point man who handles all the final editing, and he was very quick to admit he made a mistake in allowing it to air.
274
275He noted that the line got through standards and practices and aired on previously-taped shows on TBS and other television stations, the first time viewed by millions with literally nobody saying a word about it. That was true, but that was also in the 80s and 90s. Much of what constituted television color commentary and interviews, particularly by heels, in the 70s, 80s and 90s would not be allowed today. And that’s probably a good thing because a lot of the race and ethnic baiting that was a staple of pro wrestling in another era was way behind the times even in the 70s and 80s, but that’s what that era of the business was and played on. Cornette is a product of that era.
276
277It also didn’t help his cause that he’s made a lot of enemies, and said some completely outrageous things while getting into public feuds with a variety of current personalities in wrestling. Some defend him because at certain aspects of the industry, history, and certain aspects of psychology, he is really smart. He makes valid points, but a lot of his other points when it comes to the psychology of pro wrestling are from a different era and today’s fans are very,very different from fans of that era. The argument he would make is that the style of wrestling has limited appeal and there are not enough of those fans, even if they are willing to pay far more money than fans in the past. It’s a debate and there are points on both sides, but things weren’t always rosy and there were a lot of down business periods and dead places in those eras as well. But his enemies are a side issue, as is the current style or previous styles of wrestling. Neither are the story here.
278
279The NWA had no choice but to get rid of him and he himself recognized that under the circumstances the controversy wasn’t good for the company.
280
281NWA Powerrr has had several edits for reasons of taste, including a couple of prior lines by Cornette and one by Eddie Kingston, which was not racial but violent speak that they thought went too far. Lagana knew the risk of hiring Cornette because he knew from the start there were people ready to pounce on him based on the reaction by some to the decision to hire him. That actually had made him more cautious when it came to editing the show. He felt from day one he had to be extra careful because a line he would say that nobody would give a second thought to if someone else would say, would garner controversy if Cornette said it. That line, for whatever reason, perhaps the way it was delivered, didn’t stand out and snuck through the entire process, unlike other lines that they caught.
282
283Lagana noted he and the NWA got some criticism when the word got out they were using Cornette as a television announcer. He said it was a recent thing and nothing that had been said by anyone previously when he had done previous NWA PPV shows, all of which he did with no controversy. The only people who showed any kind of negativity for using him on prior shows was one wrestler as best we know. I don’t even know if he ever even told them. But it was someone who wasn’t happy about doing a show with Cornette as an announcer, but decided to take his payoff for that show and donate it to charity to rationalize that what he as doing by working a show with Cornette as an announcer was for a greater good than bad.
284
285When the controversy started, Lagana, called Cornette, who didn’t answer the phone. Cornette claimed he wasn’t around, wasn’t on the Internet, and had no idea any controversy was even happening until the next day. Lagana then issued an apology statement before talking to Cornette. Lagana eventually talked with Cornette and asked him to apologize immediately and asked him to take a hiatus, but that they would bring him back. It got heated enough at first that Cornette hung up the phone on him. Eventually Cornette was not against the idea of apologizing, but also wanted to make it clear that he was sorry for those he offended, but not sorry at all for people who he believed weren’t the slightest bit offended and used what he said for mock outrage because they were out to get him. He argued that a number of the people making the most noise weren’t really outraged, and they were using it to get at him and apologizing would give them power and it would be worse in the long run because they will then constantly demand apologies for anything. The problem is a ton of people who hear the line and immediately call it racist, as noted by the media coverage it did receive, even without knowing anything about him, his background, or what style of pro wrestling he likes or doesn’t like.
286
287Because it was mainstream and those who know nothing about Cornette or pro wrestling published it as an offensive remark, he should have apologized without qualifications. A qualified apology just keeps the story going and makes even the people who were legit offended and didn’t react over the wrong reasons not say he didn’t mean it.
288
289He also said that he would never apologize if he didn’t truly mean to, unlike most public apologies in these situations which are moves from people who hire firms to help clean up problems and apologies are more strategically motivated than sincere.
290
291He also wanted to address the subject first on his podcast, ironically the same decision Corey Graves made a few days later. Lagana felt the apology had to come immediately and insisted on it. The line had already gotten TMZ coverage by the time this call had taken place. Cornette eventually quit, although he described it more as a decision based on what was best for the company.
292
293Cornette noted that he didn’t need the job and if it wasn’t going to be fun, he didn’t want to do it. He does very well between podcasting and selling of merchandise and whatever pro wrestling he has done of late.
294
295Cornette was mad about last week’s issue, reading it as an obituary issue on him while he was still alive. “Which is worse, me telling a 35-year-old joke or you trying to tell people a 35-year-old joke is the greatest wrestler in the world?”
296
297“Glad to know the end of my career came from doing a part-time announcing gig after I gave up the wrestling business seven years ago. I just had the best financial year of my career and the NWA contributed approximately four percent of that gross. This is, however, a reminder that I need to quit answering the phone, because the wrestling business is so F***ed up that shit like this can happen any time get near it. And it’s aggravation I don’t need.”
298
299Another issue had to do with owner William Patrick “Billy” Corgan, whose newest album was being released and he would be heavily promoting it, and the feeling was he wanted media coverage of his album, and not people asking his opinions on what somebody said in a wrestling promotion he owned that was getting negative press.
300
301There was also the concern that because Cornette turns so many phrases so quickly and people were clearly looking for anything on him at this point, that putting him on a live PPV was asking for trouble.
302
303Because of what happened, the attempt will be to remove Cornette from all NWA broadcasts, including things that had already been taped leading to the next PPV show on 12/14. On the show that aired on 11/26, it was edited and changed significantly and while it was impossible to remove Cornette completely because of key things pre-taped, he will be moved as much as possible going forward. From early numbers of the show, which were down, the controversy hardly helped the NWA as far as viewership went.
304
305Cornette went off early, and thus came off badly at first, blaming AEW fans for his problems and that this was a backlash by people who didn’t like him making fun of their “cosplay wrestlers.” While there is some crossover of those outraged by him and the AEW fan base, it was a bad look blaming the issue on any group of fans of a promotion or wrestlers. The subject of Cornette’s comments on ring announcer Justin Roberts never came up in any of this talk, as that was addressed on a prior podcast. But it was not lost on NWA officials when this went down.
306
307Lagana himself had noted that YouTube stats have shown him that 30 percent of the audience for NWA Powerrr on YouTube were people who are coming from or going to or otherwise watch AEW Dark. Probably even more watch Dynamite. It served the NWA no good to have their announcer go so strongly negative on a product that a large percentage of their fan base enjoys. It really doesn’t come off well when an announcer with a promotion criticizes another group unless it’s something clearly deserved. But it’s not good when an announcer criticizes a rival group past a sentence or two, and never when it’s over-the top. But really, that’s a different issue as well.
308
309We’ve seen people come back from worse. Hulk Hogan, is the obvious example that comes to mind, but he’s also Hulk Hogan and it was inevitable and always a matter of time. He also took ten times worse of a hit initially because his remarks were far worse, and also, because he was Hulk Hogan. Historically that would be the case here, at least as far as doing appearances as there will always be promoters of shows who will book him and he’ll likely maintain a fan base for his podcast as long as he is entertaining. As far as announcing wrestling, something he is better at than all but a few people in this world, that’s a very different issue for all the obvious reasons. He hasn’t gone out of his way to get those type of jobs, and the number of enemies he’s made with modern wrestlers makes it uncomfortable, as his MLW stint showed. It’s too bad. He was the right guy for the NWA, until he became the wrong guy.
310
311WWE Backstage on 11/26 did 121,000 viewers, down from the 180,000 the week before for the debut of C.M. Punk. Punk was not on the show, nor advertised, but I’m sure some expected him since they gave the impression he was a regular and never said he wasn’t going to be on. It did better than the two prior shows in that time slot that Punk wasn’t advertised ahead of time on.
312
313Raw has now had its three least-watched non-holiday episodes in history over the last three weeks.
314
315The 11/25 had to be the most disappointing of the three. The show did a 1.75 rating and 2,107,000 viewers (1.35 viewers per home). It was down 0.9 percent from the 2,126,000 viewers, the second-lowest of the last 22 plus years, a week earlier. The record low was two weeks ago when going against the highest rated football game of the season.
316
317But there were key differences. The 11/18 show went against an NFL game that did 12,567,000 viewers. The 11/25 show went against the biggest blowout of the season, a Baltimore Ravens 45-6 win over the Los Angeles Rams. The game was basically over by halftime, and averaged 10,926,000 viewers.
318
319But worse, the show came the day after Survivor Series, one of the company’s major events of the year. Usually that leads to a substantial bump. But not only was the overall number down, the 2,241,000 viewers in the first hour indicated no great interest in the follow-up after the PPV.
320
321Raw was tenth for the night on cable, but also only trailed three NFL-related shows on ESPN in the 18-49 demo. It was down 11.1 percent from the same show one year ago.
322
323The median viewer was 50.0 years old. Teenagers grew throughout the show peaking with the Rollins vs. Owens match with 81,000. 18-34 peaked with Lashley vs. O’Neil. 35-49 peaked with the opening segment. Males 18-34 peaked with the OC segment building the four-way as did Women 35-49, but women 18-34 saw that drop considerably. Men 35-49 and 50+ peaked with the opening segment.
324
325It had the usual ratings pattern with the big third hour drop, although the drop was basically everyone but teenagers. The first-to-third hour drop was 14.5 percent in women 18-49, 22.0 percent in men 18-49, 2.7 percent with teenage girls, 1.6 percent with teenage boys and 14.4 percent over 50.
326
327The show’s peak was 2,375,000 viewers for the Seth Rollins show opening segment and it fell from there. The low point was the beginning of Rollins vs. Kevin Owens at 1,767,000 viewers, although most of the main event averaged 1,896,000 viewers.
328
329Bobby Lashley vs. Titus O’Neil and AOP vs. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins lost 44,000 viewers. Andrade vs. Akira Tozawa lost 271,000 viewers, although the segment also had two commercial breaks. Buddy Murphy vs. Matt Hardy gained 139,000 viewers. The challenges leading to the four-way match gained 77,000 viewers. Drew McIntyre vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton vs. Ricochet lost 59,000 viewers. A.J. Styles vs. Mysterio for the U.S. title gained 17,000 viewers. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka lost 65,000 viewers. Erick Rowan vs. Kyle Roberts lost 153,000 viewers. Rollins vs. Owens in the main event lost 20,000 viewers.
330
331The first hour did 2,241,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,190,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,896,000 viewers.
332
333The show did a 0.37 in 12-17 (up 15.7 percent from last week), 0.46 in 18-34 (up 7.0 percent), 0.96 in 35-49 (up 3.2 percent) and 0.92 in 50+ (down 3.2 percent).
334
335The audience was 64.1 percent male in 18-49 and 58.7 percent male with 12-17.
336
337Smackdown on 11/22 did a 1.59 rating and 2,544,000 viewers (1.45 viewers per home) for the multi-branded go-home show the night before Survivor Series. The rating was up 8.2 percent and audience up 10.2 percent from the prior week.
338
339While the multi-brand aspect could be an outlier, it does appear to show Smackdown will have its ups and downs, but we’re far enough along to say the show is doing fine in the time slot. The goal was a 1.0 in 18-49 and close to three million viewers, and it won’t average close to that. But it also isn’t going to level off under two million, which would be a negative.
340
341The 0.8 in 18-49 tied Hawaii 5-0 for No. 1 for the night on network, but the 0.72 for the NBA, on cable in far less homes, would really be the top 18-49 performance since the real percentage of an 0.72 in 120 million homes translates to 1.02 in the demo based on actual ESPN coverage area. FOX did do the lowest in total viewers of the four networks and Smackdown was the second least watched show on network TV that night, beating only one 30 minute block on ABC.
342
343Last year in the same time slot ESPN had college football which did a 1.0 in the demo and 4,076,000 viewers, so they were down 20 percent in the demo and 37.6 percent overall.
344
345The fast nationals had the first hour at 2,701,000 viewers and the second at 2,500,000 viewers. That would average slightly higher, because there were markets that preempted Smackdown on FOX for other programming and fast nationals measure the network affiliates in the major markets in the time slot while final ratings measure the show itself.
346
347The show did a 2.0 in New York, 1.0 in Los Angeles, 1.9 in Chicago, 1.7 in Philadelphia, 2.3 in Dallas, 0.8 in San Francisco, 1.8 in DC, 1.7 in Houston and 2.7 in Atlanta.
348
349There really weren’t a lot of major variations. The audience had its ups and downs, more downs, but no giant shifts. The second part of the Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Rhea Ripley match and post-match brawl lost 0.6 percent of viewers based on the top ten markets. Some promos and the set up of the Undisputed Era vs. New Day & Heavy Machinery bout lost 6.0 percent. The match itself lost 1.3 percent. The brawl after the eight-man, a Styles promo and the Bray Wyatt/Miz promo segment gained 3.2 percent. Bryan vs. Miz and the Wyatt stuff after gained 1.3 percent. The Shayna Baszler/Bayley angle lost 1.9 percent. And the Roman Reigns & Shorty G & Ali vs. King Corbin & Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode match and the three-way brawl at the end with all three brands and the DX tank reprise gained 1.3 percent.
350
351RESULTS
352
353 
354
35511/25 Chicago Allstate Arena (WWE Raw/Main Event TV tapings - 7,200): Natalya b Sarah Logan, No Way Jose b Eric Young, Bobby Lashley b Titus O’Neil-DQ, Andrade b Akira Tozawa, Buddy Murphy b Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio won four-way over Drew McIntyre, Ricochet and Randy Orton, U.S. title: Rey Mysterio b A.J. Styles to win title, Asuka b Charlotte Flair, Erick Rowan b Kyle Roberts, Seth Rollins NC Kevin Owens, Cage match for Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Drew McIntyre
356
35711/27 Chicago Sears Center (AEW TV tapings - 6,100): Jimmy Havoc b Brandon Cutler, Chuck Taylor & Trent b Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix, Bea Priestley & Emi Sakura b Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander, Cody b Matt Knicks, Kenny Omega b Pac, MJF b Adam Page, AEW title: Chris Jericho b Scorpio Sky, Shawn Spears b Sonny Kiss, Santana & Ortiz b Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt
358
35911/27 Winter Park, FL (WWE NXT - 400 sellout): Raul Mendoza b Arturo Ruas, Santana Garrett b Deonna Purrazzo, Tag titles: Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong b Keith Lee & Dominic Dijakovic, Mansoor b Shane Thorne, Candice LeRae b Dakota Kai-DQ, Cruiserweight title: Lio Rush b Akira Tozawa, Xia Li b Vanessa Borne, Finn Balor b Tommaso Ciampa
360
36111/27 Hamamatsu (New Japan - 1,320): Shingo Takagi & El Terrible b Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer b Hiroyoshi Tenzan& Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson & David Finlay b Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi b Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma, Jay White & Gedo b Tetsuya Naito & Bushi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa b Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens, Colt Cabana & Toru Yano b Evil & Sanada
362
36311/27 Oro (All Japan - 315): Koji Iwamoto won three-way over Atsushi Maruyama and Dan Tamura, Takao Omori & Hikaru Sato b Jun Akiyama & Atsuki Aoyagi, Zeus & Joe Doering & Jun Akiyama b Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman & Black Menso-re, Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa & Yusuke Okada b Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura & Hokuto Omori, Parrow & Odinson b Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta, Tajiri & Kai b Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi
364
365CMLL: The CMLL welterweight title, which Dragon Lee held when he was fired, will be decided with a two-week tournament on 12/1 and 12/8. There will be an eight-man elimination match on 12/1, and the last two guys left will have a 2/3 fall match for the title the next week. Soberano Jr., Star Jr., Drone and Fuego were all announced
366
367The longstanding feud with this promotion and El Hijo del Santo may be settling. Santo said on +Lucha TV that he would be open to returning, and there was talk that before his death, that Santo and Paco Alonso had talked but that with Alonso’s death, the chances are lower that it will happen
368
369Mano Negra, who is 68 and works a few times a year, said that his appearance on the 12/7 legends show will be his last match ever at Arena Mexico
370
371Ultimo Guerrero retained the CMLL heavyweight title over Valiente on 11/25 in Puebla
372
373The 11/22 show at Arena Mexico was headlined by Ultimo Guerrero & Negro Casas & Gran Guerrero over Mistico & Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. in two straight falls with Casas beating Soberano to take the deciding fall to set up a third Soberano Jr. Mexican national welterweight title defense against Casas on 11/29. They were down to 5,000 fans this week. The Dinamitas of Sanson & Forastero Cuatrero beat Titan & Valiente & Stuka Jr. and Audaz & Kraneo & Star Jr. beat Hechicero & Rey Bucanero & Templario. . Also on 11/29 besides the Soberano title defense, is tecnico Caristico teaming with rudos Felino & Ultimo Guerrero against tecnicos Angel de Oro (who fans are really into booing) & Volador Jr. and rudo Cavernario, and the Dinamitas against Mistico & Titan & Valiente
374
375The annual CMLL bodybuilding contest took place on 11/26. In the beginners category, Titan won with Johnny Dinamo second and Angelito third. Dalys won the women’s division, as she has for the fifth straight year, even more impressive given she about 50 years old, with Lluvia second and Avispa Dorada third. Fugaz won the intermediate division with Crixus second and Olimpico third. Angel de Amor won the advanced division with Sangre Imperial second and Esfinge third.
376
377AAA: There was a news report this past week saying La Parka was back in intensive care due to a bacterial infection. There have also been reports Parka suffered a heart attack at one point. AAA has denied all this saying that he is in stable condition
378
379The last major show of the year, Guerra de Titanes, takes place on 12/14 in Ciudad Madero. The lineup opens with Aramis (who got over huge and is now a PWG regular) & Dinastia & Octagoncito vs. Arez & Mini Psycho Clown & Parkita Negra, Mascarita Dorada & Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburguesa vs. Demus & Latigo & Villano III Jr., a lumberjack match with Octagon Jr. & Faby Apache & Taya Valkyrie vs. Mocho Cota Jr. & Carta Brava Jr.& Tito Santana vs. Abismo Negro Jr. & Ayako Hamada & Keyra, Brian Cage & Murder Clown & Pagano & Puma King vs. Chessman & Killer Kross & Black Taurus & El Texano Jr., Pentagon Jr. & Fenix defend the AAA tag titles in a three-way against Angelico & Australian Suicide and El Hijo del Vikingo and a mystery partner, Big Mami vs. Lady Maravilla in a hair vs. hair match and Dr. Wagner Jr. & Drago & Psycho Clown vs. Blue Demon Jr. & Bestia del Ring & Rush. This is Angelico’s first show back in two years
380
381The 12/1 baseball stadium show in Monterrey which includes Kenny Omega vs. Dragon Lee for the AAA Mega championship, has 7,000 tickets out right now. For Mexico, that’s a very healthy advance. But now they have a problem with two major soccer games head-to-head in Monterrey, one of which is right next door. The reason the show isn’t available is because Multimedios, the local television station, is behind the show and they will be airing it on 12/15
382
383Super Crazy is being advertised for 11/30 in Veracruz but we’re told he’s not going to be there
384
385Myzteziz, who has been out of action because he and Laredo Kid have been on a popular reality show, Extalon, may have been voted off the show since he’s announced for the 11/30 tapings in Veracruz
386
387Pentagon & Fenix are still taking new dates in Mexico, just not with Crash.
388
389THE CRASH: Bandido won the heavyweight title in a three-way over champion Rey Horus and newcomer Marty Scurll on the 11/23 show in Tijuana. The match was said to be good. The show drew 3,000 fans. Bandido winning the title would indicate, if booking was logical, that he wouldn’t be going to WWE when his contract is up at the end of the year. Bandido is hardly taking it easy since he came back from his knee injury. He worked a show at a children’s birthday party on 11/22 in Monterrey, did three matches on 11/24 in winning a tournament, and then works Thursday through Sunday this week including the big AAA shows in Veracruz and Monterrey. Penta 0M & Rey Fenix did their farewells to The Crash and beat Jack Evans & Angelico. That seems to indicate they are going to be exclusive in Mexico with AAA. We were told that was the case as of mid-December. Bestia 666 beat Jimmy Havoc in the other top match on the show. This show did not draw particularly well but we didn’t get a number.
390
391DRAGON GATE: An update on Final Gate, the company’s 12/15 show from the Fukuoka International Center Arena. This show will air on their streaming service live with English commentary. The show at this pont has Ben K vs. Naruki Doi for the Open the Dream Gate title in the Ben K story of beating all the previous multiple time champions. The Open the Twin Gate title match has Eita & Big R Shimizu defending against Yamato & BxB Hulk. The Open the Triangle Gate title match has the Strong Machines defending in a three-team match against Hyo & Takashi Yoshida & Diamante of R.E.D. and Kzy & Genki Horiguchi & Susumu Yokosuka of Natural Vibes. Also announced is a special appearance by Naomichi Marufuji, who will face Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa in a comedy match
392
393I guess this wouldn’t be counted as the end of the winning streak, but the Strong Machines had a no contest on 11/26 at Kobe Sambo Hall in a match with Masaaki Mochizuki & Ryo Saito & Yasushi Kanada due to outside interference
394
395There will also be English commentary with Lenny Leonard and Larry Dallas on 12/18 for Fan Appreciation Night at Korakuen Hall. The Dragon Gate Network airs live shows on 11/29, 11/30 and 12/1 from Sapporo, with the first two shows at 3:45 a.m. and the third show at 10:45 p.m. Eastern and 7:45 p.m Pacific so it’s a rare show in a good U.S. slot late Sunday night. The story is R.E.D. of Eita & Shimizu & Hyo will headlined all three nights. They face MaxiMum of Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi & Dragon Kid the first night. They face Toryumon of Ultimo Dragon & Ryo Saito & Yasushi Kanda the second night. And they face Tribe Vanguard of Yamato & Hulk & Yosuke Santa Maria the third night
396
39712/4 at Korakuen Hall, also live with a 4:15 a.m. start, has Ultimo Dragon vs. Eita where if Dragon loses, he must leave Dragon Gate, a non-title battle of tag partners with Ben K vs. Shun Skywalker and Yoshino & Doi & Kaito Ishida vs. Shimizu & Yoshida & Hyo.
398
399ALL JAPAN: As of 11/29, the standings in the tag team tournament are: 1. Jun Akiyama & Joe Doering and Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa 4-1; 3. Parrow & Odinson 4-3; 4. Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta 3-2; 5. Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura 3-3; 6. Tajiri & Kai and Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi 2-3; 8. Zeus & Ryoji Sai 2-4; 9. Daisuke Sekimoto & The Bodyguard and, Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman 1-3
400
40111/23 in Hiroshima before 323 fans saw Doering & Akiyama beat Yoshitatsu & Redman in 9:22 when Doering pinned Yoshitatsu with a Revolution power bomb. Yoshida & Valletta beat Zeus & Sai in 15:23 when Yoshida pinned Sai after the pineapple bomber
402
40311/24 in Takamatsu saw Lee & Nomura beat Yoshida & Valletta in 12:04 when Lee pinned Valletta with a back suplex and Doering & Akiyama beat Zeus & Sai in 16:37 when Doering pinned Sai with a revolution power bomb
404
40511/26 in Fukuoka before 542 fans saw Yoshitatsu & Redman get their first win over Lee & Nomura in 10:53 when Redman pinned Lee with a cradle, and Miyahara & Aoyagi beat Zeus & Sai in 23:31 when Miyahara pinned Zeus after the shutdown German suplex
406
40711/27 in Oro before 315 fans saw Parrow & Odinson beat Yoshida & Valletta in 11:22 with a double F-5 on Valletta. Tajiri & Kai beat Miyahara & Aoyagi in 18:09 when Kai pinned Aoyagi after a meteor impact
408
40911/28 in Shunan before 415 fans, Yoshida & Valletta beat Tajiri & Kai in 7:48 when Valletta beat Kai and Suwama & Ishikawa beat Lee & Nomura in 24:44 when Suwama pinned Nomura with a last ride power bomb.
410
411PRO WRESTLING NOAH: The biggest show of the week was 11/26 in Niigata before 1,020 fans. The show was built around the 15th anniversary of the pro debuts of both Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Shiozaki, now 37, had his actual pro debut on July 24, 2004. Nakajima, 31, actually was an accomplished karate competitor who was recruited into pro wrestling at the age of 14 by Riki Choshu. He was 15 when he made his MMA debut in 2003 with a 1:35 knockout on a card promoted by Kensuke Sasaki. Whether that was legit or not, we don’t know, but there was plenty of speculation about it at the time since there was so much hype on him and everyone thought it was weird that he was doing an MMA fight that young on a show put together by pro wrestlers. His pro wrestling debut was January 5, 2004. In the main event, Shiozaki & Nakajima & Hitoshi Kumano beat GHC champion Kaito Kiyomiya & Naomichi Marufuji & Masao Inoue in 23:01 when Shiozaki pinned Inoue after a short lariat. Takashi Sugiura retained his National heavyweight title over Shuhei Taniguchi in 23:59 with an Olympic slam. Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Kotoge won the GHC jr. tag titles over Tadasuke & Daisuke Harada in 20:01 when Kotoge pinned Tadasuke with killswitch.
412
413NEW JAPAN: TV-Asahi Ch. 2 in Japan is promoting a 30 years of Liger celebration with Liger taking over the station for a 24 hour marathon on 12/30 and 12/31. That would be the equivalent of an NBC or ABC in the U.S. doing a 24 hour marathon building up the retirement of a wrestler
414
415The company announced its schedule through early March. If there is a key thing, it is that they have major plans for early February big shows, and there is no Honor Rising tour this year, which is more a confirmation of relations with that company not being what they once were. After the two Tokyo Dome shows on 1/4 and 1/5 and New Year’s Dash on 1/6 at the Ota Ward Gym, will be the Fantastica Mania tour will be 1/10 to 1/20. The shows are 1/10 in Osaka, 1/11 in Ehime, 1/12 in Kyoto, 1/13 in Nagoya, and then four dates, 1/16, 1/17, 1/19 and 1/20 in Korakuen Hall. In February, the three New Beginning shows are 2/1 and 2/2 in Sapporo at the Hokkaido Prefectural Gym, and 2/9 at Osaka Jo Hall. That’s a big one as usually they only run Jo Hall for Dominion and run the Edion Arena for the other big Osaka events during the year. To run Jo Hall, they will need a major main event and deep show one would think. They are running the Tiger Hattori Retirement show on 2/19 at Korakuen Hall, as the first of three straight nights in the building. Those were the ROH Honor Rising dates in recent year. The 48th anniversary show will be 3/3 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo, as it always is since that’s the gym the first New Japan card ever was held in 1972
416
417The tag team tournament standings as of 11/28: 1. Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi 7-1 and Evil & Sanada 7-1; 3. Juice Robinson & David Finlay and Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa 6-2; 5. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano and Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer 6-3; 7. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls and Shingo Takagi & El Terrible 5-5; 9. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi 4-4; 10. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima 4-4; 11. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens 3-5; 12. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi 3-6; 13. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 3-7; 14. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks 2-6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare 2-7; 16. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi 1-9. Even though he’s lost no falls, and probably will lose no falls, something about Tanahashi being in 15th place in a 16 team tournament under any circumstances doesn’t feel right. Especially because Henare is the most underrated guy on the roster. Sabre & Taichi are both also faring worse tan expected
418
419There is only one live show this week on New Japan World, a 4:30 a.m. Eastern time show from Korakuen Hall with Goto & Fredericks vs. Cobb & Nicholls, Nagata & Nakanishi vs. Yano & Cabana, Kojima & Tenzan vs. Sabre Jr. & Taichi, Robinson & Finlay vs. Fale & Owens, Kazuchika Okada & Sho & Yoh vs. Kota Ibushi & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura, Makabe & Honma vs. Tonga & Loa and Evil & Sanada vs. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi. It will only be broadcast in Japanese. The following week has the final three nights of the tournament which will be in English on 12/5 in Fukuoka at 4:30 a.m. Eastern, 12/6 in Kumamoto at 5 a.m. Eastern, and the final night is 12/8 in Hiroshima at 3 a.m. Eastern. Basically it’s a couple of hours after UFC ends on Saturday night. There is no final match as 12/8 has a full card of tournament matches and whoever ends up with the highest point total wins. Although I’m sure with the booking, that the last match of the show will be the championship match
420
421In tournament matches this past week: 11/23 in Kawasaki before 1,833 fans saw Cobb & Nicholls over Tenzan & Kojima in 9:56 when Nicholls pinned Kojima after a power bomb. Evil & Sanada beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 10:31 when Evil pinned Nakanishi after the magic killer. Makabe & Honma beat Cabana & Yano in 8:12 when Makabe pinned Cabana after a King Kong kneedrop. KENTA & Takahashi beat Sabre Jr. & Taichi in 11:10 when KENTA cradled Taichi. Robinson & Finlay beat Takagi & Terrible in 8:07 when Finlay pined Terrible with an amateur Granby roll. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Tanahashi & Henare in 12:48 when Yoshi-Hashi beat Henare with Karma. Main event saw Tonga & Loa over Suzuki & Archer in 14:31 when Tonga pinned Suzuki after a stun gun.. . 11/24 in Nagoya drew 3,536 fans to Dolphins Arena, which isn’t particularly great for the building but the tag tournament with normal matches isn’t going to do big numbers. Suzuki & Archer beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 9:47 when Archer pinned Nakanishi with the claw. It should be noted how Gedo is looking at things when with the Suzuki/Archer team, it’s Suzuki losing the falls when they have to most of the time, while Archer is the one taking the falls. Fale & Owens beat Makabe & Honma in 9:45 when Owens pinned Honma after a package piledriver. Cabana & Yano beat Tanahashi & Henare in 10:08 when Cabana pinned Henare with a Superman press. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Tenzan & Kojima in 11:08 when Ishii pinned Tenzan after a brainbuster. Takagi & Terrible beat KENTA & Takahashi in 10:14 when Takagi pinned Takahashi with Last of the dragon. Cobb & Nicholls beat Sabre & Taichi in 11:51 when Cobb pinned Taichi with the tour of the islands. Evil & Sanada beat Tonga & Loa in 13:40 when Evil beat Tonga with the scorpion deathlock
422
42311/25 in Komatsu before 2,168 fans saw Tenzan & Kojima beat Yano & Cabana in 9:08 when Kojima pinned Cabana after a lariat. Robinson & Finlay beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 9:18 when Robinson pinned Nakanishi with pulp friction. Cobb & Nicholls beat Tanahashi & Henare in 10:15 when Nicholls pinned Henare after a power bomb. Suzuki & Archer beat Takagi & Terrible in 11:12 when Archer pinned Terrible using the claw. Tonga & Loa beat Goto & Fredericks in 8:22 when Tonga pinned Goto with the gun stun. That’s a big surprise since Fredericks would be the guy on the team to drop the falls. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Makabe & Honma in 12:56 when Ishii beat Honma with the butterfly lock. Evil & Sanada beat KENTA & Takahashi in 12:20 when Evil pinned Takahashi after the magic killer
424
42511/27 in Hamamatsu before 1,320 fans saw Takagi & Terrible beat Goto & Fredericks in 10:39 when Terrible pinned Fredericks with a flying body press. Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 10:01 when Yoshi-Hashi beat Nakanishi with the butterfly lock. Suzuki & Archer beat Tenzan & Kojima in 12:10 when Archer pinned Kojima using the claw. Robinson & Finlay beat Cobb & Nicholls in 9:38 when Robinson pinned Nicholls with pulp friction. Sabre Jr. & Taichi beat Makabe & Honma in 10:23 when Taichi pinned Honma with Black Mephisto. Tonga & Loa beat Fale & Owens in the battle of Bullet Club 10:07 when Loa pinned Owens. Main event saw Cabana & Yano, a team you would never think would win a main event match in New Japan, beat Evil & Sanada in 13:22 when Cabana pinned Sanada with the Superman press. I wonder if Cabana had to slap himself to take up from this weird dream when he got that finish
426
42711/28 at Korakuen Hall before 1,606 fans, which would be just shy of a sellout, saw Yano & Cabana beat Goto & Fredericks in 8:08 when Cabana pinned Fredericks with a Superman press. Fale & Owens beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 8:10 when Fale pinned Nakanishi with a schoolboy. KENTA & Takahashi beat Tenzan & Kojima in 11:32 when KENTA made Kojima submit to Game Over (LeBell lock). Suzuki & Archer beat Makabe & Honma in 12:27 when Archer Honma with the claw. Takagi & Terrible beat Tanahashi & Henare in 13:04 when Takagi pinned Henare with Last of the Dragon. Tonga & Loa beat Cobb & Nicholls in 14:47 when Loa pinned Nicholls. Evil & Sanada beat Sabre & Taichi in 17:52 when Sanada pinned Sabre after a moonsault. That should lead to a British title match with Sabre vs. Sanada either at the Tokyo Dome or with Revolution Pro.
428
429OTHER JAPAN NOTES: A press conference was held regarding Bushiroad taking over Stardom which becomes official on 12/1. The new chain of command will be Takaaki Kidani, as the head of Bushiroad, then Hirada, the head of Kicksroad, which is the overseeing company of Stardom (as noted before, they are putting Stardom with the same company as their kickboxing company and separate from their larger New Japan Pro Wrestling company), and then Rossy Ogawa as CEO of Stardom. Milano Collection A.T., a former wrestler who is the television announcer for New Japan, will be the new head coach and trainer of the women wrestlers. They will have television on BS NTV. That is the satellite station of the NTV network. The network had been the home of pro wrestling in Japan dating back from Rikidozan in 1954 through the JWA, All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH until a financial crisis caused them to cut NOAH, which has left the company struggling ever since. Starting on Jan. 2, they will have a 30 minute show on Thursday nights at 11:30 p.m. and that show will be replayed on Tokyo MX on Sundays at 1:35 a.m. The show will consist of edited highlights of the top matches from the week and some interview segments. There will be a big push for recruiting new talent using the name “Stardom Cinderella Audition 2020,” looking for potential new talent between the ages of 15 and 30. Japan has a very different type of rules for this type of thing. WWE, or a U.S. group, would never recruit someone under the age of 18 for a multitude of reasons while a lot of the best woman wrestlers in history in Japan were recruited at 15 and left high school early. They are also pushing a new Stardom Fan Club and will be pushing hard to get more social media followers. Stage one of the new plans is directed at building the Japanese market. Even though Stardom World, the streaming service, has more subscribers outside of Japan, step one is the home market and not worrying about international business yet, and we’re told, probably not for a long time. They also did contract signings for the two main events on the 12/24 Korakuen Hall show, which are Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu for the World of Stardom title and Arisa Hoshiki vs. Konami for the Wonder of Stardom title, plus there will be a singles match with Hana Kimura vs. Giulia. Kidani will appear live ad speak to the crowd at that show. We’re told the higher-ups want to focus on Kimura, Hoshiki, Utami Hayashishita, Iwatani and Tam Nakano to market the company, and not so much on Momo Watanabe, Jungle Kyona and Kagetsu. Ogawa will be running the wrestling direction and booking, but Bushiroad, as owners, will have a lot of influence on his direction
430
431Hazuki, also known at times as HZM, 22, announced at the 11/24 Stardom show that she will retire from pro wrestling with her final match on 12/24, facing Natsuko Tora. She was one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion. According to those in the company, she made the decision earlier in the year that she wanted to live a normal life. She said that wrestling (in a pre-show match) in April in Madison Square Garden fulfilled her dreams and that played a part in her decision. She is healthy and had no issues with the company. She wanted wrestling to be a phase in her life and she is happy with what she did and is ready to move on. In the main event of that show, Goddesses of Stardom tag champs Jungle Kyona & Konami beat Arisa Hoshiki & Tam Nakano when Konami used the triangle submission on Nakano. Konami then issued a challenge to Hoshiki for her Wonder of Stardom title which will headline 12/24. On the 11/23 show, which included AEW wrestlers Bea Priestley, Jamie Hayter and Riho, Momo Watanabe & AZM & Utami Hayashishita won the Artist of Stardom trios titles from Kagetsu & Natsu Sumire & Andras Miyagi. Miyagi turned on Kagetsu and Sumire and AZM submitted Sumire after Miyagi had beaten her down
432
433DDT ran Korakuen Hall on 11/24 before 1,214 fans with Harashima retaining the KO-D title over Yuki Iino in 16:51 with the Somato. Iino got the push now as a former rugby star because of how big the Rugby World Cup has been in Japan. Iino was compared to Otis or Ishii although not in the same universe as Ishii in the ring. Said to be a **** match. There’s been no new talk of Harashima vs. Kenny Omega since they did their in-ring tease a few weeks ago. Daisuke Sasaki & Soma Takao kept the tag team titles over Masahiro Takanishi & Chris Brookes in 13:43 in what was said to be a ***½ match with no comedy. The other major match was a comedy bout with Antonio Honda & Miyu Yamashita facing Jiro Kuroshio & Konosuke Takeshita. It was pretty much all comedy including a point when Honda & Yamashita went to do a tope and both went down like their knee gave out. That’s a standard Honda spot he does almost every night but was new for Yamashita, a woman wrestler
434
435OWE, which is the group with the Stronghearts from AEW that is now based in Cambodia after leaving China, ran on 11/24 in Fukuoka before a sellout of 520 fans. The show was mostly the Chinese wrestlers they trained, Cima, T-Hawk & Lindaman as well as Alex Zayne, who is the guy who is a super athlete that got over huge over BOLA weekend for PWG. They also sold out Shinjuku Face in Tokyo on 11/28
436
437Big Japan ran Korakuen Hall on 11/26 before 980 fans with the semifinals and finals of their annual tag team tournament. The Strong style finals, which is basically the division with straight hard hitting wrestling, saw Yuji Okabayashi & Shigehiro Irie beat Daichi Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani in 10:32 when Okabayashi pinned Hashimoto after a splash. The death match division, which is weapons style wrestling, had a fluorescent light tubes and thumbtacks death match where Rickey Shane Page & Ryuji Ito beat Masashi Takeda & Takumi Tsukamoto in 12:45 when Page beat Tsukamoto with a choke backbreaker into light tubes and thumbtacks. In the finals, conducted under death match rules, Okabayashi & Irie beat Page & Ito in 16:19 when Okabayashi pinned Page after a lariat.
438
439HERE AND THERE: The NWA announced the lineup for their Into the Fire PPV show on 12/14 from Center Stage in Atlanta. The show will start at 6:05 p.m. Eastern, so part of the idea is that the show will be over before the UFC PPV starts at 10 p.m. that night. It’s a very busy weekend with ROH having a PPV the night before and WWE the night after. Nick Aldis vs. James Storm in a two out of three fall match for the NWA title is the main event. Ashley Vox & Allisyn Kay will face two members of a trio of Melina, Thunder Rosa and Marti Belle. Fans will get to vote on which two are in the match. Colt Cabana will defend the National title but his opponent wasn’t named, plus Eli Drake vs. Ken Anderson and Question Mark vs. Trevor Murdoch
440
441The documentary on the life of Bruno Sammartino opens on 11/29 in New York and Los Angeles. It will have a one week release through 12/5 at Cinema Village in New York City and at the Monica Film Center in Los Angeles. There are plans for a larger release later as they wanted something before the end of the year for possible Oscar considerations. The trailer heavily focused on Arnold Schwarzenegger comments, but did feature WWWF footage so they were able to work out a deal with the company. It also heavily talked about his childhood, the situation with his mother and nearly dying while in the mountains in World War II. I’ve only seen one review of the movie, from the Los Angeles Times, from a critic who clearly was familiar with Sammartino and he labeled it a disappointment. Larry Rickert, a Pittsburgh media personality who was friends with Sammartino was one of the key people involved with the movie. I believe some of the stuff in the movie, largely based on Sammartino’s love for his mother, aired a few years ago on Pittsburgh television
442
443The annual WrestleCade weekend in Winston-Salem, NC takes place 11/29 to 12/1. Listed as headliners for appearances are Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, Iron Sheik, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, The Dudleys, Great Muta, Sid Vicious, Arn Anderson, Lilian Garcia and Melina
444
445After getting his WWE release last week, Albert Hardie Jr., back as ACH, did his first match since leaving NXT. He wrestled in San Antonio, where he s from, on 11/22 for Heavy Metal Wrestling. He put over Chandler Hopkins in the main event. After the match, he said the show was like a dream he was trying to piece together. He said he hoped he would wake up tomorrow happy, told the crowd that life is short and you have to live every day like it’s your last. He said the fans were there because they love pro wrestling and Texas. Fans brought him a Texas flag and a crown because his nickname on area indies is the King of Texas
446
447Pat O’Connor, a former NWA world heavyweight champion who was generally considered one of the best workers of the 50s and 60s, after a strong amateur wrestling career, was voted into the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame in New Zealand, where he was from. O’Connor held the NWA title from 1959, when he beat Dick Hutton, before losing to Buddy Rogers on June 30, 1961, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rogers-O’Connor was one of the biggest matches in pro wrestling history. It set a gate record that held up until the 1971 Fred Blassie vs. John Tolos match. Some say the Blassie-Tolos gate claim was exaggerated and the record held up longer. It was claimed to be a U.S. attendance record of 38,161 fans although there is a claim that in the 30s Danno O’Mahoney drew a bigger crowd in Boston. The actual legitimate attendance record held up until the 1987 Hogan-Andre match for the U.S, and the 1986 Hogan-Orndorff match in Toronto for North America. O’Connor was a two-time national amateur champion, winning in 1949 and 1950, as a heavyweight in New Zealand and won a silver medal as a heavyweight in the 1950 British Empire games. He turned professional rather than wait for the 1952 Olympics. He was then trained by former NCAA champion Butch Levy and went into pro wrestling in 1950 and quickly became a major star. O’Connor was generally considered the best babyface style worker of the era. He was also Sam Muchnick’s booker in St. Louis from the late 60s until the early 80s, working with Larry Matysik the last few years and always protected as a significant star until his retirement in those days when there were so few ex-NWA world champions that having that status basically meant you were considered a legendary figure by fans. His technical style was way ahead of its time and he’s one of the few guys from that era who could be transported to today and his in-ring would fit in with little adaptation. He had ownership in both the Central States territory and St. Louis. He wrestled through 1982, retiring from the ring on Sam Muchnick’s final show with a big ceremony on January 1, 1982. He did a tour of Japan for his Japanese farewell, and wrestled a number of matches in the Central States through the rest of that year. His final match was a WWF Legends Battle Royal in 1987 at the Meadowlands, which, to show the respect they had, it came down to O’Connor and Lou Thesz, with Thesz winning. O’Connor died from cancer in 1990 at the age of 65
448
449It has now been one year since Cuervo was hit in the head with brick thrown by Angel o Demonio in an infamous incident. Cuervo said that he still can’t remember parts of that match and said that he needed CPR three times that night before he stabilized. He has not been able to return to the ring and is suffering from panic attacks, depression and anxiety. There is talk he will be returning to the ring some time soon. He was supposed to return last week in Puerto Rico but the show ended up being canceled. There are teases he will be back in the ring very soon for the IWRG promotion in Mexico, perhaps on 12/1. There is the obvious question that if he comes back will he do a program with the guy who easily could have killed him. The answer is likely up to him because there’s no doubt promoters would be open for it, even though there is a very ugly side to the idea of it
450
451Brian “No Neck” Keck, who was one of the best heavyweight amateur wrestlers in the U.S. and briefly did both MMA and pro wrestling, passed away this past week. Details are limited but his family confirmed the story. Keck, who was working as a wrestling coach of the Alliance MMA team in San Diego, went to Mexico to attend a soccer game and died in that country. He would have been in his late 40s. Keck placed multiple times in the U.S. nationals in freestyle wrestling, including in 2001, when he was under contract to WWF. He was based in Louisville and training at Ohio Valley Wrestling. They had some strong legit wrestlers there at the time like Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin and Ron Waterman. Those guys did legit training with each other, as Waterman once told me that the only guy he ever wrestled who he simply could not stop his takedowns was Lesnar. Keck got enough training to where he left Louisville for a weekend and, with no knowledge of the company, went to nationals, where he placed top eight. WWE had no knowledge of it until the results came out that he had placed and were not happy about it. He was one of the first top level U.S. wrestlers in his prime to try MMA in 1997, with guys like Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Tom Erikson. He only had one fight, in Brazil, losing to Pedro Otavio, one of the top Vale Tudo fighters in Brazil of that era, finally submitting after nearly 20 minutes. In 2001, he signed with WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He ended up being cut shortly after he went to nationals. In 2003, he won a gold medal in the Pan American Games. At one point he was the head wrestling coach at Xtreme Couture when Bryan Danielson lived in Las Vegas and trained there and the two trained together some
452
453Regarding the mention of C.M. Punk’s movie and the Roger Ebert grade, a clarification is that obviously it was the Roger Ebert site review and not a review by Ebert himself, which would be impossible since Ebert passed away
454
455Hugo Savinovich ran a show called “Fight Forever: A Tribute to Bret Hart,” in Guaynabo, PR, on 1/23 under the Wrestling Superstars banner. The main event saw Rob Van Dam beat Mil Muertes in a falls count anywhere match. It’s interesting that Ricky Banderas, who was a huge star for seemingly decades in Puerto Rico, was being used under a mask with his Lucha Underground gimmick. Blue Demon Jr. beat L.A. Park when Rush interfered and cost Park the match by throwing the same box full of crystal bottles at him that Park had thrown at Rush in the previous match. Demon put Park in a submission. The prior bout was Rush beating Mecha Wolf 450 via DQ when Park threw a box full of crystal bottles at him. Katie Forbes of Impact beat Kamille Brickhouse of the NWA, the second of Nick Aldis. Ken Anderson beat Mr. Aguila, the former Essa Rios. Hart was involved in an in-ring segment. Killer Kross beat Brian Cage via DQ when Melissa Santos interfered and hit Kross with a low blow. Savinovich interviewed Bret Hart during the show and Hart talked about his early days wrestling in Puerto Rico and thanked the fans. Teddy Hart went to a double count out with Chicano. They announced a return date on November 21, 2020, which is an incredible amount of lead time to announce for a next show
456
457The WWC ran Noches de Cameones at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in Bayamon the same night. Ray Gonzalez, 47, who along with Carlito were the two biggest stars of the post-Carlos Colon and Invader era of the promotion, lost a retirement match when guest referee Peter John Ramos turned on Gonzalez and gave him a choke slam and he was pinned by Gilbert. Ramos is a 7-foot-2 former basketball player that the WWE had interest in at one point. Gonzalez has rarely wrestled and this may have been in first match in a year. Chicano worked both shows since they weren’t far apart. The main event was a three-way bout with Orlando (Epico), Primo and Carlito against each other for the Universal title. Orlando retained and Primo turned heel after the match. He gave both his brother Carlito and cousin and longtime tag partner low blows and La Pesadilla came out and the two beat down Carlito and Orlando with chair shot. Pesadilla unmasked as Gilbert. Ricky Banderas then cleaned house with chair shots. This was before Banderas went to the other show to work under the mask as Muertes
458
459Mick Foley raised another $4,100 to get Jessica Kresa (ODB) a new food truck from merchandise sales at five of his recent talk shows
460
461Gable Steveson, the University of Minnesota heavyweight who Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar have been eyeing since high school, is still suspended by school because of an investigation of criminal sexual assault. He was listed at the start of the season as the No. 2 heavyweight . Steveson and teammate Dylan Martinez haven’t been charged but the school has a rule that any athlete charged with or under investigation for criminal investigations are suspended either until the case is resolved or unless the Athletic Director makes a ruling to lift the suspension. Steveson is also trying to make the Olympic team next year and there’s no word on how the case may affect if he will be allowed to do so or not
462
463Northeast Wrestling promoter Michael Lombardi and the former Enzo Amore co-promoted an 11/23 show in Hollywood, CA at the World Famous Comedy store. It sold out with a main event of Pentagon Jr. & Fenix over Darby Allin & Matt Sydal. Enzo beat Brian Pillman Jr. Luchasaurus beat Jervis Cottonbelly. Priscilla Kelly beat Joey Ryan. David Arquette beat Bull James, who came dressed up like the Shockmaster of WCW fame. Royce Isaacs of NWA & Jorel Nelson beat Erik Watts & Peter Avalon. Josh Barnett also worked the show.
464
465EUROPE: Revolution Pro Wrestling ran the British J Cup on 11/24 at York Hall in London. They had a good crowd but it wasn’t sold out. Several weeks back they had 750 tickets sold but it likely ended up less than 1,000. In the first round, El Phantasmo beat Senza Volto with a low blow after distraction from Hikuleo. Good opener, with lots of rope walking and counters. Volto was off with positioning and timing at times but he won the crowd over. After the match, Shota Umino attacked Hikuleo. Umino grew his hair out somewhat like Tanahashi. Robbie Eagles beat Cavernario Barbaro. The crowd didn’t know Cavernario but he won them ver. He did the splash off the top rope to the floor. There was a brutal thud on landing. Eagles won with via submission with the Ron Miller special. Fans chanted “Please come back” at Cavernario. Michael Oku beat Rocky Romero after a shock cradle. Romero sold the loss like total shock. The crowd by the end was going crazy for Oku, who is local. Pac beat Amazing Red with the black arrow to the back and brutalizer. Pac got a lot of heat by teasing moves people wanted to see and not doing them. Red did a top rope Code red but Pac landed on his feet. The crowd went crazy for Red when it was over. In a non-tourney match, Ren Narita beat Branden White with a cloverleaf. Not much heat but solidly worked Young Lions match. Next was a tag team title match where champions Rampage Brown & Great O’Kharn beat Southside Wrestling tag team champions Speedball Mike Bailey & Mao when Brown pinned Mao. RevPro took over Southside, which was about to close down. So they had the two sets of champs battle to unify the belts. Bonesaw & Corvin, the Kings of the North, Kurtis Chapman came out and challenged Minoru Suzuki to a match on 12/15. Gisele Shaw beat the debuting Tessa Blanchard via submission with a bridging disarm her. The crowd was shocked, as everyone expected Blanchard to win and nobody believed the finish was coming when it did. Blanchard had the longest lines at the Q&A before the show. The finals was a four-way elimination match with Oku winning over Phantasmo, Eagles and Pac in more than 20:00. Pac and Phantasmo did a great rope walking spot. Phantasmo put Pac on his shoulders and continued to walk the ropes with Pac still on his shoulders. While still doing so, he hit a Super Samoan drop as well as an arm drag on Oku as a combination move. Pac was DQ’d for hitting Oku with a chair shot. Phantasmo pinned Eagles with a kung fu punch to the groin and a roll-up after a ref bump. Oku recovered from the chair shot and made a comeback. They kicked out of all kinds of big moves until Oku did an Avalanche Canadian Destroyer, a running Canadian Destroyer and put him in a liontamer style half crab and got the submission. The crowd was chanting “tap, tap, tap,” at him. At the trophy presentation, Pac attacked Oku and threw the trophy out of the ring and this set up their singles match on 12/15, so this is where Pac not losing actually made sense to build the next show. We were told it was a fantastic show, with no super match you have to see but great pacing and matches that started with little heat ended up red hot by the end
466
467Joe D’Orazio, who was 97 years and 120 days on 11/24, became what was believed to be the oldest British pro wrestler in history. He is the oldest living pro wrestler. Gerry Hoggarth, who passed away in August, died at the age of 97 and 119 days. As best we can tell, the oldest person ever in the industry was Harry Elliott, the Seattle promoter, who was just shy of 102 when he passed away in 2006. Abe Coleman, who passed away in 2007, was the oldest wrestler that anyone has been able to find a record of, at more than 101 years old
468
469Progress ran the Electric Ballroom in London on 11/24 with Paul Robinson beating Timothy Thatcher to keep the Proteus title and tag champs Jordan Devlin & Scotty Davis beat Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch.
470
471MLW: After having a contract impasse, Court Bauer and Tom Lawlor came to terms on a new deal on 11/21 and he will remain one of the company’s signature stars going forward
472
473The next show is the Opera Club on 12/5. It’ll be an eight man single elimination tournament at the Melrose Ballroom, playing on the Opera Cup which was a New York traditional event in the early days of pro wrestling in the city, but that tradition ended in the 1940s. The first round matches are Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shinjiro Otani, MJF vs. Alex Hammerstone, Timothy Thatcher vs. Richard Holliday and TJP vs. Brian Pillman Jr. Also on the show is Jacob Fatu & Ikuro Kwon & Simon Gotch vs. Cima & Lindaman & Shigehiro Irie, Jimmy Havoc vs. Mance Warner in a blindfold match as well as The Von Erichs, Lawlor and King Mo Lawal.
474
475ROH: Marty Scurll will be working Final Battle even though his contract expires on 11/30. Scurll teams with Flip Gordon against Bandido & Flamita. Scurll had agreed to work the show no matter what. Right now there is nothing official on what he will be doing after Final Battle. Also added to the show is Dan Maff vs. Jeff Cobb
476
477They announced 2/28 in Nashville and 2/29 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO. They’ll have to cut way down in the latter arena since that’s a 10,400 seat arena
478
479Rush has been pushing for ROH to bring in his father, Bestia del Ring, and his friend, La Mascara.
480
481IMPACT: Tessa Blanchard is out of action with an eye injury suffered on the British J Cup show for Revolution Pro with Gisele Shaw. She was scheduled for the Thanksgiving weekend WrestleCade show in Winston-Salem, NC. She will still be appearing but not wrestling
482
483They did a comedy-based TV show this week withe the idea they were transporting back to 1983 doing small territory wrestling, something of a spoof on Stampede Wrestling. Don Callis wore this long blond wig and said his name was Sexton Hardcastle, which was Edge’s name before he became Edge. Tessa Blanchard, Allysin Kay and Jordynne Grace spoofed being the Four Horsemen. Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake spoofed being the Fabulous Ones.
484
485AEW: Kenny Omega was on Observer radio this past week and talked about a multitude of subjects. Regarding the match with Jon Moxley, he said that if he was to consider himself one of the best wrestlers in the world, he had to prove that doing many different styles. He went thorough that most of the spots, from the broken glass from the table he took the Paradigm shift on in an angle, to the mouse traps from a video, and the barbed wire bat and broom all came from things that had been done to promote the match and were part of the story. He said that other then the Phoenix splash on the boards, that he was basically fine other than some of the cuts in his hand were a pain after the match. He said he was given the indication the Phoenix splash wouldn’t be that much worse of a bump than doing it in the ring, but it was. I believe that’s where his black eye came from but said in the landing he smashed his face up and would never do that spot again. He said it would be a long time before he does a match like that again. He appreciated that a lot of fans liked it and called it one of the best matches of that style and also understood not everyone did. He said his main focus has been the women’s division and noted that right now as management he’s putting his own matches last and that he’s done matches of late that were pretty much called on the fly, which he called they go into the ring PWG style, because his main focus is everyone else’s matches and that takes up much of his time. He helps lay out all the women’s matches and often other matches as well, and also has a hand in creative. Even though he is doing far less matches he said the creative process is very mentally draining. He also noted that the company’s goal right now is to get new talent over. As I’ve noted, there are two schools of thought here. As far as booking for the live ticket paying audience, and from a traditional wrestling standpoint, because that was the money, the booking has been strong in the sense they are spending a lot of time giving exposure to new talent to build a foundation and The Young Bucks in particular have been putting people over constantly, with the idea they and Omega are already over to the people who are the existing fan base, and they are behind WWE but if you consider that in ROH when they had pretty much the basic crew besides Moxley and Chris Jericho, really a crowd of 1,500 was considered a good night so they are close to triple that every week. But for television, I believe the key at first should be that Jericho and Moxley were the only established current television stars. People know Dustin Rhodes but he hadn’t been pushed as a top guy in more than a decade, Cody was a midcarder and Pac was super talented, but he wasn’t pushed at all on Raw and while he shined on 205 Live, that had very limited viewership. So the idea to me is that they needed to focus on getting Omega and Cody and The Young Bucks over first as television stars, which none of them were. Cody feels like one now because of his promo work and he was pushed great in the Jericho program. Omega is intriguing to somebody new and the fact he is a headliner was strong, but he hasn’t been New Japan Kenny Omega. He said that isn’t the idea to be right now. The Young Bucks come across as guys who the crowd is into, are super talented, but traditionally super talented guys that lose all the time on television are not viewed as superstars or television stars, although The Young Bucks to a degree are proving that to the under-50 television audience it is changing. Omega said there would be new signings in the women’s division in 2020 and it would be getting a lot better. Regarding Japan, we had a long discussion that was not on the show. He said he knew who was behind his having trouble getting in and was outright told at customs, and that there was an attempt to keep him out of the country for ten years. For legal reasons he didn’t want to discuss it in detail and that it’s an ongoing issue, but said he took care of everything beforehand when going back so he was allowed in, even though there was an attempt to block him all three times he went this year. He said it was not anyone he had dealt with and categorized it as businessmen just doing what they perceived was their jobs and that he felt those people in New Japan proper probably wouldn’t have known about it and that he was not against working for New Japan in the future. Regarding NXT, he said he watched the show, was complimentary of the show, said that it is a good thing the race is close but said he didn’t personally consider it a war, that in his mind they are just trying to build their new company. He praised Adam Cole (in fairness, I brought up Cole in the conversation) but said he really liked the Full Sail University crowd and how they enhance the show. He talked about going to Japan and DDT and putting on entertaining intergender matches which is something he can’t do in AEW. He also noted how great he thought Dragon Lee was and how excited he was to do the match, saying that he knows Lee from New Japan and how great Lee is, but they have never once touched in the ring, in singles or tags. He also talked about an upcoming AEW video game. He said he couldn’t go into details on it but that he would be heavily involved with it
486
487WWE has tried to oppose some of the trademarks that Cody Runnels was attempting to gain the rights to. We don’t know which ones in specific, but he has largely tried to gain the intellectual property rights to a lot of WCW names that WWE hasn’t used or trademarked. WWE is opposing his claims on at least some of them. Cody has been trying to gain ownership of things for usage in AEW, such as Bash at the Beach that is being used in January. In particular he’s looking for ownership of ideas that his father came up with. Runnels filed for new trademarks for SuperBrawl and Slamboree, which were the names of two other WCW PPV events
488
489Kylie Rae, for the first time, addressed her departure from AEW with a post saying, “I don’t know how to start this and I can’t speak on other’s behaves. I can only speak for myself and what’s in my heart. I don’t know many rumors and honestly try to stay away from everything, obviously. But here: nobody made me leave. AEW took my career to new levels and I’m beyond grateful for every opportunity and experience that has come along the way and wish nothing but the best. It’s a great group of people who truly love wrestling and just want everyone to succeed. I’ve always tried to be a good person but I make many mistakes along the way. I needed to get my mind, body, and soul right with God. I wish I had the answers but the truth is I don’t. We all go through obstacles in life and we may want all the answers but we don’t need them. It’s God’s plan and he has shown me what’s truly important in life and to find a blessing in every moment because in the blink of an eye, everything can be gone. So instead of bashing, let’s just love one another and appreciate what we have, or something like that lol sorry I’awkward.” Rae had, and still does have, a great natural appeal and was the best worker of the Americans that AEW had on the roster. She and the company kept very private about the issue or issues that caused her to disappear. I know that they wanted her to return in Chicago for All Out if she was able to, but she asked for her release before the show after disappearing from wrestling for months. She is back wrestling and doing independent shows
490
491The 1/29 Dynamite show will come from Cleveland
492
493Former WCW announcer Chris Cruise contacted the Maryland State Athletic Commission regarding the Omega vs. Jon Moxley I Quit match at the Full Gear PPV show on 11/9. He asked about commission rules on blading, and allowing matches to continue if a performer is bleeding either intentionally or unintentionally and if there was a commission doctor at the show. After repeated requests, he was told that the commission prohibits wrestlers from deliberately lacerating themselves or their opponents, or introducing human or animal blood into the match, none of which happened in that match. The commission noted that they were at the match and there was a doctor assigned to the show. The commission also stated they were conducting a formal investigation into the match and thus, since the investigation is ongoing, they can’t comment on questions regarding the match. I’m not sure what the investigation would be on
494
495Right now there are no plans for a Joey Janela vs. Kip Sabian program. Penelope Ford just slipped the line in on the PPV interview and when Janela tweeted that he wouldn’t do that program, that was legit. Not that it could never happen, but right now it’s not happening. It was notable they avoided each other in the Battle Royal on 11/20
496
497Regarding Kris Statlander, it looks like she’ll be signing here. She and WWE were close to a deal but they had not sent a contract and then AEW booked her. WWE was under the impression she was coming in January and both sides want her. Her working here the last few weeks, and we know AEW is looking to sign her as well, would indicate AEW is the likely final destination
498
499. Notes on the 11/27 show in Chicago. They drew 6,100 fans to the Sears Center. Considering the night before Thanksgiving has been historically death for live pro wrestling, and it was the fifth show in six days in the market, that figure was good even if it was lower than Raw or Smackdown. The idea of going to Chicago, which was already booked for four WWE dates this week, didn’t make sense on the surface, but the idea is that Tony Khan wants to make Labor Day and the night before Thanksgiving traditional nights in Chicago and it’s not like WWE is likely to book four dates in a row every year in the days before. The crowd in Chicago wasn’t as hot as for NXT, but that’s because it was TV and not a Takeover. Even with the market burnout that may have hurt Survivor Series and clearly hurt Raw, they had the second hottest crowd of the week. . The second hour was very good but the first hour was the worst hour they’ve done on TNT. Everything just seemed off. No Tony Schiavone this week as he had commitments to college basketball in Hawaii. In the first match for dark, Jimmy Havoc pinned Brandon Cutler in 10:00. Havoc stapled a check on Cutler’s forehead after the match. The show opened with Soul Train Jones, the former Virgil/Vincent introducing the Chris Jericho Thanksgiving celebration. Jericho is usually the master of these type of things, but the mic was off and it went too long. The crowd was super hot at first with “Thank you Jericho” chants. He pushed his new product, “A Little Bit of the Bubbly,” a new sparkling wine that he, actor Stephen Amell and AEW are putting out. It’s being made by Amell’s Nocking Point Wines, a company he founded in 2013. He said it comes from the best grapes from Nepal. He called out the Inner Circle. Sammy Guevara gave him a present which was a photo of Jericho & Guevara. Santana & Ortiz gave him new flip flops and cold medicine and made Jericho an official Boricua. Jake Hager came out with a goat which was named Chris Jerigoat. There was a giant present box and when they unveiled the box, it was Ted Irvine, Jericho’s father, sitting down wearing a New York Rangers jersey. Irvine played for the Rangers from 1970 to 1975 and in a 2009 book about the team, was named one of the 100 greatest players in the history of the team. Anyway, I was just waiting for a reference to Stan Mikita or Bobby Hull, the Golden Jet, who were the two most famous players on the Blackhawks when he was a Rangers, and really two of the most famous players of that era, with Hull the biggest star in the league at one point. He talked about how he used to beat the crap out of Bobby Hull. The reality is that’s so far back it didn’t get too much heat. He said the Blackhawks were wimps then and would always be wimps. He gave everyone Rangers jerseys with everyone’s nicknames, Le Champion, The Spanish God, The Big Hurt, Thug and Ruffian. Jericho then gave Justin Roberts a letter to read, which was supposedly a letter from TNT thanking Jericho for the success of AEW. They pushed that Roberts grew up in the area and went to Buffalo Grove High School. By this point the segment was too long and really the pops for the local reference for Roberts weren’t that big. Jericho slapped Roberts and they all beat him up. Excalibur made a line about how they were beating a guy up in his home town, a spoof on how WWE always does that and used to always try to ridicule Jim Ross in Oklahoma. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky were disguised as members of the marching band and they made the save. Dasha Gonzalez did the ring announcing the rest of the show. Chuck Taylor & Trent beat Pentagon Jr. & Fenix in 7:51. Orange Cassidy came out with Taylor & Trent. Cassidy was wearing a turkey suit and did a twisting dive to the floor on Pentagon & Fenix. Fenix worked the first several minutes wearing a sweatshirt. This match was just off. Maybe the ridiculous schedule and crazy high workrate is starting to catch up with Pentagon & Fenix or it was just a bad night. Fenix was clearly not the same guy as last week. Taylor did a flip dive on both but actually missed them by flying over them. Taylor later did a flip off the steps and Trent pinned Fenix with the Dudebuster. They announced Trent vs. Fenix in a singles match for 12/4 in Champaign, IL. Bea Priestley & Emi Sakura beat Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander in 9:35. Statlander did a moonsault off the apron on Priestley. Sakura used a mic stand assisted abdominal stretch on Shida. Fans were chanting for Shida and popped big late when Statlander made the hot tag. The crowd was really hot and there were a lot of big moves. But parts of this match were off as well. Sakura pinned Statlander with a La Magistral cradle. While not official, it looks like Statlander vs. Shida will take place on the 12/4 show in Champaign, IL. Jon Moxley did an interview. It was just basic and not aimed at anyone. Cody beat local wrestler Matt Knicks with an Oscutter and the figure four in 1:24. Cody got easily the biggest reaction of anyone on any of the shows this past week in Chicago. His ribs were all taped up. His forehead still had a lump and noticeable cut from the Jericho match. He looked really rough and got this over quickly. After the match, Cody was going to do his big interview with the expectations he’d talk Jericho and MJF and never challenging for the title again. Out from under the ring came The Blade & The Butcher. The Blade is Jesse Guilmette, who was Braxton Sutter in Impact. The Butcher is Andy Williams, and they’ve been teaming with Beyond Wrestling and other groups in the Northeast. Even though you have probably a fan base that knows indies more than pretty much anything except some of the real hardcore indie fan bases, it appeared nobody knew who they were. Allie, now a heel with her dark bunny gimmick, also came out, so she’s the manager. Allie and Guilmette are married and worked together in Impact. They all beat Cody down. I’m not sure about this. Cody has a program with MJF and Wardlow that really hasn’t started, plus one would think a Match Beyond Program with the Inner Circle. They need to get the talent they already have over as television stars before brining more people in unless they are major difference makers. When a segment with Cody runs flat with the AEW crowd, that is something. Fenix vs. Trent was announced for next week. Kenny Omega beat Pac in 11:47 of a **** match. This match was tremendous given the time limitations, as you would expect. Omega did a Kotaro crusher and Pac landed on his feet, but Omega gave him the snap dragon suplex and power bombed him into the turnbuckles. Omega did a Terminator dive. Pac did his moonsault off the top rope to the floor. Omega either did a great job selling his right shoulder realistically, or it was hurting. Omega did this great teep. Pac did a top rope falcon arow for a near fall. Crowd loved this match, great heat. Pac missed the black arrow. Omega hit the V Trigger. Pac escaped the One Winged Angel, and then they had a series of cradles by Omega into a crucifix cradle and Omega got the three count. The finishing sequence was strong. MJF beat Page to win the $43,000 diamond ring in 6:20. Page did a tope and a moonsault to the floor. Page had the match won using the buckshot lariat, but Wardlow put MJF’s foot on the ropes. Wardlow sucker punched Page and MJF pinned him with a clumsy looking crossroads, which they called the double cross, so MJF used a bad looking version of Cody’s finisher. DDP came out to present the diamond ring to MJF. To his credit, DDP looks in great shape for his age. Then again, as a fitness instructor, it would kill his gimmick if he wasn’t, but at 63, that’s no easy feat. MJF took the ring. DDP went to offer his hand for a handshake. MJF put his gum in DDP’s hand. Wardlow then jumped in front and MJF was mocking DDP while hiding behind Wardlow. DDP said that Wardlow was about to get his ass kicked by a 63-year-old. They started but had a quick pull-apart. The usual protocol from WWE would be to humiliate the legend, which nobody ever likes to see, and at one time it did get heat but that time ended because it became so repetitive and really made the legends come across as goofs. So while everyone figured Wardlow should take him out, this was really better this way to let the legend maintain dignity. Dustin Rhodes came out for an interview. He wants Jake Hager. Instead, Sammy Guevara, Ortiz and Santana all beat him down. The Young Bucks made the save. They build to a triple superkick spot Guevara and a triple shattered dreams spot. Next week will be a six-man tag. There was another Dark Order vignette where all these guys are in a room being talked with like it was a cult leader and most ended up with the masks on at the end. Jericho beat Scorpio in 12:15 to retain the title. Very good match. It was what you would expect and what it should have been, with Scorpio getting lots of near falls. Sky did an in and out Ace crusher. Jim Ross made an Ace crusher remark like that isn’t the thing which sounded like a joke on John Laurinaitis. Sky also used a diamond cutter and dragon sleeper. Hager came out even though they announced that nobody was allowed at ringside for the match. Sky went after Hager and Jericho schoolboyed him for a near fall. Kazarian & Daniels attacked Hager. Jericho went for a belt shot but Sky ducked and used a TKO for a near fall. Sky also did a great Frankensteiner off the top and enzuigiri for near falls. Sky came off the top into a codebreaker, but he kicked out. The finish saw Sky go for another enzuigiri. Jericho caught the leg and countered into a Boston crab. Sky tapped out. After the match, Jericho put him in the crab again until Moxley came down through the crowd to end the show. So Jericho’s next title defense looks to be with Moxley. For Dark, Shawn Spears beat Sonny Kiss in 5:00. After the match, Spears and Tully Blanchard laid out Kiss with a stuff piledriver. The final match saw Santana & Ortiz beat Marko Stunt & Jungle Boy. Lots of big spots here. They mostly beat on Stunt and eventually he was pinned. After the match, Guevara came out as well and they did beatdown until Luchasaurus made the save. Hager came out and he and Luchasaurus had a staredown. Luchasaurus went to choke slam Hager when Ortiz & Santana attacked Luchasaurus. The Young Bucks made the save. Luchasaurus power slammed Guevara. The last spot saw Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy basically javelin throw stunt across the ring at Guevara and Stunt gave him a Canadian Destroyer. The spot looked tremendous and the pop was huge for it.
500
501UFC: It looks like the first part of the year will revitalize interest. Conor McGregor has signed to fight Donald Cerrone on 1/18 in Las Vegas according to what Dana White told ESPN. Cerrone hasn’t signed, but obviously this is a fight Cerrone isn’t turning down. You’ve got two great talkers with a ton of charisma. It’s also a fight McGregor should win unless his partying habits have ruined him badly, because Cerrone did not look good in his last fight and seems to have aged. But if McGregor has slipped, Cerrone is the naturally bigger guy and has, or at least had, more all-around skills
502
503The second PPV show of 2020, scheduled for 2/8 in Houston, will have Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes for the light heavyweight title and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian for the women’s flyweight title as the top fights
504
505A fight the company has tried to make four different times will have try No. 5 coming up as Dana White told ESPN they are looking at Khabib Nurmagomedov defending the lightweight title against Tony Ferguson on 4/18 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Stylistically, with Ferguson’s wrestling ability and insane cardio, he has the best chance against Nurmagomedov of anyone in the division. I believe Nurmagomedov has already signed his bout agreement
506
507The lawsuit filed by Mark Hunt against the UFC and Brock Lesnar alleging they conspired to allow Lesnar to use steroids and cover it up and it caused him to lose his fight with Lesnar was completely thrown out. The lawsuit had little chance because there was no evidence UFC knew about Lesnar failing until after the fight. The lawsuit was mostly thrown out in February in U.S. district court in Nevada. Hunt was furious at the result, saying “I tried to make things even on the battle field of MMA but again the cheating company, Dana White, UFC, with all its billions, they ripped everyone off again. Someone will die against a steroid using cheater and your shit rip-off company will be at fault, UFC.” “You won this battle, but the war will continue. I’m not the first to sue this rip off company and sure as hell won’t be the last to sue UFC. You can’t keep ripping fighters off and run (a) monopoly on the market. Someone’s going to put you motherf***ers down.” Hunt’s UFC 200 fight with Lesnar in 2016, which Lesnar originally won via decision, was overturned and ruled a no contest because Lesnar failed a test for clomiphene, an anti-estrogen during. Clomiphene is often used at the end of a steroid cycle and is banned in drug tested sports. Lesnar failed the test 11 days before the fight but UFC was not informed of the result of the test until after the fight. Hunt tried to prove UFC knew ahead of time but there was no evidence that was the case. At that time when he failed, he was working for WWE and it came out that Lesnar, because he is not a full-time performer, is exempt from WWE’s drug testing program
508
509Gina Carano did an interview with Ariel Helwani and said that UFC had offered her $1 million to fight Ronda Rousey when Rousey was in her heyday. She said she had dinner with the key UFC people and told them she was up for it, but she needed to find a gym, find a team to train with and asked them to keep it quiet for six months before making any announcement so she could get in fight shape. She said she left the dinner all excited about coming back to the sport. She said the next day Dana White was telling people that they were going to sign Carano, and he started putting on pressure through the media for her to sign and she texted him and said that she needed time. She said he kept pushing it while she was trying to put together a team noting by this point everyone would know she was coming back for Rousey and she wanted the team together for months before that was public. Then one day she got a text from White saying “this bitch is f***ing us around or something like that,” so she wrote him back saying I think you sent this to the wrong person, and he said that he didn’t, so she said she cut off all communication with him at that point. She said that later she saw White as a Nevada Sports Hall of Fame dinner and White apologized to her about everything there but she said once she got that text she had no inclination to work for him, money or no money
510
511Paige VanZant, who has one fight left on her contract and has said she’s testing the free agent market, will face Amanda Ribas on 3/14 in Brasilia. VanZant will have been out of action for 13 months since multiple surgeries to repair a broken arm. Ribas looked like a genuine contender in her win over Mackenzie Dern and looks to be a fighter well above VanZant. This booking looks to be a way to get Ribas some exposure since any VanZant fight will get media attention
512
513Mickey Gall was pulled off the 12/7 show in Washington, DC. They couldn’t get him a new opponent after Carlos Condit pulled out due to an eye injury. The card currently has 12 fights, and will have ten fights in a row on ESPN on a Saturday starting at 7 p.m.
514
515The company has announced a 2/15 show in Rio Rancho, NM. The first match announced is Ray Borg vs. Rogerio Bontonin. Borg is from the area and Bontonin looks to be a possible new star in the division with a 16-1 record and this would be a major test for him
516
517Livinha Souza pulled out of the 12/7 show in Washington, DC, the company’s next show, with a back injury. Her opponent, Virna Jandiroba will now face Mallory Martin
518
519Rafael dos Anjos vs. Michael Chiesa is scheduled for the 1/25 show in Raleigh at welterweight. Chiesa moved up to the new class and has wins over Diego Sanchez and Carlos Condit. Junior dos Santos vs. Curtis Blaydes headlines that show. Also added is Josh Emmett vs. Arnold Allen.
520
521Anthony Pettis is moving from welterweight back to lightweight and they are looking at putting him against Diego Ferreira on the 1/18 PPV show from Las Vegas. Aleksei Oleinik vs. Maurice Greene has been added to the show, which still doesn’t have a main event. This is the show that at least at one point they wanted to headline with Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone. .. Paul Felder vs. Dan Hooker in a major lightweight fight has been added to the 2/23 show in Auckland, New Zealand, which would air on 2/22 in the U.S
522
523Jared Gordon, who was knocked out by Charles Oliveira on the 11/16 show in Sao Paulo, suffered a broken left orbital bone and said that he may need surgery
524
525Andre Fili vs. Sodiq Yusuff is expected to take place on the 1/18 show in Las Vegas
526
527Juan Adams vs. Justin Tafa has been added to the 2/8 Houston show
528
529Veronica Macedo, who had to pull out of the 11/16 show in Sao Paulo the day before weigh-ins due to being diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms, was pulled off the 12/21 show in Busan, South Korea. They had been booked on both shows. Amanda Lemos, who was to face her in South Korea, will now face Miranda Granger.
530
531BELLATOR: Kyoji Horiguchi, who holds both the Bellator and Rizin bantamweight titles, has vacated both titles due to having to undergo knee surgery. Scott Coker said that when Horiguchi heals up, he will get an immediate title shot. Horiguchi obviously had to pull out of his 12/31 defense of the Rizin title against Kai Asakura, who knocked Horiguchi out in the first round of a non-title match in August.
532
533OTHER MMA: DAZN has now topped eight million worldwide subscribers. What’s notable is the different breakdown with WWE Network. WWE Network hovers around 1.1 million U.S. subscribers and a little more than 400,000 outside the U.S. DAZN has roughly 800,000 U.S. subscribers and 7.2 million outside the U.S. It has had phenomenal growth in the last few months, which included the Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev fight and the Logan Paul vs. KSI fight, as they had four million subscribers in June.
534
535WWE: We have some updated information regarding viewing habits of wrestling fans. We’ve listed overall viewership numbers as far as live vs DVR in the past for Raw and Smackdown. These are the averages for the four major shows in the U.S. as measured from 10/1, the start of the fall season, through the shows the week of 11/11. Now this is only the 18-49 demo and not overall and is the average for each show during those six weeks. What this shows is viewers in that demo are far more likely than older viewers to watch wrestling delayed. That makes perfect sense if you think about it. And for whatever reason, the Wednesday shows, perhaps because of the nature of going head-to-head, have the most DVR viewing by percentage. One would think Smackdown would be heavy DVR viewing being on Friday night, when people go out, but it is actually viewed more live by percentage than the other three shows. Smackdown viewership as measured by Nielsen is watched 70 percent in the demo live or same day, with another 14 percent watching over the next three days and 14 percent more from day four to seven. Another two percent watched after seven days. Those numbers are much higher than overall, including all viewers, so the key demo they are looking for is the DVR demo. The problem is those viewers are also likely fast-forwarding past commercials, and probably watching less than the entire show (although the way the numbers are figured that also is taken into account and it’s still about average minute and not total viewers) as they are probably not watching every segment. For Raw, those numbers are 67 percent live, 19 percent over the next three days, another 12 percent days four through seven, and two percent past seven days. For AEW, it is 57 percent live, 22 percent over the next three days, 17 percent days four through seven and four percent after more than seven days. With NXT, it is 63 percent live, 15 percent the next three days, 19 percent days four through seven and three percent more than seven days. On average, if you include all DVR viewership, there are 1,301,000 viewers 18-49 eventually watching Smackdown, 1,147,000 watching Raw, 741,000 watching AEW and 400,000 watching NXT on an average week. Keep in mind that the Smackdown and the AEW average is inflated based on the huge first week each show had
536
537Sports Business Journal ran a piece on Punk being signed by FS 1 for the WWE Backstage show. They said that six of the 24 people in the room knew Punk was going to be there. Of the WWE talent, the only one told in advance was Renee Young, since she was going to introduce him, but the others weren’t told. Brad Zager, a Fox Sports Executive Vice President, said one of the things they want from the show is shock. Jacob Ullman, the Fox Sports Senior Vice President of Production and talent development, said, “To do a show on sports entertainment, where we all know it’s scripted, it’s almost more like covering a television show than a sporting event.” Zager said that the goal is to create moments on the show that would give the show credibility to WWE fans. Punk signed the week before his debut and FOX, WWE and Punk were all told to keep quiet about it. Punk, Zager and Ullman went out to dinner on 11/11 in Los Angeles and all three noted that they were surprised the news had still not gotten out. “It was the tightest circle of people to ever know about something that we’ve done,” Zager said
538
539While no surprise, the show whiffed again on the chance to show it was really a news show on 11/26 when they failed to touch the Mauro Ranallo story
540
541The build to Survivor Series has been a huge hit in Canada. On 11/22, Smackdown was the most-watched sports show in the country with 224,000 viewers. They had several weeks of late with less than half that number. NXT, which has never made the top ten and always been under 100,000, was at 170,800 as the Smackdown lead-in. And even Aftermath, the WWE news show, did 99,300 viewers for sixth place. It was a weak night overall for television sports in that country so that helped, but those were great numbers. Raw on 11/25 did 206,900 viewers
542
543The company made a last-minute decision not to tape 205 Live on 11/22. Most likely it’s a matter of having so many shows in the same building and not wanting to burn out the audience with a long show on the first of four nights. Lio Rush, the champion, publicly complained about the cancellation, which is never a good thing to do politically
544
545A Sports Business Journal readership survey listed WWE as getting the most votes in the category of Entity Best at Producing Live Event Spectacles. WWE also was voted for that award last year
546
547Wyatt is now the company’s top merchandise seller
548
549Catherine Jo Perry, 34, aka Lana, has signed a new multi-year contract. She said it was a multi-million dollar deal. With most of the deals being five years, any performer who is a significant television star would be signing for more than $2.5 million over the course of the deal and many for considerably more. Pro Wrestling Sheet first reported it and WWE confirmed the signing after
550
551A correction, or really an update on ratings listed last week for Germany. We listed the prelim ratings last week. So these are final ratings. AEW on 11/15 did 30,000 viewers and 11/22 did 20,000. Smackdown on 11/176 did 160,000 and 11/23 did 220,000. Raw on 11/20 did 240,000
552
553The 12/26 Madison Square Garden show must not have gotten off to a good start because they were will be doing ticket discounts this coming week for the holiday season
554
555Lesnar is back on hiatus until probably around January. His next show is the Rumble so he’ll be back when it comes to shoot his angle for that show
556
557Mya Lesnar, Brock’s daughter, who is 17, has committed to Arizona State University on a track scholarship. Last year, as a junior, Lesnar won the state title in the shot put and placed second in the state in the discus. She had placed second in the shot put as a sophomore and third as a freshman. She is currently ranked sixth in the nation in the shot going into the outdoor track season
558
559Matt Hardy was called back for TV on 11/25 in Chicago to put over Murphy. His wife, Reby, who is about to give birth and had a labor scare two days earlier was asked about putting Matt on TV when she is going to give birth any day now and wrote, “Some f***ing timing.
560
561While the company was in discussion with different arenas for NXT TV tapings as early as January, they are committed at this point for Full Sail right now through March
562
563Glenn Jacobs autobiography, “Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Liberty” was released on 11/2
564
565Goldberg has put his home in suburban San Diego for sale, asking $3.2 million. The 6,800 square foot home which also includes a basketball court and resort style swimming pool, is on 28 acres and, since he’s avid car buff, has room for more than 20 cars. It also has a barn for animals and 15 miles of riding trails. He had the home built especially for his wants in 1997. The home also has a gym
566
567Chris Girard, responding to Paul Levesque saying that the mature professional thing is not for talent to go on social media and talk about their issues or wanting to leave the promotion and that it should be handled via private conversation with management, responded by saying about Levesque, “The mature professional thing to say would be no comment and have a private conversation promoter to independent contractor instead of burying talent publicly to the media. That’s how I do business. It’s all about the game and how you play it.” Girard never publicly talked about asking for a release but had asked for a release and felt Levesque’s remarks publicly were notable because of the reasons he gave
568
569Mike Bennett, who is trying to get out of his contract, because he can’t wrestle unless released, is looking at doing motivational speaking. He’s also willing to attend shows and talk to talent and can’t accept money for this but would be looking for travel expenses. There was talk that ROH would attempt to work with WWE and book Bennett and/or Oney Lorcan. The sides have talked in the past, and reached business deals such as ROH giving them footage for documentaries and other things over the years have been discussed but the usual politics of ROH being affiliated with New Japan have seemingly kept anything past licensing some video as the extent of working together. Bennett was taken off everything after he asked for his release but since has done everything the company has asked of him to do. He hasn’t said a thing publicly since. Lorcan has continued to post on social media so his situation is different
570
571Bennett did talk on the Stars and Stripes podcast about his situation, saying, “Since the minute I got to WWE, they treated me great, they treated my wife great, they treated my daughter great. When I came out and said that I had an addiction, there was no negativity from anybody, just constant support, and so, for me personally, having been almost two-and-a-half years sober, it got to the point when I started reflecting on my past and what I did and it became very hard for me to almost sit and reflect on the fact that I blew four years of my life doing drugs, and now I felt like my mind was clear, my head is clear, and I just wanted to work, I just want to wrestle. I feel like I could do and have my best matches right now and it’s extremely difficult when there’s so many people on the roster and you just don’t get that opportunity and like I said, everybody wants to come at me and come at me negatively and say that I’m mad. I’m not mad at anybody. I’m genuinely not. If WWE called me tomorrow and was like, `We're gonna put you on TV, I’d do it. I’m not mad. I just want to work, and I just want to work a lot. I want to be able to go home and tell my daughter that, `Daddy put in the time. Daddy put in the effort.’ It’s incredibly difficult for me to go on social media and preach that you have to work hard, you have to work your ass off and then not do it myself, and so, I’m a worker. I’ve always been a worker and now I’m kind of at the point where I just want to work and work and work and I’ll go wherever that opportunity exists.” “As far as not giving me my release, I think it’s like anywhere -- the Patriots aren’t going to trade or release a player that they think that the Jets are going to pick up, and I think we have to think of it like that. It’s not a negative, that’s just how it works. It works in sports, it works in wrestling.
572
573EC 3 remains out of action with a concussion suffered at the end of September
574
575Tony Nese and his wife had a nine-pound baby boy named Eric on 11/22
576
577Kimbely Benson, best known as Viper and in WWE, as Piper Niven, was proposed to and accepted over the weekend
578
579Ilja Dragunov is injured and missed shows this past week, including his 11/23 main event for wXw in Dresden, Germany against Alexander Wolfe. .. Reader C.J. Baley said that the offer we’ve noted regarding that you can get three months of the WWE Network for free if you buy three boxes of Golden Crisps or Honeycombs cereal is not quite that simple. Bailey said he purchased three boxes, and sent a receipt in. He was then told you need to have three different receipts as opposed to one receipt for three boxes because it has to be three separate purchases. Once you do that, you can get sent a promo code that arrives a few weeks later. And you also have to have an active subscription, so you have to buy it for a month but then you can get three months added. He noted that they bought three boxes of cereal they’ll never eat thinking they were going to get three months of the network free
580
581Xavier Woods told CBS Radio’s Chuck Carroll that there’s no timetable at this point for his return from Achilles tendon surgery. He said it could be anywhere from five to nine more months
582
583Jerry Lawler was asked about his role at Galaxy Con. He said he didn’t now how long he would be on Raw, but just signed a new three-year contract earlier this month. When the new Raw announcing team of Vic Joseph, Lawler and Dio Maddin were put on Raw, Lawler’s role was not meant to be long-term, more the veteran presence since Joseph was new at announcing on that big of a stage and Maddin had never even announced before. But the feeling is that he’s done well in helping the other two
584
585WWE 2K20 has donated $500,000 to the leukemia and lymphoma society. The donation will support breakthrough blood cancer research to advance live saving treatments and critical support for patients and their families. It was spurred on by Reigns, and his being on their game cover this year
586
587Jessicka Carr, the referee, has been moved up from NXT to Smackdown and starts with the 11/29 TV show. It’s funny because they did a big thing in front of the fans at Full Sail on 11/27 to congratulate her for moving up while at the same time trying to push that NXT is equal
588
589Evolve has shows on 12/6 in Livonia, MI and 12/7 in Chicago. The first night has Walter vs. Timothy Thatcher non-title, Josh Briggs vs. JD Drake in an Evolve tile match, Babatunde & Arturo Ruas & Anthony Gutierrez vs. Joe Gacy & Eddie Kingston & Sean Maluta plus a battle of WWE contracted wrestlers with Reina Gonzalez vs. Shotzi Blackheart. The second show has Walter vs. Briggs with neither title at stake, AR Fox & Len Ruff vs. Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega, Ruas vs. Thatcher, plus Andrew Everett is on the show along with Matt Sydal
590
591WWE stock closed at $62.46 per share on 11/27, giving the company a $4.907 billion market value. The market itself is at record levels, and WWE stock is at its best mark since the third quarter call where key declines and uncertainty about Saudi Arabia and international television deals led to a major price fall
592
593The list of the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network is notable because of what was No. 2 and No. 3. 1. Survivor Series; 2. Stone Cold Sessions with Undertaker; 3. NXT Takeover War Games; 4. Survivor Series kickoff show; 5. WWE Untold - the Sting vs. Seth Rollins match; 6. Day of WWE Draft; 7. 2018 Survivor Series
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595Notes from the 11/22 Smackdown tapings. This was a good show. Even though I find the T-shirt brawls overdone, not idea of the brawls, but the unfocused sending a million guys out in T-shirts, the fact is the interbrand stuff has made the promotion across the board hotter than it has been in a long time. While the crowd was small for TV in Chicago at 7,800, that’s more because of five shows in six days. Those who were there were probably the hottest Smackdown crowd in recent memory and the NXT brand was the most over to this audience. They’ve made NXT cool which they needed to do because NXT on its own, as good as the shows were, they were fading until putting the top stars on Raw & Smackdown and mostly putting them over. The whole theme of this show was the three brands fighting. Smackdown on the show was presented as the babyface brand with the announcers cheerleading them and Reigns as the team leader. The dark match opener saw Cesaro pin Crews with the neutralizer in 8:00. Said to be good. The show opened with a team meeting. Corbin acted like the team leader and nobody listened to him. Then Reigns took over and everyone listened to him, and he said let’s open the doors and let them all in and beat them up if they come. As it turned out, the key to the story was the ending where Michaels, HHH and Road Dogg came out in a jeep with the idea that NXT is the cool group like DX, using the members of DX (well, Michaels wasn’t around but HHH and Road Dogg were in the 1998 skit they referenced) with the idea that Reigns and Smackdown had the guts to let them in, unlike WCW which locked the doors. Banks was in the ring and invited Team Raw to come out. Team Raw came out. Flair challenged Banks to a singles match. There was a big brawl and Team NXT came out, and it ended up Banks vs. Flair vs. Ripley. Banks and Cross did argue. Flair did a moonsault off the top rope onto both of them. Flair was bleeding a decent amount, looked like her nose but maybe her nose and mouth. She did the natural selection on both Banks and Ripley but the other saved. Flair had Banks in the figure eight when Ripley jumped back in the ring and got underneath Flair in her bridge and crucifix pinned her in 9:39. That was a clever finish. Flair and Banks went at it after the match and we had another T-shirt brawl. Corbin was backstage with Roode & Ziggler. Corbin dictated the strategy, which was when Raw comes out to attack Reigns, Ali and Shorty G, to let them do it, and then after that, and Raw leaves, they can beat the hell out of them as well. Bayley came out. She said that she knew Lynch was tactical but Baszler was a hothead and she knew Baszler was there and if she challenged her, she’d come out for sure. Zayn was in the ring with Nakamura. He said that they both were what was known as studs. He then unveiled a new cool-looking IC belt so they ditched the old one. Nakamura pretended to have no idea who Strong was. The Undisputed Era came out and fans were chanting “Undisputed.” Nakamura & Zayn pretty much walked away but stayed on the stage and watched the next match to set up a later angle. Adam Cole did an interview. This led to Cole & O’Reilly & Fish & Strong beating New Day & Heavy Machinery in 14:57. This was really good and the crowd was hot for it. They teased problems with E and Otis outside the ring so it looks like a New Day vs. Machinery program is coming. The guy the crowd reacted the most to was Otis with all of his unique mannerisms. When Machinery was brought up, I was told by someone who knows Vince well that either Vince will give them a few weeks and give up on them (which kind of happened at first), or Vince will get Otis, in which case Tucker will be doing a lot of jobs. Tucker is big, athletic and really talented but he’s a guy who will get lost here if Vince sees a single star in Otis. Fish & O’Reilly did the high/low on E outside the ring. Cole superkicked Tucker and Strong pinned him with a high knee. It was the right finish. Strong needed a win on WWE television going into his match. Strong and Nakamura then did a face-off on the stage when Styles attacked both. Zayn then grabbed a chair and hit Styles and Strong. Styles did a promo with Gallows & Anderson ripping on Chicago. He said Chicago wouldn’t know entertainment if it slapped them in face. He said he was the best thing in Chicago today, which led to C.M. Punk chants. By the way, some took the Punk chants as a negative, but it was very clear that a response like that was exactly what Styles was after, because when he said it, my thought was, here come the Punk chants, and I mean that as a positive for Styles as a heel. Bryan came out. He called out Wyatt. The lights went out. When they came on, no Wyatt. But Miz came out. Miz said that Bryan was weak and vulnerable and that The Fiend will tear him apart. Miz slapped Bryan. At that point they went to a commercial break. When we were back, they had a match. Bryan had the advantage. Fans had started the “yes” chants and the lights went out. When they came back on, Miz had disappeared and it was over without a finish at 6:00. Wyatt was in the corner selling, in the same position Miz was in, like we’re supposed to believe ether Wyatt took over his body, or he very quickly ate him. Miz was back on Sunday with no mention of how he disappeared two days earlier. Wyatt immediately put Bryan in the mandible claw. Then they went to a commercial break. The build for most of Survivor Series has been good, but Miz vs. Bryan has portrayed Bryan as having no chance to the level that I had no interest in seeing the match, and me not having an interest in a Bryan match is almost mind-boggling. Baszler came out and called out Bayley. She was looking up the ramp when Bayley came from behind and chop blocked her. Baszler still made a comeback and got Bayley I a choke. Bayley broke it driving her into the barricade. Bayley threw Baszler into the post and then bailed out. Corbin & Roode & Ziggler beat Reigns & Shorty G & Ali in 8:50 in the main event. Ali is back to being Mustafa Ali. Good match for the time it was given. Corbin & Roode slammed G off the apron and onto the announcers table, which looked like a tough bump. So G was out and Reigns was selling. Reigns made a hot tag to Ali, who looked great. He did a tope on Ziggler and a flip dive on Corbin. Roode gave G a spinebuster on the floor. Reigns hit a Superman punch on Roode. Corbin then pinned Ali with the Deep Six. Corbin grabbed the scepter to use it on Ali, but Reigns speared him. Team Raw came out. Rollins got in the ring and he and Reigns went at it. Fans were chanting for Punk here. Then we had yet another T-shirt brawl. The whole place was chanting NXT at this point. That’s when Road Dogg, Michaels and HHH came out in the jeep leading what seemed to be dozens of guys from NXT. They continued to brawl on the floor. Strowman and Keith Lee ended up in the ring together and they went at it as the show went off the air. Really fun and effective two hours
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597Notes from the 11/25 Raw tapings in Chicago. The final show of the weekend drew 7,200 fans, so NXT outdrew Raw by more than 3,000 fans. With sales slow, at the NXT show they announced tickets were available for Raw and that The Fiend would defend against Rollins in a cage match. And then the match didn’t happen. They did have Fiend do a dark cage match with McIntyre instead. The show was weird. Rollins turned heel in the opening segment to set up a program with Owens. Then he worked the entire match as a face and it got little heat. The stuff with Mysterio winning the U.S. title from Styles was great but aside from that, not a lot of good stuff. Dio Maddin still wasn’t back, which feels like too many weeks to still be selling the Lesnar F-5. However, after Samoa Joe did such a great job last week in the spot, he was nowhere to be found this week. The funny part of that is that this was not just my opinion on Joe, but one shared by multiple people in the company, making the decision not to bring him back in the spot strange. For Main Event, it opened with Natalya over Logan with the sharpshooter. No Way Jose pinned Eric Young. The show opened with all the wrestlers except Lesnar and Lynch surrounding the ring for Rollins to do a speech. Both weren’t going to be put in a situation where they were in a group of worker bees. Fans chanted for Punk. Rollins reacted to the chants and said he wanted to get Punk here but he didn’t want too show up. He said that Punk wants to talk about change that he’s too afraid to make himself. Vince has a rule that you never promote a big match on television that you aren’t planning on delivering, I watched this and figured this is where they are going. Punk himself has denied that, but Rollins does keep pushing it on Twitter. However, unless Vince was putting on a show to swerve everyone and that he and Rollins are the only ones who know, that isn’t the case. Vince was furious backstage about Rollins acknowledging the Punk chants and we are told that it was definitely not scripted by the writers. The fans started chanting “NXT.” Rollins said that NXT mopped the floor with Raw. Rollins said he hates that because he grew up loving Raw and hate to see what it has become. He said the show is better than that and said that last night, you all sucked, we all dropped the ball and we went from the A show to the C show. He said that we need to make this place great. It was clearly meant as one of the most unique heel turns. One person described the idea as 1997 Bret Hart, an idea that Rollins has wanted to do, where Hart was actually right in what he said and that he wasn’t a bad guy (although Hart did, in fact, do heel things), but the idea is he claimed he was a good guy but it was the fans who changed. Fans were booing. Rollins told Orton he was the weak link on Team Raw. Orton walked off. He went to Flair and said “You call yourself a Flair?” She walked off. He went to the AOP and said that they weren’t even at Survivor Series. Well, they weren’t booked. The whole idea of them not being there was to protect them from losing in the Battle Royal. He told Mysterio that he was a big fan of his growing up but he let all of us down. He said that he’s beaten Lesnar twice but Mysterio can’t beat him with a lead pipe and your stupid kid helping you. At this point, everyone walked off. The only guy who didn’t walk off was Owens. Rollins called Owens Mr. NXT and a lazy piece of crap. Owens laid out Rollins with a stunner. After the commercial break Rollins said that he’s just trying to do the right thing, and challenged Owens to a match. Rusev showed up to the building. A fan in a Mysterio T-shirt wanted to have him sign something but it turned out it was someone serving him papers that Lana got another temporary restraining order against him in the state of Illinois. Security asked him to leave, which he did. Lashley beat O’Neil in 1:03. Lawler talked about how Rusev should just get over her when the storyline if he was paying attention was that Rusev said he was done with her weeks ago. The match was short, and it was also just a mess. Both were off and then Rusev showed up and attacked Lashley. He beat Lashley up on the ground, and threw him into the steps. The brawl went longer than normal. It almost felt too long before he police showed up and handcuffed him. Rusev then, while handcuffed, ran into Lashley and knocked him off the ramp, and then pushed a lighting tower over onto him. Rusev was then screaming “I’m back.” AOP beat Hawkins & Ryder in 1:23. They used the super collider on both, and then Rezar pinned Hawkins after a double-team neckbreaker. Andrade beat Tozawa in 2:27 with a hammerlock DDT. Black said that he was coming to collect on what he is owed. Murphy pinned Matt Hardy in 2:56. Hardy looked in good shape. Murphy got a bloody nose. Murphy won after two V triggers. Black came out and said he was going to pick a fight with Murphy. Black hit Murphy with a jumping knee. Caruso was with Flair. She said she’s never been a team player but she was the only one who was qualified to lead Team Raw. She cut a promo on Asuka, saying that Asuka was bitter because she won the Smackdown title from Asuka and beat her at WrestleMania and ended her streak. Styles vs. Carrillo for the U.S. title never got started. Gallows & Anderson attacked Carrillo before the match. Gallows choke slammed Carrillo on the apron. Anderson threw Carrillo into the ring steps. They have Carrillo the magic killer on the ring steps. Ricochet ran in. Styles made fun of Ricochet for how long it took him to come out. They made jokes about Ricochet being a super hero. Ricochet challenged Styles to a U.S. title match. Styles turned him down. Orton came out and he wanted a U.S. title bout. Styles said that he beat Orton at WrestleMania and beat Ricochet to keep the U.S. title and has nothing to prove to two guys he’s already beaten. McIntyre came out and said that last night he beat Strowman and Walter. He said Styles has never beaten him but that Chicago doesn’t deserve this match. Mysterio came out and he wanted a title shot. Styles declined and said none of the four deserve it. Ricochet then suggested them doing a four-way with the winner getting a title match. Styles didn’t like that idea, but Gallows did. And then Anderson did. So Gallows & Anderson took out Carrillo to protect Styles from defending the title, but then want four guys who are all slotted much higher than Carrillo to get a shot at the title. So Styles agreed. Mysterio won the four-way over Orton, Ricochet and McIntyre in 14:28. Good match. There was a cool spot where McIntyre was hanging from the corner upside down. Orton went to superplex Ricochet. McIntyre then did the roman chair style sit up and German superplexed Orton and Ricochet. Gallows, Anderson and Styles came out. Several near falls. Orton hit the RKO on McIntyre but Gallows & Anderson pulled Orton out of the ring and threw him into the barricade. There’s no DQ’s in WWE four-ways, and logic would be that everyone should bring their friends and interfere. Mysterio went for a moonsault block on Ricochet, who blocked it and was going for a power bomb out of it but Mysterio turned it into a cradle for the pin. Very nice looking finishing sequence. Mysterio pinned Styles in 15:16 to win the U.S. title. A ***½ match. Mysterio hit a 619 which knocked Styles into the ref who went down. Anderson & Gallows came out. Orton then ran in for the save. Mysterio hit Styles with a 619 and Styles flew into an RKO by Orton. Mysterio hit the splash off the top rope and the ref recovered and counted the pin. Dominick ran in and carried his father around the ring on his shoulders. Caruso was with Owens. Owens said that he’s always been himself. He said Rollins has always tried to be what the company wants him to be. He said Rollins had turned into a miserable, insufferable prick and called him Mr. Crossfit. Asuka beat Flair in 17:15. Flair still had some green mist in her hair from the night before. Sane was at ringside. Flair kicked Sane allowing Asuka to take over. Flair chased Sane away. They had some problems in this match. A few spots had some very noticeable miscommunication issues. There was a nice sequence where Flair went for natural selection but Asuka countered into an armbar. Flair countered into a Boston crab. Asuka escaped. Flair hit a spear and Sane came back. Flair went after her and threw her into the post. She got back in the ring and Asuka blew a world record of green mist. The mist was all around Asuka’s mouth and Flair’s face and upper chest was caked in it. The ref counted the pin which was kind of ridiculous when the mist was so obvious everywhere. Wyatt said that there would be a nice face in the Firefly Fun House on Friday. Rowan pinned Kyle Roberts in 1:22 with two claw slams. Styles acted mentally broken and didn’t want to talk, but he eventually said he wanted Orton. Caruso interviewed Lana. She said that WWE should fire Rusev and sent him back to Bulgaria. Caruso asked how Lashley was doing and she said that despite this very traumatic experience, “I’m going to be okay.” The idea is that Lana thinks everything is about her. Main event saw Owens over Rollins via DQ in 14:00 when the AOP interfered. The crowd hated this finish. Rollins worked as a face. The action was good but the crowd didn’t boo Rollins and the match had no heat. The AOP came out. Owens slapped Rezar and then both beat down Owens. Fans chanted “bullshit” while AOP threw Owens’ shoulder into the post over and over. They continued to beat down Owens. Rollins fired up like he was going to save Owens, but AOP left instead. Then Rollins gave Owens a curb stomp to the end the TV show. After Raw ended they did a cage match where Wyatt retained over McIntyre. Wyatt gave McIntyre three Sister Abigails and walked out the door to win
598
599Notes from the 11/27 NXT tapings. A solid show, nothing off the charts but moved well. There were a few scary spots. Bobby Fish was teaming with Kyle O’Reilly in a tag title defense against Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic. Fish was injured about one minute in. We didn’t get an update past at the moment there was fear of a concussion. Lee threw Fish over the top rope and he was supposed to throw him on O’Reilly who would break the fall. But he threw him and O’Reilly wasn’t close enough to break the fall. Since there was no planned title change and they had 20 minutes of TV time laid out for the match, they impromptu sent Roderick Strong in the ring. Strong wasn’t ready and worked in his street clothes and did an entire match basically working on the fly. It went well, not a great match but a good match. Lee gave Adam Cole a pounce outside the ring into a section of fans who looked like family/friends/trainees rather than fans as no way they’d have Cole fly into fans. He took the pounce and flew two rows deep. Candice LeRae was supposed to back suplex Dakota Kai on the apron, but missed and both crashed to the floor. They seemed okay and continued the match. In a planned spot, Akira Tozawa gave Lio Rush a German suplex off the apron and Rush flipped in mid air and landed on his face. At least he got all the way over or it could have been worse. Later, Rush kicked Tozawa in the head and it looked like a flash knockout. In the first dark match, Raul Mendoza beat Arturo Ruas. The other dark match saw Santana Garrett beat Deonna Purrazzo. The show opened with a big celebration for the success over the weekend. Rapper Josiah Williams came out and all the faces were out dancing around. The Undisputed Era came out to cut it off. Cole said that the success was all due to the Undisputed Era and the rest of you did nothing. Fans were chanting “We Are NXT” and Cole told them that none of them are NXT, and the Undisputed Era is NXT. Ciampa brought up that they lost at War Games and how War Games was the beginning of the end for them. He said the war was over and daddy won and he’s bringing goldy (the belt) home. Balor came out and said he was standing in Ciampa’s way. Ciampa said, “Prince, you just met your king.” Ciampa challenged Balor and Keith Lee challenged Fish & O’Reilly to a tag title match and said it was basking season. Fish & O’Reilly went to defend against Lee & Dominik Dijakovic. Right away was the spot where Fish got hurt. Strong just replaced him as they took Fish to the back. Nigel McGuinness talked about it being Freebird rules. Freebird rules didn’t mean someone gets hurt and the other can replace him but whatever. There’s no logical
600
601sense at all to do it the way they did, not that things like that haven’t happened before. But they are doing live TV and if something goes wrong, you have to wing it. Dijakovic suplexed Lee on both of them. Actually Lee didn’t land on either. Strong kept going to chop blocks to set up heat spots. The fans took to Lee as a bigger star coming off Survivor Series. Dijakovic power bombed O’Reilly with one hand and choke slammed Strong with the other. Dijakovic also did a springboard flip dive on both. He also choke slammed both at the same time. Cole came out and Lee pounced him and Cole went flying. That was awesome. In the ring, Strong & O’Reilly used the high/low on Dijakovic for the pin in 20:16. Candice LeRae was mad at Dakota Kai for turning on Tegan Nox, who she said was like her little sister. She said Kai was supposed to be their friend. She had Nox will get Kai but tonight Kai has to face Nox’s pissed off big sister. Mansoor beat Shane Thorne in 3:02. This was good while it lasted. Mansoor did a tope but Throne caught him in mid-air and gave him a Saito suplex on the floor. Mansoor later did an elbow suicida. Mansoor won coming off the apron and in the ring with a neckbreaker. LeRae beat Kai via DQ in 12:29. Kai came out with Nox’s knee brace as a trophy. LeRae hit a tope. There was the botched suplex on the apron. There was also a messed up tornado DDT. Kai tried to use the knee brace but LeRae ducked and power bombed her for a near fall. There were a lot of near falls including Kai using a Canadian Destroyer into double knees. LeRae used a Mistica into a Gargano escape but Kai made the ropes. LeRae went for a tope but Kai hit her with the knee brace for the DQ. Kai continued to pound on her, throwing LeRae into nit the steps and the post. Kai grabbed a chair when Rhea Ripley cran in for the save and got the chair. The crowd reacted to Ripley like she was big star. Ciampa did an interview and said Balor may have been the longest reigning champion but he’s the one who turned NXT into the A show and turned goldy into the most important championship in sports entertainment. There was a video of Cameron Grimes. Lio Rush beat Akira Tozawa to keep the cruiserweight title in 13:03. This was really good. Rush did a springboard off the ropes and Tozawa was supposed to German suplex him it appeared. Rush bounced off and Tozawa was still out so Rush just fell down. But Tozawa did recover and they went back to that spot and then followed with a second delayed German suplex. Tozawa came off the top rope with a high senton, but Rush got his knees up. Rush did a frog splash to the back and followed with a frog splash to the chest for the pin. I’d go ***3/4. Balor did an interview. Xia Li beat Vanessa Borne in 1:10. The idea is Borne was going for revenge for what Li did to Aliyah. Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir and Shayna Baszler came out. Li kicked Borne in the head for the pin. After, Duke and Shafir attacked Li but she held her own with them. Finally Baszler jumped in and they beat her down. Li made a comeback on Baszler, including Baszler going down to a kick that missed by a lot. Finally Duke and Shafir held Li and Baszler gave her a running kick. Baszler cut a promo saying that she beat Bayley and Banks at the same time. The fans were chanting for Ripley, who then came out. Baszler, Shafir and Duke all left the ring. Ripley said that Baszler beat Bayley and Banks, but when she went face-to-face with her, I beat you. Baszler said that you may be the nightmare, but I’m the reality and the reality is you’ll be tapping or napping like the rest of them. Ripley said “Why don’t you do it now?” Baszler then walked out with Duke and Shafir. Balor pinned Ciampa in 11:31. Beth Phoenix compared Ciampa’s offense to that of Mick Foley. I didn’t see that at all but Phoenix’s explanation is that both did offensive moves that hurt themselves. Balor dropkicked Ciampa on the floor into the barricade. Lots of near falls, with Balor kicking out of Project Ciampa and Ciampa kicking out of a double foot stop. Ciampa used an Air Raid crash on Balor, who kicked out. Cole came out. After a series of reversals, Balor went for a belt shot with Cole’s belt. Ref Jessicka Carr grabbed the belt from him. Balor used a GTR on the belt for a near fall. Balor ended up getting the pin with an enzuigiri and a 1916. Cole & Balor celebrated over a fallen Ciampa. Cole went to pat Balor on the back but Balor then hit Cole with a Pele kick to end the show with the idea nobody knows what Balor is up to
602
603The only house show of the week was 11/23 in Grand Rapids, MI, a dual branded Super show that drew 3,800 fans
604
605In Grand Rapids, Ricochet pinned Orton. Orton got a big reaction. McIntyre pinned Tozawa with the Claymore kick. Carrillo pinned Andrade. Rusev beat Lashley via DQ for a low blow. Lana was booed heavily. Cross pinned Evans. Cross appeared to have a shoulder injury the way she was holding her arm. Reigns pinned Corbin with a spear. Corbin had a lot of heat. Nakamura pinned Miz with the Kinshasa with help from Zayn to keep the IC title. Flair used the figure eight to beat Sane. Asuka was in Sane’s corner. Heavy Machinery beat The Revival quickly in a match that was almost a squash. Main event saw Fiend beat Bryan to keep the Universal title after Sister Abigail in a cage match. Lots of “Yowie Wowie” chants. They were selling “Yes is back” shirts so that is the idea even if the storyline hasn’t quite gotten there yet.