November 18, 2019 Observer Newsletter: CM Punk joins WWE Ba

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 18, 2019



AEW FULL GEAR POLL RESULTS

Thumbs up 951 (86.3%)

Thumbs down 24 (02.2%)

In the middle 127 (11.5%)



BEST MATCH POLL

Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega 429

Chris Jericho vs. Cody 425

Santana & Ortiz vs. Young Bucks 87

Riho vs. Emi Sakura 84

Adam Page vs. Pac 57



WORST MATCH POLL

Shawn Spears vs. Joey Janela 414

Britt Baker vs. Bea Priestley 285

Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega 124

Riho vs. Emi Sakura 59

Tag title three-way 32

Chris Jericho vs. Cody 13

Based on e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/12.



In the latest example of never say never, C.M. Punk showed up at the end of WWE Backstage on 11/12, and announced he would be starting on the show next week.

The news was something of a surprise, even though it was known he had pushed for the spot and had taken a screen test, and at the time it was widely expected he’d be hired. Punk and everyone had gone mum on the subject in recent weeks, although there were people saying he was in.

Punk will join the regular cast of Renee Young, Booker T, Christian, Paige and Ryan Satin on the show that airs at 11 p.m. Tuesday nights on FS 1. In theory, Punk is with FOX, and not WWE, but the show thus far has been a promotional arm and hardly independent coverage. Punk will appear regularly, but not necessarily on every show.

The first episodes of the show were hardly the type of show those involved with the station had promised, with the idea they would surprise people with in-depth and real journalistic coverage.

Punk himself, when asked if he was on the show in the past, said if he was, he’d call a spade a spade when it came to the product.

Even though there were definitely people within WWE negative of the idea of Punk, because of how he left, what he said on the Colt Cabana podcast that led to a lawsuit, the nature of the WWE business is such that if he wanted back, he’d be back. Now was the right timing because he was the last free agent AEW could have signed that may have been a game changer. Still, some expected him to be the exception to the rule with the idea he would be adamant about never going back. But history has shown, whether it’s Bret Hart, Bruno Sammartino, Bill Goldberg, Superstar Billy Graham and just about everyone else who leaves on bad terms, the question is never if but when.

WWE Backstage in its first week only did 49,000 viewers. Times are competitive and Punk did get offers from AEW, which opened talks with him in 2018, long before anyone knew there was an AEW. When Tony Khan first decided to explore the idea of starting a wrestling company, Punk was one of the first people he contacted.

According to those with knowledge of the deal, he was given a money offer and obviously he didn’t accept the offer. He had one personal meeting with Khan and the two had dialogue over time. But it went cold at the time AEW as a promotion became very serious and started having legitimate success, although there was contact as late as June based on what Punk has said.

When Punk knocked AEW’s negotiating in a late July interview with Marc Raimondi in Sports illustrated, Cody publicly and others in AEW privately stated said that they believed he was looking at going back to WWE, and he was knocked for having that viewpoint from people who believed that wasn’t possible. Those who spoke with him in August had also said he was looking at trying to get a big offer to go back.

When Punk was involved in several years of litigation with Dr. Chris Amann, who sued him for slander after remarks he had made on Cabana’s podcast, which cost him more than $1 million, the feeling from some was that this was a level of bad blood that wouldn’t be rectified. During the period he cut off every friendship he had in WWE. He also fell out with Cabana on at least one occasion during litigation, although they behaved like two longtime friends when the trial itself took place. Then, after the trial, Cabana sued him, attempting to get him to pay Cabana’s legal bills as Cabana claimed he had promised to cover all his expenses for getting him into the mess. Punk sued back and eventually both sides withdrew their claims against the other.

Punk told Raimondi, when asked if he was going to AEW, after he had agreed to do Conrad Thompson’s Starrcast, he said, “No. I know they like to talk about me a lot. If I text Matt Jackson, `Hey, have a great show tonight,’ which I did when they had their big show in Vegas, that somehow turns into Tony Khan telling people he has a great relationship with me. I've said in the past I've talked to them, but nothing ever came of anything.”

When asked if he thought there were expectations from fans he was going to AEW at the time, when he did Starrcast, he said, “I think if there's an expectation, it's purely been built by them. My silence to some fans means something. They're trying to read the tea leaves, but there's nothing to read. I even feel like talking about it may feel like I'm putting some sort of negative slant on it, but I'm really not. The fact is I know they've teased me ad nauseam, and if anybody is gonna get mad it's at me because I don't show up. Well then, I don't know what to tell you. That's one of those things that's none of my business.

“They do videos where they talk about me. They're constantly talking about me in the media. And again, maybe this sounds like I'm badgering them, but I'm not. It's just something that happens. I'm a popular guy to talk about. But I'm not doing interviews talking about them. If people ask me about it, I say no, I won't be there.

“The last thing I got -- I got a text from Cody. And again, I almost don't even know how to reply to them sometimes, because if I reply, they do interviews and are like, ‘Oh yeah, I just talked to Punk.’ I'm kind of damned if I do, damned if I don't. I always think if somebody wants to do business with me, they can come talk to me. Texting offers isn't really a way to do good business, at least.

“It was (an offer) texted through three people and an offer came in through text. This is like a month ago, maybe.”

At the time we had learned and reported that his agent had attempted to get him on the newly planned FS 1 show as an analyst. FOX at one point pushed for him to co-host the show. Those in WWE who were aware of it, noted negativity about it at first, because of the past bad blood. But later, when he got a tryout, we were told that the expectation was that an offer would be made to him. He had claimed to have not gotten an offer when asked. That could have been true, or it could have been to build for the surprise moment.

There was a promise during the show on 11/12 of a surprise. As the show was closing, they talked about a surprise, and “Cult of Personality,” his entrance music that he used during his heel run in ROH, as well as in his last few years in WWE, as well as UFC, started playing and he came out. He high-fived Renee Young and paraphrased one of his heroes, Roddy Piper, in saying, “Just when you think you’ve got the answers, I change the culture.” Piper’s phrase was “I change the questions.”

Chants for C.M. Punk had been plentiful over the past several years by fans when they were unhappy with the product. So that will change. Punk’s return also comes right before the company has four shows in Chicago for Survivor Series week.

In many ways, the AEW Full Gear show was the latest test of the wrestling landscape.

NXT, starting on 9/18, and AEW, two weeks later, started head-to-head on television on Wednesdays. There were a lot of ramifications. AEW on TNT was the strongest television platform a pro wrestling company other than WWE has had in the U.S. since the death of WCW on TNT and TBS in early 2001. Plus, AEW had done PPV shows and live events with a level of success that no company in history had ever done without television, since the advent of television.

They had proven to have a fervent fan base that would travel to shows, and buy merchandise like crazy. NXT itself also had a fervent fan base, and was regularly upstaging the main roster by putting on stronger shows the night before major PPV shows. But those great shows and great in-ring matches couldn’t completely trump the exposure of national television. No matter how many times Takeovers blew away the main roster, there was never a Takeover show that had more legit ticket demand on the same weekend as the major PPV show. And the one show that had the highest demand was for the debut of Shinsuke Nakamura in Dallas, which was more the power of New Japan Pro Wrestling at the time than anything else.

Now, things have changed in the sense ticket demand for Takeovers had surpassed both Raw and Smackdown tapings in the same market several times. Ticket demand for AEW had been shockingly strong as well.

So the question is what happens with television. Both groups started strong. AEW’s first show did 1.4 million viewers and drew more viewers 18-49 than most weeks of Raw and almost every week of Smackdown. NXT opened at 1.2 million viewers. Both opened far stronger than when their networks had previously in the time slot, about 450,000 viewers for TNT and 750,000 for USA. NXT fell below that threshold a few weeks back, but came back. Right now is the question on what the leveling out point will be for both sides and if it can turn around and start gaining. The rebound on 11/13 for AEW was a very strong sign on a week that they needed it, specifically because competition was tough and it reversed recent trends.

Even NWA Powerrr, a show that has been largely praised, has gone from 546,000 YouTube views for its first episode and dropped to 226,000 and 196,000 for the shows on 10/29 and 11/5 respectively, so sustaining audience is seemingly possible for any new product. Smackdown also fell greatly from week one on FOX, but at least a large part of that was Dwayne Johnson and the advertising of Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.

But even with both groups putting on strong shows, until the NXT angle on Smackdown, NXT was losing viewers every week and attracting an aging audience. Last week, largely due to A.J. Styles, which shows the value of a main roster top guy, they greatly closed the gap. AEW was, aside from a disappointing increase coming off the show after the seventh game of the World Series, down weekly until a strong comeback this week.

Since getting on television, neither side has seen any kind of increase in live attendance. It is still early. Nitro, which changed the face of WCW briefly, didn’t really lead to noticeable attendance increases until five months in, and PPV business, both pre-Nitro and post-Nitro, until the NWO angle, really revolved around Hulk Hogan being on the show or not.

AEW was strong, selling out Washington, DC (with huge buys by scalpers who ended up taking a bath), Boston and Philadelphia all before television was announced. Since then, crowds have been mostly 4,000 to 6,000, numbers that would be considered great if you said there would be a start-up one year ago doing this. But when you start with the ticket demand they had before television, it showed how little television has meant at least so far in making a difference.

Right now the main story is where AEW levels out as far as maintaining audience. It’s more about the 18-49 number than total, and right now that number is good. If it stays even at last week’s 0.35, that’s still good, but the pattern has not been staying even. After week one, which we can throw out as an outlier, similar to week one of NXT and week one of Smackdown on FOX , the show was consistently doing 0.45 and 0.46 in the demo until Game Seven, but dropped the last two weeks until picking up to 0.43 on 11/13.

Until the NXT angle on the main roster, it was doubling NXT head-to-head. The gap closed to 0.35 to 0.30 last week but expanded to 0.43 to 0.25 on 11/13, but still no longer doubling. But this isn’t about this week or last month, it’s about where things are in January when things really get settled in.

This week was Full Gear, the company’s first PPV since television, on 11/9 from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore. It was risky as they had just run DC, the same basic market, on 10/2. The show drew 8,200 fans, not sold out but relatively close.

As far as PPV goes, the numbers look to be about the same as All Out, which ended up at about 100,000, or slightly below. On digital, the numbers were roughly the same as the first two shows. Still, you’d hope digital would show noticeable growth because of the television hype, particularly because the Cody go-home promo was one of the best of its kind in years. We don’t have the cable numbers yet, past that they won’t hit Double or Nothing levels and will either hit with late buys or fall slightly short of All Out.

Tony Khan said he was happy with the numbers but joked that they specifically picked that night because they wanted to avoid a big UFC show or a big boxing match, knowing football this time of the year would make it tough. They thought they had the right date with UFC in the afternoon. Then they ended up blindsided with something that hit the casual audience bigger than a huge UFC or a Canelo Alvarez fight, since DAZN reported the most viewers for any event in its history for the Logan Paul vs. KSI rematch which went head-to-head. Even worse, in the U.K., it ended up as the biggest PPV event of the year, even beating Anthony Joshua fights. That kind of competition isn’t going to make a 30,000 buy difference on a show like this but could easily make a 10,000 buy difference. There was also a monster LSU-Alabama game, which was over before the PPV started, but it also drew 16,583,000 viewers and if people watched it, they were probably looking at doing something other than watching another four-hour event immediately after. Even if it ends up the same as the last show, and thus it probably would have beaten the last show without the level of competition, it still shows that the television building it up didn’t make the kind of difference it did for other companies that first got television.

Neither of the last two shows cracked the top 20 for the day in Google Trends. Double or Nothing was No. 2 for its day, the only time AEW has cracked the top 20 for anything it has ever done. It did get a high as No. 19 on Saturday, before falling out of the top 20 by the end of the night. When it comes to our polls, the feedback was the third largest in history, trailing only Double or Nothing and the Omega-Jericho Tokyo Dome show in 2018.

Unlike with UFC, where television in one case led to PPVs growing five fold, and then before long, tenfold, or TNA, which was tripling its PPV numbers when it got on Spike, it’s a different era. Of course going from 8,000 to 25,000 is very different from starting at 100,000 like All Out. UFC with the same Chuck Liddell-Randy Couture fight did 48,000 before television and 280,000 after television. If anything, what we’ve learned from both AEW and NXT is the value of television to drive business now is completely different than from any other period since television started in the late 40s.

At this point, the value of television is the revenue from television. Luckily, that is also higher than at any time in history. And perhaps, like with Nitro’s history, it started big at first, then dropped, and it took months to get back where it started. And in time, it did and grew greatly from there. But that’s also 23 years ago and everything is different, and Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Sting and others had far more mainstream name value to the public than the top stars on AEW, or NXT do.

Whatever the reasons, the declining viewership of both shows is a concern but if we’ve reached the leveling out point, and we don’t know that yet, AEW is a television success and NXT is borderline.

Fact is, the public still sees Raw and Smackdown as the major shows. Until they see AEW as major league, and that may take a long time, it’s going to be hard to grow. The same goes with NXT, as we’ve seen for years.

As far as Full Gear goes, the show got a largely positive response, with most, but not all of the negativity regarding the polarizing Lights Out match.

Chris Jericho beat Cody in the main event to retain the AEW title when MJF threw in the towel. The match was both marred, and enhanced, by an accident when Cody did a dive over the top that he was to miss to set up Jericho taking over. In missing, he landed face and ribs first on the ramp, giving him a huge gash over the right eye. His body was bruised up as well. Dr. Michael Sampson came out to check on him and if he was badly injured, Sampson had the authority to stop the match. The report that he wasn’t medically cleared was a storyline.

All the blood made the rest of the bout that much more dramatic. As far as the stips go, Cody had said that if he didn’t win the title, he would never challenge for it again. Those in the company are insistent that is exactly what will happen, and that this is step one in trying to teach people stipulations matter. Most modern fans, who only know of stipulations never adhered to, are hardly going to buy it. That’s probably one of the reasons the stipulation probably didn’t increase buys, because it’s a generation taught not to believe anything and think of the loophole and not even consider that it’s real. Time will tell here but so much damage has been done to stipulations in wrestling that it may not be able to be undone. Nick Jackson sent out a tweet when people were coming up with their own loopholes and how Cody will get another shot, saying that they were going to 100 percent live up to stips.

The other top match, Jon Moxley’s win over Kenny Omega, drew a very wide range of feedback. I hated it, but also recognize that as far as the mental aspect of laying out a match and the physical aspect of doing it at a high level, it was a tremendous match and incredible spectacle. Many loved it and many hated it. There were people who left the building. Those who stayed reacted to it like it was an epic match. If this match took place exactly the same way in the 90s, when so much of this type of weapons and barbed wire stuff was novel enough, people would be calling it one of the greatest bouts of its type of all-time. Far worse stuff in ECW and FMW was praised at that level because it was a novelty. Today, it’s all been done. If you go with the idea that you want diversity on a card, there were plenty of great matches of different styles on the show, and a straight match between the two of them would have been just another.

I hated the Undertaker vs. Mick Foley Hell in a Cell match, but it also became historic. And as much as Foley hated when he read me say it would be what he is most remembered for as a wrestler, he also said this past week that over time, he recognizes that’s the case. And this match wasn’t nearly as dangerous, even though doing a Phoenix splash on wood with no padding hardly qualifies as safe. To show how polarizing it was, it not only got best match on a show loaded with great matches, but also third for worst match. In feedback we got, most of it ranged from ****3/4 to *****, while plenty also listed it as * or lower. Anyway, I get that the thought process had far more depth than most matches, even though to some the weapons usage would feel like mindless weapons use and violence for the sake of violence and shock value. I also recognized the performances from both guys were great. To me, when it comes to a Lights Out match, I’d rather see a violent fight, perhaps with some weapons use, than a ton of weapons use where it’s just about weapons use and the element of the fight is a very distant second.

Overall, the show felt like an NXT Takeover, but longer and with a greater variety of styles.

The live show was kept to about four hours and 20 minutes total, with the Buy in show being roughly 35 minutes of a Countdown show, which was a tremendous Countdown show, getting over all the key players on the card. The footage shot in New York of Ortiz & Santana, now called “Proud and Powerful,” was a real highlight.

One of the aspects of AEW is their footage promoting events that they put on the Internet is tremendous. It would make for great TV to get the characters over. But with two hours and so much talent on the roster, as well as ratings being so important, most of it is not on Dynamite. Those type of videos are effective to the audience watching, but in this day and age, they also lead to viewers not staying with the show. And the modern wrestling business is an 18-49 ratings business.

WWE lost $3.5 million on house shows the last quarter and they cut back on shows, loaded them up, and they are the industry leader. AEW isn’t even doing house shows. WWE has also created an environment where people believe they shouldn’t pay more than $9.99 to see a big show, and while AEW has topped 100,000 in their two previous shows, they are fighting the tide of the $50 one shot card when ROH and Impact numbers have taken huge hits.

Besides Cody, the only significant injury seemed to be Adam Page, who suffered a stinger, but he was still able to wrestle at TV.

No date was announced for the next PPV show. They are looking for a Saturday in three months time, so probably February, and for the right weekend to avoid a major UFC or boxing event.

1. Britt Baker beat Bea Priestley in 11:28. This was the only match. Baker was battling the flu, which was brought up on the air. The crowd was into this, and they were hot for most of the show. It was the one match where it was rough in spots. Priestley used moves like a German suplex, a bridging back suplex, and a double foot stomp to the back on the apron. Baker used a Canadian Destroyer off the ropes, or if you prefer, the Panama sunrise that her boyfriend Adam Cole uses, for a near fall. Baker won via submission with lockjaw. *3/4

After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out. Kong gave Priestly the uraken, a spinning backfist, followed by the Angel’s wings. Kong got a knife and cut some of Priestley’s hair. It appears Kong is going to have this trophy case belt with the hair of women she’s cutting, with Rhodes as her voodoo-esque manager.

2. Proud of Powerful, Ortiz & Santana, beat the Young Bucks in 21:00. This was not the typical Young Bucks match. Perhaps with Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson at ringside, they wanted to do something different. There was a double Frye-Takayama start. The Young Bucks did a double pescado. Then there was a cool four-way spot where Ortiz & Santana had them in a combination Gori especial and camel clutch, basically using the finishers of Mexico’s greatest tag team in history, Santo & Gori Guerrero together on the Young Bucks. Matt used a plancha on Ortiz and a Savage elbow on Santana. The big spot was Nick kicking the post when Ortiz moved. Ortiz swept Nick’s leg and he landed on his head on the apron. Santana threw Matt over the barricade onto Morton & Gibson. Santana blew his nose on Morton. Nick sold the right knee, would still use it for big finishers that didn’t finish, and sold it some more. Ortiz did a roll through cutter and double reverse slam. Ortiz did a flip dive on Nick. Matt hot tagged in and hit three Northern lights suplexes, and then two more on both Ortiz & Santana at the same time. They did a double splash on Santana for a near fall, but every time Nick would do a move like that as a finisher, he would hurt his right leg more. Santana did a sky high crossbody that Matt reversed in mid air. Lots of big moves. The Young Bucks set up the Meltzer driver, but Nick’s right leg went out and he fell on the ground selling. Nick spit at Santana, who took the gum and put it in his own mouth. More near falls until Matt missed a charge and went into the post and Ortiz & Santana used the street sweeper to get the clean pin on Nick. Proud and Powerful have been a good team for two years but they looked like a super team here. After the match, Sammy Guevara came out with a loaded sock. Morton & Gibson jumped in for the save, with Morton, at 63, doing a Canadian Destroyer on Santana and a tope on Santana and Guevara. The crowd went nuts for this. Morton is so incredible figuring out doing two modern moves will tear the house down given the nostalgia deal they’ve got going right now. I’d really love to see these guys back every few months or so on TV’s shot in markets they were over strong in. ****1/4

3. Adam Page pinned Pac in 18:51. This was a real classic style match. Pac is so good at every aspect of the game, offense, selling, flying and coming off as a short but tough heel. His upper back also looks just ridiculous. He made the perfect opponent for Page, who felt like the top babyface they’ve been wanting him to be and that he’s not quite become. Jim Ross was great in the last two matches, but the constant shutting down of Page when he did flying moves was too Zbyszkoish for my taste. Pac missed a Phoenix splash. Page did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor. Pac played possum on the floor, attacked Page and gave him a brainbuster on a chair. That didn’t look good at all. Page’s back was all bruised up from that uneven fall. Pac did a missile dropkick that was a thing of beauty. He did hard kicks to the chest. Page tried a buckshot lariat but was hit with a superkick and German suplex. Page hit a power bomb and went for the dead eye, but Pac turned it into the brutalizer. Page was tremendous in struggling to make the ropes. Pac missed the black arrow and Page missed the buckshot lariat. Pac distracted the ref and went for a low blow, but Page blocked it. Page then used a sick clothesline and the dead eye for the pin. This was Pac’s first AEW loss in a singles match. I thought for sure his winning streak would get him a title match before losing on the way. But this match would have been a great television world title match main event. ****1/4

4. Shawn Spears pinned Joey Janela in 11:41. Janela always works hard. He did a crossbody off the apron that Spears turned into a powerslam. Spears used a back suplex on the apron. Spears tied Janela’s long hair into the corner. Janela had to pull his hair out to escape. Janela did a flip dive to the floor. Spears did a belly-to-belly off the top. Janela hit a tope. The finish saw the ref distracted by Spears undoing the turnbuckle pad, and then Spears and Blanchard gave Janela a stuff piledriver on the floor and Spears used a Death Valley driver for the pin. ***1/4

Kip Sabian did an interview with Penelope Ford. He’s forming an alliance with Jack Evans & Angelico. Ford said, “Why be bad when you could be super bad?” That’s basically a remark because Janela was The Bad Boy and her boyfriend. She broke up with him and went to Sabian, who is now Super Bad. It felt like Sabian vs. Janela was the direction. There was no follow up on Dynamite and Janela instead on television attacked Spears.

5. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky won a three-way over Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix and Private Party to keep the AEW tag titles in 13:01. All kinds of great moves. Everyone had a good match but Fenix is just unreal. He did a springboard dropkick on Marc Quen while Pentagon had Quen on his shoulders. All kinds of big dives late. Kazarian did a pescado into a huracanrana. Quen did a Fosbury flop. Sky teased a dive but Pentagon superkicked him. Isaiah Kassidy did a tornillo dive. Fenix did a triple springboard twisting dive. Fenix did a double springboard crossbody on Sky. Quen used a shooting star on Kazarian for a near fall. Kazarian blocked the gin and juice finisher by Private Party and did a form of the GTS, the SCU later on Kassidy for the pin. Pentagon & Fenix were attacking the champions after, looking like they were building a title match. The lights went out and a second Pentagon was in the ring facing off with Pentagon. Everyone knew it was Christopher Daniels but it wasn’t meant to be a secret since he did an STO on Pentagon and Angel’s wings on Fenix dropping him on Pentagon. ****

6. Riho pinned Emi Sakura in 13:18 to retain the women’s title. Sakura came out and was crying in the ring as she’s been in the business 23 years and this was the biggest worldwide stage she’s ever been on. The story is that she started training Riho at nine when Riho quit gymnastics competitions and wanted to be a wrestler. This would be the 269th match the two have had against each other and 33rd singles match. This was by far the best actual match Riho has had, and she always gets over live, even on nights the matches aren’t at this level. Sakura did a rolling Romero special. She did an awesome looking quebradora (spinning backbreaker) and a double arm backbreaker. She did a Vader bomb into a double foot stomp and a reverse Vader bomb. Riho at her size did a great Northern lights suplex. Riho did a double foot stomp off the top rope. Sakura used a Saito suplex and the storm breaker. They traded all kinds of near falls. Riho blocked Sakura’s attempt at the La Magistral, then rolled out of a second attempt and did this twisting crucifix into a cradle for the pin. ****

7. Chris Jericho beat Cody in 29:36 to retain the AEW title. There were three judges at ringside, Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson and Great Muta (who came in for Starrcast). The match was on Jericho’s 49th birthday, and fans were chanting, “F*** your birthday.” Jericho stalled early and argued with Malenko. Cody did a tope early. Then he missed the dive on the ramp and came up with a big cut and blood everywhere. Jake Hager also attacked Cody. Cody was knocked silly and his rib area was all red as well. He was yelling about not stopping the match. He came back and got back into it, missing a moonsault. Jericho went for the lionsault and Cody got his knees up and hit an Oscutter for a near fall and a disaster kick which knocked Jericho to the floor. Jericho drove Cody’s back into the post. Jericho confronted Cody’s mother, Michelle, who was shown multiple times at ringside, and she slapped Jericho in the face. Hager attacked Cody and MJF. Jericho nailed Cody with a belt shot while ref Aubrey Edwards was kicking Hager out. Cody did the Dusty flip flop and fly which led to Dusty chants. Cody came off he ropes but Jericho hit the codebreaker for a near fall. Jericho whipped Cody six times with his weight belt until Edwards took the belt away. Cody tried a huracanrana but Jericho turned it into a Boston cab. Cody got a rope break, and an inside cradle. But Jericho got him back into a liontamer version of the Boston crab and sat down hard while continually stomping on the head until MJF threw in the towel. Cody looked dejected and disappointed, more than mad. Fans chanted “You f***ed up” at MJF. The deal where this worked was that it wasn’t a blatant bullshit towel throw, in the sense the announcers themselves were selling that it may be the best thing for Cody because he could end up with an injury that would shorten his career. It’s a dual thing. Those watching with fake pro wrestling minds where it’s all fantasy, that’s not an acceptable finish. Those who watch with real fight minds, so if you are at the point in watching this that you accept the parameters, it was a very legit towel throw particularly with the commentary. Then Cody went t hug MJF, who kicked him low. Fans of course were mad. Everyone knew MJF would turn at some point, but it was a pretty good uproar when he did and the execution was great. ****½

8. Jon Moxley pinned Kenny Omega in 38:45 of a lights out match. So what was great here was the storytelling and execution. As far as what they were doing itself, that’s a different issue. It’s a divisive match. A few minutes in, Moxley outright said they were doing a garbage match. Moxley used garbage can lid shots to the head. Omega tackled him to the floor and threw him over the barricade. Omega ran on the floor and jumped over the barricade with a dropkick on Moxley which was a great spot. He threw beer on Moxley and did a double foot stomp on him with a garbage can on Moxley. Omega threw another beer on him. Omega went for a moonsault off the barricade but Moxley shoved him off. Moxley suplexed him on the ground and pulled out a barbed wire bat. He used a bat to the back three times and Omega had multiple small cuts on his back. He stomped on the bat which was on Omega’s back. Omega came back with a piledriver on a garbage can. Omega pulled out a barbed wire board. Moxley went for a tope and hit a barbed wire broom. Omega was stomping the broom onto Moxley’s back and now he was bleeding from the back. Omega gave Moxley a double foot stomp into barbed wire. He drove the barbed wire broom into Moxley’s forehead and gave him a drop toe hold into the broom. Omega did a moonsault while holding a garbage can although in landing, Omega hit Moxley but the can really didn’t. Omega pulled out a board with mouse traps but Moxley suplexed Omega onto the mouse traps. Moxley was at this point covered in blood. Moxley pulled out gold chains and gave Omega a sidewalk slam on the chains, a neckbreaker on the chains and a camel clutch with the chains. Moxley was choking Omega with the chains when Omega broke the choke with garbage can lid shots. Moxley then brought out a screwdriver. Omega came back with two snap dragon suplexes and Moxley went to bite him over the eye like Moxley did in the Juice Robinson match. Omega finally hit the Terminator dive that drove Moxley through a table on the floor. Omega pulled out broken glass, with the idea it was the glass from the table Moxley DDT’d him through. Omega stomped on the glass and poured it on the mat. He put Moxley in a sharpshooter but Moxley had to crawl across the glass to get to the ropes, which wasn’t a rope break but allowed him to pull himself up to alleviate the pressure. Omega picked up the glass and put it in Moxley’s mouth. By the way, this was gimmicked glass. Omega hit a series of V triggers and got the screwdriver and drove it into Moxley’s forehead. The Young Bucks brought out a barbed wire spider web after Omega kept screaming to get it. Moxley suplexed Omega off the ramp and both took the bump into the spider web. Moxley started punching the security guys. This barbed wire appeared gimmicked since unlike earlier, nobody came up from it bleeding. Moxley used a paradigm shift on the glass for a near fall. Moxley began cutting the string holding the canvas down. He then undid the canvas and the padding so there were nothing but exposed boards. Moxley tried a Gotch piledriver, but Omega reversed and Moxley took a back body drop on the boards. Omega hit a V trigger and a paradigm shift on the boards but Moxley kicked out. Omega missed a Phoenix splash and crashed on the boards. Moxley finally got the pin with the Death Rider, a high angle paradigm shift on the boards. ****½

The 2019 Survivor Series has announced six matches, with at least one more to come, for 11/24 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.

There were a few changes this past week. Even though Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley has been given probably more time than any other program on either show, it will not be on the show. The feeling is that the show is overloaded because of two three team elimination matches that in theory would have to go ten to 14 falls each.

Lashley vs. Rusev will be on the 12/15 TLC show in Minneapolis at the Target Center. The WWE sent the building a lineup. Often if not most of the time, when the WWE sends a lineup, it’s just something to advertise with no intention of actually doing the matches. We’re told that the plans right now are for the three matches announced to be headliners on that show.

Besides Rusev vs. Lashley’s first major match, which right is planned for a non-stip match, there will be a TLC match with Asuka & Kairi Sane defending the women’s tag titles against Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair and a Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin match. It will be a gimmick match but the gimmick has not been decided upon. It could be tables ladders or chairs, but dog collar match has also been up for consideration.

For Survivor Series, a new match on the card that hasn’t been announced is Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan for the Universal title.

It appears that Bryan was originally earmarked for almost a dream match three-way with Roderick Strong and A.J. Styles in a non-title match of secondary title performers. We were never specifically told it was Bryan, but were told last week, before the match had been teased, that such a match would take place with Strong and Styles, and that Nakamura would lose the title. The Nakamura-Bryan program that started on Smackdown has been completely dropped, and Wyatt attacked Bryan in an interview segment to start their program. Nakamura at this point is not scheduled to drop the title and has been put into this match.

Two new matches were announced this week, both old school Survivor Series elimination matches with five-person teams from Raw, Smackdown and NXT. One will be a men’s match and the other will be a women’s match. The key is that both of these matches, since they are elimination style, would look to be 14 falls each. That means a lot of fast pins.

At press time, little has been announced for those bouts. The women’s match has only announced Sasha Banks as captain, plus Lacey Evans & Carmella & Dana Brooke on the team. Nobody has been announced from Raw or NXT.

The men’s match has been announced as Team Raw, with Seth Rollins as captain, with Kevin Owens, Ricochet, Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre; Team Smackdown with Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, King Corbin, Ali and Shorty G; while NXT is yet to be announced. Adam Cole would likely be the NXT captain giving he’s the champion and not figured into any of the other matches.

The bouts already announced were Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE title, Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Bayley in a non-title battle of women’s champions, and Viking Raiders vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. New Day in a non-title battle of tag team champions.

The Allstate Arena, set up for 12,000 fans, is sold out with the exception of seats priced in excess of $250. The secondary market has dropped a little, but it’s still strong, with a $90 price for entry and about 950 tickets out.

New Japan Pro Wrestling came to California this past week for shows in San Jose on 11/9, which was pushed as a somewhat significant event, and a smaller show on 11/11 at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles.

The San Jose show had two title matches and aired live on New Japan World. It is significant because it’s the type of show that in the past would have aired live on AXS. There has been no talk of live television shows since the new ownership of AXS has taken over, with New Japan back to being one hour and hardly promoted since they own Impact.

The San Jose show was impressive because they drew 2,027 paid (about 2,450 total) to the National Civic Auditorium, the building that was the home for pro wrestling on Tuesday or Wednesday nights in the 60s and 70s before more modern arenas were built. I pretty much grew up seeing shows in that building, but I don’t think I’ve been inside for an event of any kind in close to 20 years.

It was a great building for New Japan, basically the perfect size. It wasn’t sold out, but there were maybe 50 empty seats total. It has a great look for television and the most impressive thing was the crowd. The Cow Palace show in 2018, which drew 7,000, was more about the guys like Kenny Omega, Cody and The Young Bucks. The Japanese stars were seen as big stars and it was a major event and a great show, best known, unfortunately, for Hiromu Takahashi breaking his neck in the match with Dragon Lee.

This was a smaller crowd, and while there were people who traveled, it was for the most part a local crowd. I thought it was very impressive to be able to draw this many fans who were mostly New Japan fans, as you could tell because they knew everyone, especially when Full Gear was head-to-head. The merch lines were ridiculous. It felt in the building like you were watching a super hot promotion. It was also the first time New Japan was ever in the city and we’ve seen that in today’s environment, you draw your biggest crowd first as opposed to the idea of you start and then put on good shows and slowly build your clientele.

The biggest actual thing on the show was the final U.S. match of Jushin Liger. It seemed like everyone in the building understood its significance, except New Japan Pro Wrestling. Well, they did to the point they did advertise it ahead of time. But it was a second match tag team bout, Liger & Aaron Solow vs. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano. The crowd went crazy for Liger, who got the second biggest pop coming out next to Kazuchika Okada. They chanted his name early. He was in a little. It was a basic fun match. Cabana pinned Solow to win, just as expected. Then the crowd went crazy for Liger with loud chants. He got a long standing ovation (weirdly, I’d say 80 percent of the crowd was standing but 20 percent was not) and chants. It felt like Solow sensed that just standing there next to Liger in this situation was surreal and will likely end up as one of his great wrestling memories just the way he was carrying himself.

The main thing about New Japan is just how smooth and solid the work is. Even the opening match with Alex Coughlin and Ren Narita, while basic, would be considered above the level of most major league U.S. matches that you see on television. It was very much a house show. It was good work, show personalities, and aside from Will Ospreay and Amazing Red in the main event, Lance Archer, since he had a title match, and El Phantasmo and Sho, who went out there to do a big show main event, it was fun matches everyone liked but nothing dangerous. It was amazing how over the basics done well were.

Realistically, New Japan is the No. 3 promotion in the market right now, but a distant No. 3. It’s trying to be a more solid No. 3 but as well received as this show, I don’t sense the company having upward mobility in the market. But in a city of this size to have this many fans who seemed to know everything, everyone, chant for Red Shoes, etc., was impressive. It was also very different from an indie crowd. Nobody chanted “whoo” at chops or for the most part yelled WWE catch phrases. One guy yelled “Burn it Down” and got booed. Later, some tried to start negative chants on Seth Rollins when Ospreay was in his match. Ospreay very politely motioned for them to stop and they did. Reality is on New Japan World it doesn’t serve any purpose for negative chants about WWE stars.

The tag team tournament starts 11/16 in Chichinobumiya with a live show at 4:30 a.m. Eastern. That follows with Korakuen Hall shows on 11/17 and 11/18. The next six shows won’t air live but all the tournament matches will be up the next day. Even 11/24 in Nagoya which is a big show isn’t live. There will be live shows on 11/28 and 11/29 from Korakuen Hall, 12/5 in Fukuoka, 12/6 in Kumamoto and the final night on 12/8 in Hiroshima. From 12/5, they will have the English announcers there. Up until that point, it’s only Japanese commentary.

1. Ren Narita pinned Alex Coughlin in 7:43. Hard hitting and solid work. This crowd was very much into this whereas another crowd could have dismissed it for lack of star power. ***1/4

2. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana beat Jushin Liger & Aaron Solow in 8:01. It was all about Liger. Cabana did some cool European style stuff with Solow. Yano did his comedy. Fans got Yano and liked him, and had fun with he and Liger dueling with turnbuckle padding. But it was all about Liger here. Him being in the match and the story completely overshadowed the match. Really, Liger should have been put in the main event as Ibushi’s partner rather than doing a nothing match when the crowd was so into him. **3/4

3. Minoru Suzuki & Desperado beat Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors in 9:56. Suzuki had a total superstar aura, like only the top guys in the major promotions would have. He’s still in his old league when it comes to facials. He also can make the crowd get completely quiet while he rocked Connors with elbows. Fredericks, with his size, physique and athletic ability looked like a future superstar. New Japan has always had the reputation as a system for turning out great workers faster than anyone else. But even in Japan the L.A. Dojo is getting the rep of making guys better faster than the Tokyo dojo. Suzuki pinned Fredericks with the Gotch piledriver. ***1/4

4. Tomohiro Ishii & Juice Robinson & TJP beat Evil & Sanada & Bushi in 11:58. Ishii was working on a bad knee and Evil is coming back from his ankle injury. Both did less than usual although Ishii and Evil did their running into each other hard and the tackle spots over and over. Sanada was the focal point but he didn’t do any of his athletic stuff. People saw him as a star. TJP is a good worker. Built perfectly, the hot stuff was at the end, and crowd loved it. Robinson pinned Bushi with pulp friction. ***½

5. Hirooki Goto & Yoh & Rocky Romero beat KENTA & Taiji Ishimori & Jado in 11:00. It was good except when Jado was in. He’s hurting bad. It’s even more noticeable live how little he can move. The timing was good. KENTA was pretty much the same Hideo Itami heel in NXT. When I’d watch him live from ringside in NXT he was one of the best guys at really working but he never felt over. Here he’s super over as a heel, his work is the same, but in this environment, so many guys are so much better. I thought maybe they’d do something with Katsuyori Shibata here. It felt like they are building KENTA s. Goto for the Never title. Romero pinned Jado with a small package. **3/4

6. El Phantasmo beat Sho in 20:23 to retain the British cruiserweight title. These two went out to work their Sumo Hall style match. Phantasmo played total heel, and in doing so, made Sho look tremendous as a face. Sho is much better in singles than in tags. It’s not even his work, but in tags he seems to blend into the match while as a single he takes control of the match and is a babyface people naturally get behind. The crowd was so ridiculously hot for this match. This is the second time Sho has done a singles match in this area and both times the crowd has gotten behind like a main event superstar. He did two straight three rep German suplex spots. He also would do delayed Germans when Phantasmo was at an angle where you’d think he couldn’t throw him. There were all kinds of near falls. Phantasmo did a Styles clash V trigger and went for the One Winged Angel, which Sho escaped from and hit a backstabber and power breaker. He went for a spear but Phantasmo put the referee in his path and he nailed Marty Asami. Phantasmo went for a belt shot but Sho ducked. Sho grabbed the belt and was about to do a belt shot when he decided against it and threw the belt down. He went for shock arrow when Taiji Ishimori took out his knee. Ishimori grabbed the belt and was about to hit Sho when Yoh attacked him and superkicked the belt out of his hands. They hit the 3K on Ishimori. Sho finally hit the shock arrow and went for the pin but no referee. The crowd loudly counted to 15 before Kenta Sato showed up to referee. Sho went for a German superplex but Phantasmo landed on his feet. Phantasmo distracted the ref, hit a low blow and got the pin with the CR 2. ****1/4

7. Lance Archer pinned David Finlay in 13:10 to retain the U.S. title. Archer dominated the match, very much coming across like a Stan Hansen/Bruiser Brody type foreign monster. Archer did a cannonball flip off the apron and an Undertaker old school ropewalk into a moonsault. It was a clean win for Archer as he choke slammed Finlay and then used the claw for the pin. Archer and Robinson had a post-match confrontation. ***

8. Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi beat Jay White & Chase Owens in 15:37. Naito got a gigantic response. The people saw him like a major celebrity. White got a main event heel reaction. Takagi was good, but was mostly basic. Fun but just a normal match ending with Naito pinning Owens after destino. Naito is over enough to carry the promotion but they may have missed the peak on him. Plus, in the ring, he’s nothing close to what he was a year ago. ***

9. Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay beat Kota Ibushi & Amazing Red in 15:36. Okada got a reaction pretty much at the level of someone like The Rock, Steve Austin or Dusty Rhodes at their peaks. I wouldn’t say Hogan, but just underneath. Ospreay and Red were amazing early. Ospreay was doing all kinds of big spots and then did a handspring spot and immediately grabbed his shoulder. He was then screaming in pain and ran out of the ring and collapsed on the floor. The doctor came out to check him. Okada had to work several minutes on his own against both guys. Even though it was all impromptu, Okada didn’t miss a beat. The doctor was with Ospreay. They tried to put the shoulder back in. Ospreay had been having trouble with the shoulder during the junior tag team tournament but pretty much kept it quiet. So this didn’t come out of nowhere. It seemed to have worked. After a few minutes, Ospreay did return and got a hot tag and looked great doing so. Okada sold a lot of cool stuff for Red, and he and Ospreay worked back-and-forth stuff. Red came off the top rope but Okada caught him with a tombstone piledriver and pinned him after a rainmaker. After the match, there was an Okada-Ibushi staredown with Okada holding up his IWGP title and Ibushi holding up his briefcase. This got a ton of reaction, way more than you’d think. It was something to see how many people in San Jose reacted so big to a Tokyo Dome staredown. The show ended with Okada & Ospreay in the ring. Even though Ospreay speaks English and tore the house down in San Francisco with his promo, only Okada talked. He did some English, basically asking people if they had a good time. Then he cut a promo in Japanese about the Tokyo Dome show and just based on delivery and who he is, the people reacted big even not knowing what eh was saying. ***3/4

UFC in Moscow on 11/9

By Ryan Frederick

Those who have been waiting to see how Greg Hardy would fare against one of the elite heavyweights in the UFC got their wish on 11/9 as Hardy dropped a decision to Alexander Volkov in Moscow, Russia.

Those who were hoping Hardy would embarrass himself or get brutally knocked out will have to continue to wait. While he lost all three rounds, he didn’t look bad. In his most recent fights, his skills showed that he may never be a great fighter, nor even turn out to be a good one for that matter. In this fight, he looked every bit the part of a heavyweight that won’t ever be in title contention but one that would be a lower-ranked card filler.

Hardy took this fight on short notice, just days after his last fight on 10/18 in Boston that was a no contest after he used an inhaler between rounds. He looked very fresh, something not typically seen in heavyweights with quick turnarounds. A lot of that can be attributed to his NFL playing days having to be ready to play every seven days.

Even the biggest detractors of Hardy have to admit that this was the best he has looked. He is never going to be popular or even liked and everyone is still going to want to see him lose every fight he is ever in, but it would be wrong to say he isn't improving. His past still makes it a black cloud having him on the roster, especially considering several female fighters have been victims of domestic abuse, including one that was on this card, Jessica-Rose Clark.

It was a dangerous fight to take. Volkov is an elite heavyweight, one whom was a fight away from a title shot before losing to Derrick Lewis in his last fight. He has now put himself likely just one big win away from getting that title shot. He was calling out Francis Ngannou and Junior Dos Santos, whom he was originally scheduled to face in the main event on this show. Ngannou has been itching for a fight, and if the UFC is going to make him fight once more before getting the title shot he’s earned, then Volkov is the absolute right opponent. Ngannou has also claimed that Volkov has turned down facing him twice, so there is some heat there on Ngannou's side.

The main event of this show ended up seeing Zabit Magomedsharipov win his 14th straight fight in a fun fight with Calvin Kattar. It was only three rounds as it was originally scheduled to be the co-main event, but was bumped up to the headliner after the Volkov-Dos Santos fight fell apart a few weeks ago. Because contracts were already signed and it was too late in training camps to change, it stayed at three rounds.

It would have been a much more interesting fight had it ended up being five rounds. Magomedsharipov won the first two rounds very convincingly. He got tired in the third round and Kattar won that round convincingly. Magomedsharipov got 29-28 scores on all of the scorecards, but it is very possible Kattar would have won had it been five rounds as he was getting better and was fresher at the end. Magomedsharipov said he had a staph infection, which delayed this fight a few weeks as it was originally scheduled for that 10/18 event in Boston, and it effected his conditioning.

Magomedsharipov has now logically put himself next in line for a title shot at 145 pounds. He's undefeated in the UFC, has the fourteen straight wins, and everyone above him has gotten their title shots. A lot will depend on how the Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski title fight next month plays out, as well as the fight between Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung in December. He did call out the winner of the title fight. If Magomedsharipov doesn't fight for the title next, a long-awaited fight with Yair Rodriguez may end up happening, which would almost guarantee a title shot for the winner. The way this fight with Kattar ended made a rematch in the future between them very interesting, especially if it could be pushed as a headliner.

The rest of the show just felt like a show. There wasn't anything overwhelmingly great on the show, nor was there anything really bad. The UFC has had a strong year of events in 2019 so this one doesn't really stand out and if you missed the show, you didn't really miss much.

The show at the CSKA Arena in Moscow, Russia drew an announced sell-out crowd of 11,305 fans. There was no gate announced. It was the second UFC event held in Moscow, and this one was at the smaller arena in the city. Russian fighters went 5-8 on the show, so it was a difficult night for the countrymen in front of the Russian crowd.

The entire show streamed on ESPN+ so there are no viewership numbers. There didn't seem to be a lot of interest in the show, and I know a lot of people chose to skip this one due to Hardy. Nothing showed up on the top twenty on Google searches for this show. It did go up against a lot of college football competition, and this was a big week for games.

The $50,000 bonuses went to Magomedsharipov and Kattar for Fight Of The Night, while the Performance Of The Night bonuses went to Magomed Ankalaev and David Zawada.

1. Davey Grant (11-4) beat Grigorii Popov (14-4) via split decision on scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 in a bantamweight fight. Grant was landing leg kicks early and got a takedown. Popov was able to get up but Grant took him down again and was landing until Popov reversed to the top. Popov landed a little more in the first but Grant had the two takedowns. There wasn't much action to start the second and Grant took the fight down and had the back. Popov was working for a kimura and then tried to switch to an armbar but Grant was able to get out. They scrambled at the end of the second. Popov was landing more in the third but Grant took him down multiple times though he didn't do much with them. Popov landed more at the end. This was a close fight. I had it 29-28 for Popov giving him the last two rounds. Media scores were 69% for Grant and 31% for Popov.

2. Pannie Kianzad (12-5) beat Jessica-Rose Clark (9-6 1 NC) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27 in a women's bantamweight fight. The first round was all on the feet. Kianzad was landing more early but Clark came on during the second half of the round. Clark landed some good shots late. They had the exact same number of strikes landed in the first. Kianzad landed some good punches that hurt Clark to start the second. Clark landed a hard right elbow that hurt Kianzad. Kianzad was landing with a lot more volume in the second. They traded in the third and it was pretty even on the feet. Kianzad was bringing more pressure and moving forward while Clark was mainly looking for counters. I had it 29-28 for Kianzad with her getting the last two rounds. All media scores were for Kianzad. This was the second time these two have fought and Kianzad has won both fights.

3. Roosevelt Roberts (9-1) beat Alexander Yakovlev (24-9-1) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in a lightweight fight. Roberts took the fight on short notice. They were pretty even on the feet in the first until Roberts wobbled Yakovlev with some punches. Roberts landed some good stuff late. Yakovlev got a takedown at the start of the second. He was landing from the top and Roberts almost got an armbar locked in but Yakovlev escaped. They got to their feet and nothing happened at the end of the second. Roberts almost got a guillotine to start the third but ended up getting mount. Yakovlev got out and they traded on the feet. Roberts reversed a takedown attempt from Yakovlev into the mount and was threatening with a choke at the end. I had it 29-28 for Roberts with him winning the first and third. All media scores had it 29-28 for Roberts.
4. David Zawada (17-5) beat Abubakar Nurmagomedov (15-3-1) in 2:50 in a welterweight fight. Abubakar is Khabib's cousin and was making his UFC debut. He took Zawada down early. Zawada had a tight armbar locked in and then switched it to a triangle choke and got Nurmagomedov to tap out. This was a big upset.
5. Karl Roberson (9-2) beat Roman Kopylov (8-1) in 4:01 in the third round in a middleweight fight. Kopylov was making his UFC debut. Roberson was applying pressure in the first and landing more punches. Kopylov landed some good shots towards the end of the round. The first was close. Roberson was coming forward again in the second round and landing heavy leg kicks. Kopylov was trying to land punches but Roberson was very elusive and landing lots of kicks and had a better second round. Roberson continued to land leg kicks and was getting away from Kopylov's attacks. Kopylov then poked Roberson in the eye real bad. Roberson continued, Kopylov was docked a point and Kopylov became super aggressive. Roberson couldn't see out of his eye that was poked. Roberson got a takedown and had a rear-naked choke locked in tight and got Kopylov to tap.
6. Rustam Khabilov (24-4) beat Sergey Khandozhko (27-6-1) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in a welterweight fight. This was Khabilov's first fight at 170 pounds in the UFC. Khandozhko was much bigger inside the Octagon. Khandozhko was landing leg kicks early in the first before Khabilov started applying clinch pressure. Khabilov tried five takedowns and didn't score any, but his pressure was relentless. Khandozhko landed lots more but the Octagon control was Khabilov so it was a close first. Khabilov was right back after the takedowns in the second and had clinch pressure. He finally scored on two and was landing a lot of short knees. Khabilov got two takedowns early in the third and worked for a choke but couldn't get it. Khandozhko was landing lots of short punches from the bottom but Khabilov did everything he could to stay on top and ride out the fight. I had it 30-27 for Khabilov as did all of the media scores. This was a boring fight.
7. Magomed Ankalaev (13-1) beat Dalcha Lungiambula (10-2) in :29 in the third round in a light heavyweight fight. Lungiambula is a massive light heavyweight, but he didn't do much here after an impressive UFC debut. Ankalaev landed more punches and controlled the action around the Octagon in the first. Lungiambula was trying to land big shots but was missing. Ankalaev controlled the entire second as Lungiambula landed only a couple of punches and was very tired. Ankalaev got him down in the second and was landing punches and elbows and spent almost all of the second on top. It was a 10-8 round. Ankalaev came out in the third and landed a front kick to the face that knocked Lungiambula down and it was all over.
8. Shamil Gamzatov (14-0) beat Klidson Abreu (15-4) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in a light heavyweight fight. Gamzatov was making his UFC debut. He landed a lot of leg kicks in the first but Abreu was landing better punches. Abreu was pushing the pace but Gamzatov landed way more. Gamzatov was landing kicks again in the second but Abreu was landing some good punches including one that rocked Gamzatov. Abreu got a late takedown but didn't do much with it. It was close after two. Abreu started the third out good but Gamzatov took over and controlled more of the round and outlanded Abreu by twice as many significant strikes, and he took over in the final minute to leave a good last impression. It was close and any score could have been given here. I had it 29-28 for Gamzatov giving him the first and third. Media scores were 38% for Gamzatov and 62% for Abreu, but this was far from a robbery.
9. Anthony Rocco Martin (17-5) beat Ramazan Emeev (18-4) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in a welterweight fight. Martin was fired up. The first round was pretty even on the feet. Emeev was going for multiple takedowns but Martin was defending them. Martin was landing good leg kicks. The first was close. Emeev was working for takedowns in the second and didn't score but they went to the mat and Emeev had top control, though they got up. Martin started landing lots of kicks and Emeev's leg was swelling. Emeev landed from a distance in the second. Emeev rocked Martin in the third but Martin recovered. Emeev was landing more punches in the third but Martin was still landing leg kicks. Emeev was pushing the pace more. It was a close fight that could have gone either way. I had it 29-28 for Martin giving him the first two rounds. Martin seemed surprised that he got a unanimous decision.
10. Ed Herman (25-14 1 NC) beat Khadis Ibragimov (8-2) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a light heavyweight fight. Ibragimov took this fight on short notice. He landed hard first but Herman took right over about a minute in. Herman was landing knees to the body and face in a clinch and Ibragimov's nose was bleeding all over the place. Herman landed leg kicks late. The second round was better. Ibragimov was landing good combos early but was getting tired. Herman started landing hard shots and was working the body with knees and the legs with kicks. Herman landed hard at the end of the second. Ibragimov actually collapsed to the mat in his corner but came out for the third. Ibragimov got two takedowns in the third and wanted to ride the round out but Herman was getting up and they were clinching. Ibragimov was bleeding all over Herman. Herman landed more in the third but Ibragimov pushed the action. I had it 29-28 for Herman giving him the first two. All media scores were for Herman.
11. Danny Roberts (17-5) beat Zelim Imadaev (8-2) in 4:51 in the second round in a welterweight fight. The first round was mostly trading on the feet and Roberts was landing just a little bit more. Roberts got a late takedown but Imadaev reversed to the top towards the end of the round. They were trading in the second and Roberts was trying to take Imadaev down but it was being defended. Roberts got a suplex but Imadaev popped right back up. Imadaev got a takedown and took the back but they got up and broke. With just seconds left in the round Roberts landed a hard left hook that knocked Imadaev out cold. It was the best finish on the show and a needed win for Roberts.
12. Alexander Volkov (31-7) beat Greg Hardy (5-2 1 NC) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27 in a heavyweight fight. Volkov got a big reaction. Volkov was throwing leg kicks early. Hardy tried a takedown but Volkov defended. Volkov landed a head kick and was landing punches. Hardy didn't do much in the first but landed some punches. Volkov was landing leg and body kicks in the second but Hardy was still coming forward. Hardy was swinging for the fences but mostly missing. He did land a hard punch. Volkov landed some late body kicks that took their toll on Hardy. Hardy was throwing jabs in the third and was pushing the pace more to start. He was looking good in the round until Volkov slowed him down with more leg kicks. Volkov was avoiding big punches being thrown by Hardy and rocked him with a head kick. Volkov landed some hard body kicks late. It was a clear 30-27 for Volkov though Hardy gave him a tough fight and wasn't as outclassed as many had anticipated. It was a good win for Volkov, who hadn't fought in more than a year.
13. Zabit Magomedsharipov (18-1) beat Calvin Kattar (20-4) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in a featherweight fight. Magomedsharipov got a loud ovation and had loud chants going on. Zabit outlanded Kattar in the first and was dialing up a very good mix of kicks to the legs and body. He landed about twenty kicks to the legs and body. Kattar was coming forward early but was getting beaten to the punch. Zabit was pressing the action to start the second and went back on the attack with leg kicks. He went for a couple of takedowns but Kattar was able to defend and keep him at a distance. Kattar started to come on strong in the last minute of the second but it wasn't enough to get the round. Kattar had a very strong third round as Zabit started to get tired. Zabit was landing leg kicks but was getting hit back with all sorts of punches and Kattar rocked him a couple of times. Zabit was able to score a takedown but Kattar was attacking with elbows and punches on the bottom. Kattar's strong third round kept it interesting but it wasn't a 10-8 round and there was no way he won either of the first two rounds. A five-round fight would have been interesting. I had it 29-28 for Magomedsharipov as did all other media scores. It was a strong end to the show.

The Wednesday night wars on 11/13 saw AEW up 16.4 percent coming off the PPV to 957,000 viewers (1.55 viewers per home), while NXT fell 7.5 percent to 750,000 viewers (1.29 viewers per home).

AEW was back to a 0.43 in the 18-49 demo to 0.25 for NXT. AEW was No. 2 in its time slot in 18-49, trailing only an NBA game on ESPN that did a 0.64 in the demo and 1,664,000 viewers. NXT was 12th in its time slot in the key demo.

Both shows went head-to-head with the CMA Awards on ABC that did 11,270,000 viewers, which wasn’t the World Series, but was still much stronger competition than most Wednesdays.

AEW had big gains with women 12-34 and under 50, with over 50 staying largely the same.

The show did a 0.24 in 12-17 (up 50.0 percent from last week), 0.34 in 18-34 (up 47.8 percent), 0.52 in 35-49 (up 10.6 percent) and 0.29 in 50+ (up 3.6 percent).

The audience was 64.0 percent male in 18-49 and 62.6 percent male in 12-17.

The question here is the AEW boost coming off the PPV, or was last week a one week aberration, particularly with the tougher competition. The NXT decline can easily be explained between the competition and last week’s numbers being boosted by the NXT angle on Smackdown and Raw as a first week thing, plus A.J. Styles on the show. The latter was key because the usual pattern is declines from beginning to end and NXT had strong gains with Styles in the main event against NXT talent.

NXT did a 0.11 in 12-17 (even with last week), 0.16 in 18-34 (down 11.1 percent), 0.34 in 35-49 (down 19.0 percent) and 0.35 in 50+ (up 2.9 percent.

The audience was 64.0 percent male in 18-49 and 62.0 percent female in 12-17.

The pattern remains that AEW has won every week, and dominated under 50 every week but one (which is still won, but didn’t dominate), NXT has won every week with the over 50 audience).

AEW beat NXT by 73 percent in males 18-49 and 75 percent with women 18-49. It beat NXT by 117 percent males 18-34 and 119 percent in females 18-34.

AEW is also the show with the largest number of viewers per home watching, meaning more friends/families watch together.

The median age for an AEW viewers was 42.0 years old and for an NXT viewer was 52.2 years old.

In the segments, AEW opened with a Kenny Omega promo, Jon Moxley vs. Michael Nakazawa and a Moxley promo and did 1,080,000 viewers and 600,000 in 18-49. NXT opened with Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza in a title mach that drew 738,000 viewers and 312,000 in 18-49.

AEW’s second quarter was Dark Order vs. Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt, plus a post-match angle to bring back Luchasaurus. It did 975,000 viewers overall and 542,000 in 18-49, or losses of 105,000 total and 58,000 in 18-49. NXT had the ending of Rush vs. Garza plus Xia Li vs. Aliyah. It did 774,000 viewers and 327,000 in 18-49, gains of 36,000 and 15,000 respectively.

The third quarter saw AEW have Shawn Spears vs. Darby Allin vs. Peter Avalon. It did 861,000 viewers and 489,000 in 18-49, losses of 114,000 and 53,000 in 18-49. NXT had a Finn Balor promo, Matt Riddle attack and angle for War Games with Undisputed Era, Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee. It did 755,000 viewers and 334,000 in 18-49, a loss of 19,000 viewers but a 7,000 gain in 18-49.

The fourth quarter saw AEW with a Nyla Rose squash, an Allie interview and attack by Awesome Kong and Brandi Rhodes, plus the beginning of the Chris Jericho interview. That did 916,000 viewers total and 527,000 in 18-49, a gain of 55,000 total and 38,000 in 18-49. NXT had Keith Lee vs. Roderick Strong. That did 709,000 viewers and 316,000 in 18-49, a loss of 46,000 and a loss of 8,000 in 18-49.

The fifth quarter was after MJF came out so it was the Jericho/MJF show, with the Cody run in and debut of Wardlow. That did 1,013,000 viewers and 585,000 in 18-49, increases of 101,000 and 55,000. NXT had the end of Lee vs. Strong and another post-match brawl with the War Games angle. That did 766,000 viewers and 339,000 in 18-49, gains of 57,000 overall and 23,000 in 18-49.

AEW followed with Adam Page vs. Pac, which did 940,000 viewers and 560,000 in 18-49, a loss of 77,000 overall and 25,000 in 18-49. NXT had Isaiah Scott vs. Bronson Reed. That did 723,000 viewers and 289,000 in 18-49, drops of 43,000 overall and 50,000 in 18-49.

AEW next had the big Young Bucks brawl with Santana & Ortiz and the SCU ring entrance. That did 899,000 viewers and 547,000 in 18-49, drops of 41,000 overall and 13,000 in 18-49. NXT had the Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain non-match with Damien Priest running in, which did 672,000 viewers and 275,000 in 18-49, drops of 51,000 overall and 14,000 in 18-49.

The battle of main events saw AEW have Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky for the tag titles, which did 968,000 viewers and 584,000 in 18-49, gains of 64,000 overall and 37,000 in18-49. NXT had Io Shirai vs. Mia Yim in a ladder match which did 747,000 viewers and 308,000 in 18-49, gains of 75,000 overall and 33,000 in 18-49.

After AEW ended, the NXT overrun gained 215,000 viewers, the largest to date, with 422,000 in 18-49. These were clearly AEW fans because not only did they pick up viewers, but their median age dropped two years immediately. The overrun improved the overall show number from 735,500 to 750,000.

AEW had a huge gain with teenagers during the Young Bucks brawl with Santana & Ortiz, gaining 62 percent in that demo. The teenage number rose by only 1,000 for the main event, which was the teenage peak for the show. NXT had a huge increase in teenage viewers for the Balor promo and Riddle along increasing 76 percent, continuing the trend of Riddle.

There was huge teenage drops for Allin vs. Spears vs. Avalon on AEW and for the Dunne, Priest and Dain segment for NXT.

AEW was remarkably steady in 18-34, no big gains or losses. NXT NXT went from 104,000 to 121,000 for the brawl after Strong vs. Lee, then to 86,000 for Scott vs. Reed. Shirai vs. Yim went from 87,000 to 122,000 before AEW ended and up to 167,000 after it ended, so basically doubled the audience. That tells you the value of a televised ladder match.

In 35-49, AEW had big growth for the MJF/Jericho/Cody segment and the main event. NXT’s best growth was the Balor segment.

Women 18-34, the biggest spike for AEW was the Jericho/MJF/Cody segment. The Jungle Boy match fell from 93,000 to 89,000 in the demo, but in time he’ll be a star with that group. Interestingly, Balor’s segment fell hard while the end of Lee vs. Strong and brawl was a big increase. There was a big drop for Reed vs. Scott and a 50 percent jump for Shirai vs. Yim against AEW but no gain after. So the women 18-34 that watched AEW’s main event did not switch over.

For AEW, Women 35-49 were pretty steady. For NXT, it was strongest for Rush vs. Garza and actually fell during Shirai vs. Yim.

Men 18-34 had a big jump in the Jericho/MJF segment and peaked for Page vs. Pac, but stayed strong throughout hour two. For NXT there was a gain for Li vs. Aliyah, a good gain for the Lee vs. Strong ending and brawl, and a huge drop for Scott vs. Reed. Yim vs. Shirai gained well but the prior two quarters were slow low that it was not that strong, losing in this demo 157,000 to 68,000 head-to-head.

Men 35-49 were strongest for Moxley, the Jericho/MJF stuff and the tag title match. NXT had a big gain for Balor.

Over 50, Moxley did well as did the Jericho/MJF segment but not the main event, which showed growth but still lost 412,000 to 317,000 as NXT owns the over 50 audience. NXT peaked for the Li vs. Aliyah match in that demo at 414,000, fell greatly for the Balor promo and even more for Lee vs. Strong. It grew tremendously for Yim vs. Shirai and gained another 89,000 in that demo after AEW ended.

As far as crossover audience based on who switched over after AEW ended, it looks like 5,000 teenagers, no women 18-34, 18,000 women 35-49, 48,000 men 18-34, 48,000 men 35-49, and 89,000 over 50.

Total Divas on 11/12 rebounded to 258,000 viewers, up 35.1 percent from the record low of 191,000 the previous week.

WWE Backstage on 11/12 doubled its rating from the first week in the time slot, going from 49,000 viewers to 100,000.

Raw on 11/11 did a 1.7 rating and 2,056,000 viewers (1.36 viewers per home) making it the least-watched non-holiday episode of Raw in modern history.

The only episodes that drew less viewers were Christmas Eve this past year doing 1,775,000 and New Year’s Eve doing 1,985,000. But there were two other records set, for the biggest first-to-third hour drop and for the worst third hour ever.

As bad as that sounds, and it’s certainly not good, one aspect wasn’t bad. Given the competition, the worst possible, a San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks game with two of the top teams, going into overtime, and drawing 15,978,000 viewers, beating the two number of the season by two million, a taped show doing 78,000 fewer viewers and a 3.7 percent drop isn’t that bad.

What was bad is the 25.7 percent first-to-third hour drop was the largest of all-time, breaking the record of a 24.5 percent drop on 1/21. Because of that drop, the third hour did 1,753,000 viewers, actually less than the third hour on Christmas Eve (1,784,000) and third hour on New Year’s Eve (1,843,000). Overall, it beat only the first hour on Christmas Eve (that did 1,752,000 viewers, just 1,000 lower) for the lowest hour for Raw since cable hit 60 million homes in the mid-90s. While if they had a great match in the main event spot it wouldn’t have been as bad, most of that drop was due to the game.

Being taped three days earlier didn’t help, but really, given the opposition, a drop of 78,000 viewers was likely to happen live or taped since it started out at the same level as in recent weeks and only declined as the game got hotter.

For first to last quarter, Raw opened with teenagers at 74,000 and the main event did 36,000 (51.4 percent tuned out). In 18-34, it opened with 369,000 and the main event did 246,000 (33.3 percent). In 35-49 it opened with 625,000 and ended at 420,000 (32.8 percent). In over 50, it opened at 1,159,000 and ended at 992,000 (14.4 percent).

Raw was 10th for the night on cable. The drop from the same week last year was 15.9 percent.

The high point of the show was the Kabuki Warriors vs. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch title match that did 2,454,000 viewers. The low point, of 1,680,000 viewers was for the beginning of the OC vs. Ricochet & Randy Orton & Humberto Carrillo match, although the audience did grow during the match.

The Kabuki Warriors vs. Lynch & Flair grew 75,000 viewers from start-to-finish (-1,000 with teens, +30,000 18-49, +25,000 over 50) . R-Truth vs. Singh Brothers lost 280,000 viewers continuing the trend of the 24/7 belt doing poorly (+2,000 teens, -134,000 18-49, -132,000 over 50),. The Seth Rollins interview leading to the Walter match gained 64,000 viewers (+2,000 teens, +46,000 18-49, +35,000 over 50 so the drop was under 12). Rollins vs. Walter turning into Rollins & Kevin Owens & Street Profits vs. Imperium lost 59,000 viewers (+1,000 teens, -23,000 18-34, -26,000 over 50). Cedric Alexander vs. Andrade lost 319,000 viewers (-12,000 teens, -143,000 18-49, -134,000 over 50). The Lana/Rusev/Lashley segment gained 85,000 viewers (+2,000 teens, +18,000 18-49, which can be broken down as -6,000 male 18-34, -6,000 female 18-34, +24,000 male 35-49, +6,000 female 18-49, +67,000 over 50), Erick Rowan’s squash lost 12,000 viewers (-10,000 teens, -15,000 18-49, +13,000 over 50), Viking Raiders vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews lost 245,000 viewers (-13,000 teens, -131,000 18-49,-85,000 over 50), Orton & Ricochet & Carrillo vs. OC in the main event spot gained 16,000 viewers (even with teens, +24,000 18-49, +7,000 over 50).

The show did 2,358,000 viewers in the first hour, 2,063,000 in the second hour and 1,753,000 in the third hour. The show actually ended at 11:01 p.m. and the final minute did 1,259,000 viewers.

As it turned out, most of the losses were in the 35-49 demo. The show did a 0.34 in 12-17 (up 6.3 percent), 0.44 in 18-34 (down 8.3 percent), 0.84 in 35-49 (down 19.2 percent) and 0.91 in 50+ (identical to last week).

The audience was 64.3 percent male in 18-49 and 57.1 percent male in 12-17.

Smackdown on 11/8 did a 1.63 rating and 2,610,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home), up 3.6 percent from the prior week. This was with a taped show, which pretty much once again shows live vs. tape doesn’t make a big difference when it’s a few hours tape delayed. Spoilers don’t matter negatively, and perhaps they help since WWE pushed that the tag title changed hands hours before it aired. The total audience and the 0.9 in the 18-49 demo was the best the show has done since the second week.

A lot of the increase also has to do with the great show the week before and the NXT talent being on the main show has led to a feeling of excitement that has helped ratings for every show. My feeling is Raw would have done far worse last week, even though it was lower than tradition, because of how big the football came was, had not the feeling of excitement coming off the previous Smackdown and teases of NXT being there not been part of the show.

Smackdown was the most-watched show on television in 18-49 for the day, with the closest being Hawaii Five-O at 0.7.

Of the five major networks, it was also the second least watched show overall.

For FOX, total audience was down 37 percent from the same Friday last year, but the 18-49 number was only down ten percent. The key is that FOX gets this number every Friday night with wrestling while the much bigger numbers they got last year in the time slot were only for the first-run periods of the shows (Last Man Standing, Cool Kid and Hell’s Kitchens) during the time of the year they are running first-run issues.

The show did drop as it was going on, but that’s the case for most wrestling shows these days. The first hour did 2,725,000 viewers and the second hour did 2,510,000 viewers.

The show did a 1.8 in New York, a 0.9 in Los Angeles, a 1.9 in Chicago, a 1.8 in Philadelphia, a 3.2 in Dallas, a 1.4 in San Francisco, a 1.7 in DC, a 1.9 in Houston and a 1.7 in Atlanta.

Based on the top ten markets, the high point was a 1.86 rating for the first segment which was King Corbin’s promo and a New Day promo. New Day vs. Revival lost 12.9 percent of the viewers even though it was a title match. The Imperium attack on Heavy Machinery and subsequent brawl gained 3.1 percent. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro vs. Shorty G & Ali with Daniel Bryan out lost 2.4 percent. Sasha Banks vs Nikki Cross and the backstage thing with Bryan, Zayn and Bray Wyatt lost 3.1 percent. The Braun Strowman & Tyson Fury segment with the B Team lost 1.3 percent. Carmella & Dana Brooke vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville and the beginning of Roman Reigns vs. Corbin lost 3.8 percent and was the low point of the show. But Reigns vs. Corbin picked up eight percent as the match went on.

Bellator on 11/8, built around the King Mo Lawal retirement fight, did 314,000 viewers, its best number since 7/12 (Julia Budd vs. Olga Rubin for the featherweight title). Lawal lost quickly. The actual main event was John Salter over Costello van Steenis.

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RESULTS



11/8 Manchester, UK (WWE Smackdown/Raw TV tapings - 10,000): Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder to win titles, Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro b Shorty G & Ali, Sasha Banks b Nikki Cross, Carmella & Dana Brooke b Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, King Corbin b Roman Reigns, Women’s tag title: Asuka & Kairi Sane b Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch, Drew McIntyre b Sin Cara, 24/7 title handicap match: Samir & Sunil Singh NC R-Truth, Seth Rollins b Walter-DQ, Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens & Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford b Walter & Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel & Alexander Wolfe, Andrade b Cedric Alexander, Erick Rowan b Soner Dursun, Non-title: Viking Raiders b Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, Randy Orton & Ricochet & Humberto Carrillo b A.J. Styles & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

11/8 New York (Impact TV tapings): Buster Jackson & Matt McIntosh b General Justice & Nikos Rikos, Trey Miguel b Shawn Donovan, Josh Alexander b TJ Crawford, Willie Mack & Rich Swann won three-way over Dave & Jake Crist and Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend, Joey Ryan b Ace Romero, Mahabali Shera & Desi Hit Squad b Daga & TJP & Fallah Bahh, Jessicka Havok b Rosemary, X title: Ace Austin b Petey Williams, ODB & Tenille Dashwood & Jordynne Grace b Kiera Hogan & Madison Rayne & Taya Valkyrie, Ethan Page b Rich Swann-DQ, Michael Elgin b Eddie Edwards, Brian Case & Rhino b Rob Van Dam & Moose

11/9 Leeds, UK (WWE Raw - 8,000): Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Sasha Banks, R-Truth b Drake Maverick, Cedric Alexander b Shelton Benjamin, Handicap match: Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford b Shelton Benjamin, U.S. title: Braun Strowman b A.J. Styles-DQ, Braun Strowman & Viking Raiders b Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows & A.J,. Styles, Rey Mysterio & Ricochet b Drew McIntyre & Randy Orton, Women’s tag titles: Asuka & Kairi Sane b Nikki Cross & Sarah Logan, Street fight for Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Seth Rollins

11/9 Minehead, UK (WWE Smackdown - 3,500 sellout): Daniel Bryan b Luke Harper, Heavy Machinery & Shorty G & Apollo Crews b Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode & Bo Dallas & Cesaro, Carmella & Dana Brooke b Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, Andrade b Sin Cara, Tag titles: Big E & Kofi Kingston b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, IC title: Shinsuke Nakamura b Ali, Women’s title: Bayley b Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns b King Corbin

11/10 Aberdeen, Scotland (WWE Raw - 3,000): Ricochet b Drew McIntyre, Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford won three-way over R-Truth & Cedric Alexander and Drake Maverick & Shelton Benjamin, Rusev b Bobby Lashley-DQ, Rey Mysterio b Randy Orton, Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Seth Rollins, Asuka & Kairi Sane b Sarah Logan & Nikki Cross, U.S. title: Braun Strowman b A.J, Styles-DQ, Braun Strowman & Viking Raiders b A.J. Styles & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Sasha Banks

11/10 Dublin, Ireland (WWE Smackdown - 6,500): Three-way for tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E won over Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder and Luke Harper & Erick Rowan, Andrade b Sin Cara, Dana Brooke & Carmella b Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, IC title: Ali b Shinsuke Nakamura-DQ, Daniel Bryan & Ali b Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn, Heavy Machinery & Shorty G & Apollo Crews b Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler & Bo Dallas & Cesaro, Women’s title: Bayley b Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns b King Corbin

11/11 Glasgow, Scotland (WWE Raw - 6,800): Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Sasha Banks, U.S. title: Braun Strowman b A.J. Styles-DQ, Braun Strowman & Viking Raiders b A.J. Styles & Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, R-Truth b Drake Maverick, Rey Mysterio & Ricochet b Drew McIntyre & Randy Orton, Cedric Alexander b Shelton Benjamin, Angelo Dawkins b Shelton Benjamin, Women’s tag titles: Asuka & Kairi Sane b Nikki Cross & Sarah Logan, Rusev b Lashley-DQ, Cage match for Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Seth Rollins

11/11 Vienna, Austria (WWE Smackdown - 4,000): Daniel Bryan b Luke Harper, Shorty G won Battle Royal, NXT UK title: Walter b Jordan Devlin, Carmella & Dana Brooke b Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, Four-way for IC title: Shinsuke Nakamura won over Shorty G, Ali and Erick Rowan, Women’s title: Bayley b Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns b King Corbin

11/11 Los Angeles Globe Theater (New Japan - 529): Amazing Red & TJP b Alex Zayne & Aaron Solow, Toru Yano & Colt Cabana b Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Desperado b Juice Robinson & David Finlay & Clark Connors, Evil & Sanada b Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero, Kota Ibushi b Ren Narita, Hirooki Goto & Sho & Yoh b KENTA & Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo, Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Bushi b Jay While & Chase Owens & Gedo

11/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan - 1,003): Utamaro b Atsuki Aoyagi, Takao Omori & Osamu Nishimura & Hokuto Omori b Masa Fuchi & Yutaka Yoshie & Dan Tamura, Atsushi Maruyama & Hikaru Sato & Fuminori Abe b Koji Iwamoto & Black Menso-re & Yusuke Okada, Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura & Parrow & Odinson b Joe Doering & Jun Akiyama & Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman, Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta b Daisuke Sekimoto & The Bodyguard, Tajiri & Kai b Zeus & Ryoji Sai, Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa b Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi

11/12 Amsterdam, Holland (WWE Raw): Ricochet b Drew McIntyre, Women’s tag titles: Asuka & Kairi Sane b Nikki Cross & Sarah Logan, R-Truth b Drake Maverick, Cedric Alexander b Shelton Benjamin, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Sasha Banks, Rusev b Bobby Lashley-DQ, Kevin Owens & Rey Mysterio & Braun Strowman b A.J. Styles & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Street fight for Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Seth Rollins

11/12 Lille, France (WWE Smackdown): Three-way for tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E won over Erick Rowan & Luke Harper and Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, Andrade b Sin Cara, Carmella & Dana Brooke b Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, IC title: Ali b Shinsuke Nakamura-DQ, Daniel Bryan & Ali b Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews & Shorty G & Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik b Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode & Bo Dallas & Cesaro, Women’s title: Bayley b Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns b King Corbin

11/13 Erfurt, Germany (WWE Raw): U.S. title: Kevin Owens b A.J. Styles-DQ, Kevin Owens & Viking Raiders b A.J. Styles & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford b Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, Titus O’Neil b Shelton Benjamin, Ricochet b Drew McIntyre, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Lacey Evans, Rusev b Bobby Lashley-DQ, Natalya b Sarah Logan, Street fight for Universal title: Bray Wyatt b Seth Rollins

11/13 Zurich, Switzerland (WWE Smackdown): Shorty G & Kalisto & Lince Dorado b Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode & Bo Dallas, Daniel Bryan b Luke Harper, Carmella & Dana Brooke b Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, Tag titles: Big E & Kofi Kingston b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, IC title: Shinsuke Nakamura b Ali, Cesaro b Andrade, Roman Reigns b King Corbin

11/13 Nashville, TN (AEW TV tapings - 4,000): Young Bucks b T-Hawk & Lindaman, Jon Moxley b Michael Nakazawa, Dark Order b Marko Stunt & Jungle Boy, Darby Allin won three-way over Shawn Spears and Peter Avalon, Nyla Rose b Dani Jordyn, Pac b Adam Page, Tag titles: Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky b Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara, Britt Baker & Riho b Big Swole & Kris Statlander, Chuck Taylor & Trent b Marc Quen & Isaiah Kassidy

11/13 Winter Park, FL (NXT TV tapings - 400 sellout): Dexter Lumis b Daniel Vidot, Chelsea Green b Catalina Garcia, Cruiserweight title: Lio Rush b Angel Garza, Xia Li b Aliyah, Non-title: Keith Lee b Roderick Strong, Isaiah Scott b Bronson Reed, Ladder match: Io Shirai b Mia Yim

11/13 Nasu (All Japan - 502): Koji Iwamoto b Hokuto Omori, Yosuke Okada & Tank Nagai & Masayuki Mitomi b Utamaro & Atsushi Maruyama & Dan Tamura, Zeus & Takao Omori & Black Menso-re b Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa & Hikaru Sato, Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi & Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman b Joe Doering & Jun Akiyama & Gianni Valletta & Jiro Kuroshio, Parrow & Odinson b Daisuke Sekimoto & The Bodyguard, Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura b Tajiri & Kai

11/13 Aizuwakamatsu (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 242): Quiet Storm b Kinya Okada, Hi69 b Junta Miyawaki, Mohammed Yone & Minoru Tanaka b Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue, Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway b Hayata & Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke & Yo-Hey, Takashi Sugiura & El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hajime Ohara b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Go Shiozaki & Hitoshi Kumano, Kaito Kiyomiya & Naomichi Marufuji & Shuhei Taniguchi b Kenou & Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura



CMLL: Diamante Azul, one of the company’s regular top tecnicos, largely because he’s bigger than most, needed emergency surgery for an injury from a match on 11/3 when he was stepped on by Valiente. He’ll be out for a while. He did a video that some from what he said that he was wondering about coming back due to an assortment of injuries over the past year including a groin tear

The 11/1 show at Arena Mexico last week did 12,000 fans for the Mistico & Caristico CMLL tag title win over Gran Guerrero & Euforia. It was more that it was a holiday show as part of the Day of the Dead weekend than probably the main event, but it was a little of the main event as well. There were a lot of seats available, but on the morning of the show, Ticketmaster listed the show as sold out, which would be about 16,000. But the show wasn’t sold out

The 11/8 show was just another by the book show. Mistico & Caristico & Volador Jr. beat Sanson & Forastero & Cuatrero in the main event. It was typical stuff. Basically these main events are very similar each week, very different from a usual weekly territory with the idea the same people are coming so you have to tell week-to-week stories to build the crowd. The mentality here is that Arena Mexico draws tourists who come to go out on a Friday night, drink and see masked guys or good looking guys fly around. Still, when the stuff is hot, the heat is great, and that hasn’t been the case of late. Cavernario & Negro Casas & Ultimo Guerrero beat Soberano Jr. & Titan & Valiente in the semi. Star Jr., who has been getting the push of late, worked third from the top teaming with Dulce Gardenia, who is also getting pushed, & Fugaz over Mephisto & Ephesto & Luciferno on a DQ when Mephisto unmasked Star. Audaz and El Hijo de Villano III went to a double count out. Shoko Nakajima, who was one of the women brought in from Japan for AEW early on, debuted on the show and is on tour here

The 11/15 show has Mistico & Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. facing Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Casas, Star Jr. & Stuka Jr. & Titan vs. Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero and Angel de Or vs. Felino. Kawato returns in an underneath trios match as does Okumura.

AAA: Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix are going to start as regulars as opposed to mostly working indie dates in about five or so weeks

They taped TV on 11/9 in Torreon at the baseball stadium before 4,000 fans. Was told there were some good matches but no great matches. Laredo Kid worked, now that he’s back from his reality show. Carta Brava Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr. & Tito Santana beat Flamita & El Hijo del Vikingo & Octagon Jr. Cota pinned Octagon with a splash. Nicho (the original Psicosis) was back teaming with Aerostar & Murder Clown to beat the returning Killer Kross & Monsther Clown & Black Taurus when Monster pinned Aerostar. Kross had not been used of late and was pulled from at least one show due to Impact wanting him off and AAA having an affiliation with Impact. Right now AAA has separate affiliations with AEW, Impact and MLW. Monsther and Aerostar were the focus and it seemed like they were building to something. Psicosis, who is now 48 and everyone knows how hard he worked and the kind of bumps he took in being one of the key guys in this promotion in the early 90s as Rey Mysterio’s favorite opponent, looked better than he has in a while. It didn’t seem like there was a storyline for he and Kross. The main event saw Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown & Pagano beat Blue Demon Jr. & Chessman & Rey Escorpion when Wagner pinned Demon after a low blow. Konnan did an interview segment earlier in the show. The key aspect was Villano III Jr. & Demon Jr. joined forces in an angle where they beat down Wagner and Wagner’s son, Galeno del Mal. Big Mami issued a challenge to Lady Maravilla for a hair match. Maravilla turned down the challenge saying Mami wasn’t at her level

Ratings for this past week were 394,820 viewers for AAA, 228,950 for NLL, 203,230 for Raw, 263,540 for Smackdown and 142,290 for CMLL. It was a record low by a large margin for CMLL.

ALL JAPAN: The annual tag team tournament opened on 11/11 at Korakuen Hall before 1,003 fans. On the first night, Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta beat Daisuke Sekimoto & The Bodyguard in 16:06 when Valletta pinned Sekimoto with a lariat, which is a surprise. Tajiri & Kai beat Zeus & Ryoji Sai in 6:10 when Kai pinned Zeus with a small package. Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa beat Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi in 25:42 when Suwama pinned Aoyagi with a last ride power bomb

The second show was 11/12 in Ojiya before 384 fans. Parrow & Odinson beat Tajiri & Kai in 9:06 when Parrow pinned Tajiri and Suwama & Ishikawa beat Sekimoto & Bodyguard in 18:08 when Ishikawa pinned Bodyguard with a Thunder fire power bomb

11/13 in Nasu before 502 fans saw Parrow & Odinson beat Sekimoto & Bodyguard in 8:29 when Odinson pinned Bodyguard after Blood Eagle and Lee & Nomura beat Tajiri & Kai in 17:26

Hayato Sakurai, 44, who was a major MMA star from 1996 to 2016, compiling a 38-13-2 record with Pride, Dream and other companies, worked on the 11/12 house show

Odinson noted that the day before the tournament started, he lost his cell phone in Shibuya. He then went to the police station and they had it, noting that he thought that would never happen in the U.S. So this reminds me of a few stories. In 1984, I went to Japan and went jogging in Nagoya and somehow lost my wallet in the bushes, which freaked me out, no passport or money. I was with The Funks who were totally calm saying just go to the police station in the morning because they will have it. Dory told me that he left his shaving kit at a hotel one trip the year before, and when he went back to the hotel eight months later, and by this time he’d forgotten about it, they handed it to him. So I went to the police station, and it was there, no money missing either. On the last trip, I left my cell phone at a restaurant, and granted I figured this out maybe 15 minutes later on the train. We went back to the restaurant, the waitress got super excited when she saw us as they couldn’t wait to hand me the phone. Granted, there are parts of Japan this isn’t the case and Nick Jackson had a real bad experience in Osaka as far as thousands of dollars and his passport stolen.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH: I saw the Kaito Kiyomiya GHC title defense against Kenou that headlined the 11/2 Sumo Hall show. They went 31:10, most of which was Kiyomiya selling. Kenou’s pacing was great but this was the veteran vs. newcomer match, perfect pacing and execution, but the guys themselves weren’t over as top guys. Technically these guys are solid and Kiyomiya is young, has the young Ibushi look that girls like and very athletic but doesn’t have world champion charisma. I think the idea is that they push him for so long and give him wins and he’ll grow into being an effective top star with tenure. Kenou did a double foot stomp to the back of the head and a moonsault off the middle rope into a double kneedrop. Kiyomiya did a flip dive. There was a great slap exchange at 28:00. Kiyomiya’s comeback included a series of dropkicks that are so high he was nailing the top of Kenou’s head every time. Kiyomiya did a dragon suplex for a near fall, great execution and bridge, with the ref holding up the count, and then went back and did another for the pin. I’d go ***½, technically great but only at times did they come close to whipping the crowd into a frenzy. It didn’t drag to me because I like the slower paced build and didn’t feel like it dragged to the live crowd, but I do think going so long, it would drag to others.

NEW JAPAN: It hasn’t been announced but the belief is Jon Moxley is working the Tokyo Dome. From those in AEW, they believe that to be the case but weren’t 100 percent on it. The logical match would be Lance Archer for the U.S. title since Moxley never lost the belt in the ring. They did a set-up for Archer vs. Juice Robinson in San Jose. They could do a three-way, although hopefully not, or they could do title matches both nights

The top of the card, with the build for the first double champion seems to be working. Ticket sales for both 1/4 and 1/5 are ahead of the pace of last year’s 1/4 show, which did the first Dome sellout in nearly 20 years

The second show of the two-event U.S. tour was 11/11 in Los Angeles at the Globe Theater, the home of PWG. They drew 529 fans on a Monday night. I have no idea why New Japan would book a building so small in Los Angeles, or run a Monday. You could call that number a sellout but they did have tickets still available at show time and had standing balcony seats available but all floor seats set up were full. Amazing Red & TJP beat Alex Zayne & Aaron Solow in 10:26 when Red pinned Solow with the Code Red. Zayne looked fantastic in his PWG debut and he’s gotten some buzz out of Game Changer Wrestling. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana won a comedy match over Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin in 8:47 when Cabana used the Superman press on Coughlin. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & El Desperado beat Juice Robinson & David Finlay & Clark Connors in 10:24 when Suzuki pinned Connors after the Gotch piledriver. Evil & Sanada beat Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero in 11:22 when Sanada beat Romero with skull end. Kota Ibushi pinned Ren Narita in 9:26 with a half crab. Hirooki Goto & Sho & Yoh beat KENTA & Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo in 13:30 when Goto pinned Ishimori with the GTR. Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Bushi beat Jay White & Chase Owens & Gedo in 17:24 when Takagi beat Gedo with Last of the Dragon

They will once again be part of the CharoExpo USA on 12/7 and 12/8 at the Anaheim Convention Center with small shows. They’ll be using a lot of the guys that Katsuyori Shibata is training at the LA Dojo. 12/7 has Coughlin vs. Barrett Brown, Misterioso & Solow vs,. Sterling & Logan Riegel, Connors vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita vs. Desperado and Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Phantasmo & Ishimori. 12/8 has Coughlin vs. Solow, Misterioso & Brown vs,. The Riegels, Connors vs. Phantasmo, Narita vs. Ishimori and Romero & Taguchi vs. Kanemaru & Desperado.

OTHER JAPAN NOTES: Takaaki Kidani, the head of Bushiroad, did an interview for Tokyo Sports regarding their goals in building up Stardom. The first thing he said was that they are looking at bringing back Io Shirai and Kairi Sane after their current WWE deals expire. Whether this will happen or not really depends on things down the line when their deals are up, in some form with Shirai if she’s making main roster money. The key is whether or not they would like to return to living in Japan and in the end, the WWE main roster money is strong. He also talked about more heavily recruiting of new talent from other sports like women in martial arts. Unlike with Shinsuke Nakamura, which New Japan wanted to get return when his deal was up he loved being in the U.S., plus really, he’s far better suited for WWE right now because it would be difficult for him to go back to the New Japan style physically. They are said to be open to living in Japan. Bushiroad takes over the company officially on 12/1 and have started marketing, setting up media and photo shoots for the top talent. The goal is to take the company from sales of $2 million per year to $6 million by 2022 or 2023. They are pushing media that hits young women in Japan, trying to change the audience base from almost exclusively young men to both men and women, in particular trying to get the teenage girls that made Japanese women’s wrestling such a hit on television and live in the 70s and 80s, or the mixed audience of male wrestling fans and women fans that attended in the 90s. At the press conference when they bought the promotion, they pushed attracting more women fans. He also brought up the idea of creating an IWGP women’s championship belt, with the idea that the IWGP name of the title has become big in Japan

Stardom ran both afternoon and evening shows on 11/9 in Osaka at World Hall. It was more tag team tournament stuff. On the first show, in Blue block matches, Hana Kimura & Death Yama-san (six points) beat Saya Iida & Saya Kamitani (two) when Yama-san pinned Iida with a cradle in 6:38 and Arisa Hoshiki & Tam Nakano (six) beat Sumire Natsu & Session Moth Martina (two) when Hoshiki pinned Natsu with a Brazilian kick in 8:25. The Red block match on that show saw Hazuki & Natsuko Tora (four) beating Mayu Iwatani & Saki Kashima (two) in 10:25 when Hazuki pinned Kashima after a brainbuster. The second show in blue block saw Kagetsu & Andras Miyagi (four) over Hoshiki & Nakano in 7:32 when Kagetsu pinned Nakano and Kimura & Yama-san (eight) beat Natsu & Martina in 8:53 when Yama-san pinned Martina with a reverse cradle. The red match saw Momo Watanabe & AZM (four) over Hazuki & Tora in 12:43 when Watanabe over Tora with the Peach sunrise

Sendai Girls held a tag team tournament on 11/12 at Korakuen Hall which ended with Dash Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto winning the finals of Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu. Meiko Satomura & Syuri (Syuri Kondo who has recently fought in UFC) lost to Hashimoto & Yuu in the semifinals.

HERE AND THERE: Warrior Wrestling has one of the most loaded independent shows of the year on 12/13 in Chicago at Marian Catholic High School. The lineup has a ton of first-time ever matches with Brian Cage vs. El Phantasmo, Minoru Suzuki vs. Tom Lawlor, Michael Elgin vs. Sam Adonis, Lance Archer vs. Brian Pillman Jr., Robert Anthony vs. Jake Atlas, Blake Christian vs. Carlos Romo from Spain, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel vs. Will Ospreay & Amazing Red & Rocky Romero plus Holidead vs. Savanna Stone. The show will air as an iPPV on Fite TV and go head-to-head with the ROH Final Battle PPV that night. To get Ospreay to work a non-New Japan date in the U.S. isn’t easy as it’s only his second one of the year (the other being against Bandido over WrestleMania week). Kurt Angle will also be doing an interview at the show

Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer’s ashes were spread on Waikiki Beach on 11/3. His wife, Wilma, his three children and all of his grandchildren went to Honolulu last week for it. Rocky Iaukea, the son of Curtis Iaukea, who was a former wrestler in the 80s and 90s under his own name as well as Abbuda Dein was the captain of the catamaran that took the family, as well as friends such as Judy Lewin (the wife of Donn Lewin), Ann Barend (the wife of Handsome Johnny) and Clark Hatch, the owner of the famous Clark Hatch Gym in Hawaii that all the wrestlers, bodybuilders and weightlifters would train at in Honolulu were among those there. They are going to Japan next for The Destroyer Memorial Show at Ota Ward Gym. The idea is to play a video of Beyer’s ashes being spread in the Pacific Ocean at the show. Kurt Beyer is also bringing some of Dick’s championship belts. The Destroyer Memorial show takes place on 11/15 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo. It’ll be an All Japan 70s and 80s nostalgia show with guests from the past. Genichiro Tenryu, Stan Hansen and Dory Funk Jr. will be appearing

Matt Travis, a Northeast independent wrestler, passed away on 11/9 when he was hit by a dump truck while riding his bicycle. Travis was 25. It was a tragic story as he was riding on a bike path at 2:30 a.m. when a Kenworth dump truck driver made an illegal turn to get onto the Willis Avenue Bridge in East Harlem and struck him. Travis was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver fled the scene. At last word, police were looking for the driver. Travis wrestled for a number of promotions in the Northeast, most notably Game Changer Wrestling, House of Glory and CZW. He was originally trained by Amazing Red. “Just read about the passing of Matt Travis and I’m absolutely crushed,” wrote Sami Callihan. “Every time I ran into Matt he was humble, hungry and had unlimited potential. On top of all that, he was an amazing dude.

The NWA officially sold out the third night of their 12/14 to 12/16 tapings at the PBS Studios in Atlanta. The first night PPV and second night tapings were already sold out. It is 150 to 250 tickets

Brian Solomon, who has written a few wrestling books, is working on a biography of Ed Farhat, best known as The Sheik, who was one of the greatest heels in pro wrestling history and at one point he dueled Bruno Sammartino as far as who the biggest draw in North America was. The Sheik was a major star, and when Jim Barnett left Michigan and Ohio to promote in Australia, he purchased the company, with the cover being the promoter was Frances Fleser (who was actually the father of his wife, Joyce, who had been part of his act at one point). Sheik built Detroit around himself, working at Cobo Arena as U.S. champion and did spectacular business during the late 60s and early 70s. He kept himself as U.S. champion from 1965 to 1971, and when he finally lost to Bobo Brazil, the building lost their minds. He did a similar streak in Toronto where he was unbeaten and drawing anywhere from 10,000 to 16,000 every other Sunday for years. He was a guy who could go anywhere and draw and get heat within seconds with his intense brawling, although his act did not play well in St. Louis where Sam Muchnick and Larry Matysik hated it and he only worked there a couple of times. But there were markets where he’d go into and just from the legend from the magazines, he’d draw huge. He remained a star in Japan into the 90s with his FMW run where Sabu, his nephew, got his first major push

. The next PWG show was announced for 12/20

It was noted to us that Cael Sanderson’s Penn State Wrestling team’s drawing success has been a story under the radar. This past week they opened their season selling at Rec Hall with 6,490 fans. This was their 49th straight sellout of Rec Hall. In their last 56 home meets, they’ve done 49 at Rec Hall and seven at the Bryce Jordan Center, which they’ve sold out five of the seven times at about 15,998. The only two non-sellouts were at the Jordan Center which were 15,424 and 12,862

Francine Fournier of ECW fame is having both abdominal reconstruction surgery and a hernia repair surgery. They are putting mesh in to secure the stitches so they don’t come apart as they have in two other surgeries

The Austin Idol wrestling school commercials on NWA Powerrr, which were a spoof, is now a reality. Idol, 70, real name Mike McCord, has opened the Austin Idol Universal Wrestling College in Greenville, SC, where he’s lived since 2007. The Idol commercials on NWA came across as almost a spoof of the movie “Peanut Butter Falcon.” That movie came out a few months ago and got great reviews and it’s got a wrestling theme to it as the main character, who has Down Syndrome, sees an ad on a wrestling tape he has for a wrestling school and it becomes his obsession to break away from the place he is being kept and become a wrestler because the guy running the school was his childhood favorite wrestler

Paul Orndorff III, 51, the son of the pro wrestling legend, was arrested on 11/7. The allegation is that at 10:30 a.m., when an officer tried to pull over the Chrysler Crossfire he was driving in Peachtree City, GA. The driver (Orndorff Jr.) instead sped off when the officer tried to stop him. He evaded officers at first but in Senoia, allegedly saw him speeding and attempted to pull him over. He sped away again. It wound up with officers from Peachtree City, Fayette Cunt and Coweta County all chasing him. They tried stop sticks, but that didn’t work. Eventually they were able to box him in. He then got out of the car and started running into a wooded area before several offices and one dog were able to tackle him. He was charged with felony feeling, eluding police, violations of the substance act and another of driving violations. He was booked into jail.

EUROPE: Tyler Colton, billed as Canadian Hercules, debuted this past week with wXw. He’s the hired muscle of Alexander James and is in until 11/30

Mark Kirilov, who wrestled under the name Kent Power, and promoted Hungary’s No. 2 promotion, PWM/EWA, passed away on 11/9 at the age of 36. No cause of death has been revealed

Jack Wilder of Austria announced he was retiring and his final bout would be on Alex Wright’s 1/25 show in Austria.

MLW: Tom Lawlor will be finishing up with the company in December. Court Bauer put out a Tweet thanking him for his time with the company. The story is that both sides had been working on a new contract for months but in the end they didn’t reach an agreement

Myron Reed beat Teddy Hart to win the middleweight title on the 11/9 tapings in Orlando. King Mo debuted on the show, one day after being knocked out in his Bellator retirement fight. I heard the standout match at the tapings was Low Ki vs. Timothy Thatcher.

ROH: Add Bully Ray vs. Mark Haskins in a street fight, Shane Taylor vs. Dragon Lee for the TV title, Matt Taven vs. Vincent (formerly Vinny Marseglia) and Angelina Love vs. Maria Manic for the WOH title to the 12/13 Final Battle PPV in Baltimore, to go with the previously talked about Rush vs. PCO ROH title match and Briscoes vs. Jonathan Gresham & Jay Lethal tag title match. Even though Lethal just suffered a broken forearm at the end of October, the break was clean and the belief is he’ll be ready to go for Baltimore

Dan Maff has signed a two-year contract and will become a regular

The big questions regards talent whose deals are up within the next few months, most notably Marty Scurll, Brody King, Jeff Cobb and Bandido. Scurll’s deal expires on 11/30 and people have believed he was AEW bound when his deal was up from the moment AEW was formed. ROH is said to have been making a strong offer to try and keep him and there’s always WWE, because he’d be a lock to be a top star in NXT with his ready-made name to that audience. Cobb’s big thing is still wanting to work as much New Japan as possible, and Bandido is the same, but one would think everyone wants Bandido. In the case of Bandido, another option those close to him have noted to us is that he signs nowhere, with the idea he could be the top guy who is a pure indie and could work for anyone, the way Pentagon & Fenix have been

Dak Draper is doing a gimmick where he gives his opponents participation ribbons after beating them.

IMPACT: Sami Callihan vs. Tessa Blanchard for the Impact title was officially announced as the main event for the 1/12 PPV, called Hard to Kill. The name is in reference to all the times TNA was on death’s door but each time survived. The show will take place at The Bomb Factory in Dallas. They are pushing it as the first time a woman will challenge a man for the main title in a promotion on a live PPV show. Rob Van Dam vs. Brian Cage and Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin are also scheduled. Josh Alexander & Ethan Page vs. Willie Mack & Rich Swann was teased at the tapings

They taped more television this week in New York at the Melrose Ballroom. This would be for shows in December. On 11/7, in the first match, Willie Mack pinned Bobby Wayward. Wayward was one of The East Hampton Polo Boys that got squashed by the Viking Raiders on Raw on 11/4. ODB returned. They had announced that these tapings were a benefit show to help ODB get a new food truck after her truck was destroyed in a fire. ODB talked about how the insurance company could kiss her ass, so apparently she got screwed. She talked about how the pro wrestling community ended up being her insurance policy. Taya Valkyrie came out and started making fun of her. She said she’d make a donation so ODB could afford a fire extinguisher. ODB attacked her until John E. Bravo pulled Valkyrie out of the ring. A Cage vs. Edwards match ended without a winner when Elgin interfered. This turned into a three-way with Elgin pinning Edwards with the Elgin bomb. Fallah Bahh beat Raj Singh after a splash. The Desi Hit Squad attacked Bahh after the match. TJP made the save. Petey Williams beat Johnny Swinger. Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes came out for an interview. Van Dam said how all the wrestlers today steal all his moves and they all want to be like him. Tommy Dreamer came out and said that Van Dam should have a match with Rhino to settle things just like they used to do in the old days. Van Dam told Dreamer that he’s always living in the past and went to leave. Rhino then attacked Van Dam and they had a pull-apart. ODB pinned Taya Valkyrie in a non-title match. Jon E. Bravo was helping Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace attacked Bravo. While this was going on, ODB pinned Valkyrie, who was distracted. Moose pinned Ace Romero after a pounce. Ace Austin & Reno Scum beat Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel. TJP beat Daga via submission. The Desi Hit Squad attacked both of them after the match. Van Dam beat Rhino with Dreamer as referee. Van Dam won with a frog splash. Rhino had gored Van Dam through a table but as Dreamer went to count, Forbes pulled him out of the ring. Van Dam attacked Dreamer after the match. Grace pinned Tenille Dashwood. Valkyrie attacked Grace after the match. Dashwood then went after Valkyrie. Blanchard beat Mad Man Fulton via DQ. Blanchard was about to hit the Magnum when other members of OVE attacked Blanchard. Ken Shamrock made the save. Shamrock’s physique looks ridiculous for 55 years old. Like he looks like any day of the week he could just walk in and win an over 50 bodybuilding contest. Main event saw Callihan beat Shamrock with an ankle lock. The ref was knocked down and Fulton gave Shamrock a DDT and knocked him out Callihan then used the ankle lock and Shamrock was knocked out and it was stopped. Shamrock didn’t submit. Fulton continued to beat down Shamrock after the match

On the 11/8 tapings, it started with an Xplosion match where Buster Jackson & Matt McIntosh beat General Justice & Nikos Rikos (who was on Raw last week as part of the East Hampton Polo Squad). Trey Miguel pinned Shawn Donovan with an elbow off the top. Josh Alexander beat TJ Crawford. Van Dam & Forbes came out. They started making out in the ring. He said wrestling fans have no attention span and he wants his credit for being the inspiration to all the modern wrestlers. He said he created every move people use in today’s wrestling. He mentioned nobody stole more than Cage, who he’s facing on the next PPV show. He said it’s not a dream match for him, but it is for Cage, who he called the biggest RVD mark in the world. They had a brawl and with the help from Forbes, Van Dam did a corner dropkick to lay him out. Mack & Swann won a three-way over Reno Scrum and the Crist Brothers in a hurricane match, although they didn’t call it that, they just said no tags were needed. Swann pinned one of the Crists with a 450. Ryan beat Romero after a superkick. The big spot was Swinger, who is doing this 80s wrestler parody, putting Ryan’s hand on his own dick so he could flip Ryan, but it didn’t work. Callihan did an interview. He said that at Hard to Kill, he will treat Blanchard like any man and spit in her face. He said he made it on his own and didn’t have daddy calling up people t get him a tryout. Blanchard went to attack but Fulton came out and he and Callihan beat her down until Shamrock made the save. Shamrock came out with his ribs taped. Fulton laid out Shamrock. Mahabali Shera & Desi Hit Squad beat Daga & TJP & Bahh when Shera pinned TJP after a choke slam. Jessicka Havok pinned Rosemary with a tombstone piledriver. Ace Austin retained the X title over Petey Williams with the blockbuster. ODB & Dashwood & Grace beat Kiera Hogan & Rayne & Valkyrie when ODB pinned Valkyrie. The story tease is that Grace was mad that ODB got the pin, meaning ODB would get a title shot before she would. Page beat Swann via DQ. Alexander interfered but the ref didn’t see him. Mack made the save and the ref saw that for the DQ. Elgin pinned Edwards with an Elgin bomb after the buckle bomb. Said to be the best match at either taping. Cage & Rhino beat Van Dam & Moose. Rhino hit the gore on Moose and then Cage speared Moose for the pin.

AEW: You can make of this what you will, but those who have studied the minute-by-minute audiences on Wednesdays have found that when AEW goes to a commercial, that NXT viewership goes up. When AEW’s show ends, NXT gets a huge bump, of somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 viewers. But when NXT goes to a commercial break, there is very little of their audience that goes to AEW. This seems to indicate most WWE regular fans will not watch AEW, but a percentage of the AEW audience will switch to NXT. But most of the switching takes place during commercial breaks and after the show, and not during periods when AEW is on the air

Regarding the win-loss records, the career records will always exist but there will also be annual season records. The new season will start in January and last throughout the year and the same thing would happen in 2021. So people can have bad years and then be reset and have good years

In Canada, aside from Raw, not a lot of good news this week in the ratings. Raw on 11/11 did 232,200 viewers. Neither AEW, NXT or Smackdown cracked the top ten for their nights in sports. The No. 10 spot on both 11/13 (AEW) and 11/8 (Smackdown, NXT since NXT airs on Fridays in Canada) were less than 112,000. AEW was expected to not do well this week in Canada since both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors, both monster draws, were going head-to-head. AEW in Canada numbers vary not so much based on what is on the show but if one of those two teams goes head-to-head

There was an altercation on 11/7 at Tony Schiavone’s birthday party at Jimmy’s Seafood in Baltimore. The gist of the story was that Jimmy Havoc had too much to drink, was being talked with, apparently took a swing at Excalibur, who then choked him out. From those who were there, they said it really wasn’t as dramatic as it reads nor was the swing as big a deal as it sounds, although Excalibur did choke him out. One person who was there was actually on the phone with me when it happened and I didn’t even know it until two days later as he said it was so nothing if you were there that he didn’t even think it was a big enough deal to stop the conversation or mention it and pretty much felt it was a nothing and was shocked it became this story afterwards. Tony Khan at the post-show press conference said it happened but categorized it as nothing big and called it a draw

Those in Canada noted Khan had talked with TSN about running some shows there. Khan said it’s been talked about but no dates are firm on the schedule

There are plans for TV in California in early 2020. 2019 was the first year in the careers of the Young Bucks that they didn’t have at least one match in Southern California

The 1/15 TV tapings will be on the University of Miami campus at the Watsco Center. It would hold about 6,000 with their set-up

Indianapolis on 11/20 has one of the better advances as they had about 360 tickets left at press time. Announced for Indianapolis is a 12 man Battle Royal, plus Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin and Santana & Ortiz vs. Private Party. The Battle Royal is being called the Diamond Dozen Battle Royal. It will be over the top rope until it comes down to the last two guys. The winner then gets a diamond ring. Santana & Ortiz vs. Private Party will be a tribute mach for Matt Travis, who all four knew

Chicago on 11/27 doesn’t have a lot of tickets left, but it looks like there are many sections not opened up. Champaign, IL on 12/4 is listed as sold out. Corpus Christi on 12/18 has a ton of tickets left

Darby Allin, at Starrcast, made a comment saying that Evolve could “Go f*** themselves.” Obviously there were a lot of aspects of his leaving Evolve that didn’t go well. He also made comments that he thought if he had followed the Evolve path to WWE that his career would have gone nowhere

Jerry Lynn, who works here as a producer, is getting surgery to repair a bulging disc on 11/29 which comes from all the years of hard matches. He should be back at work in three to four weeks

Notes from the 11/13 tapings in Nashville. They drew a little over 4,000 fans. The show struggled at times early but the second hour was great. The first match for dark was said to be excellent with the Young Bucks over T-Hawk & Lindaman using the Meltzer driver on Lindaman. They opened with Kenny Omega being shown at the building. His back was all scraped up was the barbed wire. He also had a black eye. He was talking to the doctor and telling him he was okay, although taking a shower stings. The doctor wouldn’t clear him to wrestle and that was his only appearance on the show. They showed Michael Nakazawa and Riho with him worried about him. Jon Moxley quickly pinned Nakazawa in 1:09 with the paradigm shift. Moxley did an interview saying his goal is to go through AEW one broken neck at a time until he’s the last man standing. He said that nobody would face him and if they did, to kiss your loved ones goodbye and have an ambulance on speed dial. The Dark Order beat Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt in 9:29. It was mostly heat on Stunt. He didn’t look nearly as good as the last time when he had Pentagon & Fenix to work with. Stunt missed a spot or two. He was over to the live crowd and they were forgiving of him. Jungle Boy tagged in and was over like crazy. He gets a much bigger reaction than he has any right to get, but it’s been that way with him for years as he’s just got something. Stunt did a dragonrana on Stu Grayson for a near fall. Jungle Boy did a tope on both guys. Dark Order used the fatality on Stunt and Evil Uno pinned him. Uno then tried to recruit Stunt to join the Dark Order. They gave him a creeper mask but Jungle Boy took the mask from him. The Creepers and Dark Order all attacked Jungle Boy and Stunt until Luchasaurus made the save. It looked like he came back way early because he wasn’t mobile at all. He destroyed everyone in his path and cleaned house and it worked for the crowd. Darby Allin won a three-way over Shawn Spears and Peter Avalon in 3:44. Joey Janela came out to attack Spears. So in the ring, Allin used a flip over stunner on Avalon and got the pin with a coffin drop. Allin also got a very big reaction for everything he did. Nyla Rose pinned Dani Jordyn in 1:34 with a Samoan drop and power bomb. At least it was quick. It was pretty bad. They announced Dustin Rhodes would be back in three to four weeks, saying he had a broken radial bone, which is storyline. Allie was doing an interview. The lights went out and when they came on, it was Brandi Rhodes & Awesome Kong. Kong used a very weak looking uraken to put Allie down and used a knife to cut some of her hair off. Chris Jericho came out to a super face reaction. The people just see him as a superstar. He called Cody an entitled millennial son of a bitch. Then Cody’s music played, but it was MJF who came out. This was an amazing segment when you had two of the best talkers in the game going back-and-forth. MJF wasn’t the slightest bit overshadowed as a star by Jericho. MJF said that the fans have been cheering the real villain every week, Cody. He said he knows Cody better than anyone and Cody doesn’t give a shit about any of you. He said the real Cody was a liar, a user and an abuser. He said that Cody wanted him under his thumb, but his thumb wasn’t big enough to hold him down. He told Cody, “I’m better than you and you know it.” He then went to Jericho and told him that if he had to make his Mt. Rushmore of the greatest wrestlers of all-time he’d be I the third or four installment. Then they went back and forth where MJF would say that I heard you wanted me in the Inner Circle and Jericho would say that he heard MJF wants to be in the Inner Circle. They said it over and over. Jericho said MJF wants to be just like him, he’s got a scarf like him, and he bets that his parents probably got horny watching me beat up Juventud Guerrera 25 years ago and your twerp ass popped out. Both said that Cody was the biggest jackass in wrestling. Cody came out. The idea is that he wasn’t cleared, although that was only in storyline. Still, that cut looked really bad and opened up instantly. Cody botched the powerslam spot on Jericho the first time but hit it the second time. Wardlow then showed up and slammed Cody down and he was choking Cody with his tie before it was broken up. Pac beat Adam Page in 12:06. This match was excellent, very similar and played off as the sequel to their PPV bout. I’d go ****1/4 and it was the match of the night. Pac did a Fosbury flop and top rope moonsault to the floor. Page did a tope. The idea is that Pac is now ahead in their series 2-1, so they are no longer counting the England match which wasn’t in AEW, but AEW paid for it and released the footage, which Page won via DQ. Pac did a missile dropkick to the front and then to the back. Page also did a moonsault off the top to the floor. Pac did a German suplex and then a second, but Page landed on his feet and clotheslined him. Page again blocked the low blow spot. Page blocked the suplex on a chair and gave Pac a brainbuster on the floor. He hit the buckshot lariat but Pac kicked out. Pac stomped the hell out of Page and then used a black arrow to the back and the brutalizer and the ref stopped the match. As far as I’m concerned, they should do a best-of-seven with these guys over the No. 1 contender position because they work so well together, and when it’s done, Page will be made to the TV audience. There was a huge brawl with The Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz. There were a ton of highlights. Matt powerslammed Ortiz through a table. Santana came off a table. They ended up in the bathroom and Orange Cassidy was just standing there and got a big pop. They brawled at a fast pace all through the commercial break. These guys were going nonstop hard. Ortiz backdropped Matt over the barricade onto the floor. Security was breaking it up. Matt dove off the apron on everyone. The Bucks were superkicking a bunch of security guys,. They used a loaded sock on Matt and three loaded sock shots to Nick’s bad right leg. It ended with them putting Matt through the stage like they did last week with Ricky Morton. Brandon Cutler ran in for the save and Santana & Ortiz backed off. But then they attacked Cutler as well. This was a really strong segment to get over Santana & Ortiz. Private Party came out at the end of the segment since they are doing Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz next week. Main event saw Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky beat Jericho & Sammy Guevara to retain the tag titles in 10:43. They announced that this had a one hour time limit. They actually finished the match just before the show went off the air. They did say that for title matches on Dynamite, that if it doesn’t end on the air they will continue on streaming. Really, given WWE has had success with its overrun in recent weeks, they should consider doing the same because they do hand WWE a large audience at 10 p.m. It was noted that even though Jericho has been wrestling 29 years and Kazarian has been wrestling 21 years, this was the first time they would have ever been in the ring together. Good match. Jake Hager interfered and Christopher Daniels gave him a tope, but Hager caught him and threw him into the barricade. Lots of near falls. Jericho went for a lionsault on Sky, who got his knees up. Sky came off the top rope into a codebreaker, but Sky kicked out. Sky then pinned Jericho with an inside cradle. So this should set up Jericho vs. Sky for the title. This was the first fall Jericho has lost in AEW, or anywhere for that matter, since his Dominion match with Okada. He sold it big, throwing things, kicking the barricade and making sure the importance of him losing got over. For Dark, Riho & Britt Baker beat Kris Statlander & Big Swole with Baker over Statlander with the lock jaw. The final match for Dark was Trent & Chuck Taylor over Private Party. Lots of comedy in this match with spots to involve Cassidy.

UFC: Khabib Nurmagomedov is in talks for a title defense against Tony Ferguson who because of his ridiculous conditioning and wrestling, looks stylistically to be the greatest challenge of the champion’s career. Right now UFC wants the fight in March in Las Vegas. He’s said he will never fight in Nevada again because the commission fined him $500,000 for his role in the brawl after the Conor McGregor fight. He was speaking this past week in Moscow and said he would fight in Las Vegas but only if the commission returned his fine money or apologized, and if not, he’s looking for an April date which would be in New York

Israel Adesanya is still pushing for Yoel Romero as his first title defense at middleweight. He’s noted UFC doesn’t want to make that fight, given Romero has lost two in a row. Jared Cannonier to me makes the most sense as noted before, 3-0 in the division, all wins over top ten guys

Nick Diaz did a long ESPN interview going in a bunch of directions. One of them was trying to push for a fight in the spring against Jorge Masvidal at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, but he also at another point said he was definitely not interested in fighting again

UFC Fight Pass reached a deal with stream 46 Legacy Fighting shows between now and the end of 2021. The deal starts with the 11/15 show in Belton, TX. UFC will stream one more event this year, 20 in 2020 and 24 in 2021. Fight Pass will also have the entire LFA library on the site starting in 2020. UFC is pushing that LFA is the place for the future stars, noting Henry Cejudo, Kamaru Usman and Valentina Shevchenko, all current champions, came from LFA, as did Holly Holm, Brian Ortega, Dominick Reyes, Curtis Blaydes and Maycee Barber. There are 176 fighters who have fought in UFC who came from LFA. LFA was the promotion that AXS focused its old Friday Night block around until Anthem bought the station and canceled, and basically switched to Combate Americas

Gilbert Melendez (22-8), 37, who has lost five straight fights, not having won a fight in six years, was released. Melendez, was a WEC, Shooto and two-time Strikeforce champion, and one of the building blocks of Strikeforce. It’s been pretty clear he hasn’t been the same fighter in many years. He nearly won the UFC lightweight title, losing a decision that could have gone either way in a title match with Benson Henderson in 2013. One would think, as one of the key fighters in building Strikeforce, that if he does want to continue his career, he would be able to do so in Bellator, given Scott Coker, who ran Strikeforce, is no in charge at Bellator. Melendez said after being cut that he’s not sure if he’s going to fight again, and said maybe he’d do grappling tournaments, maybe he’d try a boxing match in Tijuana and also brought up working for Coker, ONE or in Japan

Melendez is also one of the names announced for Quintet Ultra, a UFC Fight Pass event that takes place on 12/12 at 10 p.m. Eastern from the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas. Quintet is the brainchild of Kazushi Sakuraba and Josh Barnett, taken from the New Japan and All Japan Survival series events. There will be four teams of five fighters, a UFC team, a WEC team, a Strikeforce team and a Pride team. UFC owns all those names. Each team will have four members. They will battle in grappling rules with time limits. Each team picks a lineup. The first picks go at it and the winner advances. If there is no submission in 8:00, both men are eliminated. It continues until one team has nobody left and that team loses. The first two Survival series team winners will then meet in the championship round. I went to the first live event in Las Vegas. It didn’t draw much, but it was a very fun show with strategy and action. The key is that grappling is usually not that exciting, but when you have names, and you either win or are eliminated, it forces aggression in most cases (and when it doesn’t there can be strategic intrigue). You simply have no time to rest or stall. The first two members of each team were announced with Anthony Johnson and Sean O’Malley of UFC, Sakuraba and Takanori Gomi of Pride, Melendez and Jake Shields of Strikeforce and Chad Mendes and Glover Teixeira of WEC. There will also be a singles bout with Gordon Ryan, one of the best heavyweight submission guys in the world, facing Aleksei Oleinik of UFC

Rose Namajunas said that she’s decided to return to fight, targeting February or March. She said she’s looking at fighting for three more years

Dwayne Johnson was on Ariel Helwani’s talk show this past week talking about the Mark Kerr movie he and Seven Bucks Entertainment are producing. Johnson will be playing Kerr. Johnson said they are looking at producing the movie in 2021. Johnson said that they met in the late 90s for lunch when both were at the top of their respective professions. He watched the HBO doc on Kerr and wanted his people to find Kerr, to put together the deal. Johnson will also be doing a movie on Anthony Robles, who was born with only one leg and won the NCAA Division I tournament

Dana White will be one of the Executive Producers of a new ABC TV show called Ultimate Surfer, along with Pilgrim Media Group. It will be reality show not all that unlike Ultimate Fighter, hence the name. It will an eight-episode run of a show hosted by Kelly Slater where male and female surfers battle in eight weeks of competition with the winners getting to compete on the WSL tour

Frankie Edgar is really cutting to 135 and will debut on the 1/25 show in Raleigh against Cory Sandhagen, who is 12-1 with wins over Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker. Whoever wins would be considered a strong threat for Henry Cejudo. That will be a head-to-head night as Bellator is running The Forum in Los Angeles that night with Julia Budd vs. Cris Cyborg for their featherweight title

This week’s show is another pure ESPN+ event from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The show starts at 5 p.m. Eastern with Vanessa Melo (10-6) vs. Tracy Cortez (6-1),Veronica Macedo (6-3-1) vs. Ariane Lipski (11-5), Douglas de Andrade (25-3) vs. Renan Barao (34-7), Randy Brown (11-3) vs. Warlley Alves (13-3), Francisco Trinaldo (23-7) vs. Bobby Green (24-9-1), Ricardo Ramos (13-2) vs. Eduardo Garagorri (13-0), Sergio Moraes (14-5-1) vs. James Krause (26-7), Wellington Turman (15-3) vs. Markus Perez (12-2), Andre Muniz (18-4) vs. Antonio Arroyo (9-2), Charles Oliveira (27-8) vs. Jared Gordon (15-3), Mauricio Shogun Rua (26-11) vs. Paul Craig (12-4) and a main event of Jan Blachowicz (24-8) vs. Ronaldo Jacare Souza (26-7). It’s a pretty deep show as some of the undercard matches like Brown vs. Alves, Trinaldo vs. Green and Ramos vs. Garagorri are all interesting, especially the latter. Oliveira is looking to add to his UFC all-time record of 13 submissions against Gordon. Craig has a chance to make a name against Rua, a legend at 37 who is past his prime but has still won three of his last four including a close decision over Corey Anderson. The main event has Blachowicz, who is one of the top light heavyweights and is coming off a knockout of Luke Rockhold, facing another middleweight moving up, Ronaldo Jacare Souza. A win by Souza would immediately put him at the top level in the division, but he’s coming after fellow middleweights who were ranked highly in the division, Rockhold and Chris Weidman, lost badly. Notably, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith, who weren’t at nearly their level in middleweight, both also moved up and did so well in the new division they got title shots at Jon Jones

Carlos Condit suffered a training injury and has pulled out of his 12/7 Washington, DC fight with Mickey Gall.

BELLATOR: There were some announcements made regarding the Japanese shows. The Bellator debut at the Saitama Super Arena, in a joint promotion with Rizin, will take place on 12/29 in Japan, but with the time difference, it will air at 10 p.m. Eastern on 12/28 in the U.S. To make this work, it’s going to have to be a morning start as the main U.S. matches have to start at Noon. Five fights are scheduled for the TV card that will air on Paramount and DAZN, with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Rampage Jackson, Michael Chandler vs. Benson Henderson, and three Bellator vs. Rizin fights. Bellator’s Lorenz Larkin faces Keita Nakamura, a former UFC fighter who now fights for Rizin. Bellator’s Illara Joanne faces Rizin’s Kana Watanabe. Bellator’s Goiti Yamauchi faces Rizin’s Darron Cruickshank. It’s funny there because the American is the Rizin guy and the Japanese guy is the Bellator guy

The 11/9 show in Thackerville, OK was built around King Mo Lawal’s retirement fight. He had already retired, but decided to come back for one last fight near where he went to college. If anything, it was a signal the retirement was the right call as he was knocked out in an exchange by Andrew Kapel (15-6) in just 1:22. He took off his gloves and put them in the ring. John McCarthy put him over strong. They said he would continue to coach at ATT. Lawal was a Strikeforce champion in 2010 and was one of Bellator’s major stars since 2013. He was a huge pro wrestling fan growing up and when he was with Real Pro Wrestling, he and Daniel Cormier would cut pro wrestling promos on the show. Lawal was scouted by WWE in the days when developmental was in OVW. He was about to sign when he met with Shad Gaspard, who was still in OVW at the time. Lawal was the top 185 pound freestyle wrestler in the country at the time and was a huge fan of boxing and MMA as well. He talked to Gaspard, who had his own fighting background, about wanting to be a champion in MMA and pro wrestling. Gaspard told him he would always have regrets if he signed with WWE and never tried fighting, and told him the best thing would be to do fighting first, and then come into pro wrestling. So he didn’t sign. He had a run in TNA where they tried to promote him in conjunction with Bellator with both on Spike as a two-sport superstar, but he really never went anywhere with pro wrestling, although he’ll be doing it now with MLW. Lawal had MLW on his gear, which looked like a sponsor but it was actually because they were scheduled to debut him as a pro wrestler the next day. Leslie Smith (11-8-1), who was cut by UFC, believed to be for trying to unionize fighters as she was ranked in the top ten at the time she was cut, lost in her second Bellator fight on straight 30-27 scores. The TV opener saw former nationally ranked heavyweight wrestler Tyrell Fortune (8-0) beating Za Anyanwu (15-6) via TKO from punches at 1:56 of the second round. John Salter (17-4) beat Castello van Steenis (12-2) via straight 29-28 scores in the main event

They are working on bringing back Aaron Pico for a fight with Daniel Carey for the 1/25 show in Los Angeles. This will be Pico’s return after two straight knockout losses which came at a time when he had looked incredible against Leandro Higo and looked like a future champion. Carey has a 7-3 record but a big win over Gaston Bolanos on the 9/7 show in San Jose

They have an 11/14 show in Tel Aviv, Israel, which is a Thursday night show but it won’t be airing until Friday night, 11/15 in the regular 9 p.m. time slot on both DAZN and Paramount. It’s notable that even their streaming platform doesn’t have it live. Sergei Kharitonov vs. Linton Vassell is the main event, plus Roger Huerta, the onetime UFC golden boy, faces Sidney Outlaw. Austin Vanderford, best known as the husband of Paige VanZant, who is 8-0, will face Grachik Bozinvan.

OTHER MMA: Promoter Eddie Hearn said that the 11/9 Logan Paul vs. KSI rematch had more viewers than any fight DAZN has put on, and that includes several Canelo Alvarez fights. He also said it was the most purchased PPV event of the year in the U.K., even beating Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr

The KSW promotion drew more than 11,000 fans for its debut event on 11/9 in Zagreb, Croatia. The big drawing match was the company’s biggest star, strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski (13-7) slopping Erko Jun (3-1), a celebrity model and fitness star in Poland, at 1:42 of the second round. KSW combines using the top Polish fighters, some European stars that have been in UFC, as well as celebrity fights and does the state-of-the-art promotional work to make it the most successful regional promotion in the world

Gina Carano has been doing the rounds this past week as one of the stars of “The Mandalorian, “ a huge money Disney+ streaming Star Wars spinoff show that debuts on 11/14 as one of the first signature shows when the service goes up

Melissa Cervantes, who wrestles for NWA and indies as Thunder Rosa, made her MMA debut on 11/8 in San Antonio for Combate Americas. Her fight was pushed as the No. 2 fight on the Univision live broadcast because of her pro wrestling name. She lost a straight 30-27 decision to Nadine Mandiau.

WWE: The Steve Austin interviews, which were the most popular non-PPV shows on the WWE Network early in its run, will be brought back. A new show called Broken Skull Sessions starring Austin debuts on 11/24, right after the Survivor Series, with Austin interviewing Undertaker. Each month Austin will do a one hour interview with a major figure in the business. I never understood why it was dropped. Austin’s shows set records for non-PPV viewing, and then switched to Jericho, who also set records. I don’t think Austin did another show after the Dean Ambrose show

A study showed that WrestleMania in New York/New Jersey this past year generated $165.4 million to the local economy. This is way up from the $101.2 million that the 2013 show did. The figure includes $27.1 million in taxes. This was the figure estimated as spending by visitors who came in to the area for that week. While they claim 82,265 as the attendance, the paid attendance was actually 63,000 for the show. Of that figure, about 32,800 tickets were sold from out of town which is actually a much lower figure than is usual. That’s because 30,200 tickets were sold locally which is higher than usual and also because New York is a very heavy scalper market and the show was a quick sellout. For a comparison, in 2017 in Orlando, there were 64,900 paid for the show but only 13,600 tickets were sold locally and the other 51,300 were sold outside of driving distance. $23.9 million was spent on hotels and accommodations and $6.6 million was spent at restaurants in the area

Johnny Gargano is out of action with a neck injury. It evidently happened during the angle with Balor a few weeks ago. The plan was for the two of them to wrestle on the 11/23 Takeover show in Chicago. After they did the angle, nothing was said about it again over the past few weeks because Gargano was injured but they kept it quiet. They announced the injury this week and shot an angle for Balor to instead face Matt Riddle on the show. Riddle was pulled out of his War Games match which is now Adam Cole & Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic & Tommaso Ciampa and a partner to be named. The women’s teams for their War Games match is also finalized with Shayna Baszler & Kay Lee Ray (UK Women’s champion) & Bianca Belair & Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley & Tegan Nox & Candice LeRae & Mia Yim, although Yim may have broken her nose on the 11/13 NXT show in a match Shirai to determine who gets the advantage in War Games. Shirai did a springboard dropkick into a ladder that Yim was holding and the side of the ladder crushed her nose and it was bleeding all over the place. She did suffer a broken nose and had rib injuries as well so her participation in the match is up in the air. They gave Yim medical attention for a while as Shirai stalled. But Yim continued and they did the planned finish where Yim was on top of the ladder and about to win when Ray tipped over the ladder and Yim went flying over the top rope and crashed through a ladder bridge between the apron and the barricade with the ladder breaking in half. That was a crazy looking spot

Albert Hardie Jr. (ACH) posted a video on 11/13 saying he’s quit the “racist” company and will never work for them again. He said not to ever call him Jordan Myles as that’s his slave name, and his name is ACH. It should be noted that he picked out the name Jordan Myles. “As of today I quit f**ing WWE, I am no longer employed by them, I refuse to work for racists, I f***ing quit. I hate them. I hate that f***ing company and everything they f***ing stand for. All they did was hold our f***ing people back.” He had said that he was going to say all kinds of things if he didn’t hear from WWE. His situation is a number of stories. That the T-shirt shouldn’t have been made is one story. That was clearly a mistake. They did pull it immediately when he complained. So it was a mistake that was quickly rectified. If it wasn’t rectified it would be a different story. That said, when it comes to WWE and Hardie Jr., WWE has very much tried to help him weeks before he went public with his issues and at the time he disappeared from Orlando. Hardie Jr. then deleted the account that he posted on. WWE has not commented on this story. Hardie Jr. has been in contract with at least one promotion wanting to appear but I can’t see this being possible given there is no indication he’s been released by WWE.

The Miz, 39, signed a new contract. This must be a restructured deal since he signed a four-year deal in 2018. Paige, 27, signed a new non-wrestling contract.

Jorge Arias, 42, better known as Sin Cara, went public on 11/11 in the middle of the European tour to ask for his release. He had worked the show on 11/10 and remained on the tour. He made a tweet in Spanish saying that he was thinking about his children and talked about it being a difficult situation but he wanted out. A translation from Jonathan Beck at PW Insider was, “Last night, after praying and much consideration, in thinking about my children and their future, I made one of the most difficult decisions, but most sensible decisions, that I have made in my career in professional wrestling: I have asked for my release from WWE. Ever since I was a child, all I have wanted to do was to wrestle, and all of my life I have made decisions and sacrifices to put myself in conditions to realize my dream. It was a 20-year trajectory and total sacrifice to my sport that I love and respect. I have traveled throughout the world, I have met incredible people and I have fought for the incredible, fantastic WWE universe. I am so grateful for the opportunity they have given me, however, I have realized that I am trapped in a place where I am not valued as an athlete or talent. I have worked hard and honestly during my many years in order to polish my craft, I have been loyal, respectful, a team player, a supporter - and I have waited patiently for the opportunity to show the world all that I can do. Unfortunately, after all of these years, that opportunity never arrived, and I feel that it will never arrive as long as I am here. The best years of my professional wrestling career are coming and I believe that the best is yet to come! I am a healthy man, disciplined, respectful of my profession and its environment, of my colleagues and especially to my fans, who have never failed me. This is not the end; on the contrary, it is the beginning of the next chapter and I am excited for everything the future holds (Isaiah 43:18-19)! I want to thank WWE for this incredible chapter. I will always be grateful. The most important thing - thanks to the WWE Universe for your incredible support and to all of my fans in all parts of the world who have supported me and shown your care, the unique way which I can correspond, continuing to bless me with your passion and professionalism that I have always demonstrated. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." There are reports that he has an interest in going to Combate Americas, but at his age, that’s a bad idea to start. But with three plus years left on his deal, he’d be 45 or 46 by the time the deal expires and that would close any MMA window. Really, my thought for a pro wrestler is that the MMA window should close earlier than 40 even though Dave Bautista did one fight after. There’s just too many skills needed and even for 40 if you’re going to fight anyone real, you’d really need high levels skills in wrestling or kickboxing like Jake Hager had in wrestling. Thus far guys going public asking for their release have not fared well. Harper was frozen out for months, although he was brought back for a three-week program when Rowan needed a partner against Bryan & Reigns. He’s still doing house shows but has been off TV since Rowan was moved to Raw. Mike Kanellis was removed from television but not given his release. In his case it could be worse since he had just signed a five-year deal and it’s a good money deal. But they dropped his storyline and instead moved a different version but moved it to a higher profile with Rusev and Lana. Maria, who didn’t ask for her release, has also been off television, but the storyline they were doing doesn’t work without Mike. I think it shows that publicly asking doesn’t do you any good, because they aren’t going to release you but may send you home and it’s a lock they won’t push you. Sin Cara returned after reconstructive knee surgery and Andrade really let him shine in his first match back before Andrade beat him. But it’s pretty clear at his age they aren’t going to push him. Since giving releases to Shawn Spears and Dustin Runnels, both of whom ended having value in AEW, and KENTA, who added value to New Japan, they’ve stopped granting releases. However, it was noted that they may be giving releases to some people with the idea they don’t believe they would be going to AEW, or if they do, wouldn’t help them, and it is possible he will get his release

“Playing with Fire,” the new Cena comedy about him being a firefighter, opened No. 3 at the box office this past weekend, taking in $12,723,781. It finished behind “Midway” and “Doctor Sleep.” The movie, did not get good reviews, nor did Cena as the lead. It had 24 percent thumbs up, making it the second lowest of the top 45 movies currently playing at theaters, beating only Arctic Dogs

Rusev noted in an interview with The Sun in the U.K., that because of his storyline, he’s had to adjust his real life, but said it’s part of the game and called his angle with Lashley the hottest storyline in the company. “There's adjustments that we make, but that's just life. We're committed to our characters on TV, so we just have to make slight adjustments, but we're professionals and we're coping with it. It's great, I think we are in the best storyline currently going on and the best storyline that's been around for years. It's getting a lot of views and a lot of eyes on it. Some people like it, some people love it, but at the end of the day, it's the hottest storyline going on. There's adjustments that we make, but that's just life. Some people like it, some people love it, but at the end of the day, it's the hottest storyline going on.

Apparently one of the reasons little WWC content has shown up on WWE Network after they purchased the tape collection is that Hurricane Maria, which paralyzed Puerto Rico in September 2017 damaged some of the tapes. There is said to be a ton of tape and film reels that have been salvaged as well as some that can’t be restored

WWE has announced this lineup for the Starrcade WWE Network special on 12/1 from Atlanta. While all WWE stuff is subject to change, the current card lists Rusev vs. Lashley, Styles vs. Owens for the U.S. title, Strowman vs. Nakamura & Zayn, Asuka & Sane vs. Lynch & Flair for the women’s tag title in a tornado match, Rollins vs. Orton, Reigns vs. Corbin and a main event of Wyatt vs. Miz in a cage match for the Universal title. Also advertised are Andrade, The Street Profits, Gallows & Anderson, Banks, Bayley, Ricochet and Black

They did a house show angle on the 11/14 show in Mannheim, Germany. Ryder & Hawkins wrestled Gallows & Anderson in a math to determine who would get a tag title shot on Raw on 11/18. Hawkins pinned Anderson with a roll-up in a surprise. WWE immediately announced the match for Raw

The CBS Evening News did a very positive piece on Ali. Basically the gist was how in the past people of his background, being Pakistani, would have been anti-American heels in pro wrestling. It was the idea that he’s helped change pro wrestling for the better by being a clear babyface while not having his heritage covered up. Of course, it’s also been more than 30 years since Nikita Koloff and then Ivan Koloff were turned face so it’s not like this is a first or something new. But Ali comes across very likable in these situations and it was positive pub

Josh Briggs beat Austin Theory to win the Evolve title on 11/9 in Queens. A title change was expected since Theory is already working NXT regularly. Unless they bring him back some time later like they do with some NXT talent, Theory’s last match scheduled with the promotion was on 11/10. Matt Sydal debuted on the 11/9 show and was injured the first match back. He was wrestling Leon Ruff and about a minute into the match Ruff went to a flip into the ring into a huracanrana, you could call it a buckshot huracanrana. Instead of doing the move clean, his right foot nailed Sydal in the neck. He thought he suffered a neck injury and left the ring and went to the back. That’s so unusual to do because the mentality is no matter how hurt you are, to finish the match as planned. I think with the smarter audience of today, that mentality should be softened a bit. If you’re hurt, that’s part of the game, but if there’s something scary happening like numbness or loss of feeling, getting out of there is probably the smart move. The belief it was a stinger and he did work a multiple person match the next day so it doesn’t appear to have been that serious. On the 11/10 show in Brooklyn, WWE’s Reina Gonzalez squashed Alex Gracia and cut a promo saying she was mad she didn’t get competition. Babatunde beat Brandon Taggart. Theory, in what was billed as his last match with the promotion, beat Curt Stallion in what was said to have been a good match. There was a big farewell party for him as they put HHH and NXT over. Arturo Ruas beat Eddie Kingston via DQ when Natalia Markova gave Kingston a wrench which he used. Shotzi Blackheart beat Shine champion Allysin Kay in what was pushed as her last match. But then they announced Blackheart would face Gonzalez next month. Walter returns for matches on 12/7 in Livonia, MI against Timothy Thatcher and 12/8 in Chicago in a non-title match with Briggs

Mike Kanellis, who hasn’t been released, nor been used since he publicly asked for his release, is looking at doing motivational speaking gigs. Kanellis would likely talk about his recovery from painkiller addictions

A New Day vs. Revival tag title rematch is set for the 11/15 Smackdown in Philadelphia

The stock closed on 11/13 at $54.40 per share giving the company a $4.455 billion market value. Even with Citigroup giving the stock a $73 value (which is hardly an unfair valuation given profits expected in 2020), and the new Saudi deal, the stock still dropped more than $1 this past week while the market is setting records. Not to say there aren’t problems long-term because wrestling isn’t maintaining with consumers across the board, particularly when it comes to consumer spending on the product

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. NXT on 11/6 air date (airing on TV the day before); 2. Crown Jewel; 3. Smackdown on 10/11; 4. NXT U.K. on 11/7; 5. NXT Takeover War Games from 2017; 6. Nitro from September 4, 2000; 7. Table for 3 for Shane McMahon, Bruce Prichard and John Laurinaitis. On that episode, they talked about the final episode of Nitro where Shane showed up with the storyline that he had bought WCW from under the nose of his father. Both Shane & Prichard talked about how it was this secret and that they showed up and none of the talent knew about the sale to WWF. Even Laurinaitis backed up the story, saying only he and the lawyers knew when Shane came in for the show. In actuality, the story was known by everyone, covered on CNN, in major newspapers, everyone in wrestling knew ahead of time of both the sale and the Nitro/Raw simulcast that would take place. Everyone in WCW knew the story, and knew it for weeks that it was likely. I don’t know if it’s memory issues or if this is just an attempt to revise history decades later. What happened was that Turner had a press conference announcing WCW had been sold to Fusient, company that Eric Bischoff and Brian Bedol were to be the key players in. It was noted quietly to us that the actual sale papers weren’t signed, but Bischoff was basically in charge of the creative although it would be a lame duck period until his company actually took over. At the time as part of the sale, Turner had guaranteed Fusient that wrestling would remain on the station for several years. Then, before the papers were signed, Jamie Kellner canceled wrestling, and thus, they had no television. Fusient, feeling that owning the company with no TV was worthless, pulled out of the deal, and Vince McMahon purchased WCW, its time library, and its IP, for $2.5 million and an agreement to spend another $2 million advertising on Turner stations over the course of a year. The same company which a year earlier had turned down $75 million to sell and turned down offers from numerous other groups, including one involving Jeff Blatnick and another involving Jerry Jarrett, that would have offered multiple times as much. When Kellner canceled, Bischoff did have a few weeks to try and make a TV deal to save his deal, and given the time frame and how slowly television moves, he just couldn’t pull it off. After McMahon bought it, it was covered as a significant news story in the media. Still, there were a few, very few, but a few, in WCW who thought because Bischoff would try to swerve the boys so much on angles, that it was another angle and that Bischoff actually had it and the Vince story was to throw people off. But those people were laughed at for thinking that way

.Notes from the Manchester tapings on 11/8 for both Raw and Smackdown. They were able to do both shows in about four hours and 30 minutes. They did 205 Live earlier in the week and taping nothing for main event. Smackdown went live to tape so it took two hours and they were able to do Raw in less than two-and-a-half hours. The crowd was 10,000, good by today’s standards but less than Manchester would do just for Raw tapings in the past. It opened with Corbin out. Fans were chanting NXT. The crowd was hot for all NXT performers. He tired to blame the NXT taking over last week on Reigns. The idea was that he’s so full of shit since everyone knows Reigns wasn’t even there last week. He said that Reigns has changed, that he’s gone from six years without taking a day off and then talked about Reigns coming back from leukemia. He said Reigns is half a man and a step behind what he used to be. Then he made fun of Reigns as the big dog by having this little dog barking. He then asked where Reigns was at. The story was that Reigns was doing charity work and hadn’t arrived. It was an excuse for Corbin to do a promo without interruption and say as much stuff bad about Reigns. Corbin delivered this promo well but the material he was given, which included holding up doggie bags you use when you take dogs on walks to pick up after them, was so lame. Kingston & E came out. They noted that they need a seventh title win to keep Charlotte Flair (who has ten women’s title wins) from pulling away from them. They also gave Woods a shout out and has Woods written on tape on their wrists. New Day beat The Revival to win title No. 7 in 8:28. Wilder was selling his knee with the idea it was hurt. But it was a ruse. The thing is, he did the ruse during the break and they had to recap it so it didn’t have the effect it should have. Kingston did a twisting dive. Wilder pulled Dawson out of the way of Trouble in Paradise. There was a spot where Dawson used a superplex on Wilder used a splash off the top rope on Kingston, but E saved. After some more near falls, Kingston pinned Wilder with Trouble in Paradise. Zayn was still recruiting Bryan. He said that if Bryan was with him, Cole never would have beaten Bryan. Zayn said that Nakamura is a champion because of him. He said Cesaro had been doing nothing and two weeks ago he was in a main event because of him. He asked Bryan to come to ringside during the Cesaro & Nakamura tag match against Ali & G. Heavy Machinery was out next. They were in theory about to have a tag match when Imperium, of Walter, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner all attacked them. New Day, Ali, G and Crews made the save. Bayley and Banks did an interview. They put over that they were the ones who got women over in NXT. A lot of things did, but no bout their series of matches, particularly the Barclays Center match which was among the best women’s matches in WWE history, were a big part of the buildings blocks. They talked about how the NXT women may think they’re good but they are still in their shadows. Bayley noted she’s the only woman to have held every WWE women’s title, the Raw belt, the Smackdown belt, the NXT belt and the tag titles. Given Banks is on Smackdown, she’ll probably join that club. People already seem to expect the turn. Hopefully it goes better than the last time they spent months building a turn that went nowhere. Nakamura & Cesaro beat Ali & G in 4:07. Bryan was watching. G did an overhead suplex sending Nakamura over the top rope to the floor. Ali did a tope that knocked Cesaro into the crowd. Ali was on the top rope and Cesar scooped his leg and Ali was crotched Nakamura then hit him with the Kinshasa for the pin. Banks beat Cross in 9:38. Bayley was at ringside. At one point Cross attacked Bayley, who was just doing commentary, for no reason. Later, Bayley held Cross’ leg from outside with the ref not seeing it, and Banks superkicked Cross. There was sloppiness early but Cross was over in the U.K., and it got better in the second half. Banks won with the backstabber and banks statement. Bayley was beating down Cross after the match when Shayna Baszler attacked her. The crowd went crazy for NXT chants. Zayn was backstage with Bryan. Zayn was mad that Bryan didn’t do much when he was out there and choose to join them. The lights started flickering. The Fiend came out and destroyed Bryan with the mandible claw while Zayn ran away. Tyson Fury came out. He plugged his rematch with Deontay Wilder. Strowman came up and now they are buddies and shook hands. They talked about forming a tag team. Then they said that nobody would be stupid enough to face the two of them together. The B Team came ut. Axel said “We’re stupid enough to fight you.” He delivered the line well and it was funny. Dallas got mad that he said something so stupid. Dallas said that the B in B team stands for fearless, giving him a line for everyone to laugh at as well. They hit the ring and got destroyed quickly as Fury knocked out Dallas and Strowman powerslammed Axel. Strowman and Axel hugged after the match. Brooke & Carmella beat Rose & Deville in 3:57. The winners were to join Team Banks in a Raw vs. Smackdown women’s elimination match at Survivor Series. Yeah, Banks is a heel teaming with two faces here, but that’s the theme of the show this year that faces and heels of the brands join together to represent their brands. Corbin pinned Reigns in 11:28. Roode and Ziggler came out. Reigns gave Ziggler a Samoan drop on the floor. Reigns later speared Ziggler in the ring and then Corbin hit the End of Days on Reigns. Pro wrestling has silly rules but they sure make refs look stupid when there is a guy in the ring in front of the ref who causes the pin by being there and the idea is that you don’t call it unless the guy in the ring attacks the wrestler as opposed to the idea he’s in the ring distracting him. Raw then opened with Lynch out. She talked about how she got some of her earliest training in England and that everyone else is resting and training specifically for her so she can’t let up. She said the only thing she fears is not being the greatest and she wants to become Becky 2 belts again so she’s going for the tag title. They announced the show would start with Asuka & Sane defending against Flair & Lynch. The story was that it was supposed to be Flair & Natalya, but Natalya wasn’t there because of family commitments so Flair picked Lynch to take her place. Legit, the Neidhart family was spreading Jim’s ashes this past week so she had asked for time off. Flair no sold Sane’s chops and nailed her and put her down with her own. Baszler came out. Flair sold for a long time including Asuka using the Asuka lock and armbar, but Flair power bombed out. Lynch hot tagged in for the finish. She hit a missile dropkick on both at the same time. Baszler jumped on the apron. Bayley attacked Baszler. Now wait a minute. We were just told the stars are brand exclusive and that’s why Lesnar had to come to Raw, to get Mysterio (I know, Mysterio was on Smackdown the week before) but now Bayley is on Raw. Then again, with WWE you simply can’t look for consistency. Bayley attacked Baszler and Lynch was distracted and Asuka pinned her. Baszler laid out Bayley. Bayley attacked Lynch after the match and Baszler just walked off. The idea here was to get Asuka back strong after the miscommunication regarding last week, and have her pin Lynch, for long-term while also getting Bayley and Baszler involved in it for short-term. Ricochet & Orton were having words backstage. The OC was yelling and bullying Carrillo. Ricochet stood up for Carrillo. The OC tried to bully both of them. They wouldn’t stop and told them to find a partner. Orton then showed up and said he’d team with them. Now for this week Orton is a babyface. McIntyre pinned Sin Cara in 3:56. Sin Cara did a tope. Carolina was gone, as noted, she was only there for the two weeks. Sin Cara also did a moonsault to the floor. He tried a pescado into a huracanrana on the floor, but McIntyre caught him and power bombed him on the floor and then got the pin with a Claymore kick. Rowan was talking to this case like it was a baby. It’s the beginning of a new storyline for him. R-Truth vs. The Singhs was just weird. It was announced as a handicap match for the 24/7 title. The match started, and the Singhs just ran off to the back. It was meant as comedy. They were backstage running from R-Truth and ran into the women’s locker room. A bunch of women screamed as they ran out. They ran into a room with the lights off thinking they lost R-Truth. Rowan was there and destroyed both guys. He didn’t bother to pin either guy. Also, there was no ref. Nor did he call for one. Nor does anyone care about the 24/7 title who is a star, except, Rowan who last week was chasing it and now didn’t care. R-Truth showed up, saw Rowan, turned out the lights and left while the Singhs begged him for help. Rollins came out. He was lightly booed, some cheers. So the new deal here was Vince didn’t like the Manchester audience reactions and had the announcers call them “finicky” a few times. You know, like they are cats who don’t want to eat their cat food. The crowd was tired and they didn’t react much. He talked about the teams and then offered an open challenge to the U.K.’s best. Out came Imperium. I guess he meant NXT U.K., since they are from Germany and Austria. Walter said that you want the best, I’m here. Walter said that the mat you are standing on with your dirty feet is sacred to us. Seth accepted. Rollins beat Walter via DQ in 4:41. The action was good while it lasted. Rollins was setting up the curb stomp when Imperium ran in. The Street Profits and Owens made the save. Raw cleaned house. So this turned into an eight-man with Rollins & Owens & Street Profits vs. Imperium. The crowd was chanting NXT and again the announcers called the fans finicky. As the match went on, it was Walter looking strong and the other three guys, Alexander Wolfe & Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner, all selling for the Raw guys. Barthel is one of the most underrated workers around. He doesn’t have a lot of color but he’s always in the right place. Rollins did a tope and Ford did a flip dive both onto Walter. Rollins pinned Wolfe in 6:42 with a curb stomp. Andrade beat Alexander in 3:32. Good action. Alexander did a tope and then Vega distracted him. Andrade used the Judas effect and hammerlock DDT for the pin. Black did a promo. He’s still waiting for someone, other than Cesaro I guess, to pick a fight with him. Lana and Lashley were backstage. This was a set up for later. Lana came out. She was announced as “The Ravishing Russian” even though they’ve dropped the entire Russian thing and she doesn’t even bother attempting to use the slightest bit of an accent. She came out to confess her sins. This segment died brutally live from all accounts. Like horribly. A lot of people hate this angle but it showed more growth than most stuff this week. So that’s the reason if you want to follow this business you have to study what the people making decisions study. Sometimes people are into this stuff and sometimes they aren’t. Lana said this was her seventh week anniversary of sex with Lashley. She said she cheated on Rusev but he cheated first. She said last week when Ricochet knocked her to the floor she was embarrassed on Twitter. Lashley told her to see a doctor. The doctor checked her out. Her neck was fine, her head was fine, her legs were really fine but she’s nine weeks pregnant. She said she was monogamous, and only had sex with Rusev, who was a sex addict, and then only had sex with Lashley. She said the sex addict Rusev put a 15 pound Matchka baby in her. Rusev came out. He was smiling again. He said she called him a sex addict, had sex in baggage claim, had sex on the airplane, in a tank at WrestleMania, then a cheater and now you’re pregnant. He was skeptical. She freaked out and said Rusev was calling her a liar. She started slapping him around. Lashley came out. Lana jumped on Rusev’s back and started ripping his eyes. Lashley clotheslined Rusev and beat him down, including giving him a downward spiral and a choke slam. Lashley & Lana left him laying and then started joking about how they can’t believe he was so stupid to believe she was pregnant. Luckily for him or he’d have looked worse, because it was carefully scripted to make it appear he was very skeptical of her. Then Lashley& Lana started making out. Rowan pinned Soner Dursun in a squash with a claw slam in 1:07. Rowan has a mystery bag as his new gimmick. War Raiders beat Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews in 3:06. I guess when you’re given three minutes you only have time for five dives. It was cool though while it lasted. Andrews did his slumdog millionaire finisher on Erik, who kicked out. Ivar did a tope on both and hit the Viking Experience on Andrews for the pin. They pushed Andrews & Webster as former NXT UK tag champs, and while they did get offense, they were beaten too fast and easily given the idea this was a brand feud. Ricochet didn’t trust Orton. Orton said that the last thing you need to do to yourself is let me get in your head. Ricochet & Orton & Carrillo beat The OC in 15:40. Good match. The finish is because last week they changed the finish and Carrillo didn’t pin Styles as was originally booked. So with Carrillo losing one time more, they felt he needed to pin Styles here to get the long-term program back on track. They teased problems with Ricochet and Orton. The plan right now is to build this into a program. Well, unless Vince changes his mind. Styles and Ricochet were both down. Orton came in and teased hitting and RKO on Ricochet, but instead hit it on Styles. But instead of pinning Styles, Orton being a nice guy, tagged Carrillo, who hit a moonsault on Styles for the pin. Orton then teased an RKO on Ricochet, who was ready and Orton told him I’ll do whatever I want, whenever I want, to whoever I want. After Raw went off the air, The Fiend came out and attacked and beat down Styles, Anderson and Gallows. He got the biggest face reaction of the show

Notes from the 11/13 NXT tapings. Show was good. A lot of long matches and angles to build Takeover. It didn’t feel like a strong ratings show but you do have to build your big shows. The only main roster appearance was Bayley at the end of the show. She flew from France to Florida for the run-in at the end of the show. In the first dark match, Dexter Lumis beat Daniel Vidot. The other dark match saw Chelsea Green beat Catalina Garcia, who was the unmasked version of Carolina who had been with Sin Cara on Raw. The show opened with Lio Rush beating Angel Garza to keep the cruiserweight title in a **** match. Rush brought in his wife, kids, mother, grandmother from all over the world,. They did a spot where Garza took his pants off in front of Rush’s wife and kids. Rush went crazy using a tope on him. Later Rush did another tope that Garza turned into a powerslam on the floor. Garza also did a fallaway moonsault off the top rope for a near fall. That really should be a finisher. Garza hit his wing clipper finisher and Rush kicked out. Rush did a frog splash and Garza kicked out. Rush did another top rope frog splash on a draping Garza. Even though Rush worked the match as the face and Garza as the heel, Rush looked like he was supposed to use the trunks for the win. He grabbed for the trunks and completely missed and pinned Garza. Garza also may have been supposed to get his leg on the ropes. Nigel McGuinness was screaming about how the pin was a clear mistake. They showed Tegan Nox and Rhea Ripley having been beaten down outside Full Sail in the rocks. So they are doing the mystery attacker angle. Xia Li pinned Aliyah with a spin kick in 2:04. Aliyah suffered a broken nose from one of the kicks. Li has a ton of natural ability and potential at this. Her kicks look great and she’s got a great look. Balor came out. He asked what happened to this place. He said it’s now a joke. He said he built this place and now a bunch of little boys moved in. There was quite the irony with that scripted line. He started taking about Matt Riddle until Riddle attacked him. Riddle chased him out of the ring and he ran into the stands and escaped. The Undisputed Era came out and they surrounded the ring and were set to take out Riddle. Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee came out. Lee challenged them to get in the ring. Adam Cole talked about how he beat Daniel Bryan and how he didn’t run from Seth Rollins. Lee challenged Cole. Roderick Strong called Lee an idiot. Strong said Cole has been working hard and needs a night off and he challenged Lee. Lee accepted. Lee pinned Strong clean in a non-title match with a jackhammer in 17:17. Good match. The Undisputed Era came out. Then Ciampa posted Cole. Riddle came out. Cole superkicked Ciampa. Balor took out Riddle with a double foot stomp on the floor. Balor gave Riddle a Woo dropkick into the steps. Lee was distracted and Strong used an Olympic slam on him for a near fall. But Lee recovered and won with a jackhammer. The UE and Balor were beating on Lee and Ciampa after the match. Dominik Dijakovic made the save. He choke slammed Fish and O’Reilly, decked Cole and hit Feast Your Eyes on Cole. Dijakovic told Ciampa he wanted in for War Games. Lee got in Dijakovic’s face but then Lee offered his hand and Dijakovic shook the hand. Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke were both laid out outside the building. All kinds of people including HHH were shown backstage with a commotion about the mystery attacker. There was a debut in the background of Scarlett Bordeaux as well as Robert Strauss, or Robert Stone, or Robbie E. Isaiah Scott pinned Bronson Reed in 11:54. It was fine but the crowd did lost interest and it dragged. Reed went for a tombstone off the middle rope but Scott fought out of it and gave him a DDT. Scott got the pin after a kick to the head called the house call. Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dain was scheduled next, but it didn’t happen. Damien Priest attacked Dain and took him out. Dunne and Priest started fighting. It’s pretty clear they’re building a three-way match. Priest used a spin kick on Dain and Priest was beating up security. Priest gave a security guy a Bad Luck fall over the top rope onto Dain, Priest and more security. It ended with Priest doing a step up flip dive. They announced Cole vs. Dijakovic next week to determine which team has the advantage in War Games. Mia Yim was being interviewed and Dakota Kai showed up. She said that she’s got Yim’s back. The idea seemed to be to outsmart people and make them think she’s turning and would be the final member of Baszler’s team. Io Shirai beat Yim in 19:57 in the ladder match to give her team the War Games advantage. There was good stuff but the crowd was tired by this point. They didn’t really get into the match until about 17:00 in. Shirai did a tope. Yim suplexed Shirai on a ladder. Yim was supposed to gave Shirai a belly to belly into a ladder in the corner. He threw her to the side so Shirai almost missed the ladder but her hip did hit the side of the ladder. Shirai did the springboard dropkick into the ladder that bloodied up Yim’s nose. Shirai pulled Yim off the ladder with a German suplex and then did a running knee into the corner. Kai came out. Shirai did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor onto Kai & Yim. She actually flew and landed in between them and they barely broke her fall. Kai power bombed Shirai and told Yim to climb up to win. But when Kay Lee Ray showed up and tipped over the ladder and Yim took a tremendous bump, going out of the ring over the top rope and landing on a ladder bridge, breaking the ladder. Shirai climbed up to win. Shirai, Bianca Belair and Ray were posing together. Baszler then came to the stage to basically acknowledge Ray as the final member of her War Games team. At that point Bayley came out and hit Baszler with a chair and gave Baszler a skull crushing finale on Baszler’s belt on the entrance floor

The NXT weekend tour opened on 11/7 in Ocala, FL before 300 fans. Angel Garza pinned Austin Theory after a superkick. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two as a main roster program in a few years. Tehuti Miles pinned Cal Bloom after a spinning kick. Santana Garrett & Jessi Kamea beat Reina Gonzalez & Samantha De Martin. De Martin is Australian wrestler Indi Hartwell in her WWE debut. Kamea walked out on Garrett, so that sounds like a heel turn, but Garrett still won the match. Dexter Lumis pinned Omari Palmer after Palmer missed a splash. Palmer is a 300 pound former Syracuse University football player making his debut. He has the PC record doing an 800 pound trap bar dead lift (which is much easier than a competition dead lift, but 800 pounds is still a ton of weight to pull). As they do on many shows in Ocala, next out was Dory Funk Jr. for an interview, which almost always ends up in an angle, often with Wesley Blake, who is his protégé. So Blake & Ryker came out and started running him down and Funk instead endorsed Matt Riddle & Keith Lee. This led to a tag match with Riddle & Lee winning. Raul Mendoza & Catalina Garcia, who was Carolina with Sin Cara on Raw, beat Denzel Dejournette & Kayden Carter. Vanessa Borne beat MJ Jenkins. Main event was Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Babatunde over Riddick Moss & Dorian Mak & Brendan Vink when Babatunde got the pin with a spinning slam

11/8 in Tampa drew 150 fans. Io Shirai pinned Xia Li. Kona Reeves beat Daniel Vidot. Bronson Reed pinned Raul Mendoza. Dexter Lumis pinned Mohammed Fahim. Danny Burch pinned Cezar Bononi. Killian Dain attacked Burch and left him laying. He then cut a promo telling Burch to tell his friend Pete Dunne that he’s coming for him. Tegan Nox pinned Vanessa Borne. Wesley Blake beat Cal Bloom. Main event saw Tyler Breeze & Fandango beat The Outliers, Riddick Moss & Dorian Mak. After a ref bump, The Outliers cheated to win. The rule about how you can’t overturn a decision doesn’t apply here since a second ref came out and they restarted the match, and faces went over

11/9 in St. Augustine, FL, drew 200 fans and they put a women’s match in the main event slot. Xia Li pinned Deonna Purrazzo. Mansoor, who got a big reaction, beat Chase Parker. Killian Dain squashed Mohammed Fahim. He kept beating him down after the match until Danny Burch made the save. This led to a match. Burch beat Dain via DQ when Dain used a cheap shot and then Dain beat Burch down all the way to the back. Isaiah Scott pinned Tehuti Miles. Jeet Rama pinned Brendan Vink. Rama gets a good reaction on these types of shows. Taynara beat Carolina. Denzel Dejournette & Nick Ogarelli beat Aleksander Jaksic & Dexter Lumis. Main event saw Io Shirai & Bianca Belair beat Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox when Shirai made Kai submit. The faces made a post-match comeback to end the show

The first Raw house show was 11/9 in Leeds, UK, which drew 8,000. 11/10 in Aberdeen, Scotland drew 3,000. 11/11 in Glasgow, Scotland drew 6,800. We didn’t get the crowd for 11/12 in Amsterdam, 11/13 in Erhurt, Germany or 11/14 in Mannheim, Germany

The first show of the European tour was the Smackdown brand show on 11/7 in Brighton, UK, which drew 3,000 fans, which was a nearly full house. This was the first time in recent memory WWE hasn’t sold out the venue in advance. 11/9 in Minehead, UK drew a sellout of 3,500 fans. Dublin on 11/10, usually a hot market that sells out every show, did 6,500 fans which was about two-thirds full based on usual set-up. 11/11 in Vienna, Austria drew 4,000. We didn’t get the crowd for 11/12 in Lille, France or 11/13 in Zurich, Switzerland

They mixed brands based on prior booking and tickets done before the split, so the shows this week were different. Going forward, the shows should be based on who is on what brand

Raw opened in Leeds with Lynch over Banks with the banks statement to keep the title. Banks worked as the heel and the crowd booed her. R-Truth beat Maverick in a comedy match. They talked about their past feuding over the 24/7 title and Maverick wanted to make amends. The crowd chanted to hug it out. R-Truth then wanted Maverick to do a seven second dance break. He didn’t want to but the crowd wanted him to. Maverick talked about how R-Truth ruined his wedding and his life and then R-Truth attacked him and pinned him. Alexander pinned Benjamin. Benjamin wouldn’t leave and wanted another match. The Street Profits came out. Benjamin spit in their face and so they both beat him in seconds. Benjamin continued to complain and demanded another match. Owens came out. He said that he wasn’t out to fight Benjamin, but was out to stun him. Owens then hit the stunner on Benjamin to end he segment. Strowman beat Styles via DQ in a U.S. title match when Gallows & Anderson interfered. The Viking Raiders made the save to set up a six-man tag. Strowman & Viking Raiders over the OC. Mysterio & Ricochet beat Orton & McIntyre when Mysterio pinned Orton after the 619 and a splash off the top. Asuka & Sane beat Logan & Cross to keep the tag titles. Wyatt beat Rollins in a street fight to keep the Universal title. Rollins tried to hit Wyatt with a sledge hammer but Wyatt moved and he bashed through a table. Wyatt then used the mandible claw and got the pin after Sister Abigail

Aberdeen opened with Ricochet pinning McIntyre. Interesting they had McIntyre lose in Scotland, but he played heel in the match. He gave Ricochet a sucker head-butt after the match. Street Profits won a three-way over R-Truth & Alexander and Maverick & Benjamin with the Street Profits pinning Maverick in a mostly comedy match. Benjamin then complained about how Scotland is filled with Scots and demanded tougher competition. Owens came out and encouraged Benjamin to embrace his teammates. Benjamin hugged Maverick and then decked him. Owens then gave Benjamin a stunner and posed with Maverick. Rusev beat Lashley via DQ for a low blow. Rusev made a comeback using Lana’s shoe. Lana had thrown the shoe in at Rusev when he had Lashley in the accolade. Before the match, Lana told the crowd to stop booing and said that today was her anniversary of seven straight weeks of sex with Lashley. Mysterio pinned Orton after a 619 and splash. Lots of stalling and 619 chants. Wyatt retained over Rollins in the same match as the night before.  Asuka & Sane beat Logan & Cross. Cross got a nice reaction. Asuka beat Cross with the Asuka lock. Cross is also from Scotland and she lost the fall instead of Logan, even though Logan isn’t being pushed. It’s so weird the booking mentality of beating people in their home country. Strowman beat Styles via DQ with the interference of Gallows & Anderson, leading to the Viking Warriors coming out and the six-man tag. Main event saw Lynch over Banks with the disarm her. Said to be the best match on the show. Lynch cut a promo to end the show. It’s still a rarity to have the women go on last at a house show

In Glasgow, they did a different show. What was the same was Rusev-Lashley, the OC vs. Strowman & Viking Raiders scenario and both women’s title matches. They put Lynch-Banks on first because Wyatt-Rollins was a cage match for the title and went on last. The other stuff was R-Truth over Maverick, Mysterio & Ricochet over McIntyre & Orton when Mysterio pinned Orton, Alexander beat Benjamin and Benjamin wouldn’t leave, leading to Dawkins beating Benjamin and then Owens giving Benjamin a stunner. McIntyre came out with a Glasgow Rangers jersey, the city’s soccer team. He played soccer growing up. The crowd loved him. He worked as a heel in the tag match but the crowd still loved him. Cross was really over and nearly in tears with her reaction in her home town. Of course both Cross and McIntyre lost, although with Cross, given it was a title match, there was no other way. The crowd was really hot. Tickets were originally sold with this promoted as a Raw taping before plans changed. The cage match was said to be very good but the red tinting hurt

In Amsterdam it was mostly the same show. Alexander beat Benjamin but that’s all they did. The guy playing crybaby heel on this show was Maverick, who lost to R-Truth and then challenged anyone in the back. The Viking Raiders came out. He did the comedy stuff, tried to run away, but got nailed with the Viking Experience. The Viking Raiders spot in the six-man against the OC was taken by Owens & Mysterio. Orton was off the show so Ricochet pinned McIntyre in a singles match

Erfurt saw a few show changes. Owens beat Styles via DQ in the U.S. title match since Strowman went home. Gallows & Anderson interfered and the Viking Raiders made the save, leading to the six-man with the faces over. O’Neil came on the tour and pinned Benjamin. The Street Profits beat Hawkins & Ryder. Ricochet pinned McIntyre. Lynch retained over Evans with the disarm her. Rusev beat Lashley via DQ for a low blow right in front of the ref. Natalya came on the tour and beat Logan with the sharpshooter. Wyatt beat Rollins in the street fight main event using Sister Abigail after the mandible claw

They had some changes for Mannheim because, besides Strowman, also going home for the Smackdown TV included Cross and Wyatt, plus Mysterio and Orton also went home. So it opened with Lynch over Evans. Ricochet pinned Benjamin. Hawkins & Ryder beat Gallows & Anderson for the title shot. Owens beat Styles via DQ in the U.S. title match. Gallows & Anderson interfered so they ended up wrestling twice as Viking Raiders & Owens beat Styles & Gallows & Anderson next. Natalya beat Logan via sharpshooter. Rusev beat Lashley via DQ for a low blow. Rollins pinned McIntyre in a street fight with a curb stomp in the main event

The Brighton show opened with a tag title match with The Revival winning over Harper & Rowan and New Day. The idea is they use the old brands rosters on this tour, but that wasn’t the complete case of Dana Brooke, Ziggler, Roode and Corbin all worked the show, but so did Flair, Andrade and Sin Cara who are now on Raw. Brooke beat Rose via DQ when Deville interfered. This led to a tag match where Brooke & Carmella beat Rose & Deville. Andrade beat Sin Cara, who replaced the injured Black. Bayley pinned Flair to keep the women’s title. Bayley had her feet on the ropes doing the pin. The crowd was surprisingly quiet for this match, but Bayley was always super over in the U.K. market and the new character change was what it was. Heavy Machinery & Crews & Shorty G beat Roode & Ziggler & Dallas & Cesaro in a comedy match. Nakamura pinned Ali to retain the IC title. Reigns pinned Corbin with a spear in the main event in what was described as a safe house show match. Nobody booed Reigns

Minehead was mostly the same show. The women just did the tag match and not the DQ leading to the tag. Bryan was added and he beat Harper in the opener with the LeBell lock. The rest of the show was the same except that Rowan didn’t work the show and the tag title match was a straight tag with New Day now as champs, beating The Revival. The fans kept cheering for Bayley to the point she had to get the mic to tell people to stop cheering for her

Dublin was mostly the same show. Harper was back teaming with Rowan in a three-way title match with New Day and Revival. Mostly a comedy opener. Harper & Rowan weren’t in much. Kingston pinned Harper in 17:00 with Trouble in Paradise. Rose & Deville, to get over as heels, made fun of the crowd’s accent. Bryan was used differently here as well. Ali beat Nakamura via DQ when Zayn interfered in 9:00. Bryan came out to a huge pop and they turned it into a tag match with Bryan & Ali over Nakamura & Zayn in 8:00. The tag match was said to b the best match on the show and Bryan was said to get the biggest reaction. Bryan pinned Zayn with the running knee. The big thing was Ali got him to do the “Yes” chants with the crowd which they said was the first time Bryan led people in doing the chants in a year. Bayley did a heel promo on Lynch, who wasn’t there, saying how Lynch couldn’t even be bothered to show up for a show in her hometown. Of course she was on the other tour. She won in 14:00 but Flair put her in the figure eight after the match. Reigns vs. Corbin saw a lot of fans leaving during the match. They had gotten good reviews at the other shows. Reigns got a big reaction and Corbin got lot of heat as well. Reigns won in 15:00 with a spear

Vienna had a few changes. Bryan beat Harper in the opener. Shorty G won a Battle Royal for the fourth spot in a four-way IC title match later in the show. Others in it were Roode, Ziggler, Kalisto, Metalik, Dorado, Cesaro, Dallas, Andrade, Sin Cara and Crews. Walter pinned Devlin to retain the UK title. Walter, who is from Austria, hadn’t wrestled in Vienna in years and was really over. Kay & Royce joined the tour and Rose & Deville went back home so Kay & Royce lost to Carmella & Brooke. New Day beat Revival in a mostly comedy match to keep the tag title. Nakamura retained the IC belt in a four-way over G, Ali and Rowan. Bayley pinned Flair using the ropes in their same match and Reigns pinned Corbin after a spear in the main

Lille, France was completely different from Vienna, but it was almost the same as Dublin. The only changes were that Lince Dorado & Metalik replaced Heavy Machinery in the eight-man tag, and that Kay & Royce replaced Rose & Deville in losing to Carmella & Brooke

Zurich had a few changes. Shorty G & Kalisto & Dorado beat Ziggler & Roode & Dallas. Cesaro was pulled out of the match since they were in Switzerland and wanted to feature him as a face. Bryan pinned Harper. Carmella & Brooke beat Kay & Royce. New Day beat The Revival in a title match when Kingston pinned wilder after the double-team Midnight Hour. Nakamura pinned Ali with the Kinshasa after distraction from Zayn. Cesaro pinned Andrade. Reigns pinned Corbin after a spear in the main event. There was also no women’s title match since Bayley was flown home for NXT.