– In the video below, TNA’s Josh Mathews gives an update on the TNA World Title Series going into tonight’s Impact Wrestling.
https://youtu.be/1OnmlNJ_eno
– Tonight’s edition of TNA Impact Wrestling has several big name match-ups as the TNA World Title Series continues. Some matches include Ethan Carter III vs. Bobby Lashley, Tigre Uno vs. Mark Andrews, DJ Zema Ion vs. Manik and Mr. Anderson vs. Austin Aries, and will re-air Matt Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III vs. Drew Galloway from Bound For Glory.
– From December 2, 2015 through December 4, 2015, TNA will be touring India. The “One Night Only: Mumbai” pay-per-view will be the final show on the tour on Friday night which will be live in India, and in the United States will be on a tape-delay. The recently canceled “One Night Only: Battle of New Orleans” will be replaced by the Mumbai special after the New Orleans event was nixed for Halloween weekend. After TNA confirmed their decision to tape in India, they chose to cancel the Gulf Coast’s Hardcore Halloween tour.
After it appeared that New Day member Big E. had spoiled the main roster debut of a well-known NXT star at the SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night, he was saved by WWE, as the company posted the news on their official website.
WWE.com wrote the following about the debut of the NXT star on Tuesday night in Austin, Texas.
NXT Superstar Tyler Breeze stunned the WWE Universe by making his surprise main roster debut Tuesday night during a SmackDown television taping in Austin, Texas.
What business did the Gorgeous One have on the best show on Thursday night? Who did the newcomer tangle with on his first night? Find out this Thursday night at 8/7 C on Syfy.
Back in July, it was revealed that The Undertaker would work the 2015 WWE tour of Mexico. The event just wrapped this past weekend where Undertaker teamed with Kane to face Luke Harper and Braun Strowman on three different shows. The matches took place in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Merida.
According to one WWE source, one of the main reasons WWE put The Undertaker and Ric Flair on those shows was due to the heat they received from Mexican promoters Ocesa. The promoters in Mexico were having major problems with WWE. They were upset that after the shows were first sold to them, they did not book any top talents or any real Mexican stars (as they don’t have that many).
A little background into the way it works, WWE books the tour and then sells the tour to local promoters and then receive a certain amount of the profit. After all that takes place the promoter must then sell tickets to make a profit, with them banking on the fact that what WWE sells will draw in fans. WWE receives any profits over a certain pre-determined percentage.
Until WWE was willing to book big name Superstars, the promoters of the Mexico tour pulled all support. which is why The Undertaker has since been added to the tour.
Ratings and viewership were already going down when Monday Night Football, which always takes a big chunk of the Raw audience, started for the season. There are plenty of things you can point to as being behind the decline. The three hour format is clearly a drag on the show and is a barrier of entry for new viewers. Creative has been uninspired for the most part going back at least a year (probably more). The in-ring and prmo styles are homogenous. The presentation of the women turns off female viewers. And so on.
WWE is in a bind in a least one area: They the third hour of Raw brings in a lot of extra guaranteed money and their TV contracts call for it.
Within reason, what do YOU all think WWE can and should do? Let’s talk it over in the comments.
WWE taped the following matches in Austin, Texas on Tuesday night for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
– The Dudley Boyz def. The Ascension in a tag-team dark match put on for the live crowd in Austin, Texas. The Dudleyz picked up the win via pinfall after a 3D.
– Sasha Banks def. Brie Bella in the first match taped for WWE Main Event this week. Banks picked up the win via her submission finisher.
– Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman def. The Prime Time Players in tag-team action for the second match of Main Event. Strowman won the match via bearhug submission over Titus O’Neil.
– Kevin Owens def. Neville in non-title action. The Intercontinental Champion beat Neville after throwing him face-first into the middle turnbuckle and then hitting him with his Pop-Up Powerbomb finisher for the 1-2-3. This was the final match taped for this week’s Main Event.
WWE Network is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To those who expected an array of older footage with WWE Classics on Demand folding, it’s been a giant disappointment. Fans who wanted new original content are most likely happy with the current iteration of the network, but had to suffer through months without new content during budget cuts. Those who want them to think outside the box want them to consider outside indie and international .content a la UFC Fight Pass.
One proposed idea would be for the WWE to show NJPW footage [on the Network], but this type of proposal just shows that they don’t see us as competition.
Play NJPW footage on the Network, see if any of our wrestlers gain popularity, then buy that wrestler out; that’s probably the extent of their thoughts on it.
It’s a very obvious strategy.
NJPW, of course, has their own streaming service, NJPW World. The website isn’t in English and the same goes for most of the videos, though they provide a button to turn on Google’s automated English translation. They’re also experimenting with English commentary, having brought in Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker to call King of Pro Wrestling earlier this month. Separately, Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett do voiceovers of several month old matches for the show that airs Friday nights in the U.S. on AXS TV.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog with his latest thoughts and opinions on a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights.
On John Cena possibly losing U.S. title: “Big question is will John Cena anoint someone in the US Title Open Challenge? Great spot to do so with Cena leaving for several weeks after Sunday’s show. Cena will be on ESPN tonight with Jonathan Coachman at 9/8CT.”
On expectations for Hell In A Cell dropping: “This event Sunday has lost a fair amount of luster over the past several weeks build to it but that means that expectations are likely lower than expected which means it could be a sleeper show at the Staples Center.”
On Randy Orton’s injury: “Sorry to hear of Randy Orton’s shoulder issues but he’s had those lingering problems with his shoulder for years. Hopefully Randy can get it repaired in a more permanent manner even if it puts him on the sideline for a while which isn’t a bad thing.”
On Brock Lesnar’s appearance on Stone Cold Podcast: “Thought the Austin-Lesnar piece of business after RAW was good stuff. Both men very natural and at ease with each other which indicates significant mutual respect between to mega stars. If you heard it you heard both Austin and Lesnar being themselves which was refreshing. Organic, pro wrestling presentations are fleeting these days or so seems to me. Good conversation between two of our greatest signees. Great insight as to who Brock Lesnar the man truly is.”
– Part-time WWE performer Batista recently spoke with Yahoo! to promote his role in the new James Bond “007: Spectre” movie. Batista mentioned that he does miss the entertainment aspect of WWE at times and when talking about his success as an actor, “The Animal” remained humble. “I don’t want to be a movie star,” said Batista. “I want to play great characters.” Check out the complete article at Yahoo.com.
– WWE broadcast team member Tom Phillips will be replaced on the WWE Five Things web series by new WWE broadcast team member Kyle Edwards (Arda Ocal), who will be taking over the hosting gig beginning next week.
– WWE posted the following clip of Randy Orton in the new wWE Studios film, “The Condemned 2,” which is scheduled for a November 2nd release.
Last night, we reported on the initial hourly Raw viewership for this past Monday night, which was up slightly from last week. That seemed like good news in and of itself, but given the increased star power, it had to be disappointing. Since then, more information has come out, and it’s not good.
First, at F4WOnline.com, Dave Meltzer reported that the average viewership across the full three-plus hour show was 3.35 million. That’s up just 80,000 viewers from last week’s 3.27 million viewers, which was the lowest non-holiday viewership since 1997.
It gets worse.
PWTorch.com’s James Caldwell reported the actual Raw rating (percentage of homes with USA Network watching Raw) as 2.21, down from about 2.3 to 2.35 the last couple weeks, The increased viewership means there were slightly more viewers per home but less homes were watching. This tied the Christmas Eve 2012 show as the lowest rated edition of Raw since September 8, 1997, which was Raw’s return after being off for two weeks due to U.S. Open tennis. That’s with Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar on the show, though they were not promoted nearly as well as they could be.
Even with the relative lack of promotion, it’s incredibly concerning that there were actually less homes tuned into Raw this week and the overall viewership barely went up. A wakeup call for WWE must be due soon.
WWE has reportedly signed even more contestants from the most recent season of WWE Tough Enough.
According to a new PWInsider.com report, WWE has signed both Mada Abdelhamid and Daria Berenato to developmental deals.
Both Mada and Daria started at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday. This comes after WWE signed Patrick Clark from the show in the past week.
WWE has now signed Mada, Daria, Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe and Amanda Saccomanno, and obviously the winners of the show, Sara Lee and Josh Bredi.
At last night’s WWE SmackDown television taping in Austin, Texas, a top NXT star made his official WWE main roster debut.
During the Miz TV segment with The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae, NXT performer Tyler Breeze made his main roster debut as expected. It was reported that Breeze would be paired with Summer Rae on the main roster, and based on last night’s taping, that appears to be the direction things are headed.
Ziggler was talking about how he is no longer into Summer when she revealed she has a new man — Tyler Breeze. Breeze then cut a promo and attacked Ziggler.
You can check out a photo of Breeze’s debut from the taping here.
WWE Tag-Team Champion Kofi Kingston recently spoke with Men’s Journal to promote Sunday’s WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Below are some of the highlights.
On keeping your trainers close: “I’ve always been involved in sports, but I don’t have all the answers. The capoeira is something Eddy Gordo in Tekken would do. I’m a big video-game guy. He did all these different motions, and before you know it, you won by not doing anything at all. But to actually try and do that stuff in life is really complicated. [My capoeira trainer] Marrese Crump is very knowledgeable in that aspect, and if I could learn a tenth of what he knows, I would know so much more I did before. And I have a trainer too, Rob MacIntyre. He’s the same guy who’s been training John Cena his whole life. I go to people who have the knowledge I need to make myself better.”
On the importance of sleep: “It’s definitely important to find the time to fit sleep in. If I have a free moment, I’ll just crash. I don’t have a problem sleeping on planes or car rides or wherever. I try to get a few eight-hour sessions in on the weekends on the road or between shows. I am not the best example for somebody who gets enough sleep. The rest is almost as important as the actual workout. A lot of people run themselves into the ground, but you need that rest time to recuperate and recover.”
– Arena is roughly 3/4 empty. Maybe 4000 total in attendance. Security telling everyone to only stand and make noise during entrances.
– Show begins with Seth Rollins arriving backstage. He is booked in a match against a mystery opponent by Corporate Kane. New Day asks Kane for the Dudleys but get booked against Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose.
– WWE Champion Seth Rollins def. mystery opponent Cesaro with the Pedigree. Stardust is in the crowd in the “Stardust Section”.
– Paige is out to explain that she didn’t attack Natalya last week. She invites Becky and Charlotte out, and they accuse Paige of being jealous. Bellas come to the stage and ask if they’re watching Pretty Little Liars. Paige challenges Nikki to a match, which is next.
– Miz TV with Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae is announced. Miz is backstage with Renee Young and says Summer has a bomb to drop.
– Nikki Bella def. Paige with the Rack Attack. Both have their teams at ringside but neither get involved.
– Miz TV with Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae. Summer introduces her new man, Tyler Breeze. He says he and Summer Rae of Sunshine will give WWE a makeover. Dolph calls Breeze a lazy millennial but Breeze attacks and does a beatdown.
– Sheamus and Wade Barrett (w/ Rusev) def. The Lucha Dragons with a Brogue Kick.
– Ryback def. Bo Dallas. Owens is interviwed backstage and says he is better than Ryback and will prove it Sunday.
– Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose def. New Day with a spear on Kofi. Post match Bray Wyatt on the tron tells Roman he will see him in hell.
After the show Wyatt and Rowan come out and fight Reigns and Ambrose and get thrown out of the ring.
It’s that time of the week again. ShowBuzzDaily.com has posted the top 100 cable originals list for Monday October 19th, 2015. As always, includes the Raw rating for this week. Here’s how the viewership of each hour breaks down:
That’s up a little from last week, which continued the downward trend into non-holiday lows. We don’t have an overall average across the whole show as of yet (average all 180+ minutes out against each other), but the three hours average out to about 3,357,000 viewers. James Caldwell of PWTorch.com had reported yesterday that the idea of this show had was originally to get a big rating (in the 3.0 range after being at around 2.3-2.4 for a while) with the returning legends and big names. With the relative lack of promotion, it doesn’t look like that worked.
As for the demographic ratings for last night’s show, they break down like this:
After a lot of speculation the Tampa Bay Times has finally come through with an article explaining why Hulk Hogan’s “Hogan’s Beach” restaurant is in the process of closing. Today, the sale was closed on the Best Western Bay Harbor hotel at Rocky Point, which the restaurant is part of. The 261-room hotel is being sold for $34.5 million to the Oxford Capital Group out of Chicago. Obviously, this means that the restaurant closing has nothing to do with the fallout from Hogan’s racist rant leaking over the Summer, something real estate investor Ben Mallah confirmed to the Times.
Mallah explained that “Basically everything with us is timing. We buy assets and fix them up. The market is high right now. Tampa’s hot …Hogan had nothing to do with it. He was fine. Ultimately, we’re in the real estate business, not in the restaurant business.” Mallah said that Hogan had no ownership interest in the restaurant, which licensed his name, though his name is on some of the ownership paperwork.
The hotel is still open under the Bay Harbor name, but will be undergoing major renovations. Hogan’s Beach Shop, a separate storefront not connected to this property, remains open for business.
Elijah Burke/The Pope was interviewed on the newest edition of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and covered a number of topics. Some of the key quotes:
Transitioning to announcing:
I think a lot of people know that when you are a wrestler and you’ve been doing it for twelve years as an active performer and then all of a sudden things kind of take a shift and the stars align and someone recognizes that your gift can be used in a different aspect. It’s been interesting and it’s been fun. It’s a different type of getting over with the audience. My job right now is to get over a lot of the guys that I’ve wrestled against and I’ve wrestled beside and the transition has been believe it or not, quite easy. It hasn’t been as hard of a transition as many people probably think it would be because the gift of gab is something that I always had.
The importance of the announcers t a show and his ability as a talker:
The night before WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field “Pope” was at an ESPN boxing presentation and was calling the fight alongside Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and once that was over with he looked at me and said how long have you been doing this? When it comes from an analytic stand point it’s not hard at all. What’s hard is the time provided to do so. That is sometimes rough because there is so much that is going on and obviously IMPACT is a fast paced show and often times my partner Josh Mathews who is a jack of all trades and doesn’t get a lot of credit for it but he has so much that he has to cover and so much that he has to get done and you may notice this but throughout the contest when Josh is talking this or that, the Pope has made it my job to bring the action and the focal point back to the two or four people that are in the middle of that ring because that is what wrestling fans want and what wrestling fans are watching so therefore I try to do the boys and the girls credit while they are in that six sided ring.
Why he prefers to call matches without knowing the finishes, which most old-school announcers preferred:
That’s the way “Pope” prefers it. I prefer not to know anything. Therefore, if I am seeing it and looking at it from a fan’s perspective then I can respond and react and say what you are thinking as a casual or regular viewer of the product. That’s what I love to do as a commentator for IMPACT Wrestling, I love to give the focal analysis that the viewer at home is watching as well. I want to translate as my Daddy would say “let me break this down in English so that a child could understand it”. For me it’s always easier and comes across natural, if you know that often times you can tell if something is forced or when a reaction is not a legit or real reaction. Everything that you get from “Pope” is not planned and is real and I’m watching it as if I’m sitting at home on my couch with a good friend of mine and we are back in 1996 watching WCW Nitro and Monday Night RAW.
Is he retired? Where exactly does his in-ring career stand?
I think in due time that “Pope” will have that opportunity. It’s not something right now and don’t think for a second that I don’t miss it, because I do. At the same time I’ve recognized that my job and my role are and I know what it is and that is to be an asset from a commentator standpoint. So I am not focused on anything except bettering my game at the table. I am not worried about anything else but becoming a better and as my partner would say the most “entertaining color commentator” in the business today and that’s what “Pope” wants to be and that’s what I’m setting out to accomplish. Now there will be times in the future and you can take “Pope’s” word for this. There will be times in the future when “Pope” will do a casual appearance inside the ring, I am not retired. Let’s get it out there right now “Pope” is not retired by a long shot I’ve got years left under my belt. I just recognize my role right now and have no problems committing to it and fulfilling it to the best of my abilities.
His thoughts on Samoa Joe, both with regards to their TNA feud and Joe going to NXT:
“Pope’s” feud with Samoa Joe did not receive nor get the type of attention that it should have and I am talking about from a in/out standpoint not from a viewer standpoint. I was openly and to a certain extent let my displeasure be known about it because you have to remember during that time “Pope” had just come off of a feud with Abyss and Immortal and Sting had just left and Kevin Nash walked out so “Pope” was the last guy standing fighting this big fight and I get put in a casket and then all of a sudden “Pope” gets put in a feud with Samoa Joe for no reason at all. However, myself and Samoa Joe made the best of it and had fun with it and that took us to our Lockdown match-up in St. Louis. I had fun with Samoa Joe, it was always great working Samoa Joe and he brought out the best in “Pope” and we definitely did a lot of innovative things. I’ve got to go on record and say how happy I am for Samoa Joe and for him to experience what he is experiencing right now and I wish him nothing but the best of love for him and his family’s sake.
Was he supposed to be in the Spirit Squad?
It’s funny that after all these years, over a decade and only this year I believe I’m answering questions about the Spirit Squad. It’s very true. They wanted me to go up and be in my opinion the “afro-haired chosen black guy” during that time in the group and trust me it was a great opportunity. We sat there and we talked to Vince McMahon himself and Vince said “I want you guys to understand that this is my idea and we are going to make a lot of money”. He said if you are uncomfortable we will send you back down to OVW and we will wait until we get something else for you. I went to Vince and Johnny Ace and said I appreciated the opportunity but with all due respect I don’t feel like I should do anything that I could not live up to in your standards and I don’t want to be a failure and I don’t believe this spot is for me. I was a little worried that I was about to tell the boss that I didn’t want to do it. Either he was going to respect me for it or he was going to punish me for it.
A lot of guys took it to heart that I said no which I never understood because they weren’t in my position or in my shoes and the guys that were going out there were very, very talented and thus when I said no they added Mike Mondo and they added Johnny Jeter and instead of it being four like it was originally going to be it turned out to be five. There was no way that this “big black guy” and 225-230 pounds at the time was going to be running down a ramp, jumping on a trampoline and flipping over the top rope. It was just not going to happen without me screwing up and looking like a fool. I didn’t want to take that chance, I didn’t want to risk that chance and I am happy that I did and kudos to Dolph Ziggler. Just look at him. In my eyes the guy is just a premier performer.
Make sure to listen to th full interview, where he discusses being “New Breed” in the ECW revival, his time in OVW, WrestleMania 23, and more.
– Austin wrote this one in response to a fan on Twitter who thanked him for not being focused on the hard camera side during his RAW segment on Monday night.
@faketonybasilio I never play to the hard camera. That's what the other guys are for.
James Storm confirmed via social media that the TNA World Title Series tournament was not planned ahead of time. Storm confirmed that fact when responding to a fake Jim Ross account on Twitter.
TNA had the tournament planned for a while. The matches were originally taped for a TNA One Night Only pay-per-view event, however when TNA managed to get an extension with Destination America, they decided to use those matches for Impact Wrestling instead. Unless they can get another extension, or reach a new agreement of some kind, they will be off the cable network in February.
WWE invited a young fan named Sadie and her family backstage at Monday’s WWE RAW in Dallas, Texas.
Sadie was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia earlier this year and her journey has been documented on Facebook. You can check that out at Facebook.com.
Sadie was shown on-camera on Monday’s RAW when Nikki Bella hugged her at ringside.
Below are photos of Sadie and her family backstage at last night’s show with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
Former WWE champ Sheamus has made his feelings clear about UFC megastar Conor McGregor in the past and is now back at it. McGregor told him in the past on Twitter that “you will wake up with no teeth and your nose on my mantle,” if the two Irishmen ever fought each other.
Sheamus, who was sitting down with The Irish Mirror to promote WWE’s upcoming European Tour next month, commented on McGregor again.
When asked if he would fight McGregor, Sheamus pointed out that they’re in different weight classes, but that he could still “take” the UFC star.
He was having a go at WWE in these interviews he was doing. The first couple of times I let it go but then I decided to have a bit of craic and banter with him. If someone’s going to have a crack, that’s fine. Would I take Conor McGregor? No, he’s a lot shorter than me. I don’t think we’d be allowed fight—a heavyweight and a lightweight. Would I take him [if I had to]? Absolutely. Course I would. No one could take me. No one’s better than me. I could walk over anyone.
– WWE “Breaking Ground” will premiere on the WWE Network this Sunday night after the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. The show will also air on the official WWE Facebook and YouTube pages. The narrator for the ten-episode show will be William Shatner. For more on Sunday’s “Breaking Ground” premiere, visit AP.org.
– Below is the full WWE 2K16 “Raise Some Hell” commercial.
– Below are some photos of Team B.A.D.’s Sasha Banks and Naomi out doing promotional work for tonight’s WWE SmackDown television taping in Austin, Texas.
WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross fielded a few new questions in the Q&A section over at JRsBarBQ.com. He discusses how WWE is using the Dudleys, whether Jim Cornette should be in the Hall of Fame or not, and more. Here are some highlights:
On how WWE is using The Dudley Boyz:
I happen to like how the Dudley’s are being utilized. Building up the tag team scene in WWE is totally up to mgmt. They can do whatever they choose.
Why Shelton Benjamin never received a shot at the WWE Title:
I’d guess it was because we were never able to tap into Sheldon’s charisma because he was an amazing athlete.
If Jim Cornette should be in the WWE Hall of Fame:
Jim Cornette is a legit HOFer in any Hall of Fame. I have no idea who would induct JC. That would be his call.
– As noted, NXT star Tyler Breeze is expected to make his move to the main WWE roster in the next few weeks. According to F4WOnline.com, WWE at one point had Breeze officially scheduled for Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown television tapings in Austin, Texas, however that could end up changing and Breeze’s debut could be pushed back a week or two.
– The first WrestleMania 32 pre-sale code for November 4th is RAWVIP.
– Below is another photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones backstage at Monday’s RAW in Dallas, Texas with Vince McMahon.
As it turns out, Randy Orton is dealing with a legitimate shoulder injury.
“The Viper” is scheduled to have an MRI done soon to find out if his injury will require surgery. The injury is also the reason why Orton was not on the WWE tour of Mexico this past weekend, and why he wasn’t on RAW on Monday night in Dallas.
Orton had been dealing with a shoulder injury, however it reportedly got worse and then he completely dislocated the shoulder last week.
– The Dudley Boyz talk to Eden on the following edition of RAW Fallout about The New Day.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin kicked off Monday’s WWE Hell In A Cell “go-home” edition of RAW in Dallas, Texas last night. WWE posted the following clip of Austin on the show.
– WWE posted the following on Twitter, promoting a new WWE.com photo gallery of pictures from their tour of Mexico over the weekend, which featured WWE legend The Undertaker.
