Daily Update: Hell in a Cell preview, FOX/Dish Network, Sasha Banks
DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
MLW Fusion results: Austin Aries vs. Brian Pillman Jr.
Lucha Bros vs. Munoz family set for The Crash’s anniversary show
UFC 243 live results: Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya
NXT UK TV taping spoilers: Tyler Bate vs. Kassius Ohno
Additional ratings notes on WWE SmackDown’s FOX debut
Latest Audio:
WOR: Smackdown ratings, quarters, Cain vs. Brock, UFC Melbourne, more! 10/6
DragonKing Dark: Halloween horror playlist 10/6
WWE HELL IN A CELL AT 6:30 P.M. ON WWE NETWORK
Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt in a Hell in a Cell match. All of their matches have been short up to this point. I think for the gimmick that Wyatt has to win and it should be shorter than a usual main event, with more horror movie spots than pro wrestling spots. I don’t expect a classic match, but we’ll see. Wyatt is a -400 favorite to take the title.
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw women’s title. This is only the second women’s Hell in a Cell match in history. It should be good. Banks is a -310 favorite to take the title which are pretty strong odds.
Daniel Bryan & Roman Reigns vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan. On paper, this match should be very good. Bryan & Reigns are -150 favorite. Harper’s role in this feels like the guy who is losing the fall. This has been changed to a tornado match
Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown women’s title. Flair is a -145 favorite to win the title. Since she lost last time and it’s in Northern California,where Bayley is from, the geographical logic says Bayley should win, but with WWE, they seem to view things the opposite. The last match these two had was nothing, so given so few matches are advertised an the main event should be short, this should be given time and they’ll be out to make up for the last one.
Viking Warriors & Mystery partner vs. A.J. Styles & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. Based on recent storylines, Cedric Alexander fits into this spot, as would Ricochet. But one would think if it’s a mystery, it would be someone more out of the box.
Chad Gable vs. King Corbin – They’ve had good matches in the past. Gable is one of the best in the company, even with a low tier gimmick. Gable is the -163 favorite.
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane – Bliss & Cross are the -138 favorites.
Natalya vs. Lacey Evans pre-show match – On Monday they pretty much told us the feud was over. So now it’s back. By usual WWE 50/50 booking, this week should be Natalya’s turn. But Heyman’s isn’t a 50/50 booker and the odds have Evans at -200.
NEW JAPAN AT TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuya Uemura vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Yota Tsuji
Toa Henare vs. Shingo Takagi
Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Sho & Yoh vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori & Gedo & Jado
Tetsuya Naito & Bushi vs. Taichi & Douki
Togi Makabe & Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma & Yoshi-Hashi for Never trios titles
Kazuchika Okada & Kota Ibushi vs. Evil & Sanada
Raw is Monday in Bakersfield. Tyson Fury will be there.
F4W NEWSLETTER: Looking at SmackDown’s move to FOX Joseph Currier looks ahead to SmackDown’s FOX premiere and what the move will mean. Plus, Bryan Rose’s Japan notes and Vinny V’s TV reviews.
While much of the focus has been on the AEW vs. NXT Wednesday Night War, WWE main roster television materially changes this week with SmackDown’s FOX premiere.
The magnitude of WWE airing live on network television every week has been apparent since news of the FOX move broke, but it didn’t fully set in until FOX started promoting the show. WWE personalities have been featured on FOX’s most valuable sports properties, with them appearing on NFL, college football, and MLB coverage. The promotion WWE would get on FOX was said to be one of the selling points of the deal, and FOX has already been as great of a partner as WWE could have hoped for. The promotional opportunities that FOX affords have the potential to make a real difference for WWE. Not every appearance will go perfectly (FOX’s Mark Schlereth saying Rey Mysterio was “like Nacho Libre” was pretty lame), but wrestlers being positioned as on the same level as other professional sports stars in FOX’s portfolio is gigantic for WWE.
WWE is also officially being given its own studio show on FS1. Renee Young and Booker T will host WWE Backstage, which premieres at 11 p.m. Eastern time/8 p.m. Pacific on Tuesday, November 5. There will also be a preview show after game three of Major League Baseball’s American League Championship Series on October 15. Young and Booker T will “weigh in on the biggest stories in WWE, and are joined by a rotating cast of guests and personalities, including current and former WWE Superstars.” The show is a FOX production, and it was reported last week that CM Punk has tried out for it.
WWE and FOX have worked in unison to make SmackDown’s FOX premiere as big as it could possibly be. Brock Lesnar will have his first match on either Raw or SmackDown since 2004 as he challenges for Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will also make his first televised WWE appearance in over three years.
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WON NEWSLETTER: October 7, 2019 Observer Newsletter: First battle in the Wednesday Night War
The Wednesday night war has started, and there’s no more detailed rundown than in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.
We’ve got every aspect of the business covered, including:
How every match on both shows did when it comes to viewers, head-to-head, and how different demos fared.
What things WWE tried that worked, what didn’t work, and what failed.
The money demo, baseball competition, analyze where NXT gained and lost and what it says about AEW and competition, who had the advantage when it came to replays, was it a TNT nostalgia wrestling rating, average age for WWE and AEW shows, what audiences AEW beats WWE shows in, what AEW’s success under 35 showed, comments from key people about the ratings, and we also look at Canada ratings, the UK deal and what time slot is actually the key one for AEW in the UK.
Also:
Different tricks both companies took, who did the best job of hype, what comes next week and the non-wrestling aspects of the show.
Match-by-match coverage for both shows with star ratings.
Turmoil in CMLL, the departure of Rush and Dragon Lee, how Lee found out, the future of Mistico, Rush talks his future, as does Dragon Lee, the changes in CMLL that led to this, and all kinds of new policies that changes the world’s oldest wrestling promotion.
C.M. Punk, noting his lawsuit with Colt Cabana being settled, his screen test for a new WWE show, the latest on if he will wrestle, while Cody talks his thoughts about Punk in AEW.
Cain Velasquez in pro wrestling. We look at the Forum card being postponed, WWE’s meeting with him, what angles on Raw this week related to him, update on who has signed the most key guys of late and why Velasquez’s situation is so unique.
Smackdown premier on FOX and ticket interest, Hell in a Cell, the next Saudi Arabia show, Steve Austin, Ric Flair’s title reigns, update on a WWE Hall of Famer who may get cleared, Fourth generation McMahon may become a wrestler, how much Cena affected business, Dana White exchanges words with Matt Riddle, Braun Strowman’s new deal, Upcoming Evolve bouts with WWE stars, WWE market value declines and why, most-watched shows on the WWE Network plus a look at all the WWE & NXT arena events of the past week with results, highlights and business notes.
Coverage of CMLL’s biggest show of the year, the anniversary card, with match-by-match coverage and star ratings.
Coverage of ROH Death Before Dishonor, with match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings PPV numbers and more on Matt Taven’s new landmark ROH deal.
Coverage on this past weekend’s UFC show in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The death of Rick Bogner, look at his days as Big Tytan in Japan, the story behind the fake Razor Ramon in WWF, why his career ended, who got him into WWF but some of the guys he started out with talk about him.
Coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week, in-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos for the WWE shows and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
The issues with FOX and Dish Network and Sling were settled as both sides agreed to a new contract. So FOX is back available everywhere and FS1 is back on Dish.
Two notes on the New Japan show tomorrow early morning at Korakuen Hall. The Togi Makabe & Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma & Yoshi-Hashi match is for the Never trios titles. There will also be a contract signing angle at the show for the Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada IWGP title match next Monday at Sumo Hall in the King of Pro Wrestling main event.
Regarding Google searches for the weekend, even with college football in full swing, the No. 1 searched topic yesterday was UFC 243 with 1 million searches. So that indicates, if we were still doing PPV, that the show would have at least done decently. Gennady Golovkin was No. 14 with 100,000. On Friday, three WWE searches made the top 20. Cain Velasquez was No. 5 with 200,000. WWE Smackdown was No. 6 with 100,000. Tyson Fury was No. 18 with 50,000. Really surprising to me that Dwayne Johnson, who to me drew the rating, wasn’t in the top 20.
Kambi has released odds for TV ratings this week. So these are the over and under lines:
Raw 2.45 million viewers
NXT 825,000 viewers
AEW 1.30 million viewers
Smackdown 3.60 million viewers
WWE
They are advertising Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston for the 12/27 Smackdown tapings in Detroit. They also announced the Detroit Red Wings will have a WWE Night on 10/29 (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net).
Sasha Banks took seven stitches in her hip in the tag team match on Friday night.
AEW
Chris Jericho will be on Lights Out with David Spade on Tuesday night at 11:35 p.m. on Comedy Central.
MISCELLANEOUS
Pro Wrestling Revolver from Friday night in Des Moines before a sellout 250 fans: Jake Crist won over Daga, Ace Austin and Arik Cannon to keep the Impact X title, Manders b Darin Corbin to keep the Iowa title, Rich Swann & Jason Cade b Tyler Matrix & Logan James, Clayton Gainz b Manscout Jake Manning, Jimmy Jacobs, Dave Crist, Yellow Dog and Jessicka Havok to win the Scramble title, Brian Cage b JT Dunn to keep the Impact title, Lance Archer b Ace Romero, Caleb Konley & Zane Riley b Andy Dalton & Moonshine Mantell, Tessa Blanchard b Sami Callihan in a street fight, Killer Kross won three way over champion Larry D and Madman Fulton to win the Revolver title. Swann & Cade match was said to be the show stealer. Manning was the Scramble champion. Dunn bled badly. Archer vs. Romero was said to be like an Archer G-1 match. (thanks to Parker Klyn)
wXw from yesterday in Oberhausen, Germany as part of the tag team tournament: Jonathan Gresham b Lucky Kid, Avalanche b Alexander James to keep the Shotgun title, Prince Ahura & Maggot b David Starr & Norman Harass, Arrows of Hungary b Ivan Kiev & Pete Bouncer, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch b JD Drake & Anthony Henry, Flamita won over Ryan Taylor, Kyle Fletcher and The Rotation to get a shot at the Shotgun title, Jay Skillet & Absolute Andy b Anti-Fun Police, Timothy Thatcher b Bobby Gunns to win the wXw title (thanks to Marcus Werner and Shannon Walsh)
wXw Femmes Fatales from yesterday on Oberhausen, Germany: Session Moth Martina b Wesna, Leyla Hirsch b Sammii Jayne, Lana Austin b Baby Allison, LuFisto b Vicious Vivien, Leyla Hirsch b Session Moth Martina, LuFisto b Lana Austin, Amale b Faye Jackson to keep the wXw women’s title, LuFisto b Leyla Hirsch.
wXw Ambition tournament from today in Oberhausen,Germany: Daniel Makabe b James Runyan,. Dominic Garrini b Alexander Dean, Ryan Taylor & Russ Taylor b Kevin Lloyd, A-Kid b Scotty Davis, Daniel Makabe b Dominic Garrini, A-Kid b Russ Taylor, Timothy Thatcher b Oney Lorcan, A-Kid b Daniel Makabe to win tournament
I Believe in Wrestling from Friday night in Orlando: Jarrett Diaz b Jimmy Taylor, Jake Shadows & Owen Mitchell b Remi Danillo & Ricky Anderson, Chasyn Rance & Jerrelle Clark b Ali Hohammed & Faris Hakeem, Amber Nova & Gia Roman b Blake Banks & Christian Mills, Kwane Nas d JD Amazing, Andrew Merlin & Carlos Gabriel b Caius Wolfe & Chris Ramirez, Josh Dawkins b Djokovic Rabbit, Aaron Epic & Kaci Lennox won Orlando Intergender title over Jay Sky &Lexi Gomez, Mike Reed & Layne Rosari and Cisco Sucio & Kiah Dream.
Kris Wolf makes her first appearance since retirement on the 10/12 Pro Wrestling Eve show at the Resistance Gallery in London.
Glory Pro Wrestling from last night in Affton, MO: Mike Outlaw won six-way over Gregory Iron, Barackus, PB Smooth, Camaro Jackson and Reilly MaGuise, Hakim Zain b Seishi, Halal Beefckae b The Riegel Twins, Matt Kenway b Steve Manders, Kevin Lee Davidson & Danny Adams b Matt Knicks & Nick Brubaker in a street fight to win the title, Curt Stallion won three-way over Daga and Jake Lander, Tyler Colton b Josh Briggs, Tessa Blanchard won four-way over Laynie Luck, Elayna Black and Savanna Stone, A.J. Gray b Paco Gonzalez to keep Glory title (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Hoosier Pro Wrestling from last night in Columbus, IN featuring Jimmy Valiant: Buck Sexton b Cole County Crusher, Corvus b Ace Jackson, Dodo Brown b Guy Lombardo with Jimmy Valiant as referee, Dynamite Dillen b Kevo, Shiloh Jonze b Randall Floyd, Drax O’Bren b Bubbie James, Cooter DDQ Scarecrow. Next show is 11/2 for the 16tht annual Fireman’s Cheer Fund Toy Drive and the company’s 21st anniversary show.
Louisville’s CBS outlet profiles former OVW regular Trailer Park Trash’s (real name Frank Smith) new career as a horse trainer. (thanks to Joel Zakem)
A story on pro wrestler Ethan HD trying to save a local comic book store in Tacoma (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWE Battleground 2013
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