DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
WWE SmackDown ratings down for post-Thanksgiving episode
Charlotte to face Asuka & Kairi Sane in handicap match on WWE Raw
WWE SmackDown video highlights: Wyatt issues challenge to Bryan
WWE 205 Live results: Angel Garza vs. Jack Gallagher
Seth Rollins ‘apology’ segment set for WWE Raw
Sheamus, Alexa Bliss & Elias return to WWE SmackDown
Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela official for AEW Dynamite
WWE SmackDown live results: New face in Firefly Fun House
Latest Audio:
WOL Saturday: SD, JR, Stardom changes, AEW women’s division 11/30
B&V: Bryan and Vinny review AEW and NXT head-to-head! 11/29
F4W NEWSLETTER: NXT’s Survivor Series involvement Joseph Currier looks at how WWE featured NXT at Survivor Series and in the build to the PPV.
Even with how forced the battle for brand supremacy can admittedly be, Survivor Series is one of the bright spots on the WWE calendar.
The PPV has given us some of the main roster’s best matches in recent years. Last year, we got Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan and Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (filling in for the injured Becky Lynch). In 2017, Lesnar faced AJ Styles. Those matches wouldn’t have happened without the brand vs. brand concept. And while there would ideally be more substantive stakes involved, the brands facing off has given some life to the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag matches.
The added involvement of NXT this year only improved things. The battle of the brands would have been even more forced without their inclusion. Viewers can believe that NXT really wants to prove that it’s better than Raw or SmackDown. It’s much harder to suspend your disbelief and buy into Raw and SmackDown’s wrestlers being undyingly loyal to their brand just weeks after a draft.
Current subscribers click here to continue reading.
WON NEWSLETTER: December 2, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Survivor Series weekend, Mauro Ranallo/Corey Graves
Coverage of Survivor Series weekend and five shows in six nights in Chicago, as well as the business, polls and more, heads this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at the directions things are going, how DVR viewership affects all the major shows, the decision on match order, what Vince McMahon was doing during the Survivor Seres main event, the next two major shows as well as Survivor Series and Takeover with full coverage and star ratings for every match.
The issue also covers:
The myth of NXT as developmental, World’s Collide, the next Takeover, the mention of Britt Baker on the air and more.
The tragic death of Aniah Blanchard, the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris.
Changes in the UFC drug policy, regarding levels, what drugs are low levels now allowed, what UFC is encouraging fighters to do as far as supplements, .
The situation with Corey Graves and Mauro Ranallo, what happened, why Graves should have been more careful, and where things stand.
Jim Cornette’s apology, how his departure from the NWA took place, more of the background as to why Cornette was castigated for things that nobody would have batted an eye about had others said and why, what NWA wanted to do with him and why their hand was forced.
C.M. Punk signing with FOX, Vince McMahon’s thoughts on Seth Rollins pushing the Punk match, TV ratings in Canada and overseas, WWE get awarded, legend selling home, Oney Lorcan talks future, Mike Bennett talks wanting to leave, Injury updates in WWE, WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network, plus notes on the house shows.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head 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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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
WWE unveiled a custom Universal title belt for The Fiend on SmackDown last night. The belt was created by Tom Savini Studios, with Bray Wyatt also still having the regular Universal Championship.
WWE Shop is selling handcrafted Fiend custom title belts for $6,499.99. They’re “made from the same materials and with the same craftsmanship you saw ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt debut on WWE SmackDown.”
Luke Harper filed a trademark for “Brodie Lee,” which was the name he used prior to WWE.
Danny Burch tweeted after defeating an enhancement wrestler on last night’s 205 Live: “@WWE205Live my name is Danny Burch and tonight I got to share my unique culture with the #WWEUniverse A pint and fight is a great british night! Knuckle up lads…I’m coming! #guvnor #englandscallingyoumugs #victory”
Vince McMahon made a brief appearance in a post-SmackDown video where Kofi Kingston & Big E celebrated The New Day’s five-year anniversary.
Pro Wrestling
AEW posted video of a promo where PAC demanded a rematch against Kenny Omega. They each have one singles win against each other, with PAC defeating Omega at All Out and Omega defeating PAC on Dynamite this week.
In a reply on Twitter, Matt Jackson teased AEW coming to Southern California in the spring.
Jerry Lynn noted that the surgery he had for a bulging disc was a success.
The Lucha Bros will defend their House of Glory Tag Team titles against Private Party at House of Glory 9 in Queens, New York on December 7.
FOX Sports Australia has a Q&A with NJPW president Harold Meij. He spoke about Wrestle Kingdom 14 being a two-day event: “Our shows, generally speaking, all sell out. Our product is very popular here in Japan. Because 2020 is an Olympic year, so there’ll be more global eyes on the sports and culture of Japan, we thought well, we’re part of the culture of Japan as well. Particularly for the night-life. It’s been said that Japan is very good for daytime tourism but not so much for night-life – there are restaurants and bars and that kind of thing, but not so much other types of entertainment. So even the government is saying let’s look at pro wrestling as a night-life alternative to just restaurants. Because 2020 is an Olympic year, and because the demand for our product has been so great, that’s why we decided next year not to have just one Tokyo Dome day but two. The planning for that was more than a year before that – trying to get the venue obviously, but also deciding whether we want to do it, because it’s a risk for us as well. Can we suddenly double the number of people coming? We have to see how it goes, of course. Anything if you overdo it becomes stale. We want to keep the specialness of it, so I don’t foresee doing it every year – hopefully every so often, that would be wonderful, but we’ll have to see how the fans react the first time.”
Meij was asked how NJPW’s United States subsidiary will impact the promotion’s relationship with ROH: “I actually think it complements a lot of the relationships that we have, especially with ROH for example. As we do these shows and more fans fall in love with our product, as we do more joint matches with ROH – whether ROH comes to us or we go to them – the value of the total package increases. They would see that our wrestlers are very good and so are the ROH ones.”
Meij responded to a question about whether NJPW would work with AEW: “We’re very open to working with anyone, we don’t exclude anyone. But it does take time to create that trust between companies. And right now AEW is still in the exploratory phase; they’re trying to establish themselves as a brand, what is that brand? They’re about one year in, and we’re starting to see what their brand is all about. Then we’ll have to see if that brand fits our brand of course. At this stage, they still have different styles than we do, and that’s the only thing. We’re looking at what their brand positioning is and whether it complements ours.”
Kelly Klein revealed that ROH blocked her on Twitter.
Producer David Sahadi announced that he’s returning to Impact Wrestling full-time: “After a long hiatus, I’ve decided to jump back into ‘the game’. Full time. @IMPACTWRESTLING is arising! And the best is yet to come…”
Bandido returned to CMLL at last night’s Arena Mexico show.
Lance Storm appeared on the latest episode of Talk is Jericho and discussed the life and times of the Storm Wrestling Academy.
MMA
With Tony Ferguson officially signing his deal for the fight, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson is official for the UFC’s PPV in Brooklyn on April 18.
Conor McGregor wished Donald Cerrone well ahead of their fight.
Jorge Masvidal wants to face Nick Diaz or McGregor next.
Francis Ngannou issued a challenge to Alexander Volkov for UFC 246.
Tito Ortiz thinks there’s a good chance he’d defeat Jon Jones if they fought.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Antonio Inoki wins WWF title
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