Daily Update: Extreme Rules fallout, Raw, Being the Elite

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WON NEWSLETTER: July 20, 2020 Observer Newsletter: NJPW Dominion and the return of fans, more

The first pro wrestling shows in four months with major crowds took place this past week as New Japan Pro Wrestling ran two major events at Osaka Jo Hall. Our lead story talks about the rules in place for the show, the Weekend of Evil, how the crowd was told to behave and how different it was than a U.S. or Mexico crowd, as well as a look at New Japan booking, the next major shows along with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results for both shows.

The new issue also covers:

UFC 251, the story behind all the changes to the show, match-by-match coverage, where the main event winners go next and all the business notes on the show, including what you were told and what wasn’t the case.

Reopening of Bellator and questions regarding its leading revenue stream.

Details on the WWE mask policy, the fines, the role of Kevin Owens in this and more.

Wednesday night ratings, looking at AEW, NXT, UFC and even how NASCAR figured in, where the viewers were gained and lost, as well as what every segment on the show did and some of the most staggering news imaginable when it comes to this past week’s NXT show.

WWE Extreme Rules and Impact’s Slammiversary shows coming up.

WWE and Peacock Network dealings, notes on SummerSlam this year, what numbers to look for at WWE Investors call, what factors play into the WWE Network numbers, Paul Levesque talks WWE handling of COVID, Edge talks his triceps injury, Why an angle on Raw nearly didn’t happen when one of the participants turned it down, update on Charlotte Flair, Canadian & U.K. ratings, how WWE relates to sports ratings, Matt Hardy talks Jeff Hardy angle, as well as the most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network, WWE market value and next week’s top TV bouts.

A feature on the Wednesday night UFC show.

FITE TV bringing a Japanese wrestling doubleheader to the U.S. this coming week with Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT.  

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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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the rest of the pro wrestling and MMA news, as well as taking your email questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

Raw tonight will have the beginning of the Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre program most likely (the show was being rewritten last night and today and was taped four hours later than scheduled), Orton vs. Big Show, Seth Rollins vs. Aleister Black, Bayley vs. Kairi Sane (scheduled as Sane’s last match in the promotion) and Rey Mysterio is still there. We don’t know if he’ll be on television when he was there at the tapings.  The hope is that the curiosity over Mysterio, Braun Strowman, the marquee matches that were advertised and the post-PPV bump will lead to a substantial increase in the Raw rating tonight.  I can’t imagine it not being up, but how much is the question. On tonight’s show, there is a good chance we’ll be able to talk about what was changed and perhaps even why.

Elisar Cabrera, one of the founders of FWA in the U.K., a promotion that changed the independent scene in that country, passed away today after a four-year battle with cancer. We will have more on him in this week’s issue.

There was significantly more interest in last night’s show than a usual WWE PPV based on the Rey Mysterio angle. WWE Extreme Rules was the No. 6 most searched item on the Internet yesterday with 200,000, which is the usual number, but Rey Mysterio also had another 200,000 searches, the most any pro wrestler has had of late in a single day. 

The beginning of Being the Elite this week has a comedy sketch with the Young Bucks, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, obviously just filmed but in the story it was filmed 4 1/2 years ago in Tokyo. It’s basically Gallows & Anderson making fun of how they guessed wrong, including the line from Gallows about how he knows two Paul’s there (WWE) who would never lie to them. 

The Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins match did not air live last night but was taped earlier in the day. They had scripted a scene where Mysterio’s eye would pop out and Seth Rollins would vomit.  Vince McMahon changed his mind about the eye popping out after it was shot so edited off, but did go with the vomiting.

WWE

  • The last WWE Tuesday night show on FS 1 for a while takes place tomorrow night with the airing of the 2016 SummerSlam show headlined by Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler and the Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton massacre. What a bad idea the finish of that match turned into, as well as Finn Balor vs Seth Rollins to crown the first Universal champion and Rusev vs. Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair, A.J. Styles vs. John Cena, Miz vs. Apollo Crews, New Day vs. Gallows & Anderson and Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho vs Enzo & Cass plus Carmella & Becky Lynch & Naomi vs. Nikki Bella & Natalya & Alexa Bliss.  I’ll tell you what’s staggering.  Look at this show and the percentage of talent on that show that is now in WWE, and in a somewhat similar spot. This was four years ago. Then go to any other company in history and look up major shows four years apart and make a comparison.
  • The R-Truth Game Show debuts tomorrow on the WWE Network. 
  • The New York Times has an article on Total Bellas.
  • FOCO has introduced a new HHH bobblehead with his ring gear posing on an entrance ramp. 

UFC

  • Khamzat Chimaev (7-0) of Sweden will attempt to become the first person ever to win two fights in 11 days in UFC history. Chimaev beat John Phillips (not Papa John) on 7/15, and told UFC he felt great, didn’t have to go home and would fight again. Saturday’s show on ESPN has a record 15 fights and is scheduled for seven hours. One of the Paul’s needs to call Dana and tell him seven hour shows may sound good to ESPN because it gives them another hour of live sports programming, but it’s not the best idea in the world.

AEW

  • Dynamite on Wednesday night:
    Cody defends TNT title
    Adam Page vs. Five
    Ivelisse Velez vs. Diamante
    Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade falls count anywhere
    Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy
    NXT counters with Karrion Kross vs. Dominik Dijakovic as its main event.

  • Dark tomorrow night on Youtube:
    Diamante vs. KilLynn King
    Best Friends vs. Sabby & Brady Pierce
    Scorpio Sky vs. Aaron Solow
    Hikaru Shida vs. Rache Chanel non-title
    Butcher & Blade vs. Peter Avalon & Brandon Cutler
    Kip Sabian vs. Corey Hollis
    Ricky Stars vs. Will Hobbs
    Darby Allin vs. Robert Anthony
    Key things are it’s Allin’s first match in four months plus.  Sabby is former WWE wrestler Tino Sabbattelli, who was a legit NFL player and was considered by a lot of people as the best actual athlete in the entire WWE system a few years ago. Solow is the fiance of Bayley and has worked for New Japan on U.S. shows.

  • Dasha Kuret aka Dasha Gonzalez aka Dasha Fuentes of AEW and formerly WWE will appear tonight on Titan Games, which airs on NBC at 8 p.m. tonight. 

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Missy Hyatt put up a video about her lawsuit against WCW.  She noted that she signed a confidentiality agreement and has never talked about it publicly, but figures since WCW has been out of business now for 19 years, they probably aren’t suing her for breaking it.
  • There is a viral version of the San Diego Comic Con later this week. On Thursday at 3 p.,. Eastern there is a Mattel & WWE Fan Panel with Sam Roberts, Bill Miekina and Steve Czer of Mattel and Edge, Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Rhea Ripley and Ricochet. Just don’t ask Miekina if the best live shows anywhere in the world over the last decade were in
  • Southern California. Friday at 8 p.m. is a pro wrestling and comics panel. Saturday at 5 p.m. is a Mexican wrestling history panel featuring Salvador Lutteroth, the CEO of CMLL and son of the original Salvador Lutteroth, as well as the original Rey Misterio.
  • Dark Side of the Ring season one with episodes like Bruiser Brody, Gino Hernandez and the Von Erichs, is on Hulu.
  • USA Championship Wrestling from Studio 45 in Jackson, TN, celebrates its 100th episode of the show that was just released featuring an angle with Jerry Lawler and Matt Riviera.
  • With Bea Priestley & Jamie Hayter unable to travel to Japan, they have vacated their Goddesses of Stardom tag team titles. Both are hoping to return to Japan soon, perhaps as early as August. Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani face Jungle Kyona & Konami on 7/26 for the vacant titles at Korakuen Hall (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • Harley Race vs. Terry Funk from Houston.
  • Story on a promotion, the ASW in West Virginia, doing an outdoor drive-in pro wrestling show. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Jack Brisco wins NWA World title from Harley Race

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