Daily Update: Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens, Andrade El Idolo, WWE Raw

Daily Update

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Monday News Update

Bryan and I will be back tonight covering the fallout from Survivor Series, Raw and the rest of the pro wrestling and MMA news with Wrestling Observer Radio. If you have a video subscription, you can ask questions about the topics discussed during the show.

Regarding the report on what happened backstage with Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens. The story is accurate in the sense Reigns got upset after being popped, and had noticeable bruising under his left eye. There was talk of a possible broken eardrum but that was not confirmed to us. What is confirmed is that it came from a slap by Owens, Reigns was upset, but 20 minutes later it had all blown over so there is no lingering issue regarding it.

Andrade has undergone surgery for a torn pec. Those usually keep one out of action around eight months.

I did a Sports Illustrated article covering the first and last War Games, and tons of incarnations in the middle and discussed the good and bad of the rules changes

Raw tonight is from Norfolk, VA. They are doing the first hour commercial free. Becky Lynch opens the show. Miz vs. Dexter Lumis and if Lumis wins he gets a WWE contract is on the show. That match was announced for many weeks back, then didn’t happen, then was forgotten, and then two weeks ago was announced for this show. Given a first hour with no commercials and coming off a PPV, the rating should be well up from the past three weeks. The NFL game tonight is Steelers vs. Colts which are both teams with losing records so it may be down from most of the season. Zoey Stark is backstage at the show according to PWInsider so that means she may appear on the Main Event tapings, since they’ve been using those to give NXT talent main roster looks in front of real crowds.

One of the biggest indie events of the year took place yesterday at Dorton Arena in Raleigh for Big Time Wrestling: Scott Steiner won Boogie Man Jam Battle Royal, Kerry Morton b Brian Pillman Jr. to retain the NWA world jr. title, Danny Miles b Neon Ninja to keep the BTW title, Matt Hardy b Crowbar, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson b Mark & Jay Briscoe, Savannah Evans b Amber Nova, Ricky Steamboat & FTR b Brock Anderson & Nick Aldis & Jay Lethal via triple submission finish. Steamboat looked amazing in the ring and seemed fine after the show. (thanks to Donny Anderson and Will Mikes)

This was one of those weeks where AEW ratings will tell you good faith vs. bad faith. A .32 is excellent for the show the day before Thanksgiving. This is the first year that the night before Thanksgiving show beat the week before. There are a lot of notes but last week was the first week in months that Dynamite beat Raw in men 18-49. While Raw does have it harder against the NFL rather than the NBA, AEW’s show came on a far worse night for drawing viewers. AEW did great in men 18-34 and was way up in all male categories. Women numbers were also way down from last week and from most weeks. Chris Jericho vs. Tomohiro Ishii held up better than most main event segments have done in recent months.

The Jon Moxley-William Regal open had topped 1 million viewers on YouTube, which is a level AEW TV clips rarely hit. It would be a good number for WWE.

On today’s MMA Hour, Alex Pereira said that he was willing to face Khamzat Chimaev on the 1/21 PPV show, but only at 205 pounds because getting to 185 is a hard cut for him. Hi claimed Chimaev turned down the fight. Chimaev had said Pereira would be an easy win for him and he’d beat him in the first round. Chimaev also fights at either 170 or 185, so 205 would be a giant jump for him. 

The New Japan tour continues at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning from Shizuoka with heavyweight tournament bouts with Alex Coughlin & Gabriel Kidd vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens, Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer, Aussie Open vs Evil & Yujiro Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Sanada vs Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste and Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano vs Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi.

Thanks to Connor McGrath and Shannon Walsh for the reports last night’s WWE show in Portland, ME. They did an injury angle early in the show to take out Sheamus, but Kevin Owens (unadvertised) replaced him and Owens & Drew McIntyre & Ridge Holland & Butch beat Usos & Sami Zayn & Solo Sikoa in the main event. Sheamus did come out during the match when Zayn tried to run away and threw him back in the ring.

Tales from the Territories tomorrow night at 10 p.m. on Vice will be about Jim Crockett Promotions, which includes Jim Cornette, Baby Doll and Nikita Koloff.

WWE is offering two-for-one tickets in Milwaukee with the code BUCKSWWE for the 12/12 Raw show. This offer expires at midnight local time. Bucks is the name of the basketball team. 

Other Notes

El Hijo del Vikingo faces Nick Wayne on 12/17 for Defy Wrestling at Washington Hall in Seattle.

Progress results from yesterday in London: Alexxis Falcon b Laura Di Matteo, Man Like Dereiss b Cheeseburger, Rhio NC Skye Smitson, Charles Crowley b Elijah, Bullit b tom Dawkins, Kid Lykos b Chuck Mambo in a mask vs. hair match (Mambo got his head shaved), Anthony Ogogo & Dan Moloney (subbing fro Adebayo Akinfewa) b Malik & Kosta Konstantino, Ricky Knight Jr. b Tate Mayfairs to win the Natural Progression Series 8 tournament, Big Damo & Axel Tischer b Luke Jacobs & Chris Ridgeway, Spike Trivet b Jonathan Gresham to retain the Progress title, Lana Austin b Kanji to win the women’s title.

MCW on 12/3 in Joppatowne, MD at the RJ Meyer Arena. They are asking fans to bring an unwrapped toy and if you do you get a grab bag and a free photo with both Santa and Dante Martin. Dante Martin faces Ninja Mack on that show.

Alex Riley has what may be his first match in six years on 12/8 in Lynbrook, NY at the Knights of Columbus teaming with Tyrus against VBU at the Major Wrestling Podcast’s Holiday Toy Drive event.

The Warsaw, Poland-based Kinguin Prime Time Wrestling announced a deal with DAZN for 2023.

ONE will be shooting a second season of their version of The Apprentice throughout Singapore and Qatar. One world champion in the promotion as well as business people will be looking to work underneath CEO Chatri Sityodtong for a one-year $250,000 contract and work in the offices in Singapore.

Boom Pro Wrestling from last night in Vancouver before a sellout 150 fans: Coco Flash b Casey Ferreira, Evan Rivers b Tony Baroni, Big Cat won over Par Singh Mann and Elliott Tyler, Abraham Lincoln d Billy Suede, Taryn from Accounting b Izzy McQueen, Jacky Lee & Shareef Morrow b Brady Malibu & Malik Mello. Sachin Sahel from the TV show The 100 was in Malibu & Mello’s corner. They have a New Year’s Eve show with Lincoln vs. Suede in a loser leaves town match and Malibu defends the Boom title against Randy Myers.