Daily Update: SmackDown & 205 Live, Scarlett Bordeaux, Carmella

DAILY UPDATE

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F4W NEWSLETTER: Chris Jericho becomes first AEW World Champion Joseph Currier gives his thoughts on AEW choosing Jericho as their inaugural champion. Plus, Vinny’s TV reviews. 

When AEW debuts on TNT on October 2, they’ll be doing so with Chris Jericho as their champion.

Saturday’s All Out pay-per-view ended with Jericho defeating Hangman Page to become the inaugural AEW World Champion. After Jericho kicked out of the Dead Eye, Page hit a Buckshot Lariat and went for the Dead Eye again. The finish saw Jericho reverse the move and then connect with his Judas Effect elbow strike to win the title.

The match was very good, but it fell short of being the epic main event you’d want to crown your first World Champion with. The dynamic just didn’t work quite as well as AEW wanted. The fans would ideally have been desperate for Page to defeat Jericho and become champion. But people weren’t all that interested in booing Jericho — and Page didn’t have the momentum that he needed going into the match. The way Page won his way into getting the title shot was probably a misstep. It’s understandable that AEW wants to create their own unique match concepts and give them meaning, but Jericho defeating Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing felt like a far bigger deal than Page earning his spot in the title match through winning the Casino Battle Royale. While Page got wins at Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen, they weren’t against big enough opponents and they weren’t strong enough victories for people to see him as being one of the top two wrestlers in the company.

Jericho was an obvious choice to become AEW’s first World Champion. He’s an easily recognizable star that lapsed and casual fans will already be familiar with. There will inevitably be criticism over a new company choosing a 48-year-old wrestler as their initial champion, but AEW isn’t at any risk of being seen as a nostalgia promotion. It’s fine to have one wrestler in their late 40s in a top spot. Signing Jericho and pushing him heavily is a no-brainer for any start-up company. Jericho is still wrestling at a high level, helps bring credibility to the promotion for those who aren’t already fans of The Elite, and has protected his image by only working in main event-level matches with great opponents since departing WWE.

WON NEWSLETTER: September 2, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Changes in the wrestling landscape in the coming weeks

Questions regarding NXT vs. AEW’s upcoming showdown that will determine the wrestling landscape is the lead topic of discussion in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

We raise fourteen questions regarding the Wednesday Night War, and discuss what the answers will tell us about the global pro wrestling scene, as well as when we might have those answers. 

We also break down what Google searches over the last 90 days in the United States can tell us about the upcoming Wednesday Night War, as well as what oddsmakers think about who will win in the ratings. 

Along those lines, we also look at the AEW ticket sales information for their fourth and fifth weeks of television, and talk about what they might indicate. 

Also in the new issue, we have full coverage of the Super-J Cup, including star ratings from the San Francisco show of the tour. 

The issue also features an update on the upcoming Clash of Champions show, including an updated card, and a look at how the show is doing on the secondary ticket market. 

We also have a historical piece covering Harley Race’s key years on top, 1977-1981.

Dragon Gate’s Dangerous Gate show is also covered in the issue. 

We also have news and notes on all of the top wrestling and MMA promotions in the world. 

We have full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.

As always, we have 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.

We also have the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.

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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • It appears that Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville will be challenging for Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross’ Women’s Tag Team titles at Clash of Champions on September 15. Rose & Deville defeated Bliss & Cross in a non-title match on last night’s SmackDown to set up them getting a title shot, though WWE has yet to officially announce the match for Clash of Champions.
  • Kevin Owens posted a tweet explaining why he wasn’t on SmackDown this week: “I figured if I didn’t show up, maybe Shane wouldn’t either and I’d be doing everyone a favor. It worked! Actually, I didn’t want to fly out early and leave my family in a potential hurricane. I tried to get to Norfolk today once I knew they‘d be safe but no luck. It’s on me.”
  • In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Owens praised Juice Robinson’s promos: “I think I’m pretty good at talking and getting my point across, but nobody makes me feel what they’re saying the way Juice does. Yes, he’s my friend and I love that dude, so it might seem like I’m biased, but I’m not. I’m friends with a lot of people and some of them suck at talking, and I’m happy to tell them.”
  • Drew Gulak & Tony Nese vs. Humberto Carrillo & Lince Dorado has been announced for next week’s 205 Live. The match comes after Gulak and Nese reunited and attacked Carrillo and Dorado in the show-closing angle last night. Gulak is defending his Cruiserweight Championship against Carrillo and Dorado in a triple threat match at Clash of Champions.
  • Jack Gallagher and a partner vs. Akira Tozawa & Brian Kendrick has also been set up for next week’s 205 Live.
  • Squared Circle Sirens reported that Scarlett Bordeaux was at the WWE Performance Center today for a tryout. Bordeaux was granted her release from Impact Wrestling in June.
  • In a post on Instagram, Carmella wrote about a recent health scare: “I recently had a health scare that shook my world. I was super apprehensive (still am) to post about it because I’m not looking for any sort of sympathy. Instead, I wanted to share what this past month has taught me. You might find my perception to be trivial and unimportant, but these are my thoughts. For the first time in six years I was forced to slow down. I’ve never had an injury with time off or anything of the sort since I started with WWE. I was able to slow down for a few weeks and just be. It opened my mind and my eyes to the world I didn’t notice for six years and allowed me to be present instead of worrying about the next thing on my to do list. I took a break from social media and it really allowed me to live in the moment and see what was right in front of me. I had conversations with people I would have normally never seen because my head would be buried in my phone. More importantly, social media is not real. The fact that I at one point or another would get bothered by a few crass comments made by presumptuous ill mannered trolls makes me laugh now. It’s all so insignificant at the end of the day. Do these trolls care about my health and well being? Are they the ones who will be there for me when sh*t hits the fan? Hell no. So why would I care what people on an app in my phone have to say about me? I spent time with the most important people in my life. In a world where I’m constantly on the road, I rarely get more than a few hours with those who matter most to me. I’m grateful I was able to spend so much time with my sister and my parents who are my world. I was also constantly laughing with my boyfriend who is the most supportive man on the planet. I truly don’t know what I would do without him. Things can and will go wrong, regardless of how healthy your lifestyle is. It’s important to feed our bodies with happy thoughts, clean and healthy foods and all of the positive vibes. Let’s all try to be a little better as humans. Everyone we meet is going through SOMETHING. Be nice. Life is short. Hug your family, laugh more, let the little things go, buy the shoes and drink the wine”
  • Ronda Rousey posted a video of her getting her stitches out after the finger injury she suffered while filming for FOX’s 9-1-1.
  • Monday’s Labor Day episode of Straight Up Steve Austin with Becky Lynch as the guest averaged 1,097,000 viewers. That’s up from last week’s 987,000 viewers and is the show’s best viewership since the series premiere drew 1,211,000 viewers on August 12. This week’s rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.44.
  • WWE and 2K Sports have announced the details of the Women’s Evolution/Four Horsewomen Showcase mode in WWE 2K20.
  • Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Sting, and Bret Hart are featured in the Legends commercial for WWE 2K20.
  • Cesaro discussed his dental injury from No Mercy 2017 and finally getting his braces off after nearly two years.
  • Stephanie McMahon was the guest on one of this week’s episodes of Barstool Sports’ The Corp podcast with Alex Rodriguez and Big Cat.
  • SportBible has an interview with WALTER.
  • The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story on WWE’s Josiah Williams.

Pro Wrestling

  • An AEW panel with Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Brandi Rhodes, Awesome Kong, Nyla Rose, and Jungle Boy will be part of New York Comic Con on October 4.
  • Today’s episode of Talk is Jericho is a behind-the-scenes report of All Out.
  • Marty Scurll vs. Joe Hendry is set for ROH’s Global Wars Espectacular show in Milwaukee this Sunday.
  • Hendry will also face ROH TV Champion Shane Taylor in a Proving Ground match at Saturday’s show in Villa Park, Illinois. If Hendry defeats Taylor or the match ends in a 15-minute time limit draw, Hendry will get a future shot at the TV title.
  • Dominic Garrini vs. Ariel Dominguez has been added to this Saturday’s MLW War Chamber tapings in North Richland Hills, Texas. This will be Garrini’s MLW debut.
  • EVOLVE announced an Evolution’s Edge Tournament that will take place at EVOLVE 135 in Brooklyn on September 20 and EVOLVE 136 in Queens on September 21. The first night will feature two multi-man matches, with the winners then facing each other on night two. Anthony Greene, Anthony Gutierrez, Brandon Taggart, Curt Stallion, Daniel Garcia, Karam, Sean Maluta, and Stephen Wolf will be in the tournament.
  • Oriental Wrestling Entertainment commented on this month’s OWE UK tour being delayed: “OWE were shocked today to learn that the planned UK tour had been delayed.  While we partnered with a UK promoter to use OWE in the UK, we’ve been unable to reach them for several days. We also have no access to any OWE UK social media. Full statement will be released shortly.”

UFC/MMA

  • The UFC posted episode three of Embedded for UFC 242. The PPV is being headlined by lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. interim champion Dustin Poirier. The main card will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time due to the show being held in Abu Dhabi.
  • Yahoo Sports reported that: “Early traffic numbers for UFC.com and its social media accounts prior to UFC 242 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi are similar to what they were before Nurmagomedov fought McGregor at UFC 229.”
  • The UFC’s YouTube account uploaded Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor from UFC 229 and Poirier vs. Max Holloway from UFC 236.
  • Nurmagomedov spoke about his plan for facing Poirier: “Dustin Poirier’s a very tough opponent. I don’t want to underestimate him. He has a lot of experience. But when I go to the cage, my plan is make him tired, make him tap. This is my plan.”
  • Poirier’s goal is to make history by becoming the first person to defeat Nurmagomedov.
  • BJ Penn gave his side of the story regarding the video of the fight he got into in Hawaii last month.
  • Greg Hardy vs. Jarjis Danho is set for UFC Fight Night in Singapore on October 26.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WCW Monday Nitro premieres

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