Daily Update: SmackDown ratings, Kofi Kingston, Royal Quest

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9umF1M__CQ

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

  • Match and performer of the week
  • The Bray Wyatt return, speculation, numbers, comparisons to Punk
  • Full coverage of Extreme Rules and business notes
  • Jon Moxley signs five-year deal, the signing of Renee Paquette, how his situation changes and how it stays the same, plus why he did so, why he wasn’t looking at signing at one point and will he work indies
  • The fight for the rights to Antonio Inoki’s name now that merchandise is expected to be huge
  • How Inoki was pushed from a young age
  • Inoki vs Bruno
  • New Japan Declaration of Power full coverage
  • Upcoming New Japan events
  • Impact Bound for Glory coverage
  • Ross Hart looks at the Cauliflower Alley Club banquet
  • TV ratings from the last week, including international numbers and streaming numbers
  • What show set its all-time viewership record in the U.K?
  • How Raw & Dynamite rank on cable for the week
  • Preview of TripleMania
  • NOAH announces major show
  • PWG returns
  • Ronda Rousey key speaker at Gene LeBell funeral
  • AEW gets major vote of confidence
  • Update on status of Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and C.M. Punk
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and UFC events
  • Vince McMahon documentary news
  • Upcoming contenders for Roman Reigns

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Saturday News Update

WWE

  • Last night’s SmackDown averaged 2.129 million viewers in the fast national ratings. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.5. Both numbers are consistent with what SmackDown drew in the fast nationals last week (2.133 million viewers and a 0.5 rating).
  • During an appearance on The Town podcast, Endeavor president Mark Shapiro was asked if Endeavor would have interest in buying WWE:
          • We’ve shown the street (Wall Street) and frankly, everybody else in the industry that cares, what we can do when you put the UFC on top of the Endeavor platform. There are just all kinds of levers we can flip.
          • When it comes to WWE? Yes, that would be something interesting and it would be worth exploring. Would we buy it? Who knows? Last time I checked; it isn’t for sale. But is it something we’re interested in? We are interested in anything in the owned sports properties segment.
  • Roxanne Perez has chosen Raquel Rodriguez as Cora Jade’s “Pick Your Poison” opponent for Tuesday’s episode of NXT. Jade will reveal Perez’s opponent for Tuesday’s show on Raw this Monday.
  • Kofi Kingston announced that he and his mother are launching a project to bring top quality computer labs and library media centers to junior high schools across Ghana, particularly in underprivileged areas:
          • I’m so incredibly excited to FINALLY announce a project that my mom and I have been working on for some time now.
          • The CLICK for Quality Education Foundation will build top quality computer labs and library media centers for junior high schools across Ghana, particularly in underprivileged areas. (The acronym ’CLICK’ stands for Computer Lab and Integrated Center of Knowledge).
          • CLICK for Quality Education Foundation centers will offer training in computer literacy, media and information literacy (MIL), critical thinking, and creative problem-solving skills, while instilling a love of reading and research in students.
          • The first CLICK Center is presently being built at the Atwima Takyiman Presbyterian Junior High School in the Kwadaso Municipality in the Ashanti Region.
          • We have a lot in the works and we’ll be posting updates detailing the progress we’ve made.
          • Follow @CLICKfqe on Instagram and Twitter. Also follow the ‘Click For Quality Education’ page on Facebook! (Link in Bio)
          • LET’S GOOOOOOO!
  • In an interview with Metro, Liv Morgan gave the backstory of the picture with MJF she posted on social media last month: “Aha! So, I went to my friend Skylar’s birthday party and he was just there! I had never met him before that. We had great, great, great, great banter. We have a lot in common actually!”
  • Jacobin published an article on labor issues in WWE.
  • Shawn Michaels was the guest on WWE After the Bell this week.
  • Raquel Rodriguez & Shotzi, Legado del Fantasma, and LA Knight were interviewed on The SmackDown LowDown.
  • Sheamus’ Celtic Warrior Workouts series returned with a new episode yesterday. Bobby Lashley joined Sheamus on the episode.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • NJPW’s two Royal Quest events that were held in London earlier this month will be uploaded to NJPW World at 2 a.m. Eastern time overnight tonight. The first night of Royal Quest featured an IWGP Tag Team title match between FTR and Aussie Open that received rave reviews.
  • AEW shared video of an emotional post-show speech that Shawn Spears gave after returning to Canada for Thursday’s Rampage tapings. While speaking to the audience, Spears opened up about losing his mother two months ago.
  • Kyle O’Reilly spoke to Beyond Type 1 about thriving while living with type one diabetes.
  • Austin & Colten Gunn appeared on this week’s edition of AEW Unrestricted.
  • Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling averaged 94,000 viewers on AXS TV, up from the 89,000 viewers the show drew last week. Impact’s 18-49 demo rating was up to a 0.03.
  • PCO said during a virtual signing with Captain’s Corner that he couldn’t appear at MLW Fightland due to his affiliation with Impact: “I was supposed to be on their show at the ECW Arena for the 30th of October [MLW Fightland]. But because of my affiliation with IMPACT Wrestling, I couldn’t go, because they’re a little bit in competition together. But I love their company, I was treated well when I was there and Court Bauer, Mister Saint Laurent, they took great care of me. I had fun there. I had fun for like [a] full 2018. I was with them, I was on every show for almost a full year so, it’s great.”