Daily Update: SmackDown ratings, WWE Fastlane, LA Knight

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new Observer is up now:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • Adam Copeland comes to AEW, analysis of he deal, surprises, comments by Copeland, and the positives and negative of it
  • Full rundown of WrestleDream, including business notes
  • Updates on the last three AEW PPV shows including one major surprise
  • What to learn from AEW doing three PPV shows so closely
  • Full coverage of WWE NXT No Mercy
  • AEW vs. NXT this coming Tuesday as both load up, and what to expect given how things went last year
  • Notes on WWE Fastlane
  • Russ Francis, the aspects of his pro wrestling career that few know, growing up as the son of a wrestler and promoter, NFL and other sports background, the Francis family in Hawaiian rings, the last big house drawn by the AWA, WrestleMania 2 and 31, his playing in the Super Bowl and the wrestling connection in that game, politics, broadcasting and more.
  • Story on Joyce Grable, who passed away this past week.
  • AEW & WWE attendance for quarter three
  • Matt Riddle update
  • The Infernos tag team history
  • How many homes are the stations that carry wrestling and MMA programming in
  • The most detailed look at the ratings from the past week, comparisons with one year ago, segment numbers, placings, star power and competition to provide information as to the ups and downs
  • CMLL Night of Champions as fans pick the card
  • Women’s tournaments coming
  • A show honoring 45 years of Blue Panther in the ring
  • AAA Heroes Inmortales
  • Stardom Five-Star Grand Prix notes
  • Stardom tag team tournament update
  • Notes on New Japan U.S dates
  • Crush Gals anniversary show
  • New pro wrestling documentary notes
  • Impact gears up for its biggest show of the year
  • Update on AEW and WBD
  • Adam Cole on his injury
  • Tony Khan talks Jade Cargill
  • Why AEW announced 81,305 instead of 85,228 for All In
  • Problems AEW had with its last TV show
  • Streaming numbers for AEW & WWE
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings
  • Star returns from injury
  • UFC & Bellator updates
  • Canelo Alvarez PPV notes and how many buys came from AEW & WWE fans
  • Two wrestlers being inducted into Louisiana Hall of Fame
  • C.M. Punk notes
  • Why WWE stock is down
  • WWE in Japan update

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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Saturday Update

WWE

  • Last night’s SmackDown averaged 2.20 million viewers in the fast national ratings, up from last week’s fast national average of 2.16 million. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.6.
  • Pat McAfee voices the opening video for tonight’s Fastlane PPV, which is being held in Indianapolis.
  • I previewed the Fastlane card for Sports Illustrated.
  • In an interview with CBS Sports, LA Knight discussed a letter that William Moody (Paul Bearer) left him before passing away:
          • Part of the message was that he loved me and he knew I was going to go on to do big things. That was insane that he was thinking of me at that moment.
          • The fact that this guy that I watched growing up was thinking about me at that time, that was crazy. That was an enormous thing to consider and an enormous thing to think about. I feel like I’m bastardizing it to make it about myself, but in a weird way, it’s like my work had paid off in a certain sense that I’d garnered that kind of respect and friendship from somebody in the business.
  • Shinsuke Nakamura named some of the matches he wants to have in WWE: “Everybody’s changed their character a little bit. Cody. I didn’t have any singles matches against The Usos. Maybe Jey Uso, Jimmy, and Solo…I don’t have singles match with Sheamus, Drew McIntyre. I still have a lot left.”
  • WrestlingNews.Co asked Nakamura about the strangest place he’s ever wrestled in: “I have over 20 years experience…in Los Angeles around 2005-2006, I had a match against Karl Anderson. The audience was one Mexican family. Just five people.”
  • While speaking with People, Jade Cargill explained how her time in AEW helped prepare her for WWE:
          • I feel like I’m walking into a new light. AEW prepared me. It prepared me to have thick and tough skin. If I would have been a part of such a machine like WWE at a younger age, I would have probably been in my head so much – so much – but because I’ve worn several hats in this life and I’ve already been thrown in the fire, so it’s just prepared me for these moments.
  • LA Knight, Asuka, and The LWO appeared on The SmackDown LowDown.
  • Tommaso Ciampa was the guest on WWE After the Bell this week.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Matt Hardy thinks it’s inevitable that The Hardys will end up facing Adam Copeland & Christian Cage in AEW:
          • I just think that is inevitable to eventually have an Edge and Christian vs. Matt and Jeff match, I mean, that will happen. It is one of those things, I think because we’re not going to do the 1999 No Mercy Ladder Match whenever we do have this match. I think we can still have a great match, we can still go out, we can have a killer match, it can be super entertaining, and it’s going to be fun, and there’ll be a lot of nostalgia involved, but I think we can still do it on a level high enough, in 2023, 2024, whatever year it is in the future, that is still going to be a great match.
  • Copeland was a guest on The Ringer Wrestling Show.
  • Copeland told Bleacher Report about Beth Phoenix voicing the “You think you know him” at the start of his theme music:
          • It is, yes. And to me, an important thing about that is I always loved that. It was a female voicing that. I always thought that was just a different element that my character had that in wrestling a lot of characters maybe wouldn’t go that route. They’d have an angry guy singing or something, and I always loved that it was like this kind of sensual, sexy voice. And so I said ‘I want you to do it because it would mean even more.’ So it just felt like a no-brainer.
  • Jim Ross wrote about the passing of NFL legend Dick Butkus: “My short time with Dick Butkus in the XFL broadcast booth was one of my greatest joys. Our pregame prep was very ‘unique.’ Crown Royal was always a arm’s length. Loved the man! RIP #51.”
  • Dax Harwood filed a trademark for “CMFTR” on October 5.
  • The Battleground podcast interviewed Ricky Starks.
  • Entertainment Tonight shared a first look at the UPtv movie “Country Hearts.” Chris Jericho stars in the movie.
  • SAnitY (Eric Young, Big Damo & Axel Tischer) will reunite at PROGRESS Wrestling’s Vendetta show in London on Sunday, November 26.
  • YouTuber penguinz0 uploaded a video with Malakai Black & Zelina Vega teaching him how to wrestle.