Daily Update: WWE in Saudi Arabia, Starrcade, Conor McGregor

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F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Recapping WWE Evolution

An incredible amount of devotion from all involved resulted in WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view being a special night and a strong contender for the company’s best show of the year. Evolution wasn’t just an event that was worthy of its place in history — it elevated it. The wrestlers who competed in the ring, everyone involved with putting the PPV together, and the fans in attendance all worked in unison to make Evolution a show that exceeded all reasonable expectations.

WON NEWSLETTER: November 5, 2018 Observer Newsletter: Highs and lows with WWE Evolution and Crown Jewel

A look behind-the-scenes at the decisions regarding Crown Jewel as the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  

We look at the decision making process, how the last week went down, why the show almost didn’t happen, negative media reaction, why WWE can survive negativity more now than in the past, what happened with John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Hulk Hogan, different plans thrown out for Bryan vs. A.J. Styles and why they didn’t happen, decisions changed regarding promotion of Hogan’s return, Renee Young going, Glenn Jacobs situation, and how many ideas changed.  We also look at plans for Survivor Series and TLC shows.

We’ve also got full coverage of WWE Evolution  with notes on the business, notes on mainstream interest, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and  a well as poll results from the show.

Also go in-depth on WWE business. We look at where the declines took place that led to the stock falling, and what is and isn’t significant about them.  We look at the network numbers and compare the post-WrestleMania drop with last year.  We also look at projections by the company for the fourth quarter drop in network subscribers.  We also go in depth on the fallacy of how people view wrestling, as well as how Raw and Smackdown have held up compared to other USA Network programming as well as cable in general.

Examine the look at the house show business, including Vince McMahon’s comments on the decline, as well a breakdown on the merchandise business, NXT ticket sales and full 2018 attendance numbers for the main brands and for NXT.

A look at WrestleMania tickets, WWE content production, a Roman Reigns story, more on Reigns’ diagnosis, the WWE/Evolve relationship, changes to Evolve through usage of WWE talent, plans for the next Takeover show, injury updates. the plight of Sean O’Haire in WWE, Matt Hardy TV show, house show changes after angle changes, WWE performer dating NBA star, thoughts on the semifinals of the Mae Young Classic, as well as there most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.

 Details on all the WWE and NXT weekend live events, with results, highlights and business notes.

We look at Kevin Kay and his role in saving UFC and the rise of UFC, as well as in the pro wrestling genre.  We look at the history of Spike TV with pro wrestling, UFC, and Bellator.

A run down UFC’s show this past week and the delve into the business aspects of that show, coverage of AAA’s Heroes Inmoratles show, with match-by-match coverage and who is to watch going forward. We also have full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.

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.

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • The Saudi Arabia General Sports Authority on Twitter has short interviews with Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley talking about Crown Jewel and meeting WWE fans in Saudi Arabia.
  • PWInsider noted that Lio Rush made the trip to Saudi Arabia with the WWE roster (with Bobby Lashley wrestling in the World Cup tournament) and that a contingent of WWE wrestlers are having dinner with representatives from Saudi Arabia tonight.
  • WWEShop has quietly put up Hulk Hogan merchandise.
  • This week’s Hidden Gems on the WWE Network feature two D-Generation X matches. One is a match pitting Triple H & Shawn Michaels against The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin from November 15, 1997 and another Triple H & Shawn Michaels tag match, this time against Legacy in a steel cage from September 4, 2009.
  • Total Divas last night drew 385,000 viewers on the E! Network, down from last week’s 390,000 viewers. It ranked #40 for the night.
  • WWE’s YouTube page uploaded a video with Kassius Ohno “welcoming” Matt Riddle and Keith Lee to NXT.
  • WWE posted a slideshow featuring behind the scenes photos from Evolution.
  • Ronda Rousey placed first in this year’s Pro Wrestling Illustrated Women’s 100 list. The rest of the top ten (in order) are Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, Io Shirai, Asuka, Shayna Baszler, Carmella, Nia Jax, Mayu Iwatani (Stardom) and Kairi Sane.
  • Nia Jax spoke to Al Jazeera about breaking stereotypes and embracing her body as she started to train in the WWE.
  • Seth Rollins defending the Intercontinental Championship against Dean Ambrose in a street fight is now listed on the card for WWE’s Starrcade house show in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 24. Braun Strowman vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre in a handicap match is also now currently advertised.
  • Luis Martinez (Punishment Martinez) tweeted that he’ll be making his NXT debut at tomorrow’s house show in Fort Pierce, Florida.
  • ATHLEAN-X posted a video on their YouTube page featuring Finn Balor and Curt Hawkins doing an ab workout.

Pro Wrestling

UFC/MMA

  • Conor McGregor has settled a lawsuit between him and a security guard that was injured during the UFC 202 press conference brawl. The security guard was allegedly hit in the back by one of Conor McGregor’s Monster Energy drinks during the brawl between McGregor and Nate Diaz.
  • MMAFighting obtained police body cam footage of Stephan Bonnar being arrested for a DUI. He was arrested back on 10/28 and is scheduled to appear in court on 11/26.
  • Daniel Cormier talked to FloCombat about what match he would like to take after the Derrick Lewis fight this Saturday. While he realizes that the Brock Lesnar fight is the bigger of the two fights, he wants Jones. “It’s crazy that people say me and Lesnar would be a mega fight when the reality is the mega fight is Jones and I,” he said. “We’re the two greatest fighters of all time and we fight each other. It’s so easy to say, ‘This guy’s one of the greatest and this guy’s one of the greatest,’ but they never fight each other. Jones and I may be the two best fighters in the history of the sport. That should be the mega fight. Unfortunately, it will not net me the money that I would make fighting Brock Lesnar.”
  • Dana White told TMZ Sports that Khabib Nurmagomedov’s next fight will likely be against Tony Ferguson, saying that Ferguson never lost the title. He also said it was 70% likely that they and Floyd Mayweather would sign together for a future fight in the UFC.
  • White will also be filming his Lookin’ For A Fight show at a Island Fights event on 12/21.
  • The third and fourth episodes of UFC 230 Embedded are now up.
  • Sijara Eubanks talked to MMAJunkie about her goal of becoming the UFC flyweight champion.
  • Ariel Helwani reports that a fight between Petr Yan and Douglas Silva de Andrade is scheduled for UFC 232.
  • Ariana Lipski’s fight against Maryna Moroz has been cancelled after Moroz was removed from the card and no replacement could be found.
  • David Zawada will replace Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in a match against Li Jingliang at UFC Beijing on 11/24.

Daily Professional Wrestling History: WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005

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