Daily Update: WWE stock, Rhea Ripley, Dark Side of the Ring ratings

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F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Winners and losers of the Superstar Shake Up

Raw and SmackDown’s post-WrestleMania rosters were confirmed over the past week as WWE held their third annual Superstar Shake-up.

The most notable names to switch brands were AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. Styles had been the face of SmackDown since the 2016 brand split but is now a member of the Raw roster. Reigns had been on Raw since the 2016 draft but was moved to SmackDown in this year’s Shake-up, which comes in advance of SmackDown debuting on Fox in October.

WON NEWSLETTER: April 29, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Superstar Shake Up fallout, plus tons of news

While last week was supposed to be the Superstar Shakeup, lots of things happened this past week that caused plans to change.

The biggest thing was the about-face of breaking up the relationship between Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte Flair) and Manny Andrade by putting them on different brands. The relationship wasn’t a secret and the decision was made with knowledge of this. But it didn’t play out well in real life so it was reversed with Andrade moving back to Smackdown the next week. Because they didn’t want to break up the Andrade/Zelina Vega act, they moved Thea Trinidad (Vega) back to Smackdown as well. Unfortunately, then they were breaking up a married couple, so her husband, Tom Budgen (Aleister Black) also had to be moved to Smackdown.

That broke up the Ricochet & Aleister Black tag team, and based on Ricochet losing to a repackaged Bobby Roode, now back to doing the Robert Roode character with a Don Frye mustache, the orders from above to protect the second run of NXT call-ups ended.

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • After the release of their first quarter financial report, WWE stock closed the day at $85.38 per share, which was down 13.35 percent from yesterday.
  • Rhea Ripley issued an apology after using a homophobic slur while appearing on a Twitch stream with Brennan Williams, Mansoor Al-Shehail, and Reina Gonzalez. The stream had an option for viewers to tip $15 and receive an insult in Spanish or Australian. Ripley wrote in her apology: “Demi Bennett speaking here: I know a lot of you are upset with me after tonight, but I just wanted to publically say that I am sorry. My brain to mouth filter came down for a second and I forgot that some words are a big no no to a lot of people. I am a firm believer that everyone should be treated equally, whether that be race or sexual orientation. With that said, I just wanted to say how dearly sorry I am to everyone that was offended by my choice of words tonight.”
  • Dean Ambrose’s profile is now listed in WWE.com’s alumni section.
  • Andrade sent out a tweet challenging Finn Balor to put the Intercontinental title on the line against him: “@FinnBalor I got you once, you got me once. Let’s make it more interesting next time…put that #IntercontinentalChampionship on the line! Que tú piensas ???”
  • WWE producer Shane Helms tweeted about having his last scheduled indie match this weekend: “This Sat is my last scheduled match and may in fact be my last match ever. If that’s the case … THANK YOU to everyone that’s ever watched and supported me. I did my best.”
  • Tommaso Ciampa posted a video of him training after undergoing neck surgery: “Day 48 post op cervical fusion. I am still at a 5 pound max on most lifts. Thanks to @tarahalaby for this burner. Use constant tension squeezing the ball against the wall with a neutral spine. 20 reps overhead, 20 reps lateral raise, 20 reps front raise. Great for recruiting stabilization muscles throughout the traps and neck.”
  • WWE uploaded a video listing every WWE Champion ever.

Pro Wrestling

  • Last night’s Bruiser Brody episode of Dark Side of the Ring averaged 214,000 viewers on Viceland. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.07. The episode was released online and made available in advance but did the best viewership the series has done thus far.
  • Conrad Thompson announced that Terry Funk won’t be able to attend Starrcast II next month: “I just hung with Terry Funk. Unfortunately Mr. Funk will not be able to attend @StarrcastEvents. ‘It’s a little too soon for me,’ he said. Prayers for Mr. Funk and his family as they continue to grieve their incredible loss.” Funk’s wife Vicki passed away last month.
  • Madusa will present the NWA World Women’s Championship to the winner of Allysin Kay (Sienna) vs. Santana Garrett at Saturday’s Crockett Cup event.
  • ROH has announced the following matches for their War of the Worlds show in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 11:
    Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb, Hirooki Goto, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Bully Ray, Shane Taylor, Silas Young & The Briscoes
    PCO vs. Mark Haskins (will be an ROH World Championship match if PCO wins the title from Matt Taven in Toronto)
    Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein defending against Stacy Shadows
    The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) vs. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) & Hikuleo
    Rush vs. Tracy Williams vs. PJ Black vs. Eli Isom in a four corner survival match (winner gets a future ROH World title shot)
    Cheeseburger vs. Clark Connors
    EVIL & SANADA vs. The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas)
    Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) vs. Alex Coughlin & Karl Fredericks
  • Goto vs. Hikuleo is set for ROH’s War of the Worlds TV tapings in Villa Park, Illinois on May 12.
  • This year’s ROH Manhattan Mayhem show will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, July 20. ROH also announced a show called Mass Hysteria at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts on Sunday, July 21. Both are HonorClub events.
  • Dave Meltzer appeared on this week’s episode of the Jim Cornette Experience, discussing the Montreal Screwjob, the Dark Side of the Ring documentary on it, and more.
  • The Sporting News interviewed Nick Aldis about his title defense against Marty Scurll at the Crockett Cup.

UFC/MMA

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWF Backlash 1999

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