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Walter takes on Kushida on tonight’s NXT on USA Network

NXT will try to regain some of its viewers back tonight after losing week one of the new Wednesday night war with All Elite Wrestling.

Three matches have been announced for tonight’s show from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The NXT Cruiserweight title will be on the line as champion Drew Gulak will take on number one contender Lio Rush. The NXT North American champion Roderick Strong will be wrestling Isaiah Scott, the man formerly known as Shane Strickland on the independent scene. And last but not least, Japanese sensation Kushida will be taking on the WWE United Kingdom champion Walter.

NXT airs on USA Network starting at 8PM ET. Tonight’s show will not have limited commercials and a 15-minute overrun so it will be on the same playing field as AEW’s Dynamite.

WWE referee Rod Zapata explains the Hell In A Cell ending

During this morning’s episode of The Bump, host Kayla Braxton published a statement from WWE referee Rod Zapata regarding the ending of the Hell In A Cell main event.

Zapata, who was in charge of the match, explained why he stopped the match, a decision which sparked an outrage among WWE fans inside the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento and those watching on the WWE Network. “With Bray motionless, and Seth clearly doing whatever it was going to take to win the match… I had to think of the competitor’s safety and at that moment, I did what I thought was best,” Zapata said.

The finish was met with an overwhelming negative reaction even on the WWE Watch Along live show where X-Pac wondered how can you get DQ’ed in a Hell In A Cell match. WWE later clarified that the match had a referee stoppage and not a disqualification ending.

The Bump is WWE’s newest online show hosted by Kayla Braxton and filmed live at the WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut every Wednesday where several topics are discussed.

Edge in Pittsburgh on “WWE business” as rumors of return intensify

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE Hall of Famer Edge was in Pittsburgh this week on “WWE business,” and the location raised some eyebrows as Pittsburgh is where WWE medical chief Dr. Joseph Maroon is headquartered.

There have been rumors that Edge, real name Adam Copeland, is getting ready for his return to the ring although he denied these talks on Twitter last week. At SummerSlam in Toronto, Edge delivered his first spear since he retired on Elias during the Kickoff show, surprising the thousands in attendance.

Edge had not been allowed to do anything physical every time he appeared on WWE television and the mere fact that he was given the okay to hit the spear says a lot. During the E&C podcast after SummerSlam, Edge said that he probably could another match with the company.

“To be perfectly honest, I think I could do a match tomorrow. I might be blown up but I’d be okay,” Edge told Christian and his listeners back in August. But he said he knows that WWE medical staff would never clear him considering his neck issues. “It is what it is, right?”

Edge has also recently left his co-hosting duties at the Edge & Christian Pod of Awesomeness citing family commitments.

Is wrestling popular enough to make It back?

Wrestling is such a goofy pastime, some would say. Yet, it has been around for years now, and it’s returned on TNT with the Dynamite show. The two-hour national prime time broadcast is designed as an ambitious experiment, merging showmanship and the love for seeing people punched and hit with chairs together.

Of course, it is mostly a show, and while it’s one of the most ambitious illusions out there, there is a following steadfast build around the entire activity. TNT last tried to have a prime-time show back in 1995. Since that time, nobody has attempted to restore the sport to its former glory. Well, we say nobody, but there have been many wrestling games since! But where can you find these cool wrestling games? Well, it’s simple. Just visit https://holymolycasinos.com and find the casinos with the best gaming catalogs out there, including the ones that feature Lucha Libre.

Yet, TNT is back at it, and the Dynamite returned on October 2 under the critical and somewhat captivated gazes of hundreds of thousands in front of the main screen and live from the One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Wrestling as a Cultural Phenomenon

Believe it or not, wrestling is a cultural phenomenon. In the United States, the activity has been completely reinvented as showmanship, but then again – isn’t that what America does? We take something that you can call mundane and transform it into a glitz-and-glamour-covered end-product that is ready for consumption.

There haven’t been any complaints so far. Yet, the sport did indeed find itself declining in overall popularity. And for years now, the industry has been fighting back against more popular forms of entertainment.

Before Netflix and HBO made it possible to stream quality shows online, many of us would just switch the shows and watch. There was hype; there was anticipation. Not much of this remains today, although the fan base remains strong.

Of course, some of us remained utterly committed to the sport – no questions asked there. And our loyalty is simple to explain –it is a high entertainment cultural phenomenon, and even if it’s somewhat silly on occasion, it’s still a career-trampoline, a cool pastime and the ability to just let go and be amazed on time.

Other Places You Will Find Wrestling

Wrestling has spawned so many various activities – for ‘The Rock,’ it started his acting career. For ambitious actors with the athletic aptitude, it has been an immensely fun way to make a living. Yet you can find this event all over the place.

Even online gaming with games such as Lucha Libre and Lucha Libre 2 offers you a chance to be amazed and become a wrestler yourself, even momentarily!

When we look back at wrestling, the activity definitely stood high in its primer. Today, the numbers are a little more challenging. The old faces are not going to be featured in the Dynamite, so there’s no more Kane, Rikishi or Stone Cold for you, but then again – we can’t wait to see the new faces either!

Jericho, Moxley, Riho all in action tonight on AEW Dynamite

AEW returns for week two of Dynamite tonight with a show live from The Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Follow last week’s very successful debut, AEW is looking to increase, or at least retain, the 1.4 million viewers who tuned in to watch the show.

Five matches have been announced so far for tonight’s broadcast, a show which will be headlined by Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara taking on Hangman Page and Dustin Rhodes. Other matches taking place are The Young Bucks vs Private Party in the AEW Tag Team title tournament, Jon Moxley vs Shawn Spears, Darby Allin vs Jimmy Havoc with the winner getting an AEW title shot next week, and a women’s tag team match featuring Riho and Britt Baker taking on Emi Sakura & Bea Priestley.

Raw rating for 10/07/2019

Monday Night Raw drew an average of 2,334,000 viewers for the post-Hell In A Cell pay-per-view show, down 235,000 viewers from last week’s season premiere.

Hour one started with 2,443,000 viewers, followed by 2,330,000 viewers for the second hour, and ending the night with 2,230,000 viewers. Raw was faced with stiff competition from Monday Night Football on ESPN which did 11.12 million viewers and the MLB game on TBS which did 2.4 million.

The show was #5, #6, and #9 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #12 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

WWE press conference to be held in Las Vegas this Friday

WWE will be holding a press conference on Friday before Smackdown at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will stream live starting at 3PM ET on WWE Network, WWE.COM, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Scheduled to appear are Triple H, WWE champion Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Cain Velasquez, Rey Mysterio, Braun Strowman, and Tyson Fury.

The belief is that two matches – Lesnar vs Velasquez and Strowman vs Fury – will be officially announced for the Crown Jewel pay-per-view on October 31 in Saudi Arabia.

The Crown Jewel show is on a Thursday and WWE has yet to announce how they are going to tackle taping Friday Night Smackdown with most of the roster away.

This week’s Smackdown and next week’s Raw will be draft episodes.

Hulk Hogan wants WWE retirement match

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan expressed his wish to have a retirement match, saying he couldn’t live with himself if his last time in the ring was in TNA.

The Hulkster told Arash Markazi of the LA Times that he talked to Vince McMahon and told him that if this back surgery can get him fixed, he would get in the best shape of his life and then the two are going to sit down and talk about him having one last retirement match.

“I’d love for it to be against Vince,” he said. “I had such a great time with him in the ring at WrestleMania 19. I had no idea what to expect from him, but he’s a great bad guy. His timing is great. I loved wrestling him, but everything he does hurts. When you’re in the ring with someone and they’re hurting you, you kind of pinch them on the wrist, and the whole match I was doing that to Vince. I was like, ‘Vince, take it easy!’ Everything he does hurts, but I’d like to get in the ring with him one more time for my last match. That would be perfect.”

Hogan will next be seen on a WWE pay-per-view at Crown Jewel on Halloween as he leads a team of five WWE Superstars to take on Ric Flair’s team in Saudi Arabia.

WWE Studios and Thinkfactory Media creating new reality TV show with The Big Show

The Big Show is a busy man lately as apart from being the lead on a show currently filming for Netflix, he was also announced today as the subject of a new reality TV show titled Big Show vs The World: A Giant Abroad.

The show will be produced by WWE Studios and Thinkfactory Media, an ITV America company.

Through his extensive world travels with WWE, Big Show has collected a lifetime of unusual stories filled with unexplained natural occurrences, local enigmas and fascinating people. Big Show vs. The World: A Giant Abroad will follow the larger-than-life WWE Superstar as he travels back to these locations and indulges his lifelong passion for exploring the strange and unknown.

Each self-contained episode will feature Big Show venturing to a new exotic area, where he’ll team up with a local guide and dive head first into a native mystery or legend. Navigating the difficulty of travel and the extreme, sometimes awkward situations he encounters with his signature self-deprecating sense of humor, Big Show will do whatever it takes to unearth every quirky and shocking detail during his adventures into the bizarre.

“Big Show brings so many different layers to a project like this; it’s a dream scenario for us as producers,” said Thinkfactory CEO Adam Reed. “He blends his fierce intelligence and curiosity with an unexpected, one-of-a-kind wit, and his intimidating physical stature is offset by his surprisingly disarming personality. We’re ecstatic to be working with him and the WWE Studios team and can’t wait for the journeys ahead.”

“For more than two decades, Big Show’s magnetic personality has inspired fans around the world, and in this new series, he will be able to meet the people and explore the places that have played a pivotal role in his journey as a WWE Superstar,” said Susan Levison, SVP and Head of WWE Studios. “We are thrilled to be bringing this show to life with our partners at Thinkfactory who are proven winners in the unscripted television genre.”

“I won’t guarantee we’ll solve every mystery, but we’ll explore every strange detail, chase every bizarre lead, and meet the incredible characters involved in pursuit of the truth,” said Big Show.

Sasha Banks out with injury from Hell In A Cell match

PWInsider.com is reporting that Sasha Banks has been placed on the sidelines following an unspecified injury resulting from her Hell In A Cell match against Becky Lynch on Sunday.

While there is no word how serious the injury is, speculation is that it’s pretty bad and she will not be medically cleared for a while.

Dave Meltzer of the Observer added to the story that WWE is keeping the severity of the injury under wraps for some reason and she will be missing ring time for sure.

Banks made her WWE return in August after SummerSlam following an absence of four months. She was unsuccessful in both her attempts to capture the Raw Women’s title from Becky Lynch.

Total Divas episode preview for tonight: All is Fair in Love and War

Total Divas airs tonight starting at 9PM ET on E! with episode two of season nine titled All is Fair in Love and War.

The synopsis for tonight’s episode reads, “Madly in love, Carmella’s world is shattered when her new relationship is exposed and implicated as an affair all over the internet. Sonya wins back her ex-girlfriend just in time to celebrate Pride, where Sonya will be featured on her very own float in the parade, however, an injury in the ring wreaks havoc on her plans. Natalya seeks to live on in her dad’s legacy, when she is left without a tag team partner for the first-ever Women’s Tag Team Championship match and Ronda Rousey takes it upon herself to help when Natalya starts to question where she belongs.”

Tyson Fury and Braun Strowman end Raw with a big brawl

Undefeated British boxer Tyson Fury got physical with Braun Strowman last night on Monday Night Raw after the two had a face off during the main event of the show.

After both exchanged some trash talking and warnings, Fury told Strowman, “I’m the heavyweight champion of the world. How many titles have you won?” That was the last of the talking as Fury then pushed Strowman and Strowman picked him up and rammed him into the turnbuckles.

Security then swamped the ring trying to keep the two apart but Fury and Strowman got rid of the security. Eventually, several Superstars came out to keep the two apart but barely did a better job than the security guards, failing to keep them away from each other multiple times.

Interviewed backstage immediately after the melee by Charly Caruso, Strowman said, “I tell you what, Tyson Fury is one tough son of a bitch but he’s gonna get these damn hands before it’s all over and done with.” Strowman said he’s not going to apologize because “he doesn’t play that crap” and then stormed back to the ring for another round.

Three matches announced for tonight’s Raw plus Tyson Fury makes an appearance

Tonight’s Monday Night Raw will feature the fallout from Hell In A Cell and things could get ugly following that main event finish.

Matches announced so far are Natalya vs Lacey Evans in a last woman standing match, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler vs The Viking Raiders, and The Kabuki Warriors vs Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in a champions showcase match.

Lynch and Flair will also be the special guests on Miz TV. Apart from all this, another segment was announced which will feature undefeated British boxer Tyson Fury getting an open mic to address Braun Strowman and what happened on Friday during Smackdown.

Charlotte Flair wins her 10th women’s title at Hell In A Cell

Charlotte Flair became a 10-time women’s champion last night at Hell In A Cell, beating fellow Four Horsewomen member Bayley to reach the milestone reign.

Flair won her first title on the main roster in September 2015, beating Nikki Bella for the Divas title, ending Bella’s reign of 301 days as champion. In April of next year, the title was retired and it was renamed to the WWE Women’s title before changing names again to the Raw Women’s title following the brand split.

Over a six month period starting in July, Flair traded the title with Sasha Banks a couple of times, first losing it to Sasha on Raw, then regaining it at SummerSlam. Two months later, Charlotte lost it to Sasha again on Raw but just 27 days later, Flair regained it at Hell In A Cell. The following month in November, Sasha Banks won the title again but third reign as Raw Women’s champion ended in two weeks as Charlotte won it at Roadblock in December. Flair’s fourth title reign came to an end in February 2017 on Raw in Las Vegas courtesy of Bayley.

Charlotte moved to Smackdown in 2017 and her first Smackdown Women’s title win came in November. She lost it to Carmella two days after WrestleMania in April 2018 and regained it in August at SummerSlam. Flair lost the title to Becky Lynch in September at Hell In A Cell. Her third reign with the Smackdown title came in an episode of Smackdown in March 2019, beating Asuka to go and headline WrestleMania with Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch. Flair – and Rousey – lost their titles at WrestleMania 35 to Becky. A month and a half later, Charlotte beat Becky at Money In The Bank but her win lasted just a few minutes because Bayley cashed in her MITB briefcase and took the title away from Flair. Yesterday’s win at Hell In A Cell was Flair’s fifth Smackdown Women’s title win and her tenth overall.

Apart from the four Raw and five Smackdown titles, Flair also won the NXT Women’s title once, defeating Natalya in 2014 at NXT Takeover.

Kylie Rae wrestling on Impact Wrestling show streaming live on Twitch

Former AEW star Kylie Rae will be appearing at the Impact Wrestling All Glory show on Twitch later this month.

This will be Rae’s first wrestling appearance since the Double or Nothing pay-per-view. She was supposed to wrestle at AEW’s Fyter Fest but was replaced without any reason given.

Eventually, AEW President Tony Khan confirmed after All Out that Rae was no longer part of the roster and requested her release from the company, a request which was approved. Rae deleted her Twitter in late July and the real story of what happened with her in AEW has been regarded as “off limits.”

All Glory will stream live for free on Twitch on Saturday, October 19 from Merrionette Park, Illinois. The event is being held in conjunction with Warrior Wrestling and Zelo Pro Wrestling.

WWE appoints new Executive Vice President to manage all international operations

WWE today announced the appointment of James Rosenstock as Executive Vice President, International. Rosenstock will be responsible for the management of all international operations and will oversee the company’s eight regional General Managers. He will report directly to WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson and serve as a key member of WWE’s senior leadership team.

As head of International, Rosenstock will be charged with growing WWE’s brand and business outside of the U.S., including partnering with senior executives across the company’s live events, digital, consumer products and WWE Network divisions to support corporate priorities and develop growth strategies. He will also manage WWE’s global TV partners and support WWE Co-Presidents Michelle Wilson and George Barrios on new agreements and business opportunities.

Rosenstock is an accomplished media and technology executive who has been instrumental in architecting and expanding Sony, Discovery and VICE’s international businesses. At Discovery, Rosenstock oversaw $3 billion of international expansion investment including the acquisition of Eurosport. He was also the President of Discovery Education International, a multi-faceted K-12 digital education business.

At VICE, Rosenstock was President of Viceland International, the award-winning linear, digital and mobile TV network reaching 100 million subscribers across 75 territories. He also led VICE’s efforts to launch businesses in India, Middle East, Brazil and Southeast Asia.

Most recently, Rosenstock was co-CFO and Chief Strategy Officer for ezCater, the #1 online marketplace for business catering.

FOX and FS1 back online for over 13 million subscribers with Dish and Sling TV service

FOX and FS1 are back online for Dish and Sling TV customers after the channels went dark, preventing WWE fans from watching the Smackdown premiere.

WWE Superstars filmed public service announcements to urge fans to call Dish and Sling to solve their dispute with FOX. The dispute resulted in two weeks of no programming for Dish and Sling TV subscribers after a contract dispute between the parties. FOX and Dish finally reached a new multi-year agreement on Sunday. The issue affected more than 13 million subscribers in 17 markets.

Smackdown did not air in these 17 markets which might have slightly altered the premiere rating of the show on FOX for the worse this past week. The WWE Backstage studio show kicks off on FS1 on November 5.

Fans at HIAC turn on WWE after disastrous main event finish

The ending of the Hell In A Cell match between Seth Rollins and The Fiend caused an uproar with fans inside the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento making their voices clearly heard towards the end of the show.

The Hell In A Cell concept is not designed for a non-finish, yet this is the second time in a row that a men’s Hell In A Cell match ended without a proper finish. Yesterday’s match was stopped by the referee after Seth Rollins used several weapons to take down The Fiend with no success.

Combined with the distracting and uncomfortable red lighting that was used throughout the match, fans had enough and first started chanting “restart the match.” When that was pretty evident that it was not happening, the chants turned into “bullshit” and “AEW.” After the show went off the air, more chants rang through the arena including “refund.”

Adult production company Brazzers even took a dig at WWE on Twitter, writing, “Hey WWE, let us know if you need advice on how to craft logical and coherent storylines with satisfying finishes!”

WWE has not addressed the fans’ displeasure yet and certainly didn’t offer any refunds.

Hell In A Cell 2019 pay-per-view results

Here are the results from the Hell In A Cell 2019 pay-per-view which took place from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.

Natalya defeated Lacey Evans in the Kickoff show; Becky Lynch defeated Sasha Banks in a Hell In A Cell match to retain the Raw Women’s title; Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan defeated Erick Rowan and Luke Harper; Randy Orton defeated Ali; Kairi Sane and Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles; Braun Strowman and The Viking Raiders defeated AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson; Chad Gable defeated King Baron Corbin; Charlotte Flair defeated Bayley to win the Smackdown Women’s champion; Seth Rollins vs The Fiend in a Hell In A Cell match ended in a referee stoppage so Rollins retained the Universal title.

Betting odds for tonight’s Hell In A Cell 2019 pay-per-view

With just a few hours to go for the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, there’s still only four matches announced and we will take a look at all the odds available for the show.

Seth Rollins will be defending the Universal title against The Fiend inside the Hell In A Cell structure and Wyatt is the favorite to win the title tonight with his odds at 1/5 while Rollins is 3/1 to retain.

The second Hell In A Cell match features Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s title. Banks is once again favorite to win the match and the title with her odds at 2/5 while Lynch is at 7/4 to keep it.

The Smackdown Women’s title match was only announced yesterday and with Charlotte chasing her 10th title reign, the odds for both Bayley and Flair are at 5/6.

The only other match remaining on the card so far is the tag team match with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan taking on Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. Reigns and Bryan are the favorites at 4/7 while Rowan and Harper are at 5/4 for the win.