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WWE United Kingdom championship renamed to NXT UK title

By
Colin Vassallo
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The WWE United Kingdom title is no more as WWE has renamed it to the NXT UK title.

At this week’s NXT UK tapings in York, NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint did the presentation of the new title to champ Walter with the rest of Imperium by his side.

The WWE United Kingdom title was introduced in January 2017 when there was no NXT UK established yet with Tyler Bate being the inaugural champion. When NXT UK was formed, all the other titles were referred to NXT UK rather than the WWE UK titles so it made sense to change this to refer to the UK brand.

Nikki Bella to guest star on Nickelodeon’s prank show The Substitute

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former WWE Divas champion Nikki Bella will be a guest star on Nickelodeon’s prank show The Substitute according to TheWrap.com.

The show transforms celebrities into unrecognizable people to prank children, with Nikki pranking the kids at Las Palmas Middle School in Covina, California. Her sister Brie will also be part of the episode. First, Nikki will play an eccentric gym teacher, then an awkward speech teacher, and then a career counselor obsessed with clowns.

A team of Hollywood special effects artists will help Nikki transform herself before she unveils her real identity. The featured school receives a donation of $25,000. The episode will air on Friday, January 31 at 8PM ET.

Smackdown rating for 01/17/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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Smackdown did a total of 2,580,000 viewers last night, off hours 2,616,000 in the first hour and 2,544,000 in the second hour. That was 78,000 viewers up from last week’s broadcast. Smackdown beat every show in the 18-49 demo, helped by repeats airing on CBS which is usually the main competition. In viewership however, Smackdown only beat The CW and ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat and trailed everything else, including repeats. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Martha Hart and family film interviews for Dark Side Of The Ring episode on Owen

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Owen Hart Foundation Twitter account posted that the Vice Media crew flew to Calgary to film interviews with Dr. Martha Hart, the wife of the late Owen Hart, and other members of their family for their upcoming Dark Side Of The Ring series.

Martha has been very, very strict when it comes giving such interviews to the media but the highly-acclaimed series received major thumbs up from fans and critics for the first season last year. When producers approached Hart to dedicate an episode of the show on the death of Owen Hart, the family accepted.

The second season is set to air sometime this year and will feature 10 episodes.

The first season had six total episodes and focused on Macho Man Randy Savage, the Montreal Screwjob, The Von Erich family, the death of Gino Hernandez, the murder of Bruiser Brody, and The Fabulous Moolah.

Martha remains at odds with WWE over the death of her husband and has blocked all attempts by WWE to induct Owen into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Kairi Sane returns to the ring after over a month sidelined

By
Colin Vassallo
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One half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team champions, Kairi Sane, made her return to the ring last night after she was injured at the TLC pay-per-view in early December.

The Japanese former NXT champion was pretty beat up and suffered a concussion during the tables, ladders, and chairs match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. She got hit in the head by a flying monitor and then took a suplex on the floor, banging her head on the unprotected part of the aisle. After the match, Asuka, Flair, and Lynch praised Sane for being a true warrior.

In her return match, Sane and Asuka teamed up with Sarah Logan to take on Natalya, Lynch, and Flair. Despite losing the match, Sane was happy for her return. “I’m back I love wrestling,” she wrote on Twitter.

Stipulations added to two Royal Rumble 2020 matches

By
Colin Vassallo
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Two Royal Rumble matches got a stipulation added to them while two new matches have been confirmed for next week’s pay-per-view.

The Universal title match between The Fiend and Daniel Bryan will now be a strap match, a match which hasn’t been done in WWE for quite a long time. Meanwhile, Reigns vs Corbin is now a falls count anywhere match after Reigns picked the stipulation last night on Smackdown.

The two new matches feature Sheamus vs Shorty G and Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley defending against Lacey Evans.

Braun Strowman and Shinsuke Nakamura were the latest two added to the 30-man over-the-top rope Rumble match. 19 entrants are so far confirmed for this match.

Kane returns on Smackdown tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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Smackdown is back on FOX tonight, a show which will feature the return of Kane.

The Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee will make his first WWE appearance since mid-September where he first started the night winning the 24/7 title from R-Truth but then ended the night being attacked by The Fiend Bray Wyatt. With the Royal Rumble around the corner, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Big Red Machine throws his hat in the match.

Three matches have been announced for the show so far. Roman Reigns will go one-on-one against Robert Roode in a tables match and the winner of this match will get to pick the stipulation for the Reigns/Corbin match at the Royal Rumble. Lacey Evans will finally get her hands on Sasha Banks and John Morrison steps back in the ring for a match against Big E.

Dwayne Johnson gives first public comments about the death of his father

By
Colin Vassallo
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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gave his first public comments about the passing of his dad Rocky Johnson who died two days ago at the age of 75.

In a long post on Instagram, Dwayne talked about his father breaking color barriers while he became a ring legend as he was sitting in the seats, watching and adoring his hero from afar.

“The boy you raised to always be proud of our cultures and proud of who and what I am. The boy you raised with the toughest of love. The intense work. The hard hand. The adoring boy who wanted to know only your best qualities,” he wrote.

He continued, “Who then grew to become a man realizing you had other deep complex sides that needed to be held and understood. Son to father. Man to man. That’s when my adoration turned to respect. And my empathy turned to gratitude. Grateful that you gave me life. Grateful you gave me life’s invaluable lessons.”

Johnson wrote that he wished he had one more chance to tell him that he loves him before he passed away but he was gone fast without a warning. “I’m in pain. But we both know it’s just pain and it’ll pass. Now I’ll carry your mana and work ethic with me, as it’s time to move on because I have my family to feed and work to accomplish.”

Tell him that he loves him and will always be his proud and grateful son, Johnson finished with, “Finally, I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman. Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease. You lived a very full, very hard, barrier breaking life and left it all in the ring. Go rest high.”

Rob Van Dam’s sex celebration video gets Impact banned from Twitch

By
Colin Vassallo
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Rob Van Dam’s “sex celebration” video from Impact Wrestling got the company banned from Twitch.

The video shows Van Dam with his two very scantily clad girlfriends having way too much fun. “A lot of you guys think I was at my best way back in ECW,” RVD says as his girlfriend Katie Forbes and their other friend Jennifer continued to grind on him. “What’s ECW,” Jennifer asks. “They weren’t even born yet,” Van Dam tells the camera!

The video was also removed from YouTube, with the listing now set to private. The comments below the video were also a hilarious read.

But Twitch did not appreciate the video and with strict rules against pornography or anything that resembles pornography, the company banned the Impact account. Accessing twitch.tv/impactwrestling, the page gives you a “Sorry. Unless you’ve got a time machine, that content is unavailable” error.

Impact’s weekly Behind The Lights Twitch show this week was also canceled and Impact saw the funny side of the whole ordeal, writing on Twitter, “There will be no edition of Behind the Lights this week for…fairly obvious reasons,” while adding a laughing emoji.

WWE to announce Q4 and full year 2019 financial results on February 6, 2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE will report its fourth quarter and full year 2019 results on Thursday, February 6, 2020 before the opening of the market.

Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and Co-Presidents, George A. Barrios and Michelle D. Wilson, will host a conference call beginning at 11AM ET to discuss the results. A live web cast will be hosted through the corporate web site at corporate.wwe.com/investors.

Last time around, Wall Street was not impressed at all with the numbers, driving the stocks down. WWE stocks are currently trading in the low 60s at the moment, down from the high 90s from last year.

Impact holding one night only TNA show during WrestleMania weekend

By
Colin Vassallo
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Impact Wrestling will be using the TNA name for one night only during WrestleMania week for a show part of WrestleCon.

The TNA show will be taking place on Friday, April 3 at The Ritz Ybor City in Tampa starting at 7PM ET. Tickets for this show will be on sale on Monday, January 20 at Noon ET. For those who are unable to attend the live event, it will also be broadcast on FITE TV for a fee.

The Friday night show will be going head-to-head with the live Smackdown and many other shows that will be held during that weekend.

The company used the TNA: Total Nonstop Action name from its inception in 2004 till March 2017.

XFL launches new rules

By
Daniel Street
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The relaunch of the XFL is now less than a month away, and the final details are becoming known. The latest of these has been the announcement of new rules that will differentiate the XFL from the dominant NFL.

Just like the original XFL in 2001, the 2020 season has been designed to make the game more exciting. While the original league innovated with new camera angles to help get fans closer to the action, the 2020 XFL will feature changes in the rules that address fan complaints of NFL games.

The XFL surveyed 6,000 football fans to understand what they liked and didn’t like about the game so that they could make football as exciting as possible.

The new rules, which were announced on January 7, are designed to speed up games and stop them from dragging on. At least initially, they will make the games more unpredictable as teams and players develop strategies to make the most of these new rules.

 Wagering on the XFL

 This unpredictability could make betting on the XFL more exciting due to the higher number of unknowns. Las Vegas-based bookmakers allowed fans to bet on the games of the original XFL back in 2001, so it is likely wagering will occur again in the relaunched league.

While it is not yet clear which sports bookmakers will accept wagers on the games, the fortuitous timing of legislation changes that have made online sports betting legal in parts of the US will likely mean fans will be able to place bets through their smartphones or computers.

What are the New Rules?

The newly announced rules are:

  • Double-forward pass: allowing a player to attempt a second forward pass after their first, provided that the ball has not crossed the line of scrimmage.
  • Points after a touchdown: after scoring a touchdown, teams will have three options to get extra points. These will be a one-point play from 2-yards out, two-points from 5-yards, or three-points from 10-yards.
  • Overtime: there will be five rounds of overtime, putting more pressure on players to succeed. The XFL hopes it will have a similar effect to a penalty shootout in soccer. The two teams will alternate between five single-play possessions, with the team that scores more points becoming the winner.
  • Timing: half-time will be cut to just 10 minutes and a 25-second play clock instead of 40 seconds in the NFL. These are so that games can be faster paced and more exciting for fans.

Other rules that have been announced have been designed to maximize the health & safety of players, without compromising on sporting excitement.

Only time will tell whether these new rules will be a success, but the XFL seems confident based on its research and rigorous “beta testing.” We’ll have to see how it works for ourselves when the league launches on 8th February.

NXT rating for 01/15/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT suffered another big defeat in the ratings this week, drawing 700,000 viewers, down 21,000 viewers from last week’s show. NXT had a 0.21 rating in the 18-49 demo and placed #31 in the top 50 cable chart. The rating was almost half of what AEW achieved in that category. The difference between the two shows was of 240,000 viewers, which is up from the 226,000 viewers difference they had last week. Apart from the January 1 taped show, this was one of the least watched episodes of NXT. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Dynamite rating for 01/15/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW enjoyed another big win in the ratings on Wednesday night as Dynamite did 940,000 viewers for the Bash at the Beach themed episode, down just 7,000 viewers from last week’s episode. Dynamite did 0.38 in the 18-49 demo and placed #5 in the top 50 cable chart. Dynamite beat NXT in every demo and came close of actually matching the over 50 rating as well, something that NXT usually wins by a good margin. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Kacy Catanzaro and Shayna Baszler return on NXT

By
Colin Vassallo
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Kacy Catanzaro and Shayna Baszler were the two surprise entrants during last night’s women’s battle royal on NXT.

Catanzaro has been away from NXT for quite a few months and in September it was reported that she has departed WWE. Her boyfriend, WWE Superstar Ricochet, dismissed the rumors and said that she’s still with the company. The 29-year-old New Jersey native who achieved fame during the American Ninja Warrior series, was also suffering from a back injury. Her last match was against Io Shirai in mid-July during an non-televised NXT live event.

Baszler also returned for the first time since losing the NXT Women’s title to Rhea Ripley on the December 18 episode of NXT on USA Network. The only two-time NXT Women’s champion took a few weeks off and was looking the favorite to win the battle royal but she was surprisingly eliminated by newcomer Shotzi Blackheart.

The battle royal was eventually won by Bianca Belair. Io Shirai was the other person in the final two. Belair will now take on either Ripley or Storm at the NXT Takeover: Portland event in February.

AEW Dark moving to TNT this year

By
Colin Vassallo
-

Tony Maglio of TheWrap.com is reporting that AEW Dark will be moving to TNT this year. The news was confirmed by Turner President Kevin Reilly, who spoke exclusively to the website after his executive session at the Television Critics Association press tour.

AEW Dark currently airs on YouTube every Tuesday night and is taped after Dynamite and airs the following week. Reilly said that the show might be rebranded and renamed but will be a weekly series on TNT, although he admitted that it might not have 52 episodes per year.

“We’re going to embellish and put some additional material, kind of behind-the-scenes, kind of docu-follow stuff, if you will, about the athletes and the stories,” Reilly said. “We think that’s going to end up being a really good, robust, different kind of show.”

Reilly said that some portions of Dark might still make it on YouTube to “build that bridge” but the whole show will not be ending up there as it is right now.

WWE Backstage rating for 01/14/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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This week’s episode of WWE Backstage with The Usos as special guests did just 84,000 viewers, down 40,000 viewers from last week’s show. Xavier Woods and Ember Moon were on the panel while former WWE creative writer Freddie Prinze Jr was on the promo class segment. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Number one contender for AEW World title to be decided next week

By
Colin Vassallo
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A number one contender for AEW’s World title will be decided next week on a cruise ship as Dynamite takes place during the Chris Jericho Rock’n’Wrestling Rager cruise.

Former WWE champion Jon Moxley, who overcame Sami Guevara last night on Dynamite, will be taking on Pac, who himself had to go through Darby Allin last night, with the winner going to face Chris Jericho at the upcoming AEW pay-per-view Revolution, taking place in February.

The Moxley vs Pac encounter will be a rematch from October with the two going to a time-limit draw the first time around on Dynamite.

Major news outlets cover the death of Rocky Johnson

By
Colin Vassallo
-

The death of Rocky Johnson made headlines around the world, with major news outlets covering the story.

The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, ESPN, Toronto Star, The Guardian, Sky News, The Sun, TGCom, Spiegel, CBC, The New Zealand Herald, TMZ, Yahoo! News, Daily Mirror and tons of other stations, newspapers, and online outlets all carried the story.

WWE.COM posted a story about the death of Johnson along with some photos and videos from his career. Several within the wrestling community such as Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Booker T, Mick Foley, William Regal, Triple H, Natalya, Jim Ross, Matt Hardy, Taz, Tommy Dreamer, Vince McMahon and many others tweeted their condolences to the family and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The NWA Twitter account also posted a tribute to Johnson.

NXT started the night with a tribute graphic for Johnson and a wider tribute is also expected on Smackdown and Raw.

The Rock has yet to publicly address the loss of his father.

Semi-final matches for the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic set

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament semi-final matches will take place next week on NXT with two NXT teams and two NXT UK teams remaining.

Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish of The Undisputed Era will take on The Grizzled Young Veterans team of Zack Gibson and James Drake while the second match will pit Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne taking on Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner of Imperium.

Yesterday, Riddle and Dunne beat Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster and Gibson and Drake beat Shelley and Kushida to advance to the tournament.

No date has been revealed for the final.

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