All Elite Wrestling won its fifth ratings battle in a row with NXT, getting 759,000 viewers for yesterday’s broadcast. That is down 204,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast but good enough to place #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. The night was dominated by MLB on FOX which pulled in 23 million viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Crown Jewel 2019 pay-per-view results
Here are the results from today’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view which took place from the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Humberto Carrillo won the 20-man battle royal to become the number one contender for the United States title; Brock Lesnar defeated Cain Velasquez to retain the WWE title; The O.C. defeated The New Day, The Viking Raiders, Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, The Revival, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, and The B-Team in a tag team turmoil match to win the WWE World Cup; Mansoor defeated Cesaro; Tyson Fury defeated Braun Strowman; AJ Styles defeated Humberto Carrillo to retain the United States title; Natalya defeated Lacey Evans; Team Hogan with Roman Reigns, Rusev, Ricochet, Shorty G, and Ali defeated Team Flair with Randy Orton, King Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Drew McIntyre; The Fiend defeated Seth Rollins to become the new Universal champion in a falls count anywhere match.
Brutal journey back home from Saudi for those on Smackdown brand
It’s going to suck for the WWE Superstars on the Smackdown brand as right after Crown Jewel, they have an approximate 20 hour journey back to Buffalo, New York for tomorrow’s live Smackdown on FOX.
With a chartered flight ready to take everyone home immediately following the conclusion of Crown Jewel, those who head to Smackdown will have a couple of hours to spare before lacing up the boots one more time for another two-hour live show.
Saudi pay-per-views are usually held on Fridays, allowing everyone some breathing space before heading to Raw and Smackdown but since Smackdown is now on Fridays, it was decided that this Crown Jewel should be held on Thursday so the majority of the roster could travel for the show.
Thankfully for everyone, it will be several more months before they have to go through this again!
Emotional Natalya and Lacey Evans make history in Saudi Arabia
Natalya and Lacey Evans made history becoming the first WWE women to have a wrestling match in Saudi Arabia during today’s Crown Jewel WWE Network event.
Lots of fireworks accompanied the entrances of both women who were visibly moved and touched by the historic meaning of their match. Natalya and Lacey were covered from neck to toe and wore a t-shirt for further cover, to minimize the impact of their form-fitting body suits in the very conservative and strict country.
The match was fairly basic but the crowd in Riyadh loved it, chanting “this is awesome” and getting behind both women during the encounter. The match ended when Natalya applied the Sharpshooter on Evans and she tapped out.
After the match was over, Natalya helped Lacey up and raised her hand in the middle of the ring and the two cried and hugged each other as fans gave them a standing ovation. The two then hugged a woman at ringside and Natalya took photos with young fans in front row.
Michael Cole and Corey Graves, doing the announcing for the show, were also emotional following the match and said it was an honor to be part of history as Cole said that if you push for change, one day or another, change will come.
WWE were unsuccessful in having a women’s match at their previous three Saudi shows but came very close in June of this year for Super ShowDown although the Natalya vs Alexa Bliss match was ultimately canceled by the Saudi government the day before the show.
WWE Superstar Lana – all covered as well – also accompanied Bobby Lashley during his entrance but only walked till the top of the ramp before returning to the back.
An unforgettable night for @NatbyNature, @LaceyEvansWWE, and the entire @WWEUniverse. #WWECrownJewel pic.twitter.com/1MvvCxWVHd
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 31, 2019
.@LaceyEvansWWE and @NatbyNature are making HISTORY right now LIVE on @WWENetwork at #WWECrownJewel!
But will the #SassySouthernBelle get the victory? pic.twitter.com/5DvuH6slyq
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) October 31, 2019
This is incredible.@NatbyNature is LIVE and ready for action at #WWECrownJewel! pic.twitter.com/BjELjAcZQN
— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2019
Kazarian and Sky of SCU become the inaugural AEW World Tag Team champions
Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky, two thirds of SCU, became the inaugural AEW World Tag Team champions last night on Dynamite after they defeated The Lucha Bros in the final match of the tournament.
SCU went through Best Friends and then The Dark Order to reach the finals while The Lucha Bros had to beat Jurassic Express and Private Party before losing to SCU in the finals.
Scorpio Sky wasn’t originally supposed to be part of the tournament but eventually replaced Christopher Daniels in the team before the tournament started due to an injury.
AEW had announced that WWE Hall of Famers The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express would present the winners with the AEW Tag Team titles but the legendary tag team were attacked by Santana and Ortiz earlier in the broadcast which resulted with Ricky Morton taking a powerbomb from the stage.
NXT brand added to the Survivor Series pay-per-view
WWE’s third brand NXT will be involved in this year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view despite having its own Takeover event the day before.
With NXT now as important as Raw and Smackdown with its own cable television deal, showcasing the NXT talent at the Survivor Series will be nothing but a plus for the brand currently locked in – and losing – the Wednesday night war against All Elite Wrestling.
PWInsider.com is also reporting that there have been some talks of putting a WarGames match on the show although that has not been confirmed yet. NXT will have two WarGames matches the night before.
Usually champions from each brand wrestle each other in non-title matches and a couple of traditional five-on-five Survivor Series elimination matches are held. It’s unclear how the addition of NXT will change things.
Total Divas S9 E5 rating
Episode five of season nine of Total Divas, titled The Real Ronda, drew a total of 283,000 viewers, up 4,000 viewers from last week’s episode. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
NXT women set for the first-ever WarGames match
NXT women will make history at NXT Takeover: WarGames 2019 in November as they are set to participate in the first-ever women’s WWE WarGames match.
The match was set up after a total of nine women had a huge brawl during last night’s NXT on USA Network. A story on CBS Sports later revealed that Rhea Ripley and Shayna Baszler will be the captains of their respective teams.
The women involved in the brawl included Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, Candice LaRae, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Marina Sharif, Io Shirai, and Bianca Belair. The NXT Women’s champ and her two sidekicks attacked Nox and Kai after they lost their WWE Women’s Tag Team match and that’s when the brawl broke out.
Previous WarGames matches in NXT featured four on four encounters although this one looks like it will be going with five on five with Mia Yim also rumored to be part of Ripley’s team.
A men’s WarGames match is also set to be part of the card.
Full Crown Jewel 2019 betting odds
Here are the latest betting odds for Crown Jewel live from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
WWE champion Brock Lesnar remains favorite to retain the title at 4/11 while his opponent Cain Velasquez, who’s having his WWE debut, is at 2/1 for the upset. Seth Rollins is also favorite to retain the Universal title with 8/11 odds against Bray Wyatt who is 1/1.
Tyson Fury, the undefeated British boxing champ is 1/6 favorite to beat Braun Strowman who is at 7/2. The 5-on-5 tag team match sees Team Hogan the favorites at 1/4 against Team Flair who are at 11/4 for the win.
Mansoor, who is from Saudi, is the overwhelming favorite at 1/10 with his opponent Cesaro at 11/2 to spoil the party. AJ Styles is 4/11 favorite to keep the United States title against Humberto Carrillo who is 2/1. And Natalya is 8/13 favorite to beat Lacey Evans who is at 6/5 in the first-ever WWE women’s wrestling match in Saudi.
In the mega tag team turmoil match for the WWE World Cup, The O.C. are favorites at 10/11. The odds for the other teams are The Viking Raiders at 6/4, The New Day at 9/2, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode at 12/1, Heavy Machinery at 16/1, The Revival at 20/1, Lucha House Party at 25/1, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at 33/1, and The B Team at 33/1.
WWE Network ends Q3 2019 with 1.51 million subscribers
WWE Network paid subscribers decreased 9% from the prior year quarter with the company now having around 1.51 million subs to the streaming service. The numbers were released in the Q3 2019 financial results.
Apart from a 9% decrease from Q3 2018, in Q2 2019 the WWE Network had a total of 1.69 million subscribers, so WWE lost 180,000 subscribers from a few months ago.
The bad news for the service continues as in their outlook for Q4 2019, WWE projected an average paid subscribers of approximately 1.43 million, representing a year-over-year decline of 10% in subs.
WWE announces the Q3 2019 financial results
WWE today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2019.
Revenues were $186.3 million as compared to $188.4 million from the prior year quarter as increased revenue in the Media segment, driven by the monetization of core content, was more than offset by decreased sales of live event tickets and merchandise.
Operating Income decreased to $6.4 million from $18.1 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting the decline in revenue and increases in fixed costs, including the impact of certain strategic investments, which were partially offset by a year-over-year reduction in accrued management incentive compensation. The Company’s Operating income margin declined to 3% from 10% in the prior year quarter.
“During the quarter, we remained focused on expanding the reach of WWE’s brand with the successful debut of Friday Night SmackDown on Fox Broadcast and NXT on USA Network,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “With our flagship programming now spanning both broadcast and cable throughout the week in the U.S. and our expanding roster of international distribution partners, we remain excited about our ability to deepen the engagement with our fans around the world.”
George Barrios, Co-President, added “In the quarter, we accelerated strategic investments to support our content creation. Although we have modified our 2019 guidance of Adjusted OIBDA to a range of $180 million to $190 million, performance in this range would still be an all-time record. We continue to believe in WWE’s global growth potential and remain focused on maximizing future opportunities and shareholder value.”
The full press release is available here.
Crown Jewel 2019 live on WWE Network today
Live from the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, WWE presents Crown Jewel 2019. The full card is as follows:
Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez for the WWE title; Seth Rollins vs The Fiend in a falls count anywhere match for the Universal title; Braun Strowman vs Tyson Fury; Team Hogan with Roman Reigns, Rusev, Ricochet, Shorty G, and Ali vs Team Flair with Randy Orton, King Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Drew McIntyre; Mansoor vs Cesaro; The New Day vs The Viking Raiders vs Heavy Machinery vs Lucha House Party vs Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder vs The Revival vs The O.C. vs Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs The B-Team in a tag team turmoil match for the WWE World Cup; Lacey Evans vs Natalya; AJ Styles vs the winner of the 20-man battle royal for the United States title.
The 20-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the United States title will take place on the Kickoff show. The participants are Akira Tozawa, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Brian Kendrick, Buddy Murphy, Cedric Alexander, Drake Maverick, Erick Rowan, Eric Young, Heath Slater, Humberto Carrillo, Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley, No Way Jose, R-Truth, Sin Cara, Shelton Benjamin, Sunil Singh, Titus O’Neil, and Tony Nese.
Crown Jewel airs on the WWE Network at 8PM local time in Riyadh. In the United States, it starts at 1PM ET or 10AM PT and in the United Kingdom it has a 6PM GMT start time and 7PM CET for those in central Europe. The Kickoff show will start an hour earlier than the listed times.
Early betting odds for Crown Jewel’s top three matches
With less than 24 hours to go for Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, we take a look at the betting odds for the top three matches on the card.
The WWE title will be on the line with Brock Lesnar defending against Cain Velasquez. Velasquez has one win over Lesnar already in the UFC but this time around, the WWE champion is 1/3 favorite to retain his title against Velasquez, who is at 9/4 and making his WWE debut.
Seth Rollins, the WWE Universal champion, is also favorite to win his match against Bray Wyatt who is at 5/4 for this match. This will be a falls count anywhere match and there must be a winner.
Undefeated British boxing champion Tyson Fury is also stepping inside a WWE ring for his first pro wrestling match. Fury is 1/4 favorite to win his match against Braun Strowman, who is at 11/4.
Jericho/Cody contract signing and AEW Tag Team title tournament final tonight on Dynamite
The inaugural AEW World Tag Team champions will be crowned tonight on Dynamite on TNT as AEW heads to Charleston, West Virginia.
It will be The Lucha Bros taking on SCU with the winners taking the gold in the final match of the AEW World Tag Team title tournament. Hall of Famers Rock ‘N’ Roll Express will be on hand to present the titles to the winners.
Also set for tonight’s broadcast are Hangman Page vs Sammy Guevara, a six-man tag team match with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega vs Kip Sabian and The Hybrid 2, Moxley, Best Friends, Orange Cassidy in action, and the Full Gear contract signing between Chris Jericho and Cody.
John Cena donates half a million dollars to two first responders charities
John Cena has donated half a million dollars in honor of National First Responders Day after asking Paramount Pictures to choose a charity as long as it aids those who risk their lives to protect others.
“In times like this, when people are giving their lives and working around the clock, what they need from us is resource. This is the right thing to do and I’m doing my part to help the cause. I wish everyone the best of luck. Please stay safe, and you are our heroes,” Cena said, highlighting the first responders in California who are dealing with massive fires.
After watching his video posted on Twitter, Paramount responded saying that they chose two charities: the California Fire Foundation and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and thanked him for the generosity and dedication.
Cena plays a firefighter in his latest movie titled Playing With Fire which will be released in theaters on November 8. The family comedy movie also features Keegan-Michael Key, John Leguizamo, Brianna Hildebrand, Dennis Haysbert, and Judy Greer. It’s produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
I’m asking that today on #FirstRespondersDay we do everything we can to help those who risk their lives to protect us all. pic.twitter.com/aJOmO4hkCw
— John Cena (@JohnCena) October 28, 2019
WWE Women’s Tag Team titles on the line tonight on NXT live on USA Network
Three matches are being advertised so far for tonight’s NXT on USA Network live from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
The WWE Women’s Tag Team titles will be on the line for the first time in NXT as the reigning champions, The Kabuki Warriors, will take on Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai. This will be Asuka’s and Sane’s first return to NXT since their main roster debuts.
The two other matches are NXT UK’s Tyler Bate taking on Cameron Grimes and a tag team match with Keith Lee teaming up with Matt Riddle to wrestle The Undisputed Era.
Finn Balor will also be on the show to explain his actions from last week.
Survivor Series 2019 meet and greet sessions announced
WWE will be holding meet and greet events over the Survivor Series in Chicago with all the fun happening at the Hyatt Rosemont on 6350 N River Road.
Tickets will be available on Friday, November 1 at 10AM CT at Ticketmaster.com with two different packages: platinum and regular. The platinum is $250 while the regular one is $125.
Platinum meet and greet will include autograph and professional photo with appearing WWE Superstar, one 8×10 glossy photo of appearing Superstar, one 8×10 printed professional photo taken with WWE Superstar, one autograph on glossy photo or item of your choosing, intimate 30-minute Q&A with appearing VIP Superstar after session ends, and one limited edition pre-signed poster. There will be only 25 tickets per session.
The regular meet and greet ticket includes autograph and professional photo with appearing WWE Superstar, one 8×10 glossy photo of appearing Superstar, one 8×10 printed professional photo taken with WWE Superstar, and one autograph on glossy photo or item of your choosing.
Appearing on Saturday, November 23 will be Sting at 9AM, The New Day at Noon, The O.C. at 3PM, Bayley and Sasha Banks at 6PM. Appearing on Sunday will be all champions from NXT at 8AM, and Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at 11AM.
Which wrestlers would make top poker players
Dash Dudley isn’t a name that’s well known by most wrestling fans, but it could have been had he taken a different career path.
An article by Detroit News documents how he was once pursuing a wrestling career at Michigan State, but decided instead to become a full-time poker player with the use of HUD for Poker Stars. It’s a move that has since been justified with a win worth £856,000 in a WSOP tournament in Ohio.
With Dudley making the transition from the squared circle to the poker88 QQ table with such success, a group of wrestlers also appeared to try their hand with a poker gimmick in TNA. ‘Aces and Eights’ is known as the Dean Man’s Hand and as our article explained they showed up a couple of years ago feuding with Hulk Hogan.
So, with that in mind, we’ve come up with a list of four wrestlers we think could carry their success from the wrestling ring to the poker table. At Pkv Games you are benefited with huge rewards and also the chances of winning hundreds of millions of rupiah are high. Do give it a try for massive profits.
Ric Flair
Flair is a wrestling legend, credited with 16 world title reigns across several promotions including WWE and WCW.
He was a master of self-promotion, one of the best in the business for drumming up interest in his bouts, creating an atmosphere around his rivalries and cutting top quality promos. Self-belief is a big part of poker and Flair could be a master.
In that respect, he’s very much like poker professional Phil Hellmuth, a 13-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. He too had the knack of building up his games and ensuring maximum exposure for himself.
Lex Luger
At Summerslam 1993, Lex Luger was involved in a moment so bizarre it’s still talked about today. He was up against Yokozuna for the WWE belt, a match he won via a count-out. All wrestling aficionados know a belt can’t change hands on a count-out, but Luger celebrated with all his buddies as though he had lifted the gold.
While it might not be the brightest thing he’s ever done, Luger wasn’t exactly known for his intelligence. However, that’s not something he would have to lose sleep over if he crossed over into the world of poker. Fortunately, nowadays there are so many ways to learn the game especially online. The tutorials on partypoker provide detailed lessons on Texas Hold’em that help players learn about the tactics required to play the game. The how to play guides help beginners like Luger get to grips with the heavyweight tasks that lie before them – even if those tasks are as big as Yokozuna. The Online gambling site is a trusted gambling agent site for poker games in Indonesia and Asia. Judi Poker is a trusted real money IDN POKER Online Gambling site agent that provides many types of games such as: Online Poker, Ceme Online, Domino QQ / Qiu Qiu, capsa banting, capsa stacking, dealer city, online domino games, samgong, and omaha in one account that can give players satisfaction in making gambling online betting. You can click here for more information http://www.tunaspoker.online/.
CM Punk
Punk was a hugely popular wrestler who left the WWE after a much-publicised incident in 2011. An article by Bleacher Report tells how he sat down on an episode of Monday Night Raw and delivered a speech that fans to this day still don’t know the truth about. Was it a work, or was it from the heart?
That level of bluffing would be invaluable around the poker table and would make CM Punk a great card shark.
John Cena
John Cena would make a great poker player because it is something he does already. He’s admitted to being a fan of the movie Rounders and is known to like a hand or two every now and again.
Cena is adaptable too, he’s one of the few superstars who have managed to change his gimmick with the times and remain relevant and successful. That adaptability would be a big asset to him around a poker table.
Raw rating for 10/28/2019
Monday Night Raw drew just 2,133,000 viewers this week on USA Network, down 208,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. It was the third least-watched Raw of 2019 so far and with NFL doing under 10 million viewers on ESPN head-to-head, it’s an even worse number.
Raw started with 2,326,000 viewers in the first hour, then went down to 2,146,000 in the second hour, before crashing to 1,928,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Raw was #4, #6, and #7 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #13 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
First-ever women’s wrestling match green lit for Crown Jewel tomorrow
WWE has managed to get the green light for the first-ever women’s wrestling match in Saudi Arabia tomorrow at Crown Jewel.
The honor will go to Lacey Evans and Natalya and this will mark the fist time in four visits that WWE will be able to put a women’s wrestling match on the card.
Last time around, WWE took Natalya and Alexa Bliss to Saudi as the government had approved the match but eventually they had a last minute change in their decision and the women were not allowed to wrestle. Both women still accompanied other Superstars at community events.
WWE never advertised the Bliss vs Natalya match on the card unlike this time where it was announced during the press conference.
This is a major win for WWE who had advocated since day one to bring women’s wrestling to Saudi. WWE and Saudi Arabia are in a 10-year multi-million dollar deal to bring WWE shows twice a year to the Kingdom.