The season nine premiere of Total Divas, which got moved a day for a new night, disappointed big time in the ratings, getting only 252,000 viewers, down 200,000 viewers from the season eight premiere and down 160,000 viewers from the last episode. It was the least-watched episode of Total Divas in nine seasons. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Jake Hager makes surprise appearance at AEW Dynamite
Former World Heavyweight champion Jake Hager made a surprise appearance towards the end of Dynamite last night, joining Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Ortiz, and Santana in the beatdown of The Elite.
Hager received a nice pop from the Washington crowd as he destroyed Cody, first with a Swagger Bomb and then with a gutwrench suplex through a small table and then stood tall with the other four in what looked like the formation of a stable.
The man formerly known as Jack Swagger left WWE in March 2017 after he asked for his release. He then went on to wrestle on the indie circuit and joined Lucha Underground in 2018. In WWE, he won the ECW title once, the World Heavyweight title once, and the United States title once as well.
The 37-year-old is currently contracted to Bellator MMA where he has a 2-0 record and is expected to fight again later this month at Bellator 231.
Opening segments for tonight’s NXT and AEW announced
Both NXT and Dynamite will start with matches rather than any talking segments tonight as both shows go head-to-head for the first time ever starting at 8PM ET.
NXT will kick off their show with a big one as Adam Cole defends the NXT title against number one contender Matt Riddle while AEW starts with Cody taking on Sammy Guevara. If Cody loses his match, the Full Gear pay-per-view main event gets altered due to the win/loss record that the company is pushing.
Meanwhile, Chris Jericho’s two mystery tag team partners have been revealed to be the team of Ortiz and Santana, the former LAX members who are now signed to the promotion following a stint with Impact Wrestling.
NXT will have the advantage of limited commercials and running 15 minutes longer than All Elite Wrestling although most industry insiders are predicting week one of the Wednesday night war to go AEW’s way mostly due to the curiosity factor.
Triple H discusses NXT, The Rock, and willing to put the past behind with CM Punk
Triple H appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina to talk about a variety of subjects including NXT’s full-time move to USA Network, The Rock, and even CM Punk.
Talking about The Rock, Triple H said that The Rock loves coming back home and usually things start off when either Vince, he, or his wife Stephanie giving The Rock a call to see if he’s available. HHH noted that The Rock is one of the busiest men on the planet with tons of stuff going with him so it’s always exciting when the WWE Universe gets to see him on WWE television. As far as the process goes, Triple H explains that The Rock usually asks what they want from him or what they have planned and then he gives his ideas, checks the schedule and they move on from there. He said that he and The Rock were on the main event of the first Smackdown so it’s great that they’re both going to be there for the 20th anniversary.
The discussion then moved to NXT and the war with AEW. Triple H said that you can’t compare eras and they can’t recreate the Monday night war because the landscape of television is completely different nowadays. He said he’s not concerned about what anyone else does but he’s more concerned on what they do at this point. He noted that NXT has been the #1 show on the WWE Network and the growth of the brand has been incredible over the past several years. NXT Superstars will get to show the world what they’re capable of and ultimately, the winners are the fans because competition brings out the best out of everyone and you have to step up your game so everyone wins.
When asked about CM Punk trying out for WWE Backstage on FS1 and if they would be happy about it, Triple H said that “he read about that as well” and made it a point to say that FOX Sports is in charge of doing the show and it’s their show talking about WWE so it’s ultimately it’s their decision on who they want to be on it. He said that FOX Sports interviewed a long list of people for the show and Punk was one of them.
“But as far as for us, one of the things this company has shown over and over again is never say never and if, erm, the opportunity is right for everybody and is right for the fans, then we are willing to put the past behind us and move forward,” Triple H said. “I would say never say never but that’s also probably a long way from coming true. I don’t know, that’s a little bit outside of my purview at the moment, but like I said, never say never.”
NEW SI Media Podcast: @TripleH talks to @jimmytraina about WWE's big television week, The Rock's return for SmackDown, how he feels about CM Punk returning to WWE TV and more https://t.co/qAox6HrHKw
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 2, 2019
Tickets for tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Washington being sold from $3 each
With just hours to go for the first AEW Dynamite on TNT, ticket scalpers are having a hard time unloading their thousands of tickets which were scooped up when the show went on sale several weeks ago.
Floor seats on Ticketmaster.com via verified resale are going for $20. Row six seats at ringside are selling for only $149 while excellent seats across the stage on the first-tier riser are just $50. Hundreds of tickets in the nosebleed sections are going for $20 and $35 each.
Meanwhile, secondary-market websites are selling tickets starting from $3 in the level 400 section, with most of them priced at $6. Row six seats on ticket resellers pages are going starting from $79 while first-tier riser seats are going from $44 each.
With such cheap tickets, the show is likely to be full anyway tonight as many people leave it until the last few hours to buy tickets. If they don’t, there will be several empty sections in the arena which might require AEW to shift around fans, a common technique used, to make at least the side facing the camera look full.
Full broadcast details for AEW in Canada
AEW in Canada will be airing live on TSN2 for the first four weeks while the October 30 broadcast will air on TSN3.
TSN yesterday officially announced their partnership with All Elite Wrestling for the live coverage of AEW Dynamite. Apart from airing on TSN2 and TSN3, Dynamite will also stream live on TSN.CA and the TSN app which is available to all TSN Direct subscribers.
“For many, many years, Canada has been home not only to some of the most legendary wrestlers ever, both past and present, but also to some of the most knowledgeable and passionate fans anywhere in the world today,” said Tony Khan, CEO of AEW. “I’m thrilled that we are teaming with TSN to show AEW DYNAMITE live in Canada. TSN has great history broadcasting wrestling, and I know they will be a great partner for AEW and our fans.”
“We were overwhelmed with fans’ outpouring of support for our OMEGA MAN documentary earlier this year, and that incredible response has primed TSN to showcase Kenny Omega and the rest of AEW’s high-octane talent for fans across the country,” said Shawn Redmond, Vice-President, Discovery and TSN. “AEW DYNAMITE is headlined by two Canadian mega-stars alongside a growing roster of must-see wrestlers, and we’re very excited to deliver the wrestling world’s game-changing new series to TSN subscribers.”
NXT goes live for two hours on USA Network tonight with three title matches
NXT will go live for two hours on the USA Network for the first time today as the war with AEW Dynamite kicks off. The show will have limited commercials.
To counteract AEW’s programming, NXT has three title matches set for tonight’s broadcast as well as 15 minutes extra of airtime. Considering WWE’s relationship with NBCUniversal, this was probably a very easy ask from WWE and a request which was accepted. The 15-minute overrun seems to be only for today’s broadcast.
Four matches in total have been announced so far, featuring Adam Cole vs Matt Riddle for the NXT title, The Undisputed Era vs The Street Profits for the NXT Tag Team titles, Shayna Baszler vs Candice LaRae for the NXT Women’s title, and Johnny Gargano vs Shane Thorne.
American rapper Wale will also be appearing on tonight’s broadcast with The Street Profits.
WWE will also hold a special edition of Watch Along tonight streaming live on WWE Network, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook during NXT. Former NXT stars Ricochet and Apollo Crews will headline the Watch Along coverage. Kassius Ohno, Bianca Belair, Keith Lee, Jordan Myles, Rachael Evers, Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Rik Bugez, Jordan Omogbehin, Mansoor, Malcolm Bivens and Brendan Vink will also join the set throughout the night.
ITV in the UK changes schedule for AEW Dynamite
UK broadcaster ITV announced a new schedule for the AEW Dynamite weekly show, just days after the original schedule was met with a barrage of complaints from fans in the country.
The new schedule sees the full two-hour show being available to view on the ITV Hub streaming service from 7PM the day after the show and then it will be shown at 11:20PM on ITV4 on Friday evening before being replayed at 8:20AM on Sunday.
A one-hour highlights show will also be shown on Monday at 11:45PM on ITV.
Originally, ITV announced that the show would air on a four-day delay on ITV4 on Sunday morning at 8:20AM. This did not sit down well with AEW fans in the UK and Ireland and Tony Khan went on Twitter to explain that due to the different ad break rules on free TV, they cannot air live for now.
AEW Dynamite debuts on TNT tonight at 8PM ET
It’s a historic night for the world of professional wrestling as All Elite Wrestling premieres on TNT with their brand new weekly television show Dynamite.
While the Monday night war has been over since 2001, AEW is the new player in town to create the Wednesday night war as its shows will go head-to-head with NXT on USA Network every week.
Tonight’s broadcast will take place from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. and five matches have already been announced. These are Cody Rhodes vs Sammy Guevara, Nyla Rose vs Riho to crown the first-ever AEW Women’s champion, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks vs Chris Jericho and two mystery partners, Adam Page vs PAC, and MJF vs Brandon Cutler. Jon Moxley is also advertised for an appearance.
The show will air live on TNT in the United States and TSN in Canada while the rest of the world can see the live broadcast on FITE TV for $4.99 per month. The United Kingdom and Ireland will get to see Dynamite every week on ITV4.
Raw rating for 09/30/2019
The season premiere of Monday Night Raw drew 2,569,000 viewers, up 360,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. It was the most-watched Raw since August 12.
Hour one started very strong with 2,701,000 viewers, but then went down to 2,592,000 in the second hour, and finished off the night with 2,416,000 viewers.
Raw was #4, #5, and #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #8 in overall viewership for the night on cable. NFL on ESPN did 10.4 million viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
CM Punk downplays tryout for WWE Backstage show on FS1
Appearing on The Kevin & Bean Show in LA to promote his new movie, former WWE champion CM Punk talked about the recent rumors of his return after the hosts brought up the inevitable subject.
When asked about the WWE Backstage show on FS1 and his tryout to be part of the panel, Punk jokingly asked, “You mean to tell me you’d watch a show where I talk about wrestling?” Punk did not seem very high on getting the job and said that it’s people who somewhat exaggerated everything with the news “taking a life of its own.”
Punk warned fans not to be mad at him if nothing happens, somewhat “spoiling” the future about him not returning to professional wrestling just yet.
The discussion then turned to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and how Johnson tried to call him from the middle of the ring the last time he was at the STAPLES Center after Raw went off the air. “Let’s do it again. When is this show…next Friday? Dwayne…call me Friday,” Punk joked.
When asked what he will be doing on Friday night, CM Punk said that he will probably be watching hockey!
TNT adds Dynamite replay at 10PM as NXT set to go for 15 minutes longer
TNT has added a replay of Dynamite immediately following the conclusion of the debut episode tomorrow at 10PM. TNT will also broadcast the premiere episode on Saturday at 10AM and later at 10:30PM.
Next week’s schedule does not have the immediate replay so far although the episode will be shown again at 1AM on Thursday. Meanwhile, all video advertising on TNT are referring to the AEW show as Wednesday Night Dynamite rather than just Dynamite. At this point, it’s not clear if the name will be officially referred to as Wednesday Night Dynamite or just AEW Dynamite.
Online television schedules show that NXT will finish at 10:15PM tomorrow which would give them 15 extra minutes of television time without first-run competition.
Lana and Bobby Lashley return to Monday Night Raw…as a couple!
WWE Superstars Bobby Lashley and Lana returned to WWE television last night on Raw and revealed to the world that they are…an item!
WWE Superstars Bobby Lashley and Lana returned to WWE television last night on Raw and revealed to the world that they are…an item! Lashley showed up towards the end of Monday Night Raw during the Seth Rollins and Rusev match and then invited someone from the back to come on out. Lana’s theme song kicked in and the Ravishing Russian came out, first hugging Lashley and then locking lips with him at the top of the ramp, leaving Rusev speechless in the ring.
A few weeks ago, Maria Kanellis announced that Rusev was the father of her baby as he made his first WWE televised appearance since Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia. Lana had not been seen on WWE television since WrestleMania 35 and Lashley has been out since July after he underwent elbow surgery.
AEW signs broadcast deal with TSN in Canada
All Elite Wrestling has signed a broadcast deal with TSN in Canada, just days before the show makes its debut on TNT. The news was originally reported by PWInsider.com who broke the story.
The deal with TSN starts tomorrow and Dynamite will air live on the network. TSN aired WWE in the past before the company moved to SportsNet several years ago.
This is the second international television deal for All Elite Wrestling after announcing a broadcast agreement with ITV in the United Kingdom last week.
Total Divas season 9 premieres tonight on E!
Total Divas returns tonight on E! with its ninth season featuring several changes in the cast.
The new cast sees Natalya, Naomi, Nia Jax, Carmella, Sonya Deville, and Ronda Rousey. Out of the six Superstars, only Natalya has participated in every season while Sonya Deville and Ronda Rousey are brand new cast members. Naomi, Jax, and Carmella all appeared in different previous seasons. Nikki and Brie Bella will also be appearing throughout the season but have scaled down their involvement on the show due to their own Total Bellas reality show.
Season nine of Total Divas will see Ronda Rousey enjoying her time in WWE and working on her ranch, Natalya mourning the death of her father Jim Neidhart and working towards the Royal Rumble, Nia’s troubles after winning the battle royal at Evolution, Sonya’s move to Tampa, Carmella recovering from her break-up and balancing friendships and new relationships, and Naomi traveling on the road with her friends.
Total Divas is produced by WWE and Bunim/Murray Productions. Gil Goldschein, Russell Jay Staglik and Farnaz Farjam Chazan are Executive Producers for Bunim/Murray Productions. Kevin Dunn and Chris Kaiser serve as Executive Producers for WWE. Ronda Rousey and Nikki and Brie Bella also serve as Executive Producers.
Hogan and Flair to manage teams for 10-man tag match at Crown Jewel
The roles of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair at the upcoming Crown Jewel show were revealed last night on Raw.
Both Hall of Famers will manage a team of five for a 10-man tag team match. Hogan and Flair will not be wrestling and their role is strictly to be at ringside for the match.
Team Hogan will have Seth Rollins as captain while Team Flair has Randy Orton as captain. Rusev was also announced on Team Hogan while King of the Ring winner Baron Corbin is on Team Flair. The rest of the teams will be announced on WWE television in the weeks to come.
Crown Jewel takes place from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Halloween later this month. Tickets go on sale today.
The Rock confirmed for first Smackdown on FOX
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has announced that he will be appearing live at the 20th anniversary Smackdown episode on FOX this coming Friday, his first WWE televised appearance since WrestleMania 32.
WWE and Johnson, along with FOX, were in discussions for the special appearance but The Rock’s schedule had to be cleared for him to be able to travel to the STAPLES Center.
“FINALLY…I come back home to my @WWE universe. This FRIDAY NIGHT, I’ll return for our debut of SMACKDOWN! LIVE,” Johnson wrote in a tweet. “There’s no greater title than #thepeopleschamp. And there’s no place like home. Tequila on me after the show,” he added, writing the hash tags #IfYaSmell, #Smackdown #RocksShow, and #FOX.
The word Smackdown is largely attributed to The Rock after he used it in one of his promos in the late 90s. WWE eventually went ahead with the word as the title of their new show.
The Rock will be joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, Sting, Goldberg, Trish Stratus, and many others as special guests.
205 Live moving to Friday nights on WWE Network
Despite suggestions that 205 Live will be integrated more with NXT, WWE today announced that the Cruiserweight show will be moving to Friday nights at 10PM ET on the WWE Network. The live tapings will take place immediately following the conclusion of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX.
The NXT writing crew will be taking over the 205 Live show now and the Cruiserweight title and 205 Live Superstars will also be eventually appearing on NXT moving forward.
There were rumors that 205 Live would move to Full Sail University to tape following the live NXT episode of USA Network but for now WWE has opted to keep 205 Live tapings tag teamed with Smackdown.
AEW publishes the video intro of their weekly TNT show Dynamite
All Elite Wrestling published the opening video of their weekly TNT show Dynamite, a few days before it premieres on TNT at 8PM ET on Wednesday night.
The video uses colorful effects that go along with entrances and moves shown on screen, with quick cuts from the previous AEW shows featuring AEW’s top stars including Chris Jericho, Cody, Jon Moxley, Dustin Rhodes, SCU, Adam Page, Awesome Kong, Kenny Omega, PAC, and more.
You can see it below.
A little something to get you ready for Wednesday… #AEWDynamite show open!
Wednesday | 8PM ET | @TNTDrama pic.twitter.com/wRIEKG7b7G
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) September 30, 2019
Cain Velasquez meets with WWE over potential future with the company
Dave Meltzer is reporting via the MMAFighting.com website that former UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and his team has met with WWE regarding a potential future in the company.
Velasquez has been wrestling with Lucha Libre AAA in Mexico and had two matches so far, impressing critic on both occasions. It is believed that WWE wants him to wrestle for them only as they do with everyone else and so far Meltzer notes that it’s not clear if anything will come out of the meeting. The former champ also trained for a few days at the WWE Performance Center several months ago.
He is still under a UFC contract so it is unlikely that he will sign a new contract with another promotion as long as he’s still doing business with the UFC. Apart from the WWE, Velasquez and his representatives also met with New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling.