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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.

Cain Velasquez withdrawing from the USADA drug testing pool ahead of WWE move

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Cain Velasquez has informed the UFC that he will be withdrawing from the USADA testing pool, meaning that he will no longer be tested and cannot fight in the UFC anymore unless he goes through the process again.

The process to fight again in the UFC after re-entering the pool takes around six months but fighting is not on Cain’s mind at the moment as a big WWE contract is being offered, a contract that the former two-time UFC Heavyweight champion fully intends to sign. Velasquez was tested a total of seven times this year by the UFC Anti-Doping Program and passed all tests.

Velasquez has not fought since February of this year and that was a 26-second knockout loss to Francis Ngannou. He has a 14-3 record in mixed martial arts and one of those wins came against Brock Lesnar in October 2010 when he won his first UFC Heavyweight title.

His video confronting Brock Lesnar on Smackdown this past Friday is nearing the five million views on YouTube.

Hell In A Cell 2019 live on WWE Network and pay-per-view tonight

Live from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, WWE presents Hell In A Cell 2019 on WWE Network and pay-per-view. Only four matches have been announced on the card so far as promotion for this show seemed like an afterthought with all the changes that were going on with WWE these past two weeks. The full card is as follows:

Seth Rollins vs The Fiend for the Universal title in a Hell In A Cell match; Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s title in a Hell In A Cell match; Bayley vs Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s title; and Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs Luke Harper and Erick Rowan.

The show is free for first-time users of the WWE Network. To start your free 30-day trial, go to http://w-o.it/wwentwrk.

Scarlett Bordeaux signs with WWE and is heading to NXT

The website SquaredCircleSirens.com, which focuses on female talent, is reporting that former Impact star Scarlett Bordeaux has signed a deal with WWE and is heading to NXT.

Bordeaux has canceled several independent dates that she was supposed to be appearing at and has been in Orlando at the WWE Performance Center as she prepares for her NXT TV unveiling. The website adds that while she will be wrestling, the artist known as The Smokeshow will be teamed up with a male NXT star.

It’s not known if she will be keeping her current name in NXT but Impact has allowed their talent to keep the name when they move away from the company. The 28-year-old Chicago native left Impact in June of this year after requesting her release after a year working there.

Bordeaux had her own private tryout at the Performance Center last month.

WWE Superstars and fans rally behind Kofi Kingston after title loss

While the Smackdown on FOX premiere had many ups, one of the biggest downs was how then-WWE champion Kofi Kingston lost his title.

The online wrestling community was not impressed and fans were very vocal on social media how a six-month reign that defied all the odds came to a halt in a few seconds against a part-timer.

Kofi Kingston addressed all the fans in a message posted on Twitter, saying, “Once again, I’m so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I’ve seen on here over the last 24 hours. As a WWE Superstar, one always hopes to experience moments in this industry that have a real and positive impact on people’s lives. Judging by all of the messages, I’d say that mission’s been accomplished. And again, without all of you and your support, none of this happens, so thank you all for letting me live out my childhood dream to the fullest. I am forever indebted to you. I’m not sure what comes next, but I will always be so proud and honored to have been your champion.”

Several WWE Superstars, many of which wrestled against Kofi, also congratulated him on an amazing run, a run which started by coincidence as Kofi replaced Ali in one match due to an injury and changed the whole scope of WrestleMania season.

Daniel Bryan, who was the WWE champion heading into WrestleMania and lost to Kofi, thanked him for giving him one of his favorite career moments. “Sad to see his reign end the way it did. I lost my first WHC in 18 seconds, and came away more determined (and angry!) because of it. I’m sure @TrueKofi will do the same. Respect… Always.”

Dolph Ziggler, who was also engaged in a feud with Kofi on Smackdown wrote that he had nothing but respect for Kofi and he had one hell of a run. WWE Hall of Famer Edge also had nice words for Kofi, telling him that he made and continues to make a difference and told him to be proud.

Tony Khan confirms Double or Nothing and All Out to be permanent PPV fixtures

AEW President Tony Khan has confirmed in an interview with Wade Keller of the PW Torch that Double or Nothing and All Out will be permanent fixtures on the All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view calendar.

Double or Nothing, held over Memorial Day weekend, was the first AEW pay-per-view this year and it was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan said that this show will always be during Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas and thinks it’s a “tradition that’s going to outlive all of us.”

He also confirmed that All Out will be a permanent pay-per-view in the Chicago area during Labor Day weekend. “I think that’s a tradition that can live a long time,” Khan added.

Double or Nothing was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena while All Out was held at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Moving All Out to a much larger arena in Chicago is certainly an option for the company rather than hosting it at the smaller arena which is not in an ideal location.

Khan also talked about the Full Gear pay-per-view and they’re looking at having that as one of the quarterly pay-per-views on the calendar every November.

Cain Velasquez talks facing Brock, UFC’s reaction, and getting advice before Smackdown

Just hours after taking down Brock Lesnar, former UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez spoke to ESPN in a 10-minute video where he discussed how the angle came about, his future, UFC, and advice he sought before agreeing to come on board.

Velasquez, who beat Lesnar in 2010 in the UFC, said that he got the same rush he got back then when he came out and stepped in the ring with the new WWE champion. He said it’s a different world, but the feeling was the same and he was really happy with how everything went down.

He put over WWE and Rey Mysterio, saying that the company was very welcoming to him when last year he went to the Performance Center for a week to train there and his love for the business grew thanks to that week. He said he talked to AEW and Cody Rhodes and Tony Khan but WWE is where he wants to be at the moment. He said he did not sign a deal yet but is very close to being done.

The deal to be on Smackdown was only wrapped a day or so ago and after talking to Vince McMahon and Triple H on telephone, he finally got to meet both of them before the show. He discussed how both are larger than life and referred to the boss as Mr McMahon.

Cain said that UFC were supportive of his decision to come to WWE and Dana White also gave his blessing, something that meant a lot to him. The UFC will always be there if he wants to go back to fighting but right now, wrestling is where he wants to be.

When asked if he sought advice from anyone before taking the decision, Velasquez said that he talked to Ronda Rousey’s husband Travis Browne, CM Punk, and Daniel Cormier. He said Browne was full of praise of WWE and recounted how much fun Ronda had wrestling while Cormier was also very supportive being a big WWE fan himself. Cain was quizzed on what CM Punk told him, and he replied saying that Punk told him to be a team player and anything he does in there is for the best of the company.

AEW launching new show featuring dark matches taped after Dynamite

Cody Rhodes announced on Twitter that a new AEW show will be launching on Tuesday titled AEW Dark.

The show will stream on AEW’s YouTube channel and will feature the dark matches that are taped after Dynamite goes off the air from TNT. The show will be hosted by Tony Schiavone and each week will have the matches from the previous Wednesday that viewers at home didn’t get to see.

It was reported a week or so ago that AEW were looking to create another hour of television to be taped in conjunction with Dynamite but not necessarily airing on TNT, with B/R Live being mentioned at the time as the possible outlet.

Smackdown rating for 10/04/2019

Smackdown’s premiere on FOX delivered an average of 3,869,000 viewers, off hours 3,920,000 in the first hour and 3,818,000 in the second hour. That was an increase of 1.7 million viewers from last week’s broadcast. Adding viewers from FOX Deportes and FOX streaming platforms, the show did a total of 3,999,000 viewers with an audience peak of 4,217,000 viewers for the first quarter which featured an appearance by The Rock.

FOX dominated the 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54 demos by a mile hitting 1.0 and 0.9 in the 18-34, 1.4 and 1.3 in 18-49 and 1.6 in both hours for 25-54. The show was #4 for the night on network television. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Finally…The Rock has come back…home!

Fans inside the STAPLES Center and the millions watching at home certainly were smelling what The Rock was cooking as the most electrifying man in sports entertainment returned to WWE TV yesterday after a three-year absence.

Dwayne Johnson showed up at the beginning of the Smackdown premiere on FOX to interrupt Baron Corbin after the King of the Ring winner interrupted the Raw Women’s champion Becky Lynch, who was given the honor to open the show.

After a brief stare down, The Rock gave Becky the special handshake and then blew off Corbin to pose on the turnbuckle. The Rock did not take long to get into his usual catchphrases and tore into Corbin, first telling him that he looked like a “broke ass Burger King on crack” and then a “35-year-old virgin at Comic Con.” He labeled Corbin as a “super tough dude” or better yet, an “STD,” which prompted fans to chant that at Corbin.

Eventually, things got physical with Becky Lynch throwing the first punch and then The Rock followed, including doing the People’s Elbow and The Rock Bottom much to the enjoyment of the crowd.

The Rock looked super excited to be there and during one of the close-ups when he did his “finally” routine, you could easily see the goosebumps on his body and even a little tear in his eye.

You can see his return video, which is already nearing 1 million views on YouTube, below.

An in-depth look at how AEW beat NXT in almost every aspect on Wednesday night

All Elite Wrestling beat NXT on Wednesday night in three out of four demographics, losing just one demo by 0.02 and more than doubling NXT’s numbers throughout the broadcast for the other three.

It was a big home run for the promotion spearheaded by Tony Khan as 1.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the show live and another 400,000 saw the immediate replay at 10PM, delivering a total of 1.8 million viewers for the night. AEW Dynamite had 5/4 odds of doing more than 1.25 million viewers for its debut episode, with bookmakers confident of a successful debut but not probably envisioning the final number. Speaking of which, Fanduel in WV is now available with a complete sports book.

Looking at specific demographics, AEW beat NXT 0.56 to 0.23 in the 18-34, 0.68 to 0.32 in 18-49, 0.74 to 0.36 in 25-54, and narrowly losing 0.36 to 0.34 in the 50+ category.

A minute-by-minute viewership comparison uploaded by a r/squaredcircle user shows that AEW started strong in the first half hour of the show and then slowly declined throughout the show before picking up viewers again in the last 25 minutes while NXT had a steady flow of viewers which increased slightly as the broadcast went on.

Big curiosity led to AEW having a fantastic opening 45 minutes as the 8:00-8:15, 8:15-8:30, and 8:30-8:45 were the strongest for Dynamite. The first two quarter hours were also the parts of the show where AEW completely dominated NXT with the largest gap in the two-hour broadcast. The last quarter hour was also a big win for AEW, growing significantly from the seventh quarter hour.

There was no quarter hour where NXT beat AEW during the show and NXT’s best segment still failed to beat AEW’s lowest segment. NXT had its best number in the sixth quarter hour between 9:15 and 9:30 and it was the closest the two shows got to each other in terms of viewers.

After AEW Dynamite went off the air and the replay started, NXT picked up over 100,000 viewers in the final 10 minutes, but this overrun was only set for this week’s show and next week NXT will end at 10PM.

In terms of actual viewers, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer published the numbers segment by segment. The opening of the show had AEW top 1.6 million viewers while NXT started with 913,000. When the first match of each show started, AEW dropped to 1.55 million and NXT rose to 981,000 for the NXT title match.

The next three matches all lost a bunch of viewers throughout the show, with MJF vs Cutler declining by 110,000 viewers and Shirai vs Yim declining by 15,000. Page vs PAC lost 125,000 viewers while Gargano vs Thorne shedded 50,000 viewers. The AEW Women’s title match lost only 1,000 viewers but Baszler vs LaRae for the NXT Women’s title lost 20,000.

Dunne vs Burch gained 29,000 viewers for NXT while the six-man tag team main event for AEW recovered 67,000 viewers. The big loser was the NXT main event for the NXT Tag Team titles with the match losing 193,000 viewers against AEW’s main event.

Meltzer also notes that in the main event, AEW had 575,000 teenagers watching the show and NXT had only 120,000 and in the 18-34 demo, AEW did 444,000 to NXT’s 145,000. The 18-49 demo saw AEW with a whopping 629,000 viewers to 228,000 for NXT. Women 18-49 also showed up for the main event as AEW did 280,000 to 126,000 for NXT.

It should be noted that for Nielsen metrics, if any viewer watches more than five minutes in a quarter hour, it’s counted as a full quarter hour so any fans who went back and forth for five minutes, they were counted for both shows.

Tom Phillips to serve as lead commentator for NXT UK

Former Smackdown commentator Tom Phillips has switched to the NXT UK brand and will be providing commentary along with Nigel McGuinness moving forward. Phillips started his new role with NXT UK yesterday at the television tapings in Brentwood and will return for night two of tapings today.

Up until last week, Phillips was the lead commentator for Smackdown but with the recent shift in commentary teams, Phillips ended up without a show after Raw got Vic Joseph, Dio Maddin, and Jerry Lawler while Smackdown moved to a two-man booth with veteran Michael Cole and Corey Graves. Joseph was the main play-by-play guy for NXT UK before he got promoted to lead commentator on Raw last week.

The 30-year-old has been working since 2012 with WWE and has worked behind the desk on Superstars, Main Event, 205 Live, and Smackdown. He also replaced Michael Cole once on Raw.

Jeff Hardy arrested in Moore County, North Carolina

PWInsider.com is reporting that Jeff Hardy got himself arrested again for driving while impaired in Moore County, North Carolina. The former WWE champion was booked by police on Thursday night and was released at 11:30PM on the same day.

This is his second arrest of 2019 after he was booked for public intoxication in July when he was found passed out in a public stairwell. He got off fairly easy on that arrest and had to pay only a $153 fine.

Hardy has been out of action since April due to knee surgery. He was last seen tag teaming with his brother Matt and they had to surrender the Smackdown Tag Team titles due to his injury. Hardy is expected to return to the ring later this year or beginning of next year.

Velasquez in advanced talks with WWE as focus shifts from MMA to pro wrestling

Former UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi that he is in advanced talks with WWE to join after making his WWE debut last night on the Smackdown premiere on FOX.

Velasquez insisted that he is not retired from the UFC but professional wrestling will be his main focus for now. Velasquez remains under contract to the UFC and has a few more fights left before he’s completely gone from the promotion.

The 37-year-old told ESPN that he has not officially signed a WWE deal and already had discussions with All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling but it’s evident that WWE is his preferred destination following yesterday’s angle. Raimondi added that UFC were aware of his whereabouts and gave their blessing for Cain to appear.

“This is definitely my focus,” Velasquez said of pro wrestling. “My family is into it, they love it. They’re super excited. I haven’t seen them excited over something like this in a while. It’s cool.”

Cain wrestled his first wrestling match with AAA in August and had his second one last month when AAA visited New York. He visited the WWE Performance Center last year for a few days and has since been training at Pro Wrestling Revolution in San Jose, California.

Tyson Fury in altercation with Braun Strowman, to appear on Raw for “open mic” segment

The undefeated British boxer Tyson Fury got involved in a segment on Smackdown last night on FOX and jumped the security wall trying to go after Braun Strowman who earlier during the match taunted him while he was sitting ringside.

The interaction between the two started on a good note as first Strowman pretended to box Fury but then Strowman threw Dolph Ziggler into the barricade, hitting Fury in the process. Fury sat back down initially but after Strowman won the match, things got heated. Fury, who is 6’9″, jumped the wall as tons of security rushed in to stop him from entering the ring. Strowman continued to taunt Fury from inside the ring, and the boxer grew even more irritated but was not allowed to step foot inside the squared circle. Fans chanted “let them fight” but nothing eventually happened.

The charismatic Fury will be appearing on Monday Night Raw where he will be given an “open mic” so he can speak his mind following the altercation. He has a record of 29-0-1 and was sitting at ringside with his family and several of FOX top executives.

Cain Velasquez interrupts Brock Lesnar’s title celebration on Smackdown

The Brock Lesnar title celebration was cut short as he was interrupted by his former rival Cain Velasquez, the UFC star who beat him for the UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 121 back on October 24, 2010, almost nine years to the day.

After Lesnar won the title in a very quick match, Rey Mysterio’s theme song kicked in and out came the former champ with Velasquez who was sporting a knee brace. The two walked down the ramp together and after some trash talking, Velasquez stepped into the ring to confront Lesnar who had the “oh shit” look on his face.

“Brock Lesnar has seen a ghost, and that ghost’s name is Cain Velasquez,” screamed Michael Cole on commentary. “I have never seen fear in the face of Brock Lesnar,” added Corey Graves.

As Lesnar tried to attack, Cain took him down and unloaded with punches as Lesnar covered his face. The new WWE champ eventually managed to get Cain off of him and escaped the ring. Lesnar teased going back in the ring a few more times but eventually opted not to as Smackdown went off the air with Velasquez and Mysterio standing tall in the ring.

The UFC 121 pay-per-view took place at the nearby Honda Center in Anaheim, California and drew over 1 million buys. Velasquez managed to win the title from Brock after a TKO in round one with 4:12 on the clock.