Tonight’s Dynamite on TNT is headlined by two title matches as both the World and Women’s titles will be on the line.
Matches announced so far include Chris Jericho defending the AEW title against Darby Allin, Women’s champion Riho taking on Dr. Britt Baker, SCU vs Best Friends in the AEW Tag Team title tournament, Jurassic Express vs Lucha Bros also in the tag tournament, and Kenny Omega teaming up with Hangman Page to take on PAC and Jon Moxley.
Former WWE and Impact Wrestling commentator Taz will also be in the house providing guest commentary for AEW Dark which will tape right after Dynamite is over.
Former WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross were traded to Smackdown with the announcement coming during the preview episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 yesterday.
Both Bliss and Cross were individually drafted to Raw even though they are a tag team but now have been moved together to the blue brand.
While the tag team titles are now held by two Superstars who are drafted to Raw, the titles will still be defended across all brands and if the Kabuki Warriors eventually lose their titles they will then wrestle just on Raw, with the new champions then doing the multiple brands depending on the program they’re involved in.
The draft episode of Monday Night Raw did an average of 2,278,000 viewers, down 56,000 viewers from last week’s episode.
Hour one drew 2,521,000 viewers, followed by 2,318,000 viewers for the second hour, and then down to 1,997,000 for the third and final hour. Raw dropped over half a million viewers from the first hour to the third which was headlined by the women’s tag team match and Rollins burning down the Firefly Fun House. The night was dominated by the NFL game on ESPN which did 13.3 million viewers and the MLB game on TBS which did an additional 3.6 million viewers.
Raw was #5, #6, and #8 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)
Former Smackdown Executive Producer Eric Bischoff gave his first public comments on Twitter after he was removed from his role just four months following his appointment.
Bischoff was replaced by Bruce Prichard yesterday, a decision which caught many by surprise but a decision which a few inside the company were expecting due to the way things were being handled.
“Bruce is a great producer, good friend and I am certain he is going to thrive in his position,” Bischoff wrote. “He’s going to be working with a great team of the most dedicated and hard working people I have had the pleasure of working with and getting to know.”
The former WCW President had just relocated to Stamford in July for his full-time gig with WWE.
Less than four months after getting hired as the Smackdown Executive Director, former WCW President Eric Bischoff found himself out of the job he was brought in for after WWE today announced that he has been replaced by Bruce Prichard.
Bischoff, who packed his bags and moved to Stamford, Connecticut, for the full-time job, said at the time that he was “humbled” and “honored” with the new appointment and considered it the most important job of his entire wrestling career.
It’s not known what led to Bischoff’s removal from his position as Executive Director of Smackdown. He was specifically brought in due to his skills in dealing with network executives.
A few days ago, Bischoff posted a photo in between Ric Flair and Tyson Fury from Las Vegas where Smackdown was held.
WWE has said that Bischoff is completely gone from the company and did not get another position.
WWE today announced that Bruce Prichard has been named as the new Executive Director of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX, effective immediately, with his position reporting directly to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.
Prichard will oversee the creative development of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business.
The position was previously occupied by Eric Bischoff, who was named as the Executive Director of Smackdown when WWE hired him and Heyman to head up Smackdown and Raw respectively.
Prichard brings nearly 40 years of experience in sports entertainment with an extensive background in character development and creative storytelling. Over the course of his career, Prichard has served in a variety of roles including announcer, producer, agent and on-screen personality. Earlier this year, Prichard returned to WWE as a member of the company’s creative team.
The WWE Backstage FS1 studio show will have a special preview tonight immediately following the conclusion of the American League Championship Series baseball game.
Currently, the schedule for FOX Sports 1 lists the show airing at 7:30PM ET and replayed at 10:30PM ET and 11:30PM ET. The show is listed to air for an hour.
Hosted by Renee Young, this preview episode of WWE Backstage will feature a sit-down interview with Rey Mysterio and Cain Velasquez. The show will officially launch weekly starting on Tuesday, November 5 at 11:00PM ET.
Filmed in Los Angeles at the FOX Sports studios, WWE Backstage will have panelists and analysts. Currently, Booker T is the only analyst announced for the show along with Renee Young but FOX Sports have brought in a bunch of people to audition for the show, including former WWE champion CM Punk.
Announcements on who will be doing what will be made as the show gets closer to its November 5 air date.
Episode three of season nine of Total Divas airs tonight at 9PM ET on E! with an episode titled Rowdy Ronda.
The synopsis for tonight’s show reads, “Ronda Rousey invites Natalya to enjoy the simple life on her farm and escape the pressures of work and the loss of her dad. Meanwhile, Sonya bites off more than she can chew when she attempts to start a feud with Ronda and gets a taste of her own medicine. Trinity is a fish out of water when she performs in an underwater mermaid show. Carmella invites her new boyfriend, Corey Graves, to her 80’s themed housewarming party, but the party is actually a surprise to celebrate his birthday.”
As the name suggests, WWE is a part of the entertainment industry. It doesn’t seem strange that there were crossovers with other forms of entertainment, such as television and gaming.
Numerous WWE stars had guest appearances in famous TV shows. If you are willing to bet which one would be next, it would be impossible. That is why it’s much better to stick to online casinos like these https://canada-online-casino.com/, and playing slots, roulette, and other popular games.
Moreover, it would be better if some of the stars did the same, and avoided appearing in the show in the first place. Let’s take a look at the funniest and weirdest TV guest appearances of WWE stars.
That 70’s Show: The Rock
Dwayne Johnson is an incredibly popular actor these days. With movies like Baywatch and Jumanji under his belt, The Rock earns a lot of money, and the audience loves him. But Johnson’s first TV appearance was a bit weird.
It happened in That 70’s Show in 1999, and The Rock got to play his dad. The TV series has a different timeline, and in this particular episode, the characters went to a wrestling performance. That is where they met “Rocky Johnson,” which is the name of The Rock’s dad. The episode received positive reviews, but nobody can deny that it was a bit weird to see Johnson playing his father.
It’s Hard to List Everything: Hulk Hogan
We may be a bit harsh, but Hulk Hogan appeared in many movies and TV shows. Let’s only name several of them:
Rocky III
Suburban Commando
No Holds Barred
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Thunder in Paradise
Some of these were minor and relatively successful roles, but let’s focus on Thunder in Paradise. It was a TV series with Hogan as the leading character. He had a boat that was ahead of its time, and capable of helping to fight criminals and villains.
Although the show featured Sting, Jimmy Hart, and other celebrities appearing in cameo roles, it never received positive reviews from the critics or the audience. As a result, Thunder in Paradise lasted only for a single season.
Manhunt: John Cena
Manhunt was not a classic TV series, but a reality show. The concept was intriguing, and probably the reason why John Cena decided to accept it. The idea was to have the contestants run away from bounty hunters on a spacious terrain in Hawaii. The contestant who manages to be the last one standing wins the main prize.
The idea might have been great, but a huge scandal happened around the airing time. One of the producers who quit the series decided to reveal that Paramount TV reshot some scenes to rig everything. The story was confirmed by a female contestant who allegedly refused to do those reshoots. The trust of the audience was lost, and the series ended after six episodes.
Poltergeist – The Legacy: The Undertaker
Have you ever thought why The Undertaker is the favorite of many WWE viewers throughout the globe? It is because he has limited screen exposure. You rarely see him in promotional events, which manages to keep a layer of mystery around the character.
However, The Undertaker appeared as a guest star in Poltergeist: The Legacy. It happened in 1999, and out favorite wrestler portrays the Minister of Darkness, a demon under the name Soul Chaser.
It was convenient and in line with the character. It may be interesting to note that he also transformed into the Biker Undertake shortly after that.
The Real World: The Miz
If The Miz is your favorite wrestler, you probably know his actual name is Mike Mizanin. The Miz followed a different path than his colleagues because he started in the acting business, and that recommended him for WWE.
It was in 2001 when Mizanin applied to be a participant in the MTV reality-based show The Real World. He got to spend a couple of months with other people in a house and became very popular in the process. Although it took a couple of years, The Miz became a WWE star in 2004.
The five-on-five Team Hogan vs Team Flair match at Crown Jewel got a couple of more participants, with Team Hogan needing two more and Team Flair needing one more Superstar to wrap up both teams.
WWE Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Lashley have officially joined Team Flair while Ricochet is now part of Hogan’s team.
Team Flair had already announced captain Randy Orton and King Corbin as part of the team while Team Hogan has Seth Rollins as the captain and Rusev as well.
Hogan and Flair will both be in Saudi Arabia for the match to accompany their respective teams.
British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail is reporting that Tyson Fury will earn around £11.9 million – or $15 million – for his match against Braun Strowman at the upcoming Crown Jewel pay-per-view.
The figure, if proven true, would trump any other fee WWE has paid for a celebrity to be part of their show. While Floyd Mayweather has claimed in the past that he was paid $20 million for his match against Big Show at WrestleMania 24, the fee is believed to be much less than that and less than what Fury is getting for his time with WWE this month.
The British boxer, who is still undefeated, donated a large sum of money from the purse he received from his fight against Deontay Wilder last year.
WWE will be reporting the Q3 2019 financial results on Thursday, October 31 before the opening of the market. This is the same day that WWE holds Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
WWE Co-Presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson will host a conference call beginning at 11AM ET to discuss the results. Vince McMahon is usually on hand for the conference call as well but since he will be in Saudi, he will not be available for this one.
The earnings presentation referenced during the call will be made available on October 31, 2019 at corporate.wwe.com/investors.
Wall Street was not a fan of the Q1 and Q2 results and punished WWE in the stock market.
Just four months after signing a new five-year WWE deal, Mike Kanellis has publicly requested his release from the company.
In a long post on Twitter, Kanellis said that he asked WWE to be let go from his contract and thanked everyone in the company who helped him out over the past couple of years.
“I’ve been with the company for almost 3 years and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. However it is time for me to move on. I am only 34 years old and feel I have way to much left in the tank,” Mike wrote.
He noted that working just once a week is not enough for him and the opportunity to do more doesn’t exist in WWE right now. He said he signed with WWE again in June because it’s what he thought was best for his family and from a financial standpoint it was, but he quickly realized that “bringing my work frustrations and misery home with me, is not good for my family and I no longer want my daughter to constantly see me come home defeated, sad and angry.”
Mike wrote that he wasted four years of his life addicted to drugs and not caring and now that he is clean, sober and motivated, he wants to have those 30 minute matches.
“I want to travel the world and wrestle in front of UK crowds, German crowds, Japanese crowds. I want to feel the love and excitement wrestling once gave me. I also want my daughter to be able to see me wrestle. I want her to see her daddy work for his money. I’ve never been ok with just collecting a paycheck and I can’t in good conscience tell my daughter she has to work her ass off to get ahead in life, then not do it myself,” he continued.
It’s not clear if WWE already granted his release or if they had agreed to do so before writing the letter on Twitter. Luke Harper tried a similar tactic last time around and he was denied. Only Shawn Spears, formerly known as Tye Dillinger, did the same and got what he wanted but that’s before AEW launched.
There were not any major surprises during the draft on Raw last night with many pieces falling into place as predicted although WWE moved some picks from the original list after they spoiled their own draft.
Joining the Raw brand are Universal Champion Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Andrade and Zelina Vega, WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Asuka and Kairi Sane, Rusev, Aleister Black, Cedric Alexander, Humberto Carrillo, Erick Rowan, Buddy Murphy, Jinder Mahal, 24/7 Champion R-Truth, Samoa Joe, Akira Tozawa, Shelton Benjamin, Rey Mysterio, Titus O’Neil, and Liv Morgan.
Now part of the blue brand are WWE champion Brock Lesnar, The New Day with Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods, Daniel Bryan, Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley, Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura with Sami Zayn, Ali, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, Carmella, The Miz, King Corbin, and Shorty Gable.
Several others are now “free agents” and are free to sign with any brand.
Two more matches have been announced for the upcoming Crown Jewel pay-per-view from Saudi Arabia.
The first one is the largest Tag Team Turmoil match which will crown the “best tag team in the world” with the WWE World Cup. The tag teams who will be participating are The New Day, Heavy Machinery, The B-Team, The Viking Raiders, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler, The O.C., The Revival, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, and Lucha House Party.
Last year, Shane McMahon won the World Cup after he replaced The Miz in the final and kicked off the annoying “best in the world” gimmick.
Also announced is Mansoor vs Cesaro. Mansoor won the 51-Man Battle Royal at the 2019 Super Showdown this past June, eliminating Elias for the win. He is from Saudi Arabia which will obviously get him the crowd support against the Swiss Superman.
Crown Jewel will air on Thursday, October 31 at 1PM ET with a one-hour Kickoff show at Noon ET on the WWE Network.
In the second installment of season nine of Total Divas, the drama from the season premiere continued.
Carmella has not been having a good time of things recently since she and Nia Jax have been feuding. This occurred because Nia accused Carmella of being fake and running away from a hit last week. Furthermore, Nia also began to spread other rumors about Carmella like the fact that Carmella had been speaking negatively about Nikki Bella with whom Carmella had had a match earlier in the year.
This wasn’t true. In fact, Carmella had only said that Nikki Bella had given her a black eye during their match, which she hadn’t complained about, and which proved that she didn’t run from fights. However, Nia informed Nikki that Carmella had been “talking shit” about her. This caused Nikki to send angry texts messages to Carmella and creating yet another rift between Carmella and other cast members.
This wasn’t the only problem that Carmella had in this episode. She also revealed to her friend, Sonya Deville, that she is now in a relationship with broadcast announcer Corey Graves. This relationship was further complicated by the fact that Graves had been going through a divorce when the couple began dating. Further rumors had been spread that the couple’s relationship began while Graves was still married, and therefore that Carmella was the cause of the break-up of their marriage.
As might expected, Carmella’s social media accounts were inundated with negative comments calling her a homewrecker. After yet a another conversation with her friend, Carmella was encouraged to “do you”, meaning that Sonya told her friend to date whomever made her happy regardless of what anyone else said.
Sonya also appears to be following her own advice.
As the first openly gay female WWE Superstar, Sonya is making her own mark in the world and in the homosexual community. She has been given her own float in a Florida pride parade, which she has asked her fellow Divas to assist her with. However, her grand plans for a mini wrestling ring complete with a giant rainbow, were halted due to an injury sustained to her shoulder. The doctors instructed Sonya to take it easy, so she was forced to trust her family and friends to realize her vision for her float.
We will have to wait to see if her vision comes true in a later episode.
Tyson Fury’s co-promoter, Frank Warren, isn’t too excited to see his client getting into a WWE ring to face Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel later this month.
Speaking to Alan Brazil on the TalkSPORT Sports Breakfast show, Warren was unaware that when Fury went to see the premiere episode of Smackdown on FOX, he was going to be involved. “What can you say? He went out there to watch it and the next minute he’s involved in it, it’s unbelievable!” He explained that Fury did not fill him in on the plan and they only discussed what was going on after it happened!
“But that’s Tyson. He’s supposed to be taking a rest and taking it easy, but he’s decided that he wants to do this and he’s going to do it. I’d be a liar if I said I was pleased with it, I’d prefer him not to do it but he’s doing it,” Warren continued.
The undefeated British boxer is having another fight against Deontay Wilder in February 2020, a rematch from their December 2018 fight which ended in a split decision draw.
“Listen, I’ve seen WWE fighters get cuts, it’s the nature of contact sports. It could happen but I hope it doesn’t. I’d prefer he didn’t do it because it could jeopardize his boxing career,” Warren explained. “But he’s doing it and he’s his own man. In some ways I suppose it’s keeping him focused and keeping fit and well. It’s not like he’s a baby, he’s 30 years of age!”
Night two of the WWE draft will take place tonight on Monday Night Raw with the majority of Superstars up for a swap while others hoping to keep the same schedule.
After WWE spoiled the draft picks last week with an article on WWE.COM, it will be interesting to see if they make any changes tonight to get away from that big blunder although it looks pretty obvious where some will end up.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks will kick off Raw tonight with the winner of the match getting the first draft pick for their brand. Lynch is part of Raw while Banks is now part of Smackdown.
Those who are eligible to be drafted tonight are Aleister Black, Ali, Andrade, AOP, Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley, WWE champion Brock Lesnar, Buddy Murphy, Carmella, Charlotte Flair, Cedric Alexander, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, Dana Brooke, Daniel Bryan, Drake Maverick, Raw Tag Team champions Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, Elias, Erick Rowan, King Corbin, Jinder Mahal, Liv Morgan, Luke Harper, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, Mojo Rawley, The Miz, No Way Jose, Rey Mysterio, R-Truth, Rusev, Samoa Joe, Universal champion Seth Rollins, Sarah Logan, Shelton Benjamin, Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura with Sami Zayn, The IIconics, WWE Women’s Tag Team champions The Kabuki Warriors, The New Day, and Titus O’Neil.
The IWGP United States title, held by AEW’s Jon Moxley, was declared vacant by NJPW after Moxley was unable to travel to Japan for today’s King of Pro Wrestling event.
Typhoon Hagibis, which has wrecked havoc in the country, caused many travel delays and prevented Moxley from making the trip. Moxley was supposed to wrestle Juice Robinson for the title but now Robinson will take on Lance Archer instead with the winner becoming the new IWGP United States champion.
Moxley won the IWGP United States title from Robinson in June of this year at the Best of the Super Juniors 26 event. It was Moxley’s debut match in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Dwayne Johnson’s Ballers HBO series wraps up tonight with episode 47, and eighth of season five, being the last one.
Johnson plays the role of Spencer Strasmore, a retired NFL player turned financial manager, who works for Anderson Financial and manages some of the best athletes. The series also featured Rob Corddry, John David Washington, Omar Miller, Donovan W. Carter, Troy Garity, London Brown, and Jazmyn Simon in the other supporting roles.
“I’ve played a few characters over the years that have been anchored deep in my DNA so it’s as if I’m just being myself. I’ve had a helluva time playing this man. Thank you all for this amazing 5yr run,” Johnson wrote on Twitter yesterday.
Season five of Ballers averaged just half a million viewers per episode, significantly down from the previous seasons.
