Week in Wrestling #21
Wrestling News From the week of
December 12 - December ,18 2015
December 12 - December ,18 2015
Roman Reigns wins WWE Title
Reigns winning on 12/14 was amazing for one factor. He was, when he won, cheered like crazy, and it was in front of a Raw audience at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the same arena where he was booed out of the building for winning the Royal Rumble in January.
On paper, this seemed like the worst place to make the change.
The match itself saw Reigns finally hit the Superman punch, but Vince, who was at ringside with a giant scowl on his face the entire match, pulled the referee out of the ring. Reigns was also bleeding by that point from head-butting Sheamus. Vince pulling the ref out changed the tone of the match, as the crowd at this point was totally behind Reigns.
While it is of course far better to have a huge babyface reaction for a babyface title win, the John Cena era also has shown that the key is still getting fans to buy tickets and merchandise, as well as watch, and the fans who boo the faces are the most adamant and probably spend the most on the product because they care the most. Historically, as this year’s Royal Rumble showed, at the same exact time of the outrage and cancel WWE Network hashtags on social media because Reigns won instead of Daniel Bryan, the network itself had a major growth period in the days after that match. But the idea they were able to get this reaction in Philadelphia had to be extremely gratifying, and the ratings increase showed that when they give people something they perceive as important, they can get the people back. It was impressive being able to do it so quickly, although the Vince McMahon character has done that many times in the past.
In the end, the story was that for the last year, as Raw had gotten nearly unwatchable and ratings had fallen to record lows, even though the most other aspects of the business were neither at high nor low level, but steady levels, the idea was Vince McMahon had lost touch with his audience. The push of Reigns, who was being booed while being focused on as the star of the promotion, was one of the key exhibits.
But in the end, McMahon was able to manipulate the audience through two days of booking, from the TLC show in Boston to Raw in Philadelphia, and made it work.
Not only did fans cheer Reigns in Philadelphia, but loudly chanted, “You deserve it” as he was being carried by his cousins, the Usos.
Reigns winning on 12/14 was amazing for one factor. He was, when he won, cheered like crazy, and it was in front of a Raw audience at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the same arena where he was booed out of the building for winning the Royal Rumble in January.
On paper, this seemed like the worst place to make the change.
The match itself saw Reigns finally hit the Superman punch, but Vince, who was at ringside with a giant scowl on his face the entire match, pulled the referee out of the ring. Reigns was also bleeding by that point from head-butting Sheamus. Vince pulling the ref out changed the tone of the match, as the crowd at this point was totally behind Reigns.
While it is of course far better to have a huge babyface reaction for a babyface title win, the John Cena era also has shown that the key is still getting fans to buy tickets and merchandise, as well as watch, and the fans who boo the faces are the most adamant and probably spend the most on the product because they care the most. Historically, as this year’s Royal Rumble showed, at the same exact time of the outrage and cancel WWE Network hashtags on social media because Reigns won instead of Daniel Bryan, the network itself had a major growth period in the days after that match. But the idea they were able to get this reaction in Philadelphia had to be extremely gratifying, and the ratings increase showed that when they give people something they perceive as important, they can get the people back. It was impressive being able to do it so quickly, although the Vince McMahon character has done that many times in the past.
In the end, the story was that for the last year, as Raw had gotten nearly unwatchable and ratings had fallen to record lows, even though the most other aspects of the business were neither at high nor low level, but steady levels, the idea was Vince McMahon had lost touch with his audience. The push of Reigns, who was being booed while being focused on as the star of the promotion, was one of the key exhibits.
But in the end, McMahon was able to manipulate the audience through two days of booking, from the TLC show in Boston to Raw in Philadelphia, and made it work.
Not only did fans cheer Reigns in Philadelphia, but loudly chanted, “You deserve it” as he was being carried by his cousins, the Usos.
Vince spikes RAW Ratings
The show-long scenario involving the return to Raw of Vince McMahon and a title vs. career match led to a 27 percent increase in viewership from the previous week. Raw averaged 3,867,000 viewers, including the first time since football season that the third hour wasn’t the least watched hour, as it did 3,825,000 viewers. It was the largest audience to watch Raw since 8/31, but the situation is different outside of football season. With next week being the Slammys, it will be interesting to see how well that gain of viewers sticks around, although there should be a residual effect of this week carrying over at least one week. The number was going to increase either way once football season ended.
Also impressive was in the key demos, there was a gain from hour one to hour three. Males 18-49 went from 1.69 to 1.92, a 14 percent increase. Women 18-49 dropped from hour one to hour three from 0.95 to 0.88, but both numbers are way up from usual. Overall among men and women, they did a 1.19 in 18-34 and 1.45 in 35-49 in the first hour, and a 1.36 in 18-34 and a 1.44 in 35-49 in the third hour. So the big increase was in the 18-34 age group while the 35-49 age group, which usually falls like everyone else as the show goes on, held steady.
The show-long scenario involving the return to Raw of Vince McMahon and a title vs. career match led to a 27 percent increase in viewership from the previous week. Raw averaged 3,867,000 viewers, including the first time since football season that the third hour wasn’t the least watched hour, as it did 3,825,000 viewers. It was the largest audience to watch Raw since 8/31, but the situation is different outside of football season. With next week being the Slammys, it will be interesting to see how well that gain of viewers sticks around, although there should be a residual effect of this week carrying over at least one week. The number was going to increase either way once football season ended.
Also impressive was in the key demos, there was a gain from hour one to hour three. Males 18-49 went from 1.69 to 1.92, a 14 percent increase. Women 18-49 dropped from hour one to hour three from 0.95 to 0.88, but both numbers are way up from usual. Overall among men and women, they did a 1.19 in 18-34 and 1.45 in 35-49 in the first hour, and a 1.36 in 18-34 and a 1.44 in 35-49 in the third hour. So the big increase was in the 18-34 age group while the 35-49 age group, which usually falls like everyone else as the show goes on, held steady.
TLC PPV
WWE put on a wild TLC show on 12/13 at the TD Gardens in Boston. The show featured a variety of stipulation matches and solid work up and down the show. The highlight was a stunt show ladder match featuring The New Day of Big E & Kofi Kingston retaining the tag titles against The Lucha Dragons and the Usos.
WWE put on a wild TLC show on 12/13 at the TD Gardens in Boston. The show featured a variety of stipulation matches and solid work up and down the show. The highlight was a stunt show ladder match featuring The New Day of Big E & Kofi Kingston retaining the tag titles against The Lucha Dragons and the Usos.
Reigns Reaction
Reigns was booed somewhat in Boston, and the crowd was quiet for the first part of a solidly worked TLC match against Sheamus. But once Alberto Del Rio and Rusev came out to interfere, the crowd started getting behind Reigns. The interference cost him the match, but afterwards, he snapped, destroying Sheamus, Del Rio and Rusev.
Then, even worse, he destroyed HHH, who came out to stop the carnage and check on Sheamus. The beating included one chair shot after another to his gut and his back, putting him through a table, and a running spear down the aisle which nailed him outside the ring. Stephanie McMahon watched on shrieking. HHH went out on a stretcher. Reigns was cheered like crazy by the end of all this, and Boston is never an easy city for him.
Reigns was booed somewhat in Boston, and the crowd was quiet for the first part of a solidly worked TLC match against Sheamus. But once Alberto Del Rio and Rusev came out to interfere, the crowd started getting behind Reigns. The interference cost him the match, but afterwards, he snapped, destroying Sheamus, Del Rio and Rusev.
Then, even worse, he destroyed HHH, who came out to stop the carnage and check on Sheamus. The beating included one chair shot after another to his gut and his back, putting him through a table, and a running spear down the aisle which nailed him outside the ring. Stephanie McMahon watched on shrieking. HHH went out on a stretcher. Reigns was cheered like crazy by the end of all this, and Boston is never an easy city for him.
HHH No sells the Beat down
The next night, in Philadelphia, in the opening segment, Stephanie McMahon talked about how HHH was injured coughing up blood and hospitalized.
It should be noted that he posted a photo of him, just fine, on social media the next day, that he apparently had taken in London where he flew over for the Takeover show. If a talent had a severe worked injury and did the same thing, there would be incredible heat on them, but there’s always going to be a double standard with superstars and with those in charge, and he’s both.
The next night, in Philadelphia, in the opening segment, Stephanie McMahon talked about how HHH was injured coughing up blood and hospitalized.
It should be noted that he posted a photo of him, just fine, on social media the next day, that he apparently had taken in London where he flew over for the Takeover show. If a talent had a severe worked injury and did the same thing, there would be incredible heat on them, but there’s always going to be a double standard with superstars and with those in charge, and he’s both.
Who is the next Big Heel
Sheamus performed his role as a transitional champion, but the company still needs a top heel to feud with Reigns. Obviously, HHH will be an adversary, either for the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. Sheamus will be his adversary on the road for a while. But they still need a new top heel, although they may be able to do situations where it’s Reigns just battling the League of Nations group in unfair situations for a while.
Unless it’s HHH, and he does have no other clear opponent with The Rock unable to wrestle on the show at this point, and Rollins also out, there’s no WrestleMania heel right now. They could still turn Dean Ambrose, or get Kevin Owens hot. If Reigns is the top face and successful in carrying that position, they could ever turn Cena, although that’s a decision they may not want to make because of him being almost a public face for the Make-a-Wish and WWE alliance. They could also have Lesnar or Undertaker as a surprise winner of the Rumble, although the fans will cheer Undertaker over him and may still cheer Lesnar over him.
But right now, the strongest Mania main event dynamic for the vibe and without leading to an outcome that people won’t want or isn’t the best thing (Undertaker beating Reigns isn’t the right move if he’s going to be the face of the company; Reigns beating Undertaker won’t make people happy, so it’s a match that is tough for an ending), the Lesnar match has the most potential. But the Cena match, which was the plan prior to the Rollins injury, whether he’s a face and it’s a passing of the torch in front of a record crowd, or a heel, also makes sense.
Sheamus performed his role as a transitional champion, but the company still needs a top heel to feud with Reigns. Obviously, HHH will be an adversary, either for the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. Sheamus will be his adversary on the road for a while. But they still need a new top heel, although they may be able to do situations where it’s Reigns just battling the League of Nations group in unfair situations for a while.
Unless it’s HHH, and he does have no other clear opponent with The Rock unable to wrestle on the show at this point, and Rollins also out, there’s no WrestleMania heel right now. They could still turn Dean Ambrose, or get Kevin Owens hot. If Reigns is the top face and successful in carrying that position, they could ever turn Cena, although that’s a decision they may not want to make because of him being almost a public face for the Make-a-Wish and WWE alliance. They could also have Lesnar or Undertaker as a surprise winner of the Rumble, although the fans will cheer Undertaker over him and may still cheer Lesnar over him.
But right now, the strongest Mania main event dynamic for the vibe and without leading to an outcome that people won’t want or isn’t the best thing (Undertaker beating Reigns isn’t the right move if he’s going to be the face of the company; Reigns beating Undertaker won’t make people happy, so it’s a match that is tough for an ending), the Lesnar match has the most potential. But the Cena match, which was the plan prior to the Rollins injury, whether he’s a face and it’s a passing of the torch in front of a record crowd, or a heel, also makes sense.
Mauro Ranallo to Smackdown
The WWE released to Sports Illustrated on 12/13 that Mauro Ranallo would be taking over as the lead announcer on Smackdown with the move to the USA Network.
Ranallo, who had been considered by many insiders, including myself, as the best pro wrestling announcer in the business this past year for his work on the taped New Japan World Pro Wrestling Returns show on AXS TV, is probably best known for his work with Showtime boxing, where he has called many of the biggest fights in recent years, including the biggest PPV event of all-time, the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao show in May.
Ranallo is pretty much an expert on boxing, pro wrestling and MMA, and as a teenager worked as both a heel manager and announcer for All-Star Wrestling out of Vancouver.
Ranallo begins with WWE on 1/4, when he will be at the Raw tapings in San Antonio backstage, observing the product, and his first broadcast will be taped on 1/5 in Laredo, which airs on 1/7, when Smackdown moves to the USA network, which also means the idea of debuting on USA with a live show is not going to happen. Ranallo was in Philadelphia for Raw on 12/14 for his first appearance backstage at a WWE show as part of the promotion. He will be attending every Raw and Smackdown taping from this point forward, with the idea of learning the product over the next few weeks until his TV debut. At this point, the plans for Smackdown remain tapings every Tuesday and airing every Thursday. Last week, when Jim Ross was talking about changes in the show, and going back a few months when we had reported changes in the show, this was the big one that WWE had been working on.
It’s going to be interesting because Ranallo’s style of calling a match dramatically and using a lot of history in his calls is somewhat the antithesis of what WWE announcers do. It will be obvious in a few weeks whether he will have to change what made him good, or they will take an approach and allow him to be at his best.
The WWE released to Sports Illustrated on 12/13 that Mauro Ranallo would be taking over as the lead announcer on Smackdown with the move to the USA Network.
Ranallo, who had been considered by many insiders, including myself, as the best pro wrestling announcer in the business this past year for his work on the taped New Japan World Pro Wrestling Returns show on AXS TV, is probably best known for his work with Showtime boxing, where he has called many of the biggest fights in recent years, including the biggest PPV event of all-time, the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao show in May.
Ranallo is pretty much an expert on boxing, pro wrestling and MMA, and as a teenager worked as both a heel manager and announcer for All-Star Wrestling out of Vancouver.
Ranallo begins with WWE on 1/4, when he will be at the Raw tapings in San Antonio backstage, observing the product, and his first broadcast will be taped on 1/5 in Laredo, which airs on 1/7, when Smackdown moves to the USA network, which also means the idea of debuting on USA with a live show is not going to happen. Ranallo was in Philadelphia for Raw on 12/14 for his first appearance backstage at a WWE show as part of the promotion. He will be attending every Raw and Smackdown taping from this point forward, with the idea of learning the product over the next few weeks until his TV debut. At this point, the plans for Smackdown remain tapings every Tuesday and airing every Thursday. Last week, when Jim Ross was talking about changes in the show, and going back a few months when we had reported changes in the show, this was the big one that WWE had been working on.
It’s going to be interesting because Ranallo’s style of calling a match dramatically and using a lot of history in his calls is somewhat the antithesis of what WWE announcers do. It will be obvious in a few weeks whether he will have to change what made him good, or they will take an approach and allow him to be at his best.
NXT London
NXT book ended its live special with excellent matches with Asuka vs. Emma and Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor on 12/16 from the SSE Wembley Arena in London. There’s something to be said for a heavy wrestling two hour show as far as a special goes. It’s not the best thing for television because you need hype segments, character development segments and promotional segments. But NXT shows almost always deliver, as the matches are well constructed, everyone works hard and they are lucky to have crowds that want to see the product succeed.
Some knock the NXT crowds, and this crowd in a lot of spots wasn’t reacting to the match but trying to be the show, but what people miss in those situations is the crowd enjoyed themselves and made the show seem like a cool thing to be at.
NXT book ended its live special with excellent matches with Asuka vs. Emma and Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor on 12/16 from the SSE Wembley Arena in London. There’s something to be said for a heavy wrestling two hour show as far as a special goes. It’s not the best thing for television because you need hype segments, character development segments and promotional segments. But NXT shows almost always deliver, as the matches are well constructed, everyone works hard and they are lucky to have crowds that want to see the product succeed.
Some knock the NXT crowds, and this crowd in a lot of spots wasn’t reacting to the match but trying to be the show, but what people miss in those situations is the crowd enjoyed themselves and made the show seem like a cool thing to be at.
NXT Takeover special
They officially announced an NXT Takeover special for 4/1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, which is the Friday night of WrestleMania week. I would expect the show to sell out given how many tourists will be in Dallas that week. If it does, that would mean they’d have three arena sellouts since the Hall of Fame is almost a lock to sell out and Raw already sold out. Right now the plan for NXT is that after the 12/23 show, which was taped on 12/16 in London, and some holiday recap shows, that the next taping will be three weeks worth of shows on 1/7 at Full Sail University.
They will tape three more shows on 1/22 at the CFE Arena in Orlando (University of Central Florida Gym) and three more shows on 1/27. That will have them done through mid-March, which means most of the build for the Dallas show will be shot on 1/27 so we’ll know the card then. They are taping well ahead because the NXT crew will be outside of Florida doing more touring in February and March which is the company’s hottest season.
They officially announced an NXT Takeover special for 4/1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, which is the Friday night of WrestleMania week. I would expect the show to sell out given how many tourists will be in Dallas that week. If it does, that would mean they’d have three arena sellouts since the Hall of Fame is almost a lock to sell out and Raw already sold out. Right now the plan for NXT is that after the 12/23 show, which was taped on 12/16 in London, and some holiday recap shows, that the next taping will be three weeks worth of shows on 1/7 at Full Sail University.
They will tape three more shows on 1/22 at the CFE Arena in Orlando (University of Central Florida Gym) and three more shows on 1/27. That will have them done through mid-March, which means most of the build for the Dallas show will be shot on 1/27 so we’ll know the card then. They are taping well ahead because the NXT crew will be outside of Florida doing more touring in February and March which is the company’s hottest season.
WWE Network debuts in Japan
The WWE Network debuts in Japan on 1/5, the day after New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show. It’ll be interesting how it does because New Japan World has been something of a flop. New Japan was hoping for 100,000 subs by the end of the year and the last number we heard was 30,000. With the network being available in Japan, NXT, which was on J Sports (a small cable station), won’t be airing the show after the 12/25 episode. I’m guessing the launch may have to do with the J Sports contract for NXT expiring. The first month is free in Japan.
The WWE Network debuts in Japan on 1/5, the day after New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show. It’ll be interesting how it does because New Japan World has been something of a flop. New Japan was hoping for 100,000 subs by the end of the year and the last number we heard was 30,000. With the network being available in Japan, NXT, which was on J Sports (a small cable station), won’t be airing the show after the 12/25 episode. I’m guessing the launch may have to do with the J Sports contract for NXT expiring. The first month is free in Japan.
Rock might not even appear at Mania
Dwayne Johnson will be filming the “Baywatch” movie throughout March and April in Savannah, GA. Originally, there was a movie insurance issue in play that a movie he was going to be filming, which may have been this one, wasn’t able to get insurance on injuries if he had done a match at WrestleMania, which is the point his bout with HHH that was originally planned was pulled and the HHH vs. Rollins match was put in its place, which also fell through. At the time, there was still hope he would appear as he had in recent years, doing some sort of an interview segment on the show.
Several weeks ago, we were told that it was highly unlikely, but not impossible, because he was going to be filming a movie and he was in the lead role, with Zac Efron. It would be very difficult to hold up the shooting, even for one day, for him to leave to do Mania. That was the last we heard. The situation is similar for Ronda Rousey, but her movie she’s doing at that time is in Indonesia
Dwayne Johnson will be filming the “Baywatch” movie throughout March and April in Savannah, GA. Originally, there was a movie insurance issue in play that a movie he was going to be filming, which may have been this one, wasn’t able to get insurance on injuries if he had done a match at WrestleMania, which is the point his bout with HHH that was originally planned was pulled and the HHH vs. Rollins match was put in its place, which also fell through. At the time, there was still hope he would appear as he had in recent years, doing some sort of an interview segment on the show.
Several weeks ago, we were told that it was highly unlikely, but not impossible, because he was going to be filming a movie and he was in the lead role, with Zac Efron. It would be very difficult to hold up the shooting, even for one day, for him to leave to do Mania. That was the last we heard. The situation is similar for Ronda Rousey, but her movie she’s doing at that time is in Indonesia
Daniel Bryan hints he may leave WWE
The Daniel Bryan injury situation was back in the news as he was in Singapore working for WWE on a promotional tour, was asked the obvious question and gave the same answer. “I think it could be the end of my career in WWE, but I don’t think it will be the end of my career. I could find another passion, but it would just be sad because this is what I have been most passionate about since I was five.” He made no reference to a third doctor, just saying he hasn’t gotten clearance from the WWE doctor to return, but has gotten clearance from his personal doctor.
In the end, it’s going to be difficult if not impossible for a publicly traded company to defy its own head of medical and put someone in the ring, because it would open the company up to a major lawsuit down the line if something bad was to happen. It could also be used in evidence given several ex-wrestlers are suing WWE based on damage from concussions and it would look bad if the company ignored the advice of its head of medical right now and put him in the ring. If wrestlers from a previous era suffer problems later in life, there is the argument that nobody knew how severe the damage from multiple concussions were. Post 2007, that argument is gone.
The company has offered him jobs as both an announcer, and my gut would tell me that’s the job for him to have, because he’s believable and has credibility with the audience, something none of the current announcers have and that you really want from an announcer. He was also offered a job as a trainer at NXT. He said he hasn’t taken either offer because he still wants to wrestle. That’s one of the reasons that if he has been secretly cleared (if you read his book you’d know he wouldn’t want to lie and he feels bad when he does, but if the company orders him to do so for storyline reasons he would feel he has to), and I have no evidence that’s the case, they do have to be careful when they bring him back because the last two years it got in the way of their primary WrestleMania goals each year to get Batista and then Reigns over as top babyfaces for the big show.
The Daniel Bryan injury situation was back in the news as he was in Singapore working for WWE on a promotional tour, was asked the obvious question and gave the same answer. “I think it could be the end of my career in WWE, but I don’t think it will be the end of my career. I could find another passion, but it would just be sad because this is what I have been most passionate about since I was five.” He made no reference to a third doctor, just saying he hasn’t gotten clearance from the WWE doctor to return, but has gotten clearance from his personal doctor.
In the end, it’s going to be difficult if not impossible for a publicly traded company to defy its own head of medical and put someone in the ring, because it would open the company up to a major lawsuit down the line if something bad was to happen. It could also be used in evidence given several ex-wrestlers are suing WWE based on damage from concussions and it would look bad if the company ignored the advice of its head of medical right now and put him in the ring. If wrestlers from a previous era suffer problems later in life, there is the argument that nobody knew how severe the damage from multiple concussions were. Post 2007, that argument is gone.
The company has offered him jobs as both an announcer, and my gut would tell me that’s the job for him to have, because he’s believable and has credibility with the audience, something none of the current announcers have and that you really want from an announcer. He was also offered a job as a trainer at NXT. He said he hasn’t taken either offer because he still wants to wrestle. That’s one of the reasons that if he has been secretly cleared (if you read his book you’d know he wouldn’t want to lie and he feels bad when he does, but if the company orders him to do so for storyline reasons he would feel he has to), and I have no evidence that’s the case, they do have to be careful when they bring him back because the last two years it got in the way of their primary WrestleMania goals each year to get Batista and then Reigns over as top babyfaces for the big show.
HHH Conference Call
Paul Levesque did a conference call to plug the 12/16 NXT Takeover show. He said that after the holidays they will hopefully be making some announcements that the people will get excited about. There were questions about replacing one of the hours of Raw with an hour of NXT. He said if it’s just another hour done live, it’s the same thing and admitted that sometimes three hours is too long, noting that when he goes to the movies, he’s looking at his watch after two hours. I think everyone realizes the three hour Raws from a fan perspective are too long. It’s inherent when you’ve got the third hour ratings drop since historically the 10-11 p.m. hour was almost always the highest rated until the show went three hours, and the main event segment ends the third hour yet hour three ratings are down almost every week from hours one and two.
He said they aren’t 100 percent sure on how to fix the problem but they’re working on it. The problem is a financial one because they have commitments for years, not just in the U.S. but around the world, but primarily the U.S., to produce three hours weekly of Raw through the end of 2017. He said he didn’t want to rush someone up, when the name Finn Balor was asked about, just because there were a lot of injuries. That would be one thing if Balor was 23. But he’s 34 with a lot of physical mileage on him. Can he learn in NXT, of course, but at his level whatever he needs to learn for succeeding at the WWE main roster level is not going to come in developmental but actually on that roster. Now, bringing him up with no plan and no push, yeah, it would be better to stay in NXT and debut him the right way. The issue is with all the injuries, it was pretty much inherent to they go balls out with Ambrose and they didn’t. It took all of two weeks for Breeze to become just a guy, and the women are all struggling, so right now it’s hard to have confidence that the system is good at making new needle moving stars. Most questions were regarding putting NXT on USA. The problem with that is there is no guarantee that a product with developmental talent will do the 2.5 million or so viewers needed to be a success for a wrestling show on USA. It’s star power that draws. You never know until you try, though. WWE has regularly had C shows canceled over ratings and HHH pushed the idea that The Sopranos were a success on a paid service and they were able to sell out Brooklyn and London off the network (which is really impressive under any circumstances). He talked about how he and Regal are always talking about international talent and wants to bring the best talent in.
Paul Levesque did a conference call to plug the 12/16 NXT Takeover show. He said that after the holidays they will hopefully be making some announcements that the people will get excited about. There were questions about replacing one of the hours of Raw with an hour of NXT. He said if it’s just another hour done live, it’s the same thing and admitted that sometimes three hours is too long, noting that when he goes to the movies, he’s looking at his watch after two hours. I think everyone realizes the three hour Raws from a fan perspective are too long. It’s inherent when you’ve got the third hour ratings drop since historically the 10-11 p.m. hour was almost always the highest rated until the show went three hours, and the main event segment ends the third hour yet hour three ratings are down almost every week from hours one and two.
He said they aren’t 100 percent sure on how to fix the problem but they’re working on it. The problem is a financial one because they have commitments for years, not just in the U.S. but around the world, but primarily the U.S., to produce three hours weekly of Raw through the end of 2017. He said he didn’t want to rush someone up, when the name Finn Balor was asked about, just because there were a lot of injuries. That would be one thing if Balor was 23. But he’s 34 with a lot of physical mileage on him. Can he learn in NXT, of course, but at his level whatever he needs to learn for succeeding at the WWE main roster level is not going to come in developmental but actually on that roster. Now, bringing him up with no plan and no push, yeah, it would be better to stay in NXT and debut him the right way. The issue is with all the injuries, it was pretty much inherent to they go balls out with Ambrose and they didn’t. It took all of two weeks for Breeze to become just a guy, and the women are all struggling, so right now it’s hard to have confidence that the system is good at making new needle moving stars. Most questions were regarding putting NXT on USA. The problem with that is there is no guarantee that a product with developmental talent will do the 2.5 million or so viewers needed to be a success for a wrestling show on USA. It’s star power that draws. You never know until you try, though. WWE has regularly had C shows canceled over ratings and HHH pushed the idea that The Sopranos were a success on a paid service and they were able to sell out Brooklyn and London off the network (which is really impressive under any circumstances). He talked about how he and Regal are always talking about international talent and wants to bring the best talent in.
Upcoming DVD Releases
Here are some notes about 2016 DVD releases planned. NXT’s Greatest Matches Volume 1 is scheduled for 3/8, Straight Outta Dudleyville for April, History of the U.S. title for May, Eric Bischoff for June, Scott Hall for July, Attitude Era Volume 3 for August, Hardcore for September, Brock Lesnar for October, ECW’s Top 5 Craziest Moments for November and The True Story of the Royal Rumble for December. I wonder if that one will mention it was created as a major event to screw with a WCW PPV show?
The funny thing about ECW with the benefit of hindsight is that ECW itself when it was alive was a huge money loser and Heyman and his family lost a ton of money on it. However, when all is said and done, due to all the money made after the fact, between the One Night Stand PPV shows and the countless DVD releases, ECW is actually a really profitable wrestling entity. However, the person who made all the money was Vince McMahon, who bought the video library, intellectual property and rights fees in bankruptcy court for what in hindsight was a ridiculously low amount. 15 years after its death, three of WWE’s 10 announced releases are in some form ECW related. A planned Shane McMahon DVD for this year was canceled
Here are some notes about 2016 DVD releases planned. NXT’s Greatest Matches Volume 1 is scheduled for 3/8, Straight Outta Dudleyville for April, History of the U.S. title for May, Eric Bischoff for June, Scott Hall for July, Attitude Era Volume 3 for August, Hardcore for September, Brock Lesnar for October, ECW’s Top 5 Craziest Moments for November and The True Story of the Royal Rumble for December. I wonder if that one will mention it was created as a major event to screw with a WCW PPV show?
The funny thing about ECW with the benefit of hindsight is that ECW itself when it was alive was a huge money loser and Heyman and his family lost a ton of money on it. However, when all is said and done, due to all the money made after the fact, between the One Night Stand PPV shows and the countless DVD releases, ECW is actually a really profitable wrestling entity. However, the person who made all the money was Vince McMahon, who bought the video library, intellectual property and rights fees in bankruptcy court for what in hindsight was a ridiculously low amount. 15 years after its death, three of WWE’s 10 announced releases are in some form ECW related. A planned Shane McMahon DVD for this year was canceled
Tokyo Lineup Released
New Japan officially announced its biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 10, with pretty much the lineup we speculated on last week.
The card, which starts at just after 2:30 a.m. on a Monday morning Eastern time, 11:30 p.m. Sunday night Pacific, is only available on New Japan World.
1) A New Japan Rumble. This follows the tradition set last year. It’s for guys not booked on the main card, such as Jay White, Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, David Finlay, Yohei Komatsu, Sho Tanaka, Juice Robinson, Mascara Dorada, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Evil, Bushi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Captain New Japan, Cody Hall along with surprise outsiders from other promotions and some legends from the past. They will probably only announce a few names ahead of time. Japan does not do Battle Royal type matches as well as the U.S., so this is more just the chance for the crowd to pop if somebody like Kabuki or Riki Choshu or someone like that shows up.
2) Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defend the IWGP Jr. Tag titles against The Young Bucks, Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta and Matt Sydal & Ricochet. This will be a spot fest and that’s what they are looking for out of this match. It’s tough for juniors to get a big reaction at the Dome, but really all four of these teams are not your normal teams. This is really a hell of a collection of talent, and for Ricochet, it’s the biggest stage he’ll have ever performed on and they don’t get more talented than him.
3) Toru Yano and two mystery partners against Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga. This is the break from all the great wrestling matches on the show.
4) Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin for the ROH heavyweight title, provided Lethal retains against A.J. Styles on 12/18. Lethal has held the title since 6/19. What’s notable is that both of these guys are not signed up for the long term, at least right now. So whatever the plans were when the match was booked, they could end up differently if one or the other is leaving ROH. My gut says under normal circumstances this is a title change since Lethal has held the title since June, and it kind of makes sense for the prestige of the ROH title to have it change hands before 30,000 or more fans at the Dome, with part of the deal being the rights to broadcast the match on ROH television. I don’t know that all or any of this happens, but that’s what makes sense to me if I’m ROH and can work it out. This is by far the biggest match of Lethal’s career and Elgin is a favorite with the regular New Japan fan base, but when you have 30,000 fans, it could be hard for these two, with one not being a regular.
5) Kenny Omega vs. Kushida for the IWGP jr. championship. Make no mistake about it, New Japan still exists and always will exist for the Japanese to get over. The foreigners are always the “opponents.” Kushida is the current generation top Japanese junior heavyweight. When Omega won the title, it felt like the only reason now to have the win is so Kushida could chase and win it back here. I can’t imagine, even with Omega’s propensity toward overacting, that this won’t be an excellent match.
6) Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma for the IWGP tag titles. Anderson & Gallows have had a long run as champions, while they’ve lost it twice during the period, the 1/4 show will mark the second year anniversary of their domination of the belts. So for that reason, I could see a switch. On the other hand, it’s a moral win for Honma to just win the tag team tournament and get the shot. He doesn’t have to win the title first time out. But with Honma chasing, this should be a strong match.
7) Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito. This is just a straight singles match. Naito did pin Goto to win the semifinal of the tournament. But this is Naito’s time, and it’s Goto’s time to put Naito over where he should challenge for either the IWGP or IC titles next. The match can’t be bad, but Naito’s new style leads to a different and actually less exciting style match even though it’s a fresher character.
8) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the Never Open weight title. These two should have a great match. They had an incredible series of bouts in 2014 and now it’s a championship match. Shibata hasn’t been given the big singles win on a major show that he probably deserves. I think this is both the time and place. Plus it leads to a new dynamic with Shibata defending a title on big shows next year.
9) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. A.J. Styles for the IC title. Everything about this match depends on Styles’ physical condition. Styles has lost most of his major singles matches of late, to Tanahashi in the G-1 block finals and to Okada in an IWGP title match at King of Pro Wrestling. He’s never held this title. Plus, this is a new program and it’s better for Styles to win the first one for program longevity. But that is dependent on his condition. If both are healthy, they’ll have a killer match, and hopefully both are at least close to healthy and can have the match expected.
10) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP heavyweight title. The Brisco-Funk, Flair-Steamboat or Misawa-Kobashi of the modern era headlines for the third time in four years on this show. The match will almost surely be outstanding. Few big match wrestlers in history are any better than these two. This year just feels like it’s Okada’s time.
Wrestle Kingdom is being groomed to be New Japan’s version of WrestleMania week. This year they will have a fan fest, as well as three shows, a four-match Fan Fest show at Differ Ariake in Tokyo on 1/3 with the wrestlers not on the Dome main card, and the 1/5 show at Korakuen Hall, which will shoot angles for the February big show or shows.
New Japan officially announced its biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 10, with pretty much the lineup we speculated on last week.
The card, which starts at just after 2:30 a.m. on a Monday morning Eastern time, 11:30 p.m. Sunday night Pacific, is only available on New Japan World.
1) A New Japan Rumble. This follows the tradition set last year. It’s for guys not booked on the main card, such as Jay White, Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, David Finlay, Yohei Komatsu, Sho Tanaka, Juice Robinson, Mascara Dorada, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Evil, Bushi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Captain New Japan, Cody Hall along with surprise outsiders from other promotions and some legends from the past. They will probably only announce a few names ahead of time. Japan does not do Battle Royal type matches as well as the U.S., so this is more just the chance for the crowd to pop if somebody like Kabuki or Riki Choshu or someone like that shows up.
2) Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defend the IWGP Jr. Tag titles against The Young Bucks, Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta and Matt Sydal & Ricochet. This will be a spot fest and that’s what they are looking for out of this match. It’s tough for juniors to get a big reaction at the Dome, but really all four of these teams are not your normal teams. This is really a hell of a collection of talent, and for Ricochet, it’s the biggest stage he’ll have ever performed on and they don’t get more talented than him.
3) Toru Yano and two mystery partners against Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga. This is the break from all the great wrestling matches on the show.
4) Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin for the ROH heavyweight title, provided Lethal retains against A.J. Styles on 12/18. Lethal has held the title since 6/19. What’s notable is that both of these guys are not signed up for the long term, at least right now. So whatever the plans were when the match was booked, they could end up differently if one or the other is leaving ROH. My gut says under normal circumstances this is a title change since Lethal has held the title since June, and it kind of makes sense for the prestige of the ROH title to have it change hands before 30,000 or more fans at the Dome, with part of the deal being the rights to broadcast the match on ROH television. I don’t know that all or any of this happens, but that’s what makes sense to me if I’m ROH and can work it out. This is by far the biggest match of Lethal’s career and Elgin is a favorite with the regular New Japan fan base, but when you have 30,000 fans, it could be hard for these two, with one not being a regular.
5) Kenny Omega vs. Kushida for the IWGP jr. championship. Make no mistake about it, New Japan still exists and always will exist for the Japanese to get over. The foreigners are always the “opponents.” Kushida is the current generation top Japanese junior heavyweight. When Omega won the title, it felt like the only reason now to have the win is so Kushida could chase and win it back here. I can’t imagine, even with Omega’s propensity toward overacting, that this won’t be an excellent match.
6) Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma for the IWGP tag titles. Anderson & Gallows have had a long run as champions, while they’ve lost it twice during the period, the 1/4 show will mark the second year anniversary of their domination of the belts. So for that reason, I could see a switch. On the other hand, it’s a moral win for Honma to just win the tag team tournament and get the shot. He doesn’t have to win the title first time out. But with Honma chasing, this should be a strong match.
7) Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito. This is just a straight singles match. Naito did pin Goto to win the semifinal of the tournament. But this is Naito’s time, and it’s Goto’s time to put Naito over where he should challenge for either the IWGP or IC titles next. The match can’t be bad, but Naito’s new style leads to a different and actually less exciting style match even though it’s a fresher character.
8) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the Never Open weight title. These two should have a great match. They had an incredible series of bouts in 2014 and now it’s a championship match. Shibata hasn’t been given the big singles win on a major show that he probably deserves. I think this is both the time and place. Plus it leads to a new dynamic with Shibata defending a title on big shows next year.
9) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. A.J. Styles for the IC title. Everything about this match depends on Styles’ physical condition. Styles has lost most of his major singles matches of late, to Tanahashi in the G-1 block finals and to Okada in an IWGP title match at King of Pro Wrestling. He’s never held this title. Plus, this is a new program and it’s better for Styles to win the first one for program longevity. But that is dependent on his condition. If both are healthy, they’ll have a killer match, and hopefully both are at least close to healthy and can have the match expected.
10) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP heavyweight title. The Brisco-Funk, Flair-Steamboat or Misawa-Kobashi of the modern era headlines for the third time in four years on this show. The match will almost surely be outstanding. Few big match wrestlers in history are any better than these two. This year just feels like it’s Okada’s time.
Wrestle Kingdom is being groomed to be New Japan’s version of WrestleMania week. This year they will have a fan fest, as well as three shows, a four-match Fan Fest show at Differ Ariake in Tokyo on 1/3 with the wrestlers not on the Dome main card, and the 1/5 show at Korakuen Hall, which will shoot angles for the February big show or shows.
Lucha Underground
Rey Mysterio finally debuted at the TV tapings on 12/12, which also saw the introduction of the monster, Matanza Cueto, as the brother of Dario Cueto who has super powers. Matanza (Jeff Cobb), who captured the Lucha Underground title, pinning Mysterio in the finals of an Aztec Warfare (Royal Rumble only with pin eliminations instead of over the top rope), the next night suffered a knee injury in a match with Mil Muertes when he was hip tossed over the top rope and landed badly. It was a weird scene because he couldn’t continue. Everyone stopped and didn’t know how to react.
Mysterio was said to have looked fine and worked with no problems, doing mostly safe stuff. He had been on crutches and didn’t wrestle at the AAA tapings last week.
Rey Mysterio finally debuted at the TV tapings on 12/12, which also saw the introduction of the monster, Matanza Cueto, as the brother of Dario Cueto who has super powers. Matanza (Jeff Cobb), who captured the Lucha Underground title, pinning Mysterio in the finals of an Aztec Warfare (Royal Rumble only with pin eliminations instead of over the top rope), the next night suffered a knee injury in a match with Mil Muertes when he was hip tossed over the top rope and landed badly. It was a weird scene because he couldn’t continue. Everyone stopped and didn’t know how to react.
Mysterio was said to have looked fine and worked with no problems, doing mostly safe stuff. He had been on crutches and didn’t wrestle at the AAA tapings last week.
ROH Final Battle
A.J. Styles has apparently had a good week since he’s been out of the ring for two weeks leading up to the 12/18 Final Battle main event.
Listed for the PPV is this match order: Cheeseburger vs. Brutal Bob which will air live on Youtube as the preshow match at 8:30 p.m., followed by the PPV starting at 9 p.m. Eastern from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with The Young Bucks vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus with the winners becoming the top contenders for the tag titles; Moose vs. Michael Elgin; Dalton Castle vs. Silas Young; Alex Shelley & ACH & Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Chris Sabin (interesting to note the Motor City Machine Guns, Shelley vs. Sabin who were longtime partners in TNA and Japan against each other); Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish for the TV title, Michael Bennett & Matt Taven defending the tag titles against Hanson & Ray Rowe and a main event of Lethal vs. Styles
A.J. Styles has apparently had a good week since he’s been out of the ring for two weeks leading up to the 12/18 Final Battle main event.
Listed for the PPV is this match order: Cheeseburger vs. Brutal Bob which will air live on Youtube as the preshow match at 8:30 p.m., followed by the PPV starting at 9 p.m. Eastern from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with The Young Bucks vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus with the winners becoming the top contenders for the tag titles; Moose vs. Michael Elgin; Dalton Castle vs. Silas Young; Alex Shelley & ACH & Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Chris Sabin (interesting to note the Motor City Machine Guns, Shelley vs. Sabin who were longtime partners in TNA and Japan against each other); Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish for the TV title, Michael Bennett & Matt Taven defending the tag titles against Hanson & Ray Rowe and a main event of Lethal vs. Styles
TNA News
Destination America has pretty much thrown in the towel on TNA. Originally the show was going to run until the end of the year, but on 12/16, it was scheduled to be moved from 9-11 p.m. to out of prime time from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., with just one airing instead of two. There is no listing for the show on 12/23 or 12/30, so it appears that will be the last episode. I believe one of those shows, if not both, were originally scheduled to be taped in India, but it’s not like they couldn’t throw matches together that have been taped to fill the slots as they’ve been doing. Then they start on 1/5 with the live show from Bethlehem, PA
The decision seems to be to not go with the original results of the TNA title tournament with Bobby Lashley winning, as they announced that both the semifinals and the finals of the tournament would be airing live (which may be on a few hour tape delay) on the debut on POP TV on 1/5 from Bethlehem, PA. The semifinals remain Bobby Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III and Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young. In the original tournament, Lashley beat Carter III via count out and Hardy beat Young, and Lashley beat Hardy in the tournament finals
Jeff Hardy needs another surgery, I believe on his knee, and we’re told he won’t be wrestling until likely late 2016 although the timetable isn’t a certainty until they do the surgery. He also has told friends that he’ll no longer be able to wrestle the style he had in the past, and will have to tone things down. The broken leg he suffered in the dirt bike accident at his home track was easily the worst injury he’s suffered in his life. Both Hardys deals with TNA are up in about 10 to 12 weeks
Kurt Angle has made it clear that he’s not announcing his retirement, only his retirement from TNA after his contract expires at the end of January. He said that if he never wrestles again, he’d be fine with it.
TNA has been aggressively going after some talent whose contracts with other promotions are either set to expire or are free agents right now. In the case of one act, they’ve talked about outside programming ideas as part of the lure to get them. Of course, Destination America started out all gung ho about all kinds of new and different programming last year at this time and you saw the results quickly when they didn’t get the numbers expected and were having trouble selling ad time. But there are people listening to offers and obviously they want to have a few surprise debuts on the first show. The ROH names who have expired would obviously be on the list. They would also be looking at Americans in overseas groups whose deals are up. Right now key factor is that TNA is wanting talent to be with them and not also have deals with New Japan, although in some cases that could change because with some with that leverage that could be a deal breaker
Pop TV Brad Schwartz in interviews has talked about how TNA was getting 1.3 million viewers on Spike and they think that’s a base they can build from. If he really thinks that, the odds are he’ll be really disappointed fast, but if he was just saying that for press and is really expecting far less than that, maybe things will be better. If he’s even expecting 1 million viewers, that’s not good at all for the company long-term as they were falling below that on Spike, and Spike is a far higher profile station, far better for a pro wrestling show due to regular audience, and Spike at the time TNA left was in 24 million more homes than Pop is in right now.
Destination America has pretty much thrown in the towel on TNA. Originally the show was going to run until the end of the year, but on 12/16, it was scheduled to be moved from 9-11 p.m. to out of prime time from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., with just one airing instead of two. There is no listing for the show on 12/23 or 12/30, so it appears that will be the last episode. I believe one of those shows, if not both, were originally scheduled to be taped in India, but it’s not like they couldn’t throw matches together that have been taped to fill the slots as they’ve been doing. Then they start on 1/5 with the live show from Bethlehem, PA
The decision seems to be to not go with the original results of the TNA title tournament with Bobby Lashley winning, as they announced that both the semifinals and the finals of the tournament would be airing live (which may be on a few hour tape delay) on the debut on POP TV on 1/5 from Bethlehem, PA. The semifinals remain Bobby Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III and Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young. In the original tournament, Lashley beat Carter III via count out and Hardy beat Young, and Lashley beat Hardy in the tournament finals
Jeff Hardy needs another surgery, I believe on his knee, and we’re told he won’t be wrestling until likely late 2016 although the timetable isn’t a certainty until they do the surgery. He also has told friends that he’ll no longer be able to wrestle the style he had in the past, and will have to tone things down. The broken leg he suffered in the dirt bike accident at his home track was easily the worst injury he’s suffered in his life. Both Hardys deals with TNA are up in about 10 to 12 weeks
Kurt Angle has made it clear that he’s not announcing his retirement, only his retirement from TNA after his contract expires at the end of January. He said that if he never wrestles again, he’d be fine with it.
TNA has been aggressively going after some talent whose contracts with other promotions are either set to expire or are free agents right now. In the case of one act, they’ve talked about outside programming ideas as part of the lure to get them. Of course, Destination America started out all gung ho about all kinds of new and different programming last year at this time and you saw the results quickly when they didn’t get the numbers expected and were having trouble selling ad time. But there are people listening to offers and obviously they want to have a few surprise debuts on the first show. The ROH names who have expired would obviously be on the list. They would also be looking at Americans in overseas groups whose deals are up. Right now key factor is that TNA is wanting talent to be with them and not also have deals with New Japan, although in some cases that could change because with some with that leverage that could be a deal breaker
Pop TV Brad Schwartz in interviews has talked about how TNA was getting 1.3 million viewers on Spike and they think that’s a base they can build from. If he really thinks that, the odds are he’ll be really disappointed fast, but if he was just saying that for press and is really expecting far less than that, maybe things will be better. If he’s even expecting 1 million viewers, that’s not good at all for the company long-term as they were falling below that on Spike, and Spike is a far higher profile station, far better for a pro wrestling show due to regular audience, and Spike at the time TNA left was in 24 million more homes than Pop is in right now.