The following matches were taped for tonight’s AEW Dark episode on YouTube:
* Brandon Cutler vs. Joey Janela
* Nyla Rose vs. “The Librarian” Leva Bates w/Peter Avalon
* Cody, Dustin Rhodes, and The Young Bucks vs. Private Party, CIMA, and T-Hawk
* Taz will make a guest commentator appearance.
“Good ol’ J.R.” Jim Ross took to his Grilling J.R. podcast this week to open up about why exactly he chose to sign a contract with All Elite Wrestling earlier this year. Ross admitted to listeners that money and the people involved with the company were major deciding factors when he signed, however, he would prefer the in-ring action to have less “flips and flops”.
“Somebody said, ‘Well, why are you at AEW?’ Because they pay me a lot of money, and I like the people I work for, and I love wrestling and love helping these young kids,” J.R. said. “Are they doing too many flips and flops for my taste? Yeah they are to be honest with you, they sure are. But they’re weaning themselves off that a little bit because that type of wrestling is not new and fresh anymore. How many times have you seen a 450 [splash]? A 620 [splash]… Now it’s not new anymore. It’s not new!”
Ross believes that using a more traditional approach and incorporating psychology to engage the viewer will ultimately be the style that AEW builds itself around.
“So we’ve got to figure out something else to get the people’s attention,” J.R. explained. “It might be a wrestling match; it might be using psychology and grabbing them by the emotional balls and pulling them right along in the story.”
J.R. signed a 3-year deal earlier this year as a Senior Advisor for AEW. The statement issued out at that time called his contract “the most lucrative deal in pro wrestling commentary history”.
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to Grilling J.R. podcast
During an interview with Lucha Libre AAA’s Hugo Savinovich, Kenny Omega revealed that he will be bringing the AAA Mega Championship. Omega won the title Saturday night at AAA Heroes Inmortales XIII from Fenix.
“I’ve always been a man who said to make history everywhere I go,” Omega said. “I never said it would be easy. Does it look like it was easy? Fenix, you’re still one of the best, I’m just better. You were a great champion, but I will be better. That title, Mega Championship, you might see it back in Mexico, but you will, I promise you, you will see it in AEW.”
Back in February, AEW and AAA formed a working partnership.
The whole interview can be watched in the video below:
Source: Wrestling Inc.
AEW Dynamite has topped WWE NXT in viewership for the third week in a row, but viewership for both has continued to drop since their TV debuts.
Wednesday’s Dynamite episode on TNT drew 1.014 million viewers while NXT drew 712,000 viewers on the USA Network, according to Showbuzz Daily. AEW topped NXT in total viewership by 42.4%.
AEW ranked #5 in the Cable Top 150, while NXT ranked #30. AEW ranked #25 in viewership, for the second week in a row, while NXT ranked #35 in viewership.
Last week’s Dynamite episode drew 1.018 million viewers and ranked #8 in the Cable Top 150, and #25 in viewership, so it dropped 0.4%, not including the airing on truTV last week. Last week’s NXT episode drew 790,000 viewers and ranked #27 in the Cable Top 150, and #33 in viewership, so it dropped 10%.
AEW drew a 0.44 rating in the 18-49 demographic, topping the 0.20 that NXT drew in the same demo by 120%. Last week’s AEW episode drew a 0.46 in that demographic while NXT drew a 0.22.
Last week’s Dynamite episode aired on truTV due to MLB coverage getting in the way of the regular schedule, and the show drew an additional 122,000 on trueTV. Dynamite did not air on truTV this week, just the regular timeslot on TNT.
Basketball Wives topped the night in the 18-49 demographic at #1 with a 0.54 rating, but just 1.208 million viewers. Tucker Carlson Tonight topped the night on cable in viewership with 4.068 million viewers, but ranking #11 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Chicago Med on NBC at 9pm topped the night in viewership on network TV with 8.934 million viewers. The Masked Singer on FOX at 8pm topped the night on network TV in the 18-49 demographic with a 2.2 rating.
To compare, Monday’s WWE Draft edition of RAW on the USA Network drew an average of 2.287 million viewers, down from last week’s 2.334 million viewers for the post-Hell In a Cell episode, and ranked #13 for the night in viewership on cable and #6 in the Cable Top 150 with a 0.74 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Tuesday’s WWE Backstage preview episode that aired on FS1 at 8:13pm drew 597,000 viewers and ranked #25 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.20 cable rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Below is 2019 NXT Viewership Tracker:
September 18 Episode: 1.179 million viewers (one hour on the USA Network)
September 25 Episode: 1.006 million viewers (one hour on the USA Network)
October 2 Episode: 891,000 viewers (season premiere, both hours on the USA Network)
October 9 Episode: 790,000 viewers
October 16 Episode: 712,000 viewers
Below is 2019 AEW Dynamite Viewership Tracker:
October 2 Episode: 1.409 million viewers (premiere episode)
October 9 Episode: 1.018 million viewers (on TNT, 122k on truTV)
October 16 Episode: 1.014 million viewers
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Luchasaurus did not compete on last night’s AEW Dynamite episode due to a hamstring injury.
Luchasaurus was scheduled to team with Jungleboy to face Rey Fenix and Pentagon in a first round match in the AEW Tag Team Titles tournament. Due to the injury, Jungleboy will now be teaming with Marko Stunt.
AEW officials reportedly decided to pull Luchasaurus from the match this afternoon, so he did not risk further injury.
There’s no word yet on when Luchasaurus will be back in action.
WarnerMedia has confirmed an official All Elite Wrestling podcast hosted by Brandi Rhodes is currently in the works.
The media company made a slew of podcast related announcements today at an upfront for advertisers and one of the things mentioned was an official AEW podcast.
According to WarnerMedia, the podcast is currently in development with the wrestling promotion’s Chief Brand Officer as host and targeted to launch by the end of the year.
No additional information on the podcast has been made available at this time.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite will air live from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Below is the current card:
* Chris Jericho (c) vs. Darby Allin (Philadelphia Street Fight for the AEW World Championship)
* Riho (c) vs. Britt Baker (AEW Women’s World Championship)
* AEW World Tag Team Titles Tournament First Round Match: SoCal Uncensored vs. Best Friends
* AEW World Tag Team Titles Tournament First Round Match: Lucha Bros vs. Jurassic Express
* “Hangman” Adam Page and Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley and PAC
The following matches were taped for tonight’s AEW Dark episode on YouTube:
* The Dark Order vs. Cima and SoCal Uncensored vs. Angelico and Jack Evans
* Peter Avalon vs. Sonny Kiss vs. Kip Sabian
* Unsanctioned Lights Out Match: Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela
Comedian and multifaceted talent, Kevin Smith, recently appeared alongside Chris Jericho on The Rich Eisen Show to discuss the new Jay And Silent Bob reboot film that hits theaters next week. Smith and Jericho finally revealed the AEW World Champion’s role in upcoming film: a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan.
“It’s a road movie, so it’s Jay and Silent Bob across the country. And it’s 2019 so they encounter all sorts of different personalities,” Smith said. “At one point, they encounter the Ku Klux Klan and Chris plays the lead Klansman.”
“Grand Wizard of the selected half of the Ku Klux Klan,” Chris specified.
Smith noted how much of a departure the role actually is for someone like Jericho, however, he still jumped into it with enthusiasm. Jericho attempted to channel the spirit of Henry Gibson from The Blues Brothers when creating his character.
“Now anyone who knows this man knows that this is acting; they should give him an Oscar because he’s so far apart from it. When I asked him, ‘Can you do this?’ He said, ‘There’s nothing else in there?’ I said, ‘No’. He said, ‘Alright, I’ll do it,” Smith said.
“There was no, ‘Oh, nothing else in there’. Are you kidding me? I love that sort of stuff, like the Ku Klux Klan? I’m in! I love it!” Chris said.
“He compared it to – and I was so flattered, and that’s why I was like, ‘Oh man, he is my boy’, he was like, ‘Look, I’m Henry Gibson in the Blues Brothers just make sure you give me an outline.’ And I was like, ‘He gets it, he absolutely gets it.’ So, Chris has my favorite ad-libbed moment in the movie, ad-libbed line which we came up with on the spot because he was like, ‘You’ve got to give me an out. Give me a big line to go out in.’ And we found one, it was great,” Kevin said. “But you can’t ask many people, you know, ‘Put on a white hood and be hated’, and they’ll do it for you. Man, this sweetheart of a guy did it. We couldn’t put him on the poster because he was wearing a hood; we had to change it.”
The obvious controversy surrounding the KKK forced Smith to leave Jericho off of the movie’s trailer and theatrical poster. They went into detail about how they actually filmed the scene with the KKK, noting how surprised they were that there wasn’t more outrage while shooting the scene near downtown New Orleans.
“I was like, ‘Why am I not in the trailer?’ He’s like, ‘Dude, you’re in the KKK. We can’t put that in the trailer.’ I don’t know if we have time for this quickly but when we were filming this in New Orleans and you have fifteen guys, extras with Ku Klux Klan outfits on and there’s a cross that had lights on it that simulated fire,” Chris explained. “So, there’s a Klan rally with a burning cross under an overpass in basically downtown New Orleans. I don’t know how we didn’t get shot or have members join us.”
“On Instagram, we saw one week later of somebody [filming] us from above like as they’re driving by, going, ‘I cannot believe they’re having a Klan rally right in the open like this.’ To be fair, the Klan played as bad in the movie – they’re bad guys. Just in case anyone out there is like, ‘I’m buying a ticket!’ And we’re like, ‘We’re bad guys.’ And they go, ‘Oh, I don’t want a ticket.’ They’re bad guys,” Kevin finished.
We first reported back in March that Jericho was announced as part of the cast for the Jay And Silent Bob reboot film. Although this is the first time Jericho is appearing in a film alongside Jason Mewes (Jay), this is actually the second time that Smith and Jericho have worked on a movie together. Jericho will be a part of the forthcoming horror anthology Killroy Was Here, which was also directed by Kevin Smith and wrapped filming this month.
During this same interview Smith revealed that WWE cancelled a scheduled appearance at last week’s Friday Night SmackDown because of his close ties to AEW and Chris Jericho.
“Me and Jay were lucky enough to be involved, Chris invited us to be involved with the debut match on TNT,” Smith said. “We were supposed to go do WWE, me and Jay, the very next day, which was Friday. Was it Friday? SmackDown. And then the morning after… because we were on the AEW show, it trended, like, there was a lot of coverage and stuff. So, the next morning we were told that WWE was like, you can’t come on anymore, and they canceled us. They kicked me and Jay off the show, but not in a crazy way.”
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to The Rich Eisen Show
The company Bubly is capitalizing off Chris Jericho’s viral moment last month by sending “Le Champion” a little bit of the bubbly.
The current AEW World Champion shared photos on Instagram of the free sparkling water they sent him on Thursday along with a banner that says “Chris Jericho’s *a little bit of the bubly* bag.”
“Thanks to [Bubly Water] for sending me #ALittleBitOfTheBubbly…. albeit of a different kind,” he captioned the post on Instagram.
In case you missed it … Jericho uttered the phrase after winning the AEW title in a post-show segment. Since then, he’sformed a faction in AEW named “The Inner Circle” consisting of Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
