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.
Scarlett Bordeaux and Shotzi Blackheart will be starting with WWE soon.
Bordeaux has cancelled her upcoming bookings, including the Fight Forever: Tribute to Bret “The Hitman” Hart event on November 23rd. NWA star Kamille Brickhouse will be replacing Bordeaux. Bordeaux will still be appearing at the Baltimore Comic Con this weekend, along with her boyfriend, Killer Kross. The Baltimore Comic Con will be Bordeaux’s final independent meet and greet before she starts with WWE.
Bordeaux spoke to Wrestling Inc. on their WINCLY podcast earlier this year. WWE has been moving in a more risqué direction this year, which Bordeaux was happy with.
“I think, for a while, there was a lot of limits on everything with women…” Bordeaux told Wrestling Inc. in January. “For a while they were pulling back the sexiness and placing a limit on what you could do. They are kinda loosening that and saying its okay to have a little bit [of sexiness] which is great.
“I’ve seen a few things the last few weeks which actually makes me really happy. They’re loosening up a little bit on the way they are stopping women being sexy.”
Blackheart, who was publicly offered an NXT developmental contract by William Regal at EVOLVE 137 this past weekend, will honor her independent dates through November 3rd. She was scheduled for others after that, however Wrestling Inc. has learned that Blackheart has cancelled those, telling promoters that she has “been informed that (she) must cancel all independent bookings past November 4th.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
On Tuesday night’s NWA Powerrr it was announced Into The Fire will be the company’s next PPV on December 14. The show will begin at 6:05 pm ET from the GSB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, currently the studio being used for its weekly show. Tickets will go on sale this Friday. TV tapings will then take place on December 15 and 16.
Below is Tuesday night’s episode of NWA Powerrr:
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
Yesterday was the second and final day of the 2019 XFL draft.
Defensive Backfield (CB, NB, SS, FS) and Open Draft (In addition to P/K/LS, all remaining players after positional drafts will be available)
Defensive Backfield
Round 21
241) Dallas Renegades – Derron Smith – SAF – Fresno State
242) New York Guardians – Jamar Summers – CB – UConn
243) Houston Roughnecks – Deji Olatoye – CB – North Carolina A&T
244) D.C. Defenders – Elijah Campbell – CB – Northern Iowa
245) Los Angeles Wildcats – Jack Tocho – CB – NC State
246) Seattle Dragons – Jhavonte Dean – CB – Miami
247) St. Louis BattleHawks – Herb Miller – SAF – Florida Atlantic
248) Tampa Bay Vipers – Arrion Springs – CB – Oregon
Round 22
249) Tampa Bay Vipers – Picasso Nelson – CB – Southern Miss
250) St. Louis BattleHawks – Will Hill – SAF – Florida
251) Seattle Dragons – Chris Davis – CB – Auburn
252) Los Angeles Wildcats – Jaylen Dunlap – CB – Illinois
253) D.C. Defenders – Desmond Lawrence – CB – North Carolina
254) Houston Roughnecks – Robert Nelson – CB – Arizona State
255) New York Guardians – Lorenzo Doss – CB – Tulane
256) Dallas Renegades – Treston Decoud – CB – Oregon State
Round 23
257) Dallas Renegades – Dashaun Phillips – CB – Tarleton State
258) New York Guardians – David Rivers – CB – Youngstown State
259) Houston Roughnecks – Trae Elston – SAF – Ole Miss
260) D.C. Defenders – Jalen Myrick – CB – Minnesota
261) Los Angeles Wildcats – C.J. Moore – CB North – Carolina Central
262) Seattle Dragons – Kentrell Brice – SAF – Louisiana Tech
263) St. Louis BattleHawks – D’Montre Wade – CB – Murray State
264) Tampa Bay Vipers – Demontre Hurst – CB – Oklahoma
Round 24
265) Tampa Bay Vipers Jude Adjei-Barimah – CB – Bowling Green
266) St. Louis BattleHawks – Dexter McCoil – SAF – Tulsa
267) Seattle Dragons – Steve Williams – CB – California
268) Los Angeles Wildcats – Roman Tatum – CB – Southern Illinois
269) D.C. Defenders – Doran Grant – CB – Ohio State
270) Houston Roughnecks – Marqueston Huff – SAF – Wyoming
271) New York Guardians – Dravon Askew-Henry – SAF – West Virginia
272) Dallas Renegades – Kurtis Drummond – SAF – Michigan State
Round 25
273) Dallas Renegades – Josh Hawkins – CB – East Carolina
274) New York Guardians – Demetrious Cox – SAF – Michigan State
275) Houston Roughnecks – SaQwan Edwards – SAF – New Mexico
276) D.C. Defenders – Bradley Sylve – CB – Alabama
277) Los Angeles Wildcats – Jordan Powell – SAF – Widener
278) Seattle Dragons – Channing Stribling – CB – Michigan
279) St. Louis BattleHawks – Kenny Robinson – SAF – West Virginia
280) Tampa Bay Vipers – Marcelis Branch – SAF – Robert Morris
Round 26
281) Tampa Bay Vipers – Micah Hannemann – SAF – BYU
282) St. Louis BattleHawks – Marquez White – CB – Florida State
283) Seattle Dragons – Cody Brown – SAF – Arkansas State
284) Los Angeles Wildcats – Ahmad Dixon – SAF – Baylor
285) D.C. Defenders – Reggie Cole – CB – Mary Hardin-Baylor
286) Houston Roughnecks – Ed Reynolds – SAF – Stanford
287) New York Guardians – Andrew Soroh – SAF – Florida Atlantic
288) Dallas Renegades – Montrel Meander – SAF – Grambling State
Round 27
289) Dallas Renegades – John Franklin – III – CB Auburn
290) New York Guardians – Jeremiah McKinnon – CB – Florida International
291) Houston Roughnecks – Brendan Langley – CB – Lamar
292) D.C. Defenders – Rahim Moore – SAF – UCLA
293) Los Angeles Wildcats – Harlan Miller – CB – Southeastern Louisiana
294) Seattle Dragons – Jordan Martin – SAF – Syracuse
295) St. Louis BattleHawks – Trovon Reed – CB – Auburn
296) Tampa Bay Vipers – Lashard Durr – CB – Mississippi State
Round 28
297) Tampa Bay Vipers – Herb Waters – CB – Miami
298) St. Louis BattleHawks – Joe Powell – SAF – Globe Tech
299) Seattle Dragons – Tyson Graham – SAF – South Dakota
300) Los Angeles Wildcats – Jerome Couplin – SAF – William & Mary
301) D.C. Defenders – Tyree Kinnel – SAF – Michigan
302) Houston Roughnecks – Kendall Adams – SAF – Kansas State
303) New York Guardians – Terrence Alexander – CB – LSU
304) Dallas Renegades – Doyin Jibowu – SAF – Fort Hays State
Round 29
305) Dallas Renegades – Donatello Brown – CB – Valdosta State
306) New York Guardians – Nydair Rouse – CB – West Chester
307) Houston Roughnecks – Deatrick Nichols – CB – South Florida
308) D.C. Defenders – Carlos Merritt – SAF – Campbell
309) Los Angeles Wildcats – Mike Stevens – CB – NC State
310) Seattle Dragons – Mohammed Seisay – CB – Nebraska
311) St. Louis BattleHawks – Trey Caldwell – CB – Louisiana Monroe
312) Tampa Bay Vipers – Robenson Therezie – SAF – Auburn
Round 30
313) Tampa Bay Vipers – Bryce Canady – CB – Florida International
314) St. Louis BattleHawks – Ryan White – CB – Auburn
315) Seattle Dragons – Sterling Moore – CB – SMU
316) Los Angeles Wildcats – Bryce Cheek – CB – Akron
317) D.C. Defenders – Ladarius Gunter – CB – Miami
318) Houston Roughnecks – Justin Martin – CB – Tennessee
319) New York Guardians – Ranthony Texada – CB – TCU
320) Dallas Renegades – Ronald Martin – SAF – LSU
Open Draft
https://twitter.com/XFLBattleHawks/status/1184585466127048705
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
Tonight’s WWE NXT will air live from Full Sail Live in Winter Park, FL.
As noted earlier at this link, WWE announced that Eric Bischoff is no longer with the company. Bruce Prichard has replaced him as the SmackDown Executive Director.
The firing of Bischoff was not a shock to people close to the situation in WWE, according to F4Wonline.com. The departure came earlier this morning. PWInsider adds that Bischoff was informed of the release after a SmackDown creative meeting at WWE HQ in Stamford, CT.
Regarding Prichard, WWE’s press release on the Executive Director change acknowledged that Prichard was hired to work the WWE creative team earlier this year, but it did not mention how he was also hired to work as Senior Vice President a month later. Bischoff was hired to be the blue brand Executive Director back in June when Paul Heyman was hired as the RAW Executive Director. Bischoff was to work closely with FOX network officials in heading up the blue brand. It was reported at the time that Prichard was the one who would acclimate Bischoff to the new role, and that Prichard was the one who pushed the hardest for WWE to hire Bischoff in the role.
It was reported today by Dave Meltzer that Prichard and SmackDown head writer Ed Koskey will be the main people in charge of the blue brand going forward. Prichard had been working with Bischoff up until today’s departure. John Pollock of POST Wrestling added that even with the the recent creative team splits between RAW and SmackDown, Prichard was one of the few that was still attending both shows.
There’s no word yet on if FOX officials had any influence when it came to WWE firing Bischoff. Meltzer noted on Twitter that FOX originally wanted Heyman to work as the Executive Director of SmackDown. There’s no word yet on why WWE went with Heyman for RAW and Bischoff for SmackDown.
Regarding Bischoff’s future, there’s also no word yet on what Bischoff has planned. PWInsider noted that Bischoff likely does not have the standard 90-day non-compete clause in his contract because he was an executive, not a talent, and he could appear in another promotion if he wanted. We noted before that Bischoff and his family recently moved from their property in Wyoming to live in Connecticut so he could be close to WWE HQ. It’s unknown if they still have property there, or if they plan on staying in Connecticut.
It was noted by Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live that some people in the company saw Bischoff’s release coming. Morale had been down for a while but it reportedly took a bigger hit on October 1 when the changes were being made. According to Alvarez, there’s been a belief among some in WWE, including Vince McMahon, that going to FOX and making other changes would bring this new “boom period” for the company but the feeling among some is that reality has set in, and they see that this “boom period” kickoff isn’t happening.
It was also reported by Alvarez on WOL that a lot of people didn’t like working under Bischoff, and that some of the people who did work under him wanted to quit. Bischoff was allegedly hard to get in touch with and often hard to find backstage. Alvarez said he had heard that Bischoff barely did anything and was often seen in catering. Some people who talked weren’t even sure what Bischoff was doing at times. Bischoff’s critics also alleged that he didn’t really know anyone and wasn’t familiar with the talents, and that he didn’t go out of his way to learn. Bischoff had noted in media interviews after being hired that he was spending some time to get familiar with the product and the roster, admitting that he wasn’t fully caught up with everything. Alvarez said he always heard “zero good things” about Bischoff, at least from his sources, and that there was always a lot of negative talk. Alvarez also noted that his sources recalled how Bischoff would show up for meetings and then “vanish” with people not being able to find him. We don’t know if Bischoff was off handling other company business, but it’s possible. Alvarez also talked about how he would ask who was running the show if Bischoff was nowhere to be found, and they would name Prichard. With that said, it’s believed that there will be no drastic creative changes now that Prichard is taking the role because he’s been handling some of those duties.
Back when Bischoff was first hired, it was believed by some that he was largely being hired as a scapegoat, and they speculated that he would be fired when something went wrong. It was speculated that the SmackDown ratings may have led to Bischoff’s departure but that’s unlikely for a few reasons. SmackDown has only been on FOX for two weeks and it was expected that the second week would be down from the premiere because the premiere was also billed as a nostalgia show for the 20th Anniversary, and there are almost always drops in viewership following those events. As we’ve noted, the FOX premiere drew an average of 3.888 million viewers while Friday’s Draft episode averaged 2.877 million viewers.
There are rumors of more releases and shake-up-related releases possibly coming soon, according to WOL, but this has not been confirmed. Stay tuned for more updates on Bischoff’s departure and future, and any other changes that are made.
Bischoff took to Twitter and commented on Bruce taking over the gig.
“Bruce is a great producer, good friend and I am certain he is going to thrive in his position. 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,” Bischoff wrote in the tweet seen below.
https://twitter.com/EBischoff/status/1184193985952268288
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The WWE Draft continued during the company’s weekly morning show “The Bump” on Wednesday where multiple “free agents” were signed to new brands.
The following wrestlers were drafted to Raw:
As for SmackDown, they “signed” the following:
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross were traded to SmackDown last night — as announced by Triple on FS1’s new WWE Studio Show called “Backstage.” During the announcement, Hunter claimed this move was done by Bruce Prichard after being promoted to Executive Director of SmackDown.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Triple H appeared on last night’s WWE Backstage preview show on FS1 to reveal the big “blockbuster trade” that has been teased since Monday’s RAW.
Speaking with hosts Renee Young and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, Triple H revealed that Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross will be moving to SmackDown from RAW.
There had been a lot of talk about Cross and Bliss being drafted to RAW as singles competitors on last Friday’s SmackDown. They are now officially back together as a tag team on the roster.
There’s no word yet on if RAW will receive picks from the trade, but it seems like they should.
Triple H credited the draft trade to Bruce Prichard, the new SmackDown Executive Director.
As noted, WWE announced earlier today that Prichard is replacing Eric Bischoff as the blue brand Executive Director. Bischoff is no longer with WWE. Triple H spoke about Prichard’s new WWE role and said he doesn’t know all the details, but he is excited for it. He praised Prichard for his experience, and said he thinks with Prichard at the helm of SmackDown, he can bring the show into the realm that it needs to be, to be worthy of being on FOX and everything that comes along with it. Triple H called the Executive Director change a great move and said he believes Prichard will do amazing things in the role. He also said the way he understands it, Prichard is already making big moves for the blue brand behind-the-scenes. That’s when he revealed the trade with Cross and Bliss.
https://twitter.com/WWEonFOX/status/1184265973207048192
The WWE Backstage show will officially premiere on Tuesday, November 5 at 11pm ET on FS1. Tonight’s broadcast is a special preview show.
Below is a current look at the WWE rosters from the 2019 Draft picks, not including Superstars who are currently inactive. Stay tuned for updates on the free agents.
RAW: WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Andrade and Zelina Vega, EC3, Eric Young, Sin Cara, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane, Rusev, Aleister Black, Cedric Alexander, Humberto Carrillo, Erick Rowan, Buddy Murphy, Jinder Mahal, WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth, Samoa Joe, Akira Tozawa, Shelton Benjamin, Rey Mysterio, Titus O’Neil, Liv Morgan, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, The OC, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Natalya, RAW Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders, The Street Profits
SmackDown: WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, The New Day, Apollo Crews, Drew Gulak, Heath Slater, Tamina Snuka, The B Team, Daniel Bryan, Bayley, WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn, Ali, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, Carmella, The Miz, King Baron Corbin, Chad Gable, Elias, Roman Reigns, “The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Sasha Banks, Braun Strowman, Lacey Evans, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival, Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery, Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss
Free Agents: Cesaro, AOP, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, Dana Brooke, Drake Maverick, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley, No Way Jose, Sarah Logan, The IIconics
