In an interview with Sports Illustrated, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan revealed he would be undergoing back surgery next week.
“I’m going in for another back surgery next Tuesday. They’re going to fuse six levels together, so we’ll see how I feel after that.”
There is no timetable for how long the recovery will be for Hogan. Hogan had been floating around the idea as of late of doing one last match at WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, Florida, his hometown.
Source: WrestleView
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England as the Road to Survivor Series continues. the show will be pre-taped beginning around around 1:15pm ET.
Vince McMahon called a backstage meeting at around 3pm ET on Monday before RAW to address the travel debacle coming out of WWE Crown Jewel.
Vince reiterated that there were no issues between the company and officials in Saudi Arabia, and that a mechanical issue prevented the plane from leaving when it was scheduled to, nothing else.
Vince opened the meeting up for questions from talents and nobody asked any questions, and nobody said anything about the story given to them on what happened in the Kingdom. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that there was a feeling that saying anything negative about the story given to them during the meeting wouldn’t do anyone good, and nobody spoke up. The Observer adds that the feeling on saying anything negative about the company’s Saudi story wouldn’t do anyone any good, was apparently the correct call.
Randy Orton said something during the meeting but he was just trying to break the tension by being funny. Vince responded and asked, “Anybody else want to just kiss my ass?”
The meeting was just about to wrap up when Triple H called out Karl Anderson for comments he made on Twitter, about who would be the locker room leader on Monday. As noted, Anderson tweeted, “Looking forward to seeing who the locker room leader is on Monday.. [popcorn emoji] [red heart emoji]”
Anderson reportedly didn’t say much of anything in response. There was apparently more heat to the Anderson situation as he and his wife also joked on Twitter about not going back to Saudi Arabia, but going back because they need a new pool or a second house. He tweeted, “Couldn’t pay me enough to go back .. Well that’s not true, I need a second pool, so…..”
Anderson’s wife responded, “2nd house!! Not a pool..but don’t ever go back AGAIN! We don’t need our daddy/papi/motherlover/absanderson/besttagteam etc. being held hostage while we’re at home worried to death [red heart emoji]”
You can see the Anderson tweets below.
WWE United States Champion AJ Styles spoke at the meeting but didn’t say much. Styles was very unhappy because the delay in the Kingdom caused him to miss one of his son’s wrestling matches. Rusev spoke some and mostly thanked Mark Carrano, WWE’s Senior Director of Talent Relations, for his work in quickly getting hotel rooms booked for everyone while they waited for a flight back to the United States. No one spoke about anything negatively, but there were some remarks about how at times during the debacle, the talents didn’t have access to Wi-Fi and were unable to contact their families.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Sami Zayn had been having trouble with his shoulders in recent months. This is why he has been wrestling less and was put with WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura as his mouthpiece.
There’s no word yet on when Zayn will return to regular in-ring action, but word now is that he’s OK and can wrestle, but the current role is what they have him doing. Zayn has worked some live events since being put with Nakamura, including losses to Buddy Murphy while WWE was in Australia last month, but he hasn’t wrestled regularly on TV since August, when he took losses on RAW to Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander.
AEW Dynamite has topped WWE NXT in viewership for the sixth week in a row, however it was by the smallest margin to date.
Wednesday’s Full Gear go-home edition of Dynamite on TNT drew 822,000 viewers, topping NXT’s 813,000 viewers on the USA Network by only 1.1%, according to Showbuzz Daily.
AEW ranked #8 in the Cable Top 150, while NXT ranked #12. AEW ranked #31 in viewership, while NXT ranked #32 in viewership.
For NXT, it was the best number for the show since its two-hour premiere on October 2nd. It was the second lowest number for Dynamite behind last week’s show which averaged 759,000, however that episode was against Game 7 of the World Series.
Last week’s Dynamite episode drew 789,000 viewers and ranked #6 in the Cable Top 150, and #28 in viewership, so the audience was up 4.2%. Last week’s NXT episode drew 580,000 viewers and ranked #32 in the Cable Top 150, and #42 in viewership so NXT saw a much larger 40% increase.
AEW drew a 0.35 rating in the 18-49 demographic while NXT drew a 0.30 in the same demo this week. Last week’s AEW episode drew a 0.33 in that demographic while NXT drew a 0.18.
* Monday’s Crown Jewel go-home edition of RAW on the USA Network drew an average of 2.133 million viewers, down from the previous week’s 2.342 million viewers. RAW was #4 in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150, with a 0.72 rating
To compare, this week’s pro wrestling viewership looks like this so far:
* Monday’s post-Crown Jewel edition of RAW on the USA Network drew an average of 2.136 million viewers, barely up from last week’s 2.133 million viewers, and the fourth-lowest non-holiday episode in RAW history. RAW was #12 for the night in viewership on cable and #4 in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150, for the second week in a row, with an average 0.76 cable rating
* Tuesday’s Total Divas episode on the E! network drew 191,000 viewers, down from last week’s 283,000 viewers for the lowest viewership in the history of the show. Total Divas ranked #93 on the Cable Top 150 this week with a 0.08 cable rating in the 18-49 demo
* Tuesday’s official WWE Backstage premiere on FS1 drew just 49,000 viewers in the 11pm hour. The show did not make the Cable Top 150 but drew an 0.02 cable rating in the 18-49 demographic
* Wednesday’s Full Gear go-home edition of AEW Dynamite on TNT drew 822,000 viewers, up from last week’s 789,000 viewers. Dynamite was #31 for the night in viewership on cable and #8 in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.35 rating
* Wednesday’s NXT episode on the USA Network drew 813,000 viewers, up from last week’s 580,000 viewers. NXT ranked #32 for the night in viewership on cable, and #12 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.30 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
October 23 Episode: 698,000 viewers
October 30 Episode: 580,000 viewers with a 0.18 demographic in the 18-49 demographic
November 6 Episode: 813,000 viewers with a 0.30 demographic in the 18-49 demographic
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
October 23 Episode: 963,000 viewers
October 30 Episode: 789,000 viewers with a 0.33 rating in the 18-49 demographic
November 6 Episode: 822,000 viewers with a 0.35 rating in the 18-49 demographic
The estimated attendance for Wednesday night’s Dynamite episode from Charlotte was in the 5,000 range, according to PWInsider. A hot topic on social media has been the photos going around of the empty seats on the hard cam side, which you can see below:
https://twitter.com/JayNetwork2/status/1192245097557118977
Saturday’s AEW Full Gear pay-per-view from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD, Ticketmaster shows more than 1,200 tickets left at this link. They are going for $30 – $125. There are also two floor seats that come together, and include the commemorative take-home chair, for $300 each.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode will air live from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL as the build to “Takeover: WarGames 2019” and Survivor Series continues.
WWE has not confirmed any RAW or SmackDown Superstars for tonight’s show, but it’s rumored that some will appear to continue the Survivor Series build.
According to PWInsider, Jeff Hardy is scheduled for a court appearance in Moore County Court in North Carolina this Thursday. He will be facing charges of Driving While Impaired.
As noted in October, Jeff Hardy was arrested in Moore County, North Carolina. Last summer Hardy was also arrested for public intoxication and impairment in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Hardy is currently out of action for WWE. He is recovering from knee surgery and will be out of action for 6-9 months.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Last night on WWE Backstage it was revealed that Randy Orton has signed a new multi-year WWE contract.
Back in 2010, it was reported Orton signed a ten-year deal with WWE.
Late last month Orton was posting photos with “Elite” in them, teasing a possible move to AEW with his contract expiring soon, obviously that is no longer the case.
Orton also commented on Twitter and noted the deal is “at least 5 more years.”
Triple H also commented on Orton re-signing.
“I’m glad to put the rumors to rest,” Triple H stated. “For almost two decades, Randy Orton has been a cornerstone of WWE…and Randy Orton will remain a cornerstone of WWE for a long time!”
It was announced last night on WWE Backstage that Alexa Bliss is out dealing with an undisclosed injury.
Bliss’ last appearance in the ring was at WWE Hell in a Cell on October 6 in Sacramento, California where she and Nikki Cross lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles to The Kabuki Warriors. Bliss did a run-in on RAW the next night, but that was the last time she’s been on WWE TV.
There is currently not timetable for her return.
Bliss was scheduled to appear at Ringside Fest in New York City this past Sunday, but had to cancel last minute due to a personal matter. She was replaced by WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch.
According to PWInsider, Bliss has been absent from the past couple weeks of TV tapings due to a shoulder injury.
Former Impact Wrestling star Scarlett Bordeaux has officially signed with WWE and is now training at the WWE Performance Center.
Bordeaux’s signing had been rumored for weeks, but was finally announced Tuesday morning.
She joins the Performance Center alongside three other new recruits:
As you’ll recall, Scarlett was released from Impact in June. She attended a private WWE tryout months later and was locked down with a deal shortly after.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
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