The votes are in and you have chosen a winner in match 26 of round one of The Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: AJ Styles vs. Booker T in a clash of two modern era wrestlers.
Styles started off in the Georgia indies, got a small break in WCW, but really came into his own in TNA. It seemed he might forever be a minor league superstar until he broke out in NJPW including becoming the IWGP World champion before finally coming to WWE.
Booker T was one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of the 1990s in Harlem Heat, but eventually took off as a singles star in WCW. Like Styles, he also had major career moments in TNA and WWE.
Who will win? Listen to the latest DragonKingKarl show to find out!
The first pro wrestling shows in four months with major crowds took place this past week as New Japan Pro Wrestling ran two major events at Osaka Jo Hall. Our lead story talks about the rules in place for the show, the Weekend of Evil, how the crowd was told to behave and how different it was than a U.S. or Mexico crowd, as well as a look at New Japan booking, the next major shows along with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results for both shows.
The new issue also covers:
UFC 251, the story behind all the changes to the show, match-by-match coverage, where the main event winners go next and all the business notes on the show, including what you were told and what wasn’t the case.
Reopening of Bellator and questions regarding its leading revenue stream.
Details on the WWE mask policy, the fines, the role of Kevin Owens in this and more.
Wednesday night ratings, looking at AEW, NXT, UFC and even how NASCAR figured in, where the viewers were gained and lost, as well as what every segment on the show did and some of the most staggering news imaginable when it comes to this past week’s NXT show.
WWE Extreme Rules and Impact’s Slammiversary shows coming up.
WWE and Peacock Network dealings, notes on SummerSlam this year, what numbers to look for at WWE Investors call, what factors play into the WWE Network numbers, Paul Levesque talks WWE handling of COVID, Edge talks his triceps injury, Why an angle on Raw nearly didn’t happen when one of the participants turned it down, update on Charlotte Flair, Canadian & U.K. ratings, how WWE relates to sports ratings, Matt Hardy talks Jeff Hardy angle, as well as the most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network, WWE market value and next week’s top TV bouts.
A feature on the Wednesday night UFC show.
FITE TV bringing a Japanese wrestling doubleheader to the U.S. this coming week with Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT.
Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Today’s episode of The Bump featured Bubba Ray Dudley, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura, Tegan Nox, and Robert Stone.
Stephanie McMahon talked to AdAge about WWE operating during the pandemic and addressing systemic racism.
On his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T spoke about the #NaomiDeservesBetter hashtag that trended on Twitter after her match against Lacey Evans on SmackDown last week: “That Naomi deserves a chance… they can go to hell with all these hashtags as far as I’m concerned, but I’m tired of hearing about ‘em. Don’t nobody deserve a chance, alright? First and foremost, you gotta earn your chance, your spot on the roster. This is not some kind of movement just to pull somebody up just because and I hate to sit here and say this, to even talk this way because I like Naomi. But, as far as the business goes, you get it on your merit alone. That’s it. It’s no buddy systems and I know somebody’s gonna hear me and go, ‘Well such and such got a buddy and that’s why they’re doing it.’ Yeah that may be true, but life is not fair. Sometimes, you gotta make your own breaks. Sometimes you gotta go out there and rise to the occasion when no one else thought you could and the thing is, it may not happen overnight. It’s a consistency thing that goes with that. No one expected me, including myself, to become a six-time world champion, but my persistence as far as going out to the middle of that ring and performing better than all those suckers in the locker room and the suckers in the locker room, they knew it, and the fans, they saw something different and the signs were there for Booker T on a nightly basis. That’s why I say the hashtag Naomi Deserves A Chance, whatever deserves better, I just don’t think that will serve her any purpose. People advocating for her in that way. The way that needs to be put out there from a advocating perspective is her advocating for herself when she goes out to the ring and performs on a high level and the world sees it and that right there, when you do that Naomi, you can not be denied. No one will ever say someone gave you anything and if it happened right now, tomorrow, someone blessed Naomi with the world championship, trust me, it would not feel like she did it on her own. It would have to be a movement for something like that to happen. I would’ve never wanted the world title if it was given to me that way. Me personally I wouldn’t have and Naomi, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times. Naomi is perhaps more athletic than every female in that locker room and perhaps 99 percent of females in this business. But psychology and working is two different things, and I just hope and wish that I had my hands on her for one month. Naomi would look at this business a totally different way, and that’s just my thoughts on that.”
Naomi responded to Booker T’s comments on Twitter. Sasha Banks posted in support of Naomi: “Don’t feed into useless opinions, no matter who they come from. Keep glowing and shining like you always do. You aint got nothing to prove to anyone #teambad”
William Regal on tonight’s NXT announcement: ”Serving as the General Manager or #WWENXT has been an incredible honor. To see the men and women of this brand over the last couple of months has been inspiring and invigorating. Tonight’s major announcement will be yet another step forward for @WWENXT.”
Lita will be Corey Grave’s guest on After The Bell this week.
Eric Young made his first podcast appearance post-WWE on Busted Open Radio. Young acknowledged creative problems within the company, saying “It’s hard to get a word in. Even when you’re doing nothing, it feels like you’re just trying to fix people’s mistakes all day, there is no creativity. They want everyone to do things the same, be the same and bump the same and sell the same. And there’s millions of rules, which I’m sure you guys have all heard and talked about on the show at length, and people talk about on the internet and the secret rules. Those change daily and it’s just really hard to understand what’s going on and why it’s going on. The system is flawed.”
Bobby Fulton’s son posted a medical update from his father: “MEDICAL UPDATE FROM DAD: Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers! Two powerful words IS and WAS. On Sunday morning I woke up and was spitting a large amount of blood out of my mouth. It really scared me, I called Ed Wilson and Josh Hines and they took me to the James Emergency Room. Upon getting back to the room, they gave me a CT Scan, when we got back to the emergency room, I was laying in the bed, and 5-6 people were surrounding me and they said we found the problem. There is an artery in your throat near your nose that the radiation that kind of messed up, and it is finally blown and that’s what’s bleeding, it IS right by where your tumor IS. I asked one of the people standing there does that mean I have cancer, one shook their head up and down yes. They said the artery IS where the tumor IS. They began discussing a plan to take care of this artery, they were going to destroy it and close it down. So I go, and as we’re going the artery IS where the tumor IS. So finally I asked, do I have cancer to another person, and they said we didn’t see any evidence of it (PRAISE GOD!). So I said to another person that they’ve been telling me the artery was near where the tumor IS. That person told me they should have used the word WAS and not IS. And I said, yes it makes a big difference. I’m thankful that at this time, I can say I’m cancer free. I’m thankful for all the prayers and all the love you all continue to show me. That’s why it is always important to choose your words wisely. There’s a big difference between IS and WAS.”
PWInsider is reporting that Cody’s open challenge will open tonight’s Dynamite, while Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. The Jurassic Express will be the main event.
Orange Cassidy spoke to ESPN about his start in the business, the Orange Cassidy character, and his current run with AEW.
Sky Sports Italy announced that All Elite Wrestling will be airing on the station.
Sports Illustrated talked to Cody about his open challenge segment: “We need to always be aware of the world around us. One of the charming things about what we’ve been doing is we’ve been real and we’ve been transparent. Wrestling exists outside of AEW, we are aware of that. We try to be the best wrestling, and I really think we are, but there is great wrestling outside of us, too. It’s important for us to acknowledge that.”
AEW is collaborating with Capcom for two new limited edition t-shirt designs from the Street Fighter video game series.
The Irene Aldana/Holly Holm main event that was set for August 1 if off after Aldana tested positive for COVID-19. Derek Brunson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan will be the new main event, and will stay at three rounds as opposed to the usual five round main event.
Combate Americas, which was supposed to return with shows in Miami on August 28, September 11, and September 25, has postponed those plans. Combates Americas CEO Campbell McLaren said in a statement: “This is not a decision we took lightly, and is based entirely on our focus to prioritize the safety of our employees, broadcast partners, fighters and the broader MMA community. We explored many alternatives to avoid this measure, including the possibility of moving our in-studio fights to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the state of is in a similarly precarious situation with COVID outbreaks, and it seems untenable to proceed without taking into consideration the health of those we love.”
Holm’s manager Lenny Fresquez told MMA Fighting that they were looking for another fighter for Holm to face, but the plan didn’t come together in time.
Nadia Kassem is out of her August 8 fight against Miranda Granger. Granger posted a video on Facebook saying she was pulling out of the match.
WWE has confirmed the hosts of their studio show on FS1.
Renee Young and Booker T will be the hosts of the show, which is called WWE Backstage. It will air on FS1 at 11 p.m. Eastern time/8 p.m. Pacific on Tuesdays every week starting on November 5. There will also be a preview show after game three of Major League Baseball’s American League Championship Series on Tuesday, October 15.
A press release stated that Young and Booker T will “weigh in on the biggest stories in WWE, and are joined by a rotating cast of guests and personalities, including current and former WWE Superstars.”
For the preview show, Young and Booker T will be “joined by special guests to reveal the WWE Backstage set at the FOX Studios Lot in Los Angeles, and to break in their brand-new ring.”
“WWE Backstage is a wrestling show for wrestling fans. From hardcore fans to people new to wrestling, we’ll give them a little bit of everything,” Young said. “It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be loud, we’re going to give them a ton of opinions and I can’t wait to help spread the word about SmackDown coming to FOX.”
“It’s awesome being part of the FOX family and part of this movement of Friday Night SmackDown to FOX,” Booker T said. “FOX Sports has always been the one-stop shop for sports and now it’s going to be the one-stop shop for sports and entertainment. I think this is going to be a tag team that’s going to last for a long time, and one that cannot lose. As I always say, now can you dig it, sucka?”
WWE having a weekly studio show on FS1 was first reported in May 2018. This April, Triple H confirmed the show would be debuting in the fall.
SmackDown is making its FOX debut next Friday (October 4). The premiere will feature Brock Lesnar challenging for Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship, a ladder match between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley, and appearances by legends for SmackDown’s 20th anniversary celebration.
The Owens vs. Shane ladder match has a stipulation where both of their careers are on the line.
The press release announcing WWE Backstage hyped that more information — including additional on-air personalities and special guests — will be announced at a later date.
A third name is set to join the list of two-time WWE Hall of Famers.
WWE announced via USA Today that Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) will be inducted into their Hall of Fame over WrestleMania 35 weekend. With him being inducted alongside his brother, Booker T will become a two-time WWE Hall of Famer.
Booker T was first inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame individually in 2013. Stevie Ray was the person who inducted him.
Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels (who is being inducted as part of D-Generation X this year) are the only other two-time WWE Hall of Famers.
“I was speechless for a couple of seconds. The last thing I was thinking about was the Hall of Fame,” Stevie Ray told USA Today. “I’m going to be honest with you, I hadn’t really thought about it. You know, I get the fans hitting me all the time with different things about Harlem Heat needs to be in the Hall of Fame, so on and so forth. But you never know, so I never gave it very much thought.”
“It was surprising, actually, I guess because one reason, my brother and I, we never actually wrestled in the WWE,” Booker T said. “My brother took a step aside at that point in time because he had a daughter, and he wanted to see her grow up and see her go to college. He got a chance to do that. But our career in WCW was awesome.
“My brother and I were together for eight and a half years in WCW and together another two years prior in the Global Wrestling Federation. So we had a career as a tag team, and to be recognized as one of the great tag teams of all time…. [there were] a lot of great tag teams that we competed against back in the day, like the Steiners, the Nasty Boys and the Road Warriors, Sting and Lex Luger, Public Enemy — so many guys we got a chance to grapple with back then, and to be recognized, it’s pretty awesome.”
Harlem Heat held the WCW Tag Team titles 10 times during their career.
D-Generation X (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, X-Pac, Road Dogg & Billy Gunn), Honky Tonk Man, Torrie Wilson, and Harlem Heat have now been announced for this year’s Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremony is taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, April 6.
WWE announced today that Lawler, Ross, and Booker T will be pre-show panelists for the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. With no women from WWE on the event, Byron Saxton will be hosting the pre-show broadcast instead of Renee Young.
Lawler and Ross did make an appearance on commentary at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans, calling the 2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Lawler later revealed that he suffered a stroke at his home on March 21st, but he felt better in the days after the stroke and was able to make WrestleMania weekend.
The hour-long Greatest Royal Rumble pre-show is scheduled to begin on the WWE Network at 11 a.m. Eastern time this Friday. The main card is listed as running for five hours.
Booker T will be returning to commentary on Raw this Monday, at least for one night.
Jonathan Coachman mentioned on Twitter earlier today that he would be missing Raw this coming Monday as he will be doing commentary for the golf program World Long Driver on Tuesday evening. This comes after Booker T mentioned that he would be at Raw in a video clip that was posted by his podcast co-host Brad Gilmore on Twitter. WWE has yet to officially confirm the announcing situation for Monday.
Coachman has been a part of the Raw commentary team since January 29, when he replaced Booker T. He was previously in WWE from 1999 to 2008, both as a heel personality and a commentator for both the Raw and SmackDown brands during the initial brand split. Booker T, who had been doing commentary since the new brand split in 2016, has since been working on pre-show panels before big WWE events.
Booker T will be returning to WWE commentary for a limited time.
Though it was announced that David Otunga would be joining the Raw announce team and swapping places with Byron Saxton as part of WWE’s roster shakeup, WWE.com noted yesterday that Otunga would be absent from the show for the next six weeks because he’s filming a movie.
The website teased the announcement of a replacement for Otunga during that period, then revealed Booker T as the choice today. He’ll be calling Raw alongside Michael Cole and Corey Graves.
Booker T was last regularly on commentary towards the end of 2015 as part of SmackDown before the show moved to the USA Network in 2016. He has since been featured on WWE Network pre-show panels, most recently on the broadcast prior to WrestleMania 33.
Otunga will be playing a DEA agent as the lead character in “Katrina,” which is the working title for a film set in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
