The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
With Bryan Alvarez on the move, Mike Sempervive flies solo. A preview of the weekend, including Saturday’s NXT Deadline show, HENARE’s injury and how it may affect New Japan’s plans, WWE news and a bow is placed on this week’s talk of AEW splitting rosters. (Thank God.) It’s a fun show as always, so check it out~!
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Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and special co-host Lance Storm is back with tons to talk about including RAW from Monday, how travel issues can bring a locker room together, Smackdown and Rampage ratings very good, how Lance would book Wembley and his thoughts on the brand split, and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Jake Atlas having domestic abuse charges dropped, Rampage and Smackdown ratings, the brand split, RAW from Monday night, Money in the Bank and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
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WON NEWSLETTER: May 11, 2020 Observer Newsletter: UFC 249 and WWE MITB previews, more
The return of major shows in the U.S. and how the different companies are dong them is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at UFC’s plans, how the PBR handled their first event which was the first sports event back, what UFC’s plans are for May 23, lineups for the UFC shows, Dana White, doctors and others talk about UFC going back, the shows AEW and WWE is putting on, how the fighters are preparing differently, how UFC is handling backstage, how all three companies are handling testing, plus comments from other promoters.
The new issue also covers:
Preview Money in the bank, AEW Double or Nothing II, and update New Japan’s plans and cancellations. We also look at the AEW PPV scene, Big Japan needing crowd funding and going through all of the WWE released talent and look at their future prospects.
How COVID-19 has affected the ratings of every show, the variations and what lessons can be learned by the ratings drops.
Risks involving Roman Reigns, FOX airing a special head-to-head with UFC PPV, update on how WWE financials look with new information and stock value, Becky Lynch acting, New WWE TV show, WWE injury updates, wrestler who left the promotion apologizes for behavior, U.K. ratings, Matt Riddle talks heat and his meeting with Vince McMahon, Mike Bennett talks leaving WWE, When WWE tried to work with CMLL, Orlando Colon talks leaving and certain naievete, most watched sports on television, Paul Levesque selling stock, Next week’s TV, and most watched shows of the past week on WWE Network.
Supreme, the Southern California indie star who was one of the top stars of XPW, including looking back at his career, his FMW tag title run, and the famous ECW/XPW brawl at a PPV show.
Maryland commission ruling regarding the Kenny Omega match with Jon Moxley in Baltimore.
What happened to Hiroshi Hase.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the 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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Bryan and I will be back tonight with all the news from Raw. You can also send questions for tonight’s show to [email protected]. We’re looking for your thoughts on UFC 249 and WWE Money in the Bank, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Becky Lynch’s announcement on Raw tonight will include vacating the women’s title and Asuka will be announced as the new champion based on her winning Money in the bank last night. Or that is at least what was being talked about earlier today. PWInsider had this earlier and we’ve gotten that as well.
TMZ had additional details on the Alberto Rodriguez arrest and sexual assault charge against a woman he was in a relationship with. The woman claimed the beating and sexual assault lasted 4 1/2 hours from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. late Sunday and early Monday of last week. She alleged he beat and choked her and she was left feeling woozy and dizzy and police had photographed evidence of bruising on her face, arms, legs and neck.
The rating is expected to be way up tonight between an expected bump from the PPV, the curiosity over Lynch and the return to Raw of both Edge and Randy Orton.
FOX announced its fall television season with Smackdown renewed for a second season. Smackdown is under contract in that Friday at 8 p.m. slot through late 2024 so this was expected.
Post Wrestling reported earlier today that a limited amount of crossover between Raw and Smackdown (wild card rule) will be back and announced on tonight’s show. It was a lock a move that was significant would be announced after the drop in both the Raw and Smackdown ratings of a week ago. They also announced a decision would be made regarding the IC title. Sami Zayn is the champion and due to the pandemic had made the decision not to wrestle. While the story is that nobody would lose standing if they didn’t come, it looks like the decision has been made to change the title.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Kenta Kobashi’s retirement match
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It’s been just over six months since the WWE draft. Since that time, WWE has had three of their big four pay-per-views of the year and we’re now on the Road to WrestleMania. I thought it might be a good time to go back and look at the draft in retrospect.
I will look at all 30 individuals drafted on the live special and assign a letter grade based on their draft position and how their career has gone since then. Then I’ll look at the people who were drafted on the post-show special on the Network and identify sleeper picks.
The final pieces are the wrestlers who have been added since the brand split and their impact on their brand and WWE as a whole.
1. Seth Rollins — B-
Rollins returned from injury shortly before he was drafted but came back to be part of the focal point of Raw storylines during a period when ratings were declining. He just recently suffered another injury which puts his WrestleMania status in doubt.
2. Charlotte — A
She’s been the focal point of the women’s division and part of the first ever women’s match to headline a WWE PPV.
3. Finn Balor — B
Really, this should be “incomplete” but I think he made enough of an impact in the short time before getting injured to warrant a letter grade.
4. Roman Reigns — B
Very similar to Rollins, except he managed to stay healthy through the time frame.
5. Brock Lesnar — A-
Very good use of him, especially considering the draft position. When he’s there, he’s generally the focus of the show and will almost certainly be a part of the closing match at Mania.
6. The New Day — B-
They held the tag team titles for most of the time period, setting the all-time WWE/WWF record for the longest reign. They feel colder now than they did before the brand split, though.
7. Sami Zayn — C-
He’s definitely in a worse spot now than when he was drafted. It will be interesting to see what plans, if any, there are for him at Mania.
8. Sasha Banks — B+
She’s been right alongside Charlotte as the focus of the women’s division, although she’s taking a step back now to feud with Nia Jax.
9. Chris Jericho — A
The second biggest steal of the draft given that he’s been one of the four main people focused on for his brand for most of the time period.
10. Rusev w/ Lana —B-
They’re consistently one of the most entertaining acts on the show. Rusev has been kept out of the title picture for the most part or he’d have a higher grade.
11. Kevin Owens — A+
The steal of the draft for either side. With the injury to Balor, he essentially took the ball and ran with it. He will likely take a step back during Mania season as most expect him to lose the Universal title at Fast Lane.
12. Enzo Amore & Big Cass — B
Maybe the best pure babyfaces on the Raw roster as they consistently get the biggest reactions coming out. They’re nowhere close to title contention but not everyone can be.
13. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson — C+
They just recently won the tag team titles, which saved them from a failing grade. They floundered for much of the year.
14. Big Show — C-
Given how often he’s used, he shouldn’t have been drafted on the main show. He’s supposed to have a featured Mania match with Shaquille O’Neal but really has only appeared on Raw a handful of times.
15. Nia Jax — B-
Jax pushed hard out of the gate, getting squash wins for months. Since then, she’s been just outside the fringe of title contention. Should have a big year after Mania.
16. Neville — B
Neville was wasted for most of the time period but has rejuvenated the cruiserweight division since returning.
17. Cesaro — B
He feuded with New Day for most of the time period after being put in a tag team with rival Sheamus and ending their record title reign.
18. Sheamus — B
See Cesaro.
Overall grade for Raw’s main draft — B-
1. Dean Ambrose — A-
Ambrose was the World Champion at the time of the draft and carried it to SmackDown. He feuded with AJ Styles over the championship and then moved on to feud with The Miz over the IC title, eventually winning that belt.
2. AJ Styles — A+
Styles has been the World Champion for most of the time period and carried the brand. Yes, he had a high draft position but he performed far better than most thought he would.
3. John Cena — B+
Would be higher if he were more active. Cena feuded almost exclusively with AJ Styles, having excellent matches every time out before winning his 16th World title.
4. Randy Orton — B-
Orton has taken a back seat to Bray Wyatt as part of the Wyatt Family but is coming off winning the Royal Rumble, so obviously he will be a key focus of WrestleMania.
5. Bray Wyatt — B-
Similar to Orton, he hasn’t been close to the title picture at all but was part of the tag champions for a short time.
6. Becky Lynch — B+
While the SmackDown women’s division hasn’t been quite the focus it has been on the Raw side, it’s not that far off and she was champion for much of the time since the draft.
7. The Miz w/ Maryse — A
Other than Kevin Owens, and perhaps AJ Styles, no one on either brand has improved their stock more than he has. Miz almost single-handedly made Talking Smack a must-watch show early on.
8. Baron Corbin — B
Corbin is just outside the World title picture and may be in for something big at Mania. Other than Orton, he was probably the most impressive SmackDown wrestler at the Royal Rumble.
9. American Alpha — B-
Chad Gable & Jason Jordan came in with a lot of hype but fell off quite a bit. They have started to regain steam after winning the tag titles, but they’re hurt because of the lack of quality teams on this brand.
10. Dolph Ziggler — B
Given his draft slot, he’s been more of a focus than you would’ve expected. His feud with Miz resulted in some of the more entertaining stuff of the latter half of the year on SmackDown.
11. Natalya — C+
The second highest drafted woman on the brand, and for most of the time period she may not even been top five in terms of focus. She looks to be involved with Nikki Bella in the near future, which should improve her slot.
12. Alberto Del Rio — D
A complete waste of a pick, especially in hindsight.
Overall grade for SmackDown’s main draft — B
Raw picked up Braun Strowman with their 28th pick (48th overall), but other than that, there’s not a single person they drafted that even came close to making an impact.
Raw’s grade — C
SmackDown got current Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss with the pick before Strowman. They also got the Usos, who were tag team contenders, and Carmella with the last pick of the draft.
SmackDown’s grade — B-
On the Raw side, obviously the biggest addition has been Goldberg, who alone would win them this category. Dragging them down somewhat would be the addition of all the cruiserweights who thus far would have to be considered a disappointment with the exception of Neville, who was drafted. They also added Bayley, who has done very well.
Raw’s grade — B+
SmackDown got the first free agent, Heath Slater, who won the tag team titles and has improved his stock quite a bit in the last six months. They also added jobber James Ellsworth, who ended up a World title challenger on TV for a few months.
Rhyno was added as Slater’s partner and the Spirit Squad were even brought in for a short run. Curt Hawkins has floundered. On the women’s side, Nikki Bella is always going to be a focus and Mickie James has not been around long enough to give a proper valuation.
SmackDown’s grade — B
Based on these letter grades, SmackDown would be the higher ranked show which seems to coincide with popular opinion. SmackDown’s TV ratings are way up since the brand extension while Raw’s have fallen, although most of the time period happened during football season when ratings always drop.
SmackDown only had 11 wrestlers in the Royal Rumble, though, as opposed to 18 Raw wrestlers (and one NXT superstar). Those numbers are almost the same as the advantage Raw had going into the draft (18 picks to 12) so that shouldn’t be a surprise.
More concerning, if you’re a SmackDown fan, would be the fact that of the other four main card matches at the Royal Rumble, only one was a SmackDown match. They did have two of the three pre-show matches, so that would be three out of seven overall which again is the same ratio as the draft picks.
Looking ahead to Mania, it does seem that most of the big matches would be on the Raw side with Goldberg/Lesnar, Undertaker/Reigns, Triple H/Rollins (if Rollins gets cleared in time), and matches involving Owens and Charlotte. On the SmackDown side, it looks to be Wyatt/Orton and whatever John Cena and AJ Styles are doing.
Overall, it does appear that the brand split has been a positive for the most part. Raw ratings have been down, though that was going to happen anyway. The increased main event slots on both sides have allowed wrestlers like Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Charlotte, and The Miz, among others, to improve their position in the company.
With SmackDown ratings showing a considerable increase at a time when TV ratings as a whole are trending downward, it has to help WWE as they attempt to negotiate a new television deal over the next couple of years.
After failing two USADA tests for clomiphene, a banned substance used by athletes largely for help in getting a body’s natural production of testosterone back to normal after a steroid cycle, WWE officials have confirmed that not only will Brock Lesnar not be suspended, but that Lesnar is not even subject to the WWE’s own Wellness policy.
Those at WWE confirmed Lesnar has not been tested at any time, something that has led to some WWE performers who are aware of this claiming a double standard, which, as it turned out, has been the case for some time and isn’t limited to Lesnar, but is something the company never revealed until this past week.
With the wrestling world still speculating on how WWE will handle the July brand split/extension, much of the discussion has been about how the championships should be structured in this new era — most importantly, what should be the biggest prize in the game.
As reported in a recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the current plan is that the brand extension will lead to the world title being once again split in two. Of the many rumours that have flown around the Internet, it’s the prospect of once again losing a single world champion that has most upset hardcore fans.
It’s not hard to see why. Since John Cena and Randy Orton unified the WWE and World Heavyweight Titles in December 2013 at TLC, the world title has been far stronger than it was previously. It has once again become the focal point of the promotion with Daniel Bryan’s chase of the WWE title proving far more of a money-drawing storyline than his previous World Heavyweight Title reigns. The flip side of this development is that tug of war between the hardcore fanbase and Vince McMahon about who should be world champion has intensified now that the promotion can’t split the difference.
Despite this, one can understand why the WWE is tempted to revert back to having two world titles.
As Brock Lesnar’s previous title reign proved, the WWE’s mantra of promoting sports entertainment and focusing on telling stories is remarkably hollow. The promotion is actually incredibly dependent on the world championship to provide meaning to its main event picture. When Brock Lesnar was away, the twenty-eight strong writing staff was bereft of ideas about how to justify Cena and Seth Rollins facing each other that they turned the Money In The Bank briefcase into an ersatz world title.
Therefore, both promotions will clearly need their own singles title for their main event picture to be built around when the world champion isn’t there. Furthermore, considering that both shows will largely conform to the WWE house style, each champion will play a pivotal role in defining the brand to viewers.
However, there’s no reason why that role can’t be played by a secondary champion exclusive to each brand if these titles are properly protected. And there would be added value in having a WWE title above them. An undisputed world champion that can perform on both brands would stand out as a special attraction that would help highlight key television shows as must-watch and could drive extra business for the biggest shows of the year.
The key would be not to expose them. If they were to appear weekly, let alone twice a week, they would quickly cease to be a special attraction. Worse they would undermine the ability of the two promotion-specific secondary champions to be taken seriously as headliners. This would naturally be a role for Lesnar, who could storm into either brand for a month-long residency before his latest title defence and then disappear again. It would also solve the problem that the WWE has of struggling to provide meaning to Lesnar’s matches.
Back when the NWA World Champion would tour alliance members, the individual territories still retained their own national or promotional champions. This was because the promotion couldn’t grind to a halt when Ric Flair or Harley Race was elsewhere; they still needed something to build their everyday main event picture around. If WWE was to give Lesnar a floating WWE Championship, each brand would be in the same situation. They would need championships to build their weekly programming around.
The temptation would be to suggest that the Intercontinental and U.S. titles could be repurposed for this role with each brand getting one of the secondary titles. This was exactly the approach originally planned for the first brand split with the I-C strap having been pegged to be the premiere title on RAW. Triple-H rightly vetoed this idea due to the belief that the title had been clearly defined as a secondary belt and wouldn’t be taken seriously as a prize worthy of main eventers. This is even truer today. While either belt can gain the illusion of respectability when placed around a headliner’s waist, they quickly slide back to their previous irrelevance.
It’s not helped that the names of the championships are literally meaningless. This is not the 70s where it was perfectly logical to have a national champion underneath the world champion. The same problem existed when there was a WWE and a World Title. The names are such generic buzzwords that they do not indicate what the titlist is champion of. The championships being meaningless is yet another barrier to fans taking them seriously.
It would be far better for the WWE to start again by crowning RAW and Smackdown champions, and actually calling them that. That way fans know that the person who holds the RAW title is recognised as the best wrestler on RAW, and the person challenging for the Smackdown title wants to be recognised as the best wrestler on Smackdown.
As reported in the Observer, the current plans are for Reigns and Cena to be the champions of their respective brands. While both men have their problems with connecting with the fanbase, putting the new belts on them would be a clear statement of intent that both titles are of equal worth and will be properly protected.
One of the things that most embittered fans about the last split in the championship was how Triple-H walked out with the big gold belt and proclaimed himself world champion. For all the talk of RAW having always been the ‘A-Show’, it took years the stench of that introduction to leave the title with his matches for the belt being of secondary importance to the WWE title matches as late as 2004. It’s therefore crucial that the new championships are properly introduced. Given that the aim of these moves is to create a big splash to help Smackdown’s ratings, it would make sense that everything builds to big matches for the shows on July 19-20.
Making Brock Lesnar the undisputed world champion should be relatively straight forward. Just have The Beast appear in the next two weeks to destroy Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, insert himself into the WWE title match at Money In The Bank due to both men having screwed him out of the world title he never truly lost inside the ring. It’s a rematch of the unannounced main event of Wrestlemania 31, and provides a way for Lesnar to regain the title without pinning Reigns. It also allows the Reigns vs. Rollins programme to continue with neither man once again conclusively beating the other. This would then justify leaving Lesnar out of the draft.
The new RAW and Smackdown champions should be crowned in big matches on the first shows after the draft. The easiest way to do this would be to have the type of multi-man matches that are usually reserved for pay per view. RAW could have a special Money in the Bank-style ladder match for their world title and Smackdown could have an Elimination Chamber match. Such multi-man matches would naturally feed into the draft, with the six men drafted for each brand being the ones entered into its championship match. Assuming the twelve men were picked on the 11th July Raw, the promotion would have a week to promote two huge title matches for the first week of the new era.
Will Cooling is a freelance writer who writes on combat sports for Fighting Spirit Magazine, pop culture for Geeky Monkey and politics at It Could Be Said!FSM is available in all good British newsagents and internationally. In this month’s issue he writes about the rise of Ronda Rousey and argues that intergender matches destroyed Chyna’s career.
Additional notes from Ryan Frederick & Dave Meltzer
In the DVR era, how to get people to watch shows live (and hence, watch commercials) has almost become more important than what they are actually watching. Pro sports and other live entertainment has flourished with higher rights fees deals, especially in the latter. Many believe there’s a bubble that will eventually burst, but no one is seeing a needle just yet.
In the latest effort to take advantage of that, WWE announced Wednesday morning that Smackdown will not only air live starting on July 19th, but it will officially move to Tuesday nights at 8 PM. The announcement was made in Variety, but WWE later released a statement and a video indicating that Shane and Stephanie McMahon will each run a show:
A twist that was buried in the story also indicates a brand split may be coming as well:
“A draft will be held before the “Smackdown” launch date to determine which wrestlers on the company’s talent roster will be assigned to which program. Each show is expected to feature separate cast, plots and writing teams.”
The initial brand split happened in 2002 and ran through 2011, long after fans realized that it was pointless considering talents from both show were regularly appearing on the other show on a weekly basis. There was a yearly draft that started in 2004 that always shook up the deck a bit, but over time, the main stars were on both shows anyway.
The key aspects of the move are that WWE would have five hours of live programming every week, and on PPV weeks, it would be closer to nine hours on three consecutive days. WWE will also need to expand its main roster talent base, but also leave at least enough talent in NXT to be able to draw on their own.
In addition, a key aspect of this story is the declines at USA have led to wrestling becoming its strongest ratings programming.
The move to Tuesdays will also move Smackdown away from the ratings juggernaut that is NFL Thursday Night Football, which returns in September with extra added emphasis over past seasons. Smackdown has seen its ratings drop during the season, and the move to a live Tuesday format should avoid that strong night on television. Moving to Tuesday will also put it head-to-head against TNA, which likely won’t hurt Smackdown ratings, but could have a big impact on the TNA ratings.
Variety noted that Smackdown has captured an average of nearly 1.06 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 on a live-plus-seven-day basis while Raw has a 1.85 million viewership number with the same demo, “season to date”.
A breaking news audio is up now, in addition to an in-depth feature in this week’s Observer. Also, check out today’s WOL also on the subject!
