Inside the Ropes reported on Thursday that NXT UK talent were informed that Glen Joseph has left NXT UK due to “personal reasons” and Jim Smallman has been promoted to head writer of NXT UK. Joseph and Smallman are both former co-owners of PROGRESS Wrestling.
Inside the Ropes wrote that Smallman “still has to answer to Matt Bloom and Shawn Michaels, who are running the brand remotely from the US due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions.”
At a zoom meeting on 9/24, the talent was told Glen Joseph, the former co-owner of Progress and head writer of NXT U.K., has left the promotion due to personal reasons and that Jim Smallman, another former co-owner of Progress is now head writer for the brand. Joseph was with Progress through June, when he left his post over allegations by women against him. Smallman left Progress at the end of this past year to work full-time for WWE. NXT U.K., headed by Paul Levesque, is actually run by Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom, but Smallman will be head writer and in charge of tapings since Levesque, Bloom and Michaels can’t travel to the U.K. and back right now.
ITR Wrestling reported the talent is all together at the U.K gym for a three-week training session prior to the next tapings. Usually the talent is brought in for one week to practice for the tapings. The change is because there was a feeling at the last tapings the ring work wasn’t good. A number of matches ended up being re-shot because they weren’t good on the first shooting. Some blamed this on people not having wrestled for months. It’s also reported that WWE has signed more European talent which will start debuting on upcoming tapings. U.K. talent was also told that they could no longer sell their merchandise, which had been allowed as a way to make money since the U.K. contracts are for a low amount. They also have to follow the WWE main roster restrictions of not working with any third party companies, which were also previously allowed. People aren’t happy because most U.K. contracts range from $24,000 to $36,000 per year, although the top guy (Walter and maybe a couple of others) are believed to be well over triple the higher end because they had to make him an offer of real money to get him. Walter was in the range of most of the high-end NXT guys in the U.S. besides somebody like Balor who gets main roster money but was moved to NXT for the ratings war. Originally this was presented a that the talent would make most of their old money plus they’d get their WWE money and most were barely scraping by on wrestling just working indies, so even that $20,000 boost (which was what the original contracts were for) made a big difference for most.
It was announced in August that NXT UK was returning with new in-ring content. The brand hadn’t held any events since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tapings were done at BT Sport studios in London, England and began airing on September 17.
PROGRESS Wrestling presented its fourth annual “Unboxing Live” mystery show at the Electric Ballroom in London on Monday.
The event also happened to be the historic 100th chapter show for the promotion and was co-founder Jim Smallman’s final PROGRESS show before leaving the company. Here are the results:
– Roy Johnson issued a Wasteman Challenge (a comedy rap battle). The challenge was answered by Ligero, Scotty Davis, Chris Ridgeway, The Anti-Fun Police, Gene Munny, and Kid Lykos.
After winning the rap battle, Lykos was allowed to pick the stipulation for a multi-man match. The crowd erupted when Smallman revealed that Lykos had chosen a reverse battle royal. This prompted an appearance from Travis Banks’ alter-ego, “Stupid Sexy Trav.”
– Chief Deputy Dunne won the reverse battle royal
This was a lot of fun. PROGRESS have often joked about doing a reverse battle royal where competitors are eliminated after being thrown into the ring. Dunne eliminated PROGRESS Tag Team Champion Scotty Davis to win the match.
– Ilja Dragunov defeated Kyle Fletcher
Dragunov got the win with a Torpedo Moscow running uppercut. This was exceptional. Dragunov and Fletcher were very evenly matched throughout and there were a lot of kickouts as a result.
– PROGRESS Unified World Champion Eddie Dennis defeated The OJMO to retain his title
Dennis pushed The OJMO into the referee on multiple occasions. The first time, it favored The OJMO as he got the visual pinfall victory with a frog splash. The second time, Dennis capitalized and pinned The OJMO after hitting the Next Stop Driver.
– PROGRESS Women’s Champion Jinny came down to the ring and said that she was supposed to face Toni Storm, but Storm was unfortunately unable to wrestle due to illness.
Jinny then cut a fiery promo in which she highlighted the importance of the women’s division in PROGRESS’ history and promised to become the focal point of the promotion in 2020.
– Cara Noir defeated Paul Robinson, Connor Mills, and Mark Haskins in a four-way match
This match was not for Robinson’s Proteus Championship. Noir got the pinfall victory after hitting Mills with a package piledriver. The PROGRESS fans gave Haskins a hero’s welcome as he returned to the Electric Ballroom.
– Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated Dan Moloney & Rampage Brown
The crowd went wild for Rampage Brown’s return, especially so as he entered to his original copyrighted theme song. He had a hard-hitting chop battle with Seven and displayed tremendous power at the expense of Bate.
Moustache Mountain hit a knee-assisted Birminghammer on Moloney and Seven picked up the win by pinfall.
– Jimmy Havoc defeated David Starr in a death match
Havoc entered to his copyrighted theme song, which generated an incredible atmosphere at the Electric Ballroom. The match was gruesome — thumbtacks, chopsticks, and barbed wire boards were all used and both Starr and Havoc were busted open early on.
Havoc hit a brutal piledriver off the apron through a table on the outside and eventually got the win with an Acid Rainmaker.
The show ended with Smallman thanking the crowd one last time and hugging PROGRESS co-owners and NXT UK colleagues Glen Joseph and Jon Briley on the stage. Smallman will be greatly missed by the PROGRESS fans, but an exciting new era of PROGRESS awaits.
PROGRESS returns to the Electric Ballroom on Sunday, January 19. Cara Noir will challenge Eddie Dennis for the Unified World Championship on the show.
We’re two polls this weekend, for both NJPW G-1 shows in Osaka, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from both shows to [email protected]” target=”_blank”>[email protected]
We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s Raw house show in Fort Wayne, IN to [email protected]
CMLL TONIGHT AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN ON THE CMLL YOUTUBE PAGE
Universal women’s title elimination match: Marcela, Amapola, Metalica, Tiffany, Sanely, La Infernal, La Maligna, La Guerrera, Seductora and Avispa Dorada
Dragon Lee vs. Gran Guerrero
Rush & Ciber the Main Man & El Terrible vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Mr. Niebla & Cavernario
Caristico & Volador Jr. & Mistico vs. Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero
IMPACT ON TWITCH AT 10 P.M. TONIGHT ON PURSUIT AND TWITCH
IMPACT ON IMPACT+ AT 11P.M EASTERN FROM SANTA ANA, CA AT ESPORTS ARENA
Sami Callihan vs. Tessa Blanchard for title shot
Rhino vs. Moose
Scott Steiner & Petey Williams & Jordynne Grace vs. ?
Taya Valkyrie vs. Jessicka Havok for Knockouts title
Ethan Page & Josh Alexander vs. Reno Scum vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack for tag titles
Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards
COMBATE AMERICAS FROM TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT EASTERN FROM FRESNO ON UNIVISION, UNIVISION DEPORTES AND DZAN
Zoila Frausto (129.6) vs. Reina Cordoba (128.1)
J.C. Llamas (175.5) vs. Ivan Castillo (174.9)
Isaiah Batin-Gonzalez (135.5) vs. Jesse Strader (135.8)
NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT IN OSAKA EDION ARENA AT 4 A.M. EASTERN LATE TONIGHT ON NEW JAPAN WORLD AND 9 P.M. SATURDAY ON AXS TV
Juice Robinson & Toa Henare vs. Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji
Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Toru Yano & Jeff Cobb & Tomoaki Honma
Jon Moxley & Shota Umino vs. Jay White & Chase Owens
KENTA vs. Bad Luck Fale
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lance Archer
Will Ospreay vs. Evil
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada
We’re looking for reports on Saturday night’s WWE Raw house show in Toledo to [email protected]
UFC FROM NEWARK, NJ ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON
ESPN at Noon Eastern time
Hannah Goldy (125) vs. Miranda Granger (125)
Claudio Silva (170.25) vs. Cole Williams (176)*
Mara Romero Borella (125) vs. Lauren Murphy (126)
Jordan Espinosa (126) vs Matt Schnell (126)
Lucie Pudilova (125.25) vs. Antonina Shevchenko (125)
Mickey Gall (169.75) vs. Salim Touahri (170)
ESPN+ at 3 p.m. Eastern
Kennedy Nzechukwu (205.5) vs. Darko Stosic (206)
Scott Holtzman (156) vs.; Dong Hyun Ma (158)*
Trevin Giles (185) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (185.5)
Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Joaquim Silva (155.25)
Clay Guida (154.5) vs. Jim Miller (154.75)
Colby Covington (171) vs. Robbie Lawler (170)
MLW ON BEIN SPORTS AT 9 P.M. SATURDAY
IMPACT ON TWITCH AT 8 P.M. EASTERN FROM FLORENTINE GARDENS IN LOS ANGELES
Josh Alexander & Ethan Page vs. Tommy Dreamer & Rhino
Michael Elgin vs. Rich Swann
Moose vs. Eddie Edwards street fight
Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack
Jake Crist vs. Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel for X title
AAA TRIPLEMANIA FROM ARENA CIUDAD IN MEXICO CITY AT 9 P.M. EASTERN ON TWITCH
Copa TripleMania rumble match
Nino Hamburguesa & Big Mami vs. Sammy Guevara & Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Villano III Jr. & Lady Maravilla vs. Australian Suicide & Vanilla Vegas for mixed tag titles
Keyra vs. Taya Valkyrie vs. Lady Shani vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Faby Apache vs. Chik Tormenta vs. La Hiedra in a TLC match for Reina de Reinas title
El Hijo del Vikingo & Golden Magic & Myzteziz Jr. vs. Mocho Cota Jr. & Carta Brava Jr. & Tito Santana vs. Pimpinela Escarlata & Mamba & Maximo
Cody Rhodes & Cain Velasquez & Psycho Clown vs. El Texano Jr. & Black Taurus & ?
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix & Laredo Kid
Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr mask vs. hair
NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT IN OSAKA EDION ARENA AT 2 A.M. EASTERN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Toa Henare & Yuya Uemura vs. Shota Umino & Ren Narita
Evil & Sanada & Bushi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi vs. KENTA & Clark Conners & Karl Fredericks
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano
Juice Robinson vs. Taichi
Hirooki Goto vs. Jeff Cobb
Jon Moxley vs. Jay White
Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi
Sunday has a Raw house show in Erie, PA.
Raw is live on Monday from Pittsburgh. Brock Lesnar will appear on the show.
Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped Tuesday night in Detroit
Joseph Currier looks at the successes and failures of WWE’s latest nostalgia episode.
WWE went back to the nostalgia well for last week’s Raw Reunion episode.
The show featured dozens of returns and was capped off by Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and Hulk Hogan all making appearances. Austin led a toast to Monday Night Raw to close the episode, with all of the returning wrestlers coming out and taking part in what was genuinely a sincere moment. Austin didn’t give out stunners to anyone. There was no one to come crash the segment. He spoke about all of the returners being a family, and it was intended to be a real celebration for all of them.
Raw Reunion also included an increasingly rare appearance by John Cena, D-Generation X, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall saved Seth Rollins from AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Bray Wyatt attacked Mick Foley and put him in the Mandible Claw, and there were nine 24/7 title changes. R-Truth started and ended the night as 24/7 Champion, with Drake Maverick (twice), Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle, Madusa, and Ted DiBiase holding the title between Truth’s reigns.
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has details on WWE’s second quarter financials. Financially, things look great. But product popularity continues to fall, slowly but steadily.
We cover how WWE was able to beat most projections and bring in higher profits in the second quarter, even with most key metrics showing declines.
We discuss how the company’s finances look going forward, as well as two big television deals on the horizon.
We also have news on what could end up being the most important pro wrestling show of the year, AEW’s TV debut. We break down the two key busiess aspects to the story, and discuss what those in the TV industry expect in terms of ratings for the show.
We cover Jerry Lawler’s lawsuit against Hardeman County, TN regarding the death of son Brian one year ago.
The new issue also covers C.M. Punk and the rumor mill that seems to follow him everywhere. We talk about the reaction to his discussion of AEW in a recent interview, as well as those who say they expect him to go back to WWE.
We also have the latest on the SummerSlam card, and how the show is doing on the secondary ticket market. We also cover how the other WWE shows in Toronto that week are doing in terms of ticket sales.
We have coverage of UFC 240 from this past weekend, and have business notes on nthe show, and also detailed television ratings for the prelims.
There’s also a run down of the ratings of all the major TV shows, along with detailed demo info for the WWE shows and results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
We will be doing two shows today and one tomorrow, with a show with Garrett Gonzalez today and another tomorrow covering the latest news and G-1, plus Fumi Saito and Jim Valley and I are doing a show today on Harley Race.
With all kinds of issues holding up ticket sales on the Ticketmaster end, it took three hours for AEW to sell out the 10/2 show in Washington, DC. There were 1,800 tickets up at one point on the secondary market, so as noted, the scalpers were ready for this one. This is the first AEW show with any legit scalper buy aspects to it based on that industry sleeping on All Out. There will also be about 1,000 tickets released within the next week or so after more production issues are figured out and seats will be released.
Cain Velasquez said in an interview today that he has two more dates with AAA after TripleMania. He didn’t say what they were but presumably that’s the Madison Square Garden and Forum in Los Angeles shows. I do know that when the deal was made for Velasquez, the idea was he would do MSG if he didn’t fight on 9/21 in Mexico City, and he’s not fighting on that show.
This is a great article on movie stars and booking control including Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel and their demands regarding fight scenes
Jim Smallman, who has been the man in charge at Progress since its inception, officially announced he will be leaving the company at the end of the year. Smallman has been working and will continue to work for WWE U.K. running shows and creative.
WWE
The WWE vs. MMA edition of Celebrity Family Feud taped months ago will air on 8/18 on ABC with The Bella Twins, J.J. Garcia, Lauren Garcia, and mother Kathy against Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Ryan Bader and Tyron Woodley.
For Monday’s Raw in Pittsburgh, you can get 25 percent off all tickets by using the promo code WWEKW. The sale runs until Noon on Monday.
WWE and DK Publishing are releasing a book called Beyond Extreme, about the wildest matches in WWE history.
Kambi has put up the star ratings for both Takeover and SummerSlam for betting purposes. You can bet over or under (thanks to David Taylor and wweleaks.org):
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai **3/4
Shayna Baszler vs. Mia Yim ***1/2
Street Profits vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly ****1/4
Velveteen Dream vs. Roderick Strong vs. Pete Dunne ****1/2
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano *****
Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus **3/4
Finn Balor vs. The Fiend **
Kevin Owens vs, Shane McMahon **1/2
Natalya vs. Becky Lynch ***1/2
A.J. Styles vs. Ricochet ****
Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins ****
Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton ***1/4
UFC
Jon Anik responds to Cris Cyborg’s criticism of his announcing.
Martin Bravo vs. Steven Peterson has been added to the 9/21 show in Mexico City.
MISCELLANEOUS
Jon Moxley, Luchasaurus and Penelope Ford have been added to the Jericho cruise from 1/20 to 1/24.
The first-ever singles match with Dragon Lee vs. Volador Jr. takes place on Monday night in Puebla. The NWA world welterweight title will be at stake. It will stream live. Also on the show has Electrico defending the Mexican national lightweight title against Virus.
TJP vs. Damian Slater was announced for 8/31 in Perth, Western Australia for EPW.
Dan Severn vs. DCT and Ken Shamrock & Carlo Cannon vs. Jonathan & Sean Preston are on the BCW show on 8/30 in Melbourne (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Bellator announced a 10/12 show in Milan, Italy with both MMA and kickboxing. The show will air on Paramount no a tape delay with Vadim Nemkov vs. Rafael Carvalho as the main event for the U.S. There will be a live component that will air on Bellator’s web site in the U.S.and live on Ch. 5 in the U.K. featuring Melvin Manhoef vs. Yannick Bahati and Alessio Sakara vs. Canan Grigsby.
Bar Wrestling from last night in Baldwin Park,CA: Jake Atlas & Heather Monroe & Andy Brown & Dom Kubrick b Yuma & NHK & Watts & Ryan Taylor, Luchasaurus b Brandon Cutler, Taya Valkyrie b Ethan Page, Delilah Doom & Eli Everfly won over Reno Scum, Phoenix Star & Zokre and Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas, Tyler Batman b Tommy Dreamer, Brian Cage & Scott Steiner b Joey Ryan & Orange Cassidy (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
PCW Ultra on 8/9 in Wilmington, CA has Josef Samael & Jacob Fatu vs. Homicide & Eddie Kingston, Mil Muertes vs. Dan Maff, Tessa Blanchard vs. Sumie Sakai, Jake Atlas vs. TJ Perkins, Matt Sydal vs. Artemis Spencer, Douglas James vs. Schaff vs. Brian Pillman Jr., Daga vs. Puma King and a meet and greet with Barbara Blank, better known as Kelly Kellly.
Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins will appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS on 8/7.
Newspaper story regarding Davey Boy Smith Jr’s Great North Wrestling Triple Threat Match vs Ted Hart vs Hannibal next Saturday Aug 10 at the Petawawa Civic Center in the Ottawa Valley. Rene Dupree and Wes Brisco will also be on the card as well as Max Testosterone and Lady Yasmine who are both participating in WWE’s Canadian Try Out in Toronto next week.
Ubisoft announced today that three iconic WWE theme songs will be making their way to the critically acclaimed Rocksmtih 2014. The three tracks include the entrance themes for Steve Austin, The Rock, and Chris Jericho. No word on if more are to come, but the songs will be available starting August 6th, 2019.
