Dave Meltzer is reporting that FTR has more than a year left on their current contract, not including the option year. The original story can be seen below.
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WWE is reportedly interested in bringing back the team formerly known as The Revival.
According to a report from Fightful Select, there have been internal discussions in WWE about bringing back the team now known as FTR. Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler’s deals with AEW will expire this summer but the company has the option to extend their contracts by one year.
FTR debuted in AEW on the May 27, 2020 edition of Dynamite. WWE had granted them their releases in April 2020. The team had reportedly turned down five-year renewals on their contracts before leaving the company.
Harwood signed with WWE in 2012 and Wheeler signed in 2014. During their time as the Revival in WWE, they were two-time NXT Tag Team Champions, two-time RAW Tag Team Champions, and one-time Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
Since leaving WWE and signing with AEW, FTR are one-time AEW World Tag Team Champions, one-time AAA World Tag Team Champions (current), and one-time ROH World Tag Team Champions (current).
The Mysterios’ first title defense will be a rematch against the former champions.
WWE has announced that Rey & Dominik Mysterio will defend their SmackDown Tag Team titles against Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode on tonight’s episode of SmackDown. The Mysterios defeated Ziggler & Roode to win the titles at WrestleMania Backlash earlier this month.
During the pre-show for WrestleMania Backlash, there was an angle where Ziggler and Roode attacked Dominik backstage. The Tag Team title match began as Rey facing Ziggler & Roode on his own until Dominik came out and joined the match as it was going on. The finish saw Dominik hit a frog splash and pin Roode after Rey had given Roode a 619.
Rey & Dominik are the first father-son tag team champions in WWE history.
Dominik defeated Roode in a singles match on SmackDown last week. Dominik pinned Roode after hitting a 619 and a frog splash.
Tonight’s SmackDown will also feature The Usos facing The Street Profits in a tag team match. In storyline, Jimmy Uso had the match made without telling Jey Uso about it beforehand. Jimmy has been trying to get Jey to focus on teaming together again instead of backing up Roman Reigns.
The final build to TakeOver: WarGames takes place on tonight’s go-home edition of NXT.
The advantage for the women’s WarGames match will be on the line as Shotzi Blackheart faces Raquel Gonzalez in a ladder match tonight. It will be Team Shotzi vs. Team Candice in WarGames on Sunday.
Blackheart, Ember Moon, and Rhea Ripley have been confirmed for Team Shotzi. There’s still one member of the team left to be announced. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Gonzalez & Toni Storm will be on Team Candice.
Sunday’s men’s WarGames match will be Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish) vs. Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch). Dunne won the advantage for Team McAfee last week by defeating O’Reilly in a ladder match.
Leon Ruff defending his NXT North American Championship against Johnny Gargano and Damian Priest in a triple threat match is also set for TakeOver, along with Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes in a strap match. WWE will continue building to those matches tonight.
Plus, tonight’s show will feature Timothy Thatcher presenting a Thatch-as-Thatch-can session. Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The show began with somber moment. The roster and others like Triple H and Shawn Michaels were gathered onstage to honor Pat Patterson. Then a tremendous music video with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” highlighted the career of Pat Patterson. Great tribute, and the clips included Pat singing “My Way”, as he loved to do.
Angles before the show on social media set up the opening match. Johnny Gargano was also at ringside on guest commentary.
El Legado del Fantasma attacked Curt Stallion before the show. He was apparently supposed to team with Leon Ruff. So Priest laid out Joaquin Wilde in another skit before the show. That led to Priest replacing Stallion in teaming with Ruff, and they face El Legado del Fantasma.
The story is Priest wants to protect Ruff ahead of their title match this Sunday. Priest and Gargano challenge Rufff in a triple threat match at TakeOver.
NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff & Damian Priest defeated Santos Escobar & Raul Mendoza
Ruff pinned Mendoza, after a Reckoning by Priest during the finish.
Priest was running roughshod when he spotted someone in the crowd dressed in a Scream costume. Gargano remarked on commentary it was cool a fan dressed up the character. Priest was distracted by the Scream mask, and Escobar blindsided him with a tope. That sandwiched Priest into the chainlink barricade.
Though Priest was there to protect Ruff, Priest was ironically the one that got worked over by the heels. The rudos with heat on Priest through a commercial break. Priest fought back, but he was outnumbered. Ruff was down in the corner selling a knee strike from earlier in the match.
Ruff slowly crawled back on the apron, though he was stelling the strike from early on. Meanwhile, the rudo team targeted Priest’s leg. Priest came back with a big flatliner on Mendoza, and he tagged Ruff.
Ruff was running wild after a hot tag, yet he was unaware of a blind tag. Ruff was able to tag out. Priest back in like a house of fire mere moments after selling for minutes on end. Priest was going for his finisher when Ruff made a blind tag. Priest delivered The Reckoning, and Ruff followed with a frog splash. Ruff then covered Mendoza for a pinfall.
A mini-doc hyped War Games. Excellent stuff.
Team Candice was backstage for a promo. Candice LeRae vowed her team will win War Games, and Raquel Gonzalez said after night their team will have the advantage. Gonzalez says Blackheart will feel like she got run over by a tank.
Cameron Grimes defeated August Grey
Grimes pinned Grey after a Cave In in a showcase match. Grey got in some offense, but Grimes dominated the bout.
Grimes after the match cut a promo on Dexter Lumis ahead of their strap match this Sunday. Grimes then took a leather strap and used it in a demonstration. He hooked the strap to the arm of Grey, and Grimes whipped him with the strap.
All the while, Grimes is talking trash about Lumis having no place to run in their strap match. The joke being that Grimes has done all the running away in their ongoing feud. As Grimes was yapping in the direction of the hard camera, Lumis had replaced Grey. Lumis was now attached to the strap, and he stalked Grimes.
Grimes freaked out when he saw Lumis was behind him. Lumis pummeled him, and he whipped him with the strap. Grimes ran away fleeing the scene.
Jake Atlas defeated Tony Nese
Atlas pinned Nese after a cartwheel DDT. This was a good match, and Atlas dedicated the match to Pat Patterson. Yet it still seemed like filler. Atlas after the match at least got to cut a promo in a post-match interview.
Neither got an entrance, and the match was joined in progess like a house show bout on an old episode of Prime Time Wrestling. The show came back from a commercial break, and the bell sounded to start the match with no introductions.
During the match, there was a split screen like when the NWO would arrive to Nitro during an undercard match. Tonight it was Pat McAfee and company arriving to the building in a yellow Hummer limousine.
Atlas in cutting a promo after the match said this was just the beginning. He will keep moving forward towards his goal of getting another shot at the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
Pat McAfee is a heckuva talker
McAfee and his crew came to the ring for an in-ring promo. Continuing to prove he is a helluva talker, McAfee in a great speech build up his team in War Games. Before running down Undisputed Era, McAfee at the beginning of his promo paid tribute to Pat Patterson.
McAfee deserves some sort of award for being so great on interviews. He for sure should be inducted into the Matt Cleary Memorial House of Awesome on the B&V Show. McAfee is so dang good on the mic.
Xia Li and Boa in a skit were the subject of a ritualistic training session.
Grizzled Young Veterans were supposed to wrestle Ever-Rise (Chase Parker and Matt Martel). Imperium attacked Ever-Rise before their match could start. Imperium laid out Ever-Rise, and they stole their match. Imperium challenged Grizzled Young Veterans to a fight.
Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) vs. Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) went to a no-contest
Ever-Rise ran in and jumped both teams, and the match was thrown out.
The match itself was good, but it lacked defined protagonists. With two antagonist tag teams against each other, not sure who the viewers should want to win. Might be shades of grey, but at least Grizzled Young Veterans could have gotten some wins on television beforehand. We might have more reason to care more about them in this match. Then came a lame finish.
They went back-and-forth, leading to an Aichner dive to the outside. Ever-Rise ran down to ringside to attack both teams. The referee called for the bell, and he threw out the match.
Ever-Rise during a commercial break left the building like Earl Hebner after the Montreal Screwjob. Parker & Martel hurried out of the building, and they got into a waiting car.
“Ever-Rise rules,” they yelled while speeding away in their getaway car.
Back in the ring for another session of Thatch-As-Thatch-Can hosted by instructor Timothy Thatcher. He says today’s lesson is on distractions. Some people could have used this advice in earlier matches on the show.
Thatcher turned out to address one his students, and he was shocked to see Tommaso Ciampa standing in the ring next to him. Thatcher told Ciampa to already had a student, who was also in the ring with them.
Ciampa said he was there to learn, he was there to teach. Thatcher reiterated he had no issue or problem with Ciampa. As Thatcher went to leave the ring, Ciampa called him a disappointment. Thatcher turned around to confront Ciampa.
Thatcher said he knew Ciampa was trying to goad him. He again said he wanted no trouble, and then Thatcher shot on Ciampa with a leg dive. Ciampa knocked him down with a forearm. Thatcher’s student in a sneak attack jumped Ciampa. That allowed Thatcher to attack Ciampa, and Thatcher choked out Ciampa. He put him to sleep and left him laid out. Thus concluded the lesson on distractions.
Thatcher in a backstage interview threatened Ciampa ahead of their match at TakeOver. That match is now official for TakeOver.
Announced for the TakeOver pre-show is Ariel Helwani. He joins Wade Barrett and Sam Roberts as co-hosts on the kickoff show panel.
Shotzi Blackheart defeated Raquel Gonzalez in a ladder match to win the War Games advantage
Blackheart won the match after a bunch of run-ins. Team Shotzi now has the advantage headed into War Games this Sunday.
The ladder quickly became involved. Gonzalez was getting the better of Blackheart, until Blacheart with a wrecking ball dropkick sent the ladder smashing into Gonzalez. Blackheart leapt off the apron into a flying crossbody. Gonzalez caught her, and then slammed her down on a ladder.
Blackheart rode with a sleeper hold, but she was posted. She moments later sidestepped a charge, and then Blackheart targeted a leg. Coffin drop off the barricade, and Blackheart crashed into Gonzalez.
They fought through a commercial break, and when the show returned they were having a tug-o-war with a ladder. Blackheart went for another crazy apron spot. It didn’t really work, and Gonzalez soon threw Balckheart into the ring steps, and Gonzalez picked up the ring steps. She then hit Blackheart with the steps.
Gonzalez climbed up one side of the ladder, and Blackheart climbed the other. They both took a bump off the ladder. After taking turns pulling each other off the ladder, it was soon tipped over.
A tilt-a-whirl headscissors by Blackheart led into a running senton. Blackheart jumped off the top rope with a meteora to the outside. She and Gonzalez crashed to the floor, and both were down selling when the heel War Games team ran down to ringside. They had been watching the match from a scaffold overlooking ringside. The babyface also ran down in tow shortly behind the heels.
Indi Hartwell, still wearing a neck brace, set up a ladder in middle of the ring. Blackheart rushed into the ring to hit Hartwell with a kick. Blackheart turned around into a lariat from Gonzalez. When Gonzalez went to climb the ladder, Io Shirai suddenly ran into the ring. Shirai jumped on the back of Gonzalez as she was climbing the ladder, and Shirai applied a sleeper.
Shirai did a moonsault off the top out of the ring onto everyone. Blackheart was left alone in the ring. She climbed a ladder to grab the briefase, thus winning the match. The babyface team with the advantage going into the women’s War Games match. That is not usually how War Games psychology works.
Maybe there will be an injury angle, or possibly even a turn of some sort. Otherwise, the babyface team was the advantage headed into War Games. TNA did something like that in the past. Hopefully NXT does it better.
Seems to go against the logic of almost every War Games match in history, but let’s see what happens on Sunday. What would Dusty do? Likewise, what would Pat do?
FTR debuted on Dynamite this week after The Young Bucks & Matt Hardy defeated Private Party & Joey Janela in a six-man tag match. Nick Jackson accidentally superkicked The Blade while he was in the crowd during that match, which led to The Butcher & The Blade attacking The Young Bucks after. FTR then made their debut. But instead of attacking The Young Bucks, they laid out The Butcher & The Blade.
FTR gave Blade a spike piledriver and hit the Shatter Machine on Butcher after The Young Bucks superkicked him. FTR and The Young Bucks went face-to-face and it looked like The Young Bucks started to offer them a handshake, but FTR left the ring.
Dax Harwood (formerly known as Scott Dawson) and Cash Wheeler (formerly Dash Wilder) are the names FTR are using.
Nyla Rose vs. Big Swole has also been confirmed for next Wednesday’s Dynamite. Cody vs. Jungle Boy for the TNT Championship, Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc for the AEW Tag Team titles, and Chris Jericho vs. Colt Cabana are the other matches that have been announced for the show.
Long rumored and expected after their release from WWE, FTR are officially part of AEW after making their maiden appearance on Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Following the Young Bucks and Matt Hardy’s victory over Private Party and Joey Janela in the opening match, the Bucks were jumped by The Butcher & The Blade who were sitting at ringside and got in a skirmish with the Bucks during the match.
As they fought, a black pickup truck was shown pulilng up to Daily’s Place and Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler jumped out. They walked into the ring and instead of attacking the Bucks, they went after Butcher and Blade. After brawling, they hit a spike piledriver on Blade and the Shatter Machine on Butcher to clear them out before turning down a handshake from the Bucks and walking out.
AEW tweeted out FTR’s new t-shirt where it was revealed the letters stand for “F*ck The Rest.” Originally, it was expected they would go by The Revolt, but issues with another North Carolina tag team using the name nixed that.
Episode 203 of Being The Elite opened with Matt Jackson making toast for his kids. A familiar message appeared on the toast — FTR.
Matt and Nick Jackson were shown on the BTE compound, better known as Nick’s house. Both said they have been happy to spend time at home with their kids but are going stir crazy. Nick said he’s tired of seeing The Inner Circle stand tall over The Elite each week on Dynamite. Nick said he’s ready to go back to Dynamite. Matt said Nick isn’t healthy enough yet and they should go play tennis.
Brandon Cutler practiced his Kick Out Challenge at home. Peter Avalon called him and told him that he sucked. Cutler issued the Kick Out Challenge to Avalon. Avalon said he needed to take a powder. Matt Hardy explained the insider term “take a powder.”
Christopher Daniels showed us how we can make our own masks at home.
Hangman Page announced that he is going to get drunk and live in the woods in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Page hunted down a squirrel and vowed to check back in next week.
Avalon was confronted in his front yard by a referee, an announcer and indie wrestler”Neighbor” Steve. Avalon kicked out of several covers before Steve rolled him up with a schoolboy for the pin.
Scorpio Sky and my pal Frankie Kazarian played quarters in the locker room. Kazarian beat Sky. Daniels wanted to join in the game but he was excluded. This was a parody of The Last Dance documentary series on ESPN.
Justin Roberts made a cameo. He has longer hair now.
Private Party continued to investigate which team put out a hit on them. The person responsible was revealed as — Hangman Page.
Marko Stunt received a map delivered to his home in an empty White Claw can. The map seemed to indicate a Jurassic Express reunion. He followed the map to the designated spot. We were told that this plot point is to be continued…
Matt and Nick played tennis with their brother Malachi. Matt bragged about his tennis prowess. The gag was that Matt is not good at tennis. Matt took a bump into a fence and came up bleeding from the forehead.
Kenny Omega was hanging out in his dressing room after the street fight on last week’s Dynamite. He was feeling proud of his first street fight performance. Alex Marvez, Chuck Taylor and Chris Harrington walked past the dressing room.
Omega called each of them in and asked for their opinion on his street fight. Marvez and Taylor said it looked like he was an amateur in his first street fight. Omega called on Harrington. He called Harrington “the ultimate yes man” and “a pussy-ass bitch” before asking his opinion. Harrington said Omega looked like he had never been in a real fight before and that even he could kick Omega’s ass.
Cash Wheeler and Dax Hardwood, formerly Dash and Dawson of The Revival, spoke about their departure from the WWE in the latest episode of Talk is Jericho.
They went into detail about their release, with Cash saying they had asked around January of 2019. He said they asked for their release following a match with the Lucha House Party, saying that they were unhappy with the direction tag team wrestling was going with the company. He mentioned specifically the time where Braun Strowman “steamrolled the entire tag team division” and also the time when Strowman won the Raw Tag Team titles with a ten-year old.
Dax felt that those in the company thought they were bluffing when they asked for their release. Jericho asked if WWE promising a more focused tag team division was just a way to keep them on board. Dax agreed with that, saying that he felt deep down they would never focus on teams, pointing out that two singles wrestlers put together as a team had a better chance of getting a push than a consistent team.
The topic then shifted to the final meeting between them and Vince McMahon. Cash said it was difficult to meet with Vince due to the transition to FOX, but one day they were working on putting together a match in the ring when they were called to Vince’s office for a meeting. Cash said that the designs that ended up being leaked were “100% real” and were presented by Vince McMahon himself. Dax noted that most of the time, “the boys” are kayfabed about everything, and was sure whoever had leaked the pictures were part of the creative team.
Cash said he laughed out loud upon seeing the designs in front of everyone at the meeting, which included Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard. It was explained to them that this would be a way to showcase a different side to the team, showcasing their charisma. Cash said that he told them that these “were not good” but would do the characters until their contract expired. Cash noted that this was on a Friday, and by the following Wednesday they were told they were being taken off the road. He also said that the money they were being offered was higher than the $750,000 that was being reported.
In regards to the character motivations behind the new gimmicks, Cash said they would be doing it out of spite as the only way they would get on television is if they were a comedy act, which in real life they thought was true as well.
Dax said he didn’t know if Vince McMahon really thought it the best idea in the world or just a way to embarrass them on the way out. Dax said that Vince McMahon was “the greatest worker of them all”.
The Revolt also talked about Dusty Rhodes, their favorite matches, who they would like to work with and more during the course of the interview.
The former Revival will be on tomorrow’s episode of Talk is Jericho.
Chris Jericho confirmed the news on his Twitter this afternoon. This will be the first interview the team has given since their release from WWE on April 10. Since their release, they have trademarked the name “The Revolt” and are now going by the names Cash Wheeler (Dash) and Dax Hardwood (Dawson).
The team were put together during their run in NXT and won the brand’s Tag Team titles twice. They were called up to the main roster, where they won the Raw Tag Team titles twice and the SmackDown Tag Team titles once. The had been on the SmackDown roster as recently as February, but had stopped being used prior to the end of their contracts.
The Revolt do not have a no-compete clause in their release, so they are free to sign with anyone at the moment. The Young Bucks have teased in recent weeks the usage of the initials “FTR”. The Revolt have been using those initials since their release, with the letters standing for “Fear the Revolt”.
The show opened with Matt and Nick Jackson doing some comedy. Matt said he went to the hospital after BTE 200 and his lower back is going to be injured for another two years. Nick said he went to the hospital and his health is at fifteen percent.
Matt and Nick said that they could have gone out after BTE 200 but they’re bored in the midst of this global pandemic. Their conversation was interrupted by a message being written in the sky.
Luchasaurus called Dr. P.J. Black to help him get his tail back.
Brandon Cutler started the #Kick Out Challenge. Steven Andrews and Simon Lotto used a variety of covers and cradles and Cutler kicked out of them. Cutler said when he returns to AEW he won’t lose another match. He was pinned at the end of the segment.
Colt Cabana did a parody of the Young Bucks book commercial.
The Bucks did a parody of the Don’t Rush Challenge.
Dr. Black made a series of potions to send Luchasaurus to another realm to find his tail. There he encountered a snake, Super Panda and dinosaur puppets portraying NXT coaches. After returning from the realm, Luchasaurus ran off to a Panda Express to find his tail.
Private Party were hanging out in a backyard. They were six feet apart and were texting each other. Isiah Kassidy asked Quen if he remembered the masked man that interrupted their backyard match on their last BTE appearance. Quen said he did and texted Kassidy an emoji wearing a surgical mask.
Kassidy got up to leave and a surgical mask dropped out of his pocket. Quen confronted Kassidy and accused him of attacking him in the backyard match. Kassidy left. Quen then realized that the masked man was Rey Fenix.
The final scene cut back to Matt and Nick. The message written in the sky was revealed to be — FTR.
A teaser video posted by the tag team formerly known as The Revival looks to have revealed their new team name.
Both Revival members tweeted out the video today, with it appearing to confirm “The Revolt” as their new name. The video says “Resist,” “Revive,” and “Revolt” before ending with “Fear The Revolt.”
— Daniel “Cash” Wheeler (@CashWheelerFTR) April 21, 2020
WWE announced on April 10 that they and The Revival had agreed on the team’s immediate release from the company: “Effective today, Friday April 10, 2020, WWE and The Revival have agreed on their immediate release from WWE. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
The former Scott Dawson changed his name on Twitter to Dax Harwood after being released, while the former Dash Wilder changed his to Cash Wheeler. Harwood’s real name is David Harwood. Wheeler’s real name is Daniel Wheeler.
Wheeler applied to trademark “Fear The Revolt” earlier this month.
While tweeting the video today, Harwood wrote “Resist. Revive. Revolt. Coming soon. #FTR”
On the Saturday edition of Wrestling Observer Live, we continue the discussion about WWE making the decision to return to live TV programming and the factors that influenced the decision.
Also, now that The Revival have been released from WWE, fans expect they will see a long anticipated match with The Young Bucks but there are also other AEW bouts that could be great against Proud and Powerful, Lucha Bros, SCU, and maybe even the tag team champions Kenny Omega and Hangman Page. But, that’s just in one company. What if they decide to work for independent groups in the U.S. or around the world?
Of of that, we talk about tag team wrestling, your favorite tag teams past, present, and future, matches that you remember to this day and your favorite eras of tag team wrestling. Whether it was The Hardys vs. The Dudleys vs. Edge and Christian in TLC, The Road Warriors, or Mr. Fuji and Toru Tanaka, tag team wrestling has always been a great part of the game and we discuss that on the show.
It’s Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave Meltzer and Jim Valley. WWE changed plans — instead of taping episodes of Smackdown, RAW and NXT, the decision was made on the spot to produce them live or close to live as possible. Florida is supposed be closed down. Is Vince doing something that Dana White couldn’t? Dave has details of when, why and how the WWE decision happened.
Meanwhile, The Revival and WWE officially parted ways. Dave gives his thoughts on that. With the XFL suspending operations, we talk about the economics likely surrounding the situation and how it may affect other wrestling and entertainment companies. Ronda Rousey called fans ungrateful. Did she mean that and does Dave expect her at Wrestlemania next year?
We wrap up with a fun discussion on promoter Paul Boesch and Houston Wrestling. NWA Powerr uploaded classic Houston footage this week. Dave talks memories of Houston and Paul Boesch.
Timestamps:
Start: WWE going live
14:35: XFL shuts down
21:55: Revival gone from WWE
24:28: Ronda Rousey talks ungrateful fans
29:40: SmackDown
30:44: More on Dana’s private island
39:14: Advertising revenue way down and how that effects wrestling, general talk on coronavirus
59:53: What if AEW/WWE can’t tape?
1:05:59: NWA Houston
Are you interested in attending our annual F4W/WON convention? We will hold it during AEW Double or Nothing weekend. For more information, check this post for activities and prices.
The battle to keep UFC 249 alive is the lead story in our annual WrestleMania double issue, which shows how big a story that became.
We look at how a U.S Senator, government agencies, doctors and Dana White all chimed in and what killed plans for the show next week. We look at the fighters who dropped out of the top two bouts, the reaction locally, the commission, how the association of commissions didn’t back the California commission, how UFC was to be regulated, what happens next, what the doctors said, the business reasons behind why UFC pushed so hard for the show, and what the show originally had.
The new issue also covers:
The wrestling industry going forward after WrestleMania, with a look at WWE, AEW, Impact, MLW and New Japan and what has and hasn’t been taped, who returns to WWE this week, Money in the Bank, Double or Nothing, AEW California crew wrestling, and more.
WrestleMania with a look at the good and the bad of the show, business numbers, the stories of the different unique matches, Roman Reigns update, television ratings for the prelims, and media criticism. We also have match-by-match coverage of both nights with poll results.
President Trump’s meeting with the key players in the sports world including Vince McMahon and Dana White as well as others talking about when or if spectator sports can return.
The key numbers to look for at the next WWE investors call, new WWE TV deals, Paul Levesque talks Wednesday night ratings, Michael Cole’s new role, WWE new documentaries including thoughts on the Edge documentary, new angles, Drew McIntyre talks about a number of subjects, new WWE movie, NXT booking, Kurt Angle talks Brock Lesnar, C.M. Punk talks Vince McMahon, FS 1 TV block, TV sports ratings, Charlotte Flair talks WrestleMania, WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
A story on one of the strangest lawsuits you’ll ever see against Dana White.
A story on the break-in of the home of Anthony Smith.
A huge back-of-the-book story on the life of Danno O’Mahoney, one of the biggest short-term drawing cards in pro wrestling history. We go back to the 1930s, the politics that led to the creation of O’Mahoney, how Paul Bowser put the plan in place, the story of Jim Londos, the biggest drawing card in U.S. history and his role in this, some of the biggest matches in wrestling history and why the O’Mahoney vs. Shikat match changed the industry for a dozen years after and some historians call it the most important match in history. It’s all here, creation of world titles, promotions not getting along, in-ring double-crossess, stadium shows and the tragic story about how happy ever after end up lasting five weeks.
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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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Tonight’s Smackdown show was to air “as close to live as it gets.” WWE is taping five episodes of Raw, five episodes of Smackdown, as well as many episodes of NXT this week. Smackdown is being taped today and tomorrow. Raw is being taped Sunday and Monday. NXT will also be taped over the weekend, presumably at Full Sail while Raw & Smackdown will be taped at the Performance Center. Rules for shutdown in Orange County are very different from California.
Besides Sen. Dianne Feinstein being against UFC taking place in Lemoore, CA, Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically went to Disney, the parent company of ESPN, saying he didn’t want the show taking place in California. ESPN then told UFC not to run it. Dana White said that he is making plans for a Fight Island where all the fighters will be housed for one month prior to fights and they will be starting up with regular shows as soon as possible. Some day somebody is going to do a movie on a UFC promoter who gets crazier by the week.
Regarding the release of The Revival, it’s what they’ve been wanting for a year. There is no 90-day non-compete so they would be free to be on AEW television Wednesday if it wasn’t already taped more than a month ahead of time. They have since changed their names on Twitter to Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood.
On the XFL closing up, the economy has changed and opening a new sports league right now is all of a sudden not the easiest thing. If AEW had not signed their deal with TNT in January, things would be very rough on them right now, not that they aren’t rough for everyone, because they are. Every company, whether it’s WWE, New Japan, UFC, AEW and everyone else is going through a rough time economically as are most businesses in the U.S. Almost all employees of the league and all its teams, as well as the players, have been laid off. There were a few people still employed being needed to tie things up. The big question is how much of the $20 million deal did Oliver Luck end up making.
Signs that the XFL was closing actually came right after we finished the issuewhen Sports Business Journal reported that the league would be refunding all deposits for 2021 season tickets, which was the first sign that they were not planning to return. At first, the league had announced that people who had tickets to games called off could use them as credit for 2021 games. When that happened, Sports Business Journal asked if they were planning on playing in 2021, and they got no answer back.
WWE
BT Sports will be airing WrestleMania free to their customers on this coming Saturday and Sunday nights at 10 p.m. (thanks to Colin McMillan)
Taken another digit, the audience for NXT on Wednesday was 629,900 and AEW was 629,500, so the difference in viewers was 400. The actual difference was in the first ten minutes of the show where the much larger rated USA Network gave NXT ten much bigger minutes before it fell into a more normal range starting around minute 11.
Update on Wednesday’s show is Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager for the AEW title, Kip Sabian vs. Chuckie T, Colt Cabana vs. Lance Archer in the TNT tournament, plus a match with Britt Baker.
MISCELLANEOUS
Kevin Sullivan was on Jim Cornette’s podcast and denied ever giving Nancy Toffoloni a black eye, and said that she spent three days in jail for coming after him with a knife. He said the two of them were living apart and if Nancy had a black eye, it came from someone else.
Impact finishes taping today and will be taping the planned Rebellion PPV, which now looks to be one or two episodes of the television show. The planned card is looking like it would have to change based on people not coming into Nashville this week for taping.
ROH did a fan voting tournament for its best wrestler in history with 27 former ROH champions and five others. Bryan Danielson beat C.M. Punk in the finals. Danielson in the tournament beat Colt Cabana, Austin Aries, A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe to reach the finals.
Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. today for the Defy Wrestling/Progress/PCW Ultra joint shows on 7/30 in Los Angeles at the ILWU Hall, 7/31 and 8/1 in Seattle at Washington Hall. Tickets for the 8/2 show in Portland, OR at the Crystal Ballroom go on sale at a later date.
MLW airs the first show of its MLW vs. AAA series taped on 3/13 in Tijuana tomorrow night. Alexander Hammerstone vs. Laredo Kid for the national title headlines.
“Effective today, Friday April 10, 2020, WWE and The Revival have agreed on their immediate release from WWE. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
According to our Bryan Alvarez on the January 31st edition of Wrestling Observer Live, the North Carolina-born duo made up of Scott Dawson (David Harwood) and Dash Wilder (Daniel Wheeler) had asked for their release in January for a second time in two years.
Dave Meltzer is also reporting that there is no 90 day non-compete clause and the two are free and clear to sign or work wherever they would like. Dawson’s contract was either up or about to be up while Wilder initially had a few months added to the end of his contract due to previous time off due to injuries.
The team had reportedly turned down five year renewals and haven’t been on WWE TV since losing in a no. 1 contender fatal four way on the January 31st SmackDown. Since then, they worked four house show matches with their last being on March 1st.
The 32-year-old Wilder has been in wrestling since 2005, signing with WWE and starting at the Performance Center in 2014. The 35-year-old Dawson began in 2004 and started at the Performance Center in 2012. After working with Garrett Dylan as a partner and going the singles route, Dawson and Wilder were paired up shortly after Wilder’s signing.
Starting as The Mechanics, the team changed their name in February 2016 to The Revival and won two NXT tag team titles before being called up on the Raw after WrestleMania in 2017. They won the Raw tag team titles twice and the SmackDown titles once, becoming the first WWE triple crown tag team champions. They also briefly co-held the 24/7 championship.
They have also been filing for their own trademarks as of late with WWE attempting to counter. From the March 2nd and 9th editions of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“WWE and The Revival are battling for intellectual property rights since it appears The Revival is leaving next month with AEW looking to be the likely destination. WWE has filed for trademarks on the terms The Mechanics, which was the name they used before the Revival and the term “No Flips, Just Fists.” The team was trying to get a trademark for the latter term.
The Revival has filed for trademarks for the terms “Top Guys,” “Say Yeah,” and “No flips. Just fists.” They already filed for the term “Forever the Revival,” which means they can use the FTR branding that the Young Bucks used years ago on BTE and in ROH when they would have people chant “F*** the Revival” based on the idea at that time The Revival was the team people were considering as possibly better than the Young Bucks.”
It is assumed they are likely AEW-bound given the company’s propensity for tag team wrestling, but that is simply speculation at this point.
Neither man has commented publicly at this point, but Dawson did tweet the following Thursday night:
Guys, for shoot, even if you called us boring or said we have dad bods or no charisma or can’t cut a promo, I love all of y’all. Professional Wrestling has always been my dream. Y’all made it possible. #FTR
A stipulation has been added to The New Day and The Revival’s SmackDown Tag Team title match at TLC.
Before tonight’s SmackDown, WWE announced that The New Day vs. The Revival at Sunday’s pay-per-view will now be a ladder match. The Revival were set up as Kofi Kingston & Big E’s challengers for the PPV by defeating Mustafa Ali & Shorty G, The Lucha House Party, and Heavy Machinery in a fatal four-way elimination match last week.
This is the fourth stipulation match announced for TLC. Asuka & Kairi Sane’s Women’s Tag Team title defense against Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair and Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin will both be tables, ladders, and chairs matches, while Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley will be a tables match.
Here’s the updated card for TLC:
Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka & Kairi Sane defending against Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair in a tables, ladders, and chairs match
Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin in a tables, ladders, and chairs match
Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz
Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley in a tables match
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day defending against The Revival in a ladder match
Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy
The Viking Raiders Raw Tag Team title open challenge
