Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the death of Tracy Smothers, another COVID outbreak, RAW ratings, updates on Thunder Rosa and Tucker, UFC PPV numbers, a weekend preview, and, of course, a full recap of both AEW and NXT from Wednesday night. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Tracy Smothers
16:28: Thunder Rosa update
20:14: New COVID outbreak in NXT
22:53: Raw ratings
27:17: Tucker is on Raw
31:14: UFC numbers
34:04: Bellator, UFC
37:43: AEW
1:07:28: NXT
Serena Deeb won the NWA Women’s title tonight on Primetime Live, and the first title defense will be on Dynamite.
Deeb defeated Thunder Rosa to win the championship for the first time. The finish had Rosa in control with a German suplex and a knee strike, but Deeb surprised Rosa by rolling her up for the win. The two shook hands following the match.
Deeb is currently under AEW contract, with the company announcing her signing back in September. On Twitter, Tony Khan announced that the first title defense would take place on Dynamite against Leyla Hirsch.
“Congratulations to the new @nwa Women’s World Champion @SerenaDeeb!” Khan wrote on Twitter. “She’ll make her 1st title defense v. @LegitLeyla on #AEWDynamite tomorrow night, Wednesday on TNT at 8pm ET/7pm CT on a huge show with several big matches on the card! Thank you great fans who make AEW possible!”
Rosa won the championship at the NWA Hard Times iPPV event in Atlanta, Georgia in January, defeating Allysin Kay. She had held the championship for 278 days.
UWN Primetime Live is a collaboration between the NWA, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, and other promotions under the Championship Wrestling umbrella. NWA titles have been defended on the program in recent weeks. Elijah Burke defeated Zicky Dice to win the NWA Television championship on the October 20 episode.
A positive COVID-19 test result has resulted in a major change to tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Orange Cassidy for the TNT Championship was set to headline the show, while Jon Moxley, Will Hobbs & Darby Allin were going to face Lance Archer, Brian Cage & Ricky Starks in a six-man tag. Archer revealed a positive COVID-19 test, so now Moxley will defend his AEW World title against Eddie Kingston.
Kingston was technically never eliminated from the Casino Battle Royale at All Out and has been mentioning that fact in his promos ever since. So tonight, he gets the World title shot he’s been clamoring for.
Lee will be making his second defense of the title since winning it from Cody on August 22. Lee brings an AEW career singles mark of 7-1 into the contest. Cassidy is 8-4 in AEW singles matches in 2020 and is coming off wins over Chris Jericho and Angelico.
Miro and Kip Sabian will team against Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss in Miro’s AEW in-ring debut.
AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida and NWA World Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa will team against Ivelisse and Diamante. Rosa defeated Ivelisse on last week’s Dynamite. Diamante and Ivelisse attacked Rosa after her win and Shida made the save.
An appearance by Chris Jericho and an appearance by Matt Hardy and Private Party have also been advertised.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
**********
Jim Ross, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone were the broadcast team.
This was a mixed bag. I thought they used Miro smartly and he played to his strengths, mostly tagging in for a few power spots.
I thought that any talk of Miro having a new physique was overblown last week but I was wrong. He’s gigantic.
Janela and Kiss got some shine on Sabian early. Sabian and Miro cut Kiss off and worked him over. This was formulaic but the work was very good at this stage.
Janela got a hot tag and things got sloppy. Miro, Janela and Sabian brawled to the floor. Miro sold his ankle and was limping for a bit.
Miro tried to launch Sabian over the barricade to Janela. Janela was supposed to hit something mid-air but the camera crew didn’t get a good shot of it and it looked like they botched it anyway.
Miro used the former Accolade, now possibly called Game Over, for the submission win on Kiss.
**********
Eddie Kingston entered and demanded the hard camera be focused on him. He said he and Mox used to be cut from the same cloth but then Mox sold out and became a sports entertainer, selling his soul to the devil.
He demanded that Moxley face him. Moxley entered and faced off with Kingston. A security team kept them apart.
This was an excellent segment. Give me a Kingston promo every week.
**********
The announcers previewed the card. Kenny Omega joined the commentary desk for the next match.
**********
Hangman Page defeated Evil Uno (w/Dark Order)
This was exactly the same thing they did last week, there was no storyline advancement with Omega and Page. Omega was better on commentary this week than last week but still managed to talk under Page’s ring introduction.
JR tried to help Omega get over the storyline here and asked if he was going to help Page out. Omega said he was staying put because he’s a singles guy now.
Page is still getting his legs under him as a singles guy and his matches aren’t clicking on all cylinders yet.
They had a back and forth brawl before an ad break. Uno worked Page over in a picture-in-picture ad break.
Page made a comeback. Uno tossed him to the stage. Uno asked Dark Order to go to the back rather than interfere.
Page made another comeback and hit a standing shooting star for a two count. Uno hit a senton atomico for a two count.
Page hit a powerbomb with a stack cover for a near fall, then followed with a Buckshot Lariat for the pin.
**********
Schiavone interviewed Matt Jackson backstage. Matt said fans may have noticed that he and Nick have been acting out of character lately.
He broke Tony’s phone and continued to act like a jerk.
**********
TNT Championship match: Mr. Brodie Lee defeated Orange Cassidy to retain the title
Not much to the match here but it was more a backdrop for the post-match angle.
Cassidy did his comedy kicks and pockets spot.
Cassidy tried a suicide dive but the Dark Order lackies caught him and allowed Lee to take over. Lee beat on Cassidy through an ad break.
Cassidy made a comeback and ran wild with suicide dives. JR went on his weekly crusade to undermine talent by ripping on dives. Cassidy hit a pair of tornado DDTs for near falls.
John Silver jumped in. Cassidy hit him with an Orange Punch. Lee used the distraction to hit a powerbomb and a discus lariat for the pin.
**********
After the match, Cody’s music hit.
Cody entered. He has dark hair now.
Cody beat up some Dark Order lackies while Lee escaped.
**********
After a commercial, Lee cut a promo. He asked what kind of man Cody was for sending Dustin and Brandi to do his work for him while he was in a bubble somewhere.
Lee asked what kind of man Cody was that his wife was posting thirst traps and calling Lee “Daddy.”
Lee pulled out a dog collar and challenged Cody to a dog collar match. He gave Cody a week to respond.
This was another strong promo. The high point of this show tonight is the promos by a wide margin.
**********
Matt Hardy and Private Party made their way to the ring. Hardy said it was his birthday.
Hardy said he was attacked from behind last week. He used a lot of words to say that someone with a mask attacked him with a pipe or bat and noted that right after he was laid out, Jericho and Hager entered with a bat.
Hardy said he has a lot of enemies but was pointing the finger at Jericho.
Jericho and The Inner Circle entered. Sammy Guevara is back. Jericho said he didn’t attack Hardy. Jericho was carrying a baseball bat.
Hardy wanted to fight the whole Inner Circle. Quen and Kassidy talked sense to him and reminded him he’s not cleared yet.
Quen said he is cleared and laid out Jericho last week. Kassidy said he’s ready to make Le Champion his bitch next week.
**********
FTR and Tully Blanchard came to the ring for a promo. Tully said that Tag title matches on TV will now have a 20 minute time limit and he and FTR get to pick the opponents.
FTR are branding this as a weekly “brush with greatness.” They mentioned Best Friends as potential opponents.
Best Friends entered. FTR acted like they were ready to defend the titles right away. A referee came out and was about to ring the bell when Dax stopped him.
Cash said it wouldn’t be fair to Best Friends if they wrestled tonight and advised them to take a couple weeks to heal up and then maybe call Tully and they’ll set something up.
This was an effective segment.
**********
Thunder Rosa & Hikaru Shida defeated Ivelisse & Diamante
Rosa is great, Shida is great, this match was laid out really well, there’s just only so much Ivelisse and Diamante are capable of.
Rosa’s facepaint was a tribute to Road Warrior Animal.
Shida and Rosa were attacked during Shida’s intro.
Diamante and Ivelisse cut Rosa off. It’s kind of like when Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss are in together when Rosa and Ivelisse are in there at the same time in that it feels like a fight could break out at any time.
Shida got a hot tag during a commercial break. The match broke down.
Shida pinned Diamante after a falcon arrow and a shining wizard.
**********
Dasha Gonzalez was backstage with Chris Jericho.
Jericho said Isiah Kassidy is going to be a big star one day but not next week. He said next week he’s going down when he faces Le Champion.
MJF entered. Jericho and MJF continued to do their mutual appreciation society gimmick. It was very good.
**********
Jericho vs. Kassidy, Britt Baker in action, Ricky Starks vs. Darby Allin, FTR vs. SCU and a Jon Moxley appearance were advertised for next week’s Dynamite.
A 30 years of Jericho celebration was announced for the October 7 Dynamite.
The main event is next.
**********
AEW World Championship match: Jon Moxley defeated Eddie Kingston to retain the title
Kingston is 38 and has worked a hard style for a long time. He’s at the top of his game as a promo and a character and that makes up for whatever physical limitations he has.
They had a brawl. It was intense and very good.
They traded a couple of cursory holds right awy but things quickly became the brawl that you would expect. They lit each other up with chops and strikes.
Kingston was in control before a commercial break and beat Moxley around ringside.
Moxley made a comeback with a tope and a piledriver for a near fall. Kingston hit a powerbomb for a two count. Kingston sold like he might have a stinger.
Moxley avoided two backfists and used a bulldog choke for the submission win.
A key point in the finish here is that Kingston never tapped, the referee called for the bell after Kingston appeared to be out.
**********
After the bell, Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix ran in to attack Moxley.
Will Hobbs ran in for the save. Penta and Fenix recovered and laid out Hobbs.
Darby Allin ran in to join the brawl. Allin sent Fenix and Penta outside wth skateboard shots.
Ricky Starks ran in and attacked Allin. Starks hit a big spear and hit Allin with the skateboard.
The show opened with a series of inset promos from Thunder Rosa, Priscilla Kelly, Karl Fredricks, Eli Drake and others. This was a very old school opening and I loved the throwback feel.
Kevin Martenson defeated Danny Rivera
Both men locked up, but Martenson slammed Rivera right away and went to the top rope but Riva rolled away before he could do anything. Rivera went for a DDT, but Martenson countered. Rivera hit a hurricanrana and a northern lights suplex, followed by a dive to the floor. The dive looked a bit dangerous as he almost got caught on the top rope, but he managed to clear it.
Martenson kicked the legs out from under Rivera and then hit a double stomp to his head. Martenson hit a spear by sliding in between the corner post and under the bottom rope to the floor. That looked quite dangerous. Back in the ring, Martenson went for a pop-up powerbomb, but Rivera countered into a hurricanrana.
Martenson hit a kick while Rivera was on the apron to send him to the floor, but missed a dive. Martenson went for a charge, Rivera backdropped him into the ropes and then Martenson went crashing to the floor which looked brutal. Rivera walked the ropes and hit a springboard clothesline for a two count. The move looked a little botched as he jumped a bit too high for Martenson.
Rivera went for the symbiote DDT, but Martenson countered and gave him a splash mountain bomb over the top rope onto the entrance ramp. Martenson went for a splash from the corner on to the ramp, but Rivera got his knees up. Martenson then hit a brainbuster on the ramp and rolled Rivera into the ring for the pin.
Oh my goodness, these two killed each other in this match. There were a bunch of bumps on the concrete floor and ramp. Both men put in a fantastic performance, but I think they would be better off not taking the crazy bumps they did. Regardless, this was a great match.
– David Marquez interviewed Aron Stevens who is facing Trevor Murdoch next week. In a very good promo, he promised that he was going to remain the 3rd Degree NWA National Champion.
Eli Drake defeated Watts
Watts and Drake started the match by saying they could hear the fans at home chanting their name. I couldn’t. They started slow, trying to one up one another. They did shake hands at the start of the match, but on a second handshake attempt, Drake pulled him in for a go behind. It was kind of a heelish move, which is perplexing as Drake is a babyface.
Watts hit a big sidewalk slam, a fallaway slam, and then several shoulders in the corner. Watts caught Drake and hit another fallaway slam. He Irish whipped Drake into the corner hard before kicking him in the corner. Watts went for a third Irish whip, but Drake countered with a clothesline. Drake went for a dive off the top rope, but Watts countered with an overhead belly-to-belly for a two count.
Drake went for a headscissors takedown, but Watts botched the forward roll and ended up planting himself on his head into the mat. Drake went up the ramp, ran down, and jumped over the top rope with a clothesline. Drake hit a Russian leg sweep and then a powerslam for two.
Watts went for a chokeslam, but Drake fought out and hit the ropes, but Watts hit a pump kick. Watts hit a choke bomb for two. Drake couldn’t get up, so Watts called for his music and went for a power bomb, but Drake countered and hit the Gravy Train for the pinfall.
While the work was fine, this was way too slow for a show with no crowd as what they did largely depended upon getting reactions from the audience.
– Priscilla Kelly cut a promo about how everything is on the line for her tonight as she spent months wondering if her career was going to continue because of the pandemic. This was a very good promo as it felt real. I don’t doubt for a second that she had hard days during the past six months.
Real Money Brothers (RNB Suge & Big Money Clutch) defeated Friendship Farm (Gentleman Jervis & Sweet Robin Shaw)
Jervis locked up with Suge and tried to tickle him, but ended up attacking with a drop toe hold and then hit a big uppercut before tagging out to Shaw. Shaw is a larger man and was wearing flesh colored tights. That was a bad idea — a very bad idea. Shaw hit a legdrop on Suge who then tagged out to Clutch. Clutch hit a pounce on Shaw and then they proceeded to get the heat on him.
Shaw eventually hit what looked like a spear and then tagged out to Jervis, who tried to hit the Rock-A-Bye suplex on Suge and Suge almost fell asleep, but Clutch saved him. They hit their finish (which I missed the name of) for the win.
Karl Fredricks defeated Slice Boogie
Fredricks, coming fresh from NJPW Strong, started by chopping the crap out of Boogie. He went for an armbar, but Boogie tried to block it. Both men tried to exchange holds here, but were unable to top each other. Boogie hit a shoulder tackle and yelled, “I’m not a young lion, I’m a grown man!” He hit the ropes and Fredricks hit a crossbody.
Fredricks hit some hard forearms and a jumping elbow for two. Fredricks hit the ropes and Boogie hit a pump kick, followed by a legdrop for two. Boogie Shit a snap german suplex for two. Slice hit a chop in the corner and Fredricks gave a Shibata like no-sell. Boogie hit a few more chops and a forearm, but Fredricks no sold it again. Boogie hit a uranage for two.
They exchanged some forearms, but Fredericks hit a Pele kick and a series of hard forearms in the corner before hitting the Shibata style corner dropkick for a two. He countered an inverted suplex with some knees, but Boogie hit the 21st Street Special for two.
Fredricks countered the Statute of Misery with a spinebuster and then hit an implant DDT for the pinfall victory.
This match was awesome. Fredricks looks so much like Shibata in the ring that it’s kind of scary. You can tell that Shibata has trained him, and my goodness, he has trained him well.
– Joe Galli was with some of Thunder Rosa’s fans at an indie show including Rosa’s number 1 fan, a young girl. The fans talked about how Rosa was one of the best in the world and that Kelly would have a hard time against her tonight.
NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa defeated Priscilla Kelly
Instead of the standard lockup, Kelly and Rosa went to the mat right away and exchanged submission attempts. Both women rolled on the mat, ending with Rosa locking on a half crab. Kelly countered and locked on a Boston crab. Rosa fought out and hit some hard strikes before going for an ankle lock.
Rosa hit a series for armdrags and then a dropkick before missing a corner charge. Kelly hit an uppercut and then a PK for two. Kelly then hit a flying kick to Rosa to drop her. She hit some hard kicks and tied Rosa up in the ropes before hitting a knee to the back. Kelly sent Rosa to the floor and wrapped her arms around the ring post. Rosa slammed Kelly’s head into the steps and started to choke her on the floor.
Rosa hit a chop to Kelly’s back as the ref tried to get both women back into the ring. They started to exchange strikes on the floor. Rosa sent Kelly back into the ring, but was out of position for a dive so Kelly adjusted and jumped from the apron with a flying kick. This was a smart adjustment while moving, and it didn’t look like a mistake.
Rosa hit a neckbreaker in the ring for a two. She choked Kelly on the ropes before hitting a kick to Kelly’s head. She hit a snapmare and then a dragon sleeper. When she couldn’t get the tapout, she landed some elbows to Kelly’s face instead. Kelly countered a headscissors into a jackknife pin for two.
Kelly hit an armdrag and then locked on an armbar but Rosa escaped and went for a heel hook. Kelly responded with kicks to the face, and then they exchanged a series of pinfall attempts before Rosa locked on a pendulum. Kelly managed to fight back to her feet and hit a hard superkick. Rosa got a drop toehold that sent Kelly into the corner which she followed with flying knees and then a dropkick for two.
Kelly went for a half nelson suplex, but Rosa countered and hit a neckbreaker. Both women fought out on to the ramp and started hitting each other hard. Kelly managed to lock on the octopus stretch on the entrance ramp, but Rosa fought out and hit a death valley driver on the entrance ramp. Kelly managed to kick out when Rosa went for the pinfall.
Rosa went for the Thunder Driver, but Kelly countered into a back suplex for two. Both women exchanged some hard forearms and then Rosa hit a flying knee, but Kelly hit the ropes and hit a pump kick. Kelly then hit Crippling Depression for a very close two.
Kelly locked on a submission, but Rosa countered out into a Samoan drop for two. They started to exchange chops and Kelly floored Rosa with a kick. Rosa ducked a second kick and hit a flying knee and then hit the Thunder Driver for the pin and win to close a fantastic match.
Both gave it their all. It went for nearly 25 minutes, and I didn’t notice once that there was no crowd. They worked a very fast paced match and just kept going, hitting each other with harder and harder moves. Both women put in a performance that might have been the best of their careers. I cannot recommend this match enough.
Final Thoughts:
This was a very good 90 minutes of wrestling. Week one was very shaky due to all the technical issues, but week two was a huge improvement with zero streaming issues and some truly great matches.
The main event felt like an epic title match worth of the NWA name while Fredricks vs. Boogie was a very NJPW style match that didn’t disappoint. The rest of the card was quite good, too. The only thing that stood out as bad was Drake vs. Watts and even that wasn’t that bad. Overall, this was an excellent show.
Serena Deeb will be making her AEW debut tonight on Dynamite.
Deeb will face the NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa in a singles match, AEW social media confirmed this afternoon. This would be her first match since the 2017 Mae Young Classic tournament, where she lost to Piper Niven in the second round.
Following the tournament, she was hired by WWE as a coach at the WWE Performance Center. However, she, along with fellow trainers Kendo Kashin and Ace Steel, were cut in April as part of WWE’s wide-ranging cutbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Thunder Rosa has been seen on Dynamite in recent weeks, challenging AEW Women’s champion Hikaru Shida to a title match at All Out. Shida accepted the match, which will take place this Saturday, September 5.
Deeb previously wrestled for the WWE between 2009-10, with her most prolific role being part of CM Punk’s followers who were collectively known as the Straight Edge Society.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Thunder Rosa will be making her AEW in-ring debut this Wednesday on Dynamite.
He didn’t give her opponent, but mentioned her appearance while going over the rundown for this week’s edition of the show.
The current NWA Women’s Champion made a surprise appearance via a vignette several weeks ago, challenging AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida to a title match at All Out which was accepted the following week.
The 34-year-old has worked for Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, WOW and others in her six year career which also includes a 2019 MMA fight with Combate Americas. She will attempt to become a dual champion this Saturday against Shida who has held the title since defeating Nyla Rose at May’s Double or Nothing.
The go-home show for the pay-per-view will feature AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. MJF’s lawyer Mark Sterling, Chris Jericho vs. Joey Janela, Jurassic Express and Young Bucks vs. Private Party and SCU with winners facing each other Saturday, and Best Friends vs. Santana and Ortiz.
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida vs. NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa is now official for AEW All Out.
Last Saturday, Rosa made a surprise appearance on Dynamite and challenged Shida to a title match at the company’s September pay-per-view. On Thursday’s Dynamite in a video package, Shida accepted and the contract was signed. The match is not title vs. title and is for just Shida’s belt.
Rosa has been champion since January but with the NWA in a hiatus due to the pandemic, Tony Khan approached Billy Corgan about Rosa’s availability and a deal was worked out. Corgan and footage of Rosa in the NWA were part of the video package Thursday.
Shida has been champion since May 23rd when she defeated Nyla Rose at Double or Nothing to win the title.
**********
The field for the 21-man Casino Battle Royale at All Out began to take shape as several participants were announced or announced their intention to be in the match.
Darby Allin, Lance Archer, Brian Cage, Ricky Starks. Eddie Kingston, The Butcher, The Blade, Pentagon Jr. and Fenix will all be involved, leaving twelve participants left to go. The winner earns an AEW World title shot.
**********
Following their brawl Thursday, an eight man tag team match was announced for the show featuring Dark Order (TNT Champion Mr. Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) vs. The Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall), Scorpio Sky and Matt Cardona.
A big week of changes in the industry is looked at in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, including the first look at what AEW television fans would do regarding NXT if there was no AEW and which fan base is more likely to watch and which fan base passed on the show.
Our lead story looks at Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic and UFC 252. We look at the key moments of the fight, the scoring, Jon Jones, the greatest heavyweight of all-time, PPV numbers, television ratings, Sean O’Malley, match-by-match coverage with poll results and more.
Also in this issue:
The history of Phillip Thomas and his attempt to kidnap Daria Berenato (Sonya Deville), his obsession, and full details as to what happened in a scary story.
Multiple shows benig canceled due to COVID, as well as updating the situation in Japan and Mexico and how each country has handled it differently.
WWE moving into the Amway Center, renaming it the Thunderdome for all television, how the idea happened and comments regarding the new location.
The reality of numbers, as well as a look at this week’s major WWE shows.
Renee Young leaving WWE, how she first got into wrestling, her past and hat looks to be her future.
AEW selling tickets for its television tapings, the current schedule, live vs. tape on ratings and what shows Tony Khan studied for ideas on hwo to open.
Next round of New Japan major shows including the King of Pro Wrestling champinoship tournament.
WWE talks, Goldberg and Mysterio contracts, a discussion of the Patrick Clark situation, why NXT isn’t at the Amway Center, why WWE removed a number of documentaries off the WWE Network, update on WWE creative, international TV ratings, WWE star places in fitness competition, how a new law could affect classificiation ofWWE employees and what it means, WWE star looking to at doing a new TV show, most-watched shows on the WWE Network and market value of the WWE right now.
A feature on the life of John “Xavier” Bedoya, the second ROH champion, including the early days of ROH, his comebacks wth the group, post ROH career and his attempts to get into MMA.
CMLL’s opening in September and plans for its anniversary show including what seven championshps wil be on the line.
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.
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.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
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.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I have a show from last night covering NXT and AEW and have another show tonight covering NXT and SummerSlam. Garrett Gonzalez and I have a new 100 minute interview with Jon Moxley that people have been very happy with also on the site.
Dana White will be speaking Thursday at the Republican National Convention.
The deal with Thunder Rosa, the NWA women’s champion, challenging Hikaru Shida for the AEW title on the 9/5 PPV was a deal that Tony Khan worked out with Billy Corgan, so it’s not an indication of anything more and the NWA is still targeting a weekly iPPV schedule with FITE TV.
SummerSlam for tonight with a 6 p.m. pre show and 7 p.m. main show on the WWE Network. Don’t forget we’ve got polls for both SummerSlam & Takeover last night, thumbs up, down or middle, best & worst match to [email protected]
Some late changes to the show are Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt is now falls count anywhere and Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville has changed from hair vs. hair to loser leaves town.
Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton for WWE title – There has been talk in both directions regarding the finish here. The two should have an excellent match. Orton is -210 to come out the winner.
Strowman vs. Wyatt for Universal title – Wyatt is a -280 favorite. Thus far the matches with these two have not been good, but with falls count anywhere they have far more latitude so it should be the best of them thus far.
Sasha Banks vs. Asuka for Raw women’s title – Depending on the match story and atmosphere, this has a chance to be great. Asuka is a -140 favorite to win since they’ve been teasing Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler for the title.
Bayley vs. Asuka for Smackdown women’s title – This match goes first of the two women’s title matches. Should be good. Bayley is right now listed as a slight -130 favorite.
Rose vs. Deville loser leaves town – Rose is a -540 favorite to win since Deville has had the edge in most of the stories.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins in a street fight with Rey and Murphy in the corners. Real big test for Mysterio in his first pro wrestling match being in such a high profile bout. Rollins is the -175 favorite to win.
Apollo Crews vs. MVP for U.S. title – Crews is a -175 favorite to retain. It appears they are building toward Crews vs. Lashley.
Street Profits vs. Angel Garza & Andrade for tag titles – Andrade & Garza are -210 to win the titles. When the program was first set up, that was the plan.
With another PPV in seven days, expect some major angle or finish or something out of one of the main bouts tonight. At least that would make sense
Regarding the Thursday AEW show that will have a paid attendance of around 500, as it sold out instantly, they are taping just one week (Dynamite & Dark). They have a huge security presence scheduled to enforce mask wearing in the audience and to make sure there are no situations where fans get out of their chairs if there is a brawl and congregate in a cluster to watch anything. Tony Khan studied both GCW and Warrior Wrestling and how they handled live crowds and both the red flags and how it was handled well. There is always a risk for any company running, even in a place like Japan or Australia, and obviously more in Florida. The attempt is by going outdoors and keeping groups apart with only 10 percent capacity and only seats in the 200s and 300s for fans to make it as safe as can be done. Every week is an experiment.
Karrion Kross’ injury from last night early in the match was a separated acromioclavicular joint in his right shoulder. In short, a shoulder separation. He is having an MRI on Monday to determine the damage and treatment.
UFC did officially announce the Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley fight that has been talked about for years. It is scheduled for 9/19, which is not a PPV.
WWE
Mauro Ranallo missed last night’s show due to a family issue.
There was a very interesting interchange on yesterday’s Talking Smack between Miz and Big E that we’ve written about for the next issue, having to do with E complaining about Kofi Kingston’s treatment since he lost to Brock Lesnar. Miz was a last-minute fill-in for Xavier Woods on the show.
There were some FOX affiliates that ran sports on Friday so the prelim Smackdown number will include that. The actual number won’t be out until Tuesday, but it’s a virtual certainty the number will be the best the show has done for months due to the Thunderdome curiosity. Even with very tough competition on Monday, the belief is Thunderdome plus being the day after SummerSlam will lead to the best Raw ratings in a while. .
NXT U.K. crew was brought together this week for training and a lot of tapings of the U.K. show at the BT Sport Studios so there will be new episodes done. The new episodes start airing on 9/17.
Steve Austin just taped a future episode of Broken Skull Sessions with Jerry Lawler.
UFC
Media scores for the Frankie Edgar vs. Pedro Munhoz fight were 86 percent for Munhoz, even though Edgar won a split decision with the three judges. It was a great fight and I had Munhoz winning by enough that I was generally shocked it was even a split decision, let alone Edgar winning. Derek Clearly gave Edgar rounds two, three and five. Eric Colon gave Edgar one, two and five. Sal D’Amato was the lone judge for Munhoz and only gave Edgar round two.
The planned Ovince Saint Preux vs. Alonzo Menifield semifinal last night was canceled when OSP tested positive for COVID-19. The positive test came back the day of the fight. There are reports he had another positive test earlier in the week but then his next test was negative. OSP was feeling fine all week.
MISCELLANEOUS
Daga and Tessa Blanchard were married over the weekend in Tijuana. Among those attending were Brian Cage, Melissa Santos and Taya Valkyrie.
There is no date either officially or unofficially for Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Endo or Jon Moxley vs. KENTA matches that the Japanese wrestlers challenged for this weekend. The promotions and wrestlers want those matches and neither is just a grandstand challenge, but the issue is the ability to make them happen given restrictions. The idea everyone is working with is that at some point they will happen, and were scheduled for a long time to happen this year, but it’s obviously been a weird year.
Inside the Ropes has announced the launch of a new pro wrestling magazine with Bill Apter, Findlay Martin, James Dixon, Keith Elliot Grenberg, Brian Elliot and more involved.
Last night’s UFC show did 100,000 searches and was No,. 5. Black Adam, the character Dwayne Johnson is going to play, was No. 11 also at 100,000. Nothing else made the top Google searches last night or even all week, meaning as far as general public interest, Thunderdome, NXT Takeover or yesterday’s AEW TV (regular wrestling TV shows very rarely make the list) for this past week did not crack the top 20.
A correction on the 8/24 Observer is the story on the death of Jose Ficca. Ficca did not wrestle in Australia as George Gouliovas. They were two different wrestlers. The misunderstand where people thought they were the same guy is that Ficca was Golden Hawk in 1974-75 in the U.S. and Gouliovas was Golden Hercules in Australia in 1975.. The two actually didn’t look similar; both were pretty powerful looking guys.
Just for a perspective of ratings of sports as compared to Smackdown, last night’s NBA playoff game on ABC did 2.97 million viewers on the overnights (not including West Coast and 1.1 in 18-49. The NHL came on NBC did 1.23 million and 0.3 and the boxing on FOX did 644,000 and 0.2. So Smackdown even at its lowest is well ahead of two of those three, and if AEW was on a network on Saturday night, it would easily beat two of those three in 18-49 and boxing for sure and NHL probably overall.
AIW on 9/6 in Indianapolis for a Noon show at White River State Park has Swoggle vs. Levi Everett, Erick Stevens vs. Lee Moriarty, Ethan Page vs. Tom Lawlor and more.
The premiere of “You Cannot Kill David Arquette, a documentary about his return to pro wrestling took place over the weekend at the Vineland Drive-In Theater in Los Angeles.
Black Label Pro from last night in Crown Point, IL: Josh Bishop b Gary Jay, Trey Miguel b Tre Lamar, Dan the Dad b Cabana Man Dan, Jake Manning and Colin Delaney, Effy b Gangrel, Jake Something b Chris Masters to keep BLP title, Billie Starza b Elayna Balck, Big Beef b Levi Everett, Kylie Rae b Blake Christian to keep Midwest title.
NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa appeared on Dynamite tonight, challenging Hirkau Shida to a match at All Out next month.
Rosa appeared in a pre-taped interview with the NWA Women’s championship and was identified as champion. She called out Hikaru Shida, citing her call for challengers and challenged her to a match at All Out for the AEW Women’s championship. Rosa finished the promo by saying she would become the next AEW Women’s champion.
Hikaru Shida did not appear on the program tonight and no response was given.
Rosa won the NWA Women’s championship back on January 24 at NWA Hard Times. The promotion has not run any shows since February due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Rosa last defended the NWA Women’s title against Melina, winning the match by count out.
Shida hasn’t wrestled for most of this last month, last defeating Heather Monroe on the August 12 edition of AEW Dynamite. She last defended the AEW Women’s championship by defeating Penelope Ford on the July 1 edition of Dynamite.
NWA Power opened with a brand new theme, though I don’t think it is nearly as good as the old one. This episode featured a rematch between Thunder Rosa and Allysin Kay.
Before we got back into the action, Tim Storm came out. A person in the crowd came out and yelled “I love you Tim!” and he responded with “I love you too!” and he called all the fans his family. Absolutely fantastic. Storm asked the NWA management to be involved in the Heavyweight title picture, and he wanted to prove himself against the best, which meant that he was going to get a match with Thom Latimer to try and move up the card.
Joe Galli asked Storm if he was considering retirement, and asked Storm to set the record straight. Tim Storm told Galli to forget about the rumours, and that he values every single minute he gets to be in front of the fans, and in the ring, and that he isn’t retiring. He needs to get by Thom Latimer to move onto the rest of Strictly Business.
Latimer came out and said that Storm already lost, and he wouldn’t be getting a shot at the title soon. As they were talking, Galli said he was hearing from the back that Momma Storm was there. A man came out dressed as an old woman, and mocked Storm, calling him old and saying that she wanted her son to take a nap. “Momma Storm” said that Tim should go back to teaching so he could learn how to win a match. Storm left in disgust.
Great segment from everyone involved here. Tim Storm remains a very compelling babyface.
*********
Matt Cross defeated Caleb Konley
Cross and Konley started fast, with Cross hitting a forearm in the corner and a snapmare for a two count. Cross swept the legs and hit an elbow drop for a two count. Konley turned it around when he pulled Cross from the middle rope, sending him crashing back first into the top turnbuckle.
Konley swept the legs and hit a senton for two count. Cross hit a handspring elbow for a two count. Konely dodged a corner charge and hit a superkick and a tornado DDT for a two count. Cross hit elbows to counter a suplex, but Konley rolled through and hit a forearm and sent Cross to the opposite ropes. Cross used the ropes to slingshot him backwards into a cutter and then hit a shooting star press for the victory!
Excellent match from Cross and Konley here, setting up Cross a challenger to Starks, and further establishing Konley as someone to watch as well. Both men shook hands after the match, to the delight of the crowd, indicating that they want to do this again down the road.
*********
A video aired with Nick Aldis and he mentioned how it has been over 400 days since he recaptured the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship. Aldis said that wasn’t the number he was concerned about though, because he hadn’t heard from Marty Scurll in 7 days.
He wondered openly if Marty was rethinking the challenge, or if he was concerned about the treacherous territory he was entering. Aldis said that Marty could turn it down, but that he expected an answer by this Sunday at ROH Free Enterprise. He said that Marty better be coming up with a big counter offer if he doesn’t accept because they’re both businessmen, and Aldis’ patience was running out.
Another excellent promo from Aldis here, making me want to see ROH Free Enterprise just for Marty’s response to Aldis.
*********
The Pope was with Dave Marquez and the Dawsons, and he said he didn’t owe them a particular explanation, as they simply saw an opportunity with Pope to up their standing in the NWA. Pope said that Kingston and Homicide failed to take advantage of the chance Pope got him for the tag team titles.
He said that Kingston & Homicide losing didn’t hurt his reputation, but it revealed that Homicide didn’t have star power. Kingston came out and had his hands behind his back, saying he was going to be good. The NWA management saw him getting a screwdriver and wrench from under the ring.
Kingston said he should rip out Pope’s tongue. Kingston put over how great Homicide is, and how many people he trained. He then talked about how Homicide saved his life, and how he is family. However, he was going to be a good boy, and had someone else ready to help him fight Pope’s group – The Bouncers, Brian Milonas & the Beer City Bruiser! Mr. Beer has made his debut in the NWA!
May Valentine had a vlog where she talked about Royce Isaacs’ match last week where he finally got a win, but also in how he got very jealous of her making a new friend in Sal Rinaruo.
*********
NWA (3rd Degree) National Title Match: Aron Stevens w/ Question Mark drew Trevor Murdoch in a time limit draw
Stevens tried to out wrestle Murdoch, but the veteran was ahead of him at every point with sharp punches and headlock takeovers. Murdoch slammed Stevens twice to a pop from the crowd, and got a big pop for doing so.
As Murdoch made his way around the ring, Question Mark cut him off. The referee sent Question Mark out of the ringside area, but Stevens used this as a chance to hit a baseball slide. Stevens pulled the ropes down and sent Murdoch to the floor, asking for the time. Stevens hit several punches on the mat and choked him with his knee.
Stevens choked Murdoch on the middle rope and hit a knee to the back. Murdoch rolled up Stevens, but Stevens kicked out and hit a lariat for a two count. Stevens threw Murdoch to the floor and asked for the time yet again. The referee counted, but Murdoch got back into the ring and blocked a turnbuckle smash, hitting Stevens with one of his own.
Stevens hit a neckbreaker for a two count. Stevens got the heat for a bit, hitting an eye poke, and then dumping Murdoch back to the floor. Stevens was waiting for him to get back in, and continued to stomp on Murdoch again before hitting a Russian leg sweep. Murdoch kicked out. The announcer said that there were two minutes left in the match.
Stevens threw Murdoch to the floor again, but Murdoch hit a clothesline from the apron, came back in, and hit another. Murdoch hit the 10 corner punches and then hit a full Nelson slam, but Stevens kicked out with just one minute left. Murdoch locked on a sleeper with 30 seconds left, but Stevens hit a jawbreaker, and the time limit expired. Murdoch hit a bulldog off the top rope after the bell, and gained a visual pinfall over Stevens.
*********
Sean Mooney gave his two minute update on the happenings in the NWA. This was very old school, and a smart way to tell and promote stories. He reminded us of the Lucky 7 rule, where if he gets 7 wins in a row, or at least a time limit draw, he would get a title shot at the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship. I really enjoyed this.
*********
James Storm & Eli Drake defeated Jocephus & Mims
Storm and Drake showed some good tag team offence early on, cornering Jocephus. Jocephus threw a strike that looked strangely familiar to someone rather Questionable. Storms and Drake hit a back elbow on Mims, and continued their dominance in this match. Storm hit a chop to the back and a senton for a two count.
Drake hit a powerslam on Mims and hit a running elbow drop on Mims before tagging out. Drake picked up Mims into a fireman’s carry and sent him flying into a back cracker by Storm for the pinfall victory.
*********
NWA World Women’s Championship: Thunder Rosa defeated Allysin Kay
Kay and Rosa exchanged grappling attempts until Rosa was able to move into a cross face. Kay countered with a roll up, but only got a two count. Thunder Rosa hit a snapmare and then a kick to the back of Kay, and Kay responded with one of her own. Rosa went for a PK, but Kay laid down to duck it and rolled Rosa up for a two count.
Rosa was able to get back into it attacking the arm of Kay. She kept this up for several minutes. Rosa continued with a brutal submission on Allysin Kay, but she managed to make it to the ropes. Rosa slapped the crap out of her, which led to Kay hitting several strikes to the stomach and then both women exchanged running forearms.
Both women hit double boots and were down. Rosa hit a flying clothesline into the corner and then followed up with double knees to the chest. As Rosa was going for another attack, Marti Belle came out and distracted Rosa and Kay both. They told her to leave, and as they did this, Ashley Vox & Tasha Steelz came out to keep her away.
Rosa rolled up Kay, but Kay kicked out and hit a neckbreaker, a clothesline, and then a big boot before hitting a Jackhammer on Rosa for a two count. Rosa countered a wheelbarrow with a stunner for a two count, and then hit a German suplex for another two count. Thunder Rosa hit a Death Valley Driver, but Kay still managed to kick out.
Rosa hit a flapjack into the top rope and then rolled Kay up and managed to get the pinfall!
Very solid episode of NWA Power this week that build to their next PPV and ROH’s next show too.
New champions were crowned tonight at NWA Hard Times.
Ricky Starks defeated Trevor Murdoch in the main event of tonight’s show to become the new NWA World Television champion. Starks defeated Murdoch with the stroke. Starks won a one-night tournament to win the championship, also defeating Tim Storm and Matt Cross.
It was announced on December 14 that the NWA would be reintroducing the Television title, with the first champion being crowned at Hard Times. The design is similar to the NWA World Television title used in Jim Crockett Promotions during the 1980s.
The Women’s championship also changed hands. Thunder Rosa defeated Allysin Kay after countering Kay’s escape from an armbar with a Thunder Driver. This ends Kay’s run as champion after 273 days, defeating Santana Garrett back on April 29.
New NWA Tag Team champions were also crowned on the show, with James Storm and Eli Drake defeating The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express to win the titles. This ends Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson’s fifth run with the titles after 115 days, originally winning them back on October 1.
The NWA has added another match to the card for their Into the Fire pay-per-view.
Thunder Rosa will face Tasha Steelz in a singles match on Saturday’s PPV. That announcement clarifies another match for the show, with Melina & Marti Belle set to team against NWA Women’s Champion Allysin Kay & Ashley Vox.
Steelz is making her NWA debut at the PPV.
It had been announced that Kay & Vox would be facing two members of Melina’s stable at Into the Fire, but the participants weren’t revealed until now.
Into the Fire is taking place at GPB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia tomorrow. It begins at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time and will be available via Fite TV.
Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis defending against James Storm in a two-out-of-three falls match
NWA Tag Team Champions The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defending against The Wild Cards (Thomas Latimer & Royce Isaacs)
NWA National Champion Colt Cabana defending against Aron Stevens and Ricky Starks in a triple threat match
