I’m Laurie Blake, welcome to the WrestleTalk News, on Fridays we wear pink
And on Friday’s we also talk about what people were watching on Wednesday night because
we get our hands on the viewing figures for AEW Dynamite and… *checks paper*...
oh no, that’s not good.
Dynamite didn’t exactly see an explosion in viewership this week, in fact in terms
of 2023 overall viewers for the show it umm fizzled out.
This week’s episode of AEW’s flagship wrestling show garnered 774,000 viewers - the
lowest of the year for the product in their regular Wednesday slot, the Tuesday night
episode from a few weeks back brought in 609,000, but that was in the wrong slot and up against
a mini-PPV edition of NXT.
So this is quite the anomaly in AEW’s record sheet, and likely stings a little more for
the fact that NXT’s first episode of Halloween Havoc which aired on Tuesday night brought
in 787,000 sets of eyes.
And it’s something wrestling pundits are scrabbling to explain, because it doesn’t
make a whole bunch of sense:
Brayn Alvarez on the Bryan and Vinny show said:
“They had a great first two quarters with MJF, the first quarter opened at 982, the
second quarter 936.
So the first two quarters averaged 950,000 viewers.
And when the first half hour ended this show fell from 936 to 752.”
“They lost almost 200,000 viewers after the first half hour.
From that point on it was a ‘normal’ ratings pattern if you subtract about 100,000 viewers
from normal.”
“I looked at this and I’ve never seen anything like it.
I thought well, the NBA game must have come on because I’ve never seen a drop like that.
Well it turns out the NBA games have been on for a while, it was not the NBA games.”
Alvarez also suggested that Tony Khan had “gone to the well one too many times”
on his classic ‘we have a big announcement’ announcement, which you know fans might be
a little fatigued by, and also criticized the show for a distinct lack of engaging stories
outside of MJF.
Meanwhile Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio questioned Dynamite leaning heavily
on nostalgia to bring in viewers - with Sting, Ric Flair, The Hardys and RVD all having prominent
segments on the show.
He said: “It’s just like so many people over the age of 50 on this show, you know,
and it’s like I don’t think that should be the image of the company.”
He said there was a good case for why each one was there, but I have to agree, look at
the ratings drop up off after they move on from their young, homegrown talent champion
MJF, these are the guys you want to invest TV time into, these are the people you built
the brand around in the early days and the ones your audience are invested in.
But anyway forget everything I just said about young talent, let’s talk about CM Punk,
because all the rumors have him showing up in WWE for Survivor Series.
Rumors which higher ups in the company have tried to quash and outlets like Haus of Wrestling
say they have independently verified as their being no plans for.
Now Punk himself has answered the rumors in an interview with 670 The Score, when asked
about being at the upcoming PLE, saying:
“They’re asking if I am going to be there?
I think it’s sold out.
I think tickets are hard to get, I don’t want to burst anybody’s bubble.
I’m kind of just sitting at home right now enjoying this beautiful Chicago weather, and
I have an injury in the family.
My dog blew his little dog ACL.
So, I’m literally just spending my time with him.”
Whether this is a work or a shoot with regards to Survivor Series… doesn’t matter…
get well soon Larry, you bloody trooper.
Sticking with Survivor Series plans that may or may not happen, much has been made of the
event’s War Games match.
Firstly, it was a will they or won’t they question regarding actually doing the match,
especially around the time Vince had his nose in Triple H’s creative pie.
However, now that Trips has the full reins over Vince it's less a question of if the
match will happen, but in what context will it take place.
Will it be Adam Pearce’s Raw vs Nick Aldis’ SmackDown in classic brand supremacy?
A Bloodline vs Babyface match like last year?
Or Judgment Day?
Or even Bloodline and Judgment Day teaming up, or going against each other??
Who bloody knows.
And it seems that our uncertainty over the matter is actually shared by WWE as according
to WrestleVotes, the creative plans for the match may have indeed changed drastically.
In a new tweet WrestleVotes revealed that from what they had been told the creative
for War Games has “gone back & forth for a while now.”
With the original plan supposedly to keep the match as a strictly Raw affair this year,
which one would assume would equate to it featuring the Judgment Day in some fashion
rather than The Bloodline.
However, according to WrestleVotes’ source there is now a sense that plans have now changed
from that.
For what it’s worth Dave Meltzer did recently debunk the idea that the whole Raw vs SmackDown
thing that WWE have been teasing could end up resulting in a War Games match.
While also doing the same for a potential Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns champion vs champion
match too.
So, yeah who really knows.
Guess we’ll have to wait until Crown Jewel is in the books for answers to these questions.
But please, let us know in the comments below how you think WWE should handle War Games
this year.
Best suggestion gets a place on my imaginary War Games team in my head…
Moving from one big four WWE PLE to another, and there has been some major developments
regarding next year’s SummerSlam and where we can expect it to be emanating from.
And it’s not one many would have expected.
According to a new report from Fightful Select 2024’s ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’
is looking like it could be heading to Cleveland, Ohio.
According to WWE sources Cleveland is considered a front runner and “likely” to secure
SummerSlam, however, it's currently unclear whether the venue chosen will be the Cleveland
Browns Stadium or Progressive Field.
Either way… good for you Cleveland.
We’re rooting for ya.
Now to someone who very well could be walking into SummerSlam as WWE Women’s World Champion,
Jade Cargill.
Now if you’ve watched any of WWE’s three brands, you will have no doubt seen a fair
bit of the former TBS Champion, with her big decision on which brand to choose being milked
for everything it's worth by WWE.
However, despite Jade holding kayfabe talks with the Raw, SmackDown and NXT bosses, we
may already have the answer to her dilemma right here.
And… drum roll please…
It’s…
Raw.
Yes, Raw.
The red one.
And you know what, apparently all those ‘talks’ with SmackDown and NXT were indeed all for
show as according to BWE on X, Cargill has always been touted for Raw, and “unless
something changes last minute” that’s what will indeed happen.
The only question now is when is Jade going to step inside a Raw ring?
And with whom…
One very nice option for Cargill’s first big feud on Raw could be with former NXT Women’s
Champion Becky Lynch.
Cargill was a keen observer for the match between Lynch and Lyra Valkyria on NXT Halloween
Havoc Night One this week, with a confrontation between The Man and the former AEW star also
teased on Raw a few weeks back.
So, while Cargill could have her eyes on the NXT Women’s Championship, perhaps instead
Jade will take on Lynch back on her home planet of Raw.
As that appears to be where the Lass-Kicker will be heading, seemingly confirming as such
in a reflective post on Instagram saying:
“The NbeXT era has come to an end.
I am immensely proud of my run as NXT womens champion.”
“[Lyra Valkyria] is the real deal and will be a star for years to come.
The future is in good hands.”
So, perhaps we can look forward to Jade vs Becky at Survivor Series?
Yes please.
Question is with Nia Jax, Zoey Stark, Shayna Baszler and Raquel Rodriguez already circling
around Rhea Ripley’s World Title, AND Becky and Jade on top… is the Raw women’s division
the most stacked in WWE right now?
Yes.
I believe so.
Speaking of the Raw women’s division, one name from the red brand that was a great beneficiary
of Becky Lynch’s title reign was Tegan Nox.
With the Welsh wizard getting some major shine against The Man after about a year of doing
very little on WWE’s main roster since being re-signed in late 2022.
And as you are no doubt aware in the recent September spat of WWE cuts the common theme
amongst many of them was a lack of activity on WWE main roster TV.
Leaving many to fear for some of WWE’s less present current talent.
In a recent appearance on Wilde On, Nox revealed that she too 100% expected to receive a call
on September 21 and be forced to pursue options outside the company once again.
Nox said:
“Oh, I was expecting a call 100% percent…
like, I was like ‘Oh, I don’t want to get fired.’
“But [if it happens], then that’s just life, you know?
Maybe this place wasn’t meant for me.
But I still got a job as of now.”
Despite Nox’s future seeming more secure than it previously was, she insisted that
she’s just enjoying her current run and not worrying about what could happen in the
future.
Another name that many had underlying fears for during this time was one Johnny Gargano.
While WWE would have been absolutely off their rocker to let Mr Wrestling go, especially
when a DIY reunion with Tommaso Ciampa was RIGHT THERE for so long, he was also mysteriously
off TV for almost five whole months without much real reason.
So, it was rather worrying.
Thankfully all those fears were for naught as Gargano did in fact return to reunite DIY
on the October 2 edition of Raw.
And now in a bit of news which may be a good or (likely) bad thing for fans ahead of the
pair’s first match back together on next week’s Raw, it seems as if they’re also
getting a brand new entrance theme to go with it.
The news was revealed by a seemingly excited Gargano on a recent Twitch stream, saying:
“When DIY debuted, the song they gave us was just a stock song.
“It’s not like it was handpicked for us, we were not under contract yet.
It just caught on.
“But, me and Tommaso are very excited about the potential of something new.
“It can be so much more…
I’m trying to spoil too much stuff, but you have to tune in on Monday.”
Gargano then said that he thinks DIY’s new theme has a “very cool vibe” and will
be one that catches on and eventually will replace their old theme in the hearts of all
their fans.
Speaking of hearts… safe to say that after hearing WWE’s bastardisation of Rebel Heart
that they’ve saddled Gargano with I’m not totally sold on this idea just yet.
But hey, let’s all have an open mind and at least give it a shot ey?
Happy Friday everyone.
Why not have a laugh and watch the brand new episode of No Holds Board over on partsFUNKnown
as Oli and Luke put their friendship to the test against Pete and Tempest who are also
friends, and also testing that friendship in a game of Codenames.