Here is your news for January 9, 2020
We're starting off today by looking at the latest edition of WWE Backstage, as things
have been getting pretty heated between CM Punk and The Miz.
The beef between the two started back when the WWE on FOX Twitter account
posted a video of The Miz after one episode, where he spoke about the episode being
the best one ever.
In the video, Renee Young says that an appearance by Ember Moon was pretty good,
to which Miz responded by saying "Oh, sorry I didn't change the culture. My bad."
This apparently set off the Best in the World, who after the FOX account tweeted The
Miz's quote, said
"Go such a blood money covered d**k in Saudi Arabia you f**king dork.”
It's strange that Punk would use the controversial deal between WWE and Saudi
Arabia to insult the Miz, as he was one of the few Superstars who objected to
appearing at last year's Crown Jewel event and didn't attend.
For those of you who remember Punk's Backstage debut in November, the former
World Champion promised to "change the culture", which is apparently what The Miz
was referring to which didn't sit too well with the Best in the World.
There's been no response from the A-Lister on Punk's comments, and after several
weeks away, Punk will return to Backstage for the January 21st episode.
Punk's issues with Miz date back several years, as, on his DVD, the Chicago native took
issue with The Miz, the WWE Champion at the time, being slotted into the main event
of WrestleMania 27, ahead of him.
Though Punk is known for never hiding how he feels, this attack on the Miz seems very
petty for the former WWE World Champion and could harm the contract he has with
FOX if this sort of behavior continues.
Whatever Miz's thoughts on Punk's actions may be, both the tweet by Punk and the
original tweet by WWE on FOX were deleted, and this clearly isn't a good look for the
Straight Edge Superstar.
We're looking at WWE's viewership figures now, and it's no secret that the numbers
aren't as high as they once were.
Whilst WWE's figures aren't the worst they've ever been, they have gotten pretty
close in the past, but that didn't stop the company and the USA Network from
boasting about their apparent success throughout 2019.
In modern-day viewing, ratings, are not necessarily calculated by how many people
tune in, but which percentage of the demographic pays attention, though WWE fans
are aware of this, and thanks to the Internet, have a lot more information on the
ratings that WWE doesn't want the fans to see.
When the USA Network boasted that they were the number one cable channel in
2019, WWE said that the combo of USA and RAW was a great tag team, and the fans
online couldn't resist dragging the company.
On social media, some fans called the company clowns, whilst others speculated that
the ratings would be better with a better creative team, as it seems that these fans
aren't in a forgiving mood for the three-hour show.
Whilst WWE might pull a steady rating, but viewership numbers is what a lot of fans
think about most when they hear “ratings," and WWE have picked their words very
carefully to avoid saying anything that isn't true.
In the past, the WWE has also used loopholes like saying that they have a billion social
media followers, which is true from a certain point of view, if you add together all
their various outlets.
WWE's wordplay asides, it'll be interesting to see how WWE addresses the ratings in
2020, as changes clearly need to be made.
One Superstar who knows all about heading the red brand, is Edge, but despite his
retirement in 2011, and denying making a return to in-ring competition multiple times,
there are still some who believe the Rated R-Superstar will be back in the ring, relatively soon.
During the latest PW Insider Elite Audio, Mike Johnson discussed Edge's current status,
and revealed that the Canadian has signed a hefty new WWE contract, that could
indicate Edge returning for more than just a non-wrestling role. He said:
“We’ve been told that Edge signed a new deal. We’ve been told that it has a very nice
upside to it financially and you have to think it’s not just a legend deal where they just
have him show up and have him do promos. So, I think there’s more smoke to the fire
with Edge than there is with Paige as we record this.”
With both the 2020 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 36 around the corner, having
Edge return for either show would be a huge deal for the WWE, but obviously, his
health comes before anything else.
Edge's neck injury can be dated all the way back to February 2003, when he had to
take over a year off, and even after he returned in April 2004, the Ultimate
Opportunist knew he was on borrowed time.
After going down with another injury in the Summer of 2009, Edge would make his
shocking return at the 2010 Royal Rumble match, and there's no shortage of fans that
would like to see history repeat itself a decade later.
At a time where ratings are low and when a shocking return could be essential, Edge's
comeback could be a big highlight on the road to WrestleMania this year even if he
wants to deny it.
We're going from a legend of WWE to the next generation of Superstars, as NXT has
set up some big matches for next week's show on January 15th.
As part of the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, the Time Splitters will reunite, as
they take take on NXT UK's Grizzled Young Veterans.
Though he is part of the Tag Team Classic, fans didn't know who Kushida would be
teaming with for the tournament, but on this week's edition of NXT, the Japanese
Superstar revealed that he would be teaming with his old partner Alex Shelley.
Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne will also hope to qualify for the next round of the
tournament, though they'll have a tough journey, as they will take on former NXT UK
Tag Team Champions Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster.
On the women's side of things, a Battle Royal will look to determine the next
challenger for new NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, and the graphic card includes
plenty of big stars, including Bianca Belair, Chelsea Green, Dakota Kai, and Io Shirai.
We're moving from the ring to the gridiron now, as many fans have been keeping up
to date with the relaunch of the XFL, and one person who's been doing just that is
future WWE Hall of Famer Batista.
On Twitter recently, the Animal gave a mention to the new Football league, and
though he didn't comment on the interesting rules the game will have, he did throw
some serious shade at the NFL.
In a tweet, the Marvel Studios megastar said that he knows Vince McMahon is a dog
lover, meaning there will be no chance he will give a chance to players who abandon
their dogs in the middle of the street.
For those of you who don't keep up to date with NFL news, this is seemingly a
reference to Tampa Bay Buccaneer Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who is accused of
abandoning his dog by an animal rights group.
When McMahon announced the launch of the XFL in January 2018, he also said that
there will be no players with criminal backgrounds in the league, and was opposed to
players who kneeled during the national anthem as a protest against police brutality,
which was started by Colin Kapernick.
It'll certainly be interesting to see who McMahon does get to play in his new league,
but for now, the Boss seems pretty confident that this new XFL, and is no doubt
preparing to avoid the same mistakes made in 2001, that ended the original XFL after
just one season.
And finally, today we are looking at the Wednesday Night War, as for the first time this
year, both NXT and AEW Dynamite hosted live two-hour shows at the same time.
With the War back on after a holiday ceasefire, NXT looked to impress in their two
hours on the USA Network, as the show opened with a 6-woman tag.
In the opener, new NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley was able to coexist alongside
Toni Storm and Candice LeRae and picked up the win over NXT UK Women's
Champion Kay Lee Ray, Bianca Belair, and Io Shirai.
In the next match, NXT UK's Imperium got the win over the Forgotten Sons to advance
in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, whilst Austin Theory defeated Joaquin Wilde.
In our second Dusty Tag Team Classic match of the night, The Undisputed Era defeated
Gallus in the first round, in an exciting champion vs. Champions match.
In Women's division news, Mia Yim was able to defeat Kayden Carter, though both
were left reeling by an attack by Chelsea Green, who has been signed to a contract
with new manager Robert Stone.
In the main event of the show, a huge fatal four way to decide the next number 1
contender for the NXT North American title, saw Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic,
Cameron Grimes and Damian Priest all compete for the spot, though it would
eventually be won by Lee, who will face the champion Roderick Strong in the future.
On Dynamite this week, all talk was on Jon Moxley, as the Lunatic Fringe pulled off an
excellent double swerve.
After AEW World Champion Chris Jericho gave him a chance to join the Inner Circle,
Moxley shocked everyone by accepting the offer, though this heel turn would only last
5 minutes, as Moxley would proceed to smash a bottle in Jericho's face, reveal his
ruse, and state that all he wants from Le Champion, is the AEW World title.
The match of the night award has to go to the Rhodes brothers taking on the Lucha
Bros, and as you can imagine, this contest was full of great spots.
After Cody and Dustin got the pinfall win over the Lucha Bros, Cody would be asked
about MJF's conditions ahead of their match, but it was Arn Anderson who made his
voice heard, with Cody not even saying a word.
Though Cody didn't say anything, his future opponent MJF did have plenty to say, and
after calling Cody some words we're not gonna repeat, got confronted by Diamond Dallas Page.
After confronting the cocky heel, Page was able to deliver a Diamond Cutter to both
the Blade and The Butcher, but was ultimately overpowered, thanks to a low blow kick
from MJF and Wardlow.
In Women's Championship action, Kris Stadtlander finally got her title match against
AEW Women's Champion Riho, but this didn't go how Stadtlander had planned.
After interference by Awesome Kong and Melanie Cruise, Riho was able to retain her
title, though both her and Stadtlander were laid out for their troubles.
In addition to Adam Page and Kenny Omega defeating Private Party, Jurrasic Express
defeating Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends, and Sammy Guevara defeating
Christopher Daniels, this week's edition of Dynamite also saw the debut of a brand
new star on the roster, as the Japanese Death Match legend Dr Luther made his AEW debut.
The fourth member of Brandi Rhodes' Nightmare Collective, Luther did seem imposing
on the show but was taken out by Riho during her title match.
On the whole, both shows were very impressive this week, with both AEW and NXT
building to major shows in the not so distant future, and if we know the war between
the two promotions, things are only going to get more intense from here, on the road
to both NXT TakeOver Portland, and AEW Revolution.
Well that's all the news we have for you today. If you liked this video, don't forget to
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