Here is your news for November 22 2019
We're looking at the WWE 2K20 video game today, as the latest
installment in the franchise failed in more ways than one.
After being released last month, the game was heavily criticized for a series of
technical flaws, and yesterday, 2K released update 1.03 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
According to a Tweet by the 2K20 page, the new patch will address some of the concerns made
by players, who rallied behind the #FixWWE2K20 hashtag, which made international news.
There are still plenty of areas that are still getting fine-tuned by the developers
so hopefully those getting the game for Christmas won't have as many issues.
In this latest patch, it seems various issues, including behaviour of cloth and the game's
constant soft locking and crashing have been resolved, and a full list
of the updates can be found at the WWE 2K20 website.
We're looking ahead to tonight's SmackDown, as the final show
before Survivor Series has plenty to offer.
Ahead of their Univeral title match this Sunday, Champion Bray Wyatt and challenger
Daniel Bryan will have a confrontation, as Bryan will summon Wyatt to the ring.
This match came about after the Fiend attacked Bryan backstage a few weeks ago
and was confirmed last week when the Eco-Warrior challenged Wyatt on Miz TV
a challenge that the Champion accepted with the Yes! chant.
Roman Reigns, Mustafa Ali and Shorty G will team up against King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler
and Robert Roode on tonight's show, which will be the first of four straight nights
at the AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
After SmackDown tonight, the venue will host NXT TakeOver WarGames on Saturday,
before Survivor Series on Sunday, ending with RAW on Monday.
One name that hasn't been announced for any of these shows is Hulk Hogan
but that doesn't mean the Hulkster is finished just yet.
After wrestling his final match in TNA, Hogan has admitted that he doesn't want
want his epic career to end like that, and while speaking to Wrestling Acadamy this week
he spoke candidly about wanting one more match in WWE. He said:
"I’ve been talking to Vince McMahon. History is very important to me. I’ve had a
very long career and part of my career was with a very, very small company
and a very gracious lady called Dixie Carter in TNA and I had one of my — actually my
last match there. That’s hard for me to live with. I want my last match to be in WWE.”
“I’ve been pushing and negotiating very hard and I’m actually healthy,
I’m in very good shape. Little bit under 300 pounds, maybe 295 pounds. I’m getting ready
I’m going to have one little tiny surgery on my back, maybe take me a couple of months
to recover, but I’ve got my eyes set for WrestleMania.”
“The one I’d love to get in the ring with if I only had one person would be
Vince McMahon. I’m very sick of his stuff too.”
Hogan recently posted an image of some of the big hardware removed from his back
and though WrestleMania is still many months off, its clear that the former
World Champion wants a match at the show of shows.
The Wednesday Night Wars continued on this week and for the first time ever,
it was NXT that scored the most viewers, over AEW Dynamite.
NXT averaged 916,000 viewers, up 22% from last week, and managed to get
a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the best number since the start of the wars.
For comparison, AEW Dynmate trailed with 893,000 viewers
and finished with a 0.39 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
The eighth most popular show on the night in cable, NXT finished 13th
as Dynamite defeated NXT once again in every demographic except the over 50s.
It's logical to assume that the advertised invasion of RAW and SmackDown Superstars
helped bring in fans who don't usually watch NXT, as the show ended
with Triple H saying there was an open door policy for the Gold brand.
Dynamite was the strongest with males aged 18-49, grabbing a 0.52 demographic
compared to NXT's 0.39, though that was closer than the two shows usually are.
Though NXT won this week, it wasn't long for AEW World Champion Chris Jericho
to make fun of this, poking fun at WWE's statement where they congratulated AEW.
After the successful debut on Dynamite on October 2nd, WWE congratulated their competition
but said that the war was a marathon, not a sprint, a line copied by Jericho in a recent tweet.
Many fans also pointed out Triple H saying that NXT would stay true to itself, and how this line seems to
be incompatible with the recent influx of RAW and SmackDown Superstars, as part of the Invasion.
This is certainly the attitude held by Jericho, who said that this week's episode
wasn't a true NXT show, in response to a fan.
With the invasion coming to an end this Sunday, it'll be interesting to see if they continue to use RAW
and SmackDown stars next week, or whether it'll be business as usual in NXT.
One star nobody should expect to see is ACH, as the former Jordan Myles
is no longer under contract, according to Fightful.
A t-shirt for Myles that the former NXT Superstar saw as an allusion to blackface made him the center of
controversy just a few weeks ago, and though the shirt was pulled down as soon as the issues were
raised, the damage was already done.
Online, Myles said how "WWE doesn't care about black people", before describing
the Jordan Myles brand as his slave name, and is now officially out of WWE.
Releasing a photo of himself signing what appears to be release papers, the NXT Breakout
Tournament winner followed this with a message to Vince McMahon
saying the boss can't hold him down anymore.
ACH has already started taking bookings on the independent scene, which may clash with the 90-day
no-compete clause that many Superstars have, but it seems the situation of him being in the company
wasn't good for either party, and both WWE and ACH seem better off as they go their separate ways.
It's been just over a week since the return of CM Punk to WWE programming, and the Best in the
World's comeback has got plenty of fans, and members of WWE talking.
Recording his After the Bell pod cast before Punk was able to voice his opinions on WWE's current
product, Corey Graves has been quite open about losing touch with Punk over the years
and said he was shocked to see the former World Champion on Backstage. He said:
"“I know I was shocked, everybody was shocked, and everybody has an opinion, everybody has a
thought. My thought is this – it is a great move by FOX. FOX wants to get viewers
and wants to get eyes on FS1?”
“What better way than to get the man who’s name is still chanted in arenas worldwide
One of the most controversial superstars ever in our business, CM Punk, back on
WWE’s backstage as a periodic reporter? I’m not entirely sure what the role is
I’m sure by the time this airs, he will have been on and the
world will know significantly more than I do at this point.”
“This, of course, has fueled rumors and speculation plenty – is Punk coming back to the WWE fold? Is he
going to compete again? Punk him self has said that he’s not interested in wrestling anymore,” Graves
continued. “But as his appearance alone proved, you can never say never in the WWE.”
Though Punk won't be on Back stage every week, we'll likely still see enough of him
that he continues to mae a big impression, and whilst the Second City Saviour
as made his feelings on competing again clear, we all know to never say never.
Punk is already being advertised for next week's episode, and whilst the ratings
have shot up thanks to him, they're still not reaching what the company had hoped.
After the premiere of Backstage drew just 49,000, the second episode which saw Punk return did
100,000, whilst the latest episode where Punk spoke his mind did an impressive 180,000.
According to Brad Shepard who spoke on Oh You Didn't Know, the WWE
was expecting a much higher figure, as he said:
"“I was told by a source in WWE today that there was a lot of talk at headquarters of the ratings
for WWE Backstage and how they didn’t even break 250k. So they’re not happy about it.”
Only time will tell whether Backstage is able to hit that 250,000 mark, but if Punk
continues to make headlines for the show, it may be a question of when, not if.
Cain Velasquez news now, as the former UFC Heavyweight Champion
continues to prepare for his full-time start with WWE.
Despite coming up short at Crown Jewel, Velasquez is scheduled to compete at the November 30th
Supershow in Mexico City, and was spotted this week in the company's
performance center, according to PW Insider.
It's clear that Velasquez is taking his role in WWE seriously, and whilst some fans still don't
like the idea of another UFC star coming to WWE, Velasquez isn't letting the haters get to him.
With WrestleMania 36 being just a few months away, the WWE Universe is already speculating on
who may be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and one name that comes up every year is Demolition.
A tag team that held the record for the longest Championship reign (until it was broken
by the New Day), the fact that Ax and Smash aren't already in the Hall of Fame
is shocking to many, but doesn't seem too shocking to the former champions.
Whilst speaking to Wrestling Inc, both Ax and Smash shared different
opinions on being inducted, as Ax said:
“We just have to figure out – we have to make enough money to buy a ticket
We can’t get in without buying a ticket."
It seems Ax believes the only way they'll get to a Hall of Fame ceremony
is if they buy a ticket, but Smash seemed more optimistic, saying:
"You never know what’s going to happen.”
Part of the reason why they may not already be inducted is that Demolition was part of a concussion
lawsuit against WWE, and whilst the case has been thrown out, it seems
the tag team have burned their bridges.
WWE was also pretty eager to break the team's record as the longest reigning WWE Tag Team
in history as well, as the chances of a Demolition induction are pretty slim.
We've got some Women's division news next, as whilst Alexa Bliss might have a problem
with hackers, she doesn't seem too worried about them doing too much damage.
On twitter, one fan wrote that he has a plan to hack her Twitter and Instagram accounts, and whilst we
don't know why this fan wants to Boycott the former Champion, he did foolishly tag Bliss in the post.
Seeing the tweet, the petite power house replied with a simple LOL emoji
seemingly daring the would-be hacker to try and get in to her social media.
Bliss has shown in the past that she has nothing to hide, as she previously showed
off everything on her snapchat, because someone kept trying to break in.
We certainly hope this hacker is unsuccessful in getting into Alexa's account, as she has a right to
privacy, but even if they do, it seems that the former RAW, SmackDown
and Women's Tag Team Champion isn't afraid.
Back to NXT news now, and this week's show saw an incredible return by the Revival,
who came up short against The Undisputed Era in non-title action.
Despite the loss, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson received a rousing ovation from
the crowd, who chanted "please don't go" at the former champions.
This show of respect took place during the commercial break, but was still
a pretty cool moment that WWE didn't waste any time putting on social media.
Speaking of RAW stars invading NXT, RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch kicked off this week's
episode of the gold brand, and will fly the flag fro the red brand against SmackDown Womens
Champion Bayley and NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler at Survivor Series.
Although her core focus is her fellow champions, The Man did have an altercation with Rhea
Ripley on this week's NXT, and it was Triple H who gave a subtle threat
that Ripley will be a thorn in the Man's side for many years.
Unsurprisingly, Lynch fired back in her usual way, taking to Twitter to call out the Game
and said that whoever he sends after her, he shouldn't expect back.
As the only woman to win a Wrestle Mania main event, and the only woman to defeat Ronda Rousey in
WWE, Lynch is naturally confident going into this Sunday's huge triple threat, but given the talent of all
three women invovled, the real winners will be the fans.
Some have suggested that the match could be the main event, as Brock Lesnar likes to get his
matches done early, and Bray Wyatt Vs. Daniel Bryan isn't part of the brand warfare storyline.
The women's triple threat is also the poster for the show, and if we had to make a prediction
our money is on the Queen of Spades, Shayna Baszler.
Back to AEW next, as the show's Dark tapings were headlined by
Kenny Omega's first AAA Mega- Championship defence.
With Shawn Spears as guest commentator, Trent Barretta defeated Pentagon
Jr, whilst Awesome Kong made quick work of Leva Bates
In her third AEW match, Shanna picked up her first win against Big Swole, after making
her debut against Kikaru Shida on the October 30 episode of Dynamite.
In the main event, Kenny Omega retained his title against Jack Evans, and these matches
will air at 7pm Eastern, on Tuesday November 26th, before the special
Thanksgiving-Eve edition of Dynamite the very next night.
Back to WWE now, and its no secret that the recent love- triangle on RAW
has its fair share of haters, and one person who isn't a fan of Lana is Zelina Vega.
After Vega described herself as the best dressed on RAW, Lana snapped back with her own
Versace inspired wardrobe, which forced Vega to bring up
the horrific promo made by the Russian this week.
When Lana tried to express her restraining order against Rusev, she initially said her husband
couldn't come within 90 miles, then changed it to 90 days, before finally getting it right at 90 feet.
Interestingly, Lana and Vega have clashed in the ring before, and if this twitter war continues
it could be a matter of time before we see them back in the ring.
And finally today we're focussing on AEW, as a particular sign has made some pretty big headlines.
On the hard camera of this week's edition of Dynamite, one fan could be seen with a "Suck It Vince"
sign, and this brazen statement was quickly approved by AEW Vice President and wrestler Cody Rhodes.
Speaking to the crowd before the AEW Dark matches were taped, Cody told the crowd "I cannot say
anything, I think the sign says it all," and gestured to the sign, which got a big pop by the crowd.
It wasn't long until the entire arena was chanting "suck it Vince" as Cody
and his company have once again fired a shot against the WWE.