THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
WWE Raw ratings down, big drop from first to second hour
Brock Lesnar advertised for December Raw in Rhode Island
WWE SmackDown video highlights: Owens vs. Orton no DQ match
WWE 205 Live results: Alexander & Ali vs. Gulak & Nese
WWE SmackDown live results: Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton
AUDIO
WOL: Smackdown and Raw, future of 205 Live, Conor McGregor, more! 11/29
B&V&C: Retro Raw and Nitro from 19 years ago this week! 11/28
WOL: Raw, Smackdown, Bullet Club and the 10,000 fans, more! 11/28
WOR: RAW, Balor and Lesnar, Bullet Club’s 10,000 tickets, more! 11/28
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 11/27/2017: Four who should be next on the WWE main roster
When WWE decides to call up wrestlers from NXT, they usually tend to be painfully drawn out or total surprises. The arrivals of Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan on the main roster last week was more the latter. Of the five, only Riot (who was formerly known as Heidi Lovelace before signing with WWE) had wrestled a match on a TakeOver special. The other four had yet to even have full runs on NXT television aside from sporadic appearances.
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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: November 27, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE/UFC TV contract negotiations, Survivor Series review, more
The single most important business story for both WWE and UFC, regarding the biggest stable revenue stream for both, television rights fees, is the lead story in the new issue of the Observer. With UFC’s contract coming due in 2018 and WWE in 2019, look at official talks by UFC, unofficial talks by WWE, the uniqueness that the same person is negotiating both new contracts, how they are intertwined, who had expressed interest in UFC and what kind of money do they want and what is being offered, and how WWE strongly ties into all this. Look at the money both companies are getting, the current exposure, and who are the big players in the game. Also look at the risks of WWE leaving USA and why a drop in ratings may still be strongly to their benefit.
Look at the details of how and why the planned Royal Rumble main event match is no longer taking place. Look at the reasons behind it as well as the complete 2018 WWE PPV schedule, and why WWE is cutting back on shows and changing the format in others.
This issue has complete Survivor Series weekend coverage, including business notes, why things took place the way they did, injury updates, what did and didn’t work along with poll results and match-by-match coverage plus star ratings.
Check out full coverage of the NXT Takeover special, the changes in War Games and business notes.
Plus, more on ticket sales for the Tokyo Dome show and the history of those ticket sales, as well as negotiations updated regarding viewership of the show in the U.S.
Read why Roman Reigns won the IC title, update on John Cena’s schedule, Jennifer Hudson-David Otunga breakup, Ric Flair’s lawsuit against his former agents, a potential new WWE TV show, why NXT is taping at Center Stage, A.J. Styles talks his future including retirement, details of all the women that were brought up to the main roster, Kevin Owens documentary, WWE cancels another show, weird WWE Network mailer, the real story behind the origination of Starrcade, and notes on this year’s Tribute to the Troops show.
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WON BACK ISSUE: November 13, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF not buying WCW, ECW November to Remember review
With the WCW crew enroute to Europe for a one-week tour, the questions about the future of the company remain. With little substantial information available, much of the talk going around consists of rumors, but it is clear the two possibilities remain–the company will either be purchased by a group headed by Eric Bischoff, or have its expenses cut to as much bare bones as possible and remain part of Turner Broadcasting.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
NXT is taping its next round of television episodes at Full Sail University tonight. With the first three tapings of 2018 set for Center Stage in Atlanta, this will be the last time NXT’s at Full Sail for a few months. Triple H said on his pre-TakeOver conference call that Full Sail is still their home and the tapings in Atlanta were due to logistical/scheduling issues with their regular venue.
In a rematch of what might have been WWE’s best match of the year, Pete Dunne will defend his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Tyler Bate at the tapings.
Matches taped at NXT house shows prior to TakeOver will air on tonight’s show. Those include Kairi Sane vs. Peyton Royce, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs. Pete Dunne & Mark Andrews, and The Street Profits vs. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss.
WWE Studios announced that they’re expanding into television and digital content. Vince McMahon said in a statement: “Given the size of our fan base and their appetite for WWE programming well beyond our core in-ring shows, this is the ideal time to further establish the WWE brand with new genres across platforms. WWE Studios is open for business with this new TV and digital initiative.”
While speaking with Sports Illustrated, Anthem’s Ed Nordholm discussed Matt Hardy teasing the “broken” gimmick on Raw and said Impact’s new talent agreements allow wrestlers to use their personas after leaving the company. Nordholm also said they’re working with their legal team to extend that to those under previous agreements and their former roster members.
The former Ruby Riot’s name is now Ruby Riott on the main roster. Her, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan are known as The Riott Squad.
After months of dissension, Mojo Rawley seemingly turned heel by attacking Zack Ryder as The Hype Bros disbanded on SmackDown last night.
The cruiserweight fatal four-way match on Raw next week will be Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese. The winner will face Rich Swann in a number one contender’s match the following week.
Today is Jerry Lawler’s 68th birthday.
Triple H cut a promo on Jinder Mahal ahead of their match in India on December 9th.
The complete run of NXT, in both its previous and current formats, has now been fully uploaded to the WWE Network.
The Rock is on the cover of Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” issue.
John Cena visited with the Sydney Thunder cricket team in Australia.
Dave Bautista posted a photo training with Jack Swagger and congratulated him on his new career with Bellator MMA.
Pro Wrestling
Cody Rhodes said his dream main event for the 10,000 seat show he and The Young Bucks are planning is him vs. Daniel Bryan for the ROH World Championship.
Rhodes also spoke to David Bixenspan for an article about the show.
Jeremy Botter, who was formerly with the company, tweeted that FloSlam was “officially killed off” earlier today.
David Bixenspan has the latest on the most recent documents Flo filed in their lawsuit against WWN, including financial details that WWN provided them.
Sami Callihan vs. Randy Myers from Defy Wrestling will air on tomorrow’s episode of Impact.
UFC/MMA
Daniel Cormier and Volkan Oezdemir’s title fight is now official for UFC 220 in Boston. Dana White had said that would likely be the case despite Oezdemir’s recent arrest.
White said he’ll be “super pissed” if Georges St-Pierre doesn’t end up defending the middleweight title.
Tyron Woodley responded to White’s claim that Woodley vs. Nate Diaz was never officially offered, saying White constantly demotes him as a fighter.
White addressed Conor McGregor’s behavior and recent outside-the-cage issues.
White said he doesn’t want to see Ronda Rousey make a comeback because she’s happy and has enough money, though he said Rousey isn’t ready to officially retire for whatever reason.
Derek Brunson will face Jacare Souza in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Charlotte on January 27th.
Gokhan Saki is out of his fight against Khalil Rountree at UFC 219, with Michal Oleksiejczuk stepping in to take Saki’s place.
Today in Professional Wrestling History: Rock ‘n’ Roll Express win SMW tag titles
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