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dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We're looking for your thoughts on today's NJPW King of Pro Wrestling, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We're also looking for reports from Raw tonight in Denver with Main Event matches and any dark matches, or anything notable off camera, a well as the WWE weekend shows in Odessa, TX on Saturday, Amarillo on Sunday, Evolve weekend shows in Atlanta and Concord, NC and the Saturday Lucha Libre show in San Jose to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com

Raw is tonight from Denver with Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair as a Raw vs. Smackdown match with the winner getting first pick in the second day of the draft. It's another draft show.

NEW JAPAN AT KORAKUEN HALL WEDNESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD FOR OPENING OF JR. TAG TOURNAMENT

Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura vs. Volador Jr. & Titan

Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. TJP & Clark Conners

Sho & Yoh vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado

Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori

AEW WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON TNT FROM THE LICOURAS CENTER IN PHILADELPHIA

Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley & Pac

Chris Jericho vs. Darby Allin no DQ for AEW title

Riho vs. Britt Baker for women's title

Pentagon & Fenix vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus in tag tournament

Chuckie T & Baretta vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian in tag title tournament

NXT ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT FROM FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY IN ORLANDO

Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest

Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic

F4W NEWSLETTER: Looking at three stories from a historic week Joseph Currier looks back at a huge week for pro wrestling.

The most important week in recent pro wrestling history reached strong heights before ending with an embarrassing low.

The Wednesday Night War began, with AEW Dynamite debuting on TNT opposite a stacked episode of NXT on USA. SmackDown made its move to FOX two days later and featured an appearance by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a WWE Championship change, and the debut of Cain Velasquez. Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view looked like it was only going to be a footnote, but the main event made the show memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Here's a look at three stories that defined the week:

1. AEW wins first night of Wednesday night ratings war

Pro wrestling returned to TNT last Wednesday as the premiere of AEW Dynamite averaged 1.409 million viewers. That topped the 891,000 viewers that NXT averaged. In the 18-49 demo, AEW posted a 0.68 rating -- second for the night on cable and more than double what NXT did.

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WON NEWSLETTER: October 14, 2019 Observer Newsletter: SmackDown debuts on FOX, Hell in a Cell disaster

Smackdown on FOX, the ratings, what they mean, how this relates to Raw, the Velasquez vs. Lesnar and Fury vs. Strowman matches is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.

This week's Observer also covers:

How FOX did with the competition, how FOX did compared to last season's premieres, how the show did in Canada, note on how the kickoff show did, match-by-match and how the ratings changed, who drew big and who didn't, the usage of legends, the story behind Velasquez's negotiations, the end of Kingston's reign, plus match-by-match coverage.

What went wrong with Hell in a Cell, the disaster of a main event, the reactions by fans, Vince McMahon's reactions to those reactions, how the match order hurt the show, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

Wednesday night war with ratings, where both sides lost viewers the most, the fall from the first week on TNT, the average viewer age for AEW and NXT and how different the makeup is, how every segment on both shows did.

What segments were strong set with what age groups, and how teenage viewership both shows differs greatly.

Smackdown draft, 205 Live going forward, the plans for Saudi Arabia, why the cruiserweight distinction in NXT makes no sense anymore, new WWE signings, Mae Young Classic, WWE injuries, Goldberg and Matt Riddle situation, Hulk Hogan wants a match with Vince McMahon, former Miss America contestant signs with WWE, U.K. star moves to Florida, remake of "Badstreet USA," value of WWE stock, most-watched shows on WWE Network over the past week, plus notes on every live event by the WWE main roster and NXT this past week with business notes, results and highlights.

Jeff Hardy's recent arrest and a look back at his other issues over the years.

A full report on the UFC show from Australia, the record crowd, business notes, and a look at Israel Adesanya.

The situation with Dragon Lee going forward as well as where WWE and AEW may fit in, his being pulled from the New Japan tour as well as a look at this year's Junior heavyweight tag team tournament that starts this coming week.

A full report on the debut of NWA Power, the new Internet television show Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana have put out, glory days of Georgia Championship Wrestling and its ratings, a look at Nick Aldis as NWA champion, business notes and economic realities regarding the company as well as what kind of Youtube numbers the different shows are doing.

Full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.

In-depth looks at the 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 dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, New Japan King of Pro Wrestling, and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight. You can send questions for the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

This is a good week to sign up. We want to apologize that due to some sort of a corrupted file on our phone, several of the interviews that we taped on Friday were destroyed, but we will have interviews with Becky Lynch and Ric Flair up on the site over the next day or so. Plus there will be a major story breaking in Japan this week unless something falls through and we will have a special show on that.

Mike Bennett aka Mike Kanellis publicly stated today that he was asking for his release, saying he wanted to do more than one match a week (he hasn't been booked on the road) and said that even though he just signed a new deal in June, he wanted to do more with his career. The last guy who publicly asked for his release was Luke Harper, and he ended up not working for months, although he is in a top program now. He aid that he's clean, sober and motivated and wants to have 30 minute matches all over the world and wants his daughter to see her father wrestle for his money.

The reason Jon Moxley wasn't on the New Japan show and travel issues was legit. Zack Sabre Jr. also missed the show, and Kevin Kelly barely made it in time for the show. We'd heard some concern about the guys coming from Australia, Will Ospreay, Robbie Eagles and Gino Gambino, but they all made it. The worst of the typhoon is over although it did a lot of damage to the bottom floor of the New Japan Tokyo dojo.

There was a lot of controversy as woman wrestler Giulia of Ice Ribbon asked for her release from the promotion yesterday and then showed up on the Stardom show earlier today and was announced as the new signee. Ice Ribbon claimed she was under contract and while she asked for her release, she had not been released. Ice Ribbon said that they wanted to set up a schedule for her to have a farewell but she insisted on being released yesterday. They said they did not give her a release and she was advertised for shows upcoming and in Japan false advertising of talent is looked upon very negatively. Ice Ribbon said that Giulia has not turned in a formal resignation letter nor returned her Ice Ribbon health insurance card, nor did they receive anything from the promotion she was looking to transfer to (Stardom). They said they would announce any changes in upcoming shows as soon as possible. Rossy Ogawa, who runs Stardom, said that he was under the impression there was no contract between Giulia and Ice Ribbon.

WWE

Tonight is the final night of the draft. The key names up for grabs are Brock Lesnar, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Charlotte Flair, The Miz, Samoa Joe, New Day, Kabuki Warriors, Bayley and many others.

Raw has double competition tonight, with Game Three of the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals baseball playoff series on TBS and Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions NFL on ESPN. By all rights the draft, which usually leads to a big ratings increase, should keep the number above last week by a good margin. If not, it's that they killed the draft concept to enough fans on Friday.

The company's next investor call will be on 10/31, just two hours before Crown Jewel starts. That's going to be tough because Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque in theory have to be in two places at the same time. So I'm thinking Vince isn't going to Saudi Arabia, but then again, it's such a major show. The key stuff is the updated WWE Network number as of 9/30, the third quarter hour show business and if anyone asks about the Wednesday night wars. Whether profits are big for the quarter or not isn't that big of a deal, because fourth quarter profits with the new TV deals in effect, will be gigantic.

An interview with Ricochet. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)

UFC

Joanna Jedrzejczyk got good news today when X-rays shows her foot was not broken as she believed it was during her fight with Michelle Waterson, that she won on Saturday. She said to MMA Fighting that both of her feet were very swollen but there's no break,and she won't need surgery. She said that every exam she had before the X-rays, she was told the foot was broken.

MISCELLANEOUS

MLW announced that this coming Saturday night's TV show will be produced by Jimmy Havoc. The show will have a death match with Damian 666 vs. Savio Vega and a Tijuana street fight with Joseph Samael vs. El Hijo de L.A. Park, plus a trios match, from the taping before 4,500 fans in Tijuana.

Stardom results from earlier today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo": Tam Nakano b Saya Kamtani, Hazuki & Natsuko Tora won gauntlet over Jamie Hayter & Andras Miyagi, Starlight Kid & Saya Iida, Konami & Death Yama-san and Hina & Leo Onozaki, Session Moth Martina & Natsu Sumire b Zoe Lucas & Bobbi Tayler in tag tourney, Mayu Iwatani & Saki Kashima b Momo Watanabe & AZM in tag tourney, Arisa Hoshiki b Kagetsu to keep the Wonder of Stardom title, Bea Priestley b Hana Kimura to keep the World of Stardom title. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

Oz Academy results from today in Kawaguchi: Rina Shingaki b Mari Manji, Aja Kong b Suzu Suzuki, Leon & Hiragi Kurumi b Kaho Kobayashi & Akino, Hiroyo Matsumoto won three-way over Yuu and Tsubasa Kuragaki, Mayumi Ozaki & Saori Anou b Sonoko Kato & Kakeru Sekiguchi (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

ICW from yesterday in Glasgow, Scotland: Jordan Devil b Kernan Kelly, Three masked men b Ian Skinner & Darren Vice & Dean Ford, Alvi b Isla Dawn to win women's title top contender tournament, Kaz Evans b Michael May, Kenny Williams b Scotty Davis, Jason Reed b Sam Barbour, Lewis Girvan b Stevie James, Liam Thomson b Leyton Buzzard.

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships has a PPV on Saturday night headlined by Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga from Tampa. The last Bare Knuckle PPV died a brutal death.

Action Wrestling on 10/25 in Tyrone, GA has Curt Stallion, Alex Zayne, Joey Lynch and is a benefit show for a local domestic violence shelter.

Defy Wrestling on Saturday night in Seattle at Washington Hall features Cima, Matt Sydal plus Defy champion Shaff vs. Tom Lawlor and Jacob Fatu vs. Amazing Red.

Fashion Nova has released its first T-shirt of a Luchador, with a Penta 0M shirt. The T-shirt is part of Penta's officially licensed products through Masked Republic's Legends of Lucha Libre brand and licensing department.

Rise has released its first year of events for free.

A video of Arn Anderson giving Buff Bagwell a spinebuster on a show in Hot Springs, AR on Saturday night.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Sting Wins TNA World Title at Bound For Glory 2007

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