POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I have the latest edition of Rewind-A-Raw available with a full review of Monday’s taped show from England. In addition, we discussed the new WWE Network series featuring Steve Austin and his upcoming interview with The Undertaker, comments from Tony Khan’s media scrum, the passing of Matt Travis over the weekend, and a review of Saturday’s New Japan card from San Jose, California. Plus, we take feedback at the end of the show.
**Wai Ting will be back tonight with special guest Daniel Perry to review Thor: Ragnarok in the ongoing MCU reviews on the POST Wrestling Café. Perry, who is a listener of ours, previously worked at Disney and has extensive experience in the film industry, so it will be a unique insight into the film. That show drops late tonight for Café members.
**On Wednesday night, we have Rewind-A-Dynamite and upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman coming your way. Both are free shows on the site.
**Nate Milton’s guest this Saturday on The Rocky Maivia Picture Show is our own Andrew Thompson as they review ‘Planet 51’ starring Dwayne Johnson. Andrew will also join us Thursday on the Café Hangout to discuss his coverage of Starrcast and Full Gear this past weekend in Baltimore, Maryland.
NEWS
**The numbers are in for Raw, and the show was able to stay above two million viewers despite several factors working against it. The show was taped on Friday, so it was a longer than usual delay compared to past European shows, which are usually taped the same day. Plus, they went against the biggest Monday Night Football of the season between Seattle and San Francisco that did 15,978,000 viewers on ESPN.
Over the three hours, Raw averaged 2,058,000 viewers, which is their lowest number of 2019. The show began with 2,358,000 viewers, which is noteworthy because it was almost identical to the first hour of last week’s show (2,351,000), meaning the show being taped didn’t deter people from tuning in. The show fell 12.5% in the second hour to an average of 2,063,000 viewers and another drop of 15% in the third hour to 1,753,000 viewers. From the first hour to the third, the show fell by 25%. The overall viewership only dropped by 3.5% from last week.
The demographics told an interesting story as Raw was hit most among 18-49 with men down 12.5% and women down 18%. They only fell 17.5% among people 25-54 from last week. Interestingly, men 12-34 was up 2% from last week while adults over 50 stayed even from the previous week, which is remarkable.
The actual tune-out numbers from hour one to hour three were gigantic. While males 12-34 were up from last week, throughout the show they fell 31%, which tied the largest decline during the episode along with men 18-49. People 18-49 fell 30% from the first to the third hour, 25-54 fell 28% and people 18-34 fell 27%. Adults over 50 only fell 18% during the show, which was the strongest retention among the key demographics.
Here is the full breakdown of demos with comparisons to last week’s figures and the drop from the first-to-third hour of Monday’s show:
PEOPLE 18-49: 0.64
Last week: -16%
Hour 1-3: -30%
FEMALES 18-49: 0.46
Last week: -18%
Hour 1-3: -28%
MALES 18-49: 0.83
Last week: -12.5%
Hour 1-3: -31%
PEOPLE 18-34: 0.44
Last week: -8%
Hour 1-3: -27%
FEMALES 12-34: 0.33
Last week: -11%
Hour 1-3: -29%
MALES 12-34: 0.44
Last week: +2%
Hour 1-3: -31%
PEOPLE 25-54: 0.75
Last week: -17.5%
Hour 1-3: -28%
PEOPLE 50+: 0.91
Last week: Even
Hour 1-3: -18%
**WWE has officially added a three-way match involving United States champion AJ Styles, Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura, and NXT North American champion Roderick Strong to the Survivor Series show on November 24th at the Allstate Arena. Below is the updated card with under two weeks until the show:
*Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE championship
*Becky Lynch vs. Bayley vs. Shayna Baszler
*AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong
*Viking Raiders vs. Kofi Kingston & Big E. vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish
*Team Raw (Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre & Kevin Owens) vs. Team SmackDown (TBA) vs. Team NXT (TBA)
*Team Raw (TBA) vs. Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke & TBA) vs. Team NXT
**For the third consecutive year, WWE is marketing a show around the Starrcade name with a show set for Saturday, December 1st. The WWE Network will be airing a one-hour version of the house show that night at 7 pm eastern with the following matches advertised for Duluth, Georgia that night: The Fiend Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz in a steel cage match for the WWE title, Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin, Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton, Kabuki Warriors vs. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair for the women’s tag titles, Braun Strowman vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn, AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens for the United States title, Big E. & Kofi Kingston vs. The Revival for the SmackDown tag titles, and Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley. As always with show lineups for WWE, there could be numerous changes between now and December 1st. There is no word on what matches are set to air on the WWE Network that night.
**Here are the matches listed for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling at 8 pm eastern on AXS TV and Fight Network in Canada:
*Ethan Page & Josh Alexander vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Eddie Edwards for the Impact tag titles
*Jake Crist vs. Daga
*Sami Callihan & Madman Fulton vs. Tessa Blanchard & Rich Swann
*Petey Williams vs. Willie Mack vs. Trey vs. Rohit Raju vs. Aiden Prince vs. Brent Banks
*Madison Rayne vs. Alexia Nicole
*Jessicka Havok vs. Krystal
**The sixth episode of NWA Power premieres tonight at 6:05 pm eastern on the promotion’s YouTube and Facebook channels. They are promoting the following for tonight’s show:
*Thomas Latimer & Royce Isaacs vs. Eddie Kingston & Homicide for the NWA tag titles
*Trevor Murdoch vs. Caleb Konley
*Thunder Rosa & Marti Belle vs. TBA
*The debut of ?
*Appearances by Colt Cabana, The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express
**Tonight’s episode of Total Divas features Natalya’s reaction to the news that Jim Neidhart would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this past year. The show is coming off its lowest viewership total in history last week with 191,000 viewers on E!
**Conversely, WWE Backstage is also hoping to rebound after a terrible premiere last week with only 49,000 watching on FS 1. Tonight’s show will feature interviews with Adam Cole and Mick Foley airing at 11 pm eastern.
**Rusev spoke with The Sun in the U.K. earlier this week and discussed the storyline involving his Lana and Bobby Lashley:
There’s adjustments that we make, but that’s just life. We’re committed to our characters on TV, so we just have to make slight adjustments, but we’re professionals and we’re coping with it. It’s great, I think we are in the best storyline currently going on and the best storyline that’s been around for years. It’s getting a lot of views and a lot of eyes on it. Some people like it, some people love it, but at the end of the day, it’s the hottest storyline going on.
In the interview, he added that if he were to team with a female on the roster it would be Asuka and noted that he began taking lessons to speak Japanese earlier this year.
**The SmackDown crew has a show in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday as that crew finishes up their leg of the tour and return to the U.S. for SmackDown in Philadelphia on Friday night. On Thursday, the Raw crew is in Mannheim, Germany and continues the tour with a show Friday in Regensburg and Saturday in Dusseldorf.
**EVOLVE has revealed Walter’s matches for next month’s cards in the U.S. Walter is scheduled to wrestle against Timothy Thatcher at EVOLVE 141 in Livonia, Michigan on Friday, December 6th. The next night he will be at EVOLVE 142 in Chicago, Illinois against new champion Josh Briggs in a non-title match.
**While EVOLVE is operating on a smaller scale, it’s the latest show running Chicago is such a concentrated period. In addition to the local scene, MLW just ran there with its pay-per-view in Cicero. WWE is going to the city for four straight nights beginning Friday, November 22nd through Monday, November 25th and immediately followed by AEW running Dynamite at the Sears Centre on Wednesday, November 27th.
**Here are the results from Monday’s New Japan card at The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, which wasn’t streamed on New Japan World:
*Amazing Red & TJP over Alex Zayne & Aarow Solow
*Colt Cabana & Toru Yano over Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin
*Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado over Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Clark Connors
*EVIL & Sanada over Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero
*Kota Ibushi over Ren Narita – that’s a really unique match
*Hirooki Goto & Roppongi 3K over KENTA, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi over Jay White, Chase Owens & Gedo
**The WWE stock closed at $55.22 on Tuesday.
**The next head-to-head battle between the UFC and Bellator is set for Saturday, January 25th. Bellator had already announced a card that night at The Forum in Inglewood, California headlined by Bellator featherweight champion Julia Budd defending against Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino in her promotional debut. On Monday, the UFC announced a Fight Night event the same evening at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, although no fights have been announced for that show. For wrestling fans, that’s also the same weekend of the Royal Rumble. Previously, an NXT TakeOver card would have taken place on Saturday night, but the company changed its plans and will run a Worlds Collide card the night before the Royal Rumble that will feature talent from across all brands.
**Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has been cut by the UFC following six years with the organization. Melendez confirmed the news to ESPN, where he works as an analyst and told the outlet:
I do feel this release was mutual. I’m ready to move on. I feel like, if I were to fight again, I would like to do it on my terms and steer my own ship. The UFC is a fantastic organization, but they have their agenda, and unless you’re a champion or a super-strong needle-mover, you don’t have as much say in your career. If I do get back in the cage, I want it to be with a company that agrees with the path I want to be on. But I’m leaving the UFC on great terms.
Melendez, 37, was considered one of the best lightweights in the world and revered for being part of one of MMA’s greatest trilogies with Josh Thompson. When he came to the UFC in 2013, he immediately challenged 155-pound champion Benson Henderson. Henderson won the fight by split decision in a contentious outcome that many argued that Melendez won. He followed that with one of the best fights of 2013 when he defeated Diego Sanchez in October at UFC 166. After the Sanchez win, he lost his next five fights from December 2014 through July 2019. In his last two fights, he cut down to featherweight and dropped decisions to Jeremy Stephens in September 2017 and Arnold Allen at UFC 239 this year.
**Bellator is running a card from Tel Aviv, Israel this Friday that will air the main card at 9 pm eastern on Paramount Network and DAZN. The show is headlined by a heavyweight fight between Sergei Kharitonov and Linton Vassell. Kharitonov is unbeaten in his last eight fights going back to November 2016 and six wins and two no contests. He last fought in August where he defeated Matt Mitrione by TKO. Vassell returned to the heavyweight division is his last fight where he was defeated by Valentin Moldavsky by unanimous decision, which was his third consecutive loss. The full main card consists of:
*Sergei Kharitonov vs. Linton Vassell
*Roger Huerta vs. Sidney Outlaw
*Aviv Gozali vs. Zaka Fatullazade
*Artur Pronin vs. Haim Gozali
*Austin Vanderford vs. Grachik Bozinyan
VIDEO
**Chris Jericho cut a promo following his win over Cody at Full Gear and setting up this week’s tag match with Sammy Guevara against Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6prCyJtjNcE
POST WRESTLING VIDEOS
*****
RAR 11/11/19: Trick Me Baby One More Time
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring Lana’s secret. Plus, John provides a review of the NJPW Showdown in San Jose show from this past weekend.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/12/rar-11-11-19-trick-me-baby-one-more-time/
*****
upNXT 11/11/19: EVOLVE 139 & 140 REVIEW
Davie Portman is back to chat all about this weekend’s two EVOLVE cards taking place from Queens and Brooklyn, New York. Davie is joined by John Siino to talk all about EVOLVE 139 and Jesse From The 6 to discuss EVOLVE 140.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/11/upnxt-11-11-19-evolve-139-140-review/
*****
NJPW SHOWDOWN IN SAN JOSE POST SHOW
WH Park is joined by Australian wrestler Davis Storm for a special NJPW Showdown in San Jose POST Show covering Saturday’s card.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/10/njpw-showdown-in-san-jose-post-show-with-wh-park-davis-storm/
*****
Thunderstruck #3: Jushin Liger vs. Rey Mysterio (12/29/96)
WH Park and Joey Bay take a look at a meeting of two masked wrestling legends as Jushin Liger does battle with Rey Mysterio Jr. at WCW’s Starrcade 1996 PPV from December 29, 1996.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/10/thunderstruck-3-jushin-liger-vs-rey-mysterio-jr-12-29-96-w-joey-bay/
*****
AEW FULL GEAR POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Full Gear headlined by Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho vs. Cody for the AEW Championship.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/10/aew-full-gear-post-show/
*****
RASD 11/8/19: “Sasha Baron Corbin”, AEW Full Gear Preview
John Pollock and Wai Ting review Friday Night SmackDown from England as Baron Corbin delivers a scathing, poop and testicle-filled promo to Roman Reigns.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/09/rasd-11-8-19-sasha-baron-corbin-aew-full-gear-preview/
*****
Café Hangout 11/7/19: Damian Abraham Live in-studio
On today’s Café Hangout, John Pollock and Wai Ting are joined in-studio by Damian Abraham as they take your calls about the week in wrestling news, discussing the closest ratings yet in the Wednesday Night Wars.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/11/07/cafe-hangout-damian-abraham-in-studio-nxt-aew-week-6-ratings/
*****
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