Minutes to Bell Time

                    Body Slam Brigade December 11, 2020

                    Body Slam Brigade December 11, 2020

                    Body Slam Brigade December 11, 2020

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                    Kevin McElvaney recently wrote in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Weekly Newsletter, “the sheer magnitude of wrestling options can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes, fans are exposed to more wrestlers and wrestling companies. But, since we’re not all watching the same programming every week, it’s become a little more challenging to agree on which wrestlers, feuds, and bouts are the best.”We used to have limited choice in wrestling, but not anymore. There is so much wrestling at our fingertips now-a-days that a collective agreement on the best of anything is pretty much impossible. Since we just passed Thanksgiving in American two weeks ago, I want to say how thankful I am for the quality and quantity of wrestling options. Sure, it can be overwhelming to capture and report on, but for the average person, there is just so much to sample and enjoy.

                    I’m also reassured to see companies and talents collaborating to put out good storylines and create unforgettable moments. With that in mind, let’s get into some of that collaboration . . .

                    Kenny Omega and Impact Wrestling

                    New AEW World Champion Kenny Omega appeared on Impact Wrestling this week to explain the working relationship between himself and Don Callis of Impact Wrestling. Callis and Omega spoke about the length of their relationship going back 27 years to the days when Callis was trained by Omega’s uncle the Golden Sheik. Callis mentioned that Omega was 10 years old.

                    Omega explained that he is a collector and spoke about his comic collection and how he’s also both the AEW World Champion and AAA Mega Champion. The fact that Callis then mentioned “We Got Belts Here” paired with the fact that Impact World Champion Rich Swann was shown being denied access to the parking lot seems to indicate a Rich Swann and Kenny Omega match is forthcoming.

                    Omega teased an announcement on Dynamite, but failed to make one after arriving by helicopter and essentially reiterating the same message delivered on Impact the night before. The major question of this week was what did Kenny Omega mean for Impact Wrestling’s ratings? Would he be a big enough story and would the angle have enough intrigue to draw new fans to Impact? I have a breakdown of the ratings and digital viewership in the Impact Wrestling Section of this newsletter (see below). Impact issued a press release celebrating the evening, so the company views it as a victory.

                    Zeus

                    TMZ reported that Tommy “Tiny” Lister, better known to wrestling fans as Zeus, has passed away at the age of 62. A wellness check was performed as people had not heard from Lister in a few days. No official cause of death has been released, but at this time indications are pointing to natural causes. Best wishes to the family of Lister, and may he Rest In Peace.

                    Have a Great Weekend!

                    Ryan Joy

                    Founder of Minutes to Bell Time
                    Host of the Daily Wrestling News Show
                    Author of the Body Slam Brigade Newsletter

                    Eva Marie

                    Eva Marie is part of the WWE Roster, but WWE has yet to publicly announced anything. This is being reported by several wrestling news outlets.

                    The Thunderdome

                    The Thunderdome left the Amway Center after the Monday Night Broadcast this week. They will debut at Tropicana Field on Friday’s Smackdown (12/11)

                    Trademark Filings

                    WWE applied to trademark “Karen Kwan” and “New Year’s Evil.”

                    Goldberg

                    Goldberg (53) announced on The Bump that Roman Reigns is Next. Roman replied on twitter, “I never wait in line. I am the attraction and I choose who’s next. And that’s Kevin Owens.
                    This Sunday “WWE Untold: Goldberg’s Streak” premiers on the WWE Network

                    Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins Welcome Baby

                    Becky Lycnh and Seth Rollins welcomed the birth of their baby Roux earlier this week. Congratulations!

                    Current TLC Match Card

                    TLC takes place on December 20th starting at 7PM on the WWE Network.

                    • Kevin Owens v. Roman Reigns – Universal Championship TLC Match
                    • AJ Styles v. Drew McIntyre – WWE Championship TLC Match
                    • Asuka and Lana v. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler – WWE Tag Team Championship Match
                    • The Fiend Bray Wyatt v. Randy Orton
                    • Carmella v. Sasha Banks – Smackdown Women’s Championship
                    • Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin v. The New Day – Raw Tag Titles

                    NXT New Year’s Evil

                    NXT New Year’s Evil to take place on 1/6 as a super episode of NXT television. Finn Balor will defend the NXT Championship.

                    NXT UK

                    A-Kid defended the NXT UK Heritage Cup Trophy against Tyler Bate on the Thursday episode of NXT UK. The defense was successful, and the commentary team referred to A-Kid as the Heritage Cup Champion, so it seems to indicate that the new Heritage Cup will be a regularly defended championship.

                    A Tag Team Championship match was made for next week as Gallus will defend against The Hunt.



                    Dynamite Ratings

                    The 11/9 Dynamite had the highest ratings with NXT competition since October 16, 2019 with 995,000 viewers. It was an episode where Tony Schiavone interviews with both Sting and Shaq were advertised in advance along with the continued intrigue of Kenny Omega’s World Title win and relationship to Impact Wrestling. It was a 9% increase over the 12/2 Winter is Coming episode of Dynamite. We need to watch and see if the number holds/rises or begins to drop off if fans begin to lose interest in Sting and the Impact angle.

                    MJF Listed on Best Performance of 2020 List

                    New York Times Film Critic Wesley Morris named MJF’s performance of “Me and My Shadow” from Le Dinner Debonair to his Best of 2020 Performance List. Morrison wrote:
                    • “Some weeks the athleticism at this professional wrestling start-up is more exciting than anything happening in Vince McMahon’s empire. And no one in the WWE has this kid’s combination of diction (Juilliard by way of Long Island), intensity or cheesiness, either. Even when Friedman’s lost his cool (his nom de ring is MJF), he still has astounding control. The character is part heel, part tool (hair gel, loafers, Burberry bling — tacky, tacky, tacky) and part goodfella wannabe; his mouth does more running than he does. For reasons only the producers of this show can explain, a long segment in October between MJF and the veteran Chris Jericho culminated in a version of “Me and My Shadow” complete with dancing women and live singing. It was less than spectacular, though not for anything Friedman did. He wasn’t embarrassed at all. He was smooth in a way that should worry Ric Flair. This kid makes you wanna say, “Woo!”

                    Dustin Rhodes Offered the Spot of 7 in the Dark Order

                    The backstory behind the number 7 stems back to a WCW angle in 1999 when Dustin Rhodes debuted as Seven. The character floated to the ring with a trench coat, white face paint, and all the smoke and mirrors you could imagine. Dustin then cut a worked shoot style promo where he buried the WWF Goldust character and all gimmicks like it. After that, Dustin would compete under his own name. The video of this short segment is readily available on You Tube. Here’s one link.


                    Super J Cup

                    The Super J Cup takes place on Saturday 12/12. The tournament was won by El Phantasmo last year over a series of shows all taking place on the West Coast of the United States. This year’s Super J Cup will be a one night event featuring 8 men from various promotions (ROH, Impact, GCW, NJPW, and Independents). The opening round contests include:
                    • Clark Connors v. Chris Bey
                    • ACH v. TJP
                    • Rey Horus v. Blake Christian
                    • El Phantasmo v. Lio Rush
                    The tournament should be excellent. It will air on NJPW World at 10 PM on Saturday 12/12.

                    New Japan Announces Anniversary Show for March 4th

                     

                    Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa Win World Tag League

                    G.O.D. defeated David Finlay and Juice Robinson on the 12/11 show to win the World Tag League. The finish came after Kenta came to the ring and hit Juice Robinson with the Right to Challenge Briefcase.

                    Hiromu Takahashis Wins Best of Super Juniors. Desperado Unmasks.

                    Hiromu Takahashi defeated El Desperado on the 12/11 show to win the Best of the Super Junior Tournament. About 25 minutes into the 30 minute match, Takahashi ripped at Desperado’s mask. After Hiromu partially revealed Deseprado’s face, El Desperado pulled his mask off and wrestled without it for the final five minutes. After Hiromu won the match, he challenged the winner of the 12/12 Super J Cup. He made the point that we need to determine the strongest tournament winner before we determine who should wrestle for the Junior Championship at the Tokyo Dome.

                    Current Wrestle Kingdom Card

                    More news pertaining to the Wrestle Kingdom Card could be announced at any moment. The winners of the Best of the Super Junior and World Tag League are likely facing the Junior Champion and the Tag Team Champions.
                    • Will Ospreay v. Kazuchika Okada – January 4
                    • Tetsuya Naito v. Kota Ibushi for IWGP Double Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championship – January 4
                    • Naito/Ibushi v. Jay White for IWGP Double Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championship – January 5

                    Lineup for Final Resolution

                    Final Resolution will be an Impact Plus special on 12/12. It is the final major show of the year for Impact. Their next PPV is Hard to Kill on January 16th.
                    • Chris Bey v. Rich Swann – Impact World Championships Match
                    • Deonna Purrazzo v. Rosemary – Knockout Championship Match
                    • Ethan Page v. Karl Anderson
                    • The Defeat Rohit Open Challenge
                    • Rhino v. Eric Young
                    • Eddie Edwards and Alisha Edwards v. Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb
                    • Tommy Dreamer v. Larry D
                    • Delmi Exo and Ashley Vox v. Havok and Nevaeh
                    • Fallah Bahh v. Hernandez

                    Impact Ratings

                    The ratings for Impact Wrestling are perhaps the biggest story in wrestling this week. With the enormous angle on AEW Dynamite spilling over to Impact Wrestling on AXS TV, everyone was wondering whether Impact would see a bump. Here’s what we know.
                    • Impact Wrestling averaged 244,342 viewers on AXS TV on Tuesday night, up 33 percent from last week.
                    • PW Insider reported the following regarding some additional metrics.
                      • PW Insider confirmed the episode’s live-stream on Twitch peaked at 55,396 with an average of 42,953 viewers for the two hour stream.  That would be over 13x the usual Twitch audience for Impact and was the 4th largest Twitch audience for anything yesterday.
                      • The Impact on AXS repeat broadcast brought another 189,000 viewers on YouTube with 56,200 watching via Impact’s Facebook page in the first twelve hours since the repeat was posted at 10 PM EST last night
                    Impact Wrestling said in a press releases that “More than 750,000 fans tuned in to AXS TV or have logged on to official streams to witness the historic, industry-shaking episode.” Impact points to all of the digital platforms and the broadcasts on AXS TV.

                    Essential Wrestling Podcast Episode 28 – Click Here

                    The Essential Wrestling Podcast airs every Tuesday at 6:00 PM. Join Al Karl, John D’Aconti, John Smith, Gary Mehafy, and Minutes to Bell Time’s Ryan Joy as they take you through the latest in Pro Wrestling. Find out and get the rationale behind who they think wins the week’s matches.

                    This Week’s Lineup

                    *NAWA’s Tony Capone and Marina Tucker discuss NAWA Jingle Brawl
                    *Kenny Omega’s “Impact” on the Wrestling Universe
                    *Winter is Coming = Sting is in AEW
                    *The Undisputed Era got the Job Done at War Games
                    *Roman Reigns tried to Beat some Respect in Kevin Owens
                    *Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton are Playing Games on Raw
                    *Gary Mehaffy Discusses the Huge Main Event Win for The Hunt
                    *Ryan Joy Breaks Down the BOSJ and WTL Finals, as well as the Super J Cup
                    *Roux Rollins will now Challenge for the NXT Women’s Tag Titles at WrestleMania 61
                    *Al Karl Reveals #16 on his Top 30 WrestleMania Countdown
                    *Our Show is Sponsored by ProWrestlingPickem.com
                    *Our Graphics and Statistics are Presented by MinutesToBellTime.com

                    MLW Kings of Colosseum

                    Major League Wrestling announced that a Kings of Colosseum special will air on January 6th in place of the regularly scheduled MLW Fusion. This is going to be a supershow type of card similar to how NXT is running New Year’s Evil and AEW is running New Year’s Smash. The only match announced so far is Lio Rush challenging Myron Reed for the World Middleweight Championship.

                    The other angle that is currently taking shape is Alexander Hammerstone’s quest against Contra. MLW Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu sits at the top of Contra, and Hammerstone will likely plow through various members of Contra before the peak of the story eventually sees Hammerstone challenge for the MLW Heavyweight Championship. Hammerstone has challenged Contra member Mads Krugger for a match at Kings of Colosseum.

                    Opera Cup

                    Low Ki advanced in the Opera Cup by defeating Richard Holliday on the 12/9 episode of MLW Fusion (available on the MLW You Tube Channel). Low Ki will now face the winner of the Tom Lawlor v. ACH match that takes place on 12/16.

                    Final Battle Card So Far

                    Final Battle is Ring of Honor’s Biggest PPV of the year. It takes place on 12/18.
                    • ROH World Title Match: Rush v. Brody King
                    • Four Way Match to Determine TV Title Contender: Tony Deppen v. Dak Draper v. LSG v. Josh Woods
                    • TV Championship Match: 4 Way Winner v. Dragon Lee
                    • EC3 v. Jay Briscoe – Grudge Match
                    • Mexisquad v. Shane Taylor and S.O.S. – ROH Six Man Tag Titles
                    • Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus vs. Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta in the first-ever ROH Pure Rules Tag Team Match.
                    • Danhusen vs. Brian Johnson.

                    Upcoming on ROH TV

                    Flip Gordan faces Josh Woods in a Pure Rules Match. The Bouncers face Jay Briscoe and PCO.

                    UWN Status

                    No Updates. Promotion remains on hiatus.

                    NWA Shockwave

                    The highlight of this week’s episode of NWA Shockwave was the rebroadcast of Priscilla Kelly v. Thunder Rosa. The match previously aired on UWN Prime Time Live back on September 22nd.
                     

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