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Originally Posted by Observer Running unopposed with AEW Dynamite preempted due to the NBA playoffs, WWE NXT posted its strongest viewership since November on Wednesday night. Last night's NXT, which was the go-home show for TakeOver XXX, averaged 853,000 viewers. That's up from the 619,000 the show drew last week. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.24, up from last Wednesday's 0.16. While Dynamite didn't air last night, NXT did face competition from the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and news coverage of the Democratic National Convention. This was NXT's best viewership number since the November 20 edition of the show averaged 916,000 viewers. After ranking 65th in all cable programs in the 18-49 demo last Wednesday, NXT rose to 23rd in that metric last night. The rating in the 18-34 demo was a 0.09, down from the 0.11 that NXT drew two weeks ago. That would seemingly indicate that much of AEW's younger audience migrated to news or sports coverage rather than head over to USA Network to check out the other Wednesday wrestling show. This week's Dynamite will air on Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern time or immediately following the NBA playoffs. The TakeOver XXX pre-show is starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, with the main card then beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Since NXT finished out of the top fifty cable programs last week, we cannot compare all the key demos. However, looking at the ratings from the August 5th episode of NXT, the lack of AEW competition didn’t translate to increases among each group. The largest loss was with women 12-34 which were down 44 percent from two weeks ago registering a 0.05 this week. The other big loss was with adults 18-34 that was down 27 percent from two weeks ago. The largest gain compared to August 5th was with men 18-49 that grew by 28 percent followed by adults 25-54 increasing by 25 percent. In the 18-49 demographic NXT was up 20 percent compared to two weeks ago.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE star Sonya Deville testified this afternoon in Tampa, Florida at a pre-trial hearing for Phillip Arnold Thomas II, who was arrested in Sonya Deville's Florida home early Sunday morning. Thomas has been charged with Aggravated Stalking, Armed Burglary of a Dwelling, Attempted Armed Kidnapping, and Criminal Mischief. He has been assigned a public defender and invoked his fifth amendment right to remain silent. Thomas was not present in the court room but was seen via video monitor from another room, where he was handcuffed and alone. This hearing was to determine whether Thomas would be held without bail prior to his trial. Deville recounted that the evening Thomas invaded her home, she was sleeping in her master bedroom when her alarm went off. Mandy Rose was sleeping in the guest bedroom and Deville woke her up to tell her the alarm went off, then turned off the alarm and entered her kitchen, turning on the lights. She looked outside a sliding door that she usually used to enter the house and saw a man dressed in black wearing a mask outside. She asked him, "What the f*** are you doing?" but he just looked at her, with a deadpan expression on his face, and approached. At that point, Deville knew he wasn't trying to rob or burglarize the home, but instead was there for her. She ran out of the kitchen to the guest room, grabbed Rose and they ran to the garage with Rose's cell phone and car keys. The garage was down the hallway from the guest bedroom, so if they went the other way, they'd have run back towards the intruder. Deville jumped in Rose's car to drive but couldn't get it to to start because she was so freaked that her foot was on the ignition, not the brake. Rose was able to press the manual start button so the engine revved and they pulled out and drove through the neighborhood as Rose called 911. They returned to the house after they were advised a deputy had arrived. The deputy asked them to wait and when backup arrived, the authorities entered the home through the garage and returned several minutes later with the suspect, who Deville identified as the same man she saw and the same man who was seen on the video monitor. Deville testified that the man had never had permission to enter her home and that she had no communication with him before the night he invaded her home. They showed video footage of the incident, which saw Deville looking through her doors and then running out of the kitchen. A man dressed in black entered the house and followed the same path, exiting out the same kitchen door Deville fled through. During her appearance, Deville was presented with photos of items that were not in her home until Thomas broke in. Deville was then asked about checking her Instagram messages after authorities gave her Thomas' name. In searching his name, she testified that she found hundreds of messages from him threatening her life, the life of her baby niece and threatened to decapitate her ex-girlfriend. She testified that he also threatened to sexually assault her and that the messages were sent over a period of many, many months. He sent messages under his first name using his own face as a picture, a second account using the name "Phil" with no photo and a third account using another name. Deville stated that the last message she received came shortly before he invaded her home and stated that she should look outside because he was at her pool and he was going to "kill that b**ch" who was with her. Deville was then presented with copies of the messages, which she said she recognized. Thomas' attorney tried to object that the messages could not connect the defendant but the State argued that the last message placed Thomas at the scene of the crime and that further testimony from a detective could link those together. One of the messages specifically noted Deville's home address, which also strengthened the State's claim ... Deville testified that one of the messages featured a threat that demanded she needed to have sex with the defendant or he would release her address to the world. He also threatened the lives of every living relative in her family, including her mother, her sister and her nieces as well as Deville's ex-girlfriend. His messages claimed that he could walk next door to her house, that he could kill people to show her he was serious and sent her messages stating "Tick Tock when will the fun begin?" She testified that he threatened to come find her at a WWE event and it wouldn't matter if she was backstage, that he would get to her baby niece and that he would force her to perform sex acts on him and would force her to do so in the WWE Performance Center. She testified that her ex-girlfriend was so frightened by messages she received, she deactivated her own Instagram. She testified that she received a message that the only way to save her family from hard was to have sexual relations with him - and that he was coming to see her in person, wearing a mask. She testified that he sent a message saying that since she was ignoring him, he was coming to see her to talk to her in person, warning her that he was going to "get what I want" and would make her regret the fact that he was being ignored by her. He also sent her a message stating that he would be attending Summerslam with her as her boyfriend. Deville had to explain what Summerslam was and that it was the second biggest event of the year for the company and that she and Mandy Rose were slated to wrestle against each other on the show. At this point, the livestream covering Deville's testimony ended.

Originally Posted by PWI FITE issed the following: FITE Announces the Appointment of Nick Aldis as Special Correspondent for the Global Digital Brand THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2020----- FITE, the premier global digital platform for sports and entertainment, announced today that Nick Aldis, businessman and Pro Wrestling superstar, would add an additional title to his resume, serving in the role as a Special Correspondent for the company. Aldis has a deep background in media duties which have served him well both in his professional life as well as in the wrestling arena. Nick Aldis is a Pro Wrestler, Broadcaster and Author. In his 15-year career he has performed all over the world and held multiple championships including the prestigious NWA World's Heavyweight Championship, which he currently holds. Outside of wrestling he has appeared on stage and television as both an actor and broadcaster. As a writer he was the longest running columnist for Fighting Spirit Magazine (2008-2018) and his first book, The Superstar Body, was published in 2015 ... Mr. Aldis’ initial efforts will include the creation of exclusive content for FITE involving video conversations with key sports stars. Stay tuned - If it Happens, it’s on FITE!

Originally Posted by PWI New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the following: Gabriel Kidd suffers neck injury; to miss Korakuen events Gabriel Kidd has suffered a neck injury and will not be able to compete on Korakuen Hall cards on August 26 and 27. Changes have been made to both cards accordingly.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed USA Network preempting the September 2nd edition of WWE NXT for NHL Playoff Hockey ... The timing would seemingly benefit AEW, as their first opportunity to host Dynamite unopposed on a Wednesday will also be their “go-home” show ahead of All Out on September 5th. Meltzer also stated that this episode was originally to be followed by a one-hour countdown special, however it appears that special will now be condensed to 30min and will air prior to The Buy-In on Saturday, September 5th and 5:30pm ET.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Deadspin’s Julie DiCaro has published an article compiling the various public accusations made against Patrick Clark (a.k.a. Velveteen Dream), along with public responses from Clark and Paul Levesque over recent weeks. The hashtag #FireVelveteenDream was trending during the airing of last night’s WWE NXT, which featured Velveteen Dream vs. Finn Balor in the main event.

Link: https://deadspin.com/wwe-allows-alle...nt-1844787991/

Originally Posted by Fightful A new company has joined the fray. LIDET Entertainment, former owner of Pro-Wrestling NOAH, has announced the formation of a new promotion called GLEAT. According to the promotion, GLEAT is a coined word in which GREAT is combined with L, the acronym for LIDET ENTERTAINMENT. Former wrestler and MMA fighter Kiyoshi Tamura will be the Executive Director of the promotion. Tamura competed in UWF, UWFi, RINGS and PrideFC. Tamura said about his vision for the promotion, "My ideal is this. Martial arts pro wrestling, The UWF. That’s what I want to make. I want to leave UWF for future generations. I want to keep it as history." NOSAWA Rongai joins the as Chief Strategy Officer, Kaz Hayashi joins as Chief Technical Officer and Riki Choshu will be "an observer."

Originally Posted by Fightful At SummerSlam 2019, Finn Balor was "murder" by the debuting 'Fiend' Bray Wyatt, disappearing off WWE television in the process. Joining Dan Matha on Spark in the Dark, Balor explained why he needed that time away last summer and into the fall. "I had been working from 2000 until last August, which is 19 years without taking a break unless it was an injury. Even with the shoulder injury, I worked harder when I was out than when I was fit because I was doing rehab three times a day to get back and get going. The stress of the injury and the pressure to come back, that felt harder than when you're actually working. When you're working, you're in the zone and going and going. I had been going for 19 years straight and I came to a point where I needed a break, not just physically, it was more mentally to be by myself and be away from the boys. I love the boys, but it gets to a point where it's just too intense. When you're around them all the time, you just need some space. I needed space from everything; the business, bookers, writers, schedules, everything. It had become too intense. I was turning into a different person that I didn't like. I was snapping at people, I wasn't giving people time in conversations. I was turning into a bitter dick and I could feel it building and building. Thankfully, the company gave me some time to get my head straight and get better. When I came back, the idea was pitched around to go to NXT," he said. Balor returned to television on October 2, 2019, returning to NXT to confront Adam Cole. Balor said moving back to NXT has been great for him as he was working 172 matches a year and traveling, but in NXT he does only 50 matches a year and doesn't have to travel as much.

Originally Posted by Fightful Daniel Cormier walked away from MMA following his loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 252 on Saturday. Cormier's next move is unknown, but there has long been talk of him joining WWE in some capacity, even when he was an active fighter. Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Cormier once again floated the possibility of stepping inside the squared circle. “That’s not my retirement,” said Cormier. “That would be a vacation. I’d love a Royal Rumble moment where I throw a dude into the ropes and I clothesline his ass over the top, or I dropkick somebody over the top rope, and I’ll take my bump and get thrown out. Let me chase somebody down, clothesline him with a Bradshaw-Layfield clothesline from hell and eliminate somebody from the Royal Rumble, then throw me over the top. Pro wrestling? I’m all in.” Cormier has had offers to do work with WWE, but not in an in-ring capacity. He revealed in December that he had one offer to work on WWE Backstage and another offer to be part of the press conference between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez leading up to Crown Jewel 2019.

Originally Posted by Fightful Sammy Guevara returned to AEW Dynamite on July 22 after serving a suspension for inappropriate comments made towards Sasha Banks in 2016. During his suspension, Guevara underwent sensitivity training, which he completed prior to his return. Appearing on AEW Unrestricted, Guevara discussed his return to the company. "The first day back, I didn't know how people were going to be with me and everybody was very positive and nice to me. I appreciate you guys because you welcomed me back," he said to hosts Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards. Guevara was dressed as Serpentico for his return, helping the Inner Circle pick up a victory in multi-man tag team action. "[Chris] Jericho told me he had an idea for me coming back, I didn't ask too many questions, I was just like, 'Okay, cool.' I was more working on doing the training. When I finished it, they were like, 'Cool, we'll send you the flight.' I didn't know what I was doing until probably an hour or two before the show started. Someone was like, 'you're going to be Serpentico.' 'What?' That was my own fault for not asking questions, but I also trust Jericho, the genius that he is, whatever it's going to be, it's going to be great. I think it went pretty well," he said.

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