Waching daily May 3 2018

Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I am Luke Owen.

Headline: Big WWE Network Announcement!

We've already had a few massive announcements for the WWE Network this year already - including

the return of Edge and Christian's Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomness, 24 specials

on The Hardyz and Ronda Rousey, and Bruce Prichard's Something To Wrestle - but the

company has been sitting on the biggest news of them all.

Now I know what you're thinking, it's grand and all that we've got every episode

ever of Raw, Smackdown, Nitro and now Thunder - but where is Sunday Night Heat?

Well sit down boys and girls and prep yourselves for a marathon - because WWE Network News

have revealed that Sunday Night Heat is being added to the Network on May 7th.

That's next week!

This means you can enjoy classic bouts between The Headbangers, Kai En Tai, Mideon, Viscera,

X-Factor, Steve Blackman and many more.

For those who might be too young to remember Sunday Night Heat, it was basically the Kick-Off

shows we have now, only it was on every week.

It was initially designed to be a supplement show to Raw, but its importance dwindled as

the years went on, pushed even further into obscurity when Smackdown came along.

Although there was that one time WWF Champion Triple H had a match on it.

With WWE looking to increase its subscriber numbers, the addition of Sunday Night Heat

is likely to put butts in seats.

And speaking of butts in seats.

Headline: New Japan Ticket Worries?

New Japan announced in March that they would be returning to the United States on July

7th to hold a show at the legendary Cow Palace in San Francisco - which will be their biggest

non-Japan event to date.

Tickets for G1 Special went on sale on May 1st, but it's being reported that they're

not looking good.

The reported capacity for pro wrestling events at Cow Palace is around 14,000, but PWInsider

are reporting that New Japan sold around 3,300 tickets on its first day.

While that may seem like a decent start, it's worth noting that New Japan sold out Strong

Style Evolved in Long Beach earlier this year in around 20 minutes, which was around 5,000

tickets.

One reason given for G1 Special's sales is that Ticketmaster set aside 1,000 tickets

for NJPW Club members in Japan, which are not expected to sell but are held just in

case club members want to purchase them.

PWInsider report that New Japan are expecting ticket sales to stall at around the 4,000

mark - but they're not giving up yet.

"According to sources, NJPW management was upset with the initial sales and has reached

out to a big name to wrestle on the show and help boost sales in the coming weeks."

And that big name could have already been revealed.

Headline: Chris Jericho Heading Back To New Japan?

Despite saying he was done with New Japan in a tweet earlier this year, Mike Johnson

of PWInsider is reporting that Chris Jericho could be heading back to the company as early

as this weekend's Wrestling Dontaku.

Johnson adds that Jericho will likely shoot an angle that will build towards a match at

Dominion, which will be held in Osaka next month.

Jericho was last seen in New Japan starting a feud with Tetsyo Naito at New Year's Dash

the day after his clash with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

Jericho had told people that although he wanted to work more dates with the company, a deal

couldn't be worked out between the two.

Johnson states in his report that the smart money is on Jericho restarting his fued with

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Naito.

Headline: Raw and Smackdown Ratings

Following on from the Greatest Royal Rumble and leading into this weekend's Backlash,

Raw's ratings were mostly unmoved from last week - pulling in an average of 3.06 million

viewers.

But more importantly are your ratings!

Oli Davis thought the show was AvRAWge, and 52% of you agreed with him.

Over on Smackdown Live, the show posted its lowest viewership of the year - an average

of 2.4 million viewers.

But what did you think?

I thought the show was Smack Bang in the Middle, and 59% of you agreed.

And you can watch mine and Oli's reviews of those shows on the WrestleRamble, where

we're also posting our Backlash predictions!

Click the playlist over there to check those out, subscribe to this channel and pledge

on Patreon for bonus content like our review of WrestleMania X-7.

I've been Luke Owen and that was wrestling.