Various: WWE Top 10 Matches Special, Jim Ross on Tony Schiavone’s AEW Hiring, Indies

WWE Network Airing Top 10 WWE Matches of 2019 Special This Monday

WWE will be airing a Top 10 Matches of 2019 special on the WWE Network on December 30th, according to WWENetworkNews.com.

This special will be hosted by Paige and will be similar in presentation to the 20 Matches That Define The Intercontinental Championship special, which aired this past September and featured full length matches in a marathon-like format.

Official synopsis:

WWE’s Top 10 Matches of 2019
Join Paige as she counts down WWE’s 10 best matches from 2019, including Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston, Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch, Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne vs. WALTER and more.

Jim Ross Reveals He Pushed for AEW to Hire Tony Schiavone

A recent episode of the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast had Jim Ross as the guest and one of the topics discussed included him pushing All Elite Wrestling to hire Tony Schiavone for their commentary team.

“I pushed really aggressively to hire Tony Schiavone for our team. It was inevitable, for whatever reason, that the trend has been three-man teams. It’s the trendy thing. I just thought Tony would be an amazing addition because of his product knowledge. You can’t buy product knowledge, you have to develop it, earn it, and experience it. He didn’t watch wrestling for 20 years. He was done. He wasn’t a newsletter guy, a podcast guy, he was done. He got revitalized. Whether it’s play-by-play, color, in-studio, in-ring, there’s not anything where you hold a mic that Schiavone isn’t good at. And he’s not a kid. He knows how to travel. A lot of people take the travel for granted. Traveling is the shits.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

WWE’s Jack Gallagher and AEW’s Evil Uno were recent guest contributors to Giantbomb.com’s annual Top 10 games lists series.

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata announced on Twitter that they have recently signed new contracts with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The actual length of the new contracts were not disclosed but both are currently assumed to be at least one year in length.

The enhancement talent used by WWE during this past Monday’s episode of RAW, Deonn Rusman and Joeasa, reportedly were graduates from Seth Rollins’ Black & Brave Wrestling Academy, according to the Wrestling Observer.