Author: Dave Meltzer

Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.

Daily Update: Drew McIntyre, WWE Raw, Utami Hayashishita

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

See Dave & Bryan in London

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Fan reactions and poll for Forbidden Door
  • Thoughts on the Omega-Ospreay and Okada-Danielson matches, as well as the difference in match of the years today with in the past that is concerning. We look at the Omega-Ospreay storyline, the business record that was set in Toronto as well as PPV numbers, theater numbers, what we learned, the Okada-Danielson finish and the situation with C.M. Punk.
  • We have the biggest money live events in AEW history, match-by-match coverage, Danielson, Sting, Tony Khan and others talk after the show and more
  • A look at Money in the Bank and its unique record that was quietly set
  • Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
  • Business notes on the show
  • What’s next for the top people on the show
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling shows this past week, talking competition, ranking, segment-by-segment, the unique change in the Raw audience this week as well as the low rating for AEW and notes on that
  • Early Fantastica Mania notes
  • 64th anniversary of pro wrestling in one of its legendary arenas that likely has had more shows than all but a few in history
  • Notes on AAA’s next major show after TripleMania in Tijuana
  • Stardom PPV notes
  • Next Stardom PPV card
  • Stardom Five-Star Grand Prix tournament
  • Battle of two people who trained together as youths sells out standing room tickets at Korakuen Hall weeks ahead of time
  • The new three Musketeers in New Japan and thoughts
  • Update on this week’s New Japan major shows
  • A look in detail about the movie “Iron Claw” about the heyday of the Von Erichs and the collapse of their empire along with thoughts on it
  • One of the best wrestlers of the 90s and 00s goes into a sports Hall of Fame
  • Outsports talks about the most powerful LGBTQ+ people in the sports world including many from both pro wrestling and MMA
  • Notes on Ross Forman, who works backstage at Impact, making the list and his background and thoughts
  • WWC 50th anniversary show draws huge crowd in Puerto Rico and rundown of the show
  • Impact notes from the next few weeks of TV
  • AEW video game notes
  • Jim Ross update
  • Danielson talks Okada
  • Variety says AEW TV show deserves an Emmy nomination
  • Upcoming ticket sales for all WWE & AEW shows
  • Anthony Bowens felt crowd reaction was a real breakthrough, as does a reader who grew up in Chicago
  • Ariel Helwani responds to Tony Khan
  • What percentage of revenue did UFC fighters make last year
  • Lots of new UFC fights
  • Fighter rebounding from nearly fatal heart attack
  • Lots of notes on Vince McMahon and WWE
  • Notes on what happens with the new company, how much money Vince made WWE by staying and what percentage of the new company he will own
  • Notes on ideas for changes in NXT and main roster shows
  • WWE injury updates
  • International TV ratings
  • WWE top streaming segments for the week

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Monday Update

– Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw and the latest news.

– In response to the questions from Saturday night, Drew McIntyre has not signed a new deal with WWE. He is under contract for several more months and they have the right to extend it for a few more months due to injury, possibly through WrestleMania. Nothing has changed on the contract front. Based on the commentary by Michael Cole on his return, and comments to Paul Levesque at the press conference acting like there was never a story to begin with, people were given the impression he had signed a new long-term deal. This also doesn’t mean things are bad between the sides, just that he hasn’t agreed to terms yet.

– Raw is tonight from Baltimore. Coming off the PPV show, only Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya has been advertised ahead of time. Brock Lesnar will be back tonight to start the set up for his match with Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. They are looking at record numbers for SummerSlam as the gate is far ahead of all prior records and is likely to end up as the biggest non-Mania gate ever in the U.S. The ticket advance is the second biggest of all-time (behind 1992 in Wembley Stadium).

– Raw is over 10,000 tickets out tonight in Baltimore and will be sold out by show time.

– We’re looking for reports from tonight’s show with anything not on the live show such as Main Event matches or post-show stuff to [email protected]

– WWE has not yet put out a press release with the numbers from Saturday, perhaps waiting for the viewing numbers to finalize. We do know the live gate set the all-time record for England and was the second biggest in the U.K., which means the actual gate revenue topped the Wembley Stadium number from 1992 and we were told by a considerable amount. It won’t be first for long which also tells you why they are pushing the WrestleMania in Wembley Stadium idea. From those in the U.K., there is talk that is very serious about the idea, but obviously they want the local government to pay them for having the show there.

– In a comeback of the skit with Sami Zayn that drew huge ratings, on Friday’s SmackDown, The Usos will put Roman Reigns on trial as the main event of the show in Madison Square Garden.

– We’re looking for your thoughts on Money in the Bank from Saturday. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

– We’ve already completed a main story for Friday on Darren Drozdov for the new Observer. It’ll be one of the better stories of its type we’ve done this year.

– New Japan World has a PPV show from Korakuen Hall at 5:10 a.m. tomorrow. There are two shows actually. Tomorrow’s show has:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoh & Oskar Leube vs. Kengo & Dragon Libre & Takahiro Katori
  • The DKC vs. Bad Dude Tito
  • Lance Archer & Alex Zayne & Ryohei Oiwa vs. JR Kratos & Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson
  • Tom Lawlor vs. Kosei Fujita
  • Eddie Kingston & Rocky Romero vs. KENTA & Gedo
  • Giulia & Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale & Momo Kohgo
  • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi defend the Strong tag titles against Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin
  • TJP & Francesco Akira defend the IWGP jr. tag titles against Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney
  • Jon Moxley & Homicide vs. Jun Kasai & El Desperado

Moxley won’t be in Edmonton on Wednesday for Dynamite although he is expected to be on the show doing a taped interview. Moxley vs. Desperado in a death match headlines the Wednesday show at Korakuen Hall, also at 5:10 a.m., which also includes KENTA vs. Kingston for the Strong title and a rematch with Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Kidd & Coughlin but this time for the IWGP tag titles.

– AEW will be available again in Mexico starting this week on the VIX streaming service owned by Televisa. Both Dynamite and Collision will be airing. AEW currently has no television in Mexico.

– Undertaker is doing a talk show today in Manchester, England as well as tomorrow in Glasgow, Scotland.

– Ronda Rousey will be on the Fox show Stars on Mars tonight head-to-head with Raw.

–The NXT show tomorrow was taped last week. Spoilers are up on the site and with details in the Observer. The Creeds vs. Dyad loser leave town plus Damon Kemp vs. Eddy Thorpe in an NXT Underground match which features the first angle with Gable Steveson, Mustafa Ali vs. Tyler Bate, Roxanne Perez vs. Blair Davenport and Jacy Jayne vs. Lyra Valkyria.

– Utami Hayashishita of Stardom, who was voted by the Observer readers and the 2021 Woman Wrestler of the Year, debuts with GCW on shows on 7/8 in Hartford, CT and 7/14 in New York City. She’ll also work for Jersey Championship Wrestling on 7/9 in Ridgefield Park, NJ.

Other Notes

– Defy announced shows on 7/28 and 7/29 at Washington Hall in Seattle. The first night will be an all-women’s show headlined by Vert Vixen, Nicole Matthews, Maki Itoh and Allie Katch. 7/29 will feature the return of Jon Moxley and the first round of the Defy Super 8XGP, an eight-man tournament. They will also make a Hall of Fame announcement shortly.

– UWN is taping television at the Irving Improv tonight at 7:30 p.m. with Danny Limelight vs. Invictus Khash as the main event.

– The LFA runs at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, CA, with an MMA show headlined by Daniel Compton (8-2) of Santa Cruz against Renato Valente (9-6).

– Indie wrestler Megabyte Ronnie will be in tomorrow Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest that airs at 10:45 a.m. on ESPN. This usually draws a big rating built around the star power of Joey Chestnut.

– The Amazing Race Canada show debuts tomorrow night at 9 p.m. on CTV. Gail Kim and Gisele Shaw are a team in this competition.

Daily Update: WWE Money in the Bank fallout, John Cena, Ronda & Shayna

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

See Dave & Bryan in London

Latest Free YouTube Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LueFkjHBHC0

INLINE

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Fan reactions and poll for Forbidden Door
  • Thoughts on the Omega-Ospreay and Okada-Danielson matches, as well as the difference in match of the years today with in the past that is concerning. We look at the Omega-Ospreay storyline, the business record that was set in Toronto as well as PPV numbers, theater numbers, what we learned, the Okada-Danielson finish and the situation with C.M. Punk.
  • We have the biggest money live events in AEW history, match-by-match coverage, Danielson, Sting, Tony Khan and others talk after the show and more
  • A look at Money in the Bank and its unique record that was quietly set
  • Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
  • Business notes on the show
  • What’s next for the top people on the show
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling shows this past week, talking competition, ranking, segment-by-segment, the unique change in the Raw audience this week as well as the low rating for AEW and notes on that
  • Early Fantastica Mania notes
  • 64th anniversary of pro wrestling in one of its legendary arenas that likely has had more shows than all but a few in history
  • Notes on AAA’s next major show after TripleMania in Tijuana
  • Stardom PPV notes
  • Next Stardom PPV card
  • Stardom Five-Star Grand Prix tournament
  • Battle of two people who trained together as youths sells out standing room tickets at Korakuen Hall weeks ahead of time
  • The new three Musketeers in New Japan and thoughts
  • Update on this week’s New Japan major shows
  • A look in detail about the movie “Iron Claw” about the heyday of the Von Erichs and the collapse of their empire along with thoughts on it
  • One of the best wrestlers of the 90s and 00s goes into a sports Hall of Fame
  • Outsports talks about the most powerful LGBTQ+ people in the sports world including many from both pro wrestling and MMA
  • Notes on Ross Forman, who works backstage at Impact, making the list and his background and thoughts
  • WWC 50th anniversary show draws huge crowd in Puerto Rico and rundown of the show
  • Impact notes from the next few weeks of TV
  • AEW video game notes
  • Jim Ross update
  • Danielson talks Okada
  • Variety says AEW TV show deserves an Emmy nomination
  • Upcoming ticket sales for all WWE & AEW shows
  • Anthony Bowens felt crowd reaction was a real breakthrough, as does a reader who grew up in Chicago
  • Ariel Helwani responds to Tony Khan
  • What percentage of revenue did UFC fighters make last year
  • Lots of new UFC fights
  • Fighter rebounding from nearly fatal heart attack
  • Lots of notes on Vince McMahon and WWE
  • Notes on what happens with the new company, how much money Vince made WWE by staying and what percentage of the new company he will own
  • Notes on ideas for changes in NXT and main roster shows
  • WWE injury updates
  • International TV ratings
  • WWE top streaming segments for the week

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Sunday Update

  • Bryan and I did our weekend WOR last night covering Money in the Bank and all the television shows and other news. We also did a show Friday with John Pollock, Paul Fontaine, Garrett Gonzales and myself on modern candidates for the Hall of Fame. We also talked about a lot of other news such as the addition of Collision, keeping up with so much wrestling and so many more things.
  • We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Money in the Bank yesterday. You can leave a thumbs up, down or middle plus a best and worst match to [email protected].
  • We’re also looking for reports on the final night of the WWE UK tour today in Cardiff, Wales, which was an instant sellout (4800) months ago at the International Arena.
  • Just to clarify on the Shayna Baszler vs. Ronda Rousey finish from Saturday, I don’t know Rousey’s actual contract situation but she is leaving some time relatively soon and wanted to do a program with Baszler before leaving. The idea was to do the tag team thing longer and establish them as a team and not have the turn be so sudden but basically time ran out on them.
  • John Cena and Drew McIntyre were kept hidden last night at Money in the Bank. Cena was working there. While Cena has in the past talked about WrestleMania in London, there is more to that now than in the past. We discussed it on last night’s WOR, but it is definitely something they would like to see done. Obviously with AEW drawing the largest pro wrestling crowd in years at Wembley, WWE would like to top that and two nights of Mania would do so automatically.
  • Natalya and the Guinness Book of World Records people have added to her stuff in their annual book. They presented her with awards that will be in the next book for these world records: Most WWE women’s matches (1,514); Most WWE women’s wins (663); Most WWE women’s PLE appearances (75); Most WWE women’s WrestleMania appearances (8); Most women’s matches on Raw (174); and Most women’s’ matches on SmackDown (200)
  • Every winner of the women’s MITB match in history but one (Carmella) either cashed it in that night or the next day. So, IYO SKY already has the second-longest tenure as a MITB winner in history unless she cashes it in in Cardiff today which is very doubtful to happen. Every female winner in history has gone on to win the title. (Thanks to Arya Witner)
  • AEW Dynamite in Boston on 7/19 sold about 1000 tickets after the announcement of the Blood & Guts match. It was at about 5300 at the start of the weekend.
  • In an interview with Boxing Social, promoter Eddie Hearn said he believes Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury could be happening soon. He said he believes it’s happening but also said it would be an exhibition fight but who knows. Hearn was trying to put together Oleksandr Usyk vs. Fury which is why he made those comments.
  • Money in the Bank did 200,000 Google searches which, with the new standards after the change, is a great number. It used to be a normal number. Nothing else related to boxing, wrestling or MMA made the list including yesterday’s UFC show. It was up with Damian Lillard, the NASCAR race in Chicago, the changes in Twitter and the Los Angeles Lakers for the top spots over the weekend behind the death of actor Alan Arkin.
  • A&E tonight at 9 PM has WWE Most Wanted Treasures focusing on Trish Stratus and Alundra Blayze, plus Stone Cold Takes on America at 10 PM.
  • We’ve heard a lot of stuff about different matches this weekend to watch. Mirai won the Wonder of Stardom title from double champion Tam Nakano on today’s Stardom PPV show from Yokohama which is getting a lot of praise and called a classic. Also heavily praised are Rocky Romero vs Volador Jr. and Desperado vs. Mascara Dorada 2.0 matches from Arena Mexico where they had their biggest crowd in a long time. Several people also brought up Yuma Aoyagi’s Triple Crown title win today over Yuji Nagata which took place today at Korakuen Hall. On the GLEAT show, which is free on YouTube, I was told there was a great match if you like UWFi style with Hayato Fujita winning their UWF world title from Takanori Ito. Another match was the Kobe World Memorial Festival show today by Dragon Gate where Diamante lost his mask, as expected, in a five-way loser loses his mask cage match with Dragon Kid, Ultimo Dragon, Strong Machine J and Shun Skywalker. That show drew Dragon Gate’s biggest crowd in years, with both Hiromu Takahashi (over Yamato) and Shingo Takagi (destroying Konomama Ichikawa twice) as outside attractions.
  • AEW Dynamite in the UK, which airs on Friday nights, is off ITV 4 due to darts coverage. It will air on the main ITV 1 station at 11:40 p.m. Friday night. So, it will be on a much more viewed channel but in a worse time slot. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)
  • Bret Hart turns 66 today.
  • On last night’s WOR when talking about Kurt Angle and winning match of the year, he did win it once: in 2002 with the Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Edge & Rey Mysterio match at the No Mercy PPV. People forget about it but it was one of the best matches of that era. (thanks to Arya Witner)
  • American Pro Wrestling will hold a memorial show for Dan Parris on 7/8 in Bollins Spring, SC, at 4 p.m. The show is at 120 Builders Court. Parris, who passed away last week, was a great proponent for Carolinas independent wrestling for decades and a really nice guy.

Other Stuff

  • ICW No Holds Barred from last night in Red Bank, TN: Malcolm Monroe III b Sean Campbell, John Wayne Murdoch b Hardway Heeter, Tank b Mickie Knuckles, Jaden Newman b Danny Demanto, Bobby Beverly b Dr. Redacted, Brandon & Kasey Kirk b Krule & Max the Impaler, Hoodfoot b Tommy Vendetta. Vendetta was managed by Darren McCarty, a former Detroit Red Wings star who does a indie wrestling shows and Impact these days (Thanks to Leonard Brand)
  • Warrior Wrestling on Friday night in Chicago Heights, IL: Sabin Gauge b Cole Radrick, Skye Blue b Heather Reckless, Bang Brothers b Koda Hernandes & Sorta Incredible Iverson, Jordan Kross b Storm Grayson, Konosuke Takeshita b Warhorse, Gringo Loco won three-way over El Hijo del Vikingo & Gabriel Fuerza to keep the Lucha title, KC Navarro b Matt Cardona to keep the Warrior title. The clip going around saw the event, held outside on the Marian High School football field, saw Takeshita run the hurdles and then take out Warhorse. (Thanks to Leonard Brand)
  • Boom Wrestling from last night in Vancouver, BC before a sellout 250 fans: Evan Rivers won their Money in the Bank over Jacky Lee, Shareef Morrow, Big Cat, Casey Ferreira and Maxwell Benson, Shaolin Funk b Kyle Fines, Amira over Kikyo, Izzy McQueen and Liiza Hall, Brady Malibu b President Abraham Lincoln in a loser leaves town match, Travis Williams b Judas Icarus, Randy Myers b Tony Baroni.

Daily Update: Droz passes away, weekend preview, Terry Funk turns 79

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

See Dave & Bryan in London

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Friday Update

– We will be doing a special Observer Radio show today with some guests talking current news as well as the Hall of Fame. For the weekend, Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night talking Money in the Bank, Darren Drozdov and the latest news.

– Very sad news today with the death of Darren Drozdov, who faced worse adversity than almost all of us but kept a great disposition about it. Drozdov ended up a quadriplegic for a while, although regained use of his upper body, from a neck injury landing from a powerbomb by D-Lo Brown on October 5, 1999, at the Nassau Coliseum. He landed on his head and broke two vertebrae in his neck, and underwent immediate surgery. He remained part of WWF/WWE for several years doing writing and Internet shows. He only wrestled a brief period of time before the accident. His injuries were such that he needed 24 hour a day medical care.

Drozdov, who was 54, was a former NFL player with the Denver Broncos before pro wrestling. He had some NFL notoriety because he once vomited during a Monday Night Football game right on the ball. He had the ability to puke at will which impressed Vince McMahon in a very strange segment in the movie “Beyond the Mat.” He was at one point made the third Road Warrior, likely with the idea Hawk was needing to be replaced because of his own issues. It was a tough position to be put in that position so early in his career. Nobody ever said anything bad about him and he never put any blame on Brown for the accident.

– A big new issue of the Observer is out today. It features:

  • Fan reactions and poll for Forbidden Door
  • Thoughts on the Omega-Ospreay and Okada-Danielson matches, as well as the difference in match of the years today with in the past that is concerning. We look at the Omega-Ospreay storyline, the business record that was set in Toronto as well as PPV numbers, theater numbers, what we learned, the Okada-Danielson finish and the situation with C.M. Punk.
  • We have the biggest money live events in AEW history, match-by-match coverage, Danielson, Sting, Tony Khan and others talk after the show and more
  • A look at Money in the Bank and its unique record that was quietly set
  • Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
  • Business notes on the show
  • What’s next for the top people on the show
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling shows this past week, talking competition, ranking, segment-by-segment, the unique change in the Raw audience this week as well as the low rating for AEW and notes on that
  • Early Fantastica Mania notes
  • 64th anniversary of pro wrestling in one of its legendary arenas that likely has had more shows than all but a few in history
  • Notes on AAA’s next major show after TripleMania in Tijuana
  • Stardom PPV notes
  • Next Stardom PPV card
  • Stardom Five-Star Grand Prix tournament
  • Battle of two people who trained together as youths sells out standing room tickets at Korakuen Hall weeks ahead of time
  • The new three Musketeers in New Japan and thoughts
  • Update on this week’s New Japan major shows
  • A look in detail about the movie “Iron Claw” about the heyday of the Von Erichs and the collapse of their empire along with thoughts on it
  • One of the best wrestlers of the 90s and 00s goes into a sports Hall of Fame
  • Outsports talks about the most powerful LGBTQ+ people in the sports world including many from both pro wrestling and MMA
  • Notes on Ross Forman, who works backstage at Impact, making the list and his background and thoughts
  • WWC 50th anniversary show draws huge crowd in Puerto Rico and rundown of the show
  • Impact notes from the next few weeks of TV
  • AEW video game notes
  • Jim Ross update
  • Danielson talks Okada
  • Variety says AEW TV show deserves an Emmy nomination
  • Upcoming ticket sales for all WWE & AEW shows
  • Anthony Bowens felt crowd reaction was a real breakthrough, as does a reader who grew up in Chicago
  • Ariel Helwani responds to Tony Khan
  • What percentage of revenue did UFC fighters make last year
  • Lots of new UFC fights
  • Fighter rebounding from nearly fatal heart attack
  • Lots of notes on Vince McMahon and WWE
  • Notes on what happens with the new company, how much money Vince made WWE by staying and what percentage of the new company he will own
  • Notes on ideas for changes in NXT and main roster shows
  • WWE injury updates
  • International TV ratings
  • WWE top streaming segments for the week

– SmackDown was taped earlier today in London. Spoilers for the show can be found here.

– We will be doing a poll on Money in the Bank tomorrow, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

– MITB from the O2 Arena in London looks strong on paper with this lineup:

  • Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler vs. Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan for the women’s tag titles
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio
  • Gunther vs. Matt Riddle for the IC tile
  • Women’s MITB: Iyo Sky, Bayley, Zoey Stark, Trish Stratus, Becky Lynch and Zelina Vega
  • Men’s MITB: Shinsuke Nakamura, Logan Paul, Damian Priest, LA Knight, Butch, Ricochet and Santos Escobar
  • Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the world title
  • Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs. Usos

We have a lot of notes on the show in the current Observer up on the site.

– Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT has:

  • Matt Hardy & Brother Zay vs. QT Marshall & Johnny TV (Morrison)
  • Hikaru Shida vs. Taya Valkyrie
  • Shawn Spears vs. The Blade
  • Claudio Castagnoli vs. Komander for the ROH title (I believe this will open the show)

– UFC tomorrow will air on ESPN from 4-10 p.m. Eastern:

  • Alexandr Romanov (264) vs. Blagoy Ivanov (259)
  • Ivana Petrovic (125.5) vs. Luana Carolina (126)
  • Guram Kutateladze (155) vs. Elves Brener (155)
  • Joanderson Brito (145.5) vs.; Westin Wilson (146)
  • Yana Santos (144.5) vs. Karol Rosa (146)
  • Kevin Lee (171) vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov (171)
  • Brunno Ferreira (185) vs. Nursulton Raziboev (183.5)
  • Ismael Bonfim (156) vs. Benoit Saint Denis (156)
  • Ariane Lipski (126) vs. Melissa Gatto (125.5)
  • Max Griffin (170.5) vs. Michael Morales (170.5)
  • Damir Ismagulov (156) vs. Grant Dawson (156)
  • Sean Strickland (186) vs. Abus Magomedov (186)

– Terry Funk turned 79 today. Today is also the birthday of Cody Rhodes (38) and Dax Harwood (39). Terry Funk is one of the greatest in-ring performers of all-time and one of the most open minded as well. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for teaching me to embrace all styles that work and not ignore them because they are new. At a time when almost all males shunned Japanese women wrestling, he told me I had to study them because they were the look into the future of both men and women wrestling, and those 80s matches were far ahead of their time. He was a genius performer inside the ring.

– Thanks to everyone who helped out with the show reports in the U.K. and Ontario over the past week. The new issue has complete coverage and business notes of every WWE and AEW show this past week. Thanks to Amin Anjani, Matty Barker, Sarah Brooks, Joe Del Busso,David Dully, Kevin Durata, Steve Khan, Jamie Logie, Stephen Lyon, Leonardo Mendez Toledo, Matt Murphy, William Rauch, Jonathan Smith, Jeff Zinger, Shannon Walsh and Fox Whittaker.

– We’re looking for reports on these shows:

  • WWE today in Newcastle, England
  • Dark matches from Smackdown today in London
  • WWE Sunday in Cardiff, Wales
  • We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights from these events.

– The Junior Dos Santos vs. Fabricio Werdum fight we wrote about last week is currently set for Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Fighter Bare Knuckle MMA promotion show on 9/8 in Jacksonville. This is actually a throwback to the early years of UFC and Pancrase, which didn’t allow gloves, until Tank Abbott changed the game. The original UFC and Pancrase featured a lot more grappling and submissions because of not allowing gloves.

Other Notes

– Combate Global is heavily marketing Jimmie Pace Jr., who fights tomorrow night, under the name Jimbo Slice. Slice (2-0) will face Boris Garcia (2-1). The show airs on Paramount + at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific time. That’s an earlier start that the promotion usually has for its Saturday night shows and Combate just sent us the new start time this morning so this was a late change.

– Nikki Garcia, the former Nikki Bella, will be competing in the American Cornhole League’s Johnsonville SuperHole IV TV event on Friday night in Milwaukee at the Summerfest Music Festival in a celebrity charity match. The show airs live this coming Friday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2.

– PWP runs tomorrow night in Omaha, NE at the Waiting Room Lounge built around Tommy Dreamer.

– W3L Box office tonight started streaming the last match of Doug Williams. The service has matches and full events dating back more than 20 years.

– The El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander match from Defy in Portland went out last night at Wremix World Premier. The entire show is free to stream.

July 3, 2023 Observer Newsletter: AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door recap, WWE Money in the Bank preview

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The consensus after the Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega match on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome, was that for the next 361 days of 2023, when it comes to match of the year, people will be fighting for second place as their match.

After AEW/New Japan Forbidden Door on 6/25 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the race has tightened up, and one could argue the field is fighting for third place, or perhaps fourth place when you factor in the Revolution Iron Man match with MJF and Bryan Danielson.

While the creativity, intensity, athleticism, and crowd reactions for the nearly 40:00 match were spectacular, the other feeling of watching these types of matches is one of concern.

Omega and Ospreay are so driven to put on classic matches that they’ve taken themselves to a dangerous place in attempting to top the levels they’ve already reached. We are long past the days when Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat could have one of the best matches anyone had ever seen, and then come back the next day and pretty much do it all again. Omega and Ospreay are working matches that have career-shortening consequences.

Subscribers can read this week’s issue here.

WWE Raw draws huge ratings for Money in the Bank go-home show

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Raw last night did gigantic numbers with no real obvious reason since nothing major was advertised for the night.

The show averaged 1.97 million viewers with a 0.61 rating in 18-49 and a 0.46 in 18-34. The numbers are the likes of which the company usually does after a major show when they leave with a big curiosity angle, and not the week before it.

The first two hours were just over two million viewers.

Raw was second on cable behind the LSU vs. Florida game in the college baseball World Series that did 3.43 million viewers and a 0.85 in 18-49. That was much tougher competition than the show usually gets at any time other than the NFL season and NBA playoffs. Raw was second to the game across the board in all the key demos.

Raw was fifth in total viewers for the night on cable, trailing the baseball game and three news shows, which is one of its highest night placings over the past year.

Raw also beat everything on network TV in 18-49.

This was Raw’s best number in both viewers and in 18-49 since the show the Monday after WrestleMania.

The show was up eight percent in viewers from last week, which itself was an up week, up nine percent in 18-49, and up 24 percent in 18-34, which was the key figure along with a giant increase in teenage viewership.

The show didn’t feature somebody like a John Cena, Roman Reigns or Logan Paul who one could point to for a jump in younger viewer ratings and the main event was Cody Rhodes vs. Damian Priest.

From one year ago, and keep in mind the show one year ago featured John Cena, Raw was up one percent in viewers, up 13 percent in 18-49, and up 15 percent in 18-34.

There was a third hour drop, but even so, the third hour numbers were strong. The first-to-third hour drops were 11 percent in men 18-49, six percent in women 18-49, 29 percent in women 12-34, 12 percent in men 12-34 (which did far above usual numbers), and 14 percent in people over 50.

The three hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 2.07 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 2.04 million viewers
  • 10 p.m. 1.80 million viewers

Daily Update: Forbidden Door fallout, AEW Collision, WWE Raw

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

See Dave & Bryan in London

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • The Punk interview and 1 Bill Phil
  • Tony Khan talks about the 1 Bill Phil comment
  • The business of AEW and profit/loss
  • The different ways this all could go in detail
  • Positives and negatives about working for AEW and WWE
  • The Collision announce team
  • The most detailed look at Collision ratings and what category was it tops among sports during the week
  • What TNT was doing in the time slot, what should be expected and what would be considered good
  • How each segment did
  • The Marc Raimondi ESPN piece
  • Punk talks Adam Page
  • Contradictory stories
  • Original idea for Collision that changed
  • Full rundown of both Chicago shows with business notes
  • Preview of Forbidden Door and what business mark for AEW may be set and where it ranks all-time among Canadian gates
  • Notes on Danielson vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ospreay
  • Notes on PPV
  • The rest of the card
  • The Owen Hart tournament
  • Update on Wembley Stadium
  • Rickson Gracie battles Parkinson’s and a look back at a fighting legend in the underground days as well as his battles with a famous pro wrestler in Brazil
  • Money in the Bank update
  • Notes on Saturday’s UFC show
  • Tons of new major matches announced by UFC for the summer and fall
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA shows over the past week, how they do with different age groups, segment-by-segment and what WWE stars moved numbers big this past week
  • First wrestling company in history to hit 90 years consecutively in business
  • Multiple cities doing a 40th anniversary celebration for a Hall of Famer
  • Konnan talks heavily about Bandido and Rush
  • An issue with women’s wrestling fans in Japan
  • How the women’s wrestling fan base in Japan has changed multiple times
  • What happened to the key young Dragon Gate talent that was let go
  • Two wrestlers who started together, became big stars in different companies, have a dream match that sold out instantly
  • N-1 tournament including surprise entrants
  • New Japan Strong shows in Japan
  • A bill introduced in New York regarding regulating pro wrestling
  • Lots of injury updates
  • More on the MLW lawsuit against WWE
  • Impact stars on major television show in Canada
  • More on B.J. Whitmer case
  • Tony Khan talks working with Gedo and where AEW stands among start-ups in the sports brand space
  • Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
  • Update on Bandido
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers for WWE and AEW
  • Ticket sale updates for all the major shows for WWE & AEW
  • Talks regarding the sale of Bellator, rumors about Tony Khan being interested and he shoots them down
  • Tons of drug suspensions handed out this week
  • Gable Steveson debuts on TV and what his goals for 2024 are

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Monday Update

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, fallout from Forbidden Door and the latest news plus you can send questions to tonight’s show to [email protected]

From an injury perspective, as noted last night, it appeared that Bryan Danielson suffered a fractured forearm. The hope is that he can be back for All In and All Out. Kenny Omega was okay. He scared a lot of people with that Tiger drive ’91 spot and said he was a little bit sore, but that’s usually the case after a big match. There’s no update on Sting past he is scheduled to wrestle on Wednesday night in Hamilton, ONT where Chris Jericho brings back The Painmaker gimmick he used in New Japan. It’s Jericho & Sammy Guevara in a tornado match against Sting & Darby Allin, plus Ruby Soho vs. Britt Baker in the Owen Hart tournament. 

Collision is being taped on Thursday night for a Saturday airing in Hamilton, ONT with Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong, Juice Robinson vs. Ricky Starks and Dustin Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs in the Owen Hart tournament.

My story on last night’s show in Sports Illustrated.

The flag spot in the Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay match was planned and the guy with the flag was a Canadian pro wrestler, Chip Chambers.

Raw tonight is from Savannah, GA. This was a very Vince McMahon show as he apparently made a ton of changes today as he’s become more and more into the creative process. Ronda Rousey vs. Raquel Rodriguez and all the women in the Money in the Bank match will appear in a summit segment. They had 6,531 tickets out as of this morning. It will be sold out or close because a legit sellout of the Enmarket Arena with a TV set up would be about 6,750 tickets.

The Smackdown crew house shows in Europe starting on Thursday night in Dublin, Ireland has Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defending the tag titles against Usos, Street Profits and Pretty Deadly, Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley & Bianca Belair for the women’s title, Austin Theory vs. A.J. Styles for the U.S. title, Bobby Lashley vs. Karrion Kross, Rey Mysterio vs. LA Knight, Sheamus & Ridge Holland vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson plus Solo Sikoa and Santos Escobar.

Dark Side of the Ring tomorrow night is on Junkyard Dog.

LA Knight did an interview with the Daily Star in the U.K. where he challenged Prince Charles to a fight. 

Kevin Mieche of Sportsnet on last night’s show:

On Sunday night in Toronto those inside Scotiabank Arena were witness to a wrestling showcase normally reserved for those inside the Tokyo Dome. Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay wrestled a match that used to only be available to fans via a 5-star rating. It wasn’t a match that was seemed attainable to watch in many circles on fandom, just something you’d hear about, rather than see. There was a mystique about it. Now, though, thanks to a partnership between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, matches such as Omega vs Ospreay are no longer destined to be just another match to gather dust around the water cooler. No, the fabled 5-star Tokyo Dome matches now happen live, in real-time in front of the North American eyes. “It was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen,” said an ecstatic AEW President Tony Khan. Indeed, the reception inside Scotiabank Arena would substantiate that claim, while others watching at home echoed it. 

All Elite Wrestling’s Forbidden Door 2 is the latest example of anew generation of wrestling now available to fans sandwiched between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. At the top of the card this year alongside Omega and Ospreay was a dream bout between a pair of wrestlers considered two of the all-time greats in Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada. However it was Omega and Ospreay stealing the show in the third-to-last match, with Danielson admitting afterwards that, “I didn’t want to follow (that match).” Omega, a native of Winnipeg, and Ospreay, hailing from the United Kingdom, exchanged brutal punishment in and out of the ring for over 40 minutes before Ospreay was able to finally pin Omega to capture the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. 

“The energy was spectacular,” Ospreay said during a press conference after the event, noting the distinct home field advantage for Omega. “That’s probably one my happiest moments of my life, I mean that’s incredible, never felt that before in my entire life. Literally had 13,000 people just hating my guts.13,000-plus versus one.” While Omega is proudly Canadian, he will never be mistaken for the type of Canadian babyface that Bret Hart portrayed. Omega, instead, goes about his Canadian-ness in a quiet manner. However on Sunday night, Omega was a full-fledged Canadian hero, a direct contrast to Ospreay, who took time during the match to steal a Canadian flag from ringside and floss it between his legs, similar to what Shawn Michaels did in WWE in 1997. “Did I get in trouble for that Canada flag stuff?” Ospreay joked. 

The success of the event went beyond just the wrestling product, though, as Khan noted to reporters afterwards that the money earned via ticket sales was the company’s highest grossing gate of all-time at over $1.2 million USD. The success at the box office and in the ring had the company founder grinning ear-to-ear. “It was exactly what I expected I had the highest of expectations,” said Khan. “This is one of my favourite wrestling cities.”

Danielson added that the crowd was hot that he and Okada, “could have pulled our pants down and people, at least at first, would have enjoyed it.” “When I came to Toronto, I was expecting one of the best wrestling cities in the world and they delivered it,” added Khan. “they showed why this is so great here. I had high expectations and, if anything, I feel like (Toronto) exceeded it. I expected it to be great and it was great.” 

Outside the two aforementioned matches, the card was littered with big names. Joining Omega and Danielson were other AEW stalwarts such as MJF, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Sting, DarbyAllin, the Young Bucks and Hangman Adam Page, among others. While other NJPW talent included Sanada, Zack Sabre Jr., Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito, among others. Not losing the significance of the show was Danielson, who said, “when have you seen two companies work together like this in a way that is absolutely best for the wrestling fans?”

We were sorry to hear that Dan Parris, a long time Carolinas independent announcer, passed away this morning in his home. (thanks to Gene Restaino)

Sheamus will be at the NHL Awards airing on TNT at 8 pm.

Eric Bischoff shaved his head to help raise $13,500 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Other Notes

Pro Wrestling Revolver on 7/1 in Clive IA, for Cage of Horrors with Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel & Myron Reed vs. Steve Manders & Matt Justice & Mance Warner, Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bailey, Jake Crist vs. Kevin Blackwood for the Revolver title, Masha Slamovich & Jessicka vs. JT Dunn & Allie Katch, Fulton vs. Crash Jaxon in a dog collar match, El Phantasmo vs Gringo Loco vs. Bryan Keith plus Marina Shafir appears. On 7/8 in Grand Prairie, TX they have Alex Shelley vs. Wentz for the Revolver Remix title, Sami Callihan vs. Katch in a street right Rich Swann vs. Shane Taylor plus Abadon, Mike Bailey, Chris Bey, Ace Austin and JD Griffy. they also run 8/3 in Dayton, OH at the Calumet Center with Matt Cardona, Alex Shelley, Jake Crist and Slamovich.

Femmes Fatales/Smash from yesterday in Toronto before Forbidden Door: Nikita b Liza Hall, Miley & Kristara b Mary Lee Rose & KC Spinelli, Trish Adora b Vert Vixen, Nicole Matthews b Alexia Nicole to win the Femmes Fatales title, Taylor Rising b Harley Dylan, Mercedes Martinez b Vert Vixen-DQ, Jody Threat b Allie Katch in a no DQ match.

Defy & Progress from yesterday in Toronto: Psycho Mike & Brent Banks & Vaughn Vertigo b Evan Rivers & Travis Williams & Judas Icarus, Schaff b Bryan Keith, Charles Crowley b Gringo Loco. Spike Trivett b Artemis Spencer to keep the Progress title, Vert Vixen won over Session Moth Martina, Nicole Matthews and Allie Katch to keep the Defy women’s title, Bollywood Boyz b Matt Cross & Psycho Mike. Juventud Guerrera was supposed to team with Cross but was held up at customs (thanks to Dave Musgrave)

Power Slap takes place on 7/7 at the UFC Apex as part of UFC’s International Fight Week. It will stream worldwide on Rumble and the main event has light heavyweight champion Jay Hintz vs. Wovlerine, and starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Tiara James debuts for MLW on the 7/8 show in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena.

Friday Night Lights from Warrior Wrestling this coming Friday at the football field at Marian Catholic High School has KC Navarro vs. Matt Cardona for the Warrior title, Konosuke Takeshita vs. Warhorse, Gringo Loco vs El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Gabriel Fuerza for the Lucha title and more, including Skye Blue.

Tom Lawler vs. Luke Jacobs was announced for the 7/9 Rev Pro show at York Hall in London.

Chael Sonnen claimed that an Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckberg PPV show would do 10 million buys easy and could be closer to 20 million to 25 million. That couldn’t sound more far-fetched. 

May 8, 2006 Observer Newsletter: ECW, WWE Backlash review

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The resurrection of ECW has become the top priority these days in WWE, with plenty of new plans and ideas being batted around.

The first televised angle building to the return took place at the 5/1 Raw show in Columbus, OH. It started with Joey Styles, broadcasting his final Raw (although that was not publicly stated ahead of time), being called by acting G.M.’s The Spirit Squad, being told his announcing lacks spirit. They tried to get him more enthusiasm, and he responded totally unenthusiastic.

They told him if he didn’t show more spirit when announcing Raw, then next week he would have to announce dressed up like a female high school cheerleader, and gave him a cheerleading outfit that Torrie Wilson and some of the other women had worn earlier in the show. When he came back from backstage, he was joked with by Jerry Lawler about not showing enough enthusiasm, and made mention of his past in ECW. Styles then said, “If this was ECW, I wouldn’t be working with a hack like you.” Styles then shoved Lawler twice, as Lawler got excited, saying that Styles was finally showing some enthusiasm. Styles then slapped Lawler in the face. Lawler then called him a little idiot and pie-faced him to the ground. Styles simply walked off. 

Subscribers can read this issue here.

Daily Update: WWE SmackDown, AEW Rampage, weekend preview

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

See Dave & Bryan in London

Latest Free YouTube Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFvMoeim8YM

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • The Punk interview and 1 Bill Phil
  • Tony Khan talks about the 1 Bill Phil comment
  • The business of AEW and profit/loss
  • The different ways this all could go in detail
  • Positives and negatives about working for AEW and WWE
  • The Collision announce team
  • The most detailed look at Collision ratings and what category was it tops among sports during the week
  • What TNT was doing in the time slot, what should be expected and what would be considered good
  • How each segment did
  • The Marc Raimondi ESPN piece 
  • Punk talks Adam Page
  • Contradictory stories
  • Original idea for Collision that changed
  • Full rundown of both Chicago shows with business notes
  • Preview of Forbidden Door and what business mark for AEW may be set and where it ranks all-time among Canadian gates
  • Notes on Danielson vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ospreay
  • Notes on PPV
  • The rest of the card
  • The Owen Hart tournament
  • Update on Wembley Stadium
  • Rickson Gracie battles Parkinson’s and a look back at a fighting legend in the underground days as well as his battles with a famous pro wrestler in Brazil
  • Money in the Bank update
  • Notes on Saturday’s UFC show
  • Tons of new major matches announced by UFC for the summer and fall
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA shows over the past week, how they do with different age groups, segment-by-segment and what WWE stars moved numbers big this past week
  • First wrestling company in history to hit 90 years consecutively in business
  • Multiple cities doing a 40th anniversary celebration for a Hall of Famer
  • Konnan talks heavily about Bandido and Rush
  • An issue with women’s wrestling fans in Japan
  • How the women’s wrestling fan base in Japan has changed multiple times
  • What happened to the key young Dragon Gate talent that was let go
  • Two wrestlers who started together, became big stars in different companies, have a dream match that sold out instantly
  • N-1 tournament including surprise entrants
  • New Japan Strong shows in Japan
  • A bill introduced in New York regarding regulating pro wrestling
  • Lots of injury updates
  • More on the MLW lawsuit against WWE
  • Impact stars on major television show in Canada
  • More on B.J. Whitmer case
  • Tony Khan talks working with Gedo and where AEW stands among start-ups in the sports brand space
  • Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
  • Update on Bandido
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers for WWE and AEW
  • Ticket sale updates for all the major shows for WWE & AEW
  • Talks regarding the sale of Bellator, rumors about Tony Khan being interested and he shoots them down
  • Tons of drug suspensions handed out this week
  • Gable Steveson debuts on TV and what his goals for 2024 are

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Friday Update

Garrett Gonzales and I will be back today talking the week in wrestling, and previewing upcoming shows. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night after the Forbidden Door show.

The new issue of the Observer is out today and the lead story is a very detailed look at the debut of Collision, the return of C.M. Punk, and the many different ways it can go. It’s funny that one sentence 7,000 words in is the focal point when the actual story goes into so much detail on both the potential good and bad.

AEW revealed the Fight Forever roster.

We will be doing a poll this weekend on Forbidden Door, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

Smackdown tonight is in Lafayette, LA:

  • Shayna Baszler & Ronda Rousey vs. Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn face off to unify the WWE and NXT tag team titles 
  • Shotzi vs. Bayley for the MITB spot 
  • Santos Escobar vs. Butch vs. LA Knight 
  • Baron Corbin vs. Cameron Grimes
  • They had about 8,100 tickets out as of this morning for the show.

Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT:

  • Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb & Kyle Fletcher & Swerve Strickland vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta & Chuck Taylor & Yoh
  • The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn trios match
  • Anna Jay vs. Sky Blue in the Owen Hart tournament
  • Jack Perry vs. Douki
  • This is also the first Rampage that MJF appears on and Adam Cole is also on the show.

We’re looking for reports on these weekend shows:

  • Smackdown tonight in Lafayette, LA (dark matches only)
  • NXT tonight in Fort Pierce, FL
  • Impact TV tapings tonight in Atlanta
  • WWE house show tomorrow night in Monroe, LA
  • NXT tomorrow night in Citrus Springs, FL
  • Impact TV tapings tonight in Atlanta
  • AEW tapings tomorrow night in Toronto (ROH and dark tapings, anything not on the live show) 
  • WWE House show on Sunday in Mobile, AL
  • We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights as well as angle notes from the Impact tapings to [email protected]

Impact tonight at Center Stage for a TV taping:

  • Alex Shelley vs. Brian Myers
  • Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taylor Wilde
  • Chris Sabin vs. Trey Miguel
  • Gisele Shaw vs. Courtney Rush
  • Angels vs. Jonathan Gresham
  • KiLynn King vs. Masha Slamovich

UFC runs a show on ABC tomorrow from Jacksonville, FL. The show will air from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, followed by 3-6 p.m. on ABC:

ESPN bouts

  • Sedriques Dumas (185) vs. Cody Brundage (185)
  • Jamall Emmers (146) vs. Jack Jenkins (145.5)
  • Trevor Peek (156) vs. Chepe Mariscal (154)
  • Zhalgas Zhumagulov (125.5) vs. Joshua Van (125.25)
  • Tabatha Ricci (114) vs. Gillian Robertson (116)
  • Mateuesz Rebecki (155.5) vs. Loik Radzhabov (157.25) – Radzhabov was fined 20 percent of the purse for missing weight
  • Randy Brown (171) vs. Wellington Turman (171)
  • Neil Magny (171) vs. Phil Rowe (171)

ABC bouts

  • Brendan Allen (185.5) vs. Bruno Silva (186)
  • David Obnama (146) vs. Gabriel Santos (145)
  • Austen Lane (245.5) vs. Justin Tafa (265)
  • Amanda Ribas (125) vs. Maycee Barber (126)
  • Josh Emmett (145.5) vs. Ilia Topuria (146)

These are the latest odds for Money in the Bank from BetOnline:

  • Seth Rollins -2000 Finn Balor +700
  • Usos -150 Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa +110
  • Men’s match: LA Knight -200 Logan Paul +125 Damien Priest +150 Ricochet +2000 Santos Escobar +2000 Shinsuke Nakamura +2000 Butch +2000
  • Women’s match: Iyo Sky -250 Becky Lynch +200 Bayley +500 Zoey Stark +800 Trish Stratus +2000 Zelina Vega +2000
  • Cody Rhodes -700 Dominik Mysterio +400

Former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is moving moving to 125 pounds to face Manon Fiorot on 9/2 in Paris, France. MMA Junkie was the first to report this match. 

Anthony Smith vs. Ryan Spann was reported by MMA Junkie to be taking place on 8/26 in Kallang, Singapore in a rematch of a fight that Smith won via first round submission.

Other Notes

Tommy Dreamer is doing a seminar for experienced wrestlers on 7/1 in Omaha. The cost is $60. If interested you can email [email protected] Dreamer will also be wrestling on the PWP show that night in Omaha.

AFN, the video-streaming service geared toward those in the U.S.milarty stationed or assigned overseas, and Power Slap, announced a partnership this week. Service members can now watch the first season of Power Slap and the first major show for free on the platform.

Dwight Gooden will be working with ISPW tomorrow. Tonight the compan7y has a show in Belvedere, NJ at the Belvedere High School. Crowbar vs. Anthony Greene and Bull James vs. Rey Calitri are announced. There is a 6:30 p.m. meet and greet with Jimmy Hart. Gooden will be at the ISPW booth at the Garden State Comic Fest in Morristown, NJ at the Mennan Sports Arena tomorrow, with Jimmy Hart.

On Jeopardy last night, the returning champion, who has said he’s a fan of martial arts, was doing the Wanderlei Silva wrist roll (thanks to William Rausch)

El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander headlines tomorrow night’s Defy show in Portland, OR at theWonder Ballroom. The Second Gear Crew faces the Bollywood Boyz plus Laredo Kid vs. Aramis vs. Gringo Loco. You must be over the age of 21 to attend.

A new streaming service called Wremix debuted last night. It’s a free ad-supported platform that featured a Defy show as its debut featuring the KENTA vs. Nick Wayne match.

OLGB came up with a list of the ten most cost-effective sports personalities on Cameo, taking into account cost, ratings, worth and social media following. The top ten, in order, are Matt Hardy, Kurt Angle, Santino Marella, Paul Gasol (basketball), Rob Van Dam, Fred Jackson (football), Josh Cribbs (football), Jeremy Roenick (Hockey), Greg Jennings (football) and James White (football).

Santana Garrett has been added to the WOW promotion for its next set of TV tapings on 8/2 and 8/3 at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.

June 26, 2023 Observer Newsletter: CM Punk returns on AEW Collision debut, Forbidden Door preview

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

C.M. Punk returned to AEW on the debut of Collision on 6/17 at the United Center in Chicago.

He cut a promo that added to the internal divisiveness in the company and got over great with the live audience the day after a story he was interviewed for by Marc Raimondi of ESPN came out where he was heavily critical of Adam Page.

From a business standpoint, Punk did come across as the spark and the addition that could greatly help the growth of AEW. But how this plays out will be something far better to look at six months from now. The company could end up very differently in ways that are impossible to fully predict right now.

Punk, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and Ace Steel, along with others who were on site when the brawl took place after last year’s All Out are prohibited from talking about it, and not allowed to talk about each other. The company has done everything to keep them apart, which may or may not have been the right thing, because nothing has healed and likely has only gotten worse.

Subscribers can read this week’s issue here.

WWE Raw ratings rebound with no NBA playoff competition

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Raw bounced back Monday night to usual levels with 1.82 million viewers and a 0.56 rating in 18-49.

The numbers were a huge increase from last week when the show went against the final game of the NBA playoffs.

Raw was first on all of television in 18-49 and 18-34, and won every key demo on cable. It was ninth in total viewers behind seven news shows and the Louisiana State vs. Wake Forest game in the college baseball World Series which did 2.02 million viewers and a 0.45 and was second on all of television behind Raw for the night.

It was Raw’s best 18-49 number in five weeks.

The show was up 14 percent in viewers from last week, up 22 percent in 18-49, but down three percent in 18-34.

From one year ago, Raw was actually down eight percent in viewers, but it was up three percent in 18-49 and up nine percent in 18-34. Factoring in the difference in homes with cable, the real percentage of viewers available was down three percent, but up nine percent in 18-49 and up 15 percent in 18-34.

The first-to-third hour drops were mild: five percent with women 18-49, five percent with men 18-49, five percent with men 12-34, and the only significant drops (which is why third hour viewers were down) were 14 percent with women 12-34 and 13 percent with people over 50.

The third hour was built around Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Dominik Mysterio, Damian Priest & Finn Balor.

The three hours were:

  • 8 p.m. 1.89 million viewers
  • 9 p.m. 1.90 million viewers
  • 10 p.m. 1.68 million viewers

Daily Update: MLW-WWE lawsuit, PFL-Bellator, WWE Raw

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

See Dave & Bryan in London

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The debut of Collision, AEW’s ratings decline and reasons and what the return of Punk will tell us
  • The problems Collision will have from the get go
  • Why the success of Collision is so important financially to AEW
  • The reaction as far as cheering and booing for Punk outside of Chicago and what is far more important than booing or cheering
  • Oversaturation of television in the marketplace
  • Ticket sales for Collision and all AEW & WWE events this summer
  • Update on WWE negotiations
  • Value of WWE to a new station with interest
  • The situation with WBD and potentially getting WWE
  • How many homes the key stations that could carry WWE & AEW are in right now
  • Conor McGregor sexual assault charge
  • Lawyer Eric Anderson breaks down the judges ruling to continue the MLW lawsuit against WWE, WWE’s arguments on antitrust, the judges reaction and what comes next
  • B.J. Whitmer fired
  • Full details on G-1 Climax tournament, the blocks, the favorites, the key matches and some storylines to look for going in
  • Update on the Forbidden Door show and business and key things to learn from about the business results
  • UFC 289 coverage including the retirement of Amanda Nunes, why, what about the titles she retires and other storyline notes from the most recent show and business notes as well
  • Updates on WWE Money in the Bank
  • Full coverage of All Together Now, the Japanese show with New Japan, All Japan and NOAH’s top talent and how it went down
  • Coverage of Final X
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the wrestling and MMA shows this past week, with key breakdowns, segment-by-segment, who watches, rankings in sports and entertainment for the week
  • An attempt to make a superstar with a new character later this month
  • Update on Rush in AAA and TripleMania
  • New Japan Strong goes to Japan
  • More on the longest world title reigns in wrestling history
  • Movie on wrestling star to be released in September
  • Against All Odds results and Slammiversary notes
  • New AEW hires
  • What was Brock Lesnar’s biggest-ever one night payoff?
  • Jon Jones and Tyson Fury talk business
  • XFL business notes
  • Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

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Monday Update

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking the latest wrestling news as well as covering Raw, Forbidden Door and more.

MLW sent out this press release regarding the antitrust lawsuit surviving WWE’s attempts to have it thrown out of court, writing:

NEW YORK, NY – Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of professional wrestling promotion company MLW Media, has defeated a motion to dismiss MLW’s amended complaint asserting federal antitrust and state law unfair competition claims against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for monopolizing and attempting to monopolize the market for the sale or licensing of media rights to professional wrestling events in the United States. MLW’s claims will now proceed to discovery. In denying the motion, Judge Edward J. Davila, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, held that MLW had sufficiently alleged all four elements of its antitrust claims— relevant market, market power, anticompetitive conduct and antitrust injury-and declined to dismiss the state law claims. Marc E. Kasowitz stated “We are pleased with Judge Davila’s well-reasoned opinion and look forward to recovering the substantial damages that MLW has suffered as a result of WWE’s many years of egregious anticompetitive behavior.”The Kasowitz Benson Torres team representing MLW Media is led by partner Marc E. Kasowitz and includes partners Christine A. Montenegro, Nicholas A. Rendino and Jason S. Takenouchi.

One thing I want to mention MLW has a very strong legal team. Still, this is a very formidable case and it’s noteworthy that WWE and UFC are now both being sued for antitrust reasons.

Both Bellator and the PFL at their weekend shows saw the public faces of the company, Scott Coker and Ray Sefo, acknowledge the talks of PFL buying Bellator. It’s definitely not a done deal but it’s serious enough that both sides are now acknowledging it. Such a deal would conclusively make PFL the No. 2 promotion in the world. Whether they would be kept separate or merged is unknown but we had heard of late that ESPN was interested in expanding its MMA coverage as far as aside from UFC.

Raw tonight is from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. Seth Rollins has an open challenge for the World heavyweight title a day before his title defense with Bron Breakker so they are pushing him as a fighting champion. Logan Paul is also on the show tonight. Trish Stratus faces Raquel Rodriguez in the final MITB qualifying match. Other bouts are Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya non-title, Matt Riddle vs. Ludvig Kaiser and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bronson Reed. They had more than 10,000 tickets out as of earlier today and keep in mind the last time in the market they did 5,600 for a Raw in December. Breakker is in Cleveland so expect him on the show to build things up for tomorrow. Tommaso Ciampa is also backstage.

Naomichi Marufuji will be holding a press conference today. We don’t know past it is supposed to be something significant.

Because today is the Juneteenth holiday, Nielsen ratings are delayed this week. The Friday numbers, normally in today, will be out tomorrow. Fast Nationals do indicate a big number for Smackdown. The Collision debut ratings will be out Wednesday morning and the Raw rating will be out Wednesday at just after 4 p.m. Eastern.

Now that people know what Collision is and that C.M. Punk is on it, tickets have moved very well since Saturday in several markets. Toronto for this coming week has topped 3,000 which I wouldn’t call good, but was great considering where it was two weeks ago. Hamilton for next week moved more than 600 tickets since doing a low-price ticket offer and is near 1,500 which isn’t good considering it’s an NBA sized building, but it was only 800 a few days ago. But the cheap four pack is no longer available even though they’ve got a ton of tickets they can move.

Regarding TSN in Canada and airing AEW Rampage and Collision, Paul Fontaine noted that when Rampage was in Canada, it was aired on TSN television (usually it’s only streaming). So he suspects that could be why the 6/30 Rampage (taped in Hamilton) will air on TSN television and why Collision airs live from Toronto this coming Saturday on TSN 5.

Wednesday’s Dynamite show has a chance to sellout Wintrust Arena in Chicago. It may fall a little short but it is at the 6,000 mark and 7,000 is a sellout.

The C.M. Punk promo did 1.1 million views which would be the largest for an AEW segment in a long time, although the Chris Jericho-Sting faceoff did 888,000, also very large for that. 

WWE is pushing this week as 25 years of Edge, who made his debut match on Raw on June 22, 1998.

WWE’s Samantha Irvin sang the national anthem before the Red Sox vs. Yankees game last night in Boston. They noted you could see her every Monday night on Raw. She lives in New Bedford, MA. Correspondent Arya Witner said she showed an amazing singing voice.

The full card for tomorrow’s NXT Gold Rush is Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT title, Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Hank Walker & Tank Ledger for the tag title, Wes Lee vs. Tyler Bate for the North American title with Mustafa Ali as referee, Cora Jade vs Dana Brooke, Valentina Feroz & Yulisa Leon vs. Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson plus a Chase U pep rally for Thea Hail (who faces Tiffany Stratton for the women’s tile next week and Carmelo Hayes and Baron Corbin have a face-to-face to set up their match for next week.

A lot of notes on today in history. Today is the 21st anniversary of the first Impact event. It would have been the 85th birthday of Wahoo McDaniel. Yesterday would have been the 77th birthday of Bruiser Brody, who the Best Brawler award is named after.

New York State Senator Tim Kennedy has introduced a bill looking at reviewing the athletic commission bylaws for pro wrestling, and hoping to have it regulated differently than boxing and MMA.

Other Notes

Pro Wrestling Vision’s weekend shows in Sanford, DeBary and Orlando were canceled due to the arrest of Chasyn Rance, who runs the shows after being pulled over and it was serious enough that he was taken in. Team Vision Dojo sent a release claiming he was no driving under the influence but was driving aggressively to pass other drivers an there were no accidents and nobody was harmed. But they in the release said if Rance was drinking and driving it would be a strike on Rance and actions will be taken but that Rance messaged it was reckless driving and if that’s the case he will be back for teaching classes classes this week.

Defy runs Saturday in Portland, OR at the Wonder Ballroom with El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander, which basically means neither will be on the Collision/ROH tapings, plus Second Gear Crew vs. Bollywood Boyz in a street fight, Laredo Kid vs. Aramis vs. Gringo Loco and Vert Vixen & Viva Van vs Amira & Cat Power. they also run Saturday in Portland, OR with Bollywood Boyz vs. Juventud Guerrera & Matt Cross, Spike Trivet vs Artemis Spencer for the Progress world title and Vixen vs. Nicole Matthews vs. Session Moth Martina vs. Allie Katch for the women’s title,Charlie Crowley vs Gringo Loco and Schaff vs. Bryan Keith. They also run Sunday at 3 p.m. in Toronto before Forbidden Door.

MMA Mania reported that 58-year old Mark Coleman, who last fought in MMA 13 ears ago, will be fighting at a Celebrity Boxing show on 10/14 against Montell Griffin, 53, who was a very real boxer in his heyday with wins over James Toney and Roy Jones Jr (when beating Jones was a big thing still). As note is that both competed in the 1992 Olympics for the U.S., Coleman in wrestling and Griffin in boxing. As somebody who really likes Mark Coleman on a personal basis, this really saddens me. 

Daily Update: AEW Collision fallout, Bandido, Forbidden Door

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The debut of Collision, AEW’s ratings decline and reasons and what the return of Punk will tell us
  • The problems Collision will have from the get go
  • Why the success of Collision is so important financially to AEW
  • The reaction as far as cheering and booing for Punk outside of Chicago and what is far more important than booing or cheering
  • Oversaturation of television in the marketplace
  • Ticket sales for Collision and all AEW & WWE events this summer
  • Update on WWE negotiations
  • Value of WWE to a new station with interest
  • The situation with WBD and potentially getting WWE
  • How many homes the key stations that could carry WWE & AEW are in right now
  • Conor McGregor sexual assault charge
  • Lawyer Eric Anderson breaks down the judges ruling to continue the MLW lawsuit against WWE, WWE’s arguments on antitrust, the judges reaction and what comes next
  • B.J. Whitmer fired
  • Full details on G-1 Climax tournament, the blocks, the favorites, the key matches and some storylines to look for going in
  • Update on the Forbidden Door show and business and key things to learn from about the business results
  • UFC 289 coverage including the retirement of Amanda Nunes, why, what about the titles she retires and other storyline notes from the most recent show and business notes as well
  • Updates on WWE Money in the Bank
  • Full coverage of All Together Now, the Japanese show with New Japan, All Japan and NOAH’s top talent and how it went down
  • Coverage of Final X
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the wrestling and MMA shows this past week, with key breakdowns, segment-by-segment, who watches, rankings in sports and entertainment for the week
  • An attempt to make a superstar with a new character later this month
  • Update on Rush in AAA and TripleMania
  • New Japan Strong goes to Japan
  • More on the longest world title reigns in wrestling history
  • Movie on wrestling star to be released in September
  • Against All Odds results and Slammiversary notes
  • New AEW hires
  • What was Brock Lesnar’s biggest-ever one night payoff?
  • Jon Jones and Tyson Fury talk business
  • XFL business notes
  • Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Sunday Update

Bryan and I did our weekend show last night after Collision and will be back tomorrow night after Raw. Garrett and I also did our weekly show covering the news of the week.

We talked extensively about Collision on last night’s show. Collision was the No. 10 most searched topic on Google yesterday, although the number was listed was 20,000. That would seem to indicate a good rating. I expected a good number with the debut of a new show that has been promoted for a month and C.M. Punk’s return being heavily promoted as well. It’s more about the staying power past the novelty but all indications I had was interest in this show was high. I don’t know the cost, but getting Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting as the theme was cool as hell.

Regarding Punk’s interview, the key comment was the saying David Zaslov calling him “1 bill Phil” and the reference to the counterfeit Bucks, that line was approved by management. The 1 bill Phil line was taken by many as a reference to the supposed $1 billion deal that AEW was supposedly getting in a new five-year contract with WBD (Zaslov is the head of WBD). AEW and Tony Khan have been quiet on that story and all negotiation stories which is why I was surprised on television they would have a reference to that. It was ambiguous enough that you could just say it was a line in a promo. 

The Young Bucks made a reference on Twitter just saying that if this was the old days there would already be a Counterfeit Bucks T-shirt at Pro Wrestling Tees.

No update on Jim Ross past him writing that he was going to take time away to heal. 

Regarding the Bandido injury, which took place in the match with Konosuke Takeshita that aired on Rampage, it was described as a freak injury as he planed his hand to break his fall and his wrist broke. Whether he has surgery or not, which he said is likely to be determined tomorrow, he will be out of action for a while.

AEW has to release the entire undercard for Forbidden Door next week and also hard sell. The New Japan members haven’t been announced but their tour is over so everyone from New Japan on Forbidden Door would be available for Wednesday in Chicago as well as Saturday night in Toronto. None have been announced yet and if they do an angle with Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay in Chicago the reaction will be probably not be favorable to Omega while in Toronto it would likely be extremely favorable, but Toronto is Collision which is the show Omega normally wouldn’t work. It will be a very interesting week of match announcements and fan reactions.

For the week in Google searches, the only thing besides Collision from boxing or MMA or wrestling on the list was Conor McGregor at No. 5 on Thursday for the sexual assault allegation story. 

TMZ had a video here that showed McGregor and the accuser at a club after the basketball game and after the claim he sexually assaulted her.

Local Ch. 10 has a report on this including some messages from the alleged victim, an interview with the attorney who made claims about how the police reacted and the basic insinuation from the police that the story wasn’t correct. 

Smackdown on Friday in Lexington at Rupp Arena drew the largest gate in the history of pro wrestling in Kentucky. It was not close to the largest audience but still an all-time gate record is still notable. 

After Collision went off the air, Dax Harwood said he gets a lot of crap for what he says and blamed it on being Punk’s best friend. He said it’s not Dynamite vs. Collision and it’s all AEW. CM Punk spoke up in support of LGBTQ and said that the ice cream bars he gave out from two years ago was to support trans youth and didn’t get ice cream bars this time because he thought everyone hated him. (thanks to Eric Krol)

WWE in Cincinnati with a rare Roman Reigns house show:

  • Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn b Finn Balor & Dominik Mysterio to keep the tag titles when Zayn pinned Mysterio
  • Austin Theory b Sheamus to keep the U.S. title
  • Bobby Lashley b Karrion Kross
  • Becky Lynch & Michin & Zelina Vega & Shotzi b Bayley & Iyo Sky & Chelsea Green & Zoe Stark when Lynch used the disarmer on on Green
  • Seth Rollins b Damien Priest to keep the world title
  • Chad Gable & Otis b Viking Raiders
  • Gunther won a three-way over Shinsuke Nakamura and Matt Riddle to keep the IC title beating Nakamura
  • Roman Reigns b Rey Mysterio to keep the Universal title. There was interference by Sikoa, Usos and Dominik Mysterio and Rey took out Dominik and got in the ring and Reigns speared him. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

Two matches from Japan yesterday I was told to try and watch were Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising Hayato for the All Japan world tag titles and the Jake Lee vs. Takashi Sugiura match for the GHC title in NOAH.

The 6/30 Rampage will air on TSN 2 at 10 p.m. Rampage almost never airs on television in Canada. (thanks to Jeff Zinger) 

Other Notes

MCW runs Saturday night at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD.

ICW No Holds Barred from Friday night in Berwyn, IL: Tommy Vendetta b Nate Webb, Dr. Redacted b Satu Jinn, Bobby Beverly b Eric Ryan, Shazza McKenzie b Danny Demanto, John Wayne Murdoch & Reed Bentley b LuFisto & Mickie Knuckles, Hoodfoot won over Abdullah Kobayashi, Krule and Tank (Thanks to Leonard Brand)

Insane Wrestling Revolution from Thursday night in Monroe, MI: Jason Hotch b KJ Reynolds, Zack Thomas & Damien Chambers b Saint Brother & Aaron Arion & Tommy Vendetta, Madman Fulton b Jackson Stone, Tanner Nix & Nikki Ratu b Sam Beale & Benjamin Boone, Trey Miguel & Myron Reed b Solomon Tupu & Conan, Buckeye Sam b Gia Miller,Sami Callihan b Ryan Matthias, Ace Austin b Dread King Logan to keep the U.S. title, N8 Mattson & Aren Daniel Norman & Ace Evans b DBA & Kenny Urban Rod Lee, Thomas Latimer b Big Kon. Next show is 8/2 with Rhino, The Rascalz and Latimer (thanks to Leonard Brand)

House of Glory sold out Friday night in New York: Nolo Kitano b Mike Bailey, Encore & Ken Broadway b Smoothe Blackmon & Michael Fain and Eden & Osedo, Ultra Violette b Kamar to keep the women’s title, Alex Shelley b Mighty Mante, Joey Silver won over Raheem Royal, Darren Richards and Ben Ruten, El Hijo del Vikingo b Charles Mason via DQ so Mason retained the Crown Jewel title, Matt Cardona b Carlito-DQ to retain the HOG title. Next sho w is 8/18 with Mason vs Eddie Kingston in a no holds barred match for the Crown Jewel title and a cage match with Amazing Red & BXL defending the tag tile against Midas Black & Jay Lyon, The Mane Event. (thanks to Samuel Rosenthal)

UWC on 6/24 in New Egypt, NJ at the American Legion for the company’s 200th event

Stardom from today in Tokyo: Mina Shirakawa & Xena b Natsuko Tora & Momo Watanabe, Syuri & Mirai & Ami Sohrei b Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani & AZM, Suzu Suzuki b Starlight Kid, Giulia & Mika vs. Mayu Iwatani & Hazuki vs. Tam Nakano & Natsupoi was a 15:00 draw, Mariah May won a Rumble match to qualify for the Five Star Grand Prix over Aya Sakura, Lafy C, Waka Tsukiyama, Yuna Mizumori, Hanako, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Iida, Ruaka, Thekla, Koguma, Momo Kohgo, Fukigen Death, Rina, Mei Seira and Mai Sakurai

May 1, 2006 Observer Newsletter: WWE/ECW, Brock Lesnar

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

In a shocking move designed to shake up World Wrestling Entertainment, Vince McMahon made the decision while flying to Europe on 4/20 to revive the ECW brand, spearheading a number of changes.

Meetings have been held the past few days with all different facets of the company to get ready to revive the brand name coming off the 6/11 One Night Stand PPV at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

The idea of reviving ECW has come up periodically over the past year, and has always gone nowhere. For all the obvious reasons, both good and bad, most internally were negative. Many probably were because they thought Vince himself was and were, at least to a degree, telling him what he wanted to hear. Others, most notably Stephanie, was simply negative to the idea because many feel it wouldn’t work, so there’s no purpose, but if it did work, she’d end up looking bad if her brands weren’t clicking. When tickets sold out for this year’s One Night Stand in just two hours on 4/15, McMahon broached the subject again with many different officials. 

Subscribers can click here to read this issue.

Daily Update: Conor McGregor, AEW Collision, WWE SmackDown

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The debut of Collision, AEW’s ratings decline and reasons and what the return of Punk will tell us
  • The problems Collision will have from the get go
  • Why the success of Collision is so important financially to AEW
  • The reaction as far as cheering and booing for Punk outside of Chicago and what is far more important than booing or cheering
  • Oversaturation of television in the marketplace
  • Ticket sales for Collision and all AEW & WWE events this summer
  • Update on WWE negotiations
  • Value of WWE to a new station with interest
  • The situation with WBD and potentially getting WWE
  • How many homes the key stations that could carry WWE & AEW are in right now
  • Conor McGregor sexual assault charge
  • Lawyer Eric Anderson breaks down the judges ruling to continue the MLW lawsuit against WWE, WWE’s arguments on antitrust, the judges reaction and what comes next
  • B.J. Whitmer fired
  • Full details on G-1 Climax tournament, the blocks, the favorites, the key matches and some storylines to look for going in
  • Update on the Forbidden Door show and business and key things to learn from about the business results
  • UFC 289 coverage including the retirement of Amanda Nunes, why, what about the titles she retires and other storyline notes from the most recent show and business notes as well
  • Updates on WWE Money in the Bank
  • Full coverage of All Together Now, the Japanese show with New Japan, All Japan and NOAH’s top talent and how it went down
  • Coverage of Final X
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the wrestling and MMA shows this past week, with key breakdowns, segment-by-segment, who watches, rankings in sports and entertainment for the week
  • An attempt to make a superstar with a new character later this month
  • Update on Rush in AAA and TripleMania
  • New Japan Strong goes to Japan
  • More on the longest world title reigns in wrestling history
  • Movie on wrestling star to be released in September
  • Against All Odds results and Slammiversary notes
  • New AEW hires
  • What was Brock Lesnar’s biggest-ever one night payoff?
  • Jon Jones and Tyson Fury talk business
  • XFL business notes
  • Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

Moderators needed:

We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Friday Update

Garrett Gonzales and I will have a show up today covering the news of the week and this week’s issue. Bryan and I will be doing a weekend show as well.

A video was released on TMZ regarding the Conor McGregor claim of a sexual assault at the Kayseya Arena on Friday night after the Nuggets-Heat game. The clip was brief and showed McGregor and the woman, whose face was not shown, and them going into the bathroom. Barbara Llanes, the attorney for McGregor, made a statement to TSN saying, “After the video was released by TMZ, the claimant’s lawyer now has charged her story. McGregor welcomes the investigation, which he firmly believes will show the claims against him are false. After not responding t the demand for money made by the claimant’s counsel, she turned to the media to apply pressure. This is no more than a shakedown.” The key aspect of the case looks to be the clothes that the alleged victim gave to police which she claimed would have DNA evidence. Obviously if it doesn’t, her case falls apart from likely a legal standpoint. If it does, then things are different. 

Regarding Collision airing in Canada, tomorrow’s show will air live on the TSN app and then air on TSN 2 on replay at midnight-2 a.m. Eastern. In week two, which is the show from Toronto, it will air live at 8 p.m. Eastern on TSN 5. Going forward it will be a week-to-week thing as no decision has been made. TSN has the rights to Collision in Canada and will make its decision each week depending on other sports whether to air it live, later that night, or only streaming live. There is not a regular time slot nor specific station for the show at this point.

Smackdown tonight has Roman Reigns appearing, Jey Uso making his choice, the Grayson Waller Effect with Charlotte Flair, A.J. Styles & Michin vs. Karrion Kross & Scarlett, Iyo Sky vs. Zelina Vega and a gauntlet match for a shot at the tag titles held by Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn with the Street Profits, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro, Sheamus & Ridge Holland, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows and Pretty Deadly. There were 9,300 tickets out as of earlier today. They did TV in the arena in January and drew 5,500.

Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT has:

  • Will Ospreay & Kyle Fletcher & Jeff Cobb vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta & Chuck Taylor
  • Taya Valkyrie vs. Trish Adora
  • Mark Briscoe & Papa Briscoe & Aubrey Edwards vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal & Karen Jarrett
  • Konosuke Takeshita vs. Bandido

The first and last match were said to be really good. The Briscoe match got over good in the building as the gimmick of Edwards vs. Karen and Papa Briscoe wrestling.

We’re looking for reports on these weekend events:

  • WWE Smackdown tonight in Lexington, KY (only dark matches needed)
  • AEW Collision tomorrow in Chicago (dark matches and ROH matches)
  • WWE house show tomorrow in Cincinnati
  • WWE house show Sunday in Charleston, WV
  • We’re looking for results, finishes and other highlights to [email protected]
  • The Cincinnati show is headlined by Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE title. The Charleston show is headlined by Rey vs. Dominik in what is billed as a Father’s Day Street fight.

Kevin Kelly, who was announced as the host of Collision starting tomorrow night with Nigel McGuiness and Jim Ross, did note that he will be missing a number of shows next month because of his prior commitments to do the G-1 Climax tournament live in Japan.

Anderson Silva told MMA Fighting today that he’s in talks with a group in Japan about a final MMA fight in that country. Silva had become a star in Pride in Japan before going to UFC and becoming one of the greatest fighters in the history of the organization.

Nick Jackson on Instagram posted a clip of with a photo of Adam Page saying “Not only is he good at wrestling but he’s an even better human being” which is obviously a response to C.M. Punk’s quotes about Page in Marc Raimondi’s ESPN article earlier today.

I spoke on the show with Garrett Gonzales on the article as the actual interview caused a lot of controversy although I don’t know that the article as it came out did. I’ve obviously known Raimondi for years when we worked together at MMA Fighting, and if you’ve ever heard me talk about him which I have many times, I have the highest respect for his work. I never once expected anything but an attempt to be as fair and as accurate as possible as far as the finished article was concerned. 

Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov was announced as the main event of an 8/5 UFC show in Nashville. That show will go head-to-head with SummerSlam.

Max Holloway did an interview this past week talking about wanting to face Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie, next. UFC announced yesterday it would headline an 8/26 show in Singapore.

UFC runs tomorrow at the Apex in Las Vegas. The show will air 7-10 p.m. only on ESPN+ and from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. it will air on both ESPN and ESPN+:

ESPN+ fights:

  • Zac Pauga (205) vs. Modestas Bukauskas (205)
  • Daniel Argueta (136) vs. Ronnie Lawrence (136)
  • Tereza Bleda (125) vs. Gabriella Fernandes (126)
  • Carlos Hernandez (125) vs. Denys Bondar (126)
  • Kyung Ho Kang (135.5) vs. Cristian Quinonez (135)
  • Jimmy Flick (125.5) vs. Alessandro Costa (126)

ESPN at 10 p.m. Eastern:

  • Nicolas Dalby (170.5) vs. Muslim Salikhov (170)
  • Manuel Torres (156) vs. Nikolas Motta (155.5)
  • Pat Sabatini (145) vs. Lucas Almeida (145.5)
  • Armen Petrosyan (186) vs. Christian Leroy Duncan (186)
  • Arman Tsarukyan (155.5) vs. Joaquim Silva (155.5)
  • Marvin Vettori (185.5) vs. Jared Cannonier (185.5)

Cyril Gane vs. Serghei Spivak will headlined the 9/2 UFC show in Paris, France, over Labor Day weekend.

BetOnline odds for G-1 list Sanada as the -500 favorite in Block A with Kaito Kiyomiya second, Kazuchika Okada as the -200 favorite in block B with Will Ospreay second, David Finlay as the -300 favorite in block C with Shingo Takagi second and Zack Sabre Jr. as the -130 favorite in Block D with Tetsuya Naito second.

For WWE Money in the Bank, these are the odds:

  • Seth Rollins -2000 Finn Balor +700
  • Cody Rhodes -1000 Dominik Mysterio +500

Men’s MITB:

  • LA Knight -175
  • Damian Priest +125
  • Butch +1000
  • Santos Escobar +1000
  • Shinsuke Nakamura +1000
  • Ricochet +1000

Apple Original Films and ARV announced the release of the movie Argyle on February 2, 2024. John Cena is a part of the cast of the movie.

For next Saturday’s Collision show in Toronto, they’ve lowered prices and have a new deal that if you buy four tickets, you can get them for $16.50 per ticket. Since dropping prices and announcing C.M. Punk, tickets have moved to above 2,500.

Other Notes

Jon Moxley returns to Defy on 7/29 at Washington Hall in Seattle.

Raven (Scott Levy) will be undergoing shoulder surgery next week and has pulled out of appearing at The Gathering in Charlotte, NC. 

Combate Global runs Sunday on Paramount+ at 10 p.m. Eastern with Cristian Perez vs. Bruno Cannetti in the main event.

The LFA has announced an 8/18 show in Santa Cruz, CA at the Kaiser Permanente Arena.

The NWA and Boca Raton Championship Wrestling have a combined show on 7/19 at the Boca Black Box with Thom Latimer vs Noah Kekoa for the NWA TV title and Kerry Morton vs. Alan Martinez for the NWA Jr. title.

The next AAW show will be 7/15 in Berwyn, IL at the Eagles Club.

Combate Global’s Claire Lopez (8-4) will challenge Seika Izawa (10-0) for the Rizin super atomweight title on 7/30 at the Saitama Super Arena. Izawa is a former judo champion and former wrestler with five submission wins.

House of Glory Wrestling tomorrow night at the NYC Arena is headlined by Matt Cardona vs. Carlito for the heavyweight title and Charles Mason defends the Crown Jewel title against El Hijo del Vikingo, Alex Shelley vs. Mighty Mante, Mike Baily vs. Nolo Kitano and tag champs Amazing Red & Brian XL also appear. The show will stream live on the Premier Streaming Network.

June 19, 2023 Observer Newsletter: AEW Collision & WWE’s TV rights future, Conor McGregor accused of sexual assault

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

There are a lot of balls in play regarding television rights and changes, which are the lifeblood of the industry right now.

AEW debuts Collision on 6/17 on TNT in the 8 p.m. Saturday night time slot, running live every week with the exception of a 6/29 show in Hamilton being taped for 7/1.

It’s a major milestone for the promotion in the U.S. It gets C.M. Punk back in the mix and the attempt is to make it a game-changer for a company that has slid in popularity over the past year.

Whether the slide is due to the ascension of WWE’s popularity, which is probably the biggest reason, or if the biggest reason was losing Punk, who was its top draw prior to two major injuries, or just less excitement around the brand itself, most will become clear very shortly. If it’s the middle reason, then there should be a major comeback. But wrestling history always shows when the major brand in a specific market or nationally is on an upswing, the leading competitor usually goes on a downswing.

Subscribers can click here to read this week’s issue.