Author: Dave Meltzer - Page 56

Daily Update: WWE Elimination Chamber, XFL, Mercedes Mone

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Wrestling Observer Radio: Elimination Chamber, Sami Zayn, Battle in the Valley, news and more!

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

February 20, 2023 Observer Newsletter: The life & career of Jerry Jarrett

In this week’s issue:

One of the biggest history issues of the year with the lead story on Jerry Jarrett and the glory days of Tennessee wrestling
Jarrett’s booking the wrestling war in Atlanta
Jarrett outside of wrestling
The start of TNA Wrestling
Jarrett’s departure from TNA wrestling
The original premise of TNA
How Jarrett first got into wrestling
Jarrett and Bill Watts discussion of fighting
The Mario Galento story from the Jarrett side, the Lawler side and the Galento side
The court case, exposing the business, and how the business did
Jarrett building the promotion with he, Jackie Fargo and Tojo Yamamoto as the big three
Jarrett’s booking philosophy
How Tennessee wrestling was viewed outside Tennessee
How Saturday morning wrestling became a tradition
How Dave Brown got into wrestling and how his career as a newsman changed due to wrestling
The wrestling war in Memphis
How the NWA title matches changed when Sam Muchnick was no longer booking the champion and why Muchnick was taken out of the position
The booking that led to Jerry Lawler being the king of Memphis wrestling
The key people Jarrett wanted to win the wrestling war
Details of the brief war
How popular was the TV show
What happened when Lawler threatened to start up and go against Jarrett
The fall of the promotion
Jarrett attempts to buy WCW
Jarrett’s ideas after wrestling
Jarrett’s last matches in the ring
Wrestling moving weekly to the Mid South Coliseum
How Jarrett figured into the first shows
The first sellout at the Coliseum
Jerry Lawler’s first big crowds
How a local rock band played into Memphis wrestling
What star much bigger than Andy Kaufman was talked with about doing wrestling
The Jimmy Hart era
Major names who got their start in wrestling
The boxer vs. wrestler angle they did and how it could never work now
The Lawler vs. Dundee feud
Jarrett selling the company and the attempted revivals
Why the MLW vs. WWE lawsuit was thrown out and what happens next
Tony Khan talks issues with WWE and the story behind the new Japan story
Khan talks about new business deals
The big question about Elimination Chamber
Full coverage of Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski and UFC 284
Keiji Muto about to retire
What next for Jay White
New Japan’s big events for the next two months
New Beginning in Osaka coverage
Billy Two Rivers, a cultural icon among native Americans and a celebrity in Europe passes away and his life story
The life of flying Eric Froelich, a 60s and 70s star
The most complete look at the ratings of all the major shows over the past week
Update on Jon Moxley’s planned European tour
Debut of ROH television
A look at the Revolution card
Upcoming ticket sales for WWE & AEW shows
Changes in UFC contracts
International TV ratings

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

January 9, 2006 Observer Newsletter: Pride & K1 New Year’s Eve shows, Superstar Billy Graham DVD recap

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

Both of our weekend shows are up on the site now. Garrett and I did a show talking about the news of the week, the WWE sale price, how Saudi fits in that is unique and talked to Rocky Romero in a fun interview taking New Japan, CMLL and his duties as the New Japan American rep. Bryan and I did a show on Elimination Chamber, Sami Zayn, Battle in the Valley and also talked the Saudi interest in WWE and what that’s all about.

I loved the crowd last night at the Chamber show. Crowds like that make a show fun and the performance by the talent was off the charts. The less matches but better matches and keeping the show at just over three hours from that standpoint works well. You can debate the finish of the main event, and I would as well, but Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn as performers put on a memorable match. I loved the pacing as they went very long and it never felt long. A lot of that was also how hot the crowd was. When you have a crowd like that you can wait 5:00 to touch and work slower early on. . Stories this hot are rare. It’s been years and that also gave them the latitude of all the ref bumps and run-ins that often detract from a match and are so overdone, but in this match it worked. Also, they didn’t give away the Jey Uso decision or the Kevin Owens hug that people expected, so they have plenty for the Mania build.

The XFL debuted yesterday. Dwayne Johnson was promoting it and gave a big speech at the start of the first televised game yesterday on ABC, but it didn’t feel as big to me as the first two launches of the league. Ratings will tell the story. The XFL was the No. 4 searched topic yesterday on Google at 500,000, with Elimination Chamber No. 5 at 200,000. The top three were Jimmy Carter, the Daytona 500 and Arsenal vs. Aston Villa. UFC did not crack the list and No. 16 was only 20,000. So there was no real interest in that event.

The XFL championship game will take place on 5/13 on ABC at 6 p.m. Eastern , from San Antonio at the Alamodome. Dwayne Johnson made the announcement at the San Antonio Brahmas home opener toady.

Mercedes Mone’s next New Japan match will be on the 4/8 show at Sumo Hall. That will be her first IWGP women’s title defense after winning last night. It was a very emotional deal in the building and it was amazing how hot the crowd was for Kairi. It was a unique crowd in the sense they wanted Eddie Kingston to beat Jay White in the loser leaves town match, but when it was announced before the match that all Bullet Club members were barred from ringside, which you would think the crowd would cheer, they booed that announcement heavily. Nobody in WWE has confirmed Jay White coming in, but they are certainly the favorite. One would think if White was going to AEW, he’d be able to work big shows with New Japan and would continue to do so, but they wouldn’t do the loser leaves for good stipulation.

Richard Belzer, best known for Law & Order: SUV, but having a wrestling connection since Hulk Hogan legit put him out with a guillotine on his old nationally syndicated TV show the week before the first WrestleMania, then let him go and he landed on his head and split his head open. He ended up suing WWF and Hogan and did a comedy routine about the incident noting that he bought a house with the money he got in the suit.

Yuji Nagata beat Kento Miyahara to win the Triple Crown earlier today at Korakuen Hal. Nagata had never won that title previously. We’ve heard lots of great reviews of that match.

The other indie match we’ve heard about from different people was El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Black Taurus vs. Aero Boy vs. Aramis from Warrior Wrestling last night.

Names at the New Japan show in San Jose included C.M. Punk with Rancid’s Lars Fredericksen, Bayley (who was cheering in the crowd and chanting during the Mercedes Mone match and I saw a photo of her with Stanford professor and sports business expert George Foster), Scott D’Amore, Tamina, Naomi, Lou D’Angeli and Gisele Shaw.

Pat Laprade noted that Friday night’s ovation for Sami Zayn on Smackdown was the longest known in history at the Bell Center, lasting 5:12, longer than Hulk Hogan in 2002, Saku Kolvu i 2002 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. The Montreal record was set at the old Forum by Maurice “Rocket” Richard, the hockey legend.

Dickie Davies, a name well-known in the U.K., passed away today at 94. He was the legendary host of the ITV World of Sport block from 1965 to 1985. He was affiliated with soccer, the Olympics and the five hour sports show on Saturday afternoons on ITV that included wrestling. He also hosted the wrestling DVDs from the ITV days produced a few years ago. (thanks to Bradley Craig and Stephen Lyon)

Brian Bukantis, who published Stranglehold and Body Press magazines in Detroit and was a photographer and writer for national wrestling magazines and newsletters passed away on Friday at the age of 73.

Want to thank everyone for the nice comments on the current Observer with the Jerry Jarrett lead story. Want to make one clarification. When about Roy Welch and Jarrett-Welch promotions, this was the situation. When Jarrett split from Nick Gulas in 1977, Roy Welch sided with Jarrett. His health had declined by that point and he passed away later in 1977. The Jarrett-Welch name for the promotion on television after that point was for Edward Welch, better known as Buddy Fuller, the father of Ron & Robert Fuller (whose real last name is also Welch).

A celebration of life for Jerry Jarrett takes place Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Long Hollow Church in Hendersonville, TN. Visitation will be at 10 am. The family has asked in lieu of flowers for memorial donations in Jerry’s name to the St. Jude Christan’s Hospital.

Jerry had 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The 2022 Observer awards issue comes out Friday.

We’re looking for your thoughts on both Elimination Chamber and Battle in the Valley, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, plus and best and worst match from each show to [email protected]

In the U.K. the AEW PPV shows starting with Revolution are available on DAZN. If you are a DAZN subscriber, you can get the PPVs through DAZN, but not as part of the package. It’s a separate price. You can also get the PPVs in the U.K. through FITE, which I believe is the better option because it doesn’t come with a $19.99 per month subscription fee.

I don’t know if this is related to Tony Khan’s new announcement on Wednesday, but AEW did file a trademark this week for “AEW Collision” which would be for a television/streaming show.

A study at Wrestling-World.com listed the 15 biggest social media reach personalities associated with pro wrestling as Dwayne Johnson, Logan Paul, John Cena, Ronda Rousey, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Roman Reigns, HHH, Randy Orton, Saraya, Alexa Bliss, Eva Marie, Steve Austin, Mercedes Mone and Becky Lynch.

The death of Raquel Welch this past week brings up the Roller Games movie “Kansas City Bomber” which she starred in. The movie story was always said to be based very loosely on Joanie Weston replacing the older Annis “Big Red” Jensen as the top woman star of the Bay Bombers of the rival Roller Derby promotion. However Irv Muchnick noted and likely so, that the single mom from a divorced family with the young child is likely influenced by Ann Calvello, who was another skating star who was one of the greats at different times in both Roller Derby and Roller Games.

Other Notes

Invicta runs 3/15 from Reelworks in Denver at 9 p.m. Eastern on AXS TV. The main event has Valesca Machado vs. Danni McCormack for the strawweight title.

Sean Waltman appears for AIW with a meet and greet as part of its 3/24 show in Cleveland, OH at the Temple Live Asylum Room.

Glory has announced a return of the eight-man one-night heavyweight kickboxing tournament, which was a giant event annually in Japan in the K-1 era. Like with K-1, there will be qualifying matches throughout the year and the tournament will be an annual event in December, just like it was for K-1. The winner will get $500,000. There will be a four-man tournament on 4/29 and the winner will face interim heavyweight champion Antonio Plazibat.

Aja Kong vs Vert Vixen was announced for West Coast Pro on 4/7 in San Francisco at The State Room.

Insane Wrestling Revolution on Wednesday night in Monroe, MI: Benjamin Boone b Tanner Nix, Hannah Henderson b Kelly Moore, Kyle Barrett & Big Flex b Rhino & DBA=-DQ, Buckeye Sam b Ace Evans, Trey Miguel & Myron Reed b Aaron Orion & Tommy Vendetta to win the tag titles, Kamille b Shawna Reed, Jason Hotch b Rich Swann, Bry Sullivan & Damian Chambers b Kenny Urban & Rod Lee, Madman Fulton b Sam Beale Thomas Latimer b Dread King Logan to win the heavyweight title. Next show is 3/23 at F.O.P. Hall in Monroe, MI. Rhino promotes this group (thanks to Leonard Brand)

Dungeon Wrestling in Calgary from Friday night at the Pavilion before 900 fans: Chris Cutthroat Knight b Shaun Moore, Tiger Raj Singh b Michael Allen Richard Clark, Zoey Zager b Nicole Matthews, Harry Smith & Billington Bulldogs b Bruno the Cuban Giant Blanco & Michael Blais & Karou, Mighty Mo Jabari b C.K. Krimson-DQ in a tournament match for the world mid heavyweight title, Nick Aldis b Chris Masters to keep the Stu Hart Heritage title (thanks to Ross Hart)

Tanner Boser vs. Ian Cutelaba is expected for a 4/15 UFC show in Kansas City at the T-Mobile Center. This was reported by MMA Fighting.

WWE Raw ratings down for Elimination Chamber go-home show

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Raw last night did its lowest numbers since the end of football season and had an unusual ratings pattern with a very low first hour.

With a second hour pick-up, the viewership ended up at 1.81 million viewers over the three hours with a 0.47 rating in 18-49.

The second hour gain was the key to the show, and a second hour beating the first hour by as much as it did is unusual at any time, but particularly outside of daylight saving time.

Raw was first on cable, with the Miami vs. North Carolina college basketball game on ESPN in second place at 1.02 million/0.31 and Below Deck at 1.09 million/0.30.

Raw also beat ABC in hour three, beat CBS after 8:30 p.m., beat NBC after 9 p.m.. and beat Fox all night. Among all stations on television last night in prime time, USA was second to only ABC by a 0.49 to 0.47 mark, and a network show has an advantage of being in about 49 percent more homes. In 18-34, Raw beat every show but The Bachelor last night on English-language television and was also behind two Spanish-language shows.

Raw was second in women 18-49 on cable, first in men 18-49, first in people 18-34, third in women 12-34 (behind Below Deck and Summer House), and first in men 12-34. In total viewers, Raw was 14th behind only news shows.

Raw was down four percent in viewers, down 15 percent in 18-49, and down 24 percent in 18-34.

From one year ago, it really isn’t a fair comparison since Raw was on Syfy and it went against the Olympics. But from that episode Raw was up 13 percent in viewers, up six percent in 18-49, and down 10 percent in 18-34.

Raw was down in every age group but one in more than double digits, but the overall number stayed close due to the increase with people over 50.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.82 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.92 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.70 million viewers

Legendary Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett passes away at 80 years old

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Jerry Jarrett, a booking genius whose style of television (with the emphasis on interviews and skits as opposed to matches) was in his era the closest to modern wrestling, passed away this morning at the age of 80.

He had been battling cancer of the esophagus, and passed away undergoing treatment this morning according to a family friend.

Jarrett, whose mother worked in the wrestling office with Nick Gulas and Roy Welch and later became one of the first woman wrestling promoters in the United States, was around wrestling his entire life. He promoted spot shows as a teenager, worked in the office, and was one of the youngest bookers in the country by the late 1960s.

After a run as one of the top three babyfaces for Gulas & Welch, with perennial partners Tojo Yamamoto and Jackie Fargo, Jarrett stepped away from the ring full-time.

After feeling he was swindled in a business deal by Gulas, Jarrett started up his own promotion in 1977. By this point Jerry Lawler was the top star in the promotion with Jarrett doing his best work in creating Lawler as the King in 1974. With Lawler and announcers Lance Russell and Dave Brown siding with Jarrett, and Jarrett getting the NBC affiliate, WMC-TV to take the television show, they dominated the Memphis market, the most lucrative city. After a few years, Gulas’ company closed down and Jarrett controlled the market until times changed and territorial wrestling was basically done.

Because unlike most promoters, who either paid for their own television production and would give the stations a tape, or years later, actually had to buy the TV time, which in the long run became economically unsustainable, Jarrett was paid for television because the show drew big ratings. For most of the period Jarrett promoted, the Championship Wrestling television show on Saturday mornings was a local institution. During the late 70s and early 80s, more than 20 percent of the homes in the metro area watched the show and more than 70 percent of the television sets on during that time period were watching the wrestling show. It was by far the highest rated wrestling show in the country on the back of Lawler, the announcers, and the unique cast of characters and booking.

Jarrett and Lawler would rotate as bookers, usually every six months. Eventually, after Lawler made a power play with Russell, Jarrett cut Lawler in for 50 percent of the promotion.

Jarrett remained in the promotion until 1997 when he sold the company. He also booked in Georgia during a hot period in the 70s, promoted the Dallas promotion, and along with son Jeff, started TNA Impact Wrestling. The Jarretts had to sell the majority interest in that company to the Carter family after a few months due to heavy money losses and Jerry had a falling out with Jeff and was gone three years later.

Jarrett had many different ideas through the years to get back in wrestling, but none materialized. He ran a construction company after selling his Tennessee company, which folded shortly after. He attempted to purchase WCW in 2000, but was unable to do so. When Vince McMahon feared he was going to jail after being under a federal indictment for steroid distribution charges, he brought Jarrett in with the idea that if he was convicted, Jarrett would run the company. But McMahon wasn’t convicted.

Jarrett was voted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2018.

Daily Update: Super Bowl LVII, WWE Raw, Cody Rhodes

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

February 13, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Jerry Lawler suffers stroke, Nick Khan talks WWE sale

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now. Among the items covered are:

*Match of the week and performer of the week

*Jerry Lawler’s recovery and a look at the history of Lawler from his days as the King of Memphis wrestling, his run in the 80s, the high and low points of that company and his role as a WWE announcer

*Nick Khan and Tony Khan talk with WWE sale as well a how much money key people will make on the sale*Update on WrestleMania plans

*The 1977 Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes feud and how that impacts the 2023 WrestleMania

*Behind the Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment

*Key parts of the interview

*Paul Heyman’s history with Dusty Rhodes

*Elimination Chamber update

*Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell to MMA and where Bellator stands

*Keiji Muto with days left in his career talks about his final match and his condition

*Full coverage of NXT Vengeance

*MLW debuts on REELZ

*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo

*UFC’s weekend show coverage*Stardom Supreme Fights coverage

*A look at the best matches of 2022

*How many homes are the cable stations that carry wrestling in

*The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week

*Four plus year title reign ends

*AAA planning for Triplemania

*How the Acapulco show led to issues with AAA and AEW

*Notes from Fantastica Mania

*Lots of Kota Ibushi news

*A look at the career of Charlie Norris

*The most watched television wrestling match of the 1970s

*Lots of WrestleMania week news

*Court Bauer talks WWE lawsuit

*AEW new deal in place

*International TV ratings and streaming numbers

*AEW & WWE upcoming show ticket sales

*Jericho Cruise notes

*Behind the MJF promo

*Interesting notes from Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against Brock Lesnar

*Previewing this week’s UFC show

*Cody Rhodes talks about learning pro wrestling

*WWE working with other groups

*Brett Favre sues Pat McAfee

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

January 2, 2006 Observer Newsletter: K1 New Year’s Eve lineup & history

Ordering Info:

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, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.

A number of wrestlers appeared in Super Bowl ads yesterday, which is really a huge thing for exposure. Among those were Dave Bautista for the upcoming Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3; John Cena for the movie Fast X; Undertaker for DraftKings; Tyrus for Fox News’ Gutfeld (he was carrying the NWA World title belt); Charlotte Flair for SmackDown; and The Miz for Logan Paul’s new energy drink. WWE didn’t spend the $7 million per ad, but Fox used their inventory of house ads to promote SmackDown.

Darren McCarty, a former NHL player who does a lot of indies in the Detroit area was on local Michigan ad. (thanks to Robert D’Andrea and others)

Tonight’s Raw is from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The only matches announced are The Miz vs. Rick Boogs, and Carmella, Asuka & Nikki Cross vs. Raquel Rodriguez, Natalya & Liv Morgan. Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley are doing a contract signing, Seth Rollins will be on Miz TV, and Sami Zayn is scheduled for the show. The show had just under 10,500 tickets out as of this morning. A usual Barclays Center sellout is about 15,000 distributed and 13,600 paid.

We’re looking for live reports from the show tonight from those in attendance with Main Event results, anything off camera or other observations to [email protected].

Cody Rhodes was on with Ariel Helwani today and talked about leaving AEW, only saying that Bruce Prichard called him and set up Vince McMahon flying in to meet him and that McMahon offered him Seth Rollins at WrestleMania . He was asked about the CM Punk press conference and said he was very disappointed watching it and very sad because even though he was gone, he didn’t want anything to hurt the company he helped build and said he thought it hurt the company. But, he said he wouldn’t take sides between the Young Bucks and Punk and was going to be Switzerland. He talked a lot about his father as well.

Rhodes also announced today that he would be appearing on the 3/12 WWE show in Madison Square Garden.

The Helwani show also included UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who said he would smash UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at featherweight and upon watching Saturday’s fight back, he thinks he won three rounds and wants a rematch.

Billy Two Rivers, who was an iconic figure in the Kahnawake First Nation community in Quebec as a wrestling star turned Council member, passed away yesterday. Two Rivers was a major star in the 60s in the U.K. to the point he was in movies and had a song named after him and had a race horse named after him. He worked all over the world, including as a tag team partner of major 50s star Don Eagle, who was his mentor. He was best known in Quebec in the 70s before retiring in 1977 and going into local politics. His death was covered by the CBC in Canada.

We’re looking for your thoughts on both UFC from Saturday and New Japan New Beginning in Osaka on Saturday. You can leave a thumbs up, down or middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].

Friday’s AEW Rampage will be at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific prior to the NBA Slam Dunk competition. Dustin Rhodes vs. Swerve Strickland and Ricky Starks vs. Daniel Garcia are already scheduled.

Bellator fighter Poliana Botelho revealed she had surgery on Friday to remove a lymph node after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Botelho fought for UFC from 2017 to 2022.

There is still uncertainty regarding what is going on regarded OTT ScrapperMania and Jon Moxley. Moxley was announced for the 3/18 show some time back and tickets almost sold out immediately. Then, AEW announced him for a show in Troy, Ohio, the same night for its first house show as part of a tour. We’re told OTT didn’t know about this until AEW made the announcement on Twitter and in a press release. OTT didn’t make an announcement about it for two weeks although most figure that he’s working the Ohio show. But we have not gotten that confirmed either. Promoter Joey Cabray tweeted a few day ago, “We understand there is some confusion on Jon Moxley’s appearance at ScrapperMania. We are working with AEW and should have news coming soon.” Right now both companies are still selling tickets with Moxley as the top star on the same day. (thanks to Ciaran Dunphy).

Dax Harwood did a tease on purpose showing a photo of his table with a glass and bottle of tequila with a piece of paper on the table with a WWE logo. Clearly, this was done to get people talking like he’s going to WWE. I wouldn’t take it as anything more than him trying to get people talking at this stage.

A documentary on former NOAH star Bison Smith which has gotten a lot of praise:

Another note that for this week only, AEW Dynamite on ITV 4 will air at 10 p.m. on Thursday night instead of the usual Friday night.

Other Notes

Kurt Angle was on the judging panel on Friday’s PFL show in Orlando. They are doing Challenger Series shows every Friday on Fubo and the judges vote for the most impressive fighter and they get a contract to compete in the $1 million tournament later this year. Abraham Bably was awarded a heavyweight contract with a TKO win over Hassan Graham and Angle, Vitor Belfort and Frank Mir voted him into the tournament.

MCW has three upcoming shows on 2/25 in Perryville, MD at 5th Company Brewing, 3/4 in Galena, MD at the Volunteer Fire Department and 4/22 at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD, which will be a women’s show.

Northeast Wrestling on Saturday night in Bethany, CT features Matt Taven vs. Brad Hollister plus Flip Gordon vs. JT Dunn.

Battleground Championship Wrestling runs the 2300 Arena on 3/18 with a title tournament with first round matches of Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann, Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Matt Cardona, Johnny Battleground (Hennigan) vs. Tony Nese and Bully Ray vs. TBA. NWA Women’s champion Kamille faces Vita VonStarr. Bully Ray & D-Von will be appearing at a convention before the show. There is a backstory to that as a few months ago they were to be reunited at a convention before the show and WWE blocked it the week of, saying that Devon, who said he had permission, didn’t go through correct protocol. He was pretty much threatened with being fired if he attended. He didn’t, but ended up being let go since then so now he’s doing it.

Daily Update: Peacock, Tony Khan, UFC 284

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Wrestling Observer Radio: UFC recap, New Japan, Jay White, DEFY, Smackdown, Rampage

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

February 13, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Jerry Lawler suffers stroke, Nick Khan talks WWE sale

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now. Among the items covered are:

*Match of the week and performer of the week

*Nick Khan and Tony Khan talk with WWE sale as well a how much money key people will make on the sale*Update on WrestleMania plans

*The 1977 Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes feud and how that impacts the 2023 WrestleMania

*Behind the Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment

*Key parts of the interview

*Paul Heyman’s history with Dusty Rhodes

*Elimination Chamber update

*Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell to MMA and where Bellator stands

*Keiji Muto with days left in his career talks about his final match and his condition

*Full coverage of NXT Vengeance

*MLW debuts on REELZ

*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo

*UFC’s weekend show coverage*Stardom Supreme Fights coverage

*A look at the best matches of 2022

*How many homes are the cable stations that carry wrestling in

*The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week

*Four plus year title reign ends

*AAA planning for Triplemania

*How the Acapulco show led to issues with AAA and AEW

*Notes from Fantastica Mania

*Lots of Kota Ibushi news

*A look at the career of Charlie Norris

*The most watched television wrestling match of the 1970s

*Lots of WrestleMania week news

*Court Bauer talks WWE lawsuit

*AEW new deal in place

*International TV ratings and streaming numbers

*AEW & WWE upcoming show ticket sales

*Jericho Cruise notes

*Behind the MJF promo

*Interesting notes from Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against Brock Lesnar

*Previewing this week’s UFC show

*Cody Rhodes talks about learning pro wrestling

*WWE working with other groups

*Brett Favre sues Pat McAfee

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

January 2, 2006 Observer Newsletter: K1 New Year’s Eve lineup & history

Ordering Info:

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

Our weekend shows are both up on the site. We did our week in the news show with Garrett Gonzales on Friday, where we talked a lot about the current issues with AEW and WWE is a very pivotal time of the year. We also did a show late last night talking the New Japan show in Osaka and upcoming show in San Jose, Smackdown, Rampage, this week’s Dynamite and UFC with Bryan as well as Ryan Frederick.

Peacock will no longer be free for Comcast Xfinity customers. Comcast says customers who currently have free Peacock Premium now will lose it on June 26th, 2023. After that, if you still want to have access, you will need to pay. NBCUniversal confirmed for Cord Cutters News that after 4/3, new customers will be able to get six months free, but after that point they will be billed for the service.

Tony Khan was on the Dan Le Batard show earlier today. It was definitely a show of newsworthy quotes. Among them:

*A lot of his wrestlers came to him and said that WWE reached out to them to tamper with their contracts and asked them to break their contracts. He said he couldn’t confirm tat specifically, but he could only tell you what the wrestlers said to him, but multiple wrestlers and staff have come to him telling him that.

*He said that WWE and AEW hate each other and it was a war. He said that is also part of the excitement of following wrestling

*He talked about Nick Khan trying to get the New Japan deal from AEW in 2021. We’ll have a lot more on that one in the new issue because it’s a subject I know very well

*He said that business and sponsorships and licensing has never been stronger ever since the Bloomberg story on AEW came out. He said he’s never had more outside interest in partnerships than in the past week.

Regarding last night’s UFC show, great main event with middleweight champion Islam Makhachev beating featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski to likely become considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport right now. It was a close fight and you could have scored it either way, but 79 percent of media and all three judges went for Makhachev. Judge Ben Cartlidge ave Makhachev rounds one, two and four. Judge Derek Cleary gave Makhachev the first four rounds and a 49-46 score. Judge David Leathaby gave Makhachev one, two and four. Four is really the swing round, and most had one and two for Makhachev and three and five for Volkanovski. Volkanovski landed far more punches but Makhachev had many takedowns and a lot of ground control.

In Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield, which was a draw, Ben Cartlidge gave Menifield rounds one and two but Crute got three, plus the third round penalty point on Menifield made it a 28-28 draw. David Lethaby had the same scores. 85 percent of reporters also had that draw score with the same rounds. Cleary gave Crute the second round by make it 29-27 for him, which is what 15 percent of reports did. Menifield would have won the fight without the point deduction in round three for holding the fence, but that was a blatant fence grab to avoid a takedown.

The big controversy was the opener where Elves Brener got a 29-28, 30-27 and 28-29 split decision win over Zubaira Tukhugov. 100 percent of media scores were for Tukhugov and 56 percent gave Tukhugov all three rounds,. Judge Evan Field gave Brener all three rounds. Cleary gave Brener one and three and Barry Foley gave Brener only round three.

Last night’s UFC show did 1 million searches which indicates a normal PPV number and not a monster like Dana White was talking. It was the most searched item of the day yesterday which is notable given all the Super Bowl talk and NBA talk this week. Brett Favre suing Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe was No. 12 on Friday with 50,000. On Tuesday, Joe Rogan was No. 8 for stories on him defending what was said to be antisemitic remarks and Jerry Lawler was also No. 9, both at 100,000.

We’re looking for reports from today’s NOAH show in Osaka as well as the NXT house shows in Tampa on Friday and Citrus Springs, FL last night with results, finishes and any other notes. You can send reports of any shows to [email protected]

We’re also taking weekend polls on both UFC 284 from Perth, Western Australia from last night as well as the New Japan New Beginning in Osaka show from yesterday. We’re looking for a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

The Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi match from yesterday is definitely one worth going out of your way to see.

Flying Eric Froelich, who was one of the best high flyers of the 60s and 70s, passed away on Friday at the age of 85. He was best known in British Columbia but wrestled throughout the West Coast and had tag title runs in California and Texas as well. He was a former gymnast who was well respected bell-to-bell, but was not a strong interview so did his best in tag teams with a charismatic partner.

On last night’s UFC show they announced that Jessica Andrade will be replacing Taila Santos in the main event Saturday against Erin Blanchfield in the show at the APEX which will be an ESPN+ show. We talked about that on last night’s show but it makes it a much bigger fight for Blanchfield.

A&E starts its new WWE season on this coming Sunday night. From 8-10 p.m. will be a biography documentary on Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hal forming the NWO, as the feud episode at 10 p.m. will be about the Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant match with Booker T, Natalya, D-Von Dudley and John Layfield talking about it. There will be WWE programming on he station from 1 p.m. Eastern to midnight, as they will also air at 1 p.m. the Steve Austin vs. The Rock feud rivals episode, plus Austin from 2-4 p.m., Lex Luger from 4-6 p.m. and Bill Goldberg from 6-8 p.m.

Lance Archer on Twitter noted that it’s been 51 days since he last laced up his boots and that this was not by choice. When he finished the New Japan tag team tournament in December, he pushed hard that he wanted to wrestle and that AEW or New Japan should let him be the monster he can be.

NXT on Tuesday has announced a ton of stuff with Axiom vs. Damon Kemp, Tiffany Stratton vs. Thea Hail, Hank Walker vs. Charlie Dempsey, Tyler bate vs, Grayson Waller, Wes Lee open challenge for the North American title, Roxanne Perez & Meiko Satomura vs. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter plus appearances by Jacy Jayne and Bron Breakker.

GCW results from the Jersey J Cup yesterday in Jersey City, NJ: Afternoon show: Jordan Oliver b Alex Shelley, Cole Radrick won over Marcus Mathers, Yoya, Dante Leon, Dyln McKay and Grim Reefer, Blake Christian b Alec Price, Joey Janela b Starboy Charlie, Lio Rush b Tony Deppen, Charles Mason b Billie Starkz, Komander b Arez, Mike Bailey b Jonathan Gresham

Evening show: Mike Bailey b Komander, Jordan Oliver b Charles Mason, Joey Janela b Lio Rush, Blake Christian b Cole Radrick, Oliver b Janela, Bailey b Christian, Oliver b Bailey to win the tournament

Satnam Singh has filed trademarks for the phrase “One in a Billion.”

AEW Dynamite on ITV 4 in the U.K. is scheduled for 10 p.m. Thursday, instead of the usual Friday. It’s not a regular time slot move. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)

Other Notes

Defy from last night in Seattle: Bollywood Boyz b Jude Icarus & Travis Williams with Randy Myers as referee, Artemis Spencer b Guillermo Rosas (subbing for injured Eddie Kingston), Danika Diehard b women’s champion Vert Vixen-DQ, tag champions Matthew Justice & Mance Warner b Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl, Nick Wayne b Cody Chhun, Swerve Strickland b Titus Alexander to keep the Def title, Jon Moxley & Schaff b Zack Sabre Jr. & Davey Richards. Great reports from Wayne vs. Chhun and Strickland vs. Alexander. Next show is 3/11 in Seattle at Washington Hall with Top Flight and Kushida

Eddie Kingston missed the show with an undisclosed injury. He’s hopeful of being okay for Wednesday’s Dynamite and vows to be in San Jose Saturday as well for his New Japan match with Jay White.

Former WWE personality Ricardo Rodriguez has been talking for days that he’s filming a documentary about his recovery from addiction and getting out of rehab and living in a recovery home, as well as being homeless and trying to rebuild his life.

Combat 1 Wrestling from Friday night in Waterford Township, MI: Nate Bock won over David Ali and tommy Vendetta, Ryan Matthias NC KJ Reynolds, Matt Sydal b Jason Hotch, Dread King Logan & Zach Thomas b Terrence & Terrell Hughes (D-Von’s sons), Su Yung b Nikita, Darren McCarty (former NHL enforcer) b Kyle Barrett. Next show is 5/5 featuring Laredo Kid (thanks to Leonard Brand)

SmackDown had the latest Bloodline drama: Wrestling Observer Radio

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer run down SmackDown.

Alvarez and Meltzer discussed the big storylines from SmackDown, primarily the angle between Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, and the rest of The Bloodline. You can watch their review in full below.

Alvarez recapped the major storyline from Friday’s show, which saw Paul Heyman ask Jimmy Uso to try and contact his brother. Jimmy was unable to do so and walked to the ring alone to defend the SmackDown Tag Team titles by himself. However, Jey arrived and the two ended up retaining their titles. After Jey told Jimmy backstage he was still conflicted, Jey met up with Sami Zayn, who told Jey that he shouldn’t go down with the ship and there’s a way out of this, saying he acknowledged him. The two fist bumped.

The end of the show saw Paul Heyman tell Jimmy Uso for him and his brother to stay away from the Elimination Chamber event next weekend.

The main event of Friday’s show saw Madcap Moss defeat Rey Mysterio, Karrion Kross, and Santos Escobar in a four-way match to determine the next challenger for Gunther’s Intercontinental title. The two will meet on next week’s show.

Daily Update: Paul Heyman, STARDOM, Conor McGregor

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

February 13, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Jerry Lawler suffers stroke, Nick Khan talks WWE sale

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now. Among the items covered are:

*Match of the week and performer of the week

*Nick Khan and Tony Khan talk with WWE sale as well a how much money key people will make on the sale*Update on WrestleMania plans

*The 1977 Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes feud and how that impacts the 2023 WrestleMania

*Behind the Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment

*Key parts of the interview

*Paul Heyman’s history with Dusty Rhodes

*Elimination Chamber update

*Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell to MMA and where Bellator stands

*Keiji Muto with days left in his career talks about his final match and his condition

*Full coverage of NXT Vengeance

*MLW debuts on REELZ

*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo

*UFC’s weekend show coverage*Stardom Supreme Fights coverage

*A look at the best matches of 2022

*How many homes are the cable stations that carry wrestling in

*The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week

*Four plus year title reign ends

*AAA planning for Triplemania

*How the Acapulco show led to issues with AAA and AEW

*Notes from Fantastica Mania

*Lots of Kota Ibushi news

*A look at the career of Charlie Norris

*The most watched television wrestling match of the 1970s

*Lots of WrestleMania week news

*Court Bauer talks WWE lawsuit

*AEW new deal in place

*International TV ratings and streaming numbers

*AEW & WWE upcoming show ticket sales

*Jericho Cruise notes

*Behind the MJF promo

*Interesting notes from Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against Brock Lesnar

*Previewing this week’s UFC show

*Cody Rhodes talks about learning pro wrestling

*WWE working with other groups

*Brett Favre sues Pat McAfee

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

December 26, 2005 Observer Newsletter: Eddie Guerrero cause of death revealed, TNA Turning Point

Ordering Info:

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 did a show today talking a ton about AEW as well as this weekend’s shows, the Cody Rhodes/Paul Heyman promo and much more. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night talking the weekend news after the UFC show.

Paul Heyman spoke with Variety and pushed for Roman Reigns to win an Emmy Award for his acting chops in the WWE

Stardom wrestler Himeka announced she will be retiring on the 4/23 show at the Yokohama Arena. This, with subtitles, is her announcement:

Himeka said she would like to face Maika in her farewell match. After that, they will have a retirement ceremony for her on 5/14 at Korakuen Hall. She also asked for a hardcore match with Risa Sea on 2/26 and wants matches with Chihiro Hashimoto and Kakeru Seikiguchi. She said she was no retiring because of an injury but said that she only wanted to do five years in wrestling and then experience new things.

Ronda Rousey returns to Smackdown tonight in Uncasville, CT. The Usos defend the Smackdown tag titles against Braun Strowman & Ricochet plus Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross vs. Santos Escobar vs. Madcap Moss with the winner facing Gunther for the IC title. They were at 4,800 tickets out last time I saw a number.

Jake Skudder broke the Rousey being back tonight story on fightfans.co.uk which we did confirm.

Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. has Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. Butcher & Blade & Kip Sabian, Jungle Boy vs. Ryan Nemeth, Ruby Soho vs. Marina Shafir and Orange Cassidy vs. Lee Moriarty for the All Atlantic title. Mark Briscoe will also appear on the show.

Dana White was asked about the location for the fall Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight. He said that AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX is a possibility, as it the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden or possibly a stadium in the U.K.

Today is the 39th anniversary of the death of David Von Erich.

UFC 284 tomorrow from Perth, Western Australia

Prelims at 6 p.m. Eastern

Elves Brenner vs. Zubaira Tukhugov

Blake Bilder vs. Shane Young

Loma Lookboonmee vs. Elise Reed

Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis

ESPN at 8 p.m.

Jamie Mullarkey vs. Francisco Prado

Kleydson Rodrigues vs. Shannon Ross

Josh Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan

Modestas Bukauskas vs. Tyson Pedro

PPV at 10 p.m.

Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield

Parker Porter vs. Justin Tafa

Randy Brown vs. Jack Della

MaddalenaYair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett for the interim featherweight title

Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski for the lightweight title

Kazuchika Okada on his scheduled match Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome against Kaito Kiyomiya with the IWGP champion vs. GHC champion: “I’m not doing that match and I’ve said as much. If they’re still promoting that match and I’m not there then that isn’t my fault and it says more about the companies involved.” This is definitely a unique way to promote a top match at the Tokyo Dome.

New Japan New Beginning in Osaka tonight at 3 a.m. Eastern on New Japan World

Oskar Leube & Toru Yano vs. Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare

Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask & Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi & Sanada & Bushi

Master Wato vs. Taiji Ishimori

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA

Evil & Sho & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Ren Narita & El Desperado for the Never trios title

Jay White vs. Hikuleo loser leaves Japan

Tama Tonga vs. El Phantasmo for the Never title

Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi for the IWGP title

There is a four-way hair match on 3/17 at Arena Mexico with Rocky Romero, Oraculo, Volador Jr. and Angel de Oro.

A story on John Cena in the movie Ricky Stanicky which he is currently filming in Australia (thanks to Barry Werner)

We are looking for reports tonight from Smackdown in Uncasville, CT (dark match or stuff off the air notes only) to [email protected]

We are doing polls on tomorrow’s UFC 284 and tomorrow New Japan New Beginning in Osaka, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match for each show to [email protected]

Anthony Smith vs. Johnny Walker will headline a UFC show on 5/13 according to MMAFighting.com

Other Notes

MLW is doing a television taping in Tijuana tonight which includes Alexander Hammerstone defending the MLW title against Danny Rivera (Danny Limelight). The main event is El Hijo del Vikingo & Rey Horus & Psycho Clown vs. Gringo Loco & John Hennigan & Sam Adonis

Jose Aldo makes his debut as a pro boxer tonight against Emmanuel Zambrano (0-3) in a six round fight at 140 pounds.

Superkick’d runs tonight in Toronto at The Great Hall.

LFA announced its April schedule with a show on 4/14 in Sioux Falls, SD at the Sanford Pentagon and 4/21 in Prior Lake, MN at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. Both shows air live on UFC Fight Pass.

ISPW tonight in Avenel, NJ at the First Presbyterian Church’s Westminster Hall has Bull James vs. Tommy Dreamer, Ricky Recon vs Crowbar and Tina San Antonio vs Vicious Vicki. Maven will manage Bull James. They also run 3/11 in Washington Township, NJ at the Westwood Regional High School.

PFL Challengers Series tonight on Fubo Sports Network wit a heavyweight qualifier show:

Louie Sutherland (254) vs. Alton Meeks (228.8)

Abraham Bably (245.6) vs. Hassan Graham (250.2)

Vitor Resenda (243.2) vs. Isaiah Pinson (235.2)

Danilo Marques (247) vs. Ras Hilton (255.2)

Invicta runs on 3/15 at Reelworks in Denver headlined by Strawweight champion Valesca Machado (12-3) vs. Danni McCormack (6-2). The show will air live on AXS TV

AIW on 2/11 in Youngstown, OH at West Side Bowl is headlined by The Sandman.

Zack Sabre Jr. was announced for the 2/26 Beyond Wrestling show.

February 13, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Jerry Lawler suffers stroke, Nick Khan talks WWE sale

Posted on February 10, 2023May 16, 2024 by Dave Meltzer

Jerry Lawler, one of the all-time legends of pro wrestling, suffered what was reported as a serious stroke, one that in its early hours was feared the worst, but over the next few days, his recovery seems positive.

Longtime broadcasting partner Jim Ross noted on Twitter, “I spoke very briefly with Jerry Lawler tonight” (Tuesday). He’s obviously weak, but I could understand his affected speech. Jerry’s prognosis is positive, but he needs all our thoughts and prayers.”

Lawler was out to lunch with friends when he seemed ill and was found in the parking lot of his condo in Fort Myers, FL, and rushed to the hospital.

There are conflicting versions from those close to him as to what happened but he was rushed into emergency surgery from what was reported as a major stroke that at first left him with no movement on the right side and unable to talk. There was fear among those close to him that the massive stroke could have had terrible repercussions, with fear of being unable to move on his right side.

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

Does AEW need a new top babyface?: Wrestling Observer Radio

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Dave Meltzer talked about AEW’s need for a top babyface talent on Wrestling Observer Radio.

During Thursday morning’s show, Meltzer talked about AEW’s need for a top babyface similar to Cody Rhodes in WWE.

Meltzer said that AEW simply doesn’t have that guy that draws people in, pointing to recent sluggish attendeance for AEW shows. He also said that turning Chris Jericho or having CM Punk return isn’t the solution. He concluded saying that identifying the issue with AEW right now is the easy part, but finding the solution would be tough.

On Wednesday, AEW confirmed the AEW World Championship match for AEW Revolution, with Bryan Danielson earning the match with MJF by successfully defeating Rush in what was a bloody, brutal match. After the match, MJF came out from the announcer’s desk and attacked Danielson, laying him out with a punch while wearing the Dynamite diamond ring. The two will now meet in a 60-minute iron man match on March 5.

WWE Raw ratings down from recent high levels

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

WWE Raw numbers fell into what would be a more normal pattern last night after the huge high levels from Raw’s 30th anniversary and the episode after the Royal Rumble.

Last night’s show averaged 1.87 million viewers and drew a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demo.

This is likely what would be expected for the next few months barring a special episode or competition from a major sports event.

Raw was first on cable by a wide margin. It also beat ABC in the third hour, beat CBS after 8:30 p.m., beat NBC in the third hour, and beat Fox all night. Overall, the USA Network was the highest rated station in prime time.

Among cable shows, Raw swept the key demos, winning women 18-49, men 18-49, overall 18-34, women 12-34, and men 12-34.

Raw was 11th in total viewers, trailing only news shows.

The closest competition was a Texas vs. Kansas college basketball game on ESPN that did 1.33 million/0.37. The earlier Duke vs. Miami game did 916,000/0.27. Below Deck on Bravo did 1.15 million/0.29.

The audience was down 12 percent from last week’s Raw after the Royal Rumble in viewers, down 13 percent in 18-49, and down 22 percent in 18-34.

A comparison with last year is misleading because last year’s show was on Syfy and head-to-head with the Olympics, but Raw was up 36 percent in viewers, up 53 percent in 18-49, and up 46 percent in 18-34.

The first-to-third hour declines were 16 percent with women 18-49, three percent with men 18-49, eight percent with women 12-34, there was a three percent rise in men 12-34, and an 11 percent drop with people over 50.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.97 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.88 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.75 million viewers

Daily Update: Charlie Norris, ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham, WWE Raw

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

February 6, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Royal Rumble 2023 review, WWE Q4 financials notes

In this week’s issue
*Complete Royal Rumble coverage
*Match and performer of the week
*Highlights of the Rumble
*The story of the Reigns-Zayn angle
*Why Reigns vs. Zayn won’t be happening at WrestleMania
*Records set at Royal Rumble
*How many people watched Royal Rumble on Peacock
*The 15 largest gates in pro wrestling history
*PPV crossover with Full Gear and Survivor Series
*Elimination Chamber update
*Wrestlemania update
*Return of Pat McAfee
*WrestleMania sponsorship
*Nick Khan talks WWE sale
*Khan talks about the next rights deals
*More on the Vince McMahon investigation and how much it cost WWE so far
*WWE business numbers for 2022
*A look at the career of Fedor Emelianenko as he has his retirement fight
*What pro wrestler brought Fedor into prominence
*What former pro wrestling promotion did he first become a star in
*A look at hs glory days in Pride
*Who is the best heavyweight ever
*The life and times of Lanny Poffo
*His career high points
*Winning the world tag team title at the age of 20
*Feuding with his brother
*The big name historically Randy Savage was to feud with that never happened
*The funeral of Jay Briscoe
*Another new lawsuit filed trying to get Vince McMahon out of power
*Legendary enhancement wrestler Kenny Jay passes away and the night he had a match with Muhammad Ali
*Why he never became a bigger star
*The story behind his match with Ali
*2022 Wrestling Observer Awards allot
*The most detailed look at the television ratings over the past week
*International TV ratings for AEW and WWE
*Streaming ratings for AEW & WWE
*Ticket sales for upcoming shows
*One of the oldest titles in history defended on Jericho cruise
*Keiji Muto struggles through retirement matches
*New Japan changes with New Japan Strong
*Mercedes Mone talks her new Japan debut
*Hiroshi Hase in controversy over doing a wrestling match last month
*Why Kota Ibushi did Bloodsport
*Thought on AEW doing house shows
*Difference between AEW and WWE fans
*Thoughts on MJF vs. Takeshita
*New A&E wrestling schedule

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

December 26, 2005 Observer Newsletter: Eddie Guerrero cause of death revealed, TNA Turning Point

Ordering Info:

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 talking all the news in wrestling and MMA. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]

Charlie “Thunderblood” Norris, who did a native American gimmick on Midwest independents and wrestled for much of 1993 with WCW and was pushed for several months there, passed away earlier today. He was 57. We’ll have a lot more on him later this week and on tonight’s show.

Best wishes to Superstar Billy Graham and wife Valerie. Billy, who as far as average attendance in the main event slot, was the biggest Madison Square Garden draw in history (19 sellouts in 20 main events), has been hospitalized for weeks and has lost 50 pounds in the last three weeks.

Jon Moxley has been added to Bloodsport on 3/30 at 4 p.m. at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The show, which is sort of UWFI oriented style, has Kota Ibushi vs. Mike Bailey, plus John Hennigan and Timothy Thatcher booked. It is already sold out.

Raw tonight is from the Amway Center in Orlando, FL. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch in the cage match scheduled for two weeks ago is on the show. Brock Lesnar, Edge and Beth Phoenix are there, presumably to set up their matches for 2/18 in Montreal. They are facing Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley on that show, or at least were as of two weeks ago. The presumption is Lesnar faces Bobby Lashley but that is not confirmed, but all angles lead to that direction. Also tonight is a match for the final slot in the women’s Chamber is up with Miichin vs. Piper Niven vs. Candice LeRae vs. Carmella. The final slots in the men’s Chamber are up as well going to the winners of matches with Montez Ford vs. Elias and Damien Priest vs. Angelo Dawkins. Another big crowd is expected as they were more than 9,600 tickets out this morning. WWE remains on its hottest run right now in a few years.

We are looking for reports from Orlando as far as the dark matches or anything else not on the live television show to [email protected]

The movie “A Knock At The Cabin” was first over the weekend at the box office grossing $14,127,170 in 3,643 theaters, beating out the debuting “80 for Brady” which did $12,701,6049 in 3,912 theaters. Avatar, which had been on top for the last two months, finished third.

We’re doing polls on these weekend shows:

*New Japan on Saturday in Sapporo

*Stardom on Saturday in Osaka

*NXT on Saturday in Charlotte

*New Japan on Sunday in Sapporo

You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from each show to [email protected]

MLW debuts tomorrow night at 10 p.m. on REELZ, featuring Alex Hammerstone vs. Jacob Fatu for the MLW title in a TV show that was taped Saturday night in Philadelphia. Entertainment Weekly listed MLW on REELZ on “What to Watch” for this week, which is a great publicity coup. They also got covered in OK Magazine.

Sonya Deville took seven stitches in a cut from last night’s show in Pensacola, FL, where she faced Charlotte Flair and Liv Morgan for the Smackdown women’s title. The cut was an inch from the cut at the Royal Rumble.

Prestige Wrestling at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles on 3/31 at 4 p.m. has announced Hall of Famer Aja Kong coming in to face Masha Slamovich.

DDT on 3/30 at the Ukrainian Cultural Center on 3/30 at 8 p.m. has announced Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuki Ueno.

For the Culture on 3/30 at midnight at the Ukrainian Cultural Center has announced 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Bryan Keith (who made a big splash at PWG BOLA last month with a killer match with Mike Bailey.

Damage CTRL plus Lyra Valkyria vs. Valentina Feroz have been announced for NXT tomorrow. there could be others since Raw is in Orlando so main roster talent could just stay over the next day.

2K announced today details regarding its new War Games concept in the WWE 2K23 video game.

We were sent some photos of Randy Orton from Friday6y at the Boone Center in Missouri which is a place where special needs people are set up to get jobs. He looked like he has been training for what that is worth.

The Rock made Adele’s dream come true at the Grammys.

Other Notes

The Las Vegas newspaper ran an obituary for Robert W. Heenan of Las Vegas, who was the brother of Raymond (Bobby the Brain) Heenan. We talked about Bob Heenan on the show we did with Mike Tenay about Don West. Robert was 8 1/2 months older than Raymond, but born to different mothers. Neither knew about the other until the 90s when The Brain did an ancestry hart to find out that his father’s name was Robert Heenan and he had family living in Las Vegas. He went to the door of the real Bob Heenan, well actually his wife did, and knocked on the door and they immediately all became family. Bob was a Catholic Priest who taught at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas for 15 years, but never was a teacher of either Dana White or Lorenzo Fertitta. He was the last survivor of that generation of Heenan’s. Robert died on 12/18 at the age of 77, and his funeral will be tomorrow at St. Francis of Assisi in Henderson NV at 10 a.m.

Tomorrow also marks the 39th anniversary of the death of David Von Erich.

Defy on 2/11 at Washington Hall in Seattle is sold out. Swerve Strickland defends the Defy title in the main event against Titus Alexander, plus Jon Moxley & Schaff vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Davey Richards, Vert Vixen defends the women’s title against Danika Diehard, The Second Gear Crew defends the tag titles against Midnight Heat, plus Eddie Kingston vs. Artemis Spencer and Cody Chhun vs. Nick Wayne. They also run 3/11 in Seattle with Top Flight and Kushida, and 5/5 in Tacoma.

Northeast Wrestling has announced Spring Slam on 4/15 in Poughkeepsie, NY at th Mid Hudson Civic Center with Kurt Angle as the guest star plus in the ring include Ricky Starks, Konosuke Takeshita, Matt Hardy and NZO.

Daily Update: WWE NXT, Dijak, Bellator

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

February 6, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Royal Rumble 2023 review, WWE Q4 financials notes

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Sunday Update

We’ve got two weekend shows up on the site. Our Friday show was with Adam Cole talking about all kinds of different things related to his career, his recovery from concussions, and growing up as a fan. Last night we did a show covering NXT Vengeance, the Friday shows, Fedor’s retirement and Lanny Poffo. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night covering the latest news.

Regarding the story about WWE allowing NXT talent to work indies, this is basically what we’ve heard. Shawn Michaels on the post-show press conference said that it was just a one-time favor for Booker T, that Ivy Nile will be working a show for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling show in Texas this coming Saturday night. We ere told by those in WWE that right now this only relates to Booker’s promotion. However, there are other independent promoters who have been told that if it goes well, they could open the door to working with them. Given Nick Khan has talked about a WWE sale within three months, any decision today could be completely different with new ownership anyway.

Even though it looked broken X-rays showed Dijak’s finger wasn’t broken last night.

The fast nationals for last night’s Bellator show on CBS were 928,000 viewers and an 0.15 in 18-49. This would not include the West Coast (except the Las Vegas market) which aired the show out of prime time. But the number was a major disappointment. The final number will be up a little from that number. Bu it won’t be a good number for CBS prime time. Last Saturday in the same time slot the network did 2,492,000 viewers and 0.22 in 18-49. They didn’t announce a return date which wasn’t a good sign. The show aired at different times. The actual rating won’t come out until Tuesday morning. In Providence, RI it didn’t run due to a local telethon. Las Vegas ran it on a three-hour tape delay. (thanks to Arya Witner)

We’re looking for your thoughts on these shows:
*NXT Vengeance Day from last night
*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo from Saturday
*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo from Sunday
*Stardom anniversary show in Osaka
You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE house show in Pensacola, FL, and last night’s MLW TV tapings from Philadelphia. We’re looking for results, finishes, angles, etc. to [email protected]

There was just under 5,000 tickets out for the Pensacola show tonight.

WWE results from last night in Columbus, GA:
Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa b Butch & Ridge Holland
Candice LeRae b Piper Niven with a small package
Braun Strowman & Ricochet b Ludvig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci
Gunther b Sheamus to keep the IC title
Bray Wyatt b LA Knight in a black light street fight
Charlotte Flair won over Liv Morgan and Sonya Deville to keep the Smackdown women’s title. Flair beat Deville with the figure 8
Bianca Belair b Bayley via DQ to keep the Raw women’s title when Iyo Sky interfered. Becky Lynch made the save
Belair & Lynch b Bayley & Sky when Belair pinned Bayley after the KOD
Cody Rhodes b Seth Rollins with crossroads (thanks to Jordan Ferguson)

As of earlier today, last night’s UFC show headlined by Derrick Lewis’ loss to Serghei Spivac had 200,000 searches making it the single most searched for item on the Internet. Bellator was No. 11 at 100,000. The NXT Vengeance show failed too crack the top 20, and that would be 20,000. During the week, no other item relating to wrestling, boxing or MMA hit the top 20 any other day.

For last night’s UFC, there was a controversy in the Doo Ho Choi vs. Kyle Nelson judging. Dana White said he thought Choi won. Judge Adelaide Byrd gave Choi all three rounds but with he point docked that would make it 29-27. Eric Colon had it 28-28 with Choi winning the first and Nelson the second and third even with the point docked. Chris Lee gave Choi the first, Nelson the second and had the third even with the point docked. 82 percent of the reporters cards were 29-27 for Choi.

REELZ TV has a documentary on Chyna from 9-10 p.m. I was interviewed for the piece over the summer. At 10 p.m. they have a documentary on Owen Hart and at 11 p.m. they have a documentary on Roddy Piper. This all leads up to Tuesday’s debut of MLW at 10 p.m. on the station.

Rampage right now is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Eastern on 2/17 due to NBA programming (thanks to David Wolf)

Reader Brian Mazza wrote this to us after last night’s show on Lanny Poffo:
“After listening to your podcast today with Mary Fries on Lanny Poffo, it reminded me of a very touching story from a meeting I had with him.
I was helping out a friend who managed the Pro Wrestling HOF in Amsterdam, NY. Lanny came for a signing one weekend, and I was there to help manage things with my then 4 year old twins, Sam and Sophia (they may have been 3, this was either in 2014 or 2015). Anyway, I was wearing a Boston Red Sox cap or shirt when I met Lanny, and he wanted to know my twins’ names, and all about them. He took the time to ask if we’d like to hear a poem he wrote about Boston and the Red Sox.. He started and stopped, searched for his words, acting almost a bit embarrassed he had to stop to remember something. Then it clicked for him, and he rattled off the most amazing poem about Boston, the Sox, Ted Williams, Yaz, Fenway Park, and all that goes with it’s long history. It was absolutely amazing. I didn’t know what to say other than thank him and tell him how incredible that was. He finished off with asking if he could give my daughter Sophia a kiss on the cheek, and he did. She and Sam were very shy but mesmerized by his voice and rhyme. It was something that I will always remember, mainly for how he took something so random as a Red Sox hat and he went through his mental rolodex to pull out an amazing poem he had created. Truly one of a kind, and so great to my young kids.”

Bill Goldberg and the Young Bucks have been announced for autograph signigs at WrestleCon in Los Angeles over WrestleMania weekend.

Other Notes

American X Wrestling, which is Kevin Kelly’s promotion in Allentown, PA, has announced American Dreams on 2/18 at the Hamburg Field House. One of the events will be a tug of war with the Stars of Special Olympics in Pennsylvania vs. AXW wrestlers

Amanda Leve was awarded a PFL contract in the featherweight division after beat beat Mongolia’s Naranjargal Stend-Ayush on the Friday night show. The judging panel of Randy Couture, Paige VanZant and Tyron Woodley awarded Leve a contract.

Combat FC announced hat Michelle Waterson will make her debut with the group as an announcer on this Friday’s show in Boston. The show will air on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. Eastern with Waterson working with Sean Wheelock.

House of Glory dedicated a show on Friday night in Queens, NY to Jay Briscoe with these results: Mane Event b Amazing Red & Brian XL to keep the tag titles, Mighty Mante b Nolo Kitano to keep the cruiserweight title, Violette b Viva Van to keep the women’s title , Encore won six-way over Lio Rush, Smiley, Daron Richardson, Ichiban and Raheem Royal, Low Ki b Detective James, Charles Mason b Bryan Keith to keep the Crown Jewel title, Jacob Fatu b JTG t keep the HOG title. Next show is 3/10. Kushida debuts on that show along with Fatu and The Mane Event.

Sami Callihan’s Wrestling Revolver from Friday night in Dayton, OH: Evil Uno b Jake Crist, Marina Shafir b Blair Onyx, Mike Bailey won over Madman Fulton, Gringo Loco, Jessica, Jarrett Diaz and Tyler Matrix, Wheeler Yuta b JT Dunn under Pure rules, Steve Maclin b Crash Jaxson in a no DQ match to keep the Revolver title, Ace Austin & Chis Bey b Jake Manning & Dan the Dad to win the Revolver tag titles, Billie Starkz b Allie Katch, Alex Shelley b Rich Swann to keep the Remix title, Myron Reed & Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz b Mance Warner & Manders & Matthew Justice. Next show is 3/4 n Clive, IA.

West Coast Pro from last night in San Francisco: Alan Angels & Kevin Blackwood b Chupacabra & Lazarus, Abigail Warren b Allie Katch, Super Best b Jordan Cruz, Vinnie Massaro & Bret the Threat b ?, Masha Slamovich b Brooke Havoc, Lee Moriarty & G-Rogue & Alpha Zo b Jack Cartwheel & Starboy Charlie & Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey b Vie To, Nick Wayne d Titus Alexander 30:00. There was a guy in a megaphone at the show who made a lot of noise and the promotion announced today that megaphones are banned from future shows. They announced 3/4 at the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco with Slamovich vs. Sandra Moone plus Lita as a special guest. They announced a 4/7 show featuring Aja Kong. (thanks to Joe McClelland)

Warrior Wrestling on 2/18 in Chicago at Thalia Hall has El Hijo del Vikingo defending the Lucha title against Black Taurus and Aramis in a three-way match.