Category: Daily Updates

Daily Update: Matt Riddle, Johnny Gargano, Adam Copeland

Posted on by F4W Staff

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The new Observer is out right now. Among the key stuff covered:
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The plight of the recently fired WWE wrestlers and where many can or will wind up
  • What is a key point about wrestlers who come from WWE and their ability to adapt to other companies and what things need to be considered
  • XFL/USFL merger talks and why
  • More on Terry Funk including his career title history and biggest awards, some of the biggest and most notable title change matches of his career, the only HBO wrestling special and the only time Vince McMahon did a broadcast announcing with Gordon Solie, why Funk’s proposed lengthy reign with the biggest regional title in the countr6 ended in a few weeks, the amazing Funk Brothers legacy in Japan, Funk’s NWA title reign and booking behind his biggest matches
  • Preview of the NXT & AEW shows, lots of talk by Bryan Danielson about Zack Sabre and his retirement, strange things about the show, AEW PPV airing on free TV in the U.K., and early notes on WWE Fastlane
  • Destruction in Kobe and the next few NJPW shows
  • More on the All In attendance mark
  • The dismissal of the landmark Mark Hunt suit against Dana White, UFC and Brock Lesnar and the judges ruling
  • Full UFC weekend coverage
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for the past week, the segments, the competition and where audiences were up and down
  • The KeMonito story in Mexico that is mainstream news there regarding his retirement
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Stardom Grand Prix updates
  • Junior Battle of Glory
  • Katsuhiko Nakajima update
  • How Jericho vs Takeshtia was put together
  • Two former WWE stars talk their steroid use
  • wXw major tag team tournament weekend
  • FantasticaMania notes
  • More on MLW and its relationship with CMLL and NJPW
  • GCW continues to tour overseas
  • Imapct Bound for Glory notes
  • PCO talks his departure from Impact and who Impact is looking to sign
  • Lots of thoughts on Tony Khan’s recent press conference
  • FOX and AEW comments, streaming comments, more PPV, ownership talk
  • How Dynamite changed this week and why
  • Kyle O’Reilly update
  • Title Tuesday
  • Notes on AEW DVR numbers for Grand Slam
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Jade Cargill to WWE
  • WWE back broadcasting in Japan
  • Shawn Michaels talks lots of WWE subjects
  • International TV ratings and streaming notes
  • WWE market value

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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.

Tuesday Update

WWE

AEW & Other Wrestling

  • David Bixenspan has an article detailing a sexual misconduct incident that took place in independent promotion PWX prior to Riddle signing with WWE, where he allegedly changed clothes in the women’s locker room in front of other women at a independent show, with Malia Hosaka confirming the incident.
  • “We were all in there, our show was going on,” Hosaka told Bixenspan. “I didn’t know who he was, but I was sitting with my feet propped up and eyes closed. When I opened them[,] he was on my right stripped down to his underwear and I got mad at the lack of respect from today’s generation. For him to come into the locker room to change while the women had the room[,] and to strip down and change was disrespectful. There was a bathroom down the hall that fans couldn’t get to that he could have used. [In m]y generation[,] the men and women respected each other enough to at least ask if it was ok or to ask for privacy. It pissed me off[,] and then his attitude that he had underwear on and that it wasn’t a big deal pissed me off more[,] so I told him how I felt about the lack of respect.”
  • Riddle responded to the allegations in the article. “The PWX thing wasn’t even an incident[.] [T]here was only one locker room (which isn’t uncommon on the indies unfortunately) [and] the promoter told me to change in there[,] so I did. Malia confronted me on my way out, I explained that the promoter told me to go change in there and she talked to the promoter and that was the end of it.”
  • AEW has uploaded footage showing Adam Copleland celebrating following his debut at WrestleDream.
  • Following WrestleDream, Zack Sabre Jr. has challenged Bryan Danielson to a rematch.
  • A Terry Funk mural has surfaced in Amarillo, Texas.
  • This week’s Sammy Guevara vlog.
  • NOAH has uploaded the finals of the N-1 Victory tournament where Katsuhiko Nakajima faced KENOH.
  • Nikki and Brie Garcia will host Twin Love, a new reality show that will air on Prime Video on November 17.
  • Netflix has announced that a show on the story of Japanese women’s star Dump Matsumoto will premiere on their platform in 2024.
  • The obituary for Joyce Grable, who passed away last week at 70. The stream of her funeral can be seen here.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi spoke to FanNation about being a fan of MLB player Masataka Yoshida.
  • Impact has uploaded their Bound for Glory 2006 event on YouTube.
  • Josh Alexander spoke to WhatCulture Wrestling.
  • Mike Santana joined Fightful Overbooked.

Daily Update: Becky Lynch, WWE Raw, NBA on ABC

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The new Observer is out right now. Among the key stuff covered:
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The plight of the recently fired WWE wrestlers and where many can or will wind up
  • What is a key point about wrestlers who come from WWE and their ability to adapt to other companies and what things need to be considered
  • XFL/USFL merger talks and why
  • More on Terry Funk including his career title history and biggest awards, some of the biggest and most notable title change matches of his career, the only HBO wrestling special and the only time Vince McMahon did a broadcast announcing with Gordon Solie, why Funk’s proposed lengthy reign with the biggest regional title in the countr6 ended in a few weeks, the amazing Funk Brothers legacy in Japan, Funk’s NWA title reign and booking behind his biggest matches
  • Preview of the NXT & AEW shows, lots of talk by Bryan Danielson about Zack Sabre and his retirement, strange things about the show, AEW PPV airing on free TV in the U.K., and early notes on WWE Fastlane
  • Destruction in Kobe and the next few NJPW shows
  • More on the All In attendance mark
  • The dismissal of the landmark Mark Hunt suit against Dana White, UFC and Brock Lesnar and the judges ruling
  • Full UFC weekend coverage
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for the past week, the segments, the competition and where audiences were up and down
  • The KeMonito story in Mexico that is mainstream news there regarding his retirement
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Stardom Grand Prix updates
  • Junior Battle of Glory
  • Katsuhiko Nakajima update
  • How Jericho vs Takeshtia was put together
  • Two former WWE stars talk their steroid use
  • wXw major tag team tournament weekend
  • FantasticaMania notes
  • More on MLW and its relationship with CMLL and NJPW
  • GCW continues to tour overseas
  • Imapct Bound for Glory notes
  • PCO talks his departure from Impact and who Impact is looking to sign
  • Lots of thoughts on Tony Khan’s recent press conference
  • FOX and AEW comments, streaming comments, more PPV, ownership talk
  • How Dynamite changed this week and why
  • Kyle O’Reilly update
  • Title Tuesday
  • Notes on AEW DVR numbers for Grand Slam
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Jade Cargill to WWE
  • WWE back broadcasting in Japan
  • Shawn Michaels talks lots of WWE subjects
  • International TV ratings and streaming notes
  • WWE market value

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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 talking Raw, Jade Cargill, fallout from the weekend big shows and more.

Becky Lynch wasn’t cleared for tonight’s Raw show where she was to defend the NXT title against Tegan Nox due to the nasty cut on her arm. Fightful first reported her off the show.

Raw tonight is from San Jose. The lineup isShayna Baszler vs Nia Jax, Ivar vs. Xavier Woods and a contract signing with Gunther and Tommaso Ciampa for Saturday’s Fastlane show and Miz TV with Drew McIntyre. Jey Uso vs. Damien Priest had been advertised for a few days and was pulled from advertising. As of earlier today, they were at 9,800 tickets out. It won’t be a sellout but it’s still very strong for San Jose. We’re looking for reports from tonight’s show as far as dark matches or Main Event matches or anything else not on the live show to [email protected]

We’re looking for your thoughts on AEW WrestleDream, NXT No Mercy and the Stardom Five-Star Grand Prix finals over the weekend, thumbs up, down or middle, along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

ABC, needing programming due to the actors’ strike, announced it will be airing NBA games in prime time every Wednesday night in January. This will not help the AEW ratings for January.

The Chiefs vs. Buccaneers game that went head-to-head with WrestleDream ended up doing 27 million viewers which was 25 million on television and 1.85 million on Peacock. That would be a legit reason for some of the decline in PPV from last night’s show as compared to other recent shows. It’s not the only reason.

Linton Vassell, who was scheduled to face Ryan Bader on Saturday’s Bellatior 300 show in San Diego for the Bellator heavyweight title, has pulled out of the show due to an unspecified illness. The show will continue with three title matches, Cris Cyborg vs. Cat Zingano for the women’s featherweight title, Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Brent Primus for the lightweight tiel and Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-lei Macfarlane for the women’s flyweight title. The show will air on Showtime.

A Terry Funk mural was put up in Amarillo. It looks like this

Ari Emanuel, talking Endeavor and TKO, will be participating in Bloomberg’s Screentime conference on 10/11 at 9:40 p.m. There will be a link at Bloomberg.com/live available during the event. 

Cain Velasquez has been given permission to be in Nurmagomedov’s corner in the fight. Velasquez was given court permission to attend the event and the commission gave him permission to be in the corner.

We have two more books that have been released which are the complete collections of the 1993 Wrestling Observers. There is a January to June book and a July to December book The updated list of all of our books and how to order is available at Amazon.

WWE has a FOX special airing on Sunday, which, given its going to be before or after NFL games, will likely draw a very big audience. It’s on at a different time in each market but it is built around the NFL games on FOX. New York will be 4:30 p.m. , Los Angeles is 3 p.m., San Francisco is 4:30 p.m.

For NXT tomorrow, they will be starting the women’s breakout tournament which Kelani Jordan is seemingly the woman with the biggest push right now in the tournament. Also Gigi Dolin vs. Blair Davenport and Tyler Bate & Butch vs. Mark Coffey & Wolfgang.

Aaron Bronsteter reported that UFC will be using new technology rotating digital ads on the octagon canvas during some broadcasts to get more ad revenue. The idea is to use that to advertise companies and products that are more relevant to the specific market that the viewer is watching the event from.

Stefon Diggs of the Buffalo Bills yesterday did a Steve Austin style celebration after scoring a touchdown. He is known as a fan from childhood.

Pro Wrestling Eve has a 16 woman She-1 tournament on 10/8 at The Dome in Tuffnell Park, London. There are shows at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.lm. for the one-day tournament that will include Maya Yukihi from Japan. Yukihi faces Charlie Morgan in a first round match.

AAW from Friday night in Chicago: Jake Something won over Silas Young, Gary Jay, Isaiah Moore, Levi Everett and Koa Laxamana, Mance Warner b Ren Jones, QT Marshall b Solomon Tupu to keep the Latin American title, Rob Anthony NC Silas Mason, Hartenbower b Gnaris Gavin, Conan Lycan b Joe Alnozo, Russ Jones & Schaff b Bang & Matthews and Jessie V Anthony Catena, Heather Reckless b Taylor Rising, Davey Vega b Gringo Loco to keep the AAW title (thanks to Leonard Brand)

Daily Update: AEW Collision fast nationals, WWE NXT No Mercy, WrestleDream

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The new Observer is out right now. Among the key stuff covered:
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The plight of the recently fired WWE wrestlers and where many can or will wind up
  • What is a key point about wrestlers who come from WWE and their ability to adapt to other companies and what things need to be considered
  • XFL/USFL merger talks and why
  • More on Terry Funk including his career title history and biggest awards, some of the biggest and most notable title change matches of his career, the only HBO wrestling special and the only time Vince McMahon did a broadcast announcing with Gordon Solie, why Funk’s proposed lengthy reign with the biggest regional title in the countr6 ended in a few weeks, the amazing Funk Brothers legacy in Japan, Funk’s NWA title reign and booking behind his biggest matches
  • Preview of the NXT & AEW shows, lots of talk by Bryan Danielson about Zack Sabre and his retirement, strange things about the show, AEW PPV airing on free TV in the U.K., and early notes on WWE Fastlane
  • Destruction in Kobe and the next few NJPW shows
  • More on the All In attendance mark
  • The dismissal of the landmark Mark Hunt suit against Dana White, UFC and Brock Lesnar and the judges ruling
  • Full UFC weekend coverage
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for the past week, the segments, the competition and where audiences were up and down
  • The KeMonito story in Mexico that is mainstream news there regarding his retirement
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Stardom Grand Prix updates
  • Junior Battle of Glory
  • Katsuhiko Nakajima update
  • How Jericho vs Takeshtia was put together
  • Two former WWE stars talk their steroid use
  • wXw major tag team tournament weekend
  • FantasticaMania notes
  • More on MLW and its relationship with CMLL and NJPW
  • GCW continues to tour overseas
  • Imapct Bound for Glory notes
  • PCO talks his departure from Impact and who Impact is looking to sign
  • Lots of thoughts on Tony Khan’s recent press conference
  • FOX and AEW comments, streaming comments, more PPV, ownership talk
  • How Dynamite changed this week and why
  • Kyle O’Reilly update
  • Title Tuesday
  • Notes on AEW DVR numbers for Grand Slam
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Jade Cargill to WWE
  • WWE back broadcasting in Japan
  • Shawn Michaels talks lots of WWE subjects
  • International TV ratings and streaming notes
  • WWE market value

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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 wlll be back tonight talking all the weekend news and shows and obviously with the AEW show tonight and NXT last night, there is a ton of stuff to cover. Our weekly news review show with Garrett Gonzales where we talked about the Tony Khan’s press conference, AEW big show plans, Terry Funk, and so much more is up on the site now.

I usually don’t worry about fast nationals because nobody ever talks about them once the final numbers come out, but for Collision last night they were noteworthy as it did 306,000 viewers and 0.08. The final number isn’t out until Tuesday and it will vary from this number. But the NXT and WWE Saturday shows are hurting Collision a lot, since they’ve hung tough thus far against college football. There was also the Canelo Alvarez PPV last night although I don’t know if the fight itself went against the show, but the PPV itself did. Next week wouldn’t be expected to do well either against Fastlane. It was noteworthy because you had Bryan Danielson in a main event match plus Chris Jericho & Kenny Omega as a team for the first time, so it’s not like it was a throw away show. I think the next stat to look at is how the show does with DVR numbers on these nights it goes against WWE big shows.

Regarding last night, go out of your way to see the Ilja Dragunov vs. Carmelo Hayes and Tiffany Stratton vs. Becky Lynch matches. They were two of the best WWE matches of the year. Tiffany Stratton was the talk of the show in a lot of circles.

We’re doing polls on tonight’s AEW WrestleDream show, last night’s NXT No Mercy and the Stardom Five Star Grand Prix finals, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match from each show to [email protected]

Tonight’s show starts 30 minutes earlier than usual at 6:30 p.m.. The last thing an AEW PPV show needs is another 30 minutes, but that said, the main card looks really strong from a wrestling standpoint. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr., is a legit dream match and could be among the best matches of the year, and FTR vs. Aussie Open had a match one year ago that was incredible and haven’t wrestled since. 

  • Keith Lee & Satoshi Kojima & Athena & Billie Starkz vs. Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty & Diamante & Mercedes Martinez
  • Claudio Castagnoli vs. Josh Barnett – Interesting that not once in the package last night did they mention Barnett as a former UFC champion or even as an MMA star, and was pushed a disciple of Antonio Inoki.
  • Luchasaurus vs. Nick Wayne – Wayne is of course from Everett, WA, so he’ll be the hometown favorite
  • The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defend the trios titles against Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholla & Bad Dude Tito. Tito is coming off looking great at the Destruction in Kobe show

Main card starting at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta
  • Young Bucks vs. Gunn Brothers vs. Lucha Brothers vs,. Orange Cassidy & Hook – winners get an AEW tag title shot
  • Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi & Chris Jericho vs. Will Ospreay & Sammy Guevara & Konoske Takeshita
  • Eddie Kingston vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the New Japan Strong and ROH title (the Pure title is not at stake here)
  • Kris Statlander vs. Julia Hart for the TBS title
  • MJF defends the ROH tag titles against Vincent & Dutch in a handicap match
  • FTR vs. Aussie Open for the AEW tag titles
  • Swerve Strickland vs. Adam Page – This one is very interesting because both could use the win to springboard into a title shot. Strickland is hometown so the crowd may be for him more than it would be anywhere else
  • Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – On paper this could be the best technical wrestling match of the year
  • Christian Cage vs. Darby Allin 2/3 falls for the TNT title was talked about in the countdown show as being the main event.

A lot of speculation regarding the end of an era and start of a new era promotion for tonight’s AEW show. We don’t have any answers although Edge being taken off Friday’s Smackdown open would naturally lead to conjecture, although I don’t consider that era changing. I will say that people in WWE would not be surprised to see Edge in AEW and there has been talk about it for months. But there has been nothing confirmed. Obviously some sort of a deal with WBD for streaming is another thing speculated on, as is talk of Mariah May (which is obviously not big enough for that hype but could be another addition to the roster) and Mercedes Mone (which has been expected once she’s healed up).

 For what it’s worth, the Twitter feedback we’ve had expect a lower than usual PPV number for tonight’s show. I think with it going against Sunday Night Football and with no world title match on the show, it would be down. Taylor Swift being at the game also adds to the interest in the Chiefs-Jets game and expectation of huge numbers.

Chris Jericho applied for a trademark for the term Golden Jets. Could that be for a Jericho & Omega tag team? The Golden Jet was the nickname of Bobby Hull, an NHL legend who played at the same time Jericho’s father played.

We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE house show in Stateline, NV, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

WWE results from San Francisco last night: 

  • New Day b Ludvig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci when Woods pinned Kaiser
  • Gunther b Chad Gable to retain the IC title with a power bomb after a missed moonsault by Gable
  • Nia Jax b Zoey Stark with the annihilator splash. 
  • Cody Rhodes b Damian Priest in a street fight. JD McDonagh interfered for several minutes since there was no DQ. Jey Uso made the save and brought a table into the ring and speared McDonagh into the table. Rhodes won with Cross Rhodes. Rhodes & Jey Uso asked fans to donate to Connor’s Cure as Rhodes has been doing at shows. No Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio (obviously on the NXT show) or Rhea Ripley at the show.
  • Bronson Reed b Otis with the Tsunami
  • Iyo Sky b Charlotte Flair to keep the WWE women’s title with an inside cradle off the figure four attempt.
  • Seth Rollins b The Miz with a curb stomp to keep the world title (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

For Google Trends this week, Bad Bunny was No 15 today regarding rumors of a romance with Kendall Jenner. Last night’s Canelo Alvaerz fight did 2 million searches which is more than any combat sports event in a long time, far above WrestleMania or any UFC show. That would seem to indicate a big buy number. Nothing else related to boxing, pro wrestling or MMA made the top 20 any day this week. UFC didn’t have a show yesterday. NXT normally doesn’t crack the top 20 so that’s not a negative sign.

The Western Australian had an article yesterday regarding the Western Australian tourism council expecting $100 million in economy coming to Perth for a Coldplay concert ($68 million for two November shows) and WWE Elimination Chamber ($33 million). The tourism board noted that UFC 288 in February brought in 8,500 tourists and a $6 million gate, the largest indoor arena event gate ever in Australia, breaking the Rolling Stones record set in 2014. The board is attempting to make Perth the tourist capital of Australia.

El Hijo del Vikingo did a show last night in Dallas. He has been hurting. AAA has a big show today in Guadalajara and Vikingo is advertised for that one. 

For NXT on Tuesday, they’ve announced Gigi Dolin vs. Blair Davenport, Tyler Bate & Butch vs. Mark Coffey & Wolfgang and the start of the women’s breakout tournament.

Raw tomorrow has Jey Uso vs. Damien Priest, Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler (Jax is going to kill everyone until she faces Rhea Ripley most likely), Ivar vs. Xavier Woods, Becky Lynch vs. Tegan Nox for the NXT women’s title and a Gunther/Tommaso Ciampa contract signing. Drew McIntyre will be on Miz TV a second week in a row.

Women’s wrestling sold out the Yokohama Budokan (about 2,600 seats) yesterday and today. The Stardom Grand Prix finals, won by Suzu Suzuki over Maika, was on Saturday. The Crash Gals 40th anniversary show was today. The Crush Gals didn’t wrestle on the show but did a talk show and sang. There were wrestling legends on the show in matches including Jaguar Yokota, Aja Kong, and current star Sareee.

I haven’t seen the shows, but have heard that the Grand Prix finals were very good, particularly Suzuki vs. Maika where Suzuki won with a sky twister press. Also heard Friday’s Arena Mexico Noche de Campeones was strong. As far as best matches, the Suzuki-Maika match we’ve heard some talk of but the best match talk so far this weekend came from the top two matches at NXT last night.

Thanks to Rohit Sroya for the report from Sacramento and Tim Kelly for the report from last night in Seattle.. 

MLW announced B3CCA has pulled out of her featherweight title challenge to Delmi Exo on 10/14 in Philadelphia and that Exo will defend against “The Phantom Challenger.”

Pure Pro Wrestling from last night in Battle Creek, MI: Jackson Levine over Logan Link & Ethan J, Facade b Colin Jamse, Abdul Hakeem & Drake b Father Time & Tank in a tag tourney match, Tenshi won over Heather Blue and Khaos, Kongo Kong won Battle Royal, Al Snow & Head & Eric Smalls b Dylan Night & Nick Xero & Mr. One Night Only, Kongo Kong b Hernandez, Aaron Orion & Cody Manning b Zach Gowen & Kerry Morton, Alex Hammerstone b Chris Masters, James Storm & Gideon Malice b The Nomads, Dylan Derringer b Silas Young, Katie Forbes b Alexis Royal, Rob Van Dam b Brian Cage. Dan Severn was scheduled to wrestle and was there at the fan fest but was injured and couldn’t wrestle (thanks to Leonard Brand)

Stardom did a similar angle to AEW on today’s show as a group of women in disguise attacked Mayu Iwatani after Iwatani lost a non-title match with AZM.

AIW has a show called Boogey Nights with the Boogeyman appearing on Saturday night at the Tadmor Shrine in Akron, OH.

Mike Santana vs. Rocky Romero will headline the 10/13 House of Glory show at the NYC Arena in New York. Minoru Suzuki vs Charles Mason and Leila Grey vs. Kiki Van Gogh are also on the show.

Daily Update: SmackDown ratings, WrestleDream, Brie Garcia

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The new Observer is out right now. Among the key stuff covered:
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The plight of the recently fired WWE wrestlers and where many can or will wind up
  • What is a key point about wrestlers who come from WWE and their ability to adapt to other companies and what things need to be considered
  • XFL/USFL merger talks and why
  • More on Terry Funk including his career title history and biggest awards, some of the biggest and most notable title change matches of his career, the only HBO wrestling special and the only time Vince McMahon did a broadcast announcing with Gordon Solie, why Funk’s proposed lengthy reign with the biggest regional title in the countr6 ended in a few weeks, the amazing Funk Brothers legacy in Japan, Funk’s NWA title reign and booking behind his biggest matches
  • Preview of the NXT & AEW shows, lots of talk by Bryan Danielson about Zack Sabre and his retirement, strange things about the show, AEW PPV airing on free TV in the U.K., and early notes on WWE Fastlane
  • Destruction in Kobe and the next few NJPW shows
  • More on the All In attendance mark
  • The dismissal of the landmark Mark Hunt suit against Dana White, UFC and Brock Lesnar and the judges ruling
  • Full UFC weekend coverage
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for the past week, the segments, the competition and where audiences were up and down
  • The KeMonito story in Mexico that is mainstream news there regarding his retirement
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Stardom Grand Prix updates
  • Junior Battle of Glory
  • Katsuhiko Nakajima update
  • How Jericho vs Takeshtia was put together
  • Two former WWE stars talk their steroid use
  • wXw major tag team tournament weekend
  • FantasticaMania notes
  • More on MLW and its relationship with CMLL and NJPW
  • GCW continues to tour overseas
  • Imapct Bound for Glory notes
  • PCO talks his departure from Impact and who Impact is looking to sign
  • Lots of thoughts on Tony Khan’s recent press conference
  • FOX and AEW comments, streaming comments, more PPV, ownership talk
  • How Dynamite changed this week and why
  • Kyle O’Reilly update
  • Title Tuesday
  • Notes on AEW DVR numbers for Grand Slam
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Jade Cargill to WWE
  • WWE back broadcasting in Japan
  • Shawn Michaels talks lots of WWE subjects
  • International TV ratings and streaming notes
  • WWE market value

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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.

Saturday Update

WWE

  • The opening video for tonight’s NXT No Mercy event is a throwback to WWE’s classic No Mercy video game.
  • SmackDown averaged 2.16 million viewers in the fast national ratings last night. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.5.
  • In a post-SmackDown dark match, Seth Rollins retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Gunther by disqualification. Rollins hit a stomp and was going for the pin when Imperium attacked him. Imperium then tried to put Rollins through a table, but he fought them off. Rollins gave Ludwig Kaiser a Pedigree and then powerbombed Giovanni Vinci through a table.
  • There was also a dark match last night where John Cena defeated Dominik Mysterio.
  • A video package aired on SmackDown highlighting some of the news coverage that Jade Cargill signing with WWE received.
  • Austin Theory, Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits, and Damage CTRL appeared on The SmackDown LowDown.
  • ComicBook Nation interviewed Tiffany Stratton.
  • Ilja Dragunov was the guest on WWE After the Bell this week.
  • Dragunov discussed the impact Gunther has had on his career:
          • There’s only one thing, and the one thing I can say is I would never be the person I am today without him. Not even slightly. There’s not one person to push me that hard, who shaped me this way, who taught me. The only reason that I am this good right now and making a name for myself is because of him. There’s not one person like him. There’s no Ilja Dragunov without Gunther.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Our Josh Nason previewed the card for AEW WrestleDream.
  • The full Countdown to WrestleDream preview special is available on AEW’s YouTube channel.
  • Tony Khan posted last night: “Sometimes, in awe struck gratitude, I can’t believe I’m able to work in wrestling. Tonight’s one of those times. You won’t want to miss #AEWWrestleDream. If you’re in Seattle, I promise you a great show + if you can’t be here, join us on ppv on Sunday for the start of a new era”
  • AEW star Swerve Strickland turns 33 years old today.
  • Strickland was a guest on the Under the Ring and Battleground podcasts.
  • Slam Wrestling interviewed “Speedball” Mike Bailey ahead of his match against Will Ospreay at Impact Wrestling’s Bound for Glory PPV later this month.
  • Cultaholic’s Tom Campbell will be the ring announcer for Impact Wrestling’s UK Invasion tour this October.
  • Brie Garcia (the former Brie Bella) noted that she plans on wrestling again once her son Buddy grows up a little more: “I will….waiting for Buddy to grow a little more. The great thing is there’s so many companies with great opponents!!! I’d loved to wrestle Saraya again, Brit Baker…..love to go wrestle Trin (Trinity)…Can’t wait to see her and (Mickie James) in action…..first on my list is The IIconics…wrestle them In Australia would be amazing!”
  • Mariah May spoke to the crowd following her final match for Stardom: “Today was my last match. Thank you everyone! I love Japan, I love Stardom, I love everyone! Don’t forget about me! Club Venus is here! Mariah May was here! See you!”
  • “Kayfabe” is one of 690 new words that Merriam-Webster has added to its dictionary:
          • kayfabe noun 1 : the tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events, stories, characters, etc., are genuine; broadly : tacit agreement to behave as if something is real, sincere, or genuine when it is not 2 : the playacting involved in maintaining kayfabe

Daily Update: Vince McMahon, WWE SmackDown, AEW Collision

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The new Observer is out right now. Among the key stuff covered:
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • The plight of the recently fired WWE wrestlers and where many can or will wind up
  • What is a key point about wrestlers who come from WWE and their ability to adapt to other companies and what things need to be considered
  • XFL/USFL merger talks and why
  • More on Terry Funk including his career title history and biggest awards, some of the biggest and most notable title change matches of his career, the only HBO wrestling special and the only time Vince McMahon did a broadcast announcing with Gordon Solie, why Funk’s proposed lengthy reign with the biggest regional title in the countr6 ended in a few weeks, the amazing Funk Brothers legacy in Japan, Funk’s NWA title reign and booking behind his biggest matches
  • Preview of the NXT & AEW shows, lots of talk by Bryan Danielson about Zack Sabre and his retirement, strange things about the show, AEW PPV airing on free TV in the U.K., and early notes on WWE Fastlane
  • Destruction in Kobe and the next few NJPW shows
  • More on the All In attendance mark
  • The dismissal of the landmark Mark Hunt suit against Dana White, UFC and Brock Lesnar and the judges ruling
  • Full UFC weekend coverage
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for the past week, the segments, the competition and where audiences were up and down
  • The KeMonito story in Mexico that is mainstream news there regarding his retirement
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Stardom Grand Prix updates
  • Junior Battle of Glory
  • Katsuhiko Nakajima update
  • How Jericho vs Takeshtia was put together
  • Two former WWE stars talk their steroid use
  • wXw major tag team tournament weekend
  • FantasticaMania notes
  • More on MLW and its relationship with CMLL and NJPW
  • GCW continues to tour overseas
  • Imapct Bound for Glory notes
  • PCO talks his departure from Impact and who Impact is looking to sign
  • Lots of thoughts on Tony Khan’s recent press conference
  • FOX and AEW comments, streaming comments, more PPV, ownership talk
  • How Dynamite changed this week and why
  • Kyle O’Reilly update
  • Title Tuesday
  • Notes on AEW DVR numbers for Grand Slam
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Jade Cargill to WWE
  • WWE back broadcasting in Japan
  • Shawn Michaels talks lots of WWE subjects
  • International TV ratings and streaming notes
  • WWE market value

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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 just did our week in review show. We talked about the big shows this weekend, Tony Khan’s press conference and upcoming AEW business, Terry Funk and Abdullah the Butcher in Japan, Destruction in Kobe, Roman Reigns and Jade Cargill and so much more. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night covering the big weekend shows.

Joyce Grable, who we’ve talked about a few times this week on shows, unfortunately passed away earlier today at the age of 70. Grable was part of the Fabulous Moolah’s stable and worked regularly during the 70s and into the early 80s and was world women’s tag team champions with both Wendi Richter and Vicki Williams.

Curtis Smith, who was part of The Infernos tag team, passed away on Monday at the age of 80. He was living in Carrollton, GA. His older brother was a pro wrestler, Rocky Smith, and they were The Infernos managed by J.C. Dykes. He had many other names including The Blue Inferno and the Blue Yankee. He ended up working in the fire department after his wrestling career was over. We’ll have a story on him in the next issue but the Infernos were a top tag team in many territories during the 60s and 70s.

Daniel Cormier, Kevin Jackson and Drew Brees were announced as 2024 inductees into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Cormier and Jackson are the first amateur wrestlers ever inducted into that Hall of Fame. Cormier was UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion. Kevin Jackson was an Olympic gold medalist who later went into MMA He fought Frank Shamrock for the first UFC middleweight championship, with Shamrock winning in 13 seconds.

Vince McMahon has agreed to personally pay $2 million to the plaintiffs’ attorneys as part of a lawsuit against himself and WWE. It was a stockholders lawsuit about changing of bylaws that allowed McMahon to return with more power. The bylaws that the company was sued on were changed back, thus making the lawsuit moot. The suit was also regarding money the company had paid for the investigation into Vince McMahon. Since McMahon paid the company the $17.4 million in investigation costs back, that was also moot and the suit was dropped. Because those things were not moot at the filling of the suit, the plaintiffs did get their legal fees reimbursed, not by the company but by Vince individually.

WWE Smackdown tonight is from Sacramento,CA. Rey Mysterio vs. Santos Escobar for the U.S. title and Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley have been announced , plus The Grayson Waller Effect with Bobby Lashley. The show is sold out with 12,648 tickets out as of earlier today. That’s three sellouts in the last four WWE TV shows and four in the last six shows period. These are all doing record gates in most cities.

We got actual match-by-match numbers for Collision on Friday. The big upswing in viewers was both the Julia Hart vs,. Kiera Hogan (601,000/265,000 18-49) and Andrade vs. Jay White (611,000/263,00 18-49) matches. It appears the growth was during halftime of the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game, which explains it. The Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks main event while the game was on did 577,000 viewers and 240,000 in 18-49. Another key is the change in the audience itself as the show went on. The Luchasaurus vs Chrsitian vs. Darby Allin match did 62.9 percent male fans, the highest percentage of women on the show. Males grew greatly, especially during halftime as White vs. Andrade was 79.5 percent male and the FTR vs Workhorsemen was 81.3 percent male. Danielson vs.Starks was 76.3 percent. Usually AEW is 67 to 70 percent male so this was well above usual.

Impact did well above usual 126,000 viewers and 0.03 in 18-49 last night. It was the most viewers for the show since 7/27.

CMLL has Noche de Campeones (Night of Champions) tonight at Arena Mexico with fans voting on who faces the different champions. The lineup is in the Observer but the big match is Titan defending the CMLL welterweight title against Mascara Dorda. This could be one of the best matches of the year in Mexico. 

AAA has Heroes Inmortales,one of its big events of the year, tomorrow night in Zapopan, which is in the Guadalaja region. In the Observer I mistakenly wrote it was in Ciudad Juarez. It’s at Arena Benito Juarez but that’s in Zapopan and I’ve been in that area, which is a 12,000 seater that resembles the old Sam Houston Coliseum. El Hjio del Vikingo & Myzteziz vs. Dralistico & Bestia del Ring and Alberto el Patron & Octagon Jr vs. QT Marshall & Sam Adonis are the headliners. I have no idea if Vikingo will actually be wrestling due to his hip injury.

In the Observer this week when mentioning the most popular foreign stars in Japan in reference to Terry Funk, we inadvertently left off The Destroyer, who would be near the top, particularly mainstream. Rikidozan vs. Destroyer did a 64.0 rating for theri 1963 match which is much bigger than a Super Bowl game in the U.S. Destroyer was also part of a very popular comedy television show in Japan during the 70s. As far as mainstream, he would have been more famous than people like Stan Hansen, Andre the Giant, The Funks and Bruiser Brody.

The long Five Star Grand Prix tournament from Stardom ends with the finals at 3 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning from the Yokohama Budokan. The show airs on PPV live and will be on Stardom World in a few days. The final night matches are Mina Shirakawa vs. Saori Aou, Mariah May vs. Hanan, AZM vs. Momo Watanabe, Mirai vs. Maika, Hazuki vs. Natsuko Tora, Syuri vs. Ami Sohrei, Tam Nakano vs. Natsupoi and Mayu Iwatani vs Starlight Kid.

Rey Mysterio will be on Kevin Hart’s Cold as Balls podcast on Tuesday. Mysterio will also be a presenter at the 2023 Latin Billboard Music Awards show on Thursday which airs on Telemundo.

Entertainment Weekly had a story on Heels and showrunner Mike O’Malley is looking to keep the show alive on another station after STARZ canceled it last week. He said that some of the cast is under contract so if the show continues they would be back.

Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT:

  • The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defend the trios titles against Hardys & Brother Zay
  • Eddie Kingston vs. Rocky Romero for the New Japan Strong title – we were told this was a very good match
  • The Righteous vs. Gunner & Caleb Crush
  • Hikaru Shida vs. Ruby Soho – winner faces Saraya on 10/10 for the AEW women’s title

Tyson Fury and Olekandr Usyk have reached an agreement for a boxing heavyweight title unification match. The tentative but not finalized date for the PPV show is 12/23 in Saudi Arabia. Fury first faces Francis Ngannou of MMA fame on 10/28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one week before WWE goes to Riyadh.

HOLA listed the top 100 Latina powerhouses and Zelina Vega was featured on that list.

WWE announced they will have a Fastlane store in Indianapolis on Level 2 of the Circle Centre Mall. There will be merchandise and meet and greets next Friday at 4:30 p.m. with Shinsuke Nakamura, next Saturday at Noon with Santos Esobar and next Sunday at 11 a.m. with Iyo Sky. The store will be open Friday and Saturday as well as Sunday morning after the show.

There is no UFC show this weekend after 17 straight Saturdays with a show. UFC will return on 10/7, a night that will include WWE Fastlane and AEW Collision besides all the college football.

The biggest MMA show will be a PFL Europe playoff show on Saturday night in Paris, France. The show airs in Europe on DAZN but will not air on TV or be streamed in the U.S.

Impact will be doing a Gut Check for U.K. talent scouring them on 10/25 in Glasgow, Scotland and 10/29 in Coventry, England. You can register for the tryout here.

Stardom had a New Blood show today in Tokyo: Hanan won a three-way over Kizuna Tanaka and Hanako (Tanaka is the daughter of wrestlers Minoru Tanaka and Yumi Fukawa), Ruaka b Lady C , Thekla won three-way over Sexy Dynamite Princess (Mariah May under a mask) and Waka Tsukiyama, Tan Nakano b Yuna Mizumori, Nanae Takahashi b Mei Seira, Rina b Azusa Inba to keep the Future of Stardom title. The next New Blood show will be Christmas Day.

Combate Global runs at 7:30 pm. Saturday night from Miami on Paramount+ and later that night on Univision where it continues to draw very good numbers with younger viewers. The main event features Henry Beltran (1-0) vs. Anthony Jagel (0-0-) Jagel is an undefeated amateur who wrestled at Notre Dame College (not Notre Dame University).

Bobby Fulton is running a show Saturday at the OU-Shoemaker Center in Chillicothe, OH. There will be a fan fest from Noon to 5 p.m. with Bret Hart, Jim Duggan, Meng, Barbarian, Mark Henry, Godfather, D-Lo Brown, Ted DiBiase, Mike Rotunda, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, Austin Idol, Tommy Rich, Downtown Bruno, Rikishi, Nick Aldis Victoria and more. There will also be a Q&A session with Duggan, Rich, Bill Eadie, Barry Darsow and Bobby Fulton. Plus at 7 p.m. there will be a show with Nick Aldis vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. as the main event.

MCW on 10/13 at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD

Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling presents Legends never Die on 10/6 in Newark, CA at the Pavilion featuring a meet and greet with Mick Foley, plus The Freaks vs. Too Fresh vs Honor Society, QT Marshall vs. Vinne Massaro, Aaron Solo & John Morrison vs Jacob Fatu & Starboy Charlie, Big Fonz vs JR Kratos, Su Yung vs. Viva Van and more.

Daily Update: Becky Lynch, Manu, Kenny Omega

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Topics covered in this loaded issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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.

Wednesday Update

WWE

  • The New York post asked Becky Lynch what becoming NXT Women’s Champion meant to her:
          • It very much wasn’t about checking boxes. It was one of those things where there was a little bit of proving to myself how far I’ve come along, writing those wrongs of the past, being very much seen as the fourth Horsewomen. Being in line for title shots in NXT out of circumstances, but not because I was actually the one, but because I happened to be there at the right time. So being able to go back and win that and feel like I vindicated my younger self is very, very nice. But really I think the main thing for me is elevating the NXT title, elevating the NXT brand and being able to work with the younger talent that will have the opportunity to go for a main event of WrestleMania, things that weren’t in place when I was in NXT.
          • I feel like when I’m able to do that, when I’m able to work with these women that want to go there then it only brings them up. It only elevates them. It only shows them what they’re missing, that they have to do. And then it shows me how good the future is and that makes me excited and at times puts a little bit of chip on my shoulder and lets me know I’m still the top dog around here and I’m gonna fight all of y’all.
  • Lynch also discussed being able to work with up-and-coming wrestlers in NXT:
          • I love being able to be in that position. I love getting to work with different people and people that are hungry, people that are trying to come up and be great and trying to impart whatever knowledge that I have.
          • When we were coming up, myself, Charlotte, Sasha [Banks], Bayley, with all credit to the women who had been here as great as they were they have never been in the spots that we have been in. Seth Rollins was able to work with John Cena. John Cena was able to work with Edge and all these people got to learn from people that have been in the spots that they want to get into. We never had all of that. We were kind of learning as we go, learning from each other. I think getting to be in the ring with people who have been where you want to go accelerated that process.
  • Roman Reigns has been announced for WWE’s house show at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday, October 14. It’s advertised that Reigns will defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Sami Zayn.
  • Jade Cargill told SI FanNation about the goals she has in WWE:
          • I understand what I’m here for. I want to capture gold and I want to headline WrestleMania, but none of that is handed out. I want to work to create those phenomenal moments. I want to have marquee matches, I want to get people talking, and I want to create something bigger than myself.
          • I came here to work with the best women’s wrestlers in the world. That’s what I am here for. I would have never embarked on this journey if it weren’t for the leadership qualities this company has. The phenomenal coaching staff, too. I want to come in, get even better, make people’s mouths drop, and have these dream matches. I want to pull people into wrestling. I want to pull people from the outside into wrestling, and I want to get them to stay.
  • Mickie James thinks it would benefit Cargill to spend some time in NXT:
          • I think it would benefit her greatly to spend some time in that system, because she has learned on TV.. she has learned on AEW TV. There are two different locker rooms, they’re ran two different ways, the companies are ran two entirely different ways.
          • It’s like going from here in the US wrestling to Japan. A lot of people need to spend some time, work the dojos, all that stuff, before they just go over and become a star, because it’s two different.. apples and oranges, two different things.
  • Grayson Waller told The Ringer Wrestling Show that no one in NXT knew who Nigel McGuinness was besides him and Andre Chase:
          • No one knew who Nigel McGuinness was [at NXT]. There was two people – myself, Andre Chase. So Nigel McGuinness would sit backstage at NXT shows and no one will go talk to him. Me and Andre Chase would go and sit with him and we would pester him because we know Nigel. We know how good Nigel is…They thought he was a commentator. They thought he was a commentator. These dumb shotputters from Arizona State or wherever had no idea. So me and Andre Chase, we get like basically like a seminar with Nigel McGuinness whenever we want it you know, it was a treat. I missed having him around. He always had really strong advice, like real advice. No, he wouldn’t mess around, he’s not faking me out in a ‘good job buddy.’ Like he’s going to tell me how it is, that’s what I always enjoy.
  • Episode two of Scarlett and Shotzi’s Chamber of Horrors series is now available on WWE’s YouTube channel. Scarlett, Shotzi, and Karrion Kross “spend the night at Bobby Mackey’s Music World, the most haunted night club in America.”
  • Muscle and Health has a story on Liv Morgan. In the interview, Morgan confirmed that she’s out of action with an injury:
          • I’m actually out injured right now and aside from healing up, my focus has been on my nutrition, so it’s been really exciting honing in on that. I want to come back in the very best shape of my life, so right now, I am eating clean, tons of fresh fruits and veggies. I’m basing my carb intake on the amount of physicality and energy I expend each day. I do believe life is about balance, though, so I still order a cheeky little dessert with dinner sometimes.
  • Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley, and The Street Profits appeared on WWE’s The Bump this afternoon.
  • WWE wished Cathy Kelley a happy 35th birthday.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help Manu (Afa Anoa’i Jr.) after he was hospitalized last weekend. Manu has “a severe and unexpected complex cardiac issue.”
          • I am writing to ask for help for my brother and hero, Afa Anoa’i Jr. He is currently fighting for his life at the moment. Afa was rushed to the hospital on Saturday, September 23rd finding out that he has a severe and unexpected complex cardiac issue. He went through many tests and major cardiac procedures. His heart injection fraction is only working at 35% and his heart is filling with fluid by the hours. Afa has an extremely long road to recovery. He has major medical bills, and medications needed. So we are asking for any help that you can give. My brother is so young and unexplainable for him to be going through this is at 38 years old. Afa has two amazing and bright children that need their father. Afa has such a vibrant and loving personality, and has always been there for those in need. Afa always has been that guy to go above and beyond for everyone, and is loved by many.
          • Any medical crisis like this always entails major medical expenses for both him and his family. So we are fundraising to ensure that Afa and his family have the support they need to defray those expenses, and also put Afa on the road to recovery. Anyone who knows my brother Afa, knows what an extraordinary person he is. At this time, I ask that we show up for him the way that he would always show up for us.
  • Kenny Omega criticized how some fans have reacted to Jade Cargill leaving AEW for WWE: “This may be news to a lot of fans out there,but when one wrestler goes from one company to another, we tend to always wish them the best and cheer for them while they embark on their new journey. Genuinely. It’s embarrassing and shameful that some fans aren’t capable of the same.”
  • The Acclaimed and Swerve Strickland posted pictures with University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders.
  • Albert El Patron is replacing Penta El Zero Miedo at Lucha Libre AAA’s Heroes Inmortales show this Sunday. Penta is missing the AAA show because it’s on the same day as AEW WrestleDream.
  • Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner & Matthew Justice) will face The Calling (Cannonball & Talon) in a Chamber of Horrors match at MLW Slaughterhouse on Saturday, October 14. The show is airing live on Fite+.
  • Leon Slater has been announced for Impact Wrestling’s UK Invasion tour. It’s taking place from October 26-29.
  • Gabbi Tuft was a guest on Talk is Jericho.
  • AEW wrestler Leyla Hirsch turns 27 years old today.

Daily Update: Jade Cargill, Carmelo Hayes, Kemonito

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Topics covered in this loaded issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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.

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Recommended Articles

Tuesday Update

WWE

  • WWE shared pictures of Jade Cargill training at the WWE Performance Center on Tuesday.
  • Grayson Waller, Kayla Braxton, and Cathy Kelly all congratulated Cargill on signing with the WWE.
  • In an interview with Uproxx, Carmelo Hayes talked about not adapting to a cruiserweight vs. heavyweight mentality. “One time one of my coaches here, he said when you watch Shawn Michaels versus the Undertaker, you’re not looking at big guy, little guy,” he said. “If you really think back on it, you’re just looking at an icon, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker,” Hayes tells Uproxx Sports ahead of Saturday’s No Mercy live event. “So, it’s the same energy. I don’t try and carry myself like a cruiserweight. On paper, yeah, I’m a cruiserweight. But in the ring, you’re not going to get that type of energy from me at all. I’m just as big as whoever my opponent is. And that’s kind of the mindset that I walk into every match with.”
  • Full matches added to WWE’s YouTube page today include Tajiri vs. Rey Mysterio from No Mercy 2003, Asuka vs. Nikki Cross in a Last Woman Standing match from the June 28, 2017 edition of NXT, and Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest vs. Sheamus in a United States title match on the August 30, 2021 edition of Raw.
  • Rey Mysterio will appear on Kevin Hart’s Cold as Balls YouTube show on October 3.
  • Grayson Waller spoke to Sporting News Australia about returning to his home country for the Elimination Chamber event in Perth next year.
  • A first look at Argyle, a film featuring John Cena that will be released in 2024.

AEW

Other Wrestling

  • The Iron Claw, the film based on the lives of the Von Erich family, will be released in theaters on December 20.
  • Teddy Hart is next expected in court on 10/19 in Florida over his possession of ecstasy and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
  • ‘Cancel Starz’ was trending on X Tuesday morning following news that Heels was canceled on the network after two seasons.
  • Kemonito held a press conference on Monday and announced that he has left CMLL and would take legal action to keep the trademark to the name Kemonito. CMLL later confirmed that Jesus Juarez Rosales, the real name of Kemonito, had departed the company.
  • Impact has announced Throwback Throwdown 4 on November 11 in Toronto at the Don Kolov Arena.
  • Yuya Uemura wrote on Twitter after getting the ‘fired’ briefcase in the feast or fired match on a recent episode of Impact Wrestling: Thank you and good bye @IMPACTWRESTLING I’m available all over the world. You can message me for booking. #YUYAUEMURA”
  • Added to GCW’s event in Japan on October 10 is Masa Slamovich taking on Unagi Sayaka.

Daily Update: WWE Raw, AEW Collision, Mariah May

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Topics covered in this loaded issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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 and all the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio.

Raw tonight id from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA, which sold out as soon as tickets were put on sale months ago with just under 8,000. Finn Balor & Damian Priest defend the tag titles against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Dominik Mysterio defends the North American title against Dragon Lee in his main roster debut, Otis vs. Bronson Reed, Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ludvig Kaiser and they will build the next Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match which presumably is on Fastlane. They should start getting matches put together given the show is 12 days away.

Collision is going to have a tough go in the ratings since the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game on NBC did the network’s largest viewership for a regular season college football game since 1993. The game averaged 10.5 million viewers, peaked at over 14 million (after Collision was over) and did 605,000 streaming, so a 94 percent television and six percent streaming breakdown. Collision numbers come out tomorrow morning.

A note from last night’s show, we talked about Mariah May finishing up with Stardom. Her last show is the PPV show this coming Saturday, not this past Saturday. Saturday is the finals of the Five Star Grand Prix tournament.

Tomorrow’s NXT show has a contract signing for Camerlo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov for Saturday in Bakersfield, Eddy Thorpe vs. Dijak in a strap match Baron Corbin vs. Josh Briggs, Trick Williams vs. Joe Gacy, Blair Davenport vs Gigi Dolin, Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. Lucien Price & Bronco Nima, Butch vs. Joe Coffey (winner faces Noam Dar for the Heritage title in Bakersfield, CA on Friday and Becky Lynch and Tiffany Stratton are both appearing.

We’re looking for reports from Raw tonight in Ontario, CA (Main Event matches and anything not on the live show) and from yesterday’s house show in Fresno, CA, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

We’re also looking for your thoughts on yesterday’s Destruction in Kobe show from New Japan, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]

Nate Diaz rep Zach Rosenfeld reported to a number of news sources that all charges against Diaz for a street in New Orleans against Rodney Peterson have been dropped. Rosenfeld said after reviewing the evidence that the video of the incident made it clear Diaz was acting in self defense. The District Attorney’s office just wrote that there was not sufficient support to prove the alleged crime.

Voting closes on Saturday for the 15th annual Fights Only World MMA Awards. The top nominees for the key awards are:Charles Mask Lewis Fighter of the Year: Leon Edwards, Aljamain Sterling, Israel Adesanya, Isam Makhachvev and Sadibou Sy.Female Fighter of the Year: Alexa Grasso, Amanda Nunes, Larissa Pacheco, Seiki Izawa and Liz Carmouche.Fight of the Year: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiaiev, Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler, Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Brennan Ward vs. Sabah Homasi and Matt Schnell vs. Su Mudarerji

Piers Morgan of CNN said that his interview with Dana White has been viewed two million times on YouTube, making it one of the ten most viewed video on his YouTube channel since its launch. The video was put up ten days ago.

The CBC in Canada has a story on the death of Emil Dupree, the longtime promoter in Eastern Canada

Exodus Pro Wrestling and the NWA run Double Down on 10/7 in Cleveland at the Tree Lawn with Certified Luke Curtis vs. Thom Latimer, plus EC 3 will team with J-Rocc & Rex Brody vs. Thrillblly & Kerry Morton, plus Mims and Atticus Cogar are on the show.

Prestige Wrestling from Sunday in Los Angeles at the Globe Theater: Sonico b Gregorhty Sharpe, Johnnie robbie b Shazza McKenzie, Alan Angels won four-way over Diego Hill, TravisWilliams and Jordan Cruz, Moose b Galendo del Mal (son of Dr. Wagner Jr.), Lee Moriarty b Jonathan Gresham, Tom Lawler b Vinnie Massaro, Titus Alexander b Rey Horus, Trish Adora b Shoko Nakajioma, Mike Bailey b Breeze. They announced an all women’s show at the Globe Theater on 12/14 called Combat Princess with Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, Rika Tatsumi (all from Tokyo Joshi Pro) along with Sandra Moone, Taya Valkyrie, Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich.

Championship Wrestling from Memphis takes place tonight at the Mid South Fair with Tommy Dreamer.

WWC has a PPV on Fite TV on Saturday from Bayamon, PR with a boxer vs wrestler match with Xavant, a wrestler against boxer Juanma Lopez under boxing rules. Eddie Colon, Jacob Fatu and Ray Gonzalez are headliners.

Maven returns to the ring on Friday night in Totowa,. NJ at the Totowa PAL facing Rich Reed, the company’s ring announcer, in a tuxedo match. The show also features guest appearances by Sgt. Slaughter and Marty Jannetty as its the 25th anniversary of the promotion. 

There is also a Saturday wrestling convention at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, NJ at 10 a.m. with Kevin Nash, The Dudleys, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Slaughter and Afa the Samoan.

Daily Update: LA Knight, Vikingo, Rick Boogs

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Topics covered in this loaded issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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 Alvarez and I will be back tonight talking all the news of the past several days and there has been a ton of it. The weekend WOR with Garrett Gonzales talking the business news and the past week’s Observer are up on the site now for subscribers.
  • I did an episode of Talk is Jericho after the death of Terry Funk that is now available.
  • The Los Angeles Times had a front page story yesterday on Vince McMahon, some of which was covered in this week’s WON.
  • We have four new books released early for the Christmas season that are available on Amazon. There are two on the year 1989 with the WONs that are not available on the site due to the fact they were done on a typewriter. Additionally, we have books on 2000 which includes the full Observers for that year as well as a yearbook with all the major news stories of the year written as the year was going on.
  • El Hijo del Vikingo didn’t wrestle at last night’s AAA show in Mexico City. He was to defend the AAA Mega title against Komander but instead, they had a match for the AAA Cruiserweight title that Rey Fenix vacated some time back as he couldn’t go to Mexico for a long time to establish residency in the U.S. Komander won a multi-person match to win that championship.
  • Nothing from WWE this past week, nor the cuts of talent or any of the news from SmackDown rights, cracked the top 20 in Google searches for this week. Yesterday’s UFC show didn’t either. The only related thing that did was Hulk Hogan was No. 20 today due to getting married.

WWE

  • On Saturday, WWE had its third biggest U.S. house show of 2023 as far as attendance for a sold-out show in Palm Desert, CA. After no sellouts since June, there have been sold-out shows on the West Coast the past two weekends. Here’s the results, courtesy of Shannon Walsh:

    Becky Lynch defeated Tiffany Stratton to retain the NXT Women’s title with the Manhandle slam; Gunther defeated Chad Gable to retain the WWE Intercontinental title after a power bomb; MVP and Omos came out for a VIP Lounge segment with Cody Rhodes as a guest. Dominik Mysterio came out and this led to a street fight; Cody Rhodes defeated Dominik Mysterio with the Cross Rhodes. MVP and Omos both interfered. Omos went to spear Rhodes and crashed into a table and then Rhodes used the Cross Rhodes on Dominik; Bronson Reed defeated Otis with the Tsunami; IYO SKY retained the WWE Women’s title in a three-way over Asuka and Charlotte Flair; Seth Rollins defeated The Miz after a curb stomp to retain the WWE World Heavyweight title

  • LA Knight was off the Saturday show due to COVID-19 after missing Friday’s SmackDown. It was notable that WWE announced ahead of the doors open that Knight was off the show and offered refunds. Normally, WWE will only announce a no show if it’s a Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins-level wrestler which tells you how highly they consider Knight. WWE also told media outlets Friday night about Knight and I can’t recall that being done in the past either. I don’t know if this is a new policy with the new owners because obviously in any other form of entertainment you would tell the fans and media in advance about a star not appearing. (Thanks to Jose Gonzalez)
  • Tiffany Stratton is expected to be on Raw tomorrow night to hype her rematch with Lynch that takes place on 9/30 at the No Mercy show in Bakersfield, CA. Lynch is supposed to be back at NXT this week after drawing big ratings for the show the past two weeks.  
  • Also on Tuesday’s NXT show: a contract signing for No Mercy with Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov, a strap match with Dijak vs. Eddy Thorpe, Josh Briggs vs. Baron Corbin, Butch vs. Joe Coffey with the winner facing Noam Dar for the Global Heritage Cup at No Mercy, Joe Gacy vs. Trick Williams, Gigi Dolin vs. Blair Davenport, and Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs Lucien Price & Bronco Nima.
  • Rick Boogs claimed that he was let go “due to a backstage political power play” and would release the details when the time is right. I wouldn’t expect him to say anything for at least 90 days as far as what he believed to be the details.
  • Undertaker is bringing his 1 deadMAN show to Perth, Australia, on the weekend of the Elimination Chamber show in late-February.
  • After Friday’s SmackDown sellout in Glendale, AZ, they announced a 3/1 SmackDown at the Desert Diamond Arena. It’s very smart when you have a sellout crowd, announce the next show at the event and then start selling tickets immediately after the show.

Japan

  • The overseas matches we have heard raves about this past week are today’s Will Ospreay vs. Yota Tsuji match from New Japan’s Destruction in Kobe as well as today’s DDT match with Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mao. As you’ve probably seen, Don Callis was in Japan with Takeshita and cut a promo about Takeshita being “the Alpha” followed by Chris Jericho appearing via video to challenge Takeshita to a singles match on 11/12 at Sumo Hall. Jericho working DDT is a surprise since he had been working for New Japan. Also a surprise is that singles match taking place in Japan and not on an AEW major show, although they can always rematch it in the U.S. Another match heavily praised was the Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda Triple Crown title match on yesterday’s All Japan show at Korakuen Hall.
  • The Stardom Five Star Grand Prix finals are on PPV on 9/30.

Other Wrestling

  • wXw Femme Fatales from yesterday in Oberhausen, Germany: Hayn b Rina Yamashita by DQ, Nicole Matthews b Calypso, Baby Allison b Michelle Green, Anita Vaughn b Ivy Kovasky, Regina Rodendahl b Julia, Ava Everett b Devlyn Macrabe to win the German Wrestling Federation title in a wXw vs. GWF title vs. title match, Nicole Matthews b Hyan to win the tournament and a shot at Everett.
  • Here’s the debut show for the Sukeban promotion, an all-Japanese women’s group that debuted in New York on Thursday. The show aired live on TikTok.
  • Jerry Lawler did his first major public appearance since his stroke at the Memphis Comic Expo today. He now has a full mustache and a grey beard.
  • Pro Wrestling EVE will have a SHE-1 tournament on 10/8 with 16 women. Announced so far as Maya Yukihi, Charlie Morgan, Jetta, Alex Windsor, Kasey, Safire Reed, Nina Samuels, Chantal Jordan, Millie McKenzie, Emersyn Jayne and Aleah James.
  • Freelance Wrestling on Friday night in Chicago had Tokyo Joshi Pro star Shoko Nakajima beat Shazza McKenzie in the main event of what we were told was an excellent match using a diving senton. The crowd gave the two a standing ovation.

UFC/MMA

  • While nothing will come of it, Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen knocked out Fabian Edwards in Dublin last night and then continued to yell at him afterward. Leon Edwards, the UFC welterweight champion and Fabian’s brother, then started yelling at Eblen and security got between them. Eblen did eventually shake hands with both Edwards brothers before leaving the cage.
  • Ian Machado Garry vs. Vicente Luque was announced for the 12/16 UFC PPV in Las Vegas. Also announced for that show is Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett and Stephen Thompson vs Shavkat Rakhmonov. Ferguson is on a long losing streak while Pimblett has a potential star personality but the reality thus far is that he has not come across like he’s going to be able to be a championship contending level fighter. The hope here is to get him a win over a totally faded big name.
  • Kelvin Gastelum returns to welterweight on the 12/2 UFC event against Sean Brady who is 15-1 and a ranked fighter.

Daily Update: WWE notes, Saraya, Eddie Kingston

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Topics covered in this loaded issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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.

Saturday Update

WWE

  • John Cena defeated Montez Ford in a post-SmackDown dark match last night. There was also a post-show dark match where NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defeated Zoey Stark..
  • Ric Flair commented on Dolph Ziggler’s WWE release:
          • Shame On Me For Being So Busy That I Haven’t Kept Up With All Of The Releases At @WWE. I Just Hope That Each And Every One Of You Know That At The End Of The Day We All Love Wrestling, But It’s A Business First And Foremost. I Still After Retiring In 2008, Remember The Day That I Had To Walk Away As Being One Of The Most Difficult Days Of My Life.
          • And As For My Dear Friend, @HEELZiggler, Who Has Been My Close Friend For 20 Years, You Have Been Nothing Less Than The Best Professional & The Best At Everything You Have Been Called Upon To Do. A Leader, A Champion, And A Man Of Unquestionable Character. I’ll Never Forget The Letter You Wrote Me In The Hospital. I Know You Will Be Successful In Life Because That’s Who You Are. I Look Forward To Our Next Meeting & 2 Dirty Martinis With Extra Olives!
  • Becky Lynch is being advertised for the Tuesday, October 3 episode of NXT, which is the post-No Mercy edition of the show. Lynch is defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Tiffany Stratton in an extreme rules match at No Mercy.
  • Gable Steveson teamed with The Creed Brothers at NXT’s house show in Fort Pierce, Florida last night, defeating Damon Kemp, Charlie Dempsey & Myles Borne.
  • On Fox Sports Radio’s The Happy Hour, Montez Ford was asked what he would say if WWE management asked him his thoughts about potentially bringing CM Punk back:
          • If they asked my opinion on it, I’m so open to every single aspect, talent in the world, whether they come from all walks of life, because I feel like everyone has something to bring to the table. Believe it or not, whether people love this individual or not — and this goes for any WWE Superstar, if they’re generating buzz, if they’re generating topics, if they’re generating people talking — I think that’s all good for business.
          • Obviously, I’d love to be the person to always welcome someone back with great arms. So if he wants to make his way back this way, I guess we can have a battle and see who is the best person from Chicago.
  • Hulk Hogan told SI FanNation that it would be amazing if The Rock returned to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40:
          • That would be a moment for everyone. Not everyone was around, not even a lot of today’s stars, for the first WrestleMania with Mr. T and Liberace. Or to see me and Andre The Giant at WrestleMania III. But if Rock comes back, people will never forget it.
          • For all the people to see him come back, and see greatness right in front of us, it would be amazing. If The Rock comes back at WrestleMania, it will be a moment people will never forget.
  • The LWO, Charlotte Flair, and Grayson Waller & Austin Theory appeared on The SmackDown LowDown.
  • Santos Escobar was the guest on WWE After the Bell this week.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Saraya revealed that all of her wrestling gear has recently gone missing:
          • Heads up to the public. All my wrestling gear has recently gone missing, including some items that I owned for ten years and had sentimental value. Jackets, my return gear, Wembley gear, Outcast gear, the whole lot. Luckily, I have two jackets left, but I would love for you guys to keep an eye out on the internet and auction sites because someone may wind up selling stuff eventually. If you hear anything, please contact [email protected] with a subject line of ‘Saraya Gear.’ AEW Tickets and an autograph to anyone that leads to the recovery of these items. Thank you.
  • Defy Wrestling confirmed that Eddie Kingston is off their show in Seattle tonight. Kingston, who is stepping away from doing indie dates, was scheduled to defend the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship against Rocky Romero at the show. Defy wrote:
          • Yep. Eddie is out. He will not be defending his NJPW Strong Openweight Championship tonight. [He] won’t be at Washington Hall.
          • We just found out like you all did. We’ll figure something out like we always do but we are so sorry that this happened again. Apologies to Rocky, and NJPW too. We tried.
  • Alex Hammerstone shared a story about Dolph Ziggler: “Remember over lockdowns when @HEELZiggler was just anonymously bulk ordering from random indie guys PWTees stores to help em out? When I posted about my house getting robbed during lockdown he unprompted just dropped a generous donation in my PayPal. Dude is a legend all around”
  • Matt Hardy turns 49 years old today. Hardy wrote: “Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I appreciate every single one. I’ve had an incredible 49 years & a blessed life! I’m grateful for every day I’m gifted with. I’m so fortunate to have a beautiful, healthy, loving family & to still be living my dream after 31 years.”
  • Kairi Sane is also celebrating her 35th birthday today.
  • Taya Valkyrie appeared on the latest episode of AEW Unrestricted.
  • Claudio Castagnoli was a guest on In The Kliq.
  • Ring The Belle interviewed Brandi Rhodes.

Daily Update: Matt Riddle, WWE stock, UFC weigh-ins

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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

– Our weekly show with Garrett Gonzales was just completed. We talk a lot about this week’s issue and all the major news, such as the television deals, WWE cuts, a lot about Terry Funk, AEW, and the other big stories of the week. Bryan and I will be back on Sunday for Observer Radio.

– The new issue of the Observer is out today and it’s loaded:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

– Want to thank everyone for the nice comments on this week’s issue and the Terry Funk story.

–Matt Riddle confirmed that he got his WWE release today. I would expect either NJPW or AEW to be his next destination. Riddle was about to go to New Japan when WWE found out and that’s when WWE signed him years ago. Evidently the incident coming back from India was the straw that broke the camel’s back. PWInsider first reported it and we confirmed it and Riddle has since released it publicly.

– Ashante “Thee” Adonis & B-Fab from Hit Row worked the dark match in SmackDown before the show against Cameron Grimes. Grimes won the match.

– SmackDown is in Glendale, AZ tonight for a show that should sell out. Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark will be the dark match on the show. Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa vs. John Cena & AJ Styles is the main event, Iyo Sky defends the women’s title against Asuka, and Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar vs Street Profits. They should do a big rating with Cena in a match.

– AEW Rampage is two hours from 10 p.m. to midnight on TNT with Christian & Luchasaurus vs. Sting & Darby Allin, Bishop Kaun, Brian Cage & Toa Liona defend the ROH trios titles against The Young Bucks & Adam Page, The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defend the AEW trios titles against John Silver, Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno, Julia Hart vs. Skye Blue, Mike Santana vs. Dirty Bulk Bronson, Orange Cassidy, Hook & Kris Statlander vs. Matt Menard, Angelo Parker & Anna Jay, plus Hardys vs. Righteous vs. Best Friends vs. Kingdom with the winners getting an ROH tag team title match on the October 1 WrestleDream PPV.

– WWE stock closed today at $83.79 per share. There are a number of reasons for the big drop with the key being the original price counted on a 50-70 percent increase in television rights and the SmackDown deal was only at 40 percent.

– AEW Collision goes head-to-head with Ohio State vs. Notre Dame (NBC), Arkansas vs. LSU (ESPN), Oregon State vs. Washington State (FOX), Baylor vs. Texas (ABC), and Iowa vs. Penn State (CBS). Ohio State vs Notre Dame is the toughest game the show has faced and there are other games as well head-to-head.

– SANADA will be on the 10/27 Defy show at Washington Hall in Seattle.

– We’re looking for reports from these weekend shows:

  • Smackdown tonight in Glendale, AZ (dark matches only)
  • Impact tonight in Memphis
  • NXT tonight in Fort Pierce, FL
  • Collision tomorrow night in Grand Rapids, MI (non-Collision stuff like ROH tapings)
  • WWE house show tomorrow night in Palm Desert , CA
  • Impact tomorrow night in Memphis
  • NXT tomorrow night in Orlando
  • WWE house show Sunday in Stateline, NV

We’re looking for results, finishes and angles to [email protected]

– Also looking for your thoughts on Sunday’s NJPW Destruction in Kobe show, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]

– UFC tomorrow with a 4-10 p.m. Eastern show on ESPN+

  • Montserrat Rendon (135) vs. Tamires Vidal (134)
  • Mizuki Inoue (115.5) vs. Hannah Goldy (115.5)
  • Mohammed Usman (237) vs. Jake Collier (256.5)
  • Jacob Malkoun (186) vs. Cody Brundage (185)
  • Tim Means (171) vs. Andre Fialho (171)
  • Dan Argueta (136) vs. Miles Johns (136)
  • Ricardo Ramos (146) vs. Charles Jourdain (145.5)
  • Bryan Battle (171) VS. AJ Fletcher (170.5)
  • Marina Rodriguez (116) vs. Michelle Waterson-Gomez (115.5)
  • Bryce Mitchell (146) vs. Dan Ige (146)
  • Rafael Fiziev (156) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156)

– Bellator airs on Showtime at 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday from the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland with Johnny Eblen defending the middleweight title against Fabian Edwards and Aaron Pico vs. Pedro Carvalho.

– Deiveson Figueiredo moves to bantamweight on 12/2 and debuts in the new weight class against Rob Font.

– CriticLee Speaking on Fox in Detroit saw critics both give the Cassandro movie, which debuts today on Amazon Prime, thumbs up. Lee Thomas said he was expecting a comedy since it was about wrestling but it is definitely not, said it was a heavy drama with a layered story that is an LGBTQ story (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

– wXw has its annual world tag team festival starting today in Oberhausen, Germany. There was also a GCW show in the building that already took place today with Blake Christian vs. Per Tihanyl, Allie Katch & Effy vs. Manders & Mance Warner, Gringo Loco vs. Leon Slater, Rina Yamashita vs. Jimmy Lloyd, Arez vs Shgehiro Irie, Rotation vs. Jordan Oliver and Joey Janela vs Nick Gage on Fite + now.

– GCW also has a show at 5 p.m. Eastern tomorrow from Oberhausen with Rina Yamashita vs. Lou Nixon, Gringo Loco vs. Arez vs. Rotation. vs. Mizuki Watase vs. Jimmy Loyd vs. Aigie Blanc, Latigo vs. Jordan Olvier, Irie vs. Janela, Icarus & Laurence Roman & Robert Dreissker vs,. Manders & Dark Sheik & Warner and Christian vs. Axel Tischer.

– Blake Christian also defends the GCW title on the Sunday Progress show against Charles Crowley. QT Marshall is on that show defending the Latin American title against Jake Candicoo.

– RevPro has two Fantastica Mania shows tomorrow in Manchester as well as Sunday in St. Neots

– Matt Cardona vs. James Storm for the vacant 1PW title (Will Ospreay was champion but won’t be working for the group going forward) takes place on 10/28 in Doncaster, England. (thanks to Markus Gronemann)

– There was a full page story in the new Women’s Health magazine on Brandi Runnels, talking about her previous career as an ice skater.

– MLW runs next on 10/14 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with Alex Kane defending the MLW title against Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Minoru Suzuki vs. Jacob Fatu. The show airs live on FITE+

– Giulia defends the New Japan Strong title against Ami Sohrei on 10/1 at Korakuen Hall and then the winner will defend the title next on the 10/28 New Japan show in Las Vegas.

– Combate Global, which did kind of incredible TV ratings last week, is back on Paramount+ and Univision tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. Eastern with Jimbo Slice (3-0) vs. Christopher Ewer (3-0) in the main event.

– Inside the Ropes has an afternoon with Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman on 11/25 at Joe’s Live in Rosemont, IL, from Noon to 1:30 p.m. with a live show and a 2-5 p.m. Meet and Greet before Survivor Series at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL Tickets are at Joesliverosemont.com

– Jake Lee vs Go Shiozaki headlines Sunday’s NOAH show for the GHC title plus El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr. faces Psycho Clown at the Nagoya International Conference Center. It airs on Wrestle Universe with English commentary starting at 2 a.m. Eastern late Saturday night.

Daily Update: Eddie Kingston, Sukeban, NWA Samhain

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is out, and it’s a big one:

  • The WWE merges with UFC and transitions into TKO, the most in depth look at the changes to be expected and where changes aren’t to be expected
  • Amount of cuts expected to be made
  • What type of people are expected to be cut
  • Nick Khan’s letter to employees before the cuts
  • First major departure
  • How Saudi Arabia investing in PFL affected the stock
  • New board of directors
  • New hierarchy
  • Dana White talks merger and shoots down another exec’s goal for the new company
  • Talk on future television rights
  • Current market value and did it reach projections
  • Biggest financial concerns
  • Crossover promotion
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • AEW All in attendance with notes on other stadium shows including actual WrestleMania turnstile counts vs. announced and paid attendance
  • Bryan Danielson’s full-time career winds down, why, how long he’s thought about this and talks candidly about his decision
  • Long-term concerns
  • UFC 293 in Australia with one of the biggest upsets in history. Who’s house? Sean’s house.
  • Future of middleweight division
  • Business notes on the show
  • History of promotional wars, timing, how AEW vs. WWE is the same, how it differs
  • AEW and its decline in live attendance, the key reasons and what can be done, and how WCW turned it around under Zane Bresloff
  • How other companies turned it around and how the circumstances to do that aren’t there in this situation
  • A look at the next major WWE, AEW and NXT shows and early business notes
  • WWE Superstar spectacular in India coverage
  • The unique career of Brett Wayne Sawyer, top singles champion on the most-watched television show in the country at 23, and a career that fell off quickly
  • The early days of the Road Warriors
  • The booking of Ole Anderson
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, weekly and nightly standings, segment breakdowns, comparisons to one year ago in a very important and newsworthy week
  • CMLL 90th anniversary show this week
  • Legends special match coming
  • Stardom PPV notes including one of the week’s best matches
  • Performer of the week and match of the week
  • First time ever for a true rookie in match of the week
  • Major dream match this weekend with Will Ospreay
  • Updates on Jim Duggan
  • Notes on the death of former Carolinas announcer Rich Landrum
  • Notes on the Cassandro movie
  • Pro wrestling star leaves the business for one year, wins a gold medal in the Olympics–this long forgotten piece of wrestling history
  • Bandido returning
  • Impact Hall of Fame notes and notes on Mike Tenay
  • Jade Cargill update
  • Business updates on PPV from All Out, Backlash and All In
  • What percentage of WWE buyers purchased an AEW show in the last few weeks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings
  • Streaming numbers for WWE
  • Ortiz & Santana breakup explained
  • Paul Wight’s name in ESPN story on PED investigation
  • Georges St-Pierre into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
  • UFC top star leaving the promotion
  • UFC Hall of Famer gets DWI
  • Bray Wyatt funeral
  • Vince McMahon’s return
  • Thoughts on Smackdown and what is the best day for the show if FX gets it
  • Drew McIntyre update
  • Roman Reigns return
  • Lots of comings and goings in WWE
  • WWE and NXT live event coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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.

Wednesday Update

WWE

  • Paul “Triple H” Levesque thanked everyone at Showtime’s Billions following his cameo appearance on the latest episode of the show: “The art of the double turn. Easy to explain, not so easy to pull off…Thank you to the incredible Paul Giamatti and everyone at @SHO_Billions for letting me show them how to play the game.”
  • During his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Kurt Angle said Vince McMahon once told him that he plans on living to be 120 years old.
  • The first episode of Shotzi and Scarlett’s paranormal Chamber of Horrors series is now available on WWE’s YouTube channel. In the 25-minute video, Shotzi, Scarlett, Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley spend the night at a haunted old jail in St. Augustine, Florida.
  • Carmelo Hayes, Zelina Vega, Santos Escobar, and Molly Holly were today’s guests on WWE’s The Bump.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Eddie Kingston told SI FanNation what winning the ROH World Championship would mean to him: “If Ring of Honor never took off in the early 2000s, there would probably never be AEW. Ring of Honor wanted to be different. A lot of AEW guys wrestled for Ring of Honor, too. My mentor Homicide was the world champion. Xavier was the world champ. Low Ki was the first-ever champ. Those are all New Yorkers. The belt belongs with a New Yorker.”
  • Insider asked Tony Khan if AEW could potentially hold Dynamite or its other TV shows in the United Kingdom once in a while: “We’ll think about that, but I want to keep the biggest focus on All In. We will return there August 25, 2024, to Wembley Stadium.”
  • While speaking about Wembley Stadium, Khan revealed what Oje Hart, the son of Owen and Martha Hart, told him after All In:
          • It’s such a special place. I remember standing outside Wembley Stadium with a bunch of the guys; we were walking out of the show, and Oje Hart was with us – Owen Hart’s son. In the shadow of Wembley Stadium, as we all walked out, he said: ‘Pro wrestling took everything from me and I hate it, yet here I am and AEW feels like home to me.’ It’s a moment I’ll never forget. It was so perfect to happen there. At Wembley.
          • The Owen Hart tournament is not just a once-a-year thing, it’s really special. They are a part of our crew. To have Christian Cage, Jeff Jarrett, Dustin Rhodes, people who were really close to Owen Hart, it means a lot to people here to continue that legacy.
  • AEW uploaded a Control Center video ahead of Dynamite Grand Slam tonight.
  • The New York Mets shared an interview with MJF.
  • NJPW and Stardom are holding a joint business strategy presentation in Tokyo on Tuesday, October 10. The presentation will stream live on NJPW and Stardom’s YouTube channels.
  • Super J-Cast reports that Walker Stewart will be the new English-language play-by-play voice of NJPW.
  • NWA World Women’s Champion Kenzie Paige will defend her title against Ruthie Jay at the NWA’s Samhain PPV on Saturday, October 28.
  • New Joshi promotion Sukeban announced that its premiere show from New York City will stream live on TikTok at 8 p.m. Eastern time this Thursday:
          • Sukeban, a Japanese female wrestling league, today announced that its World Premiere event at 8pm ET on Thursday, September 21st, will stream exclusively on TikTok from @sukeban_world.
          • Sukeban’s debut event, which sold out in two hours, will see five matches featuring the strongest women’s roster in North America. The company’s unique hybrid live action and anime content has already made waves in the wrestling world, seeing explosive growth across TikTok and other social media platforms in just two weeks.
          • The live stream can be easily accessed at the Sukeban TikTok account @sukeban_world beginning at 8pm ET tomorrow night.
  • On Talk is Jericho, Dave Meltzer discussed the life and career of Terry Funk.
  • Chris Jericho spoke with Superstar Crossover ahead of tonight’s Dynamite.
  • WrestleZone interviewed Willow Nightingale.
  • Sean “X-Pac” Waltman appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.

Daily Update: WWE notes, Max sports tier, Tony Khan

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is out, and it’s a big one:

  • The WWE merges with UFC and transitions into TKO, the most in depth look at the changes to be expected and where changes aren’t to be expected
  • Amount of cuts expected to be made
  • What type of people are expected to be cut
  • Nick Khan’s letter to employees before the cuts
  • First major departure
  • How Saudi Arabia investing in PFL affected the stock
  • New board of directors
  • New hierarchy
  • Dana White talks merger and shoots down another exec’s goal for the new company
  • Talk on future television rights
  • Current market value and did it reach projections
  • Biggest financial concerns
  • Crossover promotion
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • AEW All in attendance with notes on other stadium shows including actual WrestleMania turnstile counts vs. announced and paid attendance
  • Bryan Danielson’s full-time career winds down, why, how long he’s thought about this and talks candidly about his decision
  • Long-term concerns
  • UFC 293 in Australia with one of the biggest upsets in history. Who’s house? Sean’s house.
  • Future of middleweight division
  • Business notes on the show
  • History of promotional wars, timing, how AEW vs. WWE is the same, how it differs
  • AEW and its decline in live attendance, the key reasons and what can be done, and how WCW turned it around under Zane Bresloff
  • How other companies turned it around and how the circumstances to do that aren’t there in this situation
  • A look at the next major WWE, AEW and NXT shows and early business notes
  • WWE Superstar spectacular in India coverage
  • The unique career of Brett Wayne Sawyer, top singles champion on the most-watched television show in the country at 23, and a career that fell off quickly
  • The early days of the Road Warriors
  • The booking of Ole Anderson
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, weekly and nightly standings, segment breakdowns, comparisons to one year ago in a very important and newsworthy week
  • CMLL 90th anniversary show this week
  • Legends special match coming
  • Stardom PPV notes including one of the week’s best matches
  • Performer of the week and match of the week
  • First time ever for a true rookie in match of the week
  • Major dream match this weekend with Will Ospreay
  • Updates on Jim Duggan
  • Notes on the death of former Carolinas announcer Rich Landrum
  • Notes on the Cassandro movie
  • Pro wrestling star leaves the business for one year, wins a gold medal in the Olympics–this long forgotten piece of wrestling history
  • Bandido returning
  • Impact Hall of Fame notes and notes on Mike Tenay
  • Jade Cargill update
  • Business updates on PPV from All Out, Backlash and All In
  • What percentage of WWE buyers purchased an AEW show in the last few weeks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings
  • Streaming numbers for WWE
  • Ortiz & Santana breakup explained
  • Paul Wight’s name in ESPN story on PED investigation
  • Georges St-Pierre into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
  • UFC top star leaving the promotion
  • UFC Hall of Famer gets DWI
  • Bray Wyatt funeral
  • Vince McMahon’s return
  • Thoughts on Smackdown and what is the best day for the show if FX gets it
  • Drew McIntyre update
  • Roman Reigns return
  • Lots of comings and goings in WWE
  • WWE and NXT live event coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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.

Tuesday Update

WWE

  • Big E praised Kofi Kingston’s performance against Ivar on last night’s Raw: I’m clearly biased but I’m thankful we still get to watch @TrueKofi deliver incredible performances this deep into his career. Grateful for you, legend, while we still have you in the ring.”
  • It was originally announced that Kingston & Xavier Woods would be facing The Viking Raiders in a two-out-of-three falls match on Raw last night, but WWE stated that Erik wasn’t cleared to compete. The match was changed to Kingston vs. Ivar.
  • Alexa Bliss revealed that her daughter will be named Hendrix Rouge Cabrera. Bliss is due to give birth this December.
  • IYO SKY is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine in Japan.
  • In an interview with Bleav in Pro Wrestling, Chelsea Green said she’s “counting down the months” until Sonya Deville can return from her torn ACL:
          • I am counting down the months until Sonya can come back and show the world how strong she is, because we have seen her be strong in so many different areas of wrestling. And outside of wrestling, we’ve seen her go through a lot. We’ve never seen her face an injury and come back. And I really think she’s gonna come back even better.
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia’s XFL is in “advanced talks” to merge with the USFL.
  • Last night, WWE taped Nikki Cross vs. Indi Hartwell and Xia Li vs. Tegan Nox for this week’s episode of Main Event.
  • Kurt Angle is the guest on today’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. Angle wrote yesterday: “Just finished my interview on the Joe Rogan Experience! Had a great conversation talking amateur wrestling, pro wrestling and mma. Look out for this episode. It’s gonna be a good one. @joerogan #joeroganexperience”
  • People published a story on Kelly Kelly welcoming twins into the world. Kelly Kelly gave birth to a boy named Jaxon Matthew and a girl named Brooklyn Marie on September 10.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service will launch its live sports tier on October 5. Sports Business Journal notes that AEW isn’t currently part of the tier. It’s named Bleacher Report Sports Add-On and will be available to Max subscribers at no extra cost through February 29. After that, it will cost an additional $9.99 per month on top of Max’s subscription fee. The tier will feature games from the NBA, MLB, NHL, U.S. Soccer, and March Madness.
  • Insider asked Tony Khan why – when he addressed the Chicago crowd about CM Punk’s firing – he did it from the top of the ramp instead of in the ring:
          • You can’t see everybody’s face from the center of the ring. You have to choose one side of the crowd to face when you’re in the ring. And I wanted to be able to see everybody. I felt like, I’m not a wrestler and I don’t need to be in the ring, and for this moment, I thought I would just sit down and talk to everybody. That’s why I brought out a chair.
          • And when I was done and walked backstage, the first person I saw was Ricky Steamboat and he said, ‘That was great, you turned the crowd. You turned them around. That’s so hard to do, and you did it.’ I felt I at least owed that much to the wrestlers and the fans, to go out there and talk to everybody.
  • Insider also asked Khan his thoughts on the WWE-UFC merger:
          • It is fascinating. It will be interesting to see what happens in the world of sports, combat sports, and pro wrestling. I love pro wrestling, it’s an amazing business. I think there are a lot of really exciting things happening with sports media rights.
  • Samoa Joe shared his memories of the late Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda):
          • Ton and tons of Bray stories. I really think the thing that you will find universally with Windham was he was the type of person, when he walked in a room, it instantly brightened up. Once you’re his brother, you’re his brother for life and he’ll show up for whatever you need him to show up for. If you called and said, ‘I need you down here,’ lo and behold, a couple hours later you’ll see him pulling up in the driveway.
          • And just the family itself, between Mike and Bo and his sister Mika they were all very involved in the business at certain points [in] time. Everybody has a tremendous amount of respect and love for them. I think if anything, the hurt was felt a little bit extra deep because of how many people were connected to both Windham and his family. To see him gone now, it just doesn’t seem real. I miss him every day.
  • Claudio Castagnoli told SI FanNation that the idea of being an NJPW champion is very exciting to him. Castagnoli’s ROH World Championship and Eddie Kingston’s NJPW Strong Openweight Championship will be on the line in a title vs. title match on Dynamite Grand Slam this Wednesday night.
  • Castagnoli said:
          • The chance to be a New Japan champion very much excites me. I wanted to go to New Japan after I left WWE, and I did–but I’d like to go again, and what better way than as Strong Openweight champion? It opens a whole new set of possibilities.
          • And I am very proud to be the Ring of Honor champion. I learned a long time ago that you don’t need a belt to hold yourself like a champion. But when you do have one, you must hold yourself to a higher level.
  • TV Insider interviewed Sammy Guevara.
  • Paul London will make his GCW debut at Blood on the Hills on Saturday, October 14. The show is being held in Los Angeles.
  • The Associated Press and Sky News have stories on Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi’s recent bullet train match for DDT.

Daily Update: Jade Cargill, WWE Raw, Monday Night Football

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is out, and it’s a big one:

  • The WWE merges with UFC and transitions into TKO, the most in depth look at the changes to be expected and where changes aren’t to be expected
  • Amount of cuts expected to be made
  • What type of people are expected to be cut
  • Nick Khan’s letter to employees before the cuts
  • First major departure
  • How Saudi Arabia investing in PFL affected the stock
  • New board of directors
  • New hierarchy
  • Dana White talks merger and shoots down another exec’s goal for the new company
  • Talk on future television rights
  • Current market value and did it reach projections
  • Biggest financial concerns
  • Crossover promotion
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • AEW All in attendance with notes on other stadium shows including actual WrestleMania turnstile counts vs. announced and paid attendance
  • Bryan Danielson’s full-time career winds down, why, how long he’s thought about this and talks candidly about his decision
  • Long-term concerns
  • UFC 293 in Australia with one of the biggest upsets in history. Who’s house? Sean’s house.
  • Future of middleweight division
  • Business notes on the show
  • History of promotional wars, timing, how AEW vs. WWE is the same, how it differs
  • AEW and its decline in live attendance, the key reasons and what can be done, and how WCW turned it around under Zane Bresloff
  • How other companies turned it around and how the circumstances to do that aren’t there in this situation
  • A look at the next major WWE, AEW and NXT shows and early business notes
  • WWE Superstar spectacular in India coverage
  • The unique career of Brett Wayne Sawyer, top singles champion on the most-watched television show in the country at 23, and a career that fell off quickly
  • The early days of the Road Warriors
  • The booking of Ole Anderson
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, weekly and nightly standings, segment breakdowns, comparisons to one year ago in a very important and newsworthy week
  • CMLL 90th anniversary show this week
  • Legends special match coming
  • Stardom PPV notes including one of the week’s best matches
  • Performer of the week and match of the week
  • First time ever for a true rookie in match of the week
  • Major dream match this weekend with Will Ospreay
  • Updates on Jim Duggan
  • Notes on the death of former Carolinas announcer Rich Landrum
  • Notes on the Cassandro movie
  • Pro wrestling star leaves the business for one year, wins a gold medal in the Olympics–this long forgotten piece of wrestling history
  • Bandido returning
  • Impact Hall of Fame notes and notes on Mike Tenay
  • Jade Cargill update
  • Business updates on PPV from All Out, Backlash and All In
  • What percentage of WWE buyers purchased an AEW show in the last few weeks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings
  • Streaming numbers for WWE
  • Ortiz & Santana breakup explained
  • Paul Wight’s name in ESPN story on PED investigation
  • Georges St-Pierre into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
  • UFC top star leaving the promotion
  • UFC Hall of Famer gets DWI
  • Bray Wyatt funeral
  • Vince McMahon’s return
  • Thoughts on Smackdown and what is the best day for the show if FX gets it
  • Drew McIntyre update
  • Roman Reigns return
  • Lots of comings and goings in WWE
  • WWE and NXT live event coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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 and the rest of the day’s news with Wrestling Observer Radio. If you’ve got questions on current topics for tonight’s show you can send them to [email protected]

Jade Cargill was officially taken off the AEW roster and was reported by Mike Johnson earlier today as having been in Orlando, but flew home from there to Atlanta also today. We asked if she was at the Performance Center and one person just told us that they didn’t see her, but noted what we’ve heard the last few days that they have been making major plans for her and everyone expects her to be with WWE soon. WWE is doing tryouts for independent talent this week. Most tryouts of late have been for college athletes.

Raw tonight is in Salt Lake City with Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio, New Day vs. Viking Raiders 2/3 falls and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ricochet. There are two NFL games tonight, a Saints vs. Panthers game at 7:15 p.m. and Browns vs. Steelers at 8:15 p.m. So the first two hours of Raw will be going against two games and the third hour against one game. Raw is coming off its lowest viewer total in its history last week, but football numbers were gigantic last week. Plus I think there will be some interest carry-over from Dwayne Johnson on Smackdown that will help tonight’s show. 

Because of the SAG-AFTRA strike it was announced that ABC will be airing football every Monday night along with ESPN. It will be the first time that Monday Night Football will regularly air on network TV since it was moved from ABC to ESPN. Most weeks it will be the same game on both stations but there are a few weeks, like tonight, where there will be two different games on the two stations.

The WWE is scheduled to announce tomorrow a show at the 61,000-set Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia. It’s already been reported in Perth that the show will be announced this week. The government tourist agency is bringing them in, similar to the show a few years back in Australia that was a PPV show. It will draw big because of the promotion locally that the tourist board is taking care of, and also because WWE hasn’t been to Australia in four years and it has always been a strong WWE market.

MJF was on CBS New York today promoting Wednesday’s Arthur Ashe Stadium:

For Wednesday’s show, it was noted to us that there are lower bowl tickets in camera view unsold. Most were priced this morning at $247 and obviously they need to lower those prices and there are also a lot of floor seats left, but they are also priced at $597. So they will have to lower those prices as well. They were at 7,400 tickets out this morning. 

AEW Grand Slam matches so far:

TBS on Wednesday is MJF vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW title, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston for the ROH & New Japan strong titles, Saraya vs. Toni Storm for the AEW women’s title, Jon Moxley vs. Rey Fenix for the International title and Sammy Gueveara vs. Chris Jericho. For the two-hour Rampage on Friday it’s Christian & Luchasaurus vs. Sting & Darby Allin, Mogul Embassy vs. Young Bucks for the ROH trios titles, Hook & Orange Cassidy & Kris Statlander vs. Matt Menard & Angelo Parker & Anna Jay and Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defend the AEW trios titles against Evil Uno & John Silver & Alex Reynolds.

Congratulations to NWA President Billy Corgan who was married over the weekend in Highland Park, IL to girlfriend Chloe Mendel. The two have been a couple for 11 years and have two children. He invited a number of the NWA wrestlers to the wedding.

Minoru Suzuki did his match on the Bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya with Sanshiro Takagi. They fought for 37 minutes in front of customers who paid a lot to sit up close in the train and watch this unique match. A light was a cameo from Kenta Kobashi who ended up on the train and chopped Suzuki hard.

Impact returns to the U.K. with shows on 10/26 at the O2 Academy in Glasgow, Scotland, 10/27 in Newcastle at the Walker Activity Dome, and 10/28 in and 10/29 Coventry at the HMV Empire. Those announced for the tour are Alex Shelley, Josh Alexander, Deonna Purrazzo, Eric Young, Jordynne Grace, Brian Myers, Moose, Grado, Joe Hendry, Rich Swan, Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian, Mark Anderws, Flash Morgan Webster plus guest appearances by Gail Kim. Will Ospreay will be on the 10/27 Turning Point show which will be an Impact + special plus all shows will be taped for Impact and several weeks worth of episodes are being taped on the tour.

Former WWE performer Barbara Blank, better known as Kelly Kelly, delivered twins on Sunday, Brooklyn Marie Coba and Jaxon Matthew Coba. Congratulations to the family.

Ovince Saint Preux of UFC was suspended for six months due to a banned substance found in a test. It was only six months because he supplied a supplement that he was using which USADA tested and found it contained androsteindione, which he popped for, but androsteindioine was not on the label of ingredients.

Eve Wrestling on Wednesday at Yard Theater in Hackney, Wick in London with Allie Katch, B3CCA as well as their regulars like Alex Windsor, Nina Samuels, Chantal Jordan and Skye Smitson. 

We don’t have details yet and it’s only a few days away, but Thursday’s debut of the new Sukeban women’s promotion in New York is supposed to have a link to watch it live.

Minoru Szuuki will be wrestling on 10/13 for House of Glory Wrestling, making his debut with the group at the NYC Arena.

Defy on 9/23 at Washington Hall in Seattle has Eddie Kingston vs. Rocky Romero for the new Japan Strong title, provided Kingston retains that title in New York on Dynamite Wednesday. You must be 16 to attend. Christopher Daniels, The Bollywood Boys and Amira from the U.K. are booked on the show.

WAR Wrestling on 10/7 in Lima, OH at the Bradfield Community Center.

Daily Update: Emile Dupree, AEW Rampage Grand Slam, John Cena

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is out, and it’s a big one:

  • The WWE merges with UFC and transitions into TKO, the most in depth look at the changes to be expected and where changes aren’t to be expected
  • Amount of cuts expected to be made
  • What type of people are expected to be cut
  • Nick Khan’s letter to employees before the cuts
  • First major departure
  • How Saudi Arabia investing in PFL affected the stock
  • New board of directors
  • New hierarchy
  • Dana White talks merger and shoots down another exec’s goal for the new company
  • Talk on future television rights
  • Current market value and did it reach projections
  • Biggest financial concerns
  • Crossover promotion
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • AEW All in attendance with notes on other stadium shows including actual WrestleMania turnstile counts vs. announced and paid attendance
  • Bryan Danielson’s full-time career winds down, why, how long he’s thought about this and talks candidly about his decision
  • Long-term concerns
  • UFC 293 in Australia with one of the biggest upsets in history. Who’s house? Sean’s house.
  • Future of middleweight division
  • Business notes on the show
  • History of promotional wars, timing, how AEW vs. WWE is the same, how it differs
  • AEW and its decline in live attendance, the key reasons and what can be done, and how WCW turned it around under Zane Bresloff
  • How other companies turned it around and how the circumstances to do that aren’t there in this situation
  • A look at the next major WWE, AEW and NXT shows and early business notes
  • WWE Superstar spectacular in India coverage
  • The unique career of Brett Wayne Sawyer, top singles champion on the most-watched television show in the country at 23, and a career that fell off quickly
  • The early days of the Road Warriors
  • The booking of Ole Anderson
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, weekly and nightly standings, segment breakdowns, comparisons to one year ago in a very important and newsworthy week
  • CMLL 90th anniversary show this week
  • Legends special match coming
  • Stardom PPV notes including one of the week’s best matches
  • Performer of the week and match of the week
  • First time ever for a true rookie in match of the week
  • Major dream match this weekend with Will Ospreay
  • Updates on Jim Duggan
  • Notes on the death of former Carolinas announcer Rich Landrum
  • Notes on the Cassandro movie
  • Pro wrestling star leaves the business for one year, wins a gold medal in the Olympics–this long forgotten piece of wrestling history
  • Bandido returning
  • Impact Hall of Fame notes and notes on Mike Tenay
  • Jade Cargill update
  • Business updates on PPV from All Out, Backlash and All In
  • What percentage of WWE buyers purchased an AEW show in the last few weeks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings
  • Streaming numbers for WWE
  • Ortiz & Santana breakup explained
  • Paul Wight’s name in ESPN story on PED investigation
  • Georges St-Pierre into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
  • UFC top star leaving the promotion
  • UFC Hall of Famer gets DWI
  • Bray Wyatt funeral
  • Vince McMahon’s return
  • Thoughts on Smackdown and what is the best day for the show if FX gets it
  • Drew McIntyre update
  • Roman Reigns return
  • Lots of comings and goings in WWE
  • WWE and NXT live event coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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 will be back tonight talking the weekend wrestling news like Dwayne Johnson, Jade Cargill, AEW Grand Slam & Smackdown as well as last night’s Valentina Shevckenko vs. Alexa Grasso fight. Our weekly business show with Garrett Gonzales is up on the site now, talking a lot of the Observer news for this week, WWE firings, AEW struggles at the gate and more.

Former wrestler and promoter Emile Dupree passed away over the weekend. He was 86. Dupree started wrestling in 1955 and went all over the world, and then promoted Grand Prix Wrestling in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada as a seasonal territory in the summer from 1977 to 1990. There were comeback attempts as late as 2017 for the promotion based on its glory days. Wrestling would only run in the summer as a six or seven day a week territory. Lots of the Stampede Wrestling and other Canadian talent would go there because it was such a good paying promotion. Dupree, born Emile Goguen in New Brunswick, used a number of major stars at different points such as Edge, Christian, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, JJ Dillon, Ric Flair, Harley Race and Dynamite Kid.

Just a note that as it has been the past two years, the Grand Slam Rampage show on Friday night will be two hours from 10 p.m. to midnight.

In Saudi Arabia they are announcing John Cena for the 11/4 show. Cena had pulled out of the last WWE show in Saudi Arabia he had been booked on, but it’s no longer an issue that could have negative effects on his career since everyone is back doing business with the country now. Basically there is nobody left on the roster as far as we know that is either refusing to go or banned from going. 

It doesn’t get much closer than last night’s Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko flyweight title match. It was a split decision draw. Michael Bell ruled it a draw giving rounds two and five for Grasso including a very controversial 10-8 fifth round. Sal D’Amato had it for Shevchenko winning rounds one, three and four. Junichrio Kamijo had it for Grass winning rounds two, four and five. Basically almost everyone had one for Shevchenko, two for Grasso, three for Shevchenko and five for Grasso and it came down to how you scored round four. Media scores were 52 percent for Grasso and 48 percent for Shevchenko. Fan scoring was 45.2 percent for Shevchenko and 44.9 percent for Grasso with 4.4 percent scoring it even. Shevchenko was very strong in thinking she won. Grasso said after two fights with Shevchenko she wants to move on, but one would think after this score they should do a rematch.

In Google trends for the week, nothing from wrestling, boxing or MMA cracked the top 20 on any day this week. That is a surprise because of the UFC title fight last night, but it was only on ESPN+ so viewership was way down, but it was still a legit title match. Plus Dwayne Johnson on Friday for his statements about WrestleMania and then being on Smackdown would have been expected to crack the top 20.

The Sukeban promotion is scheduled for a debut on Thursday in New York and we’ve heard very little about it. The Japanese talent is supposed to leave on Tuesday.

Today is the sixth anniversary of the death of Bobby Heenan at 72, among the greatest pro wrestling managers ever and I would say the single funniest person ever to work in the industry.

Mason Parris, who is under a WWE NIL deal, placed third in the world championships in the 275 pound weight class. Parris replaced Gable Steveson on the U.S. team when Steveson pulled out due to WWE for reasons undisclosed but likely WWE related. At 189 pounds, David Taylor won the gold medal beating Iranian legend Hassan Yazdani via pin with less than three seconds left. Taylor was up 7-3 with time running out. It was Taylor’s third world championship. Zain Retherford won a gold medal at 174 pounds. Vito Araujau won at 134 pounds. Kyle Dake is in the finals at 163 pounds tomorrow. Kyle Snyder at 213 pounds starts competition tomorrow.

We’re looking for your thoughts on the CMLL Anniversary show, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]

We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE show in Boise, ID, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

The big weekend match we’ve heard the most about was today’s Will Ospreay vs. Naomichi Marfuji match from Korakuen Hall.

After his loss last night in the UFC Noche show in Las Vegas, Kevin Holland issued a challenge to Neil Magny for a hair vs. hair match. Evidently he thought he was on the anniversary show.

WWE sold out last night in Kennewick, WA, the first domestic house show sellout in months:

  • Rey Mysterio retained the U.S. title over LA Knight and Austin Theory by pinning Theory after a 619 and springboard splash after Knight had given Theory the BFT.
  • Becky Lynch b Tiffany Stratton to retain the NXT women’s title in a good match after the man handle slam
  • Chad Gable & Otis & Tommaso Ciapa b Imperium when Ciampa made Giovanni Vinci submit to the Silician stretch
  • Jey Uso b Bronson Reed after a spear
  • Cody Rhodes b Dominik Mysterio in a street fight by putting him through a table and hitting Cross Rhodes. Rhodes pushed for fans to donate to Connor’s Cure this month.
  • Finn Balor & Damian Priest retained the WWE tag titles over Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro. Dominik tried to interfere but Rey made the save with a paddle and spanked him with it
  • Asuka b Charlotte Flair with an inside cradle off the figure eight
  • Seth Rollins b Shinsuke Nakamura to keep the world title with a pedigree and curb stomp
  • (thanks to Shannon Walsh, Geoffrey Paulson, Rick Evans and others)

D-Von Dudley was doing an autograph signing last night in Monroe, MI and he said his return last week was not a one-time thing, he’s out of retirement and is looking at signing a deal with Impact.

MJF was at the New York Mets game today promoting Wednesday’s Dynamite show at Arthur Ashe Stadium. He called Chase Utley a “Schmuck” and called the Phillips Phanatic the stupidest mascot in baseball.

Ronda Rousey’s second book, “Our Fight,” is scheduled for an April 2, 2024 release date. The book will cover her pro wrestling career and is co- written by her sister, Maria Burns Ortiz.

Tomorrow’s Raw in Salt Lake City has Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio, New Day vs Viking Raiders 2/3 falls and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ricochet. It will go against two different NFL games, one on ABC and one on ESPN. The hope has to be that Dwayne Johnson and John Cena on Smackdown will increase interest in the promotion as a whole as it tries to rebound from the lowest audience to watch a first-run episode of the show in its history last Monday.

Michael Oku vs. Hechicero for the British heavyweight title headlines the 9/23 FantasticaMania show in Manchester, UK.

House of Glory Wrestling from Friday night in New York City: Ken Broadway & Showtime Moore b Gallo & Elijah Eden, Nolo Kitano b Joey Silver, Michael Fain won six-way over JJ Doujii, Raheem Royal, Darren Richardson, Brain Burgundy and Sonny Kiss, Ultra Violette b B3CCA to keep the women’s title, Midas Black & Jay Lyon kept the tag titles over the Vaudevillains Simon Gotch & Matt Rehwoldt, Matt Cardona b Homicide to keep the HOG title and was confronted by Santana after the match, El Hijo del Vikingo b Low Ki

Eric Taylor won the JT Lightning Memorial tournament winning a three-way over Alec Price and Sam Holloway. Price beat Colin Delaney and Mikey Montgomery in one semi and Taylor won over Chavo Guerrero Jr., Mangum CK and Mance Warner in the other.

Impact on Thursday will have an Ultimate X match with Zachary Wentz, Angels, Rich Swann, Samuray del Sol, Mike Bailey and Ace Austin, Trey Miguel vs. Josh Alexander and the match with Trinity & Jordynne Grace & Mickie James & Gail Kim & Awesome Kong vs. Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz & Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans & Angelina Love. This was the match Kim was injured in and featured the pioneers of the division in Kim and Kong.