Tag: daily update

Daily Update: Carmelo Hayes, Jackie Redmond, Zane Jay

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the news covered in this issue:

  • Coverage of the Tokyo Dome show
  • How did the show accomplish what should have been its key goals
  • Thoughts on Aaron Wolf
  • Business notes on the show
  • Yota Tsuji and the title name change
  • The end of the Bullet Club
  • Shinsuke Nakamura and his thoughts
  • Angle with Will Ospreay
  • Records that Tanahashi set during his career
  • Tanahashi’s background
  • Notes on his last IWGP title win that wasn’t supposed to happen
  • The unique way he became a mainstream figure in a news story
  • How his career exploded from there
  • How Tanahashi differed from prior IWGP champions and how that changed who could hold that title
  • The Tanahashi era that turned around New Japan
  • A look at his record setting 13 Tokyo Dome career main events
  • Various title wins and career awards
  • 2025 Business Year in Review
  • A look at all the shows that drew 15,000 fans
  • Biggest individual draws of the year
  • Crowds of 15,000 or more by promotion and how the main companies did
  • How UFC PPV gates were
  • The biggest pro wrestling drawing card every year from 1916 to 2025
  • What wrestlers were No. 1 for the year the most years in their career
  • The 50 biggest arena draws in pro wrestling history based on the standards of their era
  • New Year Dash coverage
  • The year in matches, who had the most great matches in 2025, most over the course of a career, top ten arenas of all-time and new records set in 2025 by a promotion for a year as well as for a city
  • A look at the life of Johnny Legend, a cult celebrity wrestling fan, his work with Freddie Blassie and Andy Kaufman, and his promotion, Incredibly Strange Wrestling.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling TV shows and details regarding who watches
  • Advanced ticket sales for WWE, AEW and TNA events
  • AEW stars headed to CMLL next week
  • Another Arena Mexico sellout
  • Legendary pro wrestling promoter turns 101
  • Old living wrestling personalities
  • Ted DiBiase files lawsuit
  • The Ted DiBiase Jr. case
  • A look at the career of Bob Boyer/Bobby Bold Eagle, who wrestled from 1955 to 1987
  • Documentary planned on 80s tag team
  • Notes on WrestleMania week shows
  • Update on the WBD sale
  • Former UFC champion goes for boxing world title
  • Update on the home for WWE’s library
  • Plans for TV shows this month
  • How much Dwayne Johnson has made from the WWE contract he signed two years ago
  • Those added to WWE, those leaving, those injured and those they are interested in
  • How the Holiday week house shows did
  • Why WWE’s weekly  audience on Netflix should go up close to 12 percent over the next three months.

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Thursday Update

WWE

  • For his United States title open challenge on SmackDown tomorrow, Carmelo Hayes invited the best of the United Kingdom to step up: “Smackdown in London tomorrow night! I want the best out of the UK that wants to step up, put on and tear the roof off that bih #USTitleOpenInvitation”
  • On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE broadcast team member Jackie Redmond addressed whether she would like to get involved in the ring one day:
    • I mean, I don’t have any desire to be, like, in a match or anything like that.
    • I do wish that Superstars yelled at me [on-screen] more. I’m not going to lie. Like, that’s not really a thing that we do anymore, but I want them in my face. I want them to be mean to me. Like, I actually really want that. Like, please be a d*ck. I really — be a jerk to me. But it’s a different time. Maybe one day.
    • No, I don’t want to be in the ring, but I wouldn’t be opposed to, like, slapping someone or taking a bump. No [I’ve never taken a bump]. I would love to, though. I would even love just to learn how to take a bump.
  • Redmond discussed her friendship with CM Punk:
    • I crossed paths with CM Punk prior to joining WWE because he’s such a hockey fan. So I knew him through hockey. So when he came back, I instantly DM’d him. I was leaving the venue, and I was like, ‘You little sh*t! I didn’t know you were coming back.’ This is crazy, and I was still pretty new at that time. So for me, I was like, Oh my gosh. It’s an intimidating world. Everyone’s so nice and welcoming, but it’s a big world with big personalities. Everyone’s focused on what they have going on. So when I first started, I was very much in my shell, I was shy. So when Punk came back, I was like, Oh, my God, a friendly face. I know this person, which is so crazy because his reputation prior to coming back, it just amazes me some of the things that people say about him, because for me, he’s always just been an absolute pleasure, so nice, so professional, just awesome.
  • Punk spoke with Comicbook.com during the media tour for his new movie “Night Patrol.”
  • Bayley shared a funny story about accidentally receiving texts from Trish Stratus:
    • You know who texts me on accident all the time is Trish, because she has a nephew named Bailey. I will get happy birthday texts all the time. ‘Happy 12th birthday.’ Oh, my God, thank you. She’s like, ‘Damn it. I did it again.’
  • In Paris yesterday, Maxxine Dupri attended the world premiere for season four of the Netflix series “Bridgerton.”
  • Jordynne Grace was a guest on Busted Open Radio.
  • Denise Salcedo has an interview with Chelsea Green
  • Logan Paul uploaded a new vlog.
  • WWE Vault uploaded the company’s full Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall event from 1991.

Other Wrestling

  • Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun appeared on AEW Unrestricted this week.
  • No-Contest Wrestling spoke with The Hardys ahead of TNA’s AMC premiere.
  • In an interview with NJPW’s website, Zane Jay discussed being the only foreigner currently in the NJPW Japanese Dojo:
    • It’s not an easy life in the Dojo (laughs). Not at all. I think before me, in the past, (David) Finlay and Juice (Robinson), Jay White, the foreigners in the Dojo had other foreigners there to support them. Right now, it’s only me, so I have a chip on my shoulder. And they have more experience in Japan than me, but at the same time I have more life experience, and a different mentality. I went through a lot to get here, and now I really want to make the most of this.
  • Los Tranquilos de Japon protege Ryusei is making his official debut at a show for SAJ Wrestling in Italy on January 31.
  • Anthony Greene will be an entrant in MLW Battle Riot VIII.
  • CJ Perry interviewed Nhooph Al-Areebi (former WWE wrestler Aliyah) on her Identity Crisis podcast.
  • Denise Salcedo is holding a live show with special guests at Circa Resort & Casino Las Vegas on April 17, which is the Friday of WrestleMania week.

Daily Update: Leon Slater, AAA, Tito Ortiz

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*Coverage of the Tokyo Dome show

*How did the show accomplish what should have been its key goals

*Thoughts on Aaron Wolf

*Business notes on the show

*Yota Tsuji and the title name change

*The end of the Bullet Club

*Shinsuke Nakamura and his thoughts

*Angle with Will Ospreay

*Records that Tanahashi set during his career

*Tanahashi’s background

*Notes on his last IWGP title win that wasn’t supposed to happen

*The unique way he became a mainstream figure in a news story

*How his career exploded from there

*How Tanahashi differed from prior IWGP champions and how that changed who could hold that title

*The Tanahashi era that turned around New Japan

*A look at his record setting 13 Tokyo Dome career main events

*Various title wins and career awards

*2025 Business Year in Review

*A look at all the shows that drew 15,000 fans

*Biggest individual draws of the year

*Crowds of 15,000 or more by promotion  and how the main companies did

*How UFC PPV gates wer

*The biggest pro wrestling drawing card every year from 1916 to 2025

*What wrestlers were No. 1 for the year the most years in their career

*The 50 biggest arena draws  in pro wrestling history based on the standards of their era

*New Year Dash coverage

*The year in matches, who had the most great matches in 2025, most over the course of a career, top ten arenas of all-time and new records set in 2025 by a promotion for a year as well as for a city

*A look at the life of Johnny Legend, a cult celebrity wrestling fan, his work with Freddie Blassie and Andy Kaufman, and his promotion, Incredibly Strange Wrestling.

*The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling TV shows and details regarding who watches

*Advanced ticket sales for WWE, AEW and TNA events

*AEW stars headed to CMLL next week

*Another Arena Mexico sellout

*Legendary pro wrestling promoter turns 101

*Old living wrestling personalities

*Ted DiBiase files lawsuit

*The Ted DiBiase Jr. case

*A look at the career of Bob Boyer/Bobby Bold Eagle, who wrestled from 1955 to 1987

*Documentary planned on 80s tag team

*Notes on WrestleMania week shows

*Update on the WBD sale

*Former UFC champion goes for boxing world title

*Update on the home for WWE’s library

*Plans for TV shows this month

*How much Dwayne Johnson has made from the WWE contract he signed two years ago

*Those added to WWE, those leaving, those injured and those they are interested in

*How the Holiday week house shows did

*Why WWE’s weekly  audience on Netflix should go up close to 12 percent over the next three months.

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Monday Update

WWE NXT Showdown Leon Slater
Image Copyright: WWE (Image credit: WWE)

[email protected]

— Bryan and I will be up tonight to talk about Raw, the story in the front page on WWE, and the rest of the pro wrestling news with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.

— I have a story on the front page of the site covering WWE wrestlers, how many dates they worked, wins and losses, all the annual stuff we get every year but some comments because of some notable things with the change in schedule.

— Raw already took place today and results are on the front page. They built a SNME match for 1/2 with Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley defending the tag titles against Roxanne Perez & Liv Morgan.

— Shingo Takagi of New Japan and Natsupoi of Stardom announced that they have gotten married. The two met in 2024 when Takagi made a guest appearance on a Stardom show.

— TNA has stopped listing the Leon Slater vs. Myron Reed match for Thursday’s AMC TV debut.  This coincides with talk that Slater may be booked for some of the WWE shows this week in the U.K. Frankie Kazarian vs. Mike Santana remains the main event with Nic Nemeth saying he’s challenging the winner, The Hardys & Elijah face Mustfa Ali & Jason Hotch & John Skyler and The Iinspiration defends the Knockouts tag titles against Heather & M By Elegance. Perez Hilton will also appear on the show.

— Paramount’s price will go from $7.99 to $8.99 per month for the lowest priced tier starting on Thursday and premium (ad free, but not during UFC) goes from $12.99 to $13.99 per month.

— Before the Raw taping in Dusseldorf, Germany, they taped two singles matches for Main Event:

  • Maxxine Dupri b Ivy Nile via ankle lock in 6:01
  • Otis & Akira Tozawa b Julius & Brutus Creed in 6:18.

— Tito Ortiz was announced as being inducted into the Huntington Beach Sports Hall of Fame this year. He will be honored on 2/1 at The Huntington Club. We never did get the Ortiz vs Chael Sonnen match in RAF that Ortiz cut one of the worst promos ever for.

— They have 2,615 tickets out for Wednesday’s Dynamite in Phoenix. Real capacity would be about 3,500. The goal of late seems to be 3,000 so they have a shot at it.  With MJF vs. Bandido you would hope to hit that mark.

— Hazuki vs. Mei Seira has been noted to us as another weekend match worth going out of your way to see.

— AAA has a show on Saturday night at the Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City which is sold out. A few keys is that this is the debut show on Fox One in Mexico and there has been no promotion at all, nor has a lineup been released. PWInsider lists Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley being there.  FoxOne hasn’t promoted it at all but they do list a one-hour block from 9-10 p.m., meaning that they won’t be airing at  least the first hour of the show. WWE not promoting the first show live on a new network is very much unlike them.

— Templairo’s CMLL middleweight title defense against Bandido is set for Sunday at Arena Mexico. That’s the only specific date for a match that CMLL has announced for this weekend as well. Given there is a war on the Mexico City turf on Saturday night, you would think both sides would release match lineups. You would believe wrong.

— The movie “Night Patrol” with CM Punk will debut at the theaters on Friday.

— Pro Wrestling Revolucion announced they will have Dragon Gate tryouts on 4/12 at their training Center in San Jose. Someone from the tryout will get a chance to wrestle for DragonGate inJapan.

— Greaeme Lloyd, who played major league baseball from 1993 to 2003 for a number of teams, one of only a handful of Australians to do so, wrestled for Oceania Pro Wrestling over the weekend in Melbourne, winning a Battle Royal. There is not a long list of former major league baseball players who have done a pro wrestling match.  

— Andre Drapp, a European bodybuilder who became a major pro wrestling star, was born on this day in 1920. Ray “Thunder” Stern, a bodybuilder wrestler who became an aviation millionaire was born on this day in 1933. Luna Vachon would have turned 64 today. Big Dick Dudley would have turned 58 today. Brian Blair turned 69 today. The famed Minowa-man (Ikuhisa Minowa) of Japanese pro wrestling and MMA fame turned 50 today. Raquel Rodriguez turns 35 today. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Komander has been added to the Jersey Championship Wrestling show on 2/1 at the Melrose Ballroom in New York. Other AEW talent on the show include Willow Nightingale, Billie Starkz, Lee Moriarty, Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight.

— Jason Oberlander was announced today as the new Chief Commercial Officer for the PFL.  He will lead PFL’s global partnership business overseeing all aspects of Sponsorship strategy revenue generation and partner innovation. He had been the founder and chairman of DRVN Sports & Entertainment. He’s worked for IMG, the NBA, MTV and Showtime.

–Austin Aries was announced for the 1/29 MLW Battle Riot event in Kissimmee, FL.

Daily Update: Masakatsu Funaki, The Rock, BJ Penn

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*Coverage of the Tokyo Dome show

*How did the show accomplish what should have been its key goals

*Thoughts on Aaron Wolf

*Business notes on the show

*Yota Tsuji and the title name change

*The end of the Bullet Club

*Shinsuke Nakamura and his thoughts

*Angle with Will Ospreay

*Records that Tanahashi set during his career

*Tanahashi’s background

*Notes on his last IWGP title win that wasn’t supposed to happen

*The unique way he became a mainstream figure in a news story

*How his career exploded from there

*How Tanahashi differed from prior IWGP champions and how that changed who could hold that title

*The Tanahashi era that turned around New Japan

*A look at his record setting 13 Tokyo Dome career main events

*Various title wins and career awards

*2025 Business Year in Review

*A look at all the shows that drew 15,000 fans

*Biggest individual draws of the year

*Crowds of 15,000 or more by promotion  and how the main companies did

*How UFC PPV gates wer

*The biggest pro wrestling drawing card every year from 1916 to 2025

*What wrestlers were No. 1 for the year the most years in their career

*The 50 biggest arena draws  in pro wrestling history based on the standards of their era

*New Year Dash coverage

*The year in matches, who had the most great matches in 2025, most over the course of a career, top ten arenas of all-time and new records set in 2025 by a promotion for a year as well as for a city

*A look at the life of Johnny Legend, a cult celebrity wrestling fan, his work with Freddie Blassie and Andy Kaufman, and his promotion, Incredibly Strange Wrestling.

*The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling TV shows and details regarding who watches

*Advanced ticket sales for WWE, AEW and TNA events

*AEW stars headed to CMLL next week

*Another Arena Mexico sellout

*Legendary pro wrestling promoter turns 101

*Old living wrestling personalities

*Ted DiBiase files lawsuit

*The Ted DiBiase Jr. case

*A look at the career of Bob Boyer/Bobby Bold Eagle, who wrestled from 1955 to 1987

*Documentary planned on 80s tag team

*Notes on WrestleMania week shows

*Update on the WBD sale

*Former UFC champion goes for boxing world title

*Update on the home for WWE’s library

*Plans for TV shows this month

*How much Dwayne Johnson has made from the WWE contract he signed two years ago

*Those added to WWE, those leaving, those injured and those they are interested in

*How the Holiday week house shows did

*Why WWE’s weekly  audience on Netflix should go up close to 12 percent over the next three months.

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Sunday Update

[email protected]

— Bryan and I will be back tonight covering the weekend wrestling news. On our Friday show we were joined by John Pollock talking about the 2025 Wrestling Observer Awards.

— Hall of Fame Masakatu Funaki, who is now 56, suffered a neck injury in his match with Takanori Ito at the GLEAT show over the weekend. He took a half nelson suplex and was unable to get up. He lost the match he no doubt was scheduled to win. He suffered a cervical interspinous ligament injury. He is out of the hospital now.

— The Golden Globe Awards air tonight on CBS. Dwayne Johnson was nominated for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a drama for his role as Mark Kerr in “Smashing Machine.” Emily Blunt, who played Kerr’s girlfriend Dawn Staples, was nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting role. Zootopia, an animated movie where Johnson, Roman Reigns and CM Punk voiced characters also had a few nominations.

— Raw tomorrow from Dusseldorf, Germany airs live on Netflix at 2 p.m. Eastern time because it’s from a different time zone. AJ Styles vs. Gunther and Dragon Lee & Penta vs. Austin Theory & Bronson Reed have been announced.

— In the Google searches for this weekend, at press time No. 1 at 2 million searches when I had checked was the Bills-Jaguars NFL Wild Card playoff game that the Bills won 27-24 to knock the Jaguars out of the playoffs Real American Freestyle was No. 99 at 20,000 due to the Colby Covington vs. Luke Rockhold match. WWE was No. 177 at 20,000 for Smackdown based on the Drew McIntyre title win. Also making the top 500 were AJ Ferrari’s latest arrest, UFC 324 (which takes place in two weeks) and Lance Palmer, who also wrestled on the RAF show.

— The only international matches I’ve been told about to watch as far as the best matches this weekend not on US television were CMLL bouts from Neza, Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo and today’s Hazuki vs. Mei Seira match from Stardom at Korakuen Hall. The highest profile was Friday night’s Mistico vs. Cavernario CMLL light heavyweight title match but others were Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Bandido & Soberano Jr. and Komander & Atlantis Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero from Thursday and last night’s Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. Soberano Jr. & Yutani from Arena Coliseo.

— We are only 11 days into the new year as Mistico has headlined eight sellouts and one crowd of 15,000 that was not a sellout.

— Add Starboy Charlie to the list of those who are going to the WWE tryout in Orlando. KJ Johnson, who was a senior last season at Louisiana State in gymnastics, is also at the tryout aside from names that have already been reported.

— Saya Kamitani’s return after time off to heal up on 2/7 in Osaka will be a World of Stardom title defense against Starlight Kid.

— From last night in Glasgow, Scotland with Drew McIntyre returning to Scotland as WWE champion:

  • Jey Uso b Finn Balor
  • AJ Styles & Dragon Lee b New Day
  • Alexa Bliss b Kairi Sane
  • Wyatt Sicks b Tama & Talla Tonga & JC Mateo & Tonga Loa
  • Drew McIntyre b Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE title
  • Liv Morgan b Lyra Valkyria
  • Gunther b Sami Zayn
  • CM Punk b Bronson Reed to keep the world title

— We’re looking for reports from last night’s show in Glasgow as well as tonight’s WWE show in Copenhagen, Denmark, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

— Hall of Famer Salvador “Gori” Guerrero, the father of Eddy Guerrero as well as Chavo (Sr.), Mando and Hector, was born on this day in 1921. Haruka Eigen was born on this day in 1945.  Kuniaki Kobayashi was born on this day in 1956. Abdullah the Butcher turned 85 today. The Mascara Sagrada that worked in the early 1990s for AAA including at When Worlds Collide, considered the greatest mini of all-time, turned 61 today. Former amateur champion, MMA star and pro wrestler King Mo Lawal turned 45 today. Natalia Markova turned 37. Count Billy Varga, a top name made off 1950s television in Southern California which was on network TV, died 13 years ago today at the age of 94. The second La Parka in AAA died six years ago today after months of issues from an in-ring injury at the age of 54.  

— BJ Penn was back in court on Friday after he failed to undergo a court mandated mental health evaluation. Penn blamed his attorney for not informing him of the evaluation. Penn asked the judge to dismiss his current attorney so he could retain a new attorney. He also asked for the judge to be replaced. The judge ordered him to get his mental health evaluation by 2/23 and to be in front of the judge on 3/2 for the next ruling.

— At the RAF show last night in Hollywood, FL, the Yoel Romero vs. Bo Nickal match that was the most talked about on the show never happened. There was a lot of disorganization. The wrestlers expected weigh-ins on Friday, but they were moved to Saturday. Romero had scheduled a dinner with family and friends Friday night after weigh-ins. He went to the dinner anyway and weighed in seven pounds heavy. Nickal refused the match at that point because he missed weight by so much. In a weird fan reaction, Nickal was viewed as the bad guy and not the guy who missed weight by a lot. The feeling is Romero was 48 and Nickal probably would have beaten him. Romero did score a big win on the last show, but he fought Stephen Buchanan, who also missed weight at 205 but that was because he was told it was at 225.  Buchanan beat Romero via 10-0 tech fall. 

 In the main event, Colby Covington beat Luke Rockhold via tech fall at 12-0. While Rockhold is a naturally bigger guy, he was a high school wrestler who was good in high school but hardly great while Covington was a college champion, a totally different level, and several years younger. Covington came out of it saying he wanted to move to middleweight in UFC, and also issued a grandstand challenge to Georges St-Pierre for a wrestling match. I don’t expect we’ll see that but it got him pub.

— Maki Itoh debuted in Stardom today after signing a contract where. Aaya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara beat Itoh & Saori Anou when Sakurai pinned Itoh.

— Yota Tsuji was announced for the 2/27 New Japan show in Trenton, NJ, which will also have El Phantasmo vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the World TV title.

— CJ Perry said she was going to return to pro wrestling as a manager on independent shows.

Daily Update: WWE SmackDown, Brody King, wrestling odds

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Friday Update

[email protected]

— Garrett Gonzales and I did today’s show with John Pollock of Post Wrestling talking current news as well as talking about the 2025 awards. We only covered the main categories and because we also talked about Drew McIntyre’s title win, fallout from the Tokyo Dome and New Year’s Dash, and the career of Hiroshi Tanahashi.

— The new issue of the Observer is out today. This issue is our annual business year in review show and also focuses heavily on the Tokyo Dome show and career of Hiroshi Tanahashi, as well as covers the crazy life of Johnny Legend:

*Coverage of the Tokyo Dome show

*How did the show accomplish what should have been its key goals

*Thoughts on Aaron Wolf

*Business notes on the show

*Yota Tsuji and the title name change

*The end of the Bullet Club

*Shinsuke Nakamura and his thoughts

*Angle with Will Ospreay

*Records that Tanahashi set during his career

*Tanahashi’s background

*Notes on his last IWGP title win that wasn’t supposed to happen

*The unique way he became a mainstream figure in a news story

*How his career exploded from there

*How Tanahashi differed from prior IWGP champions and how that changed who could hold that title

*The Tanahashi era that turned around New Japan

*A look at his record setting 13 Tokyo Dome career main events

*Various title wins and career awards

*2025 Business Year in Review

*A look at all the shows that drew 15,000 fans

*Biggest individual draws of the year

*Crowds of 15,000 or more by promotion  and how the main companies did

*How UFC PPV gates wer

*The biggest pro wrestling drawing card every year from 1916 to 2025

*What wrestlers were No. 1 for the year the most years in their career

*The 50 biggest arena draws  in pro wrestling history based on the standards of their era

*New Year Dash coverage

*The year in matches, who had the most great matches in 2025, most over the course of a career, top ten arenas of all-time and new records set in 2025 by a promotion for a year as well as for a city

*A look at the life of Johnny Legend, a cult celebrity wrestling fan, his work with Freddie Blassie and Andy Kaufman, and his promotion, Incredibly Strange Wrestling.

*The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling TV shows and details regarding who watches

*Advanced ticket sales for WWE, AEW and TNA events

*AEW stars headed to CMLL next week

*Another Arena Mexico sellout

*Legendary pro wrestling promoter turns 101

*Old living wrestling personalities

*Ted DiBiase files lawsuit

*The Ted DiBiase Jr. case

*A look at the career of Bob Boyer/Bobby Bold Eagle, who wrestled from 1955 to 1987

*Documentary planned on 80s tag team

*Notes on WrestleMania week shows

*Update on the WBD sale

*Former UFC champion goes for boxing world title

*Update on the home for WWE’s library

*Plans for TV shows this month

*How much Dwayne Johnson has made from the WWE contract he signed two years ago

*Those added to WWE, those leaving, those injured and those they are interested in

*How the Holiday week house shows did

*Why WWE’s weekly  audience on Netflix should go up close to 12 percent over the next three months.

— Drew McIntyre beat Cody Rhodes in the main event of Smackdown from Berlin earlier today. In the third match, the cage match, Jacob Fatu returned  and attacked both McIntyre and Rhodes. While he was brawling with Rhodes,  McIntyre got out the door to win.  We’ll have more this week regarding how this relates to WrestleMania which was scheduled as Reigns vs. Rhodes. I thought McIntyre kind of had to win this match and it was clearly done to make Rhodes not really having fairly lost while McIntyre didn’t have to lose again. This match airs commercial free in the U.S.

— Other results:

  • Trick Williams b Rey Fenix
  • Giulia b Alexa Bliss to keep the U.S.title
  • Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Talla Tonga b Wyatt Sicks to set up a tag tite match
  • Jordynne Grace b Alba Fyre
  • Carmelo Hayes b Shinsuke Nakamura to keep the U.S. title

— Announced for SmackDown this coming Friday at Wembley Arena is Miz vs. Randy Orton, Trick Williams vs. Matt Cardona, Solo Sikoa vs. Damien Priest, Sam Zahn vs. Ilja Draunov with the four winners going into a four-way match on 1/24 on the Saturday Night Main Event. The winner of that match faces Drew McIntyre for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble show on 1/31 in Riyadh.

— Elton Prince confirmed our story in the current issue about his neck injury noting he’s had two level neck fusion surgery on Thursday.

— A lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut against WWE for $5 million claiming WWE misled customers into thinking they could watch PPV’s for free if they already got ESPN through their cable systems in promotion of Wrestlepalooza. The complaint lists statements on WWE television ESPN press releases and a Nick Khan podcast interview with John Ourand where he claimed that if you got ESPN there would be no additional charge to view the major shows.  The suit alleges bait-and-switch.

— AEW Dynamite did 516,000 viewers with a 0.08 in 18-49 on Wednesday. We don’t have standings of competition numbers at press time. This is only TV and does not include viewership on HBO MAX.  

— We’re looking for reports on these shows:

  • WWE tomorrow night in Glasgow, Scotland
  • WWE Sunday in Copenhagen, Denmark

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

— The Glasgow show is sold out with 11,072 tickets out.

— Announced for the New Japan death match show in Las Vegas on 4/16 at Horseshoe Las Vegas are Jun Kasai and El Desperado.

— Jay Reddick did an interview with Brody King in the Orlando Sentinel. He talked about his Abolish ICE shirt, travel tips, hardcore music, his friendship with MVP, his chemistry with Bandido and why he sees a singles championship as a goal, but not the ultimate goal.

“I look at things in a very human way of what I feel is right and wrong,” King said. “I like trying to stand up for people who don’t have the voice to speak up for themselves.”

— Ian Carey’s report on the pro wrestling odds for this week that’s usually in the issue is here today. We should note Cody  Rhodes was a  -400 favorite to beat Drew McIntyre and that didn’t happen.

ODDS FOR THIS WEEK 

Roman Reigns is the current betting favorite to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match at +165. That is up significantly from the +750 he was listed at in November. Gunther has also made a significant jump and now has the second-highest odds at +200 after previously being listed at +600.

Sami Zayn was previously the favorite to win the Rumble at +150, but his odds have since moved out to +400. Bron Breakker was previously the second favorite at +175 and now sits tied with Zayn at +400.

After Zayn and Breakker, LA Knight has the next-highest odds at +600. CM Punk was once listed at +400, but his odds have drifted to +1000. There is a significant drop-off after that, with Seth Rollins and Oba Femi both listed at +1800, Dominik Mysterio at +2000, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton each at +2500, and then Drew McIntyre at +2800 after previously being listed at +750. The Rock is also listed at +3300.

For the Women’s Royal Rumble, the odds still point to a three-way race between Liv Morgan at +100, Bianca Belair at +200, and Rhea Ripley at +300.  

After that, there is a notable drop-off with Charlotte Flair at +1000, Lyra Valkyria at +1200, and IYO SKY at +1400. After another drop-off, Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill are each listed at +2000. Nia Jax, Chelsea Green, and AJ Lee are each listed at +2200, while Asuka is listed at +2500.

As for last week’s results, Damian Priest was a -260 favorite when he defeated Aleister Black, who was listed at +170, in an ambulance match on the 1/2 SmackDown. Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss were -165 favorites when they defeated The Kabuki Warriors, Lash Legend, and Nia Jax, who were listed at +120.

On the 1/5 Raw one-year anniversary show, CM Punk was a -280 favorite when he defeated Bron Breakker, who was at +180. Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY were -350 favorites when they won the Women’s Tag Team titles from The Kabuki Warriors, who were listed at +225.

There was notable movement in the Oba Femi vs. Leon Slater match at NXT New Year’s Evil leading up to the 1/6 show. Femi had been listed as a -1000 favorite, but after it became known he’s headed to the main roster, those odds fell back to -350. This may have reflected a belief that Femi would drop the title prior to debuting on the main roster rather than vacate it after retaining. Jacy Jayne was also a -200 favorite when she retained the NXT Women’s Championship against Kendal Grey, who was listed at +150.

— Dana White said that the 1/24 bantamweight title match with Kayla Harrison defending against Amanda Nunes will be the biggest women’s fight of all-time.  It definitely won’t be the one with the most interest in history, but it is the biggest women’s fight that can be made in the current period of time.

— Arena Mexico tonight has a loaded show:

Angelito & Kalgua & Pequeno Magia vs. Full Metal & Pequeno Polvora & Rostro de Acero (rematch of a match of the month from last year)

Calavera Jr. I & II vs. Robin & Polvora – Robin faces the guy who unmasked him last Friday

Max Star & Futuro vs. Euforia & Mephisto (rematch of a match of the month from last year which was loaded with high flying)

Star Black & Fugaz & Explosivo vs.  Barboza & Difunto & ?  (rematch of a match of the month from last year but last year’s match Zandokan  Jr., who is out after knee surgery.  The ? will be the newest member of Galleon Fantasma to be introduced, who is from Guadalajara)

Mascara Dorada vs. Titan with a 10:00 time limit

Mistico vs. Barbaro Cavernario for the CMLL light heavyweight title

— As of this writing the show has not sold out.  So that streak could end tonight.

— Last night’s show at Arena Neza with Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs Bandido & Soberano Jr., sold out with 2,000 fans. The local newspaper in Neza reported that Misitico’s team won, the atmosphere was fantastic and the match went more than 30 minutes.  Komander & Atlantis Jr. faced Hechicero & Ultimo Guerrero in the semi.

— Samantha Irvin turned 37 today. Ruby Soho turned 35. Promoter Ed McLemore was 63 when  he died 47 years ago today. Cocoa Samoa was 61 when he died 19 years ago today. Rex King/Timothy Well was 55 when he died  nine years ago. Hall of Fame candidate Pampero Firpo was 89 when he passed away six years ago. Rick Harris/Back Bart was 69 when he died one year ago. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson will be on tomorrow’s Memphis Wrestling TV show.

— Patsy Gilliland, who wrestled at Pat Lyuda from 1958-1962 as part of Moolah’s troupe, passed away back on 11/3 at the age of 85. She wrestled in the U.S.and Mexico during that period.

— VIP Wrestling Hard to Kill on 1/30 in Arlington, TX at the St. Jude Event Center is headlined by Moose defending the VIP title against Mike Santana.

— Marcus Mathers, a WWEID wrestler, starts with Dragon Gate on 1/18.

Daily Update: Kelani Jordan, RVD, Andrade

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is now available and covers the following topics:

  • Polls on Worlds End plus Continental Classic MVP and best match polls.
  • The story of the WWE/UFC merger and Vince McMahon’s resignation, how real was it, the big unanswered question about the WWE Board of Directors, lots of Discovery information in the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, McMahon, TKO, Nick Khan and others, things behind the scenes about the merger, and the change in plans prior to the 2023 WrestleMania in more detail than ever before.
  • Full coverage of AEW Worlds End and business notes on the show
  • The retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Tokyo Dome show
  • The record setting 2025 at Arena Mexico and biggest attendance week in the 92 years of CMLL, a look at the last week as well as how many Americans are at the shows.
  • The few times in history that a company sold out a major arena three times in the same week.
  • A look at the Stardom Dream Queendom show
  • Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the first major show of 2026
  • Weekly odds
  • 2026 Observer award ballot
  • Most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week.
  • Weddings and engagements in pro wrestling this past week
  • All Japan has its best match of 2025
  • William Regal and others talk about neck injuries in pro wrestling and our thoughts on it as well as the reaction of some
  • Who had the most great matches in 2025
  • How Eric Bischoff’s new promotion is similar to Sam Muchnick starting out as a promoter
  • Company does a Vince McMahon/Janel Grant angle on its TV show
  • AEW business partner delisted
  • Tony Khan talks a ton of different subjects
  • Top merch sellers in US outside of WWE
  • Tom Aspinall update
  • Don Frye talks health issues
  • Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Thursday Update

WWE

  • On No-Contest Wrestling, Kelani Jordan opened up about how proud she is of her fiance Carmelo Hayes for becoming United States Champion:
    • Oh, I’m so proud of him. Not only because, of course, you know, I don’t want to say, like, I’m biased, but really, honestly, like, he’s such a great person. He works really hard. I’ve never seen someone more passionate about this business and what he does. He studies all the time. He works hard.
    • He’s in the gym. He sometimes even does extra ring [work] with me, not only to help me, but just to make sure he’s in shape for his matches when he doesn’t really need to be. Like, he’s in great shape.
    • So I’m just super proud of him because I want to say he never, like – it wasn’t handed to him. He definitely earned it. And I feel like he definitely paid his dues. And of course, his talent speaks for himself, but he has a genuine heart. And so I’m super proud of him.
  • The Toronto Sun’s No Holds Barred podcast has an interview with Hayes.
  • Games Hub asked RVD if he feels like there is anyone in WWE who was particularly underutilized in 2025:
    • I mean that it seems like that’s always their job, they’re over obligated, they got so much TV time and they gotta figure out how to use everybody. Nobody really comes to mind. I feel like I prefer watching the ladies actually a lot more because they’ve really stepped it up.
    • If you go back to like 2001, when I came into WWE, the girls weren’t the best workers and a lot of wrestling fans would say that when the girls are on, that was their break to run to the kitchen or whatever, watching it. I didn’t know that girls could even move like they were fighting because they seemed so unnatural before, but they were hot, they get really hot girls. That’s not the same thing as someone that’s a tomboy that fought with their brothers and grew up that way. So now they have so many girls that qualify that I don’t see how they’re gonna use all of them because they gotta beat each other. And the NXT too, watching the girls that are coming up, I’m so impressed with them and they seem like they’ve closed the gap and lady wrestling might be just as popular as men wrestling someday.
  • WWE and ESPN partnered together to make a custom title belt themed after the College Football Playoffs:
    • The two sides have teamed up to create a custom WWE x ESPN CFP National Championship Title Belt, a one-of-one piece inspired by host city Miami and featuring the outline of Hard Rock Stadium, palm trees, and College Football–inspired design elements, including 136 diamonds representing each Division I FBS program. The belt will be on display for fans to take photos and interact with at the ESPN CFP x WWE activation at Playoff Fan Central in Miami from January 16–18, and one lucky fan will also have the chance to win it through an official ESPN sweepstakes.
    • The title belt will make its first public appearance with WWE Superstar Nikki Bella on the sideline of the CFP Semifinals on Jan. 8 at the VRBO Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Bella’s home state.
  • The WWE Vault YouTube account asked fans for 2026 content suggestions: “You have Vault requests… we want ‘em! Let’s start 2026 right. Lay your WWE Vault suggestions on us in the comments below!”
  • Amazon Prime Video released the trailer for “The Wrecking Crew,” a movie starring Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa that’s set to premiere on January 28.

Other Wrestling

  • AEW shared a look at its new stage setup that debuted on Dynamite last night.
  • Andrade El Idolo thanked Tony Khan for bringing him back to AEW: “Once again, thank you very much, Sir!!! @AEW vamos a romperla!!”
  • House of Glory announced that Amazing Red will be Andrade’s opponent at their City of Angels show in Los Angeles on January 30. It’s a first-time-ever matchup.
  • AEW acknowledged its wins in ESPN’s 2025 Pro Wrestling Awards:
    • Tag Team of the Year: FTR
    • Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year: Kyle Fletcher
    • Best Event of the Year: AEW Revolution
    • Best Storyline: Toni Storm & Mariah May
  • Raven told Insight with Chris Van Vliet that he feels like he was under-pushed in WWE:
    • They should have pushed me. They didn’t really push me at all. I should have been used, at least as a strong mid-carder, if not a main eventer. But that’s me. I mean, I could be biased, and I’m sure I am, but looking at it objectively, I think I could have drawn money for them.
  • Ikuro Kwon is set to compete in MLW Battle Riot VIII on January 29.
  • Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling announced a new competition series named Prospe-X:
    • Reality of Wrestling proudly introduces PROSPE-X — a brand-new, high-stakes competition series searching for the next breakout star in professional wrestling.
    • Created by Booker T and Sharmell Huffman, PROSPE-X will spotlight 10 of the top independent prospects from across the U.S. (9 singles competitors + 1 tag team), selected through an open nationwide submission process.
    • What’s on the line? One standout competitor will earn an official ROW roster spot and compete at a major ROW ‘Big Four’ event: Last Stand Rumble • Summer of Champions • SubZero • Battle to the Bell

Daily Update: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Doc Gallows, TNA Impact

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is now available and covers the following topics:

  • Polls on Worlds End plus Continental Classic MVP and best match polls.
  • The story of the WWE/UFC merger and Vince McMahon’s resignation, how real was it, the big unanswered question about the WWE Board of Directors, lots of Discovery information in the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, McMahon, TKO, Nick Khan and others, things behind the scenes about the merger, and the change in plans prior to the 2023 WrestleMania in more detail than ever before.
  • Full coverage of AEW Worlds End and business notes on the show
  • The retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Tokyo Dome show
  • The record setting 2025 at Arena Mexico and biggest attendance week in the 92 years of CMLL, a look at the last week as well as how many Americans are at the shows.
  • The few times in history that a company sold out a major arena three times in the same week.
  • A look at the Stardom Dream Queendom show
  • Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the first major show of 2026
  • Weekly odds
  • 2026 Observer award ballot
  • Most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week.
  • Weddings and engagements in pro wrestling this past week
  • All Japan has its best match of 2025
  • William Regal and others talk about neck injuries in pro wrestling and our thoughts on it as well as the reaction of some
  • Who had the most great matches in 2025
  • How Eric Bischoff’s new promotion is similar to Sam Muchnick starting out as a promoter
  • Company does a Vince McMahon/Janel Grant angle on its TV show
  • AEW business partner delisted
  • Tony Khan talks a ton of different subjects
  • Top merch sellers in US outside of WWE
  • Tom Aspinall update
  • Don Frye talks health issues
  • Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Wednesday Update

WWE

Other Wrestling

  • Last night, Tony Khan was in Las Vegas to attend Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year Awards. Khan took photos with Michael Phelps and Cal Raleigh on the red carpet for the event, where NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was honored as Sportsperson of the Year.
  • AEW wished Darby Allin a happy 33rd birthday.
  • At the ceremony for the 2025 Tokyo Sports awards, NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi addressed how he feels after retiring from the ring:
    • Yes, I do [feel a sense of relief]. Until I retired as a professional wrestler, every morning I would wake up and think, ‘Oh, where’s my match today?’ and I always had that feeling of tension. But when I woke up this morning and thought, ‘Oh, I won’t be having any more matches,’ I felt a little sad, but I also felt like I’ve moved on to a different stage.
  • Tanahashi added that he’s planning to get a haircut soon:
    • I’m getting a little break next week, so I’ll get my hair cut around the weekend. Yes, I’ll be cutting off all the hair at the back.
    • Well, I’m going to become a handsome older man. Just a handsome older man, just a cool guy.
  • Here is the full preview for Thursday night’s TNA Impact, which is the last episode before the show moves to AMC:
    • Contract signing for next week’s Frankie Kazarian vs. Mike Santana TNA World Championship match
    • International Champion Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo defends against Steve Maclin
    • The System (Moose, Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers & JDC) vs. Leon Slater, Cedric Alexander & The Hardys
    • Mustafa Ali and Order 4 address TNA Genesis
    • Dani Luna vs. Harley Hudson
    • The Hardys kick off the episode
  • Frankie Kazarian wished his wife Traci Brooks a happy 16th anniversary: “16 years building an amazing life with this incredibly kind, beautiful and wonderful woman. I am beyond lucky. Happy anniversary @TheTraciBrooks”
  • Lei Ying Lee was a guest on Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez.
  • Donovan Dijak has been confirmed as an entrant for MLW Battle Riot VIII.
  • GCW announced the schedule for The Collective 2026 in Las Vegas.
  • In an interview with Orlando Weekly, Mick Foley discussed how nostalgia has helped boost his relevance with fans:
    • I think nostalgia is a huge factor for fans. Somewhere around 2010, I went from being washed up to being part of people’s childhoods. I’m the same guy. I’ve only gotten older, but I’m no longer old and irrelevant. I’m part of people’s collective memories.
  • Adam Scherr (Braun Strowman) appeared on the Lay It On podcast with celebrity chef Brad Leone.

Daily Update: NBCU spins off USA, Bullet Club ends, WWE Raw

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*Polls on Worlds End plus Continental Classic MVP and best match polls.

*The story of the WWE/UFC merger and Vince McMahon’s resignation, how real was it, the big unanswered question about the WWE Board of Directors, lots of Discovery information in the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, McMahon, TKO, Nick Khan and others, things behind the scenes about the merger, and the change in plans prior to the 2023 WrestleMania in more detail than ever before.

*Full coverage of AEW Worlds End and business notes on the show

*The retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Tokyo Dome show

*The record setting 2025 at Arena Mexico and biggest attendance week in the 92 years of CMLL, a look at the last week as well as how many Americans are at the shows.

*The few times in history that a company sold out a major arena three times in the same week.

*A look at the  Stardom Dream Queendom show

*Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the first major show of 2026

*Weekly ods

*2026 Observer award ballot

*Most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week.

*Weedings and engagements in pro wrestling this past week

*All Japan has its best match of 2025

*William Regal and others talk about neck injuries in pro wrestling and our thoughts on it as well as the reaction of some

*Who had the most great matches in 2025

*How Eric Bischoff’s new promotion is similar to Sam Muchnick starting out as a promoter

*Company does a  Vince McMahon/Janel Grant angle on its TV show

*AEW business partner delisted

*Tony Khan talks a ton of different subjects

*Top merch sellers in US outside of WWE

*Tom Aspinall update

*Don Frye talks health issues

*Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Monday Update

Image Copyright: NJPW

— Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw, New Japan, and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.

— The breakup of NBCU became official today with the launching of Versant on NASDAQ. So the USA Network is no longer part of NBC. Versant will be the company that owns and controls the USA Network, CNBC, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, Syfy, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes and more. That’s the end of an era as NBC and USA have been under the same umbrella for 21 years.

— Also ending today is The Bullet Club, which formed in 2013. Yota Tsuji announced the remaining War Dogs members along with him, Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi, are forming a new faction called Unbound Co.

— Raw tonight from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn is the heavily promoted one year anniversary show with the promotional tie-in with Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things. They asked fans to dress up like the characters in the show. CM Punk vs. Bron Breakker for the world title goes on last. They were at 12,648 tickets out at last check, which means they sold 3,000 tickets since Adam Pearce did the Chris Jericho tease and will likely sell out or come very close. We have no confirmation that Jericho is there, since if he was he’s probably hidden and not flying in commercial, but it would be kept secret and not be on the script for the show. If he’s not, they’ll be unhappy people since WWE clearly teased he would be yesterday and that’s a lot of tickets moving late after an announcement. Nobody has denied it, but then again, the people who would know are likely a small circle. Lots of Netflix people are at the show. Other matches are Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky for the women’s tag team titles, Maxixine Dupri vs. Becky Lynch for the IC title and Liv Morgan vs. Lyra Vakyria.

— Seth Rollins is backstage because he was in New York for a football show, but it would make no sense to put him on television until he’s ready to come back, and that’s months away. This isn’t Will Ospreay in England where AEW could have done it, but chose not to, just for a babyface pop.

— We’re looking for your thoughts from WrestleKingdom at the Tokyo Dome, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— We’re also looking for live reports from Brooklyn tonight with any matches taped before Raw or anything else not on the live show, results and finishes to [email protected]

— Last night’s WWE results from Bridgeport, CT:

Carmelo Hayes b The Miz to keep the U.S. title in a good match.
Gunther b Sami Zayn with a roll-up in a very good match
A.J. Styles & Dragon Lee b New Day to keep the tag titles in a so-so match
Wyatt Six (Howdy & Lumis & Gacy & Rowan) beat MFTs (Tama & Talla Tonga & JC Mateo & Tonga Loa) in a weak match
Iyo Sky b Raquel Rodriguez in a fair match’
Jade Cargill did an open challenge for her WWE title, Cargill beat Bayley in a fair match
Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed b Viking Raiders in a so-so match
Cody Rhodes b Drew McIntyre with a photo finish landing in a cage match in an excellent match (Thanks to Ron Lemeiux and Justin Moore)

— Because of the holidays, we are still way behind on ratings being released. NXT on 12/30 did 604,000 viewers with a 0.07 in 18-49. It was last place on network TV in both categories.

— CMLL in Puebla tonight was sold out when I woke up with Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. Yutani & Soberano Jr. & Barbaro Cavernario. CMLL has sold out nine of its last ten shows.

— Yota Tsuji announced the IWGP world heavyweight title is done and they are going back to the IWGP heavyweight title which was the historical name for the title. The Global title which he also has will be defended separately.

— Sanada strongly hinted that he was leaving New Japan. After his match earlier today, he had a guitar that read “Goodbye NJPW” and said in a post-match interview, “I’m leaving this ring for good today. I’m going out on a journey.”

— Aaron Wolf’s first Never title defense looks to be against Ren Narita. I expect all the major matches for February to be announced in the next 48 hours.

— Smackdown outside the U.S from Berlin will air on Netflix at 2 p.m. Eastern time. In the U.S. it’ll be on at the regular 8 p.m. on the USA Network. We’ll see if airing everywhere else six hours earlier will hurt numbers given the boost Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre in the three stage of hell title match in theory would boost it.

— Saya Kamitani is taking a few weeks off. Stardom announced she would return on the 2/7 show at the Edion Arena in Osaka.

— NXT tomorrow has New Year’s Evil, a heavily promoted major show with Oba Femi vs Leon Slater for the NXT men’s title, Jacy Jayne vs. Kendal Grey for the women’s title, Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe for the North American title and Izzy Dame vs. Tatum Paxley.

— Alamo Drafthouse will be airing a screening of “Night Patrol” on Wednesday ahead of its theatrical release. CM Punk is one of the stars in that movie.

— WWE starts a European tour on 1/8 in Leipzig, Germany with a house show. The house shows will be headlined by CM Punk vs. Bronson Reed for the world title as they stand right now.

— Mistico was booed Saturday night at Arena Coliseo. He was booed all the time in his heyday. He also drew like crazy then and Saturday’s show was sold out farther in advance than any Coliseo show in recent memory.

— It will be interesting to see if Tuesday draws bigger as Three Kings Day would figure to have a bigger Arena Mexico crowd than usual. It’s more loaded than usual with Mistico & Dorada & Esfinge vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr, Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs. Euforia & Soberano Jr, (father and son teams), Blue Panther vs. Difunto and Tessa Banchred vs. Zeuxis vs. Jarochita.

–MLW announced its 2/7 show in Chicago at Cicero Stadium is already sold out. Bishop Dyer was announced for the 1/29 Battle Riot match in Kissimmee, FL.

— Marshe Rockett turns 41 today. Willie Mack turns 39. It would have been the 69th birthday of Jeep Swenson, who passed away yung. Alexis Smirnoff passed away seven years ago today at 71. Charlie Cook passed away six years ago at 78.

Daily Update: Fallout from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*Polls on Worlds End plus Continental Classic MVP and best match polls.

*The story of the WWE/UFC merger and Vince McMahon’s resignation, how real was it, the big unanswered question about the WWE Board of Directors, lots of Discovery information in the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, McMahon, TKO, Nick Khan and others, things behind the scenes about the merger, and the change in plans prior to the 2023 WrestleMania in more detail than ever before.

*Full coverage of AEW Worlds End and business notes on the show

*The retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Tokyo Dome show

*The record setting 2025 at Arena Mexico and biggest attendance week in the 92 years of CMLL, a look at the last week as well as how many Americans are at the shows.

*The few times in history that a company sold out a major arena three times in the same week.

*A look at the  Stardom Dream Queendom show

*Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the first major show of 2026

*Weekly ods

*2026 Observer award ballot

*Most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week.

*Weedings and engagements in pro wrestling this past week

*All Japan has its best match of 2025

*William Regal and others talk about neck injuries in pro wrestling and our thoughts on it as well as the reaction of some

*Who had the most great matches in 2025

*How Eric Bischoff’s new promotion is similar to Sam Muchnick starting out as a promoter

*Company does a  Vince McMahon/Janel Grant angle on its TV show

*AEW business partner delisted

*Tony Khan talks a ton of different subjects

*Top merch sellers in US outside of WWE

*Tom Aspinall update

*Don Frye talks health issues

*Lots of injury updates

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Sunday Update

NJPW New Year Dash 2026 IWGP Tag Belts
Image Copyright: NJPW

[email protected]

–Bryan and I will be back tonight taking Wrestle Kingdom, SmackDown, and other weekend news. Our week in review show with Garrett Gonzales is also on the site with a lot of thoughts on last week’s biggest news stories, notably a lot on the discovery in the shareholders vs.  WWE lawsuit which gave a lot of info and we talk about a lot of aspects of Vince McMahon’s leaving, that he clearly first thought he was always coming back, if he’s coming back this time and the Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns finish at their first Mania match and how it went down.

–Wrestle Kingdom, or at least the last two hours plus of the show felt historic. Evil did as good a job as possible with Aaron Wolf, which was very similar to the debut of Hiroshi Wajima in the 80s against Tiger Jeet Singh, where you do a lot of wild stuff to make the newcomer look good.  The crowd was behind Wolf. Yota Tsuji vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi were almost perfect matches. The latter was among the best storytelling matches in history. The ceremony lasted forever but it was also the best job any company has ever done with that kind of a ceremony. And the work of announcers Walker Stewart and Chris Charlton can’t be praised enough. They made Tanahashi come across as the greatest wrestler of all-time, which he’s not either, although he is one of the best I’ve ever seen and among the most important of the generation.  

A comment by Konosuke Takeshita regarding a Shinsuke Nakamura-like armband ended up  causing a lot of controversy. He said Nakamura asked him to wear it as a tribute to Tanahashi since he wasn’t allowed to be there. That would give the implication that Nakamura was not allowed to go. Nakamura said he did everything he could to be there but it didn’t happen. That’s pro wrestling politics and in any other generation, he would not have been allowed either, but for a number of reasons, there would be more of a chance now, but it still didn’t happen.

Those appearing in the ring with Tanahashi in the closing ceremony were Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi (who was not moving well at all, limping badly but he made it from the back to the ring and back, but it was clearly very difficult for him to do so). Will Ospreay, Jay White, Keiji Muto, Tatsumi Fujinami, Katsuyori Shibata, Tetsuya Naito and Bushi. Naito’s situation was very interesting indicating it’s probably his last time in a New Japan ring. Tanahashi was out there forever and nobody left. He admitted he was tired.  

At this writing cage match lists the main event as the No. 11 greatest match of all-time, but it was as high as No. 1 earlier today. As a story telling match, it’s among the best ever.  

— Jake Lee returned and attacked Tsuji after his win over Takeshita. It looks like that will main event the 2/11 New Beginning show in Osaka. Lee has been added to the United Empire unit and was the mystery partner in the ten-man tag, and pinned Hiromu Takahashi to win it. Lee does nothing for me past make it clear Kento Miyahara is the most underrated wrestler of our generation, since Miyahara actually made people think Lee was a viable world champion.  Francesco Akira returned as well.  

— New Year’s Dash is at 4:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning from the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo:

  • Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura & Katsuya Murashima vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi & Satoshi Kojima
  • El Phanttasmo & Shoma Kato vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Rocky Romero
  • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Oleg Boltin vs Sanada & Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a non-title match
  • Gabe Kidd & Hiromu Takahashi & Clark Connors vs. Andrade & Francesco Aira & Jakob Austin Young
  • Aaron Wolf & Toru Yano & Yoh & Master Wato vs. Evil & Ren Narita & Don Fale & Dick Togo
  • Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi & David Finlay & Drilla Moloney vs. Jake Lee & Great O’Khan & Henare & Callum Newman
  • Sho & Douki defend the IWGP jr. tag titles against Desperado & Kuukai, Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita and Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X
  • Oskar & Yuto-Ice defend the IWGP tag titles against Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa

— Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre in a cage match headlined the house show last night in Worcester, MA, with Rhodes winning of course. That’s likely the same card as tonight in Bridgeport, CT.

— Tomorrow’s first anniversary of Raw on Netflix has 9,461 tickets out. They are definitely pushing for a big walk-up because Adam Pearce talked about breaking down the walls, on purpose, which fuels the idea Chris Jericho is returning. We don’t have it confirmed but many believe that is the case, if not tomorrow, by the end of the month. The show will have a Stranger Things tie-in and fans are being encouraged to dress in costumes from the show. CM Punk vs. Bron Breakker for the World title and Kabuki Warriors vs. Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley for the tag titles plus Maxxine Dupri vs. Becky Lynch for the IC tille headline the show.

— People have been raving about the Arena Coliseo main event last night with Mistico & Templario vs Soberano Jr. & Cavernario Barbaro, yesterday’s Mayu Iwatani GHC women’s title defense against Takumi Iroha from yesterday’s Marigold show at the Ota Gym and today’s Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume main event at the Tokyo Joshi Pro show at Korakuen Hall which was held before the Wrestle Kingdom show.

— Konosuke Takeshita did two matches yesterday at Korakuen Hall, although the first was only 56 seconds where Takaeshita & Akito beat Danshoku Dino & Super Sasadango Machine, and then Takeshita beat the other three in a handicap match using raging fire on Dino.

— Alex Windsor was in Japan yesterday wrestling for Stardom. She did an afternoon and evening show at Shinjuku Face, first teaming with Mei Seira & Starlight Kid over Natsupoi & Saori Anou & Anne Kanaya when she beat Kanaya, and then teaming with Kikyo Furusawa over Konami & Fukigen Death when she beat Fukigen Death.

 — New Japan announced 4/16 in Las Vegas for a show called Death Pain Invitational and 7/11 in Hoffman Estates, IL at the NOW Arena for opening night of the G-1 Climax tournament.

— Brinley Reece (Breanna Ruggerio) announced tat she was leaving pro wrestling. She had been in WWE developmental and appeared on many episodes of NXT, but has been out of action after shoulder surgery, and said she was choosing her health, her body and her future first. She praised WWE for her learning lessons.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Wrestle Kingdom, you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— We’re also looking for reports from last night’s AEW tapings in Arlington, TX with the matches not on the live show, WWE last night in Worcester, MA and tonight in Bridgeport, CT with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

— Former UFC champion Holly Holm faced Stephanie Han in a match for the World Boxing Association lightweight championship last night in San Juan. Holm, 44, was being outboxed when there was an accidental head-butt and Han was bleeding badly. They stopped the fight during the seventh round and went to the cards and Han was ahead 69-65, 69-64 and 68-65to retain the championship.  Han said she would give Holm a rematch in El Paso or Albuquerque.  It was only Holm’s second pro loss as a boxer.

— On the Google searches for this weekend, Holly Holm was No. 99 with 20,000, Matt Cardona was No. 175 with 10,000, WWE SmackDown was No. 301, Wrestle Kingdom was No 342, Trick Williams was  No. 477 and Randy Orton was No. 480

— The Garcia twins (Nikki & Brie) are among 30 celebrities competing for $1 million for charity in Beast Games 2, which airs on Wednesday on Prime Video.

— Add Progress and New Japan to the list of promotions that will be running in Las Vegas the week of WrestleMania. Progress announced it would be running on Thursday, 4/17 as part of The Collective produced by Game Changer Wrestling.  

— Mickey Rourke, the star of “The Wrestler,” was evicted from his home for being $60,000 behind in rent. The Hollywood Reporter noted that Rouke was given approval for a GoFundMe campaign to raise money.

— Jim Powers (James Manley) turns 68 today. Today would have been the 60th birthday of Jesus Escoboza, the second La Parka. Paula Kaye would have turned 77 today. Vilano I died 25 years ago today at the age of 50. Famed mini star Harold “Cowboy” Lang was 56 when he died 19 years ago today (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Brianna Coda, the former Cora Jade, is in Machine Gun Kelly’s music video for the song “Times Of My Life.” Coda plays the love interest of Kelly.

Daily Update: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20, CMLL Sin Salida, Johnny Legend

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Friday Update

— We did our weekly show with Garrett Gonzales today talking about the lead story in the current issue with some thoughts from the different discovery that was unearthed in the Brandon Thurston story, talked Wrestle Kingdom and Tanahashi, answered questions, AEW television and business, WWE in 2026, and other stuff. Bryan and I will be back Sunday talking about Wrestle Kingdom and Sin Salida, as well as the rest of the weekend work.

— The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is up on the site today:

*Polls on Worlds End plus Continental Classic MVP and best match polls.

*The story of the WWE/UFC merger and Vince McMahon’s resignation, how real was it, the big unanswered question about the WWE Board of Directors, lots of Discovery information in the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, McMahon, TKO, Nick Khan and others, things behind the scenes about the merger, and the change in plans prior to the 2023 WrestleMania in more detail than ever before.

*Full coverage of AEW Worlds End and business notes on the show

*The retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Tokyo Dome show

*The record setting 2025 at Arena Mexico and biggest attendance week in the 92 years of CMLL, a look at the last week as well as how many Americans are at the shows.

*The few times in history that a company sold out a major arena three times in the same week.

*A look at the  Stardom Dream Queendom show

*Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the first major show of 2026

*Weekly ods

*2026 Observer award ballot

*Most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week.

*Weedings and engagements in pro wrestling this past week

*All Japan has its best match of 2025

*William Regal and others talk about neck injuries in pro wrestling and our thoughts on it as well as the reaction of some

*Who had the most great matches in 2025

*How Eric Bischoff’s new promotion is similar to Sam Muchnick starting out as a promoter

*Company does a  Vince McMahon/Janel Grant angle on its TV show

*AEW business partner delisted

*Tony Khan talks a ton of different subjects

*Top merch sellers in US outside of WWE

*Tom Aspinall update

*Don Frye talks health issues

*Lots of injury updates

— The Tokyo Dome attendance tomorrow night as far as actual tickets sold is right at 45,000 right now. There are no seats available nor have there been for some time, so paid attendance is probably not going to change.

— The Observer Awards balloting season is open right now, and this is probably the most interesting year in a long time because so many promotions had great years in 2025.  

— CMLL’s Sin Salida show tonight is sold out at Arena Mexico. CMLL has drawn 78,000 fans to its four arenas in the last eight days, the best week in its history:

  • El Hijo del Pantera & Valiente Jr. vs. Infarto & Troglodita
  • Titan vs. Yutani
  • Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja defend the New Japan Strong tag titles against The World Class Wrecking Crew, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
  • Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr.
  • 16 man Escape the Cage match, last man left in the cage either gets his head shaved or loses his mask:  Virus, Rey Cometa  Jr., Espiritu Negro, Cancerbero, Electrico, Coyote, Astral, Polvora, Oro Jr., Robin, Diamond, Sangre Imperiaalk El Vigia, Calavera Jr. I, Calvaera Jr. II, and Blue Shark.

— Tomorrow night’s Arena Coliseo show headlined by Mistico & Tempario vs Cavernario & Soberano Jr. is also sold out. I can’t remember ever an  Arena Coliseo show selling out a day ahead.

— AAA has already sold out its next Mexico City date of 1/17 at Juan de la Barrera Gym.

— Rockabilly music icon Johnny Legend passed away. I believe he was 78.  He has a major connection to pro wrestling and was an Observer reader for decades. I met him several times at events. Born Martin Margulies, he was a big fan of Los Titanes en el Ring, the crazy wrestling from Argentina and founded Incredibly Strange Wrestling in San Francisco, which was based on that promotion.  He was a performer in music who heavily copied Fred Blassie and Gorgeous George,and was friends with Blassie and did a number of projects with him. He hung out with him regularly on the beach in Santa Monica  He wrote and produced the cult song “Pencil Neck Geek” that Blassie sang. He founded the Fred Blassie Fan Club with figurehead president Jay North, the original Dennis the Menace of TV fame. One of my best friends in high school played in his band for years.  He also co-directed the film  “My Breakfast with Blassie” with Blassie and Andy Kaufman and was also in the 1999 movie “Man on the Moon.” He was also a major Roller Derby and Roller Games fan. His sister Lynne was the longtime partner of Kaufman.

–Netflix will be adding WWE programming in France and Belgium starting today as their domestic television deals expire.  

— That also means the end of the iconic French announcing team of Christophe Agius and Philippe Chereau, who had been announcing WWE in France for 26 years. Aguis will continue on Netflix with Nadir Mohammedi, but at Monday’s Raw on television, Agius and Chereau did a three minute emotional farewell to viewers. But they will have a 15 minute weekly talk show on French television on their memories of announcing wrestling. (thanks to Tony Bonin)

 — SmackDown on 12/26 was the top rated show on television with 1,138,000 viewers and a 0.27 in 18-49. It was way up from the prior week that was hurt badly by college football as well as Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua. We’ll have more in next week’s issue.

— The first three-hour SmackDown show in months is tonight in Buffalo with Damien Priest vs. Aleister Black in an ambulance match and Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss & Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend & Asuka & Kairi Sane. Jordynne Grace was booked to debut on the show and Matt Cardona just returned. As of this morning there were 7,800 tickets out for the show.

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

*SmackDown tonight in Buffalo, NY (dark matches only)

*AEW tomorrow night in Arlington, TX (matches not  on the live TV show)

*WWE tomorrow night in Worcester, MA

*WWE on Sunday in Bridgeport, CT

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

— We’re doing our weekend poll on Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo  Dome. The show starts at 1:30 a.m. tomorrow night Eastern time and 10:30 p.m. Pacific time featuring Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match against Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji to unify the IWGP world title and Global title.

— Much of the UFC fight library has been moved to Paramount. I believe the entire UFC library will be on Paramount this year.

— Henry Cejudo vs. Urijah Faber will headlined the RAF show on 2/28 in Tempe, AZ. Also announced is Muhammad Mokaev vs Bryce Meredith in another battle of UFC fighters.

— Joey Janela vs. Chris Masters headlines GCW on 2/24 in Los Angeles at the UCC.

—  Dominick Reyes vs. Johnny Walker has been added to  the 4/11 UFC 327 show in Miami.

— Ulka Sasaki, a former UFC and Rizin fighter who is with Pro Wrestling NOAH, will be doing a U.S. excursion. He’s leaving after his last match on 1/11 at Korakuen Hall against KENTA.  Yoshiki Inamura defends the GHC title against Masa Kitamiya on that show.

— Zilla Fatu vs. Lance Anoa’i will be on the HOG show on 2/20  in Jamaica NY.  

— TMart’s The Gathering on 7/24 in Charlotte, NC, will be honoring Ted DiBiase Sr., Rockin Robin and Cowboy Bill Watts.  Erik Watts will be there to accept the award for Cowboy.

— WAR on 1/10 in Lima, OH at the Bradfield Community Center.

— Jim Londos, the greatest drawing card pre-Hulk Hogan and some can argue the biggest ever, was born on this day in 1894. Jerry Monti, who Bay Area fans will remember, would have turned 86 today. Nell Stewart, one of the top woman stars of the 50s passed away on this day 24 years ago at 74.  ean Gene Okerlund passed away seven years ago today at 76. (thanks to Tony Richards)

Daily Update: Tessa Blanchard & Esfinge engaged, NWA awards, Jamie Hayter

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site covering the following topics:

  • Where AEW stands today, and the key out of the ring and out of their hands challenges that will face them between now and the end of 2027
  • AEW’s ratings growth outside the U.S. this past year
  • AEW’s television ratings decline with the different factors involved
  • Key aspects of the WBD sale and what it means to AEW
  • What AEW didn’t do in 2025 as far as new deals that were talked about one year ago
  • Estimating using different methods how many U.S. viewers AEW Dynamite really gets
  • How things have changed greatly in the past year
  • Business of AEW Worlds End
  • Gambling odds for matches
  • A look at AAA Guerra de Titanes, one of WWE’s best shows of the year
  • Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul and business numbers and record level manipulation of numbers
  • Ric Flair and Mike Tyson file lawsuit against former business partner
  • The life and times of Roland Bock, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 1970s, his famous matches with Antonio Inoki, the reality of those matches, his tough guy reputation, the legendary tough guy whose career he ended and just how different pro wrestling was back then. We go from being tortured as a child, to developing a street fighter rep, going to the Olympics in wrestling, his attempt to pioneer a promotional style that got big in Japan several years later, why his career didn’t explode in Japan and everything from wrestling bears to bulls
  • Who is eligible for the 2025 Rookie of the Year award
  • The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week
  • Update on 2025 Arena Mexico attendance
  • A look at CMLL Dream Match Night
  • Ozawa talks awards
  • Wrestle Kingdom updates
  • A look at the life and career of Mark Wolf
  • Rick Link goes into hospice care
  • Jerry Lawler returns to WMC
  • Grandson of Hawaiian pro wrestling legend is starting QB at USC, headed to a bowl game an an NFL prospect
  • Ticket sales to upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows
  • Lots of AEW news notes
  • Jim Ross responds to DVon Dudley
  • Updates on multiple lawsuits against TKO and judges concerns about evidence in two different cases
  • WrestleMania ticket sales as well as the next two AEW PPV sales

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Thursday Update

WWE

  • Sami Zayn named his match against Kevin Owens from Elimination Chamber as his favorite match he had in 2025.
  • Photography By Avery – the photographer for Maxxine Dupri and Anthony Luke’s wedding – shared a story of Dupri (Sydney Zmrzel) taking time out of her wedding day to sign an autograph for a fan:
    • One more behind the scenes moment. This gentleman approached us while doing bridal portraits kindly asking for an autograph. Sydney gave the biggest smile and said ‘of course! Would you like a selfie too?’ Then proceeded to chat with him briefly about his son. She was thrilled to take time out of her wedding day to chat with a fan. She’s truly such a precious soul @maxxinedupri
  • Stephanie Vaquer posted a tweet calling 2025 the best year of her life:
    • 2025 was the best year of my life, and so much of that is thanks to all of you. Dreams came true, goals became reality, we made history together, and we lived moments I will never forget. Hearing the crowd chant ‘La Primera,’ seeing signs with my name, and feeling that energy night after night… it’s unforgettable.
    • Your support, your love, and your motivation pushed me to keep going, to grow, and to dream even bigger. I know where I come from, I know where I’m going, and with pride I can say it: I am the WWE Women’s World Champion.
    • Thank you for standing with me, and thank you for believing in me.
  • The Bella Twins spoke with Adrian Hernandez about their Bonita Bonita wine brand.
  • WWE has a Playlist video of the best entrances of 2025.
  • WWE Vault put together a four-hour video of classic Roddy Piper footage.

Other Wrestling

  • Jamie Hayter has been announced for Pro Wrestling Eve’s Wrestle Queendom VIII event in London on March 8.
  • Nyla Rose co-hosted AEW Unrestricted this week as she, Aubrey Edwards, and Will Washington looked back at their favorite PPV matches of 2025.
  • On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Frankie Kazarian praised how strong the TNA locker room is:
    • Especially with this new AMC deal, I was there when we got the news that we’d be on Fox Sports West, whatever it was at 4 pm on Friday, whatever. But that was TV, and it was an hour, but it was TV. We were thrilled. Then hearing that we’re going to Spike network television, massive. Yeah, this is even bigger. There’s so much excitement. Like I said, TNA’s strength has always been its locker room. Just the work ethic of the guys in the locker room, management changes and all that, but that attitude has always been there. And this team, this crew we got there, the management team, everybody on the roster, is just a joy to be around. And again, a united front all wanting the exact same thing.
  • Tessa Blanchard and CMLL star Esfinge announced their engagement.
  • Okumura is the latest entrant confirmed for MLW Battle Riot VIII in Kissimmee, Florida on January 29.
  • Tony Deppen announced that, in order to get his mind and body right, he will not be wrestling for the first half of 2026. He hopes to return in his best form when he comes back to the ring.
  • Minoru Suzuki will face Matt Brannigan at Prestige Wrestling’s show in Portland, Oregon on February 20. It’s the last-ever Prestige event.
  • Post Wrestling and Denise Salcedo interviewed our Dave Meltzer.
  • Former WWE NXT wrestler Gable Steveson was a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience.
  • The NWA announced its year-end awards for 2025:
    • Male Wrestler of the Year: “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason
    • Female Wrestler of the Year: Natalia Markova
    • Tag Team of the Year: Mike Knox & Trevor Murdoch
    • Breakthrough Star: Mike Mondo
    • Hot Prospect of Next Year: Kylie Paige
    • Shock of the Year: NWA Power joining Roku Sports
    • Match of the Year: Tiffany Nieves vs. Natalia Markova steel cage match from Looks That Kill
    • Moment of the Year: Natalia Markova’s dropkick from top of steel cage at Looks That Kill

Daily Update: Triller TV, Drew McIntyre, Konosuke Takeshita

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site covering the following topics:

  • Where AEW stands today, and the key out of the ring and out of their hands challenges that will face them between now and the end of 2027
  • AEW’s ratings growth outside the U.S. this past year
  • AEW’s television ratings decline with the different factors involved
  • Key aspects of the WBD sale and what it means to AEW
  • What AEW didn’t do in 2025 as far as new deals that were talked about one year ago
  • Estimating using different methods how many U.S. viewers AEW Dynamite really gets
  • How things have changed greatly in the past year
  • Business of AEW Worlds End
  • Gambling odds for matches
  • A look at AAA Guerra de Titanes, one of WWE’s best shows of the year
  • Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul and business numbers and record level manipulation of numbers
  • Ric Flair and Mike Tyson file lawsuit against former business partner
  • The life and times of Roland Bock, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 1970s, his famous matches with Antonio Inoki, the reality of those matches, his tough guy reputation, the legendary tough guy whose career he ended and just how different pro wrestling was back then. We go from being tortured as a child, to developing a street fighter rep, going to the Olympics in wrestling, his attempt to pioneer a promotional style that got big in Japan several years later, why his career didn’t explode in Japan and everything from wrestling bears to bulls
  • Who is eligible for the 2025 Rookie of the Year award
  • The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week
  • Update on 2025 Arena Mexico attendance
  • A look at CMLL Dream Match Night
  • Ozawa talks awards
  • Wrestle Kingdom updates
  • A look at the life and career of Mark Wolf
  • Rick Link goes into hospice care
  • Jerry Lawler returns to WMC
  • Grandson of Hawaiian pro wrestling legend is starting QB at USC, headed to a bowl game an an NFL prospect
  • Ticket sales to upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows
  • Lots of AEW news notes
  • Jim Ross responds to DVon Dudley
  • Updates on multiple lawsuits against TKO and judges concerns about evidence in two different cases
  • WrestleMania ticket sales as well as the next two AEW PPV sales

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Wednesday Update

WWE

  • WWE uploaded the complete Ricky Saints vs. Je’Von Evans main event from last night’s NXT.
  • Blake Monroe surprised her family in the United Kingdom by traveling home for Christmas.
  • In a tweet today, Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Yoshiki Inamura thanked Shawn Michaels, Matt Bloom, and everyone at NXT for playing a role in his excursion:
    • 2025 was truly an unforgettable year.
    • Being in NXT was an amazing experience.
    • I am deeply grateful to Shawn, Bloom, all coaches, staff members, wrestlers & fans.
    • Because of all of you, I was able to become a champion in NOAH.
    • I look forward to seeing you all again.
    • #WWENXT
  • IYO SKY wished everyone a happy New Year and called 2025 the best year of her career.
  • Damian Priest posted a New Year’s message to fans:
    • Wishing you all the best New Year! We focus so much on what we want, what we believe should be that we forget about what is. Life is so good. Smile. Laugh. Enjoy. Pass that on to someone. To anyone. To everyone. We ain’t sh*t. But we can do more for others. Let’s try together. I’m with you.
  • At WWE’s house show in Detroit last night, Drew McIntyre taunted Brandi Rhodes and her family as they were in the front row. The main event of the show was Cody Rhodes defeating McIntyre in a street fight to retain the WWE Championship. Rhodes won by splashing McIntyre through a table.
  • Carmelo Hayes commented on his United States title win:
    • Closing out the year coming off one of the greatest achievements and moments in my career so far. I appreciate everyone who stayed down and welcome everyone who just jumped on. Enjoy the ride, we going up
  • Natalya told Undisputed that she’s happy to see a diversity of ages represented on the WWE roster:
    • When I watched John Cena and AJ Styles wrestle at Crown Jewel, I wished they’d both never retire. The match was that good. I love that we’re celebrating a diversity of age in WWE. Asuka is in her mid-40s, she is a mother, she’s been wrestling for decades, and no one talks about her age. She’s also doing the best work of her career. She’s captivating, she’s intriguing, and the audience connects with her.
    • That’s the biggest thing in storytelling, the emotional connection with the audience. I’m not thinking about when she’s going to retire–I’m just thinking about when I can see her wrestle again.

Other Wrestling

  • Sports Illustrated shared full video of their nearly two-hour interview with Tony Khan.
  • While speaking with NJPW for an in-character interview, Konosuke Takeshita addressed whether he’s gotten used to the schedule of being under contract with all three of AEW, NJPW, and DDT:
    • I don’t think it’s something anybody can get used to, heheh. But I’ve gotten to know what it takes. You have to have your mind in a few different places at once, but at the same time you have to have your focus on the thing that’s right in front of you, and once you do that the mental aspect gets a lot easier. If you think too far ahead then everything gets on top of you.
  • Takeshita noted that all three promotions have different styles – and he brings his own style to the table as well:
    • They’re definitely all different, and the way the fans of each see pro-wrestling is very different. So there’s my own style and then there’s adapting that to the different tastes. It’s been about three and a half years since I went to America, and at first it really was a difficult change of gears. Now I wrestle much more in America than in Japan, so when I’m in Japan I have to change modes the other way.
  • Takeshita noted that, by wrestling overseas, he hopes to bring more of a spotlight to Japanese wrestling:
    • I am a Japanese wrestler, you know. I debuted in Japan. And now I’m wrestling in America, gained a ton of experience there, and I think that I can really bring Japanese pro-wrestling into the spotlight in a major way. I see my work overseas as my way of repaying the Japanese scene.
  • TNA put together a video of their top 10 moments of 2025.
  • Ahead of appearing in his retirement match for Beyond Wrestling tonight, indie wrestler Dan Barry thanked everyone who supported him as he chased his dream
    • Today is my last day as a professional wrestler. Thank all of you who supported me as I chased a dream I’ve had since I was a little kid. 
    • I’ve been blessed to meet tons of people, see hundreds of cities, and chase a dream that was thought to be unobtainable. 
    • Thanks for the memories.
  • Stardom’s AZM is set to compete for Pro Wrestling Eve at Wrestle Queendom VIII in London on March 8.
  • Triller Group Inc, the parent company of Triller TV, announced that it is appealing Nasdaq’s decision to suspend trading of Triller stock and delist Triller from the stock exchange:
    • Triller Group Inc. ( ‘Triller Group’ or ‘the Company’) today announced that it received a determination letter from a Nasdaq Hearings Panel on December 26, 2025, confirming the suspension of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market effective at the open of the market on December 30, 2025 and delisting of the Company’s securities. This decision stems from the Company not having been able to file two periodic reports by a deadline of December 24, 2025 set by the Hearings Panel.
    • The Company’s operations have been progressing in a normal manner, and no deficiencies or irregularities have been identified that materially affect the Company’s financial position or operational integrity. The filing delay is attributable primarily to one remaining technical matter involving the consolidation of accounts for a U.S.-based operation within Triller Group. Management is highly confident that the Company will regain full filing compliance within weeks, positioning the Company for robust revenue growth, product development, and expansion in 2026.
    • The imposed timeline does not account fully for the substantial remediation efforts that the Company has already achieved in resolving non-recurring integration challenges following the October 2024 business combination with legacy Triller Corp. The Company’s team, in collaboration with its advisors and auditors, has spent more than a year addressing all accounting and audit matters related to legacy Triller Group’s pre-merger operations. Prior to the merger’s closing, the Company (then operating as AGBA) was in full compliance with all Nasdaq listing requirements.
    • The Company is also in the final stages of implementing a comprehensive upgrade to its accounting systems and processes in partnership with a leading accounting and finance consulting firm in Los Angeles.
    • Triller Group is fully committed to exhausting all available appeal avenues. We intend to pursue an appeal through the Nasdaq process, and to the Securities and Exchange Commission and United States Court of Appeals if necessary. We expect to regain full filing compliance and return to regular trading on a major Exchange soon. The Company has retained Jacob S. Frenkel with Dickinson Wright PLLC as counsel to appeal the decision of the Hearings Panel and pursue all possible legal challenges to the Hearings Panel’s decision and the Nasdaq’s suspension of trading and delisting of our securities. On December 29, 2025, Mr. Frenkel filed an emergency application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) requesting, among other things, that the SEC stay (prevent from going into effect) the trading suspension.
    • This procedural issue has no bearing on the Company’s ongoing operations, strategic priorities, or underlying financial strength.
    • The Company looks forward to achieving key growth milestones in 2026 and will provide timely updates to the market regarding progress on its financial filings and the Nasdaq appeal process and challenges to the Nasdaq’s decisions.

Daily Update: Nikki Bella, MJF, Paul Walter Hauser

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site today. Sorry for the delay but there were a number of things having to do with Christmas travel and the weather that basically cost me a full day. But it’s a very heavy issue with two major stories, one on AEW going forward business wise and the many key aspects of media rights and different ways it can go in 2027. The other is a story on Roland Bock, who had one of the most famous pro wrestling matches of the 70s with Antonio Inoki, the famed Stuttgart Massacre, and was one of the most intriguing and controversial pro wrestlers of that era.

*Where AEW stands today, and the key out of the ring and out of their hands challenges that will face them between now and the end of 2027

*AEW’s ratings growth outside the U.S. this past year

*AEW’s television ratings decline with the different factors involved

*Key aspects of the WBD sale and what it means to AEW

*What AEW didn’t do in 2025 as far as new deals that were talked about one year ago

*Estimating using different methods how many U.S. viewers AEW Dynamite really gets

*How things have changed greatly in the past year

*Business of AEW Worlds End

*Gambling odds for matches

*A look at AAA Guerra de Titanes, one of WWE’s best shows of the  year

*Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul and business numbers and record level manipulation of numbers

*Ric Flair and Mike Tyson file lawsuit against former business partner

*The life and times of Roland Bock, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 1970s, his famous matches with Antonio Inoki, the reality of those matches, his tough guy reputation, the legendary tough guy whose career he ended and just how different pro wrestling was back then.  We go from being tortured as a child, to developing a street fighter rep, going to the Olympics in wrestling, his attempt to pioneer a promotional style that got big in Japan several years later, why his career didn’t explode in Japan and everything from wrestling bears to bulls

*Who is eligible for the 2025 Rookie of the Year award

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

*Update on 2025 Arena Mexico attendance

*A look at CMLL Dream Match Night

*Ozawa talks awards

*WrestleKingdom updates

*A look at the life and career of Mark Wolf

*Rick Link goes into hospice care

*Jerry Lawler returns to WMC

*Grandson of Hawaiian pro wrestling legend is starting QB at USC, headed to a bowl game an an NFL prospect

*Ticket sales to upcoming WWE,AEW and TNA shows

*Lots of AEW news notes

*Jim Ross responds to DVon Dudley

*Updates on multiple lawsuits against TKO and judges concerns about evidence in two different cases

*WrestleMania ticket sales as well as the next two AEW PPV sales

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Tuesday Update

 WWE

AEW & Other Wrestling

  • MJF wrote on Tuesday morning that his X account was hacked: “My Twitter got hacked. If you were messaged by me that I needed money, my apologies. However if you were messaged by me and you were dumb as fuck enough to believe that. My Venmo information is below.”
  • Yota Tsuji did an in-character interview with NJPW’s website ahead of his title unification match against Konosuke Takeshita at Wrestle Kingdom 20.
  • KUSHIDA is holding a seminar at the NJPW LA Dojo on February 1. More details here.
  • This week’s TNA Xplosion.
  • The former Javier Bernal in NXT spoke to PWMania.
  • Paul Walter Hauser will face Mad Dog Connelly in a strap match at Orange Crush’s Superpower Slam event on February 1.
  • Dave Sahadi, who previously did work for WWE, WCW, and MLW and is now directing Real American Freestyle, told PWInsider that he can never work in “professional” wrestling again: “This is the most excited and creatively inspired I have felt about anything in television production in at least fifteen years, if not longer. And I fell my best work is yet to come. I am heartened by our initial success. Traveling o hometowns and producing ”personality profiles” with the athletes in their hometowns is fun. We do this so that the audience gets to know the person beyond the athlete, the real-life stories from childhood to career, ones many viewers can relate to. And creative compelling video packages has always been my passion, but nowadays I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes (most times, actually) with an idea and get right back at it. It’s not a job; it’s a joy.”

Daily Update: Vince McMahon, Don Frye, Ted DiBiase Jr.

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site today. Sorry for the delay but there were a number of things having to do with Christmas travel and the weather that basically cost me a full day. But it’s a very heavy issue with two major stories, one on AEW going forward business wise and the many key aspects of media rights and different ways it can go in 2027. The other is a story on Roland Bock, who had one of the most famous pro wrestling matches of the 70s with Antonio Inoki, the famed Stuttgart Massacre, and was one of the most intriguing and controversial pro wrestlers of that era.

*Where AEW stands today, and the key out of the ring and out of their hands challenges that will face them between now and the end of 2027

*AEW’s ratings growth outside the U.S. this past year

*AEW’s television ratings decline with the different factors involved

*Key aspects of the WBD sale and what it means to AEW

*What AEW didn’t do in 2025 as far as new deals that were talked about one year ago

*Estimating using different methods how many U.S. viewers AEW Dynamite really gets

*How things have changed greatly in the past year

*Business of AEW Worlds End

*Gambling odds for matches

*A look at AAA Guerra de Titanes, one of WWE’s best shows of the  year

*Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul and business numbers and record level manipulation of numbers

*Ric Flair and Mike Tyson file lawsuit against former business partner

*The life and times of Roland Bock, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 1970s, his famous matches with Antonio Inoki, the reality of those matches, his tough guy reputation, the legendary tough guy whose career he ended and just how different pro wrestling was back then.  We go from being tortured as a child, to developing a street fighter rep, going to the Olympics in wrestling, his attempt to pioneer a promotional style that got big in Japan several years later, why his career didn’t explode in Japan and everything from wrestling bears to bulls

*Who is eligible for the 2025 Rookie of the Year award

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

*Update on 2025 Arena Mexico attendance

*A look at CMLL Dream Match Night

*Ozawa talks awards

*WrestleKingdom updates

*A look at the life and career of Mark Wolf

*Rick Link goes into hospice care

*Jerry Lawler returns to WMC

*Grandson of Hawaiian pro wrestling legend is starting QB at USC, headed to a bowl game an an NFL prospect

*Ticket sales to upcoming WWE,AEW and TNA shows

*Lots of AEW news notes

*Jim Ross responds to DVon Dudley

*Updates on multiple lawsuits against TKO and judges concerns about evidence in two different cases

*WrestleMania ticket sales as well as the next two AEW PPV sales

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Monday Update

— Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw, talking about information that came out today regarding the WWE sale and memos that are in evidence, William Regal and Kenny Omega, Anthony Joshua, Don Frye, Stardom and much more.

— Brandon Thurston at Post Wrestling ran a story here, and it’s a must read. Among the key points were that the very day a family member convinced Vince McMahon to resign, Mark Shapiro had already laid out a scenario about Vince laying low and selling the company to Endeavor. They also show communication with McMahon, after he was out of the company, in contact with Ari Emanuel before he came back with the idea of putting it for sale to the best bidder. The lawsuit is that the plaintiffs are claiming WWE didn’t get the best deal but took the deal that would assure Vince McMahon stayed in power. Of course he didn’t stay in power. But there was information Liberty Media and KKR were working on a bid, but never finished nor obtained enough information from WWE to finalize an offer. There was also confirmation McMahon was involved  in the decision for Roman Reigns to beat Cody Rhodes at WM 39, although we knew that at the time, but this article did have confirmation of that with McMahon asking Nick Khan if they had told Rhodes and Reigns the new finish.

— Don Frye was hospitalized for three weeks recently with heart issues which he talked about  in a video. He noted that both Gary Goodridge and his daughter essentially forced him to go to the hospital.

— Raw tonight if from Orlando. They were close to sold out with almost 11,000 tickets out this morning. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Nikki Bella vs. Raquel Rodriguez for the women’s title and Dragon Lee & AJ Styles face The Usos for the tag titles. Rey Mysterio has a singles match with Austin Theory.

— CMLL had a big weekend, selling out Arena Mexico in advance on Friday, Arena Coliseo on Saturday, Arena Mexico yesterday and Puebla today.  Much of that is holiday related as Sunday in particular always does well this time of year as last year they drew 10,000 for the similar show and that’s double or more of  usual Sunday. But still, it shows how hot the company is and the Christmas week that they sold out and were headed toward a sellout midweek before the lineup was even announced.  Pueblia  was sold out to the point they didn’t even open the box office today. Both Mistico on Friday and Atlantis Jr. on Saturday gave speeches to the fans during the show thanking them for the company having a great year, basically a rah-rah thing. Templario & Titan vs. Difunto & Hechicero headline the final Arena Mexico show of the year tomorrow.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Worlds End, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. We are also looking for your thoughts on both the best match overall of the Continental Classic tournament and  MVP of the tournament.

— The trial of Ted DiBiase Jr. on conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, six counts of wire fraud and two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds as well as four counts of money laundering will begin this coming Tuesday. This is regarding misappropriations of Mississippi money geared toward the needy for his own personal use. This was a heavily publicized news story because some of the money was diverted to NFL great Brett Favre.

— Stardom sold out Sumo Hall in Tokyo with 6,563 fans today for Stardom Dream Queendom. It was said to be a great show with Saya Kamitani retaining her World of Stardom title over Saori Anou in the main event with a revolution Star crusher. Kamitani will next defend the title against Starlight Kid.

— Most of the WWE content on Peacock will be taken down on Thursday. What will remain is Smackdown, Saturday Night’s Main Event and NXT major shows. All the territorial stuff will be gone.

— We’re also looking for reports from these WWE house shows:

  • Friday night in Baltimore
  • Saturday night in Pittsburgh
  • Sunday night in Jacksonville, FL
  • Sunday night in Rochester, NY
  • Tomorrow night in Detroit
  • Tomorrow night in Estero, FL

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

— Stardom has announced American Dream 2026 in Vegas. They will be doing a show over Mania weekend in Las Vegas. More details to come.

— UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall confirmed he needed surgery on both eyes. He said he had one already and the second surgery will be in mid-January. His eyes were poked which caused a premature ending of his title defense with Cyril Gane a few months back and there is no time as to when he’ll be able to return.

— The movie “Night Patrol,” a horror movie that features CM Punk, will be released in theaters on 1/16.  The movie is about a Los Angeles Police Department officer having to put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he finds a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in.

— Nikki Bella, who grew up in Scottsdale, AZ, will be the Grand Marshal for the 53rd annual Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Parade in the city that takes place on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Central Phoenix.

— Awesome Championship Wrestling on Saturday night in Poughkeepsie, NY at the Mid Hudson Civic Center has Matt Cardona vs. Mike Santana, Indi Hartwell vs. Shotzi Blackheart and Zack Clayton vs. Real One (Enzo Amroe), plus Tommy Dreamer, The Righteous, Crowbar, Joey Janels, Jordan Oliver and a Rumble match.

— Masked Republic has announced 1/24 in Laredo, TX, 1/25 in San Antonio and 1/31 in Loveland, CO and 2/1 in Denver with LA Park vs. Pirata Morgan and Sam Adonis vs. Tinieblas Jr.  El Hijo de Rey Misterio is also on the tour.

— Tomorrow’s WWE show in Estero, FL has CM Punk vs. Bronson Reed for the WWE title, Kabuki Warriors vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss for the tag titles.  Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre will headline Detroit tomorrow night.

— NXT is still a taped show tomorrow with Ethan Page vs. Moose for the North American title, Jacy Jayne vs. Wren Sinclair non-title, Ricky Saints vs. Je-Von Evans,  Lexis King vs. Tavion Heights in the Speed tournament and Bronco Nima & Lucien Price vs. Ricky Smokes & Brad Baylor and a Joe Hendry concert.

— In yesterday’s update we noted a sold out show in Cordoba Mexico on Saturday and noted Mascara Dorada listed in the main event but he couldn’t have been there because he was in Chicago for  Worlds Collide. In fact, it was Templario who teamed with Mistico & Rey Pegasus vs. Averno & Euforia & Jaque Mate Jr.

— I will be featured as a guest on tomorrow’s Denise Salcedo show.

— Justin Roberts, the AEW ring announcer turned 46 today.  Dr. Sam Sheppard, the inventor of the mandible claw and the subject of the TV show “The Fugitive” which was one of the biggest shows of its era, was born on this day 102 years ago. Steve Williams passed away 16 years ago today at the age of 49. The Amazing Zuma passed away four years ago today at 85. Killer Khan passed away two years ago today at 77. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Defy from last night in Los Angeles:  El Primohenio won over El Mexica, Alan Angels and Chris Nasty, Starboy  Charlie b Royce Isaacs, Brittnie Brooks b Johnnie Robbie, Kiren Grey b Steven Borden Jr., Judas Icarus & Travis Williams retained the Defy tag titles over Sonico & Fatal, Viva Van b La Vipress, Bryan Keith b Timothy Thatcher to retain the Defy title. (thanks to Matt Farmer)

— Sting was at the show last night to watch his son wrestle. He talked to some of the talent by the ring before the show and watched it from the production booth.

Daily Update: AEW Worlds End notes, Roland Bock, Chris Jericho

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is up on the site covering the follow topics:

  • The story of John Cena’s retirement, the finish, the reaction, what WWE did and didn’t expect and thoughts on why they did what they did and why judging it now makes little sense in the big picture. We look at different aspects of the decision making and the fallacy of the “time-honored tradition phrasing here. We look at where Cena viably stands among the greats, the show itself, and Cena’s legacy.
  • We look at the post-match and post-show reaction, Paul Levesque and also look at the history of retirement matches with the biggest names in the history of the business. This is a real history lesson about what really is the tradition.
  • We have a story on Wrestle Kingdom’s card, why it turned out this way, as well as the finals of the New Japan tag team tournament.
  • We update the WBD sale story with the latest on Netflix and Paramount, just how strongly WBD publicly viewed the Paramount offer in a negative way and more
  • We run down the 2025 Tokyo Sports pro wrestling awards, with the winners, why they won, how the voting went, the nature of the voting and more in a year Saya Kamitani became the first woman wrestler to win MVP
  • A look at the retirement show and the career of El Hijo del Santo, the Santo gimmick, the cultural significance of the Santo name, Santo Jr, and notes on Santo’s career and most famous matches
  • We update the Continental Classic and Worlds Collide with business updates as well.
  • We look at the odds for upcoming matches
  • We look at the careers of Solomon Grundy, Miss Janeth and Ricky Romero Jr/Ricky Youngblood
  • We have the most detailed look at the television ratings of all the wrestling shows this past week as well as placings, comparisons and more, as well as an explanation of what the annual drops actually mean.
  • We look at another week of sellouts in CMLL, including the big Friday show and the Mistico vs Soberano feud
  • We look at Guerra de Titanes from AAA
  • We look at the financials from Cyberfight and what wrestler in specific they credited a better economic year to
  • Yota Tsuji talks the future of New Japan
  • What pro wrestling events in Japan were the most streamed in 2025
  • Update on Andrade
  • Former WWE tag champ going into Bare Knuckle boxing
  • Major AEW overseas ratings growth
  • Ticket sales to upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Chris Jericho update
  • Injury updates
  • Ilia Topuria marriage issues slows down career
  • An appeal by TKO on judge’s ruling about current fighter contracts
  • Notes on Paul vs. Joshua
  • Mick Foley breaks ties with WWE over Trump
  • TKO stock skyrockets
  • NXT Awards

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Sunday Update

Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho (Image credit: AEW)

— We only had one weekend show which was last night’s show covering Worlds End with Bryan. We’ll be back tomorrow night talking about the news.

— The new issue of the Observer is up on the site today. Sorry for the delay but there were a number of things having to do with Christmas travel and the weather that basically cost me a full day. But it’s a very heavy issue with two major stories, one on AEW going forward business wise and the many key aspects of media rights and different ways it can go in 2027. The other is a story on Roland Bock, who had one of the most famous pro wrestling matches of the 70s with Antonio Inoki, the famed Stuttgart Massacre, and was one of the most intriguing and controversial pro wrestlers of that era.

*Where AEW stands today, and the key out of the ring and out of their hands challenges that will face them between now and the end of 2027

*AEW’s ratings growth outside the U.S. this past year

*AEW’s television ratings decline with the different factors involved

*Key aspects of the WBD sale and what it means to AEW

*What AEW didn’t do in 2025 as far as new deals that were talked about one year ago

*Estimating using different methods how many U.S. viewers AEW Dynamite really gets

*How things have changed greatly in the past year

*Business of AEW Worlds End

*Gambling odds for matches

*A look at AAA Guerra de Titanes, one of WWE’s best shows of the  year

*Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul and business numbers and record level manipulation of numbers

*Ric Flair and Mike Tyson file lawsuit against former business partner

*The life and times of Roland Bock, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 1970s, his famous matches with Antonio Inoki, the reality of those matches, his tough guy reputation, the legendary tough guy whose career he ended and just how different pro wrestling was back then.  We go from being tortured as a child, to developing a street fighter rep, going to the Olympics in wrestling, his attempt to pioneer a promotional style that got big in Japan several years later, why his career didn’t explode in Japan and everything from wrestling bears to bulls

*Who is eligible for the 2025 Rookie of the Year award

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

*Update on 2025 Arena Mexico attendance

*A look at CMLL Dream Match Night

*Ozawa talks awards

*WrestleKingdom updates

*A look at the life and career of Mark Wolf

*Rick Link goes into hospice care

*Jerry Lawler returns to WMC

*Grandson of Hawaiian pro wrestling legend is starting QB at USC, headed to a bowl game an an NFL prospect

*Ticket sales to upcoming WWE,AEW and TNA shows

*Lots of AEW news notes

*Jim Ross responds to DVon Dudley

*Updates on multiple lawsuits against TKO and judges concerns about evidence in two different cases

*WrestleMania ticket sales as well as the next two AEW PPV sales

— Thanks for people who commented on the Roland Bock story in the current issue. He was a very unique figure in 1970s pro wrestling as far as being a tough guy, when that sort of thing mattered. One interesting note is that Billy Robinson dismissed Bock as not being a pro wrestler (Bock in no way was a great worker although I could imagine his 1979 match with Andre the Giant would have been something to see if a tape exists), while Japanese who faced him like Kengo Kimura, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Antonio Inoki were very complimentary. The general feeling is that he was by far the strongest wrestler (not weightlifting but man on man strength) that any of them had ever faced, and those guys all faced Andre, Hogan, The Russians like Hashimikov & Zangiev, Steve Williams, Darryl Peterson as well as other Olympic level wrestlers.  Inoki in the end  said that he liked the guy and had praise for him as a rival.  Inoki vs Bock as a feud never hit its peak after the first match due to Bock’s jail time and injuries, and physically he was too beaten down by the 90s to have a second run like Willie Williams did in using his rep from the Inoki fight for UWFi or RINGS, where matches with Takada or Maeda, if he’d agree to lose, would have meant something.

— Regarding Chris Jericho, it is accurate that his AEW deal expires on Wednesday and most expect him in WWE in January. That’s been the expectation for months but I don’t have confirmation he’s 100 percent there.

— Some notes on Worlds End and the press conference. Renee Paquette asked Tony Khan if he knew of a good dentist in the area since Jon Moxley had a tooth break in half during the match with Kyle Fletcher. Moxley did an incredible performance the entire night and his match with Fletcher was one of those uniquely dramatic matches of the year, but entirely different from Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd or Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano. Khan said the PPV numbers look good. He would have the HBO MAX PPV numbers already and didn’t say it was the highest ever (Full Gear was the highest on HBO MAX).

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Worlds End, you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— We’re also doing a poll for best match of the Continental Classic and MVP of the tournament.

— WWE from last night in Tampa, FL

  •  Rey Mysterio b Grayson Waller. They involved Diego Pavia (who placed second in the Heisman trophy race) in the finish. Waller was running down the Tampa Bay Bucs and then ran down Vanderbilt and Pavia and they teased a fight before the match. For the finish, Waller tried to walk out but Pavia and three teammates blocked the way on the ramp and he turned around  and ended up in the ring where Rey hit a 619 and splash. Vanderbilt is playing in the ReliaQuest Bowl this week in Tampa so that’s why they were in town.
  • Iyo Sky b Roxanne Perez.  Fans didn’t care about Perez. Raquel Rodriguez distracted the ref, missing Perez having Sky down for a three count.  Perez turned around and Sky rolled her up from behind. Good match.
  • Jey Uso  b Bron Breakker via DQ. Breakker hit the ref for a DQ. They were having a very good match but this was clearly a finish designed to not beat either guy.
  • Liv Morgan b Lyra  Valkyria. The crowd was totally and loudly behind Morgan. About halfway through the match when they couldn’t turn the crowd, they went with it and Morgan  worked as the face and even got the pin. I don’t know if the finish was changed but it was not smooth and the structure of the match was definitely changed by the crowd.
  • AJ Styles & Dragon Lee won a three-way over New Day and Viking Raiders to keep the tag titles. Fans didn’t react to the Vikings. Styles pinned Kingston. There was a viral moment where a fan wanted Styles to sign an AEW title belt and he nicely refused.
  • Asuka & Kairi Sane b Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss in a tag team match.  
  • Gunther b Je’Von Evans via choke and tap out.  Excellent house show match. Gunther got the biggest reaction of the show and the crowd was hot from start-to-finish. Evans got a standing ovation after.
  • CM Punk b Bronson Reed to keep the world title. Simple match with the GTS finish. Punk did a gender reveal for a fan in the front row after the match. The crowd was hotter than most shows in Tampa have been, but this drew a younger crowd. (thanks to Tyler Himes)

— We’re also looking for reports on these shows:

  • WWE house show Friday night in Baltimore
  • WWE house show last night in Pittsburgh
  • WWE house show tonight in Jacksonville
  • WWE house show tonight in Rochester, NY
  • Raw tomorrow night in Orlando, FL  (matches not on the live show only)

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

— We did hear reports from both Baltimore and  Tampa that Gunther and Je’Von Evans, who had singles matches on both shows, were doing **** matches at house shows.

— With no UFC over the weekend, or major boxing, there is very little on Google searches from the past two days. Worlds End was No. 69 for the weekend with 20,000. Joe Hendry was No. 399 with 2,000.

— Not including last night, Noah Foland in researching Observer star ratings for 2025 had Konosuke Takeshita in first place with 50 four-star matches, followed by Mascara Dorada, Mistico, Mike Bailey and Bandido.

— Tony DeVito, 53, who has been wrestling 34 years, announced his retirement last night at an ALW show in Florida due to suffering a blood clot in his eye. DeVito did WWE enhancement work in the 90s and a few times after that, but was pushed as part of Da Baldies in ECW and with HC Loc was Carnage Crew in ROH, where he at one time held the tag team titles there.  

— Dave Dwinell, a long time Northeast referee who has worked WWF shows in the past, has entered hospice care. He said that he has been suffering from Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndrome, and “sadly, treatments have been unsuccessful, my doctors have informed me that my time is very limited and that it is time for me to transition to hospice. While this is difficult news to share, please know I am at peace with it.  My life has been full and meaningful, rich with adventure, laughter, the love of my family, and the most wonderful friendships.” He wrote a book several years ago called “Ringman” about his experience as a referee.

— Today is the 72nd birthday of Tatsumi Fujinami, an all-time great Hall of Famer who is still active and wrestlers regularly. Taryn Terrel/Taryn Dryden/Tiffany turned 40 today. Rachael Ellering turns 33. Reginald Siki, not Sweet Daddy Siki but the guy the more recent Siki took his name from, was born on this day in 1899. Lanny Poffo would have been 71 today. Big Bill Dromo was 75 when he passed away 13 years ago today. (thanks to Tony Richards)

 — Defy ran its final Seattle show last night before a packed house: Cody Chhun b Judas Icarus, Amira & Eliza True & Rebel Kel b Nicole Matthews & Liiza Hall & Danika  Dalla Rouge-DQ, Guillermo Rosas won a three-way over Cole Rivera and Casey Ferreira to win the vacant Pacific Northwest title, Jack Evans b Evan Rivers, Midnight Heat b Los Suavecitos, Timothy Thatcher b Travis Williams. (thanks to Matt Farmer)

— The final Defy show is tonight in Los Angeles at The Lodge Room with Bryan Keith defending the Defy title against Thatcher in the main event.

— Arena Coliseo sold out last night with Titan & Atlantis Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Soberano Jr. and Xelhua vs. Yutani coming off last week’s Gran Alternative finals. Tonight at Arena Mexico has  Titan & Templario & Xelhua vs. Hechicero & Yutani & Barbaro Cavernario and Atlantis Jr. vs. Stuka Jr.  They had a very big advance, not so much the show but it’s a family day show over Christmas week. Tomorrow night Arena Puebla goes for its third sellout in a row with Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. El Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. & Soberano Jr.  I expect they’ll get it.  The show also has Asturiano  & Black Tiger &  Fuego vs. Astro & Malaya & Espirito Maligno. The losing threesome will then have a three-way match against each other and the one who loses the fall loses their hair or their mask.

— Mistico last night was working in Cordoba, Veracruz. The local newspaper ran a story on the show putting over how crazy they went when Me Muero played and Mistico & Rey Pegasus & ? (the story said Mascara Dorada but that would have been impossible) beat Averno & Euforia & Jaque Mate Jr. The show sold out.

Daily Update: John Cena, Tony Khan, MJF

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is up on the site covering the follow topics:

  • The story of John Cena’s retirement, the finish, the reaction, what WWE did and didn’t expect and thoughts on why they did what they did and why judging it now makes little sense in the big picture. We look at different aspects of the decision making and the fallacy of the “time-honored tradition phrasing here. We look at where Cena viably stands among the greats, the show itself, and Cena’s legacy.
  • We look at the post-match and post-show reaction, Paul Levesque and also look at the history of retirement matches with the biggest names in the history of the business. This is a real history lesson about what really is the tradition.
  • We have a story on Wrestle Kingdom’s card, why it turned out this way, as well as the finals of the New Japan tag team tournament.
  • We update the WBD sale story with the latest on Netflix and Paramount, just how strongly WBD publicly viewed the Paramount offer in a negative way and more
  • We run down the 2025 Tokyo Sports pro wrestling awards, with the winners, why they won, how the voting went, the nature of the voting and more in a year Saya Kamitani became the first woman wrestler to win MVP
  • A look at the retirement show and the career of El Hijo del Santo, the Santo gimmick, the cultural significance of the Santo name, Santo Jr, and notes on Santo’s career and most famous matches
  • We update the Continental Classic and Worlds Collide with business updates as well.
  • We look at the odds for upcoming matches
  • We look at the careers of Solomon Grundy, Miss Janeth and Ricky Romero Jr/Ricky Youngblood
  • We have the most detailed look at the television ratings of all the wrestling shows this past week as well as placings, comparisons and more, as well as an explanation of what the annual drops actually mean.
  • We look at another week of sellouts in CMLL, including the big Friday show and the Mistico vs Soberano feud
  • We look at Guerra de Titanes from AAA
  • We look at the financials from Cyberfight and what wrestler in specific they credited a better economic year to
  • Yota Tsuji talks the future of New Japan
  • What pro wrestling events in Japan were the most streamed in 2025
  • Update on Andrade
  • Former WWE tag champ going into Bare Knuckle boxing
  • Major AEW overseas ratings growth
  • Ticket sales to upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Chris Jericho update
  • Injury updates
  • Ilia Topuria marriage issues slows down career
  • An appeal by TKO on judge’s ruling about current fighter contracts
  • Notes on Paul vs. Joshua
  • Mick Foley breaks ties with WWE over Trump
  • TKO stock skyrockets
  • NXT Awards

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Thursday Update

WWE

  • The Kowloon restaurant in Saugus, Massachusetts – a frequent stop for pro wrestlers in the area – thanked John Cena for gifting them an autographed title belt:
    • THANK YOU VERY MUCH, John Cena for this Autographed and inscribed ‘Farewell Tour Boston’ 2025 WWE Championship Spinner Belt!! Now framed and on display here at Kowloon.
    • Thank you for entertaining millions of fans and granting over 700 + Wishes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, by far the most of all time!
    • Enjoy your well deserved retirement from the ring. Looking forward to seeing what’s next on your Movies and TV!
  • Seth Rollins was one of the pre-game panelists for Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL coverage, appearing before the Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings game. 
  • WWE Vault uploaded the complete World Class Championship Wrestling Christmas Star Wars 1982 event featuring Ric Flair defending the NWA World Championship against Kerry Von Erich inside of a steel cage.
  • Rusev is celebrating his 40th birthday today.

Other Wrestling

  • Tony Khan hyped that tonight’s Christmas Collision is one of his favorite AEW TV shows ever:
    • Merry Christmas! We saved the best Collision of 2025 for last! CHRISTMAS NIGHT #AEWCollision 9pm ET/8pm CT, on TNT + HBO Max
    • It’s only my personal opinion: I think that Christmas Collision TONIGHT is one of the best @AEWonTV shows in AEW’s 6+ year history. Don’t miss it TONIGHT!
  • MJF tweeted ahead of challenging for the AEW World Championship at Worlds End this weekend:
    • They don’t hand out greatness, they document it. After Worlds End, I join a list of only 9 men to be world champion twice before 30:
    • Lou Thesz. 
    • Rikidōzan. 
    • Shinsuke Nakamura. 
    • Kazuchika Okada. 
    • Yokozuna. 
    • The Rock. 
    • Brock Lesnar. 
    • Randy Orton. 
    • John Cena.
    • MJF.
  • AEW wrestlers and personnel named their favorite Christmas movies:
    • Tony Schiavone: Christmas Vacation
    • Kevin Knight: Home Alone 2
    • Renee Paquette: The Family Stone
    • “Speedball” Mike Bailey: Shrek the Halls
    • Brody King: Christmas Vacation
    • Toa Liona: Christmas Vacation
    • Bishop Kaun: A Charlie Brown Christmas
    • Ricochet: Jingle All The Way
  • Matt Jackson and Kenny Omega wished everyone a Merry Christmas in a new video on the Being the Elite YouTube channel.
  • AEW music producer Mikey Rukus shared a video that Toni Storm made for his neighbors’ children:
    • Merry Christmas everyone. I have to share this. Toni Storm is an incredible human being. She found out my neighbors kids are huge fans of hers and she recorded this video for them. She’s unhinged and she’s THE BEST!
  • Brodie Lee Jr. paid homage to John Cena by dressing up as him and doing some of Cena’s moves during a recent training session at The Dungeon.
  • NJPW opened up voting for the 2025 edition of its annual Concurso bodybuilding contest.
  • TNA posted the following preview for tonight’s Christmas edition of Impact, which includes a surprise 10-person tag team match where the competitors are not announced in advance:
    • TNA looks back on a remarkable year as the 2025 Year End Awards take center stage. From breakout stars to unforgettable moments, championships to rivalries that defined the year, we will honor the best of the best from a LOADED 2025! Who will take home the final bragging rights before the calendar flips to 2026? Find out this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV in the U.S., Sportsnet 360 in Canada, and TNA+ worldwide.
    • The action doesn’t stop there. A SURPRISE 10-Person Tag Team Match has been announced for the Christmas Special and the competitors won’t be revealed until bell time. With pride, momentum, and bragging rights on the line, anything can happen when ten stars collide in the iMPACT! Zone. Expect chaos. Expect unpredictability. Expect a holiday showdown only TNA can deliver this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV in the U.S., Sportsnet 360 in Canada, and TNA+ worldwide.
  • FanX Salt Lake City 2025 uploaded video of Mick Foley’s Q&A from their convention.
  • The Toronto Suns’ No Holds Barred podcast interviewed Rob Van Dam.