Tag: arena mexico

Daily Update: WWE shareholder lawsuit update, UFC Freedom 250, Arena Mexico notes

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The most detailed look at the sale of New Japan, what happened, the glory days that Bushiroad built and why it came down and what led to the sale.
  • Business realities of Japanese wrestling today.
  • The reason for the surprising low sale price.
  • The shareholders lawsuit against Vince McMahon and the WWE Board of Directors is getting near. Judge Travis Laster orders sanctions against Nick Khan and Vince McMahon for destruction of evidence. Laster makes a ruling, and we look at it in detail, on how this changes the trial and the exact details of the destruction of evidence including when McMahon and company knew not to do it and ignored their own lawyers. Also we look at problems with the case.
  • AEW Double of Nothing coverage. Business notes, historical biggest gates in U.S. pro wrestling, three-time world champions by 30, how the PPV did, poll results, Mick Foley and more.
  • Did Ronda Rousey set a viewing audience record for MMA, plus coverage of Rousey vs. Carano, how everything goes forward, can things be sustained, can she fight, will she fight, her thoughts on AEW.
  • Scott Coker returns to MMA with a new promotion.
  • Marcel Barthel (Ludwig Kaiser) arrested.
  • A look at the career of Jerry Grey.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the TV shows over the past two weeks.
  • Mistico injury update.
  • How CMLL is doing this year compared to last year.
  • Natalia Jiminez and J Balvin appear and are part of CMLL shows.
  • Wrestlers vs. media soccer game.
  • Grande vs. Grande match looked at.
  • Major return to Stardom.
  • Champion Carnival finals.
  • NOAH tag team tournament.
  • New Japan Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
  • Hana Kimura tribute show.
  • Phil Hickerson passes away.
  • WCW announcer is the final anchor as CBS News Radio closes its doors after 99 years.
  • Death of the Laguna version of Piloto Suicida.
  • Junior Hodge Trophy winner.
  • Advance ticket sales for all major events in AEW, WWE, TNA and other indies.
  • Pro wrestler/fighter on the Rousey-Carano undercard.
  • WWE stars purchase promotion.
  • Tony Khan media appearances.
  • More thoughts on how Paramount/Skydance can affect AEW.
  • What can affect the time slot of Collision in 2027.
  • What’s next for AEW.
  • AEW star to return in the fall.
  • Latest Zuffa myths regarding Trump and UFC.
  • UFC fighter pay comes up again

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

CMLL logo
CMLL logo (Image credit: CMLL)

— Garrett Gonzales and I have our week in review talking about the current issue of the Observer and latest news show being taped today. My weekend show with Bryan will be Sunday after Clash in Italy.

— Judge Travis Laster, who is in charge of the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, ruled in favor of reporter Brandon Thurston’s challenge regarding documents WWE was attempting to keep sealed. Thurston challenged WWE’s attempt to keep evidence confidential and not to be reported on, including a voicemail message from Ari Emanuel to Vince McMahon. There were key deposition questions regarding discussion of the Wall Street Journal’s sources regarding sexual misconduct claims.

WWE lawyers argued according to Post Wrestling, which Thurston writes for, that the information could have unfavorable or reputational consequences such as weakened negotiating position or public embarrassment. They also argued it could create damages to professional relationships within and outside WWE, harm to an individual identified and would erode confidence among stakeholders. Laster ruled those arguments were not sufficient and the information must be revealed stating that the defendants’ harm was outweighed by the public interest in the information. The conversation Thurston was trying to get access to was part of the one where Emanuel had claimed he could go to lawyers he knows and help get the criminal investigation against McMahon regarding sex trafficking to go away.

— Tonight on USA will have the SmackDown taped this afternoon from 8-11 p.m., WWE: Made in America, a documentary at 11 p.m. and the first episode of Braun Strowman’s Everything on the Menu at midnight.

— The Huffington Post reported that Donald Trump has purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 stock in TKO Holdings. He made the purchase on 3/26. This leads to major conflict of interest claims given his having the show at the White House.

— The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is recruiting hundreds of troops to appear as spectators at the UFC show at the White House on 6/14. However, those who attend are required to pay their own way and have to meet height and weight requirements to attend. Those attending must meet acceptable waist-height ratios and be physically fit, and are required to wear short-sleeve dress uniforms. Neither UFC nor the defense department will cover arrangements or accommodations. In fact, this event is the U.S. equivalent to Collision in Korea, except it won’t draw as much, and has far less star power.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Sunday’s Clash in Italy. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— Arena Mexico tonight has changed its main event. The Copa Juniors finals is now Villano III Jr. vs. Zandokan Jr., who finished third in last week’s elimination match. Atlantis Jr., who was to face Villano III Jr. in the finals, blew out his knee on Sunday. At first he was advertised for the show but he was later in the week pulled from the show. They still sold out yesterday. The rest of the show has Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr. vs. Esfinge & Averno, Los Calaveras Jr. I & II & Soberano Jr. vs. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Cobarde, El Hijo de Blue Panther vs. El Hijo del Villano III, Tessa Blanchard & Skadi vs. Olympia & Sanely and Oro Jr. & Pantera Jr. & Pendulo (who is like a second cousin of Eddy Guerrero) vs. Estudiante Jr. & Robin & Sangre Infernal.

— Villano III Jr. said that if he wins the Copa tonight, he would like to put it at stake against Atlantis Jr., when he’s healthy.

— Salvador Lutteroth was at Double or Nothing on Sunday.

— The first CMLL Wednesday night show at Arena Mexico (they’ll be running almost every Wednesday in June and July) starts this week. No word on if it will be streamed live, nor do we have a lineup.

— Mistico has said that he hopes to be back by next Friday’s show. He had a huge knee brace on when talking on Informa Wednesday night. He said he has not been cleared. It was also noted on the show that he has dates scheduled for AEW & New Japan. We knew he’d be in AEW soon and I suspect something big for August, if not June. He’s part of the junior tag champions in New Japan so he’d have to be back there soon. He had been advertised to appear signing autographs last night in Pachuca, and he had been making his dates and doing signings. However, the promotion announced just before show time that every effort was made with them and CMLL, but due to the severity of the injury, he would not be appearing. He said he would appear in Pachuca as soon as he can to make up for this.

— On AEW Spanish language commentary, Carlos Cabrera said Grand Slam Mexico would be in August, which confirms that we had been told it would be after the end of July but before school starts. AEW has tapings already announced 8/12 and 8/26, leaving 8/5 and 8/19 open. I suspect the announcement will come relatively soon.

— AAA Noche de los Grandes on YouTube from Arena Monterrey tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Eastern:

  • Grande Americano vs. Grande Americano mask vs. mask
  • Pagano & Psycho Clown vs. War Raiders for AAA tag titles
  • El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. El Hijo del Vikingo for the Latin American title
  • Laredo Kid vs. Rey Fenix for the cruiserweight title
  • Lola Vice & Catalina & Bayley vs. Flammer & Maravilla & La Hiedra (this will be taped for 6/6)

The show is scheduled for 90 minutes.

— Two corrections from the current issue. Regarding the advance for the 6/11 MLW show at the Melrose Ballroom in New York, we listed it as sold out. It is not sold out. They can get 912 in the building. Also, we said Fabian Aichner told Jon Alba that he had a TNA contract into the summer. Alba, who did talk with Aichner, said he got the contract info from another source.

— The Best of the Super Juniors continues later tonight at 2 a.m. Eastern time from Takaoka. The tournament matches are Jakob Austin Young vs. Hyo, Yoh vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Robbie Eagles vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Kushida vs. El Desperado and Sho vs. Taiji Ishimori.

— Today’s results from Tsubame for B block matches:

  • Hyo (6) b Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6)
  • Master Wato (10) b Daiki Nagai (0)
  • Robbie X (8) b Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Nick Wayne (8) b Titan (10)
  • Kosei Fujita (8) b Valiente Jr. (4)

— UFC is in Macau for a show that starts late tonight at 4 a.m. Eastern:

  • Loma Lookboonmee (115) vs. Jacqueline Amorim (115.5)
  • Zhu Kangjie (145) vs. Rodrigo Vera (145)
  • Angela Hill (115) vs. Xiong Jing Nan (115.5)
  • Rei Tsuruya (135) vs. Luis Gurule (135)
  • Aoriqileng (135) vs. Cody Haddon (135)
  • Ding Meng (170.5) vs. Jose Souza (170.5)
  • Yi Zha (185) vs. Luis Felipe Dias (184.5)
  • Alex Perez (125.5) vs. Sumudaerji (126)
  • Jake Matthews (170) vs. Carlston Harris (170.5)
  • Kai Asakura (135.5) vs. Cameron Smotherman (135.5)
  • Sergei Pavlovich (257) vs. Tallison Teixeira (250)
  • Zhang Mingyang (205) vs. Alonzo Menifield (206)
  • Song Yadong (136) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (135.5)

— Eddie Hearn has asked Dana White to release Tom Aspinall from his contract, saying that he will pay Aspinall a minimum of three times what he’s getting in UFC, and that White should be happy for a working class man to be able to earn so much more money.

— TNA has announced for 6/28 Slammiversary in Boston (this will be an afternoon show to avoid AEW) that Mike Santana defends the TNA title against Eddie Edwards, Cedric Alexander, Leon Slater and others in an Ultimate X match, Lei Ying Lee defends the Knockouts title against Xia Brookside and there will be a ladder match on the show.

— Thursday’s TNA TV has The Hardys vs. The Righteous in a Wicked Garden match, Santino Marella & Indi Hartwell vs. Stacks Lorenzo & Arianna Grace and Edwards vs. BDE.

— Ricky Sosa vs. Amazing Red takes place for House of Glory Wrestling on 6/19 at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago.

— Zuffa Boxing announced a 7/26 show at the Infosys Theater in Madison Square Garden.

— A two-hour episode of MLW Fusion will air tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. on YouTube, 9 p.m. on Veeps and 10 p.m. on beIN Sports. This was the show taped in Orlando with Trevor Lee vs. Austin Aries, Alex Hammerstone vs. Bishop Dyer, Shotzi Blackheart vs. Priscilla Kelly, Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Aleah James and more.

— Among today’s birthdays are Samu Anoa’i turning 63, Pete Gas turning 56, Steve Corino turning 53, Brian Kendrick turning 47, Nia Jax turning 42, Hornswoggle turning 40, Josh Alexander turning 39 and Konosuke Takeshita turning 31. Man Mountain Dean, a major drawing card in the 1930s, died 73 years ago today at 61. Tarzan Goto died four years ago today at 58. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Metro in the U.K. had an interview with TNA announcer Tom Hannifan today. He said that when he announced the Kofi Kingston WWE title win over Bryan Danielson, he did not know Kingston was going to win the title. He also said that Michael Cole and Lance Storm have been huge helps to his career. (thanks to Matt Barker)

Daily Update: UFC & WWE Backlash fallout, BTS at Arena Mexico

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • Ted Turner’s legacy in sports
  • The history of pro wrestling on the Turner Networks
  • The skyrocketing success and rapid decline of WCW
  • The television heyday of Georgia Championship Wrestling
  • How Ted Turner first got involved in pro wrestling
  • Why Vince McMahon hated Ted Turner and how irrational it was at times
  • The local TV business in the early 70s
  • The 1972-74 Atlanta wrestling war, how it started and ended
  • The start of Gordon Solie and Tony Schiavone on TBS
  • The growth of TBS
  • The launching of CNN
  • How Vince McMahon got on TBS
  • Why McMahon and Turner had issues during their year working together
  • The role Jim Barnett played
  • The death of Mid South Wrestling
  • The death of Jim Crockett Promotions
  • The death of WCW
  • How Barnett manipulated the Crocketts getting on TBS
  • Vince McMahon’s cable power plays and Turner’s reactions
  • The signing of Hulk Hogan and rise of Eric Bischoff
  • Hall, Nash and Bret Hart come to WCW
  • How Bischoff nearly purchased WCW and how it fell through
  • A reprint of a 2001 article on the closing of WCW that Ted Turner himself read and praised
  • Reaction to the death of WCW
  • Numerous people react to the death
  • The tribute on AEW television
  • His exploits in other sports
  • Rupert Murdoch, Ric Flair, Jane Fonda, Tony Khan and others in sports comment on Turner’s death
  • Turner’s life after he lost control of the networks
  • His charitable work
  • Update on Tanea “Rebel” Brooks
  • A first look at how UFC is performing and its revenue driven vs. expense for Paramount
  • WWE cuts continue and are looked at
  • A crazy note about the income of just four of TKO’s top executives and how it compares to the pay for UFC and WWE athletes. This is absolutely shocking
  • Nick Khan’s new contract with TKO
  • Why so many cuts were made this year and more notes on the pay cuts
  • New Day bid farewell
  • WWE & UFC first quarter financials looked at
  • More talk regarding Middle East shows, Zuffa Boxing, and complaints regarding WWE and UFC
  • Backlash preview, business notes and odds
  • Notes on AEW Double or Nothing
  • New Japan Dontaku coverage
  • Nico Ali Walsh on Nick Khan’s testimony before Congress
  • NOAH big show notes
  • The most detailed look at the TV ratings from the pro wrestling and MMA shows this past week
  • Fantastica Mania Mexico
  • CMLL vs. MLW at Arena Mexico notes
  • Grande Americano vs. Grande Americano
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Who in AEW was set for a major push that is now on hold
  • Champion Carnival down to final four
  • Cuatrero convicted in domestic violence case involving Stephanie Vaquer
  • Raja Jackson case coming to a close
  • Former WWE wrestler murder case makes pub again
  • Worldwide YouTuber numbers
  • Dana White talks McGregor’s return
  • Notes on Roman Reigns and his schedule
  • When did Nick Khan learn Vince McMahon was being investigate for sex trafficking
  • Janel Grant gets more public
  • Notes from WWE’s television contracts

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

Mistico wears a BTS-influenced jacket
Mistico wears a BTS-influenced jacket (Image credit: CMLL)

— We have two weekend shows up right now. Last night Bryan and I talked about Backlash, Collision, Ted Turner, Mistico, WWE business and other subjects. Today’s show with Garret, with questions from the current issue of the Observer, the UFC 328 show and more on Ted Turner, wrestling, baseball and cable.

— Happy Mother’s Day for all the mothers out there.

— Last night’s UFC show did the largest numbers the company has done since the first major show on Paramount. So I expect big numbers for CBS when they come out on Tuesday. It was the No. 1 rated show worldwide on Paramount+ for the day, even beating South Park. In fact it was so big that old UFC shows placed No. 10 for the day. Outside of Europe and Australia (where it aired after midnight so it wouldn’t be listed until tomorrow), it was the No. 1 show in every market it aired in on Paramount + other than the U.S., where it was No. 2 to South Park.

— Not a lot coming out of Backlash, although the post-match made it appear that Roman Reigns would be doing something to try and get Jacob Fatu out of WWE starting on tomorrow’s Raw.

— Regarding the details of the John Cena Invitational, we were just told today that this is a work in progress. They wanted to make the announcement but as far as what it is, that is not decided so any speculation of tournament vs. individual matches or how the champions will be set up is just speculation.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Backlash, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestliing observer.com

— For Google searches, last night’s UFC show led by Sean Strickland’s middleweight title win over Khamzat Chimaev did 1,360,000 searches. WWE Backlash did 254,000. Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano did 10,000.

— There were two very close decisions on last night’s UFC show. Sean Strickland beat Khamzat Chimaev on 47-48, 48-47 and 48-47 scores. I had Chimaev clearly winning rounds and and four, Strickland winning round two and I did have Strickland three and five but both were so close they could have gone the other way. Media scores were 54 percent for Chimaev. This could have gone either way. I still had it open in the last ten seconds that if Chimaev landed strongly I had him winning. Chimaev is not going to ask for a rematch because he’s moving to light heavyweight. He had way too much weight to cut and it made a difference with his stamina.

— Judge Eric Clon went for Strickland winning rounds two, three and five. Sal D’Amato gave Strickland the same three rounds. Sue Sanidad had Strickland winning two and three and Chimaev winning one, four and five. In Alexander Volkov vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta, had Cortez-Acosta winning one and three but most had it the other way. Media scores were 80 percent in favor of Volkov, who won. Judge Jon Bilyk had all three rounds for Vokov. Henry Krawiec had one and two for Volkov. Dave Tirelli had two and three for Volkov.

— Not much in the way of reports on great matches this weekend. Aside from Backlash and the Darby Allin vs. Pac match, we didn’t get anything in the way of recommendations.

— At Arena Mexico on Friday, members of the band BTS were in the front row. Mistico came out with a BTS jacket. Then last night at the BTS concert before 65,000 fans at Estadio GNP Seguros, Jin had a Mistico jacket on and they led the crowd in chants for Mistico. BTS ran three shows in Mexico City. It was reported that when tickets were put on sale that there were 2.1 million people in the queue to buy tickets. Reports were that they turned away 40,000 fans at the stadium last night.

— Group member Yoongi talked last night about being a lifelong fan and his favorites being Rey Mystreio and Eddy Guerrero. Backstage group members were trying to do Mistico moves on each other last night.

— Tonight at Arena Mexico has Mistico & Mascara Drada & Atlantis Jr. vs Averno & Soberano Jr. & Hechicero as the main event.

— The A&E Biography today is on The Four Horsemen at 8 p.m. LFG airs at 10 p.m. and WWE’s Greatest Moments air at 11 and 11:30 p.m. The 11 p.m. show will be on Nitro and the 11:30 p.m. show will be a history of Backlash.

— Tito Santana, born Merced Solis, turned 73 today. Frankie Hill Murdoch, the father of Dick Murdoch, was born on this day in 1909. Billy Sandow, one of the most important figures in pro wrestling history, was born on this day in 1912. Jerry Brown of the Hollywood Blonds tag team was born on this day 1937. Hall of Fame promoter Frank Tunney of Toronto died 43 years ago today at the age of 70. He was the uncle of Jack Tunney, who took over Maple Leaf Wrestling after Frank’s death. Ilio DiPaolo, the biggest pro wrestling regional star ever in Buffalo and also well known for the Italian Restaurant DiPaolo’s (which still exists today after 61 years), died 21 years ago today at 68. Mack York was 90 when he died ten years ago today. Bob Bruggers was 80 when he died two years ago today. So this week’s Observer in 2024 had the story on the 1972 Class of Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson trainees, which included Bruggers, Ric Flair, Ken Patera, Iron Sheik, Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell. The two expected to be the biggest stars were Patera and Bruggers, who was a high school basketball legend and former NFL player. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— CNN aired a documentary last night on the life of Ted Turner. There was no mention of pro wrestling in the documentary.

New champion crowned at CMLL vs. MLW Arena Mexico show

Posted on by Ian Carey

MLW and CMLL presented a joint episode of Viernes Espectacular at Arena Mexico on Friday.

The show began three hours earlier than the typical Friday night Arena Mexico start time due to the May Day holiday.

Templario defeated KUSHIDA to win the MLW World Middleweight title in the main event. KUSHIDA had kicked out of Templario’s fisher suplex moments earlier before Templario finished him with a GTS followed by a powerbomb onto his knees.

In the semi-main event, Angel de Oro and Soberano Jr. defeated Austin Aries and Trevor Lee after Soberano hit a frog splash on Lee.

Neon defeated Diego Hill with a unique top-rope senton move.

MLW World Tag Team Champions The Skyscrapers (Bishop Dyer & Donovan Dijak) retained against Los Infernales after Dijak hit a moonsault from the top rope.

In the first title match and third bout on the show, Shotzi successfully defended the MLW World Featherweight title against Garra Negra with a top-rope senton.

Full results are below:

CMLL vs. MLW results from Friday, May 1, 2026 at Arena Mexico

  • Templario defeated KUSHIDA to win the MLW World Middleweight Championship
  • Angel de Oro & Soberano Jr. defeated Austin Aries & Trevor Lee
  • Neon defeated Diego Hill
  • MLW World Tag Team Champions The Skyscrapers (Bishop Dyer & Donovan Dijak) (c) defeated Los Infernales (Averno & Euforia) to retain
  • MLW World Featherweight Champion Shotzi defeated Garra Negra to retain
  • Olympia defeated Lady Frost
  • Los Hermanos Calavera (Calavera Jr. I & Calavera Jr. II) defeated Ikuro Kwon & Okumura

WOR: WWE cuts in depth, Stardom, New Japan, Smackdown, Collision, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including tons of notes on all the current WWE cuts and whether there are more to come, Stardom, Arena Mexico and New Japan notes, Smackdown and Collision reviews, all the news and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:
Start: Linda McMahon, Shane McMahon, Dana White at White House Correspondent’s Dinner
3:06: WWE cuts
19:28: Stardom, CMLL, NJPW notes
23:58: Lineups for the coming week, ratings notes, Hulk Hogan documentary notes
32:48: WWE SmackDown recap
52:35: AEW Collision recap

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Daily Update: WWE releases, SmackDown, Arena Mexico

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Wyatt Sicks
Wyatt Sicks (Image credit: WWE)

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • What did people think of WrestleMania, the strengths and weaknesses of both shows
  • Brock Lesnar
  • Reigns vs. Punk
  • The machinations behind the scenes and in front of the camera of Rhodes vs. Orton
  • Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro and who has the final say and when it’s used
  • Injuries
  • Pat McAfee and Jelly roll
  • The overdoing commercials
  • All the business notes for the week
  • TV ratings
  • Netflix ratings
  • Full coverage of both shows
  • Coverage of other major shows over Mania week
  • The Ali Act, Nick Khan, Oscar de la Hoya and the arguments before the senate
  • Court filings on what percentage of revenue goes to talent in WWE
  • Why the idea of a second major MMA group is very difficult even if Ronda Rousey’s fight does big numbers
  • Mark Shapiro’s deposition contradicts claims on Vince McMahon regarding the UFC and WWE merger
  • Life and times of Van Hammer
  • Weekly wrestling odds looked at
  • The most detailed look at the TV ratings for pro wrestling shows this past week with demos, segment notes and comparisons with a year ago
  • CMLL tournament of champions final
  • How much business is up in CMLL
  • CMLL vs. MLW show next week
  • Stardom has its biggest show of the year this week
  • Major promotion parent company taking out sizeable loans
  • Kenta Kobashi shares the ring with Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Maple Leaf Wrestling TV
  • Who had the most top matches so far this year
  • Alberto is wrestling again but not in the promotion that was to be built around him as they’ve washed their hands of him
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Double or Nothing notes
  • UFC signs new overseas deal
  • Mark Hunt arrested for domestic violence
  • WWE headed to Saudi Arabia
  • Security issues at MGM Grand for Mania week
  • How much the top TKO executives earned
  • How much Peacock has lost
  • Ric Flair speaks
  • New NXT star whose uncle was part of one of the most famous heavy metal bands

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Friday Update

CMLL logo
CMLL logo (Image credit: CMLL)

— Garrett Gonzales and I will be up today doing a show covering the last week, and what a week it was. Bryan and I will be back for our weekend show on Sunday night.

— Releases are going on today in WWE. Those released are Zoey Stark (surprised because she’s very good and also rehabbing a knee injury), Alba Fyre, Joe Gacy, Andre Chase, Uncle Howdy and Nikki Cross. I was told to expect a fairly long list.

— Smackdown tonight is from Fort Worth, TX. The only match announced is Giulia vs. Tiffany Stratton for the US title. Rhea Ripley becomes a Smackdown regular tonight, plus Trick Williams & Lil Yachty are together again. They had 9,528 tickets out at last look from Wrestletix.

— Tonight is the 70th anniversary of pro wrestling at Arena Mexico. The show sold out 16,000 the day after the lineup was announced. CMLL announced the sellout last night but apparently all tickets were gone by Wednesday:

  • Dragon de Fuego & Dragon Legendario & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Elemental & El Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
  • Lluvia vs. Jarrochita vs. India Sioux vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Zeuxis vs. Reyna Isis vs. Olympia vs. Keyra for the 70th Anniversary Cup
  • CMLL vs. Japan: Barbaro Cavernario & Esfinge & Soberano Jr. & Templario vs Kushida & Okumura & Shoma Kato & Yutani
  • CMLL vs. Don Callis Family for 70th Anniversary men’s Cup: Mistico & Neon & Angel de Oro & Ultimo Guerrero vs. El Clon & Mark Davis & Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
  • Mascara Dorada vs. Black Tiger vs. Hechicero for the Universal Champion of Champions tournament final

— CMLL also announced Sunday and Tuesday at Arena Mexico are kids day shows, and a Copa Juniors (tournament with second generation wrestlers would be 5/22 and 5/29.

— I want to clarify all this because it is in the Observer but it’s become a topic of conversation. At Wednesday’s hearing before the U.S. Senate committee, Nick Khan, in running down the WBC (the idea is they are anti sanctioning bodies) said that they had purchased $265,000 worth of tickets for the Alvarez vs. Crawford fight. He compared that to Make-a-Wish purchasing $2,500 worth of tickets to WrestleMania. I, and others, noted being surprised that they would charge Make-a-Wish for tickets. And I’m still a little surprised. This led to people making up things or getting things wrong such as Make-a-Wish is forced to buy tickets as a charity and can’t accept freebies, somehow they are forced to buy tickets or else the families of the kids will be taxed for them a gift, none of which is true or even close to true. Khan was saying this as a way to make a comparison with the idea the WBC is using its money as a non-profit group for its members to spend like crazy buying tickets, which another charity, Make-a-Wish, does not do. So that’s why he said it. As far as WrestleMania goes, all Make-a-Wish kids if they were at the show would be comped. WWE did comp tickets for Make-a-Wish but had a number listed and Make-a-Wish’s purchased tickets were over the allotment. They did not involve kids themselves, but people who were involved in bringing the kids. In my mind they could have comped them as well, but they did comp tickets. So the theories of why “it had” to be like this are wrong. But they also did not force Make-a-Wish kids or Make-a-Wish to purchase tickets for the kids themselves.

— I’ve only seen part of the Hulk Hogan Netflix documentary. I was very surprised that it was not in the top ten for either Wednesday or Thursday for the day. It could be a glitch, last week’s Raw didn’t make the daily listing’s one day last week on a Tuesday, for Monday, when it obviously should have.

— We will be doing one weekend poll, covering Sunday’s Stardom show from Yokohama. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. Saya Kamitani puts up the World of Stardom title against Sayaka Kurara, and if she loses, the Cosmic Angels group will cease to exist.

— In Mexico, FS2 aired the matches previously in the Universal tournament and hyped up tonight’s show last night. We had reported the midweek show as CMLL Classics, but it looks like it’ll be a show to build up the Friday show. Tonight’s show airs on FS 2 in Mexico with a 30 minute pre-show and then the full card.

— Tomorrow night at Arena Coliseo, which will almost surely sell out, has Shotzi Blackheart vs Sanely, Templario & Neon vs. Kushida & Yutani, Mascara Dorada & Niebla Roja & Soberano Jr. vs. Clon & Rocky Romero & Volador Jr., and Atlantis Jr. & Averno vs. Mark Davis & Hechicero. Sunday at Arena Mexico has Mistico & Dorada & Neon vs. Cavernario & Difunto & Clon, Atlantis Jr. & Esfinge vs. Black Tiger & Kushida, Angel de Oro vs. Romero in a lightning match, Shotzi vs Skadi and Kemalito vs. Tengu for the micros title. Dorada & Neon vs. Cavernario & Soberano Jr. headlines Puebla on Monday.

— New Japan RedZone will air at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning Eastern and 1 a.m. Pacific from Hiroshima:

  • Yuto-Ice & Oskar defend the IWGP tag titles against Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
  • Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X defend the IWGP jr. tag titles against Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita
  • Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji & Gedo & Daiki Nagai vs. Callum Newman & Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay

— A&E starts back on Sundays with a WWE block. From 8-10 p.m. will be part one of a two part biography series on the Von Erichs, followed by LFG at 10 p.m.

— The Lucha Underground Twitter account did a tease like it would be returning. Nobody seems to know what that means. This may be some kind of a deal made somewhere to air the old episodes.

— TNA announced for the 5/14 tapings in Sacramento, a Battle Royal to determine a TNA title shot plus AJ Francis vs. KC Navarro in a street fight.

— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 5/1 at the Newark, CA Pavilion features a meet and greet with Tommaso Ciampa plus QT Marshall vs. Royce Isaacs with Ciampa as referee, Aaron Solo vs. Tome Filip, Satnam Singh vs. Ben Bishop, Vert Vixen vs. Indi Hartwell, Viva Van vs Simone, Bad Dude Tito vs Jordan Cruz and more.

— UFC from the Apex Arena tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+

  • Talita Alencar (116) vs. Julia Polastri (115.5)
  • Max Griffin (170.5) vs. Victor Valenzuela (170)
  • Francis Marshall (155.5) vs. Lucas Brennan (155.5)
  • Jafel Filho (135.5) vs. Cody Durden (135.5)
  • Mayra Bueno Silva (136) vs. Michelle Montague (135.5)
  • Sedriques Dumas (184) vs. Jackson McVay (185)
  • Rodolfo Vieira (185.5) vs. Eric McConico (186)
  • Marcus Buchecha (252.5) vs. Ryan Spann (264)
  • Montel Jackson (135.5) vs. Raoni Barcelos (136)
  • Davey Grant (135.5) vs. Adrian Luna Martinetti (135.5)
  • Rafa Garcia (155) vs. Alexander Hernandez (155.5)
  • Norma Dumont (135.5) vs. Joselyn Edwards (135.5)
  • Aljamain Sterling (146) vs. Youssef Zalal (145.5)

— AEW has announced shows on 7/1 in San Diego, 7/15 in Boston, 7/16 in Boston, 7/22 in Nashville, 7/29 in Detroit, 7/30 in Detroit and 8/12 in Baltimore. These are all in small buildings except San Diego. I was basically told that you’ll be able to figure out Grand Slam Mexico at Arena Mexico based on dates not announced, so perhaps 7/8 or 8/5.

Full lineup released for CMLL Arena Mexico 70th anniversary show

Posted on by Ian Carey

CMLL celebrates 70 years in Arena Mexico tonight.

Salvador Lutteroth opened the cathedral of Lucha Libre on the grounds of the former Arena Modelo in 1956. Seven decades later the venue will host the first Viernes Espectacular show to air live on Fox Sports 2 in Mexico as part of a media rights deal announced earlier this month. The lineup for the show is below.

CMLL lineup for Arena Mexico 70th Anniversary show on April 24, 2026

  • Universal tournament finals: Máscara Dorada vs. Hechicero vs. Black Tiger
  • El Clon, Mark Davis, Rocky Romero, and Volador Jr. (Don Callis Family) vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Neon, Mistico, & Angel de Oro
  • Templario, Soberano Jr., Esfinge, and Barbaro Cavernario vs. KUSHIDA, Yutani, Okumura, and Shoma Kato
  • Zeuxis, Reyna Isis, Olympia, & Keyra vs. India Sioux, La Jarochita, Lluvia, & Tessa Blanchard
  • Dragon Rojo Jr., Dragon de Fuego, and Dragon Legendario vs. Villano III Jr., Hijo del Villano III, and El Elemental

CMLL Viernes Espectacular confirmed to air live weekly on Fox Sports Mexico

Posted on by Ian Carey

CMLL’s Viernes Espectacular shows are set to air live on Fox Sports in Mexico.

Earlier this week, CMLL announced it will air a new weekly show on Friday nights on Fox Sports 2 beginning April 24.

Fox Sports published a press release on April 10 confirming that the show will be a weekly live broadcast from Arena México.

Fox Sports’ press release reads (translated from Spanish via Google Translate):

“FOX Sports México will broadcast Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre live every Friday from Arena México.

The historic ‘Viernes Espectacular’ shows will be available starting April 24.

Mexico City, April 10, 2026 — Starting Friday, April 24, fans will be able to watch live every Friday the traditional lucha libre events held at the historic Arena México, a venue known as the ‘Cathedral of Lucha Libre.’

With more than nine decades of history, CMLL is one of the most important wrestling promotions in the world and a major reference point in Mexican sports entertainment, recognized for its tradition, legendary rivalries, and the creation of major stars.

CMLL events are known for their intensity in the ring, the contrast between técnicos and rudos, and the spectacle of a style of wrestling deeply rooted in Mexican culture.

With this addition, FOX Sports México is adding CMLL’s traditional events to its programming, bringing its audience one of the most representative spectacles of Mexican lucha libre every week.”

CMLL owner Salvador Lutteroth III was recently a guest on Wrestling Observer Radio and spoke about the company’s upcoming show in Las Vegas on April 16. It will be the first time CMLL has presented a full show outside of Mexico, and Lutteroth said it is an opportunity for the company to showcase its top talent.

Upcoming CMLL lineups:

CMLL lineup for Arena Mexico on Friday, April 10, 2026:

  • Universal tournament semifinal: Mistico vs. Hechicero vs. Templario vs. Angel de Oro vs. Neon vs. Niebla Roja vs. Stigma
  • Atlantis Jr., Flip Gordon & Esfinge vs. Difunto, Barboza & Furia Roja
  • Star Jr. vs. El Valiente in a lightning bout
  • Tessa Blanchard & Garra Negra vs. Zeuxis & Keyra
  • Max Star, Futuro & Valiente Jr. vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Raider & Cancerbero

CMLL Slamfest lineup for April 16, 2026

  • CMLL Light Heavyweight Champion Mistico vs. CMLL Heavyweight Champion Hechicero
  • CMLL World Women’s Championship: Persephone (c) vs. TBA
  • Claudio Castagnoli vs. Atlantis Jr.
  • Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrero
  • Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Capitan Suicida & Flip Gordon
  • Chamuel & Tengu vs. Kemalito & Periquito Sacaryas

Daily Update: Weekend lineups, AAA, Arena Mexico

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today.

  • A detailed look at the WBD/Paramount/Netflix situation, what the latest decision of WBD to Paramount entails, the keys to why this is happening, business notes, how this affects AEW and can it get approved.
  • A look at the UFC and WWE business in 2025 and in the final quarter of this past year.  We look at the numbers, what they mean, why WWE was more profitable in 2025 than UFC and the key thing that can change that in 2026, Mark Shapiro talks ESPN value to WWE, lots of news about the business of the White House show, UFC fighters upset over pay, why WWE wrestlers are so underpaid but not publicly upset over, and business initiatives going forward
  • The violence in Mexico and tons of wrestling shows canceled this past week
  • We look in depth at the Janel Grant speech from last week, what we learned, what she said, and where everything stands.
  • Update on the build for  WrestleMania, Elimination Chamber, business notes, ticket sales and favorites for the weekend.
  • An updated look at AEW Revolution and business notes
  • The retirement of AJ Styles looked at
  • The most detailed look at  the television ratings from the past week, including comparisons with a year  ago, competition, demos and much more.
  • Notes from Arena Mexico
  • CMLL attempts to break a North  American record next week
  • Cinderalla tournament in Stardom
  • Fantastica Mania notes
  • The life and times of former Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas, his coaching career, his beating Dan Gable, and two notable pro wrestlers he coached
  • College wrestling sets an attendance mark already this season
  • Who had the most top ten matches of the year  over a career according to Cage match.
  • City builds a bust memorializing top 80s star
  • WrestleMania week schedule
  • Former MMA fighter and pro wrestler running for Governor
  • Robbery of the ring truck for an indie group
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows over the next two months.
  • How many subscribers does Paramount need to make up for UFC expenses
  • More talk on Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano
  • Stand & Deliver moves and why
  • When Roman Reigns and Brock Ldesnar are booked for TV in the Mania build
  • Pro wrestler who is active in Japan competes this weekend for the U.S.national team in anther sport
  • Notes on a  new comer to WWE who started this week
  • More notes on value of Dwayne Johnson’s TKO stock

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

CMLL logo

— Garrett and I will be back this afternoon covering the news of the week, and there is a ton of it. Quite frankly big picture wise with the Paramount/WBD deal looking likely, this has more effect on pro wrestling than almost anything and pro wrestling is a sliver of a percentage of its importance overall. We’ll also be talking about a major wrestling weekend.

— Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven for the WBC world heavyweight boxing title was announced for 5/23 in Giza, Egypt, as a DAZN PPV show. Verhoeven was the dominant heavyweight in kickboxing for more than a decade, but kickboxing and boxing are entirely different sports and skill sets. Boxing is now all about celebrity fights and freak show fights, and now we’ve got Verhoeven being sanctioned for a world heavyweight boxing title fight with a 1-0 record as a boxer.

— ESPN aired a special today with the ratings for the wrestlers in the 2K26 video game, with Joe Tessitore, Big E, Kevin Owens, Paul Levesque, Logan Paul, Joe Hendry, Chelsea Green and Paul Heyman.

— Many of the people involved in Mile High Madness on Wednesday noted that it was one of the most fun matches of their careers.

— A correction from today’s issue. In the story about Stand & Deliver moving, we noted reasons why it wasn’t moved to San Jose due to other wrestling shows that night. One of the shows mentioned was an AAA show in the U.S. the night it could have been in San Jose, and AAA does have a show on 4/11, but the show will be in Mexico City, not the U.S.

— There is a big show at Arena Mexico tonight with the top four matches being Angel de Oro vs. Johnny Consejo in a hair vs. hair match, Claudio Castagnoli defends the CMLL heavyweight title against Euforia and Akuma, Olympia vs. Persephone with the winner facing Mercedes Mone for the CMLL women’s title on 3/6 and a three-way in the finals of the Torneo de Escuelas with Pantera Jr. & Psycotic vs. Estudiante Jr. & Feroz vs. Rey Pegasus & Tornado.

— The loser of the hair match will wrestle bald on Saturday at Arena Coliseo which has Angel de Oro vs. Johnny Consejo vs. Esfinge in a three-way main event. Templario and Averno return to Mexico from Japan on Sunday at Arena Mexico with an Averno & Euforia & Volador Jr. vs. Templario & Neon & Esfinge main event.

— Fantastica Mania’s final show was today at Korakuen Hall.

Averno b Shoma Kato
El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho & Yujiro Takahashi b Masatora Yasuda & Master Wato & Tatsuya Matsumoto & Stigma
Tiger Mask b Magnus
Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. & Ryusuke Taguchi b Hechicero & Okumura & Satoshi Kojima
Mascara Dorada & Futuro & Valiente Jr. b Daiki Nagai & Hatsuratsu Guerrero (Shingo Takagi) & Titan
Templario b Ultimo Guerrero
Mistico b Soberano Jr. to retain the CMLL light heavyweight title.

— The AAA YouTube show will be airing an hour later than usual, at 10 p.m. Eastern, so it doesn’t go head-to-head with Elimination Chamber. Announced are Dragon Lee vs. Jack Cartwheel and a Rey de Reyes qualifying match with Ethan Page vs. Omos vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Pimpinela Escarlata.

— Don King has joined the Frank Warren lawsuit against Sila and Ring Magazine.

— SmackDown is from Louisville, KY tonight. All of the 12 wrestlers in the two Chamber matches are on the show. Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend for the tag team titles plus Uncle Howdy vs. Solo Sikoa, Miz vs. Oba Femi and Jordynne Grace vs. Candice LeRae. There were 9,800 tickets out for the show as of earlier today.

— We’re looking for reports from Sunday afternoon’s ROH TV tapings in Jacksonville with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected].

— New Japan has a PPV show on New Japan World and Triller from Trenton, NJ at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Yota Tsuji vs. Andrade for the Global title
Syuri vs. Athena for the IWGP women’s title
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Oleg Boltin for the New Japan Strong title
El Phantasma vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the NJPW TV title
Kushida & El Desperado vs. Jordan Oliver & Alec Price
Ricochet vs. Taiji Ishimori for the National title
David Finlay vs. Fred Rosser

— UFC is tomorrow from Mexico City’s Arena Ciudad starting at 5 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+.

Damian Pinas (186) vs. Wes Schultz (186)
Erik Silva (146) vs. Francis Marshall (145)
Regina Tarin (130) vs. Erenesta Kareckaite (129.5)
Douglas Silva de Andrade (146) vs. Javier Reyes (145)
Cristian Quinonez (136) vs. Kris Moutinho (136)
Macy Chiasson (135) vs. Allin Perez (136)
Ryan Gandra (185) vs. Jose Daniel Medina (186)
Santiago Luna (136) vs. Angel Pacheco (135)
Imanol Rodriguez (125) vs. Kevin Borjas (126)
Edgar Chairez (125) vs. Felipe Bunes (125)
Daniel Zellhuber (155) vs. King Green (155)
Marlon “Chito” Vera (136) vs. David Martinez (135)
Brandon Moreno (125.5) vs. Lone’er Kavanah (125)

— Kyle Snyder will face Akmed Tazhudniov, another gold medalist, for the RAF light heavyweight title at 215 pounds. The match takes place on 3/28 in Tampa.

— Gzim Selmani, the former Rezar of Authors of Pain, now under contract to Bare Knuckle Fighting, did an interview with Casinostugan saying that he wants to fight Eddie Hall, The Mountain Thor, Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. He said he was cut by WWE due to a backstage incident which he said he would take responsibility for but didn’t elaborate. He’d like to do an AOP vs. Lashley & Lesnar (no chance of that happening) or Jake & Logan Paul (no chance of that either) tag team match. He said Paul Levesque is more calculated and a better boss than Vince McMahon. He said Conor McGregor would be perfect for WWE. I mean, if you’re looking to add more accused rapists he would, but that shouldn’t be the goal. He said John Cena would be great for BKFC, except that he can’t fight. He said CM Punk should have never done UFC. He also said McGregor and McMahon are very similar. I’ll say.

— Toshiyo Yamada, who was in some of the greatest pro wrestling matches of all-time (Toyota & Yamada vs. Kansai & Ozaki I & II, as well as other tags and singles with Toyota), turned 56 today. Earl Caddock, an early world champion, was born on this day in 1888. His 1920 match with Joe Stecher set a Madison Square Garden gate record that wasn’t broken until the days of Bruno Sammartino. George Zaharias, a notable star in the 30s, was born on this day in 1908. Zaharias was best known for being the husband of Babe Didrikson-Zaharias, the greatest American woman athlete prior to Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Eddie Creachman, the Palestinian brain and manager of The Sheik, was born on this day 98 years ago. Billy Robinson, a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pure wrestlers of the last 60 years, died on this day 12 years ago at the age of 75.

Daily Update: Janel Grant, Jake Paul, Arena Mexico

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania updates. Update on ticket sales to both shows as well as AEW Revolution and explanations of why and current interest level in tickets.
  • Notes on the giant gates WWE drew for WrestleMania last year and John Cena’s retirement.
  • How much Mania tickets have increased in recent years
  • Odds on this week shows
  • Gina Carano vs. Ronda Rousey and a history of how women’s MMA overcame so many obstacles due to those two. We look at what each did, their background, the story behind the 2014 fight that never happened and why this fight is happening, as well as addressing very serious questions regarding the fight.
  • A look at nostalgia fights and different ways to do them and how they work or don’t work
  • A look at the life and career of the Great Mephisto, one of the most creative minds in wrestling as a wrestler and booker of the 60s and 70s, including his heyday in San Francisco and Australia and stories about his confrontations with Roy Shire, copying from and teaming with The Sheik, Booking WCW in Australia, and a life that start as a street hustler in the depression to facing Hulk Hogan in his first match ever in Northern California.
  • The most detailed look at the television ratings over the past week, with comparisons, Nielsen and Netflix flaws, Olympics and more.
  • Major change in CMLL rules and thoughts about it
  • This past week in CMLL including a hot Friday night sold out show with Mistico vs. Templario
  • Mistico talks Observer awards
  • Saya Kamitani update
  • FantasticaMania first night
  • Cain Velasquez update
  • Notes on the death of Brett Wolverton and Kerwin Silfies
  • Mick Foley television series
  • Longest lasting pro wrestling ring announcer
  • Eve sets UK record
  • Tag team holds titles in Europe & Japan at the same time
  • TNA No Surrender notes
  • More on mainstream coverage of Brody King
  • More on WBD sale
  • Report that Trump will kill current deal
  • AEW in Australia notes
  • Sean Strickland is an idiot
  • Dana White talks boxing
  • Gable Steveson fights again and update
  • Janel Grant lawsuit update
  • Another WWE European tour and PLE show
  • Bad Bunny wrestling update

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

CMLL logo

— Our Friday show with Garett Gonzales talked El Santo, WrestleMania ticket sales in perspective, the Great Mephisto’s history with Roy Shire, AEW Revolution, Arena Mexico and lots of awards talk. Garett and I will be back Sunday night this week with Smackdown, Collision, New Japan and other notes.

— Thanks for all the nice feedback on the Great Mephisto story in today’s issue. The San Francisco run was legendary as well the booking in Australia.

— Janel Grant spoke in public for the first time today at an event to support NDA’s from being used when comes to sexual abuse cases. We talked about this on the show today. She was very nervous and spoke vaguely, with almost no details on her case past mentioning the name Vince McMahon a few times.

  • She said it was a series of miracles that she’s even alive today and talked about consdiering suicide
  • She indicated suffering and saying she probably left her house ten days last year.
  • She said that she was willing to speak in the investigation of Vince McMahon by the WWE Board of Directors but they did not talk to her
  • She said WWE contacted her and asked her to make a statement that her relationship with Vince McMahon was consensual and indicated being offered money to say that and she refused. She said the company then said it was a consensual relationship. She said when they know one party would not say it was consensual, that’s a hell of an announcement to make.
  • She noted that she turned over all her evidence to the Department of Justice. In the end, the DOJ did not use it nor ask for any indictments.
  • She acknowledged the love letter that it was claimed she wrote to Vince McMahon that WWE or McMahon’s reps sent to the New York Post. She called it public humiliation and intimidation of a person as well as witness intimidation. She did not address whether the letter was real or the big question of if she wrote it on her own or McMahon asked her to do so.
  • She was upset by the Liv Morgan angle that was taken from her case and said that they used her case to do an angle every Monday night.

— NXT on Tuesday did 744,000 viewers and an 0.09 in 18-49. We’ll have more details. Viewership was way up against the Olympics but that was a very low 18-49 number for so many viewers, which raises a red flag. It did much better than usual in 18-34. It was last among all networks on Tuesday.

— I don’t expect an AEW rating until Monday for the Wednesday Dynamite show. Everything was moved back a day due to the Monday holiday.

— The Royal Rumble from this year will air at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday on ESPN. The show will be edited down.

— Conor Benn of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing has been signed by Zuffa Boxing. This is like 1984 in pro wrestling. Benn is 24-1 with 14 knockouts and is coming off a win over Chris Eubanks Jr. in November, avenging his only career loss. He was one of Matchroom’s top guys. To show how bad they wanted to get him, he signed only a one-fight deal, reported to be for eight figures.

— One of my friends in the Chicago wrestling scene noted to me that he paid $1,450 for tickets to ten Bulls games on his package which includes games with the Warriors and Lakers. In the exact same seat that his Bulls tickets are, it would cost him $684 for Elimination Chamber. The person earns a good living and is a huge pro wrestling fan. He’s not going to the show.

— ESPN 2 will be airing a 2K26 ratings reveal special on ESPN 2 on 2/27 at 2 p.m.

— Jake Paul will have to undergo further surgery related to the broken jaw he suffered in the fight with Anthony Joshua. This second surgery is because screws and plates from the first surgery are coming loose.

— Impact on Thursday has:

  • Mike Santana & Leon Slater vs. The Nemeth Brothers
  • Hardys & Righteous vs. The System
  • Lei Ying Lee vs. Dani Luna
  • AJ Francis vs. Mance Warner
  • Jada Stone vs. Tasha Steelz
  • Plus Mickie James will have a confrontation with Ash by Elegance

— With all the top stars in Japan, tonight’s Arena Mexico show is built around six first-round matches in the Torneo de Escuelas tag team tournament. This is for wrestling students who are unknowns and becomes the first look most people have of them:

  • Conquistador & Divino Dragon (students of Ultimo Dragoncito) vs. Pantera Jr. & Psycotic (students of Rey Cometa & Pantera from Queretaro)
  • Cerebero Negro Jr. & Dominic (students of Virus) vs. Kimba & Tenochca (students of Volador Jr.)
  • Camaleon Jr. & Karma I (students of Tony Salazar) vs. Black Warrior Jr. & Makara (students of El Satanico from Guadalajara)
  • Diamante Escarlata & Magnetico (students of El Hijo del Gladiador) vs. Estudiante Jr. & Feroz (students of Ultimo Guerrero)
  • Konjuro & Sombra Diabolka Jr. (students of Black Tiger from Puebla) vs. King Rex & Prometeo (team from Saltillo)
  • Rey Pegasus & Tornado (students of Magia Blanca) vs. Engendro & Jay Ortega (team from Monterrey)
  • Araki & KIira & Catalina vs. Dark Silueta & Olympia & Persephone
  • Josh Alexander vs. Esfinge for the MLP title
  • Johnny Consejo (Johnny TV) vs Angel De Oro vs. Neon vs. Daniel Garcia

— Saturday at Arena Coliseo has Volador Jr. vs. Consejo vs. Cavernario and Angel de Oro vs. Garcia.

— Sunday at Arena Mexico has Flip Gordon & Neon vs. Cavernario & Garcia and Esfinge vs. Consejo.

— Garcia has apparently been training this week at the CMLL school while in Mexico.

— Shayna Baszler has been helping out part-time with training and sometimes producing in Orlando for NXT. It’s not a full-time gig. She’s been producing Evolve matches. Ace Steel is there coaching this week. They bring people in part-time regularly.

— Fantastica Mania live on New Japan World at 2 a.m. Eastern tomorrow night (11 p.m. Pacific shorty after UFC ends) from Osaka

  • Tatsuya Matsumoto & Tiger Mask vs. El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Shoma Katio
  • Okumura & Satoshi Kojima & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi
  • El Desperado & Masatora Yasuda & Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi & Stigma vs. Bone Soldier Jr. (Taiji Ishimori) & Yota Tsuji & Titan & Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai
  • Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs. Averno & Mangus in tag tournament semifinals
  • Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Valiente Jr. & Futuro in tag tournament semifinal

The main event is really interesting. Valiente Jr. & Futuro rarely get big show main events so you think they’ll go all out. They are young, very talented guys.

— An update from today’s issue, the Rey Misterio (uncle of current Rey Mysterio) PBS documentary in Southern California apparently has already aired there.

— UFC is back at 5 p.m. Eastern with a show on Paramount

  • Juliana Miller (126) vs. Carli Judice (125)
  • Jordan Leavitt (145.5) vs. Yadier del Valle (145.5)
  • Phil Rowe (170.5) vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani (170.5)
  • Ramiz Brahimaj (170.5) vs. Punalele Soriano (171)
  • Nora Cornolle (136) vs. Joselyn Edwards (135.5)
  • Aiden Coria (125.5) vs. Luis Gurule (125)
  • Ode Osbourne (126) vs. Alibi Idris (126)
  • Chidi Njokuani (171) vs. Carlos Leal (170)
  • Zachary Reese (185.5) vs. Michel Pereira (186
  • Jacobe Smith (171) vs. Josiah Harrell (171)
  • Serghei Spivac (251.5) vs. Ante Delija (239)
  • Dan Ige (145.5) vs. Milquizael Costa (145.5)
  • Goeff Neal (170.5) vs. Usos Medic (171)
  • Sean Strickland (185) vs. Anthony Hernandez (186)

— The online debate over Dusty Rhodes vs Seth Rollins and who was better in the ring is very funny, because when Rollins was in WWE developmental, Rhodes said he was already the best wrestler in all of WWE to me (this would have been shortly after the death of Randy Savage when we had a long talk mostly about Savage but he very excitedly told me about this guy who was even better than Savage that nobody knows about, although I’d been watching NXT so knew about him and obviously did from his Tyler Black days for years). He definitely had qualms about things and wasn’t sure if he’d make it because of those reasons, but raved about him in the ring.

— Nic Nemeth appears for AIQ on 3/20 in Cleveland at the Globe Iron.

— This is quite the day in history. Buddy Rogers was born on this day in 1921, one of the all-time greats. Antonio Inoki was born on this day in 1943. Gedo turned 57 today. Gail Kim turned 49. Big Damo turned 41. Bobby Shane was 29 when he passed away on this day 51 years ago in a famous plane crash in Florida. Ciclon Negro was 80 when he passed away on this day 13 years ago. Dean Higuchi, a bodybuilder and powerlifter was 80 when he passed away on this day five years ago. Pirata Morgan had his first match 47 years ago today.

Daily Update: AEW Worlds End numbers, WWE SmackDown and Arena Mexico previews

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:
*Road to WrestleMania including the booking changes and injury changes that have caused several changes of plans since they were first in place. We discuss the evolution of this year’s two main events.
*We look at how the Royal Rumble show changed on the last day
*Full Royal Rumble coverage
*Status of different matches
*AJ Styles and is this his final match
*Business notes on the show
*Plans for Elimination Chamber
*How Royal Rumble did on Netflix
*What changes in Nielsen have meant to the TV ratings and why this has happened, and how it will happen multiple more times in 2026 to a lesser degree
*Has the increased in reported viewership helped pro wrestling in the TV world
*Full UFC 325 coverage
*Death of Frankie Cain/Great Mephisto, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 60s and 70s with ties to many different worlds
*Death of Bob Lueck, a former Stampede Wrestling headliner who was a CFL All-Star and how he was responsible for getting one of the most important and most influential wrestlers of all-time into the industry
*The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling shows this past week including placings, demos and silliness
*Box office record set
*CMLL star arrested
*AEW stars spend the week in CMLL
*Major Arena Mexico shows coming
*Reyes del Aire report
*Hiromu Takahashi leaving
*New Japan major show this week
*Fantastica Mania cards announced
*Best matches of 2025
*AEW booking direction
*New AEW signings
*Advance ticket sales for all the major WWE & AEW shows
*Dana White’s testimony regarding his job
*Pride star passes away
*Ava departure from WWE

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

— Our weekend schedule is that I will be doing the week in review show and talking the news in today’s Observer with Garrett Gonzales today and will be back with the weekend report on Sunday.

— AEW Worlds End wound up as the most purchased PPV since they went on HBO MAX, beating Full Gear, which had been the biggest since All In.

— Dynamite did 654,000 viewers with an 0.15 in 18-49 and 0.22 in 18-34. The latter two numbers, which are the most important, are the biggest of the big data era. The new system does help in total viewers a significant amount, but not much in 18-49 so these gains are a product that is on the ascent. We don’t have standings yet.

— Ari Emanuel was on Pat McAfee’s show today and said there will only be six or seven fights at the 6/14 UFC show at the White House.

— SmackDown tonight is in Charlotte, NC with Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley vs. Giulia & Kiana James for the tag team titles, plus Chamber qualifying matches with Lash Legend vs. Chelsea Green vs. Tiffany Stratton and Aleister Black vs. Randy Orton vs. Solo Sikoa. Liv Morgan is als on the show. About 8,700 tickets were out as of earlier today.

— Balloting is closed for the 2025 Wrestling Observer awards which will come out this coming Thursday night. We had the most response I believe in our history to the awards. Thanks to everyone that participated.

— Tonight at Arena Mexico is headlined by Flip Gordon & Neon & Templario vs. Averno & Cavernario & Hechicero, Johnny Consejo (John Hennigan of AEW) vs. Soberno Jr. and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs.. Mason Madden & Mansoor for the CMLL tag team titles. For Sunday at Arena Coliseo, the top three bouts are Atlantis Jr. & Esfinge & Titan vs. Cavernario & Euforia & Volador Jr., Difunto vs. Consejo and El Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr. vs. MxM Collection. Sunday at Arena Mexico has Atlantis Jr. & Templario & Titan vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr., Gordon vs. Consejo and Magnus & Vegas Depredador vs. MxM Collection. Monday in Puebla has a rematch from last Monday’s sold out show with Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Templario vs. Cavernario & Soberano Jr & Volador Jr.

— Lots of WWE talent and AEW talent are in San Jose/San Francisco for Super Bowl media. This led to the Seth Rollins/MJF meeting yesterday. Those from AEW there are Tony Khan, Toni Storm, Orange Cassidy, MJF and Swerve Strickland.

— There will be an all-women’s show on 3/6 at Arena Mexico. They announced there would be AEW talent on the show, but no names were mentioned yet. Mei Seira & Starlight Kid from Stardom will also be challenging Jarochita & Lluvia for the CMLL women’s tag team titles.

— AAA will be live on Saturday night at 9 p.m. with two matches announced, Grande Americano vs Rey Fenix vs. Dragon Lee vs. Octagon Jr., will be in a Rey de Reyes first round match plus Ethan Page & Chelsea Green vs. Mr. Iguana & Lola Vice for the mixed tag team titles. Dominik Mysterio will be there live to build to a later match with El HIjo del Vikingo over the AAA Mega title. They will als be taping for the 2/14 and 2/21 shows tomorrow night.

— Mercedes Mone returns to Winnipeg on 3/31 for Winnipeg Pro Wrestling to defend her women’s title against the winner of an upcoming tournament.

— UFC runs 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Paramount+ tomorrow from the Apex Arena in Las Vegas:

Priscila Cachoeira (135.5) vs. Klaudia Sygula (135.5)
Jakub Wiklacz (135.5) vs. Muin Gafurov (141) – Gafurov missed weight by five pounds and was fined 25 percent of his purse. The fight is going to happen
Eduarda Moura (127) vs. Wang Cong (127.5) – Both missed weight. Since they both missed weight, neither is being fined. So if you’re going to miss weight, call your opponent and tell them to stop cutting and come to an agreement on weight
Javid Basharat (135.5) vs. Gianni Vazquez (141) – Vazquez missed weight by five pounds and is being fined 25 percent of his purse
Bruna Brasil (116) vs. Ketlen Souza (115.5)
Nikolay Veretenhnikov (170.5) vs. Niko Price (171)
Alex Morono (170) vs. Danil Donchenko (170.5)
Dustin Jacoby (204.5) vs. Julius Walker (206)
Faruid Basharat (136) vs. Jean Matsumoto (135.5)
Michal Oleksiejczuk (186) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (184.5)
Jailton Almeida (241) vs. Rizvan Kuniev (254)
Kyoji Horiguchi (126) vs. Amir Albazi (125.5)
Mario Bautista (135.5) vs. Vinicius Oliveira (136)

— Selina Slay, an OnlyFans content creator who was at ringside at the Las Vegas AEW tapings doing the Andrade stuff, wrote on her Instagram about the experience, “lmao, this is so fake.” She was harassed after that to the point she deactivated her account.

— PFL runs tomorrow at the Coca Cola Arena in Dubai with the main card starting at Noon Eastern time. It will air on ESPN+ and ESPN Unlimited, but not on television:
Pouya Rahmani (250.2) vs. Karl Williams (256.5)
Abdoul Abdouraguimov (170.2) vs. Kendly St. Louis (171)
Ramazan Kuramagomedov (170) vs. Shmai Musaev (169.6) for the PFL welterweight title
Usman Nurmagomedov (155) vs. Alfie Davis (154.6)n for the PFL lightweight title

— The PFL announced a deal with RMC Sport for a multi-year partnership to broadcast in France, Monaco, Andorra, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The deal kicks off with tomorrow’s show.

— Konnan turns 62 today. Salina de la Renta turns 29. Tojo Yamamoto was born on this day in 1927. Tony Halme/Ludvig Borg was born on this day in 1963. Mario Galento passed away 37 years ago today at the age of 74. Hall of Famer Bobby Davis passed away five years ago today at 83. Konnan (1987) and Dos Caras (1970) made their debuts on this day.

— Today is the 50th anniversary of the Antonio Inoki vs. Willem Ruska first match at Budokan Hall. This was gigantic mainstream with the idea that Inoki, the top star of New Japan Pro Wrestling, would face the 1972 Olympic judo heavyweight gold medalist in a mixed match. The bout was billed to decide the world’s top mixed fighter and was meant for Inoki to win to build up the match later in the year with Muhammad Ali. Ruska was not just a judo gold medalist but a legit badass having beaten the toughest man in Brazil, Ivan Gomes (who later became a pro wrestler) in a challenge fight that was legit. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Mike Mondo appears on tomorrow’s Memphis Wrestling TV show.

— Mike Santana, Prisccilla Kelly and Breeze (the former Tyler Breeze) wrestle tomorrow for AIW at Penguin City Brewing in Youngstown, OH.

WOR: Royal Rumble, RAW, Arena Mexico, tons more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including updates on EVIL and WWE, AEW and Triller, Arena Mexico, best wishes to Kemonito and Mick Foley, ratings notes, Smackdown, Collision and RAW recaps, the Royal Rumble, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:

Start: Best wishes to Mick Foley, EVIL leaving New Japan for WWE, AEW & Triller update

9:28: UFC numbers, other ratings

19:23: Kemonito update, Rey Mysterio injured, Andre the Giant anniversary

25:27: Arena Mexico notes

30:22: Dave’s thoughts on WWE SmackDown and AEW Collision, AAA on FOX show, Billy Gunn

43:37: WWE Raw recap, lineups for the coming week

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Daily Update: Netflix & WBD, Arena Mexico, top matches from the weekend

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 out.  The lead story on the WBD/Netflix/Paramount situation could end up being in hindsight the most important business story of this year as far as long-term ramifications to the scene.  The second story on the TNA deal with AMC  is also  one of the major stories of the year.
*A look at the Netflix/WBD proposed deal, how iit went down, what it entails, how this affects AEW, the AEW contract situation with WBD and what it entails and how long it is s well as fears in the entertainment industry if this goes through, as well as steps being taken by Paramount to get it blocked.
*TNA signs a new TV deal with AMC, the early schedule, what is and isn’t true about the deal, as well as the power of AMC and how pro wrestling has affected and changed the ratings for all of its television partners with the most updated numbers, which also shows why it  is still valuable programming.
*A complete look at Survivor Series including how people viewed the show, changes that can be made to War Games to make it easier to watch, business notes on the show, overall interest level compared to recent PPV shows, where WWE goes from here, Netflix numbers outside the U.S. and more.
*The history of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, the making of their final match, where Shinsuke Nakamura fit in as well as AEW, WWE and CMLL, business notes, history, historical significance and how the story has played out since the start of the year.
*A look at this weekend’s shows and odds
*Les Hudspith aka Ringo Rigby, former U.K. wrestler who led a very interesting life, between judo, being a main eventer quick in the U.K., the political situation in the U.K. that led to his leaving, coming to the dying California promotion and thriving Mexican scene and crazy street brawls.
*The most detailed look at the television ratings from the past week, placings, comparisons and more.
*Coverage of one of the best Arena Mexico shows of the year including Claudio Castagnoi’s title win
*The next major CMLL show, plus lots of big shows around the country
*AAA and WWE combine for a big show with two great bouts, and what this leads to
*End of Stardom tag team tournament
*End of Dragon Gate tournament
*Update on All Japan and New Japan tournaments
*Who has the most five-star matches in 2025
*Real American Freestyle update and apparently business philosophy
*Lots of AEW new shows
*Detailed look at the Continental Classic including a decision to be made this week’
*Bryan Danielson talks injuries, if he can come back, Brie Bella coming back, retiring, traveling and more
*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows over the net five weeks
*Is AEW really closing the gap on WWE as Tony Khan says, a look at different metrics
*Tom Aspinall update
*What UFC should do and won’t to make the Amanda Nunes vs. Kayle Harrisoni fight better and less risky
*The sad plight of Nick Diaz
*Nick Khan and Laurence Epstein push their version of the Ali Act
*Rumors about Ronda Rousey fighting
*TKO stock value update
*How much has DwayneJohnson earned so far in his less than two years with WWE

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

[email protected]

— Both of our weekend shows are up on the site today. Our Friday show with Garrett Gonzales talked about the news of the week, heavily on the WBD/Netflix story and how it affects AEW, John Cena, the weekend and all sorts of other topics. Last night we talked more on the lead story with more details on how it affects AEW and what are the next things to watch out for, Paul Fontaine talked UFC 323 with us which had two title change and lots of big fights underneath, we talked some other matches that were among the best of the week, as well NXT Deadline, Collision, ROH Final Battle and Arena Mexico.

— Regarding the WBD/Netflix story that will continue, probably the best on how it currently looks in relation to AEW is on our show from last night. Netflix sent a memo to all subscribers about the proposed sale and said that Netflix and HBO Max will be kept separate. Of course they have to say that now, and that doesn’t mean a few years from now that will be the case. But that would be very good news for AEW in theory. There are so many different ways this can go as we talked about last night.

— Dana White signed a new five-year deal to remain President of UFC.

— Arena Mexico became the first arena that as best we can tell in history has ever sold 1 million tickets in a calendar year. CMLL presented a championship belt to the fan who had purchased ticket No. 1 million at Friday night’s show. There have been reports that El Toreo in Naucalpan during the heyday of the UWA had done 1 million in a calendar year, but I think that’s a little exaggerated. This 1 million is paid, not total, and also only includes CMLL regular shows, not sponsored shows, not including special sponsor shows, the Pokemon show, nor the AEW show.  Including those shows, by the end of the year it should top 1.1 million. There is no building in the U.S., Europe, Japan or anywhere that would come anywhere close to that.  I don’t even know if outside of El Toreo and Arena Mexico that any other place ever did half that.  The Mid South Coliseum in Memphis in its best year did like 375,000. What’s even more remarkable is that a solid percentage of that number would be Americans. I think you’d have to go back at least 40 years to find an arena in the U.S. that drew as many Americans in its best year as Arena Mexico did this year. To me, while the latter is not a shock since we talked about this in 2024 a few times because it was also a good year for tourist sales, it’s still mind-boggling when you think about it.  

— Alexandre Pantoja dropped the flyweight title to Joshua Van in seconds, post his arm when Van took him down and it appeared his arm bent badly at the elbow joint. They had to stop the fight, which made Van the youngest world champion in UFC history. Megan Olivi after the show on the broadcast said that she had spoken to Dr. Jeff Davidson and said that Pantoja had a shoulder dislocation, but then the shoulder popped into place on its own. On Monday they will go for additional imaging to see the extent of the other or if there is another damage and diagnose more from there. Joe Rogan then said that this doesn’t make sense because you could see the elbow pop out of the joint.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on both NXT Deadline and ROH Final Battle, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— Some weekend match recommendations as this was a big weekend for good matches. Yesterday’s NXT show to me was the best major show they’ve done in a while, with both the men’s and women’s Iron Survivor matches being excellent. ROH Final Battle you should check out the Bandido vs. Mortos vs. Komander vs. Blake Christian vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Hechidero, Athena vs. Persephone, Shane Taylor Promotions vs. Sky Flight and if you are into technical wrestling Nigel McGuinness vs Lee Moriarty to some will be one of the more fun matches in a long time. Both shows to me were very good. The Continental Classic matches last night on Collision were great, particularly Jon Moxley vs Konosuke Takeshita but really all three.  The UFC main event, where Petr Yan won the bantamweight title over Merab Dvalishvili as well as Brandon Talbott vs. Henry Cejudo were great fights. We were also told there were two excellent quick bouts, Ob Aslan vs. Iwo Baraniewski and Chris Duncan vs. Terrence McKinney.

–The Arena Mexico Friday  main event was excellent as well. It was Misitco & Mascara Dorada losing to Soberano Jr. & & Difunto when Soberano Jr. pinned both Dorada after a nasty power bomb and Mistico after a piledriver-like move. The power bomb looked dangerous and Dorada went out on a stretcher. Dorada then flew to Columbus, OH for his match with Claudio Castagnoli which saw the Historic welterweight champion pin the CMLL world heavyweight champion. After the main event at Arena Mexico, Soberano Jr. issued a challenge to Mistico for the CMLL world light heavyweight title, and that will be the main event on this coming Friday’s show.  Also on Friday will be the Gran Alternativa tournament, with the first and second round on this week with the two final teams facing off on 12/19.

Teams are:

  • Volador Jr. & Elemental
  • Euforia & Gallero
  • Angel de Oro & Yutani
  • Averno & Barboza
  • Atlantis Jr. & Xelhua
  • Titan & Explosivo
  • Templario & El Hijo del Pantera
  • Neon & Futuro

The idea is the second name listed, if their team wins, that person moves from underneath level to semi-main or main event level. Yutani sold out Puebla against Mistico already. Barboza is already a star, Xelhua is a favorite and Futuro was Neon’s regular tag team partner before Neon got elevated.

— The news from the weekend from those in WWE is that Penta is 50/50 regarding whether he’ll be able to wrestle on 12/20 in Guadalajara for the Penta & Fenix vs. Dominik Mysterio & Grande Americano main event. He suffered a shoulder injury in his Raw match with Solo Sikoa.

— You’ve probably heard about this but Bayley did a weekend seminar and camp for top women independent wrestlers over the last few days in Orlando. She flew everyone in, took care of lodging and set up a camp at no cost to the women. Helping her with coaching included Charlotte Flair, Natalaya, TJ Wilson, John Cena, Bianca Belair, Ivy Nile, Lyra Valkyria, Rhea Ripley, Roxanne Perez, Maxxine Dupri and others. Bayley rushed to TV on Friday and flew right back. Cena spent hours there talking and giving advice to everyone individually. This is really something special and you have to give Bayley all the credit in the world for putting it together, and for all the other wrestlers who participated.

— Regarding Google searches, nothing from NXT Deadline nor ROH Death Before Dishonor cracked the top 600. Nor anything from WWE or AEW. UFC last night did 870,000 which is not a giant number but definitely a good number. Searches for the show were No. 6 among all topics over the weekend.

— As far as the judging went, in the main event, Judge Michael Bell only gave Dvalishvili the first round for a 49-46 score. Judge Derek Cleary gave Yan rounds three through five and a 48-47 score. Judge Eric Colon gave Dvalishvili only the first round for 49-46. I only had round two for Dvalishvili at 49-46. Both Ryan Frederick and Paul Fontaine from our site had a clean 50-45 sweep for Yan. Of reporters’ scores we’ve seen, they were 65 percent 50-45 and 35 percent 49-46.  Nobody but Cleary gave Dvalishvili two rounds.

— In the Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov draw, Junichiro Kamijo had it even at 28-28 with Blachowicz winning one and three and Gukov getting a 10-8 round two. Chris Lee had it 29-28 with the same winners but not a 10-8 second. Judge Ron McCarthy gave Guskov a 10-8 round two for a 28-28 so it was a majority draw  Among reporters through MMA Decisions, 57 percent went for Blachowicz and 43 percent had it as a draw.

— The Countdown to Worlds End show airs on the 17th. As of right now nothing has been announced for the show past the semifinals and finals of the Continental Classic. What that means is aside from the tournament, the rest of the show’s key bouts should be announced by a week from Wednesday. I strongly suspect Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland as the main event. They gave the impression last night that Strickland will face Josh Alexander on 12/13 in Cardiff for the shot at Joe.

—  The final episode of RJ City’s Hey EW show aired this weekend. He did a roast of the company, a parody of scenes in Beyond the Mat and WWE Unreal, spoofing Paul Levesque, a Renee Paquette run-in that leaves him  laying and then Tony Khan shows up and orders everyone to get back to work. Mercedes Mone, who people had continued to request as a guest but never did the show, then showed up, saw that nobody was there, and left. (thanks to Stephen Lyon).

— The 12/11 El Hijo del Santo farewell show in Guadalajara was canceled due to poor ticket sales. His last match is 12/13 in Mexico City and they will have to paper like crazy to avoid it looking bad. But overall this farewell tour has been a disaster.

— The All Japan tag team tournament finals are Wednesday at Korakuen Hall with Ren Ayabe & Talos vs. tag champs Xyon & Odyssey Jones, who went 5-0 in the tournament.

— New Japan’s next to last night of B block took place in Kihoku today:

  • Great O’Khan & Callum Newman (4-2) beat Hiroshi Tanahashi &  El Phantasmo (2-4)
  • Lance Archer & Alex Zayne (3-3) beat Yuto-Ice & Oskar (3-3)
  • Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa (3-3) beat David Finlay & Hiromu Takahashi (2-4)
  • Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura (4-2) beat Ren Narita & Sanada (3-3)

Monday is the A block last day, Tuesday is the B block last day and the playoffs are Wednesday and Friday with the finals Sunday.

Tomorrow:

  • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney
  • Taichi & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yota Tsuji & Gabe Kidd
  • Shuji Ishikawa & El Desperado vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Evil & Don Fale vs. Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano

— NXT on Tuesday has Shiloh Hill’s first NXT TV match, Hank Walker & Tank Ledger back from Japan, Blake Monroe in an open challenge for the North American title and Kelani Jordan vs. Jordynne Grace.

— We’re looking for reports on the TNA TV tapings from yesterday and today in El Paso.

— Kenoh beat Kaito Kiyomiya in a 60:00 Iron Man match on today’s NOAH show at Korakuen Hall. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows attacked Kiyomiya to set up them facing Kiyomiya & Jack Morris on 1/1.

— The 12/15 Raw show in Hershey, PA was moved to a 6 p.m. Eastern start time. They will be airing Raw but also taking an episode of Smackdown that night. In Grand Rapids, MI that Friday they will be doing Smackdown plus an episode of Raw.

— Curtis Highes turned 61 today, Tammy Sytch turned 53, Wolfie D turned 52, Jon Moxley turned 40 and ACH turned 38.  Rick Rude would have been 67 today.  The notorious Ian Croitoru/Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam would have been 62.  The famed McGuire Twins who are both over 700 pounds would have been 79.  Joe Blanchard would have been 97,  the father of Tully and grandfather of Tessa who was both a wrestler and the promoter in San Antonio and Corpus Christi for many years. Haystacks Calhoun, who was among the most mainstream famous wrestlers of the 60s, passed away on this day 36 years ago at the age of 55.  (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Michelle McCool said he has one last run in her.

— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling from Friday night:

  • Beatrice Domino b Jheri Giggalow
  • Jian Hewell b Vaughn Vertigo
  • Los Suavecitos b Jordan Cruz & Chris Nasty
  • Vary Morales won three-way over Marcus Lewis and Alpha Zo
  • Aaron Solo b Shane Haste
  • VertVixen won three-way over Harley Cameron and Angelica Risk
  • Starboy Charlie won a three-way over Alan Angels and Toa Liona to get a main event match with  QT Marshall
  • Marshall b Charlie

Next show is the Kirk White Memorial Battle Royal for the Roy Shire trophy on 1/23 with Ricochet and The Gates of Agony. (thanks to Jim Davis)

WOR: AEW Full Gear recap

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I, Garrett Gonzales, are back with an AEW Full Gear recap episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

We went through the entire show from the news to the matches to thoughts on the booking of the main event angle as well as notes from the post show presser.

Here were some of the rest of the topics we covered:

  • Arena Mexico
  • Brandon Thurston’s story on the new ratings as well as the WWE shareholder’s lawsuit
  • Friday’s SmackDown results
  • Next Friday’s SmackDown spoilers

Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube (video sub needed)

WOR: Syko Stu, Clash in Paris, weekend TV and news!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the latest on Syko Stu, WWE Clash in Paris PLE results, the upcoming WWE and AEW schedules, Arena Mexico, Smackdown, Collision, the ROH PPV, All American Freestyle, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:
Start: Syko Stu back home from hospital, Cody & Brandi Rhodes welcome second child, Buford Pusser named in wife’s death
6:12: WWE Clash in Paris recap
26:55: Road to Royal Rumble European tour announced, three-hour AEW show coming in September, Arena Mexico notes
33:34: Real American Freestyle debut, UFC notes
42:07: Dave’s thoughts on ROH Death Before Dishonor
50:32: WWE SmackDown notes
56:10: AEW business notes, AEW Collision notes

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WOR: SummerSlam night 1, Breakker, Dustin, news!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns with tons to talk about including a full recap of SummerSlam, updates on Bron Breakker and Dustin Rhodes, ratings, all the news out of Arena Mexico, SummerSlam night 2 thoughts, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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