Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including a bunch of injury updates, why WWE is concerned about WrestleMania and what changes they’re making, ratings notes on Dynamite, legal updates on Gail Kim and Janel Grant, Arena Mexico, Collision and Smackdown reviews and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: Injury updates on Bron Breakker, Chelsea Green, Typhoon 2:07: WrestleMania plans are still up in the air, WWE unhappy with advance 9:18: TNA/Gail Kim, Janel Grant lawsuit updates 13:27: Ratings 19:06: Arena Mexico notes 29:23: WWE SmackDown recap 45:03: AEW Collision recap
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
— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the weekend in pro wrestling and other notes.
— Bron Brekker had surgery for a serious hernia. No word on how long he’ll be out.
— Bad Bunny is performing at halftime of the Super Bowl today. It’s possible you’ve heard about it.
— Fred Ottman, the former Tugboat, Typhoon, Big Bad Steel Man, Big Bubba, Shock Master, Uncle Fred and other names said he’s been in the hospital for the last 30 days after his gallbladder exploded. He said his wife was told that if he had waited another day to come to the hospital he may not have made it. He said he’s lost a lot of muscle, being on his back for a month and is learning how to walk again. He is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow. He still will need regular kidney dialysis for now and will need surgery later this month.
— Chelsea Green’s ankle injury was a bruise and not a break, and while she did miss last night’s AAA show where she and Ethan Page lost the mixed tag team titles (Lola Vice & Mr. Iguana are the new champions), I don’t expect her out for too much time.
— I don’t know all the Observer awards winners right now, but do know that so far that at least nine companies have had winners representing four countries. There could be more.
— Andrei Arlovski, 47, defeated Ben Rothwell to win the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship heavyweight title last night before a sellout crowd of 18,217 in Philadelphia. Arlovski won via third round stoppage due to a nasty head cut. BKFC claimed 2 million people watched the show.
— YouTube numbers for last night’s shows had it at 324,000, and keep in mind that’s a number watching at least ten seconds, not the entire show and can count the same person multiple times. For a comparison, the English language feed of AAA was at the same time at 231,000 and the taped MLW Battle Riot from a few weeks back was at 190,000.
— For the matches we’ve heard a lot about, Saya Kamitani vs. Starlight Kid for the World of Stardom title has gotten a lot of talk. Kamitani suffered a finger injury legit, worked a long match after the injury and retained her title. Friday’s Arena Mexico didn’t have a great star power lineup on paper, but boy was it a fun show. I’d highly recommend Yutani vs. Capitan Suicida as a high flying match, MxM Collection vs. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja which was an awesome tag title match, Johnny Consejo (Johnny TV) vs. Soberano Jr was very entertaining and the main event was usual standard Arena Mexico trios on top with Averno & Cavernario & Hechicero over Neon & Templario & Flip Gordon with them setting up Templario vs. Averno for the CMLL middleweight title for next Friday. It was the usual style, although not quite as heated or as many flashy moves with no Mistico & Mascara Dorada. Templario took the Mistico spot as the star of the team and he’s an awesome wrestler, not as over at all as Mistico, but better in the ring and like with Mistico, they focused the match around him. The show didn’t sell out but there were way more women at the show than usual and the clear draw ws Soberano Jr., to the point there were a lot of empty seats during the main event. Last night’s show at Arena Coliseo was sold out. Tuesday’s Reyes del Aire match was spectacular.
— For Google searches this weekend, as you can imagine, it was dominated by the Super Bowl and Olympics. The only top 100 searches were Mario Bautista (46) and Kyoji Horiguchi (96) from last night’s UFC show at the Apex. The show itself did 100,000 searches. Smackdown got 2,000 searches and nothing from AEW made the list. The biggest search in pro wrestling was Ricky Steamboat, who is fine.
— Wednesday’s AEW show not only did the best ratings in months for a television show, but was up 6.5 percent higher in web searches for AEW than any other TV show since November, beating out 1/14 (MJF vs. Bandido), 1/28 (MJF vs. Brody King and Kenny Omega vs. Andrade among others) and 1/24 (Tommaso Ciampa vs. Mark Briscoe). Essentially Google searches continue to corroborate that interest level is up and it’s not just a ratings change with these increased numbers. The ratings change does help though.
— SmackDown will be on Syfy on Friday due to the Olympics.
— MLW from last night in Chicago sold out Cicero Stadium: Shotzi Blackheart b Shoko Nakajima to win the women’s featherweight title, Mistico b Diego Hill in a babyface battle, Donovan Dijak & Bishop Dyer b uke Gallows & Karl Anderson to retain the MLW tag team titles, Kushida b Alan Angels to keep the middleweight title, Josh Bishop vs. Matthew Justice street fight (not sure who won) but Justice tok a crazy dive off the bleachers and was shaken up but said to be okay, Killer Kross NC Matt Riddle for the MLW title when Alex Hammerstone attacked both guys, Okumura b Victor ?, Soberano Jr. b Neon (really good), Scarlett Bordeaux b Blair Onyx, Hammerstone b Ultimo Guerrero, Mads Krule Krugger b Bishop Dyer with a DDT on a belt, Austin Aries b Blue Panther (Panther looked like he got hurt on a flip dive off the paron and may have landed on or near his head), Zamaya b Lil Ruiz, Mistico b Templario with La Mistica. Match started after 11 p.m. so not the usual level of Mistico reaction. (thanks to Lance LeVine)
— They teased the idea of Dominik Mysterio putting up his hair against El Hijo del Vikingo on 3/14 in Puebla. Either way they are doing an AAA Mega title match. The Grande Americano who qualified for the Rey de Reyes finals was Chad Gable, not Ludwig Kaiser, winning over Rey Fenix, Dragon Lee and Octagon Jr.
— AEW Collision will go head-to-head with Elimination Chamber on 2/28.
— Misty Blue Simms turned 67 day. Paul Wight turned 54. Royce Isaacs turned 37. Duke Hudson turned 36. Xyon Quinn turned 36. Fred Blassie was born on this day in 1918. Jim Neidhart was born on this day in 1955. Sherri Martel was born on this day in 1958. Kat LaRoux was born on this day in 1965. Chicago figurehead promoter and TV announcer Bob Luce died 19 years ago today at the age of 78. Ricky Hunter died four years ago today at 86. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— DDP has uploaded three episodes of his “Change or Die” reality show on Tubi. The show features Page helping Buff Bagwell and Butterbean.
— On yesterday’s PFL show in Dubai, Usman Nurmagomedov retained the lightweight title via fourth round submission over Alfie Davis. Ramazan Kuramagomedov went to 14-0 and wn the vacant welterweight title beating Shamil Musaev via decision on scores of 48-46 across the board. Kurammagomedov told announcer Dan Hardy after the fight that he may have suffered a broken arm and also talked about possibly retiring.
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
— 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.
NJPW has announced the lineups for its upcoming Fantastica Mania tour with CMLL.
This year’s tour runs from February 18 in Yoyogi and ends with two nights at Korakuen Hall on February 26 and 27. An 8-team tag tournament with four teams from CMLL and four mixed NJPW/CMLL teams will be featured this year.
CMLL teams:
Místico & Mascara Dorada
Valiente Jr. & Futuro
Magnus & Averno
Atlantis & Atlantis Jr.
Mixed CMLL/NJPW teams:
SHO & Último Guerrero
Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Shoma Kato
Satoshi Kojima & Okumura
Tiger Mask & Stigma
The tournament quarterfinals begin on February 18.
Fantastica Mania lineup for Wednesday, February 18, 2026 – Yoyogi 1st National Gymnasium
Fantastica Mania Tag tournament: Valiente Jr. & Futuro vs. Shoma Kato & Hijo de Stuka Jr.
Zane Jay vs. Hechicero
Fantastica Mania Tag tournament: Tiger Mask & Stigma vs. Magnus & Averno
Fantastica Mania Tag tournament: Atlantis Jr. & Atlantis vs. Okumura & Satoshi Kojima
Masatora Yasuda, Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & El Desperado vs. Daiki Nagai, Taiji Ishimori, Yota Tsuji & Titán
Templario vs. Soberano Jr.
Fantastica Mania Tag tournament: Mascara Dorada & Mistico vs. SHO & Ultimo Guerrero
The tournament semifinals will be held on February 22 and the finals on February 24, with both shows being held in Osaka.
NJPW x CMLL Fantastica Mania lineup for February 26 at Korakuen Hall
Masatora Yasuda, Valiente Jr. & Futuro vs. Tatsuya Matsumoto, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi
Shoma Kato vs. Titán
Tiger Mask, Okumura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi & Magnus
Zane Jay & Templario vs. Shingo Takagi & Último Guerrero
Stigma, Atlantis & Místico vs. SHO, Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Soberano Jr.
Atlantis Jr. vs. Averno
Mascara Dorada vs. Hechicero
NJPW x CMLL Fantastica Mania lineup for February 27 at Korakuen Hall
Shoma Kato vs. Averno
Tatsuya Matsumoto, Masatora Yasuda, Master Wato & Stigma vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Hijo de Stuka Jr.
Tiger Mask vs. Magnus
Ryusuke Taguchi, Atlantis Jr. & Atlantis vs. Okumura, Satoshi Kojima & Hechicero
Flip Gordon has won the 2026 CMLL Reyes del Aire Tournament on February 3rd, 2026.
Gordon defeated Yutani to crown himself the CMLL Reyes del Aire Tournament winner on the February 3rd edition of Martes de Arena Mexico at Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.
CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) hosted the 2026 Reyes del Aire Tournament, which was available for fans to watch on YouTube.
Gordon overcame 11 other wrestlers to secure the victory for himself. Apart from Gordon, Yutani, Bárbaro Cavernario, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr., El Cobarde, Neón, Explosivo, Hijo de Stuka Jr., Hijo del Pantera, Barboza & Fugaz took part in the tournament.
The 34-year-old eliminated Yutani to pick up the win. This marked his career’s first CMLL tournament victory. Aside from this, he is also the reigning CMLL World Historic Middleweight Champion and has held the title for 446 days.
Apart from the recently concluded Reyes del Aire Tournament, several more CMLL events are planned and scheduled for the next few weeks.
NJPW made it official on Monday that Katsuya Murashima and Shoma Kato are both heading out on an excursion, the final step in a Young Lion’s journey before officially getting a push in NJPW. Murashima, who just won the Young Lion’s Cup on February 1, will get his sendoff match at New Beginning in Osaka on February 11. He will team with Kato to take on Togi Makabe and Toru Yano.
While it wasn’t announced where Murashima will be going on excursion, Kato’s path is more clear. NJPW announced that the runner up of the Young Lion tournament will be heading to Mexico and will be part of the upcoming NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania tour. Three special Kato sendoff matches will take place on February 24 in Osaka and on the 26, and 27th at Korakuen Hall.
NJPW’s system has their young talent wrestle a similar standard style when they graduate from the dojo for a period of time until they are ready to travel for an international tour, where they will gain experience until finally returning to the company with a push. Both Murashima and Kato made their in-ring debut in November of 2023.
With a January 30, 2026, CMLL show lined up at Arena Mexico, the Mexican-wrestling promotion has announced a few more shows for February and March at the same arena.
On the latest edition of CMLL Informa, the promotion announced three upcoming events, including one special women’s day event in March 2026.
According to the social media update, CMLL Reyes del Aire will take place on February 3rd, followed by Torneo de Escuelas on February 17th, a Women’s Day Show on March 6th, and CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas on March 20th. All of the above-mentioned events are set to take place at Arena Mexico.
While, still time left for these events, CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castagnoli will defend his title against 21-year-old Xelhua at Arena Mexico in Mexico City. The event will be available for fans to stream on YouTube for subscribers at the two highest subscription levels.
#CMLLInforma || ¡Atención afición! Estos son los próximos eventos del Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre…
*A look at Saturday Night’s Main Event, the interest level, the Royal Rumble and Rumble odds *Big Bad Bobby Duncum, a look at the career of a worldwide headliner who worked on top with almost every major babyface of the 70s, including big WWF and AWA runs and Japanese major tournaments *CMLL has a big business week with Bandido, Ricochet, Komander, Gates of Agony and Lee Moriarty. A look at some of the best matches so far this year and the craziness that ruined could have been the best of all of them. *A look at prior plans for 2025 PPV shows that changed *A look at Netflix numbers over the past six months, as well as how every PPV in 2025 did and some surprises in that direction, as well as how Smackdown did internationally as well as NXT, and how shows that went head-to-head with AEW PPVs drew. *Notes on the TNA ratings for the first show on AMC and what they tell us. *TNA Genesis coverage *2025 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards ballot *More AEW stars to CMLL next week *AAA TV taping notes *Thoughts on the current AAA product and how it relates to Lucha Libre and WWE *Stardom makes claim against Marigold *Saya Kamitani returns early *Notes about a mainstream model who became one of the first big stars in Stardom and women’s MVP *Best tag team match of the year *New Japan next major show lineup *Eight promotions combine for a singles tournament *The potential best actual wrestler in the world signs with RAF *Feast or Fired thoughts *More on AEW’s future with the WBD sale to Netflix *Trey Miguel situation *Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows *The most detailed look at the TV ratings over the past week *UFC returns to action with first big show of 2026 *Top exec since the inception of PFL leaves *More notes regarding a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE *WWE headliner talks bowing out *WWE and AEW injury updates *Punk movie box office *Talent coming and going from promotions *TKO and WWE execs get millions this quarter
This issue covers the following topics:
The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.
WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well. A look at each case-by-case.
Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City
Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years
Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025
WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025
What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries
Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t
The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent
A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule
A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong
When did wrestling start being a work. Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think
Odds for WWE matches upcoming
The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why
What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026
One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires
Kazuchika Okada in Japan
Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025
Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial
Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events
Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment
The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotion
— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, weekend TV, as well the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio.
— Raw tonight is in Toronto in the blizzard. It’s the go-home Raw for the Rumble so they should go hard on it on the show. Advertised is a Natalya promo on why she turned on Maxxine Dupri, Bron Breakker meets with Adam Pearce about his suspension, build for AJ Styles vs. Gunther and New Day vs. Creeds vs. Otis & Tozawa vs. Rayo & Bravo with the winners facing the Usos for the tag team titles. They had 14,800 tickets out as of today so it should be a big crowd even with the difficulties of people getting into town.
— Claudio Castagnoli returns to CMLL on Friday night at Arena Mexico to face Xelhua for the CMLL heavyweight title. Mansoor, Mason Madden and Johnny TV are also on that show.
— DJ Khaled will be in a Super Bowl commercial with a pro wrestling theme.
— The CMLL show tonight in Puebla has sold out with Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. as the main event. That makes 15 Mistico sellouts this month.
— UFC did gigantic numbers as was indicated yesterday by the Google search volume. On Paramount, and this would be covering not just the U.S. but also all of Latin America, the main card averaged 4.96 million streaming views and peaked at 5.93 million, likely during the main event. There were 7.18 million devices who clicked in at some point during the show. Keep in mind this is not a U.S. number, but also not a worldwide number. If you go with 1.6 viewers per home, which is what UFC was doing for PPV prelims on television often, it would be 7.89 million viewers, but we don’t know what percentage was in the U.S. But this was an excellent number which may have been due to the novelty of a PPV card that doesn’t cost much to watch. We’ll see if they release numbers going forward, although we will going forward have a pretty good idea how these shows do. I’ve seen this mistakenly reported as the viewer number, and these are significantly lower figures than the viewer number, but also people comparing it to a U.S. TV number, and you can’t compare it to that at all.
— TNA Impact on Thursday did 171,000 viewers and an 0.03 in 18-49. Viewers were almost the same as last week due to a major increase in viewers per home. 18-49 dropped from 0.04 to 0.03.
— AEW Dynamite on Thursday did an 0.08 in 18-49 but we don’t have the viewer number. If it did 1.25 viewers per home it would be 480,000. At 1.30 it would be 500,000. At 1.35 it would be 518,000. Once again the 50-54 number was ridiculous at about 84,000, which is a ridiculous number if you’re doing that number of viewers and have so many congregated in that one age group, it’s suspicious to me, particularly when it’s every week. The show was 6th in the first hour and fifth in the second hour for the night.
— Although the most impressive numbers for the week would be the NXT growth on Tuesday covered in yesterday’s update.
— Lots of rumors Islam Makhachev vs. Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title at the 6/14 UFC White House show.
— Dustin Poirier, who retired last week, indicated being up for a fight with Justin Gaethje. Poirier beat Gaethje in 2018 and Gaethje beat Poirier in 2023. Both fights were memorable.
— Paul Levesque has a 2K26 video game cover.
— Eddie Kingston & Ortiz wrestle on Friday night in Brooklyn at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel for Outlaw Wrestling.
— Cody Fluffman of the Savannah Bananas will be in the Battle Riot for MLW on Thursday night in Kissimmee, FL. The Battle Riot match will air on YouTube on beIN Sports on 2/5.
— Mercedes Mone turned 34 today. Taylor Wilde turned 40. Other birthdays include Hall of Famer Emil Duske in 1909, Hall of Famer Gordon Solie in 1929, Hall of Famer Road Warrior Hawk in 1957 and non-Hall of Famer but California and Mexico star Raul Mata in 1947 (thanks to Tony Richards).
Claudio Castagnoli is heading down to Mexico City for a title defense this Friday — and we now know who his challenger will be.
Last night, CMLL shared a promo with Castagnoli issuing an open challenge for his CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. He wanted “a young luchador who thinks they have what it takes” to step up and answer the call. The 21-year-old Xelhua has now responded and will be facing off against Castagnoli at Arena Mexico on Friday (January 30).
⌛🌎🇨🇭 🇲🇽 🔥 ¡Ya hay retador!
El Gigante Cholulteca, Xelhua, levanta la mano y responde al reto abierto de Claudio Castagnoli para enfrentarse en un duelo por el Campeonato Mundial de Peso Completo del CMLL, este viernes 30 de enero en la Arena México.#CMLL#AEWpic.twitter.com/FTPnGzYWXg
Castagnoli was crowned the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Gran Guerrero for the belt on November 28. His two title defenses since then have been split across Mexico and the United States, defeating Ultimo Guerrero and Roderick Strong. The latter of those headlined this past Saturday’s episode of AEW Collision.
Xelhua, an up-and-coming technical star, also recently got an ROH Pure Championship shot but came up short against Lee Moriarty when they faced off in Mexico.
He kicks off the issue with a look at the road to WWE WrestleMania 42 which begins this weekend with Saturday Night’s Main Event and continues at next weekend’s Royal Rumble.
He also writes the obituary of the late Bobby Duncum Sr. who passed away this week.
Dave also looks at CMLL’s big weekend last week, plus the usual news and insights from around the pro wrestling and UFC world with this weekend’s debut on Paramount+.
“For those who are commenting and sending angry messages with me because I have not appeared in several shows…I had two surgeries on my eyes in December. I just got medically cleared for FEBRUARY. My eyes are recovering very well, thank God.”
She last wrestled on the December 4 Invasion Indy show against Olympia & Zeuxis. An active part of CMLL and the Mexican independent scene, she has also been a part of several ROH (Ring of Honor) matches, wrestling six times for the promotion in 2025 and competing for both the ROH Women’s title and ROH Women’s TV title.
*The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.
*WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well. A look at each case-by-case.
*Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City
*Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years
*Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025
*WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025
*What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries
*Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t
*The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent
*A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule
*A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong
*When did wrestling start being a work. Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think
*Odds for WWE matches upcoming
*The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why
*What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026
*One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires
*Kazuchika Okada in Japan
*Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025
*Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial
*Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events
*Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment
*The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotionT
*Tons of major independent shows coming
*AEW gets TV in new market
*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA events
— Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw and the latest wrestling news. We also have weekend shows covering the major events and a Friday show with Garrett Gonzales, Cory Lieb and Ethan Taylor where we go over the 2025 awards ballot.
— AJ Styles vs. Gunther in a match where if Styles doesn’t win he will retire has been added to the Royal Rumble.
— Je’Von Evans was injured and the match had to be stopped on Raw today against Grande Americano. Right now the belief is it wasn’t too bad, there was more fear of a concussion and he’s said to be fine and flying home.
— Some other notes from the show today. Grayson Waller beat Akira Tozawa and Lyra Valkyria beat Ivy Nile for Main Event. Bayley at ringside for the match was very over. Fans saw Gunther and Styles as real stars. The crowd was not hot for Becky Lynch’s promo or match. Jey Uso was Hulk Hogan in 1999. Every time he was shown on the screen he was booed, but when he came out in front of the crowd the place went crazy for him. Lots of chants of “He’s banned from Japan” directed at Logan Paul. Evans got a standing ovation after the injury stoppage.
Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley got the biggest live reactions. Fans booed all the Saudi Arabia and Royal Rumble videos and there were “you sold out” chants but they were light. They also booed Paul Levesque when shown in the Unreal footage. Punk got a superstar reaction but Balor got the biggest reaction on the show. Punk worked as a champion heel against local babyface star style Lou Thesz and Jack Briscoe did as world champion. The crowd cheered both after the show. He brought Balor back out after the show ended and said “Just one last thing, ‘Chicago is way louder.'” Balor called it the most memorable night of his career and said it was the first time in 15 years he was home for his mother’s birthday and the crowd sang Happy Birthday to his mother. (thanks to Neil McNerlan)
— The Academy Award nominations will be revealed on Thursday. I saw an article that gave Dwayne Johnson a 6.9 percent chance to be nominated for Best Actor in “Smashing Machine.”
— The movie “Night Patrol” which featured CM Punk opened this weekend with $194,016 on 800 screens. It was No. 25 in total box office but per screen it was last among the top 51 and most of those movies were not just released.
–The CMLL show from yesterday was taken off the site because during the Templario vs Bandido main event, when they were outside the ring, a fan got into the ring and it took a lot of security to get him out. Security was late and they didn’t cut away, maybe thinking it was an angle that they hadn’t been told about. The last thing CMLL, because their shows cater to tourists, wants are videos of a security issue or making it feel like going to Arena Mexico may be dangerous. There were a lot of fan videos that got out showing security struggling with the guy and finally taking him to the back.
— No titles ended up changing hands. Ricochet kept the National title over Titan. Lee Moriarty kept the ROH Pure title over Xelhua. There were no issues with ref Edgar Noriega and the rules, although fans were confused. Titan retained the CMLL welterweight title over Komander and Templario kept the CMLL middleweight title. Bandido did try and talk the guy out of coming to the ring but he was not allowed to physically stop him because they have a strict rule for fear of the idea that a wrestler got physical with a fan for the same reasons of wanting the clean image. Templario said he’d like to go to AEW or ROH so they may do a rematch as an ROH title match.
— A correction from yesterday. Hechicero wasn’t double booked. He was only booked in Monterrey and they announced he was injured. He hasn’t wrestled since his Friday match with Roderick Strong. He was limping at one point during the match that didn’t look like a sell nor was it that noticeable, but it was there.
— We’re looking for reports from last night’s WWE show in Nottingham, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
— The tour ended in Belfast today and they return to North America with the Friday night Smackdown show in Montreal.
— Bandido vs. Angel de Oro tonight in Puebla is sold out. Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. & Xelhua vs. Yutani & Cavernario & Soberano Jr. and Ultimo Guerrero Volador Jr. vs. Gates of Agony is also on the show.
— There were a lot of great weekend matches. Ricochet vs. Titan was a super heated match that was more Best of the Super Juniors finals than a Lucha Libre match on Friday. I loved Lee Moriarty vs. Xelhua. It’s all matwork and submission exchanges, not for everyone but this crowd loved it. The Saturday crowd is more a hardcore wrestling crowd anyway.
— Gable Steveson faces Bud Sento heavyweight champion Hugo Lezama in an MMA fight on 2/19 for Mexico Fight League. People are already saying he would smash every heavyweight in UFC right now. Please, let’s wait until how he reacts when he gets punched, which hasn’t happened yet. He hasn’t faced one real fighter. As an athlete, sure he’s better than anyone, but there are many questions left to be answered.
— People all day have raved to me about the Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi vs. Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino main event at today’s Korakuen Hall show as well as the Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Oleg Boltin trios title win over Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson.
— TJP returned to WWE and worked the AAA show on Saturday. It will air in upcoming weeks. They taped three TV tapings on Saturday. They will air at 9 p.m. Eastern every Saturday night on YouTube. On Tubi in Mexico, they kept the show going long so fans could hear the audio (not see it) of the other shows being taped. The AAA YouTube stream for South America from FOX was taken down midshow because they mistakenly thought it was an illegal use of a copyrighted show when it was the actual legal feed.
— Alex Shelley is enrolling in Franklin University to get another degree (he has multiple degrees already) in exercise science. That’s the benefit of the current WWE schedule.
— Ted DiBiase Jr.’s trial is continuing for misappropriation of welfare funds in Mississippi. But he has already filed claiming a mistrial.
— Ron Killings (R-Truth) turns 54 today. Tyler Breeze turns 38. Wardlow turns 38. There will be a lot of talk tomorrow about Killings since his contract talks will be part of WWE Unreal, which debuts tomorrow. Jimmy Brawner, the original Kurt Von Brauner, was born on this day 101 years ago. Al Greene was born in 1928. Pat Patterson was born in 1941. Buck Robley was born in 1945. Bam Bam Bigelow died 19 years ago today at 45. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— Miyuu Yamamoto, a multi-time world champion amateur wrestler, who is the sister of Kid Yamamoto, signed for her pro boxing debut on 3/28 in Sydney. She is now 51. She started MMA at 42, way too late. She will do a six-round fight against Michlle Mack.
— CMLL announced a Fantastica Mania show with MLW on 4/12 in Charleston, SC at Festival Hall.
MLW is linking up with its partners NJPW and CMLL for a joint event this April.
The three promotions announced today that Fantastica Mania USA 2026 will be held in Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday, April 12. The card will include wrestlers from MLW, NJPW, and CMLL, though no names have been confirmed yet. MLW notes that participating talent will be announced soon.
Festival Hall in Charleston is hosting the show, which will be the second event MLW has held in its new home city. It was announced in November that MLW was relocating its headquarters to Charleston. The city is also home to Hollywood star Danny McBride, who has formed a partnership with MLW through his Don Gato Tequila brand. Don Gato will be a sponsor of this Fantastica Mania event.
“As the owner of Major League Wrestling, it matters to me that our hometown always gets the very best this sport has to offer,” Court Bauer said. “Charleston welcomed MLW home, and now it’s only right that we make history here. We’re proud to partner with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and CMLL to bring Fantastica Mania to the Holy City. I want to thank Mr. Naoki Sugabayashi, Mr. Salvador Lutteroth Lomelí, and Mr. Hiroshi Tanahashi for collaborating with us to make this event possible… Three of the world’s great organizations will converge in Charleston, and Festival Hall is going to feel it while sipping world championship tequila.”
The show is listed as a TV taping, with MLW hyping that it will “bring together elite fighters from the United States, Japan, and Mexico for one unforgettable night of competition, championship stakes, and cultural crossover.” Tickets are going on sale this Friday (January 23) at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
*The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.
*WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well. A look at each case-by-case.
*Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City
*Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years
*Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025
*WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025
*What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries
*Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t
*The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent
*A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule
*A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong
*When did wrestling start being a work. Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think
*Odds for WWE matches upcoming
*The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why
*What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026
*One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires
*Kazuchika Okada in Japan
*Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025
*Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial
*Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events
*Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment
*The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotionT
*Tons of major independent shows coming
*AEW gets TV in new market
*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA events
— Our Friday show was covering the news of the week like the TNA show, AEW ratings and focusing on going through the awards ballot with Ethan Tyler, Garrett Gonzales and Corey Lieb. I’ll be back tonight talking about the news with Bryan Alvarez.
— Today’s Arena Mexico show which started at 6 p.m. Eastern is streaming live for CMLL subscribers:
Audaz & Fuego vs Infarto & Disturbio
India Sioux & Jarochita & Lluvia vs. Marcela & Princesa Sugehit & La Magnifica
Lee Moriarty & Virus vs. Blue Panther & Xelhua
Atlantis Jr. vs. Roderick Strong vs. Esfinge
Euforia & Soberano Jr. & Difunto vs. Gates of Agony & Ricochet
Titan vs. Komander for CMLL welterweight title
Templario vs. Bandido for CMLL middleweight title
— Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Volador Jr. & Magnus is the main event for Villahermosa tonight along with a rudos battle with Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero vs. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja non-title. Persephone is also back from injury or at least on the poster for tonight.
— WWE ran last night in Gdansk, Poland:
Je’Von Evans b Bron Breakker when Bronson Reed interfered. CM Punk made the save, which led to:
Punk & Evans b Reed & Breakker in a very hot match when Punk pinned Reed. Evans and Breakker were really over.
Raquel Rodriguez b Bayley in a good match. Lyra Valkyria and Roxanne Perez were in the corners. They issued challenges after.
Uncle Howdy & Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy b Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & JC Mateo. Howdy pinned Mateo. Gacy and Mateo worked hard.
Valkyria b Perez.
Cody Rhodes b Drew McIntyre via DQ in a WWE title match. Super heat. McIntyre was cheered at first. Rhodes got mild boos. McIntyre cut a promo running down Poland and said he wasn’t going to wrestle. Rhodes attacked him. The gimmick worked and the crowd turned completely. McIntyre used a low blow for the DQ. They brawled after and it ended with Rhodes coming off the top rope with a splash through the table. (thanks to Konrad Iwicki)
— As noted last night on Collision, Strong beat Hechicero on Friday night at Arena Mexico to get a shot at CMLL heavyweight champion Claudio Castagnoli. They shot an angle and stipulation on the Friday night Arena Mexico show for a match that takes place on the AEW Collision show on 1/24 in Arlington, TX. Ricochet beat Titan in the main event to keep the National title. That probably plays into the Titan vs. Komander booking.
— Hechicero didn’t wrestle today in Monterrey in his scheduled main event. They announced at the show he was injured Friday at Arena Mexico. He was also booked in Villahermosa. The two cities are 875 miles apart.
— It was 55 years ago today that Ivan Koloff beat Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden to win the WWWF title in one of the biggest matches in pro wrestling history. Sammartino had been champion for seven-and-a-half years straight.
— TKO’s Andrew Schleimer said they expect to hold three PPV shows this year in Saudi Arabia.
— Since people have asked about this, with MLK’s Birthday tomorrow, the TNA rating on AMC probably won’t be out until Tuesday. Ratings and details are harder and harder to come by but I believe there is enough interest in this one that it will come out, even if Programming Insider doesn’t have it.
— Lots of talk regarding Trey Miguel. What we do know is that we had been told actually before the Rascalz story broke that Miguel would be debuting on Collision, and then it came out that all had signed a couple of days later. The thing is that the segment that he wasn’t on would have been taped on Wednesday. It may not have been shown before the fans in Phoenix. I would think not because if it had we’d have been talking about why he wasn’t in the segment a few days ago. Obviously something happened as Miguel wrote, “Taking a break from wrestling. Please respect my space and don’t tag me in any posts or comments. Go support the Rascalz still.” He had listed AEW on his social media and then removed it. He was released from his deal and nobody has said anything further.
— Thea Hail, Tatum Paxley, Ethan Page, Oba Femi and Lola Vice are all on the billboard at the arena in Saudi Arabia promoting the Rumble show. All the major stars are on it including Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns.
— Aleister Black suffered a broken tailbone in the ambulance match but it was said to be minor and the plan was for him to take time off after that match either way.
— Last night, after the Mistico & Dorada vs. Komander & Bandido match that sold out Arena Coliseo, Mistico, Dorada, Difunto, Soberano Jr., and Cavernario went to Arena Mexico for a sponsored show. These happen there fairly often. We rarely get results. CMLL doesn’t count that in weekly attendance since the show was sold to PanAmerican and they either invite their employees or are in charge of the tickets. The 1.15 million fans at Arena Mexico in 2025 did not include attendance at these events. Also, the top CMLL stars work far more dates than would be listed anywhere in the U.S.
— Santos Escobar returned after signing a new deal months ago on last night’s AAA show and was being groomed for a match with El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. for the Latin American title.
— Konnan was not on the English language broadcast of AAA last night. Corey Graves did the show with John Layfield. They only aired about one hour on YouTube last night and the other two hours taped will air over the next two weeks.
— Jordan Oliver and Alec Price were announced as being signed by AEW by MJF at Friday night’s Limitless Wrestling show in Lewiston, ME. MJF beat Price to retain the title in the main event. The storyline is that MJF will be defending his title on independent shows which he claimed puts him in the calibre of touring world champions like Ric Flair, Harley Race and Buddy Rogers.
— We’re looking for reports from tonight’s WWE show in Nottingham, England, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
— We’re looking for your thoughts on these weekend shows:
CMLL Friday from Arena Mexico
CMLL last night
TNA Genesis from last night
CMLL tonight
We’re looking for a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— Raw tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern from Belfast, Northern Ireland:
CM Punk vs. Finn Balor for world title
Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri for IC title
Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee & Penta vs. Logan Paul & Bronson Reed & Austin Theory
Je’Von Evans vs. Grande Americano
— The BBC did a piece today on Raw coming to Belfast tomorrow.
— Drew McIntyre and Kit Wilson were on ITV News promoting Smackdown.
— AEW Dynamite on Wednesday in Orlando has Kenny Omega vs. Josh Alexander, Samoa Joe vs. Mike Bailey, Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford vs. Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa, Swerve Strickland vs. Kevin Knight and Jon Moxley & Daniel Garcia & Wheeler Yuta vs. Rocky Romero & Lance Archer & Hechicero. Plus MJF appears.
— Jorge Masvidal got speculation going that he is going to face Conor McGregor. Dana White said McGregor vs. Michael Chandler wasn’t happening at the White House without an explanation. Masvidal talked to MMA Junkie and was asked about the McGregor vs. Masvidal rumor. He said, “You never know, right? S***, give them what they want, not what they expect. I can say some big news. I have some fight news coming soon and it’s very big news and I can’t deny or confirm what you just said. You’ve got to let the chips fall where they may but definitely some big news headed toward the MMA community.”
— Not much on the Google trends for the weekend, obviously dominated by the NFL. Paddy Pimblett, who headlines this coming Saturday’s UFC show against Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title, was the No. 45 searched term of the weekend. Penn State won 32-3 before 12,530 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Penn State was ranked No. 1 and Iowa No. 3. TNA’s Genesis PPV was No. 259. Nothing from WWE, AEW, AAA or CMLL made the list. There were no major UFC or boxing matches over the weekend.
— New Japan had a show today in Sakura promoted by Yuji Nagata where Nagata & Aaron Wolf & Oleg Boltin & Toru Yan beat Evil & Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo in the main event when Wolf beat Togo with a reverse triangle.
— Ted DiBiase turns 72 today. Dave Bautista turns 57. Mark Briscoe turns 41. Wendy Choo turns 34. Toots Mondt, one of the most influential people in the history of wrestling, was born on this day in 1894. Mondt and Vince McMahon’s father started the WWWF and were partners dating back to the 50s. Perro Aguayo, one of the biggest drawing cards of all-time, would have been 81 today. Lord Athol Layton was 63 when he died on this day 42 years ago. The Sheik, Ed Farhat, was 76 when he died 23 years ago. The Sheik is one of the biggest drawing heels who ever lived. Pez Whatley died on this day 22 years ago at the age of 54 (thanks to Tony Richards)
