Tag: cmll

Daily Update: WWE SmackDown notes, big weekend for CMLL & AAA

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

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Friday Update

AEW & ROH title matches set for January CMLL event

[email protected]

We just finished the second of our awards shows with Garrett Gonzales, Cory Lieb and Ethan  Tyler going through a number of different categories today, plus talked WWE direction leading to WrestleMania and changes,TNA’s debut on AMC, AEW TV ratings and other topics. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night and this is a very big weekend for shows in Mexico and we’ll try and cover as much as we can.

–,The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today:

*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

*Most viewed YouTube videos from AEW and WWE

*Tag team returning to AEW

*Dana White shuts down talk of major match

*A new lawsuit filed against WWE

*Notes on the recent WWE tryout

*Notes on all the WWE arena shows this past week.

— No big surprises on Smackdown with Randy Orton, Trick Williams, Damien Priest and Sami Zayn as the final four in the four-way on the 1/24 Saturday Night’s Main Event show, as well as Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu, on the show in Montreal.  

— To my surprise, CMLL sold out Arena Mexico tonight already with 16,000 fans. That means they’ve been over 14,000 every Friday for the past two months. With Saturday and Sunday being bigger shows as far as drawing, plus having Mistico Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t think tonight would sell out:

  • Ricochet vs. Titan for the National title is the headliner
  • Hechicero vs. Roderick Strong – winner gets a heavyweight title match with Claudio Castagnoli
  • Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrero Match of the month rematch
  • Sobrano Jr. & Cavernario vs. Gates of Agony
  • Max Star & Futuro & Valiente Jr vs. Cobarde & Felino & El Hijo de Stuka Jr – Match of the month rematch

The show will be airing in English as a PPV on Triller+.  

— CMLL also announced Tuesday’s Guadalajara main event is Mistico & Bandido vs. Hechicero & Ultimo Guerrero. Ultimo Guerrero was Bandido’s trainer. If you are keeping track, tonight and tomorrow are sellouts. Sunday will probably not sell out but will be one of the bigger Sunday crowds with the double main of Titan vs. Komander and Templario vs Bandido, Monday in Puebla is a lock to sellout as is Tuesday with that main event.

— Right now there is no word if the Sunday show will air on the CMLL YouTube channel but we expect it will be announced at the last minute on Sunday. CMLL YouTube channel has tonight’s show, tomorrow night’s show and the Tuesday Arena Mexico and Guadalajara shows.

— The AAA show tomorrow night airs at 9 p.m.Eastern on the WWE’s YouTube page in both English and Spanish.

–The reason for so many AEW guys is AAA has a show tomorrow night at Juan de la Barrera Gym. They added Rey Mysterio to the show today. Not sure if he’s wrestling or just appearing.

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

  • NXT tonight in Melbourne, FL
  • AAA tomorrow night in Mexico City
  • NXT tomorrow night in Citrus Springs, FL
  • WWE tomorrow night in Gdansk, Poland
  • WWE Sunday in Nottingham, UK

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

— AEW Dynamite did 526,000 viewers and a 0.08 in 18-49. Here’s a stat that we should all be skeptical of. The show had about 107,000 viewers between the ages of 50 and 54 but 111,000 between 18 and 49. In 25-54 it was the third biggest since the new ratings came in, behind only Blood & Guts and one other show.

— Darby Allin talked to The Orlando Sentinel about AEW letting him do what he wants, living in his car early in his career and working for AEW. 

— Bandido vs. Jake Doyle headlines Warrior Wrestling tonight in Chicago. The show is sold out but the place only holds about 350 fans.

— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling has already sold out the Newark, CA Pavilion for the 1/23 show with a Chris Bey Meet & Greet plus Ricochet vs. Starboy Charlie, QT Marshall & Aaron Solo in a tag match, Alan Angels vs. LJ Cleary, Gates of Agony vs. Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito, VertVixen vs. Brittnie Brooks and the annual Battle Royal for the  Roy Shire Trophy.

— Pro Wrestling EVE on 3/8 in London is looking at doing the largest crowd for an all-women’s show in history. Announced are Kris Statlander defending her International title against Charlie (Dakota Kai) and Harley Cameron vs. Amira Blair.

— GCW on 2/14 at the UCC in Los  Angeles has Hammerstone vs. 1 Called Manders and Joey Janela vs. Chris Masters.

— ROH & MLP are doing shows on 3/27 and 3/28 at St. Clair College in Windsor, ONT. On 3/27, Ricochet will defend the National title and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson appear. Also coming in for the weekend are Kaito Kiyomiya, Mascara Dorada, Cavernario, Bishop Dyer and Daisuke Sasaki.

— Lucha Va Voom has a 21 and older show set for Valentine’s Day at the Fox Theater in Pomona, CA. Atlantis Jr. and Soberano Jr. are on the show.

— John Sutton, the former Sir Oliver Humperdink, would have turned 77 today. Mike Sharpe Jr., passed away ten years ago today at the age of 65. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— AIW next Friday in Cleveland, OH has Jim Duggan, Rhino, Isla Dawn, Danhausen and Dijak at the Globe Ironi.

Tony Khan announces three CMLL wrestlers under dual AEW contracts

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

On Wednesday, CMLL stars Mascara Dorada and Persephone revealed they are both signed to dual contract status with AEW with Tony Khan confirming the news on social media while also confirming the same for Hechicero.

The news was announced on the January 14th edition of CMLL Informa during a sit-down talk with both wrestlers.

Dorada, 24, recently competed in AEW’s Continental Classic tournament as part of the Blue League. Meanwhile, Persephone, 24, has actively participated in multiple matches for both AEW and ROH. At December’s ROH Final Battle, she unsuccessfully challenged Athena for the ROH Women’s World title.

Hechicero has been a fixture in AEW since 2025, competing frequently on both Dynamite, Collision and ROH TV. He has unsuccessfully challenged for both the ROH World title and AEW TNT title in recent weeks, and is a member of the Don Callis Family.

CMLL and AEW’s partnership will continue at upcoming weekend shows at both Arena Coliseo and at Arena México.

AEW’s Komander to challenge Titan in CMLL

Posted on by Vincent Verhei

CMLL announced a new match for this weekend’s Fin de Semana Intenacional (“International Weekend”) event: AEW’s Komander will challenge Titan for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship. This comes after the company earlier in the day announced that Bandido will challenge Templario for the Middleweight title on the same show.

Titan won the championship from El Soberano Jr. in December of 2019 and has held it ever since. He has only defended the title nine times since then, however. His last defense was against Villano III Jr. in September of 2024. 

That does not mean Titan has been inactive—he has wrestled at least 130 matches every year from 2022 to 2025, mostly in tag team and trios matches. He has already wrestled five matches in 2026. 

Komander began his career as a luchador in Mexico, wrestling mostly for AAA. Most of his matches in recent years have come in AEW or ROH, but he’s no stranger to CMLL—he wrestled six matches for the promotion in 2025, most notably losing a challenge to Mascara Dorada’s World Historic Welterweight Championship (a different title than the one currently held by Titan). 

This will be the first ever matchup between the two wrestlers. 

Fin de Semana Intenacional takes place at Arena Mexico in Mexico City at 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 18. 

Bandido set to challenge for CMLL Middleweight title

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Bandido is heading back to CMLL.

The company announced that the ROH World Champion will be heading to Arena Mexico on January 18. But he won’t be defending the ROH World Championship. Instead, he’ll be challenging Templario for his CMLL World Middleweight Championship. The show is set to be called Fin De Semana International, an event featuring international talent. 

Bandido is already set to have a busy week. On Wednesday, he will challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship. He earned the title match shortly before MJF regained the title at Worlds End, defeating Ricochet to win the Dynamite Diamond Ring and a future championship match. Bandido made history as being the first person in six years to hold the ring aside from MJF.

Thanks to AEW’s strong relationship with CMLL, Bandido has made multiple appearances for CMLL in the last year, including in September when he teamed with Mistico to defeat Dinfunto and The Beast Mortos. He also successfully defended the ROH Championship in October, defeating Hechicero in a rematch from earlier in the year.

Templario has been champion since May of 2023, defeating Dragon Rojo Jr.

Mistico shares his goals for 2026

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Mistico already has aspirations for the new year.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Mistico said that he hopes to headline CMLL’s 93rd anniversary show this fall. He would also like to return to Japan, where he is a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

“My goals for [2026] is to start with everything with my heightened level. I’m going to be in February at FantasticaMania, so I also want to prove my level in Japan,” he said. “There are some new challenges that I want to take on in the next year. I would like to be in the main event of the 93rd Anniversary show in CMLL.”

As for what kind of matches he would like to have, he singled out apuesta matches between a few familiar rivals.

“I would like to have a rivalry for a Mask vs. Mask Match or a Mask vs. Hair Match,” he said. “I would like to face Mephisto in a Mask vs. Mask Match, or against Averno, Volador Jr. There are some big names that I would like to face in a Lucha de Apuestas Match in the 93rd Anniversary show in CMLL.”

Mistico will also be making appearances for MLW soon, as he’s announced for the Lucha Apocalypto event on February 7.

AEW & ROH title matches set for January CMLL event

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Earlier tonight, during the January 7th edition of CMLL Informa on social media, the Mexican wrestling promotion announced several new scheduled matches for their International Weekend starting from January 16th.

According to the official announcement, three new highly-anticipated matches have been confirmed for the weekend. ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriaty will face Xelhua in a title defense match, while AEW National Champion Ricochet will defend his title against Titán.

It was also announced that Ricochet’s faction, The Demand (Ricochet, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona), will be in action on the weekend as well. ROH World Champion Bandido will also take on Templario. Bandido’s match will take place days after he faces MJF for the AEW World Championship at Maximum Carnage on January 14th, 2026.

As per CMLL Informa, three shows have been scheduled for the January 16th, 2026 weekend. The January 16th event will take place at Arena México, followed by the January 17th event at Arena Coliseo, and the final January 18th show again at Arena México. Despite the official match and show announcements, no official dates for the specific matches have been announced yet.

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

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

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Friday Update

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

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

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

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

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

*The retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Tokyo Dome show

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

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

*A look at the  Stardom Dream Queendom show

*Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the first major show of 2026

*Weekly ods

*2026 Observer award ballot

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

*Weedings and engagements in pro wrestling this past week

*All Japan has its best match of 2025

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

*Who had the most great matches in 2025

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

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

*AEW business partner delisted

*Tony Khan talks a ton of different subjects

*Top merch sellers in US outside of WWE

*Tom Aspinall update

*Don Frye talks health issues

*Lots of injury updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*WWE tomorrow night in Worcester, MA

*WWE on Sunday in Bridgeport, CT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CMLL sets new attendance milestone at Arena Mexico

Posted on by Ian Carey

CMLL finished off 2025 on a historic note.

The company sold out three Arena Mexico shows in the same week on December 26, 28, and 30. Our own Dave Meltzer notes that this kind of sellout run has never been done before in Mexico and, aside from perhaps some G1 tournaments or major WWE PLE weekends, has never been done anywhere else.

CMLL also finished 2025 by selling out six of the final nine Friday night shows at the venue, which holds approximately 16,500 spectators. The previous Friday night show on December 19 did not sell out, drawing 14,000 for a card headlined by Claudio Castagnoli defending the CMLL Heavyweight Championship against former champion Ultimo Guerrero.

Meltzer discussed CMLL’s 2025 attendance milestones in the December 29 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Writing before the December 28 and 30 sellouts were known, Meltzer noted that CMLL was already on pace to break records this year.

“With two shows to go, they are somewhere between 1,076,000 and 1,092,000 for the year, although including the Pokemon show and the AEW show, that would put it at 1,106,000 to 1,122,000 in paid attendance as of right now, and that figure would not include sponsored shows in the building. That would easily, probably by close to 200,000 paid attendance, break any previous record in any building in the history of wrestling.”

In addition to the Arena Mexico sellouts, CMLL also sold out a show at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City on Saturday with approximately 5,500 fans, a show in Puebla on Monday with approximately 3,500, and another show on Tuesday at Arena Coliseo Guadalajara that also sold out with roughly 5,000 fans.

CMLL’s next show takes place on January 2 at Arena Mexico and will feature a 16-person Mask vs. Hair cage match.

Tony Khan on AEW Grand Slam Mexico return, potential dual contracts

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Tony Khan is excited for AEW to head back to Arena Mexico in 2026.

In a new interview with Q101 Radio, Khan confirmed that AEW plans to hold another Grand Slam Mexico in the coming year. The first edition of the TV special took place in June and was one of Dynamite’s best-received episodes of 2025. It also drew a strong number in the ratings.

“100 percent, I definitely want to do Grand Slam Mexico again,” Khan said. “We have amazing partners in CMLL, so I would want to work with them, and we’re going to work with them. So, Grand Slam Mexico will be back in 2026. And I’m just pleased that they’ll have us. And I can’t wait to go back.

“We had a great experience in Arena Mexico in Mexico City. There are other great cities in Mexico that we’d like to visit, and that’s something that I hope to be able to do and would do with the great pleasure of partnering with CMLL and them hosting us in their territory in their venues. It’s an honor. I love working with Salvador [Lutteroth] and everybody at CMLL. They’re having a great year, and it’s been great with AEW and CMLL working together this year.”

Hechicero is among the CMLL stars who have been featured on AEW programming. He’s under a dual contract with the promotions — and Khan confirmed that there will be more attempts to sign CMLL wrestlers to these types of deals.

“Yes, there will be more attempts to do things like that, which are very beneficial to us,” Khan said.

December 15, 2025 Observer Newsletter: John Cena and El Hijo del Santo’s careers come to an end

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: WWE

The time is now for the end of the in-ring careers of John Cena and El Hijo del Santo and it’s also time for the new Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer looks at this Saturday’s grand finales for both Cena and Santo and the completely different roads they took to get here.

Dave also looks at the latest big wrinkles in WBD’s attempts to sell their company, the Paramount hostile bid, and where this all leaves AEW.

He also goes into the math in figuring out CMLL’s one millionth fan, a full NXT Deadline recap, news and more.

Click here to read (sub needed)

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

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

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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)

Three AEW vs. CMLL matches announced for new December event

Posted on by Josh Nason

The newly-created CMLL Dream Matches event was announced on Wednesday’s CMLL Informa with three AEW stars confirmed for the show.

The event, set for Friday, December 19 in Arena Mexico, will see new CMLL Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castagnoli defend against Ultimo Guerrero in a first time ever match.

Castagnoli defeated Gran Guerrero last week to win the title. The 58-year-old Ultimo Guerrero is looking for his third run with the gold and his first since 2021.

In a match featuring two competitors in the Continental Classic tournament, CMLL Historic Welterweight Champion Mascara Dorada will defend against “Speedball” Mike Bailey in another first time ever match. Dorada has held the title for more than 700 days with just three title defenses in that time.

In a rematch from July’s Fantastica Mania, Neon will take on Kevin Knight after defeating him in that match.

Those two matches come out of last month’s Viernes Espectacular where Neon and Dorada defeated Knight and Bailey.

Daily Update: WWE Survivor Series fallout, Dean Ayass, other matches from the weekend

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

We have the largest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in our history up on the site today because we are covering two very newsworthy weeks:

*Full coverage of Full Gear. The good, the bad, the reaction, the business notes, reasons for the surprisingly good PPV number, thoughts on the world title change, long title reigns and how they create legends, and early Continental Classic thoughts.

*Notes and odds regarding upcoming matches

*UFC announces its first two shows of 2026, changes that the company is making and why the first two main events are so controversial

*Full coverage of UFC 323

*The life and times of Bob Caudle, the voice of Mid Atlantic wrestling and a Hall of Fame candidate

*A detailed look at how and why the ratings have changed, why the explanation makes no sense, exactly how much the new panel and big data ratings have hurt each show and in particular where.

*The most in-depth look at the ratings for all the shows over the past two weeks, placings for the week, placings in the time slot, men vs. women, how the placings compare to 2024 and 2023, and each show compared with the prior year and prior week, as well as the leading competition for each show.

*Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia, Komander, Mortos, Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight go to CMLL, draw big crowds and a look at their key matches

*CMLL ready to honor a milestone it is close that no company has ever done in history

*Notes on AAA’s new TV deal in Mexico and Latin America and who they are pushing as the top stars

*WWE tag team taking the name of one of Mexico’s greatest tag teams in history

*Updates on tag team tournaments in Stardom, New Japan and All Japan.

*Wrestler suspended after getting in car accident and messing up a tournament

*Update on Tokyo Dome ticket sales

*Fantastica Mania 2026 notes

*Battle of the Generations

*RAF new philosophy and update

*Santo’s final matches

*Sting’s son has first singles match

*Headbangers farewell tour

*The oldest male wrestler in history has a match last week

*Opera Cup notes

*TNA business notes as well as notes on the next PPV show and the last major show

*AEW TV changes

*Final Battle updated card

*Tony Khan on multiple subjects

*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows

*Two best in the world at their specific sport athletes are on UFC’s radar

*Becky Lynch’s comments

*Update on stockholders lawsuit against WWE

*New WWE signings

*WWE star talks about her domestic violence issue

*WWE engagements

*Bret Hart talks McMahon and Michaels and our thoughts on it.

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

— Bryan and I did our weekend show covering Survivor Series and the weekend TV and other news last night. That’s our only weekend show for this week and we’ll be back tomorrow night.

— We talked extensively on last night’s show regarding Survivor Series. The Bron Breakker pin on CM Punk was to set up a future title match. Austin Theory was the guy who interfered and the original plan was for him to be part of The Vision. Originally he was supposed to be in War Games before the Jacob Fatu injury forced them to move up the Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre feud one month, and thus opened both of them up for War Games, with Rhodes as Fatu’s replacement and the feeling was McIntyre would fit better in the match than Theory.

— For matches this weekend, the stuff I’ve seen and heavily recommend would be the Claudio Castagnoli win over Gran Guerrero for the CMLL title Friday night as well as the Leyenda de Plata finals with Mistico vs. Cavernario vs Soberano Jr, which was Friday’s main event before a sellout of 16,000 fans.  They couldn’t have been more different. The title match takes you back to a 1975 world title match, different moves, but same crowd feel and a little more aggressive.  The main event was a top-fight version of an Arena Mexico main event with two of the most charismatic guys in the business. The other match I saw that looked great was Chris Carter vs. Jack Cartwheel vs Aigie Blanc (who used another name) on Friday night’s AAA show. I haven’t seen the Vikingo vs. Grande Americano match on that show but was told it was great as well.  The most highly recommended New Japan match was Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino vs Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa.

— Last night’s Arena Coliseo main event with Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta & Daniel Garcia vs. Esfinge & Ultimo Guerrero & Difunto was very good, but most notable is that after the match people were throwing plastic bottles into the ring at the Death Riders. Some thought it was cool seeing that as heat. I know in CMLL they hate that stuff, and it almost never happens. It was more of a reaction to Yuta it appeared to me. The guy is a natural heat magnet. It was a great main event as well.

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

— A correction from yesterday’s Observer. We listed Dynamite on New Year’s Eve starting at  6 p.m.  It’s actually a 6 p.m. start on Christmas Eve, not New Year’s Eve. (thanks to Jose Santana)

— Court Bauer said that Thursday’s MLW show in Charleston, SC was a complete sellout of the building.  WrestleTix is listed as a sellout with a 607 capacity and the building’s listed capacity was 1,198. Bauer said they opened up the entire building and sold it out.  

— Dean Ayass, a longtime U.K. manager, and longtime reader of the Observer noted to us this:

Today at Premier Promotions in Worthing, I formally announced my retirement from wrestling management. I hadn’t been able to perform on shows since February 2020, due to the Covid pandemic and then as soon as the world returned to normal, I was diagnosed with chronic migraines and headaches, something I’m still affected by today (although less so, thanks to years worth of trial and error medication). I can no longer take any bumps or knocks to the head, and a heel manager has to get his comeuppance at some point, so the time was right to go.

I started managing in the FWA in 2001 with my old Hammerlock buddy Justin Richards, who remains one of my closest friends in or out of wrestling to this day. And I finished it working with ‘Amazon’ Ayesha Raymond, another good friend and someone closely associated with Justin. A nice way to bookend things.

I have so many fond memories of working with (or against), and learning from, absolute legends of this business like Terry Funk, Drew McDonald, Christopher Daniels, Doug Williams, the UK Pitbulls, Robbie Brookside, Stixx, Martin Stone, Jonny Storm….the list goes on and I’ve probably forgotten loads of people through my concussion addled poor memory. I’ve needed security escorts back to the dressing room, had rubbish thrown at me and even had a disgruntled fan punch me in the face on one occasion! It’s still real in Worthing….

Wrestling managing is a dying art. Done in the right way, with the right people, it’s a way of elevating individuals by taking the manager’s heat and transferring that to a lesser known wrestler, as well as giving the wrestler an extra dimension to their in-ring character.

I hope that this isn’t the end for me in wrestling completely. I’m hoping that I can get my life back on track soon, get back to normal, or a new kind of normal, and be in a position where I can still MC or commentate on the odd show here and there.”–

— Wrestlecade posted a statement that somebody stole Jimmy Hart’s megaphone yesterday and they want it back. They noted there were surveillance cameras and police will see who did it.  They said the person who did can return it to them and Hart won’t press charges if it’s returned.  If it’s not returned, he will be forced to press charges.

— New Japan’s tag team tournament earlier today in Akita saw:

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

We’re midway through the tournament and these are the standings:

A block:

  • Shuji Ishikawa & El Desperado, Yota Tsuji & Gabe Kidd and Evil & Don Fale 3-1
  • Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hahis and Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi 2-2
  • Satoshi Kojima & Taichi 1-3
  • Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi 0-4

B block:

  • Sanada & Ren Narita 3-1
  • Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa, David Finlay & Hiromu Takahashi, Lance Archer & Alex Zayne, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino, Great O’Khan & Callum Newman and Yori-Ice & Oskar 2-2
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & El Phantasmo 1-3

They are back on Tuesday in Yamanashi with an A block show with Yano & Boltin vs. Yujiro & Owens, Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Evil & Fale, Ishikawa & Desperado vs Tsuji & Kidd and Kojima & Taichi vs Takagi & Moloney.

— For Google searches this weekend, Survivor Series was No 18 with 275,000 searches, which is above average for a WWE show. As far as individuals, Austin Theory was No. 108 and Liv Morgan was No. 110 with 20,000.  Lash Legend and Charlotte Flair were No. 177 and No. 182 with 10,000. A surprise is that Real American Freestyle, which had their show last night in Chicago, was No. 297.

— Michael Chandler beat Chad Mendes in last night’s RAF main event. Chandler then issued a challenge to Jordan Burroughs. They also announced Yoel Romero vs. Bo Nickal. If it was Romero from 20 years ago, Nickal would have a lot of trouble.  Today, it is a mismatch.

— Update on the All Japan tournament:

A block:

  • Go Shiozaki & Shotar Ashino and Talos & Ren Yabe 6 points
  • Hidei Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo 4 points
  • Hokuto Omori &Kuma Arashi and  Musashi & Seiki Yoshika 2 points’
  • Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura 0 points

B block:

  • Xyon & Odyssey (former WWE wrestlers Xyon Quinn & Odyssey Jones) 8 points
  • Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr, Ryuki Honda & Naoya Nomura and Atsuko Aoyagi & Rising Hayato 4 points
  • Taashi & Kuroshio Tokyo Japan 2 points
  • Yuma Aoyagi & Yuma Anzai 0 points, forfeiting all remaining matches due to Aoyagi’s suspension
  • Konosuke Takeshita beat Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki in  a singles match today on the DDT show at Korakuen Hall.

— Today would have been the 85th birthday of Pittsburgh star Jumping Johnny DeFazio, the 75th birthday of Bad Bad Leroy Brown, the 67th birthday of Tom Zenk, the 63rd birthday of Jimmy Del Ray and the 60th birthday of Bart Sawyer. It is the 62nd birthday of Keiichi Yamada aka Jushin Liger, the 52nd birthday of Jason Reso aka Christian Cage and the 38th birthday of Trinity Fatu aka Naomi. (thanks to Tony Richards)

It hardly seems to me like 23 years since the death of Hall of Fame candidate Tim “Mr. Wrestling” Woods. We would have that in the issue 23 years ago in our archives.  Woods was one of the best technical wrestlers and a major star from the mid-60s until his retirement in the early 80s. I remember his matches with Jack Brisco, Gene Kiniski, Dory Funk Jr, Ric Flair, Johnny Valentine and the other elite stars of that period. At one point he was the biggest babyface in Georgia. He and Harley Race drew the first ever pro wrestling sellout at the Omni of 16,500 fans in 1973. This was actually billed as Funk Jr. vs. Mr. Wrestling coming off a landmark finish in their prior match where at the 48:00 mark, the ring broke and Mr. Wrestling was injured and couldn’t continue.  

Mr. Wrestling vowed to not just unmask if he lost, but he would unmask when the match started and would wrestle without a mask for the first time in Atlanta. Fans thought a world title change was probable, figuring why else would he unmask before the match, because of the idea that the NWA would never have a masked man as world champion. It worked. However, a few days before the match, Harley Race beat Funk Jr, and it was Race’s first title defense in Atlanta and one of the biggest of his career. They went to a 60:00 draw with Race asleep just as the bell rang. 

Another Tim Woods story few knew about was in 1957, he was going to cut to 174 pounds in the AAU national championships because he wanted to wrestle Danny Hodge was the best wrestler in any weight in the country and probably the world at the time. It was the opposite of most of the 174 pounders who moved to 191 with the idea they had no chance at 174 and Woodin (his real last name) took it as a challenge. However, Hodge had already started his pro boxing training and didn’t compete in the tournament.  When Woods found out, he stayed at 191, his best weight,and won his second national title.

— Tom Aspinall’s eye has not come close to recovering  as he still can’t train or even drive at this point.  It was one of the ugliest and more ignorant fan responses with the idea that she should have continued even though he couldn’t see in his fight with Cyril Gane.

— Defy runs 12/27 in Seattle at Washington Hall and 12/28 in Los Angeles at The Lodge Room.

— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling has sold out its 12/5 show at the Newark, CA Pavilion. The main event is Killer Kross & Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Toa Liona & Harley Cameron, Alan Angels vs. Starboy Charlie with the winner facing QT Marshall, Shane Haste vs Aaron Solo and more.

WOR: Survivor Series, CMLL, Andrade, weekend TV, news!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including all the matches, angles and news coming out of Survivor Series War Games, Andrade, Paul Heyman on Stephanie’s podcast, Liger comes out of retirement this weekend, CMLL update, notes from Smackdown and Collision, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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AEW wrestler crowned CMLL World Heavyweight Champion

Posted on by Ethan Renner

CMLL has a new World Heavyweight Champion, and he’s a member of the AEW roster.

Claudio Castagnoli defeated Gran Guerrero at Arena Mexico on Friday night to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, ending a three-year-plus reign with the title for Guerrero.

Castagnoli used a Neutralizer to pin Guerrero and win the title in his fourth career match for CMLL in Mexico, and his first since last December. Castagnoli also participated in the joint CMLL/AEW/NJPW Wrestle Dynasty event in Tokyo Dome in January 2025.

It’s the third major World title win of Castagnoli’s career, following two runs with the ROH World title in 2022 and 2023.

Castagnoli picked up a victory in his first bout in this year’s AEW Continental Classic tournament on this past Wednesday’s Dynamite, defeating Orange Cassidy. He is set to face his fellow Death Riders stablemate Jon Moxley in a C2 bout on the Wednesday, December 3 Dynamite in Fishers, Indiana.

Elsewhere on Friday’s CMLL card in Arena Mexico, Castagnoli’s Death Riders teammates Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta came up short in challenging Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja for the CMLL Tag Team titles.