The long-awaited return of UFC superstar Conor McGregor has officially been set.
McGregor, the former UFC Lightweight and Featherweight Champion, will return to the Octagon at UFC 329 on July 11 when he faces Max Holloway. It will headline UFC’s annual International Fight Week event, taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight was officially announced by Dana White on his Instagram during Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 276 event on Paramount+ after being rumored for several weeks.
McGregor will be fighting for the first time since July 2021, when he suffered a broken lower tibia in a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier, losing in the first round after the ringside doctor stopped the fight. It was McGregor’s second straight loss to Poirier, and he has just one win in his last four fights.
McGregor has had plenty of time in the limelight since then, appearing in the remake of Road House and becoming a part-owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He also married his long-time partner, Dee Devlin, in a ceremony in December.
He also appeared as a coach on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Michael Chandler. The season was supposed to culminate in a fight between the two in June 2024, but McGregor pulled out of the fight due to a broken toe. He also served an 18-month suspension for failing to disclose his whereabouts under the UFC’s drug policy, with the suspension coming to an end in March.
McGregor and Holloway fought once before at a UFC Fight Night event in August 2013 in Boston. McGregor won that bout by unanimous decision. Both have since gone on to become decorated champions and future Hall of Fame fighters. That fight took place at 145 pounds, and the rematch will take place at 170 pounds.
The current UFC 329 card includes: -Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway -Paddy Pimblett vs. Benoit Saint-Denis -Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista -Brandon Royval vs. Lone’er Kavanagh -Gable Steveson vs. Elisha Ellison -Robert Whittaker vs. Nikita Krylov -Luke Riley vs. Kai Kamaka -Cody Garbrandt vs. Adrian Yanez -Cesar Almeida vs. Damian Pinas -Tracy Cortez vs. Wang Cong -Ode Osbourne vs. Cody Durden -Zachary Reese vs. Ryan Gandra
Dave Meltzer and I are back with the Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about the big news from today’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we discussed:
Business stories we’ll be watching in 2026
Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last match
WWE shareholder lawsuit
Triller woes
Tony Khan on the difference between booking AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision
If Conor McGregor returns to the UFC Octagon, it won’t be until March 2026 at the earliest.
Combat Sports Anti-Doping — UFC’s drug testing partner — announced today that McGregor has accepted an 18-month suspension for three policy violations that occurred in 2024. All three violations were for “whereabouts failures,” meaning that McGregor did not make himself available for testing. His suspension is retroactive to his third failure on September 20, 2024 and will run through March 20, 2026.
“Although McGregor failed to make himself available for testing on those dates, CSAD noted that he was recovering from an injury and was not preparing for an upcoming fight at the time of the three missed tests,” a press release said. “McGregor fully cooperated with CSAD’s investigation, accepted responsibility, and provided detailed information that CSAD determined contributed to the missed tests.
“Despite these mitigating factors, CSAD emphasizes that accurate whereabouts filings and the ability to conduct unannounced testing are essential to the success of the UFC ADP. Taking McGregor’s cooperation and circumstances into account, CSAD reduced the standard 24-month sanction for three whereabouts failures by six months. His period of ineligibility began on September 20, 2024 (the date of his third whereabouts failure) and will conclude on March 20, 2026.”
McGregor has publicly expressed interest in fighting on the card UFC is staging at the White House next year, though Dana White clarified that no deal has been completed for McGregor to fight as of now. The White House event is scheduled for June 14, 2026, so McGregor fighting at the event remains a possibility despite his suspension.
The last time we saw McGregor compete in UFC was more than four years ago, when he lost a pair of bouts to Dustin Poirier in 2021. The latter fight ended when McGregor suffered a broken leg.
A June 2024 return with McGregor facing Michael Chandler was planned until McGregor suffered a broken toe in training.
WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria doesn’t think Conor McGregor would be successful in WWE.
In a recent interview with The Irish Mirror, Valkyria discussed the growing number of Irish wrestlers in the company. But when asked about the former two-division UFC champion possibly joining, she wasn’t optimistic about his chances.
“He doesn’t have what it takes,” Valkyria said.
According to the outlet, Valkyria also declined to comment on McGregor’s claims that he plans to run for the presidency of Ireland.
“The Dubliner refused to comment on McGregor’s chances on becoming President of Ireland in the upcoming elections,” wrote reporter Jack Duignan. McGregor would need the support of at least 20 members of Irish parliament to run, something experts believe is “exceedingly unlikely” to occur.
Valkyria also commented on the number of Irish talent currently on the Raw brand, including Finn Balor and Becky Lynch.
“I always think about how small our country is, with WWE, this massive international, huge company,” she said. “The amount of Irish on RAW alone is incredible. It’s such a talented bunch… I’m really proud to be a part of that.”
WWE Returns to Ireland This Summer
WWE returns to Dublin on August 22, 2025, for an episode of SmackDown. Although Valkyria is on the Raw brand, she hopes to be involved.
“I can’t believe this is happening while I’m a part of it,” she said. “I’m really, really hoping, I know I’m at RAW, that I’m going to be a part of that.”
“I really, really need Dublin to be on par with (the European crowds)… I hope the Irish doesn’t disappoint me now when we come there!”
She also mentioned that she enjoys training with up-and-coming Irish talent when she visits home.
“I still go down training with them when I’m home,” she said. “I can confidently say that there’s no shortage of Irish talent either, and I won’t be the last Irish person to get to WWE.”
Valkyria’s full interview with The Irish Mirror is available here.
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering the weekend news and there is a lot of it. Our weekend show where we got into a ton of history and current news regarding Mania build, AEW’s getting boosted by the NCAA tournament, George Foreman and Bill Mercer, is on the site right now.
Janel Grant’s legal team has asked the court to let discovery and depositions start in her lawsuits against WWE, Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis. All three defendants are trying to delay saying that until the judge rules regarding if the case can go forward or has to go to arbitration that such a thing should start. They are asking for internal communications and records from anyone they believe is significantly related to the case, current or former executives, employees contractors or agents at WWE, TKO and Endeavor all documents related to Vince McMahon’s payments to multiple women as well as travel records for McMahon, Laurinaitis and Brock Lesnar. (thanks to Post Wrestling)
The UFL opened its season Friday. Dwayne Johnson had flight problems and missed the game. The players had sent a letter to him regarding not agreeing to management terms and wanting pay increases and health care benefits and wanted to present it to him noting he himself was a former football player. I’m not suggesting one had to do with the other, but the labor issue there is real.
The back issue up on the site today is a very interesting one including WWE suspending a ton of wrestlers regarding a couple of PED investigations as well as the death of one of the most influential figures in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett.
Last night’s UFC did 130,000 searches. It aired on ESPN 2 as opposed to just ESPN+, as was from Arena Ciudad in Mexico City with Brandon Moreno beating Steve Erceg in the main event.
WWE last night in Vienna, Austria:
Seth Rollins b Dominik Mysterio via pedigree
Jey Uso b Ludwig Kaiser. Both were cheered but Jey was cheered more. Kaiser pretended to do the yeet and attacked Jey because they knew he’d be cheered
Lyra Valkyria b Zoey Stark to keep the IC title. No crowd reaction for these two
LA Knight b Shinsuke Nakamura to keep the US titel
Randy Orton & Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley b Miz & Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
Penta b Chad Gable
Rhea Ripley b Liv Morgan in a street fight after also putting Raquel Rodirguez through a table
Gunther b CM Punk in a cage match to keep the world title. Punk got a mixed reaction. Gunther was cheered like crazy in Vienna. Punk knew his role and did a heel promo saying nobody boos someone from Chicago. Punk then cut a promo after thanking the fans for being great and said what a great champion Gunther was. Gunther and Punk then sang together after the match (thanks to Markus Weinold)
The Mark Hitchock Super show has added Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste vs. Hechicero & Michael Oku & Flip Gordon on 4/17 in Las Vegas.
We’re looking for reports on these shows:
TNA Friday night in St. Joseph, MO
TNA last night in St. Joseph, MO
WWE today in Amsterdam, Holland.
We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected].
Charlie Dempsey vs. MMA legend Shinya Aoki takes place on the 4/17 Bloodsport show in Las Vegas.
Kurt Angle, Kane, Swerve Strickland, Jake Roberts, Booker T, Jim Ross. Jerry Lawler, Ric Flair, Earl Hebner and the Steiners appeared yesterday at Galaxy Con in Richmond, VA. (thanks to Samuel Batts).
Stepanie Vaquer was at the UFC show last night in Mexico City and was shown and iD’d on the broadcast.
Shun Skywalker & Homare won the Rey de Parejas tournament in Deragon Gate beating Kota Minoura & Jason Lee in the finals today in Kobe.
Mina Shirakawa’s last match in Stardom with her contract expiring and going to AEW will be on Tuesday at Korakuen Hall against Maika.
Mayu Iwatani faces Syuri for the IWGP women’s title in the semifinal of the 4/27 show at the Yokohama arena with Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakan loser must retire for the World of Stardom title.
At the Rizin show today, Kyoji Horiguchi announced he was vacating their flyweight title and said he was going to the UFC with his goal to become the first Japanese born UFC champion. Rizin announced a tournament for the title. Horiguchi was in UFC 2013-2016 and lost when challenging Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title. Ariel Helwani broke this news regarding Horiguchi returning a few days ago.
Geoff Neal is injured and off UFC 314, where he was to face Carlos Prates.
NWA has announced for its 5/17 Crockett Cup show in Philadelphia that Mike Knox & Trevor Murdoch are the first team announced. Thom Latimer vs. Rhino for the NWA title takes place on the show plus the debut of Natalya, who is going on loan from WWE.
Rich Swann joins PCO and Bishop Dyer in the 20 man Rumble for the Maple Leaf Wrestling title on 5/10 in Toronto .
House of Glory announced a new resetling school in Orlando, FL, and they also intend to run shows in Orlando using talent trained there.
Great Lakes Wrestling will honor Baron Von Raschke on 5/3 in South Milwaukee, WI at the Bucyrus Club and Event Center. He’ll be doing a meet and greet. This will be part of Crusherfest.
– Garrett and I will be doing our weekly news review show and discussing the stories in the current issue of the Observer later today. Our weekend show will be Sunday night this week.
What are the issues with AEW and what can be done to fix some of them easily
A look at Wednesday’s show and the different issues regarding the big picture
Why WWE doesn’t get hurt when it does the same things listed as mistakes when AEW does them
Where AEW actually stands in television
Preview of Saturday Night’s Main Event, Royal Rumble and business notes
UFC 311 coverage of the show changed at the last minute
A look at TNA’s Genesis PPV, its relationship with WWE and its first live TV shoot
Game Changer Wrestling returns to the Hammerstein
What happened with PCO and why
2024 Awards ballot
The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week including Raw on Netflix
New CMLL marketing gimmick
Stardom comes up with new booking concept and debuts it this past week
Dragon Gate comes to the U.S.
Japanese promotions try to present united front
Notes on first live TNA TV show in eight years
Britt Baker update
Ricky Starks update
Grand Slam Australia update
Notes on new AEW dates
Major issue long-term for AEW younger talents
Advanced ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
International TV ratings and streaming numbers
More on Dana White and boxing
Chris Weidman retires
Craig Piligian announced for UFC Hall of Fame
One of the most popular fighters from 15 year ago cut by UFC
Lots more on WrestleMania
Corey Graves update
We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback already on the lead story.
– SmackDown is tonight in Austin, TX. The only stuff announced is LA Knight vs. Tama Tonga, Motor City Machine Guns vs. Pretty Deadly, and a Cody Rhodes interview. They were 2,500 shy of capacity with 9,700 tickets out as of last night.
– El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, which is CMLL’s traditional second biggest show of the year, was announced for 3/21 at Arena Mexico. The finals of the tournament for the vacant CMLL women’s tag team championship (the one Tessa Blanchard held with Lluvia) will be on that show.
– Nikki Garcia (Bella) is in talks with WWE about wrestling again.
– Conor McGregor in an interview with The Schmo said that the fight with Logan Paul fell through due to UFC not approving of the fight. McGregor is still under a UFC contract. He had talked about the fight for weeks but nobody took it seriously because UFC would have to approve it and Dana White continually said that it’s not happening.
– AEW’s show on Wednesday night, not factoring in the MAX numbers, was the highest rated show on TBS as best we can tell over the prior 17 days. We don’t get every rating but for prime time it was. As far as prime time goes, it would have been the second highest rated show of the year on the station at 0.19.
– TNA is taping television in San Antonio tonight.
– We’re looking for reports this weekend on both SmackDown tonight (stuff off the air like dark matches or Speed matches) and from the TNA tapings with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected].
– Renato Moicano was on the Show Me The Money podcast and said he got paid an extra more than $950,000 to take the fight with Islam Makhachev on short notice last weekend. Moicano was listed as making $250,000 for the match, but that would not include bonuses.
– There is no UFC show this weekend with the next show on 2/1. The biggest MMA event this weekend is PFL in Dubai UAE, with the main card on MAX airing at 11 a.m. Eastern
Renat Khavalov (136) vs. Cleiver Fernandes (135.9)
Ibragim Ibragimov (146) vs. Kenny Mokhonoana (147) – Mokhonoana missed weight by one point
Akhmed Magomedov (145.7) vs. Nathan Kelly (145.6)
Vadim Nemkov (242.4) vs. Tim Johnson (264.2)
Usman Nurmagomedov (154.9) vs. Paul Hughes (155) for the Bellator lightweight title
– The GFL is doing its draft tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch and DAZN. It’s a team format with six coaches and managers picking fighters over 20 rounds.
– Dominick Reyes vs. Nikita Krylov in a light heavyweight bout takes place on the 4/12 UFC PPV show that is believed to be taking place in Miami.
– The former Titan Towers, that WWE was no longer using, was sold to MB Financial Group for $3.75 million with the idea of turning it into apartment buildings.
– Leon Slater has been announced for the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament in March.
– The Scioto Valley Guardian has a story on Dillon Hines, the son of Bobby Fulton, and issues a lot of talent have had with him in shows he’s helped put together in Chillicothe, OH. Rob Van Dam in particular has talked about issues on his podcast. Hines has said he will be getting out of wrestling in March.
– Former WWE performer/wrestler Danille Moinet (Summer Rae) is doing media at Super Bowl week in New Orleans. She’s working as a broadcaster for the BYB Extreme promotion which does Bare Knuckle fighting which airs on FUSE TV, Fight Network in Canada and Bein Sports.
– Penta was officially announced for the 3/10 Raw in Madison Square Garden.
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking UFC, AEW Continental Classic, NXT Deadline, Japanese tag team tournaments, and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio. I had a very in depth WOR on Friday with Garrett Gonzales talking about AEW, Terry Funk, Haystacks Calhoun, new wrestling books, WWE angles, and much more.
After the UFC PPV last night, Dana White was asked about his reaction to the Conor McGregor case by Kevin Iole and said, “What do you mean, what’s my reaction? If I had a comment, I would have put it out already. He also said, “He hasn’t been fighting here in I don’t know how long. Well, if he does fight, it’ll be sometime next year.” Yes, if that was Paul Levesque or Nick Khan, they’d be excoriated for that answer. If it was Tony Khan, it would be even worse than that.
Alexandre Pantoja, after his win over Kai Asakura in last night’s main event, challenged Demetrious Johnson to return for a title shot. Johnson basically responded saying he’s not fighting again and has already turned down a $2 million offer for a fight.
The UFC 312 show in Sydney, Australia, has Dricus du Plessis defending the middleweight title against Sean Strickland rather than Khamzat Chimaev, who I think would have been a much bigger draw but there may be other circumstances involved. Du Plessis beat Strickland for the title and it was a close decision. Also announced is Zhang Weili defending the strawweight title against Tatiana Suarez, a world class wrestler and fighter who has had a career filled with injuries and bad luck but has never lost an MMA fight.
Merab Dvalshvili claimed that the person who he said accosted him last night as he was going to the back and ended up in a fight with was a teammate and friend of next opponent Umar Nurmagomedov. That was his claim. Nurmagomedov has yet to address that claim.
The winners of Iron Survivor from last night’s Deadline, Oba Femi and Giulia, get their shots at Trick Williams and Roxanne Perez on the 1/7 NXT TV show from Los Angeles. The venue will be announced imminently.
Regarding people with DirecTV whose DVR didn’t record AEW Collision, I don’t know the issue but it was the same for me. I have been checking every week to manually record after it didn’t record about a month ago. This would be the fourth time in the last few weeks I had to manually do it and also that I heard from people saying the show didn’t record. If you have a season pass, the issue for many is that it shows no new recordings and I don’t know why. (thanks to many)
The NJPW tag tourney finals saw Naito & Hiromu Takahashi over Sanada & Gabe Kidd when Hiromu pinned Sanada in 27:12. With no tag champs, it’s going to be Hiromu’s dream match at the Tokyo Dome, a match he’s wanted for years: a singles bout with Naito on 1/4.
The Saito Brothers beat Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. to win the Real World Tag League of All Japan, which sold out Korakuen Hall one day in advance. The semifinals saw Miyahara & Smith over Yuma Anzai & Rising Hayato and the Saitos over Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe. Heard both were good and the finals were great (thanks to Gerard Di Trolio)
Tokyo Sports is expected to announce its 2024 awards for pro wrestling very shortly. They usually do the voting right after the conclusion of the tag team tournaments. Only one foreigner has ever won Wrestler of the Year: Bob Sapp. Zack Sabre Jr. should win, but probably won’t as Vader, Stan Hansen, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay never did.
Bill Goldberg has said that he’s currently filming a show about his car collection called “Goldberg’s Garage” for Paramount Plus.
Both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times have had articles on Donald Trump’s connections with Ari Emanuel, Dana White, Vince & Linda McMahon.
As far as matches to see, last night’s Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs. Myles Borne & Tavion Heights (this guy is going to be a top worker in a short period of time) match was really good. I haven’t seen Arena Mexico but was told the main event was very good. Also, I was told both tag team tournament finals in All Japan (Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs Saito Brothers) and New Japan (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Gabe Kidd & Sanada) were great.
We’re looking for your thoughts on NXT Deadline, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. We’re also looking for reports on the matches not airing on live television from AEW last night in Columbus, OH, ROH stuff or any dark matches, results and highlights to [email protected].
Last night’s UFC show did 500,000 Google searches which is more than I would have expected and more than double that of Survivor Series. Lots of UFC names also made the list. Neither NXT Deadline or anyone on the show made the list.
AEW will be doing an event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Eastern and 9:30 a.m. local time to promote the onsale for tickets to All In: Texas. Appearing will be Tony Khan, Bobby Lashley, Big Boom AJ, Meredes Mone, Darby Allin, Thunder Rosa and Big Justice. The event will stream live on YouTube, Facebook and X.
William Morrissey (Big Bill) and AEW announcer and ROH character Lexy Nair, the stepdaughter of Diamond Dallas Page, were married over the weekend.
Pat Buck of AEW appeared as a Gladiator on a Saturday Night Live sketch last night spoofing the Gladiator 2 movie.
There were a number of decisions on last night’s UFC show talked about. The only fight that seemed like a robbery was Cyril Gane’s win over Alexander Volkov, who was furious about it. It came down to round two. Everyone gave Gane round one and Volkov round three. Judges Adelaide and Junichiro Kamijo gave Gane the second round. Media scorers were 95 percent for Volkov.
In Bryan Battle’s win over Randy Brown, all three judges had round one for battle two for Brown and the third saw Byrd and Ron McCarthy judge it for Battle while Michael Bell had it for Brown. Media scores were 79 percent for Battle.
In the Movsar Evloev win over Aljamain Sterling, all three judges had rounds two and three for Evoloev and one for Sterling. Media scores were 69 percent for Evloev.
Rob Van Dam was shown at the UFC show last night.
David Crockett will be given the Gordon Solie Award at the Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame ceremony on 7/17 to 7/19 in Waterloo, IA. The award is essentially a Hall of Fame for wrestling announcers.
WWE’s Joe Tessitore was announcing yesterday’s Big 12 football championship game and made a reference to the Usos. (thanks to Barry Werner)
MLW tickets go on sale Monday for the 4/5 Battle Riot VII show at the Commerce Casino & Hotel in Los Angeles.
Butterbean was on Memphis Wrestling yesterday.
Ricky Starks will be wrestling on House of Glory shows on 1/17 in Chicago against Mike Santana for the HOG title and on 1/25 in Jamaica, Queens, NY at Club Amazura.
Awesome Championship Wrestling on 1/4 at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie NY has announced Thom Latimer vs. Tommy Dreamer for the NWA title, Nic Nemeth vs. Matt Riddle (who lost the AAA cruiserweight title to Laredo Kid last night in Mexico City) for the TNA title, and Real 1 (Enzo Amore), Little Guido and Crowbar appearing.
Bryan and I did the weekend show covering Survivor Series last night. Garrett Gonzales and I were up Friday for a show which talked about the week in review, the Continental Classic, and a breakdown of AEW finances and exactly where the worst case scenario business would end up being.
As noted elsewhere Jimmy Uso suffered a broken toe from his dive off the top of the cage and Bronson Reed suffered an ankle injury also coming off the top of the cage in the War Games last night. Paul Levesque said it looked like Reed would be out for several weeks.
The show did 200,000 Google searches which would be right at expectations for such a show.
Just to confirm something from another show I did, the 12/14 Saturday Night’s Main Event is a two-hour show from 8-10 p.m. Eastern time. I expect they’ll get a lot of the key matches announced on tomorrow’s Raw.
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]
The BBC has updated the Conor McGregor story with more on just how badly his reputation was hurt in Ireland because of the guilty verdict in the civil trial with Nikita Hand.
Shota Umino suffered an ankle injury on Friday and missed today’s show, but at least as of yesterday was listed to be on tomorrow’s show in Kochi where he & Tomoaki Honma were to face KENTA & Chase Owens in a tag team tournament match. He was doing a running back elbow where he dropped to his knees for impact and his foot got caught in the canvas and twisted.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Douki has issued challenges for Titan, Soberano Jr. and Sammy Guevara for the 1/5 show at the Tokyo Dome.
A note that ROH Final Battle at the Hammerstein Ballroom is 12/20. We had at one point this past week mentioned 12/19 as the date.
As far as best matches of the weekend, I haven’t seen Jordynne Grace vs. Masha Slamovich from the TNA show on Friday but did see Josh Alexander vs. Steve Maclin. The fight struggle was great but the crowd being so quiet hurt. Really it feels like that’s been the case for the actual matches in WWE & AEW as well of late. I talked about the Rampage matches with Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. & Katsuyori Shibata vs Top Flight & Action Andretti and Komander vs. Hechicero, which had great wrestling but crowds now are less into great action from “non-stars,” very much like WWE has been and used to be. The WCW/NWA crowds and even AEW from two years ago if two guys who aren’t stars put on a great match and the crowd would get behind it big for the action is a lot less now. Both Rampage matches did get the crowd by the end, but they took a long time to do so.
The match to see of the weekend was Mistico’s Leyenda de Plata tournament win over Hechicero. Far less flying than you’d get from a usual Arena Mexico match and a Mistico match. It was a technical match, worked like a face vs. face world title match in the 70s or 80s and that in theory is a risk for a casual tourist crowd. The tourist crowd comes for the easier to be entertained stuff that the rest of the show had, but the main event still had the most heat by far even with little flying and such a long technical match. But it worked to say the least with at least three spots where the excitement was such the building was literally shaking.
Some AEW ratings notes. The Wednesday Dynamite number should be out tomorrow. It should be noted that with the West Coast airing at 5 p.m. instead of 8 p.m., that would mean a roughly seven percent drop over normal. Obviously the Saturday shows outside the normal time slot in the afternoon will be way below usual. Saturday will also be hurt because we heard (and experienced it ourself) that Direc V did not record on DVR Collision if you had a season pass. It did record Rampage. I have no idea why. I don’t know if this was every home but we heard from a number of people and I checked because DirecTV screws up with Collision every few weeks so I always check and it was not going to record again. With Rampage being a Lucha show with Hechicero vs. Komander as the main event (great match but no star power) going head-to-head with Survivor Series, it would be expected to be the lowest number a regular AEW wrestling show has gotten.
Karl Stern of this site has written a 692 page encyclopedia on pro wrestling in the U.S. from 1835 to 1900 called “DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible Of the Pioneer Era of Pro Wrestling.” It covers every significant match in that era, talks real vs. worked, and explores myths regarding the biggest stars of that era. For more info go to WhenItWasCool.com. We’ll do a show on that era soon.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s U.S. title win was pushed big in NOAH because Nakamura vs. Ulka Sasaki will be on the NOAH 1/1 show at Budokan Hall. The main event is Kaito Kiyomiya defending the GHC title against Ozawa.
After today’s show, Gedo has booked has B block in the NJPW tag tourney as :
Great O’Khan & Henare (tag champs) 4-1
Evil & Ren Narita 4-1
Toru Yano & Oleg Boltin 3-2
Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi 3-2
Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste 2-3
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jado 2-3
Tome & Stevie Filip 1-4
Taichi & Taka Michinoku 1-4
The Stardom tag tournament has finished round-robin play. The playoffs start 12/7 in Hamamatsu. That show has Maika & Hanako vs. Natsuko Tora & Ruaka with the winners facing Hazuki & Koguma. Also on the other side of the bracket, Starlight Kid & Suzu Suzuki face Hanan & Saya Iida with the winners facing Natsupoi & Saori Anou. The winner of the two semifinals meet in the finals.
All WWE Network subscribers in Japan have gotten notice that it will be shut down in that market at the end of the year. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez and Mori Ono)
The family of Gran Hamada is looking for blood donors, particularly in the San Luis Potosi area.
Juggalo Championship Wrestling Spanksgiving last night in Wyandotte, MI, before a sellout 225 fans: The Wrath b Bryer Wellington, Brothers of Funstruction b Young Altar Boys, Colt Cabana b Cocaine, Dani Mo b Alice Crowley in a women’s title match, Kongo Konig & 7 Foot Tall Painful Paul b Tarzan & JJ Allen, Misfit (Matt Cross) b Roddy S, Backseat Boyz b Grim Reality in a tag team title match, Caleb Konley won three-way over Moshpit Mike and Alex Taylor & Kerry Morton & Silas Mason b Willie Mack & Matt Cross & Mickie Knuckles. They have dates coming 12/4 in Little Rock, AR, 12/5 in St. Louis, 2/19 in Detroit at the Majestic and 12/21 in Columbus, OH.
Kurt Angle will be doing a seminar for House of Glory on 1/25 as well as a Q&A at the NYC Arena at 91-12 144th Place in Jamaica, NY 11435. For more info you can email [email protected]
Lane Boyle, aka longtime WI indy wrestler Jack Spade, lost his house in a fire and a Go Fund Me was started for him.
NWA announced for 12/14 in Dothan AL, a cage match with Natalia Markova vs Tiffany Nieves, Colby Corino vs. Kerry Morton,Silas Mason vs. Bryan Idol and a second cage match for an unannounced NWA title.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including a full review of AEW Full Gear, all the matches and angles, the Continental Classic, Linda McMahon, Conor McGregor, the NBCU spinoff, ratings, Smackdown report and Smackdown tapings, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: Dave and Bryan’s experiences this week, general thoughts on weekend news 11:02: AEW Full Gear recap 57:06: Linda McMahon nominated to head US Department of Education 1:01:27: Conor McGregor found liable for sexual assault 1:05:11: NBCU may spin off cable networks, details on ratings 1:11:52: Notes from WWE SmackDown 1:25:35: WWE SmackDown spoilers for this Friday, WWE Raw lineup
UFC star Conor McGregor will have to pay over $250,000 in damages after a Dublin, Ireland, high court found him liable in a civil case in which he was accused of sexual assault.
The court stated McGregor must pay victim Nikita Hand due to an alleged incident from December 2018. Another man, James Lawrence, was found not guilty of sexual assault.
MMA Fighting noted that “Irish law is similar to U.S. law when it comes to burden of proof with Irish law citing the need for “a balance of probabilities” in civil cases, meaning a jury must only find a claim to be more likely than not.”
McGregor did not speak to the media afterward, but does plan to appeal. He has four children with his longtime fiancee.
I will be appealing today's decision. The judge's instruction and the modest award given was for assault, not for aggravated or exemplary damages. I am disappointed that the jury did not hear all the evidence that the DPP reviewed. I am with my family now, focused on my future.…
The incident took place at a Dublin hotel where Hand said McGregor attempted to force her to have sex. She told a friend, a physician and a psychologist that the former two-division champion both “raped and battered her” which he denied, admitting they did have “athletic, physical” consensual sex.
After an initial investigation, no formal charges were filed with the lawsuit then being filed in January 2021. Hand said during their encounter that McGregor forced her on the bed, choked her and made her fear for her life. BBC News reported that a paramedic who treated Hand said he had never seen such intense bruising before.
McGregor hasn’t competed since July 2021 and was supposed to return this year with a toe injury pushing that off. Dana White said earlier this year that he expected McGregor to return in the second half of 2025.
In a somewhat related development, RTE reported Friday after the verdict that masked men broke into Hand’s home and stabbed her partner in June while her daughter was in another room, forcing them to eventually move. Her lawyers told the court about this situation, but said they didn’t think McGregor had anything to do with it, therefore it was not brought up to the jury during trial. Of note, other past accusers of McGregor’s have experienced various forms of harassment.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we covered:
Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite vs. WWE NXT ratings analysis
While there is still no definitive date for when Conor McGregor will return to the UFC, his scheduled opponent is moving on for the time being.
News originally broke in a clip from an upcoming Barstool Sports interview with UFC president Dana White where he revealed to Robbie Fox that Michael Chandler was done waiting and had moved on. Thus, Chandler would not be fighting McGregor in his return.
However, that has already changed.
Fox released another clip where he said White called him and said there was a misunderstanding. Chandler may still fight McGregor in his return, but Chandler wanted to take a fight in the meantime and will be taking on former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in the co-main event of November’s UFC 309 from Madison Square Garden.
CORRECTION: I just got off the phone with Dana White, and there was a slight misunderstanding here. Michael Chandler may still fight Conor in his return next year, but he’s taking another fight first…. https://t.co/HanYNbDN7ppic.twitter.com/zh8CqD6QGu
McGregor’s hasn’t fought since he lost to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021 while Chandler (the former Bellator lightweight champion) has been on the shelf since November 2022’s UFC 281 when he also lost to Poirier.
– Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the great episode of Smackdown, Jeff Jarrett, AEW numbers, Fantastica Mania, G-1 Jamie Kellner and more.
– We’re looking for reports from the weekend WWE shows last night in Bloomington, IL and tonight in Kalamazoo, MI. We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
– Jeff Jarrett got a lot of talk last night for his promo regarding the Owen Hart tournament that aired on Collision. I know that the full promo was long and segments would have had to have been canceled to fit it in, but the version on YouTube was a must-see, far more than the television version, and a longer cut should have aired last night. Maybe they can air it on Wednesday in its entirety but I’m guessing that doesn’t happen.The unedited version can be seen here.
– Another Jarrett story is that he was at the AIW show in Cleveland last night and Nathan Zegura, the Cleveland Browns radio host, was there working at the show and Jarrett hit him with a guitar.
– In Google searches, for the week, the UFC show from Saudi Arabia was the No. 1 search in the country with 200,000. On Friday, the death of Talor Wily (Teila Tuli who was in the first UFC fight ever on PPV) was No. 3. The only other thing during the week making the top 20 from wrestling, boxing or MMA, was Ryan Garcia being suspended officially after his positive drug test being No. 6 on Wednesday.
– The back issue on the site today from 2007 is notable for two major historical reasons, the first being the first women’s MMA fight on a major television station and how important that was to history with Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie. The other is the death of James Melby, a name who has been on the Hall of Fame ballot but never gotten in, who was a major magazine writer and head of the group of historians who have unveiled so much of wrestling history, doing away with tons of myths passed down and such. Melby was a huge part of both my career, as without him there is zero chance there would be a Wrestling Observer, as well as the career of Mike Tenay. There’s also a story on plans that never happened involving Hulk Hogan for the 2007 WrestleMania.
– Today is the 22nd anniversary of one of the most famous fights in history, Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama on June 23, 2002. It’s also the 28th anniversary of Steve Austin winning King of the Ring and cutting the Austin 3:16 promo, which almost surely led to more merchandise revenue and probably long-term ticket revenue than any promo in the history of pro wrestling.
– A&E tonight at 8 pm. airs the debut of the Rob Van Dam biography episode.
– Ramazan Kuramagomedov beat Jason Jackson yesterday in Dublin, Ireland to win the Bellator welterweight title via unanimous decision.
– Conor McGregor did a promo on that show saying that other fighters who don’t rely on footwork would have fought with a broken toe, but his game is dependent on footwork and he’s going in at 100 percent and indicated he would be fighting shortly. McGregor is known for great promos and he really didn’t come across like anything special even though of course the crowd reacted to him big.
– Raw tomorrow in Indianapolis against game seven of the NHL playoffs has Bron Breakker vs. Ludwig Kaiser, Kofi Kingston vs. Karrion Kross, Braun Strowman vs. Chad Gable vs. Bronson Reed in a MITB qualifier and Shayna Baszler vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Kairi Sane in a MITB qualifier. They had originally announced Gable was out and Kaiser was in his spot. Then they announced Gable was back in.
– On Friday night’s show at Arena Mexico, Catalina was in terrible pain in her match with Stephanie Vaquer. The aftermath of this match involved Mercedes Mone confronting Vaquer, which was shown on Collision last night. Catalina finished the match and then went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst. She underwent surgery yesterday morning.
– People were raving about last night’s Arena Coliseo match with Hechicero vs. Zack Sabre Jr., which Hechicero won. The other actual match we heard a lot about was Ospreay vs. Brian Cage from Collision, which ended up excellent, but I’m sure would have been better without the two long commercial breaks.
– Paige VanZant announced that she was going to compete in PowerSlap with her debut on the Friday night show in Las Vegas against Christine Wolmarans. She will become the first former UFC fighter in PowerSlap. Many others had been contacted about doing it but turned it down.
– Shelton Benjamin beat Jonathan Gresham last night for the ASE promotion in Charlotte, NC.
– Dungeon Wrestling from from Calgary, Alberta last night before 500 fans: Harlon Abbott b Tommy Billington, Michale Alen Richard Clark b Raj Singh, Chris Knight b Red Scorpion, Shuan Mooore & Aurora Teves b Rohan Raja & Ava Lawless, Mo Jabari b Real 1 (Enzo Amore), Chris Adonis b Dirty Dango. There were photos that surfaced of promoter Bret Hart with Snoop Dogg (thanks to Ross Hart).
– XICW from last night in Clinton Township, MI: Dean Hendrix b Alex Lynch, Jack Price b TJ Meyer, Royce Carney III b Jheas Grey, Great Tiger b Marcus Porter, Dre Jabobs b Crazy Kig Schwartzy b Soultaker, Randi West b Ricki Morris, Kyler Coleman b Maxximillion Rhino & DBA b N8 Mattson & Orlando Christopher (thanks to Leonard Brand)
“We had a lapse in concentration and engaged in a training session without wearing the full protective gear and I hit the toe off the elbow and broke the toe clean. It needs a few weeks that’s it. I couldn’t justify to my team, or fans, that I make the walk hindered again. That walk has been seen. This next walk has got to be, and it will be, 100% Conor McGregor,” he wrote, later adding he has two fights left on his current deal.
Chandler was also taken off the card and replaced with a new main event of light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira defending against Jiri Prochazka. Ariel Helwani had previously reported there is hope of making the McGregor vs. Chandler fight happen this August or September.
A slight lapse in concentration and a nuisance of an injury was picked up. That’s it. Take the lesson and move forward. I will get this back,” he wrote. The next fight will be McGregor’s first since July 2021.
In response to criticism and doubt from former UFC star Chael Sonnen, McGregor then posted pictures of the toe on X:
