Daily Update
Latest News
- AEW, TNT Sports launch ‘AEW: Figure Fighters’ mobile game
- Tyler Bate advances in WWE Speed number one contender’s tournament
- AEW & WBD exclusive TV rights negotiating window lasts into the summer
- John Cena announced as host of Shark Week 2024
- Renee Paquette & RJ City to host ‘AEW Meal & a Match’ YouTube series
- Ricky Starks has ‘no clue’ why he’s been off AEW TV
- Carmella dealing with drop foot, motivated for WWE return
- Actor Paul Walter Hauser to make MLW debut in Battle Riot VI
- Drew McIntyre explains what was important in new WWE contract
- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 night three results, updated standings
Latest Audio
- Wrestling Observer Live: AEW and WBD, Vince McMahon and Janel Grant, NXT TV, ratings
- Bryan & Vinny & Craig & Shawn Show: WWF Challenge S1:E12, plus Granny!
Latest Free YouTube Video
F4W/WON Convention
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Some of the highlights in this issue:
- Thoughts on the Cung Le lawsuit settlement, and meaningful changes in business and what this closes the door on in MMA
- Why TKO paid $335 million and considered this as a win
- Why the stock market thought the same
- UFC & WWE financials
- Changes in television and Smackdown plans going forward
- The crazy story of WWE losing more money in this quarter than they made in virtually any year of its existence and multiples of the total losses of AEW since its inception and why there is nothing to worry about
- How the interest on loans for TKO alone is more than WWE ever made until the Austin era
- Complete coverage of WWE Backlash
- The business numbers both good and bad
- Notes from the French crowd
- Next year’s WrestleMania
- A look at the departures of Gable Steveson and Drew Gulak Ric Flair talks heart attack
- Saudi Arabia getting more traction in WWE & UFC business
- New Japan Dontaku coverage
- UFC 301 coverage
- Final Dark Side of the Ring episode on Black Saturday looked at
- Coverage of three other major shows this week
- Next TripleMania show
- Arena Mexico heats up
- Champion Carnival coverage
- International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Ric Flair incident
- MLW looking at expanding into new markets
- Wrestler song makes U.K. charts
- NBA rights and how this affects AEW
- Chuck Taylor career legit in jeopardy
- Update on Double or Nothing
- Advance ticket sales for AEW & WWE upcoming shows
- Art Jimmerson remembered
- Canelo Alvarez along with WWE, AEW and TNA PPV number updates
- Janel Grant lawsuit update
- More WWE notes from Ronda Rousey
- International TV ratings and streaming numbers
This week’s back issue: January 8, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Vince McMahon & Donald Trump, UFC 66
Wednesday Update
WWE
- WWE posted a video with Shawn Michaels congratulating Tony D’Angelo on defeating Charlie Dempsey for the NXT Heritage Cup Championship. It’s the first singles title D’Angelo has ever held.
- Last night, Big E tweeted that he’s a massive fan of NXT wrestler Je’Von Evans. Evans defeated Oro Mensah on Tuesday’s show.
- Evans showed his appreciation for Big E’s tweet and responded with a heart emoji.
- With Alicia Taylor being called up to SmackDown, Mike Rome officially started back as the ring announcer for NXT this week.
- Jey Uso told the Daily Mail that he feels more confident right now than ever before:
- I’m actually more confident than ever right now. I took all the tools that they gave me. During the pandemic era, being with Hunter and Heyman in the room, just with The Bloodline, just us, going over and spitting ideas. I learned all that, and now I apply it on my own. And then working with Hunter right now as a single competitor, it’s cool. I feel like I finally earned that respect now, and it’s all love.
- Work seems easier right now, all that worrying stuff, being anxious all the time, it’s out the way. Now I just go out there and if I’m on the card that night, I make sure I’m bringing energy. That’s just my thing. I just want to dial it up. During the show, when I come out, I feel like there’s a spike here. Even if you never watched wrestling, it was like, ‘Alright, who’s he? He’s got to be a main player.’
- Cody Rhodes has been added to upcoming WWE events in Albany, Louisville, Bloomington, and Kalamazoo.
- The Undertaker was interviewed on Busted Open Radio this week.
- Bayley and Montez Ford were today’s guests on WWE’s The Bump.
- Ron Simmons (66) and Dragon Lee (29) are celebrating birthdays today.
AEW/Other Wrestling
- Tony Khan tweeted that TBS has given AEW a “significant overrun” for tonight’s Dynamite.
- The AEW Control Center video for tonight’s show can be watched here.
- AEW uploaded a 22-minute interview with Renee Paquette speaking with Adam Copeland.
- In an interview with TMZ Sports, Swerve Strickland opened up about how serving in the United States Army prepared him for adulthood:
- Like two weeks after I graduated high school, I was going to basic training and that got me ready to like do stuff on my own. It’s not going to get done if you don’t do it, if you don’t take the initiative to get up and just grind and go.
- Most of the time I was with my mom and my sisters and stuff. So as a man, I’m glad I was able to go into my adulthood through the military rather than like, cause I didn’t really have my dad there in the household with me. So it was really cool to just be able to get up and learn to be a man on my own around other men of other different walks of life in the hard way.
- Willow Nightingale spoke to Bleacher Report about some of the aspirations she has outside of pro wrestling:
- I was on the indies for maybe six or seven years before wrestling became my full-time career. Before that, I was a piercer, so I worked at a tattoo shop. There was a piece of me that was like ‘Well I could always do this forever or I could open my own tattoo shop.’ And I do think about that from time to time.
- Now that I am kind of in this role where I am on television, which is crazy to think about sometimes, I do think hosting a game show could be really cool. Or a children’s show is kind of my dream. To have a Mr. Rogers-type show, that would be really awesome.
- I have been tossing around the idea of going back to school while doing this just to have a degree to fall back on or to get extra knowledge on how to run my business if that is an avenue I want to embark on, but mainly I feel like I’m drawn to things where I can either help educate children or just generally bring that spark of Willow bubbliness to different events.
- While speaking with Sports Illustrated, Actor Paul Walter Hauser commented on the announcement that he’ll be an entrant in MLW Battle Riot VI: “Professional wrestling is one of the greatest loves in my life, and I’m going to put my heart and body on the line. If you’re not already a fan of MLW, you will be.”
- Kevin Von Erich turns 67 years old today.
- Pro wrestling photographer George Napolitano was a guest on Under the Ring.
