Impact Wrestling has announced the inductors for their 2023 Hall of Fame ceremony.
It was announced on Thursday’s Impact Wrestling episode that Impact president Scott D’Amore will induct the longtime broadcast team of Don West & Mike Tenay at the 2023 ceremony set for the Countdown to Bound for Glory pre-show on Saturday, October 21.
In addition to his current role as company president, D’Amore has worked as on-screen talent as a manager and authority figure in Impact for much of its 20-plus year history.
It was also revealed that Impact Hall of Famer Gail Kim will induct Traci Brooks at this year’s ceremony. Kim was inducted herself as the sole member of the Class of 2016.
West is being inducted posthumously after passing away late last year.
Brooks, Tenay, and West comprise the Class of 2023, bringing the total of Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees to 14.
The complete list of Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees:
The voices of TNA/Impact Wrestling are set to take their rightful place in the company’s Hall of Fame.
During Victory Road, it was revealed that Mike Tenay & Don West will be inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame at Bound for Glory this October. The pay-per-view is being held at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on Saturday, October 21.
West is being posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame. He passed away in December 2022 following a battle with cancer.
Before becoming a pro wrestling broadcaster, West was already well-known as a sports collectibles pitchman. He and Tenay worked together as announcers from TNA’s launch in 2002 until 2009. Tenay was later paired with Taz on commentary.
Tenay won Best Television Announcer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards in 1997 and from 2002-2005. Tenay’s first win came while he worked for WCW and the other four were while he was in TNA.
The Impact Hall of Fame was introduced in 2012. With Tenay and West’s inclusion, there have been 13 total inductees:
After popular demand and a personal request, our Wrestling Observer Radio interview from this past weekend featuring former WCW & TNA broadcaster Mike Tenay remembering the late Don West is now free for all.
Enjoy this near-hour long talk with Mike, Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales by clicking below.
If you would like to listen to this show in your podcast player of choice, it’s available on our Free Show RSS feed in addition to F4W Classics. You can also search for Wrestling Observer when searching in your podcast player and can find our free feed.
Everybody goes to this card, the larger-than-life personality, Don was the definition of that. The definition of larger than life personality and he had a heart to match.
You can see by the social media reaction, universally loved by everybody that worked with him and I think equally respected even by those who didn’t work with him. We’ve seen by TV tributes from both the WWE, which I have to say was a very pleasant surprise, and by AEW.
In the wrestling business, and I think it’s just by the nature of the business, you make a lot of great aquaintences but very few great friends and that’s exactly what he was.
Tenay was asked about what made Don succeed in his role and what was his best trait as a broadcaster.
Simply his energy. If we look back on the history of wrestling announcers, and I’m willing to be corrected here, I don’t think there really was anyone before that was really like him from that energy standpoint.
He was hired to be the voice of the fan. I’m not sure thinking back on it that I thought that he was going to succeed right from the start but when you see someone’s energy level, which is one thing, combined with the passion that they have for it, I think that’s where it’s different from somebody who is just playing a role and being loud.
Tenay also reflected on something Meltzer once said that is perhaps the greatest compliment his commentary pairing with West ever received.
As I think back on it, the greatest compliment we got came from you, Dave, which didn’t come until really the last couple of years and that was when AXS TV started replaying some of the older TNA and some of the older Impact shows and you had explained to me that you had watched the first-run Impact show and you essentially started to go back to work and you had left the TV on and as you sat there you heard that energy, you heard that passion from Mike Tenay and Don West. I think, not to put words in your mouth, but I think your level of appreciation for what we did grew greatly because you realized at that point that nobody really was doing that kind of an announcing job.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the death of Don West, thoughts on the Ric Flair documentary, injuries to Gunther and AJ Styles, NOAH Budokan and Stardom notes, AEW in Seattle and NXT previews, Smackdown and Rampage reviews and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Back from the holidays
1:50: Don West, Pele, Mike Pappas pass away
16:43: AJ Styles breaks ankle, Gunther chair shot, Kevin Owens, John Cena wrestled
19:18: Dax Harwood wants CM Punk back in AEW
22:58: Dave’s Ric Flair documentary thoughts, Charlotte Flair returns on SmackDown
31:45: The mystery tag partner for January 11 Dynamite
33:31: Stardom, NOAH notes
38:27: Raw & NXT preview, Dragon Lee thoughts, & preview for Dynamite
Tributes have poured in following the death of former Impact announcer Don West on Friday.
Scott D’Amore, Impact Wrestling, Jeff Jarrett, NWA, AEW, and WWE all paid tribute to West on Friday after it was announced he had passed away from cancer.
On Friday’s SmackDown, Michael Cole briefly mentioned West prior to the night’s action, pointing out that he had made an “impact” in the pro wrestling business.
“AEW joins the wrestling world in mourning the passing of Don West,” the company wrote on social media. “Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his fans.”
“The NWA is saddened to hear of the passing of legendary wrestling broadcaster Don West,” NWA wrote. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the wrestling community.”
“Don was truly a one of a kind who brightened every room he walked into. He brought out the best in people and was an inspiration to all who crossed paths with him,” Scott D’Amore wrote in a statement on Impact’s website. “He was one of the first people I met upon arriving at the TNA Asylum for the first time, and Don instantly made me feel welcome. His warm heart and legendary sense of humor made every day at work something to look forward to. I am forever grateful for being able to share a friendship with Don and truly know my career and my life are better because of having him in them.”
“When I received the text from Don’s wife, Terri, earlier today on his passing I had an overwhelming feeling of mixed emotions—so happy and relieved for him that he was out of pain and his cancer was gone; but, the finality of his death was so dark and it hurt,” Jarrett wrote. “We FaceTimed just a few days ago-and because of his situation it’s the only conversation that I’ve ever had with him that I got to do all the talking and I’m sure he hated that! We reminisced, laughed, and I got the final opportunity to tell him I loved him and that I will see him again one day!”
Mike Tenay, West’s former broadcast partner, announced his passing on Friday. He was 59 years old.
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site with these stories: *The life and times of Stephan Bonnar, a look at a person who was one of the key building blocks of the popularity of UFC, including the Forrest Griffin fight, his relationship with Griffin after the fight, season one of Ultimate Fighter and the building years, life after UFC, the feud with Tito Ortiz, his pro wrestling days and much more. *Match of the week and performer of the week *The WWE signing of Dragon Lee, full details of the deal, unique stipulations in the deal, how long WWE had been after him and what he told people he asked for decision making help *How AAA, WWE and AEW had talent on the same show, including in the same match and the unique situation there *Coverage of Wednesday’s AAA show in Acapulco, production issues, match to go out of your way to see *What AEW knew about Dragon Lee *Comparing his potential in AEW and WWE *WWE talks using Lee to help expand *A look at Stardom’s Sumo Hall show *A look at a lot of Stardom plans going forward *Dragon Gate’s Final Gate show *WWE does its traditional Christmas week show in Madison Square Garden *How the show did as compared with the last 13 years *The life and times of Hall of Famer Johnny Doyle, one of the great promoters of all-time *A detailed look at the ratings over the past week *Streaming numbers and international TV numbers *CMLL’s Jan. 1 cage match where somebody loses their mask *Konnan talks about his health *Cain Velasquez talks about his returning to wrestle and teaming with Daniel Cormier *All Japan bringing in Minoru Suzuki *NOAH’s Budokan Hall show *Tokyo Dome preview *Shibata vs. Tom Lawlor *Ricky Steamboat talks why he didn’t wrestle Ric Flair *Notes on the death of former WWE promoter Doc Holliday and why he was so well liked *Anniversary of the first splash off the cage top *AEW loses TV outlet in Canada and story behind it *Tony Khan says AEW isn’t going anywhere *Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows *Bellator signs former Olympic medalist *WrestleMania updates *Mysterio family angle *Notes from all the WWE holiday house shows
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Friday Update
Before starting out I’d like to send sympathies to the family and friends of Don West, who passed away earlier today at 59. We talked a lot about him on today’s show. I’ll just say I barely knew him, but when I saw him, he treated me like he’d been my friend for 20 years. He came into this business with very little product knowledge and was thrown on national television because Jeff Jarrett I believe saw him selling merchandise on the Shop At Home Network on television. It was a ballsy move to put a guy like that on commentary but he also had the advantage of working with Mike Tenay, who has as great an understanding of wrestling as almost anyone. Don was not well received at first because of his over-the-top style and lack of product knowledge, but he wanted to learn, did learn, and he and Tenay jelled quickly. I thought they ended up as a tremendous pairing, with Tenay’s X’s and O’s product knowledge and West’s enthusiasm. Announcers can’t save a bad product, but announcers an enhance a good one and when new talent was trying to get over, or matches were exciting, Don’s ability to enhance the excitement of the audience was tremendous. At the end of the day, he was a great guy who was given a bad hand in recent years with his battles with cancer. After leaving Impact, he worked as a radio host at KPQ in Wenatchee, WA and as the General Manager for the Wenatchee Wild minor league hockey team. He and Tenay had remained close long after they were no longer working together.
The Friday show with Garrett Gonzales is up. We talked about a ton of subjects in the current issue and why 2023 will be such a interesting year for wrestling.
Want to make a special thanks to Steve Yohe for all his work in researching the history of wrestling. The Johnny Doyle piece in the new issue is so fascinating, not just about Doyle but also the wrestling business in genera in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and the moves of Vince McMahon, Jim Barnett, Sam Muchnick, Fred Kohler, Jules Strongbow, Roy Shire and the other major players of the industry in that era.
In the closest thing to an acknowledgment she’ll be there, Bushiroad CEO Takaaki Kidani told Yahoo Sports today that there is a possibility she’ll (Sasha Banks) come to the Dome. In recent issues we’ve noted the agreed upon plans for her and the big show just announced yesterday that they expect her to be a major part of. There was also footage of Banks with Kalisto in Japan where she’s been for several days.
Tonight is one of the biggest Smackdowns of the year from Tampa, because John Cena & Kevin Owens face Roman Reigns & Sami Zayn. If not for the Orange Bowl, this would be expected to do the largest rating of the show this year, and still should be among the biggest. Ronda Rousey defends the women’s title against Raquel Rodriguez and Sheamus vs. Solo Sikoa are also on the show. The show will be a rare television legitimate sellout of nearly 13,000 fans.
WWE may have two sellouts tonight because as of this morning, the Toronto house show had 7,560 tickets out and just 495 remaining.
Rampage at 10 p.m. tonight on TNT has Orange Cassidy vs. Trent Beretta for the All Atlantic title (we were told this was a very good match), Jade Cargill vs. Kiera Hogan for the TBS title, Kip Sabian vs. Abita and Swerve Strickland vs. Wheeler Yuta. Sting will also be on the show.
We are doing two weekend polls, one for yesterday’s Stardom show at Sumo Hall and the other for Sunday’s NOAH show at Budokan Hall. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from each show to [email protected]
We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE shows in Toronto and Smackdown in Tampa. For Toronto we’re looking for results, finishes and highlights. For Smackdown we’re looking for dark matches, and any other notes from the live event that aren’t on television to [email protected]
A.J. Styles was injured last night in Hershey, PA during a six-person match with Styles & Karl Anderson & Mia Yim vs. Damien Priest & Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley. The description was that he fell out of the ring and got up like his ankle was injured. They changed the planned finish of the match with Styles planned to use the phenomenal forearm, and instead Anderson pinned Balor. Styles needed help getting to the back. No word on the severity of the injury or if he’ll be able to work Toronto tonight. There was another change in advertising for Toronto as they had advertised Austin Theory vs. Seth Rollins in a cage match as the main event, but other advertising has it as Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley in a cage match.
Bray Wyatt suffered a broken finger in last night’s match with Jinder Mahal in Miami
For AEW ratings, because network numbers for Wednesday weren’t in, the Holiday Bowl on FOX did 3,969,000 viewers and 0.93 and the other bowl game on ESPN did 3,914,000 viewers and 0.93 as well, so that was the reason the AEW numbers were lower than in prior weeks. We didn’t get the quarters in time for this week’s issue for AEW due to Christmas week delays. The audience was down from the start, likely due to going against two Bowl games. It held up well until 9:15 and dropped from there, but the Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow main event averaged 817,000 viewers and 329,000 in 18-49, which while lower than usual, did increase 72,000 in viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 over quarter seven.
Bellator vs. Rizin New Year’s Eve from the Saitama Super Arena airs at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on Showtime tomorrow night with a best of five: Gadzhi Rabadanov (155.8) vs. Koji Takeda (156) Juan Archuleta (134) vs. Soo Chul Kim (133.8) Kyoji Horiguchi (124.8) vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo (125.4) Patricio Pitbull Freire (145) vs. Kieber Koike (145.2) AJ McKee (154.7) vs. Roberto de Souza (156) The Bellator fighter is the one on the left. The fighters are in a ring under Rizin rules, which are closer to the old Pride rules for people who were fans of that era.
A note regarding NXT and Dragon Lee’s contract from the new issue. Apollo Crews is in NXT with his main roster contract so with Mandy Rose gone, Crews is likely the highest paid guy there right now.
Tatiana Suarez, who was one of the best women amateur wrestlers in the country until cancer derailed her, and is unbeaten as an MMA fighter, is looking to return in February. She hasn’t fought since the summer of 2019 due to neck and other injuries. She was a championship contender at strawweight where she dominated and submitted two-time champion Carla Esparza prior to her injuries.
Geoff Neal is out of his 1/14 bout with Shavkat Rakhmonov in the first UFC show of the year. Neal suffered an undisclosed injury according to MMA Fighting.
Other Notes
AAW tonight in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium and live on highspots.tv has Jake Something vs. Mance Warner for the AAW title, Christi Jaynes vs. Sierra for the AAW women’s title, Davey Vega vs. ? for the Heritage title, Jah C & Calvin Tankman vs. Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz for the tag titles, Fred Yehi vs Gar7 Jay an a Rumble match where the winner can challenge for any title at any time.
WAR Wrestling on 1/7 in Lima, OH at the Empowered Sports Center.
MCW tonight at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppatowne, MD
The Billington Brothers vs. Myron Reed & Mr. Thomas has been added to the 1/7 MLW taping at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Combat 1 Wrestling from Wednesday night in Waterford Township, MI: Gisele Shaw b Krystal Moon, Chinstrap Jesus b Ryan Matthias, Midwest Scum b Mason Dixon Line Jason Hotch won over Jack Price, Nate Bock and Jaden Newman, AJ Cazana b Karam Rhino b Mr. Anderson. Next show is 2/10 at the Elite Sportsplex in Waterford Township. (thanks to Leonard Brand)
The Premiere Streaming Network which launches in January announced that ECWA and World-1 will air live events on their network including the 3/25 Super 8 tournament.
PFL announced its Challenger series being taped at Universal in Orlando starts on 1/27 on Fubo Sports. The shows will be every Friday from 1/27 to 3/17. The most impressive fighters will get to enter the PFL tournaments for $1 million later this year.
AIW tonight in Akron, OH at the Tadmor Shrine has Brian Myers, Joey Janela, Matthew Justice and Tom Lawlor on the show.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including our hour-long tribute to Don West with everyone’s favorite memories, a bit of news and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
“Just heard from wife Terri that our brother [Don West] will be spending New Years in heaven,” Tenay wrote. “Terri said D-Dub finally had to tap out from his match with lymphoma. We bonded as soon as we met, both as broadcast partners and friends. Years of great moments both on and off camera.”
West announced in June 2021 that he had been diagnosed with a brain lymphoma. He went into remission after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but the cancer returned and West began a second battle with the disease last December.
West was part of the TNA Wrestling commentary team from 2002-2012. He worked in the company’s merchandise department as well.
In 2017, West returned to the commentary booth to call Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary pay-per-view.
Outside of pro wrestling, West is best known for his time as a sports collectibles pitchman on the Shop at Home Network. West and the Shop at Home Network were even parodied on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s.
West was also a radio host, most recently working for NewsRadio 560 KPQ in the state of Washington.
Tenay shared on December 17 that he got to FaceTime with West. Tenay called it the best Christmas gift he could get.
Impact Wrestling posted a tribute to West after his passing: “IMPACT Wrestling is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Don West, one of the defining voices of our 20 year history. Don’s enthusiasm and passion elevated every second he called and uplifted the spirits of everybody he crossed paths with. He will be dearly missed. #RIPDonWest”
*Vince McMahon talks about returning and we talk about the prospects of that, including from those close to him *The Rita Chatterton story resurfaces, and we go back to look at the original story and current legal status as well as a new allegation against Vince McMahon that came up this week *What can’t happen to WWE as long a McMahon wants back in *What would have to take place before McMahon to return to power *What risks are there for the company *The Vice special on Vince McMahon and those who would and wouldn’t talk *Mandy Rose gets fired and details of why it happened and what the original plans were regarding the women’s title *ROH PPV coverage, Honor Club, PPV buys, ROH title change *Sasha Banks and Japan WWE, AEW prospects, a return t WWE and more *Notes on Wrestle Kingdom, the card,te story behind the card *Updates on Matt Riddle *Full coverage of UFC 282, hat happens next, business notes, what’s next for the fighters *ROH Deadline and the debut of Iron Survivor *Just how rapidly is cable losing homes, a list for the stations that air wrestling and MMA and what the numbers are now *Tokyo Sports awards and story behind it *PWG Battle of Los Angels *The most detailed look at the ratings for all wrestling shows on national TV including how each segment did, *Streaming numbers *Advance ticket sales for the major WWE & AEW events *Government works with Arena Mexico for a special event *CMLL’s next tournament *Konnan talks his health *Rules in place for independent promoters and usage of El Hijo del Vikingo *A look at a Mexico match of the year candidate *A look at another match of the year candidate *Finances of major wrestling conglomerate *Future of Kota Ibushi *Why the economics are going to be tougher for New Japan *Coverage of the New Japan tag tournament finals *Update on the MLW lawsuit against WWE *Huge match in London this week *AEW announces new television deal *Behind the Jericho loss to Action Andretti *What famous feud started in a similar fashion *People who have been world champion in the U.S., Japan and Mexico *UFC takes action regarding a suspicious fight *World MMA Awards *William Regal news *WrestleMania news
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For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
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Monday Update
Jim Valley and I will be doing Wrestling Observer Radio tonight covering Raw and all the latest news. You can send questions for the show tonight to [email protected] and we should have time for many of them like we did last night.
Raw is tonight in Des Moines, IA, which is Seth Rollins country so he should be the most popular wrestler on the show. Andre Chase is there to work a Main Event match. Announced for the show is Dexter Lumis vs. The Miz in a ladder match with a double-or-nothing money stipulation, Becky Lynch vs. Bayley and Judgment Day vs. Street Profits. Raw goes against the Green Bay Packers vs. Los Angeles Rams game. Both teams are well below .500 so it shouldn’t be killer competition. Raw is coming off one of its lowest marks ever last Monday. The Wells Fargo Arena had 5,700 tickets out as of this morning. With the walk up it should beat the last time they ran Raw in the building in May.
Mike Tenay and Don West got back together yesterday on Face Time. As many of you know West has been battling cancer for years and Tenay said that “I won’t get a better Christmas gift than our time with Don West.” The two were not just broadcast partners but are also very close friends.
PWInsider reported that Jeff Hardy’s attorney is looking at rescheduling his hearing for his most recent DUI that was scheduled for Wednesday.
We’re looking for reports from these shows: *Raw tonight in Des Moines with Main Event tapings and any dark matches or anything off the air *Last night’s WWE show in Rochester, MN *Saturday’s RevPro show at York Hall in London We’re looking for results, finishes and thoughts on the shows to [email protected]
Tribute to the Troops will replay Thursday night at 7 p.m. Eastern and Friday night at midnight on FS 1 this week.
My newest book in the series of books covering complete years in wrestling, the Wrestling Observer Yearbook from 1995, covering the start of the Monday Night Wars is available right now.
The scheduled Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa middleweight fight scheduled for UFC 284 2/11 in Perth, Western Australia is off. Even thought he fight has been announced and publicized, Costa has claimed he has never signed a contract for the fight and that he’s negotiating a new deal and until he gets the new deal he’s not signing for another fight. ESPN reported today that the fight was off and Costa then wrote on Twitter, “Great fight is going down due to lack of negotiations kills. They should stop being petty.” He said they should keep the fighters happy and it’s not only him, but also Francis Ngannou, Shane O’Malley and Mark Hunt..
We heard rave reviews of today’s Just Tap Out PPV show in Japan promoted by Taka Michinoku and Taichi. We heard great things about th Suzu Suzuki vs. Tomoka Inaba women’s match, a 2/3 fall match with Hiromu Takahashi vs. Michinoku and a great Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi King of Pro Wrestling lumberjack last man standing match. They also had a unique Minoru Suzuki & Douki vs. Tomoaki Honma & Jun Kasai and Desperado & Lance Archer vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & MJ Paul match.
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Philipe Lins has been added to the 2/18 show in Las Vegas. Saint Preux was supposed to fight on the 12/10 PPV show but three different opponents,including Lin,s pulled out for different reasons.
CMLL will be streaming live from Arena Mexico every Tuesday night starting tomorrow o its Facebook and YouTube. Tomorrow’s show has Esfinge & Fugaz defending the Mexican national tag titles against Virus & Cancerbero, and a main event of Mistico & Negro Casas & Titan vs. Euforia & Hechicero & Mephisto.
Other Notes
Warrior Wrestling from last night in Chicago Heights, IL: Trevor Outlaw b Mance Warner-COR, Tootie Lynn b KiLynn King, Technical Difficulties b Slime & SNZ, Jordan Kross b EC 3-COR, Max Caster b Stu Grayson, Zachary Wentz b Speedball Mike Bailey (said to be match of the night), Eddie Kingston b Warhorse (said to be good) Sam Adonis b Johnny Warrior (Morrison) to keep the Warrior Lucha Libre title. This sets up Adonis vs. El Hijo del Vikingo in a Warrior title vs. AAA Mega title match with both belts at stake (thanks to Dave Gould)
ICW No Holds Barred from Saturday night in Newark, NJ: AKIRA b Bobby Beverly, Dr. Redacted b Orin Veidt, Jimmy Lloyd b Danny Demanto, Hoodfoot b Abdullah Kobayashi, Matt Tremont b Tommy Vendetta, John Wayne Murdoch b Eric Ryan, Brandon Kirk b Kasey Catal to win the American death match title (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Former pro wrestler/MMA fighter/powerlifter and MMA/wrestling TV announcer Paul Lazenby noted to us he will be in the corner of Marcus Aurelio for the Inoki Ganryujima show on 12/28 at SUmo Hall in Tokyo. That’s the show where Tom Lawlor will do a UWF style match with Katsuyori Shibata. He will also be doing English language announcing for the 1/1 NOAH show for some matches on the card. That’s the Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Great Muta show.
Stephen A. Smith did a Ric Flair split liquor promo to open First Take this morning. Smith will be part of the Peacock documentary on Ric Flair which comes out next Monday so he’s getting into Flair mode (thank to Samuel Batts)
Fury Pro Grappling on 12/30 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on UFC Fight Pass. Several UFC fighters are on the show including Chase Hooper vs. Clay Guida, Joe Pfyter vs. Eryk Anders, Ovince Saint Preux vs. Andre Petroski plus Alex Caceres, Phillip Rowe and Trevor Giles./ C.M. Punk will be announcing the show with John Morgan.
The 2002 documentary: “Wrestling Then and Now” is now on Tubi. Killer Kowalski and Nikolai Volkoff are among those featured. It’s also on Amazon Prime.
The Sheepherders/Bushwhackers bio (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) called “Blood Seat and Cheers” is being released Christmas Day on Amazon Kindle. It’s a very fun read because they go through decades all over the world from being a savage team in the territory days to making it as a comedy act in WWE.
Job Listing: Onlamp php/mysql developer. Experience with vbulletin and drupal/WordPress a plus. Email [email protected] with subject PHP DEVELOPER with resume.
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Monday News Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio.
Happy fourth of July to everyone.
Raw is tonight in San Diego. The only stuff advertised ahead was Rey & Dominick Mysterio in heir hometown against Finn Balor & Damian Priest, plus The Miz will respond to Logan Paul’s challenge for SummerSlam. This will be the star of the SummerSlam build. Because of the holiday, the TV ratings would be expected to be down a lot and it’s not even worth worrying about if that’s the case. They will be helped somewhat coming off a PPV show. But after two straight big numbers, if they don’t get a big one this week, or there is a big drop, it is completely meaningless.
We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Money in the Bank and UFC 276, 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 from last night’s WWE show in Tucson, AZ and from Raw in San Diego tonight with anything not on the live show such as Main Event matches, dark matches and crowd reactions to [email protected]
WWE had a talent meeting before Money in the Bank. There wasn’t much to come out out it. Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque spoke and told the talent they were an extended large family and told them how well things are going. They didn’t address any of the Vince McMahon questions or any questions.
Impact did a personal video to Don West, who is battling brain cancer. Mike Tenay has been the point person regarding them doing so and Scott D’Amore contributed more than $13,000 to West’s medical bills a few weeks ago. Besides those on the roster and in the current company, Impact got Dixie Carter, A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe and many others to do the video. Tenay and Don West were heavily moved by the comments made. Tenay and West were hoping the video could be shared and I believe right now they are looking to get everyone’s approval for that.
AEW set its all-time ratings record in the U.K. on ITV 4 on 6/24 with 188,000 viewers. That was the go-home show for Forbidden Door. Perhaps that has to do with Will Ospreay because ratings went way up for the shows he was on.
Because of the holiday, ratings will be delayed this week. Basically everything will be moved back a day. Friday’s numbers should be up tomorrow. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and final weekly numbers should be on Wednesday. Right now it looks like Wednesday numbers will be out Thursday but that could change.
WWE did 30 percent discounts on tickets for SummerSlam and Raw in Madison Square Garden on 7/25 and got some good ticket movement in both places. There are more than 28,000 tickets distributed right now for Nashville for SummerSlam, which would be in excess of 25,000 paid. This is before any of the hard television hype for the show which should begin tonight.
Shotzi did a post saying that she knew the spot when she lost her footing on the ladder would make Botchmania and was accepting of that, but said the reaction of people who wanted her fired or worse was too much. She also noted that she wasn’t injured in the match, which is a good thing.
Today is the 62nd anniversary of Les Thatcher’s pro wrestling debut on July 4, 1960 for promoter Tony Santos out of Boston. He started up with a crew that included Pat Patterson. Thatcher trained in Boston and his first show was on July 4th in Blue Hill, ME, at the age of 19.
WWE
Tomorrow night is WWE Night for the Atlanta Braves vs. St. Louis Cardinals game. Fans attending will get a WWE pillow of Austin Riley wearing an Austin 3:16 shirt and a WWE title belt.
The Cardinals also have a WWE Night on 8/16.
UFC
Israel Adesanya noted in an interview with BT Sports in the U.K. that he came up with the idea of his Undertaker entrance the Tuesday before the show. At the time he had no idea Vince McMahon and company would be at the show. He said he had already cleared it with UFC and then on Saturday morning he was told Vince McMahon was coming to his fight. He said that in camp when he does his wrestling training, he has them play Attitude Era WWF entrance songs. Undertaker, who is a big MMA fan, tweeted approval.
Jessica Eye, who has dabbled in independent pro wrestling in the past, said that after her MMA retirement on Saturday night that she wants to go into pro wrestling.
Ariane Lipski vs. Priscilla Cachoeira was reported by MMA Fighting for 8/6 in Las Vegas.
Other Notes
New Japan posted the Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono finals of the first G-1 Climax tournament from Sumo Hall in 1991 on its YouTube page today. The success of that first tournament paved the way for something in its 32nd year starting in a few weeks, among the oldest wrestling traditions in the world. (thanks to Suju Abraham)
In yesterday’s update when listing the ICW No Holds Barred results, we listed it as from Maybee, NY, but it was from Maybee, MI.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a profile on WWE’s longtime lawyer Jerry McDevitt, who said he has considered retirement. “WWE is a major client, but I have other clients” McDevitt said. “I also represented Dr. Cyril Wecht. I’ll be 72 in January, so I’ve been trying to turn it down a little bit as I’m headed into retirement. But because of my longstanding relationship with WWE, I continue to represent them, although I keep telling Vince I do want to retire. Most relationships nowadays with lawyers and publicly traded companies are at the general counsel level. Outside lawyers work with the general counsel of the company and never with the CEO or chairman of the board. But my contact and my relationship is directly with and to Vince. It always has been. It always will be. That’s kind of a unique relationship in the landscape of the law these days for the outside counsel to have that sort of direct relationship.”
WWE has trademarked the name “Gunther Stark”. However, it is also the name of a World War II Kapitänleutnant that served in Adolf Hitler’s U-Boat command.
Sheamus and Shawn Michaels will be the guests on The Bump this week.
Alexa Bliss on Twitter: “Sometimes you need to just be patient & see how things play out…”
Shayna Baszler was interviewed by the Argus Leader about her hometown appearance at a WWE house show in Sioux Falls, South Dakota over the weekend.
Don West on Twitter wrote that his cancer has returned. “Unfortunately my cancer is back and I’m undergoing chemo. Thanks to all that have contributed in the past, and if you’d like to donate the GoFundMe page is “Join The Don West Tag Team Against Lymphoma”. God Bless.”
Former head of WWE talent relations Canyon Cemen wrote a post on his LinkedIn page thanking WWE for his time with the company. “It was an adventure to articulate and execute the vision, for talent development and NXT, of HHH/ #PaulLevesque, a visionary leader with world class creativity and discipline, and a good human,” part of his statement read. “We were fortunate to lead a team of passionate and interesting humans like #MattBloom, #WilliamRegal, #KristinAltman, Paul Fair, Cami Levin, Ali Bologna, Danielle Vastola, Amanda Tustian, Scott Amann, Gregg Bernard…and many more true professionals at WWE HQ past and present.”
NJPW’s LA Dojo will hold a camp on February 21. Those interested can sign up for the camp on NJPW’s website.
SportsKeeda has an interview with Deonna Purrazzo, who spoke about Mickie James’ upcoming appearance in the Royal Rumble. “I think WWE hasn’t always necessarily played well with others so there was so much shock factor to them announcing Mickie James entering the Royal Rumble as the IMPACT Knockouts World Champion (…) it put a whole new set of eyes on IMPACT’s product and then Mickie and my match at Hard To Kill so I was shocked as everyone else about the announcement but if it is benefitting IMPACT in some way, then I’m all for it.”
GCW on social media uploaded a brawl between Joey Janela and Matt Cardona in a storage lot. The two will meet at GCW’s Hammerstein Ballroom event this weekend.
Former TNA/Impact Wrestling announcer Don West is battling cancer for a second time.
With West’s permission, Jeff Jarrett shared today that West is “back in the hospital to kick cancer’s ass” for a second time. Jarrett asked everyone to send a prayer for West and his family.
Jarrett tweeted: “Spoke with my friend, @DonWestDeals , earlier today. With his permission I send this tweet — he’s back in the hospital to kick cancer’s ass a 2nd time! I certainly believe in the power of prayer…if you do as well, please send a prayer up for Don and his family!”
In June of this year, West revealed that he had been diagnosed with a brain lymphoma and would be beginning treatment immediately. West announced in September that, after eight weeks of chemotherapy and 13 treatments of radiation, his cancer was in remission. West wrote that he looked forward to getting back to his job in radio and doing what he loves.
West served as one of the voices of TNA Wrestling from 2002-2012, working with Mike Tenay on the promotion’s commentary team. West, who is famous from his time as a sports collectibles pitchman on the Shop at Home Network, also worked in TNA’s merchandising department.
