Tag: Floyd Mayweather

Daily Update: New Paramount & WBD details, Stardom, Floyd Mayweather

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today.

  • A detailed look at the WBD/Paramount/Netflix situation, what the latest decision of WBD to Paramount entails, the keys to why this is happening, business notes, how this affects AEW and can it get approved.
  • A look at the UFC and WWE business in 2025 and in the final quarter of this past year.  We look at the numbers, what they mean, why WWE was more profitable in 2025 than UFC and the key thing that can change that in 2026, Mark Shapiro talks ESPN value to WWE, lots of news about the business of the White House show, UFC fighters upset over pay, why WWE wrestlers are so underpaid but not publicly upset over, and business initiatives going forward
  • The violence in Mexico and tons of wrestling shows canceled this past week
  • We look in depth at the Janel Grant speech from last week, what we learned, what she said, and where everything stands.
  • Update on the build for  WrestleMania, Elimination Chamber, business notes, ticket sales and favorites for the weekend.
  • An updated look at AEW Revolution and business notes
  • The retirement of AJ Styles looked at
  • The most detailed look at  the television ratings from the past week, including comparisons with a year  ago, competition, demos and much more.
  • Notes from Arena Mexico
  • CMLL attempts to break a North  American record next week
  • Cinderalla tournament in Stardom
  • Fantastica Mania notes
  • The life and times of former Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas, his coaching career, his beating Dan Gable, and two notable pro wrestlers he coached
  • College wrestling sets an attendance mark already this season
  • Who had the most top ten matches of the year  over a career according to Cage match.
  • City builds a bust memorializing top 80s star
  • WrestleMania week schedule
  • Former MMA fighter and pro wrestler running for Governor
  • Robbery of the ring truck for an indie group
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows over the next two months.
  • How many subscribers does Paramount need to make up for UFC expenses
  • More talk on Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano
  • Stand & Deliver moves and why
  • When Roman Reigns and Brock Ldesnar are booked for TV in the Mania build
  • Pro wrestler who is active in Japan competes this weekend for the U.S.national team in anther sport
  • Notes on a  new comer to WWE who started this week
  • More notes on value of Dwayne Johnson’s TKO stock

This Week’s Back Issue

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Monday Update

Image: WWE

— Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk about the latest from the Paramount investors call and how this may affect both UFC and AEW, as well as talk about Raw, Demolition, the Johnny Consejo vs. Angel de Oro hair match and more.

— At today’s Paramount call regarding the WBD purchase, AEW was never addressed at all. I wouldn’t have expected it to be given it’s not a sports property and even with sports properties they only addressed the high dollar ones, such as UFC but not many of the others. David Ellison talked about merging Paramount + with HBO MAX, which would mean both UFC and AEW would be available in more homes as both have actually a very small number of crossover homes. So that would be good news for both, and for AEW would also mean more homes would have access to the PPVs shows at a discounted price. The only thing negative for AEW is something notable for UFC. Ellison outright brought up the idea of UFC’s airing on TNT on Saturday nights. I guess that would depend on what and when. If it takes the place of Collision and they move Collision to Thursday, that would be beneficial to AEW. If it moves AEW after UFC, it could help AEW at least early in the show getting the far bigger lead-in than it gets now, but would hurt it later in the show if part of the show is moved out of prime time. And if it leads to Collision disappearing, obviously that would be bad news. Collision is under contract through the end of 2027.

— There has been a lot of talk today about how aside from the NFL, all sports properties are going to have stagnant or even declining media rights deals when their contracts come due. Keep in mind we’ve heard that since the 70s and it’s ever come to pass, but with fewer buyers the leverage goes down, and with television numbers for everyone but the NFL falling that means less value and ad revenue.

— Raw tonight is from Indianapolis with Gunther vs. Dragon Lee, Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta for the IC title, plus CM Punk, AJ Lee, Danhausen and Roman Reigns all appear on the show that starts the hard build to WrestleMania. At this point they had 9,000 tickets out for the show, so far from a sellout but it’s still a good crowd.

— We’re looking for notes from Indianapolis for anything off television such as Main Event or dark matches to [email protected]

— We’re doing our weekend poll on both WWE Elimination Chamber and NJPW New Beginning from Trenton, NJ, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— Announced for Friday’s Arena Mexico show which is an all-women’s card, is Mercedes Mone vs Persepone for the CMLL women’s title, Mina Shirakawa vs. Zeuxis, Megan Bayne vs. Olympia plus Mei Seira and Starlight Kid from Stardom will be on the card.

— WWE leaves ABEMA in Japan for Netflix on 4/1. WWE PLE events in Germany and Austria start exclusively on Netflix on 4/1 as well.

— Announced for the 4/17 Stardom show at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas today are Maika, Hauzki, Hanako, Starlight Kid, AZM< Mei Seirae, Natsupoi, Ahya Sakrua,Suzu Suzuki, Rina Yamashita, Saya Iida, Yuria Hime, Rina, Maki Itoh and Fuwa-chan.

— I saw the Johnny Consejo vs. Angel de Oro hair match from Friday. It had the most heat of any match I’ve seen this year so far. When it was over, people were jumping up and down like they just saw a world title change. They really had one hell of a match.

— The Jeff Jarrett documentary “The Jeff Jarrett Story: Heart of a Promoter” debuts tomorrow night on YouTube and will also air on the CW affiliate in Nashville, likely right after NXT.

— At yesterday’s Alto Voltage show in Monterrey in the main event, Xelhua & Star Black & Explosivo beat Hechicero & Los Calaveras Jr. I & II when Xelhua pinned Hechicero clean in fall three. This leads to Hechicero defending his High Voltage title against Xehuah on 3/15 in Monterrey. A key is that would indicate no Hechicero on the AEW PPV show that night. (thanks to Paul Sosnowski)

— The Ultimate Fighter starts a new season weekly on Paramount + on 3/27. The season has men’s bantamweights and women’s strawweights.

— Kind of sad to see Jake Hager signing for six fights with PowerSlap. They’re probably paying him a lot more than the usual indie guys who make little for doing that, but it’s still sad to see someone past 40 go on that show. He debuts on 4/17.

— Floyd Mayweather Jr. was announced as facing Mike Zambidis, who was a star in the K-1 MAX heyday in Japan as a kickboxer when Masato was a top star, in a June exhibition boxing match in Greece. Zambidis is 45 and retired from kickboxing in 2015. He fought in K-1 as a star from 2001 to 2010.

— Manami Toyota, arguably the greatest woman wrestler who ever lived, turns 55 today. Lola Gonzalez, the top woman star in Mexico for a long period of time, turns 67 today. Debra Marshall, better known in the 90s as Debra McMcihael, the ex-wife of Steve McMichael and later ex-wife of Steve Austin, turned 66 today. Lorraine Johnson, the mother of Baby Doll and one of the best female wrestlers of her era, was born 96 years ago today. Charlie Cook, a former NFL football player who became a pro wrestler, was born on this day in 1941. Mike Von Erich would have turned 62 today. Lance Cade, who wrestled in WWE, would have turned 45 today. In a little-known fact, Lance Cade’s father-in-law was Black Gordman, who is still alive and one of the oldest still living wrestlers. Doug Furnas, the former 27 time world record holder in powerlifting and a good friend of mine, passed away on this day 14 years ago at the age of 52.

— Green Mountain Wrestling presents Shamrocks &N Headlocks on 3/15 at 2 plm. in Barre, VT at 2 p.m. at Elks Lodge #1535.

— Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano will have a press conference on 3/10 at Noon at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA.

Daily Update: Violence in Mexico, WWE Raw, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania updates. Update on ticket sales to both shows as well as AEW Revolution and explanations of why and current interest level in tickets.
  • Notes on the giant gates WWE drew for WrestleMania last year and John Cena’s retirement.
  • How much Mania tickets have increased in recent years
  • Odds on this week shows
  • Gina Carano vs. Ronda Rousey and a history of how women’s MMA overcame so many obstacles due to those two. We look at what each did, their background, the story behind the 2014 fight that never happened and why this fight is happening, as well as addressing very serious questions regarding the fight.
  • A look at nostalgia fights and different ways to do them and how they work or don’t work
  • A look at the life and career of the Great Mephisto, one of the most creative minds in wrestling as a wrestler and booker of the 60s and 70s, including his heyday in San Francisco and Australia and stories about his confrontations with Roy Shire, copying from and teaming with The Sheik, Booking WCW in Australia, and a life that start as a street hustler in the depression to facing Hulk Hogan in his first match ever in Northern California.
  • The most detailed look at the television ratings over the past week, with comparisons, Nielsen and Netflix flaws, Olympics and more.
  • Major change in CMLL rules and thoughts about it
  • This past week in CMLL including a hot Friday night sold out show with Mistico vs. Templario
  • Mistico talks Observer awards
  • Saya Kamitani update
  • FantasticaMania first night
  • Cain Velasquez update
  • Notes on the death of Brett Wolverton and Kerwin Silfies
  • Mick Foley television series
  • Longest lasting pro wrestling ring announcer
  • Eve sets UK record
  • Tag team holds titles in Europe & Japan at the same time
  • TNA No Surrender notes
  • More on mainstream coverage of Brody King
  • More on WBD sale
  • Report that Trump will kill current deal
  • AEW in Australia notes
  • Sean Strickland is an idiot
  • Dana White talks boxing
  • Gable Steveson fights again and update
  • Janel Grant lawsuit update
  • Another WWE European tour and PLE show
  • Bad Bunny wrestling update

This Week’s Back Issue

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Monday Update

CMLL logo

— Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk all the news of a very busy today with Wrestling Observer Radio.

— After the death of cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes and rioting that ensued in parts of Mexico, tons of shows were canceled. CMLL is running tonight in Puebla as scheduled as well as Tuesday at Arena Mexico. The rioting has not spread to Mexico City. The Guadalajara show tomorrow has been canceled. The soccer game in Queretaro was canceled last night but they did play in Monterrey. Shows in Mexicali, which is a border city, Veracruz and Acapulco were all canceled. The promoter for a Sunday show in Reynosa announced all the AAA talent on the show has been pulled. Monterrey, where WWE is taping on Saturday, is right now on the no-travel list although there have been no major problems there.

— Netflix has announced a Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao rematch at Sphere in Las Vegas on 9/19. I’m guessing they will jack the ticket prices up like crazy in that building and it’ll do one of the biggest gates ever. This has been quite the week of big fight announcements on Netflix.

— Raw has a major show in Atlanta. The top talent from Smackdown was scheduled for the show due to the AJ Styles tribute. They had nearly 12,000 tickets out earlier today so a big crowd that could sell out. The main is the Styles tribute plus the return of Brock Lesnar. The last chamber qualifiers are Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed vs. Original Grande Americano and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Kairi Sane vs. Iyo Sky.

— The first of what will be a lot of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano preview stuff by MVP Promotions.

— The first press conference for that fight has been moved to 3/6 at 11 a.m. in Madison Square Garden.

— Wednesday’s AEW show did 692,000 viewers and an 0.12 in 18-49. The viewer number is the best the show has done in the Big Data era, but 18-49 is the same as last week. When I’ve been talking about how numbers don’t make sense, the show did 0.17 in 35-49 but 0.91 in 50-54. This is inexplicable.

— Thursday’s TNA Impact did 233,000 viewers and an 0.05 in 18-49. They were down a little from last week. No obvious red flags.

— ROH has announced TV tapings on 3/1 at the WJCT studios in Jacksonville. It’ll be a free show with matches starting at 3 p.m., but you have to reserve tickets or you may not get in. It’s an old TV studio type atmosphere. The studio is located near Tony Khan’s office at the Jaguars front office location. It’s a trial taping and if it goes well it will become the home of ROH. At this point these tapings will be for the ROH web site.

— Today is the 24th anniversary of the first ROH show at the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia. Amazing Red beat Jay Briscoe. Mark Briscoe couldn’t get licensed in Philadelphia to do that show because he wasn’t 18. The main event saw Low Ki win a three-way over Bryan Danielson and Christopher Daniels.

— At today’s Fantastica Mania show in Aichi, Sho & Soberano Jr. won the main event over Mistico & Desperado when Soberano Jr. pinned Mistico with the fire driver. This sets up Mistico vs. Soberano Jr. for the CMLL light heavyweight title on Friday night at Korakuen Hall. The two were to have a singles match but they did the angle to set up the title match today. They are running the smaller Edion Arena in Osaka at 4 a.m. Eastern with the finals of the tag team tournament with Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Magnus & Averno plus Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. & Templario vs. Hechicero & Ultimo Guerrero & Soberano Jr.

— We don’t have a list of where NXT will be preempted tomorrow outside of Chicago. In Chicago, the show will air at 11 a.m. Sunday on WGN due to airing the State of the Union address (thanks to Richard Wierzbowski).

— Real American Beer is doing a relaunch with Colby Covington as the new face of the brand. They announced he’s joined the brand as a long-term partner and investor. Covington will be promoting the beer at live events for RAF and all RAF programming.

— Jackie Redmond won’t be on Raw tonight because she was covering the U.S. vs. Canada hockey game in Italy last night. She said she will be on the TNT NHL game broadcast on Wednesday night but couldn’t make it home for tonight’s show in Atlanta.

— Some notable deaths on 2/23 include Richard Wilson/The Renegade 27 years ago today at the age of 33, Nick Roberts, the father of Baby Doll who was 72 when he passed away 24 years ago, Art Michalik, a former 49ers star and football coach in Southern California who had a long pro wrestling career, who was 91 when he passed away five years ago (thanks to Tony Richards).

— Tickets for Raw & Smackdown for WrestleMania week in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena go on sale tomorrow to the general public. There is a pre-sale that started today.

— Chad Mendes was injured and pulled out of Saturday’s RAF show in Tempe, AZ. He was to face Benson Henderson. Henderson will now face former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

— Impact on Thursday has Mike Santana & Leon Slater vs. Nemeth Brothers, The Hardys & Righteous vs. The System, Lei Ying Lee vs. Dani Luna, Mance Warner vs. AJ Francis and Tasha Steelz vs. Jada Stone.

Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao rematch announced for Netflix in unique location

Posted on by Josh Nason

A rematch of the biggest combat sports live gate in history is now on the books for this year as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will fight one more time.

Announced Monday, the fight will take place on Saturday, September 19 from The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, airing live on Netflix. The UFC was the last and only combat sports group to run the unique arena with September 2024’s UFC Noche.

Their initial boxing clash took place on May 2, 2015, generating a combat sports record $72,198,500 off 16,219 tickets sold. The fight also generated a record 4.6 million PPV buys for roughly $410 million in revenue.

Mayweather won the fight via unanimous decision. A day short of 49, Mayweather hasn’t fought in a non-exhibition bout since defeating Conor McGregor in August 2017 to go 50-0 in another massive money generating fight. Since then, he’s competed in eight exhibitions.

The 47-year-old Pacquiao returned to the ring in July 2025 after a four year absence, going to a draw with Mario Barros. He’s fought just twice in the last six years.

March 19, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Floyd Mayweather/Big Show feud continues, Jeff Hardy suspended

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Recognizing the Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather angle was miscast, WWE changed direction on the 3/10 three-hour Raw from Milwaukee with a double turn.

They also played upon how the UFC audience was and how their audience wanted it, making it an us vs. them angle, and trying to make it like it was a semi-shoot, and to a degree, part of what was on television was.

Mayweather played complete heel, acting like an arrogant punk instead of a fake smiley-faced character of the week before. He dressed in a T-shirt, with shades and gaudy jewelry, playing the arrogant rich guy. Show played the role as the WWE representative, which he should have been all along, including bringing out basically everyone on the roster who isn’t booked on Wrestlemania to be his seconds against Mayweather, who has his entourage as his second. The two sides had a big brawl, the level of realism depends on which version you choose to believe.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

March 10, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Floyd Mayweather payday, Vince McMahon skips congressional hearing

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The $20 million figure for Floyd Mayweather has pretty well been debunked at this point, even from inside the company, but not before wrestlers both past and present were very upset at the idea.

It’s understandable, because Ric Flair, who is finishing a 35 plus year career in just a few weeks (and boy is that a weird thought) likely made in the range of $13-16 million (and spent most of it) over the course of his career. He not only was one of the all-time greatest performers, with three decades plus as one of the game’s biggest stars, its record setting world champion, but during the course of his career, only one pro wrestler in history, Hulk Hogan, ever headlined more live events that drew in excess of 10,000 fans. Wrestling isn’t about being fair and Flair would have earned a lot more than that if he was born 25 years later, but that really put the $20 million figure into perspective.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

March 3, 2008 Observer Newsletter: WWE gives huge payday to Floyd Mayweather, SmackDown to MyNetworkTV

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

It was a huge week for World Wrestling Entertainment, as after being ignored for a week by the media, the announcement that the company was paying Floyd Mayweather Jr. $20 million for his Wrestlemania match against Big Show made it the talk of the media.

On the surface, the first reaction is to scoff at the number, particularly since during the week boxing people had listed the figure at $5 million and at least one person involved directly had been told the figure was $1 million to $2 million plus a significant PPV percentage. However, as a publicly traded company, when Shane McMahon, a leading executive gave a money figure, I believe they can’t be like the wrestling business used to be in the past when figures like this were often, if not always, exaggerated. Most long-time fans just accepted it as the usual fake numbers they’re used to hearing, but those inside the company insist the number is real. The only reason to believe it, because on the surface it makes no economic sense, is that I don’t think the company is allowed to publicly lie about money figures.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

February 25, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Floyd Mayweather punches out Big Show at No Way Out, WWE shops around SmackDown

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was the surprise celebrity who will appear at Wrestlemania this year after shooting an angle where he appeared to break the nose and bloody up the face of Big Show at No Way Out on 2/17 in Las Vegas.

Although Show appeared on television with his nose taped up, and a slow motion replay of the punches show Mayweather Jr. really connected with them, and an elbow cracked the nose, we’re told by a company source that the angle went exactly as rehearsed and scripted the night before and that Show didn’t suffer a broken nose.

The card is shaping up as Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH for the WWE title, Edge vs. Undertaker for the world title, an eight-man Money In the Bank ladder match (Mr. Kennedy, Shelton Benjamin and Jeff Hardy in, and likely for guys like Chris Jericho and perhaps MVP and Matt Hardy if the latter two aren’t wrestling each other), a Ric Flair match (possibly Shawn Michaels), Mayweather vs. Show, and likely something with Fit Finlay vs. JBL, perhaps a tag with Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. JBL & Vince McMahon.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather agree to future fight

Posted on by Josh Nason

Yes, you read the above headline correctly: Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather have agreed to a boxing match.

However, details are still a bit light. The exhibition fight is set to occur in the spring of 2026 but the location has yet to be determined. How people can watch is also unclear.

CSI Sports, “a multimedia company that acquires, produces, distributes, and broadcasts fight related content weekly in the U.S. and international markets,” is promoting the event. The company has previously acquired the rights to HBO boxing events in addition to the Tuesday Night Fights series that used to air on USA Network that now air on their Fight Sports network in addition to other combat sports, American Ninja Warrior and other content.

The 59-year-old Tyson famously fought and lost to Jake Paul last November on Netflix — his first bout in nearly 20 years. The 48-year-old Mayweather last fought professionally in 2017, defeating UFC star Conor McGregor. However, he fought nearly his entire undefeated career at welterweight (140-147 pounds) which is a far cry from Tyson’s heavyweight range.

Since then, Mayweather has fought in exhibitions against current WWE star Logan Paul, kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, former sparring partners, and YouTubers.

Former ESPN executive John Skipper, former HBO PPV executive Mark Taffet, and former Showtime PR head Chris DeBlasio all have joined the CSI Sports group with the promise of an impending “multi-event global media streaming and broadcast partnership that will launch with this event.”

May 23, 2007 Observer Newsletter: What wrestling could learn from Mayweather/de la Hoya PPV success

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

After a new standard was set in hyping a fight, and the results destroyed all revenue records, the question becomes what can be learned from the success of the Oscar de la Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight.

HBO reported this week that the fight drew 2,150,000 total buys and $120 million in revenue. The figures broke down to 1,225,000 in cable buys and 925,000 from satellite homes. This broke the Tyson-Holyfield record of 1.99 million buys set for their 1997 fight where Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear.

The show did a sellout 15,955 fans, which was 15,432 paid and a live gate of $18,419,200, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the same site as Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell. The average ticket price of $1,194 was a record for this sort of thing, and the reality is, most people at the show spent $2,000 or more to be there live as most seats were gobbled up at the first minute by ticket brokers that were able to almost name their price.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

Swerve Strickland explains Floyd Mayweather AEW Double or Nothing appearance

Posted on by Joseph Currier

After retaining the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing, Swerve Strickland celebrated with a special guest.

Strickland defeated Christian Cage in the semi-main event of Sunday’s pay-per-view in Las Vegas. When the match ended, Strickland brought his title belt over to the crowd and shared a moment with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather. Brian “Q” Quinn from the show “Impractical Jokers” was also sitting in the front row.

At the post-show media scrum, Strickland explained that, for the past couple of years, he’s been trying to get Mayweather to come when AEW is in Las Vegas. Mayweather finally agreed to attend this time.

“Floyd has been a friend of ours. My man [rapper] Flash Garments over here, he gets a free pass every time he comes to All Elite Wrestling. Because, once again, we’re here to grow this company. We’re here to bring something to All Elite Wrestling, not just take. We want to give — like, if we got opportunities, if we have connections, we’re going to bring them here every single time. And we want to blow this place up and we want to be the catalyst of it,” Strickland said.

“So that’s how Floyd came through. We’ve actually been talking to Floyd for like two years now. His whole family, trying to have him come through every time we’re in Vegas. Finally, he was like, ‘All right, this is the day. We’re pulling up.’ So he pulled up, made it to the match. We pulled out a banger in front of him. He’s like, ‘I’m in, I’m in.’ We might have Money Team invested in this whole thing.”

Strickland said that, as World Champion, he’s focused both on his personal growth and growing AEW as a promotion. He wants to be an inspiration to everyone watching.

Mayweather has competed in pro wrestling once before, defeating Big Show in a no holds barred match at WWE WrestleMania 24 in 2008.

Daily Update: Mayweather-Paul numbers, Bret Hart, Ariel Helwani

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

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WON NEWSLETTER: June 7, 2021 Observer Newsletter: AEW Double or Nothing review, more WWE cuts

Double or Nothing is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Match-by-match coverage, star ratings, poll results, surprising PPV numbers and reasons why it happened, the atmosphere, what did and didn’t work and the signing of Mark Henry and the situation with Lio Rush.

Also in this issue: 

WWE front office hires, their background, the shift in company strategy an how they fit in, as well as the reasons for the controversy regarding Jamie Horowitz and what happened when he was at FOX.

WWE cutting of Braun Strowman, Lana, Ruby Riott, Aleister Black, Murphy and Santana Garrett, reasons all were let go as well as the future prospects for all of them individually.

WWE schedule going forward, with the shows through September, the exclusive first word on plans for NXT going on the road, and a SummerSlam update.

New Japan/WWE talks, the history of Vince McMahon and booking of WWF talent in Japan when working with the Japanese, next Takeover show, more firings, U.K. and Canadian ratings, next week’s TV show and most-watched WWE videos.

A major feature on the life of 60s and 70s star Tony Marino, from his bodybuilding days to his start in wrestling, his international tours, the Battman gimmick from the Batman TV show, his biggest career shows, being part of setting the all-time indoor pro wrestling gate record for North America in 1970 and more.

More detail on ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups and more, all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had which is very different from the television number, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio, talking Raw, the Bret Hart documentary, Dominion, Mayweather vs. Logan Paul and the rest of the news. You can send questions to the show to [email protected].

The Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Logan Paul fight yesterday ended up being a big success on PPV, at least based on the very weak advance. Based on U.S. television buys,not including international or streaming, the verified number we have based on limited data although covering several million homes was 11.9 times what AEW Double or Nothing did. So that probably falls in the 600,000 to 650,000 range but any number this early with limited data is a very rough estimate. It was a Showtime event and they are a public company so most likely they will announce an estimate (that will include streaming numbers so a number much higher than this) later in the week.

The event ended up getting 11.5 million Google searches, so based on that, there was far more interest in the fight than people who actually wanted to pay to watch it. It was easy money for Mayweather, but whether this gimmick will run its course or not as freak show fights usually do if they are done too often, remains to be seen.  But this was still a lot of revenue at $50 a pop.

Francis Ngannou said that it’s amazing that Logan Paul could make $20 million for a boxing exhibition since he vs. Jon Jones could generate more PPV revenue and neither will make anywhere near that, and in fact it’s not even looking like it will happen because UFC isn’t agreeing to Jones’ financial demands.

Even though cable numbers we got indicated a big increase for AEW this week, the actual number by Nielsen for Friday was way down with 462,000 viewers and 0.19 in 18-49. Smackdown had 1,883,000 viewers and 0.50 in 18-49.

New Japan made the call today to go with Shingo Takagi as its new IWGP champion instead of Kazuchika Okada. The Dominion show took place earlier today.  We’re looking for your thoughts on the show, including thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]

The New York Post has a detailed story of the Ariel Helwani contract talks with ESPN. As noted yesterday. Helwani is leaving in eight days. The story said they did try and get him to take a pay cut, and there was far too much money out there from new gambling media sites for him to do so, and projected he could make double what he made at ESPN on his own.

Raw tonight has a Battle Royal to determine who gets a tag team title shot on 6/20 against A.J. Styles & Omos, featuring The Viking Raiders,New Day, Randy Orton & Riddle, Mace & Tbar and The Lucha House Party. Shayna Baszler will be in Alexa Bliss’ playground.  There will also be a Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre contract signing.

Competition for Raw tonight includes NBA playoffs with the the Bucks vs. Nets at 7:30 p.m. and Nuggets vs. Suns at 10 p.m.plus Winnipeg Jets vs. Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup playoffs at 8 p.m.  So the number is likely to be well under usual levels.

The A&E episode last night on Bret Hart was my favorite of the season. I was told it was held to last because the general feeling is it was the strongest episode.  It was basically what it had to be given that it is a WWE production so you’re not going hard after Vince McMahon or Paul Levesque on anything.  I also heard they wished that they had far more time because there were so many different subjects they all thought was worthy of a documentary, from his growing up in a wrestling family, his ascension to being a headliner, the Montreal screwjob, the death of Owen Hart and the recovery from the stroke. It was really quite the happy ending story. Julie & Allison Hart, Natalya and especially Bret were very strong in the piece.

Stephanie McMahon was on CNBC this morning. She said they are experiencing really significant trends toward increased attendance at live events based on early ticket sales.  She claimed the selling of their WWE network content to Peacock is that they don’t want to be  in the technology business and they felt they would have difficulty competing with Disney and Amazon, so sold to someone who can.  She also noted while the company has done well during the pandemic that traditionally live events add more than $100 million a year more in revenue to the company.

DDT announced its biggest show of the year, Peter Pan, will be 8/21 in Fujitsu Stadium outdoors and feature Atsushi Onita in an explosive barbed wire match. 

WWE

  • Deadline reported that Peacock and Samsung have reached a carriage deal for the network on its Smart TV’s (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • 2K announced today the debut of the Forged card tier and rewards celebrating the upcoming Hell in a Cell PPV event in WWE Supercard.
  • ICW Fight Club and wXw will both have new events on Peacock/WWE Network on Saturday.
  • Kay Lee Ray vs. Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK title will be on Thursday’s NXT UK show.

AEW

  • Dark Elevation tonight has:
    Hikaru Shida vs. Diamante
    The Acclaimed vs. Alex Reynolds & 5
    Evil Uno vs. Danny Limelight
    Santana & Ortiz vs. Liam Gray & Adrian Alanis
    Kris Statlander vs. Queen Aminata
    Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison vs. JD Drake & Ryan Nemeth
    Ethan Page vs. Mike Sydal
    Jade Cargill vs. Rache Chanel
    Brian Cage & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Trevor Aeon & Kendall Blake
    Scorpio Sky vs. Trevor Read  

OTHER NEWS

  • Invicta is doing an added innovation for Friday night’s eight-man 105 pound tournament.  None of the fighters know who they will be facing first  as they will be doing an online fan vote by visiting the Phoenix Tournament Voting Portal for Invicta and vote for the four first round matches that you want to see.  You are allowed to stuff the ballot box and vote over-and-over.  For the semifinals, the fighter who wins their first round fight the quickest will get to pick which of the other three winners she wants to face in the semifinal.
  • A story on Mongopalooza, a concert that will be done as a benefit for medical bills for former WCW and NFL star Steve McMichael, who is battling ALS. I saw that Ric Flair recently visited him.
  • Deonna Purrazzo will be going to AAA Verano de Escandalo on 7/3 to face Lady Shani.
  • A story on the Fresno, CA wrestling war in the early 1960s and Ray Stevens.
  • MLW has released more tickets for its 7/10 show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, its first with a live audience and first since getting on Vice TV.
  • ROH has put tickets on sale to its 7/11 Best in the World PPV show in Baltimore at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
  • Impact airs the 2017 Bound for Glory on Thursday at 3 p.m.
  • Scheduled for Impact TV on Thursday night has Havok vs. Rosemary and If Havok wins, she’s added to the Saturday Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rosemary title match on Saturday, plus W. Morrissey vs. Willie Mack no DQ and an appearance by Tony Khan regarding Kenny Omega’s match on Saturday’s Against All Odds show.
  • Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Entertainment and Flynn Picture Company will be producing a movie called “Emergency Contact” for Warner Brothers.
  • Corus Entertainment, Canada’s biggest media company, is launching its firs fiction podcast which was released today called “Escaping Denver.”  Brady Roberts, a Western Canadian pro wrestler who trained with Lance Storm is one of the lead stars of the show.
  • New England Fights returns to live fans on 8/21 at the Hampshire Dome in Milford, NH with MMA and kickboxing fights. 

Daily Pro Wrestling History: CM Punk wins World title at Extreme Rules 2009

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Floyd Mayweather, Logan Paul go the distance in exhibition boxing match

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: Showtime Sports

While Sunday pay-per-views typically belong to pro wrestling, a boxing exhibition with all the promotional underpinnings of WWE or AEW took center stage Sunday as Floyd Mayweather took on YouTube star Logan Paul.

The Miami, Florida, crowd at Hard Rock Stadium saw Mayweather use his patented defense to string the inexperienced Paul along for eight fairly uninteresting rounds, landing whenever he wanted.

The crowd began to boo in the eighth and final round as there were no knockdowns or knockouts despite the massive disparity in experience.

Paul unloaded hooks to the 44-year-old Mayweather at the end of the first round, but with no real technique behind them, the covered up Mayweather took them and shrugged them off. 

Paul kept his hands low the entire fight with Mayweather goading him into range. At the end of the third, Mayweather landed a hook that found a home as Paul continued to tire. 

The fight featured a lot of grappling and tie-ups with Mayweather clipping the increasingly fatigued Paul whenever he chose to. On several occasions, Mayweather showed mercy as Paul was against the ropes, hands to his sides.

The fight was an eight-round exhibition with three minute rounds. There were no judges.

Paul, 18 years Mayweather’s junior, outweighed the undefeated boxing legend by more than 35 pounds with nearly six inches of height as well. However, Paul had one pro fight coming into this exhibition while Mayweather was 50-0.

During the broadcast, they discussed Mayweather’s WWE WrestleMania exhibition with the Big Show.

The event was available on Showtime PPV and was expected to bring in a large amount of buys.

The spotlight will now to go to Logan’s brother, Jake, who faces former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in an August boxing match.

Daily Update: Paul-Mayweather, Ariel Helwani, Kazuchika Okada

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

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WON NEWSLETTER: June 7, 2021 Observer Newsletter: AEW Double or Nothing review, more WWE cuts

Double or Nothing is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Match-by-match coverage, star ratings, poll results, surprising PPV numbers and reasons why it happened, the atmosphere, what did and didn’t work and the signing of Mark Henry and the situation with Lio Rush.

Also in this issue: 

WWE front office hires, their background, the shift in company strategy an how they fit in, as well as the reasons for the controversy regarding Jamie Horowitz and what happened when he was at FOX.

WWE cutting of Braun Strowman, Lana, Ruby Riott, Aleister Black, Murphy and Santana Garrett, reasons all were let go as well as the future prospects for all of them individually.

WWE schedule going forward, with the shows through September, the exclusive first word on plans for NXT going on the road, and a SummerSlam update.

New Japan/WWE talks, the history of Vince McMahon and booking of WWF talent in Japan when working with the Japanese, next Takeover show, more firings, U.K. and Canadian ratings, next week’s TV show and most-watched WWE videos.

A major feature on the life of 60s and 70s star Tony Marino, from his bodybuilding days to his start in wrestling, his international tours, the Battman gimmick from the Batman TV show, his biggest career shows, being part of setting the all-time indoor pro wrestling gate record for North America in 1970 and more.

More detail on ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups and more, all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had which is very different from the television number, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.

ORDERING INFO: 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.

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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.

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

We have two weekend shows up. There is one show with Garrett Gonzalez going over all the news of the past week and AEW shows and then we have another show with Bryan Alvarez talking Smackdown, TV, tomorrow’s Dominion show, UFC, Smackdown and more.

The Kazuchika Okada interview we talked about on last night’s show previewing the Dominion match with Shingo Takagi over the vacant IWGP title.

For this week there was a lot of stuff that trended mainstream on Google, mostly related to tonight’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul fight. The fight was the No. 1 trend yesterday with 1 million searches, which is notable because usually these things are big only on fight day itself.  Last night’s UFC show with Jairzinho Rozenstruik knocking on Augusto Sakai in the first round was No 10 with 50,000.  On Friday, Mayweather vs. Paul was No. 1 with 2.5 million searches which is outright incredible for two days in advance.  On Wednesday, Braun Strowman was No. 5 at 200,000 due to his being released and Mayweather vs.Paul was No 12 with 100,000.  On Monday, Tyron Woodley was No. 6 at 200,000 and Jake Paul was No. 10 at 200,000.

The Mayweather vs Paul fight ended up with Paul weighing in at 189.5 pounds and he cut to make that weight. Mayweather was 155 and didn’t cut as he was contracted at 160. So legit Paul is probably going in with a 45 pound weight advantage. The card airs on Showtime PPV:

  • Mayweather vs. Logan Paul
  • Badou Jack vs. Dervin Colina
  • Jaret Hrud vs. Luis Arias
  • Chad Johnson (Chad Ochocinco) vs. Brian Maxwell – Johnson is an ex-NFL star making his boxing debut at 43 years old

New Japan Dominion takes place at 5 a.m. Eastern Monday morning from Osaka Jo Hall in what is traditionally one of the company’s big events of the year:

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Sho & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Chase Owens & Evil & Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi & Douki vs. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada & Bushi
  • Desperado vs. Yoh for IWGP jr. title
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb
  • Kazuchika Okiada vs. Shingo Takagi for the vacant IWGP title

Ariel Helwani said that his contract with ESPN ends a week from Tuesday and he’s not renewing. “I have some very exciting news to share about my future very soon.  Stay tuned for that. This was 100 percent my decision.”  Helwani explaining his decision on Instagram can be found here.

Awful Announcing talks about The Action Network as a destination for Helwani as well as that he would not be exclusive to them.

The A&E Biography series comes to a conclusion at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight with the episode on Bret Hart. The New York Post talked to Bret Hart about tonight’s show.

Warrior Wrestling from last night in Chicago Heights, IL before about 1,000 fans: Jake Something b Warhorse, Deonna Purrazzo b Ray Lyn, KC Navarro b Cole Radick, Beast Man b Kongo Kong, Matt Cardona b Sam Adonis, Kylie Rae b Holidead to retain the Warrior title. Rae did well in her return. Trey Miguel b Lee Morarity, the eight-man Lucha series with Aramis, Gringo Loco, Black Taurus, Dragon Bane, Arez, Canis Lupus, Golden Dragon, Laredo Kid, led to Aramis & Arez & Laredo Kid & Bane over Gringo Loco & Taurus & Lupus & Dragon, then Aramis & Arez over Laredo Kid & Bane and finally Aramis b Arez to become the first WW Lucha champion. They tore down the house for 25 straight minutes. This was said to probably be the best match in the history of the promotion. They still enforced mask rules and social  distancing but the weather was great and it looked to be their biggest crowd for an outdoor event to date. (thanks to Lance LeVine)

The University of South Florida police department issued a media alert saying they were looking for help identifying a suspect for grand theft for stealing things from the arena that WWE tapes Raw & Smackdown in on 5/22. If anyone has information they are asked to call the USF police at 813-974-2628.

WWE

  • A story on Paul Levesque in the pre-game ceremony for the Philadelphia 76ers today ringing the bell before the 76ers vs. Atlanta Hawks playoff game.
  • The promotion of SummerSlam as the first time the show has ever been in an NFL stadium is technically incorrect since Wembley Stadium hosted the show in 1992 and the NFL has been holding the International Series game at the stadium since 2007 and have a game scheduled there again in 2022 (thanks to David Taylor)

OTHER NEWS

  • Results of the key fights from last night’s KSW show in Gdansk, Poland, its first before a live crowd in more than one year:
    Mariusz Pudzianowski (15-7) beat Lukasz Jurkowski (17-12) via TKO from punches 1:23 of round three
    Salahdine Parnasse (15-1-1) beat Filip Pejic (15-5-2) via choke 4:14 of round two
    Darko Stosic (15-4) beat Michal Kita (20-13-1) via knockout 4:05 or round one
    Patrik Kinci (24-9) beat Thomasz Rmanowski9 (13-8) via TKO from punches 3:36 of round two
    Roman Szymanski (14-6) beat Donovan Desmae (14-7) via decision 30-27, 29-28, 29-28
    Karolina Owczarc (4-1) beat Monika Kucinic (1-1) via decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28
    Ivan Ersian (10-1) beat Przemyslaw Mysiaala (24-11-1) via TKO from punches 4:02 round one
    Damian Stasiak (13-7) beat Andrewy Lezhnev (19-10) via submission for a triangle choke 2:41 of round one
    Adam Niedzwiedz (8-4) beat Jakub Kamieniarz (9-8) via arm triangle submissions 4:32 of round two
  • The weekend CWE Adrenaline TV show.
  • World League Wrestling from last night in Troy, MO:  Kyle Roberts b Jon Webb, Brandon Espinosa b Colton Theron Vaught, Moose Powell b Camaro Jackson, Leland Race b Stephan Newton, Superstar Steve Fender b Derek Stone, Rahim de la Suede won three-way over Jayden Dominic Rose and Sean Patrick (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • Billy Scott, a star with the UWFi in the 90s, is coming out of retirement for the first time in ten years facing Dominic Garrini for Paradigm Pro Wrestling on 7/9 in Indianapolis at the Marion County Fairgrounds.  The show is part of a weekend of shows that will include ICW No Holds Barred, Asylum Wrestling Revolution and No Peace Underground Wrestling, with all shows airing on IWTV.  Scott vs. Garrini will be under a modern version of UWFi rules.  Scott was a protege of Billy Robinson and best known for winning a mixed match over former world cruiserweight boxing champion James Warring.
  • Jody Fleisch and Laura Di Matteo will return to Progress on the next show which airs on 6/19 on Peacock and WWE Network.
  • AAW on 6/11 at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL at 7:30 p.m. has Mance Warner vs. Jake Something for the AAW title, Kris Statlander vs. The Hyan for the AAW women’s title, Manders & Matthew Justice vs. Deonn Rusman & Joeasa for the AAW tag titles, AJZ vs. Schaff, Josh Alexander vs. Mat Fitchett, Fred Yehi vs. Lio Rush plus Myron Reed, Ace Austin, Madman Fulton, Davey Vega, John E. Bravo, Hakim Zane, Gringo Loco and more.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Shawn Michaels wins Intercontinental title

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Daily Update: Slammiversary, NXT ratings, celebrity boxing numbers

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

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JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

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WON NEWSLETTER: June 7, 2021 Observer Newsletter: AEW Double or Nothing review, more WWE cuts

Double or Nothing is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Match-by-match coverage, star ratings, poll results, surprising PPV numbers and reasons why it happened, the atmosphere, what did and didn’t work and the signing of Mark Henry and the situation with Lio Rush.

Also in this issue: 

WWE front office hires, their background, the shift in company strategy an how they fit in, as well as the reasons for the controversy regarding Jamie Horowitz and what happened when he was at FOX.

WWE cutting of Braun Strowman, Lana, Ruby Riott, Aleister Black, Murphy and Santana Garrett, reasons all were let go as well as the future prospects for all of them individually.

WWE schedule going forward, with the shows through September, the exclusive first word on plans for NXT going on the road, and a SummerSlam update.

New Japan/WWE talks, the history of Vince McMahon and booking of WWF talent in Japan when working with the Japanese, next Takeover show, more firings, U.K. and Canadian ratings, next week’s TV show and most-watched WWE videos.

A major feature on the life of 60s and 70s star Tony Marino, from his bodybuilding days to his start in wrestling, his international tours, the Battman gimmick from the Batman TV show, his biggest career shows, being part of setting the all-time indoor pro wrestling gate record for North America in 1970 and more.

More detail on ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups and more, all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had which is very different from the television number, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.

ORDERING INFO: 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.

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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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be talking about all the news of the week such as WWE hirings and firings, tonight’s TV, AEW business and more with Wrestling Observer Radio. Bryan and I will be doing a show on Saturday night this weekend as well.

Regarding the move of the Kenny Omega vs. Jungle Boy match from the scheduled 6/11 Dynamite show to 6/26, Tony Khan said he decided he wanted the match to air live (6/11 and 6/18 are taped shows) and wanted to make 6/26 a major show.

We don’t have more details but NXT did 668,000 viewers on Tuesday. We’ll have the rest of the numbers in the next issue.

Smackdown tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX:

  • Apollo Crews vs. Kevin Owens IC title
  • Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Usos for Smackdown tag titles
  • Bianca Belair will issue a challenge to Bayley
  • For 205 Live: Austin Grey vs. Ariya Daivari and Ari Sterling vs. Sunil Singh

AEW Dynamite tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT:

  • Mark Henry, The Inner Circle, Britt Baker, Sting and Darby Allin aer on the show
  • Red Velvet vs. The Bunny
  • Cody Rhodes & Lee Johnson vs. QT Marshall & Anthony Agogo
  • Dustin Rhodes vs. Nick Comoroto  bullrope match
  • Jungle Boy & Christian Cage vs. Private Party  
  • Young Bucks vs. Penta & Pac non-title match

New Japan Strong at 10 p.m. tonight on New Japan World:

  • Kevin Knight vs. TJP
  • Adrian Quest vs. Barrett Brown
  • Satoshi Kojima & Karl Fredericks vs. Danny Limelight & JR Kratos

The celebrity boxing business isn’t looking good based on PPV advance numbers. Granted, most buys are done the day or or day after, but for the shows this weekend based on numbers we received from one significant provider, Odom vs. Carter is dead in the water, NWA When Our Shadows fall is at 6.7 percent of where the AEW show was on the Friday before, and here’s the scary one, Mayweather vs. Paul is at 69 percent of where the AEW show was two days out.  Yes, based on advance television PPV buys, it is actually trailing.  Of course almost all buys are day or show and right after.

UFC tomorrow on ESPN+ starting at 4 p.m. Eastern:

  • Claudio Puelles (155) vs. Jordan Leavitt (156)
  • Sean Woodson (145) vs. Youssef Zalal (146)
  • Manon Fiorit (125.5) vs. Tabatha Ricci (124.5)
  • Alan Patrick (154.5) vs. Mason Jones (156)
  • Makwan Amirkhani (146) vs. Kamuela Kirk (146)
  • Francisco Trinaldo (169.5) vs. Muslim Salikhov (171)
  • Tanner Boser (242) vs. Ilir Latifi (240)
  • Montana de la Rosa (126) vs. Ariane Lipski (124.5)
  • Tom Breese (186) vs. Antonio Arroyo (186)
  • Dusko Todorovic (186) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (186)
  • Santiago Ponzinibbio (170.5) vs. Miguel Baeza (171)
  • Roman Dolidze (186) vs. Laureano Starpoli (185)
  • Walt Harris (264) vs. Marcin Tybura (251)
  • Jairzinho Rozenstruik (254) vs. Augusto Sakai (255.5)

After announcing him for the new season that starts on 7/10 in Philadelphia last night, MLW announces Aramis has signed a multi-year deal with the promotion today.  

Here is the complete Josh Alexander vs. TJP 60:00 match from last night’s Impact with no commercial interruptions. Alexander and TJP are looking at touring their match on independent shows, doing various gimmick matches like Iron Man, 2/3 falls, X Division title matches as well as meet and greets and seminars. For more info you can contact Dave Penzer at [email protected]  

Impact sold out the few tickets they put on sale for Slammiversary on 7/17 in Nashville.

CyberFight Festival takes place Sunday morning at Midnight on Wrestle Universe and there will be English language announcing with Stewart Fulton and Mark Pickering. It’s from the Saitama Super Arena and is a multi-promotional show. The top matches have Keiji Muto defending the GHC title against Naomichi Marufuji, Jun Akiyama defending the KO-D title against Harashima, Miyu Yamashita defending the Princess of Princess championship against Yuka Sakazaki and Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura.

An update on Steve McMichael battling Lou Gehrig’s disease. (thanks to Barry Werner)

Arena Mexico will be able to increase capacity from 500 to 1,500 on 6/24. They will also start doing weekly Sunday shows in the building to go with the Friday and Tuesday shows.  The first Sunday date is 6/13.

AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show, its version of SummerSlam, is set for 7/3. 

UFC

  • The Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland fight that was set for the August PPV has been moved up to  the main event for a 7/31 show.

AEW

OTHER NEWS

  • A story on Konnan’s Impact on pro wrestling.
  • Kevin Eck’s weekly look at ROH news.
  • Mark Kruskol looks at the biggest Survivor of the Fittest events in ROH,
  • The Cage Fury Fighting Championships, which is the MMA group that C.M. Punk announces for, will be starting up a grappling division with the first show on 7/1 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena called Fury Professional Grappling with both gi and no gi matches.  The next MMA show is 7/3in Philadelphia with welterweight champion Evan Cutts (12-4) facing Yohan Lainesse (6-0) for the title.
  • NFC has announced a 6/12 show in Anderson, SC at Electric City MMA and 6/25 in Buford,GA at Tannery Row before returning with a Jiu Jitsu show on 6/26 at District Atlanta and an MMA show on 7/24 at District Atlanta.
  • Invicta on 6/11 with have The Phoenix tournament, with eight 105-pound women, Jessica Delboni, Jillian DeCoursey, Katie Perez, Katie Saull, Lindsey VanZandt, Linda Mihalec, Paulina Granados and Tabatha Watkins that will air live on AXS TV from Memorial Hall in Kansas City.  The winner of the tournament will get a shot at the Invicta title.  The show will have open scoring, meaning fans and athletes will know the score of the fight after every round.
  • Jeff Jarrett will do a live show on 6/12 from Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore.
  • Legacy Fighting tonight on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. Eastern from Shawnee, OK
    Manuel Medina (125) vs. Kevin Fernandez (126)
    Jacobi Jones (156) vs. Caleb Hall (156)
    Gerrica Trias (125) vs. Ky Bennett (124.5)
    Edwin Cooper Jr. (145.6) vs. Robson Jr. (145.2)
    Askar Askar (136) vs. Justin Wetzell (136)
    Terrance Mckinney (160) vs. Michael Irizarry (160)
  • Latin Urban Superstar Farruko will perform on the 6/19 Triller PPV at Loan Depot Park in Miami joining Meek Mill, Myka Towers, Snoop Dogg and Reggaeton performer Lunay in a concert prior the Triller boxing PPV.
  • After a gym fist fight angle between Real Tarzann Mike Holston and Vitor Belfort, they have been added to the Triller PPV show.
  • Conor McGregor is getting into the mobile gaming business with European mobile games developer Beetroot Lab for a game called Dystopia: Content of Heroes.
  • Daisuke Sekimoto and Yasufumi Nakanoue of Big Japan have been pulled from Wednesday’s All Japan show due to a Big Japan COVID outbreak. Yoshitatsu is also off the show due to traveling to the U.S. for non-business reasons.  
  • Galli promotions on Sunday in Villa Park, IL has Black Taurus vs. Laredo Kid and Are &  Aramis vs. Gringo Loco & Golden Dragon.
  • Game Changer Wrestling runs Saturday at 3 p.m. with Tournament of Survival
  • A documentary on Chyna will air on VICE on 6/17.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Hiromu Takahashi wins 2018 Best of the Super Juniors

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Daily Update: Weekend lineup, AEW notes, Mayweather-Paul

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

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WON NEWSLETTER: May 31, 2021 Observer Newsletter: WWE returning to live crowds, WarnerMedia-Discovery merger

Dave Meltzer reports on WWE returning to live crowds, the proposed WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE becoming NJPW’s exclusive American partner. 

Also in this issue: 

  • Updating WWE going on tour and what early ticket sales show
  • Double or Nothing preview and ticket sales for all upcoming AEW events and what it says about the brand right now
  • Full UFC coverage from last week
  • A look at both Warrior documentaries and separating fact from fiction
  • Collision in Korea and going through fact vs. fiction as well
  • Most detailed look at television viewership over the past week
  • Amazing training notes about an 80s star about to return to the ring
  • AEW TV schedule notes for June

And much more.

ORDERING INFO: 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].

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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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about all the latest news and there is a lot of it, including Smackdown, AEW Dynamite, New Japan/WWE talks, SummerSlam and more. You can send questions for any of these subjects to [email protected]

Smackdown on FOX at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight

  • Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode for the tag titles
  • Jimmy & Jey Uso vs. Street Profits

AEW tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT has:

  • Jade Cargill open challenge
  • Darby Allin vs. Cezar Bononi
  • Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page vs. Stu Grayson & Evil Uno
  • Joey Janela vs. Adam Page
  • Miro vs. Dante Martin for TNT title
  • Hikaru Shida one year anniversary as champion celebration
  • Inner Circle feature with Eric Bischoff

New Japan Strong tonight at 10 pm. Eastern on New Japan World:

  • Clark Connors vs. AJZ
  • El Phantasmo vs. Wheeler Yuta
  • Tom Lawlor vs Chris Dickinson for Strong Openweight championship

CMLL has a PPV tonight on the Mexican Ticketmaster site featuring a one-night family tournament, the Copa Dinastia

Double of Nothing odds from www.BetOnline.ag:

  • Kenny Omega -450 vs. Orange Cassidy +350 vs. Pac +500
  • Britt Baker – 400 vs. Hikaru Shida +250
  • Miro -600 vs. Lance Archer +350
  • Young Bucks -120 vs. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston -120
  • Inner Circle -120 vs. The Pinnacle -120
  • Casino Battle Royal: Christian Cage -250, Penta -350, Jungle Boy -450, Powerhouse Hobbs -500, Matt Hardy -800, 10 -800
  • Anthony Agogo -160 vs. Cody Rhodes +120
  • Sting & Darby Allin -500 vs. Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page +300
  • Adam Page -200 vs. Brian Cage +150

AEW announced a partnership with Harkins Theaters for Double or Nothing on Sunday starting at 7 p.m. with a five hour show.

For the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Logan Paul fight in Miami, out of 65,000 tickets put on sale, right now there are about 10,000 left.

WWE

  • A story on Titus O’Neil helping out the Tampa area schools. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • Adam Cole talks about Pete Dunne on the Mark Andrews podcast. The full interviews with Cole and also Dunne are available to listen to now on latest episode of the Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast.
  • A story on WWE prospects Jacob and Drew Kasper.
  • On Tuesday night’s Jeopardy show, the category was tournaments and the clue was “This organization’s first King of the Ring saw Don Muraco beat The Iron Sheik,” which of course meant “What is WWE.” (thanks to Ken Raftery)

UFC

  • Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price has been added to the 7/10 UFC show in Las Vegas.

AEW

  • A Britt Baker interview with DAZN.
  • AEW has relaxed the rules somewhat starting tonight in that masks are recommended but no longer mandatory for fans at the shows.

OTHER NOTES

  • Kevin Eck’s weekly look at ROH.
  • A story on Luke & PJ Hawx is at (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • Triller announced a concert with Hip Hop superstar Meek Mill, Latin star Myke Towers and Reggaeton star Lunay directly before its 6/19 boxing PPV show at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
  • Innovate Wrestling on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium
  • IWF on 8/21 and 8/22 in Nutley, NJ at the Rec Center. Headlining is former ECW and WWE wrestler Nunzio.
  • The new Federacion promotion in Mexico announced Shane Taylor and Extreme Tiger for the 6/19 PPV show.
  • ROH Survival of the Fittest will debut next weekend on TV with Flamita vs. Rey Horus. Also set for TV is Josh Woods vs. Silas Young in a Pure rules match.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Crusher & Bruiser win AWA Tag Team titles

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