Jake Paul’s MVP promotion recently held their first MMA event this past weekend, with Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano doing some big numbers on Netflix. While Paul’s company is still promoting Boxing and seemingly doing a pretty good job of it, who could they bring in to take it to the next level? According to Jeff Jarrett, Vince McMahon could be the man to do it.
Speaking on his My World podcast, Jarrett said “I’d love that” when asked if he could see Paul and McMahon working together in a promotional capacity, adding: “Vince…you can say he doesn’t bat a thousand, look at football, look at bodybuilding etc, I get it. But for every quote unquote failure, look at all the successes Vince has had. And I’m not just talking about the broad stroke of WWE, the amount of successes that he had to build that thing over and over and over, and I’m not just talking about Monday nights, I’m talking about TV deals, rights, fees, international deals, the pivot into social media, all kinds of things.“
Jeff Jarrett on Vince McMahon working with Jake Paul
Jarrett would also question who actually is the ‘MVP’ of the MVP company, questioning if Paul currently has a “Pat Patterson” type in his corner and whether Vince McMahon could be that guy: “Who is Jake Paul’s team, his inner circle? Who is his Pat Patterson? Who is his Joe Silva like matchmaker? Who is MVP?”
As we reported last year, Former WWE chairman Vince McMahon’s plans to launch a sports, entertainment & media investment firm, and plans have been moving forward with a filing revealing the name of the new venture. First reported by Wrestlenomics, the company will be called 14TH & I with the focus on opportunities within the three spaces mentioned above. Whether that could mean McMahon getting into business with MVP, whilst being a shareholder in TKO, remains to be seen.
Updates on WrestleMania, how we got to Rhodes vs. Orton and feuds that are starting
A look at the UFC White House show and how we got here
Full UFC 326 coverage including the most viewers of a TV UFC show since Paige Van Zant vs. Michelle Waterson
A look at the new AEW streaming service
NXT Vengeance Day coverage and poll results
Odds on upcoming pro wrestling matches
Logan Paul’s grandstand challenge to football players gets several takers, including some big names, but nothing can transpire and how it ended
Full coverage of the 16 Carat Gold tournament in German featuring many of the best independent wrestlers in the world
A complete look at the TV ratings from all the pro wrestling shows over the past week, including breakdowns in various categories, placings, how Raw did on Netflix, competition and more
CMLL’s lineup for its No. 2 show of the year next week
Full rundown of the CMLL all women’s show onFriday
Konnan news
Behnid the Nino Hamburguesa firing
Rey de Reyes notes
Stardom Cinderella tournament news
New Japan Cup and anniversary show news
Pro wrestler and MMA star looks back at a fixed fight and more comments including the Japanese attempt to get a major WWE star to job in an MMA match to theri guy
Notes on a new promotion debuting
Attendance updates for future WWE, AEW, TNA and other shows including Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano.
Giant weekend in Europe including the two big Eve shows and the controversy
TNA future direction
Notes from the Tony Khan media call
Putting recent Collision numbers into perspective
How Zuffa boxing’s biggest show did
Rousey vs. Carano and Rousey’s promotional tactics as well as responses from other fighters
Lots of new UFC fights
Jake Paul’s women’s boxing group makes ESPN deal
Changes to the WWE writing team
ESPN reporting side does exactly what they said they wouldn’t do regarding pro wrestling
— We did our week in review show with Garrett Gonzalez today, talking about AEW Dynamite, the WrestleMania build, Gedo’s booking, Ronda Rousey and UFC missing one of the things Vince McMahon was most adamant about, Dwayne Johnson discovering Austin Idol, best matches ever in San Jose, and next week’s Arena Mexico show. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night covering AEW Revolution.
— Many of you have seen the video from last night’s OVW show where referee Dallas Edwards went into convulsions during a match. He took a planned bump off a crossbody by Brendan Balling and laid there. Everyone kept doing what they were scheduled to do. Then he started convulsing. They continued to do what they were scheduled to do including Evans using his feet to move Edwards out of the way so he could keep doing whatever it was he planned to do. Edwards was convulsing and it was very clear they needed to stop everything. Eventually, way late, everyone stopped what they were doing in sensing the magnitude of what happened. His girlfriend posted about a brain injury later but didn’t go into further detail.
OVW is run by Al Snow,and there is the natural inclination to blame him even more because it was under his watch and because he’s been such a critic of safety standards in AEW under Tony Khan and it literally couldn’t make him look worse. It was inexperienced guys who just didn’t react fast enough to what was happening. Usually it’s the job of the referee in these situations to call it off, but it was the referee who was having the emergency. But the video is around, everyone reacted too slow and Evans in particular looked very bad. Going forward, this should be used as a learning tool at all levels of pro wrestling for what not to do. If someone is having a clear medical issue,the match needs to be stopped immediately. They did stop wrestling but the reaction took far too much time.
— Dynamite on Wednesday did 619,000 viewers with a 0.09 in 18-49. It was a tougher than usual Wednesday with the World Baseball Classic, the NBA, big news numbers due to the war, and multiple college basketball league tournament games. It was 15th for the night, 9th in the first hour and 4th in the second hour. It was behind several shows it usually beats.
— Tomorrow’s Revolution show has topped $1 million at the gate.
— In addition to the usual places internationally for AEW PPVs, DAZN will be streaming them live in 180 countries starting with Sunday’s show.
— I was at the Collision tapings that took place Wednesday night in San Jose. The Andrade vs. Mascara Dorada match was outstanding. We talked a lot about the tapings on today’s show and Wednesday’s show.
— There are some clips going around of President Trump talking with Jake Paul today. It is hilarious and sad on so many levels. Trump kept going on and on about how wonderful Dana White was and how great the White House show is while Paul just stood there. Paul always criticizes White and knocked the White House card, as almost everyone has done. Paul said he wanted to start fighting guys his own size, maybe do MMA, and Trump said he should fight Khabib. And he just stood there.
— Arena Mexico tonight at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time has Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ultimo Guerrero for the CMLL heavyweight title, Atlantis Jr. & Templario & Titan vs. Angel de Oro & Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr., Esfinge & Flip Gordon & Xelhua vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Yutani & Gran Guerrero. Arena Coliseo goes for its 12th straight sellout tomorrow night with a battle of three rudo teams with Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. vs. Averno & Mephisto & Euforia and Barboza & Difunto & Furia Roja, plus Neon vs. Yutani. Sunday at Arena Mexico has Atlantis Jr. & Esfinge & Titan vs. Angel de Oro & Cavernario & Volador Jr.
— So the notable thing is Mascara Dorada is not booked so he could be in the Blackjack Battle Royal.
— Colby Covington said he was mad about being left off the UFC show at the White House. Bo Nickal said that he has not signed for his fight with Kyle Daukaus on the show and said he would fight Covington instead if they wanted him to.
— We’re looking for reports this weekend from tomorrow night’s MLW show in Atlanta, NXT in St. Petersburg,FL and Gainesville, FL as well as tnight from Phoenix with any dark matches to [email protected]
— We are doing our usual PPV poll on Sunday for Revolution. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— Today in the New Japan Cup in Kanaoka saw Callum Newman beat Hartley Jackson and Hirooki Goto beat Jake Lee to advance. This leads to Newman vs. Goto on Tuesday.
— El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas week starts Monday in Puebla, runs Tuesday in Guadalajara and the big show is Friday in Mexico City. Monday has Atantis Jr. & Templario vs Volador Jr. & Soberano Jr., and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja defend the CMLL tag titles against Dorada & Neon.
— AAA Rey de Reyes from Puebla tomorrow night airs one hour live on YouTube at 10 p.m. Eastern with Dominik Mysterio vs. El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega title, a Flammer open challenge for the Reina de Reinas title and the Rey de Reyes final with Grande Americano Kaiser vs. Grande Americano Gable vs Santos Escobar vs. La Parka.
— Vikingo in an interview with Denise Salcedo and in other interviews this week teased the idea of going to WWE.
— UFC is from the Apex tomorrow starting at 5 p.m.Eastern time
Piera Rodriguez (116) vs. Sam Hughes (116)
Elijah Smith (136) vs. SuYoung You (136)
Bia Mesquite (135.5) vs. Montes Rendon (135)
Luan Lacerda (136) vs. Hecher Sosa (135.5)
Bolaji Oki (155.5) vs. Manoel Sousa (155)
Chris Curtis I170.5) vs Myktybek Orolbal (170.5)
Brad Tavares (186) vs, Eryk,Anders (186)
Charles Johnson (126) vs. Bruno Silva (126)
Vitor Petrino (248.5) vs. Steven Asplund (265.5)
Marwan Rahiki (146) vs. Harry Hardwick (145.5)
Andre Fili (145.5) vs. Jose Miguel Delgado (146)
Ion Cutelaba (205) vs. Oumar Sy (205.5)
Amanda Lemos (116) vs. Gillian Robertson (116)
Josh Emmett (146) vs. Kevin Vallejos (145.5)
— For the last month, this was the approximate male/female percentages of viewers in 18-49 for the different TV shows.
NXT 63.8 percent male
Dynamite 64.9 percent male
SmackDown 63.8 percent male
Collision 60.4 percent male
So there’s no great discrepancy or disparity
— Candice Michelle was signed by TNA to become an agent and producer. for women’s matches. Beats me.
— Mistico and Mascara Dorada will be headlining tomorrow night in San Jose, CA, at Mount Pleasant High School.
— MLW is taping at Center Stage in Atlanta tomorrow which is almost sold out. Teddy Long is advertised as a special guest. No matches announced but Matt Riddle, Shotzi Blackheart, Kushida, Austin Aries, Titan, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Isla Dawn, Priscilla Kelly, Donovan Dijak, Alex Hammerstone, Paul London, Matt Justice, Ikuro Krown and Okumura are on the show.
— My longtime friend Kurt “Vandal Drummond” Brown turns 64 today. Masakatsu Funaki turned 57. Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks turned 41. Len Montana, a headliner who became a fairly well known actor, was born on this day 100 years ago. Geoff Portz, one of the great British wrestlers of the 60s and father of Scott McGhee, was born on this day in 1935. Magnificent Maurice/Gene DuBurque wsa 46 when he died 42 years ago. Kurt Von Hess was 56 when he died 27 years ago. Arnold Skaaland, a former part-owner of WWWF, storyline manager of Bruno Sammartino and Andre the Giant, longtime wrestler and promoter, was 82 when he died on this day 19 years ago. Andrew “Test” Martin was 33 when he died 17 years ago today. Dennis Stamp, a former college star who was a solid pro best known for Beyond the Mat, was 70 when he died nine years ago.(thanks to Tony Richards)
— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 3/20 at the Newark, CA, Pavilion is sold out with Andrade vs. Bad Dude Tito, which sounds like a great indie match, Aaron Solo vs. Alpha Zo, QT Marshall vs. LJ Cleary, Viva Van vs, Siren Vell, Vinnie Massaro vs. Marcus Lewis, VertVixen vs. Valentina Rossi and more.
— Innovate Wrestling has the Smoky Mountain Cup tonight and tomorrow night in Kingsport, TN as the Beautiful Bobby Eaton Arena at Netpro Studios. The tournament celebrates the 24th anniversary of the promotion.
— Warrior Wrestling runs Logan Square Auditorium for the first time tonight since the brewery they usually run at has roofing issues that needed emergency repairs. Mustafa Ali and Beast Mortos are the headliners.
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
— Our Friday show with Garett Gonzales talked El Santo, WrestleMania ticket sales in perspective, the Great Mephisto’s history with Roy Shire, AEW Revolution, Arena Mexico and lots of awards talk. Garett and I will be back Sunday night this week with Smackdown, Collision, New Japan and other notes.
— Thanks for all the nice feedback on the Great Mephisto story in today’s issue. The San Francisco run was legendary as well the booking in Australia.
— Janel Grant spoke in public for the first time today at an event to support NDA’s from being used when comes to sexual abuse cases. We talked about this on the show today. She was very nervous and spoke vaguely, with almost no details on her case past mentioning the name Vince McMahon a few times.
She said it was a series of miracles that she’s even alive today and talked about consdiering suicide
She indicated suffering and saying she probably left her house ten days last year.
She said that she was willing to speak in the investigation of Vince McMahon by the WWE Board of Directors but they did not talk to her
She said WWE contacted her and asked her to make a statement that her relationship with Vince McMahon was consensual and indicated being offered money to say that and she refused. She said the company then said it was a consensual relationship. She said when they know one party would not say it was consensual, that’s a hell of an announcement to make.
She noted that she turned over all her evidence to the Department of Justice. In the end, the DOJ did not use it nor ask for any indictments.
She acknowledged the love letter that it was claimed she wrote to Vince McMahon that WWE or McMahon’s reps sent to the New York Post. She called it public humiliation and intimidation of a person as well as witness intimidation. She did not address whether the letter was real or the big question of if she wrote it on her own or McMahon asked her to do so.
She was upset by the Liv Morgan angle that was taken from her case and said that they used her case to do an angle every Monday night.
— NXT on Tuesday did 744,000 viewers and an 0.09 in 18-49. We’ll have more details. Viewership was way up against the Olympics but that was a very low 18-49 number for so many viewers, which raises a red flag. It did much better than usual in 18-34. It was last among all networks on Tuesday.
— I don’t expect an AEW rating until Monday for the Wednesday Dynamite show. Everything was moved back a day due to the Monday holiday.
— The Royal Rumble from this year will air at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday on ESPN. The show will be edited down.
— Conor Benn of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing has been signed by Zuffa Boxing. This is like 1984 in pro wrestling. Benn is 24-1 with 14 knockouts and is coming off a win over Chris Eubanks Jr. in November, avenging his only career loss. He was one of Matchroom’s top guys. To show how bad they wanted to get him, he signed only a one-fight deal, reported to be for eight figures.
— One of my friends in the Chicago wrestling scene noted to me that he paid $1,450 for tickets to ten Bulls games on his package which includes games with the Warriors and Lakers. In the exact same seat that his Bulls tickets are, it would cost him $684 for Elimination Chamber. The person earns a good living and is a huge pro wrestling fan. He’s not going to the show.
— ESPN 2 will be airing a 2K26 ratings reveal special on ESPN 2 on 2/27 at 2 p.m.
— Jake Paul will have to undergo further surgery related to the broken jaw he suffered in the fight with Anthony Joshua. This second surgery is because screws and plates from the first surgery are coming loose.
— Impact on Thursday has:
Mike Santana & Leon Slater vs. The Nemeth Brothers
Hardys & Righteous vs. The System
Lei Ying Lee vs. Dani Luna
AJ Francis vs. Mance Warner
Jada Stone vs. Tasha Steelz
Plus Mickie James will have a confrontation with Ash by Elegance
— With all the top stars in Japan, tonight’s Arena Mexico show is built around six first-round matches in the Torneo de Escuelas tag team tournament. This is for wrestling students who are unknowns and becomes the first look most people have of them:
Conquistador & Divino Dragon (students of Ultimo Dragoncito) vs. Pantera Jr. & Psycotic (students of Rey Cometa & Pantera from Queretaro)
Cerebero Negro Jr. & Dominic (students of Virus) vs. Kimba & Tenochca (students of Volador Jr.)
Camaleon Jr. & Karma I (students of Tony Salazar) vs. Black Warrior Jr. & Makara (students of El Satanico from Guadalajara)
Diamante Escarlata & Magnetico (students of El Hijo del Gladiador) vs. Estudiante Jr. & Feroz (students of Ultimo Guerrero)
Konjuro & Sombra Diabolka Jr. (students of Black Tiger from Puebla) vs. King Rex & Prometeo (team from Saltillo)
Rey Pegasus & Tornado (students of Magia Blanca) vs. Engendro & Jay Ortega (team from Monterrey)
Araki & KIira & Catalina vs. Dark Silueta & Olympia & Persephone
Josh Alexander vs. Esfinge for the MLP title
Johnny Consejo (Johnny TV) vs Angel De Oro vs. Neon vs. Daniel Garcia
— Saturday at Arena Coliseo has Volador Jr. vs. Consejo vs. Cavernario and Angel de Oro vs. Garcia.
— Sunday at Arena Mexico has Flip Gordon & Neon vs. Cavernario & Garcia and Esfinge vs. Consejo.
— Garcia has apparently been training this week at the CMLL school while in Mexico.
— Shayna Baszler has been helping out part-time with training and sometimes producing in Orlando for NXT. It’s not a full-time gig. She’s been producing Evolve matches. Ace Steel is there coaching this week. They bring people in part-time regularly.
— Fantastica Mania live on New Japan World at 2 a.m. Eastern tomorrow night (11 p.m. Pacific shorty after UFC ends) from Osaka
Tatsuya Matsumoto & Tiger Mask vs. El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Shoma Katio
Okumura & Satoshi Kojima & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi
El Desperado & Masatora Yasuda & Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi & Stigma vs. Bone Soldier Jr. (Taiji Ishimori) & Yota Tsuji & Titan & Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai
Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs. Averno & Mangus in tag tournament semifinals
Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Valiente Jr. & Futuro in tag tournament semifinal
The main event is really interesting. Valiente Jr. & Futuro rarely get big show main events so you think they’ll go all out. They are young, very talented guys.
— An update from today’s issue, the Rey Misterio (uncle of current Rey Mysterio) PBS documentary in Southern California apparently has already aired there.
— UFC is back at 5 p.m. Eastern with a show on Paramount
Juliana Miller (126) vs. Carli Judice (125)
Jordan Leavitt (145.5) vs. Yadier del Valle (145.5)
Phil Rowe (170.5) vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani (170.5)
Ramiz Brahimaj (170.5) vs. Punalele Soriano (171)
Nora Cornolle (136) vs. Joselyn Edwards (135.5)
Aiden Coria (125.5) vs. Luis Gurule (125)
Ode Osbourne (126) vs. Alibi Idris (126)
Chidi Njokuani (171) vs. Carlos Leal (170)
Zachary Reese (185.5) vs. Michel Pereira (186
Jacobe Smith (171) vs. Josiah Harrell (171)
Serghei Spivac (251.5) vs. Ante Delija (239)
Dan Ige (145.5) vs. Milquizael Costa (145.5)
Goeff Neal (170.5) vs. Usos Medic (171)
Sean Strickland (185) vs. Anthony Hernandez (186)
— The online debate over Dusty Rhodes vs Seth Rollins and who was better in the ring is very funny, because when Rollins was in WWE developmental, Rhodes said he was already the best wrestler in all of WWE to me (this would have been shortly after the death of Randy Savage when we had a long talk mostly about Savage but he very excitedly told me about this guy who was even better than Savage that nobody knows about, although I’d been watching NXT so knew about him and obviously did from his Tyler Black days for years). He definitely had qualms about things and wasn’t sure if he’d make it because of those reasons, but raved about him in the ring.
— Nic Nemeth appears for AIQ on 3/20 in Cleveland at the Globe Iron.
— This is quite the day in history. Buddy Rogers was born on this day in 1921, one of the all-time greats. Antonio Inoki was born on this day in 1943. Gedo turned 57 today. Gail Kim turned 49. Big Damo turned 41. Bobby Shane was 29 when he passed away on this day 51 years ago in a famous plane crash in Florida. Ciclon Negro was 80 when he passed away on this day 13 years ago. Dean Higuchi, a bodybuilder and powerlifter was 80 when he passed away on this day five years ago. Pirata Morgan had his first match 47 years ago today.
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site today: *Road to WrestleMania including the booking changes and injury changes that have caused several changes of plans since they were first in place. We discuss the evolution of this year’s two main events. *We look at how the Royal Rumble show changed on the last day *Full Royal Rumble coverage *Status of different matches *AJ Styles and is this his final match *Business notes on the show *Plans for Elimination Chamber *How Royal Rumble did on Netflix *What changes in Nielsen have meant to the TV ratings and why this has happened, and how it will happen multiple more times in 2026 to a lesser degree *Has the increased in reported viewership helped pro wrestling in the TV world *Full UFC 325 coverage *Death of Frankie Cain/Great Mephisto, one of the most intriguing pro wrestling characters of the 60s and 70s with ties to many different worlds *Death of Bob Lueck, a former Stampede Wrestling headliner who was a CFL All-Star and how he was responsible for getting one of the most important and most influential wrestlers of all-time into the industry *The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling shows this past week including placings, demos and silliness *Box office record set *CMLL star arrested *AEW stars spend the week in CMLL *Major Arena Mexico shows coming *Reyes del Aire report *Hiromu Takahashi leaving *New Japan major show this week *Fantastica Mania cards announced *Best matches of 2025 *AEW booking direction *New AEW signings *Advance ticket sales for all the major WWE & AEW shows *Dana White’s testimony regarding his job *Pride star passes away *Ava departure from WWE
— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the rest of the wrestling news with Wrestling Observer Radio.
— Andrei Arlovski in his post-fight interview after stopping Ben Rothwell to win the Bare Knuckle Fighting championships heavyweight title at 47 years old, revealed that he in recent years has beaten cancer three times. His said one year ago a tumor was removed from his kidney and also had 28 lymph nodes removed and went through chemotherapy.
— An update regarding the Bron Breakker hernia surgery which took place this past week. He has been dealing with this issue for some time but has been able to work with it. It’s like many active wrestlers do and it’s not that dangerous, but if it gets bad, then you have to take care of it immediately with surgery. Kenny Omega had it and was feeling bad but didn’t go right in for surgery and almost died. It flared up last week and WWE doctors told him to take care of it. There is no time frame on his return. This had zero to do with the Royal Rumble booking.
— In a strange story, all over there have been reports with a number as to how many people watched the Bad Bunny halftime performance at the Super Bowl which turned into a political issue for reasons that make no sense to me. Anyway, even though CBS News even reported the number, it is fake. Somebody on the Internet just spread it and since everyone wanted a number first, it spread quickly. I thought it was totally weird how there was a rating last night for something that took place yesterday because that’s not how this stuff works, plus there was a rating for halftime and not the game which also makes no sense. Anyway, the rating won’t be out until tomorrow although I suppose a prelim number could be out later, but the number floating around and being reported today is a fake number.
— Jake Paul didn’t apologize for his remarks yesterday on Bad Bunny after Logan Paul said that his brother was wrong in his remarks when he said he was purposely turning off the halftime show and called Bunny a fake American citizen. Even Jake Paul’s own fighter Amanda Serrano took issue with his remarks while praising all Paul had done for her. Paul said he wasn’t calling him a fake American because he’s from Puerto Rico, but said he’s fake because of his values and criticism “of our great country.” But later he said, “Guys, I love Bad Bunny idk what happened on my twitter last night.”
— An interesting note is whether or not WWE will bring in Bad Bunny in the next month or two after all this publicity. Of course it depends on his schedule as well. The key is that it would be taking advantage of the pub and he has a good relationship with the company, plus, Sen. Ruben Gallego or Arizona publicly pushed AEW to bring him in (as if it’s that simple) because he said he likes AEW more. But President Trump has made Bad Bunny a symbol of something negative and Linda McMahon is in the cabinet and Paul Levesque is her son-in-law who works with Trump as well. If they were to use him now, it would come across to Trump like an affront, but from a business standpoint it would be a decision WWE would normally make to do so.
— The Amarillo paper ran a story today on the 85th birthday of Dory Funk Jr. Funk Jr. was the son of Dory Funk Sr., the biggest wrestling star in West Texas in the late 50s and into the 60s. Dory was a football star at West Texas State and the first of the slew of players from the team who would later become major stars in the industry like Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Bobby Duncum, Tito Santana, Tully Blanchard, Ted DiBisae, Manny Fernandez, Scott Casey and Kelly Kiniski that I can recall. He was NWA world champion from 1969-73 and a legendary figure in Japan, Texas and Florida.
— YouTube TV is introducing a skinny sports bundle for $64.99 per month which will have ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, FS 1, NBC Sports and all the ESPN networks including ESPN Unlimited.
— Cuatrero, who has not wrestled in years since being charged and jailed for a long time for alleged sexual abuse regarding then-girlfriend Stephanie Vaquer, is being advertiseed for a show on 3/13 in Ecatepec. He hasn’t wrestled in three years and has been out of jail for nearly a year. When he was released he was prohibited from wrestling but his lawyers have gotten that restriction removed.
— Kevin Matthews, who works backstage for AEW, was in a Super Bowl commercial with DJ Kahled doing a pro wrestling theme for Wegovy.
— Raw tonight is from Cleveland with some Elimination Chamber qualifiers with Austin Theory vs. Penta vs. LA Knight and Lyra Valkyria vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Ivy Nile, plus Jimmy Uso returns for an Usos tag title defense against Otis & Tozawa and Nattiie makes her WWE match debut with her new gimmick against Maxxine Dupri. They had 9,900 t9ckets out for the show as of earlier today, so again a very good crowd but not going to be close to a sellout.
— We’re looking for reports and results from Cleveland from the Main Event matches to [email protected]
— TNA Impact did 241,000 viewers and an 0.05 in 18-49 on Thursday, up from 201,000 last week. It’s the best number by far the show has done on AMC. The only time they did a number in that realm in years was the first time Kenny Omega appeared on the show on AXS, but that’s a lot smaller platform and things have changed so much with TV it’s not really a fair comparison. Unlike with AEW where Google searches have coincided with the ratings gains, TNA was actually down 12 percent in searches from the prior week and far lower than that of the first two shows. TNA has No Surrender Friday from Nashville on TNA+
— New Japan New Beginning in Osaka is at 1 a.m. late Tuesday night Eastern and 10 p.m. Pacific, so in our time zone New Japan airs right after NXT ends. Hiromu Takahashi has his last New Japan match teaming with Taiji Ishimori against Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young. Also the Great O’Khan & Henare vs. returning Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney, Oleg Bolton & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi defend the trios titles against Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson, Gabe Kidd vs Andrade with the winner getting a Global title shot at Yota Tsuiji, David Finay vs. Callum Newman Aaron Wolf defends the Never title against Ren Narita, Yuto-Ice & skar defend the IWGP tag titles against Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji vs. Jake Lee for the IWGP title. The show has been sold out for some time so from a business end the card sold the tickets.
— Roman Reigns will be on the Raw shows on 3/2 in Indianapolis, 3/16 in San Antonio, 3/23 in Boston, 3/30 in Madison Square Garden and 4/13 in Sacramento.
— Pro Wrestling NOAH announced they will handle the management and representation for Shinjiro Otani, and they hope Otani will be at their 2/11 show at Korakuen Hall. Otani has been paralyzed from the neck down due to a neck injury in a 2022 match with Takashi Sugiura. He was one of the greatest in-ring wrestlers ever.
— The 2025 awards issue of the Observer will be out late Thursday night.
— NXT has Sol Ruca & Zaria vs. Kendal Grey & Wren Sinclair with the person who scores the pin getting a match with Jacy Jayne for the NXT title, Eli Knight vs. Josh Briggs in a Speed tournament match, Jaida Parker vs. Blake Monroe and Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes vs Han k & Tank.
— Jim Shank, 60, who worked in production as Technical Operations Manager in WWE and had been with the company for more than 25 years, passed away after a battle with colorectal cancer. He was the operator of the remove controlled and robotic cameras for television.
— Chris Walker turned 65 today. Madusa turned 63. Shelly Martinez turned 46. Alexis Smirnoff was born on this day in 1947. Milo Steinborn, a famous strongman who turned pro wrestler and later became a promoter and was the father of Dick Steinborn, was 95 when he passed away 27 years ago. Sal Bellomo was 67 when he passed away six year ago. Candi Divine was 63 when she passed away four years ago. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— MLW announced a return to Cicero Stadium on 11/7
— The 3/8 Pro Wrestling Eve show at Indigo at the O2 Arena, Wrestle Queendom 8, is 140 tickets shy of breaking the all-time attendance record for an all-women’s show in the U.K.
Boxer Anthony Joshua was involved in a serious car accident in Nigeria on Monday that reportedly left two people dead.
The British-Nigerian boxer was a passenger in a vehicle traveling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway near Joshua’s ancestral hometown of Sagamu when the accident occurred. Joshua was seated in the rear of the vehicle and is being treated for minor injuries.
Ogun State Police released the following statement to the media:
“The vehicle conveying Anthony Joshua, a Lexus SUV, was involved in an accident under circumstances that are currently being investigated.”
“He was seated in the rear of the vehicle, sustained minor injuries and is receiving medical attention. Tragically, two other passengers in the vehicle lost their lives at the scene.”
Police commissioner Lanre Ogunlowo told ESPN:
“The accident happened as a result of a burst tire on AJ’s vehicle, which caused the driver to lose control and the vehicle to swerve into a stationary truck parked along the road.”
“For now, I’m aware of two fatalities and Joshua himself has been taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.”
The Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corps also released a statement on the cause of the crash, saying excessive speed and overtaking played a role:
“Preliminary findings indicate that the Lexus Jeep, which was suspected to be travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit on the corridor, lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre and crashed into a stationary truck well packed by the side of the road.”
Joshua is coming off a sixth-round knockout of Jake Paul on December 19 in a fight that aired on Netflix.
Paul released the following statement regarding the news:
“Life is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ and anyone impacted by today’s unfortunate accident.”
Life is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ and anyone impacted by today’s unfortunate accident.
Anthony Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion, suffered minor injuries in a car crash in Nigeria on Monday that resulted in two fatalities, local police have confirmed. https://t.co/RbnMDrSl6v
Preliminary findings indicate that the Lexus Jeep, which was suspected to be travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit on the corridor, lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre and crashed into a stationary truck well packed by the side of the road.
Logan Paul has a lot of belief in his brother, but he wasn’t shocked by the ending of last Friday’s boxing match.
The December 19 Netflix boxing spectacle saw Jake Paul get knocked out by Anthony Joshua in the sixth round of their fight. Appearing on ESPN’s First Take, Logan reacted to the result and admitted that it was the logical conclusion, though Jake’s self-belief did make Logan feel he could upset the former heavyweight champion.
“From strictly a logical point of view, I actually think it went down exactly as it was supposed to. I’m not sure anyone really thought that Jake was going to beat Anthony Joshua,” Logan said. “But you have to understand, being his brother and in his close circle, he has this conviction that makes you believe. And he has this ability to defy reality and morph it into his vision of how it will transpire that makes you think he’ll win.
“But this [is] my opinion — this was a logical conclusion to the fight. The two-time Olympian broke the influencer boxer’s jaw. Like, okay, you know, we could have wrote it in a story and it would have made sense. That said, I think he did amazing. I’m incredibly proud of him. I think it was a net positive. I think the world can see now how tough Jake Paul is and how fearless he is. And that is why he’s in the position he is, because he has this delusional confidence that leads him to success and he doesn’t care what people think.”
“The guy loves his job and he loves life and he loves putting himself in situations where people don’t think he’s going to do the impossible. And time and time again, he does,” Logan said. “I’m proud of him and I love him very much.”
The Paul vs. Joshua fight is said to have done 33 million viewers on Netflix globally. Logan told First Take that he’s sure Jake will be back in the boxing ring but he does not know exactly when that will be.
Logan Paul has issued a statement following his brother Jake Paul’s fight on Friday night.
Jake Paul was knocked out by two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the sixth round of a bout Joshua ultimately dominated. Jake suffered a broken jaw in two places.
Logan Paul took to Instagram on Saturday to comment on his brother’s performance, writing:
“Proud brother of an absolute warrior, broke his jaw but can’t break his spirit @jakepaul”
The loss was just the second of Jake Paul’s boxing career and the first time he has been finished. His only prior loss came against Tommy Fury in February 2023 via split decision.
Jake Paul teased a possible move to WWE during an interview with Bleacher Report while promoting his fight with Joshua. The 28-year-old said he would be “down” to join his brother in the wrestling ring.
“I would be down,” Jake Paul said. “I think he’s incredible. I would love to be his Paul Heyman, his manager of some sort, and maybe we can run some matches, for sure. I think it’s absolutely insane what he’s doing, and I would love to help him.”
Paul is set to face two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a boxing match on December 19, airing on Netflix. While promoting the fight in an interview with Bleacher Report, Paul was asked about the possibility of joining his brother Logan Paul in the world of wrestling.
“I would be down,” Paul responded. “I think he’s incredible. I would love to be his Paul Heyman, his manager of some sort, and maybe we can run some matches, for sure. I think it’s absolutely insane what he’s doing, and I would love to help him.”
During the interview, it was noted that a masked man attacked Rey Mysterio on Raw last week, allowing Logan Paul to continue the attack on Mysterio with a pair of brass knuckles. When asked if he was the masked man on the show, Jake Paul responded, “I can’t say too much, but, just know, something big’s coming.”
Jake Paul enters his fight on Friday against Joshua on a six-fight winning streak, including his win over Mike Tyson in November 2024. His full interview with Bleacher Report is available here.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
– Our weekend schedule is a show today with Garrett Gonzales on the news and then tomorrow night we’ll do our weekend show covering Smackdown, UFC, Collision and whatever news breaks.
The most detailed look at the updated Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE. We look at the new claims, the arguments in favor of the case not going to arbitration as McMahon, Laurinaitis and WWE have argued, who is the most in jeopardy, lots of notes on the legal strategy from both sides, more text messages released as well.
Tons of records set at the 2025 Royal Rumble, the direction going into WrestleMania, the fake record John Cena may break and who has always been planned to break it later, Dwayne Johnson, Jey Uso, Alexa Bliss, business records including a very noteworthy record set by the show. We have an apples-to-apples comparison between Rumble viewers on Netflix and Raw viewers which is very interesting.
The ringboys lawsuit goes forward against Vince & Linda McMahon and WWE, details of what the issues that put it on hold were as well as a very important note about the suit that hasn’t gotten much talk.
The most detailed look at TV ratings and streaming numbers for pro wrestling programming in the U.S., including segment-by-segment numbers, what countries Raw is strongest in, competition and more.
Unique tournament this month in Mexico City
A look at major international matches over the past week
Stardom PPV notes
Tag champ brothers release a new album and music video.
New Beginning in Osaka and Fantastica Mania upcoming shows.
Young Bucks talk their return to Japan
Why Hiroshi Tanahashi was in tears after Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd
Hall of Famer says his son has recently got a WWE offer
Ed Wiskowski’s time in Australia.
Lots of news on Grand Slam Australia.
International TV numbers and streaming numbers
Ticket sales to all the major upcoming WWE & AEW shows including WrestleMania, Elimination Chamber, Revolution and All In.
Jericho Cruise notes
Merch sale leaders from WWE & AEW
Story on the retirement of Dominick Cruz and his legacy in UFC
One of the key people in the pro wrestling business and the most important person in the MMA business are rumored to be working together to start a new sports franchise
How is ESPN+ doing
Another world champion wants release from his promotion.
All the craziness of the Canelo negotiations
TKO stock reaching record highs
Lots of news on Mania week
More on cancellation of Cena TV show
More on new Evolve TV show
Another lawsuit with Nick Khan’s name in it
How much WWE stock does Dwayne Johnson now own?
Lots of contract news
WWE & AEW injury stats – which company, on average, has more serious injuries.
– Smackdown tonight is from Memphis. Announced are Elimination Chamber qualifiers with Drew McIntyre vs. Jimmy Uso vs. LA Knight (McIntyre is going to be on Smackdown going forward as noted in the new issue), Bianca Belair vs. Piper Niven and Alexa Bliss vs. Candice LeRae, plus Jey Uso confronts Cody Rhodes and Charlotte Flair confronts Tiffany Stratton. They had just over 8,000 tickets out as of last night so it’s very unlikely to be sold out.
– So after all the dust cleared, Canelo Alvarez will face Terrence Crawford later this year in a fight promoted by Turki Alashikh. It appears Alvarez and his team negotiated with Jake Paul, made sure the rumors got out, and used it as leverage to get a better deal from Alashikh. Paul was furious about being used by Alvarez and is claiming Alvarez is ducking him.
– Paul’s MVP promotions sent out a release saying:
MVP was deep in negotiations for a blockbuster fight between Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas, a massive event for the Mexican, Puerto Rican and American fans, and it’s disappointing to see how the situation unfolded. MVP operates with integrity, transparency, and respect for the sport, its athletes, and the fans. Unfortunately, not everyone in the boxing world shares those values.
This situation is a reminder not to believe everything you read, especially when the current media environment is often controlled by those with hidden agendas, including promoters who have reporters on their payroll. We remain in active discussions with multiple high-profile opponents and are committed to delivering the biggest fights, the most exciting events, and to working with partners who share our values and our commitment to boxing and its fighters.
Jake Paul isn’t going anywhere, and neither is MVP. We’ll continue to disrupt boxing, on our terms.
– Most Valuable Promotions San Juan, Puerto Rico
– Jake Paul said Alvarez ducked him, calling him now an owned slave with no regard for the pride of the Mexican people who have supported him. Alvarez will fight first on 5/4 in Riydadh and then face Crawford on 9/13 in Las Vegas. ESPN reported a February 2026 fight against either Dmitr Bivol, Hamzah Sheeraz or Chris Eubanks Jr. and a fourth fight in October 2026.
– The Observer awards issue is scheduled to come out next Friday.
– Mistico & Titan & Atlantis Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Hechicero & Soberano Jr headlines Arena Mexico tonight.
– A lot of matches that took place on the Jericho Cruise will be airing on the ROH show starting Thursday.
– Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. & Templario vs Volador Jr & Magnus & Soberano Jr. has been added to Tuesday’s AEW taping in Austin, TX. No word on if this will be taped for ROH or air on Dynamite the next day. Expect more CMLL involvement in AEW with shows coming up in California.
– CMLL has announced an all-women’s show on 3/7 which includes the first block of the tournament for the CMLL women’s tag titles which includes American teams Johnny Robbie & Viva Van of New Japan and Lady Frost & Red Velvet from ROH. It will be a three week tournament with the finals on 3/21, which is the El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show.
The El Homenaje biggest drawing event will be a mask series starting out with a tag match with Star Jr. & Zandokan Jr. vs. Esfinge & Valiente. The winning team goes to the main event and has a singles mask vs. mask match.
– Monday night’s (Tuesday afternoon in Japan) New Beginning in Osaka, a loaded show headlined by Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto for the IWGP world title, is now sold out. There is a lot of momentum for Goto right now and I expect a tremendous match. An opener of El Desperado & Katsuya Murashima vs. Jeff Cobb & Francesco Akira has been added to the show. It will start between 9:30 p.m and 9:45. Pacific and 12:30 a.m. to 12:45 am. Eastern. On paper this looks like a great show. AEW talent there include Konosuke Takeshita vs. Oleg Boltin (they had a great G-1 match) and Young Bucks vs Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP tag team titles.
– UFC 312 takes place in Sydney, Australia early Sunday morning their time and the regular Saturday night PPV time in the U.S.
ESPN+ and Disney+ at 6 p.m. Eastern
Quillan Salkilid (156) vs. Anshul Jubli (155.5)
Kody Steee (156) vs. Rongzhu (156)
Jonathan Micalief (170) vs. Kevin Jousset (171)
ESPN 2 and ESPN + and Disney + at 8 p.m. Eastern
Aleksandre Topuria (135.5) vs. Colby Thicknesse (135.5)
Wang Cong (125) vs. Bruna Brasil (125.5)
Tom Nolan (155.5) vs Viacheslav Borschev (156)
Jack Jenkins (146) vs. Gabriel Santos (145.5)
PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern
Jake Matthews (170.5) vs. Francisco Prado (170.5)
Jimmy Crute (206) vs Rodolfo Bellato (205)
Justin Tafa (266) vs. Talisson Teixeira (263)
Zhang Weili (115) vs. Tatiana Suarez (114.5) for the women’s strawweight title
Dricus du Plessis (185) vs, Sean Strickland (185) for the men’s middleweight title
This isn’t a great star power PPV but the women’s title match is a real big one and the main event features a champion defending against the former champion who he beat in a very close decision.
– Former Bellator star Aaron Pico’s contract with PFL just expired and he is now a free agent. Pico was a potential Olympic gold medalist in wrestling who left the sport at 19 for MMA where he’s had some great wins but overall never lived up to his promise. I would expect him to wind up in UFC.
– Harley Cameron has been added to Scott D’Amore’s Maple Leaf Wrestling shows in Windsor ONT on 3/14 and 3/15.
– Insane Wrestling Revolution from last night in Monroe, MI: Adam Wick & Tommy Vendetta won a Rubmle, AD Norman & N8 Mattson b Trey Miguel & Myron Reed to keep the IWR tag titles, Kai Herro b Xavier, Jake Crist NC Soultaker, Madman Fulton & Jody Threat b Jason Hotch & Havok, Dread King Logan b Dean Hendrix, Dread King Logan b Alex Lynch, Silas Young b Ace Austin to retain the IWR title, Kitty Lafeur b Mila Moore to keep the TOWA title, Rhino b Sami Caillhan in an Insane rules match. Next show is 3/20 with Santino Marella. (thanks to Paul Meade)
– Hooligan Championship Wrestling on 5/10 in Evansville, IN features a WWEID Showcase headlined by Zara Zakher vs. Zayda Steel, who are both WWE ID talents.
– Eve has noted they have set their attendance record at the Big Penny with more than 500 fans for a show today headlined by Alex Windsor vs. Jamie Hayter.
Despite a social media tease earlier this week, the Paul brothers won’t be fighting in a ring anytime soon.
Instead, Jake and Logan Paul announced Thursday that they will start in a new reality show about their lives called Paul American that will debut on the Max streaming service on Thursday, March 27th.
The hype clip seen below shows the two talking about how they understand how to create viral media by being villains and bad guys. Their mother, girlfriends, and other relatives are also shown in the promo. Logan is shown competing in WWE while Jake is shown boxing, indicating there will be some behind-the-scenes footage of both industries.
The 29-year-old Logan will be part of this Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble, competing in the men’s Rumble match. He hasn’t wrestled since losing the United States Championship to LA Knight at last August’s SummerSlam.
He and his fiancee, Nina Agdal, welcomed their first child in September.
Jake Paul is open to coming to WWE — but he’d rather manage his brother than be a full-time wrestler.
Following his boxing victory over Mike Tyson, Jake was a guest on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast this week. Logan asked Jake if he would ever consider being part of WWE:
Logan: Would you ever consider coming to the WWE?
Jake: I would love to, but I would want to be like your Paul Heyman. I wouldn’t want to like wrestle as much, like I could do some sh*t, but I’d want to be your sidekick businessman or some sh*t.
Logan: Well bro, I’m going to go for it. Like, I’m going to go for it. And perhaps if you retire — you become [boxing] world champion and then you retire and I’m still wrestling, you could be like my manager who also has a mean right hand.
Jake: Why can’t I do it now?
Logan: I guess you could do it now. It’s just time consuming.
Jake: Yeah, that’s true. But yeah, let’s do it. You’re going to become WWE Champion.
Logan: I think so too.
Logan said his ultimate goal would be for the Paul brothers to hold World Championships in their respective sports while Jake’s girlfriend — speed skater Jutta Leerdam — wins Olympic gold.
When Logan faced Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel 2022, Jake got involved in that match and tried to fend off The Bloodline. Logan has never been a World Champion in WWE but did hold the United States title before dropping it to LA Knight at SummerSlam this August.
Despite experiencing major streaming issues, Jake Paul vs. Tyson was a huge hit for Netflix with the streaming company claiming that the broadcast peaked with an audience of more than 60 million homes worldwide. WWE Raw will be moving to Netflix at the start of 2025.
On a night marred by Netflix buffering issues and poor streaming quality, Jake Paul did what many expected and defeated the legendary Mike Tyson in an eight round boxing match on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
Paul won the fight on the judges’ scorecards by counts of 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73.
The bout itself was devoid of any firefights between the two or even signature moments. The 58-year-old Tyson, who fought with a knee brace on his right leg, slowed as the fight went on as did Paul. The crowd responded in kind, booing in frustration as the fight developed.
Perhaps the bigger story of the night were the issues the streaming giant had starting with the Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor co-main event rematch. Users on social media complained loudly about experiencing problems with buffering, unavailable video, and the video quality itself — a narrative Netflix didn’t want to deal with as their NFL Christmas Day games approach in addition to the launch of WWE in January.
However, it should be noted that the amount of viewers worldwide for the Tyson vs. Paul fight was considerably more than the NFL or WWE are expected to garner. During his post-fight promo, Paul referenced 120 million viewers but that is unverified as of this writing.
Tyson declined to announce his retirement with Jake’s brother Logan Paul offering to fight Tyson next which the legend quickly agreed to.
The rules were eight two-minute rounds with 14 ounce gloves, four ounces bigger than for usual heavyweight fights.
The fight between Tyson (50-7) and the 27-year-old Paul (11-1) was first announced in early-March for late-July, but was pushed back due to Tyson suffering ulcer complications in June.
Perhaps the most viral moment of the night was Tyson doing a backstage interview, walking away, and showing his bare buttocks in an unintended moment of hilarity.
It was Tyson’s first fight of any kind since a November 2020 exhibition boxing bout with Roy Jones Jr. which was preceded by a 15-year-gap of inactivity.
With Bryan Alvarez out, EL COCHINO Tom Lawlor joins Mike Sempervive to take you through everything that’s going on in the world of pro wrestling – and other things. Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul, Matt Riddle not being Goldberg’s opponent, plus tonight’s AEW Dynamite, last night’s NXT and more! It’s a fun show as always, so check it out~!
It’s another episode of We’re Live, Pal (available for free on YouTube below in addition to audio) as Andrew Zarian and I talk about what’s going on in wrestling today.
We kicked off the show talking Andrew’s latest scoop on both AEW and Ring of Honor running New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom.
