The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including night two of WrestleMania, all the matches and angles, Cody Rhodes fallout from Saturday night and some thoughts on jumping from AEW to WWE and vice versa, the Jon Huber/Shad Gaspard Award and more. A packed show, so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: WrestleMania night two
43:36: Cody Rhodes fallout
51:40: Shad Gaspard/Jon Huber award
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WON NEWSLETTER: December 27, 2021 Observer Newsletter: COVID hits pro wrestling again, Corporal Kirchner passes away
In this week’s issue:
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Garrett and I did our weekend show already today and talked about a number of different topics including how the audience for WWE and AEW has changed over the past year, Brodie Lee, the Brodie Lee tribute TV show, Hook, Cody Rhodes and answering questions.
As things stand right now, it is most likely Garrett and I will be doing tomorrow night’s show covering Raw and Bryan and I will be back on Wednesday.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of Jon Huber aka Brodie Lee. With the benefit of hindsight, the Jon Huber tribute show that AEW put on, for what it was supposed to be, was among the best television wrestling shows in history.
Big E wrote this for today about Jon Huber: “One year ago today, Jon Huber, one of my best friends on earth, passed away. I still have a dozen things I want to text him every day. I still remember the way he would type out laughter in text (“ha ha ha.”). I still have the play-by-play of his son’s amateur wrestling performance in my phone, as Jon anxiously & proudly watched on. The dream of driving fifteen minutes to his Tampa house for Sunday dinners when we retired still lingers. There will still never be anyone to fill his shoes. As painfully tragic as this has all been, there’s so much good to reflect on. I’m so grateful that so many people have made a commitment to keeping Jon’s memory alive. I’m so glad he so enriched the lives of so many people in and out of this profession. Brodie (he was always “Brodie” to me), the laughs we shared far surpassed the tears I’ve shed over you. I hope we all continue to honor you in the way you deserve. I still miss you and will always love you, my friend.”
WWE returns to the road with shows tonight in Madison Square Garden and the Amalie Arena in Tampa. Due to issues with a number of COVID positives, there will be key people missing on both shows. PW Insider reported that WWE sent Natalya, who is on the Smackdown side, to the Raw show in MSG and that they are trying to bring in Edge for a house show appearance due to those missing the show. Natalya on social media confirmed being on the way to the show.
We are looking for reports on both of today’s shows as well as all the shows this week including tomorrow’s Raw in Detroit and the Smackdown brand house show in Orlando. We’re looking for results, finishes and other highlights to [email protected]
Tonight’s MSG show may be the lowest attended show in the building in decades. There were less than 5,800 tickets out as of Thursday and because of business relationships, there would be more of those comped than any other arena they would run a house show in. This is with a show advertised around the first time there had ever been two cage matches on a cad in the building. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Pete Dunne for the NXT title will be on all the Raw brand house shows this week starting with MSG tonight.
Planned for Raw, and everything is subject to change due to and Omicron strain of COVID spreading, is A.J. Styles vs. Omos, Damien Priest vs. Dolph Ziggler for the U.S. title, Finn Balor vs. Austin Theory, Randy Orton vs. Otis and Miz and Maryse renew their wedding vows. If Montez Ford is cleared they will do the finals of the tag team tournament from a few weeks ago with the Mysterios vs. Street Profits, also depending on if Vince McMahon changes his mind.
Becky Lynch is appearing on the TMZ Merry Effin’ Christmas special tonight on FOX.
SB Kento appeared to have injured his knee at today’s Dragon Gate show. Kento & Hyo won the Open the Twin Gate titles at today’s show at the Fukuoka International Center Arena from Naruki Doi & Takashi Yoshida. Kai beat Yamato in 27:16 to win the Open the Dream Gate title in the main event.
For Wednesday’s Stardom PPV from Sumo Hall in Tokyo with the Utami Hayashishita vs; Syuri no time limit rematch, it will be on PPV. We should have more details on this tomorrow but there will be English broadcasting from Stewart Fulton and Waka Tsukiyama (who will likely join in match three since she’s working on the card).
On the DDT show at Yoyogi Gym, Konosuke Takeshita retained the KO-D title over Yuji Okabayashi and Harashima & Naomi Yoshimura beat Yuji Hino & The Bodyguard. Was told the Takeshita vs. Okabayashi match was great.
42-year-old Takanori Gomi, who last fought at 172 but fought most of his career at 155, faces Tenshin Naskuawa, who usually fights at 124 pounds and is a 23-year-old kickboxing star as the featured match of the traditional Rizin New Year’s Eve show at the Saitama Super Arena. It will be a two round exhibition fight under boxing rules. Nasukawa, who fought Floyd Mayweather under boxing rules at the New Year’s Eve show on December 31, 2018, has said he will be leaving kickboxing for boxing.
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WON NEWSLETTER: December 13, 2021 Observer Newsletter: Jeff Hardy released by WWE, death of Blackjack Lanza
In this week’s issue:
Current subscribers click here to read.
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.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about Jimmy Rave, Jon Huber, Wrestler of the Year as well as tonight’s Raw. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected].
Today would have been the 10th anniversary for Jon and Amanda Huber. We are also just weeks from the first anniversary of Jon’s death. Amanda wrote a story about her life with Jon that I would label must read.
We’re looking for reports from St. Paul tonight for Raw with anything not on the live show, such as Main Event or dark matches. We are also doing polls on UFC 269 and ROH Final Battle, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumb s in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Raw is unknown tonight past Bobby Lashley will be doing an interview, Bianca Belair faces Doudrop in a match and Maryse returns. The Mysterios vs,. Street Profits match for a tag title shot scheduled for tonight is off. WWE said that there were injuries to both teams and the match would be rescheduled. Montez Ford was injured. Announced for dark matches are Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the women’s title and Big E vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE title.
The competition tonight is the Los Angeles Rams vs. St. Louis Cardinals which, based on one team being 8-4 and the other being 10-2, should be significant competition.
For tonight’s show, they are moving people who were in the upper decks down in front of the camera. There were still a lot of seats in front of the camera not sold so they will have to be moving people and perhaps papering. They’ve also dropped prices although that is part of normal procedure is they start out with very expensive prices, and get the hardcores to buy the best seats early, and then drop prices near the show to try and drive late buys based on discounting.
For Friday ratings, Smackdown did 2,142,000 viewers and 0.50 in 18-49. Rampage did 503,000 viewers and 0.18 (tag title match did 0.22 and 601,000).
Showbuzz Daily hasn’t been updated today. The ratings are out so it could be a one day thing, but after that disappearance for months, you wonder every time as there is no message regarding it.
Sports Business Journal listed the WWE threesome of Nick Khan,Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon in their list of the top ten most influential sports executives. The top ten were listed more as a category with WWE in the top ten listing those three. Others in the top ten included ESPN, NBC Sports Group, Amazon, CBS Sports, Fox Sports and Warner Media/Turner Spots.
Bellator announced a title unification with heavyweight champion Ryan Bader (28-7,1 no contest) vs. Valentin Moldasky (11-1), the interim champion, taking place on 1/29 in Phoenix, which is head-to-head with the Royal Rumble. Also announced for that show is Darrion Caldwell vs. Enique Barzola.
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