Even though it feels that the ratings methodology employed by Nielsen changes by the week, AEW head Tony Khan says he had a lot of confidence in what he gets from them.
During a Thursday media call to promote Friday’s Supercard of Honor show, Khan was asked about the ongoing situation with Nielsen’s new methodology and what he relies on as well as if he is getting any key insight from the new MyAEW platform.
Khan chose to take the high road in complimenting the longtime TV ratings provider and gave some insight in how he uses their data.
“I think Nielsen does a great job and I have a ton of respect for them. They are still the top in the industry and provide the best insights and information. I typically look at their data frequently throughout the week for AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision for the United States,” he said.
I think Nielsen does a tremendous job in interesting times as they develop the methodology, but I do have a lot of confidence in them,” he said.
As part of that answer, he also said the new MyAEW service has given the company “fascinating data” for their international audience but it’s a much different strategy from the U.S. He didn’t provide any details on what data and information their partner, Kiswe, provides.
Dave Meltzer goes in depth on last Friday’s WWE and NXT releases, the decision making behind it, and speculates on where some of the talent could go next.
He also dissects this past Monday’s WWE town hall and the reporting that brought some of the interesting comments from Nick Khan and Mark Shapiro to light.
Dave also looks at the latest change in the Nielsen ratings and how it appears to again be negatively affecting wrestling.
All that plus an early look at AEW Double or Nothing, WWE Backlash, CMLL, news, notes, UFC, and more.
Full coverage of AEW Revolution, keys to the show, the returns and surprises, poll results and other business notes, thoughts on the matches
Notes on Tony Khan’s attempt to buy WWE in 2023 that came out this week
Updates on WrestleMania with confirmed matches, matches not announced but are on the schedule, the 31.6% off ticket sale, comparisons of demand for tickets with last year, potential matches and more on how matches were changed, as well as Steve Austin talks
AAA Rey de Reyes update, a look at the promotion and how it differs from WWE and CMLL and what comes next
A look at what happened in the ring when referee Dallas Edwards suffered a medical emergency in the ring during a match and the response issues
The most detailed look at the ratings for all the major television and streaming shows of WWE, AEW and TNA, demos, comparisons, competition numbers and placings
Claudio Castagnoli draws his first Arena Mexico sellout as CMLL world champion
Notes on the other major shows of the week in Mexico
Stardom Cinderella tournament finals and the top matches for the company’s biggest show of the year
Champion Carnival blocks
New Japan Cup notes
Manami Toyuota and never going to WWE and would it have mattered
Sareee talks her WWE stint
Kendo Kashin on Tadao Yasuda
45th anniversary of the Tiger Mask debut and the best woman wrestler in the world at that time is still holding a championship today
NCAA wrestling tournament notes
Ted DiBiase Jr. trial notes
Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW, TNA, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Rousey vs. Carano and more shows
Mistico sells out San Jose three weeks in advance and thoughts on the show
Former WWE champion in boxing match
Ricochet, Gates of Agony and Mercedes Mone in Europe
TNA new business deal
Ricochet Twitter controversy
Former AEW and WWE champion appears this weekend on one of the most-watched TV shows
AEW contract notes
Zuffa makes choice not to accept a commission regulation and will do it themselves
Gina Carano talks about how UFC tried to stop the Carano vs. Cyborg fight from happening
WWE in Saudi Arabia thoughts
WWE’s deal with Front Office Sports and some thoughts
— Our Friday show with Garrett Gonzales talked about news of the week including AEW’s big PPV and TV ratings numbers of the past week, WWE WrestleMania news, the ratings controversy, Ronda Rousey, New Japan Cup and more. Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Dennis Condrey, the weekend TVs, Arena Mexico, New Japan Cup and more.
— Very sorry to hear about the death of Dennis Condrey of Midnight Express fame at the age of 74. We’ll have a major story on him this week. Condrey was a very good wrestler practically from the start. Dennis Condrey & Phil Hickerson held multiple tag team titles in Tennessee and were one of the best teams in the country in the mid-70s, when Condrey was in his early and mid 20s. He was one of those guys on Georgia television when it went national where he was not a main eventer, but was an obvious great worker. He had all the mechanics down, and was good in every facet of the in-ring. His offense was solid and innovative. His selling was great for babyface comebacks. He could impart comedy, seriousness, aggression and drama if need be in his matches.
The Original Midnight Express was Condrey & Randy Rose in the Gulf Coast, and later Norvell Austin joined the group with the gimmick there were three of them but any pairing of the three could wrestle. The Midnight Express of Condrey & Bobby Eaton managed by Jim Cornette was put together in the famed talent swap of Jerry Jarrett and Bill Watts in late 1983 that led to Mid South Wrestling having the best year in its history.
The Midnight Express feuded with Magnum TA & Mr. Wrestling II, The Rock & Roll Express, The Fantastics and had their record setting feud with Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog) which was the most successful few week period in the history of the territory including drawing more than 26,000 fans to the Superdome in New Orleans. They went to Jim Crockett Promotions during the hottest period in that company’s history as well.
Condrey disappeared and Stan Lane replaced him on the team. Condrey had said he wanted them to take the offer to go to WWE and the others didn’t want it, but he just left and later just talked abouot being burned out. Stan Lane took his place. Condrey & Rose resurfaced as the Original Midnight Express in the AWA, managed by Paul Heyman. Eventually they did a Condrey & Rose with Heyman feud with babyfaces Eaton & Lane & Cornette in WCW.
Condrey continued to wrestle after that program but was never really in a national high profile situation after that. Eaton & Condrey were one of the greatest tag teams of all-time. If you wanted ot say they were best ever in the U.S., I would not argue. If you want to say they were not one of the ten best ever, I would argue. They were so innovative with their moves, but they were two excellent and completely different stye wrestlers with one of the three greatest managers of all-time at this peak. They had the ability to have good matches with everyone, and with teams like The Rock & Roll Express and Fantastics, had the best tag team matches of that era and some of the best ever in the U.S.
— We have a story on the high rating for Wednesday’s show up on the site in our premium story lists.
— There is a giant story in television that we touched on Friday. Essentially, new data has shown that more people are watching television than streaming, contradicting data from the past year. Changing of methodologies for ratings has led to a lot of weirdness dating back to September when wrestling and UFC numbers fell badly for reasons unclear since that was not the case for other sports.
While other programming did drop, there was no real pattern of what did and didn’t including on the same stations and time slots. Then at the end of January, there was the adjustment to where wrestling total viewer numbers are back to what they were previously, and in the case of AEW, actually ahead, but 18-49 numbers are still far lower.
This latest change in calibrations would not have affected individual ratings of pro wrestling shows, but TV in general was undercounted by about 15 percent. The Wall Street Journal on Thursday noted this. The new figures weren ‘t released on 3/17 but there were complaints from streaming platforms, as YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Roku, where overall viewers dropped significantly under the new method.
Then Neilsen did not release the numbers at all, And the word is they won’t release this new info until the fall. This has then led to those in the linear television business to say they are losing credibility by holding back info that shows television is far more watched than believed. However, streaming is expected to continue gaining and television decreasing, just that the figures that showed streaming ahead in the past are believed to now be inaccurate.
— For stuff that will impact wrestling, we are told Nielsen’s next adjustment is likely for April and we are told this will also be a major change. How wrestling is affected by this won’t be known until a few weeks after the change.
— One person who knows and understands Nielsen better than anyone I know, and who knows people at Nielsen, said those at Nielsen realized streaming numbers were too high and there are shifts in algorithms being done. Nielsen used the term methodological innovation but the person said that was a euphemism for the actual term of “we f***ed up.”
— Collision is on tonight at 11 p.m. or later after the NCAA basektball game on TNT
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Lio Rush
Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong vs. Lee Johnson & Jay Lethal
Megan Bayne & Lena Cross vs. ?
Mistico & Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey vs. Josh Alexander & Konosuke Takeshita & El Clon for the trios titles. This is the match where Alexander injured his knee.
— Chris Jericho guest stars on the highly rated CBS show Tracker tonight at 9 p.m. Jericho plays a lead villain on the show.
— In Friday’s update, we mentioned the UBS Arena would be the site of TNA Slammiversary according to Carlos Silva. A Silva interview saying that came out on Friday but by the end of the day it was noted that things had changed and that was no longer in the plans.
— Bandido does have a visa issue and is missing some non-AEW appearances. President Trump in January granted a number of sports leagues exemptions from needing visas for its performers to come into the country. AEW, UFC and WWE were all on the list, so that would seem to mean he would be okay to work in AEW.
We do know even if there is an issue, that athletes and entertainers can perform in Canada without visas and with TV’s in Edmonton and Winnieg and the PPV in Vancouver, if they wanted him on those shows he would be able to do there.
— In a crazy thing noted to us, after the UFC show last night in London at the O2 Arena, not one reporter asked Dana White about Ronda Rousey. White was asked a few days ago about Nate Diaz, and said that Diaz was offered a ton of money to fight on the 5/16 Rousey vs. Carano show and White said he should take it.
I odn’t know if Joe Rogan is reliable on this or not, but he said he heard the number was $10 million for one fight. White said that after the fight they are still open to using Diaz.
— White was asked about Jon Jones claiming UFC offered him $15 million to face Alex Pereiera on the White House show and White said that while people in the company may have negotiated with Jones, that he was never going to allow Jones on the show. It is so weird with White constantly saying he wouldn’t be on the show and all the negotiations that did take place for it to happen.
— Yesterday’s main event was a No. 1 contender for the featherweight title fight between unbeatens Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy, which Evloev won 48-46, 48-46 and there was a 47-47 score. However, media scores were that 71 percent had it a draw and 29 percent had Murphy winning and none scored it for Evloev.
Fan scores on MMA Decision had 44 percent had it as a draw, 26 percent for Evloev and 24 percent had Murphy. Ben Cartildge had Evloev winning one, three and five, four as even (due to a foul point) and Murp0hy winning round two. Derek Clearly had it the same. Clement Werner had Murphy winning one and two and Evloev taking three and five.
— Sareee’s 15th anniversary show took place today in Yokohama with Saree & Takumi Iroha over Chihiro Hashimoto & Syuuri plus Natsupoi ver 90 star Kaoru Ito.
— Alexxis Falcon beat Alex Windsor today to win the British women’s title inRevPro. Falcon beat Mercedes Mone and Windsor on successive days.
— Penn State not only won the team title at the NCAA tournament that took place Thursday through Saturday in Cleveland, but set the all-time record for most tournament points, and had four national champions. Even more notable is that a major feud has stated with Penn State, headed by Cael Sanderson, and Oklahoma State, headed by David Taylor.
Younger stars were not born during the Sanderson heyday and have no connection to his career,but do know of Taylor as the best U.S. wrestler from a few years back. Three Oklahoma State freshmen, Sergio Vega, Landon Robiedeau and Jax Forrest all won titles. Vega and Forrest both went undefeated. Vega was never taken down all season.
Forrest’s story is crazy. He was a high school senior in the fall semester, but graduated early and enrolled in Oklahoma State in January. He joined the team during the season and won the NCAA title.
— Sanderson would not mention Oklahoma State when talking about winning the title but how bad things are happening, noting a high schooler was pulled out of his senior year to be in the tournament and was unhappy about how his wrestlers were being actively recruited to leave.
He also noted that Taylor did not mention Penn State once during the tournament while other coaches congratulated them on winning the national title and setting the record.
— The flag football games that involved Tom Brady and Logan Paul took place yesterday in Los Angeles. Originally, it was to be in Riyadh. Brady, after catching a pass over Paul, threw the bell in Paul’s chest which got a lot of attention.
The Los Angeles Times outright speculated all of this is a build for WrestleMania, saying that coordinated promotional stunts by Brady, Paul and Rob Gronkowski are designed to boost viewership and social media engagement to both the game and Mania, and called it all fake.
— We don’t have more details, but on Friday in Lakeland, FL, in a match with Lexis King & Stacks Lorenzo & Charlie Dempsey & Uriah Connors vs. Elio LaFleur & Tavion Heights & Eli Knight & Kale Dixon there were two injuries. King was rocked in the match.
Reports live were that people thought he suffered a concussion but that diagnosis has not been confirmed. But the match continued. LeFleur then suffered an arm injury, they did the “X” and the match was stopped suddenly.
— Also in NXT, former UFC and Rizin fighter Ulka Sasaki, on loan from NOAH, debuted in the ring on both NXT shows.
— SmackDown numbers for Friday outside the U.S. on Netflix were way down for whatever reason, but the show was No. 1 for the day in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand.
— The first ever meeting of Konosuke Takeshita vs. celebrity wrestler Kaisei Takechi will be a main match on 8/11 for a DDT show at Sumo Hall. Takeshita wrestled on today’s show agrainst Kazuki Hirata.
He won in seven seconds. Hirata wanted a rematch and Taeshita won in ten seconds. Takeshita ripped Hirata, saying this was so bad that we’ll probably only get a tiny photo in Weekly Pro Wrestling and said that I wouldn’t even rate a match so bad.
Anyway, to make it fair, they did a third match where Hirata would only need a two count pin to get the pin and Takeshita would need a 20 count pin to win. Takeshita won that match via submission.
— Regarding weekend Google searches, the flag football game involving Logan Paul and Tom Brady where they shot an angle was No. 24 with 100,000 searaches. The UFC show yesterday had 82,000 searches. The NCAA wrestling tournament had 28,000. Logan Paul had 10,000 Dennis Condrey had 5,000 and John Cena had 2,000.
— Ivy Nile will be competing in a bodybuilding contest in seven weeks.
— Masato Tanaka vs. Mark Davis, Bandido vs. Galeno de l Mal, Latigo & Toxin vs. Danny Black & Joe Lando vs. Ben K & Hyo vs Starboy Charlie & Star Man, Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Anderws vs . Lee Johnson & Blake Chrsitian, Headbangers vs. Rhino & Heath Miller (Slater) are on the 4/16 Mark Hitchcock Super Show in Las Vegas.
— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling from Friday night in Newark, CA in a show that sold out well in advance:
Jheri Giggalo b Hunter
Vinnie Massaro b Marcus Lewis
Los Sauavicotos b Cajun Catch Revival
QT Marshall b Alan Angels
Aarn Solo b Alpha Zo
Vert Vixen b Sara Leon (said to be excellent, standing ovation)
Viva Van b Siren Veil
Andrade b Bad Dude Tito (said to bde excellent as well) (thanks to Jim Davis)
— Wayne Bloom/Beau Beverly turns 68 today. Eddie Dennis turn s40. Beat Priestley turns 30. Hisashi Shinma was born on this day in 1935. Villano V was born on this day in 1962. Joe Blanchard was 83 when he died on this day 14 years ago Captain Ed George, the son of The Sheik, was 76 when he died on this day five years ago. Bill Mercer was 99 when he died one year ago today (thanks to Tony Richards)
— Ricky Morton will be teaching this week at the Performance Center.
— House of Glory from last night in Suffolk County:
Angel Jacquez over JJP, Jodi Aura, Rahemem Royal, Tiny Giant, Papadon and KB Prime Indi Hartwell b Deonna Purrazzo Daron Richardson b Jey Silva to keep the cruiserweight title The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens) b Midas Black & Jay Lion Sammy Guevara b Amazing Red Mina Shirakawa b women’s champion Shotzi in a non-title match Dijak b Charles Mason-DQ so Mason Retained the HOG title
They run 4/16 in as Vegas (thanks to Samuel Rosenthal)
— Jason Kincaid said that his final match for Innovate Wrestling will be 4/11 in Kingsport, TN at NetPro Studios.
Full coverage of AEW Revolution, keys to the show, the returns and surprises, poll results and other business notes, thoughts on the matches
Notes on Tony Khan’s attempt to buy WWE in 2023 that came out this week
Updates on WrestleMania with confirmed matches, matches not announced but are on the schedule, the 31.6% off ticket sale, comparisons of demand for tickets with last year, potential matches and more on how matches were changed, as well as Steve Austin talks
AAA Rey de Reyes update, a look at the promotion and how it differs from WWE and CMLL and what comes next
A look at what happened in the ring when referee Dallas Edwards suffered a medical emergency in the ring during a match and the response issues
The most detailed look at the ratings for all the major television and streaming shows of WWE, AEW and TNA, demos, comparisons, competition numbers and placings
Claudio Castagnoli draws his first Arena Mexico sellout as CMLL world champion
Notes on the other major shows of the week in Mexico
Stardom Cinderella tournament finals and the top matches for the company’s biggest show of the year
Champion Carnival blocks
New Japan Cup notes
Manami Toyuota and never going to WWE and would it have mattered
Sareee talks her WWE stint
Kendo Kashin on Tadao Yasuda
45th anniversary of the Tiger Mask debut and the best woman wrestler in the world at that time is still holding a championship today
NCAA wrestling tournament notes
Ted DiBiase Jr. trial notes
Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW, TNA, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Rousey vs. Carano and more shows
Mistico sells out San Jose three weeks in advance and thoughts on the show
Former WWE champion in boxing match
Ricochet, Gates of Agony and Mercedes Mone in Europe
TNA new business deal
Ricochet Twitter controversy
Former AEW and WWE champion appears this weekend on one of the most-watched TV shows
AEW contract notes
Zuffa makes choice not to accept a commission regulation and will do it themselves
Gina Carano talks about how UFC tried to stop the Carano vs. Cyborg fight from happening
WWE in Saudi Arabia thoughts
WWE’s deal with Front Office Sports and some thoughts
WWE SmackDown 3/20/26 graphic (Image credit: via WWE)
— Garrett Gonzales and I have our week in review show and there is a ton of news to cover this past week, from the Revolution fallout, to the 2023 Tony Khan bid on WWE, New Japan Cup, WrestleMania updates and a giant weekend of major shows. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night covering the weekend shows
— So here’s a very Nielsen story. It came out with the new figures from the 1/26 changes in Nielsen that television’s gains and streaming losses were part of updated research. The new data was going to be released as the biggest swing of television vs. streaming in history in the direction of television according to reports. Now the data will not be released as such. Michael Mulvihill on X said that “the streamers whined and Nielsen caved. Under pressure following this WSJ (Wall Street Journal) story Nielsen has elected to put on these improvements until the fall. Meanwhile, the hard-earned credibility of the important Gauge report is shot until Nielsen moves to the new method as promised.”
— AEW Dynamite on Wednesday did 730,000 viewers and a 0.13 in 18-49, the most viewers for an AEW television show since the last two sets of changes were put in place. In a weird stat, over 50 viewers were the most since late 2022 or early 2023, even more significant because those years did not include streaming on MAX while these numbers don’t include the HBO MAX numbers.
— There is an article in the issue covering the PPV numbers but we don’t have an estimate yet regarding how big the show did. Apparently word of mouth was such that replay buys are very high.
— Carlos Silva announced TNA Slammiversary would return this summer at the UBS Arena on Long Island.
— SmackDown tonight in Raleigh, NC has Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa vs. Damien Priest & R-Truth for the tag titles, Nia Jax & Lash Legend vs. Bella Twins for the women’s tag titles, Motor City Machine Guns vs. Fraxiom plus Randy Orton appears and Kit Wilson and Jelly Roll will continue their angle. There were 12,601 tickets out as of last look so the show will be close to sold out if not sold out.
— All In tickets were put on sale today to the public as were G-1 Climax tickets for 7/11 at the NOW Arena in Chicago. We don’t have any update on sales at this time past that G-1 tickets were not selling well at all. There are lots of tickets left for Wembley Stadium but there could be lots of tickets left and it would still be a good first day.
— Callum Newman beat Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura beat Oleg Boltin in today’s New Japan Cup semifinals. I loved Uemura vs. Boltin. If you like a wrestling match where they actually wrestle and struggle and come off legit, this is your match. Not flashy, just high-level pro technical style. Newman vs. Umino went 30:03 and was very good after the 22:00 mark but the period building to that was just okay. The finals are tonight from Nagaoka starting at 1 a.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Pacific time: • Masatora Yasuda vs. Taisei Nakahara • Konosuke Takeshita defends the TV title against a surprise wrestler • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Taichi & El Desperado & Satoshi Kojima • Yoh & Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Douki & Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru • Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. Great O’Khan & Henare • Oleg Boltin & Aaron Wolf & Toru Yano vs. Ren Narita & Don Fale & Dick Togo • Yota Tsuji & Yuto-Ice & Oskar & Daiki Nagai vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita • Uemura vs. Newman for the New Japan Cup
— Ted DiBiase Jr. was found not guilty today of all charges as part of his trial of misappropriations of Mississippi welfare funds. DiBiase was facing 13 counts related to conspiracy, wire fraud, theft and money laundering.
— CMLL has one of its biggest events of the year tonight, El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas at Arena Mexico. The show will honor Salvador Lutteroth, who founded the company in 1934, and El Satanico, an all-time great, who retires tonight after almost 53 years as an active name pro wrestler. It is available on the CMLL YouTube page as part of the subscription, and is also a Triller PPV, starting at 9:30 p.m. Eastern tonight: • Dark Silueta & Lluvia & Valkiria & Zeuxis vs. Catalina & Jarochita & Persephone & Skadi • Ultimo Guerrero vs. Rey Bucanero vs. Toscano vs. Averno vs. Mephisto vs. Euforia in the Copa Infernal • El Satanico vs. Atlantis vs. Blue Panther in Satanico’s retirement match • Marcela vs. Magnifica vs. Princesa Sugehit (loser loses their hair) • Hombre Bala Jr. vs. Max Star vs. Calavera Jr. I vs. Calavera Jr. II vs. Virus vs. Cancerbero vs. Polvora vs. Coyote (loser loses their hair or mask) • Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Jon Moxley & Daniel Garcia & Wheeler Yuta for the CMLL trios titles • Claudio Castagnoli vs. Hechicero for the CMLL heavyweight title
— Arena Coliseo goes for its 13th sellout in a row tomorrow night with Atlantis Jr. & Flip Gordon & Titan vs. Averno & Cavernario & Volador Jr. in the main event. Sunday’s Arena Mexico has Titan & Mascara Dorada vs. Cavernario & Difunto on top, which is likely to be great, plus Angel de Oro vs. Esfinge.
— AAA on YouTube at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night has Rey Fenix & Mr. Iguana & Lola Vice vs. Money Machine & La Hiedra, Psycho Clown & Pagano vs. War Raiders for the AAA tag titles
— UFC runs tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+ from the O2 Arena in London: • Shantelle Dyer (116) vs. Ravena Oliveira (116.5) – Oliveira missed weight by 0.05 pounds • Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (156) vs. Shem Rock (156) • Louis Sutherland (264) vs. Brando Pericic (264) • Mantas Kondratavicius (185) vs. Antonio Trocoli (185) • Mario Pinto (257) vs. Felipe Franco (227) • Nathaniel Wood (146) vs. Lerone Murphy (146) • Mason Jones (156) vs. Axel Sola (156) • Danny Silva (145) vs. Kurtis Campbell (145) • Roman Dolidze (186) vs. Christian Leroy Duncan (186) • Ivo Baraniewski (206) vs. Austen Lane (205) • Michael Venom Page (171) vs. Sam Patterson (170) • Luke Riley (146) vs. Michael Aswell (145) • Movsar Evloev (146) vs. Lerone Murphy (145)
— NCAA tournament in Cleveland tonight has Penn State having eight wrestlers in the semifinals, which I believe is an all-time record. The show airs on ESPN2 tonight: • 125 – Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. Troy Spratley (Oklahoma) • Jacob Moran (Indiana) vs. Jore Volk (Minnesota) • 133 – Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) vs. Aaron Siede (Virginia Tech) • Marcus Blaze (Penn State) vs. Ben Davino (Ohio State) • 141 – Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. Luke Sainich (Lehigh) • Brock Hardy (Nebraska) vs. Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) • 149 – Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. Chance Lamer (Nebraska) • Lachlan McNeil (Michigan) vs. Aden Valencia (Stanford) • 157 – PJ Duke (Penn State) vs. Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) • Tyu Watters (West Virginia) vs. Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) • 165 – Michael Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. Cesar Alvan (Columbia) • Mikey Caliendo (Iowa) vs. Joey Blaze (Purdue) • 174 – Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) • Christopher Minto (Nebraska) vs. Cam Steed (Missouri) • 184 – Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs. Brock Mantanona (Michigan) • Max McEnelly (Minnesota) vs. Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) • 197 – Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. Joey Novak (Wyoming) • Stephen Little (Little Rock) vs. Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) • 285 – Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. AJ Ferrari (Nebraska) • Taye Ghadiali (Michigan) vs. Isaac Trumble (NC State)
— Among the birthdays today are Sting (67), Sick Boy (53), Homicide (49), Matt Taven (41), Jonathan Gresham (38) and Damon Kemp (27). Former NCAA champion and top pro Ralph “Ruffy” Silverstein was born on this day in 1914. Paul Christy was born on this day in 1939. Johnny Powers was born on this day in 1943. Referee Rick Hazzard was born on this day in 1954. John Studd was 47 when he passed away 31 years ago today. Sailor Art Thomas was 79 when he passed away 23 years ago today. Baron Mikel Scicluna was 80 when he passed away 16 years ago today. Sir Oliver Humperdink was 62 when he passed away 15 years ago today. Perro Aguayo Jr. was 35 when he passed away 11 years ago today. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— 1 Fall Wrestling (QT Marshall’s group) is doing an Arn Anderson Homecoming show in Rome, GA, where he grew up as Marty Lunde, tomorrow night at the Forum River Center. Appearing are Andrade, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Brock Anderson, Harley Cameron and Paul Walter Hauser. There will be an Anderson meet and greet.
