Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Lex Luger and Sting and whether Tony Khan should allow Sting to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame, Cody and Cena and The Rock, New Japan Cup, Goldberg returning soon, Homicide is retiring and why, AEW and NXT TV reports, Collision spoilers and tons more.
A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: Margie Laszlo passes away 3:44: Lex Luger requests Sting for WWE Hall of Fame, Cody Rhodes and John Cena’s promo didn’t mention The Rock, NJPW Cup notes, Goldberg on Ariel Helwani 14:11: WWE announces European tour for this summer, Homicide retiring on Thursday 19:50: Ratings 33:03: AEW Dynamite recap 48:47: WWE NXT recap 1:00:11: AEW Collision spoilers
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the “Ring Boy” lawsuit, what’s up with The Rock and Drew McIntyre and Alexa Bliss and Duke Hudson and Conor McGregor, Curry Man is retiring, the WWE Raw report and Royal Rumble fallout, and more!
A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Maryland Supreme Court holds up law allowing ring boy suit to move forward
6:22: The Rock’s status for WrestleMania, other WrestleMania plans
15:47 Update on Drew McIntyre, what happened with Alexa Bliss
22:25: Duke Hudson released, Curry Man retires from wrestling, Jericho Cruise, Elias joining forces with The Righteous
27:48: Conor McGregor spit on someone, Dana White says he never wants to retire, ratings
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the RAW after WrestleMania, the Rock and Cody Rhodes and all they’ve seemed to build up for the future, Drew McIntyre, WWE business, AEW airing the Jack Perry vs. CM Punk footage, and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
WRESTLING OBSERVER RADIO with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including an update on Wheeler Yuta, the retirement of Chigusa Nagayo, Collision airdate changes, Smackdown and RAW recaps for the week including the incredible angle with the Rock and Cody Rhodes, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Wheeler Yuta out of CMLL event
4:17: Chigusa Nagayo retires
12:34: Motor City Machine Guns TNA contract coming up, Upcoming AEW schedule due to March Madness, Stipulations for the upcoming Tanga Loa/Great-O-Khan match, SmackDown ratings
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Ole Anderson, NXT and AEW this week, the return of Booker T, RAW notes, WrestleMania, Rock and Roman Reigns, ratings, all the news and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including WWE shifting and not shifting stories and fans’ reaction to that, Rock and Roman Reigns, NXT and AEW line-ups for this week, could AEW go to FOX?, RAW notes and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the huge WrestleMania press event from the T-Mobile Arena this afternoon, what we expect to happen and how Bryan would book it, Mercedes Mone and AEW, the Dynamite report from last night and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the now-obvious angle with Rock, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, how it was pushed on RAW, the big press event on Thursday, the latest on Stardom, RAW report from Monday night, mailbag and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Anniversary of the death of El Santo, deaths of Carl Weathers, Rich Caster, Asahi, Bruiser Muir
5:29: The latest on The Rock/Cody Rhodes/Roman Reigns
12:07: Stardom/Rossy Ogawa updates, Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura hair vs. hair match
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including what’s going on with Rock and Roman Reigns and the timeline of events, Rossy Ogawa leaving Stardom and what is likely next, notes on NXT, Smackdown and Collision and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Even though this year’s WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas, has yet to happen, WWE is already looking to make WrestleMania 39 in Inglewood, California, its biggest ever.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer said the idea for next year’s event at SoFi Stadium is to have Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vs. Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch as its two big showcase matches.
He also noted “a million things may happen between then and now” considering Johnson’s schedule and how things are always changing in WWE, but that Rousey’s deal is for her to be a regular on SmackDown through next year’s Mania at minimum.
After nearly two years away, Rousey returned at this year’s women’s Royal Rumble match and won it. She is expected to use the win to challenge SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair at this year’s WrestleMania which should be confirmed Friday night.
When news initially broke of Rousey returning, many thought a match against Lynch at this year’s WrestleMania would be the plan given their stature and history.
Johnson hasn’t wrestled since 2016’s WrestleMania 32 in Dallas when he defeated Erick Rowan in six seconds. Before that, he was in WWE for three matches in 2013 against CM Punk (twice) and John Cena.
The departure of Steve Williams (Stone Cold Steve Austin) took a unique turn as WWE attempted to use him for one last Raw rating on 6/17, coming off the heels of Austin making national publicity for allegedly beating wife Debra in the early morning on 6/15 at their home in San Antonio.
Over a five-year-period, no character in the history of the pro wrestling industry has generated more revenue than Steve Austin has done the past five years. That period includes a year he was just starting to heat up in 1997, and another ten months lost after neck surgery. He was the key character (well, on the WWF side, the key reason was the incompetence of the opposition) in turning the corner of a losing wrestling war. More importantly, he was the most important cog in the wheel, between drawing more revenue over a one year period than any wrestler in history ever had at the box office, on PPV, and in merchandising, taking the company from an $83 million per year business that was in financial disarray to a business that peaked at $456 million in revenue one year ago and was valued at more than $1 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.
Despite recent speculation that he wouldn’t be at Wrestlemania in 2016 due to ongoing movie commitments, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirmed via Instagram Monday that he would indeed make an appearance at the WWE’s marquee event.
The show is expected to set an all-time pro wrestling attendance record and Rock admittedly wants to play his own part in helping set that attendance record.
Wrestlemania 32 will be held at AT&T Stadium in Dallas as part of a big weekend that also features an NXT TakeOver event, the annual Hall of Fame ceremony and the always-raucous post-Mania RAW, traditionally the hottest and most highly rated show of the year.
This will be the fifth straight Wrestlemania appearance for Johnson, who had a two-year break during which he and the company were on tenuous terms in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, he made his return to host the Atlanta show, and got involved in the WWE championship match between John Cena and The Miz, leading to a challenge to Cena at the following year’s show in his hometown of Miami, which would end up being a non-title match.
Following that show, Rock announced that he was “back” and his goal now was to win the WWE World title. He did just that at the following year’s Royal Rumble, ending CM Punk’s year-plus reign. This set up a return match with Cena, who had won the Rumble match. Rock dropped the belt to Cena in the main event of Wrestlemania 29 and suffered a serious injury in that match. The injury delayed the filming of the big-budget Hercules movie and put into question the idea of Rock ever wrestling another match.
In 2014, at the New Orleans Superdome (or Silverdome), the Rock made an announced and unadvertised appeared in the show’s opening segment. He, Steve Austin and Mania host Hulk Hogan went back and forth in an entertaining verbal sparring match. The three shared beers without any physical confrontation.
At least year’s show in another unadvertised, but not unexpected, appearance, Rock appeared again to break up a Stephanie McMahon/Triple H interview segment. This led to a verbal barrage by Stephanie on the Rock in which she also got physical. Not one to bestow physical violent on a woman (especially in this PG era), Rock introduced then-UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey to physically confront Stephanie. Rousey was seated at ringside and entered the ring in perhaps the most memorable moment of the entire show.
This was expected to set up a potential match, or even matches, involving Rock, Rousey, Stephanie and Triple H at this year’s show. Rousey’s movie commitments and UFC contract led to her being taken out of the equation fairly early, and it was reported a couple months back already that Rock would not be available for a match either.
His appearance on the show this year should help to some degree, but him not being in a match will prevent it from making a major impact. Nothing is going to top last year’s appearance and we’ve already seen him wrestle in high-profile matches at recent shows. But this certainly won’t hurt and gives WWE a name with some mainstream credibility to put on the show’s marquee and in advertising hype for the event.
Wrestling Observer Live is back today with special guest Dave Meltzer to talk some of the main stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter! WrestleMania plans, why it appears both Rock and Ronda Rousey won’t wrestle on the show, Mirko Crocop’s drug test failure and tons more! Plus, your phone calls, text messages and more!
This is a FREE SHOW so please spread the word! Wrestling Observer Live airs daily at noon PT/3 ET on Sports Byline USA, available free through TuneIn Radio, iHeart Radio and more. A full affiliate list is available at sportsbyline.com Subscribers have full access to commercial-free downloads plus over 7,000 new and archived shows! Dave and Bryan do minimum three shows per week in addition to as many as 20 other weekly members-only shows. Sign up at wrestlingobserver.com for all of this new audio content, plus over 7,000 archived shows dating back to 2005!
It’s the weekend edition of Wrestling Observer Radio! Tons to discuss including notes on Raw Monday, the Steve Austin podcast with Brock Lesnar, some WrestleMania thoughts, weekend news from WWE in Mexico, EVOLVE and more, plus a bunch of mailbag questions! A fun show as always so check it out~!
