I am back with a brand-new Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer Live, talking about all the latest news in wrestling.
I follow up on the ongoing story about the new TV rights deal between AEW and WBD, specifically developments from the Puck News report that the agreement is supposed to be around $170 million.
I also discuss Friday’s WWE SmackDown and the cinematic presentation of the confrontation between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes on the football field at Georgia Tech. Will this become commonplace
I also wonder where all the star power is when it comes to AEW Collision and preview Wednesday’s Grand Slam which I’ll be in attendance for.
On a new Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, Fightful’s Kate Elizabeth returns to co-host the April 2023 edition of my pro wrestling year in review series.
And what a month it was.
The day after a hugely successful WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, the fate of WWE was announced with the news they would merge with UFC to form a new publicly traded company.
Then, there was WrestleMania itself that saw a highly controversial main event finish where Cody Rhodes did not finish his story while Roman Reigns’ record-breaking Universal title run continued.
CM Punk continued to be in the news as his AEW return, on a new show no less, was imminent. However, he decided to stop by WWE before an episode of Raw and visit some old friends before he was asked to leave.
Other topics: Impact Wrestling lost not one, but two top champions due to injury, Jay White and Trinity found new homes, Carmelo Hayes was one of several new NXT Champions, SANADA won NJPW’s top title, and plenty more.
Join Kate and I as we dive through more than 100 news items in just over an hour. I promise this is unlike any other year-end series you’ll hear or read, so catch up on the rest of the series in the archive.
WWE officials confirmed today that Roman Reigns is currently not medically cleared and will not be leaving tonight for the WWE’s tour of Europe.
Reigns’ absence wasn’t unexpected since the announcement on Friday of Triple H appearing to wrestle on at least the first week of the Raw U.K. tour seemed to be to give the shows a major replacement for Reigns not being there.
In addition, since the tour was built around The Shield reunion in matches with The Miz, Sheamus & Cesaro, and that Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose were instead announced as being switched to tag team title matches against Sheamus & Cesaro also seemed to confirm Reigns’ absence.
The current projection is for Reigns to return on the November 13th Raw show in Atlanta.
Both Bray Wyatt and Nia Jax are confirmed as appearing on the tour. Both are expected to be in Baltimore today to take the flight out from after Raw to Glasgow, Scotland, where the tour begins on Wednesday.
Either or both could return on Raw but it is confirmed both are expected in Baltimore.
Bo Dallas is being evaluated today regarding whether or not he will be cleared to wrestle.
As noted in last week’s Observer, the stories regarding Jax that have been reported elsewhere were overblown as there were never any issues regarding her leaving, nor any walking out, nor any issues regarding doing a job. She had asked for a few weeks off and was always scheduled to return for the European tour and was always booked on Survivor Series.
The show opened with Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and the Usos out. Some fans started a “Hug It Out” chant so Reigns and Ambrose hugged for a pop. The League of Nations came out along with The New Day. This built to where Ambrose and The Usos were to wrestle The New Day, and if Ambrose & The Usos didn’t win, then Reigns would have to face the League of Nations in a handicap match by himself.
Tyler Breeze beat Neville due to distraction from Summer Rae. Dolph Ziggler was watching the match.
Becky Lynch did an interview. She doesn’t believe Charlotte is like Paige. Brie Bella then made fun of her for believing that. Charlotte showed up and said she would always be behind Lynch.
Brie Bella beat Becky Lynch via DQ. Brie knocked Charlotte off the apron so she ran in for the DQ, costing Lynch the match. They teased more tension between Charlotte and Lynch.
Miz did an interview for his new program with Neville. He made fun of Neville for having no charisma and funny looking ears. He then gave Neville a DVD of his new movie.
Rusev & Lana vowed to destroy Ryback.
New Day beat Dean Ambrose & Usos when Woods pinned Jey after a shining wizard.
Bray Wyatt beat Devon Dudleys with Sister Abigail. The Wyatts beat down the Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer and put them through a table after.
Roman Reigns beat Sheamus & Barrett & Rusev & Del Rio when Sheamus was counted out. Ambrose and The Usos came out and cleaned house.
