Turner Broadcasting and the NHL announced a deal on 4/27, which had been rumored the day before, for a seven-year contract that would include games on TBS, TNT, Bleacher Report and HBO Max.
NBC, which held the rights, officially pulled out of the bidding days earlier. WWE President Nick Khan on 4/22 was the first to say publicly that he didn’t expect NBC to get the second half of the NHL package. The package was going to go to USA as part of NBC for Wednesday night games weekly during the season. The plan was to start late this season to acclimate viewers to USA as the home for hockey when NBC Sports Network, the previous home, is shut down. The idea was to strengthen USA by giving them more live sports programming with the NHL and NASCAR being the prime properties. But NBCU made a low bid.
Turner bid $225 million per year for a deal that would start in the 2021-2022 season and last until the 2027-2028 season. In Canada a few days earlier it was being reported that FOX and FS 1 were the favorites to get the second half of the NHL package. There were multiple suitors for the weaker second half of the package after ESPN and ABC had bid $400 million for the primary package.
According to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, last Saturday’s UFC 261 did more than 700,000 pay-per-view buys domestically on ESPN+.
The number doesn’t include any international buys which typically comes with Ourand’s reporting.
The show was headlined by three title fights with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman defeating Jorge Masvidal by knockout in their main event rematch. The entire main card turned out to be newsworthy including Rose Namajunas reclaiming the strawweight title with a knockout of Zhang Weili and former middleweight champion Chris Weidman snapping his leg on a kick to Uriah Hall seven years after Anderson Silva broke his own leg delivering a kick to Weidman.
The Jacksonville, Florida, event was also the first to be held in front of a full crowd since before the pandemic.
Ourand had previously reported UFC 259 (Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya) did 800,000 buys worldwide (600,000 domestic) while January’s UFC 257 (Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier) did 1.6 million buys worldwide (1.2 million domestic). Ourand didn’t report numbers for UFC 258 or UFC 260.
The UFC and ESPN will look to keep their hot streak going with UFC 262 on Saturday, May 15, headlined by Michael Chandler vs. Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title.
We have a loaded issue of the Wrestling Observer this week, with business and history features.
We update WWE financials, with comments from Nick Khan, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Kristina Salen talking about the state of the company, the state of sports business, what media companies are looking at right now, AEW, plus a look at WWE revenue and profits. We also look behind the numbers at what they mean, how every category is doing and what categories the company is no longer reporting on. We also look at the decline of WWE ratings as compared to that of cable television and network television.
Also in this issue:
The new attempt at a unique concept PPV with the Triller promotion and Ben Askren vs. Jake Paul, the show, the match, the blitzed announcers, Ric Flair, comparisons to other similar things and long-term sustainability.
Kenny Omega vs Rich Swann match, followed by a story on famous title unification matches throughout pro wrestling history. We look at some of the biggest and most important matches of all-time that were two champions unifying a world title from 1920 to the present.
WrestleMania business numbers when it came to the two live shows, with real attendance, real gates and what it means.
New Smackdown announcing team, Pat McAfee talks his debut, Daniel Bryan talks his current situation and contract, thoughts on Daniel Bryan’s future, new hires and departures at WWE, change in show distribution, former star talks coming out of retirement, how the WWE & AEW shows rank among sports programming, WWE star bio released, Damien Priest talks Bad Bunny, more on Kalisto being let go, Dr. Wagner Jr. talks WWE, political reason for a winning streak, and most-watched YouTube segments on his week’s WWE programming.
A major feature on the career of Steve Austin and the A&E special, his background, how he got into wrestling, the WCW years, the Stone Cold name, life after wrestling, and what were key things not talked about on the documentary.
Mickie James garbage bag situation and the firing of Mark Carrano.
MLW’s new television deal, who else was in talks about that deal, MLW returning to shows with fans and a spinoff planned.
Coverage of this past week’s UFC show, business notes, where the top fighters are headed plus match-by-match coverage.
More detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Impact Rebellion and other wrestling news on Wrestling Observer Radio. We also have shows the past two nights, last night’s show talking UFC, Lou Thesz and the latest wrestling news and a Friday show with Garrett Gonzalez.
Dana White last night was asked about Jake Paul and didn’t have bad things to say even though the UFC fan base seems to hate him. Well, most people do. He said the guy has found a way to make money and wishes him luck on the ride, but White said that the kind of stuff he does is not what they do. Last night’s show is what they do. White also said that the Triller show last week did nowhere near the numbers people are reporting. It did really well, but from what I’ve heard, nothing at the level reporting. It was one of those events that did well, but there was huge general public interest in but it wasn’t a thing that they would pay $50 to watch, as compared to say a Conor McGregor fight. It’s Google trends were more than double last night’s UFC 261, but the PPV numbers will almost sure not be anything like that. I would actually think last night beats it but it could go the other way.
There was a confrontation last night with Jake Paul and Daniel Cormier which I’m sure both will give their sides of in the next few days at. It started last week after the Ben Askren fight where Paul challenged Cormier and called him fat. Cormier said “I’m not gonna punch down and fight a guy that’s on YouTube. It’s stupid,” Cormier said. “I’ve fought for world titles my whole life. Why would you start to punch down at a guy that’s trying to, I don’t even know. This dude would never fight me. I would kill him. It’s like, why would I ever fight someone like that? But my immediate reaction was, ‘I can’t stand this kid.’ So it works.” Paul then said, “I’ll beat the f*** out of your fat ass, too.” During the show last night, the crowd continually chanted “F*** Jake Paul, which he egged on. It was bad because they even did it when Chris Weidman was being carried out on a stretcher. Cormier said to Joe Rogan, on the air, about Paul, “Don’t play with me,’ because I’ll smack him in the face. He’s right there. I’ll slap him. I don’t play those games, Joe.”
Then this happened at the show during a break between fights.
Jake Paul then wrote today: “Dana you claimed you would bet $1M on me losing. Set up Askren to train with Freddie Roach… gave him full access to the UFCPI.. and he still got his ass handed to him. Seems like you are the reach douche… not Ariel. In my 3rd fight I made more money in total pay than any fighter in UFC history. Maybe it’s time to pay your fighters their fair share? No wonder they all want to get into boxing,” Jake Paul wrote. “Dana you say you make the fights fans want to see… so hurry up and make Jones vs. N’gannou. Pay them their fair share… $10M purse for each guy, plus PPV. Why are UFC fighters so underpaid vs. boxers? Why did I make more in my 3rd fight than all but two (Khabib & Conor) UFC fighters have in history? I know why.”
Chris Weidman had surgery on his leg that snapped earlier this morning. His wife Marivi wrote:
Well that was horrible. Freak things happen in life and plans get crushed. It’s been a lonnnggg day but so happy to finally see this man of mine post surgery. Everything went well thank you Lord! Very thankful for the medical staff, UFC family @danawhite @reedharrisufc #allieraimondo, our management team @vaynersports @sarahzemonek and our family and friends here rallying to help with the kids,” Marivi Weidman wrote. “My heart breaks for my husband because I know the work and dedication that he puts into his training everyday and the great man that he is, so I only want the best for him. While this absolutely sucks in the moment and for some weeks to come, we are completely overwhelmed by the love and support we have far and wide and are very aware how blessed we are. All of that overpowers the awfulness of this situation. We are blown away by our friends and family offering to hop on flights to come help us without hesitation. We are so grateful and love you all!! It’s been a crazy year so far but us Weidmans are a force and covered in Grace and Mercy everyday! We were reminded this year how precious each day is and I am so thankful to be spending another day on earth next to my love even if it’s in a hospital room far from home.
Impact Rebellion PPV tonight at 8 p.m:
Kenny Omega vs. Rich Swann for the AEW, Impact and TNA world titles in a unification match
Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson for the Impact tag titles
Matt Cardona vs. Brian Myers
Ace Austin vs. TJP vs. Josh Alexander for the X title
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Tenille Dashwood for the Impact Knockouts title
Sami Callihan vs. Trey Miguel last man standing
Rhino & Cody Deaner & Joe Doering & ? vs. Eddie Edwards & James Storm & Wilie Mack & Chris Sabin
Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering for the Knockouts tag team titles
Based on advanced orders as of yesterday, this was ahead of any Impact PPV show in a long time.
We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s UFC show as well as tonight’s Impact Rebellion, you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
If you have ESPN+, I would highly recommend watching the Liang Na vs. Ariane Carnelossi and Jeff Molina vs. Aoriqileng fights. They were the first two fights of the prelims. The women’s fight that opened was back-and-forth almost like it was a top tier old UWFI/RINGS era top flight fight. Molina vs Aoriqileng was good enough to be fight of the year. It won’t win because the names aren’t big, but they did get the $50,000 bonus each for fight of the night, and considering the opener and Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, it’s not like there wasn’t stiff competition.
The show did 3.3 million searches on Google, which would be about what you would expect. Daniel Cormier was No. 4 so far today. Yesterday, UFC 261 was first. Chris Weidman has 500,000 due to his ghastly leg break which was No. 2 and Rose Namajunas was No. 3. Valentine Shevchenko was No. 5 at 200,000 Anthony Smith was No. 16. On Friday, Steve McMichael was No. 9. On Thursday, Loga Paul was No. 10 and Jorge Masvidal was No. 16. On Wednesday, Ronda Rousey was No. 13 due to her pregnancy announcement.
A few more notes on last night’s show. Dana White said Kamaru Usman would face Colby Covington in his next welterweight title defense. Nick Diaz was at the show and Dana White said that Diaz, 37, wants to fight again. There were stories going around about Diaz vs. Khazmat Chimaev. In the Dwight Grant vs. Stefan Sekulic split decision that we discussed on last night’s show, Derek Cleary gave Grant only the first round. Chris Lee and Howard Reichbach gave Grant the first two rounds and a 29-28 win. Media scores were 68% for Sekulic. The first two rounds were close enough that they could have gone either way, but this fight was the perfect example of the flaws in ten point must, because the overall winner of the fight as whole was clearly Sekulic, but because of the nature of ten point must, you could give two rounds to Grant.
Reports are the reason the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight is being made is that Saudi Arabia is paying the promoters $150 million or more to get them to bring them the heavyweight boxing title unification match.
Gary Cassidy reported Bill Morrisey, the former Big Cass, would be debuting on tonight’s Impact show.
Raw tomorrow night has Drew McIntyre & Braun Strowman vs. T-Bar & Mace and a Bobby Lashley interview announced.
A&E tonight has the Roddy Piper episode of Biography at 8 p.m. and then the Paul Levesque & Stephanie McMahon search for WWE Hidden Treasures at 10 p.m.
New Japan runs Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. Eastern for a live New Japan World show:
Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb vs. Shingo Takagi & Bushi
Aaron Henare vs. Sanada
Tetsuya Naito vs. Great O’Khan
WWE
John Cone is back in his former position in Talent Relations. The company had taken him out of the position on Thursday and then changed its mind and put him back on Friday.
UFC
SportsBetting.ag has put odds at -500 for Daniel Cormier and +350 for Jake Paul if they were to do a boxing match.
Israel Adesanya is a -250 favorite over Marvin Vettori for their 6/12 fight. Kamaru Usman is -300 for a potential fight with Colby Covington.
OTHER NOTES
Daga has vacated the AAA Latin American title. The new champion is expected to be decided on the 5/1 Rey de Reyes show.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Thursday night in Omaha: Purple b Pat Powers, Duke Cornell b Xander McIntosh, Mack Riggs b JD Parker, Seto Kobara & Tim Boston DCOR Lars Metzger & Johnny Ruckus, Joey Daniels b Nino Hatchet, Moonshine Russell b Branden Juarez, Omar Pachecco & Brett Bishop b Pat Powers & Con Artiest. Next event is the company’s 16th anniversary show on 5/20 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha.
The top results from yesterday’s KSW show in Lodz, Poland:
Phil DeFries (20-6) b Tomasz Narkun (1q-4) via TKO at 3:37 of the second round to keep the heavyweight title
Marian Ziolkowski (23-8-1) b Maciej Kazleczko (7-2) via choke at 4:24 of round two for the light heavyweight title
Marek Samociuk (3-1) b Izu Ugonch (1-1) via punches in :27 of round one
Patryk Kaczmarczyk (7-0) b Michal Sobiech (4-1) via straight 29-28 scores
Tom Lawlor vs. Marshall Von Erich headlines Wednesday’s MLW Tv show.
Qatar Pro Wrestling announced a February 28, 2022 show in Doha at the Lausail Sports Arena and has announced Eric Bischoff, Bret Hart, Booker T, Mark Henry, Ron Simmons, The Godfather, D-Lo Brown, Will Ospreay, Sammy Guevara, Brian Cage, Cinta de Oro (formerly the second Sin Cara in WWE), EC 3, Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Paradigm Pro Wrestling with a UWFI rules tag tam mach with Tom Lawlor & Dominic Garrini vs. Matt Justice & Bobby Beverly airing on IWTV at 10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday night.
CBS Sunday Morning did a cameo piece showing Ricky Morton, Torrie Wilson, and others on Cameo (thanks to Mike Lano)
On a night that featured the UFC’s first full house crowd in more than a year and the most ironic of leg breaks, two out of three champions going into the show came out successful after Saturday’s UFC 261 with all three title fights ending in finishes.
In the main event, Kamaru Usman remained undefeated in the UFC with a second round knockout of Jorge Masvidal to retain his welterweight title, his fourth successful title defense. After a close first round, Usman blasted Masvidal with a straight right hand that nearly had him out, followed by a few hammer fists that closed the show. He has now won fourteen fights in a row while Masvidal has lost straight, both to Usman. This was the first time he’s been knocked out in an MMA fight.
In the highly-anticipated co-main event, Rose Namajunas reclaimed the women’s strawweight title with a first round knockout of Zhang Weili. Namajunas slipped a head kick through which had Weili on her back. A few hard punches for Namajunas later and it was over at 1:18 of the round. Namajunas won the title in November 2017 and defended the title once before losing it to Jessica Andrade. This was Weili’s second defense since defeating Andrade for the title in August 2019.
In the night’s first title fight, women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko continued her dominance with a second round TKO win over the aforementioned Andrade, her seventh straight win and the fifth defense of her title.
After a first round in which she controlled Andrade all over the cage, it was more of the same in the second round. Shevchenko eventually worked into a crucifix and laid in punches and a barrage of elbows, one of which cut her open. After it was obvious Andrade wasn’t going to escape, the fight was called.
Arguably the biggest news was earlier on the pay-per-view main card as former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman snapped his leg on a kick just seconds into his bout with Uriah Hall. More than seven years ago, Anderson Silva famously snapped his leg on a kick to then-champion Weidman’s leg in their rematch.
Weidman was stretchered out of the arena and Hall won via first round TKO. Later on the broadcast, they said Weidman is stable and will have surgery Sunday.
Even more ironically, Jimmy Crute suffered a leg injury of his own in the PPV opener against Anthony Smith that saw him unable to stand on as his ankle kept flopping to the side. However, it was believed to be a temporary nerve issue and he will have an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. Smith won the fight by first round TKO.
The event was held in front of a sold-out Vystar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, with more than 15,000 fans in the building.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2, emanating from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Octagon is back in front of a full arena of UFC fans for the first time since March 2020, and they are treated to a stacked card featuring three title fights.
In the main event, UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman defends against his rival, Jorge Masvidal. It is a rematch from UFC 251 in July, which was won by Usman by unanimous decision. However, Masvidal took that fight on just a week’s notice, something he has consistently reminded everyone of, and Usman asked for a rematch with Masvidal on a full training camp to show that the result would be no different.
In the second title fight, UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili returns for the first time since her Fight Of The Year with Joanna Jedrzejczyk in March 2020, and she will defend against former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Rose Namajunas. Namajunas is coming off a win over Jessica Andrade in July to earn a shot at re-gaining the title she once held.
In the third title fight, UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko looks to continue her dominance of the division as she defends against former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko is coming off a successful title defense over Jennifer Maia in November, while Andrade looks to win a title in a second division after a knockout win over Katlyn Chookagian in October earned her a title shot.
Also on the main card, it is a middleweight battle as Uriah Hall takes on former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman, and former title challenger Anthony Smith goes against Jimmy Crute in the main card opener.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 PM eastern time with preliminary action all the way thru the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
ESPN2 PRELIMS | 6 PM ET/3 PM PT
> Na Liang (15-4, 0-0 UFC) vs. Ariane Carnelossi (12-2, 0-1 UFC) Women’s Strawweights
They are teeing away off on each other and Liang lands some punches and Carnelossi landing some hard punches and Liang gets a takedown. They get to their feet and Carnelossi lands a left hook. They trade and Liang lands a right hand. They clinch and both are landing and Liang looks for a takedown against the fence and gets it. Liang picks Carnelossi up and slams her down for better position and goes for an armbar but Carnelossi escapes to the top. Liang tries for the armbar again but Carnelossi escapes and lands a right hand. Liang looking for a leg and Carnelossi landing some punches. Carnelossi gets in side control and is landing short punches and takes the back as she’s landing. Liang has slowed down. Liang gets to her feet and lands some big punches. Carnelossi looking for a triangle and then gets a mounted triangle in and lands but Liang escapes. Carnelossi with some big punches at the end of the round. 10-9 Carnelossi.
Liang had to be carried to her corner and she’s exhausted. They are teeing off to start the second. Liang gets a takedown and has the side against the fence and lands but Carnelossi gets the back and is looking for the choke. Carnelossi ends up in the guard of Liang and is landing punches. She’s landing and the referee stops the fight. Nice win by Carnelossi in a wild fight.
Official Result- Ariane Carnelossi def. Na Liang by TKO (punches) at 1:28 of Round 2
Molina with a leg kick. Aori with a body kick. They trade punches and kicks. They clinch against the fence. Molina with some knees and body punches. They break and both land right hands. Molina lands a combo and Aori lands a combo. Aori gets a big takedown. They get to their feel and Aori has the back standing. They get to the clinch and Aori with a knee to the body. They battle for underhooks before breaking. They trade right hands. Molina with a high kick. They trade late. 10-9 Aori.
They trade and Aori gets a brief takedown and has the back but they scramble up. Molina with a combo. Molina landing punches and kicks as Aori is looking for openings. Aori with a body kick and Molina grabs the leg and lands a right hand. Aori with a right hand. Molina with a right hand. Aori with a short right hand. Molina lands a right hand and Aori goes down for a second and then Aori lands and Molina slips down to the mat for a second. Aori then starts landing punches after Molina stands and they are trading. Aori lands a flying knee. They are trading. Aori with a spinning elbow. Aori with a right hand. Molina with a series of punches. They trade at the end and Molina drops Aori right down near the end with a right hand and might’ve finished it if time didn’t run out. 10-9 Molina, 19-19.
They are teeing off to start the third and both are landing some good punches. Aori lands a right hand. Molina lands a combo. Molina lands a combo. Aori throwing punches. Molina with a right hand. Aori coming forward and throwing. Molina with a series of combos. Molina landing in close range. Aori showing no head movement. Molina landing lots of punches and is hurting Aori but Aori just standing there and taking them and is throwing. Molina with a standing elbow. Molina with combos after combos and he’s landing big punches. They are trading and Molina is still landing with lots of volume but Aori is firing back. Molina with more punches. They are just standing and throwing late and the fight ends. This fight was wild. 10-9 Molina, 29-28 Molina.
Official Result- Jeffrey Molina def. Aoriqileng by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
> Kazula Vargas (11-4, 0-2 UFC) vs. Zhu Rong (17-3, 0-0 UFC) Lightweights
Rong is the first fighter born in the 2000’s to fight in the UFC. They are trading and both throwing big punches. Rong lands a right hand. Vargas landing with more volume in the first half of the fight. Vargas landing punches and kicks as Rong isn’t doing a whole lot. Rong now lands a right hand. Vargas throwing the jab. Vargas with a combo. They trade at the end. 10-9 Vargas.
Rong lands and gets a takedown and Vargas has a guillotine locked in tight. Rong is trying to fight it off but Vargas is squeezing. Vargas still looking for it but Rong finally escapes and takes the back and is landing punches. Vargas then sweeps to the top and is working in the half-guard. They get to their feet and are clinched before breaking. Rong with a high kick that Vargas blocks. Rong goes for a late takedown. 10-9 Vargas, 20-18 Vargas.
Rong landing early. Rong with a right hand. Vargas lands some punches. They trade in close range. Vargas’ punches are coming slower. Rong lands a right hand. Rong tags Vargas with a right hand. Rong lands a combo. Rong landing some good punches. They are both landing. They both continue to land and Rong is going for takedowns and gets it and they scramble and Rong ends up on top and lands at the end. 10-9 Rong, 29-28 Vargas.
Official Result- Kazula Vargas def. Rongzhu by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
> Danaa Batgerel (7-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. Kevin Natividad (9-2, 0-1 UFC) Bantamweights
They are trading early and Batgerel lands a high kick then a right hand and drops Natividad with a left hook and is landing and Herb Dean stops it. It might have been a little bit early as Natividad was defending but Batgerel was going to finish this anyways. Great win by Batgerel.
Official Result- Danaa Batgerel def. Kevin Natividad by TKO (punches) at :50 of Round 1
ESPN PRELIMS | 8 PM ET/5 PM PT
> Patrick Sabatini (13-3, 0-0 UFC) vs. Tristan Connelly (14-6, 1-0 UFC) Featherweights
They were looking for openings and both were throwing, then Sabatini landed a left hook that rocked Connelly and was sending him down but Sabatini grabbed him and took him down. Sabatini working from the half-guard and landing punches. They continue to battle on the ground. Sabatini takes the back. Sabatini working for the choke as he lands punches from the back. Sabatini now going for the rear-naked choke and almost had it in. 10-9 Sabatini.
They trade to start the second. Connelly throws a right hand and Sabatini ducks under and gets a takedown. Sabatini stands and Connelly looks for upkicks but Sabatini passes to side control. Sabatini in control and then switches to the back. Connelly tries to stand and Sabatini is on his back and they scramble back to the ground and Sabatini is back in side control. Sabatini in the crucifix position and landing punches. Sabatini then gets the back and is squeezing tight with the body triangle. Sabatini threatens with an arm-triangle but Connelly turns and gives up his back. Connelly throwing back punches but Sabatini still has full back control as the round ends. 10-8 Sabatini, 20-17 Sabatini.
Sabatini coming forward and is looking for the takedown but Connelly keeps it upright. They tie up and both looking for underhooks. Connelly grabs the neck but lets go. They both battle in the tie-ups. They break and both are circling. Sabatini seems to be trying to stall out the fight. Connelly lands a right hand. Sabatini tries a takedown but Connelly sprawls and defends and they tie-up and go against the fence. They break and Connelly lands a right hand. Sabatini lands a right hand. They clinch and Connelly gets a takedown. Connelly ends the fight on top landing. 10-9 Connelly, 29-27 Sabatini.
Official Result- Pat Sabatini def. Tristan Connelly (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
> Karl Roberson (9-3, 4-3 UFC) vs. Brendan Allen (15-4, 3-1 UFC) Middleweights
Allen with a high kick to start. Allen with a leg kick. They trade jabs. Allen with a right hand and Roberson with a body kick. Roberson with a left hand. Allen with a right hand. Allen lands a right hand and a leg kick. They trade and clinch against the fence. Allen gets a takedown against the fence. Allen moves to the mount against the fence. They get to their feet and Allen gets a takedown and is working in the half-guard. Allen then rolls and attacks the leg and locks in a heel hook and gets Roberson to tap with less than ten seconds to go in the round. Outstanding showing by Allen.
Official Result- Brendan Allen def. Karl Roberson by submission (heel hook) at 4:55 of Round 1
> Dwight Grant (10-3, 2-2 UFC) vs. Stefan Sekulic (12-3, 0-1 UFC) Welterweights
Grant lands a right hand. Sekulic with a leg kick and Grant counters with a right hand. Not a whole lot of action going on two minutes in. Grant lands a left hand. Grant with a right hand to the body. Grant with a big inside leg kick after Sekulic lands a left hand. Sekulic just barely lands a flying knee. Grant with a left hand. Grant with a high kick. Sekulic looking for a takedown and kind of gets it late and they trade on the mat before getting to their feet at the end. 10-9 Grant.
They trade punches early but again not much happening in the first minute. Grant lands a right hand that rocks Sekulic. Grant now throwing with bad intentions and is landing. Sekulic tries a takedown but Grant defends and then Sekulic throws all sorts of strikes that miss. Grant just misses a left hook. They trade leg kicks. Sekulic gets a body-lock takedown. Grant easily works his way up to his feet. They trade punches. Sekulic shoots for a takedown but Grant defends against the fence as the round ends. 10-9 Grant, 20-18 Grant.
Grant with a leg kick. Sekulic lands a left hand and Grant gets a takedown and is in the guard of Sekulic and lands some punches. Grant gets to his feet and Sekulic stands. Sekulic with a leg kick. Sekulic shoots for a takedown against the fence and gets it. They get to their feet and Grant lands a right hand. Grant lands a right hand. Sekulic lands a short left hand and Grant counters with a big right hand. Sekulic lands a left hand that rocks Grant and then just misses a flying knee but gets Grant to the ground. Sekulic with a guillotine choke locked in. Grant is trying to fight it offf and he somehow survives the fight! Wow, what an ending. 10-9 Sekulic, 29-28 Grant.
Official Result- Dwight Grant def. Stefan Sekulic by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
> Alex Oliveira (22-8-1 2 NC, 11-7 1 NC UFC) vs. Randy Brown (12-4, 6-4 UFC) Welterweights
Brown with a quick leg kick. Oliveira with a couple of leg kicks. We have a timeout for a groin strike but they get back to action. They trade leg kicks and Oliveira lands a leg kick that trips up Brown. Brown lands a hard right hand. Brown then drops Oliveira with a right hand and gets on top and was landing lots of punches but Oliveira survived. Brown then gets the mount and has the back as they stand. Brown then gets a standing rear-naked choke and is trying to get the hooks in as they go to the mount and Oliveira taps! Beautiful finish by Brown as he submits Oliveira with a one-armed rear-naked choke.
Official Result- Randy Brown def. Alex Oliveira by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:50 of Round 1
ESPN+ PPV MAIN CARD | 10 PM ET/7 PM PT
> Anthony Smith (#6, 33-16, 9-6 UFC) vs. Jimmy Crute (#13, 12-1, 4-1 UFC) Light Heavyweights
They trade body kicks to start. Smith lands the jab. Crute with a leg kick. Crute with more leg kicks. Smith lands a left hand and Crute lands a right hand. Crute with a leg kick and Smith pushes Crute back with a jab. Smith landing the jab at will. Crute lands a leg kick. They trade punches. Smith lands the jab but eats a leg kick from Crute. Smith lands a big right hand. Crute lands a left hook. Crute with a leg kick. Smith with some leg kicks. Crute falls to the ground afterwards and Smith tries to rush in and Crute gets a takedown and has the back and is landing punches. They get up and Crute drags it back to the ground but they stand and break. Crute gets another late takedown and ends the round on top landing. 10-9 Smith.
The fight was stopped in between rounds due to Crute’s leg being badly injured and he couldn’t even stand on it at all. Great call by the doctors and great win for Smith.
Official Result- Anthony Smith def. Jimmy Crute by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of Round 1
> Uriah Hall (#9, 16-9, 9-7 UFC) vs. Chris Weidman (#11, 15-5, 11-5 UFC) Middleweights
Weidman threw a kick and landed on the leg of Hall and Weidman’s leg snapped in half. This was bad. It was exactly like when Weidman fought Anderson Silva at UFC 168 and Silva’s leg snapped on a leg kick. Weidman is down and in tremendous amount of pain. I can’t believe what I just saw.
Official Result- Uriah Hall def. Chris Weidman by TKO (injury) at :17 of Round 1
Shevchenko with a leg kick. Shevchenko with a left hand. Shevchenko with a combo. Andrade with a body kick. Shevchenko gets a takedown right into side control but they quickly get up. Shevchenko takes her right back down but they get up. Shevchenko has the back and Andrade with a back elbow. Shevchenko lands a kick as they break. Shevchenko lands and Andrade shoots for a takedown but Shevchenko defends. Shevchenko gets another takedown against the fence and is looking for a rear-naked choke but lets go. Shevchenko still has the back. Shevchenko landing some knees in the tie-up. Shevchenko gets another takedown and passes into side control. That’s five takedowns so far. She ends the round there. 10-9 Shevchenko.
They trade and then Shevchenko gets a big takedown. Shevchenko in the half-guard and looking to set something up. Shevchenko landing from the top but Andrade gets it to the feet and has the body lock. Shevchenko landing short punches. Andrade trying to lift Shevchenko up but can’t. Shevchenko gets Andrade back down to the mat. Shevchenko getting the crucifix position and starts to land punches. Andrade is stuck. Shevchenko landing elbows now. It is stopped. Dominant performance from Shevchenko as she retains the title.
Official Result- Valentina Shevchenko def. Jessica Andrade by TKO (elbows) at 3:19 of Round 2 to retain the UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship
> Zhang Weili (C, 21-1, 5-0 UFC) vs. Rose Namajunas (#1, 9-4, 7-3 UFC) UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
Weili with a leg kick. She lands another. They both throw and Weili with an inside leg kick. Weili with a leg kick. Namajunas then lands a head kick that sents Weili right down to the ground and lands some follow-up shots and it is stopped. What a finish by Namajunas! Weili was upset about the stoppage after but then saw a replay and wasn’t as upset. Namajunas regains the title in an incredible finish.
Official Result- Rose Namajunas def. Zhang Weili by knockout (head kick) at 1:18 of Round 1 to win the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
Usman with the jab. Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal with a leg kick. Usman lands a right hand. Masvidal with a right to the body. Usman with a leg kick. Masvidal with a leg kick and they trade punches. Masvidal lands and then Usman gets a big takedown. Usman landing left hands and a couple went to the back of the head and Usman was warned. Masivdal landing from the bottom. Usman lands a big elbow. Masvidal landing a series of elbows from the bottom. They work their way to the fence and get to their feet. Usman lands some punches and they break. Masvidal with a leg kick. Usman lands a right hand and then the jab. Masvidal with a body kick. Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal with a combo then a flying knee. 10-9 Usman.
Masvidal with an inside leg kick. Masvidal with an inside leg kick. They trade punches. Usman then drops Masivdal with a right hand and hammerfists knock Masivdal out cold. Usman with the massive finish as he retains the title and settles the score with Masvidal.
Official Result- Kamaru Usman def. Jorge Masvidal by knockout (punches) at 1:02 of Round 2 to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship
We have a loaded issue of the Wrestling Observer this week, with business and history features.
We update WWE financials, with comments from Nick Khan, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Kristina Salen talking about the state of the company, the state of sports business, what media companies are looking at right now, AEW, plus a look at WWE revenue and profits. We also look behind the numbers at what they mean, how every category is doing and what categories the company is no longer reporting on. We also look at the decline of WWE ratings as compared to that of cable television and network television.
Also in this issue:
The new attempt at a unique concept PPV with the Triller promotion and Ben Askren vs. Jake Paul, the show, the match, the blitzed announcers, Ric Flair, comparisons to other similar things and long-term sustainability.
Kenny Omega vs Rich Swann match, followed by a story on famous title unification matches throughout pro wrestling history. We look at some of the biggest and most important matches of all-time that were two champions unifying a world title from 1920 to the present.
WrestleMania business numbers when it came to the two live shows, with real attendance, real gates and what it means.
New Smackdown announcing team, Pat McAfee talks his debut, Daniel Bryan talks his current situation and contract, thoughts on Daniel Bryan’s future, new hires and departures at WWE, change in show distribution, former star talks coming out of retirement, how the WWE & AEW shows rank among sports programming, WWE star bio released, Damien Priest talks Bad Bunny, more on Kalisto being let go, Dr. Wagner Jr. talks WWE, political reason for a winning streak, and most-watched YouTube segments on his week’s WWE programming.
A major feature on the career of Steve Austin and the A&E special, his background, how he got into wrestling, the WCW years, the Stone Cold name, life after wrestling, and what were key things not talked about on the documentary.
Mickie James garbage bag situation and the firing of Mark Carrano.
MLW’s new television deal, who else was in talks about that deal, MLW returning to shows with fans and a spinoff planned.
Coverage of this past week’s UFC show, business notes, where the top fighters are headed plus match-by-match coverage.
More detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Garrett Gonzalez and I will be back tonight talking the news of the week and previewing this weekend’s shows and we will also be doing shows Saturday night after UFC, Sunday after Impact and Monday after Raw. You can send email questions to the show to [email protected]
Shows from now through 5/11 in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto have been canceled due to the government declaring a state of emergency in those cities due to rising COVID rates. The NOAH show in Yokohama, a suburb of Tokyo, is still on for tomorrow. All Japan will be running its scheduled shows on Sunday, next Thursday and 5/3 at Korakuen Hall but they will be empty arena shows.
In a surprise, after the great showing by Robert Whittaker last Saturday, UFC seems to be leaning toward Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori to headline the 6/12 PPV show.
Smackdown tonight on FOX. They have announced that 205 Live tonight has Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari vs. The Singh Brothers and Ashante Adonis vs. August Gray.
New Japan Strong tonight has the finals of the tournament for the New Japan Strong title with Tom Lawlor vs. Brody King at 10 p.m. Eastern on New Japan World. Also on the show is Rocky Romero vs. Wheeler Yuta and TJP & Clark Connors vs. Chris Dickinson & JR Kratos.
ESPN 2 has the opening of the PFL season tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. It also airs in Spanish on ESPN Deportes. All matches are first round matches in the featherweight and lightweight tournament:
Lance Palmer (145.4) vs. Bubba Jenkins (146)
Movlid Khaybulaev (145.5) vs. Lazar Stojadinovic (145.8)
Natan Schulte (156) vs. Marcin Held (155.8)
Anthony Pettis (156) vs Clay Collard (154.6)
LFA live tonight on UFC Fight Pass from Shawnee, OK at 9 p.m. Eastern:
Zac Pauga (205.6) vs. Logan Nail (205.8)
Tabatha Ricci (116) vs. Shawns Ormsby (116)
Mark Martin (171) vs. Renato Valente (172.8) – Valente missed weight and had to pay a penalty to Martin
Bruce Souto (203.4) vs. Cristian Torres (207.6) – Torres had to pay a penalty to Souto for missing weight
Jake Childers (145.8) vs. Canaan Kawalhae (144)
Piera Rodriguez (114.8) vs. Svetlana Gotsyk (114.8) for the vacant strawweight title
A story on Bruno Sammartino being honored today by a park in Ross Township being named after him and his family being there for the changing of the name. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
Very sad to read about the condition of Steve McMichael, the former Chicago Bears star who later announced and wrestled for WCW and is now battling ALS. It’s such a horrible disease. Best wishes to him and his family because they’ve got a tough fight ahead of them. McMichael has maintained his sense of humor in these very adverse circumstances.
For this week we will be doing polls on tomorrow’s UFC show and Sunday’s Impact Rebellion PPV show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
UFC PPV tomorrow lineup and weights in one of the deepest shows in a long time. The top four matches in particular are all big:
ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m.
Liang Na (116) vs. Ariane Carnelossi (115)
Aori Qileng (126) vs. Jeffrey Molina (126)
Kazula Vargas (155) vs. Rong Zhu (156)
Danaa Batgerel (136) vs. Kevin Natividad (135.5)
ESPN at 8 p.m.
Pat Sabatini (146) vs. Tristan Connelly (146)
Karl Roberson (185) vs Brendan Allen (186)
Dwight Grant (170) vs. Stefan Sekulic (171)
Alex Oliveira (171) vs. Randy Brown (171)
ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m.
Anthony Smith (206) vs. Jim Crute (205.5)
Uriah Hall (185) vs. Chris Weidman (186)
Valentina Shevchenko (124.5) vs. Jessica Andrade (124.5) for flyweight title
Zhang Weili (114.5) vs. Rose Namajunas (114.5) for strawweight ttle
Kamaru Usman (169.5) vs. Jorge Masvidal (170) for welterweight title
Bianca Belair vs. Bayley was officially announced for the 5/16 WrestleMania Backlash PPV with the Smackdown women’s title at stake.
There will be a Hana Kimura Memorial show on 5/23 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The show will be available to watch live all over the world although the carrier was not announced. But it’s an 11:30 a.m. start in Japan meaning it will start at 10:30 p.m. on 5/22 Eastern time.
WWE
Reader Chris Cassidy noted that even though the Drew McIntyre autobiography isn’t scheduled to be out until 5/4, he saw a copy at his Barnes & Noble store in Burlington, MA so it’s likely in many stores.
IWA from Saturday in Sydney, Australia: Randal the Masked Kamikaze b Head Hunter Rig, Charli Evans b Jessica Troy in a submission match, Sam Osborne b Robbie Zucco, Mehmet the Turkish Delight b Sam Osborne, Jimmy Townsend & Dazza b Will Kiedis & Brad Alexander, Tree Hugger Luchi b Apollo the Alpha Male, Jackson Kelly b Chris Abbot to win the IWA title that Abbott had held for more than 900 days (thanks to Kirk Beattie)
Glory Pro Wrestling from Saturday in St. Louis: Deacon Cash b Stephan Newton, Allie Kat b Hyan, Moses & Raim de la Suede b Chris Hendriz & ATM, Manders b Xavier Walker, Arik Cannon b Warhorse, Paco Gonzalez b Mat Fitchett, Jake Something b Myron Reed (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
The PFL announced deals with BILD in Germany and RMC Sport in France/Belgium, with both networks carrying all events this season starting with tonight’s show.
KSW airs at 2 p.m. Eastern tomorrow on KSWTV.com. The main event has heavyweight champion Phil De Fries (264) vs. Tomasz Narkun (224), plus lightweight champion Marian Ziokowski (155) vs. Maciej Kazieczko (155).
MLW has put tickets on sale for its 7/10 show in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena at www.MLW2300.com. Announced for the show are Jacob Fatu, Ross & Marshall Von Erich, Alex Hammerstone, Mil Muertes, Tom Lawlor, Myron Reed, Josef Samael, Mads Krugger, Alicia Atout, Calvin Tankman, Richard Holliday, Ikuro Kwon, Myron Reed, Gino Medina and Konnan.
AAW tomorrow night at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time will be on Twitch live from Villa Park, IL,. There are tickets available or the show. Matches announced are:
Ace Perry vs. Jake Lander
Matt Justice vs. Fred Yehi
Schaff vs. Davey Vega
Mat Fitchett vs. Thomas Shire
Hyan vs. Skye Blue 2/3 falls
Myron Reed vs. Brayden Lee for the Heritage title
If there was any doubt there was pent-up demand to see the UFC live in the U.S. even during a pandemic, Friday proved the doubters wrong.
Dana White tweeted that April 24th’s UFC 261 at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, sold out 15,000 tickets “in minutes” Friday — one of the fastest in company history. He also said the show will set an arena record for highest gate revenue.
The show features three title fights, headlined by a rematch featuring welterweight champion Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal; a highly anticipated fight between strawweight champion Weili Zhang and Rose Namajunas; and dominant flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Andrade.
The event will be the organization’s first on U.S. soil with fans since last March’s UFC 248 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were several thousand fans in attendance during their January run at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi which included the Dustin Poirier-Conor McGregor rematch at UFC 257.
UFC will soon put tickets on sale for another fully ticketed event: UFC 262 at Houston, Texas’ Toyota Center, headlined by Michael Chandler vs. Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title. The venue/city has historically been among the company’s best for revenue outside Las Vegas.
The next three UFC events are still scheduled for their Apex facility in Las Vegas.
With another COVID breakout in NXT, WWE put tickets on sale on 3/18 for WrestleMania in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium while UFC announced what would be the first attempt to do a sold out full arena show for a sports event in the U.S. on 4/24.
In Florida, there are no regulations whatsoever regarding large gatherings. WWE could, if they felt they could sell the tickets and it was morally responsible, put 60,000 in Raymond James Stadium. AEW could put 5,500 tickets for sale for Dynamite, which they couldn’t sell right now, or for Double or Nothing, which by 5/30, maybe they could, if they wanted to. And by 5/30, if enough of the country is vaccinated, that may not even be irresponsible.
Last week they had told city officials and the hotels in the area that they were looking at 45,000 per show, or 75 percent capacity. Back in January, when the decision was pretty much made to sell tickets to WrestleMania, the idea was 50 percent capacity. Tickets were to go on sale on 3/16, but the night before they announced ticket sales were delayed. The idea is that the way they had set up the building was going to change from the original plans. On 3/18, they put 25,000 seats on sale for each night, or 42 percent capacity (the public claim is 36 percent but that’s of a football capacity, and with the stage cutting out 12,000 seats and the floor adding 7,000, the net loss of capacity is under the 65,000 listed for football).
UFC president Dana White announced Monday that April’s UFC 261 will be held at the Vystar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, with no restrictions on attendance.
As part of the announcement, White announced three title matches for the April 24th pay-per-view: welterweight champion Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal II; women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang vs. Rose Namajunas; and women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Andrade.
White expects a sellout of 14,000-15,000. Since the pandemic started, he has said repeatedly in interviews and press conferences that UFC would be “the first ones back” but his efforts at recently booking shows in Dallas and Houston, Texas, were rebuffed. No other major U.S. sport has returned without attendance restrictions while some have still not allowed fans back in arenas or stadiums.
White said tickets will go on sale soon. He did not mention if any pandemic-related rules would be in place (masks, temperature checks, etc.)
When UFC returned to action last May after nearly two months of pandemic-induced inactivity, it was at the Vystar Arena as they held three events in one week in front of no fans. The company set up event bubbles at their Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, enabling them to resume their regular schedule. During their last run at Yas Island, they had limited fans in attendance.
Last fall, Florida governor Ron DeSantis eased restrictions on sporting events within the state with pro and college teams treading lightly with allowing fans back in the stands. WWE and AEW have both called Florida their home throughout the pandemic and while AEW has had limited fans at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville for several months, WWE will welcome back fans for the first time since last March as they hope to sell 45,000 tickets per night at next month’s WrestleMania in Tampa, Florida.
