Daily Update
Latest News:
- WWE NXT Level Up results: Axiom vs. Scrypts
- Tony Khan: AEW & WWE ‘truly hate each other,’ makes for exciting wrestling war
- WWE Main Event results: The Creed Brothers vs. Gallows & Anderson
- Tetsuya Naito, Kazuchika Okada appear at NOAH Great Voyage
- UFC 284 notes: Makhachev retains 155-pound title, Rodriguez wins interim gold
Latest Audio:
Latest Free YouTube Video:
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now. Among the items covered are:
*Match of the week and performer of the week
*Jerry Lawler’s recovery and a look at the history of Lawler from his days as the King of Memphis wrestling, his run in the 80s, the high and low points of that company and his role as a WWE announcer
*Nick Khan and Tony Khan talk with WWE sale as well a how much money key people will make on the sale*Update on WrestleMania plans
*The 1977 Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes feud and how that impacts the 2023 WrestleMania
*Behind the Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment
*Key parts of the interview
*Paul Heyman’s history with Dusty Rhodes
*Elimination Chamber update
*Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell to MMA and where Bellator stands
*Keiji Muto with days left in his career talks about his final match and his condition
*Full coverage of NXT Vengeance
*MLW debuts on REELZ
*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo
*UFC’s weekend show coverage*Stardom Supreme Fights coverage
*A look at the best matches of 2022
*How many homes are the cable stations that carry wrestling in
*The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week
*Four plus year title reign ends
*AAA planning for Triplemania
*How the Acapulco show led to issues with AAA and AEW
*Notes from Fantastica Mania
*Lots of Kota Ibushi news
*A look at the career of Charlie Norris
*The most watched television wrestling match of the 1970s
*Lots of WrestleMania week news
*Court Bauer talks WWE lawsuit
*AEW new deal in place
*International TV ratings and streaming numbers
*AEW & WWE upcoming show ticket sales
*Jericho Cruise notes
*Behind the MJF promo
*Interesting notes from Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against Brock Lesnar
*Previewing this week’s UFC show
*Cody Rhodes talks about learning pro wrestling
*WWE working with other groups
*Brett Favre sues Pat McAfee
This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:
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Sunday Update
Our weekend shows are both up on the site. We did our week in the news show with Garrett Gonzales on Friday, where we talked a lot about the current issues with AEW and WWE is a very pivotal time of the year. We also did a show late last night talking the New Japan show in Osaka and upcoming show in San Jose, Smackdown, Rampage, this week’s Dynamite and UFC with Bryan as well as Ryan Frederick.
Peacock will no longer be free for Comcast Xfinity customers. Comcast says customers who currently have free Peacock Premium now will lose it on June 26th, 2023. After that, if you still want to have access, you will need to pay. NBCUniversal confirmed for Cord Cutters News that after 4/3, new customers will be able to get six months free, but after that point they will be billed for the service.
Tony Khan was on the Dan Le Batard show earlier today. It was definitely a show of newsworthy quotes. Among them:
*A lot of his wrestlers came to him and said that WWE reached out to them to tamper with their contracts and asked them to break their contracts. He said he couldn’t confirm tat specifically, but he could only tell you what the wrestlers said to him, but multiple wrestlers and staff have come to him telling him that.
*He said that WWE and AEW hate each other and it was a war. He said that is also part of the excitement of following wrestling
*He talked about Nick Khan trying to get the New Japan deal from AEW in 2021. We’ll have a lot more on that one in the new issue because it’s a subject I know very well
*He said that business and sponsorships and licensing has never been stronger ever since the Bloomberg story on AEW came out. He said he’s never had more outside interest in partnerships than in the past week.
Regarding last night’s UFC show, great main event with middleweight champion Islam Makhachev beating featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski to likely become considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport right now. It was a close fight and you could have scored it either way, but 79 percent of media and all three judges went for Makhachev. Judge Ben Cartlidge ave Makhachev rounds one, two and four. Judge Derek Cleary gave Makhachev the first four rounds and a 49-46 score. Judge David Leathaby gave Makhachev one, two and four. Four is really the swing round, and most had one and two for Makhachev and three and five for Volkanovski. Volkanovski landed far more punches but Makhachev had many takedowns and a lot of ground control.
In Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield, which was a draw, Ben Cartlidge gave Menifield rounds one and two but Crute got three, plus the third round penalty point on Menifield made it a 28-28 draw. David Lethaby had the same scores. 85 percent of reporters also had that draw score with the same rounds. Cleary gave Crute the second round by make it 29-27 for him, which is what 15 percent of reports did. Menifield would have won the fight without the point deduction in round three for holding the fence, but that was a blatant fence grab to avoid a takedown.
The big controversy was the opener where Elves Brener got a 29-28, 30-27 and 28-29 split decision win over Zubaira Tukhugov. 100 percent of media scores were for Tukhugov and 56 percent gave Tukhugov all three rounds,. Judge Evan Field gave Brener all three rounds. Cleary gave Brener one and three and Barry Foley gave Brener only round three.
Last night’s UFC show did 1 million searches which indicates a normal PPV number and not a monster like Dana White was talking. It was the most searched item of the day yesterday which is notable given all the Super Bowl talk and NBA talk this week. Brett Favre suing Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe was No. 12 on Friday with 50,000. On Tuesday, Joe Rogan was No. 8 for stories on him defending what was said to be antisemitic remarks and Jerry Lawler was also No. 9, both at 100,000.
We’re looking for reports from today’s NOAH show in Osaka as well as the NXT house shows in Tampa on Friday and Citrus Springs, FL last night with results, finishes and any other notes. You can send reports of any shows to [email protected]
We’re also taking weekend polls on both UFC 284 from Perth, Western Australia from last night as well as the New Japan New Beginning in Osaka show from yesterday. We’re looking for a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
The Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi match from yesterday is definitely one worth going out of your way to see.
Flying Eric Froelich, who was one of the best high flyers of the 60s and 70s, passed away on Friday at the age of 85. He was best known in British Columbia but wrestled throughout the West Coast and had tag title runs in California and Texas as well. He was a former gymnast who was well respected bell-to-bell, but was not a strong interview so did his best in tag teams with a charismatic partner.
On last night’s UFC show they announced that Jessica Andrade will be replacing Taila Santos in the main event Saturday against Erin Blanchfield in the show at the APEX which will be an ESPN+ show. We talked about that on last night’s show but it makes it a much bigger fight for Blanchfield.
A&E starts its new WWE season on this coming Sunday night. From 8-10 p.m. will be a biography documentary on Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hal forming the NWO, as the feud episode at 10 p.m. will be about the Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant match with Booker T, Natalya, D-Von Dudley and John Layfield talking about it. There will be WWE programming on he station from 1 p.m. Eastern to midnight, as they will also air at 1 p.m. the Steve Austin vs. The Rock feud rivals episode, plus Austin from 2-4 p.m., Lex Luger from 4-6 p.m. and Bill Goldberg from 6-8 p.m.
Lance Archer on Twitter noted that it’s been 51 days since he last laced up his boots and that this was not by choice. When he finished the New Japan tag team tournament in December, he pushed hard that he wanted to wrestle and that AEW or New Japan should let him be the monster he can be.
NXT on Tuesday has announced a ton of stuff with Axiom vs. Damon Kemp, Tiffany Stratton vs. Thea Hail, Hank Walker vs. Charlie Dempsey, Tyler bate vs, Grayson Waller, Wes Lee open challenge for the North American title, Roxanne Perez & Meiko Satomura vs. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter plus appearances by Jacy Jayne and Bron Breakker.
GCW results from the Jersey J Cup yesterday in Jersey City, NJ: Afternoon show: Jordan Oliver b Alex Shelley, Cole Radrick won over Marcus Mathers, Yoya, Dante Leon, Dyln McKay and Grim Reefer, Blake Christian b Alec Price, Joey Janela b Starboy Charlie, Lio Rush b Tony Deppen, Charles Mason b Billie Starkz, Komander b Arez, Mike Bailey b Jonathan Gresham
Evening show: Mike Bailey b Komander, Jordan Oliver b Charles Mason, Joey Janela b Lio Rush, Blake Christian b Cole Radrick, Oliver b Janela, Bailey b Christian, Oliver b Bailey to win the tournament
Satnam Singh has filed trademarks for the phrase “One in a Billion.”
AEW Dynamite on ITV 4 in the U.K. is scheduled for 10 p.m. Thursday, instead of the usual Friday. It’s not a regular time slot move. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)
Other Notes
Defy from last night in Seattle: Bollywood Boyz b Jude Icarus & Travis Williams with Randy Myers as referee, Artemis Spencer b Guillermo Rosas (subbing for injured Eddie Kingston), Danika Diehard b women’s champion Vert Vixen-DQ, tag champions Matthew Justice & Mance Warner b Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl, Nick Wayne b Cody Chhun, Swerve Strickland b Titus Alexander to keep the Def title, Jon Moxley & Schaff b Zack Sabre Jr. & Davey Richards. Great reports from Wayne vs. Chhun and Strickland vs. Alexander. Next show is 3/11 in Seattle at Washington Hall with Top Flight and Kushida
Eddie Kingston missed the show with an undisclosed injury. He’s hopeful of being okay for Wednesday’s Dynamite and vows to be in San Jose Saturday as well for his New Japan match with Jay White.
Former WWE personality Ricardo Rodriguez has been talking for days that he’s filming a documentary about his recovery from addiction and getting out of rehab and living in a recovery home, as well as being homeless and trying to rebuild his life.
Combat 1 Wrestling from Friday night in Waterford Township, MI: Nate Bock won over David Ali and tommy Vendetta, Ryan Matthias NC KJ Reynolds, Matt Sydal b Jason Hotch, Dread King Logan & Zach Thomas b Terrence & Terrell Hughes (D-Von’s sons), Su Yung b Nikita, Darren McCarty (former NHL enforcer) b Kyle Barrett. Next show is 5/5 featuring Laredo Kid (thanks to Leonard Brand)
