As the final year of their contract is underway with their future together still in doubt, Warner Bros. Discovery sent out a media release Friday touting the ratings and viewership success of AEW in 2023.
Some of the highlights WBD pointed out:
AEW programming on both TBS & TNT ranked in the top 10 of all cable programming 72 times in what they called the “coveted demo” of under 50. 50 of those occurrences ranked in the top five of the demo.
AEW programming on TBS & TNT reached 15.6 million total viewers in the fourth quarter, up 3% year-over-year.
AEW programming reached nearly four million viewers each week across TNT & TBS.
They then shifted to this past Wednesday’s Dynamite which they stated was cable’s “most-watched live sports program on the night among P25-54 and second-most watched live sports program on the night among P18-49. The program was also up double digits in both demos vs. last week’s AEW Dynamite telecast.”
Wednesday’s show averaged 797,000 viewers and an .029 rating in the 18-49 demo. The former was the second-lowest total since October 25th while the demo was the third-highest AEW has done since October 18th.
AEW head Tony Khan has repeatedly said he would like to remain on WBD as he believes in loyalty, but that he feels there is a lot of interest in AEW programming. When asked about WBD and WWE talking, Khan said “It’s part of sports.”
Stars from ROH’s Final Battle event on Friday, as well as Tony Khan, took questions following the event for media.
FTR & Mark Briscoe
Regarding the tribute match to his brother Jay, Mark Briscoe said tonight was “therapy” to him, that no shrink in the world could help him in the way Friday’s match helped him.
When asked if they would go after the Trios titles, FTR said they would let Mark Briscoe branch out as a singles wrestler first before teaming as a trio again.
Mark Briscoe explained how he saw the ‘Dem Boys’ tweet from one of WWE’s partner’s account, saying that it “triggered” him. He said he’s not on Twitter because he doesn’t feel it’s good for him, so he used his wife’s phone to look for a FTR tweet and found the tweet in question. He said faith in God is what is getting him through these times and he knows Jay is doing good without having to think about bills or Twitter posts.
Ethan Page
Page was wearing a forehead bandage from his I Quit match against Tony Nese on the show.
When asked about being in ROH instead of AEW, Page said you should elevate the place you are in or else you shouldn’t be there.
Regarding Scorpio Sky’s appearance at the show, Page said they have a real genuine friendship now despite not knowing one another when they first teamed together and he’s happy they are back together.
Page mentioned wrestling one of the best in the world in Kenny Omega this past Saturday. Tony Khan wished Omega the best in his recovery, with Page concurring.
Kyle Fletcher
Khan mentioned this was Fletcher’s first singles championship in his career.
Fletcher said wrestling as a singles is a different challenge as every idea he has is in his brain, it’s all on him. It scares him as he has no one else to blame if something goes wrong, and that it was very challenging in that aspect.
Billie Starkz
Says she had just turned 18 when she started wrestling for Ring Of Honor. Tony Khan said it was at Universal Studios and thought she had something at that time.
When asked about what drives her to be a wrestler at 19, Starkz said that the love for wrestling is what drives her. She mentioned that she’s lost friends and her childhood for it.
Athena
Athena said she enters the ring like it’s her last match because after her achilles surgery, she thought she may never come back.
When asked why she thinks she’s trusted to headline Ring of Honor shows, Athena said she didn’t know why Khan trusts her, as it’s nerve-racking to follow the kind of matches that went on at Final Battle. She says she will always deliver, however.
“It’s very interesting,” Tony Khan said when asked about Athena returning to AEW television. He put over some of the biggest wrestlers in the world have wrestled in Ring of Honor and Athena is one of the best wrestlers in the world right now.
Tony Khan
When asked about the speculation with Warner Bros. Discovery amid recent reports of WWE and WBD talks, Khan said he’s had “really good conversations” with WBD in recent days. He said it was a great week for AEW ratings wise and both Dynamite and Collision have been on a roll in recent weeks. Khan said that AEW stands to be in a position to grow in 2024.
Khan said to be in AEW is to be constantly attacked. At this point, he doesn’t worry about it and just focuses on putting on great shows. He said it’s amazing how so many people in wrestling are on X/Twitter and as a result, there is a bit of an echo chamber and lots of negativity and bad faith. He brought up the turnstile count debate, saying many people didn’t go through the turnstile and that is normal in pro sports.
He said there is a reason that people every single person that has stepped into his position has gone out of business, he’s the only one left and thanked the fans for that. He said that it’s worth the fight, he loves the fight, and he’s never going to give up the fight. He mentions people like Jim Crockett and Ted Turner and says he’s fighting for them.
Regarding Kenny Omega, he’s glad Omega listened to his doctors and didn’t wait any longer. He’ll leave it to Omega to give updates on his health. He said there are good reasons to be very optimistic.
When asked about Final Battle’s ticket sales, he said that to sell 2,000 tickets tonight is great for an ROH event and Final Battle was one of the biggest gates in ROH history. He said that Friday’s number was consistent with the crowds they’ve had for other ROH pay-per-views.
Khan said he was definitely considering adding more Ring of Honor events, mentioned this was the first show exclusive on Honor Club. “Huge leap in subscribers” on Honor Club this week. He said it may make more sense for ROH shows to be on Honor Club in the future.
When asked about the Von Erichs, he said their representative reached out to Sonjay Dutt and liked the idea of using the Von Erichs as the Dallas metroplex area is their territory, and would coincide with the release of The Iron Claw. He said they’ll be back tomorrow for Collision. He would love to use them again in the future.
A third weekly AEW television series could potentially be making its debut this summer.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast reported earlier this month that AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery were finalizing a deal to add a third weekly in-ring AEW TV show to the schedule. The series would feature hour-long episodes, with Zarian hinting that it would air on Saturday nights.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer provided an update on the potential series. Meltzer wrote that the show is planned and — unless something major changes — it will be premiering “by July if not earlier.”
The 7/14 show in Regina, Saskatchewan, originally a Rampage taping, has been moved to 7/8, where it is billed as a television taping but not a Rampage taping. Tony Khan didn’t comment on the change which on the surface could be the idea of a new Saturday show that has been rumored about.
The schedule in June hasn’t been announced yet other than the Canadian shows so we don’t know if this is the first Saturday taping or the Saturday show will begin before this date. But the Saturday show is right now planned and unless something major changes it will be debuting at least by July if not earlier. Things are being kept quiet. It’s close enough to a done deal that the Regina news basically confirms it and the fact the change was just made this week also confirms that the close to finalization would have just recently come up. If it’s on TNT, there will be a lot of sports pre-emptions throughout the year. On TBS, there will be some as well. Still, more programming is a good sign provided that there is a commensurate increase in rights fees for the new stuff.
The new series would join Dynamite and Rampage on AEW’s weekly TV lineup.
Another AEW series, the company’s All Access reality show, is set to premiere on TBS after Dynamite next Wednesday (March 29). That reality show will have a six-episode run.
AEW & ROH head Tony Khan has previously said publicly there has been more demand for additional AEW programming on TV.
According to a report by Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian, it appears Khan is about to find out if that is true.
On Saturday’s edition of Mat Men, Zarian reported that AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery are closing in on a deal to add a third AEW show to the schedule. Similar to Rampage, this would be an hour-long broadcast.
Zarian didn’t know when the new show would be officially announced, but said to expect that news to come within the next month.
While the official particulars are unknown, Zarian recently tweeted a hint that led people to believe it would be on Saturdays at 6:05 PM — the previous day and time of WCW Saturday Night on TBS. He could not confirm that, however.
If the deal is completed, the show will join Dynamite on Wednesdays and Rampage on Fridays. AEW is also launching their first-ever reality series this Wednesday called All Access after Dynamite.
An article in Bloomberg released Thursday revealed that the company is “considering starting a streaming service” and notes a potential deal could involve broadcast partner, Warner Bros. Discovery.
The article reads:
AEW is also considering starting a streaming service, likely through a deal with its broadcast partner, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., according to a person familiar with management’s thinking, who asked not to be named.
AEW president Tony Khan previously discussed the idea of an AEW streaming service during an interview with Barstool Sports in October 2021. He noted there had been discussions with WarnerMedia regarding it and that he was in the process of building the company’s library. At the time, Khan sounded confident a deal would be announced shortly.
Khan purchased Ring of Honor and its tape library last March. The promotion’s Honor Club streaming service was relaunched in December.
Kathleen Finch, the Chairman, and Chief Content Office for Warner Bros Discovery U.S Networks group recently spoke to Deadline regarding AEW and Dana White’s Power Slap league.
The Power Slap League debuted last week on TBS, bringing in fewer than 300,000 viewers and scoring a 0.10 in the 18-49 demographic. Finch was asked if there was concern regarding the program following a video being made public that showed White slapping his wife.
This is an experiment. The goal is, we are making shows for our fans, that’s who we work for. Fans of wrestling have a lot of overlap with the fans of this and it’s huge on social media so the idea really is, if we can take something that’s huge on social, bring it to a linear audience giving the fans what they want.
Since the Warner Bros/Discovery merger, many scripted shows on the company’s networks have been canceled, even some that had already completed filming new seasons. These include shows such as Snowpiercer, The Big D, and Chad. Finch praised many of the unscripted programs WBD offers such as MILF Manor, a prank show similar to Punk’d that will debut soon, as well as AEW and the Power Slap League.
Finch continued to say that she was not familiar with pro wrestling before accepting her current position at Warner Bros Discovery. She said that one surprising thing she has learned is that wrestling is something families watch together.
Finch said:
This may surprise you to know that I did not know much about wrestling before I took this job. I know, I seem like a wrestling fan, but I’m not. But I did have to learn a lot about the audience. A lot of families that watch [wrestling], I was very surprised to learn this. I have huge respect for this audience. AEW wrestling airs on two of our networks, TNT and TBS — on both nights it kills. Finding something that speaks to that audience, that would be gold.
Finch previously praised the audience AEW garners last October during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter as well. She said the company was actively looking at ways to feature AEW’s stars “outside of the ring.”
We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring.
AEW is believed to have filmed a behind-the-scenes documentary in November.
How the rules have changed and what did and didn’t work this year
The copies of War Games
Why WWE didn’t do War Games on the main roster, and why they started it on NXT
Business notes on how the show did, live, streaming, PPV
Crossover audience between War Games and Full Gear and Crown Jewel
Full show coverage with poll results
The story behind William Regal’s AEW departure
Why many questioned the MJF booking
Best of Seven notes
PPV number updates, as well as updates on the last four AEW PPV shows
Who bought Full Gear, Forbidden Door or All Out and patterns
Revenue, movie gate numbers and more
Notes behind the title changes
Match by match coverage and poll results on the show
Updates on the Royal rumble, ticket sales and more notes
New Japan and Stardom Historic X Over
The story behind Kairi winning the IWGP title and not Mayu Iwatani
The story behind Omega vs. Ospreay
Match by match coverage and poll results
C.M. Punk mocks the brawl, Young Bucks & Kenny Omega mock C.M. Punk, and more
TV ratings over the past two weeks, including where AEW faltered this week and did great the week earlier and it’s the same group, the huge drop during the show of Raw, what about Smackdown was the best of the year for the show, and where wrestling ranked in the sports charts and the entertainment charts the past two weeks
Wrestling legend gets honored by an international embassy
Cain Velasquez wrestling and the story behind it
Stardom PPV show coverage
Updates on all the traditional Japanese tournaments
Update on Kota Ibushi
Fantastica Mania news
Generational legends battle this past week
Ricky Steamboat comes out of retirement
Plan for a statue of iconic wrestler to be built in his home town
Battle of Los Angeles news
Mayor Glenn Jacobs in the middle of controversy
Injury changes the winner of a tournament
Major WWE legend coming out of retirement in December
One of the most well traveled wrestlers of all-time passes away
Former ECW and WWE star retiring
Thoughts on wrestlers whose contracts are coming due
New angle off television for recently signed AEW wrestler
International TV ratings
AEW & WWE streaming numbers
Lots of new UFC main events
Conor McGregor gets sued twice
UFC gaming controversy
MMA returns to CBS prime time
PFL season finale
Paul Levesque talks WWE future
Big stock rise for WWE and why
Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon talk WWE business, international, buying companies and more
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Friday News Update
Garrett Gonzales and I will be doing our weekend show tomorrow rather than tonight, covering the news of the week. Bryan and I will be back for a show on Sunday night.
This is not a wrestling story, but it is a WBD story and WBD greatly affects the future of AEW. WBD has canceled all live programming on HLN as a cost cutting measure. They also laid of hundreds of CNN employees.
In today’s Observer there is a note about how Ontario’s Gaming Commission has banned all betting on UFC events due to issues with at least two of the bouts recently where there was an undisclosed injury to fans that made the result almost predetermined. New Jersey will no longer allow any betting on fights James Krause is associated with. Krause bet heavily on fights with knowledge of things the public didn’t know about. The UFC today announced that any fighter who has any association with Krause will no longer be allowed to fight for the organization. Nevada has also suspended Krause from being involved in any fights. Marcelo Rojo, who fights tomorrow, will be allowed on the card because the decision came down today. The province of Alberta joined in today, and all bets on UFC fights already made have been avoided and money returned to the player. Darrick Minner, who went into a fight a few weeks ago with a leg injury that was kept secret, but insiders found out and bet heavily on his losing, has been cut. In a world where DraftKings is a huge partner of UFC, this is a gigantic story and one would think there will be more following.
I have a new book that has just been released, the 1995 Yearbook, covering every major news story from a crazy year including the birth of Nitro, the start of the Monday Night Wars, Collision in Korea, WrestleMania with Lawrence Taylor, arguably the most star-laden show in history with 13 major promotions involved and more. The book is available for $25 here.
PWInsider reported that WWE has a live event in India with the Smackdown crew scheduled for 1/16. It would be WWE’s first show in India in five years.
For reasons we don’t know, the complete ratings chart for Wednesday was not available on Showbuzz Daily until late, but we did get the actual chart. Dynamite was fifth Wednesday night behind two college basketball games, a World Cup game, and Challenge, which beat AEW for the first time this season. Challenge on MTV did beat AEW by 0.27 to 0.26 (the real percentages were 0.56 and 0.54 but that’s the internal real numbers based on homes and not the numbers you would see anywhere else). It was the first time that show has beaten Dynamite on cable in a long time.
AAA announced its first major show of 2023, Rey de Reyes, takes place on 2/5 in Merida.
Smackdown is on FS 1 tonight, not FOX. If you DVR the show, make sure to check ahead of time because in many places it will not record because it’s not on FOX. There were 5,800 tickets out for the show as of this morning. *Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus opens the show *Ricochet vs. Santos Escobar in the World Cup tournament finals. The show will also be replayed at 10 p.m. and midnight, so the second airing goes against Rampage.
AEW Rampage for tonight at 10 pm. Eastern on TNT Darby Allin vs. Cole Karter Private Party vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal Athena vs. Dani Mo Orange Cassidy vs. QT Marshall in a lumberjack match for the All Atlantic title Renee Paquette interviews Saraya and FTR, Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland, the Gunn Brothers and The Acclaimed all appear.
Tickets for Elimination Chamber in Montreal sold out immediately (except for highly priced platinum tickets) and Smackdown tickets are close to selling out as well.
Bret Hart was announced for this year’s WrestleCon in Los Angeles in conjunction with WrestleMania.
UFC tomorrow on ESPN and ESPN+ has its first TV card in months starting at 7 p.m. Eastern and continuing past 1 a.m. It will be from the Amway Center in Orlando, FL.
Yazmin Jauregui (115.5) vs. Istela Nunes (114.5)
Marcelo Rojo (145) vs. Francis Marshall (145)
Natan Levy (156) vs. Genaro Valdez (156)
Darren Elkins (145) vs. Jonathan Pearce (146)
Michael Johnson (156) vs. Marc Diakiese (155.5)
Clay Guida (154.5) vs Scott Holtzman (155.5)
Angela Hill (115.5) vs. Emily Ducote (115.5)
Niko Price (170) vs. Phil Rowe (173.5)
Eryk Anders (185) vs. Kyla Daukaus (184.5)
Jack Hermansson (186) vs.Roman Dolidze (185.5)
Tai Tuivasa (266) vs. Sergei Pavlovich (255)
Matheus Nicolau (126) vs. Matt Schnell (126)
Rafael dos Anjos (170) vs. Bryan Barbarena (170.5)
Stephen Thompson (170) vs. Kevin Holland (170.5)
Rowe missed weight by 2.5 pounds and was fined 30 percent of his purse. A scheduled Tracy Cortez vs. Amanda Ribas fight was canceled after both had made weight due to a medical issue involving Cortez. Matt Schnell originally missed weight at 126.5, but he then shaved his head and made weight.
New Japan at 3 a.m. Eastern late tonight from Kakogawa has the heavyweight tag team tournament with Alex Coughlin & Gabriel Kidd vs. Aussie Open, Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare, Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki vs Evil & Yujiro Takahashi and Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada. They also have a junior heavyweight tag team tournament show on late Saturday night from Yamaguchi at 3 a.m. Eastern.
Other Notes
MLW War Chamber takes place on 4/6 in New York at the Melrose Ballroom. It’s their version of War Games.
Impact Digital Media champion Joe Hendry is looking for U.S. bookings from 1/15 to 1/19 through Bill Behrens at [email protected]
Women of Wrestling will be at the Los Angeles Comic Con tomorrow with a show at 2:30 p.m. There are also wrestlers from the group doing autograph signings today through Sunday. There are signings at 9 a.m. tomorrow, 10:30 a.m., Noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. as well as Sunday at 9:30 a.m. besides the show.
Progress has announced shows on 1/22 at the Electric Ballroom in London, as well as 2/26 in the same building and a 2/12 show in Manchester, UK at the O2 Ritz.
Insane Championship Wrestling from Wednesday night in Monroe, MI: Shogun Jackson Stone b Sam Beale, Chinstrap Jesus Kyle Barrett b Ace Evans, Tanner Nix b Commander Cody, Buckeye Sam b Hannah Henderson, Jason Hotch b Trey Miguel, Madman Fulton won over N8 Mattson & Bachelor Benjamin in a handicap match, Kenny Urban b Zack Thomas in a lumberjack match, Death Threat Army d Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley 20:00, Dread King Logan b Rhino-DQ to keep the IWR title, Thoma Latimer b Rhino after Jon E. Bravo hit Rhino with a fireball. Next show is 12/29 in Monroe, MI with Johnny Swinger vs. Dirty Dango (thanks to Paul Meade)
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Wednesday night in Omaha, NE: Judie Azul b Kelsey Magnolia, Ryan Romantic b Xander McIntosh, Tank Bryson b Eric Del Castillo, Niles Plonk b Luke Luna, Purple b Warren Adams, Con Artiest b Vic Douglas, Pat Powers & Moonshine Russell & Jack Darling & Billy Peck b Omar Pachecco & Joey Daniels & Angus Keyser & Manford Zablinksi. Next show is 12/29 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha.
MCW tomorrow night in Joppatowne, MD at the RJ Meyer Arena.
Warner Bros Discovery is moving ahead with a ‘behind-the-scenes’ documentary series focussed on AEW.
In May, AEW sent out a survey announcing the series was in the works and asking fans to help name it. AEW also revealed that the show will “track our core cast on the road at AEW events as they try to hold onto the titles they have or win back the ones they’ve lost, with everything culminating at the biggest Pay-Per-View event of the year.”
According to a report from Fightful Select, AEW staff and talent were informed this past week that filming for the project will begin on November 2 when AEW Dynamite emanates from the Chesapeake Arena in Baltimore. It will continue for six weeks until Winter is Coming on December 14 from Garland, Texas. Tony Khan will serve as Executive Producer. The project will be a collaboration between Warner Bros Discovery and Shed Media. It is expected to air sometime in 2023.
Warner Bros Discovery US Networks Group chair and chief content office Kathleen Finch spoke to the Hollywood Reporter earlier this month about looking to create AEW content “that’s not in a wrestling ring.”
“We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring,” she said.
Job Listing: Onlamp php/mysql developer. Experience with vbulletin and drupal/WordPress a plus. Email [email protected] with subject PHP DEVELOPER with resume.
The aftermath of the AEW brawl after All Out Why suspensions were lifted The CM Punk injury and how it changes things AEW video game promotion in Japan What people under suspension aren’t allowed to do Tony Khan position Clearing up some wrestling stories Ideas for AEW to improve the developmental rate of its young talent The most important thing for AEW long-term Ways to get wrestlers more time in the ring Ways to get wrestlers more time learning promos and angles Complete coverage of UFC 279 The life and death of UFC star Elias Theodorou Coverage of this past week’s Stardom PPV show How every wrestling show this past week did in the ratings, competition, football, where WWE & AEW fall in entertainment standings, how the segments on the major shows did Unique finish to set up CMLL tournament final Final build to the anniversary show CMLL star undergoes surgery Promotion talk about new reality show idea Stardom Five Star Grand Prix update New Japan and Stardom business rundowns, profits, losses, revenue, streaming numbers Kota Ibushi update Yuji Nagata celebrates 30 years in the ring New Japan Strong TV for the future Talk about the Desperado vs. Jun Kasai bloodbath Generational dream match announced between 80 legend and modern legend Konosuke Takeshita’s ten year anniversary Ricky Steamboat returns to the ring How viewing is changing Story behind Steamboat’s comeback More on movies about 80s stars and a movie on the life of modern star Hall of Famer from Japan wants match with Moxley Wrestling cartoon show canceled Latest on WBD and wrestling More AEW injury news Ticket sale numbers for WWE & AEW shows International TV numbers Streaming numbers More on the business of doing major shows Commission examining UFC backstage brawl More Clash at the Castle news WWE projected revenue for this year Why Raw will have a problem next week Gable Steveson update New talent coming to NXT A&E bio news
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Friday News Update
Garrett Gonzales and I will be doing a show tonight covering the news of the week.
The biggest media story which is far bigger than pro wrestling is about the proposed merger of NBCU and WBD, with the idea of it being attempted in 2024. These type of mergers in media and putting it in control of just a few people is a sad and also dangerous state of affairs. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk, Arya Whitner and many others)
Jordan Burroughs became the first American in history to win seven world or Olympic championships at the senior level earlier today by beating Mohammad Nokhodilarimi of Iran 4-2 in the 174 pound final of the World Wrestling Championships. Burroughs has world championships in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2022 to go along with a 2012 gold medal. He breaks the record set by John Smith and Adeline Gray, who both have won six world titles.
David Taylor at 189 pounds defeated Hassan Yazdani of iran by a 7-1 score to win another world title for the U.S. Zain Retherford a 154 pounds won a silver medal, losing to Taishi Narikuni of Japan 10-0. Thomas Gilman, Kyle Dake and J’Den Cox will be in finals tomorrow. The U.S. is well ahead of Iran looking to win the team championship. This looks to be the strongest overall U.S. team in recent memory. Kyle Snyder will start competing tomorrow.
Smackdown tonight in Anaheim, CA has Brawling Brutes vs. Imperium vs. New Day vs. Hit Row with the winners getting a shot at the Usos for the tag titles on 10/8 in Philadelphia, Sami Zayn vs. Ricochet, Bayley vs. Raquel Rodriguez, plus Ronda Rousey and Logan Paul appear. Paul will set up his 11/5 match with Roman Reigns in Saudi Arabia and WWE is holding a press conference tomorrow in Las Vegas to announce the match.
Roman Reigns makes a rare house show appearance on 9/24 in Vancouver, BC defending the title against A.J. Styles.
We are looking for reports from Smackdown tonight in Anaheim with dark matches as well as from the weekend house shows in Bakersfield CA tomorrow and Oakland, CA on Sunday to [email protected]
The only weekend poll will be on the CMLL Anniversary show from Arena Mexico which is taking place right now. You can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
UFC tomorrow is a full ESPN+ show starting at 4 p.m. Eastern
Nikolas Motta (155) vs Cameron VanCamp (155.5)
Tony Gravely (135.5) vs. Javid Basharat (135.5)
Mariya Agapova (125.5.) vs. Gillian Robertson (125)
Trey Ogden (156) vs. Daniel Zellhuber (155)
Denise Gomes (115) vs. Loma Lookboonmee (115.5)
Trevin Giles (170) vs. Louis Cosce (170.5)
Damon Jackson (145.5) vs. Pat Sabatini (145.5)
Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (185)
Tanner Boser (229) vs. Rodrigo Nascimento (261)
Joe Pfyer (185) vs. Alen Amedovski (186.5)
Andre Fili (145.5) vs. Bill Algeo (146)
Chidi Njokuani (185.5) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185.5)
Cory Sandhagen (135.5) vs. Song Yadong (135.5)
Amedovski missed weight. The Sara McMann vs. Aspen Ladd fight was canceled when Ladd missed weight by two pounds.
A story on Jay Dumont, a web site member who has been battling health issues and a lot of people in wrestling who have become friends of his.
WWE
The company announced its post-Christmas shows and interesting that for what is usually the best week of the year to draw, they aren’t running on 12/27:
12/26 in Columbus, OH for Raw
12/28 in Cleveland
12/28 in Greensboro
12/29 in Miami
12/30 in Toronto
12/30 in Tampa
1/1 in Atlanta for the Day 1 PPV show
WWE on Peacock has released a Hispanic Heritage show featuring some current and old matches. The old matches include Roy Shire vs. Rito Romero from 1954, featuring the future Hall of Fame promoter against the inventor of the Romero special, the 1971 Pedro Morales title win over Ivan Koloff in Madison Square Garden, and the 1977 Superstar Billy Graham vs. Mil Mascaras WWWF title match where Mascaras refused to do the job and they had to do a DQ finish instead.
UFC
Terrence McKinney has tried to get the attention of Dwayne Johnson . The UFC and Johnson made a deal for Project Rock footwear to be the official footwear of UFC fighters. The fighters have to wear the stuff but they aren’t getting paid. McKinney asked Johnson to try and push that the fighters get a cut.
Combate Global tonight on Paramount + at 11 p.m. Eastern is headlined by Miguel Gonzalez (5-1) vs Edir Belico Terry (8-4) in a bantamweight fight. The co-main at 150 pounds has Jose Ferreira (8-0) vs Patrick Lehane (5-1)
AIW on 10/1 in Akron, OH at the Tadmor Shrine with a meet and greet with Jimmy Hart and the Nasty Boys.
Defy on 10/8 at the Kliever Armory in Portland, Or, as Christopher Daniels defending the Defy title against Serve Strickland. Kevin Sullivan also manages tag champions Midnight Heat against the Bollywood Boyz in a 3 stage of hate match, plus Ortiz vs. Adam Ryder.
Invicta on 9/28 on AXS TV in the U.S. and Fight Network in Canada with an 8 p.m. Eastern time start is headlined by Maiju Suotma (8-6) vs. Ketlen Souza (11-3) plus former Ultimate Fighter competitors Kaytin Neil (5-4) faces Hannah Guy (4-1). The show takes place in Hinton, OK at the Sugar Creek Casino.
Spike Trivet vs. Drew Parker for the Progress World title headlines Sunday’s show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London, UK. Kanji & Allie Katch face Lana Austin & Skye Smitson, tag champs Sunshine Machine defend against Kings of the North and Matt Cardona defends his Internet title against Gene Munny.
Mads Krugger vs. Mance Warner has been added to Sunday’s MLW TV taping in Norcross, GA.
LFA tonight on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. Eastern from Prior Lake, MN and the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel:
Manatua Lemarie (189) vs. Adam Vigil (189.6)
Zach Vaci (135.2) vs. Rob Fenicle (135.8)
Giovanna Canuto (115.6) vs. Jamie Colleen Miller (116)
Sean McFadden (135.6) vs. Michael Cyr (136)
Thomas Peterson (257) vs. Kory Moegenburg (253.2)
Jacqueline Amorim (115) vs. Ashley Nichols (115) for the strawweight title
There will likely be less swearing on AEW programming for the foreseeable future.
The promotion was told by Warner Bros. Discovery recently that they would like the language “toned down” on episodes of Dynamite and Rampage. The issue was addressed by Dave Meltzer in Friday’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Word has gotten to the promotion from WBD that they’d like the language toned down. As best we can tell, they have said nothing about the blood,” Meltzer wrote.
This is not the first time the company has requested that AEW keep explicit language to a minimum. In 2020, Tony Khan would frequently make announcements before episodes of Dynamite asking fans not to use chants such as, “Holy s**t.” Khan clarified the reasons for this during a social media exchange with Ryan Satin.
“The network specifically asked me not to let the crowd chant that, and I’m a good cooperative media partner,” the AEW President wrote on Twitter.
One of the major players that helped AEW expand within WarnerMedia is leaving the company.
Deadline first reported Wednesday Brett Weitz, general manager of TNT, TBS and truTV, will be transitioning out of his role within the next month after 14 years within Turner.
Weitz found himself without a position following the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger.
Weitz took over as GM when AEW launched on TNT back in October 2019 and helped guide its subsequent expansion with Rampage and Battle of the Belts, in addition to reviving the John Cena-led Wipeout on TBS.
The new environment within the new Warner Bros. Discovery corporate environment continues to be shaken up due to the fallout from the recently approved merger.
How that new corporate structure and philosophy affects negotiations with AEW remains to be seen. What is known is that there will be less of an emphasis on scripted programming as they ended new scripted show development on both TBS and TNT.
At next week’s upfronts where networks try to drive interest with advertisers for their upcoming programming slate, live sports and news will be a major focus of the new company’s presentation.
AEW is part of an advertising package along with sports, CNN specials and original documentaries called Premier — an effort for the company to drive top ad dollars what they see have been undervalued assets.
AEW’s extension with Warner Bros. Discovery runs through 2023.
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio talking all the latest news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter including his story on AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery and his analysis on pro wrestling TV ratings.
We start off the show discussing the NXT releases, then talk about WWE’s stadium strategy, The Rock’s new wrestling show, the new WrestleMania Backlash main event, TripleMania and Sammy Guevara, and COVID-19.
