Tag: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

September 1, 2025 Observer Newsletter: AEW Forbidden Door review, Raja Jackson & Syko Stu incident

Posted on by F4W Staff

The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter is available for subscribers.

Dave Meltzer leads off with a look at last Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Here’s an excerpt:

“AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door didn’t seem as forbidden as in the past, with the only New Japan wrestlers being El Desperado and Yuya Uemura booked in an opening Zero Hour match announced the night before with no build-up, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney and Robbie X also added the night before, plus the previously announced Zack Sabre Jr., Gabe Kidd, Hiromu Takahashi and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tomohiro Ishii did a run-in, although run-in would be the incorrect term for what he did. From CMLL came Hechicero (also announced the night before) and Persephone, while RevPro had late add Michael Oku and Stardom had Bozilla.

The show took place on 8/24 at the O2 Arena in London, and with the early Sunday night curfew in that building, they started the show at 4:45 p.m. local time and the main card at 6 p.m., meaning an 11:45 a.m. start on the East Coast and an 8:45 a.m. start on the West Coast. They also had probably the most loaded Zero Hour in history.”

Dave also looks at the bizarre Raja Jackson/Syko Stu incident on an indie show, a look at Sunday’s WWE Clash in Paris, and the rest of the news from the wrestling week.

Click here to read this week’s issue.

August 25, 2025 Observer Newsletter: Major changes to WWE’s ESPN & Peacock deals, AEW Forbidden Door preview

Posted on by F4W Staff

The new Wrestling Observer Newsletter has arrived at the end of another busy week for both WWE and AEW.

Dave Meltzer looks at the latest flurry of activity with WWE’s media rights as their PLE deal with ESPN will now begin in September with their Peacock contract undergoing some major changes as a result.

Dave also previews this weekend’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door from London’s O2 Arena.

He hits on all that, plus the rest of the news from the wrestling week in WWE, AEW, NJPW, CMLL, AAA and more.

Click here to read the latest Wrestling Observer

December 17, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Raw 15th anniversary, WWE & NBC extend deal

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

In the midst of controversy, Hulk Hogan returned to the WWE, doing a complete about face from his previous comments where just a few months ago he swore to friends that he’d never go back, and was always teasing starting up his own promotion, usually linked with Eric Bischoff.

As it turned out, with both appearing on Raw, and Hogan’s pending divorce, there has been no talk nor movement in that direction in months. The two were among the night of 1,000 former stars that was the 15th anniversary of Monday Night Raw that took place a month early, on 12/10 from Bridgeport, CT, before a sellout crowd of 7,000 fans.

The returns of Hogan, Bischoff, Trish Stratus, Steve Austin and Mick Foley were announced on television, and later names like Lita and Sunny (Tammy Sytch) were pushed on the web site. There were a few surprises, most notably Rob Van Dam and Bob Backlund.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

August 18, 2025 Observer Newsletter: UFC signs TV rights deal with Paramount, new WWE vs. AEW head-to-head battles

Posted on by F4W Staff

The brand-new Wrestling Observer Newsletter is ready.

In this week’s issue, Dave Meltzer leads off with the big news of the week which was UFC’s massive money deal with Paramount to bring their entire schedule to the streaming service & CBS, ending the PPV era in 2026.

He then looks at the latest developments in the WWE vs. AEW wrestling war which includes a new September PLE going head-to-head with All Out and perhaps John Cena’s final match going head-to-head with December’s Worlds End.

And then, there’s the TNA developments. More on that in this issue.

All that, the rest of the news around the wrestling world, and some more UFC as well awaits you, so click below as reading is your friend.

Click here to read.

December 12, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Is boxing in trouble with UFC’s rise?

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Thomas Hauser, the well known biographer of Muhammad Ali and one of the best known boxing writers, wrote a long story on boxing and UFC on the secondsout.com web site this past week.

Even with boxing having its biggest show, he said the sport was in trouble. Using Google hits to judge popularity, he listed the most popular fighters of today as: 1) De La Hoya; 2) Manny Pacquiao; 3) Mayweather; 4) Oritz; 5) Liddell; 6) Couture, noting MMA’s biggest stars as significantly more popular than Bernard Hopkins, Kelly Pavlik and Wladmir Klitshcko. Emmanuel Steward ripped MMA as being ugly and brutal, with nothing beautiful about it like a nice jab in boxing.

He noted UFC follows the WWE when it comes to marketing and stated studies that showed UFC gets its crowds more than WWE fans than boxing fans. Hauser blamed the firing of Chris Albrecht from the head of HBO for the demise of the HBO/UFC deal.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

August 11, 2025 Observer Newsletter: WWE PLEs heading to ESPN, Brock Lesnar’s controversial return at SummerSlam

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: WWE/Getty

It was another insane week in pro wrestling news and this week’s brand-new Wrestling Observer Newsletter has it all.

Dave Meltzer leads off with a look at the newly-announced media rights deal between WWE and ESPN that will see their full premium live event slate head to ESPN’s new streaming service in April 2026.

He then goes over all the results and news from last weekend’s WWE SummerSlam that was dominated by the controversial return of Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins revealing his knee injury was a work, and Cody Rhodes ending John Cena’s final WWE World title run.

Get all that plus all the rest of the news from AEW, CMLL, TNA and more.

Click here to read because reading is your friend.

August 4, 2025 Observer Newsletter: The social fallout from Hulk Hogan’s death, WWE SummerSlam preview & Unreal review

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: WWE

It’s Friday and that means a brand-new Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

This week, Dave Meltzer covers the social fallout from the death of Hulk Hogan which has been a mixed bag of fond remembrance for his career and admonishment for his racial comments.

Dave also previews this weekend’s first-ever two-night WWE SummerSlam in addition to a full review of WWE Unreal on Netflix.

All that, plus all the latest news and happenings from AEW, TNA, CMLL and the rest of the wrestling world.

Click here to read as reading is your friend.

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The first newsletters of the 1990s

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show with Karl Stern, he takes a look at the first issues of pro wrestling newsletters of the 1990s.

What did the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s look like in pro wrestling? What did it look like in real time through the lenses of the wrestling newsletters? There was a real business and fan shift going from 1989 into 1990, pro wrestling was getting smaller, scandal ridden, and less popular but how did the media cover it at the time?

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

December 10, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Kenta Kobashi returns to wrestling, TNA Turning Point recap

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Image: Pro Wrestling NOAH

For about a half hour this past weekend, Japanese pro wrestling was back like the old days, with a dream main event of superstars, and a hot, turnaway crowd.

However, the circumstances that led to the reprieve of a declining industry will hopefully never be duplicated. It would be great if it’s a sign that, maybe not that the glory days will ever be back, but perhaps at least a turnaround is coming.

But it could just be one of the final isolated moments.

Kenta Kobashi, one of the greatest in-ring performers in the history of the business made his long-awaited return on 12/2 at Tokyo Budokan Hall before the largest wrestling crowd in the history of the arena. Knocked out of the ring 18 months ago due to cancer which required the removal of one of his kidneys (that fact has been largely unpublicized), NOAH announced the attendance at 17,000 fans. In fact, there may have been more people than that.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

July 28, 2025 Observer Newsletter: The life & times of Hulk Hogan

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: WWE

Dave Meltzer returns with a new Wrestling Observer Newsletter, led off by his obituary on the late Hulk Hogan who passed away Thursday in Florida due to cardiac arrest.

Dave also looks at the NJPW G1 tournament, a quick-hit preview of next weekend’s WWE SummerSlam, the latest news in AEW, CMLL, AAA, TNA, and other promotions, plus more history.

Click here to read.

December 3, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Hulk Hogan divorce, Matt Serra suffers back injury

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The news continued to get worse for Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea, with an expensive divorce piled upon an expensive lawsuit that inevitably will be filed.

While all this is going on, Hogan was to return to television as filming for the entire first season of NBC’s new “American Gladiators,” with him and Laila Ali as hosts, takes place all week in Hollywood. The show will be a mid-season replacement debuting in January. It will air on Sunday nights but a time slot is not confirmed.

On 11/20, Linda, 48, filed for a divorce from Terry, 54, in Pinellas Country Court. The divorce petition doesn’t cite any grounds. The news story broke on 11/23, with Terry claiming to reporters from the St. Petersburg Times that he had no idea it was filed until they called him asking for a comment. That wasn’t the case. Several close family friends and Linda’s attorney said he had been fully aware of the filing and that it was coming for some time.

Subscribers can click here to read this issue.

July 21, 2025 Observer Newsletter: AEW All In & WWE SNME weekend recaps, Goldberg speaks out on final match

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: AEW

The new Wrestling Observer Newsletter has arrived.

Dave Meltzer recaps all the shows from the second busiest U.S. wrestling weekend of the year including AEW All In, WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, WWE Evolution, ROH Supercard of Honor, and NXT Great American Bash.

He also looks at Goldberg’s comments to Ariel Helwani this week after his final match, airing some grievances that polarized social media and promising there is more to come in under two weeks time.

All that and more awaits, so click here to read because it’s your friend.

November 26, 2007 Observer Newsletter: Where things stand business-wise, Congress looking to investigate pro wrestling

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

When looking at where things were a year ago, and today, it really shows just how much things change in pro wrestling and MMA. A year ago, UFC was the hot commodity, booking the best feuds, and building them up. WWE seemed to have lost its way to a degree, and people were writing obituaries for the sport of boxing, saying after the last De La Hoya fight, it was done.

After one of the biggest weekends of the year, it’s clear that everything is different. Boxing is thriving, with HBO re-inventing the formula of match promotion television. Round two is the build up of the 12/8 Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton fight with the 30 minute weekly show until fight time showing their preparation as well as living their life.

It’s the outside drama and personality development, more than the training footage, that made the first episode. Mayweather has gone from the cocky adversary in the De La Hoya series to a multi-dimensional larger-than-life character, living in the mansion, but raising kids, with all the hangers-on, and continuing the problems with the father who raised him to be a boxing superstar.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

July 14, 2025 Observer Newsletter: The second biggest U.S. wrestling weekend of the year is here

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: AEW

Dave Meltzer returns with a brand-new full edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter just in time for the second biggest wrestling weekend of the year here in the United States.

There’s AEW All In. There’s ROH Supercard of Honor. There’s WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event with the retirement of Bill Goldberg. There’s NXT Great American Bash. There’s WWE Evolution.

Dave previews it all and then some in this week’s issue in addition to other news from around the world.

Click here to start reading because it’s your friend.

November 19, 2007 Observer Newsletter: John Cena’s manipulated CNN interview, 10th anniversary of the Montreal Screwjob

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

“I can’t tell you that I haven’t, but you’ll never be able to prove that I have”

John Cena’s quote on CNN, which appeared to be the answer to the question on whether he had ever taken steroids.

The strange answer John Cena gave when asked about steroids on the CNN “Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling,” special on 11/7 turned out to be a complete manipulation of Cena’s actual response by the producers.

The WWE web site aired the entire 40 minute interview CNN did with Cena, which covered a gamut of subjects, mostly based on the wrestling lifestyle and growing up as a wrestling fan with his family. Cena handled himself well overall. He was never pressed hard in the questioning, and largely gave the answers to almost every question that one would expect him to give. Most of the questions had to do with subjects the piece wasn’t going in the direction of.

Subscribers can read the issue here.