Daily Update
Latest News
- Bryan Danielson: Will Ospreay is ‘the modern evolution of wrestling’
- Sanga comments on WWE release
- WWE Main Event results: Ludwig Kaiser vs. Otis
- Matt Hardy still a free agent following TNA Rebellion appearance
- AEW Dynasty preview & predictions: Swerve’s house
- TNA Rebellion notes: Sami Callihan returns, Shawne Merriman, new champion crowned
- IWGP World title match official for next AEW Dynamite
Latest Audio
- Wrestling Observer Live: AEW Dynasty preview
Latest Free YouTube Video
F4W/WON Convention
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- April 22, 2024 Observer Newsletter: Vince McMahon’s future, Marigold & WWE, AEW Dynasty preview
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site now
- What is the future of Vince McMahon and will he try to get back into wrestling after selling his TKO stock
- Lots of aspects of the story to talk about
- How much of the current success is Vince responsible vs. Paul Levesque responsible
- The story behind the WrestleMania 39 finish
- How many people watched WrestleMania streaming and on PPV and how that compares to other weekly television shows
- The story behind Rossy Ogawa’s Marigold promotion, the roster, the WWE connection and more
- Full story of UFC 300, one of the biggest nights in UFC history and the business notes on the show along with what is next for the star fighters
- AEW Dynasty, previewing the show and what to look for on the show and why from a business standpoint this is so important
- Hall of Famer gets major accusations against him on a national news show
- Rhea Ripley injury update
- Full coverage of Windy City Riot
- Forbes valuation of combat sports entities and my thoughts regarding them
- A look back at the Silva-Sonnen fight that was announced for the UFC Hall of Fame and back story
- Sue Aitchison, the former Warrior Award winner and her work behind the scenes in WWE
- The most detailed look at the ratings for all the national shows, comparisons with last year and nightly and weekly placings
- Next Stardom PPV show
- Champion Carnival opens
- Who is now Vice President of two different wrestling promotions
- Bloodsport in Japan
- The life and career of Tony Jones
- Updated PPV numbers from AEW & TNA
- International TV ratings
- Lots of comments from Tony Khan
- More on the Nyla Rose situation in Oklahoma
- More on WrestleMania 41
- Drew Gulak update
- Most watched videos from WrestleMania
This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter
- December 25, 2006 Observer Newsletter: WWE Armageddon, UFC Ultimate Fight Night
Sunday Update
– Bryan and I will be back tonight covering all the weekend news including Dynasty, Smackdown, Collision, WWE cuts, and more. Garrett and I did our week in review show on Friday, we talked with Brad Balukjian extensively about the 80s period when WWF went from regional to national including busting some myths, plus talked about AEW TV contract negotiations, what Steve Austin and Terry Funk had that others didn’t, and Chris Adams.
– AEW has Dynasty tonight in St. Louis at the Chaifetz Arena. There were 6,447 tickets out this morning and the place would sell out at about 7,000 or a little more, so it is possible they’ll sell out but more likely they’ll come just shy. On paper for action, this show looks exceptional. It’ll run from 7 p.m. to midnight.
Zero Hour:
- Trent Baretta vs. Matt Sydal
- Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata vs Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty
- Billy Gunn & The Acclaimed vs. Jay White & Gunn Brothers for both the AEW and ROH trios titles
PPV:
- Adam Copeland & Eddie Kingston & Mark Briscoe vs House of Black
- Julia Hart vs. Willow Nightingale for the TBS tile
- Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the International title
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Pac for the Continental title
- Young Bucks vs. FTR for vacant tag titles in a ladder match
- Toni Storm vs. Thunder Rosa for the women’s title
- Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson
- Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland for the AEW title
We have a preview in the current edition of the Observer with all the odds going into the show.
The show goes head-to-head with two NBA playoff games and two NHL Stanley Cup playoff games. The next several weeks for all pro wrestling shows will be hard with the playoffs. AEW has another obstacle on Wednesday with a 5 p.m. start on the West Coast for the show headlined by Jon Moxley vs. Powerhouse Hobbs for the IWGP title. The start time should hurt AEW ratings by about eight percent, and NBA playoffs will hurt it as well.
– AEW does have a huge benefit next week as the three-hour Saturday night block with Collision & Rampage starts at 8:30 p.m., only 30 minutes later than usual, but gets a Boston vs Miami lead-in. The first quarter is likely to be by far the highest quarter hour of viewing so far this year so they should open up with the top angle for Double or Nothing when viewership is high. The rating should be way up but it also doesn’t mean anything due to the lead-in past an opportunity to get talent seen by more non-fans than any time in a long time.
– We’re doing polls this weekend on Dynasty and TNA Rebellion so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
– WWE finished the European tour yesterday in Belfast, Northern Ireland:
- Sami Zayn won four-way over Gunther, Chad Gable, and Finn Balor. Balor was a huge babyface of course and Zayn raised Balor’s hand after the match
- JD McDonagh b Ricochet – They changed from the ending in the other cities because McDonagh is Irish
- Natalya & Tegan Nox b Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark
- Damian Priest b Kofi Kingston to keep the world title. McDonagh and Xavier Woods both interfered
- Becky Lynch b Piper Niven
- Jey Uso b Drew McIntyre. McIntyre cut a promo saying Belfast may host WrestleMania before saying he’ll personally make sure it never happens.
- Cody Rhodes b Shinsuke Nakamura to keep the WWE title
The show sold out legit
– For Google searches this week, nothing from pro wrestling or MMA made the list, but the Ryan Garcia vs Devin Hansey boxing match had 2 million searches, the second most for the weekend behind the NBA playoffs, which had 6.5 million. Garcia vs. Haney was just slightly below UFC 300 and double that of WrestleMania.
– We’re looking for reports on these shows from the weekend:
- WWE Friday night in Pittsburgh (dark matches only)
- WWE last night in Erie, PA
- WWE tonight in Fort Wayne, IN
- NXT Friday in Davenport, FL
- TNA tonight in Las Vegas
- AEW last night (anything not on the three-hour live show)
We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
– Sami Callihan was back with TNA last night but is expected to continue working with MLW.
– I saw the Friday night Arena Mexico show. The three-way where Mascara Dorada beat Mistico and Atlantis Jr. in an elimination match to advance to next week’s tournament of champions final against Titan and Magnus was excellent. Even better was the Villanos & Zandokan Jr. match against Titan & Esfinge & Flip Gordon. The heat for this stuff is so far beyond what you see anywhere else these days. The other match we got high recommendations for this weekend was the Yuma Anzai vs. Ryuki Honda Champion Carnival match from All Japan today in Chiba.
– New Japan did a ten bell salute to Akebono at yesterday’s show in Machida.
– A&E tonight has WWE Rivals at 8 p.m. on the Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage feud and Most Wanted Treasures at 9 p.m. features Dusty Rhodes, with Cody Rhodes and Booker T.
– There was a giant upset as four-time NCAA champion and Hodge Trophy winner Aaron Brooks beat defending gold medalist David Taylor, considered the country’s best wrestler regardless of weight, on scores of 4-1 and 3-1 at the Olympic trials last night on the USA Network. So Brooks made the Olympic team at 189 pounds. Taylor had been all over TV commercials done by Cody Rhodes on NBC and USA, so they may have to cut a new one for Brooks, Kyle Dake, or Kyle Snyder. Mason Parris, a WWE NIL wrestler, made the team at 275 pounds beating Hayden Zillmer 7-0 and 7-0 in straight matches. Snyder made his third Olympic team at 213 beating Isaac Trumble 5-0 and 4-0. He’s got one gold and one silver.
– On the women’s side, Amit Elor, the top star at 149 and best woman wrestler regardless of weight in the country, at 20 years old, beat Forrest Molinari 6-0 and 2-1 to make her first Olympic team. Elor won two age group world titles (under 18 and under 20) in 2021, two age group world titles (under 20 and under 23), and the overall world title in both 2022 and 2023. She’s been in eight world championship tournaments and gone 29-0 and outscored opponents 251-9. Helen Maroulis made her third Olympic team after winning gold in 2016. Kayla Miracle made her second team.
The biggest news story from the women’s side was Kennedy Blades beating Adeline Gray 11-6 and 8-3 to make the team at 167 pounds. Gray has been the dominant US wrestler in that division for more than a decade and won six world titles and the 2021 silver medal, but never a gold, and not making this team means she’s likely to never win a gold.
– Adam Coon beat WWE NIL wrestler Cohlton Schutz, winning the second and third match after losing the first, to make the Greco-Roman Olympic team in the 286-pound weight class.
– Luke Rockhold knocked out Joe Schilling in the main event of Karate Combat in Dubai last night. It was Rockhold’s first combat sports win in seven years.
– Swerve Strickland threw out the first pitch at yesterday’s St. Louis Cardinals game. He had with him an AEW world title belt,
– Aero Star debuts with House of Glory Wrestling on 5/5 in New York at the NYC Arena.
– Yuka Sakazaki’s leg injury in her bout last night in Peoria, IL with Emi Sakura was legit. As of this morning, the exact injury and its ramifications weren’t clear. She gutted her way through the match but the injury did change things.
– TNA tapes Impact tonight in Las Vegas:
- Jordynne Grace vs. Miyu Yamashita for the Knockouts title
- Mustafa Ali vs Ace Austin for the X title
- Brian Myers vs. Mike Bailey
- Eddie Edwards vs. Nic Nemeth
- Xia Brookside vs. Ash by Elegance
- Leon Slater vs. Myron Reed
News Summary:
- Daily Update: AEW Dynasty, Sami Callihan, WWE European tour
- Check all news and articles from the latest Cricket updates.