Daily Update
Latest News
- Drew Gulak part of WWE NXT roster cuts
- Report: Michael Cole pulling back from managing WWE announcers
- WWE Backlash preview & predictions: An American Nightmare in France
- VIDEO: Ricochet crowned inaugural WWE Speed Champion
- High-level WWE executive Brad Blum resigns from company
- Update on timeline for Dominik Mysterio’s WWE in-ring return
- AEW wrestler Julia Hart undergoes shoulder surgery
- WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event helped fund early run of ‘Seinfeld’
- Report: Seth Rollins signs new ‘big money’ WWE contract
Latest Audio
- Wrestling Observer Live: WWE Backlash predictions, Grant lawsuit updates
- Pacific Rim: Fumi’s trip to WrestleMania, more Rossy Ogawa & Marigold thoughts
- Wrestling Weekly: The Elite vs. Tony Khan, WWE Draft thoughts
- Big Audio Nightmare: Iwatani vs. Sareee classic, Wrestling Dontaku & All Together previews
- Fight Game: WWE Backlash France preview
- Bryan & Vinny Show: AEW with Doom of Kenny, NXT with Lola vs. Nattie NXT Underground
Latest Free YouTube Video
F4W/WON Convention
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- May 6, 2024 Observer Newsletter: John Laurinaitis aligns with Vince McMahon in Grant lawsuit, WWE Draft & roster recap
This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter
- December 27, 2006 Observer Newsletter: Year in review, The Spoiler
Friday Update
– Garrett and I just finished doing a show talking the news of the week, from John Laurinaitis, Vince McMahon, AEW ratings angle and PPV, Backlash, New Japan, what used to get Vince McMahon mad about The National, the culture, how Junkyard Dog got the nickname Junkfood Dog, and much more.
– The new issue of the Observer is out today. Some of the highlights:
- John Laurinaitis’ lawyer appears to switch his story, why, case updates, lawyers talk and more case thoughts
- A detailed look at the WWE Draft including updated Raw & Smackdown depth charts
- WWE Backlash and what to look for
- A look at AAA’s first TripleMania show
- A look at Stardom’s All Star Grand Queendom and maybe the best women’s match this year
- A look at the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials
- The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling shows
- Lots of major ratings takeaways from AEW, including the key to the audience decline
- How the shows are doing as compared to cable as a whole
- Notes on our latest book release
- Finals of CMLL’s Universal tournament of champions and who ended up getting the super push
- Who is coming to CMLL FantasticaMania
- Champion Carnival tournament update
- A look at the New Japan Best of the Super Junior tournament
- Rundown on New Japan big shows
- “Who Killed WCW?” TV series coming and thoughts
- Former WWE developmental wrestler indicted on murder charges and details
- One of the modern era’s biggest legends robbed at the airport
- Sting being honored
- Famous wrestling TV location getting a special show filled with big names
- MLW sets attendance record
- Update on WWE, AEW and TNA PPV numbers
- NBA negotiations and how this could affect AEW deal
- Early thoughts on AEW Double or Nothing
- AEW losing international dels
- Tony Khan publicity stunts
- Visa issues on foreign stars
- One of the three biggest executives in WWE resigns
- Lots on Dwayne Johnson from The Wrap story
- Lots of Dwayne Johnon in WWE notes
- More on a movie on the life of Ronda Rousey
- Cody Rhodes talks AEW
– Today’s SmackDown show from Lyon, France set the record for the largest gross in history for a Smackdown taping.
– Reader Tony Bouin with a guide to some of the crowd reactions on tonight’s Smackdown show:
– After every near fall, they chanted “Simplement deux” (“Only two”). This is a gimmick from the French announcers who typically say that with a big voice after most near falls. The French TV announcers, Christophe Agius and Philippe Chereau, are beloved by most of the fans because they have been doing it for 22 years (and one more year before that with WCW) so they are the only French announcers a significant portion of the fans have ever known or grew up with. Thus their gimmicks are well-known and generally appreciated. After the fans chanted that multiple times throughout the show, Christophe Agius even said to Philippe Chereau, the latter of whom invented the gimmick: “I think you created a monster.”
– During the Pete Dunne match, the fans clapped and chanted “Butch.” This stems from a previous show in Paris in 2022 when Dunne was still called Butch and a popular wrestling streamer called Sturry had encouraged fans to do this during the show and it was surreal.
– When the AOP insulted the crowd during their match, they chanted “C’est pas gentil (“That was not nice”).
– During the Street Profits match, they kept chanting “Allez les Bleus” (“Go Blues”), which is chanted in soccer stadiums to encourage the French national team who always wear blue jerseys, since the Profits were also all in blue.
– During the AJ/Cody segment, the reason they were going crazy was when AJ said “Phenomenal,” they sang “Il est vraiment phénoménal” (“He is really phenomenal”), which is a popular song from the 90s which is often sang in soccer matches.
– The security during the Owens/Orton segment were French wrestlers, the most famous being the one who got suplexed on the announce table by Orton. It was Tom La Ruffa (NXT’s Sylvester Lefort)
–The King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournament matches will be held on Mondays and Fridays for the next few weeks on television with the final on the 5/25 show in Saudi Arabia.
– Jim Ross’ book “Business is About to Pick Up,” talking about 50 memorable matches he called in his career, will be officially released on Tuesday.
– There are several card changes for TNA Under Siege in Albany, NY tonight. Laredo Kid, whose opponent changed many times, ended up with KC Navarro. plus Rich Swann vs. Jake Something was added.
– New Japan’s second Dontaku show starts at 2 a.m. Eastern and 11 p.m. Pacific tonight. Top matches are Jon Moxley vs. Ren Narita for the IWGP title, Nic Nemeth vs. David Finlay for the Global title, Shingo Takagi vs. Gabe Kidd for the NEVER title and Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi defend the IWGP tag titles against Chase Owens & KENTA.
– UFC 301 is tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6-10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2
- Alessandro Costa (125) vs. Kevin Borjas (125.5)
- Ismael Bonfim (156) vs. Vinc Pichel (156)
- Dione Barbosa (126) vs. Ernesta Kareckaite (125.5)
- Mauricio Rufffy (156) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (155)
- Joaquim Silva (155.5) vs. Drakker Klose (156)
- Elves Brenner (156) vs. Myktybek Orolbai (155.5)
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz (116) vs. Iasmin Lucindo (116)
- Jack Shore (145.5) vs Joanderson Brito (146)
PPV at 10 p.m. on ESPN+
- Paul Craig (185) vs. Caio Borralho (186)
- Michel Pereira (186) vs. Ihor Potieria (185)
- Anthony Smith (205.5) vs. Vitor Petrino (206)
- Jose Aldo (136) vs. Jonathan Martinez (136)
- Alexandre Pantoja (125) vs. Steve Erceg (125) for the flyweight title
– CMLL tonight at Arena Mexico has Mascara Dorada & Místico & Templario vs. Angel de Oro & Flip Gordon & Niebla Roja. They are working on a streak of several Fridays in a row topping 10,000 fans.
– The PFL debuts in Sioux Falls, SD on 6/28 with matches in this season’s welterweight and featherweight tournaments. The top fights are Brendan Loughnane vs. Justin Gonzales (featherweight), Logan Storley vs. Laureano Starpoli (welterweight), Magomed Umalatv vs Brennan Ward (welterweight) and Bubba Jenkins vs Gabriel Braga (featherweight).
– Dillon Danis and Paige VanZant have a feud going on. It started with VanZant saying that Danis wasn’t a real fighter, after his horrible performance in his gimmick boxing match with Logan Paul. Danis then claimed VaZant was upset that he didn’t “wife” her and said “don’t make me bring up our two trips to Vegas and ruin your marriage.” VanZant said that the only time she remembers meeting Danis was when he approached her at a bar in Las Vegas and made a proposition comment to her in front of many UFC fighters and she said they all witnessed her laughing in his face. This led to Austin Vanderford, Van Zant’s husband, challenging Danis to a fight, whether in MMA or boxing and said that he’s sure Danis will come up with a corny excuse to not do it Vanderford is currently a free agent.
– GOUGE tomorrow takes place at 3 p.m. at the Mason Jar Lager Company in Fuquay Varina, NC
– WAR Wrestling on 6/1 in Lima, OH at the Bradfield Community Center with a cage match main event.
– Defy on 5/10 in Seattle at Washington Hall has KENTA vs. Bryan Keith for the Defy title, Vert Vixen vs. Marina Shafir for the Defy women’s title, Sanity defends the tag title against Midnight Heat, Danhausen vs. Randy Myers and a 60 minute Iron Man match with Nick Wayne vs. Joey Janela.
News Summary:
- Daily Update: SmackDown crowd notes, UFC weigh-ins, Under Siege
- Check all news and articles from the latest Cricket updates.