Daily Update
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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site with these stories:
- The return of Vince McMahon, the sales talks, and the departure of Stephanie McMahon
- Who is in charge of running the company right now
- What Vince McMahon’s role is today
- How Vince McMahon got back in power
- A look at different entities who have expressed interest in WWE
- Can Tony Khan get control of WWE
- What kind of numbers are we talking about for the deal
- What is the current market value of WWE
- The Saudi Arabia rumours
- How far did the rumors spread
- What the experience of the UFC sale in 2016 tells you about what is said publicly
- Notes from the meeting Stephanie McMahon, Frank Riddick and Nick Khan had with all the company employees
- If something happens with Saudi Arabia, what would be the likely repercussions based on previous sports world examples
- What companies did Nick Khan bring up to employees when talking about the sale
- Changes in WWE morale
- 2022 Business year in review for pro wrestling, MMA and boxing major events
- Biggest crowds of the year
- Main eventers on top for the biggest crowds
- PPV numbers for the year
- Who drew the most 15,000+ crowds
- UFC gate numbers
- List of $2 million gates
- Biggest pro wrestling drawing card every year since 1916
- Biggest drawing cards in history
- The changing of the media landscape and how this affects AEW and WWE
- Analysis of the losses incurred by FOX on Smackdown by Morgan Stanley
- The career of wrestler and promoter Johnny Powers, one of the biggest stars of the 60s and 70s
- The attempt to promote nationally and what happened
- How he got his first break with Bruno Sammartino
- Multiple world title matches around the world
- His runs with major promotions
- Being the star of the NWF
- How Powers figured into the early days of New Japan Pro Wrestling and his biggest matches there
- How Powers was promoted in Japan
- Powers and the Greatest 18 Club
- Full coverage of PWG Battle of Los Angeles with thoughts on the shows, where PWG stands, background of the appearance of Chris Jericho, who you should keep your eyes on and match-by-match coverage
- A look back at the career of Black Warrior
- The most detailed look at the ratings from all the shows this past week as well as segment-by-segment
- Mexican iconic character looking at retiring
- Sting’s last match in Japan
- Major change in New Japan’s US approach
- Update on Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone in New Japan with more dates
- How Mercedes moved tickets for her first match
- A look at the major matches on the next new Japan tour
- Superstar Billy Graham health update
- TV announcer starts up promoting new group
- The death of the real Bobby Heenan, and how the pro wrestling legend found out about his brother and his family
- Adam Cole’s return
- Kyle O’Reilly gives health update
- Streaming numbers for AEW and WWE
- International TV numbers
- Attendance for upcoming shows
- California legislators critical of Dana White
- Dana White talks at press conference about his situation
- Bellator signs perhaps its top fighter
- Phil Baroni charged with homicide and facing a lifetime in jail
- PFL announces new tournaments
- WWE tries to get things removed from the discovery process in MLW lawsuit
- How slow the courts can be on these situations
- How much did Shane McMahon earn from WWE in 2022
- Former New Japan wrestler quietly started in WWE camp this week
This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about the news of the day and Raw. You can send questions about the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
The movie “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story” won Best Acting Ensemble cast and Best Comedy at last night’s Critic’s Choice Awards. Dave Bautista was in that movie.
There was a lot of talk regarding The Young Bucks saying on BTE what a stressful week last week was before the show in Los Angeles. All kinds of rumors spread from it that weren’t close to true. Matt said it’s something he can’t talk about but maybe he would in the next book he’ll never write. The issue was that one of the wrestlers in the match had a visa issue and they didn’t know until Tuesday night if the Game Seven match would take place. But the issue was cleared up on Tuesday.
We’re looking for reports from Cincinnati from with the Main Event matches and any other dark matches or angles shot not on television before or after the show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
Raw tonight is in Cincinnati. Very little has been announced for the show. Just Bobby Lashley, Solo Score vs. Mustafa Ali and Judgment Day vs. Alpha Academy are on the show. Tonight will be the toughest competition Raw has had in many years. The belief is that the NFL playoff game with the Tampa Bay Bucs vs. Dallas Cowboys could hit 30 million viewers if the game is competitive. This could be Tom Brady’s last game as well. There is also a Lakers-Rockets NBA game tonight as well as a Suns-Grizzles game. Zoey Stark and Charlie Dempsey were at the show so good chance they’ll be on Mani Event. Also at the show according to PWInsider are Usos, Solo Sikoa, Drew McIntyre and Uncle Howdy. There were 7,148 tickets out for the show as of this morning. Basically if the rating is low, it’s nothing to worry about because next week’s number will be high, and tonight is Raw’s last time against the NFL until September.
There was another talent meeting before the show. It was basically the same as on Friday, telling the wrestlers and Paul Levesque was still in charge of creative and that the company has not been sold.
Because today is a holiday it means a different ratings release schedule. Smackdown and Rampage numbers will be out tomorrow. Raw will be out Wednesday.
A movie on the late Jon Huber aka Brodie Lee, called “This is Brodie Lee” will debut on 2/3 on Vimeo on Demand. Filmmaker Joe Brandt and Classy Wolf Media put the film together showing Huber’s breaking into pro wrestling in upstate New York, with friends, and relatives as well as wrestlers who were there with him from the start.
Superstar Billy Graham’s wife Valerie posted that his heart rate and blood pressure are stable enough to transfer him out of ICU to the Progressive Care Unit. That is still serious but a step in the right direction.
We’re also looking for your thoughts on Impact Hard to Kill from Friday with a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
A celebration of life for Don West is scheduled for 5/20 at 1 pm at the Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee, WA.
Regarding the WWE tag titles, right now they are split up again. Instead of unified champions, the Usos are both Raw champions and Smackdown champions and will be defending the belt of the brand in future title matches. That’s a Paul Levesque decision for this week.
Impact tapes television on Friday and Saturday this week at the Osceola Heritage Park in the Orlando area.
Wednesday’s AEW show in Fresno, CA, is closing in on 5,000 tickets which is a solid showing. As noted, there has been an uptick in ticket sales at AEW events since the beginning of the year.
The Fresno newspaper has a story on Ricky Starks leading up to Wednesday’s AEW show.
The movie “The Flying Greek” about 70s wrestler Mike Pappas, who recently passed away and because of his size, was frequently photographed with Andre the Giant for publicity photos, is free for one week on YouTube.
AEW in Laredo on 2/15 is offering a four-pack of tickets for $56 total using the code CITY as Laredo started off weak.
Other Notes
LFA on 2/17 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN on UFC Fight Pass is headlined by Chepe Mariscal (12-6) vs. Guilherme Faria (18-9)
Bodyslam Wrestling from Saturday night in Aalborg, Denmark: Bobby Gunns b Emeritus, Robert Dreissker b Bam Bam Quaade, Baby Allison won three-way over Betty Rose and Aliss Ink, Peter Olisander b Maggot, Pete Phoenix won over Toby, Erik Sabel, Jackpot . Robert Star, Hunyadi Tamas, Eli Castle and Gabriel Faust, Carlos Zamora b Ahura to keep the Bodyslam title, Randers & Pagne b Arrows of Hungary to keep the tag titles (Thanks to Kristian Buss Kronvold)
Bill Goldberg was on NCIS: Los Angeles last night in his recurring role as DEA agent Lance Hamilton. He was noticeably lighter than the last time he was in a WWE ring (thanks to Grant Zwarych)
EPW from Saturday night in Western Australia: Lucas Fantasia b Anth Cava, Joey Graham & Leah Lovegrove b Chadwick Jackson & Viki Void, Aaron Hawk b Seth Tylors, Chris Target & Tommy Dux b Julian Ward & Taylor King, Rogan Karguis b Kris Kelly, Mattew Pace & Del Cano & Blake Walker b Julio Garcia & Dizzy Videl & Tye Thayer, Solomon Blackwell b Hector Jones, Elijah Henry b Cannon Connors to retain the Rising Star Club title. (thanks to Kevin Chiat).
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