Daily Update: Anderson Silva, UFC fallout, Ultimate Fighter

DAILY UPDATE

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WON NEWSLETTER: November 2, 2020 Observer Newsletter: WWE Q3 financials, more

An in-depth look at WWE finances and the company going forward is the lead story of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Our lead story not just looks at the investors call this week, but goes through financial details and what they mean from the call, and looks at the landscape as well as things said that were misleading.

The new issue also covers:

TV ratings, streaming, value of the Thunderdome setting, Nick Khan’s debut on the call and his main comments, Vince McMahon talks his new management team, WWE numbers, new programming, plight of furloughed employees, company market value, cutbacks in expenses, Saudi Arabia, costs going up next month, how many people view the free tier of the WWE Network, Vince talks ratings, network subscriptions in the U.S. and abroad, how much money the company makes from television, and unique notes about merchandise sales.

Daniel Bryan’s statements regarding his career, how much longer he wants to do this, what he’s said about his own athletic ability, where he can be valuable and Roman Reigns’ opponens.

Hell in a Cell, a look at Survivor Series, changes from last year, the top of Raw, Money in the Bank, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

Khabib Numragomedov’s last fight, Dana White talks if he will retire, Khabib says he will, plus UFC 254 with match-by-match coverage and poll results.

WWE talent and Twitch and comments by Paige, update on Thunderdome location after the end of November and why they have to move, we update the latest COVID outbreak in WWE, why Matt Riddle got a name change, brutal WWE match this past week, where wrestling stands in sports ratings, Canadian and U.K. ratings, donors to Trump and Biden’s campaign,why little was announced ahead of time for Smackdown, new names for lots of WWE talent, what former wrestler is WWE trying to keep from using his WWE name, and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.

Impact’s Bound for Glory.  We look at the situation with Kylie Rae, the injuries, Ken Shamrock in the Hall of Fame and his relationship with Dwayne Johnson, Mick Foley and Bret Hart, Shamrock’s background plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

TripleMania press conference, the matches announced, the unique new promotional tie-in with Marvel and the first show announced with no date and why.

Detailed look at the television business, with ratings breakdowns in every segment for Wednesdays and every category for other shows, looking at stats not available elsewhere to get the deepest read into how shows are doing, what categories are doing well and how shows compare with previous weeks and one year ago.  

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

We’ve got two new shows up this weekend. I did a show late Friday night with Garrett Gonzalez talking about all the news of the past week including the Vince McMahon documentary, finances, Wednesday ratings and today’s show with Bryan Alvarez talking Smackdown, UFC and the rest of the news.

After last night’s UFC show ended, Israel Adesanya told Megan Olivi that he wanted to fight Jon Jones in 2021 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas when fans can return. He told Olivi it would be the biggest fight in history. He noted that he and Robert Whittaker hold the company’s all-time attendance record of 57,127 fans in Melbourne at UFC 247.

Regarding Anderson Silva, MMA Fighting translated a statement he made regarding retirement that read: 

Good morning, my people. Today is a different day for a simple reason, say goodbye to an entire life dedicated to my sport. Yesterday was so special, I went there to do what I love. I didn’t imagine I would be as happy as I am now. Even in defeat, I’m feeling at peace.

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart, my team, my family, my friends, and everyone who watched the fight, know that it was always a great honor to fight all these years with your support.

I want to thank the God for granting me the gift of the fight! Thank you my people for all understanding, for all your support and for all your amazing moments that we live in this sport together!

I hope I left it in memory and in the heart of each of you a little of who I am, that you can overcome difficulties, every second of uncertainty and to overcome obstacles in your lives!

Never think about giving up, as hard as things get at some point; know that I leave all my love, all my respect for you!

Anderson Silva was the seventh most searched term on Google yesterday with 200,000. Earlier this morning Greg Hardy was No. 14 for today at 20,000. Sean Connery was at 10 million which is a monster number. Nothing from last night’s boxing or anything from WWE or anything else from combat sports registered this week.

More notes from last night’s show. Charles Ontiveros was taken to the hospital after a hard slam in the fight with Kevin Holland.  He felt his neck popped and told the ref he was submitting.  He was taken out on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital. Dana White said they examined him and said he’s okay.  He’ll have a stiff neck but he’s healthy.

The lineup for the Best of the Super Juniors tournament will be announced at tomorrow morning’s New Japan show at Korakuen Hall. Keep in mind with the time change, the Korakuen Hall shows now start at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time.  The lineup has Yota Tsuji vs. Gabriel Kidd, Kazuchika Okada & Yuya Uemura vs. Will Ospreay & Great O’Khan, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Jay White & KENTA & Chase Owens, Tetsuya Naito & Sanada vs. Evil & Yujiro Takahashi and Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. defend the IWGP tag titles against Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi.

The Ultimate Fighter will be returning as a series on ESPN+. UFC announced yesterday they are taking remote casting applications through 11/13 for male bantamweights and middleweights. The coaches have yet to be announced. They wanted Conor McGregor to coach.  ESPN+ has also made a deal where every episode of the previous 28 seasons will be available shortly on the streaming service. Application information is to contact Gary DeFranco at gdefranco@pilgrimmediagroup.com  The show will begin airing in March.

WWE

  • There was no meeting on Friday regarding the situation with talent and Twitch.   
  • With the signing of Rampage Brown for the U.K. division, the company has taken out a trademark for his name.
  • The worked injury story on Daniel Bryan from the Friday attack by Jey Uso is bruised kidneys and strains and contusions throughout his thoracic and lumbar regions.
  • Awful Announcing talks being skeptical of what the Vince McMahon documentary will be.

UFC

  • Felipe Colares, who was scheduled to face Gustavo Lopez on this coming Saturday’s show in Las Vegas, tested positive for COVID.  Colares said he had no symptoms.  UFC is looking for a new opponent for Lopez.

AEW

  • At last night’s show, UFC announced Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos as the main event of the 11/14 show. Dos Anjos is returning to lightweight. This fight was scheduled for 10/24 but dos Anjos tested positive for COVID and it was moved back.  
  • There’s no word how the lockdown in the U.K. affects the status of PAC, who will be appearing in some form on Wednesday’s television show.
  • Billy Gunn, who wrestles on Wednesday’s Dynamite, turned 57 today.
  • As of right now, the “Get In” price for Saturday’s Full Gear show on Stubhub is $90. 
  • Lei’d Tapa, who was pushed years back in Impact, debuts on Dark Tuesday but it’s against KiLynn King so unless most debuts and tryouts where the person coming in gets to put over an AEW wrestler, she looks to be winning. Tapa was in Impact 2013-2015 and worked one match in NXT in 2017. She also is 2-0 as a boxer and 0-2 as an MMA fighter, both in Japan, including appearing on the New Year’s Eve Rizin show losing to Gabby Garcia.
  • Dave Dutra, a longtime top Northern California indie guy, like Will Hobbs, debuts against Ricky Starks.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • A couple of notes on different pro wrestling related books that I’ve seen. Randy Hales has a new book out called “Living the Dream:  Memphis Wrestling” talking about his life from childhood being around Jarrett Promotions and the characters there, including as the company’s General Manager, as well as his experience in running Power Pro Wrestling after the USA folded.  Rock Rims has a new book called “Legends and Icons:  A History of the Olympic Auditorium and Southern California Professional Wrestling” which is a great piece on the history of Southern California wrestling from 1900 to the closing of the LeBell NWA office in 1982.  James Romero has a book called “Dwayne The Rock Johnson:  The People’s Champion – from WWE to Hollywood” that will be released on 11/29.  My own new book The 1997 Wrestling Observer Yearbook, covering one of the most important years in the history of pro wrestling is also available, a book that covers in detail every major news story from the year, and there were a lot of them, including all the politics in a year that changed the face of both pro wrestling and MMA.  All of these books are at amazon.com in the U.S.
  • Impact announced Turning Point, an Impact Plus exclusive, for 11/14.  They will likely start promoting the show this Tuesday. 
  • JR Kratos will debut with New Japan Pro Wrestling this coming Friday teaming with Rust Taylor vs; Jeff Cobb & Rocky Romero on the show from California.  Kratos and Cobb have worked together in Northern California for years and are best friends..
  • There is advertising for 30 spots available to be in a movie with Rob Van Dam and Effy which may be called “Fist Combat.” They are looking for people to be in the audience for the main event wrestling scene in a wrestling movie. Ten of the 30 will get a line in the movie. It will be filmed on 11/9 in downtown San Diego. The cost is $100 per person and there are 18 spots said to be left and with it you get to meet the cast on set and get photos with them, an autographed movie poster and two tickets to the premiere in the spring. For more info you can go to venmo.com/fistcombattv  Besides Van Dam and Taylor Gibson (Effy), other names listed in the cast are MMA Roasted Host Adam Hunter, Matt Sydal, Mariachi Loco, Katie Forbes, Sabu and the famous Tommy  Chong of Cheech and Chong fame.
  • wXw aired a very touching tribute to Karsten Beck on its YouTube channel.  A lot of the talent and office members talked about him and their experiences with him along with his battle with cancer. Tassilo Jung talked about how he met Beck for dinner in August and the cancer was advanced and he was in rough shape. People talked about his sense of humor, his hard work mentality, going from being an overweight teenage fan with no athletic talent to becoming the face of the company and how Vince Russo talked wXw from what was planned as a short world title run into a much longer run. They are also releasing a tribute T-shirt with proceeds going to German cancer aid (thanks to Markus Gronemann)
  • Innovate Wrestling returns on 11/7 at the SOM Studios in Chuckey, TN.
  • One of our best correspondents, Markus Gronemann, has had a personal tragedy with the death of his grandmother and is looking to raise money to help pay for the funeral via Go Fund Me.
  • A Go Fund Me for funeral costs for Tracy Smothers has been set up.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005

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