Daily Update: Becky Lynch, Diamond Dallas Page, Quincy Elliott

Daily Update

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

  • Match and performer of the week
  • The life and times of Gene LeBell, MMA, stunt work, pro wrestling, an accessory to a murder, being trained by Lou Thesz, national judo champion, enforcer work in boxing and wrestling, details on the supposed first mixed match in history and later refereeing Ali vs. Inoki, the Bearcat Wright story, Steven Seagal, Bruce Lee, Chuck Morris, Ronda Rousey, Roddy Piper, the Los Angeles wrestling territory
  • Updated G1 Climax report with all the bouts last week, the standings and the final shows
  • Clash at the Castle update
  • Vice’s Tales from the Territory, what is and isn’t confirmed
  • UFC Saturday night coverage
  • AAA Triplemania preview and Verano de Escandalo coverage
  • The death of the Mexican star TNT, and a look back at a boom period for wrestling in that country
  • The most detailed look at the pro wrestling TV business over the past week
  • More on the CMLL anniversary sow
  • More on the CMLL Grand Prix
  • Konnan and Dorian Roldan talk AAA future
  • *Stardom Five Star Grand Prix update
  • NOAH N-1 tournament
  • Ric Flair talks his last match
  • Dave Bautista movie update
  • Death of Mike Masters/Rocky Jones
  • Former early Raw performer loses race for senate
  • Lots of AEW updates
  • Major star talks going to AEW
  • AEW & WWE streaming numbers
  • Ticket sale updates on AEW & WWE shows
  • UFC new deal in its second biggest market
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Bo Nickal and UFC
  • Vince McMahon’s new payments found
  • Questions being asked about a WWE branch
  • Returns of Dexter Lumis, Karrion Kross & Scarlett
  • Women’s tag team title tournament
  • New WWE TV show filming

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Wednesday News Update

WWE

  • WWE has announced that Javier Bernal will be in action on NXT next Tuesday. Bernal said there will be no better way to make an impact than knocking off Cameron Grimes.
  • A video aired last night revealing that Quincy Elliott is coming to NXT soon. Elliott, who debuted for WWE on NXT Level Up this March, is using the nickname “The Super Diva.”
  • During an Instagram Live to promote former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz’s new book, Becky Lynch discussed the creative freedom she has on the microphone in WWE:
        • Thankfully for me it’s not like that [having to memorize promos word-by-word] and it’s not like that for this guy [Seth Rollins] either. We get a promo and sometimes there’ll be lines in it that you have to hit. They’ll often be that the lines that you’re like ‘That doesn’t sound like she would say that’ But for the most part we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve gotten enough equity and we’ve gotten enough trust that, we get to write our own promos.
        • It’s usually a collaborative process where if I’m comfortable with my writer, [I’ll go] ‘Well what do you think of this. I feel like it’s gotta hit more and I think we could do more with this.’ And a lot of the times they’ll come up with a good line. It’s collaborative that way when you’ve gotten that equity, but I think when you first come up [it’s different]. Like when I first came up, I was too scared to say anything out of turn. I was like ‘oh these are the words on the page, I must say every single word exactly as it is.’ Thankfully it’s not like that anymore.
  • Lynch also said she hopes to finish her own book in the next couple of months.
  • Lynch gave an update on her recovery from a separated shoulder: “I feel like I’ve gotten a bunch more mobility in it, because when it happened, it was so painful that I was like, oh no, I’m gonna be out for a long, long time but now it’s healing up real quick, I’m feeling strong, I’m feeling good, so I’m hoping it won’t be much time at all.”
  • During an interview with SHAK Wrestling, Eric Bischoff shared his enthusiasm for WWE’s new creative direction with Triple H in charge:
        • I’m extremely enthusiastic and somewhat prescient at the same time because while I was hoping that those things would happen, they have happened, right? To a noticeable degree over a relatively short period of time… But Paul has already made it clear publicly that he’s going to let talent have a little more freedom and be less rigid in the stick to the script, word for word, comma by comma approach that has been pretty much the norm for the last 10, 15 years. That in itself is kind of exciting because you’re going to have talent that are going to bumble. They’re going to stumble, they’re going to trip over a word…
        • Guess what? That feels gritty. That feels a little more real. That’s live TV. I’m looking at some of the episodic elements of the most recent formats where a story starts out early on in the show and then threads itself through. It’s sort of a three-act structure, which I’ve been begging for the last seven years. We’re seeing a three-act structure within a three-hour show. Imagine that. Episodic storytelling. It’s that kind of discipline to detail in story and format — because you can’t have a good story if you don’t have a good format and vice versa — That kind of commitment to discipline and format and structures, I think going to create a lot better television and it’s already happening.
  • Kevin Owens thinks winning the WWE Tag Team titles with Sami Zayn would be the ultimate good moment for both of them: “Of course. I’ve never been a tag team champion. I’d love to be tag team champion anybody. Well, maybe not anybody. There are a couple of guys I could see myself winning the Tag Team titles with, obviously, Sami is at the top of the list. That would be the ultimate good moment for us, to achieve that. We’ve been tag team champions everywhere we’ve went, except for WWE. We definitely have to get that checked off the list soon enough.”
  • Alexa Bliss, Raquel Rodriguez, and Aliyah appeared on WWE’s The Bump this afternoon.
  • Drew McIntyre will be a guest on The Bump next Wednesday.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded The Rock vs. Ric Flair from the July 29, 2002 episode of Raw, Edge’s retirement announcement from 2011, and a six-woman tag match from the August 17, 2016 episode of NXT.

Other Wrestling

  • Diamond Dallas Page isn’t interested in having a Last Match: “It’s nothing I’ll ever do. Conrad was like ‘You know DDP, you’d be perfect to do one of these,’ I was like ‘Nah bro, I’m good. I had my last match, it’s never going to be better than that.’ I was lucky enough to have all my boys around me and it was fun. I’m good with that.”
  • Tony Khan told Busted Open Radio that he had big plans for Kris Statlander before her knee injury and still has big plans for her: “Of course, Toni Storm was up there, one of the top two contenders for sure with Kris Statlander and Kris Statlander, really unfortunate injury. We’re sorry to see her out. I really had a lot of big plans and do still have big plans for Kris Statlander and terrible timing for one of our great stars to get hurt but we’ve had a lot of injuries this summer and over and over, the wrestlers in AEW have stepped up to help the company when there’s been injuries and I think that’s been the real theme of this summer.”
  • Chris Jericho tweeted about Ricky Steamboat being the guest timekeeper for tonight’s Dynamite: “Stay the hell out of my business Steamboat…”
  • Hangman Page took part in a panel at GalaxyCon Raleigh.
  • Jack Evans told PWMania about how his AEW stint has motivated him: “Honestly, one of the things that has motivated me recently was my AEW stint. I didn’t do as well there as I could’ve, but nonetheless, I was grateful for the experience. I don’t know how likely it is that I’ll be back there, even though I would love to. It’s a very sought-after promotion that everyone’s trying to go to.”
  • Joey Janela will face Ernest “The Cat” Miller at GCW/Black Label Pro’s 4 Cups Stuffed show in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Friday, September 2.
  • The Briscoes will defend the GCW Tag Team titles against Effy & Allie Katch, Second Gear Crew, Los Macizos, and Alex Colon & John Wayne Murdoch in a War Games match at the Art of War Games II on Saturday, September 3.
  • Janela vs. Nick Wayne has been announced for GCW’s show in Liverpool on Friday, September 16.
  • Impact Wrestling has announced an extension of its partnership with Eurosport India.