Daily Update: Bryan Danielson, NJPW King of Pro Wrestling, UFC notes

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is out today.  There are a ton of major stories covered including:

  • Bad Blood coverage
  • Dwayne Johnson’s wrestling update which is a big surprise
  • Crown Jewel and Survivor Series
  • Bill Goldberg notes
  • Business notes on the show
  • What finish was changed
  • What match was also nearly changed and why and notes on head shots with objects
  • AEW goes from the highest of highs to record lows
  • What to learn from this week’s numbers
  • How successful AEW will be financially compared to major  companies like WCW and WWE over the past 30 years
  • Next NXT vs. Dynamite head-to-head is a few weeks away
  • Notes on WrestleDream and positive business notes
  • UFC 307 full coverage
  • Janel Grant’s side asks for WWE to release women from NDAs
  • Unique quote from Ari Emanuel from last year and how it plays into this story
  • The full letter from Ann Callis
  • The most detailed look at the  TV ratings from all the national shows, including placings, competition, demos and segments.
  • CMLL focusing on women’s wrestling this month
  • AAA Heroes Inmortales notes and Guerra de Titanes card
  • Stardom PPV coverage
  • NOAH and New Japan both have major shows this week
  • Vikingo vs. Ricochet
  • International Wrestling Hall of Fame notes
  • More background on Ernie Roth, the Grand Wizard of Wrestling/Abdullah Farouk
  • Bound for Glory news
  • 70s and 80s legend looking to become the oldest male wrestler of all-time
  • Does WBD own a percentage of AEW?
  • Legendary ROH Matches added to the ROH television show
  • What’s notable about AEW’s Mexico TV dal
  • Luchasaururs update
  • Taz update
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Largest streaming numbers
  • Injury updates
  • Fighters talk about health and money issues
  • How much will Anderson Silva get if the Cung Le case gets settled this week.
  • What fighters will make millions of dollars in the settlement.
  • Conor McGregor to stand trial over a 2018 case.
  • Former UFC champion coming  out of retirement
  • How Hurricanes affecting WWE
  • Update on the viewership of Mr. McMahoin and Queen of Villains on Netflix
  • How much  WWE is getting from the government for next year’s SummerSlam and why
  • Newcomers ready to debut
  • International TV ratings
  • Unique wrestling TV special aired

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Sunday Update

Image: AEW
  • Bryan and I did our weekend show last night covering WrestleDream as well as a lot of other AEW news and some WWE news as well including quick notes on SmackDown. My Friday show with Garrett Gonzales talked a lot about AEW’s legitimate issues as well as the current WON issue’s stories. We also had Robert Sweeney from Kino Lorber talking about wrestling movies including Below the Belt which I just did a voiceover track for the new Blu-Ray release. We also talk about other wrestling-related movies from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
  • Bryan Danielson retired as a full-time wrestler last night after losing the AEW World title to Jon Moxley. There is a lot to say about his career that we talked about on the show last night. He went out the way he wanted and the door is open for a return as a part-timer should he feel up to doing that. As he talked about this past week, it’s not a guarantee as he is going to undergo neck surgery and then he’ll make a decision. History tells us he’ll probably come back at least for some matches although who knows where the BCC will be by the time he’s ready to return.  
  • I talked last night about the first time I saw Danielson live, sitting with Nick Bockwinkel and Red Bastien, and their thoughts on that night and how it ended up changing the history of wrestling in a significant way. He got the career he dreamed of and better, and was a real credit to this industry. I know many didn’t like that it ended with a real heat angle and the reality is you just don’t know. In the past, angles like this have greatly boosted business but this is a very different era with different fans.  
  • We’re looking for your thoughts on WrestleDream as well as the New Japan King of Pro Wrestling show which takes place in about 11 hours. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com. We’re also looking for reports on the WWE show today in Cardiff, Wales, tomorrow in Liverpool, and Tuesday in New Castle with results, finishes, and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
  • There was a lot of talk of last night’s Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira UFC fight as a contender for fight of the year. The only weekend talk we’ve gotten as far as great must-see matches this weekend was from WrestleDream.
  • Royval beat Taira to perhaps earn a flyweight title shot via split decision at 47-48, 48-47, and 48-47. Chris Lee and Ron McCarthy gave rounds one, three, and five to Royval while Sal D’Amato gave only three and five to Royval.  Every single media score on MMA Decisions was 48-47 for Royval.
  • AEW is running Wednesday night in San Jose at the SAP Center.  We’ve talked a ton about this from the announcement of the show.  I was very surprised that on last night’s show, the only match announced was Mercedes Mone vs. Queen Aminata in a non-title match. There was an angle for Kazuchika Okada vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the Continental title, but Okada turned down the match. There was an angle during the show with Swerve Strickland vs. Shelton Benjamin but no date was announced for that match either. I expect several bouts to be announced on social media this week, but I think we’ve learned that for AEW, these social media late releases with no television hype or story back-up to build the match aren’t that effective at this point. There are 2,713 tickets out as of right now for the first time in the city at an NHL Arena.
  • As talked about the last few days, Jimmy Jacobs is no longer with AEW. The belief is that it was burnout because he was attending every show and doing so much travel.
  • It certainly appears The Motor City Machine Guns will face Angel & Berto in their WWE SmackDown debut on Friday. Angel & Berto will face a mystery team and the War Raiders (aka Viking Raiders) debut on Raw. Tomorrow’s Raw was taped in St. Louis last Monday due to the European tour.
  • Dana White announced the top fights for UFC 310 on 12/7 in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. Belal Muhammad defends the welterweight title against Shavkat Rakhmonov and in a big surprise, Alexandre Pantoja defends the flyweight title against Kai Asakura. Asakura is a star in Japan with Rizin who is getting a title shot in his UFC debut. Also announced was Nick Diaz vs. Vicente Luque, Cyril Gane vs. Alexander Volkov, Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling, and Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes.
  • In Google searches, nothing from pro wrestling or MMA picked up big numbers. The biggest thing was the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol boxing match from last night where Beterbiev won the WBA title to go along with the WBO, IBF, and WBC light heavyweight titles that he already held. Mr. Olympia had 200,000 searches while the wrestling and MMA genre had nothing over the 20,000 searches for WrestleDream, Bryan Danielson, Tatsuro Taira, and Kai Asakura.
  • KLPR-TV in St. Louis did a special on Sam Muchnick and his final wrestling card on January 1, 1982, on Tuesday night. This is the special, which features Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes, lots of dignitaries, broadcast legend Joe Garagiola, Harley Race, The Von Erichs, Bill Apter, Ted DiBiase, and Larry Matysik among others. A less-edited clip of the final card itself is available here.
  • King of Pro Wrestling starts at 4 a.m. Eastern and 1 a.m. Pacific tonight. This is probably the biggest New Japan show in months and will be the biggest until the Tokyo Dome in January:
    • Mistico vs. Hiormu Takahashi
    • Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney vs. Kevin Knight & Kushida for IWGP Jr. titles
    • Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste vs. Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale for IWGP tag titles
    • Shingo Takagi vs. Ryohei Oiwa for Never Openweight title
    • Jeff Cobb vs. Ren Narita vs. Yota Tsuji for New Japan World TV title
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shota Umino & El Phantasmo vs. Evil & Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in Tanahashi’s 25th anniversary match
    • Douki vs. Sho for IWGP Jr. title
    • David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto for the IWGP Global title
    • Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP title
  • At the press conference last night, Don Callis & Konosuke Takeshita pushed the idea that they will defend the AEW International title all over the world. 
  • XICW from last night in Clinton Township, MI:  Solo b Jack Price, Soultaker & Great Tiger b Dean Hendrix & Max Ramirez, Marcus Porter b Thomas Bailey, Aaron Orion b Jake Crist, Jimmy Jacobs b Noctambulo, Tommy Vendetta b Crazy King, Hoodfoot b Jackson Stone, Maxximillain won-four way to keep the lightweight title Alex Weir, Kyler Coleman & LaDon Sanders, Randi West & Stella Buho b Heather Blue & Ricki Morris, Schwartzy b Dre Jacobs, Zach Gowen & DBA & Caden Monroe b Jaimy Coxxx & Royce Carney III & AOD, Adam Wick won the Midwest title in a three-way over Malcolm Monroe III and Trey Miguel (thanks to Leonard Brand)
  • Lio Rush announced yesterday that he’s signed a new deal with AEW.
  • They did a unique deal on yesterday’s Memphis TV show. Jonathan Gresham beat Jay Lethal’s time last week so he’s still the coach for the promotion. They announced Lethal would be on commentary and then said he had to leave to catch his flight to Washington for WrestleDream. The show was taped but they did give the idea it was live.
  • Maple Leaf Wrestling got rights to Jeff Katz’s footage for his Wrestling Retribution Project and put up the Kenny Omega vs. Karl Anderson match from that taping in 2011.
  • The NWA announced that its Sanhain show on 10/26 has been moved from Sarasota to Tampa as the Robarts Arena in Sarasota is closed due to the recovery efforts from Hurricane Milton.  They will be taping at the WEDU Studios in Tampa. Those who purchased tickets can either get a refund or get a reduced-price ticket for the Tampa show and they will also get a meet and greet.
  • Last night’s GCW show in Atlantic City was moved at the last minute from the Showboat to the party zone outside the Island Water Park. Today’s show is at the Mansion Ballroom on the second floor of the Showboat.