Daily Update: Cung Le lawsuit, Monday Night Football, CMLL

UFC logo

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

Friday Update

UFC logo
  • Garrett Gonzales and I did our show today talking all the latest news, such as Rock’s status for WrestleMania, AEW’s ratings and PPV, King of Pro Wrestling, and we also Robert Sweeney of Kinolorber Productions talking about pro wrestling movies from and 70s and 80s from All the Marbles, to The One and Only, Paradise Alley, I Like to Hurt People, Savage and my work on the movie Blu Ray of Below the Belt where I talk extensively on women’s pro wrestling in the 70s and the history of American women’s pro wrestling.
  • 51 more fighters including Fabricio Werdum sent in letters of support urging judge Richard Boulware III to accept the $375 million settlement offered by TKO in the Cung Le lawsuit. Most of the fighters talked of serious health issues and how much getting the money would mean to them.
  • We’re looking for reports from Smackdown in Greenville, SC tonight with the matches not on the live show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
  • Our polls this weekend will be for WrestleDream tomorrow and New Japan King of Pro Wrestling on Monday. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
  • ABC will be adding NFL games most Monday nights between now and the end of football season.  Basically the NFL was not up in ratings this year because last year they were on ABC every week and this year many weeks weren’t. So six weeks that ABC was not airing are adding simulcasts for the ESPN game. This means Monday’s for Raw ratings will be tougher, but the two-hour format should help them avoid record lows.
  • Next Friday’s Arena Mexico show has the 2024 Women’s Grand Prix tournament with Tessa Blanchard, Amapola, Dark Silueta, Hera, Kira, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit, Reyna Isis, Sanely, Skadi, Zeuxis, Alex Windsor, Catalina, Persephone, Red Velvet, Samantha Black, Sumika Yanagawa, Unagi Saaka, Viva Van and Willow Nightingale.
  • Dusty Rhodes would have turned 79 today.
  • Former K-1 legend and a pro wrestling world champion with the IGF, Jerome LeBanner, at 51, was destroyed last weekend by K-Jee in a K-1 World Grand Prix show in Osaka.
  • UFC is running 4-10 p.m. tomorrow from the  Apex Arena with the full show on ESPN+
    Clayton Carpenter (125.5) vs. Lucas Rocha (125.5)
    *Dan Arugeta (138.5) vs. Cody Haddon (135) -Argueta was fined 20 percent of his purse for missing weight
    *Junior Tafa (241) vs Sean Sharaf (252)
    *Julia Polastri (115) vs. Cory McKanna (115)
    *Thema Gorimba (170.5) vs.  Niko Price (170.5)
    *Jonathan Pearce (145) vs. Pat Sabatini (145)
    *CJ Vergara (126) vs. Ramazan Temirov (125,5(
    *Daniel Rodriguez (170) vs. Alex Morono (170.5)
    *Grant Dawson (156) vs. Rafa Garcia (154.5)
    *Chidi Njokuani (170.5) vs.  Jared Gooden (172.5) – Gooden was fined 20 percent  of his purse for missing weight
    *Brad Tavares (185) vs. Jun Yung Park (185.5)
    *Brandon Royval (125.5) vs. Tatsuro Taira (125.5)
    *Josh Fremd missed weight by three pounds and his fight with Abdul Razaki Alhassan was canceled.
  • AEW is attempting to get the lawsuit filed by Kevin Foote (Kevin Kelly) and the Tate Twins moved from Pennsylvania to Jacksonville.  AEW is also attempting to dismiss the suit, claiming that the contracts for all three list binding arbitration as opposed to trial for any contract disputes.
  • Rampage tonight, taped in Spokane
  • Orange Cassidy & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Taven, Kris Statlander vs. Amira, Beast Mortos vs The Butcher, Lance Archer vs. Matt Brannigan, Rocky Romero vs. Bryan Keith.
  • Scott D’Amore announced the first Maple Leaf Wrestling match on 10/19 as a trios match with Josh Alexander & Stu Grason & El Phantasmo vs. Trevor Lee & Rocky Romero & Alex Zayne.
  • WWE is doing a 25 percent off all tickets until Sunday night for the 1/25 Smackdown show at the  Barclays Center in New York. The new issue has notes about WWE advances and why we are seeing more of this.
  • West Coast Pro noted Latigo was unable to make their show tonight due to transportation issues but he will be coming soon.
  • Kevin Matthews, an independent wrestler who sometimes works AEW, is the stunt double for Travis Kelce in the movie Happy Gilmore 2. MJF has a role in the movie as the son of Adam Sandler’s character.
  • MLW announced a February 8 date at Center Stage in Atlanta with Matt Riddle, Donovan Dijak, Satoshi Kojima, Mistico, Alex Kane, Mads Krugger, Paul London, The Rogue Horsemen, Minoru Suzuki, Tom Lawlor, Janai Kai, Delmi Exo, AKIRA, Matthew Justice, Jesus Rodriguez and others.
  • Notes on a Comic Book on the origin of AEW.
  • MCW tomorrow night has Autumn Armageddon at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD.
  • WAR on 11/2 in Lima, OH at the Bradfield Community Center.
  • Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 10/18 in Newark, CA at the Pavilion has Billy Gunn, QT Marshall, Starboy Charlie, Aaron Solo, Alan Angels, Leila Grey, Harley Cameron and Titus Alexander.
  • Robert Gibson was at the Mid South Fair in Memphis and asked his five favorite tag teams to wrestle and said  The Midnight Express, Ole & Arn Anderson, Ivan & Nikita Koloff, Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude and The Galaxians (Ken Wayne & Danny Davis)
  • PWP on 10/30 in Omaha at the Waiting Room Lounge.