Daily Update: Drew McIntyre, GCW, Yuji Okabayashi

DAILY UPDATE

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WON NEWSLETTER: January 3, 2022 Observer Newsletter: WWE changes due to omicron, MSG near record low

In this week’s issue: 

The effects of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 led to a number of major changes and precautions in WWE.

Among the names advertised who didn’t appear on shows this week were Roman Reigns, Big E, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, Bobby Lashley, Queen Zelina, Shinsuke Nakamura and King Woods.

Current subscribers click here to read.

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I did our weekend show last night covering Day 1 and all of the news of the past few days.

Drew McIntyre’s injury was legit in the sense he really does have a neck injury, and the angle done where Happy Corbin & Madcap Moss took him out was a cover story for his taking time away to recuperate. He has been having neck pain for some time. The hope is that his taking off now will heal him and he won’t need major surgery.  They are checking out what the neck issues are very soon so it is too soon to know if or how long he’ll be out of action.

For Google searches for this week there  wasn’t much with no big boxing or MMA fights. The Jake Paul vs. Dana White grandstand challenge is No. 16 today at 50,000 searches.  Day 1 yesterday did a big number, 500,000, probably due to the situation with Roman Reigns.  The only other thing this week was Conor McGregor at No. 17 on Monday with the Charles Oliveira call out.

We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Day 1, NOAH at Budokan Hall on 1/1, and Stardom at Sumo Hall on 12/29. You can leave a thumbs up, down or middle for each show along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE show in Fayetteville, NC to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

GCW iPPV from last night in Atlantic City, NJ:  Mark & Jay Briscoe b Alex Zayne & Blake Christian to keep the GCW tag titles (best match), Calvin Tankman b Yoya, Joey Janela b Scotty 2 Hotty (really good), Homicide won 20 man Rumble to become top contender for Jon Moxley’s GCW title, Alex Colon b John Wayne Murdoch via ref stoppage in a deathmatch to keep the Ultraviolent title. (thanks to Ross Blair)

Yuji Okabayashi won the Big Japan Strong title earlier today from Takuya Nomura.

Regarding Wednesday’s AEW move to TBS, here is a look at recent station moves for wrestling shows and how they have done:

  • 9/25/00 Raw moves from USA (last show 6,940,000 viewers0 to TNN (first show 7,110,000 viewers)
  • 10/3/05 Raw moves from Spike (last show 4,020,000 viewers) to USA (first show 5,569,000 viewers)
  • 10/3/08 Smackdown moves from CW (4,411,000 viewers) to My Network (3,160,000)
  • 10/1/10 Smackdown moves from My Network (2,770,000) to Syfy (2,520,000)
  • 1/7/15 Impact moves from Spike (980,000) to Destination America (359,000)
  • 1/5/16 Impact moves from Destination America (155,000) to Pop TV (255,000)
  • 1/7/16 Smackdown moves from Syfy (2,284,000) to USA (2,757,000)
  • 10/4/19 Smackdown moves from USA (2,099,000) to FOX (3,888,000)

The C.M. Punk segment on the NHL outdoor classic game yesterday only aired on Bleacher Report, not on the TNT broadcast. There was also no mention of AEW in promotions or commercials during the show, most notably nothing on the Saturday night Battle of the Belts special that one would think would be promoted on what was expected to be a high rated sports event. There was a promotion of Go Big Show on the post-game show.

UFC

  • The latest in the Jake Paul/Dana White war of words and grandstand challenges for today.
  • Sportbetting.ag has odds for who will be UFC champion on December 31, 2022.  We list the top five in each division:
  • Flyweight
    Brandon Moreno +190
    Askar Askarov+350
    Deiveson Figueiredo +350
    Henry Cejudo +700
    Alex Perez +800
    Alexandre Pantoja +800
  • Bantamweight
    Petr Yan -170
    Aljamain Sterling +450
    TJ Dillashaw +700
    Henry Cejudo +1000
    Jose Aldo +1000
  • Featherweight
    Alexander Volkanovski -180
    Max Holloway +350
    Chan  Sung Jung +675
    Giga Chikadze +1100
    Calvin Kattar +1600
    Josh Emmett +1600
  • Lightweight
    Charles Oliveira +200
    Islam Makhachev +200
    Beneil Dariush +400
    Justin Gaethje +600
    Conor McGregor +900
    Dustin Poirier +900
  • Welterweight
    Kamaru Usman -250
    Khamzat Chimaev +300
    Leon Edwards +900
    Vicente Luque +900
    Belal Muhammed +1000
  • Middleweight
    Israel Adesanya -165
    Robert Whittaker +425
    Marvin Vettori +700
    Jared Cannonier +800
    Derek Brunson +1100
  • Light heavyweight
    Jiro Prochazka +275
    Alexander Rakic +300
    Magomed Ankalaev +300
    Glover Teixeira +400
    Jan Blachowicz +575
  • Heavyweight
    Francis Ngannou +225
    Cyril Gane +275
    Curtis Blaydes +600
    Jon Jones +650
    Stipe Miocic +650
  • Strawweight
    Rose Namajunas +275
    Carla Esparza +350
    Joanna Jedrzejczyk +450
    Zhang Weili +450
    Marina Rodriguez +650
  • Women’s Flyweight
    Valentina Shevchenko -600
    Katlyn Chookagian +800
    Taila Santos +800
    Andrea Lee +1200
    Manon Fiorot +1200
    Viviane Araujo +1200
  • Women’s Bantamweight
    Amanda Nunes -115
    Juliana Pena +200
    Holly Holm +600
    Irene Aldana +650
    Ketlen Vieira +1100
  • Women’s Featherweight
    Amanda Nuns -600
    Kayla Harrison +325
    Norman Dumont +1100
    Aspen Ladd +1200

OTHER NOTES

  • Emersyn Jayne defends the Eve title against Charli Evans in the main event for Eve on 1/7 at The Venue on Great Portland Street in London, UK.  Charlie Morgan vs. Laura Di Matteo face off for the top contender spot.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Arn Anderson wins NWA TV title

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