Daily Update: Eddie Kingston, Cain Velasquez, AEW Collision

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • Death and legacy of Sabu
  • Why WrestleMania was  moved, expected date change and how it went down
  • WWE Backlash coverage and what the Netflix number, or lack thereof, said about it.
  • Double or Nothing, Saturday Night’s Main Event, Battleground and Dean 2 looked at
  • UFC’s last two weeks of shows
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling shows, where they placed in weekly stands, time slot, competition, Netflix numbers and how close is Dynamite really to Raw
  • Updates in different court cases involving Vince McMahon, including what things Vince is trying to keep private and what argument are his lawyers using to get the Janel Grant case out of court.
  • AEW wrestlers at Arena Mexico in June with two shows including some very big matches
  • Notes on the last two weeks of Arena Mexico activity
  • Update on TripleMania Regia and those who were to be there and aren’t and who is
  • Who is the hottest new star in AAA
  • Champion Carnival finals
  • Ninja Mack becomes viral star
  • Best of the Super Juniors tournament
  • Woman wrestling legend retires
  • Kyle Snyder’s arrest, what happened, where he stands right now
  • New signees to RAF including Chael Sonnen as announcer
  • Sonnen issues apology
  • Pro wrestling legend announces independent show for his last match in a 20,000 seat arena
  • LA Park’s latest controversy
  • Maple Leaf Wrestling thoughts
  • TNA has a number of big shows
  • Jim Ross notes
  • Darby Allin’s climb
  • Collision technical issue
  • AEW doing more residencies
  • AEW and International television
  • Will Ospreay on AEW vs. WWE
  • Advance ticket sales for AEW, WWE and TNA events upcoming
  • UFC wins multiple awards
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Boxing legend done with MMA
  • PFL tournament shows upcoming
  • Holly Holm signs with Jake Pail
  • What is going on with Nick Khan & Dana White’s boxing deal with Turki Alalshikh
  • WWE in Mexico
  • WWE injury and roster updates
  • New WWE signings

Friday Update

  • Garrett and I just did a long show talking about a lot of subjects from AEW championship picture, WrestleMania move, Sabu and his legacy, Charlotte  Flair vs. Sol Ruca, Wrestlers and social media, drug culture in the 80s, mentality of wrestlers then and now, new industry thoughts on rights fees and where UFC and  WWE stand, Collision and notes on the weekend shows. Bryan and I will be back on Sunday for sure with coverage of a very busy weekend.
  • The new issue of the Observer is out today. It’s one of the larger ones in our history because of taking a week off.
  • Eddie Kingston has said that he’s not ready to return and won’t be at Double or Nothing on Sunday
  • Cain Velasquez said that Dana White paid his $1 million bail release from jail months ago.  He said that in an interview with the Basement Talk podcast.  He didn’t know if White ever said that he did.  White never in fact said that he did.  Velasquez is currently in prison for several more months at minimum  
  • Collision last night did 353,000 viewers and an 0.08 in 18-49.  We don’t have full details but were told the first 30 minutes did well and like on Wednesday there was a  big drop at 8:30 p.m. when the NBA game started.  Minnesota vs. Oklahoma City did 5,156,000 viewers and 1.60 in 18-49 on ESPN.  Florida vs. Carolina on TNT in the NHL playoffs did 1,206,000/0.34.  Collision was also behind FOX News and College Softball on ESPN 2.  It may have been behind Top Chef on Bravo which did an 0.08 but we don’t have the chart yet.  There were DVR issues in a number of homes because many systems didn’t have it n the season pass due to it airing on TBS and not TNT.  As soon as the game started, the show dropped from 497,000 viewers (a great number for Collision) to 343,000, and worse from an 0.17, which would be a great number for the show, to an 0.07.  You can’t credit the Big Bang Theory lead-in, since that did an 0.10 and Collision jumped 70 percent from that in the first 15 minutes or so.  In 18-34 the drop was from 0.19, ridiculously high for AEW, to 0.05  when the game started.  I’m not sure how to take this.  The first half was shockingly high to the point with the FTR vs. Daniel Garcia & Nigel McGuinness contract signing and Konosuke Takeshita  Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. Bandido & Los Outrunners.  The latter did blow away numbers, and then it collapsed one the game started.  The decline was far worse with women than men, but in 18-34 the decline was across the board.
  • Paul Levesque acknowledged WWE moving out of New Orleans but didn’t say Las Vegas for WrestleMania due to the stuff in this way that we reported on earlier today.  They did announce the 2026 Money in the Bank show for New Orleans on August 29, 2026, or much later in the year than usual.
  • TNA announced a sellout for the Under Siege show going on in Brampton, ONT.  Of course the last time they did that it was not a sellout.
  • Ace Austin debuts for Maple Leaf Wrestling on the 7/5 show in Laval, Quebec.  Austin’s TNA contract is expiring and he’s not expected to sign a new one.
  • There is no UFC show this weekend.  The next show is 5/31.
  • Arena Mexico tonight has Copa Juniors, a Cibernetico with all wrestlers whose fathers were pro wrestlers.  It’s Mistico, Volador Jr., Mascara Dorada, Angel de Oro Atlantis Jr., Niebla Roja, Star Jr. and Zandokan Jr.  It’s an elimination match that continues until two men are left.  They will then have a singles match for the Copa Juniors next Friday night.
  • Averno will defend the CMLL light heavyweight title against Mistico on Tuesday in Guadalajara.  The arena has sold out the past two weeks.
  • Brinley Reece of NXT underwent shoulder surgery.
  • The WWE vault put up two hours of full matches involving Vader from WCW,  including matches with Sting and Cactus Jack.
  • AEW will be taping both the 300th episode of Dynamite and the 100th episode of Collision on 7/2 in Ontario, CA.
  • Bozilla from Marigold debuts with Pro Wrestling Eve on 7/6 in London at The Big Penny in Walthamstow, UK.  Syuri will defend the IWGP women’s title against Alex Windsor.  This will be the first defense of the IWGP women’s title in the U.K.  The winner will face Sareee on 6/21 for the title.  Skye Smitson & Session Moth Martina face Lucy Sky & Mille McKenzie.
  • Su Yung appears on Saturday’s Memphis Wrestling TV show facing Diana Taylor for the Memphis Wrestling women’s title.