Daily Update: Eric Bischoff, Kojima MLW title defense, Trill Williams

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is up on the site right now.  It was a huge news week as it’s the largest issue in some time:

  • ull coverage of Crown Jewel with the matches, business and interest level
  • Thoughts on the programs going forward
  • TKO gives its quarterly business update
  • Why profits are lower than usual.
  • UFC’s media rights deal thoughts
  • Talk about the future of Fight Pass
  • Revenue for UFC & WWE in different categories
  • Stock value
  • How much debt TKO currently has
  • How the Cung Le lawsuit factors into all this
  • More on the show at  Sphere
  • Thoughts about Dana White and/or Nick Khan getting involved with  boxing from Mark Shapiro
  • More Netflix plans
  • A look at the Wrestle Kingdom lineup
  • Where New Japan’s business currently stands
  • Upcoming New Japan tag team tournament notes
  • Power Struggle coverage, great matches and angles
  • NXT and AEW go head-to-head, the most detailed breakdown as to what happened and why
  • Where AEW stood in the overall standings that night
  • How every quarter did
  • Coverage of the Conor McGregor trial going on
  • Update on Full Gear, announced matches,  other matches, ticket buying interest
  • Notes on WWE cuts like Baron Corbin, Indi Hartwell and Tegan Nox.
  • Dragon Gates runs a major show
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the shows this past week, with standings for the night and week, segment-by-segment numbers, and all the competition.
  • CMLL to fill the historical middleweight title vacancy by Mistico this week
  • Arena Mexico draws the week’s largest crowd for themed show
  • Update on El Hijo del Vikingo
  • Stardom tag team tournament update
  • King of Gate tournament update
  • Davey Boy Smith Jr. wins Triple Crown and background of that
  • Death of Scorpio Jr.
  • Hall of Fame candidate health issue update
  • The life of AWA’s Al DeRusha
  • Can actual wrestling draw more than 40,000 each to six events over three days. 2028 we’ll get the chance to find out.
  • Marko Stunt talks retirement
  • Santo retirement tour noes
  • Mike Mansury talks AEW production changes for 2025
  • All the PPV business updates
  • Ricochet talks leaving WWE
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers
  • Jon Jones talks Tom Aspinall and why he’s not interested in that ight
  • More on the Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes leave of absences
  • WWE scheduling updates
  • Yoshhiki Inamura comes to NXT
  • WWE signs former Olympic athletes
  • Lots of WWE injury updates
  • Notes from all the live arena events and the European tour

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Thursday Update

WWE

  • To promote Royal Rumble tickets going on sale this week, WWE posted a video with John Cena hyping that it will be the final Royal Rumble event he ever competes at. Cena’s retirement tour is set to last from January through December 2025.
  • Angelo Dawkins cut a social media promo ahead of The Street Profits challenging Motor City Machine Guns for the WWE Tag Team titles on SmackDown this Friday.
  • LA Knight made an appearance at last night’s Milwaukee Bucks NBA game, working the giant T-shirt cannons.
  • Speaking with The Takedown, Kurt Angle reflected on working for WWE during the Attitude Era:
    • It’s actually more difficult (to work for WWE during a hot period) because you have to outdo yourself from the prior week. I was very lucky to get in the business right in the peak of the Attitude Era. It was the best era in wrestling. And the crazy thing about back then was everybody was a star. It didn’t matter if you were the opening card match, mid card match, main event card match. You were a star and your name was held in high regard.
    • Nowadays, you have your handful of stars, and then everybody else is kind of at a lower level. Back then, everybody was the household name. I mean, The godfather, Val Venis, and Bob Holly, and then you know Undertaker, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin — just everybody was widely known throughout the world. If you want to be at the top of the heap, you have to produce. So, I knew that when I started.
  • Former Miami Dolphins defensive back Trill Williams – who attended a tryout for WWE this summer – appears to have signed with the company. He was spotted in the background of a segment on NXT this week.
  • With their 10-year anniversary approaching, all three members of The New Day were featured on an episode of WWE Break It Down, looking back at some of their past ring gear.
  • Here’s the lineup for this Friday’s episode of NXT Level Up:
    • Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo & Luca Crusifino vs. Uriah Connors & Kale Dixon
    • Oro Mensah vs. Drake Morreaux
    • Carlee Bright vs. Izzi Dame

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • AEW uploaded post-Dynamite comments from Adam Cole, Will Ospreay, and Mark Davis.
  • In this week’s Mone Mag, Mercedes Mone reflected on returning to New England for recent AEW and NJPW events:
    • This week was extra special because I got to be back in BO$$TON/New England with Dynamite in NH, as I said, and Collision in Providence, RI, and even made a surprise appearance for NJPW in Lowell—more on that later. Being back in Boston, in any capacity, just fills me up; there’s something so comforting about being surrounded by friends, family, and fans.
    • It’s extra special for me because I get to have my brother Joshua tag along. He came to all three venues with me. To see him healthy and walking on his own was pure magic. Joshua’s face lit up as we walked by the AEW trucks, but when he saw Saraya on one of the trucks, he couldn’t contain himself, constantly asking, ‘Mercedes, when are you going to wrestle Saraya?’ That’s his dream match for me, and I can’t wait to make it happen someday.
  • Mone wrote about her NJPW appearance:
    • I ended up staying in BO$$TON for a couple of extra days to hang out with my brother, Joshua, and because NJPW had a show coming up in Lowell. And, of course, you can’t have such an incredible lineup without the NJPW Strong Women’s Champion, Mercedes Moné!
    • Truth be told, Lowell has a special place in my heart. It’s where my wrestling journey really kicked off. This town was home to Chaotic Wrestling, the organization that helped shape me into the wrestler I am today. Ironically, it was the very same ring I wrestled in! The amount of gratitude I have for the city, that time and those people can’t even be described. When you are the highest-paid female in our sport, you never forget where you came from or who helped get you there – or at least you shouldn’t. So, you know damn well that if I can make my schedule work to help support those who helped me get where I am today, I always and forever will.  I asked Rocky if I could make a surprise appearance, and luckily, he was thrilled to have me join!
    • As I got ready to make my entrance, I couldn’t help but think back to my younger self—the girl with dreams of becoming the best wrestler in the world. Fast forward 14 years, and here I am at NJPW with the TBS Women’s Championship in my hands. I took a moment to let it all sink in. When I finally stepped out, the crowd went wild, cheering for their CEO. The energy was just incredible.
  • Ricochet, who faces Dante Martin on the Rampage episode that airs tomorrow, says it’s a match he’s been wanting for a while.
  • AEW wished Amanda Huber a happy birthday.
  • Eric Bischoff told Fox News that he’s donating his pay for MLW One-Shot to Tunnels to Towers, a charity that assists the families of first responders and veterans following 9/11:
    • One of the things I told (MLW founder Court Bauer) right away was this isn’t about the money. He started to negotiate my fee and I really wasn’t interested in negotiating it, I just said whatever it is, I’m going to donate it to Tunnel to Towers.
    • So, it doesn’t matter, and I don’t want to negotiate it. I just want whatever it is to be donated because I’m not doing this for the money. I’m doing it for the fun.
  • The December 5 One-Shot event in New York City is being built around Bischoff being in control for the night, but Bischoff does not expect that he’ll be sticking around for a longer run:
    • I don’t even think about that. One of the things I told Court is that for me to do something in wrestling now, it has to be fun. If it’s not fun for me, if it’s just a job, or if it’s just a payday, I’m really not that interested. … When it comes to putting my toe back in the water in wrestling, my first priority is that it has to be fun. If it’s not fun, I’m not interested.
    • So it all depends. I honestly, to be very transparent about it, I can’t see it. I like my life just the way it is. I live in a beautiful part of the country out in the middle of nowhere where I can look out my back window and see Yellowstone National Park… 
    • So, for me to commit – just committing to professional wrestling is 24 hours, seven days a week. If you’re not doing it, you’re thinking about it. If you’re not thinking about it, you’re worrying about it. If you’re not worrying about it, you’re sleeping. It’s hard for me to imagine. But again, it depends how much fun I have. If it’s successful and everybody, not just me, but if the audience enjoys, if Court and his team – most importantly- enjoy the process, then, you know, anything’s possible. But highly unlikely. Let’s put it that way.
  • Bischoff was a guest on No-Contest Wrestling.
  • Satoshi Kojima will defend his MLW World title against CMLL legend Ultimo Guerrero on the TV taping portion of the One-Shot event.
  • On Barstool’s Rasslin’ podcast, Matt Riddle explained how a promo where he forgot his lines helped him become friends with Randy Orton:
    • Before we actually wrestled a full match, Randy wasn’t a huge fan of me. I guess he thought I was disrespectful because I had my headphones on. He came to the locker room, everybody was shaking everybody’s hand.
    • I didn’t want to be like a nerd and go over. Didn’t wanna do that. So I [just] gave him a nod. I was waiting for my chance to shake his hand, but I guess he took that as disrespect. I wasn’t [blowing him off].
    • Later on, I did a promo with Asuka where I forgot my lines. I had this long segment about talking about robots in Japan, and I forgot it. I didn’t know we were live; I thought we were recording. When I did that, I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m probably in trouble.’
    • When I went to the locker room the first person that said anything was Randy. He goes, ‘I don’t know if that sh*t was planned, kid, but that was the funniest sh*t you’ve done since you’ve been here. That was your best promo yet.’ I was like ‘Well, at least Randy liked it.’ and then Vince and Bruce, and everybody else that was in creative also enjoyed it.
  • Salina de la Renta shared that she and her significant other Jovan Fresco have welcomed a baby into the world.
  • Appearing on The A2theK Wrestling Show, Steve Maclin was asked about the new contract he signed with TNA Wrestling this April:
    • I’ll be here for a little bit of the future. We don’t need to put a timeframe on it, but I’ll be with TNA for a while. 
  • The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling spoke with Josh Barnett.
  • YouTuber and wrestler Simon Miller was a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.