Daily Update: Forbidden Door, Vince McMahon, FTR

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • The Punk interview and 1 Bill Phil
  • Tony Khan talks about the 1 Bill Phil comment
  • The business of AEW and profit/loss
  • The different ways this all could go in detail
  • Positives and negatives about working for AEW and WWE
  • The Collision announce team
  • The most detailed look at Collision ratings and what category was it tops among sports during the week
  • What TNT was doing in the time slot, what should be expected and what would be considered good
  • How each segment did
  • The Marc Raimondi ESPN piece
  • Punk talks Adam Page
  • Contradictory stories
  • Original idea for Collision that changed
  • Full rundown of both Chicago shows with business notes
  • Preview of Forbidden Door and what business mark for AEW may be set and where it ranks all-time among Canadian gates
  • Notes on Danielson vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ospreay
  • Notes on PPV
  • The rest of the card
  • The Owen Hart tournament
  • Update on Wembley Stadium
  • Rickson Gracie battles Parkinson’s and a look back at a fighting legend in the underground days as well as his battles with a famous pro wrestler in Brazil
  • Money in the Bank update
  • Notes on Saturday’s UFC show
  • Tons of new major matches announced by UFC for the summer and fall
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA shows over the past week, how they do with different age groups, segment-by-segment and what WWE stars moved numbers big this past week
  • First wrestling company in history to hit 90 years consecutively in business
  • Multiple cities doing a 40th anniversary celebration for a Hall of Famer
  • Konnan talks heavily about Bandido and Rush
  • An issue with women’s wrestling fans in Japan
  • How the women’s wrestling fan base in Japan has changed multiple times
  • What happened to the key young Dragon Gate talent that was let go
  • Two wrestlers who started together, became big stars in different companies, have a dream match that sold out instantly
  • N-1 tournament including surprise entrants
  • New Japan Strong shows in Japan
  • A bill introduced in New York regarding regulating pro wrestling
  • Lots of injury updates
  • More on the MLW lawsuit against WWE
  • Impact stars on major television show in Canada
  • More on B.J. Whitmer case
  • Tony Khan talks working with Gedo and where AEW stands among start-ups in the sports brand space
  • Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
  • Update on Bandido
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers for WWE and AEW
  • Ticket sale updates for all the major shows for WWE & AEW
  • Talks regarding the sale of Bellator, rumors about Tony Khan being interested and he shoots them down
  • Tons of drug suspensions handed out this week
  • Gable Steveson debuts on TV and what his goals for 2024 are

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Sunday Update

Bryan and I will be up tonight after Forbidden Door covering the show along with the rest of the weekend news. We also have a week in review show with Garrett and I up on the site.

Just to clear something up regarding the situation in AEW and people kept apart, as tonight is the first time the Elite and C.M. Punk will be on the same show, is that FTR is not part of this equation. FTR actually went out of their way of late to clear the air and have no working issues with each other. Most involved have confirmed that all is good between them and the hope was that other discussions would happen soon.

On the loud but mixed reaction C.M. Punk got last night in Toronto, those there said Punk was fine with it and even told the crowd it’s okay to boo him if you want to. He cut a total face promo, blamed himself for the loss since he was the captain and said like the Toronto Maple Leafs, he’ll come back stronger. Dax Harwood did a promo talking about the 2/3 fall match with Chad Gable & Jason Jordan. He didn’t mention Gable & Jordan by name but mentioned the 2/3 fall match in the building. He said that match was one of the matches that helped get them where they are now. As we’ve noted, it really doesn’t matter if Punk is cheered, booed, or the reaction is in between. The key is if he helps grow business. He could be cheered and if there’s no business growth, that means far less than if he’s booed like crazy and business grows. People were vociferous both for and against him. Live in the building the crowd cheered FTR, Starks, Jay White and Juice Robinson while Punk got heavily cheered and heavily booed. Right now it feels like the company has momentum, but it’s also in its early stages. Last night’s show moved a lot of tickets in the last week so that’s a positive sign.

Regarding Friday’s Smackdown and the Bayley vs. Shotzi match with the MITB shot at stake, the LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar vs. Butch match and the Cameron Grimes vs. Baron Corbin match that were all advertised, this was Vince McMahon making heavy last minute changes to the show. There was a pattern before Vince got back involved that almost all the advertised matches would take place, and before when Vince was in control, things were changed at the last minute all the time. But there was a lot of unhappiness that this much had changed.

Forbidden Door is tonight at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. They put a lot of new tickets on sale yesterday and were at 13,419 this morning. There were actually 13,870 available at that time. So even though this was an instant sellout, there were and probably still are some tickets available now. This looks to be a nearly five hour show:

First hour pre show matches:

  • Stu Grayson vs. El Phantasmo
  • Trent Baretta & El Desperado & Rocky Romero vs. Brian Cage & Bishop Kuan & Toa Liona
  • Jeff Cobb & Kyle Fletcher & TJP vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi & Bushi
  • Athena vs. Billie Starkz in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament match

Main card:

  • MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for AEW title
  • Sting & Darby Allin & Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki
  • Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale fr AEW title
  • Orange Cassidy vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia for the International title
  • C.M. Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament
  • Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli & Konosuke Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. Young Bucks & Adam Page & Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii
  • Sanada vs. Jack Perry for IWGP title
  • Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay for U.S. title
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson

We’re looking for your thoughts on Forbidden Door so 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 looking for reports on these shows:

  • NXT on Friday night in Fort Pierce, FL
  • NXT last night in Citrus Springs, FL
  • WWE house show tonight in Mobile, AL

We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Chris Samsa noted that Kazuchika Okada made his debut on August 29, 2004, in Mexico City, in a Toryumon match and Bryan Danielson was on that card.

Fantastica Mania takes place in Puebla tomorrow night with Averno & Mephisto & El Satanico vs Tiger Mask & Desperado & Atlantis, plus Bushi & Tetsuya Naito & Rocky Romero & Titan vs. Magia Blanca & Magnus & Rugido & Volador Jr.

For Google trends this past week, the only things that cracked the top 20 were Maycee Barber for yesterday’s ABC TV fight with Amanda Ribas, which had 20,000 searches and on Thursday the talk of an Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg got 100,000 searches and was No. 7 for the day. People were raving about the Barber win over Ribas as something to go out of your way to see.

Another match, this time from pro wrestling, getting a lot of praise was the Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani & AZM & Hinda & Lady C & Miyu Amasaki cage match win over Natsuoko Tora & Saki Kashima & Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid & Ruaka & Rina match at today’s Stardom PPV show at Yoyogi Gym. Hayashishita was busted open and bled heavily after being hit with a lead pipe to the face by Tora when she was trying to escape. Oedo Tai turned on Kashima for being the last one left in the cage and losing the match for them and the winning Queen’s Quest team made the save. But Kashima did not join Queen’s Quest today. One reader said it was similar to some of the biggest Dragon Gate Dead or Alive cage matches and how the storytelling and usage of weapons came across so well.

Mariah May & Mina Shirakawa won the Goddess of Stardom tag titles from Mirai & Ami Sohrei on the show. Giulia also issued a challenge to Willow Nightingale for the New Japan Strong women’s title. This looks to take place either 7/4 or 7/5 at Korakuen Hall.

Matt Cardona will be on the DDT 7/23 Peter Pan show at Sumo Hall, facing Tetsuya Endo for their Universal title. Yuji Hino vs. Chris Brookes is the main event for the KO-D title. Konosuke Takeshita returns to face Yuki Ueno on the show.

WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight on A&E will be about Kurt Angle. Stone Cold Takes on America airs at 10 p.m.

WWE house show from last night in Monroe, LA:

  • Charlotte Flair b Bayley with the figure eight
  • Omos b Rick Boogs with a tree slam
  • Santos Escobar b LA Knight by holding the tights. Knight was very popular and he cut a promo before the match on winning Money in the Bank and fans weren’t happy Escobar came out to interrupt the promo. They didn’t boo Escobar but started giving him the what statement.
  • Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler kept the women’s tag titles over Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan. Rousey & Baszler came out with both sets of belts.
  • Bobby Lashley b Baron Corbin
  • Asuka b Shotzi with the Asuka lock to keep the WWE women’s title
  • Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn won four-way to keep the tag titles over Street Profits, Pretty Deadly and Sheamus & Butch when Zayn pinned Elton Prince.

The WWE opens its tour of the U.K. on Wednesday in Liverpool for a house show with this card:

  • Raquel Rodriguez vs. Piper Niven
  • Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bronson Reed
  • Ricochet vs. Dominik Mysterio
  • Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark
  • Matt Riddle & New Day (Kofi Kingston advertised as back in the ring after his recent injury) vs. Emporium
  • Natalya vs. Rhea Ripley for women’s world title
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor street fight
  • Seth Rollins vs. Damien Priest for world title

There was huge controversy regarding Friday night’s PFL show in Atlanta, which drew a reported sellout. In a battle of former lightweight season champions, Natan Schulte vs. Raush Manfio, Shulte won a decision 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 to advance to the final four in the division. Schulte took third in the standings. But later, the PFL announced that Shulte and Manfio did not give their best efforts (the two, who are very close friends, had what was described as a sparring session) and the promotion pulled Schulte from the final four and replaced him with fifth place Shane Burgos. The statement said both fighters have been suspended because the match “did not meet the standards which all PFL fighters agree to uphold in competition.” They took away Schulte’s points. Schulte is the Godfather of Manfio’s daughter and Manfio had noted that Schulte had lent him money to allow him to not lose his house and had said he was his best friend. A lot of reporters were very critical of the PFL for this, noting that this type of decision should have come from the athletic commission, basically overturning a win, and not the promotion.

Georges St-Pierre called himself a big fan of Elon Musk, said he’d like to help train Musk for a fight with Mark Zuckerberg. Earlier Jon Jones said he’d like to train Zuckerberg for such a fight.

Xavier Woods and Kenny Omega have gone back-and-forth in the video game world trading barbs. They’ve been working their own feud for five years or more. If you recall, many years ago both the New Day and Elite worked to put together a six-man tag but political issues kept it from happening.

OTHER NOTES

A horse named Cactus Jack won the second race at Monmouth in New Jersey yesterday and paid $19 (thanks to Barry Werner)

Pro Wrestling Eve runs on 7/2 at The Dome in Tufnell Park in London. They announced Billie Starkz on the show against Nina Samuels along with Miyu Yamashita vs. Emersyn Jayne.

Choco Pro, a women’s promotion in Japan will be running 8/26, All In weekend, at The Yard Theater in Hackney Wick, London at 2 p.m. You must be over the age of 18 to attend.