Daily Update: Jesse Ventura, BTE, Dark Side of the Ring

DAILY UPDATE

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WON NEWSLETTER: April 27, 2020 Observer Newsletter: WWE schedule changes, layoffs, and quarterly financials

We’ve got one of our biggest news issues of the year out this week, a double-issue with a number of bios and history features, updates on all the major promotion moves when it comes to scheduling and WWE business notes.

The issue also covers:

Changes in the WWE schedule, why the company changed plans after just one week, who benefits the most, as well as AEW going back too taping and details of that.  We also look at the next AEW PPV show, an employee complaints about WWE continuing, differences between what AEW, UFC and WWE are doing, what firing hurts the WWE perception and thoughts of people sitting it out, a doctor talks about what is needed to do these shows without a health risk and the WWE event schedule for the next few months.

A number of recent new WWE cuts, including some surprises, how the WWE dividend and Vince McMahon’s share fits into these cuts, projections for 2020 profitability if house shows don’t return for the rest of 2020, and why several people got cut.

The most in-depth coverage of WWE business, covering each department of the company, lots of Vince McMahon reaction to the numbers and the future, what McMahon said that is and isn’t true, the story behind the ratings and the story behind increases and declines across the board.  Plus we examine the WWE network numbers.

Changes in the business going forward.

Joe Pedicino and pro wrestling, how he got in, his early innovative ideas, how Nigerian scram, his promotion of Global Wrestling, how it fell apart, stars who got breaks there and lie after wrestling.

Oliver Luck’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon, what is it all about and how much the XFL actually lost before it folded.

HHH’s thoughts on two-night WrestleManias going forward, A.J. Styles talks Gallows & Anderson losing their job, Roman Reigns update, Ronda Rousey update, Arn Anderson talks why Cesaro doesn’t get pushed, Canadian wrestling TV ratings, story on a surprise on Raw this past week who was canceled after the show started, update on Drake Maverick, the Smackdown announce team, and the most-watched shows on the WWE Network.

PFL closing down for the year, why what they said publicly was somewhat misleading and why they are still paying fighters, as well as thoughts on shutting down.

A number of new stories on Howard Finkel, both people who helped out and people who bullied him and looking back on those situations.

The first UFC fighter announced COVID-19 positive.

Brawl for All, going behind the scenes, a look at the Dark Side of the Ring coverage, examining the coverage and looking back at the entire scenario.

Look back at the Jimmy Snuka/Nancy Argentino death case, look at Dark Side coverage and add a lot more that wasn’t covered.

A back-of-the-book feature on Dick Steinborn, who was a big star in the 60s and 70s, and his father Milo, one of the strongest men in the world and a wrestling promoter.  We look at Milo’s amazing feats of strength, as well as both the positive and negatives of the legacy of Dick in pro wrestling.

Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.

In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio talking Raw and the latest pro wrestling and MMA news. You can send in questions for tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

Jesse Ventura is teasing running for President. He said that if he runs, the Green Party would be his first choice. 

BTE today ended with the Young Bucks looking at the sky and the clouds spelled out “FTR.”  So that seems to finalize what everyone expected, which is a Young Bucks vs. formerly known as The Revival feud. 

The second part of Impact Rebellion will air tomorrow night on AXS with Jessicka Havok vs. Rosemary in a full metal mayhem (TLC) match, Suicide vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju vs. Trey Miguel and Joey Ryan vs. Cousin Jake.  The big storyline is the announcement of what they are doing with their world heavyweight title. Tessa Blanchard is the champion but she wasn’t on the tapings and they were taping a couple of months worth of shows.  Then again, the tag champs weren’t at the tapings either.

Tomorrow night on Vice will be:

  • 9 p.m. – 30 minutes of new material on Dino Bravo
  • 9:30 p.m. – After Dark on Dino Bravo 
  • 10 p.m. Dark Side of the Ring on David Schultz. The show will be about his persona across the board, focusing on his slapping John Stossel and his later attack on Mr. T  in Los Angeles that got him fired by WWF. He’s got a long standing hatred of Vince McMahon since then which is likely to come across. He was honored last year at the Cauliflower Alley Club, and many of the honorees  are very negative toward McMahon, which can be an embarrassment to the club since WWE works with them, it usually is just accepted.  But with Schultz, it was so strong that a lot of people at the WWE table were very uncomfortable. 

WWE

  • Scheduled for Raw tonight is more of the HHH 25th anniversary celebration, a contract signing with Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins and Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka.
  • Rosenblatt has bumped the WWE target price up to $55 per share from its previous $52. Even though the market itself was up today, WWE dropped 71 cents per share to $44.08.
  • The Bella Twins autobiography called “Incomparable” will be released on 5/5 by Simon & Schuster.

UFC

  • Dana White told Kevin Iole yesterday that the 5/23 show will not be from Jacksonville.  AEW is doing its PPV from Jacksonville that night and there was thought that they would be head-to-head less than a mile apart. White also said that he doesn’t see any live gates for shows for a long  time and that his main goal is no layoffs in UFC and he would be taking care of his employees.

AEW

  • In Canada, the show this week will air on both TSN 1 and TSN 2. The ratings for AEW depend greatly on the station it’s on we’ve learned with TSN 2 being the key station. Often people don’t know which station it’s on and then miss the show (thanks to Jeff Zinger)
  • Scheduled for Dark is Jimmy Havoc vs. Shawn Dean and Best Friends vs. Lee Johnson & Musa.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • All Japan will be doing a show on Thursday on AJPW.tv live.  Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto defend the All-Asia tag titles against Kento Miyahara & Francesco Akira in the main event. 
  • Canadian Wrestling Elite ran a show on Friday night at their gym, closed to the public and streamed live on Facebook pushing for donations: Danny Duggan b Bradley Scott, Adrien Burton b River City Rocker, Kevin Cannon b Chad Daniels, A.J Sanchez b Johnny Malibu. There is no word on another show. They are still hoping to run shows in Manitoba in May based on governmental rulings but called the possibility “small.”
  • Superstar Billy Graham said that it appears both his daughter, Capella and son-in-law, who is a paramedic in West Palm Beach, have the coronavirus. Capella, who is 47, is the goddaughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  She had a high temperature for three days and has lost 18 pounds.  he belief is she got it from her husband.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Austin Idol defeats Jerry Lawler in hair vs. hair match

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