Daily Update: John Cena, CM Punk, WWE NXT Heatwave

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered in this issue:

  • Full Forbidden Door coverage
  • Early notes on how the PPV did
  • Arena business and what historical achievement took place this past weekend
  • How the poll for the show had a unique and noteworthy result
  • Looking at AEW going into All In
  • A look at Money in the Bank, Heatwave, and ticket demand for the three WWE shows this week in Toronto.
  • A look at the playoffs for the G1 tournament
  • UFC 303 coverage of one of the shows where they had to change everything over and over again
  • Thoughts on the WrestleMania documentary, what was talked about, and what wasn’t.
  • A look at all the TV ratings info from the past week including rankings for the night and week, the competition, the whys behind the numbers, segment-by-segment and more
  • Chris Jericho returns to Arena Mexico
  • A look at Friday’s show including the Altantis Jr. ROH TV title win
  • AAA TV time notes
  • AAA Verano de Escandalo card
  • Major changes in Stardom
  • New Japan pushes a big open to 2025 for both their promotion and Stardom with dates for tourists
  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Sanshiro Takagi rematch on the bullet train
  • Notable sight gags on the match
  • Update on Marigold’s first major show with Iyo Sky
  • Rematch of one of the best bouts of the year set for the RevPro anniversary show at the Copper Box Arena
  • WWE stars at TNA TV tapings and at Bloodsport
  • More on Britt Baker’s return
  • Tony Khan talks about media rights negotiations, the Juneteenth rating, a milestone Eric Bischoff could never do
  • Will Ospreay opens up about his autism
  • Advance ticket sales for all the WWE & AEW shows over the past week
  • Biggest merch sellers in WWE & AEW
  • Dana White makes a claim that will blow your mind
  • More on the Bloodline angle
  • SmackDown issues with FOX
  • Notes on WWE departures
  • WWE investing in new business with notable partners including the NFL
  • Dijak talks more about his contract not being renewed

This Week’s Wresting Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Sunday Update

– Bryan and I were up last night covering John Cena, Money in the Bank, Smackdown and Collision and we’ll be up again tonight talking about all the weekend news plus NXT Heatwave coverage.

– At last night’s press conference, just to clarify what Paul Levesque did say this but many misinterpreted it, last night’s show was the largest arena gate in the history of Canadian wrestling. It was not the largest gate, as there were WrestleMania shows in 1990 and 2002 that were larger, although the gate was ahead of the 1986 Hogan vs. Orndorff stadium show because of much higher ticket prices. Levesque said it accurately but it was reported wrong in a lot of places.

– We have a major article on John Cena’s return and where he stands among the all-time greats up on the site.

– Also at the press conference, John Pollock asked a question to Cena about Vince McMahon and his thoughts. Cena was very nice,  but didn’t answer after encouraging people to ask anything, saying he had talked about it before (in a Howard Stern interview) and to look that up to get his thoughts. We do know that Cena is one of the few people who, at least as of a month or two ago, that Vince was still considered friends with and in contact with.  Brandon Thurston asked Paul Levesque about the investigation of Vince McMahon and Levesque just said he couldn’t comment on legal matters. Nobody else even came close to asking anything about McMahon.

– Regarding the idea of C.M. Punk vs. Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam, Punk didn’t want to comment on it and obviously wanted to wait for the angle on television. He talked about maybe not being cleared but didn’t say that he wasn’t. Those close to the situation called Punk wrestling McIntyre at SummerSlam, which had been hoped for for months, “very hopeful.”

– I didn’t see the Nate Diaz boxing match with Jorge Mascival. Diaz won a majority decision that most seemed to score for Masvidal. The fight was said to be very exciting with a lot of close rounds that weren’t easy to judge. Stats showed Masvidal landed more and harder punches but Diaz was busier. Diaz then said he wanted rematches with Jake Paul and Leon Edwards.  Conor McGregor claimed that he bet $500,000 on Diaz, and it was noted that if so, he’d have made more money on the fight than Diaz as Masvidal did. The judges had it 98-92 and 97-93 for Diaz with a third judge having it 95-95 even. Chris Avila beat Anthony Pettis under boxing rules 59-55, 59-55 and 58-46.  Avila is a teammate of Disaz from Stockton CA. They announced a sellout of 18,040 on the air.  We should have PPV numbers later this week.

– The funeral for Sika Anoa’i was this weekend in Pensacola, FL.

– NXT Heatwave pre-show first match should be around 6:40 p.m. Eastern with the main card at 7 p.m.

  • Karmen Petrovic & Arianna Grace vs. Jacy Jayne & Jazmyn Nyx (pre-show)
  • Kelani Jordan vs. Sol Ruca for women’s North American title
  • Oba Femi vs. Wes Lee for the men’s North American title
  • Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs. Duke Hudson & Andre Chase for  NXT tag titles
  • Roxannne Perez vs. Lola Vice for NXT women’s title
  • Trick Williams vs. Ethan Page vs. Shawn  Spears vs. Je’Von Evans for NXT title

– We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s MITB and tonight’s Heatwave shows, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

– Also regarding last night, Damian Priest didn’t kick out of the pin by Seth Rollins right before the interference by Drew McIntyre. Usually referees are told that if the guy doesn’t kick out, you call it as a shoot. This clearly, based on the plans in place, was not a situation where the ref could do so.  

– For Google searches for the week, the Nate Diaz vs Jorge Masvidal boxing match last night had 500,000 searches and was second yesterday behind the death of Kyhree Jackson of the Minnesota Vikings in a car accident. Money in the Bank did 200,000 searches which is the normal range of a major WWE PPV these days. John  Cena had 100,000 searches. The only other topic regarding wrestling, MMA or boxing to trend this past week was Ryan Garcia being kicked out of the WBC being No. 6 on Thursday with 100,000.

– Adam Pearce did a clear knock at Tony Khan on Twitter when talking about a backstage incident after the show saying, “I personally apologize for the interruption to the show post show and my anger. Poor Jackie feared for her life. Understatement.”

– Throughout the month of July, Bojangles is giving away collectible WWE cups to customers who buy a WWE Sandwich Comob (including Bo’s Chicken Sandwich).  he offer is valid while supplies last (thanks to Barry Werner)

– Jeff Jarrett has been doing some of his best promo work ever. 

– Shark week premieres tonight with Cena as host on The Discovery channel.

– There is no A&E biography tonight to avoid going head-to-head with Heatwave.

– GCW runs tonight in Montreal on Triller TV with an IWS vs. GCW show with Crazy Manny vs. Nick Gage in a death match, Mance Warner vs. Green Phantom for the GCW title, Karl Jepson vs Gringo Loco for the IWS title, Katrina Creed vs. Masha Slamovich vs. Kristara for the IWS women’s title and Gabe Kidd vs. Joey Janela vs. Benjamin Tull vs. James Stone.

– Winnipeg Pro Wrestling announced 800 tickets sold for an upcoming Rumble in the Burt show with Donovan Dijak vs. Mustafa Ali.

– JJ Gale vs. Tomohiro Ishii has been added to the 8/24 RevPro show in London at the Copper Box along with Michael Oku vs. Luke Jacobs for the British title.