Daily Update: Meiko Satomura, WBD/NBA lawsuit, Nick Khan

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Friday Update

– Garrett Gonzales and I have our week in review show later this afternoon. You can also send in questions during the live airing. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night with our weekend show covering UFC, AEW, G1, SmackDown and CMLL.

– The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site. The key stories covered are:

  • Update on SummerSlam and All In, lineups, possible additions, things expected to happen, business notes on both shows, ticket sales and where they will stack up in the all-time historical records. We also look at the stories behind the matches.
  • London Mayor Sadiq Khan meets with Nick Khan and Paul Levesque regarding bringing WrestleMania to the city.
  • Notes on the first week of the G1 Climax tournament, stories, standings, business and quality of the matches.
  • Notes on week two of G1
  • Part one of our story on the life and career of Canadian star Leo Burke, a Stampede Hall of Famer and how he shaped the career of Bret Hart, and trained some of the biggest names in wrestling
  • Vince McMahon’s lawyers try and shut down a motion by Janel Grant’s lawyers
  • TNA Slammiversary, its biggest crowd in years and how it was done, PPV numbers update, and full show coverage
  • Coverage of Dragon Gate & DDT’s biggest shows of the year
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the major pro wrestling shows, placings, competition and segment-by-segment
  • What the CMLL current era compares to in Mexican history
  • A look at the big matches coming over the next month including AEW stars and World Grand Prix participants
  • Stardom PPV shows this weekend
  • 50th anniversary celebration
  • One of the top legends of this era pushing his farewell tour
  • Bloodsport notes
  • Next few weeks of TNA television
  • Update on AEW TV negotiations
  • Lots of AEW injuries
  • Tony Khan talks about strippaing titles vs. waiting for champions to recover
  • Darby Allin talks current scene
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers
  • Cung Le lawsuit update
  • Top ten male and female fighters of the 21st century
  • Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry and update on celebrity fights and how they are doing

– Meiko Satomura will have a press conference at 11 p.m. Eastern time tonight which is believed to be her retirement announcement and farewell match or matches. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez)

– As expected WBD has filed suit against the NBA claiming breach of contract and failure to negotiate in good faith after the NBA turned down WBD’s accepting to match the right package of Amazon Prime. WBD is arguing that Max is equivalent to Amazon Prime as both are major streaming services plus they offer television. The NBA is claiming WBD matched the money but can’t match the exposure.

– ROH Death Before Dishonor on Honor Club with the pre-show starting at 7 p.m.

  • MxM in a match
  • Dustin Rhodes & Marshall & Ross Von Erich vs. John Silver & Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds — winning team faces Matt Taven & Mike Benett & Roderick Strong on Battle of the Belts tomorrow night to fill the vacant ROH trios titles
  • Komander vs. Beast Mortos
  • Atlantis Jr. vs. Lio Rush vs. Shane Taylor vs. Lee Johnson vs. Brian Cage vs. Johnny TV for the ROH TV title
  • Taven & Bennett defend the ROH tag titles against Kyle O’Reilly & Tomohiro Ishii
  • Diamante vs. Leyla Hirsch Texas death match
  • Wheeler Yuta vs. Lee Moriarty for the ROH Pure title
  • Billie Starkz vs. Red Velvet for the women’s TV title
  • Athena vs. Queen Animata for the ROH women’s title
  • Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH title

A note is that AEW has gotten CMLL to agree to allow its talent on the same show as AAA talent at least in this instance. Komander is the AAA cruiserweight champion on the same show as Atlantis Jr, one of CMLL’s biggest stars.

– SmackDown tonight is a taped show since the crew is in Japan right now. Lineup has:

  • LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar
  • Bayley & Michin vs. Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton
  • Gauntlet with Angel & Berto, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa, Street Profits, Pretty Deadly, Apollo Crews & Baron Corbin and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for a title shot at DIY in the future.

– Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT:

  • Two Ring Rampage Rumble Battle Royal, winner gets an AEW title shot on 9/25 at Arthur Ashe Stadium
  • Kris Statander vs. Leila Gray
  • Lance Archer vs. ?
  • Dutch & Vincent vs. Private Party vs. Kyle Fletcher & Rush vs. Outrunners

– Regarding the note in the new Observer on Nick Khan selling $4,887,506 of TKO stock this past week we noted it was partially to pay taxes. Those close to the situation say it was entirely to pay taxes on stock grants and that all of Khan’s stock sales to date have been only to cover taxes.

– WWE results from earlier today at Sumo Hall in Tokyo:

  • Shinsuke Nakamura (as a babyface) & Kevin Owens & LA Knight defeated Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Solo Sikoa
  • Liv Morgan defeated Iyo Sky to retain the world women’s title
  • Sami Zayn defeated Dominik Mysterio to keep the IC title
  • Meiko Satomura & Bayley & Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill defeated Sky & Dakota Kai & Kairi Sane & Tiffany Stratton
  • Damian Priest defeated Rey Mysterio to keep world heavyweight title
  • Finn Balor & JD McDonagh defeated New Day to keep the world tag titles
  • Gunther defeated Jey Uso
  • Cody Rhodes defeated AJ Styles to keep the undisputed WWE title

Rossy Ogawa was at the show walking around in the crowd.

At the show, Cody Rhodes was presented with the robe and hat that Dusty Rhodes wore in his 1979 NWF title challenge in Tokyo against Antonio Inoki. The robe had been on display at the Super Inoki Exhibition.

– UFC 304 is tomorrow from Manchester, England:

Prelims on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. Eastern

  • Shauna Bannon (115) vs. Alice Ardelean (116)
  • Mick Parkin (264) vs. Lukasz Brzeski (235)
  • Sam Patterson (170) vs. Kiefer Crosbie (a171)
  • Muhammad Mokaev (126) vs. Manel Kape (125.5)
  • Oban Elliott (170) vs. Preston Parsons (169)

ESPN2 at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Modestas Bukauskas (204) vs. Marcin Prachnio (205)
  • Caolan Loughran (136) vs. Jake Hadley (137) – Hadley missed weight and had to forfeit 20 percent of his purse
  • Molly McCann (116) vs. Bruna Brasil (116)
  • Nathaniel Wood (145) vs. Daniel Pineda (146)

PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern

  • Arnold Allen (145) vs. Giga Chikadze (146)
  • Christian Leroy Dunca (185) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185)
  • Paddy Pimblett (156) vs. Bobby Green (154.5)
  • Tom Aspinall (251) vs. Curtis Blaydes (256) for the interim heavyweight title
  • Leon Edwards (170) vs. Belal Muhammad (169) for the welterweight title

– Dana White said that he would announce the complete September PPV card from The Sphere in Las Vegas today.

– Beth Phoenix is no longer under contract to WWE.

– There was apparently a Ticketmaster snafu for a few hours today which listed tickets for All In for just the service charge. We are told the tickets would not be honored and AEW officials had gotten the mistake rectified.

– Paddy Pimblett has signed a new UFC contract this week.

–Mistico & Volador Jr. & Mascara Dorada vs. Penta & Fenix & Pac headlines Arena Mexico tonight in what should be a great match. The show also has Templario & Titan vs Rocky Romero & Ultimo Guerrero and Angel de Oro vs. Star Jr in the Leyenda de Plata tournament final. They are expecting a sellout of 15,000 fans for the show to see Penta & Fenix’s first match at Arena Mexico in many years.

– CMLL posted the Misticio vs. Volador Jr. title match from Puebla for subscribers to their YouTube page. As if there isn’t enough other wrestling to watch the next two days.

– The CMLL women’s tag title that was held by Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis will be filled by a tournament with eight teams. The first two rounds will be on 7/30 and the championship match will be on 8/6, all at Arena Mexico. Teams are Skadi & Kira, Olympia & Hera, Metalica & Reyna Isis, Sanely & Nautica, Dark Silueta & Valkiria, Zeuxis & Persephone, Tessa Blanchard & Lluvia and Catalina & Princesa Sugehit.

– G1 continues from Nagasaki tonight at 3 a.m Eastern and midnight Pacific

  • Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Henare
  • El Phantasmo & Jado vs. Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano
  • Jeff Cobb & Francesco Akira vs. Yuya Uemura & Taka Michinoku
  • David Finlay & Gedo vs. Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Hirooki Goto & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yota Tsuji & Bushi
  • Shingo Takagi vs. Callum Newman
  • Gabe Kidd vs. Sanada
  • Shota Umino vs. Great O’Khan
  • Jake Lee vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Evil

– Adam Copeland was at the San Diego Comic-Con today as part of the Percy Jaackson and the Olympians panel. Copeland has a role in that TV show.

– Mattel debuted its new WWE action figures including Chase U at the San Diego Comic Con. It was said that Thea Hail is the youngest woman ever to have had a WWE action figure modeled after her.

– House of Glory Wrestling tonight in Jamaica, NY on FITE+ has the Matt Travis Memorial Battle Royal, Gringo Loco vs. Kevin Knight for the cruiserweight title plus Mike Santana vs. Steve Maclin in a street fight and a first time ever match with Swerve Strickland vs. Amazing Red.

– Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 8/2 in Newark, CA at the Pavilion has Toa Liona of AEW vs. Juicy Finau vs. Journey Fatu vs. Losefa Parsi in a South Pacific Savage match plus Robbie Eagles & Aaron Solo vs. Marcus Lewis & Big Fonz, Starboy Charlie vs. Lince Dorado and Viva Van vs. Jada Stone.