Daily Update: Money in the Bank, Bron Breakker, WWE Speed

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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

Saturday Update

WWE

  • WWE is urging fans to wear white to Money in the Bank tonight to create a “whiteout” effect with the crowd. White towels are also being distributed to fans.
  • In a social media video, Paul “Triple H” Levesque teased that WWE has “a few surprises in the tank” for Money in the Bank.
  • Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas was visiting at SmackDown in Toronto last night. Levesque posted a picture with him and wrote that it’s always good to see an old friend.
  • At yesterday’s Money in the Bank kickoff event, Levesque shared a special moment with a young fan by bringing her up onto the stage.
  • Johnny Gargano shared footage of him showing his new title belt to his son Quill after DIY won the WWE Tag Team titles: “All of my title wins in my @WWE career hold a special place in my heart. But being able to actually share this one with this guy hits a little different.”
  • The Masked Man Show asked Bron Breakker about potentially working with his father Rick Steiner and uncle Scott Steiner on WWE main roster television:
    • I think for now, I’m kind of establishing myself and kind of going my own way. I think down the line, yeah, we have that, we have that as an option to do if we need it one day, to where we can get my dad and uncle involved in some form or fashion, so that’s always there.
  • On yesterday’s WWE Speed episode, Andrade defeated Xavier Woods to retain the WWE Speed Championship.
  • Woods cut a post-match promo questioning whether he’s good enough as a singles wrestler after again falling short in his quest to win a singles title.
  • Becky Lynch said it was an honor to have the Irish Independent name her memoir as one of the best books that’s been released this year.
  • In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Shawn Michaels previewed the NXT Heatwave main event of Trick Williams vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Ethan Page vs. Shawn Spears:
    • We’re very excited to be in Toronto this weekend. Je’Von is in a new position, which we’re excited about, and we’re very fortunate to have him in the ring with three really talented guys. Trick has been there before. He’s still very new, but he understands what it’s like to be a big-time player. Then you have two veterans in Ethan Page and Shawn Spears. I think Je’Von is going to really shine, and I hope he enjoys the moment.
  • Carmelo Hayes told WrestlingNews.co about the emotional reaction he had to his girlfriend Kelani Jordan becoming the first NXT Women’s North American Champion:
    • I was at home on the couch and I had no idea. I didn’t know so I’m sitting and watching [and] I’m thinking as she’s climbing…I’m thinking someone is gonna rip her off and she grabbed the briefcase and I jumped up. I cried. I did cry tears of joy. I’ve done a lot of cool things and I haven’t cried. That made me actually cry because I know how hard that girl works and obviously, I care a ton for that girl. I just know how hard she works and she earned that.
  • An ESPN panel ranked Cody Rhodes and Bayley first in their respective wrestler power rankings for 2024 so far. The full men’s and women’s top 10 lists can be seen below:
  • Men’s –
    • 1. Cody Rhodes
    • 2. Will Ospreay
    • 3. Swerve Strickland
    • 4. Gunther
    • 5. Drew McIntyre
    • 6. Jon Moxley
    • 7. Bryan Danielson
    • 8. Damian Priest
    • 9. Kazuchika Okada
    • 10. MJF
  • Women’s –
    • 1. Bayley
    • 2. Toni Storm
    • 3. Jordynne Grace
    • 4. Mercedes Mone
    • 5. Bianca Belair
    • 6. Liv Morgan
    • 7. Willow Nightingale
    • 8. Mayu Iwatani
    • 9. Roxanne Perez
    • 10. Rhea Ripley

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • On his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross said he believes PPVs should be three hours long:
    • Somebody asked me that question on Sunday because the discussion was, are we serving too much barbecue? It’s hard for me to even equate that answer because I believe that…it’s a tough question. I believe that a pay-per-view should be three hours. Plenty of time. If you can’t conduct your business in three hours, you need to reevaluate your plan. At least, that’s my take on it. Those four and five-hour pay-per-views are daunting, to say the least. Somebody said, ‘Well, when you guys were down at WCW back in the day, how long were your pay-per-views?’ I said, ‘They were two hours and 50 minutes long.’ That’s a fact. So I think somewhere more in the two-hour and 50-minute range is better, or just [say] three hours, for simplicity’s sake, is more my wheelhouse. Now that I’m getting older, my attention span has been affected, so I think three hours is a nice starting point for a pay-per-view. That’s just me. You first gotta cater to your audience, and I think when you get past three, you’re gambling, and I don’t know if that’s a smart thing to do, gamble with your audience’s attention span. Because no matter what we say, the heavy sh*t is at the end. It’s called a main event, and I think that’s something that’s very important. You gotta cater to that audience, make sure they’re covered, make sure they like the order, and it’s just hard. It’s hard to figure that out, but I think somewhere in that three-hour range would be my preference.
  • Tony Khan attended Michael Rubin’s Fourth of July party in the Hamptons. The Fanatics CEO has held the star-studded party every year since 2021.
  • Shane Taylor was the guest on AEW Unrestricted this week.
  • Donovan Dijak vs. Mustafa Ali has been announced for Winnipeg Pro Wrestling’s show at Burton Cummings Theatre on Thursday, October 24.
  • Chris Van Vliet interviewed Marc Copani (former WWE wrestler Muhammad Hassan) on the latest episode of Insight.