Daily Update: New WWE trademark, A&E ratings, Shinjiro Otani
Daily Update
Latest News
- WWE Raw ratings down against NBA Finals game five
- Former WWE wrestler Alicia Fox making pro wrestling return
- Bron Breakker to address Seth Rollins on WWE NXT
- WWE’s Kofi Kingston gives positive update on recovery from ankle surgery
- Two title defenses part of 11-match Ring of Honor TV lineup
- Tony Khan: I haven’t ‘drawn any hard lines’ or locked AEW into roster split
- WWE NXT’s Trick Williams to appear for Reality of Wrestling
- WWE Raw video highlights: Rhea Ripley title presentation
- Logan Paul return announced for next week’s WWE Raw
- World Heavyweight title match set for WWE Money in the Bank
- Field set for men’s WWE Money in the Bank ladder match
- AEW fires BJ Whitmer following domestic violence arrest
- New Women’s World Championship unveiled on WWE Raw
Latest Audio:
- Wrestling Observer Live: Collision rosters likelihood, BJ Whitmer fired, WWE business is great, RAW report
- DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: A look at Lord Humongous
- Wrestling Observer Radio: BJ Whitmer fired, WWE TV negotiations, G-1 changes, RAW, more
- Figure Four Daily: Bryan and Tom review Smackdown, Rampage, and the UFC PPV!
Latest Free YouTube Video:
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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
In this issue:
- The life and times of the Iron Sheik and Khosrow Vaziri, and how the two men were the same person but altogether different.
- The short WWF title run
- The Sgt. Slaughter feud
- His two very different periods as a pop culture celebrity
- How the Iron Sheik name and gimmick came around
- Famous Iron Sheik shoot stories
- The first WWF run
- The hostage crisis changes his career
- Did you know Iron Sheik competed in the predecessor to the G-1 in 1982
- The feud with Angelo Mosca in Canada
- The last angle with Killer Karl Kox in Florida
- Growing up as an amateur wrestler in Iran
- Why he left Iran and wound up in Minnesota
- His U.S. amateur wrestling exploits
- His being trained by Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson and altercations that came up
- Why Gagne got so much heat when Sheik was injured
- The angle to set up Sheik’s WWF tile run
- Hulk Hogan comes to WWF
- Sheik’s biggest matches during his biggest singles run with Hogan and Slaughter
- His arrest in a feud with Jim Duggan
- His teaming with Slaughter
- His drug issues
- The death of his daughter and what he wanted to do to the man who killed her
- Longest reigning world champions in pro wrestling history
- Stories behind the longest title reigns
- Differences in how world champions were picked
- New Japan Dominion, as well as build to Forbidden Door and the G-1 Climax tournament
- Travel issues relating to getting the BCC into Japan for Dominion
- Dominion match-by-match coverage
- TripleMania news
- UFC Saturday coverage
- The most detailed look at the ratings for a huge week on television for pro wrestling
- Where Raw, Smackdown and Dynamite rated among everything on cable and network, both sports and entertainment
- Ratings breakdown, looking at competition for all the show
- Perhaps the oldest living wrestling promoter passes away
- Controversial angle in Stardom
- Superstar Graham funeral notes
- The career of Gary Albright
- Pro wrestling documentary gets an Emmy nomination
- The first-ever pro wrestling closed circuit show
- Ticket sales for the upcoming AEW & WWE shows
- International TV ratings and streaming numbers
- What notable thing happened in ratings internationally this past week
- Real WrestleMania attendance and gate figures for 2023 are released
- Biggest gates in AEW history
- Merch rankings
- Dana White talks Tyson Fury vs. Jon Jones
- MMA show draws 50,000 fans this past week
- Update on Peacock
- Notes on the Raw on Twitch show
- Story behind Smackdown’s monster rating
- Trends for AEW and WWE ratings
- What Friday told us about television viewership of AEW and WWE
This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:
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Tuesday Update
WWE
- The company congratulated the Denver Nuggets on winning the NBA Championship.
- WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures on Sunday featuring Roddy Piper memorabilia scored 386,000 viewers with a 0.12 in 18-49, up from the 295,000 for the Goldberg episode. Stone Cold Takes on America meanwhile did 229,000 viewers, with a 0.06 in 18-49.
- New trademarks by WWE include trademarking the in-ring names of Tegan Nox and Candice LeRae, and the term “NXT Gold Rush”.
- The company announced that Drew McIntyre will represent the WWE in the Special Olympics.
- PWInsider reported that Allison Danger had been spotted at the WWE Performance Center on Tuesday as a guest coach.
- Patch 1.12 for WWE 2K23 is now out.
- Captain America: Brave New World has been pushed back to July 26, 2024. Seth Rollins will have a role in the movie.
- Matches and segments added to WWE’s YouTube page today include Triple H vs. Kurt Angle & The Undertaker from the June 13, 2002 edition of SmackDown, Austin Theory squirts Lashley in the face with baby oil from the June 13, 2022 edition of Raw, and Randy Orton vs. Sheamus from WWE Battleground 2015.
- LA Knight is the subject of this week’s WWE Canvas 2 Canvas.
- Jakara Jackson met with Dr. Beau Hightower.
AEW
- This week’s AEW Road to, featuring the AEW World Championship qualifier between Adam Cole and MJF.
- A look at the mini-games in AEW Fight Forever.
- Nick Comoroto talked to Fightful about working with ADHD.
Other Wrestling
- Shinjiro Otani sent a message of encouragement to Takashi Sugiura ahead of his GHC Championship match on Saturday. Otani has been paralyzed from the neck down after an injury suffered during a match against Sugiura in April of 2022.
- Howard Stern talked about the passing of The Iron Sheik on his radio show.
- The Control Center for MLW’s Never Say Never event.
- Mance Warner vs. George South has been added to GCW’s Now and Forever event on July 14.
- Bandido, Komander, and Kento Miyahara have been added to GLEAT’s July 1 event at Tokyo Dome City Hall.
