Daily Update: NJPW Cup, Yuji Nagata, WWE ID

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A ridiculously large issue of the Observer:

  • Full coverage of AEW Revolution, business numbers, what mathes showed the most interest, match order, PPV buys, live numbers,  what the PPV number means, Dynasty card and more
  • WrestleMania update, MSG angle with Reigns, Punk and Rollins, card and interest level of the show.
  • New Japan Cup update with notes on every tournament match
  • Full UFC 313 coverage, looking at the main event decision wwht comes next, fight of the year candidate and business notes.
  • Lex Luger goes into the WWE Hall of Fame and notes about his life and career from the highs to the lows.
  • Latest update on the Vince McMahon/Janel Grant lawsuit
  • The classic Frank Deford story on the life of Mildred Burke
  • We look at “Queen of the Ring,” deciphering what was and wasn’t real about the movie, the facts regarding the career of Burke, the breakup with  Billy  Wolfe, the characters in the movie and how they were portrayed and Burke’s significance in the history of pro wrestling.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling and MMA shows this past week, how they ranked for the week and for the night, competition, how Raw did on Netflix as well as how the other shows did worldwide.
  • A look at the all-women’s Friday night show at Arena Mexico.
  • More on the Stardom Tam Nakano angle.
  • Notes on a week with some of the best matches of the year.
  • Notes on Dark Side of the Ring for this coming season.
  • New books out on wrestling.
  • What pro wrestling legend is Gable Steveson attempting to tie the record of?
  • Hodge Trophy candidates
  • Forming boxing celebrity back doing pro wrestling.
  • Notes on Bruno Sammartino and others with Madison Square Garden longevity.
  • Full details on the 16 Carat gold tournament
  • WBD news story regarding sports and how this affects wrestling.
  • Notes on AEW booing.
  • Advance ticket sales for WWE & AEW
  • More notes on the 18-49 record low number for Dynamite on a Wednesday.
  • More on the Dana White/Nick Khan/Turki Alashikh boxing promotion and who is the person responsible for originally putting them together.
  • More on the next  WWE & UFC media rights talks.
  • Notes on a time slot change for WWE & AEW  shows over the next few weeks.
  • Idea being discussed for a WWE PPV show.
  • Netflix and how much WWE is worth to them and the key change coming.
  • Lots of backstage notes.

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Sunday Update

— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about weekend news and shows. Garrett and I do our week in review show on Friday covering the past week’s issue of the Observer, Queen of the Ring, Mania build, business news, AEW PPV notes and fallout.

— In the New Japan Cup, David Finlay beat Zack Sabre Jr. today in Shizuoka to advance to the finals of the New Japan Cup. Finlay will face the winner of tomorrow’s Shota Umino vs. Shingo Takagi match. The tournament winner faces Hirooki Goto at Sakura Genesis on 4/5 for the IWGP world heavyweight title.

— Yesterday’s show in Nagoya for New Japan was among the best shows of the year. It’s not at the level of Elimination Chamber or Revolution or New Beginning in Osaka, but the last five bouts are really quite good, particularly Finlay vs Yuya Uemura and Sabre  vs. Taichi. Goto vs. Yuji Nagata was amazing when you consider Nagata is 56 and is the oldest wrestler ever to challenge for the title and he was great. The hot crowd helped but the wrestling was excellent.  Also recommended from this weekend is FTR vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong from Collision. I haven’t seen Gunther vs. AJ Styles from Dortmund which was not taped for TV but heard that was great as well.

— New Japan also introduced Yusei Nagata to its audience, the 15-year-old son of Yuij Nagata. He was at ringside for the Nagoya main event. He placed first in Japan and third in Asia in amateur wrestling in the 15-and-under weight class. He’s short at this point, but  he looks like a powerhouse already. Yuji was a top college wrestler in Japan before being a pro wrestler and his uncle, Katsuhiko, won an Olympic silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

— The get-in price on the secondary market for this coming Saturday’s NCAA wrestling championships is $242. This would make it  the most expensive of all but a few U.S. wrestling events. WWE for Mania both nights is higher, but this is higher than Rumble, not higher than Punk’s AEW first match was at its peak but higher than it ended up and higher than this year’s Rumble.

— WWE results from yesterday in Dortmund, Germany:

  • LA Knight b Shinsuka Nakamura to keep the U.S. title
  • Lyra Valkyria b Zoey Stark to keep the women’s IC title
  • Ludwig Kaiser (as a babyface) b Austin Theory
  • Motor City Machine Guns b DIY
  • Rhea Ripley b Liv Morgan in a street fight
  • Penta b Chad Gable
  • Jey Uso b Dominik Mysterio
  • Gunther b AJ Styles to retain the world title in a cage match

Nakamura is on the show and the tour. The stories of Nakamura leaving are untrue as WWE confirmed the story of his leaving was false. The only reason anyone acknowledged them and I was besieged with questions on what he is doing next was because the source was also listed as Wade Keller. However, those at the Torch said that Keller never said that and it became a story that spread because it was made up with Keller as the source. It was one of those fake stories that earlier in the week I kept getting asked about for several days.

We’re looking for reports on these shows:

  • WWE in Dortmund, Germany yesterday
  • WWE in Hannover, Germany today
  • WWE Raw tomorrow on Brussels, Belgium (stuff not on the live TV show like Main Event or dark bouts)
  • TNA Impact TV tapings from yesterday in El Paso, TX

We’re looking for results, finishes, and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

— CM Punk is on LFG tonight at 8 pm. on A&E. Rock vs. Mick Foley will be on Rivals at 9:30 p.m. and WWE Greatest Moments will be on Punk at 10:30 p.m.

— We’ll have more on this in the next issue, but for WWE ID showcases matches which some indie promoters have been brought up, the WWE has pushed that for those bouts, Gabe Sapolsky gives the script to the promoters, the promoters pay the guys, WWE covers their costs to travel to the shows with a stipend and the promoter pays the difference if it’s more. This is for bouts billed as WWE ID showcase matches meaning everyone in the match is a WWE ID talent and WWE promotes them as ID showcase matches. If the talent is getting booked on their own this doesn’t apply and WWE doesn’t block matches for ID talent, and they can work indie shows against AEW talent. But WWE won’t promote those matches or feature them on YouTube. This wasn’t supposed to be in the issue as the story was planned for next week, but due to a mixup it was in the issue this week but not completed.

— Mick Foley will be receiving the Iron Mike Mazurki Award for the Cauliflower Alley Club at their banquet 8/18 to 8/20 at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas.

–The Observer twitter did a poll trying to ascertain how many people are watching AEW on MAX. The results were the same as other polls, but unfortunately, the numbers don’t make sense:

  • 45.5% said they still watch AEW on cable television
  • 39.9% said they moved from TV to MAX
  • 14.6% said they  started watching on MAX

The problem is if 39.9% said they moved from TV to MAX, the audience for Dynamite on TV should be around 324,000, and obviously that’s not the case. Also that poll would indicate 1.38 million viewers this past Wednesday, and I don’t buy that one at all.

— Rudy Diamond, who wrestled in the 80s, mostly in the Northeast, passed away in recent days. He appeared as an enhancement guy on WWE television from time to time between 1983 and 1986.

— Bruno Forever in Ross Township, PA last night did a sellout of 400 plus people. They are hoping to make a tribute event honoring Sammartino an annual thing. Bill Apter and Stan Hansen both appeared.

— While the SmackDown broadcast on Friday was focused on Lamine Yamal of Barcelona FC, it was noted that he was accompanied by other top stars on the team. Hector Fort Garcia and Alejandro Balde were also at the show but not mentioned. The focus on Yamal, who is 17, is that he’s accomplished so much at a young age (thanks to William Beltran)

–Maple Leaf Wrestling from last night in Windsor, ONT:

  • QT Marshall & Blake Christian & Sheldon Jean b Bhupinder Gujjar & El Reverso & Psycho Mike Rolins
  • Kylie Rae b Taylor Rising in the women’s title tournament  first round
  • Alex Zayne  won four-way over Taiji Ishimori, Stu Grayson and Kait Kiyomiya when he pinned Ishimori
  • Gisele Shaw b Serena Deeb in the women’s title tournament first round
  • PCO b Michael Allen Richard Clark in a street fight
  • Billy Gunn & Bishop  Dyer (Baron Corbin) b Thom Latimer & Matt Cardona when Dyer pinned Cardona
  • Rohan Raja b Rich Swann to keep the Grail Championship
  • Kevin Knight & Kushida b Mike Bennett & Matt Taven

Josh Alexander was there and said he would be wrestling on the 5/10 show in Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre which is the site of the old Maple Leaf Gardens.

— There was nothing from yesterday’s UFC show that did anything as far as Google trends. Nothing from pro wrestling at all this past weekend.

— Mercedes Mone makes her first defense of the British women’s title against Kanji on 4/20 in Doncaster at the Dome for RevPro.

— Eve has a show on 4/4 at the Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, London, England with Skye Smitson defending her International title against whoever recently attacked her.

— Himawari debuts on the MLW 4/5 show in Los Angeles at the Commerce Casino & Hotel.  She wrestles for Tokyo Joshi Pro.

— Defy from last night in Seattle:

  • Clark Connors won over Titus Alexander, Marcus Matthers and Labon Kozone in the Super 8GP first round
  • Starboy Charlie won over Jordan Oasis, Bishop Kaun and Evan Rivers to advance’
  • Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl b Spencer Scott & Zayne Perez
  • Rhio won an elimination match over Nicole Matthews, Vert Vien, Tara Zep , Liiza Hall, Danike Della Rouge, Anna Beretta and Broke Havok
  • Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas b Bollywood Boyz in a double chain match
  • Clark Conors b Starboy Charlie to win the Defy title (the one Ricky Starks vacated)

— Nic Nemeth beat 420-pound Aaron Roberts in the main event from yesterday’s Memphis TV show. They are doing a multiple team ladder match for their tag team titles soon. Matt Hardy will be involved in some way (thanks to Brian Tramel)

— House of Glory Wrestling sold out the NYC Arena last night:

  • Zilla Fatu b Donovan Dijak to keep the Crown Jewel title
  • JK Bouii b Joey Silver-DQ
  • Mighty Mante b Danhausen
  • Private Party b Darren Richardson & Joodi Aura
  • Mercedes Mone b Indi Hartwell
  • Midas Black & Jan Lyon b Jay Armani & Rheem Royal in 2/3 falls to the became champion

Next show at the NYC Arena 4/25.