Daily Update: Rhea Ripley, WWE Raw, Pat McAfee

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

One of the biggest issues of the Observer is out this week. Tons of interesting information on current news and lots of historical figures. It’s full coverage of a weekend of major events.

  • Poll results on all the major shows
  • Historical nature of WrestleMania 40 including business notes in depth, gate, PPV, attendance, merch, it’s all there.
  • Ticket demand
  • Historical nature of Rhodes’ win
  • How WWE has changed due to Dwayne Johnson
  • A look at the booking of both nights
  • Internal talk on Rock vs. Rhodes
  • More changes from WWE to TKO
  • How many WWE PPV buyers watched Revolution and Hard to Kill
  • How the WWE/AEW dynamic has changed
  • Future WWE direction
  • A look at Dynamite with the Jack Perry/CM Punk footage and Will Ospreay interview
  • Whose ideas these were and what the background was
  • Different lines and why they were said
  • Full Stand & Deliver coverage
  • The life and times of Akebono, a Japanese cultural figure
  • The early 90s heyday of sumo
  • The Bob Sapp fight and doing kickboxing and MMA
  • The long pro wrestling career and his various roles
  • His brief WWE run
  • UFC 300 looked at
  • AEW 2024 PPV plans
  • New Japan Sakura Genesis coverage and next major shows
  • Bryan Danielson vs. Blue Panther singles match looked at
  • ROH Supercard of Honor coverage
  • Gary Shaw, a controversial figure in MMA and his role in promoting Kimbo Slice and putting women’s MMA on the map against major opposition
  • Jon Jones’ latest incident
  • A look back at Al Zinck and the heyday of pro wrestling in the Maritimes
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week, weekly standings, placings for the night and time slot, major competition for each show, segment-by-segment numbers and more.
  • Rey de Parejas tournament from Dragon Gate
  • One of the greatest U.S. amateur wrestlers in history may retire in a few weeks, or this summer
  • A look at the Olympic trials
  • Wrestling TV show headed to Netflix
  • Indie Hall of Fame
  • The Boys answer back at charges they were fired for no-showing
  • International TV ratings
  • Ticket sales for all the upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • Update on lawsuit filed by former MMA superstar against Disney, backed by Elon Musk
  • Vince McMahon’s stock sales, how much cash he’s made, value of current shares and how much does he still own
  • How much Dwayne Johnson has made for his being on the TKO Board thus far
  • Changes in WWE management
  • Why so many wrestlers today as compared to the past get busted mouths
  • Slammy Awards

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

Monday Update

  • Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw, as well as the latest news in wrestling with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.
  • An update on Rhea Ripley is that the injury that is significant is to her right shoulder. We don’t have details as to the severity of it past it is a significant story backstage in Montreal tonight.
  • Raw tonight is from Montreal with Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable for the IC title being the showcase match. They were promoting it very hard because while it should sell out, it was not sold out as of this morning and not a lock. They were at 11,679 the last time I checked and even with the big stage a real sellout should be 14,000. Dominik Mysterio vs. Andrade, Jey Uso vs. Finn Balor and Chelsea Green & Piper Niven vs. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance is scheduled, plus the return of Sheamus and Cody Rhodes is there. 
  • Pat McAfee mentioned that he had forgotten where he put his passport and if he hadn’t found it he wouldn’t have been able to come to tonight’s show, but he did find it.
  • Smackdown doing an 0.76 on Friday night was the highest rated network show between Monday and Friday. Only once in history has a pro wrestling show been No. 1 for the week. The Saturday and Sunday numbers aren’t in yet. The only show as of Friday higher was the Friday afternoon coverage of The Masters on ESPN that did 0.78. The Saturday and Sunday Masters coverage (golf) will be much higher. But nobody expects Smackdown to beat a sports event of that level.
  • The Friday Rampage number of 0.08 tied its all-time low. The main event was Jay White vs. Matt Sydal, and that’s not a television main event no matter how good an actual wrestler both area. Rampage still beat Major League Baseball, NASCAR Trucks racing and PFL head-to-head. I guess that tells you more about those shows.
  • While nobody expected them to compete, with the seedings announced for the Olympic trials this weekend, Gable Steveson and Tamyra Mensah-Stock of WWE are not listed as competing. Both had qualified. Mensah-Stock has been wrestling on some NXT shows while Steveson hasn’t wrestled in the past few weeks that I’m aware of. Almost all the best American wrestlers, men and women, are competing for spots on the three Olympic teams in tournaments on Friday and Saturday at Penn State. The USA Network will be airing prime time both nights, and Peacock will be airing all the matches throughout both days. The only wrestlers we’re aware of under a WWE deal are Mason Parris, who has been seeded into the finals by winning the nationals, and Greg Kerkvliet, who seeded No. 3 in that tournament where the winner faces Parris in 2/3 bouts.
  • Jeff Jarrett and Satnam Singh were at today’s AAA press conference in Monterrey to promote the 4/27 TripleMania show at the baseball stadium. Jarrett’s role isn’t clear but Singh will team with Parker Boudreaux & QT Marshall & Sam Adonis as evil foreigners against Psycho Clown & Laredo Kid & Octagon Jr. & mystery partner.
  • The Chris Adams episode of Dark Side of the Ring airs tomorrow night. I’ve heard about this one for more than a year as an amazing episode. The guy who killed Adams in self-defense was talked with for the show..
  • The CCW 20th anniversary show is Friday night in Port St. Lucie, FL a the the MIDFLORIDA Events Center with Matt Riddle, QT Marshall, Gangrel, Brian Cage and Bill Alfonso scheduled
  • Randy Orton vs. Solo Sikoa is scheduled as the main event for the house shows this coming weekend. Jade Cargill will also be wrestling on the shows and Bayley vs. Iyo Sky is scheduled.
  • Michael Elgin wrestled on yesterday’s CIW show in Toledo, OH. Elgin & Kaden Monahan & Calvin Coco beat Malice & Great Akuma & Jun Hado in the main event (thanks to Leonard Brand)