Daily Update: Saudi Arabia, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes

Daily Update

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

October 31, 2022 Observer Newsletter: AEW completes All Out fight investigation, NXT Halloween Havoc

  • The new issue of the Observer is on the front page today. In hindsight, I think it’s kind of a sad issue filled with many what ifs, but highlights include:
  • The update on the situation after 9/4’s All Out PPV with the fight, suspensions, and investigation
  • The Wrestling Inc. story with new claims as to what happened, CM Punk’s thoughts from his side on things that had happened
  • More on why Punk did the interview he did on Adam Page
  • Reactions of others to that story
  • Why late 2023 and early 2024 are so key to AEW
  • How and why this was handled completely different from how UFC would handle a similar situation
  • The lessons of the entire situation
  • Full coverage of NXT Halloween Havoc
  • Comments from Shawn Michaels about the show
  • UFC 280 coverage and early business notes
  • Stardom PPV coverage and updates on the big decision regarding who is the first IWGP women’s champion
  • Ratings for all the major shows including how the main segments did
  • Major womens tournament news
  • Update on Laredo Kid injury situation
  • Next major AAA show
  • First pro wrestling show ever at Ariake Arena
  • Update on Karl Anderson in New Japan situation
  • New Japan TV title tournament thoughts and updates
  • New Japan joint tour next year
  • Former pro wrestling star inducted into sports Hall of Fame
  • Billy Corgan talks ideas for NWA to work with WWE or AEW
  • Legendary pro wrestling arena in danger of being torn down
  • New major project with Bret Hart coming involving Wrestling with Shadows being re-released
  • Tales from the Territory thoughts
  • Shocker gives his side of the story
  • Next few weeks of Impact TV
  • Update on AEW viewing and how many people have watched TV this year, plus actual numbers that watch the show weekly and other shows which is not the Nielsen number
  • New AEW signings
  • Upcoming ticket sales for AEW & WWE events
  • More notes on Chris Jericho’s first three AEW contracts
  • Thunder Rosa update
  • AEW overseas distribution update
  • Dana White talks Jon Jones return
  • Very interesting Conor McGregor note
  • Bellator part of Japan’s New Year’s Eve show
  • Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva notes
  • Lawsuit filed against Jake Paul
  • What types of angles can we expect more of in WWE
  • Early notes on “Black Adam”
  • WWE injury notes
  • How the World Series will effect pro wrestling shows this week
  • WWE talent up for a number of awards
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers
  • New movies with WWE legend
  • Paul Heyman gets international mainstream exposure
  • First WWE talents to hit 100 matches this year

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Tuesday News Update

WWE

  • It was reported today that Saudi Arabia “has shared intelligence with the United States warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in [Saudi Arabia].” WWE’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view is scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this Saturday.
  • Dave Meltzer tweeted about the situation with Saudi Arabia, noting that plans are for Crown Jewel to still take place as scheduled: “The best term regarding Saudi Arabia would be monitoring the situation. All plans are for the show at this moment but you can’t control the real world.”
  • Rapper Takeoff, who was a member of the group Migos and performed at WWE Day 1 this January, was killed in a shooting in Houston early Tuesday. He was 28 years old.
  • Ric Flair tweeted a tribute to Takeoff.
  • On the company’s social media platforms this month, WWE is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins’ main roster debuts. There will be “classic video highlights, rare and never-before-seen photos and much more, including special Reigns- and Rollins-themed episodes of YouTube series WWE Top 10 and WWE Playlist.”
  • Cody Rhodes posted pictures of his family on Halloween, sharing that his wife and daughter help him get through the pain of physical therapy after his torn pec:
          • ‘How’s pt going?’
          • It’s fn’ awful. Everyday we dig into the muscle, then I scream, half the time I spot a tear flowing. It’s a near impossible task getting a bodypart that had been shredded to 100%…or Hell even 90%. But on the worst of days I have the best reason to not tap out.
  • Mick Foley dressed up as The Undertaker for Halloween.
  • Big E will introduce the drivers at NASCAR Championship Weekend in Phoenix this Sunday.
  • R-Truth & Shelton Benjamin vs. Von Wagner & Duke Hudson was taped for this week’s episode of WWE Main Event, along with Dana Brooke vs. Kiana James.
  • LA Knight turns 40 years old today.
  • WWE filed trademarks for “Queen of the Ring” on October 28.
  • The following full matches were uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel today: Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship (Royal Rumble 2022), Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship (November 1, 2021 Raw), and Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Miz (November 1, 2019 SmackDown).

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • AEW uploaded its Road to Baltimore video ahead of this week’s Dynamite.
  • The latest episode of Sammy Guevara’s vlog is Halloween-themed.
  • While appearing on Busted Open Radio, Tash Steelz discussed what the future could look like for her:
          • Oh, absolutely [there is more to accomplish]. I do actually make a list for myself and it’s crazy because every time I’m doing an interview with somebody and they’ll say, ‘Oh, what do you see yourself doing in five years?’ Or, ‘What’s your dream match?’ And every time I would mention it, it would happen. Kind of like a manifestation so we’re just manifesting in the fact that, you know, I’ll have my time with Impact and once that time comes for me to really make that decision of, okay, what does Tasha Steelz do next? We’ll see if it goes into WWE, if it stays with Impact, if it goes with AEW, you just never know. All this flava can be spread around. Flava is forever and not everybody has it so, gotta share the wealth there.
  • NJPW has announced the full card for its November 13 NJPW TAMASHII event in Sydney.
  • In honor of the late Antonio Inoki, a combined Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye pro wrestling and Ganryujima MMA event will take place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo on December 28. Tokyo Sports reported that Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye returning was listed in Inoki’s will.