Daily Update: SmackDown, Forbidden Door, Anthony Bowens

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • The Punk interview and 1 Bill Phil
  • Tony Khan talks about the 1 Bill Phil comment
  • The business of AEW and profit/loss
  • The different ways this all could go in detail
  • Positives and negatives about working for AEW and WWE
  • The Collision announce team
  • The most detailed look at Collision ratings and what category was it tops among sports during the week
  • What TNT was doing in the time slot, what should be expected and what would be considered good
  • How each segment did
  • The Marc Raimondi ESPN piece
  • Punk talks Adam Page
  • Contradictory stories
  • Original idea for Collision that changed
  • Full rundown of both Chicago shows with business notes
  • Preview of Forbidden Door and what business mark for AEW may be set and where it ranks all-time among Canadian gates
  • Notes on Danielson vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ospreay
  • Notes on PPV
  • The rest of the card
  • The Owen Hart tournament
  • Update on Wembley Stadium
  • Rickson Gracie battles Parkinson’s and a look back at a fighting legend in the underground days as well as his battles with a famous pro wrestler in Brazil
  • Money in the Bank update
  • Notes on Saturday’s UFC show
  • Tons of new major matches announced by UFC for the summer and fall
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA shows over the past week, how they do with different age groups, segment-by-segment and what WWE stars moved numbers big this past week
  • First wrestling company in history to hit 90 years consecutively in business
  • Multiple cities doing a 40th anniversary celebration for a Hall of Famer
  • Konnan talks heavily about Bandido and Rush
  • An issue with women’s wrestling fans in Japan
  • How the women’s wrestling fan base in Japan has changed multiple times
  • What happened to the key young Dragon Gate talent that was let go
  • Two wrestlers who started together, became big stars in different companies, have a dream match that sold out instantly
  • N-1 tournament including surprise entrants
  • New Japan Strong shows in Japan
  • A bill introduced in New York regarding regulating pro wrestling
  • Lots of injury updates
  • More on the MLW lawsuit against WWE
  • Impact stars on major television show in Canada
  • More on B.J. Whitmer case
  • Tony Khan talks working with Gedo and where AEW stands among start-ups in the sports brand space
  • Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
  • Update on Bandido
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers for WWE and AEW
  • Ticket sale updates for all the major shows for WWE & AEW
  • Talks regarding the sale of Bellator, rumors about Tony Khan being interested and he shoots them down
  • Tons of drug suspensions handed out this week
  • Gable Steveson debuts on TV and what his goals for 2024 are

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Saturday Update

WWE

  • Last night’s SmackDown averaged 2.25 million viewers in the fast national ratings, down slightly from last week’s fast national average of 2.278 million. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.6.
  • Three matches that had been announced for SmackDown didn’t take place. Bayley vs. Shotzi, LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar vs. Butch, and Cameron Grimes vs. Baron Corbin were set for last night’s show but removed from advertising before it started. The triple threat was changed to a singles match with Knight defeating Rey Mysterio.
  • Bayley’s women’s Money in the Bank ladder match spot was supposed to be on the line against Shotzi. Bayley tweeted today: “Card subject to change..Sorry. Sorry you couldn’t watch me beat dat ass”
  • Bianca Belair and Montez Ford renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas: “Happy 5 Years! We renewed our vows on our 5 Year Anniversary! Even though we meant our vows the 1st time we said them! And I’ll marry you over and over and over again. @montezfordwwe was suppose to propose at the Grand Canyon 5 years ago but got too excited and proposed in the parking lot on the way to the airport! Lol so we took it back to Vegas 5 years later to renew our vows!”
  • Less than a month after undergoing neck fusion surgery, Braun Strowman noted that he’s gotten the green light to resume light weight training: “Just got the green light to start light weight training again!!!! Time to rebuild the #Monster”
  • LA Knight challenged King Charles to a fight when WWE comes to London: “I gotta go to the top man and run for King Charles. I know he’s old and beaten down and you know busted up, but I’ve got to take the crown.”
  • In celebration of the 25th anniversary of his debut, Edge reacted to the greatest moments from his career.
  • Charlotte Flair, Grayson Waller, and Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler were interviewed on The SmackDown LowDown.
  • Becky Lynch was the guest on the latest episode of WWE After the Bell.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • AEW uploaded its Countdown special for Forbidden Door.
  • Our Josh Nason previewed Forbidden Door for Sports Illustrated.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi named some opponents he’d like to face if he wins the AEW World Championship:
          • [Claudio] Castagnoli is a great wrestler. I know that he used to team with Shinsuke Nakamura, and that was an emotional link for me. I’d love to have a singles match against him.
          • And I want to wrestle CM Punk since I couldn’t do it last year. I have wrestled Bryan Danielson once before when I was younger. But with him being one of the top wrestlers in the U.S. and the world right now, I’d love for us to go again.
  • Anthony Bowens responded to the positive “he’s gay” chants he received from the crowd while interacting with Harley Cameron on Rampage: “If ya told me years ago, I’d have an arena chanting HE’S GAY at me in the most POSITIVE of ways, I’d say you’re crazy. It’s pretty cool to see how far we’ve come. Still more work to do. Happy Pride #AEWRampage”
  • Tony Khan was interviewed on CNBC this week
  • Aubrey Edwards was a guest on the Battleground Podcast.
  • Rocky Romero appeared on AEW Unrestricted.