Daily Update: SmackDown ratings, Becky Lynch, Taiji Ishimori

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

One of the traditional biggest issues of the year, the 2023 awards issue, is out now. Between the awards and news, this is one of the largest issues in our history.

  • 2023 Awards, votes in all categories, placings, comments on the awards as well as a listing of every award winner since 1980.
  • More coverage of stories going back to WWE’s past, including the Paul Roma interview, what Jim Powers said about the claim, what Vince said when he fired Mel Phillips and Terry Garvin, the Pat Patterson situation, another former ring crew member comes forward, Ashley Massaro, John Cena and Randy Orton.
  • Both AEW & WWE establish ratings firsts this past week in a positive way. How WWE did so in a week that originally looked difficult, and how AEW’s record came out of the blue.
  • A look at Elimination Chamber and Revolution, lineups, ticket sales and more.
  • Full coverage of UFC 298, title change, what’s next for the winners and all the business notes including some telling numbers.
  • Wanderlei Silva in UFC Hall of Fame and a look back at pro wrestlers in MMA that faced him during the glory days of Pride, records Silva still owns, why Silva wasn’t the same fighter in UFC and more.
  • A study of people who buy pro wrestling PPVs from buyers from AEW, WWE and TNA including the best and worst state for each and what that does or doesn’t say about the fan base.
  • Michael Oku vs. Will Ospreay tops an incredible RevPro High Stakes card as well as Ospreay’s farewell to the promotion.
  • Notes on the major FantasticaMania shows.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, including demos, competition, placing for the night and week and comparisons to one year ago.
  • Stardom PPV notes.
  • New Japan & Stardom financial info and how the business is doing.
  • Third generation of one of the biggest legends in history
  • More on NWA deal with CW
  • More on the attempted TNA purchase by Scott D’Amore
  • Notes on the hiring of Jennifer Pepperman by AEW
  • More on the proposed Ric Flair movie
  • Forbidden Door update
  • Notes on timing and taping changes for upcoming weeks and AEW
  • More on the AEW deal with CMLL
  • Update on Vikingo injury
  • Advance ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE major shows
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers
  • Update on a major celebrity talked about for Mania
  • WWE injury updates
  • More on how the WrestleMania main event angle came into play

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

Saturday Update

WWE

  • Last night’s pre-taped edition of SmackDown averaged 2.16 million viewers in the overnight ratings. The 18-49 demo rating was a 0.56. Those numbers are down from last week’s episode that featured appearances by The Rock and Roman Reigns (2.44 million viewers and a 0.69 demo rating in the overnights).
  • WWE uploaded video of Rhea Ripley’s entrance from Elimination Chamber.
  • Becky Lynch reacted to Ripley retaining the Women’s World Championship against Nia Jax: “Enjoy your fireworks now, Rhea. Because they’re going to be going off for me at WrestleMania. It’s official: Mami vs. The Man.”
  • WWE has a video highlighting Tiffany Stratton’s Elimination Chamber performance.
  • UFC fighter Tai Tuivasa was in the front row at Elimination Chamber and did a “shoey” (drinking beer from a shoe) with Grayson Waller.
  • Paul “Triple H” Levesque made an appearance at Elimination Chamber and stated that the attendance was 52,590.
  • In an interview with the Daily Mail, Becky Lynch was asked about never facing Ronda Rousey in a one-on-one match:
          • I suppose at the end of the day, I was still able to get the win [in] the main event of WrestleMania, be the first ever woman to win the main event of WrestleMania.
          • Do I think that was the match that everyone was clamoring for? Yes it was. Everyone wanted that singles match. And I think, people thought that moment in time would be evergreen and it wasn’t. That’s OK too.
          • I think you can’t force things when they’re not there and I think we see that with what’s currently going on with the product.
          • For years, everyone wanted The Rock vs Roman Reigns, but it’s not the time for it right now. Everyone wants Roman vs Cody (Rhodes).
          • Some things have their seasons and we didn’t have that season. If she ever comes back again, maybe that season will be right there. Maybe it will be springtime on that story again, but it never got back to that.
  • Corey Graves (40) and Shinsuke Nakamura (44) are celebrating birthdays today.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Empire State Wrestling announced the passing of indie wrestler Anthony Gaines (Anthony Nicometi Jr.). Gaines was 30 years old:
          • We are devastated to hear of the passing of Anthony Gaines. He was a remarkable performer in the ring who also touched the hearts of many lives outside of it.
          • You will always be loved and never be forgotten. Without a doubt, you were authentically ‘None of a Kind.’
  • Ring announcer Chris Gullo paid tribute to Gaines: “Last night we lost Anthony Nicometi Jr. one of the greatest friends I’ve ever had. A super talented wrestler, a fun guy all around but mostly a loving friend. He was one not only None of A Kind but he was One Of A Kind. I love you man I miss you and I will never forget you”
  • Ahead of tonight’s AEW Collision episode, NJPW’s Taiji Ishimori tweeted out a picture of the Collision stage and wrote “Let’s get started.”
  • AEW shared a hype video for tonight’s Bryan Danielson vs. Jun Akiyama match.
  • AEW filed a trademark for “AEW: Dynasty” on February 22. The trademark is listed as being for:
          • Entertainment in the nature of wrestling contests; Entertainment services in the nature of live wrestling performances; Entertainment services in the nature of production of wrestling programs and events; Entertainment services, namely, an ongoing multimedia program featuring wrestling distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; Entertainment services, namely, production and distribution of ongoing television programs in the field of wrestling.
  • While speaking with The Athletic, Orange Cassidy explained why he doesn’t like the term “comedy wrestler.” Cassidy said:
          • I don’t really like the term comedy wrestler because I feel that professional wrestling is an art. This is the art I create and art, to me, should generate emotions out of people. Those emotions could be laughter. They could also be joy, it could also be sadness, it could be regret, it could be depression.
          • If I was just a comedic wrestler, would people really care, would they be invested?
          • You can watch a movie that’s just laughs for 90 minutes, but there’s always a part that makes you really care. It’s why I’m very grateful for AEW, because I can flex those different muscles, evoke those different emotions that I wouldn’t be able to if I was somewhere else. I’d be a one-note joke, people would get tired of it after six months and I’d be done.
          • You have to be a professional wrestler first and foremost to evoke any type of emotion.
  • MJF and Alicia Atout celebrated their one-year anniversary yesterday. Atout tweeted: “Happy one year anniversary, Maxwell. There’s no other assh*le in this entire universe that I’d rather have by my side to experience life with. The last twelve months have been — time to get gross — pure magic. I love you, ya prick. @The_MJF”
  • Tama Tonga thanked NJPW and the NJPW fans following his last match for the promotion.
  • Tonga’s post-match backstage comments can be watched here.
  • Before TNA No Surrender last night, the locker room came out to the stage and Eric Young gave a speech to the crowd about moving forward after the firing of Scott D’Amore.
  • A Punjabi Prison match has been announced for Joey Janela’s Spring Break Clusterf*ck Forever, which is taking place in Philadelphia late night on Saturday, April 6. It’s a GCW Tag Team title match featuring Violence is Forever, Jacob & Zilla Fatu, The Bollywood Boyz, and Los Macizos.