Daily Update: SmackDown ratings, Yota Tsuji, Chris Hero

Daily Update

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • Full Double or Nothing coverage
  • All the business notes on the show
  • How the show did on PPV and in theaters
  • Tony Khan’s goals for Collision
  • More on the new AEW TV deal with WBD
  • Where All In 2023 stands on the biggest crowds and gates in wrestling history
  • Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
  • Bryan Danielson talks AEW creative
  • Matt Jackson on coming back so quickly from a muscle tear, the stunts in the match, how preparation was less than last year and why
  • The latest Bloodline saga
  • Business notes on Night of Champions and how AEW/WWE crossover viewership changed this past weekend from the past
  • How comparisons of big event interest changed greatly
  • Best of the Super Juniors finals, Dominion and All Together Now, a look at the big events in Japan
  • NXT Battleground coverage
  • One of the longest lasting wrestling promoters who ever lived, Brian Dixon, passes away at 74
  • Stardom has World & Wonder of Stardom champions face off on PPV show and where this leads
  • Two future stars leave two different promotions this past week
  • Will Ospreay talks future
  • New Japan President Takami Ohbari talks the state of the business, how close the company was to being in real trouble, and how they’ve had to change the business
  • Billy Graham funeral notes
  • Bobo Brazil day and a look at the iconic figure
  • Advance ticket sales for all upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • Streaming and international TV numbers
  • Records at stake in UFC fights this week
  • International promotion looking at crowd of 50,000 for a show tomorrow
  • WWE’s arguments to get MLW lawsuit dismissed
  • Injury updates
  • WWE market value
  • Two people under WWE deals are one week away from competing for a sports world championship shot
  • Merch updates

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Saturday Update

WWE

  • In the fast national ratings, last night’s SmackDown averaged 2.46 million viewers, a big increase from the 2.027 million viewers the show drew in the fast nationals last week. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.7.
  • Cody Rhodes defeated The Miz in a dark match after SmackDown last night.
  • Shayna Baszler told the Cheap Heat podcast that, in large part, her tag team with Ronda Rousey is happening because Rousey demanded it:
          • Ronda’s Ronda, right? She’s been main title, she’s been the main event at WrestleMania. She still gets one of the loudest pops when we walk out. This was something she’d demanded. We’ve been asking for it forever, but she finally put her foot down and went to the office and said, ‘Listen, we’ve been asking for this forever. You keep telling us after.. after… after..’
          • I honestly don’t know if she hadn’t done that, If they would have ever gotten to it. I wasn’t in a position yet to be elevated to a Ronda level. So the fact that Ronda said, ‘No, stop, I’ve done this. I want to do this because this is why I started wrestling.’ So, I think that’s huge. You know what I mean? She could be main eventing SummerSlam. She doesn’t have to be where she is, which is elevating these titles.
  • Baszler added:
          • I at least want people to understand like, this is happening in large part because she demanded it. So she demanded to work with me, as a friend. So, it’s cool to have someone who truly isn’t out for themselves. You know what I mean? And that’s in show business. That’s so rare. So it’s very cool.
  • Omos and his wife Cheyenne got married in Florida this week.
  • WWE congratulated Riddick Moss and Emma on their engagement.
  • WWE is selling a replica version of Roman Reigns’ new Undisputed WWE Universal Championship belt for $499.99.
  • The Toronto Sun interviewed Natalya.
  • NXT commentator Vic Joseph was a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
  • LA Knight, Austin Theory & Pretty Deadly, and Damage CTRL appeared on The SmackDown LowDown.
  • WWE shared a behind-the-scenes video from Night of Champions.

Other Wrestling

  • At a press conference ahead of NJPW Dominion, Yota Tsuji officially joined Los Ingobernables de Japon. Tsuji is challenging SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Dominion. The show airs live on NJPW World starting at 3 a.m. Eastern time early Sunday morning (June 4).
  • Chris Hero spoke to the Grapsody Podcast about his in-ring status: “If I was retired there would have been some kind of a celebration, a ceremony, a festival. A week long, month long thing. No, I’m not retired. I’m currently inactive. I just can’t stay away from wrestling in any way. So as I bide my time and wait for the right thing to come back for and start having matches again, I have kept pretty active. I’ve done a bunch of seminars, I’ve done signings, of course. Then I kind of dabbled into the world of producing. It’s funny, we use this term producing, but it’s kind of like directing. Directing is probably a better [term], but I’m not going to start calling myself a director.”
  • Denise Salcedo interviewed Kamille ahead of the NWA’s Crockett Cup weekend.
  • Toa Liona was the guest on AEW Unrestricted this week.