Daily Update: Sting & Ric Flair, AEW Rampage, WWE SmackDown

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now covering these stories:

  • Match and performers of the week
  • The history of UFC and WWE together
  • How Vince McMahon is responsible for UFC taking off and why
  • Dirty tricks McMahon tried to play on UFC and blasting it when it got popular
  • Dana White talks about his prior and current changes in relationship with McMahon
  • How Vince McMahon viewed UFC when it first broke through
  • The first attempt at Undertaker vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania and why it didn’t happen
  • How things have changed since the merger and what Vince’s role in UFC is now
  • Jon Jones injury, why Stipe Miocic is off, and what are the different possibilities going forward in the heavyweight division
  • A look at the Aspinall vs. Pavlovich fight
  • Business notes on what was expected to be a record setting show
  • Preview of Crown Jewel and Full Gear and matches announced and other things built up
  • WWE goes with more international major shows in 2024
  • Rundown of Impact changing to TNA and what it will and won’t mean
  • The decline of TNA and change to Impact years ago
  • What changes to expect with the move back to TNA
  • The story behind the Bound for Glory main event
  • Business notes on Bound for Glory
  • Match-by-match coverage
  • Hall of Fame ceremony
  • UFC 204 coverage and what next for the top stars of the show
  • Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, and how once again Saudi Arabia has changed the economic necessities of a big fight
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all of the wrestling shows, as well as segment-by-segment and comparison and where shows were up and down
  • Blue Panther 45th anniversary event
  • Stardom bad injury situation
  • All Japan annual tag team tournament
  • Why two Japanese wrestlers disappeared in April
  • Great Triple Crown title match
  • Future of Will Ospreay
  • New Japan Super Juniors tag tourney
  • Cain Velasquez first interview
  • Mexican legend survives scary hospital stay
  • British J Cup
  • Wrestling star expects to announce a new TV series in November
  • Ric Flair in AEW
  • AEW December PPV and its competition
  • Jon Moxley on battles with addiction
  • Ticket advances for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers
  • Pitch for independent star to AEW
  • How many matches top AEW stars have done
  • Controversy over UFC business deal
  • Peacock subscription number and financial losses
  • Memo all WWE employees received and how this has changed the stock price
  • Tickets now available for Survivor Series and why
  • WWE NIL talent in college wrestling notes
  • A look at the WWE shows over the past week

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

Ordering Info:

Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Friday Update

Garrett and I did our Observer review show talking Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Will Ospreay, Dynamite ratings and issues, UFC judging and history and much more. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night with our weekend news show.

Sting on Ric Flair: “He put me on the map in the very beginning, and Ric Flair is going to be with me every step of the way to the end, and we’ll go out together in a blaze of glory!”

Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT:

  • Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kyle Fletcher (told this was great)
  • Willow Nightingale vs Abadon vs. Anna Jay vs. Skye Blue with the winner getting a title shot at Hikaru Shida tomorrow night on Collision
  • Mike Santana vs. Ortiz in a no DQ match
  • They will also have the last promotional push for tomorrow night’s MJF vs. Kenny Omega title match in Uncasville, CT.

If for some reason you missed Smackdown and your DVR didn’t tape for FS 1, there are replays later tonight on FS 1.

The movie “Freelance” which stars John Cena as a special forces operative opens tonight nationwide.

We’re looking for reports from these shows:

  • WWE tonight in Milwaukee (second show taping)
  • NXT tonight in Davenport, FL
  • New Japan Saturday in Las Vegas
  • Impact Turning Point today in Newcastle, UK
  • AEW Saturday in Uncasville, CT (Only stuff not on the live show like ROH tapings)
  • WWE Saturday night in Berlin, Germany
  • Impact Saturday in Coventry, UK
  • NXT Saturday in Dade City, FL
  • WWE Sunday at Wembley Arena in London
  • Impact Sunday in Coventry, UK
  • We’re looking for results, finishes and angles and anything else noteworthy to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

The movie “The Iron Claw” has its world premiere and red carpet screening next week in Dallas It will have a national theatrical release on 12/20.

Becky Lynch’s role in NXT is now over according to what she posted on Instagram. Other major names are headed there soon.

WWE from today in Hamburg, Germany:

  • Sami Zayn b Dominik Mysterio via DQ when JD McDonagh interfered
  • Zayn & Jey Uso b Dominik & McDonagh when Uso pinned Mysterio
  • Rhea Ripley retained her title over Raquel Rodriguez after riptide
  • Ludvig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci as babyface beat Chad Gable & Otis
  • Cody Rhodes b The Miz with Cross Rhodes
  • Gunther b Bronson Reed to keep the IC title
  • Finn Balor & Damian Priest b New Day when Balor pinned Woods after Priest hit him with a briefcase
  • Seth Rollins kept the world title over Shinsuke Nakamura in a street fight 
  • (thanks to wrestling-infos.de)

Rizin announced Juan Archuleta vs. Kai Asakura for the bantamweight title and Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makto Shinryu for the vacant flyweight title for its traditional New Year’s Eve show at the Saitama Super Arena.

Impact announced tickets go on sale Friday for Final Resolution on 12/9 in Mississauga, ONT at the Dan Kolov Arena (Santino Marella’s Gym), and next Saturday for Hard to Kill, a PPV show from the Palms in Las Vegas on 1/13, the first show back under the TNA banner.

Since a bunch of people noted this regarding today’s Observer, “Whoop that Trick” is actually a chant from the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team, which made its way to NXT and Trick Williams. So when AEW fans were chanting it at the Memphis house show, it was not a sign of how over Trick Williams was or them doing a WWE chant. Now when AEW fans are doing “Yeah,” that is the case that they are doing something that WWE fans got over.

Ronda Rousey wrestled a short match last night on the Lucha Va Voom show so she could team with Marina Shafir for the first time. Then today Wrestling Revolver made a Tweet about a Los Angeles debut at the Homenetmen Glendale Ararat in Los Angeles and Rousey tweeted “How very convenient.”

New Japan’s junior tag tournament continues in Fukushima at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning:

  • TJP & Francesco Akira vs. Ryuske Taguchi & The DKC
  • Yoh & Musashi vs,. Douki & Taka Michinoku
  • Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita vs. Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Kushida & Kevin Knight vs. Titan & Bushi
  • Desperado & Master Wato vs. Clark Connors & Dan Moloney

Anthony Pettis vs. Benson Henderson, in a rematch of a legendary 2010 fight that won some fight of the year honors, is being looked at to headline a December Karate Combat show. Guilherme Cruz wrote that company officials said they are in talks also with Jose Aldo, Luke Rockhold, Lyoto Machida, Michael Venom Page and Darren Till for that show.

Anthony Ogogo who is under contract to AEW but hasn’t been around for a long time, has challenged Jake Paul to a fight.

Kevin Iole reported that the Saudi Arabian government paid Mike Tyson “very, very handsomely” for endorsing Francis Ngannou and being in Ngannou’s corner for tomorrow’s fight with Tyson Fury and telling people Ngannou can win. They say he trained him but Ngannou trained under Dewey Cooper. I heard a figure from a friend of Tyson’s who asked me not to print it but it was a giant figure just to do pub. They are also bringing in Manny Pacquiao, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Joe Calzaghe, Tommy Hearns and Frank Bruno according to Iole. Both Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell are also going.

Stipe Miocic himself said that he was never offered to fight for the interim title. Tom Aspinall had said UFC told him he was in because Miocic didn’t want to do it. Miocic said he was fine waiting for Jones to heal up. Dana White said it would have been an insult to ask Miocic to fight for the interim title.

In our article in the new issue on NIL deals with WWE, Peyton Prussian, who won the NAIA women’s national championship at 117 pounds in amateur wrestling, was the other wrestler under a deal. She also just signed a deal to be trained and go to NXT.

For those who keep up on C.M. Punk’s whereabouts, he will be in Atlantic City on 12/15 announcing the next Cage Fury Fighting Championships show at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Robert Watley (130-3) puts his lightweight title on the line against Albania’s Armando Gjetja. The show airs on UFC Fight Pass.

House of Glory Wrestling on 12/1 at the NYC Area in New York with Matt Cardona defending the HOG title against Mike Santana plus Mike Bailey, Swerve Strickland with Prince Nana and Kevin Blackwood are on the show.

NECW promoter Sheldon Goldberg released a wrestling novel called “The Last Fall” which is on sale at Amazon.