Daily Update: TNA, UFC 302, Sukeban

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Friday Update

– Garrett and I did a show today with Steve Keirn talking about both his career and his being a producer with WWE, working with Vince McMahon, changes in wrestling and running the WWE’s developmental territory. Bryan and I will be back Saturday night talking UFC 302, SmackDown, Collision and all the weekend news,

– The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is on the site right now, a huge issue covering all the latest news in depth.

  • Why the Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon is on hold including reaction from lawyers on both sides and an independent lawyer looks at what the breaking news means.
  • AEW negotiations with WBD and how they are going. The most detailed look at the state of the negotiations, what is and isn’t involved in the talks, how streaming fits in, opening it up for other companies to bid and much more. Plus we detail how the international wrestling marketplace changes that are relevant to AEW’s bottom line.
  • Full coverage of Double or Nothing, key angles, storylines, direction, Forbidden Door, business numbers, Adam Copeland injury, Owen Hart tournament, history of repeating stadium shows, and world title at All In.
  • More business notes from WrestleMania weekend.
  • Full King and Queen of the Ring coverage, business notes, PPV, other interest level measurements and crossover purchasers with other events.
  • A look at the life and career of  David “Silento” Rodriguez, a deaf wrestler who had a long career.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings from the past week, including rankings, comparisons with a year ago, demo numbers, competition and how segments did individually.
  • FantasticaMania Mexico
  • Big AAA main feud
  • Update on TripleMania
  • Great Triple Crown match
  • New Japan business note
  • Super Juniors tournament
  • Giulia update
  • Hawaiian wrestling history
  • Progress Strong Style 16 tournament
  • MLW strategy change this week
  • Changes in TNA
  • Notes on AEW departures
  • Notes on AEW injuries
  • Young Bucks shoe business
  • Advance ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE events
  • Major UFC show coming to ABC
  • Rousey says why she doesn’t go to UFC events
  • Lots of WWE contract updates
  • WWE firings
  • WrestleMania documentary updates
  • International TV ratings

– We’re looking for reports on these weekend shows

  • SmackDown tonight in Albany, NY (dark matches only)
  • NXT tonight in Tampa, FL
  • WWE tomorrow night in White Plains, NY
  • NXT tomorrow night in Crystal River, FL
  • WWE Sunday in Binghamton, NY

We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights on all the shows to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

– More from the TNA story in the current issue. The live events department was gutted. David Sahadi, who was head of production for years was also let go. Most of the talent had no idea this was happening.

– Because the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Western Conference Finals on Thursday, Collision will be airing at its regular time slot of 8 p.m. on TNT. If there was a game six tomorrow night, Collision would have aired after Inside the NBA, at around midnight.

– More WWE and UFC crossover has Cody Rhodes cutting a promo for Dustin Poirier for his fight with Islam Makhachev tomorrow.

– Vice has uploaded the first 15 minutes of Tuesday’s premiere episode of Dwayne Johnson’s docuseries on what killed WCW. The four-part series will air the next four Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

– SmackDown tonight is from Albany, NY. Announced is a queen coronation of Nia Jax, Austin Theory vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa vs. Street Profits and Andrade vs. Apollo Crews. There were about 7,000 tickets out as of this morning so this one won’t be close to being sold out because a wrestling TV set-up would be 12,000.

– UFC 302 is tomorrow at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ

Coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN 2 and ESPN+

  • Mitch Raposo (125) vs. Andre Lima (130) – Lima missed weight by four pounds and has to forfeit 30 percent of his purse
  • Ailin Perez (135) vs. Joselyn Edwards (136)
  • Mickey Gall (170) vs Bassil Hafez (170)
  • Phil Rowe (171) vs. Jake Matthews (170)
  • Grant Dawson (155) vs. Joe Solecki (155)
  • Jailton Almeida (241) vs. Alexandr Romanov (265)
  • Cesar Almeida (185) vs. Roman Koplyov (185)

PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern

  • Randy Brown (170) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (170)
  • Niko Price (170) vs. Alex Morono (170)
  • Kevin Holland (185) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (185)
  • Sean Strickland (185) vs. Paulo Costa (185)
  • Islam Makhachev (155) vs. Dustin Poirier (155) for the lightweight title

– A correction from today’s Observer. Reina Dorada, who had an ROH taped match at the AEW tapings last night in Palm Desert, FL, against Thunder Rosa, is a AAA wrestler. We had listed her as a CMLL wrestler. Either way, she is not the caliber of wrestler that AEW should be booking.

– Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Magia Blanca & Magnus & Volador Jr. headlines Arena Mexico tonight.

– Argenis has left  AAA. He hasn’t gotten much work since AAA is doing nostalgia-based matches this year.

– Hiromu Takahashi lost to Taiji Ishimori so Ishimori and Douki made the Best of the Super Juniors final four. The significance is that the first major show to ever be headlined by junior heavyweights is Dominion on 6/9 in Osaka. I’d have figured Takahashi in that match. But on Monday at Korakuen Hall, the semifinals of the tournament are Desperado vs. Douki and Ishimori vs. TJP, and the winners face off in the tournament final at Dominion.

 – Real-life married couple Jetta and Charlie Morgan will have their last matches on the 6/7 Pro Wrestling Eve show in Walthamstow, London at the  Big Penny Social.

– Tokyo Joshi Pro and Pro Wrestling Eve will have a joint show on 8/24 in London – the day before All In.

– On the Kelly Clarkson show today, singer Michael McDonald was on the show and asked if he’s ever been mistaken for someone famous over the years and he said yes, people have thought he was Captain Kangaroo or Ric Flair. Paul Reiser, on the show, saw a photo of Flair and said he looked like a combination of McDonald and Jerry Seinfeld. When I was a kid, all the area kids used to think AWA TV ring announcer Al DeRusha looked like Captain Kangaroo. (thanks to Jeff Beecher)

– The reason Komander and Beast Mortos (original Black Taurus) haven’t been on AEW television is because they are in Mexico working on visa renewals. They’ve been approved but the Mexican government is very slow in getting physical visas out. Komander has been waiting three weeks and it’s supposed to be a ten business day wait.

– Invicta returns on 6/28 in Kansas City with Talita Benardo (10-4) defending her bantamweight title against Olga Rubin (9-3) in the main event. The show takes place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, the same building where Harley Race beat Dory Funk Jr., and Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes in NWA title matches.

– Tickets for the 8/2 Smackdown show, the night before SummerSlam, at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland go on sale to the public on Friday at 10 a.m.

– Jon Moxley was at Thursday’s Sukeban show that his wife, Renee Paquette, was part of the broadcast team for. Nick Khan was there as well. Rapper Sawettie was also there.