Daily Update: Tony Khan, Darby Allin, Roman Reigns

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: May 9, 2022 Observer Newsletter: WWE Q1 2022 financials, Forbidden Door presale sells out

  • Match and performer of the week
  • WWE business, profits, revenues
  • WrestleMania number releases and putting them into perspective
  • Elimination Chamber viewership and the obvious unsaid reason why it was up
  • Ticket demand for the Cardiff, Wales show
  • More on the WWE deal with A&E
  • Nick Khan talks multiple bidders for WWE rights deals including the next rights deal
  • Stephanie McMahon talks WrestleMania sponsorships
  • More on WWE recruiting and question on adding Performance Centers
  • Questions on doing a stadium show in India
  • What categories is business up and and what categories is it down
  • AEW Forbidden Door sellout and gate, ticket demand, the card, secondary market numbers
  • Full coverage of New Japan’s return to the former Fukuoka Dome and all the angles, returns and direction of the company
  • Business notes on the show
  • What matches had to be changed as well as endings
  • Notes on the Best of the Super Junior tournament and Dominion
  • Story behind the changes to the WrestleMania Backlash show
  • What is the planned stadium direction
  • Ticket updates for all the WWE PPV thought the summer
  • Details on AEW’s new television show
  • AAA Triplemania coverage
  • Story behind the Triplemania main event
  • Plans for the next Triplemania
  • More notes on the recent WWE cuts
  • Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
  • A look at both Stardom PPV shows and future direction
  • Dragon Gate Dead of Alive coverage
  • TV ratings including what category AEW beat both Smackdown and Raw in
  • How the different segments did
  • CMLL Universal tournament concludes
  • New tournaments coming to CMLL
  • Who Stardom is interested in from AEW
  • King of Gate tournament
  • Who is Jumbo Tsuruta and his Memorial show
  • What was the highest rated pro wrestling match on television in history
  • Champion Carnival coverage
  • NOAH Sumo Hall coverage
  • What American signed a new contract with NOAH
  • Freddy Prinze wants to start a promotion
  • PWG coverage
  • Update on a new pro wrestling cartoon show
  • AEW and Warner/Media
  • A look at what is the likely Double or Nothing show
  • WWE vs. AEW in Long Island this week
  • AEW stars on TV show Sunday
  • WWE & AEW ticket sales for all the upcoming major events
  • Streaming numbers
  • Dana White on boxers pay
  • More on Jorge Masvidal charges
  • Plans for July 2 UFC show head-to-head with Money in the Bank
  • UFC longtime stars in a must-win fight
  • WWE draft plans
  • Canadian TV numbers for AEW & WWE
  • WWE European tour coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter: April 4, 2005 Observer Newsletter back issue: WrestleMania 21 preview, All Japan Women shuts down

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Wednesday News Update

WWE

  • After speaking with someone in WWE, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast tweeted about Roman Reigns’ schedule: “Spoke to someone over at WWE regarding Roman & his schedule moving forward. It’s not expected for Roman to take extended time off. He will be on PLEs & TV. The only change will be with smaller market house show, which is why he showed his gratitude to the fans in Trenton NJ.”
  • Natalya tweeted about working with producer Fit Finlay for her match against Cora Jade on NXT last night: “Last night’s @WWENXT was a very special show dominated by women. The man who laid down the foundation for the women in @WWE to have what we have today is Fit Finlay. What a privilege it was to work with him last night and be a part of the magic he creates.”
  • Drew McIntyre said he wants WWE to bring back the European Championship so he can win it and retire it: “I just want it. I don’t like too many titles and there are a lot right now, but I just wanted it when I was a kid. So just bring it back, let me win it and then I’ll retire it. Give old Drew the European title for young Drew.”
  • CNBC published an article on how WWE is looking to boost its sponsorship revenue.
  • Theory, Drew Gulak, and JBL were guests on WWE’s The Bump this morning.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes from the September 7, 2009 episode of Raw, Team Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri in a ladder match for the WWE Tag Team titles from Judgment Day 2003, and Natalya vs. Lacey Evans from the Hell in a Cell 2019 pre-show.

Other Wrestling

  • In an interview with TSN, Tony Khan confirmed that Bret Hart isn’t being brought into AEW right now: “Not right now. I think Bret himself said that. First of all, we have a great respect for Bret Hart as a company and as individuals. A lot of the wrestlers here and myself respect Bret Hart as a great person and a great wrestler. He would always be somebody we would treasure whenever he’s around. He was involved in the first Double or Nothing [in 2019, when he unveiled the AEW World Championship for the first time]. He said he’s happy at home right now. It’s a great thing he’s got going and we’ve just got so much respect for Bret Hart.”
  • Khan also spoke about booking AEW and NJPW’s Forbidden Door PPV with Gedo: “We’re planning it together. We’re gonna be two-man keys and turn them together like a submarine. We’re going to agree to a great card of matches. For the two of us, I think it will be fun working with him…we’re putting stuff together and now we’re kinda taking our separate ideas and separate stories and trying to find ways to make everything work with our people getting involved on each other’s shows and our own respective shows and stories and staying faithful to the great things we do in AEW and the great things they do in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.”
  • Brett Weitz is exiting his role as general manager of TBS, TNT & truTV.
  • Ahead of their Owen Hart Tournament match on Dynamite tonight, the New York Post asked Darby Allin what his relationship with Jeff Hardy has been like since Hardy signed with AEW:
    • It’s one that has a lot to do with outside of wrestling. It’s the way I see him live his life outside of the ring, the stunts and the craziness that kind of draws me to him. I don’t get that from a lot of wrestlers. I don’t think I get that from any wrestlers. Nobody excited me outside the ring. To have that feeling with somebody, I’m like damn. So the first time I talked to him, we’re like, ‘Hey, you like to jump off of big s—t. I like to jump off of big s—t. You like dirt bikes. I like dirt bikes.’ It was really like an organic relationship. It was super fun. For us to have that one tag match, me, Sting, Matt and Jeff down in Texas, that was also a lot of fun. It just feels very normal.
    • People thought this was a dream match and, yes, it’s a dream match for me, but man this came really quick. I was expecting it a little bit down the road to be honest. This came really quick, but now’s better than never. Wednesday, I don’t know what to expect. It’s gonna be an interesting one.
  • Allin was also asked about potentially incorporating their shared interests into vignettes for a match against Hardy: “It’d be nice. Like I said, this match kind of came very quick on me and I just thought originally it would have been crazy if we had a build to a singles match and like we had a promo battle were we could get crazier outside the ring leading up to the match. But here we are. We’re gonna get crazy this Wednesday.”
  • Thunder Rosa spoke to TalkSport about who has helped her behind the scenes in AEW: “In my case, definitely Dustin Rhodes. He’s been on my side since day one. Sonjay [Dutt] is another one who is very involved with some of the women there. He guides them in that aspect. BJ [Whitmer] — I love BJ, shoutout to BJ — he’s also one of the producers of our matches. For me, Dustin has been pivotal in a lot of things, inside and outside of the ring. I talk to him a lot about promos because of who his father was and also who he was in other companies with how he developed characters. That’s very important.”
  • AEW announced its updated roster rankings.
  • Former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz officially unveiled the cover for his “There’s Just One Problem…” book about his time with WWE. The book will be released on August 16.
  • Gangrel vs. Budd Heavy and Brittany Blake vs. Zoey Skye have been added to this Friday’s MLW Kings of Colosseum tapings in Philadelphia.
  • Ethan Page uploaded the final episode of his “Fake Name No Gimmicks” vlog series.
  • NBC Sports Boston has an interview with Renee Paquette.