Daily Update: Triple H, Bret Hart, Dolph Ziggler

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: William Regal discusses health, WrestleMania 38 update

  • The main story covers William Regal’s health issues and brush with death. Regal was on Talk is Jericho and went into detail about his issues that date back nearly 30 years including with his heart, his neck, his balance and sepsis in his leg.
  • WrestleMania, Stand & Deliver, Hall of Fame and all the WWE events this coming week in Dallas. We have lineups, matches not yet announced, Hall of Fame updates, ticket sales, scalper tickets and more.
  • Another story on Scott Hall, looking at the first gimmick he pitched to Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson before Razor Ramon, times he was very upset about plans changing where he thought he needed to win, the proposal he made to McMahon in 1996 to not leave for WCW and who he learned from when his work took its greatest strides forward.
  • An update on the New Japan Cup and all the matches of the past week.
  • A story on the NCAA wrestling tournament and Gable Steveson, with all the business notes, Steveson to WWE, possibility of continuing with amateur wrestling at the Olympic level or fighting MMA.
  • The Jorge Masvidal-Colby Covington story, what both men did and said that led to it and UFC’s attitude and treatment of those who draw money.
  • The first AAA TripleMania show of the year.
  • Complete coverage of UFC in London.
  • The life and times of Pepper Martin, a 60s and 70s star who was also an actor, his idea that led to the formation of one of the greatest tag teams in history, his acting running mates, career highlights, his biggest Cow Palace matches and other career highlights.
  • DDT’s major show and the announced relationship with AEW.
  • CMLL’s El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show and the honoring of Ringo Mendoza and Dorrell Dixon.
  • TV ratings of all the major pro wrestling shows and how it relates to sports and television overall.
  • The sad accident that led to the death of Black Warrior Jr.
  • If you asked 100 people on the street to name a pro wrestler, who is the first person that would be said.
  • Crockett Cup notes.
  • Ticket sales for all upcoming AEW & WWE shows plus scalper markets for the big shows.

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter: February 7, 2005 Observer Newsletter: Royal Rumble review, business year in review

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Saturday News Update

WWE

  • Against the NCAA basketball tournament, last night’s SmackDown averaged 2.07 million viewers in the fast national ratings. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.4. The viewership is up from last week’s fast national average of 2.04 million viewers.
  • After Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced his retirement from in-ring competition, Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella tweeted about how Triple H helped their careers.
  • Belair shared a backstage moment between her and Triple H from the 2017 Mae Young Classic: “I will forever cherish this moment from you! This simple gesture gave me confirmation that I was finally walking in my purpose. You changed my life. Thank you for giving me a chance, for believing in me, & for all of your contributions inside & outside of the ring! @TripleH”
  • Bliss tweeted: “The man who came up with the concept of ‘Alexa’s playground’ so talented in and out of the ring. Thank you for everything @TripleH what an incredible in-ring career #ThankYouTripleH”
  • Carmella wrote: “Thank you @TripleH for seeing something in me. Thank you for holding me back and seeing me as a singles competitor instead of a hype girl. Without you, the trajectory of my career would have been drastically different. THANK YOU!”
  • Mick Foley tweeted about Triple H’s retirement: “AN AMAZING CAREER! @TripleH may have retired yesterday, but his legacy will live forever. I’m so glad we had the chance to create some magic moments together.”
  • WWE listed Edge vs. AJ Styles for WrestleMania 38 night two while running down the WrestleMania card on SmackDown last night. WWE.com still lists the match for night one.
  • Kurt Angle spoke to Sports Illustrated about Gable Steveson’s transition to pro wrestling: “He’ll need to make sure he’s well prepared and learns all the techniques, which I think he will do very quickly, but the hardest part is the character perspective. I would tell him to practice daily, look in a mirror and work on those promo skills. He needs to show he has a lot of fire and personality. That’s where a lot of former amateur wrestlers have failed in professional wrestling. They didn’t have the personality.”
  • During a virtual signing with Signed By Superstars, Bret Hart commented on Brock Lesnar calling Hart his dream match: “I heard that I was his [Brock Lesnar] dream match. That was just a week ago I heard that. Always heard Brock was a good worker. I’ve never heard that [Lesnar was stiff in the ring]. Always heard just the opposite, that he looks stiff, but he’s a real pro in the ring. Totally the opposite of Goldberg.”
  • Hulk Hogan wrote on Instagram that he thinks Jinder Mahal could be “the new generation Hulk Hogan” if given the right push: “The old school respect with the new school #JinderMahal physicality,he’s a bad man brother,with the right push he could be the new generation Hulk Hogan,he’s got it all brother!!!!”
  • Dolph Ziggler appeared on the latest episode of WWE After the Bell. He spoke about keeping a level head in WWE all these years:
    • It’s not even, ‘You don’t always get to do what you want to do.’ It’s, ‘You rarely get to do what you want to do.’ You might be a champion one day, and then the next day, you’re not on the show. You go, ‘What did I do?’ It’s show business. What have you done for me lately? One day you’re hot, one day you’re not. ‘I got these ideas, everybody’s reacting to me in the crowd? Why am I not on the show?’ and you will drive yourself mad because sometimes it’s not personal.
    • It’s like, ‘We need to get this Roman-Brock story on. This is the part, and we need you to do this, this, and this, and you’re gonna have to sacrifice a few other pieces.’ A lot of times, two thirds of the roster is being sacrificed. and you go, ‘That’s going to be you no matter whether you’re new or old.’ But when you get a high once in a while, it almost makes it worthwhile because you trucked along, and two years went by, or a year went by, and you didn’t even get a win anywhere. You’re like, ‘What am I still doing here’, and I thought, ‘Well, the checks keep coming.’ They never missed one check, so I appreciate that.
  • The Undertaker will be the honorary pace car driver at Sunday’s Echopark Automotive Grand Prix NASCAR Cup Series race.
  • Kevin Owens used Steve Austin’s words against him in a promo for their WrestleMania confrontation.
  • Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston, Sasha Banks & Naomi, and Los Lotharios were interviewed on Talking Smack this week.
  • WWE streamed a two-hour video on YouTube of the best of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel also uploaded Randy Orton vs. Kane from WrestleMania XXVIII, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins from the March 26, 2021 episode of SmackDown, and an Undertaker/Brock Lesnar segment from the July 20, 2015 episode of Raw.

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