Daily Update: UFC 299 fallout, AJPW Champion Carnival, LA Park

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

We have another giant issue of the Observer out. There is a ton of news in this one but want to call attention to a great story by Pat Laprade on Paul “Butcher” Vachon, covering his wrestling and promoting career with all kinds of anecdotes such as his role in getting WWF’s Saturday Night Main Event off the ground, the early career of Andre the Giant, setting what was then the all-time get record in the U.S. at Comiskey Park in Chicago, and promoting what is still the largest crowd in Canada outside of Toronto. Besides the Vachon story we go in detail on the career of Sting and his retirement, as well as the careers of Paul Heyman and Bull Nakano, the muder charge against Daniel Rodimer and the investigation regarding the alleged rape of Ashley Massaro.

  • Famous pro wrestling retirement shows
  • The retirement of Sting and AEW Revolution
  • An historical first coming from the show
  • Sting’s run in TNA
  • Other expected finishes of Sting’s career
  • How Sting got into pro wrestling
  • The Blade Runners debut
  • Getting into Mid South
  • The first Flair-Sting match and it wasn’t in Greensboro
  • The first Clash of Champions and its ratings
  • Going head-to-head with WrestleMania
  • When Sting was supposed to win the NWA title the first time and why it didn’t happen
  • Why he almost didn’t get the title when the second title change date was planned
  • Sting vs. Hogan and how it got screwed up
  • The two people most responsible for Sting’s career not ending nearly a decade ago
  • Sting’s WWE run and why Vince McMahon ruined it
  • Sting’s final show
  • Ospreay vs. Takeshita
  • Early PPV numbers
  • Notes on how many buyers of this show ordered WWE & TNA shows
  • Milestones on gate, merch and and Greensboro Coliseum wrestling records
  • When was the finish decided
  • Okada signs with AEW, the truth about his contract
  • The debut of Mercedes Mone
  • The life and times of Butcher Vachon, the early years of his career, the creation of Stan Vachon, AWA title run, formation of Grand Prix Wrestling, The Vachons vs. LeDucs feud, early career of Andre the Giant, creation of the name Andre the Giant, life after wrestling
  • Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul
  • Daniel Rodimer murder arrest, the story behind what happened, the victim, his pro wrestling career and his political career
  • NCIS investigation into Ashley Massaro
  • The careers of Paul Heyman and Bull Nakano
  • The most detailed look at the ratings including how the shows did compared to last year, last week, segment-by-segment and placings
  • How CMLL show with AEW talent is doing
  • Unique show in Mexico this week
  • Vampiro wants to do rematch from Lucha Underground match
  • New Japan anniversary show
  • Best of Super Juniors notes
  • BJ Whitmer sentencing
  • More on crazy TNA buy rate
  • What happened with Kevin Kelly in AEW
  • Update on Kenny Omega
  • Update on Sammy Guevara suspension
  • Behind The Rock’s promo
  • Notes on new WWE sponsorships
  • Next Saudi Arabia date
  • Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar and the next video game
  • Advance ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • International TV ratings and streaming notes

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

Sunday Update

Garrett Gonzales, Ryan Frederick and I did a show last night with the first part on the UFC, as well as Ngannou vs. Joshua and Tyson vs Jake Paul, and the second part on the pro wrestling news of the week, Dwayne Johnson, AEW Revolution PPV numbers and more. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night after Raw.

Very sad news on the death of Yutaka Yoshie after a match today. Yoshie did a match in Takasaki for All Japan Pro Wrestling, fell ill after the match and apparently collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and passed away at the age of 50. He had been wrestling for more than 29 years, most notably through 2006 with New Japan. He had been working independently the past 18 years.

Our sympathies to Jay Lethal on the death of his mother, Shriley Shipman, last week. She attended all his matches and even did some angles early in his career.

Obviously the Stephanie Vaquer New Japan Strong title win over Giulia today was because Giulia is leaving Stardom at the end of the month to go to Rossy Ogawa’s new group first and eventually WWE by the end of the year.

The 2024 Champion Carnival lineup will be:

A block

  • Shotaro Ashino
  • Kento Miyahara
  • Yuma Aoyagi
  • Hokuto Omori
  • Ren Ayabe
  • Kuroshio Tokyo Japan (Ikemen Jiro)
  • Cyrus

B block

  • Suwama
  • Ryuki Honda
  • Jun Saito
  • Yuma Anzai
  • Hideki Suzuki
  • Hartley Jackson
  • Lord Crewe

There was a scary moment on a show in Matamoros, Mexico. The famed LA Park was bouncing off the ropes and the ropes just collapsed and tumbled backwards onto the floor. He couldn’t continue in the match and suffered a leg injury.

Dana White last night after the show seemed negative on Sean O’Malley facing Ilio Topuria a bantamweight vs. featherweight champion next. He said he wasn’t sure about the idea and that Topuiria had told him he was negative about fighting someone outside the division.

Dwayne Johnson will be a presenter at the Oscars tonight. Someone noted to us that Nikki Garcia (Bella) was there as well. (thanks to Barry Werner)

In the New Japan Cup: Tomorrow has Sanada vs. Yoshi-Hashi and Jack Perry vs. Toru Yano. Tuesday has David Finaly vs. Tanga Loa and Hirooki Goto vs. Chase Owens. Wednesday has Evil vs. Hikuleo and Shingo Takagi vs. Gabe Kidd. Friday has Yota Tsuji vs. El Phantasmo and Ren Narita vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

We’re looking for reports on these shows:

  • TNA TV tapings from last night in Windsor, ONT
  • WWE last night in Alexandria, LA
  • WWE tonight in Lafayette, LA
  • We’re looking for results, finishes and angles to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Thanks to Mike Baggett for the report from Dallas.

For Google searches this week, last night’s UFC 299 did 2.2 million searches which for this day and age is an amazing number. Without giving numbers, Dana White said it was the largest PPV number ever for a show headlined by bantamweights. The date of over $14 million meant about $700 was the average ticket price, which is amazing. That’s one of the largest MMA gates of all-time and will be well above any pro wrestling gate this year, beating both nights of Mania, All In or Rumble even though all of them are stadium shows. Nothing from pro wrestling cracked the list all week, not Rock, not Sting’s retirement, nothing. The UFC show beat all sports and finished second only to Daylight Savings Time. The only other stuff from boxing to crack the list this week was both the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul announcement and the Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua fight each did 500,000 searches.

For whatever reason, AEW decided not to announce a major surprise for Wednesday and nobody even made a hint of Mercedes Mone. They did announce a loaded up show with Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow for the AEW title, Young Bucks vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Eddie Kingston & Pac & Penta, Jay White vs. Darby Allin, Chris Jericho & Hook vs. Toa Liona & Bishop Kuan and Riho vs. Willow Nightingale. It would make sense to build Nightingale up for a match with Mone for storyline reasons.

A&E tonight against the Oscars so this could be some tough numbers for the shows, has Rivals at 8 p.m. on Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels and Biography at 9 p.m. on Scott Hall, going into his vices and issues.

Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins beat Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa at last night’s Alexandria, LA main event.

Rhea Ripley, Buddy Matthews and The Creed Brothers were all at last night’s UFC show in Miami. Collision was taped so Matthews wrestled on TV at the same time he was at UFC.

Tommy Dreamer and Rhino were at the Memphis Wrestling tapings this past weekend.