Daily Update: Weekend lineups, UFC, PFL vs. Bellator

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Friday Update

– Garrett and I will be doing a show today on the news of the past week and the awards. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night covering a crazy amount of wrestling with all the events going on.

– One of the traditional biggest issues of the year, the 2023 awards issue, is out today. Between the awards and news, this is one of the largest issues in our history.

  • 2023 Awards, votes in all categories, placings, comments on the awards as well as a listing of every award winner since 1980.
  • More coverage of stories going back to WWE’s past, including the Paul Roma interview, what Jim Powers said about the claim, what Vince said when he fired Mel Phillips and Terry Garvin, the Pat Patterson situation, another former ring crew member comes forward, Ashley Massaro, John Cena and Randy Orton.
  • Both AEW & WWE establish ratings firsts this past week in a positive way. How WWE did so in a week that originally looked difficult, and how AEW’s record came out of the blue.
  • A look at Elimination Chamber and Revolution, lineups, ticket sales and more.
  • Full coverage of UFC 298, title change, what’s next for the winners and all the business notes including some telling numbers.
  • Wanderlei Silva in UFC Hall of Fame and a look back at pro wrestlers in MMA that faced him during the glory days of Pride, records Silva still owns, why Silva wasn’t the same fighter in UFC and more.
  • A study of people who buy pro wrestling PPVs from buyers from AEW, WWE and TNA including the best and worst state for each and what that does or doesn’t say about the fan base.
  • Michael Oku vs. Will Ospreay tops an incredible RevPro High Stakes card as well as Ospreay’s farewell to the promotion.
  • Notes on the major FantasticaMania shows.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, including demos, competition, placing for the night and week and comparisons to one year ago.
  • Stardom PPV notes.
  • New Japan & Stardom financial info and how the business is doing.
  • Third generation of one of the biggest legends in history
  • More on NWA deal with CW
  • More on the attempted TNA purchase by Scott D’Amore
  • Notes on the hiring of Jennifer Pepperman by AEW
  • More on the proposed Ric Flair movie
  • Forbidden Door update
  • Notes on timing and taping changes for upcoming weeks and AEW
  • More on the AEW deal with CMLL
  • Update on Vikingo injury
  • Advance ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE major shows
  • International TV ratings and streaming numbers
  • Update on a major celebrity talked about for Mania
  • WWE injury updates
  • More on how the WrestleMania main event angle came into play

– There is a crazy amount of stuff over the next day. The first night of New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo has already happened and the second show will be at midnight Eastern and 9 p.m. Pacific. TNA also has No Surrender tonight on TNA Plus along with the usual SmackDown and Rampage. UFC has a show from Mexico City while PFL vs. Bellator is a PPV from Saudi Arabia and there’s also WWE Elimination Chamber at 5 a.m. Eastern tomorrow and Collision.

– The New Japan show features the final match of Kazuchika Okada and Tama Tonga with the promotion. Okada’s run in NJPW as a star since 2012 has been one of the great runs of championships and great matches in history.

– Elimination Chamber tomorrow at 4:30 a.m. Eastern from Perth, Western Australia:

  • Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell for the Women’s Tag Team titles (pre-show)
  • Women’s Chamber: Raquel Rodriguez, Becky Lynch, Tiffany Stratton, Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair and Naomi
  • Finn Balor & Damian Priest vs. Tyler Bate & Pete Dunne for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles
  • Men’s Chamber: Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, LA Knight, Kevin Owens, Logan Paul and Bobby Lashley
  • Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax for the Women’s World Championship

– SmackDown is a taped show tonight at 8 p.m.

  • Liv Morgan vs. Tiffany Stratton
  • Bron Breakker vs. Dante Chen
  • Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate vs. Dominik Mystrio & JD McDonagh
  • Street Profits vs. AOP
  • LA Knight vs. Drew McIntyre

– Rampage at 10 p.m. tonight on TNT:

  • Young Bucks vs. ?
  • Anna Jay vs. Mariah May
  • Jake Hager vs. Roderick Strong
  • Action Andretti & Darius & Dante Martin vs. Komander & Penta & Bryan Keith vs. Matt Sydal & Private Party

– The second NJPW New Beginning show from Sapporo starts at midnight Eastern and 9 p.m. Pacific time, so on the West Coast it goes against both SmackDown and Rampage

  • Toru Yano & Tomoya vs. Tomoaki Honma & Katsuya Murashima
  • Shota Umino & Desperado & Togi Makabe & Yoh & Oleg Boltin vs. Devil & Sho & Ren Narita & Dick Togo & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii & Hrooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan & Henare & Akira
  • Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo
  • Nic Nemeth & Ryusuke Taguchi vs David Finlay & Gedo
  • Bushi vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs. Douki
  • Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi
  • Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji hair vs. hair
  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Sanada for the IWGP World Heavyweight title

– For the weekend, we’re doing polls on both Sapporo shows as well as WWE Elimination Chamber, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst matches to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

– We’re also looking for reports on these weekend shows

  • AEW tomorrow night in Springfield, MO (off-air tapings and other matches and angles not on the live show)
  • TNA TV tapings tomorrow night in New Orleans, LA

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

– UFC from Mexico City starting at 7 p.m. Eastern:

  • Muhammad Naimov (146) vs. Erik Silva (146)
  • Victor Altamirano (125) vs. Felipe dos Santos (124)
  • Ronaldo Rodriguez (126) vs. Denys Bondar (126)
  • Claudio Puelles (156) vs. Fares Ziam (156)
  • Edgar Chairez (131) vs. Daniel Lacerda (127) – both missed weight in this one set at 126
  • Jesus Aguilar (126) vs. Mateus Mendonca (126)
  • Cristian Quinonez (135) vs. Raoni Barcelos (135)
  • Manuel Torres (155) vs. Chris Dunan (156)
  • Yazin Jauregui (115) vs Sam Hughes (115)
  • Raul Rosas Jr (136) vs. Ricky Turcios (136)
  • Daniel Zellhuber (156) vs. Francisco Prado (156)
  • YaIr Rodriguez (146) vs. Brian Ortega (146)
  • Brandon Moreno (126) vs. Brandon Royval (126)

– PFL vs. Bellator tomorrow from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

ESPN+ at 12:30 p.m.

  • Abdullah Al-Qahtani (146) vs. Edukondala Rao (145.7)
  • Claressa Shields (164.4) vs Kelsey De Santis (164.6)
  • Biaggio Ali Walsh (155.4) vs,. Emanuel Palacio (152.6)
  • Aaron Pico (155.7) vs. Henry Corrales (155.7)

PPV at 3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+ PPV

  • Clay Collard (155.5) vs. AJ McKee (154.8)
  • Thiago Santos (205.2) vs. Yoel Romero (205)
  • Bruno Cappelozza (236.2) vs. Vadim Nemov (238.1)
  • Ray Cooper III (182.4) vs. Jason Jackson (182.1)
  • Impa Kasanganay (185.8) vs. Johnny Eblen (185.5)
  • Renan Ferreira (263.2) vs. Ryan Bader (231.1)

Bader, Eblen and Jackson are Bellator champions facing PFL champions Ferreira and Kasanganay and a top PFL contender in Cooper. The PPV card is all PFL vs. Bellator fights. The undercard features the biggest name woman boxer in the world in Shields, and the grandson of Muhammad Ali in Walsh as well as Aaron Pico.

– TNA No Surrender on TNA+ and Triller PPV from New Orleans:

  • Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz vs. Mike Bailey & Trent Seven
  • Kevin Knight & Kushida vs Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards
  • PCO vs. Kon
  • Josh Alexander vs. Simon Gotch
  • Frankie Kazarian vs. Eric Young to determine the number one contender to the TNA World title
  • Decay vs. MK Ultra for the Knockouts Tag Team titles
  • Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs. Grizzled Young Veterans for the TNA Tag Team titles
  • Chris Sabin vs. Mustafa Ali for the X-Division
  • Jordynne Grace vs. Gisele Shaw for the Knockouts title
  • Moose vs. Alex Shelley for the TNA World title (the match can only end when a corner man throws in the towel)

– Kenny Omega will be doing video game streaming shortly from a home studio being built.

– RevPro announced its debut in Barcelona, Spain on 4/13, featuring the Grizzled Young Veterans.

– RevPro also announced they would be running a show the day before All In in London.

– Awful Announcing has a story on the worst announcer flops of the last decade. Among those covered was Mike Goldberg doing the NFL and Adnan Virk on WWE Raw.

– Eita of NOAH suffered a sprained left knee and is out of action.

– The former Summer Rae, now Danille Moinet, has signed with Bare Knuckle Boxing. She will not be a fighter but will be a personality on their shows.

– AIW on 2/29 in Lakewood, OH at the Mercury Music Lounge. Danhausen also returns on 3/22 in Cleveland at Temple live.

– The former Top Dolla, now AJ Francis, was announced as facing Mr. Thomas on the 2/29 MLW show at the Melrose Ballroom.