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Friday Update

– Garrett Gonzales and I will be doing shows today and tomorrow on the site. We’ll be talking the Ashley Massaro story as well as the rest of the news today, and tomorrow will cover SmackDown, UFC and the rest of the news. Bryan and I will be back Monday night after Raw.

– We have another huge issue of the Observer with major stories looking back on the Ashley Massaro situation and how it has become major news this past week, the build to WrestleMania, New Japan changes losing Okada and Ospreay and much more.

  • A new statement by Ashley Massaro released by her former lawyer
  • Massaro’s best friend goes on television to weigh in on what she was told
  • What WWE said at the time and how they handled it with the media
  • What John Laurinaitis through his lawyer has said
  • A doctor who treated Massaro at the time confirms the story
  • Massaro’s original depositions on McMahon and her alleged rape by someone posing as a military doctor
  • Bret Hart talks the allegations against Vince McMahon
  • More people in the industry comment on the story
  • The background of how we go to where we are for WrestleMania involving Nick Khan, Ari Emanuel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Levesque and the key decisions made and changed along the way
  • Updates on WWE Elimination Chamber and AEW Revolution
  • Why New Japan’s New Beginning in Osaka was such a noteworthy show and talk about the Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. match and the controversial cage match
  • A look at the upcoming New Japan schedule
  • The story behind Billy Jack Haynes and his arrest, his one-time best friend and his wife who died of a gunshot wound
  • A look at Haynes’ wrestling career
  • More on the changes in TNA, not just Scott D’Amore but also Ed Nordholm, why it happened and the timeline of it happening
  • What happened at the call when Leonard Asper told talent about D’Amore being gone
  • Notes on the letter sent by talent to Asper
  • NTV 70th anniversary pro wrestling special and what was featured
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the pro wrestling shows, demo numbers, segment-by-segment and weekly rankings
  • The story behind the BCC heading to Mexico and Blue Panther being in the match
  • Will Ospreay statement on leaving NJPW
  • Matt Riddle talks starting in NJPW
  • Early FantasticaMania notes
  • Grandson of Brian Pillman gets awarded
  • The Angelo Mosca secret
  • A promotional merger announced
  • Latest rights fees story and how it may affect UFC & AEW
  • Tony Khan talks AEW future
  • More on Kazuchika Okada
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Upcoming ticket sales to WWE & AEW events
  • International TV numbers and streaming numbers
  • Crazy thing Dana White did on a podcast this week
  • Preview of this week’s UFC show
  • WWE deal with X
  • Steve Austin talks about the potential of him doing another match
  • Drew McIntyre update
  • Seth Rollins talks MMA fighters in pro wrestling
  • Bruce Prichard injury update

– The 2023 Wrestling Observer awards are coming out next Friday.

– They are taping two episodes of SmackDown tonight in Salt Lake City since next week the crew will be in Australia for Elimination Chamber. The Rock, Roman Reigns, Jade Cargill, Bron Breakker, and Judgment Day are scheduled for the show along with the regulars. As of last night, there were almost 11,000 tickets out so there is another big crowd. Matches announced for tonight’s show are Logan Paul vs. The Miz, Tiffany Stratton vs. Zelina Vega, Naomi vs Alba Fyre and Kevin Owens vs. Dominik Mysterio in chamber match qualifiers. NXT talent there are Dante Chen, Javier Bernal and Beau Morris.

– For Rampage tonight which airs at 7 p.m. Eastern and 4 p.m. Pacific on TNT due to NBA All-Star activities, and will be replayed later at around 11:30 p.m. Eastern and 8:30 p.m. Pacific:

  • Sammy Guevara vs. Jeff Hardy no DQ
  • Dustin Rhodes & Ross & Marshall Von Erich vs. Shimbashi & Hit & Romero Cruz
  • Anna Jay vs. Queen Aminata
  • Jay White & The Gunn Brothers & Billy Gunn & The Acclaimed vs. Evil Uno & John Silver & Alex Reynolds & Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh

– We’re looking for reports from these weekend shows

  • SmackDown tonight in Salt Lake City (dark matches and next Friday’s tapings)
  • WWE house show tomorrow night in Oakland, CA
  • RevPro on Sunday at the Crystal Palace in London
  • WWE house show Sunday night in Fresno, CA (which has a big advance)

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

– A note from the current issue when talking about the potential of SmackDown being the highest rated show this week on network television with The Rock on the show. SmackDown is on the verge of being No. 1 for the week now that football season is over, but with the Daytona 500 this week, it’s probably not happening this week. Last Friday’s show was the highest rated network show except for shows related to the Super Bowl. No pro wrestling television show in history has ever been No. 1 for a week on network television.

– We will be doing polls this weekend on both Fantastica Mania shows from Korakuen Hall on Sunday and Monday, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

– The RevPro show at the Crystal Palace has Michael Oku vs. Will Ospreay for the British title. There is a multi-year long storyline that will conclude with this show. Oku has never beaten Ospreay during his career and their prior match a couple of years back was one of the best storytelling matches I’ve ever seen and will be extremely hard to equal.

– UFC 298 takes place tomorrow in Anaheim, CA at the Honda Center

6:30 p.m. on ESPN+

  • Andrea Lee (125.5) vs. Miranda Maverick (126)
  • Oban Elliott (170.5) vs. Val Woodburn (169.5)
  • Josh Quinlan (169) vs. Danny Barlow (171)

8 p.m. on ESPN

  • Zhang Mingyang (204.5) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205.5)
  • Rinya Nakamura (135.5) vs. Carlos Vera (135.5)
  • Marcos Rogerio de Lima (261.5) vs. Junior Tafa (249)
  • Mackenzie Dern (116) vs. Amanda Lemos (115.5)

PPV at 10 p.m. on ESPN+

  • Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Roman Kopylov (185)
  • Henry Cejudo (135) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (135)
  • Ian Machado Garry (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (170.5)
  • Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Paulo Costa (185.5)
  • Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Ilia Topuria (144.5) for the featherweight title

This is one of the deeper shows in a while as Lemos if she wins, the winner of Cejudo-Dvalishvili, and winner of Whittaker-Costa are all going to be in title contention and it’s a very legit title fight.

– GCW announced that its Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony will be on 4/7 at noon in Philadelphia.

– Tony Khan announced that Rob Van Dam is booked on the Collision episode that airs on 4/20, for a play on numbers.

– WrestleCon will have a Stardom show at 3 p.m. on 4/6 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. We’ll get a good idea of who is staying and who is leaving as the lineup for that show starts being advertised.

– Among the talent at WrestleCon this year will be Mistico, Kurt Angle, Matt Riddle, Nic Nemeth, Sting, Tod Gordon Rob Van Dam, The Acclaimed, the former Dana Brooke, The Hardys, Trish Stratus Wadlow, Miro, Raven, the former Alicia Fox, Clt Cabana, Los Boricuas, Maria Kanellis, Mariah May, as well as past stars like Jerry Lawler, Jake Roberts, Lex Luger, Bob Orton, Sid Vicious, Kevin Nash, The Rogueau Brothers, Ted DiBiase Ernest Miller, Dean Malenko, Rikishi, Demolition, ODB and tons of others.

– House of Glory on 5/25 will run at the UTEC in Lowell, Massachusetts.

– Eve runs 3/7 and 3/8 at the Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, London, UK including Risa Sera and Tae Honma from Japan and Su Yung.