Daily Update: WrestleMania 37, Jon Jones, Wrestle Dynasty

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WON NEWSLETTER: February 10, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Major WWE corporate shakeups, more

We look at the changes in WWE business and details on what Vince McMahon was talking about regarding changes in the network and PPV distribution in the lead story of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

We examine the departure of Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, the drop in the stock price, what it will take to get the price back up, McMahon talking business options, what WWE can learn from how UFC handled a similar situation, the business of WrestleMania, the key players, the different options, the UFC PPV deal, and McMahon talks AEW.

Also in this issue:

WWE fourth quarter numbers in every category, profits, losses, arena business, corporate spending and all categories.

McGregor vs. Cerrone business including details of it being the largest streaming PPV in history, how it did on traditional PPV, how UFC ha helped ESPN+ numbers, ESPN+ subscribers as well a the bundle with Hulu and Disney Plus, and how successful it has been financially.

WrestleMania and the net Saudi Arabia show, a new WWE TV deal, Takeover Portland, what medical treatment wrestlers from many different companies are looking at doing, new WWE signings, John Cena in Fast 9, update on talent that has  wanted their release, Jake Atlas debut, lots of ratings info, WWE Network price notes, Mauro Ranallo talks getting off twitter, Total Bellas story lines, Bret Hart update, most watched shows on WWE Network and coverage of all of last week’s WWE arena events.

New Beginning shows in Sapporo, with a full rundown of the booking, the business, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

A feature on the Jericho Cruise, the top matches, how TV was taped, and what happened.

UFC event from Raleigh with match-by-match coverage and business notes.

A feature on the death of Romeo Cormier and the famous Burke/Martin/Cormier family and the heyday of pro wrestling in Eastern Canada. 

Regarding the Wednesday numbers, we’ve got full details, demos that each side won, how every segment did and what match ended up as the difference maker. 

Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.

In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I did our weekend show covering UFC 247 and WWE business which is on the site.Garrett Gonzalez and I talk about the business of WWE major shows and why Vince McMahon is looking to make the move, Wednesday ratings and answer questions.

We’re also looking for reports from the NXT show in Phoenix on Friday and tonight’s show in Riverside, CA, the ROH show in Baltimore today and WWE house shows in Oakland last night and Fresno tonight to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com. We’re doing weekend polls on UFC 247 and New Japan New Beginning in Osaka, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

The announcement of the location of the 2021 WrestleMania will be made at 9 a.m. tomorrow.  I’m not allowed to officially say where it will be, past it will be where everyone expected either the 2021 or 2022 Mania to be all along.

For the weekend, the XFL had a lot of interest with 3 million Google searches. It and UFC (2.1 million) were the two most searched topics of the weekend. UFC numbers are what would have been expected for a Jon Jones headlined show. Halle Berry was trending today based on UFC, in the sense she went to the show last night to support Valentina Shevchenko. There were also 100,000 searches for Ryan Cabrera after the news got out that he was dating Alexa Bliss.

Based on reporters scores, the last stuff I saw was 68 percent had it for Dominic Reyes and 32 percent for Jon Jones. Every scorecard listed was 48-47 in either direction. As far as the actual scores went, Chris Lee gave Jones rounds three through five. Marcos Rosales gave Jones 2, 4 and 5. Joe Soliz gave Jones 2 through five. To me, rounds one and three were very clear for Reyes, round two I had for Reyes but Jones did come on strong at the end, and rounds four and five were clearly for Jones. 

The plan for New Japan on 8/22 in Madison Square Garden is to do a WrestleKingdom type of event. It’s going to be very interesting as they are going head-to-head with NXT Takeover in Boston, the day before SummerSlam in Boston, and one week before AEW’s All Out show in Chicago so there is going to be a lot of competition for the fly-in crowd over that two week period. 

 WWE

  • Samoa Joe returned from his concussion at the house show in Oakland last night.
  • For Raw tomorrow in Ontario, CA, Becky Lynch defends the women’s title against Asuka and there is an eight-man tag with Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe & Viking Raiders vs. AOP & Murphy & Seth Rollins.
  • Matt Riddle did a post-match promo after the NXT Las Vegas house show main event last night and talked about how he was fired by Dana White (they were at The Pearl, a building UFC often runs), how some people don’t like him, and that he would be the guy who retires Brock Lesnar.  From what I’m told, NXT has given him permission to follow up on the Lesnar stuff.
  • A story on Drew McIntyre.

UFC

  • Walt Harris returns to action after the death of his stepdaughter for the first time with a 4/11 main event in Portland, OR at the Moda Center against Alistair Overeem. 

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Besides Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryu Lee and Minoru Suzuki vs. Jon Moxley, the other weekend match I was told to go out of my way to see was the Naruki Doi vs. Kzy title match from the Dragon Gate show at Korakuen Hall.
  • Tessa Blanchard vs. Eddie Kingston vs. Michael Elgin in a three-way will headline the next Impact PPV show on 4/19 in New York.
  • A very interesting story regarding Dr. Bennet Omalu, who first made the findings about CTE and who the movie ”Concussion” was based on. (thanks to Barry Werner)
  • XFL merchandise sold very well with hats of many of the teams selling out.
  • All Japan has a live show from Korakuen Hall on early Tuesday morning with the Kento Miyahara vs.; Yuma Aoyagi Triple Crown title match with the angle shot on 1/3 where Aoyagi, Miyahara’s tag team partner, turned on him, giving him a German suplex when putting the belt on him after Miyahara had beaten Jake Lee.  Miyahara is one of the best, like one of the two best, world champions in the industry right now, and bell to bell, probably the best. Every title match comes off as epic.
  • Warrior Wrestling has a huge show on 2/15 at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights with The Rascalz vs. The Strong Hearts, eight way men’s and women’s title matches, Daga vs. Jonathan Gresham, Templario vs. Cavernario, Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Bully Ray, the North vs Space Pirates, Alex Shelley vs. Ren Narita and more.  The men’s title match has Lance Archer, Michael Elgin, Sam Adonis, Andrew Everett, Aramis, Black Taurus and Alex Zayne. It’s a series of elimination matches. The women’s match has Tessa Blanchard defending her title against Kylie Rae, Madison Rayne, Taya Valkyrie, Tasha Steelz, Big Swole,Ray Lyn and Dr. Britt Baker.
  • BANG TV on 2/29 in Belleview, FL at the High School Gym will feature appearances at a meet and greet with Rick & Scott Steiner.
  • EPW from yesterday in Australia:  Marcius Pit b Dan Moore, Gavin McGavin b Bruno Nitro, Taylor King & Jack Edwards & Tipene b Tyler Jacobs & Chadwick Jackson & Junior Li, Michael Morleone b Damian Slater, Aaron Hawk & Dan Steel b Gorgeous Gary & Ryan Allen, Mikey Nicholls b Julian West to keep EPW title.  Next show is 3/7 with Marcius Pitt vs Davis Storm with the Coastal title vs Storm’s career.
  • RCW from yesterday in Adelaide, Australia:  Mike Boomer b Eli Theseus, Barren b Jonathan Corvidae, Adam Brooks b Nick Armstrong, Rocky Menaro b Mick Moretti to keep RCW title, Steve Miller NC Jett Armstrong, Royce Chambers won over Havok, Dean Brady and Cadie Tre, Chris Basso & Matt Hayter b Brodie Marshall & Matt Bosso to win the RCW tag titles (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Stardom from yesterday for a legit sellout at Korakuen Hall:  Itsuki Hoshino b Leo Onozaki, Death Yama-san & Leyla Hirsch won gauntlet over Jamie Hayter & Zoey Skye, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano, Rina & Hina and,  Saya Iida & Saya Kamitani, Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima & Natsu Sumire b Hana Kimura & Jungle Kyona & Konami, Giulia & Syuri &Maiki b Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita & AZM to win the Artist of Stardom trios title, Arisa Hoshiki b Bea Priestley to win the Wonder of Stardom title, Takumi Iroha b Mayu Iwatani to set up a World of Stardom title match.
  • Bar Wrestling from Wednesday night in Los Angeles:  Dom Kubrick won four-way over Eli Everfly, Douglas James and Lucas Riley, Watts b Zicky Dice, Yuma & BHK b Ray Rosas & Andy Brown, Holidead b Joey Ryan, Heather Monroe b Jamie Senegal, B-Boy & Adrian Quest & Phoenix Star & Zokre b Rocky Romero & Shota Umino & Ren Narita & Chins Bey/
  • CZW from last night in Voorhees, NJ for the 21st anniversary show:  Kris Bishop won over Leroy Green, Boom Harden and DK Meadows, Eran Ashe b Gabriel Skye, Team Rayo Victorious b Team Pesadilla, Nate Carter & David McCall b The Skulk to keep tag titles, KC Navarro b AR Fox to win the Wired title, Bear Country b Anthony Greene & Eva Everett, Brandon Kirk b John Silver, Masada b Casanova Valentine in a bloody no rope barbed wire match.  Necro Butcher was also inducted into their Hall of Fame along with Shawn KIernaghan who works on their ring crew. Dewey Donovan and Maven Bentley said that CZW wouldn’t function without Kernaghan. (thanks to Bob Magee)
  • PWE on 3/1 in Oshawa, ONT at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43 headlined by Rhino.
  • 365 Pro Wrestling on 2/22 in Campbell River, BC at the Willow Point Lions Club.  They also run 3/21 in Guelph, ONT at the Red Chevron.
  • SKM in Hagersville, ONT at the Community Centre.
  • BattlArts on 2/15 the Battlarts Academy in Mississauga. ONT with Cryme Tyme.
  • Mike Mooneyham has a story on wrestling deaths in 2019. (thanks to Chris Cruise)  
  • SLAM! Wrestling has a lengthy feature up on about Billy Sandow.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: The Midnight Rider defeats Ric Flair

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