Daily Update: WWE notes, Max sports tier, Tony Khan

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Observer is out, and it’s a big one:

  • The WWE merges with UFC and transitions into TKO, the most in depth look at the changes to be expected and where changes aren’t to be expected
  • Amount of cuts expected to be made
  • What type of people are expected to be cut
  • Nick Khan’s letter to employees before the cuts
  • First major departure
  • How Saudi Arabia investing in PFL affected the stock
  • New board of directors
  • New hierarchy
  • Dana White talks merger and shoots down another exec’s goal for the new company
  • Talk on future television rights
  • Current market value and did it reach projections
  • Biggest financial concerns
  • Crossover promotion
  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • AEW All in attendance with notes on other stadium shows including actual WrestleMania turnstile counts vs. announced and paid attendance
  • Bryan Danielson’s full-time career winds down, why, how long he’s thought about this and talks candidly about his decision
  • Long-term concerns
  • UFC 293 in Australia with one of the biggest upsets in history. Who’s house? Sean’s house.
  • Future of middleweight division
  • Business notes on the show
  • History of promotional wars, timing, how AEW vs. WWE is the same, how it differs
  • AEW and its decline in live attendance, the key reasons and what can be done, and how WCW turned it around under Zane Bresloff
  • How other companies turned it around and how the circumstances to do that aren’t there in this situation
  • A look at the next major WWE, AEW and NXT shows and early business notes
  • WWE Superstar spectacular in India coverage
  • The unique career of Brett Wayne Sawyer, top singles champion on the most-watched television show in the country at 23, and a career that fell off quickly
  • The early days of the Road Warriors
  • The booking of Ole Anderson
  • The most detailed look at the ratings, weekly and nightly standings, segment breakdowns, comparisons to one year ago in a very important and newsworthy week
  • CMLL 90th anniversary show this week
  • Legends special match coming
  • Stardom PPV notes including one of the week’s best matches
  • Performer of the week and match of the week
  • First time ever for a true rookie in match of the week
  • Major dream match this weekend with Will Ospreay
  • Updates on Jim Duggan
  • Notes on the death of former Carolinas announcer Rich Landrum
  • Notes on the Cassandro movie
  • Pro wrestling star leaves the business for one year, wins a gold medal in the Olympics–this long forgotten piece of wrestling history
  • Bandido returning
  • Impact Hall of Fame notes and notes on Mike Tenay
  • Jade Cargill update
  • Business updates on PPV from All Out, Backlash and All In
  • What percentage of WWE buyers purchased an AEW show in the last few weeks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
  • International TV ratings
  • Streaming numbers for WWE
  • Ortiz & Santana breakup explained
  • Paul Wight’s name in ESPN story on PED investigation
  • Georges St-Pierre into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
  • UFC top star leaving the promotion
  • UFC Hall of Famer gets DWI
  • Bray Wyatt funeral
  • Vince McMahon’s return
  • Thoughts on Smackdown and what is the best day for the show if FX gets it
  • Drew McIntyre update
  • Roman Reigns return
  • Lots of comings and goings in WWE
  • WWE and NXT live event coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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Tuesday Update

WWE

  • Big E praised Kofi Kingston’s performance against Ivar on last night’s Raw: I’m clearly biased but I’m thankful we still get to watch @TrueKofi deliver incredible performances this deep into his career. Grateful for you, legend, while we still have you in the ring.”
  • It was originally announced that Kingston & Xavier Woods would be facing The Viking Raiders in a two-out-of-three falls match on Raw last night, but WWE stated that Erik wasn’t cleared to compete. The match was changed to Kingston vs. Ivar.
  • Alexa Bliss revealed that her daughter will be named Hendrix Rouge Cabrera. Bliss is due to give birth this December.
  • IYO SKY is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine in Japan.
  • In an interview with Bleav in Pro Wrestling, Chelsea Green said she’s “counting down the months” until Sonya Deville can return from her torn ACL:
          • I am counting down the months until Sonya can come back and show the world how strong she is, because we have seen her be strong in so many different areas of wrestling. And outside of wrestling, we’ve seen her go through a lot. We’ve never seen her face an injury and come back. And I really think she’s gonna come back even better.
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia’s XFL is in “advanced talks” to merge with the USFL.
  • Last night, WWE taped Nikki Cross vs. Indi Hartwell and Xia Li vs. Tegan Nox for this week’s episode of Main Event.
  • Kurt Angle is the guest on today’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. Angle wrote yesterday: “Just finished my interview on the Joe Rogan Experience! Had a great conversation talking amateur wrestling, pro wrestling and mma. Look out for this episode. It’s gonna be a good one. @joerogan #joeroganexperience”
  • People published a story on Kelly Kelly welcoming twins into the world. Kelly Kelly gave birth to a boy named Jaxon Matthew and a girl named Brooklyn Marie on September 10.

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service will launch its live sports tier on October 5. Sports Business Journal notes that AEW isn’t currently part of the tier. It’s named Bleacher Report Sports Add-On and will be available to Max subscribers at no extra cost through February 29. After that, it will cost an additional $9.99 per month on top of Max’s subscription fee. The tier will feature games from the NBA, MLB, NHL, U.S. Soccer, and March Madness.
  • Insider asked Tony Khan why – when he addressed the Chicago crowd about CM Punk’s firing – he did it from the top of the ramp instead of in the ring:
          • You can’t see everybody’s face from the center of the ring. You have to choose one side of the crowd to face when you’re in the ring. And I wanted to be able to see everybody. I felt like, I’m not a wrestler and I don’t need to be in the ring, and for this moment, I thought I would just sit down and talk to everybody. That’s why I brought out a chair.
          • And when I was done and walked backstage, the first person I saw was Ricky Steamboat and he said, ‘That was great, you turned the crowd. You turned them around. That’s so hard to do, and you did it.’ I felt I at least owed that much to the wrestlers and the fans, to go out there and talk to everybody.
  • Insider also asked Khan his thoughts on the WWE-UFC merger:
          • It is fascinating. It will be interesting to see what happens in the world of sports, combat sports, and pro wrestling. I love pro wrestling, it’s an amazing business. I think there are a lot of really exciting things happening with sports media rights.
  • Samoa Joe shared his memories of the late Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda):
          • Ton and tons of Bray stories. I really think the thing that you will find universally with Windham was he was the type of person, when he walked in a room, it instantly brightened up. Once you’re his brother, you’re his brother for life and he’ll show up for whatever you need him to show up for. If you called and said, ‘I need you down here,’ lo and behold, a couple hours later you’ll see him pulling up in the driveway.
          • And just the family itself, between Mike and Bo and his sister Mika they were all very involved in the business at certain points [in] time. Everybody has a tremendous amount of respect and love for them. I think if anything, the hurt was felt a little bit extra deep because of how many people were connected to both Windham and his family. To see him gone now, it just doesn’t seem real. I miss him every day.
  • Claudio Castagnoli told SI FanNation that the idea of being an NJPW champion is very exciting to him. Castagnoli’s ROH World Championship and Eddie Kingston’s NJPW Strong Openweight Championship will be on the line in a title vs. title match on Dynamite Grand Slam this Wednesday night.
  • Castagnoli said:
          • The chance to be a New Japan champion very much excites me. I wanted to go to New Japan after I left WWE, and I did–but I’d like to go again, and what better way than as Strong Openweight champion? It opens a whole new set of possibilities.
          • And I am very proud to be the Ring of Honor champion. I learned a long time ago that you don’t need a belt to hold yourself like a champion. But when you do have one, you must hold yourself to a higher level.
  • TV Insider interviewed Sammy Guevara.
  • Paul London will make his GCW debut at Blood on the Hills on Saturday, October 14. The show is being held in Los Angeles.
  • The Associated Press and Sky News have stories on Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi’s recent bullet train match for DDT.