Daily Update: WWE NXT cuts, Clash at the Castle, weekend schedule

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: COVID strikes pro wrestling again, Warner Bros. Discovery & AEW

  • The new issue of the Observer has these stories:
  • Major players from five companies test positive for COVID causing changes in television or major shows.
  • Sunday’s Fukuoka Dome show and a look back at the previous pro wrestling events in the building that featured some of the biggest American stars of all-time.
  • The Discovery/Warner merger, what was said at the earnings call about cutbacks, and the different ways this can go for AEW
  • Streaming vs. television and the realities of the numbers
  • Wrestling on television in every category, who is up, who is down, factoring out cable losses, and reasons behind the ups and downs.
  • WWE & AEW shows coming up between now and August ticket sales, interest in the secondary market, how many seats WWE is setting up for the stadium shows
  • WrestleMania Backlash card update and business update
  • Saturday’s UFC report
  • New wrestling history television show series being filmed and who is behind it
  • Karl Lauer and the growth of the Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Ratings of all the television shows of the past week
  • Death of Toro Bill Jr.
  • Preview of TripleMania
  • Unique statement by L.A. Park about TripleMania
  • All Japan, Dragon Gate, NOAH and other Japanese events
  • This week’s PWG show
  • MLW answers the WWE’s attempt to get the lawsuit by MLW thrown out
  • Personnel changes in Impact
  • AEW injury notes
  • AEW’s Double or Nothing show
  • Updates on ticket sales for WWE & AEW shows
  • Promotion gets major television deal with Amazon Prime
  • Tyson Fury on Drew McIntyre and Francis Ngannou
  • Peacock business update
  • WWE survey sent to fans about what they want
  • Biggest streaming numbers from the week

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter: March 21, 2005 Observer Newsletter: Raw leaving Spike TV, TNA Destination X review

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Friday News Update

  • Garrett and I will be doing a show today to go over a lot of major news, including WWE cuts, Warner/Discovery and AEW, and other news in the current issue of the Observer.
  • Some notes on the WWE cuts today.
  • Obviously Parker Boudreaux (Harland) had been removed from the Joe Gacy act so they knew something was coming
  • The decision had been made after several tryouts that they didn’t see Dakota Kai as main roster material. She had been with the company for years and the idea is not to have people have ten year careers as NXT stars so there was nothing left for her. A lot of people disagree but they have visions about women and obviously she’s a good wrestler but didn’t fit
  • Just as obviously, Malcolm Bivens last week had started a multi-week new storyline that had a lot of stuff left. While he did not sign a new deal, him being cut blindsided the people in creative at NXT
  • Same for Persia Pirotta, who just bought a house. She was in a storyline ongoing.
  • Same for Dexter Lumis, which leaves creative in the lurch since he’s supposed to be married to Indi Hartwell and they were given no name to develop a storyline reason he’s gone
  • Paige Prinzivalli was a referee who was cut
  • Mila Malani and Raelyn Divine were from the Las Vegas tryouts and had not made it to television
  • Draco Anthony had just started on television.
  • The WWE’s 9/3 show at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales will be called WWE Clash at the Castle. Tickets go on sale on 5/20 and are expected to sell out instantly.
  • Smackdown tonight from Albany, NY was taped on Friday since the Smackdown crew is in London and the decision was made not to tape from there:
  • Ricochet vs. Shanky for IC title
  • Raquel Rodriguez vs. ?
  • Naomi vs. Shayna Baszler
  • Xavier Woods vs. Ridge Holland
  • Kofi Kingston vs Sheamus
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn cage match
  • Ronda Rousey vs. Shotzi Beat the Clock challenge
  • Charlotte Flair vs. Aliyah Beat the Clock challenge
  • Usos-RK Bro contract signing
  • AEW Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT:
  • Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland Owen Hart qualifier
  • Sky Blue & Willow Nightingale & Trish Adora vs. Jade Cargill & Kiera Hogan & Red Velvet
  • Keith Lee vs. Colten Gunn
  • Hook-Danhausen confrontation
  • Samoa Joe vs. Trent Baretta for ROH TV title
  • UFC tomorrow from the Apex in Las Vegas:
  • Tatsuro Taira (125.5) vs. Carlos Candelario (126)
  • Gina Mazany (126) vs. Shanna Young (125)
  • Natan Levy (155) vs. Mike Breeden (155.5)
  • Gabriel Green (170.5) vs. Yohan Lainesse (169)
  • Daniel Lacerda (125) vs. Francisco Figueiredo (125.5)
  • Alexandr Romanov (236.5) vs. Chase Sherman (247)
  • Krzysztof Jotko (186) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (185)
  • Darren Elkins (145.5) vs. Tristan Connelly (146)
  • Jared Gordon (155.5) vs. Grant Dawson (155.5)
  • Andre Fili (145.5) vs. Joanderson Brito (145.5)
  • Andrei Arlovski (246) vs. Jake Collier (265)
  • Rob Font (138.5) vs. Marlon Vera (136)
  • Font missed weight by 2.5 pounds and had to forfeit 20 percent of his purse
  • They are pushing tomorrow’s Amanda Serrano (42-1-1) vs. Katie Taylor (20-0) boxing match for Taylor’s lightweight title as the biggest women’s boxing match in history. It is the first time a women’s fight will ever headline Madison Square Garden. It is said that DAZN paid WWE nearly $500,000 to heavily promote the show across all of WWE outfits in a deal made with Stephanie McMahon. It will be the first women’s boxing match where both participants will earn in excess of $1 million. They are claiming it is expected to sellout. There are 14,000 tickets out and 3,000 still left as of yesterday. WWE is involved heavily in this with a lot of talent at the weigh-ins and some will be at the right itself.
  • There will be a lot of stuff this coming Monday in mainstream media since Dwayne Johnson turns 50.
  • Arena Mexico has one of its biggest shows of the year tonight with Mistico vs. Titan vs. Templario in a series of singles matches to determine the Universal champion. Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero, at one time Mexico’s best tag team, reunite to face Averno & Mephisto, another former regular team.
  • There will be a Toro Bill Jr. tribute match on Monday night in Puebla.
  • Rush is back after knee surgery this week on shows for Robles Promotion in Mexico. He will b be working shows in Mexico City, Merida and Cancun. The Mexico City show has Rush & Bestia del Ring & Vangellys vs. Chris Masters & Marco Corleone & LA Park as the main event, plus Dragon Lee & Dralistico & Bandido vs. Flamita & Taurus & Carlito. (thanks to The CubsFan)
  • Go Shiozaki vs. Kaito Kiyomiya is official as the GHC title match on tonight’s NOAH show at Sumo Hall. Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vacated the title due to testing positive for COVID. The show starts at 2 a.m. Eastern and 11 p.m. Pacific and airs live on Wrestle Universe. Wrestle Universe also has a free trial for the show.
  • Slex & Kai Fujimura vs. Alejandro & Yasutaka Yano
  • King Tani & Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs. Manabu Soya & Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara
  • Nosawa Rongai & Eita & El Texano Jr. & Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy vs. Hayata & Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway & Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu
  • Kazushi Sakuraba & Kendo Kashin vs. Rene Dupree & El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
  • Masa Kitamiya vs. Michael Elgin
  • Masakatsu Funaki vs. Simon Gotch for National tile
  • Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge & Yo-Hey & Junta Miyawaki vs. Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf & Extreme Tiger & Ninja Mack
  • Naomichi Marufuji & ? vs. Kinya Okada & Yoshiki Inamura
  • Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki vs. Kenou & Katsuhiko Nakajima for GHC tag titles
  • Go Shiozaki vs. Kaito Kiyomiya for vacant GHC heavyweight title
  • Jake Lee vs. Yuma Aoyagi will be the Champion Carnival finals on 5/4 at Korakuen Hall. Lee won the A block. Aoyagi went to a 30:00 draw with Kento Miyahara to finish with a 3-1-1 record while Miyahara and Takuma Nomura both finished 3-2.
  • Mirai beat Natsupoi in the semifinals and Koguma in the finals to win the Stardom Cinderella tournament meaning she can challenge for any title. 
  • Jessica McKay, who just left Impact (formerly Billie Kay) has a role in a movie called “The Charisma Killer” directed by Michael Matteo Rossi.

WWE

  • A story about new WWE signee Gina DeLucia from the most recent tryout.
  • These are the WrestleMania Backlash odds:
  • Ronda Rousey -700
  • Charlotte Flair +360
  • Usos -500
  • Riddle & Randy Orton +300
  • Cody Rhodes -325
  • Seth Rollins +220
  • Edge -150
  • A.J. Styles +110
  • Omos -300
  • Bobby Lashley +200
  • Madcap Moss -180
  • Happy Corbin +125

AEW

  • Chris Jericho will be doing a three-date talk show promoted by Inside the Ropes. The shows are 7/4 in Glasgow, 7/5 in Belfast and 7/6 in London. The 7/6 date means he will be missing the Dynamite/Rampage tapings for that week in Rochester, NY. He is advertised for that show.

Other Notes

  • Jose & Joel Maximo, the SATs, have been added to the 5/13 MLW show in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena.
  • Combate Global tonight on Paramount + from Miami at 11 p.m. Eastern has a lightweight main event with Ivan Castillo (22-13) vs Claudio Quintana from Chile (8-4). The semi is also a lightweight bout with Hugo Flores (9-4) vs. Richie Palomino (5-2).
  • Icebox is running a show in Alameda, CA on 5/7 with JTG vs. Jacob Fatu, Juicy Finau vs. Vinni Massaro, Fred Rosser vs. Jeckles, Boogeyman vs. ?, Carlito vs. Titus Alexander, Ultimo Panda vs. Boyce Legrande and more.
  • 559 Fights on 5/21 in Visalia, Ca at the Convention Center. 
  • LFA on 5/13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on UFC Fight Pass is headlined by Italo Gomes (10-2) vs. Meiquizael Costa (17-4).
  • Empire State Wrestling on 5/21 in Buffalo,NY at the RiverWorks is headlined by Buddy Matthews vs. Trey Miguel. There will also be a ladder match and Shazza McKenzie and Big Bill Collier are on the show.
  • Mike Rotunda, as IRS will be appearing for CWE on shows on 5/26 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, 5/27 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, 5/28 in Regina, Saskatchewan and 5/29 in Carnduff, Saskatchewan.
  • Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Wednesday night in Omaha,NE: Duke Cornell b Luke Luna, Angus Keyser b Ryan Romanitc, Omar Pachecco b Logan Ocean, Lars Metzger b Keaton Stoneburner, Purple & Xander McIntosh b Paul & Joey Daniels, Willy Sweet b Austin Fouts, Moonshine Russell & Jack Darling b Tim Boston & Seto Kobara Next show is 5/7 in Omaha at the Epoca Cantina,
  • PFL from last night in Arlington, TX in their tournament:
  • Heavyweight: Klidson Abreu b Adam Keresh via decision
  • Featherweight: Bubba Jenkins b Kyle Bochniak via decision
  • Heavyweight: Ante Delija b Matheus Scheffel second round knockout
  • Heavyweight: Denis Goltsov b Cody Goodale first round knockout
  • Heavyweight: Renan Fereira b Jamelle Jones first round knockout in 25 seconds
  • Featherweight: Chris Wade b Lance Palmer via decision
  • Heavyweight: Bruno Cappeloza b Stuart Austin first round knockout
  • Women of Wrestling will be taping its television show for syndication on 5/5, 5/6 and 5/7 at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles.
  • United Wrestling Coalition on 5/28 in Bordentown, NJ at the Elks Lodge with a 25 man Rumble
  • ISPW on 5/7 in Morristown,NJ at the Mennen Sports Arena is headlined by Danny Morrison vs. Justin Corino for their title. Appearing in non-wrestling roles on he show include Maven, Jake Roberts, Earl Hebner, Greg Valentine, Demolition Tito Santana and Tommy Rich. There will also be a Bushwhacker Luke Williams vs. Brooklyn Brawler match.
  • Impact will be running shows on 5/13 and 5/14 in Kissimmee, FL at the Osceola Heritage Park Event Center. Both nights will be TV tapings.
  • Lucha Libre on 5/26 at the Opera House in Toronto for the Demand Lucha promotion.