Daily Update: WWE Raw, AEW Collision, Mariah May

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Topics covered in this loaded issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • WWE cuts in the office and of talent
  • The surprise cut of Mustafa Ali that clearly wasn’t planned in advance
  • Why the releases were done and how they were picked
  • Who has the most potential to go to AEW
  • The employees meeting and what was said
  • The SmackDown television deal with USA and the entire landscape of television in 2025 and what it could be
  • Why the stock dropped so dramatically
  • How much less is Vince McMahon worth than was projected just two weeks ago
  • The history of prime time shows on NBC
  • The return of Dwayne Johnson
  • What storyline was originally created for The Rock
  • More major office cuts
  • Noteworthy business notes on both UFC and WWE including revenue, profits and how the companies are similar and different
  • The life and times of Terry Funk
  • A look at his craziest ideas
  • Funk’s different roles in wrestling
  • Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer comment on Funk
  • Funk’s questioning of his past
  • How Funk played the part in creating a 47-year-old institution in wrestling
  • The most famous Terry Funk retirement match
  • The Hogan-Terry Funk hotel room story
  • Funk’s first trip to Japan
  • Funk’s legendary Japanese matches
  • The formation of All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • The roles of the Funks in Amarillo
  • Doing police work
  • Funk’s WWF run
  • The Amarillo territory
  • Terry as the brother of the world champion
  • Death of Dory Funk Sr.
  • Terry wins the NWA world title
  • Why Terry Funk never challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF title
  • Highlights of the world title run
  • Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes and the never ending storyline
  • Terry Funk in the movies and television
  • The wrestling war in Japan
  • Funk goes to FMW against Onita
  • Arena Mexico anniversary show
  • New books available from us
  • The match that made news all over the world this past week
  • UFC Noche coverage of Shevchenko vs. Grasso
  • Lots of notes on the scoring of the main event
  • Deaths of Emile Dupree and Bart Sawyer
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week
  • Lots of injury updates
  • Ospreay vs. Marufuji
  • More on AEW television negotiations
  • More AEW major shows over the next year
  • PPV updated numbers
  • Lots of new major UFC fights
  • Raw has even greater competition this year
  • Los Angeles Times story on Vince McMaon
  • WWE goes to Australia for Elimination Chamber
  • XFL/USFL merger talks
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • WWE house show coverage

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Monday Update

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and all the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio.

Raw tonight id from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA, which sold out as soon as tickets were put on sale months ago with just under 8,000. Finn Balor & Damian Priest defend the tag titles against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Dominik Mysterio defends the North American title against Dragon Lee in his main roster debut, Otis vs. Bronson Reed, Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ludvig Kaiser and they will build the next Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match which presumably is on Fastlane. They should start getting matches put together given the show is 12 days away.

Collision is going to have a tough go in the ratings since the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game on NBC did the network’s largest viewership for a regular season college football game since 1993. The game averaged 10.5 million viewers, peaked at over 14 million (after Collision was over) and did 605,000 streaming, so a 94 percent television and six percent streaming breakdown. Collision numbers come out tomorrow morning.

A note from last night’s show, we talked about Mariah May finishing up with Stardom. Her last show is the PPV show this coming Saturday, not this past Saturday. Saturday is the finals of the Five Star Grand Prix tournament.

Tomorrow’s NXT show has a contract signing for Camerlo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov for Saturday in Bakersfield, Eddy Thorpe vs. Dijak in a strap match Baron Corbin vs. Josh Briggs, Trick Williams vs. Joe Gacy, Blair Davenport vs Gigi Dolin, Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. Lucien Price & Bronco Nima, Butch vs. Joe Coffey (winner faces Noam Dar for the Heritage title in Bakersfield, CA on Friday and Becky Lynch and Tiffany Stratton are both appearing.

We’re looking for reports from Raw tonight in Ontario, CA (Main Event matches and anything not on the live show) and from yesterday’s house show in Fresno, CA, results, finishes and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We’re also looking for your thoughts on yesterday’s Destruction in Kobe show from New Japan, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Nate Diaz rep Zach Rosenfeld reported to a number of news sources that all charges against Diaz for a street in New Orleans against Rodney Peterson have been dropped. Rosenfeld said after reviewing the evidence that the video of the incident made it clear Diaz was acting in self defense. The District Attorney’s office just wrote that there was not sufficient support to prove the alleged crime.

Voting closes on Saturday for the 15th annual Fights Only World MMA Awards. The top nominees for the key awards are:Charles Mask Lewis Fighter of the Year: Leon Edwards, Aljamain Sterling, Israel Adesanya, Isam Makhachvev and Sadibou Sy.Female Fighter of the Year: Alexa Grasso, Amanda Nunes, Larissa Pacheco, Seiki Izawa and Liz Carmouche.Fight of the Year: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiaiev, Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler, Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Brennan Ward vs. Sabah Homasi and Matt Schnell vs. Su Mudarerji

Piers Morgan of CNN said that his interview with Dana White has been viewed two million times on YouTube, making it one of the ten most viewed video on his YouTube channel since its launch. The video was put up ten days ago.

The CBC in Canada has a story on the death of Emil Dupree, the longtime promoter in Eastern Canada

Exodus Pro Wrestling and the NWA run Double Down on 10/7 in Cleveland at the Tree Lawn with Certified Luke Curtis vs. Thom Latimer, plus EC 3 will team with J-Rocc & Rex Brody vs. Thrillblly & Kerry Morton, plus Mims and Atticus Cogar are on the show.

Prestige Wrestling from Sunday in Los Angeles at the Globe Theater: Sonico b Gregorhty Sharpe, Johnnie robbie b Shazza McKenzie, Alan Angels won four-way over Diego Hill, TravisWilliams and Jordan Cruz, Moose b Galendo del Mal (son of Dr. Wagner Jr.), Lee Moriarty b Jonathan Gresham, Tom Lawler b Vinnie Massaro, Titus Alexander b Rey Horus, Trish Adora b Shoko Nakajioma, Mike Bailey b Breeze. They announced an all women’s show at the Globe Theater on 12/14 called Combat Princess with Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, Rika Tatsumi (all from Tokyo Joshi Pro) along with Sandra Moone, Taya Valkyrie, Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich.

Championship Wrestling from Memphis takes place tonight at the Mid South Fair with Tommy Dreamer.

WWC has a PPV on Fite TV on Saturday from Bayamon, PR with a boxer vs wrestler match with Xavant, a wrestler against boxer Juanma Lopez under boxing rules. Eddie Colon, Jacob Fatu and Ray Gonzalez are headliners.

Maven returns to the ring on Friday night in Totowa,. NJ at the Totowa PAL facing Rich Reed, the company’s ring announcer, in a tuxedo match. The show also features guest appearances by Sgt. Slaughter and Marty Jannetty as its the 25th anniversary of the promotion. 

There is also a Saturday wrestling convention at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, NJ at 10 a.m. with Kevin Nash, The Dudleys, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Slaughter and Afa the Samoan.