Daily Update: WWE Raw, Bad Blood, Odyssey Jones

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • A look at the wrestling career of Sid Eudy, his death, his career highlights, the injury that basically ended his career, other major inopportune injuries, his going from place to place and more.
  • When he first started which is earlier than most have noted.
  • The Lord Humongous gimmick
  • The Skyscrapers and why it ended
  • The Four Horsemen period
  • His first PPV main event
  • A number of stories related to Brian Pillman including the squeegee story
  • His leaving WCW for WWF and his first WrestleMania main event and how that finish didn’t happen as planned
  • The failed drug test before WrestleMania
  • The Hoosier Dome match
  • Quitting WWF
  • Return to WCW and the plan for him to win the world title and how it fell through
  • Situation with Arn Anderson
  • How he ended up getting his WWF title run in 1996-97
  • The injury that ended his WWF career
  • The ridiculous win streak gimmick in WCW
  • All In coverage from London
  • The update on contract negotiations
  • Why the MAX deal didn’t happen last year
  • The upcoming stadium shows
  • Business notes on how All In did
  • All Out update
  • Notes on new contracts
  • Future of Bryan Danielson
  • WWE weekend preview
  • RevPro anniversary show
  • Look at the ratings over the past two weeks
  • International TV ratings
  • The longest match ever held at Arena Mexico
  • Japanese tournament updates
  • Oldest male wrestler ever to participate in a major match
  • Deaths of Villano V and Fritz Von Goering
  • Tony Khan talks creative process
  • Bryan Danielson talks his discussion with Vince McMahon about doing G1
  • MMA star Benji Radach passes away
  • Mark Shapiro talks new WWE ideas
  • Netflix doc notes
  • Shapiro talks Netflix deal

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Monday Update

  • Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio talking about Raw, NXT No Mercy, today’s Villano V story, Nikki Bella and the rest of the latest news.
  • Raw tonight is from Denver from the same arena No Mercy was at last night.  They had more than 10,200 tickets out as of this morning. A real sellout would be 15,000 for a Raw set up as it’s a huge arena, so big crowd but won’t be sold out.  Last night’s crowd was very hot. There are two matches in the IC title challenger tournament with Sheamus vs. Ludvig Kaiser vs. ? and Ilja Dragunov vs. Dragon Lee vs. Dominik Mysterio. Bronson Reed was to be in the Sheamus match but he is off the show due to COVID. Also Creeds & Ivy Nile vs. Otis & Tozawa & Maxxine, Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn vs. Kairi Sane & Iyo Sky, Shayna Baszler vs.  Zelina Vega and Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill are scheduled.  
  • It appears Gunther vs. CM Punk won’t be at Badd Blood. We were told it wasn’t the case earlier today and that Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa is also not going to be on that show, although it will happen down the line. Gunther vs. Sami Zayn may be set up tonight as PW Insider reported on a face to face confrontation. 
  • We’re doing polls for both WWE Bash in Berlin and NXT No Mercy, 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
  • Michele Carlucci, who was the WWE Director of Production Travel, was let go on Friday. She had been with the company since 1988 and had been at this specific job since 2019 after spending the prior 14 years as Director of the Freelance crew, Travel & Special projects.
  • Regarding Odyssey Jones, he was removed from the WWE roster page earlier today. WWE has yet to officially clarify if he is still with the company.  
  • Mascara Dorada qualified for the finals of the Copa Independencia which will be against the winner of a Ciberntetco on Friday night, for the anniversary show on 9/13. That’s the Mistico vs. Chris Jericho show so they are looking at booking a blow away match of their top talent for the sellout event.
  • There were people upset that CMLL did know have a moment of silence for Villano V. I’m genuinely shocked as he headlined two anniversary shows that did huge sellouts. His nephew, Villano IIII Jr., mentioned him in a promo during the show. The current tourist fan base of course wouldn’t have known him.  
  • Mucha Lucha Atlanta announced El Hijo del Vikingo for 10/13. As of right now, the first Vikingo match since knee surgery is on 9/17 in Mexico.  
  • TMZ published the audio of the 911 call by Artem Chiigvintsev where he called police and accused Nikki Garcia of throwing shoes at him. In the clip  the dispatcher mentions that the call first came requesting medical help but he said that he got into an argument with his wife and his wife threw shoes at him.  
  • She appeared, without her wedding ring, at the Chestnut vs. Kobayashi hot dog eating contest today on Netflix as one of the hosts. The San Francisco Chronicle noted she and her son flew to the event out of SFO.
  • The movie “The Killer’s Game starring Dave Bautista and featuring Drew McIntyre will be released at theaters on 9/13. They have a Hollywood premiere this coming Monday.
  • Just a note that AEW mentioned four hours of wrestling on Friday night but as best we can tell from the TV listings it’s three-and-a-half hours as the All Out countdown show is listed from 11-11:30 p.m.
  • Expect more names to be announced as WWE current talent signing new deals. There’s evidently a push in that direction of getting people due over the next several months signed now.
  • The Luke Jacobs vs Tomohiro Ishii match for the British heavyweight title takes place on the 10/19 RevPro show in Cancaster, which is the day before Royal Quest at the  Copper Box Arena.
  • Taiji Ishimori has publicly asked for a match with Darby Allin at one of the two January Tokyo Dome shows.
  • UFC’s Jessica Andrade has filed a lawsuit against former coach and manager Gilliard Parana, accusing Parana of embezzlement.  She claimed he stole $2 million from her over the years. Parana has denied the accusation in a statement to MMA Fighting and returned to Brazil. She said she could be thinking of retiring but now feels she has to keep fighting. Parana claimed he was not the person who took care of her finances and was just her advisor
  • Parana told MMA Fighting: “It was never like the way she’s insinuating, that I stole a single cent from her, much less the amount she’s talking about, which is completely baseless.  Anyone who has a brain and knows how to do math will see that she really doesn’t spend her money on just a few purchases on Amazon. She has a lot of expenses, and there are so many that she even gets lost in the calculations. Jessica is not incapable. Jessica is not a 15-year-old girl. And Jessica is not illiterate. Jessica was never forbidden from going to the bank, from calling the bank and from finding out how her accounts were. Jessica always had full access to her things and was always intelligent enough to know everything that happened in her financial life. And I was never the guy who took care of her financial life. I was just her advisor when she needed it and asked for it. But all of this will be proven if there is a coherent investigation. May justice be served and may the wrongdoer pay, because lying to the authorities and lying to have a trial go your favor is also a crime. Let’s wait and see what happens.
  • Bobby Fish vs. Kevin Knight has been announced for the 9/14 MLW show at Center Stage in Atlanta.
  • Deadlock Pro Wrestling announced Masato Tanaka for a show on 10/13 in Charlotte, NC at the Grady Cole Center.