Daily Update: WWE SmackDown fast nationals, AEW Collision, Pat McAfee

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The life of Vince McMahon and the Netflix documentary. This is a lengthy story talking about the documentary, my reactions, more details on the various stories talked about, comments from Vince McMahon, Bill Simmons, Ann Callis, things we did learn, what wasn’t accurate and what wasn’t and reviews.
  • More on what the latest settlement in the Cung Le lawsuit against UFC entails, how much more fighters will be getting if the judge approves this, and if the judge doesn’t, what happens next.
  • A note about Bad Blood and Wrestle Dream, interest levels of both and card update.
  • How the audiences for WWE & AEW have changed over the past year, as far as income, viewing together and age of viewers. What show viewerships have grown in income the most over the past year.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week, placings for the night and week, competition, segment by segment numbers and more.
  • The upcoming women’s World Grand Prix show.
  • Wrestling star accused of kidnapping his son
  • Toni Storm returns to Japan.
  • The 48th World Tag League from All Jaan
  • Thoughts on Queen of Villains
  • El Hijo del Santo retirement tour
  • Tony Khan talks more business
  • Fenix and Penta update
  • International TV ratings and streaming number s
  • Ricochet talks this past week
  • Ticket advances for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • More notes on the UFC show at The Sphere
  • Changes to WWE television in 2025

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Sunday Update

– Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk about the weekend wrestling news and rundown the major shows. We have a lot of audio on the site as Garrett and I have done three shows largely on the McMahon documentary on Netflix. There is a lot behind the scenes, making of the docs, in-depth on the stories covered, and more.

– Just as CW aired the WrestleMania documentary head-to-head last night with Collision, on 10/12 they will air a Saturday night replay of NXT from 8-10 p.m, head-to-head with AEW WrestleDream. (thanks to Paul Verlander)

– WWE house show notes from last night in Columbus, GA (thanks to Lenny Levine)

  • Jey Uso b Bron Breakker to keep the IC title
  • Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill  b Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn to keep the women’s tag titles
  • Bayley b Nia Jax via DQ in a WWE women’s title match
  • Damien Priest & Rhea Ripley b Karrion Kross & Scarlett
  • Gunther b Ilja Dragunov to keep the world title (said to be a great match)
  • Wyatts b American Made
  • Johnny Gargano  & Tommaso Ciampa b Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa via DQ in a tag title match
  • Cody Rhodes b AJ Styles to retain the WWE title

– After FOX last week had a press release that subtly knocked WWE, not by name, but by saying the football game on the 20th did 81 percent better than the programming they had in the time slot last year, today’s fast nationals were reported by the usual source claiming SmackDown beat FOX’s football head-to-head even with the network advantage. Because the ratings don’t come out until tomorrow they used fast nationals without saying them, and forgetting fast nationals for live sports are misleading because they often don’t include the end of the game, and always don’t include West Coast viewership of a live sports event. The actual numbers will be out tomorrow afternoon. Plus the game they were talking about featured Washington, a West Coast team.  

– There were some weird production glitches on Collision last night. There was a mistimed commercial break, a taped segment that started and stopped a few times with Okada, and graphic listing segment numbers on the screen.

– We’re looking for reports from tonight’s WWE house show in Huntsville, AL, looking for results, finishes and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

– Rich Eisen announced today that Pat McAfee will have a recurring spot on the NFL GameDay Morning on the NFL Network.  

– Hiromu Takahashi has challenged Mistico to a match for the 10/14 King of Pro Wrestling show at Sumo Hall.

– Kayla Harrison has noted that if something happens where either bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington or challenger Julianna Pena can’t fight this coming Saturday on the UFC show, she said even if it’s 30 seconds’ notice, she’s been told she’s the backup and she’s taking the fight. Harrison has her second UFC fight Saturday against Ketlen Vieira with the winner likely getting the next title shot. 

– Some notes on weekend matches I’ve heard about. Not a long list. The opening trios title match at Friday’s Arena Mexico show was very good but I haven’t seen the rest of the show yet. I’ve heard Shingo Takagi vs. Henare for the Never title, Douki vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the IWGP Jr. title and David Finlay vs. Yoshi-Hashi for the Global title on today’s Kobe show for New Japan were all great. The other bout getting a lot of raves was today’s DDT main event from Korakuen Hall with  Yuki Ueno & Mao & Kaisei Takeuchi (a mainstream star in his second match, literally a phenom at this like Logan Paul) vs. Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masaada & Masahiro Takanashi was also heavily praised. Another bout we heard was very strong was Gunther vs. Ilja Dragunov and Cody Rhodes vs. AJ Styles from last night in Columbus, GA.

– Raw for tomorrow in Evansville, IN has Bronson Reed vs. Braun Strowman last monster standing, Kofi Kingston vs. Chad Gable, Rey Mysterio vs. Xavier Woods and Domink Mysterio & Carlito & JD McDonah vs. Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde & Dragon Lee

– XICW from last night in Clinton Township, MI: Solo b Alex Weir, AOD b KJ Reynolds, Great Tiger & Soultaker b CJ Cole & Noctambulo, Heather Blue b Stella Buho, Schwartzy DCOR Dre Jacobs, Malcolm Monroe III b Hoodfoot to keep the Midwest title, TJ Meyer & Thomas Bailey b Marcus Porter & Royce Carney III, Kyle Coleman b LaDon Sanders, Aaron Orion b Devon Ryker, Randi West b Mickie Knuckles, Tommy Vendetta b Orlando Christopher to win the Intense title, Jimmy Jacobs & Adam Wick & Maxximillian b DBA & Malcolm Monroe III & Caden Monroe (thanks to Leonard Brand)

– Former NHL star Darren McCarty of the Detroit Red Wings will be on the first Maple Leaf Pro weekend on 10/19 and 10/20 in Windsor, ONT.  McCarty has been working in area indies for a while and has also worked for TNA.

– Jeff Amdur, the timekeeper or MCW, passed away this past week. MCW announced that he was the timekeeper at the company’s first-ever event in 1998.  He would do write-ups during the early days of the Internet for the shows as well.  (thanks to Bob Magee)

– Joe Wilchak of Atlas Security, who worked in Philadelphia at events dating back to ECW, passed away on Friday night due to lung cancer.

– Layla El has talked about being open for a Royal Rumble cameo.

– Stalker Ichikawa, the longtime Dragon Gate guy who would lose quickly, announced he will retire on the 12/17 show at Korakuen Hall. He has been wrestling rarely this year.

– In an interesting statement, Yuji Nagata on last night’s New Japan show in Kobe said he had a feeling this might be the last time he wrestles in the World Memorial Hall.