Daily Update: WWE SmackDown, Ring of Honor, weekend schedule

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A ridiculously large issue of the Observer:

  • Full coverage of AEW Revolution, business numbers, what mathes showed the most interest, match order, PPV buys, live numbers,  what the PPV number means, Dynasty card and more
  • WrestleMania update, MSG angle with Reigns, Punk and Rollins, card and interest level of the show.
  • New Japan Cup update with notes on every tournament match
  • Full UFC 313 coverage, looking at the main event decision wwht comes next, fight of the year candidate and business notes.
  • Lex Luger goes into the WWE Hall of Fame and notes about his life and career from the highs to the lows.
  • Latest update on the Vince McMahon/Janel Grant lawsuit
  • The classic Frank Deford story on the life of Mildred Burke
  • We look at “Queen of the Ring,” deciphering what was and wasn’t real about the movie, the facts regarding the career of Burke, the breakup with  Billy  Wolfe, the characters in the movie and how they were portrayed and Burke’s significance in the history of pro wrestling.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling and MMA shows this past week, how they ranked for the week and for the night, competition, how Raw did on Netflix as well as how the other shows did worldwide.
  • A look at the all-women’s Friday night show at Arena Mexico.
  • More on the Stardom Tam Nakano angle.
  • Notes on a week with some of the best matches of the year.
  • Notes on Dark Side of the Ring for this coming season.
  • New books out on wrestling.
  • What pro wrestling legend is Gable Steveson attempting to tie the record of?
  • Hodge Trophy candidates
  • Forming boxing celebrity back doing pro wrestling.
  • Notes on Bruno Sammartino and others with Madison Square Garden longevity.
  • Full details on the 16 Carat gold tournament
  • WBD news story regarding sports and how this affects wrestling.
  • Notes on AEW booing.
  • Advance ticket sales for WWE & AEW
  • More notes on the 18-49 record low number for Dynamite on a Wednesday.
  • More on the Dana White/Nick Khan/Turki Alashikh boxing promotion and who is the person responsible for originally putting them together.
  • More on the next  WWE & UFC media rights talks.
  • Notes on a time slot change for WWE & AEW  shows over the next few weeks.
  • Idea being discussed for a WWE PPV show.
  • Netflix and how much WWE is worth to them and the key change coming.
  • Lots of backstage notes.

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Friday Update

  • Our schedule this weekend is I’m doing our week in review show today with Garrett Gonzales and Bryan and I will be back Sunday covering the weekend shows. We have a ridiculously large issue of the Observer on the site today.
  • Smackdown is in Barcelona today. For those in the U.S., the bouts announced are DIY vs. Street Profits for the tag titles, Carmelo Hayes vs. Randy Orton, Charlotte Flair vs. B-Fab and Miz interviews Cody Rhodes.  They were expecting a sellout of more than 9,000.
  • Because Smackdown is in Barcelona right now as I’m writing this, it airs live all over the world except the U.S., where it airs at the regular time.  Raw will be live on Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern and Noon Pacific on Netflix.
  • We’re looking for reports on these shows:
    *Smackdown from Barcelona with anything not on the live show
    *WWE house show in Dortmund, Germany tomorrow
    *WWE house show Sunday in Hannover Germany
    We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
  • CMLL talent at the AEW tapings in Las Vegas tomorrow are Okumura vs. Dark Panther and Atlantis Jr. & Titan & Fuego vs Volador Jr. &  Cavernario Barbaro & Rugido.  These matches end up being taped for ROH
  • Taya Valkyrie and Lady Frost are working this weekend in Mexico City although they are not on tonight’s Arena Mexico show.  The Saturday Arena Coliseo show is bigger than usual with the Sky Team of Mistico & Neon & Mascara Dorada vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr., Esfinge vs. Zandokan Jr., Star Jr. vs. Valiente and Frost & Valkyria vs. India Sioux & Zeuxis.  Sunday has Valkyrie & Frost vs. Catalina & Persephone and a Neon vs Soberano Jr. 10:00 time limit singles first-time ever.  Titan has a singles match with Rocky Romero on Monday In Puebla.
  • They are doing the 82nd anniversary of pro wrestling at Arena Coliseo on 4/5.  They are also sending talent to MLW in Los Angeles that night.
  • They teased and announced an El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera mask match for 4/6 at  Arena Ciudad in Mexico City, the building WWE & UFC run, for an indie show.  Nobody expects it will end up this way and it’ll wind up with those two, and a few others, in a loser loses the mask where a lesser name loses.  But announcing this match, which from an historical standpoint would be legendary even though Fuerza is now in his 70s, is a very cheap and misleading way to sell tickets.  It’s really sad to see Santo’s retirement tour doing this.
  • New Japan Cup today in Kanaoka, Osaka saw Drilla Moloney beat TJP, Shingo Takagi beat Oleg Boltin and Jeff Cobb beat Tetsuya Naito.  This leads to the show tomorrow at 4 a.m. Eastern from Dolphina Arena in Nagoya with the quarterfinals of David Finlay vs. Yuya Uemura, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Taichi, Cobb vs. Shota Uino and Takagi vs. Moloney, plus Hirooki Goto defends the IWGP title against Yuji Nagata.
  • TNA Sacrifice tonight on TNA+ and Triller TV from El Paso, TX
    *Frankie Kazarian vs Steve Maclin
    *AJ Francis & KC Navarro  vs. Laredo Kid &  Octagon Jr.
    *Mike Santana vs. Mustafa Ali
    *Sami Callihan vs. Mance Warner in a street fight
    *Tessa Blanchad vs. Lie Ying Lee
    *Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel & Ace Austin vs. Wes Lee & Tyriek Igwe & Tyson Dupont
    *Danl Luna & Jody Threat defend the Knockouts tag titles against Ash & Heather by Elegance & their concierge in a 2 vs. 3 match
    *Moose vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match for the X title
    *Mashaa Slamovich vs Cora Jade for the Knockouts title
    *Joe Hendry & Matt Hardy & Elijah & Leon Slater & Nic Nemeth vs. Brian Myers & JDC & Eddie Edwarsds & The Colons in a cage match
    We still haven’t heard an update on Cora Jade after she was knocked loopy and her match was stopped on the 4th.
  • Maple Leaf Wrestling on Triller TV tonight from Windsor, ONT
    *Kevin Knight & Kushida vs. Blake Christian & QT Marshall
    *Billy Gunn & Bhupinder Gujjar & Mike Rollina & El Reverso vs. Raj Singh & Johnny Swinger & Rohan Raja & Rohit Raju
    *Alex Zayne vs. Mike Bennett
    *First round of the women’s title tournament
    Serena Deeb vs.  Aurora Teeves
    Bea Moss vs. Taylor Rising
    Gisele Shaw vs.  Laynie Luck
    Kylie Rae vs. Zoe Sager
    *Mo Jabari defends the Oceanic Jericho Cruise title against Taiji Ishimori, Stu Grayson, Brent Banks, Michael Allen Richard Clark and Rich Swann
    *Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Sheldon Jean
    *Thom Latimer vs. Bishop Dyer (formerly Baron Corbin) for the NWA title
  • The first-ever Megan Bayne vs. Bozilla match takes place on 4/18 at the Pearl Theater at the Palms as part of Joey Janela’s Spring Break show.
  • We can confirm Lucien Price is out of action with a hand injury and that’s why OTM hasn’t been wrestling.  Mike Johnson first reported this.
  • WWE trademrked Grande Americano and the belief that’s the lucha character that Chad Gable is playing.
  • UFC runs 4-10 p.m. tomorrow night from the Apex on ESPN+ exclusively
    Yunelsy Duben (125.5) vs. Carli Judice (125)
    Josiane Nunes (136) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (135)
    Daniel Barz (126) vs. Andre Lima (126)
    Stephanie Luciano (116) vs. Sam Hughes (116)
    Carlos Vera (136) vs. Josias Musasa (136.5)
    SuYoung You (136) vs. AJ Cuningham (136)
    Waldo Cortes-Acosta (261.5) vs. Ryan  Spann (249)
    Seung Woo Choi (146) vs. Kevin Vallejos (145.5)
    Dyar Nurgozhav (210.5) vs. Brandson Ribeiro (205.5)
    Da’Mon Blackshear (136) vs Cody Gibson (136)
    Alexander Hernandez (156) vs. Kurt Holobaugh (155.5)
    Chidi Njokuani (172.25) vs. Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos (171)
    Marvin Vettori (186) vs. Roman Dolidze (186)
    Nurgozhav, Njokuani and Musasa all missed weight.  Nothing at this point whether the Nurgozhava fight takes place with him missing by 4.5 pounds.
  • Paddy Pimblett of UFC said that he’d love to do WWE and wrestle Logan Paul.
  • Tom Lawlor has been added to the 4/5 MLW Battle Riot match.
  • Austin  Roberts, billed as 420 pounds, faces Nic Nemeth in the main event on tomorrow’s Memphis Wrestling TV show.
  • Bret Hart and Sgt. Slaughter will be at the I(SPW show tonight in Hackettstown, NJ at the Hacketts town High School.  Hart has a meet and greet from 6-9 p.m.  Also there are Jimmy Valiant, Rita Chatterton, Tony Atlas and Vampiro and the main event is Crowbar vs Dan Maff in a cage match.  They also run 4/4 in Parsippany NJ at the PAL with Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell, and Crowbar vs Channing Thomas as the main event.
  • There is a Katsuyori Shibata photography exhibit  in Tokyo.  More info is here and here.