Daily Update: Ziggler-McIntyre change, UFC fallout, Regis Philbin

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WON NEWSLETTER: July 27, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Extreme Rules review, Good Brothers podcast, more

A look at the very good, and the very bad, of Extreme Rules is the lead story in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We also have a back-of-the-book feature on Carlton Haselrig, one of the greatest American heavyweight wrestlers in the history of the sport of wrestling.

The new issue also covers:

Interest levels in Extreme Rules and with the rating the next day, the lesson that tells us about certain types of angles, the background of Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio, along with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results on the show.

An examination of all facets of the Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson departure from WWE, including what makes sense, what doesn’t, why, how come they were signed, how come they were given such a strong offer to stay, their release, A.J. Styles, angles set up for them in New Japan and AEW last year, the booking of Raw under Paul Heyman and much more.  This is a very detailed look not only at Gallows &  Anderson, but the roles of a number of different people and how Raw fell off the creative tracks

Impact Slammiversary with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

Stephanie McMahon’s interview in Ad Age covering wrestling during the pandemic, testing and what changes look to be permanent, as well as race relations.

The current plan for WrestleMania and how it has shifted, the new WWE Board of Directors, next week’s Raw show, NXT North American title thoughts, notes on the next Takeover, update on Wendy Barlow and COVID, WWE producer let go, WWE loses major international deal and how it went down, WWE TV personality get bullied by fans, idea nixed for Raw this past week and all the different changes to the show, Adam Cole-Pat McAfee angel, Bellas update, sports ratings and Canadian TV ratings for the past week, another example of WWE marketing that ha led to the situation they are in, market value of WWE and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.

This past weekend’s UFC show.

A feature on Haselrig, a Pennsylvania sports legend who could have been an Olympic medalist or an all-time great NFL player, but drugs curtailed his career, but not before he set a heavyweight record that may never be beat and another record that almost surely will never be beat.

Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

We have a lot of new shows up this weekend. Bryan and Lance Storm did a show on Friday and I did a show with Missy Hyatt and Garrett Gonzalez on Saturday.  Plus we have our weekend show up already covering UFC last night, New Japan yesterday, lots of Wednesday ratings notes and more.

The Smackdown ratings listed in various places yesterday were not necessarily accurate. The first numbers measure the FOX network in metered markets from 8-10 p.m. Eastern, 7-9 p.m. Central, 6-8 p.m.Mountain and 8-10 p.m. Pacific.  They are usually close to the final numbers. But Friday, two FOX stations aired baseball in the time slot so the rating listed for Smackdown included two stations airing the Detroit Tigers game, so the ratings, demos and everything included the numbers drawn by that game. They also don’t include the actual number drawn on those stations for Smackdown that aired at 11 p.m. that night.  So actual Smackdown numbers won’t be out until Tuesday.

Lots of talk last night regarding the confrontation between Dan Hardy and referee Herb Dean. Hardy was mad because he felt the Francisco Trinaldo vs Jai Herbert fight was stopped late. Hardy made an Instagram post today saying, “The referee’s job is more important then any other person in that building. It is on their shoulders to protect fighters from getting seriously hurt when they are unable to protect themselves. You may just see UFC fighters in there, but I see friends, teammates, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers, competing in the sport that they love.” “When I make a mistake, I look stupid on live TV.  When a referee makes a mistake, people are left vulnerable and can be seriously damaged.  that can be life-changing, and we all have someone to go home to, that loves us and wants us back in one piece.”

On the media scores yesterday: 

  • In the Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till main event, it was 52 percent Whittaker and 48 percent Till. Judge Bnn Cartilage had rounds 2, 3 and 5 for Whittaker. Judge Anders Ohlsson had 2, 3 and 4 for Whittaker.  Judge Clemens Werener had 2, 3 and 5 for Whittaker. 
  • In Maurício Shogun Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, it was a 56-44 split in favor of Shogun. Cartilage had rounds 2 and 3 for Rua. Judge Mark Collett had only round three for Rua. Judge David Lathaby had one and three for Rua.
  • In Marina Rodriguez vs. Carla Esparza, it was 53-47 in favor of Rodriguez, but Esparza won a split decision. Cartilage had Esparza in 1 and 3. Ohlsson had Esparza only winning 3. Werner had Esparza winning all three rounds.I agreed with the scores in all three close fights.

As far as trending, UFC did 170,000 last night, which was roughly 100,000 for Darren Till vs. Robert Whittaker, 50,000 for Khamzat Chimaev and 20,000 for Shogun Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.  The only other thing in combat sports that trended this past week was Roy Jones Jr. for Tyson-Jones which did 1 million searches on Thursday which is huge for a fight that hasn’t taken place. No. 1 yesterday was Regis Philbin at 5 million.

We talked about Regis Philbin last night on the show. Philbin and wrestling go back to his talk show in San Diego in the early 60s.  Fred Blassie appeared on his show regularly, as did The Destroyer and helped make him popular.  He remained close with Blassie and that led to his lifelong wrestling fandom and association with WWE for decades.

Right now the Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler match for Raw tomorrow has been changed to non-title. McIntyre naming the stipulations before the match starts is still part of it. How being non-title makes sense given the interviews that set it up is beyond me. It was to be a title match until today. Randy Orton is again scheduled to give his plans for SummerSlam, originally set for last week’s show.  There is a three-way with Viking Raiders vs. Angel Garza & Andrade vs. Cedric Alexander & Ricochet for a shot at the Street Profits and the tag titles, plus Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for the women’s title.  If the number isn’t up noticeably for this, it would be a bad thing.

WWE

  • The grandmother of Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo passed away yesterday in Mexico.  She would be the wife of the original Humberto Garza.
  • Klaudia Bermudez was named the General Manager of WWE in the Latin American market. She will run the company’s day-to-day activities in the region.  She comes from NBC Universal International where she was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Latin American business.
  • Xavier Woods has started a campaign to become a host of the G4 cable network. 

UFC

  • Johnny Walker vs. Ryan Spann is being targeted for the 9/19 PPV show.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • New Japan has booked Jingu Stadium, the site of the battle of world champions with Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada in 1993, for a show on 8/29. It’s the home of the Yakult Swallows of the Japanese Baseball League and holds 38,000 for baseball. Not sure how many they will be allowed to put in but it would be the largest crowd likely for pro wrestling anywhere in the world for months.  The card should be announced this week but it looks like Evil vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP & IC titles, Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Jr. title and Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi for the IWGP tag titles.
  • Zoltan Boscik, a two-time British lightweight champion from 1969-71 and a great worker and opponent for the likes of George Kidd, Johnny Saint and Jim Breaks, passed away yesterday at the age of 81.  He was one of the wrestlers who had the most matches ever on television because he made babyfaces look great as a technical wrestling heel.   
  • New Japan had a Korakuen Hall show today, and has another Korakuen Hall show at 5:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow on New Japan World.
  • Giulia won the vacant Wonder of Stardom title in the tournament final earlier today at Tokyo Korakuen Hall over Tam Nakano.
  • Wrestle Rampage from Adelaide, Australia Friday:  Corey Adams b Link Barnett, Lily Blaze b Link Barnett, Pat Graham b Aaron Onley, Joey Graham b Punch Drunk Istria, Greg Grahama & Will Gibson b Tommy Knight & Corndog, Rat Daddy b Havok. 
  • IPW runs Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia on 8/15 (thanks to Kevin Chiat)  
  • What is believed to have been the second show in New Zealand, for Heathan Combat yesterday in Hamilton, New Zealand:  Spencer Kyle b Ivar,Tnatious T b Kawa Kupa, Vic Craig won over Matty Short and Cam Owens to keep the Maniacs United Jackson Shield Championship, James Shaw & Saint Finn b Haldan & Drax-DQ, Ky Solomon b William Cutting, Byrant b Will Stone to keep the One Above All title.
  • Adam Brooks traveled from Victoria to South Australia to relocate and did two weeks quarantine entering the new state.  Expect him to work for Riot City Wrestling on 8/8 and other South Australia dates until the lockdown is lifted in Victoria.  Victoria is on a second wave.
  • A video of Nick Berk talking to Bill Apter about his dear friend Z-Barr.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Dusty Rhodes defeats Ric Flair for NWA title

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