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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
We have one of the most news and business heavy issues of the year:
*All the details of the WWE’s deal with ESPN, what is in the deal, what isn’t, who can watch for free and why that probably won’t be for long, what ESPN Needs for it t make economic sense, as well as break-even for the ESPN UFC PPV deal and when the ESPN deal with WWE starts
*Brock Lesnar returns to WWE, how it happened, why it happened, why it was inevitable because of how TKO management views things, the double talk, comments from loads of people in WWE as well as Janel Grant’s side, exactly what was in the lawsuit that regards Lesnar and other example of TKO decisions which show a pattern
*Full coverage of SummerSlam, business details, the Rollins cash-in, Netflix numbers, attendance numbers and next PPV show
*Notes on UFC and WWE business numbers, what is up and what is down
*Hulk Hogan’s funeral, Brooke Hogan’s claims of info on Hogan’s Moves never talked about before, a ton of Hogan history, Hogan’s heyday in Japan and much more.
*Update on the G-1 Climax tournament
*Forbidden Door and the surprising record it has set and other major notes regarding the show and update n the card
*The most complete look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA television shows of the past week, competition, demos, why ratings were up or down, as well as Netflix numbers for Unreal and Raw.
*MJF returns to Arena Mexico and coverage of Friday’s hwo
*Salvador Lutteroth talks his fan base and AEW
*TripleMania updates
*Five Star Grand Prix updates
*Hogan documentaries
*RevPro anniversary shows
*Bloodsport notes
*A change at Discovery that is major and how that affects AEW streaming as well as notes on the current streaming deal
*How much did WBD loss or gain by losing the NBA
*Lots of injury updates
*Notes on Dustin & Cody Rhodes
*Backstage stuff in AEW ande what is and isn’t real
*Who at this point isn’t at Forbidden Door
*Ticket sales for upcoming TNA, AEW and WWE shows over the next few months
*More notes on Zuffa Boxing run by Nick Khan and Dana White
*Peacock and WWE business
*How much is Dwayne Johnson’s WWE stock worth
*Karrion Kross and Scarlett contract update
*Raw ad rates on Netflix and comparisons to AEW on TBS
This Week’s Back Issue
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Sunday Update
— Our Friday show with Garrett Gonzales talks a lot about the ESPN WWE deal, the numbers it needs to be a success, Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE and TKO and how it has handled both stars and non stars with past issues, the Janel Grant case and more on Hogan and CMLL. Bryan and I will be back for our weekend show tonight.
— The G-1 A block round robin was completed. Evil finished first in the block with David Finlay second and Yota Tsuji third so all three advance to the playoffs that start on Thursday at Korakuen Hall with Evil getting a first round bye.
The B block round robin ends Wednesday:
- Shota Umino (5-3) vs. Great O’Khan (4-4)
- Yoshi-Hashi (4-4) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (6-2)
- Konosuke Takeshita (5-3) vs. Ren Narita (5-3)
- Shingo Takagi (4-4) vs. Drilla Moloney (4-4)
The only thing is that Sabre has the best shot and is in with a win, plus the Takeshita vs. Narita winner is in with a win. Umino is also in with a win. There are a number of playoff options based on people who finish 5-4.
— Horrible news and something I’ve never heard of ever happening in history, two Japanese boxers, Hiromasa Urakwa and Shigetoshi Kotari both died from injuries in the same show on 8/2 at Korakuen Hall. Nobody has come with a card in history where two men passed away. I don’t know of any explanation, but you would sweat like crazy upping the risk of dehydration in a boxing match in August at Korakuen Hall.
— Robbie Ellis, real name Rob Elowitch, passed away surprisingly on Thursday. He was 82. Ellis did independent shows in the Northeast from 1966 to 2013, but had a ton of mainstream news articles about him nationally because of the idea he was the owner of the Baridoff Gallery in Portland, ME, but also did independent matches until the age of 70. He was the subject of a well received documentary called “Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story” and had an article on him in Sports Illustrated at a time when that was a really big deal. After the article he billed himself as “Sports Illustrated legend Robbie Ellis.” He also appeared on The Today Show, World News Tonight, The Osgood File, MacNeil/Lehrer, Time and MTV’s True Life. He did TV jobs with major promotions in the 80s and was a regular for CHIKARA when he was much older. (thanks to Christopher Cruise and Matt Cail)
— Hunter Campbell has said that they are looking to expand the APEX to 5,000 to 10,000 seats and it would continue to hold UFC events but also hold NXT major shows and even WWE major shows.
— Arena Mexico sold out with 16,000 again this past Friday night. The CMLL boom is clearly the most undercovered story in pro wrestling this year by far.
— There is a story on 71 year old Tony Atlas doing a match last night in Lewiston, ME. Atlas said in the story that he was glad WWE didn’t invite him to one of the shows where they honored Hogan “because then I would only have been there for the money, not for him.” (thanks to Christopher Cruise)
— Regarding the departure of Ashante three Adonis from WWE, his contract wasn’t renewed. I had talked about expecting this after they did the Adonis/Karmen Petrovic break-up at the same time they were doing a lot of releases. Essentially they stopped using him, but didn’t fire him and let the contract go. He had a main roster deal so if they had cut him he’d have been paid for the 90 day non-compete. Essentially his contract was up at the same time his non-compete would have been up if they had let him go, so it really just made sense to allow the contract to expire.
— Jun Saito beat Yuma Aoyagi in Aoyagi’s home city of Matsumoto today to retain the All Japan Triple Crown title.
— Piers Morgan, who said that Jake Paul’s boxing career has been staged BS, but said he didn’t mean to say the matches were predetermined and fixed, just that he faced people he knew he could beat. But he said that if Paul really faces Anthony Joshua, that changes the narrative.
— Regarding Karrion Kross, I’ve heard nothing new since Thursday when he had not signed but everyone was going with the idea he was staying. I haven’t heard him negotiating elsewhere. The idea they’d try and do a Ron Killings thing with him but as a work makes a lot of sense, but can’t confirm that on this. I do know that the people handling his media for his autobiography that just came out told people they could not ask any questions on the subject related to his contract.
— Regarding Google searches, the only pro wrestling mention is Karrion Kross at 10,000. Yesterday’s UFC show did 100,000 searches.
— It appeared from commercials I saw that Kacy Catanzaro (Katana Chance in WWE) will be announcing for American Ninja Warriors this season. She was in ads for Monday’s show.
— A correction from Friday’s show, the $10 credit that you got from Amazon Prime if you bought All in Texas can’t be redeemed for purchases of Forbidden Door. The credit was only valid for 30 days. It is still a good marketing gimmick to do that when you have the big show of the year because it would encourage those on the fence to buy the next show to take advantage of the credit (thanks to Chris Whitehead)
— As far as matches to check out this weekend, the stuff I’ve been told about include Konouske Takeshita vs. Shota Umino, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drilla Moloney in and David Finlay vs. Yuya Uemura in G-1, Jun Saito vs. Yuma Aoyagi from today’s All Japan show, Ultimo Guerrero vs. Blue Panther and Mistico & Atlantis Jr & Mascara Dorada vs. Difunto & Hechicero Angel de Oro from Friday at Arena Mexico and Kye Fletcher vs. Tomohiro Ishii from Collision. Guerrero vs. Panther wasn’t a match of the year type of level bout, but I can’t come up with a singles match where one of the guys was weeks shy of his 65th birthday ever that was as good as this one.
— A&E tonight has at 9 p.m. WWE’s Greatest Moments covering SummerSlam in the 2000s, 9:30 p.m. has WWE’s Greatest Moments on John Cena and LFG is at 10 p.m.
— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling from Friday night in Newark, CA, which sold out in advance:
- QT Marshall b Matt Cardona
- Aaron Solo b Jordan Cruz
- Viva Van & VertVixen b Shotzi Blackheart & Beatrice Domino
- Bad Dude Tito b Alan Agnels
- Starboy Charlie b LJ Cleary
- Marcus Lewis b Chriss Nastyy
- Alpha Zo b Seabass Finn
- Los Suavecitos b Texas Outlaws
The next show is 10/3 featuring Bret Hart. It will be the company’s 29th anniversary show.
— TNA announced this for Saturday’s TV taping in Baltimore: Hardys vs. Cedric Alexander & Leon Slater, plus Trick Williams, Mike Santana, Masha Slamovich, The System,The Elegance Brand, Mara Sade (Jakara Jackson), The Iinspiration, Indi Hartwelll, Steve Maclin and Frankie Kazarian.
— Angelo Dawkins and Stipe Miocic will be part of the Machine Gun Kelly Day in Cleveland today as part of the Monster Energy Celebrity Shootout which will be a basketball shootout. They’ll be joined by NFL stars Joe Haden and Vernon Davis as well as actors and Olympian Louie Vito.
— Kyle Fletcher defends the TNT title against a New Japan Wrestler yet to be named at Forbidden Door. The identity of the person will be announced Wednesday. So technically, it could be someone eliminated in the A block since they’d be done, meaning Oleg Boltin, Ryohiei Oiwa, Yuya Uemura, Callum Newman, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Sanada or Taichi. Tanahashi’s final UK match was to be on this show so he’d be the favorite.
Dynamite on Wednesday:
- Adam Copeland vs. Stokely Hathaway
- MJF and Adam Page face-to-face
- FTR vs. Bandido & Brody King, winner gets a tag title shot at Forbidden Door
- Jon Moxley vs. Kevin Knight
— OVW is changing its premium membership program and will make the shows formerly under the program free on the Internet.
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