DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
WWE Raw draws lowest ratings since ThunderDome began
Former wrestlers’ CTE lawsuit against WWE dismissed in court
Post-All Out AEW roster rankings: Archer, Santana & Ortiz move up
AEW announces two new matches, three appearances for Dynamite
AEW announces signing of Tay Conti
Countdown to AEW All Out ratings up from previous special
New Japan Road results: IWGP Junior Tag tournament finals set
Participants announced for NJPW G1 Climax 30 tournament
WWE NXT video highlights: Finn Balor wins NXT Championship
Latest Audio:
WOL: New NXT Champion, WWE lawsuit dismissed, Fred Rosser talks New Japan! 9/9
B&V&C&G: Retro WCW Invasion Smackdown May 31, 2001 9/8
WON NEWSLETTER: September 7, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Future of Brock Lesnar, Rock battles COVID-19, more
A look at the different directions Brock Lesnar could go is the lead story in the new issue of the Observer. We look at the money he can generate for a fight with Jon Jones, the reality about his trying to fight today, why he’s a free agent right now, what Tony Khan said about Lesnar, and why, unless Dana White isn’t telling the truth, it’s unlikely he will fight. Plus we’ve got comments by both White and Scott Coker on fights they would want to make if he does want to fight.
Also in this issue:
Positive COVID tests of Dwayne Johnson, A.J. Styles, Kevin Nash, Glover Teixeira and others that came out this week.
Payback, including the genesis of the Roman Reigns heel turn, the Rey Mysterio injury, the booking of the show, plus poll results and star ratigns.
New Japan at Jingu Stadium, including Tetsuya Naito growing up going to the stadium, all three-time IWGP champions, most IC tilte runs in Japan, business notes, plans for the tour going on this weeeknd, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
The departure of Mauro Ranallo from WWE, looking and his five years in the company, his background prior to the company, what old and new projects he’s expected to work on, and why he left.
The NXT title Iron Man match, next Takeover shows, Rey Mysterio television cartoon show, Paul Levesque stock sales, Levesque talks UK brnad, more on different allegations against WWE talent, returns of peope who have sit time out, change to Payback, Charlotte Flair news, Renee Young talks leaving WWE, Styles talks Heyman, lots of TV ratings updates internationally, new member of WWE Board of Directors, WWE market value and the most watched shows of the past week on WWE Network.
This past week’s UFC show.
Bio of Tom Anderson, who wrestled as The Claw and one half of the Masked Interns tag team. We look at two of the most tasteless angles in wrestiling that he was involved in, how one failed miserably and how the other was a huge business success. This includes the death of Alberto Torres, the heyday of the The Interns, the history of the masked doctors tag team and where it all came from, and classic stories involving Paul “Bear” Bryant, Ken Ramey, Lonnie Mayne, Beauregarde and what top promoter wouldn’t use the Interns and Ramey and why.
The life and career of Ric Drason, from bodybuilding to wrestling, including what two AEW stars he started, the glory days of Gold’s Gym in Santa Monica and the characters involved, his art work that sold millions of T-shirts, how one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time got his name from him, and why he had chacnes to be a star and the reason he never was.
A major change in how television ratings are done and how this is expectede to impact sports the most.
A comparison of the last week of AEW with competition and the show this past week where the only television competition was a replay show. We look at how this impacted every audience, what the audience numbers are likely to be for a regular unopposed Wednesday for AEW or NXT, and go in depth as to both sides of why WWE and USA would or would not want to move NXT. We also look at the huge change in the AEW audience from 8/12 to 9/2. We also have how the audience ebbed and flowed during the Iron Man match.
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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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
On his Twitch stream, AJ Styles said WWE wants him and other performers to continue streaming, saying “From the contacts that I’ve had, the information I got is WWE does want us to interact with our fans, and that means streaming. They want this to happen. They want you to have a YouTube channel. There are things they want you to do and be able to do, and what we knew was a little vague at first.”
Bonnie Hammer, who previously served as chair of NBCUniversal Content Studios, has now taken the role as vice chairman of the company.
This week’s The Bump featured previous interviews from Sasha Banks, Big E, Lacey Evans, and more.
Vic Joseph will join Corey Graves this week on WWE After the Bell.
In a clip posted after last night’s NXT, Robert Stone announced that Mercedez Martinez was no longer a part of the Robert Stone Brand. Martinez was later presented with a restraining order from Stone.
In another clip posted online, Drake Maverick told Killian Dain that he had spoken to William Regal and next week they’d be teaming to take on the Undisputed Era. Dain wasn’t happy and punched Maverick before walking away.
Josiah Williams is back with NXT after being furloughed in April.
Triple H wrote on Twitter following last night’s Rhea Ripley vs. Martinez steel cage match main event: “#RESPECT to both of these women. An incredible main event to end a huge episode of #WWENXT. Congratulations to everyone for #NXTSuperTuesday II.”
Gary Cassidy of SportsKeeda reported that the WWE Live UK tour has been rescheduled to April/May 2021.
In an interview that will be uploaded tomorrow, Chris Van Vliet speaks to former presidential candidate Andrew Yang about WWE’s treatment of independent contractors, growing up as a wrestling fan, Yang’s thoughts on AEW, his favorite match of all time, and more.
Here is a trailer for the upcoming film Dune, which features Dave Bautista.
Matches added to WWE’s YouTube channel today include Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley from the September 9, 2019 edition of Raw, The Miz vs. Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental title from the October 2, 2017 edition of Raw, and Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental title from WWE Night of Champions 2019.
Vince McMahon was on a list of 25 billionaires that dropped off the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. He fell short of the $2.1 billion needed to make the list, with his net worth being $1.8 billion. Shad Khan made the list at #66 with a net worth of $7.8 billion.
Xavier Woods has been nominated for an esports content creator of the year award.
Woods and WWE have opened a Up Up Down Down store.
Other Wrestling
AEW uploaded video of the promo Jon Moxley cut following All Out last weekend.
Killer Kelly has announced her engagement to wXw trainer Alexander James.
MMA
Randy Couture underwent surgery as a result of a ATV accident on Monday. The surgery put two plates on Couture’s shoulder. Mindy Robinson, Couture’s girlfriend, had minor injuries.
Dustin Poirier told ESPN that he would be ‘in’ to face Tony Ferguson at UFC 254 if the price is right.
Dana White says the next season of The Ultimate Fighter will start taping following upcoming shows in Fight Island.
Tyron Woodley promises that “I will let my hands go” in his upcoming fight against Colby Covington on September 19.
Jorge Masvidal recently crossed paths with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Dusty Rhodes wins NWA TV title
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