Daily Update: AEW Dynamite ratings & a look at this weekend’s shows

Kenny Omega AEW World Champion
Kenny Omega speaks after his AEW World Championship win. (Image credit: AEW)

Daily Update

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • How with CM Punk and Kenny Omega title wins affect upcoming shows
  • A look at big shows with WWE & AEW with very little announced and only a few weeks to go
  • Updates on ticket sales to SummerSlam, All In, Redemption and more
  • The story of Conor McGregor, going through the drug testing issues, an amazing thing that seemed to come up, double and triple standards, the sexual assault cases and UFC covering up so much of his news. We go through a lot of fairness issues in UFC that others may not fully understand or won’t touch
  • We look at tomorrow’s UFC show
  • Sheamus leaves WWE, a look back at his run and where he goes next
  • Tiger Mask IV retires, and it’s all about the original Tiger Mask and the golden age
  • Notes on the ceremony
  • Dark Side of the Ring and TNA history, a look back and what was and wasn’t overed from the start of the promotion and the twists and turns
  • Tomoaki Honma announces retirement
  • The most complete look at the TV ratings for all the wrestling, boxing and MMA shows, details about who watched, the World Cup kills wrestling and more.
  • Wrestler leves promotion after 33 years
  • This week’s CMLL records being broken
  • Is CMLL overextending itself with the number of live events
  • World Grand Prix lineups
  • Vikingo update
  • AAA YouTube numbers
  • G-1 Climax first day notes
  • Notes on New Japan’s big show of the week in Japan
  • Ticket sales for all the major pro wrestling events in the U.S. for the next two months
  • Most watched YouTube segments for WWE and AEW
  • Notes from recent wrestler interviews
  • More notes from depositions reveal what the Board of Directors knew about Vince McMahon and Janel Grant long before the lawsuit was filed
  • Dwayne Johnson plays character based on his grandfather

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

Hurt Syndicate vs. Shane Taylor Promotions
Hurt Syndicate vs. Shane Taylor Promotions set for AEW Brawl in the Ballpark. (Image credit: AEW)

— Garrett and I did our show today talking about WWE creative, AEW ratings, MMA journalism, Conor McGregor, this weekend and much more. We will be back tomorrow night overing the rest of the news as well as Smackdown, UFC, the G-1 opening night and more.

— Wednesday’s Dynamite with no major competition past major league baseball and headlined by MJF vs. Kenny Omega in the title change did the largest viewer audience for the show since 2024. It should be noted two things. First, in 2024 the number wasn’t diluted by HBO MAXm and second it was a different system of ratings. The show did 773,000 viewers, 0.12 in 18-49 and 0.20 in 25-54. It was third on cable for the night and second in 25-54. Given that recent panel shows have been up 21% in viewers and 50% in 18-49, the panel number would figure to be in the low 900,000s. It would be the largest TV audience by far since HBO MAX. It is possible that it was the most-watched combat sports show of the previous week. It beat the audience of the Saturday TNT boxing debut and will almost surely beat Raw even not including MAX viewers. It would need 292,000 on HBO MAX to have more viewers than Smackdown. That is possible but unproven. It is weird how low 18-49 was as compared to older viewers but that could also be related to the simulcast on HBO MAX. I mean, they gave away a world title change with their two biggest draws and a heavy stip on an easier night, so it figured to be big numbers.

— Smackdown in Oklahoma City had 6,533 tickets out as of just before the start of the show, a number lower than usual.

— CM Punk is being advertised for the 7/18 Saturday Night’s Main Event in Madison Square Garden.

— We talked a lot on the show regarding the SummerSlam tickets and wrote about it in the issue as well.

— We’re looking for reports on these weekend shows

  • AEW tonight at the Minnesota Twins game
  • NXT tonight in Venice, FL
  • WWE tonight in Oklahoma City (dark matches needed only)
  • AEW Collision tomorrow night in Roanoke, VA (looking for results and notes for everything not on the live show)
  • NXT tomorrow night in Sebring, FL
  • WWE tomorrow night in Las Cruces, NM
  • WWE Sunday in Albuquerque, NM

We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights from all of the shows to [email protected].

— We are doing a poll this weekend on the first day of G-1 from Chiago which starts at 8 p.m. Eastern from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].

— AEW is running Brawl in the Ballpark at Target Field in Minneapolis in conjunction with the Twins game.

  • Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin (since Benjamin went to college at the University of Minnesota) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions
  • Hyan vs. Julia Hart – Hart is from the Twin Cities
  • Brian Cage vs. Serptentico
  • Dante & Darius Martin (from Minneapolis) & Komander (whose visa situation was just settled this week) vs. Hook & Action Andretti & Anthony Bowens

— the UFC show starts at 5 p.m. Eastern tomorrow from Las Vegas. The show is sold out and has an all-time record $25 million gate due to the return of Conor McGregor.

  • Alessandro Costa (126) vs. Cody Durden (125.5)
  • Ryan Gandra (185.5) vs. Zach Reese (184.5)
  • Farid Basharat (136) vs. John Garza (135.5)
  • Damian Pinas (185.5) vs. Cesar Almeida (186)
  • Tracy Cortez (126) vs. Wang Cong (125.5)
  • Luke Riley (146) vs. Kai Kamaka III (146)
  • Cody Garbrandt (136) vs. Adrian Yanez (136)
  • Gable Steveson (241) vs. Elisha Elison (236)
  • Nikita Krylov (205.5) vs. Robert Whittaker (205.5)
  • King Green (155.5) vs. Terrance McKinney (156)
  • Brandon Royval (125) vs. Lone’er Kavanagh (126)
  • Cory Sandhagen (135.5) vs. Mario Bautista (135.5)
  • Benoit Saint Denis (156) vs. Paddy Pimblett (156)
  • Conor McGregor (170.5) vs. Max Holloway (170)

The two big things on the show is the return of McGregor after five years and the UFC debut of Steveson, a former Olympic freestyle gold medalist.

— What could be the biggest weekend match is tomorrow night at Arena Coliseo with Titan defending the CMLL welterweight title against Yutani. Main event is Neon & Esfinge vs Sobarno Jr. & Hechicero.

— Arena Mexico goes to extend the Friday night record tonight of nine consecutive sellouts. The show is not sold out but was very close at last report. Mistico & Mascara Dorada defend the ROH tag team titles against Angel de Oro & Nieba Roja, the CMLL and New Japan Strong tag team champions, in the main event. Plus Claudio Castagnoli vs. Blue Panther, Flip Gordon & Titan & Templario vs Ultimo Guerrero & Volador Jr. & Ikuro Kwon, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Star Jr. vs. Zandokan Jr. & Cavernario Barbarand Felino Jr. & Cobarde & El Hijo de Stuka Jr. defend the Mexican national trios titles against Coyote & Polvora & Vaquero Jr.

— Tomorrow night is crazy with the G-1, one of the biggest UFC events of the year, Collision, AAA live from San Luis Potosi and Arena Coliseo all live on streaming or television at the same time.

— AAA tomorrow night has only announced for San Luis Potosi that Dominik Mysterio and Grande Americano will be there and a three-way for a shot at Rey Fenix’s cruiserweight title with Jack Cartwheel vs. Dragon Lee vs Mini Vikingo which actually could be quite incredible.

— Kevin Nash comes to Fresno, CA on 8/8 for The Fresno Grizzlies baseball game at Chukchansi Park and Pro Wrestling Night.

— Billy Jack Haynes turned 72 today. Eric Embry turned 66. Duane Gill turned 66. Isaiah Kassidy turned 28. Lou Klein who was part of the Flying Bastien Brothers, was born on this day in 1916. Bobo Brazil, the Hall of Famer and the biggest black star in pro wrestling until the Rock or JYD was born on this day in 1924. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 7/17 in Newark, CA at the Pavilion has Aaron Solo vs. Matt Sydal, Mustafa Ali vs. LJ Clearly, VertVixen vs. Gabby Forza and more. They also have a backpack driver for the needy so if you are attending you are encouraged to donate a backpack.

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Bryan Rose
Bryan Rose

Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.