Daily Update: Ali Act, Josh Alexander, AEW Dynamite ratings

Kenny Omega vs. Swerve Strickland 2 | AEW
A big rematch is on tap for tonight's AEW Dynamite.

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • A look back at the career of Dennis Condrey of Midnight Express fame
  • Update on WrestleMania, both the matches, business update the ticket demand at the present time
  • An updated look at AEW’s All In on 8/30 at Wembley Stadium as well as a look at the Dynasty show and ticket demand for the show
  • Coverage of El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, CMLL’s second biggest show of the year, with El Satanico’s retirement at 76, The Death Riders appear, the heavyweight title changes hands and Mistico returns
  • A look at the NCAA Division I tournament including a look back 79 years when future pro wrestling legends dominated the heavyweight division and how it ties into the most recent tournament. We also look at the rivalry that could define college wrestling for years to come between a coach and his former pupil, a guy who was in high school in December and wins the NCAA title in March, as well business notes on the show, both attendance and television ratings
  • A look back at Sid Vicious, Badnews Allen and Dennis Rodman’s pro wrestling days
  • Trying to explain the latest controversy in television ratings and how this related to pro wrestling
  • How ratings differ from a sports survey about wrestling fans
  • The most complete look at the ratings for all the pro wrestling television shows over the past week,including competition, demos and comparisons with one year ago, as well as competition in the time slot.
  • Notes on CMLL talent coming to WrestleMania week
  • Major injury to arguably CMLL’s best worker
  • Notes on the 83rd anniversary of pro wrestling in one of its most famous arenas
  • Notes on tentative plans for a major mask vs. mask match
  • Callum Newman and Yuya Uemura tear it up in the New Japan Cup finals
  • Next major New Japan show thoughts with Ospreay’s returnh
  • Tanahashi talks goals to turn the company around
  • Kazusada Higuchi retirement notes
  • Thoughts on Satoru Sayama and his impact on pro wrestling
  • Aja Kongs 40th anniversary show
  • Gable Stevesn and RAF
  • Ted DiBiase Jr acquitted in his case
  • The end of CBS News Radio and what former WCW announcer was an anchor there
  • Notes on the announcing at the orignal When Worlds Collide AAA show
  • Lots of WrestleMania week show notes
  • FantasticaMania comes to the U.K.
  • Update on WBD sale to Paramount Skydance
  • Update on Revolution PPV buys
  • Jeff Jarrett becomes co-owner of a sports franchise
  • Jericho talks about working today
  • More on the Ali Revival Act
  • A list of a lot of PPV buy numbers for UFC
  • Ari Emanuel’s role in getting President Trump to stop the case against Ticketmaster/Live Nation.
  • WWE star training for a bodybuilding contest soon
  • Jesse Ventura rants but his timeline makes sense

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

— Garrett Gonzales and I are doing our Observer rundown and week in review show later this afternoon. The weekend show with Bryan will be Sunday night this week.

— A very good article with Bob Arum saying what is wrong with the new version of the Ali Act that just passed through the House of Representatives with almost no debate.

— Josh Alexander got the word today that the damage to his knee suffered in the trios title match from Fresno that aired on Sunday was severe enough that he will need major surgery, which takes place Wednesday. There is no time frame for how long he’ll be out of action until after the surgery, but it will be many months.

— AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night did 765,000 viewers and an 0.14 in 18-49. This is even more impressive since the show was expected to take a hit against the New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants baseball game head-to-head on Netflix. The show was headlined by Kenny Omega vs. Swerve Strickland to get a title shot at MJF. It is the most viewers for an AEW television show since the show that had the 2024 Blood & Guts match. That was prior to HBO MAX airing the show, so it’s likely this was the most viewers the show has had in several years.

— SmackDown tonight is from Pittsburgh with Giulia vs. Tiffany Stratton, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. the Bella Twins and Kit Wilson vs. Jelly Roll. There were 10,745 tickets out for the show as of earlier today.

— A correction from today’s issue of the Observer. The AEW note regarding Spring BreakThru week and Playoff Palooza is incorrect. Shows in April will not be using those names.

— Orlando Weit, Muay Thai fighter who competed in UFC 2 in 1994, passed away on 3/20 at the age of 60. UFC 2 was on March 11, 1994, and they had a 16 man tournament. Weit won his first fight with devastating knees over Robert Lucraelli, but then lost in just 1:29 to judoka Remco Pardoel

— TNA Sacrifice is tonight from New Orleans:

  • Mike Santana vs Steve Maclin for TNA title
  • Leon Slater vs. Eric Young for X title
  • Arianna Grace vs Lei Ying Lee vs. Dani Luna for Knockouts title
  • Eddie Edwards vs Moose
  • Jeff Hardy & Vincent vs. Cedric Alexander & Briain Myers
  • Mustafa Ali & Tasha Steez vs. Trey Miguel & Jada Stone
  • Elijah & Home Town Man vs. AJ Francis & Frankie Kazarian
  • Mara Sade vs Eleyna Black no DQ
  • Tessa Blanchard vs. Jody Threat
  • BDE vs. Ryan Nemeth
  • As of earlier today they had 1,195 tickets out for the show.

— Arena Mexico tonight has Atlantis Jr. & Esfinge & Neon vs. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Soberano Jr in the main event, plus Averno & Mephisto vs. Templario & Flip Gordon.

— Ian Carey’s odds for pro wrestling matches story for the week:
Betting odds are available for TNA Sacrifice on 3/27. For Sacrifice, Mike Santana is now a -500 favorite against Steve Maclin at +300 in the TNA World Championship match. Santana had opened as a -350 favorite last week. Leon Slater has opened as a -280 favorite against Eric Young at +180 in the X Division Championship match. Moose is a -200 favorite against Eddie Edwards at +150. Frankie Kazarian and AJ Francis are -260 favorites against Elijah and The Hometown Man at +170. In a mixed tag, Mustafa Ali and Tasha Steelz are -175 favorites against Trey Miguel and Jada Stone at +130. Elayna Black is a -165 favorite against Mara Sadé at +120 in a No Disqualification match. In a triple threat match for the TNA Knockouts World Championship, champion Arianna Grace is a -400 favorite against Dani Luna at +250 and Xia Li at +300.

— Odds are also available for two matches scheduled for the 3/27 episode of WWE SmackDown. In what is essentially a pick’em, The Bella Twins are -125 favorites against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, who are at -115. Giulia is a -260 favorite against Tiffany Stratton at +170 in the Women’s United States Championship match.

— As for the updated odds for WrestleMania, Roman Reigns remains a -500 favorite over CM Punk at +300 in the World Heavyweight Championship match. That line has not moved this week. Liv Morgan’s odds took a hit this week, as she is now a -220 favorite against Stephanie Vaquer at +155 in the Women’s World Championship match. Morgan had been a -500 favorite at most sportsbooks over the past couple of weeks. Rhea Ripley is a -300 favorite against Jade Cargill at +200. Ripley had opened as a – 325 favorite last week. Randy Orton is a -190 favorite against Cody Rhodes at +140 in the WWE Championship match. Orton had opened as a -200 favorite last week. Oba Femi is a -260 favorite against Brock Lesnar at +170. Femi opened as a -350 favorite last week. Becky Lynch has opened as a -500 favorite against AJ Lee at +300 in the Women’s Intercontinental Championship match.

— Maple Leaf Pro is on Triller as a PPV tonight from Windsor, ONT, which is sold out with about 1,000 fans. for ROH/MLP Global Wars:

  • Athena vs. Taylor Rising for the ROH women’s title
  • Luke Gallows & Karl Andeson vs. Gates of Agony vs Bishop Dyer & Kaito Kiymiya vs,. Sheldon Jean & Bryce Hansen to determine the first MLP tag team champions
  • Ricochet vs. Rich Swann
  • Mascara Dorada & Bhupinder Gujjar & Psycho Mike vs. Jay Lethal & Blake Christian & Lee Johnson
  • Rohan Raju vs Stu Grayson for the PWA Championship
  • Red Velvet vs. Alice Crowley for the ROH TV title
  • Eddie Kingston & Ortiz vs. Adam Priest & Tommy Billington
  • Michael Oku vs. Jake Crist vs. Cavernario Bsarbaro vs. Michael Allne Richard Cark vs. Ace Austin vs. Brent Banks
  • Tony Khan is at the show because it’s a combo ROH show.

— UFC tomorrow on Paramount+ is from Seattle starting at 5 p.m. Eastern time:

  • Alexia Thainara (115) vs. Bruna Brasil (115)
  • Ricky Simon (135) vs. Adrian Yanez (135)
  • Navajo Stirling (204) vs. Bruno Lopes (204)
  • Casey O’Neill (124) vs. Gabriella Fernandes (125)
  • Marcin Tybura (248) vs. Tyrell Fortune (259)
  • Chase Hooper (155) vs. Lance Gibson Jr (156)
  • Ignacio Bahamondes (155) vs. Tofiq Musayev (155)
  • Terrance McKinney (156) vs. Kyle Nelson (156)
  • Mansur Abdul-Malik (185) vs. Yousri Beigaroui (186)
  • Julian Erosa (145) vs. Lerryan Douglas (146)
  • Michael Chiesa (170) vs. Niko Price (170)
  • Alex Grasso (126) vs. Maycee Barber (125)
  • Israel Adesanya (186) vs. Joe Pyfer (186)

— PFL runs tomorrow at 10 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN 2 from Pittsburgh:

  • Lazaro Dayuron (135.8) vs. Jacob Thrall (135.4)
  • Alexei Pergando (146) vs. Julio Arce (146)
  • Ariane Lipski da Silva (125.8) vs. Sumiko Inaba (124.6)
  • Dalton Rosta (185.8) vs Impa Kasanganay (185.8)
  • Johnny Eblen (185.8) vs. Bryan Batte (186)
  • Rosta was a regular in AEW a few years back as part of the Paige VanZant, Dan Lambert angle. He didn’t wrestle any matches there but was a regular on the TV.

— RAF runs tomorrow night in Tampa with a main event of Arman Tsarukyan vs. Georgio Poullas stemming from the brawl the two had a few weeks ago. There is one major match in a battle of Olympic gold medalists with Kyle Snhyder vs. 2024 gold medalist Akhmed Tazhudinov.

— Former UFC star Diego Sanchez, who came up with the “Yes” chant that Bryan Danielson saw him do, was sentenced to five years supervised probation after pleading guilty last month of shooting at or from a motor vehicle with no great bodily harm, a fourth-degree felony. He was arrested in July for allegedly leaning out of a car window when he was the passenger and firing a shot into the air while passing by a crash, Police followed him and arrested him. As part of the plea bargain, a charge for negligent use of a deadly weapon was dropped.

— Octagon turns 65 5oday. Charlie Haas turns 54. SoCal Val turns 40. Other birthdays include Cowboy Luttrall, who ran the Florida promotion with Eddie Graham, born in 1906, Handsome Johnny Barend of Hawaii fame, born in 1926, Swede Hanson born in 1933, Gordon Nelson, born in 1930 and Jerry Bryant, born in 1953 (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Insen WrestleFest II on 5/2 in Monroe, MI with Road Dogg, Carlito, Matt Riddle, Jimmy Hart, Angelina Love, Rhino, Trey Miguel and Rich Swann.

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Dave Meltzer
Dave Meltzer

Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.