Daily Update: Bandido, G1 Climax 35, Diego Sanchez

CMLL vs AEW ROH Card Bandido

Daily Update

Latest Headlines

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

This week’s issue is one of the biggest of the year when it comes to major shows and we have one our biggest issues of the year out:

  • Full coverage of All In Texas including why matches ended the way they did, business numbers, lots of injury updates, booking notes on the top matches,  PPV numbers, gate, merch, history of Texas stadium shows, complaints about the length and why, interest level comparisons with WWE this week and the past month, next head-to-head and more
  • Bill Goldberg’s retirement, his comments, a look into the ratings of the show, WWE side of the story, what could have been done differently, Seth Rollins angle looked at, SummerSlam card revealed, how to accurately look at the numbers and more.
  • WWE Evolution, early numbers, booking thoughts.
  • Great American Bash and competition wth All In.
  • ROH Supercard of Honor featuring an incredible main event
  • Dragon Gate has its biggest show of the year
  • The life and times of the Amazing Kung Fu on the death of Eddie Hamill and his influence on how babyfaces in the U.K. work
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling television shows this past week, with demo, comparisons with last year and quarters.
  • A look at the CMLL anniversary show
  • MJF heading to Mexico to challenge for title
  • Arena Mexico has trios match with young wrestlers that was super
  • Alberto turns face in AAA
  • G-1 Climax first week news
  • Celebrity returns to Japanese rings
  • MMA legends do pro wrestling title match
  • Cowboy Bob Ellis and the Hall of Fame
  • Tokyo Joshi Pro in the U.S.
  • Slammiversary is TNA’s  biggest event in years
  • Update on lawsuit against AEW
  • Tony Khan talks a number of subjects after All In
  • The story behind the Dralisico & Dragon Lee win over FTR in Mexico and what happened next
  • Advance ticket sales for WWE & AEW upcoming shows
  • Dana White talks about White House show for next year
  • MMA champion shot five times this past week
  • Randy Couture update
  • Business of Taylor vs. Serrano
  • Lawsuit involving Real American Beer
  • Stratus talks Evolution
  • SummerSlam advances

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Friday Update

Gabe Kidd G1 Climax 2025
Image: NJPW

— No WOR with Garrett Gonzales today as due to family history, one day every year, I get tested for pancreatic cancer and today was that day (clean bill of health). We’ll be doing our usual show tomorrow night instead after UFC 318.

— I was very sorry to hear about the plight of Marcus Bagwell. Hopefully, he can live the best life possible with the least pain possible.

— Bandido has had a hell of a career in the last 33 days:

  • Four match of the year candidates
  • Two straight Arena Mexico sellouts
  • Fastest sellout at Arena Coliseo anyone can remember
  • Multiple other excellent matches

Keep in mind he did this without being part of the G1 tournament. I can’t think of anyone else who has had this many matches at that level in such a short period of time unless it was the top guys in G1.

— Speaking of the G1 Climax, it opens at 4 AM Eastern time tomorrow morning from Sapporo:

A block:

  • Evil vs. Callum Newman
  • Oleg Boltin vs. Yuya Uemura
  • David Finlay vs. Ryohei Oiwa
  • Yota Tsuji vs. Sanada
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs.  Taichi

B block

  • Shingo Takagi vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  • Great O’Khan vs. Drilla Moloney
  • Shota Umino vs.  El Phantasmo
  • Gabe Kidd vs. Konosuke Takeshita
  • Zack Sabre Jr.  vs.  Ren Narita

Late tomorrow night at 10 PM Pacific and 1 AM Eastern is the second G1 show of the weekend.

— Diego Sanchez, the UFC fighter who Bryan Danielson copied the “Yes” chants from, was arrested at about midnight last night in Albuquerque, NM, for shooting at or from a motor vehicle and negligent use of a deadly weapon. The police report stated that Sanchez was leaning out of a car window that he was a passenger in and fired a shot into the air while passing by a crash. Police followed the vehicle. Sanchez denied firing the shot, but the driver of the car told police that Sanchez fired the shot. Ricky Kottenstette, a rep for Sanchez, told MMA Fighting that Sanchez has been struggling with substance abuse issues in recent years and has been to rehab a few times. There was an excellent episode of Dark Side of the Cage on Sanchez earlier this year.

— SmackDown tonight is from San Antonio TX. There will be a John Cena vs. Cody  Rhodes contract signing pus Andrade & Rey Fenix vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. DIY vs. Fraxiom for a tag title shot, Charlotte Flair vs. Raquel Rodriguez (Based on this, it would seem to build Flair & Bliss vs. Rodriguez & Perez), Stephanie Vaquer vs. Alba Fyre and Jacob Fatu to appear. The show will be sold out as the last I saw they had 14,731 tickets out.

— TNA Slammiversary on Sunday is up to 5,492 tickets out after the announcement that AJ Styles would be appearing at the show at the UBS Arena in Belmont, NY. The PPV is headlined by Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana vs. Joe Hendry for the TNA title.

— The first season of Peacemaker, starring John Cena, is premiering tonight on TNT at 10 p.m. Eastern after its initial run on Max. The second season will be on Max this August.

— There will be a monument dedicated to former Olympic wrestler, pro wrestling world champion and later promoted Edward George, better known as Ed Don George. It takes place on Sunday in his hometown of North Java, NY. The monument will also honor several veterans from the city. (thanks to Dan Murphy)

— In the note in the current issue about merch sales for AEW All in Texas, it should be noted that they sold out of almost all merch early in the show.

— We’re looking for reports on these weekend shows:

  • SmackDown tonight in San Antonio (matches not on the live TV show)
  • NXT in Sebring, FL
  • WWE house show tomorrow night in Corpus Christi, TX
  • NXT tomorrow night in Tampa, FL
  • WWE house show tomorrow night in Edinburg, TX

We’re looking for results, finishes, angles and highlights to [email protected] 

We’re doing polls this weekend for the first night of G-1 in Sapporo and TNA Slammiversary, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]

— Arena Mexico tonight has the Leyenda de Plata Cibernetico. It’s an elimination match with Mascara Dorada, Titan, Templario, Angel de Oro, Neon, Max Star, Capitan Suicida and Explosivo. It’ll probably be great. It goes until two men are left and they will headline the show on 7/25. Keep in mind 7/25 goes head-to-head with AAA at Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City.

— Saturday night’s show at Arena Coliseo with Mistico & Bandido vs. Mortos & Voador Jr. and Averno vs. Ulltimo Guerrero sold out yesterday. Mexico City has always been a walk-up market except for the biggest shows at  Arena Mexico or TripleMania type of shows. I’ve been covering it closely for close to 40 years and never recall an advanced sellout like this.

— UFC 318 is tomorrow from New Orleans with the Dustin Poirier retirement show.  

ESPN 2 and ESPN+ at 6 p.m. Eastern

  • Carli Judice (125) vs. Nicolie Caliari (126)
  • Brunno Ferreira (186) vs. Jackson McVey (185)
  • Ryan  Spann (252) vs. Lukasz Brzeski (242)
  • Jimmy Crute (205) vs. Marcin Prachnio (205)
  • Adam Fugitt (171) vs. Islam Dulatov (171)

ESPN and ESPN + at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Ateba Gautier (185) vs. Robert Valentin (186)
  • Francisco Prado (170) vs. Nikolay Verretennikov (169)
  • Marvin Vettori (186) vs. Brendan Alen (185()
  • Kyler Phillips (135) vs. Vinicius Oliveira (135)

PPV at 10 p.m.

  • Michael Johnson (155) vs. Daniel Zellhuber (156)
  • Dan Ige (145) vs. Patricio Pitbull Freire (145)
  • Kevin Holland (170) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (170)
  • Paulo Costa (185) vs. Roman Kopylov (185)
  • Dustin Poirier (156) vs. Max Holloway (155)

— Sean Strickland was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission for running into a cage at a regional show and attacking a fighter during a show in June. The length of the suspension is to be determined but if he is suspended in Nevada, he can’t fight anywhere in the U.S. because states all adhere to these suspensions. UFC would not book a suspended fighter outside the U.S. either. This took place when Luis Hernandez finished Miles Hunsinger, a teammate of Strickland’s, with a guillotine. Hernandez started taunting Hunsinger and Strickland and Chris Curtis, another UFC fighter who was in the corner, ran into the cage. Strickland threw several punches at Hernandez before security broke them up.

— WWE Vault uploaded a never before released match from the Poffo collection on March 24, 1985, where Randy Savage wrestled Jerry Lawler in Cape Girardeau, MO.

— A new book by Phil Schneider called “Way of the Blade: AEW Edition” talks about the bloodiest matches in AEW history. Tony Khan did the foreword for the book, which you can find here.

— Shark Boy appears on tomorrow’s Memphis Wrestling TV show.

— Bill & Justin Neeley are doing a book called “Touchdowns and Turnbuckles” about eight WWE Hall of Famers who played college football at West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M). The book covers Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Dusty Rhodes, Merced Solis (Tito Santana), Tully Blanchard and Ted DiBiase.

— Jun Akiyama will have a singles match with Miyu Yamashita on the 8/17 DDT show in Osaka.

— The annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup tournament takes place tomorrow at the RJ Meyer Arena for MCW in Joppa,MD at 7:30 p.m.

— Karrion Kross is doing a signing of his new book “Life is Fighting” on 7/31 at the Wrestling Collector located on Route 23 in Stockholm, NJ from 6-9 p.m.