Daily Update: Ben Askren, WWE WrestleMania, Ridge Holland

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A larger than usual issue with a wide variety of stories and tons of history:
*The fixed fight accusations from Saturday’s UFC show, what happened, how Dana White and UFC handled it, fixed fights in the early days of MMA and the different motivations then vs. now, and a look back at history with a former world heavyweight boxing champion who later became one of the biggest stars of his era in pro wrestling.
*A look at the third quarter TKO business, covering mostly UFC and WWE.  How each category is doing and explanations as to why.
*Nick Khan talks WWE ticket prices and  booking decisions on live events
*Full coverage of Saturday Night’s Main Event and business notes on the show
*Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Farewell in Gifu and 30 minutes that capsulized the best aspects of the past, present and future of pro wrestling
*Notes on the Tokyo Dome advance
*Finals of the Best of the Super Juniors tag team tournament
*Notes on the upcoming heavyweight tag team tournament
*Lots of notes regarding AEW Full Gear
*The real history of the original NWA national heavyweight championship
*Matches likely to happen at Full Gear
*The final installment of our Hall of Fame series, covering international and non-wrestlers, where we talk about the cases of people including Spyros Arion, Dominic DeNucci, George Gordienko, Ted Boy Marino, Billy Joyce, The Royal Brothers, Dave Brown, Zane Bresloff, Bobby Bruns, Bob Caudle, Joe Higuchi, Jim Johnston, James  Melby, Bill Mercer, Gorilla Monsoon, Rossy Ogawa, Reggie Parks, Morris Siel, Tony Schiavone, George Scott, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Tenay, Ted Turner, Jesse Ventura, Roy Welch, Stanley Weston, The Grand Wizard and Koichi Yoshizawa.
*Notes on the death of Victor Conte Jr.
*Tank Davis kills his last payday and Netflix’s big fight for the fall is out the window and thank God for that
*DDT has one of its biggest shows of the year
*Betting odds for pro wrestling matches last week and this week
*The most complete look at the television ratings of wrestling shows over the past week.  How these numbers compare in placings to past years, where other than pro wrestling is hurting with the new ratings, competition for each show and placings for the time slot
*CMLL has four straight sellouts and coverage of the main matches including a major return this week
*What wrestler is having the best year for someone their age in wrestling history
*Notes on a very confusing tournament coming up
*What young wrestler sold out in a singles with Mistico this past week
*Notes from the last AAA tapings
*AAA booking huge arena for a taping
*Stardom big show plus notes on the tag team tournament
*Will Vince McMahon write a book?
*Former pro wrestling star elected Mayor
*How network, cable and streaming numbers have affected NASCAR in 2025
*Update on Blue Demon Jr.
*More on Smashing Machine including Dwayne Johnson comments
*Jerry Lawler returns to WMC
*Athletic commission in trouble over a sponsored women’s championship
*El Hijo del Santo retirement tour hits Europe
*More WBD sale talks
*Blood & Guts news
*A poll on AEW viewership and how people watch the TV and PPV shows
*Advance ticket sales for WWE, AEW, TNA, MLW and RAF
*BJ Penn arrested again
*WWE sets gate records
*Paul Levesque’s booking
*How much Dwayne Johnson’s TKO stock is worth
*Notes on the WWE arena business going forward
*The Ridge Holland story

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

–Garrett Gonzales and I will be back doing our week in review show later today.  Our weekend show with Bryan Alvarez will be on Sunday night this week.

–The Hall of Fame issue of the Observer will be out this coming Friday morning.  It is usually our most talked about issue of the year.

–Ben Askren returned to wrestling practice today.  That’s the lead story of the day.  

–The city of Las Vegas has approved $6 million for WWE for two nights of WrestleMania, Raw, Smackdown, NXT Stand & Deliver, WWE World and  the Hall of Fame ceremony as well as a variety of community outreach events.

–Luke Menzies, the former Ridge Holland, put out a video today on his sutation with WWE at 
(thanks to Stephen Lyon)

–Japanese comedian and YouTuber Fuwa-Chan (Haruka Fuwa, 31). whose celebrity match on a 2022 Stardom show was a big deal, announced earlier today that she would be returning to Stardom later this year.  Her tweet announcing her return had 21 million views the last I checked.  She said she’s going full-time into pro wrestling and is back on the 12/29 show at  Sumo Hall.

–The movie on woman’s boxing pioneer Christy Martin, starring Sydney Sweeney, who is not exactly the person you would expect to play such a role, debuts tonight at theaters.

–Smackdown is tonight in Greenville, SC, with Giulia vs. Chelsea Green for the U.S. titel, Ilja Dragunov’s open challenge for the other U.S. title, Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax, Talla Tonga vs. Rey Fenix and more.  There are currently 6,650 tickets out for the show.  There’s nothing  wrong with that number but the peak of the boom is past, even though big shows will do well for a while.

—Great story on Frank Shamrock

–The mystery tag team partner for Hanako in the Stardom Goddesses tag team tournament was Megan Bayne of AEW.  So she will be flying to and from Japan several times over the next few weeks for tag team tournaments in both countries.  I don’t know that anyone has done that one in the past.  She returned at Korakuen Hall today as a surprise teaming with Hanak & Waka Tsukiyama & Rian vs. Bozilla & Ami Sohrei & Lady C & Akira Kurogane.  The focus was her against Bozilla.  On Sunday, she and Hanako face Sohrei & C in their first tag  team tournament match.  She’ll return to the U.S. and be back in Japan on the 15th, with the team facing Rina & Konami.  A week from Sunday they’ll face Bea Priestley & Saya Iida.  She then comes back to the U.S. and will be back in Japan on the 24th.  So she can work Full Gear on the 22nd.  The round robin ends the 28th in Kyoto  and the semifinals are the 29th in Osaka and finals are the 30th in Hamamatsu.  I can’t come up with one case previously where someone was in a major tag team tournament in Japan and flew home and back for big shows.  The Funks, Bruiser Brody, The Sheik, Hulk Hogan and other huge stars never did that as far as I can recall.

–Austin Aries and TJP are in Mexico for CMLL this weekend.  Atlantis Jr. & Titan face Angel de Oro & Soberano Jr. at Arena Mexico tonight.  Aries faces Mascara Dorada in a lightning match that will be an interesting test for both guys, and TJP & Templario & Esfinge face Volador Jr. & Rugido & Vegas Depredador.  On Saturday night at Arena Coliseo, TJP & Templaro face Volador Jr. & Aries while Dorada & Capitan Suicida face Barboza & Difunto.  On Sunday at Arena Mexico It’s Aries vs. Dark Panther vs. Rugido, TJP & Templario vs. Angel de Oro & Barbaro Cavernario and Mistico & Neon & Esfinge vs Averno & Volador Jr & Soberano Jr.  TJP will also be in Puebla on Monday teaming with  Templario & Dorada against Difunto & Soberano Jr & Volador Jr.  TJP is also working in Guadalajara Tuesday in a singles match with Avenro.  They have a loaded for Guadalajara show with Soberano Jr.’s return and feud with Atantis Jr. as its Atlantis Jr. & Dorada & Templario vs. Soberano Jr & Ultimo Guerrero & Volador Jr.
–Mistico isn’t on the show tonight as he’s wrestling in Los Mochis, in Sinaloa with a main event of Mistico & Neon vs. Difunto & Euforia.

–Lola Vice has been added to the 11/28 AAA TV  taping in Puebla teaming with Faby Apache against La Hiedra & Flammer.

–Hiroshi Tanahasi worked today’s Freedom show in Tokorozawa.  Tanashi & Jun kasai beat Toru  Sugiura & Tomoya Hirata in the main event.

—Konosuke Takeshita is still in Japan.  He worked yesterday’s DDT show at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo beating Antonio Honda.

–The UFC show tomorrow I’ve seen a lot of contradictions as far as where it is airing.  According to ESPN, the period from 4-7 p.m. Eastern will be only on ESPN+ and 7 p.m. on will be on ESPN and ESPN+.  If that is the case, and we’ve seen other listings different but I’ll go with the ESPN listing, it would be the first UFC on ESPN since the change in ratings and that will make this number very  interesting to monitor.
Zachary Reese (194) vs. Jacson McVey (193.5)
Miles Johns (135.5) vs. Daniel Marcos (136)
Tecia Pennington (114.5) vs. Denise Gomes (115)
Josh Hokit (236) vs. Max Gimenis (256.5)
Mayra Bueno Silva (135.5) vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti (135.5)
Ricky Simon (135.5) vs. Raoni Barcelos (136)
Hyder Amil (145.5) vs. Jamall Emmers (145)
Christian Leroy Duncan (185) vs. Marco Tulio (185.5)
Chris Padilla (155) vs. Israel Bonfim (161)  – Bonfim missed weight by five pounds and was fined 25 percent of his purse
Musli Salikhov (171) vs. Uros Medic (171)
Matt Schnell (126) vs. Joseph Morales (125)
Gabriel Bonfim (170.5) vs. Randy Brown (171)

–A correction in today’s issue regarding Otto Wanz.  We listed him as the promoter and top star in Austria and Germany in the 70s and 80s.  It’s actually late 80s and 90s.  Wanz only promoted in Graz prior to 1987 when he and Peter William became the dominant promotion in those countries with their CWA promotion. (thanks to Phil Lions)

–King Kong Bundy would have been 68 today.  Tony Schiavone is 68 today.  Takako Inoue turned 56 today.  Hall of Fame candidate Joe Higuchi, considered by many as the greatest pro wrestler referee of all-time, died 15 years ago today at 81. (thanks to Tony Richards).

–Aileen Eaton, the first prominent woman pro wrestling promoter and a boxing promoter who is in the boxing Hall of Fame, passed away 38 years ago today.  Eaton was the mother of Gene and Mike LeBell.  Gene was a national judo champion who was considered one of the all-time tough guys in pro wrestling history.  Mike was the promoter of the Southern California territory during huge years in the 60s and early 70s, and its major decline in the late 70s.
–Mike Tyson did an interview with Hard Rock Bet.  He said he wants a rematch with Jake Paul, saying he lost because he was in bad health.  How was that fight ever even allowed after his health issue?  He said he is fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in March or April

–Sukeban, the Japanese women’s wrestling promotion, has announced a 12/3 show in Miami during Art Basel.  

–GCW tonight in Hartford, CT has Effy vs. Shotzi, Bear Bronson vs. Ciclope, Danhausen vs. Priscilla Kelly, Kerry Morton vs. Maki Itoh and more.

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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.