Daily Update: Blake Monroe, Kerwin Silfies, John Cena

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Our annual awards issue is out covering the following topics:

  • Winners, top place winners, comments and every winner of every award dating back to 1980, from Wrestler of the Year, MMA MVP, Most Outstanding, Most Outstanding MMA Fighter, Tag Team of the Year, Best on Interviews, Promotion of the Year, Best Weekly TV show, Match of the Year, MMA Fight of the year, U.S./Canada MPV, Japanese MVP, Mexico MVP, Europe MVP, Best non-heavyweight, Women’s MVP, Women’s MMA MVP, Feud of the Year, Best Box Office Draw, Most Improved, Most Charismatic, Best Technical, Best Brawler, Best Flying Wrestler, Most Overrated, Most Underrated, Rookie of the Year, Best Non-WRestler, Best Television Announcer, Worst Television Announcer, Most major show, Worst major show, Best maneuver, Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, Worst TV show, Worst match, Worst feud, Worst promotion, Best Booker of the Year, Promoter of the Year, Best Gimmick, Worst Gimmick, Best Book and Best Documentary.
  • Tons of news related to the build to WrestleMania, why the card may be changing, a major concern regarding ticket sales, predictability vs. surprises, How Bron Breakker’s injury changes things, Brock Lesnar situation, Becky Lynch situation, situation in Las Vegas, concerns in Las Vegas, why ticket sales are down, plus build to Elimination Chamber
  • Tadao Yasuda, a unique life of a former sumo star, IWGP champion, one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, the birth of the New Year’s Eve fighting tradition, gambling issues and more
  • Coverage of the New Beginning in Osaka, talent leaving, talent staying, what is the direction for New Japan the next few months and a worst and best match of the year candidate one right after the other
  • Betting odds for this week’s wrestling
  • Most detailed look at the TV ratings, a look at the red flags, streaming numbers and more.
  • Notes on the honoring and retirement of El Satanico and career highlights
  • Mistico sellout updates
  • The last Friday for a month at Arena Mexico with the biggest names
  • AAA TV tapings with WWE talent
  • Starddom PPV notes
  • Epstein files wrestling references
  • Biggest UK women’s show coming
  • Show coming up attempting to be the largest attendance for an all-women’s show in three decades
  • Paramount again trying to get WBD
  • How politics affects pro wrestling
  • Grand Slam Australia notes
  • MJF talks Punk
  • TV reviews
  • YouTube notes
  • CBS airing UFC on 3/7
  • Zuffa boxing defies Ali Act with world title announcement
  • WWE injury updates
  • Bad Bunny Super Bowl controversy
  • WWE Hall of Famer threatens to quit if another person isn’t removed
  • Reigns upcoming schedule

This Week’s Back Issue

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Thursday Update

Kirwin Silfies

WWE

  • WWE and 2K Games held a Creator Fest event at WWE headquarters today to promote the upcoming release of WWE 2K26. Blake Monroe was among the talent there, with this being her first visit to HQ. She appeared on Busted Open Radio and discussed what her time in WWE NXT has been like so far:
    • Oh, it’s been amazing. I mean, wrestling is a real roller coaster. But for me, I always just come back to as a kid, I wanted to be a WWE Superstar. And then to be in somewhere like the WWE HQ where the walls are just covered in legends and then people from now. For me, that’s just really cool. Because it’s like, ‘Hey, I remember being a kid.’ And like, ‘I remember that match and I remember this.’ And it’s like, hey, I’m a part of this and I will build a legacy here.
    • Once we get rid of Thea Hail [in their NXT feud], I can get back on track and build a legacy here and be a part of that. So I think it’s a balance of, like, having the humility of, hey, this was always my dream, but also like I earned my spot here and loads of people want to be a WWE Superstar and they can’t.
  • Michael Hayes posted a tribute to former WWE director Kerwin Silfies following his passing:
    • I was so sorry to hear about Kerwin passing.
    • Kerwin was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met at WWE.
    • You may think you don’t know Kerwin, but, you know his body of work.
    • If there was ever a WWE childhood memory you have, it was most likely directed by Kerwin from 1985-2020. Kerwin will surely be missed.
    • NEVER FORGOTTEN!!
    • RIP Kerwin
  • Shawn Michaels sent his condolences to Silfies’ family and friends:
    • The @WWE family lost a very special part of our team.
    • Kerwin Silfies was our Director during my entire career. If you were there, you know how important that role was. He helped shape the sound, the feel, and the rhythm of what fans watched every week.
    • Raw, SmackDown, WrestleMania… he was in the chair, leading the way.
    • Kerwin loved the work. He loved the crew. And he took pride in getting it right. I’m grateful I got to work alongside him.
    • My thoughts are with his family and everyone who called him a friend.
  • Stephanie McMahon, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, and Jeff Jarrett are among the others who posted tweets remembering Silfies.
  • In an interview with The Takedown on SI, John Cena named some of the opponents he learned a lot from early in his WWE career:
    • Oh my goodness, that list is long and distinguished. So you’re talking about a short period of time, so I’m going to leave out a lot of names that continued to, quote unquote, carry me from that point beyond. But up until then, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, John Layfield, Kurt Angle, Rikishi.
    • Man, the list goes on and on. Every performer with time in front of a live audience, who wasn’t from my OVW class, I was able to learn from. They took care of me. Matt Bloom, who was A-Train, guys like Kidman on Velocity, heck even matches I had with a young Bryan Danielson, Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Renee Dupree.
    • To be able to learn from those guys. I was able to learn from every person I was put in the ring with, until I won the championship from a mentor who really took care of me, and toughened me up too, but showed me the ropes, in John Layfield. I’m grateful to them all.
  • PWInsider reports that Sean “X-Pac” Waltman was at the WWE Performance Center today.
  • Shawn Michaels shared a brief clip from WWE’s Performance Center tryouts.
  • TalkSport interviewed Drew McIntyre.
  • Raquel Rodriguez appeared on TMZ’s Inside the Ring podcast.

Other Wrestling

  • Rocky Romero spoke to Undisputed about how Kazuchika Okada was able to help get him acclimated to Japan when they were faction mates in NJPW:
    • We’ve also spent a lot of time together on the road. Dinners in the middle of nowhere, him helping me navigate all different parts of Japan to make sure I was getting culture in our days off and not just in my room watching TV. There’s no one like Okada.
  • Matt & Jeff Hardy have been announced for Battle for the Brave in Rahway, New Jersey on June 6. It’s a wrestling event that Deonna Purrazzo and Steve Maclin are putting on to benefit the charity Tunnels to Towers.
  • Former WWE wrestler Eva Marie was the guest on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
  • SoCalVal interviewed Christy Hemme for WrestlingNewsCo.
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Joseph Currier
Joseph Currier

Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.

In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.