Daily Update: John Cena, AEW Holiday Bash, huge weekend
Daily Update
Latest News
- Tom Brady, Eli Manning, Snoop Dogg pay tribute to John Cena ahead of final match
- WWE confirms SmackDown back to three-hour format starting next month
- AAA Guerra de Titanes to air on WWE’s YouTube channel
- WWE NXT ratings up for Deadline fallout
- AEW Dynamite viewership up, 18-49 rating steady
Latest Audio
- WOR: John Cena’s last match, Brock Lesnar
- WOL: Cena’s final match, other retirements next year
- Wrestling Weekly: John Cena’s last match, Gunther & AEW Dynamite upsets
- Fight Game: Will Eddie Kingston ever win the big one in AEW?
- B&V: Awesome Dynamite, hideous NXT, backstage news!
Latest YouTube Video
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
–We’ve got a giant new issue of the Observer out today covering the Cena and Santo retirements as well as all the big events from the past week.
*John Cena and El Hijo del Santo’s retirement shows and how they are so different
*A look back at both’s careers and places in history
*Where Santo went wrong
*Key people who saved John Cena’s career
*Why he never turned heel years ago
*Marketing of Cena as The GOAT
*How Cena ranks with the biggest draws in wrestling history
*Update on WBD’s potential sales to Netflix or Paramount, what the deals entail and how this all affects AEW
*Dwayne Johnson and his Golden Globe nomination
*Odds for upcoming pro wrestling bouts
*1,000,000th fan attends CMLL pro wrestling at Arena Mexico alone. Why this has never happened before, and the absolutely staggering part of the story that nobody talks about
*UFC 323 coverage of the last UFC show on PPV for at least seven years
*A look at NXT Deadline
*A look at ROH Final Battle
* a look at TNA Final Resolution
*A look at the career of Steve “Mr. Electricity” Regal, death of territories, the shocking win over the Road Warriors and holding world titles in the AWA and NWA in the 80s.
*The most detailed look at the ratings for all the TV shows over this past week
*A look at major promotions joining together for different shows in 2026
*A look at last week’s big shows at Arena Mexico, both a hell of a Friday and a big Tuesday with Bad Bunny under a Mistico mask in the front row
*Key CMLL talent banged up
*All Japan tag team tournament ends with a former rugby star from New Zealand and former member of the Harlem Globetrotters against each other.
*NOAH’s big start of the year show
*New wrestler starting at NOAH including the brother of a UFC fighter
*New Japan tag team tournament final standings and results
*Big awards being announced this week
*Actress who played Hall of Fame pro wrestler on a Netflix series wins major award for her performance
*Where did the original star ratings in Mexico rating matcheds come from
*Hulk Hogan album being re-released
*Notes on AEW Worlds End
*Andrade makes claims about what happened with AEW and WWE
*Advance ticket sales for all the AEW and WWE upcoming shows
*Lots more on Trump UFC event at the White House
*UFC schedule
*More on the Ali Act and attempting to change and subvert it
*Dana White talks Francis Ngannou now that he wants to return
*The most interest in buying tickets to a pro wrestling or UFC show in history took place this past week
*Lots more on the two lawsuits going against Vince McMahon and WWE
*The WWE TV schedule for this coming week
*Big PPV main event match that fell through from earlier this year
This Week’s Back Issue
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Friday Update
–Garrett and I just finished a show covering John Cena and El Hijo del Santo’s retirement getting into a of history of both, Vince McMahon vs Paul Levesque in charge, the true biggest and most important mystery in wrestling that we may never find out, the real story behind Brock Lesnar vs. Lennox Lewis more than 20 years ago, some ratings talk, the WBD sale to Netflix or Paramount and what is best for the company, and less important, ramifications for AEW and more. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night talking about John Cena’s farewell, Mistico vs. Soberano Jr., IWGP world champion vs CMLL world champion in Cardiff, Wales, New Japan tag tournament finals and Santo retirement.
–Tomorrow’s WWE show in Washington, DC, will be sold out at just under 19,000 fans. This will break the record for the largest wrestling crowd ever in the city. It will also set the record for the largest gate in a 20,000 seat or less building in pro wrestling history. After internal discussion and a change in plans, John Cena’s match with Gunther will go on last. We had noted on Wednesday how the original plan made no sense and talked about it on today’s show as to why. It was Cena’s idea to go on first.
–AEW has topped 10,000 tickets for the Manchester, UK show on Wednesday. There was big movement the past few days.
–Yota Tsuji & Gabe Kidd beat Oskar & Yuto-Ice in the other semifinal of the New Japan tag team tournament today. They face Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa in the finals on Sunday. That show actually will be live at midnight tomorrow Eastern and 9 p.m. Pacific from Kumamoto:
Tsuji & Kidd vs. Sabre Jr. & Oiwa
Yoh & Master Watio & Toru Yano defend the trios titles against Evil & Sanada & Ren Narita
David Finlay & HIromu Takahashi vs. Callum Newman & Great O’Khan
Hiroshi Tanhashi & Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. Yuto-Ice & Oskar & Daiki Nagai
Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens & Douki
El Desperado & Shuji Ishikawa & Shoma Kato vs Sho & Don Fale & Yoshinobu Kabnemaru
Hirooki Goto & Oleg Boltin & Yoshi-Hashi & Katsuya Murashima & Tatsuya Matsujoto vs Taichi & Satoshi Kojima & Lance Archer & Alex Zayne & Masatora Yasuda
El Phantasmo does an open challenge for the World TV title
–John Williams, the head of programming at ITV, sent a Tweet out about how AEW has had more than double digit growth on both shows this year. The actual growth from January 1 to this past week from 2024 is Dynamite up 54 percent for the year and Collision is up 60 percent. The key to this is the situation has remained the same there, unique in the U.S. whereas lot of the audience has gone to streaming.
–AEW Collision will be taped in Cardiff, Wales and air at 4:30 p.m. Eastern and 1:30 p.m. Pacific, due to sports on TNT as well as avoiding the WWE show head-to-head
Mark Briscoe vs. Daniel Garcia for the TNT title
Swerve Strickland vs. Josh Alexander – winner goes to the Worlds End main event multiple person match
Kris Statlander & Jamie Hayter vs. Skye Blue & Julia Hart
Kevin Knight vs. Mike Bailey in the Continental Classic
IWGP champion Konosuke Takeshita vs CMLL champion Claudio Castagnoli in the Continental Classic
At another point in history, the main event would be considered a major historical event. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Bailey vs. Knight could be the classic on the show.
–NXT on Tuesday did 647,000 viewers and an 0.09 in 18-49. The 18-49 number is up from the past few weeks. AEW Dynamite on Wednesday did 516,000 viewers and an 0.09. AEW number doesn’t include MAX of course.
–One thing where the new ratings are killing pro wrestling is that AEW used to always beat the NHL on Wednesdays and often double it or more. Now, with the switch, the NHL beats AEW. Never happened before except in the playoffs. Neither has changed in the last ten weeks, just how they are viewed.
–Ricky Romero Jr., the oldest son of Ricky Romero and older brother of Jay Youngblood, Mark Youngblood and Cris Youngblood, passed away. He was 73. He didn’t wrestle long, mostly 1977-81, using the name Ricky Youngblood. He was probably best known in Oregon. He wrestled in California and of course, West Texas, where his father was the biggest area star not named Funk. (thanks to Matt Farmer)
–The last UFC show of the year, and the last show on ESPN, will be tomorrow. The card will air from 7 p.m.to 1 a.m. on ESPN 2 and ESPN+
Jamey-Lyn North (126) vs. Tereza Bleda (126)
Allen Frye (242) vs. Guilherme Pat (238)
Melissa Croden (136) vs. Luana Santos (136)
Sean Sharaf (251) vs. Steven Asplund (261)
Neil Magny (171) vs. Yaroslov Amasov (171)
Joanderson Brito (145.5) vs. Isaac Thomson (146)
Amanda Lemos (115.5) vs. Gillian Robertson (116)
Bobby Green (158.5) vs. Lance Gibson Jr.. (158.5)
Kennedy Nzechukwu (243) vs. Marcus Bucheca (251.5)
Melquizasel Costa (145.5) vs. Morgan Charrierre (145.5)
Cesar Almeida (186)n vs, Ezary Oleksiejczuk (185.5)
Giga Chikadze (146) vs. Kevin Vallejos (145)
Brandon Royval (126) vs. Manel Kape (126)
Gibson Jr.’s is the first fighter in UFC history where his father was also a UFC fighter.
–Conor McGregor married longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin this past week in Vatican City. The two have been a couple for 17 years and have four children.
–The Mistico vs. Soberano Jr. match for the CMLL light heavyweight title headlines tonight’s show at Arena Mexico. The show also features the Gran Alternativa tournament, where a star teams with a lower card guy with the idea it gives the lower card guy exposure. The show has sold out which makes five sellouts in the last seven weeks I expect an unreal atmosphere as Soberano Jr. is clearly the second most over guy in the building, and I’m wondering if his going for the title will draw more women than usual, meaning he’ll get a lot of the cheers. It doesn’t matter if Mistico is booed as long as they sell out. But this feels like the biggest singles match the company has done since MJF vs. Mistico in September.
–Lots of talk of MJF being back imminently and being in a multi-person world title match at Worlds End.
–The Crash on 1/16 in Tijuana has announced Alberto El Patron and brother El Hijo de Dos Caras facing Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows in the main event, Baron Corbin (using that name) vs. DMT Azul and Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier vs. Noisy Boy & Rey Horus.
–Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Randy Orton, Grayson Waller and Omos are in Saudi Arabia promoting the Royal Rumble today.
–Gary Michael Cappetta, the former WWF and WCW ring announcer, turns 73 today. Jason Knight, the formerly handsomest man on Earth, turned 62. Royce Gracie turns 59. Ultimo Dragon turns 59. The Butcher in AEW turns 48. Eddie Kingston turns 44. Flip Gordon turns 34. Other notable birthdays today are Jose Lothario (born 1934), Buford Pusser (1937) and Sabu (1936). Jimmy Rave passed away four years ago today at the age of 39.
–40 years ago today was the finals of both the All Japan and New Japan tag team tournaments,when they were among the biggest things of the year. The New Japan finals were to be Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi. On the prior show, a match with Brody vs. Sakaguchi (who was as big as Brody and a national champion in judo) got out of hand and got real. Brody got the best of it, but for a variety of reasons, even though he was making $17,000 per week and not getting paid until the end of the tour, he walked out on his $51,000 pay for the tournament and left. Snuka, out of loyalty to Brody, also left and walked out on lesser pay. With the top placing team out, third place Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura faced Inoki & Sakaguchi. Inoki, feeling to quell the controversy of Brody & Sn uka no-showing the finals and to change the newspaper story that would have revolved around it, booked Fujinami to pin him, something unheard of and unforeseen and one of the biggest upset results of that era.
–The All Japan tournament that year was loaded, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu, Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr., Ted DiBiase & Stan Hansen, Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Harley Race & Jesse Barr, Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Nick Bockwinkel & Curt Hennig, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith and Rusher Kimura & Ashura Hara. Hansen & DiBiase went to a 30:00 draw with Choshu & Yatsu, and based on previous point totals, Hansen & DiBiase won the tournament. It was a great match but without a pin. (thanks to Tony Richards)
–The PFL announced the fiset major MMA event in Spain on 3/20 in Madrid, headlined by PFL middleweight champion Costello van Steenis of Spain facing Fabian Edwards, the 2025 tournament winner
–TNA Bound for Glory 2025 is free today on TNA’s YouTube, FAST channels and TNA+
–Bo Nickal has pulled out of the 12/20 Real American Freestyle match against Yoel Romero. Nickal will be on the January show instead. Romero faces Pat Downey this coming weekend.
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.