Daily Update: John Cena, Brooke Hogan, Colby Corino

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

*More on the death of Hulk Hogan
*The ugliness of the aftermath of the death
*An article talking about the aftermath of the death
*Those close to him talk about his death
*Those not remotely close to him get harassed about his death
*Documentaries coming on Hogan
*A look at the biggest names in history when it comes to drawing and how Hogan compares with them domestically and internationally
*Hogan’s WWF peak
*WWF business under Hogan and Austin
*Hogan’s live show magic
*The Andre match on NBC
*Gorgeous George, The Rock, Sammartino, Londos, Rikidozan and Santo
*Wrestling in the U.S. pre-Hogan and the myths that have been created
*Hogan vs. Londos
*Hogan’s family talks
*SummerSlam story and interest levels
*WWE, AAA and CMLL in Mexico this past week
*Lots on WWE’s plans for AAA
*TripleMania thoughts
*Alberto, Dominik, Vikingo and Grende Americano in Mexico
*A classic match at Arena Mexico with Neon vs. Mascara Dorada
*Update on the G-1 Climax tournament
*The life and times of Gerry Morrow, a Canadian wrestling journeyman who is one of the most underrated inflential wrestler of the st 40 years with comments by those he inflenced
*Conor McGregor’s appeal of the sexual assault civil cse
*The most detailed look at the ratings for  all the TV wrestling shows
*MJF to Arena Mexico
*Five Star Grand Prix opens up
*The Hogan vs. Andre match that never happened
*Santo and Fuerza Guerrera retirement show notes
*The first major ethnic draw in the U.S.
*TNA looking for new TV deal
*Will Ospreay update
*Forbidden Door update
*Details of the WBD split
*Tony Khan has already made belts for a new title
*Tag team tournament AEW update
*TKO Boxing notes
*Update on ringboys lawsuit against the McMahons and WWE
*Vince McMahon auto accident details
*Levesque and Trump
*Thoughts on WWE Unreal
*An original Mania show
*Cody Rhodes on Bill Simmons
*Lots of notes on the WWE tryouts this week

This Week’s Back Issue

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Thursday Update

WWE

  • John Cena spoke to People magazine about how grateful he is for his connection to the Make-A-Wish Foundation:
    • I’m so grateful for the time I’ve been able to spend on Make-A-Wish. I’m even more grateful that my fellow [WWE] Superstars, my coworkers, my colleagues, now look at it as an aspirational thing.
    • Because they’re only going to want to meet John Cena for a little bit. And the reason I just drop what I’m doing in that environment to do whatever I can is because the experience can truly make a difference – to talk with the families just like I’m talking to you right now, you get to kit them up for the night, you get to give them stuff that, like I came to see this person, well here’s all the stuff I have.
    • And with me, it’s a great lineup because it’s my ring gear. I’m not giving them like a T-shirt that looks like me in wrestling tights. I’m like, ‘Hey, this is the stuff I’m going to wear. Here, here you go.’
    • And then I’ll ask them for advice. They’ll be like, ‘Oh, you should do this move.’ And I’ll just go put it in the match, because we’re entertainment. I think that’s the absolute magic of sports entertainment. No one in the audience knows that that young person was like, ‘Hey, I want you to do this move.’ And it will seamlessly be put into the performance, but it will affect both of us on a plane that’s indescribable.
  • On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Ivy Nile discussed how much she admires Chad Gable as a performer:
    • Chad has been in this business for so, so long. When I first started with the company, I kind of started unlike anyone else. I started three months before COVID hit, and then I was in the COVID era as one of those people in the audience behind the hockey windows, or whatever. So I was one of those people always there cheering and whatever. And at the time, you know, he was Shorty G at the time. It was crazy to see his growth from there, because I’ve always admired him since then, because it’s crazy no matter what you give him, he kills it. So I think once you get to that level of whatever they throw at you, they know that you can kill it and run with it. It’s such an amazing skill to have that. I aspire to be that.”
  • TMZ interviewed Brooke Hogan about her father Hulk Hogan’s passing.
  • In a post to her Instagram stories, Brooke offered to personally pay for an autopsy to be performed given the questions she has about her father’s death:
    • I’m glad to see that my dad has not been cremated and that [Hogan’s wife] Sky is waiting because of family questions. With all of the speculation and uncertainty of my dad’s death, I want to personally offer to pay for an autopsy if that’s what it takes to get it done. My dad’s dignity and legacy deserves it
  • Billboard published an interview with Dominik Mysterio.
  • Logan Paul uploaded a new episode of his vlog.
  • Jelly Roll gave a motivational speech to the Tennessee Titans as they prepare for the upcoming NFL season.

Other Wrestling

  • Mercedes Mone has a vlog documenting her recent trip to Vienna, Austria.
  • Renee Paquette interviewed Blake Christian & Lee Johnson on a new episode of AEW Close Up.
  • The Grizzled Young Veterans were the guests on AEW Unrestricted this week.
  • AEW wished Kris Statlander a happy 30th birthday.
  • The Battleground podcast interviewed Moose & AJ Francis.
  • Colby Corino thanked everyone who has donated to his GoFundMe campaign, which has raised more than $15,000 so far to benefit him in his recovery from emergency neck/spine surgery:
    • I really want to thank everyone who has reached out/donated to my GFM in the past week. I’ve been trying to get back to everyone individually, but the (positively) overwhelming support and love everyone has shown me has been, well, overwhelming, in a good way though.
    • For those who don’t know, I had to undergo emergency neck/spine surgery last Thursday. It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever had to deal with and I never anticipated something like this would happen, especially so suddenly. The scariest part is I probably wouldn’t have even gone to the hospital if it wasn’t for @ariana.corino making me go when she noticed I had difficulty walking after using a massage gun on my neck one night.
    • But after 5 nights in the hospital, a hair and beard cut, and picking up my old man walker, I am finally home!
    • I have no idea how long I’ll be out for, even the shortest estimates place my return to the ring far on the horizon, but at least I will be able to take it one day at a time at home with my wife, son, and our animals. 
    • Given that wrestling was our family’s primary source of income, you’ll probably be seeing me post merch for sale very soon, but if you’d like to donate to the GFM set up by @sean_henderson_w (who deserves a post all to himself), I’ll post that in the comments 
    • Thank you everyone who’s shown me love this past week. It really has helped me accept this situation and focus on my recovery and moving on to becoming the strongest I’ve ever been. 
    • No roadblock is big enough to keep me out of a ring. It’s just a matter of time
  • Tomohiro Ishii will face off against Jay Joshua at Revolution Pro Wrestling’s Global Wars UK event on August 22.
  • Julia Hart & Skye Blue vs. Millie McKenzie & Safire Reed has been announced for Pro Wrestling Eve’s show in London on August 23.
  • Raven announced that his documentary “Nevermore: The Raven Effect” will have its first screening in Lexington, Massachusetts on August 23: “The documentary will be released over the next couple months playing in select theaters first and then streaming or video on demand. First screening Aug 23 in Boston.”
  • WrestlingNewsCo has an interview with Lisa Marie Varon (former WWE wrestler Victoria).