Daily Update: Nielsen, AEW All In tickets, weekend lineups

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • Full coverage of AEW Revolution, keys to the show, the returns and surprises, poll results and other business notes, thoughts on the matches
  • Notes on Tony Khan’s attempt to buy WWE in 2023 that came out this week
  • Updates on WrestleMania with confirmed matches, matches not announced but are on the schedule, the 31.6% off ticket sale, comparisons of demand for tickets with last year, potential matches and more on how matches were changed, as well as Steve Austin talks
  • AAA Rey de Reyes update, a look at the promotion and how it differs from WWE and CMLL and what comes next
  • A look at what happened in the ring when referee Dallas Edwards suffered a medical emergency in the ring during a match and the response issues
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the major television and streaming shows of WWE, AEW and TNA, demos, comparisons, competition numbers and placings
  • Claudio Castagnoli draws his first Arena Mexico sellout as CMLL world champion
  • Notes on the other major shows of the week in Mexico
  • Stardom Cinderella tournament finals and the top matches for the company’s biggest show of the year
  • Champion Carnival blocks
  • New Japan Cup notes
  • Manami Toyuota and never going to WWE and would it have mattered
  • Sareee talks her WWE stint
  • Kendo Kashin on Tadao Yasuda
  • 45th anniversary of the Tiger Mask debut and the best woman wrestler in the world at that time is still holding a championship today
  • NCAA wrestling tournament notes
  • Ted DiBiase Jr. trial notes
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW, TNA, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Rousey vs. Carano and more shows
  • Mistico sells out San Jose three weeks in advance and thoughts on the show
  • Former WWE champion in boxing match
  • Ricochet, Gates of Agony and Mercedes Mone in Europe
  • TNA new business deal
  • Ricochet Twitter controversy
  • Former AEW and WWE champion appears this weekend on one of the most-watched TV shows
  • AEW contract notes
  • Zuffa makes choice not to accept a commission regulation and will do it themselves
  • Gina Carano talks about how UFC tried to stop the Carano vs. Cyborg fight from happening
  • WWE in Saudi Arabia thoughts
  • WWE’s deal with Front Office Sports and some thoughts
  • Davey Coates, WWE tour manager, passed away

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

WWE SmackDown 3/20/26 graphic

— Garrett Gonzales and I have our week in review show and there is a ton of news to cover this past week, from the Revolution fallout, to the 2023 Tony Khan bid on WWE, New Japan Cup, WrestleMania updates and a giant weekend of major shows. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night covering the weekend shows

— So here’s a very Nielsen story. It came out with the new figures from the 1/26 changes in Nielsen that television’s gains and streaming losses were part of updated research. The new data was going to be released as the biggest swing of television vs. streaming in history in the direction of television according to reports. Now the data will not be released as such. Michael Mulvihill on X said that “the streamers whined and Nielsen caved. Under pressure following this WSJ (Wall Street Journal) story Nielsen has elected to put on these improvements until the fall. Meanwhile, the hard-earned credibility of the important Gauge report is shot until Nielsen moves to the new method as promised.”

— AEW Dynamite on Wednesday did 730,000 viewers and a 0.13 in 18-49, the most viewers for an AEW television show since the last two sets of changes were put in place. In a weird stat, over 50 viewers were the most since late 2022 or early 2023, even more significant because those years did not include streaming on MAX while these numbers don’t include the HBO MAX numbers.

— There is an article in the issue covering the PPV numbers but we don’t have an estimate yet regarding how big the show did. Apparently word of mouth was such that replay buys are very high.

— Carlos Silva announced TNA Slammiversary would return this summer at the UBS Arena on Long Island.

— SmackDown tonight in Raleigh, NC has Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa vs. Damien Priest & R-Truth for the tag titles, Nia Jax & Lash Legend vs. Bella Twins for the women’s tag titles, Motor City Machine Guns vs. Fraxiom plus Randy Orton appears and Kit Wilson and Jelly Roll will continue their angle. There were 12,601 tickets out as of last look so the show will be close to sold out if not sold out.

— All In tickets were put on sale today to the public as were G-1 Climax tickets for 7/11 at the NOW Arena in Chicago. We don’t have any update on sales at this time past that G-1 tickets were not selling well at all. There are lots of tickets left for Wembley Stadium but there could be lots of tickets left and it would still be a good first day.

— Callum Newman beat Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura beat Oleg Boltin in today’s New Japan Cup semifinals. I loved Uemura vs. Boltin. If you like a wrestling match where they actually wrestle and struggle and come off legit, this is your match. Not flashy, just high-level pro technical style. Newman vs. Umino went 30:03 and was very good after the 22:00 mark but the period building to that was just okay. The finals are tonight from Nagaoka starting at 1 a.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Pacific time:
• Masatora Yasuda vs. Taisei Nakahara
• Konosuke Takeshita defends the TV title against a surprise wrestler
• Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Taichi & El Desperado & Satoshi Kojima
• Yoh & Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Douki & Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. Great O’Khan & Henare
• Oleg Boltin & Aaron Wolf & Toru Yano vs. Ren Narita & Don Fale & Dick Togo
• Yota Tsuji & Yuto-Ice & Oskar & Daiki Nagai vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita
• Uemura vs. Newman for the New Japan Cup

— Ted DiBiase Jr. was found not guilty today of all charges as part of his trial of misappropriations of Mississippi welfare funds. DiBiase was facing 13 counts related to conspiracy, wire fraud, theft and money laundering.

— CMLL has one of its biggest events of the year tonight, El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas at Arena Mexico. The show will honor Salvador Lutteroth, who founded the company in 1934, and El Satanico, an all-time great, who retires tonight after almost 53 years as an active name pro wrestler. It is available on the CMLL YouTube page as part of the subscription, and is also a Triller PPV, starting at 9:30 p.m. Eastern tonight:
• Dark Silueta & Lluvia & Valkiria & Zeuxis vs. Catalina & Jarochita & Persephone & Skadi
• Ultimo Guerrero vs. Rey Bucanero vs. Toscano vs. Averno vs. Mephisto vs. Euforia in the Copa Infernal
• El Satanico vs. Atlantis vs. Blue Panther in Satanico’s retirement match
• Marcela vs. Magnifica vs. Princesa Sugehit (loser loses their hair)
• Hombre Bala Jr. vs. Max Star vs. Calavera Jr. I vs. Calavera Jr. II vs. Virus vs. Cancerbero vs. Polvora vs. Coyote (loser loses their hair or mask)
• Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Jon Moxley & Daniel Garcia & Wheeler Yuta for the CMLL trios titles
• Claudio Castagnoli vs. Hechicero for the CMLL heavyweight title

— Arena Coliseo goes for its 13th sellout in a row tomorrow night with Atlantis Jr. & Flip Gordon & Titan vs. Averno & Cavernario & Volador Jr. in the main event. Sunday’s Arena Mexico has Titan & Mascara Dorada vs. Cavernario & Difunto on top, which is likely to be great, plus Angel de Oro vs. Esfinge.

— AAA on YouTube at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night has Rey Fenix & Mr. Iguana & Lola Vice vs. Money Machine & La Hiedra, Psycho Clown & Pagano vs. War Raiders for the AAA tag titles

— UFC runs tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+ from the O2 Arena in London:
• Shantelle Dyer (116) vs. Ravena Oliveira (116.5) – Oliveira missed weight by 0.05 pounds
• Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (156) vs. Shem Rock (156)
• Louis Sutherland (264) vs. Brando Pericic (264)
• Mantas Kondratavicius (185) vs. Antonio Trocoli (185)
• Mario Pinto (257) vs. Felipe Franco (227)
• Nathaniel Wood (146) vs. Lerone Murphy (146)
• Mason Jones (156) vs. Axel Sola (156)
• Danny Silva (145) vs. Kurtis Campbell (145)
• Roman Dolidze (186) vs. Christian Leroy Duncan (186)
• Ivo Baraniewski (206) vs. Austen Lane (205)
• Michael Venom Page (171) vs. Sam Patterson (170)
• Luke Riley (146) vs. Michael Aswell (145)
• Movsar Evloev (146) vs. Lerone Murphy (145)

— NCAA tournament in Cleveland tonight has Penn State having eight wrestlers in the semifinals, which I believe is an all-time record. The show airs on ESPN2 tonight:
• 125 – Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. Troy Spratley (Oklahoma)
• Jacob Moran (Indiana) vs. Jore Volk (Minnesota)
• 133 – Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) vs. Aaron Siede (Virginia Tech)
• Marcus Blaze (Penn State) vs. Ben Davino (Ohio State)
• 141 – Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. Luke Sainich (Lehigh)
• Brock Hardy (Nebraska) vs. Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State)
• 149 – Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. Chance Lamer (Nebraska)
• Lachlan McNeil (Michigan) vs. Aden Valencia (Stanford)
• 157 – PJ Duke (Penn State) vs. Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State)
• Tyu Watters (West Virginia) vs. Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)
• 165 – Michael Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. Cesar Alvan (Columbia)
• Mikey Caliendo (Iowa) vs. Joey Blaze (Purdue)
• 174 – Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. Patrick Kennedy (Iowa)
• Christopher Minto (Nebraska) vs. Cam Steed (Missouri)
• 184 – Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs. Brock Mantanona (Michigan)
• Max McEnelly (Minnesota) vs. Angelo Ferrari (Iowa)
• 197 – Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. Joey Novak (Wyoming)
• Stephen Little (Little Rock) vs. Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State)
• 285 – Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. AJ Ferrari (Nebraska)
• Taye Ghadiali (Michigan) vs. Isaac Trumble (NC State)

— Among the birthdays today are Sting (67), Sick Boy (53), Homicide (49), Matt Taven (41), Jonathan Gresham (38) and Damon Kemp (27). Former NCAA champion and top pro Ralph “Ruffy” Silverstein was born on this day in 1914. Paul Christy was born on this day in 1939. Johnny Powers was born on this day in 1943. Referee Rick Hazzard was born on this day in 1954. John Studd was 47 when he passed away 31 years ago today. Sailor Art Thomas was 79 when he passed away 23 years ago today. Baron Mikel Scicluna was 80 when he passed away 16 years ago today. Sir Oliver Humperdink was 62 when he passed away 15 years ago today. Perro Aguayo Jr. was 35 when he passed away 11 years ago today. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— 1 Fall Wrestling (QT Marshall’s group) is doing an Arn Anderson Homecoming show in Rome, GA, where he grew up as Marty Lunde, tomorrow night at the Forum River Center. Appearing are Andrade, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Brock Anderson, Harley Cameron and Paul Walter Hauser. There will be an Anderson meet and greet.

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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.