Daily Update: NJPW, D-Von Dudley, Jelly Roll

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Notes from the new issue which apparently has been the talk of the social media wrestling world:

  • Seth Rollins injury and how this will lead to numerous changes in booking plans, including what was scheduled short and long-term for Rollins through Mania and after.
  • Full coverage of Crown Jewel, business notes and match coverage
  • The Media Ratings Council has questions about the new numbers
  • Just how far Smackdown has dropped with younger viewers based on the new sampling and NXT isn’t much different, nor is AEW
  • Konosuke Takeshita beats Zack Sabre Jr. to win the IWGP title, a look at King of Prm Wrestling, WrestleKingdom, first thoughts on Aaron Wolf, and the angles on the show
  • WrestleDream preview, business notes, as well as Saturday Night’s Main Event in Salt Lake City needs the entire show revamped
  • Odds for upcoming big matches
  • TNA Bound for Glory notes
  • A detailed story on WWE cuts focusing on Ridge Holland and Wes Lee
  • Pro Wrestling NOAH at Sumo Hall
  • A huge story on the 2025 Hall of Fame U.S. & Canada candidates
  • What the awards voting over the last 45 years says about those who fare better not in than those who are in.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling shows of the past week
  • It’s women’s month at Arena Mexico but one person is still the star, a look at the recent main events
  • A look at two PPV shows from Arena Mexico coming
  • Who is the obvious choice for tag team of the year that nobody is talking about
  • Best of the Super Juniors tournament
  • Japanese referee dies in bear attack
  • Update on Smashing Machine business
  • They named a bridge after Stu Hart and more notes
  • NFL star copying Ric Flair
  • Fantastica Mania UK
  • The Andrade situation
  • Lots of background details on similar stories
  • Kota Ibushi update
  • Notes on Chris Jericho and Britt Baker
  • Darby Allin talks about the cancers that used to be in AEW
  • Update on a training camp for AEW in Asheville, NC
  • Rematch of a match of the year candidate coming to AEW show in Edinburg, TX
  • Updates on YouTube numbers for September
  • Debate over the new and old Ali Act
  • Details on Zuffa Boxing deals
  • How much UFC makes in profit per Saturday show
  • New UFC fights
  • Sad BJ Penn story
  • Stories on fighters getting screwed by promoters
  • Ticket demand for John Cena’s last show
  • New WWE hire, usage of AI for wrestling storylines and some are worried about their jobs
  • AJ Styles talks retiring
  • WWE injury updates

This Week’s Back Issue

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Thursday Update

WWE

  • On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Jelly Roll detailed pitching to Paul “Triple H” Levesque why he wanted to lose his in-ring debut at SummerSlam:
    • It was an easy pitch. I was just like, it took three things. One, it’s the right thing to do, let’s just start at core values here. No celebrity has any business coming in and pinning a wrestler on their first run without some extreme circumstance. [Like] if Randy comes out and double RKOs everybody while I’m out and puts me on top of somebody.
    • But two, I can always come back, I don’t think any other celebrity ever really cared enough to think full angle through. If I lose this, I love Logan. That’s my friend in real life. But every time he’s in that ring, now he’s got to wonder if at some point he’s going to hear, ‘You know I got it, so come and get it’ [Who’s Your Daddy? By Toby Keith]. He’s got to wonder about that a little bit. Drew too. If I really owe one of them, it’s Drew. So that was part two of it. I was also smart enough to be like, Yo, I want to angle in. And I was like, I don’t want to be remembered as a celebrity who did the thing, and then Triple H stopped me. This will probably be on Unreal because it was so gangster. He said, ‘I will tell you this though.’ He said Floyd wanted to lose to The Big Show. I don’t know if I should be sharing that, but he told me that, and I thought that was cool.
  • The Battleground Podcast has an interview with Jacy Jayne.
  • Denise Salcedo interviewed Natalya about her upcoming book.
  • Titus O’Neil appeared on TMZ’s Inside the Ring podcast.
  • Former WWE wrestler Hornswoggle was a guest on “What’s Your Story?” with Stephanie McMahon.
  • WWE Vault uploaded the full “Triumph & Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling” documentary that WWE produced in 2007.
  • The Vault channel also shared behind-the-scenes footage of a CM Punk Hell in a Cell commercial shoot from 2012.

Other Wrestling

  • D-Von Dudley spoke to Video Gamer about racism in pro wrestling:
    • I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The Klan wore sheets on their heads. The Ku Klux Klan wore sheets over their heads. And I felt that a lot of those Klan members made their way into wrestling, traded in their sheets for suits. 
    • It was definitely a behind the scenes thing. I’ve dealt with it with certainly higher ups like MVP said. I dealt with that certain higher up that told me to my face, they don’t like me because of the color of my skin. And they work for other organizations now, and this person knows who he is. I have no respect for that person. I don’t really care for him. Now that he’s not in the position that he once was, I just really don’t care for him.
  • Dudley addressed whether he would like to work behind the scenes again now that he’s retired from the ring:
    • I have a very successful YouTube channel that’s doing extremely well. So I’m doing that and I still have my legends deal with WWE, I’m doing that. I still have my wrestling school in Winter Park, which is right down the road from the PC in Florida. And I have my detailing business in Fort Lauderdale. So I’m set. I’m good and hopefully God continues to bless me and I continue to strive in what I do and be successful. Right now my life is my family, my businesses. And that’s it now.
  • Due to illness, Katsuya Murashima missed today’s NJPW event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Zane Jay replaced him on the card, teaming with Hiroshi Tanahashi in a loss to Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji.
  • NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2025 kicked off with the following results:
    • B Block: Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita defeated El Desperado & KUUKAI
    • A Block: YOH & Master Wato defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Dia
    • B Block: KUSHIDA & Yuki Yoshioka defeated Tiger Mask & YAMATO
    • A Block: Hiromu Takahashi & Gedo defeated Clark Connors & Daiki Nagai
    • B Block: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo
    • A Block: DOUKI & SHO defeated Templario & Jakob Austin Young
  • Marko Stunt (real name Noah Nelms) – who retired from wrestling last year – posted a Tiktok video documenting his new career as a car salesman.
  • Eric Bischoff spoke to Undisputed ahead of Real American Freestyle holding its second-ever event this Saturday:
    • This hits different for me. I love starting something from scratch and building it. That’s always appealed to me. And this one is special. We’re taking an idea we discussed over coffee. We’re literally starting this from the ground up–every aspect of it. That’s what excites me the most.
    • I can’t wait for Saturday. And we have a surprise on standby that will light everyone up. It’s going to be a big night.
  • Goldberg was a guest on Real Talk with Mike Burke.
  • Aubrey Edwards & Will Washington reacted to WrestleDream on a new episode of AEW Unrestricted.
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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.