Daily Update: Ronda Rousey & Gina Carano, Garrett Borden to make wrestling debut
Daily Update
Latest News
- WWE Raw live results: Jacob Fatu, Roman Reigns Acknowledgement Ceremony
- AEW sues TrillerTV over nearly $5 million in alleged unpaid revenue
- Roman Reigns added back to multiple June WWE Raw dates
- For subscribers: Dave Meltzer on TNA Impact, AEW Dynamite & Collision viewership
- Matt Jackson says there were talks with Triple H on crossover New Day feud
- WWE WrestleMania in Ireland reportedly viewed as ‘long-term project
- Ronda Rousey reflects on WWE chaos during Vince McMahon’s regime
- Update on Brock Lesnar’s status after move to WWE alumni section
- Kevin Nash addresses TKO’s involvement in WWE decisions: ‘Get your f*cking noses out of creative’
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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- May 11, 2026 Observer Newsletter: The life & times of Ted Turner, New Day depart WWE, TKO addresses criticism, Backlash preview
Among the topics covered:
- Ted Turner’s legacy in sports
- The history of pro wrestling on the Turner Networks
- The skyrocketing success and rapid decline of WCW
- The television heyday of Georgia Championship Wrestling
- How Ted Turner first got involved in pro wrestling
- Why Vince McMahon hated Ted Turner and how irrational it was at times
- The local TV business in the early 70s
- The 1972-74 Atlanta wrestling war, how it started and ended
- The start of Gordon Solie and Tony Schiavone on TBS
- The growth of TBS
- The launching of CNN
- How Vince McMahon got on TBS
- Why McMahon and Turner had issues during their year working together
- The role Jim Barnett played
- The death of Mid South Wrestling
- The death of Jim Crockett Promotions
- The death of WCW
- How Barnett manipulated the Crocketts getting on TBS
- Vince McMahon’s cable power plays and Turner’s reactions
- The signing of Hulk Hogan and rise of Eric Bischoff
- Hall, Nash and Bret Hart come to WCW
- How Bischoff nearly purchased WCW and how it fell through
- A reprint of a 2001 article on the closing of WCW that Ted Turner himself read and praised
- Reaction to the death of WCW
- Numerous people react to the death
- The tribute on AEW television
- His exploits in other sports
- Rupert Murdoch, Ric Flair, Jane Fonda, Tony Khan and others in sports comment on Turner’s death
- Turner’s life after he lost control of the networks
- His charitable work
- Update on Tanea “Rebel” Brooks
- A first look at how UFC is performing and its revenue driven vs. expense for Paramount
- WWE cuts continue and are looked at
- A crazy note about the income of just four of TKO’s top executives and how it compares to the pay for UFC and WWE athletes. This is absolutely shocking
- Nick Khan’s new contract with TKO
- Why so many cuts were made this year and more notes on the pay cuts
- New Day bid farewell
- WWE & UFC first quarter financials looked at
- More talk regarding Middle East shows, Zuffa Boxing, and complaints regarding WWE and UFC
- Backlash preview, business notes and odds
- Notes on AEW Double or Nothing
- New Japan Dontaku coverage
- Nico Ali Walsh on Nick Khan’s testimony before Congress
- NOAH big show notes
- The most detailed look at the TV ratings from the pro wrestling and MMA shows this past week
- Fantastica Mania Mexico
- CMLL vs. MLW at Arena Mexico notes
- Grande Americano vs. Grande Americano
- Lots of injury updates
- Who in AEW was set for a major push that is now on hold
- Champion Carnival down to final four
- Cuatrero convicted in domestic violence case involving Stephanie Vaquer
- Raja Jackson case coming to a close
- Former WWE wrestler murder case makes pub again
- Worldwide YouTuber numbers
- Dana White talks McGregor’s return
- Notes on Roman Reigns and his schedule
- When did Nick Khan learn Vince McMahon was being investigate for sex trafficking
- Janel Grant gets more public
- Notes from WWE’s television contracts
This Week’s Back Issue
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Monday Update
— Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk WWE, the Von Erichs, ratings woes, Rousey vs. Carano and more.
— Ronda Rousey was hyping her big fight with Hunter Campbell great today on Ariel Helwani’s show. “He was being so dismissive and just trying to get me and Gina to value ourselves less from the get-go. He was like, `Oh, I know, you guys are just so much older and I just don’t know how it’s gonna do.’ It just really rubbed me the wrong way that like this fucking guy is the person that’s going to be shepherding the company that I helped build. My mom is part of the California Athletic Commission and she had a meeting with him about trying to get Slap allowed for California. He goes, this is a really big opportunity for a lot of these people. A lot of these guys would just be doing meth in a trailer park if it wasn’t for this… We are glorified bum fights to this guy. This guy does not have a job because he’s good at it, he has a job because he is Dana and Lorenzo’s lawyer’s son. He was fing intern when I was there before and now he’s coming up to me saying, ‘I don’t know how you and Gina are going to do.’ Like motherfer I’m gonna put on a bigger fight with Gina than you have your entire fing career. Keep trying to fail upwards motherer. Keep trying to suck the right dicks in the right order. I’m fucking coming for your job.”
Evidently there was an issue with Ronda’s mother, who is on the Athletic Commission in California, who told Campbell when he was trying to get SlapFighting approved in the state that she thought SlapFighting was analogous to so many things wrong with society. Rousey has done a great job in building up a Rousey vs. Campbell match. She also doubled down on this being her last fight, saying, “I promised my husband up and down that this is the last one. He’s the one that I really got to convince to get on board for this promoter shit afterwards. He’s not 100 percent sold on it. He’s not going for the fighting at all after this. This is the dream fight. This is the absolute pinnacle. This is the perfect way to end it.”
— Too bad the fight isn’t against Hunter Campbell on Saturday.
— Jake Paul predicted more than 20 million views for Rousey vs Carano. I hope so. Keep in mind that would be easily four times what WrestleMania did worldwide (Mania was on Netflix everywhere but the U.S. and ESPN and the app in the U.S.
— Gina Carano recently turned 44.
— Raw tonight is from Knoxville, TN. I wonder if we’ll get a Kane cameo since he’s the mayor. They had 9,448 tickets out as of this afternoon so a strong crowd. Asuka is there and whatever her situation is would likely be explained. Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu will be doing an angle. Brie Bella & Paige will have an angle presumably with Roxanne Perez & Raque Rodriguez. Oba Femi has an open challenge. The Street Profits & Joe Hendry face Bron Breakker & Austin Theory & Logan Paul.
— Regarding the new dates Roman Reigns has been put back on for Raw (he was listed, taken off last week, put back on two shows this week), I don’t know yet if that means he’s on the Saudi Arabia card. But it does mean the next time someone mocks the term “plans change,” you can laugh in their faces given they change daily.
— We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Backlash Saturday. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— We have a story up on the site for members on the TNA and AEW ratings including a stat that is clearly making zero sense.
— Box Brown noted to us that Labor of Love Wrestling came up with the Danhausen cloning idea and did it at a show three weeks ago in Philadelphia. I was sent the video. It was identical. The only thing is that the wrestler doing the cloning had an identical twin brother who came out. But the box was exactly the same, the smoke was the same, I mean the thing at Backlash was so clearly taken from the show in Philadelphia.
— Garrett Borden, Sting’s other son who was involved in the Sting & Darby Allin vs. Young Bucks match makes his pro wrestling debut as an official competitor on Sunday for Dustin Rhodes’ Rhodes Wrestling Association.
— Tonight’s CMLL show in Puebla was sold out before I even woke up. The main event is Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Atlantsi Jr. vs. Averno & Soberan Jr. & Hechicero. We mistakenly listed that as the main event for last night’s show. Last night was Mistico & Templario & Esfinge over Angel de Oro & Hechicero & Niebla Roja.
— Something notable about the 9/11 and 9/13 TripeMania announcements are that WWE has a tour of South America on 9/9 to 9/12 and Penta and Grande Americano are advertised although I suppose there are two Grande’s and one could at TripleMania and the other in Argentina. But after 5/30 there should only be one Grande, unless WWE changes the tradition and a guy loses his mask and still works with a mask.
— Kevin Gil’s lawsuit against Game Changer Wrestling was settled this week in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. Gill had filed a suit in 2024 claiming that he and GCW agreed to start a Patreon together and he would receive 20 percent of the patreon revenue. He said that he was underpaid his percentage and that he stopped being paid in 2020. He had sued for a figure in excess of $150,000.
— The WWE shareholder lawsuit against WWE is scheduled for a 6/8 trial date, so there are only a few weeks to go before a likely settlement would be reached.
— TNA will debut a Wicked Garden match at its Friday taping in Sacramento. It will be Hardys vs. Righteous and air on 6/4. They are taping Thursday and Friday in Sacramento. Skip Caray, the great grandson of Harry Caray (one of the most famous baseball announcers of all-time) and the A’s announcer, will be on Thursday’s live TNA broadcast from Sacramento.
— Paul Diamond of WWE fame (as opposed to the 60s and 70s wrestlers) turned 65 today. He was a former pro soccer player in the old North American Soccer League. Billy Kidman turned 52. Bobby Roode turned 50. Lince Dorado turned 39. Rollerball Mark Rocco/Original Black Tiger was born on this day in 1951. He was one of the greatest U.K. wrestlers in history and a Hall of Famer. Silver King was 51 when he passed away seven years ago. Sabu was 61 when he passed away last year. Steve Austin debuted on this day in 1989. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— The movie Nacho Libre, where Silver King played the lead heel, was the No. 4 movie for yesterday on Paramount + and No. 8 overall. It had more views than UFC on Sunday (not more than Saturday obviously since that was the No. 1 show for the day on the service and more than Zuffa Boxing.
— WWE sent out a press release saying that the first two-night TripleMania takes place in September. There have been multiple day TripleManias in 1994, 1995, 1996,1997, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
— Jeet Rama, who formerly worked for WWE, has started Pro Wrestling Rebellion in India. Mansoor was announced for the show as both a writer and working in production, and Mark Dallas of Insane Championship Wrestling will also be involved.
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.