Daily Update: UFC 321 fallout, Abdullah the Butcher, AAA Heroes Inmortales

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

–The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site now
*Full coverage of WrestleKingdom
*Thoughts on the booking decisions
*How the PPV did and other business notes
*Polls on the show
*The unique situation of AEW in St. Louis
*Saturday Night’s Main Event update and depth in WWE right now
*The life and times of Bobby “Mo” Horne, from Men on a Mission who passed away this past week.
*The Hall of Fame case for Sabu
*Odds for upcoming major pro wrestling matches
*The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling TV shows this past weeks, placings for the night and the week, annual comparisons and more
*The largest crowd for an all-women’s pro wrestling show in more than seven years
*More on the AEW talent in Mexico this week
*WWE talent in Mexico this week
*Notes on Kento Miyahara vs. Go Shiozaki
*New Japan Super Juniors tournament
*Lots of health issue updates for those in the wrestling business
*Lots of WWE injury updates
*Andrade update
*Fantastica Mania U.K. notes
*More on potential sale of WBD and how this affects AEW
*What wrestlers have had the most great matches in 2025
*Advance ticket sales for WWE & AEW shows over the next two months
*What show is expected to break the all-time arena gate record
*More on the debate over the new version of the Ali Act
*Death of Duke Roufas
*WWE value to ESPN as far as selling subscriptions
*Lots of WWE news regarding non-compete and a look at various situations including that of Brock Lesnar, Samantha Irvin and Renee Paquette
*More on AI and WWE creative
*WWE international tour notes

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

— We’ve had two shows up the past two days. We did our week in review talking about all of the news from the last issue of the Observer as well as answered questions on Friday and yesterday we covered Smackdown, UFC  and the weekend news.

— Reports are that Abdullah the Butcher suffered two strokes this past week and remains under observation.

–This is the schedule for the World Series. The first game was Friday night and thus should hurt the SmackDown number. Last night’s game will hurt the Collision number which would have already been hurt going head-to-head with the NXT show. Game three is tomorrow night against Raw. Game four goes against NXT. Game five, if necessary, goes against Dynamite. Game six would go against SmackDown on Friday and if a seventh game is necessary it would go against both Saturday Night’s Main Event and Collision.

— Heroes Inmorttales from last night at Juan de la Barrera Gym: Nino Hamburgues & Lady Shani & Primpinela Eslcarlata b Dalys & Abismo Negro Jr.. Taurus, Mascarita Sagrada b Mini Abismo Negro, Galeno del Mal b El Fiscal, Laredo Kid won four-way to keep the cruiserweight title over Jack Cartwheel, Aero Star and Lince Dorado when he pinned Cartwheel, Lady Flammer kept the Reina de Reinas title over Faby Apache and Natalya when  Natalya was pinned after being distracted by La Hiedra, Lola Vice b Chik Tormenta, Psycho Clown & Pagano retined the tag titles over Sanson & Forastero (notable them being used on a WWE show with their issues with Stephanie Vaquer) and Erick Rowan, Dextler Lumis Joe Gacy and Nikki Cross attacked Psycho & Pagano after the match to set up a tag title match and Dominik Mysterio b Dragon Lee to keep the AAA Mega title when he pulled off his boot and hit Lee behind the refs back. There was a post-match brawl with Grande Americano & Dominik fighting Lee & El Hijo del Vikingo setting up a tag team main event on 11/22 at Juan de la Barrera Gym

— The last three bouts are up on YouTube.

— Dominik got his left eyebrow busted open by a coin thrown from a fan. (thanks to William Betran)

— We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s Halloween Havoc, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— In Google searches for this weekend, the UFC PPV did 600,000 searches which is low for a PPV show. It was No. 11 for the weekend. The only other combat sports searches were 20,000 for Saturday Night’s Main Event and 2,000 for the NXT Halloween Havoc show.

— Persephone won the Women’s World Grand Prix on Friday night at Arena Mexico. The match went just shy of an hour. I haven’t seen it yet but the main story was that the match last week with Mercedes Mone really broke Persephone out of the pack. We’ve had people who loved the match and others who didn’t love it.

— Best of the Super Juniors today in Uonuma was B block night: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo b Desperado & Kuukai, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X b Tiger Mask & Yamato, Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita b Kushida & Yuki Yoshioka

Current standings:

A block: 1. Douki & Sho, Yoh & Master Wato 6; 3. Templario & Jakob Austin Young, Hiromu Takahashi & Gedo and Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Dia 2 6. Clark Connors & Daiki Nagai 0.

B block: Eagles & Fujita 6, Kushida & Yui Yoshioka and Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X 4; 4. Desperado & Togo, Kanemaru & Sho and Tiger Mask & Yamato 0

— Mercedes Mone vs. Jody Threat from last weekend from Winnipeg (thanks to Blair Pacheco).

— Miku Aono won the world title in Marigold beating Utami Hayashishita.

— Raw tomorrow has Jey Uso and CM Punk face-to-face, Nikki Bella vs. Roxanne Perez and Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Lyra Valkyria & Bayley for the tag titles.

— NXT Tuesday has Kendal Grey vs. Lash Legend, Kelani Jordan defends the Knockouts title against  Jordynne Grace, Myles Borne vs. Tavion Heights and Axiom vs. Jasper Troy in a Speed tournament match.

— Dynamite on Wednesday has Jamie Hayter & Queen Aminata vs. Skye Blue & Julia Hart in the women’s tag team tournament, FTR vs. JetSpeed vs Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express-winner faces Brody King & Bandido at Full Gear for the tag team titles , Ricochet vs. Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Hook with the winner facing Adam Page for the title at Full Gear. Not on Dynamite but being taped for ROH vs. Bandido vs Mascara Dorada for the ROH title.  

— Mercedes Mone’s next CMLL title defense will be on Saturday’s Collision against Olympia.

— The video for the returning guy on Raw looks to be Gunther. He’s been cleared and waiting for the storyline return. At least word this was for the John Cena match.

— The match we’ve gotten the most feedback on this weekend is the Iyo Sky vs Mayu Iwatani match from today’s Marigold show at Tokyo Dome Hall. Sky won the match and everyone loved it, with some saying it was Sky’s best match this year but others saying they didn’t think it was close to her best match. From the impressions we’ve gotten it didn’t have the heat her best matches did nor was it as crisp, but she did more because it was Japan and everyone from WWE that goes to a Japanese promotion knows they have to do more.

— I am absolutely dumbfounded at some of the reaction to last night’s Tom Aspinall vs Cyril Gane fight, with the idea that Apinall quit after the eye  poke. First, while Gane was winning the round, it was close and competitive. Second he couldn’t see out of one eye, still couldn’t see 20 minutes later and was taken to the hospital. The way Dana White talked about it after did give fuel to that fire with the idea that Aspinall quit. Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith said that he should have fought with only one good eye and should have lied to the ref bout not being able to see. Sonnen is a troll to begin with but that was just ludicrous. White said they would have to make a rematch after the no contest verdict as soon as possible.

— In the judging for Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida, judge Michael Bell gave Almeida rounds two and three while Tony Weeks and Coleman Werner only gave Almeida the second round. 65% of scores from reporters went to Volkov in a fight where he was mostly on his back but was busier. I had Volkov 29-28  In the Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba fight, 100 percent of the reporters’ scores were for Dern, many being 49-46. I had it even after two and the fifth close but had Dern 48-47  Michael Bell had one, four and  five for Dern. Sal D’Amasto and rounds two through five for Dern  Judge Chris Lee had two, four and five for Dern.  

— Mistico & Neon & Titan face Volador Jr .& Hechicero & Yutani in Monday’s main event from Puebla. Tuesday at  Arena Mexico has Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Esfinge vs  Ultimo Guerrero & Valiente & Volador Jr. plus Hazuki & Koguma vs Catalina & Tessa Blanchard.    Friday’s Arena Mexico show the Dia de la Muerte show with Mistico & Dorada & Neon vs Cavernario & Hechicero & Volador Jr., plus the Rey del Inframundo final.  Arena Coliseo on Saturday has Mistico & Atlantis Jr vs. Hechicero & Ultimo Guerrero.  A week from tonight at Arena Mexico has Voldor Jr. vs. Cavenario vs. Valiente in a three-way main event plus Blue Panther vs. Averno for the MLW open weight title and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja defend the CMLL tag titles against the legendary team of Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero.

— Laredo Kid vs  Marcus Mathers vs. Tate Wilder will be on the Wednesday Evolve show.

— Defy from Friday night in Portland, OR: Bryan Keith b Cody Chhun to retain the Defy title, Jack Evans won four-way over Guillermo Rosas, Matt Brannigan and Evan Rivers, Marina Shafir b Su Yung to keep the women’s title, Midnight Heat won three-way over Flaming Aces and Bollywood Boyz, Jon Moxley b Royce Isaacs.

— Today would have been the 76th birthday of Kevin Sullivan, the 87th birthday of Ron Wright and 61st  of Nicole Bass. Austin Idol and El Satanico turn 76 today, Taka Michinoku turns 52, CM Punk turns 47 and Wheeler Yuta turns 29. (thanks to Tony Richards)

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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.