Daily Update: UFC Freedom 250 set to be big, weather issues delay start time

UFC White House Freedom 250 Poster
UFC White House Freedom 250 Poster (Image credit: UFC)

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • The story behind the settlement of the shareholders lawsuit against Vince McMahon and the WWE Board
  • Janel Grant’s lawyers agree to go to arbitration in lawsuit against WWE and McMahon
  • The whys behind all of this happening
  • What we have learned in these cases about WWE’s deal with Ari Emanuel
  • Arguments in wrestling that Paul Levesque was not responsible for the boom period
  • The reversal of the WWE decline and stopping the AEW ascent
  • The first time Dynamite beat Raw in total viewers during the same week not even including MAX numbers
  • The McMahon fake resignation story
  • The content of the letters from a still unknown person that led to the end of McMahon in WWE and Endeavor taking ver
  • Grant comments on the letters
  • What the letters seem to indicate
  • Nick Khan talks about his thoughts when the company got those letters
  • Michelle McKenna talks who should thought contacted the Wall Street Journal while others say differently
  • Frank Riddick talks his reaction to the letters
  • The time frame and ramification of the sale
  • McMahon’s side responds to the settlement
  • Why Nick Khan’s reputation was hurt based on evidence
  • Why the judge was likely to side against McMahon
  • A look at the politics of UFC at the White House.
  • Realities of White House show vs. Rousey/Carano
  • Biggest UFC number to date on Paramount
  • Insanity of comparison with the Super Bowl audience
  • A look at the show itself
  • The court fight to try and get the show stopped
  • New York Times story on Conor McGregor’s alleged PED usage and how that led to the downfall of UFC drug testing with USADA
  • A look at the big shows in two weeks, Night of Champions, Forbidden Door, Great American Bash and Slammiversary, with lineups, and business notes
  • The most detailed look at the ratings and there was a ton of news between record low for Raw and high mark for Collision
  • Ticket notes for the big shows in August and September in Mexico City
  • Mistico returns and Komander week in CMLL
  • Big shows coming up with CMLL
  • AAA TripleMania notes
  • Notes on NJPW Dominion and end of the Super Juniors tournament
  • Another gold medalist signs with RAF
  • Advance ticket sales for WWE an dAEW shows
  • Movie being prepared for UK wrestling star of the past
  • New promotional concept for pro wrestling being tired with some big names involved
  • Update on new AEW streaming ventures and MyAEW
  • Dustin Rhodes talks about his return
  • Omega talks anniversary of legendary match
  • Carano vs. Rousey hits more high-water marks
  • Why big WWE shows changed dates
  • What is next for Punk
  • WWE star being talked of for doing shoot bouts
  • Rey Mystrerio talks daughter becoming a wrestler

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

Paramount Skydance
Paramount Skydance (Image credit: .)

— We will have a big show tonight covering the UFC event, Dominion, the Janel Grant case, weekend wrestling and news of the past week with Garrett Gonzales. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night after Raw.

— The big news today is the UFC 250 show, the 80th birthday party for President Trump, takes place at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight exclusively on Paramount+. We have a preview in the current issue which talks about the business end. It’s been a show filled with new history being created, although both Vanity Fair and Yahoo Sports cover the new history they are trying to creaete which is similar to WWE’s attempts over the years to rewrite history. I went more in depth about the financial end, in the current issue, but this show is not a money loser, nor will it draw a billion viewers or a Super Bowl sized audience.

— The show is going to be huge. It has more than 1 million searches and is No. 4 for the weekend behind the NBA finals, the death of Oliver Tree and the Japan vs. Netherlands game and we are still hours from the show. I think it’ll end up bigger than any UFC show since probably Ronda Rousey last fought in UFC. Also in the top 100 searches are Josh Hokut, Ilia Topuria, Alex Pereira, Aieman Zahabi, Diego Lopes and Kyla Daukaus. Hokit and Topuria have topped 100,000, Periera topped 50,000 and the others topped 20,000. Mauricio Ruffy also topped 20,000. The Eddie Hall vs. Tommy Fury boxing match did 50,000. The RAF show last night due to the brawl involving Khamzat Chimaev hit 20,000. Nothing in pro wrestling topped 20,000. Danhausen was not in the top 500 so while it’s a big deal that he’s getting lots of ESPN play and will sell merch, in the real world it’s not anything at all of significance to the mainstream.

— There is a threat of rain and heavy winds. The only thing that could stop the show is lightning. From what we understand, if there is any lightning, the show would stop for 30 minutes. The latest weather report for the area is that there are several thunderstorm watches tonight until 11 p.m..

The show starts at 8 p.m. Eastern but they have just announced the first match goes into the cage at 9 p.m. due to weather issues.

  • Diego Lopes (146) vs. Steve Garcia (146)
  • Bo Nickal (186) vs. Kyle Daukaus (186)
  • Mauricio Ruffy (155) vs. Michael Chandler (156)
  • Josh Hokit (231) vs. Derrick Lewis (265)
  • Sean O’Malley (135.5) vs. Aiemann Zahabi (135)
  • Alex Pereira (251) vs. Cyril Gane (248) for the interim heavyweight title
  • Ilia Topuria (155) vs. Justin Gaethje (155) for the lightweight title

Pereira vs. Gane has some uncertainty in the sense Pereira has never fought at heavyweight and has put on a lot of weight in a short period of time that would theoretically affect his conditioning in a five-round fight, but he’s the better technical striker of the two. The show is clearly designed with wins for Lopes, Nickal, Ruffy, Hokit and O’Malley. Topuria is a the heavy favorite but I suspect the powers that be would love Gaethje winning and he’ll be a huge crowd favorite. UFC clearly wants Pereira to win as well.

— Josh Hokit came to weigh-ins apparently drunk and threw up on himself. He’s either made himself a superstar to some, or to others, a figure that points to the tackiness of this event depending on political and fan beliefs, although this event has been viewed negatively even by Republicans with only 31 percent seeing it as appropriate.

—- Danhausen really got lucky as he uncursed the Knicks early in the playoffs and the Knicks ended up winning. Expect WWE to heavily push and and for him to do more media crossover. Because this is a WWE PR deal (as opposed to Bryan Danielson with the San Francisco Giants long ago which was organic and thus WWE, since it wasn’t their doing, really didn’t push it hard plus the were struggling to make sure he wasn’t seen by the fans as the top guy and it’s a different reign in charge today) I expect them push this as hard as they can. It also helps with WWE having the ESPN deal. ESPN had featured him heavily before the series win. The Knicks won in five last night in the NBA playoffs. By the way, Collision is likely to do a very low number just as Dynanite did. You can’t fight shows that will do upward of 20 million viewers.

— Chad Gable vs Gunther has been added to Raw in Baltimore tomorrow. Other bouts are Oba Femi vs. Dominik Mysterio and Iyo Sky vs. Raquel Rodriguez with each winner going to the King or Queen of the Ring finals on 6/27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Baltimore will sell out tomorrow.

— I havent watched all of Dominion but the Henare & Great O’Khan win over Yuto-Ice & Oskar was great. Henare & O’Khan won the IWGP tag titles and also got into the G-1 tournament with a win. If you like your wrestling to look like a fight, Henare and Ice gave that to you at a high level. Last night’s Komander win over Angel de Oro at Arena Coliseo was excellent in a very different manner. Komander has had an incredible run in CMLL over the past week plus. Friday and Saturday both sellouts. Friday’s main event wasn’t at the level of most and the ROH tag title match where Sammy Guevera & Beast Mortos beat the Villano III Brothers was disappointing. Guevara was dropped on his head from a tijeras and wrote that he woke up Saturday feeling like somebody had dropped him on his head. Titan vs. Yutani was a great short match and the highlight. However the main event did have one of the best spots of the year where Komander and Neon (who teamed with Tiger Mask to beat Cavernario & Black Tiger & Ultimo Guerrero) each did their big move at the exact same time.

— Jake Lee and El Phantasmo had to be one of the worst major show matches of the year today at Dominion. They did five title changes since this was on network TV. Aaron Wolf beat Ren Narita for the Never title, Great O’Khan & Henare beat Yuto-Ice & Oskar. Shota Umino won the Global title in a three-way over Drilla Moloney and champ Andrade, with Andrade losing the fall. Yoh beat Douki for the IWG jr tite and Callum Newman lost the IWGP heavyweight belt to Yota Tsuji.

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

— Very sorry to hear of the passing of Jordan Nasir, better known as Jordan Saint, an independent wrestler who passed away at the age of 23.

— At last night’s RAF show in St. Louis, there was a huge pull-apart brawl that got a lot of attention. These things seem to happen on these shows more than anywhere else. Khamzat Chimaev easily pinned Dillon Danis in the main event, like right away. Just as everyone knew he would as this was super one-sided booking. But as he was getting pinned, Danis grabbed a guillotine, completely illegal, as he was being pinned. Chimev got up and kicked him and there was a scene with dozens involved. There only seemed to be interest in two matches, both of which were one-sided. The other saw Aaron Pico return to wrestling and beat Lance Palmer via 12-1 tech fall, which also was expected. The last time they had a pull-apart, instead of punishing the wrestlers, they booked a rematch. I can’t imagine booking a rematch out of this one.

— Dan Gable attended the RAF show. It was the first time he’s attended such a show

— In a match with Andrew Alirez vs. Jaydin Eirman, Alirez tore his biceps in the first minute of the match. He wrestled five minutes with the tear and won 5-3.

— Brian Button (Brian Cage) won the IFBB Mr. Nevada contest last night. That explains why he looked the way he looked the last time he was on television.

— Some results from last night’s Maple Leaf Pro show in Windsor, ONT:

  • Vanna Black b Alexa Nicole
  • Evil Uno won four-way over TJP, Jonathan Gresham and Johnny TV
  • Big Al Crowley b Taylor Rising
  • Michael Allan Richard Clark b Luigi Primmo
  • First Faction b Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster
  • Stu Grayson b Rohan Raja in a title vs. title match
  • Jay Lethal b Psycho Mike
  • PCO b Kris Chambers
  • Steve Maclin b Danny Jones
  • Gisele Shaw b Dani Luna
  • Billy Gunn & Zack Gowen b Johnny Swinger & Gama Singh Jr.
  • Josh Alexander came out as a surprise. He was the first Maple Leaf champion but vacated the title when he had knee surgery. They made it clear he would face Stu Grayson when he returns, for the title. I would expect these shows to air on TSN in late July. (thanks to Mitch Miller)

— Arena Mexico tonight has a loaded unique show:

  • Tiger Mask & Templario vs. Black Tiger & Mortos
  • Komander vs. Capitan Suicida – this may be incredible

Then we have first round elimination matches in four different tournaments:

  • Sons of wrestlers: Mascara Dorada, Averno, Volador Jr., ZandokanJr, Valiente Jr. and Cobarde
  • Brother tag teams: Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja, Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero, Villano III Jr. & El Hijo del Villano III Jr., and Pantera Jr. & El Hijo del Pantera
  • Fathers of wrestlers: Blue Panther, Felino, Euforia, Stuka Jr., Pantera and Valiente
  • Daughters of wrestlers: Tessa Blanchared, India Sioux, Lluvia, Jarochita, Hera and Olympia
  • Plus Thunder Rosa vs Reyna Isis

In the four tournament matches, they will eliminate until two people (or teams in the tag bout) remain and the match stops. There will be twoo winners tonight. Those two face off for the tournament final on the 6/21 show.

— For AEW on Wednesday in Sugarland, TX

  • Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickalnd face to face
  • MJF and Mark Briscoe captain a 12 man tag match which will be the teams who will later do a cage match
  • Mercedes Mone vs. Hazuki, winner goes to the fans
  • For Collision: Maya World vs. Athena in the other Owen Hart tournament semifinal

— At a Lucha Libre show in Bangor, ME, last night, Juventud Guerera, Galeno del Mal and Ludark did not arrive. They were actually to get in Friday night, but ended up not even making it in by Saturday night. Vampiro, not set to wrestle and with no gear, came out of retirement to save the show doing a main event with Sam Adonis.

— Stan Hansen 77, is currently in Japan for the first time since 2024.

— For Produce wrestling, these are the dates for Stardom talent:

  • Ranna Yagami will be on the 7/16 and 8/3 shows
  • Hazuki will be on the /26 and 8/3 shows
  • Fuwa-chan will be on the 7/26 and 8/3 shows
  • Syuri will be on the 8/3 show

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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.