Daily Update: WBD & Paramount, Smashing Machine, weekend shows
Daily Update
Latest News
- Controversial end to Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at TNA Bound For Glory
- TNA Bound for Glory live results: Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana, Hardys vs. Team 3D
- Tessa Blanchard reveals reason for recent absence from TNA Wrestling
- Indi Hartwell on Dexter Lumis storyline: ‘The best time of my career’
- Jin Tala comments on WWE release
- Nick Aldis: Mickie James is ‘a no-brainer for every Hall of Fame’
Latest Audio
- WOL: WWE Crown Jewel recap, previews & weekend news
- WOR: Crown Jewel, WWE cuts, Survivor Series, Rousey training
- B&V: WWE Crown Jewel 2025 post-show!
Latest YouTube Video
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site:
*In depth with the changes in ratings, are pro wrestling and MMA being undercounted, are they less popular than we thought, how the changes have happened, streaming, how this relates to baseball, football, and other entertainment shows.
*John Cena’s last matches, and the surprises in current WWE booking plans for now until December.
*A look at Crown Jewel and WrestleDream, the cards, how the shows look and the current interest level in them.
*Favorites in the betting in all the major future matches
*A look at The Smashing Machine, the heyday of Mark Kerr, the box office and what we’ve learned, comparisons with Iron Claw, the performances by Dwayne Johnson Emily Blunt and Ryan Bader and the Pride Grand Prix in 2000 with Sakuraba vs. Gracie and key what ifs that people don’t’ talk about
*All In Texas attendance and how much the state will be paying AEW based on the deal, plus original plans for that week and three shows that were once thought and talked about but didn’t happen with two international promotions.
*Full coverage of UFC 320, what’s next for the winners, the business side of things and match-by-match.
*The most complete and detailed look at the ratings for all the major shows as well as comparisons with last year, segment-by-semgent notes, demos and more.
*Expectations of when a major milestone in history of buildings that house wrestling will be reached and when 1 million fans in one specific building attending wrestling in a year is expected
*King of Pro Wrestling thoughts
*New Japan’s last major show looked at
*40th anniversary of a landmark tag team event taking place
*Hulk Hogan’s widow looking at medical malpractice suit
*Death of the former Sabrina
*Dave Bautista makes surprising revelation
*Mistico vs. Bndido in Xalapa
*Renee Dupree talks the old WWE locker room
*Bound for Glory notes
*Lots of injury and contract updates
*The story of Ultimo Dragon’s ten belts and Mercedes Mone beating that record
*Sting’s son has his first match
*Advance tickets sales for the WWE & AEW shows over the next two months
*The strange secret suspension of Conor McGregor
*More on the White House show
*MMA Fight of the year on the Dana White Contenders Series
*Has the WWE boom period ended or is it ending?
*The WWE product right now
*Jimmy Jacobs talks differences in backstage at WWE and TNA
This Week’s Back Issue
FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH
Sunday Update
— Both of our weekend shows are up on the site. Our Friday show was the third and final Hall of Fame installment with John Muse, Ethan Tyler and Phil Lions talking about the non-wrestler category and other thoughts, plus we covered the rest of the news for the week. Last night’s show covered Crown Jewel, Survivor Series plans, Arena Mexico, AEW and TNA show news and more.
— WBD rejected a $20 per share takeover offer by Paramount Skydance. The sides are continuing to negotiate. The ramifications of this are far bigger than the pro wrestling world, but whatever the WBD ownership ends up being could have an effect on pro wrestling in many different ways.
— The estimates for the weekend are that Smashing Machine will finish No. 8 for the week with $1.77 million. A normal second week drop from the first is 50 percent. This was a 69 percent drop from an already disappointing first week. Conversely, Iron Claw dropped only six percent in the second week. So those were polar opposites. I wrote a story on the movie in the current issue looking back at that era and the career of Mark Kerr. Overall I thought it was a good movie but at the end of the day, it did not have commercial appeal.
— Kota Ibushi had surgery for the broken femur suffered on Wednesday night when he fell badly off the top rope in his match with Josh Alexander that aired last night. It was weird doing that impromptu post-match angle with Mark Davis. Ibushi today talked about being out 18 months, thanking Tony Khan for sending him flowers and a note and said that he was considering retirement at first but does want to come back. This is a nasty fluke injury for a guy who took years to come back from the shoulder injury suffered at a time when he was one of the best in-ring performers in history.
— TNA’s Bound for Glory takes place in Lowell, MA tonight at the Paul Tsongas Center. hey were at 6,275 tickets out earlier today so this will be one of the biggest crowds in the 23 year history of the company:
- Call Your Shot Gauntlet Battle Royal
- Tessa Blanchard vs. Gia Miler
- Frankie Kazarian vs. Steve Maclin for the International title
- Moose & Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards & JDC & Alisha Edwards vs. Mustafa Ali & Special Agent 0 & Jason Hotch & John Skyler & Tasha Steelz in a hardcore war match
- The Iinspiration vs. Heather by Elegance & Ash by Elegance for the Knockouts tag titles
- Leon Slater vs. Je’Von Evans for the X title
- The Hardys vs. Team 3-D in a tables match for the NXT & TNA tag titles
- Keliani Jordan vs. Indi Hartwell for the Knockouts title
- Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana for the TNA title. They have to switch the title here, right?
BDE, a YouTuber (Brandon Collymore) will be in the Gauntlet match.
— New Japan King of Pro Wrestling starts at 3 a.m. Eastern time tonight or midnight Pacific from Sumo Hall in Tokyo. It has a hell of a lineup:
- Sareee vs. Syuri for the IWGP women’s title
- Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi & Titan vs. David Finlay & Taiji Ishimori & Clark Connors
- Sanada vs. Drilla Moloney no DQ no count outs
- Hirooki Goto (first match back since filming Street Fighter 2) & Yoshi-Hashi & Yoh vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita
- El Phantasmo vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for NJPW TV title
- Oleg Botin vs. Evil for Never title
- Yuto-Ice & Oskar vs. Yuya Umeura & Shota Umino for IWGP tag team titles
- Gabe Kidd vs. Yota Tsuji for Global title
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the IWGP world title
— We are doing weekend polls for WWE Crown Jewel, TNA Bound for Glory and New Japan King of Pro Wrestling this weekend. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— We’re looking for reports from the NXT shows in Detroit and Cleveland this weekend with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
— For Google searches this weekend, Crown Jewel has 115,000 searches which is a little more than half of a normal show. However, the UFC show yesterday from Rio de Janeiro had virtually nothing, much lower than usual. The death of Diane Keaton was more than 10 million which speaks volumes for how well known and remembered she was. A funny one is that Logan Paul had 10,000 weekend searches due to a bogus rumor that he was killed in a helicopter crash.
— Lots of rumors that Alexandre Pantoja will defend the flyweight title against Joshua Van on the last UFC PPV for at least seven years, if not ever, on 12/13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
— The main story coming out of yesterday’s win by Charles Oliveira as he broke his own records for most finishes (21) and most submissions (17) in a career with a win over Mateusz Gamrot in the main event. He immediately set his sights on Max Holloway next.
— In a cool touch, Jose Aldo came to the ring and left his gloves in the cage. He didn’t fight on the show but UFC allowed the Hall of Fame fighter to retire in Rio de Janeiro.
— The Philadelphia Inquirer had a story on Scott “Raven” Levy with the documentary “Nevermore” on his career having a screening in the city. (thanks to Chuck Langerman and Bill King)
— Laura Sanko will be announcing the UFC 321 PPV show from Abu Dhabi on 10/25. This will only be the third time a woman has broadcasted a UFC PPV. Sanko did it at UFC 293 and Kathy Long did it at UFC 1.
— Go Shiozaki resurfaced in All Japan yesterday as the mystery partner of Shotaro Ashino in a match with Kento Miyahara & Hideki Suzuki in Gyoda. Miyahara was disqualified quickly and this set up a 10/22 Triple Crown title match at Korakuen Hall which should sell out.
— Former NXT wrestler Yoshiki Inamura returned to NOAH and will challenge KENTA for the GHC title on 11/8 at Korakuen Hall.
— House of Glory Wrestling from Friday night in New York: Zilla Fatu b Bear Bronson to keep the Crown Jewel title, Indi Hartell b Zayda Steel to keep the women’s title, Raheem Royal b Idris Jackson, Killer Kross b Matt Cardona, Leon Slater b Amazing Red to keep the TNA X Division title, Hardys b Mane Event in a TNA vs. HOG title match so the Hardys now have three sets of belts, Charles Mason b Man Like DeReiss to keep the HOG title. The next show i s 11/15 in Long Island, NY. (thanks to Samuel Rosenthal)
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.