Daily Update: WWE Elimination Chamber fallout, UFC & RAF notes

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today.

  • A detailed look at the WBD/Paramount/Netflix situation, what the latest decision of WBD to Paramount entails, the keys to why this is happening, business notes, how this affects AEW and can it get approved.
  • A look at the UFC and WWE business in 2025 and in the final quarter of this past year.  We look at the numbers, what they mean, why WWE was more profitable in 2025 than UFC and the key thing that can change that in 2026, Mark Shapiro talks ESPN value to WWE, lots of news about the business of the White House show, UFC fighters upset over pay, why WWE wrestlers are so underpaid but not publicly upset over, and business initiatives going forward
  • The violence in Mexico and tons of wrestling shows canceled this past week
  • We look in depth at the Janel Grant speech from last week, what we learned, what she said, and where everything stands.
  • Update on the build for  WrestleMania, Elimination Chamber, business notes, ticket sales and favorites for the weekend.
  • An updated look at AEW Revolution and business notes
  • The retirement of AJ Styles looked at
  • The most detailed look at  the television ratings from the past week, including comparisons with a year  ago, competition, demos and much more.
  • Notes from Arena Mexico
  • CMLL attempts to break a North  American record next week
  • Cinderalla tournament in Stardom
  • Fantastica Mania notes
  • The life and times of former Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas, his coaching career, his beating Dan Gable, and two notable pro wrestlers he coached
  • College wrestling sets an attendance mark already this season
  • Who had the most top ten matches of the year  over a career according to Cage match.
  • City builds a bust memorializing top 80s star
  • WrestleMania week schedule
  • Former MMA fighter and pro wrestler running for Governor
  • Robbery of the ring truck for an indie group
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows over the next two months.
  • How many subscribers does Paramount need to make up for UFC expenses
  • More talk on Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano
  • Stand & Deliver moves and why
  • When Roman Reigns and Brock Ldesnar are booked for TV in the Mania build
  • Pro wrestler who is active in Japan competes this weekend for the U.S.national team in anther sport
  • Notes on a  new comer to WWE who started this week
  • More notes on value of Dwayne Johnson’s TKO stock

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

Danhausen
Image: WWE

— Both of our weekend shows are already up on the site. We did our news in review show on Friday with Garrett Gonzales covering Netflix bowing out of the WBD purchase talks, Zuffa Boxing pay vs. UFC & WWE pay, roads to Mania and Revolution. Last night we talked about Elimination Chamber and the follow-up, Friday’s New Japan PPV show, Collision, Ricky Steamboat and more.

— Some interesting notes coming out of the Elimination Chamber. AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch in a rematch and Jade Cargill vs. Rhea Ripley are on the books for Mania. The men’s WWE title match still has storyline stuff to go. Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul looks probable but Bron Breakker in the spot would take precedence. Really nothing else was notable.

— From people both there live and in WWE the crowd reactions being lower than expected were more than just a production issue. The Danhausen thing was what it was. He may get over and do well. He may not. The denial that he didn’t get over last night is really something. It was an attempt. It flopped. He’ll be at TV soon, possibly tomorrow, to try again. Before I ever said the Gobbledy Gooker line last night, it was being used quietly backstage. I think it was too much hype and people expecting a bigger star in the spot, as from an idea standpoint, they had clearly worked on the idea. Then again, Vince McMahon thought the Gobbledy Gooker would be a giant hit as well. I think the fact that Danhausen kind of confirmed it beforehand so making a deal out of his getting his AEW deal (while they tried to keep it a secret by hiding him backstage) didn’t help because again, people were expecting something bigger and were already mad at the idea after all that hype that it could be him.

— The gate was one of the biggest non-stadium pro wrestling shows of all-time with the high ticket prices.

— After the Arman Tsarukyan vs. Georgio Poullas wrestling match on last night’s RAF show in Tucson, Tsarkuyan, on top as the match ended, started throwing hard punches on the ground and a bit knee to the body. Tons of people rushed in. Tsarukyan had given Poullas a hard slap during the match but Poullas had been rough with him as well. Still, there was no excuse for what Tsuarkyan did. At this point neither RAF nor the UFC have commented. RAF may have been happy given it gave them a lot of pub, but they still need to make it clear such a thing can never happen again. The show did sell out with 3,516 fans. They are looking at doing Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili soon after Cejudo beat Urijah Faber in last night’s main event. Big difference between a late 30s Olympic gold medalist vs. late 40s guy who didn’t ever make the top eight in the NCAA tournament

— Khamzat Chimaev said last night that he wants into RAF.

— Alex Pereira has vacated the UFC light heavyweight title to move to heavyweight, where he is expected to challenge for the title. The champion is Tom Aspinal, and there’s no way he’s fighting soon, so it looks like Pereira will face Jon Jones or Cyril Gane on the 6/1 show.

— The boots that Hulk Hogan wore in his WrestleMania I match where he teamed with Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff were sold in auction last night for $1,037,000, the first piece of pro wrestling merchandise ever to top seven figures. Logan Paul said that he sayed up until 2 a.m. wanting to get them but bowed out when the price topped $1,021,000.

— Those in Germany and Japan have been told that starting on 4/1, the PLE shows move to Netflix in both countries.

— The Peacock contract with WWE for NXT PLEs ends at the end of March. We’re not sure what service that will move to. Peacock will remain in the WWE business only for the four Saturday Night’s Main Event shows per year.

— I have not seen Friday’s Arena Mexico show yet but in edited highlight form they sure made Angel de Oro’s hair match win over Johnny Consejo look great. So I can say there were a lot of great moves and excellent heat and a big, but not sold out crowd. Last night’s show at Arena Coliseo did sell out (ten weeks in a row) to see Consejo in his first match without his hair in a three-way with Angel and Esfinge. As great as great matches, Hechicero vs. Mascara Dorada on Thursday at Korakuen Hall, Yota Tsuji vs. Andrade, El Phantasmo vs Konosuke Takeshita and Athena vs. Syuri from Friday’s New Japan show in Trenton were great. Andrade vs. Tomohiro Ishii on Collision was a great one as well.

— We’re looking for your thoughts from Elimination Chamber last night as well as the Friday night New Beginning show from New Japan in Trenton, NJ, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match form each show to [email protected]

— Elimination Chamber was No. 7 among television shows on Netflix yesterday and No. 9 among all shows. No. 7 when it doesn’t include the U.S. market is quite good. The UFC show was No. 2 worldwide among TV shows, No. 4 overall on Paramount and No. 5 in the U.S. among TV shows. It was down one percent from last week’s show.

— AEW Collision from early reports was way down from the past few weeks, no surprise since it went head-to-head with Elimination Chamber. So even with AEW increasing of late, it still gets hurt bad when Collision goes against a major WWE main roster event.

— Google searches for Wednesday’s AEW show were down 8.7 percent from the week before. Audience was down 8.5 percent so there was a strong correlation.

— The 6/14 UFC show at the White House was reported by Front Office Sports that at least some of the show would air on CBS.

— The United Wrestling Coalition has its Hall of Fame ceremony on 3/7 at the McKaig-Test-Mullen American Legion Post in New Egypt, NJ at 7. p.m. Those inducted will be Craig Z-List, Rudo the Heel, Sal DeMarco and Mr. Spectrum. They also have a show that night.

— House of Glory on Friday night in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium features Shotzi Blackheart vs. Killer Kelly.

— Mike Tenay turns 71 today. He’s legit one of the smartest people when it comes to pro wrestling in the country. Booker T turns 61. Scottyn Riggs turns 59. Davey Richards turns 43. Mark Sterling turns 43. Big E turns 40. Kyle O’Reilly turns 39. Tenille Dashwood/Emma turns 37. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaisee was born on this day in 1939. Ricky Steamboat turned 73 yesterday. Paul Vachon was 85 when he passed away two years ago today. Ann Casey was 82 when she passed away four years ago today.

— One of the greatest matches of all-time and part of one of the greatest series of bouts of all-time, the last Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi singles match, took place 23 years ago today. It is ranked by Cage match as the second greatest match of all-time. That singles pairing won match of the year in 1998, 1999 and 2003, making the only match-up in history to win three times.

— West Coast Pro from Friday night in Los Angeles: Aaron Solo b Gabe Roka, Andrew Cass won the Golden Gate titel over champion Alan Angels and G Sharpe in a great match, Royce Isaacs b Stephen Wolf in a hard hitting match, Jiah Jewell b Gary Jay, Alpha Zo b Bret the Threat, Miko Alana b Billie Starkz, Lee Moriarty b Adrian Quest in a great technical match, Johnnie Robbie retained thee women’s title over Laynie Luck, Strarboy Charlie & Titus Alexander b Danny Orion & Shimbashi to keep the tag titles, Vinne Massaro b LaBron Kozone to retain the world title. (thanks to Chris Campol)

— West Coast Pro announced 4/16 in Las Vegas at 7 pm. with Johnnie Robbie vs. Mio Momono for the women’s title.

— Harley Cameron is wrestling at tonight’s Boca Raton Championship Wrestling show in a Battle Royal that includes Aleah James, Leva Bates, Lacy Lane, Deonna Purrazzo and Renee Michelle.

— Danger Zone Wrestling on Friday night at Queen Bees in San Diego.

— Freelance Wrestling on Friday night at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago before about 350 fans saw Devon Monroe over Charles Mason in what we were told was a great match, (thanks to Lance LeVine).

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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.