Daily Update: WWE Raw fallout, CMLL notes, Gable Steveson

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.

*WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well.  A look at each case-by-case.

*Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City

*Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years

*Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025

*WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025

*What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries

*Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t

*The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent

*A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule

*A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong

*When did wrestling start being a work.  Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think

*Odds for WWE matches upcoming

*The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why

*What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026

*One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires

*Kazuchika Okada in Japan

*Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025

*Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial

*Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events

*Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment

*The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotionT

*Tons of major independent shows coming

*AEW gets TV in new market

*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA events

*Most viewed YouTube videos from AEW and WWE

*Tag team returning to AEW

*Dana White shuts down talk of major match

*A new lawsuit filed against WWE

*Notes on the recent WWE tryout

*Notes on all the WWE arena shows this past week.

This Week’s Back Issue

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Monday Update

— Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw and the latest wrestling news. We also have weekend shows covering the major events and a Friday show with Garrett Gonzales, Cory Lieb and Ethan Taylor where we go over the 2025 awards ballot.

— AJ Styles vs. Gunther in a match where if Styles doesn’t win he will retire has been added to the Royal Rumble.

— Je’Von Evans was injured and the match had to be stopped on Raw today against Grande Americano. Right now the belief is it wasn’t too bad, there was more fear of a concussion and he’s said to be fine and flying home.

— Some other notes from the show today. Grayson Waller beat Akira Tozawa and Lyra Valkyria beat Ivy Nile for Main Event. Bayley at ringside for the match was very over. Fans saw Gunther and Styles as real stars. The crowd was not hot for Becky Lynch’s promo or match. Jey Uso was Hulk Hogan in 1999. Every time he was shown on the screen he was booed, but when he came out in front of the crowd the place went crazy for him. Lots of chants of “He’s banned from Japan” directed at Logan Paul. Evans got a standing ovation after the injury stoppage. 

Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley got the biggest live reactions. Fans booed all the Saudi Arabia and Royal Rumble videos and there were “you sold out” chants but they were light. They also booed Paul Levesque when shown in the Unreal footage. Punk got a superstar reaction but Balor got the biggest reaction on the show. Punk worked as a champion heel against local babyface star style Lou Thesz and Jack Briscoe did as world champion. The crowd cheered both after the show. He brought Balor back out after the show ended and said “Just one last thing, ‘Chicago is way louder.'” Balor called it the most memorable night of his career and said it was the first time in 15 years he was home for his mother’s birthday and the crowd sang Happy Birthday to his mother. (thanks to Neil McNerlan)

— The Academy Award nominations will be revealed on Thursday. I saw an article that gave Dwayne Johnson a 6.9 percent chance to be nominated for Best Actor in “Smashing Machine.”

— The movie “Night Patrol” which featured CM Punk opened this weekend with $194,016 on 800 screens. It was No. 25 in total box office but per screen it was last among the top 51 and most of those movies were not just released.

–The CMLL show from yesterday was taken off the site because during the Templario vs Bandido main event, when they were outside the ring, a fan got into the ring and it took a lot of security to get him out. Security was late and they didn’t cut away, maybe thinking it was an angle that they hadn’t been told about. The last thing CMLL, because their shows cater to tourists, wants are videos of a security issue or making it feel like going to Arena Mexico may be dangerous. There were a lot of fan videos that got out showing security struggling with the guy and finally taking him to the back.

— No titles ended up changing hands. Ricochet kept the National title over Titan. Lee Moriarty kept the ROH Pure title over Xelhua. There were no issues with ref Edgar Noriega and the rules, although fans were confused. Titan retained the CMLL welterweight title over Komander and Templario kept the CMLL middleweight title. Bandido did try and talk the guy out of coming to the ring but he was not allowed to physically stop him because they have a strict rule for fear of the idea that a wrestler got physical with a fan for the same reasons of wanting the clean image. Templario said he’d like to go to AEW or ROH so they may do a rematch as an ROH title match.

— A correction from yesterday. Hechicero wasn’t double booked. He was only booked in Monterrey and they announced he was injured. He hasn’t wrestled since his Friday match with Roderick Strong. He was limping at one point during the match that didn’t look like a sell nor was it that noticeable, but it was there.

— We’re looking for reports from last night’s WWE show in Nottingham, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

— The tour ended in Belfast today and they return to North America with the Friday night Smackdown show in Montreal.

— Bandido vs. Angel de Oro tonight in Puebla is sold out. Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. & Xelhua vs. Yutani & Cavernario & Soberano Jr. and Ultimo Guerrero Volador Jr. vs. Gates of Agony is also on the show.

— There were a lot of great weekend matches. Ricochet vs. Titan was a super heated match that was more Best of the Super Juniors finals than a Lucha Libre match on Friday. I loved Lee Moriarty vs. Xelhua. It’s all matwork and submission exchanges, not for everyone but this crowd loved it. The Saturday crowd is more a hardcore wrestling crowd anyway.

— Gable Steveson faces Bud Sento heavyweight champion Hugo Lezama in an MMA fight on 2/19 for Mexico Fight League. People are already saying he would smash every heavyweight in UFC right now. Please, let’s wait until how he reacts when he gets punched, which hasn’t happened yet. He hasn’t faced one real fighter. As an athlete, sure he’s better than anyone, but there are many questions left to be answered.

— People all day have raved to me about the Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi vs. Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino main event at today’s Korakuen Hall show as well as the Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Oleg Boltin trios title win over Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson.

— TJP returned to WWE and worked the AAA show on Saturday. It will air in upcoming weeks. They taped three TV tapings on Saturday. They will air at 9 p.m. Eastern every Saturday night on YouTube. On Tubi in Mexico, they kept the show going long so fans could hear the audio (not see it) of the other shows being taped. The AAA YouTube stream for South America from FOX was taken down midshow because they mistakenly thought it was an illegal use of a copyrighted show when it was the actual legal feed.

— Alex Shelley is enrolling in Franklin University to get another degree (he has multiple degrees already) in exercise science. That’s the benefit of the current WWE schedule.

— Ted DiBiase Jr.’s trial is continuing for misappropriation of welfare funds in Mississippi. But he has already filed claiming a mistrial.

— Ron Killings (R-Truth) turns 54 today. Tyler Breeze turns 38. Wardlow turns 38. There will be a lot of talk tomorrow about Killings since his contract talks will be part of WWE Unreal, which debuts tomorrow. Jimmy Brawner, the original Kurt Von Brauner, was born on this day 101 years ago. Al Greene was born in 1928. Pat Patterson was born in 1941. Buck Robley was born in 1945. Bam Bam Bigelow died 19 years ago today at 45. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Miyuu Yamamoto, a multi-time world champion amateur wrestler, who is the sister of Kid Yamamoto, signed for her pro boxing debut on 3/28 in Sydney. She is now 51. She started MMA at 42, way too late. She will do a six-round fight against Michlle Mack.

— CMLL announced a Fantastica Mania show with MLW on 4/12 in Charleston, SC at Festival Hall.

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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.