Daily Update: WWE Raw, Last Week Tonight, Paramount & Comcast

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*Winners, top place winners, comments and every winner of every award dating back to 1980, from Wrestler of the Year, MMA MVP, Most Outstanding, Most Outstanding MMA Fighter, Tag Team of the Year, Best on Interviews, Promotion of the Year, Best Weekly TV show, Match of the Year, MMA Fight of the year, U.S./Canada MPV, Japanese MVP, Mexico MVP, Europe MVP, Best non-heavyweight, Women’s MVP, Women’s MMA MVP, Feud of the Year, Best Box Office Draw, Most Improved, Most Charismatic, Best Technical, Best Brawler, Best Flying Wrestler, Most Overrated, Most Underrated, Rookie of the Year, Best Non-WRestler, Best Television Announcer, Worst Television Announcer, Most major show, Worst major show, Best maneuver, Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, Worst TV show, Worst match, Worst feud, Worst promotion, Best Booker of the Year, Promoter of the Year, Best Gimmick, Worst Gimmick, Best Book and Best Documentary.

*Tons of news related to the build to WrestleMania, why the card may be changing, a major concern regarding ticket sales, predictabiity vs. surprises, How Bron Brakker’s injury changes things, Brock Lesnar situation, Becky Lynch situation, situation in Las Vegas, concerns in Las Vegas, why ticket sales are down, plus build to Elimination Chamber

*Tadao Yasuda, a unique life of a former sumo star, IWGP champion, one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, the birth of the New Year’s Eve fighting tradition, gambling issues and more

*Coverage of the New Beginning in Osaka, talent leaving, talent staying, what is the difrection for New Japan the next few months and a worst and best match of the year candidate one right after the other

*Betting odds for this week’s wrestling

*Most detailed look at the TV ratings, a look at the red flags, streaming numbers and more.

*Notes on the honoring and retirement of El Satanico and career highlights

*Mistico sellout updates

*The last Friday for a month at Arena Mexico with the biggest names

*AAA TV tapings with WWE talent

*Starddom PPV notes

*Epstein files wrestling references

*Biggest UK women’s show coming

*Show coming up attempting to be the largest attendance for an all-women’s show in three decades

*Pareamount again trying to get WBD

*How politics affects pro wrestling

*Grand Slam Australia notes

*MJF talks Punk

*TV reviews

*YouTube notes

*CBS airing UFC on 3/7

*Zuffa boxing defies Ali Act with world title announcement

*WWE injury updates

*Bad Bunny Super Bowl controversy

*WWE Hall of Famer threatens to quit if another person isn’t removed

*Reigns upcoming schedule

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Monday Update

— With Bryan away on vacation, I’ll be doing a show with Garrett Gonzales tonight covering Raw and the latest news. You can also send questions to me for tonight’s show to [email protected] but concentrate on current events, such as stuff from the latest issue, as they will have precedence.

— Raw tonight is from Memphis. There are two Elimination Chamber qualifiers, with Bayley vs. Nattie vs. Asuka and Gunther vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dominik Mysterio, plus AJ Lee and Becky Lynch continue their angle. CM Punk is there as well as Liv Morgan. JD McDonagh is there for the first time since a November injury so Judgment Day is back to full strength. Royce Keys is also there, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be on TV. There were 8,650 tickets out the last time we checked. So they will have a good crowd but far from a sellout. We’re looking for live reports from the show as far as Main Event or dark matches to [email protected]

— The John Oliver “Last Week Tonight” show last night on HBO mentioned Brody King, MJF and the F*** Ice chants in Las Vegas. It was a very brief clip where he said, “Excellent. Well done to everyone involved there,” praising the crowd in particular. It is notable that AEW is absolutely not leaning into this publicity. They announced that King would be back on the 2/25 Dynamite show in Denver and thus won’t be in Sacramento on Wednesday.

— A Mike Tyson vs. Floyd Mayweather exhibition boxing match was reported by Mike Coppingers as taking place on 4/25 in The Congo.

— For Sacramento, the only stuff pushed is Kenny Omega vs. Swerve Strickland in a singles match and an MJF-Adam Page face-to-face segment. The Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter & Alex Windsor) also debut inside the ring as a team.

— Cord Cutters News reported industry analysts talking of a merger between Comcast and Paramount Global because of the heavy money losses of Paramount + and Peacock. Paramount + is profitable right now, although Peacock is heavily losing money. But Paramount itself is currently a money loser.

— The 3/8 Pro Wrestling Eve show at Indigo at the O2 Arena in London is sold out and has set the U.K., record for largest attendance for an all-women’s pro wrestling show. The prior record was 1,000 for a show at York Hall in 2018. At this point the show is at just under 1,200. The show will be streamed to Channel Members on the Eve Champions Tier. A lot of TNA talent including Jamie Hayter, Harley Cameron, Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander are on the show.

— Eve also runs 3/6 at The Big Penny in Walthamstow in Londo with Jamie Hayter vs Miyu Yamashita, AZM & Alex Windosr vs. Safire Reed & Syuri, Dash Chisako vs. Anita Vaughan, Dani Mo & Melissa Fierce vs. French Art plus Eve tag champs Lallie defend against Johnnie Robbie & Miko Alana.

— Arena Mexico on 3/6 has a Mercedes Mone CMLL women’s title defense. The goal is to top 10,900 in attendance which would make it the largest crowd for an all-women’s pro wrestling show anywhere in the world since the 90s.

— For TNA, there will be no ratings out today due to the holiday. Everything will be delayed a day so I don’t think we’ll get SmackDown on Syfy numbers until Wednesday.

— We’re looking for reports from these events:
*Anything from the AEW show in Sydney not on televisoin
*WWE house show Saturday night in Lubbock, TX
*NXT house show Saturday night in Kent, WA
*AEW house show Sunday night in Brisbane, Australia
We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

— A Logan Paul Pikachu Illustrator card was auctioned off at $16,492,000, making it the most expensive trading card sale price of all-time.

— El Clon and Daniel Garcia debuted last night at Arena Mexico in the main event where Clon won a four-way over Neon, Esfinge and Garcia. CMLL shows will be way down in star power the next few weeks due to FantasticaMania in Japan.

— Gisele Shaw will defend her Maple Leaf Wrestling women’s title against Sanely tomorrow night at Arena Mexico, which is headlined by Blue Panther & Esfinge & Neon vs.; Barboza & Dufinto & Furia Roja.

— There is a Portland Wrestling Expo and Hall of Fame ceremony this coming Saturday night at the Holiday Inn at the Portland Airport. The inductees into the Portland Wrestling Hall of Fame are Buddy Rose, one of the biggest stars ever in that territory, Dutch Savage, another of the biggest stars ever, announcer Don Coss and The Grappler, the hero of Chael Sonnen. Among those attending include Charles “Godfather” Wright, Paul Ellering, Minoru Suzuki, Ken Patera, Tom Prichard, Grappler, Jules Strongbow, Rip Rogers, Teal Piper, The Equalizer, Joey Jackson and The Bollywood Boyz.

— Chris Jericho is currently on tour with Fozzy in the U.K.

— Bill Goldberg was announced as Partner and CEO of Patriot Tactical, focusing on strength, preparedness and purpose. Patriot Tactical produces tactical knives, EDC gear, protective equipment and training driven products.

— Advertised for the 3/30 Raw in Madison Square Garden are CM Punk, Stephanie Vaquer, Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley and The Vision.

— Combate Global on 2/26 in Burbank, CA with Jawy Mendez (1-1) vs. John Padron (2-1). The fight will air on Fighttips, the YouTube Channel of Shane Fazen, and in Mexico on Samsung TV Plus. It wasn’t that many years ago a Combate Global show on Univision was the 13th highest rated prime time television show during the entire week (due to a big soccer lead-in, but still).

Google Icon

Exclusive access to podcasts and newsletters

Subscribe
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.