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Friday Update

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— Garrett Gonzales and I did today’s show with John Pollock of Post Wrestling talking current news as well as talking about the 2025 awards. We only covered the main categories and because we also talked about Drew McIntyre’s title win, fallout from the Tokyo Dome and New Year’s Dash, and the career of Hiroshi Tanahashi.

— The new issue of the Observer is out today. This issue is our annual business year in review show and also focuses heavily on the Tokyo Dome show and career of Hiroshi Tanahashi, as well as covers the crazy life of Johnny Legend:

*Coverage of the Tokyo Dome show

*How did the show accomplish what should have been its key goals

*Thoughts on Aaron Wolf

*Business notes on the show

*Yota Tsuji and the title name change

*The end of the Bullet Club

*Shinsuke Nakamura and his thoughts

*Angle with Will Ospreay

*Records that Tanahashi set during his career

*Tanahashi’s background

*Notes on his last IWGP title win that wasn’t supposed to happen

*The unique way he became a mainstream figure in a news story

*How his career exploded from there

*How Tanahashi differed from prior IWGP champions and how that changed who could hold that title

*The Tanahashi era that turned around New Japan

*A look at his record setting 13 Tokyo Dome career main events

*Various title wins and career awards

*2025 Business Year in Review

*A look at all the shows that drew 15,000 fans

*Biggest individual draws of the year

*Crowds of 15,000 or more by promotion  and how the main companies did

*How UFC PPV gates wer

*The biggest pro wrestling drawing card every year from 1916 to 2025

*What wrestlers were No. 1 for the year the most years in their career

*The 50 biggest arena draws  in pro wrestling history based on the standards of their era

*New Year Dash coverage

*The year in matches, who had the most great matches in 2025, most over the course of a career, top ten arenas of all-time and new records set in 2025 by a promotion for a year as well as for a city

*A look at the life of Johnny Legend, a cult celebrity wrestling fan, his work with Freddie Blassie and Andy Kaufman, and his promotion, Incredibly Strange Wrestling.

*The most detailed look at the ratings of the pro wrestling TV shows and details regarding who watches

*Advanced ticket sales for WWE, AEW and TNA events

*AEW stars headed to CMLL next week

*Another Arena Mexico sellout

*Legendary pro wrestling promoter turns 101

*Old living wrestling personalities

*Ted DiBiase files lawsuit

*The Ted DiBiase Jr. case

*A look at the career of Bob Boyer/Bobby Bold Eagle, who wrestled from 1955 to 1987

*Documentary planned on 80s tag team

*Notes on WrestleMania week shows

*Update on the WBD sale

*Former UFC champion goes for boxing world title

*Update on the home for WWE’s library

*Plans for TV shows this month

*How much Dwayne Johnson has made from the WWE contract he signed two years ago

*Those added to WWE, those leaving, those injured and those they are interested in

*How the Holiday week house shows did

*Why WWE’s weekly  audience on Netflix should go up close to 12 percent over the next three months.

— Drew McIntyre beat Cody Rhodes in the main event of Smackdown from Berlin earlier today. In the third match, the cage match, Jacob Fatu returned  and attacked both McIntyre and Rhodes. While he was brawling with Rhodes,  McIntyre got out the door to win.  We’ll have more this week regarding how this relates to WrestleMania which was scheduled as Reigns vs. Rhodes. I thought McIntyre kind of had to win this match and it was clearly done to make Rhodes not really having fairly lost while McIntyre didn’t have to lose again. This match airs commercial free in the U.S.

— Other results:

  • Trick Williams b Rey Fenix
  • Giulia b Alexa Bliss to keep the U.S.title
  • Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Talla Tonga b Wyatt Sicks to set up a tag tite match
  • Jordynne Grace b Alba Fyre
  • Carmelo Hayes b Shinsuke Nakamura to keep the U.S. title

— Announced for SmackDown this coming Friday at Wembley Arena is Miz vs. Randy Orton, Trick Williams vs. Matt Cardona, Solo Sikoa vs. Damien Priest, Sam Zahn vs. Ilja Draunov with the four winners going into a four-way match on 1/24 on the Saturday Night Main Event. The winner of that match faces Drew McIntyre for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble show on 1/31 in Riyadh.

— Elton Prince confirmed our story in the current issue about his neck injury noting he’s had two level neck fusion surgery on Thursday.

— A lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut against WWE for $5 million claiming WWE misled customers into thinking they could watch PPV’s for free if they already got ESPN through their cable systems in promotion of Wrestlepalooza. The complaint lists statements on WWE television ESPN press releases and a Nick Khan podcast interview with John Ourand where he claimed that if you got ESPN there would be no additional charge to view the major shows.  The suit alleges bait-and-switch.

— AEW Dynamite did 516,000 viewers with a 0.08 in 18-49 on Wednesday. We don’t have standings of competition numbers at press time. This is only TV and does not include viewership on HBO MAX.  

— We’re looking for reports on these shows:

  • WWE tomorrow night in Glasgow, Scotland
  • WWE Sunday in Copenhagen, Denmark

We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]

— The Glasgow show is sold out with 11,072 tickets out.

— Announced for the New Japan death match show in Las Vegas on 4/16 at Horseshoe Las Vegas are Jun Kasai and El Desperado.

— Jay Reddick did an interview with Brody King in the Orlando Sentinel. He talked about his Abolish ICE shirt, travel tips, hardcore music, his friendship with MVP, his chemistry with Bandido and why he sees a singles championship as a goal, but not the ultimate goal.

“I look at things in a very human way of what I feel is right and wrong,” King said. “I like trying to stand up for people who don’t have the voice to speak up for themselves.”

— Ian Carey’s report on the pro wrestling odds for this week that’s usually in the issue is here today. We should note Cody  Rhodes was a  -400 favorite to beat Drew McIntyre and that didn’t happen.

ODDS FOR THIS WEEK 

Roman Reigns is the current betting favorite to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match at +165. That is up significantly from the +750 he was listed at in November. Gunther has also made a significant jump and now has the second-highest odds at +200 after previously being listed at +600.

Sami Zayn was previously the favorite to win the Rumble at +150, but his odds have since moved out to +400. Bron Breakker was previously the second favorite at +175 and now sits tied with Zayn at +400.

After Zayn and Breakker, LA Knight has the next-highest odds at +600. CM Punk was once listed at +400, but his odds have drifted to +1000. There is a significant drop-off after that, with Seth Rollins and Oba Femi both listed at +1800, Dominik Mysterio at +2000, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton each at +2500, and then Drew McIntyre at +2800 after previously being listed at +750. The Rock is also listed at +3300.

For the Women’s Royal Rumble, the odds still point to a three-way race between Liv Morgan at +100, Bianca Belair at +200, and Rhea Ripley at +300.  

After that, there is a notable drop-off with Charlotte Flair at +1000, Lyra Valkyria at +1200, and IYO SKY at +1400. After another drop-off, Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill are each listed at +2000. Nia Jax, Chelsea Green, and AJ Lee are each listed at +2200, while Asuka is listed at +2500.

As for last week’s results, Damian Priest was a -260 favorite when he defeated Aleister Black, who was listed at +170, in an ambulance match on the 1/2 SmackDown. Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss were -165 favorites when they defeated The Kabuki Warriors, Lash Legend, and Nia Jax, who were listed at +120.

On the 1/5 Raw one-year anniversary show, CM Punk was a -280 favorite when he defeated Bron Breakker, who was at +180. Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY were -350 favorites when they won the Women’s Tag Team titles from The Kabuki Warriors, who were listed at +225.

There was notable movement in the Oba Femi vs. Leon Slater match at NXT New Year’s Evil leading up to the 1/6 show. Femi had been listed as a -1000 favorite, but after it became known he’s headed to the main roster, those odds fell back to -350. This may have reflected a belief that Femi would drop the title prior to debuting on the main roster rather than vacate it after retaining. Jacy Jayne was also a -200 favorite when she retained the NXT Women’s Championship against Kendal Grey, who was listed at +150.

— Dana White said that the 1/24 bantamweight title match with Kayla Harrison defending against Amanda Nunes will be the biggest women’s fight of all-time.  It definitely won’t be the one with the most interest in history, but it is the biggest women’s fight that can be made in the current period of time.

— Arena Mexico tonight has a loaded show:

Angelito & Kalgua & Pequeno Magia vs. Full Metal & Pequeno Polvora & Rostro de Acero (rematch of a match of the month from last year)

Calavera Jr. I & II vs. Robin & Polvora – Robin faces the guy who unmasked him last Friday

Max Star & Futuro vs. Euforia & Mephisto (rematch of a match of the month from last year which was loaded with high flying)

Star Black & Fugaz & Explosivo vs.  Barboza & Difunto & ?  (rematch of a match of the month from last year but last year’s match Zandokan  Jr., who is out after knee surgery.  The ? will be the newest member of Galleon Fantasma to be introduced, who is from Guadalajara)

Mascara Dorada vs. Titan with a 10:00 time limit

Mistico vs. Barbaro Cavernario for the CMLL light heavyweight title

— As of this writing the show has not sold out.  So that streak could end tonight.

— Last night’s show at Arena Neza with Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs Bandido & Soberano Jr., sold out with 2,000 fans. The local newspaper in Neza reported that Misitico’s team won, the atmosphere was fantastic and the match went more than 30 minutes.  Komander & Atlantis Jr. faced Hechicero & Ultimo Guerrero in the semi.

— Samantha Irvin turned 37 today. Ruby Soho turned 35. Promoter Ed McLemore was 63 when  he died 47 years ago today. Cocoa Samoa was 61 when he died 19 years ago today. Rex King/Timothy Well was 55 when he died  nine years ago. Hall of Fame candidate Pampero Firpo was 89 when he passed away six years ago. Rick Harris/Back Bart was 69 when he died one year ago. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson will be on tomorrow’s Memphis Wrestling TV show.

— Patsy Gilliland, who wrestled at Pat Lyuda from 1958-1962 as part of Moolah’s troupe, passed away back on 11/3 at the age of 85. She wrestled in the U.S.and Mexico during that period.

— VIP Wrestling Hard to Kill on 1/30 in Arlington, TX at the St. Jude Event Center is headlined by Moose defending the VIP title against Mike Santana.

— Marcus Mathers, a WWEID wrestler, starts with Dragon Gate on 1/18.

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Bryan Rose
Bryan Rose

Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.