Daily Update: WWE Night of Champions & UFC numbers, Sunday shows rundown

Forbidden Door
Forbidden Door (Image credit: AEW)

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • Previewing the four major weekend shows as well as interest levels of the shows
  • What should be the business goals of the show
  • Preview of the G-1 Climax tournament
  • CMLL business notes and coverage of Fantastica Mania
  • Trying to make sense over claims about the UFC numbers
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling and MMA TV shows, comparisons, competition and more
  • CMLL bring back the concept of club championships
  • Latin Lover talks Konnan’s situation
  • The story behind the return of Los Perros Del Mal and their history in AAA
  • Stardom PPV coverage
  • Unique comedy angle to set up a world title match
  • Attempt to set up kickboxing legend vs. Minoru Suzuki match
  • My thoughts on June 26, 1975, watching Ali vs. Inoki and the entire closed circuit show
  • Final X notes
  • Ronda Rousey as Executive Producer of a new movie
  • Bully Ray-Josh Barnett silliness
  • Book on Rikidozan
  • More crazy independent stories
  • The Tommy Dreamer departure from TNA
  • The update on the WBD sale being approved
  • The move made by WBD for a new show that flies in the face of all the anti-AEW doomsayers
  • Tony Khan press conference notes
  • Martha Hart honored as Cagarian of the year
  • Update on FTR
  • Darby Allin tries another crazy idea
  • ROH tapings
  • More in the Kajan Johnson lawsuit
  • Dana White talks Zuckerberg vs. Musk fight
  • UFC sponsor in hot water
  • Complaints regarding McGregor on Jimmy Fallon
  • UFC changes how it does rankings
  • Dustin Poirier’s arrest update
  • Cris Cyborg retirement and thoughts
  • CM Punk return imminent
  • Notes on interviews by Paul Heymand and Paul Levesque
  • Logan Paul talks being ripped off by Floyd Mayweather
  • Notes from WWE & AEW arena events

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

NXT Great American Bash 2026: Lola Vice vs. Kendal Grey
NXT Great American Bash 2026: Lola Vice vs. Kendal Grey (Image credit: WWE)

— Bryan and I did a show last night covering Night of Champions, rating, CM Punk and Chris Jericho’s 2012 match in Brazil and the alleged shoot. The week in review show with Garrett is also up on the site, where we previewed the weekend, talked the UFC’s 34 million claim and dia a Q&A on Ali vs.Inoki. We will be back tonight talking about today’s shows.

— Night of Champions was the No. 8 television show on Netflix yesterday and No. 10 overall. It was not No. 1 in any country for the day. It was No. 1 in Canada, No. 9 in Italy, No. 9 in India, No. 6 in Mexico, No. 2 in the U.K. and No. 3 in Saudi Arabia. Very surprised about not being No. 1 in Saudi Arabia. We’ll have the full stuff in the Observer later in the week.

— Friday’s SmackDown on Netflix did far lower than usual numbers by a wide amount. No No. 1’s, highest were 2 in Canada and 4 in U.K. and Trinidad & Tobago.

— Not much in the way of heavily recommended matches for the weekend. The main event of Night of Champions was noteworthy because of Sami Zayn’s title win. The best matches I’ve seen this week were Ricochet vs Konosuke Takeshita on Dynamite and Yuto-Ice vs. Taichi in the G-1 qualifying match.

— I’d also suggest checking out the beginning of the Countdown to Forbidden Door with Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett and WIll Ospreay talking about Owen Hart. It’s really strong stuff. Foley and Jarrett were legit close friends with Owen Hart.

— Yesterday’s UFC show from Azerbaijan was the No. 3 show for the day and No. 3 show overall on Paramount +. It was first in 12 countries, most notable of which was Mexico. It was the No. 4 show for the day in the U.S. It was way up from last week’s low mark.

— AEW Forbidden Door starts at 7 p.m. Eastern with the pre-show and has 11 matches announced.

  • Mark Briscoe & Orange Cassidy & Kyle O’Reily & Roderick Strong & Darby Allin & Konosuke Takeshita vs. MJF & Andrade & Kyle Fletcher & Jake Doyle & Kevin Knight in a cage match and if Briscoe’s team wins, he gets a title match with MJF
  • Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland Owen Hart Cup finals
  • Mercedes Mone vs. Maya World Owen Hart Cup finals
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. David Finlay & Clasrk Connors for the tag titles
  • Kenny Omega vs . Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Jon Moxley vs. Bandido for the Continental title
  • Thekla vs. Starlight Kid for the AEW women’s title
  • Young Bucks vs. Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Shingo Takagi & Titan
  • Shota Umino vs Pac for IWGP Global title

Pre-show:

  • Megan Bayne & Lena Cross vs. Olympia & Thunder Rosa for women’s tag titles
  • Maika vs. Sky Blue for the final spot in Wednesday’s Survival of the Fittest match for the TBS title.

As of this morning they had 8,538 tickets out for the show in San Jose.

— A number of AEW people took a red eye into town late last night from Seattle to attend Darby Allin’s wedding. There are photos and videos that have surfaced. Tony Khan is clearly in the background. It was not a large wedding but Darby Allin’s mother did slam him into thumbtacks and Brody King chopped Darby’s father in the chest.

— During the middle of the G-1 Climax tournament, Konosuke Takeshita will headline an 8/11 DDT show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo facing pop idol Kaisei Takechi in a singles match.

— NXT Great American Bash at 7 p.m. on CW. It goes live on the West Coast at 4 p.m.

  • Tony D’Angelo vs. Naraku (Evil) for the NXT title. WWE just trademarked a new Japanese name, Bakusai, which many believe will be Hiromu Takahashi
  • Lola Vice vs. Kendal Grey for the NXT women’s title
  • Myles Borne vs. Tavion Heights for the North American title
  • Zaria vs. Tatum Paxley for the North American title
  • Wren Sinclair vs. Arianna Grace for the Speed title
  • Saquon Shugars vs. Dion Lennox
  • Tristan Angels vs. Shiloh Hill.

— TNA Slammiversary starts with the pre-show at 3 p.m. Eastern in Boston. They had 3,321 tickets out although that was papered of late:

  • Mike Santana vs. Nic Nemeth for the TNA title
  • Ladder match for the tag titels with Bear Bronson & Brien Yers vs. Hardys vs. Righteous vs. Great Hands
  • Cedric Alexander defends the X title in Ultimate X against Frankie Kazarian, Leon Slater, Mr. Elegance, KC Navarro, Fabiian Aichner and Amazing Red
  • Mustafa Ali open challenge for the International title with Apollo Crews rumored as the guy
  • Lei Ying Lee vs Xia Brookside for the Knockouts tite
  • Moose vs. Eddie Edwards
  • Elegance Brand vs. Rosemary & Allie for the Knockouts tag titles
  • Ricky Sosa vs Eric Young
  • Indi Harrtwel vs Elayna Black

Brian James is expected at the show.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Night of Champions, Forbidden Door, Great American Bash and Slammiversary, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]

— For Google searches, Night of Champions did 140,000, which is down from a usual WWE show that usually does closer to 200,000. Yesterday’s UFC show did 80,000, which is up from last week but below usual.

— Will Ospreay was on KRON Ch. 4 in San Francisco talking Forbidden Door. Notable is that KRON is the CW station in the market and Forbidden Door is head-to-head with their own NXT show tonight. Not sure how that one slipped through.

— Syd Langston, a fitness model that WWE brought in for some tryouts, debuted for BOOM Pro Wrestling in Vancouver as the valet for Brady Malibu, wh does a Baywtch gimmick and they brought her in as Slamela Anderson. They are running their net show at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver on 7/25.

— Jon Heidenreich turned 57 today. Matt Osborne/Matt Borne/first Donik died 13 years ago today at the age of 55. Larry Simon (Boris Malenko) was born on this day in 1933. Cowboy Bob Kelly was born on this day in 1936. Villano I was born on this day in 1951. El Santo debuted as Rudy Guzman on this day in 1934 at the age of 16. His last match was in 1982, 48 year later. Fabulous Moolah’s first match was on this day in 1948. Jaguar Yokota was 15 years old when she debuted on this day in 1978 and she still wrestles full-time today. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Pro Wrestling EVE on Friday night at the Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, London has Rhio vs. Kay Lee Ray (the former Alba Fyre) with the winner getting a shot at International champion Miyu Yamashita on 8/28. Emersyn Jayne faces Skye Blue on that show.

— Ian Douglass has written a book about the Turkish Invasion of American Pro Wrestling in 1898. The book goes on sale today, which also features a foreword by John Layfield and an afterword by Tom Lawlor. It talks about the Turks coming to the U.S. from 1898 to 1901 as heel pro wrestlers.

— The single most-watched segment of pro wrestling ever on U.S. cable television was 27 years ago today, the Undertaker vs. Steve Austin match on Raw that did a 9.5 rating and 10.72 million viewers. That is the cable record. The network record for the 1988 Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match from Indianapolis was 28.2 million (the 33 million story, while printed everywhere at the time and for decades later, ended up being inaccurate).

— Herb Dean, already under heat for late stoppages, in yesterday’s Michel Pereira vs. Shara Magomedov fight, Dean twice warned Magomedov for hair pulling. After the second one, he told Magomedov that one more illegal move and he’s taking a point away. Magomedov then poked Pereira in the eye, and you guessed it, no points were taken away.

— On A&E Tonight in prime time will be WWE Greatest Moments on Andre the Giant at 8 p.m., Booker T at 8:30 p.m., WrestleMania in the 80s at 9 p.m. Slammer Slam in the 00s at 9:30 p.m., LFG at 10 p.m., Great Moments on Dusty Rhodes at 11 p.m. and Greatest Moments on Ring Entrances in the 90s at 11:30 p.m.

— GCW from last night in Los Angels:

  • Sam Stachouse & KJ Oro b 1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire
  • Hollyhood Haley J b Joey Janela
  • Gringo Loco & Vengador b Iron Kid & Resplandor
  • Atticus Cogar NC Hook to retain the GCW title
  • Alec Price & Jordan Oliver b The Butcher & The Blade to keep the tag titles
  • Lio Rush b Shotzi Blackheart
  • Nick Gage b Starboy Charlie
  • Otis Cogr retained the Ultraviolent title over Anakin Murphy, Dr Danger, Vipress, Slade and JKM

— Freelance from last night in Chicago:

  • Cole Radrck over Celeste, Hunk Kassidy, Craig Mitchell, Devon Monroe, Matt Knicks, GPA and CJ Martin
  • Chico Suave b Shane Mercer
  • Shazza McKenzie & Mason Morgan & Sean Login b Reagan Lydale & White Heat
  • RJ Sowa b Darren Corbin in a lumberjack match
  • Izzy Moreno b Effy in a student vs. teacher match
  • Sabin Gauge b Alfonzo Gonzalez
  • Bang & Matthews b Headbangers (said to be bad)
  • Trevor Outlaw b Allie Katch via belt shot (thanks to Lance LeVine).
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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.