mobanmarketDAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara announced for AEW Dynamite
AEW Dynamite returning to Boston and Philadelphia in April
Simone Johnson, daughter of The Rock, joins WWE Performance Center
WWE WrestleMania heading to Los Angeles in 2021
Four title matches set for New Japan Road shows
NJPW reveals cards for Hattori and Nakanishi retirement events
Naito vs. Hiromu announced for NJPW’s 48th Anniversary show
Latest Audio:
B&V&G: Granny, WWF Superstars of Wrestling from 1992, New Japan! 2/9
WOL: New Japan, WrestleMania, Saudi Arabia, Smackdown, more! 2/9
DragonKing Dark: Abominable Snowman/Yeti 2/9
WOR: Jericho Cruise live Q&A, part two 2/9
WON NEWSLETTER: February 10, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Major WWE corporate shakeups, more
We look at the changes in WWE business and details on what Vince McMahon was talking about regarding changes in the network and PPV distribution in the lead story of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We examine the departure of Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, the drop in the stock price, what it will take to get the price back up, McMahon talking business options, what WWE can learn from how UFC handled a similar situation, the business of WrestleMania, the key players, the different options, the UFC PPV deal, and McMahon talks AEW.
Also in this issue:
WWE fourth quarter numbers in every category, profits, losses, arena business, corporate spending and all categories.
McGregor vs. Cerrone business including details of it being the largest streaming PPV in history, how it did on traditional PPV, how UFC ha helped ESPN+ numbers, ESPN+ subscribers as well a the bundle with Hulu and Disney Plus, and how successful it has been financially.
WrestleMania and the net Saudi Arabia show, a new WWE TV deal, Takeover Portland, what medical treatment wrestlers from many different companies are looking at doing, new WWE signings, John Cena in Fast 9, update on talent that has wanted their release, Jake Atlas debut, lots of ratings info, WWE Network price notes, Mauro Ranallo talks getting off twitter, Total Bellas story lines, Bret Hart update, most watched shows on WWE Network and coverage of all of last week’s WWE arena events.
New Beginning shows in Sapporo, with a full rundown of the booking, the business, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
A feature on the Jericho Cruise, the top matches, how TV was taped, and what happened.
UFC event from Raleigh with match-by-match coverage and business notes.
A feature on the death of Romeo Cormier and the famous Burke/Martin/Cormier family and the heyday of pro wrestling in Eastern Canada.
Regarding the Wednesday numbers, we’ve got full details, demos that each side won, how every segment did and what match ended up as the difference maker.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight for Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw, New Beginning in Osaka, David Von Erich, Open scoring and other topics. You can send questions to tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
We’re also looking for reports from the NXT show in Phoenix on Friday, Riverside on Sunday, and WWE house shows in Oakland on Saturday and Fresno on Sunday, as well as dark matches from tonight in San Jose to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com. We’re doing weekend polls on UFC 247 and New Japan New Beginning in Osaka, 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 dave@wrestlingobserver.com
WWE’s official press conference for the 2021 WrestleMania at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood,CA takes place at 11 a.m. local time with Stephanie McMahon, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, John Saboor (WWE Executive Vice President of Special Events) and Jason Gannon (the Managing Director of the stadium) appearing.
After all the controversy over the weekend with the Jon Jones-Dominick Reyes scoring, Invicta has announced that it will have open scoring, meaning they will announce to the crowd all three judges scores at the end of each round, starting with its 3/6 show in Kansas City. The Kansas Athletic Commission announced today that promoters will have the option to have open scoring or maintain things as they are. They are the first commission that I’m aware of in the U.S. to allow open scoring.
A correction from yesterday. In the note on the New Japan MSG show being one week before All Out 2, it is actually two weeks prior as All Out 2 will be 9/5.
The XFL has gotten mostly strong word of mouth. It is said that they’ve already sold in advance more tickets for this season than the AAF did during its season. On sports radio that I was listening to last night, they were talking about it with the results on the news breaks and such. The Houston team opened up the second deck of TDECU Stadium for walkup and New York and Dallas both drew in excess of 17,000 announced. Elevate Sports Ventures, according to business newsletter John Wallstreet, built out teams sales staff and they were selling tickets for six months before the season started. They will not come close to the attendance of the 2001 league, but everything is different now. The XFL was projecting 15,000 to 20,000 per game this season with Seattle and St. Louis maybe topping that as each team has sold more than 10,000 season tickets..
WWE
Raw tonight is in Ontario, CA. They may sell out TV both tonight and Friday this week as both were close. Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe & Viking Raiders vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy & AOP plus Becky Lynch vs. Asuka for the women’s title are the top matches tonight.
Becky Lynch feels she should be the highest paid person in the company, which she is not.
Wells Fargo has cut its target price for WWE stock from $80 to $36 due to all the concerns. The stock closed today at $42.05 per share.
The guy who King Corbin poured the drink on Friday night on Smackdown was Markus Mack, the promoter of All Pro Wrestling in Northern California.
UFC
The Ministry of Sports in France and the French Boxing Federation are developing rules for MMA in the country which would eventually lead to UFC debuting in that market.
Jon Jones talked about going to WWE with Sports Illustrated.
MISCELLANEOUS
Rafael Lovato Jr. has vacated the Bellator middleweight title due to what were called ongoing medical issues. He did not elaborate on what they were, but Scott Coker said that this has been a challenging time for Lovato, his team and his family, but called him a true warrior and that they will work with him regarding his future. The company said it will announce plans for filling the title vacancy in the next few days.
Both Ilima-lei MacFarlane and Douglas Lima, two of Bellator’s top stars, holding the women’s flyweight and welterweight titles, have signed multi-year new contracts.
MLW has signed a television deal in France on Webedia airing every Monday night at 9 p.m.
365 Pro Wrestling on 2/29 in Kitchener, ONT at the Alpine Club.
Jerry Lawler will defend his Arkansas title against Michael Barry on 3/21 in Searcy, AR at the White County Fairgrounds.
Defy Wrestling Kings of Crash on 2/21 at Washington Hall in Seattle will feature a show with stars from The Crash promotion in Tijuana plus the return of Jeff Cobb. Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf 450 will defend the Crash tag titles. Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl defend the Defy tag titles against Damian 666 & Guillermo Rosas, while Schaff defends the Defy title against Randy Myers.
Lights Out Xtreme fighting on 3/13 at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, CA has an MMA show with heavyweight champion Mike Quintero (6-2) defending against Blake Troop (8-6). Quintero is also a professor at Los Angeles City College and he’s now 43 years old. The show is being taped for Fox Sports West, Prime Ticket, Fox Sports San Diego and other Fox Sports regional stations.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: TNA Against All Odds 2008
CONTACT INFORMATION
Poll opinions: dave@wrestlingobserver.com
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Show results and news tips: newstips@wrestlingobserver.com
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
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