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This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
The new issue of the Observer is on the site with these stories:
This is probably one of the biggest weeks of the year in terms of big news stories involving business practices, Vince McMahon, Dana White, the Phil Baroni murder case, the possible change in the legality of non-compete clauses and more. Now we have a huge problem on the site:
*Behind the story on Vince McMahon’s comeback attempt, why he said he was coming back, correspondence with McMahon and the board, details on the return of former co-presidents and the timing of why it’s happening now.
*Aspects of the story that have not been discussed elsewhere
*Notes on voting shares of major shareholders
*The Dana White/Anne White situation, White talks about what happened and more
*The reaction to this and the future of his company Slap Fighting
* New legislation is being discussed regarding the prohibition of non-compete clauses and their effect on professional wrestling
*Full recap of the Tokyo Dome show, including more on the dates Sasha Banks agreed to, show business notes, the Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega match, title changes and a major record set for streaming the show
*A look at New Year’s Dash
*The life and times of Don West, how he got into wrestling, his life outside of wrestling, a look at a man who didn’t grow up watching wrestling but became a well-liked member of the wrestling community with comments from many of His friends
*Phil Baroni’s murder charges
*The Jake Paul/PFL trade deal and why the odds of it working aren’t high
*John Cena draws the largest audience to see a professional wrestling match on American television this year
*The Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura title at Budokan Hall
*2022 Wrestling Observer Awards Newsletter
*Popularity of television broadcasting wrestling and MMA
*The most detailed overview of TV ratings and how each segment performed in the past week
* Streaming numbers and international TV numbers
*Upcoming ticket sales for AEW and WWE shows
*Annual Last Man In A Cage loses his mask match at Arena Mexico
*More on FTR vs Dragon Lee & Dralistico
*More on AEW talent holding belts in AAA
* Notes for the New Japan US show
*Independent Awards for Japan
*Annual New Year’s Trio Tournament in Japan
* PWG Battle for Los Angeles Notes
*NWA is changing aspects of its business
* Death of the Flying Greek, Mike Pappas
*Former WWE executive removed from public appearances
*Bodybuilder turned UK TV wrestler has died
* Young Bucks contract situation
* Best selling items
*Notes on upcoming AEW shows
*Jericho cruise notes
*Karen Jarrett is not happy with Max Caster’s rap
*UFC star gets injured and returns after many years
*Another major company looks set to be sold
* WWE Injury Updates
*New WWE TV Shows
* What WWE cut
*WWE House Show Notes
This week’s Retro Observer newsletter:
November 21, 2005 The Observer Bulletin: Death of Eddie Guerrero
Order information:
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Update on Friday
What a day that was. The update is that Vince McMahon is back as WWE Chairman. For now, it’s business as usual. Nick Khan, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque and Frank Riddick retain their positions and will be the people running the day-to-day operations of the company. Vince is currently not going to shows or working outside the office, but will only be part of sales and TV rights negotiations. Those inside WWE noted that key people in the company were aware that this power play would be attempted. Going public with the attempted sale was his way of making a comeback because that news would send the stock price up, instead of the fear of a fall, with him back on top. A meeting was held today where it was made clear that everything will stay the same, that Vince is there to negotiate a potential sale, that there is no guarantee that there will be a sale, and that the company may as well go private.
In the short term I expect it to be, but in the long term I wouldn’t bet on it. But they floated the idea of a sale before TV rights negotiations were completed. Apparently a lot has happened behind the scenes, as the board voted unanimously just a week ago to not let him back in, and he responded by starting to change the board. We have a lot more to the issue, although McMahon had not yet been reinstated to that position at the time this story was completed.
At the afternoon meeting led by Khan, Stephanie and Riddick, they talked about Vince’s return to negotiate a possible sale and the next media rights deal. They noted that Vince would have final say in both deals. All the employees were there, but none of the talent, and of course they touted that as a positive for the company. Hahn talked about Comcast ( NBCU ), Disney ( ABC/ESPN ) and Netflix as potential buyers.
The stock closed today at $84.27 per share, up $12.23 per share, giving the company a market value of $6.27 billion.
A new show that Garrett Gonzalez and I did is coming out today where we talk about Vince McMahon and all the ramifications of his return, Dana White, Omega vs. Ospreay, the greatest matches of all time, and Dynamite’s Wednesday ratings and discussion of AEW ratings situation. We also have another show tomorrow where we talk to Mike Tenay about his good friend Don West and we’ll be back with Brian on Sunday to talk about all the weekend news and BOLA.
Looking for coverage on tonight’s AEW show in Portland, OR and Smackdown in Memphis. We’re looking for notes on matches and non-live events at dave@wrestlingobserver.com
We’re also looking for your thoughts on Wednesday’s Tokyo Dome show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or middle thumbs along with your best and worst match at dave@wrestlingobserver
Tonight’s Smackdown in Memphis has Top Dolla vs. Ricochet with the winner going into the Royal Rumble and the Usos vs. Drew McIntyre & Sheamus for the titles. As of this morning, there were 8,600 tickets for the FedEx Forum show.
AEW airs Rampage and Battle of the Belts on TNT tonight from 10pm Eastern until midnight. Rampage has Darby Allyn vs. Mike Bennett for the TNT title, Jon Moxley and Brian Danielson vs. Top Flight, Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter vs. The Renegade Twins plus House of Black and Perro Peligroso. Next up is the Battle of the Belts with Orange Cassidy vs. Kip Sabian for the All Atlantic title, The Acclaimed vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal in a no-holds-barred match for the tag titles, and Jade Cargill vs. Sky Blue for the TBS title. The show is at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. There were 5,000 tickets given away for this morning’s show.
Our annual review of the business year for pro wrestling, boxing and MMA, along with the all-time biggest draws in pro wrestling history, updated with this year’s end, will be in next week’s Observer.
Bellator has announced new matchups for its 2/4 primetime show on CBS, which is from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California and is headlined by Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko for the heavyweight title. Steve Mowry (10-0.1 no contests) takes on Olympic freestyler Ali Isaev (9-0) and Lorenz Larkin (24-7, 2 no contests) takes on Muhamed Berhamov (15-1, 1 no contest ) and former NCAA champion Darion Caldwell (14-6, 1 no contest) takes on Nikita Mikhalov (9-2).
Roman Reigns is advertised for the 1/20 Smackdown show in Detroit and the 1/23 Raw anniversary show in Philadelphia.
OTHER NOTES
Impact announced a Pit Fight match with Kenny King vs. Mike Bailey for the 1/19 telecast.
Mike Jackson, 73, will wrestle next Friday at the Impact Hard to Kill PPV in a six-way match with Kushida, Yuya Uemura, Bailey, Angels and Bhupinder Gujjar.
MCW has announced shows on 2/3 in Joppa, MD and 2/4 in Hollywood, MD
Joey Janela vs. Gringo Loco headlines 2/16 for Demand Lucha at Parkdale Hall in Toronto. Also on the show will be Jack Evans vs. Sam Adonis plus an appearance by Jimmy Hart.
LFA is live tonight at 10pm Eastern on UFC Fight Pass for a show from Gila River Resorts & Casinos in Chandler, Arizona. Felipe Bunes (124.4) vs. Yuma Horiuchi (126.6) is the main event. Since Horiguchi doesn’t make weight, the flyweight title will go to Bunes if he wins, but if Horiuchi wins, he won’t get the flyweight title.
LFA has announced shows on March 10th in Cajamar, Sao Paulo, Brazil and March 24th in Niagara Falls, New York at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino. Both shows will air live on UFC Fight Pass.
Famous wrestling fan Fred the Elephant Boy who appeared on Howard Stern has died aged 64. Fred had been a subscriber to the Observer for decades.
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