Daily Update: Omega vs. Vikingo, New Japan Cup, Capital Collision
Daily Update
Latest News:
Multiple promotions cut ties with Davey RichardsTrish Stratus on WWE return: ‘I love passing the torch'Cody Rhodes appearance set for WWE SmackDownKenny Omega to face El Hijo del Vikingo in AEW Dynamite dream matchPCO vs. Kenny King announced for Impact Wrestling SacrificeEddie Kingston pulled from OTT ScrapperMania due to COVID-19NJPW reveals dates for Best of the Super Juniors 30New Japan Cup update, SANADA joins new factionPat McAfee says WWE dream 'isn't done'WWE's Kofi Kingston to undergo ankle surgeryOrange Cassidy & Darby Allin to team at AEW House Rules
Latest Audio:
Wrestling Observer Live: House show booking philosophy, New Japan Cup and Five Guys, Smackdown, moreMat Men: A talk with NWA owner Billy CorganBryan & Vinny Show: AEW Dynamite Trios Title three-way, NXT virgin storyline
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This Week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
March 20, 2023 Observer Newsletter: WWE WrestleMania 39 cards take shape, AEW Revolution buys
This Week's Retro Observer Newsletter:
January 30, 2006 Observer Newsletter: Kurt Angle health issues, WB & UPN networks to merge
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Friday Update
– Our weekend show schedule will be my weekly show with Garrett Gonzales today with Lance Storm as the guest talking about a number of subjects including the health of wrestlers and generational changes, plus Bryan and I will be be back Saturday night with the weekend news show.
– The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site today. Highlights include:
Match of the week and performer of the weekWrestleMania updates, including status of different matches that have been planned and not announcedTicket sales notes and demand for tickets, plus notes on NXT Stand & DeliverA study of the buying patterns of PPVs for AEW, including comparisons with one year ago, how many shows the average AEW PPV buyer purchases each year, the difference between satellite owners and others in the viewing patterns, update on Revolution numbers and how many different people bought an AEW PPV this past yearLetters from WWE to the Alamodome in San Antonio show how WWE counted Royal Rumble attendance, along with the actual numbers from the showRichard Schaefer, the famed boxing promoter, heading Anthem's wrestling, MMA and new boxing divisions and what are future plans for the divisionsNew Japan Cup coverage with all the matches from the past weekNotes on AEW's Canada tourMexican star taken to prison on domestic violence charges against another Mexican wrestling starFull coverage of this past week's major pro wrestling events and the UFC showUpdate on the WWE Hall of Fame including stories on the careers of the inducteesCoverage of the WWE's return to its most famous arena, Madison Square Garden The life of former wrestler Jeff Gaylord and his very checkered life after wrestling and during wrestlingThe most detailed look at the weekly television ratings, competition, how segments did, where shows are strong and weak.Promotion adding a ton of new talent after young wrestlers impress in a special formatMainstream angle being done in MexicoJoint show announced in Japan for the Himeka retirementA look at the Guerrero wrestling familyLegendary athlete passes away that a wrestling move done all over the world was named after including the person who actually named the moveNew promotion starting taking the name of a legendary regional companyInternational Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame 2023 inductions and ceremonyRic Flair Twitter war of wordsLots of indie notes including some big crowds this week16 Carat Gold tournament in Germany newsNotes on recent Will Ospreay matchesNotes on major AEW negotiationsAEW cancels TV tapings and whyUpdate on social media abuse of RihoChris Jericho honoredTicket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW showsStreaming numbers for WWE & AEW this past weekInternational TV ratings updates including a company sets its all-time viewing record in CanadaNotes on AEW signeesUFC TV renewal talk even though it's years awayFormer UFC champion Benson Henderson retiresUpdate on WWE's attempt to get legalized betting on its matchesUpdate on Jay WhiteInterest level mainstream of UFC, WWE and AEW big shows including geographical popularity split between AEW Revolution and WWE Elimination ChamberUpdate on MLW lawsuit against WWEWhat are the key new things in the suitWWE injury updates and returns
– Tony Khan announced Kenny Omega vs. AAA Mega champion El Hijo del Vikingo for Wednesday's Dynamite show from Independence, MO. I will say that Independence, MO was not the site I'd have expected for such a match. Omega has been wanting this match for several years. In fact, Vikingo winning and keeping the title was largely due to Omega. They had ideas during the pandemic and couldn't do it, and then had it scheduled for 2021 but Omega was injured. It is interesting politically because Vikingo as world champion in AAA has not been allowed to lose on U.S. shows thus far, but AAA may feel the need to make the relationship with AEW good. They could also book it with the idea of it being a non-title match and set up a title match at one of the TripleMania shows. We do know that AAA badly wanted Omega for TripleMania but there were the obvious political issues standing in the way. Khan also noted that Omega vs. Vikingo will be in the same arena that the Omega vs. Pac Iron Man match, which was one of the best matches in Dynamite history, took place in.
– There were two upsets in today's New Japan Cup, with Sanada beating Tetsuya Naito clean and Mark Davis defeating Evil. Sanada faces Davis in the semifinals on Sunday at 5:30 a.m. Eastern from Gunma. Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga and Shota Umino vs. David Finlay wrestle tomorrow in Shizuoka at 5:30 a.m. with the winners advancing to Sunday's show.
– The biggest news is that Sanada has quit LIJ and joined a new group with himself, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Douki and Taka Michinoku. So this explains the dropping of Suzuki-gun, as they wanted to break the group up with Taichi and Sanada as leaders of a group and have Team Strong Style with Suzuki, Ren Narita and Desperado.
– One of the two biggest shows of the year in CMLL happens tonight, the El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show in Arena Mexico featuring Rocky Romero vs. Volador Jr. vs. Angel de Oro vs. Oraculo in a loser gets his head shaved match. There is also the debut of the Copa Irma Gonzalez, a women's' elimination match named after the top Mexican woman star of all-time. Atlantis & Mistico & Atlantis Jr. wrestle Niebla Roja & Dragon Rojo Jr & Templario. They also announced the Universal tournament of champions will take place throughout the month of April.
– Ricky Reyes announced his retirement today. We have a story on that in the next issue. He wrestled all over the world, best known for his tag team with Rocky Romero as ROH tag team champions and he also worked for Lucha Underground (Cortez Castro), CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
– SmackDown tonight from Kansas City has Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre with the winner facing Gunther for the IC title at WrestleMania plus a face-to-face with Sami Zayn and Jey Uso.
– Rampage tonight is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. Eastern after the conclusion of the NCAA basketball tournament with Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Rey Fenix for the TNT title, Taya Valkyrie vs. Eva Lawless, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker vs. Bollywood Boyz and Brody King vs. Daniel Garcia.
– New Japan announced for 4/15 in Washington, DC for Capital Collision that Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Tetsuya Naito, Sanada and Hiromu Takahashi will be on the show. The following matches have been confirmed:
Fred Rosser vs. Juice RobinsonTomohiro Ishii, Clark Connors, The DKC, Lio Rush & Rocky Romero vs. Volador Jr., Mike Bailey, Gabriel Kidd, Kevin Knight & KUSHIDAShane Haste & Bad Dude Tito vs. Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson
– We're looking for reports on these weekend shows:
SmackDown tonight in Kansas City (dark matches and stuff not on the live TV show)WWE house show tomorrow in Fargo, NDWWE house show tomorrow in Milwaukee, WIAEW house show tomorrow in Troy, OH (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Big Bill & Lee Moriarty, Britt Baker vs. Anna Jay, Darby Allin & Orange Cassidy vs. Butcher & Blade)WWE house show Sunday in Springfield, ILWWE house show Sunday in Sioux Falls, SD
We're looking for results, finishes and highlights from each of these events to [email protected]
– We will be doing weekend polls on UFC 286 and another on Tuesday for the New Japan Cup finals. You can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected].
– UFC 286 is tomorrow from the O2 Arena in London
1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN +
Juliana Miller (125.5) vs. Veronica Hardy (125.5)Jai Herbert (156) vs. Ludovit Klein (156)Joanne Wood (126) vs. Luana Carolina (126)Malcolm Gordon (129.5) vs. Jake Hadley (126) – Gordon missed weight and forfeited 30 percent of his purseChristian Leroy Duncan (185,5) vs. Dusko Todorovic (186)Lerone Murphy (145.5) vs. Gabriel Santos (145.5)
3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+ and ESPN News
Muhammad Mokaev (126) vs. Jarfel Filho (125.5)Sam Patterson (155.5) vs. Yanai Ashimoz (155)Chris Duncan (156) vs. Omar Morales (156)Jake Shore (146) vs. Makwan Amirkhani (146)
PPV at 10 p.m.
Marvin Vettori (185.5) vs. Roman Dolidze (186)Jennifer Maia (126) vs. Casey O'Neill (125)Gunnar Nelson (170) vs. Bryan Barbarena (171)Justin Gaethje (156) vs. Rafael Fiziev (156)Leon Edwards (170) vs. Kamaru Usman (170) for the UFC welterweight title
– The NCAA Division I wrestling tournament is taking place this weekend in Tulsa. It started yesterday. The semifinals will be at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight on ESPN and finals at 7 p.m,. tomorrow night.
– An interview with Shawn Michaels that my friend David Taub did this week is talking about the challenges of wrestling in a football stadium, on the West Coast, the pressures of being in the main event, and why he ranks his bout against Kurt Angle as his SoCal WrestleMania favorite.
– The WWE video game is available now. They had the launch party last night in El Segundo, CA with Steve Austin and a lot of the top WWE stars.
– With Eddie Kingston having COVID-19, he not only had to pull out of his shows in Europe this weekend for OTT (where he was replacing Jon Moxley who had to pull out to do the AEW show in Troy, OH), but is also off the 3/25 Warrior Wrestling show in Grand Rapids, MI, where he was to face Sam Adonis. That match is hoped to take place on a future show.
– WrestleCon announced for the 3/30 Mark Hitchcock Memorial Show in Los Angeles they've added Rey Horus & Galeno de Mal (another son of Dr. Wagner Jr.) & Aramis vs. Toxin & Arez & Latigo.
– Bobby Fulton's World Class Professional Big Time Wrestling group drew the largest indie crowd of the year with 4,327 fans in Chillicothe, OH for a legends meet and greet show. Jarron Hines, the son of Bobby Fulton, debuted against Kerry Morton in a match for the NWA Junior title. (thanks to Becky Graham)
– NXT on Tuesday has added Wendy Choo (back from injury) vs. Lyra Valkyria and Tiffany Stratton vs. Indi Hartwell in matches where the winner gets into the ladder match at Stand & Deliver for the title. There is also Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh and a debate between Schism & Chase U.
– Yes, the announcer who did this is a reader of the Observer and I know him.
Other Notes
– House of Glory on 4/14 at the NYC Arena has Charles Mason defending his Crown Jewel title against Lio Rush.
– Defy on 4/8 in Seattle at Washington Hall has Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne for the Defy title, Vert Vixen defends the Defy women's title against Miyu Yamashita, Michael Oku from England debuts against Cody Chhun and Alex Reynolds & John Silver & Guillermo Rosas vs. Midnight heat & Levi Cooper.
– FSPW at the Performance Center at 4361 Federal Dr in Greensboro, NC has Chris Bey vs. Jay Malachi.
– Final X Beat the Streets was announced for 6/10 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. It will be the world championship qualifiers in freestyle, Greco-Roman and women's freestyle wrestling. The top two wrestlers in each weight class will do a best of three series with the winner representing the U.S in the world championships later this year in Belgrade, Serbia.
– Combate Global tomorrow night on Univision and Paramount + from Miami is headlined by Ivan Tena (4-1) vs. Pablo Burgos (4-1). The show starts at 10 p.m. Eastern. Former Raw announcer Jimmy Smith will handle the English-language broadcast.
– MCW announced a seminar and tryout with WWE's Gabe Sapolsky on 4/16 at the MCW Training Center at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD. There will be a lecture, Q&A, tryout matches and more. For more info you can email [email protected]
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– Bare Knuckle Fighting announced that tomorrow night's sold out show in Delray Beach, FL is off due to issues with the building and the event has been moved to 4/21 in Pembroke Pines, FL.
– WAR Wrestling on 4/15 is in Lima, OH at the Empowered Sports Center.
– PFL tonight from Universal in Orlando in a second chance to get a contract for the 2023 tournament, airing at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fubo Sports:
Kendly St. Louis (156.8) vs. Paulo Laia (156)Jackie Cataline (144.6) vs. Evelyn Martins (144.8)Denzel Freeman (260.4) vs. Raiden Kovacs (263.4)Sadeck Sanon (170.8) vs. Ali Omar (170.4)