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This week's Wrestling Observer newsletter
The highlights of the issue:
- The WrestleMania direction
- First WWE show on Netflix
- John Cena, The Rock, Undertaker and more and what things on the show attracted the most interest
- Business notes for the broadcast
- Positives, negatives and goals of the show
- How the show played on Netflix and what the different numbers mean
- This is how advertising works compared to television and streaming
- Hulk Hogan reaction
- Changes in the show
- Term change
- TKO is considering entering the boxing business with Saudi Arabia
- Kenny Omega returns to the Tokyo Dome show
- Takaaki Kidani, CEO of Bushiroad, delves into New Japan's business concerns and speaks on a range of topics
- The business of the two dome shows
- Takaaki Kidani talks about his thoughts on a future WrestleDynasty show
- Zack Saber Jr. is doing something unprecedented and compiling a list of every non-Japanese who has won an NJPW Tokyo Dome main event
- The story of Chris Charlton in detail
- Did Douki's injury change the goal?
- Where do the Young Bucks rank with the most World Tag Team title wins in history?
- A look at the career of the late Rick “Hangman” Harris/Black Bart
- Who had the most four-star games in 2024 and the most in history?
- Who has the most of the top 250 matches of all time on Cagematch?
- Explain how valuations change and how you can reevaluate numbers
- How many households have access to the different services?
- Quality of playback on MAX vs. TBS
- Tourism association organizes a major international show
- Another big week of business for CMLL
- New Year Dash Notes
- Notes on the next big New Japan shows
- New Japanese bodybuilding competition
- The death of Gilbert Cesca, one of the best technical wrestlers you've never heard of
- In Germany there is a big celebrity wrestling show with Claudio Castagnoli in prime time
- Malakai Black news
- Advance ticket sales for WWE and AEw shows
- Streaming numbers and international TV ratings
- How did TNA debut on SportsNet in Canada?
- GFL announces numerous female stars
- Paul Levesque talks planning for WrestleMania and The Rock
- Update on Bill Goldberg
- Nick Khan and Dwayne Johnson stock transactions this week
- How much does WWE help the USA Network?
This week's previous edition of the Wrestling Observer newsletter
Friday update
- Garrett Gonzales and I are doing our newscast today and there's a lot to talk about from the past week, between Tokyo Dome, Netlflix debut, examining the numbers, the Vince McMahon story and much more. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night covering Collision and Battle in the Valley as well as Smackdown.
- As for the story that UFC is looking to grab $1 billion in its next US media rights deal, that story doesn't actually mean much. They are looking for the biggest amount they can get. WWE spoke to the same people responsible for negotiating the deal about 50% and 70% numbers for rights increases and the Raw number, which you can't calculate because it includes worldwide rights to Raw, NXT and Smackdown, but overall, the actual value was not The increase will not be anywhere near the levels they were talking about. But right now the UFC deal is a hot deal, with the key being the PPV shows as they would expect a much higher guarantee. For them, ESPN is currently the best partner they can have domestically. If Netflix were to get into the PPV business, they would be the best partner in the world. However, what still matters is who offers the best deal.
- As for the Vince McMahon story, while he tried to spin it as if all the investigations involving him were over, that has nothing to do with the criminal investigation. However, a CNBC report said that this has ended. Ann Callis, Janel Grant's lawyer, said otherwise, but with the change in government, I didn't expect them to continue pursuing a McMahon. Basically, the SEC concluded that McMahon violated SEC law by knowingly circumventing WWE's internal accounting controls and making false and misleading statements to WWE's auditor. Therefore, he kept the information about the NDAs from the company itself, which resulted in WWE achieving an 8 percent profit increase in 2018 and a 1.7 percent profit increase in 2021. McMahon tried to call it a minor accounting error.
- Plans for a streaming service that would include all of ESPN's FOX, FS 1, FS 2, TBS, TNT and Tru channels have been scrapped. It was announced that the companies had decided not to pursue this idea. There were regulatory concerns about all three companies collaborating on the service.
- Smackdown takes place tonight in Portland, OR. It's another three hour show. The only thing announced was Shinsuke Nakamura vs. LA Knight for the US title and a Tiffany Stratton celebration. As of last night, there were 8,618 tickets in circulation for the show.
- AEW's Wednesday Dynamite had 615,000 viewers and a 0.17 during the 18-49 season. Without knowing the MAX numbers it is impossible to fully assess what this means. It's higher than last week, but last week was against a monster college football game and January 1st isn't typically a good day for ratings. The NBA, the news (obviously due to the fires in California) and the Challenge were all high and ABC had a really great night too. Dynamite was fourth on cable. Without knowing what audience went to MAX and saw it on TV, we can't say what a value of 0.17 means. If more than 20 percent have migrated and the show has reached a value of 0.21, that is very good for the show. If no one has done this and the value is 0.17, it's nothing special. None is an implausible number, although even 25 percent is possible but would be higher than most migrations.
- Kurt Angle and Bill Apter were inducted into the International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Albany, NY last night. Angle had other commitments on the night of the 2025 banquet, so they organized a separate introduction yesterday.
- Blue Panther, allowed to wear his mask, headlines Arena Mexico in a singles match against Hechicero the night before Hechicero's game against Zack Saber Jr. in San Jose. It's Arena Mexico's second week of replays of last year's games of the month, with the previous game being won by Panther vs. Hechiceor in June.
- We're looking for coverage of these shows: Smaackdown tonight in Portland, OR (dark matches only), MLW tomorrow night at 10pm Eastern from North Richland Hills, TX, Collision tomorrow night in Athens, GA (ROH results and all other matches excluded in the live show)
- We'll also be doing a Battle in the Valley poll tomorrow, so you can leave a thumbs up, a thumbs down, or a thumbs in the middle, as well as your best and worst match dave@wrestlingobserver.com
- There are many options tomorrow evening. Collision and NXT both run from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. NXT airs nationally on the CW starting Tuesday. The decision was made Wednesday because the show was off the air in Southern California due to local stations' coverage of the fires. Battle in the Valley begins at 9:30 p.m. Eastern and MLW begins at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
- UFC also returns from 4-10 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN+:
Nurullo Aliev (155.5) vs. Joe Solecki (155)
FatimaKline (116) vs. Victoriia Dudakova (116)
Magomed Gadzhiyasulov (205) vs. Bruno Lopes (205.5)
Ernesta Kareckaite (126) s. Nicolle Caliari (125.5)
Preston Parsons (171) vs. Jacobe Smith (170.5)
Thiago Moises (155.5) vs. Trey Ogden (155.5)
Marcu Tulio (185.5) vs. Ihor Potieria (188) – Potieria missed weight by two pounds and was fined 20 percent of his purse
Jose Johnson (128.5) vs. Felipe Burns (126) – Johnson missed weight by 2.5 pounds and was fined 25 percent of his purse
Uros Medic (171) vs. Punahele Soriano (171)
Christian Rodriguez (145) vs. Austin Bashi (145.5)
Chris Curtis (185.5) vs. Roman Koplyov (185.5)
Abdul Razaki Alhassan (185.5) vs. Cesar Almeida (185.5)
Santiago Ponzinibbio (171) vs. Carlston Harris (170)
Mackenzie Dern (116) vs. Amanda Ribas (116)
