DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
WWE airing Ariya Daivari ‘Matches That Made Me’ episode of 205 Live
Velveteen Dream denies allegation of inappropriate behavior
AEW returning to Florida in May for live & taped Dynamite shows
WWE confirms no annual video game release this year
WWE 2020 Q1 financial notes: Revenues, Network subs, more
AEW & NXT ratings: Dynamite regains viewership lead this week
HHH: Two-night WM more enjoyable than eight-hour extravaganza
Cody files for trademark on ‘Cody Rhodes’ name
Latest Audio:
WOL: WWE finances, ratings, AEW going live, Rachel Patti on Fight Like A Girl! 4/24
Wrestling Weekly: Dick Steinborn, Joe Pedicino, traveling the territories 4/24
Left My Wallet: Paul Roma on nutrition, sports, wrestling memories 4/24
B&V: Bryan and Vinny review AEW and NXT head-to-head! 4/23
WON NEWSLETTER: April 27, 2020 Observer Newsletter: WWE schedule changes, layoffs, and quarterly financials
Details on WWE’s scheduling changes, staff and talent layoffs, and their quarterly financial report.
Current subscribers click here to read.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE stock closed at $44.79 per share today coming off yesterday’s earning call. That was up nearly 15 percent from yesterday.
Here’s an interesting paradox. The Association of Ringside Physicians has stressed that no shows should be taking place at this time. The Association of Boxing Commissions has canceled its annual meeting from 7/23 to 7/30 in Sacramento citing that the decision was made out of the abundance of safety for all involved. And athletic commissions, at least in Florida and other states, are sanctioning MMA and boxing events. So the same people who think it’s too dangerous for a meeting, and whose doctors have told them it’s too dangerous to have fights, are sanctioning fights.
Smackdown tonight starts the 25th anniversary of HHH in WWE celebration, plus Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Dana Brooke & Carmella for the women’s tag titles, King Corbin vs. Drew Gulak in a Money in the Bank qualifier and Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans in a Money in the Bank qualifier.
Scott Coker is hoping to get Bellator started in July or August. A lot in Hollywood is building a made-for-TV set that will be used for empty arena Bellator shows and Showtime boxing shows on Friday and Saturday nights. Coker said they still expect to run their full schedule of 30 events this year.
Bellator flyweight champion Ilima-lei Macfarlane, her sister and a third unnamed woman have filed a lawsuit against Punahou School and former basketball coach Dwayne Yuen, claiming sexual abuse when they were younger. Macfarlane claimed the abuse started when she was in sixth grade and her sister was in eighth grade. The story was on KITV News in Honolulu. Macfarlane said that her sister complained at the time, but the school did nothing, but she came forward when further allegations against the coach surfaced in 2018.
Vice will be returning After Dark Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., covering Dino Bravo. The episodes, which were off the schedule, are now taking place on a one week delay. They will be airing a new 30 minutes of last week’s show on Dino Bravo, and then have a panel discussion with Jimmy Hart, Jacques Rougeau and Fred Ottman. The following week will be another 9:30 p.m. show on the David Schultz episode that debuts this coming Tuesday. According to PWInsider, Ricky Morton, Brian Blair and Dutch Mantell will be on that show.
The NFL Draft drew 5,688,000 viewers on ABC, 7,859,000 viewers on ESPN and 1,724,000 viewers on the NFL Network.
WWE
A Newsweek interview with Paul Levesque regarding tonight’s Smackdown show.
The Tuesday FS line-up for this coming week will be:
7 p.m. Ric Flair’s Best WWE matches
8 p.m. Edge’s Best WrestleMania matches
9 p.m. Brock Lesnar’s most dominant matches
10 p.m. Roman Reigns’ Best WrestleMania matches
11 p.m. WWE Backstage
WWE will be taping the 5/1 and 5/8 episodes of Smackdown tomorrow at the Performance Center in Orlando.
Early odds at www.BetOnline.ag for Money in the Bank
Braun Strowman -120 vs. Bray Wyatt -120
Drew McIntyre -500 vs. Seth Rollins +300
Bayley -400 vs. Tamina +250
Carmella doing an at-home workout from the New York Post. (thanks to Barry Werner)
UFC
ESPN reported that Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince Saint Preux is being worked on for the Wednesday show that would go head-to-head with AEW and NXT. UFC will also go head-to-head with AEW on May 23, the night of the AEW Double of Nothing PPV show. If UFC is still running out of Jacksonville, then they would be head-to-head right across the street practically from each other. The AEW show will be from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.
Daniel Cormier is joining with the personalized video platform Taki to allow people to connect with Cormier with free online seminars and training for young wrestlers preparing for college. Cormier will be doing ten videos per month and fans can engage with Cormier through Taki.
Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier, Joe Rogan and Megan Olivi will be the broadcast team for the 5/9 UFC show.
MISCELLANEOUS
ROH debuts the ROHStrong podcast on Monday hosted by Kevin Eck and with Marty Scurll as the first guest talking about his vision for ROH, how close he was to signing elsewhere and why he decided to stay with ROH.
Masked Republic announced the all-new Lucha Central Website and the Lucha Central Network which debuts in May. It will have a YouTube channel, a podcast network, a gaming network and a 30 minute weekly TV series. llblic
IWTW has reached distribution agreements with Defy, Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, DOA Wrestling out of Portland, OR, POW! Wrestling out of Eugene, OR and 5CC out of Bellingham, WA.
MLW Fusion tomorrow night on Bein Sports has Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Rey Escorpion & El Texano Jr., and Chessman vs. Richard Holliday in a no DQ match from the last taping in Tijuana.
Impact Rebellion for this coming Tuesday night on AXS has Havok vs. Rosemary in a Full Metal Mayhem match, Suicide vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju vs. Trey Miguel and Joey Ryan vs. Cousin Jake (Jake Something).
CWE is running tonight on its Facebook page with an 8 p.m. show from Winnipeg headlined by Johnny Malibu vs. A.J.Sanchez.
A story on Hoodslam Wrestling. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
KHON in Hawaii did a piece on Mayor Matt Morgan, whose wife is from Hawaii and played college basketball at Chaminade.
A story on the late Scott Bowden. (thanks to Josh Jabcuga)
Jacques Rougeau talks about a bar fight between an NHL player, Serge Bernier, and Dino Bravo that was referenced in Tuesday’s Dark side of the Ring show.
A rock musical on the life of Ivan Koloff takes place on 6/13 at the Triad Theater in New York. It will be live streamed here.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Hogan vs. Bockwinkel at AWA Super Sunday
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