Daily Update: Vince McMahon, Roman Reigns, TNA TV taping matches

Latest News

• Vince McMahon said to have ‘moved on’ following resignation from WWE
• Orange Cassidy vs. Shane Taylor added to AEW Dynamite
• WWE investigated Ronda Rousey’s claim about Drew Gulak
• Semifinals set for WWE Speed title tournament
• Sheamus thought his career was over before WWE Raw return
• Young Bucks say Jack Perry ‘needed something controversial’ to open people’s eyes
• Tony Khan on Nikki Bella: AEW ‘would love to have her here any time’
• WWE Raw ratings down, still beats huge WNBA Draft number

Latest Audio

• Wrestling Observer Live: AEW Dynamite preview, Marigold-WWE, more
• Bryan & Vinny & Craig & Shawn Show: WWF Wrestling Challenge S1:E8, plus Granny~!
• Big Audio Nightmare: Marigold launch, NJPW Windy City Riot live report

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F4W/WON Convention

This Week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• April 15, 2024 Observer Newsletter: WWE WrestleMania 40 review, AEW airs CM Punk/Jack Perry All In footage

One of the biggest issues of the Observer is out this week. Tons of interesting information on current news and lots of historical figures. It's full coverage of a weekend of major events.

• Poll results on all the major shows
• Historical nature of WrestleMania 40 including business notes in depth, gate, PPV, attendance, merch, it's all there.
• Ticket demand
• Historical nature of Rhodes' win
• How WWE has changed due to Dwayne Johnson
• A look at the booking of both nights
• Internal talk on Rock vs. Rhodes
• More changes from WWE to TKO
• How many WWE PPV buyers watched Revolution and Hard to Kill
• How the WWE/AEW dynamic has changed
• Future WWE direction
• A look at Dynamite with the Jack Perry/CM Punk footage and Will Ospreay interview
• Whose ideas these were and what the background was
• Different lines and why they were said
• Full Stand & Deliver coverage
• The life and times of Akebono, a Japanese cultural figure
• The early 90s heyday of sumo
• The Bob Sapp fight and doing kickboxing and MMA
• The long pro wrestling career and his various roles
• His brief WWE run
• UFC 300 looked at
• AEW 2024 PPV plans
• New Japan Sakura Genesis coverage and next major shows
• Bryan Danielson vs. Blue Panther singles match looked at
• ROH Supercard of Honor coverage
• Gary Shaw, a controversial figure in MMA and his role in promoting Kimbo Slice and putting women's MMA on the map against major opposition
• Jon Jones' latest incident
• A look back at Al Zinck and the heyday of pro wrestling in the Maritimes
• The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week, weekly standings, placings for the night and time slot, major competition for each show, segment-by-segment numbers and more.
• Rey de Parejas tournament from Dragon Gate
• One of the greatest U.S. amateur wrestlers in history may retire in a few weeks, or this summer
• A look at the Olympic trials
• Wrestling TV show headed to Netflix
• Indie Hall of Fame
• The Boys answer back at charges they were fired for no-showing
• International TV ratings
• Ticket sales for all the upcoming WWE & AEW shows
• Update on lawsuit filed by former MMA superstar against Disney, backed by Elon Musk
• Vince McMahon's stock sales, how much cash he's made, value of current shares and how much does he still own
• How much Dwayne Johnson has made for his being on the TKO Board thus far
• Changes in WWE management
• Why so many wrestlers today as compared to the past get busted mouths
• Slammy Awards

This Week's Retro Observer Newsletter

• December 18, 2006 Observer Newsletter: UFC, TNA

Wednesday Update

WWE

• A spokesperson for Janel Grant responded to NBC News’ report that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena have been in touch with Vince McMahon since his resignation from TKO and WWE:
• It’s shameful that Mr. Johnson and Mr. Cena would associate themselves with an individual with decades of allegations just like Janel's. Behind-the-scenes support is louder than any public statement ever could be.
• WrestleVotes gave an update on Roman Reigns: “I’m told that although Roman Reigns will be off TV for an indefinite period of time, he will still have substantial creative input in the evolving Bloodline storyline over the course of the next few months.”
• While speaking at the World Congress of Sports conference, Nick Khan said Las Vegas is one of the cities that's being considered to host WrestleMania next year:
• WWE president Nick Khan wasn’t ready to announce the location of WrestleMania in 2025 just yet but he said you can assume it won’t be in an outdoor East coast stadium again and it won’t go head-to-head with the Final Four again. Las Vegas is one of the cities under consideration.
• Logan Paul discussed pitching internet celebrity IShowSpeed's involvement in WrestleMania 40 to WWE. There was a spot during Paul’s United States title defense at WrestleMania where Speed got RKO’d onto the announce table by Randy Orton. Paul said:
• When I was pitching him to the WWE, it took a little massaging. It took a little finessing for us to convince them that we had this young creator – who by the way is still a teenager, the kid’s 19 years old – who’s just an internet phenom. Everything he touches goes crazy viral because he’s got that like charismatic, contagious energy.
• In an interview with TV Insider, Vic Joseph said he thinks Michael Cole is the greatest WWE commentator of all time:
• Michael Cole is the greatest of all time. I’ll say it again. He is the greatest of all time. I’ve learned so much from him. Here’s the thing about Michael Cole. He doesn’t want me to be Michael Cole. He doesn’t want Corey Graves to be Michael Cole. We all have our own distinct voices. It’s how you as a listener hear it. When I went to NXT, I didn’t want to be Mauro [Ranallo]. I don’t want to be Michael Cole. I want to be myself. But if you’re the greatest of all time why would you not want to pick a few things from them? There is no quarterback in the world that’s not looking at Tom Brady’s mechanics or Patrick Mahomes’ footwork. If you don’t study people who are the greatest, I think it’s foolish if you don’t. I will take as much as I can from Michael Cole and Corey Graves, for that matter, and mold it into my own. Then hopefully get to their level.
• Joseph was asked how hard it was working in NXT in the weeks following his wife McKenzie Mitchell being released:
• The first few shows I went to it was sad because she is my best friend. Not having my wife there -- or a Johnny Gargano to talk to or Candice LeRae or Tommaso Ciampa. The list goes on and on. It bummed me out, but then I knew every day when I’d come home, she would be there. Here’s the thing. McKenzie still watches. She is still a fan of it. She still wants to come back and be part of this family. Time will tell, but that was definitely an emotional time. Right before that, my father died. And so when I did NXT Tuesday, that was the day my father passed away in the morning. Nobody knew because I didn’t put anything out there until after the show. She was there with me. Shawn [Michaels] was there with me. It was a tough stretch, but we got through it.
• NBA legend Charles Barkley praised The Rock's heel work in WWE while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show yesterday.
• To promote SmackDown coming to Jacksonville on May 17, Grayson Waller appeared on Going Ringside. Waller indirectly referenced AEW by joking that there will finally be good wrestling in Jacksonville: “Finally some good wrestling in Jacksonville, you know? I feel like it's been years since we've seen some really good wrestling in Jacksonville.”
• Brayden Ray from WWE's Next Gen series on Roku has officially signed a WWE contract. Ray wrestled for Duke University in college.
• Waller, Austin Theory, and Big E were today’s guests on WWE’s The Bump.
• WWE remembered Roddy Piper on what would have been his 70th birthday.

AEW/Other Wrestling

• The Control Center video for tonight’s AEW Dynamite can be watched here.
• Tony Khan noted that AEW has an overrun available for tonight’s show.
• Andrew Zarian reports that AEW’s Renee Paquette & RJ City have a new project that’s in the works: “Heard some rumblings that Renee and RJ City have been working on a project that has gotten the green light. Expect to see it announced soon with a mid-May release date.”
• Matt Jackson commented on what fans can expect from AEW's Dynasty pay-per-view this Sunday:
• Expect us to put on a show. Nobody does pay-per-view like AEW. Expect big surprises. No other tag team in history consistently performs in big title matches like us. And expect us to start our historic third tag team title run, the one that’ll go down as the greatest of our career.
• Johnny TV & Taya Valkyrie were guests on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
• Episode 10 of Johnny Loves Taya was uploaded today.
• AEW wished Bandido a happy 29th birthday.
• Here’s the updated lineup for Sunday’s post-Rebellion TNA TV taping in Las Vegas:
• Nic Nemeth vs. Eddie Edwards
• Jordynne Grace vs. Miyu Yamashita
• Mustafa Ali vs. Chris Bey
• Ash By Elegance vs. Xia Brookside
• Mike Bailey vs. Brian Myers
• Zachary Wentz vs. Leon Slater
• TNA Wrestling produced an Immersed documentary focusing on Nic Nemeth vs. Steve Maclin from last month’s Sacrifice event.
• WrestleZone interviewed Mustafa Ali.