Daily Update: Saudi WrestleMania, Jerry Lawler, Arena Mexico

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Friday Update

– Garrett Gonzales and I will have a show shortly covering all the news of the week in the current issue, and there is a lot, WrestleMania in Saudi, the proposed purchase of WBD by Skydance/Paramount, 9/20 head-to-head, and much more.

– The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is up on the site now.

• The most detailed look at WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia, how it happened, the money involved, main events hoped for 2027, why it’s in Saudi Arabia in 2027 and not 2028, and goal of the show
• John Cena’s farewell scheduled and more details why Boston didn’t get his final show
• The head-to-head battle on 9/20, including a look at the first and only time in history the two biggest companies ran PPV shows on the same day and what happened then. We look at business numbers and why even though the attendance figures are close, the interest level is not. We look at the cards for each group as well as the odds
• A look at French wrestler Gilbert Leduc, who was decades ahead of his time in the ring and his case for the Hall of Fame
• The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling shows of the past week, including placings in the time slot, comparisons with a year ago, breaking down the Netflix numbers for Raw, the key stat that his hurting AEW right now and the return of the NFL.
• Last Friday at Arena Mexico with Mistico & Bandido as a tag team
• NFL/CMLL connection on Friday
• AAA Worlds Collide
• Stardom PPV coverage
• Lots more on the death of Daishin Nagao, plus stories on deaths of Rodolfo Ruiz, Huichol, Jaka and Chuck Coates
• Update on health issues involving Hall of Famer Satoru Sayama
• Bubba the Love Sponge documentary and the split in the Hogan family
• Thoughts on the Hogan will
• Eric Bischoff on RAF and thoughts on what he said
• Lots of notes regarding the potential future of WBD and how it affects AEW
• MJF wedding and acting career
• Lots of injury updates
• Bryan Danielson talks about everything under the sun
• UFC at the White House
• Those who planned to testify for Conor McGregor and against Nikkita Hand get arrested for perjury
• Biggest combat sports gates of all-time
• The power of Turki Alalshikh, the future as well as a look into the future of combat sports reporting
• Dana White put on the spot about the Ali Act
• What happened in California on the Ali Act
• More on the UFC rights fees story
• Raw time slot update
• More on the gate for Clash in Paris
• Lots of stats about those who attended Clash in Paris
• Mark Shapiro talks WWE scheduling and ticket pricing
• Paul Levesque on those who complain WWE Unreal was too inside
• AJ Styles angle
• Why Booker T totally missed the boat on his comments on Ronda Rousey
• YouTube numbers for AEW & WWE

– WWE held a press conference without any questions from the press to announce the 2027 WrestleMania in Riyadh. Our lead story in the Observer goes over it. There wasn’t much to it. Paul Levesque, Undertaker, Turki Alalshikh and Bianca Belair all spoke and Joe Tessitore hosted. They did announce January 31, 2026 as the date for the Royal Rumble in Riyadh. Belair put over how Saudi Arabia is actually great for women. Undertaker talked about how spectacular it is there and pushed for fans from the U.S. to attend the show. They missed by one day of the ultimate full circle moment as the 24th anniversary of 9/11

– FOX 13 in Memphis reported that Jerry Lawler was given clearance to return home to Memphis last night. Lawler’s stroke on 9/5 at his other home in Fort Myers, FL has affected his right side. The stroke two years ago affected his left side. His vision has also been affected slightly .He can walk and he can talk according to his caretaker. He will be home resting for the rest of the month.

– Joe Tessitore noted on ESPN that John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar will main event Wrestlepalooza and not the mixed tag team match which seemed to have the most interest.

– SmackDown tonight is from Norfolk, VA at the Scope. There were 8,410 tickets out which is basically sold out. Brock Lesnar will open the show and be the key draw. Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill for the U.S. title and Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton are on the show. The sports competition is lighter than it has been on recent Fridays so that should help the rating, but I don’t see it as ending up close to last week.

– Worlds Collide tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern from Las Vegas:

• La Parka & Laredo Kid & Mascarita Sagrada & Octagon Jr. vs. Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde & Lince Dorado & Mini Abismo Negro
• Mr. Iguana & Lola Vice vs. Finn Balor & Roxanne Perez
• El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. defends the Latin American title against Ethan Page, Dragon Lee and JD McDonagh
• Pagano & Psycho Clown defend the AAA tag titles against New Day
• Natalya vs. Faby Apache for a shot at Flammer’s Reina de Reinas title
• El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Dominik Mysterio for the AAA Mega title

Parka, who was taken off the show earlier in the week, is back on. He’s replacing Nino Hamburguesa, who didn’t get his visa taken care of in time. We’d heard all week about Hamburguesa and visa issues and WWE announced today he’s off the show.

– For tomorrow, the Netflix special with Alvarez vs. Crawford starts at 9 p.m., so that will hurt Collision, perhaps badly. The main event is not scheduled to start until around 11:15 p.m.

– UFC Noche from San Antonio starting at 3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+

• Rodrigo Sezinando (170.5) s. Darill Donchenko (171)
• Monteserrat Randon (136) vs. Alice Pereria (136)
• Alessandro Costa (125.5.) vs. Alden Coria (126)
• Zachary Reese (185.5) vs. Sedriques Dumas (186)’
• Jesus Aguilar (126) vs. Luis Gurule (125.5)
• Tatiana Suarez (115.5) vs. Amanda Lemos (116)
• Claudio Puelles (156) vs. Joaquim Silva (156)
• Jose Daniel Medina (186) vs. Dusko Todorovic (186)
• Santiago Luna (136) vs. Quang Le (136)
• Alexander Hernandez (155.5) vs. Diego Ferreira (156)
• Kelvin Gastelum (191) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (185.5) – Gastelum missed weight by five pounds and was fined 35 percent of his purse
• Rafa Garcdia (155.5) vs. Jared Gordon (156)
• Rob Font (135) vs. David Martinez (135.5)
• Diego Lopes (146) vs. Jean Silva (145.5)

– ESPN will be airing a Wrestlepalooza preview show on 9/19 at 3 p.m.on ESPN2 as well as multiple times Friday and Saturday on ESPN News.

– Arena Mexico tonight has Bandido & Brody King defending the AEW tag titles against Zandokan Jr. & Difunto. When Zandokan & Difunto are on, they are an amazing team. There will also be a one-night tag team tournament with Atlantis & Blue Panther, Templario & Titan, Mephisto & Euforia and Max Star & Futuro. So you have two guys in their 60s, one of whom is over big in a cult way, the two best workers of the CMLL regulars, a solid old rudo team and two young high flyers. The winner of the tournament goes to next week’s Anniversary show and the finals of the Copa Independencia against Barboza & Difunto. Catalina vs. Zeuxis is also on the show and that’s interesting because there was a time when those two hated each other. They still act like they do now.

– Sunday at Arena Mexico has Mistico & Titan & Altantis Jr. vs. Barboza & Zandokan Jr. & Difunto, which sounds tremendous,as well as Templario vs. Volador Jr., which also sounds tremendous.

– Mascara Dorada vs. Beast Mortos is scheduled for Wednesday’s Dynamite, winner being put into the three-way with Kazuchika Okada and Konoske Takeshita over the unified title. Dorada is booked on 9/20 in Saltillo, so that maybe a hint Mortos is winning. AEW has pulled wrestlers from CMLL dates for television tapings in the past, but as of right now, Doradsa is still listed for that date.

– For this weekend, per Wrestletix, the Words Collide show in Las Vegas was at 2,234 tickets out so it will end up sold out. Crawford vs. Alavrez is at 64,925 tickets out. UFC Noche in San Antonio tomorrow night is at 15,929 and Raw on Monday in Springfield, MA, featuring John Cena is, at 6,759, or almost sold out.

– Nattie Neidhart has a book signing on 10/29 in Minneapolis at the Mall of America in the Huntington Bank Rotunda.

– Championship Pro Wrestling on Wednesday in Dover, OH at the Tuscarawas County Fair with Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Ricky Morton, Nzo, Shane Douglas, James Ellswroth, Kongo King and more. Plus Brooklyn Brawler and Harvey Wippleman will appear.

– Lonnie “Moondog” Mayne would have turned 82 today. It would have also been the 65th birthday of Joe “Road Warrior Animal” Laurinaitis.

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