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Daily Update: UFC 300, Triple H & Nick Khan, Onita

Originally posted on F4WOnline.com  |  By Dave Meltzer  |  Last updated 4/12/24

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- Our schedule for the next two days is Garrett and I talking about this week's Observer and weekly news in review, with a ton of interesting topics to say the least. We'll be doing the show tonight after Windy City Riot. Bryan and I will be doing a show tomorrow night talking about UFC 300, the three-hour AEW show, SmackDown and more news.

- 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

- SmackDown tonight from Detroit starts a tournament for a shot at Cody Rhodes' title. There will be Santos Escobar vs. Bobby Lashley vs. LA Knight and Rey Mysterio vs. Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles. The winners will meet in a singles match next Friday and the winner of that gets the first shot at Rhodes. SmackDown was sold out as of yesterday so that streak remains alive.

- Rampage tonight on TNT at 10 p.m. has Orange Cassidy vs. Alex Reynolds, Julia Hart vs. Leyla Hirsch, Angelo Parker vs. Zak Knight, and Jay White vs. Matt Sydal.

- AEW will be returning to Chicago with a 7/3 show at the Wintrust Arena for a live Dynamite.

- Giula and Utami Hayashishita had their last Stardom matches earlier today at Korakuen Hall. Hayashishita has been losing on the way out. Giulia's match ended up in a draw today.

- We're doing a poll for tonight's New Japan Windy City Riot, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

- We're looking for reports on these weekend events

  • SmackDown tonight in Detroit (dark matches only)
  • NXT tonight in Davenport, FL
  • NXT tomorrow night in Venice, FL

We're looking for results, finishes and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

- UFC 300 is tomorrow from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The show will air from 6-10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN followed by the PPV at 10 p.m.

ESPN matches

  • Deiveson Figueiredo (135.5) vs. Cody Garbrandt (136)
  • Bobby Green (156) vs. Jim Miller (155.5)
  • Jessica Andrade (116) vs. Marina Rodriguez (116)
  • Jalin Turner (155.5) vs. Renato Moicano (156)
  • Sodiq Yusuff (146) vs. Diego Lopes (146)
  • Holly Holm (136) vs. Kayla Harrison (136)
  • Calvin Kattar (145.5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (146)
  • Jiri Prochazka (206) vs. Aleksander Rakic (206)

PPV at 10 p.m.

  • Bo Nickal (186) vs. Cody Brundgage (186)
  • Charles Oliveira (156) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (156)
  • Justin Gaethje (156) vs. Max Holloway (156) for the BMF title
  • Zhang Weili (115) vs. Yan Xiaonan (115) for the women's strawweight title
  • Alex Pereira (205) vs. Jamahal Hill (205) for the light heavyweight title

The current Observer has a preview with all the stakes and background. This is one of the deepest shows. Harrison, who won two Olympic gold medals at 171 pounds, is competing in the UFC for the first time 35 pounds lighter. She looks like a completely different person. She'll probably be 155 or so tomorrow but she cut to make 171 in the Olympics so she's still going to be 30 pounds or more under her best competitive weight. And she's going to need her power to ground control Holm because she will not be able to stay with her striking. I've actually heard more talk about this fight than any on the show, although Gaethje vs. Holloway is one of those fights that looks awesome on paper, as does the strawweight title fight.

- Arena Mexico tonight has week two of the Universal tournament of champions. It's all CMLL champions tonight with Gran Guerrero, Averno, Templario, Titan, Stigma, Cavernario, El Terrible, Dragon Rojo Jr., Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja.

- CMLL announced that for all premium tier members of their streaming service (the $35 a month tier), they are adding live Saturday night shows every week from Arena Coliseo to go with the Friday night shows live. In the past CMLL had been posting two matches from Saturday the following Thursday.

- Paul Levesque and Nick Khan will be speaking at the Sports Business Journal World Congress of Sports on 11/17 in Los Angeles. Their speech will be on Building Sports and Entertainment Empires.

- Futuro, who got knocked out in a match on Tuesday, is home and resting. No word on when he'll return but he is off this weekend (thanks to The Cubs Fan)

- Combat 1 Wrestling from last night in Brighton, MI: No contest in four-way with Big Flex vs. Gio Bronco vs. Mattthew Grant vs. Rodney Matthews, Trey Miguel b Malcolm Monroe III, Jackson Stone b Richard Holliday, Nat Bock NC Damien Fenrir, Ella b Miley, Bret the Threat b Brandon Williams, Matt Riddle b Austin Aries to keep the Combat-1 title. Next show is 5/30 in Brighton, MI with Riddle, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Alex Shelley and former NHL star Darren McCarty.

- WWE's Most Wanted Treasures new season debuts on Sunday night on A&E.

- Atsushi Onita, after he left Philadelphia for Mania week, flew to Amarillo to visit the grave of his idol and mentor Terry Funk. He also took photos in front of the giant Terry Funk mural in the city.

This article first appeared on F4WOnline.com and was syndicated with permission.

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