Daily Update: Mariah May, Matt Jackson, Mark Cuban

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • Full coverage of Double or Nothing including length of the show and why, the main event finish and who knew, the long-term booking, how things can be adjusted time wise, PPV early estimates, going head-to-head with WWE and the current WWE strategy and is it working or will it backfire, and what was unique in business regarding interest levels for this show, and match by match coverage.
  • What did readers think of Double or Nothing and Battleground.
  • John Laurinaitis joins with Janel Grant in the lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. We look at the strategy, why the timing doesn’t make sense on the surface and what it shows about the belief of where the case is going, as well as Laurinaitis credibility as a witness, his past, and an amazing timeline look where the dots have never been connected before.
  • Saturday Night’s Main Event, the long-term of John Cena as champion, Cena’s last match, what match did the highest number, injury notes, Jesse Ventura and more.
  • WWE spoils a world title change in Mexico, the WWE strategy in Mexico, Alberto shoots a major angle, Worlds Collide matches and how business looks and more.
  • Salman Hashimikov, the unlikely IWGP champion, and the story of one of the best heavyweight amateur wrestlers in the world who had a short pro wrestling career, but a lot of major main event matches with legends.
  • Full coverage of NXT Battleground
  • The sad plight of BJ Penn
  • Best of the Super Juniors
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the shows of the past week, with demos, segments, how the shows are holding up, Netflix numbers and more
  • More on AEW talent at Arena Mexico
  • The Copa Juniors Cibernetico in Arena Mexico
  • MLW title matches at Arena Mexico
  • Nanae Takahashi retires
  • Lawsuit against Billy Jack Haynes by family of his murdered wife
  • The sad story of Shannon Spruill/Daffney
  • Unique independent matches
  • A crazy angle gets two police officers legitimately suspended
  • The Jim Ross Award
  • Why things changed at AEW PPV as far as distribution
  • Why Josh Alexander signed with AEW
  • Keith Lee update
  • Ticket sales for upcoming AEW, WWE and TNA shows
  • Another lawsuit filed against TKO
  • Cain Velasquez talks Dana White’s help
  • More on future WrestleManias
  • Update on UFC & WWE rights negotiations that will happen later this year
  • WWE main roster call-ups expected and where
  • Comparing the Raw ratings from January to last week while taking sleight of hand manipulations out
  • WWE stars in TV shows

Wednesday Update

WWE

  • WWE uploaded the full Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana TNA World Championship main event from NXT last night.
  • Mariah May celebrated her NXT arrival with cake, balloons, and flowers.
  • WWE has not identified May by name yet, indicating that a name change is likely. The YouTube video of her debut is titled “SHE’S HERE! The NXT Women’s division just became more glamorous,” and the description is “One of the biggest free agents in the world comes to NXT to confront NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne.”
  • On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Santino Marella praised his daughter Arianna Grace for how hard she worked to get hired by WWE:
    • So her first tryout, she was not ready, and she didn’t get hired. Then the switch went off, she packed up, moved to Orlando. She was training at multiple schools, busting her ass, got in great shape. And then when she received another tryout, she just blew them away. She was the talk of the tryout, and she got hired from that, she was just in shape, and this time she was ready. So it was no freebies. When you’re a second-generation talent, the idea of receiving a freebie is a horrible thing to be accused of. Some people will also understand that you’re going to be given an opportunity, but it’s up to you to capitalize on the opportunity. I remember talking with Cody when he was younger, that was one of the worst things you could say to him ever, was you’re only here because your dad. So he became super hard working to eliminate and remove the potential for someone to even say that. I think he’s done a great job, working so hard that no one could say that to him anymore.
  • Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins were on KTLA in Los Angeles this morning promoting Saturday’s Money in the Bank PLE.
  • Liv Morgan & Dominik Mysterio took part in a Sneaker Shopping episode for Complex.
  • NXT Champion Oba Femi joined Sheamus on this week’s edition of Celtic Warrior Workouts.
  • CM Punk was featured on a new episode of WWE Tattooed.
  • Sports Illustrated interviewed Roxanne Perez.
  • Big E will be making an appearance at Pancheros Mexican Grill in Somerset, Massachusetts on Thursday, June 12. He’ll be “greeting customers, signing WWE merch, taking pics with fans, and helping raffle off a year’s worth of Panchero’s burritos and WWE memorabilia.”

Other Wrestling

  • Matt Jackson said The Young Bucks would be interested in buying California indie promotion PWG (which has been on hiatus since 2023) if it was for sale:
    • Me and Nick have talked about a lot of things. We’ve talked about buying PWG. We’ve talked about starting our own indie. We’ve talked about a wrestling school. I don’t know. In the next few years, though, if we’re going to do something, it’ll probably happen in the next few years.
    • Let me also clarify, I don’t even know if PWG is for sale. So I don’t know why I said that. But if it was for sale, I would make an offer. So – Super Dragon, hit me up.
  • Lio Rush mourned the death of his dog Brixton:
    • This has been extremely hard for me to process. If you know me, you know how much he meant to me. If you don’t know, this dog was more than a dog. In fact he was more human than most humans I know. He was my kid, my brother, he was my friend, my protector. He’s been here with me through it all. Everytime I think I’m strong enough, I break down in tears thinking about all the memories and all the moments we had. From hotels, to road trips, to moving across the country multiple times. We’ve done it all and see it all together. I loved Brixton so much and everyone who came across him had so much love for him. Rest in peace brix. You’ll never be forgotten.
  • Yuka Sakazaki will compete at Tokyo Joshi Pro’s show in Dallas on the Sunday (July 13) of All In weekend.
  • AEW wrestler Anthony Bowens has been named the honorary grand marshal of Dallas Pride Parade 2025.
  • TNA Wrestling celebrated today being the 21th anniversary of the first episode of Impact:
    • Exactly this moment 21 years ago today, the first episode of #TNAiMPACT was broadcast on Fox Sports Net. Thank you to every single person who’s watched any of the 1089 episodes that have helped make TNA iMPACT! one of the longest running wrestling television shows in history.
  • Businessman Mark Cuban made a $10,000 donation to a GoFundMe campaign in support of indie wrestler Jeff Cannonball, who has been diagnosed with ALS at just 38 years old.
  • Shawn Talks Wrestling interviewed former NXT talent Javier Bernal.