There are three issues of the Observer that are on the site this week. The back issue, from 1996, goes back to a period that changed the wrestling business, when Kevin Nash signed with WCW. It's what went down at the time, and what wa...
There are three issues of the Observer that are on the site this week. The back issue, from 1996, goes back to a period that changed the wrestling business, when Kevin Nash signed with WCW. It's what went down at the time, and what was going on behind the scenes months before the NWO was formed. We look at the state of both WCW and WWF, as well as all of the news from that period.
We've also got two new issues of the Observer this week, both on the site right now as well.
The lead story is a look at the end of the career of Kenta Kobashi. We look back with memories of his 25 year career, the glory days of All Japan Pro Wrestling, how he got his start, the end of his career and what made him tick. We look at him going from a young boy, how he got into pro wrestling, his rise to the top under in All Japan, glory days of All Japan, his big run with Pro Wrestling NOAH and how his career ended.
We look at his biggest matches, his career breaks, the stories behind his career and more.
We also have a Kobashi record book with title wins, awards, and Kobashi at Budokan Hall and Tokyo Dome career highlights.
We also have our 2013 WWE roster directory. This covers the entire roster of WWE as well as the most likely developmental wrestlers to be called up over the next year. We've got everyone's real name, ages, years pro, as well as backgrounds of everyone on the roster with a legitimate sports or well known entertainment background. We also look at those who came from wrestling families.
We also look at how ROH and TNA handled some controversial events this past week. We look at the situation with Austin Aries and Christy Hemme, what went down with comments from both Spike TV, TNA as well as what Aries and Hemme said on Twitter. We also look at how Jay Briscoe and ROH handled Briscoe's message as well as his apology.
We also update the Dolph Ziggler concussion and how WWE handled the situation, and how this is a sign that pro wrestling has changed for the better.
We look at the new plans going forward for UFC on television with the advent of Fox Sports 1 and 2. We look at the first three shows on Fox Sports 1, how Dana White after more than a dozen years in charge of UFC came close to one of his original goals for UFC on television, and the basic framework of the TV schedule once the new network starts.
We also look at TNA's time slot moving, the reasons why it moved before and why it's moving now, plus how it affects Bellator and thoughts on Bellator's TV situation. We look at the ever changing history of Bellator on television, and if it's a good idea for Bellator and UFC to go head-to-head.
We've also got monthly business comparisons for both TNA and WWE for the last few months. We look at how both companies are doing, trends, including a very interesting one which played a part in TNA's time slot change and has changed the viewing patterns of Raw in a noticeable manner. We also look at how live attendance is doing for both groups, as well as a number of other categories in WWE to measure popularity, as opposed to just revenue and profit changes as in he previous issues.
We also have more thoughts on the proposed WWE Network, and how it may have to be tweaked outside of the U.S. due to contracts in place, what country is right now No. 2 for the product, thoughts on the Extreme Rules PPV show, notes on the cage match aspect of the main event and the reasons Paul Heyman and HHH approached the push of the match the way they did. We also look at Bret Hart Appreciation Night, C.M. Punk, SummerSlam, a very telling look at roster changes by year and how HHH's plans have changed the way people are brought up.
We also have Chris Jericho talking about Fandango and what he told Vince McMahon about the character, a new WWE merchandise deal, Dwayne Johnson update, other WWE injur
