Wrestling Daily Update: NJPW Tanahashi Jam, War Raiders’ Erik, and Airica Demia’s Hiatus

Daily Update

Latest News

• Big Vinny V: What did and didn’t work in AEW’s Clockwork Carnage match at WrestleDream
• Swerve Strickland doubts WWE x AEW show will ever happen: ‘Not in my lifetime at least’
• US orders embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia as WWE Crown Jewel remains scheduled for Riyadh
• AEW star MJF to serve as special guest referee for indie match
• Clark Connors reveals alternative name pitched for The Dogs in AEW
• Adam Copeland recalls teenage Christian Cage jumping into Demolition’s car
• TNA Wrestling reportedly signs recently inducted Hall of Famer
• Former WWE wrestler Gurv Sihra gives positive update on collapsed lung recovery
• Ilja Dragunov names Gunther as biggest influence on wrestling career

Latest Audio

• DragonKingKarl: Pro wrestling in November 1986
• B&V: Maple Leaf Pro episode 3, plus Granny and more!
• Big Vinny V Show: What Trey Miguel’s ladder match win tells us about TNA

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• October 19, 2026 Observer Newsletter: AEW WrestleDream preview, the precarious WWE/Saudi Arabia travel situation, Money in the Bank review

Among the topics covered:

• The most in-depth feature on WWE & UFC’s upcoming Middle East shows, the Turki Alalshikh tweet, events already canceled there, back up plans, and how literally billions of dollars are at stake and why in the end, it will be difficult for WWE & UFC to do anything but what the Saudis want them to do
• Security alerts on travel as of this week
• How this relates to the 2027 WrestleMania
• Shakeups at Skydance and Netflix and what this means for AEW and WWE
• Full coverage of Money in the Bank, creative moving forward, poll results, business notes
• New Japan gears up for the Tokyo Dome with AEW stars Will Ospreay, Gabe Kidd, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, MJF and perhaps Adam Copeland in play
• Major angles involving the AEW talent
• Best of the Super Juniors tag team tournament
• King of Pro Wrestling with a match of the year candidate
• AEW WrestleDream preview plus business notes on the next few PPV shows
• WrestleMania business numbers and every pro wrestling event to gross $10 million
• Leon Slater wins TNA title and the youngest world champions in history
• The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week
• Fantastica Mania UK
• Lucha Kingdom at Arena Mexico
• Arena Mexico show being promoted by the NFL
• AAA gets award
• NOAH big event coming and Naito talks
• Antonio Inoki exhibit
• Woman star retires
• Zach Gowen and funny story related to his WWE signing
• Wrestling promotion gets deal for live movie theater distribution next week
• Notable Sheamus item
• TNA tapings notes
• The sports situation with Skydance and where AEW fits in
• Tony Khan talks Skydance and AEW
• Dana White vs. Eddie Hearn
• How UFC is clearly entertainment in front of sport
• Tim Kennedy update
• September WWE attendance vs. last year

Wednesday Update

WWE

• Erik of The War Raiders and his wife Sarah Rowe (the former Sarah Logan) welcomed their third child into the world:
  • Dena Elizabeth Rowe
  • Born at 2:13 PM on 10/20/26.
  • 9lbs and 21in long.
  • Both mama and baby are healthy and safe.
  • God’s gifts are truly endless.
• Bleacher Report asked Dominik Mysterio about his goals:
  • There’s a lot of things I’d like to get done. I got some beef with [world heavyweight champion] Roman [Reigns] kind of. He tried to throw me out of the ring and end my career one time. Sami Zayn, on the other hand, we’ve got a lot of history with Sami and Kevin [Owens] in The Judgment Day, so maybe there’s something over there with the WWE title on the line. Maybe I want my IC title back. Maybe I wanna go for the tag titles with JD, get him some gold too. Who knows? There’s a lot of things I’d like to get done, but we’re taking it one day at a time.
• Paul Heyman’s son Jacob put together a roundtable with Cody Rhodes, Charlotte Flair, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (the son of rapper Ice Cube) discussing how they’ve continued their family legacies:
  • Editor-in-chief of @HeymanHustleTV Jacob Heyman sits with multi-time WWE Champions Cody Rhodes and Charlotte Flair and actor/artist/host O’Shea Jackson, Jr. for a real conversation about being ‘legacies’ in the entertainment industry.
  • Filmed in New York City, they talk about being ‘nepo-babies’ in their respective fields of entertainment and what it means to overcome the stigma. All four have famous fathers, but their stories tell very different tales from what you may assume.
• Penta was a guest on Busted Open Radio.
• WWE posted a vlog from the company’s Hawaii tryout.
• WCW’s YouTube channel uploaded the full segment where the “Crow” version of Sting’s character made its debut.

Other Wrestling

• In an interview with The Takedown on SI, Ilja Dragunov reacted to the success that fellow new AEW arrivals The New Level have already found in AEW:
  • I mean, it would be a lie if it wouldn’t, right? [Dragunov responded when asked if New Level’s success caught his attention]. You see people perform in a way that they didn’t perform in a while anymore. I can tell, hopefully, or just feel, or can try to imagine a certain happiness if I watch them, what they’re doing, and just reconnecting with these people that you shared some time with. You can just tell that it’s definitely a new place and something they appreciate [being] a part of.
• Dragunov discussed his own early days in AEW so far:
  • It lets my heart beat faster, and I feel like I re-fell in love with professional wrestling in some kind of way. The experience that I’ve had so far is having people around me that really want to portray everything that is going on in my mind, that really understand what I’m doing.
  • They want to enhance what I’m doing and they want to put it into the right light, what I’m doing. And I feel if you can describe it with some word, I feel freedom.
• Billboard asked Swerve Strickland what he hopes people will take away from the path he’s carved as both a wrestler and musician:
  • Not me being a caricature of hip-hop, and not me being a caricature of a Black wrestler. I’m being me. My success in pro-wrestling is genuinely because of my ability in the ring. It’s not because they’re trying to push an agenda, it’s because I perform at a really, really high level — probably the highest level you could see of a Black wrestler in the history of the game.
  • You have a lot of guys that truly became household names, like the Mark Henrys, Booker Ts, Ron Simmons and Dwayne[ Johnsons] — but you can rarely ever say they were the best wrestler on that show. They had to compete with Eddie Guerrero, Owen Hart, Bret [Hart], Shawn [Michaels]. Great in-ring technical wrestlers. I feel like I compete at the highest level with everybody. Me and Okada. Me and Kenny [Omega]. Me and [Will] Ospreay. Me and Hangman [Adam Page]. The very, very best I hang with every last one of them. That’s why I’ve always approached hip-hop the same way. I have to be pure and genuinely me as possible and get there because of actual ability rather than just co-signs.
• Willow Nightingale reacted to today being the fourth anniversary of her AEW signing being officially announced: “You think she knew she’d end up being the first women’s triple crown champ in company history?”
• Shun Skywalker will make his first defense of the NJPW World Television title on November 19, facing Toru Yano at Tanahashi Jam 2. The show is not airing live for international viewers. Here are the announced matches::
  • Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita & Takeshi Masada vs. Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson & Kaito Kiyomiya
  • NJPW World Television Champion Shun Skywalker defends against Toru Yano
  • Tatsumi Fujinami, Yuya Uemura, Aaron Wolf & Kaisei Takechi vs. Ren Narita, SANADA, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Shota Umino vs. Axe Wang
  • Monster Rambo with heavyweight wrestlers to be announced
• Airica Demia clarified that her decision to take a step back from pro wrestling (for her physical and mental health) had nothing to do with being released from the WWE ID program. Demia was known as Anya Rune during her time with WWE ID.
  • I would like to clarify for a lot of people, me stepping away has nothing to do with being released from the WWE ID Program. I loved my time there but with everything I was going through I was already considering taking a break and that was the biggest thing stopping me from doing so. When I got released I began to consider the break more thoroughly and ultimately came to this decision.
• PROGRESS Wrestling uploaded a compilation of Ilja Dragunov vs. Cara Noir matches.
• Good Karma Wrestling has an interview with Bandido.

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