Daily Update: WrestleMania week media, Mauro Ranallo, JR podcast

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/27/2017: Looking ahead to Wrestlemania 33

As what has now become nearly a full week of WrestleMania-related events begins, the card for WWE’s marquee event of the year is virtually complete. There are 12 matches announced for WrestleMania 33 heading into the final week of build on television, though some issues still remain. Triple H vs. Seth Rollins has to be officially announced, participants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal have to be confirmed, and we’ll see if there are plans for the SmackDown tag titles and a few other notable wrestlers left without anything scheduled…

Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: April 3, 2017: Massive Wrestlemania weekend preview, plus tons of news

With WrestleMania coming up on 4/2 in Orlando as part of the biggest weekend of pro wrestling events, as far as pure volume goes, ever in the U.S., this year, more than any other, it has been the name more than the combination of the parts.

There really isn’t the one giant main event, or two, like most years have. Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg was counted on as the main event dating back to when the program was first put together late last year. It’s not like the angle is cold because it’s not. Goldberg’s interviews have been stronger than anyone could have expected, and his impact and popularity hasn’t seemed to fizzle. Sure, his winning the title from Kevin Owens was sure to draw a few boos. But in Philadelphia, a city where if people were going to turn on him, that would be the place, while mentions of him to the live crowd drew boos, when he actually came out, it was the loudest chants of the night.

Subscribers click here to continue.

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].

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If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: March 6, 2000: WWF No Way Out review, Mick Foley retires, more

Unlike most other wrestlers of similar fame, to do a career retrospective on Mick Foley is best saved for an examination probably years down the road. He was the classic overachiever, who defied all the odds, and was possibly the single greatest influence inside the ring on styles changing in the business of the past ten years. In a career destined, because he wasn’t that great athletically and didn’t have what was believed to be the right look and physique, for being mid-card for life, he ended up when his career came to a close, as one of the five biggest stars in North America, and even as a best-selling author… Subscribers click here to continue.

WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

After missing SmackDown again last night, Mauro Ranallo tweeted: “Feeling love from everyone. I am stronger. I want to wish my @WWE family another AMAZING #WrestleMania #KeepUpTheGoodFight #MentalHealth”
Tonight’s episode of NXT is the go-home show for TakeOver: Orlando. Kassius Ohno vs. Elias Samson in a loser leaves NXT match, Johnny Gargano vs. Akam vs. Dash Wilder, and the return of Heavy Machinery will air on the show.
The Usos were added to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown last night, which means that there won’t be a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match scheduled for WrestleMania.
The WrestleMania go-home episode of SmackDown was watched by 2,698,000 viewers, which is up two percent from last week.
As part of the content that he’s producing for Yahoo, Paul Heyman wrote about other promotions running events in the same city as WrestleMania.
WWE announced a multi-year agreement with StubHub, making them WWE’s official ticket resale marketplace.
WWE Shop will be available in India on Monday.
Kevin Owens tweeted the cover art for the DVD on him that WWE will be releasing in July.
The Detroit News posted an oral history of WrestleMania III on the show’s 30th anniversary.
WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson wrote an article for AdWeek offering seven lessons marketers can learn from WrestleMania.
Roman Reigns will be the guest on this Friday’s episode of Talk is Jericho.
USA Today looks at the evolution of WWE’s women’s division.
Alexa Bliss spoke to the Columbus Dispatch ahead of WrestleMania.
Eric Young wrote a piece for ESPN about idolizing Shawn Michaels.

Pro Wrestling

Jim Ross opened up about the death of his wife Jan on this week’s episode of his podcast. Ross also explained why he’s still fulfilling his commitments in Orlando, saying that being around his friends and working is what he needs and what his wife would’ve wanted. Ric Flair and Goldberg were the guests on the podcast, with the Goldberg interview having been taped before Jan’s passing.
In an awful story, independent wrestler James “Rude Boy” Riley was arrested on child pornography charges on Wednesday. Riley has since been pulled from some wrestling appearances, including for Punk Pro Wrestling in Orlando this week.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s weekly TV show in Japan is moving up an hour to 2 a.m. and has been extended to a full hour from the previous 30 minutes.
The Hardys released a video of them reincarnating the old TNA tag titles while taking shots at Impact management.
Impact Wrestling uploaded full video from the World of Sport press conference that took place on Monday.
Timothy Thatcher will face Keith Lee at EVOLVE 83 in Brooklyn, New York on April 23rd.

UFC/MMA

Dominick Cruz will be on the broadcast team alongside Joe Rogan at UFC 210.
While appearing on the MMA Hour, Chael Sonnen discussed his loss against Tito Ortiz at Bellator 170. “Tito sucks,” Sonnen said. “I mean, Tito is so bad. And when you lose to a guy, then you suck. That’s the way it works, man. I wouldn’t put that guy without putting myself down. Tito is the worst fighter I ever fought and that makes me the worst fighter. And I just didn’t know that about myself.”
The UFC is targeting Fabricio Werdum vs. Alistair Overeem for UFC 213 during International Fight Week in July.
Demetrious Johnson reflected on his title reign in an interview with FloCombat.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/29): 30 years since WrestleMania III

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania, hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from the Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlecon).
The bus will leave at 3:30 p.m. (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave the show no later than one hour after completion. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 p.m. for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre-pay dinner. Send payment via Paypal to [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: WrestleMania pre-show, John Cena, Bellator

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/27/2017: Looking ahead to Wrestlemania 33

Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

This week’s lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is regarding ROH, WWE and the current situation with ROH. It looks at the ramifications of a possible purchase, and how a sale changes the dynamics of the industry far past just ROH.

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

There are notes on the unique story involving Impact Wrestling making a deal with AAA as well as a current deal with The Crash, which has all kinds of strange political implications. Plus, look at Impact planning a potential PPV show to be held in Mexico, the unique contractual hurdles involved, and recent changes in AAA writing.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

There are also a number of WWE Hall of Fame updates, how the Hall of Fame has changed, an update on Mauro Ranallo, an update on Shinsuke Nakamura, more on the WrestleMania 32 attendance, Kurt Angle talks his return, lots more people coming to WWE, Fan Axxess plans and matches scheduled, WWE responds to a concussion lawsuit, plus the most watched shows of the week on WWE Network.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

There is a major feature on the retiring Manami Toyota, arguably the greatest female wrestler of all-time, talking about her background, her heyday, the boom of women’s wrestling, the Crush Gals and Beauty Pair era, the show where Toyota first got over, and so many of her awards.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: March 6, 2000: WWF No Way Out review, Mick Foley retires, more

TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

WWE announced that Neville vs. Austin Aries for the Cruiserweight title, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and the SmackDown Women’s Championship match will be airing on the WrestleMania 33 pre-show, which will be two hours and begins at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday. Renee Young, Jerry Lawler, Booker T, and Shawn Michaels will be on the panel, with the first hour airing on the WWE Network and other platforms before the second hour airs on the USA Network in addition to those.
Aries tweeted about his match being on the pre-show: “I’m never ‘relegated’ to anything, I’m just who you add to things you need ELEVATED. #WrestleMania Pre-Show is now MUST SEE. #TheElevator”
Paige posted an in-depth statement about the pictures and videos of her that were leaked and being able to move on from them.
John Cena will voice the lead character in “Ferdinand,” which is an animated film based on a children’s book about a bull.
WWE will be doing WrestleMania week profile pieces on Seth Rollins, Bayley, Nikki Bella, and Kurt Angle.
Tonight’s go-home episode of SmackDown has a non-title match between Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper and an AJ Styles/Shane McMahon contract signing. Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick is advertised for 205 Live.
Triple H spoke to Sports Illustrated and ESPN for articles.
Shinsuke Nakamura was interviewed by ESPN about his WWE entrance music and how it was created.
The New Day discussed hosting WrestleMania on SportsCenter.
Shane McMahon will be a guest on the Edge & Christian podcast this Friday.
Sporting News has interviews with Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, and Tye Dillinger.

Pro Wrestling

Jim Ross wrote a blog about his late wife Jan and why he is still going to Orlando for WrestleMania week.
Terry Funk will no longer be appearing in Orlando due to health issues that are preventing him from traveling.
While talking to the Daily Mirror, Jeff Jarrett discussed plans for the revival of World of Sport.
Justin Roberts spoke to Memorabilia Guy about his new book.
EVOLVE’s latest mini-documentary is focused on Keith Lee. The promotion also released a video hyping the arrival of Lio Rush.
Dahlia Black suffered a broken leg while wrestling for PROGRESS last weekend. She posted that she’ll still be in Orlando for WrestleMania week, though she won’t be wrestling.
Rolling Stone has an article looking back at Wrestling Society X.

UFC/MMA

The press conference for Bellator’s Madison Square Garden show took place in New York City today. Though Wanderlei Silva wasn’t there in person, he still traded insults with Chael Sonnen. Bellator has full video of the press conference.
Paul Heyman told Fox Sports that diverticulitis prevented Brock Lesnar from ever reaching his full physical peak.
Luke Rockhold has resumed full training and wants to fight Fabricio Werdum during International Fight Week.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/28): Shawn Michaels wrestles his last match

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania, hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from the Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30 p.m. (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave the show no later than one hour after completion. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 p.m. for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre-pay dinner. Send payment via Paypal to [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: WrestleMania, Raw, Alberto & Paige

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

Raw is in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center with a Seth Rollins vs. HHH contract signing, plus Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg all appearing. There is also a Smackdown brand house show in Norfolk, VA.

Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Richmond, VA for the final main roster show before WrestleMania. Bray Wyatt vs. Luke Harper is scheduled for Smackdown and Rich Swann vs. Noam Dar for 205 Live.

For regular readers, with the exception of the big shows, which would be the Evolve, ROH, NXT & WWE events, we’ll be looking for reports on anything and everything during WrestleMania week to [email protected].

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

While the decision to have AJ Styles face Shane McMahon at WrestleMania has drawn criticism from a lot of people, I’ve remained mostly ambivalent about the matchup. Or at least that’s how I felt until last Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown. The seven weeks between Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania kept the feud between Styles and Shane from really building until now, but it was surprisingly worth the wait when it did… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

There is little to say about SuperBrawl 2000 other than James Brown was there and got a big reaction, and the crowd popped pretty big for Hulk Hogan’s ring entrance. It was a WCW show filled with young guys who the crowd doesn’t know or care about and old guys that the crowd knows but isn’t interested in except as short-term nostalgia acts. The big surprise of Sting returning meant little. The return of Roddy Piper returning was really sad, and showing clips of the 1989 Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk I Quit match only emphasized how great they once were compared to what the company puts out today, and how much older they’ve gotten… Subscribers click here to continue.

MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio. We’ll be talking Raw, WrestleMania and taking your e-mail questions that you can send to [email protected].

Alberto El Patron wrote today: “It doesn’t matter how many times you try to break us…is not gonna happen…we were harassed by a company…we still are…cause you don’t feel me MF’s I know I (sic) was you trying to destroy us…destroy my baby…she’s better stronger than all you pieces of???…We are getting married Wednesday…Have a nice and go and f yourself hatters (sic).” It would appear he’s referencing WWE, but the key take is he’s getting married this week.

Tonight is the go-home Raw for WrestleMania so all hands on deck and whatever the biggest angle ideas have been, this is the show for them to be on. So expect strong promotion for Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Reigns, HHH vs. Rollins (with a contract signing talked about), Owens vs. Jericho and the women’s four-way match.

The company performers will be doing their most media of the year over the next several days largely to promote WrestleMania and all the other activities.

In an interview with The Sporting News, Bobby Fish made it clear that he is going to be continuing to work with ROH for the time being, but he didn’t sign a new contract (his short-term deal expired today) but said he’s no longer exclusive to ROH but is open for offers from anyone.

WWE

In an attempt to boost Monday’s announcement of numbers, WWE has sent out another mailer offering former subscribers three months free as long as they sign up by Monday, which is when the announcement will be made. The push is if you sign up now you get WrestleMania, Payback, Backlash, Extreme Rules and Money in the Bank free.
The WWE announced that for the first time ever, WrestleMania will be available as an iPPV event within China. The show starts at 7 a.m. Beijing time on Monday. It’ll be offered in both English and Mandarin. The streaming service that carries WWE in China will be offering it.
Paul Heyman did a talk show today promoting WrestleMania where he pushed that Charlotte Flair could become the first woman to close the show at WrestleMania. Don’t think he meant this year, just that it could happen during her career.
More Heyman promotional work on Lesnar on Yahoo today is here.
Mike Pence made a remark to Linda McMahon when talking about Trump overhauling affordable care saying that “Maybe we could have used a few of your WWE Superstars on Capital Hill.” (thanks to Joe Puccio)
The Corey Graves interview with Kurt Angle is already on the onDemand section of the WWE network.
A story on Jason Jordan & Chad Gable and how their amateur wrestling backgrounds helped them in pro wrestling is here.
A story on women in WWE is here.
Bobby Roode interview with The LAW from last night is here. Below are highlights from the interview:

Comparing where he was on last year’s WrestleMania weekend to this year’s:

Absolutely, I thought about it all the time. You know, last year at this point, really on the fence and not really knowing what my future really held for me. Obviously, being in Dallas for WrestleMania weekend was a huge eye opener for me and one of the things that, at this point last year didn’t have was passion for the business and I really wanted to get that back. Being in Dallas last year, being at NXT Takeover: Dallas and being apart of WrestleMania weekend and taking it all in was very refreshing and was an opportunity for me to get that excitement back again and get that passion back in me to do what I love to do. From sitting in the front row watching Shinsuke Nakamura’s debut that night, now 365 days later, walking into NXT Takeover: Orlando on WrestleMania weekend, in the main event, as the champion, defending it against Shinsuke is pretty wild.”

If conversations between him and WWE began before WrestleMania 32 weekend:

Very small prior to that. There was only about a week or two from the time I left TNA to WrestleMania weekend so they were very minor talks. When I got to Dallas, I had a quick conversation with Triple H, nothing was concrete so I kind of just took in everything that was there and met with some of the guys and got to reconnect with some of the guys like Samoa Joe and Austin Aries at the time who I’ve worked with in the past. Just kind of get a feel for everything and then obviously, I really and truly felt like that was the place I needed to be and fortunately for me, I was getting the opportunity and here we are 365 days later.”

Learning the WWE system and his goals in the company:

Honestly, to be the face of a brand is pretty special. I think anybody in this business that hasn’t had that opportunity would give their right arm to be in my shoes. So, it is a great opportunity, I am enjoying every minute of it, don’t get me wrong but obviously, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go to the main roster. Obviously, that is the goal for everybody and that is the way the system works. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be on Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live but right now I am very happy and quite content being in a leadership role and being the champion in NXT and being able to main event shows and be in the ring with top guys and continue to learn. I mean, it’s a learning curve for me too, I’ve been in the business for almost two decades but you know, the WWE is a different animal and I’m continuing to learn the system and learn different things and learn things that were never taught to me before. Just the small minor things but the minor things that mean a lot in this industry and in your performance. The goal is to one day be at WrestleMania, to main event a WrestleMania so I think you have to continue to have goals in your career and not just be happy where you’re at. But right now, when you look at it, 365 days ago, I’m sitting there as a fan in the front row and now I’m the world champion, main eventing the biggest Takeover of all time so couldn’t be happier.

MISCELLANEOUS

Jim Ross is taping his podcast tonight. I’m scheduled to be on with him after WrestleMania next week.
This week’s pro wrestling quiz is dedicated to Jan Ross.
The AXS show on Friday night is the last show of the G-1 Climax series with Kenny Omega’s matches with Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto.
Blitzkrieg Pro Wrestling from Saturday night in Enfield, CT: Tony Atlas won open challenge, Breakfast Club over Batiri, Throwbacks and East Coast Bastard Crew, Isaiah Rex b Narciso Rex, Skylar b Penelope Ford, Sasha Jenkins over Flex Rumblecrunch and Hammer Tunis, Chuck O’Neil b Joey Janela, Josh Briggs over Anthony Greene, DangerKid, Xavier Bell, Zachary Pierre Beaulieu and Scotty Wild, Chris Dickinson b Missile Assault Man, Troy Nelson & Johnny Idol & Mark Sterling & McNeil b JustNeph & JGeorge & Ryan Malice & Johnny Torres, Donovan Dijak b Cody Rhodes.
Big Time Wrestling from Saturday night in Salinas, CA before 500 fans: Zack Muir b Andre Leaveaux, Clint Steele b JT Hollister, Shane Kody & Devin Danger b Dylan Bostic & Guerrero, Dementia D’Rose b Jade to keep the BTW title, Tony Vargas DCOR Eli Drake, Kimo b Ethan Carter III to keep the BTW title and Ryback b Synn. Next show is 5/20 in Newark, CA. (thanks to Jim Davis)
NWA Mid South from Thursday night in Covington, TN: Corazon de Dragon b Jakob Edwinn, Johnny Swole b Sharknado, Matt Taylor b Antonio Anderson, Dustin Daniels over Van Van Horn and The Convict in a three-way, Matt Riviera b Johnny Morton, Greg Anthony & Cole McDaniel b The Posse. Bruce Tharpe managed Riviera.
National Wrestling League from yesterday in St. Louis before 197 fans: Tommy Flagg & August Marshall b Dez Wellston & Neon Iverson, Marcellus Gaines b Jay Lutz, Skyler Beckett b Adam Ryan, Kyle O’Reilly b Davey Gibson, Buddy Shepherd b Castle-DQ, Christian Adonis b Javy Torres, Jack Foster b Jet Royal, Todd Letterman b Matthew Grundy. (thanks to Patrick Brandtmeyer)
Nova Wrestling on 4/14 in Fairfax, VA at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia has a 12-man tournament with Tracy Williams, Arik Royal, Sonjay Dutt, Logan Easton, Donovan Dijak, Chet Sterling, Bobby Shields, Alex Daniels, Tim Donst, John Kermon, Trip Cassidy and David Starr.
Sami Zayn is marketing a number of El Generico T-shirts on Pro Wrestling Tees for this week only.
The Legacy Fighting Alliance on AXS announced a 4/21 show in Pueblo, CO at the Massari Arena with Ian Heinisch vs. Lucas Rota and Nick Urso vs. Brandon Royval.
Mike Adamle, the former NFL player and TV sportscaster who worked in WWE, bid farewell to the crew at WMAQ in Chicago on Friday night after working 40 years as a sportscaster. Adamle has been battling dementia which he attributes to his years in football. Adamle was said to be at times tearful and at times funny telling stories about his life. He talked about the challenges that are facing him going forward.
CWA Wrestling on 4/8 in North Little Rock, AR at the Maumelle Event Center with Jim Duggan.
NFC on 5/12 in Kennesaw, GA at the Electric Cowboy for an MMA show has a one free ticket with every regular price ticket purchased deal going on through Saturday.
Mike Rand at [email protected] has a third row ringside seat for the WrestleCon Supershow at the Wyndham Hotel and a second row seat for the Saturday afternoon Jim Ross show at Plaza Live.
Destiny Pro Wrestling from yesterday in Mississauga, ONT: Moose b Josh Alexander in a cage match, Phil Atlas won three-way over Dustin Quicksilver and Tarik, Kaoru b Randy Reigns, Stone Rockwell b Mike Dorosti, Billy Gunn & Mike Rollins b RJ City & John Atlas. (thanks to Steven Ashe)
All Pro Wrestling from Saturday night in Daly City, CA: Classic Connection b Lion Power to win the APW tag titles, Berkeley Brawler b Matt Carlos, Will Cuevas b Michael Modest to keep the Internet title, Funnybone b JR Kratos, Adam Thornstowe (of Impact’s Reno Scum) won four-way over Jacob Fatu, Karl Fredericks and Jeff Cobb (best match on show), Bison Braddock & Will Roberts & Manny Mars & Johnny Dynamo b Rik Luxury & Amish Johnson & Vinny Massaro (Lucha Underground) & Stryker, War Pig Jody Kristofferson b Keith Lee, Luster the Legend (Impact) b MVP to win the Universal title.
Border City Wrestling from Saturday night in Windsor, ONT: N8 Mattson & Matrox b Kurt Hendrik & Fabo Morcocco, Colt Cabana b Johnny Playboy, Sebastian Suave & Tarik b Mike Rollins & Dustin Quicksilver, Shane Douglas b John E. Bravo, Swoggle & Stone Rockwell b The Fraternity, A-1 won over Idris Abraham, Jake Something, Hakim Zane, Tyson Dux and Aiden Prince, Phil Atlas & Brent Banks b Johnny Devine & Jon Bolen to win BCW tag titles with Shane Douglas as referee, Kongo Kong won three-way over Cody Deaner and Billy Gunn to become the Can-Am champion. (thanks to Steven Ashe)
Tony Hunter noted that Ron Simmons and Noelle Foley will be attending WrestleCon this weekend. Well, everyone you can think of and many you can’t think of will be there. There are over 100 former and current performers at WrestleCon this weekend.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/27): WWF WrestleMania IV

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania, hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from the Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30 p.m. (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave the show no later than one hour after completion. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 p.m. for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre-pay dinner. Send payment via Paypal to [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: Raw, World of Sport press conference, SummerSlam

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

It’s a quiet weekend heading into WrestleMania in a week which would be the craziest weekend of the year.

We’re looking for reports on WWE in White Plains, NY featuring HHH & Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn & Finn Balor & Chris Jericho, plus Smackdown in Raleigh, NC.

Raw will be Monday in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center with a Seth Rollins vs. HHH contract signing, plus Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg all appearing. There is also a Smackdown brand house show in Norfolk, VA on Monday night.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio. We’ll be talking all the weekend news plus taking questions that you can send to [email protected].

Jeff Jarrett is flying to the U.K. for the press conference tomorrow to announce all the details of the World of Sport series on ITV. The new Observer has a lot of details on the plans.

Jan Ross, who passed away on Wednesday, was an organ donor and all of her internal organs were in good shape. The one silver lining out of the tragedy of her death is that four people are going to be able to live better lives due to it. If anything, this is a message because sometimes this is no preparing and age and health and don’t guarantee anything but if you are an organ donor, you can help someone who was often dealt a bad hand live a better life.

Tomorrow’s Raw at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia is sold out. There will legitimately be nearly 15,000 people there which will make it among the best attended WWE shows of the year.

As expected, SummerSlam tickets at the Barclays Center sold out the first day they were put on sale.

A Muay Thai fighter from Scotland was found dead yesterday due to what is suspected to be heat stroke while cutting weight for a fight in Thailand. Jordan Donald, 22, who used the name Jordan Lamnammoon and sometimes Jordan Coe was wearing a thick sweatshirt and trying to lose seven pounds to make weight for a fight today. There is a reason we talk about this issue and why in MMA most people on the medical and regulatory side are very concerned about this issue. This isn’t a theoretical. Guys get hospitalized from this all the time and fighters have died or been very close to death from it. And this was a guy just trying to lose seven pounds, which is an easy cut for most fighters, not the 20 pound variety which isn’t unusual. (thanks to Shawn Cathcart)

WWE

A story on the Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg match at WrestleMania and their first match in 2004 with comments from a number of people including Paul Heyman is here.
Add former women’s champion Eve Torres Gracie to the list of those being brought in for WrestleMania according PW Insider. As noted here, a number of former women’s stars were contacted months ago about being part of the weekend.
An elderly fan passed away at the WWE event last night in Portland, ME. He collapsed and fell out of his seat early in the show, at the start of the second match on the card, which was a six-man tag with R-Truth & Goldust & Curtis Axel vs. Shining Stars & Titus O’Neil. Most fans at the show didn’t know this even happened. EMTs at the arena gave him CPR for about 20 minutes before he was rushed to Maine Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Pat Laprade has a story on the Sami Zayn-Kevin Owens interaction on Friday night when they became the first Quebec natives to headline a show at the Bell Center in Montreal in 23 years.

UFC

Another long story on UFC that ties in Putin and Trump and more questions is here. (thanks to Lee Wall)

MISCELLANEOUS

The Cauliflower Alley Club convention is 5/1 to 5/3 in Las Vegas at the Gold Coast Hotel. I’m being honored there this year and here is info on who else is being honored and all the activities for the week. They also have an article on me here.
Mike Mooneyham has a story on Christopher Daniels.
The Lilian Garcia episode of The Price is Right will be airing on 3/31.
Alpha 1 Wrestling on 6/18 in Hamilton, ONT at the Knights of Columbus.
WCPW on 4/1 at the Orlando Sports Center at 1:30 p.m. has Ricochet vs. El Ligero, Michael Elgin vs. Primate, David Starr vs. Bobby Fish, Joe Hendry vs Matt Striker (this was set up on their TV show), Martin Kirby vs. BT Gunn, Chasyn Rance vs. Grado and Drew Galloway vs. Rampage Brown. There will also be a preshow meet and greet with Jim Cornette, who will be doing the commentary for the show.
Pro Wrestling Championship Series from last night in Alton, IL: Adrian Surge won four-way over Austin Blackburn, Matt Knicks and Eric Dzinic, Danny Adams b Mat Fitchett, Alexandre Rudolph b Evan Gelistico, Gary Jay b Angelus Layne, Christian Rose b Sean Orleans, Stevie Fierce & Rob Matter b Mickey McFinnegan & Zakk Sawyers, Makaze b Everett Connors, Davey Vega b Paco Gonzalez. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Universal Championship Wrestling on 4/15 in Owensboro, KY at the Sportscenter has Scott Steiner vs. Buff Bagwell, Al Snow vs. Simon Dean, Chase Stevens & Chris Michaels vs. Shaun & Shayne Maddox and Taelor Hendrix vs. Kelly Klein plus Koko B Ware, Rob Conway and Sean Casey.
The Squared Circle restaurant in Chicago is featured tonight on the TV show “Food Paradise” on the Travel Channel at 8 p.m. Lisa Marie Varon is co-owner of the restaurant where the theme is pro wrestling and they show all the big pro wrestling and MMA events live. (thanks to Jake Koch)
ESW from last night in North Tonawanda, NY: RJ City b Space Monkey to win the Ilio DiPaolo Cup, Coconut Jones b Anthony Gaines, Oliver Street Express b Rochester Wrecking Crew to win tag titles, Vince Valor b Ethan Page, Kevin Bennett b DJZ, Big Cat Lemmer b Ron Falco, Gregory Iron & Bobby Sapphire & Roscoe Black b Colin Delaney & Cheech & Frankie Feathers, Cloudy b Tony Kozina, Alex Daniels won four-way over Rickey Shane Page, Punishment Martinez and Bram, Bill Collier b Brandon Thurston, Braxton Sutter b Davey Richards. (thanks to Todd Brantley)
Big Time Wrestling from Friday night in Newark, CA before a legit sellout crowd: Zack Muir b Andre LeVeaux, Chico Navarro b Clint Steele, Jade b Dementia D’Rose, Classic connection b Chaos Inc. to win the tag titles, Shane Kody & Devin Danger b Eli Drake & Dylan Bostic, Ryback b Ethan Carter III. (thanks to Jim Davis)
The funeral for wrestler Tom Jones took place in Amarillo yesterday. Family and friends gave speeches about him including Johnny Mantell and Terry Funk. It was in the same funeral home that Dennis Stamp had his funeral in last week.
GOUGE from last night in Fuquay Varina, NC before 500 fans: Kool Jay b Metailco, Snooty Fox b Jabroni, Otto Schwanz b Chet Sterling, Juan Jeremi & Waylon Maze b No Direction, Jimmy Jack funk Jr b Head Rush, Tommy Lou Retton b Seymour Snott.
Great North Wrestling Cage wars on 5/13 in Smiths Falls, ONT at the Smiths Falls Memorial Community Centre with all matches inside an MMA cage headlined by Hannibal vs. Wes Brisco for the Canadian title and Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Jeremy Prophet.
Pro Wrestling All-Stars from Friday night in Melvindale, MI: Blake Acumen b Daniel Wolfe, Atlas Hytower d Breyer Wellington, Movado & Ridiculoso b Jay Maynard & Dougie the Creep and Zach Main to win tag titles, Paul Bower b Moose-COR, Zach Gowen b N8 Mattson-DQ Shane Douglas b Great Akuma to win heavyweight title. (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Best in the West has a show at 6 p.m. today in Fresno at their school at 5494 E. Lamona Avenue Suite #150 with all seats $5. They return to TV on TV-53 on Sundays at 11 a.m. starting on 4/2. (thanks to Jon Southerland)

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/26): The last episode of WCW Nitro

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: Owens vs. Zayn, Cena on the Today Show, Cyborg

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on WWE shows on Saturday night with Raw from Portland, ME, SmackDown from Johnson City, TN and NXT in Tampa to [email protected].

INVICTA ON UFC FIGHT PASS ON SATURDAY NIGHT

Madison McElhaney vs. Felicia Spencer
Kai Holliday vs. Miranda Maverick
Sunna Davidsdottir vs. Mallory Martin
Amber Brown vs. Ashley Cummins
Jinh Yu Frey vs. Janaisa Morandin
DeAnna Bennett vs. Jodie Esquibel
Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Livia Renata Souza
Tonya Evinger vs. Yana Kunitskaya for the bantamweight title

Sunday has WWE in White Plains, NY featuring HHH & Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn & Finn Balor & Chris Jericho, plus SmackDown in Raleigh, NC.

NEW JAPAN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL AT 5:30 A.M. SUNDAY MORNING EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Tomoyuki Oka vs. Bad Luck Fale
Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Hirai Kawato vs. Takashi Iizuka & Desperado & Taka Michinoku
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe vs. War Machine & David Finlay
Hirooki Goto & Gedo & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Baretta vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi
Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata

Raw will be Monday in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center with a Seth Rollins vs. HHH contract signing, plus Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg all appearing. There is also a SmackDown brand house show in Norfolk, VA on Monday night.

SmackDown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Richmond, VA for the final main roster show before WrestleMania. Bray Wyatt vs. Luke Harper is scheduled for SmackDown and Rich Swann vs. Noam Dar for Raw.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn was the main event of WWE’s house show in Montreal last night. Without fully breaking character, Zayn praised Owens and talked about their journey in an emotional promo after the match until Owens responded in French by saying that he hates Zayn and walked off. Zayn tweeted about the show, “Tonight was my Wrestlemania. #WWEMontreal.”
John Cena will be co-hosting the Today Show during the 9 a.m. ET hour on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
Bas Rutten gave an update on Mauro Ranallo during an appearance on the Luke Thomas Show, saying that Ranallo is doing well and that he should be “back to normal” soon.
Goldberg appeared on the debut episode of Edge & Christian’s podcast.
The Miami Herald posted a guide on visiting Orlando for WrestleMania weekend.
Zack Ryder discusses his injury and coming back from it on his new YouTube show.
Our Bryan Rose looks back at every WrestleMania in his “Depths of Mania” e-book.

Pro Wrestling

Jim Ross tweeted that his wife Jan was an organ donor and that her lungs, liver, and kidneys have already found recipients after her passing.
From Dave Meltzer: “James Storm will replace Bobby Lashley on tonight’s Crash show in Tijuana. They are doing an angle where Impact and Crash are feuding, setting up an Impact vs. Crash PPV. Karen Jarrett announced that Storm would replace Bobby Lashley on the show, and face Garza Jr., but only with an Impact referee. If Garza Jr. wins, then he gets a title shot at Lashley.”
Robbie E & Bram will be in NOAH’s Global Tag League as the Bro Mans.
Ratings for this week’s episode of Impact were down to 305k viewers for the third week of the new regime. The show was watched by an average of 344k people the week prior.
Gail Kim tweeted about Stephanie McMahon crediting Triple H and WWE fans with the creation of the women’s revolution, “My opinion is @IMPACTWRESTLING did. No shade just truth and my personal opinion. I never got my opportunity till then and it’s never stopped.”
Travis Banks was interviewed about getting the chance to wrestle in a WWE ring at the upcoming matches taking place during WrestleMania Axxess.

UFC/MMA

Cris Cyborg vacated her Invicta featherweight title and said that she wants to face Germaine de Randamie for the UFC women’s featherweight belt on July 29th in Anaheim, California.
Daniel Cormier said that if he faces Jon Jones it would only be in the semi-main event if Conor McGregor were headlining the show.
Kelvin Gastelum has his sights set on both the UFC middleweight and welterweight titles.
Sage Northcutt claimed that he wasn’t trash-talking Mickey Gall during their fight last December and would never swear at an opponent during a fight.
Michael Bisping criticized Yoel Romero for wanting an interim title fight.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/25): WWF Champion Backlund vs. AWA Champion Bockwinkel

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: WrestleMania schedule, NJPW tickets, Kane

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

It’s a quiet weekend heading into WrestleMania in a week which would be the craziest weekend of the year.

We’re looking for reports on today’s Raw show in Montreal and NXT show in Jacksonville to [email protected].

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING RETURNS AT 7 P.M. AND MIDNIGHT EASTERN ON AXS TV

Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Seiya Sanada
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

The main event was quite the great match. This would be from the 2016 G-1 Climax tournament with Kenny Omega’s matches with Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto airing next week.

LEGACY FIGHTING ALLIANCE AT 9 P.M. EASTERN ON AXS TV

CMLL TONIGHT LIVE FROM ARENA MEXICO AT 10:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME

Shockercito & Electrico vs. Demus 3:16 & Pierrothito
Silueta & Princes Sugei & Sanely vs. Dallys & Zeuxis & Reyna Isis
Maximo Sexy & Titan & Stuka Jr. vs. Kraneo & Hechicero & Ripper
Dragon Lee vs. Niebla Roja
Mistico & Angel de Oro & Valiente vs. Negro Casas & Cavernario & Felino
Diamante Azul & Matt Taven & Volador Jr. vs. Rush & La Mascara & Pierroth

We’re looking for reports on WWE shows on Saturday night with Raw from Portland, ME, Smackdown from Johnson City, TN and NXT in Tampa to [email protected].

INVICTA ON UFC FIGHT PASS ON SATURDAY NIGHT

Madison McElhaney vs. Felicia Spencer
Kai Holliday vs. Miranda Maverick
Sunna Davidsdottir vs. Mallory Martin
Amber Brown vs. Ashley Cummins
Jinh Yu Frey vs. Janaisa Morandin
DeAnna Bennett vs. Jodie Esquibel
Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Livia Renata Souza
Tonya Evinger vs. Yana Kunitskaya for the bantamweight title

Sunday has WWE in White Plains, NY featuring HHH & Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn & Finn Balor & Chris Jericho, plus Smackdown in Raleigh, NC.

NEW JAPAN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL AT 5:30 A.M. MONDAY MORNING EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Tomoyuki Oka vs. Bad Luck Fale
Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Hirai Kawato vs. Takashi Iizuka & Desperado & Taka Michinoku
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe vs. War Machine & David Finlay
Hirooki Goto & Gedo & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Baretta vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi
Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

For the weekend WWE shows, the Raw crew main event is scheduled as Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman. Chris Jericho and HHH are only advertised for White Plains, and neither is scheduled in either Montreal (which is scheduled to have a Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn singles match) or Portland, ME. On the Smackdown side, John Cena and Randy Orton are working the entire weekend. Jason Jordan, Chad Gable and the Usos aren’t advertised for the house shows. Asuka is scheduled for all three Smackdown brand house shows this week.

There have been some questions about this because of a mistake in a WWE press release that was sent out. But the WrestleMania schedule is for the pre-show to start at 5 p.m Eastern time with a two hour show on the WWE Network before the PPV at 7 p.m. The mistake going around is the PPV listed at starting at 8 p.m.

A story on Glenn “Kane” Jacobs looking at running for Mayor of Knox County in Tennessee is here. (thanks to Kelly Morton)

New Japan announced today that tickets for its 7/1 and 7/2 Long Beach shows at the Convention & Entertainment Center will go on sale at 4/1 at 8 a.m. Eastern time. Tickets are priced at $150 (front row), $100, (rows 2-5), $80 (rows 6-9), $60 (rows 10-13) and $30 (rows 14-17). There will also be several meet and greet sessions at Noon both days. The shows will start at 5 p.m. The building is set up for a 3,000 seat capacity.

Kyle O’Reilly’s first matches for Evolve are set for 4/22 in Queens, NY against Keith Lee, 4/23 in Brooklyn against Fred Yehi, 5/20 in Chicago against Matt Riddle and 5/21 in Livonia, MI.

Today is Undertaker’s 52nd birthday.

Yesterday was the 36th anniversary of the first-ever five star match, a March 23, 1981 match at the Mid South Coliseum in Memphis between Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler

WWE

There will be a new Undertaker collection added on Monday to the WWE Network. It will likely be a collection of his WrestleMania matches, that are already up in other forms.
Paul Heyman and his Looking 4 Larry ad agency has been hired by the Richmond International Speedway to handle marketing and promotion for the trick kicking off with races that take place in September. He was hired to help widen the appeal of the races in that city. He was hired to help them market starting with a race on 9/9 through all platforms.
WWE announced that Corey Graves’ interview with Kurt angle would air Tuesday night after Talking Smack on the WWE Network.
There will be another Bring it to the Table with Corey Graves, JBL and Peter Rosenberg on Thursday at 8 p.m.
Maria Menounos will again host the Hall of Fame red carpet ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday night.

UFC

A great story on Dan Hardy’s autobiography writer who originally didn’t like MMA and was a boxing fan and his thoughts on it after spending time with Hardy is here. (thanks to Lee Wall)

MISCELLANEOUS

Aaron Pico, who we’ve written about since he was a high school freshman in Whittier, CA, who has won age group national championships in both wrestling and boxing (and an age group world championship) will be making his MMA debut at the Bellator show on 6/24 in Madison Square Garden. Pico’s debut will be on the Spike live show before the PPV starts (at least right now, this could change because Bellator has gotten so much response and interest in Pico’s debut). Pico was the first fighter ever signed to a Futures contract, when he turned 18, more than two years ago with the idea that he’d start his career in Bellator after the 2016 Olympics.
I will be one of the people honored at this year’s Cauliflower Alley Club banquet on 5/3 at the Gold Coast Hotel in Las Vegas. We’ll have more on this over the next few weeks. Other honorees will include Kevin Von Erich and Tully Blanchard.
Bellator has signed Michael McDonald from UFC. This has been expected ever since McDonald said that he was leaving UFC. He will fight in the bantamweight division, like he did in UFC.
Fox News has posted stories w/ video on The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, and Christopher Daniels,
What Culture Pro Wrestling from yesterday in Motherwell, Scotland: Kenny Williams b Joe Hendry, Joe Coffey b Liam Thomson, Grado b El Ligero (crowd loved this, heavy comedy with Grado using a diamond cutter on a bag of Doritos for the win), BT Gunn b Lewis Girvan, Drew Galloway b Mark Coffey, Martin Kirby b Travis Banks, Joe Coffey b Kenny Williams, Drew Galloway b BT Gunn, Marty Scurll won three-way over Will Ospreay and Matt Riddle when Ospreay lost to the chicken wing. Main event was really good. They did an angle to set up Matt Striker vs. Hendry. (thanks to Greaeme McLeary)
Bellator will be holding a media only press conference on Tuesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden with Scott Coker, Jon Slusser from Spike, plus Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Matt Mitrione, Douglas Lima, Lorenz Larkin, Michael Chandler and Brent Primus.
I’m on the Richard Deitsch Sports Illustrated podcast talking about all the things I never talk about anywhere else.
A story on the changing face of television and cable which affects all sports is here.
Glory kickboxing tomorrow from Brussels Belgium with Cedric Doumbe defending the welterweight title against Yoann Kongolo, Sitthichai defends the lightweight title against Dylan Salvador, Guto Inocente vs. Jamal Ben Saddik and Chi Lewis-Parry (who WWE has had an interest in) vs. Hesdey Gerges.
The Fight Network will be airing Legacy Fighting tonight at 9 p.m. from Houston, and will be airing the Glory show tomorrow starting at 4 p.m. Eastern.
Over the Top Wrestling on 5/6 in Dublin, Ireland has Matt Riddle vs. Kyle O’Reilly.
ROH has announced pre-show matches before the iPPV starts on 4/1 in Lakeland, FL as women’s matches with CMLL wrestlers Amapola vs. Marcela, Kelly Klein vs. Deonna Purrazzo and Mandy Leon & Jenny Rose vs. Sumie Sakai & Faye Jackson.
Fury Rising on 4/15 in Ottawa ONT at the SPK Dom Polski Polish Combatants Centre.
Lilian Garcia appeared on “The Price is Right” today. It was a University of South Carolina vs. Clemson themed show and Garcia went to South Carolina.
Big Time Wrestling on 4/14 in Sebring, FL at the Highlands Today Center with Kevin Nash, Billy Gunn, Michael Tarver, Adam Rose, Kagahas, The Dudley Twins (Devon’s two sons) and the Cuban Assassin.
Pure Wrestling Association on 5/13 in Kitchener, ONT at the Alpine Club headlined by Tracy Smothers vs. Joey Allen.
New participants announced in the Welterweight wrestling iPPV show on 5/7 at 5 p.m. from Turners Hall in Cleveland. Already announced were Sammy Guevara,. Gory, Ace Perry, Kevin Bennett, Trey Miguel, Ryan Kidd, Rayo, Gavin Glass and Sonny Vice. New added this week are Dylan Bostic, Cam Zagami, Ace Austin, Nate Wings, Tommy Grayson, JP Grayson, Shawn Phoenix and Aiden Veil.
Absolute Intense Wrestling tonight in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt Carmel with Josh Prohibition vs. Tim Donst vs Tracy Williams, Scott Norton vs. Joey Janela, Eddie Kingston vs. Swoggle, Ethan Page vs. Colt Cabana, B.J. Whitmer vs. Dominic Garrini and more including Laredo Kid and DJZ from Impact.
Cheech Marin, in promoting his new book on Tavis Smiley last night, talked about growing up in Los Angels and seeing Bobo Brazil, the Americas’ champion, driving his Cadillac to pick up his laundry. They showed a photo of Brazil with the title belt.
Mike Francesa gets into a discussion about pro wrestling, which he knows little about.
A story on the old Pacific Coast heavyweight title belt being found is here.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/24): WWF WrestleMania VII

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: ROH discussions with WWE, Bellator PPV, World of Sport

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on the NXT show tonight in Cocoa Beach, FL.

IMPACT AT 8 P.M. ON POP TV TONIGHT

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

The latest audio show goes into detail on the ROH situation as well as all the latest news, plus the new issue of the Observer also covers those subjects in detail.

Joe Koff had something sent to ROH talent to tell them that the discussions with WWE regarded licensing old footage from their library.

An official announcement that World of Sport will be returning to ITV is expected to be imminent. We had already reported late May tapings for 10 or 11 episodes. Magnus and Rockstar Spud will join the cast of wrestlers who appeared on the New Year’s Eve show like Grado, Dave Mastiff and Davey Boy Smith Jr.

The show “Tainted Dreams” on Amazon got five Daytime Emmy nominations including Outstanding Digital Drama Series. Jessie Godderz of Impact Wrestling is a regular on the series.

Anthem has put a TM over all its YouTube videos that involve the Broken Hardys gimmick.

Konnan has said that he will have nothing to do with the AAA talent if they appear on Impact and that the Crash talent will not be in the same matches as the AAA talent.

The Bellator PPV show on 6/24 in Madison Square Garden currently has this lineup:

Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione
Douglas Lima vs. Lorenz Larkin for the welterweight title
Michael Chandler vs. Brent Primus for the lightweight title

Tickets for the show go on sale on 3/31. The show will start at 8 p.m. Eastern with two hours of fights on Spike and then the PPV starts at 10 p.m.

WWE

On the WWE conference call today, Paul Levesque said that there will be no specific television tapings done at Fan Axxess this year. All the matches will be taped but not for specific television shows. Last year they did an NXT taping in Dallas at Fan Axxess, but since they’re in Orlando, this year they are doing it at Full Sail University on 4/5.
The company will announce the new WWE Network subscriber number on 4/3 at 3 p.m. Eastern time in a conference call with George Barrios and Michelle Wilson.
Jimmy Fallon last night, when he had John Cena on as a guest, said that he would be attending WrestleMania as he’s taping all week in Orlando.
There is a pre-sale later today for the WWE tour of Australia with shows on 9/14 in Melbourne, 9/15 in Sydney and 9/16 in Brisbane. They go on sale 10 a.m. Friday local time at My Ticketek and go on sale to the public on Monday.
They also announced these new dates with shows on 6/8 in San Juan at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, 6/10 in Panama City, Panama at the Roberto Duran Arena, 6/11 in San Jose, Costa Rica at the Anfiteatro Coca Cola.
WWE debuts in Buenos Aires at the famed Luna Park, which was the site for a number of legendary matches in the old days, with a show on 10/19.
For anyone complaining about people who haven’t tweeted publicly about Jan Ross, who are likely close friends of Jim’s or at least people he’s known for decades, seriously, save your getting mad for something significant. I can guarantee they’ve all reached out to him in some form and if they were close with him that is a private situation. And this isn’t to say anything for people who did so in a public form, as I’m sure that is appreciated as well. But trying to turn this into some anti-Vince McMahon or anti-WWE thing is the worst. There are plenty of viable things to be mad or critical of WWE for, and this is the farthest thing from one of them. This is a real life tragedy and not some pro wrestling political issue.
WWE is advertising Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defending the tag titles against The New Day, Sheamus & Cesaro and Enzo & Cass plus Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and Bayley for a show tomorrow night at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
NBC Sports talks to Paul Levesque.
Bayley talks to NBC Sports about why her dream opponent would be Stephanie McMahon.

UFC

A Las Vegas story noting that the commission will likely sanction McGregor vs. Mayweather is here.
Tickets for UFC 211 on 5/13 in Dallas at the American Airlines Arena, the PPV headlined by Stipe Miocic vs. Junior Dos Santos for the heavyweight title, Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Andrade for the women’s strawweight title, Frankie Edgar vs. Yair Rodriguez, Demian Maia vs. Jorge Masvidal, Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier, and Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. priced from $400 down to $50. There is a pre-sale going on right now using the code DALLAS.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ilir Latifi has been added to the 6/25 UFC show in Oklahoma City.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Ben Nguyen has been added to the 6/10 show in Auckland, New Zealand.

MISCELLANEOUS

The bill to change regulations on pro wrestling events in Arkansas that draw less than 1,500 fans so as to not require an ambulance at the shows passed in the state senate by a 34-0 margin yesterday.
A story on Mike Adamle is here.
Gawker and Peter Thiel have apparently come to a truce after Thiel financed the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that put them into bankruptcy. The deal they are working on, according to the New York Post, would mean Thiel would agree to fund no more lawsuits against them. In return, Gawker would write nothing negative about Thiel is what it appears to be.
More names added to the WrestleCon roster at WrestleMania include Jeff & Karen Jarrett, Moose, Kevin Sullivan, Shane Douglas, Tommy Rich, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Matt Morgan, King Mo Lawal, James Storm, Adam Rose and MVP.
Alberto El Patron has pulled out of all gigs in Orlando that weekend stating it’s due to the invasion of privacy involving his fiance.
Kyle O’Reilly will be starting with Evolve in late April.
Gabe Sapolsky will be doing a creative seminar on 3/31 in Orlando.
A trailer for a Ricky Steamboat interview is here.
Monsters Wrestling on 3/22 in Orlando at The Beacham on Orange Avenue featuring Ted DiBiase as a special guest.
FEW on 3/31 in Orlando at the Downtown Orlando Recreational Complex with a 7 p.m. show with live wrestling and a concert.
FEW is doing a Lucha Libre show on 4/1 at 3 p.m. at the Downtown Orlando Recreational Complex with Silver King, El Hijo de Mascara Sagrada, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner, Gronda, Willie Mack, Bestia 666, Rey Hours and Mariachi Loco.
The annual Beat the Streets wrestling event in Times Square takes place on 5/17 featuring a U.S. vs. Japan challenge with eight men’s matches and three women’s matches. The event takes place at 6 p.m.
Lucha Slam on 3/25 in Brantford, ONT at 6 Aberdeen Avenue at 3:30 p.m.
Pro Wrestling Eclipse on 5/20 in Oshawa, ONT and the Harmony Creek Community Centre.
Destiny on Sunday in Mississauaga, ONT at the Don Kolov Arena at 7:30 P.M. featuring Moose vs. Josh Alexander and Billy Gunn & Psycho Mike vs. RJ City & Johnny Playboy.
Smash Wrestling on Sunday at 6 p.m. in London, ONT at the Music Hall with Tyler Tirva vs. Tyson Dux vs. Cody Deaner, Braxton Sutter vs. Davey Richards, Colt Cabana vs. Scotty O’Shea and Rosemary vs. KC Spinelli.
NWF from Sunday in Kansas City: Gil Rogers DCOR Ray Briggs, Blaine Meeks b Lakota Red Cloud in the Kansas City title tournament, Jeremy Wyatt won three-way over Scott Slade an Thor Teriot, Dak Draper b Niles Plonk in the Kansas City title tournament, Blood Brothers b Royal Blood (thanks to Brian Hoops)
Reader Kyle Niblett is selling tickets for these events in Orlando at less than face value that he can’t attend due to an illness: Hall of Fame (lower level), Evolve 81 (front row), Sting & Flair Q&A, Wrestling Revolver (fourth row) and Jim Ross Q&A. For more info he can be contacted at [email protected].
Mike Rand has a ticket to the Wrestlecon supershow on 3/31 at 8:30 p.m. in the third row. He said he will be at the Observer dinner earlier that night and can give the ticket to someone attending at face value if they contact him first at [email protected].
Golden By Boxing will be debuting on ESPN 2 tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern.
GOUGE on Saturday night presents Russellmania at the Draft Line Brewery in Fuquay Varina, NC at 4 p.m.
Empire State Wrestling on Saturday at 6 p.m. in North Tonawanda, NY at the St. Johnsburg Firehall with Brandon Thurston vs. Bill Collier as the main event, plus Davey Richards vs. Braxton Sutter, DJZ vs. Kevin Bennett and Ethan Page, Punishment Martinez, Bram, Gregory Iron and Dick Justice appearing.
Global Wrestling Federation Rebirth on Saturday in Kansas City at Soccer Nation KC at 7 p.m.
NFC MMA tomorrow night in Kennesaw, GA at the Electric Cowboy.
Matt Riddle talks Bill Goldberg and pro wrestling.
You can also listen to the entire interview with Riddle on the Between The Ropes podcast.
A story on ribs in the old AWA involving Verne Gagne, Ray Stevens and Larry Hennig is here. (thanks to Gary Collins)
Here’s a long but very interesting article written by the “drag queen” pro wrestler who has been making social media rounds the past few days. (thanks to Jake Koch)

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/23): Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: John Cena on the Tonight Show, JR, Conor McGregor

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

This is a major news issue of the Wrestling Observer, with lead stories including full details on the legal questions regarding the Hardys’ gimmick, why Impact made the move they did, with the arguments from both sides and why they happened when they did.

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

News on top talent leaving WWE after WrestleMania, NXT to Europe, Nakamura main roster update, Dwayne Johnson talks WrestleMania, several WWE injury updates, John Cena’s schedule, a look at wrestlers and other athletes WWE had in camp this past week including an Olympic silver medalist, WWE Hall of Fame, Jack Swagger, post-WrestleMania plans, WWE value and most watched shows on the WWE Network, is all inside.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

Other major stories are on the New Japan Cup, the state of ROH talent and popularity, the 15th anniversary show coverage, who was Dennis Stamp, just how big a difference PEDs are in UFC, how much the top executives and the McMahon family earned last year, and the Japanese national poll on who the greatest pro wrestling stars ever to work Japan were.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

WWE & ITV’s moves for television in the U.K. are examined, plus a major rundown of former and current ROH talent, what is happening with WWE, ROH business and full coverage of the PPV with match-by-match coverage and star ratings.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

John Cena will be a guest on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on NBC tonight to promote WrestleMania.
Paul Heyman and his Heyman Hustle website are partnering with Yahoo to produce content leading up to WrestleMania.
Mauro Ranallo wasn’t at SmackDown again this week. Tom Phillips announced that Ranallo was out sick.
WWE is collaborating with Foot Locker and Puma on limited-edition WWE-themed sneakers and t-shirts. Peter Rosenberg and Corey Graves showed off some of the merchandise on Facebook Live.
Bray Wyatt was interviewed by Sports Illustrated and spoke about wanting Bo Dallas to join the Wyatt Family.
SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) vs. Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong & No Way Jose and Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Oney Lorcan will air on tonight’s episode of NXT.
Sami Zayn was interviewed by the Kingston Whig-Standard.
John Cena’s American Grit show returns to Fox for its second season on June 11th.

Pro Wrestling

Jim Ross posted a heartfelt blog about his wife Jan after she suffered a catastrophic brain injury in a terrible accident on Monday night. JR thanked everyone for their support and said that the swelling on Jan’s brain needs to subside for her to survive.
Impact Wrestling officially announced its working agreement with AAA.
NJPW posted a translation of Katsuyori Shibata’s comments about challenging Kazuchika Okada after winning the New Japan Cup.
Zack Sabre Jr. will face Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 82 in Queens, New York on April 22nd and Lio Rush at EVOLVE 83 in Brooklyn the next night. Those matches will be for Sabre’s EVOLVE title if he’s still champion after WrestleMania weekend.
Marty Scurll will face Kyle O’Reilly for Revolution Pro Wrestling on May 7th.
Will Ospreay vs. Jimmy Havoc at PROGRESS Chapter 46 this Sunday will be a “Fans Bring the Weapons” match. PROGRESS posted details about what the procedure for the match will be.

UFC/MMA

Conor McGregor’s re-hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission took place today. McGregor was previously fined $75,000 and given 50 hours of community service for his bottle-throwing incident with Nate Diaz and his camp at the UFC 202 press conference prior to McGregor vs. Diaz II. That punishment was reduced to $25,000 and 25 hours of community service at today’s hearing.
Submission Radio posted full audio of today’s Bellator 175 conference call with Rampage Jackson and King Mo. On the call, Rampage and Mo argued about whether their fight was at heavyweight or catchweight.
Luke Rockhold wants to fight Fabricio Werdum and is willing to move up to heavyweight to do it.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/22): Ricky Steamboat wins Mid-Atlantic title

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: WrestleMania, Triple H on ESPN, Fedor vs. Mitrione

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

SmackDown & 205 Live will be taped tonight in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

The Raw Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania is now a fatal four-way with Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Nia Jax challenging Bayley after Jax was added to the match last night.
Triple H did a media tour on ESPN today to promote WrestleMania:
Triple H talks about how WWE recruits from the NFL and internationally
Peter Rosenberg interviews Triple H on the Cheap Heat podcast
Triple H appears on First Take
Triple H gives an update on Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal
Triple H discusses his WrestleMania 28 Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker
ESPN will again be covering WrestleMania this year.
WWE posted a teaser for upcoming WWE 24 specials, which will be focused on Finn Balor, Goldberg, the 2016 Raw after WrestleMania, and Kurt Angle.
Goldberg will be the first guest on Edge & Christian’s new podcast.
Charlotte Flair was interviewed on Pix 11 in New York.
Natalya spoke to Sports Illustrated about WrestleMania and her family.
Roman Reigns was a guest on the Boomer & Carton show yesterday.

Pro Wrestling

Adam Cole will challenge Marty Scurll for the ROH TV title at the promotion’s show in Lakeland, Florida on April 1st.
Cole also appeared on today’s episode of the Steve Austin Show.
PWG announced the card for their next show, titled “Game Over, Man,” which will take place on April 21st:
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Dick Togo in a non-title match
Chuck Taylor vs. Marty Scurll in a Reseda street fight
War Machine vs. The Young Bucks
Mark Haskins vs. Michael Elgin
Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole
Keith Lee vs. Jeff Cobb
Rey Fenix vs. Lio Rush
The AV Club has an article on a Donald Trump storyline in DDT.

UFC/MMA

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione will be the semi-main event of Bellator 180 at Madison Square Garden on June 24th. The show is Bellator’s return to pay-per-view and will be headlined by Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva. Fedor was originally supposed to face Mitrione last month until their fight was canceled on the day of the show due to Mitrione having kidney stones.
After officially signing with Bellator, Ryan Bader called out Phil Davis for the MSG show.
The Liverpool Echo posted an update on former UFC and Bellator fighter Terry Etim after Etim was injured running in and out of traffic last month.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/21): WCW/NJPW Supershow

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: Undertaker, Impact & AAA working agreement, NJ Cup

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for your thoughts on the New Japan Cup finals held earlier today with a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].

We’re looking for reports on the non-Raw stuff from the Barclays Center such as Main Event or dark matches or anything not on the show, as well as reports from the Smackdown brand house show in Worcester, MA tonight to [email protected].

Raw is tonight in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center with Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman advertised, plus a Chris Jericho Highlight Reel and locally advertised is Jericho & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe. SmackDown’s Monday night house show will be in Worcester, MA.

SmackDown & 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday night in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/13/2017: Impact Wrestling’s identity problem

With the departure of The Hardys and the beginning of a new era, the promotion formerly known as TNA Wrestling is once again trying to establish a new identity. That began on the first episode of Impact under the new regime, where they officially ditched the name TNA in favor of Impact Wrestling and promised to make the company great. Changes in ownership and creative as Anthem Sports & Entertainment took over meant that a rebrand was inevitable, but the timing comes just as TNA was finally starting to carve out a unique place in the pro wrestling landscape… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 21, 2000: 1999 attendance numbers, WCW turmoil, tons more

For the year, WWF increased attendance 20%. Monday night Raw ratings for the year as an average increased from a 4.40 average in 1998 to a 6.04 average in 1999, a 37% increase. PPV buy rates for the year increased from a 1.02 average in 1998 to a 1.25 average in 1999 which is a 23% increase. In 1998, WWF sold out 33.5% of its house shows while the figure increased to 63% of its shows in 1999. Average live gate per arena show increased from $188,482 in 1998 to $286,495, a whopping 52% caused by a combination of the increase in attendance and an increase in average ticket price from $18.84 to $23.84… Subscribers click here to continue.

MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio, talking Raw, Impact, New Japan Cup, more on the Paige situation as well as taking your e-mail questions for the show to [email protected].

Lots of talk about Jim Cornette inducting the Rock & Roll Express into the WWE Hall of Fame. It was obviously the right move for the circumstances. Cornette had made it clear he was never against doing it so it wasn’t as if they had to talk him into it. It was always the WWE’s call.

Undertaker is backstage in New York at Raw. Undertaker was expected to be at the last two Raw’s before WrestleMania which is this week and next week but was not advertised for tonight.

At yesterday’s Rey de Reyes show in Monterrey, Jeff Jarrett was introduced during the showand AAA announced they established a working agreement with Impact. Also at the show, they unified all of their major singles titles in a three-way as Latin American champion Johnny Mundo beat AAA Mega heavyweight champion El Texano Jr. and AAA cruiserweight champion El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno) and he now holds all three belts.

Katsuyori Shibata beat Bad Luck Fale earlier today in Nagaoka, Japan to win the New Japan Cup and his match with Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP title is official for the 4/9 show at Sumo Hall.

WWE

Tonight’s Raw at the Barclays Center is legitimately sold out. The next three Raws are all a lock to be sold out.
WWE has announced Jason Jordan & Chad Gable defending their tag team tiles against the Usos for Smackdown tomorrow. Bray Wyatt vs. Luke Harper for the WWE title and John Cena vs. A.J. Styles in a street fight are also being billed locally, although that doesn’t necessarily mean those two matches will happen since they change dark matches all the time. Smackdown always has one match before the taping to get the crowd in its seats for the beginning of the show, and one match after 205 Live that is pushed during the entire show at the arena to keep people from leaving after Smackdown ends.
WWE also announced that Shinsuke Nakamura would be on the June tour of the U.K. He was not originally scheduled for the tour. Nakamura is also scheduled for NXT house shows after WrestleMania. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything but being added to an overseas tour as late as June would be a surprise if he was to be touring on the main roster.
We’ve heard nothing on Finn Balor returning to television. He is on the road and worked every show this weekend on the Raw side.
Kurt Angle talks to the Sporting News about meeting Vince McMahon for the first time in 11 years and his return to WWE.
A lot of NXT episodes from 2012 and 2013 have been added to the WWE Network in the VOD classic section.
Big Show will be on Conan O’Brien on TBS on Wednesday night.
The company will be releasing a new cut of the WWE 24 special on the Raw after WrestleMania on DVD and BluRay tomorrow.
After the hype that the last show at the Joe Louis Arena would be WWE’s final show in the building, which is closing later this year, they have just announced a 7/29 house show there. Actually that was announced in the building last week. (thanks to Jake Koch)

MISCELLANEOUS

ROH announced that Jushin Liger and Yoshi-Hashi are off the 4/1 show in Lakeland, FL. The company posted on Facebook that due to delay in U.S. visa processing, the wrestlers will be unable to attend the show as planned. They announced that Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa would take their place in a six-man tag, teaming with Hangman Page against six-man champions Mark & Jay Briscoe & Bully Ray. They also announced Volador Jr. & Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee & Jay White for the show, which sounds like a potentially great match.
The main event for a UFC show on FS1 that will air on 6/10 from Auckland, New Zealand will be Mark Hunt vs. Derrick Lewis.
Northeast Wrestling from Saturday night in Port Jervis, NY before a sellout 1,200 fans: Flip Gordon b Brad Hollistrer, The Now b Battle Brothers, Mandy Leon b Maria Manic, Warbeard Hanson b Dijak, Ryback DCOR Wrecking Ball Legursky, Matt Hardy b Vinnie Marseglia, Pretty & Gritty b Adrenaline Rush, Cody Rhodes b Mike Bennett to win NEW title.
Northeast Wrestling from Sunday in Waterbury, CT: Ron Zombie NC Wrecking Ball Legursky, Dijak b JT Dunn, Cam Zagami b Randy Shawn, Brad Hollister Nico Silva, Mandy Leon & Maria Maniac b Sea Stars, Flip Gordon b Lio Rush, Battle Brothers won over The Now, Adrenaline Rush and So Over, Keith Lee b Warbeard Hanson, Vinny Marseglia b Mike Bennett
A nice story on LuFisto trying to make it in pro wrestling before her type of wrestler was being accepted is here.
Evolve has a new mini-documentary.
This week’s pro wrestling quiz is here.
Busted Open radio will be broadcasting from Harry Buffalo in Orlando during WrestleMania week with shows on 3-5 p.m.on Saturday and 1-3 p.m. on Sunday.
Regarding the legislation in Arkansas that will be presented to the state senate today in an attempt to make it more economically feasible to run smaller events such as needing an ambulance at the show or post a surety bond, the language presented that changed yesterday is that if a company donates at least 20 percent of the live gate to a charitable clause, it would be exempt from regulation.
Matt Morgan has been training for his Impact return at the Team Vision Dojo in Orlando. An instagram post on the subject is here.
Superkick’d on 4/14 in Toronto at the Great Hall for TV tapings.
NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling announced the Smoky Mountain Cup tournament with 12 wrestles for 4/8 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium. The tournament will have six singles matches with the last six competing in a six-way elimination match. The tournament winner will face Tim Storm for the NWA title at a later date. Announced are Colby Corino, Facade, Tracer X, Myron Reed, Axton Ray, Jordan Kage, Chris Richards, Chip Day, Michael Starr, Jeff Connelly, Timmy Lou Retton and Toby Farley.
The next Wrestle Circus show in Austin, TX is 4/30 with Brian Cage vs. John Morrison for their title, Taya vs. Rachael Ellering plus Matt Sydal, Lio Rush, Dave & Jake Crist, Shane Strickland and Dezmond Xavier.
WrestleCon is pushing that it 3/30 WrestleMania kickoff party will be the first time Jim Ross, Sting and Ric Flair have shared the same stage together for a Q&A. It takes place at 4 p.m. on Thursday and is priced at $33. Matt Striker will also be there.
WCPW has a show today in England with a main event of Will Ospreay & Scott Wainwright defending their tag titles against the Young Bucks, Prospect and Matt Riddle & Liam Slater in a four-way.
Evolve will be holding a tryout and seminar on 5/21 in Livonia, MI.
Mephisto vs. Caristico for the CMLL welterweight title was announced for tonight’s show in Puebla which streams on the CMLL YouTube channel.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Friday night in Omaha: Joey Daniels won over Purple, Robert Storm and Nathan Edwards, Hype Gotti b Devin Carter, Con Artiest & Duke Cornell & Ajax Adams b Paul Daniels & Lars Metzger & Johnny Ruckus, Zac James b Dalton Lee Roth, Hype Gotti won Rumble, Pat Powers b Branden Juarez in a street fight. Next show is 4/26 in Omaha at the Waiting Room Lounge.
Ratings for March Madness are evidently the highest in the last 24 years. They are up 10 percent from last year, bucking the trend in television overall.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/20): WWF WrestleMania X

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: PWG results, Impact & AAA, Xavier Woods

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports from last night’s WWE show in Albany, NY, and today’s shows with Raw in Hershey, PA and Smackdown in Amherst, MA to [email protected].

We’re also looking for your thoughts on tonight’s New Japan Cup finals, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].

NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS LATE SUNDAY AT 2 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL winner vs. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata winner

Raw will be Monday night in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center with Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman advertised, plus a Chris Jericho Highlight Reel and locally advertised is Jericho & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe. SmackDown’s Monday night house show will be in Worcester, MA.

SmackDown & 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday night in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/13/2017: Impact Wrestling’s identity problem

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 21, 2000: 1999 attendance numbers, WCW turmoil, tons more

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Our weekend Observer radio show is already up talking the Paige situation, as well as last night’s PWG show, yesterday’s UFC show and all the latest news.

Jeff Jarrett, Ed Nordholm and Jeremy Borash of Impact are in Monterrey, Mexico for the AAA Rey de Reyes. That is most interesting to say the least, given Impact had been working with Crash and those two companies hate each other.

Xavier Woods wasn’t at the Raw house show in Allentown, PA last night, but he was not booked there as he was in Austin, TX speaking at the SXSW conference. The fact he wasn’t pulled from that event would at least seem to indicate WWE is not taking him off the road.

Bad Luck Fale beat Evil and Katsuyori Shibata beat Tomohiro Ishii in the semifinals of the New Japan Cup earlier today in Hamamatsu. The Evil vs Fale winner late tonight/early tomorrow will get a title shot at the championship they ask for, most likely on 4/9 at Sumo Hall. Most likely tonight’s show will set up some of the matches for 4/9. Thus far we only know of two title matches with Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Never title and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kushida for the IWGP jr. title.

Penn State had five national champions in finishing well ahead of Ohio State in the NCAA wrestling championship last night. Besides the matches we talked about last night, Bo Nickal won the main event at 184, stopping Gabe Dean from being a three-time champion 4-3 in what was pushed as the biggest match of the year. Olympic medalists Kyle Snyder and J’Den Cox at 285 and 197 both won NCAA titles. Cox was the first three-time champion ever to come from Missouri, as Ben Askren only won twice. Snyder won for the second time and is the first U.S. Olympic gold medalist to follow-up winning the gold medal by winning an NCAA title.

WWE

The WWE/Snickers tie in is getting stronger. On the WWE Network, there are Bayley and Rusev TV commercials for snickers.

MISCELLANEOUS

Cody Rhodes was pulled from tomorrow’s What Culture show due to filming the TV show “Arrow.” Regarding Adam Cole, who is scheduled for the same show, he won’t be able to wrestle for about ten days due to surgery to remove the cyst on his forehead that he got taken care of on Friday. Cole also taped two episodes of the Stone Cold Podcast yesterday, which was big for him since Austin was the guy who got him into pro wrestling.
ROH’s Kenny King will be a contestant on the new season of “The Bachelorette.” A story on the season and King is here.
PWG from last night in Reseda, CA: Brian Cage won three-way over Keith Lee & Sami Callihan, Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle b Jake & Dave Crist, Lio Rush b Trevor Lee, Shane Strickland b Dezmond Xavier, Chuck Taylor & Trent Baretta b Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll, Penta 0M & Rey Fenix won PWG tag titles over Young Bucks and Ricochet & Matt Sydal. This was the second best show I’ve seen this year live or, Internet or TV or anywhere. In particular, the tag teams were all on fire, one of the best collections of tag teams I’ve seen in any promotion in a long time, and the opener was just ridiculous how good it was. The main event was among this years’ best matches. Pretty much the consensus this was their best show since the second day of Battle of Los Angeles.
The wXw tournament first and second days are both up on FloSlam today. The third day goes up at 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight. I was told the championship match with Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov was great. FloSlam also just put up a live IPW: UK Super show 7 featuring Drew Galloway, Grado and Ken Anderson.
A bill to amend the regulations of pro wrestling in Arkansas goes before the State Senate tomorrow. It will help smaller promotions, particularly those that draw less than 300 fans to shows, because they no longer will need to have an ambulance, carry a surety bond or fill out an event form for $50. The companies will be subject to annual commission inspections but not at every event. The bill will apply to all shows that draw less than 2,500 fans. This is not the bill to completely deregulate pro wrestling in Arkansas. There is another bill out on that.
AAW did an advanced sellout in Berwyn, IL on Friday night with a loaded up show that featured a lot of the wrestlers in PWG: Dave & Jake Crist b Trent Baretta & Chuck Taylor in a tag title tournament semifinal match, Abyss b Homicide with a black hole slam on thumbtacks, Drew Galloway b DJZ with his new spinning future shock (cool new finisher), AR Fox b Shane Strickland, Penta 0M b ACH to win the AAW Heritage title, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz b Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega in the tag tourney semifinals, Rey Fenix b Trevor Lee, Zack Sabre Jr. b Kyle O’Reilly, Sami Callihan b Low Ki due to interference from Abyss to keep the AAW title. Was told this may have been the company’s best show in 13 years. Next show of 4/8 in Rosemont, IL with Penta 0M defending the Heritage title against AR Fox plus Callihan, ACH, John Morrison, Michael Elgin, Rey Fenix, Jack Evans, Matt Riddle and Shane Strickland.
WrestleCircus drew 1,200 for a free show Friday night as part of SWSX in Austin, TX: Barrett Brown b Terrale Tempo, Fred Yehi won three-way over Gregory James and Curt Stallion, Ricky Starks & Aaron Solow & Andy Dalton b Jordan Len-X & The Boys, Carson b Davey Boy Smith Jr.-DQ, Rachael Ellering b Tessa Blanchard to keep the women’s title, Jax Dane b Jeff Cobb, John Morrison b Sammy Guevera, Matt Hardy (super over) b Colt Cabana, Brian Cage retained the title beating Matt Riddle. Leva Bates worked as Sister Nero in Matt’s corner.
Fight Club Pro from Friday night in Wolverhampton, England: Session Moth Martina b Damian Dunne, Damian Dunne (as The Dunnedertaker) won over David Starr, Clint Margera and Dan Moloney, Candice LeRae b Kay Lee Ray, Jim & Lee Hunter b Joe Coffey & Omari, Jimmy Havoc b Mikey Whiplash, Chris Brookes b Nixon Newell in a weapons match, Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate & Trent Seven b Travis Banks & Will Ospreay & Wolfgang. Dunne lost the first match by homicide and returned from the dead. Newell, a woman wrestler headed to WWE, had a strong showing and the main event was tremendous. (thanks to Jan Buxton)
Ryback will headline on 5/13 for NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium.
Legacy Fighting Alliance on 4/7 from Greenville, SC is apparently the first nationally televised MMA event ever from the state. Cee Jay Hamilton vs. Jesse Bazzi will headline the show which airs right after New Japan on AXS.
Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling from last night in East Carondelet, IL before an overflow crowd of 350 fans: Cowboy Houston b Ax, Flash Flanagan NC Curtis Wylde, Moondog Rover b Purple Passion, Troll b Jake Savage, Jayson Chaos d Bobby D, Johnny Blade b Jimmy D, Sean Vincent & Chris Poe b Big Texan & Waco, Chris Harges b Gary Jackson, Ken Kasa b Davey Vaughn. (thanks to Larry Matysik and Patrick Brandmeyer)
The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman in his column decried a NASCAR altercation with Kyle Bush and Joey Logano not getting any punishment, and it being pushed on FOX and compared it to Vince McMahon’s playbook.
Due to technical issues last Sunday’s Best of the West iPPV is now up for free for anyone who would like to view it on the Fite App. Just type in Best of the West 1 Year anniversary show. Lio Rush vs Funnybone was the standout match. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
Austin Sopp, the son of Billy Gunn, debuted last night in Valdosta, GA, teaming with is father using the name Austin Gunn, in a 2 on 3 handicap match against Adam Rose and two other wrestlers for Sunbelt Wrestling Entertainment at the Wild Adventure Theme Park. Robbie E, Colby Corino and Jon Davis were also on the show. Rose cut off most of hair. Austin mostly sold to set up his father’s hot tag. (thanks to Billy Ellis)

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/19): The Dudley Boyz win WWF tag titles

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon).
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: Paige, Southpaw Regional Wrestling, McGregor

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

Tonight has WWE Raw in Allentown, PA and SmackDown in Albany, NY. We’re looking for reports on both of those shows.

NCAA TOURNAMENT FINALS FROM THE SAVVIS CENTER IN ST. LOUIS ON ESPN AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME

WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING AT 11 P.M. EASTERN ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK FROM THE TURNING STONE RESORT IN VERONA, NY

Bekbulat Magomedov (17-1) vs. Donavon Frelow (6-1) for vacant bantamweight title
Lance Palmer (11-2) vs. Andre Harrison (15-0) for the featherweight title
Blagoi Ivanov (14-1) vs. Shawn Jordan (19-7) for the heavyweight title

PWG FROM RESEDA, CALIFORNIA TONIGHT

Shane Strickland vs. Dezmond Xavier
Adam Cole vs. Sami Callihan
Keith Lee vs. Brian Cage
Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle vs. Dave & Jake Crist
Lio Rush vs Trevor Lee
Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. Chuck Taylor & Trent Baretta
Young Bucks vs. Rey Fenix & Penta 0M vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal for PWG tag titles

NEW JAPAN CUP SEMIFINALS LATE SATURDAY NIGHT AT 2 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Sunday has WWE Raw in Hershey, PA and SmackDown in Allentown, PA.

NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS LATE SUNDAY AT 2 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL winner vs. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata winner

SmackDown & 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday night in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/13/2017: Impact Wrestling’s identity problem

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 21, 2000: 1999 attendance numbers, WCW turmoil, tons more

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

Paige tweeted a statement yesterday about the adult-themed photos and videos of her that have been leaked online: “Personal and private photos of mine were stolen and unfortunately they were shared publicly without my consent.”
Paige’s mother (wrestler Saraya Knight) also posted a message of support for her daughter: “People get hacked, unfortunately my daughter had pics and video shared from years ago, my husband and I support her 100% no fault of her own.”
WWE released four episodes of “Southpaw Regional Wrestling,” which is a WWE.com video series that parodies old territorial wrestling.
Kurt Angle spoke to Fox Sports about how WWE has changed, the Hall of Fame, and John Cena being the person to induct him.
Zack Ryder launched a new YouTube series.

Pro Wrestling

Reby Hardy continued to tweet about the Hardys’ legal situation with Impact Wrestling today. Reby wrote, “UPDATE: TNA sent an absolutely laughable legal proposal re: trademark, usage & ownership. Sigh. We tried to play nice. Truly. Oh well.” She went on to claim that Senor Benjamin never signed anything that would allow him to appear on TV or allow Impact to use his likeness, that Maxel was never cleared to work on camera, and that Impact wanted a cut of the money that is made from Matt Hardy’s merchandise store. She concluded by saying that someone would be speaking for them about the situation from now on.
Peter Kaasa posted on Facebook that he’s taking a hiatus from wrestling due to medical evaluations taken after he was injured by the middle rope breaking during his match against Jaka at EVOLVE 76 in San Antonio. Kaasa wrote, “I have decided to take a hiatus from professional wrestling. I won’t say retirement as I am not sure right now. Because of the rope breaking, I have a moderately bulging disc in my cervical spine that has been causing a lot of discomfort and pain and stiffness on a daily basis since the accident. To actually have gotten up after what happened in the ring that night was a miracle in itself let alone finishing the match and being able to still do all I am doing now.” There were three incidents with the ring at that show, with the ropes also breaking twice during the Chris Hero vs. Keith Lee main event.
FoxNews.com interviewed Cody Rhodes for a video piece on his journey in wrestling after leaving WWE.
LA Weekly has an article on PWG.
Josh Mathews was interviewed by the Irish Mirror.
Steve Austin recorded an episode of his podcast with Adam Cole that will be released next week.

UFC/MMA

In a moment that has gotten a lot of attention, Conor McGregor confronted ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael at last night’s Michael Conlan vs. Tim Ibarra fight. McGregor told Rafael that he was going to “shock the whole god damned world” when he beats Floyd Mayweather in their potential boxing match.
Dana White told TMZ Sports that Nick Diaz keeps turning down fights. White also suggested that Nate Diaz is waiting for a fight against Conor McGregor.
Ian Entwistle seemed to retire from MMA after a medical issue forced the cancelation of his fight against Brett Johns at the UFC’s show in London today. Tom Breese vs. Oluwale Bamgbose also didn’t happen because Breese was “unfit to fight” with what his manager said was a heart rate issue.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/18): WCW Greed

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). THERE ARE ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: Big weekend, WWE Hall of Fame, Impact ratings

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE house show in Syracuse, NY and NXT show in Gainesville, FL, to [email protected].

This weekend we’ll be doing polls on the New Japan Cup finals on late Sunday / early Monday night to [email protected].

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING RETURNS AT 7 P.M. EASTERN TIME ON AXS

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma
Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito
Kenny Omega vs. Yoshi-Hashi
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii

NCAA TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS FROM THE SAVVIS CENTER IN ST. LOUIS ON ESPN AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME

125 – Thomas Gilman, Iowa vs. Darian Cruz, Lehigh
125 – Ethan Lizak, Minnesota vs. Jack Mueller, Virginia
133 – Nathan Tomasello, Ohio State vs. Cory Clark, Iowa
133 – Kaid Brock, Oklahoma State vs. Seth Gross, South Dakota State
141 – Dean Heil, Oklahoma State vs. Anthony Ashnault, Rutgers
141 – George Di Camillo, Virginia vs. Bryce Meredith, Wyoming
149 – Zain Retherford, Penn State vs. Brandon Sorsenson, Iowa
149 – Lavion Mayes, Missouri vs. Max Thomsen, Northern Iowa
157 – Jason Nolf, Penn State vs. Tyler Berger, Nebraska
157 – Joey LaVallee, Missouri vs. Dylan Palacio, Cornell
165 – Isaiah Martinez, Illinois vs. Isaac Jordan, Wisconsin
165 – Vincenzo Joseph, Penn State vs. Logan Massa, Michigan
174 – Zahid Valencia, Arizona State vs. Mark Hall, Penn State
174 – Bo Jordan, Ohio State vs. Brian Realbuto, Cornell
184 – Gabe Dean, Cornell vs. Nolan Byrd, Oklahoma State
197 – J’Den Cox, Missouri vs. Jared Haught Virginia Tech
197 – Kollin Moore, Ohio State vs. Brett Pfarr, Minnesota
285 – Kyle Snyder, Ohio State vs. Jacob Kasper, Duke
285 – Ty Walz, Virginia Tech vs. Connor Medberry, Wisconsin

CMLL EL HOMENAJE A DOS LEYENDAS AT ARENA MEXICO ON CMLL YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Estrellita & Marcela & Princesa Sugei vs. Amapola & Zeuxis & Tiffany
Dragon Lee & Titan & Stuka Jr. vs. Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja & Euforia
Atlantis & Caristico & Marco Corleone vs. Rush & La Mascara & Kraneo
Ultimo Guerrero vs. Matt Taven for NWA middleweight title
Mistico & Volador Jr. & Valiente vs. Mephisto & Luciferno & Hechicero for CMLL trios titles
Diamante Azul vs. Pierroth mask vs. mask

This show is not scheduled to air live on Claro Sports. It will be airing after its conclusion, which should be about 1 a.m. Eastern time, on the CMLL You Tube Channel.

Saturday has WWE Raw in Allentown, PA and Smackdown in Albany, NY. We’re looking for reports on both of those shows.

NCAA TOURNAMENT CONSOLATION ROUND MATCHES FOR THIRD AND FIFTH PLACE FROM THE SAVVIS CENTER IN ST. LOUIS AT 11 A.M. EASTERN ON ESPN U

UFC ON FIGHT PASS FROM THE O2 ARENA IN LONDON AT 1:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME

Lina Lansberg vs. Lucie Pudilova
Scott Askham vs. Brad Scott
Ian Entwistle vs. Brett Johns
Leon Edwards vs. Vicente Luque
Oluwale Bamgbose vs. Tom Breese
Marc Diakiese vs. Teemu Packalen
Timothy Johnson vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
Francimar Barroso vs. Darren Stewart
Joseph Duffy vs. Reza Madadi
Arnold Allen vs. Makwan Amirkani
Brad Pickett vs. Marlon Vera
Alan Jouban vs. Gunnar Nelson
Jimi Manuwa vs. Corey Anderson

NCAA TOURNAMENT FINALS FROM THE SAVVIS CENTER IN ST. LOUIS ON ESPN AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME

WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING AT 11 P.M. EASTERN ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK FROM THE TURNING STONE RESORT IN VERONA, NY

Bekbulat Magomedov (17-1) vs. Donavon Frelow (6-1) for vacant bantamweight title
Lance Palmer (11-2) vs. Andre Harrison (15-0) for the featherweight title
Blagoi Ivanov (14-1) vs. Shawn Jordan (19-7) for the heavyweight title

PWG FROM RESEDA, CALIFORNIA ON SATURDAY NIGHT

Shane Strickland vs. Dezmond Xavier
Adam Cole vs. Sami Callihan
Keith Lee vs. Brian Cage
Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle vs. Dave & Jake Crist
Lio Rush vs Trevor Lee
Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. Chuck Taylor & Trent Baretta
Young Bucks vs. Rey Fenix & Penta 0M vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal for PWG tag titles

NEW JAPAN CUP SEMIFINALS LATE SATURDAY AT 2 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Bad Luck Fale vs. Evil
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Sunday has WWE Raw in Hershey, PA and Smackdown in Allentown, PA.

NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS LATE SUNDAY AT 2 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Bad Luck Fale vs. Evil winner vs. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata winner

Raw will be Monday night in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center with Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman advertised, plus a Chris Jericho highlight reel and locally advertised is Jericho & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe. Smackdown’s Monday night house show will be in Worcester, MA.

Smackdown & 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday night in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/13/2017: Impact Wrestling’s identity problem

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 21, 2000: 1999 attendance numbers, WCW turmoil, tons more

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

It’s a loaded weekend of shows with big shows from New Japan, the biggest non-WWE wrestling event of the year in the U.S. with the NCAA tournament with tomorrow night’s final expected to do 19,000 fans at the Savvis Center. The last time the tournament was held at the Savvis Center the six sessions drew 113,013 fans. There’s also PWG, UFC and WSOF events.

The main story in the NCAA tournament is that Kyle Snyder, the favorite at heavyweight, suffered a rib injury in his match earlier today. Regarding the tournament, there was an article I just read about the event at the Savvis Center noting the Savvis Center is on the site of the former Kiel Auditorium, saying that Kiel Auditorium was most famous for pro wrestling, talking about the 1937 Lou Thesz world title win over Everett Marshall, noting that Verne Gagne, Joe Scarpello, Danny Hodge, Bob Marella (Gorilla Monsoon), Dale Lewis, Jack Brisco, Jim Raschke (Baron Von Raschke), Bob Backlund and Steve Williams all wrestled at the Kiel and that Brock Lesnar won his NCAA title in the new building.

This is one of the most unique seasons in history, as every single weight class has a dominant performer who hasn’t lost, which also means the competition for the Hodge Trophy is the deepest in the history of the award. Going into tonight undefeated are Gilman, Tomasello, Heil, Retheford, Nolf, Martinez, Valencia, Dean, Cox and Snyder.

For WWE house shows this weekend, the Raw crew is pretty much full with everyone except Chris Jericho. Jericho isn’t scheduled tonight or tomorrow but is listed as returning for the Hershey, PA show on Sunday. On the Smackdown side, John Cena is working the entire weekend. Randy Orton is off Saturday and Sunday, but will be working Worcester on Monday and TV on Tuesday.

Today’s Tomohiro Ishii vs. Seiya Sanada New Japan Cup second round match is up on New Japan World. Sanada is so talented physically and they worked together well, plus had a great responding crowd to perform before.

Tonight’s Arena Mexico show isn’t airing live on Claro Sports. The show looks good aside from the main event, which could be the worst match of the night. The trios title match on a big show like this should be awesome. Ephesto was pulled from that match due to blood poisoning and Hechicero is taking his place, which is an upgrade for match quality. The show will air On Demand on the CMLL YouTube channel tonight. Not sure when it’ll be up but it will be late, probably around 1-2 a.m. Eastern time.

There is a big WrestleCircus show tonight on iPPV from Austin, TX

Matt Hardy vs. Colt Cabana
Matt Riddle vs. Brian Cage
John Morrison vs. Sammy Guevara
Joey Ryan vs. Scorpio Sky
Jeff Cobb vs. Jax Dane
Rachael Ellering vs. Tessa Blanchard
Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Carson

WWE

John Layfield & Ron Simmons will be inducting Teddy Long into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Tinashe will be performing “America the Beautiful” at WrestleMania.
“Baywatch” opens 5/26 in the U.S. and 6/1 in Australia. (thanks to James Stanios)
“Moana” with Dwayne Johnson was the best selling DVD of the past week.
A story on Rich Swann is here.
Luke Gallows talks WrestleMania and coming to WWE.
A story about Bayley and WrestleMania is here.
A story about Natalya and WrestleMania is here.
The company was nominated for some Social Media Shorty awards. The award winners will be announced on 4/23 in New York:
Best in Entertainment – WWE and WrestleMania
Best Integration with Live TV – WWE
Best Overall YouTube Presence – WWE
Best Use of Comedy – John Cena Prank on the Cricket Wireless ad
Best Brand Identity – Xavier Woods UpUpDownDown

MISCELLANEOUS

With the news about Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo and WWE, Stardom announced Shirai vs. Hojo for the World of Stardom championship at Noon on Monday at Korakuen Hall. The last singles match the two had was a killer.
Impact’s rating was up this week to 344,000 viewers.
With all the notes about the Okada vs. Ishii match, which placed third in the Observer’s match of the year balloting for 2016 airing tonight on AXS (should air at about 8:30 p.m.), don’t sleep on Tanahashi vs. Marufuji in a rare match between the longtime top stars of New Japan vs. NOAH.
There is an Evolution Sports Expo going on tomorrow at the Santa Clara Convention Center at 5001 Great America Parkway from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Among the events are boxing at Noon, a bench press contest at 2 p.m., MMA bouts at 3 p.m. and Muay Thai bouts at 3 p.m.
This interview from this morning has gotten a lot of talk, too bad the sound quality is bad.
Tier One Wrestling on 4/23 in Brooklyn, NY at St Finbar Catholic Church Gym on FloSlam has Penta 0M vs. Matt Riddle as the main event.
Krzysztof Soszynski, the former UFC fighter and pro wrestler is in the movie “Logan” in a short but memorable scene. Another former UFC fighter and pro wrestler, Frank Trigg, was on last week’s “Lethal Weapon” TV show before being called off by the cartel. (thanks to Jeff Parker)
NFC on 3/24 in Kennesaw, GA at the Electric Cowboy with an MMA show.
Masked Republic, the company that carries Lucha Libre merchandise, is opening a London office. They already have offices in San Diego, San Francisco and Mexico City. They will be selling Lucha Libre products through the website LuchaShop.com as well as working with U.K. promoters to sell merchandise at their events.
New England fights on 4/29 in Lewiston, ME at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee announced the first women’s MMA fight ever in the state of Maine on that show with Jessica Borga vs. Kerri Kenneson to crown the company’s Amateur women’s bantamweight champion.
Combate America runs 3/30 at the Auditorio in Tijuana on Fight Pass and Azteca America at 10 p.m. Eastern with an 11 bout show headlined by Marcel Rojo of Argentina vs. Ivan Flores of Monterrey, Mexico.
Lucha Xtreme has a live TV taping tomorrow in Fresno at the Full Circle Brewery at 620 F Street. It’s an outdoor patio show at 7 p.m. with a live band featured.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/17): The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). THERE ARE ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: The Crash, Bellator, Cena on the Tonight Show next week

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

This weekend we’ll be doing polls on the New Japan Cup finals on late Sunday/early Monday night. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada takes place late tonight in the last second round match with the winner going to Sunday’s (late Saturday night U.S. time) semifinals against Katsuyori Shibata.

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s NXT show in Ocala, FL to [email protected].

The NCAA wrestling tournament started this afternoon. ESPN will airing tonight starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time as well as Friday & Saturday nights starting at 8 p.m. The current issue of the Observer has a preview of the tournament.

IMPACT AT 8 P.M. ON POP TV

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/13/2017: Impact Wrestling’s identity problem

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 20, 2017: Situation with Broken Matt Hardy and Anthem Sports, Wrestlemania card, more

Also look at the U.K. television battle with updates on ITV and WWE plans in the market.

There is a rundown of the 2018 WrestleMania main event as currently planned and long-term goals for the company and the top talent.

A WrestleMania show update for this year is included.

Check out a full rundown of all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with business notes, results and highlights.

This issue also contains a WrestleMania week schedule.

Coverage of the UFC show in Brazil over the past week as well as the WWE house show in Madison Square Garden is in this issue.

Details on the ratings for all of the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows are inside.

Examine the results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 21, 2000: 1999 attendance numbers, WCW turmoil, tons more

THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

AXS TV has been pushing all week that the Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii match which finished third for Match of the Year will be airing tomorrow night as part of two hours of 2016 G-1 Climax coverage.

Tickets for the ROH Global Wars shows on 5/7 in Toronto, 5/10 in Dearborn, MI, 5/12 in new York and 5/14 in Philadelphia go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Ticketmaster. Tickets are on sale now for ROH Ringside members.

Scott Coker Tweeted today that Lorenz Larkin has signed with Bellator. That has been expected since he was leaving UFC and Larkin made his original name working for Coker’s Strikeforce promotion.

There were 80,709 fans through the turnstiles at AT&T Stadium for WrestleMania 32 says the Arlington, TX police department. Brandon Howard has a story.

Ticketmaster has just opened up more tickets for the 4/4 Smackdown show at the Amway Arena in Orlando after WrestleMania, that had been sold out.

The Crash has announced its biggest show to date on 4/5 at Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City:

Rey Mysterio Jr. & Rey Fenix & Penta 0M vs. Cody Rhodes & Matt Sydal & Katsuhiko Nakajima

Garza Jr. & Blue Demon Jr. & Brian Cage vs. Carlito & Jeff Cobb & Bobby Lashley

Drag vs. Sami Callihan vs. AR Fox vs. Extreme Tiger

Willie Mack & Jack Evans & Mascarita Dorada vs. Black Tauro & Bestia 666 & ACH

Rey Hours vs. Laredo Kid vs. Mr. 450 vs. Septimo Dragon vs. Ultimo Ninja vs. DJZ

Sexy Dulce (Sexy Star) vs. Keira vs. Santana Garrett vs. Lady Maravilla vs. Candy White vs. Laurel Van Ness

Arkangel Divino & Black Boy & Zumbi vs. Ultimo Maldito & Black Danger & Astroluz

WWE

John Cena will be on the Tonight show on 3/22 to push WrestleMania.
Kurt Angle was a guest on The LAW: Live Audio Wrestling this week to discuss his upcoming WWE Hall of Fame induction and new Angle Strong app that he is behind for those with addiction issues.
A Bruno Sammartino TV interview is here.
Emma and Summer Rae appear on eSports’ Celebrity Boot Camp on Twitch and Beam at 10 P.M. Eastern tonight.
These dates were announced for out of Florida NXT live events:
4/13 in Atlanta
4/14 in Spartanburg, SC
4/15 in Charlotte
4/27 in Kansas City
4/28 in St. Louis
4/29 in Southhaven, MS (Memphis outskirts)
Tickets for these shows are available right now with the pass code NXTLIVE for pre-sale and to the public they go on sale tomorrow.
2K announced availability of Update 2.5 to WWE SuperCard – Season 3, the latest iteration of 2K’s popular WWE collectible card-battling game. Today’s free update, which begins releasing today for iOS and Android devices, features the WrestleMania 33 Tier – just in time to prep for WWE’s biggest event of the year.
With WrestleMania 33 around the corner, the new card tier will be the most powerful one yet and includes some incredible cards for players to collect and compete with across multiple modes. Players will encounter a variety of WWE Superstar favorites, including Triple H, John Cena, AJ Styles, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, while Mickie James, Ken Shamrock and James Ellsworth also burst onto the scene in their WWE SuperCard debut!
In addition to the WrestleMania 33 Tier, today’s update includes the second release of new “Attitude” emotes. Featuring WWE Superstars Brock Lesnar, Bayley, Braun Strowman, Charlotte Flair and Roman Reigns, the Attitudes can be used to taunt the competition in PVP matches.
Full details can be found in 2K’s blog post here.

UFC

While Saturday’s UFC show won’t be airing on FS 1, as it’s a Fight Pass exclusive in the U.S., the main card from the O2 Arena in London will air in Canada on The Fight Network starting at 5 p.m. Eastern Saturday afternoon. Jimi Manuwa vs. Corey Anderson is the main event. The Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson fight from last year will air on Saturday at 8 p.m., immediately after the live show, followed by Best of Pride.
ESPN has debuted promotional spots with Conor McGregor that will air across ESPN platforms through the end of the month promoting the upcoming Netflix original series “Marvel’s Iron Fist.” The spots have ESPN SportsCenter anchor Stan Verrett bumping into McGregor in the hallway, and then imagining himself as “The Iron Fist” and challenging McGregor to a fight.
Aljamain Sterling vs. Augusto Mendes was announced today as added to UFC’s 4/15 show in Kansas City.
UFC has also announced new shows on 7/16 in Glasgow, Scotland at the SSE Arena, 9/2 in Rotterdam, Holland and 10/21 in Gdansk, Poland at the Ergo Arena for UFC’s first show ever in Poland.
Frankie Edgar will make his commentary debut for Brave 3: Battle in Brazil which takes place on Saturday in Curitiba, Brazil.

MISCELLANEOUS

Former UFC fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller was found not guilty last month on felony domestic battery with corporal injury charges and a misdemeanor charge of violating a protection order. (thanks to Brian Reznick)
Chris Cruise will be teaching a class at the Community College of Allegheny County on 4/19 and 4/26 on the life of Bruno Sammartino. Cruise, a former WCW TV announcer who has also announced for a number of other promotions, is the current top and bottom of the hour weekend mornings and sometimes during the week news anchor on the Westwood One Radio Network. He also is an international broadcaster for the Voice of America network during the week. He can be heard on Sirius XM during the newscasts on the POTUS and Progress channels and on Bloomberg stations in New York, Boston, Washington, DC and San Francisco, as well as on about 750 other stations around the country.
What Culture Pro Wrestling results from Monday in London: El Ligero b Penta 0M, David Starr b Lucas Archer, Joe Coffey b Martin Kirby, Joe Hendry b Gabriel Kidd, Drake & James Kennedy b Prospect, Will Ospreay & Scott Wainwright b South Coast Connection, Rampage b Bad Bones in a last man standing match, Viper b Kay Lee Ray, Travis Banks b Doug Williams, Cody Rhodes DDQ Matt Riddle for the Internet championship.
The book “When It Was Big Time,” an awesome history of pro wrestling in Northern California, concentrating on the Roy Shire years, is available. If you are a fan of wrestling history, this book is a must.
Absolute Intense Wrestling on 4/8 in Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH at Tequila Jaxx. They also run 3/234 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with Scott Norton vs. Joey Janela, Swoggle vs. Eddie Kingston and Colt Cabana vs. Ethan Page.
Art of War Wrestling on Saturday night in Clarksville, TN at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center is headlined by Jeff Hardy vs. Bram. Also appearing are Jeff & Karen Jarrett, Crimson, Sam Shaw, Crazzy Steve, Rockstar Spud and Chelsea Green.
Jeff Hardy will also be hosting an after-party at OConnor’s Irish Pub on 3/18 performing songs off his latest LP. You must be 21 and over to attend.
AAW’s show tomorrow night in Berwyn, IL at the Eagles Club headlined by Sami Callihan vs. Low Ki and Penta 0M vs. ACH is sold out.
Pro Wrestling Revolution on 4/15 in Santa Rosa, CA at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium featuring Atlantis, Octagon and Juventud Guerrera. There is also a match with Ultimo Panda, who I may have known in a different lifetime, against El Hijo de Trump.
Greg Lambert has a new book out called “Ropes and Glory: The Emotional Rise of British Wrestling.“
GWN on 4/30 in Hamilton, ONT at 241 Kenilworth Ave.
Boston Wrestling has an event at WrestleCon on 3/31 and 4/1 in Orlando with John Cena Sr., Shelton Benjamin and Dutch Mantell.
On the Germany version of Xplosion last week, as Samuel Shaw returned, the graphic read “Robbie E,” and later they announced a classic match from Against All Odds 2013 with Sting vs. Brother Ray vs. Brother Devon vs. Kurt Angle that was actually from 2009.
Mid States Wrestling on 4/8 in North Little Rock, AR at the Maumelle Event Center with Jim Duggan headlining, plus Tim Storm vs. Matt Riviera for the CWA title.
Gary Cappetta will be doing a stage show where he talks about his career as a pro wrestling ring announcer on Saturday night in Pittsburgh at the Steel City Improv at 7:05 p.m. He’ll also be in Baltimore on 3/25 at Un die Musik at 2:35 p.m. He’ll also be part of Wrestlecon in Orlando no 3/31 and 4/1. Cappetta wrote a great book about his life in wrestling. Justin Roberts has a cool book coming out as well. Interesting that the ring announcers, who are there but not so immersed inside often have the best perspective on the real business.
American Wrestling Entertainment on 5/6 in Waynesboro, NC at the High School as a fund raiser for the high school.
The MMA version of Jake Roberts will be facing Steve Kozola on Spike as one of the bouts on 3/31 in Chicago at the All-State Arena (where Jake Roberts wrestled often) underneath the King Mo vs. Rampage Jackson main event.
Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 4/1 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds at 7:45 p.m.
Trey Miguel, Rayo, Gavin Glass and Sage Phillips were announced for a one-night pro wrestling iPPV welterweight tournament on 5/7 from Cleveland. They join previously announced Sammy Guevara, Ace Perry, Kevin Bennett and Sonny Vice. The show will be broadcast from Turner Hall in Cleveland.
Legacy Fighting Alliance has announced shows on 4/7 in Greenville, SC at the TD Convention Center, 4/14 in Shawnee, OK from the Firelake Casino and 4/21 in Pueblo, CO at the Massari Arena, with both shows airing live on AXS. The Greenville show is headlined by C.J. Hamilton vs. Jesse Bazzi. The Shawnee show features Myron Dennis vs. Rayn Spann. The Pueblo show has Ian Heinisch vs. Lucas Rota.
The NWA Smoky Mountain Cup tournament takes place on 4/8 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium with Colby Corino, Facade, Toby Farley, Myron Reed, Tracer X and Axton Ray announced.
Team Vision Dojo announced they will have an open ring in Orlando over WrestleMania weekend on Wednesday from Noon to 7 p.m., Thursday from 8 p.m. to midnight, Friday from 7-10 a.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost per individual is $50 per hour and $100 for a group of two or more. Private training lessons are available. There are other times also available.
The Team Vision Dojo will also have these seminars that week:
Robbie E on Thursday at 11 a.m.
Marty Jannetty on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Nick Eugene Dinsmore on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
QT Marshall on Friday at 11 a.m.
Glacier on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
Eddie Kingston on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Former TNA star Jesse Neal will be having surgery on Tuesday for a broken ankle suffered two weeks ago.
On last night’s episode of the TV show “The Goldbergs” on ABC, which is set in the 1980s, one of the girl characters made a reference to Randy Savage and run him down since he was one of the heroes of her boyfriend. (thanks to Joe Puccio)
There will be a show in Berwyn, IL on 3/25 at the Eagles Club headlined by Saraya Knight vs. Eddie Kingston in a street fight, plus Shayna Baszler vs. Shotzi Blackheart and Rosemary of Impact & Angel Dust vs. Britt Baker & Chelsea Green from Impact, plus Michael Elgin, Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin appear.
Blagoy Ivanov defends his WSOF world title against former UFC fighter Shawn Jordan live on NBC Sports Network at 11 p.m. Eastern on Saturday night from Verona, NY’s Turning Stone Casino, plus Lance Palmer defends his featherweight title against 15-0 Andre Harrison and Bekbulat Magomedov faces Donovan Frelow for the vacant bantamweight title. The broadcast team will include Todd Harris, two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison (who starts soon for the promotion), Bas Rutten, Randy Couture and Joey Varner.
Shimmer on 4/1 in Orlando on Flo Slam at Noon from the Live Events Center is headlined by Santana Garrett vs. Shayna Baszler.
Brian Hoops writes on the NWL promotion.
MLW and Wale are teaming up with NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING for WaleMania III at Tier Nightclub in Orlando, FL on Thursday March 30th. Tickets are on sale now.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling is bringing two of their top Junior Heavyweights, Ricochet and Will Ospreay, as well as the Bullet Club’s Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa to WaleMania III. Golden and Platinum tickets include exclusive access to a meet and greet with the four New Japan stars.
A limited amount of tickets for the meet and greet have been put on sale today.
But that’s not all! The New Japan crew will also sit in with Court Bauer and Mister Saint Laurent as part of a live MLW Radio podcast for all ticket holders! They will discuss all things New Japan including the upcoming American expansion PLUS there will also be a fan Q&A as part of the podcast!
Scheduled to appear on the live MLW Radio podcast:
NJPW’s Ricochet
NJPW’s Will Ospreay
NJPW’s Tama Tonga
NJPW’s Tanga Loa
NJPW AXS Announcer Jim Ross
Wale
MVP
Dave Meltzer
Conrad Thompson
Alex Greenfield
Ed Ferrara
Marty DeRosa
Sarah Shockey
More to be announced soon!
After the live MLW Radio podcast ends, there will be a Vegas style after party featuring DJ Jamie Iovine spinning! Then, the main event of the after party: WALE will perform! It’s the wildest night of the weekend and you won’t want to miss it!
Bottle service is available for the after party.

WALEMANIA III SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY MARCH 30:

6:30pm – 8:30pm Golden & Platinum Cocktail Party Meet & Greet with NJPW’s Ricochet, Will Ospreay and the Bullet Club’s Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Golden & Platinum ticket holders ONLY
9pm – 11pm MLW Radio LIVE
Featuring: Court Bauer, MSL, Jim Ross, Dave Meltzer, Wale, MVP, Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Alex Greenfield, Conrad Thompson, Ed Ferrara and more! This includes a Fan Q & A.
ALL ticket holders (Golden, Platinum, GA)
11pm – Closing: After Party & Wale Performance
Wale performs!
Vegas Style After Party with wrestling luminaries and DJ Jamie Iovine!
ALL ticket holders (Golden, Platinum, GA & After Dark)
Tickets start at just $15 and are on sale now.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/16): WCW Uncensored 1997

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). THERE ARE ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Poll opinions: [email protected]
Feedback: [email protected]
Show results and news tips: [email protected]
Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]

Daily Update: Neville vs. Aries, LU on Netflix, NXT

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Joseph Currier

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/6/2017: Bad booking disappoints at WWE Fastlane

Goldberg is one of WWE’s top champions in 2017. That it was a formality doesn’t make the reality of that sentence any less startling. Nearly 20 years after his peak in WCW, and over a decade after his first stint with WWE came to an end, Goldberg is going to main event WrestleMania. All of that was locked in when Goldberg defeated Kevin Owens to win the WWE Universal Championship at Fastlane. Predictably, the main event was a wrestling match in name only. Goldberg won with a spear and a jackhammer in just over 20 seconds…

Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 13, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Fastlane review, Tomoaki Honma injury, plus tons of news

Updated the plans for WrestleMania, detail what happened with Tomoaki Honma and a progress update, features on Ron Bass, Rick Rude and Tom Jones, a major new WWE signing and future company plans all in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Our lead story runs down WrestleMania, what is on, what is in limbo and where everyone fits in, plus a breakdown of the Fast Lane PPV with business notes, stories behind the matches, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

Have a look back at the career of Ron Bass, his multitude of championships around the country, and why his career ended and post-wrestling.

There is a major feature on the 2016 Wrestling Observer awards, with a breakdown of winners, and notes about the different people in the major categories and compare and contrast them. Plus, discussion about the landslides and the close races and what made the difference.

This issue has a feature on the Hardys and Bully Ray in ROH, back-story of Hardys value on the independent market and where the different companies stand in the U.S. marketplace.

Take a look at the business of UFC 209, including Tony Ferguson’s pay when his fight was canceled, what was supposed to be a benefit to everyone that has backfired but nobody will say it, the judging of Wonderboy vs. Woodley, weight cutting, the welterweight position, as well as business notes on the show, match-by-match coverage and how much everyone was paid.

Examine Daniel Bryan possibly wrestling again, The Miz on promos, the Shane McMahon vs. A.J. Styles angle, notes on WWE talks with two of the best women wrestlers in the world, an update on the Jack Swagger situation, Dana Brooke competes in another sport, WWE Hall of Fame news, Jerry Lawler update, backstage when Dwayne Johnson was talking about C.M. Punk, this week’s Madison Square Garden show, Raw plans post-Mania, the most watched shows on the WWE Network, plus a look at all the arena matches over the past week with highlights and business notes.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 21, 2000: 1999 attendance numbers, WCW turmoil, tons more

WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

Neville defending the Cruiserweight Championship against Austin Aries is set for WrestleMania after Aries became the number one contender on 205 Live last night. There are now 10 matches announced for the WrestleMania 33 card, including seven title matches.
AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon hasn’t officially been announced yet, with WWE continuing the storyline of whether the match will happen or not a bit longer. The angle continued after SmackDown went off the air last night as Daniel Bryan said on Talking Smack that he wasn’t sure Shane was in the right mind to decide to face Styles at WrestleMania.
WWE posted an interesting teaser for “Southpaw Regional Wrestling,” which appears to be a parody show based on territorial wrestling.
NXT will be touring the UK from June 5-11. The last three dates of the tour will again be part of the Download Festival at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. GMT on Friday. The schedule for the other shows is:
June 5th — GE Oil & Gas Arena in Aberdeen, Scotland
June 6th — Manchester Arena in Manchester, England
June 7th — First Direct Arena in Leeds, England
June 8th — Brighton Centre in Brighton, England
Kassius Ohno challenging Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship airs on tonight’s episode of NXT.
After posting an article about Io Shirai being at this week’s Performance Center tryouts, WWE.com took it down and replaced it with one that doesn’t mention Shirai at all.
Stephanie McMahon appeared on Xavier Woods’ UpUpDownDown YouTube series to celebrate the channel reaching 1,000,000 subscribers.
WWE has added two members to its management team in Latin America.

Pro Wrestling

The first two seasons of Lucha Underground have officially made their way to Netflix and are available for streaming in North America.
Bobby Fish tweeted that he’ll be accepting independent wrestling bookings starting on March 27th.
Independent wrestler Anthony Bowens wrote an article for Outsports about coming out as bisexual.
Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa will be appearing at MLW Radio’s WaleMania III event in Orlando on March 30th and will be part of a live podcast. Our Dave Meltzer is also scheduled for the show.

UFC/MMA

The UFC officially confirmed Anderson Silva vs. Kelvin Gastelum for UFC 212 in Rio.
Yoel Romero is waiting to challenge the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre for the middleweight championship in his next fight.
Demetrious Johnson discussed the factors that make fighters a draw in the UFC.
Daniel Cormier was interviewed about the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/15): WCW Uncensored 1998

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

The Empire bus to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). THERE ARE ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!
The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at [email protected] or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
WHEN: Friday March 31st
WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at [email protected] (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

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