Instead of using the summer to build new stars and the future, due to the pressure put on by USA Network over the Raw ratings as noted a few weeks ago, WWE has made a controversial move to build SummerSlam around a WWE vs. Jackass feud, with the Jackass stars as the babyfaces.
As things stand right now, there will be one to three matches on the 8/13 show at Madison Square Garden with a wrestlers vs. Jackass stars theme. The matches haven’t been decided, but the idea is to book WWE heels vs. Jackass cast members and/or Jackass cast members with WWE babyfaces vs. WWE heels. The Jackass matches are going to be co-promoted as the main events on the show along with the return to the ring of HHH, most likely against Randy Orton, although this is WWE and everything changes daily.
At press time, most of the major “Jackass” stars have agreed to be part of the feud. Steve O, who was backstage at Raw in Tampa, and got huge heat in the process, to the point the angle was almost called off, will lead the Jackass cast members. Pontius, Wee-Man (who appeared as a police officer in the short-lived “Armed and Famous” reality show with Trish Stratus), Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn and Preston Lacey are all currently on board.
On October 11, 1997, an event was held at the Tokyo Dome that would lead to major changes in both the pro wrestling and MMA industries. At the time, it was barely known in the U.S., although it was a big deal in Japan as far as a one-time even. Still, it was hardly believed to be the start of one of the great promotional dynasties that would change both sports forever in Japan. In reality, on that date, there was only one sportβpro wrestling.
Mixed martial arts was a term used by Antonio Inoki for his pro wrestling matches against stars from other sports. Pancrase, which by that time was running all real matches, and RINGS, which was running some, were considered by all as pro wrestling. UFC existed, and was even planning a show in Japan at that time, but it was just some American show coming to Japan.
At that time, U.S. pro wrestling was just days removed from the death of Brian Pillman. A few weeks later would be the infamous Survivor Series in Montreal.
Mark Coleman says he’s “the happiest man in the world.”
The 59-year-old has been hospitalized since saving his parents from a house fire early Tuesday morning in Fremont, Ohio. Coleman was visiting his parents when his dog, Hammer, woke him up around 4 a.m. alerting him to the fire. After getting his elderly parents to safety, Coleman reentered the burning building to rescue Hammer, who unfortunately did not survive.
Coleman was airlifted to hospital where he was intubated and sedated as doctors worked to remove soot from his lungs. Reports from yesterday stated he was “somewhat conscious” and squeezed his daughter’s hand at one point.
I’m the happiest man in the world. I swear to God I’m so lucky. I can’t believe my parents are alive.
I had to make a decision, ’cause I got out of my room and went to the door and it was already horrible. I couldn’t breathe, I almost had to go outside, and I went back in and got them, I can’t believe it. I got them but I couldn’t find Hammer.
Great news to start the day.
Per his Facebook page, Mark Coleman is responsive, talking and laughing with his family.
Mark says "I'm the happiest man in the world!", as he recalls saving his parents lives.
Update: this is Kenzie. God is good. Miracles do happen. Our dad is breathing on his own. We want to thank you all for the love and support from the bottom of our hearts
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the Coleman family with expenses related to the fire.
Mark was life flighted to a hospital where he is needing lots of prayer to get his lungs clear. His adult daughters, McKenzie and Morgan have not, and will not leave their Dads side as he battles for his life. We all knew he was one of the best athletes, now we know he is a true Hero.
All funds donated will go directly to Mark’s living expenses as well as support to his adult daughters who will be off work and by his side aiding in his recovery as well as assisting in any necessities the Coleman family needs.
Firefighters said the roof of the home collapsed shortly after they arrived on the scene.
By the way, we've got the Gaspard/Huber award winner for 2024 locked up.
Filthy 4 Daily is back this week with a special solo edition with Tom Lawlor only! Filthy Tom talks the happenings in MMA from this past week and with shows from UFC, KSW, RIZIN, and PFL/Bellator it was a loaded one! It might be a fun show as always, or maybe not, thereβs only one way to find out!
On a new Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, my yearly MMA year in review series with guest co-host Paul Fontaine rolls on with a look at April, May & June.
This 90+ day stretch saw Israel Adesanya regain the UFC middleweight title from rival Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in front of 19,000 Floridians and a massive $12 million gate — an event that also saw Donald Trump in attendance and perhaps the final MMA bout for Jorge Masvidal.
Francis Ngannou made news as he officially found a new MMA home in the PFL. The move came with plenty of criticism from fans and Dana White alike which Paul and I discuss in full.
This stretch also saw the return of Olympic gold medalist and former UFC champion Henry Cejudo after years of threatening to come out of retirement. Paul and I talk about his return effort against bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288.
After another win and another successful women’s bantamweight title defense at UFC 289, Amanda Nunes called it a career. Paul and I talk about the double-champion’s legacy and why it was overlooked by so many.
All that and plenty more awaits you in part two of my MMA year in review series.
It’s time to kick off my four-part MMA year in review series on Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: a tradition dating back to 2015.
Eight years later, a lot remains the same including that the UFC is still the dominant leader in MMA and even more so than ever before.
Joining me once again is my trusty co-pilot Paul Fontaine of F4W Online and co-host of both the In The Clinch podcast and The Dynamite Show.
To kick things off, we tackle the first three months of the year (January, February & March if you’re keeping track) which saw a changing of the guard at heavyweight in the UFC.
After the UFC and heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou came to an impasse on a new contract, Dana White & Co. simply changed course and decided to move on, vacating the title and putting together Jon Jones vs. Cyril Gane instead…but not without some shade thrown Ngannou’s way first.
We talk about March’s UFC 285 where Jones quickly won the title, preceded by a massive upset that saw Alexa Grasso win the women’s flyweight title.
We saw several other new champions made including Jamahal Hill, Brandon Moreno and Yair Rodriguez and a notable retirement in Benson Henderson.
Hear about all the big fights that happened, the new ones that got made, and all of the other news from the first three months of the year.
On a new Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, I introduce the uninitiated to Ben, the former EIC for Cage Potato, a humor-based MMA news site that was a big part of the MMA media ecosystem back in the post-TUF boom period for the sport.
But I was surprised to learn earlier this summer that Ben also wrapped up a run on the popular game show Jeopardy that saw him win five games and advance to the next Tournament of Champions.
Ben and I talked about the Cage Potato days, what eventually happened to the website, and how that set his Jeopardy story up earlier than he ever expected.
We then get into everything about how he got onto the show, his experience in Los Angeles, his five match winning streak, mastering the buzzer and betting strategy, and the controversy he created with an out of context quote about travel expenses he recently made but also sticks by.
This is a fascinating conversation about MMA media and Jeopardy. Where else are you going to get that?
It took 15 years for WWE to return to NBC for Saturday Night’s Main Event, but it took only one night for the people involved in negotiating the deal to be embarrassed.
A good show, promoted like hell, featuring every big name in the company as well as the returns of Steve Austin and Jim Ross (admittedly only touched on and not hyped at all) drew a 3.11 final rating and 5.15 million viewers (combination live and same-day video/Tivo watching) on 3/18 from 8-10 p.m.
To put this number into perspective, that is slightly lower than the XFL (considered one of the biggest TV flops in history) averaged for the season in the same time slot five years ago. And, the XFL came before the ratings included same day recording device viewing.
The show led to NBC finishing dead last among the four networks that program on Saturdays, even though Fox and ABC aired repeat programming.
Former UFC, PRIDE and Strikeforce MMA fighter and occasional pro wrestler Phil Baroni was arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend in San Fernando, Mexico.
First reported by a Mexican news outlet and then TMZ, the incident was said to have happened on January 1st in a hotel room following a fight over alleged infidelity. The woman was said to be of Mexican origin. Both were said to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The report stated police found the woman unresponsive in bed with bruises and blows all over her head and naked body and noticed Baroni’s hands were red.
The 46-year-old is being held in jail and is awaiting sentencing.
He reportedly told local police that he told her to take a shower after learning she slept with another man and when she refused, he forced her in the shower and she hit her head.
He said she claimed she couldn’t get out of the tub so he assisted her and took her to bed, wrapping her in a blanket as she complained about being cold. He said he went out to get beer and cigarettes that she requested and thought she was sleeping when he got back.
Baroni fought 35 times over a 19-year career which included two runs in the UFC in addition to fights in PRIDE, Strikeforce and Bellator. Known as the “New York Badass,” he also fought once in bare knuckle fighting.
Baroni did wrestle five times in his life, three of which came in 2015. He lost to Dominic Garrini at the 2019 edition of Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport and lost to Justin Kyle at a June 2021 ICW indie show.
Barnett shared some thoughts on the situation on social media:
It was so tough dealing with him at the show that I couldn't keep booking him even though I wanted to. He was too much to handle and so scattered. He blew up at me because I hadn't used him again and I blocked him on social media but there wasn't much I could do.
— πΏππ πππππππππ (@JoshLBarnett) January 4, 2023
Fighters, need to take of themselves and those around them need to be vigilant and watchful as well. I've seen the decline from the man I have been friends with for so long to where he was last I saw him and it's heartbreaking. Now with what has happened in MX it's just so awful.
— πΏππ πππππππππ (@JoshLBarnett) January 4, 2023
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is out right now. Among the highlights are:
The far more important story regarding Paul Levesque than his retirement from wrestling, which is his health, what he went through, and how that impacts his future both in and out of wrestling
WWE weekend shows, cards, ticket sales, secondary market sales, comps, Saturday main event, key results regarding the main event scene, the Hall of Fame, Shad Gaspard, Undertaker and NXT Stand & Deliver.
2021 Shad Gaspard/Jonathan Huber award winners
New Japan Cup final coverage, the angles building to Sumo Hall, MVP, best match poll and the final two shows.
Stardom’s two shows at Sumo Hall. A look at the key matches and what is next for the largest women’s wrestling company in the world.
Finances of UFC and WWE, including how they are so similar as businesses as well as where they are different. We also look at the key business deal each has that doesn’t involve TV rights and how WWE got so much of a better deal with a product that otherwise would have driven one-quarter the revenue and why
Full coverage of this week’s UFC show
Who was the best college heavyweight of all-time
More on the arrest of Chael Sonnen, why the felony charge was dropped and the lawsuit regarding the case
Ric Flair and Mark Madden
TV ratings and key points from those ratings for every show this week including peak segments, what type of viewers each show generates, who draws the youngest audience and how the shows rank with all of television and in the sports world.
The return of the Universal champion of champions tournament
More notes on the second Triplemania show this year
Notes on New Japan US shows
The wrestling career and post-wrestling life of the former Rocky King
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 [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Friday News Update
Garrett and I will be doing our weekly news analysis show later today. Bryan and I will be doing a show tomorrow night covering UFC and the New Japan show as well as the other news.
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site today. It’s our annual WrestleMania issue covering all the events of the past week in Dallas. Among the highlights
Match and performer of the week
What readers thought about the four major shows
The top stories coming out of WrestleMania
How the non-wrestlers fared
Injury updates
Changes in the show
Business notes on the show
Which night was more popular
Viewers watching one show or both
Mainstream popularity of the show and what performers garnered the most interest
Match-by-match coverage with star ratings
A look in-depth at Cody Rhodes in WWE, goals, direction, what he said, what it showed about people leaving companies and more
Tony Khan’s launches the new Ring of Honor, a rundown of the first show including business note, PPV numbers, new characters and coverage of all the matches
Coverage of NXT Stand & Deliver
Tammy Sytch and how the criminal justice system failed badly
The story behind the firing of Zachary Green by WWE
Details on the pro wrestling ratings from the last week, segment-by-segment, demo, competition, how the top shows do compared to other major programming.
Tournament of champions notes
Stardom Five-Star Grand Prix notes
Notes from independent shows in Dallas this past week
Bloodsport notes
Hall of Famer fired for going against the script
What will be affecting wrestling ratings big the next two months
More on the birth of AEW
Notes on he AAA tag team titles
Advanced ticket sales for WWE and AEW shows the next two months
Streaming numbers
Conor McGregor arrested again
Giant fight coming that will be a gigantic gate
CNBC talks the value of WWE & UFC
Lots of WWE wedding notes
International TV ratings
For this weekend, we’ll be doing polls on UFC 272 and New Japan’s Sumo Hall show, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, and a best and worst match from each show to [email protected]
Smackdown tonight on FOX has not announced any matches. We’re looking for reports from the show in Milwaukee with dark matches and anything else not notable on th live show.
Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. has:
Bryan Danielson vs. Trent Baretta
Shane Strickland vs. QT Marshall
Red Velvet vs. Willow Nightingale
Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta. People have been raving the last few days about the Moxley vs. Yuta match being phenomenal.
Dana White noted that most of the interest in tomorrow’s show is the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns fight. He told Pat McAfee today that if Chimaev wins, he’ll be looking to match his next with Colby Covington.
UFC 273 starts at 6 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow:
6 p.m. on ESPN+
Julio Arce (136.5) vs. Daniel Santos (135)
Piera Rodriguez (115) vs. Kay Hansen (118.5)
Aleksei Oleinik (244) vs. Jared Vanderaa (266)
ESPN at 8 p.m. Eastern
Anthony Hernandez (186) vs. Josh Fremd (185.5)
Mickey Gall (170.5) vs. Mike Malott (170.5)
Aspen Ladd (136) vs. Raquel Pennington (134.5)
Ian Garry (170.5) vs. Darian Weeks (170.5)
PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern
Vinc Pichel (155.5) vs. Mark O. Madsen (155)
Mackenzie Dern (115.5) vs. Tecia Torres (115.5)
Gilbert Burns (170) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (170)
Aljamain Sterling (134.5) vs. Petr Yan (134) for UFC bantamweight title
Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Chan Sung Jung (144.5) for UFC featherweight title
Hansen missed weight by 2.5 pounds and had to forfeit 20 percent of her purse
Arce missed weight by 0.5 pounds and also has to forfeit 20 percent of his purse. Yes, I’m sure you are asking why an 0.5 pound miss and a 2.5 pound miss is the same fine and I can’t give you a logical answer to that question.
Marcin Tybura vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, which was scheduled for the PPV show, was pulled this afternoon when Tybura got to ill to fight. Rozenstruik wrote to Tybura to “get well soon.”
New Japan at 4 a.m. Saturday morning Eastern time from Sumo Hall:
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Jado vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo
Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay & Aaron Henare
Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo for IWGP jr. tag titles
Toru Yano vs. Taichi for King of Pro Wrestling title
Evil vs. Hiromu Takahashi for Never Open weight title
Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan for IWGP tag titles
Desperado vs. Sho for IWGP jr. title
Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for IWGP world heavyweight title
Hiroshi Tanahashi has been announced for the New Japan show on 5/15 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
All Japan starts its Champion Carnival tournament tomorrow morning in Osaka
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shigehiro Irie
Jake Lee vs.Shotaro Ashino
Ryuki Honda vs. T-Hawk
Kento Miyahara vs. Kuma Arashi
Suwama vs. Yuma Aoyagi
Yoshitatsu vs Takuya Nomura.
The tournament continues Sunday in Hamamatsu and Monday in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall.
CMLL starts a four-week Universal tournament of champions tonight at Arena Mexico. Tonight will feature eight Mexican national champions. Next Friday’s eight-man tournament will be all CMLL champions. The 4/22 show will feature all NWA champions, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. and Mistico in a three-way match. The winner of the 4/8 and 4/15 eight-man tournaments and the 4/22 three-way match will wrestle in another three-way match on 4/29 at the Arena Mexico anniversary show for this year’s Universal champion of champions.
PFL tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fubo Sports Network from Orlando, FL:
Carlos Leal (171.2) vs. Chris Brown (175.6)
Simeon Powell (205.2) vs. Tobias Baker (206)
Jackie Cataline (154.2) vs. Jesslen Michelle (155.2
Aaron Blackie (145.4) vs. Ali Zebian (148.2)
The PFL announced a new streaming deal with Mola, an OTT platform covering Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the U.K. and Italy. They will carry all events for the rest of this year and for years to come.
Kevin Eck looks at this week in ROH. This is Eck’s final column with the change in ownership of the company.
Innovate Wrestling on Saturday night in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium features a six-way elimination match for the Smoky Mountain Cup.
Former UFC heavyweight champion and occasional pro wrestler Cain Velasquez was denied bail Monday in his attempted murder case.
The rationale provided by Santa Clara (California) County Superior Court judge Shelyna Brown was that it was too risky to let Velasquez out on bail because of the “extreme recklessness to human life” in the alleged actions that put him there to begin with.
“It is clear to this court that there is clear and convincing evidence that there is a substantial likelihood that release would result in great bodily injury, not just to the named complaining witnesses in this case but to Santa Clara residents at large. This case involves allegations of extreme recklessness to human life,” she said in her decision.
The 39-year-old is next slated to appear in court on April 12th and cannot request bail again unless charges are either added or dropped.
Velasquez was officially charged last Wednesday with attempted premeditated murder, along with nine other charges, related to his alleged targeting of Harry Eugene Goularte, who himself was charged on Friday, February 25th with allegedly molesting one of Velasquezβs relatives who is under ten years old.
Velasquez allegedly followed Goularteβs truck on Monday, February 28th and engaged in a high-speed chase throughout San Jose. He then rammed Goularteβs truck and shot a 40-caliber handgun repeatedly into the truck, striking Goularteβs stepfather, 63-year-old Paul Bender, who was also in the vehicle. He is expected to live.
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 [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
We have two shows up on the site, a Friday night show covering AEW and WWE from Friday as well as a Saturday night show covering the fallout and all the weekend news. We’ll be back Monday night covering Raw and the G-1 A block finals.
The A block G-1 finals are at 5 a.m. Monday morning from the Yokohama Budokan:
Satoshi Kojima vs. Great O’Khan non-tournament
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano
Shingo Takagi vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tanga Loa
Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA
Ibushi, KENTA, Sabre and Takagi are all 6-2. If there is a tie in the standings at 7-2, the key match results to determine the winner are that Takagi lost to Ibushi and Sabre but beat KENTA. Sabre lost to KENTA but beat Ibushi and Takagi.
Regarding the ratings from Friday, the numbers and demos for the complete shows should be out about 4 p.m. Eastern but the quarters will likely be out a few hours later and minute-by-minute not until Tuesday. The Dynamite numbers from last night will be out Tuesday morning.
We’re doing a few weekend polls. The first is for Friday–What company presented the best overall product and what was the best match of the night to [email protected] Also we’re doing a poll on the A block finals from Yokohama, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match.
We’re also looking for reports from WWE last night in Rio Rancho, NM and tonight in El Paso, TX, as well as New Japan tonight in Philadelphia to [email protected]
Thanks to Travis L, Brandon Botah, Jorge Camacho and Eddie T for reports on shows this past weekend.
Nothing from Friday, nor yesterday’s UFC cracked the Google charts. The only stuff for the week was boxer Mickey Garcia was No. 18 yesterday with 50,000 searches; Joe Rogan was No. 7 on Thursday with his crackpot theories on COVID with 200,000, and Chuck Liddell was No 14 on Monday with 50,000. Liddell filed for divorce Friday from wife Heidi.
Right now the planned main events for the 12/26 show in Madison Square Garden are Big E vs. Bobby Lashley for the WWE title and Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair.
Chris Jericho said that Junior Dos Santos was a natural at this. He said that they trained with him for one hour on Friday and that was it. This was a Tony Khan idea of using ATT as a heel group with Dan Lambert. Dos Santos did great for someone with no training in his first match Paige VanZant has come across as a real heel star the last two nights.
People were raving about the Pac vs. Andrade match that was taped last night and airs on television this coming Friday. Most called it the best match in Rampage history or the second best to Nick Jackson vs. Bryan Danielson. Keep in mind the first episode of Rampage was the first Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage match.
Bellator last night had a show in Phoenix where Vadim Nemkov dominated Julius Anglickas to retain the light heavyweight title, finishing via Kimura at 4:24 of the fourth round. In the other light heavyweight Grand Prix tournament match, Corey Anderson dropped Ryan Bader right away and won with punches on the ground at :51 of the first round. Anderson faces Nemkov for the title and a $1 million tournament Grand Prix final at a date not yet announced. Brent Primus likely earned a lightweight title match by beating Benson Henderson 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Gabriel Kidd has returned to New Japan, and did a promo talking about spending 18 months at the New Japan dojo during the pandemic and how that led to issues in communicating with his family. Kidd said that, in May, he wound up on top of a building with the thought of jumping off, but the two things that stopped him were the love of his mom and pro wrestling and how he had been picturing this moment of returning for a while now.
WWE
The 12/27 Raw show will be from Detroit.
OTHER NOTES
Impact will be airing a Daffney tribute show on Thursday at 10 p.m. on AXS.
Defy Wrestling from Thursday night in Los Angeles: Kevin Blackwood b Yuya Uemura, Super Panda won three-way over Jordan Oasis and Adriel Noctus, Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf b Matt Vandergriff & Titus Alexander, Eddie Kingston b Rocky Romero, Viva Van b Sandra Moone, Christopher Daniels b Daniel Garcia, Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl b Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs. Sean Waltman and Damian 666 were at the show. Next show is 10/19 in Seattle at Washington Hall with Homicide and Jacob Fatu, and 11/20 in Seattle headlined by Tom Lawlor vs. Jon Moxley.
Insane Wrestling Revolution from Thursday night in Monroe, MI: Sam Beale b Bryan Castle, Kenny Urban b Nate Bock, Aaron Orion & Jack Price b DBA & Mysterious Movado, Alex Cluckey b Ben Boone, Shane Douglas & Dread King Logan b Rhino & Tommy Dreamer, Rod Lee b Dr. X, Trey Miguel b N8 Mattson, Trey Miguel b Kenny Urban, Trey Miguel b Malcolm Monroe,Trey Miguel b Sam Beale, Trey Miguel b Madman Fulton. Next show is 12/29 at the FOP Hall in on-roe with Trey Miguel vs. Petey Williams, Rhino& Dreamer vs. Chinstrap Jesus & Nate Bock plus Konnor of The Ascension and John E. Bravo (thanks to Leonard Brand)
EPW from Western Australia last night before more than 400 fans: Gavin McGavin b Kaz Jordan, Marcius Pitt b Edith Night, Cut Throat and The Some b Dan Moore, Michael Morleone b Joel Hagam, Aaron Hawk b Jesse Lambert, Damian Slater b Robby Heart, Bruno Nitro b Chris L Lazareth, Julian Ward b Davis Storm. Told the main event was great. Lambert got a big reaction Next show is 11/27. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
SICW from last night in East Carondelet, IL: Waco b David Lee Walker, Big Texan & Ax Allwardt b Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby-DQ, Danny Dollar b Rick Ruby, Bobby D b Superstar Steve Fender, Gary Jackson DCOR Kowalski, Flash Flanagan & Jason Breed b Ken Kasa in a handicap match to win the tag titles, Attila Khan b Gil Rogers. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Memphis Wrestling over the weekend did an angle where Shane Russell, the son of Lance Russell, was attacked. Crazzy Steve and The Boogeyman are at today’s tapings.
WWEβs Extreme Rules show on 9/26 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH was decent. Most of the matches were good, but there was nothing blow away.
The show was built around two bouts, Roman Reigns vs. Demon Finn Balor for the Universal title and Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the womenβs title. Both had gimmicked finishes.
The Demon match ended with Demon ont the top rope when the top rope suddenly collapsed and he fell into the ring injured, and got pinned by a spear. The bout had been the most exciting on the show, but at one point the idea was that Demon had died. Then his music played and he acted as though he was resurrected, and in fact, that was the verbiage used, and he made a comeback until the rope broke.
In the Smackdown womenβs title match, Belair powered out of the disarmer and set up the KOD when Sasha Banks ran into attack Belair for the DQ. Banks also laid out Lynch after the match to set up a three-way program.
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 [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
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For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio talking Raw, ratings, G-1 and more, plus taking e-mail questions you can send to the show to [email protected]
Tonight is part two of the WWE draft. Bill Goldberg is also on the show to build up his rematch with Bobby Lashley, likely for Crown Jewel on 10.21. Really, we should have most of that card as far as key matches announced by Friday. They teased an angle where Paul Heyman is supposed to make sure the Usos get drafted by Smackdown or the Usos, who are also on tonight’s show, are supposed to leave him for dead. The show is in Nashville. The show should do better ratings than in recent weeks due to the draft and Goldberg, at least in theory. We were told this will be an eventful show. A lot of Nashville celebrities are there including sports media people including Clay Travis. We are looking for live reports on the show with any Main Event or dark matches or notes from a live perspective to [email protected] We’re also looking for reports from last night in Lexington.
The football game tonight is the Las Vegas Raiders (3-0) vs. Los Angeles Chargers (2-1). It shouldn’t be as big as last week, but football always had an effect on the numbers in the fall.
When we were talking the Muhammad Ali entourage on Saturday night’s show, the doctor was Dr. Ferdie Pacheco. I had managed Angelo Dundee, who was Ali’s manager as the three people always close to him were Pacheco, Dundee and Bundini Brown. Brown was with him when he did the Mid South Wrestling show at the Superdome in 1985 that we talked about when Ali managed The Snowman in a TV title defense against Jake Roberts, where Roberts refused to bump for Ali’s punches. The basic story is in the current issue on Snowman and his short but very newsworthy career based on two angles, one in Mid South and one in Memphis.
A fighter who competed in an 8/20 Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship show passed away. Justin Thornton, 38, was knocked out on the show in Mississippi and had suffered numerous health issues stemming from the knockout. The fight lasted 19 seconds with Thornton face planting after being knocked out by Dillon Cleckler. Thornton was rushed to the hospital and partially paralyzed. He was hospitalized for several weeks and also suffered a spinal cord infection. Thornton had been an MMA fighter who had a 6-18 record before taking his first Bare Knuckle bout. .
G-1 is down until 10/7 at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall with A block with a weak show headlined by Tomohiro Ishii vs. Great O’Khan. We are doing a poll for the Sunday show from Nagoya only this week, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
In Canada, AEW Dynamite will only air on TSN5. SportsNet 360 is now airing a replay of Monday’s Raw show on Wednesdays head-to-head with Dynamite. (thanks to Jeff Zinger)
UFC star Kevin Holland, who just fought Saturday, stopped an alleged carjacking this morning. Holland saw the alleged event in progress, and tackled and held the guy down until police came.
A correction from yesterday where we said the advertised main event for San Juan was Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio. It was actually Rey & Dominik Mysterio & Finn Balor vs. Reigns & Usos and Damien Priest vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal. It ended up with Priest vs.Sami Zayn and the Mysterios replaced by Cesaro & McIntyre in the six-man tag and Dominik vs. Mahal. Rey was the only one who didn’t appear.
Dave Bautista will be a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC promoting the film “Dune.” that comes out 10/22 on HBO Max and in theaters.
WWE
On the WWE TV special on FOX this weekend which looked at past King of the Rings, to set up the tournament that starts Friday in San Jose, Dana White appeared on the show. The idea was to list the ten best King of the Rings in history. You can certainly argue this list has it was 1. Booker T; 2. Steve Austin; 3. Bret Hart; 4. HHH; 5. Brock Lesnar; 7. Edge; 7. Kurt Angle; 8. Sheamus; 9. Randy Savage and 10. King Corbin. White was on for about ten seconds talking about Lesnar’s also being UFC heavyweight champion. (thanks to Arya Winter)
They were advertising Roman Reigns & Usos vs. Finn Balor & Street Profits and Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair in local TV advertising for Friday’s Smackdown show in San Jose
Escape The Undertaker debuts tomorrow on Netflix.
The Simpsons yesterday had a WWE reference. The show showed older people partying with their new social security checks and they played “Here Comes the Money,” the Shane McMahon entrance song.
Noam Dar vs Wolfgang in the finals of a tournament to determine the top contender to Heritage champion Tyler Bate will headlined WWE UK.
Harry Smith was one of the guys backstage in Baltimore Friday night for the draft. Tons of people were there with the idea they could be chosen and then weren’t chosen.
UFC
Brian Kelleher vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov has been added to the 1/15 UFC show.
OTHER NOTES
Dark Side of the Ring this coming week will talk about wrestler turned biker gang leader Johnny K-9.
Stardom has another PPV show from Osaka Jo Hall on Saturday headlined by Utami Hayashishita vs. Takumi Iroha for the World of Stardom title. It’s a loaded show. Because it’s an early afternoon show in Japan, it will air at midnight Eastern late Friday night at 9 p.m. Pacific late Friday night.
Crusherfest takes place in South Milwaukee this coming weekend. It takes place Saturday and Sunday at 1101 Milwaukee Avenue, featuring live wrestling, special guests, a brat brawl, the Mr. Saloon contest, live polka music and more. The address is where the Crusher statue resides. More info is at www.dacrusher.org
At 2:30 p.m. local time Saturday at Crusherfest, they will induct Crusher into the Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Brian Blair’s autobiography, “Truth Bee Told,” is now out. I’ve read the book and enjoyed it a lot. Tons of colorful stories about a very different business, talking about the end of the territorial era, the beginning of WWE going national, and tons on his best friend Paul Orndorff.
Impact announced Wrestle Week on AXS starting on 10/18 with Badass Movies hosted by Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows presenting the 1989 movie Road House with Patrick Swayze and Terry Funk. The 2021 Slammiversary show with Kenny Omega vs. Sami Callihan no DQ match airs on 10/21, before Impact. There will also be the Countdown show from 9 to 9:30 p.m. that Saturday night. Bound for Glory starts at 10 p.m. so as not to go head-to-head with AEW Dynamite which is on 10/23 at 8 p.m. that week.
Northeast Wrestling from Saturday night in Danbury, CT: Chris Battle & Gio Galvano b Chris Muljo & Bret Gosselin, Cole Karter b J Heru, Wrecking Ball Legursky b Eric Rowan, Club Cam b Inzanely Rude in a tag title match, Nzo & Fandango b Ray Jaz & Seven Stetson, Deonna Purrazzo b Mega Bayne, Dan Maff b Keith Youngblood to keep NEW title,Will Ospreay b Rocky Romero, Eddie Kingston b Brian Anthony-DQ, Matt Hardy & Private Party b Trustfund.
PWX from Sunday in Concord, NC before 450 fans: Sir Rios Badu b Wheeler Yuta, Chip Day & Ethan Case b Jon Davis & Drew Adler, Suge D b Victor Benjamin, Montana Black b Savannah Evans, Lance Archer b JD Drake, Robbie Eagles b Lucky Ali, Caleb Konley & Zane Riley b Elliot Russell & Sigmon, Minoru Suzuki b Anthony Henry We heard the main event was awesome (thanks to Landon Pipkin)
Christian Cage & Josh Alexander vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton and Black Taurus vs. Petey Williams vs. Steve Maclin as part of a tournament to crown an X champion now that Alexander vacated to go after the world title is set for Impact Thursday.
MCPW from Saturday in Kalkaska, MI:
Afternoon show: Jackson Stone b Brutus Atwell, Jack Verville & Louis Lyndon & Max Morrison b Kevin Kalloway & Ethan Tyler & Mitch Hewitt, Joseph Norton b Kyler Coleman, Jason Hotch b Trey Miguel, Solo b Nate Bock, Tommy Vendetta & Jack Price & Isaiah Broner b Jurnal Kyng & Eli Shelton & Conrad Loucks.
Evening show: Alex Weir b Aaron Williams, Dre Jacobs & Justin Dream b Jheras & Jimi Gray, Gary Jay b Aaron Orion, The Carver b Christopher Saint, Jumal Kyng b Nick King, Tommy Vendetta b Alex Colon (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Matt Cardona pinned Joshua Bishop to win the AIW heavyweight title on Saturday night. Bill Alfonso, the manger, got accidentally busted open earlier in the show in a deathmatch where he was managing Matthew Justice (thanks to Ross Blair)
We have a lot of different news stories headlining the new issue of the Observer. Our lead story looks at the condition of Terry Funk, his legacy and his generation of wrestlers.
Also in this issue:
Ticket sales for WWE and AEW shows including the four shows that will top 10,000 tickets sold, hottest wrestling tickets on the secondary market as well as this week’s UFC show, ticket sales for all AEW events on sale, every major WWE show including Madison Square Garden and every event this month, details on all shows and capacity of the buildings.
Schedule and some early details on the 2021 G1 Climax tournament.
The arrest of Jonathan Fatu (Jimmy Uso), his track record of arrests from the past and more reaction.
Grappl’s list of the best matches of 2021 so far as well as sleeper matches from small promotions worth checking out.
The biggest lawsuit settlement in WWE history, update on John Cena, Linda McMahon with Donald Trump, Daniel Bryan mentions on Smackdown, Thea Trinidad return to WWE, how often each company does rematches, Smackdown doing a split site show, changes to a WWE streaming product, huge match coming, wrestlers recently cut were to be put in a new group, notes on Breakout tournament competitors, International TV ratings for WWE and AEW, WWE exec honored as one of the best in the world except they fired him, new WWE marketing deal, the most viewed segments on YouTube of WWE programming this past week as well as the current WWE market value.
Update Dwayne Johnson’s planned launch of the XFL and explain the latest delays.
A story on the death of Cyanide Sid Cooper, a top U.K. heel who was both a major inspiration of the Lord Steven Regal character in WCW and Regal’s favorite wrestler as a young child, his matches, what he was known for, life after wrestling and more.
Coverage of AAA’s Verano de Escandalo.
A story on Chris Romero aka Chris Youngblood, from the famous Romero wrestling family, his family, including relatives few know about, his breaking into the business, how he became a big star in Puerto Rico, the heyday of The Youngbloods there, the death of Bruiser Brody, and the glory days of All Japan Pro Wrestling.
More detail on the ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw Paul Orndorff and the latest pro wrestling news. You can send questions to the show to [email protected] but please only ask questions tonight regarding Paul Orndorff.
We also have a great show with Ariel Helwani up on the site.
Very sorry to hear the news about Paul Orndorff. While Paul’s most successful run was against Hulk Hogan in their two 1980s runs, he was one of the best athletes and in-ring guys in the business years before that, in places like Mid South, Memphis, the Carolinas and Georgia. I always saw him as a potential NWA champion because he combined the look and the ability. Perhaps the reason he never was considered strongly was being a contemporary of Ric Flair, who was such an incredible performer during that era. Unfortunately a series of injuries including a herniated disc in the neck changed the course of his career right when he was at his peak. We’ll talk more about him on the show and what was said with Paul is he was not old when dementia set in and in his case it was really bad over the past few years to where he couldn’t remember so much about his career. But what a great athlete and intense performer.
Raw tonight is the Money in the Bank go-home show with Bobby Lashley vs. Xavier Woods, Sheamus vs. Humberto Carrillo for the U.S. title Asuka vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Ash, A.J. Styles vs. Ivar, Omos vs. Erik and Ricochet vs. John Morrison falls count anywhere. This show was taped last Tuesday on a closed set so results did not get out. It’s the last show without fans from the Thunderdome in Tampa. It goes against ESPN’s Home Run Derby so that should hurt, but the rating should be well up from last week’s record low caused by the holiday.
Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley boxing match promoted as a Showtime PPV will take place on 8/29 in Cleveland at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Paul is from Cleveland. Both men will have to weigh in at a 190 pound limit. Amanda Serrano also defends her WBC and WBO featherweight title against Yamileth Mercado, the super bantamweight champion.
The monthly fee for ESPN plus will be raised from $5.99 to $6.99 starting on 8/13. The yearly subscription price will be raised from $60 to $70. The price for the ESPN+, Disney and Hulu bundle remains the same. UFC will not be increasing its PPV price at this time.
John Kavanagh, the coach of Conor McGregor, said he had suffered a left ankle injury in camp and that a scan before the fight showed damage that could have been made worse by a kick Poirier checked. It’s pretty much now believed across the board the original injury was from a checked kick before the big injury at the end of the first round. McGregor underwent a three-and-a-half hour operation yesterday for a broken tibia and broken fibula. He said he will be on crutches for six weeks but will make a full recovery.
As noted all day, Chris Hero was backstage as a producer at the ROH PPV show. The show was really fun to watch, lots of good wrestling and all the key bouts were different. We’re doing polls right now for both UFC 264 and for the ROH Best in the World show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
WWE
Natalya being added to the Money in the Bank match as announced today, is notable because they had built up two different teams, Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke and Shotzi & Nox for women’s tag team title shots against Natalya & Tamina on television in recent weeks.
The Broken Skull Sessions episode with Kevin Nash that had been scheduled for yesterday is now set to debut after the Money in the Bank PPV this coming Sunday.
UFC
Dustin Poirier has opened as a -180 favorite to take the title from Charles Oliveira if and when that lightweight title fight takes place.
AEW
Dark Elevation for tonight has:
Darby Allin vs. Angelico
Hikaru Shida vs. Julia Hart
Wheeler Yuta & Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor vs. Private Party & Jora Johl
Jungle Boy vs. Lee Johnson
Scorpio Sky vs. Shawn Dean
Brian Cage vs. 5
Red Velvet vs. Leila Gray
Matt Hardy vs. Fuego del Sol
Yuka Sakazaki vs. KiLynn King
Riho vs. Amber Nova
Tay Conti vs. La Brava
Thunder Rosa vs. Dreamgirl Ellie
Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison & Billy & Colten Gunn vs. The Acclaimed & Luther & Serpentico
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Baron Black
Leyla Hirsch vs. Kelsey Heather
If you’re a fan of women’s wrestling they’ve got six women’s bouts on the show which must be something approximated a record for that group. This was taped on Wednesday in Miami and the current issue runs the show down but Jungle Boy vs. Johnson got over big with those in the arena.
OTHER NEWS
AXS will have special programming this week to help build Saturday’s Slammiversary show. At 9 p.m. tonight, Pulp Fiction airs on the station with Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows doing wrap-arounds. The Slammiversary one hour preview show airs Thursday at 10 p.m. On Saturday the 2021 Rebellion show airs on television at 3 p.m. and the preview show for the PPV repeats at 7 p.m.
MLW sold out its initial allotment of tickets for 9/11 in Dallas which was said to be about 750 or 800 seats. They are opening up more seats.
The Dallas Observer has a story about a Lucha Libre play that has a strong review. (thanks to Lee Wall)
Cage Fury Fighting Championships announced a 9/16 show at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa. C.M. Punk announces for this group and they air live on UFC Fight Pass. Zulkarniaiyn Kamchybekov (5-1) and Phumi Nkuta (3-0) are scheduled to defend their lightweight and flyweight titles on the show.
KSW will be doing a studio show from Warsaw, Poland on 7/17 at www.KSWTV.com Olympic gold medal winning weightlifter Szymon Kolecki (9-1) faces bodybuilder Akop Szostak (4-3) and Marius Zaromskis (23-9) vs. Andrezej Grzebyk (17-4) face off in the semi.
Championship Wrestling from Memphis had TV tapings yesterday that sold out. Lance Archer did a meet and greet at the show. They have a free show called Throwdown in Orange Bound Saturday night, an 8/7 show with a Teddy Long Meet and Greet, 8/14 in Newport, AR and an 8/15 meet and greet with Wolfie D.
Combate Global airs live on Paramount+ at 11 p.m. Eastern with Levy Marroquin (14-3) vs. Carlos Calvo (7-1).
Limited tickets for the 8/15, 8/16 and 8/17 Impact tapings in Nashville go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.
In a move that could be matched by other state commissions, the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted Wednesday to no longer discipline fighters in any sport for testing positive for marijuana, effective immediately.
They join Florida as the only other state in the U.S. to stop testing for marijuana completely. The new rule doesn’t apply to cases that have yet to be decided.
Ironically, two current UFC fighters (Misha Cirkunov and Gillian Robertson) were disciplined on Wednesday with the former getting a retroactive six month suspension and $4000 fine and the latter earning a retroactive 4.5 month suspension and $2000 fine.
The NSAC will continue to test fighters through the end of 2021 for data purposes and will determine at that point whether to continue.
In January, USADA and the UFC removed discipline for marijuana use, only issuing sanctions if a fighter was visibly under the influence on an event night.
In another bit of irony, Dana White said Wednesday that Nick Diaz, who was once initially suspended for five years in 2015 by the NSAC due to testing positive for marijuana, and Robbie Lawler may fight in the co-main event of their September pay-per-view. Diaz’s suspension was eventually reduced to 18 months.
