Tag: bellator

Daily Update: WWE releases, weekend shows, Fedor

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

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  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

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WON NEWSLETTER: June 28, 2021 Observer Newsletter: Hell in a Cell review, NJPW LA show announced

A look at the WWE’s last PPV of the Thunderdome era and what did and didn’t work on the Hell in a Cell show is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We’ve got the booking, future direction for Money in the Bank, update on MITB tickets, star ratings, poll results and match and performer of the week.

Also in this issue:

A new lawsuit against UFC and why it is a potential game changer along with what would be almost a sure thing if it’s successful regarding WWE, what the claims are, and if it’s successful what it says about payment of money to athletes.

New Japan running shows in the United States, a look back at  the early shows in Southern California, who is and isn’t on the cards and more.

Becky Lynch returning, SummerSlam ticket sales, WWE return to MSG, WWE ticket sales, FOX and NBCU suggestions for WWE programming, Montez Ford surgery, Karrion Kross and Bronson Reed tryouts, Shayna Baszler talks angle, International TV ratings, controversy over writer with no product knowledge continued and reaction internally, Rey Mysterio talks angle he doesn’t want to do, Kushida talks Kyle O’Reilly, Titus O’Neil talks his award nomination, plus next week’s TV shows, WWE’s biggest YouTube videos from this past week and WWE company market value.

Saturday’s UFC show with match-by-match coverage, future directions for the talent, business notes and more

Changes being worked on for the Nielsen ratings and who isn’t happy about them and why, television vs. streaming in 2021 and a comparison using AEW programming.

Suwama’s vacating the Triple Crown, how it will be decided, and then look back at how the three belts, the United National, PWF and International belts all formed, when, their rules, their history and the creation of the Triple Crown more than 30 years ago.

A feature on the death of former bodybuilding star turned pro wrestler Melissa Coates.

More into detail on the ratings than any other source, how many different viewers the shows had, breakdown of who watches the shows and how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.

Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be back tonight talking about the news of the week, WWE cuts, how news from 17 years ago relates to today, risks by promotions, and much more.

The biggest news of the day were the releases of 13 WWE performers, Fandango, Tyler Breeze, Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, August Grey, Ever-Rise, Curt Stallion, the Bollywood Boyz (Sunil and Samir Singh), Arturo Ruas, Marina Shafir, and Killian Dain. Essentially the moves, like others, are ways to lower the budget and up the profit margin because of a number of things related to stock price and attractiveness to potential buyers. None of those cut fit majorly into the current plans, but you can also tell this wasn’t thought out far in advance since just a week ago Fandango & Breeze got a TV win and did the beginnings of an angle with Imperium, and Ever-Rise has been featured as a comedy act. It was a numbers game. A lot of these people have real talent and will get chances elsewhere. Nese is a solid top-level worker inside the ring.  The Bollywood Boyz can make anything asked of them work.  Breeze & Fandango can wrestle and entertain but really had done about all they were going to do in WWE. Dain is a big agile guy who can work. Daivari is a strong worker. Shafir is a good athlete and the last time WWE cut a strong judoka she turned out to be Tay Conti in AEW, whether Shafir can follow in her footsteps probably isn’t fair but with there being a premium right now on woman wrestlers someone who is a good athlete should get chances on the outside.

Smackdown tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX has a Roman Reigns victory celebration for his win last week over Rey Mysterio, Cesaro & Bianca Belair vs. Seth Rollins & Bayley, plus Apollo Crews vs. Big E in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. 205 Live has a pair of unofficial loser leaves town matches, although not billed as such, with August Gray vs. Grayson Weller and Ikeman Jiro vs. Ariya Daivari.  Daivari and Gray were both cut earlier today.

New Japan Strong at 10 p.m. tonight has Tom Lawlor vs. Karl Fredericks for the Strong title, Rocky Romero vs. Clark Connors and Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta vs. Kevin Knight & The DKC.

Bellator makes its debut in Moscow at the VTB Arena on 10/23 featuring Fedor Emelianenko in the main event.

Today (or tomorrow, depending on where you live)  is the 45th anniversary of the Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali match from Tokyo. It was the first national closed-circuit pro wrestling event in history with two boxer vs. wrestler main events, Ali vs. Inoki and Andre the Giant vs Chuck Wepner from Shea Stadium.  In most of the rest of the country, various wrestling promotions put on undercards from major arenas such as Shea Stadium, The Omni in Atlanta, the Sam Houston Coliseum, the Cow Palace in San Francisco, the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Amphitheater in Chicago and others. The show aired the night of June 25 in the U.S. and the morning of July 26 in Japan.  It is still among the highest-rated television shows in the history of TV-Asahi.  Ali was the biggest name in sports at the time while Inoki didn’t have much of a name at all in the U.S., and overall the show did disappointing business outside of the Northeast where Bruno Sammartino had a grudge match with Stan Hansen that fans in that part of the country considered the real main event.  Sammartino literally came out of the hospital with a broken neck to do the match because Vince McMahon Sr. told him that they had invested so much into the show and it was feared it would bomb and could lead to the closing of the WWWF.  Sammartino was promised points from every arena where his match aired, and while he did get his points from Shea Stadium, he did not from the other arenas with McMahon claiming Bob Arum turned down the request.  A notable part of the story is that when Paul Levesque was negotiating with Sammartino to do the Hall of Fame, he asked for a dollar figure that he believed he was screwed out of to agree to do it and Vince McMahon Jr. did eventually agree to the figure.  As for Ali vs. Inoki, it was a 15 round fight and ruled a draw, although if you watched the fight with today’s eyes Inoki probably won about 12 rounds and should have easily taken the decision, but people didn’t get low kicks in 1976 or understand what they were.

There are several major Japan shows available this weekend. FITE has a show Saturday at 6 a.m. with Pro Wrestling NOAH featuring Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Masa Kitamiya, the tag team champions, facing each other in a hair vs. hair match, plus a Rumble match for the No. 1 contender for the junior title with Daisuke Harada, Junta Miyawaki, Seiki Yoshioka, Niaoh, Tadasuke, Haoh, Hajime Ohara, Ikuto Hidaka and Eita from Dragon Gate. Atsushi Kotoge defends against the winner on a Sunday at 6 a.m. show, also on FITE, plus Great Muta vs. Kenou and Naomichi Marfuji & Masato Tanaka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Takashi Sugiura.

All Japan runs Saturday at Ota Ward Gym with the Triple Crown decision match with Kento Miyahara, Jake Lee and Yuma Aoyagi where it’s a series of singles matches that continue until one man has beaten each of the other two.

Bellator tonight at 9 p.m. on Showtime:

  • Christian Edwards (206) vs. Simon Biyong (204.5)
  • Myles Jury (155) vs. Sidney Outlaw (156)
  • Daniel Weichel (145.5) vs. Keoni Diggs (146)
  • Liz Carmouche (125.5) vs. Kana Watanabe (125.25)
  • Valentin Moldavsky (234) vs. Timothy Johnson (260) for the interim heavyweight title

PFL tonight at 10 p.m.  on ESPN 2:

  • Denis Goltsov vs. Brandon Sayles
  • Lance Palmer vs. Movlid Khaybulaev
  • Antony Pettis vs. Raush Manfio
  • Kayla Harrison vs. Cindy Dandois

All matches are part of a qualifying tournament in their respective divisions, with Goltsov vs Sayles at heavyweight, Palmer vs. Khaybulaev at featherweight, Pettis vs. Manfio at lightweight and Harrison vs. Dandois at women’s lightweight.

UFC tomorrow starting at 1 p.m. Eastern for an ESPN+ card:

  • Yancy Medeiros (155.5) vs. Damir Hadzovic (155.5)
  • Charles Rosa (146) vs. Justin Jaynes (145.5)
  • Julia Avila (135.5) vs. Julija Stoliarenko (135.5)
  • Marcin Prachnio  (206)  vs. Ike Villanueva (205)
  • Warlley Alves (171) vs. Jeremiah Wells (171)
  • Shavkat Rakhmonov (170.5) vs. Michel Prazeres (170)
  • Kennedy Nzechukwu (205.5) vs. Danilo Marques (205.5)
  • Renato Moicano (156) vs. Jai Herbert (155.5)
  • Tim Means (170.5) vs. Nicolas Dalby (170)
  • Andre Fili (145.5) vs. Daniel Pineda (145)
  • Raoni Barcelos (135) vs. Timur Valiev (136)
  • Tanner Boser (240) vs.  Ovince Saint Preux (230)
  • Cyril Gane (245) vs. Alexander Volkov (265)

Fast 9, with the debut of John Cena in the series, opens in North America this weekend.

WWE

  • Drew McIntyre will be appearing on the show “Shark Rumble” on Discovery + that comes out on 7/11.

AEW

  • AEW Road To on Kenny Omega vs. Jungle Boy for the AEW title tomorrow night.
  • An announcement about September in Chicago will be taking place in the next few days.  They will almost certainly be doing both Rampage on Friday night and the PPV on Sunday from the Sears Center.  Not sure where Dynamite that Wednesday will be from but that is likely to be announced as well.
  • Alex Marvez of AEW talking “The Complete List of Jericho” book that he helped put together as well as some other AEW and NFL news.

OTHER NOTES

  • Gegard Mousasi defends the Bellator middleweight title against John Salter on 8/13 in Uncasville,CT.
  • Shingo Takagi’s first English language interview since winning the IWGP title.
  • Kevin Eck’s weekly ROH News column.
  • A story on friends remembering Adrian “Lion Heart” McCullum. (thanks to Lee Wall)
  • A story on independent wrestling promoter Tommy Fierro and his opening up a wrestling store in New Jersey is.
  • CWE on 7/9 in Red Deer, Alberta at the Quality Inn with Danny Duggan vs. Mentallo.  Former UFC fighter Mitch Clarke is also on the show.  They also run 7/7 in Medicine Hat, Alberta at the Cypress Centre Auditorium. and 7/8 in Calgary at the Royal Canadian Legion #1.
  • Dragon Lee will be doing a seminar in San Jose for the Pro Wrestling Revolution promotion on 7/23.  For more info you can send to [email protected]
  • New England Fights on 8/21 in Milford, NH at the Hampshire Dome with MMA and kickboxing fights.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWF King of the Ring 2000

CONTACT INFORMATION

Daily Update: Big weekend preview, Bill Eadie, Shawn Daivari

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

Latest Free YouTube Video:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!

WON NEWSLETTER: June 14, 2021 Observer Newsletter: SummerSlam to Las Vegas, NJPW Dominion review

Updated coverage on SummerSlam and early word on Survivor Series is the lead story on this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

We look at the location, the time of the show and why they are limited in time, the new stadium, talk about top matches plus more on Dwayne Johnson and WrestleMania, Survivor Series and a plan for an August Takeover.

Also in this issue:

Dominion, the Shingo Takagi title win, with match-by-match coverage, star ratings, poll results, business notes and booking direction.

Plans for a WWE draft, a WWE TV show on verge of being canceled, Bret Hart documentary, Stephanie McMahon talks WWE business, WWE ticket sales, Miz talks injury, UK & Canada viewing numbers, WWE looks a changes in how it does house hows, WWE autograph new rules, most watched WWE videos of the past week and WWE market value.

The next two WWE major events with lineups, notes about the Takeover crowd, matches announced and not yet announced for Hell in a Cell and more.

Full coverage of this past Saturday’s UFC show.

Cyber Fight show combining NOAH, DDT, Ganbare Pro and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling.  We look at Keiji Muto’s title loss, why he got the title in the first place, why Marufuji wasn’t the guy who should have won, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

The death of controversial wrestler Angel o Demonio.

More into detail on the ratings than any other source, how many different viewers the shows had which is very different from the television number, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.

Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzales and I will be previewing the weekend and covering the news of the past week tonight on Wrestling Observer Radio. Bryan and I will be doing shows tomorrow after UFC, Sunday after Takeover and Monday after Raw.

Want to wish our best to Bill Eadie, best known under names like Demolition Ax, Masked Superstar, Super Machine and Bolo Mongol, who was one of the top names in pro wrestling in the late 70s and through the 80s, who is suffering from heart-related issues.

Smackdown tonight has Chad Gable & Otis vs. Street Profits, Kevin Owens & Big E vs. Apollo Crews & Sami Zayn and Bayley interviewing Seth Rollins. For 205 Live is Ari Sterling & Asher Hale vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari and Sunil Singh vs. Grayson Walker (formerly Matty Walhberg in Australia who played Ric Flair in an episode of Young Rock).

AEW at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT tonight:

  • Appearing are Don Callis, Cody Rhodes and The Pinnacle
  • Lance Archer vs. ?
  • Nyla Rose vs. Leyla Hirsch
  • Adam Page & 10 vs. Brian Cage & Powerhouse Hobbs
  • Christian Cage vs. Angelico
  • Miro vs. Evil Uno for TNT title
  • Young Bucks & Brandon Cutler vs. Penta & Pac & Eddie Kingston

Bellator tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on Showtime:

  • Demarques Jackson (170) vs. Mark Lemminger (170.5)
  • Aaron Pico (145.75) vs. Aiden Lee (145)
  • Paul Daley (175) vs. Jason Jackson (175)
  • Douglas Lima (169.75) vs. Yaroslav Amasov (170) for the welterweight title

On paper this looks like a very exciting show with Pico, Daley and Lima all high-action fighters and Amasov as a challenger for the title comes in at 25-0.

Invicta runs an eight-woman one-night tournament for an Atomweight title shot on AXS tonight.  It will also air on YouTube live:

First round matches as voted by the fans are:

  • Paulina Granados (105.9) vs. Marisa Messer-Belenchia (105.4)
  • Jillian DeCoursey (105.5) vs. Linda Mihalec (105.9)
  • Lindsey VanZandt (105.8) vs. Katie Perez (105.3)
  • Jessica Delboni (105.6) vs. Samantha Seff (105.9)

UFC 263 is tomorrow from Phoenix:

ESPN+ at 6 p.m. Eastern:

  • Carlos Felipe (262.5) vs. Jake Collier (264.5)
  • Fares Ziam (156.5) vs. Luigi Vendramini (155.5)
  • Chase Hooper (145.5) vs. Steven Peterson (148.5) – Peterson forfeits 20 percent of his purse for missing weight
  • Matt Frevola (155) vs. Terrance McKinney (155.5)
  • Pannie Kianzad (135.5) vs. Alexis Davis (134.5)

ESPN at 8 p.m. Eastern:

  • Movar Evloev (145.5) vs. Hakemm Dowodu (145.5)
  • Lauren Murphy (125.5) vs. Joanne Calderwood (125)
  • Eryk Anders (205) vs. Darren Stewart (204.5)
  • Drew Dober (154) vs. Brad Riddell (155)

PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern:

  • Paul Craig (204.5) vs. Jamahal Hill (205.5)
  • Demian Maia (170.5) vs. Belal Muhammad (170.5)
  • Leon Edwards (170.5) vs. Nate Diaz (170) in five round non-title fight
  • Deiveson Figueiredo (125) vs. Brandon Moreno (125) for flyweight title
  • Israel Adesanya (183.5) vs Marvin Vettori (184.5) for middleweight title

Lauren Murphy tweeted that everyone was told that if they so much as touch their opponent with anything more than a fist bump, handshake or high five at the ceremonial weigh-ins that they will be pulled from the show, fined and suspended. So no more pushing and shoving.

AEW in Canada tonight is on TSN 2 even though it is listed in some cable guides as WNBA Basketball in the time slot. So this could hurt ratings since the wrong show is listed.

Stardom runs Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo with a PPV show which starts at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning Eastern time. This will be the first time they’ve offered PPVs from Japan in English.  You can order the show at this link.

  • Utami Hayahishita vs. Syuri for the Wonder of Stardom title
  • Cinderella tournament finals
  • Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid & Rin Kadokura & Hanan & Koguma vs. Natsuko Tora & Konami & Saki Kashima & Fukigen Death & Ruaka
  • Giulia & Natsupoi vs. Momo Watanabe & AZM vs. Tam Nakano & Mina Shirakawa
  • Himeka vs. Saya Kamitani in a Cinderella tournament semifinal
  • Maika vs. Unagi Sayaka in a Cinderella tournament semifinal
  • Rina vs. Hina vs. Lacy C

CMLL has the first of three weeks of the Torneo Increíbles de Parejas, with the idea of tag teams of guys who usually feud with each other at Arena Mexico tonight. The teams tonight are Cuatrero & Dark Panther, Hechicero & Stuka Jr., Gran Guerrero & Mistico, Cancerbero & Espiritu Negro, Atlantis & Negro Casas, Volador Jr. & Templario, Titan & Dragon Rojo Jr. and Valiente & Gemelo Diablo I.

New Japan Strong at 10 p.m. tonight on New Japan World:

  • Jordan Clearwater & Misterioso vs. Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta
  • Alex Coughlin vs. Hikuleo
  • Rocky Romero & Lio Rush vs. The DKC & Clark Connors

Impact Against All Odds takes place tomorrow night on Impact+ and FITE TV with Kenny Omega vs. Moose for the Impact title as the main event plus Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rosemary for the Knockouts title.

PWInsider reported Ronda Rousey was filming and hosting episodes of the ESPN+ show “Peyton’s Place” at the 2300 Arena with Paul Heyman and Devon Dudley talking about ECW history.

WWE

  • Even though the A&E Biography series on WWE has concluded the Most Wanted Treasures show will air this weekend but a two-hour show at 8 p.m. featuring two AEW names, Mark Henry and Paul Wight, with the idea that they are looking for Andre the Giant items.
  • PWInsider reported that Shawn Daivari has been hired by WWE as a producer. He had worked this past week with Billy Corgan’s NWA as a producer and formerly held the job with WWE prior to the pandemic cuts.
  • Cesaro talked to the Hindustan Times where he said that while there are guys who can lift heavier weights in the gym than he can, that he is the strongest guy in WWE when it comes to strength inside the ring. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • Steve Austin will be doing a signing with Highspots and American Icon Autographs the first week of August in California.
  • The Milwaukee Brewers announced a WWE Night for their 9/25 game against the New York Met. Fans attending will get a Bob Uecker Bobblehead. Uecker was a mediocre player who became famous for being a funny announcer, and has a wrestling tie-in since he announced at WrestleMania III and was put in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010.

AEW

  • Taz underwent undisclosed surgery earlier today.

OTHER NOTES

  • ROH TV this weekend has Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus defending the tag titles against Dragon Lee & Kenny King.
  • United Wrestling Coalition on Saturday in Wrightstown, NJ at  Kelly’s Bar with shows at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. outdoors.
  • CWE returns to Saskatchewan for the first time in 17 months with shows on 7/21 in Prince Albert, SK, 7/22 in Saskatoon, 7/23 in Regina and 7/24 in Weyburn.
  • Innovate Wrestling Fire on the Mountain on 8/14 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium.
  • Showtime will be airing the Floyd Mayweather vs. Jake Paul exhibition fight tomorrow night.
  • AAW tonight on Fite TV from 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL is headlined by Mance Warner vs. Jake Something for the AAW title and Kris Statlander vs. The Hyan for the women’s title.  The show starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.  AAW also has announced they return to the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago on 9/2 and that the Jim Lyman Memorial tournament will be 10/29 and 10/30.
  • AIW on 6/18 in Cleveland at the Odeon Concert Club with Matt Cardona, Brian Myers, Mark Sterling and Swoggle.
  • Pro Wrestling Phoenix tonight in Omaha, NE at the Waiting Room Lounge.
  • DAZN and Matchroom have signed a deal where they will air a series of boxing shows live from Mexico with Canelo Promotions, with the first show on 6/26 from Guadalajara.
  • Pro Wrestling Australia on Sunday has a live show on FITE with Aussie Open vs. Robbie Eagles & Mat Diamond and PWWA champion Jessica Troy against Sam Osborne.  
  • Aramis defends his Warrior Wrestling Lucha title on 7/17 in Chicago Heights, IL against Daga, his trainer, plus Lance Archer vs. Robert Ego Anthony managed by Frank the Clown. Those under 16 are admitted free.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Okada vs. Omega II

CONTACT INFORMATION

Daily Update: Ratings notes, Ric Flair, MMA weigh-ins

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

Latest Free YouTube Video:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!

WON NEWSLETTER: April 19, 2021 Observer Newsletter: WrestleMania 37 review, WWE releases

Our annual WrestleMania issue of the Observer is out this week with full coverage of pro wrestling’s biggest event.

We go through all the news of the show, including the booking, the title changes, the finishes, the direction, what did and didn’t work, the difference between the two nights, after four examples how does two shows work vs one, the big money WrestleMania main events, the returns, the celebrities and business notes on the show. We also look at next year.

Also in this issue:

Match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results from both nights of WrestleMania and both nights of Takeover, to see how people saw all four of the WWE’s big events.

Stone Cold Broken Skull Sessions with Chris Jericho.  We talk about the stories told, Jericho’s career, what they did talk about and what was avoided, how this went against usual McMahon policy and why we probably won’t be seeing another show like this very soon.  We look at what was said about AEW, New Japan, WWE, some of Jericho’s frustrations with WWE that he talked about, the formation of AEW and much more.

The sale of FITE TV to Triller and why it happened this week.

Anthem Entertainment’s purchase of Invicta, plans for Invicta on AXS, and a sale that was talked about for Invicta that didn’t happen.

WWE cuts, person by person, their strengths and weaknesses and where they would fit in.

WWE international plans, hiring of Adnan Vink as an announcer, new members of the WWE Board of Directors, how much WWE’s top executives earned in 2020 and where it came from, Edge and Paul Heyman building Mania, changes in WWE announcing, WWE International numbers and where Raw & Smackdown rank with sports shows of the past week.  We also look at WWE’s most-watched streaming clips and a star about to return, as well as the current market value of WWE.

Coverage of Saturday’s UFC show, comments on the winning fighters and upcoming booking, along with business notes on the show.

A feature on John Da Silva, who was the biggest babyface and a national hero in New Zealand in the 70s. 

More on Ethel Johnson and sister Babs Wingo, who integrated women’s pro wrestling in the Billy Wolfe stable in 1951.  

More detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.

Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be back tonight talking WWE cuts, Wednesday ratings, and the weekend events among other things. Bryan and I will be back doing a show Saturday night on the Triller show and UFC.

Smackdown tonight has Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode defending the tag team titles against The Street Profits, plus Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Otis & Chad Gable.

Over the last seven days on cable, Raw and 90 Day Fiance would have been tied for first place. Challenge on MTV would be third, followed by ESPN coverage of The Masters, Sunday Night Baseball, and AEW and Oak Island were tied for sixth place.

The peak rating for Dynamite on Wednesday was the end of the Chris Jericho vs. Dax Harwood match at 1.43 million viewers and 629,000 in 18-49. The Young Bucks match peaked at 600,000 in 18-49, and the Kris Statlander vs. Amber Nova and Darby Allin vs. Matt Hardy matches both peaked at 626,000.

Jake Paul weighed 191.5 pounds and Ben Askren 191 for their boxing match tomorrow night.  Askren, coming off hip replacement surgery, is 21 pounds heavier than his MMA weight and looked out of shape. Paul is earning a $690,000 base and Askren $500,000 plus there are likely PPV points in there as well. Regis Prograis who means nothing to buys is making $850,000.  Frank Mir who weighed in at 276 pounds, when he should be fighting at closer to 240, will be earning $350,000. Opponent Steve Cunningham, a real boxer, weighed 216. Cunningham is earning $150,000.

Triller has added Ric Flair to the show tomorrow. Thank God he’s not fighting. The SlapStrike promotion will be putting on a match with U.S. champion Da Crazy Hawaiian vs. The Bear Man on the PPV under slapping rules. Ric Flair will be refereeing the match. Da Crazy Hawaiian is billed at 6-3 and 375 pounds and Bear Man had 6-3 and 350- pounds. The match is five rounds of exchanging slaps with no flinching allowed.

UFC will be on ESPN from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern tomorrow night:

  • Tony Gravely (135.5) vs. Anthony Birchak (135.5)
  • Austin Hubbard (156) vs. Dakota Bush (155.5)
  • Bartosz Fabinski(184.5) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (185.5)
  • Jessica Penne (116) vs. Lupita Godinez (116)
  • Alexander Romanov (264) vs. Juan Espino (257)
  • Tracy Cortez (126.5) vs. Justine Kish (125.5)
  • Luis Pena (155) vs Alex Munoz (155.5)
  • Abdul Razak Alhasan (285.5) vs. Jacob Malkoun (185.5)
  • Andrei Arlovski (250.5) vs. Chase Sherman (251)
  • Jeremy Stephens (156) vs. Drakkar Klose (156)
  • Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (185)

Cortez missed weight and forfeited 20 percent of her purse to Kish. A scheduled fight with Zarah Fairn vs. Josiane Nunes was canceled when Fairn showed up at 147 for a fight originally at 135. They had agreed to allow the fight at 139, but Nunes missed that by eight pounds. Due to the weight discrepancy, the Nevada commission canceled the fight.

There will be a debate in parliament in the U.K. related to British Wrestling. The release states:

The APPG on Wrestling is delighted to announce that following the release of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Professional Wrestling in Great Britain report, group Co-Chair Mark Fletcher MP has secured a Parliamentary debate on the subject. This parliamentary event will allow Mark and other MPs to highlight some of the recommendations of the report and to understand the Government’s initial positions and intentions as regards implementation of the findings.

The debate will happen on Thursday just before 17.30 pm. It can be watched here.

Bellator tonight at 9 p.m. on Showtime:

  • Paul Daley (174.75) vs. Sabah Homasi (175)
  • Veta Arteaga (124.5) vs. Desiree Yanaz (125.75)
  • Corey Anderson (204.75) vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov (204.5) in the light heavyweight tournament first round
  • Vadim Nemkov (204.5) vs. Phil Davis (205) for the light heavyweight title and a first round tournament match

It looks like Darby Allin will defend the TNT title on Wednesday. On Twitter, and this was authorized, he asked for someone from the top five and for Tony Khan to pick the person. The top five are Adam Page, Jon Moxley, Jungle Boy, Cody Rhodes and Will Hobbs  Hobbs is already facing Christian Cage on Wednesday.

New Japan Strong tonight at 10 p.m. on New Japan World:

  • Karl Fredericks & Kevin Knight & The DKC & Alex Coughlin vs. Misterioso & Barrett Brown & Adrian Quest & Jordan Clearwater
  • Brody King vs. Lio Rush in the New Japan Cup USA semifinal
  • Tom Lawlor vs. Hikuleo in the New Japan Cup USA semifinal

Danhausen of ROH fame talked to Conan O’Brien on his podcast.

WWE

  • The A&E Biography series starts with a two-hour episode on Steve Austin that airs Sunday at 8 p.m. Austin talked about the show here.
  • Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon were on Good Morning America yesterday to promote the debut of WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures on A&E which debuts on Sunday night at 10 p.m.  The two are going around the country looking for missing pieces of WWE history. I have a shed full of that stuff.
  • A story on Rhea Ripley. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • BetOnline.ag has these odds you can bet on: 
    Universal champion on 12/31/21
    Roman Reigns -250
    Seth Rollins +500
    Cesaro +700
    Daniel Bryan +7-0
    Big E +800

    WWE champion on 12/31/21
    Drew McIntyre +175
    Bobby Lashley +250
    Brock Lesnar +500
    The Fiend +500
    A.J. Styles +600

    Raw women’s champion on 12/31/21
    Rhea Ripley +175
    Charlotte Flair +225
    Alexa Bliss +300
    Becky Lynch +400
    Asuka +500

    Smackdown women’s champion on 12/31/21
    Biana Belair +125
    Sasha Banks +250
    Bayley +300
    Becky Lynch +400
    Carmella +800
    Ronda Rousey +800

UFC

  • Amanda Nunes has been made a -600 favorite over Julianna Pena for their UFC 265 main event for the bantamweight title.

AEW

OTHER NOTES

  • Triller announced 58-year-old Evander Holyfield vs. Kevin McBride in a six-round fight on 6/5 underneath the Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kamboscos Jr. title fight.
  • Eddie Alvarez, fresh off his quick DQ loss last week, returns for ONE on 4/28 to face the winner of Wednesday’s Marat Gafuov (18-3) vs. Ok Rae-yoon (13-3) fight. Wednesday’s fight and the Alvarez fight will both air on TNT after Dynamite.
  • Combate Global airs tonight on Univision at 12:30 a.m. and Univision Deportes at 12:30 a.m. Eastern and 9:30 p.m.. Pacific with Pablo Sabori (10-6) vs. Salvador Becerra (8-3), Guillermo Torres (4-0) vs. Edir Terry (6-4), and Lucero Acota (1-1) vs Allysen Breeden (0-1).
  • A feature on the WAW promotion on Ch. 4 in the U.K.. (thanks to Lee Wall)
  • A note on the latest Dave Bautista movie (thanks to Barry Werner)
  • SLAM! Wrestling Finland has just set a Finnish record on FOX TV Show “Ennätystehdas” or “Record Factory” in English, for the amount of Arm Drags given in 60 seconds. It’s also believed to be a World Record and was set by 2 of the first trainees for SLAM! Wrestling Finland. The link to the show is here. 
  • SWE announced Ivelisse and Enzo for a 4/24 PPV show on FITE.
  • All Japan has these Champion Carnival matches tomorrow:
    Kohei Sato vs. Shotaro Ashino
    Koji Doi vs. Suwama
    Shinjiro Otani vs. Jake Lee
    Zeus vs. Yuma Aoyagi
  • WWWA on 4/24 returns to the Q-Mart Arena in Quakertown, PA.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Super J-Cup 1994

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Daily Update: WrestleMania week notes, Prince Philip, MMA weigh-ins

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JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

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WON NEWSLETTER: April 12, 2021 Observer Newsletter: WrestleMania 37 week begins

A preview to WrestleMania leads off the current issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We look at each match, thoughts on the match, who are the gambling oddsmaker favorites, chart ticket demand with Mania and the next two UFC PPV shows, rules in play, and non-WrestleMania ticket demand.

Also in this issue:

End of the Wednesday night war with the final standings, cover the two Takeover shows, look at television vs. streaming viewership, Canadian numbers, final stands in shows and quarters, and where AEW and NXT go from here.

Takeover with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and other notes from the shows.

Vince McMahon’s decision to put the Chris Jericho interview on Peacock right after the second day of WrestleMania, why the timing works, how Tony Khan reacted, the good, the bad, the political, a preview of something talked about and how this does show a change in WWE policy.

The death of Jack Veneno, a look at his four world title matches with Ric Flair, Dominican wrestling, the story about the world title change that wasn’t approved by the NWA board, as well as the movies on his life and career that have been produced.  We look at the level of fame he had in the Dominican Republic and outside the Dominican Republic.

A feature on the direction of AEW, where the viewership declines are and aren’t, reasons, and changes in AEW television over the past year as well as a look at different stars and how much time they are getting.

Nick Khan talking the return of two of WWE’s best known women stars, A.J. Styles’ idea for this year’s Mania that didn’t happen, Roman Reigns talks a match with The Rock, looking at the popularity of all the major promotions and who is gaining and falling, WWE gets rid of longtime announcing team, The Hurt Business breakup, Paul Levesque talks Undertaker’s comments on the modern generation, how pro wrestling did compared to televised sports this past week, Seth Rollins talks fans at TV, A&E wrestling schedule, and WWE market value.

Will Ospreay’s win of the IWGP title, the history of U.K. wrestlers challenging for New Japan’s world title, business updates including bad news for New Japan going into two stadium shows, why the title changed, other angles, all the upcoming streaming shows and major shows over the next month and some good business news as well.

Sakura Genesis, with match-by-match coverage and star ratings.

WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies, go through the candidates, note speeches, the major gaffe in one of the inductions and a look back at a pioneer wrestling family that is never talked about.

U.S. Olympic wrestling trials, the major confrontations, the stars of the team, plus stars of the future to watch out for.

Stardom PPV show.

More into detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.

Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.

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].

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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be doing a show tonight talking all the latest news from wrestling and MMA, and we’ll have shows Saturday, Sunday and Monday with Bryan Alvarez talking WrestleMania and Raw.

Smackdown tonight is built around two matches originally considered for WrestleMania, the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and the four-way for the Smackdown tag titles with Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Street Profits vs. Chad Gable & Otis.

AEW is doing its first house show tonight in Jacksonville. The show was just about sold out this morning with about 100 tickets left.

A story with me talking about WrestleMania on Tampa radio with Mark Schrenier.

We’re doing polls this week for both Takeover shows and both WrestleMania shows, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with best and worst matches on both shows to [email protected].

Elle Magazine has a piece they’ve been working on for literally a few years on Becky Lynch.

A look at the British Parliament committee report on pro wrestling. (thanks to Lee Wall)

Stephanie McMahon talks WrestleMania with Bill Simmons.

A story on when Prince Phillip went to a major show in London for an all-star card at Royal Albert Hall. (thanks to Lee Wall)

Phillip, who passed away today at 99, was a fan and also attended a second show in July, 1968.  At the 1963 show, he gave George Kidd a medal for Outstanding Performance as he was a big fan of technical wrestling. The show raised 10,000 pounds for His Royal Highness’ Award Scheme.  Some of the historical biggest names in U.K. history were on that show like Kidd, Billy Robinson, Mick McManus, Ian Campbell, John Da Silva and Jackie Pallo. (thanks to Bradley Craig)

UFC weigh-ins for tomorrow’s show:

ESPN+ at Noon Eastern:

  • Impa Kasanganay (170.5) vs. Sasha Palatnikov (170.5)
  • Da Un Jung (205.5) vs. William Knight (205.5)
  • Luis Saldana (145.5) vs. Jordan Griffin (145.5)
  • Hunter Azure (135.5) vs. Jack Shore (136)
  • Yorgan DeCastro (261.5) vs. Jarjis Danho (255.5)
  • John Makdessi (153.5) vs. Ignacio Bahamondes (156.75),  Bahamondes forfeits 20 percent of his purse to Makdessi
  • Scott Holtzman (155.5) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156)
  • Jim Miller (155.5) vs. Joe Solecki (155.4)

ABC TV at 3 p.m. Eastern:

  • Mike Perry (170) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (170.5)
  • Nina Nunes (116) vs. Mackenzie Dern (115)
  • Sam Alvey (186) vs. Julian Marquez (186)
  • Sodiq Yusuff (146) vs. Arnold Allen (145.5)
  • Kevin Holland (183.5) vs. Marvin Vettori (186)
  • Nina Nunes was formerly known as Nina Ansaroff but is taking the name of her wife, Amanda Nunes. The scheduled Erin Blanchfield vs. Norma Dumont fight was canceled by the Nevada Athletic Commission due to Dumont missing weight by 3.5 pounds.

Bellator tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on Showtime:

  • Goiti Yamauchi (155.8) vs. Dan Moret (155.6)
  • Cat Zingano (145.2) vs. Olivia Parker (145.4)
  • Adam Borics (145.8) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (145.7)
  • Liz Carmouche (125.4) vs. Vanessa Porto (126)
  • Ryan Bader (205) vs. Lyoto Machida (204.6) in the light heavyweight tournament

WWE

AEW

  • Anakin Rosa, the 15-year-old son of Thunder Rosa, had his first match at the Dogg Pound Dojo  where his mother is a trainer, in San Antonio.

OTHER NOTES

  • Kevin Eck’s weekly ROH news.
  • Because of shows running long today, the shows on Title Match Network tonight from Florida will be starting later than originally scheduled (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • An article on the new book by John Arezzi, who we had on as a guest a few weeks ago.
  • The PFL has announced a partnership with FPT TV in Vietnam for the 2021 season.  FPT is the leading sports broadcaster in Vietnam.  They’ve also inked a deal with ELEVEN in Portugal for the new season that starts 4/23.  They will carry all the events this year.
  • The PFL also announced that Loren Mack has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications.  Mack has worked with the WEC, UFC and ONE in the past.  
  • Bellator light heavyweight Grand Prix odds from SportsBetting.ag:
    Vadim Nemkov +190
    Yoel Romero +425
    Ryan Bader +500
    Anthony Johnson +700
    Corey Anderson +1000
    Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov +1000
    Phil Davis +1400
    Lyoto Machida +3300
    For tonight Bader is a -290 favorite over Machida at +230
  • IWF will be running the first Tuesday of every month going forward on CompoundMedia.com
  • During an NHL game on NBC Sports network, announcer Bryan Boucher talked about how his coach used to wrestle as Little Brutus for Stampede Wrestling.(thanks to Barry Werner)
  • During the TV show “The Goldbergs” on ABC, two of the characters had an argument over who had the better physique, Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage (thanks to Joe Puccio)
  • Legacy Fighting on 4/16 at the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort in Shawnee, OK on Fight Pass is headlined by Aaron McKenzie (9-2-1) vs. Brandon Phillips (8-3).
  • Alex Hammerstone vs. Milo Muertes for the National Open weight title will headline Wednesday’s MLW Fusion show.
  • Generational Championship Wrestling from earlier today in Tampa:  Leila Grey b T-Gainz, Kayden Greene & Ronnie Rios b Sir Knight & Space Cowboy, Jake Painter b JC Vega, Danny Vegas & Hezekiah Hoskins & Jebediah Moss b The Make Its, Janai Kai b Killa Kate, Mr. King won six-way over Aaron Nova, Izzy James, Ron Bass Jr., Rey Fury and Speedy Ricky, , Culture Inc b The Mane Event-DQ, Lio Rush b KC Navarro (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Jim Crockett Promotions purchases UWF

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  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
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WON NEWSLETTER: April 5, 2021 Observer Newsletter: NXT to Tuesdays official, UFC 260 review

The end of the Wednesday night war is the lead story in the current issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

We look at the announcement, international implications, barbs back-and-forth, Paul Levesque’s speech announcing the move to those who work at NXT, the Wednesday night stats with one week left, a look at the final head-to-head battle, advantages each side had going in, what lessons were shown by the Wednesday wars, where each side had the advantage and what lessons it says about what people want out of their wrestling.

NXT’s move to Tuesday, what should happen with the ratings based on past examples, trajectory changes of late, the numbers each show has done in the past unopposed and what should and shouldn’t be expected to happen over the next few weeks. We also look at the 2021 averages for AEW and NXT.

Also in this issue:

How the Endeavor IPO changes the UFC business and how the ESPN deal makes making the big money fights less important to UFC. We look at the value of a Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou fight, but where the big payoff goes and where the big expense goes.l  We look at numbers Jones has talked about, the lightweight title, belts losing all credibility, and questions about Jones and Ngannou should a fight take place.

WWE Network shows migrating to Peacock, shows difficult to find, editing of shows, shows that had already been heavily edited, WWE next business report, how the new NFL scheduled affects Raw and WWE, Charly Caruso leaving and ESPN deal, Vince McMahon and Oliver Luck lawsuit update, William Shatner as wrestling fan decades ago, Glenn Jacobs honored, Rhea Ripley talks how she found out about her WrestleMania match, Paige talks wrestling again, writing team member let go, International TV ratings, how wrestling shows did s compared with sports programming this past week, Shawn Michaels talks superkicks, a look at the Hurt Business breakup, William Regal talks Sasha Banks, Hall of Fame news, and WWE market value.

UFC 260, with the background of the show, match-by-match coverage, business notes and poll results.

WWE heading into WrestleMania, the main event story behind the story the build up, business notes, ticket sales, NXT Takeover, plus updated lineups.

Andrade’s different interviews talking why he left, the Charlotte Flair pregnancy test story, the COVID story, the Saudi Arabia trip, where he may wind up, offers made by WWE, what he wants out of his career, and what angle suggested for him that was nixed.

ROH 19th anniversary show, with highlights, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

2021 Hodge trophy award voting and why there were two winners even with the voting not close.

Non-WWE shows during WrestleMania weekend, from AEW to Game Changer, ticket sales and more.

More into detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.

Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.

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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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be back tonight talking WrestleMania week, NXT moves to Tuesday, Jones vs. Ngannou, AEW issues, Chris Jericho and much more. Bryan and I will be back on Sunday including talking about New Japan Sakura Genesis.

The most surprising news of the day was Chris Jericho being the guest on Peacock on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions that will air after WrestleMania next Sunday. The basic story is that Austin and Jericho were talking and Austin brought up the idea of him doing the show.  He went to clear it with Vince McMahon who said it was fine. Jericho went to clear it with Tony Khan, who also said it was fine. This becomes a very interesting dynamic because there are things you know they can’t talk about (AEW beating NXT in the ratings) but they also can’t ignore AEW exists either. WWE gets what will likely be its most-watched non-PPV show of the year when kicking off the new streaming provider which is a real big deal. AEW in theory gets a plug right before starting unopposed on Wednesday. Jericho called it a win win situation for both sides. Tony Khan said that Jericho asked him the night before the last taping (this would be on 3/23) and he said he trusts Austin and Jericho and thought the idea sounded cool so he approved it.

The 5/25 UFC show in Houston at the Toyota Center headlined by Michael Chandler vs. Charles Oliveira was an instant sellout of 17,000 tickets. 

Jan Blachowicz, the UFC light heavyweight champion, said he’s open to moving to heavyweight for a fight with Jon Jones.

The weekend’s biggest show is New Japan’s Sakura Genesis show which takes place at 4 a.m. Eastern time Sunday morning. The two big matches are Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP world heavyweight title and Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Sho & Yoh for the IWGP jr. tag titles. Ospreay said that the mystery new member of The Empire that will be introduced on Sunday will be a newcomer to Japan. Our only poll this weekend will be on this 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]

Smackdown tonight has only announced Logan Paul appearing for the red carpet premiere of the trailer for Sami Zayn’s video. 

Andrade posted a photo of him claiming it was him signing a new contract.

Dustin Poirier has said that he has signed his end of the contract for a 7/10 fight with Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Conor McGregor hasn’t signed but the belief is they’ve largely agreed to terms.

CM Punk was one of the announcers of the CFFC show last night on UFC Fight Pass where former Olympic wrestler Khetag Pliev’s left ring finger was severed. He talked to TMZ about being on a live broadcast when this happened.

The U.S. Olympic wrestling team trials final bouts will air tomorrow on NBC Sports Network. Probably the biggest news is that 2016 bronze medalist J’den Cox, who has since won two world titles, moved up to 211 to challenge Kyle Snyder, the gold medalist in 2016, for his spot. Cox then missed weight and is not wrestling in the tournament. It’s unreal at that level with the Olympics once every four years to move up a class and then miss weight.

Gable Steveson and Nick Gwiazdowski won their semifinals and will meet for the Olympic team heavyweight spot in a best of three matches tomorrow.

A clarification from the current issue of the Observer regarding the AAA cruiserweight title.  AAA’s Twitter did mention Lio Rush beating Laredo Kid for the title on MLW TV. The company made the decision to just act as if that title change never happened.  We had reported that AAA never reported it on social media, except they did.    

A look at Patricio Pitbull Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez before their Bellator featherweight title match tonight on Showtime.

The Bellator show starts at 9 p.m. on Showtime with:

  • Alejandra Lara (124.2) vs. Kana Watanabe (124.8)
  • Usman Nurmagomedov (155.2) vs. Mike Hamel (155.0)
  • Tyrell Fortune (251.2) vs. Jack May (264.3)
  • Neiman Grace (170.0) vs. Jason Jackson (170.9)
  • Patricio Pitbull Freire (144.1) vs. Emmanuel Sanchez (144.5) for the featherweight title

Mike Goldberg is no longer announcing for Bellator. Scott Coker confirmed that he’s no longer going to be announcing with the move to Showtime. Mauro Ranallo has been the voice of Showtime boxing and MMA and is very highly regarded at the station. Tonight’s team is Ranallo, John McCarthy, Jenn Brown, Josh Thomson and AJ McKee.

WWE

  • There will be a full length Prime Target on the Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly match airing Tuesday on Peacock. The Hall of Fame on Tuesday starts at 8 p.m.
  • WrestleMania will have a one hour kickoff show at 7 p.m. both next Saturday and Sunday rather than the cumbersome two hour show they did in past years.
  • AB 1, the WWE TV partner in France, has announced five weeks of special programming every Monday night starting this week. The shows airing will be the Best of Smackdown special that aired in the U.S. in 2019, Legendary WrestleMania moments, WWE 24 on Raw 25, Andre the giant HBO documentary and Undertaker’s Last Ride. AB Explore in Belgium will be airing all the shows except Last Ride. In a trivia note, while people will think differently, Andre the Giant is virtually known mainstream in France (thanks to Tony Bouin)

UFC

  • SportsBetting.ag has listed Leon Edwards as a -350 favorite over Nate Diaz, and Marvin Vettori as a -300 favorite over Kevin Holland in their upcoming fights.
  • Jessica Penne faces Lupita Godinez on 4/17.  Godinez replaces Hannah Goldy, who pulled out for undisclosed reasons.

OTHER NEWS

  • Kevin Eck’s weekly look at the ROH news.
  • ROH will air a preview to its 500th episode with a two-hour special on Best om the Planet, a free ROH streaming channel on STIRR and PLEX on 4/15 from 6-8 p.m. Eastern. They will feature ten of the greatest matches in company history. They will announce the main event for episode 500 tomorrow at 11 a.m. on YouTube. The 500th episode also has Jonathan Gresham vs. Jay Lethal for the Pure title.
  • A story on independent shows in Tampa this coming week.
  • Dave Feldman’s Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has announced a pension plan for fighters in the promotion.  He said that each fighter after each fight will have an amount put into a pension account they can draw from after retirement.    
  • Bare Knuckle Fighting runs 4/30 in Birmingham, AL at Boutwell Auditorium, the former home of pro wrestling in that market with Josh Burs vs. Dillon Clecker and Marcel Stamps vs. Mike Richman.
  • Joe Rogan did a nearly three-hour podcast earlier in the week with Dan Gable.
  • AAW tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. Central time from GALLI Studios in Villa Park, IL, live on Twitch with Mance Warner vs. Manders for the AAW title, ACH vs. Brayden Lee, Hyan vs. Skye Blue, Fred Yehi vs. Travis Titan and Hakim Zane vs.; Myron Reed for the Heritage title, plus Ace Austin, Matt Justice, Davey Vega, Gringo Loco, Ace Perry and more.  Dragon Bane and El Hijo del Canis Lupus debut with the group on 4/24.
  • Wrestlerock from Melbourne, Australia earlier today: Mitch Waterman & Mad Dog b RB4K, Gore b Comrade Andrewartha, Royce Chambers b Cletus, Locky Hendricks b Drunk Uncle Beej, Avary b Kellyanne, Krackerjack won over Nick Bury, Royce Chambers and Locky Hendricks to win the vacant Wrestlerock championship. This was Krakerjack’s first match since 2017. The group runs Brewery Brawl on 5/15.
  • Mikey Nicholls vs. Robbie Eagles for the EPW title will be on 4/17 in Perth,Western Australia (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Faye Jackson announced she suffered a dislocated elbow and is retiring and will be off all her WrestleMania week dates in Tampa. She suffered the injury on 3/28 in a Tampa match with Bill Carr. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Wrestlingwithdemons.net)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage at WrestleMania V

CONTACT INFORMATION

Daily Update: Jon Jones, Bellator, Gable Steveson

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

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WON NEWSLETTER: March 29, 2021 Observer Newsletter: WrestleMania 37 lineup, Fastlane review

We’ve got a huge issue of the Observer this week with a lot of business notes, polls on the biggest shows of the last week, Match of the Week, Performer of the Week, New Japan Cup polls, several  bios and updates on the biggest shows.

With WrestleMania upcoming, we run down the show, why certain matches have changed, update on the WWE COVID situation including who was ad wasn’t back, WrestleMana ticket sales updates and the demand, a look at both NXT Takeover shows, the WWE’s new location for filming starting on 4/12, as well as UFC tickets sales for its first show and the current level of demand for tickets for both events.

Also in this issue:

More info on the WWE Network migration to Peacock, what is being edited off and why, the release of Andrade and more background on him, Glenn Jacobs and the Knox County mayor situation, update on Samantha Tavel lawsuit against Matt Riddle, Lots of Hall of Fame news and bios, announcer will no longer appear on TV, Stephanie McMahon talks WWE without Vince McMahon, how wrestling shows ranked among the sports shows this past week, what was planned to happen with the U.S. title this year and why it didn’t happen, Daniel Bryan talks his future, his philosophy on wrestling, who he wants to wrestle with lots of surprises, his current schedule, Randy Orton talks his career, WWE gets new television deal, WWE legend puts home for sale, new WWE video game news, WWE  documentary notes, injury updates and WWE stock price update.

A study done in Oslo, Norway which links steroid use to the aging of the brain and previous notes on things that could corroborate that regarding concussion recovery.  We also give a background of when steroid use started in sports and how it got started in the U.S.

Fast Lane show, including a unique look in a number of different metro areas between the interest level in Fast Lane, one of WWE’s weakest shows in years for interest, and Revolution, which two weeks earlier set AEW’s PPV record, match-by-match coverage of the show with star ratings and poll results.

New Japan Cup coverage, New Japan Cup match-by-match rankings, star ratings and poll results, why the Bea Priestley angle went down, notes on double standards and why these double standards exist with some of the fan base, who was the New Japan Cup MVP and best performer, as well as the first time an earthquake caused a wrestling match to stop in the middle for 25 minutes, where New Japan goes from here with the big shows in April and May, as well as this week’s show.

Impact moving to Thursday.

A major feature on the life of Barry Orton, his claims that got him on TV in 1992 on Donahue, Geraldo, Larry King and other shows, his thoughts looking back, how he met Mike Tenay and his impact on Mike Tenay’s career and wrestling knowledge, what Orton said under oath and the lie detector test he took, the times Vince McMahon confronted him, as well as Orton sending Vince McMahon a letter with his idea of having a rock & roll gimmick.

Barry Orton on the Donahue show, Tom Cole and Orton, stuff that was and wasn’t taken out of context, Orton’s career ending, life after wrestling, his Calgary run as The Zodiac and where it came from and why it ended, and how his career started.

This past week’s UFC show, the star that filed, where the winners are headed, the age-old weight cutting problem, how the show did in different deos and fight-by-fight coverage.  

A story on the death of Ed Farhat Jr., the son of The Sheik.  We look at his days as Captain Eddie George as well as his attempts to follow his father in promoting wrestling in Michigan. We look at the heyday of The Sheik, the movie “I Like To Hurt People” that Ed Jr., had a role in, the end of the heyday period and more.  

More detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.

Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.

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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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 talking Raw, ROH PPV, Jon Jones and a number of other subjects with Wrestling Observer Radio. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]

Antonio Inoki did a YouTube video today where he said, “There’s a part of me that feels like giving up. It’s enough. Please let me rest.” It should be noted there are other scenes in the video where he is more optimistic.

Jon Jones said that he’s supposed to be getting a fight proposal from UFC next week. Dana White is doing an amazing job this week because it’s not very easy to make Jones a universal babyface, and White inadvertently has managed to accomplish this. Jones earlier today made and deleted a Tweet asking for them to release him.  Now he’s written, “Fingers are crossed, this is an opportunity of a lifetime for everyone involved.”

We are doing weekend polls on UFC 260 and ROH 19th Anniversary show, so you can leave a  thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]

WWE officials have noted to us that WrestleMania both nights will start at 8 p.m., and not the 7 p.m. start time most PPVs start at. It will also be available on PPV at different price points ranging from $59.99 to $70.

Speaking of weekend PPV shows, if anyone has a way of seeing the Volador Jr. vs. Bandido match from Friday night, let me know about it. I try to list the match of the week and I have a feeling that one could, if not be it, be in the running.

I’m surprised at the lack of mainstream reaction to Logan Paul to Smackdown on Friday. Still no word on his role in the Owens vs Zayn match at WrestleMania past that’s he’s part of the plan.  It probably will get a lot in the days leading up to the show, or if he does a strong angle on Friday.  

Charlotte Flair returns tonight to Raw. Or at least she’s in St. Petersburg today and healthy.  Riddle vs. Sheamus in a non-title match has also been advertised.

Gable Steveson (heavyweight) and Spencer Lee (125) were co-winners of the 2021 Hodge Trophy. Both were undefeated NCAA champions. Steveson’s brother is with WWE already and he’s expected to follow. The Olympic trials take place this coming weekend. Sevenson and Nick Gwiazdowski (who in the past has said he was headed to WWE later) are probably the top candidates at 286 pounds.

A&E and WWE have announced free outdoor screenings of their documentaries at drive-ins in Houston, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Memphis, Detroit and Philadelphia. A&E has finished eight two-hour shows on Steve Austin, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Booker T,  Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Mick Foley and Ultimate Warrior which start on television on 4/18.  The drive-in movies will be Booker T and Austin. The Booker T one screens at the Moonstruck Drive-In in Houston 4/6, the Malco Summer Drive-In in Memphis on 4/12 and  The Springs Cinema & Taphouse in Atlanta on 4/15.  The Austin feature will be 4/13 in Detroit at the Ford-Wyoming Drive-in, 4/14 in Indianapolis at the Center Brook Drive-in, and 4/17 in Philadelphia at the Parking Lot Theaters.

Bellator returns to action after months off with a card on Showtime on Friday night at 9 p.m. Eastern headlined by Patricio Pitbull Freire defending the featherweight title against Emmanuel Sanchez, which is also part of the company’s featherweight Grand Prix tournament.

New Japan runs Korakuen Hall with another 5:30 a.m. Eastern time show tomorrow:

  • Tesuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Bushi & Sanada vs. Yuya Uemura & Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd & Tiger Mask
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado & Douki vs. Sho & Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato
  • Bad Luck Fale & Kenta & Evil & Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jay White & Gedo & Jado
  • Will Ospeary & Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan vs. Kota Ibushi & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

It’s 2021 and Takagi is in the opener and Tenzan is in the main event, and that’s not the only time this week that has happened.  

WWE

  • The show “Wipeout” starring John Cena and Nicole Byer that has been advertised heavily on AEW debuts on Thursday night on TBS as a new weekly series.
  • Buddy Murphy, whose 2021 year has consisted of two matches even though he’s one of the best in-ring guys in the company and I know several people who think he’s one of the best in the world, wrote today to Aleister Black about wanting to steal the show at WrestleMania.
  • The Guardian reported that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now spent more than $1.5 billion on sportswashing, noting the WWE shows as part of that figure.

AEW

  • AEW put tickets on sale for 4/7 and 4/9 this morning. The 4/7 tickets are ahead of normal pace but not much head. The 4/9 tickets are not sold out and the show will sell out.
  • Dark tomorrow night has:
    Joey Janela vs. Chandler Hopkins
    5 & 10 vs. D3 & Vary Morales
    Billy & Austin & Colten Gunn vs  Rex Lawless & Milk Chocolate
    Ryo Mizunami vs. KiLynn King
    Penelope Ford vs. Leila Gray
    Scorpio Sky vs. Mike Sydal
    Thunder Rosa vs. Alex Gracia
    Ethan Page vs. Fuego del Sol
    Frankie Kazarian vs. Danny Limelight
    Leyla Hirsch vs. Vipress
    Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy vs. Ryan Nemeth & JD Drake
    Jon Moxley vs. Bill Collier
    Hikaru Shida & Tay Conti vs. Jazmin Allure & Tesha Price
  • TMZ reported that Chris Jericho donated $2,500 to the family of the slain Uber Eats driver, 66-year-old Mohammd Anwar, who was killed during a carjacking last week. Police believe two girls, 13 and 15, shot him with a taser in an attempt to steal his car. The girls crashed the car and it flipped over and Anwar was killed. Jericho said, “I just thought the whole situation was terrible and it really hit me hard.  It’s not much, but it’s the most I could do to try and bring some light into a dark situation.” Both girls have been charged with felony murder and armed carjacking.
  • Paul Wight has a full page ad in the latest Dental Products Report magazine (thanks to Mike Lano)

OTHER NOTES

  • Ethel DiPaolo, the widow of Ilio DiPaolo, Buffalo’s most popular wrestler of the 50s and 60s passed away at the age of 88.  Ilio was an iconic local character as this story in the Buffalo News notes, (thanks to Alex Marvez)
  • The Washington Post on Daniel Rodimer and his Congressional run in Texas. (thanks to Chris Cruise)
  • Innovate Wrestling from Saturday night in Kingsport, TN:  Chris Richard won over JC Addams Tyler Thorn, Jeff Connelly, Josh Strong and Tyler Foshie, Chance Rizer b James Johnson, RT 3 b Sultan of Dubai, Cross Brothers b Heatseekers to win US tag titles, Axton Ray b Caleb Courageous, Toby Farley b Jordan Kage to win US title, Chase Owens b Gustavo Aguilar. The next show is 5/29 in Kingsport at the Civic Center.
  • The Pope vs. Fred Rosser for the TV title headlines NWA Powerrrr on Fite TV tomorrow night.
  • The final Tuesday night episode of Impact is tomorrow:
    Eric Young vs. James Storm – This is the match where Young tore his ACL
    Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. Havok & Nevaeh non-title
    Ace Austin & Mad Man Fulton vs. TJP & Josh Alexander
    Kenny Omega will be on the show
  • AXS airs the 2012 Bound for Glory show tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern which was headlined by Austin Aries vs. Jeff Hardy and  Sting & Bully Ray vs. Aces and Eights.  I believe this was the show in San Antonio, and if it was, it was the largest North American crowd the promotion ever drew (6,700).
  • Impact will be doing a virtual fanfest on 4/25 at 11 a.m. Eastern for two hours before the PPV with Rich Swann, Deonna Purrazzo, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Kiera Hogan, Tasha Steelz and Ace Austin.
  • FWA from yesterday in Sydney, Australia:  Donnie Mako & CJ Phoenix b Buccaneer & Rochelle Rouge and Tyson Reed & Ben Braxton, Sam Osboure b Fox, Tyler Gunn over Mat Gauge, Josh Gatt, Lee Morrow and Matthias Clock, Parker Thomas b AJ to keep the Mercury title, Xena b Aysha to keep the women’s title, Jey Dewhurt b Kellyanne, JXT b 5 Star Flash, Cesar b Massive Q-DQ, Big Fudge won over Ricky South and Backman to win the FWA heavyweight title (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Melbourne City Wrestling on 4/10 headlined by Adam Brookes vs.; Danny Psycho and Kellyanne vs Avary.
  • Wrestlerock on 4/1 in Melbourne. They also have a 5/15 show at the Moon Dog Brewery
  • Australian Wrestling Superstars on 4/10 in Sydney with Robbie Eagles vs. Lee Morrow
  • AAW returns Friday night on Twitch from the Galli Studios in Villa Park, IL with Mance Warner vs. Manders for the AAW title plus Hakim Zane, Ace Austin, Fred Yehi, Matt Justice, Davey Vega, Gringo Loco, Hyan, ACH, Travis Titan,Skye Blue,Ace Perry, Brayden Lee, Myron Reed Ray Lyn, Gary Jay, Allie Kat, Joe Asa,Dante Leon and John E Bravo.
  • Tom Lawlor vs Lord Crewe headlines the UWFI Rules Contender series on Wednesday night on IWTV. Crewe is billed as a Bare Knuckle fighter out of Ohio. Cole Radrick vs. Yoya as well.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWF WrestleMania III

CONTACT INFORMATION

February 15, 2021 Observer Newsletter: Butch Reed bio, Bellator to Showtime

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Bruce Reed, mostly known as “Hacksaw” Butch Reed, who in the early-to-mid 80s was an incredible blend of power and agility and became one of the best wrestlers in the world in a short period of time, passed away on 2/5 at the age of 66.

Reed tested positive for COVID-19 on 1/12, and then suffered two major heart attacks later in the month, which he never recovered from.

Reed, born July 11, 1954, excelled in a wide variety of sports, notably football, basketball, track (where he both ran the 100 meters and threw the shot put), and powerlifting, before pro wrestling. The peak of his career was when he was for a time the top babyface in Championship Wrestling from Florida, and later, one of the key players, as both a babyface and a heel in the glory days of Mid South Wrestling.

He also had an incredible series of matches battling for the NWA championship against Ric Flair in Florida, Mid South Wrestling, Central States and St. Louis during his in-ring peak from 1982 to 1985, when he was top ten in the world.

He also had a run in the WWF under the name “The Natural” Butch Reed, where at some point he was slated to win the Intercontinental title in the 80s, and his last major promotion run was with World Championship Wrestling as part of the tag team of Doom with Ron Simmons.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

Daily Update: Conor McGregor, Bellator, UFC cuts

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

  • Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER.
  • If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

Latest Free YouTube Video:

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WON NEWSLETTER: February 8, 2021 Observer Newsletter: WWE breaks revenue records, AEW/NJPW deal

Our lead story in this week’s Observer covers WWE finances.  We look at the direct numbers of WWE, revenue, profits, value of the company on Wall Street,  what was up and why, what was down and why, exactly how much WWE took in on TV rights, network and merchandise.  We look at what the company’s top priorities are for 2021, why the stock price is down, plus Vince McMahon, WWE President Nick Khan, CBO Stephanie McMahon and CFO Kristina Salen comment on the company.

They talk the Peacock deal, the Indian and Latin American markets, new television products, how much COVID cost the company in revenue and costs of the Thunderdome set-up as compared to the old way of doing things.  

The issue also covers:

Ratings, as well as what USA would be doing without WWE, and WWE’s declines as compared to cable and network TV as a whole, how much money WWE has taken in and profited, or lost, every year since 1994.

Update the New Japan/AEW relationship, the different steps over the past few years from New Japan blowing off AEW to them doing business with the KENTA vs. Jon Moxley program, why it happened and where things stand now.

Royal Rumble, including how everyone did, stories behind the matches, age of men’s talent in WWE vs AEW and the message loud and clear, two of the main events scheduled for WrestleMania, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

New Japan deal with Roku and what this means both short and long-term, as well as other people who had interest.  We look at the keys to the deal decision going the way it did.

Viewing experience for fans from Peacock, John Cena WrestleMania notes, NXT Takeover card, update on the Dusty Classic shows, two top WWE stars talk their recent positive tests for COVID, details behind the firings of Lars Sullivan and Steve Cutler, update on Vince McMahon/Oliver Luck lawsuit, Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley talk Undertaker remarks, International TV ratings, how wrestling does in comparison to other sports in the ratings, Bill Goldberg talks MMA, background of Reginald, Cesar update, new WWE signing and most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.

NJPW New Beginning in Nagoya, with match-by-match coverage, poll results, and where things are going next.

Giant Baba Memorial show.

Television ratings of the past week, including segment-by-segment numbers for the past two weeks on Wednesday, who was watching in different age groups, how different segments did on Raw & Smackdown and more.

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].

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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.

MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio late tonight. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]

On Google trends for the past week, Saturday’s UFC show did 600,000 which is huge for an ESPN+ show.  A lot of that was due to having big names like Alistair Overeem and Frankie Edgar lose, and the Edgar knockout loss in 28 seconds was the big discussion point coming off the show.  Edgar also trended. It was in the No. 8 spot on Saturday and four of the seven ahead were Super Bowl related. On Friday, Paige VanZant was No. 6 at 200,000 from her Bare Knuckle fighting loss to Britt Hart. On Monday, the death of Dustin Diamond, who dabbled in wrestling but was best known as Screech in Saved by the Bell, had 5 million searches. For a comparison,which tells you how impressive Conor McGregor numbers are, The Super Bowl did 16.5 million searches.

Speaking of McGregor, Ariel Helwani reported today on his podcast with Daniel Cormier that UFC was leaning in the direction of doing a Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier rematch soon. No word yet on what it means as far as the lightweight title is concerned.

Tonight’s Raw will set up the Elimination Chamber PPV. They only have two Raws to build the show, so they will likely have Chamber qualifiers, announce the main event, which the best guess is Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus on the Raw side, plus a Charlotte Flair-Lacey Evans face-to-face segment, McIntyre vs. Randy Orton and more.

Straight Up Steve Austin after Raw tonight has Bret Favre as a guest.

For this week, there are three major Japanese shows airing. New Beginning in Hiroshima day one is Wednesday morning at 4:30 a.m. Eastern with Hiromu Takahahashi vs. Sho. The second show is Thursday morning at 1 a.m. Eastern with Kota Ibushi vs, Sanada for the IWGP title, which is 10 p.m. Pacific Wednesday evening so it starts on the West Coast right after AEW & NXT end. Actually it starts right before NXT ends because NXT usually has an overrun. Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Budokan Hall show with Go Shiozaki vs. Keiji Muto starts at 2:30 a.m. Eastern late Thursday night Eastern time.

Bellator is saying it will have a special announcement tomorrow at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Heath Schnedier, the promoter of ACW in Florida, a group that worked with WWN, is in bad condition after suffering a stroke which caused swelling on the brain.

WWE

  • A story on Curt Stallion and his WWE start. (thanks to Mike Kumzuk)
  • Rapper Bow Wow wants to be in WWE saying he wants to team with Rey Mysterio.

UFC

  • Gokhan Saki, who was one of the best kickboxers in the world when he signed with UFC, has been released.  Saki hasn’t fought in nearly three years due to a number of injuries including a fractured elbow.
  • Guram Kutateladze is out of his 3/13 fight with Don Madge due to undergoing knee surgery.
  • Andre Ewell vs.Chris Gutierrez has been added to this coming Saturday’s UFC 238 show in the early prelims.
  • Spike Carlyle announced that UFC has cut him.

AEW

  • Chris Jericho is doing the narration for the season three episodes of Dark Side of the Ring which have been filming for the last few months.  
  • A replay of Go Big Show airs on CW on 2/12 at 8 p.m.

OTHER NEWS

  • Impact on Tuesday night on AXS has Trey Miguel & Suicide & Josh Alexander & Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey & Ace Austin & Blake Christian & Shawn Daivari, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson vs Chris Sabin & James Storm for he tag titles, ODB vs. Kimber Lee and Kiera Hogan vs. Nevaeh.  
  • The 2009 Final Resolution PPV headlined by A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels, Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuinness) vs. Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner vs. Bobby Lashley last man standing and more will air at 4 p.m. Eastern tomorrow on AXS.
  • ACH vs. Brian Pillman Jr. has been added to Wednesday’s Fusion show on YouTube and Fubo. The main event is title vs. title with MLW middleweight champion Lio Rush facing AAA cruiserweight champion Laredo Kid.
  • A story on Gabi Tuft, the former Tyler Reks, and the sex change operation was covered on the Houston FOX station. (thanks to Ross Blair)
  • Here’s some interesting finds. This was women’s wrestling star Judy Grable on the TV show What’s My Line at 12:40. And this was Fabulous Moolah on To Tell the Truth. (thanks to Bob Nowak)
  • The Melbourne City Wrestling return show from Saturday night went online on their Vimeo page. Slex vs. Adam Brooks in a three stages of hell match headlines. The match got over big with the live crowd.  
  • Robbie Eagles vs. Mat Gauge headlines the 2/20 Suplex Pro Wrestling show in Newcastle, Australia.
  • Riot City Wrestling is part of Adelaide’s Fringe Festival on 2/27 and 3/20. Matt Hayter vs. Rocky Menero for the RCW title is the main event on 3/20.
  • FWAS from Saturday night in Sydney, Australia: CBK & AJ b Kasai & Bob the Viking & Tyler Gunn, Parker Tomas b Lee Morrow to keep the Mercury title, Buccaneer Cesar & Rochelle Rouge b Massiva Q & Matt Gauge & Mathias clock, Blackman b Kai Drake, 5 Star Flash b Vinnie Vain in a street fight, Robbie Eagles won three-way over Unsocial Jordan and Sam Osborne, Xena b Tarelee to win the FWA women’s title, Rhys Angel & Donnie Mako b Jude Lndon & Paris De Silva in a 2/3 fall match to win the FWA tag titles (thanks to Kevin Chiat)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Pedro Morales wins WWWF World title

CONTACT INFORMATION

Yoel Romero signs with Bellator MMA, will fight at 205 pounds

Posted on by Josh Nason

Despite initially showing no interest when he was released by the UFC, Bellator MMA has signed former UFC middleweight title contender Yoel Romero for their light heavyweight division, debuting at some point in 2021.

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani first reported the news with Romero’s agents confirming. Helwani reported that after Bellator initially passed, both sides talked further with a light heavyweight run on the table, coming to a deal recently.

With the deal, Romero reunites with Scott Coker who he fought for once during an injury-plagued run in Strikeforce.

UFC released the 43-year-old ten days ago as part of 60+ cuts UFC president Dana White said are coming by year’s end in an effort to cut down their growing roster size.

Bellator has made an effort to deepen their light heavyweight division this year, signing former UFC contender Corey Anderson and former UFC title contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson to join current champion Vadim Nemkov and former champion Ryan Bader.

Daily Update: UFC & Bellator weigh-ins, WWE stock, UFC notes

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

WON NEWSLETTER: September 14, 2020 Observer Newsletter: AEW All Out reviewed, more

A look at recent concussion and head trauma issues in wrestling as it relates to Matt Hardy and other recent situations in other companies is the lead story in the new issue of the Observer.  We go through Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara, how it was handled, Reby Hardy’s reactions, AEW’s releases, as well as look at many other high profile situations in the last few years in New Japan and WWE, including Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar and how that match pretty much tells you that there will always be exceptions to concussion protocol.

Also in this issue:

Other risks taken in AEW of late, along with complete coverage of All Out, with business notes inculding PPV numbers, poll results,match-by-match coverage and star ratings.

WWE’s new policy on third party bookings, with WWE clarifying many issues, talent reactions, how things seemed to change during the week, as well as reaction from others in wrestling along with Andrew Yang.

G-1 Climax tournament including the blocks and favorites.

Appellate court ruling that threw out a series of lawsuits against WWE on different grounds.  We look at the legal technicalities regarding why these cases had little chance from the start, the one aspect still open and reactions from both lawyers.

Latest firings by WWE, who was involved , why they were done now, plus a look at the career of Gerald Brisco.

Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole, Clash of Champions card, PPV schedule change, NXT UK TV show note, Styles talks retirement, AOP firing notes, Canadian ratings, Where WWE ranks in sports ratings, Cena new TV show, Lawler talks why WWE announcing has changed, WWE star nominated for an award, next week’s TV, WWE current market value as well as the most watched shows for the week on the WWE Network.

Complete coverage of this past Saturday’s UFC show.

The formation of a new pro wrestling group by a major corporation and how it differs from any group in the world as far as its main platform.

Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will be doing a show tonight and Bryan and I will be doing our weekend show on Saturday night after the UFC show.

Smackdown tonight on FOX at 8 P.M. has Jeff Hardy vs. A.J. Styles for the IC title plus an interview with Bayley. 205 Live has announced Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde.

The first NFL game last night on NBC did 19.3 million viewers on television and 970,000 streaming, so a 95.3/4.7 percent split. It was down 10.6 percent from last year but up 5.2 percent from two years ago.  It was the largest audience for a television show since the Academy Awards on 2/9.  It led to all sports being down last night with the Lakers-Rockets doing 2.5 million viewers and the U.S. Open doing 1.5 million, plus NHL did 790,000. The NFL decline was generally considered due to the NBA competition and that the game was a blowout 

UFC has a full ESPN+ show tomorrow starting at 5 p.m. Eastern:

  • Sabina Mazo (125.5) vs. Justine Kish (125.5)
  • Bryan Barbarena (170) vs. Anthony Ivy (169.5)
  • Brok Weaver (164) vs. Jailn Turner (163.5)
  • Alexander Romanov (261) vs. Roque Martinez (258.5)
  • Roosevelt Roberts (155.5) vs. Kevin Croom (154.5)
  • Julia Avila (135) vs. Sijara Eubanks (135)
  • Kyle Nelson (145.5) vs. Billy Quarantillo (145.5)
  • Bobby Green (156) vs. Alan Patrick (156)
  • Ed Herman (205.5) vs. Mike Rodriguez (205.5)
  • Roxanna Modaferri (125) vs. Andrea Lee (125.5)
  • Khama Worthy (155.5) vs. Ottman Azaitar (156)
  • Angela Hill (115.5) vs. Michelle Waterson (115)

Croom is a late replacement for Matt Frevola, who was injured.  Weaver vs,. Turner was a 165 pound fight by agreement due to Turner taking the fight just a few days ago.  The fight with Matt Schnell vs. Tyson Nam is off when Schnell had health issues trying to make weight today.

Bellator tonight from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT at 10 p.m. Eastern on DAZN and Paramount:

  • Phil Davis (205.7) vs. Lyoto Machida (205.3)
  • Cat Zingano (145.9) vs. Gabby Holloway (150.7)
  • Ed Ruth (185.1) vs. Taylor Johnson (185.7)
  • Raymond Daniels (169.7) vs. Peter Stanonik (166.6)

Prelims are at 8:15 p.m. on the Bellator YouTubs channel:

  • Rafael Carvalho (205.8) vs. Alex Polizzi (203.6)
  • Tyrell Fortune (251.1) vs. Jack May (259.8)
  • Leslie Smith (145.7) vs.; Amanda Bell (149)
  • Keith Lee (140.7) vs. Vinicius Zani (143.2)

Bell missed weight by 3 pounds and Holloway missed weight by 4.7 pounds.

Bellator’s final show on Paramount is Saturday at 10 p.m. Eastern with YouTube fights starting at 8:45 p.m.:

  • Juan Archuleta (134.6) vs. Patchy Mix (135) for the vacant bantamweight title – A lot of people think this is the big fight of the weekend
  • Jon Fitch (170.5) vs. Neiman Gracie (170.8)
  • Liz Carmouche (125.5) vs. DeAnna Bennett (131.7)
  • Derek Campos (154) vs. Kenni Diggs (157)

Bennett missed weight by 5.7 pounds and Diggs by 1 pound.

New Japan Strong at 10 p.m..Eastern on New Japan World:

  • TJP & ACH vs. Adrian Quest & Logan Riegel
  • Rocky Romero vs. Danny Limelight
  • Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. PJ Black & David Finlay
  • KENTA vs. Jeff Cobb for U.S. title challenger briefcase

 WWE

  • Wells Fargo has downgraded WWE stock to a projected $37 per share earlier today.  The reasons included the added expense of running at the Thunderdome and running weekly will cut profit margins.
  • A story on Adam Cole visiting a children’s hospital. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)

UFC

  • A fight with Elizeu Zaleski vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov has been added to the 10/24 PPV show in Abu Dhabi
  • Austin Springer announced his retirement today after being cut yesterday by UFC.  He missed weight for his 8/29 fight and said that he told his family that if he ever got to UFC that would be the last place he would fight.  He also lost via first round submission in that fight with Alex Caceres.

MISCELLANEOUS 

  • The Huffington Post has a Mick Foley politics story (thanks to Paul Kacprzak)
  • Kevin Eck’s ROH news and notes column.
  • CWE announced notes on its next tour. Right now their tour throughout Canada for 10/17 to 11/9 is on, but obviously there are many things out of their control.  Vampiro has pulled out of the tour telling promoters he is shooting a movie internationally.  They still don’t know whether U.S. talent will be allowed in.  Shane Douglas, Vincent and Jimmy Jacobs are booked for the tour but they say they have enough talent to do the tour with all Canadian talent.  Robin Lekime and Lory are also off the tour due to issues with traveling and quarantining from Europe.  Norman Harass may be on the tour because his dates start later but it will be unlikely.  Manitoba and Alberta dates are on.  As far as Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario, they don’t allow indoor gatherings of more than 50 people in some places, 30 in others and ten in others so without changes, those shows can’t take place.  But things can change.
  • Western Pro Wrestling in Australia announced it was closing. That was expected by those in the know in Australia. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Aron Stevens is the new booker for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. He’s also helping book the weekly PPV shows that the NWA and CWFH are doing starting 9/15.
  • Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has a ten bout show tonight starting at 9 p.m. Eastern in Daytona Beach, FL. It will air exclusively on the Bare Knuckle TV streaming service with Thiago Alves vs. Julian Lane, Hector Lombard vs. Kendall Grove and Abdiel Velazquez vs. Reggie Barnett Jr. as the top fights. They also announced a 10/10 show from Salina, KS with Joey Beltran vs. Marcel Stamps and 2016 Olympic bronze medal winning boxer Nico Hernandez vs. Chacney Wilson.  Plus former Bellator star Dave Rickels will be on that show.
  • LFA runs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on UFC Fight Pass with Chidi Njokuani  (18-7) vs. Cristian Torres (15-10) in a middleweight main event.
  • The PFL has announced a multi-year television deal with Eurosport in India.
  • AIW returns to Indianapolis on 10/9 at the Marion County Fairgrounds with Matt Justice vs Joshua Bishop in a no rope barbed wire match for the absolute title as part of The Collective series of shows that weekend in that building.
  • Eddie Kingston’s Grindhouse show on 9/26 on club WWN will feature Lenny Leonard back as announcer. 
  • Superkick’d returns on 10/1 on their YouTube channel.
  • IWTW presents ICW No Holds Barred tonight at 9 p.m. on IWTV.Live with Eric Ryan vs. AKIRA .
  • Pro Wrestling EVE will live stream a classic event that includes Riho, Emi Sakura, Shanna, Kay Lee Ray, Viper Piper Niven and Nina Samuels tomorrow at 7 p.m. Eastern on its YouTube channel. The show will not be archived and can only be watched live. 
  • A video on TV shows with pro wrestling storylines. (thanks to Chris Cruise)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: AJ Styles wins his first WWE World title

CONTACT INFORMATION

Daily Update: All Out tickets, Triple H, weekend preview

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

WON NEWSLETTER: August 31, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Death of Bob Armstrong, WWE ThunderDome debut

A look at the life and wrestling career of Bob Armstrong is the lead in this week’s double issue of the Observer. We go through what made him a star, his appeal in the Southeast, his role in the famed Atlanta promotion war, what his booking by Bill Watts in Florida inspired more than a decade later, the Roddy Piper feud, the numbers Georgia wrestling did on cable, his success in different territories and his authority roles later in his career.

Also in this issue:

Thunderdome, what hit, what missed, what audience came back for it, what has been learned so far, the sweetheart business deal, the Payback card and booking, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

Television situation changing for Bellator and what that means, including the unique nature of their ownership that explains why it was purchased in the first place.

Karrion Kross injury and Tuesday’s NXT show to fill the title vacancy.

A look back at the first NXT Takeover and at the 30th show, with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results.

New Japan’s first major outdoor stadium show in 21 years, the last non-Tokyo Dome stadium show before this, what Jingu Stadium is most known for historically, an show preview and a look at this past week’s Korakuen Hall show.

The economics of WWE, the Sonya Deville court hearing, return to action of the U.K. crew and plans, Renee Young talks her time in WWE, Big E/Miz talk, WWE new hires, Orton and Flair talk their angle, how wrestling did compared to other sports this past week, Canadian & U.K. ratings, rewriting of Raw this past week, most watched shows on WWE network this past week and company current market value.

Saturday’s UFC show with business notes and match-by-match coverage.

Return of CMLL, its plans for this year’s anniversary show and how the voting for specific matches is doing.

Television viewers per home for the biggest sports events of the past week and how wrestling fits in.

Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

I will be doing a show tonight with Garrett Gonzalez and Andreas Hale talking current events and pro wrestling. Bryan and I will have shows Saturday talking UFC and NJPW’s shows that day and Sunday talking WWE Payback. We will have weekend polls, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match on the New Japan Jingu Stadium show and the WWE Payback show.

AEW tickets for shows this coming Wednesday and All Out on 9/5 go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow. There will be only 500 tickets put on sale for each show.

Tonight’s Smackdown features the contract signing with The Fiend vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman on Sunday. The rating is interesting. It should rise with Reigns being back, unless last week’s number was more Thunderdome curiosity than anything else, then it could drop a little. But it should be well above what the show had been doing.

The famed Roddy Piper/Bob Armstrong angle in Georgia in 1982. More Piper and Armstrong stuff here.

  • UFC tomorrow is an all ESPN+ show starting at 6 p.m. Eastern
  • Sean Brady (170.5) vs. Christian Aguilera (170)
  • Emily Whitmire (115.5) vs Polyana Viana (116)
  • Alex Caceres (145) vs. Austin Springer (151)
  • Zak Cummings (185) vs. Alessio Di Chirico (184)
  • Mallory Martin (115.5) vs. Hannah Cifers (117)
  • Maki Pitolo (184.5) vs. Impa Kasanganay (185.5)
  • Magomed Ankalaev (205) vs. Ion Cutelaba (205.5)
  • Ricardo Lamas (145) vs. Bill Algeo (146)
  • Alexa Grasso (126) vs. Ji Yeon Kim (126)
  • Neil Magny (171) vs. Robbie Lawler (171)
  • Anthony Smith(205) vs. Alexander Rakic (205.5)

Springer, who was a late add just yesterday, missed weight by five pounds and was fined 30 percent of his purse. Cifers missed weight by 1 pound and she will forfeit 20 percent of her purse. Gika Chikadze, who was to face Caceres, tested positive for COVID-19 and was removed from the show.   

New Japan at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo at 4 a.m. Eastern Saturday morning:

  • Master Wato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Desperado vs. Sanada vs. Toru Yano for KOPW title
  • Shingo Takagi vs. Minoru Suzuki for Never title
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori for IWGP jr. title
  • Zack Sabre Jr. &  Taichi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi for IWGP tag titles
  • Evil vs. Tetsuya Naito for IWGP & IC titles

New Japan Strong tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern On New Japan World:

  • Jordan Clearwater vs. Danny Limelight
  • TJP & ACH & Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors vs. Adrian Quest & Blake Christian & Barrett Brown & Misterioso
  • Chase Owens vs. PJ Black

WWE EVP of Global Talent Strategy Paul Levesque sold 52,807 shares of his WWE stock on Wednesday and Thursday for $2,410,160. He still has 81,325 shares worth  about $3.66 million.

WWE

  • Payback odds from www.BetOnlin.ag:
    Bray Wyatt -300 vs. Roman Reigns +150 vs. Braun Strowman +500
    Keith Lee -120 vs. Randy Orton -120
    Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax -140 vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks +100
    Bobby Lashley -250 vs. Apollo Crews +170 
  • Odds for the NXT title match on Tuesday
    Finn Balor +140 vs. Tommaso Ciampa +160 vs. Adam Cole +250 vs. Johnny Gargano +350

UFC

  • Tom Breese vs. Roman Kopylov has been added to the 10/3 show.

AEW

  • I haven’t seen all the numbers at this writing but apparently the Jon Moxley/MJF segment and Young Bucks vs. Best Friends segments on last night’s shows did the best. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

  • David Arquette from the ROHStrong Podcast with Kevin Eck.
  • ROH News from the past week. 
  • The Two Rows from Ringside podcast did an interview with Kamala last month and justreleased it
  • Lucha Va Voom will be doing a live streaming show on 9/3 from 7-8 p.m. Pacific time at EventBrite.com  Taya Valkyrie and members of the Los Angeles Roller Girls will be appearing.
  • Cage Fury Fighting Championships has acquired the Memphis-based V-3 fights organization and will be running shows on 9/17 and 9/18 in Tunica, MS with C.M. Punk and John Morgan as announcers.  The first night has Jared Scoggins (9-1) vs. Thomas Vazquez (9-4) in the main event.  The second night main event has CFFC welterweight champion Jeremiah Wells (8-2-1) defending against Bobby Lee (11-4).
  • Bare Knuckle Boxing is running a show with tickets on sale on 9/11 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL.  It will air on the Bare Knuckle TV App with Thiago Alves vs. Phil Baroni and Hector Lombard vs. Kendall Grove as the main events.
  • KSW runs tomorrow from Warsaw, Poland.  Shail Musaev pulled out of the show due to injury so the new main event has lightweight champion Mateusz Gamrot (16-0, 155.0) defending against Marian Ziokowski (21-7-1, 154) plus boxing champion Izu Ugonoh (0-0, 232) vs. Quentin Domingos (5-1, 254).
  • Jimmy Smith will be hosting a show in Sirius XM called Unlocking the Cage with Jimmy Smith which debuts on Monday on Fight Nation.
  • AIW at Noon on 9/6 from Indianapolis will have an iPPV on FITE TV.  Ethan Page vs. Tom Lawlor is on the show.
  • Giovanni “Romeo” Roselli, a former WWE wrestler who formed a tag team with Antonio Thomas, was named Best Male Presenter by SCW Mania for his work online as a personal trainer for his live streaming courses.
  • An interview with Shaul Guerrero.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWF SummerSlam 1989

CONTACT INFORMATION

Paige VanZant signs bare knuckle fighting deal, turns down Bellator

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a surprise move, former UFC strawweight and once hopeful WWE signee Paige VanZant is leaving MMA for a career in bare knuckle fighting instead.

First reported by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, VanZant has signed a exclusive four fight deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), turning down a contract offer from front runner and once expected future home, Bellator MMA, where her husband currently fights.

Helwani reported the deal is worth more than $1 million over the life of the deal and also includes incentives. 

The 26-year-old lost the final fight on her UFC contract in July and had spoken prior to the fight about wanting to test free agency with Dana White suggesting that would be a good idea. She was 5-4 over nearly six years in the Octagon, fighting just three times since 2017 due to repeated injuries.

During her 13 fight career, she has just two wins by KO or TKO.

VanZant had been linked to WWE in the past, telling TMZ in 2018 she was “definitely interested” in going there, saying she loved it and had the personality for it. She also reportedly was discussing a SummerSlam appearance with the company in 2016.

Daily Update: WarnerMedia shake-up, WWE live tapings, MMA weigh-ins

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

WON NEWSLETTER: August 10, 2020 Observer: The Rock & Dany Garcia buy XFL, new WWE president, more

The Rock & Dany Garcia purchase the XFL, WWE hires a new president, plus tons of news.

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

As it relates to wrestling, the biggest news of the week by far is that Kevin Reilly, who greenlit AEW as one of his pet projects and actually was one of the keys in the creation of the organization, is out at WarnerMedia. Reilly and Bob Greenblatt were announced as being out today and Casey Bloys and Ann Sarnoff have been promoted to oversee content.  Bloys was the President of HBO Programming and will now oversee HBO Max, TNT, TBS and truTV.  Bloys, by coincidence, went to Freedom High in Bethlehem, PA at the same time as Dwayne Johnson and greenlit “Ballers,” although he and Johnson were not friends in high school. 

It is far too early to know what this means for AEW going forward. It may not be bad news, but it is most definitely not good news in the sense Reilly was strongly behind AEW. In fact, the entire idea of AEW came from a conversation Tony Khan ad Reilly had in the spring of 2018 when Reilly told Khan how much money WWE programming rights were going for and Khan had seen the business and interest level of the Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho match at the Tokyo Dome and knew both were free agents, and that a lot of key contracts would be expiring at the end of 2018 in wrestling. The stuff with Cody Rhodes and me with the tweet before that time did lead to All In, and the success of All In was definitely a huge part of the equation as well as Khan talking about the success of that show, and his ability to sign the key people, was a key factor in Reilly agreeing to take the chance on giving them a prime time show on TNT. But Khan thinking of getting into wrestling was prior to All In.

The new Observer out today, besides the most detailed story on the hiring of Nick Khan as WWE President, has an in-depth story on the ratings patterns for Raw, Smackdown Dynamite, NXT and Impact during the pandemic and there is a ton of major information that tells you about things going up and down, lines intersecting this week regarding huge changes in viewing habits of wrestling. We also have the most details on this past week and where new viewers came from, as well as the first week in history where the most-watched show in 18-34 was not a WWE show since 1998. Actually this is a major underplayed story, not because it happened this week, but that it had been building for months and what it means if things continue in this direction.  

The 8/21 Smackdown show will be airing live from Orlando. Mike Johnson at PW Insider reported WWE will be doing Raw and Smackdown live going forward after that point. We know that has been discussed and we haven’t had it confirmed. If this is the case, it means more expense and more travel and only makes sense if they feel live helps ratings, which today, it is very clear it doesn’t make a difference at all. 

UFC has a show tomorrow on ESPN+ from Las Vegas at the Apex Arena starting at 6 p.m. Eastern:

  • Irwin Rivera (136) vs. Ali Al Qaisi (136)
  • Youssef Zalal (146) vs Peter Barrett (145.5)
  • Gavin Tucker (146) vs; Justin Jaynes (146)
  • Andrew Sanchez (185.5) vs. Wellington Turman (185.5)
  • Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Alex Munoz (156)
  • Kevin Holland (183.5) vs. Joaquin Buckley (185)
  • Tim Means (171) vs. Laureano Staropoli (174.5)
  • Beniel Dariush (158) vs. Scott Holtzman (156)
  • Yana Kunitskaya (135.5) vs. Julija Stoliarenko (136)
  • Darren Stewart (186) vs. Maki Pitolo (186)
  • Chris Weidman (186) vs. Omari Akhmedov (185.75)
  • Derrick Lewis (265) vs. Aleksei Oleinik (227)

Due to Dariush missing weight, he has to forfeit 20 percent of his purse. Staropoli also has to forfeit 20 percent of his purse for missing weight.

Weigh-ins for Bellator tonight from the empty Mohegan Sun Casino Arena at 10 p.m. Eastern on Paramount & DAZN:

  • Sabah Homasi (175) vs. Curtis Millender (174)
  • Myles Jury (155.6) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (155.5)
  • Matt Mitrione (262.6) vs. Timothy Johnson (263.2)
  • Michael Chandler (155.9) vs. Benson Henderson (155.6)

Chandler’s contract expires with this fight and he’s talked about becoming a free agent. So he has a lot riding on this outcome.

Yuki Miyazaki of Pro Wrestling WAVE tested positive for COVID-19 and WAVE has postponed all of its shows over the next several days including the 8/16 show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.  Sunday’s Oz Academy show was also canceled because Hiroyo Matsumoto, Yumi Ohka and others worked on the same show at Miyazaki. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

CMLL returns to streaming tonight on the Capital 21 website with matches taped last week at an empty Arena Mexico. 

WWE

  • 205 Live Tonight has Danny Burch vs. Tony Nese and a tag team match featuring Matt Martel & Chase Parker. Announced for Smackdown is Sheamus vs. Matt Riddle.
  • DC Entertainment is hosting a virtual celebration on the weekend of 8/22 (SummerSlam weekend)  for free to break news of upcoming movie and comic book projects. Dwayne Johnson and John Cena will both be taking part in this.
  • The WWE announced episodes of WWE Timeline, a new show on the WWE Network which will cover major historical feuds. Sunday’s debut episode is on Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz. 8/12 has Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart.  8/19 has John Cena vs, A.J. Styles and 8/26 has Randy Orton vs. Christian.

UFC

  • UFC announced an 11/21 PPV show with Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt for the flyweight title and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jennifer Maia for the women’s flyweight title.  Garbrandt has never fought before at flyweight, dropping from 135 to 125.
  • Corey Anderson of UFC, even though he had  several fights left on his contract, was able to get a release and has signed with Bellator.  Normally UFC doesn’t do things like that.
  • After missing his second straight fight at the last minute, UFC has released Ray Borg. Borg missed his fight with Nathan Maness on Saturday, pulling out with no public explanation. He had missed weight three times and had a lot of problems due to the health of his son which caused him to pull out of a previous fight and also take time off.
  • Mirsad Bektic vs. Eduardo Garagorri has been added to the 9/26 show in Las Vegas.
  • A story on someone sued for pirating UFC events. (thanks to James Ryder)

AEW

  • Brandi Rhodes quit Twitter after people complained regarding her AEW Heels project, basically a booster club idea for women fans.   

MISCELLANEOUS

  • U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Silverstein approved the sale of Alpha Entertainment (XFL) to Alpha Acquico, the new company formed and headed by Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale.
  • Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa are doing a live stream tonight at 11:30 p.m. Eastern teaching an English language college class at Tokai University in Japan about the U.S.pro wrestling industry.  It will be in English and you can watch it by signing up here.
  • Dragon Gate’s streaming network will be airing a show at 5 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning from Kyoto as well as a show from Osaka at 5 a.m. Eastern Sunday morning.
  • Matt Sydal will be returning to ROH based on a podcast interview on the ROHStrong Podcast.  He was going to be part of an ROH then vs. now show that ended up cancelled in March, but that was just a one-shot deal.
  • Kevin Eck’s weekly ROH update.
  • The biggest wrestling show in months in the Chicago area takes place tonight at Marian Catholic High School outdoors on the football field for Warrior Wrestling:
    Brian Cage vs. Jeff Cobb
    Lance Archer vs. Sam Adonis
    Joey Janela vs. Jake Something  
    Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Robert Anthony w/ Frank the Clown for the Warrior Wrestling Championship
    The Rascalz vs. Alex Zayne, Blake Christian, and Benjamin Carter
    Kylie Rae vs. Ray Lyn
    Isaias Velazquez vs. Tre’ LeMar
    Spartan Stadium Stampede Scramble: Warhorse vs. Dan the Dad vs. Matt Knicks vs. Beast Man vs. Elayna Black vs. Cornbelt Cowboy vs. The Chicago Sideshow
  • Wrestle Rampage on 8/28 in Adelaide, Australia has been postponed due to changes in rules for licensed premises involving alcohol service (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • The World Series Wrestling promotion in Australia which is built around importing foreign stars has canceled its scheduled November tour for obvious reasons, since getting people into the country from the U.S. won’t be easy.
  • Jimmy Jacobs returns to CWE provided governmental regulations will allow him to come to Canada and leave, for shows from 10/27 to 11/9 in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
  • CWE tonight in Winnipeg at Rookie’s Sports Bar with only 100 seats available.
  • AIW announced a return on 9/6 at Noon at the Celebration Plaza Amphitheater at White River State Park in Indianapolis.
  • Famous Mexican wrestling exotico Cassandro has signed with Masked Republic for representation. Academy Award winning director Roger Ross Williams is working on a film on his life that will star Golden Globe winner Gael Garcia Bernal.
  • Bellator announced 8/21 from the Mohegan Sun on Paramount and DAZN with Ryan Bader (22-5, 1 no contest) vs. Vadim Nemkov (11-2) for the light heavyweight title, Julia Budd (13-3) vs. Jessy Miele (9-3) and Roy Nelson (23-19) vs. Valentin Moldavksy (9-1.)
  • The NFC returns on 8/29 at District Atlanta as Atlanta’s first sports event with fans. It will be at 35 percent capacity with 15 fights and all tickets priced at $100.
  • Interview with Raven and with Taeler Hendrix talking about ROH from Hannibal.
  • An interview with Homicide at SlamWrestling.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Kurt Angle wins TNA title at Hard Justice 2011

CONTACT INFORMATION

Daily Update: Wendy Barlow, WWE notes, weekend preview

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp(Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS(s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

WON NEWSLETTER: July 27, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Extreme Rules review, Good Brothers podcast, more

A look at the very good, and the very bad, of Extreme Rules is the lead story in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We also have a back-of-the-book feature on Carlton Haselrig, one of the greatest American heavyweight wrestlers in the history of the sport of wrestling.

The new issue also covers:

Interest levels in Extreme Rules and with the rating the next day, the lesson that tells us about certain types of angles, the background of Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio, along with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results on the show.

An examination of all facets of the Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson departure from WWE, including what makes sense, what doesn’t, why, how come they were signed, how come they were given such a strong offer to stay, their release, A.J. Styles, angles set up for them in New Japan and AEW last year, the booking of Raw under Paul Heyman and much more.  This is a very detailed look not only at Gallows &  Anderson, but the roles of a number of different people and how Raw fell off the creative tracks

Impact Slammiversary with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

Stephanie McMahon’s interview in Ad Age covering wrestling during the pandemic, testing and what changes look to be permanent, as well as race relations.

The current plan for WrestleMania and how it has shifted, the new WWE Board of Directors, next week’s Raw show, NXT North American title thoughts, notes on the next Takeover, update on Wendy Barlow and COVID, WWE producer let go, WWE loses major international deal and how it went down, WWE TV personality get bullied by fans, idea nixed for Raw this past week and all the different changes to the show, Adam Cole-Pat McAfee angel, Bellas update, sports ratings and Canadian TV ratings for the past week, another example of WWE marketing that ha led to the situation they are in, market value of WWE and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.

This past weekend’s UFC show.

A feature on Haselrig, a Pennsylvania sports legend who could have been an Olympic medalist or an all-time great NFL player, but drugs curtailed his career, but not before he set a heavyweight record that may never be beat and another record that almost surely will never be beat.

Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan Alvarez and Lance Storm will be doing a live show on Twitch at 8:30 p.m. Eastern tonight with a Q&A. Garrett Gonzalez and I will be doing a show tomorrow with Missy Hyatt and I will be doing a show tomorrow night with Bryan Alvarez covering UFC and New Japan as well as talk about other news. 

We’ll have the complete breakdown in next week’s issue, but the last five minutes of the Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade match on Wednesday did 1,018,000 viewers and 502,000 in 18-49. It also hit 1 million right before the commercial break.  It was the largest 18-49 number for a segment on Wednesday in months. I don’t have minute-by-minutes for a few weeks ago but Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole almost surely hit 1 million at its finish as well, but came nowhere close in 18-49.  It’s more the visual of how the match came across on television and the excitement level, and also a notable lesson. Great matches usually don’t reflect in television ratings.  But what viewers want changes and obviously, this time it did.

Bellator at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight from Uncasville, CT on both Paramount Network and DAZN

  • Aaron Pico (145) vs. Solo Hatley Jr. (145.6)
  • Tywan Claxton (146) vs. Jay Jay Wlson (147.9)
  • Jason Jackson (171) vs. Jordan Mein (170.5)
  • Ricky Bandejas (135.4) vs. Sergio Pettis (134.7)

UFC weigh-in results for the seven hour show starting at 5 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and ESPN+ tomorrow:

  • Nathaniel Wood (136) vs. John Castaneda (136)
  • Ramazen Emeev (171) vs. Niklas Stolze (170.5)
  • Bethe Correia (136) vs. Pannie Kianzid (136)
  • Tanner Boser (235) vs. Raphael Pessoa (264)
  • Movar Evloev (146) vs. Mike Grundy (146)
  • Tom Aspinell (248) vs. Jake Collier (264)
  • Nicolas Dalby (160) vs. Jai Hebert (156)
  • Rhys McKee (170.5) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (171)
  • Alex Oliveiera (171) vs. Peter Sobotta (171)
  • Paul Craig (206) vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov (206)
  • Carla Esparza (116) vs. Marina Rodriguez (115.5)
  • Fabricio Werdum (242) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (140)
  • Mauricio Shogun Rua (206) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (206)
  • Robert Whittaker (1286) vs. Darren Till (186)
    Dalby was fined 30 percent of his purse for missing weight by four pounds

New Japan Lion’s Break Collision at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight on New Japan World:

  • Tom Lawlor vs. Alex Coughlin
  • Danny Limelight vs. Misterioso
  • Rocky Romero & Rust Taylor vs. TJP & Clark Connors
  • Jeff Cobb vs. Karl Fredericks

Thanks to everyone for their nice comments on the Carlton Haselrig piece in the current issue.

The biggest weekend show is the New Japan Sengoku Lord show which starts at 5 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning on New Japan World.  Our only weekend poll will be on the show, which is headlined by Evil vs. Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP & IC titles, Shingo Takagi vs. Sho for the Never title and Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi.

WWE

  • Smackdown tonight has Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus in a bar fight, Miz TV with Naomi and Sasha Banks & Bayley will appear.
  • Smackdown will air at 11 p.m. tonight on Fox 2 in Detroit due to the Detroit Tigers vs.Cincinnati Reds baseball game. So the numbers tomorrow morning that come out for Smackdown will include those of the game, or be higher than the final numbers that won’t be out until Tuesday, will be.
  • Cannonball, starring The Miz, did 561,000 viewers and 0.17 in 18-49, finishing No.46.  It went head-to-head with the Yankees-Nationals game on ESPN that did 4.01 million viewers, the largest regular season baseball number in many years for the first game of the unique new season.  Most expect sports to do a number on wrestling ratings the next few months.
  • Ric Flair’s wife Wendy Barlow is either close to or is 100 percent after battling COVID-19 the past few weeks.
  • PWInsider reported that WWE has applied for a trademark of NXT UK Heritage Cup, so it sounds like they are doing some sort of a tournament on that brand coming up.

UFC

  • The William Hill Agency has listed Robert Whittaker as a -120 favorite over Darren Till in their fight tomorrow in Abu Dhabi.
  • The agency reported that last week there was a bet of $60,000 on Ariane Lipski which won the bettor $110,000.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • The MLW TV show this coming weekend on BeIn Sports will be from 2003, with Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk vs. Steve Corino in a death match, Satoshi Kojima vs.Mitsuya Nagai for the MLW title, Simon Diamond & CW Anderson vs. The SATs and Steve Williams & PJ Friedman vs. Jimmy Yang & Mike Sanders.
  • Mike Tyson opened as a -300 favorite over Roy Jones Jr. The feeling in the gambling world is that everyone will bet on Tyson because he’s Tyson but the intelligent bettors will go heavily for Jones, being younger, having been active more recently, and being younger and taller. 
  • Bellator announced for its 8/7 show, Michael Chandler vs. Benson Henderson and Matt Mitrione vs. Timothy Johnson.  Curtis Millender vs. Sabah Homasi has also been reported for that show.  
  • Fox Sports has laid off another 50 people. John Ourand tweeted a comment from the network, “As part of Fox Sports’ commitment to become a more efficient organization, we are taking steps to streamline our business.  As a result, today we announced the restructuring of several positions.”
  • ROH’s weekly news with Kevin Eck.
  • Mikey Jay has sold Melbourne City Wrestling to the team that owns the MCW Academy in Melbourne, which was affiliated with the promotion but not owned by him.  He will stay on in a production and possibly creative capacity.  One of the new owners is Robin Herbstriet, who runs Ringside Consulting, which is the firm that does the WWE’s PR when they run Australia and New Zealand. 
  • Wide Bay Pro Wrestling looks to have the first show back in Queensland, Australia on 9/5 with a 150 person capacity (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Synergy Pro Wrestling on 7/25 has a live show on FITE.tv, the second annual Garden State Invitational with first round matches of Simon Gotch vs. KTB, Tony Deppen vs. Gregory Iron, Matt Cross vs. Gary Jay and Myron Reed vs. Jordan Oliver.
  • A story on a proposed television show based on Lucha Libre.
  • A story on MLW’s Calvin Tankman.
  • Jamie Hemmings contacted a number of African-Americans who work in wrestling and MMA media for a discussion about race in pro wrestling.
  • If you’ve heard about Johnny Valentine but never seen him, this is an example of his ability to sell at a more legit level than most in a 1969 match with Wild Bull Curry.
  • An interview with Sting on Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern here.
  • Australian filmmaker Luke McCarthy on wrestling. (thanks to Lee Wall) 
  • A story on Andy Kaufman’s 80s run in the Memphis territory (thanks to Lee Wall)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Sherri Martel wins WWF Women’s title

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Daily Update: WWE stock, After Dark, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

WON NEWSLETTER: April 27, 2020 Observer Newsletter: WWE schedule changes, layoffs, and quarterly financials

Details on WWE’s scheduling changes, staff and talent layoffs, and their quarterly financial report.

Current subscribers click here to read.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE stock closed at $44.79 per share today coming off yesterday’s earning call. That was up nearly 15 percent from yesterday.

Here’s an interesting paradox. The Association of Ringside Physicians has stressed that no shows should be taking place at this time. The Association of Boxing Commissions has canceled its annual meeting from 7/23 to 7/30 in Sacramento citing that the decision was made out of the abundance of safety for all involved.  And athletic commissions, at least in Florida and other states, are sanctioning MMA and boxing events. So the same people who think it’s too dangerous for a meeting, and whose doctors have told them it’s too dangerous to have fights, are sanctioning fights.

Smackdown tonight starts the 25th anniversary of HHH in WWE celebration, plus Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Dana Brooke & Carmella for the women’s tag titles, King Corbin vs. Drew Gulak in a Money in the Bank qualifier and Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans in a Money in the Bank qualifier.

Scott Coker is hoping to get Bellator started in July or August.  A lot in Hollywood is building a made-for-TV set that will be used for empty arena Bellator shows and Showtime boxing shows on Friday and Saturday nights.  Coker said they still expect to run their full schedule of 30 events this year.

Bellator flyweight champion Ilima-lei Macfarlane, her sister and a third unnamed woman have filed a lawsuit against Punahou School and former basketball coach Dwayne Yuen, claiming sexual abuse when they were younger.  Macfarlane claimed the abuse started when she was in sixth grade and her sister was in eighth grade.  The story was on KITV News in Honolulu. Macfarlane said that her sister complained at the time, but the school did nothing, but she came forward when further allegations against the coach surfaced in 2018. 

Vice will be returning After Dark Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., covering Dino Bravo. The episodes, which were off the schedule, are now taking place on a one week delay. They will be airing a new 30 minutes of last week’s show on Dino Bravo, and then have a panel discussion with Jimmy Hart, Jacques Rougeau and Fred Ottman. The following week will be another 9:30 p.m. show on the David Schultz episode that debuts this coming Tuesday. According to PWInsider, Ricky Morton, Brian Blair and Dutch Mantell will be on that show.

The NFL Draft drew 5,688,000 viewers on ABC, 7,859,000 viewers on ESPN and 1,724,000 viewers on the NFL Network.

WWE

  • A Newsweek interview with Paul Levesque regarding tonight’s Smackdown show.
  •  The Tuesday FS line-up for this coming week will be:
    7 p.m. Ric Flair’s Best WWE matches
    8 p.m. Edge’s Best WrestleMania matches
    9 p.m. Brock Lesnar’s most dominant matches
    10 p.m. Roman Reigns’ Best WrestleMania matches
    11 p.m. WWE Backstage
  • WWE will be taping the 5/1 and 5/8 episodes of Smackdown tomorrow at the Performance Center in Orlando.
  • Early odds at www.BetOnline.ag for Money in the Bank
    Braun Strowman -120 vs. Bray Wyatt -120
    Drew McIntyre -500 vs. Seth Rollins +300
    Bayley -400 vs. Tamina +250
  • Carmella doing an at-home workout from the New York Post. (thanks to Barry Werner)

UFC

  • ESPN reported that Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince Saint Preux is being worked on for the Wednesday show that would go head-to-head with AEW and NXT.  UFC will also go head-to-head with AEW on May 23, the night of the AEW Double of Nothing PPV show.  If UFC is still running out of Jacksonville, then they would be head-to-head right across the street practically from each other. The AEW show will be from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.
  • Daniel Cormier is joining with the personalized video platform Taki to allow people to connect with Cormier with free online seminars and training for young wrestlers preparing for college.  Cormier will be doing ten videos per month and fans can engage with Cormier through Taki.
  • Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier, Joe Rogan and Megan Olivi will be the broadcast team for the 5/9 UFC show.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • ROH debuts the ROHStrong podcast on Monday hosted by Kevin Eck and with Marty Scurll as the first guest talking about his vision for ROH, how close he was to signing elsewhere and why he decided to stay with ROH. 
  • Masked Republic announced the all-new Lucha Central Website and the Lucha Central Network which debuts in May.  It will have a YouTube channel, a podcast network, a gaming network and a 30 minute weekly TV series. llblic
  • IWTW has reached distribution agreements with Defy, Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, DOA Wrestling out of Portland, OR, POW! Wrestling out of Eugene, OR and 5CC out of Bellingham, WA.    
  • MLW Fusion tomorrow night on Bein Sports has Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Rey Escorpion & El Texano Jr., and Chessman vs. Richard Holliday in a no DQ match from the last taping in Tijuana.
  • Impact Rebellion for this coming Tuesday night on AXS has Havok vs. Rosemary in a Full Metal Mayhem match, Suicide vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju vs. Trey Miguel and Joey Ryan vs. Cousin Jake (Jake Something).
  • CWE is running tonight on its Facebook page with an 8 p.m. show from Winnipeg headlined by Johnny Malibu vs. A.J.Sanchez.
  • A story on Hoodslam Wrestling. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • KHON in Hawaii did a piece on Mayor Matt Morgan, whose wife is from Hawaii and played college basketball at Chaminade.
  • A story on the late Scott Bowden. (thanks to Josh Jabcuga)
  • Jacques Rougeau talks about a bar fight between an NHL player, Serge Bernier, and Dino Bravo that was referenced in Tuesday’s Dark side of the Ring show.
  • A rock musical on the life of Ivan Koloff takes place on 6/13 at the Triad Theater in New York.  It will be live streamed here.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Hogan vs. Bockwinkel at AWA Super Sunday

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