After spending eight months in jail on attempted murder charges, former UFC heavyweight champion and former WWE wrestler Cain Velasquez was released on $1 million bail on Tuesday.
The decision came after 13 hours of a pre-trial hearing that stretched over two days.
In February, Velasquez was charged by Santa Clara County (CA) police with allegedly chasing down Harry Goularte in his truck and shooting at him, striking Goularte’s stepfather who was also in the vehicle.
Velasquez allegedly followed Goularte on what was called an “eleven mile, high speed chase,” driving into Goularte’s vehicle before firing into it.
The incident was sparked by Goularte being charged with sexual assault of a young relative of Velasquez. Velasquez later claimed in a civil suit that his own four-year-old son was also sexually assaulted.
The 40-year-old pleaded not guilty in August, and was denied bail four previous times by a different judge in fear that he would retaliate against Goularte. As he awaits a trial date, Velasquez will have to wear a GPS tracker, cannot come within 300 yards of the alleged victims in the vehicle, and must comply with specific conditions like having no weapons, undergoing counseling, search & seizure conditions, and more.
“We’re gratified and he’ll be able to go home and start the healing process. It’s been a long slog and after 8 months he’s finally going home.”#ufc#mmapic.twitter.com/EzLlwJAQiM
Job Listing: Onlamp php/mysql developer. Experience with vbulletin and drupal/WordPress a plus. Email [email protected] with subject PHP DEVELOPER with resume.
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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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 and I will be back tonight and we have a lot of stuff to talk about over the past few weeks since we last did a show. Bryan and I will be doing our weekend show on Sunday night.
Cain Velasquez pleaded not guilty earlier today on attempted murder, assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, carry a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony and many other charges from the incident in February where he allegedly shot Paul Bender after believing his family member was molested by Harry Goularte, who was in the car with Bender as Velasquez gave chase.
Israel Adesanya defends the UFC middleweight title against Alex Pereira, who beat Adesanya twice in kickboxing, one via knockout, in the main event the 11/12 PPV show from Madison Square Garden.
Smackdown tonight in Greenville, SC, which had more than 6,100 tickets out as of today.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ludvig Kaiser – If Nakamura wins, he gets a shot at Walter’s IC title
Roman Reigns will be there to talk about his match with Drew McIntyre on 9/3 in Cardiff Wales
A gauntlet match for a shot at Liv Morgan’s Smackdown women’s title at the Clash at the Castle with Sonya Deville, Shotzi, Shayna Baszler, Xia Li, Raquel Rodriguez, Aliyah and Natalya.
For what it’s worth, when Vince was in charge, they were building Rodriguez to be with Morgan and Ronda Rousey as the key women in the division.
AEW tapes Rampage and Battle of the Belts tonight in Grand Rapids, MI at the Van Andel Arena. Almost 6,000 tickets are out for the show.
For tonight:
Jon Moxley vs. Mance Warner non-title
Madison Rayne vs. Leila Gray
Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. Tony Nese & Josh Woods for the tag titles in a street fight
For Battle of the Belts Saturday at 8 p.m.
Wardlow vs. Jay Lethal for TNT title
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Konosuke Takeshita for ROH title
Thunder Rosa vs. Jamie Hayter for women’s title
PW Insider reports Edge will be at Raw on Monday in Cleveland.
We will be doing polls on both G-1 shows in Osaka this weekend, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
We’re also looking for reports on these shows with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]:
Smackdown tonight in Greenville, SC (dark matches only)
AEW tonight in Grand Rapids, MI (everything but the Rampage matches)
WWE Saturday in North Charleston, SC
WWE Sunday in Fayetteville, NC
G-1 continues at 4 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning from Edion Arena in Osaka
Yoshi-Hashi vs. El Phantasmo
Toru Yano vs. Lance Archer
Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Jay White vs. Great O’Khan
Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi
We didn’t get full details of Wednesday’s AEW ratings into the newsletter last night because of some delays in getting quarters and demos. Orange Cassidy vs. Jay Lethal had the most viewers and women because it usually starts that way. The quarter with the Lethal-Wardlow angle and Young Bucks turn peaked the 18-49 number. Christian vs. Matt Hardy did well and in several key demos the high point was the dumpster match. The male 18-34 audience was way up from usual but males 35-49, usually the show’s key audience, were very low. I sense the younger audience is getting into the newer characters like The Acclaimed that the older audience isn’t quite as familiar with. The show didn’t have the marquee match power at the level of most shows so I didn’t expect a big number. But this coming Wednesday with Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho, and Darby Allin in a coffin match, that show should do a bigger than normal number.
UFC weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s show in Las Vega which runs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on ESPN
Main Card
Thiago Santos (206) vs. Jamahal Hill (205)
Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (171)
Mohammed Usman (236.5) vs. Zac Pauga (239)
Brogan Walker (125.5) vs. Juliana Miller (125)
Augusto Sakai (260) vs. Serghei Spivac (249.5)
Ariane Lipski (128.5) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (125.5) – Lipski missed weight by 2.5 pounds. The bout will proceed with Lipski being fined 20 percent of her purse.
Sam Alvey (186) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (185.5)
Terrance McKinney (155.5) vs. Erick Gonzalez (155)
Bryan Battle (171) vs. Takashi Sato (170.5)
Jason Witt (170) vs. Josh Quinlan (169)
Cory McKenna (115.5) vs. Miranda Granger (115.5)
Mayra Bueno Silva (135.5) vs. Stephanie Egger (134.5)
Hasim Rahman Jr. did a weigh-in today I guess to prove he was going to make 205 pounds when his fight with Jake Paul scheduled for tomorrow night in MSG was called off. So he scheduled a big press weigh-in, and missed weight, coming in at 206.6. Rahman Jr. was supposed to make 200, asked to raise it to 205, and then when his team asked for 215, Paul’s side canceled the entire show, saying he wasn’t going to fulfill the contracted weight agreed upon.
A correction in the Observer. We had mistakenly reported Andrade as La Sombra lost his mask to Volador Jr. in the 2013 CMLL anniversary show. Of course it was Volador who lost his mask that night and Sombra lost to Atlantis in 2015, before going to WWE.
The PFL playoff semifinals are on ESPN at 7 p.m. tonight
Robert Wilkinson (205.8) vs. Delan Monte (205.2) in a light heavyweight tournament semifinal
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (155) vs. Alexander Martinez (156) in a lightweight tournament semifinal
Omari Akhmedov (204.6) vs. Josh Silveira (206) in a light heavyweight tournament semifinal
Anthony Pettis (155.6) vs. Stevie Ray (155.8) in a lightweight tournament semifinal
Silveira is the son of early MMA star Conan Silveira. The winners of the bouts go to the finals in December where each division champion gets $1 million.
AAW has signed a streaming deal with Highspots TV. They will be airing live on the service with the first show on 9/1. This will be the start of Highspots doing live streaming. There are already 150 AAW events which has streamed non-live events for years.
AAW will be running 9/1 at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago for those coming in early for All Out. Matches announced are Christi Jaynes vs. Billie Starkz for the women’s title, Jah-C & ACH vs. Alex Hammerstone & Ace Perry for the tag titles, Ace Austin vs. Davey Vega for th Heritage title and Silas Young vs. Brayden Lee. Josh Alexander, Mat Fichett, Masha Slamovich, Jake Something, Manders, Fred Yehi, Davey Richards, Gringo Loco, Mike Bennett, Laredo Kid, Rich Swann and Dante Leon are also scheduled
UFC
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Nikita Krylov have been added to UFC 280 on 10/22 in Abu Dhabi.
Sara McMann vs. Aspen Ladd, which was to take place this month, was moved to 9/12 because Ladd tested positive for COVID.
Ranked flyweights Matheus Nicolau vs. Matt Schnell has been added to a 12/3 show. Both are ranked in the top ten in the division .
Other Notes
Impact has moved its 9/23 and 9/24 tapings from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia to a new location of Skyway Studios in Nashville, where they did most of their taping during the pandemic.
Combate Global airs live on Paramount + tonight at 11 p.m. Eastern headlined by Cristian Perez (9-1) vs. Samuel Alvarez (7-5) and Claudia Diaz (18-11-1) vs. Andrea Amaro (2-2-2).
ISPW Wrestling will be doing wrestling events at the New Jersey State Fair at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta, NJ. Special guests are:
Tony Atlas tonight from 6-9 p.m.
Boogeyman tomorrow from 6-9 p.m.
Jim Ross Sunday from 4-7 p.m.
Real One (formerly Enzo Amore) on Monday 6-9 p.m.
Doink the Clown (Ray Apollo) on Tuesday 6-9 p.m.
Brutus Beefcake on Wednesday 6-9 p.m.
Greg Valentine on Thursday 6-9 pm.
Ted DiBiase next Friday 6-9 p.m.
Sean Waltman next Saturday 6-9 p.m.
MCW on 8/13 in Havre de Grace, MD at the Theater at Havre de Grace.
The LFA has announced live events on UFC Fight Pass on 9/9 in Vail, CLO at the Dobson Arena, 9/16 in Prior Lake, MN at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and 9/30 in Recife, Brazil.
LFA tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on UFC Fight Pass headlined by Ary Farias (135.8) vs. Michinori Tanaka (135.4)
Battleground Championship Wrestling tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the 2300 Arena
Atsushi Onita & Super Leather vs. Bully Ray & PCO
Ken Shamrock vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Tony Nese & Buddy Matthews vs. Brian Cage & KC Navarro
Rich Swann vs. Willie Mack
Myka vs. Jazmin Allure
Dark STG & Beastman vs. Afa Jr. & ?
VSK vs. Brian Kendrick
The show will air live on FITE TV
There will also be an afternoon convention with these wrestlers plus Wardlow and Kurt Angle and many others.
Cain Velasquez has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and multiple other charges.
The 40-year-old appeared in a Santa Clara County courtroom on Friday to enter his plea. The charges stem from his arrest on February 28.
Velasquez is alleged to have driven into the truck of Harry Eugene Goularte, a man who has been charged with allegedly molesting one of Velasquez’s relatives who was under ten years old. Velasquez is also alleged to have fired a handgun into Goularte’s truck, striking the man’s stepfather, Paul Bender, who was in the truck with him at the time. Goularte’s mother is also said to have been in the truck when the shooting occurred.
The Velasquez family filed a civil suit against Goularte and Bender in July. The suit also includes Goularte’s mother, who owns the child care facility where the alleged abuse is said to have taken place.
According to a report from MMA Junkie, Velasquez is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on September 26.
The former UFC Heavyweight Champion has been charged with one count of attempted murder, one count of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle, three counts of assault with a firearm, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony. If convicted, he could face 20 years to life in prison.
Velasquez has been incarcerated since his arrest and has been denied bail on three occasions. He is currently appealing the decision.
There will also be a motion hearing on August 29 to determine how much of the criminal investigation into Goularte will be included in the Velasquez case discovery.
Updates on C.M. Punk, Cody Rhodes, the injuries, how WWE and AEW are booking around the injuries, details of the injuries, surgeries, AEW interim title and medical protocol questions
Hell in a Cell coverage, the matches, the ticket demand, PPV numbers, interest level and WWE & AEW crossover fan base
Hiromu Takahashi sets Best of the super Juniors records, business of the finals, angles for Dominion and more
AEW Double or Nothing PPV number update
Saturday’s UFC coverage and what comes next for the fighters on the show
NXT In Your House coverage
Television ratings for every national show, ups, down and competition
Expected CMLL anniversary show main event
AAA and running in the US
Stardom & New Japan joint show
Movie being made about the life of an active women’s wrestling star and details
Notes about young retirements in Dragon Gate an the booking
CyberFight show at Saitama Super Arena
Kota Ibushi and New Japan update
Benefit event for Shinjiro Otani
More on Ric Flair’s return
Johnny Rodz and the infamous Roddy Piper story
Olympic wrestler talks about better conditions for pro wrestlers
Notes on PBS documentary on St. Louis wrestling
MJF update
All-Atlantic title and thoughts
Forbidden Door notes
International TV ratings
Ticket sales for upcoming U.S. events
Streaming numbers for AEW & WWE
UFC revenue and profits update
This week’s UFC show
Major fight Dana White is looking at for the interim heavyweight title
ONE debuts on Amazon Prime
Bellator allows one of its top stars to do Bare Knuckle Fighting
Update on Stephanie McMahon
More on Vince McMahon autobiography
Hilarious Vince McMahon deposition in the liver Luck case
Why Edge was kicked out of Judgment Day
Reports from all the WWE events this week with business notes
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.
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Friday News Update
Garrett and I will be doing a show today covering the news of the week and I will do a show tomorrow night covering UFC 275 and Dominion.
Saraya Jade-Bevis (Paige) noted today that when her current WWE contract expires on 7/7 that she will no longer be with the company. She had been medically disqualified from performing years ago due to neck issues. Even though the movie has a lot of fiction elements, her life was made into a movie by Dwayne Johnson and she was one of the key people in the changes of the presentation of women wrestling in WWE. She noted that she would have to give up the Paige name but strongly suggested that she would wrestle again.
Cain Velasquez was in court earlier today for a plea hearing that was continued through 6/30. Velasquez’s attorney, Mark Geragos said that they were working through discovery issues and asked for a delay until 6/30
For the weekend, we’re looking for reports on these shows
Smackdown in Baton Rouge tonight (dark matches only)
We are also doing polls on these weekend shows, so you can vote thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
UFC 275 tomorrow from Singapore
New Japan Dominion from Osaka on Sunday (late Saturday U.S.)
CyberAgent super show on Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena (late Saturday U.S.)
Smackdown tonight from Baton Rouge, LA has Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus and Xia Li vs. Lacey Evans in Money in the Bank qualifiers, plus Ricochet vs. Gunther for the IC title. Max Dupri will introduce his first protege. There were just under 5,000 tickets out for tonight’s show.
Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT
Eddie Kingston vs. Jake Hager
Jay Lethal & Sutnam Singh (debut) vs. Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega
Red Velvet vs. Kris Statlander
FTR & Trent Baretta vs. Will Ospreay & Aussie Open (AEW debuts)
UFC 275 from Singapore Indoor Stadium
ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. Eastern
Ramona Pascual (145) vs. Joselyne Edwards (145)
Liang Na (116) vs. Silvana Gomez Juarez (116)
Kyung Ho Kang (136) vs. Batgerel Danaa (136)
ESPN 2 and ESPN+ at 8 p.m.
Brenda Allen (186) vs. Jacob Malkoun (186)
Maheshate (155.5) vs. Steve Garcia (155.5)
Joshua Cuiliabao (146) vs. Seung Woo Choi (146)
PPV at 10 p.m.
Jack Dela Maddalena (170.5) vs; Ramazen Emeev (171)
Andre Fialho (170.5) vs. Jake Matthews (170.5)
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (116) vs. Zhang Weili (116)
Valentina Shevchenko (124.5) vs. Taila Santos (125) for the women’s flyweight title
Glover Teixeira (205) vs. Jiri Prochazka (205) for the light heavyweight title
The fight scheduled with Manel Kape vs. Rogerio Bontorin, a major flyweight bout, was pulled because Bontorin had kidney issue from cutting weight and is currently hospitalized according to Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting. He was 4.5 pounds from weight when he started having intense kidney pain and needed an ambulance to get to the hospital.
Dana White, who is not in Singapore for the show because he’s celebrating his son’s 21st birthday, said that he likes the idea of Michael Chandler as Conor McGregor’s next opponent when McGregor comes back.
Wednesday’s annual Beat the Street wrestling show at the Hulu Theater in New York raised more than $950,000 to support local youth wrestling in the New York area. The event included matches to determine who will represent the U.S. at the world championships from 9/10 to 9/18 in Belgrade, Serbia. Among the biggest names winning their spots were Jordan Burroughs , Helen Maroulis, David Taylor, Sarah Hildebrandt, Kyle Dake and G’Angelo Hancock.
WWE
The WWE had a lot of success for tomorrow night’s show in Las Cruces, NM by adding a $15 low ticket price. It’s one of their better selling arena events of late.
The Birmingham Stallions vs. Houston Gamblers USFL game tomorrow in Birmingham is WWE night with Happy Corbin and Carmella appearing. The game airs live on the USA Network.
Other Notes
AAW tomorrow night at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago with limited tickets left. Matches are Mat Fitchett defending the AAW title in a no holds barred match wit Ace Steel, plus Mike Bennett vs. Gnaris Garvin, Josh Alexander vs. ACH, Silas Young vs. Brayden Lee, Schaff vs. Russ Jones, Ace Perry & Hammerstone vs. Dante Leon & Shane Hollister for the tag titles and Sierra vs. Heather Reckless.
Combate Global tonight on Paramount+ at 11 p.m. Eastern has Leo Rodriguez (13-2) vs. Marcus Edwards (13-6), Alfredo Lopez (5-2) vs. Martin Justiz (1-1), Gillian Noll (1-2 ) vs. Jennifer Trioreau (0-3) Fernando Calvo (5-1) vs. Victor Valenzuela (6-3) and Alex Gonzalez (4-3) vs. Fabia Sintes (2-2).
559 Fights takes place tomorrow in Visalia, CA at Rawhide Stadium.
Masters of Ring Entertainment on 6/11 at Truist Point in High Point, NC has a show that will include Ricky Steamboat, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rick & Scott Steiner, Teddy Long, Gunner, Terri Runnels, Killer Kross, Scarlett Bordeaux and Ken Anderson. Gunner faces Hangtyme in a boot camp match, Scarlett faces Rachael Ellering, Penta vs. Matt Taven and Fred Rosser vs. Killer Kross vs. Scott Steiner in a three-way.
Invicta announces an all women-s MMA show on 7/20 at Reelworks in Denver. Taniesha Tennant (4-1) defends her bantamweight title against Olga Rubin (7-2) and Katharina Lehner (7-3 vs. Talita Bernardo (7-4).
LFA tonight from Temple, TX on USA Fight Pass at 9 p.m. Eastern:
Joel Guzman (200.6) vs. Tanner Mrlow (205.6)
Jakori Savage (266) vs. Taylor Escarnilla (235.6)
Kevin Fernandez (125.4) vs. Joda Harris (125.4)
Shane Sobnosky (185.6) vs. Jared McLoughlin (185)
Aiden Coria (124.8) vs. Joseph Camacho (124.2)
Milko Tucto (146.4) vs. Oliver Murad (145) – Tucto missed weight by 0.4 pounds and has to pay a fine to Murad
Muin Gafuov (136.2) vs. Herbert Sousa (134.4) – Gafurov missed weight by 0.2 pounds and has to pay a fine to Sousa
Ace Romero has been added to the MLW Battle Riot match on 623 in New York at the Melrose Ballroom.
The second attempt for former UFC heavyweight champion and former pro wrestler Cain Velasquez to be released on bail was denied Monday in Santa Clara (California) court.
Velasquez will next be in court on June 10th for a plea hearing on charges of attempted premeditated murder. If convicted of all charges, which includes ten gun-related ones, he faces a minimum of 20 years to a maximum of lifetime in prison.
Velasquez’s team pushed for bail of $1 million, an electronic bracelet to trace his whereabouts, and for him to remain at home at all times. A supervisor to be with Velasquez 24/7 was also part of the proposal.
Velasquez’s attorney also argued that he might be suffering from traumatic brain injury and has the potential for CTE as a result.
However, as she did on March 7th, judge Shelyna Brown denied bail, saying there was no medical change or anything else that would change the “risk analysis” for the court.
As part of the denial, Brown said, “This was such a reckless disregard for human life. In this case, it is not just Mr. Goularte and his family. It is every single citizen who was in danger of being shot or rammed with the vehicle at the time of this seven mile chase. So, this court is not thinking of not only of Mr. Goularte and his family but this court is considering every single citizen in Santa Clara county who was in proximity to this alleged incident.”
She is referring to the incident that landed the former MMA star and part-time WWE and AAA wrestler in jail to begin with.
On February 28th, the 39-year-old Velasquez allegedly followed and drove into the truck of Eugene Goularte who was charged with allegedly molesting one of Velasquez’s relatives who was under ten years old. He then is alleged to have fired a handgun into Goularte’s truck, striking Goularte’s stepfather.
In his first statement since being arrested for attempted premeditated murder, former UFC heavyweight champion and former WWE/AAA wrestler Cain Velasquez thanked those who have offered support and gave a message of support to “the true victims of this case.”
On February 28th, the 39-year-old Velasquez allegedly followed and drove into the truck of Eugene Goularte who was charged with allegedly molesting one of Velasquez’s relatives who was under ten years old. He then is alleged to have fired a handgun into Goularte’s truck, striking Goularte’s stepfather.
Velasquez said he and his family would never be able to thank their supporters for the love and support.
“Your selfless gestures and kind words have given me strength in my darkest times. This story is complex and slowly unraveling as we speak. To the true victims of this case, may God give you the strength to come forward. Though it is most difficult to relive the pain that has happened to you, in speaking the truth, justice will be served and your own healing will start. I will never stop helping or loving my community and all of you. Thank you for loving me.”
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including an update on Cain Velasquez, Becky Lynch’s injury from this past weekend, your weekly RAW report and update on WrestleMAnia, ratings, Vader in the Hall of Fame, New Japan Cup and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
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.
Monday News Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw and the latest WWE news. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected]
We’re looking for reports from tonight’s Raw in Cleveland regarding the Main Event taping and any dark matches or anything else notable from the live show to [email protected]. We’re also looking for reports on last night’s WWE show in Allentown, PA.
We are looking for your thoughts on AEW Revolution, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]m.
AEW
Regarding the name William Regal, there is a trademark for entertainment services and merchandise to the name owned by Darren Matthews, which of course is William Regal. He got it on 2/9. There is an entertainment service mark owned by WWE in 2007 and still showing as a live registration. Anyway, Tony Khan continually called him Lord Regal last night so I presume that will be his TV name. We got reports from a number of movie theaters and in almost every report they said his appearing was the biggest pop of last night’s show (thanks to Justin Hemmings).
We have nothing conclusive at this point regarding the AEW PPV number, but a positive sign is that AEW Revolution was the No. 4 most searched topic on Google yesterday with 200,000. Granted, UFC was 2.3 million the day before and in total 2.8 million. The only things ahead of the AEW PPV were UFC (which was first two days in a row), Manchester United and Outlander.
Tay Conti who debuts for AAA on 3/26 in Tijuana in a mixed tag with Sammy Guevara as her partner, said that she will be wrestling at one of the TripleMania shows this year.
WWE
Raw is tonight in Cleveland, the city that both Miz & Logan Paul grew up in, so they may be big-time babyfaces in the building. Or may not. Both are advertised to appear on the show. The three-way tag title match with Chad Gable & Otis vs. Randy Orton & Riddle vs. Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens is scheduled to open the show. Bron Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa are both backstage so one would expect a segment building tomorrow’s three-way and involving Dolph Ziggler. Breakker vs. Ciampa vs. Ziggler for the NXT title headlines the show tomorrow night and the new thing is to do angles as much as possible before the big audience on Raw to help build the smaller audience of NXT. Breakker has never appeared on Raw before. Edge will also do a promo to explain his heel turn on A.J. Styles. They announced a worked neck contusion injury from last week’s show.
Other Wrestling
There was a big scare regarding Gran Guerrero taking a super power bob for the finish of his match with Euforia to decade the vacant Mexican national heavyweight title on Friday night at Arena Mexico. He went out on a stretcher, but apparently he was okay since he wrestled the next night.
The AAA show over WrestleMania week in Dallas will air as a FITE TV iPPV show.
Rev Pro from yesterday in London, UK: Yota Tsuji b Misterioso, Rhia O’Reilly b Hyan, Dan Moloney & Lee Hunter b Ricky Knight Jr. & Robbie X, Shota Umino b Luke Jacobs, Alex Windsor retained the British women’s title over Allysin Kay. Alex Coughlin b Mark Davis of Aussie Open, TK Cooper & Chuck Mambo b Michael Oku & Conor Mills to keep the tag titles. O’Reilly issued a challenge to Windsor for the next title match.
Tito Santana was announced as a member of the International Pro Wrestling Hall of fame. Santana will be there on Sunday night when they reveal their 13 person class of 2022, as well as for induction weekend 8/26 to 8/28 in Albany, NY.
The New Japan Cup update is that today, Shingo Takagi beat Tomohiro Ishii, so he faces Tanga Loa on 3/13. Chase Owens beat Jado, so he faces Tiger Mask on 3/13. Evil beat Ryusuke Taguchi and he faces Tama Tonga on 3/13. Hiromu Takahashi beat Sho, so he faces Minoru Suzuki on 3/13.
New Japan posted the 2019 New Japan Cup match with Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada on its YouTube page as the free match of the week.
The Dragon Dia vs. Takuma Fujiwara Brave Gate match is free on YouTube from Saturday. Fujiwara is someone to pay attention to regarding 2022 Rookie of the Year, even though he’s in a tough year since we already have Bron Breakker and Hook.
UFC
Regarding Cain Velasquez not being allowed out on bail at all in today’s hearing, a number of major MMA figures including Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Henry Cejudo, Scott Coker, Ryan Bader and Kamaru Usman along with WWE’s Rey Mysterio along numerous others have written letters to judge Shelyna Brown asking that she change her decision.
Gunnar Nelson is expected to face Takashi Sato on the 3/19 show in London. Sato replaces the injured Claudio Silva.
Cynthia Calvillo is moving back to 115 pounds for a 6/4 fight with Brianna Fortino. Fortino used to fight under the name Brianna Van Buren and hasn’t fought in two years.
Other MMA
LFA announced a show on 3/25 in Commerce, CA at the Commerce Casino & Hotel at 10 p.m. Eastern on UFC Fight Pass. Ozzy Diaz (6-1) faces Bruno Assis (12-5) for the middleweight title in the main event.
Former UFC heavyweight champion and occasional pro wrestler Cain Velasquez was denied bail Monday in his attempted murder case.
The rationale provided by Santa Clara (California) County Superior Court judge Shelyna Brown was that it was too risky to let Velasquez out on bail because of the “extreme recklessness to human life” in the alleged actions that put him there to begin with.
“It is clear to this court that there is clear and convincing evidence that there is a substantial likelihood that release would result in great bodily injury, not just to the named complaining witnesses in this case but to Santa Clara residents at large. This case involves allegations of extreme recklessness to human life,” she said in her decision.
The 39-year-old is next slated to appear in court on April 12th and cannot request bail again unless charges are either added or dropped.
Velasquez was officially charged last Wednesday with attempted premeditated murder, along with nine other charges, related to his alleged targeting of Harry Eugene Goularte, who himself was charged on Friday, February 25th with allegedly molesting one of Velasquez’s relatives who is under ten years old.
Velasquez allegedly followed Goularte’s truck on Monday, February 28th and engaged in a high-speed chase throughout San Jose. He then rammed Goularte’s truck and shot a 40-caliber handgun repeatedly into the truck, striking Goularte’s stepfather, 63-year-old Paul Bender, who was also in the vehicle. He is expected to live.
Tony Khan, who had only appeared in front of the crowd once before in the history of Dynamite (for the end of the Brodie Lee Memorial show), announced at the start of the 3/2 Dynamite that he had purchased Ring of Honor. He really gave no details and at press time hadn’t answered any questions regarding the purchase and goals.
Sinclair Broadcasting had made the decision to shut down the company late last year and relaunch it at a much lower cost, eliminating almost all talent contracts and likely only running PPV shows and television tapings. They had largely dropped house shows since coming back from the pandemic, which made exclusive deals with talent even more cost-ineffective.
The one major asset the company had was a tape library that dated back to 2002 and contained some tremendous matches with performers who would go on to make it big in WWE and AEW.
At first, when the announcement of the shutdown came, and rumors that the tape library would be for sale, both Tony Khan and WWE sources indicated they had not been approached about the library, meaning at the time it wasn’t for sale. WWE did have talks with ROH management when ROH was at its peak of popularity with the Young Bucks about purchasing the company, but the idea was to shut down the company and really just purchase the tape library which had early matches of many of WWE’s top stars like Kevin Owens (as Kevin Steen), Sami Zayn (as El Generico), Seth Rollins (as Tyler Black), Daniel Bryan (under his real name), Cesaro (under his real name) and many others.
The idea at the time was to get the valuable library and use it on the WWE Network and for documentaries and shut the company down because at the time ROH and NXT were battling over the hardcore fans and even going head-to-head in markets and in places ROH was beating NXT even with NXT’s advantages of being part of WWE and more advertising, but NXT did have an edge of better talent and the New Japan affiliation which in 2018 meant a lot.
The idea would be to eliminate NXT’s biggest competition for the hardcore fan base while picking up a valuable library. But the deal was never completed past ROH did make a deal to allow WWE some usage of their footage for WWE projects.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Tony Khan buying Ring of Honor and what it could entail, notes from his press conference today, Cain Velasquez shooting details, WWE and A&E, ratings, New Japan Cup, AEW Dynamite and NXT 2.0, and tons more. A packed show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Tony Khan buys Ring of Honor
24:24: Cain Velasquez charged with premeditated attempted murder
Former UFC and WWE star Cain Velasquez was formally charged Wednesday with attempted premediatated murder and nine other charges.
ESPN reported that Velasquez has been charged with one count of attempted premeditated murder, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle or aircraft, three counts of assault with a firearm, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, willfully disccharging a firearm from a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony. Velasquez was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, but the arraignment was continued until Monday morning where there will also be a bail hearing.
Velasquez is accused of targeting Harry Eugene Goularte, who was charged on Friday with allegedly molesting one of Velasquez’s relatives who is under ten years old. On Monday, Velasquez allegedly followed Goularte’s truck and engaged in a 11-mile, high speed chase throughout San Jose. He rammed Goularte’s truck, then shot a 40-caliber handgun repeatedly into the truck, striking Goularte’s stepfather, 63-year-old Paul Bender. Bender was shot once in the arm and torso, but is expected to survive.
“The sad tragedy is that Mr. Velasquez chose to take the law into his own hands, endangering the public and everyone in the truck,” district attorney Jeff Rosen said in a press release. “This act of violence also causes more pain and suffering to his family.”
Velasquez is currently being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Main Jail North in San Jose, California.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including all the speculation on Tony Khan’s big announcement tonight and potential ramifications, Cain Velasquez shooting update, Amari Miller and the NXT 2.0 matches, RAW ratings and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
A new report indicates that Cain Velasquez shot at a man who was recently charged with molesting a close relative.
The Mercury News reported Tuesday evening that Velasquez allegedly shot and injured the stepfather of Harry Eugene Goularte, 43. Goularte has been charged with molesting Velasquez’s relative at a home daycare in San Martin, California that is run by Goularte’s mother. Goularte was arraigned last Friday with one felony count of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 14. The judge granted Goularte a supervised release despite objections from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
At around 3:15 p.m. Monday, Velasquez then allegedly opened fire at a car carrying Goularte, his stepfather, and at least one other person. The stepfather was hit once and is expected to survive. Velazquez was then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He is currently being held at the Santa Clara County Main Jail and is being held without bail.
A former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Velasquez retired from the sport in 2019 and transitioned into professional wrestling. After working a few Lucha Libre AAA shows, he signed with WWE in 2019 and worked one match against Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel 2019, where he lost. After being released from WWE in 2020, he returned to pro wrestling in 2021, working a match at Lucha Libre AAA’s Triplemania Regia event in December.
