The uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc with the MMA calendar as two promotions made further dramatic shifts to their schedule Monday.
Several weeks after canceling their Mohegan Sun (Connecticut) event hours before the first punch was scheduled to be thrown, Bellator MMA announced the postponement of their three May shows, first reported by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani and announced by the promotion Monday night.
Those shows were scheduled for May 9th in San Jose, CA, May 16th in London, England, and May 29th in Temecula, CA. The San Jose show featured a Ryan Bader light heavyweight title fight, and a vacant middleweight title fight between Gegard Mousasi and Douglas Lima. Bellator said they are hoping to reschedule them as soon as possible.
Their next show is scheduled for June 6th at Chicago, IL’s Wintrust Arena, their only event on their calendar until October.
Also happening on Monday, the Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced their 2020 season is on indefinite hiatus due to the coronavirus. They had yet to announce a formal schedule, but their season was expected to kick off in the late spring. PFL didn’t announce a full cancellation of this year, but said in a statement they were “adjusting their plan for the rest of the year and look forward to starting our next season as soon as it is feasible.”
Are you interested in attending our annual F4W/WON convention? We will hold it during AEW Double or Nothing weekend. For more information, check this post for activities and prices.
An update on pro wrestling around the world, where almost everything is canceled, update on WrestleMania, and how every company is handling the situation is the lead story in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Why WWE had to tape WrestleMania in advance, update on the card, update on the changes, some of the early changes, what matches were changed from last week and why, many different matches that were talked about as recently as a week ago, PPV price, NXT big matches and the NXT UK next major show.
The new issue also covers:
The massive stock sale of Vince McMahon, the questions regarding why he would do it, how much of the company he still owns, the television deal with ESPN, and how it compares with airing of big fights from the UFC and boxing on ESPN this week. We also look at the latest WWE Network free offer and what it entails, how long AEW will be going without fans at shows, why the original plans for last week had to be scrapped, who is iced for now from appearing on AEW TV, how hard it has been to put shows together ad new dates.
Dana White’s comments regarding UFC 249, what he said about testing and what the doctors have said about doing shows right now. We also look at White’s plans to make up for missed shows, Impact canceling its PPV, the Japanese sports scene, the Governor of Tokyo talks shutting down the city, the difference in stats between Tokyo and New York, and what Korakuen Hall management has decided.
Shows in Japan this past week and decisions made by companies for this coming week. We look in particular at how New Japan is handling this as compared with other companies. We look at problems for Americans getting to Japan, when the next possible New Japan show is and what content New Japan has been producing.
The arrest of Jon Jones this past week, details of the arrest and a look back at Jones’ arrests and drug test failures.
The best of the 10s, who were the Best of the Decade as far as the Thesz/Flair Award, MMA Most Valuable, Most Outstanding Wrestler of Fighter, Biggest Box Office Draw, Best Tag Team, Best on Interviews, Most Charismatic, Best Technical, Best Brawler, Best Flyer, Best Promotion, Who had the best matches over the past decade, Best Non-Wrestler and Best Television announcer.
Daniel Bryan also talks his future after his current contract expires, WWE stars make marketing donations, WWE renews major TV deal, U.K. ratings for WWE and AEW, how WWE contract work and how that pressures some wrestlers into signing new deals, behind what Braun Strowman said that caused so much controversy, key exec stock sales, Arn Anderson on what Vince McMahon wanted said about Sting, new WWE movie coming to Netflix, Injury updates, and most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
A feature on the death of Branko Cikatic, the first K-1 champion and a pioneer on major MMA shows in Japan. We look at his gigantic career, what star was made in Japan by beating him, the first K-1 World Grand Prix and early Pride shows.
Regarding the Wednesday numbers, we’ve got full details, demos that each side won, how every segment did and what match ended up as the difference maker.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the 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.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I did our weekend show last night covering all the latest news, from Roman Reigns, to Dana White, to Smackdown and WrestleMania. I also did an in-depth show on Roman Reigns and other subjects with Jim Valley on Friday.
Some notes from Dr. Alex Patel on the coronavirus:
It would appear Italy is levelling off – based on that data anticipated week is about 2-3 weeks,
Clearly in the US (esp in NYC) we are getting reports of the large spread hospital overrun. The increase the US and doubling time is much higher than most places.
He noted that often 50% percent of the people with the virus don’t have a fever. “We are seeing people with a headache that swab positive – it can have very mild presentations.”
I believe UFC was going to swab them which is more accurate than using temp. However there are false negatives and the swabs are not well validated for asymptomatic people so it’s not perfect. I also think with the way MMA works there is more exchange of droplets than wrestling by face (fake vs real and ability to minimize it if it’s fake) so I agree it seems weird they are pushing it so much.
Anyone at higher risk (Diabetes, HTN, on immunosuppressives) needs to be more cautious. Talk to your doctor if you are on immunosuppressants if the best option is to reduce them or not. Avoid NSAIDS and stick to Tylenol. In terms of how long it’s hard to say – even if rates fall there is a concern about a bump from South America having cases later and coming over. I would definitely avoid travel for a while. If cases start to fall then I would increase social activity in a ramp fashion – lowest risk (ie – small groups of people you know are well) first before going full blown.
If rates fall in 2-3 weeks then it might take a month or so putting us on that initial June or so timeline before we see easing off.
Mass gatherings are definitely still risky as are airports and travel. The bump in South America coming a little later needs to be watched and we have to weary it doesn’t make its way back over here.
A lot of the cable companies are getting their acts together on the WrestleMania pricing after having no idea how to handle it. Verizon has changed it to $29.99 per night. DirecTV is listing it as $34.95 per night sold separately. Comcast has changed to $34.95 per night as well. (thanks to Leon Peters, Arya Witner and B Faherty)
There has been a ton of talk today regarding the Go Shiozaki vs. Kazuyuki Fujita GHC title match that took place at Korakuen Hall earlier today. People were raving about it, saying it was absolutely brutal, with Shiozaki taking an incredible beating before coming back to win. The match went 57:47 which sounds insane in an empty arena, and the two never touched until the 31:00 mark. Yet people are calling it a fantastic match and say don’t skip over the first part. Anyway, I haven’t seen it yet. Shiozaki retained the title. Regarding Korakuen Hall. it has shot down for spectators but is allowing empty arena events. (thanks to Matt Harrigan).
KIRO TV in Seattle covered the death of Dean Silverstone on its news. Dean was one of the nicest and most giving and hardworking guys in the business. I don’t know anyone who didn’t like or respect him and he was a seemingly indispensible person in the Cauliflower Alley Club for 30 years. He is a giant loss to that part of the business.
Becky Lynch did an interview on ESPN where she indicated that her match with Shayna Baszler would be on the first night of WrestleMania.
Brock Lesnar, Edge, Undertaker and Becky Lynch are all advertised for Raw tomorrow. The Raw show was taped this past Tuesday on a closed set so no matches or results are out.
WrestleMania 32 airs at 7 p.m. Eastern tonight on ESPN. The key matches are Roman Reigns winning the WWE title from HHH, the same match that aired Friday on Smackdown, plus Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose, notable this week since it’s current WWE champion vs. current AEW champion in almost a squash, Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon Hell in a Cell, Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks for the old Divas title, Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs. Stardust (Cody) vs. Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs Zack Ryder vs. Sin Cara in a ladder match and Chris Jericho vs. A.J. Styles, plus an appearance by The Rock.
The company is doing Instagram live promotions for WrestleMania all week. Zack Ryder and Charlotte Flair are doing a watch along for tonight’s ESPN coverage of WrestleMania. Rhea Ripley will be on at 1:30 tomorrow. Mandy Rose will be on Noon Tuesday. Rhea Ripley will be on Noon Thursday. Bianca Belair will be on at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
UFC
Sportsbegging.ag has odds of where UFC 249 will take place:
Florida +225
Russia +300
United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi) +300
Mexico +500
Saudi Arabia +800
South Africa +1000
Nevada +1400
They also have odds on whether Jon Jones fights before December 31:
Yes +300
No -500
AEW
Chris Jericho is going to do weekly Q&A segments, singalongs and otherwise make an attempt to entertain wrestling fans every Saturday night going forward. He did his first show last night and had about 150,000 views before the end of the night and it’s topped 360,000 as of today.
MISCELLANEOUS
Guiherme Cruz has a great story on fighters preparing for UFC 250 with all gyms shut down in Brazil. This focuses on some of the same issues we’ve been talking about, about putting people in fights who simply can’t do fight camp training and preparation at this time.
If you are looking for current wrestling, MLW has enough shows in the can for several more weeks. MLW goes under the radar just because there is so much product out there, but they combine all kinds of styles and it’s logically booked week-to-week with good wrestlers. This week’s show is built around the idea of a real fight with King Mo managed by Dan Lambert, and they promote ATT hard, against Low Ki billed as a battle of knockout artists.
The Wrestle-1 promotion will be running its 4/1 final event at Korakuen Hall without a crowd. The promotion, founded by Keiji Muto, was going out of business on that date not having anything to do with the coronavirus, and was continuing to run shows.
Stardom ended up canceling yesterday’s show in Shizuoka that was still on as late as Friday. There have been smaller companies running events, some with fans, in Japan, but the crowds have been small. Nothing like last week.
Also in Japan, Pure J and Tokyo Joshi Pro canceled events in Tokyo and Marvelous canceled its show tomorrow. Sendai Girls did run yesterday in Miyagi.
Two boxing names passed away this week from the coronavirus. Nelson Cuevas, a cutman from New York, passed away Friday. He was a fixture on the New York boxing scene since 1959, working the corners after first being a boxer and later a trainer. Former fighter and trainer Ron Ross passed away in Boca Raton, FL, best known for his biographies on Emile Griffith and Bummy Davis. (thanks to Nick Mahmood)
CWE did a three match live stream from Winnipeg on Friday: Johnny Malibu b Kevin Cannon, Adrien Burton b Dragneel, Danny Duggan b AJ Sanchez. Mentallo issued a challenge to Duggan for the 11th anniversary show on 5/22 in Winnipeg. The event is on the CWE Facebook page.
CWE on 4/30 in Prince Albert, Alberta at the East Hills Community Club with Shane Douglas vs. Robin Lekime.
The Big Audio Nightmare is back this week with continuing coverage of COVID-19’s impact on the world of professional wrestling in Japan and on all of our lives in general.
In this week’s full show, Adam Summers and Mike Sempervive take you through the latest wrestling news in Japan like what shows are happening, what shows have been canceled, and what may lie ahead.
The guys also take a look at the very noteworthy AJPW and STARDOM shows at Korakuen Hall, while tentatively looking forward this weekend’s empty arena Pro Wrestling NOAH show and much more.
UFC president Dana White promised that UFC 249 would happen despite the coronavirus pandemic and it appears he is .01% away from making that happen.
In an Instagram chat with Yahoo’s Kevin Iole Monday and confirmed again with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, White says that a location for the April 18th pay-per-view is “99.9% done” and will also feature a full undercard but with no fans in attendance.
White told Iole, “I do (know where it is), but I’m not ready to tell you yet. I know lots of things.”
The show is set to be headlined by UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. no. 1 contender Tony Ferguson in the company’s fifth attempt to make the fight through the years. The champion is currently training in Russia while the challenger is still in the U.S.
While the UFC did have a full slate of fights scheduled before the pandemic, the question of where the show will take place if it does happen could determine how many of those originally scheduled fights actually take place, especially if those fighters don’t want to risk the travel or if travel bans remain in their countries of origin.
The co-main event features two former strawweight champions rematching in Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade, Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar, Uriah Hall vs. Jacare Souza, Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Hernandez, and more.
White told Iole that any fighter or staffer who doesn’t feel comfortable with being part of the show doesn’t have to be.
The show was originally slated for Brooklyn, NY, but cannot be held there due to the state ban on large gatherings due to the pandemic.
Despite Japanese wrestling slowly starting to come back amid the coronavirus pandemic, New Japan Wrestling announced Monday that both the Sakura Genesis and Road to Dontaku events have been canceled.
The Sakura Genesis show was slated for Tuesday, March 31st at Sumo Hall while the Dontaku show was set for Saturday, April 11th in Sagamihara.
A statement read: “We deeply apologise to fans who were looking forward to these events. Ultimately, the health and safety of our fans, wrestlers and staff, as well as society at large is our utmost concern, and we will make announcements about events scheduled after April 11 upon careful monitoring of this developing situation.”
In one of the most bizarre periods of time for both professional wrestling and the world in general, this year’s WWE WrestleMania will not be live and will instead be filmed this Wednesday and Thursday at the Performance Center in Orlando, FL.
The specifics were first reported by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson and confirmed by both Dave Meltzer and POST Wrestling’s John Pollock. This year’s two night event will also feature segments and matches from other non-disclosed locations, but it’s unclear when those will be taped.
Johnson confirmed this week’s taping schedule which was first reported by Pollock Friday and confirmed by Meltzer. The next two SmackDowns were set to be filmed today (Saturday) while NXT content is on deck for Sunday. On Monday, the next two Monday Night Raws will be filmed with WrestleMania coming the two days after that.
What happens after the two nights of WrestleMania, scheduled for Saturday, April 4th, and Sunday, April 5th, is still unclear as the world struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. As many states enact ‘shelter in place’ mandates in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, Florida has yet to do so. However, that may be taken out of their hands if the United States decides to take a more aggressive step in that direction.
WrestleMania was scheduled for a one day event in Tampa, FL, before WWE announced the decision to run the show in their Performance Center in front of no fans instead. There will be no Hall of Fame or TakeOver as part of the lead-up as in years past.
The inaugural season of Vince McMahon’s XFL revival is officially over.
A statement issued by the XFL on Friday announced that — due to the coronavirus pandemic and the most recent local and state regulations — the remainder of the 2020 season is canceled. The statement reiterated that the XFL looks forward to playing full seasons in 2021 and beyond.
Five weeks of the XFL season were played before it was announced on March 12 that play was being suspended. “Currently, the XFL will not be playing its regular-season games,” the league said at the time. “However, all players will be paid their base pay and benefits for the 2020 regular season. All XFL ticket holders will be issued refunds or credit toward future games.”
Players will be allowed to sign with NFL teams if NFL teams are interested in them.
Today’s statement from the XFL is available below:
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the most recent local and state regulations, have left the XFL no choice but to officially cancel the remainder of the 2020 season. This decision has been made with the health and safety of the entire XFL family as our top priority.
While we are disappointed to not complete the 2020 season, our hearts are full of appreciation for your overwhelming support.
Your passion, your commitment to your favorite XFL team and your love of football made our season a success beyond our wildest dreams. We’re grateful for the incredible response and look forward to playing full seasons for you — and with you — in 2021 and beyond.
When our teams return to the field, we’ll make every effort to ensure your faith in us is rewarded with even more fun and excitement. Your passion is our purpose, and everything we do, every day and for every season to come, is For the Love of Football.
We hope you will stay connected to our league and team social and digital channels for news, features, and updates along the way.
From all of us at the XFL, be safe, stay healthy, and, again, thank you. Here’s to 2021!
As of right now, WWE’s plan is for tonight’s SmackDown, as well as the two subsequent SmackDowns set for March 27th and April 3rd to be taped over the next two days at the Performance Center in Orlando, FL.
However, it is not clear at this time if both taped shows will be completed tomorrow or how that process will work.
Also as of right now, there will be a Raw show taped Monday with the subsequent March 30th Raw taped Tuesday, also at the Performance Center.
WrestleMania is likely being taped, but that decision is being kept secret. Of note, WWE did remove the word “live” as opposed to the “streaming live” which had previously be on its website. Very few in the company are in the loop on the WrestleMania live vs. taped decision including most of the talent, which knows no more than anyone else.
The current plan for NXT is unknown. As of yesterday, there was hope of doing a regular show as opposed to the studio style/interview show they did this past week, but nothing further has been confirmed.
The reason several Japanese companies are returning to live shows with fans this week is that at yesterday’s government meeting with experts on the coronavirus, the doctors reported that the virus spreading has now been limited to three parts of Japan.
In the rest of Japan, each prefectures (states) governors are to use their discretion, but the belief is that isolationism will be ending and that schools will be reopened and sports and entertainment events will be allowed. They still warned against large gatherings in small enclosed areas.
Parts of Tokyo are one of the three regions but not the entire city, along with places in prefectures of Aichi, whose main city is Nagoya, and Hyogo, whose main city is Kobe.
Stardom, Dragon Gate, and DDT will all be running shows in the next few days. New Japan, which was hoping to resume action on March 31 at Sumo Hall, has not made an announcement.
Dragon Gate will be running on Sunday in Kobe for its first show back. Stardom will be running Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Tuesday.
According to John Pollock of POST Wrestling, WWE is planning out an “ambitious” taping schedule that will cover the company through WrestleMania — and possibly their biggest show of the year itself.
Pollock reported that the plan is to pre-tape the March 23rd and March 30th editions of Raw and the March 27th and April 3rd editions of SmackDown over the next week which would take them into WrestleMania. He added that one source told him both nights of WrestleMania could also be pre-taped, while another source was unsure if that was the plan.
It’s unclear if WWE plans to keep going with a mix of recent archived content with a handful of new matches on those broadcasts.
Uncertainty reigns around the wrestling business due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which could shut down any efforts at producing live content at any time, especially if a talent tests positive. Both WWE and AEW appear to be taking a cautious approach in that regard with AEW not committing to saying “next week” with their next edition of Dynamite.
This Friday’s edition of SmackDown will feature a contract signing between WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns and an appearance by Rob Gronkowski.
In a video released Wednesday, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said they will continue to test athletes during the coronavirus pandemic as long as it remains safe and possible, which includes UFC fighters and those preparing for the Tokyo Olympics.
In the four minute video, Tygart said that any USADA collection officer showing any sign of the COVID-19 virus will be collecting samples and, where available, agents will wear personal protective gear like masks and gloves while attempting to maintain a six foot distance.
One potential issue not addressed is with those who carry the virus that are asymptomatic which could include their testers. Additionally, the availability of the protective gear is another problem given the shortages that many hospitals are running into.
Given that UFC fighters are around the world, that the virus has reached all corners of that world, and the organization’s past conflicts with fighters on collecting samples raises concerns as to whether this is the right thing to do at the current time.
The UFC ran an empty arena show this past Saturday in Brasilia, Brazil, but had to postpone their next three shows after pushing hard not to do so. As of this point, UFC’s next show on the books is mid-April’s UFC 249 which doesn’t have a home following New York State’s ban on public assemblies of 50 people or more.
In a time of change due to the coronavirus pandemic, WWE announced this Wednesday’s NXT on USA show will break format from their usual presentation.
A statement released to this website said, “It will air as regularly scheduled in a modified format with elements ranging from in-depth character profiles and story breakdowns as well as never-before-seen interviews and content.”
The show will “likely” be from Stamford, CT, rather than the WWE Performance Center and will feature no live matches. The reason for the format change isn’t clear. It’s also unknown whether this will be a one-week change or the standard going forward.
As of this time, AEW is running live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL, this Wednesday with a full slate of matches.
WWE is moving this Friday’s SmackDown and next Monday’s Raw to the Performance Center as well as this year’s WrestleMania, all in front of no fans with limited personnel in the building.
In what was an inevitability given the current situation with the coronavirus, WWE has moved this Friday’s SmackDown and next Monday’s Raw to their Orlando, FL-based Performance Center to continue their recent closed set run.
Friday’s SmackDown was scheduled for the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA, but the arena has suspended all events through April 13th due to the state not allowing shows with 50 people or more.
Similarly, Monday’s Raw will also be at the Performance Center, originally scheduled for Fort Worth, Texas, at the Dickies Arena. They posted that the event is postponed to a SmackDown on Friday, July 31st instead.
WWE has yet to formally announce the news the changes as of this writing, but it has been confirmed by our Dave Meltzer.
Starting Wednesday, the company has nine events this week including house shows. It’s expected all the WWE and NXT house shows will be postponed with the biggest one — Madison Square Garden featuring the return of DX — already being announced.
WWE announced Monday that this year’s WrestleMania will also be at the Performance Center with limited personnel in attendance.
The Big Audio Nightmare is back this week with continuing coverage of COVID-19’s impact on the world of professional wrestling in Japan and on all of our lives in general.
In this week’s solo voyage, Adam Summers takes you through the wrestling news in Japan like what shows are happening, what shows have been canceled, and what may lie ahead.
We also take a look at a couple of great matches on recent Big Japan and Zero-1 shows while tentatively looking forward to major upcoming shows for AJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
In the wake of WWE’s announcement that this year’s WrestleMania will move to Orlando, FL, in front of no fans due to the coronavirus outbreak, postponements and cancellations began to pour in from various indie promoters who were planning on taking advantage of tens of thousands of wrestling fans in town for a variety of annual shows and signings.
EVOLVE’s Gabe Sapolsky made the announcement Monday that their various events have been postponed indefinitely. They will begin to reach out to ticket holders over the next few weeks on refunds and other options as they attempt to collect thousands in deposits and other expenses to help cover it. The Expo included shows like the WWN SuperShow, PROGRESS, wXw, EVOLVE 150, and others.
They also announced their cancellation Monday, comprised of the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow, World Wide, Joey Ryan’s Penis Party 2, and Ethan Page’s Body Guy Extravaganza among others. (An issue with the host venue made its way around wrestling Twitter Monday night as WWE canceling before the city and county did apparently caused a contractual issue with getting their money back.)
The cancellations also include the New Japan Lion’s Break Project 3 show in addition to the Impact Wrestling One Night Only throwback show. Impact hasn’t announced the news yet, but earlier Monday when canceling two March events, they said they would review “the recommendations from the appropriate government agencies and local communities” with regard to their two April events.
GCW made the call to postpone Monday night, saying events like Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, Joey Janela’s Spring Break 4, Effy’s Big Gay Brunch, Warhausen’s WrestleVania, and others will be packaged together on a future date. They are offering refunds, but also are hoping many keep their tickets for the rescheduled dates.
Still To Come:
Ring of Honor hasn’t postponed or rescheduled their Supercard of Honor show, set for Lakeland, FL, on April 4th. While not in Tampa, the city has canceled mass gatherings several days ago.
