Tag: dragon lee

Daily Update: Wednesday ratings, Kenny Omega, Weili Zhang

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

[email protected]

We’re looking for reports from Raw tonight in Nashville with Main Event and dark matches as well as reports on Friday’s WWE show in Little Rock, Saturday’s show in Mexico City and Starrcade in Atlanta (stuff not on television) to [email protected]

Raw tonight has Seth Rollins apologizing and Charlotte Flair in a handicap match against Kairi Sane & Asuka.

NXT ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON THE USA NETWORK

  • Killian Dain vs. Damien Priest

AEW ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON TNT

  • Trent vs. Rey Fenix
  • Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida
  • Christopher Daniels vs. Pentagon Jr.
  • Joey Janela vs. Jon Moxley
  • Young Bucks & Dustin Rhodes vs. Santana & Ortiz & Sammy Guevara

F4W NEWSLETTER: NXT’s Survivor Series involvement Joseph Currier looks at how WWE featured NXT at Survivor Series and in the build to the PPV.

Even with how forced the battle for brand supremacy can admittedly be, Survivor Series is one of the bright spots on the WWE calendar.

The PPV has given us some of the main roster’s best matches in recent years. Last year, we got Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan and Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (filling in for the injured Becky Lynch). In 2017, Lesnar faced AJ Styles. Those matches wouldn’t have happened without the brand vs. brand concept. And while there would ideally be more substantive stakes involved, the brands facing off has given some life to the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag matches.

The added involvement of NXT this year only improved things. The battle of the brands would have been even more forced without their inclusion. Viewers can believe that NXT really wants to prove that it’s better than Raw or SmackDown. It’s much harder to suspend your disbelief and buy into Raw and SmackDown’s wrestlers being undyingly loyal to their brand just weeks after a draft.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

WON NEWSLETTER: December 2, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Survivor Series weekend, Mauro Ranallo/Corey Graves

Coverage of Survivor Series weekend and five shows in six nights in Chicago, as well as the business, polls and more, heads this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

We look at the directions things are going, how DVR viewership affects all the major shows, the decision on match order, what Vince McMahon was doing during the Survivor Seres main event, the next two major shows as well as Survivor Series and Takeover with full coverage and star ratings for every match.

The issue also covers:

The myth of NXT as developmental, World’s Collide, the next Takeover, the mention of Britt Baker on the air and more.

The tragic death of Aniah Blanchard, the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris.

Changes in the UFC drug policy, regarding levels, what drugs are low levels now allowed, what UFC is encouraging fighters to do as far as supplements, . 

The situation with Corey Graves and Mauro Ranallo, what happened, why Graves should have been more careful, and where things stand.

Jim Cornette’s apology, how his departure from the NWA took place, more of the background as to why Cornette was castigated for things that nobody would have batted an eye about had others said and why, what NWA wanted to do with him and why their hand was forced.

C.M. Punk signing with FOX, Vince McMahon’s thoughts on Seth Rollins pushing the Punk match, TV ratings in Canada and overseas, WWE get awarded, legend selling home, Oney Lorcan talks future, Mike Bennett talks wanting to leave, Injury updates in WWE, WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network, plus notes on the house shows.

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. 

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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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, Wednesday ratings, new UFC fights and other stories. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected]

We did a special show yesterday covering the economics and business of WWE and AEW going forward with Brandon Thurston and Garrett Gonzalez.

Regarding ratings from Wednesday, we’ll talk in depth tonight but the night before Thanksgiving affected every show on television and the AEW decline was far more than just the night before Thanksgiving. The key is that one week aberrations do happen, but while I’d throw out Friday’s Smackdown decline as not even being a real story based on the weekend, with AEW, the number is a very significant story unless the numbers rebound greatly this week.

Aniah Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Walt Harris, was killed by a gunshot wound and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case against Ibraham Yazeed, who had been charged with kidnapping in the case.

UFC is working on a Weili Zhang strawweight title defense against Joanna Jedrzjczyk for a show on 3/7 which would be a PPV card, as well as Jan Blachowicz vs. Corey Anderson on 2/15 which would be a possible light heavyweight title fight eliminator, which would not be on a PPV show.

Kenny Omega retained the AAA title over Dragon Lee at the baseball stadium show in Monterrey yesterday. The show will be uploaded to YouTube sometime over the next week.  The big news was that Rush invited L.A. Park to join Los Ingobernables. What’s notable is that CMLL owns the name, but Rush and Park had the hottest feud in Mexico for the past two years.

WWE

  • Monday Night Football tonight has the 8-3 Minnesota Vikings vs. 9-2 Seattle Seahawks, so that will hurt the Raw numbers somewhat.  With only two Raw shows left before TLC, they have to shoot angles for the Raw side of that show’s card tonight.
  • On “Jeopardy” this weekend with the WWE category, they asked a question “The Song Stand Back was performed by this head honcho?”  Answer was Vince McMahon, which none of the contestants got (thanks to Ken Raftery)
  • The final episode of the season of Total Divas airs tomorrow night. It’s about Ronda Rousey taking a sabbatical from WWE to start a family. 
  • Stephen Amell appears on WWE Backstage tomorrow night.

UFC

  • Junior Dos Santos had been a contestant on Brazil’s version of Dancing with the Stars.  He was eliminated yesterday. He had been off the show due to a leg injury and got the least amount of votes this past week. Dos Santos is now set to fly to Florida to start training for his 1/25 fight with Curtis Blaydes.
  • Brad Tavares vs. Antonio Carlos Jr. has verbal agreements in place for a 3/14 show in Brasilia, Brazil.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • New Japan tag team tournament matches tomorrow from Kochi, which won’t be broadcast live but will be on New Japan World some time tomorrow are:
    Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
    Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano
    Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
    Yoshi-Hashi & Tomohiro Ishii vs Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
    Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Evil & Sanada
    Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
  • Due to injuries, three new bouts have been announced for Saturday’s Alberto vs. Tito PPV from McAllen, TX.  The new bouts are Dani Barez (11-4) vs. Joao Camilo (6-3), Dulce Garcia aka Sexy Star (1-0) vs. Anali Lopez Hernandez (0-0) and Gason Reuno (8-2, 2 no contests) vs. Rey Trujillo (24-27).
  • Jushin Liger will be working a 12/14 show in Sydney, Australia.  Liger teams with Robbie Eagles against Jack Bonza & Bad Luck Fale. (thanks to Kevin Chiat) 
  • Northeast Wrestling from Saturday night in Bethany, CT:  JT Dunn b Chuck O’Neil (who is an area MMA fighter/pro wrestler), Christian Casanova DDQ Wrecking Bell Legursky, Keith Youngblood b Mike Verna, RJ Rude & Zane Bernardo b Aiden Aggro & Danger Kid, Mike Gamble b Daniel Evans, Dexter Loux b Brett Gosselin, Tasha Steelz b Aria.  the first four matches are part of the NEW Live tournament for a title belt to be defended exclusively on Facebook (thanks to Nick Mahmood)
  • Bellator announced its first show of 2020 would be on 2/21 from Thackerville, K with Ed Ruth vs. Yaroslav Amosov and Brandon Girtz vs.Myles Jury as the top fights.
  • AWS from Saturday in South Gate, CA:  Viva Van b Simone Sherie, Johnny Paradise won four-way over Dicky Meyer, Mike Camden and Hunter Freeman, Michael Hopkins & Juan Mattioli b Yuma & Watts, Daniel Moon & Danny Divine & Brendan Divine b Ray Rosas & Diego Valens & Frankie Frank, Ruby Raze & Vipess b Ashley Vox & Delmi Vox, Mariachi Loco & Lil Cholo b Steven Andrews & Simon Lotto, Andy Brown b B-Boy, Piloto Suicida vs. Acero Dorado vs. Human Tornado vs. Shamu Jr. vs. Hector Canales ended with no winner, Tito Escondido & Che Cabrera b Jesse James & Hoss Hogg (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
  • Matt Sydal is the first name announced for the 2/20 Qatar Pro Wrestling show in Doha, Qatar.  The other name announced for the show is Eric Bischoff.
  • A correction from yesterday, Herb Simmons noted there was a phone issue and somehow there was a Facebook post saying the 12/28 show in East Carondelet, IL was canceled, but it is still on at the Community Center. Another correction from yesterday is the Limitless Wrestling show listed in Yarmouth, Mass., was actually in Yarmouth, Maine.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Kyle O’Reilly wins ROH World title at Final Battle 2016

CONTACT INFORMATION

ROH adds two matches to Final Battle card

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two more matches have been added to the card for ROH’s final pay-per-view of the year.

ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor will defend his title against Dragon Lee at Final Battle. A grudge match between former Kingdom stablemates is also set for the PPV, with Matt Taven facing off with Vincent Marseglia.

ROH began building to Taylor vs. Lee when Taylor retained his title against Flip Gordon, Tracy Williams, and Lee in a four corner survival match at Death Before Dishonor this September. Taylor pinned Gordon, then Lee indicated that he wanted a one-on-one match with Taylor.

Marseglia turned against Taven and attacked him with an axe in an angle at ROH’s The Experience show earlier this month.

Final Battle is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:

  • ROH World Champion Rush defending against PCO
  • ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
  • ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor defending against Dragon Lee
  • Mark Haskins (w/ Vicky Haskins) vs. Bully Ray in a street fight
  • Matt Taven vs. Vincent Marseglia

Lucha Bros vs. Munoz family set for The Crash’s anniversary show

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Two of the Muñoz family members will clash in November against Fenix and Pentagon Jr.

The Crash announced during this evening’s show that Rush & Dragon Lee will meet Pentagon Jr. and Fenix on their 8th anniversary event in Tijuana on November 1. However, Rush later said that it could be any Muñoz family members, meaning father Bestia del Ring could be part of the match.

Dragon Lee is part of the NJPW Super Junior Tag Tournament that takes place later this month and has not been cancelled from that tour.

Rush and Dragon Lee were released from CMLL just hours after the 86th anniversary event took place last weekend, with CMLL claiming it was due to the two not living up to the standards of the organization. There is ongoing turmoil behind the scenes which had led to younger wrestler’s guarantees being cut.

There is also a power struggle ongoing that has led to Sofia Alonso, who was put in charge of the promotion following Paco Alonso’s death, being demoted.

Jonathan Gresham and CIMA were also announced for the anniversary show.

Daily Update: The Rock, NJPW, CMLL fallout

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

F4W NEWSLETTER: NXT’s USA Network era starts strong Joseph Currier gives his thoughts on NXT’s live premiere. Plus, Vinny’s TV reviews.

NXT took advantage of their head start over AEW by hitting a home run with last week’s live premiere.

It wasn’t surprising that NXT’s first live episode was good — it would have been pretty shocking if it wasn’t. Even if there have been occasional peaks and valleys, NXT has always been a good show. Triple H and his team know what they’re doing and the roster is stacked with talent. But NXT was able to pass one of their most important tests: creating a show that feels must-see and different from what they were already offering viewers.

It’s become clear that NXT is going to be a place that features all of WWE’s non-main roster sub-brands. In addition to the regular NXT talent on display, the show featured an appearance by WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER and his Imperium stablemates. There was also a Cruiserweight Championship number one contender’s match, with Lio Rush making his return and defeating Oney Lorcan.

Due to the final episodes of the USA Network series “Suits,” the first two live editions of NXT are being split across USA and the WWE Network. Last week’s USA Network hour featured a really good fatal four-way number one contender’s match that saw Candice LeRae defeat Mia Yim, Bianca Belair, and Io Shirai to become NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler’s next challenger. Cameron Grimes squashed Sean Maluta, and Roderick Strong became the new NXT North American Champion by defeating Velveteen Dream. The first NXT broadcast of the USA Network era ended with every member of Undisputed Era holding a title.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

WON NEWSLETTER: Everything changes next week, Impact moving to AXS

With perhaps the most important week for the U.S. industry in a decade coming up, a double issue this week:

Goes through details of the moves by WWE and AEW, what plans are, advertisers wants, promotion and much more. 

Includes an extensive look at Battle of Los Angeles, New Japan’s upcoming big shows and Tokyo Dome plans, what to learn from the NXT ratings and much more.

The lead story talks about WWE’s big week, the importance of the different shows, overdoing nostalgia, ticket sales, announcing changes,  205 Live’s future, plans for all the shows, what demos to look at, what happened with AEW and ITV, NXT, Smackdown and AEW on the West Coast, replays shows, Smackdown ad rates, as well as a look at Hell in a Cell.

Impact to AXS and what the plans are for specials leading to the regular show. 

The keys in week two’s NXT show and the audience change.

Brock Lesnar’s future, John Hennigan coming in, CM Punk, former UFC legend talks coming to WWE, Shayna Baszler talks her career, WWE injuries, WWE stock update, most-watched shows on WWE Network for the past week, as well as a look at every WWE & NXT arena event over the past week with results, highlights and business notes.

NJPW coverage of Destruction in Kobe, Tokyo Doe direction, King of Pro Wrestling, the Young Lions Cup and match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

Battle of Los Angeles, Bandido’s win, past winners, other PWG alumni, business notes, the good and the bad, the stars of the weekend, the stars of the future, Aramis, Alex Zayne, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

Full coverage of the UFC from Mexico City along with business notes.

Full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.

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

Current subscribers click here to read. 

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.

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Regarding Dwayne Johnson on Friday, it hasn’t been announced because there is no deal in place.  They are working on it and it’s really up to his schedule if they can pull it off.  It’s not so much they want the surprise as much as it’s probably not going to be confirmed until the last minute.

In regards to Cain Velasquez and WWE, he had a meeting with the company and we talked more details about it on today’s radio show.  Every major promotion except CMLL has shown some interest in him.

Bandido suffered a knee injury, which actually happened before BOLA, but he worked BOLA since he was key to the show and also worked the ROH PPV on Friday.  He is not out of action.  He didn’t work yesterday for ROH and canceled the wXw tag team tournament upcoming in Germany.  We don’t yet know how long he’ll be out or if he’ll be able to the NJPW tag team tournament.

All the CMLL fallout with Rush & Dragon Lee being fired was covered in depth on today’s show.  There’s nothing else new past there are a lot of issues regarding names that CMLL owns, including Los Ingobernables.  Rush missed yesterday’s show due to an ankle injury suffered catching Matt Taven on a dive on Friday. It’s not bad and he’s not supposed to miss any time but they didn’t want to risk their new champion aggravating it the next day.     

The short version of the story as to why the New Japan show last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom started 90 minutes late, the ambulance story is pretty much legit, but it’s far more than that. The company that usually provides ambulances for the building was called the morning of the show to say it was canceled.  Those backstage found out at about 5:30 p.m. and ended up getting an FDNY ambulance to the building in time for the show to start.  The Athletic Commission rep said that if there was a shooting nearby the ambulance would have to leave and wouldn’t accept it or allow the show to go on.  A second FDNY ambulance came but it was the same story.  Two other ambulances ended up being brought in so at one point there were four ambulances there.  At this point the two FDNY ones left since the commission wouldn’t accept them.  Then somebody tried to tell one of the ambulances (a commission person) that two weren’t needed and one of the others could go, but those associated with the show asked, what if somebody needed an ambulance and thus, with only one, there wouldn’t be one there, and the commission said they would have to stop the show at that point until the ambulance got back.  So they kept two.  They also had four doctors, three more than necessary, on their own including one that spoke Japanese.  At the time the video played, the two ambulances were there but the commission would not allow the show to start until they were in the back of the building and a stretcher was in the building, as they were in the front of the building when they wanted to start the show and were told they couldn’t.  NJPW was also told the barricade couldn’t be used to throw wrestlers in, no fighting outside the ring, no tables and no blading.  For union reasons, the show was supposed to end by 11 p.m. but we’re told even with rushing the show, NJPW decided to run overtime even with the added cost.

Expect lots of WWE media and some AEW media over the next few days.  AEW has stories in TV Guide and another major publication in the next few days.  WWE is sending talent to Fox & Friends TV all week with Kofi Kingston tomorrow, Stephanie McMahon on Tuesday, Charlotte Flair on Wednesday and Roman Reigns on Thursday.

WWE:

  • E! has moved Total Divas from Wednesday at 10 p.m. to Tuesday at 10 p.m., probably with the idea keeping it off Wednesday is a good idea for all concerned.  It stars this week.
  • Big E gave Shawn Porter his ring intro using the New Day style intro last night on the Porter-Spence PPV which FOX was distributing.  Another example of the FOX promotional power at work.
  • A story on John Cena visiting an injured Colorado officer (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • The Shanghai Post had a story about the recent WWE show last week in the city and Xia Li.
  • Rey Mysterio talks wanting to team with son Dominick.
  • Stephanie McMahon interview with Sports Pro Media (thanks to Jose Gonzalez)

UFC:

  • Even though Bellator ran a major show, and UFC also ran yesterday, the only combat sports related item that cracked the top 20 in searches was the Errol Spence Jr. vs Shawn Porter boxing match, which was No. 3 at 500,000.  The No  20 term topped 100,000 on a list dominated by college football.
  • In yesterday’s show from Copenhagen, Denmark, Olympic wrestler Mark O Madsen, an Olympic medalist, was like the local hero in the semifinal.
  • Sergio Pettis vs. Kai Kara-France has been added to the 12/14 show in Las Vegas 

MISCELLANEOUS:

  • Kota Ibushi had a tooth knocked out last night.
  • Jake Atlas, who started with ROH yesterday, has not signed with ROH.
  • KSW announced a match to crown its first bantamweight champion on 11/9 at Arena Zagreb in Croatia.  It will be Antun Racic (23-8-1) of Croatia as the local star facing Damian Stasiak (11-6) from Poland.
  • AAW from last night in Chicago:  Clayton Gainz b Sean Higgins, Airwolf b Jordan Oliver, Kimber Lee b Allysin Kay, Good Brother #3 (Mance Warner) b Matt Justice in a bounty match, Ace Romero won four-way to get an AAW title shot on 11/30 over Paco, Joey Lynch and Curt Stallion, Myron Reed NC Karam when Hakim Zane broke up the match, Jacob Fatu b Darby Allin, Jessicka Havok b Hawlee Cromwell to keep the women’s title, Jessicka Havok & Kris Statlander b Jimmy Jacobs & Josh Briggs, Jake Something b David Starr to keep the Heritage title, Josh Alexander b Sami Callihan to win the AAW title.  So Alexander vs. Romero is the 11/30 main event. (thanks to Case Lowe)
  • wXw has a Femmes Fatales tournament on 10/5 in Oberhausen with eight-women.  The first round matches are LuFisto vs.; Saraya Knight, Lana Austin vs. Baby Allison, Session Moth Martina vs. Wesna and Sammii Jayne vs; Leyla Hirsch.  Plus Amale defends the wXw title against Faye Jackson.
  • WOW TV results from last night on AXS TV:  Nikki Krumpus b Princess Aussie, Reyna Reyes (Gisele Shaw) b Temptress (Katarina Leigh), Chantilly Chelia (Ray Lyn) & Sassy Massy (Alisha Edwards) b Disciplinarian & Abilene Maverick (Barbi Hayden) to win the vacant tag titles, The Beast & Jungle Grrrl b Havok & Hazard (Nevaeh-DQ (thanks to Shannon
  • Pro Wrestling Eve from yesterday in London at the Stratford Circus Arts Centre in a retirement show for Jayla Dark:  Kanji won three-way over Mercedes Blaze and NightShade, Jetta b Trish Adora, Emi Sakura b Gisele Shaw, Rhia O’Reilly b Faye Jackson, Roxxy d Sammii Jayne, Tsukasa Fujimoto b Jayla Dark (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • Defy from last night in Seattle for the farewell show for the group of Darby Allin, Joey Janela and referee Aubry Edwards, who are all with AEW.  Ethan HD & Mike Santiago b Super Crazy & Guillermo Rosas, Judas Icarus & Jordan Oasis & ? & Hero b Border Patrol & Vinny Massaro & Travis Williams & ?, Rebel Kel won four-way over Danika Della Rouge, Reia Von Slasher and Sloan, Killer Kross b Douglas James, Rey Hours b Bestia 666 (fans threw money in the ring when it was over, at least 50 different bills were thrown in), Cody Chunn b Darby Allin, Schaff b Joey Janela to keep Defy title.  They announced Matt Sydal and Cima for October, and that on 11/30- and 12/1 would be a Wrestling Summit show with talent from PCW, Ultra, Progress and Defy. (thanks to Scott Janicek)
  • Stardom from earlier today in Nagoya:  Saki Kashima b Saya Kamitani, Hana Kimura & Konami b Starlight Kid & Saya Iida, Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano b Natsuko Tora & Sumire Natsu, Kagetsu & Hazuki & Jamie Hayter & Andras Miyagi b Bea Priestley & Momo Watanabe & AZM & Leo Onozaki, Riho b Death Yama-san to keep the High Speed title, Arisa Hoshiki b Avary to keep the Wonder of Stardom title.  

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard win NWA World Tag Team Titles

CONTACT INFORMATION

Rush and Dragon Lee released by CMLL

Posted on by Bryan Rose

CMLL announced shortly after the conclusion of their anniversary show that both Rush and Dragon Lee are no longer with the promotion.

In a series of tweets, the promotion stated that they had fired both men for not following programing and company guidelines.

Dragon Lee was recently removed from CMLL’s 86th anniversary show and other events, as well as lineups following the event. The following was written in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: “While nobody has said why, the belief was that he worked BOLA, when CMLL told both he and Cavernario that they couldn’t do the show and he didn’t listen.”

In a video posted shortly before the news broke, Rush and his father La Bestia del Ring said that they would be going independent. Mistico, the son of Bestia and brother of Rush, wished his family well in a tweet, indicating that he would be remaining with CMLL.

Dragon Lee also posted on Twitter, thanking the recently deceased Paco Alonso for his opportunities and welcomes the new stage of his life. He was apparently surprised by his release.

CMLL has trademarks for both the Rush and Dragon Lee names, which means they will likely be using new names going forward. Rush already has bookings for both KAOZ and The Crash under the name El Toro Blanco.

Rush is signed to ROH and won their World Championship tonight at Death Before Dishonor. Dragon Lee also worked the event, being added to what originally was a triple threat match for the ROH Television title. Shane Taylor retained the title, but Dragon Lee confronted him after the match, setting up a possible singles match.

Both Rush and Dragon Lee are scheduled to team up to face PCO and Brody King at tomorrow’s television tapings.

Rush & Dragon Lee vs. Villain Enterprises set for ROH TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The night after he challenges for the ROH World Championship, Rush will be teaming up with his brother against Villain Enterprises.

ROH has announced Rush & Dragon Lee vs. Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) for their post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings. They’re taking place at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, September 28.

Sam’s Town Live is also hosting Death Before Dishonor on Friday, September 27. ROH World Champion Matt Taven will defend his title against Rush in the main event of the pay-per-view.

Death Before Dishonor is the same night as CMLL’s 86th Aniversario, where Lee is set to team with Gran Guerrero & Euforia against Mephisto, Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja.

Brody King is facing Jeff Cobb on the Death Before Dishonor PPV pre-show.

The first round of ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will take place at Death Before Dishonor and the post-PPV tapings. PCO vs. Kenny King and Marty Scurll vs. Colt Cabana are the first-round matches for the PPV. Bandido vs. Jay Lethal and Mark Haskins vs. Dalton Castle are the tournament matches for the tapings.

The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World title at Final Battle in December.

A change to ROH’s TV tapings began in July, with the top matches from the tapings also streaming live on HonorClub.

NJPW Super J-Cup night three results: Semifinals and finals

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are the results from the third and final night of the Super J-Cup, which featured both the semifinals and the finals of the tournament. 

– Semifinals: Dragon Lee defeated Caristico

Lee pinned Caristico with the Descunadora.

– Semifinals: El Phantasmo defeated Will Ospreay

Phantasmo pinned Ospreay after the CR2.

– Alex Coughlin defeated Shota Umino

Coughlin submitted Umino with a Boston Crab for the win.

– Jonathan Gresham defeated Clark Connors

Gresham won via referee stoppage.

– Soberano Jr. defeated Ren Narita.

Soberano got the win after the Tornillo.

– Juice Robinson defeated Karl Fredericks.

Robinson submitted Fredricks with an elevated Boston Crab.

– Jushin Thunder Liger, TJ Perkins, Amazing Red and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Robbie Eagles, Rocky Romero, SHO and YOH.

Red pinned Romero.

– Jay White & Taiji Ishimori defeated Tetysuya Naito and BUSHI

White pinned BUSH to win the match for his team.

– Finals: El Phantasmo defeated Dragon Lee to win the Super J-Cup.

After the match, ELP cut a promo and called out Jushin Thunder Liger, issuing a challenge for the Tokyo Dome. Liger didn’t accept or deny the challenge.

Dragon Lee announced for PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Dragon Lee is set to make his PWG debut next month.

On Monday, PWG revealed that Lee will be an entrant in this year’s Battle of Los Angeles. There are two wrestlers left to be announced for the tournament.

Lee wrestles for CMLL and also appears for NJPW and ROH. He’s been announced as an entrant for NJPW’s Super J-Cup, which is taking place in the United States later this month.

Lee won All Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Revolution’s King of Indies tournament for the second straight year in July.

BOLA will begin at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 19. It will continue on Friday, September 20, then will conclude on Sunday, September 22. If Jeff Cobb doesn’t win the tournament, the winner will get a future shot at his PWG World Championship.

Here’s the updated list of BOLA entrants:

  • A-Kid
  • Jonathan Gresham
  • Artemis Spencer
  • Darby Allin
  • Mick Moretti
  • Orange Cassidy
  • Bandido
  • Caveman Ugg
  • Jake Atlas
  • Tony Deppen
  • Fenix
  • Lucky Kid
  • Joey Janela
  • Brody King
  • Barbaro Cavernario
  • Jungle Boy
  • Black Taurus
  • Rey Horus
  • David Starr
  • Laredo Kid
  • Jeff Cobb
  • Dragon Lee

Daily Update: Raw, CMLL, Jeremy Ganger

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

We’re doing polls this weekend for both NJPW G-1 shows in Osaka and TripleMania,  so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from each shows to [email protected]

We’re also looking for reports from Pittsburgh tonight for the Main Event tapings and anything else not on the live show from Raw as well as last night’s Raw show in Erie, PA and the Impact shows the last two nights in Southern California to [email protected]

Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped Tuesday night in Detroit.

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX FROM HAMAMATSU AT 5:30 A.M WEDNESDAY MORNING ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Toru Yano & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino
  • Juice Robinson & Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare vs. Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs,. Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Bushi
  • Sanada vs. Lance Archer
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
  • Will Ospreay vs. KENTA
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Evil

F4W NEWSLETTER: Raw Reunion and WWE nostalgia

Joseph Currier looks at the successes and failures of WWE’s latest nostalgia episode.

WWE went back to the nostalgia well for last week’s Raw Reunion episode.

The show featured dozens of returns and was capped off by Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and Hulk Hogan all making appearances. Austin led a toast to Monday Night Raw to close the episode, with all of the returning wrestlers coming out and taking part in what was genuinely a sincere moment. Austin didn’t give out stunners to anyone. There was no one to come crash the segment. He spoke about all of the returners being a family, and it was intended to be a real celebration for all of them.

Raw Reunion also included an increasingly rare appearance by John Cena, D-Generation X, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall saved Seth Rollins from AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Bray Wyatt attacked Mick Foley and put him in the Mandible Claw, and there were nine 24/7 title changes. R-Truth started and ended the night as 24/7 Champion, with Drake Maverick (twice), Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle, Madusa, and Ted DiBiase holding the title between Truth’s reigns.

WON NEWSLETTER: August 5, 2019 Observer Newsletter: WWE financials breakdown, AEW TV taping details, more

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has details on WWE’s second quarter financials. Financially, things look great. But product popularity continues to fall, slowly but steadily.

We cover how WWE was able to beat most projections and bring in higher profits in the second quarter, even with most key metrics showing declines. 

We discuss how the company’s finances look going forward, as well as two big television deals on the horizon. 

We also have news on what could end up being the most important pro wrestling show of the year, AEW’s TV debut. We break down the two key busiess aspects to the story, and discuss what those in the TV industry expect in terms of ratings for the show. 

We cover Jerry Lawler’s lawsuit against Hardeman County, TN regarding the death of son Brian one year ago.

The new issue also covers C.M. Punk and the rumor mill that seems to follow him everywhere. We talk about the reaction to his discussion of AEW in a recent interview, as well as those who say they expect him to go back to WWE. 

We also have the latest on the SummerSlam card, and how the show is doing on the secondary ticket market. We also cover how the other WWE shows in Toronto that week are doing in terms of ticket sales. 

We have coverage of UFC 240 from this past weekend, and have business notes on nthe show, and also detailed television ratings for the prelims. 

There’s also a run down of the ratings of all the major TV shows, along with detailed demo info for the WWE shows and 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].

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I are back tonight talking Raw, G-1 and the rest of the wrestling and MMA news.  You can send questions to the show to [email protected]

The bouncer who stopped the shooter in Dayton, OH at the door of a bar was area independent wrestler Jeremy Ganger. Ganger is a close friend of James Yun, who many of you will remember as Jimmy Wang Yang. 

For Raw, There will be a Miz TV segment with Shawn Michaels which will likely introduce Bill Goldberg in some form.  Natalya & Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch, The Iiconics vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Devlle vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane for the women’s tag team titles and Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade have been announced for the show.  The women’s tag title match was previously scheduled for the SummerSlam card, but was pulled from that card and will take place tonight instead. Brock Lesnar is also appearing. Stratus is also booked tomorrow in Detroit for Smackdown.

Probably the match of the night will be on the CMLL You Tube page live with the show starting at 10 p.m. Eastern with Volador Jr. vs. Dragon Lee for the NWA middleweight title from Arena Puebla.

We’ve only got ten tickets left for your show on 8/31 in Chicago at 11 a.m.  More details can be found here.

WWE

  • A story on Shawn Michaels. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)

UFC

  • The UFC is working on finalizing a Johnny Walker vs,. Corey Anderson fight for the 11/2 show in Madison Square Garden.  We’ll talk tonight about the ramifications of this fight on tonight’s show.
  • Polo Reyes vs. Kyle Nelson and Martin Bravo vs Steven Peterson have been added to the 9/21 show at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City.  Bravo won TUF Latin America 3.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • On one of the Harley Race shows we did, on how Race indirectly led to a record gate in St. Louis as they were booking Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich on June 12, 1982 at the Checkerdome, but they wanted Kerry to beat Race for the Missouri state title.  Race changed the booking to the title would change via DQ, so he lost the title via DQ. The finish was flat so the decision was that Kerry wasn’t strong enough without that win, so they went to old standby, Dick the Bruiser, for the bout with Flair, which drew 19,027 and was the last great main event of Bruiser’s career.  Kerry was moved to the semi teaming with David to beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell.  (thanks to Paul Sosnowski)
  • OWE has announced it will be holding a tag team tournament in the U.K. in September and there will be an AEW team in the tournament.
  • Hoosier Pro Wrestling on Saturday night in Columbus, IN:  Cooter DDQ Scarecrow, Ace Jackson b Duke the Nuke, Lightning Bolt b Flash Flanagan, Dodo Brown b Guy Lombardo, Buck Sexton & Dynamite Dillen b Vic the Bruiser & Omega De to win tag titles, Fireball b Clint Poe, Tim Lutz b Butcher Manson to keep HPW title.  Next show is 9/7.
  • CWA on 10/12 in Hot Springs, AR at the Convention Center Hall D.
  • MLW has tickets on sale for its 12/5 show in New York at the Melrose Ballroom at www.OperaCup.com  This will be a television taping featuring the first Opera Cup tournament since 1948 in  New York.
  • ADCC is running the submission fighting world championships on 9/28 and 9/29 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  This is the same weekend Bellator is running at the Forum.  Some of the names announced as competing are Mucus “Buchecha” Almeida, Gordon Ryan, Yuri Simoes, JT Torres, Ruben “Corinha” Charles, Gabi Garcia and Bia Mesquita.  Andre Galvao vs.; Felipe Pena is the superfight.  Galvao is a two-time world champion and Pena is one of the most grapplers in the world.
  • Ignite Wrestling on 9/14 in Vero Beach, FL at the Walking Tree Brewery with Aaron Epic vs. Erick Stevens for the Ignite title.
  • Coverage of Matty Wahlberg on Australian Survivor. Clearly sounds like he’s getting over as a heel  (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • A look at bear wrestling.
  • I can just recycle that same lessons every 17 years it looks like.  

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Great Sasuke wins Unified J-Crown

CONTACT INFORMATION

TJP, SHO & Dragon Lee confirmed for NJPW Super J-Cup

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The first three entrants have been confirmed for next month’s Super J-Cup tournament.

NJPW announced on Thursday that TJP, SHO, and Dragon Lee will be taking part in the tournament. There will be 16 entrants in total.

TJP trained at NJPW’s Los Angeles dojo and wrestled for the promotion earlier in his career. He also participated in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 2011.

TJP was released by WWE this February. He returned to Impact Wrestling in June, though he isn’t under contract with them.

SHO, Lee, Will Ospreay, Caristico, El Phantasmo, and YOH have been included on advertising for the Super J-Cup. NJPW is hyping the tournament as an “international junior heavyweight wrestling festival.”

Jushin Thunder Liger is the producer of the Super J-Cup and will be wrestling at all three shows, but he won’t be one of the entrants in the tournament.

The Super J-Cup will begin at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California will host the second round of the tournament on Saturday, August 24, then the semifinals and finals will be held at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.

Two matches added to ROH Manhattan Mayhem TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two matches have been added to the lineup for ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem television tapings.

In an ROH video update, it was announced that Jonathan Gresham will face Dragon Lee at Manhattan Mayhem. An eight-man tag match between Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO, Brody King & Flip Gordon) and LifeBlood (Mark Haskins, Bandido & Tracy Williams) & PJ Black was also confirmed for the show.

Gresham and Lee were both in the A Block of NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors this year, with Lee defeating Gresham in their tournament match. Lee also defeated Gresham in All Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Revolution’s King of Indies tournament this past Friday.

Scurll, PCO & King retained their ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles against Haskins, Williams & Black at Best in the World 2019. It was teased that Gordon was joining LifeBlood, but he was instead revealed as the newest member of Villain Enterprises after that match.

Manhattan Mayhem is taking place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday, July 20. Jay Lethal will challenge for Matt Taven’s ROH World Championship at the tapings. In a match that will air live on HonorClub, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa will defend the ROH Tag Team titles against The Briscoes in an NYC street fight.

Alex Shelley, who returned at ROH’s most recent set of TV tapings, is set for Manhattan Mayhem and ROH’s Mass Hysteria HonorClub show in Lowell, Massachusetts on July 21. In the video update, it was hyped that Shelley wants to challenge the ROH World Champion at Summer Supercard in Toronto on August 9.

Daily Update: Cody, Alex Shelley, Dragon Lee vs. Laredo Kid set

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE Smackdown show in Monroe, LA, as well as Thursday’s show in Singapore and the New Japan show in Sydney to [email protected]

We’re also looking for your thoughts on the NJPW Southern Showdown, AEW Fyter Fest and ROH Best in the World shows.  You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]” target=”_blank”>[email protected]

EVOLVE ON SUNDAY AT 8 P.M. EASTERN FROM BROOKLYN, NY AT WWW.WWNLIVE.COM

  • Brandi Lauren vs. Natalia Markova
  • Curt Stallion vs. Sean Maluta
  • Josh Briggs vs. Brandon Taggart
  • Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy vs. AR Fox & Leon Ruff vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs. winner of the opener on Saturday in a four-way non-title match
  • Anthony Henry vs. Arturo Ruas
  • Tyler Breeze vs. Anthony Greene
  • JD Drake vs. Babatunde for WWN title
  • Austin Theory vs. Roderick Strong non-title

Raw is Monday in Dallas with Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley in a falls count anywhere match and New Day vs. Viking Raiders.

Smackdown and 205 Live are Tuesday in San Antonio. 

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Recapping WWE Stomping Grounds

After a lack of interest heading into the pay-per-view, Stomping Grounds was a show that exceeded expectations.

Given that there weren’t really any surprises at the PPV, that’s probably mostly due to expectations being set too low. Nothing on the show was dramatically better than it should have been. The PPV succeeded where most good WWE shows do. Even if the build was underwhelming, a talented roster was able to go out to the ring and have good matches throughout much of the card.

WON NEWSLETTER: July 1, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Paul Heyman & Eric Bischoff hired as WWE Executive Directors

A look at the WWE’s move to bring in Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff is the lead story in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  The story talks about what led to the moves, the questions about the moves that aren’t answered, the Heyman-McMahon history, the Bischoff decision, and how Wall Street and AEW fit into this equation.

We also look at the end of the political career of Antonio Inoki, a look at plans for Extreme Rules, business notes on ticket sales for the summer’s biggest events, the business this past week of WWE, the reaction to Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin, full coverage of Stomping Grounds with match-by-match rundowns, star ratings and poll results.

We also look at the retirement of Riki Choshu, a look back at his heyday, his awards, his as a headliner and booker and as a creator as well as his retirement mach.

We also look at the July 13 night of wrestling that will be loaded as far as different offerings go, with ESPN+, AXS, WWE Network and B/R Live all offering shows at the same time.  We look at how and why this happened.

We also look at changes to WWE television, why the Rollins vs. Bryan match went like it did, and what the internal feeling is about the changes.  We also look at the rounds system, 24/7 title news, declines in Raw viewership over the past year in different demos, new WWE signings, WWE injury updates, Noam Dar talks Adrian McCallum, Lio Rush update, WWE canceling shows and why, television industry exec talks wrestling and television landscape and how the mentality of TV has changed, WWE name changes, first Smackdown on FOX news updates and the market value of WWE.

We also look at all the NXT and WWE main roster events over the past week with match results, highlights and other business notes.

We’ve got full coverage of this past week’s UFC show 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].

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

The only thing in combat sports that made the Google search list was Francis Ngannou at No. 13 at 50,000.  The UFC show itself had 50,000 searches which is so-so to me for an ESPN show, especially with a strong top few matches.  No early ratings info and ESPN, when numbers have been strong, has sent out overnights in press releases for its boxing and UFC shows.  AEW and ROH did not crack the list.  ROH wasn’t going to.  AEW did so strongly for the PPV that I thought there was a chance they would here.

Tony Khan did a long media scrum.  It was noted that the chair was gimmicked but something went wrong.  Cody seems to be fine although he needed some staples but he didn’t have a concussion. I don’t expect you’ll see chair shots to the head going forward in AEW.  The Alex Jebailey stuff will be a once-a-year thing at Fyter Fest.  He also noted that the heavy violence like in the Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela match will happen at times on PPV, but not on TNT.

Alex Shelley returned to ROH last night.

The first-ever singles match with Dragon Lee vs. Laredo Kid takes place this coming Friday at the All Pro Wrestling/Pro Wrestling Revolution King of Indies show in Daly City, CA.  I so wish I was going to be there, but I’ve got interviews scheduled with NJPW stars that day in Dallas.

In their first match in about 20 years, even though people have tried to make this in MMA not too many years ago, with Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn will take place at the end of August for BCW in Australia.  Masashi Takeda  will also be in Australia on 8/30 and 8/31.

WWE

  • Rey Mysterio talked to the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling about his return: “I suffered a recent injury at “Money in the Bank” versus Samoa Joe. Unfortunate for me because it was a big step moving forward and especially at this stage in my career at being able to capture one of the last titles that was set on my bucket list (The United States Championship) and again very important that I had a separated left shoulder and that put me out of circulation and I’ve been out four weeks now. The separation and bruised AC joint which the Doctor had predicted anywhere from four to six weeks and of course four weeks closed out from my injury and my recovery is about 80% as we speak so I am hoping that in the next two weeks I can gain that other thirty that I have left and be back in the ring by the month of July.”
  • A story on referee Charles Robinson being robbed in the Charlotte Observer (thanks to Christopher Cruise)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • The New York Post reported Ashley Massaro was set to appear in a suicide prevention video shortly before she committed suicide.
  • AAW from Friday night in Merrionette Park, IL before 450 fans:  Ace Romero & Paco Gonzalez b Ace Austin & Clayton Gainz, Kris Statlander b Priscilla Kelly, Jake Something b Trey Miguel to keep Heritage title, Jacob Fatu b Kongo Kong, Jimmy Jacobs b Mance Warner in a loser leaves town match, Josh Briggs b Nate Webb, Myron Reed b Curt Stallion, Sami Callihan b Ace Romero to keep AAW title, LAX kept AAW title in three-way over Besties in the World and Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz.  Next show is 7/13 in  Milwaukee at Turners Hall Ballroom with Jessicka Havok vs. Taya Valkyrie for the women’s title and John Morrison vs. Juventud Guerrera.
  • Pro Wrestling Eve from Friday in Brighton,UK:  Jinny & Mercedes Blaze b Kay Lee Ray & Viper, Su Yung b Erin Angel, Jordynne Grace & Nina Samuels b Rebel Kinney & Laura Di Matteo, Night Shade b Session Moth Martina, Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki b Kagetsu & Jamie Hayter-DQ, Utami Hayashishita b Yuu (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net) 
  • Pro Wrestlnig Eve from Saturday in London:  Yuu won three-way over Jordynne Grace and Night Shade, Charli Evans b Jetta, Arisa Hoshiki b Laura Di Matteo, Nina Samuels b Erin Angel, Utami Hayashishita & Viper b Kagetsu & Jamie Hayter, Kay Lee Ray won four-way over Su Yung, Mayu Iwatani and Millie McKenzie
  • Charlie Morgan announced her retirement today at the Pro Wrestling Eve show at York Hall due to injuries at the age of 27. (CORRECTION: This originally incorrectly stated that Charli Evans announced her retirement. It was Charlie Morgan who retired.)
  • Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling from last night in Belleville, IL:  Onslaught b Tony Chini, Billy McNeil b Jake Prater, Sean Vincent & Khayman b Sawn Santel & Mauler McDarby, Val Venis b Beastman, Malia Hosaka b Thunderkitty LaFleur, Tony Atlas & Bob Orton (managed by Baron Von Raschke) b Big Texan & Frankie D-DQ, Mecha Mercenary b Nick King, Gary Jackson & Gil Rogers b Cutis Wylde & Kowalski, Ricky Cruz & Flash Flanagan b Christopher Hargas & Damion Cortess, Attila Khan b Tommy Dreamer in an extreme rules match with Road Warrior Animal as ringside enforcer (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Friday in Omaha with a seines of three sessions at the Omaha Comic Con
    Morning show:  Con Artiest & Purple b Zac James & Xander McIntosh, Jack Darling b Kenny Jones, Chris Havius b JD Parker, Brett Bishop b Joey Daniels
    Afternoon show:  Joey Daniels b Purple, Jack Darling & Kenny Jones & JD Parker b Preston Maxwell & Zac James & Xander McIntosh, Brett Bishop b Con Artiest
    Evening show:  Purple b JD Parker, Jack Darling b Chris Havius, Branden Juarez & Kenny Jones b Preston Maxwell & Joey Daniels, Brett Bishop b Xander McIntosh, Con Artiest b Willy Sweet.
  • Pro Wrestling Phoenix from yesterday in Omaha at the Comic Con
    Morning show:  Purple b Santos Barbosa, Jimmy Wylde won three-way over Taven Whisper and JD Parker, Seto Kobara b Kenny Jones, Con Artiest b Joey Daniels, Brett Bishop b Pat Powers
    Afternoon show:  Pat Powers b Taven Whisper, Preston Maxwell b Jimmy Wylde, Brett Bishop won three-way over JD Parker and Kenny Jones, Con Artiest & Purple b Seto Kobara & Santos Barbosa, Branden Juarez b Joey Daniels
    Evening show:  JD Parker b Santos Barbosa, Jimmy Wylde won four-way over Willy Sweet, Taven Whisper and Seto Kobara, Con Artiest won ladder match over Joey Daniels, Brett Bishop, Purple, Chris Havius, Branden Juarez, Preston Maxwell and Pat Powers
  • Northeast Wrestling on 7/19 in Monroeville, PA has Iron City homecoming at Pro Sports Monroeville as a benefit for the Bruno & Carol  Sammartino Foundation.  Among those appearing are Christy Hemme, Billy Gunn, Corey Graves, Jerry Lawler, Funaki, Darby Allin, Brian Pillman Jr. and Sam Adonis.
  • Innovate Wrestling Fire on the Mountain on 8/10 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium featuring The Boys, now known as The Tate Twins.
  • Former JCP star Rocky King needs a kidney.  For more information on helping out a former star you can contact Robert Semier at 917-742-0428. 
  • RevPro from yesterday in Manchester, UK:  Gabriel Kidd & Kenneth Halfpenny & Shaun Jackson b Brendan White & Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks, Dan Magee b Hikuleo, Seleziya Sparx b Gisele Shaw, Shingo Takagi b Michael Oku, Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels won British tag title in four-way over Aussie Open, Bushi & Evil and A-Kid & Carlos Romo, Tetsuya Naito b MK McKinnan, Zack Sabre Jr. b Sanada to keep the British heavyweight title (thanks to Paul Sosnowski and Chris Kean)
  • Sabre said he was going to win G-1, but that he would cash in his title shot at Royal Quest on 8/31 in London and not at the Tokyo Dome.
  • Shine from yesterday in Woodside, NY:  Delmi Exo & Ashley Vox b Gabby Gilbert & Dementia D’Rose, Allie Recks b Naughby, Marti Belle b Madi Maxx, Natalia Markova b Avery Taylor, Brandi Lauren b Rosa Negra, Shotzi Blackheart b Aja Perera, Mercedes Martinez b Allysin Kay-DQ
  • TJP is working for PWR in October in Manila.
  • BCW from yesterday in Sydney, Australia:  Cody Swift b Sean Preston, Jonathan Preston b Vinnie Vain, Bee Boy b Gabriel Wolfe, Cody Swaft b DCT, Jonathan Preston b Bee Boy, Cody Swift b Jonathan Preston, Niki Nitro b Jasmin Vittora, Mortar b Taya Valkyrie-DQ, Carlo Cannon & Ken Shamrock b Generation Zero & John Morrison & Taya Valkyrie to keep tag titles.
  • BCW from Friday in Melbourne:  Cody Swift b Lucius Wolfe, Sean Preston b Darcy Moss, DCT b Kaz Jordan, Nick Bury d Mitch Waterman, Vinnie Vain b Sketch, Jonathan Preston b Sullivan Husk, Bee Boy b Vance Adams, Gabriel Wolfe b Jesse Hendy, Ken Shamrock & Carlo Cannon b Michael Morleone & Zenith, Mortar NC Taya Valkyrie in a match with the BCW women’s title vs. Impact women’s title, John Morrison won three-way over Cletus and Mick Moretti, Mad Dog won three-way over Mick Moretti and Big Cuz
  • SPW/MCW on 7/13 in Invercargil, New Zealand has Markus Kool vs. Slex. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • CWE from Friday night in Winnipeg:  Mercenary b Buck Gunderson, Gabriell Lestat b Vinnie DaVinci, Alix Zwicker b The System, Sam Davidson & Brian Rich won  four-way over AJ Sanchez & Kevin O’Doyle, Beri Grayson & Fuego del Sol and Tyler James & Dragneel, Bobby Schink b  Graham Bell, Adam Race b Danny Duggan-DQ, Michael Elgin b Adam Knight, Rob Stardom b Jastin Taylor, Kevin Cannon b Vance Nevada in a loser leaves Manitoba match, Kevy Chevy b Roy Gordon, Lanny Poffo & Bobby Jay b Tod Bullet & Scott Ripley.  Next show is the Super Jobbers Cup on 8/30 in Winnipeg at Rookie’s Sports Bar.
  • CWE from yesterday in Morden, Manitoba:  Jude Dawkins b Dragneel, Vinnie Valiant NC Brian Rich, Danny Duggan b Shaun Martens, Mentallo b Buck Gunderson, Alix Zwicker b Zoe Sager, Lanny Poffo & Sam Davidson b Gabriel Lestat & Jay Walker.  Next show is 11/28.
  • The Economist writes about steroid usage (thanks to Christopher Cruise)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: CM Punk wins World Heavyweight title

CONTACT INFORMATION

Two matches added to ROH Best in the World PPV

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two more matches have been made official for ROH Best in the World 2019.

ROH has announced Dalton Castle vs. Dragon Lee and Rush vs. Flip Gordon for the pay-per-view. It’s taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, June 28.

Dragon Lee is Rush’s brother, and his match against Castle at Best in the World plays off of Castle’s feud with Rush. Rush defeated Castle in seconds when they faced off at G1 Supercard in April.

Gordon defeated PJ Black, Castle, and Rush in a four corner survival match at this past weekend’s ROH TV tapings. The match aired live on HonorClub, with Gordon pinning Black to get the win. Castle then attacked Gordon and cut a promo on Rush. He challenged Rush to get into the ring with him, then backed off when Rush did. Castle said he’ll face Dragon Lee at Best in the World.

Rush vs. Gordon was also set up for Best in the World after that four corner survival match. Gordon told Rush that he’ll face him if Castle won’t. Gordon said he’ll kick Rush’s ass. He offered Rush a handshake, but Rush struck him instead.

As was previously announced, Matt Taven will defend the ROH World Championship against Jeff Cobb at Best in the World. Bandido will challenge for Shane Taylor’s Television title.

Briscoes vs. Rush & Dragon Lee set for ROH TV tapings in Philadelphia

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two pairs of brothers will be facing off at ROH’s post-Best in the World television tapings.

ROH has announced The Briscoes vs. Rush & Dragon Lee for their TV tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 29. This is the first match announced for the tapings.

This year’s Best in the World pay-per-view is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, June 28. At ROH’s most recent set of TV tapings, Dalton Castle challenged Dragon Lee to a match at the PPV. Castle has been involved in a feud with Rush, with Rush defeating him in seconds at G1 Supercard.

The Briscoes cut a promo last week challenging ROH Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) to a no disqualification match, but when that match will be happening has yet to be revealed.

Two matches have been made official for the Best in the World PPV. ROH World Champion Matt Taven will defend his title against Jeff Cobb, and Shane Taylor will defend the Television title against Bandido.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors night 11 results: Ishimori vs. Tiger Mask

Posted on by Ethan Renner

And then there were two. 

The winner of the A Block in the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors will be decided on Friday, with Taiji Ishimori set to face the unbeaten Shingo Takagi. 

Ishimori sealed the deal with a win over Tiger Mask IV today in Aichi. They had a tense, psychologically sound match on what was one of the weaker shows of the tournament so far. 

Dragon Lee and Yoshinobu Kanemaru had a solid main event outing, but with their tournament fate already decided, it lacked something. 

Here are the full results and match recaps from today’s show:

TOMOHIRO ISHII & YOH DEFEATED YOTA TSUJI & REN NARITA

YOH and Narita exchanged holds and escapes. Ishii and Tsuji tagged in and traded shoulder tackles. Ishii scored the first knockdown. YOH and Ishii used a series of tags, working over Tsuji in the red corner. 

Tsuji hit a back body drop and managed a tag to Narita. Narita hit a pair of tackles and a vertical suplex. He tried for a belly-to-belly, but YOH blocked it. Narita used his crab with a sharpshooter grip, but YOH rolled to the ropes. 

YOH hit a flying forearm. Ishii made a tag and ate a dropkick from Narita. Tsuji tagged in and traded strikes with Ishii. Tsuji scored a shoulder tackle knockdown. He hit a dropkick, but Ishii no-sold it. Ishii applied a full crab, but Tsuji made it to the bottom rope. 

Tsuji and Narita doubled up on Ishii, and Tsuji hit a spear for a near fall. YOH jumped in to even the odds. Ishii hit a back suplex for a near fall, then used a crab on Tsuji for the submission. A solid opener. 

RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, BANDIDO, JUICE ROBINSON & YUYA UEMURA DEFEATED EL PHANTASMO, ROBBIE EAGLES, GEDO & JADO 

Bandido and Eagles started off with some crowd work. They did a series of flips, counters, and reversals. It started off a little clunky, but it was very crisp by the end. Jado and Uemura tagged in, and the pace slowed to a crawl. Jado has balance issues and really shouldn’t be in the ring. 

Bullet Club worked Uemura over in the blue corner. Taguchi got a tag and ran wild with hip attacks. ELP avoided Three Amigos, then hit an enzuigiri. Both tagged out. 

Juice avoided a kendo stick shot from Jado and a brass knuckles shot from Gedo. Juice hit Gedo with Pulp Friction for the pin. Not much to this one. 

TAICHI & DOUKI DEFEATED WILL OSPREAY & SHOTA UMINO

Suzuki-gun attacked before the opening bell. They used the jumpstart and a ringside brawl to take the early advantage. They worked over Umino. Ospreay tagged in, and he went one-on-one with DOUKI. Ospreay gave DOUKI the bulk of the offense. 

Taichi and Umino tagged back in. Taichi used an Axe Bomber for a near fall, then won after a superkick. 

After the match, DOUKI and Taichi beat down Ospreay. Taichi hit him with his microphone stand, and DOUKI used a pipe to attack Ospreay’s ribs. This was the weakest match on the show to this point. 

TETSUYA NAITO & BUSHI DEFEATED ROCKY ROMERO & TOA HENARE

Rocky and BUSHI kicked things off. BUSHI teased a dive, but Rocky cut him off, hitting a dropkick. Henare made a tag and started to work on BUSHI. Naito jumped in illegally to even the odds and turn the tide in BUSHI’s favor. 

Naito tagged in and landed a one-legged dropkick. BUSHI and Naito made quick tags, working over Henare. BUSHI hit a missile dropkick and choked Henare with his T-shirt. Henare hit a big boot and tagged Rocky. 

Rocky hit a dropkick on BUSHI and a rana on an interfering Naito. Rocky hit forever clotheslines and a rewind kick, getting a near fall. Rocky got a cross armbreaker applied, but BUSHI reached the bottom rope. BUSHI hit an enzuigiri, and both tagged out. 

Henare landed a Samoan Drop for a nearfall. Naito hit a hip toss, a dropkick, a neckbreaker, and a second dropkick. All four men jumped in. BUSHI sent Rocky to the apron, then hit a codebreaker. Naito hit Henare with Destino and got the pin. Just a basic undercard tag match. 

A BLOCK MATCH: MARTY SCURLL DEFEATED TAKA MICHINOKU BY FORFEIT

A BLOCK MATCH: SHO DEFEATED TITAN

Titan had his right knee taped up. That played into the story of the match. Titan would tease a flying move, hesitate, then SHO would hit him with a power strike. SHO went to work on the right arm. Titan landed a tope con hilo. The arena was deathly quiet. 

Back in the ring, Titan hit a springboard crossbody, then used a kneebar. SHO reached the bottom rope, forcing a break. SHO blocked a flying headscissors, then hit a powerbomb. They traded strikes. 

They exchanged corner clotheslines. Titan hit a slingshot dropkick in the corner. SHO countered with a pair of lariats. Titan used a victory roll for a near fall. He applied an armbar, but SHO managed to get to the ropes. 

SHO hit a piledriver for a near fall, then used Shock Arrow for the pin. Decent work, but the crowd wasn’t into this at all.

A BLOCK MATCH: TAIJI ISHIMORI DEFEATED TIGER MASK

Ishimori attacked before the bell, but Tiger Mask was able to counter with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Tiger hit a double underhook knee strike, then landed a kick for a near fall. Tiger hit a Tiger Driver for a near fall, then transitioned to a cross armbreaker. Tiger then slipped to an armbar, but Ishimori reached the ropes. 

Tiger hit a series of kicks to Ishimori’s arms. Ishimori countered with a jumping knee strike and hit double knees in the corner for a near fall. Tiger used a crucifix for a one count, then blocked a handspring kick. Ishimori hit a running knee for a near fall. 

Ishimori used a Yes Lock, and Tiger tapped out. The psychology of this match was excellent. Ishimori needed a win to stay alive, and Tiger knew that, and threw everything he had at him. 

A BLOCK MATCH: SHINGO TAKAGI DEFEATED JONATHAN GRESHAM

Gresham was selling his ribs as he entered. They locked up, but Shingo had no desire to trade holds. He used some strikes, a shoulder tackle, and clotheslined Gresham over the top to the floor. Shingo dropped Gresham on the apron. Gresham avoided a chop and made it back inside. 

Shingo climbed to the apron, but Gresham dropkicked him to the floor. He went out after him, but Shingo dropped the injured ribs on the apron, then hit a knee drop to the ribs. 

Back inside, Shingo hit a vertical suplex for a near fall. Gresham managed to pull back on Shingo’s left leg, then hit a dropkick in the corner. Shingo rolled to the floor, no-sold a knee strike, and hit a jab. 

Back inside, Gresham hit a dropkick, sending Shingo back to the floor. Gresham hit a suicide dive, then used a rear naked choke on the floor. They teased a countout, but Shingo made it back in at 19. 

Gresham hit a Shooting Star Press, but he could not follow up. Gresham hit a series of hard strikes and got a couple of quick near falls. Gresham tried for the octopus, but Shingo blocked it. Gresham hit the ropes, but Shingo hit him with a pop-up DVD. 

Shingo hit Noshigami for a near fall, then a Pumping Bomber for another two count. Shingo went for Last of the Dragon, but Gresham blocked it and used a bridge for a near fall. Gresham got the Octopus, but Shingo reversed into Last of the Dragon for the pin. A very good match. 

A BLOCK MATCH: DRAGON LEE DEFEATED YOSHINOBU KANEMARU

Kanemaru attacked before the bell. Dragon countered. He went for a tope con hilo, but changed his mind and used a handstand to flip off the apron. Kanemaru used a strike, then choked Dragon with a chair. 

Back in the ring, Kanemaru went for Dragon’s mask. He tied Dragon to the tree of woe and landed a dropkick. Kanemaru hit a backdrop and used a full crab, but Dragon reached the ropes. Kanemaru used a vertical suplex for a near fall, then sent Dragon back outside. 

Kanemaru hit a snap suplex on the concrete floor in the aisle. Kanemaru shoved a Young Lion in Dragon’s way as he tried to get back inside, but Dragon made it in at 18. Dragon hit a dropkick, then a tope con hilo. 

Back inside, Dragon hit a rolling dropkick, then a backbreaker. He hit a one-legged dropkick for a one count, then a dropkick in the corner. He teased a second dropkick in the corner, but Kanemaru cut him off with his own dropkick. 

Dragon hit a snap German, a jumping knee strike, and a DDT. They rolled to the apron, where Kanemaru hit an inverted DDT. Back inside, Kanemaru went for Deep Impact. Dragon caught him coming in with a jumping knee. 

Dragon went for Desnucadora. Kanemaru grabbed Red Shoes, and Taichi jumped in from the commentary table and pulled Red Shoes to the floor. Kanemaru ripped off Dragon’s mask. Kanemaru tried to spit whiskey, but Dragon hit a dropkick. 

Shota Umino gave Dragon his mask back. Kanemaru hit a low blow, and a moonsault for a near fall, as Red Shoes was revived. Dragon hit Desnucadora, but could not follow up with a cover. 

They traded roll-ups for near falls. Dragon pulled down a kneepad and hit a running knee strike. He followed with Desnucadora for the pin. Another solid match, but this was one of the weaker shows of the tournament. 

A BLOCK STANDINGS

  • Shingo Takagi: 16
  • Taiji Ishimori: 14
  • Dragon Lee: 12 (Out of contention)
  • Marty Scurll: 10 (Out of contention)
  • Jonathan Gresham: 8 (Out of contention)
  • SHO: 8 (Out of contention)
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 4 (Out of contention)
  • Tiger Mask: 4 (Out of contention)
  • Titan: 4 (Out of contention)
  • TAKA Michinoku: 0 (Out of contention)

B BLOCK STANDINGS

  • El Phantasmo: 10 (Holds tiebreaker over Eagles, Ospreay)
  • Robbie Eagles: 10 (Holds tiebreaker over Ospreay, Taguchi)
  • Will Ospreay: 10 
  • Ryusuke Taguchi: 10 
  • BUSHI: 8 (Out of contention)
  • YOH: 8 (Out of contention)
  • Bandido: 6 (Out of contention)
  • Rocky Romero: 6 (Out of contention)
  • DOUKI: 2 (Out of contention)
  • Ren Narita: 0 (Out of contention)