As the last two weeks of WWE’s push to WrestleMania 35 kicks into gear, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Roman Reigns will be appearing on ESPN on Tuesday morning.
WWE has announced that Rousey, Lynch, and Charlotte will be on SportsCenter tomorrow: “Tune into @espn @SportsCenter tomorrow morning beginning at 7:45 am ET for @WWE Superstars @RondaRousey @BeckyLynchWWE & @MsCharlotteWWE’s first interviews since being named the Main Event of @WrestleMania”
Reigns will be on tomorrow’s episode of First Take and other ESPN programming in the coming days: “After watching @RondaRousey @BeckyLynchWWE & @MsCharlotteWWE on @SportsCenter stay tuned for the @WWE Superstar @WWERomanReigns on @FirstTake at 11am ET. In the coming days you can also catch the #BigDog on @SportsCenter @E60 @ESPNDeportes & @stephenasmith”
WWE has officially announced that Rousey, Lynch, and Charlotte’s triple threat match for the Raw Women’s Championship will be the main event of WrestleMania 35. Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre has been set up for WrestleMania and may be made official on tonight’s Raw, which is taking place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
After announcing that his leukemia is in remission, Reigns returned to in-ring action at Fastlane earlier this month and teamed with Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose to defeat Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley & McIntyre.
MMA fans have long had to evolve how they watch their favorite promotions with the recent push by both UFC and Bellator MMA into streaming deals with ESPN+ and DAZN, respectively.
That continued change took another step Monday afternoon as the world’s largest fight promotion announced a deal with ESPN that will see UFC’s pay-per-view era with traditional cable providers come to a close.
Starting with April’s UFC 236 through 2025, fans in the U.S. looking to buy one of the company’s 12 yearly PPVs will have one option to do so: ESPN+, the “exclusive distributor of UFC PPV events” and the “single point of purchase for customers” as outlined in a press release.
The cost per show is also decreasing from $64.99 to $59.99 per event, but you must be an ESPN+ subscriber ($4.99/mo) in order to be able to buy PPVs. The two sides are experimenting with bundling, offering a $79.99 ESPN+ yearly subscription and PPV event combo for new subscribers.
In the release, UFC retains the rights for their bar and restaurant business, but the era of being able to buy through cable providers like Comcast, DirecTV, Spectrum, or others is over effective immediately. In his press release quote, UFC president Dana White mentioned the company’s “young fan base” — a nod toward one of the reasons the decision was made.
The revenue split between ESPN and UFC wasn’t announced, but cable companies historically got half of the PPV take for distribution, and one would think that model would be different with this move.
Along with the news, UFC and ESPN announced a two-year extension of their TV rights deal through 2025 less than three months after their five-year deal kicked off.
Saturday night’s UFC 235 prelims averaged 1.48 million viewers on ESPN.
That’s the highest number for a pay-per-view prelims show since UFC drew 1.51 million viewers on FS1 for the UFC 207 prelims in December 2016, and that PPV was headlined by Ronda Rousey’s last MMA fight.
The number was up 10 percent from the UFC 234 prelims, which had the benefit of a giant lead-in from a Duke vs. Virginia college basketball game.
This weekend’s show also had a college basketball game airing before it — but with about half the audience, so the strong number this weekend was more due to interest in the UFC PPV itself. That is corroborated by UFC 235 being Google’s most searched for item in North America on Saturday.
The UFC 235 prelims finished first in the important 18-49 demo with a 0.63 rating and were 12th for the day in terms of total cable TV viewers. The 0.63 rating was also higher than any show on network TV during prime time — so, for that demo, UFC was the most watched of any TV show.
All of this would lead one to believe that the PPV, headlined by Jon Jones’ successful light heavyweight title defense against Anthony Smith, did a stronger-than-usual number. Dave Meltzer had predicted around 575,000 buys before the show, while my own numbers at MMADraws.com suggested a number in the 450,000-500,000 range.
UFC returns to ESPN+ this coming weekend with a show from Wichita, with the next ESPN card coming Saturday, March 30 for an event headlined by Edson Barboza vs. Justin Gaethje from Philadelphia.
The overnight rating for Saturday’s UFC 234 prelims on ESPN in metered markets was a 1.0, a number UFC is claiming ties several other shows for the second highest overnight rating of all time for a PPV prelims show.
By comparision, the overnight rating for the UFC’s official debut on ESPN — last month’s ESPN+ show headlined by Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw where the prelims were on ESPN — was a 1.4 which translated to 1.956 million viewers. That would likely put this show in the 1.4 million range for total viewers once the final tallies are out on Tuesday.
It should be noted that the Duke vs. Virginia college basketball game that immediately preceded last night’s show did a 1.7 overnight rating which was a great lead-in for the prelims.
Only 6 shows in the FS1 era beat that 1.0 number with the last being the UFC 207 prelims in December 2016 (the last Ronda Rousey headlined show) which did 1.51 million viewers and brought in 1.1 million buys on PPV.
Our Dave Meltzer had set the over/under on PPV buys for Saturday’s show at 125,000 and this prelims viewership would indicate the show was much more successful than that.
UFC returns to ESPN this Sunday for their first full show on the networ, headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. former UFC heavyweigh champion Cain Velasquez.
The prelims for Saturday night’s UFC on ESPN+ debut show from Brooklyn, which aired on ESPN and were headlined by Donald Cerrone’s second round TKO win over Alexander Hernandez, averaged 1.956 million viewers.
That number is higher than any Fight Night prelims show or pay-per-view prelims during the FOX/FS1 era. It’s the highest prelims audience total since the prelims for UFC 126 in February 2011 did two million viewers on Spike TV.
The UFC 126 prelims were also headlined by Cerrone, who defeated Paul Kelly.
In fact, only two main cards on FS1 beat this number, with Conor McGregor’s January 2015 fight with Dennis Siver at 2.751 million viewers and TJ Dillashaw’s January 2016 fight with Dominick Cruz doing 2.288 million.
The show did have a strong lead-in with the Virginia/Duke NCAA basketball game that immediately preceded it doing an average of 3.764 million viewers.
While streaming numbers for the main card are not available, UFC and ESPN have claimed 568,000 people signed up in the two days before the show and that it was the highest streamed event ever on ESPN+.
It’s a big week for combat sports content as the UFC officially launches on ESPN, introducing a brand new paywall for fans to figure out and a new era in which we try to figure “where everything is going”.
Helping me gaze through the binoculars is our longtime friend Jack Encarnacao of The Lapsed Fan and Between Rounds. He gives you what you need and requires nothing but your awkward silence.
On the discussion board:
We catch up on the TLF Solar System and his work for Between Rounds, reveling in the era of audio content we find ourselves in.
We talk about how AEW is progressing, whether or not they can truly be different, and how Chris Jericho really figured everything out.
We then delve into the UFC-ESPN relationship which starts this Saturday. What are our hopes and dreams for this venture?
Finally, we wrap by taking a light look at the card and a surprise conversation about breaking into the Pontiac Silverdome.
Listen to that and more by clicking below. It’s on the house.
We’re looking for reports tonight from the WWE Raw house show in Charleston, WV and the Impact tapings in Mexico City to [email protected].
We’ll be doing a poll this weekend on tomorrow’s NXT UK Takeover show from Blackpool, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].
MLW ON BEINSPORTS AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Pillman Jr. in a Singapore Cane match
NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON AXS TV AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Cancerbero & Raziel & Disturbio vs. Robin & Star Jr. & Super Astro Jr.
Drone & Esfinge & Guerrero Maya Jr vs. Kawato San & Sagrado & Tiger
Polvora vs. Felino
Blue Panther & Rey Cometa & Triton vs. Mascara Ano 2000 & Rey Bucanero &Shocker
Kraneo & Volcano & Stuka Jr. vs. Mephisto & Ephesto & Luciferno
Euforia & Niebla Roja & Valiente vs. Bestia del Ring & Rush & Villano IV
IMPACT AT 10 P.M. EASTERN ON THE PURSUIT CHANNEL
NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON AXS TV AT 10 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii
Saturday we’re looking for reports from the Raw show in Knoxville, Smackdown in Johnson City, TN, NXT in Orlando, ROH TV tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta (Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. ? for tag titles, Nick Aldis vs. PJ Black for NWA title, Kelly Klein vs. Rockelle Vaughn for WOH title, Mark Haskins vs. Bandido, Sumie Sakai vs. Jenny Rose vs Madison Rayne, Tracy Williams vs. David Finlay, Silas Young vs. Eli Isom) and Impact tapings in Mexico City to [email protected].
WWE NXT UK TAKEOVER BLACKPOOL AT 2 P.M. EASTERN ON SATURDAY ON THE WWE NETWORK
Pete Dunne vs. Joe Coffey for UK title
Trent Seven & Tyler Bate vs. James Drake & Zack Gibson to determine first UK tag champions
Rhea Ripley vs. Toni Storm for UK women’s title
Eddie Dennis vs. Dave Mastiff no DQ
Travis Banks vs. Jordan Devlin
UFC THREE-HOUR SPECIAL ON ESPN AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor
Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo
TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt I
TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt II
Sunday we’re looking for reports from Raw in Huntsville, AL, Smackdown in Lexington, KY, the NXT TV tapings in Blackpool, England, and the ROH show in Concord, NC.
ROH ON SUNDAY AT 7 P.M. EASTERN FROM THE CABARRUS ARENA IN CONCORD, NC ON HONOR CLUB
Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle for ROH title
Kelly Klein vs. Jenny Rose street fight for WOH tilte
Marty Scurll & Body King & PCO vs. Silas Young & Mark & Jay Briscoe
Jeff Cobb vs. Shane Taylor vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Rhett Titus Proving Ground mach
Bandido vs. PJ Black
Matt Taven & TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia vs. Shane Helms & Delirious & Luchasaururs in a Proving Ground mach
Baretta & Chuckie T vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
Mark Haskins vs. Beer City Bruiser
Monday is Raw in Memphis.
Tuesday has Smackdown and 205 Live tapings in Birmingham.
As the clock struck midnight and we entered 2019, All Elite Wrestling finally became official. Weeks of speculation culminated with AEW being formally announced at the end of a Being the Elite episode that was released at midnight Pacific time on January 1, 2019. With that came the announcement of Double or Nothing, which is the sequel to All In. While there are plenty of questions about what the roster for AEW will look like, the initial group of wrestlers has started to come into focus.
The most detailed coverage of All Elite Wrestling heads up the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Take an extensive look at the promotion, from its beginnings, background on its owners, its front office structure, senior management, contracts with the top guys, different concessions, other stars being talked with, details behind the Chris Jericho signing, an update on Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, and more on proposed television deals.
Look at the New Japan WrestleKingdom show. Read about the top matches, changing of talent, MSG show, Bullet Club changes, business surrounding WrestleKingdom big shows of 2019 and early 2020 as well as full coverage of the Dome show with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results.
Read about the life of “mean” Gene Okerlund, his background before wrestling, his death and his wrestling career.
Look at the NXT UK Takeover show, update on several injured WWE stars, most watched WWE videos of 2018, new executive hire, and an injured wrestler may become an announcer.
Go in-depth on the Jon Jones situation covering the test results, how the story changed, what the experts said, what is misleading as well as the world of drug testing and PED usage.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected]. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
For this weekend, John Cena is on the Raw tour shows and both he and Ronda Rousey are scheduled for Raw in Memphis on Monday. On the Smackdown side, Daniel Bryan is working all of the shows. Rey Mysterio joins the tour in Lexington while Randy Orton is only listed for TV in Birmingham. It’s a weird week because the Smackdown crew goes on the road Saturday, but they don’t have Monday show meaning in theory they could show up at Raw.
There originally was a Smackdown house show on Monday in Chattanooga but it was canceled.
Kane will be at tomorrow night’s Raw house show in Knoxville to accept the $100,000 donation by WWE to the families of first responders.
The movie “Fighting With My Family” makes its world premiere on 1/28 at the Sundance Film Festival prior to the 2/14 theatrical open. Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia will be attending the screening along with the cast of the movie.
AXS is promoting a new Friday Night Fights block that starts next week, with New Japan at 8 p.m., Women of Wrestling at 9 p.m. and live MMA at 10 p.m.
Psycho Clown debuts on the Impact tapings tonight in Mexico City.
Based on the Oxford dictionary of the English language, the word “jabroni” is now an official word for loser.
WWE
There will be a special on Mean Gene Okerlund called “Let Me Tell You Something Gene” that will air following Raw this Monday on the WWE Network.
WWE has video of Pete Dunne, Finn Balor and Charlotte Flair talking about the new Performance Center in the UK. Full video of the press conference, including comments from Triple H can be seen here.
There are rumors that Ronda Rousey could be voicing Sonya Blade in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 video game.
Shawn Michaels, in an interview with the Daily Star, had high praise for Jordan Devlin.
There’s footage of R-Truth and Carmella’s all expenses paid vacation to WWE Headquarters.
The Calgary Flames have a player named Elias Lindholm, and whenever he scores they play the WWE’s Elias theme song. UFC has an Elias (Theodorou) and he’s a big wrestling fan as well. (thanks to Ryan Pike)
WWE Network Hidden Gems has uploaded Jerry Lawler & Greg Gagne vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito from May 14, 1988. Choshu & Saito were originally to face Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty on that show, except Michaels & Jannetty quit the promotion to join WWF one month earlier. (thanks to Brian Hoops)
We noted the weak secondary market in the new Observer for this year’s Royal Rumble. There is now a two-for-one ticket offer in Phoenix using the code: TMN241
UFC
ESPN+ has announced on-demand UFC content including the Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight, a compilation of the 25 greatest fights in UFC history, UFC Reloaded, UFC Main Event, UFC Unleashed, UFC Fight Flashback and UFC Top Ten as well as all of UFC 229.
ESPN will be airing a three-hour UFC block tomorrow night at 8 p.m. as noted up top.
Ariel Helwani’s show will start airing weekly on ESPN 2 and on occasion at ESPNews. It will air every Tuesday night at 12 a.m. ET.
Anderson Silva would like to see the UFC reinstate the TRT exemption policy
Cody Garbrandt will face Pedro Munhoz at UFC 235 on March 2.
Daniel Teymur will face Chris Fishgold at UFC Prauge on February 23.
Thomas Almeida vs. Marlon Vera was added to the 3/2 show in Las Vegas.
MISCELLANEOUS
Here is the current card for the Giant Baba Memorial Show taking place on February 19:
Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Yoshiakai Fujiwara and Yuma Aoyagi
SANADA & BUSHI vs. Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino
A Giant Baba Memorial battle royal including Mitsuo Momota, Kim Duk, MEN’s Teioh, TARU, Ryujuki Hijikata, Yuto Aijima and more.
Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata and Omasu Nishinura vs. Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori and Taiyo Kea
Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras vs. Kaz Hayashi and NOSAWA
Also announced for the show: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma, Great Kojika, Daisuke Sekimoto, Naomichi Marufuji, Kazushi Miyamoto, Tomohiko Hashimoto, Atushi Onita and Kendo Kashin.
Sean Atkinson, who was one of the top stars of the old RollerJam on TNN, and is the son of famous skaters Buddy Atkinson Jr. and Druscilla Scott, passed away on Wednesday from a bleeding ulcer and compound liver problems at the age of 51. His grandfather was Buddy Atkinson Jr. and grandmother was Bobbie Johnstone, who were two of the biggest stars from the 50s when Roller Derby was big on network television. Buddy Jr. was the best skating big man I ever saw. Sean was a hard working super talent who would have been a superstar had Roller Derby and Roller Games not pretty much died by point he’d have been in his prime years. Sean was married to Denise Loden, who was the top female star of RollerJam, and in the dying days of that promotion they did an angle that led to them “getting married” after Sean was a top heel and she was promoted like the babyface Golden Girl of that promotion. He grew up around Roller Derby and lived and breathed it, but had nowhere to go to really ply his craft. (thanks to Tom Wersderfer and Curtis Minato)
Reality of Wrestling has a video of Booker T training for a match against Rex Andrews that will take place tomorrow in Texas.
CHIKARA has a new mobile game out now for iOS and Android called Kingdom of Trios.
Mecha Wolf 450 is working on 3/2 in Perth, Western Australia against Craven for the AAW promotion.
World Series Wrestling announced debuting a women’s title on their next tour with a six-woman tournament over three days. Shazza McKenzie, Indi Hartwell, Savannah Summers and Jordynne Grace are announced so far in the tournament. Booked for the tour are Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky, Frankie Kazarian, Marty Scurll, Brody King and Flip Gordon.
Eli Drake comes to Australia for the FWA show in Sydney on 2/2. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Jonah Rock, who starts next month with WWE, is being billed as having his last match in Australia on 2/2 in Adelaide for Wrestle Rampage.
MCW on 1/18 in Joppa, MD at the MCW Arena has Jimmy Hart and Scott Steiner appearing, plus Scarlett Bordeaux will wrestle. Dante Caballero vs. Brandon Scott for the MCW title headlines.
IPW Hardcore Wrestling tomorrow night in Tampa at the Cuban Civic Club headlined by a 20 man weapons Battle Royal and Steve Madison vs. Mike Sullivan in a cage match.
Combate Americas has a 2/8 show on DAZN from Mexicali, BC at 10 p.m. Eastern headlined by Rafa Garcia (8-0) vs Edgar Escarrega (5-2-1) in a lightweight fight.
Evolve announced a 3/15 show in Melrose, MA.
Superkick’d tonight in Toronto at the Great Hall.
Jesse Ventura makes his first pro wrestling convention appearance on 3/9 in Queens, NY at the Big Event at the LaGuardia Plaza Hotel in Elmhurst, NY.
Court Bauer has been teasing a new international TV deal for MLW.
Dynamo Pro Wrestling on 1/19 in DeSoto, MO at the Knights of Columbus Hall and 1/26 in St. Louis at the Concordia Turners Gym.
CWE announced it will do a 38 day tour across Canada from 3/26 to 5/2 with shows in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez headlined the first-ever UFC main event on Fox and will now headline the first-ever main event on ESPN.
UFC president Dana White confirmed to ESPN’s Brett Okamato late Friday night that Velasquez will face former title challenger Francis Ngannou in the main event of the February 17th UFC Fight Night event in Phoenix — the first full card set for ESPN “linear” TV.
The 36-year-old has been on the shelf since defeating Travis Browne at UFC 200 in July 2016. Injury-prone, Velasquez (13-2) has only fought twice since 2015.
The 32-year-old Ngannou (12-3) is coming off a first round TKO win over Curtis Blaydes last month, snapping a two-fight losing streak that saw him dominated (a January heavyweight title fight vs. Stipe Miocic) and an embarassing decision loss to Derrick Lewis in July in which he barely threw any punches.
Velasquez was in the main event of the UFC’s maiden voyage on another network — Fox — back in November 2011 when he lost the heavyweight title to Junior dos Santos in just 64 seconds.
The UFC will debut on ESPN+ in January, officially kicking off a five year deal.
After another situation in which they couldn’t put together the right main event, the UFC decided to simply move a main event from one show to their January ESPN+ debut show instead.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported Wednesday night that sources tell him the January UFC 226 main event between flyweight champion Henry Cejudo (seen above) vs. bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is being moved up a week to January 19th, the promotion’s debut on ESPN+ in Brooklyn, NY, leaving the Anaheim, CA, PPV without a main event.
But, there’s more.
Helwani said UFC tried to book welterweight champion Tyron Woodley vs. former interim champion Colby Covington for the Anaheim show, but Woodley is recovering from hand surgery. They then looked to book Covington vs. Kamaru Usman as the co-main event for Brooklyn, but Covington has yet to agree while Usman has agreed.
Originally, Helwani said, UFC tried to move up the Ben Askren-Robbie Lawler fight from Anaheim to Brooklyn and make that the main event, but Lawler declined.
Helwani said they will look to book a title fight for the Anaheim show, but given recent title fights and other scheduled ones, that only leaves two options: a strawweight title defense by Rose Namajunas or moving the Cris Cyborg-Amanda Nunes featherweight title fight scheduled for late-December (co-main on the Jon Jones-Alexander Gustafsson show) to Anaheim instead.
We’re doing polls this weekend on the WWE Super Show-down from Melbourne, UFC 229 from Las Vegas and New Japan King of Pro Wrestling. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. We’re looking for reports on tonight’s NXT show in Citrus Springs, FL to [email protected].
NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS TV
Jushin Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH vs. Rocky Romero & Sho & Yoh
Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page & Chase Owens
Hirooki Goto & Baretta & Chuckie T vs. Jeff Cobb & Chris Sabin & Flip Gordon
Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Seiya Sanada vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kushida vs. Jay White & Gedo
Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll in semifinals of IWGP Jr. title tournament
Young Bucks vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa for IWGP tag titles
Juice Robinson vs. Cody for U.S. title
Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii
El Hijo del Signo & Robin & Yago vs. Akuma & Camorra & Star Jr.
Avispa Dorada & Jarochita & Marcela vs. Dalys & Metalica & Reyna Isis
Valiente vs. Gran Guerrero
L.A. Park & El Hijo de L.A. Park & Mistico vs. Cavernario & Ciber the Main Man & The Chris
World Grand Prix Elimination match: Dark Magic, David Finlay, Flip Gordon, Gilbert El Boricua, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Matt Taven, Michael Elgin, Okumura, Caristico, Cuatrero, Diamante Azul, Euforia, Hechicero, Sanson, El Terrible, Ultimo Guerrero and Volador Jr.
QUINTET FROM THE ORLEANS ARENA IN LAS VEGAS AT 10 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON FIGHT PASS
Submission grappling with four teams including Frank Mir vs. Satoshi Ishii and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Urijah Faber
We’re looking for reports Saturday from the NXT show in St. Petersburg, FL to [email protected].
WWE SUPER SHOW-DOWN FROM MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUNDS AT 5 A.M. EASTERN SATURDAY MORNING ON WWE NETWORK
Undertaker vs. HHH
A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe for WWE title
Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler & Braun Strowman
Ronda Rousey & Bella Twins vs. Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz – Winner gets WWE title shot
John Cena & Bobby Lashley vs. Elias & Kevin Owens
Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy for cruiserweight title
New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro for Smackdown tag titles
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair for Smackdown women’s title
Naomi & Asuka vs. Billie Kay & Peyton Royce
UFC 229 ON SATURDAY FROM THE T MOBILE ARENA IN LAS VEGAS
Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. Eastern
Ryan LaFlare vs. Tony Martin
Gray Maynard vs. Nik Lentz
Yana Kunitskaya vs. Lina Lansberg
Prelims on FS1 at 8 p.m. Eastern
Alan Patrick vs. Scott Holtzman
Tonya Evinger vs. Aspen Ladd
Jalin Turner vs. Vicente Luque
Sergio Pettis vs. Jussier Formiga
PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern
Michelle Waterson vs. Felice Herrig
Alexander Volkov vs. Derrick Lewis
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Dominic Reyes
Anthony Pettis vs. Tony Ferguson
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor for lightweight title
NEW JAPAN KING OF PRO WRESTLING AT 4 A.M. EASTERN MONDAY MORNING ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado vs. Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger for IWGP jr. tag titles
Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Juice Robinson & Toa Henare
Young Bucks & Hangman Page & Chase Owens vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori
Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi & Takashi Iizuka
Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano & Sho & Yoh vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Bushi & ?
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Evil
Kushida vs Marty Scurll for IWGP jr. title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White for Tokyo Dome IWGP title shot
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Cody for IWGP heavyweight title
Raw will be Monday in Chicago. There will also be a Smackdown house show Monday night in Louisville.
Smackdown, 205 Live and Mixed Match Challenge are taped Tuesday in Indianapolis. Announced for Mixed Match Challenge are A.J. Styles & Charlotte Flair vs. R-Truth & Carmella and Braun Strowman & Ember Moon vs. Finn Balor & Bayley.
What should have been a fairly innocuous six-woman tag match on last Monday’s Raw ended with Liv Morgan having suffered a concussion and with a social media controversy that has yet to fully die down. The Riott Squad faced The Bellas & Natalya on last week’s Raw as part of the build to Ruby Riott, Morgan & Sarah Logan vs. Ronda Rousey & The Bellas at Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia.
Headed up with a major history piece on the 30-year history of Ted Turner’s involvement with pro wrestling and coverage of a week of so many major events, it’s a double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week.
Preview UFC 229 and why it is expected to be the biggest non-boxing PPV in history. Look at projections, some real numbers, some comparisons, and why Dana White says it wasn’t in Madison Square Garden.
The big story looks at Ted Turner and how he first got connected to pro wrestling in 1972, the role of Ray & Ann Gunkel, the wrestling war in Georgia that led to the two hour Saturday night block, the roles of Jim Barnett and Ole Anderson, and the first-ever Omni sellout.
Also look at the decision made by UFC and USADA to no longer announce drug test failures and why it wasn’t well thought out, as well as the reputation of USADA taking such a hit and the sad ironies of this.
Look at WWE Super Show-Down, ticket sales and ramifications.
Read the update on the 1,000th episode of Smackdown, WWE plans for NXT and ideas that have been talked about, major execs selling WWE stock.
Look at the big questions facing Bellator as they try and build their brand, as well as surprising notes of the Bellator brand vs U.S. pro wrestling companies and Saturday’s show in particular.
This issue has full coverage of ROH’s Death Before Dishonor with match-by-match coverage, business notes, polls and star ratings for the show.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected]. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Super Show-Down airs live on the WWE Network at 5 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow morning. It’s listed as running from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Liv Morgan spoke to The Mirror about being cleared for Super Show-Down: “”I’m 100% cleared by the WWE doctors. They took great care of me. They have a very extensive concussion protocol, which we followed 100% and luckily I am feeling fantastic and we are ready to win.”
Elias spoke to Complex about the background of his character. When talking about various people, he had this to say about Triple H: “There’s a fear that I sense about him, and a reluctance to accept me…I don’t want to say he’s doing his best to keep his thumb on me, but while it feels like a lot of people want the best for me, it doesn’t feel like Triple H does.”
WWE announced yesterday that Vickie Guerrero and former developmental talents Theo Agbi and Josh Woods are recipients of this year’s WWE talent scholarships.
A new episode of Ride Along will air on the WWE Network after Monday’s Raw. It will feature Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair “before their falling out” and Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville.
Travel packages for the 2019 Royal Rumble will be available starting on Wednesday, October 10 on the Royal Rumble travel website. Individual tickets will start on October 12.
WWE added their previous Australian stadium show, Global Warming, to the WWE Network today. The show, which took place on August 10, 2002 featured a main event pitting The Rock against Triple H and Brock Lesnar for the WWE Undisputed title.
Jeff Cobb vs. Eli Isom and Flip Gordon & Kenny King vs. The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) have been added to ROH Glory by Honor night one in Baltimore on October 12.
Big Cass, now going as Big C, made his first indie appearance at a Championship Wrestling League event in Michigan and said that his no-compete had expired. He then turned heel, saying people didn’t deserve to know what happened that led to his release.
UFC/MMA
Jon Jones spoke to Ariel Helwani on his impending return to the UFC and the controversy surrounding it. He refutes being a “snitch”, saying he didn’t give any information on anyone. “USADA asked me to do a lot of things throughout this case, but one thing I didn’t do is snitch on anybody in MMA,” he said. “I definitely didn’t give up any information on anyone in the sport, nor do I know of anybody who’s doing these things in the sport. I think the whole snitching thing is pretty silly. It’s interesting to watch people jump to conclusions about things they don’t know what they are talking about. And that’s all I want to say about that topic.”
He also expressed disinterest in fighting Daniel Cormier for a third time. “No, I don’t,” he said when asked. “I already have all the marbles when it comes to Daniel Cormier. I’ve beaten him twice. This game has never been personal. What is personal to me is chasing greatness, not individuals. So in the case of myself and Daniel Cormier, he needs to fight myself one more time if he ever wants to be considered one of the all-time greats. I don’t need to fight him again to be considered one of the all-time greats. I have many more years to prove it.”
Conor McGregor’s disclosed purse for UFC 229 is $3 million and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s is $2 million. The disclosed purses are only a portion of what they’ll make and don’t account for PPV buys.
The UFC uploaded the fourth and fifth episodes of Embedded for Saturday’s PPV, with the fifth episode including footage from yesterday’s press conference for Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor.
Nurmagomedov has posted a third video showing his training camp ahead of tomorrow’s show.
King Mo talked to MMA Junkie about interest in RIZIN and possible future matches in Bellator.
For all Observer readers that are planning to attend UFC 231 on December 8 in Toronto and stay overnight, Grant Zwarych, who sells Observer back issues for us, has arranged a great deal at the Holiday Inn Express at 111 Lombard Street in Toronto. The hotel is a short walk to Scotia Bank Arena, the Distillery District and St Lawrence Market. The rate includes breakfast for 2. The hotel also has one of the lesser expensive parking charges. Rate is available for both Friday & Saturday night.
Readers need to call the hotel directly at 416-367-5555 or can send an email to [email protected] and ask to book under the UFC 231 group block Dec. 7-9, 2018. Please be advised due to high volume of calls to the hotel some unanswered calls will automatically transfer to central reservation and the agent will not have access to the group block.
A room with a King bed is $170.00 (sgl/dbl occupancy, maximum 2 people per room), a room with 2 Queen beds is $175.00 (sgl/dbl occupancy, $10 for each additional person up to maximum 4 people in the room) plus applicable taxes. There is a stricter cancellation policy due to the great rate being offered. Readers must book by November 7 and cannot cancel after November 8 without a one night room & tax cancellation policy. If you have your tickets and know you are definitely going, this is a fantastic deal.
Charly Caruso has joined ESPN and will now be working with them and WWE.
While using her real name (Charly Arnolt), Caruso started in her on-air role with ESPN today. In a post on Instagram, Caruso confirmed that she’s now an ESPN employee. She noted that she isn’t leaving WWE and wrote that WWE is still her home.
“Charly Arnolt…ESPN. WHAAAAAT!!! Been waiting my whole life to say those 4 letters! So yep, here I am — officially an ESPN employee! (No, I am NOT leaving WWE! That’s still my home and I am so happy there!),” Caruso wrote.
“I’ll be doing a few things at ESPN from time to time for now, including SportsCenter updates and hosting the SportsCenter on Snapchat show. I’m still in disbelief. WWE + ESPN = KILLER COMBO! I am so incredible appreciative and fortunate for both of these wonderful opportunities! Check me out all day today and tomorrow doing SC updates!”
Caruso also worked in sports broadcasting before coming to WWE in 2016. She’s currently an interviewer on Raw, hosts NXT TakeOver pre-show panels, and co-hosts This Week in WWE with Scott Stanford.
Two weeks after ESPN officially got into the UFC game with 15 shows for its OTT platform, the Disney-owned sports media giant doubled down, adding another 27 events to its package that begins in 2019, ending the Fox era.
Variety had the scoop in the early morning hours of Wednesday that the Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand confirmed and added more details to. The official announcement came Wednesday afternoon via a press release in which they touted UFC’s claim that they have the youngest fanbase among major pro sports organizations (40) and an audience of 40% millennials. They didn’t reveal where that info came from.
The new deal is for five years and a total value of $1.5 billion. ESPN outbid Fox Sports for the contract that kicks off in earnest this January. Ourand said NBC Sports and Turner Sports were also interested.
The breakdown of shows, courtesy of Ourand, is as follows:
– 20 yearly ESPN+ events
– 10 yearly shows on ESPN linear TV
– 12 yearly PPV prelim events on ESPN linear
UFC will run 12 PPVs per a year while Fight Pass exclusive shows weren’t mentioned. Per Dana White via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, UFC will continue to handle TV production. This is unlike other sports that have deals with ESPN, say the NFL, which ESPN handles full production for, including commentators.
The amount is over twice what UFC was receiving in their Fox deal for prelims, FS1 Fight Nights, and shoulder programming.
Dave Meltzer and others had said UFC had a standing offer of $200 million from Fox for a package of shows even after the initial ESPN deal. Given Fox’s reported 5 year, $1 billion deal for WWE SmackDown, questions remain on how that affected negotiations and whose decision it was to move on.
If all reported numbers from the past week come to pass, WWE’s annual North American TV contract values for Raw and SmackDown would be more than UFC’s, something that just a year ago seemed highly unlikely.
On Thursday, ESPN officially announced that MMA journalist and insider Ariel Helwani will be joining the company in June.
He will have a variety of roles with ESPN as new upper management continues to try to attract younger viewers for its programming:
– He will host “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show”, an ongoing podcast. The frequency and length of the show wasn’t disclosed.
– Along with Chael Sonnen, he will co-host “Ariel & The Bad Guy”, a weekly 30-minute digital show for the ESPN+ platform that will also include some pre and post shows for events. This was specifically highlighted in the news release which indicates their commitment to it.
– He will be a reporter for MMA across ESPN’s TV and digital platforms.
Recently, the UFC announced a deal with ESPN+ to air 15 shows on the upstart OTT network. Helwani has clashed with UFC president Dana White in the past, especially during the days when Helwani was working for UFC broadcast partner Fox Sports. Issues arose over time that resulted in the two sides parting ways, the circumstances of which Helwani discussed on his ‘MMA Hour’ show.
White had Helwani removed from the Showtime broadcast team for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor build-up, so how this relationship will work going forward will be something to watch.
For MMA Fighting, this leaves a big gap in coverage as Helwani gave the company four hours every Monday of interviews on ‘The MMA Hour’, his preview and post-fight shows for select events, anchoring ‘The MMA Beat’ and more. While they still have depth, losing someone of Helwani’s reach and stature will hurt in the short term as things get settled out.
The UFC isn’t yet at their reported $400 million a year goal for their TV rights, but they got a bit closer on Tuesday morning as the promotion announced they have entered into an agreement with ESPN to air 15 Fight Night events on ESPN’s new OTT service, ESPN+, beginning in January 2019.
The five-year deal is for $150 million annually. according to the Sports Business Journal who had the story first. Additionally, they added this kills any chance another streaming provider could get in the mix as it’s an exclusive deal.
Each show will have the usual 12 fights and will be available exclusively on the platform, which currently costs $4.99/mo or $49.99 for a year-long subscription.
Additional ESPN+ content
Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series will also move exclusively to ESPN+ in the summer of June 2019, a show originally exclusive to UFC Fight Pass.
Additionally, ESPN will produce exclusive pre and post fight shows for the 15 events and a “new original, all-access series” produced by IMG Original content. Interestingly, the press release also states that ESPN+ subscribers will get “non-exclusive access to UFC’s full archive of programming, including historic events, classic bouts, and original programming” and “additional UFC-branded content, including “UFC Countdown” shows, press conferences, weigh-ins, and pre-and post-shows”, diminishing one of the selling points of Fight Pass.
ESPN+ subscribers will also be able to buy PPVs and Fight Pass subscriptions.
What about “big” ESPN?
In the release, ESPN said they will air exclusive preview shows for PPVs, “hundreds of hours of UFC library programming” and “re-airs of current UFC PPVs” but nothing about live events. This is a play to give people a reason to pay for their relatively new OTT service, hence the heavy price tag for just 15 shows a year.
What about Fox?
As anyone that follows UFC knows, they run a lot more than 15 shows a year, so a broadcast partner is still needed. SBJ said no broadcast deal was imminent, but as a Variety report from mid-April speculated, ESPN and Fox Sports were proposing to team up for a deal that would cover all the bases.
With 15 events off the table, one would assume a broadcast deal would include 15-20 shows depending on the company’s plans for both PPV and Fight Pass and assuming they want to keep running at the current shows per year level they have in recent years.
Josh Nason’s Punch-Out returns for a special Saturday episode featuring past guest Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
On the docket this week is how ESPN dealt with the Ronda Rousey exclusive from Brett’s side of things, including the realities of journalism in 2018 vs. what journalistic training has taught us in how news is supposed to be broken. We also went into Brett’s column about Rousey, her feelings toward the sport, and how she has a lot left to give even if it’s not in the cage.
We then move into how Brett is handling the weekly UFC shows and how prospects like Eryk Anders are affected going into his Saturday night main event vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC Fight Night Belem.
Finally, we wrap on our thoughts on champion vs. champion fights and a fourth potential champion vs. champion fight that is flying under the radar.
The non-Radio Row Super Bowl weekend edition of JNPO is here.
