DAILY UPDATE

Latest News: 

• Balor vs. Nakamura set for WWE Extreme Rules pre-show
• Britt Baker suffered concussion at AEW Fight for the Fallen
• WWE Petersburg live results: Balor vs. Nakamura vs. Ali
• MLW Fusion results: Hart Foundation vs. Dynasty ladder match
• NJPW G1 Climax 29 night three results: Tanahashi vs. KENTA

Latest Audio:

• WOR: News, Fight for the Fallen, UFC, G-1 days 2 and 3, more! 7/14
• Left My Wallet: EVOLVE’S Eddie Kingston 7/13
• F4D: Lance Storm on Nitro, RAW, Smackdown, AEW, more! 7/13
• WOL: WWE, AEW, EVOLVE, G-1, UFC, teen audience decline, more! 7/12
• Left My Wallet: The legendary Bill Apter 7/12

We’re looking for your thoughts on these shows from the weekend:

• NJPW G-1 Day two from Tokyo
• NJPW G-1 Day three from Tokyo
• Evolve from last night in Philadelphia
• AEW from last night in Jacksonville
• WWE Extreme Rules today from Philadelphia

        You can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle on all of these shows as well as best and worst match from all of the shows to [email protected]” target=”_blank”>[email protected]

We’re also looking for reports on the WWE Raw house shows from Friday in Augusta, ME and last night in Springfield, MA to [email protected]

WWE EXTREME RULES ON SUNDAY AT 6:30 P.M. EASTERN ON THE WWE NETWORK

• Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans for Universal & Raw women’s titles vs. Corbin & Evans not being allowed to challenge for titles again in Extreme rules match – This is the most heavily pushed match on the show and the extreme rules should allow it to be an exciting match, maybe better than expected, particularly coming off the last show.  Rollins & Lynch are listed at -560 favorites.   
• Undertaker & Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre no rules match – Undertaker and Reigns are -400 favorites.  Given the lack of rules, I expect some craziness from McMahon.  Reigns and McIntyre should carry the match itself and both are very good.  Still, based on Kambi odds, they don’t expect a great match.  Undertaker I feel will be very motivated here.
• Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe for WWE title – Kingston is a -300 favorite to retain.  One would think Joe has been put in this match to give Kingston a great match that he really hasn’t had since the title win. 
• Ricochet vs. A.J. Styles for U.S. title – This could be the match of the show.  In fact, based on gambling odds it is predicted to be the best match.  Ricochet is a -130 favorite.
• Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Cross for Smackdown women’s title – Bayley is a strong -280 favorite, with the idea I guess that Bliss costs Cross the match but blames her for it.  Bliss has been very sick for weeks which is why this was made a three-way.
• Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley last man standing – WWE last man standing matches are usually very good but this feud hasn’t had great bouts yet.  Strowman is a -165 favorite. 
• Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. Big E & Xavier Woods vs. Heavy Machinery for Smackdown tag titles – A match with these six should be really good unless they are rushed.  Bryan & Rowan are -145 favorites to retain.
• Revival vs. Usos for Raw tag titles – Should be a very great match if they are given time which with this many matches, that could be tough.  The Revival are -160 favorites.
• Tony Nese vs. Drew Gulak for cruiserweight title -Gulak is listed as a -410 favorite in this one.  That’s pretty big odds for a belt where it really doesn’t matter who wins.
• Aleister Black vs. Cesaro – Cesaro is in there with Black to have a good match with him and in theory put him over.  Black is a -675 favorite. 
• Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens
• Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for IC title preshow match

EVOLVE FROM MELROSE, MA MEMORIAL HALL AT 7 P.M. EASTERN ON WWW.WWNLIVE.COM

• Matt Riddle vs. Curt Stallion
• Austin Theory & Arturo Ruas vs. Josh Briggs & Orange Cassidy
• J.D. Drake vs. A.R. Fox
• Joe Gacy vs. Babatunde

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT ON MONDAY FROM SAPPORO AT 5 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

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

Raw is Monday at NYCB Live (the former Nassau Coliseum). Smackdown and 205 Live are Tuesday in Worcester, MA.

F4W NEWSLETTER: First Raw of the Paul Heyman Era

Before this week’s return to the norm, Joseph Currier looked at Heyman’s promising start in his new role.

Though it was only the beginning of him easing into the role, the first Raw of the Paul Heyman era showed promising signs for his future as executive director.

It was surprising that — during the build to a pay-per-view where the top of the card has already been announced — Heyman’s presence was so obvious. Even if WWE didn’t announce his executive director role, it still would have been easy to tell that something was different about the episode.

It started with a literal bang that doubled as a statement of intent. Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley’s falls count anywhere match kicked off the show and ended in a no contest. Strowman charged at Lashley, with explosions going off as they crashed through the stage. The angle was treated with complete seriousness. Corey Graves even let out an uncensored “holy sh*t” on commentary.

WON NEWSLETTER: July 15, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Death of Paco Alonso, G1 Opening, more

A look at Paco Alonso and his role in running the most traditional of all pro wrestling promotions, and what happens next with CMLL, is the lead story i the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

We look at Alonso’s death, an update on who will be running the company, how things will stay the same, what could change, the 2008 Hall of Fame election,  and the career of Alonso as a promoter including the wrestlings wars he was in and the boom periods he presided over.  We also look at where things stand and why Alonso is the only promoter with so much tenure in the business who has never lost money promoting wrestling.

We look at the first show of the G-1 Climax tournament, including unique aspects of the crowd, the business notes and what was good and bad about the crowd, this week’s G-1 bouts, Dallas coverage with star ratings and poll results and will AEW and NJPW promote together any time soon.

We also look at a Saturday with five major shows, running down all of them and the story behind the change in WWE policy.

We also look at Dwayne Johnson and Conor McGregor earnings, Reigns winning award, new signings, Reigns talks why AEW isn’t competition, WWE’s latest network strategy, ideas that were nixed of late that were pitched, Eric Bischoff update, Stock price notes, new WWE television show, most-watched shows of the week on WWE Network as well as a rundown of all the arena events of the past week with results, highlights and business notes.

We’ve got full coverage of UFC 239, with all the different stories that came out of the show, the judging of Jones vs Santos, the future of several fighters, all of the business notes regarding the show as well as match-by-match coverage, fighter pay, and poll results.

We also look at the changes in All Japan Pro Wrestling and what it means going forward.

We also have coverage of the Impact PPV show, where Impact stands, how the PPV did, the crossover in buyers of Impact with other companies as well as match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

We also run down the ratings of all the major TV shows, along with detailed demo info for the WWE shows.

We also have the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Extreme Rules and other news. We have a show covering the AEW show and G-1 show and some UFC up on the site right now.  This is one crazy weekend..

Extreme Rules will draw very well tonight. Not sure if it will sell out but apparently it could with a good walk up.

Britt Baker suffered a concussion in last night’s match at the AEW show from a kick from Bea Priestley right away. I think all promotions should have a protocol that if someone looks like they have suffered a concussion to get them out of the match even though the talent will hate them for it.

MJF may have been injured last night. Inspire Pro Wrestling in Austin, TX said that MJF would be missing today’s show due to a severe elbow injury. We haven’t gotten anything confirmed from the AEW side. He is their Pure Prestige champion and they announced Ricky Starks will face an opponent to be named to determine the new champion.

The Globe and Mail has a great story on the death of Jacques Rougeau Sr. (thanks to Lee Wall)

From the weekend so far, the only things trending on Google searches were Jeff Hardy from his arrest yesterday, as the ninth most searched for item in the country with 50,000 searches, plus two items from UFC, Urijah Faber was No. 6 at 50,000, and UFC Fight Night was No. 7 also at 50,000.  Neither AEW nor Evolve trended, although it would have been a huge surprise for either of them to have done so.  New Japan shows won’t either, since the Dallas show last week didn’t and that would have been the one if any would have.

WWE

• WWE wrestlers at the San Diego Comic Con at the Mattel booth #3029 on 7/18 at 1:15 p.m. will be Becky Lynch, Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio.  Lynch and Mysterio will also be at the Entertainment Earth booth on 7/18 at 3 p.m.  Kingston will be at the Boom Studios both #2229 on 7/19 at 4:30 p.m.   Xavier Woods will be at the Eaglemoss booth $337 on 7/18 at 3:30 p.m. and the Entertainment Earth booth #2343 on 7/19 at 11 a.m.  Dolph Ziggler will be at the Headlocked booth #1901 on 7/20 at 3 p.m..  Scott Steiner will be signing on 7/18 and 7/19 at the Headlocked booth.  El Hijo del Santo will be at the Nuclear Blast booth #501 on 7/19 at 1:30 p.m.

MISCELLANEOUS

• AAW from Friday night in Milwaukee before 425 fans:  Curt Stallion b Air Wolf, Besties in the World b Ace Austin & Clayton Gainz, Josh Alexander b Josh Briggs in a war, Jessicka Havok NC Taya Valkyrie when Sami Callihan interfered to keep the women’s title, Sami Callihan NC Jacob Fatu to keep the AAW title, Jake Something won four-way over Paco Chuck Mambo and Joey Avalon, Good Brother #3 b Manders, John Morrison b Juventud Guerrera in what was said to be a great match, Penta 0M & Rey Fenix b Myron Reed & AR Fox
• Limitless Wrestling from Friday night before 400 fans:  Kevin Blackwood b Christian Casanova, Ace Romero b DL Hurst, JT Dunn b Eli Everfly, Anthony Greene won over Tommy Dreamer and Shawn Spears (it was a three-way because AEW had pulled Spears from the show, they got Dreamer as a replacement and then AEW allowed Spears after all), Danger Kid & Aiden Aggro b Anthony Henry & JD Drake, Daniel Garcia  b Blade, Ashley Vox won six-way over Swoggle, Jeremy Leary, Covey Christ, Lil Blay and Channing Thomas, Skylar b Kris Statlander, PUF b Smart Mark Sterling, Anthony Greene won the Vacationland Cup over Ace Romero Kevin Blackwood and JT Dunn. (thanks to Josh Nason and  Sean Stackhouse)
• Bar Wrestling from Friday night in Baldwin Park, CA:  Teddy Hart won four-way over Rich Swann, Chris Dickinson and Andy Brown, Luke Hawx & PJ Hawx b Watts & Ryan Taylor, Tyler Bateman b Gentleman Jervis, Tessa Blanchard b Daga (the two made out after the match, Yuma & BHK b Reno Scum, Keira Hogan b Joey Ryan, Orange Cassidy b Ray  Rosas, .  Brian Cage wasn’t there due to a flare up of a serious injury.  Next show is 8/1 in Baldwin Park with Cage & Scott Steiner vs. Ryan & Cassidy.
• Stardom from today in Tokyo:  Bobbi Tyler & Ruaka b Leo Onozaki & Hina, Zoe Lucas b Saya Iida, Saki Kashima & Tam Nakano b Natsu Sumire & Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita & AZM b Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki & Starlight Kid, Kagetsu & Hazuki & Jamie Hayter & Andras Miyagi b Hana Kimura & Jungle Kyona & Death Yama-San & Konami.  Iwatani & Nakano & Kashima defend the Artist of Stardom titles against Kimura & Lucas & Tyler tomorrow in Nagoya.
• Stardom from yesterday in Tokyo:  Ruaka b Hina, Jungle Kyona won three-way over Bobbi Tyler and Leo Onozaki, Hazuki vs. Arisa Hoshiki vs. Konami drew, Hana Kimura & Death Yama-San & Zoe Lucas b Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita & AZM, Kagetsu & Andras Miyagi & Jamie Hayter & Natsu Sumire & Natsuko Tora b Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano & Saki Kashima & Saya Iida. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
• Wrestle Circus on 7/28 in Austin,TX:  Priscilla Kelly & Darby Allin vs. Alex Gracia & Will Allday vs. Rosemary & Andrew Everett, Gentleman Jervis vs. Shockwave the Robot, Ricky Starks & Aaron Solow vs. Private Party vs. Jake Atlas & Dom Kubrick, ladder match for a title shot Brian Pillman Jr. vs. JT Dunn, Sami Callihan vs. Daga, Tessa Blanchard vs. Jessicka Havok, Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels vs. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel.  The show will air live on Twitch on the WrestleCircus page at 8 p.m. Eastern that night.
• Combat Zone Wrestling from Friday night in Voorhees, NJ.  The show opened with a ten bell salute for Lyle Williams and him being named to the CZW Hall of Fame:  Monsta Mack won over Mike Del, Eric Corvis and TJ Crawford, Drew Blood b Frankie Pickard, Dan O’Hare won Battle Royal for a TV title shot, Chuck Payne b Stockade in an H2O Hybrid title mach, Davieanne b Legit Leyla Hirsch, Joe Gacy b Tim Donst, Platinum Hunnie b Greg Excellent & Rory Gulak, Jon Silver b Alexander James, The Rep b Matt Tremont & Jimmy Lloyd.  Next show is 8/10 in Voorhees, NJ at the Colossal Sports Academy. (thanks to Bob Magee)
• Innovative Wrestling on 8/10 in Kingsport,TN at the Civic Auditorium.
• EPW from yesterday in Perth, Western Australia:  Gavin McGavin b Dan Moore, Tyler Jacobs & Chadwick Jackson & Junior Li b Street Gang Hooligans & Taylor King, Jordan Bishop b Dan Steel-DQ, Mikey Nicholls b Julian Ward, Marcus Pitt b Bobby Marshall, Jay Taylor b Bruno Nitro, Michael Morleone b Gorgeous Gary to keep EPW title.  TJP works their 8/31 show in Perth.
• SPW/MCW from yesterday in Invercargil, New Zealand:  Falcon Kid b Kingi, Will Power b Gino Gambino, Locky Hendricks b Shane Sinclair, Kellyanne b Indi Hartwell, JK Moody & Kane Khan b Travis Banks & TK Cooper to keep tag titles, T-Rex b Dowie James in street fight, Slex b Marcus Kool to win SPW title and keep MCW title, JK Moody won Southern Rumble and will challenge Slex for both titles on 7/20 in Melbourne.  (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
• Eve from today in London:  Charli Evans b Kanji, Millie McKenzie b Laura Di Matteo-DQ, Roxxy b Raven Creed, Yuu b Kasey, NightShade b Shazza McKenzie, Jetta & Erin Angel b Mercedes Blaze & Lana Austin, Millie McKenzie b Yuu, Roxxy b Charli Evans.  Roxxy faces McKenzie in the tournament for the top contender for Eve champion Rhia O’Reilly on 8/10.  They did a Charlie Morgan retirement ceremony. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
• This photo Dwayne Johnson put up of his grandfather with Andre the Giant.
• An article on the arrest of a Wisconsin independent promoter.
• A look at the new autobiography of Rocky Johnson. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Lex Luger wins WCW title at Great American Bash 1991

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