DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

• Jay Lethal, Tony Nese part of seven-match AEW Dark: Elevation
• WWE Main Event results: Los Lotharios vs. The Viking Raiders
• NJPW Strong New Beginning USA set for Seattle in January
• Four matches added to NJPW Strong Nemesis
• NJPW World Tag League 2021 updated standings and schedule
• NJPW World Tag League results: Tournament night five
• NJPW Strong results: Moxley & Kingston vs. Suzuki & Archer
• KENTA to take part in NOAH Budokan Hall event on January 1st

Latest Audio:

• DragonKing Dark: The death of Chicago’s Terry Kath
• WOR: Rampage and Smackdown, ratings, Stardom, TripleMania, more!

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

• Experience with OnLamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
• GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
• CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
• Possible experience with AWS (s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
• Cloud based hosting experience a plus
• Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

• Send all inquiries to [email protected] with title WEB DEVELOPER. 
• If you have inquired before, please send your information again. 

Latest Free YouTube Video:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!

WON NEWSLETTER: November 29, 2021 Observer Newsletter: Survivor Series review, NJPW vs. NOAH show announced

In this week’s issue: 

• Match of the week and performer of the week
• Complete Survivor Series rundown, the matches, the finishes, the business, the interest level  and the product placement ads
• The story on the guy who attacked Seth Rollins on Raw
• How the audience watching WWE & AEW has changed over the past year, older or younger, men or women, a breakdown of every national show
• US TV ratings, where wrestling ranked with sports and overall, and details of how each show did in each key demo
• International TV ratings for WWE & AEW
• Two latest sports media rights deals in the U.S., and how this could affect WWE and AEW in their next deals and the key factors
• WWE & AEW streaming numbers for the week
• More on WrestleMania ticket sales
• How tickets are moving for the major upcoming WWE & AEW shows
• What is the hottest wrestling ticket in North America on the secondary market and the answer will surprise you
• NXT WarGames notes
• Full PWG rundown from this past weekend
• New Japan vs. NOAH at Yokohama Arena, the press conference and what top stars asked for as their opponent for the show
• New Japan Best of Super Juniors and tag team tournament updates
• All Japan tag team tournament update
• Why police were called at a recent Tokyo show
• New star debuts in CMLL but not where you would think
• Jeff Cobb and TJP’s weekend in Mexico and matches they seem to be building
• TripleMania Regia, new main event, PPV notes, more on Omega vacating title and he talks of a return
• Mexico bringing in one of the tallest wrestlers ever
• Big York Hall show coverage and how the unique main event story plays into the Tokyo Dome shows
• A must for Hall of Fame voters:  Who is L’Ange Blanc, the biggest mainstream star ever in France and a rundown of his impressive career
• Full coverage of last weekend’s UFC show

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].

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

Our weekend show talking Smackdown and Rampage is up on the site right now. We’ll have another show tomorrow night after Raw.

NHK, one of the major networks in Japan, ran a 90 minute special on Saturday night called “Inoki:  The Last Stand.” It was the first time the general public realized Inoki’s severe health issues and his physical decline and a lot of people were shocked, although insiders knew. It also shows that even thought Inoki’s real heyday was the 70s and he remained a major star through the 90s, that a major network would have a huge special like this on him.

The NOAH big show earlier today at Yoyogi Gym in Tokyo with Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kenou match to unify the GHC title with the National title went to a 60:00 draw.  I’ve had a number of people call it a strong match of the year candidate and even the best match this year. The big announcement was that KENTA, who was NOAH’s big star for a number of years, will return to the promotion on the Budokan show. There were fans crying when the announcement was made about KENTA returning to NOAH. Go Shiozaki, who had shoulder surgery, came at the end of the show and announced his return match will be on 12/5. The full show is up for free at Wrestle Universe, which is free until the end of the year.

Stardom’s PPV was yesterday and people were raving about this as well:  Ruaka retained the Future of Stardom title over Mai Sakurai and Waka Tsukiyama, Momo Watanabe & AZM b Unagi Sayaka & Lady C, Mayu Iwatani & Hazuki & Hanan b Saki Kashima  Fugiken Death & Rina, Saya Kamitani won a three-way for the Wonder of Stardom title shot over Himeka and Natsupoi, Starlight Kid b Koguma to keep the High Speed title, Syuri b Konami to retain the SWA title and get the next World of Stardom title shot in a UWF rules match, Tam Nakano b Mina Shirakawa to keep the Wonder of Stardom title in a match people were very polarized on as many didn’t like it and others loved it, and Utami Hayashishita b Maika to keep the World of Stardom title.  This sets up Hayashishita vs. Syuri on 12/29 at Sumo Hall which is a gigantic match. Nakano vs. Kamitani is the Wonder of Stardom title match on that show.

We are doing polls this weekend on both the Stardom and NOAH shows, so you can leave a thumbs up,  thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]

Raw at the UBS Arena tomorrow night features the return of Edge.  He’s likely to start a new program and Bobby Lashley currently has no program, so we shall see. Big E vs. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor has been announced for the show at the UBS Arena in Long Island. It’s the first wrestling show in the building that  just opened up.

We talked about this on the show, but a lot of the recent shows that have gone on sale for both WWE and AEW have had what I’d call disappointing early sales. Perhaps some will pick up as Christmas approaches. These are usually more of an issue with AEW, since its fan base buys most of its tickets early, while WWE spends far more in local advertising the week of the show so does end up with more late sales. Right now as far as tickets distributed go, according to Wrestletix, 1/3 Raw in Greenville, SC has 2,040 tickets out, 1/17 Raw in Tulsa has 2,167, AEW’s Battle of the Belts on 1/8 in Charlotte did 2,680 on the presale and the big surprise is that was more than 2/2 in Chicago, and previously Chicago has been doing very fast sellouts. Chicago did 2,441 on the first day and 12/29 in Jacksonville did 821 on the presale.  

WWE has been doing a lot of two-for-ones this week for many shows including tomorrow’s Raw at the UBS Arena in Long Island, as well as Los Angeles and Baltimore and likely many other markets.  The next PPV show, Day One on 1/1 in Atlanta, has buy three and get on ticket free sale currently going on.

The UBS Arena show has 5,264 tickets out for tomorrow, so they almost doubled since the announcement of Roman Reigns on 10/12.  A lot of people were using this to point out that Reigns isn’t a draw but tickets did start moving slowly, but ended up doing much better after the announcement. They did a lot of two-for-ones, four-for-the price of three, announced the return of Edge, and also announced Roman Reigns & Usos vs. Drew McIntyre & Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods for a dark match on the show.  But in the end they are doing about the same as a lot of the Raws of late have done if they get a decent walk up tomorrow. They won’t beat what AEW does on 12/8.  There are markets of late AEW has won and there are markets of late WWE has won in,.

We’re looking for reports from yesterday’s WWE house show in Roanoke, VA to [email protected]

The Triller Triad boxing vs. MMA show last night on PPV seemingly bombed as it didn’t even crack the top 20 trends for the day. Kubrat Pulaev, a high-level heavyweight boxer, destroyed Frank Mir in the main event of a show with a triangle ring, using MMA gloves but it was only boxing allowed.  

As far as trending, with no major shows this week the only stuff that cracked the top 20 all week on the Google charts was boxing related. Tommy Fury was No. 20 on Monday with 50,000 searches and Teofimo Lopez was No. 4 yesterday with 500,000.

New Japan World has a Best of Super Juniors show at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning from Korakuen Hall

• Kosei Fujita vs. Ryohei Oiwa non-tournament
• Douki vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
• Robbie Eagles vs. Bushi
• Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoh
• Sho vs. Master Wato
• Desperado vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo

The WrestleCade SuperShow from last night in Winston-Salem, NC: CW Anderson & Preston Quinn & JB Cole & White Mike b The Dawsons & Mik Drake & Brad Attitude Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson b Harv & Gurv Sihra (formerly the Singhs in WWE, Caprice Coleman kept the AML title over Dirty Dango (formerly Fandango), Rich Swann  & Myron Reed & T.I.M. b Matt Cross & Colby Corino & Andrew Everett, George South b Heath (Slater), PCO b Erick Redbeard (Erick Rowan), Jay Lethal b Matt Cardona, Shane Taylor won Battle Royal (some of the names involved were Shane Douglas, CW Anderson, Jackie Fulton, Swoggle (formerly Hornswoggle), Johnny Swinger, Mr. Hughes, Sam Houston, Moses, Fallah Bahh, The former Ascension and CW Anderson, Thunder Rosa won three-way over Deonna Purrazzo and Mercedes Martinez, Matt Hardy b Nzo, Malakai Black b Buddy Matthews. The two talked about their past and shook hands.

The Friday night WrestleCade results were: Gustavo b Colby Corino, Matt Cross b Haden Sane, Savannah Evans & Mik Drake b Dream Girl Ellie & Steve Pena, BoJack b JD Drake to keep the PWF title, Sean Legacy b Anthony Henry, Davey Richards b Axton Ray to keep the ASW title, Kenzie Paige won three-way over Jordynne Grace and KiLynn King to become the first Imperial Pro women’s champion, ROH trios champions Shane Taylor & Kuan & Moses b Caprice Coleman & Zuka King & TI.M. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)

WWE

• John Cena made a surprise appearance at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend. The event normally happens near the end of July, but had a small-scale “Special Edition” during Thanksgiving weekend to test how well it can go with pandemic restrictions and regulations. Cena appeared during the Masquerade, the costume show and contest where fans dress up and display themselves in character. Cena showed up dressed as Peacemaker, his character from The Suicide Squad and the upcoming HBO Max spin-off series. After appearing on stage, Cena cut an in-character video for Comic Con’s official Twitter.

AEW

• Ryan Nemeth put together a video where five  AEW stars openly talked about their mental health issues, seeking therapy & in some cases taking medication .  This has Powerhouse Hobbs, Vickie Guerrero, Dax Harwood, Amanda Huber and The Blade openly talking about their issues. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)
• Ric Flair on his podcast claimed a promoter in Israel wanted him to do a match with Sammy Guevara. This is likely not happening. Flair said $100,000 and two first class tickets and he’s there.

UFC

• Beneil Dariush vs. Islam Makhachev in a major lightweight fight looks to be the main event for a 2/26 show.  Dariush has seven wins in a row and Makhachev has nine in a row.

OTHER NOTES

• Soberano Jr. won the Leyenda de Azul match.  Notable that Soberano, who called Ultimo Guerrero a cancer and said he wanted to fight him for real, was never allowed in when Guerrero was in. Gran Guerrero may have been eliminated early. He kicked out late when he was being pinned, and then lost his cool and went after the referee and ripped his shirt before another ref calmed him down. Volador Jr. and TJP issued challenges to a hair vs  hair match. (thanks to Rene Ochoa)
• Naomichi Marufuji will be making his pro boxing debut on 12/16 in Osaka facing comedian Takayuki Kinoshita in a two two-minute round exhibition.
• AAW from Friday night in Merrionette Park, IL before 445 fans: Christi Jaynes won over Sierra, Charlie Evans and Lady Frost to become top contender for the women’s title, Silas Young b Manders, Skye Blue b Allisyn Kay to win the AAW women’s title, Schaff won a ladder match over Jake Lander,Brayden Lee, Storm Grayson, Hartenbower,  Jah-C, Gringo Loco and Ren James, Ace Austin & Myron Reed b Hakim Zane & Karm in a street fight, Russ Jones b Larry D, Hammerstone & Ace Perry b Jake Something & Dante Leon to win the tag titles, Rich Swann won over Davey Vega, Josh Alexander and Brody King to earn a heavyweight title shot, Mat Fitchett b Fred Yehi to win the heavyweight title. The next show is 12/30 at the Logan Square Arena in Chicago.
• A story on Raymond Rougeau as the new Mayor of Rawdon, Quebec. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
• The home that formerly was owned by Lillian Ellison, the Fabulous Moolah, and is now a veterans care home, burned to the ground Friday night. Fire officials in Columbia, SC responded to a call Friday night at 9 p.m. and when they arrived, the home was engulfed in flames. They were able to get the fire under control and one person was found dead. About eight people were living in the home.
• ISPW on 12/10 in Butler, PA is headlined by Bull James vs. Danny Morrison for their world title with Maven as referee, Crowbar vs. Homicide, plus appearances by Tito Santana and Vincent.  80s WWF manager Slick will be doing a live talk show with Andy Vineberg on the show.
• EPW from last night in Western Australia:  Jesse Lambert & Dan Moore & Bobby Marshall & Bruno Nitro b Chris L Jazareth & Joel Hagan & Kaz Jordan & Chris Target, Tyler Jacobs b Edith Night, Del Cano & Zenith b  Casey Johns & Jams Hartness to keep tag titles, Marcius Pitt b Damian Slater, Aaron Hawk won three -way over Taylor King and Kiel Steria to keep the Coastal championship, Gavin McGavin b Michael Morleone, Julian Ward b Mikey Nicholls to keep the EPW title. The promotion also announced its year end awards.  Bruno Nitro was named Most Improved. Gavin McGavin vs. Marcius Pitt in August was match of the year and McGavin was Wrestler of the Year. They also named a 2018 match with The Untouchables vs. Street Gang Hooligans as the best match in the 20-year history of the promotion and Davis Storm was named greatest wrestler in the history of the promotion. The next show is 1/8. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
• MCW Pro Wrestling Season’s Beatings on 12/4 in Joppa,MD at the MCW Arena has Brian Johnson vs Moses in a cage match for Johnson’s MCW title. Scarlett Bordeaux will make one of her first appearances since leaving WWE managing Action Andretti in a match against former WWE performer James Ellsworth.
• There is a pro wrestling scene in the movie “B-Bit Christmas” in a scene set in the 80s where a kid is wearing  a Hogan T-shirt.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Starrcade 1985

CONTACT INFORMATION

• Poll opinions: [email protected]
• Feedback: [email protected]
• Show results and news tips: [email protected]
• Wrestling Observer Radio questions: [email protected]
• Support the Empire~! with F4W shirts. Grab yours today