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WON NEWSLETTER: August 3, 2020 Observer Newsletter: WWE has most profitable quarter ever

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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

It’s a relatively quiet weekend. The biggest events are Smackdown tonight, the Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki NJPW match that took place earlier today, and a UFC show on ESPN+ tomorrow.

Want to mention the death of Mark Hussey aka Rollerball Rocco, who was a pioneer of the modern hard hitting fast-paced style of wrestling. Many consider Rocco as the best U.K. wrestler of the late 70s and early 80s, with his career peak coming as the original Black Tiger in New Japan feuding with the original Tiger Mask. He had classic matches with the likes of Sammy Lee (Satoru Sayama), Dynamite Kid, Tatsumi Fujinami, Marty Jones and Jushin Liger as Flying Fuji Yamada. He was one of the greats of his time, and because his style was faster than the prior generation, even though his stuff was more hard hitting, he was tabbed by older veterans as not knowing how to work, lacking psychology, not realistic, all the same stuff that every prior generation says about the people who change the style.

Garrett Gonzalez, who I do shows with, is getting married tomorrow. Good luck Garrett and Khrsytal. We will be back doing a show next week talking about one of the best wrestling books ever written, Jonathan Snowden’s bio of Ken Shamrock.

PWInsider reported that Judge Waverly D,.Crenshaw Jr., has declared a mistrial in Jeff Jarrett & Global Force Wrestling’s lawsuit against Anthem Entertainment (Impact Wrestling) for usage of GFW footage. There will be a conference on 9/11 to set up a second trial.

Smackdown tonight:

Bayley vs. Nikki Cross for the Smackdown women’s title
A.J. Styles vs. Gran Metalik for the IC title
Naomi vs. Lacey.Evans

UFC on ESPN+ starting at 6 p.m. Eastern tomorrow

Chris Gutierrez (135.5) vs. Cody Durden (135.5)
Jamall Emmers (146) vs. Vincent Cachero (145)
Nathan Maness (144.5) vs. Johnny Munoz (145.5)
Ed Herman (206) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (204.5)
Frankie Saenz (136) vs. Jonathan Martinez (140.5)
Kevin Holland (184) vs. Trevin Giles (185)
Lando Vannata (155.5) vs. Bobby Green (156)
Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Randy Brown (170.5)
Joanne Calderwood (126) vs. Jennifer Maia (124.5)
Derek Brunson (186) vs. Edmn Shahbazyan (185.5)

Some notes. Martinez missed weight by 4.5 pounds. Ray Borg, who was to face Maness, pulled out at the last minute and is being replaced by Johnny Munoz. Pro wrestler Eric Spicely vs. Markus Perez was canceled. Spicely said that this was his first weight cut since starting antidepressants due to head trauma from the Deron Winn fight, and said things went horribly wrong in the cut and he’s off the show. Cachero was a last minute replacement for Timur Valiev.

Eric Bischoff was part of the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy segment that was taped yesterday for next week’s Dynamite show.

WWE

SummerSlam 2019 is scheduled to air on FS1 on 8/11, which was headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins, Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton, Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon and Becky Lynch vs. Natalya.
Mauro Ranallo will be announcing tomorrow on the Showtime boxing card from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. Ranallo will be live at the event.
The movie “Jungle Cruise” starring Dwayne Johnson has been moved back to a July 30, 2021 opening.
A racial profiling story which involves a friend of Titus O’Neil (thanks to Chris Cruise)

UFC

Related to the confrontation between Dan Hardy and Herb Dean this past Saturday, Dana White said that anyone who works for UFC that approaches a referee or a judge or any official will be fired.
Dana White’s Contenders Series will air live every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ESPN+. from the Apex Arena in Las Vegas. This season will be a ten-week series. The show has spawned the careers of Sean O’Malley, Edmen Shahbazyan, Dan Ige, Maycee Barber and others. Tuesday’s bouts are:
Ty Flores vs. Dustin Jacoby
Uros Medic vs. Mikey Gonzalez
Luis Rodiriguez vs. Jerome Rivera
Jordan Leavitt vs. Luke Flores

AEW

Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall have announced a wrestling camp starting on 9/21 with 25 male and female wrestlers doing a three-month training course at their gym in Norcross,GA. They will focus on in-ring wrestling, customized workout and fitness programs, nutrition training and training in makeup on camera, pro wrestling history and the business of pro wrestling. The plan is to do new classes every three months, open to men and women. All students will be tested for COVID-19.
Kenny Omega and Michael Nakazawa are doing a zoom conference for students at Tokai University, the college Nakazawa graduated on August 8 from 12:30 to 1:50 p.m. Japanese time. They are doing an on-line seminar on the wrestling industry.
Jack Evans, who has been in Mexico, returned this past week to the tapings for a match on Dark against QT Marshall, who also returned from battling COVID-19 at the tapings this past week. The Dark main event will be Butcher & Blade vs. Private Party.

MISCELLANEOUS

WWE will be doing PPV shows on both 8/23 and 8/30, with SummerSlam, followed by a card set up by angles at SummerSlam called Payback. This will be the first time since 1991 that WWE has done PPVs in successive weekends.
New Japan will announce tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern its plans for a new weekly Friday night series that begins a week from tonight on New Japan World.
Roddy Piper passed away five years ago today.
Glory, having been financially restructured, returns with shows on 10/2 and 10/3 in The Netherlands. 10/2 features a four-man middleweight tournament with the winner getting a shot at Alex Periera’s middleweight title later on. 10/3 has welterweight champion Cedric Doumbe defending his title. Both shows will be limited to attendance of 200 people.
ROH Fresh Friday tonight has Eddie Edwards vs. Austin Aries, Davey Richards vs Roderick Strong, Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli vs Mark & Jay Briscoe, Alex Shelley vs.Spanky, Nigel McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe, Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson, Mick Foley vs. Vordell Walker vs. Samoa Joe vs.Ebessan Jack vs. Austin Aries and Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey vs. Traci Brooks. The show airs on Honor Club.
ROH TV this week will be Joe Hendry matches.
Kevin Eck’s ROH news report for the week.
MLW on BeIn Sports tomorrow at 10 p.m and on YouTube at 6:05 p.m. is a 2003 show with
Shocker vs. L.A. Park
Super Crazy vs. Fuego Guerrero
Sabu vs. Taiyo Kea
CWE runs on 8/13 in Calgary with Johnny Devine vs. Travis Cole
A number of the top wrestlers with Phillipine Wrestling Revolution, including Jake De Leon, Chris Panzer (their champion) and top manager Mr. Sy have left the company (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from last night in Omaha, NE: Con Artiest b Purple, Nicky Scent b Jon West, Chris Havius b Logan Ocean, Tim Boston & Seto Kobara NC Jack Darling & Uncle Ricky & Donnie Peppercricket, Lars Metzger b Mack Riggs, Paul Daniels & Joey Daniels b Pat Powers & Tony Cortez, Duke Cornell b Moonshine Russell, Con Artiest b Duke Cornell. Next show is 8/27 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha,.

An article on the documentary “You Can’t Kill David Arquette”. (thanks to Lee Wall)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWF WrestleFest 1988

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WWE’s first big event since Wrestlemania plays out Sunday night with Payback where an Internet fan favorite battles an Internet scourge for what was once the biggest prize in the business in the main event. Five titles will be on the line tonight at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL, outside Chicago. This is the fourth Payback event in company history, and Reigns has been in the main event for the last three.

Pre-Show:

DOLPH ZIGGLER VS. BARON CORBIN

Corbin took most of the match, had Ziggler up for a power bomb but flipped him backwards instead into the post. Corbin then started stalling and celebrating and they were totally teasing the idea that Corbin was taking it for granted. Corbin got in the ring and Ziggler pinned him with a schoolboy. It was fine for a preshow match.

U.S. CHAMPION KALISTO VS. RYBACK

They went really fast and did a lot of near falls ending with Ryback missing a splash off the top rope and Kalisto pinned him with Salida del Sol. A few botched spots but it was okay. Kalisto did a tope and some spinning moves.

New Day did an interview saying they were going to be at ringside for the tag team tournament final later tonight.

Main Card:

WWE TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FINALS: ENZO & CASS VS. VAUDEVILLAINS

There was a legit injury a few minutes into the match. Simon Gotch threw Enzo Amore out of the ring. Amore’s left arm caught the middle rope as he was sliding and his head hit the middle rope and then the back of Enzo’s head hit the apron and he fell to the floor. Ref Dan Engler immediately put up an “X” and they stopped the match. It was legit as the cameras quickly went to the announcers while medical personnel were working on Enzo and he was carried out. No announcement was made and JBL and Byron Saxton looked pretty concerned.

They said that Enzo can move his extremities and is talking and was rushed to the hospital.

SAMI ZAYN VS. KEVIN OWENS

Excellent match. Owens, who a bloody nose, won clean with a superkick and the pop up power bomb. Owens stepped on him after the match. Owens slapped him in he face and threw him out of the ring when it was over. They worked this more like a Japanese match than a WWE match with the pacing and Zayn popping up from moves as opposed to long term selling. The crowd was going pretty nuts in spots, particularly the usual Zayn dive from the floor into and out of the ring with the DDT on the floor. Owens did a cool frog splash.

Owens wanted Byron Saxton to come in the ring. Owens teased opening the ropes for him but then didn’t. Saxton asked if the rivalry was over. Owens said he beat Zayn. Owens said he finally put to rest the question after 14 years, he’s the better man. Now he wants the IC title back. Saxton noted the match was next. Owens said he didn’t know the match was next but he’s staying to do commentary in the match.

I-C CHAMPION THE MIZ VS. CESARO

The match was good. It was a set up for a four-way program for the title with Owens and Zayn. Zayn ran down to ringside during the match. Zayn attacked Owens. They were fighting. In the ring Cesaro used a giant swing and had the crossface on. Miz was tapping but ref John Cone was distracted by breaking up Zayn and Owens. Cesaro let go of the move and knocked both Zayn and Owens off the apron and Miz schoolboyed him for the pin to keep the title.

After the match, Cesaro laid out Miz with the neutralizer. Owens superkicked Cesaro. Owens also power bombed Zayn again and went to power bomb Miz, but Maryse pulled Miz out of the ring to safety. Owens grabbed the belt.

They announced Enzo was in the hospital and able to communicate with the medical staff and move his arms and legs. He was knocked out at one point before waking up backstage before they rushed him to the hospital.

CHRIS JERICHO VS. DEAN AMBROSE

Another excellent match. Ambrose did a tope and may have hit Jericho head first because he came up bleeding from the nose. Jericho also hit the back of his head on the German table. Ambrose won clean with Dirty Deeds after Jericho went for the quebrada but Ambrose got his knees up and threw a seris of knees to set up the finish. This was more Americanzied than Zayn vs. Owens. There were several spots coming off the Walls of Jericho used.

Mauro Ranallo interviewed A.J. Styles, and he asked about Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. He said it’s one-on-one tonight.

They showed Shane McMahon talking to Sasha Banks.

WWE WOMEN’S CHAMPION CHARLOTTE (WITH RIC FLAIR) VS. NATALYA (WITH BRET HART)

The match was going well when they redid the 1997 Survivoir Series finish. Charlotte put Natalya in the sharpshooter and ref Charles Robinson called for the bell even though Natalya didn’t submit After the match, Bret Hart knocked down Ric Flair, Charles Robinson ran off, Natalya put Charlotte in the sharpshooter and Flair and Charlotte both tapped. Natalya was doing a great job of selling the knee most of the way refusing to submit to the figure four. The match was designed to build a rematch more than be a great match building to a conclusion. Not sure if there weren’t better ways to get where they were going but that’s the way they know.

Vince McMahon called out Stephanie and Shane. Will update later as we had technical issues on the site but the end result was Vince chose that both would have to get along and run Raw together and it starts a new era. Obviously they needed a shock and change to Raw with the ratings the way they were, but more McMahons isn’t new but the same thing they’ve been doing for two decades. Stephanie did a big speech about all she accomplished. Shane had newspaper clippings claiming he was doing a great job and Vince said he didn’t care what the media thought or anyone thought.

– Enzo had a concussion but all other tests have come back negative. He is believed to be out of the hospital right now.

WWE CHAMPION ROMAN REIGNS VS. A.J. STYLES

The match was designed to get over Stephanie and Shane. Fans hated Reigns of course with “Roman sucks” chants. After Reigns got to the ropes after the calf crusher, he was out of the ring. Styles did the springboard forearm to the floor and they all went through one of the announcers tables. It was an amazing spot, particularly in slow motion. Styles barely got up, tried to get Reigns in the ring but Styles couldn’t get him in, jumped in himself and won via count out.

Shane came out and restarted the match as a no count out match. They went about two minutes and Styles came off the top rope into a punch by Reigns which was low. The ref DQ’d Reigns so again Styles won but didn’t win the title. Of course, Stephanie came out and restarted the match.

The third match had some cool stuff. Styles kicked out of a Superman punch. Reigns hit a second Superman punch and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson ran in and pulled Styles out of the ring. They double teamed and laid out Reigns with the boot of doom since this was a no DQ match. Then they left. Styles hit the springboard forearm but Reigns got his foot on the ropes. The Usos came out to fight Anderson and Gallows. Styles went to the top rope but Reigns shoved him off and Styles flew to the floor but landed on everyone. Reigns then did a running dive over the top. The match continued and Styles hit a springboard 450 but Reigns kicked out. Styles went for the Styles Clash, but Reigns backdropped him over the top rope. Reigns went for a Superman punch but Styles snapped his neck on the top rope. Reigns then speared Styles and pinned him. The announcers put over how Reigns earned the win.

It felt more like a TNA main event with all the overbooked stuff at the end. Styles was excellent in his timing. When it was over, the stars were the McMahons who were all together and Vince said the match was great, asked Stephanie & Shane if Styles deserved a rematch, they both said he did, and it’s an Extreme Rules match in three weeks on the Extreme Rules PPV.

Tag: WWE Payback

Daily Update: Weekend shows, Rollerball Rocco, WWE Payback