Daily Update: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10, UFC 195 fall out
We have a show up with Dave Meltzer, Bryan Alvarez and Tom Lawlor covering last night’s UFC show, the Rizin show from New Year’s Eve and some wrestling. We will be doing a show on the Tokyo Dome tomorrow afternoon and then on Raw later that night.
Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. We’re very appreciative of all the support you’ve given us over the past year and hopefully this next year will be a good one for everyone.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 10 at the Tokyo Dome as well as last nights’ UFC, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer
We’re also looking for reports on today’s WWE shows in Hidalgo, TX (Roman Reigns vs Sheamus for WWE title) and Corpus Christi (Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens for IC title; Kane vs. Bray Wyatt).
NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM 10 – Follow along with Dave Meltzer here.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada for IWGP heavyweight title is the main event of this year’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom show. AJ Styles will attempt to win the Intercontinental title from Shinsuke Nakamura, not Dean Ambrose. Wrestle Kingdom 10 will also have a large presence of ROH including some surprises in the New Japan Rumble. This could be a very long show given they do not have American PPV time constraints. It’s too early to say, but from the line up, this could possibly be the show of the year. Click here for a New Japan Rumble spoiler entrant…
Check out Zach Dominello’s full preview series.
NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM AT 2:15 A.M. LATE SUNDAY/EARLY MONDAY ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
There will be both a English and Japanese language feed for the show
New Japan Rumble
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta for IWGP jr. tag titles
Mark & Jay Briscoe & Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale for Never trios championships
Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin for ROH championship
Kenny Omega vs. Kushida for IWGP jr. title
Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma for IWGP tag team titles
Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata for Never Open weight championship
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. A.J. Styles for IC title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada for IWGP heavyweight title
Raw will be Monday night from San Antonio with Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus for the WWE title with Vince McMahon as referee.
NEW JAPAN NEW YEAR’S DASH AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TUESDAY MORNING ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
No matches have been announced for the “Raw after Mania” show, but Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker will be calling the show in English and there will also be the Japanese feed..
The first Smackdown on the USA Network will be taped on Tuesday night in Laredo. Mauro Ranallo debuts as announcer and John Cena will be on the show.
TNA ON POP TV AT 9 P.M. FROM BETHLEHEM, PA
Matt Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III
Bobby Lashley vs Eric Young
Winners of these two matches meet for the vacant TNA title
Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly 12/28/2015: Gawker files to dismiss Hogan lawsuit
Details on Gawker filing to dismiss the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit, plus other news.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
We have our annual business year in review as the lead of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week. We cover our awards balloting year from 12/1/14 to 11/30/15 looking at the biggest events and biggest draws, with the year’s biggest crowds, records set in several different companies, Cena compared to those in similar positions on the all-time list, the year’s PPV buys for every wrestling, MMA and boxing show, how this year compared with other years.
Dwayne Johnson returning for WrestleMania, different ideas of where he may fit in, and his recent track record of WrestleMania matches.
The history of New Japan on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome. The first New Japan Tokyo Dome show and its main event, what drew the first house, what Lou Thesz said to Antonio Inoki after the show and why Thesz thought the result was a good thing and why it ended up being a waste. We look at how this year’s show will differ from last year as well as a match-by-match rundown and a look at the history of the New Japan big four, Tanahashi, Okada, A.J. Styles and Nakamura, with all of their previous Tokyo Dome matches.
Jonathan Coachman on HGH usage in WWE, why usage is so prevalent in certain types of sports and entertainment.
WWE injury coverage, why WWE stars are doing more NBC media, how movies with Sting are doing at the box office, how the WWE’s head of medical came across in the movie “Concussion” plus a concussion expert on Daniel Bryan situation. Update on Nikki Bella, NXT sellouts, Brock Lesnar’s next match, Cena facing a surprise opponent, Chris Jericho on future, Royal Rumble, Sin Cara injury update, NXT in Dallas, the go-home show for WrestleMania, two international stars about to start with WWE and the Bayley character on the main roster.
The holiday show in Madison Square Garden coverage, Ben Askren talks about One’s possibly revolutionary weight cutting regulations that could be the catalyst for changing MMA. We look at the first Rizin show, the sad spectacle of Sakuraba, the pro wrestlers on the show, the mentality behind why certain people were on the show and match-by-match coverage.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 4, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Business year in review, Rock at Wrestlemania 32, tons more.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer
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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.
TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE
UFC 195 was No. 10 for most searched items on Google at 200,000, which would indicate a lower level PPV number, which most were expecting.
Carlos Condit’s talk about retirement last night wasn’t a spur of the moment emotional thing as he had talked about it for months, that if he didn’t win the title he was considering retiring. Condit landed 82 more significant strikes then Lawler, which is the greatest difference in strikes of any fighter who has ever lost a decision in UFC history. What’s notable about the judging last night is that there were five close decisions, four splits and the unanimous decision win by Justine Kish over Nina Ansaroff. Of those five fights, the media and judges disagreed on four of the five, all by significant margins. For the Condit-Lawler fight, media scores were 15 for Condit, three for Lawler and two had it a draw. We did our own poll which was 29% for Lawler, 64% for Condit and 7% had it a draw.
50,000 dollar performance bonuses were given Stipe Miocic and Michael McDonald. While Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler earned fight of the night.
F4WOnline.com’s staff prediction results: John Pollock went 5-0, Josh Nason, David Bixenspan, Mike Sawyer, Steve Juon, Mike Sempervive and Ryan Fredrick were 4-1, Paul Fontaine, me and Front Row Brian were 3-2.
Cheeseburger and Delirious are both in Japan. Cheeseburger will be in the Rumble tonight (opener at the Dome). Delirious is there for business reasons.
The talk from TNA on “The Miracle” debuting refers to the debut of Michael Bennett.
WWE
We’ll see how this turns out, but as of yesterday the plan was for heavy promotion of Smackdown on Raw tomorrow since it’s the week it moves to USA.
Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and HHH are at today’s Dallas Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium and they were publicizing WrestleMania at the game.
Natalya, who hasn’t been in the ring in eight weeks, is in Corpus Christi for the house show. so that would seem like she’s starting back tonight.
Suggestions for WWE in 2016 from WhatCulture.com
UFC/MMA
The T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao title change will air on Monday night on FS 1 at 10 p.m.
A Bellator 2015 highlight video
In Victoria, Australia, state licensed agencies can’t take best on MMA
MISCELLANEOUS
We are looking for reports from last nights’ PWG show in Reseda but we did get this:
*Sam Roberts, Marina Sharif and a singer from Tool were at the show
*Brian Cage beat Chris Dickinson
*Timothy Thatcher beat Drew Gulak in a good technical match
*Sami Callihan beat Trevor Lee in an okay match
*Drew Galloway beat Jack Evans in a good match
*Adam Cole beat Speedball Mike Bailey in a good match
*Zack Sabre Jr. beat Akira Tozawa. Huge reaction for both and a great match. People chanted match of the year at them when it was over
*Roderick Strong beat Chris Hero to retain the PWG title
There was a question on the audio show about the origin of the name Iron Mike, which has been a pro wrestling nickname for guys named Mike dating back to the 40s if not earlier. It’s a slang term for a Marine that is believed to have originated in World War I. It was at first the name of a piece of equipment on a ship but was later used for Marines that were really tough, and there are Iron Mike statues at various military bases and academies around the country. (thanks to Karl Stern).
Also, to make it clear, regarding Asen Yamamoto, I’ve confused at times his father because Miyu Yamamoto was married three times. His biological father is Nobuyasu Ikeda, a famous soccer player. The Olympic skier, Akira Sasaki, was his stepfather. He was using the name Asen Sasaki as an amateur wrestler when competing internationally. He got really over on the New Year’s Eve show, but as Tom Lawlor noted, if his goal is the 2020 Olympics, he really should stay away from MMA. Because rules and tendencies and reflexes are different, a lot of great wrestlers have gone into MMA as regulars and it has taken the edge off their competition wrestling. (thanks to Robert Sandholzer)
Here are the names listed for the Icons of Pro Wrestling convention on 4/16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia (before a Tommy Dreamer House of Hardcore promotion show): Mil Mascaras, Shawn Michaels, Dreamer, Ricky Steamboat, Stan Hansen, Ron Bass, Abyss, Billy Gunn, Bill Apter, Justin Credible, Brian Cage, Cliff Compton, Kevin Thorn, Maven, Curt Hawkins, Amber Gallows, Danny Cage, Blue Meanie, Sabu, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards.
MTV did a story on why your girlfriends love pro wrestling
LLE today at Arena Mexico has Caristico vs. Negro Casas in a singles match and Black Warrior & La Mascara & Rush vs. Cibernetico & Sharly Rockstar & Mephisto, who are the new Hell Brothers.
Real Sports on HBO highlighted stories from the last 20 years in its December episode available on VOD. There was a clip of Vince McMahon that made it, as did Chris Nowinski in a 2007 story about football players and concussions. Roddy Piper’s interview on the deaths of wrestlers wasn’t on it, nor was anyone from wrestling besides Vince (thanks to Jeff Cohen)
Masked Republic’s LuchaShop.com is having a 2016 sale with all merchandise 16% off through midnight Pacific time tonight using the code NY2016. There is a ton of Lucha Libre merchandise there.
In Your Face Wrestling on 3/12 in Albany, NY at the Polish Community Center featuring Bob Holly, Scott Norton and Cody Deaner. They also run on 1/16 in Albany at the Polish Community Center.
Magen Boys Entertainment and Action for Autism on 1/27 in Vaughan, ONT at The Avenue Banquet Hall with Nikolai Volkoff, Brodus Clay, Rhino, Brutus Beefcake and Virgil.
Acclaim Pro Wrestling on 1/16 in Ottawa, ONT at 379 Waverly St. with a 20 man Rumble.
Declaration of Anarchy III on 2/7 in Toronto at The Rockpile.
A show on 1/16 at the Team Vision Dojo in Orlando is billing Santana Garrett vs. Barbi Hayden with the winner getting a tour to Japan in February. Garrett is booked on the tour but she’s putting up her spot on the tour in a billed stipulation. Results from last night’s show: Santana Garrett & Lince Dorado b Slade Porter & Rex Bacchus, Tyranus b Alexx Light, Brandon Scherer b Steve Weiner, Braydon Knight b Chico Adams, Mike Reed & Josh Hess b Gabriel Black & Josh Parker, Rhett Ghiddins b Ace Andrews, Jonny Vandal & Aaron Epic b Michael Patrick & Leo Brien. (thanks to Al Haft)
Brain Buster Pro Wrestling on 2/13 in Hollywood, FL at VFW Post 2500.
A story on the pro wrestling holiday tradition in Florida
A story on what live theater can learn from pro wrestling
Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (01/03): Freebirds win WCCW 6 Man Tag Team Titles
