Daily Update: Sasha Banks wins gold, Finn Balor #1 contender, ROH
“We Want Sasha!”
Yesterday it was all Bayley. What a difference a day makes. It took about six months longer than anticipated, but in the fallout from a very noteworthy Raw, Sasha Banks fights back tears in a backstage interview after winning the women’s championship. She talks about what it means to her in winning the title, saying it has been her dream since she was ten years old. Likewise, Sasha says she is proud to be the new leader of the women’s division. Concluding on a lighter note, Sasha displays one of Charlotte’s hair extensions that was apparently ripped out during their match Monday night. WWE also posted highlights of of the match.
In another post-match video featuring Sasha, she chats with Bayley on FaceTime.
Raw general manager tweeted a photo of Triple H congratulating Banks after the match that possibly shows him shedding a tear over Banks’ win.
THE ROUND-UP
WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Number one with a bullet
UFC on FOX 20 final rating nearly 3 million viewers
WWE Raw live results: Title match set for SummerSlam & a new champion is crowned
NJPW G1 Climax 26 night five results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto
Former NXT champion debuts at WWE Battleground
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Figure Four Weekly
READ IT HERE: Figure Four Weekly 7/25/2016: More concussion legality! – Just moments after last week’s issue was put to bed, news broke that WWE had been hit by yet another lawsuit from Massachusetts lawyer Konstantine Kyros against WWE. Before, there were of a small handful of wrestlers with no prospects of dealing with WWE again suing strictly over nebulously worded concussion-related claims. This time, there are over 50 plaintiffs, including a lot of surprises, and the counts have been expanded to include variations on misclassifying them as independent contractors as part of an alleged racketeering scheme.
Subscribers click here to continue reading.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
READ IT HERE: July 25, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Results of the WWE draft, Brock Lesnar fails USADA drug tests, – The WWE draft ended up just as planned from the start, with the same dynamics of Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins as the top Raw program and John Cena vs. A.J. Styles as the top Smackdown program.
With one of the biggest news weeks of the year, it’s a double issue of the Observer this week, covering the draft, the Jon Jones & Brock Lesnar drug test failures and drugs failed for, the Roman Reigns drug test failure, a major WWE star who is no longer under contract, lots more on the UFC sale, details on the latest concussion lawsuit against WWE, as well as coverage of the beginning of the G-1 tournament and the beginning of the Super J Cup.
The lead story covers the draft. We look at what, when the draft idea started, were the planned main events for SummerSlam. We look at what did and didn’t change about the draft and why. We look at what failed about the draft. We look at what changed in the final week before the draft. We look at why certain people were called up from NXT and some interesting decisions made. We look at the situation with he cruiserweight, the announcing team changes, and what’s new with Brock Lesnar.
We’ve got a complete rundown of not only who is on what brand but slotting and what the slotting shows, as well as the Cesaro interview.
We also go through the Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar drug test failures. We talk about the drugs, what their medical usage would be for, Jones past test results and Twitter responses. We also look at what Lesnar tested for, Mark Hunt’s reaction, what punishment Lesnar is facing, and how this pertains to pro wrestling. We also look at what John Cena said about the test failure.
We’ve got more on the UFC sale including several other companies that had interest in buying UFC and why each one ended up dropping out as the bidding reached high points. We look at what different stations had wanted to do with UFC, and why a media company would have made sense as a buyer. We look at what revenue stream and logic was used to generate the $4 billion sale figure, as well as notes on Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta after the sale.
Subscribers click here to continue reading.
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Wrestling Observer Newsletter BACK ISSUE
READ IT HERE: June 21, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Hart family files lawsuit against WWF, WCW Great American Bash review, more – The expected lawsuit filed by the Hart family against a number of defendants, the main one being the World Wrestling Federation, was announced at a press conference on 6/15 in Kansas City.
TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
World Wrestling Entertainment
(Photo: WWE)
Finn Balor also cut a promo after his Raw debut in the fatal four way, but before his match with Roman Reigns, and uses the tagline “real”.
As was mentioned on Raw last night, WWE champion Dean Ambrose will be the next guest on the WWE Network’s Stone Cold Podcast with Steve Austin, airing immediately after the August 8th episode of Raw.
Performance Center trainer Sean Hayes does an Austin impression during yesterday’s all access tour.
Shinsuke Nakamura will appear on Talk is Jericho with Chris Jericho this Friday.
Vince, Stephanie, and Shane McMahon have been confirmed as playable characters in the upcoming WWE 2K17 video game.
Nasdaq is mild on WWE ahead of an announcement of third quarter earnings, according to an article on their website. “Our proven model does not conclusively show that WWE is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter,” the article speculated. Mentioned in the article is a five-point strategy for growing the WWE Network as a positive. The negatives included declines in pay-per-view. Not much else is mentioned.
A Pittsburgh TV station has a story on Titus O’Neil, Adrian Neville and Summer Rae visiting a local children’s hospital.
Fox Sports has a cute article about Bayley.
Professional Wrestling
Ring of Honor announced a star-studded main event for their August 27th Field of Honor show at MCU Park in Brooklyn with ROH champion Jay Lethal, Adam Cole, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito going at it for the ROH title. As was noted yesterday, Lethal will defend his title against Cole on August 19th at Death Before Dishonor XIV to determine who will be champion heading into the Field of Honor match.
ROH TV champion Bobby Fish will also defend his title against Los Ingobernables de Japon member EVIL on the show.
Ring of Honor wrestlers visited a children’s hospital in Concord, NC.
The Sami Callihan vs. Tommy End match which was the main event of the last Southside Wrestling Entertainment show, has been made free to view by the organization. (thanks to Markus Gronemann)
Broken Matt Hardy may also soon be making an appearance on Jericho’s podcast after posting a picture with Jericho on Twitter today.
Cody Rhodes was the guest on this week’s CBS Radio/106.7 The Fan DC’s Chad Dukes Wrestling Show promoting his match against Zack Sabre, Jr August 19th in Joppa, MD with EVOLVE and his appearance at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle in December.
CMLL on YouTube has their entire show from Monday night in Arena Puebla with Volador Jr. vs. Último Guerrero in the main event.
The trailer for the premiere of the shoot series “Gabe Sapolsky’s Next Evolution” featuring guest Johnny Gargano is up here.
Deadspin has Andre the Giant drinking stories.
UFC / MMA
The final numbers for Saturday’s UFC on FOX show are in and they averaged 2.975 million viewers for the 2+ hour main card. The prelims did 1.261 million viewers. The prelims number was down from last July’s FOX show but the main card was way up so this number would be entirely due to Holly Holm’s star power going into this fight. The main card rating was the highest for a FOX show since January 2015
The Bellator show from Friday night was up in the ratings from recent shows, doing 668,000 viewers on Spike TV. That was their best number since the May 14 show headlined by Phil Davis vs King Mo, which did 709,000 viewers.
Two more featherweight fights have been added to Bellator 160 on August 26th in Anaheim. The Bubba Jenkins-Georgi Karakhanyan fight was announced on Bellator’s broadcast on Friday. Also announced yesterday is a fight between AJ McKee Jr and Henry Corrales
Kevin Ferguson Jr., the son of the late Kimbo Slice, will make his professional mixed martial arts debut at Bellator 160.
Bellator today also announced that Saad Awad and Derek Anderson will meet in a bout between top lightweight contenders on that show.
VARIETY
There’s a video on youtube called “Paul Heyman Pops a Midget.” It’s video where Heyman was doing a QnA and a midget asks him a question about Doink and Dink. As the title implies, Heyman’s response earned a pop from the person.
Mauro Ranallo is doing a Reddit AMA session this Friday at Noon eastern. It’s in the “boxing” subreddit.
The Rio Olympics are underway and already there’s been a kidnapping. So if you’re headed to the games, please be careful.
Former WWE star Edge will play a recurring character on the next season of Vikings on the History Channel.
Eric Bischoff will be entering the wrestling podcast field with the first episode of his show for Podcast Arena debuting tomorrow.
Ian Hamilton has a review of WhatCulture’s first supercard that aired on YouTube last night with Noam Dar vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH title.
Elevation training masks are a new trend in fitness. What’s up with that?
Sonjay Dutt is running a seminar for experienced and aspiring wrestlers this friday, 7/29, in Omaha, NE. Start time is 2 PM, and cost is $40. Those interested can email [email protected]. Later that night, PWP runs at The Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha, NE – headlined by Sonjay Dutt vs Hype Gotti.
For those who can’t wait for Guardian’s of Galaxy 2, The Boss Starring Melissa McCarthy, featuring Dave Bautista is now available on Blu-ray/DVD.
RESULTS: Battle Arts Professional Wrestling, July 23: D-Man def. Bolo Fung, Kingdom Come (DJ & The Beat Down From B-Town Randy Bynoe) w/ manager Ray Bernardo def. The British Brawler & James Runyan via pinfall. Freedom Wallace & Bradford Montague def. O.G. and G & MC Hardbody, Champion Mike Dorosti w/ manager Ray Bernardo def. The Latin Lover w/ Jessica, Freedom Wallace won a Battle Royale, Buck Gunderson w/ Smiles def. T.O., Dustin QuickSilver def. Randy Reign
RESULTS: GOUGE Presents Reversed Reversal from July 23, 2016 Fuquay Varina, NC -Draft Line Brewery: Timmy Lou Retton beat Seymour Snott, Roni Nicole crushed Maddi Maxx, Jimmy Jack Funk Jr w/ Admir Al Akbar and Mickey Gambino defeated Juan Jeremi w/ Waylon Maze, Mickey Gambino w/ Admir Al Akbar whipped Waylon Maze w/ Juan Jeremi, Otto Schwanz won over Roc Richards, James Anthony outlasted Encore w/ Ryan Miller, Ryan Miller surprised Ryker the Volcano. The next show is Sept 11, in Smithfield, NC at Double Barley Brewing.
RESULTS: PWE Summer Surrender, Oshawa, Ontario, July 24: “Walking Weapon ” Josh Alexander def “Diamond Tiger”, “All Ego” Ethan Page ded Tarik, Rex Atkins won a 6 man Gauntlet match, “Mr.Vain” Joshua James def “The Playboy” John Atlas, Stacy Thibault def Beautiful Beaa, R.J.City vs “The Honey Badger” Johnny Devine went to DQ
RESULTS: Chikara Vs Smash Wrestling results, Sunday, July 24, Franklin Horner Community Centre: Big Tank def Cecil Nyx, The Super Smash Brothers (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) def Dasher Hatfield & Oleg The Usurper, Well Oiled Machines (Mike Rollins & Pepper Parks) (w/Cherry Bomb) def Brent Banks & Scotty O’Shea, Princess KimberLee def Candice LeRae, Kevin Bennett def Juan Francisco de Coronado and Space Monkey and Tyson Dux, Matt Cross def Hallowicked, The Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant & Worker Ant) def John Greed, Sebastian Suave & TARIK, Johnny Gargano def Icarus
The Summer Slam Events Calendar:
July 30 – HYBRID Wrestling at Lighthouse Hall in Eddystone, PA! To purchase tickets, call Mike Hamilton at 484-478-1308 or message the HYBRID Facebook page.
July 29, 30, 31 – ECCW returns to the Agrifair 2016 Abbortsford, BC with three shows per day. Friday and Saturday shows start at 12:00PM – 3:00PM – 8:00PM. Saturday July 30 wil feature “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart. Sunday’s shows start at 11:00AM – 2PM and 5PM
July 30 – Steel Domain Wrestling: Legion Mania – American Legion in Richfield, MN.
July 30 – UFC 201 – LAWLER VS. WOODLEY from Atlanta, GA
July 30 – WSOF 32: Moraes vs. Hill 2 – Live on NBCSN from Everett, Washington. Also featuring Ben “Phoenix Jones” Fodor vs Caros Fodor in a brother vs brother fight
July 30 – Smash Wrestling – Oshawa Music Hall, 39 King St E, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 1B2
July 31 – BATTLEWAR 36; Les Foufounes Électriques, 87 Sainte-Catherine Street East, Montreal, QC
Aug 4-6 – !BANG! TV – Professional Wrestling Spectacular, 3 charity shows in 3 days. – More information.
Aug 5 – NEF Presents Dana White: Looking for a Fight. More info here.
Aug 6 – Smokey Mountain Wrestling: Fire on the Mountain – Jason Kincaid defends against Elliott Russell, Civic Auditorium, 1550 Fort Henry Dr., Kingsport, TN
Aug 6 – Crossfire Wrestling return to Bissell’s Hideaway for Battle Of Bissells II. The price is $20 for all day pass at the park and the wrestling show.
Aug 6 – Upstate Professional Wrestling presents: Headlocks & Homeruns 5 at the Premier Sports Center in Webster, New York.
Aug 6 – UFC FIGHT NIGHT – RODRIGUEZ VS CACERES, from Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 6 – Absolute Intense Wrestling Girls Night Out in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt Carmel with Crazy Mary Dobson, Allysin “Sienna” Kay, Veda Scott, Shayna Baszler, Annie Social, Kelly Klein, Heidi Lovelace, Lufisto, Nicole Savoy and more.
Aug 12 – BIG WEST WRESTLING presents BOWLING, BODYSLAMS & BBQ, Lake City Bowling & Billiards: Kelowna, BC
Aug 12 – Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb has been added to the Revolution Pro show in London at York Hall in Bethnal Green.
Aug 13 – Viva La Lucha: San Diego, CA, Mongomery High School – This show is a special fundraiser event in the 619 featuring Rey Mysterio, John Morrision, TJP, Nicho/Psychosis, Teddy Hart, Willie Mack, Vermin, Los Luchas and more.
Aug 13 – World Women’s Wrestling 2016 IRON MAIDEN Championship at the America Civic Center in Wakefield, MA
Aug 13 – wXw NOW – The End (Tommy End’s final show in Germany, booked by The Sumerian Death Squad)
Aug 13 – NWA Mid South Wrestling in Dyresburg, TN at the Herb Welch Wrestle Plex headlined by Matt Riviera vs. Jeremy Moore.
Aug 19 – Superkick’d Pro Wrestling Rock Show – Blazed The Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H3
Aug 19 – The Hardys, Drew Galloway, Ethan Carter III and Mickie James appear for House of Glory Wrestling in Jamaica, NY. That’s the Friday before SummerSlam.
Aug 20 – “Best In The West” in Fresno, CA from the VFW Hall #8900, located at 3585 N Blythe at 6pm. Featuring Jeff Cobb, Joey Ryan, and Mustufa Saed.
Aug 20 – UFC 202 – DIAZ VS MCGREGOR 2, from Las Vegas, NV
Aug 21 – WWE Presents THE SummerSlam PPV event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It will be the twenty-ninth event under the SummerSlam chronology and the second consecutive SummerSlam to be hosted in the Barclays Center.
Aug 21 – Chavo Guerrero Jr. will appear for Smash Wrestling on in Pickering, Ontario at Super Showdown lV.
Aug 21 – Octagon & Tinieblas Jr. vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Pirata Morgan headlines in Houston at the Arena Theater.
Aug 26 – Absolute Intense Wrestling – Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, 1355 W. 70th St. Cleveland, OH
Aug 26 – CONFLICT Wrestling: “Black or White”
Aug 26 – Bellator 160 from the Pond in Anaheim and live on Spike TV. Benson Henderson vs Patricio Pitbull Freire
Aug 27 – Battlearts: Summer Heat – 4880 Tomken Road, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 1J8
Aug 27 – LuchaTO at the Benelife Wellness Centre, 68 Tycos Drive, Toronto, Ontario, M6B 1V9
Aug 27 – UFC FIGHT NIGHT – Maia vs. Condit from Vancouver, BC.
AUG 28 – Steel City Pro Wrestling: End Game Aug 28th – 222 Queenston Rd, Hamilton, ON L8K 1G6, Canada
Aug 28 – Destiny wrestling proudly presents “SUMMER HEAT”.
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