Daily Update: Undertaker vs Lebron James, Kyle O'Reilly news, NXT shark cage
THE ROUND-UP
The latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
5 cruiserweight division strengths WWE is missing out on
The Week In British Wrestling: Mark Haskins vacates his titles due to injury
Lucha Underground results: Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma in Grave Consequences
WWE NXT results: Nakamura & Joe make it official; Dusty Classic semifinals
UFC announces 2017 Q1 schedule with aggressive counter to Tito vs. Chael
The Revival vs. DIY booked for NXT TakeOver: Toronto
WWE SmackDown video highlights: Shane McMahon joins Team SD
Rhyno gored in House race
AUDIO
WOR: Trump is the President, Survivor Series, Lucha Underground, tons of news
F4D: Filthy Tom Lawlor addresses USADA failure, Overweight Classic Scandal, Smackdown, Impact
WOL: Major Survivor Series changes, Jon Jones stripped, Mercedes Martinez interview
We’re looking for reports from today’s WWE shows in Vienna, Austria and Cardiff, Wales as well as today’s Revolution Pro Show in London at York Hall to [email protected].
This weekend, I’ll have a poll forUFC 205, so you can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match [email protected].
Tonight
Impact Wrestling on Pop TV is headlined by Eddie Edwards vs. Eli Drake for the TNA title. Our Dave Bath will have your recap here tonight.
Friday
For Friday, we’re looking for reports on the Raw crew show in Lyon, France, the Smackdown show in Barcelona, Spain, and NXT in St. Augustine, FL.
FRIDAY: REVOLUTION PRO WRESTLING WITH NEW JAPAN AT WALTHAMSTOW ASSEMBLY HALL IN THE U.K.
Tomoaki Honma vs. ?
Bushi & Evil vs Charlie Garrett & Joe Redman
Yuji Nagata vs. Trent Seven
Jushin Liger vs. Will Ospreay
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Pete Dunne
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Chris Hero
Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada vs. Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre Jr.
FRIDAY: BELLATOR TAPE DELAY SHOW FROM TEL AVIV, ISRAEL ON SPIKE TV at 9 PM
Lena Ovchynnikova (123.5) vs. Karla Benitez (124.5)
Georgi Karakhanyan (149.5) vs. Kirill Medvedovsky (151)
Noad Lahat (145.8) vs. Scott Cleve (145.8)
Andrey Koreshkov (169.8) vs. Douglas Lima (170) for the welterweight title
FRIDAY: NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON AXS TV AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Kushida vs. Bushi for IWGP jr. title
Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for IWGP tag tam titles
FRIDAY: CMLL AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN FROM ARENA MEXICO
Flyer & Magnus vs. Akuma & Espanto Jr.
Soberano & Star Jr. & Stigma vs. Escandalo & Okumura & Sangre Azteca
Fuego & Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr. vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora & Hechicero
Caristico vs. Mephisto
Atlantis & Diamante Azul & Mascara Dorada vs. Cavernario & Negro Casas & Felino
Marco Corleone & Maximo Sexy & Volador Jr. vs. La Mascara & Rush & Pierroth vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Euforia
Saturday
For Saturday, we’re looking for reports on the Raw crew show in Strasbourg, France, and the Smackdown crew show in Madrid, Spain.
SATURDAY: NEW JAPAN ON iPPV FROM AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND:
Henare vs. Hiku Le’o (pro debut for the 6-foot-9, 280 pound son of Haku)
Hirooki Goto vs. Paul Sayres
King Haku & Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa vs. Nasty Nate & Juice Robinson & Hooligan Marcus Kool
Bobby Fish vs. David Finlay vs. Kushida for ROH TV title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Dalton Castle
Jay White vs R.J. Brewer
Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Baretta vs. Kenny Omega & Young Bucks
SATURDAY: UFC 205 FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IN NEW YORK
Fight Pass at 7 p.m. Eastern
Liz Carmouche vs. Kaitlyn Chookagian
Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller
FS 1 at 8 p.m.
Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal
Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson
Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
PPV at 10 p.m.
Miesha Tate vs. Raquel Pennington
Donald Cerrone vs Kelvin Gastelum
Chris Weidman vs. Yoel Romero
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz for strawweight title
Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson for welterweight title
Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor for lightweight title
SATURDAY: EVOLVE FROM QUEENS, NY AT 7 P.M.
Tommy End vs. Tony Nese (dark match)
Darby Allin vs. Chris Dickinson
Fred Yehi vs. Jason Kincaid
Chris Hero vs. Tracy Williams
Dustin vs. Matt Riddle
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ethan Page
Timothy Thatcher vs. Drew Gulak for Evolve title
Sunday
We’re looking for reports on the Smackdown crew show in Bilbao, Spain.
SUNDAY: EVOLVE FROM JOPPA, MD
Tommy End vs. Tracy Williams (dark match)
Ethan Page vs. Chris Dickinson
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Thatcher/Gulak loser from Saturday
Chris Hero vs. Matt Riddle
Thatcher/Gulak winner defends Evolve title against Tony Nese
Next Week
Monday’s Raw in Buffalo will be the go-home Raw for Survivor Series, eaturing guest appearances by Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman and Bill Goldberg as well as appearances by Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan to build the Raw vs. Smackdown series of events.
Smackdown will be on Tuesday from Wilkes-Barre, PA, for the 900th episode of the show, which will include the return of The Undertaker and the Cutting Edge interview segment with Edge.
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 11/7/16; California wrestling regulation in 1978
In 1977, Roy Shire’s northern California territory was doing its best business of the entire decade, but it wasn’t offering the usual Roy Shire style of booking with Roy Shire style workers (smaller big bumping blond heel on top) on top. Needing a break and new ideas, he brought in Bob Roop as the booker, who brought in Kevin Sullivan with him… click here to continue.
WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: Nov 14, 2016; Donald Trump elected President, massive UFC 205 preview
After a year with plenty of cute pro wrestling metaphors about the presidential election, Donald Trump, who among his many forays into the entertainment world included drawing the largest PPV number in pro wrestling history and being in the WWE Hall of Fame, is the new President of the United States. That’s a position often referred to as the most powerful leader in the free world… click here to continue.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected]. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.
WON BACK ISSUE: October 18, 1999; Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Death of Gorilla Monsoon, Droz paralyzed, more – Bob “Gino” Marella, who under the classic ring name Gorilla Monsoon was a fixture in the pro wrestling world for four decades, passed away officially at about 6:15 a.m. on 10/6 at his home in Mooresville, NJ at the age of 62… click here to continue.
Thursday News Update
Dana White tried to put on a happy face saying that things are great and it doesn’t bother him. Eddie Alvarez walked off because McGregor wasn’t there. McGregor showed up and said he showed up late because he doesn’t give a f***. Alvarez came back and handed McGregor a chair. McGregor picked up the chair like he was going to hit Alvarez, and White bearhugged McGregor from behind and pulled him away.
McGregor had his charisma but wasn’t at his best, although he said Alvarez was too easy to hit and would butcher his face. McGregor has been saying he’s got a big announcement for after the show, and people were prodding him to say it. Finally, after McGregor insulted Alvarez’s family and didn’t apologize, Alvarez said that McGregor was expecting two children and his girlfriend isn’t having twins, telling people to do the math.
On the Smackdown side, Daniel Bryan is on the tour along with James Ellsworth. They have been getting involved in the A.J. Styles vs. Dean Ambrose main event, although I expect Bryan to fly home before the end of the tour because he has to be on Monday’s Raw in Buffalo, NY.
WWE sent a crew with Undertaker to capture the meeting. James, at first, said that he didn’t know they were there, but when he got the word, he didn’t meet with him. The story was that Cavs PR officials told him Undertaker wanted to meet him and James said he had no interest. The story said James has a rule that he’s very much against people trying to gain publicity through him, and has no interest in PR stunts that don’t benefit him. Undertaker was invited to the game by the Cavs.
The show has been changed, and Bobby Fish will defend the ROH TV title in a three-way match against Kushida and David Finlay. O’Reilly stated that he would be unable to travel for an undetermined length of time and ROH has shows next week in the U.K.
WWE
For the impending TakeOver show in Toronto, Paul Ellering will be hung above the ring in a shark cage for the Authors of Pain vs. TM 61 Dusty Rhodes Classic final, Evidently, somebody watched a tape of the Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer match from 33 years ago where they put Ellering in a shark cage above the ring, and decided to do it again.
Here’s a story on WWE not mentioning Donald Trump publicly.
Here’s a very simplistic story on Vince McMahon taking over the territories.
WrestleMania travel packages are available through Tuesday at 9 AM, while individual tickets go on sale on 11/17.
Paul Levesque’s TakeOver press conference will be tomorrow instead of next week. We’ll have the audio and recap on the site.
WWE returns to Columbus, GA on 1/6 with the Raw crew. Get tickets now using presale code WWELIVE.
WWE is heading back to New Orleans for the 1/9 Raw. Get tickets now using presale code SMOOTH.
The University of Central Florida, in Orlando, has NXT Night on 11/14 at the CFE Arena with the basketball team’s home opener. Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka and The Revel will be there doing a meet and greet.
USA Today has a story on Corey Graves.
UFC
Tickets for the UFC PPV on 1/21 at the Honda Center in Anaheim will go on sale on 12/2. UFC and Bellator are going head-to-head on that night with Bellator at the Forum in Los Angeles headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen.
Here’s a really great story on Dave Sholler, who is leaving the UFC after this weekend to take on an executive role with the Philadelphia 76ers.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Justice Department filed a 57-page antitrust lawsuit against DirecTV alleging that they conspired with other pay TV operators against picking up SportsNet LA. The claim is that Dan York, an executive with DirecTV, shared information and conspired with Cox and Charter Communications to reach an agreement that none of them would carry the station and if they did, they’d keep each other informed of any changes.
York would be known to some wrestling fans as the guy who was in charge of PPV revenue distribution when ECW was going out of business and Paul Heyman had claimed held back and slowed down on sending revenue which was one of the contributing causes of the promotion going out of business.
Evolve put up a mini-doc: the Art Of The Submission.
Dreamwave Wrestling announced today that they are closing down after a farewell show on 12/3. Owner Jay Repsel said he made the decision last December that 2016 would be his final year dong the promotion. He said he had informed the key talent a few months ago. The AAW will pick up the schedule of dates at the Knights of Columbus Hall in LaSalle, IL, which was the promotion’s home base.
Low Ki & Homicide vs. The Hit Squad in a cage match headlines the Saturday night Jersey All Pro Wrestling 20th anniversary show in Rahway, NJ at the Rec Center.
Kevin Eck writes about Sean Studd, the son of Big John Studd, who works for MCW.
NWL St. Louis announced the signing of Jake Dirden, who will go by the name Jack Foster in their promotion.
Upstate Pro Wrestling on Saturday night in Rochester, NY at the eagles Club featuring Abyss, Cheech, Dick Justice and more.
Dynamo Pro Wrestling will be part of a Toys for Tots campaign in St. Louis looking for donations at its show on 11/19 in Wood River, IL at the Douglas Club and 11/26 in St. Louis at the Ready Room.
The National Fighting Championships announced that only 40 tickets are left for its show tomorrow night at Center Stage in Atlanta. Robert Neal vs. Bolo is the main event.
Orlando Pro Wrestling from last night in Orlando: CT Brown b Faris Sibai, Rex Bacchus b Robert Von Achen, Slade Porter b Axx Clover, Chasyn Rance b Mila Naniki, Josh Hess b Rey Xion, Aaron Epic & Kaci Lennox b Chico Adams & Reagan Fire. Next show is 11/23 with Seth Petruzelli.
All Pro Wrestling tomorrow night in Pacifica, CA at the Ingrid B Lacy PTO has Cody Rhodes vs. Joey Ryan and Jeff Cobb vs. MVP. The show will air for $9.99.
MCW runs Friday night in Waldorf, MD at the Unique Sports Academy and Saturday night in Frederick, MD at the Indoor Sports Center. There will be a Kevin Nash meet and greet on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday will have a meet and greet with Nash and Lio Rush.
The Fight Network will be airing the ONE show starting tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m Eastern time from Singapore. Shinya Aoki defends the lightweight title agianst Eduard Folayang of The Philippines and featherweight champion Marat Gafurov defends against Narantungalag Jadambaa.
The Fight Network will also air the UFC 205 weigh-ins in Canada at 6 p.m. tomorrow, and have a two-hour pre-game show at 6 p.m. tomorow and a post-game show after the PPV concludes.
TODAY IN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING HISTORY: WCW Clash of the Champions XXV
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