Daily Update: King of Pro Wrestling, GGG vs. Alvarez, UFC notes
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THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
Bobby Heenan passes away at 73 years old
UFC Fight Night 116 live results: Luke Rockhold vs. David Branch
CMLL 84th Aniversario live results: Mask match doubleheader
WWE Brisbane, Australia, live results: Reigns vs. Strowman
AUDIO
DragonKing Dark: Halloween is coming! 9/17
WOR: UFC, CMLL, New Japan, Raw and Smackdown and more! 9/17
DR. KEITH PRESENTS: Open the Praise Gate!!! 9/16
JNPO Classic: How I helped Jorge Rivera charge his iPhone 9/16
We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Shenzhen, China to [email protected].
We’re also doing polls on the NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima show and the CMLL Anniversary show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].
Raw will be Monday night in San Jose at the SAP Center. As of right now, neither Brock Lesnar nor John Cena are scheduled for the show, which features Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax. Very much unlike usual protocol to have two of the PPV main eventers not scheduled for the go-home Raw for No Mercy.
SmackDown and 205 Live are taped Tuesday night in Oakland. A.J. Styles vs. Baron Corbin for the U.S. title is scheduled for the show.
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 9/11/2017: Is the WWE main roster ready for Asuka?
With her vacating the NXT Women’s Championship and the storyline of both brands negotiating for her to join them, it appears that it won’t be very long until Asuka arrives on the main roster. That segment with her relinquishing the title aired on NXT TV last week, with there having been no announcement of how the next champion will be decided. But whoever it is, whether it’s someone currently in NXT or one of the Mae Young Classic finalists, they’ll have a difficult time living up to the standard that Asuka set.
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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: September 18, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Vince McMahon returns to TV, Mae Young Classic finals, more
The return of Vince McMahon for an angle with Kevin Owens and the copying of the Okada-Shibata spot is the lead in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. This issue has a run through of the next few WWE PPV shows.
Look at the mechanics behind it, the double standard involved and the WWE’s attempt to heat up the product as football season starts.
Read a full rundown of the Mae Young Classic finals including thoughts on all 32 competitors, who has signed, who is likely to be signed, and who isn’t likely to be signed. Plus, look at business notes on the tournament, both on where the shows stood in WWE Network ratings and public interest as compared with the early weeks of the cruiserweight classic, as well as some very interesting notes about what caused the peaks of interest.
This issues has an update on the condition of Big Show, why Asuka is going to Raw, WWE headed to India, Mick Foley’s knee replacement, Foley’s next book, Ric Fair’s next book, return of injured wrestler, market value of WWE, plus notes on the weekend NXT shows and the first show of the Raw overseas tour.
Coverage of UFC 215, what happened to Ray Borg, the judging of Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko, what Shevchenko did wrong, how close a fight it really was, plus business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage with poll results.
Check out New Japan’s first big show since G-1 ended, the Destruction in Fukushima, and what went wrong, why it went wrong and the main event booking, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Details on the ratings for all the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows, plus results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.
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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: August 21, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Steve Austin to return, WCW Thunder canceled, more
Steve Austin this past week received medical clearance from Dr. Lloyd Youngblood to return to active wrestling in eight weeks, most likely at the October PPV. Austin, who had been on the sidelines since November and had neck surgery in January that put his career in jeopardy, got what was regarded as a cautious okay after exams on his neck on 8/10 and on his knees on 8/12. After the neck exam, Youngblood suggested he stay out another two months to be on the safe side.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
(Editor’s note: Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez will be doing a radio show on Bobby Heenan later tonight. Bryan and Vinny will also be reviewing Prime Time Wrestling on their show.)
Our weekend show covering the four big events yesterday (Golovkin vs. Alvarez, NJPW Hiroshima, UFC Pittsburgh and CMLL Anniversary show) is up on the site.
Even though there were media reports that John Cena and Randy Orton were at the Golovkin vs. Alvarez fight last night, both actually worked the WWE show in China yesterday. They were on the comp list. Vince and Shane McMahon were also on the comp list and there were reports that Vince was there, with the note that both Vince McMahon and Dana White were at the event, even though UFC had an event of its own in Pittsburgh.
As far as interest level stuff, earlier today Luke Rockhold was the fourth most searched for term on Google for the day, although with the NFL, it’s now down to No. 17 with 20,000 searches. There were three million searches related to Gennady Golvokin vs. Canelo Alvarez, and was the most searched for item on both Friday and Saturday. For a comparison, the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier UFC had 2.8 million and the Mayweather vs. McGregor had more than 10 million.
Mauricio Shogun Rua is off Friday’s UFC show in Saitama, Japan, due to a knee injury. The new main event has Ovince Saint Preux facing the returning Yushin Okami.
Two new matches confirmed for the 10/9 King of Pro Wrestling show are Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi for the IC title and Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Roppongi 3000.
GFW will be announcing tomorrow the location for Bound for Glory, and likely the TV tapings after BFG. It’ll be 11/5 for the show plus several days of tapings. It is expected it will be from a location in Ontario, Canada.
WWE
Kofi Kingston, who was limping and needed help after his match on the Hawaii show earlier in the week, as noted by WWE, worked the shows after in Japan and China.
Paul Heyman was on the New York Yankees pre-game show last night on WPIX in New York. Scott Stanford, who does the show, and also works for WWE, invited him on for a trivia contest regarding nicknames of Yankees.
Nikki Bella starts on Dancing with the Stars tomorrow night.
There is a WWE 24 documentary in the works covering Bill Goldberg’s comeback from last year and earlier this year.
WWE is advertising for a Raw show on Saturday night, the night before the PPV, in Fresno at the Save Mart Center. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman and John Cena vs. Samoa Joe has been advertised, although obviously the Cena mach will have to be changed with Joe being injured.
Gary Wadler, a doctor who was the govenment’s medical witness in both the Dr. George Zahorian and Vince McMahon trials has passed away. (thanks to Chris Cruise)
UFC
Luke Rockhold after his win over David Branch last night pushed the idea that GSP should step aside and let him challenge for the title against Michael Bisping.
UFC last night announced its first event ever in Fresno, a Fight Night on 2/9 at the Save Mart Center Arena at Fresno State. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
MISCELLANEOUS
The wrestler Saree from Seadling in Japan has announced she is leaving the promotion. A lot of the hardcore fans in Japan believe she’s going to WWE, but she’s actually headed back to the Diana promotion that features Kyoko Inoue, Jaguar Yokota and Kaoru Ito. The story is that sometime back Saree wanted to leave Diana, but due to contract issues, and that Seadling and Diana had the same financial backer, she could only go to Seadling. But apparently she was bullied in that promotion so she wanted out, and was told she could leave, but only to go back to Diana. It’s not even a contract issue since her deal just ended last month, but it’s just a Japanese peer group pressure type of thing. Where the WWE rumors came from is William Regal was at a Seadling show scouting. The Seadline show she is expected to return on will be tomorrow.
Speaking of Japanese women wrestlers, Hall of Famer Bull Nakano will be a coach along with Madusa and Cheerleader Melissa at the World Class Developmental Seminar as part of the Rise 6 show on 12/1 in South Gate, CA. Nakano and Madusa, who once wrestled for the WWF title before 32,000 fans on an AJW show at the Tokyo Dome, will do a seminar together and a Meet and Greet. The Stardom promotion will also scout foreigners, as with Shimmer prouder Dave Prazak and Allison Danger. On that night, Stardom’s Kris Wolf will face Shotzi Blackheaert, the Rise champion.
Floyd Mayweather did an interview already causing a lot of controversy. He got on the topic of Donald Trump and said people thought he was cool once, but now they hate him. He also said Trump’s comments about women’s looks and the hints that Trump would like to grope women are how “real men” talk and he can relate to Trump on that level.
MLW video to promote the upcoming Ricochet vs. Shane Strickland match in Orlando.
Jason Kincaid has been added to welterweight wrestling on iPPV on 10/22. Also in that tournament is Sonny Kiss, Nate Wings, Gory, Atticus Cooper and Alex Jordan. The event will air live on FITE TV from Turner’s Hall in Cleveland.
Jack Swagger and Cody Hall worked against each other over the weekend for the WAW promotion, which is Ricky Knight’s company. Shawn Daivari and the Knight Brothers also worked on the shows.
Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling from last night in East Carondelet, IL before a well below usual crowd of 200 fans: Big Texan b Purple Passion & Keith Smith Jr., Ax & Troll b Sean Vincent & Moondog rover, Bobby D & Jimmy D b Curtis Wylder & Dave Vaughn, Heath Hatton DCOR Cowboy Mark Houston, Johnny Blade b Waco, Ken Kasa & Flash Flanagan b Chris Hargis & Superstar Steve Fender. Larry Matysik said the main event was a **** match going 18:00 and said it was one of the best matches the promotion has had.
Style Battle tonight at the Gulf View Event Center in Port Richey, FL. It will feature a one-night eight-man tournament with first round matches of Kai Katana vs. Darby Allin, Leon Ruff vs. Matt Palmer, Saieve Al Sabah vs. Nathan Cruz and Ethan Case vs. AR Fox, plus Priscilla Kelly defends the Shine Nova title against Candy Cartwright.
Ultimate Championship Wrestling from last night in Bay City, MI: Bry Sullivan b John E Bravo, Chuck Wagon b Ridiculoso, Ingrid Isley b Bearded Lady, Soultaker b Sean Lawhorne, A-1 & Jon Bolen b The Eh Team, Brooklyn Brawler (managed by Jimmy Hart) b Kef Sweat, Sheldon Jean won three-way over Petey Williams and El Reverso. (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Kid Lykos suffered a broken wrist on yesterday’s Good Wrestling show in Milton Keynes, England. He was in the main event of the show teaming with Chris Brookes to defend the CZW tag titles against Mike Bird & Wild Boar. He took a bump and left the match. He was then taken to a hospital. (thanks to Ian Hamilton)
CWA Wrestle Raise II in Hot Springs, AR before 715 fans: Roosevelt b Jakob Edwinn, Johnny Morton b Morgan Williams, Chavo Guerrero Jr. b Barrett Brown via DQ in an NWA jr. title match, OMGs b Genetic Perfection, Matt Riviera b Americos, Tim Storm b Jerry Lawler to keep the NWA title. The show raised $5,349 for Abby McKenzie, who has Pl3K delta syndrome 2, a non-curable disease. Lawler was given an award at the show by Ken Henderson, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. (thanks to Matt Duffield)
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