Daily Update: Smackdown moving to USA, Will Brooks jumped by Pitbull Brothers

WWE announced today that Smackdown debuts on the USA Network on January 7th — Thursday.  There was no mention of the show being live, no mention of Tuesdays, only that the show will debut on Thursday and air on Thursday every week.

Speaking of WWE Smackdown here are the spoilers.
For subscribers, we’ll have a new Figure Four Daily with Lance Storm up this afternoon, plus a new Wrestling Observer Radio tonight which will include Matt Farmer joining Dave and Bryan in the first hour to talk more Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame candidates.

We’re looking for reports on these weekend show at Dave Meltzer

*GFW in King’s Lynn, UK on Friday

*NXT on Friday in Gainesville, FL

*WWE on Saturday night in Billings, MT

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Figure Four Weekly:

Figure Four Weekly (10/2/15): WWE 2K16 Review
2K Sports and Yuke’s turn around WWE video game series with a reinvigorated title boasting huge roster.

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Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Check out the latest issue:  Wrestling Observer Newsletter October 26, 2015: Raw ratings woes continue, More Eric Bischoff notes

The lead story is how the Alberto Del Rio deal went down, with full details, including financials that even blew away those in WWE and those who used to negotiate these deals.  We look at how in demand he was, including by organizations you wouldn’t even know, an angle he shot for MMA that was kept secret and will never probably see the light of day on television, and how this affects AAA, where he is their world champion.

We look at the ramifications of this on WWE, AAA, how the deal was put together, how he positioned it to AAA, how AAA has taken a huge talent hit, when the deal was really put together, how Del Rio was scheduled to main event AAA’s next major show against what top U.S. star in a hair match, and his dates advertised in Mexico.  We look at other promotions that wanted him, Konnan talking about how the Myzteziz and Del Rio situation affects AAA, the Zeb Colter deal, how Lucha Underground and Del Rio fell apart as well as his huge money MMA offer just recently.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

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CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Based on feedback, demand for WrestleMania tickets appears to be substantial already.
  • From former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham on his Facebook page: “Hello Facebook fans around the world. I am thrilled to report to all of you that Triple H, via a telephone conversation, has offered to give me an official WWE Legends contract. I of course said yes, and thank you very much! I have received that contract, and signed and mailed it back to the WWE. So I am officially back in the WWE family, proving that miracles still happen !! I did go to the Smackdown show held here in Phoenix on October 27th, as some had reported on the internet. I met with WWE Talent Relations executive Mark Carrano to go over various opportunities for me in the future. Mark Carrano is a real class act and gentleman and was very encouraging on the future release of my WWE merchandise sometime after the first of the year, along with attending WrestleMaina 32 in Dallas as part of the meet and greet fan access festivities. So, I want to thank Triple H and Mark Carrano for making this exciting event happen for me. I am officially back home in the family of the WWE where I belong !!!!”
  • WWE’s latest European tour kicks off today with 20 shows (split crews) over the next 11 days.
  • For those wondering what Daniel Bryan has been up to lately, he was the frontman for a WWE press conference announcing the company’s return to India on January 15th and 16th, 2016.  John Cena, Sheamus, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Ryback and the Big Show were all listed as performing.
  • And whatever John Cena is doing during his time off, it’s not resting up his body.  A photo just got posted on the Hard Knocks South gym Twitter of him squatting 611 pounds, a personal record, down below parallel.
  • Tatanka announced on Twitter that he had signed a WWE Legend’s deal.
  • Without giving away spoilers, yes, Alberto del Rio’s first big feud appears to be with Jack Swagger.
  • Games Radar is the latest major site to publish their WWE 2K16 review. Like most reviews, including ours in the new Figure Four Weekly, they had positive things to say about how well it evolves the series. You can order the game here.

UFC/MMA

  • Jon Jones noted that he’s in a strength-building phase and is up to 226 pounds right now.  He is not fat, so that just means he’ll have a little harder weight cut to get down to 205.  He said there is a method to the madness and he understands many factors go into becoming the best martial artist you can be.  
  • Jones also landed his first sponsor, GAT, since the whole hit-and-run-and-flee legal issue went down.
  • Dan Henderson, who fights in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC, returned to his hotel room in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the other night only to find a drunken man had stumbled into his hotel room (apparently they didn’t shut the door all the way and so it didn’t lock) and was passed out on his couch.  The good news is, the guy was just sleeping, so it was much less messy than when the drunk girl stumbled into Urijah Faber’s house a month or so ago. And yes, like with Faber, there’s video.
  • Fight Night 78 in Mexico has a new main event as Neil Magny stepped in to face Kelvin Gastelum. Magny had a 7 fight win streak snapped in August by Demian Maia and rebounded to beat Erick Silva later that month in Saskatoon. This will be his fifth fight in 2015 and his 11th fight in the last 24 months.
  • Friday’s Bellator show started a couple of days early apparently as Bellator fighter and current Lightweight champion Will Brooks, was beaten up in a hotel by fellow Bellator fighters, Patricky and Patricio Freire, also known as the “Pitbull” brothers.  
  • Jon Nash of Bloody Elbow talks to  Jon Fitch, Nate Quarry, Ryan Jimmo, and Brandon Vera about the MMA Fighters Association.

Other Wrestling

  • Lucha Underground began preliminary shooting for the next season yesterday.  Actual wrestling taping starts in a couple of weeks.
  • The New York Observer has an editorial on the ruling allowing Hulk Hogan to hire a forensic examiner to search Gawker’s computers, phones, tablets, cloud storage, etc. for proof that they leaked his racist comments to The National Enquirer. This is a really important story, so it’s worth reading their take, though the editors get some of the basic facts wrong, surprisingly.
  • Roderick Strong appears to be headed to Veracruz, Mexico on Saturday to work a show replacing Alberto Del Rio in the main event.  It’s looking more and more likely that Del Rio will ever return to Mexico to drop the AAA Mega title.
  • From Evolve: So Cal Val has removed herself from this Friday’s event in Ybor City. However, she will still be in the corner of The Premier Athlete Brand this Saturday in Orlando.
  • Two more matches have been signed for EVOLVE this Friday. Lio Rush, who was added to this weekend after his performance in the last WWN Seminar/Tryout, will now wrestle the debuting Fred Yehi. EVOLVE officials consider Yehi one of the top prospects in the South. A technical match up will have Tracy Williams vs. Martin Stone.
  • Today’s new update for NWAClassics.com subscribers is Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog) vs. Mr. Wrestling II. Other recent additions include Al Perez vs. Hacksaw Higgins, The Fantastics vs. Dutch Mantell & Tom Prichard, Junkyard Dog vs. Masao Ito, Black Gordman & Gran Goliath vs. Jose Lothario & Buddy Moreno, Kamala vs. Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan in a Texas Street Fight, and Butch Reed vs. The Junkyard Dog for the North American Championship.
  • The Christian Post and The New York Post have picked up Taryn Terrell’s comments about how pro wrestling led her to sin.
  • Mick Foley wants Lucha Underground to hire Trina Michaels.
  • There is a preview for the next two House of Hardcore events up here.
  • ICW, one of the biggest independent groups in Europe, announced an 8-date 2016 tour in the spring. They’re making their debuts in the Wales, Northern Ireland and The Republic Of Ireland (Dublin) markets.  Thanks to Allan.

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