Daily Update: All Out, NXT TakeOver spoilers, Gedo rumor killer

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We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE show in Winnipeg to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

BELLATOR’S BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR TONIGHT IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN ON DAZN

Top prelim bouts starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time

  • Rena Kubota (111.2) vs. Lindsay VanZandt (111.4)
  • Robson Gracie Jr. (168.6) vs. Oscar Vera (168.8)
  • Valerie Loureda (125) vs. Larkyn Dasch (125.8)
  • Heather Hardy (127.8) vs. Taylor Turner (127.8)
  • Aaron Pico (145.4) vs. Adam Borics (145.4)

Main card: at 10 p.m. Eastern time

  • Darrion Caldwell (134.6) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (134.4) for Bellator bantamweight title
  • Eduardo Dantas (145.6) vs. Juan Archuleta (145.8)
  • Ricky Bandejas (136) vs. Patrick Mix (135.6)
  • Dillon Danis (175) vs. Max Humphrey (174.4)
  • Lyoto Machida (204.4) vs. Chael Sonnen (205.6)
  • Rory MacDonald (169.4) vs. Neiman Gracie (169.8) for welterweight title

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS TV

  • Shingo Takagi vs. Satoshi Kojima
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White & Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori
  • Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino
  • Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay for IWGP jr. title
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Chris Jericho for IWGP heavyweight title

CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO IN MEXICO CITY TONIGHT AT 9:30 P.M. ON THE CMLL FACEBOOK PAGE AND AFTER THE EVENT ON YOUTUBE

  • Triton & Esfinge & Rey Cometa vs. Polvora & Kawato San & Tiger
  • Valiente & Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr. vs. Cuatrero & Sanson & El Hijo de Villano III
  • Euforia vs. Rey Bucanero
  • Austin Theory & Caristico & Volador Jr. vs. Rush & Negro Casas & Cavernario
  • Block B in the Copa Dinastias tournament with Mistico & Dragon Lee, Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero, Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja and Mascara Ano 2000 & Sanson

IMPACT AT 10 P.M. ON PURSUIT TV IF SOMEBODY AT THE STATION IS AWAKE

  • Willie Mack vs. Michael Elgin
  • Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Ethan Page & Josh Alexander
  • Havok vs. Marsha Slamovich
  • Madison Rayne vs. Jordynne Grace 

We’re looking for reports Saturday from the Raw show in Anaheim, CA and Smackdown show in Denver to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

MLW AT 9 P.M. EASTERN ON BEINSPORTS

  • Sami Callihan vs. Mance Warner

NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL IN TOKYO AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN ON SUNDAY ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Tomoaki Honma & Ren Narita vs. Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Douki
  • Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Jado
  • Kota Ibushi & Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Shota Umino vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Sanada & Shingo Takagi & Bushi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi & Toa Henare vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer
  • Sho & Yoh vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori for IWGP jr. tag titles

Sunday has WWE with a Raw house show in San Diego and a Smackdown house show in Salt Lake City.

AAA VERANO DE ESCANDALO SUNDAY FROM THE POLIFORUM ZAMINA IN MERIDA ON THE AAA TWITCH CHANNEL

  • Lady Shani vs. Keyra vs. Chik Tormenta for the Reina de Reinas title
  • Faby Apache vs. El Hijo del Tirantes
  • Mamba & Maximo vs. Australian Suicide & Sammy Guevera
  • Laredo Kid & Taya Valkyrie vs. Daga & Tessa Blanchard
  • Aerostar & Pagano & Puma King vs. Chessman & Killer Kross & Monsther Clown
  • La Parka & El Hijo del Vikingo & Myzteziz Jr. vs. La Hiedra & Rey Escorpion & El Texano Jr.
  • Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix for AAA tag titles
  • Blue Demon Jr. & Black Taurus vs. Psycho Clown & Dr. Wagner Jr.

NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL IN TOKYO AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN MONDAY ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
  • Yuji Nagata & Shota Umino vs. Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare
  • Kota Ibushi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Sanada & Shingo Takagi & Bushi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls & Ren Narita vs. Jay White & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori
  • Togi Makabe & Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. El Phantasmo & Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi for Never six man titles
  • Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii& Yoshi-Hashi & Sho & Yoh vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer & Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in an elimination match

Raw will be Monday from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. There is no Smackdown house show on Monday night.

Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Ontario, CA.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: WWE’s Super Showdown embarrassment 

The ending of Super ShowDown brought a scary end to what was an embarrassing night for WWE.

Goldberg vs. The Undertaker reinforced the amount of risk that exists when you put two 50-year-old wrestlers against each other. The match was laid out exactly as it should have been and was on its way to being good, but things fell apart when Goldberg got knocked out.

Goldberg (who already had a mark on his forehead going into the match) got busted open when he went for a spear into the corner and rammed his head into the post less than three minutes in. From there, things only got worse.

WON NEWSLETTER: June 17, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Scary incidents in the ring, NJPW Dominion review

A look at Undertaker vs. Goldberg, Naito vs. Ibushi and why referees and doctors need to be stopping matches when talent is legitimately hurt is the lead story in the new issue of the Observer.  Look at how small independents are ahead of the game when it comes to precautionary measures involving talent this past week.

Read complete coverage of New Japan Dominion, WWE Super Showdown and UFC 238, with business notes, poll results, match-by-match coverage and star ratings for the pro wrestling shows.

Look at the injury situation and risks, look back at the Undertaker vs. Mick Foley Hell in a Cell match and what resulted from that, and the heyday of All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Look at what happened with the attempt to put on a women’s match in Saudi Arabia, the silliness of TV coverage in the past and not allowing women to wrestle there, and more behind the scenes at the show.

Also look at the upcoming G-1 Climax tournament and who to expect to be in it, TV coverage in the U.S. expanding, the newcomers to G-1, who is out from last year, the new Super J Cup tournament, a history of the Super J Cup, G-1 announcement plans and New Japan going to Australia.

Look at a wrestling television show being voted on for a nomination for a major award, John Cena’s future, FS 1 talk show on wrestling, HHH working in Japan and latest cards, and a Sasha Banks update.

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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Not sure of the weekend schedule but Garrett Gonzalez and I will be doing a show on business sometime in the next 24 hours and Bryan and I will be doing a weekend show. The biggest weekend shows are Bellator tonight and Verano de Escandalo on Sunday. Verano de Escandalo tickets are almost sold and that is very rare for a show in Mexico because most tickets are still bought day of.

The final number of those who were in the queque and tried to get tickets for All Out on 8/31 in Chicago, the next AEW PPV show, was 72,500 after about 30 minutes, and that is verified as they actually gave people their number in line. Keep in mind a few things about that stat. Some people logged in multiple times. Some of those people were fake. And those who ordered tickets probably averaged at roughly three tickets per order. Based on how quick it took to sell out, how many went through, which factors in multiples and fakes, the actual number of tickets that would have been sold would be just over 130,000.  That ticket demand first 30 minutes beat any WrestleMania in history and would be the highest for any pro wrestling show I’ve ever heard of. The only show higher would have been the first time UFC went to Rio when the ticket demand was legit 250,000 for a 16,000 seat arena. Obviously they way undershot in booking the Sears Center and these numbers are both insane and telling. Stubhub had 893 tickets on sale the last time I checked. With most prices going at 4x ticket value, there will be more put up as they are moving and people are putting more up just because of the markup. The secondary market was on fire today as well.

We do have tickets for Bryan and my show in Chicago but all combined show and tickets sold out in like a minute.

The story going around about Gedo being out as New Japan booker is false. No idea where it came from but New Japan has denied it, and Gedo has told friends he has no idea where it came from.

Takeover Toronto will have:

  • Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT title
  • Velveteen Dream vs. Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong for the North American title
  • Shayna Baszler vs. Mia Yim for the women’s title
  • Street Profits vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for the tag titles
  • Finals of the Breakout tournament

WWE

  • Becky Lynch is not listed on tonight’s Raw show in Winnipeg but is listed for Anaheim and San Diego. Charlotte Flair is listed as being back on the road tomorrow in Denver for the Smackdown tour. No word on Andrade but he is not being advertised. Lars Sullivan is off with an injury.
  • Ric Flair and Ron Simmons were being interviewed today for an A&E documentary on Booker T according to Mike Johnson.
  • An interview with Seth Rollins.
  • A story on A.J. Kirsch setting up Becky Lynch meeting a fan whose home was destroyed in one of the many Northern California fires.
  • Finn Balor will be signing at Eternal Con at NYCB Live on 6/22.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Willie Williams, a karate expert who had a legendary match with Antonio Inoki on February 27, 1980 for the old WWF World Martial arts championship (I’ll tell the story of it, but it is one of the most famous matches in Japan of that generation), passed away last week at the age of 68. The match is fascinating to watch now, very intense, realistic but not real, but tensions were very high like you would rarely see. Nobody would do the job. In Japan in 2003 it was listed as the greatest martial arts fight of the 20th century. The legend of that match was such that in 1992 Akira Maeda brought Williams back to be one of the big stars in RINGS. His matches there were pro wrestling matches but he is listed as having a 9-4 MMA record. He actually did do one MMA fight but it was when he was about 45 years old. Inoki vs. Williams finally had their rematch at the Tokyo Dome in 1997 and he also wrestled for FMW. This wasn’t as famous as Inoki’s match with Muhammad Ali or Willem Ruska, but was more famous that his supposed (not real) fights with Andre the Giant, the later Ruska match, Chuck Wepner, Leon Spinks, Allen Coage, Shota Chochoshvili and others.
  • Steve Austin will return to podcasting on 6/18 with a show with Tony Khan as his guest.
  • The G-1 tournament blocks will be announced early Sunday morning during the broadcast of the Korakuen Hall shows. The main events for every show on the tour will be announced early Monday morning.
  • FITE TV has announced it is broadcasting Fyter Fest on 6/29 for iPPV outside the U.S. (B/R Live), the U.K. and Ireland. No word yet on the U.K. but the fact it was specifically excluded would indicate a deal being worked on.
  • Daga won’t be used going forward by MLW. The promotion said that he pulled himself off the 6/1 show in Milwaukee saying he was going on vacation, only for them to find out he was wrestling in Mexico. He was then pulled from future bookings.
  • Slam Wrestling in Rauma, Finland on 6/29 has Sadie Gibbs vs. Meiko Satomura vs. Ivelisse in the main event, plus Tajiri vs. Starbuck, Shanne vs. Natalia Markova vs. Betty Rose and more.
  • Former wrestlers Jon Stewart and Cue Ball Carmichael have inked a developmental deal on a reality show called “The Graveyard Shift,” about murder and crimes committed after hours in the U.S. Adam Wilkenfeld (“Saw Dogs”) is the producer.
  • Ross & Marshall Von Erich have been announced for the 7/25 MLW tapings in New York at the Melrose Ballroom.
  • NSPW sold all of its 548 available tickets for its 11th anniversary show on 10/5 in Quebec City at the new Le Diamant. Le Diamant is partly the brainchild of Robert Lepage, an actor, playwright, stage director and award winning film director who is a part of Quebec’s entertainment landscape. Shawn Spears vs. Matt Angel will headline.
  • The Hannibal TV’s nearly 3 hour interview with UFC Hall of Famer and former New Japan Pro Wrestling Star Mark “The Hammer” Coleman is now posted free.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: The Steiners win WWF Tag Team titles

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