Daily Update: Archie Gouldie dead at 78, AJ Styles to WWE at Royal Rumble?
Archie “The Mongolian Stomper” Gouldie Dead at 78
Stemming from complications after a hip replacement surgery from which he never recovered, Archie Gouldie passed away at about noon today. Gouldie was a big time star in Canada and various Southeastern promotions, where he worked as a big man / monster heel character. Bryan and Dave have a breaking audio update on this story, and on AJ Styles dealing with TNA as he’s headed to WWE here.
Today’s ROH show in Duluth, GA is still on as of this writing.
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For this weekend, we’ll be doing polls on all three Fantatstica Mania shows from Korakuen Hall on New Japan World including today’s show at Dave Meltzer
Today, WWE has a house show in Fort Myers, FL with Roman Reigns, Kane, Bray Wyatt, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev, Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and others; ROH in Duluth, GA at the Infinite Energy Center (War Machine vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for ROH tag title, Jay Lethal vs. Matt Jackson for ROH title, Roderick Strong vs. Nick Jackson for TV title, ACH & Matt Sydal & Alex Shelley vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly & Michael Elgin; Rhett Titus & Kenny King vs. Cheeseburger & Moose; Adam Cole vs. Stevie Richards; Adam Page vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Will Ferrara vs. Silas Young vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe vs. Cedric Alexander and Corey Hollis vs. Dalton Castle); Evolve from Orlando as they continue the tag team tournament on iPPV at www.wwnlive.com and there is also a joint GFW & PWS show from Rahway, NJ. We’ll be looking for reports on all these shows at Dave Meltzer
AAA GUERRA DE TITANES TONIGHT IN MEXICO CITY AT JUAN DE LA BARRERA GYM
Nino Hamburguesa & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Gran Apache & Mini Charly Manson & Black Mamba
Fabi Apache & Goya Kong & Lady Maravilla vs. Lady Shani & Sexy Star & Taya in a lumberjack strap mach
Australian Suicide & Jack Evans & ? vs. Daga & Parka Negra & Super Fly
Aero Star & Fenix vs. Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. & Villano IV vs. Averno & Chessman for the No. 1 contender for tag titles
For the vacant trios titles: Electroshock & Garza Jr. & La Parka vs. Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria & Zorro vs. El Hijo del Fantasma & El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Taurus
Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown vs. Mesias & El Texano Jr. – Winning team faces each other in a singles match at Rey de Reyes for the vacant AAA Mega heavyweight title
WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING AT 10 P.M. EASTERN ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK
Chauncey Foxworth vs. Jaleel Willis
Jorge Medina vs. Bryce Mitchell
Teddy Holder vs. Shamil Gamzaov
Luiz Firmino vs. Caros Fodor
NEW JAPAN FANTASTICA MANIA LIVE ON NEW JAPAN WORLD ON LATE TONIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING AT 4:30 A.M. EASTERN AND 1:30 A.M. PACIFIC FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL
The Panther & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
Tiger Mask & Kushida & Fuego & Stuka Jr. & Titan vs. Gedo & Yoshi-Hashi & Bobby Zavala & Okumura & Hechicero
Jushin Liger vs. Virus
Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Dragon Lee & Juice Robinson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Barbaro Cavernario
Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero
Volador Jr. vs Mephisto for NWA welterweight title
Evolve has a 2 p.m. show from the Downtown Rec Center in Orlando with the finals of the tag team title tournament at www.wwnlive.com
ROYAL RUMBLE SUNDAY FROM ORLANDO, FLA.
Royal Rumble match
Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens last man standing for IC title
Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto for U.S. title
New Day vs. Usos for tag team title
Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch for women’s title
Dudleys vs. The Ascension vs. Jack Swagger & Mark Henry vs. Darren Young & Damien Sandow – winners get into the Royal Rumble
Raw is Monday night from Miami. Brock Lesnar is not advertised for Monday’s show but everyone else is scheduled.
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday in Tampa.
Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly 1/18/2016: Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan lawsuit denied
Gawker’s motion to dismiss the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit is denied, plus news and notes
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 25, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2015 Observer Awards Issue
The 2015 Observer awards issue, the traditional biggest issue of the year,is up on the web site now. The issue not only has the awards winners in more than 40 different categories, but all the top place winners, as well as a history with all the awards winners dating back to 1980, as well as my comments on the placings for many of the awards.
The categories are:
Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year), MMA MVP, Most Outstanding Wrestler, Most Outstanding MMA Fighter, Best Box Office Draw, Feud of the Year, Tag Team of the Year, Most Improved, Best on Interviews, Most Charismatic, Best Technical Wrestler, Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler), Best Flying Wrestler, Most Overrated, Most Underrated, Promotion of the Year, Best Weekly TV show, Pro Wrestling Match of the Year, MMA Match of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Best Non-Wrestler, Best Television Announcer, Worst Television Announcer, Best Major Wrestling show, Worst Major Wrestling Show, Best Wrestling Maneuver, Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, Worst Television Show, Worst Match of the Year, Worst Feud of the Year, Worst Promotion of the Year, Best Booker, Promoter of the Year, Best Gimmick, Worst Gimmick, Best Pro Wrestling Book and Best Pro Wrestling DVD
Update on the Royal Rumble and Rumble weekend, full coverage of Dominick Cruz’s UFC bantamweight title win and the records set on Sunday’s show and details on the New Japan/Jim Ross announcing deal as well as a look at how this came about and Jim Ross’ overall career.
2017 WrestleMania, how Smackdown has affected overall ratings for the USA Network, update on A.J. Styles with WWE, WWE injury updates, Daniel Bryan update, more on Mauro Ranallo and Smackdown, Chris Jericho talks his return, new season of Total Divas, How talent is broken down in NXT, the heat on Josh from Tough Enough, new dates for Brock Lesnar, plus notes from the big NXT tour and all the shows, the NXT Florida shows, as well as the WWE shows in India and the WWE weekend domestic shows and all the business notes.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Dec 14, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2 biographies in the works about Jesse Ventura
NBC and ABC working on biographies on Jesse Ventura, a look at the end of year events for New Japan and All Japan, plus tons of news and notes.
SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE
We’ve got a breaking news audio update for members covering both the death of Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie/The Mongolian Stomper and TNA’s statement on the negotiations they claim that AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows backed out of. For what it’s worth, what appears to be the Mongolian Stomper vs. Kevin Sullivan match that Dave talked about seeing live on the show is on YouTube and it’s fantastic.
For subscribers, we are told there is an iOS app called RSSRadio that will allow for members-only podcasting, and unlike Downcast (which is awesome), it is free. Android users have a choice of apps, including BeyondPod and DoubleTwist, but I believe all are paid apps.
WWE
- There are WWE production people who are currently stuck in New York City due to the snowstorm.
- Current odds for the Royal Rumble PPV from fivedimes.com:
IC: Ambrose -230, Owens +170
US: Del Rio -455, Kalisto +315
Divas: Charlotte -190, Lynch +150
Tag: New Day -170, Usos +130
4-Way Tag: Dudleys -120, Henry and Swagger +170, Ascension +500, Young and Sandow +500
Rumble: HHH -150, Reigns +285, Lesnar +360, Wyatt +550, everyone else is beyond +1000 including the Rock, Curtis Axel and D-Von have the longest odds at +20,000
- It may be worth dropping a bill on Reigns in this one, as the finish is always subject to Vince “vincing out,” especially since everyone is now picking Trips. It also makes no sense for Reigns to lay out HHH if he’s not coming back to win it, but you can toss logic out the window on game day.
- Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, who’s friends with Daniel Bryan (Bryan trains Brazillian Jiu Jitsu at The MMA Lab, Henderson’s gym), tweeted this yesterday: “Guess who I heard was back??? #DanielBryan, yeah buddy!!! #FakeWrestlingRealAthletes #Respect” Of course, it’s possible he’s either messing with fans or misread Dave’s report about Bryan’s visit to UCLA doctors like a lot of people.
UFC/MMA
- Ronda Rousey is the guest star on Saturday Night Live tonight. The story is that she is expected to come off very well based on what has been written for her. Many of the writers are casual fans of UFC and so they went out of their way to make her look good on the show. While Holly Holm was in New York City doing media for UFC 197 for the past day or two, she won’t be on the show, as she’s at the Atlanta airport right now, where she bumped into Bill Goldberg.
- Sage Northcutt (7-0) has a new opponent for next weekend’s UFC on FOX show. Andrew Holbrook had to pull out due to injury and stepping in will be Bryan Barbarena (10-3). Barbarena is 1-1 in UFC and most recently lost a decision to Chad Laprise at UFC 186 last April. This will be a main card fight on FOX and should be a showcase fight for the 19 year old budding superstar Northcutt.
- World Series of Fighting has a card tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network with little to no name value.
- There is a show available on GFL.TV today, West Coast Fighting Championships – King of Sacramento, with more star power than some broadcast events. Scott Smith, former Strikeforce main-eventer, is on the card fighting former Bellator fighter Justin Baesman. Christos Giagos and Lewis Gonzalez, who bought fought in UFC in 2015, are also fighting on the show. The main event features Max Griffin (11-2), who tried out for TUF 16 up against David Mitchell (19-5), a 4 fight UFC veteran
- Earlier today in China, Bibiano Fernandes successfully defended his ONE Championships Bantamweight title with a first round submission due to an armbar over Kevin Belingon. Fernandes is the group’s biggest homegrown star and the highest Worldwide ranked fighter in the company.
MISC
- Congratulations to Mark Schultz. From his Facebook page: Today Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Professor Pedro Sauer proclaimed these simple yet monumental words to me “You are my black belt”. I couldn’t have asked for a better Pedigree. Grand Master Helio Gracie to Rickson Gracie to Pedro Sauer to me. I am humbled.
- The Evolve card for tonight in Orlando at 8 p.m. at www.wwnlive.com
Chris Hero & Tommy End vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta
Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway vs. Bravado Brothers
Sami Callihan & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drew Gulak & TJ Perkins
Caleb Konley & Anthony Nese vs. Team Tremendous
Matt Riddle vs. Fred Yehi
Tracy Williams vs. Peter Kaasa
Ethan Page vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Ed Loredo has set up a bus for WrestleMania weekend for readers going to Dallas. The first bus sold out immediately so there may be a second bus added. For more info contact him at f4wfan@hotmail.com