Daily Update: Big June Calendar, Cena hosts ESPY’s

There are a number of major dates in pro wrestling for the month of June, one of the biggest for significant shows of the year:

  • June 4 – UFC 199 from the Forum in Los Angeles with Michael Bisping getting his first title opportunity of his career battling Luke Rockhold for the middleweight belt
  • June 5 – AAA’s Victoria World Cup men and women’s trio tournament finals at Los Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City which will be a live iPPV show
  • June 7 – New Japan Best of the Super Juniors finals from Sendai live on New Japan World
  • June 8 – NXT Takeover from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL featuring Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor in a cage match plus a loaded lineup that includes American Alpha vs. The Revival and probably Shinsuke Nakamura vs Austin Aries, which could be WWE’s match of the month.
  • June 12 – TNA Slammiversary headlined by Drew Galloway vs. Bobby Lashley for the TNA title from Orlando
  • June 12 – Revolution Pro Wrestling in London, England headlined by Kurt Angle vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • June 19 – New Japan Dominion, one of the company’s biggest events of the year, featuring Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada in an IWGP title match and Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi in a ladder match for the IC title
  • June 19 – WWE Money in the Bank from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas 
  • June 24 – ROH Best in the World from Concord, NC with Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe for the ROH title 
  • June 25 – Ultima Lucha tapings in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles at The Temple
  • June 26 – Ultima Lucha tapings in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles at The Temple       

SMACKDOWN TONIGHT ON USA AT 8 P.M.

  • Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens
  • Paige vs. Dana Brooke
  • Dolph  Ziggler vs. Sheamus
  • New Day & Big Cass vs. Dudleys & Vaudevillains
  • Roman Reigns vs. Luke Gallows non-title

        This is the final TV before Sunday’s Extreme Rules show.

NXT will be taped tonight at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. 

THE ROUND UP

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Figure Four Weekly 5/16/2016: WWE concussion lawsuit deposition takes a strange turn – Details on the developments in WWE’s concussion lawsuit, and more. Find out all the details in this weeks issue of Figure Four Weekly.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

READ IT HERE: May 23, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Extreme Rules preview, Vince McMahon sells portion of WWE stock, tons more

A look at what’s next for WWE after Extreme Rules, the UFC sale with lots of exclusive info, Vince & Linda McMahon selling their stock, Chris Weidman’s injury and how that changes plans, the staggering drop in kids viewing for WWE and exactly who watches the TV today, plus UFC 198 coverage and Best of The Super Juniors tournament news are among the stories covered in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

More on the injury returns and summer ideas and why WWE could have its deepest talent roster in a long time in very short order. Plus, talk about the NXT/WWE balance and why talent is actually more important for arena business if in NXT.

There is also an extenisve look at the Extreme Rules show.

In addition, updates on the UFC sale, including news about who is in, who is not in, what it all means, what is being sold, where Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta fit in and UFC fixture who indicates he’s likely gone if the sale goes through, all in covered in this issue.

A glimpse into Vince McMahon’s stock sale, what it means, how much money did he get, and how his stock sale only increased the difference in the value of UFC vs. WWE, and for how much Vince McMahon bought the company.

More on the injury to Chris Weidman, how it happened, his future, Michael Bisping’s title shot and more on UFC 1999.

Also in this issue, find out who watches WWE on television and how many in each different age group.

Find out how WWE has changed the schedule of the Cruiserweight tournament and why, more on the arrest of Adam Rose, more on Stephanie McMahon’s book, how Stephanie will be pushed on television going forward, how Stephanie will be marketed as the face of the company, and another WWE firing.

Finally, there’s full coverage of UFC 198, including business notes including early estimates on success, ramifications of the show, match-by-match coverage, looking at the judging of close fights and poll results.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PREVIEW

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All the news from WrestleMania 15, the All Japan Tokyo Done show, and more will be in the latest back issue. Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: April 12, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Wrestlemania 15 business numbers, details on All Japan’s Tokyo Dome show, plus tons more. Both Davey Boy Smith and Japanese rookie woman wrestler Emiko Kado were both remaining in bad condition after an illness and in-ring injury respectively. 

THURSDAY NEWS

Today would have been the 70th birthday of Andre The Giant. That has led to a lot of Andre talk today. There is a story in the New York Daily News. There is a photo in that story of Andre with Chuck Wepner, who is 6-foot-5, which pretty much gives away he wasn’t 7-feet tall. When that match took place in 1976, it was reported that Andre was 6-foot-9 and 370 pounds.

In a TV ratings note, on Saturday night during the King Mo vs. Phil Davis fight, over an eight minute period the audience grew from 887,000 to 1.3 million live.

It is official that Chase Owens and David Finlay will be the replacements for Nick & Matt Jackson in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament which starts on Saturday morning live on New Japan World from Korakuen Hall. Finlay is in the A block with Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Sydal, Rocky Romero, Gedo and Bushi. Owens is in the B block with Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Bobby Fish, Trent Baretta, Ricochet, Volador Jr. and Will Ospreay.

Zack Sabre Jr., who was scheduled to defend the PWG title tomorrow night against Michael Elgin, but is out of action, suffered a lesion to his right forearm in a 5/13 match in Magdeburg, Germany in a match with Big Daddy Walter. The match was immediately stopped and he was rushed to the hospital. The rupture to the forearm was caused by a collision into the post that left a 4 centimeter cut that needed five stitches. He’ll be out of action for a few weeks, returning on 6/12 for a match with Revolution Pro Wrestling, where he faces Kurt Angle. 

For those into history, and don’t know the name Jack Taylor, this story is why you should.

WWE

  • Coverage of George Barrios at the Needham Emerging Markets Conference today is here. 
  • Shawn Michaels has been in the news in Pittsburgh because the line of Nick Bonino, Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin of the Penguins is called the HBK Line. Michaels found out about it and has become a Penguins fan. There is a campaign to bring Michaels to game five of the current series in Pittsburgh. There are two articles, the first can be read here, and the second can be read here.
  • Tenille Dashwood’s (Emma) spinal surgery went well yesterday.
  • CNN, Dwayne Johnson and former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz have put together a new TV show called “Soundtracks: Songs that Made History, “an eight-episode series combining the music of the times with major historical moments.
  • Lilian Garcia on Facebook wrote that the FDA had approved of the drug Atezolizumab to battle her father’s cancer. Originally he was going to try it as an experimental drug.  Her father has been battling cancer, but due to a bad reaction which led to two kidney surgeries, he had to stop his chemotherapy treatments.  
  • The company has announced these men and women at the current three-day tryout camp at the Performance Center:
    Bliaze Cabell – Three-time NCAA wrestling tournament qualifier as a heavyweight from Northern Iowa University
    Junior Aumavae – a 311 pound former nose tackle who had time with the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys
    Paul Cheng – Former CFL player who did some MMA fighting
    Nathan Redwing – A 290 pound indie wrestler who played football at Peru State College
    Arkady Unterleidner – A former bikini contest competitor who trained with Brian Kendrick
    Brian Waymire – A 6-foot-9 former swimmer
    Yaseen Mudassar – A two-time All-American wrestler who is 300 pounds and wrestled as Yaseen the Persian Machine on indies
    Ashley Urbanski – A finalist who didn’t make the cut for the last season of Tough Enough.
  • Dustin Runnels wrote that today he is eight years sober. Congrats to him for turning his life around.
  • Here is a Sporting News interview with Natalya.
  • WWE stock was down 21 cents per share to $16.96 today.

UFC

  • A story on the Ali Act that is likely to be introduced shortly into legislation regarding MMA is here. 
  • The odds for Luke Rockhold vs. Michael Bisping are considerably longer than what originally came out and were talked about on last night’s show. Nick Kalikas came out with odds that have Rockhold a -1050 favorite and Bisping at +600. Rockhold was a -500 favorite in their first fight, which he won via second round submission.
  • Ali Bagautinov vs. Geane Herrera has been added to the 6/18 UFC show in Ottawa as a flyweight fight. That’s the show headlined by Stephen Thompson vs. Rory MacDonald.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Curtis “Mr.” Hughes is now taking bookings for matches, appearances and seminars through Bill Behrens at www.sbibookings.com. He is based in Atlanta. For promoters outside the U.S. and Ontario, Behrens is also a booking agent for Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and The Young Bucks. For Lethal, Daniels and Kazarian, promoters can book them to defend their ROH titles outside the U.S. ROH wrestlers Matt Sydal and Moose are available for indie bookings both in the U.S. and outside the U.S.  Also available is Drew Galloway and he can defend his TNA title on independent shows and wants to defend the title around the world. Other names available are Sean Waltman, Tommy Dreamer, Al Snow, Blue Meanie, Jimmy Rave, Stevie Richards, Scott Half, Rick Steiner, Little Guido, Tony Mamaluke and Shane Helms.
  • Venator Fighting Championships on Saturday in Milan, Italy features Matt Hamill, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and ultra controversial fighters Rousimar Palhares and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.  Palhares (18-6) faces Emil Weber Meek (7-2-1) for the welterweight title. Miller (23-9, 1 no contest) faces former UFC fighter Luke Barnatt (10-3) for the middleweight title. Hamill vs. Sokoudjou is also on the show, is are former UFC and Strikeforce fighters like Igor Araujo, Karl Amoussou, Che Mills and Cody McKenzie. The show will stream live at www.MMTTV.co.uk starting at 11 a.m. Eastern time. It also airs on Fox Sports Italy.
  • Evolve has announced a WWE Cruiserweight Classic flashpoint match on 6/11 in Orlando with Johnny Gargano vs Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado vs. TJP (and more may be added), all of which are in the WWE cruiserweight classic. Here are the current lineups.
  • 6/10 in Ybor City, FL:
    Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero for Evolve title
    Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Bravado Brothers for Evolve tag title
    Johnny Gargano & TJP vs. Drew Galloway & Ethan Cater III
    Matt Riddle vs. Cedric Alexander
  • 6/11 in Orlando:    
    WWE Cruiserweight Classic flashpoint multiple person elimination match
    Drew Galloway vs. Ethan Page anything goes
    Ethan Carter III vs. ?
    Matt Riddle vs. Trevor Lee
  • TNA Victory Road PPV debuts on The Fite App as well as regular PPV tomorrow with a taped show:
    Ethan Carter III vs. Eli Drake
    James Storm vs. Bram
    Velvet Sky vs. Marti Bell
    DJ Zema Ion vs. Andrew Everett
    Eddie Edwards vs. Trevor Lee
    Bro Mans vs. Tom LaRuffa & Pierre Marceau (Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis in NXT)
    Chris Melendez vs. Beauregarde
    Bobby Roode vs. Pepper Parks
    All winners in a Royal rumble match where the winner gets a future TNA title match
  • A Sporting News interview with Adam Cole is here.
  • Here is a story on Marty Jones, a Billy Robinson protege who was one of the U.K. best wrestlers in his heyday
  • Fox Sports has a story that Netflix should buy WWE and UFC.
  • Les Thatcher is doing one day seminars as well as weekend training camps, as well as available to do announcing.  For more info you can contact him at lesthatcher@zoomtown.com
  • CZW’s Tournament of Death takes place on 6/11 at 179 Ebenezer Church Rd in Townsend, DE at 2 p.m.  Matt Tremont vs. Jeff Cannonball in a Home Run Derby match was announced, as well as Masada vs. Conor Claxton and Devon Moore vs. Dale Patricks in a scaffold death match.
  • As part of this weekend’s Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony (notes in the new Observer), there will be a show tomorrownight in Wichita Falls at the Downtown Falls Farmers Market with Greg Anthony vs. Matt Riviera plus Tim Storm, Americos, Moonshine Mantel and more at 7:30 p.m.
  • Alpha One Wrestling results from Sunday in Hamilton, ONT:  Alessandro del Bruno won over Kobe Durst and Alex Daniels to win the Zero Gravity title, Danny Orlando & Gregory Iron & Hellcat b Dick Justice & Young Myles & Holde Albright-DQ, Michael Elgin b Shane Sabre, Ricky Shane Page b Donovan Dijak, Jim Nye & Space Monkey b Justin Sane & Lionel Knight, Cheech won over Cloudy, John Greed and Brent Banks Ethan Page b Carlito Colon, Heidi Lovelace b Josh Alexander to win the Alpha Male trite (thanks to Steven Ashe)
  • Kevin Nash and Scott Hall appear 6/24 for NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling in Elizabethton, TN at the Evolution Sports Gym for a show headlined by Chase Owens & Buff Bagwell vs. Jordan Kage & Chris Richards.
  • Old Time Wrestling has the Sole Survivor tournament on Friday and Saturday night in Williamstown, NJ at the Monroe Business Center.
  • NWA presents Cajun Heat on 7/2 in Morgan City, LA at the Municipal Auditorium featuring an appearance by Kevin Nash.  Main event is Jax Dane defending the NWA title against Mustang Mike and Rob Conway vs. Rodney Mack.
  • PW Eclipse on 5/22 at the Oshawa Legion.
  • Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 6/4 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds has Rob Conway vs. Shawn Cook as the main event.
  • Absolute Intense Wrestling on 6/17 in Mentor on the Lake, OH at Tequila Jaxx with Ethan Carter III, Facade, Veda Scott, B.J. Whitmer, Shayna Baszler, Sonjay Dutt, Brian Myers and Josh Prohibition.
  • New England Championship Wrestling on 5/21 in Abington, MA at the Abington High School with Slyck Wagner Brown vs. Brad Hollister in a lumberjack match.
  • Great North Wrestling on 6/4 in Smiths Falls, ONT at the Memorial Centre headlined by Al Snow vs. Hannibal and 6/25 in Pembroke, ONT at the Memorial Center headlined by Nikolai Volkoff vs. Paul Rosenberg.  
  • CWE tonight in Yorkton, Saskatchewan at the Yorkdale Center School with Frankie Kazarian vs. Travis Cole and Lio Rush vs. Silas Young.
  • World Series of Fighting on 6/17 in Mashantucket, CT on NBC Sports Network features former NFL player Lorenzo Hood vs. Tyler King. The main event has Blagoi Ivanov defending his WSOF title against Josh Copeland.
  • Here is a story on a Florida school teacher who moonlights running a wrestling school and doing wrestling.
  • A story on pro wrestling in Shanghai can be read here. 
  • A college wrestler at Old Dominion is suing his coaches for not reacting to a concussion which turned into long-term damage. 
  • If you are interested in attending the 10th annual Wrestling Observer / F4W convention in Las Vegas, EdinSanAntonio has all the information up on Facebook, or email him at F4Wfan@hotmail.com.