Daily Update: Big Show & Shaq, Tom Lawlor suspended, TNA wedding

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Hannover, Germany and NXT show in Coral Gables, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’ll be doing polls on both Sunday and Monday’s ROH/New Japan shows at Korakuen Hall to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

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

  • Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for Never Open weight title
  • Kushida vs. Will Ospreay for IWGP jr. title

EVOLVE AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON FLO SLAM FROM THE MCW ARENA IN JOPPA, MD

  • Darby Allin vs. Austin Theory
  • Chris Dickinson & Jaka vs. The Gatekeepers
  • Ethan Page vs. Jason Kincaid
  • Matt Riddle vs. Anthony Henry
  • Tracy Williams vs. ACH
  • Drew Galloway vs. Jeff Cobb
  • Keith Lee vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Timothy Thatcher vs Fred Yehi for Evolve title

LEGACY FIGHTING ALLIANCE TONIGHT FROM BROOMFIELD, COLORADO ON AXS TV AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TIME

  • Arut Pogosjan (2-1, 155.4) vs. Nicholi Navarro (4-2, 154.2)
  • Slobodan Maksimovic (11-5-1, 155.8) vs. Eric Grant (2-2, 153.6)
  • Brandon Royval (4-2, 125.8) vs. Rakan Adwan (3-1, 124.8)
  • Le’Ville Simpson (6-2, 154.2) vs. Matt Johnson (3-0, 155.8)
  • Kris Hocum (9-5, 173.4) vs. Matthew Frincu (9-2, 170.8)
  • Cory Sandhagen (5-0, 145) vs. Jamall Emmers (10-3, 144.8)
  • Marcus Edwards (12-4, 155.8) vs. Adam Townsend (16-4, 155.8)

BELLATOR TONIGHT AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TIME FROM SSE ARENA BELFAST IN BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND ON SPIKE TV

  • Colin Fletcher vs. Alex Lohore
  • Sinead Kavanagh vs. Iony Razafiarison
  • James Gallagher vs. Kirill Medvedovsky
  • Liam McGeary vs. Brett McDermott

CMLL TONIGHT FROM ARENA MEXICO AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN

  • Robin & Star Jr. vs. Raziel & Cancerbero
  • Soberano Jr. & Triton & Esfinge vs. Okumura & Sagrado & Misterioso
  • Stuka Jr. & Drone & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & Vangellys
  • Angel de Oro vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.
  • Atlantis & Marco Corleone & Diamante Azul vs. Rush & Yoshitatsu & Pierroth
  • Volador Jr. & Cavernario Barbaro vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Valiente in the finals of the Parejas Increibles tournament

Saturday has WWE Raw in Regensburg, Germany for the final night of the tour, as well as a Smackdown brand show in Moline, IL and an NXT show in Fort Pierce, FL.

EVOLVE AT 6 P.M. EASTERN TIME SATURDAY FROM LA BOOM IN WOODSIDE, NY

  • Fred Yehi (or Timothy Thatcher, whoever loses on Friday) vs. Chris Dickinson vs. Austin Theory vs. Anthony Henry
  • Jeff Cobb vs. Jaka
  • ACH vs. Jason Kincaid
  • Tracy Williams vs. Keith Lee
  • Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin
  • Drew Galloway vs. Matt Riddle
  • Timothy Thatcher (or Fred Yehi) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for Evolve title

ROH/NEW JAPAN AT KORAKUEN HALL ON SUNDAY MORNING AT 4:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Kushida & Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Silas Young & Gedo & Jado
  • Sanada & Evil & Bushi vs. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Delirious for Never six man titles
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa
  • Young Bucks vs. War Machine
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Dalton Castle & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi & Damien Martinez
  • Katsuyori Shibata & Jay Lethal vs. Cody & Hangman Page
  • Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Cole

Sunday has WWE with a Smackdown brand house show in Cedar Rapids, IA.

ROH/NEW JAPAN AT KORAKUEN HALL ON MONDAY MORNING AT 4:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Kushida & David Finlay & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Silas Young & Gedo & Jado
  • Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger & Delirious & Dalton Castle & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada & Evil & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi
  • War Machine vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Damien Martinez for Never Open weight title
  • Adam Cole vs. Yoshi-Hashi for ROH title
  • Mark & Jay Briscoe & Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs. Young Bucks & Kenny Omega & Cody

Raw will be live on Monday from Green Bay, WI. Bill Goldberg’s return is being promoted for what is the go-home show for Fast Lane. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are also booked on the show.

There will be a Smackdown brand house show on Monday night in Dubuque, IA.

Smackdown and 205 Live will be Tuesday from St. Paul featuring an A.J. Styles vs. Luke Harper match which supposedly will be for the WrestleMania title shot.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 2/20/2017, Looking at pro wrestling’s steller start to 2017

While making judgments about a year less than two full months into it probably isn’t a good idea, it’s clear that 2017 is already on pace to surpass its predecessor in terms of match quality. That’s not entirely unexpected. The stellar in-ring work that defined professional wrestling in 2016 didn’t come out of nowhere. It was the result of there being more qualified workers, more opportunities for them to work, and a wider variety of promotions for them to work for than there have been in many years… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: February 27, 2017, Massive Ivan Koloff bio, death of George “The Animal” Steele, tons more

A huge feature on the life and career of Ivan Koloff is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which is available right now. Plus, there are also features on George Steele, Nicole Bass, Johnny K-9, Diamond Dallas Page and Teddy Long.

The Koloff story talks about the most famous match of the 1970s in the U.S., his win over Bruno Sammartino, as well as his loss to Pedro Morales in WWWF title matches, the birth of Ivan Koloff, his days as Red McNulty, his first match with Sammartino, how he got the Koloff gimmick and who he was named after. This issue also looks at his title run with Sammartino the first time in Pittsburgh and then the WWWF, the most one-sided trade in sports history, the return of Koloff for his title win, the angle done to cover Sammartino, and the two big nights in Madison Square Garden.

Have a look at the creation of Ivan Koloff in Quebec and how he first made his name as a major drawing card, and look at his run in Australia where Gary Hart managed him. Plus look at his days in the AWA, Hawaii, St. Louis, Georgia, Florida, the second WWWF run, the role as top heel for the opposition, the tag team with Ole Anderson, his feud with Dusty Rhodes, and the emergence of Nikita Koloff and the other Russians in the 80s.

Examine the career of George Steele, the life and times of Johnny K-9, the strange world of Nicole Bass, and the WWE Hall of Fame inductions of DDP and Teddy Long.

Plus, details about the filming of “Fighting with My Family” after Raw and Smackdown this past week, notes on the movie, the phone calls to C.M. Punk in front of the fans, the Naomi injury, an update on Fast Lane, return of Finn Balor notes, a look at plans for a show after WrestleMania, the busy Raw brand schedule, WWE working with Indies on WWE Network update, WWE market value, most watched shows on WWE Network, plus details of all the WWE & NXT house shows over the past week along with business notes.

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 Dave@WrestlingObserver.com. 

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com. 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: January 31, 2000, WCW departures, WWF Royal Rumble review, more

The soap opera surrounding WCW and the group of wrestlers who vowed to stick together got even stranger over the past week, with the company mired in even more uncertainty and friends who stuck together breaking apart. WCW sent unconditional release letters to Chris Benoit, Dean Simon (Malenko), Carlos Ashenoff (Konnan), Troy Martin (Shane Douglas), Eddy Guerrero and Perry Satullo (Perry Saturn) on 1/19, thus cancelling the planned meeting Bill Busch had agreed two days later to have with the group that same day, and allowing all of them to start with Titan Sports on 2/1 provided they agreed not to say anything publicly disparaging about WCW and agreed not to sue WCW… Subscribers click here to continue.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

John Cena, Randy Orton and the entire Smackdown crew are working the entire Midwest house show run starting tomorrow night.

Tom Lawlor of this site was officially announced as suspended for two years due to testing positive for Ostarine in an out of competition test on 10/10. We’ll have more on this later but he’s been suspended since November when the result came out. He will be eligible to return on October 10, 2018, at which point he’ll be 35 years old. He is also suspended from cornering fighters or anything that would require a license from an athletic commission. Lawlor will be wrestling for Future Stars of Wrestling in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Don Callis won’t be announcing the New Japan shows this week. Kevin Kelly will be working with Rocky Romero.

Pro wrestler Shayna Baszler returns to MMA tomorrow for a fight with King Reina at Shinjuku Face for the Deep Jewels promotion. Baszler weighed in today at 152.9 pounds and Reina at 150.5 pounds. Baszler just came off main eventing at Korakuen Hall against Io Shirai for Stardom’s main title.

The wedding on TNA last night with Laurel Van Ness and Braxton Sutter was great television, one of the best skits of the type on wrestling television in a long time. The live crowd was so great as was Maria Kanellis in her role as the evil heel, and really everyone involved. Aron Rex was tremendous in his character, Sutter was great doing the giant eyes seeing Allie in the Cinderella roll. TNA uploaded the entire segment on YouTube. It didn’t move ratings as they only did 275,000 viewers.

WWE

  • There is a petition to get Dick “Destroyer” Beyer in the WWE Hall of Fame. It’s the only Hall of Fame that he’s not already in. The petition is here.
  • Today is the third anniversary of the debut of the WWE Network, the tenth anniversary of the first Pride show in the U.S., and 39th anniversary of Bob Backlund beating Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF title. Shinsuke Nakamura also turns 37 today.
  • The WWE is promoting a George Steele collection on the network. With the exception of a 1973 title match with Pedro Morales from Madison Square Garden, and a 1977 match with Bruno Sammartino, it’s all 1983 or later. But the collection does have matches with Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. Nothing from Ivan Koloff, but that’s not a surprise.
  • WWE will be using the U.K. contracted talent on the May house show tour with six-man tag matches on both tours.
  • Asuka will be replacing Naomi in Madison Square Garden on 3/12. She’ll team with Nikki Bella & Becky Lynch & Tamina vs. Alexa Bliss & Mickie James & Natalya & Carmella.
  • It feels like WWE may not be so sure about the Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal match at WrestleMania from this interview with Show on the web site which says:

WWE.COM: Last question: You’ve been very vocal about wanting a match with Shaq at WrestleMania, and you just called him out on Twitter over karaoke and doughnuts.

BIG SHOW:I mean, here’s the thing. We shot this off at the ESPY Awards, Shaq said he’s in, I thought this would be a good match for fans to see two giants go at it. And I see Shaq riding around, singing karaoke and stopping in at Krispy Kreme. I’m like, “Hey! If you’re not gonna take it serious, find something else to do!” I’ve given 22 years of my blood, sweat and tears to this business and I’m doing this favor to Shaq. This could be my last WrestleMania. He needs to step up. I’m not trying to be mean, but my time’s valuable. I get it. I don’t have foot powder commercials, car commercials, insurance commercials. I get it. He’s a busy man. But if he’s gonna step in the ring, in my business, at our biggest event of the year? Show me you’re serious. If anything, talk a little trash. Let me know you’re motivated. Because right now? I just get the feeling he’s terrified. He shot his mouth off, he’s in over his head and he’s trying to back out. So just let me know what’s going on, brother. (thanks to David Taylor)

UFC

  • UFC Fight Pass has announced a new series called The Third Degree with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Each week Nogueira will be visiting different style gym and learning, such as the Oklahoma State wrestling room to train with John Smith of going to Bangkok for train Muay Thai. The series will start in early April.
  • The company announced that the 8/5 PPV show, UFC 214, scheduled for the Honda Center in Anaheim, is being moved up one week to 7/29.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • National Wrestling League from last night in St. Louis: Dez Wellston b Adam Ryan, Matthew Grundy b Cal Stark, Maverick b Tommy Flagg & August Marshall, Blaine Meeks b Jay Lutz, Todd Letterman & Dak Draper b Boulder & Spike, Skyler Beckett b Christian Adonis, Cornell Douglass b Davey Gibson. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • WPCH TV, Ch. 17 in Atlanta, which was the original WTBS owned by Turner Broadcasting, has been sold by Meredith for $70 million. That was the flagship station for Georgia Championship Wrestling in the Atlanta market since the early 1970s. (thanks to Chris Cruise)
  • National Fighting Championships on 3/234 in Kennesaw, GA at the Electric Cowboy is headlined by welterweight champion Dave Vitkay vs. Jeremie Holloway.
  • World Series of Fighting on 3/18 in Verona, NY at the Turning Stone Resort Casino features Blagoi Ivanov defending their heavyweight title against Shawn Jordan, Lance Palmer defends the featherweight title against Andre Harrison and the vacant bantamweight title will be up with Timur Valiev vs. Berkbulat Magomedov. The show airs live that night at 11 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports Network.
  • Lucha Slam tomorrow in Brantford, ONT at 6 Aberdeen Ave. at 3:30 p.m.
  • The WCWF noted to us that the info we were given yesterday regarding their show at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds in Yuba City, CA, was incorrect. The show will be on 3/11 not 5/11 as listed yesterday.
  • Glory Kickboxing tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fight Pass and other matches will be airing on Sunday at 10 p.m. on tape delay on ESPN 2. The show takes place at the Sears Center in Chicago.

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

  • The Empire bus to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). THERE ARE ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!
  • The bus will leave at 4pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at f4wfan@hotmail.com or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

  • WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
  • WHEN: Friday March 31st
  • WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
  • WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
  • DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at Srjaialaiot@yahoo.com (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Today in professional wrestling history (2/24): War Games at WCW WrestleWar 1991

CONTACT INFORMATION

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