Daily Update: Chavo Guerrero Sr., NJPW New Beginning, UFC 208

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

WWE Raw is in Anchorage, Alaska, SmackDown in Las Cruces, MN, NXT in Albany, NY and Gainesville, FL and ROH in Columbus, OH (Adam Cole & Hangman Page vs. Jay Lethal & Bobby Fish, Young Bucks vs. War Machine for tag titles, Kingdom vs. ? for trios titles, Marty Scurll vs. Lio Rush non-title, Cody vs. Dalton Castle, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelly & Jay White vs Rhett Titus & Kenny King & Caprice Coleman, Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu). We’re looking for reports on all of these shows to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

UFC 208 LIVE FROM THE BARCLAYS CENTER IN BROOKLYN ON SATURDAY

Fight Pass at 7 p.m.

  • Roan Carneiro (170) vs. Ryan LaFlare (170.6)
  • Rick Glenn (145.8) vs. Phillipe Nover (145.6)

FS1 at 8 p.m.

  • Nik Lentz (155.8) vs. Islam Makhachev (155)
  • Wilson Reis (125.2) vs. Ulka Sasaki (125.4)
  • Randy Brown (170.6) vs. Belal Muhammad (170.2)

PPV at 10 p.m.

  • Jim Miller (154.6) vs. Dustin Poirier (155.2)
  • Jared Cannonier (204.4) vs. Glover Teixeira (205.2)
  • Tim Boetsch (185.8) vs. Ronaldo Jacare Souza (185.8)
  • Anderson Silva (185) vs. Derek Brunson (186)
  • Holly Holm (144.4) vs. Germaine de Randamie (143.6) for UFC women’s featherweight title

WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER PPV FROM THE TALKING STICK RESORT ARENA IN PHOENIX AT 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY

  • Curt Hawkins vs. Mojo Rawley (pre-show match)
  • Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews & Kalisto
  • Mickie James vs. Becky Lynch
  • Nikki Bella vs. Natalya
  • Tag team gauntlet matches for the titles with Jason Jordan & Chad Gable, The Usos, Vaudevillains, The Ascension, Heath Slater & Rhyno and Tyler Breeze & Fandango
  • Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi for women’s title
  • Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper
  • Elimination chamber for WWE title: John Cena, Bray Wyatt, A.J. Styles, The Miz, Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin

Besides Elimination Chamber, WWE Raw has a house show on Sunday in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Raw will be on Monday from Las Vegas. Neither Bill Goldberg nor Brock Lesnar are scheduled for the show. There is also a SmackDown brand house show in Oakland, CA at the Oracle Arena.

SmackDown will be Tuesday from Anaheim, CA.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 2/6/2017: How WWE got it right with Goldberg this time

Over a decade after their match at Madison Square Garden was nearly booed out of the building, it’s remarkable that Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar will once again be a marquee match on a WrestleMania card in 2017. Their collision course that became inevitable once Goldberg was booked to dominate Lesnar at Survivor Series took the next step forward on last week’s Raw as Paul Heyman challenged Goldberg to the rematch on behalf of Lesnar… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: February 13, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: NJPW New Beginning review, WWE Fast Lane/Elimination Chamber cards, more

An update on the WWE’s WrestleMania plans and then two PPV’s leading to WrestleMania is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We update the situation with the Seth Rollins vs. HHH proposed match, new matches that have changed due to injuries, update injured talent and a new proposed championship match on the Mania show, as well as more on different planned matches.

We also look at plans for both Elimination Chamber and Fast Lane.

We’ve got full coverage of the New Beginning in Sapporo show headlined by Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings, poll results and business notes. We look at the build up angle and the story behind the main event, and this week’s show in Osaka.

We look at the big coup by WWE Studios working with Dwayne Johnson, a current WWE star being talked about for doing MMA, Kurt Angle talks wrestling in WWE, NXT Takeover Orlando notes, and lots of thoughts on the XFL documentary and key points that were not in.

We also have more WWE WrestleMania week plans, more on Mike Adamle and his battle against dementia and his background, update on a lot of WWE injuries, a surprise coach at the Performance Center and update on where that come from, and another WWE movie project.

We also have tons of notes on the wrestlers brought to the Performance Center this past week as well as other athletes for tryouts, including who they are and their backgrounds including some very unique prospects. We also look at the most-watched shows of the past week on the network as well as a rundown of all the WWE and NXT arena events this past week with both highlights and 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 17, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Death of Gary Albright, Observer awards, more

Gary Albright, a former world class amateur wrestling star and headliner on many big shows as a pro in Japan, died after collapsing in the ring at an independent show in Hazleton, PA before about 100 fans on 1/7. He was 36. The preliminary reports from the corner attributed the death of the 6-foot-4, 340-pound powerhouse to a heart attack, technically speaking a combination of severe atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and acute pulmonary edema… Subscribers click here to continue.

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • WWE acknowledged Chavo Guerrero Sr.’s death with an article on their website. Triple H also posted a tweet about Guerrero Sr.: “Chavo Sr. was one of a kind. He did things his own way & entertained fans for 20+ years. My thoughts are with the entire Guerrero family.”
  • Madison Square Garden’s website is now advertising that AJ Styles and Shane McMahon will be making “special appearances” at WWE’s house show at the arena next month. Brock Lesnar vs. Kevin Owens is also scheduled for that show.
  • HoHo Lun welcomed WWE’s newest Chinese signees to Orlando as they started at the Performance Center.
  • Shinsuke Nakamura teamed with Kassius Ohno against Bobby Roode & Andrade “Cien” Almas in the main event of last night’s NXT house show in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Pro Wrestling

  • NJPW’s New Beginning in Osaka took place this morning, with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Tetsuya Naito and Michael Elgin and the Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match in particular getting strong reviews. Bryan Rose covered the show live and gave his thoughts on the matches.
  • Lance Archer tweeted a picture after undergoing surgery for the herniated disc injury that has him out of action.
  • John Darnielle, the frontman of The Mountain Goats, posted some thoughts on Twitter about the death of Chavo Guerrero Sr. Darnielle wrote: “Chavo Guerrero, Sr. has died. Champ, when we met, you were gracious, kind, open, & giving. It has been an honor over the past few years, to be in touch with you — to hear from you at holidays, to see what a true champion you were in life. I will miss you so so much.” The Mountain Goats released the song “The Legend of Chavo Guerrero” in 2015 as part of their pro wrestling-based concept album “Beat the Champ.”
  • This week’s edition of Impact on Pop TV was watched by 252k viewers, which is a fairly big drop from the 299k who watched last week’s episode.
  • As part of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks’ tour of the UK in April, Fight Club: PRO announced that the trio would be facing Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne & Trent Seven on April 14th in Wolverhampton.
  • Preston City Wrestling responded to criticism the promotion has received for running an upcoming tournament named after the late Kris Travis without donating the proceeds to charity. Pete Dunne and Ryan Smile have said that they’ll be donating the money they get paid for the tournament to Cavendish Cancer Care.
  • What Culture Pro Wrestling has a live iPPV on Fite.TV tomorrow:
    Kurt Angle vs. Alberto El Patron
    Drew Galloway vs. Joe Hendry
    Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet
    Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Travis Banks
    Rampage vs. Primate in an I Quit match
    Bea Priestley vs Tessa Blanchard
    Pentagon Jr. vs. Drago

UFC/MMA

  • Dana White claimed that tonight’s UFC 208 show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York is sold out and the gate for the event is over $2 million.
  • White also responded to Tyron Woodley’s belief that race plays a factor in why he gets booed and said that the UFC will be holding a show in Russia soon.
  • Ian McCall is off of tonight’s show due to an illness, which continues a run of McCall’s fights getting canceled at nearly the last minute. McCall had been scheduled to face Jarred Brooks.
  • The UFC released the final episode of Embedded for UFC 208 before tonight’s PPV.
  • A biopic about Jose Aldo is now available on Netflix.

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).
  • 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
  • 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 (2/11): AJ Styles wins the IWGP title

CONTACT INFORMATION

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