Daily Update: Ciampa, BOSJ results, The Rock hosting SNL

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

NXT TAKEOVER CHICAGO ON SATURDAY AT 8 P.M. ON THE WWE NETWORK

  • Bobby Roode vs. Hideo Itami for NXT title
  • Asuka vs. Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riot for women’s title
  • Authors of Pain vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa (?) for the tag titles
  • Tyler  Bate vs. Pete Dunne for U.K. title
  • Roderick Strong vs. Eric Young
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Wesley Blake (this is being taped for Wednesday’s NXT TV show)
  • Aleister Black vs. ? (also taped for Wednesday’s NXT TV show)

NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS ON SUNDAY FROM KIRA ON NEW JAPAN WORLD (not live, should be up in the early afternoon)

  • Will Ospreay vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Dragon Lee vs Taichi
  • Ricochet vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Marty Scurll vs. Jushin Liger

EVOLVE ON SUNDAY AT 8 P.M. FROM LIVONIA, MI

  • Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lio Rush for Evolve title
  • Matt Riddle vs. Jeff Cobb for WWN title
  • Tracy Williams vs. Kyle O’Reilly
  • Ethan Page vs Donovan Dijak
  • Fred Yehi vs. Keith Lee
  • Chris Dickinson  & Jake vs. Jason Kincaid & ? non-title
  • Allysin Kay (Sienna in Impact) vs. Priscilla Kelly

WWE BACKLASH SUNDAY AT 7:30 P.M. FROM THE ALL STATE ARENA IN CHICAGO ON THE WWE NETWORK

  • Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal for WWE title
  • Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler
  • Kevin Owens vs. A.J. Styles for U.S. title
  • Usos vs. Breezango for tag titles
  • Charlotte Flair & Naomi & Becky Lynch vs. Tamina & Natalya & Carmella
  • Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin
  • Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan
  • Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English (pre-show match at 7:30 p.m.)

NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS LIVE ON MONDAY AT 5:30 A.M. FROM KORAKUEN HALL ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Ricochet & Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Marty Scurll & Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Umino
  • Taka Michinoku & Taichi vs. Will Ospreay & Jado
  • Ricochet & David Finlay & War Machine vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi & & Marty Scurll
  • Satoshi Kojima & Juice Robinson & Jushin Liger & Dragon Lee vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Volador Jr. vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Kushida vs. Bushi
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Desperado
  • Tiger Mask vs. ACH

Raw will be Monday night in Grand Rapids, MI. There will also be a Smackdown house show on Monday night in Ypsilante, MI.

NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS TUESDAY FROM TOCHIGI ON NEW JAPAN WORLD (not live, should be up early afternoon)

  • Taichi vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • Marty Scurll vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Ricochet vs. Dragon Lee
  • Jushin Liger vs. Will Ospreay

The Smackdown and 205 Live show will be taped on Tuesday night in Toledo.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 5/15/2017: Looking ahead to WWE’s weekend in Chicago

With the Allstate Arena set to host NXT TakeOver: Chicago on Saturday and Backlash on Sunday, this weekend may be one of WWE’s biggest of the year that doesn’t include one of their four signature pay-per-views. There are things to look forward to on both cards. All four title matches at TakeOver should deliver on some level, with Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne boosting a show that probably would have still been fine without it.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: May 22, 2017: NJPW business up, ROH War of the Worlds review, tons more

An update on upcoming WWE big shows, the Braun Strowman injury and plans for his return, a lot of notes on New Japan business in a number of categories, the ROH-New Japan relationship, coverage of all the major shows this past week all over the world including first day Super Juniors, the life of Doug Somers and the age old pro wrestling style debate are the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The issue goes through plans for now as well as directions long-term for WWE, this weekend’s Takeover and Backlash shows, and booking for summer shows.

Plus, look at New Japan’s total revenue, growth, merchandise sales, Tokyo Dome goals, realities of New Japan World and why it has limitations as well as what has happened since the Tokyo Dome, AXS ratings for New Japan as compared with Impact, plans for broadcasting the Long Beach shows, the pro wrestling industry in Japan, updates on Tomoaki Honma and Katsuyori Shibata, the Hiroshi Tanahashi injury, as well as how business has done for several of the leading promotions in Japan this year.

Have a look at the ROH/New Japan relationship, coverage of ROH War of the Worlds with match-by-match rundown, poll results and star ratings, and the lineup for the ROH Best in the World show.

Check out UFC 211 and questions regarding drawing power of Stipe Miocic and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a look at how Mayweather and Pacquiao became top draws, business notes for the show when it comes to ratings, PPV and live attendance and future booking direction of the winners, plus match-by-match coverage and poll results.

Read about a change in the broadcasting of Smackdown in a few weeks, what company’s spent the most this year on advertising on Smackdown and what the list tells you about value and ad rights, notes on the UK special, a list of a number of upcoming shows with Rock Lesnar, Dwayne Johnson updates including a poll on if he ran for President against Donald Trump. 

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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: April 24, 2000: Death of Masakazu Fukuda, legal battles in the wrestling world, tons more

New Japan wrestler Masakazu Fukuda passed away of complications from a cerebral hemorrhage at 3:28 a.m. on 4/19 in the Public Kesennuma Synthesis Hospital in Kesennuma, Japan after collapsing in the ring on 4/14 at a match in the same city with Katsuyori Shibata. Fukuda, 27, was rushed to the hospital when, after Shibata hit him with an elbow drop that he was supposed to kick out of. Instead he collapsed and began snoring in the ring, which caused everyone to panic. 

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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Tommaso Ciampa appears ready to go for tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Chicago show. He posted a picture of himself getting his ankle taped up and wrote: “Adversity introduces a man to himself…We have come too far to stop now.” Ciampa suffered a sprained ankle at NXT’s Thursday night house show in Highland Heights, Kentucky, but Triple H said on a conference call yesterday that the match was still on as of then. He noted that Ciampa had to still be cleared by WWE’s medical team.
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is hosting Saturday Night Live tonight. The episode is the finale of the show’s 42nd season and Katy Perry is the musical guest. This is Johnson’s fifth time hosting, which means he joins SNL’s “five-timers club.”
  • WWE sent Chelsea FC and their captain John Terry a customized WWE Championship after the team secured this year’s Premier League title.
  • Austin Aries tweeted about pre-show content (including his Cruiserweight title match against Neville) being left off of the WrestleMania 33 DVD: “#WrestleMania 33 is now available on blu-ray in Canada. Too bad one of the #greatest matches of the night was left off the US/Canada DVDs.”
  • USA Today recently spoke to Becky Lynch. When asked if she would be interested in joining the cast of Total Divas, she responded: “I think there’s a certain — not a whole lot — but a certain amount of mystery of me that I don’t really envision that as the best option for me to take part in. It’s a tremendous opportunity for those that do it, I just don’t know that it’s my thing. When I envisioned my life as a little girl, that was never in my horizons. I’m going to stay with what I want in the future. I don’t see that being reality TV.”
  • “The New Day’s Fantastic Ride” (which is a behind-the-scenes look at them hosting WrestleMania 33) is premiering on the WWE Network on Tuesday. It will be in the on demand section.
  • Tyler Bate was interviewed by The Mirror ahead of tonight’s UK title match against Pete Dunne at TakeOver: Chicago. Bate called the match the biggest of his career.
  • Jim Ross confirmed that he’ll be calling the Women’s Tournament this summer. Triple H tweeted a photo with Ross prior to TakeOver today. Ross will be calling the UK title match on the show.

Pro Wrestling

  • Today marks six years since the passing of “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
  • This week’s episode of Impact averaged 272,000 viewers on Pop TV, which is down from last week’s 309,000. The drop is somewhat surprising given that there wasn’t an NBA playoff game on Thursday night, but last week had an Alberto El Patron vs. Magnus GFW title match announced in advance.
  • Here are the results from last night’s B Block Best of the Super Juniors show in Mie:
    Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Volador Jr.
    El Desperado defeated BUSHI
    Tiger Mask IV defeated KUSHIDA
    Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated ACH
  • KUSHIDA is starting the tournament with a losing streak. Taguchi and El Desperado are currently on top of the block with 2-0 records.
  • Taguchi was confirmed for Revolution Pro Wrestling’s British J-Cup tournament.
  • Kenny Omega spoke to “A Music Blog, Yea?” for a video interview.
  • The Memphis Commercial Appeal ran a story on barbecue sauce wrestling making a return to the city.

UFC/MMA

  • Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw got into a heated argument on Twitter.
  • Stipe Miocic is now fifth on the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings after defending his heavyweight title against Junior dos Santos. Demetrious Johnson, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, and Jose Aldo are the first four on the list.
  • Chuck Mindenhall wrote an article on Bellator’s welterweight scene after the arrival of Rory MacDonald.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (5/20): NXT TakeOver Unstoppable

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