Daily Update: CM Punk, UFC 224 weigh-ins, Charlotte Flair

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE shows in Dublin, Ireland (Raw), Braunschweig, Germany (Smackdown), and Ocala, FL (NXT) as well as Revolution Pro in London and ROH in Toronto to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS AT THE TED REEVE ARENA IN TORONTO TONIGHT AT 7:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME ON HONOR CLUB

  • Beer City Bruiser vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • Young Bucks vs. Super Smash Brothers
  • Cody vs. Jushin Liger
  • Silas Young vs. Adam Page for TV title
  • Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Sho & Yoh & Rocky Romero
  • Jay White vs. Punishment Martinez for U.S. title
  • Dalton Castle (who is injured, not sure about him) & Jay Lethal & Kenny King & Flip Gordon vs. Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON AXS TV AT 8 P.M. (three hour special)

  • Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll for IWGP jr. title
  • Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Cody & Hangman Page
  • Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Sho & Yoh for IWGP jr. tag titles
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Saber Jr. for IWGP heavyweight title

MAJOR LEAGUE WRESTLING TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON BEIN SPORTS

  • ACH vs. Tom Lawlor
  • MJF vs. Fred Yehi 

CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO LIVE ON THE CMLL FACEBOOK PAGE

  • Aereo & Acero vs. Mercurio & Pequeno Violencia
  • Fuego & Pegasso & Stigma vs. Disturbio & Raziel & Cancerbero
  • Titan & Triton & Esfinge vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora & Hechicero
  • Negro Casas vs. Soberano Jr. no time limit one fall
  • Gran Alternativa Block B one-night tournament: Caristico & Star Jr., Ultimo Guerrero & Templario, Kraneo & Audaz, Cavernario & Coyote, Niebla Roja & Astral, Euforia & Akuma, Valiente & Principe Diamante and Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000 Jr.

Mistico & Volador Jr. & Angel de Oro vs. Mephisto & Ephesto & Luciferno

Saturday we are looking for reports from WWE shows in Zaragoza, Spain (Raw), Bremen, Germany (Smackdown) and Citrus Springs, FL (NXT), OTT ScrapperMania in Dublin (Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Keith Lee vs. Minoru Suzuki, Will Ospreay vs. Matt Riddle, Jordan Devlin vs. Zack Sabre Jr.) and ROH in Royal Oak, MI to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

UFC 224 ON SATURDAY NIGHT FROM THE JEUNESSE ARENA IN RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

Fight Pass at 6:15 p.m. Eastern time

  • Markus Perez (186) vs. James Bochnovic (186)
  • Alberto Mina (171) vs. Ramazan Emeev (171)
  • Thales Leites (186) vs. Jack Hermansson (186)
  • Warlley Alves (171) vs. Sultan Aliev (171)

FX at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Elizeu dos Santos (171) vs. Sean Strickland (170)
  • Davi Ramos (156) vs. Nick Hein (155)
  • Aleksei Oleinik (235) vs. Junior Albini (266)
  • Cezar Ferreira (186) vs. Karl Roberson (185)

PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern

  • Vitor Belfort (184) vs. Lyoto Machida (186)
  • John Lineker (136) vs. Brian Kelleher (136)
  • Mackenzie Dern (123) vs. Amanda Cooper (116)
  • Ronaldo Jacare Souza (186) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (185)
  • Amanda Nunes (135) vs. Raquel Pennington (135) for the women’s bantamweight title

ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS SATURDAY NIGHT AT 7:30 P.M ON HONOR CLUB FROM ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN

  • Shane Taylor vs. Evil
  • Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Jushin Liger & Flip Gordon & Cheeseburger
  • Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Sho & Yoh vs. Young Bucks
  • Cody vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page
  • Kenny King vs. Marty Scurll vs. Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal
  • Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi for ROH tag titles

BELLATOR ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT 9 P.M. EASTERN FROM THE SAP CENTER IN SAN JOSE ON PARAMOUNT AND CMT TV

  • Carrington Banks (155.6) vs. Adam Piccolotti (155.3)
  • Javy Ayala (265.5) vs. Cheick Kongo (241.7)
  • Lee Morrison (144) vs. Aaron Pico (145.7)
  • Paul Daley (170.3) vs. Jon Fitch (171)
  • Ryan Bader (225.1) vs. King Mo Lawal (217.4) in the Bellator heavyweight title tournament

WWE runs Sunday in Malaga, Spain (Raw) and Prague (Smackdown) and ROH finishes the War of the Worlds tour with a show in Chicago at the Odeum Expo Center with a TV taping that includes Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi & Seiya Sanada & Evil vs. Cody & Marty Scurll & Young Bucks & Adam Page, Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Sho & Yoh for ROH tag titles, Silas Young vs Austin Aries for ROH TV title, Sumie Sakai vs. Jenny Rose for Women of Honor title, Jay Lethal vs. Chuckie T, Kelly Klein vs. Deonna Purrazzo, Jonathan Gresham vs. Flip Gordon, Tenille Dashwood vs. Karen Q and The Dawgs vs. Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger.

Monday will be the Raw show from London at the O2 Arena. The show will be taped a few hours before it airs. Smackdown has a house show Monday in Budapest, Hungary.

Tuesday will be Smackdown and 205 Live taped in London at the O2 Arena. Announced is a celebration for Carmella as well as New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro where the winning team picks one guy to enter Money in the Bank, and the U.K. contracted talent will be on the 205 Live show. 

There will also be a Tuesday Raw house show in Brighton, England.

Wednesday will be a Raw show in Geneva, Switzerland and Smackdown house show in Liverpool, England.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Recapping Backlash 2018

At best, Backlash 2018 was going to be a largely meaningless show that was overshadowed by more important events on the WWE calendar. Surrounded by WrestleMania 34 and the fallout from the company’s biggest event of the year, the Superstar Shakeup, and the Greatest Royal Rumble, Backlash should have been an afterthought. Instead, it will be remembered as one of the worst WWE shows of at least the last few years.

WON NEWSLETTER: May 13, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Details on the UFC/ESPN deal, more

This is a big business issue of the Observer as we update all aspects of WWE business and look at the most important business deal in years, the UFC’s new deal with ESPN.

Look at the ramifications from all perspectives of the UFC deal, what is good, what may not be so good, how this affects the schedule, Fight Pass, making stars, and the financial structure of the organization. Also, look at the key aspects of the deal and what it means for WWE as well when it comes to future negotiations, as well as the value of both products.

This issue runs down every aspect of the WWE business and how it’s doing. Look at the long game for WWE business, the things to look through when WWE gives its presentations, what is now being hidden in the financial reports, why the stock looks overvalued but really isn’t, the unique questions nobody is bringing up about the network numbers, the value of WrestleMania to the network, as well as house show business, television ratings, merchandise and licensing and the dichotomy of areas that are growing and those slowly declining. 

Full coverage of Backlash, the Brock Lesnar title reign, Money in the Bank and other business notes plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, and coverage of both New Japan Dontaku shows with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results, the Okada records, Okada vs. Omega, Dominion and the Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

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. 

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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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

There is the obvious speculation with the announcement of C.M. Punk appearing at Pro Wrestling Tees at 2348 N.Damen Ave. in Chiago on 8/31, the day before the All In show. It’s also not a secret that the Young Bucks are friends with him and there has been interest in him appearing at the show. If he is on the show, I would expect that to be announced at their press conference on Sunday at 1 p.m. local time, also at Pro Wrestling Tees.

Tomorrow night is very interesting as far as sports goes, as not only are there NBA and NHL playoff games, but UFC and Bellator go head-to-head, and ESPN has Top Rank boxing from Madison Square Garden with Vasili Lomachenko vs. Jorge Linares as the main event at 8 p.m.

There were no late medical issues forcing changes in tomorrow’s UFC card, which these days is a news story. The only weight issue was that Mackenzie Dern missed weight by seven pounds, coming in at 123 pounds for her fight with Amanda Bobby Cooper. Cooper had predicted she would miss weight. This would make the third time in Dern’s six fights at strawweight that she’s missed weight. I think at this point they have to force her to fight at 125. Dern has to forfeit 30 percent of her purse to Cooper and Cooper agreed to do the fight. Cooper has nothing to lose here, since Dern is undefeated, but also beatable and it’s a great win for Cooper if she can pull it off.

Ashley Fliehr flew home to get dental work done after having her bridge knocked out in yesterday’s show in Oberhausen, Germany. She was going to be flying home Sunday from the tour already because she was scheduled to be part of the Needham Investment conference on Tuesday in New York with WWE President Michelle Wilson. So she was never scheduled for TV this week. She was scheduled to fly back for the rest of the tour after.

The 4/1 Sakura Genesis card from Sumo Hall in Tokyo, featuring Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in an IWGP heavyweight title match and Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll in an IWPG jr. title match airs as part of a three-hour special on AXS TV tonight. Both of those matches are can’t-miss matches.

Several armed men robbed about 10 people associated with UFC last night at a kiosk across the street from the hotel the crew was staying at in Rio de Janeiro. One UFC employee had a necklace torn off and stolen. The robbers took wallets, phones and passports. Nobody was injured but several were shaken up. Police are reviewing security footage. 

WWE

  • WWE announced a broadcast agreement for Raw in the Philippines on TV5.They will air a one hour edited version of Raw on Sunday nights at 10 p.m. Smackdown already airs on the channel in the one-hour form at 8:30 p.m. Monday nights.
  • An interview with Bayley in the U.K.

UFC

  • In a strange story, Dana White announced to the Los Angeles Times a Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Yair Rodriguez fight for 8/4 in Los Angeles. Rodriguez then tweeted “fake news.” Dana White then said to the Los Angeles Times that Rodriguez has been released by UFC, and then White tweeted “real news.”
  • The Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier fight talked about yesterday for 7/28 in Calgary, is now official. They fought in May which ended when Alvarez threw an illegal knee to the head of Poirier when Poirier was down. It was ruled a no contest but should have been ruled a DQ win for Poirier.
  • Nate Diaz wrote a message claiming that GSP was on steroids and missed weight but they let him slide because it was Montreal when he fought his brother Nick, and said they were selling wolf tickets for him fighting GSP now.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • WrestleCon for next year’s WrestleMania will take place at the New York City Hilton in Midtown Manhattan.
  • Revolution Pro today in London at York Hall: Adam Brookes b Shane Strickland, Fred Yehi b Josh Bodom, David Starr b Kurtis Chapman to win the jr. title, Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher b Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle, Will Ospreay b Phantasmo, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. b Chris Brookes & Travis Banks to keep the British tag team titles, Tomohiro Ishii b Keith Lee to keep the British title. Told the last two bouts were great.
  • Appearing at today’s World of Sport tapings in Norwich, England were Davey Boy Smith Jr., Grado, Primate, Joe Hendry, Martin Kirby, Iestyn Rees, Viper, Kay Lee Ray, Bea Priestley and Sha Samuels, Stu Bennett (formerly Wade Barrett) was both authority figure and TV announcer, along with SoCal Val and Alex Shane.
  • Brandi Rhodes had shoulder surgery yesterday. She also wrote about her matches before the surgery in Japan that “If you feel inclined to criticize matches I worked with a double fracture, seek help.” 
  • Tickets for the 7/19 MLW TV taping in Long Island City, NY at the Melrose Ballroom go on sale tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at MLWtickets.com. Advertised for the show are Shane Strickland, Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix, Barrington Hughes, MJF, Sami Callihan, Salina de la Renta and ACH.
  • Wrestling For Charity tomorrow night in Portervlle, CA at the High School at 7 p.m. headlined by Grizzly Kal Jack vs. Julio Pedroza. Katarina Leigh (Winter) of Impact is also on the show.
  • Best of the West TV taping on 5/19 in Merced, CA at the American Legion Post, and the group has an iPPV on 8/25 in Santa Cruz, CA at the Veterans Memorial Building at 5 p.m.
  • The Ellen show today was scheduled to have a segment in which her executive producer, Andy Lassner, tried to wrestle. Laura James was in the segment wearing a mask. (thanks to Jake Koch)
  • A couple of corrections from yesterday. The show we listed as an EWA show in Dresden, Germany was actually an ROE promotion show. Also, the retirement match of gold medalist Norbert Novenyi is not on 5/12 for German Wrestling Promotions but on 5/26 in Budapest, Hungary for Hungarian Championship Wrestling on a show that also includes Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne.
  • An interview with Mick Foley about his show tomorrow night in Joppa, MD.

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Undertaker vs. Austin at In Your House

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