Daily Update: Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio & The Crash

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO 

We’re looking for your thoughts on UFC 218, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re also looking for reports from Raw tonight in Los Angeles with Main Event matches and dark matches and anything else not on the live show, plus reports from yesterday’s WWE shows in Anaheim at the Honda Center at Arena Monterrey, Revolution Pro in London and the Altoona NXT show from Friday to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

Raw will be Monday night from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. There will be a tag title match with Cesaro & Sheamus defending against Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose, Paige vs. Sasha Banks, as well as a four-way with Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese with the winner facing Rich Swann on 12/11 for a title shot at Enzo Amore. Also on the show will be more on the new Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe angle and likely the next step in the Matt Hardy Woken character.

NEW JAPAN TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT TUESDAY IN OITA ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Baretta & Chucky T
  • Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

Tuesday has two WWE show in San Diego. There will be the joint-branded Tribute to the Troops taping at the Naval Base at 10 a.m., followed by the Smackdown / 205 Live show from the Valley View Casino Arena. We’ll be looking for reports from both shows at newstips@wrestlingobserver.com. 

NEW JAPAN TAG TAM TOURNAMENT WEDNESDAY IN NAGASAKI ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
  • Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi

NEW JAPAN TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT THURSDAY IN YAMAGUCHI ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura vs. War Machine
  • Togi Makabe & Henare vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY:Figure Four Weekly 11/27/2017: Four who should be next on the WWE main roster

When WWE decides to call up wrestlers from NXT, they usually tend to be painfully drawn out or total surprises. The arrivals of Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan on the main roster last week was more the latter. Of the five, only Riot (who was formerly known as Heidi Lovelace before signing with WWE) had wrestled a match on a TakeOver special. The other four had yet to even have full runs on NXT television aside from sporadic appearances.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER:December 4, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: AJ Styles, Minoru Suzuki and more enter the Hall of Fame

What is usually the most talked about issue of the year, the Hall of Fame double issue is out with biographies of the five new entrants, why they were so important historically, as well as a breakdown of the voting in not just total votes, but broken down among those in the industry, reporters and historians.

Among the stories covered include the birth of major league pro wrestling in Japan and how it got so big so quickly including the booking behind it, the heyday of pro wrestling in Australia, as well as both the East and West Coast scene in the 60s and 70s. Plus, look at next year’s ballot.

This issue contains a feature on the history of Starrcade, how it started, its successes and failures over the years, including how Starrcade led to the growth of Crockett Promotions as well as the ending of the company. Look at the role Vince McMahon played in the killing of Crockett Promotions, the transition to Turner Broadcasting, the decisions that killed Starrcade as a major event, the rebirth of Starrcade, the Hogan vs. Sting and Goldberg vs. Nash matches and the tradition of Thanksgiving in Greensboro.

Read the full coverage of what led to the first Starrcade, what famous Starrcade matches were never supposed to happen, how tragedies and backstage brawls changed plans, how Starrcade led to the departure of Dusty Rhodes as booker of WCW and the role of Ric Flair.

There is also a feature on the career of Jim Cornette as a manger, including how he got into wrestling, how dominant he was as the best manager in his heyday, his biggest successes, the high point of Mid South Wrestling and Crockett Promotions, the economics of why SMW didn’t work and how wrestling changed in the 90s and why it is so different today, and why the reality is that ECW, SMW and JCP all went down for the same reason. 

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WON BACK ISSUE: November 13, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF not buying WCW, ECW November to Remember review

With the WCW crew enroute to Europe for a one-week tour, the questions about the future of the company remain. With little substantial information available, much of the talk going around consists of rumors, but it is clear the two possibilities remain–the company will either be purchased by a group headed by Eric Bischoff, or have its expenses cut to as much bare bones as possible and remain part of Turner Broadcasting.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking all the wrestling and MMA news, Raw, 205 live, etc. Tonight we will be taking Hall of Fame 2017 questions so if you’ve got any questions on that subject send to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

Daniel Bryan will be the guest referee, either for a live match or a dark match on the 12/26 Smackdown tapings in Chicago. However, any reports that he has been cleared to wrestle by WWE as of this afternoon are still inaccurate.

A clarification from yesterday on the item about Dwayne Johnson and the cereal boxes. The record was actually for most cereal boxes lined up in a domino-like chain to fall in a continuos stream. There was 3,006 boxes that fell over, breaking the old record of 2,686. (thanks to Brendan Faherty)

Some members of the Raw crew will be in San Diego tomorrow morning for the Tribute to the Troops tapings. The crew will fly out tomorrow to the Middle East for two shows and then do the show in New Delhi, India. Jinder Mahal and the Singhs were advertised for New Delhi, but not sure about the Singhs given the angle that was shot on Tuesday. One of the Singhs was still with Mahal in his corner at SmackDown’s house show in Monterrey, Mexico.

Rey Mysterio Jr. did work last night Ecatepec for The Crash after Konnan was let go and is working a 12/15 show for them in Puebla.

Chris Jericho is a no for WrestleMania, since he is starting a U.S. concert tour with Fozzy on 2/28 and will be in concert on WrestleMania night in Hampton each, NH.

WWE

  • Ron “R-Truth” Killings underwent shoulder surgery earlier today. He posted on it a few times on Twitter.
  • Tickets for the Fast Lane PPV on 3/11 in Columbus, OH at Nationwide Arena go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.  
  • WWE is pushing the debut tonight of “Straight to the Source” with Corey Graves interviewing Roman Reigns in the slot after Raw ends on the WWE Network.
  • Jeff Hardy will be performing in concert on 12/15 in Covington, KY at the Madison Theater. Tickets are $13 in advance and $18 at the door.
  • There is a pre-sale going on for a February Raw in Anaheim with the code: Hondavip
  • There will be a Smackdown show on 2/13 in Bakersfield a well as a WWE show on 2/11 in Fresno. Tickets go on sale for Fresno on Friday. 
  • Interviews with me and Bret Hart on the 1997 Survivor Series.

UFC

  • Joe Rogan apparently did a long monologue on Friday night in Detroit at his comedy show ripping on pro wrestling and pro wrestling fans as part of his comedy show.
  • The “Conor McGregor: Notorious” DVD will be released tomorrow from the UPHE Content Group. This is the movie that was at Fathom theaters a couple of weeks ago.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • There will be matches taped for Impact tonight at the Border City Wrestling show in Belleville, MI at the Diamondback Saloon featuring Eli Drake vs. Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Impact for the title, Petey Williams vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Hakim Zane vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Braxton Sutter vs. RJ City.
  • Hoosier Pro Wrestling from Saturday night in Columbus, IN before 180 fans: Ace Jackson d Tim Lutz, Echo the Clown b Scarecrow, Vic the Bruiser b Omega Pitbull-DQ Butcher Manson b Buck Sexton, Bambino Family b Fireball & Prime, Kenny Cage b Dynamite Dillen to win the HPW title. Next show is 1/6. (thanks to Jerry Wilson)
  • Smash Wrestling from yesterday in Toronto: Allie b Gail Kim, Rosemary b Mercedes Martinez, Cheerleader Melissa b Xandra Bale, Alexis Nicole b Jordynne Grace, Jewels Malone b Samantha Heights, Kaitlin Diemoind b Gisele Shaw, Veda Scott b Danyah. This was the annual USA vs. Canada show. It came down to Allie vs. Kim with Aliie winning. After Kim lost she asked Allie to represent Canada on the show next year. Grace was given an award for best breakout performer. Shaw looked like she had WWE potential. (thanks to Steve Khan)
  • ACPW from Saturday night in Wellington, NZ: Brook Duncan b Taylor Adams, Falcon Kid won four-way over T-Rex, Chad Howard and Liam Fury, Ashlee Spencer b Britanay, Jade Priest b Fury, Kane Kahn & JK Moody b Michael Richards & Mason Daniels, Marcus Kool b Shane Sinclair, Jonah Rock b Paul Sayres. (thanks to Steve Ogilvie)
  • Cleveland Knights Pro Wrestling announced that their 2/9 show featuring Eric Bischoff will be live on FITE TV for $15.
  • CZW on Saturday night at Rastelli’s Complex in Sewell, NJ for the Cage of death show headlined by Rickey Shane Page vs. Shane Strickland vs. Joe Gacy in the cage of death, Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier vs. Nate Carter & Dave McCall vs. Alex Reynolds & Matt Palmer vs. Dave & Jake Crist, Jimmy Havoc vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Matt Tremont vs. Jimmy Lloyd in a thumbtacks  massacre match and David Starr vs. Ethan Page. NWA champion Tim Storm also appears and they are doing a Toys for Tots drive at the show.
  • An update on former WCW wrestler Lodi (Bradley Cain) after neck surgery.
  • A story on Bill Dundee.

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Misawa & Kawada win AJPW tag titles

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