Daily Update: Destruction in Kobe angle, YOSHI-HASHI, Janela

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on last night’s Raw house show in Billings, MT, and today’s Raw show in Loveland, CO and Smackdown in Las Cruces, NM to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re also looking for your thoughts on today’s Destruction in Kobe, 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.

Raw will be live on Monday from the Pepsi Arena in Denver. So far announced is Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler vs. The Revival for the tag titles, Brie Bella vs. Ruby Riott and Bobby Lashley vs.Elias. Smackdown has a show on Monday night in Colorado Springs, CO.

Smackdown, 205 Live and Mixed Match Challenge will be taped on Tuesday in Denver. Announced so far is Hideo Itami vs. Mustafa Ali, Bobby Lashley & Mickie James vs. Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox and Miz & Asuka vs. R-Truth & Carmella. Smackdown will also have a contract signing for the A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe match in Melbourne.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Brock Lesnar returns at Hell in a Cell

After losing the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, it took less than a month for Brock Lesnar to resurface in WWE. Lesnar didn’t just get involved in the main event of Sunday night’s pay-per-view — the finish of the show was entirely built around his appearance. Roman Reigns speared Braun Strowman through a table, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose came out to fight on the outside, and Lesnar caused the Hell in a Cell match to end in a no contest.

WON NEWSLETTER: September 24, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jon Jones set to return, more

The lead story runs down the Jon Jones situation in detail, his test failure, the campaign of attempted misinformation designed to fool the public, the tragedy of all this, and how this affects Brock Lesnar and Daniel Cormier.

Read a feature on the life and career of Noricum “Kid” Yamamoto, who passed away last week.

Find out about Shawn Michaels’ planned return to ring action, what his proposed match is, the angle to set it up, the building of the angle, moves being made by WWE, and details behind the return of Brock Lesnar.

Go in-depth on the WWE concussion lawsuits being thrown out. Read about why, the big problems with the suits, as well as the big problem on the flip side of how the statute of limitations was being applied. 

Get the update on the Rey Mysterio’s situation, the changes to 205 no longer being live, update on Alexa Bliss and Jeff Hardy when it comes to appearing on live shows, book coming out on the career of former WWE star, WWE hires new head of legal, notes on Starrcade 18, and Rousey vs. Cyborg rumor notes.

We’ve also got full coverage of the CMLL Anniversary show, with match-by-match coverage, star ratings as well as a chart on what wrestlers have headlined the most anniversary shows in history.

Get full coverage of this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, with a look at every match from all three days of what was some of the best wrestling shows that will be held anywhere in the world this year.

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking the NJPW Destruction show and taking e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

At today’s Destruction in Hiroshima show, after Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Kazuchika Okada for the first time in nearly four years, Jay White came out and attacked both guys. It was a wild angle which saw White take out Chaos members Yoshi-Hashi and Rocky Romero. Yoshi-Hashi did a run-in, slipped and hit his head on the ring frame and was busted up badly, but still completed his run-in and White laid him out. This brought out Gedo and Gedo turned on Okada, so Gedo will now manage White as the top heel and he looks to be feuding with both Tanahashi and Okada. They’ll be announcing everything in the next day or two, but I’d expect Tanahashi vs. White on 10/8 for the Tokyo Dome title shot and perhaps Okada vs. White at the Tokyo Dome. Kushida also beat Bushi to go to the finals of the jr. tournament, and he’ll face the winner of next Sunday’s Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll match in Long Beach for the title on 10/8 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.

Regarding Yoshi-Hashi, he was able to leave on his own power. He was taken to the hospital to be checked out and the first word is that he’s okay.

The only thing that was among the leading search topics this weekend for combat sports was Anthony Joshua, who was only No. 20 yesterday with 100,000 searches.

Just to clear up, in Melbourne for two weeks from now, Melbourne City Wrestling will be running on the Friday before the WWE Super Show Down while WrestleRock will be running the afternoon before the WWE show at The Corner Hotel for a show called Wrestle Brunch which is within walking distance of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

WWE is advertising for its next show in Madison Square Garden on 12/26, A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe in a cage match for the WWE title, plus Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz and Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair for the women’s title.

Joey Janela, who was injured on Friday, said that his knee was swollen but he can bend it slightly and put pressure on it. He’s having his MRI done tomorrow.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • MLW announced that tickets for its 11/8 show at Cicero Stadium outside Chicago are on sale. Names appearing on the show include Pentagon Jr., Fenix, Low Ki, L.A. Park, Teddy Hart, Brian Pillman Jr., Davey Boy Smith Jr., Tom Lawlor, MJF, Konnan, Sami Callihan, Shane Strickland, Tommy Dreamer, El Hijo de L.A. Park and Sammy Guevara.
  • Great Khali is coming to Australia for a Kabaddi tournament on 10/28 and will be doing a meet and greet on 10/21 in Melbourne as well as in Brisbane and Auckland, New Zealand. They are pushing this to the Indian population in Australia.
  • Best of the West on 10/6 in Merced, CA at 6 p.m. with a TV taping featuring Joey Ryan. They also run 11/4 in Fresno at the Bitwise Hive with a TV taping featuring Brody King and Tyler Bateman.
  • Pro Wrestling Revolution has shows on 10/13 at the Visalia Rawhide Ballpark outdoors at 6 p.m. They also have a show on 10/27 in San Jose at Mt. Pleasant High School with L.A. Park as a headliner.
  • Lucha Xtreme on 10/14 runs as part of the Big Fresno fair on the Pavilion Stage at 7 p.m.
  • CWA on 10/28 in Hilmar, CA, near Turlock, at the Hilmar Grange Hall.
  • Paradox Pro Wrestling on 11/3 in Merced, CA at the Boys & Girls Club with Brian Cage, Brody King, Killer Kross and Sammy Guevara.
  • FuboTV has dropped the El Rey Network, which airs Lucha Underground. There are people upset because this was done with no notification ahead of time that it was being dropped. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • Melbourne City Wrestling today  for the Queen of GLOW tournament: Avary b Erika Reid, Vixsin b Chanel Phoenix, Kellyanne b Indi Hartwell, Keyllyanne won over Vixsin and Avary. This was the first all-women’s show in Melbourne in four years. It was held in a small bar and they were interested in fans of GLOW more than pro wrestling fans.
  • AWA Sky’s the Limit from yesterday in Queensland, Australia: Kings of Queensland b Bobby Bishop & Rip Reilly, Headstrong b Blaine Seeker & Dreagen, Araya Reign b Chase Cooper, Adonis b Jaxon Cross, Jesse Daniels b Dolph Finn, Jake Nova won four-way over Robbie Eagles, Adam Brooks and Rufio.
  • Ryback claimed that the TNT promotion in Australia hasn’t fully paid him for the AWF tour he was on that bombed. TNT claimed that wasn’t the case (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Legacy Fighting Association on 10/19 in Belton, TX and the Bell County Expo Center live on AXS TV has Ray Rodriguez (13-4) vs. Chris Gutierrez (11-2-1) in a bantamweight bout and Jonathan Martinez (9-1) vs. Cee Jay Hamilton (13-6) in a flyweight bout as the main events.
  • AWS from last night in South Gate, CA: Jesse James & Hoss Hogg b Mariachi Loco & SoCa Crazy, Vanessa Kraven b Heather Monroe, Lil Cholo b Peter Avalon, JR Kratos b Suede Thompson, Vipress b Keira Hogan-DQ, Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas b Delilah Doom & Leva Bates, Andy Brown b Maxx Stardom, Cheerleader Melissa Anderson b Raze, Douglas James won 2/3 falls over Ray Rosas with the third fall being last man standing to win the light heavyweight title. Their last show of the year is on 10/20. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • Road Warrior Animal is coming to Lebanon, TN on 9/29 at the Lebanon National Guard Armory for an appearance. 

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Kurt Angle wins WWF title at Unforgiven 2001

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