Daily Update: Fighting Spirit Unleashed, UFC notes, Evolution

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: ROH and NJPW sell out Madison Square Garden

With All In still a few weeks away, the second non-WWE pro wrestling show in the United States to sell over 10,000 tickets since the death of WCW is already official. Tickets for Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden went on sale last week, with the April 6, 2019 event selling out in just a few days. Approximately 9,000 of the 15,000 tickets were sold after the first day of the HonorClub pre-sale, they were up over 12,000 after a second day of pre-sales, and they sold out shortly after being made available to the general public last Friday.

WON NEWSLETTER: August 27, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam and NXT Takeover Brooklyn reviews, more

There was hardly a shortage of news coming out of this year’s SummerSlam show on 8/19 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

It was three years and five months after the plan to coronate Roman Reigns as the company’s main champion by beating the guy who ended the streak, Brock Lesnar, was supposed to play out. It was delayed so often by fear of a bad fan reaction that the breaking of the streak was not even relevant in the storyline. Indeed, Reigns himself beat Undertaker a second time at a WrestleMania and that’s wasn’t relevant by this time either.

In this case, the company’s approach to avoid the negativity, but finally pull the trigger ended up with a clever bait & switch idea that at least made the fans at home not think the fans were revolting on the switch.

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • NXT is taping television at Full Sail University tonight, with the episodes focused on fallout from TakeOver: Brooklyn. We’ll have a report from the tapings once they’re over.
  • WWE released the official poster for Evolution, with it featuring Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey, Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Naomi, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Nia Jax, Ember Moon, Shayna Baszler, Kairi Sane, Natalya, Trish Stratus, and Lita. Charlotte is front and center on the poster. When the show was announced, WWE noted that over 50 wrestlers from the past and present would participate in it. The NXT Women’s Championship, which Sane currently holds and was last held by Baszler, is one of the titles being defended on the show.
  • Road Dogg responded to a fan on Twitter who said the story they’re telling on SmackDown between Becky Lynch and Charlotte has been Lynch fighting and struggling for a title shot while Charlotte was handed an opportunity and took away a moment from Lynch: “That’s not the story you were told, that’s the story you wanted to hear. She had to do the exact same thing as Charlotte did, beat Carmella! They both climbed the exact same mountain”
  • WWE.com has a poll asking fans whether they supported Lynch the entire time that she was trying to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
  • Daniel Bryan told Sky Sports that he really liked wrestling Big Cass during their feud. Bryan said he thought Cass progressed a lot when they worked together, that he wishes Big Cass luck and hopes he does very well, and that he likes Cass as a person and as a wrestler.
  • The New Day, Rusev & Lana, and Sasha Banks were guests on a WWE edition of Open Late with Peter Rosenberg.
  • Bret Hart was honored with a Blackfoot name meaning “Courageous Chief” at a ceremony in Calgary.
  • Jack Gallagher appeared on the latest episode of website Giant Bomb’s Get in the Ring.

Pro Wrestling

UFC/MMA

Daily Professional Wrestling History: CM Punk wins World title at SummerSlam 2009

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