Daily Update: Finn Balor returns, The Hardys, Mayweather

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE Raw in Toronto (HHH will be wrestling on the show in a six-man tag), Smackdown in Fairfax, VA (John Cena is not booked on the show), ROH TV tapings in Las Vegas (Hardys vs. Briscoe has been announced) and NXT in Orlando to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

UFC ON FS1 FROM FORTALEZA, BRAZIL ON SATURDAY

Fight Pass at 7 p.m. Eastern time

  • Paulo Borrachinha (5-0) vs. Garreth McLellan (13-5)
  • Rony Jason (14-6) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (9-0)

FS1 at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Josh Burkman (28-14) vs. Michel Prazeres (21-2)
  • Joe Soto (16-5) vs. Rani Yahya (23-8)
  • Sergio Moraes (11-2-1) vs. Davi Ramos (6-1)
  • Kevin Lee (12-2) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (21-4)
  • Tim Means (26-7-1) vs. Alex Oliveira (15-4-1)
  • Bethe Correia (10-2) vs. Marion Reneau (7-3)
  • Ray Borg (10-2) vs. Jussier Formiga (19-4)
  • Edson Barboza (18-4) vs. Beneil Dariush (14-2)
  • Mauricio Shogun Rua (24-10) vs. Gian Villante (15-7)
  • Vitor Belfort (25-13) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (13-2)

NEW JAPAN CUP FROM AMAGASAKI AT 3 A.M. EASTERN / 11 P.M. PACIFIC LATE SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE ON NEW JAPAN WORLD. Because of daylight savings time at 2 a.m., the show starts one hour later Eastern time)

  • David Finlay vs. Tomoyuki Oka
  • Jushin Liger & Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask
  • Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hirai Kawato vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano & Gedo & Jado vs. Takashi Iizuka & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado & Taka Michinoku & Taichi

First round tournament matches

  • Yujiro Takahashi vs. Juice Robinson
  • Yoshi-Hashi vs. Seiya Sanada
  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuyori Shibata
  • Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Sunday we’re looking for reports from WWE Smackdown in Madison Square Garden and Raw in London, ONT (no Kevin Owens since he’s on the Smackdown show).

WWE IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN AT 3 P.M.

  • Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena for WWE title
  • Brock Lesnar vs. Kevin Owens
  • Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper vs. Baron Corbin vs. The Miz for IC title
  • Jason Jordan & Chad Gable vs. Usos for tag titles
  • Apollo Crews vs Dolph Ziggler
  • Nikki Bella & Becky Lynch & Tamina & Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss & Mickie James & Natalya & Carmella
  • Rhyno & Heath Slater & Kalisto vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Curt Hawkins

        Also appearing are A.J. Styles, Randy Orton and Shane McMahon

Raw is Monday in Detroit for the final WWE event ever at the Joe Louis Arena. Brock Lesnar will be on the show in some form. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Enzo & Cass with the winner getting a shot at the tag titles at WrestleMania will be on the card. Bill Goldberg is not scheduled this week. Smackdown has a house show on Monday night in Charleston, WV with John Cena as the headliner.

Also on Monday will be second round action in the New Japan Cup from Fukui. This won’t be on New Japan World.

Smackdown and 205 Live take place on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. The New Japan Cup continues on Tuesday with second round action in Shiga.

The New Japan Cup also has second round action on Wednesday in Nagano.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/6/2017: Bad booking disappoints at WWE Fastlane

Goldberg is one of WWE’s top champions in 2017. That it was a formality doesn’t make the reality of that sentence any less startling. Nearly 20 years after his peak in WCW, and over a decade after his first stint with WWE came to an end, Goldberg is going to main event WrestleMania. All of that was locked in when Goldberg defeated Kevin Owens to win the WWE Universal Championship at Fastlane. Predictably, the main event was a wrestling match in name only. Goldberg won with a spear and a jackhammer in just over 20 seconds…

Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 13, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Fastlane review, Tomoaki Honma injury, plus tons of news

Updated the plans for WrestleMania, detail what happened with Tomoaki Honma and a progress update, features on Ron Bass, Rick Rude and Tom Jones, a major new WWE signing and future company plans all in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Our lead story runs down WrestleMania, what is on, what is in limbo and where everyone fits in, plus a breakdown of the Fast Lane PPV with business notes, stories behind the matches, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

Have a look back at the career of Ron Bass, his multitude of championships around the country, and why his career ended and post-wrestling.

There is a major feature on the 2016 Wrestling Observer awards, with a breakdown of winners, and notes about the different people in the major categories and compare and contrast them. Plus, discussion about the landslides and the close races and what made the difference.

This issue has a feature on the Hardys and Bully Ray in ROH, back-story of Hardys value on the independent market and where the different companies stand in the U.S. marketplace.

Take a look at the business of UFC 209, including Tony Ferguson’s pay when his fight was canceled, what was supposed to be a benefit to everyone that has backfired but nobody will say it, the judging of Wonderboy vs. Woodley, weight cutting, the welterweight position, as well as business notes on the show, match-by-match coverage and how much everyone was paid.

Examine Daniel Bryan possibly wrestling again, The Miz on promos, the Shane McMahon vs. A.J. Styles angle, notes on WWE talks with two of the best women wrestlers in the world, an update on the Jack Swagger situation, Dana Brooke competes in another sport, WWE Hall of Fame news, Jerry Lawler update, backstage when Dwayne Johnson was talking about C.M. Punk, this week’s Madison Square Garden show, Raw plans post-Mania, the most watched shows on the WWE Network, plus a look at all the arena matches over the past week with highlights and business notes. 

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: February 14, 2000, Vince McMahon announces the XFL, 1999 awards, more

Vince McMahon made sports and business headlines on 2/3 with the announcement of him starting his own professional football league called the XFL. McMahon, who failed in negotiations last year to buy the Canadian Football League, looks to be that league’s No. 1 rival for players not quite good enough for the NFL in his eight-team league scheduled to start in February 2001 with each team playing ten games and ending with championship playoffs in April… Subscribers click here to continue.

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • As was advertised, Finn Balor returned to the ring at last night’s WWE house show in Buffalo, New York. Balor teamed with Chris Jericho & Sami Zayn in the main event against Triple H, Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe. WWE uploaded video of some of Balor’s appearance and posted an article about it on their website.
  • In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso, Bully Ray claimed that his Bully Ray character was previously set to debut in WWE when he was with the company but the idea was nixed at the last minute. “We came one day away in August from debuting Bully Ray in WWE,” Bully Ray said. “At the last second, the decision was made to not go forward with it. Bully Ray was ready to go, but that’s all I can tell you. We were one day away, and they had to pull the plug on it.”
  • John Cena hosts the Kids’ Choice Awards on Nickelodeon tonight. The show starts at 8 p.m. ET.
  • Kassius Ohno & Aleister Black reunited their team for at least one night at NXT’s house show in Daytona Beach, Florida last night. The pair were formerly known as “Heroes Eventually Die” when they were Chris Hero & Tommy End on the indies, and took on Bobby Roode & Andrade “Cien” Almas in last night’s main event.
  • Edge & Christian are debuting a new podcast on March 24th.

Pro Wrestling

  • Reby Hardy continued to go off on Impact Wrestling on Twitter today. She tweeted: “UPDATE: TNA sending ‘spooky’ letters to cable providers threatening to sue if they air Hardys. Trying to screw ROH & ruin wrestling for fans,” and told Dish Network to do better by fans after they didn’t carry last night’s ROH pay-per-view because of legal threats. She also claimed that Matt Hardy’s contract with TNA didn’t have any exclusivity and he could have appeared on any other televised wrestling program while under contract with them, and questioned who would work with Impact now. 
  • Matt Hardy posted a message of support about Reby on Twitter: “I love my wife, Queen Rebecca. If you’re loyal & faithful to her, she’d die for you. If you cross & betray her, she will massacre you.”
  • The Hardys cut a promo on The Young Bucks after last night’s PPV, hyping their next match in Lakeland, Florida over WrestleMania weekend.
  • TK O’Ryan of the new Kingdom suffered a gruesome looking leg injury at last night’s PPV when doing a moonsault to the outside and smashing his leg against the barricade. He tweeted that he’ll probably need surgery.
  • Ratings for the first episode of the new era of Impact Wrestling were virtually stagnant. The show averaged 292k viewers, down slightly from the 293k it did a week prior.
  • EVIL, Bad Luck Fale, Toru Yano, and Yuji Nagata advanced to the second round of the New Japan Cup at this morning’s show. It will be EVIL vs. Nagata and Fale vs. Yano in the next round. Tomorrow morning’s show will have Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuyori Shibata, YOSHI-HASHI vs. SANADA, and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Juice Robinson in the remaining first round matches.
  • Pete Dunne and Mark Haskins will be wrestling at WWN’s WrestleMania weekend EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS Supershow. PROGRESS announced Haskins, Sami Callihan, Toni Storm, and the South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black) for their show in Orlando.

UFC/MMA

  • Floyd Mayweather announced that he’s officially coming out of retirement with the intention of fighting Conor McGregor in a boxing match in June. “I don’t want to hear no more excuses about the money, about the UFC. Sign the paper with the UFC so you can fight me in June,” Mayweather said. “Simple and plain. Let’s fight in June. You’re the B side, I’m the A side. We’re not here to cry about money. I’m tired of all this crying about money and talking about you want to fight. You blowing smoke up everybody’s ass. If you want to fight, sign the paperwork, let’s do it.”
  • Amanda Nunes said that she felt sad and alone about the UFC only promoting Ronda Rousey ahead of their fight at UFC 207.
  • Marlon Vera will now face Brad Pickett in Pickett’s retirement fight after stepping in for an injured Henry Briones on short notice.

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

  • The Empire bus to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). THERE ARE ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!
  • The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at f4wfan@hotmail.com or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

  • WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
  • WHEN: Friday March 31st
  • WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
  • WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
  • DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at Srjaialaiot@yahoo.com (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/11): Sting wins the WCW World title

CONTACT INFORMATION

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