Daily Update: G1 Climax, PROGRESS, Mark Coleman

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE Raw show in Salisbury, MA and NXT show in Crystal Springs, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

For this weekend, we’ll be doing polls for all three New Japan G-1 shows at Budokan Hall, including the just completed show, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

We also will have a poll that will open after the conclusion of the finals on Sunday for best match of G-1 and MVP of G-1 at dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING AT 8 P.M. TONIGHT ON AXS TV

  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
  • Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto

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

  • John Hennigan vs. Teddy Hart
  • MJF vs. Joey Janela for the middleweight title in a falls count anywhere match

CMLL TONIGHT AT 9:30 P.M. FROM ARENA MEXICO ON THE MARCA CLARO FACEBOOK PAGE

  • Oro Jr. & Star Jr. vs. Akuma & Espanto Jr.
  • Jarochita & Marcela & Mystique vs. Amapola & Dalys & Reyna Isis
  • Flyer & Soberano Jr. & Titan vs. Cavernario & Felino & Negro Casas
  • Valiente vs. Hechicero
  • Caristico & Diamante Azul & Mistico vs. Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero & Penta 0M
  • Rey Fenix & Matt Taven & Volador Jr. vs. Rush & El Terrible & Bestia del Ring

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX B BLOCK FINALS FROM BUDOKAN HALL IN TOKYO AT 5:30 A.M. SATURDAY MORNING EASTERN TIME, 2:30 A.M. PACIFIC TIME TONIGHT ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • David Finlay & Michael Elgin vs. Toa Henare & Shota Umino in the C block championship match
  • Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa vs. Hangman Page & Chase Owens
  • Young Bucks & Marty Scurll vs. Jay White & Sho & Yoh
  • Minoru Suzuki & Desperado vs. Evil & Bushi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo
  • Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Seiya Sanada
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Juice Robinson
  • Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi

Saturday we’re looking for reports from the WWE Raw show in Norfolk, VA, Smackdown in Greeneville,NC and NXT in Cocoa, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

EVOLVE FROM CICERO, IL AT 4 P.M. EASTERN TIME SATURDAY

  • Chris Dickinson & Dominic Garrini & Stokley Hathaway vs. The Skulk
  • Jon Davis vs. Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Henry
  • Isaias Velazquez vs. Matt Knicks for the Freelance title
  • DJZ vs. AR Fox
  • Walter vs. J.D. Drake
  • Jaka vs. Tracy Williams
  • Joey Janela & Saieve Al Sabah vs. Shane Strickland & Austin Theory

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX FINALS FROM BUDOKAN HALL IN TOKYO AT 2 A.M. EASTERN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT AT 11 P.M. PACIFIC ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • G-1 Climax finals
  • Rey Mysterio Jr. appears

Sunday has a Raw house show in Roanoke, VA and Smackdown in Florence, SC.

EVOLVE FROM LIVONIA, MI AT 4 P.M. EASTERN TIME SUNDAY

  • Jaka vs. Saieve Al Sabaah
  • Walter vs. Anthony Henry
  • Shane Strickland vs. DJZ
  • Matt Riddle vs J.D. Drake
  • Tracy Williams vs. Chris Dickinson & Stokley Hathaway – Williams or Hathaway must retire with a loss
  • Joey Janela vs. Austin Theory vs. AR Fox for the WWN title

The go-home Raw for SummerSlam is Monday in Greensboro. As of one week ago, Brock Lesnar was scheduled on this show, but he is not advertised on it right now at we haven’t had it confirmed since last week. A three-way for the tag titles with the B Team defending against Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt and The Revival is set for the show. Smackdown has a house show on Monday night in Columbia, SC.

Smackdown and 205 Live are taped on Tuesday night in Greenville, SC, with Cedric Alexander vs. Jack Gallagher in a non-title match and Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa both announced for the 205 Live show.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Matt Riddle’s future starts to become clear

It may have been a bit delayed, but Matt Riddle signing with WWE seems all but inevitable at this point. Riddle dropping the EVOLVE Championship to Shane Strickland at EVOLVE 108 this past weekend is only the latest indication of that. When Riddle pulled out of OTT’s SummerSlam weekend shows in Ireland, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had reconsidered its position on Riddle.

WON NEWSLETTER: (August 13, 2018)Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov to set records

A detailed rundown of WWE business is in the new issue of the Observer. Look at the company value; the WrestleMania quarter revenue, why profits are surprisingly low and why that really doesn’t matter right now, executive bonuses, profits for the first six months of the year, what is known about the WWE Network and actual WrestleMania ticket sales.

A look at the story behind the Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight and PPV prospects is the other lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Look at how McGregor showed that if you can draw giant money you can get away with almost anything. 

Also look at what the big advance ticket sale for ROH in Madison Square Garden shows. Look at what should have been expected, the ticket broker market for the show, how many tickets were sold first day, the last time MSG sold out for wrestling, the largest U.S. non-WWE gate in history, and the big picture on the show. 

Read about Glenn Jacobs winning the mayoral race in Knox County, TN, other pro wrestlers who have won public office election, and the Jacobs campaign.

Also look in detail on the All In show with the lineup, ways to watch, how the WGN deal came about and more.

Read more thoughts on the WWE television situation in 2019 including the idea of NXT moving to television, what is and isn’t planned about that and how to make it work, as well as a flaws in doing so.

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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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Our weekend schedule is we are doing a rare free show on the site tonight covering the first night at Budokan Hall, the MSG sellout, Punk-Cabana lawsuit, Mae Young Classic, the timeline of TNA being canceled by Spike TV and more. This will be Garrett Gonzalez and I doing the show. Bryan and I will be doing our weekend show on Sunday morning after the G-1 finals (not directly after).

UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman said yesterday that he was a victim of the sexual abuse of Dr. Richard Strauss, when he was a senior at Ohio State in 1986. However, Coleman said that he did not know for sure if Jim Jordan, a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, who was an assistant wrestling coach at the time, was aware of it. More than 100 people have come forward regarding Strauss. Coleman in the past had said that Jordan knew what was going on in a Wall Street Journal article in July, but in his latest statement he said he had no first-hand knowledge if Jordan knew and said he believed Jordan, who denied any knowledge, was of impeccable character.

With Hiroshi Tanahashi winning the A block, this is how the B block tonight goes:

  • If Kenny Omega beats Kota Ibushi, he is in the finals no matter what happens with Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • If Kota Ibushi beats Kenny Omega, then he is in the finals.
  • If Omega and Ibushi go to a 30:00 draw and Naito beats Sabre, Naito is in the finals.
  • If Omega and Ibushi go to a 30:00 draw and Sabre beats Naito, Omega is in the finals.
  • If there are two 30:00 draws, which won’t happen, but if, Omega is in the finals.
  • If Omega and Ibushi do a double DQ or double count out, and Naito beats Sabre, Naito is in the finals.
  • If Omega and Ibushi do a double DQ or double count out and Naito draws Sabre, Naito is in the finals.
  • If Omega and Ibushi do a double DQ or double count out and Sabre beats Naito, Omega is in the finals.
  • If both matches are double DQ’s Omega is in the finals, although that won’t happen either.

Regarding the show, if you are looking at setting your alarm to see Omega vs. Ibushi live, I’d say 7:45 a.m. Eastern or 4:45 a.m. Pacific.

New Japan announced in storyline that if Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale or Tanga Loa interfere in any of the G-1 matches on Saturday they will be suspended for three months.

From all accounts, Progress had a tremendous show last night in Seattle with people raving about Tyler Bate & Trent Seven & Pete Dunne vs. Rey Hours & Flamita & Bandido in particular. The crowd was on fire all night. They have doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday this week with Evolve at 4 p.m. both days and Progress at 8 p.m. both days with shows in Cicero, IL tomorrow and Livonia, MI on Sunday.

Progress from Seattle: TK Cooper b Eddie Dennis, Grizzled Young Veterans b American Gunz, Brody King b Elliot Sexton, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven & Pete Dunne b Flamita & Bandido & Rey Hours, Mark Andrews won over King Khash, Flash Morgan Webster and Artemis Spencer, Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham b Jack Sexsmith & David Starr, Walter b Jimmy Havoc.

Dennis Wright, 30, of Boca Raton, FL, pleaded guilty yesterday in the hit-and-run death of Jordan Parsons of Bellator on the eve of the scheduled trial. Wright pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of a crash involving death and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Wright had been in custody since 4/20 after violating his $450,000 bond for violating conditions of his house arrest when he attended his own birthday party at a hotel where alcohol was served. Wright was sentenced to ten years in prison followed by ten years probation, and he must carry a photo of the victim with him at all times as a reminder of what he caused. Prosecutors said that Wright, driving drunk at 116 miles per hour, hit Parsons at a crosswalk in Boca Raton, and continued driving and got home ten minutes later. Parsons, 25, died three days later after surgeries. Wright’s drivers license was also permanently suspended. (thanks to Daniel Rose)

Alexandre Pereira, a 21-year-old Brazilian fighter who suffered a heart attack cutting weight for a fight in January, is out of a coma.

Kazuchika Okada has been announced for the 8/17 show at Arena Mexico. It will be the first time he’s ever wrestled for CMLL in that building.

WWE

  • Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton are all ofd this weekend’s WWE house shows. Rollins is on a promotional tour in China.
  • More from the Mae Young Classic including the Tegan Nox injury.
  • A correction from yesterday when talking about the New York Mets hosting WWE Night on 8/22, it will be at Citi Field in New York. Jeff Hardy, Mickie James and Curt Hawkins will all be appearing for a meet and greet before the game and Hardy will throw out the first pitch.

OTHER

  • Announced for the Impact show at Mediacon in Manchester, England at the Bowlers Exhibition Center on 9/9 is Jimmy Havoc vs. Sami Callihan and LAX vs Jonny Storm & Jody Fleisch. The theme of the show is going to be Impact vs. U.K.
  • Brian Danovich, who was on the 2004 season of Tough Enough, passed away from an apparent suicide at the age of 36. Danovich tore his pec on the show where they cut the competitors down to the ones who would make the season. He wanted to keep going and ended up getting a developmental contract out of it, but didn’t last long, passed away this past week of an apparent suicide. That was the season of The Miz, The Boogeyman, Daniel Puder and Daniel Rodimar.
  • Michigan wrestler Mike McMahon, who was stabbed outside a Southgate, MI bar, noted that the person who stabbed him and was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon only got two years probation. (thanks to Jake Koch)
  • Former WWE and sometimes UFC announcer Todd Grisham, was hired by Oscar de la Hoya as the new voice of Golden Boy fight Nights on Facebook Watch. Grisham will be working with actor and former high school wrestling star Mario Lopez (his wrestling gimmick on Saved by the Bell was legit).
  • Best in the West TV results from last night on Fresno TV: Kenny K b Biago Cresenzo and Danny Rocket, Funnybone b Steven Tresario. The next show is an iPPV on 8/25 in Santa Cruz, CA at the Veterans Memorial Building with Kenny K vs. Kadin Anthony vs. Matt Carlos plus Chris Masters vs Bison Braddock. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
  • Legacy Fighting on 9/7 in Kearney, NE at the Viaero Center on AXS TV headlined by Rauffeon Stotts (9-1), a two-time NCAA Division II national wrestling champion, against Ryan Lilley (9-3) in a bantamweight fight.
  • AWS on 9/22 in South Gate, CA has Ray Rosas vs. Douglas James for the lightweight title, Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas vs. Delillah Doom & Leva Bates for the tag titles, Cheerleader Melissa vs. Raze, Barbi Hayden vs. Vanessa Kraven, Shotzi Blackheart vs. Keira Hogan and more.
  • Future Stars of Wrestling on 8/18 in Las Vegas has Mia Yim, Hammerstone vs. Andy Dalton, Katarina, Heather Monroe, Leva Bates, Shotzi Blackheaert, Kris Wolf and Xia Brookside. Plus, an F4W grudge tag team match of our own Bryan Alvarez and a myster partner vs. PeachMachine and Mikey G.
  • The latest NWA video on the Nick Aldis vs. Cody match and the MSG sellout.
  • Lanny Poffo talking about Randy Savage. (thanks to Joe Puccio)
  • Chris Cruise on Howard Brody, Ring Warriors and Bruno Sammartino’s thoughts on Hulk Hogan from the Matt Riviera show.
    Chris Cruise on promoter Howard Brody & his history in pro wrestling: “He’s (Howard Brody) just kind of one of those loser, schlub, jock-sniffing wannabes who, you know, have invaded pro wrestling over the past 20 or 30 years, and use it to make themselves into somebody that they’re really not… typical perv, he started with ladies wrestling in the late 80s. And then somehow he became the president of the National Wrestling Alliance… He’s just one of these guys that, god love him, despite his losing track record of 20 or 30 years, he just never goes away…
    Chris’s prediction for the Ring Warriors TV show on WGN America: “If you look at a 2013 or 2014 show from them, they had a taping, I think in Florida, and they had maybe the 1st or 2nd rows filled and then they had to darken the entire rest of the small arena. So, that’s probably what’s going to happen… My guess is they’re going to get on the air… But I think after that, WGN is going to say, “Look, this is not the promotion you promised.”… Unless they’ve got a millionaire who’s willing to burn money, I don’t see this thing lasting on WGN beyond September.”
    Hulk Hogan’s apparent return to WWE: “Before he died, Bruno Sammartino and I talked a lot about this issue of why WWE would even want Hogan back in…. I don’t know if it’s nostalgia or a feeling that they owe him or something. But to forgive him for what he said. Apparently, he was in his early to mid-50s when he said this, he was a grown man. And his use of the N word, it wasn’t just once, it was a number of times in that conversation, and in such a disparaging, condescending, racist tone… And everyone always talks about forgiveness. Well he’s been forgiven many times, for lying about steroids, for lying about drug use, just for lying in general. How many times do you forgive the guy?”

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Vader wins IWGP Heavyweight title

12th Annual F4W Empire Vegas Convention

Greetings friends and fans of the F4W / Wrestling Observer website. The 12th annual F4W / Wrestling Observer Empire Las Vegas Convention~! is just around the corner.

This year’s event will be taking place in Las Vegas from August 16th to the 20th and will again be in conjunction with WWE’s SummerSlam weekend a.k.a. Super China Buffet Day~! There will still be the usual events, but our big draw will be WWE’s summer blockbuster PPV, SummerSlam. As per tradition, we will all gorge ourselves at a Las Vegas buffet, and then watch SummerSlam in a rented out movie theater. All information and ticketing prices are available now. Sign up ASAP as spots are limited for some events. 

This year will also feature a Future Stars Wrestling show which will include the first ever Granny’s Doubles Match Classic! Already booked for the show are the teams Mia Yim & Leva Bates, Shotzi Blackheart & Sage Sin, Samantha Heights & Brittany Blake, and Miranda Alize & Kylie Rae. Also just booked for the show is a tag team Grappling Battel~! featuring Bryan Alvarez & ??? vs. The Beach Bums (PeachMachine & Mikey G), You won’t want to miss this show! Check out the convention’s Facebook page for all additional information.

CONTACT INFORMATION