Daily Update: Greatest Royal Rumble, PWG, Greg Hardy

By Joseph Currier
Published: 21 Apr 2018, 18:02

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

WWE Raw is in Johannesburg, South Africa, Smackdown is in Johnson City, TN and NXT is in Bel Air, MD and Fort Pierce, FL. We’re looking for reports on those shows to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

UFC ON SATURDAY NIGHT FROM BOARDWALK HALL IN ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

Fight Pass at 7:30 p.m. Eastern

Tony Martin (170.6) vs. Keita Nakamura (170.6)

FS1 at 8 p.m. Eastern

Merab Dvalishvili (135.2) vs. Ricky Simon (135.8)
Corey Anderson (205) vs. Patrick Cummins (205.6)
Siyar Bahadurzada (171) vs. Luan Chagas (170)
Alex Garcia (171) vs. Ryan LaFlare (170.6)
Dan Hooker (155.6) vs. Jim Miller (155.4)
Brett Johns (135.8) vs. Aljamain Sterling (135.2)
David Branch (186) vs. Thiago Santos (185.8)
Chase Sherman (247) vs. Justin Willis (265.4)
Frankie Edgar (145.6) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
Edson Barboza (155.6) vs. Kevin Lee (157)

PWG SATURDAY NIGHT FROM RESEDA, CALIFORNIA

Bandido vs. Rey Hours
Robbie Eagles vs. Joey Janela
Trevor Lee vs. Flash Morgan Webster
Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs. Tyler Bateman & Body King
Taiji Ishimori vs. Sammy Guevara
Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher
Keith Lee vs. Jonah Rock vs. Walter for PWG title

ALL JAPAN CHAMPION CARNIVAL FROM NAGOYA AT 4 A.M. EASTERN TIME SUNDAY ON ALL JAPAN’S STREAMING SERVICE

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kai
Suwama vs. Yoshitatsu
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Ryoji Sai
Kento Miyahara vs. Joe Doering

Sunday has WWE Smackdown in Chattanooga and NXT in Johnstown, PA.

IMPACT REDEMPTION PPV FROM ORLANDO AT 8 P.M. EASTERN

Drago vs. Aerostar
Sami Callihan & Dave & Jake Crist vs. Tommy Dreamer & Moose & Eddie Edwards in a Hardcore match
Brian Cage vs. DJZ vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Trevor Lee
Allie vs. Su Yung for Knockouts title
Matt Sydal vs. Petey Williams for X title
LAX vs. Eli Drake & Scott Steiner for Impact tag titles
Austin Aries vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix for Impact title

NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL ON MONDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Ren Narita vs. Yota Tsuji
Yuji Nagata & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi
Rocky Romero & Sho & Yoh vs. Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku & Taichi
Togi Makabe & Michael Elgin & Juice Robinson & Toa Henare & Kushida vs. Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay
Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Jay White & Gedo
Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Sanada vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado vs. Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi for IWGP jr. tag titles

Raw will be Monday in St. Louis as the go-home Raw for the Greatest Royal Rumble show. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are both scheduled for the show. There is also a Smackdown house show on Monday night in Bowling Green, KY.

NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL ON TUESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. Ren Narita
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Shota Umino vs. Yuji Nagata & Tomoyuki Oka
Rocky Romero & Sho & Yoh vs. Takashi Iizuka & Taichi & Taka Michinoku
Togi Makabe & Michael Elgin & Toa Henare & Kushida vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay
Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Sanada & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Gedo
Jay White vs. David Finlay for U.S. title

Smackdown will be Tuesday in Louisville, KY. There will be a gauntlet match of the cruiserweights for the Friday night title shot at Cedric Alexander.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Looking ahead to the Greatest Royal Rumble

With WrestleMania 34 just barely in the rearview mirror, WWE’s second stadium show of the month is already under two weeks away. The Greatest Royal Rumble will take place at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, April 27th and air live on the WWE Network at noon Eastern time. The card already has seven matches confirmed: a 50-man Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a steel cage, John Cena vs. Triple H, The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho in a casket match, Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins defending against The Miz, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe in a ladder match, The Usos challenging for The Bludgeon Brothers’ SmackDown Tag Team titles, and a match to decide the new Raw Tag Team Champions. The WWE, United States, and Cruiserweight Championships will also be on the line.

WON NEWSLETTER: April 24, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The death of Bruno Sammartino

A look back at the life and career of Bruno Sammartino is the focus of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This is the most in-depth look at both his life inside and outside the ring, talking his career, his biggest matches, his conflicts with Vince McMahon and his father, the Phil Donahue show, his biggest feuds, how he got started, his weightlifting and the amazing story of his life as a child in Italy, and growing up to be one of the strongest men in the world.

Read about Sammartino’s appeal, his health issues, his family, the amazing story of his mother, why he refused to let Hollywood studios do a movie on his life, his learning to lift weights, his high school yearbook and goals, what he did out of high school, notes on two of his most famous early matches, how he first got noticed in Pittsburgh and got NFL and wrestling offers.

Have a brief look at the career of Paul Jones, who also passed away this past week.

The break down of both Raw and Smackdown after the Superstar shakeup, looking at the depth charts, what categories are strong, what categories are weak and what changes can be made, all inside this issue.

Read the update on the Greatest Royal Rumble show and the ethical questions the show has brought up.

Look at the John Cena/Nikki Bella story, Ronda Rousey and Daniel Bryan working house shows, Bobby Lashley news, Chris Jericho talks New Japan, Jericho vs. Undertaker prior matches, Cena and Rock movie box office, Next week’s WWE TV, beers named after two different wrestling legends, NXT big show lineups, and the name change of a WWE wrestler.

There is also an update on the UFC television contract talks.

Plus, this issue has the weekly coverage of all the ratings of the major shows, detailed notes on who is watching all the WWE shows, results from the major league events held around the world, the major TV show rundowns, and the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.

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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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.

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

The Greatest Royal Rumble is listed as running from noon Eastern time to 5 p.m. on the WWE Network schedule for Friday, with a one-hour pre-show airing before the event. The show will also be available on traditional pay-per-view in the United States.
Saudi Arabia’s state news agency said a toy drone being shot down was the reason for gunfire in Riyadh today.
The Bruno Sammartino documentary that is airing after Raw on Monday will be an hour long and is called “Bruno.”
Visitation for Sammartino is taking place at John A. Freyvogel Sons in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Eastern. A funeral mass will be held at St. Sebastian Roman Catholic Church at 10 a.m. on Monday prior to a private burial.
While doing press for his movie “Rampage,” The Rock confirmed that he had talks with Vince McMahon about being Ronda Rousey’s partner at WrestleMania 34 but it didn’t work with his schedule.
WWE sent their condolences to actor and former Raw guest host Verne Troyer’s family, friends, and fans following his death today.
With her being called up to Raw, Ember Moon passed her locker at the Performance Center down to Jessie Elaban
Today is Nikki Cross’ 29th birthday.
Shawn Michaels praised Ricochet and Velveteen Dream’s match from NXT’s house show in Washington, DC on Thursday night: “Having the pleasure of watching @VelveteenWWE, @KingRicochet & the entire @WWENXT crew tear the house down in our nations capital!!!! #NXT”
A new DVD on The Shield (called “The Shield: Justice For All”) is scheduled to be released in July, with each disc focusing on one member of the group.
Responding to a WWE.com post about Women’s Tag Team titles and other possible ideas for SmackDown, Nikki Bella teased a future match against The IIconics: “Hey @RealPaigeWWE Brie and I would love to put the SnapBack, Nike kicks, jersey, flannel, headband, and twin power back on in that WWE ring! Feeling pretty ICONIC…. N”
After he won the United States Championship from Jinder Mahal, WWE looked at Jeff Hardy’s 10 greatest title wins.
Triple H spoke to the attendees at WWE’s tryout in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Gazette interviewed Samoa Joe about the Greatest Royal Rumble and his return from injury.
WWE touted that 205 Live play-by-play announcer Vic Joseph is covering next week’s NFL draft for SiriusXM, the Cleveland Browns Network, and other platforms.

Pro Wrestling

At the beginning of last night’s PWG show, it was noted that the sale of the American Legion Hall in Reseda hasn’t been officially finalized yet and their May 25th show may not be the last one at the building. Dave Meltzer wrote that it may still be the last show at the venue, with the next date after May scheduled for the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles on July 13th.
Dragon Lee suffered a non-contact knee/leg injury at last night’s CMLL Arena Mexico show, but the early indication is that the injury wasn’t as bad as it looked.
NJPW young lion Tetsuhiro Yagi is out of action due to a fractured right ulna.
A new theme song for NJPW’s Suzuki-gun stable will be debuting on Tuesday.
With him re-joining WWE after his involvement in ITV’s World of Sport revival pilot, Jim Ross confirmed that he won’t be involved in next month’s WOS tapings.
Roy Bevis of the Knight family is planning a peaceful protest of the World of Sport tapings at Epic Studios in Norwich due to feeling his family was mistreated by the venue and ITV.
AJ Brooks appeared on WGN News to discuss mental health awareness and her book “Crazy is my Superpower.” (thanks to reader Jake Koch)
The Baltimore Sun spoke to Tony Schiavone about his return to pro wrestling television as part of MLW’s commentary team.
Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser vs. Coast 2 Coast (Shaheem Ali & Leon St. Giovanni) vs. The Dawgs (Will Ferrara & Rhett Titus in a four corner tag team survival match is set for ROH’s show in West Palm Beach, Florida next Friday.
UK wrestler Alex Windsor announced that her in-ring career will be taking a back seat for a while as she starts a new chapter in her life.
The Sydney Morning Herald has an article on the biggest show in Pro Wrestling Australia’s history, which is in conjunction with PROGRESS Wrestling.
A stuffed Bury the Drug Free Bear is the first official piece of All In merchandise.

UFC/MMA

Former NFL player Greg Hardy, who has been training in MMA and competing in amatuer fights, will be making his pro debut against Brandon Sayles on June 12th as part of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. Hardy was arrested on domestic violence charges in March 2014 and later suspended for 10 games by the NFL. He played one season for the Dallas Cowboys after that and was arrested for cocaine possession in 2016.
Max Holloway defending his featherweight title against Brian Ortega has been added to the card for UFC 226 in Las Vegas on July 7th.
The official poster for UFC 225 has been released, with CM Punk vs. Mike Jackson as the third fight featured on it. Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero and Rafael dos Anjos vs. Colby Covington for the interim welterweight title are also included.
Jon Jones promised that Alexander Gustafsson will never beat him.
Daniel Cormier questioned what Gustafsson has accomplished in his career.

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Hulk Hogan defeats HHH to win Undisputed title

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