Daily Update: HHH, lineup for tonight’s Raw, RIZIN

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We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Crown Jewel, as well as New Japan Power Struggle and UFC 230, 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.

We’re also looking for reports from Saturday night’s ROH show in Pittsburgh, Sunday’s ROH show in Columbus, OH, tonight’s Smackdown show in Birmingham, UK, as well as tomorrow’s WWE shows in Manchester (Smackdown) and Leeds, England (Raw) to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

Tuesday has Smackdown, 205 Live and Mixed Match Challenge from Manchester, England (TJP vs. Gran Metalik, Buddy Murphy vs. Mark Andrews, Bobby Lashley & Mickie James vs. Finn Balor & Bayley and R-Truth & Carmella vs. Jimmy Uso & Naomi) and a Raw house show in Leeds, England.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Recapping WWE Evolution

An incredible amount of devotion from all involved resulted in WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view being a special night and a strong contender for the company’s best show of the year. Evolution wasn’t just an event that was worthy of its place in history — it elevated it. The wrestlers who competed in the ring, everyone involved with putting the PPV together, and the fans in attendance all worked in unison to make Evolution a show that exceeded all reasonable expectations.

WON NEWSLETTER: October 29, 2018 Observer Newsletter: Roman Reigns diagnosed with leukemia

Look behind-the-scenes at the decisions regarding Crown Jewel as the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Find out about the decision making process, how the last week went down, why the show almost didn’t happen, negative media reaction, why WWE can survive negativity more now than in the past, what happened with John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Hulk Hogan, and different plans thrown out for Bryan vs. A.J. Styles and why they didn’t happen.

Read full coverage of WWE Evolution with notes on the business, notes on mainstream interest, match-by-match coverage with star ratings as well as poll results from the show.

Go in-depth on WWE business. Look at where the declines took place that led to the stock falling, and what is and isn’t significant about them. Look at the network numbers and compare the post-WrestleMania drop with last year.

Look at the house show business, including Vince McMahon’s comments on the decline, as well as a breakdown on the merchandise business, NXT ticket sales and full 2018 attendance numbers for the main brands and for NXT.

Also look at WrestleMania tickets, WWE content production, a Roman Reigns story, more on Reigns’ diagnosis, the WWE/Evolve relationship, changes to Evolve through usage of WWE talent, plans for the next Takeover show, injury updates.

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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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Crown Jewel, Marko Stunt, Floyd Mayweather vs. Tenshin Nakusawa, Raw and the rest of the news on Wrestling Observer Radio. You can send questions to the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

HHH was to undergo a full evaluation today to find out his exact injuries in Friday’s Crown Jewel match. The initial belief was a torn pec that would require surgery. 

Christian Daghio, a popular boxer in Thailand who is 49 years old, passed away after suffering a bad knockout in the 12th round in a fight with Don Pareuang for the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council silver light heavyweight title. Daghio was winning the fight in its final round. But it was a brutal fight with Pareung knocking Daghio down. He stood up, took more hard shots and the referee stopped the fight and then called for medical attention. Daghio was unconscious and rushed to the hospital. He spent several days in a coma with serious brain damage until he died. Daghio’s official record was 10-0 with ten knockouts. He fought Muay Thai in his youth and had fought 189 times in that sport, and five times in MMA as well.

Raw is taped tonight. All mentions live of Crown Jewel were booed. They will be doing men and women’s Survivor Series Raw vs. Smackdown matches. Baron Corbin will captain the Raw team but won’t be on it. Alexa Bliss captains the women’s team. 

  • Natalya & Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Riott Squad
  • Apollo Crews vs. Jinder Mahal
  • Seth Rollins vs. AOP in a handicap match for the tag titles
  • Elias vs. Dolph Ziggler
  • Ember Moon vs. Nia Jax
  • Finn Balor vs. Bobby Lashley
  • Kurt Angle vs. Drew McIntyre

The Floyd Mayweather vs. Tenshin Nakusawa press conference.

The Tokyo Dome press conference, mostly in Japanese, but Jay White is in English.

This was the OTT match with Walter vs. Will Ospreay that has been talked about by many who claim it was the best match in Europe this year.

A story on the funeral of Kid Yamamoto (Yahoo Japan, but can be translated).

WWE

  • Mark Henry appears on the third episode of the Facebook Watch series “Risky Biz” which comes out today. Henry joins the team for a test of strength where two of the contestants compete for $25,000. The entire season is being released today. Chuck Liddell is in ithe second episode where contestants try to punch their way out of paper bags.
  • A story on WWE Smackdown stars doing a Be a Star rally in Birmingham, England prior to the house show there.

UFC

  • Gilbert Melendez pulled out of his 11/30 fight with Arnold Allen in Las Vegas due to an injury. Rick Glenn will be taking the fight on short notice. 

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Bestia 666 beat Garza Jr. in a hair match to headline Saturday’s Crash anniversary show in Tijuana.
  • Dowie James vs. Lochy Hendricks in a 30 minute Iron man match was announced for the 11/17 Melbourne City Wrestling show.
  • Hoosier Pro Wrestling in Columbus, IN, celebrated its 20th anniversary and 14th annual Fireman’s Cheer Fund Toy drive on Saturday night raising $2,879 in bikes, toys and raffles for Christmas-based charity work: Ace Jackson b Zack Pittman to win cruiserweight title, Scarecrow b Echo the Clown, Dewey Brown & Cooter b Sign Guy, Omega B b Duke the Nuke, Lightning Bolt b J Rocc, Richard Sharkey b Harley & Shawn Reed, Fireball & War Machine b Dynamite Dillen & Buck Sexton, Drax O’Brien b Raul in loser leaves town, Kenny Kage b Butcher Manson-DQ. Next show is 12/1 after the Christmas Parade. 
  • FIST Combat from Thursday night in La Mesa, CA: Sledge b Vlad Tempest, Danny Limelight won over Rios Badu and Dylan Kyle Cox, Lois Grain NC Wendy, Sledge won Battle Royal, Jesse James & Hoss Hogg & Ruby Raze b Randy Order & Jordan Cruz & Anthony Idol, Randy Order b Tommy Dreamer, Dirty Ron McDonald over Matt Twizted and Dirty Doug in a barbed wire match.
  • Evolve announced today that Allysin Kay defends the Shine title on Friday night in Livonia, MI against Shotzi Blackheart. Robbie Brookside is doing a seminar before the show and one person from the seminar will get a chance to go to NXT television and work as an extra. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • Smash Wrestling on 11/23 in St. Catharines, ON at Isaac’s Bar and Grill.
  • NSW’s 15th anniversary show on 11/25 in Etobicoke, ONT
  • Jonah Rock vs. Flip Gordon was announced for World Series Wrestling on 11/23 in Melbourne.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: The Rock wins WCW title from Chris Jericho

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