Daily Update: Impact ratings, G1 Climax, WWE/NXT notes

  • F4W Staff
  • By 

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

For this weekend, we’ll be doing a poll on the Saturday New Japan show from Nagoya since it’s the biggest show as far as a major building goes so far this tour, 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 looking for reports on last night’s NXT show in San Diego as well as tonight’s Raw show in Columbus, GA and NXT shows in Riverside, CA and Jacksonville, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON AXS TV AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT (DAY ONE OF G-1)

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White

MLW AT 8 P.M. EASTERN ON BEIN SPORTS

  • 40 man Battle Riot headlines a two-hour special

CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT

  • Kaligua & Stukita vs. Pequeno Nitro & Pierrothito
  • Black Panther & Blue Panther Jr. & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Okumura & Templario & Tiger
  • Soberano Jr. & Titan & Valiente vs. Forastero & Sanson & Cuatrero
  • Caristico vs. Cavernario
  • Atlantis & Diamante Azul & Volador Jr. vs. Rush & El Terrible & Bestia del Ring
  • Ciber the Main Man& Scharly Rockstar & The Chris vs. Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero

Saturday we’re looking for reports on the Raw show in Tallahassee, FL, Smackdown in Wildwood, NJ and NXT shows in Las Vegas and Fort Pierce, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

G-1 TOURNAMENT FROM NAGOYA AIICHI KEN GYM AT 5 A.M. EASTERN SATURDAY MORNING ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

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

WORLD OF SPORT ON ITV IN THE U.K. AT 5 P.M. GREENWICH TIME

UFC ON FOX FROM THE SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME IN CALGARY ON SATURDAY

Fight Pass at 4 p.m. Eastern time

  • Alvaro Herrera vs. Devin Powell
  • Randa Markos vs. Nina Ansaroff
  • Dustin Ortiz vs. Matheus Nicolau
  • Alexis Davis vs. Katlyn Chookagian
  • Ross Pearson vs. John Makdessi

FOX at 6 p.m. Eastern time

  • Ion Cutelaba vs. Gadzhirmurad Antigulov
  • Islam Makhachev vs. Kajan Johnson
  • Hakeem Dawodu vs. Austin Arnett
  • Alex Morono vs. Jordan Mein
  • Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Alexander Hernandez
  • Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Tecia Torres
  • Jeremy Stephens vs. Jose Aldo
  • Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier

Sunday has Raw in Daytona, FL, Smackdown in Hershey, PA and NXT in Phoenix.

NEW JAPAN G-1 TOURNAMENT FROM KAGAWA AT 6 A.M. MONDAY EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Toa Henare & Shota Umino
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Sho vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
  • Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada vs. Toru Yano & Jado
  • Kenny Omega & Chase Owens vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taka Michinoku
  • Hirooki Goto & Yoh vs. Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale
  • Jay White vs. Hangman Page
  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Evil
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin

Raw is Monday in Miami with Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman and Ronda Rousey returning to the show. Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin are on the show. Smackdown will be running in Fort Myers, FL.

Smackdown and 205 Live are Tuesday in Tampa with Usos vs. Sheamus & Cesaro in a first round match in a tag tournament to get the tag title shot at the Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Looking at 205 Live two years after Cruiserweight Classic

While this month marks the two-year anniversary of the premiere of the Cruiserweight Classic, the division that the tournament spawned is still one of the most puzzling parts of WWE programming. From a rough start, to it becoming the Enzo Amore show, to it being rebooted when Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over as showrunner, 205 Live has been constantly changing and never able to fully find its footing since it debuted in November 2016.

WON NEWSLETTER: (July 30, 2018) Wrestling Observer Newsletter: All women PPV WWE Evolution announcement, more

The WWE’s heavily promoted all women’s’ PPV show is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Look at the announcement made on Raw, whether this will be a regular event, the actual first women’s PPV in the U.S., and thoughts on the business of this.

Look at SummerSlam, with both the matches announced thoughts on those matches, and several other bouts that will either be added, are being pushed and the one match that hasn’t been teased at all that has been talked about a lot this past week.

Get in-depth notes on Matt Riddle and expectations of his coming to WWE and his prospects in NXT and on the main roster, names WWE is after, Dwayne Johnson’s annual income, Rock and wrestling again and what the holdup would be.

Look at the state of Impact Wrestling after its most well received major show of the year. Look at the change in the hardcore stigma of the company, and look at injuries on the show, the next month of television and the direction, as well as match-by-match coverage and star ratings of Slammiversary.

This issue has detailed coverage thus far of the G-1 Climax tournament. Look at the standings, the business, match quality; the ridiculous level of tournament matches thus far, injuries, this week’s schedule, plus match-by-match coverage and star ratings for all the shows of this past week.

Look at the Dragon Gate promotion after its biggest show of the year.

Read about the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony and Ronda Rousey, as well as a look back to 2013 when women were first signed to the promotion and the immediate decision for them to headline on PPV the first night in.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

Pro Wrestling

  • The B Block is back in action as the G1 comes to Aichi for a show that begins at 5 a.m. Eastern time overnight/tomorrow morning. Kenny Omega faces SANADA in the main event, with Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano, and Tama Tonga vs. Zack Sabre Jr. as the other tournament matches.
  • Here are the updated G1 standings after today’s A Block show:
  • A Block:
    8 pts — EVIL, Hiroshi Tanahashi
    6 pts — Jay White, Minoru Suzuki, Kazuchika Okada
    4 pts — Michael Elgin, Togi Makabe, Bad Luck Fale
    2 pts — Hangman Page, YOSHI-HASHI
  • B Block:
    8 pts — Kenny Omega
    6 pts — Tetsuya Naito, SANADA
    4 pts — Kota Ibushi, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Zack Sabre Jr.
    2 pts — Tama Tonga, Toru Yano
    0 pts — Juice Robinson
  • Robinson cut a great promo about needing to get wins in the G1 and get on the same level as the top guys in the tournament to feel like he belongs.
  • After Sunday’s Slammiversary PPV got a good amount of buzz, Impact Wrestling viewership saw a moderate increase this week. Last night’s show averaged 299,000 viewers, up close to nine percent from the previous week’s 275,000. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.07 after last week’s 0.06. The first two episodes of this month drew 304,000 and 284,000 viewers, respectively.
  • After advertising that their show in Voorhees, New Jersey tomorrow will be “one of Matt Riddle’s final indy appearances before going to WWE,” CZW has changed it to just say that it will be one of Riddle’s final indie appearances.
  • Two clarifications from yesterday’s update:
    MJF (Maxwell Jacob Friedman) will be appearing at tomorrow’s CZW show but isn’t able to wrestle due to his knee injury. MJF noted that he’ll be out of action for 2-6 weeks.
    WWN has added live iPPVs from their promotions to their Club WWN service, with shows then being uploaded to Club WWN and available to watch as part of the video on demand library for subscribers. The service costs $9.99 per month.
  • Gail Kim posted a tweet in response to someone who said they wanted to see her on WWE’s Evolution PPV: “Happy for the women in the company but if I ever made. Return, it would only be for @IMPACTWRESTLING.” She then followed up on that when asked why she isn’t interested in returning to WWE: “Bc I’ve been there twice.  I have never been happy there. Life is about happiness. Impact Wrestling is my happiness.  It’s not about money sometimes…. people just don’t understand that.”
  • Front row tickets to this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles will cost $115 per night, with general admission and standing room only tickets at $90 per night. They will go on sale on July 31 at 11 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Pacific time.
  • ROH announced Tenille Dashwood vs. Chardonnay and Punishment Martinez vs. Delirious for their Honor Re-United tour show in Doncaster on August 18.
  • Revolution Pro Wrestling added El Phantasmo to the lineup for their British J-Cup tournament, which will take place in Manchester on September 8 and 9. He joins Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, Chris RIdgeway, and Rocky Romero in the tournament. It will have 16 wrestlers in total.
  • Chris Jericho spoke to Sports Illustrated about his Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise. He said Nick Jackson was the one to suggest Jericho & The Young Bucks vs. Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes & Marty Scurll for the cruise’s main event.
  • Ultimo Dragon is the guest on today’s episode of Talk is Jericho.
  • The band Wheatus will be performing at Joey Janela’s Lost in New York at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens on August 17.

UFC/MMA

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Kurt Angle wins WWE title at Vengeance 2003

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 & ???, Samantha Heights & Brittany Blake, and Miranda Alize & Kylie Rae. Also just booked for the show is a tag team Grappling Battel~! featuring Bryan Alvarez & Jack Jamieson 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