Daily Update: Jim Cornette & MLW, Conor McGregor, oVe

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F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: WWE’s road to Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch

Though the road getting here was as convoluted as possible, WWE has finally confirmed Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch for WrestleMania 35.

Storyline suspensions, injuries, and even an “arrest” for Lynch, the McMahons getting involved and Vince replacing Lynch with Charlotte, Charlotte fully turning heel and Rousey turning against the crowd, and dozens of tweets all led to Lynch facing Charlotte at Fastlane. The stipulation was that if Lynch won, the Raw Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania would officially become a triple threat.

WON NEWSLETTER: March 11, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Death of King Kong Bundy

Read the update on the situation with Roman Reigns as the lead story in the new issue of the Observer, talking about his leukemia diagnosis with more details as to the strain, his health situation and what he did in his four months away as well as other athletes with similar strains.

This issue has a major story on the career of Chris “King Kong Bundy” Pallies. Look at how he broke into wrestling, the irony of his very first match, his first role, his first push, where the King Kong Bundy name came from, where the five count came from, what pop culture characters he inspired, the story behind his famous WrestleMania matches including one that has rarely been talked about. 

Also look at Jushin Liger’s retirement announcement. Read about his background, how he got started in pro wrestling, his New Japan Dojo legendary class, who he idolized and copied, his first match with the gimmick and what the plans are for his retirement.

This issue has an update on Tommaso Ciampa regarding the nature of his surgery, and what decisions NXT has to make.

Look at the career of Harley Race, how he broke into wrestling, the run that made him a national star and how he got the NWA world title, and how close he came to being champion a second time before it happened more than a year later. 

Read full coverage of UFC 235, with all the highlights, business notes, and match-by-match coverage and poll results. Also look at contracted base pay for the show.

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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

Pro Wrestling

  • NJPW posted Road to MSG videos with Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
  • MLW announced that they’ve “come to terms with Jim Cornette to extend his presence ringside as an analyst” for their programming. Cornette is scheduled for MLW’s shows in New York City on April 4 and 5, Milwaukee on June 1, and Cicero, Illinois on July 6.
  • Minoru Tanaka vs. Daga is set for MLW’s Rise of the Renegades TV tapings in Queens, New York on Thursday, April 4. Tanaka is the current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
  • oVe (Jake & Dave Crist) have signed multi-year deals with Impact Wrestling.
  • Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Tenille Dashwood’s contract with ROH expires at the end of this month. The report noted that Dashwood is in negotiations with ROH, but nothing has been signed as of this week.
  • ESPN has a story on Jeff Cobb and his background as an amateur wrestler. He spoke about losing to UFC’s Yoel Romero at the 2004 Olympics: “He is probably one of the baddest men on the planet. I remember 2003 at the World Championships I watched him in the finals. To see that and then literally a year later having to step foot on the mat against him, I was intimidated. I knew his reputation 15 years ago. He was just a beast. Now he’s killing people in the UFC. It’s awesome to see. I still got a picture of us backstage at the Olympics, so if I ever run into him I’ll be like, ‘Hey man, you beat me up at the 2004 Olympics.’”
  • The latest episode of the NWA’s Ten Pounds of Gold series is a conversation between Nick Aldis and Harley Race.
  • OTT released their video package for WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin at ScrapperMania 5.
  • Chris Brookes is set for this year’s PROGRESS Wrestling Super Strong Style 16 tournament, which is taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, England on May 4-6. Travis Banks, Ilja Dragunov, Trevor Lee, Aerostar, Artemis Spencer, DJZ, Jordan Devlin, and Chris Ridgeway have also been announced for the tournament thus far.
  • Parrow will be an entrant in the Clusterf*ck match at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 3, part two on Saturday, April 6.

UFC/MMA

  • Ahmed Abdirzak, the fan who was involved in the Conor McGregor cell phone incident, gave his side of the story to TMZ Sports:
    “So what happened was, we see McGregor in the club and it was all cool, and what not, and then on the way out, we was just waiting on our vehicle from the valet. So we were just waiting on our vehicle to pick it up and as soon as we go to pick it up, I see Conor McGregor. So I’m trying to take out my little phone and as soon as I bring out my phone, McGregor’s there and he comes trying to shake my hand. He came to shake my hand and as soon as he came to shake my hand, he pulled me in and he grabbed my phone and he started smashing it and all his security guards literally surrounded me, pushed me out the way, and he’s stomping on it.”
    “[McGregor] was just like, ‘Get the f*ck out my face. Move,’ and then I was like, ‘Yo, sir, can I have my phone back?’ There was a security in his entourage around him and I asked him if I could get my phone back and it was like, ‘Yo, move, man. You better listen to what Conor says.’ McGregor picked the phone up, put it in his pocket, laughed, and then he got in his SUV and they drove off. That’s when the hotel manager come to me and said, ‘Listen, I’ll sort this out. Don’t worry.’”
  • UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman underwent surgery for a double hernia on Tuesday. Usman said he’ll be back in no time and will put a beating on Colby Covington.
  • Derrick Lewis’ coach confirmed that Lewis suffered a knee injury prior to losing to Junior dos Santos: “He wasn’t gonna pull [from the fight] anyway. That being said, training for this camp was really bad. He couldn’t do anything, honestly. We couldn’t really do anything. From Feb. 12 to the fight, he couldn’t run. I basically was able to hold mitts for him and he was able to swim and do a seated, stationary bike. He could not train.”
  • Darren Till thinks Ben Askren needs to work his way up before facing him: “He can call out, but he’s gotta work his way up the ranks as well. It all depends on who I want to fight next — not him. He only has one fight in the UFC. He needs to work his way up.”
  • Jessica Eye spoke to MMA Junkie about challenging Valentina Shevchenko for the women’s flyweight title at UFC 238 in June: “I’m not a pushover. Just because I lost before and everybody once identified me with previous fights that I had. I hope she takes this extra time and really works on being a better her and being just as ready for me as I’m going to be ready for her. Because this is a real chance of two tough chicks fighting each other. This is the cream of the crop right now, and if she doesn’t take this extra time to make herself better, she’ll be surprised fight night because I’m taking all this extra time to make sure I am the best me.”
  • Ray Borg will now face Kyler Phillips at the UFC’s ESPN show on March 30 after Liu Pingyuan had to pull out of facing Borg due to injury.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: TNA Victory Road 2011

Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):

  • Saturday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
  • Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!

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