Daily Update: John Cena out, Jeff Hardy at TNA tapings, Nakamura

John Cena out with shoulder injury

John Cena will be out at least 6-9 months as he needs another shoulder surgery which he had today in Birmingham.  In what has to be devastating news for WWE, apparently Cena suffered a torn labrum but did not mention when or where it occurred, just ominously noting on twitter that 2016 would be starting differently than he had hoped. Cena had been out since October filming a reality TV show, and had just returned to begin a program with the League of Nations and Alberto Del Rio over the U.S. title. At this point, Cena will be unable to wrestle at Wrestlemania 32, but will probably do some sort of appearance. 

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s TNA tapings in Bethlehem, PA and NXT tapings in Orlando at Dave Meltzer

SMACKDOWN DEBUTS TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON THE USA NETWORK

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto non-title

Dolph Ziggler & Goldust & R-Truth & Neville vs. New Day & The Miz

Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch for Divas title

Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens for IC title

This is the debut show on the USA Network with the new announcing team of Mauro Ranallo, Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton.  Ranallo got strong reviews of those who already saw the show since it aired last night in Canada.

If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today! We have have clips of the post Summer Slam / Super China Buffet show featuring a lengthy Brent Kremen discussion, as well as clips from the X-Mas show. This is a soft launch but we will be releasing much more shortly.

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly 1/4/2016: More on Gawker motioning to dismiss Hulk Hogan lawsuit

More information on Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit, tons more.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 11, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Cena out with shoulder injury, New Japan stars to WWE

In the biggest news week in a long time, we’ve got a double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week, covering John Cena’s injury, New Japan stars headed to WWE, a major feature looking at the year that past in pro wrestling and MMA and the year coming up, WWE direction for WrestleMania season, Tokyo Dome coverage, Rizin debut coverage, TNA changes and UFC 195.

Our lead story talks about John Cena’s injury and the injury issues in WWE with more notes on the training program being used. All the news regarding wrestlers leaving New Japan, who’s been contacted, different roles, the various schedules for different guys, other negotiations, what led to these moves, what New Japan needs to learn from this, affects on ROH, and other ideas for New Japan to break out of its standard mentality.

UFC in 2016, the success of the women’s division, UFC business review, big fights on the horizon, the state of WWE in 2015 and 2016, different fan bases, rise of NXT, where New Japan has failed on the international scene, plus AAA, CMLL, Bellator, TNA and ROH prospects in 2016.

Full coverage of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, the big angles, Okada’s prospects as the top star, the next big programs on the horizon, big show plans for 2016, the Fanstastica Mania tour lineup and thoughts, New Year’s Dash coverage.

The changes to this year’s Royal Rumble and scout the possibilities and big matches on the horizon for Mania, and the return of Chris Jericho.

WWE Network, John Cena on Peyton Manning and HGH, football coach trying to recruit WWE for Mania, portrayal of Joseph Maroon in the “Concussion”, lots of details on new Dwayne Johnson projects, Lesnar’s schedule, a look at 50/50 booking, Reaction to HHH circumventing his own angle, February NXT, WrestleMania plans, Jericho talks current interview style, WWE looking for new stars around the world, Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament, WWE injury updates, Austin TV show.

A complete look at the debut of the Rizin promotion, details on the ratings and how it compares to WWE & UFC, the Masato vs. Kid Yamamoto show in competition, boxing in competition, Spike TV numbers, Fedor’s return, the freak show fights and what did and didn’t work on the first two shows.

UFC 195, with match-by-match coverage, poll results and business regarding the show, a look at all the close decisions and why they went the way they did.

TNA’s debut on Pop TV, the ratings, the title tournament, who was watching, the PPV show this week, the Mike Bennett debut, the James Storm return, the departure of Taryn Terrell and the good and bad of the latest relaunch.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 23, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Survivor Series review, Rock becomes Corporate Champion
A full review of WWF Survivor Series with The Rock becoming the Corporate Champion, more WCW woes, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

Jeff Hardy worked at last night’s TNA tapings in a match with Shynron that will air this coming Tuesday night on Impact.

Shinsuke Nakamura will not be at the ROH Las Vegas shows in late February due to his expected signing with WWE. 

The story going around that WWE has purchased the rights to Bullet Club from New Japan is a hoax.

Lucha Underground has reached its first Canadian television deal. It will air on TLN (Telelatino Network) in Canada every Sunday start at 10 p.m. Eastern starting on 1/31, or a few days after the same episode airs in the U.S. on El Rey.  TLN will be taking the English language feed with Matt Striker and Vampiro as announcers. 

Evolve and WWN have announced talent for its WrestleMania weekend shows on 4/1 and 4/2 in Dallas, including Timothy Thatcher, Drew Galloway, Zack Sabre Jr., Tommy End, TJ Perkins, Drew Gulak, Tracy Williams, Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley. Terry Funk will be at the Mercury Rising show that weekend being honored.

WWE

  • Linda McMahon has announced a start up company called Women’s Leadership (WLL), geared toward promoting leadership opportunities for women. The company will be based in Texas and will sponsor and organize events with prominent women speakers, as well as panel discussions and workshops.
  • WWE sent out a survey yesterday asking fans what personalities they’d like to see in a reality show on the WWE Network. The names listed in the survey were Zack Ryder, Edge, Booker T, Chris Jericho, Paige, Paul Heyman, Big Show, Roman Reigns, Lita, The Miz, Mick Foley, The Usos, Kevin Nash, Ric Flair, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Ryback, Big E, R-Truth. Dean Ambrose, Beth Phoenix, Charlotte, Trish Stratus, Dolph Ziggler, Lita and Xavier Woods.
  • Roman Reigns and the Bella Twins were on Good Morning America today. The Bellas were promoting the new season of Total Divas and Nikki talked about her relationship with John Cena.
  • Paul Heyman did an interview with Fox Sports promoting Brock Lesnar returning to Raw on Monday night in New Orleans.
  • Summer Rae wasn’t at Smackdown last night because she represented WWE at the People’s Choice awards in Los Angeles.
  • An interview with Dr. Julian Bailes about how he and Dr. Joseph Maroon were portrayed in Concussion as well as Merrill Hoge defending Maroon
  • WWE stock fell another 35 cents per share today to $16.32.

UFC/MMA

  • A settlement agreement between Nick Diaz and the Nevada commission is on the docket for a commission meeting on Tuesday. The commission had suspended Diaz for five years and fined him $165,000 for his third marijuana violation in the state, not to mention other issues in different states. Diaz filed suit and the sides have been working on an out-of-court settlement. A hearing regarding voiding Wanderlei Silva’s lifetime ban that the commission imposed when he ran away from a drug test will also be on theTuesday agenda. 
  • Joanna Jedrzejczyk was nominated for Poland’s Athlete of the Year for 2015.
  • Joseph Benavidez vs. Zach Makovsky has been added to the 2/6 UFC show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the show headlined by Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  • Another new fight announced is Dennis Bermudez vs Tatsuya Kawajiri on 2/21 in Pittsburgh, as reported by Ariel Helwani.
  • Bellator announced Dave “Caveman” Rickels will face Bobby Cooper on its 2/26 show in Mulvane, KS, which is headlined by Marcos Galvao defending the bantamweight title against Eduardo Dantas and Cheick Kongo vs. Augusto Sakai.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Today is the 50th anniversary of Gene Kiniski beating Lou Thesz in St. Louis to win the NWA world title. It was the end of Thesz’s last NWA title run.
  • A story on TNA’s restart in Bethlehem, PA
  • GFW has announced Nick Aldis vs. Bobby Roode for the GFW title as the main event for 1/22 in Poughkeepsie. That’s an awfully quick comeback for Aldis, who recently had biceps surgery. They also announced Aldis defending against Pro Wrestling Syndicate champion Matt MacIntosh on the GFW vs. PWS joint show on 1/13 in Rahway, NJ at the Rec Center.
  • Jason Kincaid was the latest person announced for the ROH Top Prospect tournament which starts Saturday night in Concord, NC.
  • DJ Zema Ion interivew
  • Time Warner Cable in Queens, NY had an outage problem during Impact just as the Beautiful People came to the ring (thanks to Dominick Valenti and others).
  • A story on Tiger Jeet Singh promoting sports to keep youth in Punjab and Haryana, India away from drug addiction
  • Evolve on 1/23 in Orlando at the Downtown Recreation Complex on Royal Rumble weekend as well as a 2 p.m. Sunday show before the Royal Rumble in the same city.
  • Smoky Mountain Wrestling on 1/16 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium.
  • Rockstar Pro Wrestling on 1/8 in Dayton at the Rockstar Pro Arena headlined by Matt Tremont.
  • All Pro Wrestling on 1/9 in Shelbyville, IN at the West Street United Methodist Church.
  • Capital City Championship Combat on 1/23 in Ottawa, ONT at the Vanier Columbus Club with Mathieu St. Jacques vs. Speedball Mike Bailey and 2 Cold Scorpio vs Stu Grayson.
  • CZW on 1/16 in Toronto at the Franklin Horner Community Centre with Johnny Gargano vs. Sami Callihan, Drew Gulak vs Tarik, and Tyson Dux vs. Jonathan Gresham.
  • CZW also runs 2/13 with both a CZW show and a WSU womens’ show on the same day at Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ with Matt Tremont vs. Devon Moore in a ladder match.
  • Pro Wrestling Eclipse on 2/27 in Oshawa, ONT at the Oshawa Legion with Cody Deaner, Ethan Page, Tyler Tirva and Buxx Belmar.
  • Infinity Pro on 1/30 in Bloomington, IN at the National Guard Armory headlined by G.T. Vega vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Shane Mercer.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history.