Daily Update: Khabib, Hell in a Cell preview, Bound For Glory notes

DAILY UPDATE

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WON NEWSLETTER: October 26, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Ibushi wins NJPW G1 Climax 30

We’ve got a G1 special on the Observer with the deepest look at the tournament anywhere. G1 MVP, G1 best match, G1 history notes, polls on the last three nights, the story behind Kota Ibushi’s win and much more in a new double issue of the Observer.

The business decline that was unavoidable, the difference in wrestling with fans who are not supposed to cheer and boo and who does the best with it, the ups and downs of the different wrestlers, who improved the most from last year, lots of G1 records, Power Struggle notes, a breakdown of every wrestler in the tournament and how they did in the ring this year as compared to last year, who were the best at carrying opponents, who had the best matches, how this year’s match quality compared to last year, just how great this year’s A block shows were, New Japan’s U.S. popularity and which wrestlers have had the best in-ring tournaments in recent years.

Also in this issue:

Harold Meij’s final day in charge of New Japan and key issues with his legacy, Tokyo Dome updates, and how the last days went down.

Things going on behind-the-scenes with President Trump that may be done that would help Vince McMahon and Dana White, Andrew Yang talks wrestlers as independent contractors and what he plans to do  about it, Orange County Department of Health looking at COVID spreading in buildings that house WWE and MLW, and WWE’s statement. 

What is and isn’t misleading and looking at WWE COVID numbers, we preview Hell in a Cell, note a mandatory conference all WWE talent has to attend this week, WWE getting an award looked at, WWE signing, why the plight of independent wrestlers is so different from before, WWE Network November theme, WWE star nominated for a movie award and new WWE Network deals. 

Wrestling ratings compared to other sports, Canadian & U.K. ratings, Mike Bennett talks the problems in communication in WWE, Sami Zayn talks the ladder match, WWE market value and the most watched shows last week on the WWE Network.

Brian Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie with full coverage of Saturday’s UFC event,.

The surprising thing that matters far more than most gave it credit for when it comes to viewing wrestling shows.

Ratings breakdowns in every segment for Wednesdays and every category for other shows, looking at stats not available elsewhere to get the deepest read into how shows are doing, what categories are doing well and how shows compare with previous weeks and one year ago.  

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk Hell in a Cell and a lot of more WWE news, including more on Daniel Bryan, more weekend news, more on Bound For Glory and you can send questions to the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

Bryan has a short interview with Jim Valley who has fought back from another legitimate near death experience once again up on the site.

Today is WWE Hell in a Cell, a show with only five matches announced as of this morning. On paper the show should be great because all three Hell in a Cell matches are strong on paper and the show will be built around them:

  • Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title in a cell match. You pretty much know this match will be very good to great. The outcome could go either way but McIntyre is a  -230 favorite at 5Dimes.
  • Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso in an I Quit hell in a cell match for the Universal title. This match will have to be different than the last one. Lots of speculation regarding Jimmy Uso being involved in the finish, given he was involved in the television angle on Friday night. Nobody expects a title change and Reigns is a -2000 favorite.
  • Bayley vs. Sasha Banks for the Smackdown women’s title in a cell match. These two have had some of the best women’s matches in company history, notably their Brooklyn Takeover match. They will be put in a position to have a great match and both always work hard. Banks is a -230 favorite to take the title.
  • Otis vs. The Miz for the Money in the Bank briefcase. Otis is a -175 favorite to retain. This was put together Friday in a campy skit to say the least.
  • Jeff Hardy vs. Elias – Every Hardy match is likely to be good. We haven’t seen Elias in a match since his torn pec. Since it’s the beginning of the feud, Elias is a -160 favorite to win.

We will have live coverage on the site starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. We are doing weekend polls on Hell in a Cell, UFC 254 and Impact Bound for Glory, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match on both shows to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Javier Mendez, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s trainer, told Yahoo Sports that this was the worst training camp he has ever had. He said in Abu Dhabi, the accommodations were the best and the hospitality was the best, but he had the mumps two weeks into camp, then broke a toe in camp as well. Mendez said Nurmagomedov told him, “Coach, my toe may be broken but my mind is not.”

Dana White believes Nurmagomedov’s retirement will stick.

For a few more notes from last night’s Bound for Glory show and to clarify some things talked about last night. Kylie Rae was injured two weeks ago but she was scheduled to appear on last night’s show against Deonna Purrazzo. As noted in an update earlier today, she was in Nashville and was in the hotel Friday. She never arrived at the building and nobody in the company knew anything.  The company checked with everyone who knew her. Nobody really knows anything more other than she is apparently okay in the physical sense. At the time of the match they didn’t know anything past that she wasn’t there. It came off weird as they showed video features on the PPV building the match as scheduled, and then she wasn’t there and nothing was said as to why, because at the time they really didn’t know anything.

As best we can tell, Rich Swann & Su Yung both winning the major titles in Impact would be the first husband-and-wife ever to win major world titles on the same show. Notable is that this was not how things were scheduled to go down as Yung was a last minute replacement for Kylie Rae against Deonna Purrazzo. 

WWE

  • Today is the 17th wedding anniversary of Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon Levesque.
  • The WWE Network has added a new show on cage matches from the indies airing matches from Evolve, ICW and wXw including Drew Galloway vs.; Roderick Strong, Trent Seven vs Wolfgang, Carnage vs. Alexander Wolfe, Piper Niven vs. Kay Lee Ray vs. Kasey and Alexander James vs. Jurn Simmons; A Best of Progress with Ilja Dragunov to build the Walter vs. Dragunov UK title match that airs this week with matches with Pete Dunne, Timothy Thatcher; ICW Fight Club 100 and wXw Shotgun with Bobby Gunns defending the wXw title against Emil Sitoci.
  • WWE announced William Shatner, Rey Mysterio, Shotzi Blackheart and Michelle McCool as guests on The Bump on Wednesday.

UFC

  • Yesterday’s UFC 254 did 2 million Google searches which was the most of anything so far this weekend, which is notable given all the news of the past weekend. So the interest was not anywhere close to the record-setting that Dana White was claiming earlier in the week. It was at the level of a normal bigger than usual PPV.  That was the only thing combat sports related in the past week to trend on Google.  Arnold Schwarzenegger did yesterday as related to having his aortic valve replaced in surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.  It is Schwarzenegger’s third heart surgery, as he had pulmonary valve replacement surgeries in 1997 and 2018.
  • Jeremy Stephens pulled out of his 11/7 fight with Arnold Allen due to an undisclosed injury and hopes to be back in a few months.
  • Matt Schnell vs. Tyson Nam has been added to the 12/19 show.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Volador Jr. suffered an apparent broken nose on Friday night in Arena Mexico doing a Frankensteiner off the top rope and somehow on the way down his face hit the turnbuckle.  They went right to the finish of the match.  They were about a half hour into a tag title match where Mistico & Caristico beat Volador Jr & Titan in a rematch from the prior Friday. 
  • On today’s NFL Countdown show on ESPN, George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers was on.  He’s a huge fan. There was a lot of AEW footage used since even though Kittle is a WWE fan, his favorite wrestler is Pentagon Jr., dating back to Lucha Underground, and they showed where Kittle took Pentagon’s Cero Miedo hand gesture.
  • CWE on Friday night in Red Deer, Alberta:  AJ Sanchez won three-way over Travis Cole and Tyler Adams, Bobby Sharp b Danny Duggan, Mentallo b Shaun Martens-DQ, Lumberjack Larry b Kevin O’Doyle, Jude Dawkins b Johnny Devine. 
  • CWE on Saturday night in St. Albert, Alberta:  Jude Dawkins b William Saint, Lumberjack Larry b Shaun Martens-DQ, Kat Von Heez b Alix Zwicker, AJ Sanchez & Kevin O’Doyle b Danny Duggan & Mentallo, Rich King b Nite, Travis Cole b Jules, Bobby Sharp b Johnny Devine.  Next show is tomorrow night in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
  • IWA Productions from last night in Mt. Vernon, IL for a women’s tournament:  Joseline Navarro b Megan Myers, Kenzie Paige b Abby Beck, Raven Black b Mz. Hyde, Mickie Knuckles b Katie Dream, Kenzie Paige b Abby Veck, Raven Back b Mz. Hyde, Mickie Knuckles b Katie Dream, Kenzie Paige b Joseline Navarro, Mickie Knuckles b Raven Black, Mickie Knuckles b Kenzie Paige to win tournament (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • Total Kaos Wrestling from last night in Taylor, MI:  Dread King Loan b Shane Douglas, Ken Kash won eight-way over  Geo Bronco, Ace Evans, Ric Caurdiea, Tanner Nix, Dizakeo, Mikey Baker and Mo Atlas, LJ Lawrence b Chase Burnett, Hannah Henderson b Jeremiah Goldmain, Mysterious Movado b Mollock, Jack Price & Money Green b Tommy Vendetta & Sinn, Joseph Schwartz b Isaiah Frazier, TJ Meyer b El Ridiculoso, Kevin Kalloway & Sean Tyler & Justin Pilgrim b Freedom Ramsey & Atlas Hytower & Daniel Wolf, Chuck Stein won three-way over Leatherface and Sean Lawhorn in a barbed wire match (thanks to Leonard Brand)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WCW Halloween Havoc 1992 and 1998

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