Daily Update: Kurt Angle retirement tour, WWE defines “jobber”

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It is a very slow news weekend coming off of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S.  UFC Fight Night 79 from Seoul took place early this morning.  The main event saw Benson Henderson get a close win over Jorge Masvidal in 5 round by judges decision.  Sexyama was also on the card!  Check out our play-by-play for the full results.

AJ Styles missed his NJPW appearances due to an ongoing back injury.

Don’t miss this one!  An interview with Wrestling Superstar Virgil:  Special Feature: Virgil looks back on his career, looks ahead to meat sauce

We are looking for a new TNA Impact Reviewer, CLICK HERE for more info.

Event Schedule:

WWE runs Saturday night in Kansas City with Sheamus, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, The Wyatts, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, Alberto Del Rio, Kane, Usos and Ryback.

WWE runs Sunday in Huntington, WV with Sheamus, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, The Wyatts, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, Alberto De Rio, Kane, Usos and Ryback.

New Japan tag team tournament Sunday in Ehime

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga

Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi

Raw is Monday in Pittsburgh.  Nothing to this point has been announced for the show.

New Japan tag team tournament Monday in Fukuoka

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba

Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil

Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Hershey, PA.

New Japan tag team tournament Tuesday in Fukuoka

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga

Michael Bennett vs. Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Yujiro Takahashi

Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba

It’s Black Friday and that means Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online has a huge deal for you!

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Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (11/23/15): Lots of Updates in Hulk Hogan-Gawker case
Lots of news including a win for Gawker, the new police report, the remaining mysteries of the case, what Bubba the Love Sponge is saying, and more.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A look at the decision to make Sheamus the WWE champion and its ramifications is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We look at WWE’s options, both the obvious ones and the ones out of the box, different ways to use people, the nature of the decision, the prior identical decision in 2011 and the storyline it was supposed to lead to and why it was made.

We look at the real long-term goal, the note on the ratings, the portrayal of Sheamus leading up to the title change, the plans for the TLC show, what has been messed up, the women’s division, the WWE blaming Charlotte on a bad taste angle, ESPN and WWE, plus match-by-match coverage of Survivor Series with poll results and star ratings.

We look at the TNA deal with Pop TV, both the good and the bad of it, plus the tapings in Bethlehem, the economics of the deal and note on the station.

We’ve got a look at the New Japan tag team tournament, with current standings, goals of the tournament, who probably can’t win the tournament, and coverage of the tournament so far.

We also look at why Genichiro Tenryu is one of the biggest stars of the past 40 years in wrestling, with a look at his career in wrestling, his days in sumo, his early U.S. run, his rise in All Japan, why he left All Japan, how his leaving led to a boom period for All Japan, his deal with Super World Sports, his feud with Riki Choshu  and Jumbo Tsuruta, the real story behind his Tokyo Dome match with Hulk Hogan, the story behind his rise. the WAR days his biggest matches and his final show.

We also have an update on Randy Orton, Cesaro, notes on new WWE signing La Sombra, thoughts on the Sombra signing, how it’s the same and different from the original Mistico signing, WWE week on USA and changes this year, WWE Network shows, Brock Lesnar’s return to Raw, legal briefs filed by WWE, why Stephanie McMahon has been gone from TV and why she’s back regularly, next Takeover special, HHH talks Hogan’s return, John Cena talks his departure, WWE star teases retirement in a few years, Mick Foley upset with creative direction and notes from the developmental shows over the weekend,.

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

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: November 30, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Sheamus wins WWE title, Tenryu retirement show

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TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

WWE

Other Wrestling

  • Special Feature: Virgil looks back on his career, looks ahead to meat sauce
  • CAC Radio remembers Nick Bockwinkel
  • The first episode of 6:05 Superpodcast with Brian Last and our own David Bixenspan is up with talk of TBS wrestling and Terry Funk among many other things.
  • Global Force Wrestling sees one of its titles change hands
  • Great North Wrestling Nov. 27th Results from Rockland ON before 450 fans: Jeremy Prophet became the new GNW Canadian Champion over The Giant Darko and Hannibal when Senator Patrick Brazeau interfeared in the match throwing a substance in Hannibal’s eyes and pushing him off of a 15 foot ladder onto the cement floor while Darko was knocked out from a Sacrifice Power Bomb. “Pretty Boy” Preston Perry defeated Bushwacker Luke, Vanessa Kraven defeated Femmes Fatales woman’s champion Jessica Black via count out,”Steel Warrior” Yves Drouin & MVP beat Paul Rosenberg & Soa Amin, Knine defeated Bret Mcleod, Blade defeated Mystify & Shooter Storm in a handicap match, Freak Nation defeated Katalyst & Sean Macmillan, Gregory “The Ripper” Carpenter defeated Sami “The Saint” Tokan in a grappling match.

UFC/MMA

  • In what could end up being a fairly major story in the coming weeks and months, Benson Henderson has completed his UFC contract after  his fight today with Jorge Masvidal in the main event of today’s event in Seoul. He left his gloves in the center of the Octagon after the fight and said “Thank you for all the memories”. He’d obviously be highly sought after for Bellator for obvious reasons (ex-UFC star) and One Championships as well due to his tremendous popularity in Asia, where they run all their shows. He’s also someone who UFC can match up against just about any Welterweight or Lightweight on their roster and headline an FS 1 or Fight Pass show or co-headline a big FOX show. With a show seemingly every week, he’d be extremely valuable for UFC to retain as well.
  • The Seoul card was very good, by the way. Strong main card with some entertaining prelims.
  • Next weekend’s Shooto Brasil show on UFC Fight Pass will feature Michael Bisping on commentary. During today’s Fight Pass show, that was pushed far more than the main event of the show, which is a Lightweight title fight between Ronys Torres and Wallace Lopes. The show airs next Saturday at 5 pm eastern on a weekend when UFC has no event scheduled.
  • The hits keep coming for WSOF matchmaker/VP Ali Abdelaziz, as his claims of being a judo Olympian were thoroughly debunked on Twitter.