Daily Update: Mae Young Classic additions, Ranallo, Tanahashi

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

SmackDown is in Vancouver, BC and the NXT crew in Gainesville, FL. We’re looking for reports from both shows to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

BELLATOR MMA FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN ON SATURDAY NIGHT

Spike TV at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Heather Hardy (125.2) vs. Alice Yauger (125.6)
  • Neiman Gracie (170.4) vs. Dave Marfone (170.4)
  • James Gallagher (144.4) vs. Chinzo Machida (146)
  • Phil Davis (204.8) vs. Ryan Bader (204.4) for Bellator light heavyweight title

PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern

  • Zach Freeman (155.8) vs. Aaron Pico (156)
  • Michael Chandler (153.8) vs. Brent Primus (154.2) for lightweight title
  • Douglas Lima (170) vs. Lorenz Larkin (169.8) for welterweight title
  • Fedor Emelianenko (236.4) vs. Matt Mitrione (256.6)
  • Chael Sonnen (205.8) vs. Wanderlei Silva (205.8)

Sunday has the SmackDown crew in Everett, WA and ROH TV tapings in Lowell, MA (Ultimo Guerrero vs. Matt Taven, War Machine vs. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley, Bully Ray & Briscoes vs. Young Bucks & Hangman Page, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Kelly Klein vs. Karen Q, Mandy Leon vs. Jenny Rose).

UFC ON SUNDAY FROM OKLAHOMA CITY AT THE CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CENTER

Fight Pass at 5:30 p.m. Eastern

  • Johnny Case vs. Tony Martin
  • Jeremy Kimball vs. Josh Stansbury
  • Jared Gordon vs. Michel Quinones

FS2 at 7 p.m. Eastern

  • Darrell Horcher vs. Devin Powell
  • Carla Esparza vs. Maryna Moroz
  • Vitor Miranda vs. Marvin Vettori
  • Clay Guida vs. Erik Koch

FS1 at 9 p.m. Eastern

  • B.J. Penn vs. Dennis Siver
  • Alex Garcia vs. Tim Means
  • Joachim Christensen vs. Dominick Reyes
  • Felice Herrig vs. Justine Kish
  • Tim Boetsch vs. Johny Hendricks
  • Michael Chiesa vs. Kevin Lee

NEW JAPAN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL ON MONDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN

  • Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi
  • Tomoyuki Oka vs. Katsuya Kitamura
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Taka Michinoku vs. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Hirai Kawato
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Jado
  • Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr & Desperado
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay vs. Evil & Seiya Sanada & Tetsuya Naito & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Yoshi-Hashi for Never Openweight title

Raw will be Monday night from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman return for the show and there will be a confrontation between Goldust and R-Truth. There is also a SmackDown brand house show in Bakersfield, CA on Monday night.

NEW JAPAN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL ON TUESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME

  • Shota Umino vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi
  • Tiger Mask & Hirai Kawato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taka Michinoku
  • Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Liger
  • Togi Makabe & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Seiya Sanada & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Taichi & Desperado
  • Kushida vs. Bushi for IWGP jr. title

SmackDown and 205 Live take place on Tuesday in San Diego. The SmackDown show will feature the Usos vs. Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder in a non-title match, Naomi vs. Lana for the women’s title, Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin and a women’s Money in the Bank ladder rematch.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 6/19/2017: Looking back at the Cruiserweight Classic one year later

Last week brought the announcement of the first four wrestlers who will be participating in WWE’s Mae Young Classic this summer. Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, and Sarah Logan will help make up a diverse 32-competitor field from all around the world. It was this time last year that similar announcements were being made for an almost identical project. And while WWE hopes that the Mae Young Classic will further the cause of women’s wrestling, last year’s cruiserweight tournament still leaves behind an undefined legacy.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: June 26, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Money in the Bank review, G1 announcement, more

A look at what is next on the horizon for WWE and coverage of Money in the Bank is the lead of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Look at what the plans were for SummerSlam and the Universal title headed through WrestleMania.

Coverage of Money in the Bank, with notes on the finishes, business notes, match-by-match coverage, poll results and star ratings, inside.

Have a look at the 2017 G-1 Climax tournament, who got in and who was on the bubble who didn’t make the list, and what to look for when the blocks are announced.

An update on the accident involving Matt Hughes, an update on his health and a look back at his career, is inside.

A feature on Buddy Wayne, one of the best wrestlers in the Northwest during a period of time, why he was never a major star, and a number of people in wrestling comment about him and his career, all in this issue.

Find out about Conor McGregor mentions on Raw, Daniel Bryan looks at changes he’d like to see WWE make and his thoughts on Matt Riddle and Kenny Omega, a look back at what happened behind the scenes regarding the Money in the Bank ladder matches, how Daniel Bryan got his title, why Dolph Ziggler lost his title right away and who was supposed to win that didn’t. Also, look at Shawn Michaels talking about current talent, former developmental wrestler critiques the TV, update on Kairi Hojo in WWE, the birth of Ric Flair, and a list of those at this week’s WWE tryouts.

Check out the value of WWE stock, plans for upcoming TV’s and the most-watched WWE network shows over the past week, and also look at all the WWE & NXT arena events over the past week with results and business notes.

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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.

WON BACK ISSUE: May 29, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Judgment Day review, Super J-Cup, more

It took a lot of guts in this day and age to attempt a 60:00 match. Nowadays, it’s considered gutsy to put on a 10:00 match on television and you never see anything but PPV main events last more than 20:00. The participants, Rock and HHH, went 36:28 at Wrestlemania. Several times during the broadcast of this show it was noted that both of their longest matches was a 30:04 PPV draw in 1998 which was a ***1/4 match.

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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Two more participants were confirmed for the Mae Young Classic at last night’s NXT television tapings. Bianca BelAir (formerly known as Bianca Blair) defeated Aliyah and Vanessa Borne (formerly Danielle Kamela) beat Jayme Hachey in qualifiers for the women’s tournament. Both BelAir and Borne signed with WWE last year and have been part of the non-TV NXT roster.
  • Triple H introduced Mauro Ranallo to the crowd at the tapings last night as Ranallo debuted as the new play-by-play voice of NXT.
  • Ranallo spoke to the Associated Press about his return to WWE and his busy schedule outside of the company. “I was willing to walk away from my dream job, let’s leave it at that,” Ranallo said about why he was originally going to depart WWE. “In order for me to do that, I had to be true to my convictions and what makes you a human being.”
  • Tom Phillips tweeted about leaving the NXT broadcast booth and only doing SmackDown from now on: “It has been one of the great joys of my career to be a part of NXT since 2012. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity!”
  • Mike Kanellis appeared on this week’s episode of the Edge & Christian podcast. He revealed that Kevin Owens urged him and Maria not to re-sign with Impact Wrestling when they were close to doing so.
  • Kassius Ohno posted a photo with Kairi Hojo on Instagram. Hojo recently reported to Orlando after signing with WWE.
  • WWE announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for this September.
  • Apollo Crews and his girlfriend welcomed the birth of their first child.
  • This week’s WWE top 10 list looks at angles where wrestlers have been ambushed while making their entrances.

Pro Wrestling

  • Ratings for Impact were up again this week. The episode averaged 342,000 viewers on Pop TV, which is an increase from last week’s 327,000. 
  • PROGRESS Wrestling will be putting on a show in the Boston, Massachusetts area on August 13th. It will be a double header with Beyond Wrestling, and other details are to be revealed soon. PROGRESS also has a show in New York on August 12th with EVOLVE.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi tweeted that the IWGP Intercontinental Championship is being repaired. The belt’s condition had been getting progressively worse, with Tetsuya Naito destroying it when he was champion.
  • Chris Charlton translated comments that Tanahashi made on his podcast about the biceps injury that he suffered last month. Tanahashi said that the injury happened when he couldn’t make a catch properly after being caught off guard by a dive from Will Ospreay on one of the War of the Worlds shows in the US. He noted that surgery would be the best option but he can’t take time off.
  • To build to their upcoming match in Long Beach, Kazuchika Okada posted “Wow” in response to Cody Rhodes winning the ROH World Championship at Best in the World.
  • AXS TV uploaded the commercial for their episode of NJPW next week. The Okada vs. Omega and Naito vs. Tanahashi matches from Dominion will be shown.
  • NJPW posted a tour of Long Beach with Rocky Romero to promote the upcoming shows in the US. Their English-language website also has a list of rules for fans going to the shows, including that streamers won’t be allowed.
  • Rolling Stone interviewed Chavo Guerrero Jr. about his role as the fight coordinator on Netflix’s GLOW series.
  • Police in East Haven, Connecticut arrested the organizer of a charity wrestling show where the promotion wasn’t paid for their expenses and the autism awareness charity never received their donation. The organizer was charged with issuing a bad check to Paradise Alley Professional Wrestling LLC.

UFC/MMA

  • In only his second fight since moving up to middleweight due to weight-cutting issues, Johny Hendricks has missed weight again. He weighed in at 188 pounds for his fight against Tim Boetsch at tomorrow’s UFC Fight Night show in Oklahoma City. Jared Gordon also missed weight for his fight against Michel Quinones, coming in at 149 pounds. That was three pounds over the limit.
  • The UFC released the poster for UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones II.
  • Dave Meltzer has an article for MMA Fighting on tonight’s Bellator show.
  • Colbey Northcutt (the sister of UFC fighter Sage Northcutt) was knocked out in the second round at last night’s Legacy Fighting Alliance show. She was making her pro MMA debut.

Today in Pro Wrestling History: Edge wins 2001 King of the Ring

F4W Online / Wrestling Observer Vegas Convention Event Info

August 17-21; All times are TBA; Full information on the group Facebook page; Activites subject to change 

  • Thursday: Meet at the Big Shoot for Bowling at the Link; Party at Carnival Court at Hurrah’s
  • Friday: Kiss Mini Golf tournament at the Rio; Dinner at Texas de Brazil; Suite party (location TBA)
  • Saturday: Burgers with Granny for lunch; Future Stars of Wrestling show featuring Stephan Bonnar & Phil Baroni; NXT viewing party at the Sci-Fi Center
  • Sunday: SUPER CHINA BUFFET DAY at the Wicked Spoon Buffet at 1pm; SummerSlam viewing party at the Sci-Fi Center
  • Monday: Goodbye lunch at Chen Chen at NY NY

Texas de Brazil, Wicked Spoon, NXT and Summer Slam will all be sign up and pre-paid events, prices and collection begin in mid July~!

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

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