Daily Update: Mauro Ranallo, Bellator in NYC, Cornette and Russo

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s NXT show in Cocoa, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com 

NXT will be taping television tomorrow night at Full Sail University. That’s the show Mauro Ranallo will return for.

IMPACT ON POP TV AT 8 P.M.

  • Allie & Rosemary vs. Sienna & Laurel Van Ness
  • Mahabali Shera vs. KM
  • Sony Six X Division elimination match with Davey Richards, Trevor Lee, Eddie Edwards, Suicide and Braxton Sutter
  • James Storm & Alberto El Patron vs. Bobby Lashley & EC 3

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. 

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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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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

We’ll be doing shows Friday through Monday night covering ROH, Bellator, UFC and then Raw, and then next week we’ll be doing shows several nights in a row from Long Beach including some special shows with different guests. 

On the Mauro Ranallo story, the talks between WWE and Ranallo returning date back to April and the deal was all but finalized a few weeks ago. The original announcement was expected to be yesterday. Ranallo signed a new multi-year contract, so he is not returning on his old contract that expires in August. The contract is to work all NXT television tapings and TakeOver specials, so it’s a lot more limited deal than his prior deal which was for 52 Tuesdays, a dozen or so Sundays which also meant being on the road on Mondays the week of Sunday shows, so a minimum of about 76 dates. He’ll remain with Showtime and Bellator. But any talk of him doing New Japan is pretty much dead.

Bellator held a press conference today in New York for Saturday night’s show in Madison Square Garden. They are pushing it like the biggest show in company history. It is the best card they’ve ever done, but I don’t sense the anticipation of some of the Kimbo Slice shows they’ve done in the past. Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva were finally in the same place. Silva shoved Sonnen before they were pulled apart. There was a funny situation where a Brazilian reporter who sort of resembled Sofia Vergara asked questions to Sonnen and Matt Mitrione and they both lost their train of thought.

Scott Coker noted that tomorrow’s weigh-in will be using the same scale that Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier weighed in on for their 1971 fight.

Vince Russo filed for an order of protection on 6/16 in Posey County Superior Court in Indiana claiming that Cornette has been stalking him since 1999. That’s based on a promo Cornette cut on him on his 6/15 podcast. Cornette was served last night at his home in Louisville and ordered to stay away from Russo, Amy Russo, the home of Vince Russo and Russo’s place of employment.

The original test run of T-shirts for the Bullet Club and company at Hot Topics, which were at selected stores over the past few weeks was a big enough success that every Hot Topics store has ordered a full line of Bullet Club, Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and Marty Scurll T-shirts. They started showing up in about 15 percent of the Hot Topics stores in the U.S. last week and greatly over performed and they will now be in all stores starting in either July or August.

WWE

  • WWE announced today a new weekly Hindi language television show called WWE Sunday Dhamaal, which airs from 6-8 p.m. every Sunday starting this weekend on Sony MAX. It will be a combination of matches taped from WWE tapings with features done in the language with the talent. The show will also air in English on TEN 1 and Ten 1 HD on Sundays from 10 a.m. to Noon.
  • Justin Roberts’ book “Best Seat in the House,” which is a must-read as it’s as honest and insightful a book as there is about WWE and the road in the 00s, is now available as an audio book. It’s available from Amazon and iTunes.
  • Ric Flair is going to the Knoxville area on 7/12 to campaign for Glenn Jacobs (Kane) who is running for mayor of Knox County.
  • Rusev is being advertised for the weekend Smackdown brand house shows. On Sunday night in Everett, WA, he’s scheduled for a three-way for the U.S. title with Kevin Owens and Mojo Rawley. He’s also scheduled Saturday night in Vancouver, Monday night in Bakersfield and Tuesday night in San Diego.
  • WWE has uploaded several new shows to the Old School section of the WWE Network. The new shows are:
    8/7/76: Madison Square Garden show headlined by Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen in a cage match. This was the rematch from the Shea Stadium show on June 26.
    10/25/76: Madison Square Garden show headlined by Bruno Sammartino vs. Nikolai Volkoff
    12/19/77: Madison Square Garden show headlined by Superstar Billy Graham vs. Mil Mascaras (Mascaras’ only MSG main event and Graham’s last successful WWWF title defense) and Harley Race vs. Rick Martel for the NWA title
    ’12/17/79: One of the most loaded MSG shows ever: Bob Backlund vs. Bobby Duncum Texas death match for held up (or not, long story) WWF title, Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes for NWA title, Antonio Inoki vs. Iron Sheik for NWF title, Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Johnny Rivera for WWF jr. title, Ivan Putski & Tito Santana vs. Victor Rivera & Swede Hanson for WWF tag team titles, Ted DiBiase vs. Hulk Hogan (Hogan’s MSG debut), Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu vs. Bad News Allen & Jo Jo Andrews for North American tag titles, Mike Graham vs. Johnny Rodz, Larry Zbyszko vs. Bulldog Brower
    3/17/85: Madison Square Garden show headlined by Mr. T in Piper’s Pit.
  • On last night’s show we were asked if there were any women on the WWE writing team. The answer is there are no women on the traveling team, but the “home team” has at least one woman writer.
  • The presale for the 10/22 TLC PPV show in Minneapolis at Target Center ends at 10 p.m. Central time tonight with the code TLCMINNY
  • Similarly a presale for a 9/2 house show in Kansas City ends tomorrow night at 10 p.m. with the code WWELIVE, but tickets go on sale to the public without a password at 10 a.m.
  • The NXT show coming up in Los Angeles will be theater seating at L.A. Live. For $100, you can a front orchestra section seating and preferred parking, plus a pre-show hospitality room for beer, wine, food and soft drinks.

UFC

  • Last night’s Ultimate Fighter episode did 456,000 viewers, the most watched episode of the show since April 2016.
  • The company announced the lineup for the first episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contenders on Fight Pass on 7/11. The concept is that they are bringing in stars and champions from regional promotions and putting them on the show with the opportunity to make the UFC roster.:
    Matt Bessette vs. Kurt Holobaugh
    L. Gomez Alvarez vs. Dan Ige
    Greg Rebello vs. Azunna Amyanwa
    Charles Byrd vs. Justin Jones
    Joby Sanchez vs. Manny Vazquez
  • Amanda Lemos was announced as the new opponent for Leslie Smith on the 7/16 show in Glasgow. Lemos is the Jungle Fight womens’ bantamweight champion who will make her UFC debut. Lina Lansberg, Smith’s scheduled opponent, pulled out due to an injury.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • There are a lot of media stories on the new documentary “Nobody Speak: Trials of a Free Press” which extensively covers the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial. The Village Voice, The Guardian, AV Club, and the Washington Post have articles on it.
  • We are sorry to report the passing of Bryan Levick, who worked in public relations with the Titan FC promotion, which is one of the better known independent groups. Levick suffered a heart embolism and died instantly. He leaves behind a wife and two children. There is a GoFundMe campaign set up.
  • Here’s a story on the new Netflix series on GLOW. The show debuts tomorrow night. 
  • For those who are going to the G-1, Wrestle Kingdom or planning a Japan trip, there is a book called Puroresu Travel with a look at what restaurants and shops to go to, how to get tickets, bars and restaurants owned by former wrestlers, how to use the train and more.
  • For those going to the New Japan shows in Long Beach, there are after-parties at Beachwood BBQ and Rock Bottom.
  • Johnny Mundo, JTG, Rocky Romero are in The Asoka’s new music video and they all rap in it. Christopher Daniels makes a really funny cameo in it too. The album version of the song has even more wrestlers like MVP, Sonjay Dutt, and another former WWE/TNA champion (who wanted to remain anonymous) rapping on the song. 
  • Bully Ray promoted tomorrow night’s ROH PPV in an interview with USA Today.
  • West Coast Wrestling Federation on 6/24 in Yuba City, CA at the Fairgrounds.
  • CWE on 6/24 in Saskatoon, SK at the Sutherland Curling Club with free tickets headlined by Tony Kozina vs. Mentallo.
  • Legacy Fighting on 7/14 in Dallas at the Bomb Factory for AXS TV live will be headlined by Andrea “KGB” Lee (7-2) defending her flyweight title against Davina Maciel (6-1) and Steven Peterson (5-1) vs. Angel Huerta (9-4).
  • One announced the debut in Surabaya, Indonesia with a show on 7/29 at the GOR Kertajaya Arena called One: Conquest of Kings.”
  • IWF announced a Hall of Fame induction ceremony on 6/24 in Nutley, NJ at the IWF Centre.
  • Dynamo Pro Wrestling on 7/7 in Grafton, IL at the Loading Dock Bar & Grille at 8 p.m.

Today in Pro Wrestling History: Michael Elgin wins ROH World Championship

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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