Daily Update: Mayweather vs. McGregor, WCPW World Cup, Taz

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

NXT will be taping four weeks of television tonight at Full Sail University.

 Impact on Pop TV at 8 p.m. tonight features the 20 man gauntlet match for the vacant GFW title.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 8/21/2017: A weekend in Brooklyn for SummerSlam

As WWE’s four-day stretch in Brooklyn began to wrap up, my biggest takeaway from my time in New York City was just how special live wrestling can be. Being at an event in-person can make a great show like NXT TakeOver seem even better, a marathon like SummerSlam feel less tiresome, and the Raw crowd amusing itself with the wave and playing with beach balls somehow a bit less annoying.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: August 21, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Ric Flair hospitalized, G1 Climax finals, more

An update on Ric Flair and extensive G-1 Climax coverage are the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Full coverage of G-1, including polls on the last three nights, G-1 MVP, G-1 best match and a chart showing star ratings for everyone in the tournament and who had the best top-end matches, who was the most consistent and more, in this issue.

Look at the finances of G-1, what are New Japan’s major programs and biggest shows for the next two months, full coverage of all three nights at Sumo Hall, a measure of the change in interest levels over the past year, a look at the return of Katsuyori Shibata, and U.S. G-1 television plans for the summer and fall.

Preview WWE’s SummerSlam weekend, injury updates, lineup changes, ticket sales and plans for next year.

There is an update on the Daniel Bryan situation and why his coming back to wrestle next year is so unique, more on the WWE Network in China, how streaming services have done in China, Ronda Rousey and WWE, Adam Cole and WWE, the Mae Young Classic, Mike Bennett talks drug addiction issues, Bayley talks about her injury, Sami Zayn raising money, Dwayne Johnson update, Scott Dawson update, Shayna Baszler talks Rousey in wrestling, UK ratings, the story of Jericho’s one-night comeback, how Dolph Ziggler’s fortunes faded, WWE market value and the most watched shows on the WWE Network.

Check out all the WWE and NXT arena events from the past week with highlights from each show and business notes.

Examine the situation with Alberto El Patron and GFW and why it is what it is, as well as notes on the upcoming GFW tapings, Alberto’s response, new talent coming, the situation with Lucha Underground and what happens if Lucha Underground is no more.

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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: July 31, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WCW does big business in Australia, WWF Fully Loaded review, more

The country of Australia, apparently wrestling-starved, banged out amazing business when tickets went on sale for an October tour of World Championship Wrestling, which includes four television shoots. On 7/21, the first show that went on sale, a Nitro taping in Melbourne on 10/13, sold out the Rod Laver Arena (capacity for a Nitro taping would be probably close to 10,000) with tickets priced from $300 Australian down to $65, sold out in less than three hours (reports of a 90 minute sellout are exaggerated, but only slightly).

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

I want to apologize for all the web site issues for subscribers. Apparently our hosting site was under a DDOS attack and there are issues with a number of sites that they host. Only in one of the biggest news periods of the year would something like this happen. Obviously everyone is working as hard as possible to get everything taken care of. There are people who have been able to access content since I’ve heard from people who have read the issue and heard the shows, but I haven’t been able to do either. It may be taken care of as I was able to log in a few minutes ago.

Mayweather vs. McGregor is all over SportsCenter. I saw the morning show with Max Kellerman and Stephen A. Smith from Las Vegas and both were good as far as analysis. Obviously this is a subject where Kellerman really knows his stuff.

Even though about 92 percent of the bets have been placed on McGregor, the average bet on McGregor has been $186, while the average bet on Mayweather has been $8,038. Kellerman pointed at the casinos behind him in the wide shot and said that these elaborate casinos were built by people who bet on McGregor.

I’m trying to think if there has ever been anything in one-on-one sports in history where the biggest stars in two specific sports went at it. Royce Gracie was never the best BJJ guy and when he fought Akebono, Akebono was already retired from sumo. Muhammad Ali was the biggest name in boxing when he fought Antonio Inoki, and Inoki was one of the biggest names in wrestling but pro wrestling wasn’t a real sport. 

McGregor’s trainer, John Kavanagh wrote about how McGregor will win.

Bas Rutten says McGregor is going to win on Submission Radio:

“I’m telling you, Conor’s gonna knock him out! He’s gonna knock him out within four rounds because he said so, and every time when he says so, he’s pretty much always on the money. So I’m gonna trust him this time. I’m gonna say, “you know what, I want you to knock him out,” because that would be the best thing to ever happen for MMA. And if he would lose it would never be a bad thing for MMA, you know. But the other way around, oh that’s a big no-no for Mayweather. Mayweather’s gonna have an insane amount of pressure. It’s better to fight a world champion, another world champion in boxing. I use this example always. I was gonna fight Kimo Leopoldo in my last fight and he tested positive for steroids like three days before. So they called this new guy in, 265 pounds, big guy, Indian guy. And Don Frye just called me, he said, “listen, I hit him with everything I had and I couldn’t knock him out, so be ready for plan B”. I said, “it’s alright, I got it covered, don’t worry about it”. But you know, at that moment I would have rather fought Fedor Emelianenko – this was in 2006 when he was still on top – than to fight this guy, because anything can happen. If the guy makes a stupid backfist, a weird move and I have a little cut above my eye, then they can stop the fight and I’m gonna lose the fight. So I’d rather lose against the world champ than to have somebody (unknown beat me). It’s like fighting a girl. That’s what I’ve been saying. Mayweather, if he wins, well he’s supposed to win. If he loses, it’s a really bad thing.”

“Conor’s gonna knock him out within four rounds. That’s what I’m gonna say. I’m gonna stick with it. I want my corner with with Conor. And I know skills-wise (Mayweather is better), I know all that. Trust me, I’ve been fighting for a long time. You can call me an idiot, whatever they want. I’m just talking about all the mental aspects and everything there is. And if me committing to Conor is gonna give him a little bit of extra power mentally, so be it. I hope a lot of people are gonna do it because boy do I want to see Mayweather lose.”

“He’s not gonna win on decision. If it goes to a decision, Mayweather’s gonna take this fight. His output is gonna be way more, you know, he’s gonna outbox him and then he’ll get those points. The only way for McGregor to win this fight is to knock him out. And hopefully he can do it within the four rounds, because the longer the fight takes, yes, it takes a little bit of the steam out of the power. But last time with (Nate) Diaz, we saw him walking away from him, you know, like people said he was running. Nah, he was actually really smart. Just run away, dude, make sure you don’t go to the ground, catch your breath, catch your breath and then he started to come back again in the later rounds with big shots. So if he can dose it, make sure that he doesn’t unload and go for four rounds only, yeah. Now I’m starting to think about something else now. I’m starting to think, what if the trainer, what if they said, “you know what, we’re gonna work, we’re gonna train for five rounds. We gonna go five rounds as hard as we can and it will hopefully knock him out with five rounds,” right? And if it doesn’t go, well then he’s gonna go lose a decision or maybe even he’s gonna get stopped. But sometimes a game plan like that against a slow starter like Mayweather, that could be a very good game plan.”

Nate Diaz also believes Conor McGregor can win.

There has been a ton of talk about Ali vs. Inoki, and if you’ve never seen it, here it is.

What Culture Pro Wrestling is finishing up its World Cup over the next few days. Yesterday’s how in Milton Keynes, UK saw:

  • Mike Bailey (Canada) b Travis Banks (New Zealand) — Real strong
  • Penta 0M (Mexico) b Bad Bones (Germany) with a package piledriver
  • Non-tourney: War Machine & Marty Scurll b The Prestige of Joe Hendry & BT Gnnn & El Ligero (crowd loved the match, Scurrll pinned Ligero but War Machine walked out on Scurll and The Prestige took out Scurll after the mach
  • Hiromu Takahashi (Japan) b Lucky Kid (German) — Kid was an unknown to the fans but won the crowd over and made a name for himself here.
  • Ricochet (U.S.) b Angelico (South Africa) — Word was good but not as spectacular as a usual Ricochet match
  • Joseph Conners (England) b Joe Coffey (Scotland) — Conners, who is under WWE contract, replaced Michael Elgin, who was called to appear for CMLL this week in Mexico. Conners was given permission by WWE to do the show which aired live on YouTube, and he blew the roof off and was given the win.
  • Kushida (Japan) b Kenny Williams (Scotland) — Good match. The two have similar gimmicks and Kushida gave Williams has bomber jacket and Williams gave Kushida his boots after and they hugged.
  • Zack Sabre Jr. (UK) b Jay Lethal (U.S.) — in a match said to be incredible. Sabre was over more than ever after his G-1 showing. 
  • Will Ospreay (UK) b Rey Mysterio (Mexico) — People were raving to me about the match. Some called it Rey’s best singles match in years, although Rey had some great matches in Lucha Underground over the past year. Mysterio did more flying than you’d expect and it was said this was like watching 1996 Mysterio vs. Eddy Guerrero.
    Today’s WCPW show has Kushida vs. Sabre, Takahashi vs Conners Ricochet vs. Penta 0M and Ospreay vs. Bailey on the WCPW YouTube Channel.

WWE

  • WWE announced a new multi-year TV deal with Flow 1 in the Caribbean. Raw and Smackdown will start airing on the station live this week in English. They will also air WWE Experience on Saturdays at 8 p.m. and This Week in WWE on Sundays at 10 p.m.
  • WWE sent out a questionnaire asking fans to list their favorite current and past wrestlers up to ten. Everyone on the main roster and the guys getting NXT TV time were listed as well as stars from the past including Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino along with others that you would expect.
  • It looks like WWE will be doing a Rock clothing line in some form since they’ve applied for a trademark for The Rock for clothing purposes.
  • Jim Ross and Lita were brought to the WWE Studios in Stamford this week to re-voice over some of the Mae Young Classic shows. Not sure why they had to do them again.
  • NXT will debut in new cities in October. There is a Southeast swing on 10/19 in Macon, GA, 10/20 in North Charleston, SC and 10/21 in Aiken, SC.
  • The WWE Studios film “Birth of the Dragon” which was promoted heavily on television this past week will be released at theaters tomorrow night.
  • The Bella Twins are releasing a Bella Wine line.
  • Kevin Owens announced that he would not be at the Wizard World event he was scheduled for tomorrow. He wrote, “I should clarify, this is in no way Wizard World’s fault. Just bad timing.”
  • Lana was doing an interview and Rusev interrupted and talked about why he doesn’t want her wrestling.
  • An interview with Steve Austin about his favorite matches, Donald Trump, and more.

Miscellaneous

  • Get well to Taz, who underwent surgery on his hand yesterday due to nerve damage likely stemming from his neck problems as a wrestler. Taz said the surgery was more intricate and longer than expected and they did work on both his right hand and left thumb. He will have to miss a few days of his radio show.
  • A story on brain injuries and how it relates to Muhammad Ali. (thanks to Sam Montanaro)
  • Powerbomb.TV has announced streaming of Beyond Wrestling on 9/24, Preston City Wrestling from the UK on 9/22, and Bytown Championship Wrestling (with John Morrison and Rob Van Dam) on 9/17. The last first round match of the Powerbomb Independent title will be 9/9 with Jonathan Gresham vs. Jigsaw. The finals of the tournament will be on 10/22 in Old Forge, PA.
  • CZW on 9/9 at Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ has a doubleheader with a Women’s show at 4 p.m. and CZW at 8 p.m. The CZW show has the Chris Cash Memorial ladder match and WSU has a King and Queen tournament with Veda Scott & Jason Cade, Leva Bates & Greg Excellent, Rick Cataldo & MJF and Isla Dawn & Dave Crist, plus Mercedes Martinez vs. Jordynne Grace.
  • Old Time Wrestling Hardcore Hustle on 10/20 in Williamstown, NJ has Ron Mathis & Ganger & Mikael & Eric Ryan vs. Kevin Sullivan (as in the 70s and 80s and 90s star) & Matt Tremont & G-Raver & Kevin Sullivan plus Shane Douglas vs. Jeff Cannonball.
  • NWA Mid South on Saturday night in Jackson, TV at the Civic Center as part of the Jackson Comic Com: Van Van Horn won Battle Royal, Johnny Morton NC Koko Anderson, Van Horn & Chase Stevens b Tracy Smothers & Black Hand Rider, Michael Elgin b Alan Steel, Buff Bagwell & Koko Anderson b Matt Riviera & Johnny Morton
  • Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 9/2 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds with Flash Flanagan & Vic the Bruiser vs. Tank & JW1.]
  • XICW announced that Bobby Heenan is off their October Cobo Arena convention due to health issues. 
  • AIW on Saturday night in Cleveland at Now That’s Class with Tim Donst vs. Danny Havoc as the main event.
  • CollectorFest Monthly has two shows with Ivan Putski who will be doing autographs for $20 and pictures for on Saturday from 5-7 p.m. during the Rochester (NY) Red Wings game at Frontier Field and on Sunday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the Webster Columbus Center in Webster, NY as part of a collectibles show.
  • The annual CHIKARA King of Trios featuring Simon Grimm (formerly Simon Gotch) will be on 9/1 to 9/3 at Starworks in Wolverhampton, England.
  • The new Edge & Christian podcast this week will have Kenny Omega as a guest. As noted last week, and as is the subject of a lead story in the new issue, Bryan Danielson was on last week.

Today in Professional Wrestling History: WWE SummerSlam 2003

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