Daily Update: Mayweather vs. McGregor, WWE house shows, WCPW

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’ll be doing a poll this weekend for TripleMania tomorrow, so thumbs up, down or middle with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE Raw house show in Carbondale, IL, NXT show in Tampa and NEW in Pittsfield, MA (Cody Rhodes vs. Jerry Lawler for NEW title, Rey Mysterio vs. Flip Gordon, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Karen Q, TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia vs. Brad Hollister & Wrecking Ball Legursky, Robbie E vs. Jake Manning, Caleb Konley vs. Brian Anthony vs JT Dunn and an appearance by Bob Orton Jr.) to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS FROM PARIS, FRANCE ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK TONIGHT AT 7 P.M. EASTERN

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING TONIGHT ON AXS TV AT 8 P.M. EASTERN

  • Juice Robinson vs. Satoshi Kojima
  • Evil vs. Seiya Sanada
  • Kenny Omega vs. Minoru Suzuki

BELLATOR AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON SPIKE TV FROM VERONA, NY

  • Veta Arteaga vs. Bruna Ellen
  • A.J. McKee vs. Blair Tugman
  • Brennan Ward vs. Fernando Gonzalez
  • Andrey Koreschkov.vs. Chidi Njokuani

LEGACY FIGHTING ALLIANCE AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS TV FROM PRIOR LAKE, MINNESOTA

  • Jesse Wannemacher vs. Mitch White
  • Brandon Jenkins vs. Jeff Peterson
  • Bobby Lee vs. Askham Morvari
  • Travis Perzynski vs. Carl Wittsock
  • Kelly Kobold vs. Christine Stanley
  • Nate Jennerman vs. Bobby Moffett
  • Chad Curry vs. Nick Barnes

CMLL AT ARENA MEXICO TONIGHT AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN

  • Robin & Star Jr. vs. Espanto Jr. & Akuma
  • Guerrero Maya Jr. & Drone & Pegasso vs. Misterioso Jr.. & Sagrado & Disturbio
  • Princesa Sugehit & Silueta & Vaquerita vs. Zeuxis & Amapola & Comandante
  • Cavernario vs. Soberano Jr.
  • Mistico & Dragon Lee & Niebla Roja vs. Gran Guerrero & Shocker & El Terrible
  • Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero & Diamante Azul vs. Michael Elgin & Matt Taven & Juice Robinson

For Saturday, we’re looking for reports on the WWE Raw house show in Jonesboro, AR, SmackDown in Baton Rouge, LA, NXT in Bartow, FL and ROH TV tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta (Cody defends the ROH title against the winner of the Honor Rumble, Marty Scurll vs. Rocky Romero, Cheeseburger vs. Will Ferrara, plus Young Bucks, War Machine, Bully Ray, Briscoes, Alex Shelley,Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Hangman Page, Kenny King,Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Silas Young, Jay White, Beer City Bruiser, Josh Woods, Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Sho Tanaka, Yohei Komatsu, Vinny Marseglia, TK O’Ryan, Shane Taylor and Punishment Martinez) to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

AAA TRIPLEMANIA AT 8 P.M. EASTERN ON SATURDAY

  • Llave de Gloria final
  • Mascara de Bronce & Big Mami & Dinastia & Estrella Divina vs. Hernandez & Hiedra & Mini Psycho Clown & Mamba
  • Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria defend AAA tag titles against DJZ & Andrew Everett, Drago & Aerostar and Monsther Clown & Murder Clown
  • Sexy Star vs. Lady Shani vs. Rosemary vs. Ayako Hamada for AAA Reina de Reinas title
  • Pagano vs. Mesias street fight
  • Torneo TripleMania 25 lumberjack match with La Parka, Bengala, Argenis, Australian Suicide, Faby Apache, Pimpinela Escarlata, Averno, Chessman, Super Fly, Bobby Lashley, Moose, Jeff Jarrett, Scorpio Jr., Zumbido, Decnis, Psicosis (not the original), Maniaco, Histeira, Joe Lider, Halloween, Mr. Aguila, Crazy Boy, Nino Hamburguesa, Lanzeloth, Intocable, Blue Demon Jr., Pirata Morgan, Heavy Metal, Villano IV and a surprise final participant
  • Johnny Mundo defends AAA Mega heavyweight, AAA cruiserweight and Latin American heavyweight titles against El Hijo del Fantasma and El Texano Jr. in a ladder match
  • Psycho Clown vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. mask vs. mask

MAYWEATHER VS. MCGREGOR PPV ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT 9 P.M. EASTERN

Sunday has a WWE SmackDown brand house show in Monroe, LA and what is traditionally the biggest independent show of the year, Wrestling Under the Stars by Northeast Wrestling at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, NY (Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. for the NEW title with Ricky Steamboat as referee, Robbie E & Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jerry Lawler & Brandi Rhodes, The Now vs. Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan for NEW tag titles, Ryback vs. Hanson, Battle Brothers vs. Amazing Graysons vs. Adrenaline Rush, Brian Anthony vs. Brad Hollister, Keith Lee vs. Wrecking Ball Legursky, Laredo Kid vs. Flip Gordon vs. Garza Jr. plus appearances by Chris Jericho, Mick Foley and Bob Orton Jr.).

Raw will be Monday night in Memphis. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are scheduled for the show along with John Cena (who is now on the Raw brand). Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss for the women’s title is on the show. There is also a SmackDown brand house show in Texarkana, AR.

SmackDown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday night in Little Rock. Brian Kendrick vs. Jack Gallagher no DQ has been announced. 

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 28, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jon Jones fails drug test, Mayweather vs. McGregor, more

With SummerSlam, the Jon Jones drug test failure, McGregor-Mayweather and a major story on Daniel Bryan, it’s one of the biggest issues of the year, a double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter out to members right now.

Our lead story looks at the Jon Jones situation from all angles, looking at the drug he is alleged to have failed the test for and its usage, the time line, last year’s failure, the potential penalties, the ramifications for Daniel Cormier and the value of the light heavyweight title, responses from several people involved, what is likely to happen with the title, what UFC was planning for Jones, UFC’s promotion of Jones, as well as how this affects Brock Lesnar, which is huge, and Lesnar’s leverage and negotiations for a new WWE contract.

Have an in-depth look at the history of boxer vs. wrestler and other types of mixed matches when analyzing Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather. Find out what this means financially and otherwise to UFC, why nothing of the sort has ever happened previously, and why it probably will happen more going forward. Examine just how much revenue this fight is looking at generating. Look at how buys are tending, predictions on buys, and how a success will change combat sports forever and especially the UFC if it was knockout power champions.

Look at the issues of sanctioning, the smaller gloves, and lots of different mixed matches going through time including stories related to Frank Gotch, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Gene LeBell, the Ali vs. Inoki match, and even Wilt Chamberlain when it comes to unique matches talked about in the past.

Full coverage of SummerSlam, including stories behind what happened in different matches, the business for the weekend, a look at the next two WWE PPV shows, the situation with title changes, Baron Corbin, Rusev as well as match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

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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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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

For the weekend WWE shows, John Cena is working the Raw tour. Charlotte Flair is scheduled to start back tomorrow night in Baton Rouge on the SmackDown tour which I consider as good news when it pertains to Ric Flair.

Aaron Bronster tweeted that for the MGM Grand Sportsbook, that the average bet on McGregor has been $125 but the average bet on Mayweather has been $4,100. There will be live betting taken for each round and after each round for the first time ever. According to Jay Rood, the VP of the Race and Sports Book, the best outcome for the casinos is Mayweather winning via decision. The worst is McGregor winning via knockout.

Ariel Helwani talking to everyone under the sun this afternoon on Mayweather-McGregor. For those who don’t think this fight will be big, the belief is that more money is being bet on this fight that any sports event in history. The buzz on the streets is enormous today.

What Culture Pro Wrestling yesterday in Manchester, England with the quarterfinals of the World Cup: War Machine b Tarkian Aslan & Lucky Kid to keep the tag titles, Travis Banks b David Starr, and quarterfinal results were:

  • Ricochet b Penta 0M in an incredible match
  • Joseph Conners b Hiromu Takahashi a very solid match
  • Will Ospreay b Mike Bailey in a match that has been talked about like crazy on Twitter as a match of the year candidate
  • Kushida b Zack Sabre Jr. in a great match

The semifinals and finals will air live tomorrow on the What Culture YouTube page. Semis are Ospreay vs. Ricochet and Conners vs. Kushida. Wednesday and Thursday’s shows are both up on the page as well. Everything with Ospreay, Ricochet, Mysterio, Kushida and Sabre in particular has been raved about.

WWE

  • The Enzo Amore debut on 205 Live did more than 1 million YouTube views which is better than anything does on that show. The biggest numbers this week were the Lesnar-Strowman angle with 4 million, John Cena’s segment with 2 million and Bobby Roode’s debut with 1 million.
  • Big Cass had his surgery yesterday. Carmella wrote that he’s in more agony over not being able to eat pizza than he is over the knee operation.
  • WWE is pushing that Jessika Carr will be the first female referee ever with her appearances in the Mae Young Classic this coming week. That’s not the slightest bit true, by the way, as half the women’s roster has worked as a referee and the first that I know of would be Rita Chatterton in the mid-80s.
  • Natalya winning the SmackDown title was covered by CBC in Canada.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • At the World Wrestling championships in Paris, Alli Ragan of the U.S. won a silver medal at 132 pounds for the second straight year. The U.S. tied with Belarus for second place behind Japan in the team totals. Thomas Gilman will be going for the gold medal at 125.5 pounds against Yuki Takahashi of Japan today. J’Den Cox is still alive going for a bronze medal and Nick Gwiazdowski of the U.S. is going for a bronze medal at 275 pounds. Gwiazdowski is almost surely headed to WWE, but not until 2020. There will be a highlight show on NBC Sports Network tonight and the championships are streaming live. They end tomorrow with Kyle Snyder of the U.S. going for the world title.
  • As noted in the above lineup, Andrew Everett & DJZ from GFW have been added to tomorrow’s TripleMania show in a four-way match for the AAA tag team titles. Was told the great Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm match from last weekend’s Five Star tournament is up on Stardom World right now.
  • Pro Wrestling Revolution runs 11/18 in Petaluma, CA at the Veterans Building.
  • Pure Wrestling Association from last Saturday in Bradford, ONT: Clay Wilson & Matt Squash b Rex Atkins & EZE,. EZE b Rex Atkins, Joey Valentine b Joey Allen, Kaitlin Diemond b Leah Vaughn, Barbarians b Joey Allen & Jimmy King, Jesse Bieber & Lenny Lilac b Reggie Marley & Rex Atkins, TNT b Joey Valentine, Kaitlin Diemod b Matt Squash, Matt & Mike Hart b Jeff Black & Corey Spade, EZE b Josh Alexander, Barbarians b Jesse Bieber & Lenny Lilac, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Rene Dupree.
  • During Thursday night’s Weekend Update: Summer Edition, Saturday Night Live performer Alex Moffat as Conor McGregor discussed Saturday’s mega fight against Floyd Mayweather. The joke was McGregor was equal parts delusional and going into the fight knowing he was going to lose. (thanks to Denis Gorman)

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Brock defeats Rock at SummerSlam 2002

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