Daily Update: McGregor vs. Mayweather, UFC news, The Rock

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE shows, with Raw in Stuttgart, Germany, Smackdown in Sheffield, England and NXT in Daytona Beach, FL as well as yesterday’s WWE show in Birmingham, UK to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re also looking for reports on tomorrow’s WWE shows with Raw in Liege, Belgium and Smackdown in Newcastle, England.

IMPACT TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON POP TV

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 5/8/2017: Thinking outside the long talking segment

While it wasn’t entirely revolutionary, the two-part “Who is Roderick Strong?” series that aired on NXT television over the past couple of weeks again proved how effective WWE’s video profiles can be in getting characters over. Similar videos have aired in the past (with a series that focused on Finn Balor in NXT standing out as a highlight), but the profiles on Strong may have been the best that WWE has ever done. They made him feel like a fully formed character in a way that he never really has before.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: May 15, 2017: WWE financials breakdown, Braun Strowman injured, tons more

It’s another double issue of the Observer out this week, with more of a look at the WWE business in every category, how the Braun Strowman injury affects booking, the death of one of pro wrestling’s leading historians J Michael Kenyon, New Japan’s direction, the life of Gran Apache, UFC business, indies and the WWE ratings declines.

Look at the current WWE finances, WWE network subscriptions, television revenue, how much WWE takes in for Total Divas, comparing this year’s WrestleMania to last year when it comes to network subscription growth, how many people added and canceled subscriptions to the network in the first quarter, revenue and expenses regarding adding new events on the network, what categories is the company losing money in, and the interesting stats regarding social media users and where they are from and where the money for WWE comes from.

Read about the realities of WWE attendance, merchandise sales, ticket sales, the value of the band extension, and a chart showing where the actual profits have come from in WWE over the past five years.

Examine the Strowman situation, the next couple of PPV shows and how the planned Raw main event scene has been changed.

Check out New Japan’s big shows over the next month, including a major storyline that starts next week, the full lineups for the Best of the Super Junior shows, what shows will be in English, a rundown of the Dontaku show in Fukuoka, and more thoughts on the Long Beach shows.

There is an update on the Hardys situation, Dwayne Johnson’s first movie with a pro wrestling backdrop, Johnson for President, WWE announcing for new shows, plans for the women’s tournament and the highlights of the first U.K. shows. 

Also, look at the WWE injury updates, how ratings for other sports and their drops are comparing with WWE, a major new WWE sieging, and details on two lawsuits against WWE including one that has potential major implications for current wrestlers.

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WON BACK ISSUE: April 17, 2000: Mike Awesome jumps ship to WCW, Russo/Bischoff era of Nitro begins, more

At press time, exactly what is going on between WCW and ECW regarding current ECW heavyweight champion Mike Awesome is apparently up in the air. In a strange series of circumstances, it appeared that Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, in their attempt to re-create the debuting impact of Nitro in 1995 with Lex Luger’s surprising walking on the set, combined with the incident where Madusa threw the WWF womens title belt in the garbage can, since they were unable to secure any WWF talent, made a huge pitch to garner ECW’s heavyweight champion.

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

The two major events this weekend are the ROH War of the Worlds PPV tomorrow night and UFC 211 on Saturday night.

Dana White was on the Jim Rome show today and said that he’s made a deadline that if he doesn’t get Conor McGregor to agree to terms by Sunday for the Floyd Mayweather fight, then he’s moving on from it. White wants to get McGregor to agree to terms before approaching Mayweather. This is all public posturing. He also said that they wanted to do the fight on 9/16, but he never put a hold on the date and now Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin got the date so they’ll have to get a new date.

While this has been known for several days, UFC officially announced today that Anderson Silva was off the 6/3 UFC 212 show in Rio de Janeiro. Once Kelvin Gastelum was suspended for a marijuana test failure, the UFC and Silva weren’t able to reach an agreement on a new opponent. Gastelum and USADA reached an agreement today for a six month suspension for a sample collected on 3/11, but due to completing a drug awareness and management program, he would be eligible to fight on 6/10, missing that fight date by one week.

Former strawweight title contender Jessica Penne was put on a provisional suspension as the first person to have a violation based on a biological passport. We spoke on this on today’s Observer radio show.

Hans Schroeder, a German wrestler also known as Johnny Karisma, who was a star in Australia and worked all over the U.S. in the 60s and 70s, passed away on 4/29 at the age of 85. Schroeder was at one point married to Leilani Kai. (thanks to Stephen Ackroyd)

WWE

  • The website betonline.ag has established 80-to-1 odds on Dwayne Johnson being our next president. The favorites are Donald Trump at 11-to-4, Mike Pence at 6-1, Elizabeth Warren at 8-1, Michelle Obama at 14-to-1 and Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders at 20-to-1.
  • The Washington Post on Johnson running for president is here.
  • John Cena talks his next WWE return.
  • A story on John Cena is here.
  • Stephanie McMahon, doing promotional work in the U.K., hinted on a future WrestleMania or SummerSlam in the U.K.
  • There is a pre-sale going on until 10 p.m. tonight in Phoenix for both Raw and Smackdown tapings on 7/3 and 7/4 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena. Tickets for both nights at a 2-for-1 pricing are available using the code: WWECOMBO
  • The Raw show that night is the go-home show for the Great Balls of Fire PPV show, so Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman will be on that card. John Cena is also scheduled for the Smackdown show.
  • There is an on-line pre-sale going on today also for 8/12 in Tampa using the code WWEVIP and 6/26 in Bakersfield, CA with the code WWEFAN Kofi Kingston & Big E are on a promotional tour of India and yesterday appeared on the Indian Premier League analysis show Extraaaa Innings T20. The show covers the sport of cricket, which is huge in India. This will be the first time any WWE personnel has ever had any kind of a business relationship with that sport in India.
  • A story on wrestlers in Hollywood is here. (thanks to Chris Cruise)

UFC

  • For Saturday, with the Sergio Pettis vs. Henry Cejudo fight off the show due to the hand injury suffered by Cejudo, the fight with David Branch vs. Krzysztof Jotko has been moved from the FX prelims (prelims this week are on FX, not FS 1) to the PPV. Replacing Branch vs. Jotko on the FX bouts is Rashad Coulter vs. Chase Sherman. The start time of the show has been moved from 6 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Eastern for the Fight Pass fights.
  • The company announced an 8/5 show in Mexico City at Arena Ciudad.
  • Tim Elliott will be replacing Joseph Benavidez, who suffered an injury, on the 6/10 show in Auckland, New Zealand, in facing Ben Nguyen.
  • The New York Times had a story that is very big in China of an MMA fighter saying that traditional Chinese martial arts were a fraud and challenged any masters to fight him, and one did, got pummeled in seconds and it’s become a battle between traditionalists who are offended and others who feel the old-school martial arts genre was a fraud. (thanks to Paul Kacprzak)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Details of the Paige movie produced by Seven Bucks Entertainment is here.
  • What Culture’s World Cup 17 takes place on Sunday in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. It will be a one-night tournament with first round matches of Kyle O’Reilly vs. Tyson Dux, Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Brent Banks, Harry Smith vs. Franky the Mobster and Michael Elgin vs. Rene Dupree.
  • Division Pro Wrestling has an iPPV from Orlando, FL at 578 Orange Ave. with Brian Cage vs. Moose, Tom Lawlor vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Shayna Baszler vs. Lana Austin, Sami Callihan vs. Mr. 450, Corey Hollis vs. Lio Rush, Jason Cade vs. Snoop Strikes and more.
  • Absolute Intense Wrestling’s J.T. Lightning Invitational 24-man tournament will take place 4/27 and 5/27 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Among the first round matches are Swoggle vs. Mordekai, Matt Cross vs. Super Crazy, Jimmy Rave vs. Tom Lawlor, Tracy Williams vs. Eddie Kingston and Little Gudio vs. Dominic Garrini.
  • Empire State Wrestling on 5/20 in North Tonawanda, NY features Penta 0M, Michael Elgin and Braxton Sutter for a show at the Johnsburg Fire Hall.
  • Jody “The Assassin” Hamilton will headline a Fan Fest in Tampa on 6/3 along with his son, Nick Patrick, Steve Keirn, Bugsy McGraw, The Cuban Assassin, Rick Hunter, Lady Maxine and Manny Fernandez at the American Legion Hall in Odessa. Also appearing will be Belinda Luttrell Romano, the daughter of Cowboy Luttrell, who founded Championship Wrestling from Florida, Inc., and Nicole Gossett Alonso, the granddaughter of Eddie Graham. 
  • NFC 95 takes place tomorrow night at the Electric Cowboy in Kennesaw, GA for a 15-fight MMA show featuring an appearance by former babysitter to the stars of UFC, Burt Watson.
  • Nova Pro Wrestling on 5/19 in Fairfax, VA at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia with Fred Yehi vs. Jonathan Gresham, Jimmy Rave vs. Sonjay Dutt, Tim Donst vs. Chip Day and more. 
  • Wildkat Wrestling debuts at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on 6/10 with Bestia 666, Stevie Richards, Luke Hawx, Blk Jeez, Homicide and Devon Storm.
  • NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling on Saturday night in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium headlined by Ryback, plus Chase Owens vs. Anthony Henry for the NWA Southeastern title.
  • CWE on 6/3 in Morden, Manitoba is doing a 1 p.m. free show at the Modern Block Party Street Festival. They will also have a tour from 8/1 to 8/20 running through Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.
  • Fighting Evolution Wrestling on 5/20 in Miami, FL at 18371 Northeast 4th Court.
  • WXW is doing a Memorial event for Matt “Rosey” Anoa’i on Saturday in Sunbury, PA at the Sunbury Skating Rink. Sunny, Gene Snisky, Samu, Manu and Mikey Whipwreck will all be appearing. Matt Anoa’i, who passed away on 4/7, was originally scheduled to appear at this event, which turned into a memorial for him.
  • Combat Zone Wrestling on Saturday night in Voorhees, NJ at Flyers Skate Zone is headlined by Matt Tremont vs. Joey Janela in a cage match, plus Joe Gacy defends the CZW title in a CZW rules match against Lio Rush. Zack Sabre Jr. also faces David Starr. There will be a 4 p.m. all women’s show with a War Games match and Mercedes Martinez vs. Nevaeh before the 7:30 p.m. men’s show.
  • Legacy Fighting Alliance on 6/2 has an AXS TV show from Burbank, CA at the Los Angeles-Burbank Marriott Convention Center. Curtis Millender (11-3)vs. Kevin Holland (9-2) and Alex Reyes (12-2) vs Karen Darabedyan (12-6) will mean event the Friday night AXS Fights show.
  • United Wrestling Coalition on 5/20 in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly’s Banquet Hall.
  • Viktor Nemkov vs. Ronny Markes headlines for M-1 Challenge for an MMA show on 5/19 in Sochi, Russia. 
  • Upstate Pro Wrestling on Saturday night in Rochester, NY at the Eagles Club on Buffalo Road with Bobby Fish vs. Mattick, plus Dick Justice vs. Colin Delaney as the two bouts.
  • Team CZW of Joe Gacy & Matt Tremont & Josh Adams & Frankie Picard vs. headline against Team Boss of Eric Martin & Tyler Stone & Blackwater & Mike Tartaglia at the 5/20 ECWA show in Woodbury Heights, NJ at the Community Center.
  • A correction from the new Observer. The wrestler Pat Patterson did the angle with at the Cow Palace on Saturday night was Dylan Drake, not Rik Luxury.
  • Have Ring Will Wrestle on Sunday in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theater with Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jeff Cobb, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Michael Elgin and a main event of Tyson Dux vs Greed for the Smash championship.
  • Johnny Mundo headlines for UIPW on 5/21 at the Clela Arena in Los Angeles.
  • Kelly Klein talking about her time in ROH.
  • A story on Ricky Morton’s pro wrestling school is here.
  • Preview of an RF Video interview with Steve “Brooklyn Brawler” Lombardi is here.
  • A graphic novel is being released regarding Andy Kaufman’s foray into pro wrestling called “Is this Guy for Real?” by Box Brown.
  • Have Ring Will Travel on Sunday in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theater has Tyson Dux vs. Greed, Jeff Cobb vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Michael Elgin, and more.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (5/11): Undertaker vs. Austin at In Your House

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