Daily Update: McGregor vs WWE, Diaz vs USADA, CM Punk doc, Goldberg

McGregor Wants Two Titles

Conor McGregor was on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. He was noting that he had no trouble making 145 for Jose Aldo and wants to defend the title again, but felt Aldo was going to back out if they signed to fight so he wasn’t that hot in agreeing to the fight. He said Eddie Alvarez is a novice fighter, a wrestler with an overhand, he said there’s a lot of options but he’d like to win two belts, but said everyone is all begging for what Nate got, they’re all on their hands and knees begging. In five days he’ll sit down but the deal has to be sweet. 

Regarding WWE stars, McGregor said they’re an emotional bunch of guys who are scared of a real man. He felt like he spoke the truth, they’re all dweebs, there are a few OGs there, but the majority are dweebs, and said you know the WWE wrestlers are all tuning in Saturday and he’s giggling his way to the bank. Actually a lot of WWE people may be watching something else on Saturday night.

Raw is in Corpus Christi, TX. Send live reports with anything not evident from TV to NewsTips@WrestlingObserver.com. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are scheduled to return for the SummerSlam go-home show plus John Cena and A.J. Styles are advertised for the show, likely in a dark match. TNA continues tapings in Orlando.

Smackdown will be Tuesday night in Austin, TX. Besides the Smackdown crew, also advertised for the show are Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, likely in a dark match. John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio is advertised as well as a Miz TV segment with Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose. 

TNA is also taping Tuesday in Orlando.

THE ROUND-UP

Figure Four Weekly: Figure Four Weekly 8/10/2016: WWE attempts to get concussion lawsuit thrown out – Last week, WWE filed a motion for summary judgment to throw out the concussion lawsuit that Vito LoGrasso (Big Vito) and Evan Singleton (Adam Mercer) had brought against the company. In the process, they filed numerous exhibits as part of an appendix to the motion and its statement of facts, containing everything from the full transcripts… Subscribers click here to continue reading.

F4W YouTube Page: Tons of clips and full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

Wrestling Observer Newsletter: August 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Gigantic Summerslam weekend preview, McGregor vs. WWE, tons more – 

WWE’s SummerSlam and UFC 202 anchor one of the biggest weekends for major shows of this or almost any other year. The four major events will be a Ring of Honor PPV featuring New Japan stars on 8/19, UFC 202 and NXT Takeover on 8/20, and SummerSlam and the finals of the Super J Cup on 8/21.

UFC 202 will be the biggest show as far as mainstream interest goes, since Conor McGregor is headlining against Nate Diaz. The show, from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, is far from the deepest when it comes to name value, but has the rematch of the biggest grossing PPV event in company history on top. Besides Diaz vs. McGregor, and a match who will determine who gets the next shot at light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, with Anthony Rumble Johnson (21-5) facing Glover Teixeira (25-4), it’s very much an ordinary show… Subscribers click here to continue reading.

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Wrestling Observer Newsletter BACK ISSUE: July 5, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF King of the Ring review, NJPW names new president, more  – In its first PPV show since the ill-fated Over the Edge and the bevy of lawsuits filed since that time, there was some noticeable changes in the World Wrestling Federation for King of the Ring… Subscribers click here to continue reading.

MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

The UFC has announced the plans for UFC 204 in Manchester, England. The show will air live in the usual PPV time slot in the U.S. That means the live event will start at 11 p.m. Manchester, England time and the PPV won’t start until 3 a.m., with the main event of Dan “Hendo” Henderson vs. Michael “The Count” Bisping 2, likely taking place at 5 a.m.

Vince McMahon is in Corpus Christi today after missing TV’s the last two weeks. The story we’d heard was he wasn’t expected back until the weekend. Vince was in charge of everything that aired the last two weeks and on the phone during the agents meeting going through everything, just wasn’t there physically.  

The first episode of the four-week C.M. Punk documentary on FS 1 begins tonight at 9:30 p.m. It will also air on the Fight Network in Canada. It’s definitely interesting to watch. 

Since this has been kind of overplayed in the rumor mill department, Bill Goldberg was always expected to be at the 2K Sports media party on Friday night in New York once the deal was made for him to be a key figure in marketing the video game. He’s not coming to New York for WWE, but for 2K. Now, given WWE’s affiliation with the media party, it is very possible there could be some talk with people in WWE, but his coming isn’t anything more than one of a number of media appearances agreed to in his video game deal.  Goldberg will be coming in from the GamesCon, the biggest game show in the world, on Thursday in Cologne, Germany, where he’s also represented 2K Sports.  

Bryan and I will be back tonight with a Wrestling Observer Radio show covering Raw, the latest WWE business moves, the C.M. Punk documentary, Jon Jones, Nick Diaz as well as taking your e-mail questions to MailBag@WrestlingObserver.com.

WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT

  • An interview with Sasha Banks is here.
  • Kevin Dunn today sold 56,000 shares of WWE stock for $1,158,800 with the stock price now topping $20 per share. He still owns 387,173 shares worth just under $8 million.
  • There was a power outage in Corpus Christi today caused apparently by a lightning strike at the arena, but everything is fine now.
  • Daniel Bryan talks his role in wrestling right now.
  • There will be one NXT television show taped on Saturday night before the TakeOver show begins, just like last year, for the TV that airs on 8/24. Then on 8/25, they will be taping three more weeks of television to start the build for the next major show.
  • Dwayne Johnson just finished filming the Fast & Furious 8. Whatever issues there were with Vin Diesel as producer seem to have been blown over.   
  • A preview for the show “Holy Foley” will air on the WWE Network tonight after Raw.
  • WWE also announced that on Tuesday night they will be doing a WWE 24 special on the “women’s wrestling revolution.” Trish Stratus will be part of the special.
  • WWE will be coming to Northern California for three major shows in early October, if not more. There will be the No Mercy PPV on 10/9 from Sacramento, Raw on 10/10 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland and Smackdown will be at the Sap Center in San Jose. For Sacramento, tickets go on sale Friday. For Oakland, there is a presale that starts Wednesday at 10 a.m. with the code OAKLAND. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday at 10 a.m. For San Jose, tickets go on sale Friday.   
  • Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher and Tony Nese vs. Brian Kendrick will be on Wednesday night’s Cruiser Weight Classic show.
  • There will be a Legends with JBL show at 9 p.m. on Friday night on the WWE Network with Sting as the guest. 
  • Charlotte will be making an appearance at the Yankees game tomorrow night in New York to promote SummerSlam.

UFC

  • There was a crazy Nick Diaz story today. He had flown into Las Vegas last night and never went to his room until this morning. When he showed up, there was a USADA tester waiting for him. He told the tester that he was tired, and to come back in six hours because he wanted to sleep and wasn’t going to wake up until 2 p.m. The tester was insistent that she couldn’t do that, and that led to an exchange of words with Diaz telling her to come back tomorrow. Anyway, this has already been settled as Diaz was tested before Noon today.
  • B.J. Penn vs. Ricardo Lamas was announced as the main event for a 10/15 show at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay, The Philippiines.
  • Jon Jones posted on instagram yesterday all smiles saying that there is a break in his USADA case and that he would be fighting soon.
  • Chael Sonnen talks C.M. Punk’s UFC debut here.

OLYMPIC WRESTLING

  • Today in the Olympics had Greco-Roman at 187 and 264 pounds, both U.S. wrestlers, Ben Provisor and Robby Smith were eliminated after their first match. Privsor lost 6-3 from a big throw in the second period against 2015 second in the world wrestler Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan. Smith lost 8-2 to Sabah Shariati of Azerbaijan. Smith had placed fifth at last year’s world championships so this had to be a major disappointment.
  • There are no U.S. wrestlers competing tomorrow at 145 or 217 in Greco, so the U.S. Greco team will end these Olympics with no medals and nobody even close to medaling.
  • The super heavyweight final has Riza Kayaalp of Turkey, a two-time world champion, against the legendary Mijain Lopez of Cuba, who has five world championships and two gold medals in his career.
  • Tuesday is Greco-Roman at 145 and 217 pounds. Wednesday is Women at 105, 127 and 152 pounds. Kaori Icho tries to become the first wrestler in history to win four gold medals at 127. Thursday is Women at 117, 139 and 165 pounds. 117 is big with Helen Maroulis of the U.S. attempting to stop Saori Yoshida from also winning a record setting fourth gold medal. Yoshida is generally considered the greatest woman wrestler who ever lived. Friday is men’s freestyle at 125 and 163 pounds, which includes Jordan Burroughs of the U.S.attempting to win a second gold medal. Saturday is men’s freestyle at 189 and 275 with J’Den Cox of the U.S. having medal possibilities. Sunday is men at 143 (Frank Molinaro) and 213 (Kyle Snyder, who has a shot at the gold and would become the youngest American gold medalist in wrestling history if he does so).

MISCELLANEOUS

  • The TNA TV show on Thursday is built around Moose vs. Eddie Edwards and a four-way ladder match for a tag title shot with the Hardys, Bro Mans, Helms Dynasty (Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee) and the Tribunal.
  • Promociones del Valle on Friday night in Tijuana at the Auditorio has Blue Demon Jr. & Mascara Aerea & Tinieblas Jr. vs. Fuerza Guerrera & El Hijo del Solitario & Pirata Morgan.
  • Rockstar Pro Wrestling on 8/19 in Dayton at the Rockstar Pro Arena.
  • CBS Radio has announced a special Taz show, Sunday night at 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. after SummerSlam with Jim Ross, Cody Rhodes and Mike Johnson as guests.
  • Smash Wrestling vs. Progress Wrestling on 9/17 and 9/18 in Toronto. Smash Wrestling also runs 10/22 at the Franklin Horner Community Centre in Toronto with a Canada vs. U.S. tournament.
  • GWN on 10/2 in Hamilton, ONT at the Ukranian Culture Centre. 

TODAY IN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING HISTORY (8/15):Keiji Mutoh wins G1 Climax; Orton wins Raw World Title

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