Daily Update: McGregor’s boxing license, WWE PPV schedule, big weekend

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

TNA IMPACT AIRS TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. EASTERN ON POP TV

  • Jade vs. Rosemary cage match for vacant TNA Knockouts championship 

NEW JAPAN WORLD TAG LEAGUE TOMORROW MORNING FROM YAMAGUCHI ON NEW JAPAN WORLD  (tournament matches will be up some time tomorrow)

  • Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata vs. Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier
  • Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Seiya Sanada & Evil

Our polls this weekend will be for the ROH show on Friday night and the TLC show on Sunday.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 11/28/2016: Buddy Rose investigated by CSAC for getting too much heat

What is traditionally the most talked about issue of the year, the 2016 Hall of Fame Observer issue is now out with the full balloting, stories on both the people now in as well as notes on many not in, plus how candidates did when broken down by reports, historians, active wrestler and former wrestlers. Also, look at who is on next year’s ballot who is being dropped from next year’s ballot and others in danger of being dropped.

Take a look at what UFC is expecting with its next television deal, notes on the timing of the deal, why the deal is so important, the landscape of television in general, how cutting the cord affects revenues and what stations can afford, and who has expressed interest in UFC.

There are some very interesting things going on behind the scenes in wrestling regarding contract offers, moves being made by television and streaming services. Find out how this will affect the pro wrestling business over the next year and for time to come.

Read about the announcement of the new Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association, what they are looking for, what is and isn’t accurate, and how they are looking to get the concessions from UFC.

This issue has updates on the WWE women’s division, upcoming PPV plans, notes on PPVs in 2017, Tyson Kidd’s status, a TV show that was dropped and why, John Cena about to take another hiatus, new WWF signings, Hogan/WWE update, Big Show talks current situation, Dwayne Johnson movie box office, twitter hilarity, Jericho talks his current run, most-watched shows on the network, WWE gets new tape library as well as notes from all the WWE arena events from the past week with business notes and show highlights.

Finally, get an update on the situation with Daniel Cormier and how his injury led to Conor McGregor being stripped of the featherweight title, updates on UFC 206 and predictions on it, plus the injuries at AKA.

All of this and more in the giant new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter! 

Subscribers click here to continue.

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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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:November 8, 1999: Life and Death of Owen Hart documentary, RINGS tournament, plus more – The most publicized story ever in North American pro wrestling, the tragic death of Owen Hart on 5/23, is brought vividly back to life with the documentary “The life and death of Owen Hart.” The one-hour piece, debuted in Ontario on TVO on 11/3, in the rest of Canada on 11/6 on the A Channel and will be part of A&E’s bio week on pro wrestling, with an 11/16 showing… click here to continue.

THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

We have a Hall of Fame discussion on last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio with historian Matt Farmer up on the site today to go along with the Hall of Fame issue of the Observer now up.

There’s a ton of stuff going on this weekend with one of NOAH’s biggest matches of the year, the Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Minoru Suzuki loser leaves town battle for the GHC title tomorrow at Korakuen Hall; Bellator shows on Friday & Saturday night on Spike; UFC on Saturday night with Demetrious Johnson defending the flyweight title against Tim Elliott, the winner of the Ultimate Fighter reality show; the NXT show in Osaka, Japan on Saturday with Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the title plus Asuka vs. Nia Jax, All Japan & New Japan tag team tournaments, ROH Final Battle tomorrow night as well as WWE’s TLC PPV on Sunday.

WWE also has a major house show on Saturday night with the Raw brand at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City featuring Brock Lesnar vs. Rusev.

NXT starts its Australia tour on Monday.

The item in the new Observer about Ryback and Combate Americas is incorrect. While the subject has come up in some form, it has not been anything serious and saying there have been preliminary negotiations between Ryback and Combate Americas is incorrect.

While all the upcoming New Japan tag team tournament matches are scheduled for New Japan World, they will be broadcast via delay. The next live event will be the tournament finals on 12/10.

  • New Japan’s tag tourney matches today in Beppu saw:
  • Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa (4-1) beat Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page (2-3)
  • Tetsuya Naito & Rush (3-2) beat War Machine (3-2)

        Tonga & Roa moved into a first place tie with Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima in the A block.  

WWE

  • While not official at this moment, plans have changed regarding early 2017 WWE PPV shows. Elimination Chamber on 2/12 in Phoenix was to be a Raw show and is now tentatively scheduled as a Smackdown show. Fast Lane on 3/5 from Milwaukee was to be a Smackdown show and now is tentatively to be a Raw show.
  • Ric Flair appears this weekend in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center for the Spooky Empire Rock N Roll, Horror, Halloween and Tattoo convention.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers want their fans to stop imitating Ric Flair and going “Whoo” during the games.
  • Carmella was bruised up from the brawl on Tuesday with Nikki Bella where Nikki potatoed her a few times.
  • There is a presale for the 1/18 NXT Takeover show in San Antonio going on today with the code: NXTLIVE 
  • The Riverside Municipal Auditorium, which hosts an NXT show on 12/15, is alerting ticket holders that due to the Riverside Festival of Lights, traffic may be heavy and parking may be limited so they suggest leaving early to allow enough time for traveling and parking.
  • The company has a 5/13 show in Rotterdam, Netherlands at the Ahoy Arena, the same building UFC ran earlier this year. They are also looking at doing shows in Copenhagen, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden. WWE has no regular television in any of those three countries. (thanks to Hank Mulder)
  • An interview with Stephanie McMahon is here.

UFC

  • Conor McGregor has applied for and received a boxing license in California, but he was denied a boxing license in Nevada. Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN that McGregor can do what he wants but he’s under contract to the UFC and he’ll never fight Floyd Mayweather because UFC won’t allow the fight. “The brass who recently purchased UFC are very smart people and they would never, and put this in bold caps, let him step into a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather because everyone knows what the outcome would be. He would get his ass beat from pillar to post.”
  • Dana White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo: “Conor’s Conor. He does his thing. But he’s under contract to me. Who knows with this guy? Who knows what he is up to. I just let Conor be Conor. And the other thing is, it’s fun to talk about this fight and what might happen, but what commission would let that fight happen? Really, think about that?” 
  • White claimed it was Conor McGregor’s decision regarding the vacating of the featherweight title. When asked about John Kavanagh’s comments complaining about the decision, White said, “He’s misinformed. Yeah, he doesn’t know all that has gone on, I guess. Do you think I just did this? This was Conor’s decision.”
  • GSP talks about fighters being afraid to stand up.
  • Daniel Cormier will be undergoing surgery today for his adductor tear and hopes to be able to fight in about four months to defend his title against Anthony Rumble Johnson.   
  • Hopefully this doesn’t become accepted history that Donald Trump saved the UFC from extinction. Because he did not. 
  • For the first time in a long time, the UFC announced tickets going on sale (they went on sale yesterday to Fight Club members, tomorrow to the public) for a show without announcing any matches. The show is 1/28 from Denver, which will be the first FOX show of the new year.  
  • Tickets for the 1/15 Fight Night in Phoenix at the Talking Stick Resort Arena headlined by B.J. Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez are on sale right now with the password DTL until 10 PM. local time. They go on sale to the public tomorrow.    
  • There will be no weigh-in for the public prior to the 12/9 show in Albany, NY. The weigh-in is now ceremonial since the real weigh-ins are done in the morning privately.  

MISCELLANEOUS

  • For Evolve, Chris Hero vs Dustin has been added to the 12/11 show in Melrose, MA, while Dustin vs. Chris Dickinson was added to 12/10 in Queens, NY.
  • A story on one of the most famous matches in pro wrestling history is here.
  • TNA will be taping 1/4 to 1/10 at Universal Studios in Orlando, for three months worth of tapings.
  • Jay Lethal talks his ROH Final Battle match with Cody Rhodes.
  • Cody Rhodes talks leaving WWE and wrestling for ROH.
  • Another Cody Rhodes interview with Brian Fritz is here.
  • The Missouri Office of Athletics agreed with the complaint by Tonya Evinger regarding her loss on 11/18 to Yana Kunitskaya for the Invicta bantamweight championship. MMA Fighting today reported the result, which Kunitskaya won via armbar in the first round, has been changed to a no contest and Evinger has gotten her title back.  The story reported that Shannon Knapp of Invicta said she will make an immediate rematch. The ruling was based on referee Mike England telling Evinger that she could not step on the face of Kunitskaya when she was in the armbar, when that was a legal move as long as he didn’t stomp her. Evinger said that the referee forcing her to move from a legal position got her in a worse position and led to her tapping.
  • Two movies starring pro wrestlers will be premiering on Saturday in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival’s Emerging Artists Series. “Sickness” is a horror thriller movie starring former WWE & TNA wrestler Katarina Leigh Waters (Katie Lea Burchill/Winter) as a woman thrust into insanity by a deadly sickness which causes her to go from happy-go-lucky to a bloodthirsty monster. “A Man Possessed,” stars Tommy Dreamer who loses his grip on reality after a series of traumatic events involving the life of his life, and goes on a vengeful rampage.
  • MCW on 12/3 in Joppa, MD at the MCW Arena features Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards and Jim Duggan, as well as Lio Rush. Edwards & Richards face The Appalachian Outlaws.
  • Teddy Hart appears for Canadian Wrestling Elite on 1/15 in Calgary.
  • The first LFA show on 1/13 in Dallas at the Bomb Factory on AXS TV is headlined by Legacy FC bantamweight champion Steven Peterson (14-4) vs. Resurrection Fighting Alliance bantamweight champion Leandro Higo (16-2) to create the first LFA bantamweight champion. The LFA is a merger of Legacy FC and Resurrection.
  • AIW from Friday night in Cleveland before 450 fans: Mike Tolar b Hot Young Briley (Tolar was a high school teammate of both Dolph Ziggler and Gray Maynard, Briley is the younger brother of Ziggler), Louis Lyndon won four-way over Eric Ryan, PB Smooth and Eddie Kingston, Matt Cross b Colt Cabana, Colin Delaney & Cheech won over Facade & Flip Kendrick and Daniel C. Rockingham & Brian Carson, Shayna Baszler b Heidi Lovelace to retain the AIW womens’ title, Space Monkey b Karlee Perez (Catrina in Lucha Underground), Ethan Page b Brian Cage, Gringo Loco & Steve Pain b The Jollyville, Zack Sabre Jr. b Dominic Garrini, Alex Daniels b Laredo Kid, Josh Prohibition b Tim  Donst in a fans bring the weapons match. Next show is 12/30.
  • Bellator announced Goiti Yamauchi (20-3) vs. Valeriu Mircea (12-3) and Phillipe Lins (10-1) vs. Kieber Raimundo Silva (12-7) for the show on 12/10 in Florence, Italy on Spike. The show is headlined by Rafael Carvalho (13-1) vs. Melvin Manhoef (30-13-1, 2 no contests) for the middleweight title. It will be both an MMA show and a kickboxing combined card. 
  • House of Hardcore on Saturday night on FloSlam from Waukesha, WI at the Expo Center has Al Snow & Dave Herro vs. Abyss & Dameon Nelson, Bob Holly vs. Sami Callihan, Matt Cross vs. Tony Nese, Bull James vs. Kevin Thorn plus Tommy Dreamer, Ryback, Colt Cabana and Mickie James.
  • We had a question regarding Australian Wrestling recently and there is a three disc DVD called “Ruff Tuff & Real,” a documentary on pro wrestling in Australia with interviews with Ron Miller, Mario Milano, Steve Rackman, George Barnes, Jack Claybourne, announcer Mike Cleary, Larry O’Dea, King Curtis Iaukea, Harley Race, Nick Bockwinkel, Red Bastien, J.J. Dillon and Gary Hart among others. (thanks to Jacob Anwyl) 
  • The NWL will be opening a 10,000 square foot training center and wrestling school in February with Derek Stone overseeing the facility. Their first two shows will be 1/7 in Kansas City at the Scottish Rite Temple and 1/12 in St. Louis at the Casa Loma Ballroom.
  • Trina Michaels comedy yoga workout is here.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (12/1): Crusher vs. Mad Dog Vachon in a saloon match

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