Daily Update: Muhammad Ali funeral, NXT TakeOver, Lesnar tested today

Remembering The Greatest

Today, an estimated 14,000 people attended a Muslim funeral in Louisville, Kentucky for one of, if not the most, famous athletes in the world, Muhammad Ali. As a three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Ali was best known for his gift of promos. Unfortunately, the Parkinsons disease that ended the champion’s career, also left him speechless for the last decade or so of his life. He was an exceptional athlete, a humanitarian, a political activist, but most of all, an entertainer. Ali knew how to promote a fight, and anyone coming up in the world of combat sports would be doing themselves a favor by learning from “The Greatest.” 

Start by watching this is the fantastic HBO tribute to Muhammad Ali. 

Learn all about the birth of MMA by reading Josh Gross’ book on the Ali vs. Inoki fight, which is now available on Amazon.

Finally, Muhammad Ali will be forever linked with the world of pro wrestling. 

[Dan Velten]

We’re looking for your thoughts on both last night’s NXT Takeover show and Tuesday’s New Japan Best of the Super Junior tournament finals so you can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to Dave@WrestlingObserver.com.

SMACKDOWN TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON THE USA NETWORK

  • Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
  • Cesaro & Sami Zayn vs. Alberto Del Rio & Kevin Owens
  • Becky Lynch vs. Dana Brooke
  • Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin
  • Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho

THE ROUND-UP

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Figure Four Weekly 6/9/2016: Will Christopher Nowinski testify in WWE concussion lawsuit? – The latest battleground in the WWE concussion litigation is whether or not Christopher Nowinski can be compelled to testify. Issues cited in a WWE opposition to the plaintiffs’ effort are included in the lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

READ IT HERE: June 13, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Deaths of Muhammad Ali and Kimbo Slice, Brock Lesnar returning to UFC, more

A look at the lives and careers of Muhammad Ali and Kimbo Slice, the return of Brock Lesnar to UFC and the story behind it and coverage of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament are the lead stories in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Our Ali story talks about the changes in public opinion on him going through the years, his place in culture, the Ali-Frazier fight, the Ali-Liston fights, his being banned from boxing, the creation of different world titles, the Ali-Foreman fight, the Thrilla in Manila, the inspiration of the movie Rocky, what Ali took from pro wrestling, Gorgeous George and Fred Blassie, and what he gave back to pro wrestling, the Ali vs. Inoki story, Ali’s appearances in relation to pro wrestling, Ali’s pro wrestling matches that are often forgotten, Ali working the first WrestleMania and the Superdome in New Orleans for Bill Watts, the sad ending of his career and the fraud on the public that was the Larry Holmes fight.

The death of Kimbo Slice is also covered. Read about the circumstances leading to the death, how he became famous, his real background, what he did between football and MMA, the Sean Gannon fight, Elite XC, his television ratings records, the crazy night that was supposed to be the Ken Shamrock fight, the death of Elite XC and how media a misunderstanding ended the promotion, Kimbo’s days in UFC, the highest rated season of Ultimate Fighter, and sustaining the drawing power.  Plus, a look at Kimbo Slice and pro wrestling and why it was about to happen, and how it fell apart, is covered. There’s also look at Slice in boxing, and the Dada 5000 fight.

Finally, read about the Brock Lesnar to UFC deal, what Lesnar said about why he’s coming back should it be believed, the choice of Mark Hunt as the opponent, why the deal took so long to be announced, how this affects pro wrestling, Lesnar’s regrets about re-signing with WWE but why you can question that, the drug testing issue and the Ariel Helwani issue that reporting the story first turned into.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PREVIEW.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

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Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: May 3, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Death of Rick Rude, WWF Backlash review, more. A look at the life and career of Rick Rude, a review of WWF Backlash, plus tons more.

THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

Impact on Tuesday night for the Slammiversary go-home show did 326,000 viewers, which is slightly above average since they went to one show a week.  

A correction from last night’s show and the Observer, in the story on Kimbo Slice when I said they were looking at transferring him to Cleveland for a heart transplant, it was actually the Cleveland Clinic in Atlantis, FL, not Cleveland, OH.

This web site is having its annual get together from 7/7 to 7/10 in Las Vegas in conjunction with International Fight Week. For more information go on Facebook and search for 10th annual F4W convention.

Gzim Selmani & Sunny Dhinsa, The Authors of Pain, were the team that attacked Jason Jordan & Chad Gable last night. In a dark match, Adrienne Reese was given the new name Amber Moon, and she beat Peyton Royce.

Bellator’s 7/16 show at the O2 Arena in London which fell apart due to the death of Kimbo Slice, as well as Josh Koscheck falling out of the show, has announced Paul Daley vs. Douglas Lima as the new main event plus Michael Page vs. Evangelista Cyborg Santos and Linton Vassell vs. Francis Carmont as the top bouts.

WWE

  • NXT Takeover Brooklyn tickets for 8/20 at the Barclays Center are available on pre-sale right now using the code WWENXT. The pre-sale ends tomorrow at 10 p.m. and the regular sale goes into effect at Noon on Saturday. The names listed are Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, Bayley, American Alpha and The Revival.
  • Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Rich Swann may be out of the cruiserweight classic due to a shoulder injury suffered a few months ago.
  • Six-year-old Max has been diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma for the second time. He’s a huge WWE fan and his family is not looking for any monetary donations but if anyone has anything related to WWE that thet would like to donate that he can play with while being treated there will be an event on 6/19 in Dublin, Ireland at the Woolshed Pub collecting donations. More on this here.
  • A video all Nakamura fans will enjoy is here. 
  • The WWE stock closed today down 13 cents per share at $17.91.
  • A story on WWE production trucks can be read here.
  • Here is a story on Pat Patterson’s autobiography.
  • More stuff on WWE collectibles is here.
  • Here is Sasha Banks promoting an event this weekend in Waco, TX.

UFC

  • Mark Hunt claims Brock Lesnar is juiced to the gills.
  • USADA gave Lesnar an unannounced drug test today.
  • Frankie Edgar is opening a UFC Gym on Saturday in North Brunswick, NJ. The 25,000 square foot facility will be located at 1846 US Highway 1. There will be a 30 foot Octagon, strength training, cardio machines, battle ropes, agility ladders, a bag room, a BJJ studio, fitness rooms and more. The grand opening on Saturday will include a Frankie Edgar seminar at 10 a.m., a grappling seminar with Matt Hughes at 11:30 a.m., a BJJ seminar with Rafael Natal at 2 p.m., plus also appearing throughout the day will be Eddie Alvarez, Edson Barboza and Renzo Gracie.
  • Chris Weidman had successful neck surgery yesterday and said he’ll be able to start hard sparring in six weeks and has issued a challenge to Michael Bisping for Madison Square Garden. The two have gone back-and-forth on Twitter with Bisping telling Weidman that he should beat Luke Rockhold first. He’s telling Rockhold the same thing.
  • UFC has announced an 8/6 show in Salt Lake City, which would be the first time they ever have done a show in the state of Utah. They tried many years ago and sold so few tickets that they decided to cancel the show and move it, and not to go back. This will be an FS 1 show headlined by Alex Caceres (coming off his win on Saturday night) vs. Yair Rodriguez.
  • Nick Hein vs. Tae Hyun Bang has been added to the 9/3 show in Hamburg, Germany. Hein on the show only makes sense because he’s one of Germany’s better-known fighters.  
  • Joshua Stansbury won a unanimous decision over Abdel Medjeboub on Ultimate Fighter last night which gave Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s team her first win after losing every fight so far this season. (thanks to Steve Juon)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Evolve tomorrow night in Ybor City, FL at The Orpheum for an iPPV at www.WWNlive.com at 9 p.m. Eastern time

Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero for the Evolve title

Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Bravado Brothers for the tag titles

Johnny Gargano & TJP vs. Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter III

Matt Riddle vs. Cedric Alexander

Anthony Nese vs. Fred Yehi

Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin

  • Evolve on Saturday night in Orlando at the Downtown Rec Center at 8 p.m. Eastern

Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak vs. TJ Perkins vs. Lince Dorado (all four are in the WWE cruiserweight classic)

Drew Galloway vs. Ethan Page

Ethan Carter III vs. ?

Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams

Matt Riddle vs. Trevor Lee

Fred Yehi vs. Cedric Alexander

Bravado Brothers vs. Jason Cade & Darby Allin

  • Evolve’s new Mini Doc on Timothy Thatcher is here. It’s a unique new promotional direction.
  • Evolve and Beyond Wrestling announced separate shows both on 7/17 in Melrose, MA at the Memorial Hall. Appearing for Evolve are Timothy Thatcher, Drew Gulak, Tracy Williams, Drew Galloway, Zack Sabre Jr., Marty Scurll, TJP, Matt Riddle, Ethan Page, Fred Yehi and Cedric Alexander.  
  • Elite Lucha Libre runs tonight at Arena Mexico with Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero and Negro Casas vs. Cibernetico.  Casas vs. Cibernetico is a first-time ever meeting of two of the biggest names of the past 20 years.  Flamita also debuts on the show.
  • We get questions from time to time about getting tickets for New Japan big shows from outside Japan. Here is where to go.
  • Drew Galloway talks his main event with Bobby Lashley on Sunday here.
  • There will be a lot of Jim Ross on television tomorrow night. He’ll be announcing New Japan at 8 p.m. for a one hour show tomorrow night on AXS, and then live on CBS Sports Network with Sean Wheelock doing Knockout Night at the D boxing at 11 p.m. Eastern time (8 p.m. Pacific).
  • Anna Faris trains pro wrestling with her husband Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista here. 
  • 40 years ago today, CWF sold out the Miami Beach Convention Center with a loaded show with Dusty Rhodes & King Curtis Iaukea vs. The Assassin & The Missouri Mauler (a brother combination), plus Mike Graham vs. Bob Orton Jr. for the Florida title, Bob Roop & Bob Orton Sr. vs. Jack & Jerry Brisco, Steve Keirn & Bob Backlund vs. Randy Culley & Jim Lancaster, Billy Robinson vs. Ray Stevens and Greg Valentine vs. Pak Song.
  • Shannon Moore has moved to Orlando and will be taking pro wrestling books through Bill Behrens at showbis@aol.com. Also taking bookings include Joey Ryan out of Los Angeles, Mikael Judas out of Greenville, SC as well as Eric Bischoff, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Kevin Nash, DDP, Rick Steiner, Tommy Dreamer, Drew Galloway, Matt Sydal, Stevie Richards, Nunzio, Tony Mamaluke, Kenn Doane, Shane Helms, Abyss, Hernandez, Mike Posey, Jimmy Rave, Slim J, Moose, Al Snow and Blue Meanie. Available, but only outside the U.S. and Canada, are Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian.
  • ROH has announced a 7/8 all-women’s show in Baltimore at 5 p.m. the William J. Myers Pavilion and admission is free, taped for the ROH YouTube channel. Those wrestling include Amber Gallows, Crazy Mary Dobson, Deonna Purrazzo, Faye Jackson, Jenny Rose, Kelly Klein, Kennadi Brink, Mandy Leon, Solo Darling, Sumie Sakai, Taeler Hendrix and Veda Scott.
  • This week on Fite TV

Tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern will be Knockout Night at the D called by Jim Ross & Sean Wheelock.  This also airs on CBS Sports Network and is free

Tomorrow night at 10 p.m. is Evolve from Ybor City, FL as listed above for $14.99

Saturday at 7 p.m. has amateur boxing from Cartersville, GA for $9.99

Saturday at 8 p.m. has Evolve from Orlando for $14.99

Sunday at 8 p.m. has TNA Slammiversary from Orlando for $39.99

  • Jim Ross talks to Jeff Hardy about Slammiversary.
  • This Week on FITE TV video is here.
  • A story on trying to save the old Mid South Coliseum in Memphis can be read here.
  • New England Championship Wrestling on 6/11 in Wakefield, MA at the Americal Civic Center for the Ion 8 championship. It will be an eight-person one night tournament with last year’s winner, Mike McCarthy, Chris Escobar, Todo Loco, Jay Freddie, Slyck Wagner Brown, T.J. Warren, Kevin Tibbs and Brad Hollister.
  • Great North Wrestling results from Saturday night in Smith Fails, ONT before 325 fans: Hannibal b Al Snow to retain Canadian title, Kevin Lee Davidson b The Spoiler, Soa Amin b Giant Darko, Lady Yasmine b Florence Riley, Bruiser & Blade b Freak Nation, Fabulous Jacques b Preston Perry-DQ, Jeremy Prophet b Grapecrusher, Davidson won 30 man Battle Royal.  Next show is 6/25 in Pembroke, ONT with Nikolai Volkoff.
  • Hoosier Pro Wrestling from Saturday night in Columbus, IN: It opened with  salute to Muhammad Ali and Beverly Dundee. Eddie Felson won three-way over Timmy Danger and Jonathan Wolf, JKO b KC Huber, TVZ won over TJ & Shawn Kemp and The Bambino Family, Wicked Clown b Cooter, Drax O’Brien b Dynamite Dillen, Rob Conway b Shawn Cook, Vic the Bruiser b Lighting Bolt Johnson. Next show is 7/2 at Aaron’s Lot in Columbus for the annual Can Food Drive show. Admission is six cans of food and bring your own lawn chairs with start time at 6:30 p.m.
  • VCW on 6/30 in Toronto at the Super Wonder Gallery.
  • Superkick’d Pro Wrestling on 7/8 in Toronto at the Great Hall with eight matches and live music.
  • There is a new book out called “The Golden Era of Amateur Wrestling: the 1980s” by Reginald Rowe looks back at 29 Hall of Fame member and 11 nominees for the NCAA 75th anniversary wrestling team including five of the best amatuer wrestlers ever, Bruce Baumgartner, David Schultz, Melvin Douglas, Andre Metzger and Kenny Monday. The book is available at Amazon and major book stores.
  • CZW Tournament of Death on Saturday at 2 p.m. at 179 Ebenzer Church Road in Townsend, DE. The first round matches are Tim Donst vs. Rickey Shane Page fans bring the weapons, Alex Colon vs. Danny Havoc in a light tube death match, Masada vs. Conor Claxton in a barbed wire madness match and Jeff Connonball vs. Matt Tremont in a Home Run Derby match. There will also be a Devon Moore vs. Dale Patricks scaffold match, DJ Hyde vs. Josh Crane in a panes of glass match and Aaron Williams vs. Ron Mathis in a death match.
  • Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Damien Sandow appear tomorrow night for Jimmy’s Seafood Slamboree on 6/10 at the MCW Arena in Joppa, MD. Sandow will be wrestling under the name Aaron Stevens, his previous ring name. Lio Rush is also on the show. Hall & Nash won’t be wrestling.
  • Matt Riviera suffered a stinger on Saturday night at an NWA Midwest show in Marion, OH. He was wrestling Matt Taylor, who did a plancha but overshot. His left arm went numb but it came back after two minutes and he was able to finish the match. He won’t be missing any ring time.
  • VII Pro Wrestling on 7/15 at Dawley Town Hall in Telford, UK with Will Ospreay as the headliner along with Ryan Smile and Pete Dunne.
  • CHIKARA has a doubleheader at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on 7/23 in Toronto at the Franklin Horner Community Center.
  • Pro Wrestling Zero Hour on 6/19 in Hamilton, ONT at the Knights of Columbus.
  • ECWA on 6/18 in Springfield, PA at the Springfield Ice Rink has Scotty 2 Hotty and Shockwave the Robot plus Tony Atlas vs. Eric Martin.  
  • Wrestling Revolver tomorrow night in Clive, IA at the Seven Flags Event Center with John Hennigan (Johnny Mundo) vs. Billy Gunn, Rhino vs. Trevor Lee, Tommy Dreamer vs. Arik Cannon in a Hardcore match, PJ Black vs. Michael Elgin, Bob Holly vs. Sami Callihan, plus Jody Kristofferson, AR Fox, Jessicka Havok and Scotty 2 Hotty. There is a pre-fight party tonight at the VooDoo Lounge in Des Moines for music and ticket giveaways and the VooDoo Lounge will also host a post-fight party. 
  • Even though they are feuding on television, the Hardys are scheduled as a tag team on 6/18 for Keystone Wrestling in Lancaster, PA at the Lancaster Host Resort Conference Center.
  • Smash Wrestling on 6/11 in Oshawa,ONT at the Harmony Creek Community & Events Centre.
  • Pure Wrestling Association on 6/25 in Port Hardy, BC at the Wakas Community Hall and 6/24 in Courtenay, BC at the K’omoka Band Hall.
  • PWA on 7/1 in Cambridge, ONT at Riverside Park has a 2 p.m. show.
  • Blue Demon Jr. appears on 7/17 for Lucha Toronto at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre along with Lince Dorado.
  • Border City Wrestling on 8/20 in Tecumseh, ONT at the Royal Canadian Legion featuring Dutch Mantell.
  • House of Hardcore on 8/6 in Pasadena, TX at the Convention Center has Tommy Dreamer & Mickie James vs. Pepper Parks & Cherry Bomb plus Billy Gunn, Carlito, MVP, Sandman and Tony Nese.
  • Glory announced a 7/22 show in Norfolk VA.
  • Jim Duggan is doing a fundraiser.
  • A story on Jack Gallgher, who is headed to the WWE cruiserweight classic is here. 

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Strangler Lewis, AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett & CM Punk