Daily Update: Nakamura’s new music, WWE notes, Nick Newell

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​F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Winners and losers of the superstar shakeup

While both shows retained some of their core pieces, the rosters for Raw and SmackDown have been transformed since WrestleMania. The days after WWE’s biggest show of the year saw Bobby Lashley, The Authors of Pain, Ember Moon, and No Way Jose join Raw, while Peyton Royce and Billie Kay debuted on SmackDown and Paige was announced as the show’s new general manager. And that was just the prelude to this year’s Superstar Shakeup, which saw dozens of wrestlers switch brands.

WON NEWSLETTER: April 24, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The death of Bruno Sammartino

A look back at the life and career of Bruno Sammartino is the focus of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This is the most in-depth look at both his life inside and outside the ring, talking his career, his biggest matches, his conflicts with Vince McMahon and his father, the Phil Donahue show, his biggest feuds, how he got started, his weightlifting and the amazing story of his life as a child in Italy, and growing up to be one of the strongest men in the world.

Read about Sammartino’s appeal, his health issues, his family, the amazing story of his mother, why he refused to let Hollywood studios do a movie on his life, his learning to lift weights, his high school yearbook and goals, what he did out of high school, notes on two of his most famous early matches, how he first got noticed in Pittsburgh and got NFL and wrestling offers. 

Have a brief look at the career of Paul Jones, who also passed away this past week.

The break down of both Raw and Smackdown after the Superstar shakeup, looking at the depth charts, what categories are strong, what categories are weak and what changes can be made, all inside this issue.

Read the update on the Greatest Royal Rumble show and the ethical questions the show has brought up.

Look at the John Cena/Nikki Bella story, Ronda Rousey and Daniel Bryan working house shows, Bobby Lashley news, Chris Jericho talks New Japan, Jericho vs. Undertaker prior matches, Cena and Rock movie box office, Next week’s WWE TV, beers named after two different wrestling legends, NXT big show lineups, and the name change of a WWE wrestler.

There is also an update on the UFC television contract talks.

Plus, this issue has the weekly coverage of all the ratings of the major shows, detailed notes on who is watching all the WWE shows, results from the major league events held around the world, the major TV show rundowns, and the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

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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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Now that he’s a heel, a remixed version of Shinsuke Nakamura’s theme music debuted on SmackDown last night. The storyline explanation for the change was that Nakamura didn’t want fans singing along with the music. The new version has Japanese vocals from Shadows of the Sun. WWE posted a music video of the theme.
  • Edge tweeted about visiting the Performance Center and working with trainees: “Had a great day with my first visit to @WWENXT The future is in good hands.”
  • The New Day defeated Cesaro & Sheamus in a pre-show dark match at last night’s SmackDown tapings. They also interacted in a backstage segment on television later in the night.
  • Elijah Burke and former boxing great Evander Holyfield were backstage at SmackDown.
  • During WWE’s business partner summit over WrestleMania week, Triple H detailed WWE’s longterm plan of having NXT branches internationally to create a global territorial system.
  • David Bixenspan and Karim Zidan wrote about WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and the country’s current political climate.
  • BBC News covered women not being able to wrestle at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
  • The Undertaker has arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of Friday’s show.
  • The stage construction for the Greatest Royal Rumble has been completed. Here’s another look at the set.
  • Newsweek has an interview with Seth Rollins ahead of the Greatest Royal Rumble. He spoke about finding out that he could use the Curb Stomp again: “You know, I can’t divulge the entire story. Maybe some other time. It’ll be good for a DVD or a Network special or something like that. I will say that I was very happy to see it come back. It wasn’t a long-term plan, I knew way in advance, but I was happy to get it back. That is another thing this year that really put me on a very good trajectory. It felt good, man. The surprise in the audience and the reaction I got online was really cool, too. I’m glad to take it around the world now, it’s been a good experience.”
  • Mark Henry told children at the Jeddah Help Center, which assists people with learning disabilities, that he’s only coming out of retirement and participating in the Greatest Royal Rumble match for them.
  • Henry also spoke to The National and compared Friday’s event to WrestleMania.
  • Arab News interviewed Samoa Joe about the Greatest Royal Rumble, with him saying that it’s important for everyone in the West to see that people in Saudi Arabia aren’t much different from them.
  • Steffanie Newell (formerly Nixon Newell) was interviewed by WWE.com after returning to the ring and debuting for NXT. She suffered a torn ACL last year prior to the Mae Young Classic.
  • Bret Hart visited two members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team who are in the hospital after this month’s bus crash tragedy: “I met Ryan Straschnitzky & Graysen Cameron of the Humboldt Broncos. The incredible courage and optimism that I saw today visiting these fine young men, left me in awe. Despite all they’ve been through, I see nothing but determination and an amazing will to beat any and all odds.”
  • Renee Young and Dolph Ziggler played “Superstar or Superhero?” when interviewing the “Avengers: Infinity War” cast (including Dave Bautista).

Pro Wrestling

UFC/MMA

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Steve Austin vs. The Rock at Backlash 1999

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