Daily Update: Nigel McGuinness, WWE notes, Rich Swann

By Joseph Currier
Published: 14 Apr 2018, 18:08

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

We’re looking for reports from the ROH show in Pittsburgh (Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Young Bucks for tag titles, Silas Young vs. Flip Gordon for TV title, Christohper Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Cody & Marty Scurll & Adam Page for six-man titles, Dalton Castle & The Boys vs. Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com. This airs live on Honor Club.

UFC ON FOX FROM GLENDALE, AZ AT THE GILA RIVER ARENA

FOX at 6 p.m. Eastern time

Brad Tavares vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Wilson Reis vs. John Moraga
Muslim Salikhov vs. Ricky Rainey
Antonio Carlos Jr. vs. Tim Boetsch
Cortney Casey vs. Michelle Waterson
Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori
Carlos Condit vs. Alex Oliveira
Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje

We’re looking for reports from Sunday’s ROH show in Columbus, OH (Dalton Castle vs. Marty Scurll vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Beer City Bruiser, Cody vs. Matt Taven first blood match, Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky & Shane Taylor vs. Bullet Club & Flip Gordon, Silas Young vs. Cheeseburger for the TV title and Coast 2 Coast vs. The Dawgs. This airs live on Honor Club.

ALL JAPAN CHAMPION CARNIVAL AT 3 A.M. EASTERN SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING FROM FUKUOKA ON THE ALL JAPAN STREAMING SERVICE

Jun Akiyama vs. Suwama
Shingo Takagi vs. Yuji Hino
Joe Doering vs. Ryoji Sai
Kento Miyahara vs. Shuji Ishikawa

ALL JAPAN CHAMPION CARNIVAL AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN MONDAY MORNING FROM KAGOSHIMA ON THE ALL JAPAN STREAMING SERVICE

Yoshitatsu vs. Dylan James
Yutaka Yoshie vs. Kai
Kento Miyahara vs. The Bodyguard
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Naoya Nomura

Raw will be Monday in Hartford. The show will have another Ronda Rousey/Stephanie McMahon segment, plus The Revival vs. Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt with the winning team getting a match with Sheamus & Cesaro in Saudi Arabia for the vacant tag team titles and Bayley vs. Sasha Banks. It will be day one of the Superstar shakeup as well.

Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Providence. It will be day two of the Superstar shakeup plus Hideo Itami & Akira Tozawa vs. Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik in a tornado match.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Seven thoughts from Wrestlemania 34

With a card that was still strong on in-ring action, Sunday’s WrestleMania 34 ended up being one of the weirdest events that WWE has ever produced. The show seemed destined to become one of the best in WrestleMania history, starting off with two very good matches and peaking with Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H blowing away all expectations. The Undertaker answered John Cena’s challenge shortly after that, squashing him in under three minutes. And Daniel Bryan returned to the Superdome and made his in-ring return in what was a great moment.

WON NEWSLETTER: April 16, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Historic Wrestlemania 34 weekend reviewed, more

This issue contains complete coverage of WrestleMania, NXT Takeover, ROH Supercard of Honor and UFC 223, with match-by-match coverage, poll results and star ratings.

Look at WWE’s future direction after WrestleMania, exactly how everything went down with the decision to change the finish and have Brock Lesnar win and the current Lesnar contract, his UFC talks and more. Look at why this will be going down the same way very shortly.

Have a look at who did and didn’t know about Reigns losing, what the script said, what and when the referee was told, what happened backstage after the match, why Lesnar gets special privileges and what happens next with the title.

Read why Cena vs. Undertaker went down the way they did, the return of Chris Jericho, update on Rey Mysterio’s contract, and what is next for the Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash shows.

Check out the WWE Network numbers and what we can learn from them, and WWE’s business projections for the year and for the next quarter. Find out the viewing patterns on the network and how much it was up per person and what that means, plus an update on network plans.

Read about the live business in New Orleans and what it really was the last time compared to what was announced.

This issue has full details on what happened with Conor McGregor, as well as all the different things that went into Khabib Nurmagomedov facing Al Iaquinta. Look at Floyd Mayweather in MMA, what is next for McGregor, what happened with McGregor that hasn’t gotten out yet, and the story behind the New York not calling it a title match.

Check out the coverage of Impact vs. Lucha Underground, Progress, Revolution Pro, House of Hardcore, Evolve, the Super Shows and all the major activities in New Orleans over WrestleMania week.

Read more on the death of Johnny Valiant, the end, at least for now, of Being the Elite, why WWE is back in the U.K. game and where the ITV project stands.

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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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

After he missed last week’s 205 Live episode and NXT television tapings, Nigel McGuinness revealed that his significant other gave birth to their daughter. McGuinness won’t return to TV until April 24th, and he thanked WWE for their support: “Thanks to everyone for the congrats and well wishes. And to everyone at WWE for their understanding and support. Feel truly blessed.”
WWE has released a few behind-the-scenes videos from WrestleMania 34, including one that’s 10 minutes long and showcases wrestlers preparing for the show. In another video, The Bellas and Natalya watch Ronda Rousey’s debut and share an emotional moment with her after the match. The Bellas were also recorded in the front row for Daniel Bryan’s return to the ring.
Rousey tweeted about her reaction to walking into WrestleMania and seeing Shinsuke Nakamura’s entrance being rehearsed: “Try walking into the Mercedes Benz Superdome the first time to a sight like that and not tear up”
Wrestling DVD Network reported that the DVD for WrestleMania 34 won’t include this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony. Instead, it will have the Raw after WrestleMania and all of the pre-show and main card matches from WM. The reason for the HOF ceremony not being included is how long that event and WrestleMania both ran.
UFC fighter Daniel Cormier gave his thoughts on WrestleMania, praising Rousey’s performance and saying he liked Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns.
Despite speculation that him not wanting to be on the road full-time was the reason that he and The Authors of Pain were split up, Paul Ellering tweeted that he “loves traveling.”
While Chris Jericho has replaced him against The Undertaker at the show, Rusev will be an entrant in the 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia.
A new episode of Ride Along with The New Day and Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin will air on the WWE Network after Raw on Monday.
Dakota Kai wrote about Nixon Newell debuting for WWE at last night’s NXT house show in Venice: “Being sidelined for 10 months is something I can’t even begin to imagine, even more so when it’s stopping you from fully committing to a passion. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you and to do it by your side is the greatest feeling @NixonNewell #FlyKicks.” Newell teamed with Kai against Vanessa Borne & Reina Gonzalez and used her real name (Steffanie Newell) for the match. She was supposed to be in last summer’s Mae Young Classic but suffered a torn ACL before the tournament.
New NXT Champion Aleister Black was the guest on this week’s edition of the Edge & Christian podcast.
TV Insider interviewed The Miz about becoming a father and hosting MTV’s “The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars.”
WWE put out an “unreleased entrance video” for former Raw Tag Team Champion Nicholas.
This week’s WWE video top 10 list looks at Bobby Lashley’s most dominant moments in the company.
WWE touted that their YouTube channel has reached 25 million subscribers.
After ROH posted a list of his five greatest matches for them, Daniel Bryan acknowledged it on Twitter and wrote that he was proud of them all.

Pro Wrestling

RIch Swann made a surprise return to CZW and entered their Best of the Best tournament tonight. Swann had previously canceled all of his scheduled bookings and hasn’t wrestled since his domestic battery arrest last December, though the charges were dismissed earlier this year due to it being determined that there was insufficient evidence to sustain a conviction. Swann and WWE “mutually agreed to part ways” after the charges were dismissed.
Vader tweeted that he’s out of the hospital and rehabbing after undergoing open heart surgery: “I Am officially out of the HOSPITAL and in rehab Its a long ROAD BK from here to the RING WISH ME LUCK!!!!”
With Nick Aldis retaining against Colt Cabana, the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship was defended in China for the first time.
Shane Strickland’s MLW World Heavyweight Championship win from this week’s TV tapings will air exclusively on beIN Sports’ YouTube channel ahead of MLW debuting on beIN next Friday. Strickland defeated Matt Riddle in the title tournament finals.
Austin Aries added the Defy Championship to his list of belts by defeating Strickland in Seattle last night.

UFC/MMA

Becky Lynch and Dolph Ziggler attended UFC on FOX 29 in Glendale, Arizona tonight. Lynch was supporting her boyfriend Luke Sanders, who won by unanimous decision in the first prelim fight.
Mike Jackson plans on smacking CM Punk in the face and beating him at UFC 225.
Tony Ferguson called Khabib Nurmagomedov a “PaperChump” and said he was lucky that Ferguson couldn’t compete at UFC 223.
Tyron Woodley noted that he’s expecting to return in July or August and isn’t impressed with Colby Covington or Rafael dos Anjos.
Daniel Cormier thinks he has a chance against Stipe Miocic because Stefan Struve was able to beat him.
Michael Chandler defeated Brandon Girtz with an arm-triangle choke in the first round of last night’s Bellator 197 main event. Kevin Ferguson Jr. (“Baby Slice”) beat Devin Brock in 34 seconds.

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Lawler defeats Kerry Von Erich to win WCWA title

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