Daily Update: NJPW BOSJ finals, Punk & Amann trial, Jinny

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

We’re looking for your thoughts on both yesterday and today’s New Japan Best of the Super Juniors tournament so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle along with a best and worst match for both shows, as well as your pick for best match of the tournament and tournament MVP to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s Raw show in Houston with anything not on television such as Main Event bouts or anything off the air, as well as reports on tonight’s Smackdown brand house show in Laredo, TX to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com

Raw is in Houston with Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Roode, Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens, Nia Jax vs. Natalya in a non-title match plus a tag team Battle Royal for the top contender spot for tag champs Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt. Smackdown has a house show on Monday night in Laredo, TX.

Smackdown and 205 Live will take place on Tuesday night in Corpus Christi, TX with Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch and Jimmy Uso & Naomi vs. Aiden English & Lana as well as a contract signing for the A.J. Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura last man standing match.

F4W NEWSLETTER: An early look at how April’s NXT call-ups have fared

Over a month removed from the days after WrestleMania and the Superstar Shakeup, the most recent round of NXT call-ups have been — at best — a mixed bag in their first few weeks on the main roster. As has become tradition, the post-WrestleMania episodes of Raw and SmackDown saw new arrivals from NXT: Ember Moon, No Way Jose, The Authors of Pain, and Peyton Royce & Billie Kay. The wave continued the next week, with Drew McIntyre joining Raw and Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega and SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) being announced as the newest members of SmackDown.

WON NEWSLETTER: WON Preview (June 4, 2018): More details on Raw and Smackdown TV deals, more

An update on both the WWE & UFC television deals with how they went down and were intertwined in more details is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Look at actual finalization of the deals, how the contracts pay out, when the numbers figured and reported on actually come into play, and who negotiated the WWE’s deal. Also look at what UFC had offered for both shows and just how differently things worked out.

Look at what both deals mean for the long-term perception of WWE and UFC, and the difference in air time on television between the two properties. 

Find out the new value of WWE, and one analyst talks about what he feels the stock value will be when the new deals come into play. Look at different estimates of WWE profit margins with the new deal, update UFC profit margins, and a look at the future.

This issue also has an update on news on both Money in the Bank, Extreme Rules and the return of Brock Lesnar.

Also, rundown week two of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament with match-by-match coverage, standings, schedule and star ratings for every show.

Have a look at the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit against C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana and early testimony, the Mauro Ranallo documentary, what was the key to Ranallo’s career, the U.K. tournament and slow ticket sales, and John Cena’s message to the locker room.

Look at what appears to be the final pro wrestling show at American Legion Post 308 in Reseda.

This issue runs down Io Shirai signing with WWE, the story behind it, her departure from Stardom, who she is, her link to Asuka, and two other Stardom women who are WWE-bound.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking New Japan Best of the Super Juniors, Raw, the C.M. Punk trial and the rest of the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio. You can send e-mail questions to tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

I would tell everyone to go out of their way to see today’s Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori Best of the Super Juniors final at Korakuen Hall. We’ll talk about that later but those are two incredible pro wrestlers. 

We expect the complete Dominion card for Saturday to be released late tonight U.S. time. The front page has an updated card that looks to include Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Liger & Rey Mysterio Jr. as a trios team against Marty Scurll and two other Bullet Club members. Hopefully that’s where Ishimori fits in on the card.

WrestleZone has coverage of the C.M. Punk/Dr. Christopher Amann trial from today. C.M. Punk and wife April Mendez (A.J. Lee) both testified today, as did Punk’s massage therapist who testified seeing the lump in question and called it roughly golf ball sized. Mendez said she started having a relationship with Punk in August 2013 and saw the lump on butt for the first time in August and it grew and kept changing colors. She made the appointment with Patrick Duffy for Punk to be treated and she believed that he was a doctor. The testimony ended today. The lawyers will give their closing arguments tomorrow and then it will go to the jury.

WWE is trying to push to get an Emmy for television and will be holding an event on Wednesday night in Southern California with many of the company’s bigwigs including HHH, Stephanie McMahon, Ronda Rousey, Roman Reigns and the Bella Twins screening different events that they are pushing for nominations.

U.K. wrestler Jinny has signed a WWE U.K. contract, which explains her Revolution Pro Women’s title loss last night to Jamie Hayter. She won’t be working any new dates for Revolution Pro, at least until her situation changes or politics change.

WWE

  • NXT announced shows on 8/16 in Lowell, MA and 8/17 in Asbury Park, NJ, leading to the 8/18 Takeover show in Brooklyn.
  • For those interested in wrestling for WWE, this website is probably a good thing to look at.

UFC

  • Michelle Waterson will debut as an analyst for Saturday night’s UFC 225 PPV show. The desk will be Waterson, Michael Bisping, Kenny Florian and Karyn Bryant for the show headlined by Robert Whittaker (20-4) defending the middleweight title against Yoel Romero (13-2) and Rafael dos Anjos (28-9) vs. Colby Covington (13-1) for the interim welterweight title.
  • C.M. Punk will be appearing on UFC Tonight on Wednesday to push his fight on Saturday against Mike Jackson. I still can’t believe he’s fighting while spending all day every day in a court room last week and this week.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Jacqueline Hernandez was named today as the new President of Combate Americas. Hernandez’s background includes being Chief Marketing Officer for NBC Universal Hispanic Enterprises, Chief Operations Office at Telemundo Enterprises and Publisher of People en Espanol. She was named FORTUNE’S Most Powerful Latina in 2017.
  • An interesting situation is about to take place in Australia as starting on 7/1, Amazon will be blocking Australian buyers from purchasing goods from either the U.S. or U.K. sites. Amazon has opened a warehouse in Sydney and wants everyone from Australia to use the Australian site. Locals haven’t been doing it because the prices are higher and the content is much more limited. In addition, the government was removed an exemption on sale tax or goods purchased on-line of less than $1,000, and Amazon has claimed it is too difficult to collect the tax and are refusing to do so. Wrestling material on the Australian site is very limited so this is a big deal to Hardcore fans (thanks to Graeme Cameron)
  • Low Ki will return to MLW on Thursday night at the tapings at Gilt Nightclub. His match hasn’t been announced, but the top matches are Shane Strickland vs. Brody King, A three-way to crown the first tag team champions with Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix vs. Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta vs. Dirty Blondes, Sami Callihan vs. MVP in a boiler room brawl, Jake Hager vs. Tom Lawlor, Rich Swann vs ACH, Fred Yehi vs. Sammy Guevara and Joey Janela vs. MJF.
  • Ground Zero Wrestling from Saturday night in Imperial Beach, CA: Dicky Mayer b Mike McManus, KC Douglas & Michael Hopkins b Jesse James & Hoss Hogg, Ju Dizz b Fidel Bravo, Andy Brown & B-Boy b Chris Bey & Suede Thompson, Eli Everfly b Jake Atlas, Tyler Bateman b Owen Travers, Delilah Doom b Ruby Raze, Douglas James b Tito Escondido (thanks to Jake Koch)
  • Martinez Entertainment on 6/15 in Fort Worth at 4 Ever Soccer has Mecha Wolf 450 vs. Drago vs. Ultimo Ninja vs. Laredo Kid, and Sam Adonis & Gringo Loco vs Arez & Lower Rider.
  • There is a baseball stadium show in Celaya on 6/20 with Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Penta 0M vs L.A. Park vs. Blue Demon Jr. vs. Mesias vs. Cibernetico as the main event.
  • Independent Wrestling Federation on 6/10 in Nutley, NJ has as reunion of the promotion with Kevin Kngiht vs. Tony Graves in a no DQ ballpark brawl match.
  • Pro Wrestling Phoenix from last night in Omaha, NE: Joey Daniels won Battle Royal, Purple b Paul Daniels, Brett Bishop b Robert Storm, Preston Maxwell won a three-way over Pat Powers and Zac James, Con Artiest b Dalton Lee Roth, Moonshine Russell & Duke Cornell b Purple & Brett Bishop, Branden Juarez b Joey Daniels. Next show is 6/13 at the Waiting Room Lounge.
  • Former three-time NCAA champion Ed Ruth moves down to welterweight for his next fight on the next Bellator show on 6/29 in Temecula, CA. Ruth faces Andy Murad. Keep in mind Ruth cut to make 189 as a wrestler and is looking to fight now at 170.  The top matches are Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defending her flyweight title against Alejandra Lara and Saad Award vs; Ryan Couture. 

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Lawler & Dundee win Southern tag titles

12th Annual F4W Empire Vegas Convention

Greetings friends and fans of the F4W / Wrestling Observer website. It’s time to announce the details of the 12th annual F4W / Wrestling Observer Empire Las Vegas Convention~!

This year’s event will be taking place in Las Vegas from August 16th to the 20th and will again be in conjunction with WWE’s SummerSlam weekend a.k.a. Super China Buffet Day~! There will still be the usual events, but our big draw will be WWE’s summer blockbuster PPV, SummerSlam. As per tradition, we will all gorge ourselves at a Las Vegas buffet, and then watch SummerSlam in a rented out movie theater. All information and ticketing prices are available now. Sign up ASAP as spots are limited for some events. 

This year will also feature a Future Stars Wrestling show which will include the first ever Gladys Gibson Doubles Match Classic! Already booked for the show are the teams Mia Yim & Leva Bates, Hudson Envy & Shotzi Blackheart, Samantha Heights & Brittany Blake, and Miranda Alize & Kylie Rae. Kris Wolf will also be appearing along with many more future stars. There may even be a classic star or two making an appearance. You won’t want to miss this show! Check out the convention’s Facebook page for all additional information.

CONTACT INFORMATION