Daily Update: NJPW lineup, WWE 24 Seth Rollins, UFC 199 call

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With a huge weekend of ringed combat ahead of us this Memorial Day, let’s look at some of the potential awesomeness… AJ Styles vs. Shibata from NJPW on Friday night sounds great. I know this match happened a while ago, but if watching Styles last Sunday didn’t make you want to see more of him, then you’re not a real wrestling fan. Go sit in the corner… From CMLL, if you’ve never seen Blue Panther, Blue Panter Jr. and THE Panther together, you’re missing out. Only in Mexico would a team like this exist… From the best of the Super Juniors, you’ve definintely got to check out Matt Sydal vs. Kyle O’Reilly. These two are possibly the best two workers from ROH getting to have a super juniors match in Japan. I know these two will be motivated to have an awesome performance… And don’t sleep on Trent Baretta in this tournament. He’s set up to face Chase Owens. Baretta and Romero have become a really fun act in ROH and Japan and Baretta on his own is vastly underrated… From the MMA world, a match I’m really looking forward to on UFC Fight Night 88 is Jeremy Stephens vs. Renan Barao. Stephens takes a beatin’ like no other, and Barao, can toss a beatin’ on anyone, even the best. I expect to see Barao back in old form landing big kicks as the “Lil Heathen” demands him to keep bringining it… So sit back and relax. The Wrestling Observer has you covered. 

[Dan Velten]

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON FRIDAY NIGHT ON AXS TV AT 8 P.M.

The show returns with the first of several two hour specials from the 2015 G-1 Climax tournament

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
  • A.J Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata
  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale

CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO IN MEXICO CITY ON FRIDAY NIGHT

  • Oro Jr. & Soberano vs. Cancerbero & Raziel
  • Marcela & Princesa Sugei & Silueta vs. Amapola & Dallys & Zeuxis
  • Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther vs. Ephesto & Luciferno & Mephisto
  • Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Felino
  • Diamante Azul & Marco Corleone & Titan vs. Kraneo & Rey Bucanero & Ripper
  • Maximo Sexy & Mistico & Stuka Jr. vs. El Terrible & Shocker & La Mascara

NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS TOURNAMENT FROM OSAKA AT 3 A.M. EASTERN SUNDAY MORNING/SATURDAYNIGHT ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michael Elgin & Volador Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Trent Baretta & Will Ospreay
  • Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Bobby Fish & Jay White & Juice Robinson & Katsuyori Shibata
  • David Finlay vs. Gedo
  • Rocky Romero vs. Bushi
  • Satoshi Kojima & Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan & Ricochet vs. Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Seiya Sanada
  • Matt Sydal vs. Kyle O’Reilly
  • Kushida vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

UFC FROM THE MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER IN LAS VEGAS ON SUNDAY

Fight Pass bouts at 6 p.m. Eastern

  • Adam Milstead vs. Chris De La Rosa
  • Bryan Caraway vs. Aljamain Sterling

FS 1 at 7 p.m. Eastern

  • Shane Campbell vs. Erik Koch
  • Jake Collier vs. Alberto Pereira Uda
  • Abel Trujillo vs. Jordan Rinaldi
  • Sara McMann vs. Jessica Eye
  • Josh Burkman vs. Paul Felder
  • Jorge Masvidal vs. Lorenz Larkin
  • Chris Camozzi vs Vitor Miranda
  • Tarec Saffiedine vs. Rick Story
  • Jeremy Stephens vs. Renan Barao
  • Cody Garbrandt vs. Thomas Almeida

NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS FROM TOTTORI ON MONDAY (taped for New Japan World available later in the day)

  • Trent Baretta vs. Chase Owens
  • Tiger Mask vs. Will Ospreay
  • Bobby Fish vs. Volador Jr.
  • Jushin Liger vs. Ricochet

Raw is Monday from Green Bay featuring the return of John Cena plus a Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin match.

NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS FROM HIROSHIMA ON TUESDAY (taped for New Japan World available later in the day)

  • Bushi vs. David Finlay
  • Matt Sydal vs. Rocky Romero
  • Kushida vs. Gedo
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday in Rockford, IL.

    THE ROUND-UP

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly 5/23/2016: More strange developments in WWE’s concussion lawsuit deposition – Last week we talked a bit about both Evan Singleton’s deposition in the WWE concussion lawsuit as well as a video of a concussion presentation held in developmental during Singleton’s time under contact. Among other topics, there’s been a bit more movement on that front.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    READ IT HERE: May 30, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Return of Seth Rollins and the WWE brand split, plus tons of news

    With two of the biggest news stories of the year, the WWE brand split and the UFC sale both in play, we’ve got a new issue of the Observer packed with news.

    Our lead story looks at the brand split, with what we do know, what has and hasn’t been decided and the background of how it went down. There’s also more info on the UFC sale talks.  Plus there is coverage of the return of Seth Rollins, the build to Money in the Bank and have coverage of Extreme Rules, the negotiations for a Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz fight and look more at the Floyd Mayweather vs. McGregor rumors. Take an in-depth look at the departure of Cody Runnels (Rhodes) from WWE and his future prospects, plus look at his complaints regarding people in the company. All this plus a look at the New Japan Super Juniors tournament, the funding of the Hulk Hogan lawsuit, the World Cup trios tournament coming up and a feature on the last PWG show.

    The lead story looks at every aspect of the brand split.  It looks at the original goals and reasons for it and what did and didn’t work, plus how it’ll be different this time, how the touring will work, and an examination of what talent knows and tentative plans in place.  Vince McMahon’ reaction is a big part of this, and this issue explains how the deal went down, the story behind the story and other aspects to be considered. There’s also a look at Smackdown going live, the affect on the fan base, the affect on TNA and why it was important to get Smackdown away from Thursday.

    Another big story in this issues is Extreme Rules, the decision to make Seth Rollins a heel and current plans for Money in the Bank, and also match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

    Details about what’s going on with Conor McGregor, including Colin Cowherd’s claim that Mayweather vs. McGregor is happening, as well as a look at the Nate Diaz negotiations last week and what McGregor has said publicly.

    Finally, this issue looks at Cody Runnels leaving WWE, what he said was the reason why, and a look into those reasons, and a look at the realities of WWE business decisions and his background.

    CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PREVIEW.

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    Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: April 19, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Davey Boy Smith hospitalized with spinal infection, WCW Spring Stampede. The health situations involving both Davey Boy Smith and Japanese woman wrestler Emiko Kado took turns for the worst this past week.

    FRIDAY NEWS

    There will be a new WWE 24 show debuting after Monday Night RAW on Monday on the WWE Network. “Seth Rollins: Redesign. Rebuild. Reclaim” will look at the former WWE Champion’s recovery from a career-threatening injury over the last 6 months. It should be interesting to see if he recovers at the normal human rate, or the super-human pro wrestler rate.

    The chair of Kentucky’s boxing and wrestling commission wants to end a state rule that ends a wrestling match when one of the wrestlers starts bleeding. WWE won’t bring TV back there until the law is changed, and supplied a statement in the story. MMA and boxing aren’t bound to the same rule for some reason.

    We have the full audio from Thursday’s UFC 199 conference call featuring middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, and Urijah Faber. This is sure to be an exciting PPV card and I can’t imagine the conference call being any less entertaining.

    WRESTLING

    MMA

    • ONE Championships ran earlier today in Bangkok. Yoshitaka Naito won the strawweight title in the main event. Murat Gafurov retained the middleweight title in the co-main and Christian Lee, who doesn’t turn 18 until next month, scored his 5th straight first round finish on the undercard. Full report is up here.
    • Former bantamweight title contender Joe Soto steps in to replace Kid Yamamoto at UFC Ottawa next month against Chris Beal.
    • Miesha Tate was poking the bear during an interview on SiriusXM yesterday.

    EVENTS

    • May 28 – Mayhem in the Magnolia State, Louisville Coliseum. This show is a benefit for Kamala.
    • May 27 & 28 – Absolute Intense Wrestling “2016 JT Lightning Invitational Tournament,” Our Lady Of Mount Carmel, 1355 West 70th Street, Cleveland, Ohio
    • May 30 – Jake Roberts will be appearing in Burbank next monday at 8pm at Flappers Comedy.
    • June 4 – UFC 199 from the Forum in Los Angeles with Michael Bisping getting his first title opportunity of his career battling Luke Rockhold for the middleweight belt
    • June 4 – In celebration of Metro Pro’s Sixth Anniversary, Demolition (Ax & Smash) will be in action on Saturday, Turner Recreation Center in Kansas City, Kansas. The event address is: 831 S. 55th St., Kansas City, KS 66106 – Tickets can be bought in advance.
    • June 5 – AAA’s Victoria World Cup men and women’s trio tournament finals at Los Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City which will be a live iPPV show
    • June 7 – New Japan Best of the Super Juniors finals from Sendai live on New Japan World
    • June 8 – NXT Takeover from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL featuring Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor in a cage match plus a loaded lineup that includes American Alpha vs. The Revival and probably Shinsuke Nakamura vs Austin Aries, which could be WWE’s match of the month.
    • June 11 – NECW presents the 2016 IRON 8 Championship, Saturday Night, June 11 in Wakefield, MA
    • June 12 – TNA Slammiversary headlined by Drew Galloway vs. Bobby Lashley for the TNA title from Orlando
    • June 12 – Revolution Pro Wrestling in London, England headlined by Kurt Angle vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
    • June 17 – AAW “Killers Among Us” features Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Johnny Gargano, Drago vs. Chris Hero, and more at 115 Bourbon Street (3359 w 115th Street Merrionette Park, IL) All Ages Event – Tickets available.
    • June 18 – UFC in Ottawa: Rory McDonald vs. Stephen Thompson
    • June 18 – New England Fights (NEF) returns to the Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston, Maine with “NEF 24: PROMISED LAND.” Tickets for “NEF 24” are on sale now.
    • June 19 – New Japan Dominion, one of the company’s biggest events of the year, featuring Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada in an IWGP title match and Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi in a ladder match for the IC title
    • June 19 – WWE Money in the Bank from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas 
    • June 24 – ROH Best in the World from Concord, NC with Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe for the ROH title 
    • June 25 – Ultima Lucha tapings in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles at The Temple
    • June 26 – Ultima Lucha tapings in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles at The Temple   
    • July 7-11 The 10th annual Wrestling Observer/F4W convention in Las Vegas, EdinSanAntonio has all the information up on Facebook, or email him at F4Wfan@hotmail.com.

    Today in Professional Wrestling History: Thor Hogan wins Central States Title; Owen Hart wins IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title