Daily Update: Omega, WrestleMania, Mercedes Martinez

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We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Hershey, PA and the ROH show in Baltimore tonight to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

ROH SUNDAY AT 6 P.M. EASTERN AT THE UMBC EVENT CENTER IN BALTIMORE

  • Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose vs. Kris Stadtlander & Tasha Steelz vs Gabby Ortiz & Karissa Rivera
  • Cheeseburger & Eli Isom & Ryan Nova vs. LSG & Shaheem Ali & Colin Delaney
  • Kenny King vs. P.J. Black
  • Mark Haskins vs. Silas Young
  • Rush vs. Tracy Williams
  • Marty Scurll vs. Shane Taylor
  • Juice Robinson & Bandido vs. TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia vs. Jay Lethal & Jeff Cobb
  • PCO & Brody King vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe for ROH tag titles

The final Raw before WrestleMania will be in Washington, DC with an all-hands on deck show including Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey all advertised. The show has Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair & Ronda Rousey vs. The Riott Squad and if Lynch, Flair or Rousey turn on the other they are out of WrestleMania, Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio (why?), Beth Phoenix & Natalya & Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. The Iicnonics & Nia Jax & Tamina and The Revival vs. Ricochet & Aleister Black for the Raw tag team titles. There is also a Smackdown house show in Roanoke, VA.

The Smackdown and 205 Live tapings are Tuesday in Baltimore. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade has been announced for the show as well as a contract signing for Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston. 

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Looking at the WWE HOF and the 2019 class

While interest has inevitably decreased over the years, the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony feels like less of an essential part of WrestleMania weekend than ever.

There are a few major reasons why the Hall of Fame ceremony has lost some of its luster. As WrestleMania week has become a destination for promotions from the United States and abroad, fans have to make difficult decisions on how they’re going to spend their time and money.

WON NEWSLETTER: April 1, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Women to main event Wrestlemania 35, Conor McGregor allegations, more

The Conor McGregor situation is the lead story in the current issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Look at the investigation into him, his retirement, the timing, and why the retirement and Dana White’s reactions are both a public bluffing game. 

Read the update on the WrestleMania card, both matches announced and those not yet announced, the Charlotte Flair title win and what it changes about the show, the multiple changes in the top part of the show, the women in the main event, the interest level in the different shows that week and more.

Also look at the New Japan Cup, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, on the entire last week of the tournament and the final show.

Look at Vince McMahon’s stock sale, how much he sold, how much he got and why, as well as the XFL launch and problems with the AAF. Look at the AAF’s new goal.

Look at the retirement of the Bella Twins and their careers, the value of Total Divas and their future plans.

Examine the lawsuit settlement with the wrestlers who have sued Lucha Underground, and the interesting note of the person who backed out of the suit.

Also look at Cain Velasquez’s crossing over into pro wrestling and his deal with AAA, including what they attempted to do with him, the storyline building him up and the wrestlers it looks like he’ll appear with.

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@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

We have two weekend shows up on the site, a Saturday morning show with Garrett Gonzalez and a Sunday morning show with Bryan Alvarez live covering all the WrestleMania and weekend news.

Best wishes to Jim Duggan who is resting peacefully after successful heart surgery.

So yet another WrestleMania update. It will not be (unless things change tomorrow) The Revival vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet at WrestleMania. Right now that match on Raw is designed to build to a different title defense and have a way to get a new program going. The Revival’s title defense was added to the show on Tuesday to replace the Smackdown women’s title match. The Usos are defending the Smackdown tag titles in a multiple person match at Mania. We don’t know who the teams will be, but do know that in an internal lineup before the changes that were made this past Tuesday, it was a four-team match with Usos, Black & Ricochet, Big E & Xavier Woods and Sheamus & Cesaro. However, on house shows this weekend, which one would think would be getting guys comfortable, you had Rusev & Nakamura in with the Usos and Bar. Rusev & Nakamura haven’t been announced for the Battle Royal, nor have Black & Ricochet. With Black & Ricochet having two non-title wins over The Revival, they would make the most sense for Sunday, except we’re told that is not happening now.

As of yesterday the plan was to announce on Raw the tag line “Winner Take All” for the main event and to announce the stipulations of the match. Earlier this week the working idea was that if Rousey loses the fall, whoever beats her gets the Raw title and if Flair loses the fall, whoever beats her gets the Smackdown title.  If Lynch loses the fall, no titles change hands. 

Kenny Omega, in his first match since WrestleKingdom, was pinned in a six-man tag match by Don Callis of all people. Omega had been doing media all over Canada this past week for his documentary and mentioned he would be wrestling on Saturday night in Winnipeg for his home promotion, Premier Championship Wrestling at Doubles Bar, where he had key early match in his career. Callis, who has not wrestled in 15 years, teamed with Bobby Schink & Travis Cole against Omega & Chris Stevens & Donny Dicaprio. Stevens & DiCaprio were both trained by Callis. Schink & Cole were trained by Lance Storm. Omega was giving a speech to induct DiCaprio into the PCW Hall of Fame, when Callis came out.  He brought out the tag team champions, who are the biggest stars in PCW right now. It ended when Omega was distracted when they played Chris Jericho’s music. The place freaked out thinking Jericho was doing a run-in, but he wasn’t there. Omega turned around into a codebreaker by Callis for the pin. Callis then turned on his partners in a promo and they beat him up. The show ended with all five guys beating on Callis.

Mercedes Martinez appears to have been injured seriously in a tag team match today in Berwyn, IL at Shimmer tapings. She was injured taking a frog splash and laid on the mat for ten minutes. They had to stop the taping before she was taken out on a stretcher. (thanks to Lance LeVine)

WWE

  • In a smart promotional move, the USA Network has labeled both the preshow for WrestleMania on USA and the Hall of Fame a week from Monday as “Monday Night Raw” as part of the DVR package, so essentially that will inflate the +3 numbers for both specials.
  • The episode of NCIS: Los Angeles with Bill Goldberg and Shane McMahon airs tonight on CBS. Goldberg plays Lance Hamilton, a Department of Justice agent who is looking for a former border patrol officer who disappeared after a threat by the cartel.  McMahon plays Agent Steve Evans who is looking to recover a stolen hard drive with sensitive military intelligence on it. Hopefully this makes more sense than this year’s WrestleMania booking.   
  • This is the update from Kambi on gambling odds that you can bet over/under on star ratings for WrestleMania:
    Styles vs. Orton ****
    Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch ****1/4
    Miz vs. Shane ***1/4
    HHH vs. Batista ***3/4
    Lesnar vs. Rollins ****1/4
    Angle vs. Corbin **
    Joe vs. Mysterio ***1/2
    Murphy vs. Nese ***1/2
    Reigns vs. McIntyre ****
    Balor vs. Lashley **3/4
    Bryan vs. Kingston ****
    Bayley & Banks vs. Phoenix & Natalya vs. Jax & Tamina vs. Iiconcs **1/4
    Men’s Battle Royal *1/2
    Women’s Battle Royal *1/2
  • They are also putting up odds for Takeover, but not for MSG:
    Gargano vs. Cole ****3/4
    Dream vs. Riddle ****1/4
    War Raiders vs. Ricochet & Black ****1/2
    Baszler vs. Shirai vs. Sane vs. Belair ***1/4
    Walter vs. Dunne ****1/2
  • Miz & Mrs. starts a new season on Tuesday night after Smackdown with a 30 minute show.
  • Sheamus did a deal on NBC Sports network today hyping the Liverpool vs. Tottenham Premier League game.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • At today’s ONE show at Tokyo Sumo Hall, sometimes DDT wrestler Shinya Aoki won the One lightweight title beating Eduard Foloyang in the main event of the company’s first event in Japan. Xiong Jing Nan beat Angela Lee in a battle for the strawweight title, facing Lee, whose Atomweight title wasn’t at stake. Aung La N Sang retained his middleweight title over Ken Hasegawa with ground and pound in the second round. Kevin Belingon lost the bantamweight title to Bibiano Fernandes when Belingon was disqualified for an elbow to the back of the head. Timofey Nastyukhin, scored what I consider the biggest upset in MMA history, beating Eddie Alvarez via first round knockout. Demetrious Johnson won his debut via second round guillotine over Yuya Wakamatsu.  The show aired live on B/R which had a free first day for new subscribers for the event.
  • Konnan, Blue Demon Jr., Pentagon Jr., Fenix, Taya, Drago and Aerostar will be at the AAA press conference on Thursday morning at Madison Square Garden. There will be a show announced for MSG.
  • As far as true mainstream buzz, there was nothing in wrestling, boxing or MMA that was too strong over the weekend. The only thing that charted on Google searches was Justin Gaethje at No. 17 yesterday with 50,000 searches.  I suspect there will be a ton over the next eight or nine days. 
  • Ric Flair has gotten a television commercial gig for Cumberland Farms coffee, pizza and breakfasts.
  • The Friday night Bellator main event with Saad Awad vs. Brandon Girtz was probably the MMA match of the year so far this year.It was an incredible fight.
  • Rise on Friday in Chicago: Phoebe b Thea Von Star, Ray Lyn b Janae Kai, Allysin Kay b AQA, Mercedes Martinez b Jenna Lynn, Priscilla Kelly b Session Moth Martina, Charile Evans & Jessica Troy b Delmo Exo & Ashley Vox, Delilah Doom b Shotzi Blackheart-DQ, Kris Wolf & Samantha Heights & Rok-C & Rocky Radly b Su Yung, Zoe Lucas on Rumble, Jessicka Havok & Neveah b Dust & Raven’s Ash to win the tag titles, Kyle Rae b Phoenix of Rise title over Mercedes Martinez in a no rope submission match (was told this was “easy ****1/2”). Miranda Alize came out to celebrate with Rae, then gave her an RKO. Mercedes made the save. Zoe Lucas & Charli Evans & Jessica Troy came out. Lucas said she was cashing in her title shot from winning the Rumble and pinned Kylie Rae to win the title. They all beat down Rae and Lucas said how they’ve beaten the Elite. Brandi Rhodes, Nyla Rose and Britt Baker of AEW then ran off Lucas & Evans & Troy. Then Rose teased turning on Baker and Rae but Rhodes stopped her. Penelope Ford and Allie ended up in the ring so you had a lot of the AEW’s women’s division out there at the end and Rae hugged Rose. This was Rae’s farewell to Rise. Between wrestlers and managers, they booked 59 women on this show with the Rumble participants. (thanks to Spencer Santos, Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
  • Mikey Nicholls of New Japan returns to EPW in Perth, Western Australia on 4/6. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • PCW Ultra from Friday night in Wilmington, CA: Trey Miguel b Adam Brooks, Caleb Konley won over Kikutaro, Randy Myers, Happy Man and Douglas James, Tessa Blanchard & Daga b Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie, Sami Callihan b Brian Cage in a no rules match, Jake Atlas b Dezmond Xavier to keep the UltraLight title in a great match, Josef & Fatu won no rules match to win the PCW and Defy tag titles over Danny Maff & Shawn Donavan and  Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson, Artemis Spencer b Zachary Wentz to keep Defy title, Mil Muertes b Shane Strickland to win the PCW Ultra title. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • USA Championship Wrestlnig TV taping today in Jackson, TN at Studio A in the an Arena with Bill Dundee making a guest appearance.
  • Fale Dojo results from yesterday in Auckland, New Zealand: VikShiva b Arthus Papali’i, Anthony Richards b Daniel Puru, Michael Richards b Osckar Munchow, Jordan Allen-Wright & Vik Shiva b Victor Faletogo & Richard Mulu, Tome Filip b Stevie Filip, Aaron Solow b Liam Perry to retain the Dojo Pro Black Belt title. Solow is the fiance of WWE’s Bayley.
  • Adam Brooks and Craven from Australia will be on the 4/13 Crash show in Tijuana.
  • CWE tonight in Yorkton, Saskatchewan at the Yorkdale Central School with A.J. Sanchez & Kevin O’Doyle vs. CWE tag champions Psicosis & Mentallo.
  • An article on independent wrestlers Preston Steele. (thanks to Ross Blair)
  • ROH Ambassador Cary Silkin was the guest on the 100th episode of the Comedy Suplex Podcart to promote the upcoming ROH & NJPW G1 Supercard.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: The first WrestleMania

Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Event:

  • Saturday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!

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