Daily Update: Owens vs. Zayn, Cena on the Today Show, Cyborg

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on WWE shows on Saturday night with Raw from Portland, ME, SmackDown from Johnson City, TN and NXT in Tampa to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

INVICTA ON UFC FIGHT PASS ON SATURDAY NIGHT

  • Madison McElhaney vs. Felicia Spencer
  • Kai Holliday vs. Miranda Maverick
  • Sunna Davidsdottir vs. Mallory Martin
  • Amber Brown vs. Ashley Cummins
  • Jinh Yu Frey vs. Janaisa Morandin
  • DeAnna Bennett vs. Jodie Esquibel
  • Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Livia Renata Souza
  • Tonya Evinger vs. Yana Kunitskaya for the bantamweight title

Sunday has WWE in White Plains, NY featuring HHH & Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn & Finn Balor & Chris Jericho, plus SmackDown in Raleigh, NC.

NEW JAPAN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL AT 5:30 A.M. SUNDAY MORNING EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Tomoyuki Oka vs. Bad Luck Fale
  • Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Hirai Kawato vs. Takashi Iizuka & Desperado & Taka Michinoku
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe vs. War Machine & David Finlay
  • Hirooki Goto & Gedo & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Baretta vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata

Raw will be Monday in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center with a Seth Rollins vs. HHH contract signing, plus Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg all appearing. There is also a SmackDown brand house show in Norfolk, VA on Monday night.

SmackDown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Richmond, VA for the final main roster show before WrestleMania. Bray Wyatt vs. Luke Harper is scheduled for SmackDown and Rich Swann vs. Noam Dar for Raw.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 3/20/2017: Is AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon the right match for Wrestlemania?

While the decision to have AJ Styles face Shane McMahon at WrestleMania has drawn criticism from a lot of people, I’ve remained mostly ambivalent about the matchup. Or at least that’s how I felt until last Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown. The seven weeks between Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania kept the feud between Styles and Shane from really building until now, but it was surprisingly worth the wait when it did… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: March 27, 2017: WWE potentially buying ROH, Jan Ross passes away, more

This week’s lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is regarding ROH, WWE and the current situation with ROH. It looks at the ramifications of a possible purchase, and how a sale changes the dynamics of the industry far past just ROH.

There is an update on the WrestleMania situation, with notes on new matches and plans, as well as ticket sales and matches throughout the weekend.

There are notes on the unique story involving Impact Wrestling making a deal with AAA as well as a current deal with The Crash, which has all kinds of strange political implications. Plus, look at Impact planning a potential PPV show to be held in Mexico, the unique contractual hurdles involved, and recent changes in AAA writing.

An update on the Paige situation can be read about.

There are also a number of WWE Hall of Fame updates, how the Hall of Fame has changed, an update on Mauro Ranallo, an update on Shinsuke Nakamura, more on the WrestleMania 32 attendance, Kurt Angle talks his return, lots more people coming to WWE, Fan Axxess plans and matches scheduled, WWE responds to a concussion lawsuit, plus the most watched shows of the week on WWE Network.

Check out the notes on all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week, with in-ring highlights, results, crowd reactions and business notes.

Inside has full coverage of the New Japan Cup finals, as well as the other tournament matches, plans for the next month in Japan including the next three New Japan World live events.

There is a major feature on the retiring Manami Toyota, arguably the greatest female wrestler of all-time, talking about her background, her heyday, the boom of women’s wrestling, the Crush Gals and Beauty Pair era, the show where Toyota first got over, and so many of her awards.

Finally, look at CMLL’s first major show of the year with business notes, who is Pierroth, and match-by-match coverage with tar ratings.

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. 

Rates in the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON BACK ISSUE: February 28, 2000, WCW Super Brawl review, Super J Cup, plus tons of news

There is little to say about SuperBrawl 2000 other than James Brown was there and got a big reaction, and the crowd popped pretty big for Hulk Hogan’s ring entrance. It was a WCW show filled with young guys who the crowd doesn’t know or care about and old guys that the crowd knows but isn’t interested in except as short-term nostalgia acts. The big surprise of Sting returning meant little. The return of Roddy Piper returning was really sad, and showing clips of the 1989 Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk I Quit match only emphasized how great they once were compared to what the company puts out today, and how much older they’ve gotten… Subscribers click here to continue.

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn was the main event of WWE’s house show in Montreal last night. Without fully breaking character, Zayn praised Owens and talked about their journey in an emotional promo after the match until Owens responded in French by saying that he hates Zayn and walked off. Zayn tweeted about the show, “Tonight was my Wrestlemania. #WWEMontreal.”
  • John Cena will be co-hosting the Today Show during the 9 a.m. ET hour on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
  • Bas Rutten gave an update on Mauro Ranallo during an appearance on the Luke Thomas Show, saying that Ranallo is doing well and that he should be “back to normal” soon.
  • Goldberg appeared on the debut episode of Edge & Christian’s podcast.
  • The Miami Herald posted a guide on visiting Orlando for WrestleMania weekend.
  • Zack Ryder discusses his injury and coming back from it on his new YouTube show.
  • Our Bryan Rose looks back at every WrestleMania in his “Depths of Mania” e-book.

Pro Wrestling

  • Jim Ross tweeted that his wife Jan was an organ donor and that her lungs, liver, and kidneys have already found recipients after her passing.
  • From Dave Meltzer: “James Storm will replace Bobby Lashley on tonight’s Crash show in Tijuana. They are doing an angle where Impact and Crash are feuding, setting up an Impact vs. Crash PPV. Karen Jarrett announced that Storm would replace Bobby Lashley on the show, and face Garza Jr., but only with an Impact referee. If Garza Jr. wins, then he gets a title shot at Lashley.”
  • Robbie E & Bram will be in NOAH’s Global Tag League as the Bro Mans.
  • Ratings for this week’s episode of Impact were down to 305k viewers for the third week of the new regime. The show was watched by an average of 344k people the week prior.
  • Gail Kim tweeted about Stephanie McMahon crediting Triple H and WWE fans with the creation of the women’s revolution, “My opinion is @IMPACTWRESTLING did. No shade just truth and my personal opinion. I never got my opportunity till then and it’s never stopped.”
  • Travis Banks was interviewed about getting the chance to wrestle in a WWE ring at the upcoming matches taking place during WrestleMania Axxess.

UFC/MMA

  • Cris Cyborg vacated her Invicta featherweight title and said that she wants to face Germaine de Randamie for the UFC women’s featherweight belt on July 29th in Anaheim, California.
  • Daniel Cormier said that if he faces Jon Jones it would only be in the semi-main event if Conor McGregor were headlining the show.
  • Kelvin Gastelum has his sights set on both the UFC middleweight and welterweight titles.
  • Sage Northcutt claimed that he wasn’t trash-talking Mickey Gall during their fight last December and would never swear at an opponent during a fight.
  • Michael Bisping criticized Yoel Romero for wanting an interim title fight.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (3/25): WWF Champion Backlund vs. AWA Champion Bockwinkel

F4W / WO EMPIRE WRESTLEMANIA GROUP INFO

BUS INFO:

  • The Empire bus trip, which will be hosted by Leva “Blue Pants” Bates, to WrestleMania will cost $50.00 and will be round trip from Rosen Inn at 9000 International Drive 32819 (a few blocks away from Wrestlcon). 
  • The bus will leave at 3:30pm (time subject to change) for WrestleMania and will leave WrestleMania no later then one hour after the show. If you would like a seat email Ed at f4wfan@hotmail.com or message him on the BOARD~! for Paypal payment instructions.

DINNER INFO:

  • WHAT: Dinner at Texas de Brazil
  • WHEN: Friday March 31st
  • WHERE: 5259 International Dr Ste F1, Orlando, FL 32819 at 5 p.m. (they may open at 4:30 for us)
  • WHO: All your best empire buddies, including BIG DAVE MELTZER
  • DETAILS: The cost of the dinner will be $68.00 which includes the dinner, salad bar, soft drinks and tea, and dessert, tax and tip. This is a pre pay dinner and you can send payment to paypal at Srjaialaiot@yahoo.com (please send as a gift to a friend). Payments must be made by March 24th (if you wait until after that, Ed will charge an extra $5.00 for being a pain).

Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

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