Daily Update: Paul Heyman, Blink-182, Pat McAfee

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

We’re looking for reports from these shows. Reports can be sent to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com:

  • WWE Raw Saturday night in Oklahoma City
  • WWE Smackdown Saturday night in Nashville (entire show, not just the Smackville portion)
  • NXT from Sunday in Concord, NC. 

We’re also taking poll results from both New Japan shows this weekend in Nagoya as well as UFC 240 last night, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from all three shows to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Raw is Monday night in Little Rock with Brock Lesnar appearing, plus Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler, a gauntlet match for the U.S. title with Ricochet, Rey Mysterio, Cesaro, Sami 
Zayn and Andrade, The Revival vs. Usos vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for the tag titles, R-Truth & Carmella vs. Drake Maverick & Renee Michelle in a mosh pit match and a Samoa Joe/Roman Reigns confrontation.

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT TUESDAY MORNING AT 6 A.M. EASTERN FROM TAKAMATSU ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Tomohiro Ishii & Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Yota Tsuji
  • Toru Yano & Ren Narita vs. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino
  • Minoru Suzuki & Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Juice Robinson & Jeff Cobb & Toa Henare vs. Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Bushi
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Bad Luck Fale
  • Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Lance  Archer
  • KENTA vs. Sanada
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Evil

Smackdown and 205 Live are Tuesday in Memphis.  Trish Stratus will be there for the angle to set up her SummerSlam match with Charlotte Flair, plus Dolph Ziggler vs. Finn Balor (maybe as Balor is ill right now), Xavier Woods & Big E vs. Elias & Drew McIntyre, and Billie Kay & Peyton Royce in a non-title match with Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Smackville, EVOLVE & the WWE Network

Joseph Currier looks at two Network specials and what they could mean for the future of the service.

EVOLVE’s 10th Anniversary Celebration streamed on the Network opposite AEW Fight for the Fallen on July 13. Another in-ring special has also been added to the Network schedule for this month, with “Smackville” set to air this Saturday (July 27).

Smackville is similar to past specials like The Shield’s Final Chapter and WWE Starrcade. The WWE Network broadcast of Smackville will be an hour long. Kofi Kingston will defend the WWE Championship against Samoa Joe and Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat match, Finn Balor will face Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a rematch from Extreme Rules, and there will be a musical performance segment with Elias.

The Smackville name is playing off the show taking place in Nashville, Tennessee and the city’s Bridgestone Arena, which is the home of the Nashville Predators. The event was just a house show prior to the special being announced, and it will still feature some untelevised matches.

Televised house shows have been something WWE has surveyed subscribers about for a long time. Smackville feels very much like a by-the-numbers house show card. After already having defeated them in his most recent pay-per-view title defenses, Kingston is facing Joe and Ziggler again. Balor has already moved on to a storyline with Bray Wyatt and is set to take some time off from WWE after SummerSlam, so it seems unlikely that he’ll be regaining the Intercontinental title. The Smackville theme should play into the Elias segment, but it’s unlikely that it will have much meaning to the larger audience.

WON NEWSLETTER: July 29, 2019 Observer Newsletter: AEW announces TV details, more

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has details on the first episode of AEW on TNT, the possible name of the show, why the host city was chosen, and potential TV competition in the first few weeks of airing. 

We detail the latest G1 Climax 29 shows, and how it compares to last year’s tournament. 

We have coverage of Jon Jones and his latest potential legal trouble.

We cover Summerslam, how the card is shaping up, and the possible return of a WWE Hall of Famer on the show. 

We look back at Saturday’s UFC show, and the business notes on the show.

We have details on Dragon Gate’s biggest show of the year, and have business notes on that as well. 

We also have coverage of a wrestling star being part of Hollywood box office history.

There’s also a run down the ratings of all the major TV shows, along with detailed demo info for the WWE shows and results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio, covering Raw, G-1 from yesterday and the rest of the latest news. You can also send questions to the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

We’ll see if this is for the better or the worst, but tonight’s Raw is the heaviest Paul Heyman influenced show to date. I had that feeling when I heard about the gauntlet match since he’s trying to make new stars and the gauntlet is really what created Kofi Kingston as a singles main eventer and another gauntlet helped Seth Rollins greatly.  But it’s pretty much confirmed the idea that they will attempt to make one or more stars in that match.

Saturday is a big day again this coming week with G-1 shows in Osaka, TripleMania on Twitch and UFC on ESPN for an afternoon show.

Bryan and I will be doing a Q&A in Chicago on 8/31 at 11 a.m. with a 10 a.m. meet and greet.  We have about 20 tickets left.  This will be our only show of that weekend.  It will be fun.  For ticket info you can go to www.f4wonline.com/chicago

The band Blink 182 has a cameo in this short video done in Jacksonville at the last show. It’s a spoof on the Joey Janela vs. Enzo fight but with Jimmy Havoc, who faces Janela on the next show.  Tony Khan put the video together on the fly.  He was a Blink fan in high school and asked the band if they would do it for him.  Video is at 

WWE

  • Pat McAfee will be part of ESPN’s Thursday night College Football broadcast squad.  McAfee does some WWE pregame shows as well.
  • Hobbs & Shaw, the new movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham will debut at the theaters on Friday night. Roman Reigns has a role in the movie playing Johnson’s brother.
  • Chad Gable has been added to the NEW show on Friday in Monroeville, PA.  Gable won’t be wrestling but will be signing per agreement with WWE as part of a fund raiser for the Bruno and Carol Sammartino Foundation.  Others announced for the show are Corey Graves, Mick Foley, Jerry Lawler, Darby Allin, Billy Gunn, Brian Pillman Jr., and Sam Adonis.
  • A number of people have noted that ICW from Scotland appears on the WWE Network when you search for it, as well as a weekly show “Fight Club” as a series.  Both are locked at the moment.  It appears this is getting ready for the new content that will appear on a more expensive tier when they start the three-tiered network. (thanks to Iain Oliver and many others.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Impact runs Friday in Santa Ana,CA at the Esports Arena with Tessa Blanchard vs. Sami Callihan with the winner facing Brian Cage for the title.  Saturday they will run a Twitch show from Los Angeles at Florentine Gardens working with Championship Wrestling from Hollywood.  Saturday they will tape television with Championship Wrestling from Hollywood at the Oceanview Pavilion in Port Heuneme, CA.
  • Killer Kross has been added to the 9/1 Warrior Wrestling show in Chicago.
  • AWS from Saturday night in South Gate, CA:  Mike Camden b Hunter Freeman, Funnybone b Human Tornado, Jenna Van Muscles & Notorious Nadi b Viva Van & Violet Payne, Deimos b Terex, Jesse James & Hoss Hogg b Hindu Jr. & Super Boy Jr., Race b Shotzi Blackheart to win women’s title,Vipress b Karissa Rivera-DQ, Andy Brown b Mr. Iguana, Gringo Loco won four-way over Legacy, Lil Cholo and Che Cabrera.  Next show is 9/21 and 11/30 is the final show of the promotion.  Human Tornado also took off his boots and left them in the ring after the match to signal retiring.  He did retire in 2010, but came back two years later.  He announced 14 months ago that due to back issues he would be retiring soon. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
  • Glory Pro Wrestling from yesterday in Collinsville, IL:  Anton Alexiev & Karam & Nick King b Camaro Jackson & Kenny Alfonso & Reilly MaGuire, Steve Manders won six-way over Mike Outlaw, Mark Wheeler  Billy Brash Kody Lane and Josh Bishop, Jake Something b Kobe Durst, Barackus b Tommy Vendetta, Halal Beefcake won three-way over Timmy Lou Retton & White Mike and Space Monkey & Shane Sabre, Stephen Wolf b Myron Reed, Ethan Page & Josh Alexander b JD Drake & Anthony Henry, Seishin b Layne Luck, Hakim Zane b Danny Adams, Curt Stallion DDQ Paco Gonzalez, A.J. Gray b Jake Lander, Chris Castro & Nick Brubaker b Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett to win the tag titles (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • A correction from yesterday in the Sendai Girls results from Manchester.  It was Chihiro Hashimoto on the show not Chihiro Matsumoto.
  • Combate Americas has announced new main card fights of Maria Paula Buzaglo vs. Felisha Magallan, Erick Sanchez vs. Jose Luis Verdugo and Marilia Fanta vs.Chelsea Chandler for its 8/23 show in Lake Tahoe, CA,which will air live on Univision, Univision Deportes and DAZN.  The main event is bantamweight champion Gustavo Lopez (10-4-1) vs. Jey Ruquet (7-1) and  featherweight title match with Andres Quintana (18-2) vs. Bruno Cannetti (8-6)./
  • NFC MMA on 8/3 at Center Stage in Atlanta has less than 200 tickets left.  Will Banks vs. Michael Fortner for the NFC lightweight title is the main event.
  • Rocky Mountain Pro will be airing television every Thursday night on Right Now TV and Twitch.
  • Stardom from Saturday night in Kanazawa:  Saya Iida won three-way over Ruaka and Rina, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid b Hina & Leo Onozaki, Kagetsu & Hazuki & Andras Miyagi & Natsu Sumire b Hana Kimura & Jungle Kyona & Death Yama-San & Bobbi Tyler, Bea Priestley & Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita b Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki & Tam Nakano (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
  • The update on the AAW Jim Lyman Memorial tournament on 8/29 and 8/30 in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium has Eddie Kingston, Jimmy Jacobs, Laredo Kid, Jake Atlas, Colt Cabana, Curt Stallion, MJF, Myron Reed, Jacob Fatu, Josh Alexander, Ace Romero,Ace Austin, Jake Something, Trey Miguel and two spots remain.  Sami Callihan, LAX , Penta 0M & Rey Fenix are also on the weekend shows.
  • A feature on Jake Atlas can be found here.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Ric Flair wins NWA US title

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