Daily Update: Raw, Battleground betting, Total Bellas

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s Battleground show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re also looking for reports on last night’s Raw show in Salisbury, MD, tonight’s Smackdown brand show in Newark, DE and the Main Event / dark matches or anything else from Raw tonightfrom Washington, DC to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

Raw is in Washington, DC. Matches announced are Finn Balor vs. Elias Samson in a no DQ match, Bayley vs. Sasha Banks for a women’s title shot, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. The Miz & Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas 2 vs. 3. There is also a Smackdown brand house show in Newark, DE.

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY SIX FROM FUKUSHIMA BIG PALETTE ON TUESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kota Ibushi & Shota Umino
  • Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi
  • Yuji Nagata & Hirai Kawato vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi & Desperado vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto & Jado
  • Satoshi Kojima vs. Michael Elgin
  • Tama Tonga vs. Evil
  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Juice Robinson
  • Kenny Omega vs. Toru Yano
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Seiya Sanada

Smackdown and 205 Live will be Tuesday from Richmond, VA. Announced is Rich Swann & ? vs. TJP & ?.

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY SEVEN FROM SENDAI SUN PLAZA HALL ON WEDNESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Toru Yano & Jado vs. Seiya Sanada & Bushi
  • Minoru Suzuki & Taichi vs. Evil & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kenny Omega & Chase Owens
  • Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  • Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale
  • Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi
  • Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY EIGHT FROM AORE NAGAOKA ON THURSDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Desperado
  • Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yuji Nagata & Hirai Kawato
  • Kota Ibushi & Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Jado vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
  • Tama Tonga vs. Juice Robinson
  • Seiya Sanada vs. Toru Yano
  • Minoru Suzuki vs. Evil
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima
  • Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 7/17/2017: Mayweather vs. McGregor hype fails to meet expectations

While the superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor was bound to endlessly be compared to something out of WWE, the grandiose four-show world tour of press conferences to promote it felt more like a parody of pro wrestling. They made stops in Los Angeles, Toronto, Brooklyn, and London in an attempt to get the hype for their boxing match seen in as many relevant media markets as possible.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: July 24, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Brock Lesnar UFC return rumors, WWE Battleground preview, more

What exactly is going on with Brock Lesnar is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.

Look at Lesnar rumors as far as UFC goes, what is and isn’t reality, what steps he has to take before he can be in a match and why he won’t be fighting in UFC any time soon. Look at the UFC and WWE schedules and how murky certain things are, Lesnar’s WWE contract, how this is similar to 2015, as well as looking at potential Lesnar opponents in UFC. Find out how this plays into WWE bookings, with thoughts on SummerSlam, and the booking of SummerSlam and Battleground.

Check out the G-1 Climax tournament, run down the first night, New Japan’s business, the matches coming up this week along with match-by-match coverage and star ratings from Sapporo.

Examine Kurt Angle’s new angle with Jason Jordan, and look at the story, how it doesn’t fit into the original story, fan reaction and long-term potential.

Go in-depth into the Mae Young Classic, the Ronda Rousey involvement, Shayna Baszler push, behind-the-scenes, reactions to it and match-by-match coverage.

Look at a promotion that claims it has gotten $100 million in investment money to start competing on a worldwide basis.

Find out about the cancellation of the weekly version of Talking Smack. Look at the show, what worked, what didn’t work, why it’s continuing in a limited form, and the idea that WWE forgot to tell the hosts the show was being canceled. There is also an update of the latest PPV numbers.

Find out about the Shane McMahon helicopter crash, an update on the negotiations for the Hardys to get the broken gimmick, Bruno Sammartino being honored, Stephanie McMahon being honored, Jinder Mahal talks India market, UFC fighter and WWE star doing their own angle, TV station that aired WWE closes its doors, notes on an upcoming WWE movie release, WWE scouting, upcoming Raw house show lineups, plus the most-watched network shows over the past week and a look at every WWE and NXT arena event over the past week with highlights and business notes.

Subscribers click here to continue.

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: June 26, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Birth of NOAH, Vince Russo quits WCW, tons of news

Mitsuharu Misawa announced officially the formation of his new promotion, Nippon TV officially announced cancellation of the All Japan television show and Toshiaki Kawada talked about attempting to go to New Japan were highlights of the aftermath of the All Japan split. Misawa held his press conference on 6/16 at Diffa Ariake, the new building in the Ariake suburb of Tokyo, which was built specifically for pro wrestling to replace Korakuen Hall as the small show mecca in the Tokyo area and which, ironically enough, has its first show on 7/1 booked by the All Japan promotion.

Subscribers click here to continue.

MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan I will be back tonight covering Raw, more on Battleground and G-1, plus taking e-mail questions tomailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

Wale is at Raw tonight in Washington, DC. Besides the matches already announced, a Big Cass vs. Enzo match was on the schedule earlier today.

If you’re following the betting line, the real deluge of smart money came in the last 90 minutes before the show started, so it did come in. For every match except Cena vs. Rusev. Most notable is all the smart money came in on A.J. Styles to retain, so it’s very clear 90 minutes before the match that was the finish. We’ll talk more about that tonight. The best was Aiden English going from +400 to -16000 between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern time.

One of the reasons there was so little heat for the last two matches last night is that they put tickets for the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia on sale at the box office at 10:45 p.m., and hundreds of fans left to get in line for tickets rather than watch the last two matches.

A second season of Total Bellas, with the storyline that Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan are now parents, Nikki Bella gets engaged will start on 9/6 on E! The storyline is that Nikki and John Cena move to Phoenix to be with Brie & Bryan as they help Brie through her pregnancy. They cover the build up to this year’s WrestleMania and the proposal, Bryan back as General Manager and John in Hollywood. When that ends, there will be a new season of Total Divas, which is the season being filmed right now.

As far as the most searched for items on the Internet for yesterday, CJ Watson ended up No. 2 behind Michael Phelps because of the attention Watson got for Conor McGregor wearing a CJ Watson jersey, with 200,000 searches. Battleground was No. 7 with 100,000, which is normal level for a Smackdown PPV of late.

WWE

  • There is a Royal Rumble on-line pre-sale going on today, if it isn’t already sold out, for the 1/28 show in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center using the code word: RUMBLE 
  • This is a story on “Psych: The Movie” which Charlotte Flair has a role.
  • The WWE Network has added six new 1986 house show from the Boston Garden:
    1/11: Roddy Piper & Bob Orton vs. Bruno Sammartino & Paul Orndorff, Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage, Terry Funk vs. Pedro Morales
    2/8: Bruno Sammartino vs. Roddy Piper cage match, Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco, Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage, Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees
    5/24: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
    6/27: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage, Paul Orndorff vs. Don Muraco, JYD vs. King Kong Bundy
    9/6: Randy Savage vs. George Steele, British Bulldogs vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff
    10/4: Big Machine & Super Machine & Piper Machine (Blackjack Mulligan & Bill Eadie & Roddy Piper) vs. King Kong Bundy & John Studd & Bobby Heenan, Tito Santana vs. Harley Race
  • A.J. Styles threw out the first pitch at the Philadelphia Phillies game to promote Battleground, wearing a P1 uniform. (thanks to Bill King)

UFC

  • UFC announced a new multi-year global licensing deal with Dyaco International, which, starting in 2018, will develop UFC equipment including official UFC fight gloves that all UFC athletes will be required to use in competition, as well as training mats, resistance bands, weight lifting belts, push up bars, Olympic weights, free weights, kettlebells, and speed bags. The line will be shown first on 1/28 to 1/31 in Munich.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • So I didn’t know about this at all, but I’m doing the narration for a video on Kenny Omega’s run from New Year’s Dash to Tokyo Dome.
  • What Culture Pro Wrestling on Friday night in Manchester, UK: This is the U.S. tournament: David Starr b Bobby Fish, Jay Lethal b Moose, Keith Lee b James Storm, Ricochet b Matt Sydal. Non-tourney: Angelico b Drake, Gabriel Kidd b Travis Banks, Joe Coffey b Mark Davis, Marty Scurll NC Joe Hendry, War Machine b Kings of the North to keep the tag titles, U.S. tourney semifinals: Jay Lethal b David Starr, Ricochet b Keith Lee.
  • What Culture Pro Wrestling on Saturday night in Newcastle, UK: World tournament: Travis Banks b Mark Davis, Jurn Simmons b Tom LaRuffa, Flash Morgan Webster b RJ Singh, Angelico b Icarus, James Storm & Matt Sydal b Bobby Fish & David Starr, Marty Scurll b Ricochet, War Machine b Liam Slater & Moose, Travis Banks b Jurn Simmons, Angelico b Flash Morgan Webster, El Ligero won over Rampage, Jay Lethal, Drake, Primate, Alex Gracie and Gabriel Kidd in a ladder match.
  • IPW UK from last night in England, not sure of the city: Earl Black won eight-man scrum over Sammy Smooth, Scott Star, Rockstar Spud, Adam Maxted, Phantasmo, Sid Scala and Jonathan Windsor, Jody Fleisch b Mark Lloyd, London Riots b Chris Renfrew & BT Gunn, Jimmy Havoc b Carlnis, Big Grizzly b Keith Lee, Danny Duggan NC Cieran Donnelly, Jonny Storm won 30 man Battle Royal to get a match of his choice over the next year.
  • The Fight Nation promotion has purchased IPW UK from owner Daniel Elder, has had been running the promotion since 2003, with Billy Wood taking over in charge of the company. Wood said that very little will change and the IPW UK name will continue.
  • The main event for MLW One-Shot on 10/5 in Orlando at Gilt Night Club is Ricochet vs. Shane Strickland.
  • Best of the West TV from Saturday in Fresno, CA: Styker b Gary Galaxy, Sledge & Marcus Ericks b Vintage Dragon & Diablo Azteca, Alexander Hammerstone b Vintage Dragon. The big angle was all of the Bully Club beating down Jeff Cobb. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
  • Alain Moussi, a movie actor in Kickboxer Vengeance and Kickboxer Retaliation will be the guest referee for Hannibal vs. Wes Brisco for the Canadian title on 8/5 in Ottawa.
  • Pro Wrestling Resurgence from last night in Swansea, IL: Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett b Matt Kenway & Aaron Dzinic, Space Monkey b Evan Gelistico, Cornelius Wyverstone b Adrian Surge, Kobe Durst won six-way over Gary Jay, Jason Roberts, Donovan Danhuasen, Jake Parnell and Brandon Aarons, Kevin Lee Davidson b Ethan Page, Paco Gonzalez & Sean Orleans b Danny Adams & Brandon Espinosa, Barackus b Justin D’Air, Donovan Dijak won three-way to win the PWR title from champion Everett Connors and Shane Sabre. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • David Michaud vs. Ciro Rodrigues will headline Legacy Fighting on 8/18 in Sioux Falls, SD at the Sanford Pentagon on AXS TV. Michaud was on season 16 of Ultimate Fighter and had several UFC fights.
  • The first MMA event on a U.S. ESPN platform will be Thursday’s Combate Americas show on ESPN 3 from Maimi at 7 P.M. Eastern at the Nana Wynwood headlined by Tommy Aaron vs. Javier Fuentes. Aaron is from Barcelona and Fuentes is from Madrid which precedes Saturday’s Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona soccer game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
  • AWE on 10/15 in Hamilton, ONT at the Royal Canadian Legion with Rip Impact vs. Tyson Dux vs. Josh Alexander plus GFW’s Laurel Van Ness as Chelsea Green. 
  • Anarchy Wrestling from Saturday night in Cornelia, GA before 150 fans: Jeremy Foster b Brad Cash, Kyle Matthews b Gladiator Jeremiah, Hate Junkies b Hooligans, Gunner Miller b Jacob Ashworth, Seven b Shad Satu, Billy Buck & Chris Spectra b Kyle Matthews & Gladiator Jeremiah, Matt Tremont b Tank in a Hardcore match. Tremont said this was a bucket list match for him as he grew up watching NWA Wildside at 2 a.m. when it aired in Philadelphia at that time when he was a kid. (thanks to Matt Griffin)

Today in Pro Wrestling History: The Steiner Brothers win WCW tag titles

F4W Online / Wrestling Observer Vegas Convention Event Info

August 17-21; All times are TBA; Full information on the group Facebook page; Activities subject to change

For ticketing information go to https://f4wvegas.brownpapertickets.com/

  • Thursday: Meet at the High Roller for Bowling at the Link; Party at Carnival Court at Hurrah’s
  • Friday: Kiss Mini Golf tournament at the Rio; Dinner at Texas de Brazil; Suite party (location TBA)
  • Saturday: Burgers with Granny for lunch; Future Stars of Wrestling show featuring Stephan Bonnar & Phil Baron, and co-main events: 3-way match with Leva Bates vs. Mia Yim vs. Hudson Envy, and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs. Thomas Santell (f.k.a. Antonio “The Promise” Thomas); NXT viewing party at the Sci-Fi Center
  • Sunday: SUPER CHINA BUFFET DAY at the Wicked Spoon Buffet at 1pm; SummerSlam viewing party at the Sci-Fi Center
  • Monday: Goodbye lunch at Chen Chen at NY NY
  • All website members will also receive a 15% discount on any purchases from the Las Vegas Fight Shop for the entirety of the convention

Texas de Brazil, Wicked Spoon, NXT and Summer Slam will all be sign up and pre-paid events, prices and collection begin in mid July~!

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

CONTACT INFORMATION

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