Daily Update: Raw, Dominion, Mark Andrews okay after injury scare

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

WWE Raw is in Beaumont, TX, Smackdown in San Jose, Costa Rica, and NXT in Derby, UK.

Raw will be Monday in Lafayette, LA, featuring the return of Brock Lesnar with a likely confrontation with Samoa Joe. There will be no Monday night Smackdown show as that’s a traveling day to return from Costa Rica.

Smackdown and 205 Live will be on Tuesday night in New Orleans.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 6/5/2017: Looking at the timing of the Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe dream match

Like with most things in pro wrestling, the most important part of a dream match is getting the timing right. It was almost a year ago that Kurt Angle wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. for Revolution Pro Wrestling during an overseas trip at York Hall in London. The live crowd appreciated Angle’s work and loved seeing him. The match itself was fine, mostly sticking to a formula that Angle had perfected during the latter stages of his career. 

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: June 12, 2017: Extreme Rules and Best of the Super Juniors finals reviewed, tons of news

It’s a huge double issue week of the Observer, which includes a look at how the aging of the pro wrestling television audience is like that in other sports, but aging so much faster than any other, as well as the latest on the WWE summer direction, Extreme Rules coverage, Best of the Super Juniors coverage and major features on Kazushi Sakuraba and Joe Silva and how both have impacted the history of MMA.

Look at the Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe match, the Lesnar direction between now and WrestleMania, the problems with the logic and finishes at Extreme Rules plus full coverage of the event including poll results and star ratings.

Examine the aging of the sports audience and where pro wrestling and MMA fit in, breaking down WWF vs. WCW in the heyday, where things stood ten years ago and where they stand now. Also, look at how that relates to other sports as well as how wrestling’s younger audience breakdown compares with that of other sports and how it has changed.

Check out the last shows of this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, lessons from the tournament, business of the tournament, the epic last match, preview the Dominion show, Kenny Omega’s thoughts on his match with Okada this week, how this compares with other legendary series of matches, the Okada title reign, history of Super Juniors, a chart on how all the wrestlers in the tournament did and star ratings and poll on the last day.

This issue has Frank Deford’s autobiography and his views on Vince McMahon, more on the U.K. proposed network show, an update on Ric Flair 30 for 30, WWE star films movie over the weekend, notes on a lot of new talent signed to contracts that are starting in Orlando soon, WWE loading up the MSG house show, an update on the women’s tournament, Jack Swagger talks leaving WWE, the strongest power lifter ever in WWE, and the most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week.

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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. 

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WON BACK ISSUE: May 15, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WCW Slamboree review, drug testing for wrestling in NY, more

The bill in New York written by State Senator Tom Libous of Binghamton, which would require state mandated drug testing of all pro wrestlers that work in New York, if it passes, would without question wind up in some form or fashion completely changing the pro wrestling industry as we know it. Whether that’s good or bad depends upon your point of view. There are a few things clear about pro wrestling. Even if some promoters can argue that they can regulate their own companies, the fact is, this business is largely a total failure at regulating itself. 

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I have a show from last night up talking the UFC show, Jim Cornette’s comments on PWG, and Ron Starr. We will have a new show up today on New Japan Dominion. You can send questions for tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

With the Warriors having a chance to clinch the NBA championship on Monday night, Raw will take a major hit from whatever number it would have gotten. If this was a week or two ago, they’d be lucky to get 2.45 million viewers, but I think with the return of Brock Lesnar and the program with Samoa Joe, it’ll be well above that number.

The New Japan show today was ridiculously good. I was going to mention what an unreal interview Omega did before the match to hype it, but now that the match is over, it’s best to watch the match. But if you’ve got time to spare, watch the interview first. Hiroshi Tanahashi also did a great interview.

They ended up not announcing G-1 last night after all, nor did they have an intermission in a show that went more than five hours. It looks like one of the Long Beach shows will be headlined by Kazuchika Okada vs. Cody for the IWGP title. A key is that Cody could be ROH champion since he’s challenging for that belt one week earlier on PPV. After the match today, Cody confronted Okada and spit beer on him. This has been planned for a long time. There will be a press conference tomorrow which should include the G-1 and Long Beach announcements.

Not a surprise or anything, but the bottom of the Google searches today is 20,000 and the New Japan show didn’t crack the list. NXT I don’t think ever has. The only shows that do are UFC, WWE and Bellator (and only the biggest Bellator shows).

WWE

  • Mark Andrews suffered what appeared to be a neck injury earlier today in an eight-man tag match on the NXT show in Derby, UK. He was taken out on a stretcher and went to the hospital, but he is okay. 
  • Bianca Blair and Kenneth Crawford, who both wrestle in NXT, were engaged over the weekend.
  • There will be a new episode of Bring It To The Table tomorrow night after Raw on the WWE Network.
  • Renee Young tweeted that she won’t be in the cast for the next season of Total Divas.
  • Fozzy will be playing at the Monster Energy Aftershock Festival in Sacramento on 10/22 at Discovery Park. The major headliners are Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and Suicidal Tendencies. (thanks to Jon Southerland)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Kyle Dake handed Jordan Burroughs his first loss on American soil in six years yesterday at the World Team Trials. Unfortunately for Dake, one win wasn’t good enough as Burroughs came back to beat Dake 8-4 and 5-3 to win their best of three series and represent the U.S. in the world championships at 163 pounds. Similarly, David Taylor beat J’Den Cox in the first match at 189. Cox then suffered a bad leg injury in the third match, but rather than forfeit, he won 5-3.
  • A movie documentary on the life of legendary wrestler Reginald “Sweet Daddy” Siki will air in Canada tonightat 9 p.m. Eastern on The Documentary Channel. Siki, who is 82, lives in Toronto and still hosts weekly karaoke events at The Duke. Among those on the show will be boxers George Chuvalo and Spider Jones and wrestlers Adam “Edge” Copeland, Bret Hart, Bruno Sammartino, Rocky Johnson, Santino Marella and Nikolai Volkoff.
  • CZW’s annual Tournament of Death took place yesterday in Townsend, DE before a record crowd for the event: Jimmy Havoc b John Wayne Murdoch, Masada b Shlak, Jeff Cannonball b G-Raver, Conor Claxton b Clint Margera, Conor Claxton b Jeff Cannonball, Jimmy Havoc b Masada, Matt Tremont b Mad Man Pondo, Danny Havoc & Alex Colon b Notorious Inc., Dan O’Hare won four-way over Kit Osborne, George Gatton ad Jimmy Lloyd, Jimmy Havoc b Conor Claxton to win the tournament. Every match on the show was some sort of a death match. The finals were a no rope no ring mat barbed wire and light tubes death match. Next show is 7/8 in Voorhees, NJ with Davey Richards defending the CZW title in a four-way over Joe Gacy, Shane Strickland and Lio Rush, plus Maxwell Jacob Freidman vs. Trevor Lee. (thanks to Bob Magee)
  • There is a very nice story on Alex Batey, who subscribed to the Observer for probably 30 years and just passed way suddenly.
  • A story on Harley Race and his comeback after surgeries. (thanks to Chris Cruise)
  • Northeast Wrestling from Friday night in Waterbury, CT: The Now won four-way over Amazing Graysons, Adrenaline Rush and Chris Battle & Bull Hightower, Jerry Lawler b Sam Adonis (CMLL star), Ron Zombie & Bull Dredd b Wrecking Ball Legursky & Brad Hollister, Alberto El Patron b Jake manning, Flip Gordon won three-way over Donovan Dijak and Vinny Marseglia, Mandy Leon b Deonna Purrazzo, Keith Lee b JT Dunn, Pentagon Jr. b Sami Callihan in a no DQ match. Jake Roberts no-showed. (thanks to Nick Mahmood) 
  • CWE on 7/22 in Winnipeg at the Assinibola West Community Center.
  • There is a free wrestling show at the Leamington Fair on 6/16 with Gangrel, Koko B. Ware, Cody Deaner, MJ Jenkins, Solo Darling, KC Spinelli and more.
  • ECWA on Saturday night in Woodbury Heights, NJ at the Community Center.
  • Destiny Wrestling on Saturday night will run at the Don Kolov Arena at Santino Marella’s Gym in Mississauaga, ONT featuring WWE U.K. champion Pete Dunne vs. Josh Alexander vs. Psycho Mike Rollins in the main event.
  • Pro Wrestling Championship Series from last night in Alton, IL: Jake Parnell b Brandon Espinosa, Adrian Surge b Makaze, Mat Fitchett b Darin Coribn, Everett Connors b Paco Gonzalez, Sean Orleans b Matt Kenway, Danny Adams b Arik Cannon, Aaron Dzinic won four-way over Shane Mercer, Chris Mac and Richard Faith, Davey Vega b Alexandre Rudolph. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
  • Compound Pro Wrestling from last night in Tulsa: Duke Swellington b Dan Maestro, Dustin Heritage b Dmiti Alexandrov, Gavin Dixon b Aaron Anders, Jack Gamble b Michael Wolf, Brian Breaker b Elvis Aliaga. (thanks to Mike Iles)
  • The AAA TV show on Front Runner in the U.K. has been moved to 9 p.m. on Wednesday nights when it debuts this week. The show will be 90 minutes long and will be replayed on Friday at 9:30 p.m., meaning it will go head-to-head with Impact on Spike UK.
  • Preston City Wrestling on 6/23 in Preston, UK at Preston Guild Hall with Sean Waltman & Moose vs Zack Gibson & Iestyn Rees. 6/24 in the same building has Bubblegum vs. Tyson T-Bone in the promotion’s first-ever cage match.
  • Progress Wrestling runs 7/1 in Cologne, Germany in an afternoon show headlined by Matt Riddle vs. Jurn Simmons. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)
  • Absolute Intense Wrestling on 7/21 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Today in Pro Wrestling History (6/11): AJ Styles wins his first NWA World title

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