Daily Update: Raw, Taker & HBK, Woodley vs. Wonderboy

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker to appear on Raw tonight

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports from Raw in New Orleans tonight with the non-Raw matches and anything else not evident from the live show, as well as the Smackdown house show in Lake Charles, LA, and the Friday night show in Columbus, GA to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re also looking for you thoughts on the CMLL show on Friday night and the TNA PPV on Friday night, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

Raw tonight in New Orleans has Roman Reigns vs. Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens in a handicap match for the U.S. title, plus appearances by Shawn Michaels and Undertaker.

Smackdown and 205 Live on Tuesday are from Baton Rouge, LA.  Matches on Smackdown will be John Cena vs. Baron Corbin, Jason Jordan & Chad Gable vs. The Wyatt Family for the tag team titles and Nikki Bella vs. Natalya.

TNA also will be taping more television on Tuesday through Thursday in Orlando and we’re looking for reports on those shows.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: WWE’s transformative 2016

Though the malaise of three-hour Raws and seemingly constant content often made it difficult to appreciate in the moment, 2016 was a transformative year for WWE that featured high points in diverse in-ring action. Some of the same problems that have long existed still remain as we enter the New Year. Raws are, indeed, too long… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: January 9, 2017 – Ronda Rousey loses potential final fight, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 review

Coverage of Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome and the legacy of Ronda Rousey are the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There are updates on the WWE WrestleMania situation, coverage of the Japanese New Year’s Eve Rizin show and its mix of fighting and pro wrestling theatrics.

The lead story talks about Amanda Nunes’ win over Rousey, the lack of promotion by Rousey, how the show did on PPV and television numbers, what happened in the fight, the coaching of Rousey, the Rousey fan base, Rousey in WWE, Rousey’s legacy in MMA, how the history of MMA could have changed greatly by different matchmaking, the myths of Rousey’s career and the reality.

Check out the plans for the 2018 WrestleMania and the big announcement coming, new inductee into WWE Hall of Fame, notes on WrestleMania activities, strange WWE injury story, notes on upcoming Raw episodes, some comedy regarding top WWE stars, WWE value, most watched shows on WWE Network, plus notes from all the holiday week house shows and business notes.

Finally, this issue contains full coverage of the Rizin weekend shows, as well as the business notes on the show and the different storylines, including who they are pushing as stars for the future as well as what they are looking at doing next. 

Click her for full preview.

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: December 19, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Armageddon review, more – The one thing I can say for WWF Armageddon is, it was a weird show. When it was over, I couldn’t say that I liked or disliked it, and based on the response here, a lot of people has similar reactions. Some of the undercard wrestling was decent. Nothing was particularly good. A few matches were pretty bad. But that’s to be expected both from the line-up, which didn’t promise on paper one good match, and from the WWF PPV undercards in general. Subscribers click here to continue.

MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio, talking Kenny Omega, Raw and taking questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com. The Omega vs. Okada match has taken on a life of its own. We’ll talk more about it tonight.

The WrestleMania press conference will take place tomorrow in New Orleans to announce the show on April 8th, 2018, at the Mercedez-Benz Superdome.

Raw tonight will be interesting because they’ve loaded the show up with Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, but the competition will be tough with the Alabama vs. Clemson national football championship game. Last year’s championship game did 26 million viewers, which is more than any NFL game did this season by a pretty wide margin. However, this is Mania season so there is some momentum right now and an upswing in interest.

Tyron Woodley announced on his podcast The Morning Wood Show that he expects to face Stephen Thompson for the title in a rematch on 3/4 in Las Vegas.

After Meryl Streep made the negative comments on MMA and football last night in her speech at the Golden Globe Awards that got a ton of talk, Scott Coker has invited her to his 1/21 show in Los Angeles. Somehow I don’t think she’ll be accepting that invite.

WWE

  • Shawn Michaels will be on the show tonight plugging “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone”‘ a movie he’s in that has a theatrical release on 1/20. He plays the character of Dough, a reborn ex-con who turned into a volunteer mechanic.
  • John Cena will be back on The Today Show tomorrow during the 9 a.m. hour.
  • The pre-sale for the 2017 Hall of Fame is a week from Wednesday. Originally it was to be Wednesday. That means they may not announce the first name tonight and may wait until next week to do so.  

MISCELLANEOUS

  • I’ll be on upcoming episodes of both Steve Austin and Konnan’s podcast talking Omega vs. Okada and Ronda Rousey in WWE & UFC and other MMA notes.
  • Bellator also announced they are having a fight to determine the first Bellator women’s featherweight champion with Marloes Coenen vs. Julia Budd on 3/3 in Thackerville, OK at the WinStar World Casino. The irony is that Coenen, in her last fight, was submitted by Alexis Dufrense. But the division was created for her.
  • FIST Combat adult pro wrestling on 3/3 in San Diego at VFW Post 7420 featuring Ryan Kidd vs. Matt Sydal, plus Teddy Hart also appears.
  • Wrestling Revolver has a big show over WrestleMania weekend on 4/1 in Orlando at the Wyndham Orlando Resort at Noon featuring Ricochet vs. Shane Strickland, Brian Cage vs. Rey Fenix, Dezmond Xavier vs. ACH, Eddie Kingston vs. Masato Tanaka, Jeff Cobb vs. Sami Callihan, Jake Manning vs. Su Yung, AR Fox vs. Matt Cross vs Trevor Lee vs. Andrew Everett vs. Lio Rush vs. Septentico vs. 2 more guys, plus Jack Evans & Angelico vs. Jake & David Crist.
  • RevPro at Cockit 13 in England yesterday before 200 fans: Rob Lyas b Dan McGhee, Josh Bodom b Eddie Dennis, Kurtis Chapman & Josh Wall b Sha Samuels & James Castle, Dave Mastiff b Tyler Bate, Trent Seven b Zack Gibson, Joel Redman & Charlie Garrett b London Riots, Zack Sabre Jr. b RJ Singh, Marty Scurll & Pete Dunne & Travis Banks b Ryan Smile & Shane Strickland & Will Ospreay. I’ve been told this match is worth going out of your say to see. After the match, Zack Sabre Jr. came out and gave Scurll a low blow. (thanks to Ian Dallibar)
  • Jim Ross will be doing his one man show on 1/12 in Phoenix at Stand Up Live.
  • TNA’s tapings at Universal in Orlando continue Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time. 
  • Matt Riviera & Rob Conway beat The Heat Seekers on 1/6 in Ripley, TN to become three-time NWA tag team champions.
  • Premier Championship Wrestling from Saturday night in Winnipeg and Kenny Omega’s original home promotion: London Dynasty b Bobby Shink & Brett Evans, James Beaver b Alex Anthony, Jay Walker b Trent Nash-COR, Chad Tatum b Alix Vanna, Antonio Scorpio b Zack Mercury, Team Flex Appeal b Billy Blaze & Richard Blood-DQ, Scott Justice b Jakcie Lee. The next show is Highway to Hell on 2/18 at the Doubles Bar in Winnipeg. (thanks to Andrew Shallcross)
  • One has announced a show on 2/10 at Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia headlined by Malaysia’s Ev Ting facing former UFC fighter Kamal Shalorus.
  • Absolute Intense Wrestling on 2/17 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel has Louis Lyndon vs. Paul Burchill, Ray Rowe vs. Laredo Kid and more.
  • Chaotic Wrestling on Wednesday night at Chunky’s Cinema Pub in Nashua, NH for a TV taping for  the Fite App.
  • CWA on 1/21 in North Little Rock, AR at the Maumelle Event Center with Matt Riviera & Gregg Anthony vs. Buff Bagwell & Tim Storm.
  • Total Combat Wrestling from yesterday in Rozzano, Milan, Italy: II Merchese b Mefisto, Pain b Richy-DLight, Darkenss II won Rumble match (thanks to Alessio Garbini)
  • Acclaim Pro Wrestling on 1/28 in Ottawa at SPK Dom Polski with a 20 man Rumble match.
  • Smash Wrestling on 1/26 in London, ONT at the Fansshawe Student Union featuring Sami Callihan, Tyson Dux, Braxton Sutter, Matt Cross, Space Monkey, Brent Banks and Psycho Mike Rollins.
  • Hogtown Wrestling on 2/20 in Toronto at the Lula Lodge.
  • NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling from Saturday night in Kingsport, TN: Cross Brothers b Los Chicanos, Ali Shabazz b ATM, Hardliners & Travis Lee b Robbie Cassidy & G-Squad, Axton Ray b Timmy Lou Retton, Chase Owens b Jordan Kage, Wild Bill b White Mike, Savages b Jones Boyz, Toby Farley b Chris Richards, Heatseekers b Ugly Ducklings

Today in Professional Wrestling History (1/8): HHH wins the World title at New Year’s Revolution

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