Daily Update: Reigns’ announcement, Raw, Mauro Ranallo

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

Raw is in Evansville, IN tonight. There is also a SmackDown brand house show in Indianapolis.

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

  • Tomoyuki Oka vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taka Michinoku & Desperado vs. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Shota Umino
  • Yuji Nagata & David Finlay vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Katsuya Kitamura
  • Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Jado
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirai Kawato vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Taichi
  • Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson & Kushida for Never Open weight six-man titles

SmackDown and 205 Live will be on Tuesday from Dayton, OH. Announced for 205 Live are Jack Gallagher vs. Tony Nese and Drew Gulak vs. Mustafa Ali.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 6/12/2017: Okada and Omega deliver another classic

After shaping the modern New Japan main event scene with his all-time classic series against Hiroshi Tanahashi, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada is now firmly entrenched in his next rivalry which will go down among the greatest of all time. June 11th 2017 might go down as one of those wrestling dates that we just don’t forget.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: June 19, 2017: Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather on, Okada/Omega classic, more

The Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight is actually happening, and the story behind it is the lead in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Plus, coverage of Dominion, with Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega II and one of the best shows in recent years, as well as an examination of Demetrious Johnson’s issues with Dana White, New Japan’s future booking, the Long Beach show, G-1, Money in the Bank and more.

Look at the ramifications and stipulations of Mayweather-McGregor and why it’ll be the most talked about fight for years to come, the key to whether it can do record numbers, the price tag, role of the media, and the real question of sanctioning and why it was.

Relive Omega vs. Okada II, the key to the story of the match, the next direction, the story behind Omega vs. Cody Rhodes, booking the finish, and why the circumstances weren’t the best to have a classic match. Understand the background of the match, the business of the match, why New Japan has so many different directions it can take right now, the U.S. title tournament, and when Omega-Okada airs on U.S. television. Check out the lineups for Long Beach, secondary market ticket demand, early thoughts on G-1 as well as the New Japan World shows for the rest of the month and notes on the main events.

Inside, there is match-by-match coverage with star ratings for Dominion, poll results and an amazing stat regarding poll results.

This issue also runs down the Money in the Bank show. Look at the card, what to look for in the show, ticket prices, a new segment added to the show, and also look at Great Balls of Fire and the direction things are headed toward SummerSlam.

Finally, more notes on the build to the Lesnar vs. Joe match, questions about the Cena return, lots of notes about SummerSlam and the top matches on the show, lots of injury updates, Kurt Angle talks former drug addiction, and why Finn Balor wasn’t at Raw.

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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. 

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: May 22, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jumbo Tsuruta passes away, ECW Hardcore Heaven review, more

Tomomi Tsuruta, who started out as an instant sensation and went on to be one of the most enduring stars in pro wrestling history, passed away at 4 p.m. on 5/13, from complications after undergoing a kidney transplant operation in the Philippines. He was 49. Tsuruta was an undisputable Hall of Fame calibre performer. He was a major star in pro wrestling literally from the first week of his career in Japan.

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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, as well as the latest news and answer questions that can be sent tomailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.

No Undertaker tonight. He’s not the opponent for Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. The Reigns segment will open the show. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Braun Strowman return tonight given that he’s booked on Great Balls of Fire, or at least was on the lineup a week ago and this is the week they’ll probably get the lineup out. We have not gotten word that he is in Evansville, only that he’s due back. Finn Balor is being advertised to be there as well. Reigns vs. Samoa Joe was scheduled for the show tonight at least originally, and there was talk of The Revival vs. Enzo & Cass, which would be the main roster debut of The Revival.

The names of everyone in this year’s G-1 Climax tournament will be announced at the Korakuen Hall show tomorrow very early morning. The matches themselves won’t be announced for another week. 

Ariel Helwani at MMA Fighting reported today that Germaine de Randamie had no idea she was going to be stripped of the featherweight title and said she found out on social media. The UFC released a statement today stripping de Randamie and claiming it was for her refusal to fight Cris Cyborg Justino. 

Bellator announced that for Saturday’s UFC show in Madison Square Garden, that Mauro Ranallo and Jimmy Smith would be announcing the entire show. Mike Goldberg will be the host of the show at the desk. Jenn Brown will host the Spike fights with Brendan Schaub and Josh Thomson. It is expected that Mauro Ranallo will be announcing yet another new broadcast gig on Wednesday. He’s been teasing this one for weeks.

Impact Wrestling made some budget cuts this week and released Al Snow, Pat Kenney and Shane Helms, who were all working as producers. Helms in particular surprises me since I’d specifically heard a lot of good things in recent months on his work.

For the weekend Google trends:

  • Maria Kanellis is the 7th most searched for item today with 20,000 searches. That’s rare for a WWE individual the day after a PPV.
  • Tim Hague, who passed away yesterday, was searched for more than 100,000 times yesterday, for eighth place
  • WWE Money in the Bank PPV was No. 10 at 100,000. That’s well ahead of most SmackDown PPVs.
  • The Ward vs. Kovalev fight was the most searched for weekend combat sports event at No. 6 on Saturday at 200,000
  • The only thing from Saturday’s non-televised Fight Pass exclusive event was Holly Holm at No. 14 on Saturday at 50,000.

WWE

  • John Cena’s free agent gimmick has led to Cena vs. Bray Wyatt as the advertised main event for a 7/15 show in Huntington, WV.
  • The WWE 2K18 marketing campaign starts now, and will be covered tonight. A trailer for the Seth Rollins cover is here.
  • An interesting interview with Daniel Bryan talking about the presentation of the WWE product, why he thinks it needs to change, what he’s liked and his favorite New Japan match of 2017.
  • The TLC PPV is moving up from December to October, as it will take place on 10/22 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Tickets go on sale for the show on Friday.
  • As far as the betting lines went, all favorites won last night except the Usos match where the Usos were favored to win, although they did retain.
  • NXT returns to Los Angeles at The Novo at L.A. Live on 8/9. The rest of the West Coast NXT tour that weekend would be Bakersfield on 8/10, San Jose on 8/11 and Sacramento on 8/12. Tickets go on sale in all cities on Friday at 10 a.m.
  • A Seth Rollins story from his hometown paper. (thanks to Matt Burrows)
  • A Q&A with Sasha Banks.

UFC/MMA

  • Fedor Emelianenko was on the MMA Hour and invited Donald Trump to come to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night for his fight with Matt Mitrione.
  • With Invicta featherweight champion Megan Anderson pulled from the 7/15 Invicta show, so she can face Cris Cyborg Justino on 7/29 in Anaheim for the now vacant UFC featherweight title, Helena Kolesnyk (5-0, 1 no contest) who was to get a title shot at Anderson in Kansas City, will instead drop to 135 and face Tonya Evinger for her Invicta title at that weight. Milena Dudieva, a former UFC fighter, who face Mara Romero Borella in the No. 2 bout on the show, which airs on UFC Fight Pass stating at 8 p.m. Eastern time that night.
  • The New Yorker covering Mayweather-McGregor.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • ESPN announced its biggest boxing match in recent memory on 7/1 at 10 p.m. Eastern with Manny Pacquiao’s first non-PPV fight since 2005. He faces Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 1 knockouts) from Brisbane, Australia at Suncor Stadium. The show is being called “The Battle of Brisbane.” The show will air live on both ESPN and ESPN Deportes and they are expecting a live crowd of 55,000 fans. Irish Olympic star Michael Conlan (2-0) faces Jarrett Owen (5-4-3) of Brisbane on the three-match live show. The 55,000 would be the largest boxing crowd ever in Australia.
  • A story on Sam Adonis of CMLL, who has gotten a lot of U.S. pub in non-wrestling places for his Donald Trump flag gimmick, the one that Brian Cage actually did in AAA first.
  • There will be a screening of Matthew Burns’ (Nick Mondo) documentary “The Trade,” about the world of death match wrestling and leaving it tomorrow at The Producer’s Club in New York.
  • C.M. Punk will be appearing at the EternalCon convention on 7/1 and 7/2 at the Nassau Coliseum in New York. Other pro wrestlers scheduled include Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer, The Nasty Boys, Greg Valentine, Bully Ray, Velvet Sky and Foley’s daughter Noelle.
  • A book “Mad Dog: The Maurice Vachon Story” will be released in English on 9/5. The book came out in French a few years back. Pat Laprade and Bertrand Hebert, who did the great book on Montreal wrestling history, wrote this one and I’ve seen it and it covers his entire life and that of the Vachon clan, wrestling in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and some of the legendary events in Montreal as well as the AWA, where Vachon was an icon.
  • CWE has a free show on 6/24 in Sasakatoon, SK at 2:30 p.m. at the Sutherling Curling Club.
  • Nova Pro Wrestling on 7/14 in Fairfax, VA at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia with Matt Cross vs. Sonjay Dutt.
  • All Star Wrestling’s 10th anniversary show is 7/7 in Cloverdale, BC at the Agriplex featuring Tommy Dreamer, Gangrel, UFC fighter Tom Lawlor, Short Sleeve Sampson, Thunder Rosa and a Johnny Canuck Memorial Battle Royal.
  • Total Combat Wrestling from Saturday night in Milan, Italy: Carlo Birra b Sky Raptor, Break Bones b Death Mask, Mefisto b Kereen, Rocco Gioiello b Scandalo, Carlo Birra & Break Bones & Kreen b Sky Raptor & Mefisto & Rocco Gioiello (thanks to Alessio Garbini) 
  • There will be a tribute to Doug Somers show on 7/8 in Villa Rica, GA at Gold Dust Park with a Tribute Battle Royal

Today in Pro Wrestling History: Owen Hart becomes 1994 King of the Ring

F4W Online / Wrestling Observer Vegas Convention Event Info

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

  • Thursday: Meet at the Big Shoot 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 Baroni; 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

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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