Daily Update: The situation with TNA continues to get worse

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We’re looking for reports to dave@wrestlingobserver.com and submissions@wrestlingobserver.com for these shows tonight:

*WWE Raw brand in Edmonton

*NXT in Fort Pierce, FL

*ROH in Chicago Ridge, IL (Adam Cole & Adam Page vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, Jay Briscoe vs. Dalton Castle, Mark Briscoe vs. Colt Cabana, Jay Lethal vs. Matt Jackson, Kamaitachi vs. Angel de Oro vs. Nick Jackson, vs. ACH, Punisher Martinez vs. Donovan Dijak vs. Beer City Bruiser, Jay White & Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Rhett Titus & Kenny King & Caprice Coleman, Will Ferrara & Cheeseburger vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu and more).

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING RETURNS ON AXS TV TONIGHT AT 9 P.M. EASTERN

  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the Never Openweight title
  • Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs. Rocky Romero & Baretta for IWGP jr. tag titles.

CMLL AT ARENA MEXICO LIVE AT 9:30 P.M. WITH THE FIRST ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS AT http://www.clarosports.com//en-vivo02

  • Astral & Electrico vs. Nitrito & Pequeno Violencia
  • Marcela & Princesa Sugei & Vaquerita vs. Amapola & Dallys & Tiffany
  • Dragon Lee & Guerrero Maya Jr. & Mascara Dorada vs. Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja
  • Atlantis & Marco Corleone & Stuka Jr. vs. Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000
  • Universal title A block tournament with Maximo Sexy, Mistico, Rey Cometa, Valiente, Mephisto, Negro Casas, Shocker and Ultimo Guerrero

LEGACY FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT 10 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS TV

  • Takayuki Iijima (9-6, 145.75) vs. Rob Butler (0-0, 145.75)
  • Bilal Williams (7-2, 168.25) vs. Melvin Jordan (4-2, 169.5)
  • Rashad Coulter (6-1, 236.5) vs. Jeremy Hardy (4-2, 246.5)
  • Abdul Razak Alhassan (5-0, 179.75) vs. Joe Eichelberger (18-10, 179.25)
  • Mackenzie Dern (1-0, 118.75) vs. Montana Stewart (5-2, 115.5)
  • Damon Jackson (9-1-1, 1 NC, 145) vs. Levi Mowles (4-1, 1 NC, 145)
  • Steven Peterson (14-4, 135) vs. Mark DeLaRosa (7-0, 135)

NEW JAPAN FROM TAIWAN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD (this show will be put up on the site most likely on Saturday at some point, it is not airing live)

  • David Finlay & Henare vs. Rocky Romero & Baretta
  • Yoshitatsu vs. Bone Soldier
  • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi & Jado vs. Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Tomoaki Honma & Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano & Will Ospreay
  • Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo in a non-title match
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kushida & Satoshi Kojima & ? vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Seiya Sanada & Bushi

Saturday we’re looking for reports on these shows:

*WWE Raw in Calgary

*WWE SmackDown in Phoenix

*NXT in Winter Haven, FL

*ROH in Dearborn, MI (Champions vs. All-Stars show with Adam Cole & Bobby Fish & Young Bucks vs. Dalton Castle & Colt Cabana & Mark & Jay Briscoe, Jay Lethal vs Frankie Kazarian, Adam Page vs. ACH, Kamaitachi vs. Angel de Oro, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser, Jay White vs. Donovan Dijak, Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Rhett Titus & Kenny King).

EVOLVE 70 ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT 8 P.M. EASTERN IN ORLANDO AT www.WWNlive.com

  • Timothy Thatcher vs. Ethan Page for the Evolve title
  • Chris Hero vs. Drew Gulak
  • Matt Riddle vs. AR Fox
  • Dustin vs. Fred Yehi
  • Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tracy Williams
  • Victor Cruz vs. Jason Kincaid

Sunday we’re looking for reports on these shows:

*WWE Raw in Colorado Springs, CO

*WWE SmackDown in Nampa, ID

EVOLVE 71 ON SUNDAY NIGHT AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TIME IN YBOR CITY, FL AT www.WWNlive.com

  • Timothy Thatcher vs. Drew Gulak
  • Chris Hero vs. Matt Riddle
  • Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Fred Yehi
  • Ethan Page vs. Sami Callihan
  • Dustin vs. Darby Allin
  • Tracy Williams vs. Jason Kincaid

Raw will be Monday night in Denver featuring the return of Bill Goldberg after 12 year. There will also be a SmackDown house show in Laramie, WY on Monday night.

SmackDown be Tuesday, also in Denver, featuring A.J. Styles vs. James Ellsworth for the WWE title and Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi.

Figure Four Weekly 10/10/2016: New details emerge in WWE concussion lawsuit filing – On Friday (October 7th), WWE filed a reply in support of their motion to dismiss Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton’s concussion-focused lawsuit. In terms of new information, the most newsworthy passages concern the deposition of Vince McMahon, which has otherwise been sealed from public view… Subscribers click here to continue reading.

F4W YouTube Page: Tons of clips and full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Oct 17, 2016: Details on the return of Goldberg to WWE, the return of Ronda Rousey to action in UFC, more.

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:,WON September 20, 1999: Eric Bischoff fired from WCW, Beyond the Mat review, more – Although wrestlers were singing “Ding, Dong, the Witch is dead,” Friday night in Baltimore, when the word of Eric Bischoff’s re-assignment within Turner (read that as a nice way of saying firing) reached the wrestlers, once the initial happiness wore off and reality set in, the reality is little has changed… Subscribers click here to continue reading.

Thursday News Update

The situation with TNA continues to get worse. We had an update last night covering the lawsuit filed by Billy Corgan as well as more on who the dots are connecting as far as who paid for the most recent Bound for Glory and TV tapings and what the status the company is in, some notes on what is believed to be in the sealed lawsuit and even how for a period of time yesterday it was possible that the TV show wouldn’t have even aired and why.

A correction from last night’s show is that MCC Acquisitions Corporation was listed as being owed money as of 9/30. Keep in mind that 9/29 was when the money came in to allow them to tape. MCC Acquisitions shares the same physical address as Anthem Sports and Entertainment, which is the parent company of The Fight Network. On last night’s show, we said it was Anthem Sports that was just owed more money based on filings on 9/30. Anthem Sports is owed money as well. David Bixenspan and Kris Zellner have the story.

The total debt owed by TNA to Aroluxe, Anthem and MCC Acquisitions is listed at $3.4 million. TNA has already sold some of its tape library to Anthem.

The latest is a story by David Bixenspan who found out that the Davidson County Register of Deeds and the State of Tennessee had issued a tax lien against TNA Entertainment, LLC on 9/8. The company owes back taxes in an amount unspecified and got so far behind in paying it that the state has the right to seize company property if the debt isn’t repaid.  While the company is no longer TNA Entertainment, LLC, now called Impact Ventures LLC, Tennessee law allows the government to go after successor companies. It’s a financial disaster, between this, getting evicted from their offices due to being unable to pay rent several months ago, and Corgan’s attempt to buy the company falling apart.

Want to make a comment regarding the situation with Matt Sydal, who was arrested for attempting to bring synthetic marijuana into Japan. While I believe marijuana laws as they are now in many places make no sense at all, everyone with any knowledge of Japan knows how strict they are there and have been forever.

Everyone knows the story there. Steve Williams nearly lost his entire career in Japan over it and Sydal isn’t close to the level of star Williams is, nor is there anyone in New Japan who has the kind of power that Giant Baba had in the 90s when it came to getting people out of trouble. This could easily end his career in Japan and it was unfortunate because he and Ricochet were an incredible tag team, maybe the best in the world and if not right with the best in the world.

There is a WWE/Bellator connection coming up as on 10/19, two days before the Bellator show in Memphis, Bellator will kick off their promotions locally with public workouts at King Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar & Grille at Beale Street in Memphis. Those appearing will be Lawler, Bobby Lashley and Baby Slice, the son of Kimbo Slice. Lashley and Slice will be fighting on the show a week from tonight, which is headlined by Alexander Shlemenko vs. Kendall Grove and Lashley vs. Josh Appelt.

If you’ve been following Friday night CMLL, which on my Twitter feed this past Friday I got so many people thinking me for alerting them to the shows, well, this week is one to watch a movie instead. The third match should be good, but the Dinamitas in the semi could be quite bad and while he tournament of champions as an idea looks great, the matches are usually 3 to 6 minutes this week and next. The final match for the tile on 10/28 is usually great, however. Also, CMLL did figure out that Rey Cometa beat Cavernario for the Mexican national welterweight title.

When this week’s lineup was announced, they had Cavernario in the tournament and people quickly pointed out he wasn’t a champion. Instead of going with the lineup and saying his Reyes de Aire win was a title, they realized they forgot about their own title change in June and Cometa replaced Cavernario in the tournament. Nothing says you’ve got too many titles and nobody cares about them more than the entire office forgetting about a June title change. Luckily they’re on a run with a half-dozen super talented guys who are excellent every week, because the people on top making the matches clearly aren’t paying close attention.

WWE

  • Royal Rumble tickets went on sale at the Alamodome for the 1/29 show, and it’s kind of weird. Even though the lowest ticket price is listed at $25, all seats priced at $125 or less were held back to make sure the ardent fans who bought on day one and were going no matter what bought tickets of $125 or more. When I checked a few hours ago, all the $125 tickets were gone and the cheapest price to get in was $175.
  • For this coming weekend, at least based on the local advertising which isn’t always accurate, Chris Jericho is working Edmonton and Calgary on the Raw tour, but not the Sunday show in Colorado Springs, but obviously will be on Raw in Denver. John Cena is booked for Phoenix tomorrow night, but for no other shows this weekend including not being advertised for the Tuesday tapings in Denver.
  • The company announced shows on 5/5 in Dublin and 5/6 in Belfast which will be Raw brand shows. For whatever this is worth, Chris Jericho is not advertised.
  • Alexa Bliss did an interview to promote the WWE house show on Sunday in Nampa, Idaho.

UFC/MMA

  • Conor McGregor told Rolling Stone “I don’t see Nevada in my future. for the foreseeable future is how I see it. I’m free to d what I want…I’m good. I’m good. New York, New York.,,that’s what I think.” “Are they going to come and arrest me or what the f*** is that? I wanted to give them the respect and I felt they would have respected that but they didn’t. So, whatever. It is what it is. Good luck trying to get it.”
  • Dana White said again on UFC Tonight that Conor McGregor, if he beats Eddie Alvarez on 11/12 in New York, will then have to choose which championship he wants to keep and which one he will vacate. He can be the first two-division champion for a night, but he can’t remain one.
  • The Ultimate Fighter will not be airing on 10/19 or 10/26 due to FS 1 airing major league baseball. It will return on 11/2 with a quarterfinal fight with Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France. 
  • Li Jingliang vs. Chad Laprise has been added to the 12/10 UFC show in Toronto. Laprise is a former TUF winner.
  • Something to pay attention to is Mackenzie Dern on tonight’s AXS Legacy Fighting show. She’s only had one fight but because of her success in grappling, people are looking at her like she could be the next Ronda Rousey level submission expert. She’s called by some the best female grappler in the world and holds a win in grappling over Gabi Garcia, who is like three times her size. She missed weight by nearly three pounds for tonight’s fight, however. MMA Fighting has a great story on her. Joe Eichelberger on tonight’s show just fought last Friday night.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Pro wrestlers Kevin Nash and Mike Bennett are lead cast members of a movie called “Anders Manor.” It’s a horror movie. Nash will play a Reverend of all things. Bennett will play an unruly redneck character named Drasaw.
  • Highspots.com has released a DVD called “I Never Quit: The Story of Magnum T.A.” to commemorate today as the 30th anniversary of the automobile accident that changed the life of Terry Allen, going from the heir apparent to the NWA world heavyweight title and really, perhaps the role, mantle and career that Sting ended up getting (perhaps, because so many things were in play you never know what would have happened, but he was only 27 years old and was one of the biggest stars in wrestling when this happened). But Terry went on to live a very productive life outside of wrestling, raised a family (including one current pro wrestler, Tessa Blanchard) and is really one of the most inspirational characters this business has produced.
  • Tommy Dreamer has a House of Hardcore show tonight in Cleveland at the Odeon with Rhino vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Ethan Carter III as the main event, Bob Holly vs. Sami Callihan, Matt Cross vs. Tony Nese, Candice LeRae vs. Jessicak Havoc and more.
  • Battlarts on 11/6 at the Battlarts Academy in Mississauaga, ONT featuring Damien Sandow, plus Brian Cage vs. Moose.
  • Daniel Weichel vs. Paul Redmond was announced for the Ballator show on 12/16 in Dublin, Ireland. Remond is a fighter from Dublin while Weichel is one of the company’s best featherweights.
  • The Big Guy formerly known as Ryback will have his first matches since leaving WWE for WrestlePro tonight in Cresskill, NJ at the Community Center and tomorow night in Brooklyn at the St. Pat’s CYO. Santino Marella will be in as General Manager both nights. Ryback & manager Pat Buck take on The Heavenly Bodies for their tag team titles tonight. Also on the show include Sonjay Dutt, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz, DJZ, Deonna Purrazzo and Katarina Leigh (who was Winter and Katie Burchill). Tomorrow night Ryback faces Dan Maff. Also on that show is X-Pac, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz, Leigh and Purrazzo.
  • Val Venis vs. Travis Cole was announced for an 11/4 CWE show in Russell, Manitoba.
  • AR Fox will be the mystery opponent facing Matt Riddle on tomorrow night’s Evolve show in Orlando. Drew Galloway will be in Fox’s corner to build for an eventual Galloway vs. Riddle match.
  • Even though there were music edits on Pop TV of the Mike Bennett and DJZ entrances, they aired as they were taped in Canada on The Fight Network.
  • An old school, and actually completely lame looking angle done by Great Khali in India that got mainstream press like it was a real fight when foreigners tried to vandalize Khali’s school.

Today in Wrestling History (10/13): Sting wins the TNA World Championship

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