Daily Update: Tama Tonga injury, possible Ember Moon injury, Hardys

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for your thoughts on two shows this weekend, the New Japan show late tonight in Beppu, and the WWE Payback show Sunday in San Jose, with thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with best and worst matches to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

For tonight, we’re looking for reports from the WWE NXT shows in St. Charles, MO and Venice, FL, as well as ROH in Milwaukee to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

There are no regular Raw or Smackdown brand house shows until Monday since talent is being time off before the grueling European tour which starts on Wednesday and will go nearly two weeks without a day off.

WORLD PRO WRESTLING RETURNS AT 8 P.M. EASTERN ON AXS TV

  • Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the NEVER Openweight title
  • Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto for the Tokyo Dome IWGP title match main event spot

CMLL TONIGHT AT ARENA MEXICO

  • Electrico & Fantasy vs. Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Nitro
  • Zeuxis & Dallys & Marcela vs. Metalica & Estrellita & Sanely
  • Sanson vs. Soberano Jr. in the Copa Juniors finals
  • Valiente & Marco Corleone & Diamante Azul vs. Hechicero & Kraneo & Ripper
  • Caristico & Dragon Lee & Mistico vs. Negro Casas & Cavernario & Mephisto
  • Volador Jr. vs. La Mascara

NEW JAPAN FROM BEPPU EARLY SATURDAY MORNING AT 4 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Jushin Liger & Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Tiger Mask & Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Umino
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado vs. Rocky Romero & Baretta
  • Seiya Sanada & Bushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Yoshitatsu
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Minoru Suzuki & Taka Michinoku & Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi
  • Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale & Kenny Omega & Chase Owens
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ricochet for IWGP jr. title
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Evil
  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Juice Robinson for the IC title

Saturday we’re looking for reports on WWE NXT shows in Southhaven,, MS and Orlando, FL and ROH in Hopkins, MN at the Eisenhower Center (Young Bucks & Hangman Page vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Dalton Castle, Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley, Marty Scurll vs. Ken Anderson, Matt Taven vs. Adam Cole, Bully Ray vs. Silas Young, Jay Lethal vs. Beer City Bruiser, Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White, War Machine vs. Shane Taylor & Rhett Titus) at newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

WWE PAYBACK FROM SAN JOSE AT 7:15 P.M. EASTERN TIME ON WWE NETWORK

  • Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
  • Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt in a non-title House of Horrors match
  • Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
  • Matt & Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus & Cesaro for the tag team titles
  • Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho for the U.S. title
  • Neville vs. Austin Aries for the cruiserweight title
  • Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss for the women’s title
  • Miz TV with Finn Balor (pre-show)
  • Big Cass & Enzo Amore vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (pre-show)

        There are rumors of shooting an angle in the Miz TV segment to add a match to the PPV.

ROH runs Sunday in Milwaukee, WI in a show called Authorized with Young Bucks vs. Daniels & Kazarian, Lethal vs. Silas Young, Bully Ray & Briscoes vs. War Machine & Castle, Scurll vs. Delirious, Cole vs. Jay White, Beer City Bruiser vs. Shane Taylor vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Cheeseburger in a four-way plus Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Taven & Vinny Marseglia.

Raw will be Monday night in Sacramento. There will also be a Smackdown house show on Monday night in Stockton.

Smackdown and 205 Live take place on Tuesday in Fresno.

NEW JAPAN WRESTLING DONTAKU FROM THE FUKUOKA INTERNATIONAL CENTER ARENA ON WEDNESDAY MORNING AT 3:40 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

  • Hirai Kawato & Yoshitatsu vs. Katsuya Kitamura & Tomoyuki Oka
  • Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Tiger Mask W (Kota Ibushi) & Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Liger
  • Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano & Jado & Rocky Romero & Baretta vs Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado & Taichi & Taka Michinoku
  • Cody Rhodes vs. David Finlay
  • Juice Robinson & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
  • War Machine vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa for the IWGP tag team titles
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi for the NEVER six-man titles
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega
  • Kazuchika Okada vs Bad Luck Fale for the IWGP heavyweight title

The Raw crew opens the European tour on Wednesday in Rome, Italy.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 4/24/2017: Jinder Mahal’s surprising WWE title shot

WWE’s booking rarely ever manages to be quite as surprising as what happened on last week’s SmackDown. Without any real build or any prior semblance of an ascent to the top of the card, Jinder Mahal became the number one contender for the WWE Championship by winning a six-pack challenge. It shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was given the wrestlers involved in that match, but it was only a week prior that Mahal was introduced to the SmackDown roster in the Superstar Shakeup by losing to Mojo Rawley and once again getting shown up by New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: May 1, 2017: Vince McMahon movie in development, Mauro Ranallo/WWE situation, more

The idea of a Vince McMahon movie is actually going to happen and we’ve got some early details on it as the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter; an update on the situation involving WWE and Mauro Ranallo, a look at the next two WWE PPV shows, a guy who in ten months went from an opening round loser on Ultimate Fighter to a viable title contender, a look at the Hall of Fame career of Maurice Smith and the latest from PWG.

Find out who was behind the McMahon movie and how that has changed, as well as the Ranallo situation, what happened and the repercussions and the overall situation, and look at the lineups for the next two WWE PPV shows and the main angles.

Coverage of the weekend UFC show inside.

Check out Dwayne Johnson movie news, new characters being pushed in WWE and why, interesting business dichotomy involving the Indian market, WWE looking for new stars from India, Mick Foley surgery news, A.J. Styles talks his attempting to wrestle Shawn Michaels, Shaquille O’Neal talks why his match with Big Show never happened, Injury updates, wedding update with Dean Ambrose and Renee Young, WWE wrestler leaves for Japan, new gimmicks to existing wrestlers, Shane McMahon and UFC story, WWE with a Japanese icon.

There is more on WWE releases, WWE booking, WWE stock market value, most watched shows on WWE Network, and highlights of all the major TV shows and of the arena matches over the past week.

Look at the career of Maurice Smith, what makes it noteworthy, how he molded MMA, kickboxing and pro wrestling into a long career and one of the most landmark matches in UFC history as well as twice headlining stadium shows as a pro wrestler and holding a kickboxing world title for nearly a decade.

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: April 3, 2000: Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo in charge of WCW, a look back at past Wrestlemanias, more

After seemingly swimming in an ocean of rapidly declining numbers across the board, World Championship Wrestling went to a strange pair of people as its life preservers–Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. In a decision that had been in the works for about one month according to company sources, Brad Siegel completed the circular back-stabbing game which wound up in, not almost, but actually a pro wrestling like tag team, of the two people, former enemies, with seemingly nothing in common, bound together by their hatred for common enemies.

Subscribers click here to continue.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Tama Tonga was injured at yesterday’s New Japan show. There was fear it was a ruptured biceps which is a serious injury but that wasn’t definite. So there is a chance he’ll be out of action, but no announcement has been made and in Japan guys work through a lot of injuries just to get through the rest of the tour.

Rocky Romero & Baretta vs. Young Bucks for the IWGP jr. tag titles is coming up at a major show for New Japan. Not sure if it’ll be on 6/11 in Osaka or Long Beach.

Tonight’s Arena Mexico main event is Volador Jr. vs. La Mascara, but La Mascara’s father, Brazo de Oro, just passed away earlier today so the show could change.

Reby Hardy on Twitter denied any stories that WWE has purchased the rights to the broken gimmick from Anthem.

New Japan World has put up four matches from last week’s Revolution Pro show in London. The commentary is in English. The matches are Zack Gibson vs. Hirooki Goto, Hiromu Takahashi vs. Marty Scurll, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kushida and Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Ryan Smile & Lio Rush & Shane Strickland. They are all good. Main event is what you’d expect and Sabre-Kushida is maybe the best pure technical match of the year.

WWE

  • Fake Alexa Bliss photos were evidently a news story in some places earlier today. 
  • Ember Moon must have an injury because Natalya posted a group photo taken of a lot of the NXT talent and Moon had her arm in a sling. She was believed to have been injured on a dive at last week’s TV tapings and she isn’t on the main NXT tour this week.
  • A correction from yesterday, it was Linda McMahon, not Vince McMahon on Fox Business.
  • More on the Vince McMahon movie is here.
  • Karl Anderson talks being in WWE, the tag team scene and return of the Hardys.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • AXS TV in the U.S. and The Fight Network in Canada will be airing Lion Fights tonight at 9 p.m. after New Japan. Sergio Wielzen puts his lightweight title up against Lerdsaila Chumpaitour in the main event.
  • The U.S. Open wrestling championships take place today and tomorrow in Las Vegas as the South Point Arena. Sessions will be 6:30 p.m tonight, and Noon and 6 p.m. tomorrow. There will be women’s freestyle, men’s freestyle and men’s Greco-Roman tournaments in all the Olympic weight classes.
  • A story on Kyle Dake, who competes at the U.S. Open, is here.
  • Bellator announced the signing of six new women, who will complete in the 125 pound weight class. The new names are ex-UFC fighter Valerie Letourneau, Na Liang, Juliana Velasquez, Sabriye Sengul, Kristi Lopez and Alejandra Lara. The division already has Keri Tayylor-Melendez, Ilima-Lai Macfarlane, Anastasia Yankova, Emily Ducote, Colleen Schneider and Lena Ovshynnikova.
  • The Fight Network this weekend will also be airing Glory kickboxing starting at 1 p.m.Eastern headlined by middleweight champion Jason Wilnis (30-6-1, 8 KOs) vs. Simon Marcus (45-3-2, 24 KOs). This will be the third meeting between the two, with each having one win. Wilnis beat Marcus to win the title in September. There is also a four-man middleweight tournament.
  • SWF in Totowa, NJ tonight at 7:30 p.m. with Jim Duggan vs. Sal Sincere plus Bull James appearing.
  • NFC on 5/12 in Kennesaw, GA at the Electric Cowboy with Nathan Williams vs. Warren Smith in the main event of a 15 fight MMA show.
  • Evolve on 5/20 in Chicago with Matt Riddle defending the WWN title against Kyle O’Reilly, Zack Sabre Jr. defends the Evolve title against Ethan Page, plus Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak and Jeff Cobb vs. Tracy Williams.
  • Evolve on 5/21 in Livonia, MI, has Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lio Rush in a title match and O’Reilly vs. Williams. 
  • Evolve also has a seminar on 5/21 in Livonia, MI featuring Norman Smiley. 
  • Brian Hoops has an article on the NWL Kansas City championships.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (4/28): Owen Hart wins Intercontinental title

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