Daily Update: Tommy Dreamer, Roman Reigns, John Cena

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DAILY UPDATE

by Joseph Currier and Bryan Rose

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F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: WWE’s women’s division since WrestleMania 35

More than two months removed from the first women’s WrestleMania main event, the WWE women’s division is struggling to regain the momentum it had earlier this year.

In a rematch from Money in the Bank, Becky Lynch will defend her Raw Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans at Stomping Grounds. Bayley and Alexa Bliss will look to improve upon their underwhelming feud from 2017 as they face off for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the pay-per-view.

WON NEWSLETTER: June 24, 2019 Observer Newsletter: AEW does another sell out, Stomping Grounds struggles

A look at what we can learn from the ticket sales to AEW’s All Out show, the ticket demand, how it compares with WrestleMania’s and major UFC events, details on the number, why the secondary market tickets are so limited, why ticket demand was so strong out of the block, reaction of the ticket industry, details on the process used for selling the ticket and what the number mean, and rate of sales for the biggest WrestleMania.

Also have a look at WWE Stomping Grounds, including ticket demand, lineup, thoughts on the matches, interest in Super Showdown and more.

Read a preview of the G-1 Climax tournament, with the lineups, who are the favorites, different storyline directions, what matches will air on television, live broadcast times of every show on the tour and more.

Take a look at Adrian “Lionheart” McCallum and his recovery from a broken neck to become a U.K. star, and the sad ending of his life.

Also look at cities being considered for WrestleMania, what city is a favorite for the next two years, value of WWE to FOX and FOX Friday numbers, WWE gets an Espy, full card for next Takeover, update on XFL, death of AAF and how they are related, more Ric Flair legal issues, funny stories on WWE names, new movie with WWE stars, new TV deal, WWE salaries and revenue, and a WWE star honored.

This issue has a complete rundown of Bellator in Madison Square Garden, the plight of Aaron Pico, notes on the new fighters, pushed fighters who lost and match-by-match coverage.

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • John Cena tweeted about today being the 17th anniversary of his WWE debut: “17 years ago today my @WWE journey began. It is FAR from over and has greatly changed over the years. It has given me chances to be brave and vulnerable. Today #FastAndFurious journey begins. Fear, the unknown, growth, and maybe a haircut await. Adapt. Overcome. Never Give Up.”
  • Roman Reigns spoke to GQ about his diet and managing to stay in shape while battling leukemia: “It’s a little different for me and those with blood cancers. We are very fortunate that we have medications referred to as oral chemotherapy. So what your grandmother was probably going through is far harsher on the system and your body. But there are similar effects when taking these medications. I’ve been on the road now for almost three weeks, and just yesterday I didn’t have an appetite. I was kind of nauseous for the majority of the day. There are some days that are struggles, and some days where it curbs your appetite and you don’t want to eat because you have that nauseous feeling. Before all this happened, I was maxing myself out and working as hard as I could. This has given me a new perspective. Sometimes you have to be smarter and pull yourself back, and that is what I’ve had to do with my diet and my training. Instead of pushing towards a goal relentlessly, I have to listen to my body, see how I’m feeling and what my energy levels are along the way.”
  • WWE uploaded a video on Mike Chioda and him being the company’s longest-tenured referee.
  • Despite Eric Bischoff’s new role as the executive director of SmackDown, there will be no change to Bischoff’s “83 Weeks” podcast with Conrad Thompson.
  • Seth Rollins reacted to the news of Bischoff’s return: “The Bisch is back!! #teamwwe”
  • The Terry Funk ECW Award Banquet from the night before ECW Barely Legal 1997 was uploaded to the WWE Network as part of this week’s Hidden Gems additions. The WWE Network version of the video is an hour and 46 minutes long.
  • WWE stock closed the day at $72.20 per share, which was up 1.53 percent from yesterday.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded the fatal five-way match between Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Bray Wyatt from Extreme Rules 2017.
  • WWE has a look at the latest NXT UK women’s tryouts.
  • The latest episode of WWE Playlist looks at WWE’s fiercest tug-of-wars.

Pro Wrestling

  • While talking about depression and the times he’s dealt with it on the latest episode of his podcast, Tommy Dreamer opened up about wanting to hop the rail at WrestleMania X-7 and murder Paul Heyman and kill himself following the end of ECW and plans for Dreamer at WrestleMania not coming to fruition. Dreamer said he was helped by getting a call from Jim Ross that said WWE was still thinking about him and was going to get a deal done to bring him in.
  • Jay Lethal & The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) has been announced for ROH’s post-Best in the World TV tapings in Philadelphia this Saturday.
  • ROH uploaded the ladder match between Taven, Lethal, and Marty Scurll from G1 Supercard to their YouTube account.
  • NJPW’s English-language website posted part two of their interview with Jon Moxley.
  • Sports Illustrated has an interview with Will Ospreay.

UFC/MMA

  • Junior Dos Santos talked to MMA Fighting about his upcoming match against Francis Ngannou, promising to knock him out. He also expressed interest in facing Deontay Wilder in a boxing match.
  • Combate Americas beat UFC and Bellator in the ratings this last week. Their show on Univision scored 416,000 viewers, while UFC and Bellator did 413,000 and 386,000 respectively.
  • Petr Yan is out of action following elbow surgery.
  • Ivan Shtyrkov and the UFC have parted ways, with Shtyrkov’s gym announcing the departure based on a potential doping violation 
  • The UFC is currently lobbying the United States Congress to pass new laws that would push online platforms to block pirated live-streams without requiring a takedown notice.
  • Matt Hamill is responding to reports that Dana White wants to overturn Jon Jones’ DQ loss to him: “Well I’m not complaining about jones in the past what he used illegal substance when he fought me.12/6 elbow is illegal. Back to back wins. How about rematch?”
  • Daniel Cormier spoke about his motivation for his second fight against Stipe Miocic: “The motivation needs to change. Before, it was, ‘I’m going to go and become a double champion.’ Now I need to go and defend this title again and go beat one of the best heavyweights of all-time for a second time. This is not easy.”
  • Luke Rockhold said he thinks Jones is scared of fighting Cormier at heavyweight.
  • Here is a “Why I Fight” video featuring Francis Ngannou.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: CM Punk’s ‘pipe bomb’ promo

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