Daily Update: WON HOF, Ben Askren, Young Bucks

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

HEADLINES

AUDIO 

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING ON AXS AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT (two hour special)

  • War Machine vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa for IWGP tag titles
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for IC title
  • War Machine vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa  for IWGP tag titles
  • Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson for U.S. title

CMLL TONIGHT FROM ARENA MEXICO AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT

  • Starman & Star Jr. vs. El Hijo del Signo & Nitro
  • Guerrero Maya Jr. & Drone & Stigma vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora & Vangellys
  • Titan & Soberano Jr. & Rey Cometa vs. El Terrible & Kraneo & Hechicero
  • Virus vs. Solar
  • One night family trios tournament:
  • Munoz family: Mistico & Dragon Lee & Pierroth
  • Reyes family: Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero
  • Panther family: Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther
  • Casas family: Felino & Puma & Tiger
  • Volador Jr. & Sam Adonis & Rush vs. Negro Casas & Ultimo Guerrero & Mephisto

        Weird main event with five heels in the match and one Volador, even though Casas is always cheered and Rush is trying to recruit Volador.  

UFC FROM SHANGHAI, CHINA ON FIGHT PASS STARTING AT 3:45 A.M. LATE TONIGHT/EARLY TOMORROW

  • Cyril Asker (244) vs Yaozong Hu (232)
  • Wuliji Buren (146) vs. Ronaldo Dy (148)
  • Gina Mazany (135) vs. Yanan Wu (135)
  • Chase Sherman (252) vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov (261)
  • Yadong Song (146) vs. Bharat Kandare (145)
  • Kailin Curran (115) vs. Yan Xiaonan (116)
  • Kenan Song (170) vs. Bobby Nash (170.5)
  • Zabit Magomedsharipov (146) vs, Sheymon Moraes (145)
  • Muslim Salikhov (170) vs. Alex Garcia (171)
  • Wang Guan (146) vs. Alex Caceres (146)
  • Li Jingliang (171) vs. Zak Ottow (171)
  • Michael Bisping (186) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (186)

        Dy missed weight by two pounds and was fined 20 percent of his show money.

NEW JAPAN TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FROM THE UKARU CHAN ARENA ON SATURDAY (up that afternoon on New Japan World)

  • Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens vs. Seiya Sanada & Evil
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan
  • Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
  • Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi

We’re looking for reports from tomorrow’s WWE shows with the Raw crew in Nashville and the Smackdown crew in Greensboro for the Starrcade show featuring A.J. Styles vs. Jinder Mahal for the WWE title and Charlotte Flair vs Natalya for the women’s title, both in cage matches, with guests like Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

NEW JAPAN TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FROM NAGOYA ON SUNDAY (up that afternoon on New Japan World)

  • Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb vs. David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura
  • Togi Makabe & Henare vs. Baretta & Chucky T
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
  • War Machine vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

Sunday has WWE shows with the Raw crew in Huntsville, AL and Smackdown in Roanoke, VA.

Raw will be live on Monday night in Knoxville. There is also a Smackdown house show on Monday night in Charleston, SC.

NEW JAPAN TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FROM TUESDAY IN NAGANO (up that afternoon on New Japan World)

  • Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
  • Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
  • Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Evil & Seiya Sanada

Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Lexington, KY with A.J. Styles vs. Singh Brothers in a handicap match and Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton.

Wednesday will be NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY:Figure Four Weekly 11/20/2017: Five standouts from Survivor Series weekend

While an overbooked main event on Sunday didn’t end things on the best note, Survivor Series weekend mostly lived up to the huge promise it had going in. NXT put on another excellent TakeOver special, with every match on the card serving its purpose. Even with the changes, War Games was a spectacle that justified WWE bringing back the concept.

Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER:November 27, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE/UFC TV contract negotiations, Survivor Series review, more

The single most important business story for both WWE and UFC, regarding the biggest stable revenue stream for both, television rights fees, is the lead story in the new issue of the Observer. With UFC’s contract coming due in 2018 and WWE in 2019, look at official talks by UFC, unofficial talks by WWE, the uniqueness that the same person is negotiating both new contracts, how they are intertwined, who had expressed interest in UFC and what kind of money do they want and what is being offered, and how WWE strongly ties into all this. Look at the money both companies are getting, the current exposure, and who are the big players in the game. Also look at the risks of WWE leaving USA and why a drop in ratings may still be strongly to their benefit.

Look at the details of how and why the planned Royal Rumble main event match is no longer taking place. Look at the reasons behind it as well as the complete 2018 WWE PPV schedule, and why WWE is cutting back on shows and changing the format in others.

This issue has complete Survivor Series weekend coverage, including business notes, why things took place the way they did, injury updates, what did and didn’t work along with poll results and match-by-match coverage plus star ratings.

Check out full coverage of the NXT Takeover special, the changes in War Games and business notes.

Plus, more on ticket sales for the Tokyo Dome show and the history of those ticket sales, as well as negotiations updated regarding viewership of the show in the U.S.

Read why Roman Reigns won the IC title, update on John Cena’s schedule, Jennifer Hudson-David Otunga breakup, Ric Flair’s lawsuit against his former agents, a potential new WWE TV show, why NXT is taping at Center Stage, A.J. Styles talks his future including retirement, details of all the women that were brought up to the main roster, Kevin Owens documentary, WWE cancels another show, weird WWE Network mailer, the real story behind the origination of Starrcade, and notes on this year’s Tribute to the Troops show.

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. 

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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: WON Back Issue: The History of Pro Wrestling on Thanksgiving

A long time ago….In a galaxy far far, well, not that far away….. “Starrcade 83, don’t miss your chance to be part of the sports event of a lifetime. See Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine, first time ever in a collar match. A Flare for the Gold, Ric Flair vs. Harley Race for the world heavyweight championship and Jack & Jerry Brisco vs. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood for the world tag team title. Starrcade 83, Greensboro Coliseum, a Flare for the Gold, don’t you miss it.”

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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

There will be five new acts announced for the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

One packed Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore earlier today for the Ben Askren vs. Shinya Aoki. In the semi, Amir Khan (not the boxer) beat Adrian Pang via decision in a lightweight bout. In the main event Askren retained the welterweight title beat Aoki in just :57 with punches on the ground. After the fight, Askren said that he doesn’t need any more money, but if the opportunity were to arise where he could face the best in the world, he would do one more fight to prove it. Of course that would be against Tyron Woodley, and the two of them went to college together at the University of Missouri.

Tae-hyun Bang was sentenced to ten months in jail earlier today for taking a bribe of $92,160 to lose a UFC fight held in Seoul, South Korea in 2015. The ironic part of this story is that Bang won the fight. But he did take a bribe to lose it which is a major offense in that country. The court said they did take into consideration that he ended up not losing on purpose and actually won. 

If you are not a subscriber, we have a special through midnight Pacific time tonight with the first month just $3.99, which is 64 percent off the regular one month price.

For the first time ever this week, The Young Bucks T-shirts beat Rick and Morty (who are synonymous with Hot Topic) to become the best selling T-shirt at Hot Topic. They had been No. 2 in some previous charts but never No. 1. They are right now No. 2 at Pro Wrestling Tees behind the Stephen Amell Bullet Club shirt. 

New Japan tag tournament today in Yonago:

  • Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (1-1) beat David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (0-2)
  • Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (1-1) beat Togi Makabe & Henare (0-2)
  • War Machine (2-0) beat Baretta & Chucky T (1-1)
  • Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (1-1) beat Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (1-1).

WWE

  • There is a funny story about Tuesday’s WWE Smackdown tapings in Lexington. It is the first time in six years that WWE has done a television taping from the city. While they did run house shows, they wouldn’t do a taping or a PPV because the Kentucky commission had a rule that pro wrestling matches had to be stopped if there was bleeding, and WWE didn’t want to run TV with the chance a match could be stopped over their heads. A lobbying effort led to the repeal of that rule and now they are back doing TV in the state. What makes this story funny is it’s written that blood is a huge part of WWE, when it hasn’t been for years, and that 99.99 percent of the time there is blood, it’s theatrics, when actually, unless it’s Vince McMahon or Brock Lesnar, and both of them would deny that’s the case for them as well, blood is always accidental and theatrical blading has been banned in WWE for years. They acted like this would bring tons of tourism money for hotels, restaurants and shopping into town, which may be the case to a degree for a minor PPV and more for a major one, but hardly for Smackdown tapings that have been struggling to draw for the last several months.

UFC

  • While tomorrow’s UFC show is on Fight Pass in the U.S., it will air on The Fight Network in Canada starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow and will repeat at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • GCW on 12/27 in Oshawa, ONT at the Harmony Creek Community Hall.
  • Brew City Wrestling on 12/8 in West Allis, WI at the Columbus Club.
  • WrestlePro on 12/9 in Rahway, NJ which will tape for Impact features Eli Drake vs. Alberto El Patron for the Impact title, Sienna vs. Kasey Catal and LAX vs. Apple Crops plus Sonjay Dutt, Fallah Bahh and KM.
  • Smash Wrestling from Sunday in London, ONT: Tarik b Evil Uno, Scotty O’Shea b Stu Grayson, Allie b KC Spinelli, Mike Rollins & Pepper Parks (Braxton Sutter) b Kevin Bennett & Big Tank, Kaito Kiyomiya b Shane Sabre, Tyson Dux b Dillon Andrews, Matt Sydal won three-way over Brent Banks and Sebastian Suave. (thanks to Steven Ashe)
  • CWE on 11/24 in Winnipeg at Rookie’s Sports Bar is headlined by Jacob Creed & Bobby Collins vs. Tony Atlas & Dragneel. 

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Ric Flair wins NWA title at first Starrcade

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