Daily Update: WWE Crown Jewel, UFC 230, Aro Lucha

DAILY UPDATE

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We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Crown Jewel, as well as New Japan Power Struggle and UFC 230 later this weekend, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s NXT show in Fort Pierce, FL, to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com. 

NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS TV

  • Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Bushi & Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano & Sho & Yoh
  • Marty Scurll vs. Kushida for IWGP jr. title

MLW FUSION AT 8 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON BEINSPORTS

  • Teddy Hart & Brian Pillman Jr. & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Rich Swann & ACH & Marko Stunt

CES MMA AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS TV

  • Keith Bell vs. Parker Porter
  • Dylan Lockard vs. Anthony Wright
  • Johnny Lopez vs. Josh Ricci
  • Kris Moutinho vs. James Quigg
  • Andy Aiello vs. Zachary Burhans
  • Billy Giovanetta vs. Richie Santiago
  • Kody Nordby vs. Tony Gravely for the CES bantamweight title

SHINE IPPV AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT IN YBOR CITY, FL AT THE ORPHEUM

  • Avery Taylor vs. Red Velvet
  • Jordynne Grace vs. Dynamite Didi vs. Lea Nox vs. Violet Payne
  • Kiera Hogan vs. Amber Nova
  • Dementia D’Rose vs. Aerial Monroe
  • Luscious Latasha & Gabby Gilbert vs. Brandi Lauren & Jenna
  • Su Yung vs. Stormie Lee
  • Santana vs. Priscilla Kelly
  • Candy Cartwright vs. Aja Perera
  • Holidead & Thunder Rosa vs. Ivelisse Velez & Mercedes Martinez for the Shine tag titles
  • Allysin Kay vs. LuFisto for Shine championship

CMLL TONIGHT AT ARENA MEXICO AT 10:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME

  • Coyote & Grako vs. Super Astro Jr. & Oro Jr.
  • Microman & Gallito & Atomo vs. Mije & Zacarias & Chamuel
  • Audaz & Angel de Oro & Stuka Jr. vs. Rey Hechicero & Rey Bucanero & El Terrible
  • Mistico & El Hijo de L.A. Park & Atlantis vs. Cavernario & Ephesto & Mephisto
  • Sanson vs. Templario for the Rey del Inframundo championship
  • L.A. Park & Michael Elgin & Diamante Azul vs. Penta 0M & King Phoenix (Rey Fenix) & Ultimo Guerrero

Saturday we’re looking for reports from the Raw show in Madrid, Spain, Smackdown in Cardiff, Wales, ROH TV tapings in Pittsburgh (Jay Lethal & Dalton Castle & Cody vs. Matt Taven & TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. & Stuka Jr. for ROH tag titles, Jeff Cobb vs. Josh Woods non-title, Kenny King vs. Christopher Daniels, Flip Gordon vs. Silas Young, Kelly Klein vs. Jenny Rose, Thunder Rosa & Holidead vs. Britt Baker & Madison Rayne and a ten men tag match) and NXT in Coral Gables, FL.

NEW JAPAN POWER STRUGGLE AT 4 A.M. EASTERN SATURDAY MORNING AT 1 A.M. FRIDAY NIGHT PACIFIC FROM THE EDION ARENA IN OSAKA

  • Volador Jr. & Soberano Jr. & Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Chris Sabin & ACH & Toa Henare
  • Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Kushida vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Robbie Eagles
  • Kazuchika Okada & Baretta vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
  • Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay
  • Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Bushi & Shingo Takagi vs. Sho & Yoh in finals of the Super Juniors tag team tournament
  • Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto for Never title
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki for British heavyweight title
  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr,
  • Chris Jericho vs. Evil for IC title

UFC 230 FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IN NEW YORK ON SATURDAY

Fight Pass at 6:15 p.m. Eastern time

  • Marcos Rogerio de Lima (253.2) vs. Adam Wieczorek (232.2)
  • Montel Jackson (136) vs. Brian Kelleher (137)
  • Shane Burgos (145.6) vs. Kurt Holobaugh (145)
  • Matt Frevola (155.4) vs. Lando Vannata (155.4)

FS1 at 8 p.m. Eastern

  • Lyman Good (169.6) vs. Ben Saunders (170.4)
  • Julio Arce (145) vs. Sheymon Moraes (146)
  • Sijara Eubanks (127.2) vs. Roxanne Modafferi (124.8)
  • Jason Knight (145.8) vs. Jordan Rinaldi (145.8)

PPV at 10 p.m.

  • Isarael Adesayna (184.8) vs. Derek Brunson (185.8)
  • Jack Marshman (185.4) vs. Karl Roberson (184.6)
  • David Branch (185.6) vs. Jared Cannonier (184.8)
  • Ronaldo Souza (185.4) vs. Chris Weidman (186)
  • Daniel Cormier (251.2) vs. Derrick Lewis (264.6)

        Both Kelleher and Eubanks missed weight and had to forfeit 20% of their purses. For Eubanks, her last fight saw her hospitalized trying to make weight. This looks bad her for her because she complained so loudly about being removed from her title fight and then ended up missing weight in a fight that could have gotten her a title fight.

Sunday has WWE Raw in Barcelona, Spain and Smackdown in Aberdeen, Scotland.

ROH SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ON SUNDAY AT 7 P.M. EASTERN FROM COLUMBUS, OHIO AT EXPRESS LIVE! ON HONOR CLUB

Survival of the Fittest first round matches:

  • Silas Young vs. Stuka Jr. vs. Marty Scurll
  • Andrew Everett vs.Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Flip Gordon
  • Hangman Page vs. Colin Delaney vs. Dalton Castle
  • Beer City Bruiser vs. Christopher Daniels
  • PJ Black vs. Luchasaurus
  • Tracy Williams vs. Jonathan Gresham
  • Six winners advance to six-way tournament finals, winner gets an ROH title match
  • Madison Rayne vs. Dr. Britt Baker
  • Young Bucks & Cody vs. Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan for six-man titles
  • Jay Lethal & Jeff Cobb vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky in a non-title mach

Monday has Raw from Manchester, England, so it’s a taped show this week. There is also a Smackdown house show in Birmingham, England on Monday.

Tuesday has Smackdown, 205 Live and Mixed Match Challenge from Manchester, England (TJP vs. Gran Metalik, Buddy Murphy vs. Mark Andrews, Bobby Lashley & Mickie James vs. Finn Balor & Bayley and R-Truth & Carmella vs. Jimmy Uso & Naomi) and a Raw house show in Leeds, England.

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Recapping WWE Evolution

An incredible amount of devotion from all involved resulted in WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view being a special night and a strong contender for the company’s best show of the year. Evolution wasn’t just an event that was worthy of its place in history — it elevated it. The wrestlers who competed in the ring, everyone involved with putting the PPV together, and the fans in attendance all worked in unison to make Evolution a show that exceeded all reasonable expectations.

WON NEWSLETTER: October 29, 2018 Observer Newsletter: Roman Reigns diagnosed with leukemia

Look behind-the-scenes at the decisions regarding Crown Jewel as the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Find out about the decision making process, how the last week went down, why the show almost didn’t happen, negative media reaction, why WWE can survive negativity more now than in the past, what happened with John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Hulk Hogan, and different plans thrown out for Bryan vs. A.J. Styles and why they didn’t happen.

Read full coverage of WWE Evolution with notes on the business, notes on mainstream interest, match-by-match coverage with star ratings as well as poll results from the show.

Go in-depth on WWE business. Look at where the declines took place that led to the stock falling, and what is and isn’t significant about them. Look at the network numbers and compare the post-WrestleMania drop with last year.

Look at the house show business, including Vince McMahon’s comments on the decline, as well as a breakdown on the merchandise business, NXT ticket sales and full 2018 attendance numbers for the main brands and for NXT.

Also look at WrestleMania tickets, WWE content production, a Roman Reigns story, more on Reigns’ diagnosis, the WWE/Evolve relationship, changes to Evolve through usage of WWE talent, plans for the next Takeover show, injury updates.

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.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Garrett Gonzalez and I will have a radio show up very shortly covering Crown Jewel and all the latest news from this week. We will also be doing a show tomorrow night covering UFC 230, NJPW Power Struggle and the rest of the news. Bryan is traveling because he’s wrestling this weekend. We’ll talk all the news coming out of Crown Jewel on the show that will be up very shortly tonight. It’ll be the explanation of what’s happening. 

WWE announced that Triple H suffered what appears to be a torn pectoral muscle at Crown Jewel, which is why the tag match fell apart so badly. Shawn Michaels also landed on his head trying the moonsault to the floor. He was cut over his left eye and bleeding from the nose. The Miz was not injured, that was all an angle and the Shane McMahon thing was always planned for him to win the Best in the World match.

As far as key stuff, the WWE did no propaganda for Saudi Arabia, and in fact never used the words “Saudi Arabia” on the show, but they did use the words “Riyadh,” for the location. They went out of their way to show crowd shots of women (all covered up, faces exposed) and little girls and little boys. Once they shot some little boys and they starting shoving and a fight was about to break out so they had to avoid the shot. Renee Young was allowed to appear in front of the crowd with her entire head exposed but covered neck down. 

In the single most-amazingly tone-deaf thing of the day, Shane McMahon, while in Saudi Arabia tweeted out plugging the movie “A Private War,” that his wife, Marissa McMahon produced. The movie, which opens on 11/16 (and will have a New York and Los Angeles area premiere this weekend) is about Marie Colvin, New Yorker who worked for a U.K. paper and covered Syria during the war there, was critical of the government and there is belief the Syrian government killed her in 2012. I’d be proud of my wife produced a movie, but you just can’t have it both ways, making a movie about Colvin while on the very day you tweet it you agreed to go to Saudi Arabia and participate in a show. 

Daniel Cormier weighed in today at 251.2 pounds. That this fight is going on really shows the failings of the athletic commissions and the lack of care by UFC for the value of their championships. 

There was a UFC press conference today where Jon Jones said he wasn’t interested in fighting Daniel Cormier, but does want the fight against Brock Lesnar. Provided Cormier wins tomorrow, it’s going to be up to UFC to see which one they reward with the Lesnar fight. This is a very intriguing story. And keep in mind Lesnar has not signed with UFC for anything.

Lesnar will be in the U.S. in enough time to get to MSG for tomorrow night’s show. He will be in the U.S. on Saturday morning. Whether he is going to New York, as the UFC hopes, or going back home is a decision only he is making.

POP TV ran a commercial last night which stated that Arolucha was coming in 2019. 

WWE

  • For WWE house shows, Ronda Rousey will be working all the weekend Raw shows. Daniel Bryan is working all the weekend Smackdown shows.
  • Atlanta entertainment attorney Phaedra Parks, who was on last season’s show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, was shown on camera singing along with R-Truth and Carmella on Smackdown this past Tuesday night. She was let go after the season ended for not being able to get along with some of the co-stars. (thanks to Samuel Batts)
  • Ron Jacob, the Executive Director of SAMAR, a center for the congressionally authorized national blood stem cell/marrow registry, Be The Match, noted to us that they register volunteer, committed, life-saving donors who are given the opportunity to save the lives of patients suffering with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell and other blood disorders. People like Roman Reigns, who are multiracial (Samoan & Italian) have less than a 23% chance of finding an available donor on the national registry. Here are the odds of finding a match who will say “yes” based on race and ethnicity:
    Less than 23% – Multiracial
    23% – Black/African American
    44% – Asian
    44% – South Asian
    46% – Hispanic/Latino
    77% Caucasian
    If you are interested in registering as a donor, click on this link, or text Cure133 to 61474. After creating an account and verifying your email, you will be asked to complete a consent form.It takes 5 minutes. Swabs will be mailed to you. It only takes 20 seconds to swab. You will only have the opportunity to save a life if you send the swabs back.

UFC

  • UFC announced a 3/16 date in London, UK at the O2 Arena.
  • Michael Bisping, Kenny Florian and Karyn Bryant will be working the desk for tomorrow night’s UFC show for Fox Sports pre and post shows.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • There will be a special with the top matches from the Jericho Cruise including Young Bucks & Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll & Cody tomorrow night on both FITE TV and also on ROH Honor Club.
  • For those of you who watch Arena Mexico wrestling on Friday nights, because Mexico has daylight savings time one week before the U.S., the show starts at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. Also it will not be available the usual way because it’s an iPPV this week for $10.
  • Teddy Hart vs. Jason Cade, MJF vs. Puma King and Ace Austin vs. Myron Reed have been added to the MLW show on 11/8 at Cicero Stadium.
  • Dynamo Pro Wrestling on Sunday in St. Louis at the Four Hands Brewery at 1 p.m.
  • Border Town Wrestling on 11/24 in Fort Erie, ONT at the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre. with Kongo Kong, Josh Alexander and Tyson Dux.
  • SKM Wrestling on 11/30 in Ohsweken on 11/30 with Sabu with Melisssa Coates vs. Warhead, plus Colt Cabana.
  • New on Powerslam.TV this week is the 10/25 Defy Wrestling show, the AAW and Riptide Wrestling shows.
  • PCW Ultra on 12/7 in Wilmington, CA with Tessa Blanchard, Penta 0M, Shane Strickland, Sami Callihan, Hammerstone, MJF and Road Warrior Animal.
  • AAW on 11/10 in LaSalle, IL at the Knights of Columbus has Sami Callihan & Jessicka Havok vs. Brody King & Jimmy Jacobs in a street fight, Penta 0M & Rey Fenix vs. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz, Kylie Ray vs. Allysin Kay, Eddie Kingston vs. Mance Warner, Marko Stunt & Ace Romero vs. Curt Stallion & Jake Something plus Trevor Lee, Myron Reed, Rich Swann, DJZ and more.
  • Combate Americas has announced an eight-man tournament for 12/7 in Fresno,CA at the Save Mart Center with $100,000 to the winner. The show will air live on DAZN, Univision and Univision Deportes. Tickets go on sale on 11/7. 
  • Bar Wrestling has announced shows on 11/15 in Baldwin, Park, CA called Testlemania, a charity show for men’s health, and 11/28 at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles.
  • Empire State Wrestling on 11/24 at the Frontier Fire Hall in Niagara Falls, NY for Wrestlebash with Charles “Godfather” Wright, the Spirit Squad, Rhett Titus, Pepper Parks, Kongo Kong, Rickey Shane Page, Brandon Thurston and the Ilio DiPaolo Cup tournament.
  • Brandi Rhodes vs. Lane Kross was announced for World Series Wrestling on 11/25 in Perth, Western Australia.
  • Robbie Eagles vs. Austin Aries was announced for an 11/26 show in Sydney, Australia for the WSW championship.
  • MCW on 11/9 in Joppa, MD at the MCW Arena has Nick Aldis vs. Brandon Scott in a 2/3 fall match for the NWA title as the main event.
  • The NBC show “This Is Us” this week, which is based in Pittsburgh, has a school Principal called Principal Sammartino.
  • USA Championship Wrestling signed a deal with Tubetown in Arkansas, Western Tennessee and Northeast Missouri for airing 11:30 a.m. Saturdays and Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
  • Gold Rush Pro Wrestling on Sunday at 4 p.m. in Pacifica, CA has its inductions to the Northern California Hall of Fame. Virgil Flynn is being inducted and there will be a free show with talent from a number of different promotions.
  • Crossfire Wrestling on 12/1 in St. Catharines, ONT at the Merritton Community Centre with Cody Deaner vs. Phil Atlas for a 4 p.m. show.
  • 1 Fall Entertainment is doing a TV show in Melbourne, Australia for a public access TV station. They will be taping on 11/28, 11/29, 12/5, 12/6, 12/12 and 12/13. The 11/28 show has announced a six-way for their championship with Jonah Rock vs. Robbie Eagles vs. Dowie James vs. Gino Gambino vs. Adam Brooks vs. Logan Grey, plus Lochy Hendricks vs. JXT vs. Slade Mercer, Rock vs. Brooks and Grey vs. Eagles. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • ElkMania on Saturday night in Beverly, MA at the Beverly/Salem Elks Lodge with Brutal Bob Evans. 
  • United Wrestling Coalition on 11/20 in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly’s Banquet Hall.
  • CWE on 11/18 in Sault Sainte Marie, ONT at The Tech with Brutus Beefcake.
  • Legacy Fighting announced that flyweight champion Maikel Perez has pulled out of his 11/9 fight with Casey Kenney (9-1-1) that was to headline the show at the Comerica Theater in Phoenix on AXS TV. Brandon Royval (8-3) will now Kenney for the interim flyweight. 
  • J.J. Dillon makes a guest appearance for Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling tomorrow night in Swansea, MO at the Fire House.
  • Rise announced a 1/19 show in Houston, a joint show with Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion.
  • Superkick’d Rumble on 11/23 in Toronto at the Great Hall’s Longboat Hall.
  • Smash Wrestling on11/17 in Montreal at Bain Mathieu. They also run 11/23 at Brock University’s Isaac’s Bar ad Grill.
  • Kevin Chiat wrote this preview of the EPW show on Saturday night and did a podcast preview as well. 
  • UK Pitbulls wrestler Dave Waters’ return to the ring after a devastating injury.
  • An interview with Eric Bischoff.

Daily Professional Wrestling History: Mankind & Al Snow win WWF Tag Team titles

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