Daily Update: WWE financials, Impact, ROH test stream

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on the 5 Star Wrestling show today in Newcastle, England and NXT tonight in Dade City, FL to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com

IMPACT TONIGHT ON POP TV AT 8 P.M. EASTERN

​F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Can a reboot salvage 205 Live?

The most newsworthy week in recent WWE history capped off with Ronda Rousey appearing at the end of the Royal Rumble on Sunday night. Instead of participating in the women’s Royal Rumble match itself, Rousey closed the show with an appearance that initially did little to reveal what’s next for her in WWE. She came out to “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett, her old UFC walkout song, while wearing one of Roddy Piper’s leather jackets. 

WON NEWSLETTER: February 12, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Wrestlemania plans, All Japan streaming service

An update on the road to WrestleMania, including the future prospects for Brock Lesnar, the story behind Ronda Rousey, changes this past week and what they mean for upcoming shows and the next three PPV cards being looked at is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Look at WWE vs. UFC for Lesnar, the contract term, the comparisons, why his leaving was a given at one point and isn’t right now, changes in the Chamber match and different directions things can go. 

Read about the XFL, the weak heel side of WWE, Rey Mysterio Jr. talks WWE return, Takeover for WrestleMania card, Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament, notes on 2019 WrestleMania, changes to 205 Live, storyline stemming from a crazy real-life story, another new Dwayne Johnson project, success of Jumanji, Raw U.K. numbers, debut of Ricochet in WWE, several injury updates, 205 Live touring, advance ticket sales for shows, movie with WWE star, plus some notes on people training this past week at the Performance Center tryouts.

Look at All Japan’s first show of the year and its Champion Carnival tournament, and streaming service.

Find out about the injury to Max Holloway and how UFC has shuffled around booking, what major match is now out the window, who is Yana Kunitskaya and why is she main eventing while having never fought in UFC, what prior ideas UFC had and notes on other major fights the company has tried to put together.

The UFC show in Belem, Brazil is reviewed with thoughts on Mario Yamasaki as referee, weight cutting, and lot of business notes on the show including the most intriguing business note of all when it comes to television and streaming.

This issue covers the debut show of 5 Star Wrestling on Freesports, looking at the matches and direction, as well as the situation with Booker T and Corey Graves as well.

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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WON BACK ISSUE: January 22, 2001 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Fusient Media to buy WCW, sale of UFC, more

After nearly a full year of various rumors, negotiations, and several near finalized deals, the sale of World Championship Wrestling by Time Warner to Fusient Media Ventures was officially announced on 1/11, literally hours before the announcement that the final step of the Time Warner/AOL merger had been cleared. Fusient Media Ventures, a one-year-old company headed by Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg, who are best known for starting up the Classic Sports Network, and then selling it to ESPN where it became ESPN Classics, for $175 million, is the parent company. 

THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

Most of the key news from the investors call is on the front page. WWE will be changing how it reports its numbers, focusing more on TV rights deals, which they should since they are the main revenue source. They are also changing the way they report OIBDA, eliminating certain costs. They are only projecting a three percent increase in network numbers over last year in the first quarter but feel with WrestleMania being a week later that they’ll retain viewers later in the year.

The new Impact broadcast team will debut on tonight’s show.

ROH will be test streaming tomorrow night’s house show from Concord, NC free on Fite TV, Facebook Live andROHWrestling.com.

The retirement fight of Roy Jones Jr. will be airing tonight on UFC Fight Pass. Jones will main event a mixed show of boxing and MMA called Island Fights, facing Scott Sigmon (30-11-1) in a ten-round main event.

William Corgan’s Lightning One has introduced the NWA Network audio platform. Episode One “Fortune Favors The Brave,” focuses on the famous Ten Pounds of Gold and the man who currently holds it, Nick Aldis. 

I’m on a show with Konnan, Gail Kim, Disco Inferno and others.

WWE

  • Inside the Ropes, which does talk shows in the U.K., has announced its first North American event, a Paul Heyman talk show on 4/5 at 10 p.m. at the Joy Theater in New Orleans. There will also be a meet & greet associated with the event.
  • On Jeopardy on Tuesday night, with the category “Women in Government, ” the question was “Last name of Linda, who co-founded WWE and is head of the Small Business Administration.” The contestant got the answer correctly. (thanks to Grant Zwarych)
  • The company sent out a release on a book going behind the scenes for WrestleMania 34 called “Creating the Mania: An Inside look at how WrestleMania comes to life,” about preparing for this year’s show and will be released in August.
  • Aleister Black vs. Alexander Wolfe will take place on a WWE house show on 5/19 in Amsterdam, Holland and the Ziggo Dome. Black was born on May 19, 1985 in the Amsterdam area, so he’ll work his home city on his birthday on a main roster show. WWE loves to embarrass their talent in their hometowns, espeically on birthdays. (thanks to Henk Mulder)
  • An autobiography of Shinsuke Nakamura, originally published in two volumes in Japanese, will be translated into English and released as hardcover book as well as a digital book by VIZ Media over the summer. The book looks at his career from high school and college wrestling to New Japan to MMA, up through 2015. 

UFC

  • Bovada has released lines for three proposed fights, only one of which is confirmed.
    If Floyd Mayweather faces Conor McGregor in an MMA fight:
    McGregor -900
    Mayweather +550
            This is only valid if the fight takes place before the end of this year and it must be a sanctioned MMA fight.
    Cris Cyborg -1000
    Yana Kunitskaya +600
            This fight is actually happening on 3/3 in Las Vegas.
    C.M. Punk +200
    Mike Jackson -250
            This fight isn’t announced but rumored for 6/9 in Chicago.
  • Michelle Waterson vs. Cortney Casey has been added to the 4/14 FOX show in Glendale, AZ.
  • Aljamain Sterling vs. Brett Johns has been added to the 4/21 show in Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall.
  • Due to an injury, Rustam Khabilov is out of the 3/17 show in London, where he was to face Kajan Johnson. Johnson on Twitter said that he would now be facing Stevie Ray and they were just waiting for contracts. 
  • A story on Rose Namajunas.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • MLW has a show tonight in Orlando at Gilt Night Club as the first round of its championship tournament.

  • Bellator announced a James Gallagher vs. Adam Borics fight as the main event of a 4/6 show in Budapest, Hungary. 
  • VIPW on 3/24 in Nanaimo, BC.
  • Alberto El Patron, Chelsea Green, Jack Swagger, James Ellsworth, Penta 0M and others will be on a 5/11 show in Chicago Heights, IL at the Marian Catholic High School.
  • Evolve on 2/18 in Joppa, MD has Keith Lee vs. Tracy Williams, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Dickinson, Matt Riddle vs. Austin Theory vs. Darby Allin vs. Jaka in an elimination match, James Drake & Anthony Henry vs. The End, Fred Yehi vs. Shane Mercer and Dante Cabaenaro vs. Ken Dixon.
  • Evolve on 2/17 in Queens, NY has Sabre Jr. vs. Theory for the Evolve title, Lee vs. AR Fox for the WWN title, Dickinson & Jaka vs. The End for the tag titles, Matt Riddle vs. James Drake, Tracy Williams vs. Anthony Henry, Fred Yehi vs. Dom Garrini and Darby Allin vs Jason Kincaid vs Jarek 1:20. 
  • For Stardom on Saturday night, the main event is Io Shrai & AZM vs. Momo Watanabe & HZK, who are members of Queen’s Quest facing each other. (thanks to Jake Koch)
  • Jessie Godderz appeared on last night’s Celerity Big Brother on CBS. Godderz was originally on the Big Brother show in 2008. His cameo is at approx. 1:10.
  • Innovate Wrestling on 2/24 in Morristown, TN at the Talley Ward Rec Center.
  • CWE on 2/24 in Winnipeg at CanAd Inns Garden City at the CWE Legends of Wrestling and Professional Sports Convection 2 announced that Johnny Devine would be appearing.
  • Big Time Wrestling on 3/30 in Altoona, PA at the Jaffa Shrine has James Ellsworth vs. Emma (billed under that name) with Mick Foley as the special enforcer plus appearances by Mark Henry, Tony Atlas and Hurricane Helms.
  • Antonio Thomas talks to Eddie Edwards on Boston sports.
  • A story on the infamous pro wrestling legend of Tom Magee. (thanks to Lee Wall)
  • Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) did an interview with The Wrestling Estate to promote MLW: Road to the World Championship on Thursday. He talks about being so young and so talented, having Tony Schiavone call his matches and much more. 
  • A story on the Paris Grand Slam weekend, a judo tournament with more than 12,000 fans in attendance each day.

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Randy Savage wins WWF Intercontinental title

WRESTLING OBSERVER / F4W – WRESTLEMANIA 34 in NEW ORLEANS

UPDATED

Here we go again! It’s back to New Orleans for Wrestlemania 34 and a huge weekend of spectacular professional wrestling related fun and wackiness. EdinSanAntonio Productions along with the Wrestling Observer / Figure Four Empire~! is proud to present the annual Wrestlemania weekend trip details. This huge weekend includes a number of website “members only” events. Below are the two events currently scheduled. Click here for full event details.

WOR Podcast Taping:Purchase TICKETS for the Wrestling Observer Radio LIVE MAILBAG~! – ONLY 8 General Admission Tickets Remain!

  • WHAT: Wrestling Observer Radio LIVE Podcast Recording with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez
  • WHEN: Friday, April 6th, 2018 – 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Doors open at 8:45 a.m. for VIP ticket holders and at 9:15 a.m. for general admission)
  • WHERE: The Bourbon Room, Royal St. Charles Hotel in downtown New Orleans; 135 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130

WO/F4W Brunch:Purchase TICKETS for the Wrestling Oberver BRUNCH~! – SOLD OUT~!

  • WHAT: All you care to eat brunch buffet on the morning of Wrestlemania 
  • WHEN: Sunday, April 8th, 2018 – 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  • WHERE: The Court of Two Sisters restaurant in downtown New Orleans; 613 Royal St., New Orleans, LA 70130

CONTACT INFORMATION

Support the Empire~! with F4W shirts. Grab yours today!

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