Daily Update: WWE house shows, Young Bucks shirt, CMLL

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

NEWS

AUDIO

This is the quietest weekend in a long time when it comes to major shows. It gets busy again next week with WWE Hell in a Cell, UFC 216 and New Japan’s King of Pro Wrestling on consecutive days.

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE Raw house show in Grand Forks, ND as well as the NXT show in Tampa to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

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

  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Togi Makabe
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

LION FIGHTS ON AXS TV AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT

Saturday has WWE Raw in Winnipeg, SmackDown in Boise and NXT in Cocoa, FL. We’re looking for reports on those shows to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

Sunday has WWE Raw in Casper, WY and SmackDown in Spokane, WA.

Raw is Monday in Denver with The Miz vs. Roman Reigns for the IC title and Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman. There is also a SmackDown house show in Pueblo, CO on Monday night.

SmackDown and 205 Live are Tuesday, also in Denver. Cedric Alexander vs. Jack Gallagher was announced for 205 Live.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY:Figure Four Weekly 9/25/2017: Recapping WWE No Mercy

While No Mercy may have been the biggest brand-exclusive pay-per-view that WWE has put on since the roster split, it was clear coming out of the show that the company’s focus is on building to one future match. Whether it’s at WrestleMania in New Orleans next year or at some point before then, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns are on a collision course towards an inevitable meeting.

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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER:WON Preview: October 2, 2017: WWE No Mercy reviewed, potential CTE test for the living, more

A look at why the top two matches at No Mercy went down the way they did, the small picture vs. the big picture, plus upcoming PPV thoughts and Vince McMahon’s vision is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

This issue talks about the Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman and John Cena vs. Roman Reigns match layouts and talks about why they went as they did. This issue also has a full review of the show, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

There is a story that can change all contact sports when it comes to career longevity and legal liabilities that will undoubtedly shorten careers, which is the ability to detect CTE in people while they are still alive.  

Have a look at the Flo Sports lawsuit against WWN and Evolve, what is likely behind it, what the suit says, what it means for the future of Flo Slam, what the goals of Flo Slam were, and what the lawsuit is really about.

Notes from a memo sent to Evolve talent regarding guidelines for the show and lots more that broke this past week on the story, in this issue.

Read more on the sale of the DDT promotion in Japan.

Check out the WWE’s cease and desist order sent to the Young Bucks, the episode of “Being the Elite” that led to this happening, exactly what WWE is asking and what happened in the “DX Invasion” spoof.

Plus, more on Jeff Hardy’s injury, the Kevin Owens head-butt of Vince McMahon, Starrcade in Greensboro, Daniel Bryan talks about opponents outside WWE, John Cena talks his future, a few new women looking at WWE, a gold medalist talks going to WWE, wrestlers returning from injuries, and the most watched shows on the WWE Network this past week.

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WON BACK ISSUE: September 4, 2000: Fantastic WWE Summerslam reviewed, big ECW weekend, more

As the bar raises once again, the question becomes when does the bar hit the breaking point. SummerSlam was a spectacular show, with a great main event storyline going in, and even with a little tweaking of the main event itself due to Kurt Angle’s injury, a strong storyline paid off at the end while leaving the viewers still wanting more. But the match that stole the show was the tables, ladders and chairs match with Christian & Edge, The Dudleys and the Hardys.

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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

For this coming weekend’s house shows, Brock Lesnar is working the Saturday night show in Winnipeg, but he’s not scheduled for Raw on Monday. This is Lesnar’s last date with the company for a while. John Cena is off the house shows this weekend and will be off for several more weeks. Randy Orton is not working any of the SmackDown house shows this weekend but he is scheduled for Denver on Tuesday.

There is no show tonight at Arena Mexico. The Mexico City government would not give CMLL permission to run a show due to the after-effects of the earthquake. They did tell CMLL that they could start running in Mexico City on Tuesday and they will be running the regular schedule starting then.

In the if you thought this was going to end quietly department, The Young Bucks have now come out with a Cease & Desist T-shirt. They are also auctioning off “Too Sweet” wrestling tights that were used in episode 47 of Being the Elite, with 100% of the sale price going to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which they visited a few weeks ago when doing the TV tapings at Center Stage. The auction, which was last up to $1,775, is up on Ebay. Because of legal threats by WWE, they have decided not to wear the tights any longer. The Dayton newspaper had a story on that subject.

Linda McMahon encouraged small businesses to be creative and innovative and that if they were, they could survive against the monster businesses. The irony of this coming out today is rich.

Judge Vanessa Bryant made a ruling earlier today regarding three different CTE lawsuits against WWE and Vince McMahon, saying the opposition lawyers have 35 days to amend their complaints and that she is requiring the opposing attorneys to submit affidavits from each plaintiff regarding the claims, under penalty of perjury. She said failure to comply will mean in 35 days she will dismiss all three suits.

For the first time in forever, there are actually tickets available for the 10/20 PWG show in Reseda, or at least there were a few hours ago. They put tickets on sale on 10/20 and 10/21 and they always sell out in five minutes. The 10/21 tickets sold out immediately but the 10/20 tickets did not.

WWE

  • Kurt Angle did an interview with Fox Sports saying that he is being drug tested while in WWE, but he has not yet been asked to take a physical. He still believes he will be wrestling at some point.
  • Bryan Danielson will be campaigning for Glen Jacobs this coming Friday at an event at Hunter Valley Farm in Knoxville for Jacobs’ mayoral run.
  • A story on Sami Zayn and his “Sami for Syria” campaign.
  • The WWE Network today for Flashback Friday as a Bruno birthday celebration. Bruno Sammartino actually turns 82 this coming Thursday. But he’ll be all over the network today.
  • Steve Austin was mentioned on the NBC comedy “The Good Place,” which stars Kristen Bell and Ted Danson. Bell’s character on the show said, “There’s only been two guys that I’ve ever said I love you to in my life, Stone Cold Steve Austin and some guy in a club who I thought was Stone Cold Steve Austin.” (thanks to Jake Koch)
  • An article on the Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) divorce proceedings.

UFC/MMA

  • Fabricio Werdum apologized for his homophobic remarks in another language when he got into an argument with Tony Ferguson at the UFC press event Thursday at a restaurant in Los Angeles. Ferguson was in the middle of answering a question when Werdum started talking. Ferguson told him to hold on until he was finished and Werdum started talking to him in Portuguese and Ferguson yelled back in Spanish. Werdum said: “I don’t have anything against homosexual people, nothing against gay people, I think everyone is the same, and everyone has the same rights, regardless of their sexual orientation.” He said he used the slurs in a moment of anger and at no point was aiming it at the gay community.
  • Bellator and BAMMA have announced a joint show on 12/15 in Newcastle, England at the Metro Radio Arena. The show will feature BAMMA fighters and the press release notes former UFC stars Michael McDonald and Valerie Letourneau are on the show.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • ROH, which has sold out its 10/12 show in Buffalo (just over 900 seats), is opening up 100 standing room tickets. Besides ROH regulars, also on the show are Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kushida and Hiromu Takahashi.
  • Rob Straus, who wrestled as Robbie E, has gotten his release from Impact Wrestling. He hasn’t been used in a while and really the only thing he did of note lately with the company was represent TNA in a NOAH tag team tournament with Bram as his partner. 
  • A story on Rosalyn Drexler talking about her time long ago as a woman wrestler.
  • Defy Wrestling tonight at  Washington Hall in Seattle has Shane Strickland vs. Matt Riddle for the Defy championship, John Morrison vs. Jeff Cobb for the PCW title, Taya Valkyrie vs. Nicole Matthews vs. Christina Von Eerie and more.  There are tickets available at www.defywrestling.com
  • NWL returns to Kansas City tomorrow night for a TV taping featuring the Besties in the World vs. The Foundation in the finals of a tag team tournament.
  • Ethan Page is available for bookings from Bill Behrens at www.sbibookings.com. He is based in Ontario, Canada. Others available for bookings are Matt Sydal (Tampa), Johnny Swinger (out of Atlanta), Ava Storie (Tampa), Ray “Glacier” Lloyd (Orlando), Devon Dudley (not for wrestling), Sean Waltman, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Tessa Blanchard, Eric Bischoff, Jim Ross, Tommy Dreamer, Mike Posey, Corey Hollis and Flip Gordon. Also available for bookings outside the U.S. and the province of Ontario are ROH stars Young Bucks, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Jay Lethal.
  • NFC on 10/13 in Atlanta at Center Stage Theater for an MMA show with Joe Elmore vs. Brandon Longano.
  • If anyone has any footage of Gracie training videos or the mid-90s CNN episode of the Larry King show where Ken Shamrock, John McCain and Marc Ratner were guests, let me know. Email me at dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
  • Vancouver Island Pro Wrestling on 11/25 in Nanaimo, BC at the Departure Bay Activity Centre. They also run 11/24 in Langford Station, BC at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 91.
  • Glory kickboxing will air tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern on The Fight Network headlined by Robin van Roosmalen (38-7, 21 knockouts) vs. Serhiy Adamchuk (35-8) for the featherweight title and Hesdy Gerges (50-18-1, 23 knockouts) vs. Mladen Brestovac (53-12-1, 34 knockouts).

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard win NWA tag titles

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