Daily Update: WWE Money in the Bank preview, Dominion, CIA, Royal Rumble

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK PPV AT 7 P.M. EASTERN TIME FROM THE T MOBILE ARENA IN LAS VEGAS

*Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for WWE title – On paper, this looks like a great match given that for all the negativity on Reigns, he delivers most of the time on the big shows and Rollins is one of the best in the business and it’s his first major match back from knee surgery. Reports on him from the house shows have been strong.  Whatever they do here, most likely it’ll build for a rematch because I can’t see this program being one match. The odds have made a major shift this afternoon to where Reigns went from a 15-to-1 favorite to Rollins now being a 4-to-1 favorite. It’s the only match with a big shift today..

*John Cena vs. A.J. Styles – Another expected strong match and again it’s the first match of what is expected to be a multi-match series. For that reason, with no title at stake, Styles is expected to win, particularly since he’s lost on his last three PPV matches. This is Cena’s first singles match back since shoulder surgery (he did do one tag team match in New Orleans off TV last week. Styles is listed at -1500 and Cena at +700.

*Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro in the Money in the Bank ladder match – Given the talent and that these matches almost always deliver, this also looks strong. Given the way the angle went on Monday, the odds have moved to  Ambrose’s favor. WWE clearly wants you thinking Ambrose wins with the teased cash in tonight. A three-way Shield match was more than teased and should be happening in the next few months. The odds are Ambrose -1500, Kevin Owens +925, Chris Jericho +5000, Cesaro +10000 Sami Zayn +12500 and Alberto Del Rio +12500.

*New Day vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Vaudevillains vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass for tag team titles. This depends on what kind of time they are given, and with the main show going from six matches to eight, this probably won’t be going as long as it would have previously. New Day is listed as -1200, with Gallows & Anderson +750, Enzo & Cass +2500 and The Vaudevillains +15000.

*Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil for U.S. title – You could always do a one night title change and go back on Raw the next night as a surprise. But they’ve done short house show matches with Rusev over clean and nobody has said much about it. Rusev was -750 and O’Neil +650 in the odds.

*Natalya & Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte & Dana Brooke – When you have the champion in a tag match, the rule of thumb is to beat the champion and create a contender. But Natalya and Lynch have both gotten numerous title shots and lost. The Charlotte duo is favored at -620 and the Natalya duo is +410. Once again, this match is greatly dependent upon how much time they get, and with the additional matches, it’s probably less than it would have been.

*Apollo Crews vs. Sheamus – Crews should win since it’s his first big match, but right now it also doesn’t seem like they have much in the way of plans for either guy but Sheamus is a guy they bring back when they need a heel. And they could book to keep this one going. Crews is listed at -780 and Sheamus at +460. I expect this to be relatively short and solid work but not getting time to challenge for one of the best matches.

*Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin – Third show in a row for this. The first two matches were average and this probably will be in that range again. Corbin is a -510 favorite and Ziggler is at +340. Corbin has been winning their house show matches and usual house show protocol is for the face to go up.

*R-Truth & Goldust vs. Fandango & Tyler Breeze – This is a preshow match. The stuff thus far has been just there, with Fandango & Breeze getting wins and R-Truth & Goldust having a losing streak. The Goldust duo is listed at -490 and Breezango at +330. 

*Dudleys vs. Lucha Dragons – A late add preshow match with nothing building it at all. So they just needed something to fill time and be decent. Dudleys are listed at -420 and Dragons at +300. Really depends on what is next for both, as Dudleys haven’t been pushed at all, and there are five teams (with the Usos and the teams in the title match) ranked above both teams right now, six if you include the Shining Stars.

        The way it looks on paper, there’s no reason to tune into the preshow. This show will be carried by the top three matches. But on paper because of those matches it looks really strong. Live viewership will be lower than most due to the NBA championship seventh game, but with the network business model it’s not the negative it very much would have been a few years ago.

We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Japan Dominion and WWE Money in the Bank shows, 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.

Raw will be live on Monday night from Phoenix.

Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Tucson, AZ

We’re also looking for reports on Saturday’s WWE house show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 

THE ROUNDUP

The 10th annual Wrestling Observer/F4W convention in Las Vegas takes place during UFC’s International Fight Week from July 7 – 11.Ed in San Antonio has information up on Facebook, or you can email him at F4Wfan@hotmail.com. It’s always a fun time, so hurry up and make your plans to join Dave Meltzer, Bryan Alvarez (yes he’ll be there), Vinny, Granny, and the rest of the group in beautiful Las Vegas this July.

Our “lunch with Granny” is good-to-go at Johnny Rockets (in Excalibur), just like last year, on Saturday July 9th, at 11:30 a.m. local time. We have the “patio area” reserved for us. We’ve also been granted 10% discounts. Just tell the cashier that you’re a part of “Granny’s Gang!” And of course… the star of this event, Ms. Gladys Gibson, just has to show up and be her charming self, and she eats for FREE! See y’all in about three weeks!

​If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

Figure Four Weekly 6/13/2016: Gawker files for bankruptcy – Depending on your point of view, Hulk Hogan went one step further towards either succeeding or failing in his lawsuit against Gawker Media last Friday when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the type that allows the company to continue operating. 

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

READ IT HERE: June 20, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: UFC 199/NXT Takeover reviews, UFC ownership bidding ending soon, more

This week’s Observer has a major story on the gamble of Brock Lesnar in UFC 200, the most in-depth look at the Ariel Helwani situation that you’ll find anywhere, full coverage of NXT Takeover, UFC 199, WWE Money in the Bank, and the details of TNA’s struggle to stay alive, its PPV and its future. There’s also a breakdown on the WWE cruiserweight classic, and monthly WWE and TNA business figures.

Take a look at Michael Bisping’s unlikely title win, all the ramifications of the Lesnar deal, what it shows about WWE, a look back at the last time WWE risked one of their stars against an outsider without scripting, how Ariel Helwani got to be a star reporter and how that played into what happened last week, and what aspects of the story that are really more important that haven’t been covered or have been overlooked, all covered in this week’s issue.

WWE looks at the possibility of adding PPV shows and the good and bad of that decision-making, and some economics of that decision. 

A key WWE musician passes away, more on what Ali learned from pro wrestling, Bryan Danielson attends WWE event, Bobby Roode’s debut, notes on SummerSlam, new WWE executive hire, new WWE announcer, WWE looking for new members of creative, who is expected to return shortly, another animated WWE movie, update on Paul Heyman plus a full rundown on all the WWE & NXT live events this past week and business notes on the shows, in this edition.

Take a look at the background of the NXT Takeover show, the debut of Andrade Cien Almas and what did and didn’t work, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

For UFC 199, we look at the state of the middleweight title, how everything lines up, whom Michael Bisping wants next, as well as match-by-match coverage along with pay records for those on the show.

Finally, read how TNA saved its recent TV tapings and PPV, why they were close to not happening, where money came from, and what to look out for in the future. Plus, check out Slammiversary with match-by-match coverage and star ratings.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

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Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: May 10, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Fans celebrate life of Giant Baba at Tokyo Dome, PRIDE 5 recap, more. The final chapter in the career and life of Shohei Baba took place on the biggest show he ever main evented and the biggest show he ever promoted–some three months after his death.

SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

I want to wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day today. This has been a literal nonstop weekend but thus far the two big shows are a major two-for-two.

It was a very strong Dominion show earlier today, with the ladder match with Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega and the IWGP title match with Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada worth going out of your way to see.

Bryan and I are up talking the UFC sale and WWE calls to talent about bringing back stars from the past. We’ll be up tonight talking Money in the Bank, Dominion and taking e-mail questions to MailBag@WrestlingObserver.com.

Central Intelligence, starring Dwayne Johnson, opened on Friday and is estimated at doing $34.5 million in its opening weekend which is considered good. It was a distant No. 2 to Finding Dory at $136.2 million, the biggest opening weekend for an animated movie in history. Central Intelligence got very strong audience reviews.

For tonight’s Money in the Bank, WWE send a notice that the “Watch from the Beginning” feature on Xbox is not working. They said you can watch Money in the Bank live on Xbox but if you want to watch on a delay, they ask you look for an alternative device.

There has been a Go Fund Me to help pay for funeral expenses for Gypsy Joe.

WWE

  • Jerry Lawler appeared on Cerrito live, a sports talk show in Memphis, and said that because of who he was, he was actually never placed in a jail cell. He said he hung around with the jail staff during his mandatory cooling off period. He said he hung around with the police and it felt like he was watching a live 12 hour police movie. He said he considers what happened late Thursday night/Friday morning a private matter but his fiance called 911 and then hung up, so the police came. He said nobody had any physical marks and reiterated that she was trying to leave and he thought she had too much to drunk and shouldn’t be driving. She said it was a shouting match and a lot of what was claimed to have been said actually wasn’t said such as him telling her to shoot herself. He claimed she said things that were never said to the police. He hasn’t spoken with McBride and can’t until tomorrow and said everything will be resolvedt omorrow and he feels it’ll be like it never happened and he’ll be back at his job soon enough. He said he was sorry about the bad press this is generating for the company.
  • A story on Cesaro using kiniseotape on his bad shoulder is here. 
  • This has come out before, about how Donald Trump donates very little to his charity but the McMahons donate millions to it. Key wrestling-related portion: By comparison, the WWE donated $4,000,000 after Trump promoted WrestleMania. Over the years, the biggest donors to Trump’s foundation are in fact Vince and Linda McMahon, who’ve given millions.
  • Bill Apter and Howard Finkel predict tonight’s show.
  • Sheamus promotes in New Zealand.

UFC

  • Donald Cerrone at the press conference last night said, “According to my pay, I don’t mean shit to the UFC. But we’ll see. Maybe I’ll talk to Dana after this and see if we can figure that out.”
  • Gegard Mousasi vs Thiago Santos has been added to UFC 200 on 7/9. Mousasi was scheduled in a big fight with Derek Brunson, but Brunson pulled out earlier today.
  • Michael Bisping says he wants to defend his title in Manchester, England.
  • For yesterday’s show, here is how the picks went:

5-0 Ryan Frederick

4-1 Dave Meltzer

3-2 Mike Sempervive, John Pollock, David Bixenspan

2-3 Josh Nason, Mike Sawyer, Frontrow Brian, Paul Fontaine

0-5 Steve Juon   

MISCELLANEOUS

  • AAW did a sellout standing room only show of 600 fans on Friday night in Merionnette Park, IL: Kongo Kong & Dezmond Xavier won four-way over Eddie Machete & Conor Braxton, Candice LeRae & Heidi Lovelace and Shane Hollister & Markus Crane, Tommaso Ciampa b Josh Alexander, Jessicka Havok b Kimber Lee, Silas Young b Drew Gulak, Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett retained the tag titles over The Hooligans (Devin & Mason Cutter), Chris Hero b Drago, AR Fox b Aerostar to keep the AAW Heritage title, Trevor Lee won four-way over Andrew Everett, Cedric Alexander and Moose, Zack Sabre Jr. b Johnny Gargano, Sami Callihan & Dave Crist b Eddie Kingston & Homicide. The next show is 7/23 with Callihan defending the AAW title against Pentagon Jr., Fox vs. Fitchett for the Heritage title plus Fenix, Marty Scurll, Ciampa, Everett, Lee, Sabre Jr. and Gargano.
  • Candice LeRae was injured last night. We don’t have details past she wrote a Twitter post that said, “4 hrs in the ER watching drunk people take precedent to my concussion, possibly broken nose, and a huge hole in my lip. Left. No diagnosis.”
  • This week’s Elite show from Thursday night at Arena Mexico is here. 
  • Vince Russo has joined the coaching staff at the Mercury Pro Wrestling Academy in Arvada CO. For more info you can write toiray@nrwprowrestling.com.
  • TMZ ran a piece today on Tammy Sytch who said she was booze free for 90 days and loves being clean so much she doesn’t want to leave rehab.   
  • The Boston Globe on if Chris Nowinski cost Dr Bennett Omalu an award is here.
  • A story on Kenny Omega talking about his goals for today’s ladder match with Michael Elgin is here.
  • Reader Aaron Craig visited the New Japan Lion Cafe in Tokyo and wrote about it.
  • Kevin Eck talks to Orioles outfielder and huge WWE fan Adam Jones before today’s game. Ron Simmons makes a cameo.
  • NWA Cajun Heat on 7/2 in Morgan City, LA at the Municipal Auditorium with two cage matches, with Jeremy Moore vs. Matt Riviera for the Mid South title and Greg Anthony vs. Americos for the national title. Kevin Nash will be making a guest appearance.
  • Supreme Pro Wrestling today at 5 PM. at the SPW Arena in Sacramento is headlined by Scoot Robertson vs. JR Kratos. In honor of Father’s Day, all fathers get a free hot dog and a soda.
  • Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling from last night in East Carondelet, IL before 200 fans (a bad house for them): Britton Tucker b Sean Vincent-DQ, Jason Vaughn b Matt Kenway, Bobby D b Dave Vaughn, Freddy Fury DCOR Purple Passion, Brandon Espinosa b Daniel Gunner, Troll b Big Jim Hoffarth, Ken Kasa & Gary Jackson b Chris Harges when Harges failed to win a fall in the 15:00 time limit, Kahagas b Johnny Blade, Ron Powers b Atilla Kahn-DQ (thanks to Larry Matysik)
  • Ring Wars Carolinas on 6/25 in Fayetteville, NC at 7707 S. Raeford Rd.
  • Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Big Dogg b Eli Everfly, Skitzo b Dark Usagi, Anthony Idol b Manny Fernandez. Next TV taping is 7/16 at the Tioga Sequoia Brewing Company Beer Gardens as a combined wrestling and stand-up comedy show called Pain & Laughter (thanks to Jon Southerland)
  • Insane Championship Wrestling runs tonight in Glasgow, Scotland at The Garage with Big Damo vs. Grado for the ICW title, plus Joe Coffey vs. Joe Hendry. The tease is that the winner will face Kurt Angle on the big show in Glasgow on 11/20 at the SSE Hydro. 
  • Kurt Angle has been announced as a special guest for Booker T’s Reality of wrestling show on 8/20 in Houston.

TODAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: ​Styles wins TNA X Division Title; Jay Lethal wins ROH World Title