Daily Update: WWE Network, Harley Race, McGregor-Cerrone

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F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Main roster arrivals and WWE departures

Last week was a period of arrivals and departures for WWE.

Without much advance warning, Ricochet, Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa all debuted on Raw last Monday. After news of them being backstage was reported online, WWE tweeted out pictures of them to hype that they were at the show. Triple H then opened Raw and confirmed that they would be debuting later in the night. Ricochet made a save for Finn Balor and teamed with him to defeat Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush, Black defeated Elias, and Gargano & Ciampa got a win against Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival in a non-title match.

WON NEWSLETTER: March 4, 2019 Observer Newsletter: Roman Reigns returns to WWE after leukemia remission

Roman Reigns (Leati Joseph Anoa’i, 33), returned to WWE after four months off, which included both a battle with leukemia as well as a role in the movie “Hobbs and Shaw” on the 2/25 show in Atlanta.

Georges St-Pierre announced his retirement on 2/21, seeming very happy to go out on his own terms but admitting that he was retiring now because UFC wasn’t interested in making a fight between him and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

New Japan this past week announced their first-ever 32-man New Japan Cup tournament, as well as announced its 47th anniversary show and sold out two joint Honor Rising shows with ROH.

Jeff Jarrett and his now-dormant Global Force Entertainment Company have filed a new $4.8 million lawsuit against Impact Wrestling and Anthem Entertainment in U.S. District Court in Tennessee on 2/21.

This week’s update on WrestleMania is that HHH vs. Batista is obviously a done deal.

The UFC debuted in the Czech Republic on 2/23 with a fight night event in Prague held on ESPN+ headlined by Jan Blachowicz and Thiago Santos in a light heavyweight bout.

Honky Tonk Man (Roy Wayne Ferris, 66) was announced on 2/26 as being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on 4/6 at the Barclays Center. Ferris had been asked in the past and turned it down because he didn’t like some of the restrictions in the contract claiming it would cost him independent money because he’d have to cancel dates.

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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • In addition to the Chronicle episode on Roman Reigns, a new edition of WWE Untold will premiere on the WWE Network on Monday. It will air at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, which is right after Chronicle ends. The Untold episode will be about WWE’s ECW revival from 2006: “Get the extreme story behind ECW’s 2006 return from those who lived it, including Paul Heyman, Shane McMahon, Tommy Dreamer, and more.”
  • A new episode of WWE Photo Shoot will air on the Network after Fastlane on March 10. AJ Styles will be the focus of the show: “The Phenomenal AJ Styles takes us through the picture-perfect moments from his stellar career on the Season 2 premiere of WWE Photo Shoot!”
  • WWE Network News has the content listing for the Shawn Michaels collection that’s being uploaded to the Network on Monday. A Trish Stratus collection is also coming to the Network on Monday, and Stratus’ website posted the content listing earlier this week.
  • John Cena spoke to Uproxx about Becky Lynch being an example of WWE giving the consumer what they want: “We are in the entertainment business. Whatever the consumer finds most entertaining, regardless of sex, race, creed, color, religion anything. What the consumer wants, WWE will give. I think Daniel Bryan a few years ago in the main event of WrestleMania was a great example of that. And I think the women that are supposedly within the main event of WrestleMania this year were pushing forward toward that historic, monumental occasion. I’m one of those people who think that it should’ve happened a whole lot earlier, but I’m very proud that our audience is at a point where they’re screaming at the top of their lungs, ‘Hey, this is what we want to see.’ I was so extremely happy for Becky Lynch to be able to find this personality that she carved out of thin air and almost out of desperation and become so successful with it.”
  • Pastor Ed Young has a new out-of-character interview with The Undertaker.
  • Ronda Rousey uploaded an “on the road” video from this week’s Raw.
  • WKYC in Cleveland spoke to Johnny Gargano ahead of tonight’s NXT house show.
  • Stephen Merchant wrote an article for The Guardian on the British media’s coverage of Paige and professional wrestling.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded Kevin Owens and Finn Balor’s NXT Championship match from NXT TV in March 2015.

Pro Wrestling

UFC/MMA

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Austin & Pillman win WCW Tag Team titles

Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):

  • Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
  • Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!

CONTACT INFORMATION