Daily Update: WWE notes, Dave Bautista, Impact ratings

By Joseph Currier
Published: 17 Mar 2018, 17:57

THE ROUND-UP

THE LATEST NEWS

THE LATEST AUDIO

On Saturday, we’re looking for reports on the WWE Raw show in Tulsa, Smackdown in Odessa, TX, NXT in Largo, FL and Lucha Underground in Los Angeles to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

NEW JAPAN FROM HAMAMATSU AT 2 A.M. LATE SATURDAY NIGHT EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Seiya Sanada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in the New Japan Cup semifinals

Sunday has WWE Raw in Oklahoma City, Smackdown in San Angelo, TX and Lucha Underground in Los Angeles.

Raw is Monday in Dallas. Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka in a non-title match has been announced. They are advertising Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey again this week. Smackdown’s Monday night house show is in Cedar Park TX.

Smackdown will be on Tuesday, also in Dallas.

NEW JAPAN FROM NAGAOKA AT 2 A.M. LATE TUESDAY NIGHT EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sabre/Sanada winner for New Japan Cup finals

UFC FROM THE O2 ARENA IN LONDON WITH THE FULL SHOW ON FIGHT PASS STARTING AT 1:45 P.M. EASTERN TIME SATURDAY

Nasrat Haqparast (155) vs. Nad Narimani (155)
Mark Godbeer (238) vs. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (238)
Kajan Johnson (155) vs. Stevie Ray (156)
Magomed Ankalaev (205) vs. Paul Craig (204)
Hakeem Dawodu (145) vs. Danny Henry (146)
Oliver Enkamp (171) vs. Danny Roberts (170)
Charles Byrd (184) vs. John Phillips (185)
Leon Edwards (170) vs. Peter Sobotta (171)
Tom Duqesnoy (135) vs. Terrion Ware (136)
Jan Blachowicz (205) vs. Jimi Manuwa (205)
Fabricio Werdum (249) vs. Alexander Volkov (246)

NEW JAPAN FROM HAMAMATSU AT 2 A.M. LATE SATURDAY NIGHT EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Seiya Sanada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in the New Japan Cup semifinals

Sunday has WWE Raw in Oklahoma City, Smackdown in San Angelo, TX and Lucha Underground in Los Angeles.

Smackdown will be on Tuesday, also in Dallas.

NEW JAPAN FROM NAGAOKA AT 2 A.M. LATE TUESDAY NIGHT EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sabre/Sanada winner for New Japan Cup finals

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Looking at the Wrestlemania 34 card

While there are a few more pieces that still need to fall into place, the card for WrestleMania 34 came closer to being finalized at Sunday night’s Fastlane pay-per-view. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura was made official after Styles retained his WWE Championship in a six-pack challenge against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, and Baron Corbin. The SmackDown Women’s Championship match was also announced, with Asuka coming out after Charlotte Flair’s win over Ruby Riott and challenging her for WrestleMania.

WON NEWSLETTER: March 19, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2017 Observer Newsletter Awards

One of the biggest issues of the year is out this week: The 2017 Observer Awards, with not just the top place winners in every category but also a list of every award winner in the categories dating back to 1980.

A WrestleMania update with this past week’s changes to the card, the most complete lineup, thoughts surrounding the use of the Moolah name in the women’s Battle Royal, how things evolved on the card, changes in recent weeks, more on the Reigns vs. Lesnar plans, and more on the year’s biggest show.

Also, full review of Fast Lane, with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results.

In addition, an update on Ronda Rousey missing Raw, John Cena’s next movie, Dwayne Johnson’s contract for an upcoming movie, ticket sales for New Orleans, update on the NXT Takeover show, WWE injury updates, WWE cuts, WWE returns, and the most-watched shows on WWE Network. This issue provides complete rundowns on all of this past week’s WWE and NXT arena events, with highlights and business notes on every show.

Coverage continues, taking a look at New Japan plans for its next show after March, the situation with Jeff Hardy following his recent arrest and when he was scheduled to return to TV, a look at the first week of the New Japan Cup tournament and coverage of the ROH Anniversary Show. Also, preview the NCAA Wrestling Championships, and take a look at the biggest weekend of the year for pro wrestling in Germany with the 16 Carat Gold Tournament.

This issue also delivers the weekly coverage of every major show’s ratings, with detailed notes on who is watching all the WWE shows, results from the major league events held around the world, and the major TV show rundowns.

As always, this past week’s results for every major pro wrestling event around the world are covered as well.

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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

“WWE 24: Empowered” will be airing on the WWE Network after Raw on Monday. It’s focused on women’s wrestling, the women’s Royal Rumble, and Ronda Rousey signing with the company. In a preview clip, Dana Brooke pays tribute to her late boyfriend Dallas McCarver with her Rumble gear.
Nikki Bella returned to the ring at last night’s house show at Madison Square Garden for only the second time since WrestleMania 33. She was originally supposed to team with John Cena against Bayley & Elias at MSG, but Sonya Deville took Bayley’s place and Bayley was part of a triple threat match with Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks.
WWE.com posted a list of the top 10 women’s matches in company history:
1. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley (NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn)
2. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks (July 25th, 2016 episode of Raw)
3. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch (WrestleMania 32)
4. Asuka vs. Ember Moon (NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III)
5. Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch (NXT TakeOver: Rival)
6. Trish Stratus vs. Lita (December 6th, 2004 episode of Raw)
7. Paige vs. Emma (NXT TakeOver: Arrival)
8. Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley (February 13th, 2017 episode of Raw)
9. Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano (SummerSlam 1994)
10. The first women’s Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 2018)
Dave Bautista said he’s never accepted an offer to go into the WWE Hall of Fame because he doesn’t feel like his career is over yet. He said he’d love to go back, but scheduling and creative will decide that.
In an interview with The Metro, Ronda Rousey spoke about the differences between her relationships with Dana White and Vince McMahon, her thoughts on CM Punk, and how she’s learned from Roddy Piper and Brian Kendrick.
Chris Jericho and Chael Sonnen talked Rousey’s move to WWE and whether she’ll succeed.
SportsDay interviewed Bayley about Rousey, wrestling in the women’s Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches, and her feud with Sasha Banks.
Elias detailed his performances and potentially playing at WrestleMania in an interview with Guitar World.
Matt Hardy gave a tour of the Hardy Compound ahead of the Ultimate Deletion airing on Monday’s Raw. WWE also uploaded a video where Hardy “consults” with George Washington the giraffe.
Aiden English discussed his part in carrying the Guerrero family legacy.
“Funniest WrestleMania moments” are the subject of this week’s video top 10 list.
John Cena debuted a teaser video for the game show that he’s executive producing for Nickelodeon.

Pro Wrestling

Impact ratings were up this week, with this being the third straight week that they’ve averaged over 300,000 viewers. Thursday’s show did 350,000 viewers, and the two episodes before that did 325,000 and 365,000 (for Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan and the post-match baseball bat incident).
This year’s ROH Best in the World PPV will be taking place on June 29th at the new UMBC Events Center in Baltimore. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern time for HonorClub subscribers and to the general public this Friday at 10 a.m.
Sami Callihan was the guest on the latest episode of Talk is Jericho.
To promote Fozzy’s upcoming show at Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee Magazine interviewed Chris Jericho about the event, his cruise, and the freedom that he has in his career.
Darby Allin and Rickey Shane Page will be debuting for PROGRESS Wrestling in New Orleans on April 6th and 7th.

UFC/MMA

Duke Roufus, CM Punk’s coach, claimed that Punk is “200 percent better” than he was when he made his UFC debut against Mickey Gall.
After it was announced yesterday that Darren Till would be headlining the UFC’s first show in Liverpool, Till called it a dream come true to fight for them in his hometown.
Michael Bisping said he’s open to fighting on the Liverpool show and would take the offer if the UFC made him one that he couldn’t refuse.
Andrei Arlovski vs. Tai Tuivasa is set for UFC 225 in Chicago on June 9th.

Today in Professional Wrestling History: Rock vs. Hogan at WrestleMania X8

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