Daily Update: WWE UK tournament results, Dunne angle, Lawler on SD

THE ROUND-UP

NEWS

AUDIO

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE events to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com:

  • Raw show in Wichita, KS (Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens)
  • SmackDown show in Birmingham, AL (A.J. Styles vs. John Cena vs. Baron Corbin),
  • NXT in Nashville (Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode as headliners)
  • NXT in Cocoa Beach, FL
  • ROH television tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta (Cody Rhodes & Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal & Bobby Fish, Marty Scurll vs. Juice Robinson for TV title, Young Bucks vs. Team of their Choice, Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe, Lethal-Briscoe winner vs. Christopher Daniels for a PPV title shot at Adam Cole, Bull James vs. Silas Young, Colt Cabana vs. Bobby Fish, Briscoes vs. Keith Lee & Shane Taylor, War Machine vs. Punisher Martinez & B.J. Whitmer, Kennadi Brink & Kelly Klein vs. Sumie Sakai & Faye Jackson)

INVICTA ON UFC FIGHT PASS FROM THE SCOTTISH RITE TEMPLE IN KANSAS CITY AT 8 P.M. ET ON UFC FIGHT PASS

  • Christine Ferea vs. Rachael Ostovich
  • Celine Haga vs. Amy Montenegeero
  • Andrea Lee vs. Jenny Liou
  • Sijara Eubanks vs. Aspen Ladd
  • Leah Letson vs. Elizabeth Phillips
  • Jodie Esquibel vs. Kali Robbins
  • Pannie Kianzad vs. Raquel Pa’aluhi
  • Megan Anderson vs. Charmaine Tweet for the interim featherweight title

Sunday has WWE shows with Raw in Tulsa (Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens) and SmackDown in Jackson, MS (A.J. Styles vs. John Cena vs. Baron Corbin).

WWE UNITED KINGDOM CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FINAL EIGHT AT 3 P.M. ET SUNDAY FROM BLACKPOOL, ENGLAND ON WWE NETWORK

UFC FIGHT NIGHT FROM PHOENIX

Fight Pass at 6:15 p.m. ET (free this weekend)

  • Cyril Akser (7-2) vs. Dmitri Smuliakov (8-1)
  • Jaochim Christensen (13-4) vs. Bojan Mihaljovic (10-4)
  • Walt Harris (8-5) vs. Chase Sherman (9-2)
  • Nina Ansaroff (6-5) vs. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger (6-3)

FS1 at 8 p.m. ET

  • Drakkar Klose (6-0-1) vs. Devon Powell (8-1)
  • Tony Martin (10-3) vs. Alex White (11-2)
  • Viktor Pesta (10-3) vs. Aleksei Olenik (50-10-1)
  • Frankie Suarez (11-4) vs. Augusto Mendes (5-1)
  • Sergio Pettis (14-2) vs. John Moraga (16-5)
  • Ben Saunders (20-7-2) vs. Court McGee (18-5)
  • Marcin Held (22-4) vs. Joe Lauzon (26-12)
  • B.J. Penn (16-10-20 vs. Yair Rodriguez (9-1)

Raw will be Monday night in Little Rock featuring the return of Brock Lesnar. There is also a SmackDown brand house show on Monday night in Jonesboro, AR.

SmackDown and 205 Live will be taped on Tuesday in Memphis featuring Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss in a cage match for the women’s title.

FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 1/9/2017 Chris Hero’s unlikely road back to WWE

Chris Hero returned to NXT as Kassius Ohno last week after a little over three years away from WWE developmental. All that happened in between is that he became arguably the best professional wrestler in the world. It’s not that Hero didn’t enter developmental in 2012 as an excellent performer. He was a genuine independent wrestling star even then, having worked for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and seemingly everywhere else across the globe… Subscribers click here to continue.

WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: January 16, 2017 The conundrum of Kenny Omega, 2016 in retrospect, more

The lessons learned of what worked and didn’t work in 2016. Each major company’s prospects for 2017 is the biggest story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also look at the situation with Kenny Omega, look at the updated plans for WrestleMania, plans for the 2018 WrestleMania in New Orleans and the Mark Hunt lawsuit against Brock Lesnar and the UFC. Comparisons of UFC and WWE business in 2016 and how each company looks going into 2017.  The lessons regarding television ratings of MMA, loading up PPVs, why GSP isn’t fighting, what’s on the horizon in 2017 for future UFC fights and some experimental ideas for UFC and FOX. 

Positives and negatives of WWE going into 2017, women’s and cruiserweight divisions.  Big star returns, how NXT has changed the WWE business, the good and the bad of using top stars in NXT, as well as both UFC and WWE struggling with creating a long-term fan base.

The plight of the independent scene, the future of ROH and TNA, how New Japan and AXS can work together to build a stronger product, and the role of Flo Slam in the 2017 wrestling world.

A big story on Kenny Omega coming out of Wrestle Kingdom 11, including John Cena’s reaction, Omega’s and Okada talk about their match, the new top program in New Japan and why Omega is in such a unique position right now.

Update on the WrestleMania card as things stand including what talked about match is off, and what matches are official.  

Ticket demand for Royal Rumble and NXT in San Antonio, the NXT Takeover lineup, more on the WWE Hall of Fame, the re-marketing of XFL nostalgia, Chris Hero’s WWE  return. New names for talent and another wrestler doing a gimmick takeover.  The U.K. tournament, what NXT talent is of the highest priority for the main roster.  WWE announcing hire.

New Year’s Dash and New Japan’s big matches coming out of the show.  We’ve got an update on Wrestle Kingdom subscriptions, the changing popularity of the product, the Fantastica Mania tour and the early February shows on New Japan World including two PPV events.

Click here for full preview…

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WON BACK ISSUE: December 19, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Armageddon review, more – The one thing I can say for WWF Armageddon is, it was a weird show. When it was over, I couldn’t say that I liked or disliked it, and based on the response here, a lot of people has similar reactions. Some of the undercard wrestling was decent. Nothing was particularly good. A few matches were pretty bad. But that’s to be expected both from the line-up, which didn’t promise on paper one good match, and from the WWF PPV undercards in general… Subscribers click here to continue.

SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • WWE’s UK tournament kicked off today at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England. The show featured the eight first round matches, with Trent Seven, Jordan Devlin, Sam Gradwell, Pete Dunne, Wolfgang, Joseph Conners, Mark Andrews, and Tyler Bate advancing to the next round.
  • The tournament will conclude on the WWE Network tomorrow starting at 3 p.m. ET. The quarterfinal matches are: Bate vs. Devlin, Seven vs. Wolfgang, Andrews vs. Conners, and Dunne vs. Gradwell.
  • There was an angle shot at the end of the show where Dunne attacked Gradwell before it went off the air. He continued the attack in a video that WWE streamed on Facebook. WWE posted that Triple H will be reviewing the situation.
  • WWE also posted a video of Burch receiving medical attention after his match with Devlin.
  • Michael Cole tweeted about working with Nigel McGuinness on today’s show: “And where has @McGuinnessNigel been all my life! Way to kick off ur wwe career. #wweukct”
  • Jerry Lawler tweeted that he’ll be appearing on next week’s episode of SmackDown in Memphis, Tennessee. Lawler said that he’ll be hosting a King’s Court segment.
  • AJ Styles was interviewed by AL.com earlier this week.
  • DIY defending their tag titles against The Authors of Pain and Asuka putting the Women’s Championship on the line against Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, and Nikki Cross in a fatal four-way match have been officially announced for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.
  • Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid paid tribute to Triple H during his entrance at yesterday’s game. The two had exchanged messages on Twitter prior to Embiid’s tribute.

Pro Wrestling

  • Several UK independent promotions were referenced on today’s WWE UK tournament broadcast, with officials from ICW, PROGRESS, and OTT specifically shown in the crowd at the show.
  • This week’s episode of TNA Impact was watched by 277k viewers on Pop TV, which is down from last week’s 290k.
  • CWF Mid-Atlantic will host an OMEGA tag team title match featuring The Hardys on January 29th that will be taped for TNA.
  • Bobby Fish will challenge Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship on March 4th at Manhattan Mayhem.

UFC/MMA

  • The Herd posted video of Dana White’s appearance yesterday where he made the $25 million offer to Floyd Mayweather for a boxing match against Conor McGregor.
  • Ariel Helwani will be hosting a one-hour live sit-down show with Conor McGregor in Manchester on January 28th.
  • Joe Rogan said that he doesn’t think Ronda Rousey will fight again after her loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.

Today in Professional Wrestling History (1/14):Christian Cage wins NWA/TNA gold

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