FRI UPDATE: Hulk Hogan fired from WWE

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By Tony Leder and Bryan Alvarez for WrestlingObserver.com

This weekend kicks off with an ROH iPPV at www.rohwrestling.comon tonight from the William J. Myers Pavilion in Baltimore:  Get your live results and coverage here:  ROH Death Before Dishonor XIII Live Results and Coverage 7-24-15: Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong

  • Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH title
  • Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Hanson & Ray Rowe for the tag titles
  • Adam Page vs. ACH no DQ
  • Cedric Alexander vs. Moose
  • Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe
  • Adam Cole vs. Dalton Castle
  • Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara
  • Donovan Dijak vs. Takaaki Watanabe

New Japan G-1 show Saturday morning from Kagawa at 5 a.m. Eastern on New Japan World with B block matches

  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi
  • Satoshi Kojima vs. Michael Elgin
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson
  • Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomoaki Honma 

Then UFC on FOX 16 from Chicago featuring T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao for the bantamweight title and in the co-mainevent Jessica Eye vs. Miesha Tate for the No. 1 contender position.  Check out our live coverage of the weigh-ins here:  UFC On FOX 16: Dillashaw vs. Barao 2 weigh-in results and live video

The full schedule:  

Fight Pass at 4:15 p.m. Eastern

  • Zak Cummings vs. Dominique Steele
  • Jessamyn Duke vs. Elizabeth Phillips
  • Andrew Holbrook vs. Ramsey Nijem
  • Daron Cruickshank vs. James Krause

FOX at 6 p.m. Eastern (3 p.m. Pacific)

  • Bryan Caraway vs. Eddie Wineland
  • Kenny Robertson vs. Ben Saunders
  • Danny Castillo vs. Jim Miller
  • Tom Lawlor vs. Gian Villante
  • Takanori Gomi vs. Joe Lauzon
  • Edson Barboza vs. Paul Felder
  • Jessica Eye vs. Miesha Tate
  • T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao for the bantamweight title

Also on Saturday night will have WWE in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and Odessa, TX, and  ROH will be taping four hours of television in Baltimore.

Last night’s Smackdown report(ok from Wednesday):

WWE Smackdown July 23 TV results & recap: Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro, Kevin Owens vs. Rusev

New Japan has a G-1 show from this morning:

NJPW G1 Climax 25 Night 3 (July 24) results: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Saturday night will have WWE in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and Odessa, TX, while ROH will be taping four hours of television in Baltimore.

Sunday is the biggest G-1 show of the weekend live on New Japan World at 5 a.m. Eastern from Hiroshima with some key A block matches:

  • Bad Luck Fale vs. Doc Gallows
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano
  • Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata
  • A.J. Styles vs. Kota Ibushi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 

Sunday also sees a couple WWE house shows in Lawton, OK and Amarillo.

Raw will be Monday night in Oklahoma City.  Brock Lesnar is not advertised for the show.

Smackdown is Tuesday night in Tulsa.  Roman Reign and Seth Rollins are advertised as the top stars on the show.  Dolph Ziggler is being advertised on the show, so in theory he should be returning this week although what is advertised and what happens aren’t necessarily the same thing.

In the Latest Observer:

The return of the Undertaker and build to SummerSlam, Battleground coverage, the rise of NXT and situation with ROH, the G-1 Climax tournament and some major UFC stories are the major stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

The latest Wrestling Observer: July 27, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The Undertaker returns at Battleground, NXT/ROH insanity with Liger booking

Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site: Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

Our lead story concerns the build to SummerSlam.  We look at advertising that has already been cut for the show, what are the possibilities for Sting, the Lesnar-Undertaker angle, the booking of WWE right now, the situation with the women, plus full coverage of Battleground with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

We also look at the booking of  Jushin Liger to NXT on 8/22, ticket sales for the show, plans for the NXT show, how the Liger booking affects ROH and has caused such a political turmoil.  We look at the NXT card as well as the competing ROH show.  We look at the Liger booking, ROH working with New Japan, ratings with New Japan stars vs. shows without New Japan stars, NXT touring, the next NXT vs. ROH head-to-head in September, the next ROH PPV show and much more.

We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament, with all of the shows planned for the next week, as well as full coverage of opening night in Sapporo with match-by-match-coverage, star ratings and poll results.

We also look at a major story concerning fighters for UFC to address which is the banning of IVs for rehydrating after weigh-ins starting October and why the story is far more significant than people realize.

We also look at a potential alliance between ESPN and WWE and the ethical debate regarding the coverage.  We also look at the Hogan/Gawker lawsuit and each side’s case, an update on the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit against C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana, an update on Dolph Ziggler and what he claims is his contract status, Undertaker working more than just SummerSlam, Stephanie McMahon talks gay characterizations in future WWE creative as well as a look back from former creative members regarding different suggestions on gay characterizations in the past.  We look at more WWE banned terms and how some were changed and why.  We also look at how the characters are being described for Camp WWE, which is really hilarious.

We’ve also got notes on Chris Jericho working more house shows, Tough Enough notes, John Cena in the movies, how the WWE Network free month has changed, as well as what to look for over the next week in WWE stock.

We also have full coverage of the next month of NXT TV tapings, as well as coverage of all the WWE and NXT house shows this past week and business notes from the shows.

We also have notes on TripleMania being on U.S. PPV for the first time on 8/9, including price point, why it’s happening now, and its history as well as broadcast information.

We also have coverage of both UFC events held over the past week, with the Mir vs. Duffee and Bisping vs. Leites shows.  We’ve got business notes and stories behind both events.

We also have notes on the third season of New Japan World on AXS, including highlights of the new season, all the matches airing from 8/14 to 12/11 including when the Wrestle Kingdom 9 matches will air, as well as notes on the schedule for 2016.

We also look at Dragon Gate’s Kobe World Festival show and CMLL’s Sin Salida show, which were two of those two company’s biggest events of the year.

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FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

  • The big story from today, of course, is Hulk Hogan’s termination from WWE for racial slurs in a sex tape created 8 years ago with Heather Clem, who was married to Bubba the Love Sponge at the time.

Check out our ongoing coverage here:  WWE: Hulk Hogan’s WWE contract terminated, National Enquirer story claims racist comments, Hogan’s statement to People

We are told the “more to come” that the National Enquirer has promised could be coming this afternoon or this weekend.

Various wrestlers and personalities are publicly backing Hulk Hogan today, including Virgil to TMZ and Dennis Rodman on his Twitter account.  Rodman is also backing Donald Trump, who at one point in history was involved in the main event of the biggest WrestleMania of all time.

Brooke Hogan wrote a poem for her father

Mark Henry talks Hulk Hogan on his Twitter

We also have tons of notes on the story on today’s Wrestling Observer Live, which you can download commercial-free here if you are a subscriber, with 45 minutes of news and notes with Bryan Alvarez, Dave Meltzer, Mike Sempervive and David Bixenspan.  Bix will also have tons of additional details in this week’s new Figure Four Weekly: July 27 Figure Four Weekly: Hulk Hogan fired by WWE after racist tirade surface He was ahead of the curve in predicting last week’s story that the big Hogan bombshell might involve a racial tirade by Hogan.

  • Today’s Observer Live (every show every day, in fact) will replay on Sports Byline USA at 5 PT/8 ET.  Sports Byline USA can be accessed through the links on the front page or via smartphone apps such as TuneIn Radio and iHeart Radio.  If you are a member you can listen here: Wrestling Observer Live 7/24: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Hulk Hogan story as of 4 PM ET
  • Bully Ray is apparently already gone from TNA.  That was quick.
  • Impact and ROH were both up this week with Impact doing a combined 388,000 viewers between the two airings and ROH doing 265,000.  Last week’s super low numbers appear to be an aberration.
  • Smackdown grew to 2.4 million viewers this week.
  • There is a new CM Punk interview with Arial Helwani
  • Global Force Wrestling will be using a six-sided ring for their TV tapings, which kick off tonight at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas.  Chael Sonnen and Cyrus Fees, who has done MMA commentary in the past, will be doing commentary.
  • Look at this guy
  • Moondog Morretti is to be honored July 24 at the Cloverdale fairgrounds check out the article here:  MoonDog Moretti to be Honored July 24,2015
  • Shine Wrestling returns to the Orpheum in Ybor City, FL this Friday at 9pm with SHINE 28 headlined by Santana Garrett defending against Ivelisse Velez.
  • Robin Pro Wrestling will be at the Broward College South Campus in Pembroke Pines, FL Saturday at 5pm featuring an appearance by Larry Zbyszko.
  • I Believe in Wrestling returns to the Team Vision Dojo this Saturday at 8pm in Orlando, FL.
  • A new wrestling company Lots of Lakes Wrestling Promotions presents live pro wrestling at the Team Vision Dojo this Sunday at 6:30pm headlined by Manik / T.J. Perkins.
  • ELITE CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING ANIMAL PROTECTION SOCIETY – Richmond, BC August 8 2015