FRI UPDATE: Ronda Rousey, John Cena, Owens vs. Jericho, Japanese group schedules U.S. shows

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By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE show in San Diego (Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Rusev) and NXT in Lakeland, as well as last night’s NXT show in Tampa at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

For this weekend, we’ll be doing polls on three shows, the G-1 shows in Osaka and Nagoya and the UFC PPV from Rio de Janeiro.

New Japan World Pro Wrestling on AXS TV tonight at 9 p.m.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck Fale

A.J. Styles vs. Togi Makabe (this was the match where Styles suffered his neck injury on a German superplex)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki

G-1 Climax tonight at 4 a.m. Eastern from Osaka

Jay White & David Finlay vs. Cody Hall & Doc Gallows

Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yohei Komatsu vs. Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada

Katsuyori Shibata & Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan vs. A.J. Styles & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo

Satoshi Kojima vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Karl Anderson vs. Yuji Nagata

Tomoaki Honma vs. Michael Elgin

Shinsuke Nakamura (if he’s able) vs Tomohiro Ishii

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto

The WWE on Saturday has house shows in Ontario, CA (Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Rusev, Neville, King Barrett) and Hidalgo, TX (Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Sheamus).  We’re also looking for reports on NEW at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, NY (Rey Mysterio & Alberto el Patron vs. Young Bucks)   

UFC 190 from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro
Check out our coverage of the weigh-ins:  UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia weigh-in results and live video

Fight pass at 7 p.m. Eastern

Guido Cannetti vs. Hugo Viana

Clint Hester vs. Vitor Miranda

FS 1 at 8 p.m.

Iuri Alcantara vs. Leandero Issa

Warlley Alves vs. Nordine Taleb

Rafael Feijao Cavalcante vs. Patrick Cummins

Neil Magny vs. Demian Maia

PPV at 10 p.m.

Jessica Aguilar vs. Claudia Gadelha

Antonio Bigfoot Silva vs. Soa Palelei

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Stefan Struve

Dileno Lopes vs. Reginaldo Vieira in the TUF Brazil bantamweight finals

Fernando Bruno vs. Glaci Franca in the TUF Brazil lightweight finals

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua

Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia for the women’s bantamweight title

World Series of Fighting at 11 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports from Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas

Islam Mamedov vs. Jimmy Spicuzza

Jorge Moreno vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov

Mike Kyle vs. Clifford Starks

Marlon Moraes vs. Sheymon Moraes for the bantamweight title

Rousimar Palhares vs. Jake Shields for the welterweight title

G-1 Climax tournament from the Aiichi Gym in Nagoya at 3 a.m. Eastern (shortly after UFC ends)

Satoshi Kojima & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu vs. Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask & Mascara Dorada & David Finlay

Michael Elgin & Jay White vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall

Hirooki Goto & Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan vs,. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi

Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga

Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale

A.J. Styles vs. Doc Gallows

Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

WWE on Sunday has house shows in Fresno (Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Rusev, Neville, King Barrett) and Stockton, CA (Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Sheamus) and NEW has a show in Lowell, MA (Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto el Patron vs. Matt Hardy).

Raw will be Monday night in San Jose with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman returning for the show.

Smackdown will be taped on Tuesday night in Sacramento.

We have one of the biggest issues of the year with a look at Hulk Hogan’s rises and falls over the last 24 years and the trouble he’s gotten himself into, lots more on Daniel Bryan, his injury situation and his future, HBO Real Sports looks at domestic violence in MMA, the decline of G-1, UFC on FOX, GFW, ROH and PWG, and a riot involving some of the biggest names in the industry and resulted in a suspension are the major stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  

The Latest Wrestling Observer: August 3, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Hulk Hogan fired by WWE over leaked hate speech, Daniel Bryan update

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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.

The ups and downs of Hulk Hogan is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We look at his rise to fame, steroids in pro wrestling, Hogan as a fan, the Zahorian trial and why Hogan wasn’t involved, the first time Vince McMahon sent Hulk Hogan away, the McMahon trial, and his career post-wrestling.  We look at Hogan Knows Best and how that plays into his latest problems, Bubba the Love Sponge, when Hogan’s racist rant was first reported and how three years ago, the story behind the tapes, what was said, , Hogan’s apology, the Gawker threat and how it plays into his lawsuit, WWE’s reaction and how this is different from his other historical issues.  We look at how fiction vs. reality is Hogan’s friend, fan reaction, and more.  This is the most detailed look at not just Hogan’s latest situation, but life after wrestling over 25 plus years.

We also look at Daniel Bryan’s current situation, his concussion issues, his wanting to wrestle again and WWE not clearing him, his wife’s reaction to his wrestling again, how his neck is holding up, what could have gotten him to TNA and his different views of the 2014 and 2015 Royal Rumble.

We also look at the HBO Real Sports story on domestic violence issues with fighters, including War Machine, Josh Grispi, Rumble Johnson and Chris Leben.

We also look at the injuries to John Cena and Alicia  Fox, lots of notes on SummerSlam, updates on Sting, New WWF considerations for the network, Movie box office with WWE stars, the original gay wrestler idea from 2002 and who it was talked about for, Chael Sonnen and WWE, Celebrity in WWE programming going forward, WWE lawsuit news, Tough Enough notes, new WWE movie and a look at a new developmental star who just debuted.

We also have notes on all the WWE & NXT live events over the weekend, business notes and highlights.

We’ve got a detailed look at G-1 thus far with a tournament overview, problems involved, update on Nakamura, standings, results of all the matches and the next week schedule.

We’ve also got full coverage of the UFC on FOX with T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao, with match-by-match coverage, business notes and poll results.

We also look in depth at Jeff Jarrett’s first TV taping for GFW in Las Vegas, including matches, direction and future.

We also have full coverage of the ROH Death Before Dishonor show, with match-by-match rundown, star ratings and poll results.

We’ve also got a look at PWG’s 12th anniversary show, the atmosphere, and notes on Battle of Los Angeles.

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FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

  • All three nights of PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles sold out in three minutes.  It was insane.  There were people all over the country with multiple computers trying to log in all at the same time.  One minor stall and they were out of luck.  They seriously need to move to a bigger building but I know that’s not happening.
  • UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia weigh-in results and live video
  • John Cena has officially been pulled from the advertising from Sunday’s Fresno show, so he’s off everything for the next two plus weeks
  • First time ever matches of Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho will be headlining both Ontario and Fresno this weekend
  • There is a lot of speculation that Ronda Rousey will be cheered more than Bethe Correia even though the show is in Brazil.  To the guy on the street, she is the most popular, but sometimes ticket buyers are different.
  • James Strom wrote that last night was his final night with TNA, so he apparently just returned for the final taping to finish up storyline loose ends.
  • In the weekly cable ratings, USA was No. 4 this week behind Fox News, Disney and HGTV.  Syfy was No. 8.  Spike was No. 16.  The three hours of Raw ranked No. 4, 5 and 7 for the week beating everything but NASCAR and TNT dramas.
  • Ric Flair appears for a meet and great and photo ops tonight at the PAL Hall in Fall River, MA at from 4-7 p.m. for Top Rope Promotions.  
  • Stardom, a Japanese all-women’s promotion, will be running shows on 10/16 and 10/18 in Southern California.  The 10/16 show will be in Covina at the Father McGuire Knights of Columbus Hall, and the 10/18 show will be in Baldwin Park at the Esther Snyder Community Center.  Appearing on the shows will be Cheerleader Melissa, Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo, Mayu Iwatani, Act Yasukawa, Chelsea, Reo Hazuki, Kris Wolf, Hudson Envy, Thunder Rosa and more.  Tickets HERE
  • The reason a clip of Billy Gunn yelling at ZZ was release publicly is because they want him out after this week.  The impression I have is that things were set up last week for him to be gone, but the public wasn’t manipulated the way they expected and so it didn’t happen.
  • Seth Rollins was on The Daily Show last night with Jon Stewart. 
  • The Mid Atlantic Fan Fest is going in this weekend in Charlotte.  Lance Storm, Tom Prichard, Nigel McGuinness, Les Thatcher and Rip Rogers were doing a weekend training seminar for aspiring wrestlers from around the world.  Lance Russell at 89 years old was there.  Jimmy Hart sang the song “Lance Russell’s Nose.”  From 1983, here was the music video.
  • Jim Ross did his one man show and they debuted the documentary Mid Atlantic Memories.  Ole Anderson is doing a Q&A today. 
  • GFW sent out a release today listing Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Shelton Benjamin, Candice LaRae and Eric Young all at their 8/21 tapings in Las Vegas at The Orleans Arena.
  • Even though the WWE stock went way up yesterday, Hilliard Lyons today downgraded it from long-term buy to neutral.  They were disappointed that WWE only projected 1.2 million network subscribers on 9/30.  They were of the camp still thinking they’re soon to be at 3-4 million.  The downgrade is because they thought the stock was underpriced this year, but with the new numbers, they feel the stock is priced at about where it should be.  The stock was at $19.57 at this writing, so it was still up from yesterday.
  • Not a good sign for ticket sales for the go-home Raw on 8/17 in Minneapolis.  Livingsocial is putting the unsold tickets on the market for a lower price.
  • Pure Wrestling Association on 8/2 in Thedford, ONT at the Legacy Centre.
  • Pro Wrestling Phoenix tonight in Council Bluffs, IA at the National Guard Armory.
  • Ricky Steamboat worked as a commissioner at an Ultimate Championship Wrestling show last night in Halifax.
  • Primos Pro Wrestling on 8/9 from The Watering Bowl in Denver.
  • EWF on 8/7 in Covina, CA at the EWF Arena at 4315 Vincent Ave.  
  • A story on Sunday’s show at LeLacheur Park, a minor league baseball stadium in Lowell, MA headlined by Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Matt Hardy
  • The Washington Post on WWE stock
  • A Rey Mysterio story promoting TripleMania

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1979 – Monster Ripper (a teenage Ronda Sing) beat Jackie Sato in Tokyo to win the WWWA title

1982 – Dandy beat Modulo in Mexico City to win the Mexican national featherweight title

1986 – Stan Hansen beat Jumbo Tsuruta in Tokyo to win the International title

1988 – Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu beat Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy in Hakodate to win the All Japan world tag titles

1998 – Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi beat Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki to win the JWP tag titles 

1998 – Scorpio Jr. beat El Hijo del Santo in Mexico City to win the Leyendas de Plata tournament

1999 – Hiromichi Fuyuki & Gedo & Koji Nakagawa beat Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda in Tokyo to win the FMW World Street fight six man tag titles