Weekend news notes, 70s Texas star passes away, McDonnell passes away, Rousey potential next foe, Foley’s link with UFC star, Wrestling videos and WWE Network schedule
By Dave Meltzer
dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s UFC show and tomorrow’s New Japan and AAA shows at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com
For the weekend, we’re looking for reports on these shows
*WWE from last night in Abbotsford, BC
*ROH from last night in Milwaukee
*WWE tonight in Milwaukee (John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Rusev, Bray Wyatt, Usos)
*WWE tonight in Seattle (Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Bad News Barrett, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Kane)
*TNA TV tapings tonight in Orlando
*ROH in Chicago (Jay Briscoe defends ROH title against the winner of Mark Briscoe vs. Silas Young vs. Roderick Strong vs. Matt Taven earlier in the show, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Trent Baretta & Rocky Romero, Jay Lethal vs. Cliff Compton, Samoa Joe vs. Michael Elgin, Jimmy Jacobs vs. ACH — in the Fish & O’Reilly and Lethal matches, they are non-title matches but if the challengers win, they get title shots later that night)
New Japan Cup finals from Hiroshima on New Japan World (tape delay early Sunday morning)
Jushin Liger & Kushida & Jay White vs. Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada
Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu vs. Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka
Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto in New Japan Cup semifinal
Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito in New Japan Cup semifinal
Katsuyori Shibata & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Cody Hall
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Captain New Japan vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano
Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
New Japan Cup finals
Pro Wrestling NOAH from the Ariake Colosseum late tonight in Tokyo (not available live in the U.S.)
Hiroshi Kumano vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya
Yoshinari Ogawa & Zack Sabre Jr. & Super Crazy & Jonah Rock vs. Mohammed Yone & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Taiji Ishimori & Captain NOAH
Akitoshi Saito & Quiet Storm vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi
Takeshi Morishima & Maybach Taniguchi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi
Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura vs. Shelton Benjamin & Takashi Iizuka
Kenou & Hajime Ohara vs. Daisuke Harada & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Taka Michinoku & Taichi for GHC jr. tag titles
Atsushi Kotoge vs. Taichi for GHC jr. title
Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls for GHC tag title
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Minoru Suzuki for GHC heavyweight title
AAA REY DE REYES on iPPV for $10 Sunday at http://internetvluchalibreaaa.com
Rey Mysterio Jr. & Myzteziz vs. Perro Aguayo Jr. & Pentagon Jr.
Aero Star vs. Psycho Clown vs. Mesias vs El Texano Jr. in finals of Rey de Reyes tournament
Alberto El Patron vs. Brian Cage (as of last night this match was still scheduled even though Alberto is injured)
Blue Demon Jr. & Jack Evans & Angelico vs. Cibernetico & Chessman & Averno
Fenix vs. El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno) for the AAA cruiserweight title
Drago & Bengala & Super Nova vs. Daga & Super Fly & El Hijo de Pirata Morgan
2 other matches
Sunday also has WWE in Minneapolis (John Cena, Randy Orton, Usos, Rusev, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins) and Portland, OR (Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Luke Harper, Bad News Barrett) as well as more TNA TV tapings in Orlando.
Raw will be Monday in Des Moines. No Brock Lesnar this week. TNA finishes up its tapings in Orlando.
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday in Kansas City.
–Sorry to report two deaths. It appears the original Gran Markus passed away last week. I had first heard it was Gran Markus Jr., but the name didn’t fit, and the name listed in the obit didn’t fit with Gran Markus either. It also doesn’t fit the age, but his wife posted on Facebook that he died due to complications from diabetes. Markus was one of the biggest Mexican stars in the U.S. during the 70s, as a main eventer in Texas with his long feud with Jose Lothario as well as all the other top babyfaces in the area for years. He also worked in California as a babyface, but was far better as a heel.
–Joe McDonnell, a longtime subscriber and huge wrestling fan died yesterday at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles according to family friend Steve Brenner. O’Donnell was a well known sports talk host in Los Angeles.
–UFC brought Ronda Rousey and Jessica Eye to the SWSX conference this weekend (the same conference WWE has a presentation at). The expectation is that they are doing this to lead to a match between the two of them.
–Today is the 21st anniversary of Mick Foley losing his ear in Munich. Leslie Smith, the UFC fighter whose ear split and nearly fell off in her loss to Jessica Eye on 11/15, and has since become friends with Foley since people compared their respective injuries, is working with Foley on his fundraising raffle with these prizes at http://www.realmickfoley.com/win-wrestlemania-dream-vacation/ The two are signing a combo photo of each of them with their injuries.
TODAY’S WRESTLING VIDEOS (thanks to Thomas Rude)
TNA
I’m With Spud Wednesdays (Episode 21)
WWE
3/11/15 NXT Breakdown WIth Alex Riley
Five Things-5 Phenomenal Undertaker Facts
3/9/15 Top Ten WWE RAW Moments
MISC. STUFF
Top 30 Moves of Matt Cross (M-Dogg 20)
Ringside Collectibles’ “Ringside Or Riots” (Season 4, Episode 16)
INDY TV SHOWS
Smash Wrestling TV (Episode 42)
3XWrestling “All Stars Of The Midwest” TV (Episode 11)
AnarchyProTV.com Presents “Internet Beatdown” (Webisode 1)
TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE
2:00 AM ET
THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and Smackdown with This Week in WWE.
2:30 AM ET
FIRST LOOK THE ROAD IS JERICHO A first look at Jericho’s new home video! Jump in a limo and ride with Chris as he shares his favorite stories while traveling the country.
3:00 AM ET
WRESTLEMANIA REWIND Witness Latino Heat Eddie Guerrero battle Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, with the WWE Championship on the line at WrestleMania XX!
4:00 AM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR A controversial group of superstars set out to better sports entertainment and would rely on one another to do so.
5:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Strangest Bedfellows of all time!
6:00 AM ET
WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect – so expect everything!
7:00 AM ET
WWE NXT The rivalry between Hideo Itami and Tyler Breeze heats up as they square off in this week’s Main Event matchup.
8:00 AM ET
WRESTLEMANIA REWIND Witness Latino Heat Eddie Guerrero battle Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, with the WWE Championship on the line at WrestleMania XX!
9:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Strangest Bedfellows of all time!
10:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Ariane has a party while house sitting for Nattie and loses her cat. Nattie and T.J. clash over money, and Brie terrorizes Nikki about food.
11:00 AM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING Wrestling’s Highest Flyers collects some of the greatest aerial displays in sports entertainment history!
1:00 PM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR A controversial group of superstars set out to better sports entertainment and would rely on one another to do so.
2:00 PM ET
WRESTLEMANIA 26 The Career vs The Streak – Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker. Batista defends the WWE Championship vs John Cena. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon.
6:00 PM ET
THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and Smackdown with This Week in WWE.
6:30 PM ET
FIRST LOOK THE ROAD IS JERICHO A first look at Jericho’s new home video! Jump in a limo and ride with Chris as he shares his favorite stories while traveling the country.
7:00 PM ET
WRESTLEMANIA 26 The Career vs The Streak – Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker. Batista defends the WWE Championship vs John Cena. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon.
11:00 PM ET
WRESTLEMANIA 26 The Career vs The Streak – Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker. Batista defends the WWE Championship vs John Cena. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon.