by David Bixenspan | [email protected] | Follow @davidbix
Tonight:
* NXT at 8:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network is headlined by Samoa Joe vs. Rhyno.
* Lucha Underground at 8:00 p.m. ET on El Rey has part two of Ultima Lucha headlined by Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes for the Lucha Underground Championship.With Vampiro wrestling Pentagon Jr. on the show, Michael Schiavello joins Matt Striker at the announcers’ table.
* UFC Tonight returns to Fox Sports 1 8:00 p.m. ET.
* Impact Wrestling at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America is the No Surrender “free PPV” with Ethan Carter III vs. Matt Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem match.
*ROH at 11:00 p.m. ET on Destination America (no more 8:00 p.m. ET showing for now) features Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly.
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FREE THIS WEEK: The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and our) is up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture. Plus, as always, we have all of the usual reviews and international news.
Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle.
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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.
The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.
We also have our regular features such as the most complete look at ratings, plus results of the major house show events each week in pro wrestling and MMA, and complete inside rundowns of all the TV shows.
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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
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Wednesday Daily Update
Reminder: The new Figure Four Weekly is FREE for everyone this week with a huge, detailed cover feature on the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI has tried to help Hulk hogan cover up the racist and homophoic comments he made that ended up being leaked a week ago. This is some weird, fascinating stuff.
WWE stock is still rising today, closed at $23.01 (+0.78) per share, though it looks to be going down a bit in after-hours trading. CNN Money covered the surge yesterday. Dave’s analysis of the quarterly report should be in the news Observer available for subscribers to the site today.
Adam Hill reported in the Las Vegas Review Journal that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has temporarily suspended both Rousimar Palhares (for repeatedly raking/gouging Jake Shields’ eyes and then cranking a Kimura too long after the referee intervened) and Jake Shields (for punching Palhares in th face when Palhares let go) stemming from the WSOF card on Saturday night. Probably the right thing to do in both cases, though it feels hard t blame Shields morally, and it’s questionable that referee Steve Mazzagatti really should be dealt with for not handling the eye gouging properly. If you didn’t see the fight, Shields could be heard yelling at Mazzagatti repeatedly.
The UFC officially announced that the man event of the November 21st card in Monterrey, Mexico will be Matt Brown vs. Kelvin Gastelum in a five round welterweight fight. Yes, after all of that bluster from Dana White, Gastelum only had to take one middleweight fight before moving back down. The co-main event will be Ricardo Lamas vs. Diego Sanchez is Sanchez’s featherweight debut. His last fight was the infamous robbery on June 7, 2014, where he got a decision robbery of a decision over Ross Pearson. Why he thinks that he would do better a weight class down after what’s realstically a giant losing streak where he’s looked slow, innacurate, and shopworn is anyone’s guess.
The National Enquirer is clearly trying to drag out the Hulk Hogan story at this point. They have two articles up today, most of which don’t contain new information. “Hulk Hogan In New Anti-Gay Storm” doesn’t feature any new anti-gay comments or even any new reactions to the comments, just the ones they already posted a week ago. They reference the racist comments to his son from the jailhouse visiting area, and maybe that’s the first time the Enquirer has run those, but that’s not a “new anti-gay storm.”
That said, there are a few new details in “Racist Hulk Hogan’s FBI Cover-Up.” Near the end of the article, they quote Nik Richie of TheDirty.com (apparently the first person in the media to see/hear the tapes) as saying that “The sellers’ play was to force Hogan into signing a deal that they all could make money from and sell the tape.” The bulk of th rest of the article is recycled from past posts, listing off Hogan’s racist comments, plus a few comments about the FBI stuff taken from court transcripts. Of course, as noted above, for a much more detailed look at why Gawker thinks there’s a FBI cover-up, check out this week’s FREE edition of Figure Four Weekly.
Steve Austin cut a promo on Arnold Schwarzenegger to promote WWE 2K16. It’s amusing.
Mexico news from Kris Zellner in today’s Lucha Report (make sure to check out the complete, illustrated version w/ photos, posters, results, etc.):
Blue Demon Jr. told Estadio Deportes yesterday that he didn’t find out about his Triplemania match this Sunday until AAA posted it on Twitter. Demon said that no one from the company let him know anything about it beforehand but he appreciated being booked on the show to honor his 30th anniversary in Lucha Libre.
EMLL officially announced last night during the Arena Puebla show on YouTube that the 82nd Anniversario Show will take place on September 4th which is the earliest show since September 3rd, 2010.
La Sombra who has been absent lately from Mexico City EMLL cards after the Guadalajara incident from last Tuesday was the guest host on the Turibus tonight which is sponsored by EMLL and they book the guest hosts every show.
Beau Dure talks UFC uniforms (and compares the situation to Rollerball!) at The Guardian.
A former indie wrestler had rocks thrown at his truck because it has a Confederate Flag themed mural on it. Kids, don’t throw rocks at people even if you have the best of intentions
NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-5 report: Ibushi vs. Naito, Styles vs. Makabe
An article on the New UFC PED policy
UFC: Why I Don’t Understand Nick & Nate Diaz