THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
JBL announces his departure from WWE SmackDown
WWE announces Big Show vs. Braun Strowman cage match for Raw
GFW Impact results: Drake & Adonis vs. Johnny Impact & Eddie Edwards
AUDIO
WOL: New Japan’s Tama Tonga interview plus news and more! 9/1
Wrestling Weekly: Cena and Roman, Dr. Wagner Jr., mailbag 9/1
B&V&G: NXT, Lucha Underground, Granny’s Wrestling Report, more! 8/31
A somewhat quiet Labor Day weekend. NXT isn’t touring and the only major U.S. events are WWE and PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles.
We’re looking for reports tonight on the WWE Raw brand house show in Wichita, KS to [email protected].
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
Tetsuya Naito vs. Yoshi-Hashi
Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther vs. Sanson & Cuatrero & Mascara Ano 2000
Marcela & Princesa Sugehit & Silueta vs. Zeuxis & Amapola & Dallys
Mistico & Caristico & Soberano Jr. vs. Cavernario & Negro Casas & Felino
World Grand Prix elimination match: Rush, Diamante Azul, Dragon Lee, Euforia, Mephisto, Ultimo Guerrero, Valiente, Volador Jr., Johnny Idol, Juice Robinson, Kenny King, Satoshi Kojima, Marco Corleone, Matt Taven, Michael Elgin and Sam Adonis
Brian Cage vs. Dezmond Xavier
Rey Fenix vs. Rey Hours
Marty Scurll vs. Flash Morgan Webster
Penta 0M vs. Matt Sydal
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jonah Rock
Flamita vs. Ricochet
Donovan Dijak & Keith Lee vs. Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle
Abdul-Kerim Edilov vs. Bojan Mahajlovic
Francimar Barroso vs. Aleksander Rakic
Desmond Green vs. Rustam Khabilov
Mads Burnell vs. Michel Prazeres
Mike Santiago vs. Zabit Magomedshapirov
Felipe Silva vs. Mairbek Taisumov
Darren Till vs. Bojan Velickovic
Bryan Barbarena vs. Leon Edwards
Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Rob Wilkinson
Talita de Oliveira vs. Marion Reneau
Stefan Struve vs. Alexander Volkov
Sammy Guevara vs. Joey Janela
Trevor Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
Sami Callihan vs. Jeff Cobb
Michael Elgin vs. Matt Riddle
Mark Haskins vs. Travis Banks
Keith Lee vs. Walter
Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre Jr.
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Penta 0M & Rey Fenix & Flamita
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 8/28/2017: Mayweather vs. McGregor lives up to the spectacle
Conor McGregor may not have defeated Floyd Mayweather last Saturday night, but a similarly impossible upset did happen – the superfight delivered on almost every level. It seemed like that had no chance of happening going into the night. Spectacles in sports rarely do meet the hype going into them; it’s almost impossible for them to. Mayweather vs. McGregor in particular appeared destined to leave audiences unsatisfied..
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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: September 4, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: McGregor vs. Mayweather, Dr. Wagner Jr. unmasks, more
A look at Mayweather vs. McGregor, and when happens next, is the lead story in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer. Read about the week that had two matches of the century and one match of the decade all within 15 hours.
Look at the fight, the judging, the realities of how McGregor and Mayweather each fought, the future of McGregor and tons of different business numbers and indicators. Check out the problems people had in viewing the show, the gambling, TV numbers and head-to-head competition.
This issue has a major feature on TripleMania, both the Dr. Wagner mask loss and the incident with Sexy Star and Rosemary. Look at the business of the show and the amazing television numbers, go through the Sexy Star match and what happened to lead to what happened, comments from many in wrestling, explanations, as best as there are, the background as to why things fell apart, how much Wagner earned for losing his mask, how much Wagner and L.A. Park were offering to lose their mask to local promoters, and the famous story of what was supposed to be the debut of Dr. Wagner Jr., in a tag team match with his father, and why the two never teamed up.
Read about the situation with Ric Flair.
This issue has a run down of the big What Culture shows of the past week with some of the top talent in the world, including the YouTube business, Will Ospreay vs. Rey Mysterio, and more.
Examine the WWE injury bug and some of the reasons the injury rate is so high, get a run down the latest injuries, thoughts on the schedule, Nikki Bella on two TV shows at the same time, Asuka’s future, The Cena/Reigns promo, Sami Zayn fund raising efforts, thoughts on the Mae Young Classic, new show for Cena, update on Ciampa, woman referee, Nakamura talks about his UFC offer, Jericho talks his role in the Styles vs. Owens situation, most-watched shows on the WWE network for the week and full coverage of all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week and business notes.
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ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected]. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.
WON BACK ISSUE: August 7, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Gordon Solie passes away, Owen Hart lawsuit developments, more
Gordon Solie, an icon figure of this industry who announced more pro wrestling matches on television than any man who ever lived, passed away from brain cancer officially on 7/28 at the age of 71. Solie was found that morning by his family, and it is being listed as the date of his death. It is believed his death may have taken place as early as late Wednesday night, as nobody heard from him on Thursday, and the house was exactly the same on Friday morning as it was on Wednesday night, when his daughter was over for dinner.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
(By Joseph Currier and Dave Meltzer)
John Cena is working the Raw house show tour this weekend. Randy Orton will be working the SmackDown tour, so all the top stars are working the full weekend. Bobby Roode debuts this weekend on the SmackDown tour. Samoa Joe, due to his knee injury, will not be on the Raw tour. No Brock Lesnar at TV on Monday, at least as of original plans.
It was revealed today that Jon Jones passed the blood test that USADA administered following his fight against Daniel Cormier. After that news broke, a USADA spokesperson released a statement that confirmed that Turinabol was the substance that caused Jones’ failed test and that it is only tested for in their urine screenings, meaning that it wouldn’t have been tested for in the one taken after the fight.
Showtime confirmed that the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight is projected to do in the mid-to-high four million buys on pay-per view domestically, which would be in the 4.6 million range that Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao did. “If we don’t reach the record, we’re going to be very, very close,” Stephen Espinoza said. “We consider it a massive success.”
PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles kicks off in Reseda, California tonight. First round matches in the tournament take place tonight and tomorrow, with a few non-tournament matches as well. The schedule is listed above. Though he won’t be wrestling on at least the first two nights, Chuck Taylor tweeted that he’ll be at the shows to do commentary.
Tonight’s Arena Mexico show won’t be on Claro Sports as usual. It’ll be on iPPV.
KUSHIDA will defend his ROH TV title against Kenny King at the Death Before Dishonor PPV in Las Vegas on September 22nd.
WWE
The mobile health clinic in Syria that Sami Zayn raised money for this past month started in operation yesterday.
Fox Sports Mexico will be airing a new weekly Spanish-language show called “WWE Saturday Night.”
Paige made an appearance on the local Fox station in San Antonio and said that her and Alberto El Patron are helping families displaced by Hurricane Harvey pay for hotel rooms.
WWE posted results of the combine that’s been going on at the Performance Center over the past few days. Of note, Bianca Belair finished in first or tied for first in every women’s category except for the 10-yard reverse ground start sprint (where she finished second to Ember Moon).
Mike Kanellis tweeted a thank you to everyone at the Performance Center for allowing him to train there the last two days.
In a column for ESPN, Eric Young wrote that Michael Hayes led the meeting prior to NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III and dedicated the event to Ric Flair.
USA Today has an article on Adam Cole arriving in WWE. It includes quotes from Joe Koff discussing why ROH is proud of Cole.
Mattel’s line of WWE dolls are now on sale at Toys “R” Us.
Kevin Owens spoke to the Argus Leader about his role on SmackDown, his previous feud with Chris Jericho, and being up for the challenge if WWE ever turns him face.
Steve Corino posted some photos from this weekend’s Harley Race camp and wrote that he’ll be representing WWE there.
Matt & Jeff Hardy have been added to the mid-September Australia tour.
Here’s another feature on Jinder Mahal.
Xavier Woods cosplayed as Bayley while at Dragon Con.
AdWeek ran a story on WWE’s collaboration with KFC.
MISCELLANEOUS
In his latest blog update, Katsuyori Shibata wrote that his treatment and rehabilitation is going well and that he’s able to do more things that he wasn’t able to after the injury.
With Joey Matthews back wrestling, they are looking at doing an MnM reunion with John Morrison. Their first match back together will be for All Pro Wrestling in Daly City, CA at Jefferson High School.
There is a new museum opening in New York City in 2018 called Poster House and the curator is looking at doing an exhibition of historic Lucha Libre posters in 2019. For anyone who has such posters that could be lent that year for a display contact Adam Abdalla at [email protected].
ROH will be returning to Florida with shows on 11/11 in Fort Lauderdale at the old War Memorial Auditorium and 11/12 in Lakeland at the RP Funding Center. They also have a Texas run the next week with shows on 11/17 in San Antonio at the Austin Highway Event Center, 11/18 in Dallas at Gilley’s plus an 11/19 show in Oklahoma City at the Cox Convention Center.
Canadian Wrestling Elite on 9/22 in Winnipeg at Rookie’s Sports Bar features The Warlord doing a meet and greet and also has a Super Jobber Cup.
Today in Professional Wrestling History: Pat Patterson becomes first WWF Intercontinental Champion
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