We’ll be doing one poll this weekend, which will be on the Invasion Attack show which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. We’re looking for reports on tonight’s NXT show in Columbia, SC at [email protected]
CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN AT WWW.CLAROSPORTS.COM
Magnus & Robin vs. Akuma & Espiritu Negro
Lluvia & Marcela & Skadi vs. Dally & Reyns Isis & Zeuxis
Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr. & Titan vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Felino & Mr. Niebla
Angel de Oro vs. La Mascara for CMLL light heavyweight title
Dragon Lee & Mascara Dorada & Mistico vs. Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero
Marco Corleone vs. Rush
Saturday has NXT in North Charleston, SC and we’re looking for reports on that show. We’re also looking for reports on the Lucha Underground tapings from Boyle Heights on Saturday.
NEW JAPAN INVASION ATTACK LIVE FROM TOKYO SUMO HALL ON NEW JAPAN WORLD AT 3 A.M.EASTERN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT
Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger vs. Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi
Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs. Evil & Bushi
Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta for IWGP jr. tag titles
Kushida vs. Will Ospreay for IWGP jr. title
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs.. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu for Never trios titles
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan for Never Open weight title
Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa (Camacho) for IWGP tag team titles
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito for IWGP heavyweight title
We’re looking for reports on Sunday’s Lucha Underground tapings from Boyle Heights.
UFC ON SUNDAY MORNING/AFTERNOON FROM ZAGREB, CROATIA
Fight Pass at 10:30 a.m. Eastern
Alessio De Chirico vs. Bojan Velickovic
Cyrial Asker vs. Jared Cannonier
Lucas Martins vs. Robert Whiteford
FS 1 live coverage at 1 p.m.
Filip Pejic vs. Damian Stasiak
Ian Entwistle vs. Alejandro Perez
Mairbek Taisumov vs. Damir Hadzovic
Zac Cummings vs. Nicolas Dalby
Maryna Moroz vs. Christina Stanelu
Jan Blachowicz vs. Igor Pokrajac
Timothy Johnson vs. Marcin Tybura
Curtis Blaydes vs. Francis Nagannou
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Derrick Lewis
Ben Rothwell vs. Junior Dos Santos
Raw will be Monday night from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. HHH is advertised to be returning on the show.
Smackdown will be taped on Tuesday in San Diego. It will be a skeleton crew because many of the key guys like Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Rusev, and The Wyatt Family will be leaving after Raw for Europe, where the tour starts on Wednesday in Milan, Italy. That means flying from Los Angeles to Milan and then working two straight weeks before flying back home. Those who stay for Smackdown and then fly Tuesday night to Europe are a crew led by A.J. Styles, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho.
THE ROUNDUP
UFC Fight Night 86 DFS Playbook: value picks, who to avoid
Blackjack Mulligan passes away at age 73
Lucha Underground results: Rey Mysterio announces trios team; Matanza vs. Fenix
All Hail: Baron Corbin’s rise to Wrestlemania glory
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Figure Four Weekly 4/4/2016: Latest News on Wrestling Legal Battles
All the latest on legal battles occurring involving the wrestling business including Hulk Hogan/Gawker and WWE’s concussion lawsuits.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
READ IT HERE: April 11, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: A look at a historic Wrestlemania weekend, NXT Takeover
There has never been anything in the history of pro wrestling quite like this past weekend.
Never have more fans attended more events, nor has more talent been in the same place than in Dallas.
The difference in one year was amazing. Last year, in the San Jose area, WrestleMania came to town, people came from all over the world, and events were held throughout the city in conjunction with the weekend. There was an awareness that WrestleMania was in town, but it was more a tourist event and in the city itself, the interest was nothing compared to a major sports event. There were only about 15,000 tickets sold within a 100 mile radius of Santa Clara for last year’s show, but it still broke the company’s gate and merchandise records and most of the events put on by other companies did well.
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If you wanted to know just how big Giant Baba was to people who grew up in the 60s and 70s, the latest back issue will explain.
Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: February 15, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Reaction to the death of Giant Baba, 2 wrestlers have heart scares, plus tons more A look at the surprising public reaction to the death of Giant Baba, 2 wrestlers have heart attack scares, plus tons of news and notes.
LATE FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
ROH has announced two more PPVs in 2016 involving New Japan stars. The Death Before Dishonor PPV will be on 8/19 back at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas with a TV taping featuring New Japan stars on 8/20 in the same location. The All-Star Extravaganza PPV will be 9/30 at the Lowell, MA, Memorial Auditorium with a TV taping the next day. NXT is running the same location in late-April.
Here is a story on a pretty major happening regarding the 6/4 UFC PPV show in Los Angeles regarding new weight cutting regulations and how it affects the show.
Speaking of UFC, Frank Mir was flagged by USADA as failing a test which he denies.
A trial date has been set in the Dr. Chris Amann lawsuit against Phil Brooks and Scott Colton (C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana) set for 6/27 in Circuit Court of Cook County. Cases like this are usually settled before trial.
The combined audience of both Lucha Underground TV shows on Wednesday was 234,000, a record for the series. The 8 p.m. show did 156,000 and there replay did 78,000.
Brie Bella is now categorizing her departure as a leave of absence as opposed to a retirement. In an interview with the WWE.com, she said, “I wouldn’t say (WrestleMania) was my last match forever. Just my last match that you’ll see in a while.” She said she wanted to start a family now, so she has put her career on hold. “So, it feels like a retirement. At the same time, I’m just not going to close the door.”
The New York Times ran an article saying that the NFL has seen the future and it’s WWE. That immediately led to a lot of snickering given that the NFL is as strong as ever and WWE is declining in popularly aside from big shows. The story talked about how WWE had added 600,000 new subscribers to the network since the start of the year, talking about how they increased nearly 50% in six weeks (actually it was 13 weeks) and not mentioning the vast majority were free. The story also claimed 10 million people per week watch Raw and Smackdown.
Nostalgia alert: 34 years ago yesterday on spring break, a group of people from Calgary and Toronto were staying at the same hotel in Fort Lauderdale, FL, as myself and a group of friends. We went to Miami Beach because we saw that Ric Flair vs. Bruce Reed was headlining the Convention Center. Most had never seen Flair live while those in Toronto, the Carolinas, and Georgia had. Flair won in about 42 minutes in what was the best match I had ever seen, live or taped, up to that point in my life. That’s saying something as I grew up watching guys like Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, Paul DeMarco, Peter Maivia, Lonnie Mayne, Red Bastien, Ciclon Negro and Rocky Johnson who were not exactly slouches.
WWE
There is a double booking this week as Kane is advertised both for Smackdown in San Diego on Tuesday and for a show in Milan, Italy on Wednesday. The entire crew for Milan is supposed to leave from Los Angeles on Monday night.
On replays of WrestleMania on the WWE Network, “Thunderstruck” is edited off the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader performance.
Dwayne Johnson will co-host the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday at 8 p.m. with Kevin Hart.
There is still some time left for the presale for the 8/22 Raw at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn using the code RAWISBK and/or BKRAW. This is the day after SummerSlam and probably will sell out quickly.
John Cena and Nikki Bella were on the season finale of American Idol last night promoting “American Grit” which debuts Thursday on FOX.
More on the Rene Dupree lawsuit regarding not getting revenue from the Network can be read here.
Here is a story on Baron Corbin.
Presale tickets are on sale for WWE Money in the Bank in Las Vegas by using the code ‘wwefan’. Public on-sale starts on Friday at 10 AM local time.
UFC
Marc Raimondi has a story that a match with Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm was not considered by UFC, according to Tate’s manager Josh Jones. Holm’s manager Lenny Fresquez told the Albuquerque Journal yesterday that UFC told him that Tate was the one who made the decision to fight Nunes.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is trying to persuade Gov. Cuomo not to sign the legislation to allow MMA in the state. Somebody needs to tell Mushnick it’s been legal in the state for years for amateur shows; the only thing illegal is to pay the fighters and for the matches to be regulated. If you want to run without paying fighters or being regulated, you can run all you want.
This is the Fight Pass schedule for the rest of the month:
4/15 Brace MMA at 8 p.m. headlined by Theo Christakos vs. Kevin Manderson
4/16 Glory Superfight Series at 1:30 p.m. headlined by Zack Mwekassa vs Zinedine Hameru-Lain
4/22 EFN UFA at 11 a.m. headlined by David Khachatryan vs. Vener Galiev
4/23 Pancrase at 1 a.m. headlined by Kazuki Tokudome vs Akbarh Arreola (both former UFC fighters)
4/24 Eddie Bravo Invitational Jiu Jitsu 16 man one night tournament for $50,000 at 4/24 at 10 p.m.
4/30 Titan FC at 6:30 p.m. headlined by former UFC fighter Steve Carl vs Belal Muhammad.
MISCELLANEOUS
The NWA will have its 2016 Hall of Fame inductions on Monday night in Las Vegas in conjunction with the Cauliflower Alley Club. Names inducted will be Jim Ross, Gary Hart, Len Rossi, Professor Boris Malenko and Nick Bockwinkel.
PW Insider reported that TNA was sent a cease and desist letter in March from Justin Carnes, who wrestled as Krimson on the indies, claimed that the Crazzy Steve character was taken from him, and that TNA had infringed certain copyrights controlled by Carnes, noting similar face paint, costuming, mannerisms and red mist gimmick and claimed the Dead Wrestlers Society gimmick he created was similar to Decay. It should be noted he made a similar claim when TNA used Sting as a Joker-like character.
Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and Mayu Iwatani will be debuting on Sunday at the Lucha Underground tapings. They are three of the top stars from Stardom and are three of the best wrestlers in the world.
There is a controversy about shielding money and then it disappearing which involves a company that Hillbilly Jim was a pitchman for. Here is the commercial. Also, here is a news story on it.
Wrestlers from Stardom made the MSN home page. (thanks to Robert Murillo)
Sami Callihan was pulled from tomorrow night’s AAW show in Chicago because he’s booked on the Lucha Underground tapings. With Callihan out, they are bringing in Zack Sabre Jr. to face Tommaso Ciampa on the show at the Logan Square Auditorium, which also has Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle, Johnny Gargano & Chris Hero vs. Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee and more.
On the Wrestling Observer Radio show from Wednesday where I talked about Killshot’s best friend from combat, and I mentioned Callihan, the guy playing the role is actually AR Fox.
The reason New Japan is on one hour early tonight is because AXS is airing Legacy Fighting Starting at 9 p.m.Eastern from Center Stage in Atlanta headlined by Dhiego Lima vs. Antonio Trocoli and Cody Wilson vs. David Vitkay.
Inside MMA with Mauro Ranallo and Bas Rutten is also one hour earlier, starting at 11:30 p.m. tonight.
EVENTS
Pro Wrestling RETURNS to Santa Cruz on Saturday April 9th 2016 at The VFW Post 7263 on 7th Ave in Santa Cruz CA. THIS IS A TV TAPING for Roku, Santa Cruz public access, and regional airing. **JUST ADDED** Chris Jericho’s Favorite Wrestler, from Ring of Honor and NJPW, it’s CHEESEBURGER!!!! – Presented by ComedySuplex.com.
Women’s Wrestling Revolution on Sunday in Providence headlined by Santana Garrett vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs Jessicka Havok vs. Jenny Rose, plus Taeler Hendrix,Lufisto, Candice LaRae, Veda Scott and more.
Jim Duggan will be doing comedy shows at Yuk Yuks in Ottawa on 4/12 and 4/13.
Another Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match will headline for Revolution Pro on 4/17 in Sittingbourne, England.
ROH runs on Saturday, 4/23 in San Antonio, TX, at the Shrine Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now.
Beyond Wrestling on 4/24 in Somerville, MA headlined by Donovan Dijak vs. Chris Dickinson plus Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Tommaso Ciampa, Lio Rush and more.
MCW debuts in Galena MD with former WWE Superstar X-Pac in action. Purchase tickets here.
Evolve on 5/6 in Baltimore has Chris Hero vs Zack Sabre Jr. and Drew Galloway vs Ethan Page. On 5/7 in Queens at La Boom they have Drew Galloway vs. Johnny Gargano. Marty Scurll, The Bravado Brothers, Drew Gulak, Tracy Williams, Matt Riddle, TJP, Fred Yehi and Lio Rush are also on both shows.
Bellator announced Jordan Parsons (11-2) vs. Adam Piccolotti (7-0) as a new lightweight bout for the 5/14 show in San Jose at the SAP Center. Piccolotti is from the Bay Area so an attempt to make a new area star. King Mo Lawal vs. Phil Davis headlines the show, which also includes Michael Chandler vs. Josh Thomson.
Pro Wrestling Revolution presents Reina de la Revolucion, an eight-woman tournament on 6/4 in San Francisco at O’Connell High School.
Today in professional wrestling history: Larry Zbyzsko wins AWA World Title; Eddie Guerrero wins ECW TV Title
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Please check out our WrestleMania 32 weekend coverage.