DAILY UPDATE
Latest News
ROH State of the Art results: Defy or Deny match
ROH launches investigation into reported Bully Ray fan incident
MLW announces Dallas area debut for September
Finals set for NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors night 14 results: Ospreay vs. Taguchi
Latest Audio
WOL: Alvarez vs. Stunt lawsuit, ROH and Bully Ray, Raw, Smackdown, NXT, more! 6/3
WOR: John Arezzi on his life in wrestling and his new podcast 6/2
DragonKing Dark: Oddities of Arkansas 6/2
We’re looking for your thoughts on Saturday night’s NXT Takeover show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].
We’re also looking for reports on these weekend shows:
WWE Raw Saturday night in Lubbock, TX
WWE Smackdown Saturday night in Waco,TX
WWE Raw Sunday in San Angelo, TX
WWE Smackdown Sunday in College Station, TX
ROH Sunday in Portland, OR
You can send reports to [email protected].
We’re also looking for reports on the matches from tonight in Austin, TX not on Raw to [email protected].
Raw is tonight night in Austin, TX, featuring the return of Stephanie McMahon, the promise that Brock Lesnar will cash in his Money In the Bank contract during the three hours, the return of the Undertaker, plus Roman Reigns & Usos vs. Drew McIntyre & The Revival.
Smackdown will be Tuesday in Laredo, TX. There will be A Moment of Bliss with Bayley, an interview with Lars Sullivan and the return of Bill Goldberg.
NEW JAPAN AT TOKYO SUMO HALL AT 5:30 A.M. WEDNESDAY MORNING ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Best of the Super Junior finals
Juice Robinson vs. Jon Moxley for the U.S. title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White
F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Thoughts on AEW Double or Nothing
If it wasn’t already clear, the success of All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing has solidified one thing: the remainder of 2019 is going to be a great time for the professional wrestling industry and its fans.
AEW’s maiden voyage had a lot of hype to live up to. There’s always difficulty when something transforms from an idea to a fully-formed product, complete with its own issues and imperfections. And while Double or Nothing wasn’t perfect, it managed to exceed reasonable expectations.
WON NEWSLETTER: June 3, 2019 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Double or Nothing review
A look at Double or Nothing and the debut of AEW is the lead story in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Look at how the show did on PPV, where the buys came from, and how this number compares with the other companies. Compare it with All In, look at what was both good and bad about running in Las Vegas, the problems with Starrcast and high spots of Starrcast, merch numbers, the Cody vs. Dustin match,
Look at what Jon Moxley is doing next, why he left WWE, and cover his detailed interview on Talk is Jericho about why he left WWE and his goals going forward.
Also look at WWE’s Super Showdown, including some questions that you can’t get away from asking. Also run down the show, and the issue of it being easy to say things when it’s to your benefit but another having to make decisions that back up your proclaimed beliefs.
Examine this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament and where New Japan goes next.
Read about new legislation that could greatly affect how WWE and AEW wrestlers are treated, preview Takeover Bridgeport, updated PPV cards, update on Ric Flair, update on Sasha Banks, Lineups for big shows and WWE looking at making more purchases.
Have a look at the Hall of Fame career of Rashad Evans, from his start in winning The Ultimate Fighter, to winning the light heavyweight title, to his grudge matches with Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson, and famous bouts with the likes of Lyoto Machida and Chuck Liddell.
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 [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw and the latest pro wrestling and MMA news. You can send questions to today’s show to [email protected].
With no NBA playoffs, the promise of a Money in the Bank cash-in and Undertaker advertised in advance, tonight’s Raw should do a good number, North of 2.5 million viewers. Whether it actually does we shall see. Raw is going against game four of the Bruins vs. Blues Stanley Cup finals. Smackdown is unopposed as the NHL playoffs game five is Thursday while the NBA playoffs game three is Wednesday. Raw on 6/10 will go against game five of the NBA playoffs and that has a shot to set an all-time record low.
Mickie James is out of action with a knee injury after all. She was hurt on Saturday night but we were told that she was listed to wrestle yesterday in College Station, TX. She was replaced in the match by Zelina Vega and her injury was listed in the company’s new injury report. We don’t have word yet on the severity of the injury.
Regarding the incident with fan Josh Ketch, Bully Ray on Twitter has responded.
The lineup for Wednesday’s New Japan Sumo Hall show should be announced late tonight. It’s crazy they run a major show and don’t announce the full card until the day before. It’s not like they are sold out in advance or even close. It’s Jon Moxley’s first match since WWE against Juice Robinson, plus the Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi Best of the Super Juniors tournament final that has been building for the last few weeks.
WWE
Last week they were also advertising the U.S. title situation would be announced tonight with Rey Mysterio vacating the title due to his shoulder separation.
WWE is among a number of investors in FloSports, that raised another $47 million in funding. FloSports briefly had a pro wrestling channel, that was disbanded. They have all kinds of minor sports channels including a strong amateur wrestling channel. They have more than 250 rights deals. Fertitta Capital, an investment firm owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, were also inventors in the latest round of funding.
Peter Rosenberg, who did some WWE television work including kickoff shows, said he was no longer with the company beacuse there was no spot for him. He said he was doing other projects and missed some shows, but he was free for WrestleMania and expected to do the show, but Michael Cole told him he was no longer going to be used.
WWE has cut localized promos for Friday’s show in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the General Sports Authority Twitter accounts both the English and Arabic language versions.
MISCELLANEOUS
FITE TV will carry Dominion from New Japan which starts early Sunday morning at 3 a.m. headlined by Kazuchika Okada vs. Chris Jericho for the IWGP title, Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IC title, Taichi vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the Never title and Dragon Lee vs. Wednesday’s Super Juniors winner for the jr. title. Dominion has historically been one of the best shows of the year. It will be priced at $29.99. It is also available live on New Japan World.
Alexander Gustafsson was the 20th most searched term yesterday on Google. There were three major MMA retirements this weekend, as besides Gustafsson, also retiring is Nick Hein (who did some pro wrestling training and an angle for wXw in Germany, and also once came out to “Badstreet USA” by Michael Hayes as his entrance music) and King Mo Lawal, who worked for Impact and did some indie wrestling and once turned down a WWE contract after being recruited by Gerald Brisco.
Andy Ruiz was listed as a +1600 underdog to Anthony Joshua on Saturday. It was compared to Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson as the biggest heavyweight title upset in history, but going by the odds it was the fourth biggest of the last 30 years behind:
1) Douglas +4200 against Tyson in 1990
2) Corrie Sanders +2000 against Klitschko (2003)
3) Hasim Rahman +2000 against Lennox Lewis (2001)
The Wrestlers on Viceland on Wednesday night at 10 p.m. will air an episode on Japanese women’s wrestling.
Thunder Championship Wrestling from Saturday night in Auburndale, FL: Spirit Kid b Bruce Worley, George Rodriguez b Irish Jack, Michael Patrick & Leon Brien DCOR Kahagas & Michael Tarver, Anna Diaz b Amber Nova, Ray Beez b Chico Adams falls count anywhere, Sean Maluta b Mike Reed-DQ. Hector Guerrero and Brian Knobs also worked the show. (thanks to Al Haft)
United Wrestling Coalition on 6/15 in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly’s Banquet Hall with the tenth annual Wrightstown Rumble.
TCM has a short called Bone Crushers on Saturday night at 5:10 a.m. It’s a film about pro wrestling in 1933. (thanks to Russell Griffith)
Konnan will be working for CWE out of Winnipeg on 6/28 and 6/29. He will be part of a show on 6/28 and then at 12:30 a.m. on 6/29 he will be doing a seminar/training session. For more info you can go to [email protected].
Sendai Girls from Sunday in Hiroshima: Mikoto Shindo b Manami, Aiger b Sakura Hirota, Meiko Satomura & Heidi Katrina b Alex Lee & Kaoru, Chihiro Hashimoto b Yuu, Dash Chisako & Mika Iwata b Millie McKenzie & Charli Evans. Katrina appears here through 6/9 and then returns to the U.S. for bookings starting on 6/11. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
The XFL announced a health advisory committee headed by Dr. Julian Bailes, Dr. Larry Mema and Dr. Claudia Reardon representing neurosurgery, orthopedics and mental health. Bailes will be the XFL’s Chief Medical Advisor. Daniel Wright, who was the head trainer for the Milwaukee Brewers was hired as Vice President of Heath and Safety. He will be there to prepare and run XFL health, wellness and safety policies and also hire and supervise each team’s trainers.
NFC debuts on 6/29 at the Pink Pony for an 18-and-over MMA show in Atlanta.
Defy runs 6/15 in Portland, OR at the Hawthorne Theater with Artemis Spencer, Brian Cage and TJ Perkins. They also run 6/16 in Tacoma at Jazzbones for a 5 p.m. Father’s Day show.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Misawa vs. Kawada in an all-time classic
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