Ronda Rousey will not fight at UFC 200
UFC president Dana White told Yahoo Sports that Ronda Rousey will not be competing on this summer’s mega UFC 200 event due to filming for Road House being pushed back. Of course, things are always subject to change, but that’s the story for now.
And check out this Lucha Underground promo.
We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s Smackdown and Main Event tapings from Lafayette, LA. Send them to Dave Meltzer.
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Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly 1/4/2016: More on Gawker motioning to dismiss Hulk Hogan lawsuit
More information on Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit, tons more.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 11, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Cena out with shoulder injury, New Japan stars to WWE
In the biggest news week in a long time, we’ve got a double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week, covering John Cena’s injury, New Japan stars headed to WWE, a major feature looking at the year that past in pro wrestling and MMA and the year coming up, WWE direction for WrestleMania season, Tokyo Dome coverage, Rizin debut coverage, TNA changes and UFC 195.
Our lead story talks about John Cena’s injury and the injury issues in WWE with more notes on the training program being used. All the news regarding wrestlers leaving New Japan, who’s been contacted, different roles, the various schedules for different guys, other negotiations, what led to these moves, what New Japan needs to learn from this, affects on ROH, and other ideas for New Japan to break out of its standard mentality.
UFC in 2016, the success of the women’s division, UFC business review, big fights on the horizon, the state of WWE in 2015 and 2016, different fan bases, rise of NXT, where New Japan has failed on the international scene, plus AAA, CMLL, Bellator, TNA and ROH prospects in 2016.
Full coverage of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, the big angles, Okada’s prospects as the top star, the next big programs on the horizon, big show plans for 2016, the Fanstastica Mania tour lineup and thoughts, New Year’s Dash coverage.
The changes to this year’s Royal Rumble and scout the possibilities and big matches on the horizon for Mania, and the return of Chris Jericho.
WWE Network, John Cena on Peyton Manning and HGH, football coach trying to recruit WWE for Mania, portrayal of Joseph Maroon in the “Concussion”, lots of details on new Dwayne Johnson projects, Lesnar’s schedule, a look at 50/50 booking, Reaction to HHH circumventing his own angle, February NXT, WrestleMania plans, Jericho talks current interview style, WWE looking for new stars around the world, Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament, WWE injury updates, Austin TV show.
A complete look at the debut of the Rizin promotion, details on the ratings and how it compares to WWE & UFC, the Masato vs. Kid Yamamoto show in competition, boxing in competition, Spike TV numbers, Fedor’s return, the freak show fights and what did and didn’t work on the first two shows.
UFC 195, with match-by-match coverage, poll results and business regarding the show, a look at all the close decisions and why they went the way they did.
TNA’s debut on Pop TV, the ratings, the title tournament, who was watching, the PPV show this week, the Mike Bennett debut, the James Storm return, the departure of Taryn Terrell and the good and bad of the latest relaunch.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 23, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Survivor Series review, Rock becomes Corporate Champion
A full review of WWF Survivor Series with The Rock becoming the Corporate Champion, more WCW woes, plus tons of news.
TUESDAY’S NEWS UPDATE
In case you missed it, Bob Holly was interviewed on Wrestling Observer Live today, available here for subscribers.
There are rumblings of WrestleMania heading to Los Angeles within the next several years.
WWE put Hall of Fame tickets on sale. While the full 2016 class has yet to be fully announced, Sting is the headliner. More info on ticket sales here.
ROH announced that Matt Taven is out of action for likely nine months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL, ruptured lateral meniscus and torn medial meniscus. He suffered the injury at the last PPV in losing the tag team titles to War Machine, but the hope was that it wasn’t too serious.
We’ve got a few reports that POP TV is moving from the Comcast/Xfinity’s Digital Starter tier to a Digital Preferred tier, possibly affecting TNA Impact Wrestling’s future ratings if TNA fans on Xfinity aren’t upgrading their cable package. A caller on Wrestling Observer Live last week also claimed that Spike was being moved off the Starter tier as well.
WWE
For whatever it is worth, the finish for Royal Rumble is written and whatever it is, it is going to lead to a big match at Fast Lane since they want that to be an A-level PPV and not just a stop on the way to WrestleMania.
Brock Lesnar has been announced for Raw Monday.
John Cena on his Twitter said that movement in his shoulder was very good but because he was missing a giant piece of cartilage, “this one may take a bit”. Write that one down.
WWE stock had dropped 85 cents today, down to under 16 dollars for the first time in 6 months.
UFC/MMA
MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi goes into detail about the Nick Diaz/Nevada Athletic Commission settlement.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan talks to Jonathan Snowden at Bleacher Report about the negative response to some of his sociopolitical comments.
On a slightly related MMA notes, there’s a lot of chatter today in New England Patriots-land about Jon Jones’ brother, Chandler, and a rumored overdose this past weekend. The latest is that he was hospitalized due to a bad reaction to synthetic marijuana.
MISC
Judge Pamela Campbell denied Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against them today.
Brandon Howard of Voices of Wrestling put together an analysis of TV ratings, star ratings, and attendance for WWE, ROH, NXT, and NJPW for 2015.
The AV Club did a feature looking at 14 terrible wrestling gimmicks.
Ric Flair was on Dan LeBetard’s ESPN show (47:00 minute mark) promoting an upcoming Comic-Con appearance. He talked about a lot about his robes (he said his ex-wives stole 40 or so, claiming they were gifts and said that he sold some to WWE and a belt for $100,000) and a lot of history. Sounds like it was worth checking out. (Thanks to Charles Parker)
Lubbock, Texas’ Rampage Wrestling has an event coming up this weekend.
Listen to Del “The Patriot” Wilkes on a wrestling podcast here.
In episode 4 of of the Netflix series “Making A Murderer”, Brendan Dassey complains to his mother about not being able to watch WrestleMania in jail. Bet WWE loves that tie-in.
GOUGE returns This Saturday January 16, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. for its annual Redneck Rumble in Fuquay Varina at the Draft Line Brewing Co 341 Broad St, Ste 151 Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. There will be a band afterwards and the show is free.
ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Daily pro wrestling history (01/13): Bobo Brazil wins NWA US Title from the Shiek
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