We’re looking for your thoughts on both SummerSlam as well as NXT for the weekend polls, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer
We’re looking for reports from Raw tonight in Brooklyn as far as dark matches, Superstars matches or anything else not evident from the live show.
We’re also looking for reports on the Friday night GFW tapings in Las Vegas and the Saturday GFW show in Reno.
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Providence, RI
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We’ve got a new double issue of the Observer up on the site which, on the 55th anniversary of the birth of the AWA, features a look at the history of the AWA and the career of Verne Gagne. The issue also covers the buildup to SummerSlam, the most detailed look at this year’s G-1 Climax tournament, the History of G-1, Anderson Silva’s hearing and suspension, UFC’s stadium event in Australia, the death of Roller Games heel Mizz Georgia Hase, as well as the monthly WWE & TNA business rundown.
The issue is on the site right now at August 24, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam preview, G1 Tournament and finals review, Silva trial details
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For the United States, it is $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.
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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.
Our big feature looks back at the career of Verne Gagne and the history of the most famous version of the AWA.
We look at the beginnings of the Gagne legend in wrestling and the start of his pro career. We look back at his football offers, his world junior heavyweight title win, the period that Gagne was one of the highest paid athletes in the country and how politics changed the course of his career.
We look at the Lou Thesz vs. Verne Gagne series and why it abruptly ended and why Gagne was never considered for the NWA title even though he’d have likely made a better champion than those chosen ahead of him.
We’ve got a complete history of the career of Gagne and his various honors.
We look at the war in Chicago in the 50s, the most controversial NWA title match of its era, and both the real reason and storyline reason for the formation of the AWA. We look at the first-ever AWA show, the first-ever AWA title match, the first feuds that put the AWA on the map as a significant organization and its first attempt at doing a stadium show.
We look at some of the AWA’s biggest money feuds in history, and the role the AWA played in getting two of the biggest promotions in the country at the time to join the NWA. We also look at the ironies about Gagne with his own actions and with his complaints about the actions of Vince McMahon.
We look at the era when the AWA title was one of the big three belts. We also look at the first big heyday of the AWA in the late 60s and early 70s, including a look back at a number of stadium shows in Chicago.
We look at the Hulk Hogan-fueled second AWA heyday, how the heel Hulk Hogan from the WWF became the babyface Hulk Hogan in the AWA. We look at Gagne’s role in creating Hulkamania, the first Verne Gagne retirement show, and many coming out of retirement shows. We look at the Gagne-Hogan relationship including the time Gagne tried to shoot on Hogan and what happened.
We looked at why the stories about Gagne being stupid in not putting the AWA title on Hogan show a lack of understanding of the time, and why it would have been the worst thing long-term for him. We look at the business reason why it wasn’t done.
We look at Hogan’s departure for the WWF, and why it had to happen.
We look at the AWA after Hogan, including Jesse Ventura’s departure, Gagne’s business practices that started killing his company, how competition exposed the AWA, and the hard fall at the end. We also look at the deal that kept the AWA alive a little longer, new stars who got early breaks at the end, and the end of the company.
We’ve also got a look at all the news leading into WWE’s second biggest week of the year. We look at the ESPN coverage and why, Lesnar talking Vince McMahon vs. Dana White, the irony of Lesnar calling wrestling fake and the lack of reaction from within wrestling, Jon Stewart, Learn vs. Undertaker reaction, weekend schedule, talk about next year’s SummerSlam and much more.
We also have a look at the finals of this year’s G-1 Climax tournament.
We look at how G-1 started, whose idea it was and what was its original goal. We look at the first G-1 tournament and how it related to the 25th tournament this past week.
We look at the big matches on the last three days, what appears to be the Tokyo Dome plans and the storyline behind it. We look at what will probably be New Japan’s biggest matches of the fall before the Dome, including who Kazuchika Okada will likely headline PPVs against as well as who Hiroshi Tanahashi is also likely to face in big matches this fall.
We compare the New Japan top stars to the All Japan stars of the 90s, as well as look at the G-1 business. We look at how four different shows in Tokyo did going against each other.
We also update the business of New Japan World and talk about next year’s G-1 tournament including who can go, who has to stay and who can be brought in to make the tournament even more interesting.
We update the injuries and the final standings, character changes, the ROH relationship, the real story behind Jushin Liger working for WWE this weekend, and the build for Tenryu’s retirement match.
We also have complete rundowns of all three nights at Sumo Hall, including match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
We also have the complete history of the New Japan annual heavyweight tournament dating back to 1974.
We also look at Minneapolis and WrestleMania and the last stadium show in that market 29 years ago, we look at the future of NXT, Roman Reigns talks about when he found out he wasn’t winning the title ad his reaction, when Seth Rollins found out he was winning, as well as Reigns talks about the briefcase hitting him in the head in Victoria.
We’ve got notes on two Dwayne Johnson movies, WWE filing suit against its television partner, the tenure of The Authority storyline, NXT star says he doesn’t want to move up to the main roster, and notes about pay so far for the major NXT shows.
We also have more on what happened between Paul Levesque and Chyna at Roddy Piper’s first funeral, as well as notes no who attended Piper’s second funeral. We debunk a claim made by Chyna about her WWE tenure.
We look at how a WWE PPV is going against one of the biggest television events of the year.
We update on who has worked the most matches this year, have more on the Owen Hart DVD project, an update on Tough Enough leading to the final show of the season, notes on the Nikki Bella vs. Sasha Banks champion vs. champion match, and WWE and Evolve.
We also look at all the NXT and WWE events over this past week, business notes on the show and highlights from every event.
We also look at the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s hearing on Anderson Silva’s drug test failures. We look at the comedy provided from Silva, why he was so lucky this didn’t happen after July, his excuses, evidence, penalties and commission reaction.
We’ve got our monthly business rundown of WWE and TNA, looking at house shows, ratings DVDs and merchandise. We also look at the cord cutting and how that affects cable TV, as well as the number of homes the cable networks that have wrestling, boxing and MMA are currently in.
We also look at the CMLL anniversary show main event and how quickly it came to be, a guy said to be returning in two weeks after tearing his pec, and at 54 years old, the next AAA TV taping, updates on U.S. stars returning to Mexico and a top indie star and top CMLL star feuding.
We also look at what could be UFC’s biggest show of the year, Chris Weidman wants Jon Jones, Fabricio Werdum’s next title defense against Cain Velasquez and a look at the heavyweight division, this week’s show, return of Anthony Pettis, next year’s attempt to run in Madison Square Garden, update on all the championships, a look at UFC fighter pay, a UFC fighter gets in a bar fight and tons of new UFC fights.
We also have notes on Bellator business and Scott Coker’s predictions for the biggest live event in company history as well as bringing legends of the sport to San Jose, as well as Coker’s long-term goals for the promotion, Was there really a chance for a Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz fight, the final Bellator major event of the year and the lineup, the debut of Josh Thomson and Thomson talks leaving UFC and how badly hurt he was by the Reebok deal.
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.
New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
MONDAY’S NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the latest pro wrestling news. You can send e-mail questions to tonight’s show to [email protected]
Undertaker was banged up last night in his match with Brock Lesnar. There was footage of him collapsing once he got backstage that made its way around. We don’t believe there was a serious injury and he wasn’t hospitalized. But he did go home and is not expected at Raw. There are reports of Sting and Ric Flair on Raw tonight. Flair has been in town and Sting came back to town after leaving. Flair would make sense to be used as an explanation in the Jon Stewart angle.
WWE got a ridiculous amount of mainstream for SummerSlam, a combination of the New York market, and Jon Stewart’s involvement in the main event. Last night’s show got 1 million Google searches making it No. 2 for the day, which is a level usually reserved for WrestleMania and the top tier UFC events. It was also listed as the most social show on television with 575,000 mentions.
Among the media outlets that covered SummerSlam for Stewart, and some would have anyway, included all the major New York papers including the Times, and the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America, The Today Show and lots of talk radio. The New York Times story
Tonight’s Raw is expected to be the highest rated episode of the show since the day after WrestleMania.
Regarding last night’s audio show where we speculated that Paul Heyman may have come up with the finish of last night’s Brock Lesnar match. That was not the case. The finish did change and was tweaked from whatever the original idea was, but it didn’t come from Heyman.
The idea that the cameras missed the tap originally by Undertaker was the idea. Nobody was supposed to understand what was going on and then it would be revealed after that Lesnar really should have won, but only after Undertaker won first.
The storyline is that Charles Robinson now recognizes that he blew the call in the main event. That will be addressed most likely on the show.
Michelle Runnels, the wife of Dusty Rhodes, was at the show yesterday.
Vince McMahon turns 70 today. He may get to sleep on Wednesday.
Linda McMahon attended SummerSlam and is at Raw today.
We’ve got an interview on the front page of the site with A.J. Styles talking the G-1 Climax tournament. Styles meets Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP title in the main event of the King of Pro Wrestling show on 10/12 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
Besides Kazuchika Okada, also backstage from New Japan at SummerSlam included Jushin Liger, Gedo, Tiger Hattori and Naoki Sugabayashi.
NXT Takeover was the No. 2 trending topic in Japan on Twitter at one point. The Hardcore fans were really unhappy they couldn’t see Finn Balor in the main event, since the show didn’t air on TV in Japan and WWE network isn’t legally available there. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez)
Charles Oliveira’s injury that caused a stoppage to his main event fight with Max Holloway on last night’s UFC show just 1:39 into the fight, was reported by MMAJunkie.com, citing a UFC P.R. source, as being a torn esophagus, which can be life threatening.
CBS Radio announced The Taz Show: Bodyslams and Beyond, will air for audio and video streaming from 7-9 a.m. every Monday through Friday starting on 9/14, from the CBS radio headquarters in New York. It will be available on-line starting at 10 a.m. daily. It will be a call-in show on news from around the world focusing on pro wrestling. This daily show will take the place of his weekly podcasts. Seth Neiman will co-host and produce the show.
Brian Cage will be a guest on the season premiere of From Dawn Till Dusk that airs at 9 p.m. tomorrow night on the El Rey Network.
Some photos from Thursday night’s 2K 16 party
Screen shots of the game and the WWE SuperCard game HERE and HERE
The season finale of Tough Enough is tomorrow night. It’s fan voting with ZZ vs. Josh and Amanda vs. Sara Lee, with each winner getting a one year contract for $250,000. As noted, Cesaro will be doing live matches with Josh and ZZ on the show.
Andy Hug, the legendary kickboxer who was the biggest star in that sport, passed away on this day in 2000
The former C.J. Parker in NXT debuts with New Japan Pro Wrestling on 9/4 under the name Juice Robinson.
Interviews with Sara Lee and ZZ
We had a ton of complaints about streaming issues early in the show for SummerSlam, but nothing after the start of the show.
It will be interesting to see how the NXT four-way women’s match with Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Dana Brooke and Emma airs and how much gets edited on Wednesday. It was taped on Friday and the first part of the show before the live special aired was for Wednesday’s NXT show. The finish was botched as Lynch was not supposed to be pinned, but she didn’t kick out. The impression we were given is that she was supposed to be saved by one of the heels and the person who was to save her wasn’t there. The ref, doing his job, counted the pin as that is WWE rules is you can’t as a shoot and if it’s a botch, then so be it.
I Believe in Wrestling from Saturday night in Orlando: Josh Parker b Josh Hess, Mark Silva b Ace Andrews, Brandon Scherer b Derrick Jordan, Tyranus b Chico Adams, Mike Patrick & Leo Brien b Jody Kristofferson & Gabriel Black, Rhett Giddins b Aaron Epic. Next show is 9/5.
NWA Florida Underground on Tuesday in Brandon, FL at the Yucatan Bar and Grill.
CWE has a TV taping on Friday night in Vero Beach at the Indian River Fairgrounds Expo Center.
Kissimmee Pro Wrestling on 8/29 at the Wandaliz Arena with formerly known as Ricardo Rodriguez and Santana Garrett.
Trainwreck was No. 3 at the box office this weekend in Australia.
Legacy Wrestling from Saturday night in Palmyra, PA for a Legacy vs. CZW show: Laszlo Arpad b Sean Carr, Tim Donst b Mark Angel, Jason Raditz & Eddie Page b TH Mathis & Malek, Matt Cross b David Starr, JT Dunn b Jon Gresham, Eddie Smooth b Lio Rush and Facade, Kimber Lee b Solo Darling, AR Fox b Shane Strickland.
Jay Skillet of wXw, who wrestled last on 8/8, woke up the next morning in great pain and was diagnosed with a bulging disc in his lumbar spine and a cracked disc in his tailbone. he was advised to retire from the ring, but he is wanting to return after physical therapy.
Great Canadian Wrestling on 10/3 in Oshawa, ONT at the Harmony Creek Community Hall.
NEW from Friday night in El Paso before 250 to 300 fans: Piranita b Super Mario, Pierre Montero b The American, Super Can & Zodiaco b Aydan Colt & Minotauro, Steampunk b Tirano. The main event will be rematched on 9/4 (thanks to Albert Cerda)
CIW from Saturday night in Jackson, MI: Jack Thriller b Mojo McQueen, Princess Tensai b Shayla Hyde, Bane b Baku, Chuck Wagon b Renzo Lavell, Andy Chene DCOR Grizzly House Jones, Shane Douglas & Apocalypse b Mike Knox & Malice, Phil Nitro Monohan b Greg Valentine in a dog collar match (thanks to Leonard Brand)
CTWE on 9/19 in Stratford, CT a the Baldwin Center with Rhyno vs. Antonio Thomas, plus Johnny Gargano Shane Strickland, Brian Fury and Slyck Wagner Brown.
Chaotic Wrestling Breaking Point on 10/17 in Stoneham, MA at the Stoneham High School They also have shows on 9/11 in Woburn, MA at the Elks Lodge and 9/19 in Waltham, MA at the Waltham American Legion at 3 p.m.
Lucha Toronto from yesterday in Toronto: Mr. 450 (Puerto Rico star) & Lince Dorado & Rich Swann b Angel Ortiz & Mike Draztik & Amasis, John Greed b Aiden Prince, Shelly Martinez & Movado b Idris Abraham & Alexia Nicole, Jay Cruz & Eddie Rios b Vaughan Vertigo & Gabriel Fuerza, Carter Mason b Pinkie Sanchez, Ricky Reyes b JAKA (thanks to Steven Ashe)
An interview with CMLL luchador Marco Corleone, talking Anniversario, Los Ingobernables vs El Bufete del Amor, working vs Undertaker, his whiplash injury from 2015, CMLL mascot violence, his entrance music, his new clothing line (gongut.com) and more. Also, thecubsfan talks Atlantis vs Sombra, the return of Dr Wagner and LA Park, En Busca de un Idolo final, Lucha Underground, the Cubs’ wild card chances and more.
ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)
1986 – Dandy beat Javier Cruz to win the NWA welterweight title
1986 – Fishman beat Villano III in Mexico City to win the WWF light heavyweight title
1989 – Reuben Amada beat Erika Shishedo, who later became Aja Kong, to win the Japanese jr. title, while Mitsuko Nishiwaki beat Madusa in the finals of the Grand Prix singles tournament
1991 – Mark Starr beat Ricky Fuji to win the AWA light heavyweight title
1993 – Super Delfin beat Great Sasuke in Tokyo to win the UWA welterweight title
1994 – Manami Toyota beat Kyoko Inoue in Tokyo to win the WWWA title
2011 – Demus 3:16 beat Pierrothito in Mexico City to win a CMLL minis tournament
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