The Rock returns to RAW
As pretty much expected, The Rock was the surprise return at WWE RAW last night. He was what you would have expected from him, he was The Rock. His appearance along with it being the day after the Royal Rumble led to a surge in ratings for RAW. They will, of course, look to hold onto the higher ratings leading to Fastlane and more importantly Wrestlemania in Dallas. Check out F4WOnline.com’s recap of last night’s RAW.
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped tonight in Tampa.
If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today! Our latest show posted to youtube is WOR featuring Jim Ross!
Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly 1/18/2016: Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan lawsuit denied
Gawker’s motion to dismiss the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit is denied, plus news and notes
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 25, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2015 Observer Awards Issue
The 2015 Observer awards issue, the traditional biggest issue of the year,is up on the web site now. The issue not only has the awards winners in more than 40 different categories, but all the top place winners, as well as a history with all the awards winners dating back to 1980, as well as my comments on the placing for many of the awards.
The categories are:
Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year), MMA MVP, Most Outstanding Wrestler, Most Outstanding MMA Fighter, Best Box Office Draw, Feud of the Year, Tag Team of the Year, Most Improved, Best on Interviews, Most Charismatic, Best Technical Wrestler, Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler), Best Flying Wrestler, Most Overrated, Most Underrated, Promotion of the Year, Best Weekly TV show, Pro Wrestling Match of the Year, MMA Match of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Best Non-Wrestler, Best Television Announcer, Worst Television Announcer, Best Major Wrestling show, Worst Major Wrestling Show, Best Wrestling Maneuver, Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, Worst Television Show, Worst Match of the Year, Worst Feud of the Year, Worst Promotion of the Year, Best Booker, Promoter of the Year, Best Gimmick, Worst Gimmick, Best Pro Wrestling Book and Best Pro Wrestling DVD
Update on the Royal Rumble and Rumble weekend, full coverage of Dominick Cruz’s UFC bantamweight title win and the records set on Sunday’s show and details on the New Japan/Jim Ross announcing deal as well as a look at how this came about and Jim Ross’ overall career.
2017 Wrestlemania, how Smackdown has affected overall ratings for the USA Network, update on A.J. Styles with WWE, WWE injury updates, Daniel Bryan update, more on Mauro Ranallo and Smackdown, Chris Jericho talks his return, new season of Total Divas, How talent is broken down in NXT, the heat on Josh from Tough Enough, new dates for Brock Lesnar, plus notes from the big NXT tour and all the shows, the NXT Florida shows, as well as the WWE shows in India and the WWE weekend domestic shows and all the business notes.
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: Dec 14, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2 biographies in the works about Jesse Ventura
NBC and ABC working on biographies on Jesse Ventura, a look at the end of year events for New Japan and All Japan, plus tons of news and notes.
TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
WWE had another good day riding the Royal Rumble wave, and is up 66 cents as of this writing.
WWE uploaded a recut version of AJ Styles’ Royal Rumble entrance to YouTube and their website.
We have a column on 5 new proposed rules for the Royal Rumble here. Someone please forward this to Vince McMahon.
UFC/MMA
UFC 196 has been moved to Fox Sports 1 with Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson moved up to the main event spot.
EA Sports UFC 2 developer Geoff Harrower has posted a guide to the upcoming game’s completely overhauled grappling system on the EA forums. The game starts a public (but closed) round of beta testing this Thursday. The full retail game comes out on March 15th and is available for pre-order now.
UFC has added Ross Pearson vs. Abel Trujillo to the March 19 show from Brisbane Australia.
UFC has added Demian Maia (5) vs. Matt Brown (6) has been to the May 14th show in Brazil. This will be a Fox Sports 1 Fight Night show.
Ryan Bader says that he is not looking past Rumble Johnson at a proposed title fight. Nor should he be. Bader is a fairly long shot at +260 to Johnson’s -310.
Odds for the UFC this weekend:
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (-310) vs. Ryan Bader (+260)
Josh Barnett (-132) vs. Ben Rothwell (+112)
Jimmie Rivera (-160) vs. Iuri Alcantara (+140)
Northcutt (-450) vs. Bryan Barberena (+350)
Tarec Saffiedine (-235) vs. Jake Ellenberger (+200)
Chris Weidman joined UFC COO Lawrence Epstein today in kicking off a tour to try and gain support for the legalization of MMA in New York. Good luck.
Dana White’s comments on Sage Northcutt, “Sage is a beast and he wants to fight like every other month… I love kids like that, who are hungry and fired up and love to be active.”
MISC
Knoxville News Sentinel article on the death of The Mongolian Stomper/Archie Gouldie including funeral information.
J.J. Dillon will be getting the Lou Thesz Award at this year’s Thesz/Tragos Hall of Fame awards ceremony in Waterloo, Iowa.
Former NFL player stands trial in fraud scheme, includes former wrestling announcer Ken Resnick
In relation to Dave’s comments about injuries and training, the Minnesota Vikings have fired their strength and conditioning coach following the 2015 season which included at least two players having back surgery and three players having pectoral injuries significant enough that caused them to miss significant playing time.
On this week’s Between the Sheets podcast, Sherdog’s Jordan Breen joins Kris Zellner & David Bixenspan to cover January 19-25, 1998 including Hulk Hogan/WWF rumors, WCW/NWO Souled Out, AJPW/WWF business relations growing, NJPW contract season, Antonio Pena suing everybody, ECW/WWF business relations growing, Bobo Brazil’s death, and the mass hysteria surrounding the Steve Austin/Mike Tyson angle.
The latest edition of 6:05 Superpodcast with David Bixenspan and Brian Last covers topics including the death of “Iron” Mike Sharpe, the 45th anniversary of Ivan Koloff dethroning Bruno Sammartino, the saga of “Sex Appeal” Ronnie Steal in NWA New Jersey, and much more.
If you’re planning on attending Wrestlemania 32 and would like to be part of the Empire fun, please contact our Executive Director of events, Eddie Loredo for more information. You can contact him directly at f4wfan@hotmail.com – Or check out our Empire Get-Together section on the BOARD~!
ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Daily pro wrestling history (01/26): Hart Foundation wins the WWF World Tag Team Titles
If you’re planning on attending Wrestlemania 32 and would like to be part of the Empire fun, please contact our self appointed Executive Director of events, Eddie Loredo for more information. You can contact him directly at f4wfan@hotmail.com – Or check out our Empire Get-Together section on the BOARD~!