DAILY UPDATE
Latest News
AEW notes: Kenny Omega video at DDT show, Jim Ross update
Velveteen Dream vs. Matt Riddle official for NXT TakeOver: New York
Former Knockouts Champion Allie signs with All Elite Wrestling
Semifinal matches set for New Japan Cup
New Japan Cup night 10 results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
March 25, 2019 Observer Newsletter: UFC PPVs to ESPN+, Wrestlemania 35 preview
WWE NXT results: Fatal five-way contender’s match
WWE SmackDown ratings up slightly this week
Latest Audio
Portland Wrestlecast: Scott Norton 3/21
WOL: DAZN, ESPN+, Kofi Kingston, WWE booking, more! 3/21
Pacific Rim: Flair vs. Fujinami at the Tokyo Dome 3/21
Left My Wallet: MLB fantasy draft with ‘Smart’ Mark Sterling 3/21
WOR: Dillashaw, UFC weekend, Smackdown, Kofi, mailbag 3/21
F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: #KofiMania
A combination of timing, fan support, and strong performances have come together to make Kofi Kingston the unlikely star of WrestleMania season.
It was only a few weeks ago where this seemed completely implausible. Kingston wasn’t even originally supposed to be in the WWE Championship match at Elimination Chamber. He was on the outside looking in, with Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, Mustafa Ali, and Jeff Hardy set to take part in the match.
WON NEWSLETTER: March 25, 2019 Observer Newsletter: UFC PPVs to ESPN+, Wrestlemania 35 preview
A look at the details and ramifications of the new UFC PPV deal with ESPN+ is the lead story in the new double issue of the Observer. Look at the winners and loses of the deal, the economics of the deal, how it affects fans, what fans are going to be left behind, the role of Dana White, and the negotiations that led to UFC looking outside of TV for PPV.
This issue has a complete rundown of the WrestleMania card as it stands, as well as notes on matches not yet announced. Also look at the secondary market for the big shows over Mania weekend, as well as All In.
Also look at the details of WWE’s planned move, update on Gallows & Anderson, Dana Warrior, a planned WWE match that fell through, why WWE stock is up, Sue Aitchison in the Hall of Fame, update on WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, Matt Hardy future, and several new WWE signings.
Read a major feature on the career of The Destroyer. Look at Dick Beyer’s transition from Syracuse line coach to The Destroyer, who came up with the gimmick, how it transpired, and the role of Fred Blassie and Jules Strongbow in the story.
Read full coverage of ROH’s 17th anniversary show, the ROH/NJPW Madison Square Garden show, and match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Also look at the suspension of T.J. Dillashaw and his vacating the UFC welterweight title, update the New Japan Cup, cover AAA Rey de Reyes and CMLL El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.
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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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE
The final four in the New Japan Cup on Saturday has Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Seiya Sanada. Because of the time difference, both the semifinals and finals will take place the same day on the West Coast in an early morning and late night show, plus there is UFC and the NCAA wrestling tournament all on that night.
Allie is no longer working for Impact. She had finished up at the last set of tapings and then negotiated with AEW. Her contract had expired with Impact and wasn’t being renewed.
Starrcast has announced on its Twitter a full series of events at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on 5/23 to 5/26. There will be the premiere of a documentary on Joey Ryan at 6:30 p.m. on 5/23. There will be an evening with Cody & Young Bucks at 8:30 p.m. On 5/24, there is a Jim Ross/Jerry Lawler show at 10 a.m., a Sting show at 10 a.m., an Eric Bischoff show at 12:30 p.m., a press conference and weigh-ins at 4 p.m., Wrestling Observer Radio at 5 p.m. and a Colt Cabana show at 7 p.m. Saturday at Noon will be a Tully Blanchard/Magnum T.A. show. Sunday at 10 a.m. will be a show about Brian Pillman as well as a Chris Jericho show, a Lita show at 12:30 p.m., Bruce Prichard at Noon, Rob Van Dam & Jerry Lynn at 2 p.m. and there are many other things yet to be announced.
Caristico and Soberano Jr. will be working the ROH shows on 4/13 in Pittsburgh and 4/14 in Columbus, OH. Flip Gordon will be returning on the 3/31 show in Baltimore.
Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon have donated $1 million to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital to help establish a family centered therapy suite.
WWE
The New Day, Rusev and Lana were all on TNT’s Drop the Mic last night.
Betonline sports book has these WrestleMania odds:
Lesnar +170
Rollins +250
Rousey +250
Lynch -500
Flair +800
Styles +125
Orton -155
Miz -400
Shane McMahon +250
HHH -200
Batista +150
Kambi has updated its over/under odds on star ratings for WrestleMania
Styles vs. Orton ****
Rousey vs. Lynch vs. Flair ****1/4
Miz vs. McMahon ***1/4
HHH vs. Batista ***3/4
Lesnar vs. Rollins ****1/4
Angle vs. Corbin **
Joe vs. Mysterio ***1/2
Murphy vs. Nese ***1/2
WWE has a promotion with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston on 9/3 for a Red Sox game with the Minnesota Twins. All ticket holders will get a special Red Sox WWE themed item.
Newsday has a story on Tony Nese.
The Becky Lynch Funko Pop was the No. 1 best seller today in the Toys & Games category on Amazon.
A story on Alexa Bliss and WrestleMania.
A story on WWE scouting talent at Penn State.
MISCELLANEOUS
Lots of people have brought up yesterday’s All Japan show headlined by Naoya Nomura vs. Kento Miyahara as one of the best shows so far this year.
Impact has sold out both its Friday and Saturday night TV tapings in Windsor, ONT at the St. Clair College Gym.
Regarding Puma King being off the MLW shows, there was clearly a misunderstanding since MLW said it was because he double-booked himself but he already had the prior bookings for Mania week before MLW ever offered those dates, and things had been worked out between MLW and High Spots regarding him working both shows. However, he was told today that MLW had taken him off those shows citing his asking price.
Weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s Bellator show from Thackerville, OK on Paramount and DAZN at 9 p.m. Eastern
Norbert Novenyl Jr. (185.1) vs. Will Lavine (185.5)
Anatoly Tokov (185.9) vs. Gerald Harris (185.5)
Valentin Moldavsky (233.7) vs. Linton Vassell (246.7)
Emmanuel Sanchez (145.1) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (146)
AXS tomorrow night has Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi and Evil vs. Zack Sabre Jr. from the New Japan Cup at 8 p.m.
KSW runs Saturday from Lodz, Poland with heavyweight champion Phil DeFries (16-6) vs. light heavyweight champion Tomasz Narkun (16-2), plus the big one has former multi-time world’s strongest man winner Mariusz Pudzianowski (12-6) facing Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Szymon Kolecki (6-1). Olympic medalists Satoshi Ishii (judo) and Damian Janikowski (wrestling) are also on the show. This show starts at 2 p.m. Eastern and airs live on DAZN.
If you’re into the great KSW videos, here are a few for Saturday’s show:
Aaron Solow will be defending his Dojo Pro title against Liam Fury on the Fale Dojo show on 3/30 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Lego actually sent a cease and desist order to Inter Species Wrestling for promoting an event for a match where Legos would be used as weapons.
CWE on 3/29 in Dauphin, Manitoba at the Watson Art Centre with Psicosis vs. Michael Allen Richard Clark. They also run 3/31 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan at the Yorkdale Central School and 4/2 in Prince Albert, SK at Parkland Hall.
The WSU promotion has changed its name from Women’s Superstars Uncensored to Women’s Superstars United.
Drago vs. Aerostar has been announced for the 4/27 Battle Championship Wrestling show in Adelaide, Australia in a AAA Latin American title match. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Neo Fight Pro is looking at sending Tae Honma and maybe one or two other women wrestlers to the U.S. in July. The company will pay for transportation, the local promoter will pay for the nightly fight fee and they are looking for DVD rights to the footage for the Japanese market for matches with their women that they could sell with Japanese subtitles. For promoters interested you can write to [email protected].
Gouge March Madness on Saturday night in Fuquay-Varina, NC at the Fainting Goat Brewery for a 2 p.m. show
Defy Wrestling on 4/13 in Portland, OR at the Hawthorne Theater features Jimmy Havoc.
First Wrestling has an iPPV tonight on FITE TV from Minneapolis at the James Bellentine Uptown VFW at 9 p.m. The show is sold out. Kyle Rae of AEW faces Priscilla Kelly, Mercedes Martinez vs. Jordynne Grace plus Penelope Ford, Jessicka Havok, Shotzi Blackheart, Solo Darling, Kimber Lee and others are wrestling on the show.
There is a new comic book called Luchaverse: Konnan & The Ambassadrs up.
LFA announced they would have four cards in May airing at 9 p.m. every Friday night on AXS TV. The shows are 5/3 from Vail, CO at the Dobson Arena, the first nationally televised MMA event from the ski resort; 5/10 in Salt Lake City at the Maverik Center; 5/24 in Branson, MO at the Convention Center and 5/31 in Prior Lake, MN at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.
AXS Fights with the LFA returns to a 9 p.m. start time after New Japan with a show tomorrow night from Dallas at the Bomb Factory with Vince Cachero (6-0) vs. Casey Kenney (10-1-1) for the interim bantamweight title.
W-1 Wrestle Wars from today in Tokyo at the Ota Ward Gym: Kuma Arashi won Rumble, Reika Saiki & Yumiko Hotta b Hana Kimura & Asuka (not the WWE Asuka), Andy Wu won three-way over Dick Togo and Ryuji Hijikata, Jun Kasai & Daiki Inaba b Shinjiro Otani& Manabu Soya, Yusuke Kodama b El Hijo del Pantera to keep the cruiserweight title, Jun Tondokoro & Shuji Kondo & Seigo Tacibana b Cima & Takehiro Yamamura & Lindaman, Daisuke Sekimoto b Shotaro Ashino, Masayuki Kono & Alejandro b Kaz Hayashi & Pegasi Iluminar to win the tag titles, T-Hawk b Jiro Kuroshio to keep the W-1 title. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and WrestlingwithDemons.net)
Kimura announced she was leaving W-1 at the end of the month.
Stardom from today in Osaka for the evening show: AZM won three-way over Natsuko Tora and Saya Iida, Xia Brookside & Rebel Kel b Starlight Kid & Saki Kashima, Bea Priestley & Konami b Jungle Kyona & Leo Onozaki, Kagetsu & Hazuki d Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki, Viper DCOR Goya Kong, Momo Watanabe & Utamii Hayashishita b Natsu Sumire & Andas Miyagi
Stardom from today in Osaka for the afternoon show: Konami won three-way over Natsuko Tora ad Leo Onozaki, Starlight Kid & Xia Brookside b Jungle Kyona & Saya Iiida, Natsu Sumire & Hazuki b Viper & AZM, Goya Kong & Rebel Kel b Kagetsu & Andras Miyagi, Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita & Bea Priestley b Mayu Iwatani & Saki Kashima & Arisa Hoshiki
Bar Wrestling on 4/10 in Los Angeles at the Bootleg Theater has Tessa Blanchard vs. Jake Atlas, Delilah Doom & Eli Everfly vs. Heather Monroe & Tyler Bateman, Joey Ryan & Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas vs Watts & Yuma & NKH, Taya Valkyrie vs. Kylie Rae, Brian Cage & Ryan Taylor vs. Luchasaurus & Brandon Cutler and PJ Black vs Andy Brown. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and WrestlingwithDemons.net)
The ROH/NJPW Festival of Honor on 4/5 at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden starts at 10 a.m. with a Meet and Greet with The Kingdom, 12:30-1:45 with a Meet and Greet with PCO & Body King, 2-3:30 with Jay Lethal.
Rey Hours vs. Ace Austin has been added t the 4/4 MLW show in Queens, NY.
Bruiser Brody round table with J.J. Diillon, Barbara Goodish and Stan Hansen.
A recorded video aired during Michael Nakazawa’s farewell show today where KennyOmega addressed the DDT fans. He said that Nakazawa is free to continue working DDT dates and hinted that he would also show up in the future as well. The full video was shared on Sanshiro Takagi’s Twitter.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: WCW/NJPW Super Show
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