Category: Daily Updates

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with the dark matches and Superstars matches and anything else not evident on the house shows, as well as reports on the house show tonight in Allentown (Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Tommy Dreamer & Dudleys vs. Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze, Charlotte vs. Page).

Raw tonight features both Vince McMahon appearing as well as the return of John Cena, as he faces Alberto Del Rio.  Santino Marella is also booked for TV so it looks like he’ll be a more regular comedy figure going forward.  With the house show tonight in Allentown, the names listed on that show are not expected to be on Raw tonight. 

Bryan and I will be back with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight talking the latest wrestling and MMA news as well as taking your e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

RIZIN DEBUT SHOW ON LATE MONDAY/EARLY TUESDAY FROM SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)

Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. James Thompson

Carlos Toyota vs. Kiril Sidelnikov

Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain

Hiroyoa vs. Wicky Nishiura under K-1 rules

Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Hinata with alternate rounds of MMA rules and K-1 rules

A.J. Matthews (Bellator) vs. Anatoly Tokov

Hideo Tokoro (Bellator) vs. Kizaemon Saiga

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. D.J. Taiki

Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida – heavyweight tournament reserve fight

King Mo (Bellator) vs. Brett McDermott – first round of heavyweight tournament

Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza – first round of heavyweight tournament

Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov – first round of heavyweight tournament

Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochoazka – first round of heavyweight tournament

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki

WWE is also running two shows on Tuesday, with the Smackdown tapings in Washington, DC as well as a house show in Providence (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for U.S. title; Rusev vs. Ryback, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Charlotte vs. Paige for Divas title, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze).

Wednesday has a WWE show in Toronto at the Ricoh Coliseum (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Baltimore (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks).

RIZIN FROM THE SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)

Rena vs. Jlena Valentino – women’s match

Heavyweight tournament semifinals

Brennan Ward (Bellator) vs. Ken Hasegawa

Takeru vs. Yang Ming in K-1 rules

Soo Chul Kim vs. Maike Linhares

Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei’d Tapa – women’s super heavyweight match

Akebono vs. Bob Sapp – Shoot boxing rules (boxing, kicking, takedowns, no ground work or submissions)

Andy Souwer vs. Yuichiro Nagashima

Jerome LeBanner vs. Baruto (sumo star)

Kron Gracie (Rickson’s son) vs. Asen Yamamoto (age group wrestling champion, son of former women’s world champion Miyu Yamamoto)

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh

Heavyweight tournament finals

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A look at the Slammy Awards, business of the show, who watched the show, suggestions made for improving the awards show idea, some history of where it came from and what happened at the show including injury updates.

We also have a story about both the California commission, doctors, and reps from the Association of Boxing Commissions talking about the problem of weight cutting in MMA as well as all the medical issues involved, win/loss records of bigger vs. small fighters, belief of how many fighters go into fights dehydrated, the dangers of fighting dehydrated, new weight class suggestions, the good and the bad of adding weight classes, the discussion of splitting up the heavyweight division and the ONE organization becomes the first promotion to take drastic steps in this subject with a look at their new regulations.

We also look at the life, career and significance of Lizmark, one of the biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre, who passed away this past week.  We have his background, how he got into wrestling, his life before wrestling, why he first wore a mask, how he got the name Lizmark, his long run as a constant singles champion or top contender, his induction into the Hall of Fame, his run in the glory days of AAA, Lizmark Jr. and why he fell out of favor in WCW due to loyalty to his father, his biggest rivals, the wrestlers who emulated him and his title history.

We look at what is next for NXT, the upcoming tour dates, reaction to Roman Reigns internally, Notes on the video game, Mauro Ranallo updates, WWE injury updates, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson news, lots of WWE U.K. date business notes, Japan TV update, Two new wrestlers making main roster debut for one tour in January and why.  We also have notes from all the weekend house shows.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 28, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Slammy Awards, MMA Weight cutting

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

Dwayne Johnson officially announced he would be at WrestleMania this year.  He said he was coming to set the all-time attendance record and make history.  Because of his filming the “Baywatch” movie, it was unclear if he could get the time off.  We had been told before it would be difficult, but not impossible, for him to wrestle on the show due to an issue related to insurance from one of the movies he’s doing but we will check if that has changed.

Want to make mention of the sad news today of the death of Harry Simon, a longtime reader and huge fan who contributed trivia column for this site years ago.  Simon passed away on Friday due to suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had lost his father one year ago on the same day as well as another close family member and had battled depression along with other painful physical problems over the past year.  He was 40.  He used to love to tell people he thought he was the only person ever to write for both the Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Illustrated.   Harry Simon had a wish that his friends could all get together on a date in January for a gathering.  If anyone is interested in attending the Harry Simon Memorial, please e-mail Joyce Katz at joyceworley1@cox.net  Simon was big into pro wrestling and comic books. 

John Cena was a guest host on The Today show this morning, and will be on the show again tomorrow.   His segments are HERE and HERE

Shinsuke Nakamura was announced today by ROH as appearing on its anniversary weekend shows on 2/26 and 2/27 in Las Vegas at Sam’s Town.  The 2/26 show, which will feature a number of New Japan stars (Kushida and Gedo have been announced, the Observer has also listed several other names) will be on PPV.

A Wall Street Journal article on the year in review has Ronda Rousey in the headline of the story of 2015 as The Year of Ronda, The Royals and a Horse.

RIZIN

The press conference was held earlier today for the Rizin debut show which takes place tonight/tomorrow morning at the Saitama Super Arena.  We’ve got weigh-in weights at the top.  Sakuraba, who is 46, hasn’t won a fight since 2009, but because of his fame, is the headliner.  Another ex-pro wrestling star, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, comes out of a nearly decade in retirement.  James Thompson, his opponent, weighed in at 291 pounds.  All the fighters on both tonight’s show and the New Year’s Eve show were at the press conference except Bob Sapp and Jerome LeBanner.  Sapp is in Japan and there are no problems indicated.  The word we got is that LeBanner is not in Japan and may not be showing up at all.   LeBanner is scheduled to face Baruto on the New Year’s Eve show.  It’s something to follow up on.

WWE

• Paul Levesque today announced a 1/16 afternoon show at 1 p.m. for NXT in Chicago at the Portage Theater.  They had already sold the theater out for an evening show that night.  Tickets go on sale at Noon Central time on Wednesday.  They will probably go quickly.
• Alberto Del Rio at yesterday’s show in Hartford was wearing a completely new outfit and had new ring music.  His tights were described as looking like the old Demolition tights with fake spikes and long pants.
• Ratings won’t be out until Wednesday this week due to the holidays.  It should be noted that there is a strong NFL game tonight with the Broncos vs. the Bengals.  But WWE is loading the show up with returns of both John Cena and Vince McMahon.  It also should be the start of the build for the Royal  Rumble show.
• WWE stock closed down 12 cents a share to $18.65 today.
• Dwayne Johnson bought his “Uncle Tonga,” the former Haku, a truck as a Christmas present this year.

UFC

• FS 1 tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Eastern will have a special looking at the biggest fights of 2015.
• Gegard Mousasi vs. Thales Leites will be the co-main event on the 2/27 Fight Pass card in London, underneath Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Cleeng, the iPPV provider that aired, or at least tried to air the Christmas night CMLL show from Arena Mexico, has sent out a $5 coupon code for everyone who bought last week’s show so they can get this coming Friday’s show for half price. 
• Jeff Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt, Bobby Roode, Brian Myers, Karen Jarrett and Colt Cabana are announced for the GFW show on 1/22 in Poughkeepsie at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center.
• There will be a 1/17 show in Upland, CA at the Grizzly Den with The Young Bucks, Doc Gallows, Amber Gallows, Karl Anderson and Rocky Romero.
• Lio Rush was announced for the ROH Top Prospect tournament which starts on 1/9 in Concord, NC.
• CBS Sunday morning in a Hail and Farewell segments on celebrities who had passed away this year, listed former Roller Derby star Annis “Big Red” Jensen, although none of the major wrestling names.  They also showed 15 seconds of black and white footage of her skating.  It’s notable because while she was one of the top stars in the 50 and early 60s, the biggest Derby star ever, Charlie O’Connell, passed away a few months later and got shockingly little press, although in reality, we had a bigger story on Jensen than O’Connell, but that was because very quickly after O’Connell’s death, huge wrestling stars had passed away.
• AAW from Saturday night in Merrionette Park, IL:  Davey Vega b Louis Lyndon to win Heritage title, Kongo Kong b Russ Jones, Heidi Lovelace & Zero Gravity b Bucky Collins & Zack Braxton & Eddie Machete, Hooligans b Shane Hollister & Markus Crane to keep the tgag titles, Tommaso Ciampa b Michael Elgin, Chris Hero b Colt Cabana (subbing for Davey Richards), Sami Callihan b AR Fox, Eddie Kingston b Ethan Page in a cage match to retain the AAW title.  Next show is 1/15 in Merrionette Park, IL with Eddie Kingston vs. Trevor Lee, plus Hero, Callihan and Abyss appearing.(thanks to Qumar Zaman)
• Orlando Pro Wrestling from yesterday:  Josh Parker b Chris Saint, Siniestro b Derick Jordan, Cousin Earl b Gabriel Black Santana Garrett b Tammy Lynn, Mike Reed b King Tony DaBlack, King Tony DaBlack won Battle Royal (thanks to Al Haft)
• Maryland Championship Wrestling from Saturday night in Joppa, MD:  Stockade b Rayo & Chief Homeboy RD in a handicap match, Paul Jordane & Bill Collier b Punk Rock All-Stars (Shaun Cannon & Drake Carter), Dixon Line (Rob Locke & Joe Keys) b Fed Up (C-Fed & G-Fed), Sean Studd (John’s legit son) b Fenix Fury, Oakley Woods & Bo Nekoda b Kai Katana & Sean Carr, Ethan Carter III b Brandon Scott, Lio Rush b Joey Janela, Renee Michelle b Kimber Lee to win the women’s title with Mickie James as referee, Billy Gunn b Ken Dixon to win the TV title,The Ecktourage (Eric Chapel & Dirty Money managed by Kevin Eck b Hell Cats (Jimmy Starz & Sexy Steve) in a cage match to retain the tag titles, King McBride b The Bruiser to retain the MCW title in a cage match.  Next show in four weeks features the Hardys.
• The Buffalo News had a story today about when Gorgeous George came to the city
• NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling on 1/16 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/28): Sting defeats Hogan for WCW World Title

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE shows in Hartford, CT (Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena; Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Chicago at the All-State Arena (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus for WWE title, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, New Day vs. Usos vs. Lucha Dragon for tag titles) to Dave Meltzer

Monday will be the live Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as well as a house show in Allentown.  Raw features both Vince McMahon appearing as well as the return of John Cena, as he faces Alberto Del Rio.

With the house show in Allentown, those not expected at Raw since they are billed at the house show are Kane & Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer vs. Wyatt Family, Charlotte vs. Paige for the Dias title and Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze.

RIZIN DEBUT SHOW ON LATE MONDAY/EARLY TUESDAY FROM SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)

Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. James Thompson

Carlos Toyota vs. Kiril Sidelnikov

Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain

Hiroyoa vs. Wicky Nishiura under K-1 rules

Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Hinata with alternate rounds of MMA rules and K-1 rules

A.J. Matthews (Bellator) vs. Anatoly Tokov

Hideo Tokoro (Bellator) vs. Kizaemon Saiga

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. D.J. Taiki

Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida – heavyweight tournament reserve fight

King Mo (Bellator) vs. Brett McDermott – first round of heavyweight tournament

Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza – first round of heavyweight tournament

Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov – first round of heavyweight tournament

Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochoazka – first round of heavyweight tournament

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki

WWE is also running two shows on Tuesday, with the Smackdown tapings in Washington, DC as well as a house show in Providence (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for U.S. title; Rusev vs. Ryback, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Charlotte vs. Paige for Divas title, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze).

Wednesday has a WWE show in Toronto at the Ricoh Coliseum (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Baltimore (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks).

RIZIN FROM THE SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)

Rena vs. Jlena Valentino – women’s match

Heavyweight tournament semifinals

Brennan Ward (Bellator) vs. Ken Hasegawa

Takeru vs. Yang Ming in K-1 rules

Soo Chul Kim vs. Maike Linhares

Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei’d Tapa – women’s super heavyweight match

Akebono vs. Bob Sapp – Shoot boxing rules (boxing, kicking, takedowns, no ground work or submissions)

Andy Souwer vs. Yuichiro Nagashima

Jerome LeBanner vs. Baruto (sumo star)

Kron Gracie (Rickson’s son) vs. Asen Yamamoto (age group wrestling champion, son of former women’s world champion Miyu Yamamoto)

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh

Heavyweight tournament finals

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A look at the Slammy Awards, business of the show, who watched the show, suggestions made for improving the awards show idea, some history of where it came from and what happened at the show including injury updates.

We also have a story about both the California commission, doctors, and reps from the Association of Boxing Commissions talking about the problem of weight cutting in MMA as well as all the medical issues involved, win/loss records of bigger vs. small fighters, belief of how many fighters go into fights dehydrated, the dangers of fighting dehydrated, new weight class suggestions, the good and the bad of adding weight classes, the discussion of splitting up the heavyweight division and the ONE organization becomes the first promotion to take drastic steps in this subject with a look at their new regulations.

We also look at the life, career and significance of Lizmark, one of the biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre, who passed away this past week.  We have his background, how he got into wrestling, his life before wrestling, why he first wore a mask, how he got the name Lizmark, his long run as a constant singles champion or top contender, his induction into the Hall of Fame, his run in the glory days of AAA, Lizmark Jr. and why he fell out of favor in WCW due to loyalty to his father, his biggest rivals, the wrestlers who emulated him and his title history.

We look at what is next for NXT, the upcoming tour dates, reaction to Roman Reigns internally, Notes on the video game, Mauro Ranallo updates, WWE injury updates, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson news, lots of WWE U.K. date business notes, Japan TV update, Two new wrestlers making main roster debut for one tour in January and why.  We also have notes from all the weekend house shows.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 28, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Slammy Awards, MMA Weight cutting

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

Bryan and I will be back with Wrestling Observer radio tonight talking the latest wrestling and MMA news as well as taking your e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

As noted yesterday, Vince McMahon will return for a continuation of his angle with Roman Reigns on Raw tomorrow.  I guess they felt with a big football game, they needed Vince back. 

There was another misfire on Friday night on iPPV, this time being the CMLL show from Arena Mexico.  Based on what we were told, some people who ordered early and used a Chrome brower got in, but nobody else did.  About an hour into the show, CMLL issued a statement saying the problem was the provider’s and not theirs, and gave a YouTube link for the show.  If you ordered the show you’ll get this coming Friday’s second iPPV for half price.  The show has Negro Casas vs. Super Parka in a hair vs. hair match and Kamaitachi vs. Maximo in a hair vs. hair match.  

The movie Daddy’s Home where John Cena has a cameo is projected at doing $38.8 million in its opening weekend, No. 2 behind Star Wars at $153.5 million.  Sisters, in its second week, which Cena is also in, is at No. 4 at $13.88 million.  Concussion, which debuted Friday, is projected to do $11 million at No. 6. 

The New York Times end of year obit on Roddy Piper – This is a video of Piper’s babyface turn in Georgia Championship Wrestling.  Some great work here by Piper, Don Muraco, Ole Anderson and Gordon Solie

From probably 34 years ago, seasons greetings from Gordon Solie and the gang at Georgia Championship Wrestling.  See how many of the wrestlers you can recognize.

WWE

• Nikki Bella on Twitter wrote that “End of January I will know my destiny…Till then..All I can do is…stay fearless.  This is in relation to the neck injury she’s been rehabbing of late.  At the end of January she’ll find out if she needs neck surgery for bulging discs in her neck.
• Stardust, who had been out with a neck injury, returned last night at Madison Square Garden against Titus O’Neil.
• Chris Jericho, on Twitter, when asked if he would be at WrestleMania this year, wrote, “Sadly no. Big announcement coming.”

UFC

• The New York Post talks about the proposed April show in Madison Square Garden

MISCELLANEOUS

• In Philadelphia WMCN-21 will now be airing ROH twice a week, both in the usual Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. time slow as well as a replay at 6 p.m. the next Friday (thanks to Bob Magee)
• Sami Callihan has been hired as a trainer at the Team Vision Dojo in Orlando, working with Scott Hall and Larry Zbyszko, who both train at the school.  He will be teaching one day and one day per week.  For more info go to info@teamvisiondojo.com
• A story on former AWA and WWF television producer Al DeRusha, a fixture in the glory days of the AWA and one of the first people behind-the-scenes that Vince raided
• Latin Thunder talks about spending time with Nick Bockwinkel
• In yesterday’s history, what was listed as a Red Bastien & Mario Milano IWA world title loss in San Francisco in 1967 was a fictitious match.  The IWA in that era would create fake title losses outside of Australia from time-to-time to give the impression the championships were world championships. (thank to Robert Murillo)
• Evolve talked about a major announcement regarding Terry Funk, which was hinted at being for their shows in Central Florida over Royal Rumble weekend.
• There will be a show in Upland, CA on 1/17 at the Grizzly Den featuring The Young Bucks, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson, Rocky Romero and Amber Gallows.
• Hoosier Pro Wrestling begins its 18th year of operations oN 1/9 at the 4-H Fairgrounds with TJ Kemp defending the heavyweight title against Rob Conway plus Flash Flanagan vs. Vic the Bruiser.
• Silas Young is booked for Canadian Wrestling Elite for shows on 2/19 in Fannystelle, Manitoba, 2/20 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, 2/21 in Edmonton/Sherwood Park; 2/23 in Calgary, 2/24 in Regina and 2/25 in Brandon.  He is now off the 2/26 show in Winnipeg and 2/27 show in Thunder Boy because he’s booked for the ROH PPV and TV taping that weekend in Las Vegas.
• The IWF has announced shows on 1/2, 1/16 and 1/30 at the IWF Centre, in Nutley, NJ.
• CMLL on Tuesday night in Guadalajara:  Capitan Cobra & Magica Blanca & Robin b Mr. Apolo & Cholo & Mercenario, Estrellita & Lluvia & Silueta b Dallys & Reyna Isis & Zeuxis, Escandalo & Kamaitachi & Bobby Z b Delta & Esfinge & Rey Cometa, Atlantis & Blue Panther & Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero & Kraneo & Ripper, Marco Corleone b Ultimo Guerrero (thanks to Kris Zellner)
• RFVideo.com is having an end of the year sale with up to 40% off selected titles.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/27): Kevin Nash, cattle prod & bad booking end Goldberg’s unbeaten streak

F4W Radio Best of 2015

Things will be getting back to normal as the holiday season wraps up here. Hope everyone had a great past few days.  Here it is! Dewe’s BEST OF 2015 compilation for subscribers, a look at the 50 greatest audio moments on the website in the past year.  It has been a huge hit in years past.  

Sunday we will have Wrestling Observer Live, Wrestling Observer Radio, After Dark Radio, the Bryan & Vinny Show looking at NWA/WCW from 30 years ago this week, and more.  You can check out the NEW After Dark Radio Show site right now which has info on how you can participate in Sunday’s show by emailing me your best paranormal stories.

DRAGON GATE FINAL GATE IPPV ATNiconico.comLATE TOMORROW NIGHT/EARLY SUNDAY MORNING

Lindaman & Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida vs. Don Fujii & Yosuke Santa Maria & Nosawa

Jimmy K-Ness & Jimmy Kanda vs. U-T & Kzy

Masakatsu Funaki vs. ? in a Colosseum rules ten round match

Kotoka vs. Eita for the Open the Brave Gate title

Yamato & Naruki Doi vs. Gamma & Punch Tominaga for Open the Twin Gate tag tiles

Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa & T-Hawk vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu vs. Naoki Tanizaki & Cyber Kong & Mondai Ryu vs. Ryo Saito & Jimmy Susumu & Genki Horiguchi for the Open the Triangle Gate titles

Shingo Takagi vs. Cima for the Open the Dream Gate title

Sunday has WWE shows in Hartford, CT (Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena; Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Chicago at the All-State Arena (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus for WWE title, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, New Day vs. Usos vs. Lucha Dragon for tag titles).

Monday will be the live Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as well as a house show in Allentown.  With the house show in Allentown, those not expected at Raw since they are billed at the house show are Kane & Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer vs. Wyatt Family, Charlotte vs. Paige for the Divas title and Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze.

RIZIN DEBUT SHOW ON LATE MONDAY/EARLY TUESDAY FROM SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)

Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. James Thompson

Carlos Toyota vs. Kiril Sidelnikov

Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain

Hiroyoa vs. Wicky Nishiura under K-1 rules

Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Hinata with alternate rounds of MMA rules and K-1 rules

A.J. Matthews (Bellator) vs. Anatoly Tokov

Hideo Tokoro (Bellator) vs. Kizaemon Saiga

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. D.J. Taiki

Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida – heavyweight tournament reserve fight

King Mo (Bellator) vs. Brett McDermott – first round of heavyweight tournament

Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza – first round of heavyweight tournament

Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov – first round of heavyweight tournament

Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochoazka – first round of heavyweight tournament

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki

WWE is also running two shows on Tuesday, with the Smackdown tapings in Washington, DC as well as a house show in Providence (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for U.S. title; Rusev vs. Ryback, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Charlotte vs. Paige for Divas title, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze).

Wednesday has a WWE show in Toronto at the Ricoh Coliseum (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Baltimore (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks).

RIZIN FROM THE SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)

Rena vs. Jlena Valentino – women’s match

Heavyweight tournament semifinals

Brennan Ward (Bellator) vs. Ken Hasegawa

Takeru vs. Yang Ming in K-1 rules

Soo Chul Kim vs. Maike Linhares

Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei’d Tapa – women’s super heavyweight match

Akebono vs. Bob Sapp – Shoot boxing rules (boxing, kicking, takedowns, no ground work or submissions)

Andy Souwer vs. Yuichiro Nagashima

Jerome LeBanner vs. Baruto (sumo star)

Kron Gracie (Rickson’s son) vs. Asen Yamamoto (age group wrestling champion, son of former women’s world champion Miyu Yamamoto)

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh

Heavyweight tournament finals

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A look at the Slammy Awards, business of the show, who watched the show, suggestions made for improving the awards show idea, some history of where it came from and what happened at the show including injury updates.

We also have a story about both the California commission, doctors, and reps from the Association of Boxing Commissions talking about the problem of weight cutting in MMA as well as all the medical issues involved, win/loss records of bigger vs. small fighters, belief of how many fighters go into fights dehydrated, the dangers of fighting dehydrated, new weight class suggestions, the good and the bad of adding weight classes, the discussion of splitting up the heavyweight division and the ONE organization becomes the first promotion to take drastic steps in this subject with a look at their new regulations.

We also look at the life, career and significance of Lizmark, one of the biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre, who passed away this past week.  We have his background, how he got into wrestling, his life before wrestling, why he first wore a mask, how he got the name Lizmark, his long run as a constant singles champion or top contender, his induction into the Hall of Fame, his run in the glory days of AAA, Lizmark Jr. and why he fell out of favor in WCW due to loyalty to his father, his biggest rivals, the wrestlers who emulated him and his title history.

We look at what is next for NXT, the upcoming tour dates, reaction to Roman Reigns internally, Notes on the video game, Mauro Ranallo updates, WWE injury updates, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson news, lots of WWE U.K. date business notes, Japan TV update, Two new wrestlers making main roster debut for one tour in January and why.  We also have notes from all the weekend house shows.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 28, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Slammy Awards, MMA Weight cutting

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

As noted on the front page, John Cena returns to Raw Monday and it is the first Raw sellout in the US since SummerSlam weekend.

Irv Muchnick has his review of the Concussion film up here.  He says it was better than he expected.  I believe Dave will give his review on our next edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

6 ways Donald Trump’s wrestling career previewed his campaign

WWE

• Thomas Golianopoulus has an article in the New York Times about John Cena and other pro-wrestlers “putting a headlock on Hollywood.”  Cena on his role in “Sisters” with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: “You’ve got to remember that I’m a recurring character on a weekly episodic television show. Right away I said, ‘Yes,’ because the do-gooder John Cena is not a guy that’s going to sell you heroin.” Golianopoulus’s stuff is always really good, so check this out.
• Detroit News article on Xavier Woods and his trombone.

UFC/MMA

• Dave’s article on the buyrate for Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm is up at MMAFighting.com.
• UFC Free Fight: Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim, this fight earned Condit his original welterweight title shot.
• Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha look to be coaches for the next season of The Ultimate Fight. Presumably this would also mean they’d fight for the Strawweight title either on the undercard of UFC 200 or more likely in a headline position at the TUF 23 Finale during international Fight Week.
• On UFC Tonight, Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier discussed concerns over CM Punk’s long-delayed UFC debut.

OTHER PRO WRESTLING

• 30 years later: The car crash that killed Tyler, Lefebvre and Desbois
• If you didn’t see it, here is the Brutal Bob Evans vs. Cheeseburger match from the ROH Final Battle pre-show.  Brutal Bob appeared on this year’s Bryan & Vinny Christmas Show and when the dust cleared, Bryan owes him $100.
• This weekend’s ROH on Sinclair, which airs on Comet TV on Wednesday, is a “best of” show but as a year-end best of show, it was pretty great. The Jay Lethal/Jay Briscoe title vs title match from earlier this year aired in it’s entirety including a five minute hype video that is among the best you’ll ever see. They also did random holiday based skits with various ROH stars between clips that were very entertaining.
• The new issue of Fighting Spirit Magazine is out and pretty loaded, with the annual FSM 50 wrestler ranking, Jim Cornette’s column goes longform on the death of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, our own David Bixenspan profiling Nick Bockwinkel with quotes from Larry Hennig, Baron Von Raschke, and Larry Zbyszko, Rob Naylor on ECW’s last PPV, John Lister profiling Catweazle, and much more. In the U.K., it’s available at WH Smith’s, and online, the best way for everyone worldwide to check it out is Pocketmags, since it’s compatible with just about every device.
• On the latest 6:05 Superpodcast, David Bixenspan and Brian Last talk about the Poffos’ ICW, tape,libraries, why D-Lo Brown proclaimed himself “The Master of Sex,” Christmas pro wrestling cards. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pro Wrestling, and more.
• Chyna was billed as appearing at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show tonight but pulled out claiming flu-like symptoms.  They announced she will be replaced by Billy Gunn, Mickie James and Magnus.
• Nigerian wrestler Power Lee has received a special blessing ahead of his next bout. He’s seemingly the latest Nigerian star in the tradition of Power Mike and Power Uti.
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune talks to former AWA TV producer Al DeRusha about his time in pro wrestling.
• Masked Republic’s LuchaShop.com has a post-Christmas sale as well as new items like a limited edition Rey Misterio Jr vs. Psicosis print with autographed versions available. Coupon code BIX takes another 10% off your order.
• Big article on Nick Bockwinkel from the Scene newspaper.  I would go as far as to say it is quite awesome.
• DGUSA.TV has a big sale on all Evolve, Dragon Gate USA, etc. DVDs and Blu-Rays.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/26): Austin Aires wins the ROH World Title

We want to wish everyone reading and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season.  And let’s do that with The 2015 Bryan and Vinny Christmas Show!

Thanks to everyone for the nice words on the Lizmark story in the new issue and also want to thank Steve Sims for his help with the story.

Smackdown will be replayed tonight on Syfy in the usual 8 p.m. time slot even though it aired live on the USA Network.  The lineup has:

• Kofi Kingston & Big E vs. Lucha Dragons for tag titles
• Dudleys & Kane & Ryback vs. Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman
• Usos vs. Alberto Del Rio & Rusev
• Neville & Titus O’Neil vs. The Ascension – This match has some of the heaviest stakes in wrestling history as if The Ascension wins, Christmas is canceled.
• Charlotte vs. Brie Bella non-title
• Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler for the IC title – This match was very good.  

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

A look at the Slammy Awards, business of the show, who watched the show, suggestions made for improving the awards show idea, some history of where it came from and what happened at the show including injury updates.

We also have a story about both the California commission, doctors, and reps from the Association of Boxing Commissions talking about the problem of weight cutting in MMA as well as all the medical issues involved, win/loss records of bigger vs. small fighters, belief of how many fighters go into fights dehydrated, the dangers of fighting dehydrated, new weight class suggestions, the good and the bad of adding weight classes, the discussion of splitting up the heavyweight division and the ONE organization becomes the first promotion to take drastic steps in this subject with a look at their new regulations.

We also look at the life, career and significance of Lizmark, one of the biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre, who passed away this past week.  We have his background, how he got into wrestling, his life before wrestling, why he first wore a mask, how he got the name Lizmark, his long run as a constant singles champion or top contender, his induction into the Hall of Fame, his run in the glory days of AAA, Lizmark Jr. and why he fell out of favor in WCW due to loyalty to his father, his biggest rivals, the wrestlers who emulated him and his title history.

We look at what is next for NXT, the upcoming tour dates, reaction to Roman Reigns internally, Notes on the video game, Mauro Ranallo updates, WWE injury updates, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson news, lots of WWE U.K. date business notes, Japan TV update, Two new wrestlers making main roster debut for one tour in January and why.  We also have notes from all the weekend house shows.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 28, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Slammy Awards, MMA Weight cutting

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

The UFC announced that they were informed by USADA of a potential test failure involving Gleison Tibau from a test taken on 11/7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil on the day of his fight with Abel Trujillo.  This was the second time USADA has informed the UFC of a potential test failure involving Tibau.  USADA will be in charge of discipline in this case and has yet to make a final ruling.  It will be interesting to see if this second positive means a longer than two year suspension and if the two suspensions will be added to each other or served concurrently. 

Pro Wrestling NOAH, coming off their big show yesterday in Tokyo, announced that Yoshinobu Kanemaru returns to the promotion on its 1/9 show at Korakuen Hall.  They also announced a major show on 1/31 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym with the Naomichi Marufuji vs. Takashi Sugiura grudge match that was set up in yesterday’s angle where Sugiura turned on NOAH and joined Suzuki-gun.  I was told yesterday’s Minoru Suzuki vs. Marufuji match was a clear level above their previous matches and it was said to be Marufuji’s best match in years. 

PWInsider reported that Lucha Underground may be doing a show in the Dallas area during WrestleMania week.  Some of the talent has been contacted that they may be needed that week and thus to not book themselves.

“CONCUSSIONS”

A story on the movie Concussions

Movie notes we’ve been told:  The movie also has some pacing issues- it clocks in at just over 2 hours, and yet jumps between the deaths of Mike Webster (2002), Justin Strzelczyk (2004) and Andre Waters (2006) in short order. I’d probably give it 3 stars out of 4, definitely worth a watch and an engrossing dramatic depiction of a story that you both know well.

Chris Nowinski does not get mentioned in the movie. The film portrays Will Smith’s character (Dr. Bennet Omalu) as the person who asks for and receives Andre Water’s family’s consent to have his brain tissue examined post-mortem, instead of Chris. The Sports Legacy Institute is not mentioned at all in the film or the post-script.

Dr. Joseph Maroon, played by Arliss Howard, does not come off well at all. Smith/Omalu notices a correlation between the deceased players and documentation noting Maroon as a medical provider. Baldwin’s character (former Steelers’ Doctor Julian Bailes) arranges a meet between he, Omalu and Maroon to discuss the evidence of CTE (in what I believe is Maroon’s only in-person scene in the movie). Maroon rebuffs Omalu’s attempts at sharing the information, leading to the scene from the trailers where Omalu tearfully implores someone to “tell the truth.” In the movie, it is Maroon that he is speaking to. Maroon doesn’t come off the worst in the film (that probably falls to Roger Goodell), but he is clearly represented as acting as a barrier on behalf of the NFL.  

WWE

• It’s worth going out of your way to see the four-way tag match on NXT this week.
• There will be ratings delays over the next couple of weeks because of the holidays.  Raw ratings next week will hopefully be up on Wednesday.  TNA ratings for Tuesday are expected up on Thursday.  It will probably be the same next week and then get back to normal the week after.
• The stock continued a big pre-Christmas week, up 25 cents per share today to close at $18.77.
• The WWE Network airs a Swerved marathon that started at 4 p.m. today.  They will also be airing a Table for 3 marathon tomorrow.
• A story on pro wrestlers working on their Improv skills at clubs in Southern California, including Dolph  Ziggler.

TNA

• TNA is uploading 12 weeks worth of Impact, the entire world title tournament, with a new episode uploaded daily at 9 a.m. Eastern at ImpactWrestling.com starting tomorrow morning.  This will run until 1/4, the day before the tournament concludes on Pop TV from Bethlehem, PA.

UFC/MMA

• Miesha Tate predicts Holly Holm will destroy Ronda Rousey in the rematch in a New York Post story
•  Some upcoming UFC television notes

Ultimate Insider airs on Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern on FS 1 with Megan Olivi.  There will be stories with Robbie Lawler preparing for his title defense against Carlos Condit, Roy Nelson’s reactions watching the Travis Browne vs. Andrei Arlovski match of the year candidate and Joe Rogan talks about upcoming fights in 2016.

The Countdown too UFC 195 airs Sunday at 4:30 p.m on FS 1, covering Lawler vs. Condit and Andrei Arlovski vs. Stipe Miocic.

A Fights of the Year special will be on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on FS 1

UFC 189, one of the biggest shows of the year, with Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes and Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald, will air on New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m. on FS 1

Karyn Bryant, Daniel Cormier, Kenny Florian, Tyron Woodley and Ariel Helwani will be the crew for FS 1 covering UFC 195, which takes place a week from Saturday on PPV.

• UFC has signed a new TV deal in the Philippines with on the Hyper Channel starting in November.
• Emanuel Yarbrough, who passed away on Monday, when he was only 400 or so pounds, takes on Tom Erikson, who also had a long career in MMA after being one of the top wrestlers in the world, this took place at the National JC finals
• The World Series of Fighting has a Greatest Hits show on Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern hosted by Chael Sonnen, Bas Rutten and Todd Harris.  They will announce the company’s Fight of the Year from a fan vote, Finish of the Year and Upset of the Year.  You can vote for Fighter of the Year.
• AP ran a story about Campbell McLaren’s Combate Americas promotion
• Colleen Schneider vs. Raquel Pa’apaluhi has been added to the next Invicta show on 1/16 in Costa Mesa, CA.  This is another Fight Pass show.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Shawn Michaels has been added to the Pro Wrestling Icons and Comic Book Collectors fanfest on 4/16 in conjunction with Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.  Michaels will be there that day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with $100 getting you one photo and one autograph.  Photos and autographs separately are $60.  VIP tickets are $300 that get you in front of the line and four autographs.  More info
• Matt Farmer has an independent wrestling history story
• A story on a 19-year-old boxer who passed away due to injuries in Michigan this past week
• TCW has announced a $4.99 per month subscription service.
• Smash vs. CZW on 1/16 in Toronto at the Franklin Horner Community Center.  Among the matches are Johnny Gargano vs. Sami Callihan, Drew Gulak vs. Tarik, Pepper Parks & BLK Jeez & Mike Rollins vs. Brent Banks & Super Smash Brothers, D.J. Hyde vs. Scotty O’Shea and Jonathan Gresham vs. Tyson Dux.
• Infinity Pro Wrestling on 1/30 in Bloomington, IN at the National Guard Armory.
• Magen Boys Entertainment on 1/27 in Vaughan, ONT at The Avenue Banquet Hall featuring Nikolai Volkoff. 
• Barrie Wrestling on 1/30 at Ferris Lane Community Church in Barrie, ONT.
• IHWE on 1/30 in Crowley, TX with Charlie Haas & Ray Rowe, managed by Black Bart, vs. Jax Dane & Rodney Mack, plus Blue Pants Leva Bates.  They also have a 3/31 show in Fort Worth hosted by Jim Cornette.
• Caristico & La Mascara vs Cibernetico & Sharly Rockstar headline Arena Neza on Christmas day.  There are a ton of shows on Friday in the Mexico City area including an iPPV from Arena Mexico with 12 masked men in a cage and last man left in the cage loses his mask with Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge, Fuego, The Panther, Pegasso, Triton, Cancerbero, Puma King, Sangre Azteca, Super Comando and Tiger.
• The Tijuana Christmas show at Auditorio Municipal has Dr. Wagner Jr. & El Hijo del Rey Misterio & Super Muneco vs. Damian 666 & Pakal & Rey Misterio II, plus Extreme Tiger (Tigre Uno in TNA) & Rey Hours (Lucha Underground) vs. Bestia 666 & X-Fly. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
• Papadon was announced as the third man in the ECWA Super 8 tournament this year along with Davey Richards and Jason Kincaid for the show on 4/13 in Woodbury Heights, NJ.
• Matt Tremont has opened “Bulldozer’s Collectibles, ” a pro wrestling and sports memorabilia store inside Mike’s Custom Airbrush at the Berlin Farmers Market at 41 Clementon Rd., in Berlin, NJ off entrance B-10.  It will be open Thursdays from  10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  For more info you can call 609-289-7198.
• My good friend, longtime reader and sometime guest Jeff Bukantz (likely the only person ringside for Bruno Sammartino vs. Ivan Koloff, Pedro Morales vs. Ivan Koloff and Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia title matches) will be doing the color for the Boston Grand Prix fencing championships on NBC Sports on 1/3 at 5 p.m. Eastern.  Whenever he does commentary, he almost always sneaks some interesting wrestling references.
• ECCW on 1/16 in Vancouver, BC at the Commodore Ballroom with a show where you have to be 19 or older to attend with a cage match main event.  They also run 1/2 at the Russian Community Centre in Vancouver.
• All Star Wrestling on 1/29 in Surrey, BC at the Alice McKay Building at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds with Azeem the Dream & Christopher Ryseck vs. Jinder Mahal & Gama Singh Jr.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/24): Rock & Roll Express win SMW Tag Team Titles

UFC Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 is their “Best of 2015” special. Hosts Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier, along with Karyn Bryant and Ariel Helwani, take a look at the UFC’s best fights and fighters in 2015, and preview the biggest bouts coming up in 2016.

NXT at 8:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network consists of the non-TakeOver matches taped last week in London: The Hype Bros vs. The Vaudevillains vs. Chad Gable & Jason Jordan vs. Blake & Murphy, Elias Samson vs. Bull Dempsey, and Sami Zayn vs. Tye Dillinger.

WWE Tribute to the Troops.at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network is the show that was taped two weeks ago in Jacksonville.

ROH at midnight ET/PT on COMET has Caprice Coleman vs. Will Ferrara, The All Night Express vs. Donovan Dijak & Ken Phoenix, and a ten man tag with Mark Briscoe, Moose, Roderick Strong, Cedric Alexander, and Matt Jackson vs. Cliff Compton, Jay Briscoe, Adam Page, Cheeseburger, and Jay Lethal.

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Conor McGregor winning the UFC featherweight title, the story behind UFC 194 and the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title are the lead stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with coverage of so many major shows over the past week.

We look at McGregor’s financial  goals, the business of UFC 194 and the records set, early PPV projections, what is next for McGregor, TV viewership numbers in the U.S. and Brazil, , as well as the path of McGregor to being the No. 1 male star in the promotion.  We look at Frankie Edgar as a contender, potential of UFC 200 if Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are booked on the same show, the last two PPV shows, Rousey vs. McGregor as draws, Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title win, looking at the Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman judging and the future of the middleweight division.

We also look at the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title, the increased viewership on Raw, where the new viewers came from and how viewership differed from recent weeks.  We look at the reaction to Reigns, and the storylines that led to that reaction.

We’ve also got complete rundowns on WWE TLC, NXT Takeover, as well as all three UFC events, including match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings and more.

We also have a look at Mauro Ranallo’s signing with WWE, his background, how the deal came to fruition and the path from announcing pro wrestling on TV while a teenage on national television in  Canada to the WWE 30 years ago, with stops in kickboxing, MMA and boxing in between.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 21, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Conor McGregor wins UFC Featherweight title, Roman Reigns WWE Champion

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

WWE/Pro Wrestling

• John Cena, who returns on Raw Monday with a US Title match versus Alberto Del Rio, will guest-host the Today Show on Monday and Tuesday.
• In what has turned out to be news to several in TNA, last night’s show is up not only on demand but in HD on the POP TV website.  POP is available in more of the country than Destination America, but if you don’t get the channel, last night’s show is up there and hopefully all future shows will be as well.
• We also got a lot of complaints about the picture quality of the TNA show last night.  Because POP TV used to be the TV Guide channel, the channel guide is still up there and takes up the bottom ⅓ of the screen.  We have gotten reports from people who did not see the channel guide, and we are told that there are two POP TV channels, one with the channel guide and one without.  You can check to see if you have both on your cable system.  Some people do, but most seem to have either one or the other.
• It also appears TNA will be airing a live PPV on January 8th at 8 PM.  It’s titled TNA One Night Only LIVE from Bethlehem, PA.
• Jeff Hardy was on Ric Flair’s podcast and said there was a “huge possibility” that he might return to WWE down the road.  He said he and Matt would love to end their careers in WWE and have one more series of matches with the Dudley Boys.  
• Blog on the Forbes site says Brock Lesnar is the Superstar of the Year.
• Mike Tenay talks breaking into pro-wrestling plus his Las Vegas gambling podcast.
• LA Weekly has a story on WWE wrestlers on the comedy scene, including Dolph Ziggler.
• Although it’s a holiday week, the only changes to the programming schedule are as follows:

* The Christmas Eve Bryan and Vinny Show will be our annual CHRISTMAS SHOW, two hour of drunken revelry and special guests

* Christmas Day’s Wrestling Observer Live will be a replay

* After Dark Radio Sunday will be a replay

All other shows will be on as scheduled.

• Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle and NFL Players Association President Eric Winston has joined Chicago Bears legend and 1985 Super Bowl champion Gary Fencik in pledging his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation for research as part of ‘My Legacy‘.  The campaign was launched to recognize individuals who have made a lasting contribution to research and awareness of concussions and CTE, and to encourage others to participate and create their own legacies.

UFC/MMA

• ONE Championship has banned weight cutting by dehydration stemming from the death of flyweight Yang Jian Bing before their last event. If they can make this work, then it will become the model for all other promotions and regulatory bodies. UFC fighter Joe Lauzon commented on YouTube, but didn’t seem to understand that ONE is trying to get fighters at their walking weights and not keep fighting at their current divisional weight. That said, he made some good point about whether ONE will be able to effectively police this.
• From our own site, here’s are more in-depth look at the specifics of the new regulations.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/21): Jeff Jarrett wins USWA Southern Title

WWE Smackdown is live tonight on USA Network, and features Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler and Tag Champions The New Day vs. The Lucha Dragons. Our Steve Khan will have your live coverage starting at 8 PM EST. 

WWE is aware that last night’s Slammy Awards weren’t the most exciting of all time, made worse by the fact that several winners weren’t in the building.  There are discussions today about tweaking the format, including the idea of doing voting in advance so if someone wins and won’t be there, they can air a pre-tape.  Bryan and Mike talk a lot about this and other potential options on today’s new Wrestling Observer Live radio show and also Jeff Hamlin’s live coverage from last night.

And no, the Slammys are not rigged.  Poor Joey Styles, wasting two days of his life arguing about this with people on Twitter.  Actually, that’s his fault.  Check out full results from last night.

Impact has a soft debut on POP TV tonight with a best-of show that was originally going to air on Destination America before DA pulled the plug.  Next week will be a look at the TNA World Title tournament.  The actual launch that they will be plugging and promoting takes place in two weeks.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH’S FINAL BIG SHOW OF THE YEAR IS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE TOKYO OTA WARD GYM

Yoshinari Ogawa & Hitoshi Kumano vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Kaito Kiyomiya

Mohammed Yone & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya & Akitoshi Saito vs. Quiet Storm & Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH

Kenou vs. Hajime Ohara

Maybach Taniguchi vs. Go Shiozaki

Takashi Sugiura vs. Takashi Iizuka no DQ

Shelton Benjamin vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge vs. Desperado & Taka Michinoku for GHC jr. tag titles

Taichi vs. Taiji Ishimori for GHC jr. title – Ishimori puts up his hair and name against the belt

Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Colt Cabana & Chris Hero for GHC tag titles

Minoru Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji for GHC title

The USA Network will air Tribute to the Troops on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., a taped show from Jacksonville.

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Conor McGregor winning the UFC featherweight title, the story behind UFC 194 and the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title are the lead stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with coverage of so many major shows over the past week.

We look at McGregor’s financial  goals, the business of UFC 194 and the records set, early PPV projections, what is next for McGregor, TV viewership numbers in the U.S. and Brazil, , as well as the path of McGregor to being the No. 1 male star in the promotion.  We look at Frankie Edgar as a contender, potential of UFC 200 if Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are booked on the same show, the last two PPV shows, Rousey vs. McGregor as draws, Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title win, looking at the Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman judging and the future of the middleweight division.

We also look at the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title, the increased viewership on Raw, where the new viewers came from and how viewership differed from recent weeks.  We look at the reaction to Reigns, and the storylines that led to that reaction.

We’ve also got complete rundowns on WWE TLC, NXT Takeover, as well as all three UFC events, including match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings and more.

We also have a look at Mauro Ranallo’s signing with WWE, his background, how the deal came to fruition and the path from announcing pro wrestling on TV while a teenage on national television in  Canada to the WWE 30 years ago, with stops in kickboxing, MMA and boxing in between.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 21, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Conor McGregor wins UFC Featherweight title, Roman Reigns WWE Champion

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

• If you are a producer at radio station and are interested in airing Wrestling Observer Live, either the 12 PT/3 ET live show or the replay edition at 5 PT/8 ET, email bryan@wrestlingobserver.com and he can put you in touch with Darren Peck at Sports Byline USA.  Obviously, if you run a wrestling website you can “syndicate” the show yourself using the TuneIn Radio link available here and on the front page of this website.
• Dean Ambrose needed six staples in his head following his cage match with Sheamus on Raw Monday night.

WWE/Pro Wrestling

• NXT tomorrow has the return of Sami Zayn vs. Tye Dillinger, THE DRIFTER Elias Samson vs. Bull Dempsey, plus Chad Gable & Jason Jordan vs. Blake & Murphy vs. Vaudevillains vs. Hype Bros.
• 2K Sports released a new DLC pack for WWE 2K16 today in the form of the Legends Pack. It includes The Big Boss Man, Trish Stratus, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, Lita, and Mr. Perfect. You can purchase it for $7.99 or as part of the DLC season pass, which is $24.99 and gets you just everything 2K will release. There’s a trailer for the DLC pack on WWE’s YouTube channel. They also released a new update for the WWE Supercard mobile game focusing on older wrestlers.
• Maryland Championship Wrestling runs this Saturday in Joppa, MD with Ethan Carter III, Ashley Massaro, Chyna, the debut of Sean Studd (Big John Studd’s son), and more.
• Wrestle Kingdom 10 Preview Series: The Cleaner vs. The Time Splitter
• Jacques Rougeau joins the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast. On not being able to use the Mountie gimmick in Canada: “I was doing such a great job of making The Mounties look bad in Canada that they suspended me on TV and I wasn’t allowed to be used on TV anymore. So the only way I was allowed to wrestle was if I took off the sleeves, the shirt and kept the black pants and they would announce me as Jacques Rougeau. Everyone knew me as Jacques Rougeau anyway so that was fun. I think [the RCMP] took it all a little too serious. Like in movies and everywhere else there is always dirty Cops or bad Cops but they don’t ban the movie because the Cop is crooked. But I think that my character was becoming so strong that eventually they decided and voted on it and sent a letter to Vince saying that I wasn’t allowed to wrestle on TV in Canada anymore. Eventually and after that they let that character go because it wasn’t helping me at all so I took a year off and came back a year and a half later with Carl Ouellet as The Quebecers ithe the same suit and our music was ‘We’re not the Mounties.’ So I think Vince wanted to get back at them in a way.“

UFC/MMA

• Dave’s UFC on Fox postmortem is up at MMAFighting.com.
• Gina Carano, who trained with Holly Holm in the past, told FoxSports.com she warned Dana White that Holm was legit before the UFC signed her.
• Someone stole Nick Diaz’s $50,000 triathlon bicycle. He posits that he may “need to start buying guns like my brother[.]”
• World Series of Fighting is running a ‘Best Of 2015’ show on NBC this Sunday, 12/27 at 2 PM EST.
• Here’s a compilation of UFC hat thieves from The Chive.
• Speaking of The Chive, they also have a video of a 62-year-old in an MMA fight.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/21): Jeff Jarrett wins USWA Southern Title

We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s UFC show, Friday night’s ROH Final Battle and Wednesday night’s NXT Takeover, 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 also looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Winnipeg (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens, yesterday’s ROH TV tapings in Philadelphia and today’s 2CW shot at Dave Meltzer

Monday will be the Slammy Award edition of Raw from the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Smackdown will air live on the USA Network at 8 p.m. on Tuesday from Des Moines.  The New Day vs. Lucha Dragons for the tag team titles has been announced.

The USA Network will air Tribute to the Troops on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., a taped show from Jacksonville.

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly 12/7/2015: McDevitt comments on concussion lawsuits
Details on Jerry McDevitt’s comments on the ongoing concussion lawsuits against WWE, Alan discusses potential candidates for 2015’s best rookie.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Conor McGregor winning the UFC featherweight title, the story behind UFC 194 and the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title are the lead stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with coverage of so many major shows over the past week.

We look at McGregor’s financial  goals, the business of UFC 194 and the records set, early PPV projections, what is next for McGregor, TV viewership numbers in the U.S. and Brazil, , as well as the path of McGregor to being the No. 1 male star in the promotion.  We look at Frankie Edgar as a contender, potential of UFC 200 if Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are booked on the same show, the last two PPV shows, Rousey vs. McGregor as draws, Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title win, looking at the Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman judging and the future of the middleweight division.

We also look at the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title, the increased viewership on Raw, where the new viewers came from and how viewership differed from recent weeks.  We look at the reaction to Reigns, and the storylines that led to that reaction.

We’ve also got complete rundowns on WWE TLC, NXT Takeover, as well as all three UFC events, including match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings and more.

We also have a look at Mauro Ranallo’s signing with WWE, his background, how the deal came to fruition and the path from announcing pro wrestling on TV while a teenage on national television in  Canada to the WWE 30 years ago, with stops in kickboxing, MMA and boxing in between.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 21, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Conor McGregor wins UFC Featherweight title, Roman Reigns WWE Champion

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com” target=”_blank”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 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.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

We have two weekend Wrestling Observer radio shows up, one covering the ROH show and one covering the UFC show.  We’ll be back with a new show after Raw tomorrow.

To clarify Nate Diaz saying that Joe Silva told him he was getting the next shot at Conor McGregor, which he said in an interview last night after the show with Ariel Helwani, we’re told that nobody knows where that came from but we’re told Silva never said that to him.  Conor McGregor, when talking about Diaz, Rafael dos Anjos and Charles Oliveira, all of whom challenged him last night, said, “Line them up on their knees with their hands out.  I want them to beg me.”  Diaz did the best interview, only nobody watching on television saw it since just about the entire interview was bleeped out.  At the press conference, Diaz said, and I’m not sure of this logic, that since McGregor already punked out dos Anjos at a press conference months ago, that nobody wants to see that fight and that he’d have a real fight with McGregor, not a fake fight.

Ronda Rousey’s first major interview since losing the title will be on Wednesday with Kelly and Michael Strahan on ABC at 9 a.m.

Michael Bennett and Maria Kanellis finished up with ROH last night.  It was pretty well acknowledged and everyone did a thank you for them at the end of the show.  They are expected to be headed to TNA, which is trying to debut new talent for its 1/5 show. A.J. Styles was at the ROH tapings last night and got involved in a finish but didn’t do a match as he was pretty banged up after his match with Jay Lethal on Friday. 

Pop TV has added another TNA special, which will be on New Year’s Day at 1 a.m. called “This is Impact,” which will be a preview show to hype the final four in the world title series on 1/5.  TNA also announced that the 1/30 show in London will feature multiple cage matches as one of the two shows taped will be Lockdown, an all cage match television show.  They also announced a Monster’s Ball match on 1/29 in Manchester and a King of the Mountain match on 1/31 in Birmingham.  Names announced for the tour are Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley, Matt Hardy, EC 3, Drew Galloway, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, Rockstar Spud, Grado, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Ken Anderson, Tigre Uno, Robbie E, Mandrews, Mahabili Shera, Gail Kim, Taryn Terrell, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Abyss, Awesome Kong, Jessie Godderz, DJ Zema Ion, Eli Drake, Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Rebel, Tyrus, Marti Bell and Jade.

WWE

• WWE week begins tonight on the USA Network with the movie Santa’s Little Helper with Miz and Paige at 8 p.m.  Plus during the week from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. there will be WWE interviews with Big Show, Miz, Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon, plus they will during the week be airing Dwayne Johnson movies such as The Rundown, Fast Five and GI Joe Retaliation.
• Big E promotes the 12/26 house show in Detroit.  He said he’d like a singles match with Brock Lesnar.  When asked what would happen in a powerlifting competition between he and Mark Henry, he said, “In his heyday, I’d give him his due.  He would have beaten me handily.  He’s one of the strongest men to have ever walked the Earth. Right now, though, I’d smoke him.”

UFC/MMA

• The Final F4Wonline.com 2015 prediction standings for UFC

Jack Encarnacao of Sherdog/Boston Herald 113-49 (69%)

Steve Juon 105-57 (64%)

David Bixenspan 104-58 (64%)

Mike Sempervive 103-59 (63%)

John Pollock 101-61 (62%)

Dave Meltzer 101-61 (62%)

Frontrow Brian 99-63 (61%) 

Mike Sawyer 96-66 (59%)

Josh Nason 91-71 (56%)

• Weekend trending, UFC was No. 4 for Saturday behind the Dallas Cowboys, BYU Football and Alcorn State, with 100,000 searches.  Nate Diaz was No. 9 with 50,000 searches.  Nothing from the NXT show got 20,000 searches which was No. 2 for either Wednesday or Thursday.   

MISCELLANEOUS

• A story on Matt Riddle helping an area family whose house went on fire with fund raising
• Amber Gallows, the wife of Doc Gallows, captured the NWA women’s title from Santana Garrett on Friday night in Sherman, TX.  Gallows formerly worked as Amber O’Neal, and made some New Japan appearances this year as the Bullet Club Babe. 
• A high school wrestler died yesterday during a tournament in Iowa
• Rock Solid Wrestling on 2/15 in Wasaga Beach, ONT at the Rec Plex with Cody Deaner vs. Anthony Darko as the main event.
• Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Manny Fernandez b Brandon Pinion loser leaves town, Mortal DCOR Brandon Groom, Mortal b Jesse Poole.
• I Believe in Wrestling from last night in Orlando:  Brandon Scherer b Slade Porter, Tyranus b Rex Bacchus, Ace Andrews b CT Brown Josh Parker b Chico Adams, Mike Reed b Siniestro, Santana Garrett b Shaniah Ariyana to keep the Wonder of Stardom title, Jonny Vandal & Aaron Epic b Michael Patrick & Leo Brien-DQ.  Next show is 1/2 with a tag team title match with the titles being able to change hands via DQ plus Garrett and Rhett Giddins. (thanks to Al Haft)
• Great North Wrestling on 2/27 in Hawkesbury, ONT at the Robert Hartley Arena with Jeremy Prophet vs. Hannibal and Carlito vs. Paul Rosenberg.
• Johnny Mundo spoke with Alfred Konuwa of the PodNasty Wrestling Podcastduring last week’s Lucha Underground tapings. He talked about his current run in Lucha Underground and continued his war of words with former WWE champion Seth Rollins.  Mundo also talked about how Lucha Underground compares to other promotions, long-term goals and the Boone: the Bounty Hunter film which he wrote, directed and starred in. 

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/20): Bret Hart defeats Goldberg to win WCW World Title

UFC ON FOX 17 RAFAEL DOS ANJOS VS. DONALD CERRONE

Donald Cerrone gets a long awaited title shot tonight at UFC on FOX in Orlando against Rafael Dos Anjos.  Man has he earned it.  He is on an eight fight win streak, 4 times already this year with 2 of those fights only 2 weeks apart.  Cerrone’s last loss coming at the hands of current champ Rafael Dos Anjos by decision in 2013. Also on the card is Junior Dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem, which should be a good one, and is a fight that has been scheduled a number of times already but always ended up canceled.  Overeem came in a lot lighter than for his last few fights and is on a two fight win streak.  With a win tonight could see him sneak into a title shot of a muddy UFC Heavyweight division.  Dos Santos has only lost to Cain Velazquez in the last 8 years and could find himself with another title shot if Werdum, someone Dos Santos previously defeated, is able to win the rematch against Cain.

Follow along with Dave Meltzer’s live coverage and results.

Fight Pass at 3:30 p.m.

Luis Henrique vs. Francis Ngannou

Hayder Hassan vs. Vicente Luque

Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman

FS 1 AT 5 P.M. EASTERN

Jim Alers vs. Cole Miller

Danny Castillo vs. Nik Lentz – Castillo looked shocked that he didn’t make weight.  And he wasn’t the only one.  There were clearly issues between other scales and the one they used, even though most fighters made weight)

Tamdan McCrory vs. Josh Samman

Sarah Kaufman vs. Valentina Schevchenko

Nate Marquardt vs. C.B. Dollaway

Myles Jury vs. Charles Oliveira

FOX AT 8 P.M. EASTERN

Karollina Kowalkiewicz vs. Randa Markos 

Nate Diaz vs. Michael Johnson 

Junior Dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone or the lightweight title

Saturday we’re looking for reports on the WWE show from the Forum in Los Angeles with Roman Reigns’ first title defense against Sheamus, plus Alberto Del Rio vs. Brock Lesnar for the U.S. title and Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens for the IC title and from the ROH TV tapings in Philadelphia (Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin, Moose vs. Matt Sydal vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Dalton Cantle, Adam Page vs. Mark Briscoe and Deonna Purrazzo & Hania the Huntress vs. Mandy Leon & Sumie Sakai).

Sunday will be WWE in Winnipeg with Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus for the WWE title and Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens for the IC title.

Monday will be the Slammy Award edition of Raw from the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Smackdown will air live on the USA Network at 8 p.m. on Tuesday from Des Moines.  The New Day vs. Lucha Dragons for the tag team titles has been announced.

The USA Network will air Tribute to the Troops on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., a taped show from Jacksonville.

Figure Four Weekly

Figure Four Weekly 12/7/2015: McDevitt comments on concussion lawsuits
Details on Jerry McDevitt’s comments on the ongoing concussion lawsuits against WWE, Alan discusses potential candidates for 2015’s best rookie.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Conor McGregor winning the UFC featherweight title, the story behind UFC 194 and the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title are the lead stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with coverage of so many major shows over the past week.

We look at McGregor’s financial  goals, the business of UFC 194 and the records set, early PPV projections, what is next for McGregor, TV viewership numbers in the U.S. and Brazil, , as well as the path of McGregor to being the No. 1 male star in the promotion.  We look at Frankie Edgar as a contender, potential of UFC 200 if Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are booked on the same show, the last two PPV shows, Rousey vs. McGregor as draws, Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title win, looking at the Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman judging and the future of the middleweight division.

We also look at the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title, the increased viewership on Raw, where the new viewers came from and how viewership differed from recent weeks.  We look at the reaction to Reigns, and the storylines that led to that reaction.

We’ve also got complete rundowns on WWE TLC, NXT Takeover, as well as all three UFC events, including match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings and more.

We also have a look at Mauro Ranallo’s signing with WWE, his background, how the deal came to fruition and the path from announcing pro wrestling on TV while a teenage on national television in  Canada to the WWE 30 years ago, with stops in kickboxing, MMA and boxing in between.

PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 21, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Conor McGregor wins UFC Featherweight title, Roman Reigns WWE Champion

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com” target=”_blank”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

Rates are:

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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com  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.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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. 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.

TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE

The only thing we know about Matt Taven today is that he’s cautiously optimistic that his knee injury isn’t serious, but of course nothing is known until he gets it fully checked out.  He injured it doing a dive off the post to the floor for a spike piledriver spot at the ROH PPV on Friday night.

Big interview with John Cena in GQ Magazine where he talks a bunch of different subjects including why he spoke Chinese during his sex scene with Amy Schumer.

There are photos here of Lizmark’s funeral.  It was an open casket affair, and yes, he was buried with his mask on.

Pro Wrestling

• Angelico and Jack Evans did an interview with PlanetaDeporte in Spain and said they had twice been approached by WWE officials to see if there was interest in signing, but they both agreed they wanted to stick with Lucha Underground for as long as it continued to exist.  They noted that they’d been approached during a PWG show.  It’s no secret that there are WWE office people who regularly attend most of the PWG shows.
• Mark Bell posted a video of John Cena squatting 611 pounds. That’s a lot.
• Jim Cornette joins the 6:05 Superpodcast for something very different from his usual podcast appearance. He talks to David Bixenspan and Brian Last about tape trading, Tiger Mask, changes in wrestling terminology, and much more. “Much more” includes Corny watching the crazy Titanes en el Ring video of Pibe Diez botching a dive, which you can check out synced up to the original video on YouTube.
• Diana Hart talks to the Calgary Herald about her wrestling-themed romance novels.
• The first announced match for PWEclipse February Frenzy Legion br. 43 Oshawa, Ontario has Jewells Malone defending her newly won PWE Flame Championship against Sassy Stephanie.
• Titus O’Neil gives to homeless in real life.
• Since a million people have asked, here is the video of the lucha match where the dog did an unannounced run-in and the wrestlers decided to briefly make it part of the match.
• BUSHI beat Mascara Dorada to win the CMLL Welterweight title at Korakuen Hall Friday.
• Smackdown did 2.33 million viewers this week, up from last week’s 2.1 million.
• As noted on last night’s Observer Radio, Toru Yano’s two mystery partners on the January 4th Tokyo Dome event will be Mark and Jay Briscoe.  This was a special Friday night edition of the show, and Dave and Bryan will be back again tonight to cover UFC.
• From Bryan Alvarez:  If you are an AFTER DARK RADIO fan, Sunday is the final day to contribute to our annual Whale Scout fundraiser, which has offered some great F4W-related perks including four chances to co-host the Bryan & Vinny Show which sold out immediately.  We have added a couple special AFTER DARK-related perk.  We’ve got THREE Bigfoot flasks and one –ONE — full-sized Bigfoot cast I picked up at the 2015 Sasquatch Summit in Ocean Shores.  Because it is a cast of an alleged real Bigfoot track, it is, in fact, really big (if you go to the Indiegogo page you can see exactly how big it is), and if you want it I recommend you get up there quick because once it’s gone it’s gone.  Whalescout is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization so your donation is tax-deductible, and I want to really thank everyone who has helped contribute this year.  I can’t say it was all because of Whale Scout because it wasn’t, but Whale Scout works hard on habitat restoration projects with the idea being that if they can clean up rivers and streams, salmon runs will improve, and more salmon means more food for the whales.  In the last 12 months, EIGHT baby orcas were born, which is an incredible number, and whether Whale Scout bears any responsibility or not, we would like to thank everyone who has helped the cause.  You can find the Indiegogo page here!

UFC/MMA

• Donald Cerrone joins the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast to talk tonight’s title fight against Rafael Dos Anjos. On his accusations that Dos Anjos is on PEDs: “I was just making iterations that maybe he is or he isn’t. Maybe he is just training real hard and is elevating and doing what he has to do but who knows. You’ve seen a lot of body types change since they put the new USDA ban into effect and they put the IV ban back on so we will see if things will be different and when you dehydrate your brain and you can’t rehydrate properly it can definitely cause a fighter to not be able to take those punches like they used to. Will he be able to go as long and as hard as he used to? I don’t know. Only time will tell.”
• Paul Bradley vs. Chris Honeycutt, which was stopped for an accidental headbutt the first time, was rebooked for Bellator’s January 29th card in Fresno.
• Team Alpha Male fighter and wrestling coach Lance Palmer (who lost his WSOF Featherweight Title last night) is saying that wouldn’t corner Urijah Faber against T.J. Dillashaw if they fought.
• Joe Warren vs. Darrion Caldwell headlines the Bellator 151 show on March 15th from Thackerville, OK.

Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/18): Daniel Bryan becomes WWE World Champion