Category: Daily Updates

Thumbs up
Best Match: Tanahashi vs. Styles

Very good show, even the matches Gallows and Yano matches were good for what they were, particularly Gallows and Shibata.  Tanahashi and Styles had a unique match for this tournament in using eachother’s finishers and hitting their own multiple times.  It definitely worked, and felt like a big match.  Looking forward to Saturday to see who Tanahashi will be up against. 

Mike Hiscoe

Thumbs UP!

Best Match: AJ vs Tanahashi
Worst Match: Yano vs Fale

Dave this Sumo Hall show was a very fun and easy to watch show for me from top to bottom.  Even though the building wasn’t close to sold out this crowd was rabid for the main event.  Everything built up slowly until it was all out excitement for the last 5-10 minutes.  Everyone knew there was only a 30 minute time limit and the closer they got to that time limit the more rabid the crowd got especially when the announcer announced 25 minutes past.  I don’t think there is a single wrestler walking the face of the Earth in 2015 who is better in ring than AJ Styles.  This was an absolute classic match.  Between the crowd, AJ kicking out of the Styles Clash, Tanahashi kicking out of AJ’s frog’s splash, and the final few minutes this was a 5 star match if I ever saw one.  One of the greatest G-1 matches you will ever see.

David Penton
San Antonio, TX

Thumbs way, way up
Best Match: Tanahashi/Nakamura
Worst Match: Bullet Club vs Ishii, Yano & Sakuraba

1) Opening six-man (**3/4)
2) TenKoji & Captain vs Naga-nishi & Jay White (***)
3) Michael Elgin def YOSHI-HASHI: Really good match, a great way to end Big Mike’s New Japan tour. He’ll be back. (***1/2)
4) Bullet Club vs Ishii, Yano & Sakuraba (**1/2)
5) The Greatest Trios Team Ever vs Tetsuya Naito, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma: Really good six-man that built up two great matches for down the road. Shibata/Naito was the best pairing. (***1/4)

6) IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: reDRagon def The Young Bucks (c): I wasn’t a big fan of this match, and I haven’t really liked the Bucks run in New Japan in general. The timing and structure of their matches just doesn’t click with me or the Japanese fans. reDRagon were great though. (**3/4)

7) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (c) def Ricochet: Super fun match with lots of great high-flying and back and forth. Ricochet, unlike the Young Bucks, is actually great in New Japan. Hope to see him back soon. (****)

8) AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows def The Kingdom & Kazuchika Okada: This was what it was, and it set up Okada/Styles for the title pretty well. More than straight runners-up singles match? That’s debatable. (***)

9) G1 CLIMAX 25: Hiroshi Tanahashi def Shinsuke Nakamura: Unbelievable match from start to finish. Usually I’d be disappointed by all the finisher kick-outs but it totally suited the style of this match and the story behind it. To me, these are the two best professional wrestlers in the world today without a doubt, and this was a fitting end to what will go down as one of the greatest tournaments in wrestling history. This may be overrating it, but I came away from my first full G1 tournament with such positive feelings I can’t give this anything less than (*****).

The tournament in general was excellent. The tags were tiresome by the end, but the singles matches almost all delivered, with 10 matches at least reaching ****1/2 in my books.

G1 MVP: 4-Way Tie: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, Michael Elgin
Worst Wrestler: Yujiro Takahashi
Match Of The Tournament: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura (Finals)

Also, special shout-out to BRYAN ROSE, for his fantastic coverage of the G1. I’ve already thanked him twice on Twitter but really, he did an absolutely sensational job.

Brian Jackson

I flew to japan, spent two nights sitting on the hard floor of a masu seki and then paid scalpers prices to sit in the nosebleeds for the finals. And I regret NOTHING.

That’s how good the shows were.

Brian Alleman

by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

Tonight:

The last day of NJPW’s 25th annual G1 Climax airs live on NJPW World at 2:00 a.m. from Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan:

Jushin Liger & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & David Finlay
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jay White
Yoshi-Hashi vs. Michael Elgin
Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga
Tomoaki Honma & Tetsuya Naito & Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: The Young Bucks (c) vs. reDRagon
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kushida (c) vs. Ricochet
Kazuchika Okada & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the G-1 Climax and a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom.

Evolve has an iPPV tonight at 6:00 p.m. ET live on WWNLive.com from La Boom in Woodside, NY:

Timothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Evolve title
Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page
Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak
Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey
Trent Baretta vs. Rey Hours
Biff Busick vs. Tracy Williams

WWE has three shows tonight: Sioux Falls, SD (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt), Detroit, Michigan (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro plus  Chris Jericho), and Coral Springs, FL (NXT).

Evolve has an iPPV tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET live on WWNLive.com from the Sportatorium in Deer Park, NY:

Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick
Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Trent Baretta vs. Caleb Konley
Johnny Gargano vs. TBA
Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann
Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Mike Bailey & Rey Hours

WWE has two shows on Sunday: Fargo, ND (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt) and Bemidji, MN (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs Cesaro).

The go-home Raw for SummerSlam is this Monday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.  John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker and literally everyone else will be there.

SmackDown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday night in Green Bay, WI.

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The new issue of Figure Four Weekly is now up for subscribers (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and more) featuring a chat with Konnan about the state of AAA heading into TripleMania XXIII. We discuss the company’s improvements in production, advantages over WWE and differences in philosophy, how to listen to fans, and much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news, including Dr. Lucha’s TripleMania preview.

Last week’s FREEFigure Four Weekly is still up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture. 

Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle. 

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A look at the WWE shows next week in Brooklyn is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament and how it all builds for the Tokyo Dome and the fall season, as well as coverage of all the G-1 matches this past week.  We also have a look at the Teamsters attempting to unionize UFC fighters, the UFC’s letter sent to fighters and morale issues.  We also have a look at the AAA TripleMania PPV show, UFC ratings increases, the brawl at the WSOF show, UFC suing Wanderlei Silva and Layla retiring.

The issue is on the site right now at August 17, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam build, Unions courting UFC fighters

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

We look at the WWE events in Brooklyn with three straight full houses and look historically at the only other promotion that has been able to do it historically and the record, as well as updates on the NXT and SummerSlam shows and more details on the NXT card as well as the probable main event stipulation and ticket demand.

We have a complete look at the G-1 Climax tournament, including updates on the last few days, the standings, the Sumo Hall preview and coverage of all the shows this past week with star ratings.

We’ve got a look at the attempts to unionize UFC fighters, the real story behind the attempt, the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters and why they probably could have written it better, and a look at UFC business.

We also look at the wealth of Vince McMahon, Rosa Mendes being pregnant, WWE injury updates, lawsuits, weird match, Tough Enough, new names, insider trading, Raw advance, Diva search news plus notes on all the weekend WWE & NXT events. 

We look at TripleMania, all the problems with the show, what happened with the Spanish language broadcast, mistakes made in booking, how the card had to change from its original plans, the letter AAA sent out after, the retirements and Hall of Fame ceremony, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

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We also look at the brawl at the WSOF show with The Diaz Brothers and Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as the problems in the Jake Shields vs.  Rousimar Palhares fight.

We’ve also got notes on the retirement of Layla from WWE and highlights of her career.

We also look at the lawsuit WWE has filed against Wanderlei Silva for alleging the company fixes fights.

We look at the CMLL Anniversary show, an injury to the best older wrestler in the business, a New Japan star comes to Mexico and a rundown on the main events the past two weeks at Arena Mexico.

We also look at another Rey Mysterio match, as well as the next major Dragon  Gate show lineup and highlights from the past week.

We also look at New Japan stars heading to NOAH.

We also look at the beginning of talks for an international group to return to PPV, as well as a look at the Fire Festival, one of Genichiro Tenryu’s last matches and a set up for an angle with one of the biggest stars of the 80s vs. one of the biggest stars of the 90s.

We’ve got notes on the funeral of Roddy Piper, more on the Hulk Hogan tapes story, Hogan’s first public appearance, two Roddy Piper moves that haven’t come out, one of the biggest stars of the last ten years suffering a major health issue, a former star gets his number retired, a U.K. star returns after cancer, a retirement that probably isn’t a retirement, a Japanese promotion running in October in California, a wrestler having his first match in 20 years, the second oldest living wrestler and his background, big shows in Puerto Rico and news no two different wrestling Halls of Fame.

We also have an update on the status of Lucha Underground, what changes have to be made, the audience watching the show, what to look out for, notes on the contracts the performers have, update on Vampiro and coverage of both weeks of Ultima Lucha.

We also look at the ROH show in Brooklyn, TNA Hall of fame ceremony, and upcoming TNA house shows.

We also look at McGregor vs. Aldo, a big show vs. normal show, Las Vegas vs. Cowboys Stadium, Rousey vs. Cyborg update, Lawler vs. McGregor, UFC financials, how much it costs them every year just in interest on their bond, what kind of profits they are making, lots of ratings into, Rousey business notes, the Aldo drug testing fiasco, Overeem vs. Dos Santos, Punk vs. Pendred, fighter already talking about coming out of retirement, and lots of new UFC fights.

We also have notes on Josh Thomson and Bellator, Bellator’s next major show, Josh Koscheck blasts UFC and more Bellator fights.

We have an update on Chris Leben after his arrest, new WSOF shows, a crime fighter returns to MMA and notes on weight cutting.

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If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today.  With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.

New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

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Saturday Daily Update

• Stephen Amell has a Facebook video about his weightlifting injury. He doesn’t exactly look good, but he seems upbeat enough that it doesn’t seem like his SummerSlam match is in jeopardy.
• In case you missed it, a WWE production freelancer posted the pilot for “NXT Kids” on his Vimeo channel (which doubled as his portfolio) last month and it was discovered this week. No idea if he meant for his channel to be private or what, but there are now no videos on it. The show was a cross between Saturday Morning Slam (with original matches shot recently, as Jessie McKay was on the show) and NXT with actual children joining Corey Graves on commentary and conducting interviews. It was really well-done and fun to watch, but WWE is agressively pulling any mirrors of it on YouTube. Hopefully this didn’t get in that production guy in too much trouble.
• Floyd Mayweather has nothing but positivity for Ronda Rousey. Well, it’s not like he has any other options publicly at this point.
• NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-15 live results: Okada vs. Nakamura; B block winner to be decided
• Lineup for tonight’s Sumo Hall card and G-1 finals
• On this day in pro wrestling history: IWGP champ wins G-1 in 1995, Orton beats Benoit
• UFC put up Frank Mir vs. Tim Sylvia as a free fight to hype UFC 191. This is the famous fight where, thanks to wearing a steel cup (yes, really), Mir broke Sylvia’s forearm with an armbar to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
• WWE Battleground 2015 comes out on DVD this Tuesday for whichever of you still buy WWE pay-per-view shows on DVD. The newest compilation release is Best of WCW Monday Nitro Vol. 3, which came out on DVD and Blu-Ray this past Tuesday. The next release is Monday Night War Vol. 2: Know Your Role, which comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 8th.
• Global Force Wrestling house show report 8-14 Winston-Salem
• Great North Wreslting results from Agust 14th 2015 at the Brockville Memorial Centre before nearly 1000 fans: The Honky Tonk Man, Jeremy Prophet, Grapecrusher and Bryan Briggs with Jinxie beat Steve Levac, Soa Amin, Sexy Eddy and High Roller Rosenbury in an 8 man elimination match with Honky Tonk Man and Jeremy Prophet as the final survivors, The Black Dragon Defeated Patrick Shenzy, Harley Davison Beat JC Mason, Hannibal defeated the Giant Darko to retain the GNW Canadian Championship when guest referee WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal made the pin.  Pan Am Games gold medalist Dori Yeats defeated Aniko Potoczky, Jessika Black Defeated Stacy Thibault, Kid Canuck defeated Pepper Jack, Freak Nation defeated Pereston Perry and Majic Mario, Myzery Barbarian defeated Shooter Storm.
• GFW will be in Harrisburg, PA at Metro Bank Park (Harrisburg Senators/Double A affiliate/Washington Nationals) on Aug. 28: Dirty Money v Pat Buck, Kevin Matthews v Pepper Parks, Kimber Lee v Cherry Bomb, Brian Myers (formerly Curt Hawkins) v Chris Mordetzky (formerly Chris Masters), BLK Jeez v Sonjay Dutt, The Bullet Club v Seiya Sanada and Ali Akbar. Meet and Greet before the show (starts at 5:30pm) with Kevin Nash; $40 VIP tickets include meet and greet.
• CROSSFIRE Wrestling August 22nd in Ridgeville Ontario, 4pm at Bissell’s Hideaway 205 Metler Road: World heavyweight champion Jeremy Elliot defends  against winner of 10 man battle royal, Women’s World champion THE ANTI DIVA KAITLIN DIEMOND vs Skylar Rose, THE ITALIANO’S W/ GARY GAMBINO vs  THE ROCHESTER WRECKING CREW,  RAGE vs MATTICK, and The Night Train – Justin Sane will now be facing Tomer Shalom.

SummerSlam Special
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The 15 issues included in this special are the ones covering the first 15 Summer Slam events, which are:

September 12’88, September 3’89, September 3’90 September 6’91, September 8’92, September 6’93, September 5’94, September 4’95,
August 26’96, August 11’97, September 7’98, August 30’99,
September 4’00, August 27’01, September 2’02

**Check out my Wrestling, UFC/MMA ebay auctions and more. Seller name is grantsindex
Some great vintage programs up right now including vintage Calgary Stampede Wrestling classics!

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Sept. 12 (10)        Update on the Turner purchase of Crockett promotions
1988            Hisashi Shinma back in New Japan
            WWF Summer Slam ’88 8/29 card coverage
            Giant Baba Brody memorial show 8/29
    Tommy Rich turns heel in Georgia

Sept. 3 (8)            WWF  Summerslam 8/28 card coverage
1989            Ultimate Warrior wins Intercontinental title from Ric Rude
            Art Barr arrested on rape charge
            Cactus Jack Manson returning home to heal       
Lots of rumors from the NWA talent front

Sept. 3 (10)        WWF Summer Slam ‘90 8/27 card coverage
1990            NWA Meadowlands 8/24 card coverage
            Herb Abrams & UWF hold press conference
            Mean Mark gives NWA notice, he is WWF bound
            Sid Vicious status up in the air
Legal action going on between Snowman & USWA re title situation

Sept 6 (10)            Ultimate Warrior suspended
1991            Summer Slam 8/26 card coverage
            Steroid update
            Vivian Vachon passes away
            No movement on Superstar Graham lawsuit
            Flair’s lawyers contact Jack Petrick demanding retraction of Jim Herd comment
            Sting wins US title over Steve Austin
    Cien Caras wins EMLL title from Conan

Sept 8 (20)**        Summer Slam 8/29 card coverage- Bulldog wins IC title from Bret Hart
Double issue price        Multi Channel News publishes article on decline of wrestling PPV buys
1992            Best matches of the 90’s
            Looking at the Tokyo wrestling scene 92-8/10-8/23 card coverages

Sept 6 (10)            AAA threatens to be biggest promotion in North America       
1993            Summer Slam ‘93 8/30 card coverage
            AAA 8/28 card coverage
            Mitsuhiro Matsunaga jumps from W*ING to FMW
            Feud between Sandy Barr & Oregon commissioner Bruce Anderson continues
            Dustin Rhodes wins US title from Ric Rude

Sept 5 (12)            Records set at Clash of Champions XXVIII – 8/24 card coverage
1994            Summer Slam 8/29 card coverage – Razor Ramone wins IC title from Diesel
            ECW double crosses NWA via Shane Douglas win
            All Japan women 8/24 card coverage- Manami Toyota wins All Pacific belt
            Jim Ross through with WWF

Sept 4 (12)            UWFI & New Japan to combine show at Tokyo Dome 10/9
1995            Summerslam 8/27 card coverage
            Paul Heyman announced ECW is declaring war on WCW
            Broadcasting & Cable + Multichannel News run stories on Monday Nitro
            Konan spends time in jail for brawl in stands

Aug 26 (12)        WWF considering weekly Saturday Night PPV
1996            Summer Slam 8/18 card coverage
Clash of the Champions XXXIII 8/15 card coverage
Health update on Ahmed Johnson & Great Sasuke
King of Pancrase 8/16 PPV review
Giant Baba says AJPW will never do interpromotional matches       
UWFI Tokyo Jingu Baseball Satadium 8/17 card a major flop-card review

Aug 11 (12)        Steve Austin hospitalized after winning IC title from Owen Hart
1997            Summerslam ‘97 8/3 card coverage -Hart wins WWF title from Undertaker-
            Lex Luger wins WCW title from Hogan 8/4-Nitro now three hours
            Kensuke Sasaki wins NJPW G-1 tournament-Riki Choshu hospitalized
            Carlos Maynes kidnapped in Mexico after card
            Steven Regal status in WCW questionable after airline disturbance
            Psycho Sid to undergo neck surgery

Sept 7 (16)            Ric Flair believed to be returning to WCW
1998            Summer Slam 8/30 card coverage-HHH wins IC belt from The Rock
                New Age Outlaws win WWF belts from Mankind
            Decision of Catholic Youth Centre to not rent to WWF may be warning sign   
            1998 Match quality ratings
            Make up of UFC PPV continues to change due to financial cutbacks

Aug 30 (18)        WWF Summer Slam 8/22 card coverage-Mankind wins WWF title
1999            WCW morale worse over botched up powerplay attempt by Eric Bischoff
            1st ever singles match between Hogan and Bret Hart anticlimactic
            A look to the new TV season
            Ann Laverne & Walter Johnson pass away

Sept 4 (18)            Summerslam 8/27 card coverage-Chyna wins IC title
2000            Pride 8/27 card review -Kazushi Sakuraba beats Renzo Gracie
            Pro wrestling Olympians
            ECW puts on 2 of best shows in company history at Hammerstein Ballroom
            Andy Hug passes away
            Fox News runs feature on backyard wrestling
            Fishman loses mask to La Parka

Aug 27 (18)        Summerslam 8/19 card coverage-Edge wins IC, Rock wins WCW title
2001            New Japan’s Kazuyuki Fujita loses in 0:49 to Mirco Cro Cop in shoot
            Brian Johnston suffers stroke
            G-1 Climax an example of what New Japan does right
            Reviews of “Faded Glory” & “No Holds Barred: Evolution”
            Appears WWF will not air PPV on DirecTV
            Savio Vega announces retirement
            WOW magazine in grave danger

Sept 2 (18)            Hall of Fame issue-Kobashi, Toyota & McDaniel voted in
2002            Summerslam 8/28 card coverage-Brock Lesnar becomes youngest champ,
            Shawn Michaels the show stealer again, RVD wins IC title
            WWE finance review
            Tiger Ali Singh files lawsuit vs WWE
            Jacques Rougeau 8/24 card will feature the return of Bret Hart to Montreal

by Brian Hoops

1940 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Orville Brown beat Bobby Bruns in 2 of 3 falls, Don McIntyre beat Andy Mexiner and Jack Hader beat Leo Jensen 

1942 – Steve Casey defeated the French Angel for the AWA (Boston
version) World Heavyweight Title in Boston, Massachusetts.

1961 – In Minneapolis, Minnesota; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Hard Boiled Haggerty dq, AWA US Champion Gene Kiniski beat Roy McClarty, Mr. M (Big Bill Miller) beat Bob Rassmussen and Dale Lewis beat Tiny Mills

1970 – Bobby Shane defeated Nick Bockwinkel to win the Georgia TV Title
in Atlanta, Georgia.

1972 – In Tampa, Florida at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory; Eddie Graham beat Redbeard, Mr Wrestling Tim Woods beat Paul Jones, Bob Orton & Hiro Matsuda beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens to win Florida Tag Titles and Bob Orton beat Bob Roop

1974 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada;AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel, The Crusher & Ivan Putski beat Baron Von Raschke & Superstar Billy Graham in 2 of 3 falls; Larry Hennig no contest Geoff Portz, Ray Stevens beat Billy Robinson and Jim Brunzell & Bull Bullinski beat Big K & Buddy Wolff

1979 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum beat Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon to win AWA Tag Team Titles (title change not acknowledged in United States), Greg Gagne dcor AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel, Paul Ellering beat Jesse Ventura, Super Destroyer Mark II beat Billy Robinson, Steve Olsonoski beat Ron Ritchie and Buddy Wolff beat Peter Sandor Szabo Attendance was 5,000

1981 – In Rockford, Illinois; AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura, Tito Santana beat Sheik Adnan dq, In a Handicap Match; Hulk Hogan beat Eddie Boulder & Chris Curtis & Tony Leone,  Brad Rheingans beat Ben DeLeon and George Gadaski beat Nacho Barrera

1981 – Wahoo McDaniel and Terry Funk defeated Tully Blanchard and Gino
Hernandez for the Southwest Tag Team Title in San Antonio, Texas.

1988 – Memphis, TN at Mid South Coliseum; In a 90 minute time limit, AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Kerry Von Erich, 
RPMs beat Scott Steiner & Billy Travis to win Southern tag title, Jeff Jarrett & Bill Dundee beat Jimmy Golden & Mongolian Stomper,
Brickhouse Brown beat Gary Young dq, CWA Champion Phil Hickerson beat Ray Odyssey and 
World Class Light Heavyweight Champion Eric Embry beat Shawn Baxter

1994 – Dante & The Great Mephisto defeated PG-13 for the USWA Tag Team
Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

1995 – Keiji Mutoh defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win New Japan Pro
Wrestling’s 5th Annual G1-Climax Tournament.

2004 – Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit to win the Raw World Title at SummerSlam in
Toronto, Canada. Also, Edge defeated Chris Jericho and Batista to retain the Intercontinental Title. 

2010 – At SummerSlam, Melina defeated Alicia Fox to win the Divas Title. 

By Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Japan show from Sumo Hall, as well as tomorrow and Sunday’s shows for the weekend polls, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s GFW show in Winston-Salem, NC  (Sonjay Dutt vs. PJ Black, Brad Attitude & Vordell Walker & Peter Kassa vs Ali Akbar &  Cliff Compton & Jason Kincaid, Le’D Tapa vs. Tessa Blanchard, Bravado Brothers vs. Washington Bullets, Trevor Lee vs. Andrew Everett for the OMEGA title, Nick Aldis vs. Lance Hoyt) at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

New Japan World Pro Wrestling Returns on AXS TV at 8 p.m. (one hour earlier than usual)

Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka

Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi vs. A.J. Styles & Tama Tonga

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kushida for IWGP Jr. title

There will be a CES MMA show at 9 p.m. on AXS TV tonight which is why New Japan will air one hour early.

Live G-1 B block finals from Sumo Hall in Tokyo at 5:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow on New Japan World

Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly

Young Bucks vs. Jay White & David Finlay non-title

Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Doc Gallows & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi & Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan & Ricochet

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada

Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma

Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata

Satoshi Kojima vs. Karl Anderson

WWE has shows on Saturday night in Sioux Falls, SD (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt), Detroit (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro plus  Chris Jericho) and NXT in Coral Springs, FL.

Evolve on Saturday night on iPPV from Woodside, NY at La Boom at 6 p.m. Eastern time at www.WWNLive.com

Timothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Evolve title

Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page

Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak

Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey

Trent Baretta vs. Rey Hours

Biff Busick vs. Tracy Williams

WWE on Sunday has shows in Fargo, ND (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt) and Bemidji, MN (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs Cesaro).

New Japan G-1 Climax finals from Sumo Hall at 2 a.m. Sunday Eastern time (11 p.m. Saturday night) on New Japan World

Tiger Mask & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Bushi & Mascara Dorada

A ton of matches involving the guys in the G-1 tournament that aren’t in the finals

Young Bucks vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for IWGP jr. tag titles

Kushida vs. Ricochet for IWGP jr. title

G-1 Climax finals:  Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. ?

Evolve on Sunday night on iPPV from Deer Park, NY at the Sportatorium at 8 p.m. also on www.WWNLive.com

Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick

Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Trent Baretta vs. Caleb Konley

Johnny Gargano vs. ?

Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann

Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Mike Bailey & Rey Hours

The go-home Raw for SummerSlam will be Monday night from the Target Center in Minneapolis.  John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker and the entire crew will be at the show.

Smackdown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday night in Green Bay.  

A look at the WWE shows next week in Brooklyn is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament and how it all builds for the Tokyo Dome and the fall season, as well as coverage of all the G-1 matches this past week.  We also have a look at the Teamsters attempting to unionize UFC fighters, the UFC’s letter sent to fighters and morale issues.  We also have a look at the AAA TripleMania PPV show, UFC ratings increases, the brawl at the WSOF show, UFC suing Wanderlei Silva and Layla retiring.

The issue is on the site right now at August 17, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam build, Unions courting UFC fighters

Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at  Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!

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 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.

The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

We look at the WWE events in Brooklyn with three straight full houses and look historically at the only other promotion that has been able to do it historically and the record, as well as updates on the NXT and SummerSlam shows and more details on the NXT card as well as the probable main event stipulation and ticket demand.

We have a complete look at the G-1 Climax tournament, including updates on the last few days, the standings, the Sumo Hall preview and coverage of all the shows this past week with star ratings.

We’ve got a look at the attempts to unionize UFC fighters, the real story behind the attempt, the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters and why they probably could have written it better, and a look at UFC business.

We also look at the wealth of Vince McMahon, Rosa Mendes being pregnant, WWE injury updates, lawsuits, weird match, Tough Enough, new names, insider trading, Raw advance, Diva search news plus notes on all the weekend WWE & NXT events. 

We look at TripleMania, all the problems with the show, what happened with the Spanish language broadcast, mistakes made in booking, how the card had to change from its original plans, the letter AAA sent out after, the retirements and Hall of Fame ceremony, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

We also have coverage of this past week’s UFC show, with business notes, the Johnson-Dariush scoring, and match by match coverage with bonuses.

We also look at the brawl at the WSOF show with The Diaz Brothers and Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as the problems in the Jake Shields vs.  Rousimar Palhares fight.

We’ve also got notes on the retirement of Layla from WWE and highlights of her career.

We also look at the lawsuit WWE has filed against Wanderlei Silva for alleging the company fixes fights.

We look at the CMLL Anniversary show, an injury to the best older wrestler in the business, a New Japan star comes to Mexico and a rundown on the main events the past two weeks at Arena Mexico.

We also look at another Rey Mysterio match, as well as the next major Dragon  Gate show lineup and highlights from the past week.

We also look at New Japan stars heading to NOAH.

We also look at the beginning of talks for an international group to return to PPV, as well as a look at the Fire Festival, one of Genichiro Tenryu’s last matches and a set up for an angle with one of the biggest stars of the 80s vs. one of the biggest stars of the 90s.

We’ve got notes on the funeral of Roddy Piper, more on the Hulk Hogan tapes story, Hogan’s first public appearance, two Roddy Piper moves that haven’t come out, one of the biggest stars of the last ten years suffering a major health issue, a former star gets his number retired, a U.K. star returns after cancer, a retirement that probably isn’t a retirement, a Japanese promotion running in October in California, a wrestler having his first match in 20 years, the second oldest living wrestler and his background, big shows in Puerto Rico and news no two different wrestling Halls of Fame.

We also have an update on the status of Lucha Underground, what changes have to be made, the audience watching the show, what to look out for, notes on the contracts the performers have, update on Vampiro and coverage of both weeks of Ultima Lucha.

We also look at the ROH show in Brooklyn, TNA Hall of fame ceremony, and upcoming TNA house shows.

We also look at McGregor vs. Aldo, a big show vs. normal show, Las Vegas vs. Cowboys Stadium, Rousey vs. Cyborg update, Lawler vs. McGregor, UFC financials, how much it costs them every year just in interest on their bond, what kind of profits they are making, lots of ratings into, Rousey business notes, the Aldo drug testing fiasco, Overeem vs. Dos Santos, Punk vs. Pendred, fighter already talking about coming out of retirement, and lots of new UFC fights.

We also have notes on Josh Thomson and Bellator, Bellator’s next major show, Josh Koscheck blasts UFC and more Bellator fights.

We have an update on Chris Leben after his arrest, new WSOF shows, a crime fighter returns to MMA and notes on weight cutting.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today.  With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.

New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues

FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

• At last night’s NXT tapings, they taped shows for after Takeover with Sasha Banks coming out with the NXT women’s belt and Kevin Owens coming out with the NXT title.  This could be an attempt to fool people, and I guess we’ll find out Saturday.  Historically, I can only think of one instance WWF ever did that to fool people and every other time it was exactly what it looked to be.  But they haven’t done anything like this in more than a decade, because of the nature of syndication being dead and Raw being live.
• So this is the situation with G-1.  Hiroshi Tanahashi won the A block earlier today beating A.J. Styles.  I have yet to watch the match but people are raving about it including one person at ringside who told me that many girls in the audience were in tears at the finish.  The B block comes down to this:

1) If Kazuchika Okada beats Shinsuke Nakamura, he wins the block with an 8-1 record, and will face Tanahashi in the finals.  I don’t expect that to happen.

2) If Nakamura wins, and Yuji Nagata beats Hirooki Goto, and Satoshi Kojima beats Karl Anderson, then Nakamura vs. Tanahashi is the final match.

3) If Nakamura, Goto and Kojima win, then Nakamura vs. Tanahashi is the final match.

4) If Nakamura, Nagata and Anderson win, then Nakamura, Okada and Anderson will need a three-way playoff, probably on Sunday

5) If Nakamura, Goto and Anderson win, then, based on records against the field, Nakamura vs. Anderson would have to meet in a singles match, probably on Sunday, with the winner facing Tanahashi.

Of the above scenarios, I don’t expect No. 1 or No. 4 to happen, but they could.  Situations No. 2, 3 or 5 seem more likely.  If it’s my call, I’m going No. 5.

• ROH booker Hunter Johnston was at the show today and will be at the shows the next two days as well, and the relationship between ROH and New Japan, which had the bump with Jushin Liger appearing for WWE this coming week, appears to be stronger than ever now.  They are working on plans for the future.
• The Joanna Jedrzejczyk title defense against Claudia Gadelha is being moved back due to a torn ligament in Gadelha’s right middle finger and she won’t be able to train on it for three months.  The earliest Gadelha would be ready to fight is January.
• There has been a big Twitter war between Will Brooks and Patricio Pitbull Freire.  It started when Freire was goading Brooks by noting that he was in the main event, against Daniel Straus, while Brooks was in the semi-main, against Marcin Held, when they both fight on 11/6 in St. Louis.  This led to taunts back-and-forth.
• Cathal Pendred, after coming out on the short end of a Twitter war with C.M. Punk,. has challenged Punk for Punk’s debut fight. 
• Raw on 8/24 at the Barclays Center is sold out.  The recently released allotment of tickets is gone.
• Evolve is pushing a free Timothy Thatcher match video
• A story on a fight Brock Lesnar got in while he was with the Minnesota Vikings in 2004
• 2K today announced the in-game soundtrack details for WWE® 2K16, the forthcoming release in the flagship WWE video game franchise. The soundtrack will feature 11 unique tracks from established and emerging artists that transcend multiple genres, including alternative, hip-hop, classic rock, heavy metal, country and electronic dance. The full WWE 2K16 soundtrack was revealed exclusively during Release on Beats 1 on Apple Music and is available now for streaming at http://apple.co/1DSFmcf. WWE 2K16 is currently scheduled for release on October 27, 2015 in North America and October 30, 2015 internationally for Xbox One and Xbox 360, as well as the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems.

         The WWE 2K16 soundtrack is scheduled to include the following artists and songs: 

• Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
  Diplo (feat. Faustix & Imanos and Kai)  – “Revolution”
  Fashawn (feat. Nas & Aloe Blacc) – “Something To Believe In”
  Kid Ink – “Hello World”
  Marilyn Manson – “Deep Six”
  MGK (feat. Victoria Monet) – “A Little More”
  Run-DMC – “It’s Tricky”
  Skid Row – “Youth Gone Wild”
  Twenty One Pilots – “Heavydirtysoul”
  Yelawolf – “Till It’s Gone” [Dan Heath Remix]
  Zac Brown Band (feat. Chris Cornell) – “Heavy Is The Head”
  Zedd (feat. Logic and X-Ambassadors) – “Transmission”

• The full lineup for the CHIKARA King of Trios tournament 9/4 to 9/6 in Easton, PA at the Palmer Center:
  Arcane Horde:  Kodama & Obariyon & Oleg the Usurper
  Battleborn:  Kevin Condron & Lucas Calhoun & Missile Assault Man
  Battle Hive:  Amasis & Fire Ant & Worker Ant
  Bruderschaft des Kreuzes:  Jakob Hammermeier & Nokken & Soldier Ant
  Bullet Club:  A.J. Styles & Young Bucks
  Crown & Court:  El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr. & Princess Kimber Lee
  Dasher’s Dugout:  Dasher Hatfield & Icarus & Mark Angelosetti
  Devastation Corporation:  Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch & Max Smashmaster
  Gentleman’s Club:  Chuck Taylor & Drew Gulak & Swamp Monster
  Nightmare Warriors:  Frightmare & Hallowicked & Silver Ant
  The Snake:  Eddie Kingston & Ophidian & Shynron
  Team AAA:  Aero Star & Drago & Fenix
  Team Attack:  Mark Andrews & Morgan Webster & Pete Dunne
  BWO:  Stevie Richards & Blue Meanie & Nova
  Fight Club:  MK McKinnan & Trent Seven & Tyler Bate
  United Nations:  Juan Francisco de Coronado & Mr. Azerbaijan & Boar of Moldova
• This one is almost spooky.  Today would be the birthdays for Gino Hernandez (who would have been 58), Eddie Gilbert and Buddy Landel (who all would have been 53). 
• IHWE on 10/31 in Crowley, TX at the Rec Center.
• From yesterday’s update, Dori Yeates, the Canadian Pan American games gold medal winning wrestler who will be on tonight’s show in Brockton, ONT, will not be doing a pro wrestling match, but doing an amateur exhibition match on a pro wrestling show.  The promotion did this before to try and help raise money for their training. (thanks to Colin Brackenridge)
• CZW on 9/12 in Voorhees, NJ at Flyers Skate Zone with an iPPV at 6:30 p.m.   There is also a women’s show in the same building at 4 p.m.  Nick Gage & Biff Busick vs. Drew & Rory Gulak headlines the show plus AR Fox vs. Mike Bailey in a Chris Cash Memorial ladder match.
• NWA Vendetta Pro Wrestling on 9/18 in Santa Maria, CA at he Radisson Hotel.
• In the first step of a planned working agreement with Jeff Jarrett’s GFW and OMEGA Pro, Trevor Lee will be defending the OMEGA title on tonight’s GFW show in Winston-Salem, NC at the ballpark.
• Alpha-1 Wrestling on 9/20 in Hamilton, ONT at 222 Queenston, Rd with Rickey Page vs. Cedric Alexander plus a title tournament for the Alpha Male title.
• Lucha Toronto on 9/20 at Chapter Two featuring Vampiro and Pantera, as well as Lince Dorado.
• C4 tomorrow night in Ottawa at the Vanier Columbus Club.  All ticket sales go to the Canadian Cancer Society in memory of Phrank Morin, who wrestler who passed away from cancer at the age of 23, four years ago.  The main event has Ultimo Dragon & Super Smash Brothers vs. Pinkie Sanchez & Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz, Buxx Belmar vs. Roderick Strong, Too Cold Scorpio vs. Michael  Von Payton and more.
• All-Star Wrestling from last night in Haysi, VA:  Reno Kid & Wolf b Beast & Johnny Mustang, Nate Diamond b Joe Briggs, Misty James & Samantha Star (the daughter of Nickla Roberts and Sam Houston) b Kacee Carlisle & Rebecca Lynn, Jimmy Valiant & Ricky Morton & Iron Cross b Beau James & Stan Lee & Scott Sterling, Bulldog Mac b Alex Cage
• Today’s new match on NWAClassics.com is Brad Armstrong vs. Ernie Ladd.
• ROH has announced shows for 9/11 in Dayton and 9/12 in Chicago Ridge, IL.
• The Super Fight League makes its Canadian debut on Saturday night in Calgary with Roland Delorme vs. Jesse Arnett.  The show will air after its conclusion on YouTube.

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1968 – Cyclone Negro & Baron Scicluna beat Mario Milano & Dominic DeNucci in Brisbane to win the IWA tag titles

1989 – Sangre Chicana beat Villano III to win the WWF light heavyweight title

1998 – La Parka (L.A. Park) beat Pirata Morgan to win the AAA heavyweight title

2001 – Tokyo Magnum & Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito beat Cima & Suwa & Big Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon in a three-way in Tokyo to win the UWA trios titles

2001 – Olimpico & Sicodelico Jr. beat Black Warrior & Sangre Azteca in Mexico City to win the CMLL Gran Alternative tournament

2010 – Masato Yoshino beat Tiger’s Mask in Kobe to win the Open the Brave Gate title

2011 – Shinsuke Nakamura beat Tetsuya Naito to win the G-1 Climax tournament

By Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s NXT tapings from Full Sail University in Orlando at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

We’re also going to be doing polls on all three shows from Sumo Hall this weekend with shows on Friday morning, Saturday morning and Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Smackdown tonight

Charlotte vs. Naomi

Roman Reigns vs. Luke Harper

Prime Time Players vs. New Day

Neville & Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens  

Tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern on New Japan World from G-1 Climax tournament A block matches from Tokyo Sumo Hall

Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma & Mascara Dorada vs. Karl Anderson & Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga

Michael Elgin & Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks & Cody Hall

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Kushida vs. Hirooki Goto & Ricochet & Captain New Japan

Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven

Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale

Doc Gallows vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tetsuya Naito

Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. A.J. Styles for the A block championship – winner goes to the finals on Sunday

A look at the WWE shows next week in Brooklyn is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament and how it all builds for the Tokyo Dome and the fall season, as well as coverage of all the G-1 matches this past week.  We also have a look at the Teamsters attempting to unionize UFC fighters, the UFC’s letter sent to fighters and morale issues.  We also have a look at the AAA TripleMania PPV show, UFC ratings increases, the brawl at the WSOF show, UFC suing Wanderlei Silva and Layla retiring.

The issue is on the site right now at August 17, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam build, Unions courting UFC fighters

Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at  Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!

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 at 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.

The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

We look at the WWE events in Brooklyn with three straight full houses and look historically at the only other promotion that has been able to do it historically and the record, as well as updates on the NXT and SummerSlam shows and more details on the NXT card as well as the probable main event stipulation and ticket demand.

We have a complete look at the G-1 Climax tournament, including updates on the last few days, the standings, the Sumo Hall preview and coverage of all the shows this past week with star ratings.

We’ve got a look at the attempts to unionize UFC fighters, the real story behind the attempt, the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters and why they probably could have written it better, and a look at UFC business.

We also look at the wealth of Vince McMahon, Rosa Mendes being pregnant, WWE injury updates, lawsuits, weird match, Tough Enough, new names, insider trading, Raw advance, Diva search news plus notes on all the weekend WWE & NXT events. 

We look at TripleMania, all the problems with the show, what happened with the Spanish language broadcast, mistakes made in booking, how the card had to change from its original plans, the letter AAA sent out after, the retirements and Hall of Fame ceremony, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

We also have coverage of this past week’s UFC show, with business notes, the Johnson-Dariush scoring, and match by match coverage with bonuses.

We also look at the brawl at the WSOF show with The Diaz Brothers and Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as the problems in the Jake Shields vs.  Rousimar Palhares fight.

We’ve also got notes on the retirement of Layla from WWE and highlights of her career.

We also look at the lawsuit WWE has filed against Wanderlei Silva for alleging the company fixes fights.

We look at the CMLL Anniversary show, an injury to the best older wrestler in the business, a New Japan star comes to Mexico and a rundown on the main events the past two weeks at Arena Mexico.

We also look at another Rey Mysterio match, as well as the next major Dragon  Gate show lineup and highlights from the past week.

We also look at New Japan stars heading to NOAH.

We also look at the beginning of talks for an international group to return to PPV, as well as a look at the Fire Festival, one of Genichiro Tenryu’s last matches and a set up for an angle with one of the biggest stars of the 80s vs. one of the biggest stars of the 90s.

We’ve got notes on the funeral of Roddy Piper, more on the Hulk Hogan tapes story, Hogan’s first public appearance, two Roddy Piper moves that haven’t come out, one of the biggest stars of the last ten years suffering a major health issue, a former star gets his number retired, a U.K. star returns after cancer, a retirement that probably isn’t a retirement, a Japanese promotion running in October in California, a wrestler having his first match in 20 years, the second oldest living wrestler and his background, big shows in Puerto Rico and news no two different wrestling Halls of Fame.

We also have an update on the status of Lucha Underground, what changes have to be made, the audience watching the show, what to look out for, notes on the contracts the performers have, update on Vampiro and coverage of both weeks of Ultima Lucha.

We also look at the ROH show in Brooklyn, TNA Hall of fame ceremony, and upcoming TNA house shows.

We also look at McGregor vs. Aldo, a big show vs. normal show, Las Vegas vs. Cowboys Stadium, Rousey vs. Cyborg update, Lawler vs. McGregor, UFC financials, how much it costs them every year just in interest on their bond, what kind of profits they are making, lots of ratings into, Rousey business notes, the Aldo drug testing fiasco, Overeem vs. Dos Santos, Punk vs. Pendred, fighter already talking about coming out of retirement, and lots of new UFC fights.

We also have notes on Josh Thomson and Bellator, Bellator’s next major show, Josh Koscheck blasts UFC and more Bellator fights.

We have an update on Chris Leben after his arrest, new WSOF shows, a crime fighter returns to MMA and notes on weight cutting.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today.  With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.

New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

THURSDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

• Bryan and I have a conversation with Jim Ross up on the site today.
• Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens will be announced officially for SummerSlam on tonight’s Smackdown show. 
• Wednesday night ratings notes
• UFC: Anderson Silva suspended for one year, fined $380,000
• UFC News: Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Cowboy Cerrone set for December Fox date
• Ask The Observer: Paul Heyman scripted promos, Roddy Piper racial promos
• Raphael Assuncao underwent ankle surgery today.
• Most tweeted wrestling/MMA stuff today
• Anderson Silva 10,000
• Cerrone vs. Dos Anjos 9,930
• King of the Mountain 798
• John Cena gave a long speech Tuesday to the NXT roster.  Linda McMahon came to the Performance Center on Wednesday. 
• The Owen Hart DVD called “Hart of Gold” will be released on 12/8.
• The 8/21 ROH show in Philadelphia which features Shinsuke Nakamura, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada and Kushida from New Japan, is now sold out.
• Celebs Gone Good released a list of the most charitable celebrities of the year and listed John Cena at No. 2, Roman Reigns at No. 13 and Ronda Rousey at No. 14.
• First Avenue in Minneapolis, the home of pro wrestling for decades, had its roof collapse last night. 
• WWE stock was up 20 cents per share today to  $21.01.
• Jesse Ventura said he’d be open to running as Donald Trump’s Vice President.
• Interview with Roman Reigns
• Emma workout
• Interview with Gigi Piscina after being eliminated from Tough Enough
• Cody Runnels talks Stephen Amell
• New England Championship Wrestling on 9/12 in Everett, MA at the Rec Center.
• There is a Metamoris iPPV at www.Metamoris.com at 10 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow night featuring Karo Parisyan vs. JT Torres, Pedro Munhoz vs. Jeff Curran and more.  It’s $5.99 for non-subscibers and free for Metamoris All Access subscribers.
• Mecca Pro Wrestling on 9/26 in Kingston, ONT at Legion 560.
• IWF has shows on 8/15, 8/22 and 8/29 at the IWF Centre in Nutley, NJ.
• There will be a GFW tryout on 8/20 in Las Vegas at the Future Stars of Wrestling school with Jeff Jarrett.  For more info you can write to Joe DeFalco at lvfuturestars@yahoo.com
• A look at the movie “Gridlocked” starring Trish Stratus
• NOVA Pro Wrestling on 9/25 in Fairfax, VA at the Jewish Community Center with Sonjay Dutt headlining.
• Legacy Fighting Championships on AXS TV on 10/2 from Allen, TX at the Allen Event Center.
• In records dating back to November 2006, Randy Orton picked up his 200th television win on Raw Monday in the three-way match.  During that same period, Sheamus is the only other wrestler to have 200 TV wins.  John Cena has 190.
• Chaotic Wrestling tomorrow night in Woburn, MA at the Woburn Elks #908 with Biff Busick vs. Chase Del Monte plus Hanson and Donovan Dijak, and on 9/19 in Waltham, MA at American Legion Post 156 at 3 p.m.
• Evolve on Saturday night in Woodside, NY at La Boom at 6 p.m. Eastern time at www.WWNLive.comTimothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Evolve title
  Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page
  Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak
  Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey
  Trent Baretta vs. Rey Hours
  Biff Busick vs. Tracy Williams
  Sunday in Deer Park, NY at the Sportatorium at 8 p.m. also on www.WWNLive.com
  Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick
  Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  Trent Baretta vs. Caleb Konley
  Johnny Gargano vs. ?
  Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann
  Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Mike Bailey & Rey Hours
• Bill DeMott has joined the podcasting world with the RELM Network for a show that debuts on Tuesday at www.RELMNetwork.com  He will be working with Vince Russo.    
• CMLL on Monday night in Puebla:  Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr. b Black Tiger & Rey Samuray, Okumura & Puma King & Tiger b Lestat & Stigma & Triton, Kraneo & Olimpico & Ripper b Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr & Titan, Angel de Oro b Polvora to retain the CMLL light heavyweight title, Atlantis & Mistico & Rush b El Terrible & Felino & Mephisto, Ultimo Guerrero b Rey Escorpion.
• Vampiro is now taking bookings throughout North America through Bill Behrens at showbis@aol.com
• Eric Young and Frankie Kazarian have some open dates over the next few months they are looking to fill at showbis@aol.com.  Young flies out of Nashville and Kazarian out of Los Angeles.  Others taking bookings are JTG, A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Matt Sydal, Drew Galloway, James Storm, Abyss, Devon Dudley, Tommy Dreamer, Jay Lethal, Scott Steiner, Ric Steiner, EC 3 and Big Ryck.
• Added to the 9/18 World Series of Fighting show on NBC Sports is Timur Valiev (9-1) vs. Tito Jones (11-7) at bantamweight and Brian Foster (22-7) vs. LaRue Burley (6-0) at lightweight.  
• Gladiator Championship Wrestling on 8/29 in Nassau, Bahamas at the Arawak Cay has Al Snow vs. Tommy Dreamer, Saraya Knight vs. Melanie Cruise, The U.K. Hooligans vs. Hurricane Helms & Jessie Godderz, Rob Terry vs. Boogeyman, Brodus Clay vs. Hernandez plus former MMA fighter Shannon Ritch.
• Steel City Wrestling announced its 8/23 show in Hamilton, ONT, has been canceled.
• GFW tomorrow night in Winston-Salem, NC
  Sonjay Dutt vs. PJ Black
  Brad Attitude & Vordell Walker & Peter Kassa vs. Ali Akbar & Cliff Compton & Jason Kincaid
  Le’D Tapa vs. Tessa Blanchard
  Bravado Brothers vs. Washington Bullets
  Andrew Everett vs. Trevor Lee
  Nick Aldis vs. Lance Hoyt.
   Jeff Hardy will also be there.
• EC 3 has signed an endorsement deal with VegasFuel Energy out of New Buffalo, PA.
• Some UFC TV programming over the next few days.
• The Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz fight airs at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight on FS 1.
• Ultimate Insider with Rashad Evans, Sean O’Connell and more on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. on FS 1
• UFC Unleashed featuring the best featherweight fights including Conor McGregor on Sunday a 10 p.m. on FS 1
• USA Wrestling and the UFC have announced a second year renewal of their partnership.
• In Your Face Wrestling on 8/29 in Albany, NY at the Polish Community Center.
• Fringe Pro Wrestling on 10/3 in Hamilton, ONT at the Bay City Music Hall.
• Henry Corrales vs. Emmanuel Sanchez and Gleristone Furia Santos vs. John Texieria have been added to the 9/25 Bellator show in Hidalgo, TX on Spike.
• Lucian Bute vs. Andrea Di Luisa headlines PBC’s boxing from Montreal on Saturday night at 9 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.
• Pan American Games gold medalist Dori Yeats debuts as a pro wrestler tomorrow night in Brockville, ONT

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1966 – Mark Lewin & Bearcat Wright beat Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy in Melbourne to win the IWA tag titles

1969 – Giant Baba & Antonio Inoki beat Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher in Osaka  to win the Int. tag titles

1978 – Tony Salazar beat Ringo Mendoza in Mexico City to win the NWA middleweight title

1993 – El Hijo del Santo beat Heavy Metal in Tonala to win the WWA welterweight title

1994 – Tony St. Clair beat David Finlay in Graz to win the British Commonwealth title

1996 – Brazo de Plata & El Brazo & Super Brazo beat Fuerza Guerrera & Blue Panther & El Signo to win the Mexican national trios titles

2006 – Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Satoshi Kojima in the finals of the G-1 Climax tournament

2006 – Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura beat Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita to win the GHC jr. tag titles

2007 – La Sombra & Sagrado & Volador Jr. beat Damian 666 & Halloween & Mr. Aguila in Puebla to win the Mexican national trios title

2010 – Jushin Liger beat La Mascara in Mexico City to win the Champion of Champions tournament  

2013 – Mephisto beat La Mascara in Guadalajara to win the Mexican national light heavyweight title

By Markus Gronemann

Shotgun revamped: YouTube show now 45 minutes, available in German, English and Czech

Starting with episode 219 (8/5), wXw revamped Shotgun, their weekly YouTube show. From now on, episodes will now be about 45 minutes long and will be available in German, English and Czech. The German version is currently being moderated by Verena Fischer (Big Daddy Walter’s real-life girlfriend) and I guess Christian Michael Jakobi, once he returns from holiday. The English version is being moderated by Dutch wrestler Rico Bushido, while the Czech version is being moderated and translated by Michal Petrgal, who does commentary for the Czech version of WWE shows on Eurosport and is the local promoter for the company’s shows in the Czech Republic.

The shows now feature more matches, there are summaries of some of the main storylines, including clips leading up to backstage segments and there will be subtitles for the international versions. Alan Counihan provides commentary for the matches in the English version, while Michal Petrgal does commentary for the Czech version. They also announce new matches and upcoming tour dates and feature a social corner, where fans can contribute to the show via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). They developed the concept with input from Vince Russo and the first episode was pretty good and had a good mix of matches, promos, news and commercials for their upcoming events and merchandise.

The shows in German and English are available at https://www.youtube.com/user/wXwGER, the Czech version can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/prowrestlingczech

During the summer break, Shotgun also had some great free matches from the past, all featuring wrestlers who are now in WWE: Chris Hero vs. KENTA (Hideo Itami), Axel Tischer (Alexander Wolfe) vs. Eddie Edwards, PAC (Neville) vs. BxB Hulk and Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. All of those are well worth checking out!

The wXw Wrestling Academy opens as a full-time wrestling school

wXw recently announced that they will open a full-time wrestling school in Germany this fall, called the wXw Wrestling Academy. Walter Hahn (Big Daddy Walter) will be the head coach, while Kim Stübner (Kim Ray) and Tobias Schumacher (Toby Blunt) will be assistant trainers; both had also been trainers at the Westside Dojo. Another trainer is Severin Fernandez, who is a BJJ blue-belt under Milton Ferreira (Gracie Barra).

They will have their own building in Essen, Germany that will also include their offices. The major difference to their Westside Dojo training facility will be that the school will operate full-time, while the Dojo only offered training on weekends (so wrestlers had to choose whether they wanted to attend the show at the weekends or attend training). Also, the school will be open for everybody, while the Dojo featured a try-out process and only accepted those who successfully completed a try-out.

They ran a fund-raiser for the Academy on 8/8 where the wrestlers worked for free and fans could also donate money for the new operation. Long-time sponsor Moonsault.de also made a donation. The show featured all current wXw champions, Karsten Beck, Kim Ray and PROST (Mike Schwarz & Toby Blunt), all of whom are graduates of the Westside Dojo, the first time this is the case in wXw’s history. The event is already available for purchase at wXw’s VOD service on Vimeo.

wXw ceases sale of DVDs, focuses on VOD via Vimeo

In Germany, every DVD has to be rated; since wXw sold a lot of DVDs by international partners (ROH, PWG, CZW, etc.) none of them were rated in Germany, neither were wXw’s own DVDs; having them rated costs in the four-digit range for each disc, so is not feasible. They would have had to implement an 18+ section in their shop and users would have to prove their age via a method only available in post offices (called PostIdent). Also, shipping would only have been possible if they made sure only the person ordering got to accept the package. So they stopped selling DVDs in their online shop and will now focus on their VOD offerings on Vimeo and plan to launch their version of a “wXw Network” as soon as possible as Vimeo supports it or go with another partner. Their DVDs are still available internationally from Smart Mark Videos, but I don’t think they will release any DVDs from their events in the future.

The More Than Wrestling Tour (January to June, 25 shows) and the upcoming 15th Anniversary Tour (30+ events, August through December) are available for just 99 euros on VOD as well. Older tours are as cheap as 80 euros for the whole package.

wXw World Tag Team Tournament Lineup complete

The World Tag Team Tournament from 10/2 to 10/4 will feature these teams:

A Block (Friday):

Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) from NJPW/ROH
Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan), from GWF Berlin/Germany
Hot & Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack) from wXw
Karsten Beck & Tyler Bate from wXw
Reich & Schön (Kevin Roadster & Marius van Beethoven) from wXw
Champions of Champions (Bad Bones John Klinger & Absolute Andy) from wXw
Big Daddy Walter & Zack Sabre Jr. from wXw/NOAH
French Flavour (Peter Fischer & Lucas di Leo) from wXw

B Block (Saturday):

Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End & Michael Dante) from wXw
Calamari Catch Kings (Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes) from CZW/UK Indies
Cerberus (Robert Dreissker & Julian Nero) from wXw
PROST (Mike Schwarz & Toby Blunt) from wXw, current tag team champs
The Schild Brothers (Bobby Gunns & Vinny the Beast) from wXw
ACH & Tommaso Ciampa from ROH
reDragon (Kyle O ‘Reilly & Bobby Fish) from ROH/NJPW

Event Notes and Matches

8/28: 15th Anniversary Tour Opening/Fan Appreciation Night Hamburg

World Title: Karsten Beck (c) vs. Bad Bones John Klinger
Tag Titles: PROST vs. Schild Brothers
Shotgun Title: Kim Ray vs. Michael Schenkenberg
Damian O’Connor vs. Ivan Kiev
Too Cool (Grandmaster Sexay & Scotty Too Hotty) vs. Reich & Schön

8/29: 15th Anniversary Tour Opening/Fan Appreciation Night Oberhausen

World Title: Karsten Beck (c) vs. AJ Styles
Damian O’Connor vs. Marius Al-Ani

On 9/4 they run at the Spirit Festival music festival for a 90 minute show

On 9/5: they run two shows in Berlin with an additional afternoon show, since the evening show already sold out

15th Anniversary Tour Hamburg, Afternoon:

Hot & Spicy vs. Young Lions
Four Way: Chris Colen vs. Pascal Spalter vs. Big Daddy Walter vs. Cash Money Erkan

15th Anniversary Tour, Evening:

No Rules: Cash Money Erkan vs. Mike Schwarz
Rambo vs. Absolute Andy

9/6: 15th Anniversary Tour Erfurt

by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

Tonight:

* NXT at 8:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network has Solomon Crowe vs. Tye Dillinger, Baron Corbin vs. Axel Tischer, Finn Balor vs Marcus Louis, and Becky Lynch vs. Bayley for the NXT Women’s Championship shot at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.

* UFC Tonight airs on to Fox Sports 1 8:00 p.m. ET.

* Impact Wrestling at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America kicks off the TNA vs. GFW shenanigans with Jeff Jarrett in charge for the night.

* UFC Ultimate Answers, a new show, airs at 9:00 p.m. ET n Fox Sports 1.

* UFC Ultimate Insider, focusing on the T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao fight from a few weeks ago, airs at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

* Best of WEC has a new episode focusing on the middlewight and light heavyweight divisions at 10:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 

* ROH at 11:00 p.m. ET on Destination America has Watanabe vs. ACH War Machine vs. J. Diesel and Donovan Dijak,  Adam Page vs. Tim Hughes. and reDRagon vs.The Kingdom.

**** 

The new issue of Figure Four Weekly is now up for subscribers (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and more) featuring a chat with Konnan about the state of AAA heading into TripleMania XXIII. We discuss the company’s improvements in production, advantages over WWE and differences in philosophy, how to listen to fans, and much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news, including Dr. Lucha’s TripleMania preview.

Last week’s FREEFigure Four Weekly is still up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture. 

Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle. 

**** 

The latest Wrestling Observer: August 10, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Roddy Piper passes away, WWE Q2 results & analysis

Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at  Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

Our lead story is an extensive look at the career of Roddy Piper.  We start by looking at the cause of death, and Piper’s role in the national expansion of WWF and the first WrestleMania.  We look at how Piper differed from almost every wrestler in WWF when he came in, why Piper didn’t work certain shows, Piper working outside WWF while under contract, how he flopped in his first WWF run, his runs in California, Oregon, Georgia and the Carolinas before WWF, the feud with Jimmy Snuka, the Hogan-Piper program, The War to Settle the Score, the original WrestleMania and how it changed the history of wrestling, his period in WCW, his relationship with Mad Dog Vachon, his issues with Kevin Nash, how he got started in pro wrestling, the story behind his babyface turns and the loss at WrestleMania to Bret Hart.

We also look at WWE business, why stock is up, what aspect of business looked deceptively good, a look in depth at the network numbers, how many people dropped and picked up subscriptions this past quarter as well as how all the other aspects of WWE business are doing.

We look at UFC 190 and the storyline that led to Ronda Rousey setting her highest PPV mark.  We look at how things have changed for Rousey since February, the interest level of her fight,  Rousey vs. Cyborg, ratings in Brazil and the U.S. and match-by-match coverage.

We also go in-depth on the G-1 Climax tournament with the updated schedule, standings and match-by-match coverage.

We also have an update on John Cena, more on the injury and surgery, Cena actually going to a show this weekend but fans didn’t see him, Shawn Michaels return, will fans respect Cena more, update on the SummerSlam card and matches being built, Cena vs. Rollins future, WrestleMania note, note on Daniel Bryan’s book, Update on Ryback, Update on a 2002 angle proposed for a gay wrestler and funny story behind it, Bryan’s plan for the IC title, more on womens’ division, Eva Marie note, Tough Enough notes, Ultimate Warrior book, Cesaro section notes, WWE lawsuit notes, Pat Patterson book, sister of current WWE star gets a tryout and Owen Hart DVD news.  We also have coverage of the NXT and WWE shows over the weekend and business notes on the shows. 

The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.

We also have our regular features such as the most complete look at ratings, plus results of the major house show events each week in pro wrestling and MMA, and complete inside rundowns of all the TV shows.

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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

****

Wednesday Daily Update

• Last night, Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting was the first English speaker to report that tomorrow at the Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing, Anderson Silva’s defense for testing positive for the anabolic steroid steroid drostanolone is that he was taking “a supplement for the purpose of enhancing sexual performance” tainted by the drug. They tsted the supplement and found drostanolone in it, though when it comes to the other metabolites he tested positive, he just speculates that another supplement might have ben contaminated. You can read the full Silva filing here as a PDF on Google Drive.
• With regards to his positive test for benzodiazapines, which are not explicitly banned, Silva does admit to taking a pill to get to sleep the night before the fight when he was so anxious that he just couldn’t fall asleep. While he’s supposed to disclose any medications on the pre-fight medical questionaire, he signed the questionaire earlier that day, so he maintains he did not fail to disclose. 
• However, Ariel Helwani reports that Steve Mazzagatti’s refereeing in the Rousimar Palhares vs. Jake Shields fight is not an issue that will be dealt with at the hearing, while Palahares and Shields’ actions, as well as Silva’s drug test failures, will be. The hearing will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
• Didn’t get a Google Alert about this until today, but WTVT in Tampa did a story on Monday about the closed FBI investigation into the alleged attempt to extort money from Hulk Hogan via the videos of him and Heather Cole having sex that were shot without his knowledge. Most of the substance of the story had to do with Los Angeles-based lawyer Keith Davidson, who was the target of a FBI sting, but there was a new piece of information as they got the FBI to confirm that Matt “Spice Boy” Loyd, a former producer and sidekick of Bubba the Love Sponge Clem,  is “relevant to the sex tape investigation and has provided information to agents on the case.” Loyd’s involvement had been the subject of speculation by Bubba fans since the leak three years ago.
• Meanwhile, Hogan fell for another tweet from a “fan” using a British celebrity’s photo, this time a photoshop of Liverpool radio presenter Pete Price at Hogan’s restaurant.
•  VegasFuel Energy Drink announced that Michael “EC3” Hutter has signed on as their national spokesman. The energy drink is in “over 10,000 locations nationwide,” consisting of Rite Aid and GNC chain stores as well as thousands of independent businesses.
• RIP Roddy Piper: your favorite matches & moments – part 3 of 3, amazing video list
• NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-12 live results: Ishii vs. Honma, Okada vs. Nagata
• WWE Tough Enough Episode 8 Results and Recap
• Dave has an article about th surprisingly strong UFC ratings from Saturday at MMAFighting.
• Chikara announced the full field for this year’s King of Trios tournament. The biggest names are The Bullet Club (A.J. Styles & The Young Bucks), Team AAA (Aero Star, Drago & Fénix, and Team bWo (Stevie Richards as Big Stevie Cool, Blue Meanie as Da Blue Guy, & Nova as Hollywood Nova). The full lineup is:
  Arcane Horde (Kodama, Obariyon, & Oleg the Usurper)
  Battleborn (Kevin Condron, Lucas Calhoun, & Missile Assault Man)
  Battle Hive (Amasis, Fire Ant, & Worker Ant)
  Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Jakob Hammermeier, Nøkken, & Soldier Ant)
  The Bullet Club (A.J. Styles & The Young Bucks)
  Crown & Court (El Hijo del Ice Cream, Ice Cream Jr., & Princess KimberLee)
  Dasher’s Dugout (Dasher Hatfield, Icarus, & Mark Angelosetti)
  The Devastation Corporation (Blaster McMassive, Flex Rumblecrunch, & Max Smashmaster)
  The Gentleman’s Club (Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak, & the Swamp Monster)
  Nightmare Warriors (Frightmare, Hallowicked, & Silver Ant)
  The Snake Pit (Eddie Kingston, Ophidian, & Shynron)
  Team AAA (Aero Star, Drago, & Fénix)
  Team Attack! (Mark “Mandrews”, &rews, Morgan Webster, & Pete Dunne)
  Team bWo (Big Stevie Cool, Da Blue Guy, & Hollywood Nova)
  Team Fight Club: Pro (MK McKinnan, Trent Seven, & Tyler Bate)
  United Nations (Juan Francisco de Coronado, Mr. Azerbaijan, & The Proletariat Boar of Moldova)
• Jushin Thunder Liger cut a promo for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn that went up on the NXT Twitter account.
• You can vote to name an alien plaent after Jumbo Tsuruta. Really.
• Bill Goldberg visited the San Diego Chargers’ practice yesterday.
• The Daily Beast talked to Brian Cage about wearing a Donald Trump shirt at TripleMania. 
• Volume 3 of WWE’s Best of WCW Monday Nitro series came out yesterday on DVD and Blu-Ray.
• On the latest Between the Sheets podcast, Kris Zellner and I are joined by Brian Last to talk about the week that was August 4 – August 10, 1995, including Cactus Jack turning heel in ECW, a terrible Clash of the Champions, and SMW Fan Week, which Brian attended. Not only did that week include the SMW Super Bowl of of Wrestling show, but when the SMW fans went to the USWA show in Louisville as part of the SMW vs. USWA feud, they needed a police escort out of the building in an amazing story that Brian tells in vivid detail.
• From a GFW press release about Roddy Piper’s last movie: Ridgerock Entertainment Group and Global Force Wrestling have teamed up for  events to promote the Jan. 8, 2016, theatrical release of THE MASKED SAINT (Freestyle Releasing). The joint agreement will showcase the film’s commitment to the integrity of professional wrestling and focus on family entertainment.  This coincides with the mission of GFW, which has brought new excitement and true family entertainment to the  world of professional wrestling. This exciting partnership will be kicked off during GFW’s second TV taping at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, Aug. 21.
• Evolve is now selling Blu-Rays of their latest shows in their store at DGUSA.TV. Also, they’re doing a ticket giveaway for this weekend: We are offering a free ticket giveaway for EVOLVE 47 this Saturday and EVOLVE 48 this Sunday. To enter simply email Help@DGUSA.tv. Please put the show you can attend in the subject. We will give away one pair of ringside seats to EVOLVE 47 and EVOLVE 48. There will be two separate winners, one for each event. You can enter the contest for each event. The winners will be drawn at random on Thursday morning. Good luck!

Season 4, Episode 6

Recap by Ryan Pike (@RyanNPike)

–Bryan’s Injured (Again): The big happening this week was Bryan leaving the European tour, which we deal with after a time-warp so we’re back to the United States. Basically, he’s got an unspecified injury and they go out of their way to avoid talking about what the injury is, instead focusing on how Nikki’s worried that Brie isn’t more worried about the injury. Bryan and Brie have a chat with Nikki that amounts to “Hey, we’re worried, but freaking out won’t fix anything,” and she calms down a bit.

–Nattie Lies A Lot: In other news, Nattie and TJ are moving while fixing up their old house so they can sell it. Nattie lies a lot throughout this episode to TJ – notably downgrading the amount it’ll cost to fix up their house by three or four times, and insisting that her sister is visiting them for a few days rather than moving in to take care of their cats while they’re on the road. TJ confronts her about her lies, and after the Bellas insist that she needs to be truthful, she gathers the family and unloads all her lies on them – including hating her sister’s birthday present and her wedding ring. Everyone forgives her and then shove her into the pool as penance.

–Naomi Goes Heel: Vince McMahon decides it’s time for Naomi to become a bad guy, so the bulk of this segment involves her fretting about being mean to people since she’s always wanted to be a good role model. Everyone tries to help her out – including Alicia Fox throwing a drink on her, prompting her to freak out at her – but finally Naomi makes her debut as a heel at Extreme Rules and really has fun with it and does a good job.

John Cena is mentioned but not seen, while Eva Marie is neither mentioned or seen. But Renee Young is on the show quite a bit, so that balances it out nicely.

by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

TV/show notes for tonight:

Tough Enough airs on USA Network at 8:00 p.m. ET with John Cena’s first post-nose breaking appearance.

Total Divas airs on E! at 9;00 p.m. ET with Nattie inviting her sister to move in with her and T.J. for some reason, only for shenanigans to ensue, plus Daniel Bryan injury drama and Trinity/Naomi “embracing her inner bad girl.”

NJPW G1 Climax Day 16 airs live at 5:30 a.m. ET tonight/tomorrow morning on NJPW World:

Non-Tournament Matches
Tiger Mask IV, David Finlay Jr. & Jay White vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka
Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. AJ Styles, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall
G1 Climax B Block League Matches
Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Hirooki Goto vs. Michael Elgin
Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Kazuchika Okada vs. Yuji Nagata
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma

SmackDown is taped tonight in Portland, OR, so if you’re attending and are interested in writing up a spoiler report, please send it to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

**** 

The new issue of Figure Four Weekly is now up for subscribers (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and more) featuring a chat with Konnan about the state of AAA heading into TripleMania XXIII. We discuss the company’s improvements in production, advantages over WWE and differences in philosophy, how to listen to fans, and much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news, including Dr. Lucha’s TripleMania preview.

Last week’s FREEFigure Four Weekly is still up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture. 

Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle. 

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The latest Wrestling Observer: August 10, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Roddy Piper passes away, WWE Q2 results & analysis

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

Our lead story is an extensive look at the career of Roddy Piper.  We start by looking at the cause of death, and Piper’s role in the national expansion of WWF and the first WrestleMania.  We look at how Piper differed from almost every wrestler in WWF when he came in, why Piper didn’t work certain shows, Piper working outside WWF while under contract, how he flopped in his first WWF run, his runs in California, Oregon, Georgia and the Carolinas before WWF, the feud with Jimmy Snuka, the Hogan-Piper program, The War to Settle the Score, the original WrestleMania and how it changed the history of wrestling, his period in WCW, his relationship with Mad Dog Vachon, his issues with Kevin Nash, how he got started in pro wrestling, the story behind his babyface turns and the loss at WrestleMania to Bret Hart.

We also look at WWE business, why stock is up, what aspect of business looked deceptively good, a look in depth at the network numbers, how many people dropped and picked up subscriptions this past quarter as well as how all the other aspects of WWE business are doing.

We look at UFC 190 and the storyline that led to Ronda Rousey setting her highest PPV mark.  We look at how things have changed for Rousey since February, the interest level of her fight,  Rousey vs. Cyborg, ratings in Brazil and the U.S. and match-by-match coverage.

We also go in-depth on the G-1 Climax tournament with the updated schedule, standings and match-by-match coverage.

We also have an update on John Cena, more on the injury and surgery, Cena actually going to a show this weekend but fans didn’t see him, Shawn Michaels return, will fans respect Cena more, update on the SummerSlam card and matches being built, Cena vs. Rollins future, WrestleMania note, note on Daniel Bryan’s book, Update on Ryback, Update on a 2002 angle proposed for a gay wrestler and funny story behind it, Bryan’s plan for the IC title, more on womens’ division, Eva Marie note, Tough Enough notes, Ultimate Warrior book, Cesaro section notes, WWE lawsuit notes, Pat Patterson book, sister of current WWE star gets a tryout and Owen Hart DVD news.  We also have coverage of the NXT and WWE shows over the weekend and business notes on the shows. 

The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.

We also have our regular features such as the most complete look at ratings, plus results of the major house show events each week in pro wrestling and MMA, and complete inside rundowns of all the TV shows.

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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

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Tuesday Daily Update

— Last night’s Raw averaged 3.838 million viewers, up over 130,000 from last week.

— Ronda Rousey yesterday in her Reddit Ask Me Anything session when asked if she’d be returning to WWE:  “Definitely. I loved being in Wrestlemania and will find a way to get back in the squared circle I just have no clue when. And any real wrestling fan would want to be surprised anyway.”

— The Nevada State Athletic Commission released the full drug testing results (PDF) for UFC 189, which includes (on pages 32-35) a statement from Ben Mosier of Drug Free Sport about the Jose Aldo specimen that had to be discarded when he was still booked in the main event. The story had been that when Mosier went to Brazil to collect the sample, he had the wrong visa, but it turns on that was not true and any potenital immigration issues wer resolved quickly. It looks like a Brazillian federal policeman who happens to train at the gym as a pro MMA fighter basically got Mosier detained for no good reason. Even a week later, Andre Pederneiras, Aldo’s coach and manager, was claiming that Mosier had the wrong visa. Aldo, Pederneiras, and his Nova Uniao gym all come off terribly here.

— Nick Diaz’s Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing was delayed. Again. Remember, this is for a post-fight drug test from January.

— Rick Story is injured, so Neil Magny is stepping in as a late replacement against rick Silva in the semi-main event of next Sunday’s UFC Fight Night card in Sasaktoon that airs opposite SummerSlam.

— Scott Coker told Bloody Elbow that he thinks the Ali Act should be expanded to protect MMA fighters. One f many potential consequences would be major changes to World Series of Fighting, RFA, and a number of other smaller promoters, as the Ali Act bars managers from acting as promoters and matchmakers. WSOF has Ali Abdelaziz as its matchmaker(though president Ray Sefo is listed as such on their Nevada State Athletic Commission paperwork), while RFA is promoted by Ed Soares, both of whom are high profile MMA managers.

— Men’s Journal has a behind the scenes tour of the WWE Performance Center. Interesting stuff. Seeing Enzo Amore out of character is…strange. Sasha Banks is mostly in character, talking about defending her title. Most notably, there’s some wellness insight: In addition to showing off the phsyical therapy room and new wrestlers learning how to bump with helmets and pads, Matt Bloom went into detail on drug testing.  “At last once a month, sometimes twice a month, we have random drug testing here. […] We test about 25 people each time…” Men’s Journal also has a listicle of WWE’s 18 fittest stars.

— Volume 3 of WWE’s Best of WCW Monday Nitro series is out today on DVD and Blu-Ray.

— Dave’s “Fortunes Changed for Five” postmortem for Saturday’s UFC card is up at MMAFighting.com.