Category: Daily Updates

On last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, I brought up that WWE was promoting Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman returning for Raw next week in San Jose on Twitter, but had not promoted it during the show. It was actually mentioned during the show as well.

–Dave Meltzer

By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for your thoughts on day’s G-1 Climax show in Hiroshima, last night’s UFC show in Chicago and ROH in Baltimore, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

We’re also looking for reports on today’s WWE house shows in Lawton, OK and Amarillo and tonight’s ROH TV tapings in Orlando at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>.

Raw will be Monday night in Oklahoma City.  Brock Lesnar is not advertised for the show.

The G-1 Climax tournament continues on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m in Beppu with Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto, Ken Anderson vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima.  Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Michael Elgin is also listed but we don’t have any updated word on Nakamura’s condition.

Smackdown is Tuesday night in Tulsa.  Roman Reign and Seth Rollins are advertised as the top stars on the show.  Dolph Ziggler is still being advertised on the show, so in theory he should be returning this week although what is advertised and what happens aren’t necessarily the same thing.

The return of the Undertaker and build to SummerSlam, Battleground coverage, the rise of NXT and situation with ROH, the G-1 Climax tournament and some major UFC stories are the major stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

The latest Wrestling Observer: July 27, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The Undertaker returns at Battleground, NXT/ROH insanity with Liger booking

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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 concerns the build to SummerSlam.  We look at advertising that has already been cut for the show, what are the possibilities for Sting, the Lesnar-Undertaker angle, the booking of WWE right now, the situation with the women, plus full coverage of Battleground with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

We also look at the booking of  Jushin Liger to NXT on 8/22, ticket sales for the show, plans for the NXT show, how the Liger booking affects ROH and has caused such a political turmoil.  We look at the NXT card as well as the competing ROH show.  We look at the Liger booking, ROH working with New Japan, ratings with New Japan stars vs. shows without New Japan stars, NXT touring, the next NXT vs. ROH head-to-head in September, the next ROH PPV show and much more.

We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament, with all of the shows planned for the next week, as well as full coverage of opening night in Sapporo with match-by-match-coverage, star ratings and poll results.

We also look at a major story concerning fighters for UFC to address which is the banning of IVs for rehydrating after weigh-ins starting October and why the story is far more significant than people realize.

We also look at a potential alliance between ESPN and WWE and the ethical debate regarding the coverage.  We also look at the Hogan/Gawker lawsuit and each side’s case, an update on the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit against C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana, an update on Dolph Ziggler and what he claims is his contract status, Undertaker working more than just SummerSlam, Stephanie McMahon talks gay characterizations in future WWE creative as well as a look back from former creative members regarding different suggestions on gay characterizations in the past.  We look at more WWE banned terms and how some were changed and why.  We also look at how the characters are being described for Camp WWE, which is really hilarious.

We’ve also got notes on Chris Jericho working more house shows, Tough Enough notes, John Cena in the movies, how the WWE Network free month has changed, as well as what to look for over the next week in WWE stock.

We also have full coverage of the next month of NXT TV tapings, as well as coverage of all the WWE and NXT house shows this past week and business notes from the shows.

We also have notes on TripleMania being on U.S. PPV for the first time on 8/9, including price point, why it’s happening now, and its history as well as broadcast information.

We also have coverage of both UFC events held over the past week, with the Mir vs. Duffee and Bisping vs. Leites shows.  We’ve got business notes and stories behind both events.

We also have notes on the third season of New Japan World on AXS, including highlights of the new season, all the matches airing from 8/14 to 12/11 including when the Wrestle Kingdom 9 matches will air, as well as notes on the schedule for 2016.

We also look at Dragon Gate’s Kobe World Festival show and CMLL’s Sin Salida show, which were two of those two company’s biggest events of the year.

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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.

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SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

• UFC was the fifth most searched term in the U.S. with 100,000 yesterday.  Hulk Hogan was No. 8 with 50,000.  On Friday, Hogan was No. 2 with 1 million.
• On Twitter this morning, UFC has 152,000 tweets and nothing else having to do with boxing or MMA or wrestling had any substantial numbers. 
• The Hulk Hogan firing was among the top stories of the day on the Sky News App in the U.K. and the BBC digital text service under World News, rather than sports, which is the first story since the Benoit incident eight years ago to get that kind of coverage.  It was the third top story.  There were also numerous reports on the BBC web site. (thanks to Gary Mehaffy and Matthew Singh Donsanjh) 
• At Friday’s C.M. Punk Q&A at the UFC event, someone who challenged him on Twitter went to the Q&A and tried to provoke a confrontation.  Punk basically told him off.  Punk has become like the old time small heel that fans attack because they think they can take him in the old pro wrestling days.  Punk said he thought Dana White would beat Vince McMahon in a fight.  What else is he going to say today?   Megan Olivi, who was hosting, basically told the guy to leave and they turned off his mic. 
• At this writing, the top five matches from today’s New Japan show in Hiroshima, including A.J. Styles vs. Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito are up on New Japan World.  The undercard is not yet up.  Not sure the time zone thing but it looks like it’ll be up late tonight.
• Dana White outright said that Miesha Tate would be getting a title shot at the Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia winner next.  Tate got the biggest reaction last night of anyone on the show, but the people hated her boyfriend, Bryan Caraway.  Not a surprise if you think about it.
• Sasha Banks worked the show last night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that was headlined by John Cena vs. Kevin Owens in a street fight, which went 27:00.
• Enzo & Cass were on the other tour, wrestling in Odessa, TX last night.  They were put over The Ascension.
• Stephen Amell of Arrow and WWE continue to be in the gossip pages, with rumors of him appearing on the Raw show in Everett, WA on 8/10.
• A trailer for the AAA TripleMania on 8/9  PPV show
• At yesterday’s ROH tapings in Baltimore, The Cauliflower Team was Chase Brown & Peter Kaasa 
• David Otunga will be a guest on the Steve Harvey talk show tomorrow discussing health and nutrition 
• Son of the TNA talent flew to the U.K. including Drew Galloway to work for the major indie shows this weekend but I think they’ll be back once they start taping for Impact.  Most of the tapings thus far have been assorted matches for One Night Only and Xplosion shows.
• In fact, this was Drew Galloway vs. Rhino from last night in Glasgow.
• The Daily Mail in the U.K. talks Vince McMahon’s skit years ago on TV where he used the N word. 
• Bleacher Report ran a story about UFC’s Elias Theodorou facing Kris Chambers at an indie pro wrestling show in Toronto recently.  I guess he didn’t know that UFC contracts don’t allow you to do pro wrestling. 
• Undertaker will be appearing at the Wizard World Comic Con in Tulsa on 10/24. 
• Jim Ross announced talk show dates for 9/11 in Knoxville at the International and 9/20 in Houston at 4 p.m. at the Warehouse Live Ballroom, which will be a few hours before the Night of Champions PPV that night at the Toyota Center.
• At the beginning of last night’s Battlelfield Fight League show on The Fight Network, from Richmond, BC, they announced at the start of the broadcast an In Memory graphic for fighter Oliver Evanshen, who recently passed away.  Evanshen was an area amateur with a 5-0 record. (thanks to Ed Ludwig)
• Dana White story regarding his Twitter outburst a few nights ago on the USA Today site
•  White then blasted USA Today saying how when UFC no longer pays them (buys advertising) that they are giving them far less coverage.  I’ve seen Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon go through some phases, but it was usually when things were going down fast.  For someone whose business is actually doing very well to do stuff like that reaction last night to Stitch Duran, that’s actually unique.  
• Here’s notes from his response to the Stitch Duran firing
• Seriously, at least when Ole Anderson did that promo in 1980 the goal was for people to hate him.
• Countdown to UFC 190, Rousey vs. Correia airs at 9 p.m. tomorow night on FS 1.
• A story on Mike Hayes from the Tough Enough tryouts and his start at OVW
• A tribute to Dwayne Johnson at an Arena Football game this weekend
• Don Leo Jonathan interview
• An old WWE racism story from The Atlantic
• ONE FC presents Dynasty of Champions on 9/1 in Shanghai, China with Igor Svirid of Kazakhstan defending the middleweight title against Vitaly Bigdash from Russia.
• Deathproof on 8/16 at The Rockpile in Toronto featuring Ultimo Dragon vs. Steve Corino plus Necro Butcher.
• Smash Wrestling on 8/23 in Toronto at the Frank Horner Community Centre with Chris Hero vs Tarik plus Candice LaRae.
• CrossRoads Wrestling on 8/15 in Riverside, NJ at Turner’s Hall.
• Congratulations to Diamond Dallas Page, who married Brenda Nair over the weekend at a ceremony in Cancun.  Marc Mero was among those at the wedding.
• Pure Wrestling Association on 8/21, 8/22 and 8/23 in Nanaimo, BC at the  Vancouver Island Exhibitions.  They also run 8/2 in Thedford, ONT as part of a festival at the Legacy Centre.
• ECCW on 8/15 in Vancouver at the Russian Community Centre with Cat Power vs. Nicole Matthews.
• The Resurrection Fighting Alliance runs 9/18 in Olcinon, NE at the Pinnacle Bank Arena on AXS TV featuring Darrick Minner, Anthony Smith and Ryan Roberts.
• World Powerhouse Wrestling from last night in Collinsville, IL:  Jake Capone & Juggernaut Jones b Purple Dragons, Scar b Bio Shock, Kyle King b Moondog Pongo Alexander Steele & Knight Fyre b Ivan Stronkgenovf & Victor Cortez, Sniper b Wapo Concho & Paradox, Bronson b Gavin Alexander, Curtis Payne b Uriah Eleazar, Gauge Evans b Hawk Elliott, Xavier Frost b Damian Blade (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
• GOUGE from last night in Raleigh:  Waylon Maze won three-way over Chance LeBeaux and Johnny Fulls, Ron Nicole b Taylor Black, Jimmy Jack Funk Jr. b Outcast, Juan Jeremi b Priest, No Direction b Seymour Snott & Victor Andrews, Timmy Lou Retton b Mickey Gambino-DQ.  Next show is 8/22 in Raleigh at the Nickeloonit Brewery.
• Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Marcus Eriks b Prince Nagi, Levi Shapiro b Super Tiger, Al Azar b Johnny Dynamo (thanks to Jon Southerland) 

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

1972 – Miyoko Hoshino beat Sara Lee (not the Tough Enough contestant, nor her grandmother, but the former Nashville ticket lady) to win the WWWA title.

1975 – Skandor Akber & George Guliovas beat Larry O’Dea & Bobby Hart in Melbourne to win the Austra Asian tag titles

1980 – Cien Caras beat Tony Benetto in Puebla to win the Mexican national heavyweight title

1983 – Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda beat Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta in Fukuoka to win the NWA Int. tag titles

1984 – Chamaco Valaquez beat Mocho Cota in Cuernavaca to win the NWA welterweight title

1990 – Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori beat Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) & Harley Saito in Yokohama to win the Pacific Coast tag titles

1991 – Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas beat Joel Deaton & Billy Black in Matsumoto to win the All-Asia tag titles

2005 – Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Shuji Kondo & Yasshi in Tokyo to win the All-Asia tag titles

2008 – Alex Shelley beat Ultimo Guerrero to win the International Grand Prix tournament at Arena Mexico

By Brian Hoops

1929 – In St. Louis, Missouri at the Outdoor Battery Arena; Dick Shikat beat Joe Komar 

1946 – Dave Levin defeated Kay Bell for the Texas Heavyweight Title in
Houston, Texas

1950 – Ray Clements defeated Frank Murdoch to win Amarillo’s Southwest
Junior Heavyweight Title in Lubbock, Texas.

1960 – Curly Gagnon defeated Andy Galipeau in Winnipeg, Manitoba for the
Madison Wrestling Club Middleweight Title

1968 – Fritz Von Erich defeated Spoiler #1 in Houston, Texas for the
held-up NWA American Heavyweight Title.

1970 – Miyoko Hoshino and Yoshiko Miyamoto defeated Masked Killer and
Masked Lee in Fuchu, Japan to win the American Girls’ Wrestling
Association International Tag Team Title.

1972 – Fred Blassie defeated Johnny Barend for the Hawaii NWA North
American Heavyweight Title

1972 Miami, Florida; Paul Jones beat Jack Brisco on a 3rd fall dq, Don Curtis beat Buddy Colt dq and 
Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Hiro Matsuda & Ron Fuller.

1972 – Miyoko Hoshino defeated Sarah Lee in Kasugabe, Japan for the WWWA
World Singles Title. At the same event, Aiko Kyo and Jumbo Miyamoto won
the WWWA World Tag Team Title from Opearl Anston and Masked Lee.

1973 – In Kansas City; Mike George & Jim Brunzell defeated Percy Pringle & Jim Dalton, Togo the Great & Tokyo Joe defeated Hillbilly Vic & Steve Bolus, In an Indian Strap Match; Danny Little Bear defeated Bob Brown and Lord Alfred Hayes & Roger Kirby defeated Bobo Brazil & Rufus R. Jones in three falls

1977 – Ken Lucas defeated Kurt Von Hess to win the NWA Gulf Coast
Heavyweight Title in Mobile, Alabama

1980 – Greg Valentine defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA United States
Heavyweight Title in Charlotte, North Carolina

1980 – Barry Windham defeated Masa Saito for the NWA Florida Television
Title in St. Petersburg, Florida.

1981 – Angelo Mosca defeated Mr. Fuji in Toronto, Ontario to win the
Toronto NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title

1981 – In Green Bay; Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke, Sheik Adnan ddq Tito Santana and 
Jerry Blackwell beat Brad Rheingans. 

1983 – Tiger Jeet Singh and Umanosuke Ueda defeated Giant Baba and Jumbo
Tsuruta to win the NWA International Tag Team Title in Nagasaki, Japan,
to end Baba and Tsuruta’s fifth reign.

1984 – The Grapplers (Tony Anthony and Len Denton) defeated The Uptown
Boys (Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers) to win the NWA Central States Tag
Team Title in Kansas City, Kansas,

1985 – In Albany, GA, The Midnight Express, Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton
won an 18 Man Battle Royal and split the “$10,000” purse.

1986 – At the Great American Bash, Dusty Rhodes defeated NWA
World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match to win the
title and Magnum T.A. defeated Nikita Koloff (with Ivan Koloff) make their best-of-seven 
series for the NWA United States Heavyweight Title 3-1 favor of Nikita in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Also on the card, NWA National Heavyweight Champion Tully Blanchard (with James J. Dillon) defeated Ron Garvin in a Taped Fist match and The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) fought The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (NWA World Television Champion Arn and Ole Anderson) to a draw.

1991 – The Can-Am Express (Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat) defeated Billy
Black and Joel Deaton to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Title in
Matsudo, Japan,

1998 – WWF Champion Steve Austin and The Undertaker defeated WWF Tag
Team Champions Kane and Mankind to win the title in Fresno, California. Also,
WWF Intercontinental Champion The Rock fought Triple H (with Chyna) to a 30-minute time-limit draw in a best-of-three falls match to retain the title. 

2005 – Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kensuke Sasaki defeated Shuji Kondo and “brother” YASSHI for the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan.

2009 – At the Night of Champions PPV, Christian defeated Tommy Dreamer
to win the ECW Championship and Mickie James defeated Maryse to win the
Diva’s Championship. Also, Jeff Hardy defeated CM Punk to win the World
Championship.

Hi Dave,
  Just wanted to give some feedback on the UFC Fight Night on Fox. I gave the card a Thumbs up, it was a pretty good show, not great with big marquee match/ups in my opinion, but a good fight night. This is the 4th UFC event I’ve watched since they implemented the new Reebok uniforms and I’m completely sick of looking at them already. I didn’t think it would make a big difference, but it really does. I mean plain black and white fight gear in every single fight on every fight card since they implemented the new uniform style? When they showcased examples of the fight uniforms and how the would look, I seem to remember a variety of clothing styles being presented, different colors, different styles, all with the Reebok logo. I know this is not a fashion show, and in a good fight it should not even be a factor on what they are wearing, but my god are these things bland! They actually make the fights boring if that makes any sense, and nobody really stands
 out in my opinion, especially on the undercards. Every fight and just about every fighter looks the same. I just don’t understand the goal of Dana White here in making the product look as bland as possible. No cageside sponsors, nobody stands out at the weigh-ins, and don’t even get me started on the huge injustice to Stitch! But I digress, at least go with a different color scheme for every fight card, I’m so fricken sick of the black and white color scheme and feel like a complete idiot complaining about it, but it really does take away from the entertainment and look of the product which is very important.
Anyway, I skipped the prelims basically for this reason, and just watched the main card, which was very good, but some oddball decisions in a few fights in my opinion.

1. Joe Lauzon / Takanori Gomi – Lauzon gets the TKO over Gomi as Herb Dean is slow on the draw, but at least Lauzon was paying attention, lol. I think Herb Dean is the best ref in the world, but even he was bored by the uniform styles by this point and I think he fell asleep on his feet as a result, lol. Good stoppage though as Gomi was done, even though the stoppage was by the fighter and not the ref initially.

2. Edson Barboza / Paul Felder – A very good fight with Barboza getting the decision, even with a nasty eye bump that looked painful. A good decision in my opinion, the right guy won. I’m sure the executives on Fox just loved it when Felder decided to drop an “F” bomb when he lost by decision and then refused to shake hands and just left the cage. Or maybe he was more upset by the new uniform style then the decision? It’s really difficult to say, lol. But I’m sure a financial fine was waiting for him as he returned back stage to the dressing rooms.

3. Miesha Tate / Jessica Eye – “Takedown” Tate is now “Cupcake” Tate, lol. How about “Enhancement” Tate if you know what I mean? I like Tate, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a big fan of hers since her Strikeforce days, but I think that Jessica Eye was the clear winner here. I think the decision went in her favor due to the rematch aspect of her and Ronda in my opinion. Not sure how good Jessica would do fighting Ronda, but pretty sure Ronda would bulldoze through her as they are clearly running out of contenders to challenge Ronda, and now need to look at making every fight for Ronda as personal as possible to keep her motivated I think and keep the crowd into it.  A rematch between Ronda and Tate would be interesting, I just don’t think Tate won this fight as she clearly didn’t look like the winner by the end of the fight as she was banged up pretty bad and Jessica Eye really didn’t have a mark on her.

4. Dillashaw / Renan – Really good fight, I like both these fighters, I like Dillashaw as champ and he is on fire right now in my opinion. I hope they get a chance for a 3rd fight as I like Renan too, but he has to work his way back to a title match. But a good main event, good fight, not sure how it would have done on PPV as far as if I would have bought this fight, but a good fight night match up. Good night of fights, but I think I may need to join a group therapy session for my disdain of the new uniform style! It’s dumb to complain about it I know! And it bothers me more then it should, lol. But it does really take away an aspect of the excitement and Dana White and company should really revisit that aspect.

Thanks,
Jon Southerland
Clovis, Ca.

UFC on fox

Thumbs up, consistent show. Everything was decent except the officiating.
Best fight/Worst fight: nothing off the chart either way, several very good fights, nothing really bad
Best performance: would have to split this 5 or 6 ways
Worst performance: Barao I guess if we’re not counting the judges or Yves Lavigne (what else is new)
KO: Lawlor
Sub: Krause

Zak Cummings makes short work of late sub Dominique Steele with a flurry of punches. Local yokel ref lets it go way too long. Jessamyn Duke, down two rounds, comes up with a 3rd round onslaught that has Elizabeth Phillips saved by the bell. I would call the 3rd 10-8 and the fight 28-28 but the judges won’t. 29-28 UD Phillips and reverses an amateur loss a few years back. Good UFC debut late sub performance from Andrew Holbrook but isn’t in shape to quite hang with Ramsey Nijem and gasses late. Good technical fight especially while both were fresh. 29-28 split for Holbrook? What planet were the judges on? Darren Cruikshank tags James Krause a lot very early but Krause takes him down and immediately takes back and sinks the RNC for a quick upset win. Eddie Wineland off a long layoff  looking overtrained, undersized and rusty never gets any range and Brian Caraway wins a comfortable decision without even being able to take the fight to the ground. Wineland tries coming on late and might steal the 3rd and does on two cards and even that’s questionable.

Ben Saunders-Kenny Robertson even more interesting than expected as Robertson able to more than hold his own standing most of the time. Saunders dominates the 1st but Robertson drops him hard late and seems to dominate the 2nd. Saunders traps Robertson in a triangle most of the 3rd and busts him up with elbows. Robertson is the hometown guy but Saunders gets the 29-28 split. Really good. Very close fight between Jim Miller and Danny Castillo. Much improved kicking from Castillo. Late TD by him may be the margin. Miller takes the SD with one asinine 30-27. Getting bullied by the much bigger Gian Villante, Tom Lawlor catches him coming in hands down with a right hook and knocks him silly early in the 2nd. The new uniforms mean we get no more Tom Lawlor Entrances even for weighins, which highly sucks.

Joe Lauzon stands briefly with Takanori Gomi, takes him down, takes back, flattens him out, knocks him out cold with G&P and gets up and walks away. Dean checks Gomi and then calls it. It’s announced as a ‘T’ KO. Not sure what’s ‘technical’ when the guy’s out cold.

Edson Barboza and Paul Felder, both late subs, amazingly go the distance in essentially a high level Muay Thai fight. Both do serious damage. Very similar fighters, more spinning strikes in this fight than I think any other MMA fight I’ve seen. Movie fight. Really good. Barboza a little faster and comes on late and should take the decision but tonight who knows. He does, 29-28 UD.

Jessica Eye outboxes Miesha Tate most of the 1st but is just too small to take Miesha’s power and Miesha takes over with a big overhand right KD late in the round and dominates the rest of the fight for a card sweep UD and I guess we have to watch Ronda clean her clock again. Jessica is a flyweight forced to fight at bantam because UFC for some reason still hasn’t started 125 for women. She might be better off starving down to 115. Lavigne manages to miss a blatant ground head kick by Miesha.

TJ DIllashaw repeats his dominance over Renan Barao. Barao lands a little more than last time and the fight is less dynamic till the finish but even Barao’s power seems to be gone. Maybe he has no choice other than to go up to 145 but it’s such a shark tank compared to 135. Dilashaw finishes it in the 4th with a flurry. Thought Dean let it go too long.
Crimson Mask

ROH Death Before Dishonor 13

Dear Mr Meltzer,

rating–Thumbs Up
best match— Adam Cole vs Dalton Castle… Cole was in much better shape than in his return match in Philly vs AJ. Good to see he’s been working hard. Castle got a ‘holy shit’ chant for a clean break, pretty tough to do. They got the most out of doing the least. Enjoyed castle’s deadlift’s very much. 
worst match— Silas Young vs Will Ferrara… no one knew Will. Flat crowd for an opener, didn’t think it achieved it’s purpose. 

Good, not great show I thought. But well worth my time and money.

I figured Roddy/Lethal was going broadway very early. At no point did I think it was match of the year though as the crowd chanted afterwards. I give both guys credit for having a good match go an hour. That’s pretty damn hard to do.

thanks for your time,
Dan Petrucci

Thumbs up

Best match: Lethal-Strong

Worst match: Silas-Ferrara

Great event. Maybe not as good as “Best in the World”, but pretty close. Loved the main event and Broadway makes perfect sense. The tag matches were fantastic. Loved ACH. Loved Adam Cole. Kelly and Corino are great as announcers. Stream was flawless

Britt Whitmire,
North Carolina

Overall: Thumbs Up
Best Match: Strong vs. Lethal
Worst Match: Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara (not bad, just given the least amount of time)

A fantastic show that I’m afraid very little people saw. You’re simply not going to see any better professional wrestling on TV and PPV from America than ROH. Death Before Dishonor XIII seemed like a show to hold you over until their big show in Texas in September. The crowd kind of spoke to that as I felt like they hurt the show. Overall though I would definitely recommend anyone to order the replay if they want to see a fantastic 60 minute draw in the modern era. A definite MOTY contender. I can’t imagine how they did it in that heat as it looked like Roderick Strong legitimately sweated off 5-10 lbs. Every match was great. Dalton Castle and Adam Cole had a far better match than I ever imagined them having. Castle isn’t just a goofy gimmick, he’s a really talented wrestler. Moose went from being way too green for ROH, to fitting right in. He impresses me more and more each time I see him and Cedric Alexander looked the best I’ve seen him in a long time. Every other match was typical ROH goodness. Every time I order a ROH show I feel like I got my money’s worth plus some. 

-Matthew Burrill
@mattb425

Ring of Honor: Death Before Dishonor

Overall: Thumbs in the middle. Below ROH standards and a far cry from BITW. The undercard provided little to celebrate or praise. The main event was a marathon of attrition. It almost entered the classic phase.

Best match:  I wanted to love the main event because of the extreme effort, but it only partially won my love. It built and built and built. With that said, the build was almost too slow.

Worst match. Page and ACH had no flow. Because of this, the dangerous spots felt completely wasted.

1. Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara. Quick paced, solid opener. As a heel, Young has grown on me. On the ROH roster, he is unique. I am not yet sold on Ferrara. His wrestling ability is fine, but he lacks anything that stands out in ROH or anywhere else. ** 1/2

2. Moose vs. Cedric Alexander. A few good spots, but the match lacked a consistent story and strongly defined roles. Too many missed kicks. *3/4

3. The Briscoes vs. Roppongi Vice. As I suspected, good action from start to finish in this contest. My one reoccurring complaint with ROH tag matches is the inconsistent enforcement of tag team rules. To sum it up, the break down and chaos goes on way to long. Nonetheless, I was entertained. ***1/2

4. Dalton Castle vs. Adam Page. Castle amuses me. His facial expressions and body mannerisms are awesome.  A long, back and forth, fifty/ fifty match. If the plan was to go so long, a traditional template would have perhaps been more effective.  As it stands, it was okay but below expectations. **1/2

5. Adam Page vs. ACH. ACH started with good fire, but the match lost momentum and subsequently lost the crowd. By the end, it was a few violent high spots in a match with no flow. **

6. Tag Title Match: The Addiction vs. Redragon vs. War Machine vs. The Kingdom.  At the onset, the crowd had cooled off. The match picked up and the crowd came alive after the hot tag to Redragon and the dive spot. From there, the match turned to the familiar take turns spot fest. War Machine was given a nice shine during this phase. In my opinion, the spot fest went on too long and lost momentum prior to the finish. ***

7. ROH Title Match: Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal. Methodical pacing that felt worthy of a title match. Near the latter stages of the match, it felt as though the crowd was begging the athletes to quicken the pacing and increase the intensity. It never really happened, and hence what could have been epic, never reached that special level. Strong had a few outbursts of offense, but none that were built upon. This was a war of attrition, and a true marathon. For my taste, the build was almost too slow They wrestled a 60 minute match, 45 of which looked like exhausted desperation. The effort should be commended. ***3/4

Thanks, Derrick Hubbard
Utah

By Brian Hoops

1953 – Blue Demon defeated El Santo in Mexico City, Mexico, for the NWA

World Welterweight Title

1955 – Frank Jares defeated Sonny Myers for the NWA Southern Junior
Heavyweight Title in Birmingham, Alabama.

1958 – Sonny Myers won a tournament final in St. Joseph, Missouri to win
the Central States Heavyweight Title.

1961- In Minneapolis, MN; AWA Champion Gene Kiniski wrestled Verne Gagne to a 60 minute draw, Wilbur Snyder beat Hard Boiled Haggerty and Leo Nomellini beat Bob Geigel

1961 – At Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri; Bobo Brazil defeated Larry Hennig (sub. Rip Hawk), Tiny Smith defeated Don Leo Jonathan via dq and Dick the Bruiser defeated Bob Ellis in three falls

1964 – In Minneapolis; The Crusher beat AWA Champion Verne Gagne via dq, Mitsu Arakawa beat Wilbur Snyder, Mad Dog Vachon beat Jack Lanza and Larry Hennig drew Dale Lewis

1966 – In Chicago; AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon beat Ernie Ladd, AWA Tag Team Champions Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher beat the Assassins and Verne Gagne beat Chris Markoff

1972 – In Tampa, Florida; (Winner to meet NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr) Buddy Colt beat Mr Wrestling Tim Woods, Paul Jones beat Don Curtis and Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens drew Jack Brisco & Johnny Walker

1973 – In Honolulu, Hawaii; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Superstar Billy Graham on a 3rd fall dq, AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Ken Patera & Billy Robinson, Ripper Collins & Ed Francis beat Neff Maiava & Sam Steamboat in 2 out of 3 falls to win Hawaiian tag title and Hard Boiled Haggerty beat Ric Flair

1974 – In Kansas City, Mike George & Bob Geigel & Bobby Bold Eagle defeated Don Fargo & Bob Orton & Bobby Garcia, Killer Karl Krupp defeated The Viking, Pat O’Connor & Omar Atlas & Bill Kersten defeated The Interns & Dr. Ken Ramey and in a Russian Chain Match: Harley Race defeated Bob Brown

1974 – In Peoria, Illinois; AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel and Greg Gagne beat Larry Hennig

1977 – Captain USA (Big John Studd under a mask) defeated Bruiser Brody
for the American Heavyweight Title (later to become the World Class
World Heavyweight Title) in Ft. Worth, Texas.

1980 – Ken Mantell defeated Wahoo McDaniel in a tournament final to win
the Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Title.  The tournament was held
after Junkyard Dog had been forced to vacate the title after he was
blinded by the Fabulous Freebirds.

1981 – In Chicago, Illinois; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat The Crusher, 
AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura,
Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke and Tito Santana no contest Sheik Adnan

1983 – Jimmy Garvin defeated Kevin Von Erich in Ft. Worth, Texas to win
the American Heavyweight Title (later to become the World Class World
Heavyweight Title).

1983 – Jerry Lawler defeated Ken Patera for the AWA International
Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1988 – In Memphis, TN; AWA Champion Jerry Lawler drew Kerry Von Erich, Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden beat Jeff Jarrett & Jimmy Valiant and Phil Hickerson beat Scott Steiner

1999 – At the Fully Loaded PPV in Buffalo, New York; Jeff Jarrett
defeated Edge to win the Intercontinental Title; D’Lo Brown defeated
Mideon to win the WWF European Title and Big Bossman defeated Al Snow to
win the Hardcore Title.

2009 – In Toronto, Ontario at Night Two of ROH’s Death Before Dishonor; Kenny Omega & The Briscoes beat Austin Aries & Kenny King & Rhett Titus and Chris Hero beat Lance Storm.

2009 – In a TNA Ultimate X Match, Manik won the TNA X Division Title over Sonjay Dutt and Greg Marasciulo. 

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

We’re looking for your thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for last night’s ROH iPPV show, today’s UFC show and tomorrow morning’s New Japan show (the biggest of the weekend) to hsmeltzer@junocom

We’re also looking for reports on these shows:

*NXT Thursday in Fort Pierce, FL

*NXT last night in Coral Gables, FL

*WWE last night in Bakersfield, CA

*WWE tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles

*WWE tonight in Odessa, TX

*ROH TV tapings in Baltimore

All reports should be sent to Dave Meltzer

We’ll also be looking for reports on tomorrows WWE shows in Lawton, OK and Amarillo.

UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barao II comes live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois:

Here is our live report:  UFC On FOX 16: Dillashaw vs. Barao 2 live results and coverage

Main Card on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ET
T.J. Dillashaw (135) vs. Renan Barao (135) for Dillashaw’s UFC Bantamweight Championship
Miesha Tate (135.5) vs. Jessica Eye (136)
Edson Barboza (155) vs. Paul Felder (155.5)
Joe Lauzon (155.5) vs. Takanori Gomi (155.5)

Prelims on Fox at 6:00 p.m. ET
Gian Villante (205) vs. Tom Lawlor (203)
Jim Miller (155) vs. Danny Castillo (155.5)
Kenny Robertson (170) vs. Ben Saunders (170.5)
Eddie Wineland (136) vs. Bryan Caraway (135.5)

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass at 4:15 p.m. ET
Daron Cruickshank (155) vs. James Krause (155.5)
Ramsey Nijem (156) vs. Andrew Holbrook (155.5)
Jessamyn Duke (135.5) vs. Elizabeth Phillips (135)
Zak Cummings (170.5) vs. Dominique Steele (170.5) 

Another really strong Fox special on paper. While Barao didn’t necessarily earn a rematch, it’s the best fight that can be made at 135 right now, as the top of the bantamweight division is filled with injured fighters, inactive fighters, prospects who aren’t quite ready, and Urijah Faber, who looks to be moving back up to featherweight. Dillashaw is rightfully the favorite, as the stylistic matchup still favors him, but it’ll be interesting to see how Barao does against him without the be-all and end-all of nightmarish weight cuts.

Everything starting with Cruickshank-Krause, the featured Fight Pass prelim, is at least pretty good on paper. In prelim fights of note, Wineland returns after a broken jaw and over a year off with a tough but stylistically favorable opponent in Caraway, WrestlingObserver.com’s own Tom Lawlor tries to crack into th top 15 in his return to light heavyweight, and Robertson-Saunders is a battle of fun surging fighters with the winner likely getting a name opponent.

As for the support on the main card, all three fights are really enticing. Tate-Eye is a title eliminator for a shot at the Ronda Rousey-Bethe Correia winner (who will be Ronda Rousey) featuring two consistently fun to watch fighters. Barboza-Felder is a really interesting fight that evolved out of the originally scheduled Anthony Pettis (replaced by Barboza) vs. Myles Jury (replaced by Felder) bout. It should be nothing less than a corker of a stand-up battle, and Felder, who’s the superior defensive and counter fighter, stands a real shot at getting into the top 10 in his third UFC fight. Finally, Gomi-Lauzon is a meeting of two of the most popular action fighters in MMA, so they have pretty high expectations to live up to but has to be a fun fight at bare minimum.

Day 5 of 19 in NJPW’s 25th annual G1 Climax Tournament airs live on NJPW World at 5:00 a.m. ET:

Non-tournament matches:
1. Hirooki Goto, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu vs. Tomoaki Honma, Mascara Dorada, David Finlay Jr. & Jay White
2. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall vs. Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan
3. Tomohiro Ishii & Captain New Japan vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga
4. Satoshi Kojima, Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo

Tournament matches (A Block):
5. Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale
6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano
7. Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata
8. AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito

* Reports from the WWE house shows this weekend as well as any other pro wrestling show you might be attending at newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

**** 

The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) with a feature story looking at WWE’s firing of Hulk Hogan and how it relates to all of the litigation with Gawker including:

* How Hogan’s racist comments and the set of sex tapes his tirade was part of tied into the FBI investigating someone attempting to extort money from Hogan.

* How long it’s been known that something like this could come out.

* Gawker alluding to the idea that the FBI was helping Hogan cover up these statements.

* Where The National Enquirer and Radar Onlne could have sourced the story from.

And much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news.

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 return of the Undertaker and build to SummerSlam, Battleground coverage, the rise of NXT and situation with ROH, the G-1 Climax tournament and some major UFC stories are the major stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

The latest Wrestling Observer: July 27, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The Undertaker returns at Battleground, NXT/ROH insanity with Liger booking

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.

Our lead story concerns the build to SummerSlam.  We look at advertising that has already been cut for the show, what are the possibilities for Sting, the Lesnar-Undertaker angle, the booking of WWE right now, the situation with the women, plus full coverage of Battleground with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

We also look at the booking of  Jushin Liger to NXT on 8/22, ticket sales for the show, plans for the NXT show, how the Liger booking affects ROH and has caused such a political turmoil.  We look at the NXT card as well as the competing ROH show.  We look at the Liger booking, ROH working with New Japan, ratings with New Japan stars vs. shows without New Japan stars, NXT touring, the next NXT vs. ROH head-to-head in September, the next ROH PPV show and much more.

We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament, with all of the shows planned for the next week, as well as full coverage of opening night in Sapporo with match-by-match-coverage, star ratings and poll results.

We also look at a major story concerning fighters for UFC to address which is the banning of IVs for rehydrating after weigh-ins starting October and why the story is far more significant than people realize.

We also look at a potential alliance between ESPN and WWE and the ethical debate regarding the coverage.  We also look at the Hogan/Gawker lawsuit and each side’s case, an update on the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit against C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana, an update on Dolph Ziggler and what he claims is his contract status, Undertaker working more than just SummerSlam, Stephanie McMahon talks gay characterizations in future WWE creative as well as a look back from former creative members regarding different suggestions on gay characterizations in the past.  We look at more WWE banned terms and how some were changed and why.  We also look at how the characters are being described for Camp WWE, which is really hilarious.

We’ve also got notes on Chris Jericho working more house shows, Tough Enough notes, John Cena in the movies, how the WWE Network free month has changed, as well as what to look for over the next week in WWE stock.

We also have full coverage of the next month of NXT TV tapings, as well as coverage of all the WWE and NXT house shows this past week and business notes from the shows.

We also have notes on TripleMania being on U.S. PPV for the first time on 8/9, including price point, why it’s happening now, and its history as well as broadcast information.

We also have coverage of both UFC events held over the past week, with the Mir vs. Duffee and Bisping vs. Leites shows.  We’ve got business notes and stories behind both events.

We also have notes on the third season of New Japan World on AXS, including highlights of the new season, all the matches airing from 8/14 to 12/11 including when the Wrestle Kingdom 9 matches will air, as well as notes on the schedule for 2016.

We also look at Dragon Gate’s Kobe World Festival show and CMLL’s Sin Salida show, which were two of those two company’s biggest events of the year.

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.

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

****

Saturday Daily Update

• David Houston, Hulk Hogan’s lawyer, spoke to Fox News’s Fox 411 about the Hogan’s racist comments, primarily trying to shift the narrative from the comments themselves to who leaked them, saying “I have my suspicions, as you can imagine. If I can find out it is Gawker who leaked the transcripts, we will bury them.” Heather Dietrick, Gawker’s President and General Counsel, replied with this statement: “Hulk Hogan has only one person to blame for what he said and no one from Gawker had any role in leaking that information.”

Houston also mentioned that Hogan wanted him to tell his fans that he’s “devastated” by what he said years ago and “sincerely apologizes to his family, friends and fans,” before adding that  “He is not a racist. His history defines him as something different.” According to the transcript, which Hogan and Houston have not disputed the authenticity of, Hogan outright says “I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f**king n***ers” and later “I guess we’re all a little racist. F**king n***er.” From the nature of Hogan’s apology and damage control attemptss so far, he seems to be banking on the idea that most people don’t know what exactly he said, “just” that he used the N-word and made some other, vaguely defined racist ommnts.

Fox also spoke to a legal expert, Ameer Benno, who explained what type of sanctions Gawker culd be subject to if they did leak the tape: “At one extreme, the court could strike Gawker’s answer in the case, thereby awarding Hogan the equivalent of a default judgment. As a middle ground, the court could penalize Gawker by precluding it from introducing certain evidence or making certain arguments at trial in support of its defenses.”

• It was inevitable that a mainstream site would cover the backstage skit where Mr. McMahon called Booker T “my nia” in light of the Hulk hogan stuff this weekend, which TMZ did. WWE issued a statement saying that the skit “was an outlandish and satirical skit involving fictional characters, similar to that of many scripted television shows and movies.”
• You may or may not remember that last year, the Hogan’s Beach restaurant in Tampa was the subject of scrutiny for having a dress code that was perceieved by some as racist and singling out black customers. At the time, Hogan told TMZ that while he didn’t own the restaurant (he said they licensed his name), he personally made sure that they removed the dress code, which he claimed they had lifted from pool parties in Las Vegas and Miami. 
• Well, it turns out that, according to Radar Online (who partnered with the National Enquirer in reporting on Hogan’s racist comments), Hogan is, in fact, the owner of the restaurant. A document that they obtained from the Florida Secretary of State shows that Hogan, under his real name ofTerry Gene (misspelled as “Geen”) Bollea as the registered agent on their 2015 Florida Limited Liability Company Annual Report.
• The manager of the restaurant, who made sure to mention that the eatery has nothing to do with the scandal and that everyone is welcome, also added that Hogan hadn’t been around “for a very long time.” Radar easily found a photo of Hogan with a fan at the restaurant that was taken two weeks ago. 
• Radar has another article about having spoken to Hogan’s ex-wife Linda (who was his wife at th time the comments were made), who said she doesn’t “agree with such statements or beliefs.”
• Radar also spoke to Bruce Comtois, Hogan’s former driver. “There were no racial overtones. He never ranted about anything. He wouldn’t go off about anyone, color or background. This is a real surprise for me.”
• As part of the tour to promote his new book that came out Tuesday (highly recommended, by the way), Daniel Bryan commented on the Hogan situation yesterday in a radio interview on THE FAN in Dallas. “I got back to my hotel room at about 10-or-11-o’clock last night, and I woke up this morning just in time to start doing phoners. Everyone is like, ‘Hey! What do you think about this thing with Hulk Hogan?’ I’m like, ‘Wait, what thing? What are you talking about?’ I had no idea. So, yeah, not in any of my dealings with him.”
• Jim Ross has a look at the Hogan stuff in his latest blog post.
• Mark Henry tweeted a statement about Hogan that I believe includes his first public acknowledgemnt of having been subject to use of racial slurs (reportedly Michal Hayes saying “I’m more of a n-er than you are!” at a post-WrestleMania party) in WWE:

pic.twitter.com/f7de0355vG

— Mark Henry (@TheMarkHenry) July 24, 2015

• Brooke Hogan appeared with then-producer/boyfriend Stack$ on the Howard Stern Show on July 26, 2009, which included a discussion about if her dad was OK with her dating black men. In the interview, she does mention tthat thy had been together for a few years, so presumably, he’s the “billionaire black guy’s son” mentioned in the Hogan transcript.
• Roddy Piper was on The Rich Eisen Show on DirecTV’s Audience Netwrk to, theoretically, plug his graphic novel and “All Out of Bubble Gum” soda as well as discuss the Hogan stuff. A video of the appearance just went up n the show’s YouTube channel and it’s sad. This is quite possibly the most disconnected, incoherent, and unaware he’s ever been in public, though I’ve never really listened to his podcast.
• Jonathan Snowden has a good article at Bleacher Report about romance novel cover model turned UFC middleweight Elias Theodoru making his pro wrestling debut last weekend.

By Tony Leder and Bryan Alvarez for WrestlingObserver.com

This weekend kicks off with an ROH iPPV at www.rohwrestling.comon tonight from the William J. Myers Pavilion in Baltimore:  Get your live results and coverage here:  ROH Death Before Dishonor XIII Live Results and Coverage 7-24-15: Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong

• Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH title
• Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Hanson & Ray Rowe for the tag titles
• Adam Page vs. ACH no DQ
• Cedric Alexander vs. Moose
• Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe
• Adam Cole vs. Dalton Castle
• Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara
• Donovan Dijak vs. Takaaki Watanabe

New Japan G-1 show Saturday morning from Kagawa at 5 a.m. Eastern on New Japan World with B block matches

• Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi
• Satoshi Kojima vs. Michael Elgin
• Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson
• Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomoaki Honma 

Then UFC on FOX 16 from Chicago featuring T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao for the bantamweight title and in the co-mainevent Jessica Eye vs. Miesha Tate for the No. 1 contender position.  Check out our live coverage of the weigh-ins here:  UFC On FOX 16: Dillashaw vs. Barao 2 weigh-in results and live video

The full schedule:  

Fight Pass at 4:15 p.m. Eastern

• Zak Cummings vs. Dominique Steele
• Jessamyn Duke vs. Elizabeth Phillips
• Andrew Holbrook vs. Ramsey Nijem
• Daron Cruickshank vs. James Krause

FOX at 6 p.m. Eastern (3 p.m. Pacific)

• Bryan Caraway vs. Eddie Wineland
• Kenny Robertson vs. Ben Saunders
• Danny Castillo vs. Jim Miller
• Tom Lawlor vs. Gian Villante
• Takanori Gomi vs. Joe Lauzon
• Edson Barboza vs. Paul Felder
• Jessica Eye vs. Miesha Tate
• T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao for the bantamweight title

Also on Saturday night will have WWE in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and Odessa, TX, and  ROH will be taping four hours of television in Baltimore.

Last night’s Smackdown report(ok from Wednesday):

WWE Smackdown July 23 TV results & recap: Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro, Kevin Owens vs. Rusev

New Japan has a G-1 show from this morning:

NJPW G1 Climax 25 Night 3 (July 24) results: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Saturday night will have WWE in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and Odessa, TX, while ROH will be taping four hours of television in Baltimore.

Sunday is the biggest G-1 show of the weekend live on New Japan World at 5 a.m. Eastern from Hiroshima with some key A block matches:

• Bad Luck Fale vs. Doc Gallows
• Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano
• Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata
• A.J. Styles vs. Kota Ibushi
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 

Sunday also sees a couple WWE house shows in Lawton, OK and Amarillo.

Raw will be Monday night in Oklahoma City.  Brock Lesnar is not advertised for the show.

Smackdown is Tuesday night in Tulsa.  Roman Reign and Seth Rollins are advertised as the top stars on the show.  Dolph Ziggler is being advertised on the show, so in theory he should be returning this week although what is advertised and what happens aren’t necessarily the same thing.

In the Latest Observer:

The return of the Undertaker and build to SummerSlam, Battleground coverage, the rise of NXT and situation with ROH, the G-1 Climax tournament and some major UFC stories are the major stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

The latest Wrestling Observer: July 27, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The Undertaker returns at Battleground, NXT/ROH insanity with Liger booking

Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site: 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.

Our lead story concerns the build to SummerSlam.  We look at advertising that has already been cut for the show, what are the possibilities for Sting, the Lesnar-Undertaker angle, the booking of WWE right now, the situation with the women, plus full coverage of Battleground with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

We also look at the booking of  Jushin Liger to NXT on 8/22, ticket sales for the show, plans for the NXT show, how the Liger booking affects ROH and has caused such a political turmoil.  We look at the NXT card as well as the competing ROH show.  We look at the Liger booking, ROH working with New Japan, ratings with New Japan stars vs. shows without New Japan stars, NXT touring, the next NXT vs. ROH head-to-head in September, the next ROH PPV show and much more.

We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament, with all of the shows planned for the next week, as well as full coverage of opening night in Sapporo with match-by-match-coverage, star ratings and poll results.

We also look at a major story concerning fighters for UFC to address which is the banning of IVs for rehydrating after weigh-ins starting October and why the story is far more significant than people realize.

We also look at a potential alliance between ESPN and WWE and the ethical debate regarding the coverage.  We also look at the Hogan/Gawker lawsuit and each side’s case, an update on the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit against C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana, an update on Dolph Ziggler and what he claims is his contract status, Undertaker working more than just SummerSlam, Stephanie McMahon talks gay characterizations in future WWE creative as well as a look back from former creative members regarding different suggestions on gay characterizations in the past.  We look at more WWE banned terms and how some were changed and why.  We also look at how the characters are being described for Camp WWE, which is really hilarious.

We’ve also got notes on Chris Jericho working more house shows, Tough Enough notes, John Cena in the movies, how the WWE Network free month has changed, as well as what to look for over the next week in WWE stock.

We also have full coverage of the next month of NXT TV tapings, as well as coverage of all the WWE and NXT house shows this past week and business notes from the shows.

We also have notes on TripleMania being on U.S. PPV for the first time on 8/9, including price point, why it’s happening now, and its history as well as broadcast information.

We also have coverage of both UFC events held over the past week, with the Mir vs. Duffee and Bisping vs. Leites shows.  We’ve got business notes and stories behind both events.

We also have notes on the third season of New Japan World on AXS, including highlights of the new season, all the matches airing from 8/14 to 12/11 including when the Wrestle Kingdom 9 matches will air, as well as notes on the schedule for 2016.

We also look at Dragon Gate’s Kobe World Festival show and CMLL’s Sin Salida show, which were two of those two company’s biggest events of the year.

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.

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

• The big story from today, of course, is Hulk Hogan’s termination from WWE for racial slurs in a sex tape created 8 years ago with Heather Clem, who was married to Bubba the Love Sponge at the time.

Check out our ongoing coverage here:  WWE: Hulk Hogan’s WWE contract terminated, National Enquirer story claims racist comments, Hogan’s statement to People

We are told the “more to come” that the National Enquirer has promised could be coming this afternoon or this weekend.

Various wrestlers and personalities are publicly backing Hulk Hogan today, including Virgil to TMZ and Dennis Rodman on his Twitter account.  Rodman is also backing Donald Trump, who at one point in history was involved in the main event of the biggest WrestleMania of all time.

Brooke Hogan wrote a poem for her father

Mark Henry talks Hulk Hogan on his Twitter

We also have tons of notes on the story on today’s Wrestling Observer Live, which you can download commercial-free here if you are a subscriber, with 45 minutes of news and notes with Bryan Alvarez, Dave Meltzer, Mike Sempervive and David Bixenspan.  Bix will also have tons of additional details in this week’s new Figure Four Weekly: July 27 Figure Four Weekly: Hulk Hogan fired by WWE after racist tirade surface He was ahead of the curve in predicting last week’s story that the big Hogan bombshell might involve a racial tirade by Hogan.

• Today’s Observer Live (every show every day, in fact) will replay on Sports Byline USA at 5 PT/8 ET.  Sports Byline USA can be accessed through the links on the front page or via smartphone apps such as TuneIn Radio and iHeart Radio.  If you are a member you can listen here: Wrestling Observer Live 7/24: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Hulk Hogan story as of 4 PM ET
• Bully Ray is apparently already gone from TNA.  That was quick.
• Impact and ROH were both up this week with Impact doing a combined 388,000 viewers between the two airings and ROH doing 265,000.  Last week’s super low numbers appear to be an aberration.
• Smackdown grew to 2.4 million viewers this week.
• There is a new CM Punk interview with Arial Helwani
• Global Force Wrestling will be using a six-sided ring for their TV tapings, which kick off tonight at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas.  Chael Sonnen and Cyrus Fees, who has done MMA commentary in the past, will be doing commentary.
• Look at this guy
• Moondog Morretti is to be honored July 24 at the Cloverdale fairgrounds check out the article here:  MoonDog Moretti to be Honored July 24,2015
• Shine Wrestling returns to the Orpheum in Ybor City, FL this Friday at 9pm with SHINE 28 headlined by Santana Garrett defending against Ivelisse Velez.
• Robin Pro Wrestling will be at the Broward College South Campus in Pembroke Pines, FL Saturday at 5pm featuring an appearance by Larry Zbyszko.
• I Believe in Wrestling returns to the Team Vision Dojo this Saturday at 8pm in Orlando, FL.
• A new wrestling company Lots of Lakes Wrestling Promotions presents live pro wrestling at the Team Vision Dojo this Sunday at 6:30pm headlined by Manik / T.J. Perkins.
• ELITE CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING ANIMAL PROTECTION SOCIETY – Richmond, BC August 8 2015

Bully Ray contacted us via Twitter regarding a note in the current issue of the Observer which said that he didn’t appear on the NXT shows in the Northeast due to him showing up as a referee on a TNA show, which is how it was explained to us.

He pointed to an article at PW Insider today which stated that he was booked for NXT shows on 5/15 and 5/16 in Philadelphia and Albany, NY, but said he didn’t appear due to a injury to his eardrum and contacted WWE about the injury and that is why he didn’t appear at the NXT shows.  Tommy Dreamer worked those shows in his place, facing Baron Corbin.

Bully Ray was never advertised for either event, but there were hints of his appearing that week.

Ratings for last night’s shows on Destination America

ROH at 8 p.m. 139,000 viewers

TNA at 9 p.m. 317,000 viewers

ROH at 11 p.m. 128,000 viewers

TNA at midnight 71,000 viewers