Category: Daily Updates

  • TUESDAY UPDATE: Unveiling of UFC/Reebok gear goes badly, iffy Jose Aldo news, Raw ratings, and more

    by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.comFollow @davidbix

    TV/show notes for tonight:

    USA Network has a Raw replay at 6:00 p.m ET. This is the edited version that’s posted on Hulu Plus, which runs two hours with commercials. It’s an experiment to see if they can build a bigger audience for…

    Tough Enough at 8:00 p.m. ET. In an episode titled “Swamp Stories,” we know that Roman Reigns shows up and it looks like the contestants start to learn how to take bumps.

    SmackDown and Main Event will be taped tonight in Hershey, PA. If you’re attending and would like to write a spoiler report, please send it to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

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    The recipient of rave reviews so far, the newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) with an extensive look at the recent events in the WWE stockholders class action lawsuit, specifically the back and forth over whether or not Brian Maddox (the former Vice President, Global Sales) acted as a whistleblower to help the plaintiffs and if so, what he revealed. Among the topics covered are:

    * How much USA gets for a 30 second ad on Monday Night Raw.

    * What WWE’s internal research says about how big their American fanbase actually is.

    * WWE’s actions that upset and drove away advertisers.

    * Maddox’s affidavit to support WWE’s effort to get the case dismissed and how the plaintiffs are fighting back against it.

    And much more. If you’re interested in WWE business stories, this is a must-read.

    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 AmericanCanadian, 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 story about the life and career of Buddy Landel, plus the Jose Aldo injury, Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and whether it was or wasn’t real and Cora Combs and the last link to the heyday of U.S. women’s wrestling are the main stories in the June 29 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The Latest Wrestling Observer June 29, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Buddy Landel obituary, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice coverage

    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.

    We first look at the injury to Jose Aldo Jr. and thoughts on the 7/11 fight with Conor McGregor.  We look at the different options UFC had in this situation.

    We’ve got a major story on the life and career of Buddy Landel.  We look at the circumstances of his death, why Landel never reached the level of success his ability should have gotten him, his life before and after wrestling, and the story that, at the age of 24, changed the direction of his career.

    Landel talked about getting fired from Crockett Promotions at what turned out to be the high point of his career, examine the talk of his being given the world title at the time, as well as his own very candid thoughts about if he had won the title.  We look at what was planned for him, and how his firing changed the entire history of the business because it in a roundabout way led to the creation of the Four Horseman.

    We look at the situation with Crockett Promotions in the middle of a hot period in 1985, the Starrcade 85 show, and the Flair vs. Rhodes program.  We look at the story behind Landel’s statement that he and Flair broke Elvis’ attendance record in Raleigh and the true story of that night.

    We also look at his run in Tennessee including the last sellout at the Mid South Coliseum and the angle leading to that, as well as the famous 27 fall Texas death match that was among the best matches of the 80s. We look at his start in sports, growing up as a fan, and how Landel got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early years, his first push, the creation of the Nature Boy gimmick, working with Junkyard Dog in Mid South, his return to Crockett Promotions and why he never got another chance, what Buddy Rogers told him, and the last stages of his career and life after wrestling.

    We also look in depth at the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock right.  We look at different kinds of works, and the ones that could not have happened and the ones that could have.  We look at what the person closest to the action said about it, as well as a look at the background of Ken Shamrock.

    We also have a lot more about the records set for the fight, as well as future matches that both or either could do going out of this.  We also look at other business notes for the show, as well as Bellator’s next major event in September, and full coverage of the TV event.

    We also have an update on Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart talks Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others, Dolph Ziggler’s future prospects, Talk of another NXT live special this summer, More on the next WWE network special show, notes on a former tag team of the year candidate team that WWE is looking at getting, more on Tough Enough, as well as Dwayne Johnson projects and injuries to Jamie Noble, Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd.

    We also have notes on why Randy Orton wasn’t at TV this past week, frustration from the inside on WWE creative, Hogan talks WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels in a movie, WWE house shows, the sad plight of Chyna, as well as a look at the weekend NXT and WWE house shows as well as weekend business.

    We also have coverage of the ROH Best in the World PPV show, and where the company is headed.

    We’ve also got a story on the life of Cora Combs, the last link to the Billy Wolfe/Mildred Burke glory days of women’s wrestling.  We look at her career, her decision in the promotional split that ended up taking the women’s side of wrestling down, the Moolah years, being in the first woman’s match ever held in New York and the story behind it.  We also look at the last period of her career, as Lady Satan, working against her daughter, as well as look at some of the oldest wrestlers of all-time and the oldest living wrestles..

    We’ve also got full coverage of the weekly UFC show in Germany and the rise of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.  We look at her unique stardom, as well as other coverage of the show.

    We also have notes on how the WWE’s Payback PPV did and where the PPV business currently stands.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –More on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show

    –Former WWE star signs major deal as a brand ambassador with one of the biggest movie companies in the world and his duties

    –Another former WWE star working big shows in AAA

    –Notes on future AAA shows

    –Ricochet returns to Japan

    –Notes on the next Dragon Gate iPPV show

    –Final event of the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour

    –Notes on the upcoming NOAH GHC jr. tournament

    –More G-1 Climax notes as far as TV goes

    –New Japan heads to Singapore

    –Notes on Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Rogers

    –More on Global Force Wrestling

    –Lots of PWG notes

    –Notes on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show

    –Pro wrestling returns after 20 years to one of its most famous former arenas

    –More on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on upcoming ROH shows

    –A look at the next month of ROH television

    –More on people leaving TNA

    –Story behind Hernandez coming to TNA

    –More on TNA PPV show

    –TNA wrestlers appear on Destination America programming

    –UFC press conference coming

    –Major official leaves UFC

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –More talk about UFC events in the future in Mexico City

    –Why Dana White didn’t go to the UFC show in Germany

    –Dana White talks about a reality show he’s filming

    –Latest on the heavyweight title picture

    –Lots of changed matches on the UFC shows

    –UFC injury updates

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Stiffest MMA suspension to date to a former champion

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

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    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

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    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

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    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

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    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    ****

    Tuesday Daily Update

    — UFC and Reebok unveiled the new “UFC Fighter Kits” (uniforms) today at a media event in New York City, which you can watch on UFC’s YouTube channel. These outfits are what every fighter will be wearing starting with International Fight Week next week. While it had been said that fighters will be able to keep their individuality, almost all of the uniforms (with the exception of the design for the champions) are the same pattern and some fighters get the colors of the flag of their country of origin. The shorts/jersey combos look like soccer uniforms to the point it’s almost distracting.

    There was a lot of hype about Reebok’s specific fabrics and seamless designs. With Ronda Rousey endorsing it, they claimed that their “Fight Bra” is the first sports bra designed specifically for women competing in combat sports, which may not be true. 

    Reebok also opened up sales of the UFC fighter replica jerseys on their website. So far, this has been a disaster. Lowlights include:

    * Misspelled names, most notably “Giblert Melendez” and “Connor McGregor.” Those two have been taken offline for the time being.

    * Weird mistakes involving nicknames, like Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza becoming Jacare “Ronaldo” Souza and Lyoto Machida being merged with TUF Brazil 3 alumnus Marcio “Lyoto” Alexandre Jr. Those have also been taken down.

    * Lots of fighters being referred to by their legal names, even if they’ve never been referred to by those names on UFC programming. Cub Swanson is now Kevin Swanson, Demian Maia is Demian Baptista, Jussier Formiga is now Jussier da Silva, etc. Strangely, even though this suggests Reebok some kind of UFC real names database, Renan Barao and Rony Jason, who don’t go by their real names, are listed by their correct public UFC names. 

    * CM Punk is Phillip Brooks (the UFC roster page has him as “Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks”) without any reference to “CM Punk.” That got pulled, too. Jimy Hettes is now “James ‘Jimy’ Hettes” while our own “Flithy” Tom Lawlor has joined The York Foundation as Thomas Lawlor.

    * Whether or not a fighter gets his country’s colors seems completely random. Ben Handerson, whose mother is from South Korea, was listed as a representative of South Korea with the associated colors even though he’s always been billed as an American in the UFC. That got pulled. “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, who’s a South Korean national, has the generic coloring. That one is still up. Alexander Gustafsson and his All-Stars temmates from Sweden also have generic colors.

    * No jersey variations are being offered for the opposite sex for the time being. So women are stuck with men’s cuts for male fighters and men don’t have viable options for female fighters.

    Not the best start for this deal.

    — Last nights Raw averaged 3.46 million viewers, down from last week’s 3.67 million, for the lowest number of 2015 thus far. The three hours averaged, in order, 3.36 million, 3.54, and 3.48 million viewers. 

    — Today, Jose Aldo was originally scheduled to train and report how he felt back to UFC. He’s now postponed the training session to Friday. That’s not good.

    Jeff Jarrett tweeted that tomorrow night, Impact will feature a sit down interview with him and Mike Tenay discussing the future of TNA and GFW working together.

    — Big match added to Northeast Wrestling’s August 1st show in Fishkill, NY: Rey Mysterio and Alberto El Patron vs. The Young Bucks, which is an incredibly intriguing match on paper. NEW is, for those who aren’t aware, if not the most conistently well drawing indie in the United States, then right up there.

    — Correction to last night’s radio show: Noelle Foley was not on Raw.

    — Dave’s wrap-uparticle on Saturday Night’s UFC card is up at MMAFIghting.

    This week’s edition of Southern States Wrestling’s TV show is built around tributes to both Cora Combs and Buddy Landel. Really nice stuff, worth checking out.

    The newest episode of Kris Zellner’s Exile on Badstreet podcast has myself and Dylan Hales on for our own Buddy Landel tribute.

    The Wrestling Outsiders Podcast tomorrow night at 10pm EST and we will be joined by former TNA personality and Survivor: Pearl Islands contestant Jonny Fairplay.

    — Tyrus/Brodus Clay (well, he’s being promoted as Brodus Clay) will be headlining CWE’s Alberta tour On August 26th through August 29th in Camrose, Sherwood Park, Red Deer, and Calgary, Alberta.

    — Barrie Wrestling: CANADA DAY CHAOS! lineup for Wednesday at Couchiching Park on Terry Fox Circle in Orillia, Ontario: Vaughn Vertigo vs The D Man, Joey Valentyne vs Nick Watts, Big John Greed vs Preston Myles,Lionel Knight vs Playboy John Atlas, and more.

    — Mecca Pro Wrestling: Headlock for Hospice  from Saturday in Cornwall, Ontario: The Insignia’s Bret MacLeod (with Randy Berry in his corner) defeated the debuting Buxx Belmar, El Phantastico was victorious over Cheeky (with Deeno in his corner.) Deeno and Cheeky then proceeded to fight to the back, “Magic” Mario Bryant scored the win over Jeff Fury and the debuting Jake Hunter, Total Devastation defeated the debuting Generation Kill, MPW Pound For Pound Champion Crimson X beat Derric Hamilton in their rematch. After the match, Bret MacLeod stormed the ring and destroyed the Pound For Pound Trophy, Decker “Axe Man” Leduc defeated Bearicade in a true battle of the big men, The returning Kira beat the debuting Stacy Thibault in a tremendous back-and-forth match, “The Queen of Mean” Persephone Vice made her way to the ring and proceeded to obliterate both competitors with thunderous Vice Bombs, and The Insignia (MPW Heavyweight Champion Payne, MPW Tag Team Champions Ray Steele and KL Shock, with Randy Berry in their corner) won by disqualification over The Barbarians (Damien and Myzery) and their surprise mystery partner, Ruffy Silverstein!

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE 

    12:00 AM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end. 

    12:30 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    1:00 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE

    2:00 AM ET
    TUESDAY NIGHT TITANS Vince McMahon hosts Tuesday Night Titans with Lord Alfred Hayes. Guests include Nikolai Volkoff, Captain Lou Albano, and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

    3:00 AM ET
    TUESDAY NIGHT TITANS Vince McMahon hosts Tuesday Night Titans with Lord Alfred Hayes. Guests include Sky Low Low, Captain Lou Albano, and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

    4:00 AM ET
    PRIME TIME WRESTLING Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan shows his holiday spirit as he and Gorilla Monsoon host an exciting Thanksgiving edition of Prime Time Wrestling!

    6:00 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE

    7:00 AM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end. 

    7:30 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    8:00 AM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE The legends play a polo match…WWE style! Back at the Legends House, Tony Atlas and ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist.

    9:00 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE

    10:00 AM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end.

    10:30 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    11:00 AM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE The legends play a polo match…WWE style! Back at the Legends House, Tony Atlas and ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist.

    12:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE

    1:00 PM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end. 

    1:30 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    2:00 PM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE The legends play a polo match…WWE style! Back at the Legends House, Tony Atlas and ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist.

    3:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Epic Smackdown Moments of all time!

    4:00 PM ET
    WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG Renee’s back! Join the Unfiltered host for an exclusive interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cast of Terminator Genisys!

    4:15 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Brie and Bryan get married, and Nikki’s marriage is finally exposed to John. The Divas compete at WrestleMania for the Diva’s Championship.

    5:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Nikki plans a future without boyfriend John Cena. Eva’s life is turned upside down when she must decide between family and her husband.

    6:00 PM ET
    SWERVED R-Truth gets a lesson in gym safety, a frisky granny invades Axxess and Kofi locks the champ out of Extreme Rules.

    6:30 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    7:00 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Big Show lays claim to the title of World’s Largest Athlete. An in-depth look at the 7-foot giant’s career both inside the ring and out.

    8:00 PM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow – this is NXT!

    9:00 PM ET
    WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG Renee’s back! Join the Unfiltered host for an exclusive interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cast of Terminator Genisys!

    9:15 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Brie and Bryan get married, and Nikki’s marriage is finally exposed to John. The Divas compete at WrestleMania for the Diva’s Championship.

    10:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Nikki plans a future without boyfriend John Cena. Eva’s life is turned upside down when she must decide between family and her husband.

    11:00 PM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow – this is NXT!

  • MON. UPDATE: The Rock on Esquire cover, Updates on Ziggler, Aries, Storm & Magnus contracts

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s TNA Slammiversary show, 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@wrestlingobserver.com

    We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s Raw show in Washington, DC, with the Superstars matches, dark matches and anything else not evident on the live show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Tonight’s main event was promoted by WWE as Seth Rollins & Kane vs. Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose.  Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman aren’t scheduled for he show this week, but will be back for the Tokyo show on Saturday and Raw next Monday.

    We’re also looking for reports from yesterday’s WWE show in Reading, PA, as well as the weekend NXT shows in Cocoa Beach, FL on Friday night and Citrus Springs, FL on Saturday night.

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Hershey, PA.

    A story about the life and career of Buddy Landel, plus the Jose Aldo injury, Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and whether it was or wasn’t real and Cora Combs and the last link to the heyday of U.S. women’s wrestling are the main stories in the June 29 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The Latest Wrestling Observer June 29, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Buddy Landel obituary, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice coverage

    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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    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 first look at the injury to Jose Aldo Jr. and thoughts on the 7/11 fight with Conor McGregor.  We look at the different options UFC had in this situation.

    We’ve got a major story on the life and career of Buddy Landel.  We look at the circumstances of his death, why Landel never reached the level of success his ability should have gotten him, his life before and after wrestling, and the story that, at the age of 24, changed the direction of his career.

    Landel talked about getting fired from Crockett Promotions at what turned out to be the high point of his career, examine the talk of his being given the world title at the time, as well as his own very candid thoughts about if he had won the title.  We look at what was planned for him, and how his firing changed the entire history of the business because it in a roundabout way led to the creation of the Four Horseman.

    We look at the situation with Crockett Promotions in the middle of a hot period in 1985, the Starrcade 85 show, and the Flair vs. Rhodes program.  We look at the story behind Landel’s statement that he and Flair broke Elvis’ attendance record in Raleigh and the true story of that night.

    We also look at his run in Tennessee including the last sellout at the Mid South Coliseum and the angle leading to that, as well as the famous 27 fall Texas death match that was among the best matches of the 80s. We look at his start in sports, growing up as a fan, and how Landel got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early years, his first push, the creation of the Nature Boy gimmick, working with Junkyard Dog in Mid South, his return to Crockett Promotions and why he never got another chance, what Buddy Rogers told him, and the last stages of his career and life after wrestling.

    We also look in depth at the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock right.  We look at different kinds of works, and the ones that could not have happened and the ones that could have.  We look at what the person closest to the action said about it, as well as a look at the background of Ken Shamrock.

    We also have a lot more about the records set for the fight, as well as future matches that both or either could do going out of this.  We also look at other business notes for the show, as well as Bellator’s next major event in September, and full coverage of the TV event.

    We also have an update on Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart talks Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others, Dolph Ziggler’s future prospects, Talk of another NXT live special this summer, More on the next WWE network special show, notes on a former tag team of the year candidate team that WWE is looking at getting, more on Tough Enough, as well as Dwayne Johnson projects and injuries to Jamie Noble, Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd.

    We also have notes on why Randy Orton wasn’t at TV this past week, frustration from the inside on WWE creative, Hogan talks WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels in a movie, WWE house shows, the sad plight of Chyna, as well as a look at the weekend NXT and WWE house shows as well as weekend business.

    We also have coverage of the ROH Best in the World PPV show, and where the company is headed.

    We’ve also got a story on the life of Cora Combs, the last link to the Billy Wolfe/Mildred Burke glory days of women’s wrestling.  We look at her career, her decision in the promotional split that ended up taking the women’s side of wrestling down, the Moolah years, being in the first woman’s match ever held in New York and the story behind it.  We also look at the last period of her career, as Lady Satan, working against her daughter, as well as look at some of the oldest wrestlers of all-time and the oldest living wrestles..

    We’ve also got full coverage of the weekly UFC show in Germany and the rise of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.  We look at her unique stardom, as well as other coverage of the show.

    We also have notes on how the WWE’s Payback PPV did and where the PPV business currently stands.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –More on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show

    –Former WWE star signs major deal as a brand ambassador with one of the biggest movie companies in the world and his duties

    –Another former WWE star working big shows in AAA

    –Notes on future AAA shows

    –Ricochet returns to Japan

    –Notes on the next Dragon Gate iPPV show

    –Final event of the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour

    –Notes on the upcoming NOAH GHC jr. tournament

    –More G-1 Climax notes as far as TV goes

    –New Japan heads to Singapore

    –Notes on Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Rogers

    –More on Global Force Wrestling

    –Lots of PWG notes

    –Notes on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show

    –Pro wrestling returns after 20 years to one of its most famous former arenas

    –More on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on upcoming ROH shows

    –A look at the next month of ROH television

    –More on people leaving TNA

    –Story behind Hernandez coming to TNA

    –More on TNA PPV show

    –TNA wrestlers appear on Destination America programming

    –UFC press conference coming

    –Major official leaves UFC

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –More talk about UFC events in the future in Mexico City

    –Why Dana White didn’t go to the UFC show in Germany

    –Dana White talks about a reality show he’s filming

    –Latest on the heavyweight title picture

    –Lots of changed matches on the UFC shows

    –UFC injury updates

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Stiffest MMA suspension to date to a former champion

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    MONDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio, covering Raw, as well as the latest news.  You can also send questions for tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
    • Conor McGregor was in Connecticut today for a full day of media with ESPN.  He’s also doing Conan O’Brien.  The downside of being the drawing card is that while the other guy is training, you’re traveling.  Although in this case, the other guy isn’t training yet.
    • Some of the TNA talent that is gone, is actually being transferred as part of an invasion angle.  The expectation is that any TNA talent who is in GFW, James Storm in particular, would be on TNA TV somewhat soon.  There may be other transfers.  We’ve got a major story on this in the next issue.
    • The Regime Inc. sent out a release that they are representing Austin Aries and you can book him for matches, and other bookings at Josh@regimeinc.com
    • Nick “Magnus” Aldis debuts for GFW on the 7/9 to 7/11 shows and was announced for its 7/24 TV taping.  Aldis has not signed a contract with GFW.
    • UFC has a major press conference tomorrow in New York, with tons of stars, announcing the Reebok uniforms.
    • Dolph Ziggler says he hasn’t signed a new contract
    • Dwayne Johnson cover story in the new Esquire Magazine
    • Nothing trended on Google this weekend from combat sports.  There were 26,800 tweets on Slammiversary and 313 at press time for Raw tonight.
    • “The Strain,” the FX show that features Robert Maillet (formerly Kurrgan in WWF) as a lead character, will start its new season on 7/12.
    • NBC Universal announced today it was ending its business relationship with Donald Trump due to recent derogatory statements made by Trump concerning immigrants.  They are dumping airing Miss USA and Miss Universe, because of Trump’s involvement, and he’s off The Apprentice.  The Celebrity Apprentice show will continue on without him.  Trump has since threatened to sue the network.  Univision had already dumped the pageants.  Trump said he figured it would happen and he would not apologize.  He also threatened to sue Univision.  Trump, running for president, said he wanted to build a Wall on the Mexican border and made remarks that Mexican  immigrants are bringing drugs, crime and are rapists, but also said some he assumed were also good people.  Hispanic groups pushed NBC to dumping him.
    • Rolling Stone talks to Jay Lethal
    • High Risk Wrestling from yesterday in Cahokia, IL:  Flip Kendrick b Justin D’Air, Mike Outlaw b Tony Kozina, Tommaso Ciampa b Matt Winchester, Nick Iggy & Kerry Awful b Paco Gonzalez & Danny Adams, Bolt Brady b Silas Young-DQ, Blake Belakis b Louis Lyndon (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
    • New Japan World added two ROH matches to its service, the Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada vs. Briscoes tag team match from Philadelphia and Matt Taven & Michael Bennett vs. Young Bucks battle of the IWGP tag champions also from Philadelphia.  When do they upload Strong vs. Tanahashi?  (thanks to Chris Aiken)
    • Philip Stamper sent out a release that he is now the owner of the Heartland Wrestling Association.
    • Eric Young sent out this tweet yesterday after the PPV:
    • “Real World!!!  If you watched #Slammiversary2015 and didn’t like it GO F*** YOURSELF.”  He then deleted it and replaced Go F Yourself with “I feel sad for you.”  
    • GFW is discounting tickets for the 7/24 TV tapings in Las Vegas.  If you use the code SLAM13, you can get $13 off any General Admission ticket, if you order from today until 7/6.
    • Absolute Intense Wrestling on 7/10 in Cleveland at the Ohio City Masonic Arts Center has Josh Alexander vs. Rickey Shane Page, Tim Donst vs. Nick Gage, Eddie Kingston vs. Ethan Page in an I Quit match, Davey Vega vs. B.J. Whitmer, Veda Scott vs. Athena, plus Vader.
    • CWE on Friday night in Winnipeg:  Shane Sabre & Carter Mason b Travis Cole & Brett Morgan, Adam Knight & Shane Madison b Adam Race, Kory Kinkade b Bobby Collins, Mr. Inkredible & Antonio b Saints of Los Angeles, Chase Owens b Justin Gabriel, Tyler Colton b Michael Elgin, Dick Blood & Billy Blaze b Moses Luke & Cliff Corleone and Stefan Epic & Kevy Chevy, Anderson Tyson Moore won TLC match over Danny Duggan, Bobby Jay and Mike Mission.   
    • Pro Wrestling Illustrated sent out an press release that they were no longer recognizing the TNA title as a world title, and that the only title they will recognize as a world title is the WWE title.  In its history, PWI has only recognized WWE, AWA, WCW, ECW and TNA champions as world champions.  In other words, they accepted the TNA belt all these years and never accepted the Triple Crown in the 90s and IWGP title when New Japan was in its 80s and 90s heyday, let alone the past two years.
    • Stonecutter Wrestling announced announced all month a show called Wrestling’s Bloodiest Wars would air on PPV.
    • NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling Fire on the Mountain on 8/8 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium with Matt Sydal, Davey Richards, Cedric Alexander, Rob Conway and Angelina  Love.
    • Joey Cabray talks his time in NXT and Bill DeMott (Starts at 31 minutes)
    • A review of Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies
    • A story about a woman with no arms getting a black belt

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

    1961 – Rikidozan beat Mr. X (Big Bill Miller) to win the JWA World League tournament

    1973 – Kim Sung Ho beat Alfonso Dantes in Mexico City to win the NWA light heavyweight title

    1974 – Sandy Parker & Betty Niccoli beat Jumbo Miyamoto & Junko Sasaki to win the WWWA tag titles

    1980 – Shozo Kobayashi & Haruka Eigen beat Mighty Inoue & Isamu Teranishi in Tokyo to win the IWE tag titles

    1990 – Perro Aguayo beat Ringo Mendoza in Mexico City to win the UWA jr. light heavyweight title

    1996 – Abdullah the Butcher & Daikokubo Benkei beat Yoji Anjo & Takashi Ishikawa in Sapporo to win the TPW tag titles

    1997 – El Satanico beat Taka Michinoku in Mexico City to win the Independent world jr. title

    2003 – Tokyo Magnum beat Cima in Tokyo to win the Ultimo Dragon Gym title and Masaaki Mochizuki & Kennichiro Arai & Dragon Kid beat Susumu Yokosuka (Jimmy Susumu) & Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito to win the UWA trios titles

    2014 – Suwama beat Takao Omori in Sapporo to win the Triple Crown

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE

    12:06 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    1:06 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    2:06 AM ET
    SWERVED R-Truth gets a lesson in gym safety, a frisky granny invades Axxess and Kofi locks the champ out of Extreme Rules.

    2:36 AM ET
    FIRST LOOK MNW SHOTS FIRED! In this Network Exclusive, join Triple H and Sting as they sit down with Renee Young and discuss Monday Night War!

    3:06 AM ET
    WCW SUPERBRAWL 1995 The Baltimore Arena witnesses the Biggest Brawl of them all as Hulk Hogan defends the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Vader.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    7:00 AM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end.

    7:31 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    8:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    9:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    10:00 AM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end.

    10:31 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    11:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    12:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    1:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    2:00 PM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE Eight WWE Legends reunite and get acquainted with their new neighbors. Back at the Legends’ House, tempers flare.

    3:00 PM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE The legends play a polo match…WWE style! Back at the Legends House, Tony Atlas and ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist.

    4:00 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Highlighting a list of Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    4:30 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    5:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE

    6:00 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy!

    8:00 PM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE The legends play a polo match…WWE style! Back at the Legends House, Tony Atlas and ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist.

    9:00 PM ET
    WWE TOUGH TALK Join The Miz as he recaps all of the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end. 

    9:30 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    10:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE

    11:00 PM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE The legends play a polo match…WWE style! Back at the Legends House, Tony Atlas and ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan attempt to co-exist.

  • SUN UPDATE: UFC Canada, GFW, Dwayne Johnson movie, McGregor, Rhodes, LU star on AAA

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s TNA Slammiversary show, 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@wrestlingobserver.com

    We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s WWE house shows in Roanoke (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt,  Sheamus, Ryback, Dean Ambrose) and Reading, PA (Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, King Barrett, New Day), as well as the weekend NXT shows in Cocoa Beach, FL on Friday night and Citrus Springs, FL on Saturday night.

    TNA SLAMMIVERSARY ON PPV SUNDAY

    Robbie E vs. Jessie Godderz

    Awesome Kong & Brooke vs. Taryn Terrell & Jade & Marti Bell

    Magnus vs. James Storm Non-sanctioned match

    Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries – Winner gets to choose the Iron Man stipulation for the TV match already taped as the fifth match in the best-of-five for the tag tiles

    Matt Morgan vs. Bram

    Bobby Lashley & Ken Anderson vs. Ethan Carter III & Tyrus

    King of the Mountain match:  Jeff Jarrett, Eric Young, Drew Galloway, Bobby Roode and Matt Hardy

    Raw will be Monday night in Washington, DC.  This is the one show of this PPV cycle that Brock Lesnar isn’t booked on.  He will be back the following Monday. 

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Hershey, PA.

    A story about the life and career of Buddy Landel, plus the Jose Aldo injury, Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and whether it was or wasn’t real and Cora Combs and the last link to the heyday of U.S. women’s wrestling are the main stories in the June 29 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The Latest Wrestling Observer June 29, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Buddy Landel obituary, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice coverage

    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.

    We first look at the injury to Jose Aldo Jr. and thoughts on the 7/11 fight with Conor McGregor.  We look at the different options UFC had in this situation.

    We’ve got a major story on the life and career of Buddy Landel.  We look at the circumstances of his death, why Landel never reached the level of success his ability should have gotten him, his life before and after wrestling, and the story that, at the age of 24, changed the direction of his career.

    Landel talked about getting fired from Crockett Promotions at what turned out to be the high point of his career, examine the talk of his being given the world title at the time, as well as his own very candid thoughts about if he had won the title.  We look at what was planned for him, and how his firing changed the entire history of the business because it in a roundabout way led to the creation of the Four Horseman.

    We look at the situation with Crockett Promotions in the middle of a hot period in 1985, the Starrcade 85 show, and the Flair vs. Rhodes program.  We look at the story behind Landel’s statement that he and Flair broke Elvis’ attendance record in Raleigh and the true story of that night.

    We also look at his run in Tennessee including the last sellout at the Mid South Coliseum and the angle leading to that, as well as the famous 27 fall Texas death match that was among the best matches of the 80s. We look at his start in sports, growing up as a fan, and how Landel got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early years, his first push, the creation of the Nature Boy gimmick, working with Junkyard Dog in Mid South, his return to Crockett Promotions and why he never got another chance, what Buddy Rogers told him, and the last stages of his career and life after wrestling.

    We also look in depth at the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock right.  We look at different kinds of works, and the ones that could not have happened and the ones that could have.  We look at what the person closest to the action said about it, as well as a look at the background of Ken Shamrock.

    We also have a lot more about the records set for the fight, as well as future matches that both or either could do going out of this.  We also look at other business notes for the show, as well as Bellator’s next major event in September, and full coverage of the TV event.

    We also have an update on Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart talks Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others, Dolph Ziggler’s future prospects, Talk of another NXT live special this summer, More on the next WWE network special show, notes on a former tag team of the year candidate team that WWE is looking at getting, more on Tough Enough, as well as Dwayne Johnson projects and injuries to Jamie Noble, Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd.

    We also have notes on why Randy Orton wasn’t at TV this past week, frustration from the inside on WWE creative, Hogan talks WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels in a movie, WWE house shows, the sad plight of Chyna, as well as a look at the weekend NXT and WWE house shows as well as weekend business.

    We also have coverage of the ROH Best in the World PPV show, and where the company is headed.

    We’ve also got a story on the life of Cora Combs, the last link to the Billy Wolfe/Mildred Burke glory days of women’s wrestling.  We look at her career, her decision in the promotional split that ended up taking the women’s side of wrestling down, the Moolah years, being in the first woman’s match ever held in New York and the story behind it.  We also look at the last period of her career, as Lady Satan, working against her daughter, as well as look at some of the oldest wrestlers of all-time and the oldest living wrestles..

    We’ve also got full coverage of the weekly UFC show in Germany and the rise of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.  We look at her unique stardom, as well as other coverage of the show.

    We also have notes on how the WWE’s Payback PPV did and where the PPV business currently stands.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –More on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show

    –Former WWE star signs major deal as a brand ambassador with one of the biggest movie companies in the world and his duties

    –Another former WWE star working big shows in AAA

    –Notes on future AAA shows

    –Ricochet returns to Japan

    –Notes on the next Dragon Gate iPPV show

    –Final event of the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour

    –Notes on the upcoming NOAH GHC jr. tournament

    –More G-1 Climax notes as far as TV goes

    –New Japan heads to Singapore

    –Notes on Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Rogers

    –More on Global Force Wrestling

    –Lots of PWG notes

    –Notes on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show

    –Pro wrestling returns after 20 years to one of its most famous former arenas

    –More on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on upcoming ROH shows

    –A look at the next month of ROH television

    –More on people leaving TNA

    –Story behind Hernandez coming to TNA

    –More on TNA PPV show

    –TNA wrestlers appear on Destination America programming

    –UFC press conference coming

    –Major official leaves UFC

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –More talk about UFC events in the future in Mexico City

    –Why Dana White didn’t go to the UFC show in Germany

    –Dana White talks about a reality show he’s filming

    –Latest on the heavyweight title picture

    –Lots of changed matches on the UFC shows

    –UFC injury updates

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Stiffest MMA suspension to date to a former champion

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Nothing from the weekend in combat sports made it to the Google listings.  For twitter, the biggest numbers were Yoel Romero (70,800), Jeff Jarrett (3,229), Jacare Souza (3,158), Gay Jesus (6,699) and Slammiversary (3,434).
    • San Andreas was No. 6 at the box office this weekend and is estimated at doing $5,275,000 and is at $141.9 million domestic after five weeks.
    • The UFC Canada comment regarding a potential 12/5 show after New York fell through was:  “Following the news in New York, we are now looking at the schedule for the remainder of the year and will be making event decisions in the coming weeks.  There is nothing to announce or confirm at this time.”
    • GFW will make the official announcement of Nick Aldis, formerly Magnus, with the promotion tomorrow. 
    • A story on Dwayne Johnson’s new movie project “Rampage”
    • Conor McGregor will be a guest on Conan O’Brien on TBS on Thursday night. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
    • This week, Dusty Rhodes was on the cover of Globe Magazine and Kevin Nash, as part of Magic Mike XL (which opens this week) was on the cover of People Magazine (thanks to Jeff Gagliardo)
    • All Elite Wrestling has a show at Arena Mexico today headlined by Shelton Benjamin & Rush vs. Volador Jr. & Ezekiel Jackson, plus Marco Corleone & La Mascara vs. Hernandez & Heddi Karaoui.  Notable that Hernandez was still booked there as of yesterday with the TNA PPV today.  Jackson, who is Big Ryck in Lucha Underground, is also notable because All Elite is considered competition to AAA.
    • Gunner and James Storm are now taking independent bookings through Bill Behrens at showbis@aol.com  Gunner is flying out of Greensboro and Storm out of Nashville.  Also available is Moose out of Atlanta, as well as A.J. Styles (Atlanta), Drew Galloway (Tampa), Matt Sydal (Tampa), Sean Waltman (Philadelphia), Christopher Daniels (Los Angeles), Frankie Kazarian (Los Angeles), Devon Dudley (Orlando), Tommy Dreamer (New York LaGuardia), DDP (Atlanta), Shane Helms (Raleigh), Earl Hebner (Richmond), Abyss (Cincinnati), Eric Young (Nashville), EC 3 (Tampa), Big Ryck (Los Angeles) and The Young Bucks (Los Angeles).
    • Santana Garrett and Colt Cabana debut with GFW on the 7/9 show in Appleton, WI.  Cherry Bomb Laura Dennis debuts on 7/10 in Erie, PA.  Johnny Gargano is booked on 7/11 in Eastlake, OH.
    • Josh Nason went 5-0 in predictions last night on the UFC show, while David Bixenspan, Front Row Brian, Steve Juon, Jack Encarnacao and Mike Sempervive went 4-1, me and Mike Swayer went 3-2 and John Pollock went 2-3.
    • Bayley was off the NXT shows this weekend due to a broken hand. 
    • Karen Jarrett talks going to TNA
    • TNA Slammiversary airs live in France on Mai Chaine Sport at 2 a.m. and will be re-airing on 7/5 at 8 p.m.
    • Hoosier Pro Wrestling canned food drive show last night in Columbus, IN which brought over 1,200 cans of good to the East Columbus Community Center: Scarecrow b Jonathan Owens, AJ Hawkins b Wicked Clown, Clint Poe b Dewey Brown, Mitch Johnson & Miss Alice b Stompin Steve to win the Intergender tag team titles, Drax O’Brien & Lightning Bolt Jackson b TVZ, Flash Flanagan b TJ Kemp.  Next show is 8/1 (thanks to Jerry Wilson)
    • World League Wrestling from Friday night in Troy, MO:  Jon Webb (NOAH) b Michael Magnuson, Derek McQuinn b Jon E. Rock, Leland Race b Dustin Bozworth-DQ, Stacy O’Brien b Heather Patera, Dave DeLorean & Jayden Fenix b Brandon Espinosa & Justin D’Air, Superstar Steve Fender & Derek McQuinn b Dave DeLorean & Jayden Fenix to win tag titles (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
    • Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno, CA:  Prince Nagi & Kevin El Divino b Johnny Dynamo & Aki So, Mustafa Saed & CB 3 b Vintage Dragon & Cyanide, Johnny Plinko b Marcus Eriks-DQ (thanks to Jon Southerland)
    • Smash Wrestling on 7/19 at 4 p.m. in Toronto before Battleground at the Franklin Horner Community Center with Matt Cross vs. Tarik in an I Quit match, Chris Hero vs Rich Swann, Johnny Gargano vs. Scotty O’Shea and Drew Gulak & Biff Busick vs. Overdogs, plus Super Smash Brothers, Candice LaRae and more.
    • The Crash runs Friday night in Tijuana at Auditorio Municipal with La Parka & Psycho Clown vs. Parka Negra & Zorro and ACH vs. Bestia 666 vs. Extreme Tiger (Tigre Uno) vs. Pentagon Jr., plus two other Lucha Underground wrestlers with B-Boy vs. Famous B and Australian Suicide & Rey Hours vs. Flamita & Daga. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
    • The Iowa Northwoods League baseball team the Waterloo Bucks has pro wrestling night on 7/9 at Riverfront Stadium featuring an appearance by Kevin Nash.  He will sign autographs before and during the game, throw out the first pitch and do 1/2 inning of broadcasting.  The first 500 fans will get a foam wrestling belt.  This is the night before the Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame events in Waterloo.
    • Alberto El Patron, Tommy Dreamer and Colt Cabana headline 7/12 in Pasadena, TV o na show called Bustin For Autism produced by Lone Star Championship Wrestling with the show at 6 p.m.  Alberto faces Houston Carson, Cabana faces Raj Singh (Jinder Mahal), Hernandez faces Ray Rowe of ROH and Dreamer faces Lance Archer and Cherry Ramons faces Joey Ryan.  Also scheduled to appear are Jim Duggan, Scott Norton, Katrina and Ivelisse from Lucha Underground, Candice LaRae, Gene Snisky, Matt Riviera, Greg Anthony and Chaz Taylor.
    • Great North Wrestling on 8/14 in Brockville, Canada at the Memorial Center with Road Warrior Animal as the referee for Hannibal vs Darko.  Honky Tonk Man is also on the show.
    • Chael Sonnen talks a number of subjects including the heavyweight division of UFC, Joe Rogan, politics, steroids, drug legalization, Mel Gibson, Racism and of course… the current state of the Heavyweight division. It’s an hour and twenty minute interview, so the below video is time coded more specifically to his MMA comment. Some highlights as they relate to MMA.

    “That’s a tough dude right there man…. I did not know he was as good as he is. … I was shocked, I did not think that he could hold up against Cain and not only did he hold up, he BROKE Cain. Yeah that submission was there, but if it hadn’t been a guillotine it would have been an armor it would have been a choke, Cain was ready to be done. There were a million different ways to end that fight… That’s the point of fighting. To make the other guy quit.”

    On whether there’s a current case to be made for Werdum being among the top 3 heavyweights of all time, Chael addressed Fedor, Werdum’s standing losses, and then of course went full Chael on the heavyweight division –

    “The whole point for point thing doesn’t exist. You want to figure it out, let’s get in the cage. A few of us will enter regardless of weight class and we can figure this damn thing out.

    … The bottom-line is Jon Jones will show up and kick his ass right now (Werdum). He’d kick his ass it wouldn’t even be a problem. Daniel Cormier could go up and kick his ass! It’s the heavyweight class, he’s a tough guy, but it’s a wimpy weight class it always has been. If you’re a good athlete and you’re a heavyweight, you go into the NFL! You don’t go into cage fighting, the weight-class sucks and I don’t have respect for it, so there.”

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

    1963 – El Santo beat Karloff Lagarde to win the Mexican national middleweight title

    1966 – Billy Joyce beat Ian Campbell in Edinburgh to win the British heavyweight title

    1974 – Jumbo Miyamoto & Junko Sasaki beat Sandy Parker & Betty Niccoli to win the WWWA tag titles

    1974 – Anibal beat Adorable Rubi in Mexico City to win the Mexican national middleweight title

    1987 – Chigusa Nagayo beat Dump Matsumoto to win the Grand Prix tournament

    1998 – Yukihiro Kanemura & Hiromichi Fuyuki & Koji Nakagawa beat Hayabusa & Hiskatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji in Hachinohe to win the FMW six man street fight tag titles

    2008 – Minoru Suzuki & Taiyo Kea beat Joe Doering & Keiji Muto in Osaka to win the All Japan world tag title

    2008 – Kennichiro Arai & Taku Iwasa & Shinobi beat Shingo Takagi & Gamma & Yamato in Nagoya to win the Open the Triangle Gate titles

    2014 – Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori beat Suwama & Joe Doering in Sapporo to win the All Japan world tag tltles

  • F4W Vegas Summer Convention schedule (July 9-13): Dave & Bryan Q/A, dinners, UFC after party, more~!

    As the summer approaches, so does the annual Wrestling Observer Summer Convention, held in Las Vegas, NV, the weekend of July 9-12. While not a typical convention, it’s an annual summer get-together for our subscribers, wrestling/MMA fans, and general ne’re do wells.

    Please note the event is not being run by Dave Meltzer or Bryan Alvarez, so please email any questions to Ed Loredo (f4wfan-at-hotmail-dot-com). As of now, the schedule is as follows with all times approximate. Costs are assumed by attendee unless otherwise noted.

    Thursday, July 9

    — Dinner at Texas de Brazil: 5:00 pm
    — Invicta FC 13 at 8 PM. If interested in tickets, please conact Paul Fontaine.

    Friday, July 10

    — Banquet: 6 PM-9:30 PM at the Embassy Suites at 4315 Swenson Street in Las Vegas with a doors open time of approximately 5:30. Cost is $59 payable via Paypal to srjaialaiot-at-yahoo-dot-com if using the ‘Send Money To Friend’ option to avoid fees & include your message board name if appropriate. If you don’t use the ‘Send Money To Friend’ option, cost is $62. Limited spots remain on a first come, first served basis. Dinner includes baby back ribs, BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, baked potato bar with all the fixings, garlic bread, dessert and more. Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez Q/A begin at approx. 7:30 PM and will last no later than 9 PM. 

    — If you’d like to attend just the Q&A, 10 standing room only spots are available for $15 each.  

    — Ed’s House Party: 9:00 PM. Donations for one night room rental and beverages can be made via Paypal to f4wfan-at-hotmail-dot-com.

    Saturday, July 11

    — 2nd annual Granny’s Gang Get-together at Johnny Rockets (Excalibur) at 11:30 AM
    — UFC 189 at MGM Grand at 3:00 PM
    — UFC 189 After Party at Dick’s Last Resort at Excalibur.

    Sunday, July 12

    — Lunch at Tacos & Beer: 11:30 AM
    — Kiss Mini Golf: 1:00pm
    — TUF Finale at MGM Grand at 3 PM
    — Karaoke downtown: Location TBD, 9 PM-close

    Monday, July 13

    — Lunch at Chen Chin in New York, New York: Noon

  • Bradley vs. Vargas Boxing controversy on HBO

    By Jeremy Wall

    Timothy Bradley Jr (32-1-1, 12KO) defeated Jessie Vargas (26-1-0, 9KO) via unanimous decision on Saturday, June 27th to win the vacant interim WBO Welterweight title. It drew 4,711 to the StubHub Center in Carson. It was promoted by Top Rank and aired on HBO. It was the 1,000th fight that HBO has ever broadcast, dating back to their first bout, which was George Foreman stopping Joe Frazier in the second round in Jamaica on January 22nd, 1973.

    Bradley-Vargas was an exciting fight that Bradley was obviously winning until in the final ten seconds of the twelfth round. Vargas staggered Bradley with an overhand right in the closing seconds of the fight. At the same time, the timekeeper hit the clapper to signal that only ten seconds remained. Referee Pat Russell though the sound of the clapper was the final bell and he stepped in and stopped the fight. Everyone else watching thought Russell stopped the fight because Vargas had staggered Bradley. Vargas was even celebrating on the ropes until the ring announcer explained the situation.

    The fight finished with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-112 for Bradley.

    “It was very loud in that 12th round and I thought I heard the bell and the fight was over when the bell went off,” said Russell.

    “He caught me with a good shot at the end,” said Bradley. “The ref thought that he heard the bell. I was good enough. I could have maintained. I grabbed hold of him toward the end of the fight and I was squeezing him so tight it was like his mom was holding him. Hey, we can do it again.”

    “Can I get a rematch, man?” Vargas asked after the fight.

    “Why not? Why not? We can do a rematch,” said Bradley. “Hey, I don’t have a problem with that. We can definitely do a rematch, man. Jessie came out and fought hard.”

    Even though it was an honest mistake by Russell, it may have saved Bradley from being knocked out.

    Bradley landed 232 of 676 punches for 34-percent compared to 203 of 630 punches for 32-percent landed by Vargas. So the overall fight stats were close, although it depends on how those stats break down round-by-round.

    Bradley earned $1.5 million. Vargas earned $600,000.

    Bradley was fighting for an interim title because Floyd Mayweather Jr is the regular WBO Welterweight titleholder. Originally, the Bradley-Vargas fight was intended for Floyd’s regular title because after beating Pacquiao in May, Floyd claimed he was vacating all of his titles. A few weeks later, however, Floyd changed his mind.

    The WBO prohibits fighters from holding titles in multiple weight classes at the same time. Floyd currently holds the WBC, WBA, and WBO Welterweight titles and the WBC and WBA Super Welterweight titles. He won the WBO Welterweight title from Pacquiao. In order to keep the WBO belt, Floyd has until Friday, June 3rd to pay the sanctioning fee and vacate his WBC and WBA Welterweight titles, otherwise he will be stripped of the WBO Welterweight title.

    Yes, it’s confusing.

    Bradley is one of the top pound-for-pound boxers and is most famous for his two fights with Manny Pacquiao in 2012 and 2014 respectively, the former of which Bradley won by split-decision. It was Pacquiao’s first loss since dropping a unanimous decision to Erik Morales in 2005. Pacquiao, however, beat Bradley in their 2014 rematch by unanimous decision.

    Bradley is also a former WBC and WBO Super Lightweight champion and holds wins over Lamont Peterson and Devon Alexander among others in that weight division. Bradley subsequently vacated those titles to move up to welterweight to challenge Pacquiao for the WBO Welterweight title. After Bradley won that belt in their first fight, he defended it against Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez, both fights taking place in 2013. He beat Provodnikov by unanimous decision in 2013’s fight of the year, also at the StubHub Center. He beat Marquez, who also holds a win over Pacquiao, by split-decision.

    Bradley, 31, has struggled recently, though. After losing the WBO Welterweight title to Pacquiao last year, Bradley came back with a split-draw against Diego Gabriel Chaves this past December. And now he was nearly knocked out in the twelfth round by Jessie Vargas, although Bradley won the rest of their fight.

    Vargas, 26, went into his fight against Bradley undefeated and was a former WBA Super Lightweight champion, beating Khabib Allakhverdiev in 2014 to win the title. Vargas had successful defenses against Anton Novikov and Antonio DeMarco before vacating the title to move up to welterweight to challenge Bradley for the interim WBO Welterweight title. Vargas also hired Erik Morales to be his head trainer for the fight.

    Vargas is still young and although Bradley seemed the better fighter, Vargas was good enough to challenge Bradley and then nearly upset him in the twelfth round with his overhand right. Vargas has potential. A rematch would be interesting, although Bradley would be once again favoured to win. Perhaps they can do the rematch for the actual WBO Welterweight title once it is vacated by Mayweather.

    If not a rematch with Vargas, another possible opponent for Bradley is Gennady Golovkin. There are a ton of fighters in the welterweight and middleweight range that are rumoured to be possible opponents for Golovkin, including Bradley, David Lemieux, Carl Froch, Andre Ward, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jr, and even Oscar de la Hoya.

    Bob Arum has said that if Bradley fights Golovkin, it will take place at 154-pounds, which is junior middleweight. Golovkin has only discussed going down to junior middleweight for a possible fight with Mayweather, which will never happen.

    “I can see it in a lot of ways, Bradley beating Golovkin,” said Arum. “He can’t knock him out, he can’t stop him, but he’s going to be very tough to hit, and Golovkin is going to take a lot of punches from Bradley. So, I really think this could be a super, super fight. I don’t see why not [the fight being on pay-per-view]. Now what you have to do is make it sell is to load it up it up with Hispanics.”

    “I do not think Golovkin will go down to 154-pounds,” said Bradley’s trainer Joel Diaz. “Also, one should interpret what Bradley means when he says he would be willing to face GGG. What he’s showing us with his words, is his mentality as a fighter, not avoiding anyone, to always be ready for the best.”

    Another possible opponent for Bradley is Sadam Ali. Ali, 26, is coming off a win over Francisco Santana in Ali’s debut on HBO on the undercard of the Klitschko-Jenning fights at Madison Square Garden in April. Ali is also promoted by Top Rank and has potential to be a great fighter and some box office potential, so this would be a good fight if Top Rank feels that facing Bradley would elevate Ali.

    Bradley-Vargas on HBO probably drew decent ratings. There wasn’t as much boxing competition on television this weekend as compared to last. The NBA and NHL playoffs are both over. UFC had a show on Fox Sports 1, but I think UFC is more so ratings competition for PBC than for HBO. PBC is trying to reach a younger demographic than HBO, which has been unsuccessful so far. That younger demo watches UFC. Also, people who subscribe to HBO to watch boxing aren’t going to miss a major fight, as that is somewhat like buying a pay per view and then not watching it. Bradley hasn’t really proven to be a draw on pay per view for his fights with Pacquiao and Marquez, however.

    PBC didn’t have a card this weekend. Next weekend is July 4th, so there’s no major boxing on television. I think the return of boxing to mainstream popularity in 2015 has greatly benefited HBO, which is PBC’s primary competition, even though it is PBC that is mostly responsible for boxing’s surge in popularity. Ratings on HBO have been way up this year, which probably means more of their subscribers are watching boxing, or HBO has increased its subscriber base with people who purchased the channel to watch more boxing.

    PBC feels like it is losing stream, especially after their dual network shows on NBC and CBS last weekend proved flat in the ratings. PBC, however, returns on July 11th, debuting on ESPN with Keith Thurman vs Luis Collazo in showcase fight for Thurman. PBC replaces Friday Night Fights on ESPN, although unlike Friday Night Fights, PBC will air on ESPN rather than ESPN2. It goes up against boxing on HBO Latino. PBC has also yet to debut on ABC, which is part of ESPN’s corporate family, and are rumoured to be debuting shortly on Fox Sports 1, which could include a deal to air on Fox. So, the war for hearts and minds in boxing still has a way to go.

    Speaking of PBC, Al Haymon made news recently. It’s noteworthy anytime Haymon is in the news because he does everything he can to avoid attention from the media. He was scheduled to be deposed Tuesday in California in a lawsuit against him and Warriors Boxing, a promoter he frequently works with for PBC events. The lawsuit was filed by Bad Dog Productions, who claimed that Haymon and Warriors tampered with Bad Dog’s promotional contract with Rances Barthelemy. Barthelemy is under contract to Haymon and fought on CBS last weekend.

    Haymon, however, came down with a mysterious illness and is unable to testify Tuesday. What timing. The attorney for Bad Dog says they will try and reschedule the deposition within the next thirty days.

    Also, earlier this week the California State Athletic Commission said they had discovered some time ago that Haymon had sabotaged rival promoters, mainly Golden Boy, which is one of PBC’s chief rivals. Haymon would hold dates at key venues (mainly Staples Center and the Forum) that prevented rivals from staging fights at those venues and then Haymon would drop his dates once his rivals scheduled fights elsewhere.

    “He was holding up the dates at the Forum and at Staples Center. We took that away,” said John Frierson of the CSAC.

    This is actually pretty common practice among combat sports and pro wrestling. Haymon reminds me so much of Vince Jr in the 1980s in Vince’s promotional tactics and methodology for what he attempted to accomplish by “taking over” pro wrestling. Junior, however, won his war, but what happens with Haymon remains to be seen.

  • SAT. UPDATE: Josh Koscheck signs with Bellator, Kane threatens Dwayne Wade, UFC preview, and more

    by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.comFollow @davidbix

    Weekend TV and major event notes:

    UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Romero is this week’s UFC card…

    Prelims on Fox Sports 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET
    Steve Montgomery vs. Tony Sims
    Lewis Gonzalez vs. Leandro Silva
    Sirwan Kakai vs. Danny Martinez
    Joe Merritt vs. Alex Oliveira

    Main Card on Fox Sports 1 at 10:00 p.m. ET
    Hacran Dias vs. Levan Makashvili
    Steve Bosse vs. Thiago Santos
    Eddie Gordon vs. Antonio Carlos Jr.
    Lorenz Larkin vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
    Lyoto Machida vs. Yoel Romero

    This was never a deep show on paper, and the issues with securing visa for many of the international fighters completely gutted it anyway. They’re using the smaller 25 foot octagon and there are still some good fighters on the show, so there’s the potential for a lot of finishes, but there’s nothing must-see on paper past the main event.

    There are a lot of question marks going into the fight, as Machida is doing a quick turnaround, fighting just nine weeks after the most brutal and dominating loss of his career, while Romero is fighting for the first time since he stopped Tim Kennedy in September. The use of the smaller cage also seems like a bad sign for Machida, as it gives him a lot less room to work his game. Regardless, it’s one of the most interesting fights UFC can book right now and a worthy main event.

    NJPW from Korakuen Hall will be streaming live on NJPW World late tonight/early tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. ET:

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White
    Tiger Mask vs. Sho Tanaka
    Jushin Liger vs. David Finlay
    Mascara Dorada vs. Yohei Komatsu
    Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. .Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan
    Tetsuya Naito & Manabu Nakanishi & Kushida vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Kenny Omega
    Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Barreta vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Yujiro Takahashi
    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi

    We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE show in Boston (John Cena vs. Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns) as well as NXT in Citrus Springs, FL.The same goes for Sunday’s shows, which are in Roanoke, VA (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt,  Sheamus, Ryback, Dean Ambrose) and Reading, PA (Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, King Barrett, New Day). Send all reports to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

    TNA Slammiversary airs live on pay-per-view tomorrow night with this card:
    Robbie E vs. Jessie Godderz
    Awesome Kong & Brooke vs. Taryn Terrell & Jade & Marti Bell
    Magnus vs. James Storm Non-sanctioned match
    Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries – Winner gets to choose the Iron Man stipulation for the TV match already taped as the fifth match in the best-of-five for the tag tiles
    Matt Morgan vs. Bram
    Bobby Lashley & Ken Anderson vs. Ethan Carter III & Tyrus
    King of the Mountain match for the new King of the Mountain Title:  Jeff Jarrett, Eric Young, Drew Galloway, Bobby Roode and Matt Hardy

    Raw will be Monday night in Washington, DC, while Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Hershey, PA.

    **** 

    The recipient of rave reviews so far, the newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) with an extensive look at the recent events in the WWE stockholders class action lawsuit, specifically the back and forth over whether or not Brian Maddox (the former Vice President, Global Sales) acted as a whistleblower to help the plaintiffs and if so, what he revealed. Among the topics covered are:

    * How much USA gets for a 30 second ad on Monday Night Raw.

    * What WWE’s internal research says about how big their American fanbase actually is.

    * WWE’s actions that upset and drove away advertisers.

    * Maddox’s affidavit to support WWE’s effort to get the case dismissed and how the plaintiffs are fighting back against it.

    And much more. If you’re interested in WWE business stories, this is a must-read.

    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 AmericanCanadian, 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. 

    **** 

    A story about the life and career of Buddy Landel, plus the Jose Aldo injury, Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and whether it was or wasn’t real and Cora Combs and the last link to the heyday of U.S. women’s wrestling are the main stories in the June 29 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The Latest Wrestling Observer June 29, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Buddy Landel obituary, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice coverage

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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 first look at the injury to Jose Aldo Jr. and thoughts on the 7/11 fight with Conor McGregor.  We look at the different options UFC had in this situation.

    We’ve got a major story on the life and career of Buddy Landel.  We look at the circumstances of his death, why Landel never reached the level of success his ability should have gotten him, his life before and after wrestling, and the story that, at the age of 24, changed the direction of his career.

    Landel talked about getting fired from Crockett Promotions at what turned out to be the high point of his career, examine the talk of his being given the world title at the time, as well as his own very candid thoughts about if he had won the title.  We look at what was planned for him, and how his firing changed the entire history of the business because it in a roundabout way led to the creation of the Four Horseman.

    We look at the situation with Crockett Promotions in the middle of a hot period in 1985, the Starrcade 85 show, and the Flair vs. Rhodes program.  We look at the story behind Landel’s statement that he and Flair broke Elvis’ attendance record in Raleigh and the true story of that night.

    We also look at his run in Tennessee including the last sellout at the Mid South Coliseum and the angle leading to that, as well as the famous 27 fall Texas death match that was among the best matches of the 80s. We look at his start in sports, growing up as a fan, and how Landel got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early years, his first push, the creation of the Nature Boy gimmick, working with Junkyard Dog in Mid South, his return to Crockett Promotions and why he never got another chance, what Buddy Rogers told him, and the last stages of his career and life after wrestling.

    We also look in depth at the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock right.  We look at different kinds of works, and the ones that could not have happened and the ones that could have.  We look at what the person closest to the action said about it, as well as a look at the background of Ken Shamrock.

    We also have a lot more about the records set for the fight, as well as future matches that both or either could do going out of this.  We also look at other business notes for the show, as well as Bellator’s next major event in September, and full coverage of the TV event.

    We also have an update on Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart talks Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others, Dolph Ziggler’s future prospects, Talk of another NXT live special this summer, More on the next WWE network special show, notes on a former tag team of the year candidate team that WWE is looking at getting, more on Tough Enough, as well as Dwayne Johnson projects and injuries to Jamie Noble, Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd.

    We also have notes on why Randy Orton wasn’t at TV this past week, frustration from the inside on WWE creative, Hogan talks WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels in a movie, WWE house shows, the sad plight of Chyna, as well as a look at the weekend NXT and WWE house shows as well as weekend business.

    We also have coverage of the ROH Best in the World PPV show, and where the company is headed.

    We’ve also got a story on the life of Cora Combs, the last link to the Billy Wolfe/Mildred Burke glory days of women’s wrestling.  We look at her career, her decision in the promotional split that ended up taking the women’s side of wrestling down, the Moolah years, being in the first woman’s match ever held in New York and the story behind it.  We also look at the last period of her career, as Lady Satan, working against her daughter, as well as look at some of the oldest wrestlers of all-time and the oldest living wrestles..

    We’ve also got full coverage of the weekly UFC show in Germany and the rise of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.  We look at her unique stardom, as well as other coverage of the show.

    We also have notes on how the WWE’s Payback PPV did and where the PPV business currently stands.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –More on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show

    –Former WWE star signs major deal as a brand ambassador with one of the biggest movie companies in the world and his duties

    –Another former WWE star working big shows in AAA

    –Notes on future AAA shows

    –Ricochet returns to Japan

    –Notes on the next Dragon Gate iPPV show

    –Final event of the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour

    –Notes on the upcoming NOAH GHC jr. tournament

    –More G-1 Climax notes as far as TV goes

    –New Japan heads to Singapore

    –Notes on Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Rogers

    –More on Global Force Wrestling

    –Lots of PWG notes

    –Notes on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show

    –Pro wrestling returns after 20 years to one of its most famous former arenas

    –More on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on upcoming ROH shows

    –A look at the next month of ROH television

    –More on people leaving TNA

    –Story behind Hernandez coming to TNA

    –More on TNA PPV show

    –TNA wrestlers appear on Destination America programming

    –UFC press conference coming

    –Major official leaves UFC

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –More talk about UFC events in the future in Mexico City

    –Why Dana White didn’t go to the UFC show in Germany

    –Dana White talks about a reality show he’s filming

    –Latest on the heavyweight title picture

    –Lots of changed matches on the UFC shows

    –UFC injury updates

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Stiffest MMA suspension to date to a former champion

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

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    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    ****

    Saturday Daily Update

    — Bellator announced the signing of Josh Koscheck during the broadcast of last night’s card. This is an interesting one. He’s on a five fight losing streak (and there are legitimate questions about the condition of the eye he injured fighting Georges St. Pieree), but all were to ranked opponents except the most recent one against Erick Silva, who’s still a high level fighter. Bellator’s welterweight division is not filled with great wrestlers and a grudge match with Paul Daley (who sucker punched him after the bell in their UFC fight) is a nice addition to a major card, so he’s worth at least one fight to see where he stands against their roster.

    — By the way, if you didn’t see Bellator last night, Hisaki Kato’s Superman Punch finish of Joe Schilling is probably the knockout of the year so far. It’s also one of those finishes that comes out of nowhere at the perfect moment in what the commentators are saying.

    — The latest with Jose Aldo is, officially, that the American doctor he saw diagnosed him with bruised rib cartilage, whileBrazillian doctors say he did indeed suffer a fracture. That’s not especially reassuring. Regardless, he’s undergoing platelet-rich plasma treatments to try to heal him in time to be able to fight Conor McGregor in two weeks at UFC 189.

    — Starting this Monday, various schools will send representatives to “take over” the SEC Network for a day of programming, and the University of Florida has chosen notable alumnus Titus O’Neill. He may never be a top star, but WWE seems to be realizing that he’s a special guy when it comes to doing media.

    Kane threatened to chokeslam Dwayne Wade if he leaves the Miami Heat. That’s delightfully old-school.

    — Among the celebrities at the PWG show last night were Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), her fiance Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL as well as True Blood, a long-time wrestling fan who’s been to PWG shows before), and Chris Bauer (True Blood, also already known to be a PWG fan). Vergara posted photos on her Instagram page and the UK Daily Mail covered them being there.

    — Hearing good things about the ongoing New England Wrestling Fan Fest. Apparently the promoters put Jim Cornette and Eric Bischoff’s tables in close proximity to each other, which sounds like an adventure.

    — Scott Fishman talked to the various wrestling stars in attendance at the Florida Supercon for an article in the Miami Herald.

    — SMASH Wrestling: Rival Schools 2015 lineup for Sunday, July 19at 4:00pm at the Franklin Horner Community Centre on 432 Horner Ave in Toronto, Ontario:

    I Quit Match (Smash vs. Fourth Gunn):
    Matt Cross vs. Tarik

    Hero’s Challenge:
    Chris Hero vs. Rich Swann

    Championship Match (Smash vs. Fourth Gunn):
    Scotty O’Shea vs. Johnny Gargano (c)

    Tag Team Warfare (Smash vs. Fourth Gunn):
    The Overdogs vs. Drew Gulak & Biff Busick

    Tag Team Tables Match:
    Super Smash Brothers vs. The Goat Brigade

    Women’s Rubber Match:
    Vanessa Kraven vs. Candice LeRae

    Tickets available at Smash’s website.

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (thanks to Bert Duckwall)

    12:00 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    12:30 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    1:30 AM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    2:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    3:00 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    3:30 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    4:00 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR The war comes to a shocking conclusion, upstaged only by the talents that cross enemy lines in the years that follow.

    5:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

    7:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    8:00 AM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE Eight WWE Legends reunite and get acquainted with their new neighbors. Back at the Legends’ House, tempers flare.

    9:00 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    9:30 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    10:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    11:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy!

    1:00 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    1:30 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    2:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR The war comes to a shocking conclusion, upstaged only by the talents that cross enemy lines in the years that follow.

    3:00 PM ET
    WCW GREAT AMERICAN BASH 1995 WCW’s annual summer spectacular features Nature Boy Ric Flair taking on Macho Man Randy Savage. Sting faces Meng for the U.S. Title.

    6:00 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    6:30 PM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    7:00 PM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    8:00 PM ET
    WCW GREAT AMERICAN BASH 1995 WCW’s annual summer spectacular features Nature Boy Ric Flair taking on Macho Man Randy Savage. Sting faces Meng for the U.S. Title.

    11:00 PM ET
    WCW GREAT AMERICAN BASH 1995 WCW’s annual summer spectacular features Nature Boy Ric Flair taking on Macho Man Randy Savage. Sting faces Meng for the U.S. Title.

  • FRI UPDATE: No UFC at MSG, Ziggler, Raw on Tuesday, TNA tapings, Ali-Inoki

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for reports on tonight’s TNA tapings in Orlando (there is believed to be an Ethan Carter III vs. Kurt Angle rematch taped tonight) as well as tonight’s PWG show in Reseda and NXT show in Cocoa Beach, FL at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Tonight is the last Impact taping of this current set and will be for parts of shows airing on 7/8 and 7/15.

    We’ll be doing our only weekend poll for TNA Slammiversary, so you can vote thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    No WWE main roster house shows tonight.

    BELLATOR TONIGHT FROM MULVANE, KANSAS

    PRELIMS AT 6:45 P.M. EASTERN ON SPIKE.COM

    Greg Scott (145.7) vs. Gaston Reyno (145)

    Bobby Cooper (155.9) vs. Pablo Villaseca (156)

    Bubba Jenkins (145.9) vs. Joe Wilk (145.6)

    Daniel Gallemore (264.9) vs. Augusto Sakai (263)

    Alex Huddleston (248.6) vs. Javy Ayala (263.9)

    Iony Razafiarison (140.8) vs. Bryanna Fissori (144)

    Jeimeson Saudino (134.3) vs. Aaron Ely (134.7)

    Derek Bohl (264) vs. Frederick Brown (229.4)

    LIVE AT 9 P.M ON SPIKE

    Pat Curran (145.6) vs. Emmanuel Sanchez (145.5)

    Joe Schilling (185.9) vs. Hisaki Kato (185.5)

    David Rickels (155.9) vs. John Alessio (155.4)

    Cheick Kongo (238.6) vs. Alexander Volkov (242)

    NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING TONIGHT AT 9 P.M. ON AXS (from the first night of the 2014 G-1 Climax tournament)

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma

    A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada

    Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Katsuyori Shibata

    LEGACY FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS TONIGHT ON AXS AT 10 P.M. FROM LAKE CHARLES, LA

    Joel Scott vs. Justin Rader

    Gage Duhon vs. Sage Northcutt

    Vanderlei Carvalho Leite vs. Matt Schnell

    Kalinda Faria vs. Valentina Shevchenko

    Larry Crowe vs. Ryan Spann

    Anthony Njokuani vs. Josh Quayhagen

    We’re also looking for reports on Saturday for the WWE show in Boston (John Cena vs. Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns) and NXT in Citrus Springs, FL.

    UFC ON SATURDAY FROM HOLLYWOOD, FL

    FS 2 AT 8 P.M.

    Steve Montgomery vs. Tony Sims

    Lewis Gonzalez vs. Leandro Silva

    Sirwan Kakai vs. Danny Martinez

    Joe Merritt vs. Alex Oliveira

    FS 1 at 10 P.M.

    Hacran Dias vs. Levan Makashvili

    Steve Bosse vs. Thiago Santos

    Eddie Gordon vs. Antonio Carlos Jr.

    Lorenz Larkin vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio

    Lyoto Machida vs. Yoel Romero

    NEW JAPAN FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL AT 5:30 A.M. SUNDAY EASTERN AND 2:30 A.M. LATE SATURDAY PACIFIC ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White

    Tiger Mask vs. Sho Tanaka

    Jushin Liger vs. David Finlay

    Mascara Dorada vs. Yohei Komatsu

    Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. .Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan

    Tetsuya Naito & Manabu Nakanishi & Kushida vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Kenny Omega

    Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Barreta vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Yujiro Takahashi

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi

    Sunday has WWE house shows in Roanoke (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt,  Sheamus, Ryback, Dean Ambrose) and Reading, PA (Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, King Barrett, New Day)

    TNA SLAMMIVERSARY ON PPV SUNDAY

    Robbie E vs. Jessie Godderz

    Awesome Kong & Brooke vs. Taryn Terrell & Jade & Marti Bell

    Magnus vs. James Storm Non-sanctioned match

    Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries – Winner gets to choose the Iron Man stipulation for the TV match already taped as the fifth match in the best-of-five for the tag tiles

    Matt Morgan vs. Bram

    Bobby Lashley & Ken Anderson vs. Ethan Carter III & Tyrus

    King of the Mountain match:  Jeff Jarrett, Eric Young, Drew Galloway, Bobby Roode and Matt Hardy

    Raw will be Monday night in Washington, DC.

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Hershey, PA.

    A story about the life and career of Buddy Landel, plus the Jose Aldo injury, Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and whether it was or wasn’t real and Cora Combs and the last link to the heyday of U.S. women’s wrestling are the main stories in the June 29 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The Latest Wrestling Observer June 29, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Buddy Landel obituary, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice coverage

    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@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

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

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    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 first look at the injury to Jose Aldo Jr. and thoughts on the 7/11 fight with Conor McGregor.  We look at the different options UFC had in this situation.

    We’ve got a major story on the life and career of Buddy Landel.  We look at the circumstances of his death, why Landel never reached the level of success his ability should have gotten him, his life before and after wrestling, and the story that, at the age of 24, changed the direction of his career.

    Landel talked about getting fired from Crockett Promotions at what turned out to be the high point of his career, examine the talk of his being given the world title at the time, as well as his own very candid thoughts about if he had won the title.  We look at what was planned for him, and how his firing changed the entire history of the business because it in a roundabout way led to the creation of the Four Horseman.

    We look at the situation with Crockett Promotions in the middle of a hot period in 1985, the Starrcade 85 show, and the Flair vs. Rhodes program.  We look at the story behind Landel’s statement that he and Flair broke Elvis’ attendance record in Raleigh and the true story of that night.

    We also look at his run in Tennessee including the last sellout at the Mid South Coliseum and the angle leading to that, as well as the famous 27 fall Texas death match that was among the best matches of the 80s. We look at his start in sports, growing up as a fan, and how Landel got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early years, his first push, the creation of the Nature Boy gimmick, working with Junkyard Dog in Mid South, his return to Crockett Promotions and why he never got another chance, what Buddy Rogers told him, and the last stages of his career and life after wrestling.

    We also look in depth at the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock right.  We look at different kinds of works, and the ones that could not have happened and the ones that could have.  We look at what the person closest to the action said about it, as well as a look at the background of Ken Shamrock.

    We also have a lot more about the records set for the fight, as well as future matches that both or either could do going out of this.  We also look at other business notes for the show, as well as Bellator’s next major event in September, and full coverage of the TV event.

    We also have an update on Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart talks Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others, Dolph Ziggler’s future prospects, Talk of another NXT live special this summer, More on the next WWE network special show, notes on a former tag team of the year candidate team that WWE is looking at getting, more on Tough Enough, as well as Dwayne Johnson projects and injuries to Jamie Noble, Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd.

    We also have notes on why Randy Orton wasn’t at TV this past week, frustration from the inside on WWE creative, Hogan talks WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels in a movie, WWE house shows, the sad plight of Chyna, as well as a look at the weekend NXT and WWE house shows as well as weekend business.

    We also have coverage of the ROH Best in the World PPV show, and where the company is headed.

    We’ve also got a story on the life of Cora Combs, the last link to the Billy Wolfe/Mildred Burke glory days of women’s wrestling.  We look at her career, her decision in the promotional split that ended up taking the women’s side of wrestling down, the Moolah years, being in the first woman’s match ever held in New York and the story behind it.  We also look at the last period of her career, as Lady Satan, working against her daughter, as well as look at some of the oldest wrestlers of all-time and the oldest living wrestles..

    We’ve also got full coverage of the weekly UFC show in Germany and the rise of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.  We look at her unique stardom, as well as other coverage of the show.

    We also have notes on how the WWE’s Payback PPV did and where the PPV business currently stands.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –More on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show

    –Former WWE star signs major deal as a brand ambassador with one of the biggest movie companies in the world and his duties

    –Another former WWE star working big shows in AAA

    –Notes on future AAA shows

    –Ricochet returns to Japan

    –Notes on the next Dragon Gate iPPV show

    –Final event of the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour

    –Notes on the upcoming NOAH GHC jr. tournament

    –More G-1 Climax notes as far as TV goes

    –New Japan heads to Singapore

    –Notes on Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Rogers

    –More on Global Force Wrestling

    –Lots of PWG notes

    –Notes on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show

    –Pro wrestling returns after 20 years to one of its most famous former arenas

    –More on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on upcoming ROH shows

    –A look at the next month of ROH television

    –More on people leaving TNA

    –Story behind Hernandez coming to TNA

    –More on TNA PPV show

    –TNA wrestlers appear on Destination America programming

    –UFC press conference coming

    –Major official leaves UFC

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –More talk about UFC events in the future in Mexico City

    –Why Dana White didn’t go to the UFC show in Germany

    –Dana White talks about a reality show he’s filming

    –Latest on the heavyweight title picture

    –Lots of changed matches on the UFC shows

    –UFC injury updates

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Stiffest MMA suspension to date to a former champion

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • The UFC will not get its vote in the New York assembly as time ran out.  The basic gist is that the Democrats were not going to put a vote up unless they had 76 democratic votes.  UFC had between 76 and 78 of the 105 democrats on board, but they kept putting off the bill.  Once they went into overtime this week (the session was to end on 6/17, but continued this week due to a ton of legislation they wanted passed) a lot of the Assembleymen had other commitments.  With several of the democrats gone, they didn’t have the 76 votes so the bill would pass without minority party support, even though UFC believed they had majority support from the republicans and had they got a vote, the bill would have won easily.  They will be doing the same fight next year, although Marc Ratner said that next year they will try and pass the assembly first because they know they’ll pass the senate.

    That means UFC will not be able to run its planned major card in Madison Square Garden, so Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold will be looking for a new home for that fight.  Weidman was working hard, pushing people like Dwayne Johnson and other celebrities in the last few days to push the assembly into action.

    While Dana White had said that if the show wasn’t in New York, it would be in Calgary, right now the Saddledome is booked on 12/5 for a Calgary Hit Men hockey game.

    • PW Insider reported Dolph Ziggler had signed a new WWE contract.  One friend of his told us this morning the same thing and we’re awaiting official confirmation.
    • There will be a two-hour edited version of Raw airing from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday night on the USA Network as a lead-in for Tough Enough.  Clearly the rating for the first episode, barely one-third of what the first episode of the 2011 Steve Austin season did, caused this move.  It is not confirmed if this is a one week thing or if it will become a regular thing for the remainder of the Tough Enough season, but historically USA has never wanted to air repeats of Raw in good time slots for fear of diluting the initial show rating.  
    • Bully Ray was backstage at the TNA tapings and may be working the show tonight.  Billy Corgan is also there today.  He was not there the first two nights due to Smashing Pumpkins concert commitments.
    • Sunday will be Magnus’ last match with TNA.  Nothing has been said publicly because of the PPV on Sunday and because he will be on Impact on Wednesday.  But it will be announced at some point very soon that Nick Aldis will be with GFW.
    • Jeff Jarrett was not at TV yesterday, nor is he expected there today.
    • I believe Southern States Wrestling’s TV show tomorrow will be a tribute to Buddy Landel special show.  
    • UFC Fight Night 70: Machida vs. Romero weigh-in results and live video
    • A correction from yesterday, Kenny Bolin was actually out of the hospital by the time we reported the story.  He had been admitted to the hospital on June 18th due to heart problems, but he was released this past Tuesday. 
    • Today is actually the 39th anniversary of the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match.  You could say yesterday was as well.  The fight took place on June 25 in the U.S. and June 26 Tokyo (the fight was in Tokyo) in 1976.  I expect a big deal in Japan next year for the 40th anniversary because while forgotten in the U.S., it is a major part of Japanese pro wrestling and MMA history.
    • NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling on 7/11 in Elizabethton, TN at the Evolution Sports Gym for a fund raiser for James Timothy Davis, a young child who needs open heart surgery.  
    • Charlotte in WWE found out yesterday she will be getting her own action figure.
    • WWE and NXT will be part of this year’s San Diego Comic Con.  On 7/9 from 1-2 p.m. there will be a panel with Seth Rollins, William Regal, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Charlotte. (thanks to Daniel Short)
    • Future Stars of Wrestling on Sunday in Las Vegas at Sam’s Town Live with Lance Archer & Suburban Commandos & Kevin Kross vs. Chris Masters & Tyshaun Prince & Cold Cold World, plus Willie Mack, B-Boy and Martin Casaus from Lucha Underground, Kenny King from TNA and Disco Inferno.
    • Shelton Benjamin and Juventud Guerrera will be replacing Bobby Lashley and Davey Richards on the All Elite show at Arena Mexico on Sunday.  Lashley and Richards had TNA commitments with the PPV and TNA gets first priority on their dates.
    • CMLL on Tuesday night from Guadalajara:  Espectrum & Sadico b Divino & Freezer, Cancerbero & El Hijo del Signo & Sangre Azteca b Esfinge & Oro Jr. & Stigma, Puma King b Malefico, Blue Panther & Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. b Kraneo & Olimpico & Ripper, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora & Rey Escorpion b Maximo & Rush & La Sombra (thanks to Kris Zellner)
    • Rey Mysterio Jr. & Psycho Clown vs. El Texano Jr. & Mesias headlines Sunday’s AAA TV tapings in Orizaba at the bullring.
    • ROH announced that for 24 hours you can watch the 2012 Final Battle show headlined by Kevin Steen vs. El Generico and Adam Cole vs. Matt Hardy for $1.99.
    • The Desert Sun in Riverside County in yesterday’s paper ran a story on Vance Garayt, who wrestles for EWF in the area as The Baby Bull, with a very positive story and pictures.
    • The Fight Network airs Golden Boy Live tonight at 10 p.m Eastern time from Salinas, CA, followed by Hard Knocks Fighting 44 from Calgary’s Century Casino headlined by former UFC fighter Nick Rings vs. former Strikeforce fighter Cory Devela, as well as former UFC fighters Rodney Wallace vs. Kalib Starnes as the co-feature.
    • What happens when you try and do a movie fight scene version of pro wrestling

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

    1975 – Antonio Inoki beat Tiger Jeet Singh in Tokyo to win the NWF world title

    1988 – Bull Nakano beat Yumiko Hotta

    1989 – Miss A beat Devil Masami in Sapporo to win the UWA International women’s title

    1992 – Rick & Scott Steiner beat Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow in Tokyo to win the IWGP heavyweight title and El Samurai beat Jushin Liger to win the IWGP jr. title

    1994 – Barry Horowitz beat Franz Schumann in Graz to win the CWA middleweight title

    2000 – H (Hayabusa) & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya beat Kodo Fuyuki & Chocoball Mukai and woman’s star Kyoko Inoue to win the WEW six man tag team titles

    2006 – Ikuto Hidaka beat Masaaki Mochizuki in Tokyo

    TODAY’S PRO WRESTLING VIDEOS 

    WWE/NXT

    6/22/15 Top 10 Raw Moments

    Billy Gunn Previews The First WWE Tough Enough Challenge-WWE #toughenough

    Paige Busts The Competition At the Mall-WWE #toughenough

    The Competitors Ready For Their First “Tough” Challenge-WWE #toughenough

    WWE Network Sneak Peek:  “Unfiltered” With Renee Young-“Magic Mike XXL”

    6/25/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra-Hogan’s X-Factor

    6/24/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra-Billy Gunn’s Wake-Up Call

    6/24/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra-Dianna Freezes Out The Pain

    6/24/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra-Y2J Breaks Down WWE Tough Enough

    6/23/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra-Booker T Gives ZZ A Boost

    6/24/15 Jason Jordan Is Confronted Again By Chad Gable

    Finn Balor Discusses The Struggle To Contain His Inner Demon

    Unseen Footage Of Triple H’s Wrestlemania 31 Entrance

    5 Things:  5 Youngest Champions In WWE History

    MISC. STUFF

    Bushwhacker Luke On “The Apter Chat”

    Dad You Don’t Work, You Wrestle (Episode 125)

    Top 35 Moves Of Atsushi Kotoge

    Top 5 Moves of Icarus

    Pro Wrestling Blitz “Mid-Week Mayhem” (Episode 8)

    6/25/15 Chikara’s “Thursdays On The Throne” 

    TNA

    Velvet Sky Refusing To Give An Interview To Impact Wrestling Cameras

    Angelina Love Responds Reacts To Velvet Sky And Talks About Tonight’s Match

    Grado Talks About Facing Low Ki and Tigre Uno For The X Title Tonight

    Interview With Jeff Jarrett After Appearing On TNA Impact

    “I Hate You!” Bram Has Some Choice Words For His Potential Opponent On Tonight’s #IMPACTLive

    INDY TV SHOWS

    Covey Pro Wrestling TV (Episode 211)

    CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling “Worldwide” TV (Episode 6)

    Pro Wrestling Syndicate TV (Episode 25)

    6/20/15 Southern States Wrestling TV

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (thanks to Bert Duckwall)

    12:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy!

    2:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    3:00 AM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

    4:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    5:00 AM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO This episode of WCW Monday Nitro features a huge tag team main event when Sting teams with Hulk Hogan to face Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.

    6:00 AM ET
    WCW GREAT AMERICAN BASH 1991 Lex Luger battles Barry Windham in a Steel Cage Match for the vacant WCW World Title. Nikita Koloff vs. Sting in a Russian Chain Match.

    9:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    10:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy!

    12:00 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    12:30 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    1:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR The war comes to a shocking conclusion, upstaged only by the talents that cross enemy lines in the years that follow.

    2:00 PM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    2:30 PM ET
    WWE QUICK HITS WWE Quick Hits 2 brings you some of the most unique, entertaining, and sometimes outrageous clips, unearthed from the depths of WWE Network.

    3:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield, Kane, Ted Dibiase, and Cody Rhodes face John Cena, Batista, and Cryme Tyme. Edge battles Jeff Hardy.

    4:00 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    4:30 PM ET
    LEGENDS HOUSE Eight WWE Legends reunite and get acquainted with their new neighbors. Back at the Legends’ House, tempers flare.

    5:30 PM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    6:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    7:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR The war comes to a shocking conclusion, upstaged only by the talents that cross enemy lines in the years that follow.

    8:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield, Kane, Ted Dibiase, and Cody Rhodes face John Cena, Batista, and Cryme Tyme. Edge battles Jeff Hardy.

    9:00 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    9:30 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    10:30 PM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    11:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield, Kane, Ted Dibiase, and Cody Rhodes face John Cena, Batista, and Cryme Tyme. Edge battles Jeff Hardy.

  • THURS UPDATE: TNA/Jarrett, Low Ki leaves TNA, Bolin hospitalized, WWE, Aldo vs. McGregor, Kidd surgery, HHH tweet

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for reports on tonight’s TNA tapings in Orlando as well as the matches not on the live show last night at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com   The matches believed to be taped today are Kurt Angle vs. Ethan Carter III for the TNA title and The Wolves vs. Austin Aries & Bobby Roode. 

    Smackdown tonight on the USA Network:

    Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler

    Alicia Fox vs. Naomi

    Ryback vs. Kane

    Prime Time Players & Lucha Dragons vs. New Day & Bo Dallas

    Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose non-title match

    A story about the life and career of Buddy Landel, plus the Jose Aldo injury, Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and whether it was or wasn’t real and Cora Combs and the last link to the heyday of U.S. women’s wrestling are the main stories in the June 29 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The Latest Wrestling Observer June 29, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Buddy Landel obituary, Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice coverage

    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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    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 first look at the injury to Jose Aldo Jr. and thoughts on the 7/11 fight with Conor McGregor.  We look at the different options UFC had in this situation.

    We’ve got a major story on the life and career of Buddy Landel.  We look at the circumstances of his death, why Landel never reached the level of success his ability should have gotten him, his life before and after wrestling, and the story that, at the age of 24, changed the direction of his career.

    Landel talked about getting fired from Crockett Promotions at what turned out to be the high point of his career, examine the talk of his being given the world title at the time, as well as his own very candid thoughts about if he had won the title.  We look at what was planned for him, and how his firing changed the entire history of the business because it in a roundabout way led to the creation of the Four Horseman.

    We look at the situation with Crockett Promotions in the middle of a hot period in 1985, the Starrcade 85 show, and the Flair vs. Rhodes program.  We look at the story behind Landel’s statement that he and Flair broke Elvis’ attendance record in Raleigh and the true story of that night.

    We also look at his run in Tennessee including the last sellout at the Mid South Coliseum and the angle leading to that, as well as the famous 27 fall Texas death match that was among the best matches of the 80s. We look at his start in sports, growing up as a fan, and how Landel got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early years, his first push, the creation of the Nature Boy gimmick, working with Junkyard Dog in Mid South, his return to Crockett Promotions and why he never got another chance, what Buddy Rogers told him, and the last stages of his career and life after wrestling.

    We also look in depth at the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock right.  We look at different kinds of works, and the ones that could not have happened and the ones that could have.  We look at what the person closest to the action said about it, as well as a look at the background of Ken Shamrock.

    We also have a lot more about the records set for the fight, as well as future matches that both or either could do going out of this.  We also look at other business notes for the show, as well as Bellator’s next major event in September, and full coverage of the TV event.

    We also have an update on Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart talks Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others, Dolph Ziggler’s future prospects, Talk of another NXT live special this summer, More on the next WWE network special show, notes on a former tag team of the year candidate team that WWE is looking at getting, more on Tough Enough, as well as Dwayne Johnson projects and injuries to Jamie Noble, Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd.

    We also have notes on why Randy Orton wasn’t at TV this past week, frustration from the inside on WWE creative, Hogan talks WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels in a movie, WWE house shows, the sad plight of Chyna, as well as a look at the weekend NXT and WWE house shows as well as weekend business.

    We also have coverage of the ROH Best in the World PPV show, and where the company is headed.

    We’ve also got a story on the life of Cora Combs, the last link to the Billy Wolfe/Mildred Burke glory days of women’s wrestling.  We look at her career, her decision in the promotional split that ended up taking the women’s side of wrestling down, the Moolah years, being in the first woman’s match ever held in New York and the story behind it.  We also look at the last period of her career, as Lady Satan, working against her daughter, as well as look at some of the oldest wrestlers of all-time and the oldest living wrestles..

    We’ve also got full coverage of the weekly UFC show in Germany and the rise of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.  We look at her unique stardom, as well as other coverage of the show.

    We also have notes on how the WWE’s Payback PPV did and where the PPV business currently stands.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –More on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show

    –Former WWE star signs major deal as a brand ambassador with one of the biggest movie companies in the world and his duties

    –Another former WWE star working big shows in AAA

    –Notes on future AAA shows

    –Ricochet returns to Japan

    –Notes on the next Dragon Gate iPPV show

    –Final event of the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour

    –Notes on the upcoming NOAH GHC jr. tournament

    –More G-1 Climax notes as far as TV goes

    –New Japan heads to Singapore

    –Notes on Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Rogers

    –More on Global Force Wrestling

    –Lots of PWG notes

    –Notes on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore show

    –Pro wrestling returns after 20 years to one of its most famous former arenas

    –More on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on upcoming ROH shows

    –A look at the next month of ROH television

    –More on people leaving TNA

    –Story behind Hernandez coming to TNA

    –More on TNA PPV show

    –TNA wrestlers appear on Destination America programming

    –UFC press conference coming

    –Major official leaves UFC

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –More talk about UFC events in the future in Mexico City

    –Why Dana White didn’t go to the UFC show in Germany

    –Dana White talks about a reality show he’s filming

    –Latest on the heavyweight title picture

    –Lots of changed matches on the UFC shows

    –UFC injury updates

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Stiffest MMA suspension to date to a former champion

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    THURSDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Regarding the Jeff Jarrett appearance on Impact, we discussed it heavily on the radio show, but at least as of right now he is not in a position of power or ownership.  He is scheduled to appear past Sunday as of right now, the as noted earlier, Magnus is scheduled to appear on the GFW TV show taped on 7/24 in Las Vegas, so the sides are working together.  The deal did just come through and it was hilarious backstage as all the people who had for the last year plus made fun of Jarrett were all acting like they were his long-lost best friend.  The morale of the wrestlers wasn’t good, feeling the company wasn’t being honest with them by hiding it.  They already had credibility issues with talent.  The deal really did come together in the last week and wasn’t finalized until the day of.  While not confirmed, the belief is that Jarrett was brought in to be this year’s inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame after A.J. Styles turned down the offer.
    • A real key thing which Jarrett clearly said to get insiders talking was mentioning how he had just talked with his friend Toby Keith two days earlier.
    • Low Ki announced today on Twitter that he’s done with TNA.  The belief is this is legit.  Within the company, with the skepticism, there is always the speculation regarding it could be his going to GFW in an angle.  
    • Manager Kenny Bolin was in the hospital today with major heart issues.
    • WWE has announced Blake Blistad as its new Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary.  He’ll be part of the upper management team handling legal affairs.  He had a similar position at Provide Commerce before taking this position.
    • While it is not 100%, UFC officials do expect Jose Aldo to fight Conor McGregor on 7/11.  Aldo is anything but healthy today.  Regarding the decision to go with Chad Mendes instead of Frankie Edgar as the backup against McGregor, that was based on UFC rankings.  The UFC’s media voted rankings had Mendes as the No. 1 contender and Edgar at No. 2.  Similarly, Alexander Gustafsson was ranked higher than Ryan Bader.  However, Stipe Miocic is ranked higher than Andrei Arlovski, and Cain Velasquez higher than both, but Arlovski is expected to get the next heavyweight title shot.
    • Tyson Kidd had his neck surgery yesterday.  He is believed to have returned home from the hospital today.  He was doing really well after surgery. 
    • Nicole Bass, who worked in the 90s in WWF and ECW and was best known from the Howard Stern show, the huge muscular bodybuilder woman, was arrested and charged with shoplifting of nearly $1,500 in goods from a Stop & Shot market in Queens.  She plea bargained down to attending a day-long counseling session on charges of petty larceny and possession of stolen property. 
    • The new 7/4 card for Sumo Hall in Tokyo on the WWE Network live:

    John Cena & Dolph Ziggler vs.  Kane & King Barrett

    Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston

    Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor for the NXT title

    Neville vs. Chris Jericho

    Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi for the Divas title

    Lucha Dragons vs. Big E & Xavier Woods

    Cesaro vs. Diego

    Contrary to earlier reports, there are still tickets available for that show, so it’s not sold out. 

    • HHH’s tweet about SummerSlam being about to get bigger is believed to be the announcement of an NXT show in New York that weekend.
    • ROH announced Jay Lethal & Roderick Strong & Moose vs. Jay Briscoe & Dalton Castle & Kyle O’Reilly, Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice and a tournament for a TV title shot that includes first round bouts of Christopher Daniels vs. Mark Briscoe, Matt Taven vs. Bobby Fish and Frankie Kazarian vs. ACH for 7/17 in Las Vegas at Sam’s Town.
    • WWE stock continues its climb, closing today at $17.53 per share, up 21 cents.   
    • 2K announced today at the WWE 2K 16 game will have the largest roster in the history of the franchise with more than 120 models, up from 67 last year.
    • Matt Hullum, who wrestles as Matt Cage on U.S. indies, said on his Facebook page that he was gay.  He had previously claimed to be bisexual, but said he wanted to tell the truth, saying his parents and friends already knew.
    • In matches taped last night for next week’s Impact, Magnus & Mickie James beat James Storm & Serena Deep, The new BDC beat The Rising and Taryn Terrell retained the Knockouts title in a three-way over Brooke and Awesome Kong.
    • Stephanie McMahon was in Arlington, TX today, working the stadium officials in preparing for next year’s WrestleMania.
    • 15 new episodes of Prime Time Wrestling including shows leading to WrestleMania III and 19 episodes of the Rock & Wrestling cartoon show from the 80s have been uploaded to the WWE Network.
    • ESPY nominations from MMA:

    Ronda Rousey for Best Female Athlete

    Ronda Rousey’s armbar for best move

    Donald Cerrone and Ronda Rousey for best fighter (along with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Terence Crawford and Gennady Golovkin)

    • It looks like the second season of Lucha Underground will be taping in the same location in Boyle Heights.  There had been talk of taping in Texas to cut costs.
    • UFC coverage on FS 1 this weekend:

    *There is a special at 9:30 p.m tonight on FS 1 covering the first Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald fight, preparation and their fight

    *Weigh-ins are tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern on FS 2 with Karyn Bryant, Brian Stann, Rashad Evans and Heidi Androl.

    *Pre-fight show on FS 2 at 7 p.m. Saturday night

    *Prelims on FS 2 at 8 p.m.

    *Main card on FS 1 at 10 p.m.

    *Post Game show at 1 a.m. on FS 1

    *Ultimate Insider with Robbie Lawler and Conor McGregor on FS 2 on Sunday at 7 p.m.

    • Raw on 9/7 in Baltimore at the Royal Farms Arena has tickets on sale now for a pre-sale through 10 p.m. tomorow night using the code WWERAW.  Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday.
    • Nick Dinsmore is opening a wrestling school in Sioux Falls, SD.  His fiance used to work as a newswoman in the city.
    • Announced for the 7/6 Raw in Chicago is John Cena & Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins & Big Show & Kevin Owens, plus Brock Lesnar on the show.
    • Randy Orton is now set to return on the 7/6 Raw show in Chicago.  He’s also booked for Smackdown that week (thanks to Becky Graham)
    • The Undertaker appears at the Wizard World Comic Con in Tulsa on 10/24 from 1-5 p.m  The event is at the Cox Business Center.
    • This is what  is announced for Sunday’s TNA Slammiversary PPV show:

    Bobby Lashley & Ken Anderson vs. Ethan Carter III & Tyrus

    A six-man King of the Mountain match with Jeff Jarrett

    Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards – the winner gets to choose the stipulation for a match that will have already taken place

    James Storm vs. Magnus non-sanctioned

    Jessie Godderz vs. Robbie E

    Awesome Kong & Brooke vs. Jade & Marti Bell & Taryn Terrell

    Matt Morgan vs. Bram

    • Coverage of last year’s G-1 Climax tournament begins tomorrow night on AXS TV at 9 p.m. with what should be eight straight great weeks of television.
    • That six-man tag with A.J. Styles & Young Bucks vs. Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta last night on ROH TV was off the charts.
    • NWA Mid South from Saturday night in Dyresburg, TN before a sellout of 350 fans:  Chris O’Neal b AJ Williams, Seiya Sanada b Steve Anthony-DQ (Anthony retained NWA jr. title), Savio Vega & Americos b Greg Anthony & Matt Riviera, Rob Conway won three-way over Alan Steele and Tim Storm to win the Mid South title, The Posse & Jason Funderburk b Jeremy Moore & Dale Wylde & Van Van Horn.  Jim Cornette & Chris Cruise were there announcing for a DVD release of the show.  Cornette was also inducted into the company’s Hall of Champions.  They raised $1,100 for St. Jude’s Hospital.  Next show is 8/1 with Conway vs. Jeremy Moore and Riviera defending the Western States Heritage title against Americos.
    • Deathproof tournament on 8/16 in Toronto at The Rockpile.
    • CWE debuts in Alberta with shows on 8/26 in Camrose, 8/27 in Sherwood Park in Edmonton, 8/28 in Red Deer and 8/29 in Calgary.
    • Jim Duggan & Jake Roberts will be appearing at Heroes N Legends at Jackson Square in Hamilton, ONT from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 8/2.  For more info you can call 226-647-4402.
    • Luke Hawx headlines Saturday for Superkick’s at 1087 Queen St. West in Toronto.  Monster Mafia, Josh Alexander & Ethan Page, have one of their final matches together before Alexander undergoes neck surgery.
    • NWA Vendetta Pro is doing a superstar search at their Kayfabe College on 7/11 at Noon at 547 W. Betteravia Rd Suite B in Santa Maria, CA.  The winner gets a free year of training at their school.
    • IWA Mid South King of Death matches on 6/26 and 6/27 at American Legion Post 335 in Charestown, IN including Devon Moore, Nick Gage, Markus Crane, Matt Tremont and Masada and a Queen of Death matches on 6/27 at 1:30 p.m. in the same location.
    • Bill Goldberg, Jim Ross, Eric Bischoff, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Sabu, Johnny Mundo, Alberto El Patron, Scott Hall, Ricardo Rodriguez, Kelly Kelly and others headline Saturday for the New England Fan Fest at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence.
    • AAW on 7/17 in Merrioinette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street with Ethan Page vs. Johnny Gargano,
    • Dory Funk Jr. and Wes Brisco headline on 6/27 in Ocala, FL at the Bang Sound Stage for BANG With a Battle Royal and an appearance of former Miami Dolphins star Don Nottingham.
    • CWE results from Monday night in Steinbach, Manitoba:  Anderson Tyson Moore b Chase Owens, Travis Cole b Tommy Lee Curtis, Bobby Jay b Brett Morgan, Michael Elgin b Moses Luke, Shane Sabre & Carter Mason b Bobby Collins & Kevin Cannon, Justin Gabriel b Danny Duggan (thanks to Steven Ashe)
    • All Star Wrestling on 7/24 in Surrey, BC at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds honoring stars of the past Vance Nevada, Don Leo Jonathan, Moondog Moretti, Bob Steele and Roy McClarity, plus Gangrel headlines the show.
    • Vancouver Island Pro Wrestling on 7/25 in Nanaimo, BC at the Departure Bay Activity Center.
    • Sgt. Slaughter appears at the San Diego Comic Con on 7/11 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Hasbro booth.
    • In Your Face Wrestling on 8/29 in Albany, NY at the Polish Community Center featuring Jesse Neal as a guest star.
    • CMLL on Monday night in Puebla:  King Jaguar & Rey Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr. b Arkalis & Lestat & Rey Samuray, Goya Kong & Lluvia & Marcela b Dallys & Tiffany & Zeuxis, Okumura & Tiger & Virus b Fuego & Stigma & Triton, Kraneo & Morphosis & Ripper b Atlantis & Delta & Tetsuya Naito, Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero b La Mascara & Rush & La Sombra when Gran Guerrero pinning Sombra and challenging him for a shot at the NWA historic middleweight title. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
    • Nicho (Original Psicosis) faces Pagano in a hair vs. hair ladder match on 7/24 in Tijuana at Auditorio Municipal.
    • NWA Mid South on Saturday night in Dyresburg,TN at 7:30 p.m. featuring the induction of Tommy Gilbert into their Hall of Champions. Doug Gilbert will wrestle on he show.
    • Roddy Piper appears on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the NerdMelt Showdown at Meltdown Comics doing a live podcast taping at 7522 Sunset Blvd., in Los Angeles.  For more info go to www.thegoodtimes.show.com which includes free pizza.   Admission is $8 online.
    • Bob Backlund’s autobiography release has been delayed for the ninth time.  The new scheduled release date is 8/25 (thanks to Richard Wierzbowski)
    • Magic Mike XXL, which features Kevin Nash will be released this coming Wednesday.  It debuts in Australia at the theaters on 7/9. (thanks to James Stanios)  
    • FIP on 7/3 at 9 p.m. at www.WWNLive.com from Ybor City, FL is headlined by Rich Swann vs. Caleb Konley for the FIP title.  Also appearing are Moose, Mason Ryan and Jody Kristofferson.
    • An interview with Hank Avery after being eliminated from Tough Enough
    • A column on the Confederate Flag having no place in wrestling
    • A campaign to get an Ian Freeman vs. Kimbo Slice fight in the U.K.

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

    1975 – Antonio Inoki beat Tiger Jeet Singh in Tokyo to win the NWF title

    1988 – Bull Nakano beat Yumiko Hotta in the finals of the All Japan Women Grand Prix tournament

    1989 – Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) beat Devil Masami in Sapporo to win the UWA International women’s title

    1992 – Rick & Scott Steiner beat Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow in Tokyo to win the IWGP tag team titles and El Samurai beat Jushin Liger to win the IWGP jr. title

    2000 – H (Hayabusa) & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya beat Kodo Fuyuki & Kyoko Inoue & Chocoball Mukai in Tokyo to win the WEW six man tag titles.  Yes, woman wrestling star Kyoko Inoue held part of the trios title in FMW that year.

    2006 – Ikuto Hidaka beat Masaaki Mochizuki in Tokyo to win the Zero-One Int. jr. title

    TODAY’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (thanks to Bert Duckwall)

    5:00 PM ET
    WCW SUPERBRAWL 1995 The Baltimore Arena witnesses the Biggest Brawl of them all as Hulk Hogan defends the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Vader.

    8:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO This episode of WCW Monday Nitro features a huge tag team main event when Sting teams with Hulk Hogan to face Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.

    9:00 PM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK WWE Champion Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart warms up for In Your House by taking on Bob Backlund. Plus, Ahmed Johnson, Aja Kong, and more.

    10:00 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    10:30 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    11:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO This episode of WCW Monday Nitro features a huge tag team main event when Sting teams with Hulk Hogan to face Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE

    12:00 AM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK WWE Champion Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart warms up for In Your House by taking on Bob Backlund. Plus, Ahmed Johnson, Aja Kong, and more.

    1:00 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    1:30 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    2:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Memorable International Sensations of all time!

    3:00 AM ET
    WCW GREAT AMERICAN BASH 1991 Lex Luger battles Barry Windham in a Steel Cage Match for the vacant WCW World Title. Nikita Koloff vs. Sting in a Russian Chain Match.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    7:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    8:00 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    8:30 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    9:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    10:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    11:00 AM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    11:30 AM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    12:00 PM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    1:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    2:00 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    2:30 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    3:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR The war comes to a shocking conclusion, upstaged only by the talents that cross enemy lines in the years that follow.

    4:00 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy!

    6:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Amidst SummerSlam and Eva’s wedding day, Brie confronts John behind Nikki’s back leading to explosive consequences.

    7:00 PM ET
    SWERVED Zack Ryder and Alex Riley get shocked, Booker T gets Hornswoggled, and we take the Poo Mic to the WWE Hall of Fame Red Carpet.

    7:30 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Cheaters never win…unless you get creative. We list some of the most Unforgiving Foreign Objects in WWE History!

    8:00 PM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

    9:00 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy!

    11:00 PM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

  • Update on Aldo vs. McGregor

    Dana White just tweeted out “I don’t everyone not to worry” and a graphic indicating Aldo vs. McGregor is still on.

  • WED. UPDATE: Tough Enough ratings, TV notes, UFC departure, and more

    by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.comFollow @davidbix

    TV lineup for tonight:

    NXT at 8:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network has Finn Balor vs. Rhyno, Hideo Itami giving an update on his injury, and more.

    Lucha Underground at 8:00 p.m. ET on El Rey has Drago vs. Mil Muertes in a number one contenders match and much more.

    ROH at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America has a loaded show with A.J, Styles & The Young Bucks vs. Kazuchika Okada & Roppongi Vice as well as Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong and Gedo. vs. Michael Elgin.

    UFC Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 could very well have an announcement on the status of Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor, as the timing works out just right with Aldo seeing his doctor today.

    Impact Wrestling at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America is the “live” show that kicks of the parade of confusion that will be the next few days of out of order taping.

    The Ultimate Fighter at 10:00 p.m. on Fox Sports 1 sees American Top Team fighting to stay in the competition as they’ll be mathematically declared losers if they lose again.

    WWE is taping SmackDown and Main Event tonight in Toledo, Ohio. If you’re attending it, please send a spoiler report to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com

    **** 

    The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) with a detailed look at what made Dusty Rhodes such a uniquely gifted performer. Topics covered include:

    * How his appeal differed from other superstar babyfaces.

    * His underrated athleticism and in-ring working ability.

    * His versatility on promos.

    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 AmericanCanadian, 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. 

    **** 

    Part one of the life and career of Dusty Rhodes is the feature in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We also look at WWE coming out of the Money in the Bank PPV and where things are going next, UFC in Mexico City and the Fabricio Werdum win over Cain Velasquez, more on how Mayweather & Pacquiao set PPV records and who was buying, the debut of Global Force Wrestling, Tough Enough and Verano de Escandalo are also covered.  

    The Latest Wrestling Observer: June 22, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Part 1 of giant Dusty Rhodes obituary, GFW’s 1st shows

    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@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

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

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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.

    The lead story covers the life and early career of Dusty Rhodes.  We have a lot of his career records.  We look at fact vs. fiction about his life before wrestling, and his road to the top in wrestling.  We have an overview of the key points of his career, as well as rundown his early territories and the build to his babyface persona.  We’ve got comments by many people most associated with him during his career.  We look at health issues, the outpouring of emotion, an eerie thing written by Rhodes just ten day before his death where exactly what he didn’t want to be most remembered for was brought up.  We look at the WWF character and the real reasons behind it. 

    We also look at the rise and fall of Jim Crockett Promotions, the fall of the UWF, the last year of JCP, the TBS purchase, why Rhodes was fired from the company and how Rhodes ended up back in WCW.  We also look at why he retired from the ring, and the irony of what he said about who could and couldn’t book wrestling in the late 90s. 

    We look at Rhodes mentions on spots shows this past week,  and his role in helping talent currently on the main roster. 

    We look at the original Dusty Rhodes, his doing backyard wrestling, his college days going to matches, West Texas State football and how he got into pro wrestling.  We look at his early territorial work, his first pushes and his rise to prominence.

    We look back at the Texas Outlaws tag team with Dick Murdoch, how they got publicity as the top tag team of 1970 with two world tag team titles at the same time, his first run in Florida and how big he was put over on the first TV show there, his brief time in Australia as world tag team champion and who his manager was.  We look at why the run was so short, his working for Bill Watts as a single star, the Crusher vs. Dusty Rhodes dynamic, the first taste of Rhodes as a babyface, who Dusty pitched to Eddie Graham about bringing in as his younger brother, why Dusty was able to be a much better promo in Florida than he could in the AWA, Rhodes vs. Lou Thesz, Rhodes vs. Jack Brisco, the American Dream turns babyface and the quest for the NWA title achieved.

    We also look at the direction for Battleground and full coverage of Money in the Bank.

    We also look at the stories behind UFC 188 and have full coverage of the show.

    We also look at the upcoming Hogan lawsuit, more dates booked for Brock Lesnar, wrestler who was on Raw last year trying out for Tough Enough, Kevin Owens talks John Cena, Dwayne Johnson movie notes, more notes from the WWE camp, More NXT road dates, WWE stock notes and network predictions, Chyna at WWE headquarters, plus more notes on the last NXT tour and a rundown of the business and weekend house shows and an interesting note about that business.

    We look at why bought Mayweather-Pacquiao and what can be learned from it.

    We look at the debut of Global Force Wrestling and the problems facing the promotion, its first weekend of shows, second weekend and first television tapings.

    We also look at AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show.

    We look at the finalists for this season of Tough Enough, who they were and where they came from.

    We also have an interesting look at DVR usage during pro wrestling shows and what it says about the various products.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –First notes on the annual Universal champion of champions tournament

    –An interesting result where a major promotion’s top star put over an indie wrestler clean

    –The Busca en un Idolo tournament

    –What CMLL show drew the biggest crowd of the week and it was outside of Mexico City

    –Update on Negro Casas concussion

    –Latest from Arena Mexico

    –Former world champion boxer marries pro wrestling star

    –International stars coming to PWG

    –Wrestle-One comes to the U.S. and Philadelphia show notes

    –Dragon Gate changes several championships and a look at the next two big shows

    –What U.S. stars are headed to Dragon Gate shortly

    –Mitsuharu Misawa Tribute week in NOAH and what legends attended the big show

    –GHC title match with neither wrestler being associated with the NOAH brand

    –Update on Takeshi Morishima retirement match

    –Notes on G-1 Climax ticket sales

    –Update on Yoshitatsu

    –Shinya Hashimoto Memorial show lineup

    –A note on the Hashimoto legacy

    –Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong rematch and how it came to be

    –New Japan stars headed back to England and a look at their most recent England appearance

    –New Japan stars headed back to ROH soon

    –Current MMA world champion headlines IGF pro wrestling event

    –King of DDT tournament notes

    –Notes from the Championship Wrestling from Florida tribute event this past week

    –Update on Blackjack Mulligan

    –Details on Josh Alexander and his upcoming neck surgery

    –Former WWE developmental talent on a CBS reality show

    –Former wrestlers drop lawsuit against WWE

    –How rules in New York affect indie groups and what rule in the books isn’t enforced at all

    –What are the biggest expenses

    –Major movie with Kevin Nash coming out soon

    –New promotion debuts on national TV in July

    –80s star writing an autobiography

    –Notes on some stadium shows coming this summer

    –Case reopened on the murder of an 80s pro wrestler

    –Notes on Ultima Lucha

    –Two wrestlers under consideration for season two of Lucha Underground

    –Notes on the New York ROH shows and complete lineup

    –Notes on ROH on Destination America

    –TNA makes big play for former WWE major star

    –Changes in the TNA PPV show

    –Return of King of the Mountain

    –Update on Jeff Hardy

    –More on Slammiversary

    –Problems with weight cutting

    –Details behind drug test controversy with Jose Aldo in Brazil

    –This week’s UFC show

    –More on UFC deal with Titan Fighting Championships

    –UFC debuts in Saskatchewan with action main event

    –Future of Johny Hendricks

    –Update on C.M. Punk and his UFC debut

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Kimbo/Shamrock notes

    –Kimbo and Shamrock favor allowing PEDs in MMA

    –Looking at the Bellator show

    –Retirement of Peter Aerts and his legacy

    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.

    Our most requested issues in our history are:

    *November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

    *December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

    *August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

    *March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

    *October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

    *July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

    *February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

    *May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

    *January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

    *February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    ****

    Tuesday Daily Update

    — The Tough Enough season premiere had 1.2 million viewers last night. The previous season a few years ago with Steve Austin did 3.3 million from the premiere before dropping to the high 2+ million range thereafter. Like Total Divas, though, it could gain a decent number of viewers on replays.

    — Dave Allen, UFC’s head of operations foe Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, has left the company out of nowhere after just six months.

    — Darren Young was tweeting yesterday about feeling disrespected by his boyfriend’s face being blurred on the first episode of “Swerved” on WWE Network. Logic says that this was just an issue of not getting a signed release from him, as Titus O’Neil’s kids were all blurred out, as well, 

    — Pat Laprade’s Mad Dog Vachon book will be released in English this fall, which is tremendous news. His first book, a history of Montreal wrestling co-written with Bertrand Hebert, is a must-read, so this is something to look forward to.

    Vox.com did a list of the most edited Wikipedia pages. “List of WWE personnel” was amazingly second on the list while The Undertaker was 18th. Neither should necessarily be shocking if you’ve ever looked at the talk page of a wrestling-related Wikipedia article.

    — ECW Press sent out an email stating that the book “The Iron Sheik: Listen Jabroni!” has been cancelled, though “WWE and ECW will continue to partner on more titles in the future, including an autobiography of Pat Patterson, set to release in June 2016.”

    — WWE Network added 15 episodes of Prime Time Wrestling to the on demand section, covering the build to WrestleMania III including all of the Piper’s Pit segments, etc.

    Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald has a new article on Mickie James, though it’s likely paywalled for most.

    — IWA Mid-South presents the 2015 King of the Deathmatches at the American Legion Post 335 in Charlestown, IN on 6/26 & 6/27. Doors open at 6:30, bell time is 7:30. Bell time on 6/27 is 6:30. Bryant Woods VS JD Horror- Fans Bring the Weapons, Devon Moore VS Reed Bentley- TLC X2 (Tables, Tacks, Ladders, Lighttubes, Chairs, Candles), Dale Patricks VS Adam Bueller- Barefoot Fishhooks, Syringes, Carpet Strips & Tubes, Corporal Robinson VS John Wayne Murdoch- Feel The Burn match (Coals, Rubbing alcohol, Lit cigarettes, Tabasco sauce), Nick Gage VS Markus Crane- Death From Above, Tank VS Matt Tremont- Texas Bullrope Barbed Wire Boards & Cactus pits, MASADA VS The Green Phantom- Caribbean Spider Web, Sexxy Eddy VS Insane Lane- Homerun Derby Deathmatch

    — IWA Mid-South also presents the 2015 Queen of the Deathmatches at the American Legion Post 335 in Charlestown, IN on 6/27. Doors open at 1:30, Bell time is 2:00. Sage Supreme VS Thunderkitty- Tai Pei Death Barbed Wire Boards, Randi West VS Rebecca Payne- World Series of Glass, Kathy “The Butcher” Owens VS Sabrina Sixx- Four Corners of Pain, Ludark Shaitan VS Mistress Burgandi- Tacks, Carpet Strips, Barb Wire Bundles Light Tube Ropes. 

    — The stars of Vancouver Island Pro Wrestling return to The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 91 in Langford, B.C. with Tag Team Champions The Wisemen vs. NexGen and much more. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. for an 8:00 pm. start.

    — Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling “Who’s the Man” on July 4 has:

    – HOLLYWOOD VS BOLLYWOOD GRUDGE TAG TEAM MATCH –
    The Entourage [Brady Malibu & MR2] vs. The Bollywood Boyz [Gurv Sihra & Harv Sihra]

    – “RAVENOUS” MYSTERY STIPULATION –
    Hellion w/ Rigor Von Slasher vs. “Ravenous” Randy Myers
    The Ladies Choice vs. Tony Baroni
    Lak Siddartha w/ Rigor Von Slasher vs. “The Loose Cannon” Kenny Lush
    And much more!