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Category: Daily Updates

  • Daily Update: UFC 198 weigh ins, ROH card changes, and more

    UFC 198 Weigh-In Results

    Everyone made weight and Cris Cyborg did so with two pounds to spare at 139. She obviously looked smaller at that weight. Vitor Belfort looked like a different person, like an early 40s tennis player while Jacare Souza looked the same as he always does. The weigh-ins took place at the soccer stadium. It wasn’t full. They were talking about 20,000 people beforehand but on television were saying 15,000. Given the set up the 15,000 number looked legit, as there were a lot of people in the upper deck and the bottom section looked full. The only real note was Matt Brown decided to play American heel and Stone Cold, flipping the audience off on at least two occasions, leading chants of “You’re gonna die” that were directed at him from the Brazilians, and turning his back on the crowd while weighing in.

    UFC 198 FROM THE ARENA DA BAIXADA IN CURITIBA, BRAZIL – WEIGH-IN RESULTS

    FIGHT PASS AT 6:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME

    • Renato Moicano (9-0-1, 146) vs. Zubaira Tukhugov (18-3, 146)
    • Luan Chagas (14-1, 169) vs. Sergio Moraes (8-2, 171)
    • Patrick Cummins (8-3, 206) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (21-7, 205)

    FS 1 AT 8 P.M. EASTERN

    • Rob Font (13-1, 135) vs. John Lineker (26-7, 135)
    • Yancy Medeiros (12-3, 156) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (19-4, 156)
    • Nate Marquardt (34-15-2, 186) vs. Thiago Santos (12-3, 185)
    • Matt Brown (20-13, 171) vs. Demian Maia (22-6, 171)

    PPV AT 10 P.M. EASTERN

    • Warlley Alves (10-0, 170) vs. Bryan Barbarena (11-3, 170)
    • Corey Anderson (8-1, 204) vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua (23-10, 205)
    • Cris Cyborg Justino (15-1, 139) vs. Leslie Smith (8-6-1, 139)
    • Vitor Belfort (25-11) vs. Renato Jacare Souza (22-4, 186)
    • Fabricio Werdum (20-5-1, 240) vs. Stipe Miocic (14-2, 241)    

    This is a big weekend of events with a full WWE lineup of shows including four events tomorrow night, one of UFC’s deepest PPV shows in a long time going head-to-head with Bellator and ROH in New York.

    We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE show in Greenville, NC (Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Miz, Zayn, Owens, Cesaro, Dudleys, Ziggler, Usos, Cass, Charlotte, Natalya) as well as tonight’s NXT shows in Spokane and Largo, FL to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Our only weekend poll will be for UFC 198.

    One of the best one-hour wrestling television shows you’ll ever see, the English language version of the Kushida vs. Kyle O’Reilly Best of the Super Juniors final from 2015, will be replayed tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on AXS.

    LEGACY FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS TONIGHT ON AXS TV FROM HOUSTON AT 10 P.M. EASTERN

    • Humberto DeLeon (132.5) vs. David Acosta (135.1)
    • Jeremiah Jones (171.3) vs. Jason Langellier (172.1)
    • David Waters (124.4) vs. Roberto Sanchez (125.5)
    • Edgar Juarez (150.9) vs. Alex Black (149.8)
    • Bilal Williams (184) vs. Artenas Young (185)
    • Brandon Farran (186.7) vs. Ike Villanueva (186.6)
    • Brice Ritani-Coe vs. Justin Ledet (231.6)

    CMLL LIVE FROM ARENA MEXICO TONIGHT AT 7:30 P.M. 

    • Ultimo Dragoncito & Electrico vs. Mercurio & Nitrito
    • Estrellita & Lluvia & Princesa Sugei vs. Amapola & Tiffany & Zeuxis
    • Blue Panther & Guerrero Maya Jr. & Titan vs. Dragon Rojo & Polvora & Bobby Z
    • Stuka Jr. vs. Cavernario
    • Mistico & Valiente & Volador Jr. vs. Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero
    • La Mascara & Pierroth & Rush vs. El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & Shocker

    Saturday we’re looking for reports from WWE in Raleigh (Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Miz, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Ziggler, Usos, Cass, Charlotte, Natalya), WWE in Roanoke (Dean Ambrose, Rusev, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman, New Day, Paige, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Kalisto), NXT in Portland and Jacksonville, the Lucha Libre show in San Jose at the Civic Auditorium headlined by Mil Mascaras and ROH in New York.

    BELLATOR LIVE ON SPIKE TV AT 8 P.M. (ONE HOUR EARLIER THAN USUAL) FROM THE SAP CENTER IN SAN JOSE

    • Saad Awad vs Evangelista Cyborg Santos
    • Andre Fialho vs. Rick Reger
    • Adam Piccolotti vs. Ray Wood
    • Phil Davis vs. King Mo Lawal

    Sunday has WWE house shows in Columbia, SC (Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Miz, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Usos, Cass, Charlotte, Natalya) and Charlottesville, VA (Dean Ambrose, Rusev, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman, New Day, Paige, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Kalisto.  We’re looking for reports on those shows as well.  

    Raw will be Monday in Greensboro. The only thing announced for Raw is that The Shining Stars will debut as a tag team.

    Smackdown will be Tuesday night in Greenville, SC.

    THE ROUND UP

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly 5/9/2016: Hogan and Gawker fight over verdict – Hulk Hogan is suing Gawker a second time, this time for leaking the contents of sealed documents to the tabloids. Now we have the verdict. Find out all the details in this weeks issue of Figure Four Weekly.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    READ IT HERE: May 16, 2016 Wrestling Observer newsletter: Potential UFC sale, WWE releases, plus tons of news

    Our lead story updates the talks of a UFC sale, plus an updated look at how the WWE is doing as a business, a look at WWE cuts, the booking behind the ROH Global Wars PPV and how New Japan and ROH are working together even more closely than on the surface, Global Wars coverage, a look at the status of a lot of ROH talent, coverage of the UFC debut in Holland, the hidden story of just how much of the male audience has been lost by WWE, as well as what WWE can learn from the NBA, and historical bios on Billy Wicks and Kato Kung Lee.

    There is also a look at the ESPN story on the potential sale of the UFC, what we know is legit, numbers being thrown around, who actually owns UFC, Dana White’s reaction to the story, moves UFC has made, Dana White’s long-term future if there is a sale, timing of the sale and sustaining the brand popularity.  Plus there’s also a look at the various companies listed that are in talks of buying.

    An update on WWE financials is in this issue, plus a look at the WWE Network numbers, what last year’s patterns tell us about the numbers, the company’s profits and losses, how well every division does for WWE and what is the most important for the bottom line, how well the company is doing financially compared to last year, what is projected by WWE this year for the WrestleMania quarter, update on injured wrestlers and their returns, Vince McMahon talks WWE injuries, and how much cash on hand the company has right now.

    There is also a look at how WWE is going to be changing how it reports information and what information they are going to be keeping secret as compared to the past. Also, there is a look at the dichotomy between social media numbers and WWE network subscribers and what it says.

    CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PREVIEW

    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

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

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

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

    All the news from the ESPN coverage of the drug deaths in professional wrestling, and more will be in the latest back issue. Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: March 29, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ESPN program on drug deaths in the pro wrestling industry, ECW Living Dangerously review, more. There is also a full break down of ECW’s Living Dangerously PPV, plus tons of news and notes.

    FRIDAY UPDATE

    Happy birthday today to Danny Hodge, who was one of the greatest amateur wrestlers in U.S. history and the best junior heavyweight in U.S. history who turned 84 today.

    Lots of people banged up on the ROH tour. The card in New York at Terminal Five has changed somewhat. As noted yesterday, Nick Jackson is injured and won’t be wrestling tomorrow. He has what is believed to be a rib injury and will be getting it checked on Sunday. Matt Jackson is wrestling tomorrow but he injured his hand taking a super power falcon arrow from Michael Elgin on Wednesday, just seconds after Nick was injured. The hand is swollen and bruised.  here are others banged up as well but as of right now, only Nick Jackson is off the show. This is the new lineup:

    • Adam Cole & Matt Jackson vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay Lethal & Roderick Strong
    • Tetsuya Naito vs. ACH in a non-title match (this may be questionable)
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Matt Sydal
    • Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Ray Rowe & Hanson for the ROH tag titles
    • Cedric Alexander vs Donovan Dijak
    • Jushin Liger & Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Adam Page
    • Trent Baretta & Gedo vs. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley
    • Kushida vs. Silas Young non-title
    • Michael Elgin vs. Moose vs Dalton Castle vs.. Lio Rush
    • Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Rhett Titus & Kenny King

    New Japan made an announcement today regarding the Super J Cup, which is not the same as the Super Juniors tournament. The Super Juniors starts 5/21 and is a round-robin tournament.  The Super J Cup will be a 16-man multi-promotional single elimination tournament.  The first round matches will be 7/18 at Korakuen Hall, which will be eight bouts.  The final eight move into a one-night tournament, similar to the old K-1 Grand Prix, on 8/21 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.  They announced there would be four wrestlers from New Japan, (three regulars and one from Chaos, likely Will Ospreay), five from NOAH (three from NOAH and two from the Suzuki-gun side), plus one wrestler each from All Japan, Okinawa Pro, CMLL, ROH, K-Dojo, Dragon Gate and one more participant.

    In a major mainstream news story in Japan, the Japanese Sports Agency has requested the national Olympic Committee and Tokyo government to investigate allegations of payoffs that may have been used to get Tokyo the 2020 Summer Olympics. Hiroshi Hase, a pro wrestling Hall of Famer who is the Sports Minister in the government held a press conference today saying that they would cooperate and want a thorough examination. Hase said their intent was to submit a bid that would have no wrongdoing associated with it, but he has doubts that happened. The prosecutors have found a check of $2 million from a Japanese bank to a Singapore bank related to Papa Massata Diack, the son of IAAF President Lamine Diack in July and October listed as “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games bid.” A good rule of thumb for all prospective bribers going forward is not to write what you are bribing on the check itself. 

    A clarification from this week’s Observer regarding Court Bauer and his leaving AAA/Lucha Underground. While it was true that Lucha Underground attempted to get him to sign an addendum to where he’d have no affiliation with Konnan, he said that he was able to negotiate around it and that was not a major part of the reason he left working for the promotions.  He said he just felt it was time to move on and he’s spending more and more time working for Combate Americas.

    WWE & Pro Wrestling

    • Lana will be wrestling on tonight’s NXT show in Largo, FL.
    • Chris Harrington talks WWE financials and changes in reporting.
    • Rolling Stone talks to Damien Sandow about his release, saying he wasn’t surprised,. had nothing bad to say about WWE and talked about studying Shakespearean acting now
    • WWE’s Gerrit Meier talks company business. 
    • Zack Sabre Jr. talks joining the WWE cruiserweight tournament.
    • WWE stock was up 14 cents per share today to $17.93. 
    • Jimmy Snuka was to be in court today for a hearing to see if he is mentally competent enough to stand trial in the case involving the death of Nancy Argentino in 1983. 
    • Pop TV has, effective immediately, dropped the Saturday replay of Impact, so Impact now only airs at 9 p.m. on Thursday night. This is the same pattern that Destination America did with the cutting of shows. 

    UFC & MMA

    • UFC announced today that USADA had contacted them regarding a potential Anti-Doping policy violation by Carlos Diego Ferriera from an out of competition test. Because of this, Ferreira is provisionally suspended and is off his scheduled fight with Abel Trujillo on 5/29 in Las Vegas. UFC is looking for a new opponent for Trujillo.
    • Paul Fontaine predicts 325,000 to 360,000 buys for tomorrow’s show.
    • EA Sports announced the launch of live event competitions, a brand new competitive experience in the EA Sports UFC 2 live event mode in the game. Starting tomorrow, fans can play the qualifiers in the live event competition to compete for a chance to earn Ultimate Team rewards and a trip to the live finals coinciding with the UFC Fan Expo in July. The winner of the grand slam final match on 7/8 at Fan Expo will win $10,000 and a belt signifying them as the EA Sports UFC 2 world champion.

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • Our British wrestling columnist Alan Boon was a guest on the Indy Darlings podcast.
    • Some of you may be able to watch Lucha Underground here.
    • Here is a story on the closing of the Los Angeles Sports Arena, which housed a ton of wrestling events over the years, including WrestleMania, AAA’s When Worlds Collide and tons of big shows in the 60s. 
    • Monster Energy drink has signed a renewal of its sponsorship death with Bellator. Tomorrow night’s show will be the first of the new deal.
    • Chris Hero vs. Big Damo headlines for Discovery Wrestling on 7/16 in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Portobello Town Hall.
    • Jimmy Hart will be signing tomorrow night at the Rochester Red Swings game at Frontier Field from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and at the Webster Columbus Center on Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
    • The next Evolve seminar an training session will be 6/10 in Ybor City, FL, with WWE coach Norman Smiley giving a lecture on what WWE is looking for and helping evaluate talent. For more info go to go DGUSA.tv and look for the WWN Seminar/Tryout section.
    • Fight Club OC on 6/9 at the Hanger in Orange County features both boxing and MMA fights. Former UFC and Strikeforce fighter Mike Kyle will be boxing on the show. They are 180 tickets shy of capacity and are working on their ninth straight sellout.
    • Tetsuya Naito will be in Singapore at a press conference for Bushiroad’s Chara Expo on 7/9 and 7/10 at the Sony PlayStation Stage.
    • River City Wrestling on 6/3 at Retama Park in San Antonio features Warlord, Barbarian, Hernandez and Lance Hoyt (Archer).
    • There was a Lucha Libre show on Sunday in Raleigh as part of a Mothers Day Festival which drew 1,500 to the North Carolina State Fairgrounds: Canek Jr won Battle Royal, Seiya b Beau James, Cristal b Misty James, Tzuki b Papa Smurf, Canek Jr. b Huracan Ramirez Jr. (thanks to Todd Goss). This was only part of the festival, which included big name singers and bands from Mexican television, rodeo, and games for kids. There will be another event like this in June in Winston-Salem.
    • National Fighting Championships on 6/11 at Center Stage in Atlanta for a show headlined by Jared Gooden vs. Amir Dadovic. They are also running 7/22 in Kennesaw, GA at Electric Cowboy with Chazz Walton vs. Warren Smith for the Georgia lightweight title. 
    • Johnny Devine will headline for CWE in Calgary on 5/21 teaming with Danny Duggan against Frankie Kazarian and Silas Young. Kazarian will be in Canada for CWE touring from 5/19 to 5/28.
    • Maryland Championship Wrestling and GFW have a doing show tomorrow night in Joppa, MD with Sonjay Dutt vs. Lio Rush vs. DJ Zema Ion for the Gen X title plus Jeff Jarrett & Punk Rock All-Stars vs. Eric Chapel & Dirty Money & Ken Dixon, Kevin Matthews vs. Brandon Scott, Pat Sick vs Drolix plus GFW champion Nick Aldis defends against Brian Meyers.

    Today in professional wrestling history: Race wins Missouri Title; Martel wins AWA World Title; Angle wins TNA World Title

  • Daily Update: BJ Penn accused of sexual assault, Bellator, LU

    The weekend schedule

    There is a big weekend upcoming with Bellator’s biggest show so far this year tomorrow night, WWE’s Fast Lane show, a Sunday live UFC show, two ROH shows in Japan, NXT full touring and WSOF.

    Bryan and I will be posting the first of two shows tomorrow night. Tomorrow night we will cover Bellator and the first ROH of the weekend in Japan.  The Sunday Wrestling Observer Radio we will cover FastLane, the second ROH in Japan and UFC.  We’ll also be doing shows next weekend on both Friday & Saturday covering the ROH PPV from Las Vegas and the UFC Fight Pass from London.

    We’re looking for reports on tonight’s NXT shows in Upper Darby, PA and Crystal River, FL at Dave Meltzer

    SMACKDOWN TONIGHT ON USA NETWORK AT 10 P.M.

    Lucha Dragons & Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev & Alberto Del Rio & Sheamus

    Sasha Banks vs. Tamina

    Chris Jericho vs. The Miz

    Charlotte vs. Natalya non-title

    Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Dudleys

    ROH ON NEW JAPAN WORLD LIVE TONIGHT AT 4:30 A.M. EASTERN AND 1:30 A.M. PACIFIC TIME

    Jushin Liger & Matt Sydal vs. Dalton Castle & Ryusuke Taguchi

    Gedo vs. Delirious

    Kushida vs. Frankie Kazarian

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Tomoaki Honma & Moose vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall

    Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Young Bucks & Kenny Omega

    Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson

    Jay Lethal & Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi

    Roderick Strong vs. Tomohiro Ishii for ROH TV title

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly 2/8/2016 Kevin “Mordecai” Thorn voices issues with WWE Network royalties, more
    Former WWE Superstar Kevin Thorn voices his frustrations with the amount of money WWE pays in royalties for the WWE Network, plus more.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Feb 22, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE 2015 Financial Report, Kevin Randleman passes

    The 2015 business of WWE is the lead in a  packed issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We go through the keys to the current business: biggest revenue streams, why the stock was down, compare with the past, the truth about television ratings, house show business, social media effect, Vince McMahon talks ratings, what ratings mean right now and in the future, network numbers, both good and bad signs regarding those numbers, why numbers declined and will go up soon and what kind of seasonal gain can be expected.

    The career of Kevin Randleman, his most famous matches, comments from Bas Rutten, comments he made about first getting into fighting, plus his career as a pro and college wrestler.

    We also have a piece looking at matches that in one night changed promotions or made superstars, and how that fits in with this past week’s Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega match.  A full rundown of the New Beginnings in Osaka and New Beginning in Niigata shows, with match-by-match coverage, story behind both shows, star ratings and poll results.  We also look at the big shows coming up for New Japan.

    Lots more about Daniel Bryan, details on his medical issues, lots of things not really put into perspective, Brie Bella;s retirement, Wade Barrett situation, Titus O’Neil suspension and fine, FastLane notes, the weirdness of the Fast Lane main event as it pertains to the company’s future, WWE injury updates, more on John Cena’s injuries, Cesaro talks his own injury and Bryan retirement, WWE Network notes, notes on wrestlers who received tryouts last week, Jericho vs. Styles notes, WWE star opening up a wrestling themed restaurant, plus highlights of all the NXT and WWE house shows over the past week and business notes.

    WWE’s new Global Cruiserweight series concept, how the tournament will work, the schedule, the scouting of participants and more.

    Bellator’s deal with Rampage Jackson and details of how it happened.

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

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

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

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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.

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 11, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Finger Poke of Doom, Awards results, Sam Muchnick passes away
    Details on World Title changes in 3 promotions including the Finger Poke of Doom, full results of the Observer Awards, plus tons more.

    THURSDAY UPDATE

    Rumors started up yesterday about BJ Penn being accused of sexual assault that occured last August on the big island of Hawaii.  UFC has put a hold on Penn’s expected comeback to investigate the allegations.

    Bellator and Spike TV announced the launch of a new promotion, Bellator kickboxing that will air on a regular basis and will be the sister promotion to Bellator MMA.  Scott Coker will be running both groups.  The promotion debuts on 4/16 for a show in Torino Italy with Melvin Manhoef vs. Alexandru Negrea and Karim Ghaji defending his 165 pound weight class title against Mustapha Haida, the 158 pound champion.  It will be a combination MMA & Kickboxing show.  The MMA show will air live at 3 p.m. an the kickboxing will air on tape in prime time at 9 p.m. 

    Lucha Underground set its record once again last night with 152,000 viewers for the 8 p.m. show on the El Rey Network.  That’s a record for the show on El Rey, although it has drawn more on Unimas most weeks.

    TNA Impact on Tuesday night did 273,000 viewers for the 9 p.m. airing and 87,000 for the midnight airing.  The Tuesday number was about the same as the week before, while the midnight number is down from 112,000.  Combined, it was the fewest viewers for Impact since the first first-run episode on Pop TV.

    Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling Amped show has its first announced TV deal, in New Zealand, starting in March.

    WWE

    • An interview with Paul Levesque on the upcoming cruiserweight network show
    • Bomani Jones of ESPN was critical of Steve Austin using the term “shucking and jiving” as a term in reference to Titus O’Neil in the Vince McMahon incident on his podcast, saying on Twitter:  “When you try to say something wasn’t racist, but you say `shucking and jiving,’ that’s unfortunate.”
    • A story on the WWE website redesign.
    • A story on The New Day
    • Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson, Enzo Amore & Big Cass and Sami Zayn are all scheduled for the 3/12 show in Toronto which is the live network special.  Whether they’ll be on the TV special isn’t clear.
    • Charlotte will be judging a “Whooo” contest on Saturday at the Lake Erie Monsters hockey game.
    • Zack Ryder does a video workout for Newsday
    • Tickets for Raw on 4/11 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles are available in a pre-sale that lasts until 10 p.m. tomorrow night using the code LAVIP
    • The stock was down 23 cents per share today, closing at $15.24
    • ProWrestlingTees A.J. Styles merchandise will no longer be on sale after tomorrow.
    • The Edge & Christian Show that Totally Reeks of Awesomeness debuts right after Fast Lane on Sunday.  

    UFC/MMA

    • The Los Angeles Times has a story today on Royce Gracie
    • Holly Holm talks Ronda Rousey’s comments on suicide
    • Spike TV has a special on the life of Kimbo Slice tomorrow night from 7:30 to 9 p.m. called “Kimbo Slice:  The Truth.”   
    • World Series of Fighting runs a live show on Saturday night at the Next Level Sports Complex in Orange County at 9 p.m. on NBC Sports with Marlon Moraes (15-4-1) vs. Joseph Barajas (12-1) for the bantamweight title.
    • The M-1 Challenge group has moved its 3/4 show in St. Petersburg, Russia to 4/8 due to building renovations.  They have a show tomorrow night in Moscow headlined by former Bellator champion Alexander Shlemenko (51-9) facing Vyacheslav Vasielevsky (27-3) and Alexander Volkov (24-6) vs. Denis Smoldaraev (11-1).

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • The BBC has a story on Drew Galloway being an inspiration to going after your dreams
    • Rolling Stone has a story on Billy Corgan and his job in TNA
    • Rob Van Dam has been added to the House of Hardcore shows on 4/15 in Queens, NY and 4/16 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena.
    • Updated list for the Icons of Pro Wrestling convention on 4/16 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena before the House of Hardcore show is:  Shawn Michaels, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Lex Luger, Roadkill, Bull Dempsey, Sean Waltman, So Cal Val, Road Warrior Animal, Ricky Steamboat, Stan Hansen, Ron Bass, Abyss, Billy Gunn, Bill Apter, Justin Credible, Brian Cage, Cliff Compton, Kevin Thorne, Maven, Jeannie Clark, Curt Hawkins, Amber Gallows, Danny Cage, Blue Meanie, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Sabu, Melissa Coates, Little Guido, Marty Jannetty, Rhino, Sami Callihan and Mil Mascaras.
    • Believe it or not this song, a tribute to The Crusher, got a lot of air play in the 60s and 70s on the Dr Demento type of shows
    • A story on an Australian pro wrestling movie featuring ex-WWE stars
    • Pro wrestler Devon Nicholson, a wrestling alternate for the Canadian Olympic team, wants to face Roy Jones Jr. in that fan boxing match
    • Some comedy video of Brock Lesnar and Hillary Clinton
    • A story on the news in Chattanooga about a cancer victim who wants to meet Dwayne Johnson
    • ECWA on Saturday night in New Castle, DE at the United Asbury Methodist Church with Deonna Purrazzo vs. Miranda Vionette for their women’s title.
    • United Wrestling Coalition on 3/12 in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly’s Bar and Banquet Hall for their 20th anniversary show, bring back Don Montoya and Rick Silver.
    • Mark Nulty’s visitation will be Saturday from 5-7 p.m. at the Roberts Funeral Home East Chapel at 2739 SE Maricamp Rd. in Ocala, FL, and the funeral will be Sunday at the Church of Hope at 3233 SE Maricamp Rd.  In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations in the anem of Evan Nulty at Gateway Bank. 
    • Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 3/5 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds headlined by Flash Flanagan vs. Vic the Bruiser & Tommy Danger in a handicap match.
    • Bull James, formerly Bull Dempsey, headlines for Grand Slam Wrestling on 3/12 in Moosic, PA at the Moosic Youth Center.
    • Superkick’d Pro Wrestling on 3/11 in Toronto at the Great Hall.
    • CWF on 4/16 in St. Catherines, ONT at the Haig Bowl Arena.
    • Luchaproof on 4/17 in Toronto at The Rockpile.
    • Kurt Angle will be the guest referee for the Battlarts Academy show on 4/10 in Mississauaga, ONT.  He’ll ref the main event of Tyler Tirva vs. Stone Rockwell vs. Randy Reigns vs. RJ City in an elimination match.
    • Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling on 3/12 in Vancouver, BC has the 2016 Pacific Cup tournament with Alex Plexis, Bishop, Artemis Spencer, Phantasmo, Billy Suede, Nelson Creed, Nicole Matthews, Tony Baroni, Pete Powers, Ethan HD and Air Adonis participating.
    • Ignite Wrestling on 2/27 in Fort Pierce, FL.
    • Gouge Wrestling on Sunday in Raleigh from Noon to 5 p.m. at the CAM Raleigh with free admission to a Sunday family event.
    • National Fighting Championships on 2/27 at Center Stage in Atlanta for its 82nd show. 

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: War to Settle the Score; Superstar vs. Bruno steel cage match

  • Daily Update: Wanderlei Silva gets 3 year suspension, Mauro Ranallo misses Smackdown

    By Josh Nason

    The long legal ordeal of former UFC and PRIDE star Wanderlei Silva came to somewhat of a resolution Wednesday as the Nevada Athletic Commission reduced his lifetime suspension issued nearly a year and a half ago down to three years.

    The catch is that the suspension is retroactive to the date of what caused his incident —- dodging a drug test before his never-did-happen fight against Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 — which was on May 24, 2014. Silva can apply to fight again on May 25, 2017, and must provide a clean drug test when he does so.

    The 39-year-old’s lawyer Ross Goodman is expected to file an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court as he feels it wasn’t legal for the NAC to test Silva while he was unlicensed. 

    Earlier Wednesday, Silva shared a poster of himself and Fedor Emelianenko for August 2016. While he’s ineligible to fight anywhere that recognizes licenses, that doesn’t completely put him out of the running to fight in Japan or another DGAF country if he wants to.

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 11, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Finger Poke of Doom, Awards results, Sam Muchnick passes away
    Details on World Title changes in 3 promotions including the Finger Poke of Doom, full results of the Observer Awards, plus tons more.

    WEDNESDAY UPDATE

    The reason Mauro Ranallo missed Smackdown wasn’t because of some nefarious issue. Simply, he proved he is human and was sick.

    WWE / Pro Wrestling

    • In case you missed the news, Jim Ross continues to get work everywhere and will do some boxing commentary for CBS Sports Network, likely for Premier Boxing Champions. No start date was announced.
    • It was officially announced today that WWE 2K16 is coming to Windows PCs on March 11th.
    • Here’s spoilers for this week’s Smackdown.  The full line-up for Fastlane after the show has Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Title, Charlotte vs. Brie Bella for the Divas title, Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs. Naomi & Tamina, Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler for the IC Title, Ryback & Big Show & Kane vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, and AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho III.
    • Our Zach Dominello has a new column up about why The Miz focusing on being a mentor is best for, well, Mizness.
    • Our Bryan Alvarez and peers from other sites were featured in this Motherboard piece on why wrestling podcasts are popular.
    • Bryan and Mike are also giving away a copy of SUNNY SIDE UP on DVD on Wrestling Observer Live (Sports Byline was sent 5 copies to give away), and the contest is to try to guess who is getting the Vince McMahon Sr. Award of Excellence on Monday.  You can listen along and play every day on Sports Byline USA at noon Pacific/3 ET, and links to listen are on the front page of the website.
    • Here’s a column from reader Ian Hamilton on how WWE should handle the call-up of Baron Corbin.
    • Voices of Wrestling analyst Brandon Howard did some additional must-read analysis of the WWE Q4 financial call. Especially of note from Brandon:
      “The infograph WWE released on Thursday along with their press release seemed to claim their YouTube channel had received 8 billion views for the full year of 2015. Just by looking at their YouTube channel’s “About” page, which publicly lists all-time video views, you can see that’s not the case as the channel has accumulated about 7.5 billion video views all-time (since May 2007). Based on archived instances of that web page that I found, I estimate YouTube video views for WWE in 2015 at about 3.5 billion. I’m guessing they’re including in that total the views of all WWE videos on YouTube that are uploaded by other users, which WWE has made copyright claims on.”
    • Here’s a look at a new science fiction wrestling game called Champions of The Galaxy.
    • Fire Pro Podcast this week looks at the suspension of Titus O’Neil, the upcoming UR Fight card and the retirement of Daniel Bryan.
    • Here are details about Mark Nulty’s funeral this Saturday.

    UFC / MMA

    • Lots of MMA media are making the mainstream sports media rounds talking about Ronda Rousey’s admission that she briefly contemplated suicide after her loss to Holly Holm. Friend of the site Ariel Helwani was on The Dan Patrick Show this morning talking about Rousey and more.
    • Gleison Tibau has agreed to drop his appeal and accept the two year suspension handed down by the USADA for his drug test failure last month.  He actually said in an interview that he’d used the substance (EPO) out of competition and “we thought (it) wouldn’t be anything”.  So whoever WE is, presumably his team, they figured EPO was perfectly fine to use outside of competition.  He claims his conscience is clear because he took it “without imagining I was doing something wrong.”  
    • Recently re-signed UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem says that he’ll be headlining the UFC Sunday, May 8th show in Rotterdam in his home country of the Netherlands. No opponent has been announced.
    • Invicta FC announced its next show will be on March 11 in Las Vegas’ Tropicana, headlined by an atomweight (105 lb) title fight between champion Ayaka Hamasaki vs Amber Brown. Former UFCers Jessamyn Duke and Roxanne Modaferri will also fight on the show in separate bouts.
    • ONE Championships announced its next show will be on March 18 in Myanmar. Teenage sensation Christian Lee will be featured on the card after he’s finished each of his first two pro opponents in under two minutes.

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Bret Hart wins the WWF World Title

  • Daily Update: Barrett gives WWE notice?; Rousey on Ellen; Rampage back to Bellator

    Today’s Top Stories

    Ryan Satin is reporting at his ProWrestlingSheet.com site that Wade Barrett has given notice to WWE. His contract is up in June and obviously he has legitimate reasons for not being happy.

    Ronda Rousey was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today and discussed having suicidal thoughts in the cage after the loss to Holly Holm, only to snap out of it when she saw her boyfriend at ringside.

    Bellator and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson finally settled their lawsuit today, with Jackson returning to Bellator and the promotion issuing this statement: “Following an amicable agreement to settle the litigation between the two parties, the always entertaining and exciting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is returning to Bellator. Bellator MMA is thrilled to have “Rampage,” one of the most recognizable fighters in the history of the sport, joining a very competitive light heavyweight division featuring champion Liam McGeary, Phil Davis, King Mo, Tito Ortiz, Emanuel Newton, Linton Vassell among others.”

    Lesnar will make his first appearance on Smackdown since 2004 at the Tuesday tapings in Ontario, CA.

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 11, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Finger Poke of Doom, Awards results, Sam Muchnick passes away
    Details on World Title changes in 3 promotions including the Finger Poke of Doom, full results of the Observer Awards, plus tons more.

    TUESDAY UPDATE

    WWE / Pro Wrestling

    • Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella were on Good Morning America this morning, talking about his concussion issues and her impending retirement. At least officially, they were saying that her retirement will be sometime this Summer.
    • WWE has a 100 Greatest Matches coffee table book coming out on May 24th from DK Publishing, which is available for pre-order now.
    • During the Golddust and R Truth segment last night on Raw, one of the extras used was indie wrestler Tatevik the Gamer.
    • Time Warner is looking to buy a 25% stake in Hulu, which it seems they see as a means to the end of getting current seasons off the service.
    • SmackDown tickets for the April 12th taping in San Diego go on sale this Friday.
    • Rob Van Dam will be working both shows for House of Hardcore on April 15th in Queens, NY and April 16th at the ECW Arena. Van Dam will also be at the Icons of Pro Wrestling convention during the day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m..
    • This week on the Between the Sheets podcast, Kris Zellner and David Bixenspan cover February 9-15, 1993, including the departure of Bill Watts as WCW’s Vice President of Wrestling operations and the entire controversy surrounding that including the role of the newsletters. Also: Ric Flair coming back to WCW, Big Van Vader signing with UWFi, just how hot Japan was at this time, AAA vs. EMLL war raging on, Lex Luger showing up in Memphis, Hulk Hogan returning to the WWF, & Dr. D David Shultz shenanigans, and much more.

    UFC / MMA

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Bret Hart wins the WWF World Title

  • Daily Update: Alistair Overeem re-signs, Royce Gracie special on SpikeTV

    The go home WWE RAW is happening in a few minutes follow along here with Jeff Hamlin’s live coverage and check out the notes from Dave Meltzer on tonight’s show!

    We’re looking for your thoughts on yesterday’s New Beginnings in Niigata as well as Thursday’s New Beginnings in Osaka so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer

    We’re also looking for reports on yesterday’s WWE show in Bakersfield, CA to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com as well as dark matches, Superstars matches or anything else not evident from the live TV show from tonight’s Raw.

    Raw is at the Honda Center in Anaheim, for what will be the first sold out Raw event of 2016.  No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman on to the go-home show for Fast Lane. 

    Lesnar will make his first appearance on Smackdown since 2004 at the Tuesday tapings in Ontario, CA.

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 11, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Finger Poke of Doom, Awards results, Sam Muchnick passes away
    Details on World Title changes in 3 promotions including the Finger Poke of Doom, full results of the Observer Awards, plus tons more.

    MONDAY UPDATE

    UFC has signed both Alistair Overeem and Aljamain Sterling, who had both allowed their contracts to expire to get offers from other companies.  UFC had the right to match the offers.  Sterling noted on The MMA Hour today with Ariel Helwani that he had signed a long-term deal and was happy with it. 

    Congratulations to Brooke Adams, formerly Brooke Tessmacher in TNA, announced that she is expecting her first child.

    Really big back issue up on the site, the 1998 Awards issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, plus the life and Times of Sam Muchnick and one of the most talked about nights in Monday Night Wars coverage with the Fingerpoke of Doom and Mick Foley’s first WWF title win 

    John Lineker is out of Sunday’s fight with Cody Garbrandt, which was a significant bantamweight division fight, on UFC FIGHT NIGHT  headlined by Cerrone vs Oliveira.  Lineker contracted dengue fever, a disease caused by a mosquito bite.  No word on whether Garbrandt will remain on the card or the fight will be moved to another show. 

    There is a change in the ROH/New Japan lineups on the front page.  Adam Cole will not be making the trip to Japan due to family issues.  We don’t have an update on how that will change the announced cards.

    Spike TV airs “Unrivaled:  Royce Gracie,” at 11 p.m. tonight, a 30 minute special looking at his career and building Friday night’s rematch, 21 years in the making, with Ken Shamrock.

    WWE

    • John Layfield has been announced as the Ambassador of Beyond Sport, a global organization that pushes sports for social changes.  He has been affiliated with the group.
    • The Stone Cold Podcast with Big Show as guest will air live after Raw tonight.
    • The episode of “Supernatural” with The Miz will air on 2/24 at 9 p.m. on CW.
    • An episode of “Pawn Stars” which includes bidding on a WWE Hall of Fame ring will air on 2/24 on The History Channel.
    • An episode of “Ridiculousness” with Page airs tonight at 11 p.m. on MTV.

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • The World Series of Fighting has announced these dates on NBC Sports Network

    2/20 in Garden Grove, CA at the Next Level Sports Complex (Marlon Moraes vs. Joseph Barajas for the bantamweight title)

    3/12 in Greeley, CO at the Bank of Colorado Arena

    4/2 location to be announced

    6/17 in Manshantucket, CT at the Foxwood Resort Casino

    7/30 in Springfield, MA at the MassMutual Center

    • Global Force Wrestling is selling its original women’s title belt on Ebay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/121894134132
    • This is not a sign of anything as they are making a new belt.
    • KDW from Saturday night in Rochester, NY:  Maximo Suave won four-way over Marc Hauss, Chris Cayden and Mike Skyros, Drake Evans b Jake Flyier, Mattick b Cloudy, Wet Bandits b Interstate Education System, Cheech b Frank Burlington, Rik Matrix b Garrett Holliday, Sweet Intensity won over Vanguard 2.0, Tigerslayer 08 and Homewreckers to become tag team champions, Victor Lord won three-way over Jeremy Jensen and Jacoby Riddick, Jeremy Jensen won Battle Royal, Hellcat b Ryan Cassidy (thanks to Todd Brantley)
    • AAW on Friday night in Merrionnette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street with Eddie Kingston defending the AAW title against Sami Callihan, AR Fox defends the AAW Heritage title against Matt Cage, Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. Chris Hero & Drew Gulak, Abyss & Kongo Kong vs. Ryan Boz &  Russ Jones in a Monsters Ball match plus Trevor Lee, Candice LaRae and others.
    • There will be a talent evaluation camp headed by Gerald Brisco of WWE in conjunction with the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame ceremonies in Waterloo, IA.  The event will take place at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center on 7/22 at Noon.  Each wrestlers will get to wrestle a full match with introductions.  After the matches are over, Brisco, J.J. Dillon and others will talk with the group and evaluate everyone.  The best from the tryouts will get to work a show that night.  To be considered, send a resume and photo along with height, age, and a description of your in-ring experience to Troy Peterson at WRESSHOW@yahoo.com  Besides myself, among those scheduled for that weekend include Bob Backlund, Jim Ross, Dan Gable, Lex Luger, Larry Hennig, Baron Von Raschke, Bruce Mitchell and many others.
    • St. Louis Anarchy from last night in Alton, IL:  Steve O Reno b Buddy Collins, Andy Dalton b Stephen Wolf, Zakk Saweyrs & Mikey McFinnegan b Nick Iggy & Kerry Awful, Ricky Starks b Roy Lewis, Davey Vega b Trik Davis, Christian Rose b Gerald James, Matt Cage b Alex Castle in a last man standing match, Paco Gonzalez b Mike Outlaw, Chris Hero b Jojo Bravo, Evan Gelistico & Danny Adams & Everett Connors & Austin Blackburn b Devin & Mason Cutter & Alexandre Rudolph & Jake Parnell in an elimination street fight (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
    • Former Florida womens’ champion Sherri Lee made it through surgery earlier today and is said to be resting comfortably. (thanks to Barry Rose)
    • Maryland Championship Wrestling on 2/27 in Hollywood, MD at the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department.  There will be a 6 p.m. Meet and Greet with Mick Foley, plus a full card that night.
    • Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Saturday night in Council Bluffs, IA:  Purple b Joey Daniels, Con Artiest b Brandon Wallace, Zac James b Pat Powers, Mad Dog McDowell & Jon West b Jake & Ryan King, Paul Daniels b Dalton Lee Roth, Arik Cannon won four-way over Mark Sterling, Pat Powers and Branden Juarez.  Next show is 2/25 in Omaha at the Waiting Room Lounge.
    • CZW on 3/26 in Voorhees, NJ at Flyers Skate Zone with Sami Callihan vs. Masada, Mike Bailey vs. Jon Gresham and AR Fox vs. B-Boy.
    • NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling on 3/24 in Kingsport, TN for Spring Breakout as all students K-12 can attend the show for free, and the fans can book the show.  All the champions will face challengers that will be determined by an on-line vote.

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Rock wins WWF Championship in ladder match

  • Daily Update: NJPW New Beginnings, Tanahashi vs. Omega MOTY

    We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Beginnings in Niigata as well as Thursday’s New Beginnings in Osaka 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

    We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Bakersfield, CA to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com

    Raw will be Monday in Anaheim.  No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman on to the go-home show for Fast Lane.   Ticket sales picked up with the announcement of A.J. Styles, although I’m sure in management that will be passed off as pure coincidence, and maybe it is.  But this looks to be the first sellout of a Raw show this year.  It’s very close at this point and Anaheim is good walk-up market.

    Lesnar will make his first appearance on Smackdown since 2004 at the Tuesday tapings in Ontario, CA.

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 4, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Starcade review, Jaguar Yakota retires, more
    A look at how promotions did in 1998 overall, a review of Starcade with Nash pinning Goldberg, Jaguar Yakota retires, plus tons more.

    SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    Today’s Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega IC title match main event (available on New Japan World) was a must-see match.  Really everything after intermission was great but when it comes to storytelling and accomplishing a goal (Omega had to be made as a new superstar in one match because of the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura; but Tanahashi couldn’t be hurt because he’s more important than ever) this was a masterpiece.  

    Ronda Rousey will be on the cover of this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue that comes out this week.  There will be three different covers.  She will also be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday promoting the cover. (thanks to Jon Southerland)

    Congratulations to Milena Roucka (Rosa Mendes) who gave birth to a baby girl, Jordan Elizabeth Schubenski, yesterday.

    A likely WrestleMania match with Stardust vs. Stephen Amell started with an angle shot yesterday at the Dallas Comic Con where Stardust crashed Amell’s Q&A and threw waster in his face.  The angle had actually been planned at a different convention, but the original show they were going to shoot it on was canceled.

    WWE

    • Baron Corbin and Cameron are on the current California house show tour.  Corbin worked a three-way with Fandango and Viktor of the Ascension last night.  Cameron was in a six-women’s match back as part of Team BAD.
    • Vince McMahon’s father’s home in Fort Lauderdale in the 70s. (thanks to Matt Farmer) 
    • Even as late as the day of the show (yesterday), all the commercials in Fresno for the house show were built around Roman Reigns defending the WWE title against Sheamus.  He lost the title weeks ago, Sheamus was injured, and Reigns replaced John Cena on the European tour as soon as Cena was hurt.
    • The WWE was nominated for some CableFax Digital Awards including Bert App, Digital team of the Year, Digital Marketing Campaign (WrestleMania 31), Social Good Campaign (Conor’s Cure), Social Media Campaign (WrestleMania 31), Best Social Media team and Best use of Facebook.
    • MMA writer Jack Slack breaks down Shinsuke Nakamura’s bom a ye.
    • Becky Lynch talks Tuesday night’s Smackdown tapings in Ontario, CA at here. 

    UFC

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • The Evolve roster for the 4/2 show in Dallas at Noon, with a main event of Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet, also includes Timothy Thatcher, Johnny Gargano, Zack Sabre Jr., Chris Hero, Sami Callihan, Drew Gulak, Tracy Williams, TJ Perkins, Matt Riddle, Anthony Nese, Ethan Page and Fred Yehi.
    • The California-based Pro Wrestling Revolution promotion will join the WWNLive.com family of shows with an iPPV on 2/27 headlined by Juventud Guerrera. 
    • CZW’s 17th anniversary show was last night in Voorhees, NJ before an SRO crowd:  Masada b AR Fox, Amazing Gulaks b Dub Boys, Joey Janela b Lio Rush to keep the Wired title in a 2/3 fall match, Dave Crist & Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier b Neiko Sozio & Frankie Prichard & Conor Claxton, Danny Havoc b Rickey Shane Page, Blk Jeez & Pepper Parks b EYFBO to keep CZW tag titles, Sami Callihan b Speedball Mike Bailey (excellent match), Matt Tremont b Devon Moore in a ladder match to keep the CZW title.  They inducted WWE referee Drake Weurtz (Drake Younger) into the CZW Hall of Fame at intermission.  Next show is 3/3 with Callihan vs. Masada, Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham and Fox vs. B-Boy. 
    • Stardom from Friday in Nagoya:  Evie b Haruka Kato, Kaori Yoneyama b Kellie Skater, Santana Garrett & Chelsea Green b Kairi Hojo & Hiromi Mimura, Hiroyo Matsumoto b Jungle Kyona, Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani b Biper & Kaitlin Diemond to keep the tag titles.  Next Korakuen Hall show is 2.21.16 (thanks to Al Haft)
    • Victory Commonwealth Wrestling on 3/13 in Toronto at Lee’s Palace.
    • C4 on 3/19 in Ottawa at the Vanier Columbus Club with Mathieu St. Jaques vs Joey Janela.
    • Paragon Pro Wrestling TV tapings from Sunday in Las Vegas.  They taped four weeks worth of shows:  Tyshaun Prince won over Eric Wright and Anthony Green, Caleb Konley & Drew Donovan b Jay Riley & Jesse Sorenson, Royce Isaac b Anthony Green, Whirlwind Gentlemen b The Shadows, Jesse Sorensen b Drew Donovan-DQ, Alex Chamberlain b Mikey O’Shea in a PPW title match, Wes Brisco b Tyshaun Prince-DQ, Darin Corbin b Crash Test Cody, Gangrel b Greg Romero, Jay Riley b Caleb Konley, Eric Wright & Anthony Green b Greg Romero b ?, Royce Isaacs b Remy Marcel, Caleb Konley & Drew Donovan NC Jay Riley & Jesse Sorsensen, Alex Chamberlain b Gangrel (thanks to Mike Trask)
    • VIP Wrestling from Friday night in Arlington, TX before 230 fans:  Jerome Daniels b Bolt Brady, Tim Storm & Apoc b Jaxson Stone & Bam Bam Malone, Sinn Bodhi b Markus Burke, Scott McKenzie & Kristopher Haiden d Kenny Steele & Orion Taylor, Gregory James & Jason Silver d Graham Bell & Luke Langley, Green Man b Marcus Love, Raymond Rowe b Keith Lee, Jessica James b Bree Ann Hatfield, Andy Dalton won three-way over Johnny Gargano and Davey Vega, Ricky Sparks & Houston Carson b Brian Cage & PJ Black to keep tag title, Tim Storm & Apoc b Ricky Sparks & Houston Carson to win tag title.  Next shows are 3/4 in Fort Worth with New Jack vs. Masada and must be 18 or older to attend; and there is a 4/3 after WrestleMania party featuring Jake Roberts.
    • ECWA on 2/20 in New Castle, DE at the United Asbury Methodist Church headlined by Bobby Shields vs. Azrael.
    • St. Louis Anarchy from last night in Alton, IL:  Kevin Lee Davidson & Sean Orleans & Kody Krash b Justin D’Air & Luke Langley & Graham Bell, Matt Cage b Paco Gonzalez, Christian Rose b Mike Outlaw, Bucky Collins b Stephen Wolf, Zakk Sawyers b Steve O Reno, Evan Gelistico & Adam Caster won a four-corners tag title match over Devin & Mason Cutter, Alexandre Rudolph & Jake Parnell and Nick Iggy & Kerry Awful, Davey Vega b Jeremy Wyatt, Ricky Starks b Mikey McFinnegan, Andy Dalton b Jojo Bravo, Chris Hero & Trik Davis b Danny Adams & Everett Connors, Mat Fitchett b Gerald James in 2/3 falls to win the heavyweight title (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
    • All Star Wrestling on 2/20 in Chilliwack, BC at the Tzeachten Community Center and 2/26 in Surrey, BC at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds Alice McKay Building.
    • Smash Wrestling on 2/20 in Toronto at the Frankin Horner Community Centre featuring Chris Hero and Eddie Edwards plus the Super Smash Brothers, Mike Bailey, Johnny Gargano, Frankie the Mobster, Candice LaRae and more.
    • Steel City Pro Wrestling on 2/28 in Hamilton, ONT at 2 p.m. 
    • Jim Cornette appears on 3/5 at 11 p.m. at the Laugh It Up Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie.
    • A Mick Foley podcast interview.
    • Shayna Baszler interview about her 3/6 match with Colleen Schneider at the Premier show, and also talks about Daniel Bryan
    • Interview with Jimmy Valiant
    • Brainbuster Pro Wrestling from last night in Holly woof, FL:  Maxx Stardom won over Chasyn Rance, Mike Monroe, Chico Adams and CT Brown, Shaniah Ariyana b Angel Rose, DWB b Earl Cooter, Josh Powers b Eli Vega, Ace Andrews & Rex Bacchus b Michael Patrick & Leo Brien, Jonny Vandal b AJ Jannazzo, Maxwell Chicago b Aaron Epic, Shawn Prime b Craig Classic. Next show is 5/14/16
    • The Crash from Friday night in Tijuana:  Black Boy won elimination match for jr. title over Proximo, Mirage, Septimo Dragon and Jinzo, El Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Angel Metalico, Arez & Geniodel Aire & Super Nova b Tony Casanova & Star Boy & Zarco, El Texano Jr. & Mr. Maldito & Taurus b The Psycho Circus, Blue Demon Jr. & Fenix & Rey Hours b Teddy Hart & Johnny Mundo & Pentagon Jr. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
    • Maryland Championship Wrestling from last night in Joppa, MD:  Drake Carter & Shaun Cannon b Rob Locke & Joe Keys, Delirious b Fenix Fury, Brandon Scott b Sean Studd, Eric Chapel & Diry Money kept tag titles over Bo Nekoda & Oakley Woods, Ken Dixon b The Bruiser, Bill Collier & Paul Jordane b Sexy Steve & Jimmy Stars, Shane Strickland (Killshot in Lucha Underground) b Facade, Matt Hardy b King McBride via DQ so McBride retained his MCW title.  Matt & Jeff Hardy b McBride & Ken Dixon
    • NWA Mid South on 2/20 in Dyresburg, TN at the Herb Welch Wrestle Plex with Matt Riviera & Rob Conway defending the NWA tag title against Bobby Fulton & Dexter Hardaway, Greg Anthony defends the NWA National title in a three-way against Rodney Mack and John Saxon
    • Pure Wrestling Association on 3/6 in Kitchener, ONT at the Registry Theatre
    • Crossfire Wrestling on 3/20 in St. Catherines, ONT at the Merritton Community Centre at 4 p.m.

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Dutch Mantell wins Southern AWA title

  • Daily Update: Daniel Bryan, Mark Nulty, Bret Hart and Kevin Randleman

    Recapping the week

    Today is quite honestly a welcomed quiet weekend in the world of Pro Wrestling and MMA after a very long week.  To quickly recap the week: It all started with the retirement of Bryan Danielson from WWE that culminated with his WWE RAW Retirement speech.  In the aftermath of the Danielson speech Titus O’Neil was suspended for 90 days and then quickly reduced to 60 days for grabbing Vince McMahon during the closing of RAW’s broadcast on the WWE Network.  CM Punk’s UFC debut was delayed due to needing back surgery which was by all reports successful.  

    After publicly announcing his prostate cancer diagnosis and impending surgery last week, this week Bret Hart posted a positive message following his surgery.  We heard the sad news of UFC Legend and former Heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman passing away at 44.  In other said news Mark Nulty, wrestling historian, former announcer and the engine behind the Wrestling Classics website, also passed away.

    NEW JAPAN NEW BEGINNINGS IN NIIGATA LATE TONIGHT STARTING AT 2 A.M. EASTERN AND 11 P.M. PACIFIC ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

    Follow along with Dave Meltzer’s live coverage

    Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan vs. Young Bucks & Cody Hall

    Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Gedo & Kazushi Sakuraba

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay

    Michael Elgin & Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil

    Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe & Toru Yano for Never Open weight title

    Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hash

    Kushida vs. Bushi for IWGP jr. title

    Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for IWGP tag titles

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega for IWGP IC title

    Sunday has WWE in Bakersfield,, CA (Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, Wyatt Family, Dudleys, Ryback, A.J. Styles, Kane, Natalya).

    Raw will be Monday in Anaheim.  No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman on to the go-home show for Fast Lane.   Ticket sales picked up with the announcement of A.J. Styles, although I’m sure in management that will be passed off as pure coincidence, and maybe it is.  But this looks to be the first sellout of a Raw show this year.  It’s very close at this point and Anaheim is good walk-up market.

    Lesnar will make his first appearance on Smackdown since 2004 at the Tuesday tapings in Ontario, CA.

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 4, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Starcade review, Jaguar Yakota retires, more
    A look at how promotions did in 1998 overall, a review of Starcade with Nash pinning Goldberg, Jaguar Yakota retires, plus tons more.

    SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

    The Fight Network’s John Pollock has some details on that just-announced show featuring Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping in a grappling match, Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio, and Roy Jones Jr. offering to box a fan for $100k.

    WWE/Pro Wrestling

    UFC/MMA

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Tyler Black wins ROH Title; Jeff Hardy wins TNA Title

  • Daily Update: Daniel Bryan in the news; Big weekend for New Japan and ROH talent

    We’re looking for your thoughts on Thursday’s New Beginnings in Osaka so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Mannheim, Germany (Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio) and NXT in Tampa to Dave Meltzer

    NEW JAPAN WORLD PRO WRESTLING RETURNS AT 9 P.M. EASTERN TONIGHT ON AXS

    A.J. Styles vs. Kota Ibushi for IWGP title – This match was fantastic.  I can just imagine how good it’ll be with Mauro Ranallo & Josh Barnett calling it.

    CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO AT WWW.CLAROSPORTS.COM AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME

    Robin & Bengala vs. Inquisidor & Espiritu Negro

    Triton & Fuego & The Panther vs. Virus & Tiger & Puma

    La Mascara & Dragon Lee & Guerrero Maya vs. Hechicero & Kamaitachi & Bobby Z

    Valiente vs Euforia

    Rush & Thunder & Marco Corleone vs. Cibernetico & Mr. Niebla & Ultimo Guerrero]

    Mistico & Volador Jr. & Mascara Dorada vs. Negro Casas & Mephisto & Cavernario Barbaro

    The WWE Germany tour finishes tomorrow in Magdeburg, Germany (Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio), and we’re looking for reports on that show as well as a house show in Fresno (Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, Wyatt Family, Dudleys, Ryback, A.J. Styles, Kane, Natalya) and NXT in Palatka, FL.

    NEW JAPAN NEW BEGINNINGS IN NIIGATA LATE SATURDAY NIGHT STARTING AT 2 A.M. EASTERN AND 11 P.M. PACIFIC ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

    Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan vs. Young Bucks & Cody Hall

    Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Gedo & Kazushi Sakuraba

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay

    Michael Elgin & Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil

    Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe & Toru Yano for Never Open weight title

    Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hash

    Kushida vs. Bushi for IWGP jr. title

    Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for IWGP tag titles

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega for IWGP IC title

    Sunday has WWE in Bakersfield,, CA (Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, Wyatt Family, Dudleys, Ryback, A.J. Styles, Kane, Natalya).

    Raw will be Monday in Anaheim.  No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman on to the go-home show for Fast Lane.   Ticket sales picked up with the announcement of A.J. Styles, although I’m sure in management that will be passed off as pure coincidence, and maybe it is.  But this looks to be the first sellout of a Raw show this year.  It’s very close at this point and Anaheim is good walk-up market.

    Lesnar will make his first appearance on Smackdown since 2004 at the Tuesday tapings in Ontario, CA.

    F4WOnline.com SALE! One full month of unlimited access for only $3.99!

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

    F4WOnline.com SALE! One full month of unlimited access for only $3.99!

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 4, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Starcade review, Jaguar Yakota retires, more
    A look at how promotions did in 1998 overall, a review of Starcade with Nash pinning Goldberg, Jaguar Yakota retires, plus tons more.

    FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    MMA and WWE trending over the past week as far as Internet searches on Google go, Kevin Randleman was No. 7 yesterday with 100,000.  Titus O’Neil was No. 17 on Tuesday with 50,000.  Daniel Bryan was No. 6 on Monday with 200,000.

    Lucha Underground set its record audience on Wednesday night, doing 136,000 viewers at 8 p.m. and the immediate 9 p.m. replay did 81,000 viewers.

    A wild PPV show was announced on 3/20 from the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix. On the same stage, Roy Jones Jr. will fight a fan and if the fan can beat him, he gets $100,000.  Ken Shamrock will face Dan Severn for the first time in 19 years to end their long standing rivalry in an MMA match.  Kurt Angle will face Rey Mysterio Jr. in a pro wrestling match, and Chael Sonnen will face Michael Bisping in a grappling match. We’ll have a lot more on this as it approaches, but this is legit.  

    The World MMA Awards from last Friday will air tonight at 10 p.m. on FS 2.

    WWE

    • Here’s a story on Daniel Bryan and C.M. Punk.
    • The special we wrote about yesterday, a look back at the first WrestleMania in 1985, airs tonight at 10:30 p.m. on the MSG Network.
    • The Edge & Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness debuts after Fast Lane on 2/21 on the WWE Network
    • Other new WWE Network shows include Daniel Bryan’s Greatest Moments, Brock Lesnar’s Road to the Undisputed title and The Best of Stone Cole vs. Mr. McMahon.
    • John Cena will be the honorary pace car driver for the Daytona Beach 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event on 2/21 at 1 p.m., the same day as Fast Lane.
    • Stock continued to decline, closing at $14.65 per share, the lowest in a long time.  Besides the decline in the market as a whole, this stems from yesterday’s report where the company lost money for the quarter and there was a slight decline in network subscriptions.   
    • We don’t have an update on Riddick Moss, who was motionless after taking a fall during the NXT show in Jacksonville and they had to stop the main event (Dash & Dawson & Moss vs. Sami Zayn & Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore) last night after a triple suplex spot.  He was able to get up and did walk from the ring to the back on his own but he was motionless for a long time. (thanks to Ross Blair) 
    • Information on various web site activities for WrestleMania can be found here.
    • The newspaper in Seattle on the retirement of Daniel Bryan. Article here.
    • The New York Post has a story on the decline of WWE stock.

    UFC/MMA

    • A story on Kevin Randleman here.
    • Bas Rutten, who ended up being very good friends with Kevin Randleman after their famous UFC title fight, talks about him here.
    • Bellator announced today that Michael Chandler has signed a multi-year multi-fight contract with the promotion. As noted in the current issue of the Observer, there are talks for his next fight to be 5/14 in San Jose against Josh Thomson.
    • TMZ reported that Tito Ortiz was cited for misdemeanor battery early this morning after allegedly getting physical with a woman inside of a Las Vegas night club.  The alleged incident took place at Drai’s Nightclub at about 1 a.m. when a woman claimed Ortiz got physical with her and tried to rip her phone away.  She said she had been taking photos inside the cub earlier and she thinks Ortiz may have thought she was trying to shoot photos of him.  She claimed Ortiz tried to whip her around.  Police arrived and Ortiz was not arrested, but was cited.

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • Here’s a story on ROH and Daniel Bryan. 
    • A very nice story from his local newspaper on Mark Nulty.
    • Carlos Amano, who retired due to a brain stem injury talks damage to pro wrestlers here. 
    • Sami Callihan interview.
    • The building that the Stampede Wrestlers went to for decades every week in Regina, Saskatchewan is being torn down and Bret Hart and Dan Kroffat talk about it here.
    • Kevin Kiley Sr., who is the father of Alex Riley, has been in the news this week because he quit his job as a sports talk show host at WKRK-FM in Cleveland. Kiley said that his principles and the principles of the station didn’t match up.  He’d been under controversy when he said the Buffalo Bills hiring a woman as an assistant coach was “absurd.”  In the past Kiley Sr. had gotten heat by saying women shouldn’t be on the voting board for the Pro Football Hall of Fame or allowed to officiate the game. This had led to reporter Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk saying that people should boycott the station.  Kiley said that in 35 years of reporting on sports, this was the first time when the station told him he could not defend himself against critics, so he quit.  “You shouldn’t accept censorship ever.  You should make sure the people on the radio are telling you the truth as they see it.  Don’t let some clown in New York tell them what to say and then you think it’s your opinion or what not to say.  That’s what happened here and I’m not accepting it.”
    • Joe Garagiola, the former NBC personality who often hosted the Tonight Show, was part of the Today Show crew and the major league baseball broadcast team, turns 90 today.  his connection with pro wrestling is that he was the first announcer for Wrestling at the Chase in St. Louis, and his brother Mickey was the longtime ring announcer on the show.  Garagiola was also social friends with Gene Kiniski.  
    • Tier 1 Wrestling will be doing an iPPV through WWNLive.com featuring Timothy Thatcher vs. Michael Elgin in their first-ever meeting.
    • 41 years ago today before a sellout crowd in Miami Beach, Jack Brisco retained the NWA title over the Mongolian Stomper; Andre the Giant won a Battle Royal which also included Chris Taylor, and Bill Watts beat Bob Roop via DQ in a Florida title match.
    • Pro Wrestling Phoenix tomorrow night in Council Bluffs, IA at the National Guard Armory headlined by Arik Cannon.
    • AAW on 2/19 in Merrionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street has Eddie Kingston vs. Sami Callihan for the AAW title, AR Fox vs. Matt Cage for the Heritage title, Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. Chris Hero & Drew Gulak, Abyss & Kongo Kong vs. Ryan Boz & Russ Jones, plus Trevor Lee, Candice LaRae and others.  On 3/18 in Berwyn, IL at the Eagles Club has Jack Evans, Chris Hero, Ciampa, Silas Young, Colt Cabana and Drew Gulak. On 4/9 in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium has Matt Sydal and Hero

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Ted Dibiase wins Missouri state title; Christian wins NWA title

  • Daily Update: CM Punk, Mark Nulty passes, Colt Cabana mini series

    We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Beginnings in Osaka so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer

    We’re also looking for reports on the NXT house show tonight in Jacksonville at Dave Meltzer

    SMACKDOWN TONIGHT ON THE USA NETWORK AT 8 P.M.

    A.J. Styles & Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel & Adam Rose

    Sasha Banks vs. Naomi

    Sin Cara & Kalisto & Neville vs. The Ascension & Stardust

    A.J. Styles vs. Chris Jericho

    The show also features a lot of highlights from the Daniel Bryan retirement from Raw.

    F4WOnline.com SALE! One full month of unlimited access for only $3.99!

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires

    The newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year.  A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about.  Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling.  How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports.  If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.

    Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.

    The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel

    The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.

    F4WOnline.com SALE! One full month of unlimited access for only $3.99!

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Jan 4, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Starcade review, Jaguar Yakota retires, more
    A look at how promotions did in 1998 overall, a review of Starcade with Nash pinning Goldberg, Jaguar Yakota retires, plus tons more.

    THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

    C.M. Punk had successful back surgery yesterday and should be back training in four to six weeks after a herniated disc in his lower back. 

    John Cena’s new TV show, “American Grit,” will debut on the FOX Network on 4/14.  The bad news is it’s slated for 9 p.m., meaning it goes head-to-head with Smackdown. 

    Colt Cabana is starting a three part mini series called Colt Cabana’s Pro Wrestling Fringe, covering stories on pro wrestling.  The first episode features Cabana and Rob Naylor talking about Jorge “Giant” Gonzalez, the second has David Bixenspan and Cabana talking about Sputnik Monroe’s desegregating sports in Memphis through wrestling, and the third has me talking about Tom Magee, the guy who was supposed to replace Hulk Hogan as WWF champion, but in fact, barely made it to television.

    The ROH/New Japan cards for 2/19 and 2/20 at Korakuen Hall, which will include a few title matches, will be announced on Saturday.

    Wrestlecon has announced for 4/2 in Dallas a ten man tag match with teams captained by Joey Ryan and Jeff Jarrett, plus Matt Hardy vs. Lance Storm and Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll.  A ridiculous amount of talent will be appearing including Matt Hardy, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, James Storm, DDP, Vince Russo, Great Muta, Shawn Michaels, Ivan Putski, Bobby Heenan, Road Warrior Animal, Tito Santana, Gene Okerlund, Kevin Nash, Greg Valentine Scott Hall, Tully Blanchard, Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Abyss, Trevor Lee, Mickie James, Billy Gunn, Marty Jannetty, Bart Gunn, Bob Holly, Honky Tonk Man, Kevin Kelly, Brian Lawler Savio Vega, Rick Steiner, Magnus, Missy Hyatt, Scott Norton, Kevin Sullivan, Sami Callihan, Ricochet, Brian Cage, and more.

    Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie and Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000  Bellator on 2/19 preview is on 11 p.m. tomorrow night on Spike.  Another show, called “Unrivaled:  Royce Gracie,” will air on Monday night after Raw on Spike at 11 p.m.

    John LaRocca wrote this about the passing of Mark Nulty, which is covered on the front page:

    Hearing of Mark Nulty’s passing today really hit me hard, and I have never met the man personally.  I have been a member of the www.wrestlingclasssics.com message board for a number of years now.  I discovered it from reading the Wrestling Observer News Letter as being a place were not only a lot former wrestlers and educated fans talked about the wrestling business.   For years I stayed away from message boards talking about pro wrestling because it was all just trash talking each other. 

    Wrestling Classics was a message board were you could have a nice conversations educated wrestling fans on various topics from matches, angles from the past to current happenings in pro wrestling.   One thing that I really admired Mark Nulty for was even at times things would start to get heated, Nulty would put out that flame quickly by reminding everyone this board everyone can post their opinion.   Nulty’s knowledge of happenings in the Texas territory was always a joy to read and I always looked forward to see his responses on posts. 

    Thank you Mark for all you done in the wrestling business and creating a great website were educated, classy fans can talk about this crazy sport we love, pro wrestling

    WWE

    • They were shooting a bunch of stuff, for potential release on the network or on DVD, regarding Daniel Bryan on Monday in Seattle.  
    • Daniel Bryan appeared this morning on Good Morning America.
    • Nigel McGuinness wrote a story on Bryan Danielson’s retirement
    • Tickets for Monday’s Raw in Anaheim have been going really fast.  The sales picked up as soon as A.J. Styles was announced believe it or not.  Raw hasn’t sold out yet this year but this one looks to sell out by the weekend. 
    • After the earnings call this morning, the stock dropped 81 cents per share to close at $14.94, the lowest in a long time. 
    • A special show on the very first WrestleMania in 1985 will air at 10:30 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night on the MSG Network.  Among those interviewed were Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan.  Hogan’s quotes were a nice work of fiction saying that when he went in the ring, he was afraid Piper and Paul Orndorff would break Mr. T’s leg.
    • Steve Austin will be doing a live podcast after Raw on Monday night with Big Show.  
    • Tickets go on sale on 2/20 for a 4/11 Raw taping at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
    • WWE will be producing a DVD called “Life on the Razor’s Edge:  The Scott Hall Story” that comes out in July.

    UFC/MMA

    • UFC Fight Pass announced a deal with Glory kickboxing where they will air monthly Glory events live starting with the 2/26 show in Chicago headlined by Joe Schilling vs. Mike Lemaire.  The Glory deal also gives Fight Pass access to more than 2,000 hours of kickboxing footage, including the complete K-1 library of more than 100 events.  They will also be airing Eddie Bravo Invitational Jiu Jitsu, with the first live BJJ show in April, and they expect five or six shows this year.
    • Added to the 3/20 UFC in Brisbane, Australia are Rin Nakai vs. Leslie Smith and Ben Nguyen vs. Justin Scogggins.
    • Rafael Natal vs Robert Whittaker has been added to the 4/23 UFC PPV in Las Vegas.
    • Bellator also announced the signing of Brazilian women Brauna Ellen (2-0) of Sao Paulo, Bruna Vargas (2-0 of Porto Alegre) and Kenya Miranda of Belo Horizonte.
    • Jason “Mayhem” Miller was reportedly arrested for a DUI this weekend.  Because of Miller’s past issues when being arrested, when police got the tip that Miller was driving erratically, they sent 15 police and a K-9 unit after him.  He was arrested on a suspicion of a DUI charge and taken to jail.  Miller didn’t get violent, past getting mouthy with officers according to a report on TMZ.
    • Kendall Grove vs. Francisco “Kiko” France has been added to the 2/26 Bellator show in Mulvane, KS, which is headlined by Marcos Galvao defending the bantamweight title against former champion Eduardo Dantas. 

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • New IWGP jr. tag champs Ricochet & Matt Sydal are available for bookings at www.sbibookings.com  Sydal is based in Tampa and Ricochet in Orlando.  Tessa Blanchard who is based in Charlotte is also available. 
    • Chuck Marlowe, the television voice of Indiana basketball in the 60s, 70s and 80s, as well as host of Big Time Championship Wrestling in the 60s passed away this week at the age of 86.  Marlowe is in the Indiana Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
    • Here’s a link to a short local TV news video on the Preston City Wrestling shows from last weekend, featuring brief comments from Billy Gunn, Ken Anderson and PCW owner, Steven Fludder
    • Zack Sabre Jr. discusses Triple H, Finn Balor, possible future in the WWE
    • The second Lucha Underground comic book
    • Maryland Championship Wrestling on Saturday night in Joppa, MD featuring Matt & Jeff Hardy.  King McBride vs Matt Hardy, with Jeff in his corner, headlines the show.
    • Louis Mucciolo, better known as Louie Spicolli, would have turned 45 yesterday.
    • Combat Zone Wrestling has a live iPPV on Saturday night from Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ.  The show is headlined by Matt Tremont vs. Devon Moore in a ladder match, Lio Rush vs. Joey Janela in a 2/3 fall match, BLK Jeez & Pepper Parks vs. Team Tremendous and Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Sami Callihan.  There is also a 4 p.m Womens Superstars Uncensored show with Jessicka Havok vs. LuFisto, Leva Bates vs. Hania and more.
    • IWA East Coast on 2/27 in Nitro WV headlined by Matt Tremont vs. Viper for the CZW title.
    • Robbie E has been announced for the ECWA Super 8 tournament on 4/23 in Woodbury Heights, NJ.
    • NWAClassics.com, the streaming home of the Houston Wrestling tape library, uploaded a mixed tag from 1980 with Vickie Williams & Billy the Kid vs. Irma Gonzalez (a legend in Mexico) & Little Lone Eagle.
    • House of Hardcore on 4/15 in Queens, NY at the Elmcor Center has Billy Gunn, Sami Callihan, Brian Cage, Rhino, Eddie Kingston, Brian Myers, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith  Jr., Thea Trinidad, Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Pepper Parks, Cherry bomb and Tommy Dreamer.  4/16 in Philadelphia has Gunn, Cage, Rhino, Callihan,, Kingston, Archer, Smith Jr., Trinidad, Jade, Cabana, Parks, Hero and Dreamer.  5/7 in Niagara Falls, ONT at the Scotiabank Centre has Bobby Roode, Rhino, Dreamer, Cabana, Parks, and RJ City.
    • Tickets for the ROH/New Japan shows in May are on sale for 5/14 New York at Terminal 5 for ROH ringside members.  Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern.for 5/11 in Toronto.
    • A benefit show is being put on for Pato Soria, the father of Shocker on 2/27 in Mexico City, with family vs. family on top with Rush & Dragon Lee & Mistico (all brothers) vs. La Mascara & Robin & Maximo.
    • ACH, Matt Cross and Ray Rowe appear for Chilanga Mask on 3/20 in Coacalco, Mexico.
    • Gilbert Smith replaces Michael Page on the 3/4 Bellator show in Thackerville, OK headlined by Joe Warren vs. Darion Caldwell.
    • Premier Wrestling on 3/6 in Gilroy, CA at the IFDES Lodge Portuguese Hall at 5 p.m. with JR Kratos (9-2-1) defending his title against Joe Graves (4-1-1), Raze (2-2) defending the women’s athlete title against Nicole Savoy (3-2), plus Jeff Cobb, and a match of MMA fighters with Shayna Baszler facing Colleen Schneider in Schneider’s pro wrestling debut.  You can get $5 off all tickets at www.premierwrestle.com
    • Atlantis & Delta vs. Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero headline 2/25 at the Coliseum in Laredo, TX.
    • Rush headlines on 3/19 in Phoenix at the ASU Academy Elementary Gym.
    • UIPW on 2/27 in Montebello, CA at the Grace Baptist Academy with Steve Pain & Machiko vs. Teddy Hart & Datura.

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: AJ Styles wins the IWGP Title; Dory Funk Jr wins NWA Title

  • Daily Update: Punk’s UFC debut delayed, Daniel Bryan on ESPN

    CM PUNK’S DEBUT DELAYED

    By Dan Velten

    CM Punk’s UFC debut has been delayed again. After signing with UFC in December of 2014, it looked as if Punk would be debuting in June of 2016. But that’s not going to happen as Phil Brooks underwent back surgery today to repair a herniated disc. The injury occurred during his career as a professional wrestler, and had been nagging him recently to the point that it was greatly hindering his training. The disc repair suregery will put him on the shelf for at least four to six weeks, and his debut date is uncertain at this point.

    A side note in this whole thing: Punk’s opponent was determined only four days ago. Debuting UFC fighter Mickey Gall was given the chance to win one match against Michael Jackson (making his pro AND MMA debut) to earn the shot at Punk. Gall easily handled Jackson this past weekend, submitting him in 45 seconds. After the match, Punk and Gall had a polite meeting in the cage and neither man said much. Perhaps since Punk knew the surgery was looming, he did not want to make too much of the match just yet. Gall will still be the guy at this point, but if Punk’s return / debut is postponed much longer, one would think perhaps Gall would want to fight again. We have more information here. 

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 2/1/2016: Weekly Hogan/Gawker update
    A look at the past weeks developments in the Hulk Hogan and Gawker lawsuit.

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: February 8, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Bret Hart diagnosed with cancer, Nakamura’s final NJPW match

    The new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter looks at Bret Hart’s battle with cancer, his discussions about it, and updates on the situation. The most detailed coverage of the last month of Lucha Underground’s second season, backstage news, season three, lots of business notes.  Full coverage of all the Ultima Lucha 2 matches and direction. Nakamura’s final day with NJPW, where Nakamura and New Japan go now, his background and building the IC title, the next two New Japan PPV shows to this weekend’s biggest event.

    Fast Lane and WrestleMania, what’s up with Undertaker, WWE injury updates, the next WWE Network special, Licensing issue with new WWE signees, notes on the next NXT Takeover show, a look at all the TV building the next Takeover show, who led to a huge increase in demand for WWE tickets, next WWE show in Madison Square Garden update, Nakamura updates, WWE performer wants to compete in the Olympics and what former pro wrestler went back to the Olympics to medal, Lesnar’s schedule, Tough Enough winner starts out, Other Tough Enough competitors start out, change in Rumble plans, New WWE Network series based on wrestling matches, new WWE movie, WWE’s tour of Germany this coming week, more on The Rock’s segment on Raw.

    A detailed look at the Awesome Kong-Reby Hardy situation in Manchester, England. Benson Henderson’s decision to leave UFC for Bellator and take a championship fight, why he made the decision, what both Dana White and Henderson said. We look at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s last major event and where it’s storylines are going.

    A huge look at the life and career of Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie, one of the most memorable wrestling characters of his generation, stories about him, his gimmick, how big a star he was in his heyday, his incredibly long career title history, how he was two very different successful characters, and his most famous angles and biggest bouts. We also have a lot of comments from people who knew him, including how he changed the life and career of J.J. Dillon. The life and career of the original Espectrito, the best heel mini of his generation including when he main evented the Los Angeles Sports Arena, a rarity for a mini.

    We also look at Saturday’s UFC , what’s next for the winners, thoughts on Sage Northcutt, as well as business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage.

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

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

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

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

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

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

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE – February 15, 1988 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: A Tale of Two Hebners: All the details on Hulk Hogan losing the WWF title to Andre the Giant in a historic angle, plus tons of news and notes.

    WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE:

    Besides CM Punk’s fight being delayed, the big news of the day is Daniel Bryan’s appearance on SportsCenter last night. Bryan revealed specifically that he had been hiding “post-concussion seizures” (it seemed like the implication was he was still having them) and his most recent tests revealed a ‘small sub-acute or chronic lesion’ in the temporoparietal junction of his brain. That can cause seizures, and that’s why he was able to be relatively at peace with retirement. We wish Bryan Danielson and his family the best in whatever comes next for this incredibly talented young man. 

    Titus O’Neil is getting a lot of fan support stemming from his suspension. If he gets fired, maybe they can sign Tatum O’Neal.

    13 years ago today, Curt Hennig was found dead in a Florida hotel room at the age of 44 years young. Curtis Axel has been pretty active on Twitter today with RTs and such from people helping him get through which is still very tough on him.

    WWE/Pro Wrestling

    • Toronto Batman loves him some Daniel Bryan.
    • Scott Armstrong (or his car) was the victim of a smash and grab in Portland.
    • Here’s a Forbes column on why the O’Neil suspension sends a bad message.
    • ROH TV Champion Roderick Strong talks about his past with Daniel Bryan. Roddy failed to bring up his most famous and most important interaction with Daniel Bryan which was when Roddy cornered PeachMachine in the Grappling Battel~! against Bryan “Chico” Alvarez, who was cornered by Bryan Danielson. 
    • Bob Backlund was named as the latest inductee into the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame this July, joining WO founder Dave Meltzer, Chael Sonnen, JJ Dillon, Lex Luger, and Joe Blanchard.
    • House of Hardcore returns to Canada with a show at Niagara Falls, ONT, on 5/7, with Tommy Dreamer, Bobby Roode, Rhino, Colt Cabana, and more.
    • Colt Cabana has launched a new audio series, Colt Cabana’s Pro Wrestling Fringe, for the Howl.fm subscription service Coupon code COLT gets you a free month, so make sure to use that when you sign up. The first three episodes include stories by Cabana with an assist from David Bixenspan (on Sputnik Monroe) and Rob Naylor (on El Gigante/Giant Gonzalez) as well as a special appearance by Dave Meltzer (on Tom Magee).
    • Here’s a video look at Preston City Wrestling with comments from Billy Gunn and Ken Anderson… Anderson.

    UFC/MMA

    • Bellator will debut a feature about Royce Gracie on SPIKE TV on Monday, February 15th at 11 PM EST.
    • Wanderlei Silva is now scheduled to attend Bellator’s Fan Fest in place of Randy Couture in Houston on February 18th.

    MISCELLANEOUS

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Terry Funk wins Missouri state title