One of the UFC’s most popular fighters has her next fight booked, but it isn’t against who everyone expected after all.
Just before 8 AM EST on ABC’s Good America America, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey announced via satellite that she will defend her title against Holly Holm at UFC 195 on January 2nd. The fight will main event a show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.
Rousey (12-0) was expected to fight rival Miesha Tate for a third time after Rousey dispatched Bethe Correia in August and Tate won her fourth straight in July. Instead, she’ll fight the undefeated Holm (9-0) who is 2-0 in the Octagon.
When Holm was finally signed to the UFC after a long negotiation period, it was expected that the heavily experienced boxer-turned-MMA-fighter would be groomed to face Rousey at some point. However, due to two decisions that were tepidly received by fans and media, that fight wasn’t seen as next for either woman.
In an interview with the L.A. Times, UFC president Dana White told Lance Pugmire that while Tate was the initial thought, they were sitting around and determined that people had already seen that fight already.
“A third fight in a rivalry usually comes after the stuff we’d see in [Arturo] Gatti-[Micky] Ward,” White said of the classic boxing trilogy. “With Miesha, the result has been the same twice. Everyone’s already seen that fight.”
White also said that if both sides are healthy, strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will face Claudia Gadelha in the co-main event of that show, effectively kililng the speculation that Tate would face Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino in the co-main event with the winners going onto UFC 200.
There is now thought that Tate will fight Amanda Nunes on that show with the winner facing Rousey if she can get past Holm. If that rounded out the top three fights on that card, that would be an excellent main card already.
The January show will come less than a month after the monolith of UFC 194 that features a featherweight title unification bout between Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo, and an excellent middleweight title fight between champion Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold.
–Eva Marie Wants A Finisher: Remember Eva Marie? She’s still training. It’s been months, and she’s bugging her husband and Brian Kendrick about getting a sweet finisher. Her husband, voice of reason, advises to chill and keep training and get great at the basics. Instead, she goes to NXT, gets booed at by the crowd, and is inspired to learn Brian Kendrick’s finisher, “The Kendrick†(or, Sliced Bread #2 to wrestling fans). I have a bad feeling about this.
–The Bellas Fight About Business: Nikki and Brie get the idea to start a bar studio, since it’s super-trendy (or was at the time of the taping of this show). They try to recruit their brother, JJ, and he helpfully sets up meetings with realtors to check out potential studios. The girls get territorial and turn on J.J., then get mad at each other; Brie gets mad at Nikki for being unfocused with the idea, while Nikki gets mad at Brie for being mean to her. Anyway, their brother, voice of reason, advises them to chill and be nice to each other because they’re sisters. Everyone hugs it out.
–Naomi Learns About Parenting: Finally, Naomi and Jon are moved into their new place and get to host Jon’s kids (from his previous relationship). Naomi’s stoked, and really wants to make sure the kids have fun – including bringing in a petting zoo and a bouncy house without telling him. He’s super-chill about it, even when he gets chewed out on the phone by the mother, and she basically admits she wanted to spoil their kids (when they have some). Jon says they are their kids and it’s super-cute. She probably won’t keep feeding the kids candy all the time or anything, but they do seem like they have their act together.
No John Cena or Bryan Danielson on this episode, and barely any Nattie. The teaser for the remainder of the season teases Dolph Ziggler hitting on Nikki, Bryan vacating his Intercontinental Title and Nattie freaking out backstage when T.J. breaks his neck during a match.
– Air date: May 16, 1985 – Run time: 46:16 – Stars of the show: Wendy Richter & Peggy Lee.
After watching nearly three dozen episodes of TNT, I am still struck at how successful this offbeat show was at making me care or hate WWF wrestlers. It’s amazing what a little time on the microphone can do for even the most boring wrestlers.
A few weeks ago big “Rusty” Brooks demonstrated some red-necked Stone Cold Steve Austin-like charisma, just because he sat in the main TNT chair and believed he was the best jobber on the roster. It’s a whole new television landscape, so I don’t expect TNT to show up again on the USA network, but there’s no reason why we can’t have a modern version of this show on the WWE network.
What a great place for us to see Vince McMahon? If McMahon believes he is too old for Monday Night Raw (which he isn’t), then he needs to move his face to the network and rehost this show. Lord Alfred Hayes has passed, but why not replace him with Jamison? Go find that guy and breathe new life into a one-time great concept. We WWE fans miss the good old days, when everything was a little less scripted. How do we know that we don’t have another Roddy Piper lurking in the shadows.
McMahon gets this episode going introducing us to Rocky Johnson, the father of Dwayne Johnson. It’s funny that McMahon refers to him as “The Rock.” Rocky Johnson had a better body than Dwayne, but lacked the promo skills.
McMahon gets the googly eyes when Johnson comes out and asks him how much weighs, while telling Hayes that this is the best he’s ever looked.
“My goodness, pumping that iron,” McMahon salivates.
Johnson says he weighs 260 pounds.
It’s too bad Hulk Hogan refused to wrestle any other good guys, because there’s an endless string of popular wrestlers that would have made great challengers for Hogan. Johnson, Superfly Snuka, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, etc.
We go to the ring and it’s Johnson vs. Steve Lombardi, who is rapidly approaching SD Jones as the man who has most appeared on TNT.
Bruno Sammartino, arguably the worst commentator in WWF history (I am not counting Mike Adamle) says about Johnson, “here’s a guy who is always in great shape. He’s always great to watch in the ring.”
Sammartino was always talking about how “tough” a guy was, clearly selling the old school mentality. I am sure if Bruno were calling an episode of Monday NIght Raw, he would say “This Brock Lesnar guy is quite the impressive individual. He’s a strong guy that is going to give a lot of wrestlers trouble inside that ring.”
Bruno even puts Lombardi over: “Lombardi has come a long way in the last year or so. He’s quite aggressive and quite tough.”
This match consisted of Johnson, wearing Cowboy Bob Orton green trunks, mostly on the offensive, with Lombardi doing his best to sell for the big man. Johnson was certainly a better wrestler than The People’s Champion, although he had much skinnier legs. He performed some
impressive dropkicks and arm drags. He also threw in some good boxing. Johnson pins Lombardi with a sunset flip that certainly Rusty Brooks would have kicked out of.
Back in the studio McMahon draws attention to Johnson gold on his hands.
Johnson shows off his luxurious purchases and explains that he wears the watch because his later father gave it to him. Johnson, talking more like Ricky Steamboat than Dwayne Johnson, says that when he goes to the ring he has one thing in mind.
“All of the matches I am in, whether it is Steve Lombardi or Roddy Piper or whoever I go in there with I have the same mental attitude — to win,” Johnson says.
McMahon says he wishes him all the luck in the world and tells him one more time “you look great.”
Up next are the segments that remind us that yes, this is professional wrestling. It’s “Thatsa My Kitchen” with Salvatore Bellomo and family. TNT has enjoyed a laugh or two at the expense of practical every culture. McMahon is an equal opportunity offender when it comes to stereotypes.
Bellomo, a perennial enhancement talent, has appeared on a few episodes of TNT, building boats out of the WWF magazine.
McMahon calls it “Mama Bellomo’s kitchen.” Bellomo, of course, doesn’t speak English, only saying “Gratsi” when McMahon talks in her direction. We do know that the Bellomos are proud parents. There’s bell peppers and bread on the table and they are prepping for a big meal.
Bellomo puts over his mom: “Everyone always asks me why I am that fat. It’s because of his Mama’s cooking.”
We go to the ring for some action with Bellomo, against, wait, another jobber, in Frankie Williams, of Piper’s Pit fame. Who’s going to win this one? Well considering that Bellomo gets a lot of air time on TNT and Williams has been portrayed as an all around sap, it looks like Bellomo is going to get his big television win here.
Both guys are wrestling in singlets. Bellomo has some technical skills, but he is just so slow. Still, he’s a better wrestler than The Miz and he never got to headline WrestleMania. One thing strikes me about this match. Neither guy has shaved his armpits.
No matter how macho you are, in the WWF, you shave your arm pits, whether you Andre the Giant or Zach Ryder. Even Brock Lesnar shaves his pits. Not sure how Williams and Bellomo got past the aesthetic sensors.
Williams is on the offensive in much of the match and has good facials, although he looks like he is 62 years old.
Bellomo would rally and win the match with a high cross body block. Back in the kitchen, McMahon is poking around the table like he’s never seen food before.
“What is this?” he asks. Bellomo responds. “It’s an artichoke.” Bellomo is stuffing the artichoke with cheese and olive oil, prepping it for cooking. McMahon ends the segment, but says later on, “we will have some delicacies.”
The next guests on the show are Brutus Beefcake and “Luscious” Johnny Valiant, perhaps two of my least favorite characters ever.
Beefcake was cast perfectly as a male stripper. He looked great, but was kind of dull and stupid. Valiant, to this day, I have no idea what his gimmick was supposed to be. He was neither funny nor clever. He just rambled, wearing the most bizarre mismatched clothing ever.
Valiant is wearing what appears to be red sweatpants that would make George Costanza jealous. He’s wearing a New York Yankees jacket and a bandana. In this segment he keeps calling Beefcake his “main squeeze.”
Valiant comes out complaining about the smell, taking a shot at Bellomo and is Italian food.
“It smells like a used car wash,” Valiant says. Yeah, OK, Mr. Highbrow, you are the guy wearing sweatpants.
Valiant asks McMahon what’s on his mind. “We are busy people,” he says. Valiant pats the hand of Beefcake and calls him his “main squeeze.”
“We have people to see,” Valiant says. McMahon brings up WrestleMania and the problems Beefcake and Valiant had with Bruno Sammartino. Valiant is rambling like a drunk man, saying that Sammartino would have a heart attack if he ever stepped into the ring with him.
Beefcake is wearing oversized glasses and a Lightning Bolt across his chest that would make Sean Waltman nostalgic. Valiant dares Sammartino to get “get that punk kid of his out reform school and meet my main squeeze here.” They were doing everything to get David Sammartino over here.
McMahon says that “in a few minutes we are going to take you to some action via videotape.” McMahon loved to explain in 1985 that videotape was the form of technology they used to distribute their content. Valiant explains that due to his busy schedule he cannot accommodate Beefcake every night of the week so that Greg “The Hammer” Valentine fills in.
This is a strange pairing considering that Valentine was the intercontinental champion at the time. McMahon even calls it “a most unusual tag team.”
They are taking on Paul Roma and SD Jones. Hart is managing Valentine. I never knew Beefcake was also from Phoenix, Arizona. He too was billed as being from “Parts Unknown.”
Jack Reynolds is the announcer. I wonder what the story was behind Reynolds. He was pretty much the voice of the WWF in 1984 and still here in 1985, but he’s totally forgotten now. I wonder when and where McMahon fired him.
“I get the feeling that Roma and SD Jones are going to get more than they can handle this week,” says Reynolds, who apparently is letting Bruno Sammartino write his scripts.
I am mixed on these old jobbers matches. It’s pretty clear that Roma and Jones aren’t winning this match. Valentine carries the match and pins Roma with a figure-four-leglock. I would love to see someone win with that hold in MMA. Maybe CM Punk can tap out Cathal Pendred with that move one day.
The next guest is Wendi Richter, the WWF women’s champion. I have no idea who dressed this woman, but she looked like she belonged on the set of Mama’s Family.
This is probably Richter’s fourth appearance on TNT. McMahon points out that she did not kiss Lord Alfred Hayes this time, unlike a previous appearance. Hayes says he wouldn’t mind if she tried again and Richter says nothing, but looks at him and chuckles a bit.
McMahon asked the same question he did before Wrestlemania: “What do you think of Cyndi Lauper.” This feels like an odd question since Lauper is long gone by now and McMahon has never been big about putting anyone over who’s not on the roster. Richter says hse respects Lauper and that she’s done a lot for her and women’s wrestling.
We go to a match with Richter and Peggy Lee. One thing is clear right away. Both Richter and Peggy Lee look like Flair and Steamboat compared to today’s WWE divas. Lee is a natural-looking woman. She’s not tan or thin. Richter is tan and thin, but her attractiveness is secondary to her athleticness.
These two put on a women’s match that rivaled Trish Stratus and Lita in the Attitude Era. Tons of near falls. Bruno Sammartino on color commentary, by the way, says “Richter is in great shape.” Is he getting paid for this?
With the exception of Charlotte, Richter and Lee are better than any WWE Diva currently on the roster. Their match wasn’t a sideshow or joke. They worked hard and no one was trying to get a look at anyone’ puppies. This is an episode to watch just for this match.
Lee takes Richter to Snap Mare City, yanking Richter by the hair three times, in a marvelous spot. Bruno says, “I hate to say it, but Wendy looks in bad shape right now.”
Lee at one point stands on Richter’s face, in another great spot. I love this spot. I don’t know how well you can fake that hold. Obviously Lee needs to put all her weight on the top rope, but must still hurt to have wrestling boots on your face.
Richter finally wins when Lee jumps on her and she lifts her knees, then pins her with a sunset flip. Great women’s match.
Back in the studio, Richter puts over Lee.
“She was a tough competitor herself,” Richter says. “She ripped about half my hair out when she jerked my head onto the mat. But I like that, keeps you on your toes and makes you a better athlete when you have competition like that.”
The segment should have ended here, but instead we get pervert and sexist McMahon. McMahon asks about “the private life of Wendi Richter.”
McMahon: “You are such a pretty lady and an extraordinary athlete. Many are wondering if you would seize the opportunity to settle down one day and have a family.”
Come on, McMahon. I would love to have heard him ask Ricky Steamboat that question.
Richter has that confused look on his face, but since she’s southern and tactful, she answers the question with class. “I am looking forward to that, but right now I am looking forward to keeping in shape, staying focused and being a true professional.”
She says whenever she loses the belt fair and square and she’s not up to par, then she will think about different routes and alternatives. McMahon would do the thinking for her when he would fire her later in the year.
The show wraps up with a return to Mama Bellomo’s kitchen. They are tasting the foods that they prepared earlier in the episode. Valiant comes out to wreak havoc and insult Bellomo.
Valiant: “No way I would ever touch any of this garbage. It’s all fattening.” Valiant that makes an lame Italian joke: “You know how you break up an italian wedding? Just yell the cement’s here.”
McMahon tells Bellomo just to ignore him. Bellomo is rattled over Valiant’s interruption, but offers Hayes one of the cooked artichokes. Hayes, a food snob, hates it. He wonders if the artichokes have been washed properly.
Hayes then complains that there are no napkins. “Not a napkin anywhere,” he says. “Typical Italian. Eat with your fingers.”
Another TNT episode full of everything we love and hate about professional wrestling. Will the WWE ever experience another big ratings period? Who knows, but back in 1985, when the WWF was running wild across the nation and on television, we had plenty of unscripted television, where the wrestlers were allowed to talk and take some risks with their personalities. I don’t think we need a segment with John Cena cooking in the kitchen with his mother, but a little more microphone time for guys like Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Damian Sandow could mean money for the WWE.
Next week on TNT? Ken Patera and the man who might one day own Gawker.
ROH announced Thursday that during their TV tapings in Philadelphia, PA, Friday night, they and New Japan Pro Wrestling will make a “special announcement impacting their working relationship”. The news will stream live on ROH’s website at 7:10 PM EST.
There has been questions about the relationship since it was announced Justin “Thunder” Liger would appear at Saturday’s NXT TakeOver event in Brooklyn, NY — the same event that goes head-to-head with ROH’s baseball stadium show in Brooklyn featuring New Japan talent.
As Dave Meltzer talked about this week on Wrestling Observer Radio, things appear to be smoothed over between the two sides, evident by ROH’s booker Delirious’ appearance at the G1 Climax finals in which he revealed ROH talent would be headed over to Japan in 2016.
SmackDown had some good things and some bad things.
Show Recap:
Non-Title: IC Champion Ryback DCO Big Show
Big Show took control almost immediately after a clothesline and got some light “Please retire” chants. Ryback came back with shoulder blocks and a spinebuster, but got caught with an ugly spear for a near fall.
The match spilled to the outside where Ryback used a running clothesline on Show, sending both men through the barricade. Instead of this being a ref stoppage, they both got counted out. Not a good match.
This is where having a good commentary team is important, because this team of Jimmy Uso, Tom Phillips and Jerry Lawler basically treated crashing through the barricade like a normal thing that happens. This didn’t get over at all.
Backstage, New Day walked toward Gorilla and saw a random stagehand. Big E got him to do the clap, but the guy dropped his papers, so Xavier Woods held a toy basketball net over his head and Kofi dunked on him. Woods and Big E carried Kofi away and they all sang the New Day song. Amazing.
6-Man Tag Match: The New Day beat El Torito & Los Matadores via pinfall
They kept calling this a “six-being” tag match, which was annoying as hell. Torito hit a 619 on Big E outside the ring. Fortunately, he didn’t sell it. Eventually, Torito got the hot tag and almost got the pin on Woods with a rollup but Kingston made the save.
This led to one of the great moments in (recent) SmackDown history. Big E tagged in and gave Torito a backbreaker. Then, Big E absolutely crushed Torito with a giant splash, which was just incredible.
Woods jumped up and down asking for a tag, so Big E tagged him and Woods immediately applied the cover for the win. Kofi gave Woods a bouquet of flowers and they hoisted him up in celebration. Great segment.
Dolph Ziggler and Lana came out for a promo. Ziggler said Rusev crushed his throat and it hurt just to breathe. Ziggler wasn’t sure if he could come back, until he saw Summer Rae put Lana in the Accolade.
Ziggler knew he had to come back and Lana told him they need to crush those bastards. (So I guess Ziggler just willed himself back?) Lana said Ziggler makes her laugh and he fights for what he believes in. Lana said she’s also the best, because she slapped Rusev and shoved the fish in Summer’s face.
Ziggler said he loves that Lana has a sense of humour and called her a badass (they were holding hands). They went for a kiss but the Rusev flag dropped and Rusev came out with Summer. Rusev said Ziggler will find out what pain really is at SummerSlam when he puts Ziggler in the Accolade, forcing him to watch as Summer puts Lana in the Accolade as well.
Ziggler said he would shove Rusev’s teeth down his throat and steal his girlfriend—his real girlfriend (Lana). This was every bit as bad as the Ziggler and Lana “go public” segment on Raw a couple of months ago.
They showed John Cena’s promo on Seth Rollins from Raw.
Neville beat Bo Dallas via pinfall
This was every Neville singles match. Bo got the heat immediately, Neville came back with a high flying move and hit Red Arrow for the quick win. Meh.
After the match, Stardust and King Barrett did a promo saying they were sick of Red and Green. Barrett said he was going to turn Stephen Amell and Neville black and blue and Stardust said “because he’s going to punch you!” This was a perfectly fine wacky promo.
Team Bella came out for a promo. It was bad. Alicia Fox put over Nikki’s title reign, mentioning she was 26 days away from setting the record. Nikki said she had her toughest battle to date when she fought Sasha Banks.
She said Banks would be a great Diva’s champion one day, but not now. She called Banks’ win a fluke, and Fox said they were proud to be witnessing history. Team B.A.D. came out and Naomi said nobody was buying Nikki’s insincere speech.
Banks said she made Nikki tap-out, and Team Bella would finally crash and burn at SummerSlam. Brie said Sasha might call herself “The Boss,” but she should call herself another word that starts with the letter B. (Like… Banks?)
Banks said Brie was just riding off Daniel Bryan’s coattails, while reminding us that he’s injured. Brie told her instead of banking it, she should shove it. Oh boy. Becky Lynch came out with Charlotte (no Paige) and said they’re all in for a lass kicking. This was really bad. All of it.
Triple Threat: Brie Bella beat Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks via pinfall
After a break, Brie used Yes kicks, which got the biggest reaction of anything in this match. Banks took control after hitting double knees in the corner to both women. She mocked the Yes chants and collided with Brie on a double clothesline.
Lynch jumped in and made her comeback with kicks and exploder suplexes. Brie knocked Lynch into Banks, who fell out of the ring, and rolled up Lynch for the win. I think Brie was holding the tights but they didn’t mention it. Basic match and, obviously, Brie winning is really dumb.
They did a video package recapping the Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar and Undertaker segment from Raw.
8-Man Tag Match: Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns & Cesaro beat Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus and Kevin Owens via pinfall
9:24pm. Randy Orton made his entrance for the main event. Cesaro came out during commercial. Everyone else got a full entrance. 9:35 pm. The match is now starting. Orton went for an RKO but Sheamus escaped the ring. 9:36 pm. Commercial break. 9:40 pm. We’re back.
Cesaro picked up Owens for a delayed vertical. Owens tried to punch his way out but Cesaro hit it anyway. Ambrose tagged in and ran wild on Harper. Reigns tagged in and got his hands on Wyatt, but tagged out for some reason to Cesaro.
Cesaro tried to give Harper the big swing but Owens knocked him down. Harper caught him with a big boot and the heels took over from there.
After a break, they did a good little spot where all four heels tagged in and hit different senton variations. Lawler assured Tom Phillips that the “You look stupid” chants were not for him.
Cesaro cut off Sheamus with a dropkick and brought Reigns in with the hot tag (not that hot). Reigns clobbered Sheamus with clotheslines, followed by an apron dropkick and Samoan drop. He also gave Samoan drops to Harper and Owens.
Reigns went after Bray allowing Sheamus to roll him up with the tights, but Reigns kicked out. Sheamus hit a powerslam for two. Sheamus then knocked Orton off the apron so Reigns came back with a superman punch.
Ambrose made an actual hot tag and hit Harper with a bulldog and rebound clothesline. Ambrose knocked down Bray with a springboard plancha and Harper with a suicide dive. Ambrose followed with a diving elbow but Owens broke up the cover with a senton.
Cesaro uppercut Owens, Sheamus Brogue kicked Cesaro, Orton RKO’d Sheamus, Harper superkicked Orton, Reigns speared Bray, Harper superkicked Reigns, and Ambrose used Dirty Deeds on Harper for the win. Ambrose’s music played as the good guys posed.
Final Thoughts:
Definitely a mixed bag. The main event was really fun (once it actually started) and The New Day was great as always. On the other hand, the segment with Ziggler and Lana was painful, and the women’s talking segment was just bad.
Also, I didn’t mention crowd reactions during the report because this particular crowd didn’t care about anything outside of the main event.
This Sunday is SummerSlam, between now and then we have a few shows. NXT TakeOver in Brooklyn on Saturday, UFC Fight Night Saskatoon headlined by Holloway against Oliveira on Sunday. ROH also has a show Saturday. Smackdown airs tonight to kick it all off.
Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive return today with Wrestling Observer Live to further discuss this weekend as well as other current events. This can be listened to live here or through the iHeart Radio app.
Tonight: Smackdown (8pm Eastern on SyFy)
Ryback vs. Big Show
The New Day vs. Los Matadores and El Torito
Neville vs. Bo Dalls
Brie Bella vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch
Orton, Ambrose, Reigns and Cesaro vs. Sheamus, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Kevin Owens
If you don’t watch it or just want to read spoilers: WWE Smackdown TV results (August 20): SummerSlam go-home show, huge eight-man tag
Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!
****
The new issue of Figure Four Weekly is now up for subscribers (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and more) featuring a chat with Konnan about the state of AAA heading into TripleMania XXIII. We discuss the company’s improvements in production, advantages over WWE and differences in philosophy, how to listen to fans, and much more. Plus, as always, we have all of the usual reviews and international news, including Dr. Lucha’s TripleMania preview.
Last week’s FREE Figure Four Weekly is still up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture.
Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle.
****
WWE’s weekend in Brooklyn is the main story in this weeks Wrestling Observer Newsletter now available. This includes both Summerslam on Sunday as well as NXT Takeover on Saturday. We also have full coverage of the now finished G1 Climax and what the results mean for NJPW in the near future. In addition we look at UFC teamsters looking at options of unionization and the morale issues that spawned it. We also have a look at the AAA TripleMania PPV show, UFC ratings increases, the brawl at the WSOF show, UFC suing Wanderlei Silva and Layla retiring.
The issue is on the site right now at August 24, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam preview, G1 Tournament and finals review, Silva trial details
Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer
For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.
The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.
We look at the WWE events in Brooklyn with three straight full houses and look historically at the only other promotion that has been able to do it historically and the record, as well as updates on the NXT and SummerSlam shows and more details on the NXT card as well as the probable main event stipulation and ticket demand.
We have a complete look at the G-1 Climax tournament, including updates on the last few days, the standings, the Sumo Hall preview and coverage of all the shows this past week with star ratings.
We’ve got a look at the attempts to unionize UFC fighters, the real story behind the attempt, the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters and why they probably could have written it better, and a look at UFC business.
We also look at the wealth of Vince McMahon, Rosa Mendes being pregnant, WWE injury updates, lawsuits, weird match, Tough Enough, new names, insider trading, Raw advance, Diva search news plus notes on all the weekend WWE & NXT events.
We look at TripleMania, all the problems with the show, what happened with the Spanish language broadcast, mistakes made in booking, how the card had to change from its original plans, the letter AAA sent out after, the retirements and Hall of Fame ceremony, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
We also have coverage of this past week’s UFC show, with business notes, the Johnson-Dariush scoring, and match by match coverage with bonuses.
We also look at the brawl at the WSOF show with The Diaz Brothers and Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as the problems in the Jake Shields vs. Rousimar Palhares fight.
We’ve also got notes on the retirement of Layla from WWE and highlights of her career.
We also look at the lawsuit WWE has filed against Wanderlei Silva for alleging the company fixes fights.
We look at the CMLL Anniversary show, an injury to the best older wrestler in the business, a New Japan star comes to Mexico and a rundown on the main events the past two weeks at Arena Mexico.
We also look at another Rey Mysterio match, as well as the next major Dragon Gate show lineup and highlights from the past week.
We also look at New Japan stars heading to NOAH.
We also look at the beginning of talks for an international group to return to PPV, as well as a look at the Fire Festival, one of Genichiro Tenryu’s last matches and a set up for an angle with one of the biggest stars of the 80s vs. one of the biggest stars of the 90s.
We’ve got notes on the funeral of Roddy Piper, more on the Hulk Hogan tapes story, Hogan’s first public appearance, two Roddy Piper moves that haven’t come out, one of the biggest stars of the last ten years suffering a major health issue, a former star gets his number retired, a U.K. star returns after cancer, a retirement that probably isn’t a retirement, a Japanese promotion running in October in California, a wrestler having his first match in 20 years, the second oldest living wrestler and his background, big shows in Puerto Rico and news no two different wrestling Halls of Fame.
We also have an update on the status of Lucha Underground, what changes have to be made, the audience watching the show, what to look out for, notes on the contracts the performers have, update on Vampiro and coverage of both weeks of Ultima Lucha.
We also look at the ROH show in Brooklyn, TNA Hall of fame ceremony, and upcoming TNA house shows.
We also look at McGregor vs. Aldo, a big show vs. normal show, Las Vegas vs. Cowboys Stadium, Rousey vs. Cyborg update, Lawler vs. McGregor, UFC financials, how much it costs them every year just in interest on their bond, what kind of profits they are making, lots of ratings into, Rousey business notes, the Aldo drug testing fiasco, Overeem vs. Dos Santos, Punk vs. Pendred, fighter already talking about coming out of retirement, and lots of new UFC fights.
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.
New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
Thursday Update
Fight Network presents RFA 29 USA vs. Brazil Live August 21 at 10:00 PM ET.
UFC Fight Night 74 Preview: 5 storylines to watch, betting odds & predictions
August 22 GFW will be running a show in Reno, NV. Tickets can be purchased hereSonjay Dutt v Ryan McQueen, Reno SCUM v The Bullet Club, Christina Von Eerie v Amber O’Neal, Chris Mordetzky (formerly Chris Masters) v Nick Aldis (formerly Magnus), Virgil Flynn v PJ Black (formerly Justin Gabriel), JR Kratos v Paul Isadora
WWE NXT TV results (August 19): Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and the last stop before Takeover
EWF presents a couple of FREE Pro Wrestling events. One on Thursday Augut 20th in Baldwin Park. and the other At The Plaza in Norwalk also a FREE event on August 22nd. If you like those events then I would like to invite you to a spectacular event on September 4th in Covina. is a family friendly event fun for the whole family. It’s wrestling the way it used to be. The way it should be. Wrestling the way our parents and Grandparents remeber it.
There are standing room tickets available for Friday’s ROH show in Philadelphia
Check our our most recent free shows:
Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show 8/18: Raw go-home for SummerSlam, WCW Nitro from 19 years ago, tons more!
Wrestling Observer Live 8/18: Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker, SummerSlam, plus Vito Thomaselli and Seth Petruzelli appear!
Aug 17 Wrestling Observer Radio: WWE SummerSlam go-home Raw report, new UFC fights, more!
1951 – Terry McGinnis defeated Ted Travis to win the Hawaii Heavyweight Title in Honolulu.
1954 – June Byers defeated Mildred Burke for the NWA World Women’s Title in Atlanta, Georgia.
1963 – Crusher & Dick the Bruiser defeated Ivan & Karol Kalmikoff to win the AWA World Tag Team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Also on the card, Haystack Calhoun beat Mike DiBiase, Don McClarty beat Tiny Mills, Larry Hennig beat Jack Allen and Paul Christy beat Bill Wright. Attendance was 5,408
1964 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Joe Scarpello fought Bulldog Plechas to a draw, Rocky Hamilton defeated The Krusher, Pat O’Connor defeated Harley Race and Mike DiBiase & Bob Geigel defeated Sailor Art Thomas & Moose Evans in three falls
1970 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Steve Bolus defeated Dale Mann, Joe Scarpello fought Tarzan Tyler to a 15 minute draw, Harley Race defeated Oki Shikina, Rufus R. Jones defeated Baron Von Raschke via DQ and Danny Little Bear defeated Roger Kirby
1977 – Chicago, Illinois at the International, Amphitheatre; Super Destroyer beat Dick the Bruiser, AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Ray Stevens dq, AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Jimmy Valiant & Johnny Valiant, Billy Robinson beat Ivan Koloff dq, Angelo Mosca beat Pedro Morales, Chris Markoff beat Spike Huber and Bob Backlund drew Jan Nelson
1986 – Alfonso Dantes defeated Cien Caras for the Mexican Heavyweight Title in Acapulco, Mexico
1987 – Kuniaki Kobayashi defeated Nobuhiko Takada in the finals of the IWGP World Junior Heavyweight Title tournament in Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
1988 – Carlos Colon defeated Ron Starr in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Television Title
1996 – Lord Steven (William) Regal defeated Lex Luger for the WCW Television Title in Dalton, Georgia.
2003 – Michael Shane defeated Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian in the “Ultimate X” match to win the TNA X Division Title in Nashville, Tennessee.
New York, NY – August 20, 2015 – 2K today announced the action-packed entertainment of WWE® SuperCard, the Company’s renowned collectible card-battling game, will raise the stakes with extensive content in WWE SuperCard – Season 2. Featuring an expanded roster of WWE Superstars, Divas, Legends, the debut of NXT Superstars and Divas, enhanced King of the Ring tournament play, an updated Exhibition Mode with a new WWE Divas card slot, increased customization options and more, WWE SuperCard – Season 2 is available now as an update for download free of charge on the App Store for iOS devices, including the iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®, as well as the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore for Android™ devices.
WWE SuperCard has exceeded 7.5 million global downloads since its release in August 2014 and carries an average rating of 4.5/5 stars on the App Store, as well as a 4/5 rating on Google Play. Offering more than 700 cards in active play, with more to come in Season 2, WWE SuperCard challenges players to build teams of WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends, train them to full potential, battle in various match types and test their luck in fast-paced tournament action. In addition, players can enhance their free-to-play experience through purchase of individual card packs.
“WWE SuperCard sets the standard for bringing together the right brand and fan base in WWE with the competitive and engaging nature of collectible card games,” said Harley Howe, Co-Studio Head at Cat Daddy Games. “Season 2 elevates the authentic, hard-hitting WWE action more than 7.5 million fans have grown to love through new content certain to enhance the WWE experience in a mobile format.”
WWE SuperCard – Season 2 features include:
CUSTOMIZABLE CARDS – Customize and train Season 2 cards while earning tokens to permanently increase stats;
LARGER ROSTER – Access hundreds of cards featuring a variety of WWE and NXT Superstars and Divas, including Season 2 additions Brock Lesnar®, Undertaker®, Stone Cold Steve Austin®, Kevin Owens™, Samoa Joe™, Adrian Neville™, Charlotte™ and many more;
EXPANDED EXHIBITION DECK – Compete with an additional WWE Diva in solo matches, as well as in new Divas tag matches;
LOYALTY FUSIONS – Convert Season 1 cards into powerful Season 2 variants via the game’s Fusion Chamber;
GLOBAL CHAT – Connect with anyone in the world while playing WWE SuperCard;
WEEKLY EVENTS – Participate in weekly, real-time events with exclusive rewards to increase overall deck strength;
ENHANCED KING OF THE RING – The 16-man, multi-day tournament is now more strategic than ever with a new enhancement system.
Developed by Cat Daddy Games in conjunction with Visual Concepts, both 2K studios, WWE SuperCard is available now download free of charge on the App Store for iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPad and Pod touch, as well as the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore for Android devices.
AXS TV will be airing the Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada finals of the G-1 Climax tournament from last year’s Seibu Dome show again on Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
They will also be replaying the 2013 match of the year with Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi on 8/29, a Saturday, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
UFC issued a statement today regarding Anthony Rumble Johnson:
“UFC is aware of the situation involving Anthony Johnson. We take these matters seriously and have commenced a formal investigation by a third party law firm. We will act accordingly once we gather more information.”
The Johnson situation was reported here in the daily update at http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/44148-wed-update-qrumbleq-brags-about-attacking-woman-summerslam-week-schedule-a-much-more
