Category: Post Type article

It’s not 2006, but UFC has just announced Frank Mir vs. Andrei Arlovski as the No. 2 fight for the 9/5 UFC 191 PPV in Las Vegas.

It’s not 2006, but UFC has just announced Frank Mir vs. Andrei Arlovski as the No. 2 fight for the 9/5 UFC 191 PPV in Las Vegas underneath Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson re-matching for the UFC Featherweight Championship at the MGM Grand.

Also announced is a five-round main event bout between Matt Brown and Kelvin Gastelum, scheduled for November 21 in Monterrey, Mexico. That headlines a FOX Sports 1 event serving as the finals for The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America season two. Gastelum is coaching the season alongside Efrain Escudero, but since they fight in different weight classes, they will not be fighting each other. Gastelum drops back down to 170 pounds for this fight. 

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

We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s UFC 190 show, today’s G-1 in Osaka and tonight’s G-1 in Nagoya so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from each show to hsmeltzer@juno.co

We’re also looking for reports on today’s WWE house shows in Hidalgo, TX and Ontario, CA, as well as the Thursday night NXT show in Tampa and last night’s NXT show in Lakeland, FL at Dave Meltzer

Dave will be on CBC News in Canada 5:00 p.m. ET (airing again at 6:00 and 9:00) talking about the death of RoddyPiper.

UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia is live from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

Main Card at 10:00 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (Four hour window due to addition of TUF Brazil 4 finals)
Ronda Rousey (135) vs. Bethe Correia (134) for Rousey’s UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship
Mauricio Rua (206) vs. Antonio Rogeiro Nogueira (206)
Glaico Franca (156) vs. Fernando Bruno (155) in the TUF Brazil 4 Lightweight Finals
Reginaldo Vieira (135) vs. Dileno Lopes (135) in the TUF Brazil 4 Bantamweight Finals
Stefan Struve (265) vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (240)
Antonio Silva (265) vs. Soa Palelei (264)
Claudia Gadelha (116) vs. Jessica Aguilar (116)

Prelims on Fox Sports 1 at 8:00 p.m. ET:
Demian Maia (171) vs. Neil Magny (171)
Rafael Cavalcante (205) vs. Patrick Cummins (206)
Warlley Alves (171) vs. Nordine Taleb (171)
Iuri Alcantara (136) vs. Leandro Issa (136)

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass at 7:00 p.m. ET:
Vitor Miranda (186) vs. Clint Hester (186.7)
Hugo Viana (136) vs. Guido Cannetti (135)

This is an odd main PPV card. It’s a show heavily tailored to the Brazilian market, but Ronda Rousey in the main event…but that means she wasn’t able to do a media blitz in the U.S. The undercard has a ton of name value with Shogun, both Noguiera brothers, and even Struve to an extent. Hell, Shogun-Lil’ Nog is a rematch of their Fight of the Year winner. Gadelha-Aguilar is a great title eliminator fight at strawweight. And to the casual fan, hey, you’re getting a biggest, longer PPV than usual for the same price!

In reality, the main event is a mismatch even for a Ronda Rousey fight. At least going into her past fights, you could try to find a path to victory for her opponents: Sara McMann won’t be taken down and is the better, harder hitting striker. Alexis Davis can keep her at bay with low kicks and is a good enough grappler to avoid armbar traps. Cat Zingano…well, by that point, we had seen enough to know Rousey would win, but we expected Rousey’s toughest fight, not the shortest title fight in UFC history. Bethe Correia is a journeywoman who UFC has literally had to pretend has knockout power in ads for this show.

Worse, all of the name fights on main card have serious potential to be very depressing. Shogun and Lil’ Nog is a rematch of the Fight of the Year from literally a decade ago, and both fighters have the durability of guys who were in the Fight of the Year a decade ago. Big Nog should not be fighting (it’s not a secret that he has a seriously impaired left eye), Struve is a question mark due to his heart valve issue (though he appears to have really dedicated himself to this camp), and it could be really ugly. Bigfoot Silva also should not be fighting given the shape he’s in off the testosterone replacement therapy he desperately needs due to his acromegaly. At least we have Gadelha-Aguilar and Magny-Maia is a great featured prelim.

World Series of Fighting 22: Palhares vs. Shields airs live from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network:

Resumer Palhares (c) vs. Jake Shields for the WSOF Welterweight Title
Marlon Moraes (c) vs. Sheymon Moraes (no relations) for the WSOF Bantamweight Title
Mike Kyle vs. Clifford Starks (replacing Thiago Silva) in a light heavyweight fight
Abubakar Nurmagomedov (Khabib;s brother) vs. Jorge Moreno in a welterweight fight
Jimmy Spicuzza vs. Islam Mamedov in a lightweight fight

The main event is fascinating, possibly the best fight that can be made outside of the UFC right now. Unlike Jon Fitch when he was cut by the UFC, we have no indication that Shields isn’t, at worse, a top 15 welterweight (though he’s probably top 10). He’s also an incredible grappler (who eeked out a decision over Maia in his next to last UFC fight) challenging the most terrifying grappler in the welterweight division. Moraes-Moraes is also a really strong fight on paper, and Nurmagomedov’s debut is going to be well worth checking out. This is, in some ways, a better main card than th UFC 190 PPV it’s going against.

NJPW G1 Climax Day 9 in airs live from Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium at 3:00 a.m. ET on NJPW World:

Non-Tournament Matches:

1. Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu vs. Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask IV, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay Jr.
2. Michael Elgin & Jay White vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall
3. Hirooki Goto, Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
4. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga
G1 Climax A Block League Matches:
5. Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
6. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale
7. A.J, Styles vs. Doc Gallows
8. Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

Not the most eye-catching card, but Gallows-Styles is really intriguing on paper (Gallows works surprising well with high flyers, not that Styles isn’t much more than that these days) and Ibushi is the type of guy who could get something interesting out of Tenzan these days.

We’re also looking for reports on tomorrow’s WWE shows in Fresno and Stockton. 

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FREE THIS WEEK: The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and our) is 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. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news.

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

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The Latest Wrestling Observer: August 3, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Hulk Hogan fired by WWE over leaked hate speech, Daniel Bryan update

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The ups and downs of Hulk Hogan is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We look at his rise to fame, steroids in pro wrestling, Hogan as a fan, the Zahorian trial and why Hogan wasn’t involved, the first time Vince McMahon sent Hulk Hogan away, the McMahon trial, and his career post-wrestling.  We look at Hogan Knows Best and how that plays into his latest problems, Bubba the Love Sponge, when Hogan’s racist rant was first reported and how three years ago, the story behind the tapes, what was said, , Hogan’s apology, the Gawker threat and how it plays into his lawsuit, WWE’s reaction and how this is different from his other historical issues.  We look at how fiction vs. reality is Hogan’s friend, fan reaction, and more.  This is the most detailed look at not just Hogan’s latest situation, but life after wrestling over 25 plus years.

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We’ve also got full coverage of the UFC on FOX with T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao, with match-by-match coverage, business notes and poll results.

We also look in depth at Jeff Jarrett’s first TV taping for GFW in Las Vegas, including matches, direction and future.

We also have full coverage of the ROH Death Before Dishonor show, with match-by-match rundown, star ratings and poll results.

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Saturday Daily Update

• Reminder: The new Figure Four Weekly is FREE for everyone this week with a huge, detailed cover feature on the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI has tried to help Hulk hogan cover up the racist and homophobic comments he made that ended up being leaked a week ago. This is some weird, fascinating stuff.
• Check out Dave Meltzer’s live Play by Play.  UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia live results and coverage and here is coverage of yesterday’s weigh-ins:  UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia weigh-in results and live video  Also check out the UFC 190 Countdown shows.  Ryan Fredrick previews the show: UFC 190 Preview: 5 storylines to watch, betting odds & predictions.  Another preview with our staff picks: UFC 190 Wrestling Observer Picks & Preview: Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia by Josh Nason.  UFC Embedded: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, and Episode 5.  And last but not least UFC 190 and WSOF 22 Picks From The Secret Psychic Spy~!
• Brazilian judge bans kids from UFC 190
• There has been a ton of mainstream coverage of the death of Roddy Piper. That’s not surprising, but some of it is, like Piper’s death being the cover story in the Boston Herald. The BBC covered it as the third biggest story in world news. ESPN’s SportsCenter had a segment on Piper with Jonathan Coachman calling in to explain his legacy.
• By the way, when TMZ says he died of “natural causes” from “cardiac arrest” in his sleep, that just means that he died in his sleep and it was not wrongful death (homicide, suicide, etc). It has nothing to do with the common usage of the term. That’s not at all to say he didn’t die of natural causes in the way we all use that phrase, but TMZ does this regularly and it always confuses people. There’s a good article that Slate published a few years ago explaining the distinction.
• Josh Nason is looking for your memories of Rowdy Roddy Piper Roddy Piper: tell us what your favorite matches & moments are
• Here is Wrestling Observer’s initial coverage on the passing of Roddy Wrestling legend Roddy Piper passes away at 61, WWE & Vince McMahon statement (updated)
• Please check out this awesome coverage of NJPW G1 Climax 25: NJPW G1 Climax 25 (day 8) August 1 live results: Okada vs. Goto, Nakamura vs. Ishii
• For what it’s worth, Dana White did a radio interview saying that Bethe Correia “absolutely” knew that Ronda Rousey’s father committed suicide when she made a flippant comment about hoping that Rousey didn’t kill herself after she won the title from her. This had been a point of contention since Correia doesn’t speak English and the remark that set her off (Rousey saying Correia needed a “come to Jesus meeting”) was a colloquial English expression that got translated back to her literally.
• Rapper Meek Mill heavily sampled The Undertaker’s entrance music for a diss track targeting Drake, and according to TMZ, WWE is not amused.
• Ring of Honor brings the Reloaded Tour to the North Atlanta Trade Center in Atlanta, GA on Saturday Night August 29 at 7:30 pm. 
• Dori Yeats , the 2015 Pan Am Games Gold Medal Winner in woman’s freestyle wrestling, will wrestle an amateur match on the Aug 14th Great North Wrestling event at the Brockville Memorial Center against Aniko Potoczky. Tickets for the event, which will also feature Road Warrior Animal and The Honky Tonk Man, are at ticketweb.ca.

Georgia Hase, best known as the evil heel manager of various teams in a number of incarnations of Roller Games, passed away last night.  She had suffered a stroke during the middle of the past week.

Hase was the lead heel in a number of Roller Games and Roller Derby revivals from the late 70s until recent years.  She was a tremendous heel promo.

Hase joined Roller Games in 1961 and skated until 1964 in that league, and then briefly competed in a rival league where she was a top star until that league folded. 

She was never a main part of the glory days of either Roller Derby, which she never skated for, or Roller Games, but become a true star much later.

In the late 1970s, in a Los Angeles T-Birds revival era, she came back as a referee but the idea was to make her a heel General Manager of the Detroit Devils, and she may have been the first woman put in that role.  Her role was to play heel and be the adversary of the younger pretty women skaters, either rivals on the T-Birds, or women on her own team who would be ready for a babyface turn with a push.

She continued to be a part of revival games until last year.

“You were the best ever female manger in bank track leagues, you are missed and will never be forgotten,” wrote John Hall, the longtime babyface General Manager of the rival T-Birds.