The WWE announced today that The Undertaker would not be appearing on the U.K. tour after all.
The Undertaker’s status has changed constantly over the past week, but the announcements yesterday that HHH and Shane McMahon would be appearing on the tour is because both were going in place of Undertaker.
Undertaker was originally going to do the entire tour, then his schedule was cut to three dates, then to two, then to zero.
The show in Newcastle on Wednesday, which was going to be his only house show, was announced as having a HHH vs. Dean Ambrose main event, plus A.J. Styles vs. Chris Jericho and Kalisto vs. Ryback vs. Alberto Del Rio for the U.S. title.
The web site is also listing Kane, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, King Barrett, Big Show, Paige, Natalya, Goldust, Eva Marie, Damien Sandow, The Miz, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Naomi, Tamina, R-Truth, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose, and Fandango for the show.
Rose is obviously also off the show due to his being on a 60 day suspension for a Wellness policy violation.
Results from today’s show in Birmingham, England:
Cesaro beat Stardust Sin Cara beat Tyler Breeze Jack Swagger beat Tyler Breeze Kane beat Rusev New Day beat Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman to retain the tag titles Charlotte won over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to keep the women’s title Usos beat Dudleys Roman Reigns beat Sheamus to retain the WWE title
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC On FOX 19: Teixeira vs. Evans from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The event is headlined by a five-round bout in the light heavyweight division as #4-ranked Glover Teixeira takes on former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans. Also on the main card is the return of undefeated lightweight contender Khabib Numagomedov, who has been out of action for two years, plus a rematch between Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres in strawweight action. Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 4:30 PM eastern time with preliminary action all the way thru the main card.
WELTERWEIGHTS- ELIZEU ZALESKI DOS SANTOS (14-5, 0-1 UFC) VS. OMARI AKHMEDOV (15-3, 3-2 UFC)
First round: Right by Akhmedov., Akhmedov shot in with a double leg takedown. Dos Santos used a heel hook attempt to sweep to the top. Akhmedov working for a Kimura. He reversed to the top and now both on their feet. Low kick by Dos Santos. Left by Akhmedov and right by Dos Santos. Right by Akhmedov. Dos Santos with a body kick. Very close round. 10-9 Akhmedov.
Second round: Low kick by Dos Santos. Good right by Dos Santos. Akhmedov then took him down. Akhmedov with a lot of punches as Dos Santos got up. Left by Akhmedov. Low kick by Dos Santos. Good right by Akhmedov. Now Dos Santos back with a knee. Knee by Dos Santos. Another takedown by Akhmedov. Dos Santos went for a heel hook and got to his feet. Dos Santos went for a kneebar and now he’s on top. Spinning backfist by Akhmedov. Body kick by Dos Santos. Left by Akhmedov. Dos Santos went for a takedown but couldn’t get it. Both swinging and not landing. Another close round. 20-18 Akhmedov.
Third round: Akhmedov went for a takedown by Dos Santos blocked it. Dos Santos with kicks and hard punches. He hurt Akhmedov. Knee by Dos Santos. Traded knees. Hard right by Dos Santos. Akehmedov couldn’t get the takedown. Hard right by Dos Santos. Both swinging wildly. Knees by Dos Santos. Body shots and head shots by Dos Santos. Knee by Dos Santos. Dos Santos pounding him. Knee by Dos Santos and one knee after another before Dan Miragliotta stopped it.
MIDDLEWEIGHTS- OLUWALE BAMGBOSE (6-1, 1-1 UFC) VS. CEZAR FERREIRA (8-5, 4-3 UFC)
First round: Left by Ferreira. Low kick by Ferriera. Bamgbose with a low kick and landed some punches. Bamgbose dropped him with a right and landing hard punches on the ground. Bamgbose landing more punches from the top. Ferriera got back up. Ferriera with a double leg takedown and on top. Bamgbose may have blown his wad on that attempt to finish. Ferriera slipped avoiding a punch and was on his back as the round ended. Bamgbose 10-9
Second round: This is the first time Bamgbose has ever gone into the second round Ferreira with a knee to the body. Ferriera with a takedown. Bamgbose bleeding. Bamgbose with punches from the bottom. Ferreira landing elbows from the top. Another elbow by Ferreira. Ferriera with more elbows. Now he’s landing punches. More elbows by Ferriera. Bamgbose back to his feet. 10-8 Ferreira so 19-18 after two. Not sure many judges would go 10-8 here though.
Third round: Bamgbose has a nasty hematoma on his forehead. Bamgbose with a right. Ferriera took him down but Bamgbose back up. Ferriera took him down. A few punches by Ferriera. Bamgbose got up. Ferreria’s round so should win 29-27.
Scores: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-27 for Ferreira
BANTAMWEIGHTS- (#3 FLW) JOHN DODSON (17-7, 6-2 UFC) VS. MANVEL GAMBURYAN (15-8 1 NC, 6-6 1 NC UFC)Manvel Gamburyan (18-9, 1 no contest) vs, John Dodson (18-7), bw
First round: James Warring referee, one of the few guys ever to do pro boxing, kickboxing, MMA and pro wrestling. He was ranked in boxing and kickboxing as well. Dodosn landing a ton of lefts and finished Gamburyan in seconds. He hurt him on the first left and followed it up with about a 16 or so more in seconds. :47
Dodson said you’re looking at the new bantamweight champion.
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX- 6 PM ET/3 PM PT)
WELTERWEIGHTS- RANDY BROWN (7-0, 1-0 UFC) VS. MICHAEL GRAVES (5-0, 1-0 UFC)
First round: Graves moved in to attempt a takedown. Brown went for a trip but Graves back up. Both throwing knees that are borderline. Big elbow by Graves. Brown has some good balance. Another knee by Brown. Ref Dan Miragliotta speared them. Wild action with Brown punching and he threw a kick, Graves caught him and took him down. Graves with some punches from the top. Brown went for a triangle late. Graves 10-9.
Second round: Graves took him down again. Graves landing elbows. Graves got his back. Graves got the choke and it’s over.
WELTERWEIGHTS- COURT MCGEE (17-4, 6-3 UFC) VS. SANTIAGO PONZINIBBIO (21-3, 3-2 UFC)
First round: McGee moved in right away. Nice right by McGee. McGee landed another. He failed on a takedown attempt. Santiago with a low kick. Santiago landed a right. McGee back with a right. Right by Santiago. Another right by Santiago. Santiago landing shots. Low kick by Santiago. McGee landed a right. McGee landing. Right by McGee. Santiago dropped him with a right and Santiago landing punches and kicks. Santiago landing more punches and the fight was stopped. Very exciting while it lasted.
First round: Slow open. Pennington landed a right and pushed her against the fence. Left by Pennington. Pennington with a low kick. Nice left by Correia. Body kick by Correia. Right by Pennington. Right by Pennington. Correia landing punches. Pennington 10-9.
Second round: Both landing punches. Nice left by Correia. Pennington went for a takedown and it was easily blocked. Pennington with a knee. Correia starting to land. Both landing shots. Pennington landed a right. Correia moved in with punches. Both trading punches. Both continue to trade elbows. Low kick and left by Correia. Elbow and knee by Pennington. Pennington again trying for a takedown but not getting it. Knee by Pennington. Elbow by Pennington. Close round. Correia’s round, so tied 19-19.
Third round: Left and rihg by Correia. Body kick by Correia. Nice right by Pennington. Elbow by Pennington. Both landing punches. Correia with a big right. Low kick by Correia. Correia going for a takedown but Pennington blocking it. Left by Pennignton. Left by Pennignton. Correia landing shots. Pennington trying for a takedown. Pennington landed several shots. Really good fight. 29-28 Correia but this could go either way.
LIGHTWEIGHTS- (#7) BENEIL DARIUSH (12-1, 6-1 UFC) VS. (#14) MICHAEL CHIESA (13-2, 6-2 UFC)
First round: Nice low kick by Dariush. Body kick by Chissa. Great low kick by Dariush. Left by Dariush. Dariush landing more. Cheisa with a left. Low kick by Chiesa. Low kick by Dariush. Another low kick by Dariush. Right by Dariush. Another low kick by Dariush. Dariush went for a takedown but couldn’t get it. Chiesa landed some punches. Dariush again going for a takedown and Chiesa blocked it again. Chiesa with knees to the body. Dariush landing elbows. Dariush finally got a takedown late in the round and had his back. 10-9 Dariush.
Second round: Two hard low kicks by Dariush. Dariush shot for a takedown. Chiesa got the takedown and got Dariush’s back and he’s going for the choke. He’s not under the neck. Chiesa is squeezing and Dariush tapped out to a facelock. This was the first time Dariush had tapped in MMA.
Chiesa issued a challenge to Tony Ferguson after the match. Joe Rogan then asked him what he wanted next.
MAIN CARD (FOX- 8 PM ET/5 PM PT)
FEATHERWEIGHTS- (#6) CUB SWANSON (21-7, 6-3 UFC) VS. (#10) HACRAN DIAS (23-3-1, 3-2 UFC)
First round: Low kick by Dias. Low kick by Swanson. Low kick by Dias. Low kick by Swanson. Right by Dias. Body kick by Dias. Low kick by Swanson. Swanson with a body kick. Low kick by Dias. Both missing. Dias with a low kick. 10-9 Dias.
Second round: Swanson put him down with a left hook. Swanson throwing big punches on the ground. Swanson wth a left hook. Low kick by Swanson. Left by Dias. Nice right by Dias. Swanson put him down more like a trip. Nice scramble and Dias landed a hard right. Dias with a knee. Swanson with a body kick. Swanson’s round so 19-19 after two.
Third round: Dias with a left. Left to the body by Swanson. Left by Dias. Dias with a right. Spin kick by Swanson but didn’t land it clean. Nice right by Swanson. Nice uppercut by Swanson and dropped him with a left head kick right after getting up. Swanson all over him. Swanson landing punches on the ground. Knee to the butt. Swanson on top. Swanson standing and kicking the legs of Dias who is laying on his back. Swanson with hard shots on the ground. Swanson’s round 29-28, could be 30-27 but Swanson has to win.
Scores: All three had it 29-28 for Swanson.
160-POUND CATCHWEIGHT- (#2 LW) KHABIB NURMAGOMED
First round: Horcher landed a left. Another left by Horcher. Low kick by Horcher. Another left by Horcher. Khabib with a running Stampede. Nurmagomedov moved to side control and landing elbows. Now he’s throwing punches. Nurmagomedov spun to the back, now moved to full mount. Now he’s got Horcher’s back and throwing hard punches. 10-8 Nurmagomedov.
Second round: Horcher bleeding from the back of he head. Judo takedown by Khabib into side control. Khabib landing punches. More punches by Khabib. Now Khabib is pounding on him. Khabib landing punches. Now he’s got Horcher’s back. He’s throwing punches. James Warring stopped it a little late.
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHTS- (#3) ROSE NAMAJUNAS (4-2, 2-1 UFC) VS. (#4) TECIA TORRES (7-0, 3-0 UFC)
First round: Namajunas staying on the outside and landing. Torres landed several punches when she got inside. Both landing as Torres moved in. Torres landing a lot of punches on the inside. Torres trying to muscle a takedown but not getting it. Namajunas got the hip toss. Good round. 10-9 Torres.
Second round: Low kick by Torres. Front kick by Namajunas. She’s going Diaz with her mannerisms. Nice punch by Torres and Namajunas back with a counter. Namajunas landed a left. Namajunas landed a left again. Left by Namajunas. Front kick by Namajunas. Namajunas with a front kick Namajunas slipped and went down but got back up. Torres moving forward and landed. Nice left by Namajunas and another. Namajunas’ round so 19-19 after two. Good action.
Third round: Overhand right by Namajunas. Left by Namajunas. Another left land by Namajuans as Torres jumped in. Torres landed a combo. Namajunas with a body kick. Namjunas got the takedown. Close round 29-28 Namajunas.
First round: Teixiera landed some punches. Body kick by Teixeira. Teixiera landed a left and followed with a right and it’s over. The left hurt him and the right put his lights out. Good stoppage.
Teixeira challenged Rumble Johnson, saying since Cormier is fighting Jon Jones, let’s make some money, let’s do business. It’s the fight that makes sense.
After our panel took a beating at UFC 196, we’ve taken a month and a bit to regroup and we’re back for the UFC’s return to big FOX. This card looks a lot different than it did when it was originally scheduled and really may be the weakest overall card in FOX history in terms of star power. But it’s UFC and with a sporadic schedule the last six weeks, I know that I at least am jonesing for some UFC action.
At least two fights on the card should have title implications in the next year or so with the Tecia Torres-Rose Namajunas fight probably determining the next strawweight contender and the Beneil Dariush and Mike Chiesa fight sending one of them into the top 5. The main event is two men on the downsides of their careers but still top contenders. A title fight for either of Rashad Evans or Glover Teixeira would be a tough sell but an impressive performance from one of them, particularly Evans, could spark some interest in a title program, should they need a challenger on short notice. The remaining two fights we’ll be picking from are between top 15 contenders in both the featherweight and women’s bantamweight divisions.
Here’s our panel with the 2016 records in parenthesis. We’ve also added a running tally of the records of the favorites going into the fights and the panel consensus picks
John Pollock (20-10; .667) – Fight Network analyst, Live Audio Wrestling co-host, MMA Report co-host
Mike Sawyer (18-12; .600) – Tough Talk MMA
Josh Nason (18-12; .600) – Host of Josh Nason’s Punch Out; writer/editor WrestlingObserver.com , WON Twitter guy
Mike Sempervive (17-13; .567) – Wrestling Observer Live and Big Audio Nightmare co-host
David Bixenspan (17-13; .567) – Figure Four Weekly writer, podcast host
Consensus picks (15-13; .536)
Ryan Frederick (16-14; .533) – WrestlingObserver.com UFC reporter, WON Twitter guy
Favorites (16-14; .533)
Dave Meltzer (15-15; .500)– Wrestling Observer founder
Steve Juon (15-15; .500) – MMA Mania/Wrestling Observer writer. Angry Marks founder
Front Row Brian (13-17; .433) – MMA newsbreaker, Beloved internet personality, Podcast host
Paul Fontaine (12-18; .400) – MMADraws.com founder, WrestlingObserver.com writer
Main Event – Light Heavyweights Rashad Evans (19-4-1) vs Glover Teixeira (21-4)
Evans has only been stopped one time in his long career, having been knocked out in a title loss versus Lyoto Machida in 2009. He’s coming off a decision loss against Ryan Bader which snapped a two fight win streak for the former champion and TUF Season 2 winner. Glover Teixeira took this fight on just a couple week’s notice and agreed to a five round stipulation. He’s hoping it won’t go that long as 11 of his last 12 wins have been by stoppage. It seems likely that Evans will ether outpoint his way to a decision win or Glover will hand Rashad the second stoppage loss of his career.
Strawweights Tecia Torres (7-0) vs Rose Namajunas (4-2)
This is a rematch of a 2013 fight in Invicta that Torres won by decision. Despite that and also despite Torres still being unbeaten in her career, Namajunas comes in as the higher ranked fighter. Torres did have two losses in the TUF 20 strawweight tournament but those were not considered official fights and are not counted against her record. It’s interesting to note that all of her career fights have gone the distance. By contrast, “Thug” Rose has submissions in every one of her pro wins. She had a star-making performance last time out against Paige VanZant in the main event of a Fight Pass show in December. This fight was bumped to the co-main position after Lyoto Machida was pulled from his fight with Dan Henderson after a violation of the UFC’s drug policy.
Featherweights Cub Swanson (21-7) vs Hacran Dias (23-3-1)
Since a 2011 loss to Ricardo Lamas, Swanson has only lost twice and both were to top 5 fighters Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway. Along the way, he’s beaten the likes of Charles Oliveira, Dennis Siver, Ross Pearson and Dustin Poirier, among others. But he did take a beating at the hands of Edgar and how he fares in this fight could show just how much that took out of him. Against lesser competition than Swanson has face, Dias is just 3-2 in UFC but he is on a two fight win streak. He scored a split decision win over Levan Makashvili in his last fight, which followed a dreadfully boring decision win over Darren Elkins.
Lightweights Mike Chiesa (13-2) vs Beneil Dariush (12-1)
This might be the most interesting fight on the card. Both are rising contenders just under the elite in the stacked 155 lb division. Both have recent wins over veteran Jim Miller, a tough out for anyone. Chiesa has a little more UFC experience and is a former TUF winner but Dariush has faced a higher level of competition in his 7 UFC fights. He most recently beat top 5 contender (at the time) Michael Johnson. The winner here should move into the top 5 or at the very least get a top 5 opponent next time out. Dariush is a training partner of the lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos and is on record as saying he won’t fight him.
Women’s Bantamweights Bethe Correia (9-1) vs Raquel Pennington (6-5)
Just looking at the records here, you’d almost think this was a mismatch and it might be…just in the other direction. Correia worked her way through Ronda Rousey’s 4 Horsewomen and talked her way into a title shot but was dismantled by the former champion in vicious fashion. Pennington, meanwhile, took Holly Holm to the limit in a fight many feel she actually won. That loss looks a lot better with hindsight. She followed that up with a submission victory over Jessica Andrade last September to cement her top 10 status in the division. This is an important fight for both as they are just outside the fringe of title contention.
The WWE announced this morning that Ray Leppan (Adam Rose) and Ryan Parmeter (Konnor) have both been suspended for 60 days for a second Wellness program violation.
The suspension is effective immediately.
All violations are supposed to be announced publicly.
Both men were not on the current tour but did work the television tapings earlier in the week. The Ascension lost in the tag team tournament taped Tuesday in a first round match to Enzo & Big Cass.
WWE has in the past delayed suspensions to tie up booking issues and in the case of these two there wouldn’t have been the need for much of a delay.
Parmeter (Konnor) was suspended on a Wellness policy violation the first time in 2006 and Leppan (Rose) was suspended on a Wellness policy violation the first time in 2013.
Rose is part of the Social Outcasts group, but only Heath Slater and Bo Dallas were sent to Dubai. It is possible that Los Matadores, who haven’t been used of late and are already doing vignettes for a new gimmick without masks, were on that same tour as replacements because The Ascension would have fit into that spot.
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez will discuss this on tonight’s new edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Yet another fight was eliminated from what has become a snake-bit UFC show on FOX tomorrow.
The Islam Makhachev vs. Drew Dober fight is off because shortly after weigh-ins, UFC was informed by USADA that Makhachev had a potential anti-doping violation involving Meldonium, which is listed as of this year as a banned performance enhancing agent.
Meldonium was developed clinically for heart ailments like angina, but like insulin, was discovered to have performance enhancing properties. Like Insulin, it has been listed since the start of the year as a banned Metabolic Modulator. It is the same drug the tennis star Maria Sharapova was recently suspended for.
This marks the second fight on the show in the last three days to be canceled due to the anti-doping policy, the other being the Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson fight, as Machida was suspended for admitting usage of a substance that he didn’t realize was on the banned list which contained DHEA.
Last week the scheduled main event with Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson full through due to a training injury suffered by Ferguson.
The news was first reported by Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting and confirmed by a UFC release tonight.
Today WWE announced qualifying matches for their Global Cruiserweight series.
Announced for the Evolve show on 5/7 in Queens, NY, with Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi vs. TJ Perkins. Gulak and Williams are the current Evolve tag team champions. The show takes place at La Boom in Queens, NY and will air on iPPV at www.WWNlive.com
Also, announced for the PROGRESS on Sunday April 24th in Camden Town, London, Zach Sabre Jr. will face Flash Morgan Webster. Jack Gallagher will go up against “Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne.
The names WWE has announced thus far for the tournament are Rich Swann, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Noam Dar, Akira Tozawa, Ho Ho Lun and Lince Dorado. Swann, Ciampa and Gargano are already under contract to WWE. Dar is an independent wrestler from the U.K., Tozawa is a star with Dragon Gate, Lun is from Hong Kong and Dorado is a Florida-based Lucha style independent wrestler.
UFC’s attempts to build the audience of Fight Pass with bigger fights continued with the announcement of the first men’s title fight as an exclusive in the U.S. on the service.
The company announced that its Fight Pass exclusive show on July 7, which is the Thursday of UFC 200 weekend and the first of three straight nights of fight shows in Las Vegas, would be headlined by Rafael dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title.
The show takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. UFC will run the Grand Garden Arena on Thursday night with the lightweight title fight, then will run Friday night in the same building for the TUF finals and a strawweight title fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk defending against Claudia Gadelha in a fight that will be built up starting this coming week as the two are rival coaches on the new season of The Ultimate Fighter that debuts on FS 1 on Wednesday night. The Friday show also features the TUF tournament finals which will be men’s light heavyweight fighters and women strawweight fighters.
UFC 200 will take place on July 9 at the T-Mobile Arena, which is basically across the street and will be the new premiere destination for the biggest events in the city with a 20,000-seat set up. That show will feature three major main events, with Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz in a rematch of their 3/5 fight, plus Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title and Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar for the interim featherweight title. It will be promoted as the biggest UFC event in history, and also has such undercard fights as Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne, Johny Hendricks vs. Kelvin Gastelum, Gegard Mousasi vs. Derek Brunson, Joe Lauzon vs. Diego Sanchez and Cat Zingano vs. Julianna Pena.
UFC’s annual convention and the International Fight Week convention also take place that week in Las Vegas.
The UFC’s Hall of Fame ceremony will also be taking place that weekend.
This is essentially UFC’s version of WrestleMania weekend.
The debut of “American Grit,” the reality show hosted by John Cena, did not make a ratings splash last night.
The show was the least watched show of the four major networks last night, doing 2.43 million viewers and an 0.8 rating in the key 18-49 demo. Of the major broadcast networks, it only beat out the CW programming for the night. Of the four broadcast network shows going head-to-head, the lowest rated in the time slot was NBC, which ran The Blacklist doing 6.56 million viewers and a 1.3 in the demo. The highest rated was Grey’s Anatomy on ABC which did 7.97 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in the demo.
The other bad news for the show is that it barely did half the audience of its lead in, Bones, which did 4.36 million viewer and a 0.9 in the demo.
The career of Blackjack Mulligan, details on the death of Balls Mahoney, a full review of NJPW Invasion Attack, plus tons of news.
The life and times of Blackjack Mulligan is the lead story in this week’s new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The character and life of Mulligan, who became a folk hero during the building of the Mid Atlantic wrestling territory into the strongest, in terms of talent, during the late 70s. Before wrestling, his start, what local sports star got him into pro wrestling, first big career break. The night he was stabbed, and his thoughts on it, the debut of the Blackjacks tag team, main eventing at Soldier Field, , the unique story as to why the Blackjacks WWWF tag team title reign was so short, his role in the development of Ric Flair as the area’s top star, why the Flair vs. Mulligan feud worked so well, story of the program, Mulligan’s attempts to run a promotion, debut of Barry Windham, famous Mulligan street fight stories and his encounters with Andre the Giant, how his two years in prison ended his in ring career.
A proposal for a national holiday honoring pro wrestling in Mexico.
A blueprint of how to get Roman Reigns over the hump. The crowning of Tetsuya Naito as the new IWGP champion. Invasion Attack, how CMLL and New Japan handled top baby faces they wanted on top that the public didn’t buy and made them into major stars. The next major NJPW shows, the direction, and full coverage of the show with match-by-match coverage and star ratings.
More details on the attempted class action lawsuit against WWE over royalties from the network, why the Rene Dupree lawsuit fell apart.
The death of Joao Carvalho in an MMA fight over the weekend and details of what happened.
Update on Payback, why it may be a hot card, business notes from WrestleMania, network viewership, merchandise was sold, demographics of WWE Network subscribers and key markets they are successful and unsuccessful.
John Cena talking about his start in WWE, more on the recent WWE call ups, Bobby Roode in WWE, Brie Bella talks new role, more on Dr. Christopher Amann’s lawsuit against C.M. Punk, group being phased out down the line, change in WWE dress code, why a wrestlers’ finisher is getting a new name, update on Undertaker, European tour by WWE, Michaels talks his WrestleMania appearance, Randy Orton, concussion lawsuit, lots of WWE business notes and coverage of all the WWE arena events.
The death of Balls Mahoney, career highlights, the story of his gimmick and name in ECW, original concept of his character was supposed. WWE runs and after ECW folded.
UFC’s Fight Night Croatia headlined by Junior Dos Santos vs. Ben Rothwell, affects on the heavyweight division, plus business and ratings.
Details on the signings announced this past week by WWE.
Ratings for all the pro wrestling and MMA shows from the past week. We also look at what type of audience watches these shows.
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
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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.
Also in this issue:
A wrestler who verbally agreed to come to one promotion and then shockingly showed up on the doorstep of another
A look at the big matches at Arena Mexico this past week
A look at the new hot trio team
A look at a unique tag team tournament that starts this week
The biggest legends of the 70s return for a main event teaming with current star in May
More legends coming back for the Elite promotion
Notes on the returns of Rey Mysterio and Brian Cage to AAA
The crazy situation involving Octagon and Octagon Jr. that was covered as mainstream sports news in Mexico
Update on La Parka after he collapsed over WrestleMania weekend in Texas
Mexican heels using Trump to get heat
Notes on the annual King of Gate tournament
Some of the major shows in the tournament
Unique gimmick match coming to Dragon Gate
Open of the All Japan Champion Carnival tournament
Wrestler changing his name to honor Hall of Famer
Notes on NOAH’s annual tag team tournament and key shows
Notes on what is traditionally the biggest indie show in the U.S.
More on what happened with MVP and Lucha Underground
More notes on the two Lucha Underground title changes taped over the weekend
Reaction in the building
Update on Ricochet
What King Cuerno hasn’t been at any of the new Lucha Underground tapings
Notes on Aztec Warfare three and more from season three of the season with new directions
Lots of notes on newcomers to Lucha Underground including Japanese stars
Notes on more balcony dives
Update on ROH business in May
Why TNA had to move offices
Where things stand right now for the promotion
How Dixie Carter first got control of the company
Another bad sign from a television standpoint
Lawsuit threat against TNA and why it’s being ignored
Major changes for fighters for upcoming major Bellator and UFC shows
Notes on Frank Mir and Viscardi Andrade and potential drug test failures
Mir proclaims innocence
Viscardi also reacts to the news
More on the return of B.J. Penn and his new fight
UFC talks why they are booking Penn after decided against it recently
GSP strongly hints about returning to UFC
More on the matchmaking in the women’s division
Update on this week’s show
Demetrious Johnson talks what he’d like to see happen for him this year
Notes from the new season of Ultimate Fighter as well as the next season of Ultimate Fighter Latin America
Ken Shamrock explains drug test failure
Notes on big Rizin event
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During the 70s and 80s, Blackjack Mulligan was one of the legendary characters in pro wrestling, a man whose life and career had major ups and just as legendary downs.
