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THE ROUND-UP
The latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte part of a ‘triple main event’ at WWE Hell in a Cell
Daily Update: UFC cuts, Brie & Bryan’s baby, TNA ratings improve
UFC cost-cutting measures continue with 13 fighters released
WWE News: Becky Lynch back in action; Styles vs. Ambrose; Hammond, IN, results
Several documents unsealed in Billy Corgan’s lawsuit against TNA
Bellator 162 live results: Bobby Lashley returns; Shlemenko vs. Grove
Are New Japan’s split shows leading to self-‘Destruction’?
AUDIO
DragonKing Dark: Stephen King 10/23
AD: Mass hysterias throughout history, clown update 10/23
WOL: Dr. Lucha Steve Sims talks CMLL, AAA, Lucha Underground, more! 10/21
We’re looking for reports on the following shows to [email protected].
WWE Raw in Hammond, IN, NXT in Tampa
ROH in Fort Lauderdale (Jay Lethal & Alex Shelley & Silas Young vs. Jay Briscoe & Christopher Daniels & Colt Cabana, Adam Cole vs. Bull James non-title, Hangman Page vs. Dalton Castle, Mark Briscoe vs. Frankie Kazarian)
WWE Raw in Milwaukee, SmackDown in Sioux City, IA, NXT in Ocala, FL
ROH in Lakeland, FL (Adam Cole vs. Silas Young for ROH title, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Dalton Castle & Colt Cabana, Kamaitachi vs. Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe vs. Hangman Page, Punisher Martinez vs. Bull James)
WWE Raw in Rochester, MN and SmackDown in Des Moines, IA
Raw will be Monday night from Minneapolis featuring the return of Brock Lesnar, plus Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins in a three-way non-title and New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro in a non-title match. It’s the go-home show for Hell in a Cell. There is also a Smackdown brand house show in Dubuque, IA.
Smackdown will be Tuesday in Green Bay. A.J. Styles vs. Dean Ambrose in a non-title match and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt in a no DQ match are announced for the show. Becky Lynch returns to television on Tuesday.
Figure Four Weekly 10/17/2016: More on the deregulation of pro wrestling in California – To pick up where we left off last week, in 1989 deregulation of pro wrestling was put before the State Assembly and passed. Here’s how it was discussed in the minutes for the October 20, 1989 meeting of the California State Athletic Commission (emphasis ours): “Assembly Bill 1040 was signed by Governor Deukmejian and, except for the 5% tax on the amount paid for admission, will completely deregulate professional wrestling January 1, 1990… Current subscribers click here to continue reading.
F4W YouTube Page: Tons of clips and full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!
Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Oct 24, 2016: Pinpointing the day that lead to TNA’s current predicament, UFC layoffs, more – What has been the long-time inevitable but several times delayed financial implosion of TNA can really be traced back to one afternoon. Largely based on a contract with Spike TV, TNA was taking in more revenue than any pro wrestling company in the world aside from WWE through 2014. If a company like ECW would have gotten that type of a deal, they would probably still be flourishing today… Current subscribers click here to continue reading.
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $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 [email protected]. 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 choose one free classic issue, or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.
WON BACK ISSUE:,WON September 20, 1999: Eric Bischoff fired from WCW, Beyond the Mat review, more – Although wrestlers were singing “Ding, Dong, the Witch is dead,” Friday night in Baltimore, when the word of Eric Bischoff’s re-assignment within Turner (read that as a nice way of saying firing) reached the wrestlers, once the initial happiness wore off and reality set in, the reality is little has changed… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
Sunday News Update
The Death of WCW by Bryan Alvarez and RD Reynolds is now available as an audiobook through Amazon.com and Audible. Bryan did the narration for the book and it runs almost fifteen hours, so grab yours today!
Bryan and I will be up later today with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight covering the latest news from wrestling and MMA. With no major shows this weekend, there will be plenty of time for questions that you can send to [email protected].
Becky Lynch and Kalisto both returned at last night’s Smackdown brand house show in Sioux City, IA. Kalisto had been out with an injury and Lynch with a medical condition.
Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Takashi Sugiura today at the big Pro Wrestling NOAH show in Yokohama to win the GHC title. I could really see Nakajima defending the title against somebody like Yuji Nagata either in NOAH or New Japan. If I’m booking the Tokyo Dome, I think that may be the direction to go.
Yet another lawsuit filed against TNA was by Bankdirect Capital Finance, LLC which filed a lawsuit asking for $207,612.29 plus late charges, interest and attorney feels against TNA Entertainment LLC on 9/29 in Circuit Court in Cook County, Illinois. On November 30, 2015, BankDirect entertained in an agreement where it would pay TNA $400,146.00 so TNA could pay certain insurance premiums and TNA agreed to make ten monthly payments of $41,032.45 with the first payment on November 13, 2015. As of the time of the suit, TNA had paid nearly half but still was $207,612.29 behind.
The latest promotion to announce a streaming service is DDT from Japan, a comedy group with mostly women fans that also put on some incredible main events.
WWE last night at the house show in Milwaukee announced that the Fast Lane PPV will be on 3/5 in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center, which should be the last show before WrestleMania (hopefully it is, the last thing they need is a PPV two weeks before Mania). There is a pre-sale right now with the code: WWEPRE
WWE
The Los Angeles Times had a story that Randy Orton sold his home in St. Charles, MO for $775,000. It was a home he had built three years ago.
Pollstar did a last of the 100 most successful touring acts and listed WWE at No. 12. The problem with this is they listed WWE with 707,387 tickets sold in the first nine months of the year, and that’s probably around half the actual tickets sold. I guess it has to do with what is and isn’t reported and that may also be the case for other acts. So they could be No. 5, unless other acts are similarly unreported. The touring acts above WWE for sure would be Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Coldplay and Disney on Ice. This doesn’t include every top tier major sport which would be ahead of WWE. In fact, two UFC PPV’s this year sold more orders than WWE has in total arena ticket sales so far this year, but UFC would be behind WWE in arena attendance for the year because of running so many more events.
A fun WWE article explaining the masterful job of storytelling the company does that makes them a brand powerhouse here.
WWE put out another fan survey asking fans which of these promotions they watch: PWG, CHIKARA, Dragon Gate USA (dear God, how far behind are they, how many years has it been since there was a such thing?), OVW, AAW, CZW, Evolve, Shimmer Squared Circle Wrestling, ROH and FIP. Very notable who they didn’t ask about as well.
A story on Bruno Sammartino is here.
WWE pulled Mick Foley from the 11/20 ICW Fear and Loathing 9 show in Glasgow at the SSE Hydro. Foley is needed for television. The ICW show is one of the biggest indie events of the year and will draw the largest crowd for a U.K. based pro wrestling promotion in something like 35 years. WWE did a make good, as Finn Balor will take Foley’s spot as a guest enforcer on the show. Really interesting them sending someone to a show that would be competition given they are running Glasgow for both Raw and Smackdown a week before and if you think them booking Glasgow for the first time for TV ever and another promotion trying to draw a huge house in Scotland is coincidence, well, it’s quite the coincidence.
Carmella (Leah Van Dale) turns 29 today.
Goldust noted yesterday celebrating 21 yeas since his WWE debut.
VARIETY
Kenny Omega and Young Bucks talk about having fun this week in Japan and Omega talks about why he left WWE. Omega is really compelling in this interview.
With no major events, nothing from pro wrestling, boxing or MMA made Google trends the past few days.
New Japan promotional video on the Time Bomb coming to Osaka at Power Struggle is here.
Dennis Brent talks getting into pro wrestling. (thanks to Chris Cruise)
Tim Storm defeated Jax Dane to win the NWA world heavyweight title on Friday night in Sherman, TX.
Bellator has announced Ilima-Lei MacFarlane (4-0) vs. Emily Ducote (4-1) and Chidi Njokuani (15-4, 1 no contest) vs. Andre Fialho (7-0) to the 12/3 in Thackerville, OK on Spike. Both will be on the television part of the show along with the John Teixeira vs. Pat Curran main event.
Today’s Blue Justice show from New Japan will be up on New Japan World at some point today.
CZW and WSU have a doubleheader on 11/19 in Voorhees, NJ at Flyers Skate Zone. CZW is headlined by Matt Tremont & Jeff Cannonball vs. Josh Crane & Dale Patricks, Sami Callihan vs. Joe Gacy and Homicide vs. Yuma.
Jersey All Pro Wrestling on 11/12 in Rahway, NJ at the Rahway Rec Center has its 20th anniversary show with Alberto el Patron, Homicide, Low Ki, Da Hit Squad and more. They will also have a JAPW Hall of Fame ceremony inducting Homicide, Low Ki and Da Hit Squad at 7 p.m. that night. (thanks to Bob Magee)
There is a big legends show coming to Nuevo Laredo on 11/5 with Los Hermanos Dinamita vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Juventud Guerrera & Garza Jr., plus Solar & El Hijo del Solitario & Angel Blanco Jr. vs. Negro Navarro & Rey Bucanero & El Satanico.
Mathieu St. Jacques vs. Josh Alexander headlined for Capital City Championship Combat on 11/26 at the Vanier Columbus Club in Ottawa.
Negro Casas vs. Arandu headlines Gimnasio Independencia in Tijuana today. Promociones EMW has the big Friday show at Audiotrio Municipal with El Texano Jr. vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. on top in a three-way plus Garza Jr. & La Parka & Rey Hours (Dragon Azteca Jr. in Lucha Underground) vs. Hernandez & Paul London & Mesias.
Dynamo Pro Wrestling from last night in St. Louis: Brandon Aarons b Matt Kenway, Mike Outlaw b Ricky Cruz, Keon Option & Justin D-Air b Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez, Brandon Espinosa b Makaze, Jackal b Jake Dirden, C.J. Shine b Jackal, La Apuesta (who unmasked as Jack Gamble) b Rocket Mapache, Keon Option b Makaze, Brandon Espinosa b Brandon Aarons. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
GOUGE on 10/22 in Fuquay Varina, NC: HeadRush b Kool Jay, Otto Schwanz & Numbers Guy b Bad Daddy & Snooty Fox, Alas de Angel & Antonio the Great b Gato Savalje & Toro Bravo, Waylon Maze & Juan Jeremi b Team Syxxy, Jimmy Jack Funk Jr. b Mickey Gambino, Seymour Snott b Jakob Hammermier in a four-corners trick or treat match. Next show is 11/5 in Charlotte at Unknown Brewing Company.
Pro Wrestling Empire from last night in Harrisburg, PA: Kevin Murphy b Mercenary in a Chamber of Hell (Hell in a Cell style) match where owner Colin Bright dove off the top of the cell through a table), Amasis b Ophidian, Tessa Blanchard b Renee Michelle, Facade won Gladiator Games Royal, Star Lords won over Heroes for Hire and Regulators, Vanity b LuFisto & Tess Valentine in a women’s title match, Tony Deppen b John Silver, Facade over Eddie Smooth, Sean Carr, Jason Gory, Kai Katana and Laszlo Arpad for the PWE title. (thanks to Dan Reagan)
An interview with Frenchy Martin, who just passed away, is here.
Today in Wrestling History (10/23): WCW Halloween Havoc 1994
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