THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
SmackDown ratings bring more good news for WWE
WWE SmackDown video highlights: Bryan addresses MITB controversy
WWE 205 Live results: Neville takes on Rich Swann
WWE announces women’s Money in the Bank rematch for next week
WWE SmackDown live results: Fallout from Money in the Bank
AUDIO
WOL: Smackdown, Money in the Bank, Raw ratings, Ziggler, more! 6/21
B&V&C&M: Buddy Wayne memories, Raw and Nitro from this week in 1998 6/20
FREE WOL: Raw, Smackdown, Money in the Bank, Sumito talks Buddy Wayne! 6/20
WOR: Raw report, Enzo and Cass, Braun Strowman returns, more! 6/20
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 6/19/2017: Looking back at the Cruiserweight Classic one year later
Last week brought the announcement of the first four wrestlers who will be participating in WWE’s Mae Young Classic this summer. Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, and Sarah Logan will help make up a diverse 32-competitor field from all around the world. It was this time last year that similar announcements were being made for an almost identical project. And while WWE hopes that the Mae Young Classic will further the cause of women’s wrestling, last year’s cruiserweight tournament still leaves behind an undefined legacy.
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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: June 19, 2017: Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather on, Okada/Omega classic, more
The Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight is actually happening, and the story behind it is the lead in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Plus, coverage of Dominion, with Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega II and one of the best shows in recent years, as well as an examination of Demetrious Johnson’s issues with Dana White, New Japan’s future booking, the Long Beach show, G-1, Money in the Bank and more.
Look at the ramifications and stipulations of Mayweather-McGregor and why it’ll be the most talked about fight for years to come, the key to whether it can do record numbers, the price tag, role of the media, and the real question of sanctioning and why it was.
Relive Omega vs. Okada II, the key to the story of the match, the next direction, the story behind Omega vs. Cody Rhodes, booking the finish, and why the circumstances weren’t the best to have a classic match. Understand the background of the match, the business of the match, why New Japan has so many different directions it can take right now, the U.S. title tournament, and when Omega-Okada airs on U.S. television. Check out the lineups for Long Beach, secondary market ticket demand, early thoughts on G-1 as well as the New Japan World shows for the rest of the month and notes on the main events.
Inside, there is match-by-match coverage with star ratings for Dominion, poll results and an amazing stat regarding poll results.
This issue also runs down the Money in the Bank show. Look at the card, what to look for in the show, ticket prices, a new segment added to the show, and also look at Great Balls of Fire and the direction things are headed toward SummerSlam.
Finally, more notes on the build to the Lesnar vs. Joe match, questions about the Cena return, lots of notes about SummerSlam and the top matches on the show, lots of injury updates, Kurt Angle talks former drug addiction, and why Finn Balor wasn’t at Raw.
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WON BACK ISSUE: May 29, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Judgment Day review, Super J-Cup, more
It took a lot of guts in this day and age to attempt a 60:00 match. Nowadays, it’s considered gutsy to put on a 10:00 match on television and you never see anything but PPV main events last more than 20:00. The participants, Rock and HHH, went 36:28 at Wrestlemania. Several times during the broadcast of this show it was noted that both of their longest matches was a 30:04 PPV draw in 1998 which was a ***1/4 match.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
NXT TV tonight has a Kassius Ohno vs. Aleister Black match that our JJ Williams called excellent in his report from the tapings. Ember Moon also returns to the ring against Peyton Royce on the show.
WWE.com posted an article about an angle for tonight’s episode of NXT where Bobby Roode and Roderick Strong had a physical altercation during a photo shoot.
Kimber Lee has been renamed as “Abbey Laith” in NXT. She had been using her real name (Kimberly Frankele) but noted the change on Twitter. It’s interesting timing given that announcements for the Mae Young Classic are being made.
It was announced on Talking Smack (with Daniel Bryan returning to co-hosting duties for the first time since his absence for the birth of his daughter) that James Ellsworth is banned from ringside for next week’s women’s Money in the Bank rematch. In addition to that, next week’s SmackDown will have Naomi defending her Women’s title against Lana, Sami Zayn facing Baron Corbin, and The Hype Bros vs. The Usos in a non-title match where Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley will become the number one contenders if they beat the champions.
Maria and Mike Kanellis didn’t appear on SmackDown last night, but WWE posted a segment online that was for the live crowd where they cut a similar promo to the one they did at Money in the Bank.
WWE Network News revealed that what seems to be the first two years of WWE’s ECW revival will be uploaded to the Network soon. That’s in addition to more classic house shows that are being uploaded this month.
Stardom tweeted a photo of Kairi Hojo at the airport as she heads to Florida to begin with WWE.
Daniel Bryan reiterated to Sports Illustrated that he’s “working on” trying to wrestle again.
TEDx posted video of the Ted Talk that Titus O’Neil gave at UCLA last month.
John Cena participated in Vanity Fair’s “Ask a Celebrity a Question.”
Pro Wrestling
The Fight Network in Canada will be broadcasting NJPW’s first show in Long Beach live at 8 p.m. ET on July 1st. The show will still be available live on NJPW World in Canada.
Jeff Jarrett told “The Miller Report” that the World of Sport project is planned to happen in 2018. He said that they initially tried to rush into it, but they’re in the process of formalizing agreements for next year.
Alan Sepinwall wrote a positive review of Netflix’s “GLOW” series. The series will be made available to the public on Friday.
PROGRESS Wrestling posted that Pete Dunne will be addressing fans and management at the company’s Chapter 50 show on Sunday.
Wrestle Circus announced that they’ve signed a deal to become the first pro wrestling company to partner with Twitch, which is a popular platform for streaming video games.
FloSlam sent out a survey to subscribers asking how likely they are to recommend the service to a friend or colleague.
The newest episode of “Being the Elite” focuses on The Young Bucks’ tour of Australia for House of Hardcore and Kenny Omega visiting the CEO video game tournament.
Volador Jr. and Barbaro Cavernario had what was said to be a great match for the NWA Welterweight title at CMLL’s Arena Mexico show last night. CMLL uploaded the full show on YouTube. (thanks to Chris Aiken)
ROH wrestlers Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia, TK O’Ryan, and Flip Gordon visited the Boston Children’s Hospital yesterday.
ESPN ran a story on Ian Riccaboni getting his chance as the lead play-by-play announcer for ROH.
From our Chris Aiken: “The second series of ROH action figures are available from Figures Toy Company, including figures for Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish and Delirious. These are the first action figures ever released for the four. Also available in the Rising Stars line are figures for Kenny Omega, Joey Ryan, Tama Tonga, and Cliff Compton. All are their first, except for Compton as he had a figure as Domino in WWE. Future releases include the first figures ever for tag team War Machine, Brian Cage, and Jeff Cobb. Konnan is also getting an action figure, which is the first since his days in TNA.”
Paste Magazine has an interview with Jay Lethal.
EVOLVE’s latest mini-documentary profiles Jason Kincaid.
EVOLVE also announced that Sunday’s show in Queens, New York will be the last time that both the WWN and EVOLVE titles are defended on the same event for the foreseeable future. Those matches are Keith Lee challenging Matt Riddle and Zack Sabre Jr. defending against Jaka.
The Surrey Now-Leader has an article on Kyle O’Reilly returning home to wrestle at a show in British Columbia.
Fire Pro Wrestling World will be made available on Steam Early Access for $19.99 on July 10th.
UFC/MMA
TMZ Sports first reported today that The Ballengee Group is suing Nate Diaz and alleging that he “committed theft, breach of contract, and fraud” among other charges. The group claims that Diaz fired them shortly before his UFC 202 rematch against Conor McGregor and failed to pay them for their work in negotiating several of his fights. The suit is requesting more than $1 million in damages. MMA Fighting notes that Leslie Smith and attorney Sam Awad are also named as defendants in the suit. The Ballengee Group claims that Diaz and Awad convinced Smith to terminate her contract with them without paying money that was owed.
Oscar De La Hoya called the timing of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor “disrespectful” for it being so close to the Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez boxing match that he’s involved with.
Michael Bisping said that Dana White told him that Georges St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight him. Bisping said that White called to make him an offer (which wasn’t for a fight), then told him that he would make the GSP bout happen if he could but GSP doesn’t want to fight.
Megan Anderson claimed that “everyone will find out how human” Cris Cyborg is after their matchup.
Today in Pro Wrestling History: Dusty Rhodes wins his second NWA World title
F4W Online / Wrestling Observer Vegas Convention Event Info
August 17-21; All times are TBA; Full information on the group Facebook page; Activites subject to change
Thursday: Meet at the Big Shoot for Bowling at the Link; Party at Carnival Court at Hurrah’s
Friday: Kiss Mini Golf tournament at the Rio; Dinner at Texas de Brazil; Suite party (location TBA)
Saturday: Burgers with Granny for lunch; Future Stars of Wrestling show featuring Stephan Bonnar & Phil Baroni; NXT viewing party at the Sci-Fi Center
Sunday: SUPER CHINA BUFFET DAY at the Wicked Spoon Buffet at 1pm; SummerSlam viewing party at the Sci-Fi Center
Monday: Goodbye lunch at Chen Chen at NY NY
Texas de Brazil, Wicked Spoon, NXT and Summer Slam will all be sign up and pre-paid events, prices and collection begin in mid July~!
Pro Wrestling Tees is now carrying our latest line of F4W shirts. Support the Empire~! Grab yours today!
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