By Dave Meltzer
We’re looking for your thoughts on Saturday night’s UFC 189 show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
We’re looking for live reports from Raw in Atlanta with dark matches, Superstars matches and anything else not evident from the live show to [email protected]
We’re also looking for reports from the WWE show yesterday in Knoxville and the GFW show in Erie, PA.
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Birmingham.
We’ve got a double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week, highlighted by part two of our look at the career and life of Dusty Rhodes. This focuses on his babyface turn in Florida, his quest for the title, his rise to national prominence, and his feuds with Terry Funk, Superstar Billy Graham and Ole Anderson. Plus, we look at this year’s G-1 Climax tournament, New Japan Dominion, lots of injury notes regarding some of WWE and TNA’s biggest stars, WWE lawsuit, Beast in the East and much more.
The Latest Wrestling Observer: July 13, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Dusty Rhodes bio part 2, back to back major shows in Japan
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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.
Our lead story this week looks at the babyface heyday of Dusty Rhodes as a touring attraction. We look at how the business was in the 70s, the changes in the business in the Southeast and why, the rise of pro wrestling on cable television, his departure from World Championship Wrestling, and his first babyface run that people have forgotten.
We look at the heyday of Championship Wrestling from Florida, the work of Gordon Solie, Eddie Graham, and Rhodes arrival in Florida in 1973. We look at the angle that changed Rhodes’ career, the transition from Jack Brisco to Dusty Rhodes as the big star in Florida and how that changed the business, the Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk I Quit match, the relationship between Rhodes and Funk, Dusty Rhodes’ first two NWA title runs, how the NWA title changed during the 70s and why and Rhodes’ quest for the title. We also look at who Rhodes worked with, and his travels around the globe during his heyday, including some unique matches and opponents that most Americans don’t realize ever took place.
We look at his Madison Square Garden feud with Superstar Billy Graham, pro wrestling at the Omni in Atlanta, Dusty Rhodes on TBS and the role pro wrestling made in the early history of cable television, as well as the famous angle where Ole Anderson & Ivan Koloff kicked off their feud with Rhodes that set cable records.
We look at the famous Ole Anderson interview after turning on Dusty Rhodes and why their angle is so fondly remembered, The last Tangle in Tampa, the night that cable television changed the history of pro wrestling, the end of Roy Shire’s promotion, and the second world title run.
We also have a look at the G-1 Climax tournament for this year, including the favorites, all the matches, as well as full coverage of the Dominion show from Osaka with Kazuchika Okada beating A.J. Styles for the IWGP title.
We’ve got a look at WWE’s latest legal action, including filing suit against four wrestlers in Connecticut. We also look at the cases of wrestlers who are suing WWE.
We’ve also got complete coverage of Beast from the East, how the show came together, why Brock Lesnar was on the show, and match-by-match rundowns with star ratings and poll results.
We also have more on the NXT show in Brooklyn before SummerSlam, how it will be promoted, a scary note on how bad the Tyson Kidd injury could have been, Battleground update, Dolph Ziggler storyline notes, more WWE injury notes, thoughts on Cesaro, Big Show talks about his demotion to OVW, Thoughts on the memo from five years ago with the notes for WWE announcers and how things have changed since then, Brie Bella talks NXT women coming up as well as vague notes on Daniel Bryan’s injury, thoughts on Bryan’s future as well as an update on Bruno Sammartino after back surgery.
We also look at the Sports Illustrated article on pro wrestling this week, social media numbers, Ambrose movie release, why Regal was in Japan, WWE’s Japan tryouts, Piper leaving Podcast One, Austin talking Piper leaving Podcast One, longtime WWE writer takes new job, notes on Randy Orton, USA Network take on Tough Enough, Jamie Noble and Becky Lynch injury updates, WWE stock, movies with WWE talent, lots of Tough Enough news, as well as notes from all the weekend live events, business notes and highlights from all the shows.
The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.
We also have our regular features such as the most complete look at ratings, plus results of the major house show events each week in pro wrestling and MMA, and complete inside rundowns of all the TV shows.
Also in this week’s issue:
–CMLL running a free live stream this week
–Notes from the latest shows at Arena Mexico
–Controversy coming from a womens’ hair vs. hair match
–Notes from this past week’s AAA TV taping
–A look at the monthly Dragon Gate show at Korakuen Hall
–A look at the next two Dragon Gate iPPV shows
–A look at the last Pro Wrestling NOAH show at Korakuen Hall
–Notes on Tetsuya Naito’s apparent heel turn
–New Japan’s last Korakuen Hall show
–Zero-One Fire Festival notes
–Notes on the heyday of OVW
–A look at the upcoming GFW shows
–Hulk Hogan lawsuit news
–A look at the careers and lives of who are believed to be the two oldest living pro wrestlers
–A look at a former WWE star who will star in a reality show piggy backing off Total Divas
–Former AAA star has a major accident
–Notes on the next PWG show
–Wrestling returns to Royal Albert Hall in London
–Update on Lucha Underground
–NXT and ROH go head-to-head in Brooklyn and what ROH is running
–Notes on return of Austin Aries to ROH nest week
–Notes on Andy Barton leaving TNA
–Update on Kurt Angle
–Thoughts on the GFW deal
–Notes on Gilbert Melendez failing his drug test
–Dana White talks about how much Aldo would have made if he had fought McGregor
–Update on Jon Jones
–Notes on all the UFC shows this week
–Notes on the IV ban
–UFC fighter retires
–Crazy street fight story involving a former UFC fighter and a current one
–Notes on charges against the husband of Britney Palmer
–Notes on fighters cut from UFC
–Jose Aldo drug test note
–Sonnen pranks Mendes just before the fight
–Notes on Jacare Souza
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.
MONDAY’S NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw, UFC and taking your e-mail questions to [email protected]
Alberto el Patron has apparently gone AWOL. He was supposed to be at last night’s Lone Star Championship Wrestling show, a Bustin 4 Autism charity show, in Pasadena, TX, and didn’t appear. He gave no word ahead of time that he wouldn’t be there. A number of people at the show had his number and called him and couldn’t get in touch with him. The promotion today released a statement that they still haven’t heard from him. Clutch City Productions made the deal with Alberto. In their release, they asked him to return the deposit paid him and the travel money lost by the charity for his flight he didn’t board.
For Google searches, Conor McGregor with 1 million searches was No. 1 on Saturday, ahead of Roger Federer and Serena Williams at 500,000. Robbie Lawler was No. 6 among individuals with 100,000 and Keith Thurman was No. 12 among individuals. On twitter, UFC 189 (4.28 million unique tweeting) was behind the Wimbledon men’s finals (5.16 million) and women’s finals (5.83) million as the top subjects in sports and TV for the weekend. The UFC 189 numbers were below that of UFC 182, which was the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier show.
Charlotte and Sasha Banks are backstage at Raw. This is the Battleground go-home show. The rating will be impacted in some form by baseball’s Home Run Derby tonight. The cast of Tough Enough with Lita are also backstage, having taken a bus ride from Orlando to Atlanta.
Randy Orton vs. Sheamus is official for Battleground on Sunday.
The baseball All-Star game probably won’t help the rating for Tough Enough and Total Divas tomorrow, although due to the difference in audience makeup, it really shouldn’t hurt Total Divas much.
The movie “Trainwreck,” where John Cena has a cameo as the muscular boyfriend of Amy Shumer (the star of the movie about her relationships) comes out on Friday. Cena has good buzz for this role.
The Daniel Bryan autobiography, which is very good, will be out a week from tomorrow. He will be doing some book signings and media to back up the release.
New Japan World is free for the next week, to build up an audience for G-1 which starts a week from today. The free period ends on the 19th.
A.J. Styles has signed a deal with Figures Toy Company for an action figure for a new line that includes The Young Bucks, Doc Gallows, Amber Gallows and Kenny Omega. (thanks to Chris DePetrillo)
George Murdoch, using his TV name of Tyrus, was on Fox News talking about the Ariana Grande apology and the Confederate flag being lowered in South Carolina. It was total comedy segment.
Matches announced for the GFW tapings on 7/24 in Las Vegas are Brian Myers vs. Chris Mordetzsky, Kongo Kong vs. Nick Aldis and a Bobby Roode match in the heavyweight title tournament, Chris Sabin & Kushida vs. Reno SCUM in the tag title tournament, PJ Black vs. Seiya Sanada and Jigsaw vs. Sonjay Dutt in the NEX GEN title tournament and Christina Von Eerie vs. Mickie James vs. Lei’D Tapa in the women’s tournament,. Also announced is a six way Lucha Libre match with Bestia 666 vs. Blood Eagle vs. Steve Pain vs. Zokre vs. Phoenix Star vs. Misterioso Jr.
The WWE succeeded in getting the California lawsuits filed against them by Russ McCullough, Ryan Sakods and Matt Wiese moved out of the state and to Connecticut.
Steve Amell of Green Arrow fame was at the San Diego Comic Con and was constantly talking about WWE. He has wanted to do something with the promotion. He said he would probably be doing something with WWE, but doesn’t know if that means a match. He also cut what he called a WWE promo that was taped. The Miz made a remark about the promo saying he’s green but he’ll get there someday.
On the CTV news in Vancouver on Friday, a sumo, Brodi Henderson, was featured in talking about him becoming a rising star in Japan. They mentioned how he’s following in the footsteps of the like John Tenta, a British Columbia native who was a star in sumo before going into pro wrestling (thanks to Ed Ludwig)
Pro Wrestiing Eclipse from yesterday in Oshawa, ONT: John Atlas b Crimson X, Tyler Tirva b Joshua James, Cody Deaner b Catalyst, Bee Machine b Jim Nye, Jennifer Blake b Kaitlin Diemnod with Xandra Bale as heel ref, Tyler Tirva won the Champions Cup over Jim Nye, John Atlas and Cody Deaner. Next show is 8/16 at the Oshawa Legion with Tirva vs. Atlas and Diemond & Jewel Malone vs. Blake & Bale, plus Roderick Strong and Johnny Devine appear.
Roddy Piper headlines for Maryland Championship Wrestling on Saturday night for the 15th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup tournament. Past winners of this tournament have included Christian York, Sami Callihan, Joey Mercury, Adam Cole and Luke Hawx. The show takes place at the MCW Arena in Joppa, MD. The lineup includes a live Piper’s Pit, plus Kai Katana vs. Lio Rush, Brandon Scott vs. Chuck Lennox, Matt Cross vs. Bo Nekoda, Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards vs. Punk Rock All-Stars, Shane Strickland vs. Eddie Smooth, Velvet Sky & Angelina Love & Madison Rayne (Beautiful People reuniting) vs. Amber Rodriguez & Kimber Lee & Veda Scott, Hell Cats vs. Napalm & Solo, Bruiser vs. King McBride and the winners of the first five matches (the singles matches and whoever scores the fall in the tag match) meet in a six-way for the Shamrock Cup. There will be a meet and greet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. with Piper, Wolves and Beautiful People.
Preston City Wrestling had a free outdoor Tribute to the Troops show in Preston, England on Saturday: Dave Mastiff b Chris Masters to win PCW title, Bubblegum b Rockstar Spud, Sha Samuels b Ken Anderson, Martin Kirby won a Money in the bank match over Lionheart, Joey Hayes, Dean Allmark, Charlie Garrett and El Ligero, Noam Dar b Ryan Smile and Team 3-D b Team single in a tables match. After the match Bully Ray & Devon climbed on a tank. Velvet Sky & Viper b Toni Storm & April Davids. There was a huge crowd there (thanks to Steve Maginnis)
Legacy Fighting Championships on AXS TV on 7/24 at the Bayou Music Center.
Magic Mike XXL was No. 3 in its debut in Australia over the weekend. It was No. 6 in the U.S. this past weekend at $9.64 million. (thanks to James Stanios)
Gavin Sterritt, who was scheduled to face Brennan Ward on Friday’s Bellator show at the Mohegan Sun Casino, pulled out of the fight and was cut by the promotion. Roger Carroll, who has a 16-11 record, will be the replacement. Sean Grande starts as the play-by-play voice of Bellator with this show.
Next year’s Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame weekend will be July 14 to July 16 in Waterloo, IA. All access passes that usually cost $100 will be $80 if ordered by 8/1. The Cauliflower Alley Club presented the Hall of Fame a check for $1,000 as a donation by J.J. Dillon. Kurt Angle, coming out of surgery, was there over the weekend. Honored were Greg Wojciechowski, Jim Londos (whose daughter attended), Brian Blair, Beth Phoenix, Wade Keller and Matt Lindland, all of whom also appeared, as did Bill Tragos, the son of George Tragos, and Charlie Thesz, the wife of Lou Thesz.
ODB interview talking about her career and such
TODAY’S WWE VIDEOS
INDY TV SHOWS
West Virginia Championship Wrestling TV (Episode 236)
Covey Pro Wrestling TV (Episode 213)
Powerbomb Championship Wrestling TV (Episode 33)
7/11/15 NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV
WWE/NXT
WWE Fury: 33 Stinging Singapore Cane Strikes
WWE Top Ten: Vehicular Demolitions
7/10/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra: The Competitors Get Big News
7/10/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra: The Barracks Plays Heads Up!
7/11/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra: Step Inside The Ring With Billy Gunn
7/12/15 WWE Tough Enough Digital Extra: Patrick Fails To Heat Up With Giorgia
WWE Network: Swerved (Episode 1)
7/10/15 Kevin Owens Comments On His First Mattel Action Figure At San Diego Comic-Con
7/10/15 Charlotte Is Overwhelmed While Describing Her First Mattel Action Figure
7/10/15 Finn Balor Discusses His San Diego Comic-Con International Experience
7/10/15 Sami Reflects On NXT Amazing Growth At San Diego Comic-Con
7/9/15 Top 10 Smackdown Moments
MISC. STUFF
7/10/15 CHIKARA Event Center
Top 40 Moves Of Chuck Taylor