SAT UPDATE: 4th of July in history, Sin Limite, Lesnar and others on Raw, Ronda Rousey, IV bag update, more
By Bryan Alvarez | [email protected] | @bryanalvarez
For this weekend, we’ll be doing polls on the WWE show in Tokyo and the New Japan Dominion show late tonight in Osaka at [email protected]
NEW JAPAN DOMINION AT 3 A.M. EARLY SUNDAY MORNING FROM OSAKA JO HALL
Yohei Komatsu & Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka
Young Bucks vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Rocky Romero & Baretta for the IWGP jr. tag titles
Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Kenny Omega vs. Kushida for IWGP jr. title
Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii for Never Open weight title
Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for IWGP tag title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for IC title
A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada for IWGP heavyweight title
Saturday also has a WWE show in Winnipeg (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns, Ryback vs. Big Show)
Sunday has a WWE show in Rockford.
Raw will be Monday in Chicago. Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, HHH & Stephanie McMahon are all scheduled to return on Monday. Guess which two were pushed on USA network ads last night?
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. No John Cena advertised, so the top stars advertised are Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton.
The story behind UFC losing perhaps its biggest fight of the year with Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor, update on WrestleMania and the match that isn’t in the plans right now, the TNA-GFW situation and how it happened, and how many expect big changes in UFC very soon, multiple WWE related lawsuits, Tough Enough and the WWE & TNA monthly business rundowns are the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The new issue is up on the site at July 6, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jose Aldo injury fallout, TNA/GFW mystery
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— Hope everyone had a fun and safe July 4th!
— Dave and Mike have a show up right now talking the WWE Beast in the East show from Japan and will be doing another Sunday morning talking the New Japan Dominion Show. I’ll be back with Wrestling Observer Live, a Bryan & Vinny Show and After Dark Radio also on Sunday.
— After Dark live at 9 PT/12 ET Sunday night will be largely news and open lines with no guests, so if you’ve got good stories or anything you’ve wanted to call about for awhile, this will be your chance.
— Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be on Raw Monday. Ric Flair will be there but there’s no guarantee he’ll be on television. They may use him to promote the Dusty Rhodes special that airs on the WWE Network after Raw goes off the air. Flair on his podcast said he underwent WWE’s medical testing and had no issues whatsoever. He would do probably anything to wrestle again but Vince isn’t going to allow it.
— Triple H on Finn Balor’s NXT Title win: A prince returned home and became a champion. Congratulations to @wwebalor on winning the @WWENXT title. #WWETokyo
— Chicago has slapped a 9% amusement tax on streaming/cloud services, meaning if you are in Chicago and subscribe to Netflix, you will soon be paying 9% more since Netflix will be passing the charge on to consumers. This will probably end up applying to the WWE Network and a number of other services as well.
— Dave has a story on Ronda Rousey’s Jimmy Kimmel appearance here, which includes some video from the show.
— Travis Tygart noted that UFC’s ban on IVs will not going into effect until October, so anyone who has a fight scheduled will still be able to use them to make weight. After that, 50ml is the most anyone will be allowed to rehydrate, so the expectation is that a lot of guys are going to be moving up a weight class.
— Kurt Angle’s update on the tumor in his neck: To update all of you that have asked and commented about my neck: The tumor is benign and my surgery is next week. I will be out of action for about a month and I’ll be coming back better than ever! Thank you all for your incredible support. Your comments have kept my spirits high throughout this trying time. Much Love, Kurt.
— Chris Guinty of Drug Free Sport issued the following statement regarding the Jose Aldo urine test debacle from a few weeks ago: In early June 2015, Drug Free Sport was engaged by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (“NSAC”) to conduct a single urine test for an athlete in Brazil. Drug Free Sport’s preparation and execution of the testing event in Brazil complied with ethical best practices in anti-doping collections. Proper work visa applications detailing Drug Free Sport’s job functions were submitted to the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago, Illinois on June 18, 2012, and a ten year work visa was issued by the Consulate and relied upon by the Drug Free Sport collector in subsequent testing events. Drug Free Sport does not comment on client program specifics related to any collection event, but the NSAC, the UFC and Drug Free Sport were diligent in their effort to ensure a fair and ethical collection event in Brazil.Aldo’s sample was thrown out after the individual who showed up to take the sample was determined to now have a work visa. Another tester then showed up the next day and took another sample. There was a great deal of debate about how all of this went down, plus the fact that Aldo wasn’t asked to take a blood test.
— A link to the Off the Record interview with Ronda Rousey is up here.
— Some cool pics from Kane’s Hawaiian vacation are up here.
— It’s DAMN hard being Ron Simmons.
— Seth Rollins is the special guest on Tough Enough this week.
— BCW MEDIA UPDATE! Tomorrow at 5pm on the Milwaukee Summerfest SportsZone, history will be made as 8 of the top wrestlers in Brew City Wrestling enter into a tournament to become the 1st ever Brew City Wrestling Summerfest Champion. Plus, Insane Evil defend their BCW Tag Team Championship against the Moretti Agency, Jarrod “8 Pack” Jaxx and “A List” Justin Dredd. And for the Brew City Wrestling Ladies Championship, Stacy Shadows defends her title against newcomer, Sierra. There will 8 FAN-demonium matches in all so come on down and BE A PART OF HISTORY! The show is FREE with paid admission into Summerfest.
— For the second time in less than eight months, Russian striker Sergei “Paratrooper” Kharitonov defeated former M-1 Challenge champion Kenny Garnerin a Heavyweight SuperFight, stopping the dangerous American in the opening round this past Friday night in M-1 Challenge 59: Battle of Nomads 5 main event in Astana, Kazakhstan. Kharitonov (23-5-0, 13 KO/TKO, 9 SUB) defeated Garner at the 4:11 mark of the first round via punches, setting the stage for a potential showdown with M-1 Challenge heavyweight Marcin Tybura.
— Today in History with Brian Hoops:
1922 – In Wichita, Kansas; World Heavyweight Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis beat Alan Eustace in 2 out of 3 falls.
1963 – In Kansas City; In a Hair vs Masks match, Pat O’Connor and Tiny Mills beat Masked Medic #1 (Pedro Godoy) and Masked Medic #2 (Sir Nelson Royal). Also, Rock Hunter beat Steve Kovacs 2 falls to 1.
1964 – In St Paul, Minnesota at Met Stadium (where the Minnesota Twins and Vikings played in 1964 and now the home of the Mall of America); AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Dick the Bruiser (sub Crusher) in 2 out of 3 falls. Also, Mad Dog Vachon beat Doug Gilbert, Wilbur Snyder & Sailor Art Thomas & Dale Lewis beat Larry Hennig & Hans Schmidt & Mitsu Arakawa and Bob Geigel beat Rene Goulet
1966 – Don Leo Jonathan & Haystacks Calhoun defeated John Tolos & Tony Borne to win the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title.
1971 – In Robbinsdale, Minnesota; Larry Hennig & Lars Anderson beat Hercules Cortez & Bull Bullinski dq, Big K beat Bill Christy and Billy Robinson beat Dave Cox
1972 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Billy Robinson & George Gordienko beat Ivan Koloff & Big K (Stan Kowalski), Wahoo McDaniel beat Dusty Rhodes dq and Don Muraco beat Larry Hennig
1974 – Ric Flair & Rip Hawk defeated Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers in Greensboro, North Carolina to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Title.
1974 – In Winnipeg; AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Verne Gagne & Billy Robinson, Ivan Putski beat Baron Von Raschke dq and Billy Graham beat Wahoo McDaniel.
1981 – In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel wrestled Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid vs Bruce Hart, David Shultz vs Randy Tyler and Duke Myers & Kerry Brown vs Bill Irwin & Duffy O’Rourke.
1982 – In San Antonio, Texas at HemisFair Arena; Bruiser Brody won a two ring, 22 man Battle Royal, Scott Casey beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel via dq, Southwest Champion Dick Slater beat Alexis Smirnoff and Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez beat Terry Funk & Tito Santana
1982 – In the Atlanta Omni WWF champion Bob Backlund went to a double countout against NWA World champion Ric Flair.
1983 – David Von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin to win the vacant World Class Texas Heavyweight Title. Also, The Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin & David) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) in a three falls match in Fort Worth, Texas.
1984 – in Fort Worth, Texas The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) defeated The Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin & Mike) to win the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Title when Hayes pinned Kevin. Also, Iceman King Parsons defeated Bill Irwin in a singles match to win the World Class American Tag Team Title. Parsons chose Buck Zumhoffe as his partner.
1986 – In Fort Worth, Texas Buzz Sawyer defeated Brian Adidas to win the World Class Texas Heavyweight Title.
1987 – The War Games match debuted in Atlanta’s Omni. The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger) & manager JJ Dillon lost to the team of Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors & manager Paul Ellering.
1990 – John Tatum defeated Bill Dundee in Dallas, Texas to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1993 – In an angle to make Lex Luger an All American babyface, Lex Luger arrived via helicopter on the deck of the U.S.S Intrepid in New York City and bodyslammed WWF champion Yokozuna.
2013 – Chris Sabin defeated Manic and Austin Aires to win the TNA X Division Title.
2015 – Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens to win the NXT Title.
