Daily Update: Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee, Onita breaks leg, RIP Mocho Cota
THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
NXT’s Osaka & Melbourne shows making their way to the WWE Network
UFC’s Cris Cyborg flagged by USADA for out-of-competition sample failure
Yumiko Hotta replaces Shinobu Kandori in Rizin fight against Gabi Garcia
Lucha Underground results: Johnny Mundo battles Sexy Star in a cage
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bobby Roode set for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio
WWE NXT results: A fatal four-way decides the new number one contender
AUDIO
WOL: Dr. Lucha, tons of questions, calls and more Christmas cheer! 12/23
Wrestling Weekly: Harley Race, WWE territories, mailbag 12/23
B&V&G: Christmas thoughts, NXT, Lucha Underground, Raw, more! 12/23
WOL: Cris Cyborg USADA failure, Dave Meltzer appearance, news and more! 12/22
This is one of the quieter weekends of the year, as aside from Mexico, nobody is running major events. WWE is off until Monday when they go back to action with a Madison Square Garden house show and the live Raw from Chicago.
NEW JAPAN WORLD ON AXS TV AT 9 P.M. EASTERN
Kushida vs. Bushi for IWGP jr. title
Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson for IWGP tag team titles
CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO TONIGHT AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Demus 3:16 & Mercurio vs. Fantasy & Ultimo Dragoncito
Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther & Triton vs. Forastero & Okumura & Sagrado
Guerrero Maya Jr. & Soberano & Titan vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. & Luciferno & Polvora
Atlantis & Stuka Jr. & Valiente vs. Kraneo & Mephisto & Ripper
Maximo Sexy & Volador Jr. & Marco Corleone vs. Euforia & Hechicero & Mascara Ano 2000
Caristico vs. Ultimo Guerrero
UFC ON FOX CHRISTMAS EVE SPECIAL (taped 12/10) at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time
Lando Vannata vs. John Makdessi
Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi
Matt Brown vs. Donald Cerrone
Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway for interim welterweight title
If you didn’t see the PPV, this will be the most entertaining two hours of MMA all year. Two knockout of the year candidates and one of the best fights in UFC history all on the same show. For those on the West Coast, it will air from 8-10 p.m., not 5-7 p.m. like most FOX specials.
CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO ON CHRISTMAS DAY AT 6 P.M. EASTERN TIME (on the CMLL YouTube channel live)
Astral & Shockercito vs. Pequeno Olimpico & Pierrothito
Drone & Johnny Idol & Star Jr. vs. Bobby Z & Vangellys & Virus
Stuka Jr. & Titan & Valiente vs. Gran Guerrero & Rey Bucanero & El Terrible
Atlantis & Marco Corleone & Volador Jr. vs.. Barbaro Cavernario & Felino & Negro Casas
Cage match, last person in the cage loses mask or hair: Jarochita, Sanely, Vaquerita, Princesa Sugei, Marcela, Estrellita, Zeuxis, Dallys, Amapola and Metalica
Raw will be live on Monday from Chicago while Smackdown will be in Madison Square Garden headlined by A.J. Styles vs. John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose in a three-way for the title.
Smackdown will be Tuesday in Chicago with three title matches announced, Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin for the WWE title, Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch for the women’s title and a four-way tag title match with The Wyatt Family vs. Usos vs Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. American Alpha, plus the television return of Cena. There will also be a Raw house show on Tuesday night in St. Louis.
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 12/12/2016 The Paige/Alberto Del Rio relationship isn’t funny anymore
International Wrestling Revolution Group, or IWRG, has been one of Mexico’s top independent promotions for over two decades. Yet aside from the period where it was the Mexican home of Ultimo Dragon’s students when Toryumon was getting off the ground, the promotion rarely got much international attention… Subscribers click here to continue.
WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: December 26, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE announces UK tournament, Urijah Faber retires, more
A look at WWE and New Japan gearing up for a changing pro wrestling landscape in 2017 with new moves and ideas planned by each side is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The story notes the WWE new moves in the U.K., the U.K. scene, the top talent there, notes on who WWE signed and why they didn’t sign the biggest names, long-term WWE plans for the market, HHH talks about WWE producing so much content and thoughts on how this changes the mentality of a lot of wrestlers in the U.K.
New Japan is making moves to expand internationally and its owner, Takaaki Kidani, talks about what he feels are the weakness of the WWE business model and why he thinks they will be running into trouble in just a few years.
This issue examines Urijah Faber’s career and the rise of lighter weight fighters, the success of Paige VanZant as a drawing card and what that means going forward, as well as future thoughts on Michelle Waterson, Mickey Gall and the others from Saturdays’ UFC show.
WWE’s final PPV show of 2016, Roadblock End of the Line is covered. Also, there’s talk about public interest, business notes on the show, what happened in the key bouts, the booking and why things happened the way they did, along with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Finally, there is an update on Mick Foley, what the original plans were for him and why they changed, and why he’ll soon be taking time off. Also, an update on Zack Ryder, a new WWE signee, a successful WWE franchise, advertised main events for this week’s television, WWE star competes in major fitness contest soon, as well as the most watched shows on the WWE Network, inside this issue.
Subscribers click here to continue.
ORDERING INFO: 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].
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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: November 29, 1999 Steve Austin’s career in doubt, WCW Mayhem review, more – Steve Austin gets bad news from doctors regarding his neck, a full review of WCW Mayhem, plus tons of news. As mentioned last week, the future of Steve Austin as an in-ring performer is in serious doubt after getting results of tests on his neck, originally injured in the August 3, 1997 Meadowlands match against Owen Hart… Subscribers click here to continue.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Manuel “Mocho” Cota, a top heel in EMLL in the 80s and 90s, passed away yesterday at the age of 62. He had suffered a fall in his home and a fractured skull. He also had a run with AAA in the late 90s and was still wrestling and promoting as late as this year. There will almost surely be a moment of silence at tonight’s Arena Mexico show for him. He was a former Mexican national and NWA world welterweight champion when those belts meant a lot.
The Los Angeles Times has a story on the autopsy of Chyna.
Hall of Famer Atsushi Onita suffered a broken leg in a match in Takamatsu earlier today. Onita & Masa Fuchi held the All-Asia tag titles with All Japan and are likely to have to vacate the titles. Onita is expected out of action for two months.
ROH today announced Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay for the 3/4 show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan.
Here is a Mayo Clinic study comparing the health issues of people who played high school football with those who didn’t, as far as if that led to problems when they got older.
WWE
The Huffington Post has a story on the ring boy scandals in WWE while writing about Linda McMahon.
UFC
USA Today has a story on Carla Esparza, the former strawweight champion and the financial plight of UFC fighters.
UFC previews the Saturday night show on FOX.
MISCELLANEOUS
Revolution Pro has one of its biggset shows on 1/21 in York Hall in London with Katsuyori Shibata vs. Matt Riddle, Marty Scurll vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (I just saw them in a match last Friday and it was one of the best matches of the year), plus War Machine, Yoshi-Hashi, Trevor Lee and Trent Seven.
In promoting their 1/21 fight, Bellator has found the previous meeting of Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen, when both were college wrestlers. Sonnen was wrestling a weight class below Ortiz and was a few years younger, but Sonnen was also the better wrestler of the two.
A story on the life of Mario Milano is here.
A story on a documentary on the life of Adrian Street is here.
Josh Alexander vs. David Starr headlines 1/22 for Alpha One Wrestling in Hamilton, ONT at the Knights of Columbus.
Today in Professional Wrestling History (12/23): ROH Final Battle 2011
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