We’re looking for your thoughts on yesterday’s New Japan tag team tournament finals so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer We’ll also be doing polls over the next week for the Saturday night UFC show, WWE on Sunday and NXT on Wednesday.
We’re also looking for reports on today’s NXT show in Newcastle, England to Dave Meltzer
UFC ON FIGHT PASS TODAY STARTING AT 6:45 P.M. EASTERN AND 3:45 P.M. PACIFIC TIME FROM THE COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL IN LAS VEGAS
Kailin Curran (115) vs. Emily Kagan (115)
Phillipe Nover (145) vs. Zubaira Tukhugov (145)
Nathan Coy (170) vs. Danny Roberts (169.5)
Santiago Ponzinibbio (170) vs. Andreas Stahl (171)
Johnnu Eduardo (135) vs. Aljamain Sterling (135.5)
Kevin Casey (185) vs. Antonio Carlos Jr. (185)
Omari Akhmedov (170) vs. Sergio Moraes (171)
John Howard (170) vs. Tim Means (170)
Thiago Santos (185) vs. Elias Theodorou (185)
Serge Northcutt (155.5) vs. Cody Pfiter (156)
Michael Chiesa (156) vs. Jim Miller (155.5)
Rose Namajunas (115.5) vs. Paige VanZant (115.5)
Friday has an NXT house show in Glasgow, Scotland and we’ll be looking for reports on that show.
UFC ON FRIDAY NIGHT FROM THE COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL IN LAS VEGAS ON FOX SPORTS 1 STARTING AT 8 P.M. EASTERN/5 P.M. PACIFIC
Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Abner Lloveras
Julian Erosa vs. Marcin Wrzossek
Geane Herrera vs. Joby Sanchez
Konstantin Kerokihn vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Jason Knight
Ryan LaFlare vs. Mike Pierce
Evan Dunham vs. Joe Lauzon
Ryan Hall vs. Artem Lobov in the TUF lightweight tournament finals
Edson Barboza vs. Tony Ferguson
Frankie Edgar vs. Chad Mendes
Saturday we’re looking for reports from the WWE show in Lewiston, ME and the NXT show in Seffield, England (headilned by Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin for the NXT title).
UFC 194 FROM THE MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA IN LAS VEGAS ON SATURDAY NIGHT
Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time
Marcio Alexandre Jr. vs. Court McGee
Yancy Medeiros vs. John Makdessi
Magomed Mustafaev vs. Joe Proctor
FS 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern time
Kevin Lee vs. Leonardo Santos
Warlley Alves vs. Colby Covington
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger vs. Tecia Torres
Urijah Faber vs. Frankie Saenz
PPV AT 10 p.m. Eastern time
Max Holloway vs. Jeremy Stephens
Gunnar Nelson vs. Demian Maia
Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo Jacare Souza
Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title
Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor for the featherweight title
WWE TLC PPV ON SUNDAY FROM THE TD GARDEN IN BOSTON
Sheaumus vs. Roman Reignns for WWE title in a TLC match
Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose for IC title
New Day vs. Lucha Dragons vs. Usos in a ladder match for tag tiltes
Charlotte vs. Paige in a Divas title match
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger for the U.S. title in a chair match
Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper & Braun Strowman vs. Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer & Rhyno in a tables match
Sunday is almost NXT in Blackpool, England.
Raw will be Monday night in Philadelphia while NXT runs Monday night in Nottingham, England.
Smackdown will be taped Tuesday night in Newark, NJ while NXT runs Tueday night in Cardiff, Wale.
NXT TAKEOVER FROM SSE WEMBLEY IN LONDON ON WEDNESDAY
Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe for NXT title
Apollo Crews vs. Baron Corbin
Bayley vs. Nia Jax for women’s title
Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder vs. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady for tag titles
Emma vs. Asuka
Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly 12/7/2015: McDevitt comments on concussion lawsuits
Details on Jerry McDevitt’s comments on the ongoing concussion lawsuits against WWE, Alan discusses potential candidates for 2015’s best rookie.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Coverage of the biggest weekend in UFC history, the stories behind the big matches, scouting the fighters, the business and handicapping the fights is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We look at the promotion of the show, how changes in the UFC can affect the major fights, little things in each fight that haven’t beentalked about, fugure for the winners and much more is looked at.
We also look at the New Japan Tokyo Dome show, the New Japan tag team tournament, what’s new with A.J. Styles and his schedule, the controversy over the winners of the tournament and how it played out, New Japan business this past month and going forward, tournament standings and a rundown of the shows this past week.
We also have an update on Sting and his condition coming off the match with Seth Rollins, something to watch for about a very significant WWE employee, WWE increasing security at leve events, WWE putting up lots of new content on the network, why the Stampede tapes were taken down, Alberto Del Rio blames AAA for his not coming back and losnig the title, why the time-line of what he says doesn’t add up, another new franchise movie idea for Dwayne Johnson, a new WWE movie annnounced, Mick Foley’s son with WWE, Sami Zayn’s return, Tommy Dreamer’s schedule, WWE surveys, John Cena media, WWE and ESPN update, NXT taping news, Brock Lesnar schedule news, WWE firing, Del Rio & Colter alliance, as well as notes on all the NXT house shows from the past week as well as all the WWE house shows of the past week and the business from the last week.
We also look at the life and career of Hack Myers.
We’ve got a look at this year’s Tokyo Sports pro wrestling awards, all the winners, how the balloting went down, as well as a list of every MVP dating back to 1974, and why different people won the awards and the nature of the politicas behid the awards.
We’ve also got a huge “back of the book” feature on Don Fargo, one of the most colorful pro wrestlers in history. This is an outlandish story that sounds unbelievable, but most of his legacy is true, and we separate what is and isn’t. We rundown his career, his roles as part of the Stevens Brothers, The Fargos, The Daltons, The Chain Gang and many other characters that he played. We look at the creation of the first world tag team champions to be recognized in Madison Square Garden, an absolutely amazing tite history, his different aliases and how he changed with each one, crazy stories, bloodbaths, Jackie Fargo, Greg Valentine, Fonzo Fargo, and one of the greatest runs in Memphis wrestling history.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 14, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Biggest weekend in UFC history, tons more
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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. 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.
Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE
The schedule for me on audio this week will be shows on Friday night after UFC, Saturday night after UFC, Sunday night after TLC and Monday after Raw. This is one of the bigger weekends of the year. You can always send questions for the radio show to [email protected]
Paul Levesque announced that on Wednesday, they will not only do a two hour NXT Takeover show but also tape the NXT television show for 12/23. One of the matches on that show will be a No. 1 contenders four-way tag match with the Vaudevillains, Hype Bros, Blake & Murphy and Jason Jordan & Chad Gable. On the current tour, the shows in London on Wednesday, as well as Blackpool and Cardiff are sold out. Sami Zayn works every night of the tour. The re-debut of Elias Sampson will be on Wednesday on the TV part of the show.
On Impact last night it was announced that both the semifinals (Bobby Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III, Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young) and finals of the world title tournament will be airing on the first show on Pop TV on 1/5.
The Ultimate Fighter final tomorrow was supposed to be Saul Rogers vs. Artem Lobov, both off Conor McGregor’s team. But Rogers allegedly lied on his visa and was not allowed into the U.S. so Ryan Hall faces Lobov tomorrow night.
Sports Illustrated listed Kevin Owens and Ronda Rousey as among the 100 best twitter follows in sports. Owens I can see for his wit, but I have no idea why Rousey. Bill Barnwell, who is one of our readers, also cracked the list. Georges St-Pierre was listed as No. 10 in best Facebook follows and Dwayne Johnson was listed as No. 4. His sport was listed as wrestling.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Terry Funk winning the NWA title from Jack Brisco in Miami Beach. The storyline is that Jack vs. Dory Funk Jr. was advertised because Jack vs. Dory was always a big draw, and they sold out. Dory was actually in Japan at the time. So Terry was the replacement. It was an Eddie Graham storyline with the idea Jack was training for Dory, who had a totally different style, but Terry was training for Jack, and reversed the figure four into an inside cradle for the pin. They actually showed that match on TV in San Francisco about two weeks later and for the standards of the time, it was an incredible match. A lot of wrestlers copied the flow and the finish and in Mexico a lot of the superstars copied that figure four reversed into an inside cradle as a finish.
WWE
John Cena was on with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday night to promote appearing in “Sisters.” Fallon put over his comedy talent several times. The only mention of wrestling was that he was taking time off to film American Grit. He did a comedy skit where he sang “Hello” by Adele joined by someone who was supposed to be John Cena as a child. The segment didn’t go over well until the kid showed up.
Give the slow advance for the 12/19 show at the Forum in Los Angeles, WWE sent out a mailer announcing that anyone who buys a ticket gets a free hot dog, or a free popcorn and soda. They announced three title matches with Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE title, Alberto Del Rio vs. Brock Lesnar for the U.S. title and Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose for the IC title.
Stock closed down 55 cents a share today to close at $16.16,
A story on Shawn Michaels and his hunting show
Devon Dudley plugs Raw in Philadelphia and talks about his WWE return
UFC
ESPN will be airing the weigh-ins live tomorrow from Las Vegas at 6 p.m. Eastern. The Fight Network in Canada will also be airing the weigh-nis.
There has been a ton yesterday and today already on ESPN covering Saturday’s show, so there is a really strong buzz.
In Canada for tomorrow, the 8-10 p.m. portion of the show airs on The Fight Network and the main card airs on TSN 1 and TSN 5.
If you are in Las Vegas for the UFC this weekend, go to UFCRegister.com and register for a Fan Access pass. If you then go to http://www.ufc.om/ufcvegas you can get discounts on monorail tickets, at the ice rink at the Cosmopolitan (free skate rental for the viewing party with Demetrious Johnson, Frank Mir and Kendra Perez for tomorrow night’s Fight Night show), as well as comp admission to the Marquee Night Club at the Cosmopolitan on Friday & Saturday night, and other specials at the Hyde Bellgaio (complimentary admission Friday and Saturday) and a lot more clubs in Las Vegas including Ri Ra at Mandalay Bay, McFadden’s at Town Square and the Foxtail Night Club a SLS Vegas.
The 12/18 Titan FC show in Kansas City that was scheduled for UFC Fight Pass has been canceled. The story is that the show was canceled due to health complications related to an expected surgery of CEO Jeff Aronson.
There is a Fight Pass show from Moscow featuring Bellator heavyweight champion Vitali Minakov vs. Josh Copeland this weekend.
Holly Holm on ESPN here and here
MISCELLANEOUS
There is a big indie show on Sunday in Santiago, Chile, which will include Matt Hardy, Savio Vega, MVP, Robbie E, Scotty 2 Hotty, Santana Garrett, Carlito, Shane Helms and Brian Christopher.
Brennan Ward vs. Ken Hasegawa was announced for the 12/29 Rizin show at the Saitama Super Arena, plus Hinata Watanabe vs. Kazuyuki Miyata in a match where they will alternate rounds of MMA and kickboxing rules.
Shine on iPPV at www.wwnlive.com tomorrow night from The Orpheum in Ybor City has a fatal four way with Allysin Kay vs. Jessicka Havok vs. Amber Gallows vs. Taylor Made with the winner facing Santana Garrett for the title later that night, plus a four-team tag team tournament for the titles with first round matches of Solo Darling & Heidi Lovelace vs. Jayme Jameson & Marti Belle and Mia Yim & Leva Bates (Blue Pants) vs. Malia Hosaka & Brandi Wine. Leilani Kai also faces Leah Von Dutch.
There is a live PBC show on NBC in prime time Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. from San Antonio headlined by Omar Figueroa (25-0-1, 18 KOs) vs. Antonio DeMarco (31-5-1, 23 KOs) in a super lightweight fight and Chris Arreola (36-4-1, 31 KOs) vs. Travis Kauffman (30-1, 22 KOs).
JR Kratos raising money for a four-year-old to beat leukemia
The last Premier Wrestling show with a grappling based style in a three-man tournament with JR Kratos, Joe Graves and Timothy Thatcher
Juggalo Championship Wrestling and ICP have shows on 12/10 in Valpraiso, IN at Big Shots, 12/11 in Sauget, IL at Pop’s, 12/12 in Kokomo, IN at The Stage, 12/13 in Columbus, OH at The Newport, 12/16 in Glean Jean, WV at the Glen Jean Armory and 12/17 in Cleveland at the Agora Ballroom. Among those appearing are 2 Tuff Tony, Crazy Mary Dobson, Madman Pondo, Ring Rydas, Kongo Kong and more. All proceeds g to St. John’s Childrens Hospital.
Santana Garrett vs. Shaniah Arlyana for the NWA womens’ title and Queen of Stardom title headlines 12/19 in Orlando at the Team Vision Dojo.
IWA Mid South presents the Ted Petty Invitational on Friday night in Clarksville, IN at the Colgate Gym with first round matches of Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher, Matt Cage vs. Slade Sludge, Kongo Kong vs. Masada, Shane Mercer vs Sugar D, Hy Zaya vs. Jonathan Gresham.
Absolute Intense Wrestling on 12/18 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt Carmel with Scott Hall, Bunkhouse Buck, Amazing Red, Robert Fuller, EC 3 and more.
Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 1/9 in Columbus, IN.
Legends of Wrestling on 1/23 at the Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Entertainment Dome features appearances by Bill Goldberg, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, Ricky Steamboat, Jim Duggan, Scott Steiner, Jimmy Hart, Koko B. Ware, Luke Williams, Lanny Poffo, Tommy Dreamer, Chavo Guerrero Jr. The Nasty Boys, Greg Valentine, Ken Anderson, and Gangrel.
MMA World Expo on Saturday night at the Jacob Javits Center in New York features Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Eddie Alvarez appearing.
Scott Bowden talks Tommy Gilbert, Eddie Gilbert Nick Bockwinkel and more
In today’s Gasoline Alley comic strip, a school class was discussing scrapbooking becoming the fastest growing hobby in the U.S. and one of the characters asked “What about the NFL, WFW and NASCAR?” The teacher said, “They’re sports, not hobbies.” The belief was WFW was supposed to be WWE. (thanks to Brian Henke)
Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/10): Terry Funk wins the NWA World Title