DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
Full list of participants for WWE NXT gauntlet eliminator match
VIDEO: Being The Elite – ‘Sue’
AEW announces signing of Serena Deeb
MLW Underground results & video: Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide
Latest Audio:
WOL: New Japan G-1 thoughts, Raw and NXT previews, Smackdown, more! 9/21
B&V: Saturday Night’s Main Event April 1988, plus some G-1! 9/20
WON NEWSLETTER: September 21, 2020 Observer Newsletter: Stacked NJPW G-1, more
With a huge feature on the crazy story of the original Hollywood Blonds tag team with the death of Jerry Brown, we’ve got a double issue this week of the Observer up on the site right now.
Our lead story looks at this year’s G-1 tournament looking at every card, the stories going into the card, the restrictions, the odds, and the new Will Ospreay, start time for every show, complete lineups, comments by Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley regarding this year’s new format.
Also in this issue:
Update on WWE Clash of Champions, with the matches announced, updates on titles not yet announced with matches and keys to the show.
The situation with Matt Riddle and Samantha Tavel.
Daniel Cormier getting COVID and a new UFC product being pushed.
Changes at the USA Network, Sasha Banks with a major acting gig, Update on Jeff Hardy, details behind the Paul Heyman/Roman Reigns pairing, new contracts signed in WWE, wrestler teases gimmick change, Mandy Rose angle, law being talked about reglated to the Sonya Deville incident, Retribution update, this coming week’s WWE television, Randy Orton new business, Ivar injury update, Ronda Rousey update, Next NXT Takeover, weird TV moment, Sports & International ratings, Jimmy Jacobs talks WWE protocol and Vince McMahon, injury update, movie with WWE performers, market value of WWE and the most-watched shows on WWE Network.
This past week’s UFC show with the stories behind the show and match-by-match coverage.
New Japan’s last show this past week before G-1, held at Korakuen Hall, with the matches and angles and what is being pushed.
Our huge feature covers the life and career of Jerry Brown, who teamed with Buddy Roberts to form the Hollywood Blonds, one of the greatest heel tag team acts of all-time. This major feature looks at their beginnings, their heyday in Quebec and Florida, places they went, who they faced, as well as the other territories they went, championships they held, the second version of the Hollywood Blonds people don’t remember, the mentality of the act and some crazy Jerry Brown stories, with lots of comments from Bill Watts, who put the team together.
Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back with Wrestling Observer live tonight covering BTE, Raw, Japanese tournaments and talking Jack Brisco as well as taking e-mail questions for the show to [email protected].
Today would have been the 79th birthday of Jack Brisco, who passed away more than ten years ago. The front page has a huge story on his career.
There is a special Tuesday edition of Dynamite for one-hour before the two-hour live show in the normal time slot on Wednesday. The show will air after NBA coverage later at night with Brandi Rhodes vs. Anna Jay, Shawn Spears vs. Matt Sydal and Scorpio Sky vs. Benjamin Carter with Chris Jericho as announcer.
The CMLL 87th anniversary show takes place on Friday night and both women’s title contenders as voted by fans, Princesa Sugehit, who was to face Marcela for the CMLL women’s title, and Lluvia, set to face Metalica for the Mexican national women’s title, tested positive for COVID-19. There was an outbreak at Arena Mexico. There are lots of questions including Ultimo Guerrero, who is Lluvia’s boyfriend, who at this point is still listed for the show. The show is still happening and CMLL has announced that Lluvia and Sugehit will be getting title shots on Friday night shows when they can return.
G-1 returns on Wednesday morning on 5:30 a.m. from Sapporo:
Yuya Uemura vs. Gabriel Kidd
Jeff Cobb vs. Shingo Takagi
Kazuchika Okada vs Yujiro Takahashi
Minoru Suzuki vs Taichi
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Will Ospreay
Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi
We currently have polls going on for the first two G-1 shows from Osaka over the weekend with thumbs up, down, or middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. We will also be doing polls for the Wednesday and Thursday shows this week. Kevin Kelly is recording English commentary and those will go up a few days later. The last three nights will have live English language commentary
Results from today’s Champion Carnival show at Korakuen Hall:
A block – Jake Lee b Kuma Arashi
B block – Shotaro Ashino b Shuji Ishikawa
A block – Zeus b Suwama
B block – Kento Miyahara b Yuma Aoyagi
With Suwama as Triple Crown champion, Zeus may end up with a title shot. The Carnival tournament resumes on Saturday night.
The N-1 tournament starts at 5:30 a.m. Eastern from Korakuen Hall tomorrow morning with Kenou vs. Shuhei Taniguchi, Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Masa Kitamiya, Go Shiozaki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba and Naomichi Marufuji vs. Takashi Sugiura
WWE
Raw tonight has Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre; a match with Angel Garza & Andrade vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy vs. Dominik Mysterio & Humberto Carrillo for the shot at the Street Profits on Sunday’s Clash of Champions PPV, and Braun Strowman vs.Dabba Kato in Raw Underground. Mike Johnson reported the return of Tom Phillips after two weeks and that Jerry Lawler is there. It would be no surprise to see Randy Orton get involved in the Lee vs. McIntyre match.
Tonight’s Monday night football game with the New Orleans Saints vs. Las Vegas Raiders will air on both ABC and ESPN. It will be interesting to see how the ratings end up and how this affects Raw doing its go-home show. Raw is not expected to do a good number tonight with the only wild card if Strowman vs. Kato has interest.
WWE inked a new deal with iQlYI Sports, for streaming in China. The shows will air in both Mandarin and English and will be available starting 9/22 with Raw and Smackdown airing live. The company will also start a subscription on-Demand service carrying the PPV shows.
The WWE Network is adding eight episodes of Velocity from May 25, 2002 to May 1, 2004.
Names announced for the NXT women’s Battle Royal for a title shot are Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox, Xia Li, Shotzi Blackheart, Kacy Catanzaro, Aliyah and Kayden Carter.
NXT UK on Thursday has Kay Lee Ray vs. Piper Niven for the women’s title and Walter vs Saxon Huxley. The draw for the Heritage Cup tournament will also take place.
A story on Titus O’Neil.
UFC
Stevie Ray announced his retirement on Facebook. He beat Michael Johnson via decision in his last fight in October and signed a four-fight deal after, but his knees are in bad shape. He said at this stage of his life he’s not up for a year of rehab and major surgery.
AEW
Dark tomorrow night has
Dark Order (Alan Angels & Preston Vance) vs. Ryzin & Xander Gold
Ben Carter vs. Lee Johnson
Will Hobbs vs. Serpentico
Stu Grayson & Evil Uno vs. Fuego del Sol & Rembrandt Lewis
Billy & Austin Gunn vs. Cruz & M’Badu
Penta El Cero M & Rey Fenix vs. Maxx Stardom & Dontae Smiley
Serena Deb vs. KiLynn King
Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss vs. Kevin Blackwood & Daniel Garcia
The Butcher & The Blade vs. Calvin Stewart & Puf
Ricky Starks vs. Christopher Daniels
Eddie Kingston vs Brian Pillman Jr.
MISCELLANEOUS
The UWN PPV show tomorrow night has:
Thunder Rosa vs. Priscilla Kelly for the NWA women’s title
Eli Drake vs. Watts
Danny Limelight vs. Kevin Martenson
Friendship Farm vs. Real Money Brothers
Chris Dickinson will appear on the UWN PPV show a week from tomorrow and Serena Deeb faces Allysin Kay..
CWE announced that due to the U.S./Canada border being closed as well as others not allowed in from foreign countries that their next tour will not have previously advertised Shane Douglas, Vincent, Jimmy Jacobs, Simon Marcellus Prime, The Mercenary, Koda Jacobs, Robin Lekime, Lory, Matt Taven or Silas Young. Shows in Alberta and Manitoba are limited to 100 fans but they are going to run. However at this point with crowds much lower than break even being allowed in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario, they can not host events in those provinces. None allow crowds of more than 50 people. It’s really notable with the size of crowds allowed in the U.S. and all our problems and how cases are so much lower in Canada yet the restrictions remain more stringent.
There is a BBC 3 documentary series called “Step Into the Ring” that will follow a group of aspiring wrestlers from Norwich in a reality show form, including one wrestler who has terrible vision, one with PTSD, one who is autistic and one who has Down’s Syndrome.
AAA has announced shows on 10/1, 10/29, 11/12 and 12/10 at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL. All shows will be limited to only 50 fans, masks are required and social distancing is required. Tickets will go on sale tonight at 8 p.m. Central time at http://aawpro.ticketleap.com Announced for 10/1 are Mance Warner, Hakim Zane (Rohit Raju), Karam, Matt Justice, Stephen Wolf, Hyan, Christi Jaynes, Gringo Loco, Steve Manders, Benjamin Carter and Travis Titan.
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Goldberg wins WWE World Championship
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