DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
Kofi Kingston announces new five-year deal with WWE
PROGRESS Chapter 99 results: Kassius Ohno vs. Timothy Thatcher
WWE reveals ticket info for NXT TakeOver: Portland
Omega & Page vs. Lucha Bros to open Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite
Marshall Von Erich vs. MJF added to MLW Zero Hour tapings
AEW Dynamite coming to Atlanta & Kansas City for first time
PCO vs. Rush rematch set for ROH Saturday Night at Center Stage
Cole vs. Balor to kick off NXT, match will be presented commercial-free
ROH Final Battle Fallout results: Rush introduces new faction
Opening matches added to both nights of Wrestle Kingdom 14
Latest Audio:
F4D: Tom vs. Minoru Suzuki, Smackdown, Geek of the Week, more! 12/16
WOL: TLC fallout, Kairi update, Charlotte, Bray, tons more! 12/16
WOR: WWE TLC PPV, NXT San Jose, Observer Hall of Fame, more! 12/16
B&V: WWE TLC 2019 plus Granny’s segment 12/15
WOL: TLC PPV pre-show, weekend recap, NWA, ROH, more! 12/15
F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Harper, Sin Cara & The Ascension get WWE releases Joseph Currier looks at WWE’s latest departures.
WWE took a step forward this past weekend by resolving their situations with a few wrestlers who wanted out of the company.
In quick succession on Sunday, WWE announced that Luke Harper, Sin Cara, and The Ascension had been released: “WWE has come to terms on the releases of Jonathan Huber (Luke Harper), Sin Cara, and Ryan Parmeter (Konnor) and Eric Thompson (Viktor) of The Ascension. WWE wishes them all the best in their future endeavors.”
Harper’s release saga was nearly eight months long. He went public with his request via a statement he posted online on April 16. He spent the next five months off of television before then returning in a pretty significant angle at Clash of Champions, helping Erick Rowan defeat Roman Reigns in their no disqualification match.
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WON NEWSLETTER: December 16, 2019 Observer Newsletter: 10 Hall of Fame inductees
Our biggest issue of the year, the 2019 Hall of Fame issue is out with complete balloting results, breakdowns by category, bios of the new entrants, comparisons with how everyone did last year, as well as who will be on next year’s ballot who will be removed from next year’s ballot, breakdowns on how each new inductee did in different groups and a look back at a lot of stellar careers. We also talk about the future of the Hall of Fame.
Feature on the development of pro wrestling in France at the turn of the previous century and the wrestler generally considered most responsible for establishing pro wrestling in that country.
The two Tokyo Dome shows, as well as New Japan’s last three events of 2019. We look at the good and bad aspects of the lineups and the comparisons with last year. We look at the retirement of Jushin Liger, the signing of Dragon Lee and his change to Ryu Lee and talk about the different titles at stake.
Drug test suspensions of Robert Roode and Primo Colon and why guys can look the way they look with drug testing and how WWE’s testing greatly differs from others, a look at the releases of Luke Harper, The Ascension and Sin Cara, major change for Miz & Mrs., WWE star hints leaving, Canadian ratings, signing of Oney Lorcan, Tribute to the Troops coverage, Lana death threats, Ronda Rousey talks potential return, current plans for holiday shows, celebrity training for a WWE stint, a rundown on the different people at the last tryout camp including a former MMA champion, the boyfriend of a reality show star and a number of high level women athletes including a former WNBA player, an incident at a house show, value of WWE stock, most-watched show on the WWE Network as well as a rundown of all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week with business notes , results and highlights.
2019 Tokyo Sports awards, including what wrestles historically have had the most MVP trophies and the most match of the year trophies.
TLC PPV including the changes in the show and the ticket demand.
Next Wednesday ratings battle and why it is the most interesting in several weeks.
Dave Bautista’s career, the NWO, and look back at the program that made Bautista’s career and the good and the bad of the NWO.
New Japan tag team tournament, whether the changes in format worked, the business of the final night, standings, match-by-match coverage and star ratings of the last night.
Saturday’s UFC show from D.C. with the business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage.
Look back at the life of Andy Robin, a U.K. star who was one of the greatest performers in the history of pro wrestling in Scotland.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the 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 tonight talking Raw, Wednesday night, Kairi Sane and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected].
We’re taking polls on the UFC show last night, ROH show Friday night, NWA show yesterday and TLC from WWE tonight, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with the best and worst matches to [email protected]”>[email protected]. With two shows being taped tonight in Des Moines, IA, because they don’t have a live show on Monday, we’re looking for reports from Des Moines with anything not on the live show to [email protected] The only thing announced at this point is A.J. Styles vs. Randy Orton. We’re also looking for reports from the NWA TV tapings in Atlanta.
Regarding last night, Kairi Sane’s situation as far as the extent and nature of her injuries has been kept quiet although there has been talk of a concussion. The only thing we’ve been told regarding last night is that Sane is not cleared for tonight’s show.
Neither Vince McMahon nor Paul Levesque were in Minneapolis yesterday. They were conferenced in on the meeting and the show was put together the way Vince wanted it to. but he was not in Gorilla nor producing the announcers during the show. We were told that Paul Heyman was in charge of the Raw matches (which would include the main event) and Bruce Prichard in charge of Smackdown matches.
It’s pretty much universally agreed that last night was handled poorly. It’s no one person, but many. Ultimately, a doctor should have been sent out (see Cody vs Chris Jericho) with the power to stop the match if needed, or they could have gone right to the finish, sent out a partner, taken Sane away and made it a handicap match (the problem is obviously they weren’t changing the title and Asuka lone beating both Flair & Lynch could have been done but it would have required many changes in the plans. We’ll talk more about it tonight, but what happened last night was very disappointing and dangerous in how things were handled.
Aleister Black is cleared to perform tonight. He appeared to suffer a broken nose in his match with Buddy Murphy.
TLC was the 20th most searched topic on Google with 100,000 searches. That’s low end of normal for a PPV like that.
WWE
Tonight’s NFL game is the Indianapolis Colts vs. New Orleans Saints. Ratings should be up slightly due to the PPV being yesterday.
There will be no 205 Live tapings the next two weeks, only Smackdown on Friday. The next two Fridays will be Best of Shows on the WWE Network.
NXT United will have a wrestling figure toy drive on Wednesday before the show in Winter Park, FL. Fans are encouraged to bring unwrapped wrestling figures to the donation spot next to the NXT merchandise truck between 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. All figures collected will be dropped off at Orlando’s Toys for Tots headquarters on Thursday. NXT United is the support group for NXT and they host pre-show and post-show activities related to NXT shows.
The Detroit Pistons have announced WWE Night on 2/20 at the Little Caesar Arena. There will be WWE star or stars doing autographs plus a WWE related Pistons T-shirt available.
UFC
Megan Anderson vs. Norma Dumnt has been added to the 2/29 show in Norfolk, VA. Anderson also today went public with her battles with depression and how serious they were with Ariel Helwani.
MISCELLANEOUS
Marty Scurll will be doing an interview regarding his future on the NWA Powerrr show tomorrow night.
AEW announced they surpassed the 100,000 ticket sold mark for 16 shows in 2019 and future shows in 2020. The official sold number as of Monday was 105,303. The paid total puts them at 5701 for 2019 events thus far.
FITE TV will be carrying both the 1/4 and 1/5 Tokyo Dome shows in addition to New Japan World. They are also doing the 1/6 New Year’s Dash show. The shows are $24.99 each on FITE.
Lineup for Impact TV tomorrow night
Jordynne Grace vs. Tenille Dashwood
TJP vs. Daga
Ace Romero vs. Joey Ryan
Ace Austin vs. Petey Williams for the X title
Rich Swann vs. Ethan Page
IPW New Zealand on 12/14 in Auckland before 250 fans: Liam Fury b Falcon Kid, Charlie Roberts won over Danny Jacobs, Matty Short, Will Cutting, Liger and Sir Mr. Burns, Alfred Valentine & James Shaw won over Will Stone & Alex Savage ad TKD & TED to keep the New Zealand tag titles, Ringo Ryan b Marcus Kool, Kingi & Te Tahi Vinny Dun & Reuben de Jong b Adam Avalanche & Ben Mana & Toa Henare, Candy Lee b Kellyanne to keep the women’s title, Jamie Tagataese b Jake Shehaan to keep the New Zealand title (thanks to Bradley Fisher and Steve Ogilvie)
Shine from Saturday night Chicago: Avery Taylor b Nadi, Lindsay Snow b Stormie Lee, Natalia Markova b Double D Rose, Brandi Lauren b Aja Perera, Natalia Markova b Avery Taylor, Lindsay Snow b Brandi Lauren, Jenna Van Muscles won over Candy Cartwright, Jay Raves & Rosa Negra & Rahne Victoria & Vipress, Natalia Markova b Lindsay Snow to win the tournament for the Nova title, Ivelisse b Mercedes Martinez to win the Shine title (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Riot City Wrestling in Adelaide, Australia yesterday: Dean Brady b Downunder, Steve Miller & Jimmy C b Rosenthal & Havok, Barren b Codie Tre, Matt Basso b Jonathan Corvidae, Jett Armstrong b Nick Armstrong, Chris Basso & Matt Hayter won three-way over Gabriel Aeros & Eli Theseus and Zak Sabbath & Mike Boomer, Adam Brooks b Royce Chamber, Rocky Menaro b Brodie Marshall (thanks to Andrew Conley)
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Sting vs. The Black Scorpion at Starrcade 1990
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