SAT. UPDATE: ANGLE UPDATE, HUGE TV NIGHT; CARANO PUB; TONIGHT'S CROWD; MISTICO TAKES TITLE; G-1


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        We're looking for your thoughts on tonight's Strikeforce event on Showtime, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

        We'll also be doing a similar poll tomorrow for TNA's Hard Justice.

        We'll have live reports on the show starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.

        We're also looking for reports on tonight's ROH TV tapings in Philadelphia and WWE house shows in Peoria and Mankato, MN, as well as last night's ROH tapings and last night's WWE show in Cedar Rapids, IA.

        Tonight's lineup:

Prelim matches:

Isaiah Hill (4-6, 156) vs. Alex Trevino (3-0, 156)

James Terry (6-1, 169) vs. Zac Bucia (2-3, 170)

David "Tarzan" Douglas (4-1, 156) vs. Justin Wilcox (5-3, 154)

Scott Lighty (4-0, 202) vs. Mike Cook (7-4, 205)

Jesse Taylor (13-3, 169.5) vs. Jay Hieron (17-4, 169)

Live show

Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1, 228) vs. Mike Kyle (12-6-1, 219)

Gilbert Melendez (15-2, 155) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (18-5-1, 155) for the interim lightweight championship

Renato Babalu Sobral (35-8, 201) vs. Gegard Mousasi (28-2-1, 204) for the Strikeforce light heavyweight title

Gina Carano (7-0, 143) vs.  Cris Cyborg (7-1, 144.5) for the Strikeforce women's middleweight title

        Showtime coverage begins at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time

        UFC counters with an all-day marathon on Spike.  From 5-10 p.m. Eastern time will be a Countdown of the 100 greatest fights in UFC history.  From 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. will be UFC 100, with Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping, Mark Coleman vs. Stephan Bonnar, Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien, Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher and Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty.  The Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves match will not air on the show tonight.  They will also be replaying the Greatest Fight specials after UFC 100.

        No ROH on television tonight.  The TV show on HDNet moves to Monday nights at 8 p.m. this week.

        Sunday has TNA Hard Justice from Orlando, a Raw house show in Cape Girardeau, MO and a Smackdown house show in Sioux City, IA.

        Raw is live Monday in St. Louis featuring Freddy Prinze Jr. and a main event of John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show.  TNA tapes Monday night in Orlando.  There is also a Smackdown house show in Lincoln, NE.  Smackdown on Tuesday night in Kansas City featuring the Hardy Boys teaming with John Morrison vs. C.M. Punk & The Hart Dynasty.

 

        It's a two issue week coming next week for the Observer.  We've got what we've already gotten great feedback on as one lead story talking about this past weekend's NWA Legends convention.  We also have the most detailed look available of WWE financials, going down every category, what the company is doing right, and where things are up and where things are down.  We also have a look at the war between Strikeforce and UFC, coverage of UFC and WEC, and lots of inside news from WWE and TNA.     

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        The lead story on the convention talks about the era of the Four Horsemen, the death of Jim Crockett Promotions, the hatred of fans of that era of Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair and Jim Cornette sticking up for him.  Flair and Cornette give their reasons for the death of Crockett Promotions, as well as why the real answer was that it was going to happen no matter what and why.  We look at how the economic climate has changed for wrestling and why it was so bad in the 90s.  We also look back at Ric Flair vs. Harley Race at the first Starrcade as both men talk about it, including the story of how Vince McMahon tried to ruin what at the time was the second biggest pro wrestling event in history.  Race talked about turning down the McMahon offer, Flair talked about Race, they gave the inside story of their New Zealand and Singapore title changes.  In addition, Jim Cornette talks about TNA, tells a story about why he had to apologize to Kevin Dunn.  We also look back at the Memphis territory, Jerry Jarrett talks about different angles and people, his interaction with Eddie Graham, trying to get the NWA tile for Jerry Lawler, and we also look back at the Fargos.

        Another lead story talks about the UFC vs. Strikeforce war with comments from both Dana White and Scott Coker, as well as Fedor Emelianenko.  We look at what is M-1 Global, as well as the farces of what is being said on both sides.  Emelianenko talks the UFC contract, White talks Fedor, Fedor talks Lesnar, the Mousasi controversy as well as Jay Hieron's situation.

        We have the details on WWE financials, as well as Vince McMahon talks about some new directions for the company, hints at a new type of house show, plus we look at the PPV business including Wrestlemania, and what things are doing well, doing poorly, and how the economy changes the business.

        We also have full coverage of the weekend's UFC and WEC shows, including what was strange about Forrest Griffin, early business notes on UFC 101, upcoming matches with Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn, and who is the most popular UFC fighter today.

        We also have all the details of what went down with Nick Diaz and the California State Athletic commission prior to the Strikeforce show.  We look at how pot has affected Diaz's career over the past two years.

        We also have an update on the future of Jeff Jarrett, the TNA video game, and what the response was to bringing in new wrestling names to head booking.  We also look at New Japan's reaction to the IWGP tag team title changes, new TV clearances by TNA, Kurt Angle talks about his shoot match with Brock Lesnar in Fargo, ND, while Kevin Nash talks wrestling and is critical of Mick Foley and Dusty Rhodes.

        We also have notes on Shaquille O'Neal's new show and the host, next Steve Austin movie, update on the October WWE PPV show, Brock Lesnar's WWE contract, the race between Lesnar and Shelton Benjamin, update on 12 Rounds business, upcoming Raw host notes, Smackdown main events before Undertaker comes back but after Jeff Hardy leaves and more on celebrities and wrestling.

        We also have notes on the two talent cuts this past week in WWE, Wrestlemania on NBC, reaction to UFC 100 buy rate in WWE, and the funniest thing said by a WWE exec regarding UFC at the wrestling convention.  We also have notes on the weekend WWE house shows.

        We also have our usual weekly features, including a detailed look at the ratings of all the major shows, including segment-by-segment and in the key demos.  We also have results from the major league arena events as well as reviews of the major national TV shows.

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     Also in this week's issue:

--A full list of UFC cuts over the past week

--New MMA TV show on Spike

--A UFC/boxing closed circuit promoter comments on how both sports are doing and the 9/19 head-to-head battle

--Dana White talks stadium show

--New octagon girl and what happened to the old one

--One of UFC's all-time biggest draws and update on his lawsuit against the company

--Dana White talks merging WEC into UFC

--UFC theme becomes highest rated episode of a major television show

--Lots of new matches signed

--UFC fighter given permission to fight on a non-UFC show next month

--Former Pride star signed by UFC

--Notes on Shaquille O'Neal Raw rating

--G-1 Climax tournament

--Former ECW champion headlines show in Mexico

--Notes on new live TV deal in Mexico

--International company doing first TV tapings for a U.S. cable station this week

--WWE legend on roster working for another promotion to team with son

--Lots of news on Dragon Gate in the U.S.

--Notes on Dragon Gate tag team tournament

--Update on Hustle

--A look at a major pro wrestling show coming to Sumo Hall featuring the biggest stars of the 90s

--Final notes on All Japan Jr. tournament

--A look at the finals of the Zero One Fire Festival

--Josh Barnett's latest pro wrestling match involving Bob Sapp

--Bret Hart talks current wrestling scene, favorite people to work with, favorite interviews and more

--Update on Nick Bockwinkel

--Brian Kendrick after WWE

--Former WWE diva in national bikini model search competition

--Autobiography coming on one of all-time biggest pro wrestling stars

--Former NFL star draws big indie pro wrestling crowd

--Next Dream show

--Carano vs. Cyborg ticket sales

--Scary story on former UFC champion and depression

--New national MMA television show

--Another star athlete who talked about pro wrestling goes into MMA

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--We don't have anymore updates on Kurt Angle other than what has been posted, or a confirmation regarding whether or not he will be wrestling at Hard Justice tomorrow.  Angle is currently being held in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh on charges of driving with a suspended license, prohibited acts (allegedly violating an abuse order) and prohibited acts possession.  Angle was arrested this morning after his girlfriend, Trenesha Biggers aka Rhaka Khan, who had a protection order served against Angle this morning, called police saying that she saw Angle stalking her while she was at a Starbucks.  She called 911, and the police came and pulled Angle over.  Police found that his drivers license had been suspended and found a syringe and two vials of Hygetropin, a form of HGH, in the car.  Angle told police he had a legal prescription for the drug.
 
--Some Gina Carano stuff.  She says cage fighting is like sex at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story  The San Francisco Chronicle has a story at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/14/SPCD197UPN.DTL  San Jose Mercury article is at http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13043922?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com    I also have a story on the fight which was on the front page of Yahoo earlier today, but it's the lead story in the MMA section.
 
--Scott Coker said yesterday he expects a crowd similar to the April 11 show, which drew 15,211.  I don't think it'll be quite that big as that show did a monster walkup because of local fighters.  They've had a big week of ticket sales but I don't see the big walkup locally because there are no San Jose fighters in the top matches.  Still, they'll top 12,000 which is a big success.  It already is the largest paid crowd in North American MMA history that wasn't either a UFC event or a show headlined by Frank Shamrock, which puts them in pretty good company.  
 
--Mistico beat Tiger Mask earlier today at Sumo Hall in Tokyo to win the IWGP jr. title with La Mistica
 
--The G-1 Climax tournament in New Japan ends tomorrow with semifinals and finals.  The semifinals are Togi Makabe vs. Takashi Sugiura and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
 
--John Cena is off this weekend's house shows because he and his brother are doing a charity event based on muscle cars tonight for the family of a police officer who worked with John's older brother Dan.
 
--I kid you not.  Hulk Hogan today and tomorrow is doing a four-hour seminar teaching you how to help you pay lower property taxes put on by Guaranteed Lower Property Tax.  Admission is free.  It will be at the Germain Arena in Naples, FL from 1-5 p.m. tomorrow
 
--The Goods:  Live Hard, Sell Hard, promoted off Raw, is projected to do a $5.5 million opening weekend.  Nikki Finke wrote about it, noting Jeremy Piven has gone everywhere to push the movie, "Even on that WWE wrestling horror Raw."  I guess she saw the week they were on.
 
--Lots of talk of Floyd Mayweather replacing Mike Adamle in the host spot at the Las Vegas Raw the day after SummerSlam.
 
--Randy Couture talks poker at http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/  As reported here yesterday, Couture was announced as the newest signing in the new EA Sports game currently called EA Sports MMA, which will be released in 2010.  Peter Moore of EA Sports said the plan is to release a game every other year, with a boxing game in the alternate year.
 
--Ted DiBiase Jr. interview at http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/08/07/10395931.html  He talked about filming The Marine 2, and how his father was at first against him being a wrestler, but changed his mind, but told him to finish college first and make sure to train under Harley Race.  He claimed the wellness policy is bulletproof.  Unfortunately, even the best policy like that is going to have holes in it if concerns are the best. When you hear the words bulletproof, unfortunately, all credibility goes out the window.
 
--There is an interview with Matt Morgan before his first PPV main event at http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/2009/08/
 
--We have a new update on Kurt Angle on the site right now, as well as on tonight's fights and tomorrow's Impact, and will be doing another show late tonight after the fights, and a Sunday show after Hard Justice.
 
--Poll on Impact
Excellent 20.8%
Good 25.0%
Average 29.2%
Fair 9.2%
Poor 15.8%
        31.0% of those responding didn't see the show
 
--Poll on Superstars
Excellent 16.4%
Good 45.5%
Average 20.0%
Fair 5.5%
Poor 12.7%
        58.0% of those responding didn't see the show
 
--Some MMA names including Thomas Denny, Wander Braga, Gabe Ruediger, Roman Mitichyan, Mike Dolce, Daniel Puder and Warpath Villareal headline a show tonight in Ontario, CA at the Citizens Business Bank Arena. 
 
--We don't have a date on Shaquille O'Neal being on Raw again, but he has confirmed that he will be at the 9/2 WEC show in Youngstown, OH 

--Ultimate Championship Wrestling on 9/4 in Cave City, KY at The Factory
 
--Dynamic Championship Wrestling on 9/5 in Eaton, OH at the National Guard Armory
 
--IZW from Tuesday night in Tempe:  Tommy Drake b Dom Vitale-COR, G.Q. Gallo b Lucha Star, Dean Radford b Jay Garland & Frenchy Riviera, Johnny Manson & Tyson Tyler b Mike G & Sergio Vega, Pirate Bernie b Dan Draven, Mike Jams b Derrick Neikirk (thanks to Eric Halvorsen)
 
--An obit in the Omaha paper for Karl Von Hess is at http://omaha.com/article/20090813/NEWS102/708149936
 
--Great Championship Wrestling from Thursday night in Phenix City, AL before 115 fans:  Tex Monroe b Michael Stevens, Dany Only b Mike Cross, Jimmy Rave & Cru Jones b Kyle Matthews & Bobby Monroe-DQ, Shaun Banks b Josh Storm, Johnny Swinger b Ron Stalker, Sal Rinauro b Chip Day, J-Rod & Frankie Valentine DDQ Murder One & Kory Chavis (thanks to Larry Goodman)
 
--USWO from last night in Nashville before 91 fans:  James Duncan b Saint, Lee Cross over Jason Haggery and Insane D, Matt Korbaine & Kevin Dunn b Bryan Casey & Dyron Flynn, Harold Knight b Convict, Jeff Daniels b Tommy Mercer-DQ, Chris Michaels b J.C. Crowe, Tony Falk & L.T. Falk & Mitch Ryder b Mark Anthony & Damian Payne & Josh Crowe (thanks to Jimmie Daniel)
 
--WAR on 8/22 and 8/23 at the Allen County Fairgrounds in Lima, OH
 
--Blood, Sweat & Ears from last night in Wasaga Beach, ONT before 150 fans:  Johnny J won elimination match, Ash b Mike Alias, ? b Kenneth Crisis, Brian Youngblood & Jake O'Reilly b Tornado & Sebastian Suave, Anthony Fiasco over Kris Chambers, Marcus Marquez and Pierre Shadows in a four-way, Tyson Dux b Bang Bang Pete, Xtremo & SoCal Val & Kelly Couture b James Champagne & Traci Brooks & Angelina Love.  Next show is tomorrow in Brampton at the Terry Rec Center at 3 p.m. (thanks to Allan Cajilig)
 
--Premiere Wrestling Showcase on 8/22 in Jacksonville, NC at the Jacksonville Commons Rec Center headlined by Petey Williams
 
--Wrestling Supershow from last night in Ottawa before 300 fans:  Santo D'estillo b Jae Rukn, Bruiser b Johnny Jack Spade & Leon Saver, Chaz Lovely b Harley Davidson, Sex Factor b Incredible Hunks, She Nay Nay b Misty Haven, MVP (obviously not the WWE wrestler) b Ben McCully, Abdullah the Butcher & Hannibal b The Hickster & Wild Dangerous Dan  


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What did you think of Thursday night's Impact?

 

What are your thoughts regarding TNA taping out of Orlando?

 

On Friday nights in March which show are you most likely to watch?

 

What are your plans for Saturday night?