Wed. update: Update on Time Warner/FOX down to the wire, Tonight's show, Another UFC card change

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        We're looking for reports on tonight's tri-branded WWE house show in Syracuse at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
        The annual New Year's Eve spectacular in Japan, with its least compelling mainstream lineup in history, airs for the first time ever live in the U.S. on HDNet at 3 a.m. Eastern and midnight Pacific.  The 17-match show will also be replayed tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific time, as well as Friday at 10 p.m.  Mayhem Miller joins the announce team with Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger
 
        Tonight's lineup, in order, weights and records
Tsukasa Fuji vs. Ruyuya Kusakabe (reserve match in high school kickboxing tourney)
Hiroya vs. Masaaki Noiri (first round in kickboxing tourney)
Katsuki Ishida vs Shota Shimada (first round in kickboxing tourney)
Minowa-man (43-30-8) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (7-4) in finals of the Super Hulk tournament
Yosuke Nishijima vs. Ray Sefo in a kickboxing match
Winners of match 2 & 3 meet for championship
Sengoku vs. Dream series
Hiroshi Izumi (0-1, 205) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (4-6-1, 198)
Michihiro Omigawa (8-8-1, 141) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (12-7-1, 141)
Akihiro Gono (30-15-7, 167) vs. Hayato Sakurai (35-9-2, 167)
Kazuo Misaki (22-9-2, 181.5) vs. Melvin Manhoef (23-6-1, 182.5)
Jong Man Kim (20-10-3, 141) vs. Hideo Tokoro (23-19-1, 141)
Kazunori Yokota (11-2-3, 154) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2, 154)
Masanori Kanehara (15-7-5, 138.5) vs. Kid Yamamoto (17-2, 137)
Hidehiko Yoshida (8-7-1, 226.6) vs. Satoshi Ishii (0-0, 228.8)
Kazuyuki Fujita (15-8, 250.8) vs. Alistair Overeem (31-11, 259.6)
Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1, 151.8) vs. Shinya Aoki (22-4, 153.6)
Gary Goodridge (23-19-1) vs. Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1)
Masato vs. Andy Souwer in a kickboxing match
 
        Countdown to UFC 108 is replayed at midnight tonight.  To me, Paul Daley was the highlight.  The WEC match of the year special airs on Versus at 8 p.m. tonight, airing Takeya Mizugaki vs. Miguel Torres, Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber and Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson.  If you've never seen those matches, they are all excellent.   
 
        A note that for all people who subscribe on-line to the Observer, you will get our 30th annual awards issue that comes out in late January, which is our traditional best selling issue of the year.
 
        We have our first look at different plans for WrestleMania as well as more on Bret Hart's return to WWE as one of the lead stories in our annual Business Year in Review issue of the Wrestling Observer that comes out on Monday.
 
        The issue covers the Monday Night Wars, what both sides need to do, how both sides are reacting, the return of Bret Hart and the different ways the angle can go, how the WrestleMania lineup is shaking out, the first week of the angle, a comparison to several major angles of the past, what idea should be saved for the final week, Bret Hart's previous effect on ratings, Impact, what is scheduled for the show and more.
 
        We also have our annual business year in review.  We have a rundown of the biggest live events of the year, the biggest live event draws of the year, a rundown of how every major PPV show did, the biggest money live events, just how badly UFC broke the all-time record and how much that record could have been had there not been an injury issue.
 
        We also have a rundown on the biggest stars in pro wrestling, MMA and boxing and how they rank based on Internet interest, both in the U.S., Canada and worldwide.  We look at the top 25 and breakdown by organization, UFC vs. WWE, who the most searched for wrestler, boxer and MMA fighter of the year was and why the worldwide top guy would likely surprise many.  
 
        We also look at a WWE vs. UFC comparison both domestically and worldwide and how it has shifted over the past year.  We look at most states, provinces and several countries, as well as per capita, where WWE, UFC, TNA and boxing are the strongest.
 
        We also have a look at MMA judging, talking with Nelson Hamilton and John McCarthy, talking about Hamilton's system he's trying to get implemented to change judging, McCarthy's thoughts on the drawbacks of the current judging methods and how fights aren't correctly being scored and its implementation in several fights.
 
        We also look back at the career of the now retired early MMA star as well as major pro wrestling star Don Frye.  We look at Frye's rise to stardom in the UFC, his moving over to Japanese pro wrestling including setting attendance records in three cities in Japan, his move back to Pride, his participation in what many call the greatest MMA fight in history, so good that it was later replayed in a movie.
 
        We also have a look at how the Time Warner/FOX breakdown in talks will affect WWE television.  We've got notes on another WWE injury, the daughter of a WWF legend gets signed, a funny backstage story, Bill Simmons talks about wrestling's problems and the death of Umaga, as well as a look at the Christmas week WWE shows.
 
        We also have fan voting for the 2009 Japanese awards as presented by Nikkan Sports, as well as a 2009 awards ballot.
 
       We also have a look at the ratings for all the major pro
wrestling and MMA shows on television over the past week.
 
    We also have our usual weekly features such as the results of the
biggest matches of the week and rundown of the major television shows.
 
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Also in this week's issue:
 
--Changes in the Mexico scene brought on by WWE's popularity on television
 
--Dorian Roldan talks about AAA's attendance decline and his thoughts on it
 
--Dragon Gate's last major show of the year
 
--Great Muta comes to Los Angeles
 
--Hall of Famer quietly announces his retirement to go into politics
 
--More on D.C. sportscaster George Michael and his pro wrestling connection
 
--Update on Ole Anderson
 
--Notes on a remake of one of the most popular wrestling movies ever done
 
--Former WWF star works on autobiography
 
--Lots more on the new changes in TNA
 
--Hulk Hogan talks learning from Dana White's success
 
--Why the Angle vs. Wolfe PPV match went as it did
 
--More people gone from TNA
 
--More on Lesnar's Diverticulitis
 
--Ramifications of UFC 108
 
--Lots more UFC cuts
 
--NCAA champion debuts on Super Bowl UFC show
 
--Inside MMA's awards
 
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--In the Fox/Time Warner dispute, Time Warner Chairman Glenn Britt agreed to binding arbitration in the dispute by Sen. John Kerry's Senate Commerce Subcomittee on Communication, Technology and the Internet.  But News Corp. (FOX) President Chase Carey declined the request.  "We strongly believe this is an issue that needs to be settled at the bargaining table and that binding arbitration all too often looks to the past, not the future," he said.  Carey stressed the importance of establishing retransmission consent fees from cable operators for survival of the broadcast networks.  Carey also turned down Britt's proposal to extend tomorrow night's headline while they negotiated an agreement.  Both sides are continuing negotiations at this point.

--We will talk more about Steve Williams' death on tonight's regular Observer radio broadcast. We have a show up already as well as a note on his death already on the site.   
 

--The latest change in Saturday's UFC show is Steve Cantwell has been pulled from the show due to a medical condition that was not released.  Cantwell was scheduled to face Vladimir Matyushenko.  Because of the late date, Matyushenko will not be fighting.  Dana White today wouldn't release the illness but said Cantwell may never fight again.  

--Manny Pacquiao filed suit in Federal Court in Las Vegas naming Floyd Mayweather Sr., Floyd Jr., Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer (Golden Boy CEO) as defendants claiming they all said he had used performance-enhancing drugs.  He is asking for damages in excess of $75,000 as well as punitive damages.

--Eric Bischoff talks the Monday Night Wars at http://ebwrestling.blogspot.com  He tried to categorize WWE as a "Wall Street mega-corp bully with a billion dollar bank account and a Chariman that think sonly he should have any meaningful market share of the professional wrestling business (even though he's embarrassed to admit he's in the professional wrestling business)."  esthc

--With Monday being the final Monday night game, this was the highest rated season since moving to ESPN, and numbers were up 17% in ratings and 20% in total viewers, to 14.38 million, from last season.  Six of the ten most watched Monday night games of the four seasons on ESPN took place this year, with Monday night's Vikings vs. Bears game doing a 12.02 rating and 17.01 million viewers.    
 
--TNA has released Cody Deaner, the latest victim of the Hogan changes.  He is looking for indie dates at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or http://www.myspace.com/codydeaner
 
--There is a great interview by Alfonso Castillo with Taz at http://www.newsday.com/steelcage  He noted Taz will be appearing at the 1/8 house show at the Capital One Bank Theater in Westbury, NY.  He said he hopes to go permanently to Mondays.  He talks a lot about leaving WWE, Hogan & Bischoff.  He doesn't say anything that will get him into trouble, but Castillo asked a lot of questions about how confusing the storylines in TNA are.
 
--For last week, Raw was No. 11 and No. 12 in the ratings on cable.  Six of the top ten shows were either pro or college football related.
 
--Miguel Cotto said he is completely shocked by how Manny Pacquiao is handling the situation at http://fighthype.com/pages/content6590.html  He told Primera Hora that he thinks all commissions should implement Olympic style drug testing instead of the testing in place now.
 
--Time Warner on Demand has the Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle match from Genesis 2009 on their Events Free Preview section (thanks to Suju Abraham)
 
--Ted DiBiase talks "The Marine 2" at http://www.mtv.com.movies/news/articles/1628858/story.jhtml  Another DiBiase interview is at http://www.ugo.com/therush/article/the-marine-ii-ted-dibiase-jr-interview /365  He said doing the movie has helped him with wrestling which he didn't expect to happen.
 
--Story on the loss of popularity of Lucha Libre due to WWE is at http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2009-12-29-lucha-libre_N.htm (thanks to Stacy Davidson)
 
--Ring Wars Carolinas on 1/9 in Fort Bragg, NC at South Post PX
 
--Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs ripped on DDP, when he went to Carnegie Deli, a famous sandwich shop in New York.  He said he should have brought a photo of himself to hang up, particularly when he saw a photo of DDP.  "Surely I'm more relevant than Diamond Dallas Page at this point," he said to the San Antonio Express-News.
 
--There is a blog critical of the late sportscaster George Michael at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/
 
--Playing at the Hollywood Improv tomorrow night will be Joe Rogan at 10 p.m. for a 21+ XXX rated show including a New Year's Eve countdown.  Roddy Piper does stand-up at the Improv on 1/8.
 
--A review of Raw vs. Smackdown for iPhones at http://toucharcade.com/2009/12/30/wwe-smackdown-vs-raw-2010-a-surprisingl y-competent-wrestling-game/  They only have 11 stars, Batista, Cena, Jericho, Mysterio, Orton, HHH, Undertaker, Show, Edge, Kozlov and Matt Hardy.  Kozlov and Matt are in and no Shawn Michaels (thanks to Shane Browne)  
 
--Poll on Raw
Excellent 14.5%
Good 42.7%
Average 18.2%
Fair 10.3%
Poor 15.6%
        12.3% of those responding didn't see the show
 
--Poll on ROH on Monday
Excellent 42.6%
Good 34.0%
Average 6.4%
Fair 0.0%
Poor 17.0%
        72.7% of those responding didn't see the show
 
--What New Year's Eve fight are you most interested in
Gegard Mousasi vs. Gary Goodridge 22.5%
Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita 15.5%
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Satoshi Ishii 15.5%
Shinya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota 13.6%
Kid Yamamoto vs. Masanori Kanehara 9.4%
Melvin Manhoef vs. Kazuo Misaki 6.1%
Hayato Sakurai vs Akihiro Gono 5.6%
Masato vs. Andy Souwer 3.8%
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Michihiro Omigawa 2.3%
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Izumi 2.3%
Hideo Tokoro vs. Jong-Man Kim 1.9%
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazunori Yokota 1.4%

 
--Jushin Liger vs. Austin Aries, The Briscoes & Young Bucks vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli & The American Wolves will be on the ROH show on 1/29 at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton, plus Tyler Black vs. Joey Ryan.
 
--Kenny King vs. El Generico will be on the ROH 1/8 TV taping in Philadelphia
 
--The first CHIKARA dates for 2010 are 1/31 in Philadelphia at the Arena, 2/27 in Reading at the Goodwill Fire Association Hall and 2/28 in Pottsville, PA at GoodFellas
 
--Mid South Wrestling on 1/16 in Fort Smith, AR at the Events Center headlined by Al Snow, Buddy Landel and Malia Hosaka and 1/23 in Russellville, AR with Landel, Mike Jackson, Bobby Eaton and  VH-1's Matt Riviera.
 
--Irv Muchnick will be a guest on the FDH Lounge with Rick Morris at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight at http://www.SportsTalkNetwork.com  
 
--Rob Van Dam, DDP, Sabu, Fonzie and Justin McCulley will talk Steve Williams at http://www.blogtalkradio.com at 9 p.m. tonight