SAT. UPDATE: MISAWA NOTES AND JAPAN FALLOUT; SYLVIA VS. MERCER; SECRET PPV; LESNAR VS. COUTURE
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Sorry for the brief update. We've updated the Mitsuharu Misawa story a few times this morning. This is shocking news as he was likely the biggest star in the history of the industry to die under these type of circumstances.
We're looking for polls on last night's ROH PPV and today's UFC PPV, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to
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We'll have live UFC coverage starting at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
We're also looking for reports on last night's ROH show in Manassas, VA, Raw last night in Belgrade, Serbia, TNA in St. Joseph, MO as well as today's shows with ROH at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, Smackdown in Binghamton, NY, Raw in Nimes, France and ROH in Council Bluffs, IA.
TripleMania, AAA's biggest show of the year, takes place tonight at Los Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City headlined by the battle for control of AAA between Konnan's team and Joaquin Roldan's team.
Today's UFC 99 lineup
Rick Story (169) vs. John Hathaway (170)
Stefan Struve (248) vs. Denis Stojnic (241)
Roli Delgado (155) vs. Paul Kelly (156)
Paul Taylor (169) vs. Peer Sobotta (169)
Dale Hartt (156) vs. Dennis Siver (156)
Justin Buccholz (155) vs. Terry Etim (156)
Live matches
Mostapha Al-Turk (236) vs. Mirko Cro Cop (233)
Caol Uno (155) vs. Spencer Fisher (154)
Dan Hardy (170) vs. Marcus Davis (171)
Ben Saunders (169) vs. Mike Swick (169)
Cheick Kongo (230) vs. Cain Velasquez (239)
Wanderlei Silva (194) vs. Rich Franklin (194)
Tomorrow has a TNA house show in Kearney, NE as well as a Smackdown house show in Hershey, PA.
Raw is a three-hour special on Monday night from Charlotte's Time Warner Arena with the WWE title being decided with HHH vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Big Show, the Smackdown title with C.M. Punk defending in a three-way against Jeff Hardy and Edge, and the ECW title with Tommy Dreamer defending against Christian.
Smackdown is being taped on Tuesday night in Roanoke.
ROH tonight on HDNet:
*Jerry Lynn vs. Chris Hero
*Jay Briscoe vs. D-Lo Brown
*Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Bobby Fish & Silas Young
*Jimmy Rave vs. Grizzly Redwood
Sorting out the chaos that is WWE over the past week is the lead story in this coming Monday's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The issue also has full coverage of WWE Extreme Rules, WEC 41 and Strikeforce, as well as a look at the buy rates for several of the most recent big shows including Wrestlemania, what they mean, as well as the numbers for the recent MMA events.
We sort out the booking moves that were made this past week involving Batista, Umaga, and others, who knew what when, as well as why Vickie Guerrero left, when she made the decision and what reasons she gave. We look at the long-term ideas that were on the table for Batista and Umaga that are now off, as well as notes on an even bigger star that some of the WWE wrestlers were talking about possibly being the next to leave.
We go through the Batista injury, the next PPV, the next Raw, Batista's injury record, Punk's future, the original plans with Vickie Guerrero, as well as updates on Jeff Hardy and Kane.
The issue is available right now for web site subscribers, and you can get a mail subscription to the Observer with information below.
We also look at the Extreme Rules PPV, with an interesting note on the number of major title changes the company is doing and comparing it with other companies, poll results, and match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
We examine the PPV numbers for Wrestlemania and Backlash, how much each show is down from last year, the key element of why Wrestlemania did surprisingly well, as well as updates on records set.
We also look at the WWE's new signing on why so many questions are being asked about it, as well as looking at Donna Goldsmith's statement about MMA not having any stars or storylines, as well as some fears regarding comments being made by a WWE personality having the potential to hurt the company from the sponsorship side, and where WWE right now is the most popular, and how much the popularity has gained in the past few months.
We also look at where the WEC is after its biggest fight in history. We look at the company going forward, what the ratings of the show told, who is watching and who wasn't watching. We also have business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage with all the fighters purses, and poll results.
We also have a feature on the Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg fight and if it will hit its potential, why the decision was made to put it where it is, the weight issue, and more notes. We also look at the ratings for the most recent Strikeforce show and match-by-match coverage.
We also have our usual weekly features including ratings for all the major national shows, broken down with demo numbers, as well as results from the major league arena events held around the world, and the major TV show reviews.
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--The tournament of champions event in Mexico
--Court case before a major show regarding whether a top star can appear as well as update on battles with the commission
--Update on Santo and AAA
--Final update on TripleMania
--The biggest attended match in Mexican history and feud is being brought back this week
--Updates on Teddy Hart and Jack Evans
--WWE titles to be defended outside WWE on an overseas show
--TNA cut back to Puerto Rico as a top star
--Update on Dragon Gate USA shows
--Hall of Famer does first traditional pro wrestling match in two decades
--A look at Keiji Muto's 25th anniversary show
--An 18-year-old being talked about already as a potential international top star
--Kenta Kobashi wins first title in four years
--More on Kobashi's summer plans
--First meeting of two world championships
--Lots of big matches coming for NOAH
--NOAH star entering bodybuilding competition
--New Japan Best of the Super Junior tournament news
--Hulk Hogan, Linda Bollea, drug testing and court cases
--Notes on next ROH PPV show
--Notes on next ROH TV tapings
--HDNet makes a call on a wrestler they didn't want on the show
--Update on Slammiversary
--Notes on Samoa Joe's planned return
--TNA overseas plans
--TNA looking at international superstars
--TNA house show notes
--Business notes on UFC 98
--More on the bill to legalize MMA in New York and notes on why the bill is completely unfair
--UFC's popularity peak
--Plans for Machida's first title defense
--More news for next season's Ultimate Fighter including a former champion will be in the cast
--Notes on lawsuit filed against Tito Ortiz
--More on Mirko Cro Cop's relationship with UFC
--Show held in Las Vegas on UFC 100 weekend
--Top star in next to last match and his opponent announced
--Update on Super Hulk tournament
--Gold medalist decides against doing MMA for three years
--Former Heisman Trophy winner says he will debut in MMA this year
--Former IWGP champ faces the man who beat Fedor last year
--What was ordered confiscated at the last WWE tapings
--WWE marketing to Hispanics
--More on the Jim Mitchell situation with Steve Keirn in Florida
--Best selling wrestling and MMA DVDs
--Lots more cuts
--Bourne on the old vs. new ECW
--RVD and his movie career
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*January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)
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*March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)
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*July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair's book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)
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*August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)
*August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund,
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--Given the final scene in the movie, it's now become one of those really eerie deals because today was the opening of the movie "The Wrestler" in Japan, and they advertised the movie heavily on the NOAH cable shows. Also, it was announced that Budokan Hall will be one of the venues in the upcoming Beatles: Rock Band video, because the band played there in 1966.
--The Misawa death is the top story in both Yahoo Japan and the Google Japan news
--As far as we know, Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer is still taking place tonight at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center under MMA rules. Sylvia weighed in at 310.6 pounds. Yeesh.
--Jim Ross on his web site was upset that some news sites claimed he had said that Shawn Michaels was retiring. Well, some day, he probably will, and he himself has talked about it on radio shows, but Ross never wrote it.
--Regarding the "secret" PPV from WWE, the Bash, two weeks from tomorrow, well, on Smackdown last night in Canada, there was a PPV ad, except it was for the July Night of Champions show. (thanks to Stephen Gray)
--Since it got around that the New York Yankees were passing around a replica WWE title belt to the player of the game this year after every win, Jerry Lawler just gave an official real-life WWE title belt to CC Sabathia, who Lawler knows. This was in today's New York Daily News. WWE has gotten far more pub for that than TNA got when the White Sox gave a belt to the player of the game a couple of years ago. (thanks to Joe Puccio)
--There will be five hours of Unleashed tomorrow from 5-10 p.m. The fifth hour will have the Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture match and the Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin match.
--Wrestling Supershow tonight at the NDR Centre in Montreal with Sid Vicious vs. Franky the Mobster and Hannibal vs. Dan Paysan. It will be the last show in the arena, which is being torn down.
--FTW on 7/18 in Ronkonkoma, NY at the Center Island Sports has Balls Mahoney vs. Grim Reefer as the main event
--Strikeforce is having some ticket sales gimmicks for the 6/19 show in Kent, WA. Package one as four lower reserved seats (priced at $32), four Strikeforce T-shirts and $32 in food and beverage vouchers at the show for $195.75. Package two has four lower reserved tickets (priced at $52), 4 T-shirts, and $32 in food and beverage vouchers for $271.75. For info contact the Show Ware Center at
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--FYE has an exclusive DVD of the TNA X Cup in 2008. (thanks to David Tokkesdal)
--AWESOME and JWA have a joint show on 7/11 at 3 p.m. on the USS New Jersey, a World War II battleship located at 62 Battleship Place in Camden, NJ
--In Your Face Wrestling on 7/18 in Queensbury, NY at the Adirondack Sports Complex and 6/20 in Rutland, VA at he Holiday Inn including Pierre Vachon, the son of Paul Vachon
--Hoosier Pro Wrestling and JD Byrider Auto Sales have their fifth annual fund raiser for the Love Chapel Food Bank in Columbus, IN on 6/27. The show will be at the JD Byriders Lot and admission is six cans of food. Bring your own lawn chairs.
--Matt Morgan has a feature in an article called BEST OF THE BADASS in the summer 2009 issue of Penthouse.
--Pro Wrestling Ohio on 8/9 at the Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland
--Angelina Love & Velvet Sky and King Kong Bundy appear from Noon to 2 p.m. at Collector's Realm in Poughkeepsie, NY, one block north of Vassar College
