THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
NEWS
UFC Fight Night 102 Betting & Fantasy Playbook
Lucha Underground results: The Battle of the Bulls begins
WWE NXT results: Shinsuke Nakamura recaptures the title in Japan
Donald Trump picks Linda McMahon for a cabinet-level position
WWE SmackDown video highlights: The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose
AUDIO
WOL: Linda McMahon, Dave Meltzer interview, Otunga vs. Saxton, more! 12/8
WOR: Linda and Trump, Lita and Lawler, NXT, Smackdown, 205 Live, UFC, more! 12/8
F4D: Smackdown, 205 Live, Impact, MMAAA, tons more! 12/7
WOL: 205 Live, Smackdown, NXT, Lawler and Lita gone, more! 12/7
DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: WON Hall of Fame review 12/7
There is an NXT house show tonight in St. Petersburg, FL.
TNA IMPACT TONIGHT ON POP TV
Mahabali Shera & Al Snow vs. Basille Baraka & Baron Dax in a double strap match
Hardys vs. Bram & Eddie Kingston for TNA tag titles
Allie vs. Laurel Van Ness
Moose vs. Aron Rex for the Grand Championship
Eddie Edwards vs. Ethan Carter III for TNA title
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: 11/28/2016 Buddy Rose investigated by CSAC for getting too much heat
When we last left you, “Playboy” Buddy Rose, real name Paul Perschmann, was in the middle of a mess with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). While he had already been able to get out from under a case where he got in trouble over a match that had a referee bump, the latest issue in that went on from late 1978 through 1979 was a bit more complicated…
Subscribers click here to continue.
WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: December 12, 2016 Linda McMahon given Trump cabinet position, WWE TLC review, more
Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon was named by president-elect Donald Trump to his cabinet as the administrator of the Small Business Administration on 12/7.
“Linda has a tremendous background and is widely recognized as one of the country’s top female executives advising businesses around the globe,” Trump said. “She helped grow the WWE from a modest 13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees in offices worldwide. Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small businesses and unleash America’s entrepreneurial spirit across the country.”
The WWE’s next-to-last PPV show of the year, the TLC show from Dallas, featured two great matches and the rest kind of filler, built around yet another sensational performance by A.J. Styles. Styles suffered an ankle injury in his TLC match WWE title defense, where he beat Dean Ambrose due to a heel turn by James Ellsworth. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action, but on television he portrayed it like it would be a week or so.
Ring of Honor’s traditional biggest event of the year, Final Battle, took place on 12/2 in its return to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. The show, held before an advanced sellout of 1,800 fans, showcased both good and bad with the promotion… Subscribers click here to continue.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
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WON BACK ISSUE: November 15, 1999: ECW November to Remember review, Dynamite Kid book, more – The most publicized story ever in North American pro wrestling, the tragic death of Owen Hart on 5/23, is brought vividly back to life with the documentary “The life and death of Owen Hart.” The one-hour piece, debuted in Ontario on TVO on 11/3, in the rest of Canada on 11/6 on the A Channel and will be part of A&E’s bio week on pro wrestling, with an 11/16 showing… click here to continue.
THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE
Jon Jones received a one year suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission, identical to his UFC USADA suspension. There was some concern that Nevada could hand out a longer suspension. That means he’ll be eligible to fight after 7/6. According to MMA Fighting, Jones will not be fined by the commission.
UFC has started the promotion for Ronda Rousey’s return on 12/30. She was on Conan O’Brien last night. There wasn’t much to it but she said that it would not be her last fight. She didn’t say this, but we’ve heard she has two fights left on her contract and is planning on doing that minimum. They also released a new promotional video building up the fight.
Georges St-Pierre was on TSN and said that UFC wanted to start up negotiations with him once again.
There will be a lot of New Japan news coming early next week. The announcement of the complete Tokyo Dome card as well as more info on the show should be announced shortly after the tag team tournament on Saturday. Saturday’s show, which airs live on New Japan World, should have several angles building new matches. The main event of Saturday’s show will be the finals of the tag team tournament with Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa facing Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma. On today’s show in Hachinohe, Makabe & Honma beat Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto to win the B block. They tied with Seiya Sanada & Evil with 5-2 records, but Makabe & Honma advanced to the finals because they beat Sanada & Evil head-to-head. Sanada & Evil eliminated Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi, while Kenny Omega & Chase Owens also eliminated Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata.
Conor McGregor will play a crew member on Euron Greyjoy’s ship The Silence on “Game of Thrones.” The idea is that everyone on the ship had their tongues cut of and can’t talk. So they are bringing McGregor in for a non-speaking role. That’s one of the wackier ideas in history.
WWE
Randy Orton did an interview with Tom Clark on Bleacher Report putting over working with Jason Jordan & Chad Gable, hints at new ring gear now that he’s in the Wyatt Family, and discusses his style of wrestling and what style of wrestling he doesn’t like.
Mickie James has signed a three-year deal with WWE.
Some more Linda McMahon press is here and here. (thanks to Chris Cruise)
We don’t have details, but Todd Garzon, who worked security at NXT, passed away. Adam Pearce, who works at NXT, was among several who tweeted about it.
There will be a press conference on Thursday at the O2 Arena in London with HHH, William Regal and Finn Balor.
A story about Tian Bing and WWE’s attempt to penetrate the Chinese market is here.
Evidently they are preparing Lana once again to wrestle. She will start working in NXT on tonight’s show in St. Petersburg, FL. Not Russia. She will also be wrestling in Winter Haven tomorrow night.
Tickets for the 1/12 NXT show in Indianapolis, 1/13 in Louisville and 1/14 in Nashville are available at NXTTickets.com with the code NXTLIVE
“Moana” opens in Australia on 12/26. (thanks to James Stanios)
Randy Orton will appear on “Shooter” on the USA Network this coming Tuesday night after Smackdown. (thanks to Rishi Malhotra)
UFC
There’s already less than a united front as Tim Kennedy is now publicly questioning the public moves made by Bjorn Rebney in the MMAAA.
Tomorrow’s UFC show in Albany, NY will air live on The Fight Network in Canada starting at 9 p.m. The show is headlined by Derrick Lewis vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov.
MMA Junkie reported that Roy Nelson, due to apologizing over the incident where he kicked ref John McCarthy, will have his nine month suspension reduced to six months. He was told that they would reduce his suspension if he issued a public apology. Nelson will be able to fight again on 3/29.
MISCELLANEOUS
Dynamite Kansai will be retiring with a show on Sunday at Korakuen Hall, wrestling her longtime tag team partner Mayumi Ozaki in the main event.
Now that Jerry Lawler is no longer under a full-time WWE deal, he’s made a deal to do talk shows in the U.K. on 3/16 in London at the Leicester Square Theater, 3/17 in Manchester and the Dancehouse Theater, 31/18 in Glasgow at The Classic Grand and 3/19 in Belfast at The Empire Music Hall.
Matt Riddle talks why he won’t be working for Absolute Intense Wrestling anymore.
DDP and Fite TV reached an agreement that DDP Yoga will air on Fite TV starting on 12/8. The price for DDP Yoga on Spike is $64.99. The first 100 sign-ups will get a Fite TV T-shirt.
ACH vs. Beer City Bruiser will take place for CWE on 1/16 in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Three-time NCAA champion Ed Ruth has been added to the Saturday afternoon Bellator show from Florence, Italy. Bellator is doing a combination MMA and kickboxing card, but they will air separately. Ruth faces Emmanuele Palombi (5-2) in the scheduled opener on television which airs at 4 p.m., so the show will mostly go against the UFC’s FS 1 prelims.
Bellator also announced Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez for the 1/21 show in Los Angeles, which is the show headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen.
CZW Cage of Death on Saturday night at Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ with a Cage of Death match with Devon Moore & Drew Blood & Dale Patricks & Josh Crane vs. Matt Tremont & Joey Janela & Jeff Cannonball & Conor Claxton, plus Jonathan Gresham vs. Joe Gacy for the CZW world title.
Northeast Wrestling on Saturday night in Bethany, CT at the NEW Arena headlined by Brian Anthony defending the NEW title against TK O’Ryan, plus Wrecking Ball Legursky vs. Mike Bennett, plus Matt Taven, Dijak, Keith Lee, Vinny Marseglia and more.
Micah Miller vs. Jared Gooden headlines NFC 89 tomorrow night at Center Stage in Atlanta in an MMA event. For the final tickets, you can get two for the price of one at www.NFCFighting.com.
Amy “Lita” Dumas, who was just cut by WWE, will be appearing this weekend at the Steel City Comic Con in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Pure Wrestling Association on 1/21 in Cambridge, ONT at the Hespeler Memeorial Arena.
Alpha One Wrestling on 1/22 in Hamilton, ONT at the Knights of Columbus. and 12/18 in Oshaw, ONT at the Polish Alliance Association of Canada.
NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling has its final show of the year on Saturday night in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium.
Anthony Henry, Dave Crist and Dezmond Xavier have been announced for the first Style Battle promotion show on 1/7. on FloSlam from Ybor City, FL.
Glory has moved its television home in Holland from Spike TV to Ziggo Sport because the owner of Ziggo Sport now owns 40 percent of the Glory promotion. (thanks to Henk Mulder)
The former Moonshine Mantell will be working the NWL St. Louis under the name Maverick.
This is the update on Wrestlecon events over WrestleMania weekend:
Wrestle Pro on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
Revolution Pro on Friday at 4 p.m.
WrestleCon Super Show on Friday at 8:30 p.m.
Wrestling Revolver on Saturday at Noon
Women’s Super Show on Saturday at 4 p.m.
CZW on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
All show will be at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando
Today in Professional Wrestling History (12/8): Harlem Heat win the WCW tag titles
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