Daily Update: AEW Revolution, UFC fallout, ROH
DAILY UPDATE
Latest News:
WWE bans slapping the leg/thigh when throwing kicks
AEW Revolution watch along, Speak Now/B&V post-shows on Twitch
Impact Hard to Kill PPV buys second highest in post-Spike era
New Japan Cup night four results: Ospreay vs. Tenzan
One title changes via DQ at UFC 259 while two champions retain
AEW Dark results: Sydal Brothers vs. Chaos Project
UFC 259 live results: Three title fights
Joey Mercury files lawsuit against ROH, Sinclair Broadcasting
Latest Audio:
DragonKing Dark: The Baltic Sea anomaly 3/7
WOR: UFC recap, AEW preview, ratings, Stardom, New Japan, LEG SLAPPING BAN
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WON NEWSLETTER: March 8, 2021 Observer Newsletter: Death of Jim Crockett Jr., NXT moving to Tuesday
The story of Jim Crockett Jr., and the rise and fall of Jim Crockett Promotions is the lead story in the current double-sized issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at the death of Crockett, the Crockett’s family original involvement in wrestling, how Jim took over the moves he made in building a small market territory into one of the big three companies in the U.S., original plans and why they changed, the rise of Ric Flair, where Jm was a Hall of Fame promoter, the fight with Vince McMahon from 1984-88, getting the TBS deal, what led to JCP selling to Turner, the framework of the NWA in the 70s and 80s, the rise of the super show concept, mistakes made at the end, what happened when TBS took over, attempts to get back in wrestling and life after wrestling.
Also in this issue:
NXT to Tuesday, why, what should be expected for the unopposed shows, WrestleMania plans, Takeover plans and how this affects the industry as a whole.
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We also look at the next four PPV shows in pro wrestling with current plans and what happened this week to change plans.
A court case that has major ramifications on major wrestling companies.
A new documentary from a WWE star away from WWE.
Raw conflicting with college basketball, how other sports do on TV against AEW or WWE, Canadian rating updated, where wrestling stands with mother major sports programming, WWE losing a time slot to AEW, WWE injury dates, Ric Flair talks his angle being dropped, WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
New Japan Cup and company plans going forward, Castle Attack shows, injury update, business notes and stadium shows.
Stardom’s biggest show in its history at Budokan Hall.
Life and times of Dean Higuchi, or Dean Ho, one of the major babyface stars of the 70s and his debut in Hawaii, his notoriety prior to wrestling, and his biggest career runs in WWWF and for Roy Shire.
Saturday’s UFC show.
The life of Art Michalik, who was responsible for a major change in pro football, his NFL career, getting into pro wrestling, headlining in Japan and life outside of wrestling.
The life of Johnny DeFazio, one of the most famous local stars in Pittsburgh, the heyday of Studio Wrestling and his life outside of wrestling including being a union head and for decades later a councilman.
The career of Don Serrano, who spent decades in wrestling and certain firsts he was involved in.
The life of Ann Casey, a noteworthy woman wrestling star of the 60s and 70s.
More into detail on the ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering AEW Revolution, the Adam Birch lawsuit against ROH, open scoring and other subjects. You can send questions to the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
AEW Revolution takes place today starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time with the pre-show with the main card scheduled from 8 pm.. until 11:30 p.m. to midnight Eastern. The only thing we’ve been told officially is that it will end after 11 p.m. The pre-show match is Riho & Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker & Rebel (there is an angle where Rebel doesn’t want to be in the match due to an injury), the PPV opener is Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho & MJF. The main event is Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley in an explosive barbed wire match. Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks is a pre-taped cinematic match. A sellout crowd of 1,300, the second largest crowd for an American pro wrestling show since the pandemic, will be there.
Riho & Rosa vs. Baker & Rebel
Young Bucks vs. Jericho & MJF for the tag titles. This should be more of a brawling style of match than usual given the storyline of Jericho & MJF beating up Papa Buck.
Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor – They seem to be grooming Miro to be in the world title picture, so him beating Charles could be the result
Casino tag team Battle Royal for a shot at the tag team titles
Hikaru Shida vs. Ryo Mizunami for the women’s title. This match could be a surprise. Mizunami, who doesn’t have a lot of exposure, was put over in the tournament for the specific reason of having a great PPV match with Shida.
Matt Hardy vs. Adam Page in the big money match
Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks in the cinematic street fight match
Ladder match for a TNT title shot on Wednesday with Cody Rhodes, Scorpio Sky, Penta El Zero M, Max Caster, Lance Archer and a mystery sixth man
Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW title in an explosive barbed wire match Omega would be the favorite to retain although I’ve seen no actual odds listed for this show.
On last night’s show that Bryan and I did, we discussed the two surprises.
We are doing polls on four shows this week. Today is the last day for our polls on the Stardom show Wednesday and the New Japan anniversary show on Thursday from Budokan Hall. We also have a poll up for UFC 259 last night and AEW tonight. For each show, you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
Regarding last night’s UFC main event, Judge Derek Cleary gave rounds one, two, four and five to Jan Blachowicz as well as a 10-8 fifth. Judge Sal D’Amato gave one, two, four and five to Blachowicz. Judge Junichiro Kamiyo gave one, three, four and five to Blachowicz and a 10-8 fifth round. Dana White after the show said it was nuts, saying in no way did Blachowicz win four rounds and that the final round shouldn’t have been a 10-8. Based on tons of different fan scores, the general feeling was Blachowicz 48-47, winning rounds two, four and five. To me, rounds one and two could have gone either way. Most had Israel Adesanya in round one and Blachowicz in two, but either way was fine. Round three was Adesanya, but not a blow out. Four and five were Blachowicz. Ten point must sucks because you could have easily scored it 48-47 for Adesanya while thinking Blachowicz really won the fight. For me using current scoring I had 48-47 Adesanya, but if it was half point scoring I’d have had I’d have had it 48.5 to 47.5 for Blachowicz.
Even though all three judges gave Blachowicz four rounds, of 28 media scores, only one gave him four and not one of 28 gave the last round 10-8. Of the scores we’ve seen it was 76-24% in favor of Blachowicz.
Adesanya last night said that there should be open scoring. It will never happen because we will never learn from foreign countries. I’ve been to shows with open scoring in Japan. It’s better for the fans and much better for the fighters. It makes it more exciting. But it doesn’t matter, commissions take forever to change and those in power don’t watch Japan or other places to learn, so they don’t learn and just go into the idea of what would happen (fighters ahead will stall knowing they are ahead) even though their idea really doesn’t happen often, and no more then when fighters already assume they are ahead.
We’ve been told today’s Dragon Gate main event with Shun Skywalker vs. Kaito Ishida was super.
In the New Japan Cup, there is no show tonight/early tomorrow. There is a Tuesday show from Okayama that starts at 4:30 a.m. with Yuji Nagata vs. Yota Tsuji and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada. Matches set up for the second round are Evil vs. Jeff Cobb and Great O’Khan vs. Toru Yano on 3/11, Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo Takagi and KENTA sv. Minoru Suzuki on 3/13 and Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. on 3/14.
The next ROH PPV show on 3 /26 will be headlined by Rush vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH title.
WWE
WWE’s first non-pro wrestling documentary, “Heaven” about a girl wrestler in North Carolina who beat all the boys to win the state title at 106 pounds, is up on the network right now.
The Denver Post has a story today about Bobby Lashley winning the WWE title. Lashley is from Denver. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk and Barry Werner)
UFC
SportsBetting.ag has these odds for matches coming out of last night.
Petr Yan -250 vs. Aljamain Sterling +210
Jan Blachowicz -155 vs Glover Teixeira +135
Dana White said he wants to rematch Yan vs. Sterling as soon as possible. The issue is Sterling was knocked out and you can’t rush that rematch.
AEW
The New York Post has a story on the video game.
It’s a big day for Tony Khan since Fulham won 1-0 at Liverpool, which is only the second time that has happened since 1875.
OTHER NEWS
Kazushi Sakuraba’s first pro wrestling title reign ended earlier today, as Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya won the GHC tag titles from Sakuraba & Takashi Sugiura at the Yokohama Budokan.
With the death of Jim Crockett Jr., the Raleigh News-Observer ran a story on the era when the tapings of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Wide Wrestling were done at the WRAL-TV studios. (thanks to Jeff Hamlin)
Stardom ran Korakuen Hall today with the fallout from Wednesday. Giulia, after losing the main event and getting her head shaved, said she wanted to be in the opener. She was not bald but had short hair: Giulia b Gokigen Death, Konami b Lady C, Momo Watanabe & AZM & Saya Kamitani won a three-way for a trios title shot over Himeka & Maika & Natsupoi and Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima & Ruaka, Bea Priestley won a three-way over Utami Hayashishita and Syuri by pinning Hayashishita to set up their 4/4 title match, Tam Nakano & Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka b Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid & Saya Iida to keep the trios titles.
Nakano & Shirakawa & Sayaka defend against Watanabe & AZM & Kamitani on 3/26 at Korakuen Hall. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Tomi Yamada)
Women’s Pro Wrestling Assemble from Ueno Park in Tokyo yesterday: Mikoto Shinda b Ai Houzan, Chihiro Hashimoto & Maami b Dash Chisako & Kanon, Chikayo Nagashima & Makoto & Asuka (Veny inAEW) b Yumiko Hotta & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Riho Kawahata, Hanako Nakamori & Akari b Leon & Rydeen Hagne, Arisa Nakajima & Riko Kaiju b Nanae Takahashi & Honori Hana, Mei Hoshizuki & Maria b Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura, Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid b Momo Watanabe & AZM, Nargisa Nozaki won a four-way over Sakura Hirota, Yumi Ohka and Yuki Miyazaki (thanks to Shannon Walsh and WrestlingwithDemons.com)
Daneille Moinet, formerly known as Summer Rae, is the new co-host of “Always Be Racing” on ABR Live.
Tokyo Joshi Pro from yesterday in Tokyo: Sasikama & Mei Saint-Mchel (Mei Suruga) b Hikaru Noa & Sena Shiri, Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita b Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao, Marka Kobashi & Mahiro Kiryu & Raku & Nao Kakuta b Mirai Maiumi & Suzume & Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo, Yiku Kamifuku won three-way over Mizuki and Haruna Neko to keep the International Princess title, Yuka Sakazaki & Yuki Aino & Nodoka Tenma b Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku,Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel won the tag team tournament over Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Wrestlingwithdemoncom)
MLW on Wednesday night has Alex Hammerstone vs. L.A. Park for the National title, ACH vs. Kevin Ku plus the top five middleweight rankings.
SHWA from last night in Western Australia: Cal Collins & Zenith won three-way over Ryan Allen, Dizzy Videl & Michael Morleone b Casey Johns & James Hartness, James Draker & Julian Ward won three-way over Jordan Bishop, Dave Marshall b Great George, Jules Canan & Ryan Rivera b Chris Target & Blake Walker, Taylor King b Seth Kincaid-DQ, Del Cano b Chadwick Johnson-DQ, Chadwick Johnson b Del Cano to win Pride title
Deathmatch Downunder from last night in Melbourne, Australia: Mad Dog b Fox, Anti-Death match, Party b Raw Beef, Kid Valiant & Zane Zodiac b Toast of the Upper Crust, Caveman Ugg b Gore, Robbie Eagles b Mark Davis, Callen Butcher & Viksin b Gweedo & York, JXT b Ritchie Taylor, Royce Chambers b Murdoch, Charli Evans b Joel Bateman in a death match. They announced a doubleheader on 5/21 and 5/2 in Melbourne.
EPW on 3/20 in Perth with a school show and 4/17 with a bigger show. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Daily Pro Wrestling History: Bruno Sammartino vs. Giant Baba
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