THE ROUND-UP
THE LATEST NEWS
Jay Lethal suffers injury at ROH War of the Worlds: Toronto
ROH War of the Worlds Toronto results: Young Bucks vs. Smash Bros
NXT Ocala, FL, live results: EC3 interrupts Dory Funk Jr.
RevPro Epic Encounter 2018 results: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Keith Lee
THE LATEST AUDIO
WOL: NXT, ROH, Backlash, Charlotte, Dr. Lucha, more! 5/11
Wrestling Weekly: NJPW Dominion, Cow Palace, WWE agents 5/11
B&V&G: Granny, NXT, THURSDAY NIGHT POTPOURRI! 5/10
WOR: Jim Cornette catches up with Dave and Bryan 5/10
We are looking for reports from WWE shows in Zaragoza, Spain (Raw), Bremen, Germany (Smackdown) and Citrus Springs, FL (NXT), OTT ScrapperMania in Dublin (Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Keith Lee vs. Minoru Suzuki, Will Ospreay vs. Matt Riddle, Jordan Devlin vs. Zack Sabre Jr.) and ROH in Royal Oak, MI to [email protected].
UFC 224 ON SATURDAY NIGHT FROM THE JEUNESSE ARENA IN RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
Fight Pass at 6:15 p.m. Eastern time
Markus Perez (186) vs. James Bochnovic (186)
Alberto Mina (171) vs. Ramazan Emeev (171)
Thales Leites (186) vs. Jack Hermansson (186)
Warlley Alves (171) vs. Sultan Aliev (171)
FX at 8 p.m. Eastern
Elizeu dos Santos (171) vs. Sean Strickland (170)
Davi Ramos (156) vs. Nick Hein (155)
Aleksei Oleinik (235) vs. Junior Albini (266)
Cezar Ferreira (186) vs. Karl Roberson (185)
PPV at 10 p.m. Eastern
Vitor Belfort (184) vs. Lyoto Machida (186)
John Lineker (136) vs. Brian Kelleher (136)
Mackenzie Dern (123) vs. Amanda Cooper (116)
Ronaldo Jacare Souza (186) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (185)
Amanda Nunes (135) vs. Raquel Pennington (135) for the women’s bantamweight title
ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS SATURDAY NIGHT AT 7:30 P.M ON HONOR CLUB FROM ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN
Shane Taylor vs. Evil
Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Jushin Liger & Flip Gordon & Cheeseburger
Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Sho & Yoh vs. Young Bucks
Cody vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page
Kenny King vs. Marty Scurll vs. Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal
Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi for ROH tag titles
BELLATOR ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT 9 P.M. EASTERN FROM THE SAP CENTER IN SAN JOSE ON PARAMOUNT AND CMT TV
Carrington Banks (155.6) vs. Adam Piccolotti (155.3)
Javy Ayala (265.5) vs. Cheick Kongo (241.7)
Lee Morrison (144) vs. Aaron Pico (145.7)
Paul Daley (170.3) vs. Jon Fitch (171)
Ryan Bader (225.1) vs. King Mo Lawal (217.4) in the Bellator heavyweight title tournament
WWE runs Sunday in Malaga, Spain (Raw) and Prague (Smackdown) and ROH finishes the War of the Worlds tour with a show in Chicago at the Odeum Expo Center with a TV taping that includes Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi & Seiya Sanada & Evil vs. Cody & Marty Scurll & Young Bucks & Adam Page, Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Sho & Yoh for ROH tag titles, Silas Young vs Austin Aries for ROH TV title, Sumie Sakai vs. Jenny Rose for Women of Honor title, Jay Lethal vs. Chuckie T, Kelly Klein vs. Deonna Purrazzo, Jonathan Gresham vs. Flip Gordon, Tenille Dashwood vs. Karen Q and The Dawgs vs. Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger.
Monday will be the Raw show from London at the O2 Arena. The show will be taped a few hours before it airs. Smackdown has a house show Monday in Budapest, Hungary.
Tuesday will be Smackdown and 205 Live taped in London at the O2 Arena. Announced is a celebration for Carmella as well as New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro where the winning team picks one guy to enter Money in the Bank, and the U.K. contracted talent will be on the 205 Live show.
There will also be a Tuesday Raw house show in Brighton, England.
Wednesday will be a Raw show in Geneva, Switzerland and Smackdown house show in Liverpool, England.
F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Recapping Backlash 2018
At best, Backlash 2018 was going to be a largely meaningless show that was overshadowed by more important events on the WWE calendar. Surrounded by WrestleMania 34 and the fallout from the company’s biggest event of the year, the Superstar Shakeup, and the Greatest Royal Rumble, Backlash should have been an afterthought. Instead, it will be remembered as one of the worst WWE shows of at least the last few years.
WON NEWSLETTER: May 13, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Details on the UFC/ESPN deal, more
This is a big business issue of the Observer as we update all aspects of WWE business and look at the most important business deal in years, the UFC’s new deal with ESPN.
Look at the ramifications from all perspectives of the UFC deal, what is good, what may not be so good, how this affects the schedule, Fight Pass, making stars, and the financial structure of the organization. Also, look at the key aspects of the deal and what it means for WWE as well when it comes to future negotiations, as well as the value of both products.
This issue runs down every aspect of the WWE business and how it’s doing. Look at the long game for WWE business, the things to look through when WWE gives its presentations, what is now being hidden in the financial reports, why the stock looks overvalued but really isn’t, the unique questions nobody is bringing up about the network numbers, the value of WrestleMania to the network, as well as house show business, television ratings, merchandise and licensing and the dichotomy of areas that are growing and those slowly declining.
Full coverage of Backlash, the Brock Lesnar title reign, Money in the Bank and other business notes plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, and coverage of both New Japan Dontaku shows with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results, the Okada records, Okada vs. Omega, Dominion and the Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
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].
Rates in the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected]. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue or two free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.
SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
WWE is teasing more Money in the Bank qualifying matches and another Seth Rollins Intercontinental Championship open challenge for Monday’s Raw, which will be taped in London. Rollins tweeted about the open challenge: “Highly considering another Open Challenge for the IC Title this Monday in London. @MojoRawleyWWE put in a career performance last week. Interested to see who wants to step up to the plate this time. #MondayNightRollins #fightingchampion #brockwho”
A new episode of Table for Three with Jeff Jarrett, Road Dogg, and Elias will air after Raw on Monday. It was taped during WrestleMania weekend.
With Charlotte Flair missing some shows on the European tour, Becky Lynch has filled in for her in SmackDown Women’s Championship matches against Carmella. The finish has been Lynch winning by disqualification and Carmella keeping the title.
The main event of Raw’s last two house shows have been Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley defeating Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. Seth Rollins also defeated Jinder Mahal to retain the Intercontinental title and Finn Balor beat Baron Corbin.
In his home country of Ireland, Jordan Devlin appeared at yesterday’s house show in Dublin and defeated Sam Gradwell.
Bayley told Sky Sports that she likes the slow-building direction of her feud with Sasha Banks: “When I was a kid watching wrestling that’s kind of how it was.You had these long feuds and storylines and you just got more and more interested and you wanted to see where it was going to go. You wanted to see the big blow-off match and I like that stuff because that’s what I grew up watching. There are so many people on the roster, there’s so much going on and there’s so much content that we sometimes rush through things so maybe that’s what we get used to and what we’re expecting. I’m pretty happy with it. I’m a fan still but I’m not a viewer so perhaps I see it differently but I really enjoy what’s going on. It’s fun and I think it’s going well.”
Pete Dunne talked about WWE’s UK division with Sportbible ahead of next month’s shows at Royal Albert Hall.
Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reported that WWE has signed former Australian rugby player Daniel Vidot to a developmental contract.
While speaking with People, Maryse discussed how difficult it is for The Miz to be on the road following the birth of their daughter.
Barricade spots are the subject of this week’s video top 10 list.
Pro Wrestling
Even with a World title match (Pentagon Jr. vs. Eli Drake) on the show and there being no NBA playoffs on Thursday night, Impact ratings dropped very slightly this week. The show averaged 295,000 viewers, down from 299,000. Ratings have been on a bit of a downward trend since the hit that Impact took against the NFL draft on April 26th.
In an in-character interview with Tokyo Sports, Kenny Omega commented on his upcoming match against Kazuchika Okada at Dominion and wanting Kota Ibushi at ringside for it.
Shortly after being announced for the Starrcast convention (which is being run by Conrad Thompson) during All In weekend, Vince Russo was removed from the lineup. Cody Rhodes wrote about the decision: “We don’t reward bad behavior. Stay away from our event.”
The Chicago Tribune ran an article about seven things local fans need to know about All In.
Cody and The Young Bucks issued a press release about tickets for All In going on sale tomorrow.
AMBY interviewed Britt Baker about balancing her in-ring career with being in dental school.
Brandon Howard detailed the differences between what gets over in modern and traditional pro wrestling.
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis has been announced for NOVA Pro Wrestling’s Commonwealth Cup show on June 9th.
UFC/MMA
The final episode of Embedded for tonight’s UFC 224 PPV focuses on yesterday’s weigh-ins.
An emotional Amanda Cooper did an interview about Mackenzie Dern missing weight, calling Dern broken and saying she’s going to break her even more in their fight.
Nate Diaz and Clay Guida got into an altercation at last night’s Combate Americas event.
Scott Coker said Bellator is interested in Yair Rodriguez after his release from the UFC.
Daily Professional Wrestling History: Kevin Steen wins ROH World title
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