THE ROUND-UP
The Latest from the F4W Staff
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WOL: Jeff Cobb interview, Jinder Mahal promo, Flair health update, more! 9/20
FIGURE FOUR WEEKLY: Figure Four Weekly 9/18/2017: Remembering Bobby Heenan
When someone passes away, whether it’s a celebrity or someone in our lives, a usual lament is that we didn’t appreciate them enough while they were alive. It’s typical human nature for us to not fully grasp how important someone is until they’re gone. But in the sadness that has surrounded the death of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, it’s clear that wasn’t the case with him.
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WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: September 18, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Vince McMahon returns to TV, Mae Young Classic finals, more
The return of Vince McMahon for an angle with Kevin Owens and the copying of the Okada-Shibata spot is the lead in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. This issue has a run through of the next few WWE PPV shows.
Look at the mechanics behind it, the double standard involved and the WWE’s attempt to heat up the product as football season starts.
Read a full rundown of the Mae Young Classic finals including thoughts on all 32 competitors, who has signed, who is likely to be signed, and who isn’t likely to be signed. Plus, look at business notes on the tournament, both on where the shows stood in WWE Network ratings and public interest as compared with the early weeks of the cruiserweight classic, as well as some very interesting notes about what caused the peaks of interest.
This issues has an update on the condition of Big Show, why Asuka is going to Raw, WWE headed to India, Mick Foley’s knee replacement, Foley’s next book, Ric Fair’s next book, return of injured wrestler, market value of WWE, plus notes on the weekend NXT shows and the first show of the Raw overseas tour.
Coverage of UFC 215, what happened to Ray Borg, the judging of Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko, what Shevchenko did wrong, how close a fight it really was, plus business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage with poll results.
Check out New Japan’s first big show since G-1 ended, the Destruction in Fukushima, and what went wrong, why it went wrong and the main event booking, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Details on the ratings for all the national shows over the past week, including a breakdown of who was watching all of the WWE shows, plus results of the major league arena events held all over the world this past week, as well as notes on the various TV shows.
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WON BACK ISSUE: August 28, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Hall of Fame issue
In our largest one year inclusion in history, seven new members were named to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in a balloting of performers, front office people, reports, historians and some well known wrestling experts. Four of the newcomers were voted on by the largest voting panel to date and three others were chosen largely by lobbying from historians providing research as to why they clearly belonged.
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WEDNEDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Tonight’s episode of NXT that airs on the WWE Network has Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish, Johnny Gargano vs. Tino Sabbatelli, No Way Jose vs. Lars Sullivan, and a segment with Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream.
WWE has gotten some criticism for the promo where Jinder Mahal continued to mock Shinsuke Nakamura and his race last night, including an article on Deadspin about it. Mahal said that half of the crowd was xenophobic enough to think that Nakamura “feasts on feline and dines on dolphin,” that Nakamura always “rooks the same,” and that the fans call him Mr. Miyagi behind his back. It was the follow-up to the segment from last week where Mahal made fun of Nakamura to prove a point that fans won’t accept Nakamura because he also looks and talks different. WWE never uploaded a clip of the promo from last night to their YouTube channel. Marissa Payne of the Washington Post sent out a tweet asking anyone who was at the show to contact her for a story on racist promos. Sopan Deb, who wrote a profile on Mahal for the New York Times, noted that Mahal said he would be willing to push back against writing that was racist but has never felt the need to.
Roman Reigns shared an emotional moment with a fan (who had spent the day with him as part of a wish fulfilled by The Make-A-Wish Foundation) after Raw on Monday.
In an interview with the Pueblo Chieftain, Kevin Owens discussed his angle with Vince McMahon and called it a moment that he never thought would happen. “That was my first time being in the ring with Vince McMahon,” Owens said. “For a lifelong WWE fan, it was pretty special — definitely a moment in my career I never really thought would happen and one that I will remember for a very long time. And one I think Vince will remember as well.”
Chris Jericho said that Bobby “The Brain” Heenan may have been the best all-around performer in pro wrestling history.
Braun Strowman discussed his career, Roman Reigns, Conor McGregor, and facing Brock Lesnar in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “McGregor might make it on 205 Live,” Strowman said. “But he doesn’t want to step in the ring with me.”
Pro Wrestling
Terry Funk told Jerry Lawler on his podcast that he sincerely means that he’s retiring from wrestling whenever he says it, but he loves wrestling too much to turn people down when they ask him to come back. He said that one of these times he knows that he’s going to “go to heaven.”
Cody Rhodes returned to Talk is Jericho on today’s episode to discuss his career since leaving WWE, what his father would have felt about the decision, joining Bullet Club, and wrestling Kazuchika Okada in Long Beach.
Adam Blampied, Adam Pacitti, Ross Tweddell, Sam Driver, and Jack King are starting “Cultaholics Ventures” as their new project after departing WhatCulture.
Chelsea Green tweeted about promoters treating her different than male wrestlers: “Promoters NO you can not just pay me what YOU think is fair. As you do w all MALE TALENT, ask me my price/ negotiate, or don’t book me.”
David Bixenspan’s latest article for Deadspin focuses on Impact Wrestling trying to jump on the crowded pro wrestling streaming service bandwagon.
Hulk Hogan will appear on “OBJECTified” on Fox News on Sunday.
EVOLVE’s latest mini-documentary focuses on the Troll Boyz (Ethan Page and ACH).
The first round matches for AAW’s Jim Lynam Memorial Tournament on October 13th in Berwyn, Illinois are set (the tournament will conclude the next night with the second round, semifinals, and finals):
Michael Elgin vs. Rey Fenix or Penta El 0M (Elgin will face whoever loses their AAW title match from October 7th. The winner will defend against Trevor Lee on this show)
AR Fox vs. Dezmond Xavier
Zima Ion vs. Andrew Everett
Mark Haskins vs. Eddie Kingston
Sami Callihan vs. Mat Fitchett
ACH vs. Curt Stallion
Jeff Cobb vs. Zachary Wentz
Brian Cage vs. Myron Reed
Santana Garrett will face Mia Yim at MLW One-Shot in Orlando on October 5th.
UFC/MMA
Against some tough competition, UFC Fight Night with Luke Rockhold vs. David Branch averaged 872,000 viewers on Saturday night and did 1,118,000 for the main event. That’s in sixth place of the 10 primetime UFC events on FS1 this year.
Michael Bisping thinks that Daniel Cormier should tell Jon Jones what he really thinks of him.
Rory MacDonald will challenge Douglas Lima for the Bellator welterweight title in Los Angeles on January 20th.
Today in Professional Wrestling History: Sting’s last match at Night of Champions 2015
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