mobanmarketTHE ROUND-UP
THE LATEST NEWS
Jake Roberts agrees to drop charges against Davey Boy Smith Jr.
WWE Main Event results: Mike Kanellis makes his show debut
NJPW Wrestling Hi No Kuni live results: Suzuki vs. Naito
Fedor Emelianenko stops Frank Mir at Bellator 198
NXT Largo, FL, live results: Velveteen Dream vs. Tino Sabbatelli
THE LATEST AUDIO
WOL: Greatest Royal Rumble fallout, should Roman Reigns turn heel? 4/29
WOR: Greatest Royal Rumble review and all the news! 4/28
We’re looking for your thoughts on the Greatest Royal Rumble and New Japan Hi No Kuni so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
We’re also looking for reports on the weekend ROH shows in West Palm Beach and Lakeland to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.
ALL JAPAN CHAMPION CARNIVAL FINALS AT 5:30 A.M. MONDAY MORNING FROM TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL ON ALL JAPAN STREAMING SERVICE
Takao Omori & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Osamu Nishimura & Masa Fuchi
Elimination match: Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada vs. Koji Iwamoto & Yohei Nakajima & Atsushi Maruyama
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yoshitatsu & Naoya Nomura
Ryoji Sai & Dylan James vs. Kai & Tajiri
Zeus & The Bodyguard & Shingo Takagi vs. Jun Akiyama & Joe Doering & Yui Hino
Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji in finals of the 2018 Champion Carnival tournament
WWE returns to North America with Raw on Monday in Montreal. Neither John Cena nor Brock Lesnar are advertised for the show. There is also a Smackdown brand house show in Ottawa, ONT, and it will be Daniel Bryan’s first house show back. Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy are not advertised for either Smackdown show this week.
Smackdown and 205 Live will be Tuesday night in Montreal.
F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Winners and losers of the superstar shakeup
While both shows retained some of their core pieces, the rosters for Raw and SmackDown have been transformed since WrestleMania. The days after WWE’s biggest show of the year saw Bobby Lashley, The Authors of Pain, Ember Moon, and No Way Jose join Raw, while Peyton Royce and Billie Kay debuted on SmackDown and Paige was announced as the show’s new general manager. And that was just the prelude to this year’s Superstar Shakeup, which saw dozens of wrestlers switch brands.
WON NEWSLETTER: April 30, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The story of Bruno Sammartino continued
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has more about the life and death of Bruno Sammartino, as well as Motoko Baba’s death, the Greatest Royal Rumble and news out of the Impact tapings, PWG shows and UFC shows.
The lead story goes in depth about the last several months of Sammartino, the nature of his death, his funeral, what was good and bad about the WWE documentary, what was going to be left out because it had to be, as well as details of how Sammartino and WWE got back together in 2012 and 2013 after nearly 25 years of being apart.
Also look at why Motoko Baba may have been the most influential woman in the history of the pro wrestling industry. Read about the heyday of All Japan Pro Wrestling, just who Giant Baba was and his level of popularity and respect, and how the Baba’s first met.
Read about the different controversies regarding WWE doing the show in Saudi Arabia this week, the ticket situation, the promotion of Saudi Arabia by WWE, the ethical issues particularly when pushing the women’s revolution theme, as well as looking at both the Saudi Arabia and the Backlash shows.
There is also more on John Cena and Nikki Bella, WWE gets a restraining order against a crazy fan, Reigns talks next year’s WrestleMania, updates on Dwayne Johnson and John Cena in the movie business, reaction to the death of Bruno Sammartino in WWE, as well as the most watched shows for the past week on the WWE Network.
This issue covers the last two UFC events with the business notes on both of the shows, including notes on streaming viewership, pay records and more.
Read the run down of the PWG All-Star weekend with match-by-match coverage with star ratings, thoughts on the talent involved, the farewell to Reseda of the Young Bucks, more on the situation with Keith Lee, and where things go from here.
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 Dave@WrestlingObserver.com.
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 moonsault@mediaplusint.com. 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.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking today’s New Japan show, more on Greatest Royal Rumble, as well as taking e-mail questions you can send to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com.
The new Avengers Infinity War which Dave Bautista has a significant role in is estimated at doing $250 million this weekend in the U.S and its worldwide first weekend total was $630 million. Both are all-time records. This best expectations of $225 million. Rampage, with Dwayne Johnson, was No. 4 at an estimated $7.1 million and Blockers, with John Cena, was No. 8 with an estimated $2.95 million.
For Google searches over the weekend, Bellator was No. 9 in the U.S. with 200,000 searches, which is well above usual for them. WWE had 200,000 on Friday for Greatest Royal Rumble, which is about what a B show would do, but a lot of the searches were more related to the Saudi apology than the wrestling aspect of the show itself.
Tetsuya Naito beat Minoru Suzuki earlier today to win the IWGP IC title in Kumamoto, Japan.
This year’s Champion Carnival final tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on AllJapanTV will be Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji, which is something of a dream match. Miyahara beat Yuji Hino earlier today to win the A block. Marufuji clinched the B block on Wednesday.
At the Greatest Royal Rumble show to the live audience, they announced another show in Riyadah, Saudi Arabia in November.
Adam Page suffered a groin injury last week, which is why he worked so little on Friday night’s ROH show and didn’t even wrestle (he did an angle taking him out of his scheduled match with Punishment Martinez) last night in Lakeland.
WWE
With both Raw and Smackdown in Montreal tomorrow and Tuesday, Kevin Owens has been doing a lot of media. He got the front page of Le Journal, the biggest newspaper in Quebec that still has a circulation of 3 million with a two-page article on him, how he likes working with John Cena and Roman Reigns, about Sami Zayn and about being sent home from the European tour when Vince McMahon got mad at he and Zayn. He will be doing the big morning shows in Montreal on TVA and TVA Sports. This will be the first time he’s ever worked a WWE television taping in Montreal.
Linda McMahon will replace Tom Brokaw to give the commencement speech at Sacred Heart University. Vince McMahon gave the commencement speech years ago which was extremely controversial with the faculty. They protested only to be told that Linda McMahon, a huge donor, had pushed for it.
Manny Faberino, one of the Saudi trainees in the skit on Friday with the Daivari Brothers, is actually a California independent wrestler who works for HoodSlam. He’s the one they gave the talking time to since he’s experienced at doing promos.
Hiroki Sumi in the Battle Royal is a legit sumo who was in the sport from 2005 to 2017. As a sumo, his usual weight was 431 pounds although in a 2013 tournament his weigh-in weight was 442.2 pounds. That’s a weigh-in weight, not a pro wrestling weight. They wanted a legit sumo in the match and he was tall (6’4″) and had just retired last year. A still active sumo would not have been allowed. My gut says they probably wanted Akebono but his health wouldn’t have allowed it.
Drew McIntyre wasn’t on the show because they didn’t decide to call him up in time to have a visa ready for him. Ironically they did know that far ahead of time for guys like Babatunde Aiyegbusi and Dan Matha. I’ll explain this on tonight’s show.
Earl Skakel of the Inappropriate Earl podcast, a comedian at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood and he records a podcast regularly that features all kinds of comedians. Nita Strauss was on and she talked about how she got involved with playing Shinsuke Nakamura’s entrance music at WrestleMania and how she became a pro-wrestling fan in general. Here’s a link to the podcast and the discussion starts at 13:24.
Mahabali Shera was running the hard cam at last night’s NXT show in Largo, FL. Tino Sabbatelli injured either his arm or shoulder in the main event which they cut short.
UFC
Michael Bisping was a guest on CBS-TV’s MacGyver television show that aired on Friday. He played the head of a group of hired thugs paid to retrieve a mysterious object that falls in the Nevada desert. (thanks to Grant Zwarych)
Gunnar Nelson sufffered a knee injury so he’s out of the 5/27 show in Liverpool, where he was to face Neil Magny. He will be undergoing surgery tomorrow.
MISCELLANEOUS
The first episode of season 2 of Elliot Sexton’s webseries Trophy Life just went up. It is set backstage at the Australian New Japan tour.
Shine 50 results from Friday night in Ybor City, FL: Kaci Lennox b Chelsea Durden, Leva won four-way over Tesha Price, Dynamite Didi and Luscious Latasha, Amber Nova b Jayme Jameson, Jessie Belle Smothers b Rene Michelle, Dementia D-Rose b Jordynne Grace, Santana b Keira Hogan, Brandi Lauren b Aerial Monroe, Candy Cartwight b Prscilla Kelly-DQ, Mercedes Martinez & Ivelisse b Penelope Ford & Maria Manic to keep tag titles, Stormie Lee b Rain in a street fight, Kimber Lee b LuFisto via DQ to LuFisto kept the Shine title. People hated the DQ finish in the main event. LuFisto was challenged after by Su Yung. The next Shine show is 6/9 in Queens, NY at Club LaBoom. (thanks to Jake Koch)
Battlewar on 5/13 in Montreal at Les Foufounes Electriques headlined by Thomas Dubois vs. Mike Bailey and a Battle Royal.
ISW on 5/19 in Kahnawake, Quebec at the Knights of Columbus.
C4 Wrestling on 5/25 in Ottawa at St. Anthony’s Hall.
Ken Shamrock will be doing a live talk show on 6/5 in Ottawa at Yuk Yuk’s.
House of Hardcore on 6/1 in Napanee, ONT with Tommy Dreamer, Joey Mercury, Billy Gunn, Willie Mack, MJF, The Squad, Bull James, Angelina Love Braxton Sutter and more.
A six-man tag with Jimmy Yuta & Jason Cade & Rhett Giddins vs. Mike Parrow & Dirty Blondes managed by Col. Rob Parker has been added to the 5/3 MLW TV taping in Orlando at Gilt Nightclub.
BCW from Saturday night in Melbourne, Australia: Erika Reid b Avary, Indi Hartwell b Tarlee, Facebrooke b Madison Eagles-DQ, Tomas Phulery b Cody Swift, Dowie James and JXT co-won Battle Royal, Dowie James & JXT b Big Cuz & Fox, Kellyanne b Lisa Marie Varon, Syd Parker b Slade Mercer in a cage match to keep BCW title. They announced Rob Van Dam returning later this year and Ivelisse and Summer Rae announced they would be on the 5/25 show which will continue the BCW women’s title tournament. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
A four-way match from Australia will air on Impact next week with Brian Cage vs. Mick Morretti vs. Brodie Marshall vs. Slex.
Best of the West TV results from Thursday night in Fresno: Jesse Poole & Amish Johnson b Danny Rocket & Nagee, Hip Hop Harry b Alexander G. Bernard, Eli Drake won three-way over JR Kratos and Karl Fredricks. Next TV taping is 5/19 in Merced, CA at the American Legion Post. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
PWCS from last night in Alton, IL: Stephen Wolf b Alex Herzog, Adrian Surge & Christian Rose b Mat Fitchett & Mike Outlaw, Jake Dirden won Rumble Battle Royal, Chris Mac b Mat Waterman, Paco Gonzalez b Danny Adams, Rasheed Ali & Shane Sanders b Canaro Jackson & Kenny Alfonso, Matt Kenway b Everett Connors, Leonel Howlett b Thomas Shire, Eddie Kingston b Davey Vega. (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Sabotage Wrestling from last night in Austin, TX: Jenna Lynn NC Kiki Vibez, Robyn Reid b J Serious, Hyan won over Alex Garcia, Nikki Knight and Raquel Vaughn, ACH b Kody Lane, Angel Blue DCOR Leva Bates, Rob Love & Myka b Baby D & Phoebe, Lacey Lane b Fuego del Sol, Erica Torres b Delilah Doom to keep Sabotage title. (thanks to Jake Koch)
CWE on 5/11 in Stonewall, Manitoba at the Odd Fellows Hall featuring Ron Simmons.
Defy Wrestling from last night in Tacoma before 405 fans: Brody King b Schaff, Billy Suede b Johnny Proof, Rey Hours b Sonico, Guillermo Rosas b Cody Chhun, Nicole Matthews b Rebel Kel, Jacob Fatu b Artemis Spencer, X-Pac & Randy Myers b Drxel & Dr. Kliever. (thanks to Matt Farmer)
Ground Zero from last night in Imperial Beach, CA: Donny Suarez & Biagio Crescenzo b Dom Kubrick & Alonzo Alvarez, Jake Atlas b Daniel Moon, Terex b Corey Jackson-DQ, B-Boy & KC Douglas & Michael Hopkins b Ray Rosas & Danny Divine & Brendan Divine, Andy Brown b Adrian Quest, Heather Monroe b Ruby Raze, Douglas James b Dicky Mayer, Tyler Bateman b Famous B, Tito Escondido b Eli Everfly. Next show is 6/2 in Imperial Beach.
Daily Professional Wrestling History: Antonio Inoki vs. Ric Flair in North Korea
CONTACT INFORMATION
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