SUN UPDATE: Hogan firing, Vince getting bad pub, Fan tries to call out Punk, Dana White on Duran, Raw

By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for your thoughts on day’s G-1 Climax show in Hiroshima, last night’s UFC show in Chicago and ROH in Baltimore, 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”>Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

We’re also looking for reports on today’s WWE house shows in Lawton, OK and Amarillo and tonight’s ROH TV tapings in Orlando at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>.

Raw will be Monday night in Oklahoma City.  Brock Lesnar is not advertised for the show.

The G-1 Climax tournament continues on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m in Beppu with Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto, Ken Anderson vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima.  Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Michael Elgin is also listed but we don’t have any updated word on Nakamura’s condition.

Smackdown is Tuesday night in Tulsa.  Roman Reign and Seth Rollins are advertised as the top stars on the show.  Dolph Ziggler is still being advertised on the show, so in theory he should be returning this week although what is advertised and what happens aren’t necessarily the same thing.

The return of the Undertaker and build to SummerSlam, Battleground coverage, the rise of NXT and situation with ROH, the G-1 Climax tournament and some major UFC stories are the major stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

The latest Wrestling Observer: July 27, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: The Undertaker returns at Battleground, NXT/ROH insanity with Liger booking

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

Our lead story concerns the build to SummerSlam.  We look at advertising that has already been cut for the show, what are the possibilities for Sting, the Lesnar-Undertaker angle, the booking of WWE right now, the situation with the women, plus full coverage of Battleground with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.

We also look at the booking of  Jushin Liger to NXT on 8/22, ticket sales for the show, plans for the NXT show, how the Liger booking affects ROH and has caused such a political turmoil.  We look at the NXT card as well as the competing ROH show.  We look at the Liger booking, ROH working with New Japan, ratings with New Japan stars vs. shows without New Japan stars, NXT touring, the next NXT vs. ROH head-to-head in September, the next ROH PPV show and much more.

We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament, with all of the shows planned for the next week, as well as full coverage of opening night in Sapporo with match-by-match-coverage, star ratings and poll results.

We also look at a major story concerning fighters for UFC to address which is the banning of IVs for rehydrating after weigh-ins starting October and why the story is far more significant than people realize.

We also look at a potential alliance between ESPN and WWE and the ethical debate regarding the coverage.  We also look at the Hogan/Gawker lawsuit and each side’s case, an update on the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit against C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana, an update on Dolph Ziggler and what he claims is his contract status, Undertaker working more than just SummerSlam, Stephanie McMahon talks gay characterizations in future WWE creative as well as a look back from former creative members regarding different suggestions on gay characterizations in the past.  We look at more WWE banned terms and how some were changed and why.  We also look at how the characters are being described for Camp WWE, which is really hilarious.

We’ve also got notes on Chris Jericho working more house shows, Tough Enough notes, John Cena in the movies, how the WWE Network free month has changed, as well as what to look for over the next week in WWE stock.

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We also have notes on the third season of New Japan World on AXS, including highlights of the new season, all the matches airing from 8/14 to 12/11 including when the Wrestle Kingdom 9 matches will air, as well as notes on the schedule for 2016.

We also look at Dragon Gate’s Kobe World Festival show and CMLL’s Sin Salida show, which were two of those two company’s biggest events of the year.

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New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
 
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SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

UFC was the fifth most searched term in the U.S. with 100,000 yesterday.  Hulk Hogan was No. 8 with 50,000.  On Friday, Hogan was No. 2 with 1 million.
On Twitter this morning, UFC has 152,000 tweets and nothing else having to do with boxing or MMA or wrestling had any substantial numbers. 
The Hulk Hogan firing was among the top stories of the day on the Sky News App in the U.K. and the BBC digital text service under World News, rather than sports, which is the first story since the Benoit incident eight years ago to get that kind of coverage.  It was the third top story.  There were also numerous reports on the BBC web site. (thanks to Gary Mehaffy and Matthew Singh Donsanjh) 
At Friday’s C.M. Punk Q&A at the UFC event, someone who challenged him on Twitter went to the Q&A and tried to provoke a confrontation.  Punk basically told him off.  Punk has become like the old time small heel that fans attack because they think they can take him in the old pro wrestling days.  Punk said he thought Dana White would beat Vince McMahon in a fight.  What else is he going to say today?   Megan Olivi, who was hosting, basically told the guy to leave and they turned off his mic. 
At this writing, the top five matches from today’s New Japan show in Hiroshima, including A.J. Styles vs. Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito are up on New Japan World.  The undercard is not yet up.  Not sure the time zone thing but it looks like it’ll be up late tonight.
Dana White outright said that Miesha Tate would be getting a title shot at the Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia winner next.  Tate got the biggest reaction last night of anyone on the show, but the people hated her boyfriend, Bryan Caraway.  Not a surprise if you think about it.
Sasha Banks worked the show last night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that was headlined by John Cena vs. Kevin Owens in a street fight, which went 27:00.
Enzo & Cass were on the other tour, wrestling in Odessa, TX last night.  They were put over The Ascension.
Stephen Amell of Arrow and WWE continue to be in the gossip pages, with rumors of him appearing on the Raw show in Everett, WA on 8/10.
A trailer for the AAA TripleMania on 8/9  PPV show
At yesterday’s ROH tapings in Baltimore, The Cauliflower Team was Chase Brown & Peter Kaasa 
David Otunga will be a guest on the Steve Harvey talk show tomorrow discussing health and nutrition 
Son of the TNA talent flew to the U.K. including Drew Galloway to work for the major indie shows this weekend but I think they’ll be back once they start taping for Impact.  Most of the tapings thus far have been assorted matches for One Night Only and Xplosion shows.
In fact, this was Drew Galloway vs. Rhino from last night in Glasgow.
The Daily Mail in the U.K. talks Vince McMahon’s skit years ago on TV where he used the N word. 
Bleacher Report ran a story about UFC’s Elias Theodorou facing Kris Chambers at an indie pro wrestling show in Toronto recently.  I guess he didn’t know that UFC contracts don’t allow you to do pro wrestling. 
Undertaker will be appearing at the Wizard World Comic Con in Tulsa on 10/24. 
Jim Ross announced talk show dates for 9/11 in Knoxville at the International and 9/20 in Houston at 4 p.m. at the Warehouse Live Ballroom, which will be a few hours before the Night of Champions PPV that night at the Toyota Center.
At the beginning of last night’s Battlelfield Fight League show on The Fight Network, from Richmond, BC, they announced at the start of the broadcast an In Memory graphic for fighter Oliver Evanshen, who recently passed away.  Evanshen was an area amateur with a 5-0 record. (thanks to Ed Ludwig)
Dana White story regarding his Twitter outburst a few nights ago on the USA Today site
 White then blasted USA Today saying how when UFC no longer pays them (buys advertising) that they are giving them far less coverage.  I’ve seen Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon go through some phases, but it was usually when things were going down fast.  For someone whose business is actually doing very well to do stuff like that reaction last night to Stitch Duran, that’s actually unique.  
 
Here’s notes from his response to the Stitch Duran firing
Seriously, at least when Ole Anderson did that promo in 1980 the goal was for people to hate him.
Countdown to UFC 190, Rousey vs. Correia airs at 9 p.m. tomorow night on FS 1.
A story on Mike Hayes from the Tough Enough tryouts and his start at OVW
A tribute to Dwayne Johnson at an Arena Football game this weekend
Don Leo Jonathan interview
An old WWE racism story from The Atlantic
ONE FC presents Dynasty of Champions on 9/1 in Shanghai, China with Igor Svirid of Kazakhstan defending the middleweight title against Vitaly Bigdash from Russia.
Deathproof on 8/16 at The Rockpile in Toronto featuring Ultimo Dragon vs. Steve Corino plus Necro Butcher.
Smash Wrestling on 8/23 in Toronto at the Frank Horner Community Centre with Chris Hero vs Tarik plus Candice LaRae.
CrossRoads Wrestling on 8/15 in Riverside, NJ at Turner’s Hall.
Congratulations to Diamond Dallas Page, who married Brenda Nair over the weekend at a ceremony in Cancun.  Marc Mero was among those at the wedding.
Pure Wrestling Association on 8/21, 8/22 and 8/23 in Nanaimo, BC at the  Vancouver Island Exhibitions.  They also run 8/2 in Thedford, ONT as part of a festival at the Legacy Centre.
ECCW on 8/15 in Vancouver at the Russian Community Centre with Cat Power vs. Nicole Matthews.
The Resurrection Fighting Alliance runs 9/18 in Olcinon, NE at the Pinnacle Bank Arena on AXS TV featuring Darrick Minner, Anthony Smith and Ryan Roberts.
World Powerhouse Wrestling from last night in Collinsville, IL:  Jake Capone & Juggernaut Jones b Purple Dragons, Scar b Bio Shock, Kyle King b Moondog Pongo Alexander Steele & Knight Fyre b Ivan Stronkgenovf & Victor Cortez, Sniper b Wapo Concho & Paradox, Bronson b Gavin Alexander, Curtis Payne b Uriah Eleazar, Gauge Evans b Hawk Elliott, Xavier Frost b Damian Blade (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
GOUGE from last night in Raleigh:  Waylon Maze won three-way over Chance LeBeaux and Johnny Fulls, Ron Nicole b Taylor Black, Jimmy Jack Funk Jr. b Outcast, Juan Jeremi b Priest, No Direction b Seymour Snott & Victor Andrews, Timmy Lou Retton b Mickey Gambino-DQ.  Next show is 8/22 in Raleigh at the Nickeloonit Brewery.
Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Marcus Eriks b Prince Nagi, Levi Shapiro b Super Tiger, Al Azar b Johnny Dynamo (thanks to Jon Southerland) 

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1972 – Miyoko Hoshino beat Sara Lee (not the Tough Enough contestant, nor her grandmother, but the former Nashville ticket lady) to win the WWWA title.

1975 – Skandor Akber & George Guliovas beat Larry O’Dea & Bobby Hart in Melbourne to win the Austra Asian tag titles

1980 – Cien Caras beat Tony Benetto in Puebla to win the Mexican national heavyweight title

1983 – Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda beat Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta in Fukuoka to win the NWA Int. tag titles

1984 – Chamaco Valaquez beat Mocho Cota in Cuernavaca to win the NWA welterweight title

1990 – Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori beat Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) & Harley Saito in Yokohama to win the Pacific Coast tag titles

1991 – Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas beat Joel Deaton & Billy Black in Matsumoto to win the All-Asia tag titles

2005 – Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Shuji Kondo & Yasshi in Tokyo to win the All-Asia tag titles

2008 – Alex Shelley beat Ultimo Guerrero to win the International Grand Prix tournament at Arena Mexico